Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Positive Start to 2026

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and producer Sam McKee return for their first show of the new calendar year to recap the Maple Leafs 6-5 win over the Winnipeg Jets, their recent string of success towards the end of 2025, the trending offence especially on the power-play, how William Nylander can adjust to the PP success, Craig Berube's decision to pull Joseph Woll, and the state of the blueline heading into the 2026 months. Then the guys head to the Leafs Line to hear some of your calls!  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 affiliate.

Our first real Kipper and Bourne show, 2026, falls on the off the rails Friday. More importantly, we welcome back our very own Sammy McKee. All the boys in the building, new year, Leafs win. We got Jake the Snake Shultz. Andrew Adams, Neciprios, Justin Bourne, with you for the next two hours, Leaf Hour edition, top of the hour, of course. Can't bring in the new year without Doug McLean on a Friday.

That was a must. Yeah, absolutely. So wherever you are watching and listening Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 590, the fan in Toronto are streaming always on Sportsnet. Plus, glad you're bored. Also available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and YouTube. last night. We've been busy with the Leafs, me and you, J.B.

Well, Sammy's just been relaxing and Owen sound. So here's what I'll say. It's a freaky Friday situation here where this is much like when I come back, when you guys come back from summer and you've been off for six months and I've been working all summer and it's like, you guys are like, oh, yeah, working a lot.

I'm like, yeah, nice one. I've been watching you guys on TV a ton. Well, for two games at least. You guys look great, sound great. Appreciate it. I'm impressed with my boys. You look really good up there. Did it bother you that Christian was really

good and didn't miss a beat? Can I tell you? Wouldn't know. Yeah. Wouldn't know. I got lots to hear that. I got lots of great texts about him saying that he's doing a great job. Your seats in danger. Blah, blah, blah. This guy says Sammy.

Usually everything that people say when I'm gone and it's the usual, but it's fine. I'm glad you guys had a good time with him and I'm glad he did a good job. He's coming up and commer, you know? We need up and comers. That's right. You got out some prospects in the system. Yes, sir. Did you fit in a few Leaf games while you were away? I watched.

the devil's game in its entirety. I watched last night in its entirety. I watched the third period of the Ottawa Senators game with my mom on her birthday. And other than that, that's all I watch. I didn't watch any of the Detroit game. I didn't watch any of the Pittsburgh game. That's nice.

I'm glad to hear that for you. I will say it was fun. Like, I mean, I'm a fan at heart, but I'm a fan of list, I guess. So I do have to break things down after games. But last night, I watched the game. Like, yay, they won. TV off.

I was like, yay, we won. Yay. Like, it's a different relationship for sure, but it was good. Okay, we're going to pick up on that relationship. We'll get to Craig Barubi first to get his overviews before we touch ours on this Friday. Let's go to clip one head coach Craig Brubi. Good resilience tonight and character coming back, you know, kind of coming back the whole game, you know. But we stuck with it and I thought guys had good attitude and kept competing and doing good things.

And, you know, ended up scoring some goals. What we needed. Resilience. So it just feels to me from here on end. Like it's going to be really hard to get him to be somewhat, I don't know if the right word's critical or just a little bit more honest on what he really thought last day. He just wants to focus on the positives. And we heard him, the resiliency.

you know, staying with it, all of that. Do you think he has to publicly be a little bit more honest in terms of, yeah, they're finding ways to get points, but you're not convincing a lot of people that they're going to another level here. Are we with being down 4-1 to one of the worst teams in the league now? I just think that this season, you know, every season is viewed through the lens of expectation

like what did you think the Leafs were going to be and then since they've been below that almost all year long it's been a very negative environment and I think they've been looking for a route to grab onto as they slide down the hill and you know the seven of the

of the last eight points they've grabbed and I think this is his attempt to be like okay right guys we're doing good this is we're grabbing onto positivity and trying to get things going in the right direction has it been so hard on the players in terms of the the negative kind of feel that this is this is why i mean you said it just on the top of the show

what uh two points okay click i don't want to know how i don't know why i don't want to do two points exactly that's it two points i think at this point when you look at the standings which i will say are a little bit nicer to look at recently than they have been at different points throughout this season oh there you go you know you're not below the you're not at the basement anymore that's the Atlantic and then even in the in the east they're even closer to the the wild card spot or whatever but yeah like there is definitely some oh here you go i mean it's it's nice to see them like within shouting distance but there's definitely a process versus results situation here and that jet's team's rancid i i can't believe how bad they look a year after

winning the president's trophies a trophy they look awful and i mean eric comrie a disaster class and goaltending but by one of the seemling the nicest guys in the league but yeah i'm happy they want like i want them to win i want austin matthews to look like he looked last night like i am excited that they have played well nine of a possible 10 since leased talk went off so there you go there you go cancel leaf stop cancel the show would leaf nation jb feel a lot better if if they to sam's point like truly won the game compared to like winnebec kind of handing it to of them. Yeah, I mean, if you, you know.

Austin's game winning goal was a disaster. Yeah. By Comrie. But, like, if you do the analysis of that game, you break that down closely and, you know, should they have won, should they have not have won? There's a few bonehead moments. Like, you know, we highlighted some Philip Meyer stuff that was like, come on, you know, some real basic stuff.

But outside of that, I thought the Leafs deserve to win the game. I thought they carried the play by and large, even when they were down four, one. I didn't think they were getting filled in. You know, they had given up a couple of goals, but I didn't think they were getting pumped. So I don't think it was that bad last night. I know that they were down to a team that they should beat. And I think they

were greatly helped this week by the devil's being bad and the Jets looking bad. That helped. But they did, you know, they hung in there. They took care of business in the end. Yeah. Yeah, I just it's nice to see like, how many times this year do we come in here and be like, God, they're

me. Lifeless. Nothing. boring at least now from a fan's perspective you're watching them they're like they look passionate they're running into people and they're they they they care and the building seems alive like just watching on tv those two games i mean the devil's crowd look like the best crowd of the year they were so into that game and against winnipeg on new year's day look like the crowd was so maybe people are starting to buy into it a little bit more that they're turning a corner but yeah we can have the process conversation you shouldn't fall down four one but you find a way to win i don't know maybe it's not in a critical mood because i haven't been criticized

They're great. They're great. I don't know. They want, boys. Go least. Everybody. Everybody watching and listening, let them warm up a little bit. They want. Yay. I think one of the most positive things, I think, in the last week and a half, two weeks,

is just the feel of Austin Matthews looking a little bit more like the dominant player that we've been accustomed to seeing at times, not just getting pucks to the net, but last night one of his goals with a give and go with Max Domi was all because of a play in his own zone where he literally stole a puck off of Vilardi. And that's a look we haven't seen too often this year.

Yeah, lifting sticks too, you and I talked about last night, like getting under guys and that allows his line to stay on offense for longer. So certainly some encouraging things. like, you know, it's not a flawless Matthews performance. Three goals and an assist. He's wonderful and all that.

But, like, we highlighted the first period. There was some imperfections defensively. You know, but you're just looking for progress. And to me, you're looking for signs of the ceiling, which is what they need. And, yeah, I think things feel a little bit brighter today than they have in a while for Matthew. Let's get the head coach's thoughts on Austin Matthews, his captain last night, clip two. Is that what is dominant, the performance from your captain as you've seen this season? Well, yeah, I mean, it's close.

I mean, he's at other really good games, but the, you know, the puck's always don't go in the net. But he definitely was very good tonight. It was his best game of the year, Coach. Didn't want to give it to him, eh? You're allowed to say that. Like, he was by far his best game. Like, not just the goal, but, like, he just looked like himself.

Yeah. For me, the one thing that's starting to kind of stand out a little bit is there seems to be a chemistry growing with him and Max. I agree. Well, Domi seems to know where his bread is buttered. He's like, I'm here to get Austin the puck. And I think Austin likes having a guy who's like, that's the guy. Which brings me back to the beginning of the season because I know when we first started the show, I made it abundantly clear that I believed that Austin, wanted max on his line and it started that way and the feeling was he was going to be from day

one of austin's wingers right what a tip that was by the way yeah great tip for those of you that are watching uh i did think he should stop at the net why are you skating past it he's got a long stick that's right deaf touch baby so what it happened was scotty lot uh lotton gets a broken bone in his foot and he pulls Max off and throws him I think third line center and since then it's been like this revolving door

of Max in Max out Nick Robertson in Nick Robertson out Machelli in Machelli out Willie in Willie out and I don't know how many he's played with six or seven at this point

but man shouldn't you have just left Max there to all along. You know, I think a point that a lot of people made, and I know one that you beat home too, was like when Lawton got hurt, they just T&T pushed the stick down,

exploded all the lines. Like it messed up all the preseason. Lorenz, Lotton, and Cowan were aligned, and then they didn't get to have that, and they're like, then we're going to change everything. So, yeah, it did seem like a bit of an overreaction based on one injury at the time. Maybe that would have helped,

certainly watching them right now makes you feel like it. Maybe they would. being as big of a hole as they were in or still are in depending on how you look at it if there just would have been a little bit more I mean just I don't know Kiff though Austin hasn't skated well I know he has I know but it hasn't helped that there's been pretty bad for long stretches of this year so like the mix of those two guys at times together was terrible okay okay but like he's got a lot of chances but we We've often said, and you've often said, like, okay, you're going to leave them for three or four games, five games, six games.

It never happened. No. There's never any, all right, bad games. So what? We're going to give you another opportunity here. It just seems like it's starting to fall in place now in what almost half the season now gone. I mean, it's good. They've never felt better.

Put it this way. All of them. Yeah. Together with some chemistry, Nick Waugh. Obviously, you know, bad teams in a row. That's part of it here. I actually think that's an underrated part of this story. You know, I mean, it's just a thought that I look at Austin

and the one part that I do feel for him is that it seems like the team's been searching half a season for somebody to click with him. I mean, I think, I don't know if I saw you guys talking about. I saw a clip on Twitter or something about, you know, savvy losing his job and getting fired and how, I think maybe it was you that. said that, you know, at the end of the day, it's a guy that's around the team every day and lost his job because of your poor play, whether it be the head coach or the assistant coach, it's somebody, like, they've been way better since that happened in almost all facets.

Yeah. Like, I mean, the power play, we don't need to talk about it. I mean, you want, sure, sad. I'm sure savvy's sitting at home being like, are you kidding me? But, you know, him being gone and they've just woken up. And I guess you got to give credit to the front office for making that move and helping that. but like is there a bigger difference than them just kind of being woken up because that's what I see like a team that was woken up by somebody losing their job for accountability and you know some circumstances over the course of a season just work in your favor and I think you know a couple days at Christmas may have helped because since then you've highlighted how physical they've been since then we've got more highlights of them sticking up for each other bumping into people even a fight here and there so yeah there's definitely this little bit of desperation and I think we've also highlighted if the desperation and wins don't come right now, right now, they're done.

Like, it's the end of January, it's January 2nd today, 3rd, wherever the heck it is. Second. You know, by January 31st, there's 16 games in the month, and if they don't win 12 of them, 11 of them, they're in real trouble. You can't lose three or four in a row here. That's not with 40 games to go. Yeah. And especially with the Buffalo Sabers winning 10 games in a row.

Buffalo Sabers win 10 row. And also, I highlighted a patch of their schedule. from January 12th to the 26th. It's two weeks exactly, 25th, actually. They play Colorado twice, Vegas twice, Detroit once. All those teams are first in their division, Minnesota, and it's just like every other day. And then it's also, I want to say, Utah, who's pretty good,

and then the Jets. But a lot of good teams. A big storyline was Joseph Wall getting pulled last night. We'll get into that a little bit more, but the offense has certainly been there when the goal tending hasn't been to shut the door. What do you see out of the scoring? You know, they have guys who can produce.

You know, I don't know that what's been shocking is that they haven't produced on the power play, but I thought going into this year, and we had a conversation about it early in the year, if you remember why I said they'll still be a top 10 scoring team. It's everything else that's worrisome. And I want to say they're seventh in scoring right now or something like that. So, yeah, they got guys who can shoot it in.

I'm not stunned by that part. All right, let's get to Craig Brewy's thoughts on scoring more, clip five. The last goal, the sixth goal with just cow and forechecking, it's that kind of stuff. We force them, and we're forcing teams into bad turnovers and puck plays and things like that with our forecheck. And then offensively, I think we're connected right now. Whether it's on the rush, just Max didn't score, but just that type of play where we're, We're driving, we're driving to the net really well right now. And it was unfortunate he didn't finish that off.

But, you know, on our rush, we're driving the net well. We're doing a good job there. And then in the O zone, we're just connected. We've got a good F3 all the time. We're using our points. We're delivering pucks. We're at the net. So it was a combination of a few things that, you know,

put you in the right spot to score goals. Actually, it's down to tenths of a, you know, fraction here. They're actually fourth, T4 in the NFL in goals four per game, and 26th in goals against per game. Yeah. I mean, I just look at, I guess they're top three lines. I don't think, you know, Lott and Lorenz and Yarncrock, the way it's constantly right now is really a threat offensively. But all three of their lines have guys who can put the puck in the net with, you know, with Robertson, the way he's looked on the third line. Machelles looked really good with Nyes and Tavaris and, of course, that top line.

Like, I just, it feels like they have a real threat on all three top lines. So they're just kind of playing well. And we'll get all old biceps back here in the next week. Get Willie. Hey, come on. Can we just quickly, guys? I know it's a positive show. Can we talk about Willie wearing a tank top in the press box?

Okay. That's AI generated. He didn't, he didn't wear. Honest to God, Kip, he had a tank top on representing the Toronto Maple Leafs in the press box, minus eight outside. A sleeveless undershirt. With a toke. Like, I know there's no dress code.

I know I'm old. I know let the guys do whatever. It doesn't matter. It's irrelevant. You're making... Come on. Would it be too far to say that that picture encapsulates everything that's wrong with the Toronto Police the last eight years?

Would that be too much to say? I just was what I can't believe it. I can't believe that they think that that's acceptable. I know there's no dress code, but there has to be a floor. My one thought was, could Lou Lamarillo have thrown Willie to the ice from that press box would he have had the strength he was so mad to launch Willie onto the ice surface

I think he could have done it if he had seen it guys are so old bad guys you know you're just such old guys were there boxer shorts he's sitting beside two two teammates in suits jackets and suits yep I just think he just doesn't care obviously

I know and I know it's not supposed to matter but like you wouldn't go to my house wearing that I wouldn't I wouldn't know I probably wouldn't go to the beach wearing that but I also don't have those arms So do you know also that migraines Can be triggered by cold weather Oh, do you know that?

Do you know that? If I hear If I hear the rest of the year He's out with migraines I'm going to be pissed off Put on a sweater I put on a sweater Geez

You don't want to tie a tan and you're real Anyway I didn't make that up Well, I'm sure sure it can I don't know You think you've got migraines because he's wearing tank. Yes, I do.

You know how cold it is in that arena? That take gave me a migraine. Do you know how cold? You know how cold it is there? Oh, my God. Yeah, I do. It's freezing there. We're off the rails, boy.

It's freezing. We had to talk about that. I miss you guys. I miss you guys. That is crazy. I actually had like a half hour last night where I couldn't let it go. I was like, I need to not tweet about this. I spent so much time in that press box doing Least Nation Post game for like, I think

three or four. seasons I would have a suit jacket because I'm a respectable individual where a suit jacket and I would oftentimes have a coat on top of that suit jacket because it was freezing cold. Does he not feel the cold? Does he have a space heater up there? And I've just had to come around like, okay, on golf courses now, we're going to be, here it is.

We're going to be okay with hoodies now. We're wearing hoodies on the golf course. I wear a hoodie on TV every day. Yeah. It's like, okay, it's not as uptight as it used to be. This is insane. That picture's amazing. I don't know, maybe he got

mugged before the game. He definitely has a jacket behind him. He does wear $60,000 jackets so he grabbed it on the way in. He definitely has a coat there behind. I played with Ivan Corvo and he got mugged in New York City and they took his overcoat. Maybe that's what happened.

He got mugged on the way. I don't think you've mugged there. I don't know. I don't know. All right. Moving on. What's that? Just a Willie adjacent take that I've been watching

with the least power play last little while. Is it better without him? Mm. Do you find that when you watch it, the puck moves a lot better around without him on the ice? My problem for the last few years with the least power play is everyone hangs on to it before they have. And he is one of the criminal offenders.

He's an on hangar for sure. But yeah, right now it's like guys kind of move it around. Yeah. I think it's just a mindset now with them scoring more is that they're just they're identifying windows to get to the net or to find that that soft area in front of the net and they're they're not hesitating to your point and I got to think when he comes back he'll he'll pick up the vibe no you know we don't we don't need you willie doing around the world three times one of those power play goals they've scored was willie just like making a play yeah that's a thing he does so

It's been really good. It has been good. Last night, when we concluded at the end of the game, Elliot Friedman, who was on our regional show, highlighted Joseph Wall coming off the bench and looking real happy. Looking up at the hill to be saved in the game, which was the best save a leave school he's made all year.

That was the game saving blocker, save on Shifley, I think. I mean, it's just a, I don't particularly like Mark Shifley. like I like him as a player like it seems like a great ambassador for the game but as a fan not my favorite guy why just he'll divey no not even that

like he's just the way he's always talking about the Leafs all the time and like he loves to beat the Leafs and he's a bit of a leaf killer I think I put it in there like most points per game of anyone at Air Canada at the Social Bank Arena

anybody that beats on your Leafs you hate 1.5 points per game is there anything better than beating the Leafs guys and they went one and seven since that there's a bit of a rivalry with them I don't love all right fair enough but I will say that Hilda B stoning him to deny him the hat trick after the snub

at Scotia Bank Arena. That's a good look for the Leafs. Pretty awesome for the Beast. Beastie was just on fire at that save. I love that. I told Elliot when he was watching Joseph Wall watched the monitor, it was like almost an admission now that you're not starting tomorrow night.

Well, you know, all of this conversation has been we know we want Joseph Wall to go in. How do we get him the right amount of starts? and for the first time I think the conversation will come up which goal would you rather have in if both are good to go boy we'll have to shut out the game before

I'm not going to be hard on it so good yeah so good you can't you can't come off of that relief performance and not start him in New York totally agree Saturday totally agree yeah no I'm with you you got at this point now you just got to ride the hot hand

without feeling like your taxi seeing anybody. I mean, I don't think Wall was very, I mean, some of those goals weren't exactly like, you know, unbelievable moves by the jet. I didn't think he was great. No, no, no.

He, the wrap around the backhand by a fallow. Yeah. Yeah, no good. No good. Let's listen to Craig Barubi, clip four on why he pulled wool. Yeah, it's, you know, I just,

I'm not pulling him because it's all on him or whatever. I just, I'm making a change. Just try and change the moment. meant them more than anything, you know. It just wasn't going our way, so I made the change and tried to change the momentum out of the game. That's why I pulled them. Yeah, I don't like pulling goalies,

but I just thought it was the right move at the time. It was. Sure, it was. It was, and it worked. 4-1, you win 6-5. We got time to get to Stetch, my boy. But Troy's boys are just on fire. I can't believe it.

he uh so joins yeah we can talk about that joins the Toronto Maple Leafs November 15th claimed on waivers or sorry November 18th their PK has been first in the NHL since then he is the playing the second most short-handed minutes over that time so he is a huge park in the league not on the lease on the lease no no sorry on the league on the lease okay playing more than him um so he's been a huge factor there uh plus minus leader for the Leafs is McCabe at plus 21 and he's plus 10 he's second so and he's He's only been here since, again, end of November. James plus 21? Yeah. On the Leafs? Yeah, pretty good.

That's pretty good. And, yeah, he's actually a couple goals. He's been a 25 minutes up. Great story. Great story. But this blue line. He's too important. I get it.

Can he, can, can this blue line as is get them in the playoffs? No Tanev? 10 of's pretty much done for the season boys do you think so yeah it's bad it's not good groin yeah like i got to be honest i i turned on the third period of the ottawa game like oh tanavs playing yeah cool yeah i had no no no he's gone now i think no it'll be if he if he can come back good on him and i don't know i don't know uh other than just a few of the rumblings are that his season could be done. Yeah, I mean, he's in tough shape.

You know, Riley Myers is a pair, McCabe OEL, Benoit Stetcher. Stetcher being good helps that whole thing. But Myers, guys, I don't know if he can play in the league. Why, Benin, they called up Benning. I think he's practicing with him. He's a right-hand shot guy. Like, at some point, you just have to do something else. Yeah, like I appreciate last year,

I thought Myers gave them great minutes. Yeah. This year, it's just been a real struggle. for me. He doesn't read the play. Isn't Carlo close? Like, he's traveling? Jeez. Can Carlo come back and...

Yeah. Can he come back and be the Boston Bruin the A game? If you're Riley Carlo, McCabe OEL, Benoit, and a good stature, yeah, you can make playoffs with that. I mean, I know you don't love it. I say no. I mean, starting right now. Yes.

Maybe not. But if you stretch that out over the full season, they'd probably would have made the playoffs with a full healthy decor but no you're right i mean they're running out of runway here they're running out of runway but they need carlo back because they can't keep playing him and riley together i mean it's like what are what are we what it's bad code like what are you watching i cannot believe that on the broadcast last night is if you and your buddies are watching this you're going how do you pair up their two most brain i i can't believe that the ongoing battles to find morgan riley somebody to play with oh yeah and i've used this

analogy before but i think it's so apt if you have one buddy who goes through 30 girlfriends and every time it's like she's insane she's crazy it didn't work out with her oh she's nuts and after a while you go god 10 in a row 12 in a row maybe you're the one you know that's me with Morgan Riley and D pairs

like we gotta get him a guy no no one works with Riley like eventually it's like this might be a 44 problem it just seems like he's shoveling pucks out of his net more often than anybody else I've seen all season long yeah I just I don't know I mean to your point it's just an ongoing battle to find this guy a level of consistency with a deep partner

and then just rolling him at this point though it's what yeah he's a team worst minus 11 tied with max he's 31 right don't don't mean him what's that he's 31 or 30 uh yes I want to say at least 31 is that's the part of the blue line that really is is concerning that you You know, you can plug it up and you can have these guys muck it out and grind it out. But over the course of now, 40 more games where still the schedule is going to get tougher. And we haven't gone through the likes of Colorado, Vegas. They've got to go out west. There's some tough games coming up.

Oh, they have a brutal stretch. They finish on the western Canadian. Like, it's one thing to, you know, Troy's boys against Winnipeg and New Jersey. Hey, they've played some good teams since the middle of November. it's going to he's the second best defense one on the league in the league on the league sorry and in the league it's going to get tough here it's really going to get tough on this blue line and then you're going to ask hildeby to or joseph wall to do what hildoby did last night that's what it's going to kind of take yeah yeah do they need to go and find another waiver wire you just can't repeat what they just did no you know and you're not going to trade anything to sort of bring in more defensive You're not going to trade any assets to fix it. It is kind of what it is. Yeah, I don't dislike that.

Those 6D I gave you because Benoit, good Benoit is a pretty good player and Stetcher's been good. So then OEL's been great. Maccabeson good. If Riley can play well, Carlos D's like there's enough there, but I know it's not top five in the league, top 10 in the league. We're not talking about winning the cop here anymore, boys.

No. We're talking about making the playoffs. So with what we've seen in the first 30 plus games like making the playoffs would be a huge accomplishment and then getting blown out in the first round and we're good right we're good they they're new ottawa like you're okay with that well i mean maybe going in the playoffs as a underdog maybe this is a different route for once maybe they can play the metro for once i don't know this is they don't get blown out in the playoffs i don't know so then the conversation that started last night that i i told people we talk about today is you last

night being like Hildaby's good trade them oh no no no I didn't say trade them clarify yourself no I just said that if you're not if you're not if you're not if you're totally all in on on to Sam's point just get in the playoffs and then find a way to win a couple of rounds and salvage the season you're going to have to do something with this lineup it's just not it's not going to get it done as is so if you can bring stolars back and put them in the mix and you got three of them you're going to have to you're going to have to move one of them and it's not going to be hill to be so stolars you know is he in a position now if someone short term needs help in that he's a good goalie he's a great goalie when he's healthy and that's the issue but that's that's the tricky

part and Joseph Wall's shown great signs of of being a good goalie. You're saying upstairs 900's good. They're all 907, 908, 909. But you don't have the luxury. They're not a team deep enough to have the luxury of saying, hey, we got three good

goleys and that's going to be great if one of them gets hurt. That might be fine if you were deeper and you had more assets to work around it. But when they're one of your strongest positional assets you can't hoard you're they're not in a position to hoard they got to they got to move for

they got to flip something solers is the most likely i think stolers if they can if he can come back and have a stretch where some teams think maybe he's over the hump i think there might be a team or two that want to reinforce i wonder if they were to do something like this i wonder if you can't move a couple of pieces for picks that you then use at the deadline because like you're not going to get the player you want for stolars because presumably a team team trading for him is trying to make a run. So I wonder if you can go, picks for this guy, picks for... I'm not spending any assets on this team.

I think I'm just, like, I mean, I'm not the general manager. Then you should trade to gain. It would be a disaster. You can only play one goalie at a time. Yeah, no, but you just... Like, that's an asset. Ride it out. But Hildaby's waiver exempt.

Set him back down to the Marley's. Let the season finish. Don't trade everybody. They haven't shown... Hiltabee may be your best... Maybe. I guess the next question is how a rush. you think he is now i don't think he's what's that i'm not sold i'll jump in the n h i'll give you that

i'll give you that but i'm like i'm watching beggars now trying to be choosers and that's not the way it works and you're saying hey reminder you're beggars you got nothing all right but you want to talk don't trade anything you start you know you start the year going oh they're going to make a big trade right they're going to get somebody to eventually fill in for marner and it's like they've rotted for this many game they've stunk well and if they're going to do the thing you're saying then do the thing. Let's go. I'm not, I just, I think you leave it as is, even after the deadline.

Like, if you're decent at the deadline, trade everybody if you're out of it at the deadline. But I'm not spending the 2028 first round pick to bring in Rasmus Anderson to finish eighth and losing the first round here. Don't make the playoffs and waste eight days. But if you make the playoffs as presently condescending. But no, Kip, if you make the playoffs as presently constituted, right? Where you don't trade a. bunch of stuff away.

I'm a swore there. Oh my God. Trade a bunch of stuff away. And you just kind of are the team you are. And you make the playoffs and you lose in the first round. It's a waste eight days. At least you didn't spend any of your assets and you still have stuff going into the offsees.

I don't know. I just leave it. The goalies are a different asset though. They're different. It's not Cowan. It's not. Are you any different if you have, you know, Hill to be in wool or you have wool and stole ours going into playoffs?

I mean, Hill to be can play for the Marley's for the rest of the year. And then you figure it out in the off season. You still got three next year, yeah. I just, you know, if you're MLSE bean counting and you're like, you're saying playoff, don't waste eight days, like we could use three home gates, you know. I also probably would, like, I mean, Stolars has shown a propensity to disappear for long stretches. So I don't know if I'd be really getting rid of Hilda B to be to keep him around, you know?

Like, it's like the second you trade Hildo B, Stolars disappears again. No, you can't hear it to Hilder B. So. Not with what you've seen out of him so far. Yeah, 24 and 6'7. Let's give him a hot sec here. Okay, we'll take a quick break. Yeah, let's take a break.

What do you got for us next? Leafline? Oh, yeah, we got some leaf line. We got some leaf line. Ooh, can't wait to hear from Tony and Oshawa. Wow. Shadow Tony and Oshawa. What else you got for us?

Ross and Halifax. I don't know who I'm going to get to. Don't stay in their name. I choose, okay? We'll have to get to those two now. Oh, my God, it's been gone for, like, over a week, and now he's back and bossing me around. 10 days.

All right, leaf line, Sammy's specialty on a Friday. Back after these words. Welcome back to the program. Nick Caprio's Justin Bourne, our very own Sammy McKee. Boys, it's awesome. They're back, and people don't usually say that when they come back to work, but I'm very lucky to have an awesome job. and I get to spend time with you guys who I love, so I'm happy to be back.

Glad to have you. Quick two things before we get to the lease line. First of all, shout out Oliver Ekman-Larsen making the Swedish Olympic team. Pretty cool. Yeah, very cool. And secondly, I'm the Swedish Olympic team. Tippers' long-lost son. The offer sheet bandit, Pontus Holmberg, makes Team Canada.

Couldn't even get a qualifying offer with the lease. And now he's on the Olympic team. So hold on. They couldn't qualify. They didn't want to. They didn't want to qualify Pontus Holmberg? Snip, snip, cut him. Yeah, they just let them walk.

What is that? I don't know. That in camp to me, especially with Lotton out. And you know how I felt that at the beginning. They didn't know Lotton was going to be out when they cut Honeberg. No, no, not Homburg. Camp, they still had camp. It was weird.

That was a weird one. You slide camp into the third slot and you leave Domey with... Austin to start the season. Yeah. It's weird. It's just, it was baffling to me. Holmberg, three goals in his last five games. Six goals all year.

Six goals all year. He's just a big mule. Mule. If I'm Swedish, I'm not thrilled that Pontus Holmberg's on my Olympic team, but it says something about your Olympic team. I think it says something more about Sweden than it does about Pontus, but good for him. We'll see how you feel.

Oh, yeah. He's just going to shut down McDavid. but David can't get by Pontus When did you get so cocky What? Cawkey? I cheer for Team Canada They're the best

It's a good point by Sam They win every time No no no it's not That part That's not the cocky part I am It's like you're like You know Pontus Holmberg's better than you think he is

He's fine Okay He's a fine player The Pontus man He's fine He's gonna be we're gonna follow Our show's gonna follow Pontus His whole career

He's fine I think the lease would be better if they had Pontus Holmberg. How's that? Is that fair? That is fair. Okay, we got to play, because you said his name. We got to play Tony and Oshua first. All right.

All right. Andrew's up there, right? Play it. Tony and Oscew. Did you see the fight with Knives yesterday? If only that guy knew how to fight, he'd be better than Tom Wilson. So I suggest this. You, Kipper, get a hold of Wendell Clark, get together and teach Matthew Knife.

how to fight. He really be good. Okay. Tony, I don't need to teach him a thing. He can throw his lefts like jack hammers. It's just getting him to want to. Right. Right. That's the problem, Tony. It's not anything else. That guy is bigger and stronger. He'd eat me for

breakfast in my prime. Is that true? I have no idea, but I just know that he'll be. Yeah. I think you would have maybe got in there on him. I think you're listen. You got more nasty to you. He's he's, he's 2.30, 240? Yeah, he's a...

Why did he sure do that? The only thing missing was... Trying to spark something for his team. Is a short fuse on him. And if it gets to the point where I think what we've seen in the last week might have something to do with him knowing that he wasn't going to make the Olympic team,

which he was... He's good enough to make that team. Yeah, I agree. But he took his foot off the gas pedal. Oh, right. I was going to say this year, I don't think he's been good. No, no, but if he had a level of consistency, if he was, if he didn't get lost in a lot of games this year, I think he could, he would, he could have forced their hand. I'm sorry, I just watched an ice fight White Cloud and like, beat him up.

Both of his fights, his fists are so heavy. They're like these fights end fairly soon because the guys are off balance. And he beat the crap out of somebody in Pittsburgh too. I forget who that was, but he beat the crap out of that. Like, you're right. Every fight is a bit more. and that was the one after a white cloud buried him right that was the first time they played each other yeah and they just used one after him yeah but i don't know why he should did that pick someone else dude

yeah like honestly i'm gonna spark the boys how about that coke machine yeah i'm gonna fight that bolder yeah how old is he 23 23 yeah still young i mean could you learn oh yeah no it you can paint what is it what is it you can paint stripes on a yeah that's right it was it you'd rather tame a tiger than paint stripes on a pussycat yeah uh also the guy who's fought in Pittsburgh was John Ludwig. No. You just... Is that right? Yes. I don't know if it's John Ludwig. You got to...

Didn't go well for you. You got to be... You got to be sick and tired of being sick and tired. And hopefully he's getting there. Since you shouted him out, we've got to go to Ross. Ross in Halifax. I just want to give a happy New Year to the real Kipper and Bourne crew and Sammy McKee. So I can't help but be excited after a win like last night.

You wake up and boys rally back hard. And, you know, my take is on choice dexter. Like, if you were to ask me a year ago, this guy was going to be our passion, our grit guy, you know, huge goals, big spirit. I would have thought you're crazy. But, you know, what do we know about this guy? I don't know much about it. I'm just from his last year's with the Oilers going to the Cup finals. But this year, the celebrations at the end of the game and, you know, just coat aside, have you seen what this guy wears to the games?

Like, how can you not be fired up? Anyways, I'd love to hear if anyone knows more about this guy because there's got to be something in his special sauce because the boys are, you know, got the swagger back. Now he's dropping the gloves. But, yeah, go, go leaves to go. You came to the right place, Ross. All the Troy Stetcher information you need.

I will say I tweeted positively about him the other day. Dan Murphy replied with like a sad giff about the Canucks not having him anymore. Oilers fans were upset about him not being there anymore. Calgary is super popular. He played at University of North Dakota and had almost 50. points in a season there. No, that was in junior, almost 30 points in college as a D-Man. He's not scared to

jump up. He's not scared to try to force things or make things happen without getting himself in too much trouble. I don't know, it's just it's rare, right? It's rare it happens, but Foresland in Florida, I mean, there's

cases of waiver wires. When they did that. Foresland was, he was 27. 28, maybe. Stetcher's 30. 31. It's not ancient.

You get a couple years out of them, good years out of them. Let's go, oh, this is a check. Let's check back in with our boy Daniel in Toronto. I called a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for your concern. My friends heard the show and did a wellness check on me. We decided to go out for some drinks and not watch the Leafs game, so that was a relief. I thought if anyone needed a wellness check, it would be Matthews.

his teammates could be in the scrub and he shuts down and skates to the bench. Then I woke up this morning I heard he got a hat trick, including the game winner. I already got it. Maybe Santa brought him that stuffed Mitch Marner support doll. Did he have any of these warm-ups?

Was it out there? Anyways, thanks again for your concern. Maybe I should call again next week. This kind of feels therapeutic. It's helping. Daniel, my boy. I love it. Yeah.

So let me ask you something. I know we're kind of wrapping up here. We got five minutes. Okay, all right. Eight. Eight minutes. This whole, like Austin Matthews chasing Matt Sundeen. No one cares.

Why does no one? Nobody cares. Not the media. We've done a few games. Not even a mention of it. Not even a board. Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on. That's on us literally. We're the ones. No, no. No. We have a show. It's not on us. It's not on us.

To Sam's point. Get the hot dog suit out. We don't care. We don't care. Well, we don't care. No, no. There's no demand on it. But no, but like...

The fans, there's no demand from the fans. There's nothing. No, you're right. I talk to both the least every day with all my friends all the time and no one has mentioned it. I wonder if there is just the nostalgia element, right? Like where people of, you know, this age range, remember Matt's is their favorite and the greatness of Matt's, and they don't want to see, much like we didn't want to see Gretzky lose the goal scoring record,

that this isn't like they're thrilled to see it, that they're like, oh, man, Matt's is kind of our guy. Let me ask. This is a hot topic on this show. Bench clear? Oh, please no. No. I think the bench is clear.

What are we talking about? When he breaks the record? When he breaks the Toronto? The Maple Leafs all come off the bench as a bench. The goal record? Yes. No way. It's the all-time goal record.

the most prestigious franchise? No, no, no. No, that's a, you're allowed to come off the bench and congratulate here for a franchise record. I would like to know what the leading goal scoring total is on most franchises. 420 cannot be high. It's not great.

This is like Nashville when like Oliyokin in or whatever as the leading, David Langwon at the point lead. But you're not the Florida Panthers. You're Toronto Maple East and original 6th team. And I know it's a low number for an original 6 team. and that's on many of the goal scores that never quite stuck around long enough to make it 5 for 600.

But that is to be acknowledged by the players on the bench. Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't remember any bench clearing situations where the whole team was coming on the ice two years ago. I don't remember. Yeah, I think it's how it's happened. Your whole team coming off the bench midgame is new.

I think? I mean, maybe it happened here and there. on massive milestones. I do not remember teams, full teams coming off the bench to celebrate with a guy who got an individual accomplishment. What are we doing here?

I mean, it was never that important to me, so I can't remember. I don't know. Stammer just got it. Stats people out there. Did they come off the bench for him? I mean, 600's a big number. Did they?

Yes. But this is a new thing. Did you see that goal, by the way? Vintage. Everything's new. Whoever, or, Steve Fallon out there, do we got, Like all-time bench-clears?

How often, per season? Well, you have to apply with the league to leave the bench. You can't get your prom-chew. Players showing up in sleeveless undershirts. It's all new. You have to ask the league. I bet you the league could give us data on how many bench clears we're getting per year. Holding up the whole hockey game to go, way to go.

400 was crazy for past. 400 was bonkers. That was crazy. That was crazy. He's going to get scored 600. I think part of the reason, too, why no one's talking about it is just, it's just, it's just, coming off of a bad year. A bad year.

He's having, up until the hat trick, and I don't know what happens from here on end, but his season's been horrible. Because the individual season, Leif from Vive, was a big deal. When he hit 56 or whatever it was in the year to get the all-time. Yeah, but they weren't good. What do you mean they weren't good? The Leafs were good. Very good.

When Matthews beat the individual season goal scored. No, no, yes. But when Vive did it, they stunk. They stunk. They were a terrible season. And it hurt five. the way they care about Sundeen. You got to catch the wave, too, with the team.

If the team was on a trend going up, it would be celebrated. I agree with that. Well, what if they win on Saturday? Is he two back? I don't even know how he's from tying. So he gets one to tie it on the island, comes home against the Panthers. They're red hot. They're beating the Panthers.

He scores one. It's a big deal. It's a bigger deal. It's clear. Here comes. Stetcher and Robertson. Ah, yeah. But the one thing that's hurt Rick Vibe on those 50 goal seasons is the team was bad.

And that's what they remember more than him. But my point there is that they didn't then, fans didn't have that love for the Vibe Vibe Accomplishment. So to see it, you know, beat doesn't hurt them any. They have love for Matt Sundin in a major way. And seeing him lose that title, people don't love it maybe. No, I don't. I don't, I think.

I mean, speaking from my Matt, Matt's as well loved. But Matt's, goal scoring was not Matt's forte. No, you're right. There's no stickiness to Matt's losing this title.

Yeah. You know what's crazy is Matthews could conceivably beat him by like, I don't know, 10, 15 goals and then be gone. You know, like it could be like the goal scoring lead could stay low. You know, you're talking about trading them this summer. And then Troy Stetcher swoops.

New goal-scoring leader all the time. He's going to play 300 seasons. It's all, when you lose and if you miss the playoffs, it's all wide open. It's all wide open. So, go to get another one in. We'll sneak this one in quick. This is from John Doe from Parts Unknown. Hey, guys, love the show.

Happy New Year's and all. I just want to do something different. I know you guys sometimes struggle. go with the name of our 4-string goalie, and I'm here to help you out. It's Artur Akhtamov. Yeah, but we're not doing that. Artur Akhtamov. Oh, my God.

It's like he's coughing up a hairball. There you go. I can't do that. This is the day. Artur Akhtiama. I just screwed it up. Jeff Merrick tells a great story about, like, you know, some announcer calling him Kaberla or whatever, and then saying, well, go ask him how he says it.

He says, yeah, go ask him how he says hamburger. You know, like, we can't say it the way he said. I already forgot. Artur, Akhtiama. Akhtiama. Akhtiama. Double A. Double A for life.

All right. If you thought we just drove it into the ditch this last hour, wait for Doug McLean, as we go national next on Off the Rails Friday. Oh, no. Thank you.