Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: The Offseason Begins

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start the Leafs Hour with their reactions to the New Jersey Devils hiring Sunny Mehta as general manager. They discuss how that impacts the Leafs' GM search, Mats Sundin and 590's own Mike Futa being added to the mix of candidates, and Mike Gillis emerging as a front-runner for the job. Then they continue reviewing comments from Leafs' Locker Cleanout Day, including Anthony Stolarz's vision for next season. Finally, they dip into the Leafs Line to answer your calls and questions! The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

It's Friday. Off the rails Friday. You know what that means. You know what that means. I mean someone in about an hour is going to drive our show right into a ditch. And it's us right now. Welcome aboard.

It's the real Kippurin-Born show. Nick Kippreos, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shilks. Derek Brandeo with you for the next two hours or no, Sammy. You got that. I screwed up the lineup. It's Jimmy Willie up there today. It's James Wilson.

I saw him. Wilson. That's on me. James Wilson. Jimmy Willie today. Wilson. Sorry, James. Wilson!

Oh, Jay, W. Okay. Well, done. What movie? It's a home improvement, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Home improvement.

Wilson is the neighbor. What are you talking about? Wilson's the whole other side of the fence. That's right. And then the last episode, he goes to his house, and every time he goes like near anything, he's covering up his face with like an order of an object. Do you remember when Tom is mine?

Tim Taylor used to yell at him a lot. Do you remember when Tom Hanks was yelling that? I do. All time, great movie. Yes. He's yelling at a volleyball. Yep. Tom Hanks is a pro.

Wherever you're watching, wherever you're listening, we're alive on Sportsnet 360, 590 the fan in Toronto, streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. It's also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube, where we always appreciate a thumbs up. A little bit of movement this week when it comes to search committees, whether it's Toronto, whether it's, New Jersey, where they signed Sunny Meda to be their next general manager of the New Jersey Devils.

Did you see his tweet today? I did not. It's a picture of him as a boy, you know, whatever, 12 years old. A boy. In a mad swag starter jacket. Devil's starter jacket, Michigan Wolverines hat. Okay. New Jersey in the back.

It's pretty awesome. So it sounds like they've completely given them the keys to the... the camper in New Jersey. For the devil. He is in charge of hockey operations. He's the man. All right. Yeah.

I mean, and how do you feel about that? There was, so Tom Fitzgerald was General Manager. Right. And you feel, and this is just one for one, taking over his role. I don't, well, it'd be hard to hire a president now when he's the man.

Right? Yeah. Making all hockey decisions. So you could perhaps hire a guy for, I don't know, business operations of New Jersey, but it sounds like the buck will stop with Sunny. Yeah. You know, I think he probably had some leverage, right? Like there were multiple job openings and multiple places interested in him.

Was one in Toronto? I think so. I mean, yes, it was. I would imagine so. So Toronto did ask for permission prior to Sunny being named. the New Jersey Devils. There was a link between Neil Glassburg

and Sonny where client, wasn't he? Client, reped him. I do find it kind of fascinating. I don't think we'll ever know because we're not in the room, but it would have been an interesting fly-on-the-wall situation to kind of see how this thing played out

between Neil, the Leafs, and the devils. Do you have some inkling that things were intertwined in some way? Well, how can they not be? If there's a link between Neil and Sunny, and technically I'm not, you could turn around and say,

hey, I didn't represent him in this instance, and that's fine, but you clearly have a relationship with him and you have inside information that's someone that would come in otherwise for a search committee would have no information on and no feel or no, again, inside stuff, I'm just wondering if the Leafs were interested in Sunny,

did Sunny have a choice? Did Sunny go to New Jersey because the Leafs weren't interested? Did they lose Sunny? Did they want Sunny and lose them to New Jersey? Right. And what is your impression there? What do you think of it?

I don't know. Yeah. I mean, yes, I would also like to know those things. It's just an interesting dynamic. It is. Right? It is for sure. Yeah.

And I do wonder if part of the reason this has happened as soon as it happened is because he kind of heard from the Leafs and, you know, he kind of knew the cards were on the table and was able to make it decision. Do you think the Leafs, do you feel that the Leafs missed an opportunity with Sunny? I'm torn on this one. I think a lot of Leaf fans, a certain stack to the fan basically wanted him. Everybody had him as the favorite here in Toronto. I think a lot of people liked the idea of him paired with someone the way they did Dubison, Shanahan.

Do you think Keith Pelley looked at Neil and knew that he had his connection with Sunny and maybe thought that that could give the Leafs an inside track? This is the Judd Moldover, Moldover hired? Listen, hiring VC's dad to try to sign B.C. I'm just, hey, listen, you can't sit there and not think that these are possibilities. Sure. Yeah, certainly could be. Yeah, fascinating.

You know, this guy has built up a pretty good reputation for himself. And so that could have been it. It was like, all right, this is our inside track to get him. There you're there. It is mad swag. Gaslight Anthem lyrics there. What is that? What is that?

It's a band. Oh. Yeah. From New Jersey, I'm assuming? Yes. Well, I don't know that.

I did Google it, and I know that it's a very popular band that you and I should definitely both. I thought he was maybe going to go with the Springsteen lyrics, but that's maybe a little, you know, too cliche. Born to run or something?

He's also 48. Oh, yeah. I mean, born to run or something? So with Sunny off the board, do the Leafs continue their search for this? Hold on.

Before you move on this, thing. Yeah. I think it's funny that like as soon as the Leafs are like fired Bradshaw living and have been in the hunt like the next day stars like Jim Nell locked up for the rest of his life. He is a star. And then you know there's been moving a devil's fire there guy Tom Fitzgerald and immediate like I mean there's a saying crapper get off the pot usually starts an S or get

off the pot. Yeah. So. And they, and they, they crapped. So to your point, I think you're trying to make this point, did New Jersey, once they found out that there was a link between Sunny and the Leafs, Jersey said, let's get going. That's kind of what I think happened. Like, I think the Leafs are, I mean, in the right to be taking their time and doing a ton of interviews and getting the right hire so you don't have a similar situation to where you just kind of gifted the job to Bradshaw Living last time. but the other side of that is being patient.

You have other organizations prioritize a guy like Sonny Mehta who everybody loves and all the Leaf fans are super fired up about. And before you even finish your round of interviews, did the Leafs even interview him? Like, did he even come in? Like, he's gone. So I don't know which side of it on. Like I do think that there's a world where it really works there

and it would never have worked here. Like that part of me really believes that. Yeah. But I just, I think you've got to have to act here before more. good candidates started getting snapped up by these teams. I mean, we talk about Vancouver later in the show. They just fired Patrick Alvin.

That's an opening. So we'll see. But it felt like they kind of crap before getting off the pot. I buy into what Sammy's saying that what necessarily could work in New Jersey for Sunny wouldn't have really worked here. Do you buy that? Yes and no. I give the fan base more credit here than I think some people do,

that they would be able to understand a plan or endure some. discomfort at times. I think there's sometimes this thing that, like, Leafs fans couldn't do it. I think they could. But I get the idea that without the spotlight, it helps you to be more creative to try more things. I know that Dubus openly wanted the Colorado Avalanche job

over the Leaf's job because it would have given them a chance to be more creative and out of the spotlight. So I think there is an appeal there for some guys. I still worry about Sonny in any circumstance to go in there and just everything, stops with him right now. It's going to be a tough task for him. I prefer,

I would have preferred to put someone there with him with a little bit more experience. Like the guy's going to got, he's going to have to go into New Jersey right now and he's going to have to deal with the like, you know, the Hughes, the family.

Frank the tank. Right? There's a lot of scenarios. And I like Jack Hughes as a player, very talented, but still some growth there. There's still some maturity to go there. And Sonny's going to have to deal with that right away.

You know, I think that's a really important note is that when you take an analytics guy and you make him a general manager, just like when you take a hockey player and make him a general manager, the job is actually managing things, you know, all these things and these personalities. And I think that people see Sonny hired or Tulski hired or whatever. And they think that the analytics department has been named GM. But all it means is that guy is now in charge of all the departments. Yeah. You know, the analytics department is still there, just like the scouting department's still there and it's still important. Dealing with the people is still important. So that is one of the challenges.

And that's why I think a guy like Tulski has not got enough credit in Carolina. They've turned over a dozen players over his time. He had tough contracts to sign when he first got there. He manages an owner very well. No, no, no, no. No, no, no. No, he doesn't.

No, no, no. Kip, it's not true. It is true. It's a challenge to manage that owner. And this guy has done a masterful job of continuing to put the right people in place so they can have success. Justin, I mean, telling you, it's not the way it works. Tom Dundan

is the man. He has the final say, of course. It's not just the final say, okay? He barks the orders and Tulski follows them. That's not true at all. No, it is true. It isn't. It isn't true. Based on what? Conversations I have with people in the organization. That's not how the business works there. They have to do work with each other, right? He's a tough guy to deal with at times, I think the ownership. And managing that is a, it's a managing. You know, the head coach wants nothing to do with Tulski in terms of a day.

He doesn't have to have anything to do. He's not allowed in the room. It's not a normal scenario where it's a general manager falling in place. It seems to be working just fine. You know, and I think for Sunny, that will be the challenge. When he gets there is you're not just analytics guy that you are managing people. And that's a big challenge in any position. It's a challenge in Carolina still, okay?

He is the president. He is the general manager. he's the guy making the decisions, Tom Dundon. He is. The general manager. No, Tom Dundon's making the decisions. He's, okay. He's making the decisions.

Okay, if on a day-to-day operation, hey, just follow my orders, and he's there. And that's the way it works. And that's the way it worked in Vancouver, Justin, with Alvin. Jimmy is the man. Jimmy made those decisions. And Alveen is gone today. But that's the way it worked. Alvin was not the general manager per se as we know it historically.

And that's, it seems to be a little bit of the new world right now. Well, and that's the way it is. You're always dealing with ownership. I mean, you've met Doug McLean. He talks a lot about what he wanted to do versus what his owner wanted to do. You have to manage that personality and make it work for that person. But New Jersey, it's sunny now. It won't be, it won't be the ownership.

Those guys will not micromanage their general manager. It's Sunny. Sunny needs to manage the people underneath them. And Sunny's going to have to report to a board every once in a while. But they're leaving Sunny alone right now. They're not involved. They're not going to tell him who to trade. They're not going to tell him, you know, what's going on.

Just report to us when you can. And that's where Sunny is going to have to stand on his own. Yeah. And that's fine. I think it's, you know, those are, like I said, those are challenges. I don't think someone who comes from his background is any less equipped to handle it than someone who played left wing for the Washington Capitals. You know, like these are men that are smart.

You got to be able to deal with people to get where they are in the world. So rooting for them. Yeah. All right. So where do you want to go in terms of the Leafs? And Matt Sundeen seems to be a hot story. Our Elliott Friedman reported that, You know, he's in the mix.

Yeah. What is the mix? What is the mix? So I'm just reading, so who do we know that they've interviewed so far? Pronger, Pridham, Gillis, Chaka, yeah. Bonus, Hardy, Ryan Bonas? Yeah.

So, Pronger. Mike Fuda, either is met with them or is scheduled to meet with them. Our own. Our own. So Pronger, this is from, Pronger, Pridum. Mike Gillis, John Chalka, Ryan Bonas, Ryan Hardy. You had the list right. Yeah.

So it's a pretty comprehensive list of people who are here and names that people want. But none of them really, like none of them seem to have any more experience than Sunny. If you're talking about Pronger or, you know, Hardy hasn't done NHL jobs. Ryan Bonus hasn't. It's not the experience per se being in a NHL managerial. But like a guy like Chris Pronger would have to come in with his. his pedigree of being one of the best defensemen in the history of the game, right?

So that's the balancing. Do you want like a guy that can look another player in the eye like Morgan Riley and, you know, getting him to see things his way? Or do you want a guy with no experience or no hockey background per se? Right. Right?

Just picking your poison right now. You know, so the Sundeen one is so fascinating. And I think it's like, Everyone loves the name. Everyone loves Mats. They want Mats to be involved, want them to be around. I don't know. It wouldn't be for a GM capacity, I would assume.

Elliot Friedman said special advisory. I think, you know, Darren Drager on TSN said maybe more of a prominent role. So somewhere in between. But would you put Mats now in the category of Chris Pronger, where they don't have per se NHL experience at the executive level, but we know that Matt's, and listen, Matt's has been around the last few years. Like he was involved with Brendan Shanahan. He went to prospect tournaments in September.

And, you know, he got to sit in on stuff. It's not like he's just, this is like a brand new thing. It was just a matter of Matt's always had a bit of a door open to come back and get his feet wet or be involved a little bit. now is he ready to take it to a more serious level? Right. Yeah, you know, and I think that's, I don't know. If he's willing to make that commitment, it's awesome, right? This is a guy who has a nice life in Stockholm and a beautiful reputation here and a few kids.

Does he want to come here and? How much work does he want? Right. Like, does he need for you, does he need to move here? Yes. Oh, God, yes. Right? Is he ready to do that?

Yeah. Like, it did. I, I, I, I, I read the report from Fridge or heard it or whatever I saw it on from 32 thoughts. And I'd be lying to you guys if I said seeing the name Matt Sundeen associated with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The first thing is like, how is this never happened before? It would be my first thought. And the second thought was extreme excitement to have the name.

He's my favorite Toronto Maple Leaf of all time. Adore him. One of my favorite athletes and I've been a huge sports for my whole life. But I just, I hope that they're doing this for the right reasons as opposed to trying to repair a public perception with the team. All right. I'm hoping. You're asking if it's a PR move.

I am. That's, and I, I am concerned with, they see the public perception of the team right now. They know how popular Matt Sundeen is amongst the fan base, in particular of people of my age, that may be distancing themselves from the team. I would love Matt Sun to be, Sundin to be part of the organization.

And I would love him to be involved and have his wisdom and he knows the organization. I understand all that. Insights. But I just want him, I don't want them to be. be doing it for the wrong reasons. That's all. And it's just hiring team legends can go in the, we've been talking about this with the Red Wings,

with Stevie Wye. They've had their ambassadors. I know. I get it. But those guys, yeah, of course. Darcy, Wendell, totally different things.

Those guys are alumni who go in the community and do great things. And like, that's a different role than being the, like, decision maker. A decision maker. So I just, I don't know what it's going to be.

And that's where I'm at on it. Yeah. Like, I think he is a smart hockey guy and well spoken and he'd be a great asset for, for the Leafs, but I don't know if I want him finding, you know, undervalued talent out of the... The only thing I wonder, too, is... Like, you kind of know.

Do you think he'd, like, really want to dive full in? No, I don't. Yeah. Not from zero to 100. Okay. So... And that's perfect. You know, if you would want to come be a part of it.

Listen, I've not talked to him about this, okay? And this is just me looking at someone that I kind of know. And obviously, I have a relationship with. and I think he's smart enough to go, okay, I'm not going, I'm not parachuting in and now thinking I can be a president or general manager now. I think he, I think he's smart enough to go, I'd like to be part of the solution here, but we got to put a team together. Yeah. So. Okay.

But now where, where are we on the pecking order of even a hire? Like, again, if there is no general manager, there's no president. are you still inclined to say, Matt's, you're going to be a part of this? And once we name the general manager or the president, we're going to let him know that you're a part of this. And is that kind of, shouldn't you just hire the big guy first? Yeah, but I don't think there's anyone who would come in and say local legend and kind guy,

Matt Sundeen is unwelcome. Yeah, but it's not the point. Yeah, I know it's not the point. What's the point? The point is, let someone make decisions. Yeah. Like, let make people feel like they're coming in and they're not being told what to, who they can work with and who can't, they can't work with.

If you're going to, if you're going to put somebody in charge or if you're going to really leave someone with the ability to make the decisions and do you believe in the, the buck stops with somebody, then just let him name Matt's. Yeah. I agree with that where it's like, yeah, you don't, maybe someone comes in and says, I think the alumni shouldn't be involved. it's bad for the organization, whatever. Yeah, yeah.

You know, and you're like, okay, well, we already told this guy. Frege also noted that Ryan Martin, who I believe is an AGM with the Rangers, has also come in to chat with the Leafs. So that's a potential name that I don't know enough about, top of my head. Yeah. He also threw a bit of, I listened to the Leafs part of the pot, at least,

and he also threw some water on my Ross Mahoney. Oh, yeah. A little bit. Not a ton, but it's the name that hasn't come up. He's older, too, Sammy. Do you know? Well, I mean, he's been around for like 30 years. years. Isn't Mike Gillis older too?

Yeah, but Mike has also ran the Vancouver Canucks for a long time. I understand that. I'm just saying like. I feel like Mike Gillis is like pretty clearly the front runner. I don't see anyone else, guys. I got to be honest with you. At this point right now, it's really starting to feel like Mike Gillis. I got to tell you, really, don't mind it. I don't mind it. The more I've looked at the other names, heard other names, whatever, you know, I just can't make sense of the time between jobs. You know, I don't mind the Vancouver tenure at all. In fact, I really respect what he did there.

I know people didn't love him socially. But the work he did was excellent. But I am curious about the time, the gap. Sundeen would have, he would have signed Sundeen, right? Oh, hello. That's a nice guy. When with the Canucks, when he signed with the Canucks, right? There you go.

All right. Look at me. Yeah. Mr. Insider. Yeah. So, you know, to Sam's point, a press conference with Mike Gillis and Matt Sundeen up at, up on the podium.

I, you know, I think people would be okay with it. Yeah. Yeah, I think so, too. I mean, you know, I still think Brandon Priddam is a very knowledgeable guy who knows his stuff. And, you know, if given the reins,

I think he could do good things. That did the other thing that I like. Do you think, Yeah, I just think that's... How many guys are going to be here that are already here? Well, I can tell you that the athletic story has been really upsetting to a lot of people underneath that roof in terms of who's talking, who's not talking, who can I trust, who I cannot trust. And, yeah, there's a lot of stuff going on right now in terms of where's all this information coming from. Are you tying that to Pritam here?

Is that the... No. No, I'm not. I'm not. But like, there's people trying to figure out where all this information. And there's a leakage problem, guys. Yeah. There's, that's always tough in this town. But it got a lot tougher in the last week.

Oh, Lou Lamarillo came in town back in the day and... What was the story about the, like the... I forget what it was. Maybe it was not for him. Yeah, he... What's that? You're talking about Lou? Yeah, but like the fax machine. Yeah, you had the guys, you wanted it encrypted.

Yeah. Anyway. So that's always tough on people that have been there, including Prentem, for sure, that they're sorting out who's part of the solution and who's been the problem. And it got tougher with that article in the athletic. Well, I think that's probably understandable reading some of the details in that. But like, The details, like, which ones?

Like... Well, just all this stuff. I mean, we're not going to sit here and be... I know, but I'm saying... It's a purposely obtuse and say that there wasn't anything in that article. No, no, I'm saying it's a compilation of things that went wrong this year. But, like, I didn't see in the article, like, failures of communication between the management or management and coach, tree living and Ruby for sure. But I don't know.

Like, there's... I am curious to see where the blame falls. I think you mentioned 20 guys where you... used as sources. That's according to the article. Right. Well, I mean, if you were running the organization where that article came out about, you probably wouldn't be saying, well, it's not that bad.

You know? You're right. No, I understand. But that's the thing is, like, there's a lot of disgruntled people. And that tends to happen when you take some of their toys away. And when you lose. And when you lose. Or if you feel like you've got one foot out the door.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's certainly part of it, too. Definitely. Not afraid to say anything at that point. Did you guys want to do anything else from Locker Clean Out Day? I know Kipper, you mentioned Stolars before the show.

We mentioned Willie. We didn't really talk about that yesterday. I don't know. Everybody's been taking turns having a lash at Willie. I don't know if you guys wanted to. Anything else? Willie's 93 seconds was pretty remarkable. Yeah, it didn't hear him.

I didn't hear him. He didn't miss anything. No, he mumbled us through it. There was a gap of questions and he ran out. Yeah. Yeah. The Stollars one bothered me a little bit. Yeah.

Yeah, the one where he started getting into great detail on how the lease should play play next year. Yeah. Right. And stop it, man. Well, no, it's just,

it's just not stopping the puck. It's just once again, you're describing what the team should do outside of your position, right? It's like I,

you want the forwards to play heavier, you want the deep, and it's like, you don't want somebody at the end of the year to say, we just, need more saves, right? Next year, we just need more saves.

We need... Did you want to hear it? Yeah, sure. Yesterday? Yeah. Okay, so this was, he had a couple things because he was sort of asked about his comments earlier in the year, right? Where you came on and we're not thrilled about it.

And this is about a minute clip or so, so bear with it. Clip two, please, Derek, from Stollars. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, you look back at it, I thought we had a decent response after that. I mean, you know, it definitely didn't help. I think that was probably the worst stretch of my season there. So, you know, kind of didn't, you know, back up what I said. But, you know, I think that there was definitely some buy-in from everybody.

And, you know, I think we grew as a team as the year went on. I mean, obviously, with everything that happened, and, you know, you look at the response that we had late in the season after the Austin injury, you know, I think that that's something that next year, starting at game one, that's the way we have to play. We have to play like bastards. and we have to play hard and we have to play heavy. And there were times this year that we've shown it.

And we played with some of the best teams in the league and we're able to beat them. And I think that was probably the toughest thing was probably just the consistency. You know, you look at it. Like I said, we hung with some of the best teams in the league. We beat some of the best teams in the league. And it just wasn't there.

You know, night out, you know, whether it was, you know, the forwards defense or the goal pending. You know, we all can look back, I'm sure, this year, and say there were times this year. year we definitely could have been better so um you know we got served uh slice of humble pie this year and hopefully that fuels everybody this summer to kind of go out there and train hard and um you know just reflect on the year but come september come back uh raider rock i think he's trying to be a leader

i think he's trying but i it's just i think it's tough for him i adore the message like i just having if awesome matthews said that but oh my god yeah k ding they finally get it or john Tomavaris or William Nealander or one of them. Yeah. But like, he played in 35% of the games the last two years. It's just, it's hard to have him be the one to get up in the message. A big boy from New Jersey.

You know, but like, he's a competitor. I love that. Too big. Too big. I love that. What that means? It means he's,

he's got to get in better shape next year. Oh, do you think? Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's carrying probably 20 pounds too much. He's a lot of person. Join the club, buddy. Hey, you're not asked to. changed 60 years of misery here Sammy

okay but you're just exacerbating it like a routine save like and I don't know did they talk about his injury yeah he did talk but you said I have it yeah let's hear it clip one please Derek on his injury stole yeah obviously got hurt so it's a tough way to end the season but um all the preliminary tests everything came back uh no surgery so

It's just kind of more of, you know, just give it some time to heal and start strengthening it and get back to my normal routine in the summer. What is the injury? Just a groin, groin strain. Just a groin strain. Yeah. Just like just a nerve issue. Not just, not just a groin injury, but on a routine save, that is a really red, big red flag.

Okay. His whole kind of career in the NHL, there's been a lot of red flags. Like, I hate to say it, but I was looking past him because how good he was, but played 60 games. They played 164 games in the past two years. He played 60 of them. And it's a, it was a significant growing injury. Yeah. And I'm not sure if he's going to be ready.

Oh, my God. What do you mean? For next year? Just going in September, that's, it's going to leave a mark. It makes it hard to get 20. pounds leaner when you can't use your groin all summer. Yeah. Let's break.

Want to break? Yeah, I just to see you got a good... We got a few... Oh, what do we have, Sammy? Leaf line. We've got a few good leaf liners today. Any songs? Any homes?

If you go on your... If you go on your sheet there, do you have in front of you? Yeah, I do. It says, Daniel, and then in brackets, Dr. Seuss. So there is a bit of a poem. All right. Also, I heard the one from someone that we can't play. Shout out, man.

loved it. That one was at 138. As my friend, I didn't know a cigarette became sentient and could send messages, but thank you for that. Top of the hour. We go to Doug McLean on our Off the Rails Friday. In the meantime, it's Leafline next.

After the break, you're not going to want to miss it. Hey, it's Matt Marquesie. And I'm Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world. Weekdays at noon. It's the fan hockey show on SportsNet 590 the fan and wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome back to the program. Nick Caprio's Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee, Leafline. Boy, we got a doozy today. You guys want to bear with somebody? Do you know, my honest answer or? It's, okay, it's just under, it's not crazy long. It's like just under two minutes.

Two minutes. It's really good. It's really good. Okay? All right. And it's well spoken. So, you know, if you send me a. two minute video.

I ain't watched. Okay, we don't have to do it. No, no, no. We're in now. Hey, listen, if we get enough, we'll just cut it off. Okay, let's go to Hunter. I just want to say that with all the talk about how hard it is to play in Toronto and look at the stories that have come out about the coaching and management and

Keith Kelly, how it must be so hard to play in a city with so much attention. No, it's not. The Montreal Canadians have a ton of reporters at their games, and guess what? They're in two languages. Hockey in Quebec is culture. It is life. Hockey in Toronto is the thing you do when your wife is ignoring you. When your job sucks.

In Montreal, it is everything. God forbid you wear a lure in Montreal, because you better start answering questions in two languages. Hockey is easy. And if you play in Toronto, you have every opportunity provided for you. You're so insulated. How come every other sport I watch, whether it's the Lakers and the New York Nixon basketball, whether it's literally every European soccer club, they can handle the media. The media is easy for them. Yet for some reason in Toronto, it runs players out of town. It's stabilitating. It's demoralizing. No, it's not. It just means you need to be good because they will treat you like a god. They will name an elementary school after you. Maybe not a good one,

but they'll name one after you. So I just want us to look at the narrative of, oh, the media market in Toronto is so hard. It must be so hard for the players. Yeah, it's hard playing for man united because there's grown men who somehow find out your itinerary and ask for autographs when you're trying to get a coffee it's not hard worth it told you it was good yeah it was good i got i got no real no real issues with hunter there except that media doesn't run people out of town here losing does okay and there's been a lot of loss it's been going on It's been going on. It's the losing.

It's not the media. It's not the fans. It's just the losing. We got a lot of lots of people out of town here. And it should. Yeah. Try. No good.

Next, please. Right? And it goes with any market, any team, any... We suck. It just gets drawn more attention because there's a thousand in the media here and there's only like three in Florida. Yeah. I don't know, man.

I also think there's like, it's the big leagues, right? This is kind of, it should be a cool thing. I don't know. People vary on how they feel about attention and that sort of thing. But like in other sports,

it's much more okay to, you know, whether it's the Lewis Hamilton and the other F1 boys. By the way, you see Lewis Hamilton where the leaves had at Coachella. I did see that.

It's top of mind. Pretty cool. But some of these, you know, like superstar athletes, like the attention, I think there's, this is a place where you get to be a superstar athlete in hockey.

Maybe our hockey culture doesn't support that or doesn't like that, but I think it's pretty cool. Let's go to Sam and San Francisco. Sam on Sam. Don't have a poem or a song in New right now, but I do have one question. How could you possibly listen to Sammy's well thought out,

well described, well executed, season from hell. and think that there's any chance that the cherry on top of the shton Sunday is not the least pick going to their hated rival at number six for all. Hope I'm wrong. Hope I'm wrong. But I just, since listening to that season from hell, there's just no way. There's no way it doesn't end with that cherry on top.

So thank you guys for bringing some sort of joy, some semblance of. joy to this awful, awful season. And hopefully, can keep our pick throughout the franchise D-Man and start turning this thing around. But I got to say, I'm losing hope. It does occur to me for the first time

that Sammy's season from hell was probably the rough debt draft for that athletic article. Oh, yeah. Like, I was reading that athletic article. I'm like, this is my man, a best dog. You let out a clean timeline. If I was writing that, I'd be like,

do we miss anything? Just double-shed that with McKee's list. I'm going to go back to my book. That's definitely what happened here. Yeah. Maybe CJ likes the show. I don't know. They cannot lose this pick.

They're losing it. They can't lose it. They can't lose it because it will be the most famous Boston Bruin guy. Yes. Kipper, I've been saying this. Was Sagan supposed to be a leaf? That was part of the Kessel? The Kessel?

And Dougie Hamilton. And the other one I can relate to is Seth Jarvis for the Marlopeck. For the Marlowe pick that they traded away. That was a, they should have been a leaf. But this one. This is that Carson Carl's out of the W.HL. This is Keaton Verhoff. This is Chase Reed.

This is one of those guys becoming the next best Canadian defenseman who plays at Olympics and is in the Raptors with 100% 100%. then like the next Schaefer. That's who the Bruins are getting with the pick. I've run, I ran the simulation yesterday. Just press the old tankathon button. And I got Florida Panthers first overall. Leafs fall to six.

Give it to Boston. Here we go. Let's try one while we're here. All right. Okay. Drum roll, please. Leaf's third. Really?

Yeah. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. We'll take that. That's the most that they can jump up. Is it not from five to? They can go one.

No, no. I know they can go one. but if they don't get one, is there... They can only be one or two. I don't even understand how they could be third. I don't think that's true. There's two lotteries for first. They have a 0.3% chance of being third.

Yeah, I don't understand that. And then an 8.6% chance of being 2, 8.5 of being 1, and a 24.5% chance of being 5. And a 44% chance. Well, I know what it would be. It would be if they won the lottery to finish like second, and then a team finished 11th,

could only jump up 10 spots and bump them from 2 to 3. Buddy, my head hurts thinking about that. I mean, I just got an incredibly rare one. Like, three is as rare as it gets. Okay, let's do, let me think here. Okay, we'll go to Dr. Seuss. Daniel and Toronto. I am fan.

I am fan. Fan I am. That fan I am, that fan I am. I do not like that fan I am. Do you like being a Maple Leafs fan? I do not like them, fan I am. I do not like being a Maple Leafs fan.

Would you watch them in the square? I would not watch them anywhere. Would you watch them at the draft? Would you watch them with new staff? Would you watch them in a box? Would you watch them with Adam Fox? Would you, could you from afar? You may like them.

You may cheer. You may like them next year. I would not, could not next year. Not from afar. I will not cheer. Could you, would you find some hope? I would not, could not. There's no hope.

Could you, would you try to cope? I would not, could not try to cope. Oh, my God. I will not, will not find some hope. I will not watch them next year. Not from afar. I will not cheer. I do not like them in a box.

I do not like them with Adam Fox. I do not like them at the draft. I do not like their staff. I do not like them in the square. I do not like them anywhere. I do not like being amazing. belief fan i do not like them fan i am i hate this team i was born into this and i am i don't think that's that's not bad that's i mean that's a one after my heart sam i am green ang sam i am yeah

born he gets the ex so usually win the first two or three games and he's back on board next who me september october daniel no he was really like sent us the really sad ones i don't think he's on board. No? No, I think he's done. It's going to take a while for, do you think, a few? Yeah. Let's go out of you.

Good luck for all that one. Let's go to Andrew in Alaska. Boy. I want to know why are the Hunter Brothers not considered for the general manager and coaching. I think they'd be a perfect fit in Toronto. Let's go Hunter Brothers. Kipper? I don't know.

I wish I hadn't had an answer. answer for you. Can we start that just too old, too old school? They just find a way to keep producing like top, top players and always in the mix once you get through the cycle of every two or three years, they always seem to be competing. Tough to argue with their family's resume, man.

Yeah. But it, he, he, played ovi 13 minutes a game in his prime that's that set him up for stanley cup though i respect at my at that i was like oh yeah banjo i i don't know maybe they just look at mark and say you're a scout and if you want to come back and scout that's fine and mark would of course say know I'm fine. I'd like to a shot at being a general manager or being a guy that's in charge like I am in London.

Feels like with what they built in London that there would be offers from other teams and he probably just is a guy that has turned stuff down, I would imagine. I can't speak to that. They're doing just fine in London and they won't move for just any old job. Let's go to Marty in Dartmouth.

Good day, fellas. I think we should start off the Friday. We're getting Sammy to apologize to Jacob Quillan for putting bad juju on his first career NHL goal. Sorry. And second of all, do you think the ducks will be interested in a kneelander for Minkikov and McTavish? Thank you.

I'm not. No. Yeah. I want. Way more. I want picks, too. I need first round picks. anytime an organization hears a wine under the hood

they're like, let's trade this car before it falls apart. It's like, why is McTavish and why are those names available? They're 23. They're a top prospect. Why is Anaheim willing to move those? Did Quinville make him a healthy scratch on a few occasions? Yes. Like, okay.

I'd really like to go back and research that one. Yeah. Do you think Coach Q is misreading the guy who could help him? Yeah. I don't know. Probably not. I just, if you are going to trade William Neelander and Austin Matthews and we yelled about it yesterday. And if that's the route you're going to go down, just don't try to trade them and be good.

Like don't try to trade them for players that are in their mid-20s or like, you know, try to like middle it. If you're trading those two, picks and top prospects and you're just rebuilding from the studs, don't try to middle it. And McTavish and whatever that, what's the other guy's name? Mintyakov. is just middling it. Like you're not going to be any better. You're going to probably be worse and they're not going to develop into.

Like if you're trading Matthews, go get a ginnla and first round picks and what's that other kid they have there, the kid that played for the world juniors. Yeah. Just do that. I'm okay with that. Yeah.

We're either doing it. Or not doing it. Yeah. Don't be half pregnant. Let's go to Sean in the Ottawa Valley. I don't want this team to be good. actually I've been cheering for this team for the better part of 40 years and I can't really remember the best. The last time we've been the prohibitive favorite into the cup.

As far as I know, we've never won the presidents. Not interested in being a good team. I'm looking forward to cheering for a great team team. I want to be front runners. I want us to be the team to beat. I want us to be the team that everyone's chasing. I can't recall in my lifetime that ever really truly being the case. So enough of this, let's make the playoffs next year.

Let's see if we can retool. Love Matthews, unbelievable talent. We're not winning a cup with Austin Matthews at their center as our captain. Just not going to happen. You can't replace them now, but can you replace them five, ten years from now? Probably. Go to the right people, get the right scouting department, build that foundation, build for greatness, not for goodness.

That's my take. curious to get your perspective, guys. I love that take. I love that take, but I don't know who has the appetite for it and who doesn't. I want to replicate the Montreal Canadiens build. Yeah, I think if that guy, what was his name? Alex? No.

Andrew. Andrew. No. No. No, Sean in Ottawa Valley. Sean, sorry, Sean. I think if someone gave me that pitch and I was making decisions on the Leafs, that's one of the guys I would consider.

because it's a plan. You know, our, you know, we're going to. That's a real plan. Right. It's like, okay, we're going to do this then.

We're going to sell it to the fans. Write him a letter like Chris Drury. We're going to build for greatness. That's our tagline. Build for greatness is fantastic. We've started the plan. Yeah, that's there. But like,

that's on the letterhead. All I want is one. Yeah. You know, just you got to have one. And if I'm Pelly and I'm those guys and I'm listening to pitches from guys who want the job, you give me one.

Give me a vision. See, the one thing that I do worry that because Keith came out in his press conference and said, we're getting back in this thing, we're retooling. Like if there is a Jeff Gorton out there and he thinks that the best plan is the one that was just mentioned from our caller, have you isolated a group of people that you might have otherwise interviewed because, they're not following the we're going to turn this thing around in 12 months thing. It's like only hiring French speaking

candidates. You know, it's like get the best guy. I don't care. But if the best guy feels like our caller did, it doesn't, it doesn't run with what we want. Go ahead. Just sell me it. Sell me it. Tell me it. And if I think it's better than the best pitch I have from the guy who's going to retool, it's like, yeah, I'm going to have to do his plan. Makes sense to me. You know what the name that when you said, what you just said,

jumped out to me is Doug Armstrong. Right. He would have heard something longer term? I mean, if, like, he's leaving his post from the, if they're offering however much money to come here, but there's an edict to be like, we have to stay

good in the short term. I don't think a guy like him's going to be like, I'll leave that. That's when someone like Mark Hunter makes a lot of sense because he's watched, you know, major junior hockey for years and years and year. Yeah. Yep. And we'd have an idea. If you're drafting a whole bunch of guys over the next X amount of years.

Didn't. Anyways. Don't need to go down the road of draft stuff. I forget this one. Let's go to Jason in Tilsenburg. Don't forget to change the jersey. Oh, crap. Because your job is so easy.

All you can do is change the journey. That's awesome. And work two hours a day and read the bet $3.65 thing. That's all you have to do. So don't forget change the jersey. Because yesterday you had the Edmonton tomorrow. Why didn't even put that one in? Jason, I love that.

It's moved by me. Jason, best call of the day right there. Don't forget to change the jersey. Why did I put that? It was stupid. Maybe I put that one in before we had more calls. No, no, no. That's perfect.

Thank you for doing that. I don't even know who else we have. Oh, this is, okay. Rocco. No, I want you to, I want this one to be, like, ironic. And we're going to make fun of this guy, okay? Okay. So this is Austin from Toronto.

Austin from Toronto. Hey, this is Austin from Toronto. Oh, I love the show, guys. I was wondering if you thought if it's a good idea if we traded Matthews or Neelander for someone like Celebrini to bring in or even both at this point. Someone young, someone incredible, this guy just broke Thornton's record for most points in a season. You know, we might not be the best next season if we have him, but it would give us hope for the future a franchise player. I mean, what do you guys think? Thanks.

Awesome idea. Was that Austin Matthews? Trying to get out of town? Would San Jose take Matthews, Neelander, and their next draft class for celebration? No. No. How quickly they would laugh you off the phone. No.

So that 70. Ha! No, there's nothing. It was so funny. What if you offered him 1% ownership in MLSC or something? Like, is there a way we can? Celebrity. Celebrini.

Nothing. There's nothing you can do. Except go find your own. Bill Simmons used to do this trade value thing in the NBA where you do like a long list. If you're going to do the trade value list in the NHL right now, Celebrini and Schaefer either one or two. Totally.

There's like there's no one you would trade for those. I cannot pry them out of those organizations. They wouldn't like, would they probably take David for Schaefer. Sammy, nice job, buddy. I don't know. I don't know. Anyways, I got those memories. How about a thumbs.

up for all our leaf callers today. Sorry, Austin. And even though we dunked on you, it's appreciate the call. Yeah, really appreciate the call. Okay, coming up next, Doug McLean, plenty to go around the National Hockey League, including playoff matchups

are all set. We get to predict, too. Love to hear you guys on your thoughts. Individual trophies, maybe we'll get into that as well. Plenty more when we return to Real Kippron-Born.