Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Locker Room Cleanout Day

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on the Leafs' availability from today's locker room cleanout day press conferences. They get into Craig Berube's reflection and evaluate his first year behind the Leafs' bench, the pressure baked into the Toronto market, Auston Matthews staying quiet on his injury status and Brendan Shanahan's future with the franchise. Later, Sportsnet Leafs insider Luke Fox joins the show (37:55) to share his takeaways from the team's availability today and discuss potential imminent changes at the top, Anthony Stolarz's injury and the growing narrative surrounding Leafs fans and media.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.

Yes, it's true. We're still in business on the leaf hour edition of the real Kipper and born show. We are live on sports. That five 90, the fan sports that three 60 and sports net plus Nick Kiprios, Justin born, Sammy McKay, Derek Brandeo and Jake, the snake Schultz everyone's favorite day according to my Sammy McKee's lineup the locker room clean out how exciting I said we should run last year's show and see if anyone notices play the one from last year hold on before we begin we begin. Okay, so what's the deal? Because I know there's always been slogans in the Leaf dressing room, but you're telling me that there's one. I was having a laugh.

Mark Lazarus tweeted about it today, but it's the Leafs did their podium today beside a sign that says, and the punctuation is not great. It says no grit period no grind period no greatness Like it could be like no grit comma. No grind No greatness or like it just says we have none of these things And it's something that you would never notice until like you notice Yeah, and it's like god that that feels, in lieu of what happened here, it feels particularly dark. I can't, like, what are we, what's different from yesterday, what do we wanna talk about today

that's different from yesterday? Well, first of all, I, to be totally transparent, didn't hear a word of the comments today made by Borubi or any of the players. I've lived it, I've done it. And I was expecting nothing out of it today. Yeah, I think that's like the PR goal is don't say anything, you know, wear it a bit.

Don't say anything, and controversial. Get out of town as quick as you can. Yes. Get your stuff out of here. That's why they have, what do they lose? Is it Sunday night? Tuesday at noon, they're free to go. Yeah, they spent the holiday Monday thinking about it,

and then they fired it up and started it today. But I don't know, I just, I find these locker clean out days are just so pointless for the players and pointless for the coach. Like I really am at the point where the only people I really want to hear from at the end of the year, I guess you got to hear from the captain. I guess you got to hear from the coach like I understand it. But the only real meaningful thing to me would be either the president or the general manager.

Like ultimately you want to hear what they have to say about it, right? That's coming. Tomorrow probably. Soon, I'm not sure when. Okay. But it's coming. But it's one of those days where you think you're gonna get nothing out of it,

which most often you do get nothing out of it, but you can't avoid it. And the masses still want accountability, whatever that means to show your face into a camera and come up with whatever you can. And we'll be no different in this hour. We're gonna take whatever we can and break it down to say what we think it means or what

the avoidance is or what we're gonna read between the lines. So let's go. I think, you know, and I'm not just saying this, I think that's the strength of our show. I think we, you know, have both done enough media and seen this enough that we have some idea, you know, who's saying what and what they want to say. But imagine if they didn't come out today and how they would get ripped. If they were just gone, for sure. Yeah.

What did you see? You have to do it. But I'm just talking about the general concept of a locker clean out day is just maybe it's just because here I got to can't I have a listen to every single thing today. I listen to it live and I just maybe I'm just still mad about the on ice product, but I just I can't It couldn't piss me off like it has in years past because maybe I'm just used to it. Maybe it's just stockholms and I'm just I'm a little bit numb to it, but it just wasn't Eventful as it usually is to me. Is that fair?

Yeah, the only messages I got were that it seems like Craig Barube hadn't heard You know had it wasn't aware of the last few years here in Toronto where people were tired of hearing close, right? Don't care. We don't, no one cares if they were close, but anyway, let's get into it and then we'll start. All right, let's start with Ed Coaches' comments, opening statement, I guess we'll call it.

Yep. Clip one, Craig Berube. Yeah, first I just want to, you know, talk about our season. You know, I think our team made a lot of great strides this year, did a lot of things, accomplished a lot of things. I really enjoyed working with this group. I really liked this team a lot. I like the people on the organization the players You know just the buy-in from the players for me coming in here new and fresh and

Changing the style Changing the focus of the way we're going to play. Work ethic in practice, work ethic in the gym, and then obviously onto the ice, the commitment they made this year. You know, we all look at game seven and nobody's happy, and that's understandable, but did a lot of good things this year that I'm very proud of. Okay, here's a question.

I do the last part, maybe. Ugh. But here's a question for you, Kip. The players did buy in and change the way they played. Yeah. They did. They became a different style of hockey team this year. By the numbers, the analytics in terms of puck possession,

shots, you know, all that sort of stuff. They got caved in this year, most of the games, but they did win a lot of hockey games and they won big hockey games. Do you think there should be any reflection from Borubi on does that style work with this team? Yes, but I don't think he was prepared to go down that path. and I'm not sure if in all honesty like the majority of the media is savvy enough to have asked them that today. They're just, I mean most of them do a nice job, there's a few out there that are actually really in tune but that type of sophistication that you're talking

about, nobody at the ring would even ask that. Yeah. You know, and I'm not sure if he'd be prepared to even answer that. Maybe that's a summertime reflection for them. But just listening to those that that statement and that opening remark from him. I listened to him and it's absolutely a guy that's still fresh and new to this. That speech that he just gave about, we still did a lot of great things and we went, that speech would have been great for this team two or three years ago.

For sure. More than that. We're right there. Like 2019 that. We're right there. Like 2019 maybe. We're right there. So that one would have been great for the start of something that's moving forward or in the middle of something that's moving forward,

but he's giving it at the end of something. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. It is, it's the end of an era in so many ways. And you don't look any further than, you know, Mitch Marner and and Jonathan Tavares or john Tavares sorry, being at the end of the line right now. And I don't know what that means in terms of Tavares coming back or not. But if they don't, you're talking about close to 200 points out of your lineup next year,

it's gonna have a significant impact. And in many ways, although Matthews will come back, Nylander will come back, many of the other players, Tanov, and I don't know where Morgan Riley sits today, but many of them are coming back, but it's gonna be new. It's gonna be the start of something new no matter what. It's funny, you mentioned about him being new, the phrase, we did a lot of great things.

He says at the end, which kind of made me wince because God, did Sheldon Keefe get buried for, a lot of respect in the handshake line this year, you know, because we're, you know, we're right there. We're a tougher out. You know, it's that was something that for years was like, ha ha ha. I think but from his perspective and a lot to your point about him being new for him from his perspective, like, you know, coming in first year,

gets him to game seven in the second round against the Stanley Cup champions in a vacuum, that is a good year. They did do some good things. Absolutely, they won the division. But not here. Not with the scars of this fan base. Not in the year, is it 11 for Brendan Shanahan or 10?

I think he's through 11. It would be 11. Not in the 11th year of his program. Yeah. You can't get a pat on the back. No. This is again he's he's at the beginning of the end Craig Barube. And I think the onus is on him a little bit to know where you're at in the team's cycle as well. But it's tough for him because like what's he supposed to say? They didn't do anything good all year. He can't say anything about the overall success of the team. Like he has to be his own resume a little bit, right? And say, you know, perspective guys, we did, you know, I get him saying that, but anyway, I get why people don't love it yeah all right he couldn't

answer the other night about what happened in game five and game seven did he did he revisit that Sam Luke our Luke Fox who's who will join us join us half an hour asked him about the between the ears comment that he made after the game and you know how like how would affect them and what he just basically asked him to revisit that and this was his answer if you want to play it there clip clip clip three when I talked about that and I thought about these games you know last couple days and there's a lot of things that go through your mind in these these big games you know, from a mental standpoint.

And you may not have your A game in these games, but what you have to rely on is your structure. And when I look at these games and I look at the situations that arrived and hurt us in these games, we lost our structure. And that's very important that we take this away and that we come back next year. Structure is very important. And if you don't lose your structure, you can get through these games without having

your A game. Chris. We have, you know, the organization has. Structure then Sheldon, or sorry, Ruby says. I've heard that before. What did you? Yeah, I don't like it because I just, I don't like it because, I just, I don't like it because, because there's a team on the other side

that will take a look at your structure and shut it down. And break it. And break it. Pound right through. To keep asking them to go back to the structure that's getting shut down by your opposition is no good. So either you make adjustments or you change your structure.

Or you lose. Because it's not working. And for him to keep going back and ask them to do the things that aren't working is not helpful in trying to beat the Florida Panthers. It's funny because the same thing that has earned him a lot of praise lately, that patience and that consistency of message,

you know, can easily be spun to stubbornness and an unwillingness to adapt. Or adjust. Or adjust, yeah. And I think that's what we saw at times there where it was like, all right, we just got to do this one thing better. And they kept trying to do the one thing better. And it's like, what if that's not the right one thing to be doing?

And I think by the end of it, when you lose by five goals in game five and lose by five goals in game seven, even if you had done the thing better, he'd lose by three, two, you lose. So I don't know. There's some frustration there. Listen, for us and for people watching, it's we praise a patient's great. He's calm. Great. As long as you're winning.

Right. He's great, he's calm, great. As long as you're winning, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But when you don't start winning and you try to stay consistent with it, and sometimes you can work your way through it and then it can come back in your favor, listen, we're like the wind, man. You win, no one's gonna say anything bad

about your structure or your system or your patience or your calmness but you gotta win you gotta You gotta come out on top and when you don't people are gonna question it and people have a right to question Craig Barube Yeah, and I think this is maybe the first time you know when, when they finally lost here, where you kind of hear some people going, you know, maybe we won't default to everything he says and does is exactly correct. You know, for a lot of the season, first year benefited out and all that. But, you know, throughout the year, one of our criticisms was, let's try a couple of things here. Let's see if it works with this guy here or that guy there. Try a second system, a second breakout,

never really happened and then come playoffs, it did end up being, I would say somewhat to our credit, that ended up being what ended up at the end. And to the structure thing, so it's not between, doesn't everything go when you're nervous? Aren't you, like, you lean back on your structure. Being in your quote unquote structure, I've said structure more times

And I've said it in my life in this last five minutes But like doesn't isn't that part of what goes where you forget where you're supposed to be you're not you know getting to your spot Like I'm not X's and O's here But like being nervous and being afraid in a big game probably affects that structure So you know what's interesting is the story kip that I'm hearing the most Since the least of one is this pressure story. They lost me. What's that? They lost since they lost Oh my bet since they lost is pressure and the pressure of the market and the pressure these guys are under and whatever And I know we're gonna talk about that and these guys were asked about it a little bit. I

Gotta tell you I didn't hear one player on the Leafs say that the pressure got to them. I didn't hear a single guy say and that's good. It's like a story that came from the media only and typically I'm not the Panthers. Sure. Panthers did it. Sure. If the Panthers want to be the ones being like they felt the pressure, that's fine. I haven't heard anyone. Everyone's like, these players who say they can't handle the pressure, they don't want to be in the market or they can't, none of the players have said anything. This has been entirely the Florida Panthers. So I don't, I don't, we're all over these guys for talking about not wanting to handle

the pressure of the market. None of them said it. I don't think we've ever really had conversations that they buckle under pressure. Well, you know what? I think we asked the question, why do they continually underperform in the big moments? And pressure's a viable answer to that. But none of them have ever claimed it.

But boys, I mean, we are part of the pressure. The pressure is a ecosystem of us that talk about it every day, the fans that care about it more than any other team, like just the ecosystem of pressure. We don't like, you gotta do this or else, but it's just, it's all encompassing. Do I feel sometimes if you're losing your confidence and you've got this market and crazy number of people

that follow you on social media or mainstream doesn't get to you. It has to. Of course it does. It does. But that's because everyone cares and is paying attention, which is exactly what you want if you're an athlete. But it's not sneaking up on you either for some of these guys that have around eight

or nine years. Willie said it's all he knows. Yeah. Like he got asked, but he's like, it's all I know. That's why when Willie, when they lose three regular season games in a row, Willie goes, what's the big deal? You know, he's been mired in it.

But he's smart enough to say, you know, what's the big deal, and not to say what's the big deal in the playoffs. Right. Yes. You're right, you pick your spots there. So. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, again, they're just trying to defend it a

little bit. Yes. You know, I honestly, I tell Florida, just shut up. I know we don't need you. We don't need you. We don't need your sympathy. Just scram. Beat it. Go go play your Carolina Hurricanes and get out of our town. Speaking of vacuums. And I do think that this is where there's some's some legitimate jealousy from a team like Florida who is on the cusp of, whether you call them a dynasty or greatness or whatever you want to call it, and it's not that loud, it's not all that whatever. So I think for them, it's like they get to point

at the Toronto market and go, oh, that would suck, I wouldn't want that. It's like you'd kill for that. Yeah, you had 10 people at your Stanley Cup parade on the beach, you know while you're having the success you'd kill for it Yeah, so I do think that that's why it's coming from Florida more than from Toronto we're gonna talk about the pressure because it is a Story now, but I'm just saying I'm I'm taking the Leafs guys off the hooks on hook on it I heard them say it was every question to every guy at the availability was,

I think the first question. The first thing that comes to mind is they're just, they're not as good as the Panthers. Sure. I mean, that's fair taste. Flip their cities, is it any different? That's it, you wanna go and find little sorry excuses like pressure, dog ate my homework, I don't know,

but no, no, you just weren't as good as them. And if we went down the roster, and we said, you know, Barkhover, Matthews, you take six of those guys before you take some most of the Leafs. It you know, the the pressure factor, again, I'm not saying it's a non factor into why these guys don't have big game success I'm saying they haven't used it as a crutch because I do think it has some impact in terms of those guys in these playoff series But I'm just saying none of them have said that's why it's happened or uses you want to virus his comments on pressure I thought Tavares and Matthews Did I put the Matthews one in pressure. I thought Tavares and Matthews.

Did I put the Matthews one in here? I thought I did. We'll go to the, I did, OK. Put the Matthews one on pressure first, please, Derek. I don't think that's ever really something that gets, like, talked about too much or too much of a focus on. I think that's the nature of playing in here. It kind of comes with the territory.

And like I said before, I think it's an amazing place to play. I love playing in Toronto and playing for the Spam base in this organization. And I think that kind of stuff is just kind of outside noise that isn't really focused on or talked about too much in our locker room I would say. Yeah that's fair. I do believe them. I do too. I wish I believe them that they don't pay attention to as much as I think they do pay attention quite a bit but he's saying the right thing there for sure. Let's play a barube clip too on the pressure. Greg there's lots of talk about fan and media pressure in this market.

There's pressure in lots of big markets and lots of teams are successful. Where do you land on that as an explanation for the team's shortcomings? You just said it. There's pressure everywhere. I don't care where you're playing. If you're playing in that game seven and you're in Columbus, there's pressure to win, okay? You know, the only pressure that we should feel is right inside the locker room from each other.

That's honestly my opinion. Why is it always them against the pressure of the fans? It's just, we've talked about this before, but it's just such a- Well, no, it starts there, though. It starts talked about this before, but it's just such a mission statement. Well, no, it starts there though. It starts there. I know, but it's like. It starts with being accountable

beside the guy that you're getting dressed with, Sammy. Which I totally understand. Yeah, and that's all Craig's talking about. And it should be. And I understand that at the end of the day, that's the most important thing. If you're gonna win, you have to love the guys who are in the locker room

that you're about to go to battle with against the Florida Panthers. I understand that. But at the same time, like like you do kind of have to know that this means a lot to people and like saying that you're blocking them out or like that doesn't get inside the room. Having that be like one of the mission statements of your team for nine years really pisses people off. It's actually funny to use that energy. We we know channel. I see what you're saying.

It's dismissive of him to exclude everybody outside the locker room. And quite frankly, it's leading to a lot of people that are pretty sick of the stuff with like us against the fans. And you know, like they barely said the word fans today. Like I got to listen to everything. I bet you they said fans two times out of every single person. It's like, listen, I know the fans don't win any games. They don't play any, but like, that's the, it matters. This is a big time club with the biggest fan base

in the sport. They should have some bearing on what you do. You should have some pride. I'm sorry. Would have been nice for one of say we're sorry. We're sorry the fans. We disappointed you. Yeah, never said that I know ever I know you're right ever Sam. I could sit here and tell you I I see your point of view Thank you. That's a percent you know because of my world and where I've come from and You know because of my world and where I've come from and

Maybe the players are the same way they they forget that maybe it's someone like you Is no someone like you is the perfect person to remind them of that You know what just did it to me like but kip I'm torn on this because I've you know spent time with Recent NHLers who I've heard say The fans aren't owed anything You know they get to be oh gosh they they buy they pay they pay tickets to come and see you right they pay your salary They they they are owed an honest effort. Okay, don't Justin, please tell me whoever says that to you. You just tell them that yeah, okay, they paid Good money and in toronto because the the prices are so exorbit. It's even Harder. Yeah, that's what's happened here is

People don't mind paying 1200 bucks to sit in the upper row But you give her but not not for that That's that's a big issue right now. Like would it absolutely kill the captain of the May please come and be like we know how bad you want it and we're sorry what happened the other night. It wasn't good enough. We want to be better. Like how far that would go. Yeah. And it's just, I taught with this. It wouldn't hurt. Yes. And like, it's just never, ever. They've never seemed to care outwardly about letting us down. I feel like it's, uh, you know, take it for granted, right? You're going to be back next year. Guess what? Yeah. Bang on. Yeah. And I feel like the Toronto Maple Leafs the organization the ticket prices all that stuff

They could use a little bit of less loyalty like I talked about yesterday where they just know that worse than eventually You know people won't keep coming back for me I mean Feels like they weren't gonna come back. That's true. Feels like they would have been around this time. So, I don't know it just back. That's true. It feels like they would have been around this time. So I don't know. It just feels like where do you guys want to go? You want to stick with Austin? Did he mention injuries? He did talk about injuries today. Is that a is that a big story? I mean, all this stuff is whatever.

Like it's all varying degrees but we can listen to Matthew's clip on his injuries. Clip one please, Derek. Yeah, it was tough. Definitely you know, physically.. Yeah, it was tough, definitely. You know, physically, you know, it was a very tough season. I don't, you know, need to get into, like, the specifics of stuff, but, you know, I got injured in training camp. Obviously, I wasn't feeling great throughout the first month or so of the season. Took some time off, you know.

Went to Germany, did all these things to try to feel better than, you know, just kind of in a place that, you know, felt like I could manage it. There was obviously some, you know, good stretches where I felt good. There were some stretches where I didn't feel very good. You know, definitely a tough year physically, but I'm, you know, confident with some time off and just, you know, going through, you you know my own process and stuff like that and Treatment and everything. I'm really confident. I'll be back 100% you know next season and there's nothing really to worry about So yeah, sorry Yeah, I'm just gonna keep it between myself

It could impact your ability to shoot it impacted everything So I think it impacted a lot of different things for sure And then there's another part where again Luke Fox is coming up here asked him. Is there any reason? What is the reason that you won't tell us? Basically, which is a very fair question and it's like and his response was because I can. I don't know, do you think if he's going to go down the path of telling you how difficult it was or when it happened that you know you're just you might as well just go all the way

with the truthfulness? Now somebody told me Krist Haniff came out and talked more specifically about his injury. Yeah, he's had his sternoclavicular injury during the season where his sternum meets his clavicle and it was a struggle but it's easy for him to say that and Matthews can't can't do the same. I don't know. It's like yeah, I had a sternoclavicular injury and it is I still feel attempt to pronounce sternoclavicular I still can't do push-ups. I can't do push-ups for different reasons than that but like you think he's worried about

Getting targeted. I guess that's a Matthew said but like can I took 110 hits in the playoff? They were targeting remember shit. You know what Matthew sounds like to me He sounds like your teenager who you're not sure what they did the night before and they're trying to explain their night without giving you any specifics. Yeah, I wish when I was some friends and we were downtown for a bit and then we went back to Dave's house. There's a what'd you do? There's a skunk in the area and it's the smell of it stuck

to my clothes for some reason. I don't know. I've got bad allergies. My eyes are really red. It's killing me. You know, I think maybe it might be an injury that could hold a stigma. Because it's like play throughable type of thing. Is that what you think? We did play through it. So yeah, but but okay, for instance, and again, I know we've talked about this,

but it's always been speculated and I'll continue to speculate here. I don't know what his injury is, but if he has back issues and he says I had back issues, then every time he goes through stretches, it will arise, he's got back issues. it will arise, he's got back issues. And when you got a shoulder injury and it heals in four to six weeks, it kind of disappears,

but players with back issues. Just have back issues. Just have back issues, will always have back issues. That ain't going away. That ain't going away, and it keeps, and like Wendell's the perfect example guys. Like here's a guy that was great in Toronto and they had back issues and it shut down his career.

Okay? And it never went away. And I don't know, maybe he's worried that if he comes out and publicly says that, then he's gonna have this this he's got back issues the rest of his career well it also that could actually affect his bottom line right like if you're negotiating your next contract as a ufa or whatever it is and people go yes back issues you're right now like a guy with back issues back issues is like the biggest red flag the If you're if you're gonna sign somebody to a contract right back issues, you're right

It's like me and back are the two things. I would suspect that he had Advice to say, you know don't say if if He's got back issues. I don't know what he has I had also heard that the wrist thing is like, you know, on and off and can flare up and so on. Okay, we got a couple more minutes. We have not addressed any talk about Brendan Shanahan.

That seems to be out in the open. I went on Sportsnet Central with Ivanka and Ken. I said I don't expect him back, but love your thoughts, guys. on Sportsnet Central with Ivanka and Ken. I said I don't expect him back, but love your thoughts, guys. I mean, I'm just not super informed. You know, like to me, it's logically, if you're talking about having seen through a plan

to what you think might be the end of it, it didn't work. And if you'd like to go in a different direction, then sure. What would you like to see? You'd like to see him back or you think it's time to move on? You know, and I know this sucks for radio. I'm not passionate about this. I think he is run a good organization, right? They consistently make playoffs. They haven't had scandals. He handles himself with professionalism. I don't think that they have reached the goal that the plan was set out to reach.

And so, you know, you said yesterday, you talked about, you know, is MLSC just content with making playoffs or whatever you think it does matter to them? Like, I think they would look at his tenure with some contentedness that it has gone well. I, yes, you're right. And I think a lot of fans would say, but we're not any closer to what the goal is supposed to be It's been 11 years. Let someone else try. Where do you think leaf nation is that? Trying again or I think resigning Brenna Chan hand to a new contract regardless of how Much of all this failure in the playoffs is his responsibility. I think at this point now, he is sort of a face of it, a figurehead of it, if you will, where a lot of the Leafs nation would be, if you brought him back another year or he

signed another contract to be the president of the Leafs for longer term, a lot of the fans would have a lot of pushback to that just because it's just what it represents and the failures in big games and the lack of a seeming heart. And acceptance of mediocrity. Exactly. But like, I don't know. You know, the grass is always greener here, boys.

You could let Randon Shanahan go, they bring somebody else and it may not work. I have no idea. But I think he probably will go. I can't imagine. I don't know. I have no, I'm the least informed person on this. But I'm just saying.

Well, you don't need to be, you just need to be. I just think it's gotta be over. Just your opinion right now. I think it's gotta be over. Like I can't imagine everybody just being like, yeah, let's do it again. I mean, if Marner's going, if Tavares is going, like it feels like a pretty natural trio.

The only thing, the other thing we have to consider too is that there's a major shift in ownership now and we know where that's heading with our bosses on the top floor here. And if there's gonna be a change in ownership, then this would probably be probably the best time to make other changes moving forward as well. I mean, are we gonna keep hearing MLSC?

Is there gonna be a new name to the company? Like so many changes could happen based on these results. I wonder, Kip, so you think it's likely that he would go? I'm expecting changes. Yes. Yes. And so if that happens, I am curious what effect that could have beneath it.

We often see a new GM wants to get his own head coach. Like truly he's done, I think, a pretty universally accepted great job here. Like Carlo and Tana have remade the defense and I think people are generally happy with the job he's done in just two short years. Again, I have no, I'm like you, like I have no knowledge. This is not inside information. This is anything, not anything like that.

But I have a sense that we could see the disappearance of the president of Hockey Ops. We could just see it to the point where, Brendan, we've mutually decided to part ways, or we're not extending a new contract out, and we just see that position disappear. Yeah. And Brad tree-leaving goes on as normal as a general manager. And there's a new president of the company.

Right. No there is a president already his name is Keith Pelley. Right. So Keith Pelley hangs on to that spot. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's it. And like if they're gonna, if that's the case and they go consistent, then there's a basketball guy too, Masai, I don't know whether or not he keeps his president's job. Like again, if they're gonna restructure, maybe now's the time to do it.

You know, I think it's really weird how hockey teams have created this president role above the GM was the GM. He made all the decisions on trades forever. And then in the last like few years, the president is now a hockey guy president used to mean you dealt with the tickets and the, you know, the marketing and all that stuff. And now it's like it's the GM and they're going to and they got to evaluate that. Brendan Shanahan was one of the highest paid executives in the National Hockey League.

But to your point, you know, where's the value of having a guy oversee a guy who's not making all the decisions on his own and has you to put a stamp of approval on it? Because let's face it, I mean mean the buck stopped with Brendan Shanahan Whether it was Kyle Dubas Lou Lamariello Bob or Babcock or anybody else Everything had to go through the guy that had the two hands on the wheel I mean when I was with the Marlies we had games where Shani would be sitting in there with the penalty kill with us and Go on here's like the rotation you guys are using this guy's got a doom Like you know he's he was hands-on. He was around he was it

Yeah, he was it and until he's gone. He's still it But I don't know whether or not they want to pay big bucks for that anymore, right? We should go but it feels like we probably get some news on this somewhat soon Wouldn't you? If something's going to happen? I believe that they won't let this go too long. I think by the end of the week, we should have some sort of understanding whether Brendan Shanahan is still a part of this or not.

Even if whatever their decision, there probably needs to be a statement of that decision. Even if it's, hey, we've extended them, whatever. Yeah, exactly. Let's go. All right. We'll take a quick break. When we return, Luke Fox, Leafs and NHL writer for Sportsnet.ca will join us. He was at the rink. We'll get his thoughts on where the Leafs go from here. That and more when we return to Jays, and NFL. The JD Bunkets Podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

["Same Time, Same Place"] Welcome back to the program, Nick Ibrillos, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. All right. Hold on, quickly, before we, we've already been kept, Luke, waiting too long. We yacked so long that first block. But I just wanted to say,

a reminder to golf fans out there, Sportsnet and Muskoka Bay Resort have come together with an amazing contest. Text the word Muskoka to 59590 for your chance to golf at one of Canada's top 10 ranked courses with a night in an incredible three bedroom villa for you and three friends.

Just text the word Muskoka to 59590 for your chance to win visit sports at dot ca slash 590 contest for more details Standard message and data rates may apply Good reading Samuel. Thank you, buddy. Yep. That was well done. Thank you. Thank you. All right regular Contributor to our show does a terrific job all season long. Luke Fox will join us now. Luke, how are you, pal? Doin' pretty good. Did you bother going down to locker room clean out or did you just look at your notes from last year?

I wasted the gas and put on a suit, yeah. I went through the whole thing, lived Groundhog Day. So my ninth locker cleaned out in a row that they all blur together at this point, Nick. So in saying that, what was the biggest takeaway that you had today? It's tough. There were little things.

I loved Matthew Nise's response when someone brought up the term offer sheet and he just shot that down right away saying how he believes his best chance to win is as a Maple Leaf and that's why he's coming back. He didn't get into the term that he wanted, but I like how definitive he was about that. So I know there's some fans that were worried about that. I think you can put that to rest. Mitch Marner continues to talk about his time as a Leaf

in the past tense. I think we've all read that he leaves there and that ship has sailed. John Tavares said that he already talked to Borube and Tree Living and had positive feedback and was optimistic about resigning. The trick there is, are we 100% sure that Tree Living is coming back? They haven't set a date for the management press conference, which will be the last one

we go to. From what I'm hearing, they're still making decisions and there could be changes way up top. So I think what's gonna be even more interesting compared to what the players have to say, which is kind of like last day of school, you're not gonna change your grade on the last day of school.

Say some stuff, get out of there. I think what's more interesting is what happens above them. Yeah, that is interesting. So There's not really a world. I don't think where they just say, you know They Brad tree-living doesn't come back because of performance necessarily so much is just like changes at the top could affect people Is that my understanding there? Yeah, I think for the most part, you know, the performance was good. There's things on the fringes like, you know, signing Yanni Hockenpah. There's little things you can nitpick, but he completely remolded the decor. I really love the blue line. The Chris Tanev signing

was a stroke of brilliance, and that was his top priority in free agency last year. You know, dealing with the Core Four, he was kind of, his hands were tied in the no move clauses. He improved the goaltending. You know, the Leafs are gonna go in with one of the cheapest, best goaltending Tandems again next year. So he's done a lot of good things.

I think it's more so the whole team is under new ownership in Rogers that calls the shots and doesn't have to go to a board or through Larry Tannenbaum anymore. And the fact that Shanahan's contract is up. And if you're making changes top down, I think it's a sense of everything's on the table. Yeah, just talking about the decision on whether to keep Brendan or not, that's one thing.

But to kind of wipe out Brendan and Tree Living and then leaving Berube to a new decision maker, to me, very seldom happens. So I believe if there is one change, for me it would be Brendan without completely, and that might just be enough to eliminate that job title and keep tree living. And I think you're right. I think he's just, he hasn't had enough time. Like we're talking about a stretch of 10 years

with Brendan Shanahan, but we're only talking a stretch of two for Tree Living, and we're all in agreement that the changes were changes for the better. They just happened too late under the Shana plan. Yeah, no, I agree with you, Nick. I think his performance has earned him another shot, and I feel like, yeah, he's been here two years,

but it really only feels like one year that he got to make his stamp one year with the coach he went and chose One year with the blue line that he actually really likes So I absolutely believe that that he deserves another chance I'm just saying the sense I'm getting is there could be a lot of changes and maybe it's not him Maybe it's an assistant GM, but I feel like it might go beyond just Shanahan. Alright well that's gonna be fascinating to keep an eye on. Something we didn't get to in the first hour was the goaltending Anthony Stolarz. He had a concussion doesn't think it was the first puck is my understanding there. What did Stolarz have to say about his

injury in the postseason? Yeah he was pretty adamant about that. Borny, he said, you know, I've taken so many shots off the mask and it was 45 minutes later. He was pretty clear that that had nothing to do with it in his mind and, you know, it's his head. I trust him. But he also said that, you know, Sam Bennett, ex-teammate of his, went to the same Stanley Cup parade as him. He said he didn't think it was malicious. He talked to him after, wished him luck.

And he was even asked, you know, how would you feel about these nasty guys, Bennett and Eklad, free agents? How would you feel about them joining the Leafs next year? And he said he'd be fine with that. So you know, he loves winning it and it's actually a really smart way whether he believes it or not is another story but it's a smart thing to say you're watching Luke Fox from the Leafs sportsnet.ca covering today's festivities down at Scotiabank Arena

let me ask you something just staying on the goaltending. Luke, were you surprised to see Stollers backing up game seven? Like, that one came out of the blue for me. It was a stunner, because we go to morning skate at game seven. He doesn't even have a stall. He doesn't participate in morning skate. Now, maybe he skated out in the practice facility. But Hildeby and Murray were right there He had never had a team practice. It was just solo work with Curtis Sanford

What if Joseph wall, you know tweak the knee in the first period you're throwing in a guy that's that's pretty cold I was a little surprised now. He said it's because he was good to go. I wonder if there was a little bit of He said it's because he was good to go. I wonder if there was a little bit of Emotion for the boys. Hey, look who's back in the locker room all of a sudden. We're going out here I wonder if maybe that was a bit of it or just Barubei would rather and unpractice stole ours over his other office Honestly, if it was that emotional part that you're talking about I would have put him in at three nothing You know, it's not an unreasonable point. He's there.

Maybe put him in. Yeah. But I don't know. Didn't happen. Change the momentum, something. Yeah. I mean, I felt like over once they got to two. I know.

Look, I'm not sure how much you've caught earlier in our show, but our Sammy McKee made a plea that he didn't think that there was enough sincerity from the players to I don't know if Sammy if I'm putting words in your mouth but almost apologize to the fans. Well did you more like just recognize what the fans have been through over the last little bit did you get a sense that sense that people might be looking for that or they were going out of their way to avoid it?

What were your overall vibes on that connection? I feel like the fans are looking for some of that. And I feel like the lack of that, not just today, but over the course of years, has created this really strange and to me very unnecessary divide between the players and the people who adore them. I hate the word noise, the outside noise. Let's replace that with caring.

Imagine you said every time we're trying to ignore the caring, we're trying to block the caring. People are too interested. how would that go over because that's what the noise is It's people who are talking about a hold on for a second. Hold on for a second Can can mean you spend five minutes on social media and it can I show you clips of what you call caring? There's some hate caring going on really, really? Like I know what you're trying to say, but it's vicious out there for some of them and

their families. Yes, I recognize that. But I think those are some bad vocal apples. Like I talk to Leaf fans every day of my life. A lot of them just want to debate different things that are going on with the team signings How are they playing? Can they win? They just kind of love them unconditionally For sure that you know online is it's a dangerous place to go Nick But I agree there is some criticism out there

But I think by and large a lot of it is people who are supporting the team that are investing their money in Really expensive tickets. Maybe maybe they should just address them only. Yeah Yeah, separate those other people somehow. So you said Tavares Mentioned that he's positive about the you know potential of another contract. What do you think that hinges on? of another contract, what do you think that hinges on? Well, let's see who's running the team first. Okay, good point. Yeah. And then go from there, and I think a lot of it will be

how much is he willing to bend? We know he'll take a little bit less, but Stephen Stamkos wanted to stay, but there comes a point where there's a pride in the dollar figure you accept. He wants to stay, his family's here, he's made it very clear, but even someone who wants to stay has set the dollar figure.

Why don't you take the minimum then and just leave it all to getting your defenseman. Yeah, well that's what I'm saying. He's not Jason Spezza, right? 37 year old. He scored 38 last year. 38. Joe Pavelski scored 36 or something at his age and got three times seven the next year.

Anyways, hey, we got all week to debate that. Luke, we got to go buddy. Sammy's waving me off like an O2 fastball right now. Okay. See you guys. Thanks for joining us. Thanks Luke. Luke Fox, that's Todd C.A. We were sat here and said,

what are we gonna talk about? And it's like- We could have a three hour show. I have so many more things. Well, good, we got another hour tomorrow. Quickly, before we go. People say really mean stuff online about every walk of life.

Oh, God, yeah. Like that's, I mean, being like, oh, they're mean on Twitter at least, they're mean on Instagram at least. Every single player on every single fan base, that's a big one, gets the exact same stuff. So it's not unique to Tron. All right. And there's meanies everywhere. All right. There's meanies everywhere.

I got called a loser booze bag today. They're all your friends, Sammy. Buddy, my DMs are a wasteland. A wasteland. That's right. A wasteland. Anyways. OK. We're going to take another crack at it tomorrow on Leaf Edition.

All right. I'd be happy to. To solve something. Yes, we do. In the meantime, let's go national next with Steve Valiquette, analyst for the New Rangers, CEO ClearSight Analytics. I can't wait to hear his numbers, the data.

Tell me, useful or useless? Next, Unreal Kipper and Borg.