Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Road-Trip Test Kicks Off in Vegas

Episode Date: October 8, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee get set for puck drop with the Toronto Maple Leafs set to kick off their road trip with their biggest challenge of the young season against the Vegas Golden Knights. They discuss Gavin McKenna's move to the third line, Jim Hiller showing love to John Tavares, Auston Matthews' future in Toronto, and William Nylander's comments on the new direction. Later, Golden Knights radio analyst Daren Millard (34:45) stops by to discuss Vegas' hot start, what new head coach Ryan Craig brings behind their bench, and Mitch Marner's Year 2 outlook in the desert.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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We got a game night on the real Kipper and Bourne show. Leaf Hour edition of our program. We are live on Sportsette 360, 590 the fan in Toronto. Streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. Also available wherever you download, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts. And of course, we are live and in color on YouTube as well. Nick Kiprios, Justin Borenz, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo, Frank the Tank,

and Sammy Gacera. You had it before the show. Casira. Casira. Sammy squared, baby. You got it. Sammy squared. You got it.

Belief will take the energy and the momentum off of their epic comeback against Nashville, Tuesday night, with their biggest challenge. They want to go into Wayne Newton's backyard tonight and take a big elephant dump. No. Wayne Newton still. Yeah. I think he's still with us. Didn't Bukascus interview him during the final last year? Was that not Wayne Newton?

Yeah, I'm sure that happened. I do have recollection. Unless he scheduled for another lift. He's looking fresh and young. He should be watching the game tonight. He does look. He's perky. He is.

Looking good, O' Wayne. Perked up. His cheek bones are in the back of his ankles. He's perky. I don't know what else you can do to that face. I don't know, man. He's very Vegas. He looks Vegas.

Very Vegas. Can I have an East Coast bias take right off the top here? There is way more people in Toronto watching this game than there are in Vegas. This game shouldn't start at 10 p.m. Get this game at 8. 10 p.m. Like, sorry, it's lost Vegas. It's whatever.

No one's even awake in Vegas before 7, pal. The day's just getting going. So people can't go to a game at 4 p.m. on a Thursday in Vegas? Like, there's no time. There's no time. There doesn't exist. Brunch in a hockey. 7 p.m. is fine.

Isn't, like, cities like Calgary at West not making the change over to daylight savings? Is that the thing now? They've got games like at 9 p.m. I don't know. Local now. Time zones have never been my strength. So I'm not going to go with that. But, yeah.

We tend to do a segment a week that helps absolutely no one. And I think we just did one. But at 10 p.m. is late. Yeah. It's late, boys. We're going to have Darren Mallard, who hosts Vegas television, of course. Join us in about 35 minutes. Colby Armstrong at the top of the hour.

We haven't had Colby on for a while, right? He'll kind of guilty. And he is now Mr. Saturday night on SportsNet. So looking forward to Colby as well. In the meantime, boys seem to be having a good time, I guess, in Vegas. I don't know. He said you were going to give us a clip, and then you're not giving us a clip of Gavin McKenna

liking cheese or what? Cheat. Cheese talk. What was that all about? You know, I got, I probably shouldn't eat too much cheese. My guts don't like it. Oh, all about him. Oh, he, they went out for dinner last night,

and he said he had the chicken part of him, and then the quote was that the cheese was unreal. And who broke that news? Elliot? No, actually, it was Alex Xero. A friend of the show does Succini News. That's good stuff right there. We needed that.

We need it. That's Toronto right there. But if we're going to take any news out of today, it's the fact that he's not starting on the first two lines. They've got him with Nick Paul tonight. And Colton Sizzins. And Colton Sizzins. I kind of like it,

but I'll let you go first on that. I'm with you. I like it a lot. I feel like it gives him the best chance to play with the puck. It just, it says, we're going into a very tough place. It's his first road trip.

We're going to protect him as best we can without, obviously, you know, not giving him a chance to still succeed. Do you think, though, that, like, I don't know if you're talking, like, physically, like other teams, it's nice for him to have Sizzins out there and Paul and guys to protect him if anything happens. I don't know if you mean that at all. Do you?

No, I don't, actually. That's not my first thought. Okay. No, my first thought is that the Vegas Golden Knights are as deep as anybody for their first two lines. And you don't want him spending the whole game in his own zone with two other guys that aren't as defensively responsible as Nick Paul or Colton Sizzins. That's what it says to me. I don't think that Gavin McKenna is important enough a player to the Leafs that other teams would bother to say, hey, lay the body on that guy, hit that guy, you know, attack, you know what I mean?

Like, I don't think he would be targeted if you did mean that, and it sounds like you don't. No. But, like, thinking about it myself, like, does he need protectors out there? I don't think he needs physical protectors because I don't think he's important enough to get targeted yet. Is that fair? I would take a run at him as hard as I could. Yeah, it would be a dream. Oh, yeah.

I would love to. I don't know if it's like a focal point in. to a meeting, but you want to take the body off of him. The one thing you do not want to do against him or any other great player is just give him a free pass to get jump back into the play. And we know McKenna can already do that. We've seen it in the preseason. We've seen it in the regular season.

If you let this guy get, if there's no contact, he will beat you up the ice. Yeah. I think, you know, if I'm coaching to play the Leafs, though, and so you go through all the systems, all that, but you also talk about their personnel, and the conversation is, hey, you know, basically get the body on Matthews early, like, you know, sort of like,

don't let him get his speed up early in neutral zone. Nylander doesn't like to play on defense. Let's chip it by and play whatever. Marchenko really gets going. We want to cut him off. Like, I think there's a lot of guys you worry about before you get to McKenna for any sort of individual. game plan. Hey, radish has a bomb. Let's try to, you know, tighter gaps from the wingers in the D zone and stuff like that.

I think, I don't know what show it was early in our, in our season, Kipper, that this was your idea. You said that they should put him on the third line. Maybe it was even after the first game, where it looked like he was a deer in the headlights and you thought that they should maybe put him down there with these two guys. I think you even name these two guys to put him down there. And I think it's a lot from a perception standpoint, going out of the road against a tough team. it's a lot easier to start him there. And if he's looking good and he's starting to feel it, you can put him up with the top guys here and there, but keep him down there, insulated.

I like it. And I think he's handling it. I think that's where it's going. Yeah. He will at some point. Go up. Tonight, tonight there will be spot duty, whether or not it's an extension off of a second power play,

but he will see top six players from the Leafs tonight at some point during this hockey game. Yeah, we've just not. Chris is not starting there. I guess my only concern with it is offensive zone starts versus defensive zone starts. You are going to be putting out Paul and Sizzins in the D zone more often. Right now, Paul and Sizzins are the only two players on the team. Over forwards below 50% zone starts.

Again, it could be a situation where you have Nick Paul and Sizzins out there, but you also have somebody else out there. And then you get the puck out of your zone. and then McKenna jumps on. Fogo, face off, get off. You don't have to, you don't have to, there's nothing written in stone that that line has to take the defense,

defensive face off, all three of them intact. Ozone start percentage, John Tavares at 92.8% ozone start. Those are OV numbers. OV numbers. And Matthews, Marchenko, they're up in the 80s.

And yeah, so it's mostly the Cowan Paul Sizzins below 50%. So, I snuck in some clips under the, under the bell because or under the bell whatever it works wires fine under the wires what I was looking for uh we have clip one on him sticking with the lines uh clip one please well we had it at home like I said we finished the game that way in Toronto so that's really the impetus for the move just we liked how we finished obviously it was a good night in the

end so why change it very barubei of him but also very logic driven that's what I mean like a very straightforward answer uh things went good so we're going to stick with the good things and the way they went. The impetus for the move. But I do think that it does make sense. And we've called for it. So how big of a challenge is this tonight? And again,

coming off of a feel-good finish for the Leafs, let's park the first 20 minutes. Let's park the 3-0 deficit Tuesday night aside here. Feeling of going in there, including from McKenna, who, I got to think is a lot more comfortable now shooting the puck based on his goal than how we felt just prior of it. Yeah, I think it's a massive test.

Vegas is by some of the sport logic numbers. They've been one of the best three teams in the NHL so far this year. You mentioned their top six. Barboshev, Eichel Stone, unbelievable line. And then Howden Carlson-Marner, also an unbelievable line. And actually, their best line by some of the numbers has been Connolly Hurdle Olifson. Oliveson hurt right now, not going to be playing tonight.

So they've got Lavoie on that wing. He took a big hit from behind. Did he? Yeah, I didn't see what happened. In Seattle. But just pointing out that like those, that top six you mentioned is super good. So it's a massive test. D, you know, McNabb, Theodore, who he's not going to see.

All of a sudden you get Wetherspoon Anderson, Lowe's on, Hanifin, better. A little more space, even though they're physical. Hanifin on the bottom pair there. It's surprising. But they're a good team. Yeah, I know. I mean, he's the number one guy in the least. Yeah.

He's playing number six there. But you made an excellent point the other day historically. They find a way to what looks like. Like, no, it's going to be a tough night. An imbalance. Not only that they're in the game, they can find ways to win. Any additional stakes, Mitch Marner? Are we done with that?

Where do you go? Right? Where do you go on that conversation? He's there. And we're going to have Darren Millard. we can certainly ask him about it. Productively, it's a slow start for him. I think a goal and assist in four games.

Well, I go, I think has 10 points. Yeah, lighten it up. So we'll get into that with Darren Millard. But they still use it more than any forward. But he is the most responsible out of anybody. One of the reasons why probably he's 20 minutes in a goal and assist is, yeah, maybe he might not be getting the right. bounces, but this guy doesn't cheat for his offense.

We've seen it throughout his career. This guy will not, he won't be, he won't jump in if he's the third man high. He is the ultimate 200 foot responsible guy. Yeah, I'm curious, you know, because that line he's with is not, you know, the most offensively dynamic, right? Like Howden and Carlson, great players, don't get me wrong, but they're not Stone and Eichol type. So, you know, that's a good mix.

So those, those two top two lines have to be. probably one of the best top six is in the league. That line, by the way, the Martin line is eating DZone starts compared to the other line. I did have question marks on Mark Stone towards the latter part of the season, and you base it on the difficulties he's had to stay healthy. And then they went and signed him to a two-year extension at, I think, 9 million still, which you're like, wow. But just watching.

like even the early start and I don't know if you guys saw it but when that Oliveson got hit it got greasy at the end of the night he squared off with Montour That's not an easy And then you watch The passion and emotion

Mark Stone And you go This isn't This isn't Mitch Martiner's team And it ain't Jack Eichel's team It's Mark Stone's team Still How many points Stone had last year?

He was well over a point per game, 73 points and 60 games. On top of doing all the stuff you're talking about and the way he drives that team culture, physical stuff. He's 6-4? I love the way he turns to play around. Like just pick a pocket, get it going the other way fast. Like he doesn't, obviously doesn't burn, but just his stick skills and transition stuff.

Incredible hair game. Yeah. He's got a hockey face. Let's just say that. He looks like a hockey player. He does. We assume Bobrovsky's in tonight, right? Like, did they officially say anything?

It wasn't announced, but I would assume that he's right tonight. So they're 100% healthy at Forward, right? I believe so. There's no one that they're missing? No. So, like, Gru is like a part of this thing. To me, he's been, like, the most under-discussed. Like, he just kind of made the team and plays on fourth line.

Yeah. We haven't had any cause to mention him. I think he could do more. Well, he did more. He did more last year. Yeah. It seemed like he had more of a responsibility to. Yeah.

they were horrible. Produce last year or be in positions to to push some offense. It's funny. That's why they were in position to pick first. We don't, we don't get that sense now. He's just one of, right?

It's funny. He went back on a puck last game, turn over the neutral zone. He turned it over and he went to dump it in. And then he hesitated for a sec because they backed off. A little backhand dish and they actually controlled playing and went in.

It's like he's not your typical fourth liner down there. But he doesn't bang. you know, I think he's a good player. Interesting, though. It doesn't quite fit a fourth line spot. Yeah, go ahead, Tammy. I was just going to say that we have a few more clips from the coach today. He talked about Cowan going up with JT and Willie,

and I thought it was an interesting clip just on the role that he's looking for Cowan to play. So if we want to play that clip, too, please, on Cowan going up. Well, he has to be a four-checker. He has to loosen some pucks up. You know, I think we all have a vision for Easton. He's an offensive player for sure. but I think he really can be a guy that provides a little grit on a line. The Comfort Check, like I said, track, be above, just be one of those all-round players.

And I think for him to be the most effective in the league, that's what he'll turn into. Is Zach Heiman a fair comparable? I know that's the ceiling, but the prototype. I don't think he's ever going to be as strong as Zach Heimann. No, me either. But I think he, that's the, what you're trying to be. Hyman Light? The dream, everybody says, and we've been saying for a couple of years,

Hagel is the dream, right? The guy that's nasty. Is he six feet tall? Yeah, he is, isn't he? I just, a lot of those things that he said there, isn't that a lot of center-y stuff? You know? Six feet 190. Shake, pucks loose, be gritty. I don't know, I just,

Nick Richard was that sending that question history. I've been thinking about it for 24 hours about him playing more center. I guess it's not a development year. It's hard to try on that. Maybe they should have done it last year more in the playoffs with the moral leads or whatever. I don't know, but it would be nice to see him play some center. I think he can help push the pace for sure for for John. Someone for Willie to work off, I think that can help him get poxed.

I just feel confident that, you know, if he gets a touch, he can make a good play with it. He can finish an opportunity and he can help drive play in the right direction for that line. So you mentioned John there. I listened to the Scrum with Hiller today and they were asking him a bunch of questions about McKenna. And they asked him about what would be like McKenna making his debut in Vegas? and he was giving this answer, halfway through the answer. And then he said this, clip five, please. Clip five, John DeVos.

One thing I didn't want to make mention, because I didn't after the game. I felt John Traveris had a really good game. I just want to speak to his game the last time out. I think it was 16 for 17 to the face-offs. You guys know the stats better than me, which was very impressive. Coming off the night before, where we lost some important face-offs at the end of the game, and then just going back through his game, he was so good.

You know, I spoke about Austin, but I really want to make the point. I might have missed a little bit on just actually how good John was in that game and how important he was for us. So that was completely unprompted. Like talking about McKenna making his road debut in Vegas, and then he's like, but hold on a second. He's interesting.

It's about the fourth or fifth guy. He's really got out of his way to show, I've got your back, right? And I'm not saying it's, you know, it's a bad thing, but it is he must think that it they just need some reassuring. Well, and I think, you know, you got turds like me out here right and stuff about he's been a problem so far, you know. They just came off a great win where he scored and I'm like, hmm, you know. You know, I'm not sure. What did you do?

Do we believe 40 minutes Tuesday night against Nashville solves all of your issues? No. No, but I'm an analytical intelligent thinker, you know. I don't base it. It's not just a reaction based on whatever. It's we're watching the whole thing. But from the Dumbo fan perspective, he ripped down the wing and scored a huge goal for them

to get him going and won 60 to 17 draws. And it's like, yeah, it was great. But, right? I think it's smart to keep him in the fan. It's like he is a positive, a net positive for them. Because, yeah, I think it's, yeah. All right. Wrote an article today.

My first one for the Toronto Star. I've been doing that for the last few years. This one certainly for me outside of McKenna, the biggest story by far is that Austin Matthews looked very much what Lee fans have been accustomed to for close to 10 years now. So basically it does still feel for me like there's a bit of fork in the road here on this season in particular because he is one of two superstars right now that. There's question marks. The other one's in Edmonton with just two years remaining. So the question is, is he still the guy right now? And does Tuesday do enough for you to say,

we don't, Lee fans shouldn't have to worry about this moving forward? Is it a guarantee? I wrote that it's not a guarantee that he'll ever come back and be that guy again and how hard that may be. You know, what I took away from your piece, which was, you know, thoughtful in the direction of like, okay, what's the plan? What's it going to be? What's it going to look like? I think you're asking the question, what is he going to look like the next five years? You know, what is he going to be? And I think the answer that I kind of come back to is that even if he's not the guy he was at his, you know, Hart Trophy winning Austin Matthew. You'd rather have him than not have him. Right? Right? Like if he scores the next five years, he averages 37 goals. 35. Right.

And 85 points at 6'4 and wins, draws. And I wrote that. I absolutely wrote that. And I said, even if he is at where he is today, it's hard to replace. Right. You can go trade him for Liam O'Grind, Zeev, Booiam, and a, you know, like I'm just saying, like, it's not. And that's not to mention, like, the legacy that he's already started. Yeah.

Right? I think that matters to the organization. I think it does too, for sure. But I do wonder here, and I'll do the Vladi comparison, where Toronto fans want so much more and where they ultimately end up and whether or not they're still the guy to build around, or even if, to your point, if he drops into that 30, 35 goals and he has, 85 points, that's fine.

But, and I'll put Valady in here, can they be still your best guys or do they need another best guy? I think what's different in baseball and this is probably going to change is they haven't had a salary cap. So if you could get another guy and other guys, you could just choose to do it as the owners of the team have chosen to do. They've paid to get great players. For the Leafs, it's a value judgment.

You know, you, once you spend the money on this, you can't spend it on that. So I guess is your point that you think, could the money be spent differently or better in a way that you're going to give Austin? It depends. I think this year we'll learn a lot. And I think it's not clear what Austin wants. You know, he wants to be a part of a successful team. And I think the Leafs aim to be that over the next years. And we'll talk about an athletic article today on Willie Neelander.

on that point. But I want to get you, Sammy, just your opinion on what you, is it a guarantee that Matthews can bounce back and be the threat that he was when we were comparing him and Connor as being the best players in the world? I think that's,

I, that's a great question. I really have liked what I've seen to start this year. I think he's looked better to start this year than he did most to last year, boys. Like, is that fair to say? Yeah. He didn't have a game all last year that looked like last night, two nights.

It's an encouraging start. He seems to really have a connection with McKenna, taking him under his wing. They see him at practice after working today again. He's having sleepovers. They seem to like each other. Like, the vibes are really good with him right now. But they're also about to go out in this hard road trip.

It feels very not linear to me. Like, I just, if he wants to be here, I'm just signed on the dotted line. Like, he's not my favorite, like the American stuff and all the things that we went through. And he's not perfect and they've never won anything. But much like Vladdy, if he's just willing to be here and he's going to take the money.

I don't give any fun without him. It's going to stink without him. Like, you're not going to be better without him. Like, I just sign on the dotted line. The vibe I'm getting to is even if he doesn't hit a 50 or a 40 goal mark, and he hovers around, J.B., what you said, at 30, 35. By July or even the following, if he waits that long on an extension, he's still going to get 20,000.

20 million bucks. 100%. 20. Yeah. With the cap going up. And again, if that's what it takes to keep his legacy going in Toronto, is that the right decision? I'd be really curious on term.

You know, like, he wants to do 20 for three years. You're like, yeah, obviously. You know, 20 for seven years or something is like... Six or seven. You know, it's a little more... Because you just don't know how his body's going to hold up as he gets older. based on what he's been through. But yeah, I mean, I think Lee fans are really excited

about what they've seen out of him this year. I think the organization wants him to be a part of it. And I think he likes the direction they're headed, but it is something to keep an eye on throughout the year. Yeah, I think. And the health part of this, boys, is far from a guarantee. Like, it can look great and we can be excited about how it looks, but we know better than anybody that it can kind of just,

you can be on a flight to Germany. Like it just, it kind of happens quickly with him, so. Let me throw this out there. Is there any part of you that thinks his career being like this, down for two years and back right now is coach-related, that Craig Barubi had him playing in a way that just really didn't work for him? It's a popular, the popular thought of him. I would say it was one probably of a handful of factors. Like everything went against him in the last. couple years.

If Austin Matthews really liked Craig Barubi, he'd still be here. You think so? Yeah. That's just all my experience talking. Yeah. Like I said, his ozone starts this year are at like 88%. Ozone starts last year, 58%. So, you know, just a different way of using.

I think he, I think, that's a big number. I believe Austin's fingerprints are all over this team. With a goalie, with a new bomb of a slap shot on a power play, bigger guys, heavier guys. I think Austin... It should be a gym then. Austin got everything on his wish list. So you mean when they wouldn't fly out there,

so they just had the Zoom meeting instead with Chica? They talked about it over the Zoom. Like, I'm sure he said, I'm sick and not, they asked him his opinion on the team. He's the captain. Yeah. I'm sick of not knowing who's going to play net. So they go and they sign one of the most durable guys.

I'm sick of taking every O zone draw. I'm sorry, D's own draw. Nick Paul, Sizzins, Luger. I think, and listen, it's like someone who could quarterback a power play. First over the boards on every penalty kill. I don't want to do that anymore. And this isn't just an Austin Toronto thing. I told you guys over the course of decades now,

those type of players have that. type of influence. In all sports, right? Like 97 is openly talking about, hey, we'll step in with the coach if it's not working, you know? Like it's... Who hired Babcock? Let's be honest. The documentary. Who owns

Babby? Speaking of a wish list, it sounded like Willie in an article in The Athletic got a wish list too. He's not wasting the next six years of the best years. Yeah, we're kind of...

Go a misled. digging up the social media conversation right now. He had a good interview with Jonas Siegel where he said, you know, if, you know, depend, I think he was asked, how do you like the changes the team has made? And he says, glad we went in this direction. You know, I wouldn't have wanted to waste, you know, six years of my, the best of my career or whatever. Which is basically taken like, if it didn't happen, he would have asked to be traded. Yeah, I think that's fair.

That's the only, that's what you take out of it. If it was a rebuild, yeah, for sure. Yeah. That's what I took out of it. I'm surprised by that. Like, to me... Willie just would have gone quietly into the night, collect his checks. Not, but like, I don't know.

You've just seen little things for him where he's Uber competitive and you've seen the clips with him on the bench and all this different stuff. And it just... It's in there. It's in there. But he's the type of guy that I would like, if they were a bad Leafs team,

I could just picture him being the best guy on a bad team, lighting it up and, like, you know, being Willie. I'm just surprised that he was... Like, I kind of like it, that he said that. That he's competitive enough to be like, hey, if we suck, I don't want to play. Like, I shouldn't like it, but I kind of do. You know what I'm coming?

Yeah, I get it. Well, it kind of falls into the power of the players, right? I did think, yeah. It does kind of fall into the, hey, if I don't like it, I can leave. It really falls in the ballpark of a larkin, a hellabuck. And you think? Yeah, because that's the impression that we're left with that if it didn't go this way, he's not sticking around.

I think, you know, it's a team should put themselves on notice. When you're good, it attracts good players. And when you're bad, it repels them. And so you look at what the flames are, how the Blackhawks have struggled to add, what the Sabres did forever to get where they are now, what the Red Wings are doing now. When you tear it down, it's tough. The only thing it does for me also is it kind of leaves Willie open a little bit,

meaning that if it does go a little south on the team, everybody's going to circle back to that. And it's like, okay, how bad is it? And is it to the point where the Leafs look like they're going to miss the playoffs? Will you ask to be traded? No. To me, is the team trying to win or not trying to win? To me, that's a, if we are openly rebuilding,

we are not trying to win, he doesn't want to be a part of that. I think if they're trying to win, he's content. The goal is just try to win. Don't rebuild. Just humor me for a second. I do every day. Thank you. That's the name of the show.

Thank you. You miss the playoffs again this year. You're telling me, as long as they tell Willie, we're still trying to win the Stanley Cup, I'm sticking around. With action, right? They're out of action. You think if they missed playoffs this year, they're not going to take any action?

They're just going to re-rack them? the playoffs this year, you're out of bullets. Well, I mean, they're going to have, I don't know what that means, right? They have. How do you, how do you get better? Prospects and whatever. I know it's hard. So in two or three years we could get us back in the summer, you'd have said that.

That they have no bullets. And they remade the team with a dozen different players. You know, like, there's things that can be, I think he just needs to see an attempt to. But will it work, J.B. Will it work? I don't think he's saying I'm only going to be here if the plan works. I think he just doesn't want to be a part of a rebuild. If we're talking about Austin's gone, the whole thing this summer,

I wouldn't have blamed Willie for being like, oh, we're just doing that. So as long as you look like you're really trying, you know, there's no way Willie can go back and say, I want out. Have you heard Willie? Like, do you think he's got these layers of depths to a long-term plan? Like, I think he's just like. Just stop it layers of depth. What's what I mean?

Like, they asked the question. He was like, yeah, we were rebuilding. I think there's something underneath. him that has his, he has his strong opinions too. I mean, I have strong opinions, but I, to me, I don't think it's, uh, they're going to be rebuilding. It's not that deep, as the kids say. They'll be rebuilding in two summers when they rebuild their team by signing

Connor McDavid and Zach Wrenzke along with awesome matches. That'll be rebuilt. There's not many guys at the end of the year on their, like this team's coming back next year too, based on the multiple, uh, years on contracts. Definitely. So they're going to try to compete then. Yeah. Well, they have to compete because they don't have any first-round picks.

There's that. So that's why they're trying to be good. And then that's why I don't want to dip these next two drafts. Don't go into that next reservoir. That's the reservoir I want to keep okay. Then we start dipping into that to improve the product. That's when I started to get a little bit worried. The more I think about it, the more it's like, man, that Koblar kids traded for sure.

Oh, yeah. They just have nobody to trade. Not my boy, Tina. Nothing to trade. Not my boy, Tina. Danford. Get ready to learn. People are throwing out what it's going to take to get that Edson out of Detroit.

I don't know that he's the solution. He's the guy that plays with the guy. He's hoping a dream. He's magic beans right now. He could be this. Right now he's good. Yeah. There's upside.

No question. So at the very least, what pick was he? I don't know. Right? So whatever the case is, it's going to take. a top six or eighth pick overall to just even consider a switch. Was he drafted? Oh yeah, first round, sixth overall.

So there you go. So there's your bar. At the very least, whatever you've drafted that I like on your team, that was at least a six overall pick, all consider. He had nine goals last year. And the Leafs don't have that. Yeah, but I don't, I'm not. I'm not convinced on him.

I'm not convinced. Like, whether you are or not. But we're not convinced on anything that's been drafted in the top 10, other than, you know, Connor Bedard and whoever else has gone first overall. You're not convinced on Connor Bernard. But I just. You're a player.

Yeah. But generational player. I don't know. You tell me. No. Oh. I'll tell you. No, you tell me.

Oh, I'm. I'm going to agree. Okay. All right. So we're not that far off. No, we're not. We should go. But do you guys want to do leaf slime tomorrow?

Oh, yeah. Have we done that yet? We haven't done that. Can we do that yesterday? No, those line, we'll get the callers. That we listen to. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not the emails.

That's the good stuff. Chuck Nelf in here. Yes, chuckles. Chuck here. So, yeah, we'll do it tomorrow. So the answer, I haven't updated the answer machines where it could be old. Like, it could be a message from two years ago, but. I think it's 416, 413, 4141.

And that number again is 416, 413, 4141. If you can't memorize the Beth 365 read two years later, but you know the number, I'll be very impressed. I think that's a number. So call, leave us a message. Okay, let's take a quick break. And when we come back, a familiar face and voice for those of you who are 55 years of age and older, Darren Millard, from our host of Hockey Central at noon.

My favorite show. I listen to your show. Every day. Oh, Sammy. I love you again. Again. Darren Millard, when we return to Real Kippron Boren. Hey, it's Matt Markezy.

And I'm Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world. Weekdays at noon. It's the fan hockey show on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back in studio. Nick Kiprios, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. All right, a familiar face, familiar voice. So welcome in, Darren Malar.

host of Vegas Golden Nights TV broadcast and co-host of Vegas Insider Show on 107.9 FM. You guys still have FM out there? I got into trouble the other day because it's actually 107-9, but I said 107.9 for the first week. They're like, there's no point. I'm like, well, somebody can tell me that's the point is communication, right? So it's 107. Don't forget 100% hockey the podcast because John Shannon would freak out if I didn't promote. that.

Yes. You would get the call before me. That's on me. Yes. I should have put that in that time. And a big fan of our show too. Yeah. Big fan.

Big fan of your show. So listen, we're going to get into Vegas, Mariner, Eichel, whatever we want tonight. But Sammy made it a point to say how much he loved Hockey Central at noon, which got me to thinking about the year that we had no hockey at. how we had to do a show every day. And I don't know where baseball is going with their lockout, but I just dare Blair and Barker to go do a daily show with no baseball for the whole year.

I don't even know how we did it, but I think it was to the benefit of the show. Like the show grew from that because people wanted any type of hockey fix. And we were the only ones really doing it daily during the noon hour, the middle of the day, and being able to bring people the latest what we were hearing, but also a whole bunch of fun and scuttle butts

and different types of presentation. The show is a pro-owner and I was pro-player. I listened to every one of those shows. It was so much fun. That's where truly, because I had this sort of slogan or evaluation. Kipper was the broadcaster, the journalist, and Doug was the entertainer. And Doug didn't like that for the longest time. But now you listen every Friday to your show. And am I not vindicated on that? I'm off the rails Friday.

Did you hear? I don't know if you're vindicated calling Kip a journalist, but the rest of it sounds good. Yeah, he had some choice words the other week on our show. So we'll just move off of that for a second. Kipi's done an amazing job as the host slash opinion. And I like it because it's proven to Kippy that the host can have an opinion. And there was a while there where the host wasn't supposed to have an opinion. You're right. But I've told these guys many times I've evolved. You have evolved.

We've heard of Stanley Cup hangover here. But how about Stanley Cup disappointment? in losing with this hockey club and coming back this season. Any signs of that or, you know, just in terms of what you've seen so far out of Vegas early? Maybe even more motivated, Kippey, to get back to where they feel they should be and challenging for a Stanley Cup. Last year was a wild ride for Vegas and the Pacific Division. Not a lot of people respecting it.

you heard the famous quote out of Connor McDavid. But when things clicked in the final eight games of the regular season and they made the coaching change, they found some magic. And the team ended up being the club that people expected to see all year long and was dominant and was able to take advantage of a depleted Colorado team in a sweep that was so unexpected and get to the Stanley Cup final. They had opportunities in that final and didn't work out for them.

coming up a couple of games shy. But I would say, if anything, they have this burning desire to fix what they feel was a missed opportunity. So how different are they than last year? I look at the roster and it looks almost exactly the same, which no reason to not have a back. Different, Justin, a little bit. Okay, so how is it different?

And I guess one of the ways is the coach as well, if you could let us know about how he's different. Okay, Ryan Craig is going to be a person that's going to be. be introduced throughout this season to the National Hockey League audience as an NHL head coach. He's 10 years into his coaching career, retired as a player and became an assistant coach with the Vegas Golden Knights in year number one of the franchise, was an assistant for six years, worked under Gerard Glant and Pete DeBore, Bruce Cassidy, won a Stanley Cup as an assistant. They went to the American Hockey League to run his own program for a couple of years.

and really, I will say this, as much as anybody I've ever met, Ryan Craig was put on this earth to be a national hockey league head coach. It's in his DNA, and he has stepped in. And while he's familiar to all of us, he's going to be somebody that the hockey audience is going to get to know a little bit because he's out west and wasn't front and center of the last couple of years, so working in the American hockey league. So he is new to the world, but not to the players in that room,

having worked as an assistant coach prior to or the players that have come up from the American Hockey League as their head coach. Then you add in the likes of Mark Gackholm on the fourth line, who brings a real personality, a real impact to the game. Braden Bowman came up halfway through last year. He's made the team out of training camp has the six-year. contract extension figures to be a very prominent part of this organization going forward. You have a Parker Wetherspoon on the back end. And probably the shiniest piece would be Trevor Connolly, first round pick in 2024,

who played in the American Hockey League last year as a 19-year-old and was more than a point per game player, a different type of player than they've had in this organization. A lot of skill there, still really young. but a lot of promising possibilities with a player that is so early, just a, what, a couple of years after being drafted, but just a second year pro. He made the team out of training camp. He'll actually play on the first power play unit tonight

with the loss of Victor Oliveson. So there's a few different pieces that weren't full-time members of the team last year. They had eight players, Justin, just going back to the initial question, eight different faces in the opening day lineup this year that weren't in the opening day lineup last year. Now, some of those came along during the year, but for a team and an organization that's challenging for Stanley Cups,

that's a pretty strong turnover. You were watching and listening to Jared Millard, former SportsCet star host, with an opinion. You're making that up on the fly. I really am. Let me ask you something. in terms of the first two lines, Gavin McKenna, of course,

the first pick overall, slated to be on the third line tonight. That probably might have something to do with how deep Vegas is on their first two lines. Jack Deichle, Mitch Marner. Marner's playing wing now to start this season. Tell us about their starts. Okay, so Trevor Connolly,

that helps out his development. They don't have to lean on a promising talent prospect coming up. They can bring him along slowly and manage his minutes and manage the expectations and really be patient with him. It's a team that is going to challenge

for another division title. So they can fit him in with a centerman like Tamash Hurtle. He's playing on his line and was with Victor Oliveson and Rafael LeBois will line up on the other side. So having somebody like, hurdle to to play on the line and be able to mentor him. He sits beside Jack Eichel in the in the room over at T-Mobile Arena. That is experience that he can grab on to.

Nick Dowd is a great resource for him, an incredible pro, not to mention the likes of Mark Stone or Ivan Barbershev or William Carlson. So that's all great. And then you have Mitch Marger, who played out of position for a lot of last year, because of the injury to William Carlson. He played center for the first time since he, regular time at center since when he played for London and was still over 80 points.

And then when he went back to the wing of the playoffs, when he joined William Carlson and the dynamic combination of Marner and Brad Houghton, led the National Hockey League in point production, they are aligned. That was the comfort of Ryan Craig coming in this year was you knew you had. add that line to start to follow up the Jack Eichel, Ivan Barbershev, Mark Stoney.

So that's been a real comfort. And they haven't disappointed. They haven't got as much out of their performance as they deserve, to be quite honest. They've been really good. And you know one thing? And you guys around the rank with Mitch, you know the energy that he brings? Just there's a liveliness to it. There's an audible energy around Mitch.

And I think the second year in this new home, he's poised to have one of those great years where he knows where everything is. There's no getting used to anything. And he knows his linemates. And he'll be in the position that he's used to. Darren, last one from me and great to have you on. Good to see you.

The only question I got left is goaltending. Aden Hill's going to start tonight. It sounds like Carter Hart was the man in playoffs. Where does the crease battle sit at these days? Oh, I think it's a luxury. When you look at the fact that you've got one guy who's won a Stanley Cup and the other guy started every game in the Stanley Cup playoffs last year, you basically have two number one goaltenders. So every night, you're putting somebody in that who's been a number one goaltender and they're both still in their primes. And I think this is a real opportunity for the franchise where you're not taking a step back to a 1B or a 2 any time that,

that you're going out there and starting. I guess you want to make sure, or cross your fingers on health, that would be the one area where things can get sidelined and certainly was a challenge a year ago. But for Ryan Craig and Sean Burke and the organization, it's an opportunity to take advantage in a salary cap world where a lot of teams don't have the benefit

of having those types of talents available, on a nightly basis. You're traveling with a team this year, aren't you? Mm-hmm. Why's that? You're going to do some rinkside. You're going to do some rink side. You know, besides, you know, packing your Sony Walkman and your toothbrush,

are gold pads involved in your travel? There's been some talk about it. All those years of me shooting on you are paying off. I think that's what it is. And like you're a talented guy. Like I give you credit all day long for your skill all the way through your career until now. You're still skating at North Toronto Arena. If I have the opportunity, I'll come out for a warm up, a little refresher with you.

But yeah, it's a fun opportunity to be able to still skate at this point of our career. Keep it going then, my friend. Keep it going. It's a lot of, did you, like, honestly, you didn't think it would happen, did you? You have a chance to be more famous than the most famous eBug goalie in the world. What was his name? David? David Ayers.

Yes. There you go. All right, my friend. I'm having fun. The organization has been great to let me participate in practices and rehab skates and different sessions. I love the game and any chance I can get up there to build some confidence. Don't hurt yourself. Don't hurt yourself.

What? Don't hurt yourself. Don't worry to be someone else. I tell people I'm in the safest spot. I'm in the middle of the net. They pick corners in this league. With you screaming, higher, higher, higher. Oh, you remember that.

I remember you yelling at me. Okay, my friend, thanks for this and enjoy the game tonight. You guys are the best. I love being on with you. That is Darren. I appreciate it. Vegas, all the nights. You play some hockey against him, did you in your time?

Yeah, he really thinks he's good. Is he good? He's a beer. league goalie. Okay. He's no, he's not my boy, Chris Bernacki.

My boy. Is he? Is he good, too? Oh, yeah. He's been my goal for 10 years. Never misses a game. Except when he got double

hip surgery. He missed a year. Got Mikey and Richie this morning at my skate today. Stellar. We had stellar. They were fantastic.

Who was the woman we had on our Eric Lindross team last year? She was unbelievable. She kept this in it. She was unbelievable. Oh, that's terrible. God, it's so bad. Tomorrow we will have the name.

But yeah, no, what is a beer league skate or like a pickup skate? If a goalie stink, it's not a game. It really sucks. It's not. It's like, oh, great, another soft wrist for it. It's not even fun.

It's the point. It might as well have empty nets. Play bars. That's not funny. We love goalies as long as they could stop a buck. Actually, we need more people to play goal. Canada has a goaltending crisis. Put your kid in net.

It's a fun position. No, it's not. I know. It's terrible. Secrets out. It stinks. It's most expensive and ever you're always under the eye. We need to like cherry pick a couple of the best kids

at like 10 years old be like, you're a goalie. We just Canada needs a few. Well, Levi, who wins in a row for the Oilers, maybe he's the guy. Kid can't lose. It's all right. Speaking of goalies, the Oilers seem to have settled down on that

a little bit, right? Well, Bouchard's Paul Coffee, reincarnate. We will ask Colby Armstrong all about it as we go National Next, former NHeller, and now part of Saturday Night Hockey on Sportsnet.

Colby, when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne.