Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Navigating the Dog Days with Brad May

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with stories from Monday's Leafs' Blue & White night. Then, they get into the Leafs' light schedule ahead of the 4 Nations break and project where Anthony Stolarz will make his return. Next, they discuss Morgan Rielly's season and put forward hypothetical trades for the struggling blue liner, including a swap for J.T. Miller. Later, fresh from the Blue & White Gala, former NHLer Brad May (33:58) discusses the Leafs' brand, the importance of claiming the Atlantic Division title, Ryan Reaves' role, Max Pacioretty's importance, and much more.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

All right. You got the three of us for the next couple hours on the Real Kipper and Bourne show. I'm Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo and Jake Schultz with you for the next two hours wherever you're watching, listening, Sportsnet 590, the fans, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet Plus. Glad you are all aboard. next two hours wherever you're watching listening sportsnet 590 the fans sportsnet 360 sportsnet plus Glad you are all aboard now for those of you who are watching and listening out there who Go to work every day and are within an arm's length of any Microwave oven. Mm-hmm. Like I feel for you today. I really do. Because what I am

smelling for the past 20 minutes as we have a microwave oven just outside of our little studio here. And if anybody out there, anybody at all, brings fish to work. I'm telling you right now to stop it. Stop it! I mean, if you wrote out the unwritten rules of office etiquette, surely you don't microwave fish. It's gotta be near the top of the list. I don't even know if they microwaved it.

They may have made it fresh, caught it this morning and made it out there. This is crazy. I'm going home and I'm gonna pour gasoline on my clothes and I'm burning them. They're not even gonna make it in the house. You know, I would have thought as a Greek guy that this was, no? No, no, no, no.

This is too much. No, this, you wanna go garlic, I'm okay. I'm not this no fish Right little tzatziki. It's okay, but not this it's really bad like it's just something you don't do I mean I'll make it We're gonna do our best. I think eventually you're supposed to go nose-blind according to the commercials So at some point we should tune it out. I'm still getting it Very present my head starts spinning a little bit. I look like Linda Blair Right where my head goes right around in a full circle. So the only know why all right is that that is

I'm going way back. Yeah, good for you. Good pickup Last night the Leafs had the blue and way back. Yeah, good for you. Good pickup. Never seen it. Last night, the Leafs had the blue and white night. You wore your nice coat in here and you went and we haven't talked about it at all. How was your night? It was fantastic. MLSC Foundation, jam packed. And it was like one of those rooms where I was a New York Ranger. Yeah. Pretty good, strong organization.

I know there's great ones around the league, but I'm not too sure many could pull off a room like that last night. It was spectacular. The food was spectacular. Where was it? It was at Harbor Castle. Oh, cool. Everybody loved rubbing elbows with the current players.

I hung out with the alumni. I got to tell you though, Nick Robertson made a beeline for me. Did he? Yes. And I'm like, a little nervous. Yeah. Because at times we have been critical of Nick Robertson We're critical of when it needs to be

I don't believe this. Finish the story. I don't believe it. He couldn't have been nicer. Yeah or more polite Introducing himself just wanting to say hello No mention at all about hating our show or hating me He was like. That was my next question. Who did you lean on? As genuinely nice as anybody you'll ever meet.

And let me tell you, this is a butter up-able show. Oh no, no, no. Now, now I got two thoughts in my head. The first one is, Nick Robinson is now an untouchable on this show. He doesn't get enough of an opportunity for someone who, how is he not on the top set? How is he not on the power play? Right?

What are the Leafs doing? Like why isn't he on a long-term deal? 11 large, whatever, Nick's like, You go and do something like this. Got the green light. And totally redeem yourself. Let me ask you a question. Yeah.

So, like he's a young man. Yeah. Did he know that you have a show? Like was he aware of like what you do? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if he does or not. Better if he doesn't. For sure.

Better if he doesn't. If Connor Bedard had just done this to Jeremy Roenick, we wouldn't be in the pickle we're in as a nation today. Well, I just have a hard time. Like, you know, I would find it kind of tough in your position, because you're part of the alumni association. You have to go and do these events

and rub shoulders and do all that stuff. But you're very forthright. You're very honest about how you feel about guys. So it's a very, but you know, Nick Robertson is not the guy that I would expect to be like, hey buddy, nice to meet ya. You know, I would say he catches a little bit on this show. Listen buddy, I said he's a 25 goal scorer.

You did, that's true. So now the other thought in my mind is, if I'm going to have like 15 more guys be as nice to me as Nick was, I'm going to have to quit this show. Yeah, you'll be completely neutered. I'm done. Yeah, no teeth at all. So don't go to any more events That's the last dodge the few here and there and now play some craps or what played some craps Fun yeah fun. I mean what they do is they they give you real chips you play real Poker blackjack, craps, and then you load up and then you go redeem for great prizes. That's pretty cool.

But it was great and all the guys were great too. And Willy, arguably the most popular guy there with the pictures and the autographs and every player was like great for of course the whole room. They put in work. That's a real effort. Yeah.

I watched a little clip, a social clip. Our wonderful Emily A. was there. I don't know if they're manager or not. I saw her. But she was doing Q&A's and she went out to all the guys and she interviewed Matthews about like, it's like, what are you wearing tonight or whatever? Yeah, and he had like this detailed description of this guy had some atelier Monroe stuff And he had like the the the turtleneck. Oh, mr. Fancy pan and then he went over any hat

She's like, what are you wearing Joseph? Oh, I wore this one last year She has to say the deck with larsie's like wow, I got two suits and I wrote them. I've been wearing two suits all year. It's like, God. There's two different types of guys. Totally. Morgan Reilly was the only one wearing, I think, a tie or one of the few guys with a tie. And then Emily asked him if he did his tie on his own

and he straight faced looked at her and said, yeah, I'm a grownup. I'm a grownup. I am not. I will say, if you go through wardrobe here at Sportsnet, there's only one person whose ties are all permanently tied up, and it's Colby Armstrong. He can't do them back up, so he just slips them over.

There's no signs that Elliot knows how to do a tie either. No, he does it every day. There's no signs. There's just not tied. I have seven ties in my closet, all tied. Oh, that is so embarrassing. All ties in my closet all tied. Oh, that's all Yeah, I all tied they're all tied The thing is like you know that people do it so it's possible and you're a smart capable guy Yes, just learn I go on YouTube every time dress codes

There's YouTube videos how to tie tie have like 8 million views. I do it every time. I'm seven of those seven million All right in 25 minutes YouTube videos had a tie-tie have like 8 million views. And I do it every time. I'm seven of those, seven million. All right, in 25 minutes, we'll welcome in and the guy that also took in last night, Brad May, former NHL-er, always fun to have him. He was there last night? Yeah, oh yeah. Oh, beautiful.

Yeah, we'll get his thoughts as well on last night. But, so where are we with just one game this week? Which kind of sucks. It does. I think we're at at this is like a bit of an injury healing period like if you miss one game you get a pretty long stretch so we're looking at Tavares nice yarn croc Quillen all skated ahead of practice today Timmons Hockinpah like stole ours they got a lot of guys getting some rest here,

which is I guess not a bad thing. Okay. You want to start with Craig Ruby on Stolarz? Yeah, let's do it. Yeah, you know, more of that today. Conditioning, things like that. I think that conditioning is probably one of the biggest things being out as long as he has. So, goalies are the same as forwards, indeed, they condition it. Was Rubat there? Yeah, he was.

Nice. Good. You have a chance to talk to him? I did not. I saw him and I was going to go say hi, share a few pleasantries, but then I lost him, which is hard because he's a big guy now. Yeah I mean the Stoller's thing's gonna be interesting I imagine he we're gonna see him before. Yeah he said the question was posed to him today would you like to have him back before the Four Nations break and of course he said yes it wasn't will he play before the Four Nations break that wasn't the question. But he's gonna he says it's just a matter of conditioning

You don't ever put him Saturday versus Edmonton no shot no shot Tuesday against Calgary. Maybe a little bit more I think that's what we're looking at here a week today No, I'd go well depending again on what kind of night you may have had in in Edmonton, but I I see wall wall Stollers in Edmonton, but I see wall, wall, Stolar's wall. To finish out the four game road trip. So he just gets one in on his way. Gets one in.

Against Seattle, who's one of the worst teams in the league. Against Seattle. Yeah. That's my, that's how I would play it out. All right, let's follow up with on Stolar's head space, how he's been feeling about things since the missing time. You know, he's been around, he's a good pro. You know, he's been around as a good pro. You know, he's been very positive about everything, you know, around us every day.

And, you know, he's been a good frame of mind, I think, with the ball. It's one of those things you can't control it happens. And he's dealt with it and done what he has to do to get back. So I'm really interested in I'll ask you two guys so after it because this is like, you know it's kind of a countdown to summer break here with the two sort of weeks until they get a two-week break and You'll get through these games and maybe he'll play one but once you come back I think it's February 22nd is the first game back after against the Carolina Hurricanes

Howard do you think they're gonna break this down? with Stoller's and Wall in terms of a split? Like, assuming they both get through this stretch healthy, which, you know, it's just gonna make that assumption here, which may be a dangerous one to make. But will it be a split? Like, is Wall earned the right to start and be the start? Like, it's just gonna be really interesting with the new dynamic here to see how they do it. How do you think, Eli Dahl? I personally don't see any way to approach it other than a 50-50 split. We started the season going,

maybe Wohl gets a few more games than Stolarz. They clearly want him to be the guy, younger, longer contract. Two weeks into the year, it was like, this is clearly Stolarz team. We'll see if Wohl can ever get back to being the guy. Stolarz is the guy. Stolarz, you know, it's just gone back and forth.

I think it's almost like a fresh start after the break. Game, game, game, game, game. One of you show us you're the guy. Yeah, I don't think I'm that far off on what you just said. If one happens to have a really exceptional game that you could turn it into a two or three game stretch, but I don't see anything going much further than that. Yeah. I really feel like whoever plays better in April is going to be the playoff goalie.

I do get a sense now that as much as they love Joseph Wall, there seems to be this thought that, you know, you can't stretch him out too long here. That maybe he can fatigue or come to a, not a wall, but a literal wall where you say, okay, he needs to reset. He needs a rest. Yeah, well, well anyone I mean Sports as you get more tired you're more prone to he's not I don't think he'll ever be a horse When I mean that ever Envision him playing like 50 games

60 games, you know 55 games. He's not that guy I don't think and if there is ever an argument that I don't think and if there is ever an argument that Two goalies can work to win a Stanley Cup I think this is the one that has to be played out here for the Toronto made beliefs that Joseph Wall can go through stretches where he's a world-class goaltender and Nothing's getting by him and then if if you see a breakdown or if it looks like he's getting tired again, you don't let him play through it.

You put in Stoller's. Yeah, the one thing I would encourage them is if you go into game one and say, Wohl's been the best over the last few weeks and he's gonna be the playoff go-to guy, if he has a tough night in night one, I'd make the change. I would say use this tandem. You look at Ulmark and Swamenman in Boston the one year, right?

They decided Ulmark was the guy and they rode him all the way to game seven by the time it was too late. They made a switch in game seven. If you're going to be a tandem, be a tandem. And I don't think those guys can take that personally. We're just saying, hey, you play well, you get to play. I don't see a scenario where he he plays Really poorly. I think you know he could lose 4-2 and you could still put in joseph wall in game two

You could be down one nothing in the series and again, I'm not opposed to that and and Whatever the optics was that night did he let in two soft goals? Was he just not his head not into it? Like there has to be something of Substance two games then two games in a row. You're not going in it You're not going down to nothing and not making a goalie change, right? But that's that's as short of a leash I see from here on and between the two of them. Yeah, I think you're right The point is that you can't just say all right

The whole season was a duel for the starters crease And now it's this guy's net in playoffs. That's you're a hundred percent, right? That's not that's not what's gonna happen from here on in Sammy, but looking back looking ahead here. You do have a real Competitive advantage if you have both these guys healthy because they're healthy in class You're gonna get decent gold and I mean just if you're trying to solidify the first place in the Atlantic Division here which they've never done, having both of these guys healthy and playing well where you don't necessarily have to ride one or the other and worry about them tiring out or worrying about injury and have them both sort of fresh heading towards April, it's a really big competitive

advantage you just hope to God they both can stay healthy It is really a three-legged race to the finish line here in the Atlantic like I mean Someone's gonna win the division with 102 points. It's probably gonna be 105 by the time. It's all said and done, but boy Yeah, and right now You give the Leafs the advantage in that over Bob and over Vasilevsky and certainly over Swamen like right now. How about Miralainen?

Right? Yeah. It is, it is. Listen, Mitch Marner's having a hell of a season. We know that. He's got what? Almost 20 points ahead of Willie Nylander in scoring on the Leafs. Like, think about that.

What kind of year Marner's having. Yet, there's an argument to be said that the biggest story of the Leafs season so far are those two goalies. Agreed. Where you're like, even with Mitch's top three or four in scoring in the league, where is this team without those two goalies this season?

Yeah, I mean, it was something that we started the year as a major question mark for the team that is no longer even a discussion. Read an article in the Athletic Today about like every team's like fatal flaw. The Leafs wasn't goaltending. You know, it was their top four D. You know, they don't have an elite number one D. And it's like, allow me to be positive here for a second. I think we were being positive. Maybe a little bit too positive.

This is what gives me hope that this year could be potentially different. Because last year they played Samsonov for too many games in the playoffs, and it cost them dearly. And they put in Wall, and the series changed totally. He gets hurt, doesn't play game seven seven they only score one in game seven I understand that but type of overtime blah blah blah and it's every year when they've lost

they've had the second best goalies and that's been a it's been a consistent theme throughout this era that does give me a little bit of hope a little bit of hope I know you're making the face I cringe a little bit it gives me a bit of hope I is that fair or no you're cr. I cringe a little bit. It gives me a bit of hope. Is that fair or no? You're cringing. I cringe a little bit because They're unproven. I think you know, I'm okay with the unproven part because then you're just you just You got to kind of bank on what you saw over 82 games to have a trickle effect in even with no experience

Yeah Like you can't can't go and have those type of seasons out of both of them when they've been healthy to fall off the cliff because what? It's the playoffs now. So I'm okay with that. What I do kind of cringe a little bit is that in the past in the playoffs where you haven't gotten that save necessarily and you're getting it now,

that you might still find ways to have a playoff game look like what we saw Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators where it's like- Still can't score. Can't score. Where it's like there's not enough depth and now we're still back to that age old problem of if 16 and 34 and 88 don't do it then you will have better goal

tending that's still lost to one. Buddy, not when number 19 in white and blue comes back and shoots at the net. Kelly Yarncroft coming back. Yeah. Who's excited? Me. The most reluctant me ever. He's out in the ice, he's skating, he's wearing a regular jersey. So, getting there. Here's all I'm saying. Yeah, I don't know if we're going to see him soon. No?

After Four Nations. Well, yeah, I don't know. You've got to make sure that you can fit them all in still, right? With the cap Kelly are in croc is they got it. They might have to lose somebody to bring them on board Yeah, he's 33 years old 32 years old or somewhere around there had 20 goals in 2023 last year He had 10 and 52 games at least he's someone who down the lineup you trust who can play and if he gets it near the net He can shoot it in he's a nice shot. He's just someone a bit better building him up too much

You know he's a better than Nick Robertson. He's Last year you liked him. No, no for sure. He built I in my mind he built up a better Better game for me and I don't he won't hurt for sure. Yeah, but I Don't know whether or not if there's a big goal that's needed that that Who's our guest the other day that just said the Nick Paul, right? Like-

Oh, Simmer yesterday. Simmer, of course. Well, I can tell you- Simmer is like, who's like, can he be a Nick Paul? Here's his stat line against the Boston Bruins. He played all seven games. Zero, zero, zero, zero PIMS, minus two. So-

So, we are back to, hey guys, you really need to kind of do something between now and the trade deadline to reinforce when you only, you know, I'm, yeah. Have a goaltending duel that gives up two goals, you don't lose. You need someone else who can score, but you're not gonna be able to patch every hole

before playoffs and Kelly Aron croc is a better player than a lot of these sort of Halfway in and out guys they got at least he can sometimes score, you know I don't know that you're gonna get more from again Holmberg do where Lorentz Reeves Go through the line of bottom six guys right now. All right. Well Max patch already looks like he's coming back in Should we get to Craig Ruby's thoughts on Max? Yeah, the size and got it can get to the net around the net, you know Like I went over some stuff today, but you know Ottawa game and you know We had the puck a lot in the offensive zone did a lot of good things

But still need to generate some second or third chances around the net a little bit more and some greasy goals you know we didn't do enough of that in that game but you know offense kind of comes and goes throughout the year you just got to keep digging in we got to keep playing good defense keep checking I think we're doing a real good job of that and you know our ozone time has gone up lately. And that's important too, because now we're not playing in our own zone. But we got to generate more when we're in there. Ozone time has gone up lately. Is that right?

I think for Max, it's just a matter of his energy as well. Because like up until he's gotten hurt last little while, he's a big impactful guy physically. Can he still carry that on the next 30 games? He certainly made it sound like it's been aware on him, you know in a lot of his interviews, but he is three games I think from collecting an extra $300,000 or something so I'll probably play for a bit here Heals a few ailments Maximilian Colenda, Patrick Eddie, which I just learned is his name. You know, I think

take care of the gas money for the boat this summer. Yeah, I'll catch her around the lake. What they got from him to start the season to this point is way more than I even expected to get from him at all. Like I really was worried that we had the conversations he was going to get to his nine game mark. Like it was it was touch and go there for a little bit So this is a guy you just bubble wrap for playoffs Maybe he plays in two or three playoff games

He shoots one in the knees exactly what I was talking about yarn croc except a guy who actually could shoot it in more likely I'm more interested in What he had to say on Morgan and McCabe on Riley playing with their best defensemen I don't know you want to call McCabe call McCabe but let's check in on that one. Well I think they've been if I look at you know going number wise you know I think that Morgan's numbers have you know gone up with the offensive side of things chances for and stuff and been a little bit more involved that way so again it's just a little bit more time needed I think. Bigger sample size of it than what is it, three games?

And you know, Kavers going back on his offside, they know he played it last year, but it's still an adjustment for him. Even though he played last year mostly on his offside. So it's still, he's still adjusting a little bit to it. More offensive from Riley? You see that? More shots. Yeah. I mean, yeah, not on goal. He's had more attempts.

He's still turning them towards the cage. Right. The start. Yeah. He's trying. He's trying to get more involved. He's probably going to end up gambling a little bit more here, but What's he got 22 points

Sounds about right can confirm that for you. All right. I want to go a little Hypothetical here. Yeah, let's have it on me. Yep. Two points correct in 50 games What about trading Morgan? And I know we had briefly talked about this last week and my first thought was like, who's gonna fill in 22 minutes a night and who's gonna still look like a threat back there and like, can you really envision this team without Morgan Riley? How about no? And like can you really envision this team without Morgan Riley? I can if there's a world where you think you can get better at defense And I'm not sure that world and no that world doesn't exist. Okay, so midseason so is he Let's just say he

Continues to be the player that he is. Okay? That he's just having this off season right now that this is Morgan the rest of the year. I like hypotheticals. Okay? Is your chances still better with an average Morgan and the rest of the team? Or possibly flipping Morgan and getting stronger somewhere else, and then trying to find a way to plug that blue line of that hole that he's left with

just something else that legitimately is being paid for 30 points instead of the seven and a half million that you're going to pay for 35 points. Tough Kip, you know, been on this show with you the past couple of weeks and we've said things like don't have a guy who can skate the puck up or make a play or do these offensive things. You know, you talked about liking Sanderson up the rink and Shabbat up the rink and all that. Like, I don't know that taking away Morgan and adding more Benoit or more Timmons or

more Myers. No, no, no. You'd have to go out and find another skating defenseman. Mike Matheson. Great example. Okay. Great example. Perfect example, in fact.

What's Matheson make? Three... Let me think. What's Matheson make? So if you can move Morgan out and and plug him with a Matheson type of player He makes 4.8 this year and next And let me finish this for you. Okay so now Morgan who has a complete no move

Yeah, a complete no move. Yeah, a complete no move, by the way. And many years left. Would you not now knock on the door of Jimmy Rutherford and you flip Morgan for JT Miller, who are roughly, I think, half a million dollars each off the salary cap. So that's looked after. They're both, I think, relatively the same age, and I think they both have relatively the same amount of years left on their contract, which is five years. So does that make the Leafs better?

Morgan gets to go home. Okay. Morgan's going to say no to a lot of teams going home to British Columbia maybe is The one team that Morgan would say yes to be a second pair guy there Well, it's a lot of money for second pair, but it's not gonna play with Quinn with that. Excite Vancouver. Uh Yeah, could could for sure I think it depends on if you believe that this is decline from Riley or an off season from Riley

Because guys have off seasons and every time they have them in their 30s We go is this the end and then sometimes there's several decent years after sometimes there's not Leaf fans cannot look any further than April, May and June. Next season might as well be a hundred years from now. No, but I'm talking about if you're the Canucks, you have to believe that there's more. You don't make this deal if you think you're getting a 30 point D man. You got to get JT Miller out of that room. Okay. By the way, their contracts expire the same year.

Yeah. So I mean, we'll talk about this more in greater detail of what's going on in Vancouver on the national hour, but like... Yes, I do. It is your answer. You... I do it. Yeah. Yeah, I do.

And again, this is all hypothetical. Please, this is not, you know, I'm not throwing this on... We're a podcast. We're a podcast. People know it's hypothetical. But we're just throwing it out there whether or not this could work. And would JT Miller excite you, Sammy,

on the Toronto Maple Leafs? It's taking a stick of dynamite to a hockey team. You know? I honestly, you know, Willy is so different than Pedersen. Like I think, you know, people would hear that and be like, oh, is Miller gonna have this problem with another guy? These guys work hard. The Leafs core four, those guys are,

I know Willie's got his dog moments, but. I've long thought JT Miller is a very good player and I like him. I think he's fiery. I think he brings a lot of what you would sort of like the Leafs to have. We talked about the stars that we wish had the killer instinct. You talked about Braden Schenn last night.

Oh, did he ever? I just don't know if it's going to work here. I got, you know, like I just- Listen, I'm with you. I don't know either. I don't know either. Would you do it? I can't believe I haven't know either is Morgan do it can't be if I haven't asked I I'd have to really really do my homework and the first thing I would do is Fly to Vancouver and try to get to the people that could better explain to me what happened and And to know whether or not I want jade t Miller in this Toronto Maple Leaf dressing room

So now your decor is McCabe and Tanev, OEL, and you got a bunch of bought sixes after that. I'm not going to the playoffs with that. I know, you're adding. I'm gonna give up another asset, and if I need to get a five or six million dollar defenseman, I'm gonna convince a team to eat half of it,

and I'll give you another good piece, and I will bring in a very good defenseman for two and a half three million dollars yeah you know again this is almost like Sammy okay over there I love the thought I think it's a fascinating like that would be one trade that allowed to think about it one of the more fascinating trades it really would be yeah I mean I do think that Riley is not in decline I do think that Riley is not in decline. I do think that this, he's just having a tough year.

Sometimes it's a snowball of things. This is the worst year to have a tough year in 10 tries, especially if you're Brandon Shanahan. Yes. It couldn't, his worst season couldn't come at a worse time than right now. I need you, I need good Morgan right now and I won in April and May.

If Morgan is, you know, a point per game playoff guy who's playing 22 minutes a night and whatever, maybe on the power play, you don't care about this regular season that much. You're hoping and guessing. You are hoping. Oh, JT Miller is a prayer in a, I don't know. But it's not like JT Miller is on a two year contract

or like on a, he's a UFA. Yeah. He's here till 2030. Like it's making a commitment to a very combustible guy for one of your more popular teammates. During his decline years in a complete hotbed of like bright spot. Well, talk about from the frying pan into the fire. To your point, to your point, like JT Miller, an American in Vancouver, at times must be rolling his eyes going

these Canadians are nuts here for this game. Does he want to go from that market to as crazy as one in Toronto? You'll see JT Miller blue and white night and you'll be black and blue. He'll come out swinging man. Yes, he won't be as nice to me as Nick Robertson. Well, if he's good, he will because that's, you know, how we base our analysis. Anyways. Fun thought. What about Braden Shen?

Yes, but, fun thought. What about Braden Shen? the guy who fought last night Yes, but I think Again, two years left to think just over six. It will be 33 years old you're gonna that that one for sure all day long is Easton Cowan and Probably you still think it's like at this point. I mean he's got two years left Like I I mean, look at this point, he's got two years left. It's one that was thrown to me, showed up my buddy Mike, he packs me that, did they ever trade him? Doug Armstrong has some great quotes today. I don't know what's going on in St. Louis right now,

but I would think that he thinks that he's got a Washington Capitol type situation, that he could flip this thing back in a year or two and it would probably still include him and Colton Pereyko. There might not be a general manager that gets more calls on one player than Doug Armstrong on Colton Pereyko. The Leafs can't stop knocking on that door but it's not getting answered I I got to find these quotes from Armstrong, but he says he takes calls from everyone He ends up hanging up the phone going I see what's in it for him, but what's in it for me?

Oh god, we're so late. I saw we on a day. We had nothing to it Hey, but you know Braden shed didn't they remember when he came on our show and said that he wanted all the guys that were around the same Age like the 25 range for that and then he's old. I don't know. Maybe anyways, just a thought. Okay. Okay. We'll take a quick break. Come on.

Return mayday, mayday, mayday. Brad May, former NHL or Stanley Cup champion up next on the Real Kipper and Boren show. Hey, it's Ailish for afar. And I'm Justin Cuthbert. Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the fan pregame 6pm weekdays on sports that sports

at 590 the fan and wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the real Kipper and born show. All right, let's welcome him in. Mayday Mayday Mayday. Brad May, fresh off his monumental win at the Blackjack table last night. Was that right? What did you do with all your chips? Did you go and cash them in for a nice new color television or anything? You know what I did so well, I actually shared them with one of the guys sitting at my table so he ended up walking away with thousands and thousands of not dollars but value of chips and I think he did well and in the silent auction

was it Nick Robertson you know it was really nice it was a it was a great night the MLSC does a fantastic job, but obviously the Toronto Maple Leafs, the current players were there, a bunch of old guys like Nick and I and we had a great time interacting with one another, but obviously it's for the fans. You know, and it's one thing that never wavers. I know there's a lot of frustrated fans out there, including our own Sammy McKee here but it really is a great reminder last night May Day on on the connection between the Toronto Maple Leaf brand and more specifically the current players out there walking amongst the fans and and being able to interact. Yeah I think you

know what that's it's a big part of the job I mean it that's like the first point of contact for so many and obviously the lucky ones that were able to, you know, share the experience, the blue and white gala, everybody enjoyed it. Obviously it's for, you know, philanthropy. Obviously the organization to do good work within Toronto and Southern Ontario. And for the players, I think it's a great lesson

that you're supported, but you have to support the fans too, and certainly, you know, your business partners. So a lot of young guys, they're growing up quick, they're thrown into the fire as an NHL player, but a big part of that is how they can communicate with those people and sell themselves. You never know, your career ends and you know, somebody in that room, it might be his next boss or you know, there could be some endeavours together. So there's a lot to build on when you actually get out in the community as a professional athlete. Brad, how has that changed over the years from when you were a player to now? Are players more ready and built for it or is it like it'll maybe less need to sell the game now that it's more of an accepted global game? You know coming from me obviously I only have my own perspective and that's obviously as a former player. It was pressed on us as young players in Buffalo with the Sabres

organization was to be not only a family member a teammate you, you know, one of the guys on the team, but you have to be part of the community. And that loyalty was really pushed back in the day. I think today, just the economics of hockey, maybe it's not as much of, you know, the loyalty for 10, you know, 15 years, you know, for each player. However, you've got to honor your teammates and you've got to honor the people that are, you know, helping years, you know, for each player. However, you've got to honor your teammates and you got to honor the people that are, you know, helping you get through. That's obviously, you

know, the sponsorship dollars and everything else. And you know, the other thing is being a face of the National Hockey League. It's a dream come true for these guys to play in the NHL. And when you get into it and you're working every day, not that you take it for granted, but you may not be as excited as you once were when you're stepping on the ice for your first time. I think these moments give these players perspective. And it's a great outreach. You're watching and listening to Brad May, former NHL or Stanley Cup champion Mayday. It was too long ago when we were

talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs being this team that needed to find a way to get a little tougher, meaner, heavier. And it seems like under the Craig Berube era here, that's no longer an issue. And then Saturday night, it's like, how do we get these guys to score? And overall, where do you see the balance after 50 games?

Well, I'm looking at it. I wrote some notes down here today just to show you the rate here. Nice homework. But but in doing so, here's the one thing I want to say. The Toronto Maple Leafs have to make this year and the press the press to finish first in their division. If I'm not mistaken, in the era of the great young players that are now right in the, you know, the prime of their careers, they have not won a division title except for I want to say in the bubble, the one you hear when there's no fans, they possibly finished first. It's very important. Obviously, you're going to, you're going to,

every team that you're going to face in the playoffs is going to be rolling, they're going to be playing great, but that difference of having that first series that you can possibly get through as a first seed, and then you never know what upset happens in the other series and down the line as it cascades. So I think the Toronto Maple Leafs, I know last year it was about Austin Matthews scoring 70 goals, and we were all on that watch. We were all excited to see it.

I think the fan base and all of us, the press is actually for them to finish first in their division, prove to themselves that they actually can do it, play playoff hockey for the next two months or the two months leading into the playoffs after the trade deadline. And really even segment their games in, you know, I don't know, three out of five series, win every series, set yourself up that you actually achieve the goals, short term goals. And all of a sudden confidence is gained by that. And then when they roll in and they're down by a game, possibly, they know that they can come back because they've been doing it for the last couple months.

You look at the teams, St. Louis Blues, they were in last place under Craig Brubay on January 4th that season. They ended up winning the Stanley Cup. They're the best team going into the playoffs, but they proved it for months. You just can't turn the light switch on. It's not the best team that wins the Stanley Cup,

it's the team that's playing best at that time Brad right now looking around the the league It's crazy how teams are bunched together like there's like 11 teams that the Leafs could play in the first round of the playoffs at this point, so It's just a unique year in that way the Leafs stars seem to be what set them apart on most nights These guys either show up and they score and they win or they don't and they have a tougher night. Heading into playoffs how do you feel about that core four and their past playoff experiences? Do you think that that's setting them up to maybe learn from it? Have you seen people in their career that can find it in the playoffs the way the the core four haven't as of yet?

Well I mean the time or that's gonna be in front of us we don't have that answer every year. I'm a Buffalo Bills fan. I thought this year was Josh Allen's time. Clearly that didn't happen. He faced Patrick Mahomes, who's perfect. This guy's actually, it's amazing what he did in football. But for the Toronto Maple Leafs,

I think your best players have to be rolling. Morgan Riley, I think he's got another gear to get to, and that'll be really fun to watch when he starts playing at another level. Marner's been good all season, and he's obviously playing for something bigger than just his team in the moment. He's playing for his career and going forward

and being one of the best players in the game. But I think it's about building that team and the trust on the bottom six. I think if I was to ask the bottom six, if I had them in a room by themselves, is I would say, what is your identity? I don't know if they know what that is. They're all good hockey players. They all can skate. They all can do great things. But you know what? You got to somehow find something different. A third line that could, you know, a Peluso, McKay and Bobby Hole leak line,

we knew exactly who they were. They didn't have to show up and, you know, fake it. They played the game the way, I think our bottom six in Toronto have to figure out and carve out a little bit more of an identity. And I think that's on the physical side. And the tenacious side drawing penalties is probably the biggest thing that they can do

To set the big boys up on the power play, but we need a little bit more of an identity toughness on the bottom end You know what that kind of leads me right into my next Question and comment to you and you're probably the perfect guy when it comes to like the role of Ryan Reeves Last week we saw him participate in his first fight of the season here. And the one thing that I feel for Ryan a little bit, and it's one thing that me and you didn't have to ever worry about,

that's finding a dance partner. There was like two or three on every team, but yet if there isn't a willing participant for Ryan, you know, where is his role? And you know, what can he do when there isn't one? And for the most part, I think he's done actually pretty well in finding ways to maybe take the body every once in a while, but you know,

where do you see Ryan or the role today if it in fact still exists? Yeah, I'm not so sure it does. Nick, I think obviously it's a long season, there's gonna be moments where that nuclear option actually is amazing to have, but for Ryan, I think I watched him when I was a broadcaster in Vegas and he was a really good piece to that puzzle in Las Vegas.

He he had the ability to get in on the four check and create the first hits. At one time, he was the leading hit leader, him and William Carrier in the National Hockey League. It's not hitting every once in a while. It's finishing your check every chance it presents itself without taking yourself out of the play. I think if he stays disciplined and he actually keeps that focus and maybe doesn't get into

the shenanigans, which some of us want to see, I know I do, but it doesn't present itself nightly. He's a big strong guy. Him on the bench definitely is a message but the message opposing coaches are giving their players and we saw it in Montreal they're up by three goals a week and a bit ago when Montreal was leading Toronto came back won that game but our Arbor Jack guy turned him down pointed at the score clock you have coaches that are telling their players, leave him on the

ice, do not go to the penalty box, we don't want you doing that. And I think you're gonna see more of that when it's so tight where one penalty could cost your team. Those players are afraid to be in that position and they're not gonna do that, especially once their coach has already given the the marching orders. How different do you think a team can, so we have this kind of a loose theory here on this show that, you know, Borubi wants them to play a more straightforward game, hit, forecheck, be direct, but that takes intensity and effort,

and it's really hard to do that 82 times. There are some games where they don't have it and it doesn't look pretty. Are they able to flip a switch in playoffs? Like is it possible for them to look like Craig Berube wants them to without us seeing it all the time in the regular season? I mean I guess in theory it's possible. I would say that it's you got no chance. Okay. You don't actually if you don't identify who you are the whole idea the other part for Ryan Reeves and this goes for every player

It's what type of game are you playing? I know you're all skilled and you can make passes and get through the neutral zone and on you know odd man or even even even Situations where it's three on three get the puck behind those D Ryan Reeves is a better player when he knows where the puck is headed for sure than the guy that's actually waiting for a pass at the blue line. If I'm his left winger, I know he's on my line. I'm either a hard rim in it, a little soft chip behind the defenseman that doesn't want to get hit by that big body. As a teammate, I could set Ryan Reeves up to be a better player and more effective.

I know not me today, but as a player player I do think that if they can figure out that and that identity they have the speed. Ryan Reeves is a faster player again when he can anticipate where the puck is headed. I think a lot of times these players are so good they believe they can make really you know fancy plays into the middle and try to outskill the other team. Yes, you can at times, but when you get to the playoffs, that predictability of the puck going behind the defenseman makes you a better player. It certainly made me a better player, and I love playing guys that actually understood that for me.

It maybe didn't give them the, you know, the outcome they wanted if they wanted points necessarily, but if you wanted 45 seconds of a shift to tire out the top players on the other team in the offensive zone, sign me up. And by the way, that's a great place to be. I only got like a minute here, but I wanted just to follow it up real quickly on your comments on Pacioretty, who I think has done a fantastic job when he's been in for the

first 40, 45 games. And I don't know exactly if there's a correlation to the heavy contact that he's had throughout the beginning of the season that's kept him out of the last little while here. But what are the odds of a guy that's been a top six guy and a 30 goal scorer to play this type of role now moving forward, especially in April and May when you need it most? First of all, Max Patch Readywear is number 67. I mean, it's not a prediction. Of course I can be way off.

I think the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup this year. Oh my God! There's many ways to say this. I do, I, no, granted, everything has to happen. Mike dropped! If they do it, if they do it, Max Patch Ready where 67, the last time they won it was 1967. There has to be some type of synergy here.

He's the captain of the Montreal Canadiens. He now plays for the complete, you know, the rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs. What better place to have a guy like that come in and actually make that impact? Can he do it? Absolutely. You don't lose your skill overnight. You lose your desire to work on those skills. The time off for Max Patcheretti to actually understand that this it's the window is closing in his career to actually make a real impact. I'm sure he's focused and I'm sure he's ready to roll. I'm excited about Toronto. So many things have to happen, Nick. They're not going to win it tomorrow if it started.

But this team actually is a better team than they've been in the last 10 years by far because they can win tight games. Mayday, would Patch fight his mom? I'd fight my mom to win another Stanley Cup. I love that. My mom's not so proud of me. However, she's the one who instilled this fire into me anyway. So, um, God bless you, mom.

I love you, but I would. We love you, Mrs. May. Thanks for putting up with it. Great finish to our segment here at Mayday. Thanks for doing this, pal. Always great seeing you. Thanks so much, man. All right, that was Brad May.

Our thanks to him. We still got another hour as we go national. We'll try to figure out what the heck's going on. Jimmy Rutherford, president of the Vancouver Canucks, spoke on his two little boys who do not get along. And these two little boys who do not get along. Back after these words, More Real Kipper and Bourne. you