Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Saturday Night Brouhaha

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee return from the weekend and start with a recap of Super Bowl Sunday and Canadian golfer Nick Taylor's latest heroics, this time at the Waste Management Open. They get into the aftermath of Saturday night's tilt with the Senators and their reaction to Morgan Rielly's cross-check of Ridly Greig. The guys debate what merits a sufficient suspension for Rielly, how the NHL and George Parros will view it and if this incident blew up because it featured the Maple Leafs. They, also discuss if Rielly's reaction to Greig was a sign of larger frustration with the season and if other Leafs should have joined their teammate. After the break, they listen to Claude Giroux's take on Rielly-Greig, take a look at the state of Leafs' D without Rielly and discuss Joseph Woll's much-anticipated return to practice.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.

Welcome into the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. On this Monday, February 12th. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Andrew Adams, and Frank the Tank. Baraska, not from Alaska here for the next two hours wherever you're watching and listening Sportsnet 590, Sportsnet 360 Sportsnet Plus from 4 to 6

as always we're glad you are with us in this Leaf edition of the Real Kipper and Bourne Show and whenever you can't catch us live on many of those platforms, please download us wherever you get your pod. And as always, throughout the week, text us at 590-590.

We'll get your thoughts, ideas, opinions out. Sammy McKee does a terrific job at doing that. So Super Sunday yesterday. I hope it was a good one for you guys had a blast had a blast patrick mahomes you called it on friday sammy yeah i went against you i thought san francisco could do it yeah mcafree was looking good for me as an mvp early so right i thought you're gonna be looking really good no kettle no samuel no touches for those guys and then you know your point that this guy's just a winner and winners win and that's what happened you know you just the exact reason you

bet on the chiefs is for the very moment that you got in overtime where the niners can't convert the third down they end up kicking the field goal and i mean at that point i didn't look at the live line i wasn't looking at my phone but i'm sure the chiefs were favorites like heavy favorites because they just know yeah like it's like he has the ball in his hand he's gonna probably score a touchdown he just need he's gonna get as many points as he needs you know what the moment was for me that was like the mahomes moment was on the final drive where a turnover just ends the game there's one point where he dropped that back shoulder like he was going to go downfield with it and he was like no no just you just you know you're not going to take that big risk and he just picked them apart on the way down and i think

that's what like true greatness is when you expect it no when you expect it like everyone watching that game both you guys watching the game you're like well he's probably going to do this like you're making the putt against rocco Mediate, that one in the US Open. Yeah, it was. It was like, yeah, of course he made it. Rocco said, of course he made it. So how many of you had Nick Taylor kind of ruining the start of the Super Bowl for a lot of fans

because that bled right into the first quarter where, and I don't know if you saw any of it, but I went to a buddy of mine's house for uh the super bowl and but he kept flipping back to nick taylor uh going down the stretch here uh at the waste management in arizona yeah and it was also must must watch television and he made another bomb right like well i mean a bomb but 15 feet, whatever it was. Birdied what? The last three? So he birdied 18 to tie.

18 three times. And then both times in the playoff, including a putt to win where he did the putter flip again. It was getting close to the pregame show, and there was a big group of guys at the party I was at. And there was like a select few golf guys. Like, let's just leave the golf on until the game starts. They wanted to get the whole pomp and circus. Oh, yeah. You don't need all that. So we got out the iPad and we had the iPad going and we were watching both.

And I was way more locked into the golf for the first half. I was locked into the golf too, but not like my buddy Steve, who was really into it. And then I find out a little earlier that on Wednesday, he put down $250 on Nick Taylor to win the tournament. Oh, my God. That must have paid a ton of money. It was 120 to 1, wasn't it? It was, like you said, a very good payoff. Yeah, no wonder it was on.

That's great. Congratulations. I would have just been like, the Super Bowl is canceled, boys. I'm watching this. No question who bought the chicken wings yesterday. Yeah, I guess so. That's great. Good sports Sunday. no question who bought the chicken wings yeah yesterday that's great no good good sports sunday

plenty to get into including uh an in-depth uh hour of uh taylor swift so i mean let's just let's just pass on the morgan riley talk here with the golf and the super bowl going yesterday it's almost like old news everybody Everybody hashed it out yesterday. Just a mid-season game. So let's just talk about the St. Louis Blues coming in tomorrow night. I thought Taylor Swift looked phenomenal last night. I thought she just looked like she was really happy, like she truly loved Travis,

and they got the little storybook ending. I loved it. I've been following the record from the start. Love the love. So nothing to do with Morgan Rielly. I didn't even really see anything like that. Okay, let's talk. What's your favorite Taylor Swift song, boys?

They did mention that her coverage was equivalent to something like $350 million worth of value to the NFL. But also the total time she was on camera leading up to the Super Bowl, people talk about all the time. It was like a couple of minutes. You know, they cut to her for three seconds here or whatever. And I would hope they cut to her. She is literally the biggest star on earth. There you go. All right.

We're just kidding. We are. On the Morgan Raleigh. As he hammered Ridley Gregg. Oh, my God. After he took a slap shot. We are at the top of the paint of the Blue Creech. Yeah.

An in-person hearing we'll conduct tomorrow. And where do you want to start? Because this is so layered. This is so layered that you can almost go anywhere with it. So, okay, then we'll start with Sheldon Keefe and his overview of the game. Let's just start there and let this thing breathe. There you go.

Here we go. We gave up too much in transition. You know, that's what they do very well, probably better than any team in the NHL. And we fed into that. You know, I thought that we're two minutes away from a pretty clean first period on the road and just completely egregious play at the end of the first period there to lead to their first goal.

And that's our best people. And probably in the last two minutes of the first period, our best people, I thought, I thought led us down there and changes momentum of the game. And ultimately it ends up being a one goal difference. So, you know, I'd like that moment back, but there was others inside of it. But at the same time, we missed a ton of chances that we could have probably scored more than we did tonight. And, you know, we didn't.

So, you know, we lose the game. All right. So I'm going to throw it out to you because there's a number of places we can go. We could start with Ridley Gregg making a dumb move, not expecting anything off of his slap shot. We can go to Morgan Riley making a dumb decision on the cross check. We can go to the league for boxing themselves in. Where do you want to go, JB?

Let's just hear your opinion. I'd like to get your take, what you saw, what you thought of it. The thing that, just quickly before that, Maple Leafs fall to 5-6-3 versus the NHL's bottom six teams. That's the worst record among teams currently in a playoff spot. We're doing it again. Yeah, that is a worthwhile talking point. Third straight year where you're doing it again. Yeah, that is a worthwhile third straight year where you're doing this again.

And like clearly the big talking point out of that game is Riley doing what a lot of people loved, what a lot of people hated, but you're wasting points again against bad teams. And that's, what is that? What is that? Why is that happening? It's almost as if the whole situation

took the Leafs off the hook. 100% for explaining why you lost again to the Ottawa Senators. But that's not what everybody's talking about today. I just want to bring that up before we get into it because it's driving me nuts. Let's have it, Kip. What do you think? For you to just ask me and throw that out to me, it's just too general. Too broad.

You tell me where you want to start and I'll give you my opinion. Is it a Morgan? To me, I don't even. Well, I guess. Do we start with Morgan? No, let's get the evidence down first. Okay. What did you think of the Ridley Slapshot?

Yeah, I hated it. I absolutely hated it. I thought it was a move to show up your hockey club. And showing up a hockey club can come in various forms, right? And that's where, as players, we decide what we like, what we don't like. I thought that the reaction from Morgan was the right decision to confront him, but it was poorly executed. Okay.

Yeah. That slap shot from Greg is, you know, I've seen people tweeting about like, oh, like hockey's code and like the silliness of the code that like there has to be some retribution because the way the guy shoots it in the net. That's not the code.

That's just, do you have any ability to read social cues? That guy said F you to the Toronto Maple Leafss in front of 20 000 people and hockey night in canada directly to them on a big stage so to me it's a direct fu so i don't blame riley for being upset he's the first guy on the scene i'm with you that there's probably other ways to go about it from there but you gotta i mean something something you gotta put a lick on them of some variety. The only thing I would say is that imagine where our conversation would go if they did nothing but just line up for a face-off to end the game quietly. Sammy, you were at a cottage.

Right. I was at a cottage. And how was the response to that moment? It was a charged room at that point. It was a lubricatedated room and everyone was pissed off that they're losing to the sins and that happens and one of my good friends dave literally yells out effing kill him like before riley arrived at him he was like like, yeah. And we got our wish. He went in there and did it. And listen, I think this is what kind of makes hockey hockey.

And people get pretty bent out of shape about the code and all that stuff. But there's not a ton of other sports where you do something that's pretty clearly dumb. Like, that's a dumb thing to do. It really is. And that you just immediately have to answer for it. That there is just on ice, in sport, accountability immediately. There's no other sport like that. And I think that's what makes hockey hockey.

If you don't like it, I don't know what to say. Yeah. That's, I don't know. All right, let's, I got plenty more on this. Trust me. We're not going anywhere for the next hour. So let's go to Sheldon Keefe on the Riley play. What do you think of Morgan Riley's reaction to really great slap shot into the empty net?

I thought it was appropriate. You think, are you concerned at all that he might get some supplemental discipline? I'm sure, I'm sure they'll look at it, yeah. Do you think maybe the egregious play you were talking about in the first period led to frustrations walling over for him for the entire night? No, I think he's reacting to a play. Their player has the right to do what he wants in that moment, and our players have the right to react.

It's the motions of the game, and that's the way it goes. When you say it's appropriate, why do you think that's appropriate? It's pretty apparent. See, this is where Sheldon could get himself into trouble here, is that when you throw out it's appropriate, you're blanketing the whole thing.

And it is not appropriate to go and cross-check somebody in the head. It's just not. No. But the reaction is appropriate. It's just not. Yeah. No. Did you think... But the reaction is appropriate. Yeah, having a reaction is appropriate for sure. Did you think that it was...

That he was trying to cross-check him in the head and that it was with force and direct and... I didn't see it as much force as, say, David Perron on Zub. I actually thought Riley kind of let go of the stick, kind of realized, like, he made it a one-handed. I didn't see it as a very forceful, and people want to compare that to Perron or even go back to my day with Dale Hunter and Turgeon.

And it's like, come on, it's not even. I mean, I watched. It's not even close. I watched the's not even close i watched the turgeon play this morning yeah it's pretty close like it's similar oh that's an insane thing to say the stakes aren't the same it's not after an overtee winner he's not looking he's trying to hurt him like it's a what was what was riley trying to do he's looking directly at a guy he's coming out who's anticipating contact if anyone's should have got the hands up probably yeah and it's not a

playoff game and he didn't separate his shoulder and he's not out the rest of the year yeah i mean those are those are huge factors here well the whole thing about it being an in-person hearing which means you know likely a six or more game suspension you know to me is insane like i just think that's way over the top i got morgan riley a guy who was a lady bing candidate like he took his first penalty a month ago you got a player who's not injured you know you can make the case that the you know the cross check attempt kind of rides up and he lets go with a hand like it's a bad play i'm not defending you know that exactly but to me i see a two three game game suspension. Definitely, you know, but I don't, this seems way over the top to me.

Yeah. Yeah, me too. And this is where I think the league has boxed themselves in a little bit because they now look at the scenarios. The game's essentially been decided. It's after the whistle. Distance traveled.

Retaliatory. Predator-like. So, yeah, it does, in their opinion, check a lot of boxes. But it's still, I think you can't necessarily go to Perron right now and think that that situation is apples to apples. It's not. Well, first off, he injured a guy, and also he hit the wrong guy who was not looking.

You know, like those to me are clear separators alone. And really, Greg, like you've been around the game long enough. Your dad was involved in the game at the pro level. You know that if you want to go in there and slap a puck and put an exclamation on the F-U to the Toronto Maple Leafs, you don't think anything's coming? Well, that's why the distance travel thing is almost irrelevant to me. They were, you know, because it's a breakaway,

you have to get to the guy to confront him. You know, that's why there's distance travel. You're skating back, back checking. If you go back to watch Perron, Zub was the wrong guy for Perron. He's actually surprised. Yes.

Right? I think he had one hand to call for someone to help the injured and Perron comes in and just drives a stick right at his head. And I personally think six was too much for Perron. Yeah, even that was high end for Perron.

That to me was a three or four, but let's tack on two more because his agent's Alan Walsh. Now, everyone, you know, of all the things that are out there on social media, one of them is that, you know, Toronto gets hard done by, by Peros, former Montreal Canadian, that, you know, he suspends the Leafs harder, which he has statistically,

there's been more suspensions against the Leafs than any other team since he's been the guy. I mean. I buy it. Oh, you do? I i do yeah but that's fun because of piranha because of it's toronto this is what yeah because it's toronto sorry i mean because of paris or because yeah because it's toronto and toronto has a a stage beyond belief and the moment something happens it's a it's saturday. It's hockey night in Canada. The whole country is watching,

and that means the whole league follows along. How many times have we woke up to not really hear about an altercation south of the border? And then it's like two days later, we're kind of paying attention, and it's already been decided. But now, the moment it happens here, and you have millions of people on social media and it heightens the sensitivity of it.

And now the league's kind of caught. There's no pleasing everybody here. Either they're going to look like they've come down too hard on the Leafs or they cater to the Leafs and they're not tough enough. It's going to be one of the two here. Yeah. What's funny is like once you go to an in-person hearing, it's extremely rare that they ever give you less than six. I think it's happened a couple times uh ever

well the leaps just experienced one did they not with that's a yeah special walk back but he still missed all the games right i think he's gonna have got he saved one game but that was gary walking it back guys right i think it went from six to four if i'm not mistaken sammy yeah does that sound familiar that's correct so yeah you know is this another scenario where gary could come back in and and i'm telling you right now the leafs will appeal oh yeah, that's happening. You think regardless of, yeah. Four or five, it's getting appealed. Yeah. Basically Morgan's history and healthy player and yada yada. I think it's just a, how did you come to this conclusion?

We want, you got to come to us with like hard evidence on how you conclude this number and that's that's where the the the the Leafs will probably hold the league accountable at least to say okay we're going to peel this but we need we need hard evidence how do you conclude this how do you you just pull it out of the sky yeah you know it's crazy going through all this and hearing the ottawa senators talk about it after the game like the actual players well none of them thought it was great before we greg's part before we play those clips like you talk about the peros aspect of this and in theory having a guy of his type of player is exactly sort of what you'd want in this situation because i would love to know how george peros as a player would have reacted if some guy came down on an

empty net and took a slap shot into the empty right but it doesn't save you justified or not doesn't save all morgan had to do was just get the flippers off and grump them. Yes. Yeah. Bear hug them, throw them to the ice, punch them in the head. $5,000 fine and move on. That's all. He just needed to just smoke them in the head. Well, he did. That's better, right?

Not with his stick, with his hands. Yeah. That's all. And just confront them a little bit. Do you want to hear Sheldon talk about the Toronto thing? Sure. Because we have the clip about him because we mentioned it there before. Yeah.

Which clip is it here? Keefe clip number three, talking about the in-person hearing. Surprise. Just given, you know, we spend a lot of time watching almost every cross-check that's happened in the last number of years. And the ones that I thought were similar in nature to Morgan were nothing close to requiring that. But at the same time, you know, I think there's a history also of events that happen in Toronto. And with the least, they get more attention and more, that tend to lead to something such as this. So to that end, not surprised.

But, you know, it's out of our hands and we'll be ready to play tomorrow. There's a long list of things that frustrated me reading social media after this. So, by the way, Sheldon Keefe points, interesting to hear him directly the beast directly address the thing that people are saying because i guess there is statistical evidence of that whatever but you know the ryan reeves things as it has become an interesting factor just because he made some comments on it and people are shocked he has

the audacity to weigh in first off he was asked questions about it the other thing that bothers me is people being like ah you know they supposed to be if you have an enforcer that this sort of thing won't happen it's like that's not really the case you know it's tough to quantify what events haven't happened because reeves is here but making this about ryan reeves at all is kind of silly to me like he has nothing to do with this he weighed in like a million other players that were asked you know we have martin jones pinto drew norris jo Jacques Martin, like, everyone was asked about this to get their take. And, you know, Reeves basically said it was different 15 years ago or whatever. Kind of got a different theory on this kind of Ryan Reeves thing

because he was supposed to have a bigger effect than he's had this year. That's all. For sure. And, you know, even, I can tell you right now, and Ryan Reeves came on with about seven seconds left. Yeah. I would have told you unequivocally, I would have made the decision with seven seconds to go

that I'm either going to go through the door with 18 other guys and half of them didn't show up that night or follow Morgan right behind them. And I would have picked Morgan. I would have gone with Morgan. I wouldn't have gone. I would have taken and found the closest Ottawa senator and I would have gone after him,

and it would have taken all three officials to pull me off of him. I'm going off with Morgan, and I will go to New York with Morgan. I will sacrifice my money. I'm going out with Morgan. Yeah, you know, it's funny hearing you say that. Just, you know, I was kind of thinking at the time like what good is it if he if he does this if he if he fights caslick whatever but i guess the idea is just that your team told my team you know tried to humiliate us to me morgan's reaction

is far deeper yeah than ridley greg shooting a puck in the net. And let's go back to that point because people love this in Leafs Nation. Not one person says, I wish he didn't do it. This is, first of all, it's uncharacteristic of Morgan Riley. Okay. But to me, what Morgan did is probably runs into the same kind of ballpark than we watched the Naz Kadry go after a Boston Bruin in the playoffs. Rusk after he hit Marleau.

Where it's just like, I've had enough of this. Okay. I'm watching. We aren't going anywhere. And I disagree. I think we heard from Sheldon Keefe earlier saying that, you know, this isn't a frustration out of Morgan. This was just an incident.

No, no, it's a frustration. He's tired. He's the oldest guy that's been around, and he's watching his team spin their wheels, and they are going nowhere. And I think factor in that Ridley opened the door for him, and he said, I've had enough. I've had enough.

Yes, I am frustrated. I'm watching a team go nowhere. And listen, go play the next few games without me. I'm willing enough. Yes, I am frustrated. I'm watching a team go nowhere. And listen, go play the next few games without me. I'm willing to take that chance. But this team needs something. It needs a shot of something here. Just watching us

go off the ice as losers again without any type of emotional reaction is just not good enough anymore. And if it means me to be suspended, so be it. He was actually the perfect guy to be there at that moment because he is not a goon, not a tough guy, not an enforcer.

He is a part of the core as much as you can be. He's the one guy out of the five guys we think of as the core who would do this. And he, from guy out of the five guys we think of as the core who would do this. And he, from the inside of the Toronto Maple Leafs, is basically saying, no, I'm not okay with this. I don't know how you felt about how the rest of the Leafs handled it. I don't necessarily know what good it would have done for everyone to get in a fight. But Morgan was saying, we're not doing this.

First of all, they're not getting in a fight. Once again, and I would, you know, maybe even last year or earlier this year, I would tell you and I say, I hated watching Austin react to Morgan being on the bottom of a pile after that incident or Nylander or Marner came in really late and I don't know where Marner started but you know that's not a reaction of watching your best defenseman go after somebody and then them piling on them and then you're just you know everybody's just quietly going about their business I hated it I hated the

rest of the team's reaction to Morgan Riley on the ice. But I will sit here today and say. Credit to Domi. Sorry to interrupt. Yeah. Domi got in there. Yeah, Max was the first guy in. Correct. But outside of that, like, to me,

all of them should have followed Morgan Riley off the ice. All of them. But it's not them. Yeah. It's not them. They've made that abundantly clear to every Leaf fan. That's not what I'm paid for. I'm not them it's they've they've they've made that abundantly clear to every leaf fan that's not what i'm paid for i'm not doing it and you gotta accept it so who am i to say go in there austin and and help morgan out or or mitch like you're that's not who you guys are is that's it that's just the way they are and you have to accept that they want to

go and outscore you that's why they're getting paid 10 and a half million they're not running over you they're not going through you they have no fu to you in a scrum or play the part of you know you you can't do that to my team that's not not what they're about. Yeah, I spend a lot of time defending 34 on this show because I do believe he's a special player, but he is the number one deal cutter in the NHL during scrums. He's chit-chatting with someone every time. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Everyone's mad, but we're buds. It's not him. But listen, it's not him. It's not him. And so for that matter, I don't want to see him. I don't want to see that become a five-on-five brawl. It doesn't make sense to me. Greg getting greased makes sense to me.

You know, you can ask his teammates who are kind of like, eh, well. You do want to see it. Well, sure. But you're just not going to see it from them. Yeah. And I've come to grips with the way they're going to go about this, I guess.

Right. But, you know, it's an interesting moment, and I think Leafs Nation, and that's the point I wanted to get back to. If you look online, a lot of people say he shouldn't have cross-checked him. He shouldn't have done it quite like that, whatever. But to a man, everyone had the thought when Greg did that, which was your buddy's reaction.

Kill him. Yeah, you can't. You can't go in and just deliver that clear. There's no level of hockey. Like, you can talk about the code or whatever you clear. There's no level of hockey. Like you can talk about the code or whatever you want. There's no level of hockey where that's acceptable. And the code is not relevant here is my argument on all this. It's just a social cue.

This guy said F you to you, obviously. Nobody's really selling that it's acceptable. No one's selling it. We're just telling you that this is the way it is. And, you know, I get people like us. We're talk radio. We're going to talk. Everybody's got an opinion.

Everybody's got social media. But here's the bottom line is that nobody cares what I think. Nobody cares what anybody thinks. All that matters is the players on the ice get to decide what this code is or isn't. Not you, not me, not anybody. If Morgan says that that was unacceptable, then for him, it's unacceptable. And that makes it acceptable. Or at least it has the ability to happen.

Like, oh, that can't happen in our game. There's not one of his teammates who looked that when morgan what are you doing no that did not happen we can't let that happen in the game it's like what from your couch right it can't happen you're telling me from your couch that's the guy on the ice who can decide whether it's acceptable or not because all that's the only opinion that matters. Not yours, Saturday night, with your bag of chips. It would hurt being a Leafs fan if Greg had done that and then Riley said, hey, don't do that again, as he skated by on his way to giving knuckles down the bench.

You know, like, this is how Leafs fans wanted that to go. You know, now knowing that the player is fine. You know, it's... Yeah, he's at practice today. Like, six games is when it player is fine you know it's yeah he's at practice today like yeah six games when it happens which seems like it's gonna happen it's gonna send leafs nation into a tailspin of anger and they're people gonna be frothing at the mouth boys when this happens if it actually is six games well and what's terrifying here sammy is you know they have three pretty winnable games. They have a homestand coming up, which is like St. Louis, Philly, Ducks. You know, if you lose a couple of those games by a goal because you don't have a guy to put on the issues,

Lilligren's playing your top pair, this could be a real flashpoint issue for this Leafs team. I think there's a good chance it could come under five games still. I do oh well I don't know under five but I think yeah I think there's a chance they can go three or four still do you really yeah I do they should they should that's the correct way to go that's based on nothing but my opinion that I think that there might be a bit of a meeting of the minds that even though it looks the same, it's not. It's Morgan Riley, never been suspended before. Even Perron had a retaliatory suspension, I think, in the past or a stick infraction or something.

He didn't hang on to the stick. I don't think they're comparable, you know, incidents. So if it's five games that Morgan Rileys gets suspended for, it'll be Blues, Flyers, Ducks, Blues, Coyotes. Yeah, so like it's games that at least have a run here. You're supposed to win some games over the next five. And then after that. But it's bad on the back end.

It goes in Vegas, in Colorado, home for Vegas, home Coyotes, Rangers, Bruins, Sabres, Bruins. So you need them back for those ones. You do. So they're looking at right now Brody Lilligren, Benoit McCabe, Jordano Lagasin. Like that, guys, it's bad. Yeah. It's bad. All right.

We'll take a quick break and we'll get into what this defense core can look like without Morgan Riley, a Joseph Wall update. Still plenty more to go on this Leaf edition of the Real Kipper and Boren Show. So do not go away. Hey, it's Ben Ennis. And I'm Brent Cunning. We got you covered on all things leafs rafters and blue jays every weekday morning six to nine it's the fan morning show sportsnet 590 the fan and wherever you get your podcasts Welcome back into the Real Kipper and Bourne Show, Leaf Edition.

Top of the hour, we're going to welcome in Ian Mendez, senior writer for The Athletic, based in Ottawa, who's got an article, Is There a Right Way to Score an Empty Net Goal? Ian's wondering. We did say, do you want to say what you said off the air? Well, we're just two sides to every story, right? Yeah.

So we're coming at it predominantly from the Leafs side. But if, you know, an Ottawa fan is out there and it's been a very long season already and it's been a very long time since you've made the playoffs, there's got to be a part of you that kind of likes sticking it to the leafs. Great moment, right? Right. You know, people were, you know.

I mean, he didn't stick anybody. He didn't spear anybody. You say it wasn't that bad. Okay. No, it's disrespectful. It's showing up your team, but it's not like we're debating a suspension here, right? It was just a guy that just stuck it to the Leafs, right?

And out of the games that we've seen over the years between this battle of Ontario where they've all gone quietly into the sunset it's not horrible to sit there and go oh when do they play again next they don't I know yeah right but that's the first thing I did was look for when that next game is and at the end of the day we've seen guys in, some of them, like even our good friend Rob Brown covers the Edmonton Oilers, right? With the pumpernickel down the bench, right?

Beside the bench. Like there's stuff that really can piss off a team. Yeah. But okay, so throw it out there. Like what are you going to do about it? Well, and that's kind of what happened. At least it made the game somewhat interesting. everyone hearing that has seen the f around and find out chart all right i have to yeah that adds up you know like that's kind of what happens at

the end of the day you have the right to piss off another team and then look them in the eye and i'm not saying ridley did this but that's the way it should work yeah i i took a slap shot two feet from your net what are you gonna do about it like that it's not a bad way to watch a hockey game it's amazing that he wasn't more prepared my junior coach and this sounds terrible but he used to have a say you know if you're gonna like can't score we're gonna run the goalie we're gonna send someone into the crease so you know i want someone to go in there and do it throw your gloves up and turn around and take the first comer. Just do the first person who shows up.

And that, to me, should have been Greg. Once you slap that puck in the net, you might as well have thrown your gloves in right after it. Get ready. Here we go. But yeah, I don't think it's the end of the world either. I'm not personally aggrieved by it. Oh, I am. Right. And then people...

I actually got a text that said, I hope Sammy's mad about this on Monday. No, I'm livid. Yeah, I know you are. But the reason he did it is, Pippi, I got mad texts from Lee Shentz. Like, mad. I know. He's playing for the greats because they're like Sammy. Because their coach should scratch him.

They're all like Sammy. He's jaded. No, he's playing for the worst team in the league. It's like their Stanley Cup final. That's why he did it. He's like, oh, it's their biggest game all year. They play the Leafs. They're like, oh, oh we beat the leafs that's all they get every year and they're just pissed off he just it was bush league kipper it was he got what he deserved so

100 so what like yeah it was bush league but it's not the end of the world sammy obviously nothing the end of the world you're i mean we're talking about sports here but you're putting way too much thought and effort to it no no way really at the end of the day it's kind of a meaningless thing you said it off the top it masked oh the big issues we have not even touched the leaves might suck right they might be the biggest leaves so that that's that's really the most important thing out of saturday night but one thing, Kim. Not an empty net slap shot. But one thing on that. Let's play Claude Giroux and his take on, you know,

what he thought of the slap shot, whatever, just to get a sense because, you know, I'm sure in the room. Anyway, give me Claude Giroux's thoughts on the play. I think sometimes the emotions get the best of you. And, you know, for people I know, Ridley is a great kid. And, you know, sometimes the emotions get the best of you. And the crowd was kind of in the game too. And, you know, you don't like to see him going down like that.

But, you know, I was, I don't know. No comment. The long comment and the no comment. That clip sounds like Ridley was the one who cross-checked him. That sounds like he's more pissed off. For a second, he could be talking about Morgan, and then he's not. He's talking about Ridley. He's trying not to say, like, you don't do that.

He's a good kid. I swear he's not usually like this. Like me defending my seven-year-old. Can we listen to Norris, too? Can we listen to the Josh Norris clip there, Andrew? Yeah, I mean, I never really know what Gregor's gonna do um I mean I loved it but um I'm sure obviously if we were on the other side of that I don't know if we would like to either so um but I mean I didn't really like the retaliation but um I understand their frustration but um

yeah it's over with and and I guess it was entertaining. So for hockey context... He said it best. It was entertaining. He did, but for hockey context, he's the one trying to say, this is over. It's over with now. He almost feels like Ottawa is still owed more retribution than the other way around. He's like,

you know, I can see why they're pissed. This is over with. Like, we're even... When really, their guy just took one of the chops and they should be more mad. He's like, everyone knows. Everybody knows. That guy dives around and runs the goalie and acts like an idiot

every game he plays in. It's true. He's one of the most hated guys in the league. He is. Every game I watch, he's doing something dumb and he did something dumb. game I watch, he's doing something dumb. And he did something dumb. All I know is he's gotten to you. Oh, big time. He's living in my kitchen, but he's slamming my cupboards.

I can't stand him. I can't stand that Stutzler either diving all over the ice. What is he, 20, 21? This is a young kid who just kind of got up. That's why his captain is like, all right, well. Drew nailed it. He just got caught up a little bit yeah but big pictures big picture here like yeah the leafs are there's some serious concerns here let that go away none of them have to do with an empty net

goal no although by the way i want neil anders shot from the point when you're the last guy back to beat the first screener like just get it by the first guy for me on that play. Anyway, totally separate small business there. Hated that. Hated that, too. Yeah. Hated that. I'm trying to shoot it by the first.

I'm just pissed off. I'm worried about the state of the Leafs. I really am. I'm watching them play the crappy Sens. Is it because Detroit's 10-2-2 in their last game? It's mostly Ottawa. 8-2 Tampa. This is really good.

And for your entertainment purposes. This is really good. And for your entertainment purposes, it's really good that the Battle of Ontario is back because I really had this few moments where I felt sorry for Ottawa because they just sucked so bad for so long. I was like, oh, they're not really a threat. They beat the Leafs. They had their little fun.

And then this guy goes out there and does that, and I'm all the way back. Stutzla diving all over the ice. Worst diver in the league. It's like, I'm back i'm back i am back baby i can't stand that since seven two and two in their last 11 i think that's the math on that yep it always happens every team gets it always happens no pressure right around like right around the actual super bowl they're like hey let's start winning some meaningless ones that everyone thinks we're good again. And then everyone's like, hey, we're going to make the playoffs next year.

Let's make sure they get 80 points first. That was actually a preseason comment here, if I recall. Anyways. Want to talk about the actual lease? We know Morgan's getting suspended. What we don't know is the number of games, but we do know what potentially this blue line could look like tomorrow night against St. Louis. And I don't know, guys.

No Morgan. And I don't know. Can we... Cue Brad May. Well, it's not good. Can Leaf fans just hope and pray that it'll look like the last time he was out for an extended period of time

when they went on a very good run without Morgan for a year and a half ago. Yeah, they could use Justin Hall. Do they have anyone else there? Well, I remember Mack Hallowell was playing in games. It wasn't pretty then either. I don't know. Is there a chance that they could just tighten up here and just play the percentages and not throw pizzas up the ice?

It was an absolute pizzeria, was it not? The Benoit play, total pizza. Morgan to Mitch there, bit of a pizza. A controlled breakout, which kind of derailed everything. How come one mistake turns into six for them? They were actually in decent shape yeah they were a whisker which we thought would be potentially a good goal on a debatable kick in turn into an offside yeah that's two nothing yeah i mean certainly it's as keith

said winnable game you know i get my get my fancy stats from Sportlogic every night. You know, they had the expected goals edge and high danger scoring chance edge and all that stuff. But you don't have a goalie who is being great. Like, Sammy, you didn't like his game or whatever, Martin Jones' game. You didn't think he was bad. I didn't think he was bad.

I think the point we agreed on is just, but he wasn't good. Yeah. You know, like, he wasn't bad, but he wasn't good. And at some point, he liked a little bit of extra help here. I thought Corpozolo was pretty good. He was. Okay, let's just stay on the D for a minute, and we listen to Sheldon Keefe with Life Without Morgan.

Number five. Well, I mean, I think it goes without saying. Yeah, I just got to go through and look at different options. You know, it's a chance for us to get Brody playing on his left side. You know, so I suspect, you know, when you lose a player with Morgan and his minutes and the role that he plays, everybody's going to have to move around and play in different spots and play with different people depending on the situation

and to manage the minutes and such. But, you know, like any anytime you have somebody out with an injury or whatever the case may be, you just, you know, you expect your team game to tighten up that much more and the individuals to step up and take advantage of the opportunity. Yeah, I mean, Lilligren has no points in his last 10 games and isn't playing a ton of minutes, and he's going to have to be, this is his chance to find it.

Go ahead and play some more minutes and probably play with Brody who'll be on his left side. I don't love that pairing. I'm going to come out and say that. Benoit McCabe, I guess. I think this is a team just screaming for some help. You think they've got to make a trade? Yeah.

I do too. Yeah, and I'd be on it i i don't know if i'd want to go much further than wednesday without doing something even if you add a fifth or sixth defenseman uh you you need to shore this thing up i think the management needs to show that it's in it with the team here like they have they have their pulse, finger on the pulse that they're going to be without a guy who's playing 25 minutes a night. Look at the play Riley makes on the Domi goal last night.

You know, comes down the wall, makes a slick pass into Robertson, gets the rebound, makes another slick, you know, like, they don't have anyone who's going to help create like that from the back end. No, it's no one. So, you know, you're in a dogfight with the Red Wings, so they're in the first wildcard spot with the Red W in the second one behind them is the islanders the devils

and the penguins all of whom are very capable of going on runs yes they're just as close to going on a run the other way but you know it's it's tight here get the standings up on the screen here it's it's tight they got games in hand on Tampa, so by points percentage, they're ahead of them. But the point is you can't afford to just go, ah, if we go one and four with Morgan out, we're okay. You're not. I remember at the start of the year where we had the conversations like, are we sure this is a playoff lock?

And we kind of got out of that for a while. Kind of back. I think those teams that are behind them them when you look at those standings that were just up there you know i don't think the islanders are very good they just got starched by someone there the other day but i mean they're capable of putting they got a new coach they're capable of putting together a little run here where they get back into the conversation devils may trade for a goalie pittsburgh's not awful or the leafs right yeah they're so you're not you're not concerned at all? I'm not.

I'm not concerned. Makes me happy to hear you say that, but I do have a bit of concern. They really got to stink. I don't see a huge push from the Islanders. And then I'm watching Washington, and I get that Ovi has scored some goals in the last week. But even the fact that we're talking about Washington potentially in the playoffs tells me that half this league stinks. Funny, Washington's a minus 34 goal differential.

And they're still sniffing. I know. Let's add two more teams. Right? So I don't know who's going to push. Well, the Devils are the goalie push, I think.

The Islanders have been without Pelic, Polak, and they've just had Hurt D, so they could be all right. Yeah. Anyways. Billy's going to drop out.

You've got to lose like five, six in a row to really start... Yeah. Hello. Can we get excited that Joseph Wall is practicing again with the big boys? Yeah. First time since December 7th.

Can I ask you something more important than that? Of course. Before we go to break here. Yeah. Where are we at on Keith Watch? I just, I can't see. Too late? Mid-Feb. I don't believe for one i can't see too late mid-feb listen i i don't believe i don't believe for one second it's ever too late so but i if you read the tea leaves there's there's just nothing

that uh suggests that they're considering this as an option at least from my end from from the vibe that i get yeah same here i haven't heard anything, and to me it's personnel right now. This D-Hore is not good. I mean, maybe Wohl comes back and gives them above-average goaltending. That would be helpful. Would you ever consider going to get Craig Berube right now for Sheldon? Yes, I would consider that, but I'm in charge but like there's a lot of nights where I look at this team and I'm like some big mistakes happening every single night and I know it's

personnel and I know but it's just it's just big decision that would come with a fairly big price and I'm not suggesting that money's a factor here. If they really believed it and felt like he'd be worthy of a probably $4 or $5 million a year contract. I mean, he's... He's the only cup winner. Yeah, absolutely. But where is the organization as a whole here moving forward? Right? I don't know.

There's the Keith Pelley element, guys. There's a new CEO coming in. So, you know, do we assume that everybody's got the green light to do what they want to do? Do they want Keith involved in this already? He doesn't officially start until, I think, April. Right. But is he now to the point where, from the outside,

that he's starting to weigh in on decisions well i think kip let's just say that you know they do want to make some sort of changes or whatever if they go hire bruby now and then they lose in the first round and then they want to you know make changes above that may you know whether it be be Brandon or Brad or whatever it may be. Then you bring in new people and you've just hired a new coach and it wasn't the guy the new people wanted. I get it. You know?

I mean, that's a good point. No, that's the point. Let's see if these people can do it. And then if not, there's a chance, you know, there's a chance that they may go bigger, you know? And I don't know where Keith Pelley is after all of this with brendan shanahan have they had conversations already you're you're my guy believe in you you're not going anywhere make a trade hire coach do whatever you need to do to get this team on the right track

like is that going on behind the scenes i don't know yeah but that is so yeah i don't think that's i don't think that's imminent by any means but But it is. This, to me, in terms of coaching, is a fascinating window to see if you can get some more out of these guys. Can Lilligren give you more? Can you spread the top three guys out on three lines? Can we just take a look at something different? That would be nice. Can we get Domi?

Domi had his best game as a Leaf or one of his better games the other night. We get him more opportunity. Domi's played more in the last two games than he's played in a long, long time. And Domi looked good Saturday night. So we're finding him a little bit, a little more opportunity. He's finding it. Can you give a little bit more to Tyler Bertuzzi?

Morgan Riley's not there to run power play one. Why don't we have Willie or Mitch on the point and have Bertuzzi somewhere in the mix here on the first power play unit? Give him some more. Or if you want it to be Connor Timmons on the point, fine. I still think Bertuzzi should get some run.

This is the opportunity now to see if you have more than you thought you did. Last thing before we go, Leafs lead the league in suspension since 2017, 2018. Yeah. For a team that everybody says is the softest team in the league. Bottom pin. Who's behind them?

Boston? Yeah. Yeah. Which is really strange. There you go. Well, the joke with the Paris thing is that Anaheim, I think, is third, and Paris played for San Jose, right? No, San Jose is third, and he played for Anaheim. So everyone's like, all his rival teams.

Hold the grudge. I'm not a tinfoil hat guy, but there are those that are. Fast hour, guys. Oh, my God. And we didn't even get into taylor swift maybe the next hour as we welcome in ian mendez senior writer for the athletic based in ottawa i'm sure he's got oh i ran out of time