Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Reaves & Rempe Rumble

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

It's trade deadline week! Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee kick off the week with a look back over the Leafs' shootout win over the Rangers on Saturday. They get into Rempe vs. Reaves, Rempe's dirty hits on Lyubushkin, the third line starting to solidify itself and Nylander getting benched. Then, looking ahead to tonight's game against the Bruins and Samsonov getting the nod to start. Finally, they are joined by NESN's Billy Jaffe (34:47) to share a Bruins' POV of tonight's game, how they'll approach the deadline with multiple pending UFAs, whether Jake DeBrusk is on the move and the recent dip in goalie play.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. 

it's a brand new week here on the real kipper and born show glad everybody's along for the ride trade deadline week big week will leaf fans get that trade that will make them sleep better at night no did i ruin the whole week no nick kiprios justin bourne sammy mckee derrick brandeo general nick with you for the next hour on our leaf edition of our program. We're live on sports at five 90 sports at three 60 and sports that plus four to six. And if you can't catch us live, always a reminder to download us wherever you get your pod.

And remember Texas all week, five 95 90. Love to hear your thoughts and ideas on who should stay, who should go, what gets your team ready for Game 1 Puck Drop Stanley Cup playoffs. So with that, do we take an overall view of the weekend led by the Leaf win over the New York Rangers a 4-3 in a shootout before we get into more uh i'm an objective look at uh where the leafs are heading towards this trade deadline on friday 3 p.m eastern uh let's get your thoughts jb first on uh on on the game you know i'm starting to believe in these Maple Leafs a little bit. Oh, boy.

Whoa. I know, I am. I mean, guys, they've won nine of their last ten. You can kind of squint and see the shape of a team that is good. Don't go ruining a good thing on the trade deadline and changing up the chemistry. JB wants as is. No, I just see a shape of what it could look like

when a team is winning when you have a line that's as good as matthews and marner are right now where they can play with you me or sam on the other side and they're pretty good no they're ridiculously good and then the third line with Tavares, McMahon, and now Jarnkrok. Krok. I don't even know how to say it anymore. Jarnkrok? Jarnkrok. You know, it's a good line. Like, I really like the way they're all kind of hungry workers.

You know, they can get in on pucks. They all like to shoot it. I like that line a lot. I kind of like how the fourth line looks. I don't know. The goalies are playing pretty well. Too positive a start to the week what i do okay with it well you know i went to the game saturday night you sure did we saw you on

television okay first of all why are people paying so close attention to the anthem wow when the when the building's dark and you're scanning into the stands, why are people, like, paying attention to that? The funny thing to me is, like, I got a hundred texts about that. I'm like, Kipper's on TE every single day. Like, it's just like, yeah, he goes to Leafs games. It's not that big a deal. But that's not Hockey Night or Sportsnet putting me on.

That's just scanning the crowds. Somebody knew you were there. Yeah, whoever's behind that camera goes, there's a guy people know. Well, you mentioned how you're feeling good about the Leafs. Yeah. As I was walking into the station today in downtown Toronto, it wasn't feeling like trade deadline week.

It was feeling like the first round of the playoffs week the weather is nice it's 14 degrees i'm wearing barely a sweater you know the leafs are playing high octane games against good teams i'm like is it time can we fast forward here i'm ready to go but oh not past this but yes i feel the vibe saturday night i just thought it was awesome i thought it was an awesome game it was a good feeling in the building as well and i gotta be honest with you i mean matt rampe and and ryan reeves was like the cherry on top of a sunday to go to the game and it was you know highly advertised and i think the crowd booed the first time they were on the ice and didn't fight. I don't know. I could be wrong and maybe having heard that, but like they had people's attention going into that game. I mean, hell, we were talking

about it. Everybody, everybody did fight. There was a loud ovation when they were both on the ice. Yeah, it was because it was they weren't on the ice a whole lot together enough. I made it a point to sit in the stands. You did.

And I love our alumni box. In case you don't remember, it's really cool in there, right? Yeah. We don't get to watch the game. With the great chocolate chip cookies at the end. Yeah, but you're not watching the game in there, bud. But it's tough to watch the game. Yeah.

Sam's right. There's too many distractions. It's like, what else can I eat? People want to check that isn't nailed down and then you know there's great energy in the building because players bring guests uh there's corporate people in there so it pictures lots of pictures smoothie which is fine that's what it's for it's supposed to work that way but it's hard to watch the game sometimes for professional hockey analysts like

yourself that is not perfect conditions for lou francis skiddy all day long chocolate chip cookies you got it lou mike kruszalinski chocolate chip cookies eat them i'm a professional analyst in theory i wish i was them some nice yeah Yeah, no kidding. Focusing on the chocolate chip cookies. But I wanted to sit down below and just watch the whole vibe of the game. But I can't tell you the number of people on my way to the seat through the corridor who are like, it's just, are they going to fight? They didn't even mention anybody's name. Are they going tonight? Are they going to fight?

That was hundreds hundreds walking through the corridor and i'm like man is this what do we this is 1980s again but that was we all know politically correct today is like this guy's. He's going to, it's not good. We know the narrative, but it's almost as if for that particular night, nobody wanted to hear it. We do not agree. Everybody just felt like this is what we're coming to see on top of the hockey game.

And there may have been some disappointment if they didn't fight. What's interesting is that I don't think Rampe, in particular, went into the game being like, we have to fight. You know, Reeves mentioned in his quotes after the game that there was so much buildup for it that he asked the kid in the first shift if he wanted it, and the kid said no, because the game didn't warrant it at that point. Reeves said that was fine, and then Rampe ran the guy.

Has he turned 22 yet? No. He's 21 years old. He doesn't know what. He doesn't have a clue on how at the NHL level or to carry that type of weight on your shoulders for the New York Rangers, how it works. He's just trying to figure it out as he goes along. Everything he's done up until this point has just been kind of like a raw

emotion from him to go out there and do what he did. Yeah, show he's willing. This one in particular, even when we saw the fight, it was almost as if he needed his parents' permission. Oh, and he probably did, though, Kip. You know, I'm sure you played your coaches. We don't want you doing that tonight. So there was...

He looked to the bench. There was that sense. He got the green light. Yeah, for sure. It was like stealing a base. He was just like... Yes. Is that bunt?

Bunt or fight? Really, like, if i would have had money bet on when the fight would take place yeah i would have said five minutes in 10 minutes again just do our first period the leafs were up if i'm not mistaken three two yeah there's about 10 minutes left no less than that was it maybe five or six when they thought yeah it's about six minutes okay six minutes left like even in my day that was one of those where you don't necessarily want to think about possibly changing the momentum taking a penalty whatever the the case is. You just don't see those type of fights that late in the period or in the game when especially the home team's up. But, you know, it still happened.

It gave people in the building something to talk about. And it was a spirited bout. And I think there is some measure of the, it's reasonable to say you didn't want to go through that game allowing Rempe to take out one of your players with a brutal charging play and say it's okay, right? It became a relevant thing to have a fight with the gentleman. Speaking of which now if i want to

switch it over to ryan reeves for me that fight came too late yeah the toronto maple leafs right and it was upon his job would have been probably to try to get him to think about more about me coming after him throughout the whole game. I just thought there was too many lulls. I thought Ryan Reeves gave too many lulls into him to think that he could still go out there and take 40-foot runs at my players. And to be clear, that was the second one at Labushkin.

He took another big one. The first one, which I absolutely hated, was at the halfway mark of the hockey game. Right. Shisterkin started a breakout, gave it to Rempe at the hash marks. That guy skated the length of the ice, dumped it into Labushkin's corner, and did the whole thing over again. Had a 100-foot run at him.

Teed off. Yeah. Teed off on him. Now, this is where I've got an issue with Ryan Reeves. You were on the ice when that happened. You got to skate right over to him, okay? I don't know why Ryan just allowed that. Like, that's where you got to, the fight's okay.

It entertained people. I stood up. I clapped, whatever. But the fight was, it didn't serve any purpose for the game. Yeah, I see what you're saying. It just served a purpose for entertainment. Okay, we did this. We did this, and yeah, and then you flex your muscles, you know,

and you're in the penalty box telling the crowd to get ready, but in the meantime, Labushkin's already out of the game because he got run by the human missile, which you were supposed to be out there to deter. Yeah, I remember as it happened, I was like, I think Reeves was towards the end of a shift the first time. And I was like, maybe he didn't want to go do it, you know, while you're out of gas or something.

But to your point, you just want him to go over and have a chat. I get that. But that's where you need a little bit of help of Sheldon. Like Sheldon was,eldon Sheldon was I think uh matching lines and I don't have I don't have I don't see Rampey on the ice and not have Ryan Reeves out on the ice so I don't know why I'm up to so I get it I get was the end. Possibly he was out there for 30 or 40 seconds. But I need you out there when he's out there. And I need you talking to him saying, you're not doing what you did to that Bastien.

Nate Bastien of New Jersey. You're not doing it tonight. So every time he's on the ice, you're on top of him. You're talking to him. Like I'm not allowing you to skate 200 feet yeah to run labushkin so he runs labushkin in the second period and he's thinking he's got a credit card to go get him later on in the game and he did and he did he did he did so he got hit by the way do you think if he fought him early in the game though he doesn't do it probably not probably still does it listen i maybe you're right yeah but i will tell you the percentages

go up significantly if he did fight him earlier that he wouldn't yep because i've been in fights listen i was a well-conditioned guy i I won awards. I was in shape, man. There were some fights I was into early in a game when I knew I was done for the rest of the night. Spent. Adrenaline first. Couldn't even lift my arms up, right? Tweaked something.

I just don't have it to go run around the rest of the game. Yeah, yeah, for sure. No, I get you. That's where Ryan needs to get to him earlier to remind him that you're not having your way with our guys you're not coming in like a this human missile to run our players i won't have it i just think there was a lull too much in the game that that pushed it towards the last five minutes when and labushkin's done. And, you know, it sounds like he's back.

It sounds like he's okay, which is great. But could have separated his shoulder just as easily as giving him a head injury as Sheldon described it after the game. Yeah, you said that we have a Sheldon on Rempe, right? Is he? Well, it's on. There's two. There's, what do I got here?

Let me put my lineup up. And then we should also get back to the game after we finish this off yeah so the you could talk about the the keef clip three on the fight or the hit you play the first one on the hit is short there derrick clip two comes a long way leaves his feet hits him in the head injury there there's his breakdown of the hit not a fan hey yeah listen it's an attempt to try to get a guy suspended i get it why not yeah that's what you're supposed to do um and the one if you want to play the three just on the fight to kind of wrap things up there on that uh yeah i thought it was good especially considering you know i knocked some of our guys out of the game um so we're starting to get up.

Injuring players are starting to get up as many as the fights now. But, yeah, I liked that Revo stepped up. Doesn't sound like he's a fan of Rempe. How did you think he did? Can I tell you something? He's a huge fan of Rempe. Who? Sheldon.

He just can't admit it. Oh, yeah. Okay? Everybody wants one of those guys right now. Well, the Leafs kind of have one. Reeves has been playing really good for a month. Good, good. At least it gives you some sort of shot at when you play a team like that,

then you need a deterrent. You need something out there. And that's why New Jersey went and got McDermott. Yeah. What did you think of the actual fight? Like, do you think it was a great fight? Yeah, Reeves got him for sure for me. I thought he took him a while to get the range.

Yeah, I won. And then he kind of found his range. I thought he maybe scored the decision at the end. Like, poor kid got hit four more times. Yeah, right in the face. You know? But I mean, does it really matter, like, who at the end of the day on points like come on this is a spirited fight both teams love their player for hanging in there for sure but to your question it does matter yes it does matter but is there is there an actual

belt well to fans there is sure you know that's irrelevant did our guy win or their guy win matter i can tell you if i didn't be a lot different guy win? If it didn't matter, I can tell you, fighting would be a lot different. Just as long as somebody didn't lose it badly. And to Keith's point about the hit and about the fight, it's like, everyone's like, oh, this poor kid. You know, it's like, well, he's running around, nailing people into the boards. He's running around.

It's not like he's... You do lose a lot of sympathies when you're... He's not like jumping on the ice being like, oh, boy, I better... It's like he's running around the entire game. The runs at LaBouche can make him fully eligible to run. Once again, being six feet up in the stands watching this game, you know my first thought? This game's more dangerous than when i played just because of the speed no there's we had hold-ups we had guys running into each other i never had the chance to start

up my own blue line and just go go into a labushkin hammered him untouched it was actually the most frustrating part of four checking is when you would run on a four check and the deed be in front of you just all right so again full interference the hit that he had on him in the second period morgan's back there and morgan's just like pass i can't do anything just keep going yeah and it was uh cully uh there was a second play cooley cooley wanted to fight reeves it was like a two it was two of them crushing labushkin yeah two of them that had free range coolies we never had that free range yeah so like they they gotta fix this i think they gotta fix this. I think they got to fix this. That guy's going to hurt somebody really bad.

Rempe? Oh, yeah. It's coming. He's trying. He's trying to hurt people. If he gets a red carpet on every forecheck, he's going to hurt somebody. Yeah, he skates pretty well. Yeah, it was really nice when Willie put him on the ground there with that dangle.

The whole crowd was really into that. The baby deer got chewed. And one last suggestion, okay? Labushkin, get your stick up and make him eat it, okay? You see that guy coming, it is survival. That will be the best two-game suspension you'll ever take if you just turn around and this guy needs it coming this is what's going to slow him down eventually is someone's got to sit there and go okay here are my choices death or a two-game suspension you know kip i

had enough coaches tell me the exact thing you're telling him right now to know that in some cases it's not the worst plan. You know? Like, not even that you need to do anything aside from just have it out to protect yourself. Because, yeah, he's intending to hurt you. That's self-defense at that point. Just last quick thing on Rempe. I was listening to...

We've said that three times now. I was listening to Bill Simmons' podcast, which is one of the most popular podcasts, outside of ours, of course, but it's a massive American podcast and it's an NBA focus on a Monday. It does it with this guy named Ryan Russillo, who's also very popular. To my surprise,

a five to ten minute Rempe discussion on this podcast when they've never mentioned hockey before. Yeah. And they talked about it for a long time. They talked about how, just in general, having similar conversations to everybody else. It's like, there's Karmic Davids in the league.

Karno Bedard's in the league. They're talking about this 6'7 guy from Alberta. It passes the mom test, which is, if you hear about it from your mom, it's in the mainstream culture. How about this Rempe kid? His face is looking like a bag of tomatoes, though. He may need a healthy.

Give the kid a break. He's just a puppy. Oh, though. He may need a healthy. Give the kid a break. He's just a puppy. Oh, yeah. He's a puppy. He looks like a child. Ryan Reese said it best, I think, after the match. He's like, wait, wait. This guy's going to be a force.

He's going to be a menace, I think is the word that he used. So non-rempy thoughts from the game on Saturday? All right. Can I give you my first one? Please do. We have so many to get to. Well, is that I was happy for Tavaris because I thought he looked more, not of course he's never going to be what he used to be,

but I thought he looked way better playing with Yarncroft and McMahon as opposed to Robertson and McMahon. And I felt that like maybe having a nhl caliber two-way winger with you as opposed to nick robertson we were maybe doubting how much he had to do for that line i thought he looked a lot better on saturday night i agree like the conversations that we've had for the first 50 games is team A and team B. And now it looks like it's a, it's spread out. Yeah. That they're better balanced hockey club.

And it's led by pushing Tavares down. And I did like Yarncroke and I've not been Yarncroke. I've not been a huge Y croak fan over the years uh at times i i find him kind of pushing snow a little bit but he's he's grown on me a lot more and i i can see saturday night that he brought he brought a ton yeah you know the third line i don't think what's interesting is like they're almost not going to be a third line like they they played more than the domey line in that game. And I can see like,

it's almost like you have two different types of second lines. But what I like about it is, you're not going to ask that line to score every game, but all three guys, when they get the puck in a dangerous area, are not afraid to shoot it. Yarncroft likes to shoot. Yeah, no one on that line is going to pass.

No, and McMahon loves to shoot it. Tavares does too. So pucks are going to go to the net. Tavares likes to go to the net, and McMahon's not afraid to be there. It's going to be a... Offensively, it's going to be pretty simple. They're going to shoot pucks, and some are going to go in here and there, and some nights they're not.

But I just like that they're mature, smart players who forecheck, whatever. It works for me as a line, and that's encouraging. Just, you know, Tavares just has to do so much less defensively with Jarnkrok as opposed to Nick Robertson, where it feels like he's maybe had to do too much, and he was fighting it, and it was looking bad. That was very encouraging to me from Saturday. Well, for Tavares, it's just going to have to be, again,

accepting this role and understanding that it has to start 200 feet in your own zone. And in many ways, guys, when you're a top producing centerman, top three guy, and Willie was another great reminder of us for a Saturday night that these top players who always felt the need to produce can cheat every once in a while and you're asking tavaris to go stop cheating which probably been doing since he was seven years old as a toronto marley yep and it's okay now we We got Jarnkrok for the first time. There was a ton of energy Saturday night. Once you get in the playoffs, to do it every other night

and to hold that type of discipline, and the one thing about Tavares is when he has legs, and we can all see it. You can watch the game and go, you can tell pretty quick. Tavares has got his legs tonight. That's going to be another key for me as a third-line guy. Can he keep his legs? Because once they go, then he gets noticeably slower.

Shot attempts when their line was on the ice on on saturday were 14 to 2 so like they he was skating well it was going the right way yeah it felt similar to that yeah he had jam he had jam he had legs he lots of energy yeah those all three of those guys are just shameless shooters too though so that probably has a lot to do with that. Rip first touch. Do you want to touch on, speaking of cheating? Wow. The Willie stuff? Sure.

I think praise be all around. You know, praise to Sheldon for sitting him down. I haven't seen many more benchable offenses than that. And praise be to Willie for not sulking or, you know, he came back and he was great after he got back on the ice in the second period. Now, not praise for the flying of the zone, which is, I assume, where you're going to go with it. I think my beer league teammates would look at me on the bench and be like, Jesus, man.

That's a big loop. Maybe get that back. Try stops and starts. That was not pretty. Yeah. I'd be concerned, though, if I'm Sheldon. With Willie? Yeah.

For sure. That he does still do that? Like, I mean, he's, yeah. It's not, it's not, you're running out of games here to get ready for the first round. And. At that point, it's 0-0 in the first period. It's not like he's pushing to catch up in the game, right? Wasn't this stuff supposed to be kind of behind him a little bit this year, and he was having a really good year,

and then it kind of goes south a little bit. He's still having a really good year. He's getting rewarded. He's getting rewarded still in scenarios for me that aren't that well earned and i i i don't like the cheating and i've talked about it for the last few years and now it's for me it's it's not a great look. You really have to clean this thing up.

And I don't know if there's enough time to clean it up. I will say, the reason I appreciate the fact that he actually got benched for the half the period there is just a lot of people are like, that's Willie. You know, you live with the good or live with the bad and take the good and whatever. That was Sheld then for him. For a lot of his career.

For a lot of his career. Yeah. And so I think it's good that he's at least being like, well, maybe it is Willie, but maybe he should stop doing that. You know, like I think. He also has 92 million reasons why he can just sit him down now. Yeah. And 92 million reasons why Willie can come out in the second period

and be like, oh, I'll get him next time. You know, like. He didn't have a very pretty line change either in the three-on-three. Oh my God, in overtime, yeah. Yeah, that goes in. You don't have the puck. They've got the puck in the neutral zone.

I see what he's thinking. He's like, I'm so close to the bench, I can get there. But they had rock-solid possession in a regroup. You can't just leave. It was pretty wild. That would be a story today for sure. I don't know. Is there enough time for Sheldon to fix this with Willie?

I don't know. I mean, is Willie ever going to be someone who's not Willie? Probably not, no. He is what he is. It's like a parent trying to discipline a kid like when he's an adult. Willie's always needed a little tightening. The time to discipline is when they're young yeah well i mean he's been one of their best playoff guys and he's on a 10 game point streak at the

moment and he's so good and he's so good he's sixth in the nhl in points and he's so talented like he's so unbelievably good too good i mean he's also playing on a line with two like their line in general is cheat never shift. He's so good that he thinks he can get away with this stuff. Hey, Kip, I hate that line. He does get away with it. He does get away with it. Well.

No, he does not get away with it. He's got 80 points. Sam. Yes. He's having his best year of his life. They won one round. Yeah. Their whole careers.

Yeah. They're not getting away with it, Sam. Yeah. Well, this year he's getting away with it, I'd say. I'm not even, listen, I was the one coming in here after he had a slow start after he signed the contract, worrying about him never trying hard again.

Like, I'm not Mr. Willie, but it's just, to me, it's like, I don't think it's a bigger... I think it's a bigger... You know, he made a dumb play. They got benched. He came back out, and he played great, and they won the game against a good team like that's it they could have easily lost that game for sure yeah okay but that's any game i don't know no no no there's some games they're better and they deserve to win sam and usually that ends up in best of sevens the better

team that deserves to win moves on. That was a tight game. You know, a tight game where, yeah, I understand you don't want to be making those mistakes. Now, I do want to talk about the Domi line, but we are light on time, and I do think it's more important that we talk about Samsonov-Wall and what to do there.

So tonight they play Boston. Have we seen it announced who's going tonight? Samsonov, I think. Do you know? I hate it. I should say should say he was the first one off the ice yeah and Keefe did everything's pointing towards Samsonov and I listen he's coming off a great effort so I don't know roll with it I guess no or uh another another game where you don't have to push wall. You can bring him along slowly. He's healthy.

He played 36 or 37 saves in the American League, had an awesome game in his return. You think he's going to be your starter in a game on the playoffs? I'm just trying to kind of see what Sheldon could be thinking or seeing. I think most people think what you think. But when it's all said and

done like as great as he was saturday because there's some saves where there's like a yard sale well and the trochek goal is not great right like the trochek goal is not great not the tying goal but the rush goal huh i don't think you have much of a chance in any of them oh yeah he could have pushed across on that one. I didn't like that one. But anyway, I do think he played good against the Rangers. That's not even my point. My point is there is no time for kid glovesing wool.

He's going to get 10 to 12 starts before playoffs, maybe against the Boston Bruins. He needs to start playing hockey that matters. Maybe you don't want to show Boston Joseph Wall. are you even sure if he's able to do it like he this we need to know put him in oh no we know and he's going to be the guy game one for you joel yeah oh yes see he is for me too yes then to me it makes no sense to not play because he played on thursday it's his time, right? It's his turn. I overwhelmingly believe that Joseph Wall is the guy, and we've got this chart. So then it's how do we get him ready April 19th.

How do we get him ready for game one of the playoffs, and that excludes showing him to the Boston Bruins tonight. Two games against the Bruins this week. He's got to get one. To me, it's just that, you know, after the way he came back from missing that many games and just looked like a really good goalie, I'm not worried about how many he plays down the stretch.

Like, I think you could play him. He just needs enough to get ready. That's all. Yeah, sure. Start him. How many games left do they have? 20. If he plays less than half of the games, I'm fine with it.

Like, I really don't care how many he plays 22 22 all i care is is that he's in game one and as long as um samsonov has these type of games he's he's 1b for sure for sure like hey listen don't get me wrong it's very encouraging that samsonov has looked this good. I think... Still on a knife's edge for me. Okay. Yeah, I know our boy Bunk is like a big fan of... But any time it goes, it just... I watch the games, and I'm a fan of the team, and I can tell you who makes me feel very good

and makes me feel very bad. And one is Joseph Wall, and one is Samsonov, and I'll let you decide which way I'm going. But it's very obvious who's better, and one guy guy may be playing better or one guy may be playing worse but to me game one before we go to jaffee do you want to hear keith on goaltending situation or is that not worth it oh sure let's have it yep up 10 uh you know really for us it's just look we got four games and six nights this week here, and we're going to need both goaltenders.

So, you know, for us, it's just kind of about sort of playing the calendar and where the games fall and all of that. So we've got two guys that we trust and two guys. Well, Wall has played one really good game, I guess two if you include just Marley's game, and then you've got Samsonoff that's been building some great momentum and playing very well. And then you have Wall who's got to continue to build starts and don't want him sitting for too long.

So, really, it's just a decision for us based on the calendar, more so the opponent or what's happening here. So, there you go. You get Wall on Wednesday against Buffalo. Yeah, you give Samsonoff Boston twice, he doesn't get them once. There you go. You get Wall on Wednesday against Buffalo. Yeah. You give Samson off Boston twice. He doesn't get him once. Like, I just think Wall should feel what it's like as well.

Like, okay, on the power play, like, how quick do I need to be across on this Pasternak one-timer? I think a little exposure would help rather than throwing him in the batting cage at 100 miles per hour game one of playoffs. He's just good. Yeah. Okay. Great. But he should play hockey.

Wall? Yeah, he's just good. No, he's calm calm but he hasn't played enough hockey in the last three years a guy it's crazy how much belief i have in him when i watch him play good anyways we should go okay did you already tee up billy jaffe semi nhl analysts with boston bruins nhl, host of the morning show, Brew, with Andrew Raycroft. He's up next. We'll tee up the Boston Bruins. More real Kipper and Bourne after these words. Teeing up the biggest games of the night. It's the Fan Pre Game with Ailish Forfar and Justin Cuthbert.

Weekdays at 6 p.m. on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins set to battle tonight, 7 p.m., puck drop. Bruins coming down to earth a little bit here. Judging on where we think the final standings will be, people envisioned a New York Ranger, Toronto Maple Leaf first round.

Could you envision a lot more of the Boston Bruins and the Leafs facing off? I seem to have some memories of these two teams. They have played in the first round before, I remember. Detroit has lost a couple in a row. Leafs have won a couple in a row. It's making a wild card spot seem less likely for the Leafs, which means the Bruins much, much more likely.

Here we go. That's a yes. Or maybe the Leafs should just start tanking a little bit. Should they? What do you think? Nick Robertson's going to play goal next game. Okay, as promised, Billy Jaffe will join us now, NHL analyst for Nessun, covering the Boston Bruins. Billy, what's going on, buddy?

How are you? Living the dream here, buddy. How about you? We're good. We're good. We're just envisioning a Toronto Maple Leaf-Boston Bruin matchup. Let's put our surprise faces on. There's 32 teams in the league, and it's either Tampa or Boston.

I know. I still yearn for the one through eight. I do. I do. I love that setup more, but I'm old enough to remember it now, which is sad that I can admit it. But anyway, it's the truth. But on the other hand, Toronto-Boston, if it does happen, and I agree

with you guys, it's starting to feel like it's a spring reality. It would be very interesting. You know, the Bruins, you talked about coming back to reality. We're seeing, guys, a lot of teams in the NHL go through this this year. I don't know if it's...

It feels a little more than normal, but maybe that's just short-term memory or long-term memory loss. You know teams seem to be going through five, six, seven game type stretches. Vancouver's coming to mind right now for instance more than than typical the top teams but maybe this is just a market correction when it's all said and done. Bruins losers nine of 13 since the all-star break. You got to go back a few years to see a stretch that bad, especially with their historic run last season here. What is the number one culprit?

Inconsistency. It's kind of a lame answer, but believe it or not, Kipper, they've had some real good moments of goodness, if not even greatness, if that's a term. You know, they've had periods that have been excellent. They were very, very good against Seattle. Lost that game, though, 4-1 with them. But they were very good against them.

But it's been an extreme inconsistent effort since the end of the All-Star CBA break. They were on such a strong run at that point. They had so much purpose. They seemed to have more, I'll call it purpose, more energy, more desperation than they do now to their game since they've come out of that elongated break. They've given up a lot of middle-of-ice chances. If you get into the analytics,

the high danger chances, the zone entry stuff, but really middle of ice near the front of the net type chances. Right now, the last six, five, six games, guys, they've been missing. Hampus Lindholm a lot. While he has not had what you would call the most, the perfect year, the most scintillating year. He's had a really, you know, he can eat minutes, 24 minutes a game. He can do it. And they've missed him lately with a lower body injury. But it's been inconsistent effort game in to game out, Kippy. That's been the big thing.

So what are your thoughts on what's going to become of their roster at the deadline? You know, we're kind of looking at these cup contenders and trying to figure out what they're going to look like a week from now. Do you see the Bruins making many, if any, changes? It's a phenomenal question that I have a very lame answer to. I don't know yet. Because they don't have cap space. I believe they're at $57,500 US

available right now, or basically what Kippy spends in a week probably. I agree. Don't think so. We all wish, right? They have nothing, guys, in cap space. Now, Don Sweeney and his staff

are very creative, and in the years past, they have gotten a lot of stuff done that made a lot of us, I'm assuming you guys do, say, wow. I mean, you think the last year what they did. But they didn't have the cap restraints last year. We all know, you guys know, I'm sure you've talked about it. If they're going to make a significant move, even if it's not a mega move, but a significant move, we'll call it, it's going to mean that somebody off their roster, if not two players, are coming off it. They've got five or six UFAs to beat.

The biggest name is Jake DeBrusque. That's been talked about there. He's at a $4 million hit. But even if they move Jake, let's just say hypothetically speaking here, that's only four mil. You've got to probably move another player, guys. So they're going to have to make an awful lot of moves in and out to make things work. I guess, Justin, to really get to your question, the answer is

the management's got to look at this team and maybe these next three games. So they go tonight Toronto, tomorrow night at home, Edmonton, and then Thursday, Toronto again. They've got those three games coming up. Does that impact what Don Sweeney and his staff think that this team can do? Sorry for the lame answer, but I think that has to be taken into consideration. For sure. We're talking to Billy Jaffe, NHL analyst for Nessun the boston bruins so yeah i'm with you we we all hear jake

de brusque name out there and for a hockey club right now billy that looks to be shaping up with the toronto maple leafs for a first round uh matchup i don't know how you get rid of this guy even if you gotta rent them yourself the rest of the way. This guy is a proven playoff scorer. This guy has crushed the Leafs on a few occasions here. How do you move Jake DeBrusque, and what do you think you're

going to replace him with? Again, there's the last one that you just said right there. What are you going to replace him with? Look, when Jake is on, he is on, right? We know that. We know that he is on. The problem

is he hasn't been on as of late. The only points that he's had, I think it's since January 24th, if my memory serves correct, and it's not great, but yeah, January 24th is one goal, one assist against the Edmonton Oilers recently when the team was in Edmonton, his home city, his hometown. He's a good player.

He kills penalties real well. He plays on the power play, but he's not producing point-wise. So I don't disagree with you, especially when you, if you're looking to move him just for draft picks, unless you're using his capital, Kippy, his monetary capital to replace him with somebody else that you feel that you will get more out of. And I don't know how many of those guys are out there. I mean, are you swapping him for another UFA to beat? I don't know.

I don't know if there's one. I mean, who's out there in that regard? Again, I don't remember the whole list. But I like Jake. When he's on, he's on. I like regard? Again, I don't remember the whole list. But I like Jake. When he's on, he's on. I like him a lot. I love the kid. I think he's great.

I would hope that if he gets hot at the right time, I hope in general from a Bruins perspective, because I worked so many games for them, that they're just going through a lull right now, and they all get hot at the right time. I mean, that would be great. Right now they're not. But again, cliche or whatever you want to call it,

better they're kind of struggling now than later in the year. The question is, do you believe, rhetorically asking, they can get out of this funk right now? And then I would say the strength of the team in the first portion of the year, goaltending, has maybe not been as great since the All-Star break? No, it hasn't, Jeff. Just like the rest of the team.

Yeah. But I would say this. Defensively, they've given up more. Okay. And these guys. These guys saved their asses a lot early in the season, Borny. They did. They kind of, you know, what is it called?

You spackle over the wall a bit. You know what I mean? They did an awful lot of kind of plugging some holes for this team, both Omar and Swayman, early on in this season, for probably the first two-thirds. And now there's been a couple of goals here or there that you're like, whew, we didn't see those. But I'm fine with it still.

They've done their job. Even you go back to the game on the island the other night when they were down 3-0 to the New York Palmares when he scored all three goals in 12 and a half minutes. None of them were really his fault. I mean, when I say none, really, they weren't his fault. I mean, these were high-danger area, breakdowns, et cetera. So I don't know, man.

Goaltending hasn't been as good. It shows how good it was earlier too. But now the whole question about what do you do? Again, if the Bruins are saying we like this team, but we're not sure how far they can go, then they will consider. And I absolutely think they will. If you're a GM in this league and you're not a good listener and not a good dialer of calls, you know what I mean?

You're not going to be a good GM. So I think you have to listen to everything. And that doesn't mean that you don't like your player. That doesn't mean you don't believe in your player. It means that you have to listen. I do think that there will be more moves made this year than people realize. I think enough teams lost the last few games that I think if they're going to look at themselves in the honest mirror.

And say we're not that good. And accept that their owners say we need one round of playoff revenue. I think there's going to be a bunch of teams looking to make some moves. Because they have to get better. The Bruins are good enough. Meaning they're in the playoffs. They're a good enough team to do whatever. But are they a good enough team to go far?

That's what needs to be determined still.onto maple leafs in the boston bruins get ready to play twice this week could be the preview that uh we will look forward to in april billy thanks for doing this man really appreciate it all right guys Great to talk with you. Okay. Thanks, Billy. Billy Jaffe. So, Jake DeBrusque. Yeah. It's an interesting name. Not ever considered like a top, top guy for the Boston Bruins, but one of those great third-line depth guy that can move up and down the lineup. And, I mean, proven player in the playoffs.

Every year this guy's been in the playoffs he's produced yeah i mean he's 27 years old you know this year he won't be there but he scored 25 plus goals in the league three times in 73 playoff games he scored 22 goals like he's he's been there he's chipped in when it's counted so an interesting name um who would be a value for sure but to your guys conversation i don't see any way you move that out and get better any year you're hoping to contend i think there's a ton of pressure on sweeney right now yeah oh yeah yeah and now you're in that between a rock and a hard place like was my team ever as good as i thought it was in the last year and a half or do i have to go out there and do something yeah well interesting i don't know what lindholm's injury is or how long he's

out for but i sit here and i'm looking at what they're rolling out for a decor tonight three names shattenkirk wotherspoon and lori are not overly impressive to have as a part of a d and if they're on the least we'd go on boys you know boy, you know, a little thin. Grizzly's playing top pair with McAvoy. Like, I know Lindholm's out, but I don't know. I've never seen this team as super formidable. James JVR, Geeky, Frederick is a third line. Lauko, Bocas, Brazzo. Like, they're okay. But, you know, they got work to do.

They'll feel the pressure tonight. Yeah. Yeah. Until Pasternak shoots three in the net anywhere you want to go before we uh you know the break here i just quickly had said i don't like that domi line and then we kind of passed over it and i wanted to get your thoughts before we go to break let's go to you want to hear sheldon on domi's absolutely line yep let's go to that clip eight it's just to recognize when it's time to defend it's time to defend that's that's really yeah like we wanted

to push on offense and they're they're great players they've played well for us but it's time to defend, it's time to defend. That's really it. We want them to push on offense. They're great players. They've played well for us. But when it's time to defend, you've got to dig in. You've got to defend. Obviously, we get goal on the offensive side there. That's the kind of stuff that can't happen for all of our players. We need to be fully committed on defense when we're defending,

especially against good teams like this that counterpunch the way that they do. We made a mistake on the second goal as well. Give up that odd man rush. We lose numbers coming back through. Those are the kind of things that's, you know, we were able to recover from those, but, you know, those are the two goals. The first two goals are something to me are mistakes that we can prevent or we can not make, you know. One, I think the second one is pretty innocent in nature.

The first one, I think we're cheating for offense there, and that's not the time or place. Kenya, if they're trying to get willie or not to to cheat can they get the whole line to tighten up in the next 22 games yeah i mean what are your choices no i know well it's just getting someone with a conscience at center wenberg i'm in love with that. Adam Henrik. Yeah, that helps. It's too expensive.

Yeah, I agree. You know, there's no obvious solution. I'm not saying like, how are you missing this? But I just. I'd rather see that go to the blue line than up front. Yeah. For me personally. Or unless you're all in, go get Adam Henrik then.

These three guys together though. To me, a big part of pro hockey is just identifying the game state it's like okay i'm in we're in a breakout so i go here we're in d zone coverage so i'm committed to this we're in you know whatever and i think they're constantly in we're on offense and how do i but the whole team's been built that way for such a long time yeah but so when you say but it's like well that's a problem right it's an absolute issue've been on, Domi's line's been on for eight goals against in the last five games and six goals for. So it's just a high event line.

A lot happens both ways. And you think of playoff hockey, do you want a high event line against Florida, Boston, the Rangers? You want trade chances? Feels like a line that their signature move is get hemmed in for 35 seconds and then get like a a bounce and it goes the other way and they score in transition right feels like it happens a lot and you'll if you're like a fan of the team you'll see them get chance all the time these guys are dangerous would you yeah they are both ways would

you agree with me that you you have to find a way to get these guys to tighten up. Yeah. And you can't go back to John. No, I agree. I don't even think Tavares is that great of a defensive conscience. So, no. No. Yeah. Unless you're adding Henrik or something,

this is the second line. And then the problem is if you do add Henrik, you know, where's Domi? I don't know. It's tough, so you're right. The best chance is just to get them

to sort it out. All right. Just like that. Our first hour is over. God, that went fast. We could do another Leafs hour. I'm very confident we could do another full hour. Well, we got another hour, but it's on the national scale here. It's Ed Shaw from

Canucks Central. We'll be by. We'll talk about Pedersen's new eight-year deal. We'll also by. We'll talk about Pedersen's new eight year deal. We'll also get into Edmonton and the Pittsburgh penguins. Plenty more unreal Kipper and born. Do not go away.