Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Live at Fan Fair with Michael Bublé

Episode Date: February 2, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee are live at All-Star Fan Fair to break down a news-filled day in the NHL! They start with last night's All-Star draft, the presentation, the celebrity presence and which team looks the best. Then, on Gary Bettman's presser, his comments on the accused players in the London police investigation and the announcement that NHL players are returning to the Olympics. They are joined by Grammy winner and celebrity All-Star captain Michael Bublé (14:26), who discusses his experience at the draft and his Canucks fandom. Later, looking ahead at the Four Nation Faceoff planned for next year. Finally, reacting to Todd McLellan's dismissal in LA and the Jets acquiring Sean Monahan from the Habs.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.

here we go it's the real kipburn born show live from the nhl all-Star Game fan fair, Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo, Jen Rolnick. Next two hours, we are loaded around hockey fans from Canada, U.S., and everywhere else, boys. Yeah. We are loaded around hockey fans, and hockey fans are loaded around us. How fitting. Hey, I got to apologize to you guys. A little bit of a scramble coming into the Metro Convention Center. Did I lose a phone?

Did I not lose a phone? Still questions there. I promised you guys souflaki lunch Where The king of Danforth George Kalinikos did show up Now he's Irish Rather He timed it a little off You know

Because he went to the Intercontinental Hotel first And I told him the Delta But you know I don't want to be sitting here eating raw onion Tzatziki with shaking hands With a lot of people anyway. Listen, there's going to be times when I'm eating between now and I do believe I'm going to jump into a soup. Just between shoes. Excuse me, Mr. David.

Opa! Opa! And then a good friend, Jerry Gain, also gave us some wine from Riverdale Wines. What up? Holy. What a day. JB, you can't have any. No, no. But you can pass it on and the wife it'll get

drank kipper you gave me a bottle of wine that i put in my backpack and i got it through security so don't tell anybody there you go well listen we're gonna have a great show for the next couple of hours and we're gonna welcome in some uh some great people including in about 10 minutes, five-time Grammy Award winner Michael Bublé. Yeah. Which, if you saw last night, now explain this to me. Mushrooms or no mushrooms last night for Michael Bublé? Well, no mushrooms is my understanding. But I will say it's a growing thing in in ontario i've seen stores really medicinal

mushrooms are a thing now yeah go down go down queen street you can find yourself some uh fun guys we'll ask michael in we'll ask michael in about 10 minutes uh off the top of the hour we'll welcome in uh bill daly deputy commissioner of the National Hockey League. He just finished his press conference with Commissioner Gary Bettman. So we'll dive into a number of topics there with Deputy Commissioner. And then our favorite, Gord Stelic, will drop by. That's a great way to end it. The mayor of Fanfare. He is doing every event here.

Is he really? Yeah, he's like, right now I think he's doing every event here. Is he really? Yeah. Right now, I think he's doing a panel with Austin Matthews and Mitch Moore. He's talking to them. He's the keynote speaker. He did a thing with refs earlier. I'm 0% surprised. Does he have time for us?

He does. I talked to him earlier. He said he couldn't wait to come on the show. It's been a while for us in Gord, so we're overdue. Okay, so last night we watched the draft party. I don't know what you want to call it. It was a draft. Okay. Before we get to Michael Bublé's team, it's really shaping up, I'm sorry, guys, as a Toronto-Vancouver final.

For sure. You think there's two loaded teams? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Ohouver final. For sure. You think there's two loaded teams? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. But just your overall thoughts last night in terms of how it was presented. Like you said in the past, it's not for everybody. Like you.

Are you everybody? Listen, if I could sit here and tell you I had a better answer to what can be deemed as exciting or entertaining, I'll tell you no, I don't have the answer. I have a better answer. Okay, let's hear it. Involve alcohol. Oh, God. Put it later in the evening, put it a uh put it in a theater and you have

a little bit more fun okay um definitely uh the answer from someone 35 and younger yes yeah exactly right you know i i thought it was cool you know i i really i like the way the guys are out there and kind of getting individually chosen it's just tough to do live like i feel like it's 30 minutes of content in a two-hour show that maybe you just need to edit it down to get to the parts that you need like do it like do it not live and then like package it and for a tv yeah but then the the other part of it is you shouldn't be able to take your own guys because like colorado's out there you got macar and mckinnon and they got to take gorgia firstiev first. There's the best players on earth, and you've got to take

Gorgiev. Not that he's not a good player, but you'd rather see him have to go off the board a little bit. Loyalty. And the Leafs had to do it. We saw that. The only question is, who are they going to pick first? Willie Nylander or Mitch Marner? I think the guys collectively

enjoyed Ribbon Mitch a little bit longer. That's just all it's about, eh? Just dressing room stuff. Oh, yeah. That's why this stuff is supposed to be fun, is you get a sense for how they interact when the cameras are off. I don't know if you got that out of it last night, but...

Yeah, I think so. That's a pretty loaded team. And, you know, between Michael Bublé, who will join us momentarily, and Will Arnett, I think no two bigger entertainers understand what last night was all about. Right. Because they definitely kind of carried it. I think the Biebs was a little nervous about forming more than three words in a sentence because he was getting ready for his big concert, right?

Is that the sense that you got? I mean, for a guy that is one of the biggest stars on earth, I thought it would be, like you said, like, Arnett, they were trying to do a little bit more. I thought it would be a little bit more. You know what's tough is like, all right, so you're an awesome hockey player. You're Nathan McKinnon. Now you've got to wear a Britney Spears headset and speak to an audience.

You know, like, that's not part of the deal when you're growing up trying to make the NHL, is it? You're trying to be awesome and they're like, yeah. Go entertain. He's not Jerry Seinfeld. I don't know. That's a good point, actually. At some point, could we have not got him a lawn chair?

Made him more comfortable? I don't know. He was definitely comfortable. From the lack of times he wanted to stand up. His beeps. The beeps. Yeah. I imagine he was very comfortable.

Well, good. You know, I don't think they're paying these guys for their time. So I appreciate him being involved in the first place. Did you want the teams or do you care? Yeah, let's have a quick. No, you know what? Yeah, let's. Okay, tell me what you think. So, Matthews is, team's Matthews is Matthews, Riley, Nylander, Marner, Ottinger, Keller,

Barzell, Phillip Forsberg, Alex Dobrynkit, and Vincent Trocek. So, one defenseman on that team, which is Morgan Riley. And the other one that you said that matters is Quinn Hughes, is Jack Hughes, Pedersen, Kucherov, Demko, Connor, Kachuk, Brott, Talbot, Besser, JT Miller, and Frank Fritano. Those are the two teams that Kipper thinks are going to be going head-to-head. What is the Leafs' record in overtime at 3-on-3? I'm going to pull this up.

Oh, yeah. It's a great point. Not as good as you'd hope. A lot of times it kind of looks like an all-star game when they're playing in overtime. Yeah. So in shootout overtime, they're 4-1 this season. You know, that can't be right, is shootouts that must be shootout yeah that's not i think it's shootout yeah because they've been to overtime 16 times or something like that and i

don't think they're a ton above 500 so yeah we'll see if the leavers can uh carry one through for the home crowd uh what are the thoughts on some of those boys uh being a little hung over for the event today yeah i went over and i checked out checked out Gary Bettman's press conference today, which we'll get to later in the show. And I watched, they did the announcement with the Olympics, which is super exciting, and the four-team face-off that's happening. I would say that the four gentlemen who play hockey on stage had maybe enjoyed themselves last night.

Yeah. Were they at the concert, the beeper thing last night? I would assume that Matthews was probably around the concert at some point. But, yeah, they looked like they were a little green under the gills and understanding. You're in good shape today. Didn't you go out with Healy and the crew? No, actually, well, we were at the Hockey Hall of Fame, and I did get an opportunity to go to the concert, and I passed.

You did? Wow. Yeah. Well, I just did. You know what? Either you're in, you're all in, right? And at that point, I think I made the decision to kind of lay low a little bit. I was feeling stupid.

I didn't go. I should have gone. Yeah, probably. And what? I don't know. Just begged outside the door to let you in? No, but you could have gone. Media members were there.

You don't get to be with the cool people. Oh. Yeah, they put all the media dorks in the top. Did they? Yeah, I think so. And apparently they didn't want you down with the players, understandably so. So there's kind of two separate parties sort of thing. So I should have gone.

Well, good on him for doing this. He didn't have to. It's worked for him. And, hey, listen, between that, giving us some that, you know, giving us some juice having Bieber involved, we have an absolute ton of stuff to get to today. Todd McClellan fired. He's the head coach of the Los Angeles Kings. Gary Bettman announces NHL returning to the Olympics.

So no real surprises. Let's touch a little bit on Gary Bettman's press conference because we do know that a lot of it between the Olympics and the Four Nations, is that what they're calling it? Four Nations face-off, I believe. But do you feel like the expectation of the media pressing him on the five players charged exactly what you anticipated? You know, tough questions for Gary, and I don't want to call it a luxury,

but he does have the advantage in that circumstance of saying that they don't have answers, right? Like there's a press conference coming this Monday where they're going to get more information from the London police. Obviously that's something that he is able to say. We're letting things run their course and waiting to see what happens then. It didn't feel like we were ever going to get great answers out of Gary today

with the ability to punt. Yeah, there was a sense I thought a little bit from the media that we're waiting for you to say something to Gary. Perhaps after the NHL All-Star game, could he follow up with some type of suspension?

I mean, we do know he carries a lot of power in terms of making ultimate decisions on code of conduct. It's always going to be a gray area, but ultimately if he's got the power to suspend with or without pay, I think people were pressing him today on it. He was not prepared to, I think, overstep, I think, the weekend. To be fair to a lot of people here and a lot of sponsors and a lot of and the 99.9% of the league to say right now our focus is on the NHL All-Star Weekend. And as soon as Monday, perhaps, after the London police have their press conference,

maybe he might be in a different position to make some sort of follow-up announcement. Did you feel, though, that he should have had some sort of answer to, you know, what's going to happen to these guys, assuming there will be no legal outcome by Monday? You know, will they be able to play? It did feel a little bit like he was able to punt and say, their contracts are up at the end of this year. They won't play well.

This is what we're waiting on this. If I was in his position today, I don't think i would have handled it much differently like he really kind of left it and anybody can make assumptions from here moving forward but do you want to do that yeah i mean as much as it did feel a little bit like i said the word punt there he has to be careful here. There is a process to play out. There is some legitimacy to a lot of those points. I just felt that his unwillingness to entertain the idea of what's going to happen here, if or that,

maybe wasn't as forthright as possible. But like you said, I don't necessarily blame him for taking that angle. And something that might be a little understated, and Gary kind of touched on it today, was that all the players that have been accused have no contracts moving forward at the end of the season. So if they can drag their feet until then, he can basically just say, teams haven't re-signed him, we haven't made a decision,

we'll make a decision if someone signs him. If people are pressing on him to suspend without pay, I think what Gary kind of said without saying it is, if we do that, all that's going to happen now is that the NHLPA will come back and file a grievance because that's what they're supposed to do. Yeah. And then by the time we go back and forth, the season's going to be finished anyways. Yes.

And then they stop getting paid, and the point becomes moot. It's just like it'll work itself out here for the NHL where they won't have to take a hard stance. In a very short period of time. Because it would, yeah. You know, we've talked about it briefly, but just like it would put the, it's a weird precedent to set if you can knock guys off your salary cap for, you know, accusations or whatever. Like we said, we're going to have Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley

from the National Hockey League join us at the top of the hour, and we're going to get into a number of topics. Also, expansion in terms of Salt Lake City. There's a real sense that all Gary Bettman needs to do is just green light this thing, and they're next. He was pressed on it a bit, and he was like, I didn't announce anything about Salt Lake City. You asked the group.

Okay. All right. Let's welcome in Grammy Award winner and star of last night's show, Michael Bublé. Hey, Michael, thanks for joining us, man. I really appreciate it. I know you've come on with myself, Darren Millard, and Doug McClain a while back on Hockey Central at noon.

So welcome all these years later. Hi, man. It's so nice to talk to you again. Nice to talk to you too, Justin. Thanks, man. We appreciate you coming on today. It looked like a good time last night, was it? It was so much fun.

Are you kidding me, guys? It was so much fun. This whole event has been really great, you know? Hey, you're like a kid in a candy store last night. Or a mushroom store. Well, I mean, I think people know by now when I was talking about, you know, when I was talking about the shrooms and stuff. You know, Nick, you told me it was a microdose.

What the hell? I did? I think now we've let the cat out of the bag. It was Kiprios, everybody. It was Kiprios. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm to blame. I'm to blame. You know, how do you think the players responded?

Because, you know, there's – I know there's a ton of pressure this time of year to step up and perform a little bit, and some are more comfortable than others. But what was your sense being around these great players, Michael? My sense is that they're really a bunch of great guys, honestly. I think it's in a weird way. I think that draft actually brings guys together. It forces them together in a way because I'm going to tell you what, Nick. It doesn't matter who you are.

It's a very high school thing, that draft. And it sucks sitting there waiting to get picked. I don't care how, you know, what anybody tells you. And I don't give, I don't, and I'm telling you right now, I shook a lot of hands last night. And these are the greatest hockey players in the world. And I, you know, people probably think, wow, they don't care. You know, that, you know, let me tell you,

every single hand I shook was cold and clammy. Every single one. Every single one of those guys was sitting there. And as cool as a cucumber, as cool as they looked, nobody wanted to be last. Everybody was, you know, the longer they sat, the more anxiety they had. But, you know, what's weird is that it really makes it exciting because, I don't know, guys, I don't know what it's been really makes it exciting because I don't know, guys, I don't know what it's been like previous years, and I don't know what the feeling is there on the ice,

but this is not a joke. Like, you know, this is not one of those, yeah, we show up and we'll do some dipsy-doodle Harlem Globesotter stuff, you know, and, you know, the Washington Generals on the other side. These dudes want to win. And I understood it very quickly when I started talking to the teammates, you know, and talking to the brothers and stuff and Petey. And obviously they wanted to take care of their own guys.

They want to make sure they're doing the right things as leaders and captains. But the first thing out of their mouths were, we want to win. That's awesome. And so how about yourself? I mean, i'm sure you played some hockey growing up you're i'm sure competitive with your uh music career did you feel as that went on like looking at other guys uh teams going okay here's what we need did you start to feel some of the competitive juices too oh well of course i always do i mean listen i i mean i i'm a part owner of the giants in Vancouver, our junior team, and I'm I'm every single night I'm competitive, man.

I'm competitive if we're out of the playoffs, I still want to win. Um, you know, it's not, it's not the only thing obviously, but it's a, it's a great thing. And, uh, last night, I mean, look, I was so pumped. I, I listen before we ever made one pick, I looked over at Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes and knew, you know what I mean, that's a pretty damn fine start. And then you add Nikita Kucherov to that off the top, it was like, oh, man, this is sick. This is too good.

We're talking to Michael Bublé, five-time Grammy Award winning artist. Hey, Michael, this is really shaping up. I don't know if you guys got that vibe last night. It's another Toronto versus Vancouver thing. And we know Vancouver hates Toronto. And, like, you can't lose, my friend, this weekend. You can't. To Toronto especially. You know that, right? friend, this weekend. You can't. To Toronto, especially.

You know that, right? No, listen, man. You know, honestly, I think we take it with a little grain of salt. And the truth is, whether we win or lose, you know what I mean, it's okay. But we're happy for you in Toronto. For me, personally, I'm not even joking, man. I am thrilled you guys won your Stanley Cup last year. I feel like I was actually happy for you.

You know what I mean? You did it. You got there. The grail, the dragon was slayed, and now it's our turn in the West. Yeah, well, I do want to ask you about that there with the Canucks. Did you foresee what's going on with that team this year? What an unbelievable turnaround. Yeah, man, it's nice to watch.

I know they're all buying in. I think they got a great group, really. I mean, I'm lucky. I know a lot of those guys. And listen, I love our ownership and I love our management. I just, you know, I like what's happening. I like the vibe they're building. And the truth is, you know, I was with Brian Burke last night.

I love that word, truculence. But I love that we got talent. We got high-end talent. But there's truculence. You got four lines that roll. You got a big damn defense core. And, you know, I don't know what's going to happen, obviously, but I think we got a damn fine chance.

And I love that Lind home deal. I love that Lind. He's a big two-way killer that, you know, not many teams have that kind of depth at center. And you can stick him on the right wing on the power play, and he can win that draw too so i like you guys i do i i listen i'm excited and i'm not just saying this i think you guys are too i'm excited for canada because there's some you know to know that winnipeg is

where it's at edmonton at 17 games like i talked to connor yesterday and just you know it's and i really like him too. McDavid is a really good, as you guys know, really cool dude. Humble guy. You'd never know he's the superstar that he is. And I love that he's honest. He's really excited about that. It's so cool to be part of

what they're part of right now. And I love it. As a Canadian, it's fun to watch. So you mentioned Lindholm and then Zdorov, what, a month and a half ago, two months. Do you look at that roster right now? And if Jimmy or Patrick, their general manager, make another move, would you be worried about tinkering too much? Is this enough for you?

You think this is deep enough now to make a run? I don't know if you're ever deep enough, man. I mean, are you ever deep enough? I don't know. But I know this. I think you've got guys in Patrick and Jimmy Rutherford that Jimmy has been there before. He knows what it takes. He's patient when he has to be, but obviously he'll pull the trigger when he has to.

So it's interesting, man. I've loved watching what they've done. I really have. It's been so much fun as a fan, and it really has to just sit there. Look, I link that Lindholm deal. What I really like about it is that I love what it says to the players. I love what it says to all those guys, you know, and I've talked to them about it.

You know, I know what it means to them. You know, hey, guys, we know, and I've talked to them about it. You know, I, I know what it means to them, you know, Hey guys, we believe in you. This is, this is a reward for doing what you're doing. We think you can get go all the way and we're willing to show you that. And I think that that's all any team can do guys, you know, that, but, uh, tough game, tough league, tough conference. Um, you know, got to go through a bunch of amazing teams i mean look at colorado and edmonton right those are two stacked teams so uh it's going to be tough well the best

part about that is that when there is best on best competition you get to combine some of these players and play for canada how excited were you to hear that we're going to get some, whether it's the Four Nations thing or the Olympics is back? That is my favorite news today. Like, for me, that is huge news. For all my buddies, I called my dad. Totally pumped. Totally pumped. And, you know, further than that,

it just makes it even more important for us to continue to grow the game. You know? And you guys are such a big part of that. And I love seeing teams going into the community and making sure that kids, you know, fall in love with this game. And I love watching the women game grow. I mean, this is crazy, you guys. Like, Berkey and all these guys have done such an unbelievable job.

And, you know, you go into the community, you get kids excited, you help them, you sponsor stuff, you get jerseys for them. And you know what? You know, you go into the community, you get kids excited, you help them, you sponsor stuff, you get jerseys for them. And you know what? You'll find, you know, you will build a great group of Canadian kids coming up. And obviously they've done it in America. So we just need to keep on it here in Canada. Hanging out with some of the stars, did you get a sense of how competitive tonight will be with a million dollars?

Like, I know you could sell, like, four cases of bubbly and make a million dollars, but this is still a ton of money for these guys. Yeah, it's funny. No one, and I'm not lying to you, I've talked to so many guys, and I'm not joking. Not one guy has talked about money. But I just think they're such highly competitive dudes.

They want to prove something, you know, to themselves and to each other. So, I mean, hey, the money's awesome, but I don't think they're hurting either. Well, listen, we're certainly not hurting having you back on our show. You are welcome on it any time. You've now jumped over Dan Murphy as our lead Vancouver Canucks correspondent. Congratulations. Do not be a stranger. Dan is the king.

No way. Yeah, yeah. He knows way more than I do. You are welcome any time on our show, my friend. Thank you. Thanks, buddy. Michael Bublé, everybody. A trainer is than I do. You are welcome any time on our show, my friend. Thank you. Thanks, man. Michael Bublé, everybody. A trainer is what I need.

It's good to be like Dan. Get some rest. Plenty of weekends still ahead for you, my friend. Hey, have a good weekend, guys. Thank you. Let's have a pop together. All right. All right, thanks, man.

One of the greats. Michael Bublé. That was kind of cool. I mean, the guy's a hockey fan. Listen, like I said, he came on a few years ago on Hockey Central at noon, and he knew everything you needed to know. Yeah. Deep conversations on the Canucks.

This is not one of those, you know, just kind of dipping your toe as a celebrity in the hockey world. This guy lives and breathes it. So you kind of just, like, sloughed off the let's have a pop thing. I'm like, yeah, let's kick it. Can we get your number? Yeah, let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. Fantastic stuff. That was awesome. Yeah, his team is pretty loaded up. You know, having Pettersson and Hughes and Kucherov, Demko and Nett. I would be interested, though, because you know the Vancouver-Toronto rivalry. And I think it's much more one way than it is the other like i think vancouver really hates toronto more than toronto hates vancouver but i i do i i don't know hey can i just say something uh vancouver potentially win the

stanley cup this year that that hate would oh yeah would be there no we can't have that but i can't go too far with it i'm just telling saying? What am I saying? I'm just telling you. Like, you know, watch them win the Stanley Cup, and you're going to see a lot of hate out of here. I think it would matter a lot to Vancouver fans to have, like, even though it's an All-Star game, like, the slightest amount of bragging rights to have, like, the Buble Vancouver team win an All-Star game at Toronto. Like, I do think that would give them, like, the slightest bit of bragging.

They'll take anything they can get on Toronto. There is potential for a little juice on Saturday night. Yeah, and that's what I see shaping up. When they play against each other, and if they make it to a final, I guess, it would be a Toronto versus Vancouver

thing. I will say, though, I grew up... Can Edmonton get in there between Connor and Dreisaitl to kind of screw it up? Yeah, but still, there's still juice there, too. Will Arnett take his Leafs hat off? You know, did he address that last night? Like, I thought he'd be like, hey, you know. I think he did.

He did okay. Yeah, and I don't think he cared. That's the sense I got. I'm sure if you're Will Arnett, you're like, okay, I'm not Justin Bieber in Toronto. That's fair. Is it not? I mean, Bieber's Bieber. Yeah.

You've got to give the team to Biebs. Yeah. But, you know, I grew up in D.C. and I moved to Toronto. You're talking about how people in Toronto don't hate Vancouver. I don't know, man. I heard an awful lot of slander about the sushi-eating hippies out west when I first came over here. That's just because you're listening to Bob McAllen. That's what he was saying.

When I went to a game there, I went to a Leafs-Canucks game, and I wore the unusual amount of Leafs stuff I would. And I've gone to different arenas around the league as a Leaf fan. I have never received vitriol like that. It was the rudest welcome in any building I've ever had in any sport. Rude. So they hate him. That's good. That's the only way that there's any real action, right, when you have that sort of juice.

So, that's good. Glad Buble's on that side of things. It's a Buble. So, do you guys want to hit a break so then we can talk about all the actual news? Yeah, including a firing. I don't know how unexpected it was. We actually talked about it a little bit. I didn't get a sense that it was going to happen, but enough people told me that they were contemplating a change of coaches in L.A.

Crazy, too. Like a run of a bad six weeks, basically. Sure enough, Todd McClellan out. Also, I want to talk to you guys about this four-nation face-off. And, you know, how intrigued are you going to be? Is this just a warmup to the Olympics as they kind of stipulated today, but how many Leafs taking part in that? We'll,

that's a good question. We'll get into that and more still plenty to go on the real Kipper and Bourne show right up back after these words. Hey, it's Ben Ennis and And I'm Brent Gunning. We got you covered on all things Leafs, Raptors, and Blue Jays every weekday morning, 6 to 9. It's the Fan Morning Show.

Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be right back. I don't know who it is. It's just Hiller from the Kings Pressure. Whatever it is, we know he's the next head coach of the LA Kings. Before you get into that, I've gone to a Leaf game with you before, Kemper. And I've been in public a few times with you. I'm not sure Bublé is more famous than you. It's hard for you to get around. Oh, gosh. People are mobbing. You couldn't cross Bremner without five people asking for a selfie.

Buddy, I'm now hanging with you guys now. Oh, no. I'm in third place. You signed 17 autographs in the break. It was amazing. Wow, listen, everybody's having a good time here. You know, Leafs fans are true. They love their Leafs.

We're going to have Bill Daly join us at the top of the hour. We'll get into Olympics, of course, and this Four Nations face-off. Yeah. And listen, it's not the Olympics. And it was touched on in the press conference that we've got two choices next season. Yeah. To do something or nothing, and we choose something. It's not perfect by any stretch.

No, it's not. You can't really call it best on best when there's no Russia, there's no Czech Republic, so it's just four nations. Canada, U.S., Finland. Sweden. Sweden. So, you know, you kind of have to, I think what you have to do is not pretend it's the Olympics. It's its own unique thing.

They're trying something, and there will still be that sort of nationalistic pride involved. I don't know how people are going to take to it, but, like, you're going to watch. You're going to watch Crosby and McDavid play on the line for the first time. You're going to watch McKinnon be involved, right? I think it's the four best teams like if we're being honest those are probably the four best teams in the country no russia yeah but no i would take all four of those teams over russia's team like if we're doing best on best breaking the guys down like i i like those four teams i do and i think from a guy who loves i'm

the the target audience this because I love international hockey. Like, I watch the Spangler Cup over Christmas. I'm like, I love hockey at the international level. Yeah. So, I think it's going to be great. Like, I don't know how you get all that talent together in a tourney where it's not amazing. Do the players care? They have to care.

You're putting on a Canada jersey. You're going to not care? The challenge, of course, is over the last 40 or 50 years, it's always just been about a powerful five or six countries. So start thinking that we can truly have a World Cup. Soccer has a World Cup. When you have how many countries out there. But they're not trying to call it that, at least. Well, yeah, they tried it once. Under 23.

But there has been a lack of development from Germany. And, you know, we've got some names coming up, which is great. But a World Cup, you know, you'd hope you could find 12 countries out there. And we can't. It's tough because a lot of the countries, Germany is a great example, where you have a few elite guys, you have Dreisaitl, Seider, you've got a few guys. But not enough to be invited to a tournament and feel like they can compete.

Yeah. Well, I think this all stems from just a fear of knowing how to handle russia right like it would be more teams if they knew how to handle russia i feel like and gary today in his press conference is like oh the russia question that's for the guy from the olympics like yeah yeah he's like you answer that one it's i they and he didn't really say no when he was asked about it. He kind of was like, yeah, we'll see where we're at in 2026, basically, was his answer. And I guess that's what... Where are we politically, right?

That was his whole answer. Yeah. So I would imagine that by 2026, maybe it's not Russia. Maybe it's the Olympic athletes from Russia again or something like that. And they're in it. But it's hard to imagine an Olympics without a Russia involved. Do you think how intense a Four Nations tournament would be without having the feel of it? What's on the line?

Are they going to build a trophy? And so, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is in season? Yeah, it's like at the All-Star break. This is in lieu of All-Star break. So, you know, for these players, it's a big ask, is it not? To say, in season, this is going to be a competitive event where you're not paid to be a part of this. It doesn't necessarily mean you're the

best hockey country in the world. It just means you've won the four nations. It doesn't have the cachet yet to get the guys to go, well, I just want to be a part of that. Unless they feel like it's a showcase for the Olympics. I'm trying out for

the Olympics. So if I have success, if I show that I have great chemistry on this checking line, can now Canada just feel like they're going to slide that team over to the Olympics? Two things not to be this guy. Oh, you say checking line. It's like, oh, so you're just already starting to get Hyman on that team? Well, that's literally where it's going. First off, we have an all-star game without Zach Hymanman who's on pace for 55 goals or whatever it is which is

incredible but so it's going to be funny to see if he's still doing his thing and he we include him i'm locking him up right now but then the question everyone immediately is asking it's like the olympics are back who's our goalie yeah al i mean there's there would have been one answer that we would have had pretty unanimously who's probably not going to be playing hockey much anymore. Mark-Andre Fleury? Carter Hart was the guy that everybody was naming to be that. You got Aiden Hill, Connor Ingram.

Yeah, yeah. Meanwhile, the U.S. is going to roll up Hellebuck, Demko, and probably Gibson. Only one of them can play, Borny. That's what I'm hoping. It's only one of them can play. But it's the only place where it's like, as a Canadian, you're like, oh, down the middle, we are stacked. Can anyone stop it?

It's like being a Leafs fan. Here's what I'll say. Ah, that was me. Here's what we'll say. We'll be fine. We'll be fine? We'll be fine. No, Canada.

He's American. I thought you were going to say Joseph Woljo. Just for the record, any time hear someone say down the middle, you have to include your goalie down the middle. Me so? A hundred percent. It is the middle of the ice. It is the middle of the ice.

And down the middle. Maybe Sid can strap on the pads. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe they're waiting for Logan Thompson, someone to emerge. Yeah, it's going to be somebody. Like, it's not a murder if you're a fringe canadian goalie right now you should be having a moment like oh my god get hot i gotta

get hot yeah so well that'd be exciting yeah but no like so you you're worried about them not competing in it like not competing or like uh just the effort level in it? No, I don't. But I do worry about the public perception of them. Like, or where is their emotional attachment to this tournament? And I experienced it a little bit in 2016 with the World Cup here in Toronto. And I don't think it did what I hoped it would have done in terms of... They submarineed it with one move, that under-23 team. But, you know, at the same time, it was a popular team, and there was a bit of a rally around it because... Popular like the Harlem Globetrotters.

Like, I don't think this is real, but... But like as an exhibition kind of thing. The thing that killed it is that Team Europe beat Sweden in the semis. So then it wasn't Canada versus Sweden in the semis. It was Canada versus a all-star team. All jokes aside, who won? Did Canada win? Canada won.

With Brad Marchand scoring a winning goal late in the second game to win it. Yeah, you're right. And if the final would have been. Not that I remember. It remember it happened if there would have been a final with lundquist against sydney that's what i mean that's like it like you look back on that thing totally differently if it's not team europe in the final like i think that really i disagree with that you do i really hated the under 23 things like we're it's all our best players except a few of them are on this other team yeah people forget matthew scored his first goal at Scotiabank Arena playing for Team North America, not the Leafs.

That's a great little tibia treatment. Todd McClellan, fired by the Los Angeles Kings after five-plus seasons. That must have stung Rob Blake, general manager, because he... That's his guy? That's his guy. And I would think that there was an extraordinary amount of pressure

to think that Todd can't get the team back at this point. You know, it's such a weird thing because he rode it out with them through the whole rebuild, turn it around, start winning games, get off to a great start this season.

It was all, you know, who's the best in the West Vegas, L.A.? And honestly, like six weeks completely submarine the guy. And then you do the move where you put a guy who was on the bench as the head coach anyway. I remember doing like our gambling segment early in the year and talking about like the favorites for the Jack Adams. And he was like in the top five for about the favorites for the Jack Adams. Yeah. And he was in the top five for the first two months of the season. Yeah.

He was a guy that was all like, coach of the year, look what they're doing. And then... Boys, I'm telling you... It comes down to goaltending a lot of times. The coaches have never had it harder right now in the National Hockey League. In one stance, they're exempt from the salary cap. Yeah. Which can mean that the sky's the limit on how much they can make.

Yeah. And then the double-edged sword on that is that I can also fire you, and it doesn't affect my salary cap. Right. So it's just money. Yeah. And it's the number one way now to shake up your team. You're not moving.

You're not trading anybody, essentially. Which, you know, in Toronto, we sometimes get accused of being hyperbolic or panicked or whatever. But listen, you know, the Leafs lose eight of ten games at any point. They might change the coach. We'd be having probably a different vibe today in this city right now. We're winning the last two. Yeah, if the Leafs lost the last two against Winnipeg, there'd be a different vibe for Sheldon Keefe.

You said it right from the start, and I doubted you the first time you brought it. You brought it up again, and you're right that those two games were such a fork in the road moment for the Leafs' season heading into All-Star break. They win them both, and everything's fine. Keefe's back to not being on the hot seat. You're right. So the only difference is L.A. could not win those couple of games.

Wherever you want to go and find them in the last month, L.A. Kings could not win a couple of important games to save Todd's job, and the Leafs did. And I'm not suggesting that that was ever on the table like what we just saw in L.A., but that's where the seed gets planted, right? On these stretches on teams that find a way to dig their coaches out of a hole. They're 3-5-2 in their last 10. It's not like they're 0-10, but it wasn't enough for him for him to stick around do you think like do you still believe in that team or

like is it just that they got really hot goaltending at the start of the year from talbot like are you off of them i know what i wonder i wonder if the huge trade for pl dubois certified difference maker who now is playing third and fourth line and probably hates his coach doesn't have some small influence because you need to get that guy back on board yeah like you just traded velarde and ayafalo and kapari for this guy who's gonna help if that coach has lost that guy is that enough to be like man they're gonna build a statue for cheval day off for that trade i know you look at that trade but look at the bodies behind Dubois. I know. Look at where he goes.

It's really, yeah, you got to, like, how many coaches has that guy had in his career? Well, and how many has he worked with? Yeah. Like, to me, it's like someone who's, like, you know, in some sort of toxic relationship. That happens. Things go wrong. If you're in your 10th. What did they give him for a contract?

Was it eight times eight? Did they give him eight years? Oh, yeah, eight. Eight times eight. Eight. Oof. So they need to salvage Pierre Dubois. That's a big one there for them.

Yeah. All right, are we due game time, Sammy? Well, do you want to mention the Monaghan trade that happened today, too? Oh, gosh. Sean Monaghan on, gaining a first-rounder, and then unloading him and getting another first-rounder. Unbelievable reclamation project. And not to rain on the Calgary Flames, but whatever it cost them,

cost them an additional pick to get rid of Monahan. Do you remember that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, so that was over. Was that Daryl Sutter related? Who made that trade? No, it was, wasn't it to fit Jonathan Huberto's 10 and a half? Did that play into it?

Yeah. Or Wieger's new contract or something that forced them to move that money out. Right. Rather than just let him get healthy and maybe trade him for an asset. Yes. It's a tough moment for our boys in blue here. He was traded for a first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick. And the condition on the third-round pick is that if the Jets win the Cup, they get the pick.

Oh, really? Oh, entirely? Yeah, that's the condition on the pick. I like that. From what, a fourth to a second? No, no, no, the pick is a third if they win the Cup or no pick at all. So a first for sure. Yeah, so it's a first and then a third, yeah. And I like him.

I can't claim I've watched enough of him to feel comfortable. I watched a lot of Habs games this year. That he's, you know, how healthy is he? He's had some issues. He's had some surgeries. Is that all behind him? Is he a guy that can disappear again? One thing they're talking about in Winnipeg is, you know,

putting Ehlers and Perfetti on his wings because it's a guy you can trust as a two-way, 200-foot guy. You give a couple of offense first guys a little bit of insurance. Then you're playing Ehlers more, who's probably the most undervalued points-per-60 type of guy, and Perfetti who can do more. So maybe Monaghan's not going to be awesome, but if you can get more out of Ehlers and Perfetti,

there's value there too. He had the injury issues and his production clearly fell off a cliff. But before that, starting in 2013-2014, 22 goals, 31, 27, 27, 31, 34, 22. He's a guy

that can produce for you, put the puck in the net. So, you know, it's a first-round pick. I think a lot of people thought they wouldn't get that for them, so good job by the Habs. And, you know, for the Leaf fans listening, the Habs aren't going to suck forever here. Like, it seems like they're really being run by good people,

and they kind of got their heads on their shoulders. That's the worst. It is. You see the bad guys start making good decisions. That's a really good, that's excellent asset management. Yeah. Nope. Yeah.

Absolutely. But going to the next level, as Edmonton has proven, isn't guaranteed. There's still a lot of question marks. Got to nail the picks. Development. Who's your goalie in two or three years? It'll be curious, too, to watch

the Marty St. Louis thing play out. He came in as a time where they are a developmental guy, not a ton of experience. You know, when things start to turn, do you end up being Todd McClellan? And, you know, once they turn, you decide you need a new guy to help you through. So a team worth watching, to say the least. How much of the Winnipeg trade do you think is a response to the Lindholm-Vancouver thing?

I think it played a part in it. I think ultimately it's not the reason, but it's interesting that we saw two pretty decent deals involving first-rounders right at the beginning of the All-Star weekend, which never happens. Like poor David Amber in the trade deadline day. Who's left? You? I was talking to Sarah Velley today at the Gary Bettman press conference.

It's like, boy, it's getting thin for you. Hey, Velley's like, well, we have to drum something up. Like, I don't know. There'll be some action. Yeah. I do. And people have got to stop focusing on, like, you know, I know we've got our insiders and they've got their list,

but the conversations are well beyond the noticeable names on a trade board. I remember hearing Philip Fronick last year until it happened. And I think this trade deadline has a chance to pull some people unexpectedly into play here. Yeah. Restricted free agents. Like a guy like McCabe that we saw last year. The Leafs made a trade, but it was for a guy who was locked in, that wasn't going anywhere.

Reminds me of the Hagel trade. Rental. Yeah. Non-rentals. Remember Tampa the Hagel trade. Rental. Yeah. Non-rentals. Tampa gets Hagel for all those picks. And what was the Leafs what if? Was it that they were going to trade for Hagel and Fleury? Remember when Kyle Dubas got mad at Kyle Davidson?

There was like that whole fight between the two of them. The two Kyles went after him. He leaked. He leaked. But was it Hagel? Kyle, I think, somewhat accused Davidson of sharing details. Kyle's had some good presser moments, eh? Oh, yeah.

Kyle's also super fired up because the Fenway group hired Theo Epstein today. So it's like dork fest. They're just fired up. They can't wait. Dorking it up. Everything's great. Well, that's an interesting one in itself. The Pittsburgh Penguins and where they go.

But he's not hired to work for the Red Sox or work for the Penguins. He's hired by the group, right? So that's very interesting. Oh, and he'll have... I mean, he's going to have some say. They'll all have say on numbers and percentages. Yeah. Right?

I mean, Epstein turned the Cubs and the Red Sox curses into World Series champions. He can do whatever he wants. She Living probably should have hired him. He's writing his own check. Probably should have gotten him. For his own job. Get the curse guy in here. Get him to hire him for the lease.

What can you do? If you sell yourself as the curse guy, just. Hire him for the lease. What can you do? If you sell yourself as the curse guy, just infinite value for 10 franchises out there. 100%. Not seeing much, and we'll get into this in our next hour, boys. If you take a look at the standings now at All-Star break, you're wondering what team on the outside looking in is going to make it. And have we pretty much locked in the teams? Are we Leafs cats?

Meow. Are we there? I'm just looking at it here. You can sit there and figure out who is going to play who and then be wrong. But maybe what you can't be wrong with is that we're staring pretty much at 14 teams that are absolutely locked. Yep. Right? I know you're right, 100%.

You don't believe in the Sens to turn it around or what? Are they on a winning streak? I think they are. Yeah, they won one in a row. No, maybe two. Maybe two. Okay, still plenty more on the Real Kipper and Bourne show in the next hour. We'll welcome in Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly from the National Hockey League

and Gord Stelic, Stelic-tricity. The mayor of Fanfair. He'll pay us a visit as well. Our thanks to Michael Bublé in this hour, who was fantastic. He's in for a big night. We're all in for a big night as we watch a million dollars go to the hands of... Another rich guy. I was going to say Conor McDavid, but he's already a rich guy.

Don't go away, everybody. We're back after these words. Real Kipper and Born.