Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Duck Season Has Arrived

Episode Date: January 3, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee revisit the William Nylander contract negotiations and make some comparables around the league, including David Pastrnak - is that where the conversation begins and ends for Nylander? Is the next logical step after signing Nylander to a long-term extension approaching Mitch Marner as the 'next guy up'? Afterwards, they break down the Leafs' 3-0 shutout win over the Kings, and bring on Sportsnet's Luke Fox (36:57) from Anaheim where the Leafs take on the Ducks in the second half of a back-to-back. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Welcome in to the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Leaf Edition, Leaf Hour. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo, Jen Rolnick with you for the next two hours here in studio. Wherever you're watching, listening, Sportsnet 590, Sportsnet 360, and Sportsnet Plus. We're glad you are with us today.

Guys, I'm tired. I'm tired. Last night was the first time I've done television in maybe four years. Late. Late. Late. 10.30 Eastern puck drop. What's that?

I'm 57. I'm in bed by 10. What time were you asleep last night, do you think? Well, I also had thinking uh i had to write an article you do this all the time right you write articles i've been writing for the toronto star i'm like what am i gonna write about and then i just started a little bit and then it just wouldn't stop and i probably didn't get to bed till about four oh my god kippy oh my god yeah 4 a.m and what time you get up i had to do sportsnet 960 calgary with george and maddie at like 9 a.m okay so so between 4 a.m and 9 a.m i had this dream where people thought I broke Willie Nylander news.

And I'm like, that's ridiculous. Just talking about stuff. Ridiculous. Just talking. When? Pat McAfee's here today just shooting the, you know what?

Just shooting. Yeah, we're just shooting it. Okay, what's going on with Pat McAfee and that show? Like like what's the latest because how did jimmy kimmel get involved in that i'm not derailing anything i have no idea but i saw mcafee was moonwalking backwards the two and a half minute suit semi apology today i saw some wild allegations thrown around by one a Rogers on that nationally televised program.

So Mac, he was like, don't sue us. Yes. You can sue Aaron. He's very rich. Uh, watchers and listeners,

uh, going to the internet and figure it all out. We're not, we're not explaining that, but what we are explaining is the fact that we had a Willie Nylander conversation that went to another level yesterday, and it even got to the point where, you know, one of the producers here says,

well, why didn't you tell me that you had that? And I'm like, well, like, what did it exactly, do you think that I had? Yeah, we've been, all year long, we've been theorizing numbers about did it exactly, do you think that I had? Yeah. We've been, all year long, we've been theorizing numbers about where it's, you know, what we're hearing behind the scenes, specifically what you're hearing behind the scenes. But yeah, this is. Not very many people saw it.

Only 450,000 people saw it. So it's okay. Barely noticed. Yeah. And I went on to explain it, that I thought this was such big breaking news on our show yesterday that I waited 35 minutes so we can go through a Samsonov waivers conversation and mention it 40 minutes later.

You know, you did say that you thought that it would be wrapped up by an All-Star game, which is a month from now. No, I did not say that. No, but you thought that. They wanted it. They wanted. Right. The word is that in a perfect world, the Leafs and Willie would like to go

into the All-Star weekend knowing that he's got a new contract. And then Elliott last night on television kind of backed that up with he thought it could be as soon as this week. So that probably adds a little spice to the chili. Didn't hurt at all. Yeah. And again, I mean, I had all these visions of like Nylander, Otani, like watch.

Oh my God. I mean, are we going to now figure out where Nylander's having sushi? I don't want to talk about it. The next few days? I don't know. I mean, like locally, it does take a life of its own here, that sort of stuff but certainly last yesterday's show was a conversation on where we think we think things are heading and trending and not to get into this whole conversation about breaking news all over again i mean this is what we do we talk about jimmy kimmel we talk a little jimmy kimmel no but it's we believe that it's trending in

in this direction i don't understand too why people are so bent out of shape and the feeling i got over our comments yesterday is that from my end it's overwhelmingly in favor of willie being paid upwards towards 11 million dollars a year more so than it ever has in the past and there's just for me at least from the feedback and i don't know you guys can speak on on where you guys think it's coming from but they seem to be okay the people that i to, either fans or people in the industry, the majority of them seem to be okay that Willie's going to make $88 million, as much as $88, $90 million in the next eight years.

I don't think he's as good as David Pasternak. You know, like personally, I think he's close, but I don't think he's quite as good. So if he makes about that number, the cap's going up a whole bunch. He's a young player in his prime, top five in scoring in the league. Yeah, he's quite as good so if he makes about that number the cap's going up a whole bunch he's young player in his prime top five and scoring the league yeah he's probably worth around that i don't think anyone's looking at it going what a steal i don't think anyone's saying it's a rip-off i think there's a lot of people going yeah we'll see how the back end of

that goes but you do that with all eight your contracts so i don't know i'm just reading the mentions of the sports at 590 the fan fan tweet from yesterday, just looking through here, I think it's kind of split down the middle on people being like, well, I think it's just a shock, a sticker shock number. I saw some people happy to see a star commit for the length of a deal. I don't really, you know, I think it's going to be a wow contract when it's signed,

but with the cap going up and his production, I mean, the way he looked again last night, like it's night after night here where he looks like one of the best players in the league it's just the going rate unfortunately in a contract year it's happening you want to keep him i guess you got to pay there is a level of consistency especially with leaf fans that like every every guy that's signed a new contract whether it's marner matths, Tavares, and Willie, that there's this knee-jerk, not a knee-jerk reaction, or maybe it is a knee-jerk reaction,

that it's just too much. Yeah. It's consistent. Well, that was Willie's first contract. The one he's on right now that's under $7 million for 100 points, or whatever he's on pace for, 117. People yelled about that. Like the tendency too is these contracts outside of the pandemic in a flat cap

is that they date themselves rather quickly contracts. The Dreisaitl deal at the time, I remember being like eight and a half and like nine minutes later, he was worth 14. You know? So it does. And like nine minutes later, he was worth 14. You know? So it does. That's, I think, probably the thing that I would defend Dubas the most on is that he didn't get the chance for his contracts to age with the salary cap.

You know, the Marner and Matthews deals and the Tavares deal, which is now six years into it, was supposed to look like a fraction of the cap instead of what they still look like a fraction of the cap instead of what they still look like in the first year they were signed compared to the salary cap by percentage the other factor is here again uh really what choice did the leafs have here what what choice does willie have we know what he has. The choice to say no

and I'll go somewhere else. But if the Leafs are in that ballpark of $88 $90 million there's just there's not that money out there

from another team that can only sign him to seven years. But you know what else, too, Kip? Okay, so the options for Willie, you're right. So if he wants to make as much money as he can, the Leafs are a far better option in terms of being able to make that additional $10 million or whatever the number ends up being in that last season, $11 million.

So Willie has that choice, take all the money now or wait it out and try to get a bit more in a shorter term. The other thing is like for the Leafs, what their choices really are is this is a GM who has said he's not going to let the good row thing happen again, right? He has explicitly stated that. And I think if you went and tried to shop Willie Nylander around, and I think that they probably did,

and went around to see just what would be out there for them for a top D man, which everyone wants him to do, it's not there. Teams don't want to trade a top D man for a guy they then have to give $80 million to. So you're not going to get back for what... You have to sign him is my point. You have to do this.

That's a general league wide situation is that no matter who you are, no matter how good you are, if you are getting moved as a rental, here is the rental price, which is a first rounder. And depending how good you are, it's a, it's a, which is a first rounder and... And a prospect. I don't know. Depending how good you are... Yeah, Willie might fetch more, obviously.

It's a blue chip prospect. It's a minus prospect. It's a B-plus prospect. Yeah. But that's it. That's it. Unless you're trading him for a team that's going to sign him. Yeah.

And now it's a different ballpark. People want to trade top end D. They don't trade Jacob Slavin or whoever. They don't want to do that and then have to pay Willie in Carolina, for example. So I think you kind of have to do it is my point. And then I wanted to take that to the next logical step. Let's say the Willie thing happens. Let's say it's in the next month um

you know as sort of we've kicked around what does that then mean for mitch marner who then is the next guy up um and you know next year you're looking at four guys making 11 schmill and then you got to kind of decide what Mitch is worth after that. Yeah, for me, you're not the first person to have asked me that in the last 24 hours. And the answer I give is we don't know. And it's way too premature to answer that question. You have all the time in the world, basically, to see what happens the moment you make that official commitment to Willie Nylander and what the team will look like as is with Mitch Marner.

To answer your question, you need to ask the question is, what happened this year jb was it a another first round loss was it a back-to-back second round losses how did they fare all of them how did they fare do they end up in a conference final does mitch marner put himself in a position to be one of four teams vying for a stanley cup playoff was he in the conversation of a con smith at that point how does that change your perspective on what to do with mitch marner there's no world where they would say we can't have four guys making this much money you know we couldn't trade willie because his contract was expiring but mitch has another year maybe we can't have four guys making this much money. You know, we couldn't trade Willie because his contract was expiring, but Mitch has another year.

Maybe we can get a top D for Mitch. I think there's a world with Willie Nylander at $11 million, Matthew's four-year deal kicking in next year, and Marner resigning in two years from now. i think there's a world there in two years from now or july 1st this year because he can sign this in six months right yeah yeah you can but what matters is when the money kicks in right i see what you're saying you know what i'm saying it doesn't matter sign them don't sign them it's just what matters is can you carry those guys

through the threshold of then dropping Tavares' $11 million? And the answer is, yeah, you probably can. You're going to have to be a little creative here, and I don't know what that means to plug up the rest of your lineup. It sucks that they have to be creative right in these guys' prime. You know what I mean? Like they got to skimp in the years where they're at their very best. And it will because, unfortunately,

next year is challenging because Matthew's contract kicks in. So that's an additional two. And then Willie's kicks in at an additional four right so that's that's eaten up the cap the cap the cap increase yeah without without without figuring out if domey's back yeah and then you know brody's money is off. Bertuzzi's money is off. As you mentioned, you have to pay these guys, but those guys are making significant salaries that you could replace.

You look at good players for that money. I don't think it's easy to just brush off, oh, if Nylander signs at 11, Mitch is done. He's gone. What you need to find out, first of all, is is there a world where you could actually win in the playoffs

with four of these forwards leading the charge? Hasn't happened yet. Hasn't happened yet. Last night. Ovechkin copier. Yes. All right. They won too convincingly last night. They doesn't mean it won't. That's like the Ovechkin copier. Yes. All right.

They won too convincingly last night. They played too well. Got to talk about something else. The Toronto Maple Leafs won their best hockey match of the season last night. How did I do? Yeah. Was it not? I mean, what an awesome road showing against the contender.

Maybe even longer than in the last season. I mean, didn't give them a sniff. I think there were two periods. I said they had three. L.A. had three slot shots. I mean, didn't give them a sniff. I think there are two periods. I said they had three. LA had three slot shots. I mean, really tight defensive game. Jones is good. Forwards checked.

You know what this means now? Like, no excuses from here on in. I know. It's like, we've seen it. You can do it. You've seen it? It certainly is tonight where they're playing one of the worst teams in the league whose backup's playing because they got a flu bug. Like, it's, oh, this is right for Leaf it's oh this is right oh yeah to drop the ball we never get to enjoy no no odd man rushes no gambling no bad pinches no bad line changes now while

they led last night yeah it was really refreshing um you know matthews i thought played a fantastic game it doesn't have to shoot the puck in the net to have a good game to have a great game all the time i i don't remember watching a hockey game for the leaves in a long time like you said this might be their best performance not of just this year of a really long time where they were playing hard from the start and they were the aggressors of it. Like they were playing like the Panthers all the time. Kings were on their heels. Yeah.

They were slashing and hacking every scrum in front of the net. They just seem like, I don't know what the rivalry is here. Maybe they're trying to get them back for 93 all of a sudden. Like, I don't know why they played this hard against the Kings because it's a measuring stick game. It's because every time they embarrass themselves,

this is what they do. But not like this, Bordy. They remind you that they're good. Not like the way they look last night. Last night is the hardest I can remember them playing in this era in a long time. Like it was just hard on sticks in front of the net, body checks. It was unlike them.

And I think we've spent a lot of time on how the Leafs do against bottom teams, against the bottom seven teams. We had some stats that they're like, you know, one of the bottom few in terms of record. But this year, guys, their best games. So they just took it to the Kings. They played that great game against the Rangers in Madison Square Garden where they went 7-3.

They took Boston to overtime twice. You know, they've played really well against the best teams in the league, which is why they're such a confounding team. I think losing to a playoff type of team like Carolina on the weekend as well was a friendly reminder of the way you need to play and they played well or you know well enough right i mean three two loss they were in that game at least but you're right that still wasn't enough and i think that it wasn't enough it can be an eye opener it's like okay even when we play well against these top teams they're good teams so martin jones also posts his 30th

shutout of his career uh i don't know what we were expecting i wasn't expecting a shutout i i can tell you that he didn't look overly busy he made that one save that one early save was that on the power play trevor moore trevor moore robbed him like going down one nothing there would have felt like a rip-off to 19 other guys because they were deserving of not going down 1-0. Right. And that's the type of saves you need. And ones that they didn't get out of Samsonov. No, they certainly did not. Yeah, he looked really good.

And so I'm curious about tonight now well to me the biggest point of the game for him was the power play at the end of the second period yeah where he made five or six saves there like and a couple they weren't 10 bellers but a couple just really solid saves and that's something that's killed the leafs this year is goals at the end of the period where it just feels like it changes the game and they're going into the period two nothing versus two one and in that building you know how they've blown leads or whatever i where it just feels like it changes the game. And they're going into the period 2-0 versus 2-1. And in that building, you know how they've blown leads or whatever. I think that's a big momentum builder for them.

And yeah, I've said it before, I'll say it again. You see why Jones was allowed to get 27 wins with an under 900 state percentage last year. Because he just looks like a normal NHL goalie, right? He's not flying around. He's big. He's calm. You get why he keeps getting chances.

All right, let's go to Sheldon Key for our first Kippers Clipper of the show on Martin Jones. Yeah, he did. I mean, I thought the guys defended really hard in front of him to help make his night manageable. We haven't always done the job for our goalies, but I thought tonight the guys did a terrific job. That said,

they had a pass out to Moore in the first period that he makes just an incredible save for us. That's a game-changing save. Even though it's early in the game, you get down against this team here, the way that they defend, and it changes the game dramatically.

So, you know, despite the fact that we played well and we played hard and we loved a lot of things, there's still not much between the two teams. But it's good to see us get rewarded today, because there's some parallels between this game and the Carolina game the other night, which we didn't get rewarded for, mainly on the backs of our special teams.

But it's two games in a row now. We haven't given up a goal at five on five, and that gives you a chance to win every night. Yeah, I thought the blue line in front of him was as good as most definitely we've seen all season, and again, maybe even longer. Hey, what are we going to do with Simon Benoit? I mean. Simone?

Simone? I think it's Simon or Simon. I don't care. Whoever his name is, I've gone full Johnny and Etobicoke on Benoit. Oh, yeah. I love the guy. Yeah. Like, I just, I, you know, he just, he's what every Leaf fan loves.

Is this our Pontus Holmberg offer sheet moment? No he's just a butcher I'm thrilled. There we go he just does he hits guys he's throwing his weight around he's he's not Holmberg because I think he's UFA is he not? Yeah he is UFA. And you know what I'll

say about him as a compliment he knows what he is you know like he's he's got personality. He'll look you in the eye. Like, the Leafs have really been lacking that type of guy. And so, it's really refreshing to have someone like that. Daddy played a lot of minutes for him last night. I didn't love the fight.

He got up to 16 and a half. And he left with five or ten left in the game with his finger. So, he would have been an 18-minute night. Yeah. No, he's in every battle. Yeah. And he's pulling two guys down at the same time after Matthews gets run from behind.

I did the buffling, eh? Yeah, like I just, I am who I am, and I love guys like this. Like, guys who are signed for nothing and are expected of nothing that give you a little bit of surplus is every Leaf fans dream. It's like a guy that'll fight.

And well, the Fantilli thing. Like we talked about it yesterday where he gets in the face of Fantilli. The biggest, meanest guy in the league comes over the boards. He fights him. Last night, fights for no reason again. He can't fight.

He's a bad fighter, Benoit. He keeps falling over. He also fought two giant men. But he's just willing. Yeah. I don't think you need to be a good... He keeps falling over. He also fought two giant men. He's not. But he's just willing. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think you need to be a good. You don't need to be a great fighter anymore.

You just need to make sure you don't get hurt and you don't embarrass your team. I think both guys he fought were 6'5", 230. He's good enough at that. He's good enough at that. Yes. Exactly. So I would say he's cemented himself a place like Connor Timmons. I mean, how do you put him in over Benoit?

No, he's giving you, you know, the, the, I think Connor Timmons has fallen below legs and pretty clearly for the next person that comes in. Right. Cause now you have, yeah. A little bit back in there. Yeah. Me too. Hey, by the way, Brad tree living.

Well, touch with this a little bit on lease talk last night. The high end ticket items haven't looked so hot for a lot of the year. You talk about Pertuzzi, who had a good night last night, but he's been up and down. Domi's been better, but, you know, Klingberg, Reeves. And then the three, the Benoit, Lagasin, Jones combo. Well, how about Gregor, too?

Gregor. Like, that three, but that trio has been a godsend for them. Where would they be without those three guys? So I just want to go back on your comment because I know it's a bit of a throwaway comment. But the one on Benoit. And sign him. Did you say that?

I did say it. For sure, sign him. This is where in the past the Leafs have kind of overplayed their hand, is that they don't necessarily sign players. They wait, and then it gets too late, and they leave. Yeah, they go take a little bit more somewhere else. So if you're Benoit right now, and you've gone from nothing to all of a sudden being something,

are you, what do you sign three times? Where is, where's the number? Like who's it upon? Is it upon the Leafs to make them an offer that just rises a little above, or do they want it? If you make him a one-way guy for three years at a million bucks,

would he do it? Yes. I'd imagine so, but I don't know if the Leafs want to hit? If you make him a one-way guy for three years at a million bucks, would he do it? Yes. I'd imagine so. But I don't know if the Leafs want to do that. Look at what Labushkin turned himself into. Made 2.7 times two or three? I mean, I'm not saying Ben was that. Labushkin made a lot of money there.

But, like, is he 1.7 worse than Labushkin right now? I don't know. I haven't watched a lot of Labushkin. We have to watch the book tonight. Just go back to what Labushkin did as a Leaf compared to what Benoit is doing now. Yeah, comparable. Would they be a comparable for you, Sammy? I would say Labushkin hit harder and chased a little more aggressively. If he's not 2-7, would another team be willing to give him 1-8, 1-7, 1-6?

Maybe, yeah, probably. So to your point is, do the Leafs try to get ahead of it and offer him a million times three? Yeah, give him some one-way security. He's been a, you know, you're a PTO guy this year, wasn't he? No, he's 7-75. Was he? Yeah.

One-way? Yep. No, no, I think it was. Might be two-way. I don't think he had much choice. I don't know. One thing I really like about him is that he said, I forget where the interview was,

that he thinks Anaheim messed up. It was Anaheim, right? Messed up by not signing him. He has an RFA at the end of it. Not a UFA. Oh, that helps. Oh, that helps. That's a big difference. He clearly said that Anaheim should, that helps. That's a big difference. He clearly said that, like, Anaheim should have signed me. So he believes in himself.

There's no hurry to sign him then. You just see. That's what I'm saying. Play out the year. Play out the year. I thought he presented as a UFA. But that's. He's 25 years old.

God, he could be a decent player for them. Yeah. Well, he's always going to be a 5, 6, or 7. God, he could be a decent player for them. Yeah. Well, he's. Good. He's going to be a five, six or seven. No, he does not. Right. Don't.

This is not getting too excited. No. He's going to be more. No. No. It's found money. If you find a fiver. Yeah.

It's not a 50, but it's nice to find a fiver. Well, it doesn't then appear he's going anywhere then. Right. After this year. But if you're him, just. Just see how. How this thing finishes but uh love love the response off the uh pierre luke dubois hit on matthews which included matthew nyes no hesitation whatsoever man down i'm going in like we've all been starving to see that on a fairly consistent basis guys it just appears to be now more natural than ever for them i think you i don't remember

if you mentioned it last night or not but you know since marchand on lilligran you know they it really became a talking point the leafs it seems like they've made more of an effort to stick up for one another and maybe some of that is lagasin and benoit trying to earn spots but nice you know getting in there domi's been a little bit more physical at times i i think it's been a positive change in the team this year classic pierre luke dubois game last night where no show one greasy play barely noticed. Total dive on one of the penalties. Grabs Matthews by the hip. Twists him a foot from the boards.

Doesn't engage anybody else. Just classic. I thought there was some horrible calls. I never. Awful officiating. I never crap on the officials. We never do. Do they even know what cross-checking was last night? Even Bertuzzi's penalty was like a bit of a

a shove and it's like okay you got bad balance let them play but yeah it was a non-factor max domey's call was horrible so bad but they seemed like that was their standard last night they were calling everything one of their defense got a cross-checking penalty too which i thought was right after which was yeah just as bad of a call. But anyways, it didn't factor into the game, which was a good thing. Should we quickly talk Burt before we – I know we've got to get to him. We've got eight or nine minutes. Playoff, Burt last night.

That's the guy you want to see? Yeah. Yeah. That's what I think we've seen in the past out of him in Boston. The one that Lee fans and Brad Trierliving thought, yeah, that's worth five, five and a half. I mean, this guy, his equipment setup and the way he looks out there is unlike any NHLer I've ever seen.

What was the tweet last night you read? Oh, it was Carl Peele. Sam retweeted it. It was a buddy of mine I went to college with. It was something about him. The next step was him wearing jeans over his shin pads. He says there's a 40% chance some game this year he wears jeans over his shin pads out there.

You know, he puts the one strip of tape over the hollow end of the stick. So, I don't know. I asked what people's ideas were. The tweets I got, people are so funny. They're like, to keep his va's ideas were and they like the tweets I got people are so funny they're like to keep his vape pen in was one of the answers I got to keep his darts in to keep the keys to his

Camaro in there like I got some excellent answers but apparently you have to have tape on the top of your stick sure yeah well I mean listen you could carve a guy's face so that his loophole should be illegal. But I thought it was maybe to a stick.

His finger doesn't get stuck down in there. I thought the same thing. So he's, because I actually hold the top of the stick a little bit. And like, I thought maybe it was something like that. The butt end work I could do with that stick. With his? Oh my God. You could carve someone like the Joker. Yes.

And you cover it with your top hand, and nobody can pick it up. Well, did you see at the little clip from the World Juniors, the Connor Geeky kid who goes around 80 times? Yeah, I did see that. What is he, a goalie? 80. He goes around 80 times. Not 79, not 81.

He does it all this time. He is 80 times around. So it's the opposite of that. Yeah. But I don't know. He was awesome last night. Like, Bird, I was like, did his elbow pad slide down when his glove came off? Or was that. Yeah. But I don't know. He was awesome last night. Like, Bird, I was like, did his elbow pad slide down when his glove came off?

Or was that a wrist guard? I don't know. Like, everything is just. I don't know. I don't know. And, you know, Keefe said something like, you know. Yeah, we got the clip. We want to play it.

Yeah, let's do that. Number clip four on Bertuzzi there. Huge play. Those are, again, there's not much going on out there. Offensively, it's hard to generate chances. He makes two plays to set up grade A chances. And if there was ever a guy that was going to make a play looking a little bit odd with one glove on, he would be my pick.

It was great. He stays in the battle and makes the plays. It was really good to see. Yeah, it was pretty impressive saving the play. I had two thoughts on him last night. Just one so positive, right, that when he's, you know, whacking guys and digging out pucks and making plays for guys, he can be really effective.

The other is, and I'll just say it, not a fast skater. You know, like that two-on-one with Willie, like if he's a half a stride faster he can make a play there's a check where he's first down the puck and he can't get to it first yeah like he's he's just not a fast skater that's all the leafs didn't look fast last night for the first time for me which is again plays into the more of a playoff type of feel. Yeah, which is where he suddenly relevant. They actually slowed the game down a little bit. There was no stretch passes.

There was no blowing the zone. There was not trying to do everything fast. And that plays into the hands of a Tyler Bertuzzi. And I think his style of play last night was more conducive to winning in the playoffs than anything that we've seen in the past with them trying to be this fast, you know, north-south team. So, I don't know. I think it's a good thing for tyler bertuzzi

and maybe a few other fans like okay there's a style of game where this guy can be one of our top producers and it didn't didn't rip off mitch marner or matthews from getting their looks as well sure the first four shifts matthews had in that game were as good as you can play hockey. Yeah. All over it. He needed another league. Like, he was flying around. He could have had three or four in the first four shifts that he had.

Yeah. Kind of went away a little bit, but he was really good defensively last night, too. Now, L.A. just, like, there wasn't one guy that could get anything going. And I give a ton of credit for the Leafs because, for the most part, LA's been a very good hockey club this year.

They've had some issues at home for whatever reason, killing it on the road. But yeah, that team looks like a team that in many ways could end up being like the Leafs right now going, okay, who's our goalie? And Talbot's been really good for them, but I don't see a world where they have a real comfort thinking Talbot's going to be the guy in the spring.

I wouldn't say anything last night was really particularly his fault in terms of just watching that game. But I agree. I don't disagree with you on that. But I just think there's a faith in a guy between the pipes. And I don't believe L.A.'s there with Cam Talbot. Get in line. You know, get in line if you're looking to acquire any of the available goalies, L.A., because there is a long list. There's a naked tree out there.

There's no goalies on the goalie tree. Yeah. Thought the fourth line was good last night. Sorry, the Bertuzzi clip with Tavares, do we want? No. Okay, then let's go to the depth because David Camp, not involved in the game in Carolina,

came back and shored up that fourth line. Let's listen to Sheldon Keefe on clip seven. I liked his game a lot. I thought his line was just really good. I felt comfortable putting him out there against anybody. So, yeah, Camper was, he gave us tonight what I expect from him, and I thought his line mates followed, which is really what you're looking for.

So there you go. Yeah good night for camp old nicky robertson didn't play a whole lot last night went down below 10 so robertson too it wasn't like the fourth line or his line oh boy you know played poorly or anything like that like robertson alone played was it eight minutes or something 8 30 next lowest was actually cali yarn crock then, you know, everyone else was up quite a bit. He's just, when the games are like this, Kip, you talk about how Bertuzzi, that's how it's going to work. When the games get like that, he's the worst version of himself. Tonight's a Nick Roberts game.

He can't. The next three games are San Jose, San Jose, Anaheim. He should go get five points. But he can't do what Bertuzzi does, right? And that's just play a physical type of game causing havoc. It's hard to see him in their playoff lineup right now, Robertson. Unless there's some, you know, I know everyone wants the young prospects to get opportunities

and be great, and maybe he will be. But just ask yourself what that role will look like on a team that has a ton of offense and he's not going to be on the power play. What do his minutes look like? When do you put him over the boards against Florida? Yeah. You know.

Let's celebrate. Get to Luke. We're going to go to break. When we come back, Luke Fox, who's covering the Leafs for us out in California. Nice gig. We'll get his thoughts on who should be starting tonight. The Leafs did not skate.

There have been no announcements, at least to the knowledge of our show. We'll get Luke Fox's thoughts when we return on Real Kipper and Bourne. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. Tomorrow the league will announce 32 names for the NHL All-Star Weekend, which is fast approaching. Still doing the one for every team thing? Yes.

Dumb. Sorry. Sorry, NHL. Sorry. It's just, NHL. Sorry. It's just the first round of names. There's not an all-star in every team. It's nice to have multiple options in the Leafs as opposed to the time it was Leo Komarov or Thomas Caberle is the only guy. Did that really happen?

This year. What? Leo Komarov? Oh, yeah, bud. He was the only one? Yeah, in 2015 when, yeah, bud. He was the only one? Yeah, in 2015 when they were really bad. He was the all-star. You have a terrific memory, man.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't remember my email password. I think mostly fans have forgotten. I watched 80-82 that year. The worst season ever. Got Matthews, though. So, anyways, I think we got Luke.

Do we got Luke? I think so. Do we? Or am I lying? They're setting him up as we speak. Oh, my bad. Luke Fox is getting ready to join us. I think he's on the beach.

I think he's probably in his hotel. Do we have any insight? All right. Let's go to Luke Fox fresh off his celebrity homes tour in L.A. Did you pass by Jimmy Kimmel's house? Was there a lawyer in his driveway? Luke? No, I actually came right from the Winter Classic in Seattle

to the LA game. So from one rink to another. Nice. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Nice. Okay, where do you want to start with the Leafs? Martin Jones, Willie Nylander. Where's your biggest story about to go on sportsnet.ca?

Well, I think you have the biggest story. Breaking the Willie Nylander news. We've gone down that path already. Oh, okay. No, no, no, no. We want to hear your version, pal. Well, I just find it fascinating. It seems like another case of maybe they waited too long

and watched one of their players, their stock rise. And, you know, he had leverage to begin with in terms of, you know, a partial no trade. And, you know, willing his very demeanor, his willingness to go into a contract year and risk, you know, I guess having a bad season, getting hurt, all those things, betting on himself. And all he did was raise his price with his play. I mean, he's been phenomenal. The knock on him was never that he couldn't perform like this. It was he couldn't do it this consistently. And there's been only four games all season that he hasn't got a point.

He leads the team in scoring 50 points already. He's on pace for a career year to trump his career year last year. And I think the most encouraging thing, if you are willing to cut this check that could be as large as you're talking, Nick, is he's a guy that actually shows up in the playoffs. He's a guy that didn't look out of place or shook by the moment in the postseason. So Bradford Living cannot have Johnny Gaudreau 2.0 walk this guy out the

door and say goodbye to a prime talent in his, in his, in his prime and just, you know, let him go sign with Chicago or whoever. And Willie's forced his hand. So now he's going to, he's looks like he's going to get his payday.

There you go. You know, we're, we're sitting here debating. We discussed that a bit and then we went on to get his payday. There you go. You know, we're sitting here debating. We discussed that a bit, and then we went on to the goaltending. Can I ask him one more question? Please, yes. Hey, if you want to stay with it, please do.

Just in terms of Luke, you know, I find it fascinating, you mentioning the Leafs and their inability to tie up guys fast enough and watch the price of poker to go up you know there's there still may be a sense out there that they're trying hard somehow some way to get that number below 11 your front load it uh jb i know i think there might be some rumblings that you've heard as well that there may be trying to hope still hold on hope that he can sign something under 11. Do you think that is even out there anymore, or is that ship sailed? Well, I mean, if you're Nylander, you could hold fast at 11.

You'd be doing the team a favor at this point. Now, the Leafs, what they have in their advantage is they can offer the eighth year, so they can give them more money as a whole and try and get the cap a bit down. And they have cash up front. We saw in the Matthews deal, we've seen it in many deals. They love to incentivize with the salary bonuses, get that in the bank account right away, start earning interest, all those good things. But it's up to Nylander to say yes to it. He could still hold them hostage a little bit here if he wants and say, hey, I'm right on pace with my good buddy David Pasternak.

I want his money. Look at Johnny Goudreau. Look at Huberto. I'm outperforming those guys. I'm worth more than them. Plus, the cap is going up, so the percentage, even if I got what they're making, would be less. And so I think it's all up to him.

It's in his control because I think the Leafs are quite frightened that they could lose him. Yeah, absolutely. And I also think for Willie's sake, if he can come in, Nick, at 11 or 10.9

or whatever it is, it'll look good for him as given the fans will appreciate a lower number, right? And that just garners you goodwill. And I whatever it is, it'll look good for him as given, you know, the fans will appreciate a lower number, right? And that just garners you goodwill. And I think that's worth it when you're there for eight years as a consideration as well. Any more on?

No. Okay. I want to ask you just the vibes of the goaltender. Like, are we going to get to see the Hilda Beast tonight or what's going on? I don't know. It's really kind of confusing because Sheldon Keefe's been so noncommittal. And he said he wanted to see the L.A. game play out. And it played out in a way that you could sell the back-to-back.

I asked Martin Jones if he'd be good to go. He said, yeah. There's no flight. It's just a bus ride. Now, it is a quick turnaround. But Martin Jones said something that really caught my ear. And he was, the type of saves I was making weren't particularly taxing. A lot of the Kings' action was coming head on.

There wasn't a lot of side-to-side stuff. Really? Yeah, which I guess makes sense. More taxing on a goaltender's body if he's constantly dealing with one-timers and cross-scene passes. And he said most of it was head-on. So that's like a less stressful day for him. So I think that it really boils down to which goaltender is going to give him the best chance to win.

I think that's Martin Jones. It's about, you know, the sports science guys getting in there and saying, well, let's be careful with him. Or, you know, maybe Brad for a living says, hey, we called this guy up. We're going to have to use him at some point. Why not throw him against the Ducks who are horrible? Apparently they're going through the flu right now, and they're starting their backup, Lucas Dostal, who has a sub-900 save percentage.

So it is a pretty cushy situation if you were to go and throw in a prospect. We're talking to Luke Fox. Does a terrific job for Sportsnet.ca. Is one of the league and Leaf writers. In terms of the blue line, do you think, you know, outside of Martin Jones, maybe buying them a little bit of time that guys like Benoit

are doing their part as well? Yes. I've become a big Simone Benoit fan. And I actually, it started in training camp when, you know, he was late to get going and battling through an injury. And I got him one-on-one, you know, outside the practice facility and talked to him for a while. And he was so confident.

He's like, yeah, I'm behind, but I'm going to take my spot. I'm going to earn my spot. And I just love that confidence. He wasn't saying, oh, I'm going to try and we'll see. And, you know, he was like assertive that he would do this. And I think part of that comes from never being drafted, from, you know, having a chip on his shoulder by not being qualified by the same Anaheim

ducks team that he's going to face tonight. And he's got an edge to him. And Sheldon Keefe said something this week that was, that was really telling. He's like, he's our biggest defenseman. He's our most physical defenseman. And he just keeps getting better every day.

You know, he's still relatively young and he's our most physical defenseman and he just keeps getting better every day uh you know he's still relatively young and he's cheap and i i got to thinking like are guys who sign one-year deals are eligible to re-sign after january 1st why not you know have you not seen enough let's get this guy re-signed as long as he re-signs for a third pair of money keep this guy in as long as he resigns for a third pair of money, keep this guy in the system. Yeah, certainly. We had a little discussion on that ourselves before we let you go. Just wanted to get you to weigh in on where Tyler Bertuzzi is at, has a nice game last night.

Do you see signs of him coming around and being the guy that the Leafs need him to be? Yeah, I do for sure. You know, the numbers aren't there like like the hard production numbers. But Sheldon Keefe said our best line all season has been Bertuzzi with Tavares and Nylander. And I think it took a while, but he has the coach's trust. I thought he was fabulous last night.

Two primary points in the type of game that you're probably going to see more of in the playoffs, like tight checking, not a lot there. But he has good playmaking abilities, makes it happen. And he does the one with the one glove. I mean, this guy is like a human yard sale. Like if this, if this whole, if this whole NHL thing doesn't work out for him, he could be like an extra on shoresy or something. I just, I just love his whole, I love his character.

Have you seen a hill to be man? They could be in game of Thrones next edition. True. Good call. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see you on him. We'll let you get ready to go to the rink, Luke. Really appreciate it. Have fun covering Leafs

and Anaheim tonight. Okay. I'm waiting for you to break the official news here. Thanks, Luke. Everything's thrown towards Elliott the rest of the way. Luke did ask Willie about the contract, right? And Willie said, I'm not going to answer. Yeah.

Not touching. He's like, I'm close. It's close. Yeah. Oh, so close. I need 20 more bucks. The only thing I mentioned last night that someone mentioned to me is in a perfect world, they could get it done before the All-Star break. And Elliot said last night on our show that, you know, they wouldn't be surprised if it happened as early as next week. So that would probably just be one thing you could check off.

Yeah. Be nice at least not to not to think about that anymore not hear about it um you know anything else from last night kip we got a couple more uh we do have some clips willie killing penalties last night you know does that do anything for you on his added value or is he yeah that he's actually able to be used in multiple. His ice time's way up from past years because of that, I think. Let's have a listen on Sheldon Keefe with a new added addition to his penalty kill. He's just done a good job with it.

He's done a good job with it. Dean Chennault obviously leads the way there, and he talks to Willie a lot, but he's done a good job with it. He's not just this season, but he's been patient. He's worked through a lot of meetings, sat through a lot of meetings over the last couple of seasons to learn about it, and he's very eager. So we wanted to get him a little more involved and move him up the chain a little bit

coming off a game where we didn't get the kills that we wanted. We wanted to see if we could give Willie a little bit more and see if that changed things a bit, and he did a really good job today. It's a good lesson for all you kids out there. You know, like, play defense. You get more ice time. Now you're killing me.

He's out there at the end of the game. He gets an empty net goal rewarded for being able to play both sides of the puck. The feeling out there is that Matthews will be one of the names mentioned tomorrow for the all-star weekend but i mean it's hard to imagine that weekend next month without willie willie's gonna be there in that lineup yeah i think matthews probably but he has to get pretty obvious choice he's got 30 goals just turn new year's eve yeah but he'll he'll have to get voted in.

That's, I think, the way the process works. I have to believe the Toronto fan base. Yeah. We'll chuck him a couple of votes. It's hard to imagine an NHL All-Star weekend without Willie Stiles part of it. Do you think the Toronto guys are dreading it? The fact that it's here? I would, for sure.

Why? If I were those guys. Oh, every day, a million microphones. Yeah, things are great. No, no, no. You're so wrong. They're going to have to come on this show. It's a cool thing.

It's a cool thing. In 94, we hosted, and Richter, Leach. They had fun. Oh, my God. It was a blast. Okay. And there's an added dimension for the All-Star weekend that they're going to be excited about.

I'll tell you about it after the break. Oh, what a tease. What a tease. Oh, my God. You're good at this now. The host with the most. Don't go away. We go national next on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show.

We'll be right back. Go.