Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Sheldon Keefe Joins the Show!

Episode Date: October 10, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee are in the new studio ahead of the start of the NHL season kicking off today! They start with a look at the Leafs' opening-day roster, Fraser Minten getting a shot after a dynamic preseason, cap manipulation with the Easton Cowan move and the impact of losing Sam Lafferty. They are joined by Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe (15:55), who shares his thoughts on training camp and preseason play, the emergence of Minten, the differences between Brad Treliving and ex-GM Kyle Dubas and how the team stays motivated during the long regular season. Finally, a chat about how things have changed under Treliving, what to expect from Noah Gregor, thoughts on players that missed the cut for opening day and a look at the goaltending battle.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.

🎵 foreign show do not be fooled by this new look the same old show you've learned to love or despise depending on our opinions from this day forward you're going to find us throughout the hockey season from four to six eastern we're talking sports net 360 sports net sports net plus we're talking about live on sports net 590 the fan and wherever you download your podcast i.e. spotify itunes make sure you subscribe and give us a rating and review glad to be in the studio that quite frankly Tim McAuliffe built with Sid Cicero

and many of his friends and if I refer to it every once in a while as the T&M studio you'll know why this is our third season of the Real Kipper and Bourne show I'm Nick Kiprios. Along for the ride, a younger, fresher Nick Kiprios named Justin Bourne.

And representing the long-suffering Leaf fan, our boy Sammy McKee. Yeah. I'm on TV now, right? Sam Kang! Sam Kang! This is like our YouTube channel wanted this so bad i sold it that this is a trial today honestly sitting here maybe i'll just go back upstairs it doesn't feel quite right it's just different fellas it's gonna be different but i'm really

excited to be here i'm really really happy that we're down here. This is awesome. Also in the mix, same cast and crew that run the show. Upstairs, Jennifer Rolnick and the guy that pushes all the right buttons for us, Derek, don't wear the brand, be the brand, day-o. New nicknames, new season. What do you think? I think it's great. I think if anyone ever doubted your ability to host, to run a show, you have proven them wrong. No.

That was incredible. You got all the stations were on, all the names right. Yeah. You know what else I got right? The memo that said, listen, guys, you happen to be on TV, but this is a radio show. Treat it like a radio show. Right. Which, by not bringing any props in, I did.

You two, on the other hand, like what is going on between the attack hat and the jersey? Look at this. The jersey. UAA Seawolves represent. You like that or what? Number 12. It looks really fast.

I used to try to chase jerseys like that. Olympic ice up there? Hard ice in college? I like to think so. When we were in here with our boss Dan before, he's like, ah, should it be jersey out, you know, logo out or number? I said, well, if they're good enough

to have your name stitched on a jersey, then I think you should put the name on the back out here. Well, for the record, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't bring my jerseys in until people needed to be reminded that I played. And I figured that would be after I turned 60. Okay. You'll hang on to those for a while?

I'm the dinosaur. This is just, I wear glasses and I like to remind people that I did play hockey too. I actually, you know, it's my life's work. All these jerseys that are lying in the floor over here, like birthday after birthday after just being, asking for all these jerseys, and I finally have a use for them. Lying on the floor in the studio. Ottawa Senator's jersey in the pile. What is that?

It's a long story. We'll get into it when we hang it up. How's that sound? All right. Sounds good. NHL season 23-24 kicks off in about an hour and a half. It's Nashville versus the Vasilevsky-Lis, Tampa Bay Lightning.

And then later tonight, Conor Bedard will make his NHL debut against, of course, Sid and the Pittsburgh Penguins. We'll have Sean Reynolds to talk about that in the second hour. Just a quick note, in about 12 minutes, 13 minutes, head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Sheldon Keefe, will join us.

Of course, we know the Leafs debut their season tomorrow night across all platforms on Sportsnet against the Montreal Canadiens. Rosters are in. They're locked in. As of now, we know it includes Fraser Minton, the surprise, I think, a training camp. And what's the latest on Easton Cowan,

the Leafs' first-round pick this season, was hanging around. I'm told he's going back. That's correct. He's going back to London. He is, eh? He is. Okay. And basically, it's been pretty interesting watching not only the toronto maple

leafs but a lot of teams juggle this salary cap that has uh at least a dozen teams in in cap hell quite quite frankly well that's what this is right the cowan thing was like have them get as close to the cap as possible correct so they can go as deep into LTIR as possible. Correct. So they have as much room to spend now as possible. That's right. And the last I had heard, it was the difference of sending him back earlier or as late as possible. The difference of $50,000.

Like I'm watching the NBA. $50,000. We're watching'm watching the NBA. $50,000. We're watching the NBA. A good mid-sized car. Oh, stop it. We're talking about pro hockey here, Sammy. We're talking about compared to other sports like the NFL and NBA where we're constantly seeing $250 million contracts.

Our league is looking for loose change in the cushions. But this is, it's as bad now as it's ever going to be like you know the salary cap being stagnant with the escrow and the whole thing like this is gross at this point no one can keep anyone you got to trade sam lafferty because you gave ryan reeves 1.35 instead of 1.3 you know what i mean that's the 50 000 like that's how tight it is you're making roster decisions based on a decent mid-sized sedan yeah that's that's a that's a lamborghini though that's not 50 000 that's 500 000 because you you signed gregor right to 750 and you uh get rid of the 1.1 million off of laffrey but no one really saw this

move i certainly as he was kind of introduced a training camp as a guy that could run shotgun with matthew nize and john tavaris they gave him chance right out of the gate right like he was playing on a in the top six they're giving him an opportunity to kind of be the guy i think it's one of those things where they get to say well we gave you a chance and nothing happened and you know gregor what do you have 10 goals last year and i think they like the opportunity this guy could produce a little bit more from the bottom six but listen i loved lafferty i thought he was fast big he scored a big goal for them that florida series like i know he's not an offensive guy but i don't i didn't love that then moving on from him gris gregor is i know he's younger but he's

small he's i know he works hard whatever but i i like i don't disagree with that i i found lafferty serviceable and i i thought i thought he would sink deeper teeth into this lineup when they picked him up last year as part of the reason they got him right you had another year at 1.1 and a guy you thought could provide value i guess with everyone being up against the cap that makes gregor available and you know what i found strange though that vancouver was willing to give up a fifth round pick for him knowing that the leafs were up against the cap and needed to find ways to alleviate it. And so far, the biggest way was Lafferty's half a million dollars gone.

Yeah. I guess, you know, if you put Lafferty on waivers, every team claims them at 1.1 million. So it's basically like, okay, who wants to avoid this waiver fiasco and give us something? It's just so strange though, the the Canucks once again moving on from, you know, picks and whatever to try and be good now. When you look at that roster, it's fine.

Yeah, they're fine. It's okay. But, you know, it does help them for a fact, which I don't hate. But, yeah, thank you, Brandeo, from a distance. They are mid. Yeah, for people that are maybe just watching on TV for the first time, like there are going to be voices from the sky that have drops, and our man Derek Brandeo upstairs is dropping those in for him.

That's one of our favorites right there. That's classic. Yeah. We'll definitely ask Sheldon Keefe this question in moments, but I want to get both your thoughts on Fraser Minton and what he's been able to do since day one. Traverse City really stood out. And opening the lineup.

I mean, crazy. Crazy, right? I really liked him too. I watched him in a couple of those games and went, I'm not a scout, but boy, he's big. He's smart. He's working hard. He created some turnovers that led to goals.

I liked him. But him being on the team is a shocker. I wouldn't say he's made the team like they intend for him to be here this year. But he definitely earned the chance to play some games and see if he can really be this guy, which has kind of nullified the need for Willie to be a centerman. It solves a bunch of problems if he's ready. Too soon for you no i i think it kind of bleeds towards this new uh tree living era as the general manager and we saw in the off season the the

message sending that we're gonna go guy we're gonna hand pick some some grittier players it's as much as a philosophy than anything else. Yeah. Whether or not they, those three guys in particular are going to be enough or even are, are, are completely the right three guys remains to be seen. But I think this is just Brad saying things are going to be a little

different around here. Yeah. Well, it's, you know, what's very different as you look at, they're going to roll it a line right now of yarn. Croc is going to play with knives and Mintoninton like you're taking two guys who literally weren't

anywhere to be seen last year on this team and make a line out of it i don't know how much you trust it they're both pretty good defensive guys for young guys but they're going to make mistakes you also have a line of willie jt and domi who are going to make some defensive mistakes i just feel like the leafs with these guys it's going to be a high scoring affair like i like the players but i feel like they're going to create and they're going to give up and it's going to be six five most nights how often has a guy played in the traverse city tourney and then like come out and made the team i feel like that hasn't happened very often in the last little while well and you had like a guy they haven't had a ton of picks either was there was he

not this year but you knew he was going to be here and i mean i guess they kind of traded away a lot of their first round picks would potentially be those guys so there's that aspect as well but it's a pretty meteoric rise for for minton where do you have the odds of minton lasting past the 10 game window 20 really low really low i think they want to give him a good start to the year let him know here's what it's like playing every night against men here's the what you know go back and prepare for this and next year we want you on the other hand i don't believe like a lot of people that nine games is necessarily like if they like him and he plays 20 games and he starts his entry level contract is that such a terrible thing that you get two more years of him on entry level

and then hopefully pay him before he breaks out? There's an argument to be said that you'd want to burn that first year off so you can get him on a cheaper and second contract. Yeah, you can get a second deal out of him before he has the chance to put up 20 goals. Yeah, not to change the subject, but if they would have let Marner stick around for 10 games. We're back.

I was going to say, we're 11 minutes in. I'm telling you, if they would have kept Marner all those years ago, they would not have had a domino effect on the salary cap today. I wish we could run alternate reality simulators and be like, what would it have looked like if Marner had started his ELC that first year or vice versa? I love it. I love the alternate reality.

Well, he wouldn't have dominated the attack and he wouldn't have gone to the Memorial Cup. La histoire du hockey. The domino effect of Minton was that we didn't get a longer look at Willie down the middle, which Sheldon's already gone on record saying, you know, it's a long season, and there's a good chance that we're going to see him back in the middle here.

But would you have liked to have seen a lot more? I guess, you know, we have Sheldon on, so we'll have the opportunity to talk some more about this, but that was part of him being at center as he was like, he's going to get some real run this year. Right? Like that was a, it's not a short term thing. We're really going to try this thing out.

And they're like, ah, what about the 19 year old kid? He's fine. So, but so much of what makes really great is his winger things, right? Like,

you know, you can talk about his defensive skills and the uncles and people in around the city is probably would tell you about that, but like right? Like, you know, you can talk about his defensive skills and the uncles and people around the city probably would tell you about that, but, like, flying the zone, you know, carrying the puck up, like, a lot of the stuff he does as a winger is what makes him so great. I don't know why he'd take that away, making him a center. I think he led the NHL in breakaways last year

because he's the guy, you know, and that is one of his strengths for sure. You know, I don't know how many times he had to fly the zone to get those breakaways. I can recall early in the Florida series that it was a weakness as well. What's that? Him leaving the zone. Yeah.

Yeah. And cheating a little bit. And it's just part of, like, do you want a guy like that to cheat? Do you not? I think every championship team obviously can use a guy of that skill. Like, his skill's off the charts, guys. I mean, watching him in training camp, there's times when you just marvel at his skill.

Yeah. And he still doesn't look like he's breaking a sweat. No, that's a stylistic thing. That's how natural he is with his skill. But he can't be your best player or your most dependable. There has to be two superstars at least that can kind of insulate him a little bit and do the little things that sometimes he's not willing to do. He could be your Phil Kessel on a Stanley Cup winner to me.

He could be the guy on the third line with Hagelin and Bonino or whatever. But, you know, Willie can provide that pop from the third line with was a hagelin and benino or whatever but you know willie can provide that pop from the third line they would love for him to be that i thought in playoffs he took a step towards being that but no he's not going to be your main driver which is why you don't want to give him 10 million dollars plus which is a whole other conversation which we shouldn't go down that road today but we certainly will all right your last thoughts on willie and or do we uh i just thought it looks unbelievable in training camp every game i watched you're just like oh my god feels like he got better again

tree living said they're working behind the scenes to see if they want to here sorry they're working on the scenes on the quietly on his contract okay that's okay we're going there okay i mean do you not think they should i listen there's there's i think uh willie mentioned that he's willing to talk throughout the year which is great but he's not the one that needs to talk it's the leafs to come to him and say yeah now we're willing to pay you uh what do based on the signing in Buffalo with Darlene, I think the market moved north. All right, let's pick up that conversation after we welcome in Sheldon Keefe,

the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Sheldon, appreciate your time. Just your early thoughts of coming out of training camp, it finally being over, and then introduction of Fraser Minton. Well, hi, guys. Great to be on the show here. It's great of you to finally talk, Borny, and to let me back on. It's been a while since chatting with you guys.

But, yeah, you know, it's exciting. It's training camps long, preseason long. You certainly feel it. You know, we played eight preseason games, which was a lot, and probably a lot on the coach and the coaching staff more so than the players. We maybe spread it out. But, you know, when you come out of it with a player like fraser mitten that sort of emerged through all of it it's you know it's it added some excitement to it for sure

i guess i would include easton cowan in that in that as well but uh you know specific to fraser we feel we feel like he he earned uh he earned a spot here we feel like he sort of separated himself from a lot of the others who were competing. And once there was a little bit of breathing room there on the salary cap after the decision was made to move Sam Lafferty, we thought it was a pretty easy decision from that point in terms of giving Fraser an opportunity to start the season with us. Just one more before JB takes a crack at you here, Sheldon.

Just in terms of the difference between, you know, coaching a guy here in the first week or two, opposed to a call-up who's been around a few years with the Marlies. How important is it that you put him in a position to show off his strength? I don't think the right terms insulate him, but as a coach when you're dealing with a 19-year-old teenager, what are some of the things that you can do to put him in the best light? Well, you know what, I think it's just, for me,

it's just continuing on with what he's done in preseason. I don't look at it as, of know, of course, off the ice, you know, we've got to help him. That was one of the first things, you know, once we made this decision. It's like, okay, the hockey stuff we think will work itself out, you know, but let's make sure we're taking care of him off the ice and make sure we've got him insulated that way, you know, in terms of just making sure he's taken care of with his living arrangements

and settling things in there and kind of working towards that and trying to help make things as normal as they can be, given that it's a lot coming out of a young guy quickly. But the online stuff, you know, for me, you know, if I felt that we had to insulate him or if I felt that he wasn't ready, then you're probably not doing this. You know, for me, his game and why you entertain this, his game is really mature.

His game is, you know, when I look at the habits and how he plays, the intelligence that he plays with, and he's competitive and he's quick on the puck. He's picked up a lot of the nuances of our system very, very quickly and has done so, frankly, better and quicker than some guys that have been with us for years and have been through the process with us. So he speaks to his intelligence. And I think that's one of the things about Fraser and about how you look at it is a lot of times you come out of these camps

with young players that are unexpected, young draft picks. And usually it's something like maybe they've scored a bunch of goals or they've done some things that are really flashy and really obvious. And you're like, wow, you know what we'll give him another a longer look in frazier's case he's just he plays an nhl game uh and and we're excited to see that in what will be uh the real nhl or certainly as much as a real nhl you can you'll call for in the first week of the season here keifer uh first off you know thank you for joining us after not joining us last year. I only asked you 413 times.

I did want to ask you something a little bit off the board. Here in Toronto, John Schneider recently received some heat for pulling Jose Barrios early in a game, and the debate was did the front office tell him that you know this is the plan you have to stick to it end of the day he's the manager he makes the call and he's wearing a lot of that how do you manage what your general managers want how much do you consider their desires for your players versus wanting them in the best spots or different spots if your opinion does you know have some conflict with what your GM would want?

Well, you know, I think that's really kind of the art of coaching in a lot of ways. And I think, you know, you can't speak specifically to what anyone else's arrangement is or what each situation is. I think in general, you know, like anything in any business or any walk of life, you know, you know who you're working for and you know what their vision is and you know all of that. I think in my position or any coach's position, you like to think that you're hired in part because of your instincts, and especially in a game like ours that is so dynamic and unpredictable and so many things that arise

that maybe can't be predicted, and you have to be able to adapt to and adjust on the fly. You have to trust your instincts. So I try to get as much information as I can, whether it's specifically tied to the vision or whether it's connected to our opponents or the status of our players and how guys are playing. And you've got to be able to make decisions.

And I trust your coaching staff to help you with that. You get as much information as you can and puck drops and you get seconds to make decisions. Some are game-altering and you have to sort of live with them. I think over time you try to – you have to sort of live with them and i think uh over time you try to you like to hope that you make more good decisions than than bad ones um but that really is what it's what it's about and ultimately you have to have to live with it we're joined by head coach of the toronto maple leafs sheldon keith as he prepares for the season opener against the Montreal Canadians that could be seen across our Sportsnet platforms.

Sheldon, just in terms of styles or a relationship, the biggest difference between Brad Treeliving and Kyle Dubas? Well, you know, I think, of course, there's little differences. You know, it'd be hard to pinpoint one major difference. Obviously, there's age and experience and all those kind of things, but I find the most unique, of course, because I've been really connected with Kyle in a lot of his own path.

He and I both have been aligned through Junior and through the Marlies and the Leafs. And then you get someone like Brad for Living comes in who's got obviously far different experiences. It's not just him. Shane Doan as well and him being around and his experience that he brings from playing and all the various roles he's played since playing, whether that was with Arizona or working with the league or working with Hockey Canada in the World Championships.

I've really enjoyed that part of it. It's felt somewhat natural. One thing I would say that's very similar with Brad and Kyle is the personalities in the sense that they're easy to talk to. They're very good people. They care about you as a person, and I think that has made it very seamless. But certainly I have enjoyed getting to know Brad and learning from his various experiences and how he's done things.

But it still has really felt fairly natural for me and hasn't disrupted my rhythm or flow. If anything, the addition of our assistant coaches for myself and our coaching staff growing has really helped me as well, and I'm obviously working a lot closer with them now that we're up and running, and that's been fun. So obviously you and I worked together years ago and i'm familiar with how then you liked your teams to play you've been with the leafs for a while now and you know coaches get a reputation eventually this is the way that coach likes his team to play how much do you look at

changing structure um you know look like in the preseason to me you guys were doing some things a little bit differently how much do you lean on what you've always known or the inability to sort of reach your ultimate goal does that make you change like will the leafs play differently than they have in the past well i think you know i first of all i like to think that we've evolved year over year over year over my time uh with the team and when I first was hired I think we played a certain way and we prioritized play with the puck and possession and all those kind of things while still you know trying to improve the team defensively and playing with more intelligence with the puck and all of that and And over time, I think we've become a more competitive and physical team

and all of that. And I think we're continuing to evolve and grow in all of those areas, Borny. And I think that, you know, part of that for me, like I was alluding to there, you know, the coaching staff has grown over the years as well. I think each time you do that, you get a new perspective comes in, you get some new voices, you get some new ideas, and then you're also just looking at your team. I mean, obviously we're a team that hasn't reached our goal. We feel like we've made progress year over year, but certainly not to the point

where we are content and certainly haven't come anywhere near our ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup. So we continue to look at everything. Guy Boucher and Mike Van Ryn have come in, two guys who've had tremendous experiences. I talked about Bradshaw Living and Shane Doan have brought in with their various experiences, but specific to coaching, Mike Van Ryn is coaching junior hockey as a head coach,

coaching the American League as a head coach. He's won a Stanley Cup winning the defense in St. Louis. Guy Boucher has obviously had tremendous success as a head coach and has coached very deep into the playoffs. I think both guys have really added a lot to our staff and come up with lots of ideas. So we're always looking to improve and adjust our systems. I don't think there's a huge departure from anything we've done in the past,

but then within all of this, we've got some different personnel. That in itself will have a whole different flavor. Sheldon, when I first broke into the National Hockey League in Washington with Brian Murray, a few times it'd be kind of a quiet game and all i could hear is brian murray telling me no hitters are good for baseball pitchers not you and that was the message to me to saying like let's get something going here uh in the past that we didn't get that vibe from your hockey club and now going out there and handpicking a few players including ryan reeves and max domi i mean are there times when you may need to maybe send that message to to get more emotionally invested in a game have you seen

any of it in training camp that could that could give you guys a different look during the regular season well i i mean first of all i don't know i think i think we've done we found a way to have a lot of success in the regular season so i i think that you know from that end i think that our guys have done a pretty good job of managing the 82 games and the ebbs and flows that come and go with the season. Like I said, we have a different flavor with our group. Certainly with Ryan Reeves and his presence, I think it's not just what he brings on the ice,

but the energy and the presence that he brings to the room. I think that certainly would be felt. It helps you through some of the times when it's a grind and things are quiet and you're just maybe trying to get through the day. You know, with Domi and Bertuzzi, well, I think you speak a lot to some of the physical attributes that they may bring. I think, you know, I don't think over the course of 82 regular season games, those guys themselves are not always the most physical players,

but they're players that stick their nose into everything and they go to the net and they go to the dirty areas. Certainly, if the game gets a little hairy, they have no issues. They're comfortable and confident in that environment. I think that's really what it's about for me is is as the emotions rise in the game and at times perhaps where we uh we are the uh the ones who who write raise the temperature of the game we'll have more of those types of players and of course i'm leaving out matthew nines who i think has a lot to offer in this area as well so you know when you look at combinations of those types of forwards

that we have here now that are not only good players and can help us offensively, but are able to be confident and comfortable no matter what the game brings, whether it's the regular season or through a playoff series and matchups and such. So I think that's really what you're trying to do is accumulate as many of those types of players as possible. And I think with those guys, in addition to the players that we have

who are returning, who have been through the ups and downs and who have matured themselves, I like to think we've grown a lot in the intangibles of our game. Before I let you go, I got to mention this. I don't know if you were aware the last few years that we opened up a lot of our shows with this thing called Kippers Clippers.

I got to be honest with you. There are many shows. You saved us. It's just you. It's just you, dude. Thanks. Okay. All right. What have I done? It's just you being you and us trying to figure it all out.

Yeah, just putting the pieces together, you know, and, yeah, we were used to having you off the top of the show, so thanks for coming on. We hope to have you again this year, Kiefer. Well, it's, yeah, yeah, happy to do it. Good to be back on, and I guess if I can provide some entertainment,

then I'm happy to do that. But, you know, I don't know whether you talk, tell me to talk more or talk less. Good luck tomorrow night, Sheldon Kiefer, head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Okay, take care.

All right. We got him on the show. I was going to ask him, game one of playoffs, is Willie playing center or not? But I just knew the answer we were going to get, right? It's just two. Yeah, we just don't know. Far away.

Yeah. Willie, you know, he may get a look later. Game one of the playoffs, is Willie on the oh you can't say when minton's gone maybe we'll try him there yeah i try to see if we could get him to be a little bit you know more forth forthful on on how physical he wants this team to be compared to years past i think he's happy with the fact that he's had a team that can consistently get over 100 points. For sure. I don't know how stylistic it'll look differently this year.

Well, he did mention that the original Keefe teams, remember watching Pierre Engvall turn it back to his own zone? 300 and a half times in the neutral zone? It's burned into my memory forever. They stopped doing that. So I think his point is they started going more north and south and trying to be more aggressive and physical. But I know I have worked with you for two years now,

and I know it was not to your taste, not enough yet. I just think that if you're going to find ways, and they did against Tampa Bay, and it's debatable whether or not we believe that they'll play Tampa in the first round, but they found a way to get through. But to get through a series or two after that, you got to have more examples during the regular season of playoff-type hockey.

And I'm just wondering if we'll see that a lot more this regular season so is it safe to say then that you are a fan of the ryan reeves edition by the way we haven't talked about anything several times we've like started to have these conversations like save it save it for the air i don't even know i assume he's an older guy there's some times when we we we think that you know he can't play every day as far as everything that they've talked about and and the injury the energy that he brings and and uh the attitude that he brings it is certainly welcomed for this hockey club i just don't know if it'll if it'll be it if he's in a position to just be there every day like uh like a tom wilson is

without obviously the tom wilson skill but just that physical presence game in game out you know he had some runs you know a few years ago he went night he played 19 playoff games with vegas then 12 then 18 with the rangers like he's played on playoff teams recently like that was in 22 with the rangers he played 18 playoff games so he has some experience in those games to me it's like the regular season for these leafs teams are just such a they feel like a slog because everyone's going who cares show us in playoffs right so to have a guy like that that stands up for guys that can bring some energy on the down nights like i like his odds of helping this team get to where they want to get in the regular season i'm not sure if he's still good

enough to play a ton of playoff hockey for him maybe he is i hope he is i mean yeah how often like are people gonna fight him like how many guys left are there that are actually in his weight class that like that aspect of his game is going to be really useful because there's not many mutants left that are going to want to go toe-to-toe with Ryan Reeves. Or Jack Guy in the division. He gets sent down. How many times did he... Surely not.

How many times did he fight last year? Jack Guy? Reeves. Reeves. You know, he's one of those guys that people, like, Bugaard, like, people just don't want to fight you. Five?

Seven times. Yeah. Which is more than I would have thought. But still, to me, it's like, he's going to have to do other stuff than just pound people. Do you have, like, the league leaders and majors? I don't. I just have his. I i gotta believe jack i was at or near the top of that list tanner tampa bay tanner you know yeah he'll fight you know 100 you'll fight probably

fight lucic at some point when they play you still want to do that like i don't know he seems like he still fights a bit doesn't he like it seems like just to me he's gonna have to bring other stuff than just to fight like he's gonna have to be but we listened to him on friday uh keith was thrilled with it oh yeah he loves him he's a hockey player like he can't play at 36 based on his tone he's an everyday player yes yeah he'll play 65 games or you know something like that interesting that uh the comment he made about minton where he was like he's picked up the system faster than some guys who we've had for years. Who are we talking about, Shell?

And he can direct traffic. He can coach. Perfect. Yeah, that's right. Minton can do it all. I can't wait. Is he the new Flex? Flex Seal?

Flex Seal? I can't wait till Phoenix comes to Toronto so we can get that Flex seal drop in a little more. That's where Kirk is. Stop, Leak. By the way, one of my favorite things off the top of the year, I know you're throwing a break right now, but it's like, he plays there now. I know. Just like discovering that.

Do you know who Tampa Bay's backup is? The guy that the Leafs shot eight passes. Johansson's going to start, but there's a guy named Tompkins. Whoa. Someone who's been doing a guy named... Tompkins? Whoa! Tompkins? Yeah. Somebody's been doing their research.

Matt Tompkins. Atta boy. All right. Way to go. On that note, we'll take a quick break. Still plenty to wrap our heads around on the Toronto Maple Leafs in this hour, and then in the second hour, we'll spread it out a little bit throughout the National Hockey League.

You are watching and listening to Real Kipper and Born. We're back after this break. Breaking down the top stories in the NHL every day. The Jeff Marys Show. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. all right thanks to shelvin keith for joining us in our first uh block out of the gate uh

you know one of the things that uh we were we were discussing with him is the fact that we didn't get him too often last year. Right. You know, we didn't get really anybody last year. What do you mean by too often? Ever. Ever. The first year we had him like three times. We couldn't get a player.

We couldn't get a GM. For the record, this is not Sheldon's call. We got Tavares the day before or day after he played his thousands game. Okay, one. We got him. One. One time, I think. Yeah, once.

So today I heard that there was many about, as many as maybe seven or eight guys out there on TV, radio, whatever. Our station, Tree Living, was on the morning show. Tavares was on Bunkus. Marner was on Merrick. Marner, Morgan Riley. Like, they're out there now. Yeah.

Now, is this all because Kyle Dubas is gone? He left, Brad Tree Living comes in and says, hey boys, you know. Yeah, maybe shake a couple of hands around town. I, you know, knowing the, where Kyle Dubas came from, he came in the Lou Lamorello era, right? Which is notorious for lockdown, tight ship. No one says anything.

No, no news is good news. And I think when he took over, the easiest thing to do is just to leave the policies in place, right? It's much easier than removing them. All of a sudden someone does something stupid. And so I kind of feel like.

You think he inherited? Everything's great. You really do think he inherited? Yes, I do. I really think that. Yeah, I know. I just think it's just... You think he just did that?

He just liked it that way? I mean, it's the same thing, really. If you're making those choices and you have the choice to not do it, you're on the hook. I just think Brad doesn't take himself as seriously as Kyle does. Yeah.

You know, I have a random thought here. What do you mean by that? I mean that Kyle would think he's protecting state secrets, and Bradley Go, it's hockey, for God's sakes. Yeah. Relax. You know, I've been in Toronto for, I don't know, 11, 12 years years something like that

and i can't imagine looking back to when the raptors championship run and all that if you're new to toronto in the last five to seven years it's very easy to become a raptors fan right like it feels like they're everywhere it's like very welcoming it just the leafs are kind of impenetrable at times maybe this will be the start of a kinder, gentler, community-focused Leafs. This matters, though. It does matter. I think it matters a great deal. I think it's maybe an old-school versus a new-school approach.

I don't think Trill Living is exactly an old-school guy, but putting them on the radio, putting them on TV, putting them out in the community, I think that's more of an old-school approach as to connect with your fans as opposed to just reading mean Instagram comments. It does come back and buy them some goodwill. Of course. To a certain point.

Controlling the narrative, Kip? I do think that is also part of smart to do that. You want to wet the bed in the second round, all bets are off. But during the regular season, it can buy you a little bit of leeway. Sure. Goodwill.

Yeah, we don't need to be discussing firing people eight games in again did you guys catch anything on on social media about uh the boys dressing up and going into a sobeys grocery store i saw a clip of it and i find that stuff so awkward i couldn't watch it was like they're in like a headset it wasn't it wasn't it was watchable i got and i'm like the first guy to go, you know, this is. I was cringing. I got one second and I turned it off immediately.

I'm the old guy that's saying I didn't exactly mind it that much. I saw Matthews using his Sobeys and they were like in his ear and they're like, all right, give the apple to the kid, take a bite of the apple. It's like that Ellen DeGeneres. I don't know about taking a bite of the apple if you think there's another COVID wave coming, but, you know, maybe that might be a little bit, not the Sobeys way, but I think it was a little bit of fun.

But they did this last year too, with Tim's. Remember? Yeah, I support that sort of stuff. Yeah, they had a Tim's ad where they were involved. Or it was like bunting, was that the thing? And they came through wearing stupid wigs. They've done this stuff in the past, for sure like they have sent them out.

What was that? I think that might have been bunting at a drive-thru Tim Hortons. What was that? Kipper do you know what that was? That was Austin. What? Austin Matthews in an Australian accent in the commercial. Hello ladies how we doing?

Good night mate. You know what i found really really strange but this wasn't on the leaf side it was on the blue jay side that it was like going into like the last week and you're fighting for a playoff spot, and they have Mitch Marner and Morgan and Austin taking batting practice. Like, you're days away from starting the playoffs. For 162 games, we couldn't have done this another one? I guess the Leafs are back in town. Can you imagine the Leafs being a week away from the playoffs and we see George Springer out in practice?

Vladdy's playing D in practice. It's like, I would go bananas. I mean, Matthews did hit a home run, so maybe he did belong out there. I don't know. He's an athlete. Pinch hit him. I don't think that really...

I think Blue Jays is just... It's such a monotonous every day, and they were pretty much in the playoffs at that point, Kip. I don't think it mattered that much, but maybe it did. But hey, at least they're out there. They're out and about. This is a new kinder, gentler Leafs. The question I've asked in the offseason last year

too, guys, do you think Keefe will be different with Trilliving as opposed to with Dubas? You know, I have again, I have spent time watching him with Kyle Dubas. I think it would be a little bit freeing for him, and these aren't his words. I haven't had any sort of conversation like this with him, but I think it would be a little bit freeing for him, and these aren't his words. I haven't had any sort of conversation like this with him,

but I think it would be a little bit freeing, right? I use the word relaxing. Yeah, it's like... Just a little bit more relaxed. You're away from the person who you kind of have felt beholden to. He gets to kind of be his own person a little bit more here, has some security that if he says the wrong thing

and they want to get rid of him, all right, you got a couple of paychecks coming here. I think it should help him this year yeah less uptight yeah this organization with brad tree living yeah we shall see ryan reeves brad tree living a little bit more out there it's good anywhere you guys want to go a few minutes before we take a break at the top of the hour no dragger sign 775 okay is it um are we convinced that he can fill the shoes of alafrity it's just to me he doesn't seem like the fourth line guy like to me i have been waiting for the leafs to have this like identity line of some variety in the fourth line gregor to me is a guy

who will want to chip in offensively i think these score a ton in junior didn't he you know like it's i know he's a competitive guy and he's going to be good for them and all that he's cheap it's great but you know it's a weird line when do you throw gregor camp reeves over the boards what's the game situation you're protecting lead maybe don't you think like as the games go on here that camp will be playing a lot like he's just the fourth line center in theory here but like when the situations are big and they're switching stuff around he'll probably go up the lineup a little bit like they offered ryan o'reilly a real contract right this offseason like i think they still would like to have another centerman and i bet when we go into

playoffs there's another centerman on this team yeah depending again on the success of fraser minton i could easily see him being sent down now he's guaranteed a spot on the world junior i think he if he if he goes back he'll probably be traded to a contending team with the memorial cup i think his his team the blazers no blazers host did they not host last year yeah so i mean that's a transition a year for them so i think he's still uh if if he does go back there's a few things he can look forward to and then my buddy pontus holmberg holmberg is your 4c yeah and i kind of feel bad for kid um because I do believe he should be here. He's good enough on the bottom six. Waiver exempt, right?

Waiver exempt. Nick Robertson, waiver exempt. What do you think of the Robertson thing? I just think that he – I don't see him as a Bradtree living guy. Do you see him as an NHL guy? I don't think it's – I'm not one to write people off based on uh but he just turned 22 right that's a young age that is right i think it was easier to send him down this year coming off the injury and coming back than it was last year remember last year the conversation in camp when

they kept who's that oh malgan who's now playing in switzerland they kept malgan instead of him because they thought he wasn't going to clear. And then Robertson scored against Dallas and OT early in the season. I tweeted he'll never see the Marlins again. And you're still here. Yeah. We all get to make some mistakes. I'm wrong constantly. I'm sitting here for some reason.

He needs reps. He needs games. He needs to stay healthy for a very long stretch. I would love for him you know all of a sudden it's christmas time he's scored 18 goals in 28 games or something and they go okay you know like he looks great he's healthy he's shooting in the net you know we got an injury come on up the thing that i just with him is the injuries it's just he you know there's guys who are small and that can play on the NHL obviously Obviously, it's not like it used to be,

but even in preseason, there's a couple times you kind of turn into a hit and you're just... It's like, though, he wants to show them he's not afraid of the contact. But sometimes you should be afraid. Do you ever remember Mitch Marner getting hit? Never. Or Patrick Kane getting hit?

Like, if you're small and in the league, you just, you can't get hit that often. A couple minutes to go. Leaf blue line or goaltending? Where do you go? Let's do goaltending. They went to salary arbitration with Ilya Samsonov, signed him to a one-year contract.

He was terrible in preseason. Did they settle or did they go through the process? They went through the process, yeah. They got all the way down and that's how it got a contract. How do you feel about that? Do you think he is offended by that? I hope so. I really do.

Why? So he'll be motivated to have a great year. I think that's the game plan. I saw a prediction yesterday or the other day that Samsonov, let's say he gets off to a good start, they then give him his five times five or something. If he's a 920 guy in November, would that be enough for you to then make him the guy?

No, no, no, no. I take him all the way through. See you next summer. I don't care. Listen, Hill won the Stanley Cup, and you didn't have to blow your brains out to re-sign him. Hill is two-year times 4.9, I think. Manageable.

Not six or seven. Samsonov can go to a conference final or a final and he shouldn't go further than 5 million next year. Maybe 5.2. It's tough, right? He had a good year. He's young. He's the starting goalie.

You don't need to make a mistake. Yeah. I agree for what it's worth. A great first half of the season and then see him find a way to get hurt again or joseph wool's the better goaltender that's the ideal scenario you know and all that he outplays him and then he's the starting goalie i think that's what they would like to happen no yeah you don't want to have paid samson off to then find out that wool's the guy you want to be the starter. It's almost like Campbell and Skinner and Edmonton. Which, by the way, Edmonton and the Leafs have a lot of overlap in terms of the way their teams are built.

From net on out. Yeah. Net on out. Three lines that are really good. Pretty average bullet beyond that. Average D. But, yeah, the goaltending thing is interesting. Like, I think Edmonton wants Campbell to be the guy again.

Part of that is, like, we gave him all this money. Like, we kind of want to be proven right here. He seems in a better place. Yeah, okay. Mentally, physically. Love Campbell. Yeah. You don't believe, you don't, you don't.

Three go in opening night, then he's right back to old Jack. Yeah, listen, that's, Samsonov could have a bad weekend. People will be screaming to get rid of him. Your boy made it through waivers. They put that $100,000 thing on top of his claim. Did you see that? No. With Martin Jones.

If they claim him, they have to pay him $100,000. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. Could not find loose change in the cushions in Tampa Bay. Martin Jones. Available for the Leafs. All right. Just like that.

That takes care of our first hour on the Real Kipper and Bourne. We're going to take a break, and we're coming back with the likes of Sportsnet 650 Vancouver and 960 in Calgary. Boys, The Real Kipper and Born love just keeps spreading on out. We're back after these words.