Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Holiday Recap in Toronto + Sheldon Keefe!

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne welcome you back from the holiday break with everything you need to know about the Maple Leafs! They dive into their recap of the weekend including results against the Senators and Red Wings, the team's revamped power play following Marc Savard's departure, and Mike Sullivan's impact behind the bench. The boys listen back to some "Kyper's Clippers" from Craig Berube and the team, before discussing Auston Matthews' recent form and his lack of response after Bobby McMann's dust-up with Mo Seider. Later, New Jersey Devils Head Coach Sheldon Keefe (33:20) stops by to chat about the state of his team coming into Toronto. He highlights the Devils' search for consistency heading into the New Year, the importance of Jack Hughes as he continues to ramp back up, and the rumours connecting his brother Quinn to New Jersey.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.

All right, Christmas is over, back to work. The Real Kipper and Bourne show. We are live on Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 590, the fan in Toronto, and streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. If you can't catch us live, give us a download on Spotify. Apple Podcasts and YouTube. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne. In for the Sammy McKee, Christian Cheneity.

Nice. I think you nailed it. Nailed the pronunciation. Because we are very needy on Christian Cheneity. We are relying on him a lot. A lot. A lot. Nice lineup.

I can tell you that. In for Sammy McKee, who, now is this a mandatory leave of absence? Are we sending them away because we're almost at the halfway mark? And we just, we need, we need them to regroup. Just kind of, it's been a rough first half for the season almost. It's been a lot. It's been a lot. We need the best version of him and it's almost like when a guy's,

it's not a healthy scratch. He just needs a break. He just needs a rest. He gets the best out of him when he's back. So we're happy to have Christian aboard and we'll get him involved in the show later on in the week. In the meantime, I am looking at this lineup. and the color. Just the color.

And correct me if I'm wrong. But does the paper feel like better quality? It's a thicker stock. It's a thicker stock. I think so. It's actually, it's got a gloss to it. I don't know. Like, Sammy doesn't give us, he doesn't give us good paper.

The paper's not even good. I just don't get why, like, why is color not possible through it? I don't know. Does Sammy know that those machines have a color option? Poor Sammy. Hey? I don't know, but like, and the paper just feels better in my hands.

It's a beautiful one. If Sammy, if Sammy had a bakery, we'd be eating day old bagels. That's how I feel. These are fresh cupcakes here. Fresh, very fresh. So,

how was your Christmas? You think Sammy's listening right now? I'm really hoping he was listening. to the opening. I hope he's not. No. He's in Owen Sound doing other things. Ice fishing.

Day beers. Good for him. Yeah. We're hope you're enjoying the family, Sammy. And your Christmas skipper? It was good. We ended up going away. We went up into the Halliburton area.

Nice. Sir Sam's ski resort. Highly recommend it. Okay. Ask for the athletic director, Mike. Huge fans of the Real Kipper and Born show. Funny. that I actually will be doing that

because I've never taken my kids. I know. They're all over me and I need to do it. I told him that. He's expecting your call. All right. I'm not sure if I can get to the real Kipper discount, but I told them like, you know,

bring them a hot chocolate. At the very least, if you can, if J.B. comes up there, which I'm sending him up there, um, hot chocolate would be sufficient, but it's fun,

uh, great energy up there. We had amazing weather on Saturday. you ski or snowboard you ski but i just go down the hill and i hope not to break another rib okay that's my function of that yeah yes but our thanks to the great people up there um for sure and a shout out to Walt mckeckney up there too as well oh wow yeah a leaf alumnus so uh i'm sending you up there all right i in the meantime how was everything in long island everything is good went to islanders devils we got the devils tomorrow night against the maple

Leafs, so I did a little recon, got a little sense of what the Leafs are going to be in for. I saw the Matthew Schaefer show, Isles Win 2-1, Lake Gold by Adam Pellick. It was pretty awesome. UBS Arena is pretty sweet, so it was a good time. Thanks to them there. In our Samuilis show today, Sheldon Keefe will join us as they get ready to face the Toronto Maple Leafs. In about 30 minutes, we'll welcome in head coach of the New Jersey Devils. Top of the hour, Rob Brown will talk a little Edmonton Oilers.

It's always a great catch up with him as well. And Jason Bucula out of Minnesota will give us a little bit of an update on the world juniors. We need it. We need it bad. In the meantime, in our leaf hour edition of our program, the Leafs, three of four in points on the weekend, which is okay. Yeah. 75% okay. Sounds like my grades.

But your early thoughts. of the weekend in general. You want to focus on the Ottawa Senator Saturday night. We did the game last night. We're also scheduled to do the New Jersey Devil game on Tuesday, so we'll be busy this week. And Tuesday. A lot of leaf games for the kids coming up.

So where do you want to start on what you saw out of the weekend? I'll do a bit of an overview vibe. I wasn't there for the game on the 23rd that you did with Frege after the Mark Savard change for Steve Sullivan. I'll just say this. The last few games, the Maple Leafs, looked like they looked last year. Now, that's not to say they looked awesome

because last year they weren't a dominant team, but they had good results. And I would say the last four games, I know their expected goals are up around 53%. They have as much ozone time, as many high danger chances as the other teams. They look, they're getting good goaltending. Their defense is getting a little bit healthier.

Matthews has been a bit better. And it looks more like what we thought this. year would look like a lot of talk about the power play it cost mark savard his job yeah um and lo behold is that do you remember that ever happening an assistant coach getting fired mid year not for conduct okay well first of all there's there are firings like that but none as high profile as a toronto may belief yeah like that that that has to been the most associate firing and NHL history.

Totally. Like it was talked about and covered like it was a head coach. Like if Columbus were to fire a guy off the bench, you'd be like, okay. And make your change. We don't hear, like, we're talking about a coach that never has spoken to the media.

Yeah. Totally. It's really strange. But it's funny how often your name can be in the news here in Toronto where it's like, they had the Saviard was the Saviometer or whatever in playoffs last year. Yes, that was I think an L. production and they had

Brian Spear, the producer of Hockey Night Canada every time I say Elliot your your savvy meter buried Mark Savard he's like no no no that was Brian Spear's idea get the beep backup sounds going either way it was entertaining

then they had all this talent on the power play it wasn't working so his name came up he was just talked about a lot for a guy who we never heard from we don't even know what his views were on anything so yeah they bring in Sullivan and I don't know Do you believe that Sullivan coming in has anything to do with their change in fortunes? Yes, I do.

You do? I do. I do. That quickly? Well, listen, it may not even be X's and O's. And I think Matthew Nye said we had a couple of different looks, a couple of different options to think about. It's just at the end of the day, I've been involved with firings like that. There's just a different energy.

There's just a twist and a feel. And sometimes it could simply come down to players witnessing that your behavior cost a man, his job, his livelihood. You ruined his Christmas two days before Christmas. He cares. He cares. He can't say he doesn't care. Right. Yeah. And there has to be a sense of guilt to that.

And the one thing about firings, and I don't care if it's professional sports, even here, right, in our environment or anyone's environment, whatever happens to them at work, you take notice and your behavior kind of changes. So whether it's a firing, whether it's guys getting traded, guys getting sent down, layoffs. You know, and we've experienced them over our business. of the ever-changing broadcasting world, you're more attentive.

You're on your best behavior. Sir, yes, sir. You're like, oh, I don't want that to be me. You better look yourself in the mirror and pick a few things up. I think that's what happened to the power play. Simple as more attentiveness. Like, you're going to eventually get to me, right?

Yeah, yeah, I'm on the list. I'm on the list. As you start chopping names off. They're going to eventually come to me as I'm the problem. So, like, let's solve it before it comes to me. And, you know, there were some things that are directly different. Matthew Nyes plays a bumper spot and gets a one-timer.

You know, there's some things where, like, a Nielander doesn't play last night. So who do you pull off the second unit to put on the first? They make the right choice and put Nyes there, scores a goal. Some things just went well for them. And I do think there's a thing with vibes that once things start to go more positively, there's the chance to build on that and have some more success on the power play,

which, for the love of God, they have so much talent on that unit. There's no reason they should be as bad as they've been. Let's go to Craig Barubis for our first skipper's Clipper of the week, his assessment of the power play goals Saturday night. Well, the broken play on the entry, and then Maddie made a great play to Willie who drove the net and finished it off.

That's skill. And I thought the other unit went out there at Max, you know, that's the type of stuff we're looking for with that play into the middle of the ice. there you go and you know we talked about the power play last night on our show

Leafs versus Detroit it'd be great still like you know I know Morgan doesn't have a great big shot or a great shot but I'd like to see him use a little bit more but at the very least you got big strong men

down low and they're starting to kind of feel it right now between Nyes and Matthews once again yeah it's just you know how it is like morgan's not going to become a shooter and this is not a defense of him it's like what are they supposed to do because he's not he's not going to become a shooter he doesn't you know any power play where your primary touches are run through riley and right now matias mitchellie has a ceiling of how good it can be so i don't really know what the solution is

there ohel's not much different to me you don't have another guy you don't have a forward who makes sense so it's going to be Riley but yeah I guess just encourage him to shoot when he gets the opportunities but yeah uh an ongoing theme that bled into Detroit off of Ottawa were this inability to hold the lead or starting starting a face off without the puck ending up in your net in like 20 seconds or so It happened twice on period starts against Ottawa. And then we saw what I thought J.B. last night versus Detroit was one of the most emotional goals I've seen all season in Nick Robertson Slapshot, which John Tavares made a great play along the walls out battling, laid in a perfect shot where Nick's just waiting for it. And he hammered it. And it was almost like, I felt at that point,

it was like an exclamation kind of point to that game. We're not going to be denied. And this is the game that we find a way. And over the last few years, how many times have we seen where the Leafs are down a goal? They pull the goalie. They find the way to score late. And then they pick up another point in overtime.

I had that feeling for the first time this year with Nick Robertson's. goal. Yeah. And what happens 23 seconds later? Yeah. You know, Appleton and now they're scrambling again. Yeah, you know, it was weird because to your point, like Robertson played really well. That line was really good with Nick Waugh and Dakota Joshua. Yeah, they get the goal and it did feel like culmination of like, all right, it's happening for this group here. And then, yeah, frustrating one. You know, Dennis Heldiv was really good, I thought last night. That one, you know, you don't love but you know sometimes breaks are funny in hockey the one thing i get my backup

about a little bit with all this oh everyone tells you oh you can't get scored on right after you score a goal you know you can't get scored on the next shift after you score a goal that's important also you can't get scored on in the first minute of a period also you can't get scored on in the last minute of the period it's like we you're always trying to not get scored on you can't have the third out at third base we're always trying to not get scored on so So it's just circumstantially happens sometimes. But there is a, but there is a, there's a psychological kick to when pucks go in that too. Sure, there is, but I don't think there's a psychological kick to like, now we're going to try.

No. But now we can, but we can focus better. And in all honesty, I didn't like the shift. It was Nick Waugh's line with Joshua. And Joshua came around and did a wrap around. which again was a good play. Get the pucks to the net for sure. But then Nick, Nick Waugh ended up drifting a little bit further in,

leaving all three of them caught deep. But it wasn't caught deep on an odd man rush. It was still two on two, so it's not the end of the world. But what you couldn't have done because you got your checking line caught so deep was that there was no chance for back pressure. And Nick Waugh was the closest guy to Appleton And he ain't keeping up with him He just got blown away

And and then OEL starts drifting towards Stetcher Bobbled the puck And then Appleton had a green light All the way to the net You know more so than just that one play though, Kip I think it's worth identifying You know they played 35 really good minutes Okay that one play you know

Maybe 38, 39. Yeah, like most of the first two periods. And then it's like, well, why does it fall apart so badly? Like, why are you, okay, Detroit turns it up a notch. Well, okay, it's the third period. It's a close game. Why can't they? Did it fall apart really badly?

Yeah. Yeah, it did. Yeah, they gave up the two or three high danger chances in the first two periods. And I think nine, maybe it was seven in the third period. Maybe I'm just starting. Think how many posts there were, right? There was the one that went through Hildebee's legs. One hit a cop hit the inside post or that was Appleton maybe either.

No, it was, uh, uh, the Brinkett. The Brinkett hit one, but also Copper, Appleton did. Like there were, yeah, there was a lot going on around the net. So not sure why it all fell apart as badly as it did. We should check in on the bigger, one of the bigger stories. Austin Matthews, uh, nine slot or high danger chances from the slot in, uh, on the Saturday game, which is the most in the game in the NFL this year. year you look you did a little bit on him before the broadcast sunday night you liked

better yeah better better and i think it it's it's not a switch right you're just not going to flick it and we're going to see this 69 goal score we're not but i think it's trending in the right directions i don't know i don't know where that that fine line is where you're like feeling good again about him. I think it's better than what we've seen in the past. But still, a ways to go still for him. But it's a good sign. This weekend was a good sign.

But you still felt like there's moments where he doesn't look like the guy you want him to look like. I just think that there's a bit of a missing gear, a missing push from him. Like, there were games. over the last few years when he was at his very height where every every game jb you can see him strip a puck off somebody and go the other way and it's like well he's one of the best in the league at that i think his stats proved it yeah i think he's the best takeaway guy in the league and it just it just seems like they're still

he's still not quite there for for having that that true jam and i don't know whether or not it was this injury and I'm not using it as an excuse right now but is he a little apprehensive you know since he went through that last year yeah is it is it still does he lack confidence to do what he wants to do with his skill set and and ultimately is his body yeah yeah it's tough to know right like yeah I I'm with you so if he look if he looks like the rest of the season the guy he looked like this past weekend. The Leafs are in a good spot.

He had the puck in the slot around the net. He tons of opportunities, you know, creating as much as any player in the league can. So that was good. He had a shot against Detroit that was, you know, getting up in the high 80s, which is, you know, the 70th percentile. Like his shot, he's demonstrating some harder shots. There's some real positivity there. And I'm with you that it's not a switch, but it's a slider bar. And can it move closer to the right end?

Can I give you just one beef I still have a little bit with him? And I'm sorry, like, you know, when I see examples, I just can't keep my mouth shut. I just, maybe on TV when you only have two minutes to go, you let it slide. But here we got all the time in the world. And I'm going to just say it. The incident with McMahon last night,

where he's going shoulder to shoulder with one of the best defensemen in the league right now in Mo Cider. And he's taken a couple of lumps from him. And McMahon decides to go into Talbot and drop a shoulder into him, which caused a huge melee. And Matthews is there.

And he's just not engaged in that type of environment, which I get it that. You're not that type of player, but just the dropping of the head and the body language to say that, you know, this isn't really my thing. It just doesn't fly with me, but it just doesn't. You're the leader. You got a captaincy. Your teammates taking a waffle that just, you know, glazes his over the top of his head or else if it lands could be looking at a suspension because you're not supposed to. punch anybody with a

with a waffle right it's it's against the rules yeah the blocker but yeah he's not the type of guy to go in there and and say anything or do anything and I only bring this up because I'm watching last night your islanders and they go after a kid in Mason Marchment with a bad knee and Barzell goes up to Mason Marchant Marchment and gives them a baseball swing

yeah and it's like who's Barzell. Like I, if I gave you, like, if you gave me 50 names of guys in that type of class, he'd be the last guy I would say would go into a pile and defend. Right. But he did it. And I'm like, can, can Austin, can you just show a little bit of that? I'm watching, hold on one more. I'm trying to find it. I don't remember seeing him at all. I know because he was, I don't even think he was in the shot. Yeah.

But I'm watching Celebrini. Yeah. A rookie, a 19 year old. Yeah. Okay. His line mate, I don't know, a month ago, gets, Will Smith gets a separated shoulder on someone running him, and he's dropping his gloves and he's going after the guy.

Yeah. I'm like, God. Yeah. But Kip, here's the thing with Matthews is like the guy that we're fantasizing about who at his very best Selky level, 70 goal, it's never been a part of his game. This is not, he's not becoming that now. This is.

I don't care. I can still point it out. And I can tell you, but I can still say, you know, that's part of the lack of identity that you guys search for. Yeah. I can still say it. Of course. But I'm not going to accept it.

I'm not going to be, he's not that guy, so let's just move on. I can't do that. No. No. And it's a. it is a legitimate criticism of him like you don't expect him to fight anyone but you know I look at that moment

post the Barzal one you're talking about Anders Lee doesn't fight but he's a big strong guy and he grabs guys at least grabs guys make sure no one's beating up your guys hold guys off you know right there's a role in it you can play aside from whatever domy in the scrum you're talking about

takes at least two freebies on I forget who it was yeah a couple of jazz in there just a couple of dinged ding like hey we know we're not getting penalties for the next 10 seconds um yeah it's it's fair and there's no doubt it would be better if you were involved yeah i know i know and you know i look at mcmand and i loved a lot of that i did yeah at the end of the day you can give me an argument that it wasn't a time in place to go and bump them but god like it's exactly what the leafs need something with just a little sandpaper and yeah make a decision do you want to go and fight mo cider i would

have gone and fought mo cider by the way i would have done anything to pull him off the ice who in that scenario is what do you mean you McMahon well McMahon McMahon was battling mo cider yeah and he's hammering him he did get mo cider off the rink which is good yeah i know i know i would have like to get him off for five minutes to be honest with you but like beggars can't be choosers here but good on mac man like McMahon's a big, strong guy. He can hold his own. This is the stuff that the Leafs have been needing for a long time. McMahon can make himself a $4 million player if he did that every other time.

I'm just watching other teams. And maybe because McMahon doesn't do it all the time is because there's nobody in that room to kind of hold them accountable to that or look at other guys and saying if I can do it, you can do it, it gains momentum. You know, it does. And Florida has it March, March, March, or Marchand on the ice. You know what would have happened in that environment.

But, this was the best weekend the Leafs have ever had in that regard. Sorry, this season, not ever. This season was the best they've had. They stood up to Ottawa, shoulder to shoulder, lots of scrums, physicality, finishing checks. Even the Detroit game was better. But you're right. It is a little interesting that, you know, in past years,

it's been like, okay, we have to have someone who's, willing to do it, whether, you know, maybe Wayne Simmons will do it for us or maybe so I'm trying to think of some of the guys have had in the bottom six. Achari was a little bit. Some of those type of guys.

But they don't really have that. Joshua doesn't really, he did it. He, there's, after the McMahon incident against Tampa, he fought. They're really, but they don't really have a guy who has that part of this game. They don't have initiating guys. And that's where I liked McMahon there.

I did. He actually went in there and said, you know what, you want to mess with me, I'll mess with your goalie. How about that? Yeah. And it's,

you know, and then everybody gets involved. Everybody gets a little bit of energy off of it. It gets everybody's attention. It holds you accountable. But, you know, I mean, listen,

I'm nitpicky here. I know that. And I don't want to take away the fact that it's trending. Well, you took a massive weekend for Matthews and said he should have punched the guy once. So you did nitpick. I like that part of their game last. night right that's all yeah it's it's definitely it was a better weekend in that regard okay

where else you want to go let's let's listen to the coach a little bit why don't we start with his overview from last night and pick apart the game a little further clip one please this game was a hard-fought game Detroit played well too you know I thought that we had really I thought our first period and most of the second I thought the last five minutes of the second period they started to push a little bit and we turned some pucks over and couldn't get out of our zone. But other than that, I mean, it was a good game. And, you know, I thought our guys, like I said, they came in with the right attitude, back-to-back games. They competed hard.

They worked. A lot of good things. But we fell short by one point. I've seen a couple people say this, but like we were pretty generous to the Leafs postgame, I thought, yesterday, right? A lot of positivity for a team that played 38. good minutes or whatever you think it was. Yeah, we're just, we're positive because it's way better than what we've seen for a month and a half.

And the Leafs were too. I think Mike Nye has called it a great game. Berube, you just heard him. You really like the game. Like this is, I think it goes to show how really poorly they play for a lot of this season till now. They do look more like themselves. We have Burubi clip three on the Leafs getting back to a play style that's worked for them before.

But Ruby Clips. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. You know, I think the puck play has been a lot better. And that's where it starts. You know, we're making plays. We're doing the right things with the puck. We're just connected in all three zones.

And that goes a long way. So, you know, our game looks good right now. We just got to keep going. Yeah, I don't. I mean, I like their effort last night. I did. And again, I'm. comparing it to what we've seen in the past.

And I thought it was a winnable game for them. Yeah. For sure it was. I thought Bruby made an effort to say connected. Yeah. I feel like people have been calling them disconnected a lot. And that word to me was like... Yeah.

Good pick up by you. Yeah. I thought we looked connected. I was like, that's a strange thing to say. I didn't like the Ottawa game. You didn't? No. No, they lose all...

Allmark shows up. Their goaltending shows up. They don't win that game. Yeah. oh mark was horrible well his head's a million miles away uh i don't know what they gave up they gave up five goals on 15 shots yeah okay the the rebound goal for austin buddy christmas was on the 25th right not on the 27th but uh he gave it a gift anyways but almark was horrible yeah i you know they no surprise to hear like there's some issues off the

ice now. Yeah. Because his head was not in the game. Yeah, I still think Leifs deserve some credit just for creating, like for Matthews to get eight shots in the second period. It's not the goalie doing that, you know. So there was more offensive creation. But the one thing, and we talked with us a little bit last night, was when the Leafs start

to pull away in a game, three, two, four, two, five, two. You can see the forwards just go, oh, it's point night. It's my turn. I'm not going to the room with bagels across my stuff. that line and all the sudden it's odd man rush odd man rush everyone's cheating on the offensive side it's like that's enough goals and the gaps too right yeah well d backing off forwards on the offense side all of a sudden ottawa drake batherson looked like i don't know prime yarmory yager cutting through the neutral zone yeah you know moving laterally it uh it was ugly once they felt

like they were going to get a points and it was way too close yeah uh hildeby's doing everything he can I know you had a bit of an issue with the overtime goal A little bit I didn't like I think he even said Did love the puck play on it Which you know And maybe a poke check for a guy cutting across the net But I hate it

It wasn't that bad Few people were questioning Machelli being on the ice Over McMahon Yeah I'll raise my hand for that Yeah Well even to start overtime it's Matthews and Domi And I'm kind of looking at the lineup and going,

I'm not sure that that makes a ton of sense. But Machelli being out there rather than McMahon, rather than even Nick Robertson, who had such a great weekend. By the way, Robertson, both games scored this weekend and then proceeded to have two shifts in each game after his goal. So we can put to rest

the rumor of Columbus and Toronto trading Chinikov for Robertson. I don't want him anyway. I don't want Chinikov anyway. You know, he's not 21. He turns 25 in like a month. He's a ex-first rounder. I don't know what he is.

Is he a score? I think that's the idea. He's never had big numbers since coming out of Russia. Very toolsy, but like so's Pierre Engval. You know, he's fast and big and can shoot it. Okay, it hasn't come together for him. they're playing them 10 minutes per game

and the last place team in the conference. I don't know. They gave up a third, a second this year, a third next year, and Dantan Hinen, which, whatever. You know, it's not,

that's not free. No, but he's, he's a first rounder. I know it was a while ago. Yeah. But, and he's not 28. No,

he's not. Yeah, like, it's not nothing. He could, here's what I think his ceiling is. the 54 point minus 7 forward. Yeah. You know, which is fine.

It's tough to get 50 point guys. Yeah. It's tough. You think some teams are out there going, damn, man, I should have traded for Nick Robertson. I do. I do. I think he's got great energy.

I think he's one of the hardest working guys on the team. At times, yeah, at times he still looks small. Yeah. But it's just, I think he's been one of the leaders right now on that team when it comes to pushing hard. I believe that's called damning with faint praise. I'll give him full credit. Give him an A.

Yeah. Give him an A. You know, it's, I like him a lot. I was kind of hoping that like once he broke through and had some success, there's this like a, you know, this passion to go get a goal, get a goal. Sometimes I'd like him to just, I know. Okay. And then he can.

Look up. He can throw the puck behind the net. It was the goal last week where he threw the puck up the middle of the ice and it went back and bit him in the ass. Like sometimes still a little too. That's what goal scores, they're chancy like that. Yeah. But I know, I don't know, a year, year and a half ago,

you're like, this guy could get you 20, 25 goals. And I think on a different team with a little bit of power play, I think that's realistic, 20, 25. five goals. We got to get to Sheldon Keith. I forgot. We still have to break. Yeah.

Oh, my God. Are you producing on me? Please do. Please do. Okay. No, Sammy. J.B. running the show right now.

Thank goodness for me on that. All right. When we return, we'll go talk to the head coach of the New Jersey Devil's Sheldon Keith. Don't go away. It's a real Kipper and Bourne show. The best Blue J show out there, period. Blair and Barker.

Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to the program. Nick Kiprios, Justin Borne, Derek Brandeo, Jen Roelnick, and in for Sammy McKee, Christian Cheneity. All right, as promised, the head coach of the New Jersey Devils, Sheldon Keefe. Welcome in, Sheldon. How are you, man? I'm doing well, thanks. Good.

Were we catching you at a decent time here? You're not driving, are you by any chance? I'm not driving, but we were a little delayed land in here today, so I am stuck in a car, so I apologize for that. No, no apologies necessary. Thanks for the effort, man. We really appreciate it. Just want to just kind of tee up where you guys are at at this point

as you face the Toronto Maple Leafs tomorrow night. I guess coming off of tough losses against Buffalo and the Islanders and then an overtime loss to Washington, fair to say that it was a good time for a Christmas break for your team to maybe regroup a little bit here? Yeah, I would say so. I mean, I think everybody in the league would probably say that they needed a break just the way the schedule's gone.

And for us in particular, it's been up and down and all over the place, both with our performance and our injuries and all that sort of stuff. We got a couple of bodies back just prior to Christmas, but, you know, it's nice to come back here. We've had a couple days of practice since the Washington game, too, which has been something we haven't practiced two days in a row since training camps. So that's a nice luxury to have, too, and hopefully it pays off for us. Shelton, has that been the most complicating factor for your team this year?

The injuries, it seems like every other day. I think I have you guys at the third most man games lost or something. It just seems endless for you guys. You know what? I mean, we seem to be, you know, over that a little bit now. Borny, but we, you know, all season long it has been a struggle. And we've played a couple different stretches with as many as eight guys out. And that's been tough.

And then obviously some very impactful players that have missed, you know, 20 or so games. So that's been a struggle. But everybody in the league is going to go, going through that in some form. So we just, you know, for me, it's just the consistency of our play. That's really what we're seeking to improve upon and no matter who's in the lineup. So we started off the season very well. And, you know, in the last 20, 25 games, you know, it's been inconsistent.

terms of our performance and our results the biggest loss of course for your hockey club was was jack hughes and and now you have them back and yet you know the team's struggling a little bit here where do you where do you see the issues here i mean we've all played the game and sometimes when you see a a star coming back maybe there's a relax or a feel of uh security when when you should be pushing what do you attested to well i think it's you know i think there's there's some of that For sure. It's not just Jack. We actually, you know, we had Jack Hughes, our Sydney Gritsick, who not many people know, but he's a first-year player from us coming out of the KHL who's been a very, very important player for us. And Tim O'Meyer, all three players were out of our lineup and came

back on the same day. At a time where we had one four out of six at that time, we were starting to find some traction. And then, you know, you all of a sudden you bring three guys in it, it dramatically improves your your skill level and and I think you know it took a little bit time for us to get the rhythm in particular those players that had been had not been playing came back in the lineup with no practices so I think you know it's taking a little bit the break has been I think is helpful like a lot of things about our game against Washington didn't get the two points but but you know got to overtime and came back in the third period so yeah we're hopeful that you know that's going to help us here we got three games and four nights starting tomorrow so

So we're going to get the answers here soon. A couple of tough losses and then the overtime point against Washington. I know some of your players and I think you made a comment about Jack Hughes, maybe giving a bit of a wake-up speech or a pick-me-up, I think, as Cody Glass mentioned, anything you can share with us? And is that just a sign of maturity for Jack moving to another level here? Well, I think it is part of maturity in terms of, you know, his leadership. And his comfort in speaking up, you know, when he feels it's appropriate.

I think the team responded really well. I think our second period we played against Washington was the best period we've played in quite some time. And really reflective of how we want to play and what we should look like when we're at our best. And I think Jack was a bit of a catalyst of that in that way. And, you know, you just talked about him coming back into the lineup. And, you know, there's all nice impacts for sure. And I think that's going to take him some time. He's come off a pretty significant injury here.

And he's, you know, he's playing, but he's, you know, he's clearly not playing at 100% coming off of that surgery. But he's sort of adjusting and adapting to that. But his leadership abilities and what he brings in terms of his presence, I think, can have an impact. And that's an area we want to see him continue to grow in. It's actually a nice segue to ask you a little bit about someone. I hope it's, all right, day, get your thoughts on Austin Matthews. A guy you spent a lot of time with, and he's a good. He's a guy who you probably saw grow as a leader.

I don't know if there are any comparables between the two players, but you've watched the Leafs as you prepare to play them tomorrow night. He's struggling a little bit, Matthews, but maybe you can just tell us a little bit about what gets him going, what you found he likes as a way to work and his own leadership style. Well, I mean, obviously I haven't been watching all that closely. Other than the last couple of games here, I watched. I did watch for it to back the game.

from last night, you know, so they have a better sense of kind of where they're out. I feel like Austin and the team seems to be in a groove right now and found their game. That said, I think, you know, Austin has grown tremendously for me. Even in my last year there, I think, you know, it made sense to me how, you know, he was ready to step up and take over the captaincy. I think he's come a long way. I do think there are some parallels between he and Jack in terms of the on-ice impacts are there and obvious, but taking some time to grow and be comfortable to speak and to, you know,

take on that responsibility. I certainly felt he was ready for it. And I mean, I don't know, like I said, I haven't watched enough to know where his game is at, but, you know, that one he ripped off the crossbar in overtime. It was a little bit terrifying, you know, on the other side of it and could have done without that one. But, you know, with both Austin and and the rest of the guys to there that I've worked with. I mean, the talent level is so high and they want to win so badly that to me it just felt like as a matter of time

and I don't feel any differently about Austin and his overall game, certainly his offense coming together. You're watching and listening to the head coach of the New Jersey Devils, Sheldon Keefe. Now, I'm older than you, Sheldon, but me and you were probably more removed from the current players today than a lot of other guys.

Let me ask you just in terms of, you know, how much the players pay attention to things outside the league. And I'm not here to suggest or want you to comment on maybe a disappointment from the players that a certain brother is not a member of the New Jersey Devils or not. But just in terms of managing that and like when we played, we were, we talked and we gossiped a little bit about who's available or who players can we could trade for. but is it that much tougher now with so much on the internet and what players follow and not? Is it something that you have to pay attention to as a coach to get them focused on what you can control opposed to what's out there?

Yeah, I think it is. I mean, I think as much as you want to, you know, you want to hope and talk about that, you know, that you got to ignore that stuff and tune it out and not pay attention to it, I think it's just the reality of, today's world, whether you're seeing it yourself directly or people are sending it to you or just people in your circle are talking about it or your teammates are talking about it.

It's reality, and especially when it's your brother, you know, you're going to be, you're going to be connected on a whole other level. But, yeah, I mean, there's enough there's enough there that, you know, you talk about it with your guys, talk with Jack specifically, but I think it's the kind of thing where if this was back in the day, there's no internet, no social media, you're probably not hearing much about it, you know. from a public standpoint. But now it's blown up.

But I think Jack's got great perspective on it, Luke, as well. I'm sure they'd love to play with their brother. But also they recognize that's the National Hockey League. And there's some things you just can't control. And they've got enough going on. And Jack in particular, as we talked about, coming back from his injury, he was pretty focused on that. And I think he had a pretty good sense that the Minnesota offer

was going to be pretty significant. and hard for anybody to compete with. So they moved on pretty quickly. Well, listen, we know the weather's challenging a lot of hockey clubs, including your own, you know, keep your eyes on the road there. And hopefully we'll see you here safely soon here. Really appreciate your time, Sheldon. Thanks for joining us.

Okay, pleasure as always. Take care guys. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Head coach of the New Jersey Devils in town tomorrow night. That's a good question. A good answer, too. Yeah.

I was kind of like, should I ask you? Well, I'll be honest. And you kind of gave me a look like, what are you going there? I was like, this is going to go one or two ways. I thought there's a real chance. You know what? That guy gives honest answers.

As much as he can give you, he'll give you. And I thought, I give him full credit for not dodging the question. Yeah. Well, it's real, right? You can't, I was going to say you can't pretend it's not, but a lot of people would pretend it's not. There's a lot of people disappointed. Quinn Hughes is not a New Jersey devil.

Sure. Well, I mean. And he talked about the brothers specifically. of the Vancouver Canucks said he wants to be a New Jersey devil. Yeah, that's right. Without saying those exact words, that's essentially what he said. So I think a lot of fans and possibly players too would have been like, ah, kind of we had that in our hand, didn't we?

This team, New Jersey, was one of the teams that we expected. Okay, let me put it this way. We wouldn't have been surprised if they were up there with the Dallas and the Colorado's and somewhere in the vicinity. or do you not think that they were ready for that? You know, I've been waiting for this team. I get it. I totally, I totally get it.

But I'm looking at their roster. I like their D. They're kind of small up front, right? Like Brath is the key guy. Hughes is a key guy. He's here and Meyer and nice players, but they're not super dynamic offense. They're not running anybody over.

Right. You know, so it's like they're good. This is a good team, but it's not. But they were at times the fastest team. So fast. Two years ago. Yeah. We would watch them play against the Toronto.

Maple Leafs and we're like, I've never I've never seen a team that fast. I think they still can be Brat Hughes this gritsuck that they like quite a bit on the back end. You got Luke Hughes and Simone Nemich like they can their assignment Nemich they can move. So there's there is some of that to their lineup

but yeah I know what you mean it did feel like you're how you can control it but now it's a lot of you know Pilates maybe slowing down a bit and Mason and Colton White and Glenn inning. I don't know I'm not sure that they're as they need an injection of talent, in my opinion.

Like, they need to get aggressive here. Their beat writer, one of their guys, Ryan Novinska today, he said that if there's not a trade made to improve the talent on that team like in the coming weeks, that he thinks that the GM's job should be in. Yeah.

Well, I do believe that Tom Fitzgerald feels it for sure. Yeah. They're looking to add. Let's face it. One beat reporter, two beat reporters. It's not coming from the media, but it is coming from their fan base. And the expectations are that this team should be,

well, they certainly shouldn't be on the outside of a playoff spot at Christmas. Yeah. Let's put it that way. That alone puts Tom Fitzgerald in a little bit of an uncomfortable state. Though they do deserve some pause because of the injury thing. Jack Hughes for 20-some games, whatever it was, that back end has been without, you know, Peschi for long stretches of play who's very good.

A lot, they've been missing a lot of good players to injury. So maybe that's a piece of a Kip and they're going wait till we're healthy to decide what we really are here. Yeah, Pesci's only played 14 games this year. Yeah. That ain't great. So once again, maybe there's more there.

I do believe that there was a... Please are in tough tomorrow. I do believe that there was a feeling still from New Jersey that everybody knows he wants to come here so we're not we're not blowing our brains out on on pieces and that's when

it's embarrassing to do it Minnesota Minnesota only came in in the last minute and they kept their powder dry and then they lit the fuse and it was too good for Jimmy Rutherford to pass up because the devil's offer was going to be good

really good Nemitz first like yeah I've not heard. I don't know if they went to four quality pieces. LA maybe was in it a little bit but I'm not sure he had any interest but it didn't matter because he didn't have a no move

anyways so no trade restrictions but I think for sure they thought they couldn't resign him but we'll see where Minnesota goes with it. Well I mean the sooner they can get him to put ink on paper the better

right like they're I'm sure they're very eager to do it. What are you offer him 15 or something? The other part, too, to this equation is their goal tending too, right? Devils?

Yeah. Martian's not been up to stand. No, and he's, is he still hurt? No, he played, he played against Islanders and was very good. Okay, yeah, but the inconsistency there. Jake Allen's a 9-10, he's an 8-83. Wonderful. Like, back-up, like, solid,

backup. Markstrom. You're going Markstrom a solid backup? No, Alan. Oh, Alan's been great. I know. Yeah.

I know. But that's your, it should not be your starter. Totally. So they need Markstrom to feel like Dempco in his prime. You know, I think the devil's waited a while

before pulling a trigger on a name starting goaltender. Excuse me. Markstrom's performance has been not what they were hoping to get. Like I said, he was good against the Islanders. Perhaps he finds it here

for the back half of the, the season. He was at 920. And then, you know, a game before that, he was at 970 against Utah. So maybe he's starting to find it a little bit. I imagine Markstrom goes tomorrow against the Leafs,

if I had to guess. Yeah. And Joseph Wall gets a reset. Joseph Wall gets a reset. Why don't we listen if we can fit in the clip? Oh, no, we can't fit in. No, no, no, no. Potential wool healed the blades.

See, if you had a producer here, Sammy, he would say we can't go to that clip. No. But we do have Brubion. them splitting the crees in January, which is the plan to keep everyone healthy. By the way, Hilda Vies made the most saves for the Toronto Maple Leafs this year. That blows my mind. He's played three games less than Joseph Fall?

Yeah. Wow. All right. Just like that, our Leaf Edition is up. We go national next. Rob Brown will join us. Talk a little Edmonton Oilers and Jason Bucola from Minnesota. Awesome.

Plenty more still on the Real Kipperman Born show. Do not. I repeat, do not go away. Thank you.