Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: The Plan Between the Posts Without Stolarz

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne catch up with the returning Sam McKee as he returns to the show. Then, they discuss the update on Anthony Stolarz as he is set to miss 4-6 weeks, the level of concern for his absence and where the Leafs turn to in net as they await his return. Next, they share their expectations for the Leafs' loaded-up top line of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner. Later, sports surgeon Dr. Jason Smith (30:50) explains Stolarz's injury and shares a long-term outlook for his recovery. Finally, Nick, Justin and Sam weigh in on Fraser Minten being sent back to the AHL.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.

all right sit back and relax because it's the fastest hour fastest two hours because we'll include our national program nick kiprios justin bourne sammy mckee back derrick brandeo and jacob the hammer schultz who is jacob the hammer schultz who is j Jacob the Hammer Schultz? Who is Jacob Hammer Schultz? Yeah. I don't know. Is that a hockey player? Is that a hockey player?

No, it's our tech guy. Yeah. Okay, so Dave Schultz is the hockey guy, right? Yes. Okay, but why did you... I don't know if that's... Because I'm nicknaming him now the Hammer. Okay, okay.

Yes, yes. That's Jake. That's Jake. You've been gone four days now. Here we go. Yeah, yeah. It's just jake the snake it's jake the snake it's jacob schultz oh somebody knew the jacob part you've never called

him jacob ever you give me more professor really at his middle name i right i you know just like to keep you on your toes but that's a curveball that's a complete curveball oh okay so i'm ron burgundy just read whatever's on the paper oh that's funny i'm testing him i'm testing sammy doesn't need testing today he's not boys i'm fighting it i've got a clue who's on our show uh working it but uh we're glad you are aboard. We are live on Sportsnet 590. The fans, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet Plus. And yes, he is back. Now, Friday, you had started 32 games in 32 cities, and you quit after three. Yeah.

Right? After the Bills-Lions game, you shut it down and came home. Yeah, not after the game. The next shut it down and came home yeah not after the game the next morning i came home but i wouldn't you sobered up i wouldn't say i shut anything down after the bills lions games no let's just say that okay that'll stay down i'm really really happy to be back uh i'm surprised now that i'm hearing my own voice in my headphones i i'm impressed with how it sounds yeah uh i will say that my whole equilibrium is totally off from being at an NFL football game.

It's the loudest. Like my ears are still not right. You were also at a 90 point NFL game that came down to the final plays. I got to tell you, and I don't want to do too long on this because there's tons of Leafs news to get to, but that was unlike any sporting event I've ever been to in my life. Like I've,

I've seen a lot of really, really cool things. I've been been to in my life. Like I've, I've seen a lot of really, really cool things. I've been blessed to see a lot of really cool stuff, but what Josh Allen did to the Detroit lions on Sunday afternoon at four 25 was one of the more otherworldly sporting event things I've ever seen. Well, then he was, you didn't see John Tavares against Buffalo.

I watched the highlights, but he like, that was ridiculous. And if you've never gone to a game in detroit now that they're a good team i can't recommend it enough it was unbelievable so just 10 out of 10 sum it up it was worth the two grand you spent absolutely they're worth the 15 grand i spent and the right arm well you know you know there's a couple rounds after the game and i'm looking down i'm like oh you know it's only 40 bucks and i'm like oh, oh, times five. The current exchange rate,

this is ugly. These beers are really cheap. Wait a second. No, they're not. But no, I'm really happy to be back. Went to the Wings Leafs game on Saturday night.

Was sitting on the roof. Could barely see the game. We were just so high up, but it was fun. And again, so many people came up to me and talked about how much they loved our show.

And it was amazing. It was really amazing. Sounds like you have nothing but rave reviews for the city of Detroit these days, which is nice. Nice to hear. Blown away by how good it was.

We're glad you're back. A shout out for Daniele, Disco Dan, who did a terrific job. He always does. Some of the best reads we've ever had. Clean reads. Clean reads. Okay. I got to say, there's a big difference between me and Daniele.

And the first thing between me and Daniele is he is a professional. He is a professional person. I am a Leaf fan that has made my way onto television with you two guys. The big difference is he is a professional producer and broadcaster, and I am an idiot who has made myself here. I'm not that far behind you as a host. He's a real professional. I'm no pro either.

I'm an ECHL-er. You're all we have, my friend. I've failed grade failed grade 11 math guys i'm happy to be here okay great sammy has alluded to there's a ton of news coming out of the toronto maple leafs just when leaf fans thought it was safe to go back in the water another one goes down. Yeah. And Anthony Stolarz, the announcement was made today by general manager Brad Treeliving, who said in all probability he'll be out four to six weeks to deal with a procedure that is around a tiny little pebble. Is that how he described it?

Yeah. Would you like to hear the general manager speak about the injury? Very much. All right. For living, clip one, please, Derek. So we did an MRI on him the following day. The good news was everything came back. There's no structural damage.

There seemed to be still some discomfort with him and some issues moving his knee, straightening his leg. And there was found like a little, it's almost like a little pebble, like a little loose body that was stuck in behind his knee. So he's going to have a procedure to have that removed. It's not a repair. It's not anything of that nature, but it is. They're going to remove the, it's like a little loose body, I guess.

It looks like a little pebble. And at this time, we're going to list them as week to week. Hopefully have a little bit better update. I would anticipate that we're looking in the four week, four week, four to six-week, hopefully sooner rather than later. So obviously not, you know, you don't want to see anybody out,

especially a goaltender that's been playing well like that. But it has to be addressed, and we're going to get it addressed. Q Kyle Dubas. Well, everything's great. it has to be addressed, and we're going to get it addressed. Wow. Cue Kyle Dubas. Well, everything's great. Everything's great. Thank you. The three idiots, I speak of ourselves, could try to figure this out,

but we're going to go all pro here and invite our leading sports orthopedic surgeon who's been around for 20 years almost around pro sports, Dr. Jason Smith. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. And doctor. Can he spend some time fixing my body after this weekend?

Do? Your liver's like a beanbag chair, son. Hey, you're loaded with pebbles. Loaded. By the way, AI says a pebble in the knee could refer to a loose body, which is a small fragment of cartilage or bone that floats in the knee's joint fluid. All right, let's cancel Dr. Jason Smith. Yeah, that's all you need to know.

Symptoms include, one of the things is locking of the knee. Wow. How it pertains to what he's experienced in the past, we'll probably get into a little bit more specific with Dr. Jason Smith. So we'll look forward to that. Also, Adam Oates at the top of the hour, which will be great. And Mike Halford out west will give us a feel for the Vancouver Canucks on our national part of the show.

So JB, we start with you, or Sammy, you pick on where the level of concern might be for Leaf fans hearing this news. I will say that the concern for me and the Leafs is not the length of time that Stolarz is absent. I am not worried that they can't get through the next six weeks with Wohl and Hildeby or wall or between 14 and 19 games, by the way. Yeah.

I'm not worried. Let's say if it is, let's say call it 16 games. If he plays 10 and Hildeby gets six, I'm not worried that that's going to affect them that many points. I am more worried about big picture, long-term Anthony Stolarz. Like, is this going to be recurring?

Is this going to set him back? Is he going to struggle in his return? I am worried about Stolarz. I'm not worried about the Leafs while he's out. I think my overarching feeling is that it just sucks. It's just, you know, it was one of the bright spots of the season. I was loving watching him play. I love the story.

And one of my favorite things to say about this was like, what's the catch? Because you sign a guy for $2.5 million. It's two years, right? And he's giving you the best goaltending in the league. And you're saying to yourself, what's the catch? What's the catch? And the catch is his knee joint. And then the catch is a wrister from the half boards buckling his knee

and having pebbles floating around in there. So I guess that's the catch. Oh wrister from the half boards buckling his knee and having pebbles floating around in there so i guess that's the catch it's just this is uncomfortable it's just i am with borny in the exact same way that you're not gonna you're gonna have the same feeling watching him play now that you've watched with joseph wall and having both goalies like that and you know it's nice to have joseph wall but i'd be lying to you and tell you that i trust him to have a heavy workload coming up here like why would you have any trust that that's going to work out so it's kind of a scary time here for the least with all these games coming up and i'm a little concerned level of concern higher higher yeah i can't disagree with both of you guys in terms of where everyone's heads around their their two top goalies uh i think

coming in if people truly knew the history of both these goalies health-wise to get to this point you'd probably have a lot more concern for stolars than than you would Joseph Wall. Now, Joseph Wall has a bit of a history as well, but I don't have it in the same kind of scope as I would Stolarz with his knees and the multiple surgeries. His knees are like Hockenpah, like potentially a career threat. Yeah, yeah. Well, Hockenpah has no fluid for bodies to be floating in. Wow.

See, I'm the opposite, but I guess that's just because I have the prior history with wool before having it with Stolarz. Like, I definitely had more trust in Stolarz to stay healthy than wool. But clearly, neither of them have been able to do it all year. We got to take Brad Tree Living at face value on everything seems to be fine structurally. But this wasn't a guy crashing into Stolarz. This was something that looked and felt routine that triggered something. So to your point is, how's it bold down the road so you get him back, but where are you?

The one thing that we did stress with him coming right back off of that New Jersey game was the load management, and that's a word that's used today in all of sports, and particularly with these two goalies maybe we underestimated what that would do to their knees or at least to stole our knees like we didn't necessarily stress that this guy's got a real history here and maybe we undersold that the the loading of a guy 48 hours after standing on his head and putting his body through every pretzel looking move that you could possibly come up with but kip it doesn't feel like the

extra games are what caused the knee injury it just feels like his knees just degenerate or does do you think it is related to where i do i do because that's what i want to know from doctor like did it just does it just like fall off? Made of gingerbread? No. My feeling is that if. If he's had throughout his whole career. A rhythm or a feel.

Of being this backup goalie. And playing once every 10 days. And the knees are fine. But he was really geared towards. Going into an area at age 30 for the first time in his career where he's kind of looking and acting like a number one goalie here. Yeah.

And the first time that you really tax him, and he's never been taxed like this before, his knee gave out on him. Yeah. Is that what happened? His knee gave out on him. It's a freak injury. It's not like there was a moment

where we go, wow, that looked bad. I said that when it happened. It's worse when nothing happens. It's worse when it's just a guy who just goes, oh, it quit. That was like Wall last year with the ankle injury with a flutter puck off the sideboard.

To your point, you're in game one, you're in game three, he plays lights out. It was like Wall last year with the ankle injury with a flutter puck off the sideboards. Nothing hit it. To your point, you're in game one, you're in game three, he plays lights out. Can you go back to him 48 hours later? Yeah, isn't the point here that you trust if you can't? You trust that the other guy can be as good or good enough. It's almost like right there, like doubling down. If we have 10 goalies that break down, one of them should be functional at the right time. History will show that it's overwhelming that you need one hot guy to get there.

The 1A, the 1B, is that? You can trade. Is that? You can trade. Matt Murray and Fleury, they handed it off to each other. Holtby and Grubauer handed it off to each other. All right. Any more examples over the last 40 years?

Yeah, there's a few. Right. Swayman played game seven and they lost against the Panthers. Oh, Vegas did. Is it Fleury and Hill or was it Thompson and A. Hill? And last year against the Leafs, they tried to do the back and forth thing and Allmark lost game two. And I was praying for them to start them again.

I'm not saying that it can't work. I'm just saying that history has shown that it's not likely. But we're now much more in the tandem era where you are using both guys. So yeah, certainly it's not great.

Not saying it's a great thing. Why don't we check in on Tree Living about the knee? It is the same knee, is it there, Tree Living? Yeah, this is another. Is this the same knee that he had issues with before? Well, he's had some issues with both. But, yeah, there's been issues there. But this isn't related to any previous injury or, you know,

it's not a reoccurrence. It's not uncommon reoccurrence. It's not uncommon for players to have whether it be little loose chips or basically the medical group calls it loose bodies and it's just

in the wrong spot. And we waited for a few days to see if it would move but it doesn't allow him to get full range of motion of his leg right now, so it's got to be removed. I love the line, we waited a few days to see if it would move. Like, was he shaking it out, trying to get it out of, trying to rattle it out?

A snow globe. Is it a maraca? Like, what did he do? Like a piece of loose glue in the shaft of your club or something? Like, oh. What are those Australian things that turn up and down? Snowballs. No, like a rain stick.

So, yeah, it didn't move. They got to move it. So anytime they cut open your knee and go in there, you're not usually good to go immediately. But first thing I did was like, so healthy is matt murray how like i'm worried about wool right away and start asking questions about murray hillbilly or this is his new nickname well we have a new nickname i've never changed we got a new drop oh my god i walked into that one the hill the beast yeah hasn't been beast-like lately.

Got a win the other night, but I think the feel is Matt Murray, I believe, is back. There is a clip on. Do you want to listen to the general manager, his thoughts on Murray, potentially? Clip five, please. Absolutely. Like I said,

when I refer to the depth, it's not just one guy, right? We've got three guys that have been playing well down there. Dennis, obviously, had a tremendous year last year, played well in his time up here, but Matt's...

That's why we got Matt, too, right? That's why we brought Matt there. Now, he was dealing with a little bit of an injury. Touchwood, we anticipate that he's going to get in the net tomorrow. They're in Wilkes-Barre. And then, yeah, go from there. I think he saw a little bit of action Sunday. I think he came in relief, if I'm not mistaken.

So he's available. So he's available. a little bit of action Sunday. I think he came in relief, if I'm not mistaken. Right. So he's available. So he's available. My guess is that you probably don't go... You don't go to Matt Murray until maybe the beginning of next week. What do you mean, go to? Well, bring him up to back up Joseph Wall.

Over Hildeby? Over Hildeby. Really? Yeah. I'm not comfortable from what I've seen from Hildeby to be up here and back up. He's played three games. He's let in three goals and got a win the other night.

But he wasn't playing that well in the Marlies, with the Marlies. He wasn't kind of, he kind of in his wheelhouse. I think my preference would be to get Matt Murray up here over Hildeby. Is he having a good year in the minors? I don't even know. Well, I think he was fine before he tweaked something and maybe get him back, get him a start.

He's a 9-19 with the Marlies. Get him a start. He's a 9-19 with the Marlins. 3-1-2, six starts. Yeah. Yeah, okay. That's me, though. No, I actually totally agree. I think it's sort of like the Minton conversation to me where we'll talk about that in a little bit.

But he goes back down. Maybe not the right choice, but you bring in a guy like Kampf, who's more like the fourth-line center type of guy, and you bring up the veteran goalie to kind of be the backup, and you let Hildeby go down there and play in those games and go back and forth with Akhtiomov or whatever. I actually agree.

If you think Hildeby can be something for you and you want him to be something, I don't think it's a bad spot to get him some action. Yeah. The Matt Murray thing is fascinating because is the knock on him not been that he gets hurt oh yeah you know like the leafs have a whole collection but it is like a cloud following their goalies but not just their goalies i mean like bobby mcmahon disappears a lot and connor timmons disappears a lot at random times like

they just have guys that are like... Their captain went to Germany. Did he? Yeah. So, no, it's... You're right. Like, they... I mean, we kind of talked about this before the season started,

that a lot of the guys they brought in, I mean, go down the list even more. Pacioretty. Hockenpah. Hockenpah. Oh, my God. Like, they really went with guys that have a lot of injury risk,

and the two goalies, this was the conversation that we had the whole time, it's kind of coming to fruition you're right there buddy contact oh boy i'm blind oh boy it's all right we got like 20 minutes till commercial just blink oh my god blink it out ash for leafs what's that mash for leafs mash the show is Is that like an Army show? Is that an Army show? Yeah. Oh, my God. Listen, I'm not 60. I am. I know.

Like, at least I know what it is. Okay. All right. So, Joseph Wall, you like that number? 14 starts, did you say say in how many games you know if sam saying there's 14 to 19 games in that window of time they gave give them yeah i mean doesn't but i do think it's a it's like you said with stolarz like let's see if he can play you know that he doesn't have like this recurring one thing he's not able to deal with and if he does i think you need to be able to test it and find out if you can do it too so yeah yeah i'm

okay with him getting two-thirds of the starts over this time and just kind of wait and see wait and see what you got yeah so it's it's um dallas on wednesday and then friday saturday back to back in buffalo and then back home to face the Islanders. They play the Islanders, so it's December 17th. Between now and January 2nd, they play them three times. In the next two weeks, there's three Islanders games. Weird quirk in the schedule there. Stand by! The league's most thrilling team!

But like, I just, you know, would you, are you talking about this week, you're worried about playing Stolarz, and then two nights later, playing him again and having him get injured. Are you going to play Wall on Wednesday and then on Friday? Like, for me, I go Wall and then somebody else

on that Friday night game, and then to give Wall the start at home against the Islanders. Yeah. You have to be really careful here, boys. Yeah. Like, it's worth having... It might be interesting if they give hildeby and murray games in the interest of spreading it all out a little bit

see we can get out of these guys yeah they're their hands might be tied here to give hildeby one more start maybe i mean i don't think they're tied. I don't know what... I mean, in terms of... If he's lost the third string roll by... Nobody liked the early goals on Hildeby. No. The other night.

So I'd like to stop that. Because the tuck one was a hell of a shot off a... It just happened to follow a stinky one. Short side. Short side stunk. The short side stunk bad. Really,unk bad really really bad yeah that was not good so yeah we'll see we'll see where it lines up but there's no question for for joseph wall now to go into dallas tomorrow night and dallas is considered very good team and one that could challenge for a stan Cup. I know they had a hiccup last week. They lost a couple of games,

and then they've rebounded a little bit here. They had a big win against Washington on Monday. But that one's going to be, tomorrow night's going to be their first real test since Stolarz stole one for them in New Jersey. Say what you will about those Buffalo and Ducks plays. This is the test. This is the smell test right here on, you know,

are Wall and company ready for the next challenge of these tougher games? Because they stole one from the Devils, who played them badly. And then the other time, more recently, when they played a good team was the Capitals, and they didn't play well against them. But yeah, just to kind of reiterate, I think you do have to be very, very careful with the ball. And I think it's worth having, because you're first in Atlantic,

I know you're chasing the lead, but you're in a playoff spot pretty comfortably at this moment. It might be worth having a couple games of a little bit of subpar goal tending and see if your offense can kind of pick it up like they did against the Sabres. Because if you lose wall, then it's panic mode. So be careful with them. Well, one thing they do have going to pick up the offense is they're

going to start Nylander,thews and marner for the first time that i can remember like starting a game with them am i out of my mind do you guys remember them starting a game together very rarely sport logic i actually asked this question just got an answer the last time the three of them started together in the regular season was february 13th 2020 yeah so they haven't started as a line in four years yeah i think they did it in the regular season was February 13th, 2020. Yeah. So they haven't started as a line in four years. Yeah, I think they did it in that bubble playoff too. On the surface, you go, not too many lines that could show that type of talent,

and it should. Would you say none? None. Who can match that? I can think of, yeah. Listen, let's listen to Berube talk about it because it's a really interesting quote. Yeah. You know, and I've used them time to time throughout the season

in different situations in the offensive zone. But I thought they were good together. I thought they created a lot of good opportunities. I thought they, you know, moved the puck around well. You know, the issue is, like, you know, they got to get to the net, too. They can't all be on the outside, you know, wanting a puck and making plays. It's about doing things right, and we'll see how it goes. So who's going to the net?

34? I mean, what are we talking about, right? I don't know. what's he talking about yeah getting the inside going to the net i mean but that's tavaris that's patch ready that's nice nice yep but is there a level of skill and talent where they can break people down make people miss connect and actually pass the puck in place and you know how I've felt for a long time in terms of Leafs not looking as a team that could move the puck like we've seen others at the top of their game.

And is this a first sign of putting all these talented guys together? Do we see Chris passing? Do we see giving goes? Do we see, you know, everything that is associated with a top line when it comes to moving the puck? Or is it just feeding 34 off the side somewhere? I don't know. I mean.

That's what I expect to see them out of the three of them eating 34 i want to no no i want to see puck movement i want to see zipping it around i want to see you know marner and and willie use their edges and twists and turns and you know i want to see all of that with the three of them of course i mean this is their three more most talented guys and i would say you know all three of them are in the top what 20 in the league 25 in the league like these are talented hockey players who think at an elite level and do elite things and i think anytime you're defending that it's a nightmare but i also do i feel when you get these types of guys together way too much passing sometimes that, it's a nightmare. But I also do, I feel when you get these types of guys together,

way too much passing sometimes. That, like, it feels a little all-star gamey. Yeah. Where they all feel like they got to make the best play or the sexiest pass or whatever it is. I know you want to see them snap it around. But, like, you know, Willie's been great. One of the things he's improved the most,

and you've talked about this for years, Borny, is him going to the front of the net and cutting across the net yeah and like you want to see him do that matthews can do that and like you want marner to facilitate like i like the idea of it but i just i don't know i i don't i don't think it's necessary yeah this well first off it's totally necessary just to see it because we never see it so i mean this i they played 22 minutes together this season through 30 games. Shot attempts when they're out are 49 to 19, 24 to 7 in scoring chances, which is 66% of the expected goals. Well, I would hope.

Yeah, but I mean, this thing is like we need someone at the net. It's like, boy, that's pretty good. Well, I can tell you right now, third man high is Marner on this line. Yeah. Because we know the other ones kind of have a... A what? Nylander, I'll give you, a cheat? A little bit of a cheat in their game. And Matthews, to me, part of the look that you're talking about

that just isn't right is he's still kind of on a, on a cheating side for me. Yeah. I watched it at the end of the second period in Detroit. Detroit was bad too. The, the, the people in the nosebleeds where I was sitting,

we're not thrilled with that play. Let's just say that that was ugly. That was ugly all around. If you go back, look at that whole line. It was a grenade off the skates and then lazy. No one throws on the brakes. No one back checks.

It's swooping. Yeah. So if we know Marner's going to be the third man high as those guys take it to the net here, who's the third man on Nyes, Tavares, and Pacioretty? Who's going to be the third man high on that line? Yeah. You don't think that line will defend? I just think all three of them want to get to the front of the net. Who's going to carry the puck on that line. Yeah. You don't think that line will defend? I just think all three of them want to get to the front of the net.

Who's going to carry the puck on that line? Yeah. I mean, hey, that's a legitimate concern for why that line. Tavares is just, he's not a playmaker. He's not. None of them really are. His strength is not moving the puck outside of a six-foot radius around the net. So that one, I think it looks good once you get the puck in

certain areas yeah that's we said yesterday like that line is built to beat up on some weaker teams um but yeah look at these are smart professionals i don't think that anyone's just gonna not play defense um for a shift or two so well maybe for a shift or two. So, well, maybe for a shift or two, but not for a whole game. But, you know, the thought of having Matthews and Marner, and when Matthews is at his best, he's down below the goal line, he's down below the hash marks, digging pucks out, and Marner clearly is great at that. Then you have Willie kind of cheating up the side of the sideboards.

There is in a world where it works out really great, where you transition the puck and it looks awesome. But, you know, like I said, there can be some overpassing getting a little cute my guess with this team is that it doesn't look great just because because of what you're talking about everyone's all they're all excited to play with each other and yeah start snapping around to each other okay we'll uh we'll take a quick break you want to do minton before the break or do you want to do that after yeah we'll do that after the break. Because we got Dr. Jason Smith coming up and going to go a little bit over the Stolarz situation and concerns.

And how quickly can he get back off this pebble? He's got pebble-itis. Pebble-itis. Isn't there someone from the Flintstones? Pebble or something? Isn't that a thing? That's his daughter. That's his daughter. That's his daughter.

Okay. Come on. That was on after MASH. MASH. I actually loved the Flintstones when I was a kid, but I knew there was something. Listen, we're going to take a break. I'm going to explain the Brady Bunch to you. Okay, the Partridge family.

Thank you. Thank you. Just sit back and relax. Really need that. All right. More of that when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Everything you need to know about the raptors and the biggest stories around the nba smith and jones subscribe and

download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts welcome back to the real kipper and. Okay, one of my favorite segments already because we can pretend to be doctors or we can go get the real deal here. And this is one of the leading sports orthopedic surgeons, been around close to 20 years around pro sports, working out of the OV Surgical and the Scarborough Health Network. Let's welcome in Dr. Jason Smith. Doctor?

Hey guys, doctor. Wow. In proper attire today. Sorry we got him right in the OR here. Live from OV Surgical. Here we go. Awesome. Have you got someone on the table? Can you turn the camera around? Maybe some

doctor-patient confidentiality stuff. You're lucky we're not there. We could drop a junior mint on somebody at any second right now. Hey, thanks for joining us. We won't take much of your time because we know you're saving lives. But just quickly, you know, for the viewers, listeners, a lot of Leaf fans out there, what the heck is a pebble-like size thing floating around in someone's knee?

Yeah, I was listening to you guys talk about it before, and you guys kind of have it right. A loose body can be one of two things, either a little piece of the cartilage on the knee that's come off, maybe a little piece of bone, or a little piece of the cartilage you know on the knee that's come off maybe a little piece of bone or a little piece of the meniscus which is this shock absorber that sits between the two bones could be a little piece of that that's kind of flipped up on there so that in itself you know it's kind of a nothing burger like it's a little loose body go in clean it out, you know,

a couple of weeks until he's skating again, four weeks, he's back. If they want to drag it out, six weeks. That in itself is not a big deal. So the question I guess from there is, is that sort of thing, does that come from where or is that just general degeneration, which I think is maybe more concerning? Based on his history. Yeah, that's the million-dollar question, right?

And I think you guys nailed it there. Is this nothing or is this the tip of the iceberg? Is there a lot more going on here? Now, you know, I listen to them try to say this has nothing to do with to say this has nothing to do with the past there's nothing to do with his previous surgeries he had an mcl uh reconstruction on that side it was 2017 philly um you know anytime enough energy goes through a knee in order to require a ligament repair you know that knee is getting old fast so he's already had a big

procedure on that knee you know combine that with another six years of professional hockey on it you worry that you know there's more going on than just a little loose body like where did that loose body come from now is that from the cartilage that's degenerating faster is that his shock absorber that's wearing out like i don't care about the loose body loose body is no big deal what i care about is where did that loose body come from and what does that mean big picture so i think you guys nailed it when you were kind of sitting on that. Is there more going on? How long does it take to accumulate this loose bump or pebble? And is there a chance that the leaves go in, clean it up, and then a month later, two months later, it reappears and bothers them again?

Yeah, again, it makes a question of what is the source of that loose body? Like if the cartilage all on the end of his bone is just like wearing away and dropping loose bodies, that this could be the start of, yeah, some guys have two or three scopes throughout their career where every offseason they're getting loose bodies taken out a little bit more, a little bit more a little bit more but it's definitely a sign that there's some more serious degeneration happening inside that knee and then the positive outlook is that it could be just a one-off i had something in my eye earlier today i got the thing out my eye is fine again is it gonna be as simple as that

yeah it can be and you're and you're hoping it's just that. You know, even, you know, say he has a little bit of degeneration and he's flaked off a little loose body and they take it out. Yeah, no big deal. And so he's got some cartilage wear, you know, may get a shot of cortisone come playoff time. I think they have him for two years. Next year, maybe one more little scope, a little more cortisone,

grind him through where i'd be worried is if this was your franchise goalie like did you sign a 10-year 70 million dollar contract with this guy like is it something like that but in this situation i'm pretty confident they're going to manage him through it you know without much much problem they'll get him through the playoffs they'll get him through next year. Even if he needs another scope, yeah, four to six weeks again. Not that big of a deal to me. Scopes now for you guys are like a walk in the park. You can get guys up in seven to ten days.

Now, I imagine it's a lot more because of the wear and tear of a goalie getting up and down compared to a skater, but it could be less than four to six weeks is is that fair yeah i mean two little incisions two little keyhole incisions in his knee so those got to heal before he puts his stinky equipment back on you know you don't want this to get infected so you're looking at seven to ten days there then you know all the swelling's coming out of it. You start skating. You know, by two weeks you're skating.

And then just how quickly he gets his timing back. So, yeah, it can be quick. Like four weeks I think is very reasonable. No reason to battle super hard through this to try to get back earlier. If it was playoffs, yeah, you could push it maybe three weeks, two weeks. But no reason to here here but it's not going to be a long eight ten weeks all of a sudden this is a simple little procedure takes 10 15 minutes to do you're in you're out no big deal is that your patient i hear going hello hello i'm over here

yeah what do you mean no big deal this is a big deal to me alright go back to work start cutting people up thanks for doing this pal alright Dr. Jason Smith lead orthopedic surgeon who kind of I don't know painted a picture for us a little bit did he not do you feel better or worse

as long as it's not signed for 10 years I will say if I'm his agent i hated that segment i don't know i how i feel but again we did the game the other day we left uh our game when he got hurt with the thought of this is a guy with some history here and it should be noted and it's noted. You know, what's funny is when guys finish their career, some guys look back at, you know,

hockey chewed me up and spit me out and gave me, you know, thought everything it could out of me and all that sort of stuff. But like, you look at where Stolarz is in his career, 29 years old, never had a major payday on the verge of being the starting goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

If I'm him, I'm like, do the procedure. Give me the cortisol, you know, give me the starting goalie for the toronto maple east if i'm him i'm like do the procedure give me the cortisol you know give me the procedure give me the let's just keep doing it till i can't i get why guys put themselves through this he's so close to like great things here listen it can't be underestimated what he's been able to do up until this point. He had himself in the conversation for MVP. And we talk about Mitch Marner and his contributions, but both of them have, with the absence of Matthews, their big gun on a toward scoring pace, they've really carried the freight here

and put themselves in conversations to get votes for mvp i would really have a hard time picking who's been the least mvp between those two guys and like i you know martyrs been unbelievable but think about just what good goaltending has done to make this team look more does that look better defensively you do got a feel for stolarz he's done everything right except, you know, convince his knee to, you know, not give out at this point in time in the season.

Say one dark thing, because I'm a pretty positive guy. It does feel like this is going to be a problem. Not saying this year, but like this, in his not even 30 years old yet, it feels like what's going to be eventually for him the reason he has to pack it in.

Eventually. It could be at 34. He could still come back and be brilliant. Of course. And get them to a stand like a final or a final. But maybe. Right? Or win a championship, I mean.

And yet, I know he's, I believe he's got another year on his deal, right? So he's covered there. But to your point, I don't think he'll ever be in a position to sign one of those nice goaltending contracts. Like if he's as good as he comes back and he's awesome this year,

someone, they might give him three times five. What do you like? You know, it's like, but you're probably not getting six times six. Be tough to. Because people aren't sure. With his history, it'd be tough. I guess the one thing I'm going for you is if it is an LTIR insurance thing, you know, it's not coming out of your owner's pocket.

No, the insurance is for like the very big contracts and you only have like one or two. He could be one though. No, he would never get that. What are you saying? The other contracts aren't insured is what you're saying? No, what I'm saying is that typically there's just a few that are insured by the clubs because you can't insure all of them.

It's just too expensive. So that's saved for your $11 and $12 million contract. So I believe Matthews and Marner and Tavares, they might be insured. But after that, none of them would be insured. So if a $6 million player gets hurt, the owner just pays it. Yes. Really? Yeah.

It's tough beans. What a curse being a bajillionaire. yeah yeah it's tough beans yeah yeah what occurs being a bajillionaire yeah it's tough um all right we mentioned minton down yeah we're okay with that right i think we had all coming back we had all said that it would be great for minton to have some run as a top guy on the power play have the puck play 20 minutes play with the best guys i think it's the best thing for his development, which in turn is the best thing for the Leafs. Alright, let's get Brad Treeliff and his thoughts on sending down

Razor Minton. No, I mean, he was, listen, I think it was tremendous. He played tremendous for us, and Craig and I talk all the time. We like this player a lot. If you saw the last few games, it started to taper a little bit. And then last game when he's not in the lineup, you know,

Craig controls the lineup card. You know, we obviously talk about it, but if you're not going to be in and you're a young player, you've got to keep playing, right? We're not going to sit him in the stands. And there's still some things for him. Like, to me, I always find with some younger players, you came in and then you come off it a little bit, right? You realize it's an everyday league.

And so nothing but good things about how Frazier's played. I think, you know, we saw his brain. We saw all the things that he could do. He'll be back. He's going to be a great pro. I love the expression, it's an everyday league. Because, like, you have to be so good that when you're off, you're still effective. You know, you have to be above great pro i love the expression it's an everyday league because like you have to be so good that when you're off you're still effective you know you have to be above the level like a lot of these guys can get to the level but they can't maintain it 82 times and you have to be above it

so you're off days you still look good i see some i did see some leaf fan push back to him getting sent down i think there is a lot of people that aren't a huge fan of David Kampf, which is maybe an understatement, just the fact that he plays a pretty boring game out there, fourth-line center type of guy, kills penalties type of guy, not going to give you any offense, not a young prospect type guy. But I would say that there are some Leaf fans that have pushed back to this. You know I don't use this sort of expression often,

but if you don't think David Kampf is good, you don't know hockey. You're not an effective – you don't use this sort of expression often, but like if you don't think David Kemp is good, like you don't know hockey. You're not an effective, you don't watch hockey enough or something. Like he doesn't do the scoring things and the offensive things, but someone, what do you say? You can't bake a cake with the same ingredients. You know, some guys got to be the baking powder. Yeah. Baking powder and cakes, I don't know.

If the Leafs were, never baked a cake with them. If this was two or three years earlier, and... I don't know. It's so far back. I don't even remember. Were they challenging first down in the cup back then,

or were they building towards something I forget? Two or three years earlier? I'm just saying that... Three or seven a cup contention. That Minton is... If he's on a team that isn't really expected to go all the way and this is the year

that has to happen then yeah keep him around he's playing for buffalo he's playing for detroit he's in the lineup he's making those teams and he's making mistakes yeah and they're letting it happen it's part of the development for sure and that's but that's not the case here they need any guys that can come in and and have enough experience so when the when it gets a little hairy they can take a deep breath that's not minton right now this is why these tanking teams that have prospects are way ahead of themselves because it's good for a guy to have to play up to a certain level to stay in to be around a team trying to win every single day to see what it's like and how hard it is i think it's great that the leafs are good enough that they're saying to him not right now did we do bruby on on uh on camp coming back uh we didn't but i just one quick thing on on mitten too i don't know if this

matters but i'll ask you two like if there was a world where they would consider him in a trade for a third line center type of guy for the for a cup run or maybe a second round run regardless of where they're going would him having that little bit of game tape this year make different make a difference for like did that increase his value this year? For sure, for sure, for sure. I think it just reiterates that he's going to be a good pro. If you traded for him today, you could use him today. And it's not a third liner.

It's a top six forward. You know why? Because next year, Fraser Minton is a third line center. He's that close now. So I don't think you trade him for a third line. No, no. center like he's that close now so i don't think you trade him for a third line no no you need a guy that could easily be a top six forward and can play wing or center is yanny gourd good enough for you no what about mikhail granlund he's like him never i do like yanny gourd but

if it's if it's mitten then you're no i need a higher i need a higher yeah especially for minton yeah right well you know i gotta tell you seeing matthew nyes take a step and be a better version of the guy that we in the past had had in these sort of deals it's tough to move on from a guy like mitten who's this close now um let's listen to the coach okay craig bruby has some comments on clip two please i thought he was good i mean i thought maybe dropped off a bit it's like he messed up camp you know hasn't played a whole lot um and i don't you know we don't want him sitting out up here and not playing every game i don't think that helps his development um i think he's going to be a real good player. We really like him. And I wish he would live with me and be my son.

They put out like one of those, because he's like an Oreo and milk ad thing, and they're like best combinations. Like what are the best combinations? Some guys are saying peanut butter and jelly or whatever they were saying. And Fraser Mint went, snow and Christmas? Oh, it's so earnest.

Is that the sweetest guy ever? I thought they were going to say Berube and Minton. Yeah, that too. One guy said peanut butter and pickles, which is weird. I don't know who said it, but there it is. Anyways. You saw that one on Instagram? It was on Twitter, yeah.

I can't watch those things. I know. You have a very... The chests are so... Your cringe meters. They do nothing. But people want to get to know personalities. Is that what we're doing here?

Yeah. Kiff's just watching mash clips. I just want a personality to win. You just prefer like grunt noises. Just Tim Allen from Home Improvement. Before we go, we do have Ruby on getting camped back tomorrow, which I think helps them. Let's see if the coach agrees clip four.

Well, that's good. And he's a big body there. And he did a real good job with us killing with, we believe it was Marner because Matthews was out. I thought they were really good together. And, you know, gives us more flexibility for sure. But I like his size down the middle and moves well. And like I said, he has his job to do and he's been doing it well.

Likes him. Yeah, it's still hard for, I think, Leaf fans to put true value on him without, again, seeing the puck cross over the line sometimes. And what, two and a half million? He makes decent money for a guy but i i i see i've seen value in the past i agree kip that's like you know it's can't win and it's too much then you'd love to see him get paid too you know people would like him a bit more if he

made a little bit less that's an unfortunate part it's funny he does have an 11 goal season with the leaves and then prior to that 11 11 goals. Give me the numbers. He has a 7-goal season, an 8-goal season with them. He has an 8-goal season with the Blackhawks before that. 4, 7, 4. Yeah. I mean, it's like Connor Dewar. It's like you need to do a 30 for 30 on how these guys had 10-goal seasons.

11 goals is crazy. Yeah. Was that his first year with the Leafs? Yes, it was. Remember him being an offensive star that year. 27 points. We brought in one of the top doctors, orthopedic surgeons, Jason Smith,

and we've solved nothing. Just made ourselves anxious. Loose body. Sammy, you'll be fine. I'm going to be fine. Boys, I'm fighting it. Oh, you're doing well. I'm fading. We got one more hour. You're going to eat a chocolate. I got some chocolate for you. You'll be fine. Boys, I'm fighting it. Oh, you're doing well. I'm fading. We got one more hour.

You're going to eat a chocolate. I got some chocolate for you. Hall of Famer Adam Oates will join us. We'll talk secondary scoring with the Toronto Maple Leafs as well as what we saw last night against the Stanley Cup champions against the Edmonton Oilers. That was a fun game. Not sure the coaches were thrilled with it,

but we'll get into that with O.C. Fun game. Fun game. Fun game. All right. Stick around. Plenty more. We're back after these words.