Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Halfway Point Takeaways

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee kick off with reflections on the Leafs' season at the midway mark and their standing atop the Atlantic Division. Then, they look ahead to the Leafs' matchup against the Flyers tonight and discuss Ryan Reaves getting back into the lineup, the defensive pairs without Jake McCabe, the team needing more from Morgan Rielly, Bobby McMann moving up to the second line and more. Later, Flyers GM Daniel Brière (32:38) weighs in on Garnet Hathaway's physicality, the team's performance at the halfway point, Matvei Michkov's development and their plan for the trade deadline.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.

the game. We'll be right back at you on game night for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ten games on tap, including ours on Sportsnet. Tonight. Toronto Maple Leafs Philadelphia on Sportsnet tonight, Toronto Maple Leaf, Philadelphia Flyers, 7 p.m. yours truly, David Amber,

Elliott Friedman, and welcoming back Justin Bourne. I wonder if some people thought like JT Miller style that I just disappeared, just disappeared or punched someone at random or got fired. But no, I'm still here. Unfortunately Unfortunately everyone. I like your Brian Burke look Yeah, I do. I went the dangle tie It works for him. It doesn't work for me, but I'm just too lazy. You know, what's gonna happen? I put it down I leave and I leave it here. That's

The danger I respect goes very well with the pocket square. You would hate to leave that particular time I can't tie a tie still is that true Yeah clip on no like I'll go on YouTube and watch the video every single time But I've never like memorized how to do it. I had a high school girl. It's debilitating. We're gonna spend five minutes me and you Yeah, it's debilitating. It drives me crazy every time I go. I'll get you guys so long. Just haven't talked to the right people Yeah, I mean like this my dad's trying to teach me a hundred times like I just I don't learn very well and it's just it's really hard very well Yeah, I was told it was one of the requirements of being a man when I was a younger man It is and I like shamed into doing it. Yeah, I'm less of a man

You're really didn't get the shaving lesson though No, I keep her tight though. Yeah Yeah, it's not it's not mayhem Well, we're Beers the entire time we've done this show together Bother you ever you are watching listening for the next little while we'll get you right up until puck drop. I We're live on sports at 590 in the meantime meantime, on the fan, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet Plus. For the next two hours, we'll do our Leaf edition starting right now. And then in the national hour, we'll welcome

in Steve Valiquette, who's been off the last little while. We'll catch up on him and get all the analytics on the latest on all the goalies and what's happening with the New York Rangers. In about 30 minutes, we'll get Daniel Brier, of course, General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, as we tee up tonight's contest. And back to back, this time in Philadelphia, JB. Yeah. You know, I didn't get to weigh in yesterday on the weekend that was

and all the sort of development with the Leafs, but good show yesterday, it sounds like Kip, sounds like Gordo was good. You guys had a good chat, but I didn't get to hear your thoughts on the state of the Leafs halfway through the season today. How are you feeling about things? I think for the most part, pretty good.

Yeah. In terms of having themselves in a position to win the division, something that we've talked about over the last few years about the Leafs being this contending team, yet maybe just looking on the outside a little bit when it came to the first round, either against a Boston Bruins team, a Tampa Bay Lightning team,

and lo and behold, it looks like they've got themselves in a position now to win the thing. Everyone stinks. To play the Habs in the first round? Eh, you know what? That goes well. That'd be great. Eh, even if they won the division, the loss in the first round, it would feel a little

better for you, Asen. Oh my God, it would feel so much worse. I wouldn't have, one of my favorite excuses is be like thanks Gary for the crappy playoff format and then the second they finally get out of playing the lightning or the Bruins or the Planters. You know what's going to happen there. They're going to win the division and they're like Tampa. No I say Tampa.

Well yeah you know what is interesting is the bar for expectations and what you want to see happen has moved because right now they sit four points up in the Atlantic, same games played with Florida. But were the playoffs to start today, by points percentage, they would play the Boston Bruins. It would be a two seven matchup against the Bruins. But if you win the division, it would be the Ottawa Senators by points percentage again. That's a big swing to me. A proven playoff team versus the Sens. You're just happy to be there. They're going to throw it at the wall, but they're happy to be there. I would just rather lose the Bruins and the Sens. That's for sure. So if they're going

to lose in the first round, give me this. You don't have to lose. There's another alternative outcome. Is there? Yes. Last Saturday, have not given you a little bit more confidence if it was the Bruins? For sure. Bruins are rotten. Charlie McEvoy doesn't even know where the red line is for icing.

What is going on with McEvoy? I don't know. He's a top five guy in the NHL for a minute or in the defenseman anyway. I don't know. Lindholm's been out. Is that too much pressure on him to carry? Yes. But yeah, so the bar has changed right where you the you would

like to see them now set the goal to win the division the capital sorry win the conference the Capitals are first in the Metro two points up in the Leafs right now with the game in hand but I think the Capitals have a stumble or two come in their way so yeah. So what do you guys want to do you want to just open up a little bit of a halfway mark conversation or you want to talk a little bit about what we can see tonight against Philadelphia? The one thing I haven't got a chance to say was the Matthews return from the weekend, which you and I did get to talk about on the broadcast, which is good,

but I wrote Friday about is this, should they even consider buying at the deadline this year? You don't know if Matthews is going to be there, even if he is, if he's at 70%, are you any better? And then a weekend later, I think I feel much differently about the potential for him to look like himself. Do you feel differently? Yeah, I do feel differently. And I think if we were still talking about the first 10, 12 games, 15 games, we were talking about 40 now, 41 to be exact.

And I just think that everything he's been through, I'm okay. If he looks the way he wants to look, like he did Saturday night, that's great. the seeds been planted now that he could also disappear on the team. And if you don't have reinforcements, if you don't not have some sort of game plan to go into training or into the trade deadline without that reinforcement, whatever you think it may have to look like, you're making a big mistake. I just think all of this, this entire season and roster and everything is predicated on the idea that everyone is gonna be there. Because you can't plan for guys to not be there, right? Like you have to sort of plan

that you're gonna have your goalies. If you know that Stolarz isn't there, you probably have to trade, but you're kind of, you're hoping if the guys aren't there, you're just toast. You're just toast. Yeah, but we, you also, Stolarz is gonna come off of a month and a half off with whatever you think might be a new or more improved knee.

But you have to plan like he's gonna be the goalie. Or you also just gotta see what it looks like for whatever time that you have before the goalie. But you also just got to see what it looks like for whatever time that you have before the trade deadline. Or you know, you may be in a tougher position to to look at what else is out there, including Matt Murray back in in the Marley. So when you've got a history, it changes the way you think. Because everybody assumes that everybody's going to be healthy on any hockey club, but some guys have worse track records than others

Yeah, so worse they do and the Leafs have Ten of last year to look back on where Matthews has the best playoff game I think I've ever seen him play against the Boston Bruins a game To it was where he was breathtaking scores a game-winning goal that beautiful one on all mark the only time the only time they played all mark And then gets hurt and the other one just disappears until game seven comes back doesn't look like himself the whole deal You have last year to look back on this isn't like it hasn't happened like it right? calendar year, there's no value in saying Let's plan to not have Matthews because if you're planning to not have Matthews

You're not good enough, and you just need new plan. We know yeah that even with a have Matthews, because if you're planning to not have Matthews, you're not good enough, and you just need new plan. We know that even with a healthy Matthews and a good John Tavares, they're looking for a centerman. Right, with them, they need that. With them at the top of their game. Yes. So the question for me is, how much higher do you need to go if you do feel like Matthews may be at times,

not 100%? Yeah, I mean, maybe Kip, my argument that they should consider not buying this year, re-sign Marner and just take more swings down the road. Maybe that argument isn't a good one at all and maybe they need a bigger swing to say, we have to plan for maybe he doesn't play every game. We don't need Yanni Gorge. We need Scott Lawton.

You know, you need a, you know, you don't need Scott Lawton. You need Kadri or you need. Yeah. I just think if I still find it strange that he, he, we, he went from, I'm not sure talking to the media. I'm not sure, you know, if my back'm not sure if my back level feel 100% this season to playing back to back games on the weekend. Like that one kind of-

Stunning, it was a stunning development. Yeah, absolutely. It doesn't appear that when you have that type of thought process to put him into back to back games, you're thinking about maybe resting him down the road. It just makes no sense. But they did, I mean, they did limit his ice time in both the games, right?

Like I think he, what did he play in the- 17, I think. He played 17 something against the Bruins And I'm not exactly sure what he played against the Flyers But it was around there too like they limited him pretty hard so just took him off the PK Yeah, essentially where the minutes came from which is good. Yeah, not minutes. You don't need them killing penalties. No fine So anyway my my thought anyway is back to that's positive that he's even able to look like that is encouraging At least then if he plays badly, you're also Justified and critical playing 20 on are you or you back to saying he just doesn't look right

But the fact that he's not with the same injury implies that it's possible but the injury can fluctuate too It could get worse, it could get better, it can flare up. If you wanna just praise him when he's good and take him off the hook when he's bad, I'm sure they would love that. They would love that. I don't know. Unfortunately, those are the seeds of doubt

that we've been planted to watch grow. These are the leaves. It's all doubt. We've planted so many seeds of doubt, we have a field of doubts. In the meantime, another good start, another good showing tonight for Austin and seeing that jump in that power

can further reinforce that he's on the right path. And I think, you know, you look at where they are in the standings and you just have to give everybody involved a A plus in terms of a letter grade if you're going to do it. I mean they were missing half their lineup for a month. Like they had no bottom six like Grobancon and all these guys were like, oh, they're not bad. They're not true. It's just they had no players and Marner had a huge part in that. He was unbelievable. Carried

them for long stretches to Varus and to have them be in the position they are with all the injuries and all the stuff that they've gone through. And I guess there's people, wow, they're not listening yet. They're not at Vancouver that are like shut up about the injuries. But they went through a lot of it and have Craig Brubate and the goal tending and everything to be where they are is pretty impressive straight up. Make a half season statue to Tan Evan McCabe. Really?

Who kept this team together and then obviously Joseph Wall, the goal tending. Yeah. You lose Stolars now and Wall stepped stepped in there like it's a well-built There was a sighting of him today was not on the ice But they did like they're doing like the mentors trip thing today They did a bunch of pictures and he was spotted at practice at least was on the trip. Okay, somebody's mentor Maybe I don't know December mid-december against the devil against after the devil's against the Ducks

So that would have been probably December 11 December 17 maybe okay after that third week in February You're thinking third week with the ones they went after the Z Can you get start can he get starts before that four nations no no What do you it's a month from now guys. This is supposed to be four to six weeks It's been three weeks surely Six to eight weeks. I think I think if you are still in a good position here and you have Joseph Wall playing well I would agree give a two-week break and then you could maybe play a man. You want to pile on Joseph Wall

It seems safe. I mean listen, there's no other options at this point. I remember Valley saying, we'll have him on here today. He said, you know, you could, if it was playoffs, be two, three weeks with that injury. It was his. Anyways. Anyway. Any other thoughts or from a 30,000 view? I need to get on my chest from the weekend

Sucks about Jake McCabe who may be the most important piece for the Leafs at times. Yeah I'm I like everyone else's is I'm expecting Ryan Reeves to be upset about that Tonight in and tell Garnett about that Okay Why don't we go to a kippers clipper on Craig? About that. Okay. Why don't we go to a kipper's clipper on Craig? Brew be on Reeves drawing back in and then we'll pick up the conversation I just wanted a bigger more physical lineup tonight. Yeah Yeah, I just think from going off a lot, you know last game too and Reeves been on a cup a few games so I wanted to get him back in and

You know There's some pretty big hits last game, you know, and stuff, so just got to be prepared and kind of wanted to go with a more physical and heavier lineup tonight. Oh yeah, that's all you need to know. I just thought at random we'd get bigger tonight. Yeah, I want to be big and tough tonight for no apparent reason. I don't like that Hathaway and Reeves is in. Yeah, the Hathaway.

Basically what he's saying. I don't like that Hathaway and Reeves is in. The Hathaway oopsie into wool I think is kind of... Held to be? It wasn't bad at all. It wasn't bad at all but it wasn't good at all either. 100% and what I actually even like about it is even though it's pushing the envelope, the Leafs are consistent with don't touch my goalie. That's right. Love don't touch my goalie Yeah, maybe didn't mean to be more careful then yeah the only problem is is that you know when you got a

Reputation of a snake like Hathaway Slithering on the ice you don't take your foot off his head Yeah, you want to be keep to stay on him you can't let that guy get up into Yeah, you want to keep to stay on him. You can't let that guy get up and Let him up if you want to take your gloves off and fight, but he didn't know Just choke him out MMA style You gotta have not let him get up it's over The best hockey boys are checking game notes pal. We can't have throw his head into the ice once. Yeah

That's only gonna make a matter right, but I thought then okay. No, we're gonna have a fight about it Don't need anybody. This it's a fight. It's a fight. The message has to be I'm gonna put you down and you're gonna stay down and but Everything was great except You know, he let his guard down a little bit. McCabe and he paid for it. Yeah, it was an unfortunate way that unfolded. Let's hope he's, you know, just maybe a couple weeks away from coming back again.

Let's check in with the coach on it. Yeah, flip three please. Approximate? Not really. I think it's just you got to go day to day here and you know he needs to get back in the ace and then we'll go from there. I think that's probably the best way I can put it. That was the update on Hockenpot two years ago too. Yeah they're just known as the Toronto day-to-days. I mean, it's the safest.

Yeah, it's just the least. He's not day-to-day. The guy needs to be out a minimum of 10 days to two weeks. He's literally on IR. He's not even eligible to play in the league until the 14th of January, which is a week from now. He's not day. And he's already, he's just come off a head injury, if we're not going to call it a concussion. A head injury.

The Leafs treat us like mushrooms. Is that the line from the Departive? To just feed them crap and keep them in the dark? That's their theory with the rest of us. Here's what you need to know. Nothing. Shut up. Timmons draws in for McCabe

Yeah, that's due the Meteoric rise of Philippe Myers has made Tim and spot a little bit more tenuous on the back Yeah, what are your thoughts on Myers? You've been liking them. I Think he's held his own It hasn't been overly noticeable either which way which is a good thing sometimes safer thing Yeah, I'm good with Myers they just signed him to a two-year deal at a very friendly What 850 yep and not what you know, but it's bury able the word is, you know If you needed to put in the miners you could so

They've really I mean they've shaken up the deer pairing I guess not Riley Myers But it's all recman larrison and pan of tonight going Ben one tim and so you have a right left shot on each deep air tonight, which Actually, bro, they talked about the deep airs tonight without without McCabe clip 5, please Talk about well, I think guys step in and do the job, you know, Tim road one tonight He's been on a couple games and my he's done a good job. And you know, we have a lefty right in each pair now, which helps with puck transport, you know, out of your zone,

through the neutral zone and things like that. And even in the offensive zone, it's a lot easier to take a puck off the wall and do some with it. You got a guy in his offside, it's definitely harder. Timmer and Meise, like that? Meise, yeah. I mean, there's no other way to go. Timmer, I don't know. Timmy, I think Timmer's right. Babcock could be thrilled with this D-court tonight. Right, left, right, left, right, left.

It's good. Yeah. Morgan Reilly, any better for you with Myers? It doesn't really matter to me who's playing with Morgan Rielly. Morgan Rielly's got to be better. Right? You know, he had some comments recently where he thinks he's played better of late. I don't know if that's...

Yeah. I see that. When you think of really, really good Morgan Rielly, I remember that first round where they beat two years ago, right? Sammy to Tampa Bay. He was really good. Scored the OT winner in one of the games. Prior to Josh Morrissey taking off in Vancouver about a year and a half ago, two years ago, I kind

of had them similar type of players. Winnipeg. What did I say? Vancouver. I'm sorry. Winnipeg. Winnipeg. And I had them as almost similar type of players, like puck movers, skaters, you know, can

jump up in a rush, can find a way to shoot it in the net and Right now it's it's not even close for me right where Josh Morris he is and where Morgan is right now and I For the Leafs to really be taken seriously Morgan has to hit that high mark again for me Yeah, I don't know if It's like there he the regular season has just become such a long grind of just waiting to get to the playoffs. Is there another gear he's hanging on for? You know, just getting through another season.

Everyone has talked about these Leafs teams. Show me a playoff, show me a playoff. Do you think, you know, year nine of like, okay, wait till we get there. I also think that this market better than anybody and there are there has to be sort of a whipping boy at Times and there's people that there's always a defense and that somebody needs to wait him. I mean it is him No, it's not Everyone I get messages all the time. Why is no one ever lean on Riley? I really get it. Yeah, you know, but like amongst the fans. He is the number one whipping boy, right? Really?

I don't get that sense What who gets a bigger pass than Morgan Riley? I don't know We must be talking a different have we ever come on here and been like Not like not like he's never had it anywhere near like Nylander or Marner over the years. Well, no I mean I'm close not even close not even close not even close Matthew's either. I'm with him I'm saying I'm feeling this year that's never raised bullies bulletproof. Oh, yeah Well, he's not bulletproof his back hurts. He's not bulletproof. He can't survive a cross check I just think that maybe this year it's the first time where he's really been

Felt it and like I you know I do least talk after every game like the comments people are talking about Morgan Riley Morgan Riley Morgan really tweets everything. Morgan Riley takes a beating recently. Okay. I don't know, I guess. I gotta keep my ear to the streets. The text line is always like, talk about Morgan Riley more,

what's wrong with Morgan Riley, blah, blah, blah. Where I will lean towards your side is that time is starting to run out on Morgan Riley. So I don't know, I don't agree that it's at that feverish pitch right now where you've got it at. But I will say that if he doesn't kind of step up and lead this blue line, especially in the spring, then there could be some major changes

and I'm not sure he'd be back next season. I don't think I've ever heard that said about him, right? Because they've had so few D to lean on, to rely on. It's always been they need to add to the D to help him. But at some point you're going to come up against year whatever of them not breaking through. And sure, we call it the core four, but he's as much a part of that core as any so when you hear the coach talk about him he talked about him always clip six please there I think most been really playing a hard hard game for me like physical checking you know doing a good

job and you know a big goal for us last game three on three you know I think that he's he's doing what we're asking him to do. I'm sure maybe he looks out like he wants more offense and yeah he's an offensive defenseman and you know he's getting his looks and you know he's walking down the pipe in the power play last game it just got blocked but you know for me it's about playing 200 feet with Mo and we want him to be offensive and jump up into play at the right times and do the right things but we want to do the right thing offensively and I feel like he has been.

Maybe go ahead I'll let you have it. Good on him he scores a three on three goal which he's good in overtime. I's I think he has like six overtime Yeah, we're gonna lot of great great. Maybe hopefully you can come up with many three on three goals in the playoffs Well, I mean never three on threes in the playoffs. Oh, you did only the world junior. It's not real hockey I mean he did score an overtime winner for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs. Okay Well after they came back from 4-1 with 10 minutes left against the Tampa Lightning, it was pretty fun. Which is great. Which is great.

But, here's the but on the other night. It's like I don't care about the three on three goal. What I cared about was the fact that you were standing there with Lawton and you can't tie him up. You're there. That's your man. And I think Willie of course took some heat on that, right? Coming, losing the puck battle on the wall.

But that's your man. That goal cannot go in, Morgan. I'm not gonna totally, like he's been at fault on a lot of stuff this year, but the whole play is broken up there and everybody starts scrambling around the second that. But he's not scrambling, he's there. But the winger, you know, Nylander doesn't seal the wall there and then starts scrambling around the second that but he's not scrambling He's not but the winger, you know

New enter doesn't seal the wall there and then it's like all hell breaks loose and he's scrambling around trying to find his guy And it ends up in the back. No, he had his man. He's not scrambling. Anyways, that is man Yeah, I think it's I'm gonna put more on Anyways, you played the okay. I didn't know you don't have to say that We all know it's like to seal the know it's Seal the wall and that never happens, but other people could be at fault and he can still be the wall The one thing I do wonder about is like if you go back and look at his stats the three years prior to this He's 68 points 41 in 65 games 58 points this year. He's on pace for 38

It's tough for me to know how much of that is points this year he's on pace for 38. It's tough for me to know how much of that is Borubi coming in saying we want you to play defense we want you to take care of your end we want you to listen to the coach he's encouraging him well he is now that he's recognized that when he does that he doesn't produce points you know I am sure he's like okay I think a lot of these guys for Borubi was like okay we're gonna try to dial everyone in and then if we need to open it up a little bit we can go from there Yeah, perhaps that's what has happened with Riley so far McMahon moving up to the second line today kippy

I've been I these the Said it right from the get-go this guy can work up and down the lineup. I like I Like that. He's gonna drive the pace of play up for John Tavares. Would you like to hear why he's moving McBann up? Yes. You may be onto something. Clip two. Yeah, I wanted to add a little bit more speed to Tavares line. And Bobby's been playing really well and I know that that line of Max Domi, Bobby and Robbie have been really good for us, but Robbie's not in tonight.

So just moving guys around a little bit. Yeah, they listen, they've been great. Tavares has been great. Willie's been great for the most part. And you live with Willie and the Blenders lately, but this is where I think you want the Matthews line going and the Tavares line going. And McMan can do that.

He can push. Yeah, there's a couple factors for me McMahon deserves to play with some players who produce offense get in the ozone I think it'll be you know, you have the chance of instead of getting 18 goals out of him He could be a 25 goal guy with a little more opportunity. So I like that Also with the way they've changed their lines So I like that Also with the way they've changed their lines Lorenz has moved up to play on the third line and Robertson spot putting patch already on the other side kind of

Changes what that line is totally they go from being this sort of little squirrely Maybe we'll create offense to like oh, that's a big strong for checking line. Yeah, it's a totally different thing Yeah, like it's like you've totally changed the look of your bottom six by making that one move Yeah, putting Reeves in and then putting Lorentz up it's a totally different thing and also the second line with Tavares and Nylanders kind of been stuck offensively they haven't been creating Willie's gone seven games so yeah this hopefully can jumpstart them a bit one thing for Willie in his defense he hasn't had three straight games with the same centerman in a month. So.

That's what the $11.5 million is for. Well sure, yeah, you're still supposed to create, but it's not been ideal circumstances. Gotta shoot in it. Like, I mean, it's seven games here now. And he's classic, it's like a baseball player. He's carrying his offense out to the field where it's like balls are skipping past his glove at third.

Like he's throwing it over the first baseman It's just he's sleep on our show the other day. He has naps. No, no seasonal now You just you just didn't say he takes naps. You said 12 game naps He's still got five to go where he's just gonna sleep according to you. I may not be wrong Shake up tonight Tavares maybe it's a McMahons and pace on the wings there that looks good together But yeah, he needs to yeah Only guy in the league on pace for 50 goals this year's dry saddle. It is crazy So everybody slowed down

Apparently Reinhardt Yep, and Kutra have hurt maybe oh Capri's off hurt. So that's part of the reason why Last thing public enemy number one today, Garnet Hathaway. Barubei was asked about him today at practice and this is what he said. Well I don't talk about him at all really. I don't really know what I... I mean for me it's... We know what kind of player he is.

He's a hard player. He does a good job at it. He's physical and we know he's going to be physical and he's, he's not gonna shy away from it and just gotta be prepared for it. I think the job... We don't want to react. We want to initiate. And that's the biggest thing is not reacting and taking retaliatory penalties. You know, you're gonna get hit in this league and you know, things are gonna happen. It's about being disciplined. I don't want to see Reeves go after him right away. No. No. I want let it do a little bit let it percolate. Chili. It's better to let it sit there. Outside of Hathaway what do the flyers have here?

Well see this is what I was going to say. What are they? Well like come on. Are you gonna be that concerned with Garnet Hathaway? Like if your game plan involves worrying about Garnett Hathaway Yeah, you might not be setting up the best chance to win for yourself however I understand that as a team in this league in the middle of the season you don't also want to just like Let a guy know you're a teammate I don't think you're gonna let him off the hook tonight. I just say that you sometimes the anticipation of something happening can really alter a whole hockey game.

It can make people that don't do it actually more nervous and more apprehensive. It's like once you see two tough guys fight, there's a lot of there's a lot of guys on your bench that don't do it that can say okay I'm glad that's over now we can just focus on the game. And it can alter it can alter a hockey game when some of the non guys are watching this. Well what's hard for that? And I look at the flyers and then like past Hathaway, there's nothing there. Let Connect, he's going to go annoy you.

Yeah, maybe Connect Neil, you know, I don't think you're going to intimidate him, but there's others out there that can not feel that comfortable out there, you know, and it's not I think it would play in the Toronto's favor knowing that something may be coming. You just don't know when you know and for me What a crazy concept like Reeves or whoever it is in that situation would have to have so much confidence in their ability To fight to handle themselves. I don't know if you ever heard the expression eat the frog

But it's like if your job is to eat the eat a frog in a day the best time to eat it as soon as you Wake up get it over with do the hard work first, just be done with it and move on. You're not frying it or anything for it. Wake up and eat a frog. And if your job is to eat two frogs, eat the biggest one first. It's like just get the crap out of the way.

Whatever you do with your day. It's like a workout. Yeah, exactly. Get up and get it done by eight. If you hate working out, wake up, eat the frog, do the workout and then you're done. Is this a BC thing? I've never heard of this either.

What is it? Alaska? Did you get this from Alaska? It's a I've never heard this either, Cam. No, never heard. Alaska, did you get this from Alaska? It's a Mark Twain quote. Oh, okay, wow. Wow. Way over our heads. I would crack one of those books.

But the point is that if I'm Ryan Reeves, how do you go into a game being like, I have to fight Garnet Hathaway, and then you just stare at that frog the whole game. Now, if Garnet wants to turn around and say, let's get this over with, you're not gonna. Back it down. Yeah, exactly, you're not.

I guess it's really Hathaway who's got a frog to eat here. We should go, but. You had that backwards. Yeah, I just do this. You just like it kind of hanging over. Just hanging over the game a bit. Particularly when you think Reeves is the tougher guy, right? He's the heavier...

You know, no one's going to the ice box when Reeves and Hathaway are on the ice tonight. Yeah. Correct. Oh, and it'll be pointed out. You'll hear CC going, you know. Yeah, we'll mention it. Yeah. Okay, let's take a quick break.

When we return, Daniel Brier, former NHL or General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, we're going to get his thoughts on a garnet Hathaway and what we could expect tonight from his hockey club. That and more when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Hey, it's Blake Murphy. And I'm Matt Bonner. Join us weekday mornings at 11 as we break down all things Toronto Raptors.

It's the Raptor Show on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts. It's the Raptor Show on Sportsnet 590 The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. ["The Raptor Show Theme Song"] Right back at you. Real Kipper and Boran, Nick Kipper, us Justin Boran, Sammy McKee. All right, let's welcome in Daniel Brier,

former NHL or General Manager, helping us tee up tonight's contest between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Daniel, how are you, man? Thanks for doing this. Hey, hey, guys. Thank you very much. I'm doing great. Thank you. All right. So I mean, well, let's just start right now in terms of, you know, a little bit of a carryover from the other

night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. A lot of people around here may be focusing a little bit on a garnet Hathaway these days. Just before we get into, you know, maybe some specifics going up against a guy like Ryan Reeves, just overall, what has he brought you? Because at the end of the day, Daniel, we know there's not that many guys that can play and play a tough brand of hockey

But you know there's something there that this this that makes them quite valuable to you guys as well, right? Yeah, Garnet has been really an amazing player for us bring the physicality that You know nowadays is the game has changed a lot and there's not as much of it and having a guy that can also play he's fast he's good on the forecheck he brings intensity he can kill penalties for us you know any place with an edge so he's an important player I remember watching him playing against us and run our defenseman all the time so we had the chance to sign him bring him in the fold we thought he'd be a great fit for for our team and he really has been and run our defencemen all the time. So when we had the chance to sign him, bring him in the fold, we thought he'd be a great fit for our team

and he really has been. Danny, looking at your season tonight is gonna be the halfway point for you guys, game 41. You know, going into the season, I'm not sure what your expectations for your group was, but how would you assess how things have gone compared to how you thought they would go? Yeah, I mean it's it's been a little bit of a roller coaster. I think we you know a young team

We showed some in in consistency inconsistencies at times You know go tending has been hot and cold You know and the same thing goes goes for a lot of our players when you go through one by one. No, it's about where we thought we'd be. I wish we had a few more points and be in a better position for the playoffs, but there's still long ways to go.

We're still in the race, which is good, because that's what we want with our young guys, is to play meaningful games in the second half of the year. So that part we're happy with, but we'd like to see more of a consistent game from every individual in the second half. As a general manager, when you watch an experienced coach like John Tortorella handle a young and up and comer like Mishkoff. Daniel, is that something that you stay on top of on a regular basis on methods of getting messages whether it's more ice time, less ice time or a healthy scratch or do you just

kind of sit from afar and let a guy like Tortorella handle it? Well, we have discussions, but at the end of the day, you know, towards is the coach a he's paid hired and paid to be the coach and he's the one that makes those decisions. But he includes us. We're very involved. Jonesy and I, when it comes to, you know, how to, to approach and what's going on with the whole team and our players. But like I said, Torz makes the decisions at the end of the day. We trust him. We think he's fabulous to have, especially when you have a young team and you're trying to show them the way and the best way to be pros. You know, and in the case of Madve Mishkov, it's pretty cool because we see him really grow and mature

right in front of our eyes. He's been a great teammate. He wants to get better. He's really working at his game. You can see the effort both ways of the ice, you know, and that all starts with T Torz, with his approach and his demands towards the players. And he treats them the same way he treats everybody else,

with fairness, but very stern. So I think for Madve, there couldn't be a much better situation to learn from than John Tortorella. Do you remember that process of being a young guy who could just score and do things other people couldn't do and then you have some guy telling you to stand here and play D and check like it's a it's a tough process to accept when you're so talented so young.

It is and look I'm not I wasn't in that class I'm not in the Madve Mishkov class but I was not in the mad, they me golf class, but I wasn't a guy. And you know what happens to is in sometimes and I have to go through it a little bit where, you know, when you play minor hockey and you play junior hockey, you don't really have to listen to the coach

and listen to the system and follow the rules that a lot of guys are, are fall, have to follow to be on the team because you can do other things that certain guys can't do. And when you get to a level, there's always a place where it hits you where you have to follow suit with everybody else. And I think that's probably what's happening

with Madve at this level, but he's been very receptive and he wants to get better. He wants to work at his overall game and really get better both ways of the ice. Did you have any idea of Owen Tippett being as skilled or as good as he is? I'm just reminded of the trade that you made for Florida and you absolutely fleeced them. Well, we got lucky and that was Chuck Fletcher, by the way. I was in the background, but Chuck Fletcher made that trade. It turns out to be a great trade for the future of the Flyers.

Owen Tippett has been fantastic. He's been better than we expected. We knew we were getting a very powerful skater and a guy that could score, but his overall game has been much more impressive than what we anticipated. And to see him again grow in front of us, and it shows you sometimes you have to be patient with those guys that are 22, 23 years old. Sometimes it's just a little click or a play. Sometimes they find a better chemistry with a certain team. Sometimes it's with the coaches. Sometimes it's with players.

So it's not always easy, but it's a good lesson for us to show that you have to be patient with guys like that. Danny, when the Four Nations Face Offs teams came out, one of the people online who does like stat tracking, whatever, tweeted like, I'm not sure about the Sanheim thing, a few question marks about him. And then Joel Farabee responded to the guy on Twitter and he said, watch a game. Which is I think something maybe some people were missing with Sanheim.

This guy has really taken a step in the last year or two to being one of the league's better D-men. Yeah, yeah. And he's flown under the radar a lot, you know, because we weren't a great team, because we weren't in the spotlight. You know, and the other thing too with Travis Sandheim is that, you know, and the other thing too, it, um, with Travis Sandheim is that, you know, he's, he's not a flashy guy where he's, you know, running the power play and you see him on the highlights, uh, every night, you know, he's a different player, he's good overall. Um, you know, in the last couple of years, we have to give him credit.

He's, he's taken another step. His physicality has improved a lot. Um, and his defending, uh, has improved a lot and his defending has improved a lot. He kills a lot of plays. And I think for hockey Canada too is they were looking for versatility. A player, a 6'3 defenseman that can skate all day long, that can play defense, that can kill penalties, is not afraid to block shots, and can play the right side or the left side and he doesn't care.

And that's a great asset to have for an organization to always have that you know a top-bearing defenseman that you can play on either side of the ice I'm telling you guys it's for us we see it as a huge asset to have you're listening to Daniel Breyer general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers Danny about maybe six or eight weeks ago we had Keith Jones on and you know, who doesn't love having Jonesy on? and we we we spoke about you know expectations going into the spring or the trade deadline anyways, and he made it very clear on our show that you guys are Sellers, you're not buyers, you're not ready,

which was great for us. Very, very refreshing to hear a general manager just be so transparent so early in the season. And I'm just wondering, was that always the strategy for you guys moving forward? We're not trying to fool anybody here this season. And how has that affected you day to day as a general manager?

Well at the end of the day the players are going to decide but you know they've shown us again this year was kind of what we expected to be. We're not Stanley Cup contenders, not yet anyway and you know it's not the time to go. Um, we don't have unrestricted free agents, um, like, like a lot of those teams have, so, you know, the selling part for us is going to have to be hockey trades, um, you know, and, and hockey trades that are going to make us better in the future is what we're going to be looking for. So, um, now it's, uh, it's not always easy to hear, but for our fans, but we want to be upfront and honest with them.

We just don't see it as being a cup contender yet, but at the same time, we're not too far away and if we can get some assets that are going to help us in the short future, then that's the way we're going to go. All right. Last one for me then, I'll just touch on the trade that you guys were kind of pushed into making earlier in the year you know moving out Goche and bringing in Jamie Drysdale. How has Drysdale, how has his adjustment to the Flyers gone for you guys? Well first of all he's the kid has great character you know and and he hasn't played a lot of

hockey he was thrust into the NHL at an early age and maybe his development got stunted a little bit. But the kid is, like I said, great character, work ethic is amazing, loved by his teammates, and he's getting better. Torch challenged him this year to be more proactive out there, to not be afraid to take risks. And we're seeing that in this game more be more proactive out there to not be afraid to take risks and we're seeing that in this game more and more. It's a work in progress you know he's not where he can be we feel but we're happy with him we think it's going

in the right direction and we see a bright future for Jamie Drysdale. We had a few clips of Craig Barubi chief talking about wanting to be big and physical tonight and we think there might be a little bit of Craig Barubi chief talking about wanting to be big and physical tonight and we think there might be a little bit of carryover over the Hathaway Jake McCabe incident. Are you anticipating anything? Will there be any changes to your lineup? You want to match him bigger for bigger tonight? Like, come on, get us back to the Broad Street Bullies there, Danny. And that's the beauty. We missed that

right. Having a home and home with teams. There was more in the past and that made for a great rivalries. There's not as many anymore, but it's always exciting. It's always fun cause it's got a little bit of a feel of a, a playoff game tonight, which is great for us though. There's not unfortunately any changes, But I'm excited to see how our guys are going to react to it from, you know, especially our young guys. It's a great chance to gain some experience for us and see how they handle a little bit of, I wouldn't say adversity, but you know, a little bit of spunk here coming up into this game. Yeah, let's see who's Comfortable being uncomfortable a Danny

That's right. That's right. That's what we're gonna be looking for. All right. Good luck tonight Thanks for joining us man. Best of luck the rest of the season Daniel Breyer Great. Thanks guys. Thanks for having me great show. Yeah, thanks for your time. Appreciate it Yeah, right. They're gonna be like I told you see his he wants to see how some of his players respond to a little Bit of hey, I'm not used to this Yeah, I hope we don't get hurt But this is he talked about what they wanted for their team and part of it is getting these guys into games like tonight games that matter so he wants his team to push for the playoffs

and to carry down the stretch and can't say I blame him. If you look at their draft picks, they have six picks in the first two rounds this year, three first three seconds coming up. Wow. And I'm really hoping that the Leafs just don't look at Ryan Reeves and say, go fix everything. And like-

Don't miss McCabe though, McCabe is such a good part of that. Yeah, but like, McMahon, Knize, they can play big and heavy and they can get their noses dirty and they can hold a scrum and they can get some, you know. I got belief in Knize to do that. I was gonna say, right? Knize's willingness is there. But that's all part of the process of sticking together here. Just don't be that guy that looks down the bench

and go, hey, go do something about it. So one of my favorite players on the Leafs, because it's just the way it fit, could we get maybe a Pym from Steven Lorenz tonight? Could he be someone who's allowed zero? Zero Pimps. He's got a hundred hits and no Pimps. On a fourth line, that's gotta be an NHL record right now.

It's wild. For a fourth line winger to have zero penalty minutes. With a hundred plus hits. And he hits. I don't find him like. No, he's not soft. No, he's not like soft, he's like avoiding it. He's forced to net, he's for checks.

I gotta be honest with you, I'm tripping somebody on purpose. Get a two up there? I'm spearing, I'm doing something. You don't think it I'm tripping somebody on purpose get it to a spirit I'm doing it's like a little bit of a personal point of pride where it's like, yeah, I'm I'm physical but I'm clean No, that's the opposite of pride Shame yes to clean who wants to be that clean in the game of hockey. Yeah, totally I gotta tell you I didn't like accepting my sportsman-like awards every year Sportsman like

No, okay, I gotta have a dozen in my room I told you guys Brian Burke had it in my contract where I owed him money if I ever won the lady being I Ode him like 1500 1500 bucks I won that trophy there's a great Shanahan commercial back in the day where he was feeding his dogs and the dog bulls said lady and bang on them the dog bulls I was like that forget what it was for but it was an excellent commercial he was never gonna win one either no like Connor and Austin's new McDonald's commercial yeah you're a big fan of it I like the Gretzky, Matt Sundin one

in the old maple leaf garden. That's the one I remember. So I explained this to you upstairs and I'll explain it again. I think everything was just better when we were younger. Like it just, you know, you're at a certain age. You think it was or you perceived it better? I think like a commercial for McDonald's

with Gretzky and Matt Sundin when I'm 10 years old is literally the best thing on her. There's nothing but like, you know, a kid who's 10 years old now who idolizes McDavid and Matthews, seeing those two guys in a commercial, it's probably pretty cool. And Kipper's looking at me like,

ah, grunt, grunt, grunt, grunt. I'm like, no, it's cool to have these guys. I mean, the smoked poppy burger or whatever they got. It's not the best name, but Commercial break go out and buy yourself a happy meal for guys Get the toy. Do you think they like each other? They practice together I hope not For the sake of the four nations. I hope not. Yeah, didn't they do something they like train together in Arizona There's like all the people

When over to see healing Hans He healed but I don't know his reputation might have taken a hit the last month Yeah, you just got some you some good Ontario health healthcare system. We got his back fixed. Oh, hip fixed. Yeah. All right. We'll take a quick break here. When we return, Steve Valiquette, analyst for the New York Rangers on MSG, CEO of ClearSight

Analytics. We'll get into a ton, including Demko. In a month, we've talked to him. Oh, he's got a lot to say. Don't go away. We're back after these words.