Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Matthews Sidelined + Kempe's Contract with Luc Robitaille

Episode Date: November 13, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee share their expectations for the Leafs' game against the L.A. Kings without Auston Matthews, who is sidelined with an injury, how Matthews could be weighing his options to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics in a similar situation towards last year's Four Nations Face-Off, William Nylander's thoughts on if it is harder to score goals versus playing defence, reaction to the front office and David Kämpf agreeing to terminate their contract together and what could be next for him, and why a trade for Flames' defenceman Rasmus Andersson wouldn't work. Then, Kings' President Luc Robitaille joins the guys (31:41) to chat about Anže Kopitar's longevity and future in the NHL, Corey Perry's contributions to the Kings' offence, contract talks with Adrian Kempe, and Quinton Byfield's development.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.

Giddy up, game day on the real Kipper and Bourne show. Nick Kippreos, Justin Bourne, Semi, Mickey. Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandeo with you for the next two hours. We are live on Sportsnet 360. Sportsnet 590 the fan in Toronto And streaming always on Sportsnet Plus Always available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts

And YouTube We're going to welcome in Lucky Luke Robatine about 35 minutes To get his Los Angeles Kings Top of the hour We got Peter Lavio Lett Who's How to work for maybe the first time

I don't know in 25 years or so Yeah for another 20 minutes or so here until we're into the firing season. Yeah, we may even ask him a little bit on Larry Brooks, who unfortunately the prominent reporter that he's been his whole life in New York, Hall of Fame writer as well, passed rather suddenly with a brief battle with cancer.

We both have dealings with him as well, my New York Ranger days, of course, during our Stanley Cup run. He must have loved you. Yeah, you know what? He had his favorites for sure, but he appreciated an honest effort. He was, he was like tough to read. Yeah.

You know, really tough to read. And he had to be on your toes with him for sure. And he carried a lot of clout with the New York Post. He did. It's funny, the couple of the famous back and forces, Tortorella and him, the one point where Tortorilla says, you ever been in a fight, Brooksie? And he goes, yeah?

He goes, are you challenging me? Torts goes, no, I'm not challenging you. And I've always wondered at Torts that said, yeah, what that would have looked like after that. I think Brooks would have been fine to throw hands. I love, those are some of, you know, early sports, like, you know, watching Sports Center back in the day and having the top tens and having, like, interactions with reporters and coaches. Yeah. And it just, him and Torts was like an all-time classic battle. It always goes, I guess that's what I'm saying, Bruxie.

And it ended really well. became, you know, of course. Mutual friends and respect for each other and Torts called him, you know. Towards the end. Yeah, towards the end. So, you know, you have to respect to someone who also battles and grinds.

And that's what Torts wanted from his players. And Brooks did that for his job. I guess that's what I'm saying, Brooks. There it is. There you go. That is it that will live forever in the hockey world. So our condolences to Larry Brooks family and his son Jordan.

All a famer. Absolutely. All right. As we tee up tonight, Toronto Maple Leafs and the L.A. Kings, a lot has been said, including on our show yesterday, where you kind of just left yesterday's show going, okay, what did I say exactly? Because when we're talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs in the last little while,

it's like everywhere you look, there's a small leak somewhere. And you may try to plug it up, but there's other issues going around the hockey club. off the top of your head, what do you need to address tonight, in your opinion, first and foremost? You know, it's like you have two strips of flexial and there's four holes in the boat. You know, it's like, what's the most pressing needs?

Yes, what is the most pressing need as they face the L.A. Kings tonight? Well, you have a goaltender with a 909 save percentage and Dennis Hildby, he's been pretty good. I think you need him to play well for you. But more than anything, you just need a team to play in structure. play in your positions, play defense.

And I think you're going to have a lot of guys looking around the room going, I guess I'm important tonight. I guess they're going to need me and hopefully bring in an effort. Sammy, before we get to our Kippers, Clippers. Yeah.

Where are you, you got a piece of, what do we call it, flex? Flexile. Flexile. Where are you sticking it on first? The wind chimes on your side. I can't stop it. I can't stop it.

I can't stop it. The seal and stop leaks. Where are you stopping the first league? Wind time, Wayne over there. All right. I'm looking. Find me. Find me.

I, I, I, just going in, expecting them to lose now. Yeah. No, no, no, no. Yeah, no, I am. It's flipped now. But you don't mean that. You expect them to win tonight. No.

Yes. No, I'm telling you. You've seen this team for years. You know. Yeah, but this is not the team I've seen for years. Let's not focus on, like, after 60 minutes, the result. Let's just focus on what you want to see, regardless of the outcome. I just, I guess, some competitive nature.

Like, just to be, like, in the fight defensively and seemingly that they've cleaned some stuff up and look like they've practiced. That'd be nice. Yeah. That's a good one. You say that I don't think they're going to, I have been going into every game this year being like,

they're going to, you know, have a good competitive effort tonight. They're going to, I'm not expecting that anymore. They're going to have to win me back the other way now. And what about you? Yes, just a competitive nature. I just want them to start the game like they finish the game. All right, there it is. You want them to go at the Kings.

Go at the Kings. Envision them being wearing Boston Bruins. Envision them. Envision someone on that team, even if you've got to make it up, being Zadoroff who just took out your captain. Like, just bring me. that type of emotion you had towards the end of the game

where you all patted yourselves on the back. It was a great finish. That's where we got to pick it up and that's a good start for us. Go take whatever you want out of that last third period and just start the first five minutes with it. Yeah. No, I couldn't agree more.

Luke Fox has an article on Sportsnet right now and it opens with how eight years ago the Kings were coming to town. Drew Dowdy was interviewed and he says, excuse me one of the best offenses in the league talking about the Leafs then one of the best offenses in the league one of the best offensive lines in the league they're a good team no doubt about it but they're given up over three goals a game they can improve defensively that's just not on their defense it's on their top forwards playing good defense too it's like it could be about today everything he said then is true doubt he said that true doubt he said that about the them eight years ago wow and it feels identical they score some they give up a bunch it's like they're a young team learning to play except they're old. So I don't know. It's probably not awesome.

It's an overall assessment. Outside of their defensive woes, the biggest storyline has to be playing tonight without their captain, Austin Matthews. So they have announced that he's out for a week. One week. A very unusual move for them, and I appreciate the move. What, that they're telling you he's out,

Seven days. Yeah, and I think they even said, like, up to a week, so it could be back sooner. Let's play the update. Derek, let's play Brubay clip one, please. You know, I'm hoping a week maybe, but maybe sooner. We'll just see. That's kind of like one of those things. He could come in a couple days from now and feeling a lot better, and hopefully he's good to go, but we'll see.

But it could be as long as a week. Great. Okay. we are officially back to last season. We're back. We're back to, we don't know if it's a day, a week, a month. Sure. We don't know if it's just going to be this thing that's going to hang over his head

and Sammy's head and Lee Fan's head, management's head for the rest of the season or the rest of his career. It sounds like one of those things that just, yeah, I just got to wait and see how I wake up the rest of my career. So, you know, with the disclaimer of not knowing anything and we're just taking stabs at the dark because it's a podcast and that's what we do. Stabs at the dark?

Yeah, we're taking stabs in the dark. Oh, yeah. Stabs in the dark. At the dark. What do you think? Groin? I have groin in my head. I don't know.

I do. I don't know. I think it's the same thing. It's his back. I don't think like you get to the age 29 and your backs are feeling better. I could tell you from experience. it doesn't can we I just they're saying lower body injury though this time I mean that's

pretty close like butt is lower body right right above the butt is the back bones connect to the back home can we eliminate that it was actually this is a door off hit well yeah let's play that clip when it happened the was awesome dealing with something no before the game happened in the game but wasn't the Zadora hit no not the hit no he was fine Wasn't happy about it. Yeah. It's fine. Was it on that shift, Craig, or was it earlier?

I don't know. It doesn't matter. Like, it doesn't matter. Does anyone else feel like it happened on the follow-up hit? He chased him down and ran into a brick wall? Oh, he didn't seem to be in distress. No. Before that.

Yeah. Right? He did get up and he did skate fairly hard to Zedorov. And really took quite a. you know, a lot of big impact there and then all of a sudden that was the last, you played of it. So is it good news or not good news that it's not awful news? This is what he had before.

It's very good news. I think, I think this update is the worst possible thing I could have heard. I'd rather it be like, he's out. It's his back. I want to know. I wanted to be like, oh, he's, you know, we see how he feels. We're back to we see how he feels. We'll see how it could be a week. It could be less. We'll see how he feels. A bone. He's away. Yeah, he's gone for, two weeks because he's got a broken bone in his hand or whatever however long it would be

or not hand or not hand whatever you know what i'm saying i do this just feels like once again we are back into how's he feeling today oh he's not playing well because he's hurt oh is he hurt i think i'm sick of doing this whether he's in or out now i think you can rule out getting MVP matthews this year and that or maybe ever the ceiling well that's a different conversation but a big one a big conversation i'll tell you what really stinks is that now for the second consecutive year leaf fans have to play out the toronto maple leaf season and the olympics oh boy am i wrong like it where where is he now where is he on on whether or not he plays a game or he He waits a little extra longer.

Are you, is your first thought just getting back to the Toronto Maple Leafs and playing and helping them accumulate points so they don't miss the playoffs or is it, hey, make sure you're healthy enough come February? And then the other decision is let's say you're feeling like this come February is does he lay it on the line for his country or does he save it for his Stanley Cup run? He did it for four nations. He had this injury. Well, not is it this injury?

He had a injury. All right. That's an important distinction. Thank you for correcting me. He had an injury. We had many conversations on our show prior to that. Should he go? Should he not go?

Should he just get ready for the end of the year? There's playoffs. They're a favorite or they're one of the top teams in the league. Is there wear and tear on them during the 11th? Olympics and Four Nations. What's going to be left to him if the team needs him? Here's the counterpoint to that stuff, which is just Matthew Kachukh played in the Four Nations

and was in shambles. You know, he was a point per game player in the regular season. He played in the playoffs for Florida. It was a point per game player, even though he put it on the line with the injury. We'd, Ollie fans would feel better if you were Matthew Kachuk. No, if there was a Barkoff and a Reinhart and a Bennett to lean on while you sat there and got ready.

Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. The lead fans don't have that luxury. No, that's a good point. There's more pressure on Matthews to drive the bus here. Tons. Tons. They don't have anything else. Willie and Tavares, that's it.

That's who's going to carry you to the promised line. Throw an eyes in there. I just, I think it would be hypocritical for me to be like, yeah, you should prioritize. Because if he was a Canadian and he was awesome, I'd be like he has to play for Canada. It would matter to me. Like, if it's, I get it.

I love the international competition. I've been a huge champion of it coming back. I love it. It'd be hard for me to be like, yeah, protect it to play for the 500 Leafs who are going anywhere. I think he's going to want to play in that. I think he should be able to play in that if he's healthy.

If he wants to push himself through it, then do it. I don't think he's the only one. I think there are a lot more guys playing at 60 or 70% that will not take themselves out of the lineup because they may think that they're on the cusp or a borderline of whether or not they can make the Olympic team or not. You know what's interesting, Kip.

And I don't necessarily think it's great for the league every two years for players now to play under that kind of pressure. It pins them. It really does. Well, I think there's a conversation to be had about what is more important, What's bigger?

And I think when you see these guys given hockey Hall of Fame speeches, would you rather go up there as a Stanley Cup champion or someone who won an Olympic gold medal? Oh, you want both. Okay, but that's not the game that you just run. You want to be Duncan Keith.

Guys, the dumbest answers I've ever heard from both you. No kidding. Yeah, that's what I mean. But if you have to have one of the other, follow the premise. Yeah. Everyone wants the cup. The cup is a battle.

It's two months long. It's 60 years. It's forever. Yes. It's a one week or two-week tournament where you're one of two or three best teams. I agree. So my point is, I'm curious to see how these guys prioritize their health

for if they're on a legitimate cup contender. If Matthews doesn't think the Leafs have a shot at it, he's going to play regardless. Do you two think they have a shot at it? A week. I'm waiting for something. But we may know in January, right? We may know?

We may know in two weeks, but. That's my whole point. I said January you say in two weeks but if the Leafs are completely out of this then it only becomes about the US team for him and then he comes out of the tournament shut it down what are you playing for?

You won't play for the Leafs if you're hurt and you know you're going to miss the playoffs. Imagine we're sitting here in March and the Leafs have sold at the deadline and Matthews has taken the rest of the year off I got to tell you these people listening today probably not checking in those shows.

There'll be a few guys. If they're at 60 or 70% and their teams out of the playoffs, you'll see a few guys get shut down. You're saying, oh, like after just in general. I'm just saying in general, if there are players where their teams are completely out of it

after the Olympics, watch how many games they play. Because you think guys right now are playing through injury to make I think a lot of them are feeling maybe how Austin Matthew feels today but if austin matthews doesn't play another game into the olympics is he making the olympic team yes i just i just don't i don't i don't see any scenario uh where he's not a part of it correct so yeah all right well we keep an eye on the matthew situation once again i will say like

him going there like i would say that his approval rating in this city is definitely plummeted a little bit over the past you know six seven months and it's a tough look it's a tough look going into boston and not finishing the game it's a tough look especially with a guy that's that's not what i'm getting at yeah what i'm getting at is him going to the olympics and playing well and winning a gold for america and then coming back to canada to play for the leaps and being not good and shutting it down it's not going to help his popularity let's just say that yeah a lot of things have to happen for that scenario to play out but yeah i mean

i'm just saying it's one of the one so obviously center right looks a little different tonight for the astronomy leaves do you want to uh i talked a second ago about um how eight years ago the team didn't defend but could score do you want to play that willy clip that uh is sure i'm okay with it essentially the idea is that is it harder to score goals or is it harder to uh william nielander is that available to us it is available to us let's let's play the willie clip bowl-ish. Kneelander clip? Ah, well.

Anyway. I think that, you know, defensively, we have been, you know, struggling, and that is something that, you know, can be fixed, and you can adjust to make changes to be better at that, be more attention, better attention to details. It would be more, more,

worried if we were scoring goals because that would be, you know, that's harder, I think, to do. Not letting angles has been hard for us this year. And, you know, that's something that you can change and, you know,

adjust and do better. All right, I'm going to plant my feet in the ground. Get ready to fight. I agree. I agree. I don't. I don't. I don't. I agree. I just don't. I know. I don't. get the value of telling basically people that my job's harder than defending.

Yeah. I mean, we do understand that to a certain point, that it takes creativity. You can hire a ton of people cheap to play defense. Right. Have to get the guys who shoot it in. The reason he makes $11.5 million. But it's, I don't know, it's just like it, all your points. And Tavares is good start, best start in their careers.

It's meaningless if it doesn't mean wins or if it doesn't mean that it can help the team. And up until now, it's like a lot of empty calories, those points. I mean, Willie's been very good. Empty calories. I mean, like, they wouldn't have any wins if it wasn't for him. It's just not making the difference. That is my whole point. Of course, they're instrumental in so far, what are they eight?

Eight eight wins. Okay, I get that. But to go to the next level and you continue to keep the pace that you're keeping, if you don't clean up the rest of it, it's just at the end of the day, hey, good for you. You got your goal. You got your points. You know, good for you.

But it didn't really help the team win. You know what's crazy is last year, the Leafs won. three games in a row and they went to Willie and that was the Willie game We lost three in a row and Willie said What's a big deal? He said what's a big deal? Sometimes you win three years.

And then he went out and I think it went out Two and one that night. Maybe it was this is a different version of that. Well maybe or I don't know. I kind of felt like it was just kind of his honest opinion was like you know At least we're scoring we can clean up the defensive side Yeah listen it's fine it's fine

I don't you're right It's not really anything earth shattering there I saw a Ropree tweeted it with kind of like a, you know, the emoji of the hand on head, which I get the idea that some people may see it is like, this guy doesn't get it, which I get. Yeah, like the focus should just be on cleaning up your own house. That's it.

If I'm a leaf player, that's all I'm focusing on is let's just get out of our own zone. Let's not give up the odd man rushes and the breakaways and all that. Once that starts cleaning up, then we'll start seeing better results. All right, I want to talk about David Camp Well, let's talk about Center Okay. Okay, so do you guys want to There's a clip on Tavares

It's not a great clip. It's not a great clip? No, okay. I put it there, but I'm retrospect for you. So this goes into David Camp And right now we're looking at tonight versus the L.A. Kings, John Tavares, number one, centerman and Max Domi at two,

Ngua number three. And no signs of David. at camp at four while they put in Lorenz. And so they have agreed to terminate the contract. You know, camp is going to walk away from it. Essentially, you know, they had paid him a bonus out on the deal. And I think there was some contention about should he have to pay it back. Yeah, there is something in the CBA that says that the Leafs have a right to go back on signing bonuses.

But they also want this contract off the books. and him agreeing to terminate the contract allows them to just do that. So they're basically paying him with that bonus to go away. Which is fine. So he's off their books. Camp can just re-sign with anyone as a tomorrow. I bet she signs for a million and a half per year. What team would pay him a million and a half?

I don't know. Vancouver. You think there's a bidding war for him? I think he is a, will be a sought after commodity, yeah. Maybe. I mean, a million to a million and a half. It ain't two and a half, I can tell you that. No, it ain't.

So for those teams, though, they get him at a more reasonable price. He makes quite a bit of his money. And is anyone under the impression they like Max Domey at center? Not really. Yeah. You think they do? No, I don't think that I think they prefer him in the wing, but he has the ability to play center. But I don't think that they're a big fan of him playing center.

No. So put him a second line center then. it's all baffling the one thing and i've said this i'm glad to remember to say it on air the one thing that i don't think craig barubi sees particularly great is guys who aren't physical who are still effective and bobby mcm when he first came in big guy who's not physical buruby healthy scratched him the first night didn't like him right out of the gates didn't like camp big guy isn't physical he doesn't like that but those guys do things other things that help the team win i just feel like that's been a shortcoming.

And anyway, I, I, they could use them. Tonight. Tonight they could really use them. I don't know. P.K., defensive conscience. I don't know. Weird one. We don't know what happened.

I don't know what happened. But obviously he's, he feels like maybe something was, uh, said that wasn't held up. Like a broke. I think he was, yes. He was, he was under the impression that. I believe that he was going to be up. It was not going to be a long-term scenario. Right.

And whether or not it came with the thought that they were going to move either Robertson or Yoncroke or somebody to move out more room so he can come back in. It never happened, never materialized. And there's a lot of things. I think that that's when things kind of went sour. There's been a lot of things that we thought were going to be done that haven't necessarily been done. So, you know, and what's crazy is all this is going on. Easton Cowen, we talked about yesterday.

He does two things that we really like. Who can't play tonight? He can't play tonight. Because of a salary cap issue. Well, that's it. He does two things we really like he works hard and he has offensive sense. And they can't get him in the lineup tonight because the cap is so tight. And that's part of the reason they've probably agreed to rush this along with Camp

because they need him off the books so they can call up a good player. Yes. Yeah, which Camp cannot get off the books until 20. Right. Which it's crazy that they shed Marner's salary and Tavares is playing for a third of his salary and they still can't call up a near an ELC contract guy. I don't know. I don't know, man. It's a weird spot, I guess. It's great to say about that hole. Did you want to talk about Rastas Anderson?

Yeah, there's a little bit of a buzz out there. Jay Rosehill was saying about potential that they're trying to pry out of there. I can't see it, guys. I can't see it. Doesn't you? No. Could have seen the Carlo deal to Calgary?

They tried at the deadline. Like they pushed really hard. That's when they went to Plan B, which was Carlo in Boston. I just look at the scenario right now from a Calgary Flame perspective and I go what do they want?

Mid November like why do you want to move like a chip of a valuable chip like Cadry or Anderson what is the rush now to take whatever the Leafs are offering in mid-November why wouldn't I wait

first of all I could use them because I still got 30 games to go or 40 games to go to a trade deal deadline. I got to sell season tickets. I got to make people happy in the building. Why wouldn't I wait to the deadline, invite all the teams that think that they're players, let them bid against each other, and drive the price up. Why would I go to the Leafs right now and make a trade? Yeah, well, I mean, you'd have to be paid for that time, right? Overpaid. Yeah, you'd say, you're going to make it worth my while to do it now.

The last thing the Leafs can do is overpay for. Erasmus Anderson in November. And I said to you earlier, McKee, like the Leifes may have to make a player trade where they trade players on their roster who are good players for players who are on other rosters who are good. Like, say, guy in, guy out. Leaves

don't have that guy for the Calgary Flames. Not a guy who fits Matthew Nyes. Like, you're not doing that in a million years. Maybe for Anderson and Cadry. This... And even that I don't want to do. This stuff starting to trickle out is really terrifying to me as a fan. Okay?

because, you know, say what you will about this year's Toronto Maple Leafs and if they're going to pull out of this and maybe they're going to be a good team. They've had a hard time convince me so far. I just am very afraid of the lengths that this new front office, newish front office is willing to go to salvage what might not be a very good team. And quote unquote, salvage in their eyes. like the future of this team is pretty bleak as it is

and they only have a few assets and if you're getting rid of any of those assets to try to get Rasmus Anderson who's a UFA at the end like let's just be careful here let's just let this breathe a little bit here So if you're going to take the few assets that you're talking about for Anderson it has to come with a long-term deal I guess but even that no no I guess

has to. You can't trade them as a rental. I've always been trade the picks guy in this show. I've never been like, but you're out of them, Sammy. That's what I mean. That's what I'm saying. But no,

but you have a 2028 first round pick. You have certain things that like you could potentially put in a trade. I'm just saying they should at least should not be in a rush to do that right now at where they're at. Just be careful. Please. You're worried about becoming where the flames are now. Yeah, like, you move too much away.

There's certain people that may not be around in five years, but I will still be around in five years trying to cheer for this team that's going to be a bottom feeder, you know? So, it's a little worried. So what you're essentially saying is you need another week or two, three weeks to decide if they're close, it's okay, if they're not, you don't have the green light to move a Danford. You don't have a green light to move a Cowan.

And those guys stay. If this team gets on a four or five game winning streak and then starts winning every two to three games and gets hot and it's 10 games above 500s and second place in the division and they look like a good team, I understand it. Do it.

Totally do it. Trade the picks. Trade your prospects. I understand that. I will. That's fine. November 13th because that can happen with this team. I totally get it.

And that's why I said off the top of it. Like there's a world that they could turn this around. But don't do it right now. Because there's a chance they stink. that's a fair point. There's a chance they reek. And like, if I'm a contender, I'm sorry, not a contender,

if I'm a rebuilding team, that 2028 lease first round pick, I got my eyes on that. I'm calling on that one. Because who knows? Yeah. Rebuilding teams wants a pick three years. There's first round in 26 and 27 teams will.

Yeah. Yeah, but like, that could be a first overall pick. It can, but you don't even know if you're a general manager on that pick if you're going to be around to use it. It won't help any team. I looked up Rasmus Anderson's hits per per 60 because they're talking about like physical play and needing it. They're significantly less than Mitch Marner last year.

Yeah, he's dash 38 last year. Dash 38. Rasmus. That's not, he's not a grade A defenseman. Some Calgary fans tweeted me and said have fun with right-handed Morgan Riley. Okay. Oh, my gosh. Let's go to break.

We got lucky Luke. All right. I have more. I have more. Well, we can do that. We didn't even get into the goaltending. My goodness. We need more hours. No, we don't.

No. No, we're good. Lucky Luke, Hall of Famer, president of the L.A. Kings. Up next on the Real Kipper and Born show. Hey, it's Nick Kiprios. And I'm Justin Bourne. We're diving deep and everything happening in Leafland

and the biggest stories around the NHL. Real Kipper and Born, weekdays from 4 to 6 on SportsNet, Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to the program. Nick Caprious, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. Let's welcome in.

Luke Robatai, Hall of Famer, president of the L.A. Kings. And I am president of his fan club. Lucky, how are you, buddy? I'm doing good. I've been on the phone for like eight minutes. You guys must get paid a lot of money for all these commercials. you've been waiting forever you're the president of an NHL team

if anybody knows what it's like to pay bills it's you yes it is it's a little easier it's a little easier with a couple of wins and were you in Montreal for what I think was your best game of the season albeit only a few games in

No, I was not in Montreal. We actually had like one of our companies meeting, but you're right. I think our team slowly but surely starting to play better the way we expect our team to play. It's kind of funny. You know how that goes. You start doing all the right things and you might not win them all, you know, but you're seeing trends. And we've been seeing those trends coming in the last four or five games.

We lost a few that we were like, okay, you know, everything looks right and we're playing the right way. Maybe last year we would have won this one, but it didn't happen. So from that standpoint, you know, we're finally playing the way we expect to play, let's say that. And so has that been the story of the year for you that you guys have been playing pretty good, but maybe not getting the results you wanted? Or how have you felt about things so far? Well, we're not happy with every game, obviously. we know we've added quite a few new players too so they they had to get used to the way we play

every team plays a certain way inside the team you know so that that's been coming there's some games that you're like oh we should have won this one but but there's you know to be honest we went to san Jose a few weeks ago and we were like wow wow they they outplayed us and we ended up winning so so it happened both ways but it's more like the trend, the way your forwards are going and the way you're getting out of the zone. And like I said, like, and Kippie talked about in Montreal,

like it looked the right way, the way we play. Look, you got to talk Kopitar out of retiring. He still, he could still play. Ah, spend the whole summer, Kippie. It didn't work. you know what he's a very special player he could definitely still play

he's still our number one guy I mean he's he's very special and you got to give him credit that he wants to call his own shot I hope we can get at the end and we can you know extend it for a few months you know like we all hope we do

but man this guy we're going to be grateful for him for years because he's certainly been great for the game of hockey, but unbelievable for the Los Angeles Kings and the city of L.A. Look, I know this is the way that Copey wanted it and the family wanted it, but was it a little tricky to sit there and weigh out the pros of cons of making an announcement before this season or waiting in March or April to make the decision official?

And it could have been a distraction, doesn't appear to be one, but was that in the back of your mind? Not in my mind. I think it was in the back of his mind, and he kind of mentioned it towards the end of his season, and maybe he had a couple talk over the summer, and then when he came, what happened, I think it was a couple weeks before the training camp started.

He did an interview somewhere, and he kind of hinted at it, and suddenly it kind of blew up in his life. So he thought, you know, I'd rather just get over with and move on. And is there a right time? I don't know. Like, you always know, he'd be answering those questions all year. So right now it seems like we get to a city.

They'll talk a little bit about it, and then it's over. Everybody's moving on. And Cope being our leader in our locker room, he's the guy saying, hey the big pictures we're trying to play throughout the entire playoff so let's focus on that so that was his mindset to get it out of the way and just going so far it's worked real well for the guys and him yeah no doubt he's a player worth worth much respect so you've got a couple other veteran guys and I want to ask you about the addition of Corey Perry this year seven goals I feel like you probably feel pretty good

about that off season signing already yeah he very very special special player. I mean, I've seen him for all those years. When we signed him, I go, finally, I don't have to get mad at you for falling on our goal. No, go fall on theirs. You know, but he plays the game. He's so smart. Like, I mean, we've seen him with us. He kind of calms down the play, too, you know, like when he gets it, whether it's the offensive zone or defensive zone. Obviously, we all know the price he's willing to pay to score goals. And, you know, he's missed three, four really good chances, too.

So, you know, he's earned every goal. And I'm, he's playing as good as I've seen him playing the last five, six years. You're watching and listening to Luke Robatai, Hockey Hall, a famous president of the L.A. King. So these guys know one of my favorite players in the league is Kempai, Luke. And he needs a new deal. We got to ask you, is it quiet right now? is something that is going on behind the scenes,

but these guys are hard to find, right? And if you're lucky enough to get one in free agency, we know at times it might have to be a little bit of overpayment, but with 32 teams in the league, there's just not many of these guys around. No, he's a very, very special player, special to our team, and it's something that Ken's been working on.

I mean, I'll even give you a scoop. I may try to ask Ken, but Ken and J.P. Bear have been meeting while in Toronto. So, you know, and the talks are continuing, and we're trying to figure it out, I think, on both sides. So we know it's important. It's important for our franchise, and he's a great player. You know, he's an impact player, and he plays every situation. So we totally understand the urgency.

So if we keep you on the air long enough, we may have an announcement by the end of the show. I don't know. I hope they're not talking out because the kids got to take being his nap or getting up and going to play. But we're still talking,

basically. That's what I want to say. That's good news. So we understand that. Yeah. Well, that's great news for you guys. Hopefully that comes to be. You know,

looking at some of the other great players on your roster, Quentin Byfield, you know, 14 points in 17 games. How happy are you guys with where he's at and his development towards being, I don't know if you want to call him Copatar's replacement next year, but probably one of your

top centers at some point. We're really happy with Q. He brings a ton of energy to his game. You know, we've always talked about Copatar being a 200-foot player. He plays, you know, he doesn't give

up anything in his own end. He's very impactful in the offensive zone. Q plays differently than Copie with a, you know, a lot of speed of energy, but the results are the same. So you win a lot of games with guys like that. And the way Q is playing is exactly the type of player when we drafted that we thought he would become.

And I know there's even more room for him, but, you know, he's really good on our own end. He kills penalty. He's on the power play. He plays five-on-five. He plays the top guys every night. And he's a great asset for our organization. We're really happy with it.

the way he's playing. And on the back end, Drew Dowdy's still there, still chomping at being part of the Olympics. And Clark, the young Clark, is coming along nicely for you guys. Yeah, Clark. He, I mean, first to speak about Drew, he's healthy this year.

He's feeling good, and it's definitely making a difference. And, you know, no, he missed a lot of time. So it's truly incredible what he did coming back and playing on that tournament. February because he only played I think I think it was six games at the time so this is really good for us you know with the addition we made in the summer we're able to control the minutes a little bit better so that's going to help us long term and as far as the kid that Brent Clark Clark he he's a great player we're really happy with him he's an exciting player he's got a he's got

an offensive mind and I would say more like a hockey sense way that it's one of the top hockey sense in the league. He does a lot of little things that sometimes you don't see but he's a very special player and you know we think he's going to be part of

this franchise for a long time. Did you really leave a meeting to come on our show right now? Yeah, just for you once again. And then you had to listen to eight minutes ads. And you made me worry for all that money that you're making. And on top of that, a scoop.

What a show. Man, oh, man. Are we grateful for you? That wasn't much of a scoop. Buddy, we're grasping the crumbs here. We'll take it. We'll take anything we can get. Lucky, always a pleasure, man.

Always fun having you on our show. Wish you the best of luck, okay? Okay. Thanks, guys. Okay, bye-bye. Keep it going. Absolutely. Luke Robitae.

Oh, my God. He's so much fun. He is great. He's got that infectious laugh, too. Hockey is a business, but it's not that serious. So, Kemp, not. going to be a leaf no one's a free agent ever i don't know if you picked that very hard for some of these guys to get to the finish line especially when i would assume that this guy staring at

70 80 million bucks to live in l. yeah and play hockey if you were someone who transcribes radio hits i think you got a little something there sounds like kempa's not going anywhere from l. yeah yeah um hey the quentin byfield when i asked about him i just you know pull up his stats. Looking at his time on ice for the past five seasons. 12 minutes, 14 minutes, 16 minutes, 18 minutes, 20 minutes. But look at the guy that's retiring, Kopitar. Yeah.

By the way, I called Byfield Center when he's not. Right. Look at Kopitar's minutes. It's up around 19. Yeah. For a guy that's going to retire. Yeah. Also, I told you guys that Kopitar didn't put out a press release to be like,

I'm retiring. Like, you know, he hinted at it in the interview. Someone kind of half led with it. Eventually, it was a rip. Band-Aid off thing. Do you think he maybe just doesn't? No, no, no. I think.

Now you have to. He's got, first of all, he's got, he's got all the money in the world, right? And it's just not you retiring. It's a wife and kids and family. Two cops. You just can't turn around and tell your wife, I'm going back with the boys for another year. I think I'm going to go play in Columbus. I got another road trip to the East Coast.

No, no, that's not happening. All right, we got a few minutes just to talk about. Did you want to bring up the camp thing that Hilderby? Okay. Basically, no, let's talk always. Okay, let's talk. Just real strange right now to see who's in that tonight and who's backing up tonight for the Toronto Maple Leaf,

something that we did not envision at any point. No Joseph Wall and no stolers. It is November 13th. And Leif's goaltenders I've seen on the ice this year are Stolars, Wool, James Reimer, Dennis Hildaby, Artur's Actyamov. Caden Primo. Caden Primo. We had six goalies.

That was six, right? Six goalies already. Hildedby set to start tonight against the L.A. Kings. Let's go to Craig Barrowby for a Kipper's clipper. On Hilderby. I think he's come in and done a good job, to be honest with you. I mean, like, you know, he's been putting some tough situations here, and I think he's come in and give us a chance to win.

You know, I like the way he's been playing. I see some talent and I see some potential, but I haven't seen yet a real chance to win kind of goaltending yet. No, no, I'm torn on Hill to be because it's tough for me to see, you know, he needs to be better to be a starting goalie in the NHL. He needs to be better to be a goalie in the NHL, probably. There's some

post-to-post pushes where it doesn't look particularly organized, but he's been very good so far this year. He's been their best goalie that they've put in the net so far this season. Boy. Anthony Stollars was removed. This is from sports and stats was removed from Tuesday's game versus Bruins with an upper body injury. The Maple Leafs have already

had three different goalies make a start this season, not including Joseph Wall. Most goalies to start since 23 24, San Jose's Sharks have had nine and tied for second is the least was seven. Can you think, can you name any, all seven? Since last year, 2024? 2020, 23, 2024.

David Ridditch, one of them? No, no. Matt Murray. Yep. Martin Jones. Correct. Martin Jones. Matt Murray and. Just looking for obscure ones here. No, they're not that obscure. No? Guy played the Joseph Wall stole our Samsonov, Jones,

Hilda B, Primo, Matt Murray. Yeah, yeah. We've forgotten. with Sammy the other Sammy I think of Samsonoff years were bizarre never believed in them they just like sent him away for a month and came back good

you know if Stolars can come back you know next week and you got Joseph Wall back hopefully it's enough to make the guys feel a little bit better yeah and Stolars could use the rest it's a good time to kind of regroup for him

it's been a hectic start for him for sure You know, I do feel like this time of year Some other guys get some opportunities And they're motivated and they're focused going into the games You're through the initial push at the start of the season When everyone's excited I expect to get some performances from some surprise performers tonight

Some surprise players tonight? Yep, that's it. So Hildaby, maybe some guys down the lineup A real competitive game tonight you're calling I think the Kings are going to smoke them Yeah, I think it's a real competitive game For sure. Smoke?

Yeah, like I think Like 5-1? Like, I, I don't just be accused of being negative Toronto Sports Media. But you've been this guy, you're emotional. I think they're about to go in, like, a historically bad run. Of course you do. I do. They don't have their start, they have no goalies.

They don't have their best defensemen. Their number one center is gone. The scary part, even before the season started, is if you lost Matthews, Neelander, you know, Tavares's pointy game, like those were. real thoughts that management and teams have to have well that's been the problem with the structure of the whole thing you play Montreal

and playoffs tovarez gets hurt in the first period of the first game all of a sudden you don't have enough guys to just pull you through you know it's it's always kind of been built on the top guys but I think a lot of teams are just just not the ones that end up winning the Stanley Cup they seem to have more yeah they seem to

or they're healthy at the right time or they're 15 million dollars over the cap helps not anymore you're not cheating you're not trying totally agree wish the leaves had had had it last year with awesome matthews in his back with they had the they had the alibi l t i r the you were in the playoff spot spend the money they had the alibi he was in germany lots lots to look out for tonight on la kings jeff mayotte is is drawing in it's probably mollash it looks like a very america or canadian he's tough yeah brother's ufc fighter so he's one who beat the crap to Carlo last year. And if you look at his stats...

So who should challenge him? No one. You're scared of people's safety right now on the leaves? This Molot scored 23 goals a year, three straight years or something in the American League. He's a good hockey player. If I put 20 bucks down on him scoring Kopitar and Trevor Moore. How much can I get back, Sammy? Five grand.

20 bucks gets you five grand. If you parlay all three of those. Copatar's never scored in Toronto. I'll give you 20 bucks. A lot. A lot. That's a lot of money. Sorry.

Golly. Boo. Our thanks. The lucky Luke Robitai, president of the L.A. Kings and one of the greatest scoring wingers in history. Still more on the Real Kippin' Bourne show as we go national next. Peter Laviolet. One of the winningest coaches in the NHL history will join us next.

Don't go away. More to come.