Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Gavin Gets On the Board + the Mailbag!

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on the Toronto Maple Leafs' comeback win over the Nashville Predators. They discuss Gavin McKenna's first NHL goal and what the Leafs need from him this season, Auston Matthews' dynamic look, William Nylander's impressive effort on the game-winning goal, the importance of the win ahead of a challenging road trip, and concerns on the blueline. Then, they discuss Anthony Stolarz's performance and concerns for the ageing blueline before taking your questions from the Maple Leaf Mailbag!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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It is the Leaf Hour edition of the Real Kipper and Born show. Sammy, we good, buddy? How's your computer? New computer for old Sammy. It's just playing sounds. So continue. I was panicking. We're live on Sportsnet 360, 590, The Fan, in Toronto.

Streaming always on Sportsnet. Plus, if you miss our show, catch us wherever you get your downloads. Apple, Spotify, YouTube. Necabrios, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo, Jake the Snake, no, Frank the Tank, Baraska, and Sammy Squared. Sammy Squared, help me out again today. There you go. Two points is two points, but maybe it pales in comparison to the sigh relief for the first pick overall for the Toronto Maple Leafs in Gavin McKenna, who manages a goal and assists, 14 minutes and 45 seconds. 18 shifts

and four shots on goal. What a nice. And played an instrumental part in a comeback win. He did. I mean, wow. And was benched in overtime. Typical Hiller.

And McKee called it in game time. And he called Stamcoast. Did you make some people some money, Sammy? I've never... I'll tell hot start this year. Yeah, listen. Blind squirrel, broken clock, all those things. Yeah.

The Stamcoast thing was an automatic. Not to get too deep into the Stamcoast conversation, but it feels like he's had an underrated career. Like, it really feels like he doesn't get talked about in the same level as like Ovechkin or Sid or whatever. He's not that far as all. First of all. Okay, I don't want to get off topic too much because we're on McKenna. But Ovechkin in Washington and Pitt with Sid,

they never bailed on him. Tampa bailed on Steve Stamcoast. Yeah, fair enough. And that's where your narrative shifts. And if he was still in Tampa, doing those type of things, we'd have them right up there as you mentioned. He just had an excellent career. Yeah, excellent career. It's just really kind of underrated in the old grand scheme of things.

Anyway, absolutely. Okay. Your initial thoughts on what you saw last night out of Gavin McKen. We'll start with you, J.B. Is Gavin McKenna the big takeaway for you? Is him getting on the board? That's a... I'll tell you what the big takeaway for me last night is.

Number one is the crowd reaction. Even with Austin scores or Willie scores, they're the most two popular players. But there was this extra jolt of getting Gavin, Gavin McKenna's first National Hockey League goal out of the way and I think that the building just erupted when they heard that. They cheer him when he's rushing the puck up through the neutral zone. I'll tell you what I got out of last night is how important he is right now to this team.

I thought you were going to say how important morning skate is. Well, I've said it already. Oh, yeah. But he does not get, and I'm pushing for this. that I want him to kind of still have that safety valve of you're 18 and you're a rookie and just calm down. But not in this market. No, no, it's been really clear right from the get-go,

from the leaf fans to social media. We need you to be good now. Right now, and if you're not, our team is not better off. I don't agree. No. Couldn't disagree. agree with that more. You know, I, they need them.

They needed them last night. Are you talking about wins and losses? Yes. Points. Contributing. Yes, they need him right now. Well, I think they have him in the top six and they would like him to contribute his 40 or 50 points that we talked about. Yeah.

But going into people pay attention at the beginning, right? All eyes. What's he going to look like? How does he fit into the NHL? And the first three games didn't look awesome. and you're starting to get the memes from people online about him being a bust and Yukon Yakopov and whatever else. He needed that to keep the wolves at bay, to buy time,

to find the 40 or 50 point guy that he is. I don't look at this roster and go, they need him to be a 90 point, you know, whatever. No, 50. I mean, sure. Yeah, 50. Depending what you want them to be. A playoff team.

So they need him be a 50 point guy to make the playoffs? Yes. I don't know. you know like there's a lot of bigger fish to fry what's your angle here like i'm confused my angle my angle is he he he will not get the same leeway as others here and stamcoast talked about it the other day about how i went to tapabay and everybody but every guy who used no not top pick comes in here and traps over how hard it is in front yeah hardly anybody ever he didn't even know who i was that's not the case here except everybody knows what

that said seen Stamcoast in his rookie year. Everybody knows what he is, where he's come from, and how much the Leafs need him right now is what I got out of last night. I think what that tells me is that people are paying attention and rooting for him and excited about him.

But they weren't rooting for him when he went 0 for 3. Yes, we were. Well, no, no, no. No, they weren't encouraging him. They were talking about maybe he's a bust. Who was? The other side was. The Sentence fans?

The anti-Bescentics. Of course. Not Lee fans either? No. Not yet. Are you sure about that? All I got out of last night is they need this kid to be good now. I think there's a lot of attention on him.

And I think that, you know, there's a lot of relief that came with last night and excitement about him. People are just badly hoping that he is going to be long-term the people, the person they thought they were getting. So, I mean, last night to me was. fantastic for him. He looked excellent, not just the points. I thought he played better last night and he's finding a little bit. People are certainly excited about it.

And he's another guy in this team that can make a play the last year they didn't have. That's my point. They need that, J.B. And if he doesn't do it, then it throws a curve ball into whatever else follows. If he doesn't find a way to at least produce at a somewhat decent level, I think it kind of throws a few things. It throws a wrench in their lineup. Yeah, part of what you were supposed to be this year

was more dangerous offensively, and he's a part of that. I would argue that last night even, I thought that they should have involved him more. Like after he scored his first goal, they get the power play right after. I thought that's a perfect opportunity. Give him a shout with the big dogs. He's feeling it.

They don't put him out there. And for the third period, Hiller puts him on the third line with, like, I would say that he played. It's a better line. Sure, for sure. But, like, I just, you know, I thought that he was less involved in the third period when they were awesome. Like, I think, I don't understand your point.

That's like. My point is they need him this year to be a lot like he was last night. I just, like, yeah, they're going to need him. I didn't think, I thought they could ease him in. I thought they could just, if he, if he looked like a guy that at times had been struggling, like the first three games, it's okay. So, but. And I get the sense that it. It might not be okay if he doesn't find a way to contribute like he did last night.

That's what I got out of last night. So 14 minutes and not top power play and playing on the third line for the third period and not playing in overtime is not easing them in? Like they're totally easing them in. The whole fan base is dying for him to be on the top line, Kipp, and they're not. They're easing them in. But I think the idea here is last year they didn't have anyone who could break a game open that wasn't Matthews and Nealander.

And Matthews wasn't very good. But this year, Marchenko is a guy who can make a play. McKenna is a guy who can make a play. Rossovic made a play. Cowan's another level. Like, you're supposed to be this other level past those guys. He should be a part of that. They want him to.

It would be great if he was. You know. Yeah. I don't know how. It's tough to know what the goalposts are this year for the Leafs. Like, what do we think they are and what they're supposed to be and where they're going? What are the goals? You know, I don't know.

If you want him to win a cup, then yeah, you need him to be awesome. Need him to be awesome. Make the playoffs, you need him to be awesome. Not even win the Stanley Cup to get in. I think you need him to definitely be a top rookie. A top rookie, I don't know what is. It all depends on the other dynamics. To your point is like, what is Roslavik?

Is he that guy that can play? Will he hold his spot as a number one winger on a number one winger on a. a team to get into the playoffs, right? And the domino effect of Cowan and if one of those guys falters a little bit, what is the domino effect here in the lineup? Because they're all unproven still. Yeah, it's a brand new, it's a whole new team. They're figuring things out.

Yeah, I know. But is it figuring it out to get in the playoffs, Sammy, or is it figuring out to be good in the next two years? I'm just happy that they beat Nashville last night, Kip. Yeah, but your bar is not that high. No, but like Gavin McKenna comes in here, has his first game, scores a beautiful goal, Austin Matthews is the best game he's had, and I don't know how long, William Neander, buzz in, Jack Ross is,

oh, they look great, it's like, oh, all they need them to be good to have a chance to do anything? What's the point? Can I remind you how you about, can I remind you how you felt when they were down three nothing? Yeah, the season was over. I said that. That's called being a fan, bud. No, no. Yeah.

Okay, but now everything's all rosy, but down three nothing. You said the season was over. I did say that 100%. I said that to multiple group chats. Not just ours. Yeah, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one saying that. That's the reverse. You're saying that like, you're like, I got you.

Like, yeah, no. You've been doing a year, show together for six years, buddy. You can't go the season's over after 20 minutes and then everything's absolutely rosy. I'm not saying it's rosy. I'm just saying it was awesome that Kenna scored his first career goal and they looked good and they had fun. And they're, like, what's wrong with that? Nothing's wrong with that. It is.

Something's wrong with it. You got me worked up. I don't know. Is this what you wanted to do? I don't know. I just, I feel what I, the original question was, what did you get out last night? And my, my answer is how much they need this guy to be pretty darn good. I'll take that to the level of they have another gear they didn't have last year.

You know, like looking at that game when they're down three nothing and seeing that there is a team in there this year that doesn't just go quietly into the, the night that can make a push and make plays, that's refreshing. And so I don't know what it's going to become this year necessarily. But they used to, the reputation with the Toronto Maple Leafies for years was that they could make plays, score goals, whatever, couldn't do other things that you need to win a cup or whatever. But then they even lost that element that they could get back in a game, make plays, do the things, they can do it again. And so last night was like this first sign from this year that like, it's back.

this ability to do that as back and then you go back to you know painting the edges of the room because you've got enough paint for the middle you know like it's the it's encouraging for last okay we'll get into the edges we'll get into the edges let's listen to Gavin McKenna

talking about his first goal ever in the National Hockey League clip one Gavin yeah big monkey off the back that one felt good yeah that's a goal I'll obviously remember forever so yeah it felt good big monkey out the back 18 year old kid hadn't scored in three games in

the n hl big monkey out the bat he expects to score with everything he's gone through already it is a big monkey off his back with everything he's gone through i didn't do it i didn't do it i didn't i didn't i'm not the one that turned i'm not the one that turned uh missing optional practices into a story. I'm one of. Are you sure about that? What makes it a story isn't when one person says it,

it's when like a thousand people say it. That's what makes it a story when others are writing about it. Hey, listen, it's, you know, important for him. When he says monkey off the back, this is it, right? This is the relief he's getting. I will say, and I said,

everything's great. In the chat last night, genuinely shocked. he has the ability to shoot the puck past a goalie from distance. Like, you know, he had that preseason two-on-one with a little muffin. Like, several times he shot the puck and I've been like, oh, no. Yeah. But to be able to, that that's in the arsenal is surprising to me

and a good sign for his ability to score in the future. Cleared the hips and let a wrap. Well, you take it from that offside and to pivot out and, you know, that's a... Want to hear from the coach on McKenna? Yeah, let's do it. Clip two. Clip two. Yeah, it was great.

You know, and that goal was a goal scorer's goal. You know, we know he's a playmaker, I guess. That's kind of by trade, he's a playmaker, but that was a goal scorer's goal. Got his feet around it on the strong side, and he had some zip on it. What was it like on the bench when it happened? Like, what did it mean to the team to see it?

Well, the guys were excited for him, but I think more importantly, it was a big goal in the hockey game. So that's the one you remember. It was really important. It wasn't the first goal of the game, or it was an important moment. And he came up big in an important moment.

So I like that. More so than that as a takeaway. What leads to that goal, I think, is the takeaway. Because you have said this year, as well as everybody else, that Austin Matthews has to be great. He has to be back for this team to be much anything. Him leaning on Stamcoast with the puck, pushing him off, creating space. That's the most encouraging part.

It is the look. No question about it. Yeah, he had three primary assists last night. It would have been four if he wasn't a breath offside with Willie. He scores the over-time winner. Crushed it. Yeah, he did. He did crush it.

It's the look of everything that you envisioned 10 years ago when you drafted him. Just be that guy. Yeah, 84 games. It's a long year. There's going to be highs and lows. But it does, we haven't seen much of what we saw to him last night. you've talked about his playmaking last night. He did a nice job.

The pass underneath the Rossevik was great. Really, really good. Yeah. And Rossovick's finished on that. No big deal. That was pretty slick. Just one knock against Austin. Three on O in overtime.

But when the puck comes to you, you put it in the net. That is your job. It's not to pass it off back to Riley or give it to Cowan. you're the guy. It's funny. Those sort of things are tough, right? It's almost like it's harder to be happy with your choice of ice cream when you're picking from 100 flavors than two. But if you're going to come back and chocolate, I'll just pick vanilla.

You can't ask for a better opportunity to be the man than that. One-on-one against the goalie. You have it. You're the 60. You've got to get in the net. Trying to pass it around them. Yeah, just take the bull by the horns and call your shot. I would say definitely if you could have that back, they would do it differently.

Can I present the case that that was a fine play? And if Cowan had a shot it into anywhere other than the pad, it would have been in the middle, it would have gone in the net. Yeah, my only complaint about it is that you don't want it to be an offhand one-timer. Sure, but it's like below the hash marks with three-year-old. Yeah, like, if you had it off the ice, it's in the net. I mean, like, shoot it in the net. $12 million.

Okay. To shoot it in the net. Then he did. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Then they did. Okay. But to the McKenna stuff and about what they need to win,

watching Matthews last night for myself, and I'm sure a lot of elite fans, because listen, people have been talking about the analytics through the first two games and how that line's been good, and we've been seeing the Mike Kelly stuff tweeted out, like all the, how, where they rank amongst expected goals and all this stuff, and that's nice. But I still thought through the first three left me a little bit wanting.

Wasn't all there. But seeing that last night, that for me is the biggest difference between them being a playoff team and not being a player you thought murchenko was quiet too i thought he was kind of quiet until he had that play backdoor tabars found him he tried to tug to the backhand got poachek he had a couple looks early kind of went away i think there's more there with him but if matthes is going to look like that for you know more than half the season or three quarters of the season the least are in great shape because he was unbelievable so marchenko to me can't do willy nilander things and we saw it again last

Last night, game winning goal, he strips the puck off of Yossi. Yossi's falling all over the place. Then he, I think he made Ryan O'Reilly look like he was in quicksand, and then goes one on two. Edges. I'm not absurd. That's not Marchenko. Marchenko, to me, like, and the one thing about Willie is we know how good he is and how he can do those Willie things. But Willie can be sleepy sometimes.

and Marchenko is a little bit more reckless constantly, which makes him look like he's more engaged more of the time. That's an interesting thought. But Willie, again last night, he can make that individual effort that only a handful of guys maybe in the world can do. It can't be anyone harder to get the puck off to get down when he's got control and he's going lateral.

like he's their best overtime player by 100 miles. And he's ripping it under the bar. Like the goal he scored on the opening night is a perfect example of that, to pivot, fire it. The one he scored last night, and the one he got tanked back. That's just from the top of the circle,

beaten one of the best goals in the league queen under the bar. So when you got Willie and you got Matthews looking like last night, it kind of reminisces. We've done the show for five years. And the one constant thing, no matter how crappy seasons have ended, was like, they're never really, you're never really sure they're out of a game. Yeah.

Last year they were out of it. It was a good sign because they're down three nothing, man. They, season was older, as I said it. I would have hated to see and listen to you today if they would have lost to that team last night. It would have been bad. I'm telling you, like, I sent out a tweet talking about Matthews and they said that they win the must win game. And I had a few people be like, must win, what are you talking about? It's a fourth game of the season.

I'm like, you're watching? Like, they're about to head out here. Vegas, Colorado, Utah, back home, Buffalo. I think Islanders may be in there. But like, if they lose last night, you're staring down what? One in six, two and five?

Like, it's a huge difference. The one thing I wanted to add, I didn't get in on the Marchenko conversation, is his value to me is so much of, like, backing off teams, right? Everyone's like, oh, man, get on your heels, get back. But then the next layer is, I don't know if he's had teammates or linemates as good as he's going to have here in Toronto, where the next step is a cutback or is a drop pass or is a lateral play. Right now, a lot of his rushes are ending in a wrister, you know, that's getting tipped and poked.

And it's like, okay, you're in the zone. We've got talent around you. I think he's cutting it into the middle hard and trying to rip a lot. You got time. To your point, I want to see more group involvement in play. because there's a lot of individual efforts out there. He probably had to do that. And he, yeah, he is a kind of a guy that once he starts coming up the middle of the ice on his rush,

he wants to go down there and shoot the puck. And Tavares scored a great goal last night, but again, it doesn't happen often, right? It doesn't happen often. And Willie's dangles, I mean, these are a lot of good individual efforts because some of them have the skill to do that, and John still has an ability to shoot it in the net. We know that.

But to your point, yes, start getting a little creative with four other guys on the ice. Because that's what it's going to take. Like, I don't want to take anything away from Sammy's joy last night, but that's a really bad hockey club last night, boys. Yeah. Nashville? Like, oh, yeah. Well, I'm not really bad, but not great.

Like, there's a lot of really bad teams. No, really bad. Bottom five team, you think? Like, Burnett. It went to the top of the list as maybe the first coach fired with that team. And it won't be his fault. Not sure that as they heard Brooks prime or whoever you like as a coach. I'm sorry.

They got to cancel a trip to the, what was it, to the sphere? They got a candle. They missed the boat on trading Ryan O'Reilly. They could have had some really good value last season. Well, and they have a non-verbal, no trade clause. Sorry, verbal no trade clause. That's not correct. Yeah.

They've told him that they won't trade. him without kind of his permission, but there's nothing in writing. And Yossi kind of looked 36 last night, 37 years old. Yeah. You know, their top lines got curfut on it, right? Who played 20 minutes? That's where they're at. It was a lot of curfut.

And I think he got like two separate shifts in overtime. It was curfut. You know, Kip and I were going back and forth in overtime, and I'm not sure if you were in this at all. But like, in what pairs they could have gone with for forwards? Because immediately it was like, okay, McKenna overtime. Are we going to see this? was calling for it.

And so I'm running through it. I spent time on this in my head today. How do you get McKenna out there safely with a good defensive player or whatever? They went Matthews-Roslovick. Then was it? Willie. Sorry, Willie Marchenko. Tavares came out next thing.

No, it was Tavars and Willie. Yeah, it was Tavars and Willie. And then Marchenko came out for one shift with Callan. Yes. Does that sound right? Call-Lis out there. And then back to Matthews-Rosliv. Yeah.

And don't, like, Rasevik and DeVar as an OT, don't really need them when McKenna's on the bench. Like, that's a great spot for him to get space and do the things and make plays. But if you do Matthews and anyone, to me, Matthews and Nylanders, your best pair to start with. But then who? Who can you put McKenna out with and feel good about it? I like, I know it may be surprising. I like not having them out there last night. Yeah.

I thought, I thought, like, I wasn't offended. I was not offended. Is it has to be Matthews or there's no other option? Fair. Because it has to be a centerman. And it can't be Marchenko, right, because he got no centerman on the ice, no defensively responsible players, can't be Willie. There's no defensive conscience. Like, not JT, too slow, not defensive conscience.

Yeah, and you're not, you need somebody who's going to take the puck. Because we've seen from whatever we've seen McKenna, it's been good, been fine. But he's not winning a board battle to get the puck back. No, that's in three. And winning the puck back is huge. That's how they score less. I was fine with him not making a shift in overtime. I thought they had a lot of good players who were playing.

Of course I want to see it, but I was okay with it. Next time, just go Matthews, McKenna. And then J.T. with Willie. Or no, Marchenko with Willie for me. Jamie, you have an article on Sportsnet.com. on the Leafs last night. I think it is around three things you liked. There are three up and three down.

Okay. So we've talked a lot about Up here with Matthews and McKenna and the win here. What are some of your concerns in your article? The downs. The first one is the aging decor looks aged. Okay. Agree.

So you cannot have an art, you can't have a leaf hour edition without talking about what we saw last night on that blue line. And certain concerns. Yeah. I'll just, I thought TANF has been good so far this year. I thought last night he was not very good. I thought OEL was their like most consistent, competitive.

guy last year. I thought they, well, him and McCabe. And he's third pair of minutes, too, last night. He's played the least minutes per game on, of the six that play. He's at 17 minutes a night. So he,

he's moving, he be showing his age as well. Well, yeah. And then McCabe hasn't been overly noticeable. And all of a sudden, that leaves you, like, Radish has been great. I thought he's been very good.

He's recovered. For sure. But now it's like, okay, it's, it's Radish, who's playing three minutes more than Riley. And Morgan's second in ice time, isn't he? Yeah, over 20.

And I think Stetcher's fourth, I'm not mistaken. Stetcher's probably 18 minutes a night? Yeah, he's playing 18 a night. So. Can they make the playoffs with this blue line? I think if it stayed healthy, they could, but I don't think it's going to. It's too old. Yeah, I worry about it.

And I think that Rottish can break the puck out. Morgan does it the best that he, you know, that he tries. He's looked okay through the first four. I think he's actually been okay. But the rest of it doesn't feel like that. It's slow, guys. It's just slow. And that, can you plug holes while they look?

They're going to have to. But I got to think after four games at home, they're going on the road now. And as a competition stiffens up here, it's going to put a lot more stress on this blue line. The best part about the blue line is none of them are bad. They don't have a bad defenseman. And a lot of teams have, almost every team has a bad defenseman. Stetcher, take it or leave it.

But none of them are above average by much either. You know, radish, I think is. But that's, it's, they're very, very average when fully healthy. Blankenberg, would you make a switch? You know, we've done this whole thing where you change the 60s, it moved the needle, taking Stetcher out and putting Blankenberg in. Why did you sign them that? If it has to move some needle, you got to put them in.

You got to put them in. You got to move some needle. Got to try. Got to try. Yeah. And I thought part of the reason they brought in Andre in the out season was because he's a guy that's able to move the puck up the ice and he got traded before he ever played a game. So, like, it's, it does feel too similar to last year. And there's a couple questions about this in our mailbag out to the break or whatever.

But we talked about this a ton of deadline last year, boys. Maybe a mistake not taking a first round pick from somebody for Oliver Rekman-Larsin if it was there or even. a second. Like it just, that was the best maybe he was going to be. We had those convos in retrospect. But it may, no, because we know the direction that they went. Like, I go the opposite. I'm like, why did you get rid of Carlo?

Well, why are you going to get rid of OEL for a first rounder unless you flip the first rounder and get someone younger, faster, stronger? Because you're trying to compete. You have to win now, Sammy. Yeah, but not at that point. Not at that point. When they were, they were the worst team in the league at. that point. They were horrible when they were selling at the deadline.

They were losing every game. And remember they weren't going to sit and everybody? And then they sat Oliver Recman-Larsen, but man, and there was one other person. Wah. Wah. In that game. And then they didn't end up trading Oliver, Rickman-Larsen. I just think, looking back, and I said it at the time that they should have traded them

for a first or whatever they were going to get. But the card will think, Kemp, we sat in here every game and we're like, he can't play. He can't play. I'm not going to relitigate that one. The more I thought about that, the less I agree. No, I didn't want him traded. No, not for that anyway. But anyway.

I didn't think he's, he's serviceable, Sammy. And he's got experience. And last time I checked in Boston, he was really a good defenseman. The best deep here in the NHL right now by expected goals, who played over 25 minutes together is Fowler Carlo. Great. Great. Fantastic.

Got to ask you about the goaltending last night out of St. And in hindsight, still on board with the rotation. And I know the game's tomorrow night, but we assume that Brovowski's going back in. And should it have been, should have been Bobrovsky's win last night? Wins a win. I don't know. Well, I'm just, I look at this as a player now jumping on a plane for, I will say this. I've had enough conversations about

with my good friend and now president of the NHL alumni Glenn Healy who mastered the backup. Right? Roll. And he said you put

you put Bobrovsky in for the win at home. Then you jump on a plane for five hours adjust to the work adjust to the work adjust to the time change.

And then you throw your backup goalie and you feed them to the lions against Vegas. Now it's Brobroski that you potentially feed to the lions. And then if he doesn't play well, then you go Saturday night against Colorado. And he said, Mike Richter wouldn't have wanted that start Thursday, or last Thursday,

off of a five-hour trip and a three-hour time change. He would have just needed two days and get ready for Colorado. But now it's the opposite, potentially. But the story you've just given me is all about ego and keeping people in whatever mind frame versus if you want to beat the lions and not just feed someone to them, maybe the idea is you give your backup the more winnable game, get your win with a backup.

Now you've got your best guy ready to go against the best team. Go get another win. You know, you view it as a show of confidence, if you like, and say, hey, look, we believe in you, and so we're saving you for the best opponent. I don't know. Yeah. Did you think Stollars was bad last night?

He's had better moments, but he still made, like, he still made saves that if it goes for nothing, it's over. No, maybe not. It's Nashville. At the end of the game, too, when it was 4-4. Yeah, he made some big saves. They had a little, they had around the four-minute mark where they were in the offensive zone,

and he made a couple good stops there. I was like, oh, thank God they didn't lose this game in regulation. Begging for a point against Nashville in October. It didn't feel good. Or September. No, it's October. It's October. It's the 7th of October.

But it's crazy how much they needed that win, that overtime to go their way. You know, it feels a lot different coming in here today, two and two. Everyone's, Rostovic's off the snide. Same with McKenna. Matthews has a great game. Fives are high. My Rosslipic radar is high, though, because of what I've heard from other fan days of like the start's always good

and he's looked good and that goal. No, I think that's... I think that's just the way he's been is that he'll give you... He'll give you these looks and then he'll give you looks where it's... What are you doing?

And it seems to run its course with every team he's played on. You can see how teams start him in these spots. He's... Talented. Hansy. enough to play with good players. But yeah, it gets harder and heavier

and tougher as the season goes on and maybe if he loses half a step, he loses his superpower. I don't know. Made two fantastic plays last night. The one where he was on his knee and he ripped it back into the corner and Matthews wins it and then that goal is filthy. That got me off the couch.

It was a mute. Yep. Okay, we take a quick break and we got mailbag. Is that what's coming up next, Sammy? We got lots of great questions, boys. Lots of great questions. As the Toronto Maple Leafs, hedge out the Nashville Predators last night.

Okay. More with Sammy's mailbag when we returned to Real Kippenborn. Everything you need to know about the Blue Jays, Blair and Barker. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in studio, Nick Kiprios, Justin Boran, Sammy McKee.

This is our Leaf Hour edition of our program. Now, watching Soros last night, aren't you glad no one listened to you? when you constantly called for Soros to be traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs? I mean, three years ago when he was good when I said that? Yeah, I kind of wished I had had done it then. Instead of watching Freddie Anderson and Jack Campbell and... Was it that far?

Samsonov and all those other guys flounder in the place. He looks small. He looks small. And when he's off, it just feels like everything's entering the net. Everything over the shoulders. That's why Cowan shoots it high in overtime. The 3rd Republic goes in. Anyways, just talking in the break conversation.

Chica's really remade this forward core. It's a whole new crew. DECOR isn't that different. Rodden Radish, clearly, big signing. He hasn't really put his stamp on the DECOR. Be interested to see how quickly he moves on it. Yeah, I mean, he's not going to be able to or even want to do like the Edvenson thing, right? Or is that what they need anyway?

He, I think he would love to. You just can't. There's just... It doesn't have the tools. There's just, there's really nothing that could intrigue Detroit. They want something of equal value back. Like I'd like to live in that. How's some of 50p at Rosdale, but I can't.

I do not have the trading supplies. I'll offer my place. You don't trade that defenseman for Cowan and call it a day. Well, then there have to be. mailbag. First question from Stephen Martin. I think the real question on everyone's lips is, why hasn't Kipper not told us more about his golf trip to Ireland?

That is a massive question and an important one that people needed to ask. Yeah, fantastic. Yeah? Yeah, I didn't want to come home. You like Link's golf? Yes. Yeah. I do.

I wasn't sure I would, but it's incredibly challenging. I'm not sure I still feel about taking my rain coat off and on 12 times in the round and my pants. I took your pants off. Oh. Buddy. Hot for hockey. If you don't, stop it.

If you don't have a good rain suit, you're in big trouble over there. Yeah. But it was fantastic. Highly recommend it. It's on my bucket list. Okay. Question comes in from Nick Richard on X. I'm not sending Tavares at the pasture just yet,

but they're going to need an injection of talent down the middle sooner than later. Cowan almost exclusively played center in his first training camp of the Leafs. Do you guys think he's capable of shifting back to the middle? You know, they have a lot of guys that can play ball. You know, I almost said that the other day that, like, maybe, maybe you do make a shift. And Cowan did come to mind. I didn't say it, but like to the,

the mail or email or whatever they sent you. It's not a horrible idea, but notoriously we've called for Willie or Marner over the years. It's just they won't. We seem reluctant to go there. But I will say different than those two, and Marner was very good with takeaways. But Cowan is a puck hound.

You know, he's got that Zach Heiman-like lead with the stick, get in with the body. I can see it. Like I could totally see that working. Big enough. You know, for the 2C, like you like that more than Nick Paul for now? Is that?

I just, again, where the Leafs are at right now and how they're trying to get into the playoffs, there really is no time for any of this stuff. To try any of that? To try any of that? I don't think. A long year, man. I don't believe that you can,

you can give three or five games to, try this out and potentially put yourself at risk of losing two or three games because of it. There's just there's no time. He's going to be worse than Tavares at center. I know it sounds like it being hard on Tavares day after

he scores a huge goal and they win a game or whatever. Turn back to clock. I think he won 16 of 17 draws last night. He did. He had a great game. But I mean, it's clear that that they're losing a two-see battle every night. This one comes in

from Snizbone on Twitter. Given his new found chemistry with Austin Matthews should Gavin McKenna make the permanent move to the captain's place so they can have a sleepover every night. Do you hear this? I think that's great. Whatever it takes. Had him over and... So like what?

They're just watching football and then he's like, you know what I'm just going to crash here? That's what the sleepover happened? Or like, was it a play and sleepover? Do you bring his jam jams or how to go? I'm guessing Matthews has a pretty nice chateau. I would imagine got a couple rooms in it. And you know, McKenna's just sleeping at some other family's house anyway. You know, what's the difference to him? I don't even

want to tell you how many times I crashed at Mark Messies, Brownstone in New York City. Yeah. Pretty nice place. You don't want to go back to your shanty. Was it always the night after going out, though, probably? A little bit. But I was always guaranteed a good meal from Maria. Oh, yeah.

There you go. Well, I'm, I like that, you know, Matthews is making that connection. Yeah. It's a captain move all day long. It's nice. Get to know him. Like, I mean, it seems to, I don't know, he seems to be kind of taking him under his wing a little bit. It's kind of nice.

I don't know. It warms my cold, dark heart a bit. You know, it does feel like they're going to play together at some point, ideally before Matthew's contract situation comes up. I would imagine a couple shifts. I mean, the other thing I got out of last night is Hilder's a lot quicker to juggle the lines than Craig Baruby ever was. In game.

In game. You went nuclear last. Right? You went nuclear last. Which that's a good sign. That's a good sign. Yeah. Not so good of a sign is that you had to do it against Nashville.

No, there's a stinky start to that game. You know, they fell behind the eight ball. But when they did make the changes, they responded well. I also thought last night watching that every time he pressed the Neelander Matthews button, good things happened. Like, it feels like they're going to play together. So to your point, their history hasn't really been there over 10 years. Not true at all. First time.

Well, nobody remembers it like Marner and Matthews. No, they don't, but statistically it was as good at. Why didn't they, I guess, why didn't you think they leaned on it more all these years? Because of Marner, just Marner? They like pairs. You know, and I think Matthews probably like playing with Marner more,

if I had to guess. Yeah, that's probably it. They probably think that Willie can create more for someone like Tavares to get some looks, maybe, I don't know. Matthews and Nealander back in when Nealander was wearing 29 in Matthew's rookie year. They scored the same given goal, given go goal so many times. And even in his four-go game in his debut, Neelander set him up for a couple of them. Like, they did play a lot together early, but they haven't gone back to it.

And that was the question from when he's going, he's gone, right? From Least Rundown was does last night give Hiller all the warm and fuzzy 2019 vides and reunite Matthews and Neelander? So there you go. I think it's like. March, Hook? Marchenko having his off wing? I don't know. I don't like...

How much puck is there? Well, that's right. The three of them together doesn't quite work for me. McKenna's the one, ugh. But he's not ready. So, you know, is it Cowan then? You do Cowan with them, Marchenko, Tavares, and Roslavik. Oh, I love that.

You know, it's the domino effect of what else you do is certainly a challenge. At least... Marchenko can get in there and open up holes. with his body. Yeah. Right? And that's the other key. And Matthew Nyes, say what you will about him.

He didn't do it enough. Didn't he was a big body that drove openings. I think Marchenko kind of reminds me of when Kisperi Kappenden was young. And I was like, he doesn't use anyone anyway. He uses his speed. So you can put him on any line and he's kind of the same guy. I'm hopeful that Marchenko uses line mates more and, you know, a little more give and go. Did they just pay $12.5 million bucks for Captain?

No, I did not. Good. Because you could have had an actual captain for a lot cheaper. Yeah. This is from It's Over. TM. Okay. So we know the turnover had to happen this year in a good way.

But which former leaf of Nyes McMahon, Robertson, and Wall will the team most miss this season based on their hot starts and their current needs? McMahon. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Does McMahon started well? No, I just. Seattle?

I just, yeah. He's, like, I mean, we all had our issues with him, but, like, you put, put him on in the right spot. He can really carry you for a couple weeks. Nice. Yeah, but they have Murchenko. Yeah. I guess that's part of it.

Right. Yeah, it is a single player, nice, the guy. McMahon, he was crazy, hey? Like, he could be, you and hear from him for 17 days, and then he'd have five days where he was Wayne Gretzky. It was hottest, coldest, streakiest guy they had going there for a while. Yeah.

And for a while, it really looked like the Leafs were going to be okay on that left side between Nise and McMahon. McMahon should have worked his way up to, and he's getting paid it like he is now, but a legit top six winger in the NHL. But that's Seattle team. For McMahon to start in Seattle. That Seattle team's bad too, boys.

You know, they added, so they got McMahon, they added someone else who's pretty good. I don't know. Didn't they make any ads? I know that they did. I'm not sure how many people want to go there. I guess I don't need to waste everyone's time. This is from Trevor Shepard.

I'm having a hard time seeing what the potential ceiling of this team is. I feel like they could be a top team in the East with their upside, but the turnovers and lack of breakout scares me. Is it going to have to be a wait-and-see for the next 20 to 30 games? Well, what's waiting and see? Mid-Thursday night, 1 a.m. Eastern time? The 10-pm? Yeah, 10 p.m.

Okay. By Thursday at 1 p.m. You'll have a better idea. There's their 1 a.m. 1 a.m. Sorry, 1 a.m. Yeah. Of what this team is?

Yeah. Yeah, I think it's a great measuring stick. Yeah. Vegas just mopped the floor with Seattle, and Seattle supposedly had a decent start. And that's a Stanley Cup final team. And with a bit of luck, and maybe an Anderson non-turnover behind the net,

maybe it's a different story in the Stanley Cup final. But that's a good team. That's a good team tomorrow night. It's, we'll see. We'll see where the Leafs are at going in. Yeah, Vegas is 3 and 1 plus 7 goal differential. One couple in a row, they'll be good. The road trip will certainly tell us something.

The Leafs never go into these games and get killed. I agree. Yeah, they find a way to rise. Yeah, they do. And compete. Even when they were crap last year, remember they went to Vegas? And Willie had a great start got hurt. and then I think Mark Stone tied it with like three seconds left

and they lost in overtime, but they were up against them then. They stunk. They still could stink. They stunk then. You know, if you drafted the players in the game, you know, they have a few guys who would go really high. For sure. You know, so they've got some players who can make a difference out there. You're right.

It's just when you really write them off against a good team, they find a way to kind of hang in there. Yeah, you just wait. And then it'll be the islanders or something. Yeah, they'll go two to three on this road trip and then they'll come home and lose two in a row to the Sabers and Island. Yeah, which will happen. What single...

You got them figured out. Buddy, I haven't been doing. They have a way of operating. Before I sat in this seat, a long time I've been doing this. Zach says, what is the single biggest snowball effect on this air of Leaves hockey? Could it be dubus giving in to Willie at the 11th hour, coughing up the series of Montreal, trading Cadry, et cetera, et cetera. Man, butterfly effect to the extreme.

Cadry trades pretty bad. That one hurts. He was making four and a half. Yeah, the contracts. It would have set a different tone if you were able to kind of curb the, the attraction of one-upping one another between Marner, Willie, and those guys. They just got to 10 and 11 too fast. You know, it all wasn't, I hate to be this guy,

but wouldn't have been a disaster had the cap kept going up. It was the worst possible time for it to happen. And so, you know, yeah, they all save a million dollars less on their deals or something and maybe they can add one more guy who's slightly better. You know, it definitely helps. Don't get me wrong. But can I present? Alex Galkiouc turnover?

That was a bad one. Can I present letting Zach Hyman walk in favor of paying Nick Ritchie, Andre Kasha, and Peter Morazek instead? Can I present that one or no? That one's a tough one for sure. But there's a lot of them. Buddy, I'm watching my buddy Pontus Holmberg in Tampa Bay. Your boy, the biggest sliding door.

You didn't want to pay them 1.2, but you go get these fourth liners making three and a half four now. You're right. It makes no sense. You're right. It's a huge mistake. There's a lot of those. And I don't even get how they did that. Like the underlying numbers for Holmberg, was it a tree living one?

I think that was, uh, print of maybe two. It was a salary cap. It was a salary cap. It was defensively great. They just didn't want to pay him. He was also a guy that if you asked the players and said who's underrated or whatever, they said, oh, like Holmberg's more skilled than you think. Yeah.

Shoot it off when he danced, whoever it was. 25 and plays center. Nah, to qualify him. So we can pick this thing. We just did. That's the ultimate. Listen, I could have done this one at 440 and we could be still sitting here talking about it because there's been a lot of them, boys.

There's been a lot of them. You know, it really has been. All right, that's it. That's it, the mailbag. Good job on the mailbag. Nice job. We didn't get to every clip possible. Which one did you like that we can mention real quick?

Sleepover clip or no? We don't have time. Is there actually one? There is. From who? From McKenna himself talking about the sleepover. Do it. I don't think we have time.

Clip two, but we have time to do it? Yeah, they've been awesome. Obviously, living at Johns, I think. You know, I've learned a lot from him. So for my first point to be from, him is pretty special. And then with Austin, we had a little sleepover on Sunday, so I might have to do that, have a weekly sleepover now.

But I've learned so much from those two. They've been very special to me, and they've helped me a lot. And I think just being around those guys, learning from them, seeing how they carry themselves every single day on and off the ice is kind of just implemented into me in a way. And when you can learn from those guys, it's pretty lucky. Snacks? Did you mention anything about snacks?

It was supposed to be a one-night thing. Can you imagine how much cooler it is going from Tavares' family household? Oh, my God. You go over to Austin, Matthews. He's got all the toys. I'm guessing he thinks Matthews. Netflix? Yeah.

I'm watching Mobbland. Oh, my God. What a show, boys. They use a word in this thing that I got to stop watching it. It's a show rocks. That'd be your last show. You start saying that. Oh my.

I've never heard that word more in my life is watching this thing. Hang with a Brit. All right. Let's go. We're back National. Gary Galley.