Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Shorthanded Buds Band Together

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and guest producer Cristian Ceniti open today's New Year's Eve episode with thoughts on the Maple Leafs' 4-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils. They dive into the Buds' complete effort while shorthanded, hear what Craig Berube had to say postgame, and look into Nick Robertson's revival of late. They also touch on Toronto's improved power play, Matthew Knies' tilt against Nico Hischier, hear Sheldon Keefe's take on the fight, and share an update on Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Chris Tanev and Dakota Joshua. Craig Simpson (31:38), two-time Stanley Cup champion and Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster, weighs in on how the Leafs looked without some of their star power, which players made the most of their opportunity, and the team's improved power play. Simmer also checks in on Team Canada's roster selection for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Sam Bennett's notable omission.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.

Time to put a big bow on the year 20, 25. Our last real Kipper and Bourne show of this calendar year, coming right up. It's the Leaf Hour edition. We are live on Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 590, the fan in Toronto, and streaming always on Sportsnet Plus, also available at your convenience. maybe tomorrow when you're all hung over lying in bed to like almost noon that's when you download on Spotify Apple Podcasts and YouTube they're very uh she doesn't say very few but there are there are a certain number of days per year where being a sober guy is like such a treat and new

year's day is one of them where you hear people suffering and just go cool awesome you're great you can speak to that better than anybody might friend a terrific show post-olympic announcement show of course we got the leaf hour edition we'll talk a lot about therefore nothing win last night led by joseph wall with his 33 save shut out but in the meantime craig simpson in about 30 minutes will join us Doug Armstrong, general manager of your team Canada with that official announcement

will join us at the top of the hour and then we're followed up quickly with two-time gold medalist Chris Bronger. How about that? There you go, Olympic theme today. But that still pales in comparison to having Christian Shanidi join us.

Is that right? and encore performance. It's the finale. Because our Sammy is still on a mandatory leave until Friday, I believe. Then we'll let him back on the show. I think so. Forced leave.

Christian, welcome aboard my friend once again. Followed up with Andrew Adams and Jen Rollnick. So here we go. Toronto Maple Leafs last night, a game that Justin and I were on the panel along with Carolyn Cameron and Elliot Friedman. we weren't sure what we were expecting with the likes of superstar

Austin Matthews and Willie Nealander on the sidelines we figured if they could just keep it close avoid that track meet through the neutral zone they should be fine but they were more than just fine

last night J.B yeah I mean a really bizarre game it started in a way that we were like oh oh right there's a couple of turnovers not getting out of the zone and then after about five, six minutes they settled in. Bobby McMahon really kind of put them on their back, the team

on his back, momentum-wise, had a couple of great shifts. Robertson was great, and all of a sudden, you saw this sort of cohesive team unit where everyone was on the right side of the puck. They were making simple plays and got a couple of power plays where they moved it around nice. And after 20 minutes and 25 and 30,

we looked at each other and kind of like, they look really good. And that was a bit of a shocker last night. Christian, you saw the same thing? Yeah, of course. No, I'm just surprised. Score aside, if I told you it was for nothing, that isn't how you would have drew it up.

You would have said maybe it was like they get in a shell, they protect the house, and it doesn't look more like you guys are saying, the track meet in the devil's style. I think that's the biggest thing for me. And then you guys have done a ton of like Team A, team B talk over the years. And that's about as congruent a unit I've seen. And obviously they were missing to Team A guys,

but that's my main takeaway. No, but that's funny because that's a lot of people's takeaway. It's like, boy, why is it that when the superstars aren't there, it looks like that? Well, we'll get into that in the meantime. Let's go to Craig Bruby to get his takeaways from a 4-0 win last night for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Well, I think

you know, just everybody contributing and like everybody doing their job. Goaltender was really good and just all around pretty solid hockey by everybody. That's the one thing I take from it. Everybody was bought in.

I'm not going to sit here and suggest that there are a better team without Nealander and Matthews. But there is a sense. And it may even bleed into social media. And maybe Christian, you can add a little bit more to this. But there are some people out there that are, they like the thought of going past,

Just what they've been accustomed to where two, three guys are the complete face of the A team. And we've noted this multiple years now. But that was all B team last night. And people didn't mind the feel of a team without those guys. Right. Yeah, they didn't. They didn't last night for sure. It helps.

You know, New Jersey wasn't very good last night. That helped. Kip, you know how it is. If you try to put a team like that together for 82 games without 34 and 88, they do way worse. You have to, right? They do way worse. Way worse, in your opinion right now, means just ultimately losing.

Right? That's the worst. You'll lose a lot of games. Yes. But if you've, if you're, if you're. If you're in a position to lose more games, but you see a better effort, a better cohesiveness to your description, Christian,

there's a part of, I think, a leaf base, fan base that are like, I'd rather lose a ton of games with that feel than sometimes what I've witnessed with these superstars in the lineup. Yeah, your job and my job today is to save those people from themselves. Save those people who have those thoughts at like, hey, what if we had less good players? Would that be better? It's like, you know, watch the best teams in the league.

But would it make the 20 guys that you're watching, no matter where their skill level is, would it make them feel more of a team? Sure it would. Yeah, you could watch the Columbus Blue Jackets for the past 20 years, team their way out of the playoffs, and look really all Team B.

We're all on the same team. I'm not suggesting that you get rid of skill so you can have a team full of we tried really hard kind of guys. But I think it was a little refreshing last night to watch 20 guys with limited

skill come together better than at any point during this season. And my fight on this is that you don't take away from the team A guys and say it's because team A is not there. You hold up the team B guys

and say those guys brought it. They elevated their game. If Nick Robertson could do what he did last night 82 times, he wouldn't be Nick Robertson, he'd be Jason Robertson. So there's a reason this is like, he can't do it all the time. They got that awesome effort. It was amazing.

But I honestly believe that Nick was able to kind of go a little bit because there was more oxygen in the room because it wasn't sucked up by Willie or Austin. He definitely could be somewhere between Nick and Jason if he got that kind of ice time. that we've seen him play top six minutes he does well you know what's interesting is I've cut like three Nick Robertson clips over the week here and I want to say two out of three times at least he mentions ice time himself yeah he talks about the oxygen someone asked him about his

like playing stronger on the puck he said no it just comes with ice time so I think you're right truly the drum he beats when he gets asked pregame he's asked yeah whether I get 10 12 minutes you know just give it what I got and last night on the air I said it uh nobody ever since i've watched the leaf since i was seven i've never seen a guy's career like over crazy done cooked like grilled marks all over his ass done done and then dust himself off and come right back it's unbelievable how many and i give him full credit he should have could easily quit on this team a long time ago and yet he just waits quietly for another opportunity,

fourth line, third line, first line, healthy scratch, let's do it again, let's do it again, let's do it again, let's do it again.

And yet now he's put himself in a position where not only are Craig Bruby and Brad Tree Living noticing, there's 30 other teams, there's 31 other teams going, okay, and maybe we should have just try to push a little harder

and got him a little earlier because I think his stock's gone up and so as the price if in fact you still are considering moving him. I honestly love to hear that because we'll get into the injury stuff that we've heard of, but they're going to have a tough January in terms of missing players. So if Nick Robertson and Bobby McMahon who've been themed since the weekend keep propelling their value, I don't see a world where they're fully healthy and we're getting the most out of those guys. So I can see a world where we're trying to make the most of these guys' value at the end of January.

Yeah, I suppose that's possible. You know, it's funny, though, for Nick Robertson talk about ice time and opportunity. He is a sixth in scoring among the least forward. So it's the four guys you think, Nealander, Tavarra, and I's Matthews. Bobby McMahon is 20 points and Robertson is 19. You know, he's two points ahead of Max Domi now. And how many more minutes an opportunity has Max Domi had than Robertson this year? You know, it's like, Robertson is trying his hardest in these interviews not to be like,

has anyone else noticed if I get to play with these guys? guys, I do stuff. So good for him for proven a point. It seems like a million years ago, but this guy was a top score in the CHL and at times looked upon as an untouchable in terms of a leaf prospect. I uttered the words trade Nick Robertson for Sam Bennett before he went to Florida and people bit my head off. Not a chance.

Not a chance. And I'm not saying that, you know, he's going to end up scoring 40 goals one day in this season. But he's made a lot of people believers and around the league as well that under the right circumstances with the right ice time and a couple more looks on a power play that this guy could be legit 25 goals. He should play the bumper spot on the power play. Like he can hit a one time or he can catch and release it. He can just somewhere where he can use. the thing he does best which is his shot so yeah uh it was he was part of the story last night for sure but i don't know that you could point to a guy there's not a guy's game last night

that i didn't like i thought that top to bottom that you got a much better effort did we play brooby yet on robertson not on robertson okay let's go to uh head coach craig bruby's thoughts on robertson's recent play clip five five yeah nicky's played well for you know i i nick he's played pretty well all year i in my opinion like not much more than he always does he skates and he works and but he's he's he's more confident as a player right now for me and um you know he's he's he's ended scoring making some plays and things like that so it's great to see from him because you know the work's always there he always works and and skates well um but he's just to me he's more confident with his puck play you know he

he is 24 years old now like you could get a good four years out of him here where he gets you 20 goals and 40 points you know which is not nothing yeah i think if if anyone if the leaps are going to go with nick long term in the wheelhouse of three or four years or a team trades for him it's got to come with the opportunity that i i think you could play top six i'm going to try you as a top six right yeah there's definitely there's a ceiling above that if he had a good fit on team that really liked him in the top six he could definitely do more than that so that's a real bright spot but it's it's the hanging on to the puck with him that I like best in the ozone and finding more possession time uh you want to go McMahon you want to go

joseph wall I am curious to hear barubia on whether the team has turned a corner can we can we do that yes absolutely please yeah I mean yeah I understand what you're saying I mean I think we're playing a lot better and we're the puck play's been better and there's a lot of things that are better tonight's special teams i think where there was the difference in the game but yeah the teams got confidence they they they're starting to you know understand how we need to do things and everybody's buying into it that's the biggest thing so he i found i found him i found him on that clip catching himself totally okay it's like what are you talking about this is this is when he looks at the media guy and just thinks to himself don't do this

to me okay buddy don't do this to me because if i say if if they're not if i say they're they haven't turned a corner that's not good for my players and if i say that they've turned a corner that's not good for me either right so just dig a chill pill we we beat what i've seen so far as the worst team in the national hockey league last night i don't i don't know i don't know where new jersey New Jersey ends up in the standings. Last night, I have never, I have not seen this season a worse team than whatever they brought to the table. So there has to be that element. And you brought this up.

I didn't. They were horrible last night with no effort. And we'll get into Sheldon Keith's comments about his captain having to fight Matthew Nyes for sure. But, but they needed paddles last night. And that's why Hishir did what he did, he needed to do. Yeah. Uh, yeah, not good. But, but you're right on.

To this point, it's like, we, we still got to play better teams to really, truly know where we're at. Well, I think for Craig Bureubi, he's like, what are he talking about? Like, we didn't have our, our stars in. So we already, we can't even assess what we are until we have our, our group in. So we're doing our best. cobbled it together. We got a great effort. I don't know that it's indicative of, you know, when we have our guys, all these guys are playing different roles and in different spots.

So, you know, you ham and egged it last night. And it was awesome. Great effort, great success. You did everything you could to get two points. But I don't think we learned anything about what the lines are, what the power play units are, what they're going to be when they're contend, you know, in a playoff series. So no, I don't think there's even the opportunity to answer the question whether the team has turned a corner or not. However, yeah nice to see them score power play goals so really there was a sense that they didn't get off to the best start they weren't clean coming out of their own zone but then they get a gift power play and it just seemed to turn the whole momentum around it gave them some confidence and they started

they started going yeah yeah um was that the robertson one where you got slashed and things got to turn around i think it was and it just the leaps didn't have anything going. New Jersey had a bit of a push. And then they give up that power play opportunity and then it just seemed to turn. You know, to your point

about New Jersey and we'll beat them up a little bit. They were bad last night. Their penalty kill is last in the league going back to November 1st. So, you know, I'm sure Mark Savard is sitting at home going like, come on. The last three

power or penalty kills they've played have been dogs and that's great they've taken advantage of some weak penalty killing but it worked to their advantage last night they got the puck to the middle I would say physically and we'll talk about Sheldon in one second that's where this was all different

the Leafs got pucks to the middle of the ice the dangerous areas and were allowed to stand there and whack away at the Leafs end when they got an opportunity no one on New Jersey even tried to get to the inside they just kind of stayed on the perimeter and so it's kind of that high danger opportunity difference between the two teams

Christian, what do you see on the power play between what wasn't working and what is right now? Well, I know like you're saying, the devils are definitely one of the worst teams, especially like relative to expectations coming into the season. But you guys were talking about it, I think in the intermission, about it in the NHL, it's more than just simplifying on the power play, right? So I feel like they're at least narrowing the scope, though, of the options for them on the power play. It feels like they're funneling more to the middle because that bumper slot, like, regardless of against New Jersey or over the past week,

that has been open for them. And they've taken advantage of it. And I don't know if it's that. Savar just wasn't preaching that or if those opportunities just didn't exist. Like, what do you see there? Because they've consistently gone to that bumper spot and it's worked the entire week.

Yeah, it's a great point. And we just saw the move in the puck around in general. So I think when you pass the puck, and this is part of the thing I said last night, it makes the D change shape and opens up seams and they're doing a better job. But also, for a long time with the top power play unit, they wanted to put all their superstars on there. So you had Tavares and Nyes and Matthews, shooter, shooter, shooter.

Willie, you know, he is a shooter first. They didn't have any dishers. And now you've got a lot of touches from Machelli, more from domy, a little bit more puck movement. I think that helps. All right, you got our thoughts on the power play. Let's get Craig Bruby's thoughts on why it started clicking. Clip three, please. You know, I think it's when I watch it and I'm looking at it, it's just more direct and crisper, you know, like the passes are better and they're not looking for a different option.

It's make that play. Pucks are going to the net. You know, we're recovering them, resetting them again. That's the biggest difference I see right now in on the power play. And then the goals, you know, they're around the net. That's where you score goals. Sure enough. I guess when it was the last time Brad Tree Living went public, he said it's costing us, right?

It's just costing us points, I think, was his, the way what he was referring to. And it's like, yeah, you can see it now. You could really see how much it hurt them the first 30 games. Well, think about it. They were dead last at like 13%. And if you're 20%, you know, if you score a goal every other game or every third game or whatever extra along the way, you probably come up with another four or five points. And in the standings, that's all the difference.

Right now, the Leafs have 42 points, one point out of the basement, which is Ottawa has 41. And they're five points at a third spot in the Atlantic. So it's a few points would go a long way, right? A long way. All right Matthew Nye's Nico Heeshier Yeah

What This is I don't know I can't remember now This is my six concussions kick in And was that That was late in the third period Mid third period

I would say there's 11 or 12 minutes left In the third period Okay Because The clip There's a reference To this Christian where you say

On the clip Asking Burubi About the fight and the impact it had on the game wasn't the game kind of was 2-0-0 over game was 2-0 yeah was there an impact on it

before we listen to the movie there's 14 minutes left in the game when they fall right okay fair enough fair enough and that's the reference then okay I thought it was a little later in the period but yeah still undecided at that point to me sorry I've heard multiple people be like yeah I don't know about the timing of that fight

it's like that is for New Jersey the perfect time to me to say hey let's go we still have clock let's get Craig Bruby's thoughts and then we'll dive in deeper to it I thought it was a huge impact I mean I'm not sure exactly what started I didn't ask him but you know took off a good player you know for five minutes but he's a good player himself but that's just what the the things he's capable of doing you know he's a he's a big guy that can handle himself

physical so I thought guys really fed off it I thought we were really physical after that fight it's funny he shares a big guy too he's 6-1-195 not big but it's bigger than I want to guess okay you let's play the the leaf side first with Matthew Nyes okay okay this is to me like the one thing that's held him back is that if he had a shorter fuse I think he would completely go to another level and we've seen it now on a couple occasions albeit we had got to go last year to Vegas with his fight

and then last night it's like okay Nico I get it you're the captain or you're one of the best players but shut your mouth right I've totally I've had enough of you and if we're going to go let's go and it's like boom right there's no thinking it out

there's no you know the wheels are turning and then nothing happens after that it's like no that's the game you got a split second and make a decision and thank you mat matthew nice thank you because this team has been screaming for something like this for a long long time it's like you're not only talking to nico matthew you're talking to the rest of the league the rest of the league is watching the highlight pack and going want to go mouth off i don't want that maybe the same somebody else but not me yeah kate boom left left down over yeah it was quick the guy's a mule yeah we talked about this yesterday right in the back half of of the leaf sour about being reactive or passive right like not only did he initiate but he could like he could have left it at the beginning there

where they when they talk yeah he escalated yeah right he took it to another level I think he sure did catch him by surprise right like he didn't get his glove left hand it is nice two or three times you can see him mouth the words let's go but that can be his trump card on on anyone talking to him pushing him whatever where he can go okay then let's fight you know and people will be really quiet if they know that that's the button he's willing to push and he's a lefty that lefty thing you were lefty right yeah i was my dad was too that's a but they figure it out eventually the good fighters yeah if you go after a guy's like nico it'll they'll never figure it out the competition could get a little tougher for him but so so what you're 240 yeah absolutely you're a linebacker

yeah they're what matthews calls him a tight end yeah there you go just giant hookin who has hands it's so good on him so um why don't we listen to shelton get the other side of it the uh the view from keef is it uh you're good to listen to that time otherwise okay let's have keef clip one please Listen, I mean, do I want our captain and one of our best players fighting and when we're down 2-0 in the third period? Absolutely not. But do we need some guys to step up and show some emotion and show some balls and play with some urgency and competitiveness

and step out of character? Yeah, we need more of that. We need more guys that are going to show a little bit more. If you're not going to score, give us a little bit more competitively and physically and show that you're working to find your way. There's not enough of that. We're just kind of going about our business. Do you know how bad it has to be in that room

for your coach to go out to the media with microphones everywhere and say, show more balls? Yeah, well, he knows the media too. He knows who he's talking to Toronto media. It is insulting. It's embarrassing to every player in that room. Okay? you might as well say my team has no balls yeah

Nico he's here uh has you know he doesn't even get penalties he 81 games 10 pims uh 80 or 71 games 12 pims like what thief likes is a guy who's he what he said get out of his character outside of his character i you know that's the call to his team it's like i get that this is not who you are but like hey tim o mire you're kind of built like matthew nyes could you maybe punch someone like not not fight just get mad get involved get in front of the net i think it's a plea for these guys like we need some of that and again for nico he's sure to do that when he's not that guy it's it just takes the antennas and the attention in that room to like an extraordinary height

because what it does is it guilt 19 other guys to say I should do that before you. Yeah. I should do that before you. And if, if you had to do it and I got away with not doing it, you should have a sick pit in your stomach right now. Yeah, you're looking down the bench and you're, I don't know, who in this team is supposed to or could even help?

I guess you have Brendan Dillon, Stefan Nason, have some PIMS, but like some of these guys, you know it's got to be you first before. I'm telling you, I've been in that position where I'm on the, bench and if you're either watching a Mark Messier or a Doug Gilmore or a Dino Cicerelli getting to these scrums and he's got his stick up and he's punching guys you're like if he's

doing that what am I doing here? Right? Like I'm stealing money right now and I know that there's a general manager there's a coach there might be 14,000 fans season ticket holders going if he's doing what are you doing then? What are you just taking

up space on the bench? Yeah if we're going to have the guy who scores also be the guy who fights We're just not going to need you at all. Totally. Totally. The devil's need a little bit. So it did nothing for the game last night for New Jersey, Nikko Hischer, but this is for the long term here. He's asking for it to do something in the big picture.

And I love that when certain guys are willing to do that. And that is tremendous leadership that's holding your team accountable for sure. And, you know, there's different forms of it too. like I like what is it two weeks ago Werenski called out the Columbus blue jackets right yeah so what are we doing here right? Guess what happened right after that

trades? A couple trades yeah we just doesn't happen with the players management Columbus is going oh okay well maybe you know maybe people are going to start looking at me now yeah yeah and that's what happened and we know Tom Fitzgerald he's been in the the trademark like huge trade

decide he needed to make space to even do a potential it doesn't matter like you do whatever you have to do right now because this is of course it's going to fall off of nico now and and even through the team and if they're not the players they're not the players but then it goes right to management goes right to tom fiss gerald's going hey you got we need you you you collected these guys we are soft team we don't have long before we go to simmer let's talk about some of these injuries um do you let's just rattle through these clips Okay. Get an update on all the guys.

Let's start with Austin Matthews. Injury Update. Clip 7 from Barubi, please. He had a good day today, so I think we'll go in tomorrow, see how it feels in the morning, and he'll probably go on the ice, and we'll go from there. Hopefully he's in there tomorrow, and we'll get him back. Okay, so he's playing.

I think so? A good day today, hopefully, and then what? He turns around and goes, eh, wasn't that good a day? It's still a little bruisy. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, he's playing. Okay, Matthews, we've got him as in.

Let's hear Kneelander, whether he's skated day, clip eight. No, we'll see tomorrow if he's able to get on the ice. Okay, no good day, no hopefully, he ain't playing. 88, out. Okay, let's move on to Chris Tenev, clip nine. Chris Tanna is going to miss some time, significant time. Growing, they're looking at things going forward. here so I'm not going to speculate on what they're going to exactly do but he's going to be

he's going to be out of a while yeah he might need surgery I was that's that's but hey they gave us they gave us his injury it I wonder if they've had an internal conversation I really hope they did that's really nice to know you know so groin and quite bad significant time I don't know I don't know what the options are but it sounds like maybe that's an option I got to tell given the so I mentioned yesterday and last night the Leafs have 17 games in the month of January I think it's 16, 17 included last night if you're out with a torn groin

or whatever growing problem is it's at least a month you know if it's significant groin you're out a month I don't know if he'll be bad this year I don't know I hope he can but between the whiplash and this now you know and

Did he come back too early? Was there? Unrelated, right? No, I don't know. I don't know. You just, you go from nothing to trying to get on a moving train. Yeah. It's not easy.

No, but that doesn't mean you don't try to get on the train when you're paid to be a train on getter. Great point. You know, it's like he had to try, but it definitely could be connected. Okay, we should break because we actually have Simmer already. Oh, we do? Yeah. All right.

Simmer. Hang in there, buddy. We're coming right after the break. More Real Kippron-Borne on our Leaf Edition hour. Big opinions and in-depth conversations covering the Leafs, J's, Raptors, and the NFL. The Jady Bunkin's podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the program. Nick Kippreos, Justin Borer, and Christian Shiniti. Let's go to Craig Simpson. now, covered the game for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Simmer, how are you, my friend? I'm doing great. How are you guys doing? Good, good, thanks.

I don't know what the stat was that I read, that the last time that the Leafs played a hockey game without the likes of Mariner, Matthews, or Nylander might be 10 years ago. It was 2016. There you go. Okay, perfect, my friend. Before Matthews was even drafted. Okay.

in your experience playing you know let's take the edmonton oilers for instance what it does to a room what it does to a team when you look around the room in your case i don't know messier not in the lineup curry not in the lineup and grets for a little while there with you um like what's what's the feel what's the impact what are the what runs through a player's mind well for sure it sharpens the senses of every player in the room because you know you're missing a big element of guys that typically drive the play, play the most minutes, and now of a sudden with them being gone, I think everybody looks at it as a chance to say, okay, you know,

my responsibility is going to be a bigger one. And every player who's playing in that room at some point has been a significant contributor to some team that they played on to get there. So you have that innate sense of what it means to go, man, I might play a lot tonight. I might get a lot of opportunities. I might actually get a power play chance tonight. And I think it allows guys who typically are in the background,

who are good soldiers and like to, you know, defer to the leadership group. Maybe don't talk as much to start talking a little bit more, to start taking some ownership of the game. And, you know, I listened to you guys earlier. And Justin's right. Like, don't kid yourself that an 82 game season can have that same. strength and impact with not having your top guys. But for small runs, there's no question.

I think it really engaged a guy like Bobby McMahon. I think you saw it from the interview of Nick Robertson with Sean before the game. And players that maybe wouldn't step out and say something or be as, you know, rah-rah on the bench or talkative are now because they know you need something. You need something different to change when you're missing those top guys. So I think on a short term, the greatest example of it is just the collective effort of all four lines and all three D pair, how everybody seemed to have a little bit more energy and seem to take a little bit more responsibility. And quite frankly, it was fun to watch.

Yeah, it really was. So I'm watching that. And I know that coaches sometimes say that when they play these games without their superstars, you can learn a lot about who you have, right? guys get more opportunity and you get a better sense for okay when we're back at full strength maybe we can get more out of this guy or use guy a guy in this role is there anyone for you who's been standing out as they've kind of been without kneelander and matthews a little bit that you go maybe there's more room for this guy even once they're healthy yeah i i thought

you know you guys mentioned nick and i think i talked about it a great length last night because I've heard all the all your trade rumors you guys thinking he might get dealt or he's going to get dealt and my point last night was just saying sometimes you just you don't realize what you have and you don't give the opportunity to the player you have until you're forced to and then you start to realize and watch and go you know maybe maybe I have to just let this guy go a little bit like Willie Nealander makes mistakes and Willie Nealander turns pucks over and doesn't get his coverage right every time, but he gets a bit

of a pass, which top guys do who have been producers for 10 and 11 years. Some guys don't get any, and then you could see what it does to their confidence. I think what even Craig said after the game was Bobby McMahon looked like he knew he had to be a force out there, knew he had to

take the control of the game, and you know, there's another guy. I talked to Kenny Danico before the game. We were talking about Jacob Quillan. And I said, you know, I look and say, why not take this opportunity to see what you got and try to empower the kid? You know I talked before that Buffalo game about Nick Robertson and say, this is your opportunity to give him a chance to see what you have.

And I think you're seeing a lot of it. And I thought last night, because of the circumstances, those kind of guys took some leadership of the team, took the onus on them to be a game changer where, quite frankly, I don't think they always get the sense of doing that at other times but they also feel at other times that if i make a mistake i'm going to be gone i think that kind of goes out the window when you're missing your top guys you know you're going to play more and i think you just play freer you're listening to two times stanley cup champion craig simpson covering the tronal maple leaps for sports net hockey night in canada simmer um the power play you know you

Like, no kidding aside, I do feel bad for Marks of Hard, you know. I mean, come on, like, you're sitting there watching what you've watched for 30 plus games and then they turn around and string a couple together and, you know, it's can't blame Mark Savard. You can't give Steve Sullivan all the credit here. So what has happened? What's going on? Well, it's again, it's like anything, it's a small. sample size, right? I think it was after the Pittsburgh game. I was walking out with Shane

Donne and we were kind of both amazed at saying, how does this group on the power play just seems so tentative and so stationary and so predictable, you know, talented guys, not just freewheeling and snapping pucks around, talented guys who are telegraphing passes. And that's really what was some of the downfall of the way they were going. Let's look at what, everybody's feeling so positive now it's literally three games worth eight power plays you've scored four times two out of the four goals are broken plays and i think the first one kind of broke the broke the dam so to speak a bad play a bad entry you get forced inside puck pops out to matthews he slides it over a kneelander and you score you didn't you didn't write that out you didn't

predict how the setup has to be they had the second unit made the one good play a domy to the bumper for Nye's. Okay, now you got a little confidence. That was an actual setup. The other Nye's goal in Detroit, fundamentals of outmanning your opponent in the tight areas. Two guys in front of the net win a puck battle. Matthews tips it over to Nize you score.

Again, not a super setup, not anything special in magic. And what was last night? A broken play again that Robertson keeps it in at the line, and Bobby McMahon shoots from, what, 40 feet? and beat the goalie. So you feel totally different about yourself and the group and the power play, but has there really been that much of a fundamental change in the way that the makeup is?

I just think those are the streaks that are sometimes hard to even understand what happens. But I think that first goal just sort of clicked and got guys from stop thinking so much. Get out playing. Get out playing like you do, five on five, work your opponent, win the puck battle, get to the front of the net, all those things. and good things happen and let's hope that they can you know continue pushing that three games is a good start if you can put four or five or six games together i think now collectively you start to feel better about the whole units simmer i'll ask you a question that i feel like is maybe a little depressing for least

fans of reality check here uh so 16 games in the month of january that's a little bit more than a game every other day their injury luck right now you know it really puts them in in kind of dire right like they have to win games if they lose a point or two they're last in this division you know kind of when do they need to know that they're a team worth adding because we're going to get to that Olympic break and it's going to be nothing's going on there and then it's the trade deadline like we're kind of getting there sooner than people think yeah if you're if you're looking at that 16 games as you say i think if you get halfway there the the eight games you know look at look at buffalo savers we're in such a hole they've won what nine in a row

and are still just almost there in a playoff spot. I think if you can, another example, as Nick was so damning of the New Jersey Devils, look at the east. You know, it's mediocrity all the way through. So in eight games, if you can do what you've done in the last, you know, three or four games and come out with seven out of eight points,

you do that a couple in the first eight games and get points in 80% of them, I think you know that given what's happening in the Atlantic, you're going to be there. You're going to be a point or two. And I think you've got to be realistic that are you really a great playoff team? I don't know. Maybe you could get healthy.

Maybe things can happen. But I don't remember a time at all where you're looking at not just the Atlantic Division, but the East in general, and say, we don't have to be a great team to be getting in the playoffs. And then more than at any point in the last decade, if you actually get in the playoffs you might find your way to be a good team and you know win a round

win two rounds get to the third I wouldn't want to be facing the West once you get to the final but who cares you know it is such a unique year because everybody else just seems to be the same and there's no team that's really putting their stamp on

the east simmer I know this is our leaf hour edition but I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about the Olympic roster team Canada as announcement today. Of course, you're going to be a big part of our coverage for SportsNet in Italy. Celebrini did not end up making it a tough decision at all. But there might have been one with Bohorvat, Anthony Sorrelli, and ultimately Sam Bennett,

not on the team. But what stood out for you today? Well, I think, you know, you look at coach's choice, right? So Sorrelli and point to me, if anybody was arguing that maybe they, shouldn't be on. There's your coaches saying it's non-negotiable. Those two guys are my guys and they're going to be on the team. So I think that protected them. You look at the changes from the four nations with utility type players in Jarvis and Connectney. You've replaced them with, I think, two guys that are playing better and have maybe more experience in Suzuki and

Horvat. You know, you trade off those types of players and I think it's an upgrade with Suzuki and Horvad who can kill penalties beyond the power play. Horvats a 57.8 in the faceoff dot. The biggest one obviously is Bennett. And I think the decision guys was saying you're trading Bennett for

Wilson. And Wilson's faster. He can kill penalties. You know Bennett's a good in those tough game areas. I think that was probably a very, very difficult decision to make. But I think it's one that you trade

a type of player for another type of player. So it's Wilson who takes Bennett. The other guy that I thought of might have been is, you know, Mark Stone. Stone sets a versatile player that that might have been, you know, is he going to be fast enough? I thought at times in the Four Nations didn't look at it. But his intangibles, he's on like 120 point pace right now too in Vegas. So he stays.

And then you've got Celebrini as sort of, you know, the extra guy that you didn't have at the moment. four nations and he could be a game breaker you know he might find that he fits perfectly in the top line he could play top line he could play uh fourth line and be an effective guy and heaven forbid you get an injury to you name it sidney crosbie mckinan macdiv whatever you've got a guy that is a dynamic player that might be able to just say okay the injury happens you're going to go in and i think that's where the wild card is so you know how tough it is guys to make those kind of decisions.

But I think from the forward standpoint, I kind of understand them. And it must have been a real tough one to tell Sam Bennett that. But I think the justification was you're trading Bennett for Wilson. The, you know, NHL players who are at that level and, you know, you guys can speak to this and I can't. But like, there is a certain amount of ego you have to have to be that good. You have to know you're good. You have to believe you're good.

You have to, right, that's a mindset. And so for Sam Bennett to win the Kahn-Smith Trophy is the best player in the NHL playoffs, big game player, Stanley Cup, six months ago. And then you call them and go, you're not one of the 14 best players. For two months, you have to be the best player in the playoffs. Yeah, two months straight. It's not an off game. Do you think there's a part of him that's going, screw you guys?

Oh, there's got to be. And I think that's what drives, as you said, great. players to further greatness is anytime you're doubted you say screw that i'm going to show you anytime you feel like you've been disparaged you go screw that i'm going to come back harder and i'm going to be better and you know i really the hardest thing of being a coach is telling a guy that you got to bench them or you can't play them hardest thing of being a general manager for something like this can you imagine the discussions of great players that are not in this lineup and I think the hardest thing obviously is because he was part of four nations and a big part of it

and then couple that with the Kahn-Smite. That had to be one of the hardest conversations as Armstrong has had maybe even in his career. So one more before I let you go and just from a player's perspective is that we saw the naming of the roster today. We've got a little over 40 days to go to this tournament starts. how much is in the back of the minds of these players now just don't get hurt I knew you're going to say that

you know and how much will it impact perhaps even the standings you know when it's all said and done you know what I think you've played long enough and you've had injuries my back ended my career my last three years were a living hell trying to play hockey but

I think what you always find is if guys are true to what makes them the great professionals that they are, if you play trying not to get hurt, you're going to get hurt. And I think every player says you've got to eliminate any thoughts of that in your mind and play the way you do. Look at how Nathan McKinnon and Connor McDavid play when they're playing at their best. You know, it's borderline recklessness, right, and the intensity and the energy. If you don't play that way, you might now, instead of,

of blowing by that defenseman you might that little hesitation might go knee to knee and instead of the things that you do naturally and instinctively so i don't think there's any question nick that it's got to be on guys's minds i i think my messaging if i were john cooper or any coach as though you got to do what makes you the special player you are and when you typically play that way you know nothing but good things happen if you vary from that or play half into that i think you really do risk something bad happening and I guess it's probably easier said than done but it'll be intriguing to watch until we get to what is it February 5th is the last NHL game before they all go Simmer fantastic stuff as always so appreciate your your efforts to come on our show wish you all

the best in 2026 happy new year pal all right happy new year guys take care thanks simmer appreciate it Craig Simpson voice of sports net hockey NHL and hockey in Canada He's awesome. Very, very, very good. Yeah, me too. Yeah, honestly, because we know how competitive, the four nations, guys, the competitiveness that we really saw and we said, oh, it's political and I'm not taking away from that. But it was all about getting named to this roster.

That was the fight. You know, to your point about Sam Bennett, did a pretty good. good job at the four nations. You know, I remember two Sam Bennett moments. He gets, he's one of the two, three guys to fight in the first nine seconds and he ties the game up against the Americans. Two, two. Nine minutes left or whatever it was.

Pretty big moments. Well, listen, among the biggest. Don't disappear because if you got some questions on Sam Bennett, we'll get to them with the general manager of Team Canada. Doug Armstrong set to join us at the top of the hour. And then,

Then followed up with one of the best in the history of the game on that blue line. Chris Pronger knows something about Olympic hockey. Don't go away. More real Kippenborn, because we go national.