Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Did the Buds Unlock Something in Sunrise?

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee open with a look back on the Leafs' 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers in Sunrise. They discuss the surprisingly subdued play from the Cats, the third line starting to gel, Troy Stecher giving the backend a different look, and why it's time to abandon the five-forward power play. Then, they evaluate Auston Matthews' season and whether he can return to his pre-injured form. Later, they dip into McKee's Midweek Mailbag to answer your Leafs-related questions!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.

Live and In color, Thrill Live and in color, thrill Kipper and Bourne show. Mick Caprios, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandeil. It's the Leaf Hour edition. We are live on Sportsnet 360. Sportsnet 590, the fan in Toronto and streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. Give us a download at your convenience.

Walking the Dog is always, I get that a lot. Yeah. Love listening to your show Walking the Dog. Well, the one gentleman tweeted his Spotify rap today. with us at the top of his podcast listens. And he says, listen during my three hours of dog walks a day. There you go.

Holy, three hours. Yes. Like, are you a bob sled? What's going on? Not bobsled. Buddy, that's dog sled? That would be the word I'm looking for.

Yeah, and that's two poop bags that you need minimum. Oh, like three hours. Three hours. You've got to have a half dozen dogs. Also available on YouTube and Apple Podcasts. You mentioned Spotify. It is a spot. Spotify rap season and get a lot of notifications.

So now the notifications come in. Like we've, you've listened to the real Kippenborn show for like 18,000 hours. Several days of your life have been spent listening. Oh my God. We do appreciate it. It's a wake up call.

You know, it's a wake up call. Well, no. That's just like we come in here every day and like we just say a lot of stuff and we just come in here and we do it. We love doing it. You don't really think about how much people kind of depend on it being there. I listen to pods too, and when they're not there, I hate it.

And you don't think about it. And for all of you out there, we are very grateful that you have nothing better to do. That's for sure. And, yeah, it's, I would say that today in the city of Toronto really starting to feel like winter. It sucks. It's really starting to feel like winter. It's brutal. Yeah.

Now we're in that window where it's just gray. We have a lot of recent winters where, like, it doesn't start until January. You kind of get like, okay, it's like... I want to say three or four years ago, I golfed that Rosedale. I wanted to say it was three years ago, I didn't shovel. Like, it was just like, there was like no snow. Our golf course was still open three or four years ago. Crazy.

December, I don't know what it was. December 2nd, we golfed. I was looking at the long-term. I was looking at the long-term forecast, and there's some minus 14s. And I'm like, I really have to crack out the parka. I hate, I feel like I'm like such a softie. I'm like, oh, the park. You need the big jacket.

Enough of your softness, Sam. Let's get to the real meaty part of our program. The Leafs have won. Oh, about the J-Signing, Cody Ponds? Three out of four. Don't turn this into baseball, Sammy. Let's roll with the three out of four wins. I've never heard of that guy, so he pitched in Japan.

He's the MVP. Like what you're seeing, though. It looks like a straggle muffing. Korea is MVP of that league. So that's all I know. Are we getting another Yamamoto? No, I don't. No.

No, we're not. No. But if you watch his highlights, his finish is eerily similar to Kevin. Gosman. It throws a heater, throws a split. Has that a leg kick at the end? You don't? All right.

All right. All right. Three out of four wins. Yes. And, you know, we talked about this yesterday a little bit on playing the Florida Panthers and they're depleted, but they still had the likes of a Bennett and a Reinhardt and on the blue line.

It still looks pretty good. So can we put last night into a bit of a measure? measuring stick game or are we looking at Florida in last place right now going what is wrong with them and what was wrong with them last night not that I want to dwell on it but my earlier no my earlier question to you was like can we still look at this as a measuring stick game yeah um it's interesting because you guys both made several comments I want to say in the first 10 minutes of the game about Florida, which, you know, I think there's two things. One, when you play better, you make the other team look bad, but that didn't look like

the Florida Panthers, did it? And usually when things are going badly, there's some sort of physical pushback or they drag you into this emotional game and they just kind of went along their merry way and Leafs pulled away in the end. It was surprising effort from Florida to start there. I think that, you know, it's a both sides of it here can be true. Like, I think the Leafs set the tone last night Were the more physical team

Where they looked way more complete Than they have all season long Depths going Best effort of the year Guys leaning But at the same time I think the other side of it Like there's something to it

They just, there was no Greece No life No, it was just It was very unflora panther life Florida I think came out of the gate With shot attempts I think it was 7 to 1

And they And Jake McKay Pulled one off of the goal line Yeah So By Wooler. First three minutes. First three minutes.

It kind of felt like Florida was okay in those first four minutes. And then to your point, we just never saw any of the attributes that helped them win a Stanley Cup last year. And there was no bumps. There was no punches to the head. There was no Sam Bennett doing anything of that type of significance. Yeah, and, you know, because of that, I think, you know, the, again, we talked about it being related. For the first time this year, it felt like the Leafs controlled the play.

And even by puck and ozone time and ozone possession time, this is the first time, you know, two minutes better than Florida of possession time in the other end and expected goals. They doubled up Florida. Like, it was a night where they deserve to win. And, God, it was closer. It should have been at one point. I would, you won there got a little dicey.

I would say my biggest takeaway from watching that is that it's not a fluke that Florida isn't last. Yeah. If that's the way, I mean, I haven't watched them as closely as I have in years past, but if that's the way they've been playing all season long, they're in the bottom of the Eastern Conference for a reason because I just, you know,

Bobroski was actually pretty good in the third last night. He was amazing in the third. Like, it could have been five or six, one. And the least have been no good. So for them to look that good against that team was surprising. Yeah. Surprising. It's nice.

Yeah. That was a very refreshing. You know, we have Rory Boylan here does fabulous work. Diehard Panthers fan comes by the desk. He's like, oh, last place. And I looked at him and said, shut up. I would kill for your problems, brother. Like, oh, you're in last place because you went two cups and all your guys are hurt.

I was just like, give me a break. Yeah, they're also five points in the playoffs, but they're not done. You know, I was thinking last night, I was thinking last night that that's last night's effort or lack of effort for Florida. the most part is what you would have hoped that they would have come to in the second round that they wouldn't try no not that they wouldn't try they just they'd be exhausted they just be whatever whatever they're going through wherever you want to say injuries or they're just out of gas or they can't emotionally get there at the end of november or beginning at December, like, you just wish that the Leifes may have

would have had that knockout punch for them. So they, it would have ended up getting to this point a little sooner. But I mean, there's also, you know, it's the third of December versus the I'm not right. I don't think you can write anybody off at this point, right? With it being so tight in the east. They clearly had so much left in the tank. They mop Tampa Bay after they were, they still had lots to go.

But it is, you know, good for the Leafs took advantage of a team that looked like that. In saying that, like if we were to take a clip out of a first period that Toronto's played up until a week ago and compared it to what we saw from the Leafs last night, you wouldn't even recognize them. Well, particularly the guys that we had keyed on yesterday, which I don't know that you got, I don't know if it's about the physical spot, but the third line looked really good, right? Joshua showed some nice composure on his goal, right? A nice little stick handle and McMahon. Yeah.

the big guys down the lineup looked like what you hoped. But outside of just picking a few guys out, they look like they're coached again. They look like they've got purpose. They look like they've got a plan. They don't look like they're like, where is everybody? Like, it's, it is night and day. Can we just attribute it to like Joseph Wall settling them down

because they're a team with a very good goaltender right now? Yeah, I think it helps for sure. but to me it was just the strangeness of getting to know each other for a while and then getting hurt and it all kind of getting to this point here where all right you played 20 some games you're healthy again wolves stabilize things in the back end there's some trust back there now so both of you guys are leaning towards them pulling themselves out of this after what you've watched last night because one game changed your perspective on that three to four i i wish i wish the leaps would have won like they did last night and i wish florida would

have played better because we'll know a little bit more. Like, you know, there's 31 teams in the league and I know we've had this conversation before, but how many are true measuring sticks on where you might think that you are or need to be? I think we'll have a better idea after Thursday night against Carolina than we would Tuesday night against a struggling last place Florida Panthers team right now. I just, I have a hard time. I'm moving the goalpost for the measuring stick game

just because they played bad. Like because they played bad doesn't mean that that's not a good win for the Leaves. Right. Like they went into a building that they've had no success in for the last three years and beat them. I'll tell you where I've turned. I've turned is that they look like they have purpose now.

I'm not seeing those those Hail Mary passes where it's 80 feet and it's to a guy standing still. Yeah. and then one and duns are a lot less odd man rushes rush chances against they've they've buckled down yeah yeah yeah and i wonder if they're starting to figure out who they are in that way that it's like this is no longer going to function as a team a team b partially because i'm not sure team a is good enough anymore austin matthews if you feel he's a different level by the way i thought he was very good

last night but except you won't shoot well i know you highlighted the one shot okay well there's i want to get i want to get in matthews but let's go to craig bruby just get his thoughts on on on the pace of the game clip one is the one that kind of overview the fast pace game clip one tonight was uh probably i would say one of the fastest pace games we played all year um i thought we just closed on people and checked and when we had pucks we skated and attacked and our forward check was good tonight so Pace was really good tonight. They can get, okay. How much of, this is a wild statement that I'm about to make here,

but I'm going to say it anyway, how much of them being able to get the puck out of their own zone and get it up the ice and look more crisp is the fact that Troy Stetcher played the second most ice time on the ice and almost on the team and almost had the most ice time by one second. Yeah, he's changed the back end. Which is insane. I told him he's Canadian Timothy Lilligrant.

He's like... He really has changed. He's got mobility. He's got quickness. He's got a lot of things that they didn't show the first 20 games. You think of the guys that he's playing over. I mean, Carlo this year was a disaster with getting the pocket of the zone in terms of moving it up the ice and speed and that was a big problem.

Pannev was banged up the whole year. Like having a guy like that, and it's insane. He's a waiver claim. And I think they're asking all they possibly can out of him. But his style has changed them from the back. And he's played the second most minutes last. Yeah. Him and McCabe were the go-to pair.

I don't know. They're pressing on. We don't know. They're hitting on 15 at the blackjack table right now. They're just, they're pressing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of six is coming up. Yeah.

It is. It is fascinating. It's a good point, Sam, that it does look different. God, he got a rebound last night and cut the net and took a few strides and broke him out. And I was like, oh, wow. That's not, you know, he didn't bang it off the glass. I think it's just, for Stetcher and the Leafs, it was the perfect storm in terms of both of them needing something

that they could each provide. Yeah. And we listen to Stetcher, like in interviews and in between periods on an interview, and he's, he gets it. He's been around long enough where he really gets it. So that in itself is a plus as well. Again, I don't know how long it can last. This is a guy that he said he's on his seventh team.

So he comes in, he fills a certain void. But once teams get maybe healthy or they just look at bigger, stronger, younger prospects, he gets pushed out. But he's a legitimate sixth or seventh defenseman right now in the NHL, I would think. And on a team like Toronto, it's much higher. you're not winning the cup if he's you know in your top four there doesn't say a lot about your team but i think what he gives you if you're most teams you'd say well if we can get about that from a 24 year old and develop him or something let's just take the 24 year old at this point it's something

the least need i do wonder if they look at him and go he's 31 not like 38 yeah but i'm really i do wonder if they look at him and go can we find a version of that that's not 5-9 that we could have for like that has some longevity a puck moving d man who can skate like just to mix up the archetypes of our d man because we have stay at home guy stay at home guy stay at home guy morgan riley you know in o'el yeah all right let's go to craig bruby on his thoughts on stetcher i became unpatient quickly yeah i mean he's playing with a ton of confidence right now like very composed. Him and McCabe look like they've got

instant chemistry right now, which is great. And they're moving the puck extremely well. And like talk about Pace, Stature plays with Pace out there. Like, I mean, he closes on people, he skates, he gets up the ice, he's doing a lot of good things, and

he's got, I don't, didn't know a ton about him, but I watch him on the blue line in the offensive zone, and he's he moves his feet extremely well. and get shots through. And these are all good things. I do think. That's got a four-year deal written all over.

He was a... Whoa. Easy, bud. Hey, do you want, you want? Let's just get through December, brother. Let's just get through December. Do you want to get to see Easy again? Yes.

He was a, uh, UND power play quarterback. You know, he, he entered the league as a P-P guy. Listen, I thought me and Bunk is calling ourselves Troy's boys last night. I'll leave stock was going to far. None of this is serious, aside from you have to look at what you have

and what he gives you. And we're going to talk about the five forward power play. At some point, you know, maybe it's power play two or something, but he's playing extremely well. Ride the hot hand, keep hitting on 15 or whatever until you go bust. I don't know.

Till seven comes up. Yeah. Which it's going to. For sure. But in the meantime. Yeah. But it does, right now, obviously, no TANF, no Carlo, but it just reeks of lack of depth right now in this organization for guys to play that type of role. That type of role for sure.

You got to go to the waiver wire to ask a guy to play 18 minutes, 20 minutes a night. 24 last night. I agree. I mean, the Marley's guys are always talking about. was it, Villan Oof? Yeah. Not the race car driver. I mean, he's a right-handed guy that moves it a little bit.

There's that guy, but outside of that, Kipper, you're right. There's not a ton of. There's not a ton. There's not a ton. And that's what happens when you trade away every draft pick for five years. All right. We touched on Austin Matthews a little bit here.

Where do you want to go with the power play? Do you want to hear Stetcher on his goal? Yeah, let's hear from him his two on the Stedge. Stedge, clip one. I don't do it often, so it feels nice when you get one. And, yeah, I just, I told Cowan and Robertson was going to get one tonight and actually did. So the problems I tell myself that every game, I tell somebody that. So it's nice to contribute.

But it was a big goal, obviously, at that moment, give us a lead. And we never looked back. So I'm just happy to help. Couldn't help but notice he didn't tell Matthews and Tomaraz that he was going to score. He went to the guys who You're low enough on the pole Totem pole Yeah

Okay, kid There's a lot of gratitude In his voice For just having another opportunity Yeah And God, what else do you want him to do with it? Like there's no doubt He's an NHLD man

I guess it's a Is he an NHLD man On a good competitive Playoff team I mean played for the oil Was the seventh guy For the Oilers last year I think he played a few

Playoff games then last year I think him as a seventh guy Yep He's really It's nice to see he shoots it through love that shot walks it snap a little blocker and the mere fact that he doesn't fall into big and strong you know per se like he's you show some power out there but you know what is he 59-19 yeah that's which is in the summer of a person in the summer like what would brad

tree living think about Troy stature probably wouldn't have considered it hey he's more feisty and Competitive than 6-5 Carlo and 6-6-6-Myers. You wouldn't even look at a 5-9 defense. Give him a look-see. No looks-seat. No looks-se. Buddy, I had the T-shirt from no fear. It's not the size of the dog in the fight.

It's the size of fight and the dog. Buddy, Marcus Stroman said it for years. Height doesn't measure heart, Kipper. Oh. So Brad Trey, so we're off big and heavy now again? Competitive. We're going back to... They're looking for points, Kippur.

They don't care about size. No, no. just saying it's kind of ironic it is ironic that a guy's coming in at five nine now and uh and playing a big part right now for the leaf so okay this five man power play um uncle do you want to you want to talk about it as it with austin uh obviously at the point and that that short-handed goal that they gave up last night i mean under different circumstances could easily have caved them in go ahead what do you think yeah um first of all just the thought of my best shooter being the

furthest away from the net is no good yeah when you put it like that yeah it's true so yeah tell me let's put ray allen in the post right let's get the three-point shooter under the hoop like wait that's not what he does I don't know. Is he a guy that can do that? You want him to do that? You want him to, what, put pucks through? You know, I'm different than you guys on this and that I see a world where he's their best shooter to your point,

offensive decision maker, him and Willie. Like, if they're all rotating around up there and can figure stuff out, I can see a world where it works. I sure like it better than Morgan Riley offensively. But like, you know, they get scored on last night, not because Matthews isn't playing D, but because the forwards are morons, you know. Well, no, Austin got sucked in. He should have hung out better in front of the net.

No, it's in the corner. He's in the corner. And mine hurts by himself in front of the net. Because Nyes dives down to cover a guy. And Willie. All the guys were like Puck. Austin could have done a better job in his own zone. I'd say he's defending.

Yeah, this one's not on him. This is, uh, whatever you think of it. But you, the one thing that Marner could do is go back, though, and defend. Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, these guys play. So, so behind the net, it's no good. Two guys below, he's one of the two guys low, Kim. He went behind the net thinking he's going to scoop the puck up and skate it up.

It's like, but you're not assessing where the breakdown happens there. No, the breakdown, when Austin made a poor decision to go behind the net, he needs just to stay in front of the net. Well, they're two on two in the corner here. There's three guys in the corner. Willie's established. Cowan's established. Why is Matthews going in there?

Well, listen, we disagree on that, but still Nyes just needs to park in the slot and be there. You know, like, he's not, like, what's Nye's doing? Does he not have to play D? Or it's just because you hate Matthews. If a guy is the first four checker, I don't need to do his job. I don't, listen, they got two Panthers down there.

You have more guys than them. You're allowed to outnumber them. The first one in front of the net. Why are you leaving? Because they're outnumbering them because they have the man advantage. Nyes can park there and be there. He's back. Either way, it's five forwards and they're not defending.

Okay, so you like it and you want to stay with it. I don't like it. It's not worked a lick so far, but I can see a world where they find some chemistry and it's able to work better than option B, which is what? OEL. Yeah. It's sucked all year regardless of who. No, I'd rather go to OEL.

He's having a good year. he's getting some points he's done it in the past yeah that is a much better option than what i saw last night yeah it's tough for me it's like i i just feel like so then cowen or nye's off because you have to take one of the forward right calwin for me it's it's all about the worry with the five forward power play comes on the breakdowns coming out of the offensive zone comes comes on rushes against right on pinches and breakaways and stuff and marner did a good job defending those. So that's something that Matthews is going to have to be cognizant of.

You know, last night, it's unfortunate that they score on a D-Zone play, essentially, because I'm sure they're going to break them up now. They won't have the stones to try this for another game. Would you like to hear, okay, we have a, two clips on it. How about the first one, Derek, clip four on the five-man power play? I became unpatient quickly. Listen, because I get it, you know, but the game was tight, so I switched it out. next power play and I'm not gonna put my put our team in that situation again

yeah it's listen power plays we're they're working through things like it's tough right now it's not great and you know all we can do is keep working through things and hopefully something starts to really click and you know it starts to get going in the right direction like I said I focus on percentages on a powerplay I focus on how the power play helps us every in-game every game you know it's not always about scoring it's about creating momentum at times too yeah you want to score on it and we need to start scoring on it but at the same time we just got to keep working away and find some chemistry with some guys and and get it clicking i guess my you know the frustration in hockey is

that people want you to do things differently sometimes right it's like oh everyone does the drop everyone does the one three one can someone try something different and if it doesn't work in the three, four games, people are like, blow it up, it doesn't work, what are you doing? They're trying to find something because this power play is struggling. On that note, though, it hasn't looked good. And there's not a lot to hang your hat on to say, you know, stick with it. But you are in December now.

27th in the league, 15.2. You can't necessarily be overly patient, like Craig Brube just said. No. Like, you're not, you don't have that luxury. You had it in October, but you don't. don't get it in December because two losses in a row sink you.

I mean, it's killed them all year. It really has. Like in big spots where they've needed a goal and the momentum thing, I mean, it's killed in momentum how many separate times in these games. Like, think back to that Montreal game where they immediately get a power play early in the game. They're brutal on it.

Habs come down right away, score. They go up two nothing. You're never back in that game. Like, it just feels like there's so many opportunities for them. It just killed them. By the way, you know who's a 25th in the league in PowerPlay? It's a Colorado Avalanche. I know.

That is shocking. 16.1. Weird. You know, what's interesting is that Valley clip yesterday is kind of making the rounds about, you know, they get rid of the goalie coach on Long Island, and they're immediately, they get better goaltending and them wondering about other coaches being held accountable. Now, I've been with teams where the PowerPlay wasn't working.

The head coach just says, that's enough. I'm running the meeting today. I'm making the decisions, but no one ever gets fired for it. I'm curious if Ruby takes it over. Mark Savard, is he completely in charge of this? Has this been his baby right from the get-go? At the end of the day, the head coach is on the hook, right? He doesn't like how the assistant coach is doing it.

He says, that's enough. We're not doing that anymore or whatever. So I can't hang it entirely on Savard, but that is his specialty, right? He was brought in to run the power play. So I've got to look at it. I look at it. Okay. Awesome.

Just doesn't look right to me. I thought he had his best game last night. But he just won't shoot like he used to. And he can't shoot like he used to. I just, yeah, I don't, I just. There's a couple other than that period that jumped out to me too. There's still this power element of being a really forceful, six foot three, 230 pound guy that's just,

missing from me and watching him last night particularly on one back check and i don't know how long the shift was and it could just have been easily him tired but he just he labors for me a lot more than he did in his first eight years it's just a there's a there's an element where i honestly am starting to believe that he's just physically not right you know it's funny because last night i it I felt like he played great. He got the puck in a lot of spots that was good. Got a lot of chances. But I do feel like there's a lack of confidence.

Like the one that he should cut back. You know, he's got a breakaway and he ends up taking it wide to the back end rather than just cut back. And his prime he fires that right away short. That was my thought too. First time he probably shoots before he takes two strides and the goal he's not set. Yeah. The one you highlight, he gets one in the slot and looks for a back pass. You know, there was just some like, that stuff to me is not physical at all.

That's just like decision. making confidence, whatever. But, yeah, I think I do notice that it's not as much of a physical force. And today, I think he is completely on the same pace he was last year. He's going to play 66 games, 67 games. He's going to score 33 goals. That's his piece. right now and

you know we've discussed this already is he heard is he not hurt but like for me it's it's legit again and I bought it less last year than I do now to watch that game last night and be like

now I think Matthews is hurt like I didn't think you played well last night no I think he was fine but I listen this is generational player here fine is okay for 98% of the league. But this guy, he's a special talent,

and we know what the talent is. And I just don't, I don't see it. Like we've been accustomed to seeing it in the past. And I'm just, I just wonder if he's physically still missing something. I don't know if it's, like, you're ever going to find it. No, and I think it's like, if you're looking for something, I don't think it's there. If he shut it down tomorrow,

and told me and I heard that he needs surgery, I wouldn't be surprised at all. So are you thinking that he's playing so that he gets to play at the Olympics? No, no, no, no, no. I'm not going there. I'm just thinking that whatever it is,

he's been patiently waiting for it to get better and stronger. And he's tried being off. He's tried to play with it. He's tried it again to be off. he's trying it again like this is where i'm at i'm starting to see a guy that maybe he is losing confidence because he's not physically a hundred percent you know it's i guess it's not impossible that that's true i think there's spitballing here i know nothing i know you know and we all suspected

there might be a back issue here we don't know i don't know i'm sitting here telling you this is not something i know of or want to lean towards i'm just telling you i'm just telling you you what I see I my honest opinion on it is that I think we're going to have to come to grips so this is just maybe who he is now yeah you know it's not out of the question you know if he is a 40 and 40 80 point guy and he plays center in 22 minutes and wins 55% of his draws and kills penalties a lot of teams to be falling all over themselves to say that's pretty good to build around I know it's not heart trophy winner best in the league guy so yeah paid as such right well he yeah you know

I think he's the guy I just described would get 13 million I think but yeah it's it takes away what was the Leaf superpower right they had they had their Connor McDavid they had their guy who could make it make the difference so I don't know I don't know if that's coming back

God he's working his way back up to a point per game still chasing it right now yeah he's playing a minute more per game than last year 21-11. Yeah, I mean, is there any world where this... Still telling penalties. Yeah, third guy out now, right?

Third pair, they're not throwing him first over the boards anymore, which is good. Is there a world where it's deployment, like our boy Jeremy and Dallas said? Like, where his role has been asked to be different under Barubei, where his production's gone down for two years? Or he's just not physically the same guy. It would be crazy if they switch coaches and all of a sudden Matthews looked electric again. I mean, I don't know. You can quantify that by D's own stuff. and all that different stuff.

That would bother me. If it was that, if it was almost like a light switch like you're suggesting, that would bother me. Not motivation, no usage. Like in terms of DZone starts

and what they want from them and all that. It's, he still has the, he still has the freedom, like to go out there. Yeah. Come on,

it's, Chiefs not like, don't score. Willie and Austin get a credit card that goes well beyond, you know, a hard, our hard boundaries.

Yeah. So, you know. Crazy that we managed a negative spin on that game last night. They'll get better. They'll be more tested, I think, Thursday night. That's for sure against Carolina. Third line? Third line.

Positive. Very positive. Clip with two on the third line. Well, they're just on it. You know, like I think, you know, Joshua and McMahon are really. been good on the walls in our zone and Ozzy does a great job

being underneath in support and they get the puck and they when they go down in the offensive zone whether it's you know on an attack or they have to forecheck they're heavy they're doing a good job with their sticks and they're on people and then they hang on the puck's in the offensive

zone and they're getting to the net and doing the job so they've been really effective this is going to be the all frustrating line for the team where You're just going to be like skate some nights. You're just going to be yelling skate at them. And when they skate, they'll be great. And when they don't, they won't.

With Waugh, for me, since he came back from the injury, has looked the best. He's looked all year. Was there any part of it where maybe he had something lingering? Remember he missed a little bit of the time at a training camp, and he had something lingering. He's moving way better than he was. Yeah, I agree with that.

I agree with that. Much more fluid, much more. Got to get robbed last night. Rob. That was one of the best saves of the year so far. It was unbelievable. But it just, I do have belief. and wah as a real guy like after watching the last year i feel like he's maybe wasn't healthy

to start the year he was playing how many minutes did he play last night i would say maybe 14 in the 15 rangeish i hope more but i don't know and i'll give me one minute on that yeah but those guys have to stay physically engaged yes and again it's he played 16 21 uh it's it's it's a taxing thing to ask guys to every other night now to go play like that but that's that's that's the Yeah. Right? And that's something what Dakota could do last year. He played 11 minutes.

You can do it in 11 minutes, right? Like that's not too much. 11 minutes, right? Well. That's it. McMahon, 13 and a half. Yeah, no, not everybody can do it every night for 11 minutes. Yeah.

And that's the challenge for Dakota and, you know, all of them. Just, boys, you can't show up once every four games now. it's too late for that. So there's another big challenge for them tomorrow night. Benoit better last night for you guys? He played? Yeah. I thought he was jumping up.

You didn't notice him? No, I saw him on a rush and was like, oh, hey, just more physical. Yeah. But I think they're closing faster. They're just, they're on guys in their own zone faster. Yeah. Less time to wait and contemplate a decision.

just reacting faster for me yeah the one thing i do want to note is uh lawton is still playing 10 minutes a night i'm curious if there's not a way to get him yeah he was good last night 14 you know um then it's got to come off of it's got to come off of waugh well i don't think that when this team is built for the playoffs that lawton's playing center i think it's something like you know waugh mcmatton and lawton as a line or something like that fourth line of like joshua some other center camp you know something like that honestly um you went full dary i know you're writing wrote his book but full slutter there what number is he with bonois yeah uh let's uh let's go let's go you don't want to give away anything um a hundred thousand dollars or anything

do we want to come back from the break all right now you're producing yeah yeah right that's my job tell me what to do go to break all right we're going to break you heard sammy more real kipper and born when we return. Dive deep into Toronto sports and the NFL, the J.D. Bunkus podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Leaf Hour edition of the Real Kipper and Born show. Nickyrials, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. Before we get to the mailbag boys

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standard message and data rates may apply lottery license raf 151 8410 all righty um so how many stature questions you guys want i'll read the three stature separate stature ones we got three three separate stature ones um i think of 12 or 13 replies uh let's start with i'll read all quickly, and then you can decide which one's the most absurd. Should Stetcher get a look on that this is from Sammy Flo? Should Stetcher get a look on the power plate? I know it's absurd, especially

given he's a waiver pickup, and he hasn't really had a significant player for other teams, but he's looked pretty good. No, that's the first one. This one's for the Troy's Boys. That's from Least Talk last night. Does Stetch have the potential to be the least version of Foresling? Because they claimed him on waivers.

Right. And, Are my eyes playing tricks on me when I watch Stetcher? He looks like Kiel McCar, but to me, but I can't tell if it's because we barely have any puck movies or he's Keel McCar in disguise. Hopefully you're listening, Stetch. Oh, my God. I told you four-year-deal. He's going to turn this into a four-year deal. But power play.

Yeah, I mean. Should they put him on the power play? He had in University for North Dakota, 43 games. He had 29 points. So, you know, he's got some offense to his game, but he's, he's got some offense to his game. but he's behind OEL, he's behind Morgan Riley, behind the 5-4 power play. Maybe it's a right-handed shot that you'd like to kind of play with here.

I mean, it can't be any worse. Sounds like Kemp's maybe in Troy's voice. Buddy, let's watch it for a game, and I bet we'd be like, okay, you know, a quick distributor, he'll actually defend if we need to back check. All right. This is from Lease Fan 101. With the Carlo News and the uncertainty of Tan has returned,

Does Toronto look at trading Machelli for a D-Man? And if so, who do you think they could target? Ooh, Machelli could get you a seventh round pick. You know what? Would they give up for him? A third? I think a third. And if he gets 50 points and they make the playoffs.

That would be a miracle. No way. You're healthy scratch. I think they'd be happy to move off of Machelli now, but there would be no takers. What do you make of that, him being in the press box? We have a clip on that, actually. Clip 10. on Micelli handling the scratch if you want to play that on Micelli.

Well, I think he's obviously wants to play. We all know that. Every player wants to play. But he's handled it positively. I mean, he knows that he's got to be better. And, you know, put him in the Washington game. It wasn't a lot there. I thought he struggled in that game.

And we won the last couple. So I don't know if, you know, I'm not going to change the lineup. But, you know, we'll see. You know you're in the year. 2025 because the whole time I've been involved in professional hockey. I don't think on any team, at any point, have I ever heard one reporter ask a head coach. How is a guy handling a scratch? How's the emotional state of your 13th forward?

Hey, how's McIntynerally scratch? Well, you know what? He's eating chili, drinking beer at the pub before the game. exactly he's on his fourth beer now before the game like it's incredible like people are interested in your emotional state being a healthy scratch today you know what craig bruevety should have said like crap that's how he's handling it and it's great it's that's what it's supposed to do it's supposed to make you feel like crap yeah so when you come to the rink you don't feel like crap you're better and you you want to avoid that yeah buddy i have been the

consequences lead to actions guy all forever i understood this is great i think it's fine that he's scratched it's fine that it is interesting that we care but i don't know i mean he was the big if i was a terrible team i would trade for mchelle i mean he's the i mean the least from third than last to last night so but you said that for nick robinson he said for anybody yes right like if you need scoring this guy's an nchl player who he just pick up half his contract and i'll gladly take him off your hands. Yeah, if I'm sitting there and I don't want to be terrible and we're struggling. But I think the reason

we care is that he makes three and a half million bucks this year. He's under team control. He's an RFA, right? Like, they thought that this guy was going to be a thing. 34 times last year. I understand that. And what's he up to now? I mean, what are we five? A few.

Sounds right, yeah. Okay, half a dozen. Yeah. That could easily turn into a dozen by New Year's? Yeah. funny he's a talented kid it's just tough to see at the NHL level how it works you're not going to be top six on a good team it doesn't not good enough it's on him now it's just on him two teams in a row where they can't fit you in a starting lineup

like take a good look in the mirror my friend it's tough I'm torn because he said he had that quote about like they want us to make plays but they don't want it to turn a don't want us to turn it over right you're playing 12 minutes the game got to make plays can't turn it over it's a tough spot to be in he's probably just got to take chances and and risk that a couple come off every time you turn the puck over you got to help put the puck in the net twice okay let me up one plus one on the turnover rate uh can't be even or below all right this is from jacob the leaves are now just three points out of second

game against florida was a blueprint to what the success uh this season will look like depth contributions hard fought battles all night and the Great Wall. Are you feeling a run coming or is this just enough to lead us on again? Tough to say. I appreciate the third line. I appreciate the hard work along the walls. But the only wall that really matters from here on in is the Joseph Wall. Okay, this is really on him now.

This is the type of goal tending that can. certainly get you back in the mix and certainly get you back into a playoff contention. But from his start last week in Columbus to almost pulling one out in Washington to last night, this is pretty much the sample size you're going to have to need moving forward here out of Joseph Wall. Like he's, he's good, boys. Do you think they're going to give Hilda v. Carolina? Or do you think they'll have Wall?

You've got to go back to Joseph Wall. You do. The Leafs have a five-game homestand after that. Funny, our perspectives have totally flipped on this. I was thinking that they could maybe give them a night off. I don't know. I mean, you got to see if you can stretch this thing to three wins in a row and the best chance for that against a team that loves to get pucks on net.

I think is Joseph Wall. Wall's numbers are sparkling. He's got a 9-20. force a percentage boys how do you like how far do you want to bend this guy without breaking him well that's it if you do break him then you're hilled to be actiumov and so maybe that's reason enough to say we need to give hild to be a knight yeah like clearly it's better to go with wool in that game you're this is the best that you felt for the guys and yeah if it is a true measuring stick. So get your best

in there when they're feeling their best and that's Joseph Wall right now against Columbus and see where you are. See how much of a gap there is or how close you may be to staying up now with the Carolinas in the world. To me you don't do that with Hildaby.

You do it with Joseph Wall. It's fair. How about this one? I think we talked about this maybe the other day. I don't know if it was on or off here but I'm going to bring it up again. This is from Zach. Did the elite sports science team leave with Dubis. It seems that the Leafs the last few years have had a lot more injuries than they did

before. That was, do we talk about that on air? What's that off air? We did some on air. I know that I worked with a guy named Rich Rotenberg who was there, sports science dude with Marley's Leafs when I was around and he was there all the way until Dubas left and went with him to Pittsburgh. I don't know if he brought his staff with them or I don't know.

I don't know those details. I don't, I'm not sure they were replaced. Do you think there's something to do that? I don't At the end of the guys There's fire Guys are hurt They're hurt

Where I think that they probably could use some help With is with the communication Right And the original message And zero in Zeroing in on what's injured And Yeah how about the original diagnosis

And what's projected Without Kind of flip flopping Right We've seen a lot of flip flopping A little bit When it comes to Thinking it's one thing

and then it ends up being another. And then... It's either really bad luck or something's up. Like, we never heard setback out of the Leafs. It might just be really bad luck. Until this year. This was a great question from Cheddar Bob. That's a quick one.

If the Panthers continue to spiral downward and the Leasers were in the playoffs bought at the deadline, is there any chance they trade the March and to the Leafs? Zero. I love that question, Jared, Bob. It's no tires for that golf cart. Yeah, no kidding. that would be a heartbreaker for him.

He would be crushed. It would be six years of here. Is that how long he signed for? Six years, yeah. I don't even know, I don't even know, but like, there's not a chance he didn't put a no move in his deal. Oh, 100%.

Come on. Yeah, he's not moving again. No, I think he is settled where he's settled. He's got his cups. Yes, there's a no, no move clause. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Come on, Sammy.

I just thought it was funny. You didn't like Samiskevich last night for Florida, eh? Nice flop, bud. Yeah, that runs into Joshua's back and I really do you hate Rodriguez too. They mean, I hate embellishment in general in hockey and I think that it doesn't get called nearly enough. And I think a lot of guys have been doing it a lot more. Yeah. And it's dangerous.

Like it's, you know, one of the things that like you pride yourself on in hockey is sort of the honorable part of it. And it's like I'm watching Sam Eskavage last and he looked like you'd fit in in the Copa America. I'm like, what are you doing? You're trying to turn this into soccer? Like, what was that? that. It's ugly. He did. Sure. Got the call. But does he have his pride? Probably not. And also, rapid, rampant fan base down there. Two-time Stanley Cup defending champions, biggest, you know, team, biggest draw comes into the town, dressed like a seat night in Florida.

Good job, guys. Good job. What a fan base. Oh, they're in last place. They've won back-to-back cups. You can't fill the building for the Leafs game. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. It's amazing what you need to hang on to. It's just embarrassing. Help you feel better about yourself. I don't feel better. I don't feel good about myself ever. I just think that's really embarrassing.

Show up. They won two cups and all. They're one of the best teams ever. And the crowd's half empty because you suck in December. It's embarrassing. Glad you got that in. Grow up. Feel better?

Feel better. For sure you feel better. People are like, oh, the lease ring sucks. Yeah. They exclusively have sucked the soul of the Leaf fans for 10 years. Save some of that. We go national next. We got a little Jets talk.

Oh, they need some help. Coming up. They need some help. And that, of course, leads us into sports, Scotia Bank Wednesday night hockey with our boy Justin Bourne. Yeah. Making an appearance on the panel. We go national next.

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