Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Time to Make a Move on the Blueline

Episode Date: October 14, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on the Toronto Maple Leafs' 5-4 loss to the Utah Mammoth to wrap up their road trip. They discuss the team's late rally falling short, Anthony Stolarz's rough start, glaring defensive deficiencies without Chris Tanev in the lineup, and why the Leafs can't wait to make a move for a blueliner. Later, the guys open up the Midweek Mailbag to answer your comments and questions about the Leafs after seven games.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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Good start to the show. Boys, I don't hear anything. Well, you got the wrong earbuds on. You're probably listening to a rock and roll song. Just kiss. Welcome aboard. It is the Leaf Hour edition of our program. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee.

Derek Brandeo, Jake the Snake Shultz, Sammy Squared. Gassira. With his buddy. Colored. He deserves the first name. last name introduction for what he's done. First start of the week. I'll butcher his last name.

That's my problem. That's okay. I'll say it for it. Okay. We're good, buddy. We're good. Yep. Wherever you're watching, wherever you're listening,

Sportsnet 360, Toronto, Fen 590, SportsSport, Spotify. Don't forget to change the jersey. Don't forget to change the jersey. This show rules. You don't want the Jay jersey on? You have no problem wearing hats and sweaters. Why don't just leave the Jay's jersey?

What's the difference? Are you following baseball, by the way? What is happening? I can't get into it at all. Yamamoto, who mowed us down last year is apparently struggling this year, which is... I went on our boy JD show this morning, and we did, you know, 35 minutes or so on the Leafs. And he said, anything else that's kind of sticking in your crawler you want to talk about? And I thought that the playoffs this year, when I haven't had a rooting interest in it, like I did last year,

where it's the most rooting interests you're ever going to have in a sport. Playoff baseball is like crack. It's hard to describe. But I just find that there's too many pitchers and the games are, there's no flow to them anymore. It's like the first sign of trouble anybody gets into. So to answer your question, I'm not as into it as I've been in years past. It's like a chess match now.

The teams aren't as sexy, like starting pitchers don't go as deep as they used to. There's just no real adversity for guys. I don't know. It's not the same without the Js. You just don't have a horse in the race. But you got the Leafs. Oh, do I have? And you're...

Talking about horse race. Before last night's game, very excited. Really... I was bullish. Right? Can't wait. Can't wait. Can't wait.

Can't wait. I think they kind of left you entertained last night. Are you not entertained? Oh, yeah. No, entertaining is definitely one of the words we'll use. Whatever it is, it's better than last season. Thank God. Okay.

So we're all... We're all on page there, but closing out the road trip here, would have been nice to see them. Hey, Sammy, pick up a point or two. It didn't happen, but your overall assessment of the road trip before we get into specifics last night. How long can we say, wow, it's better than last year? Like, how long does that honeymoon period last?

That's October 14th. We're making good time. Because, like, yeah, it's better than last year. Yeah, they're shooting the puck in the net. They look like they're having fun offensively. Oh, there's a butt? Yeah, there's a butt. It looks kind of like last year defensively, boys.

Like, it really is, it's fun to watch and it's exciting. And they had a, I thought they played pretty well last night. Probably the best game they played on the trip in terms of expected goals and all that different stuff. But, yeah, there's a big butt hanging over this. Yeah, a big old boot. On SportsNin.com. Right now, I see a headline by one Justin Bourne with TANVE injured.

Leif's can't wait to add to new things. Okay. Well, we're going to, we'll dive right into that. But first, let's get Jim Hiller's thoughts and takeaways from last night's game in Utah. That's a tough one. I didn't think we played great. I actually thought we started really well, really well. Second period, no good.

So that's three second periods on this trip that were no good. Fought hard at the end, you know, had our opportunities to tie it, but shouldn't have put ourselves in that spot. Okay, so let's just pick up on that second period. another kind of disaster for them last night. But you walk away with a feeling of 500 hockey with the amount of points available and the ones that you grabbed,

but yet to see a solid 60-minute game from start to finish out of this team. Yeah, it hasn't happened yet. I think, you know, we've made some allusions to the fact that the defense is part of the problem, you know, being able to slow rushes down, break the puck out, that kind of stuff. But I watched that Utah team last night

And I said it in our chat They were as connected a team as I've seen Like in terms of systems play above the puck They were a five-man unit all over the ice And so when the Leafs turned the puck over They were gone. And they had no answer for Utah's rush And the rushes ate them up last night.

Yeah, Utah left probably me a little bit more to be desired here because their ability to get to a level where you go, okay, that's pretty impressive. Yeah. But they didn't sustain it. They didn't, they went into the third period thinking they were going to sit on a 5-2 lead and almost watched it completely disappear.

I'm not sure about their goalie. There's a lot to be desired here on Utah going to the next level. But when they did hit that way you were talking about, you're like the Leifes can't go there. No, there was just nowhere to go with the puck. It just felt like there was good track back from their forwards. It made it very hard for the Leafs to gain speed. I think their Leafs are going to be more of a rush team than they've been in the past.

And when you take away that rush game, as Utah did last night, they didn't have a whole ton of other options. So you guys watching that game last, like, did you come away from that being like the Leafs got severely outplayed in that game? No. No. Okay. I didn't. The second period, definitely.

They got to stop taking stupid penalties. They've taken a lot. They're like, oh, their penalty kills great. Yeah, because they get five chances a game. Right. And they, from taking stupid, like, that bluger penalty was idiotic. Anyways, I just, I thought that they actually, my early takeaway in that game, the second period got a little squirly, as we know.

But that they were actually kind of keeping up with the, like they were playing with pace and they were looking, you know, almost as fast at them as times. It went bad in the second. They were really good in the third. here's what comes down to boys three goals that entered the net that should have that was on a road game against a good team you just need saves right you need your goal keep it keep you in it so even if you're going to win one you don't deserve to win whatever you need the stops and man no stops i want to get into stolars for sure and i get what you're saying you need you need a save here but just watching last night gave me the old feeling that They've regressed back to maybe the Sheldon Keefe kind of feel that we should be so lucky. We're just, we're just, that that old saying that we're just going to outscore our mistakes and we're okay exchanging chances and we'll find a way to win 6'5. That's all I saw last night.

It's just something that we haven't really looked at and watched. Wow. Oh, my God. Blast from the past. That came from the heaven. And it goes to your article today on sportsnet.com. That they need help on defense. And they can't defend guys.

They want to go and they want to go play like opened up hockey and rush chances. And I'm like, we saw this movie a few years ago. It didn't work. And now I'm watching that second period again. And the same mistakes that we've seen in prior years where they're, They're cheating for offense and they want their cookies and it comes back to bite them in the ass. I'm sorry, but it is under a minute with the offensive zone face off. And you've got supposedly your best players on the ice with Matthews, Tavares, if I'm not mistaken, Cowan, Morgan, and Radish.

and you're down 4-2. Worst-case scenario, you go into the dress room down 4-2. No. It's under a minute. There's 48 seconds to go, and they think they're going to get the 4-3 goal, and they're cheating like crazy.

They're down two, though. That's where you cheat, right? No. That's part of the game. When you're losing by 2. No. Not cheat that in 10 seconds, it's in your net.

Do you know how, bad you have to be defensively to lose an offensive zone faceoff and give up a goal in 10 seconds 10 yeah where are you guys how did how does Utah get out of their own zone untouched and almost a four on two in the rush because why because you want to go and score the four three goal yeah but not at that expense that you would kill your game at five two And the only reason why they came back, Justin, is because Utah was dumb enough to sit on it for the whole third period. Anytime they take it to a team, we get the Utah's bad or Nashville's bad or whatever. Like they have another gear kit.

They actually have the ability this year to turn it on and put a team on their heels. You can't give up that goal, Justin. Well, of course not. But you can also get a stop. You know, like that's not a crisis of a, they didn't give a breakaway up 10 seconds left. It was close, buddy. I'm telling you. They came up with so speed.

then they got Morgan and Radish who can't close the gap. And then Morgan's so slow that he has to turn around and actually screen Stolars on the Uyghur goal. That's how bad he was defensively on that play. Yeah. And I'm like, you can't give up that goal. You know, it is going to be fascinating to watch how they contend with this because the whole thing with Barubi was that they weren't the opposite of what you're talking

about, unwilling to open it up. unwilling to try to create the offense, be on the right side, do all that sort of stuff. Don't be too fast. That led to getting filled in in their own end, right, being safe and all that kind of stuff. But this, you can't win with this hockey. Well, I know, but you can't win the Stanley Cup like this. I get them. Can't make the playoffs like this?

Well, I don't know. My article says today that they can't win the playoffs or sorry, make the playoffs with this decor. I agree with you that there's significant changes that have to happen. But they had a lot more success and they didn't win the cup, but they had a lot more success when they did allow their offensive guys to be offensive guys. So that play fine. If you don't like that one,

that maybe they shouldn't take those chances there. I can live with that. But I do think they have to lean into what they are rather than trying to have these guys going to a shell and try to be last year's guys. Yeah, I mean, of course you got Austin back at 80, 90, 100 points, maybe 40, 50 goals. Willie's dangerous, although still a little too sleepy for the portion of 60 minutes last night for me compared to what he was able to do in Colorado.

I do get a sense that Marchenko cannot find a team game right now. I totally agree with that. No team game. It's like he wants to go out there, he wants to carry the puck, and he has no problems at all challenging one on two. and buddy that ain't going to work I totally agree

I still think he's effective and it's been good for them they're in the offensive zone more helps Matthews good good good good there's lots to like there but I do agree that his touches right now

are not using other people it's still you know we joked about Caspari Cappan early in the year expensive capon you need to find a way to cut back to make the dishes to sometimes chip it in

to be on the right side of the puck that stuff I it's still something that's not there for him yet. He does try, though. To your point about them opening it up and playing hockey or playing river hockey or whatever you want to call it, I'm sure Hiller,

who had a great success in L.A., shutting it down, and them playing that trap that everybody was worried about him coming here, I'm sure he's looking up and down the bench, Kip, and being like, well, how the hell else are we going to win? Like, I'm trying to coach the team.

I look at my forward group and I'm like, well, that guy's amazing, that guy's amazing, that guy shoots it in the net all the time, that guy's offensively skilled, this guy does that, and then he looks at his decor and he's like, well, that guy doesn't break it out. Like, how do you expect to win locking it down with the decor that they've put out there? Like, he's coaching the way they're supposed to. I'm not saying that you, I just have some intelligence here. And this game's all about picking your spots.

For sure. And I, and I, that's a brutal goal to give up, but also make the save. I'm sorry, make the save. Easy to blame the goalie. I understand. It's a hard league. They shoot hard. He said himself.

He stung. Make a save. And we don't even have in this conversation. All right. Let's go to Jim Hiller. They had a significant odor to them. Oh, is that Valley? Clip four.

If you watch the goals, they had a significant odor to them. That's good. That's good. That's a new one. That's a good new one. All right. Clip four on Stolars from the head coach. I mean, he was all right.

He gave us a chance at the end. Third period. He made a couple saves. You know, they scored five rush goals. Right? So that's not just Anthony. That's different people making mistakes required at getting to him. Fifth goal.

Thank you. There's probably a couple he wants back, but that happens. It's an early chance for the coach to be like, we need him to be better. You know what? I think he said that. I'm going to try to bail him out a little bit. I'm going to give Stolars a little bit of a pass here. That's a bad zag.

He stunk. He's two under his arm. I'm not saying he didn't stink. The first one was stunk, too. I'm not. What I'm saying is, and I'm going to check the, unavailable part of his leaf career on the side here. He's won him a lot of games.

Yeah. He's been a good goal. He's won them a lot of games. I haven't seen too many when he's healthy and in. I haven't seen too many like last night. Totally agree. That's a very fair. That's all I'm going to say.

Yeah. I'm not writing him off. But I am pissed about that game because felt like it was right there for them. And if he lets in two less, they win. Yeah. I'm not, I hate, all I do is blame goalies, I feel like. No, I don't know. Again, he said himself, why don't we listen to Stolars?

We have a Stollars clip one on wanting a few back, please. Yeah, just I think for the team's sake, just, you know, the resilience to battle back. I mean, obviously, I put us in a tough situation, you know, probably want two or three of those goals back. And, you know, not the way you want to go and end the road trip. But like I said, I thought our third period was really good. And, you know, it's just the resilience that this group has shown. You know, I know I got better and we'll be better in the future.

What a difference a year makes. I had the same line in my head, yeah. Oh, did you? Oh, yeah. It's just like literally last year ago today or yesterday, you just buried the whole team. That's called experience. That's all that's called. So last year, would have been like, they had just loud and rushed chances left.

right. I don't know. But it was. If you look at the, I get those sport logic numbers post game, cycle chances, you know, the Leafs are ahead, high danger stances for the game are 14, 13 Leafs, rush chances and turnover chances were both in favor of Utah by two to one. So to your point, there's a Marchenko one. I know that stuck in a lot of people's craw.

You know, there's some moments there. But it does lead to, you know, okay, so the goalie can bail you out, but also your D, Morgan gets turnstiled on the The boot goal Is it the end of the first period? A leboot. You know, there's just some moments last night. Poor Rify, I really, I still like the player.

He just looks real nervous back there. He's just, he's falling down. And he would never do that in America. Throwing Morgan out there like this. But he played, I think, the least he's played. He played 16 minutes and changed last night. Do you just keep, if you're Chica or. Hiller or Matt's, you just, until you get an offer that you like,

you just keep throwing them out there like this. As opposed to what? Scratch them? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh. Or?

I guess you're just so thin. I don't have the luxury of doing it. Here's Blanky and Refai on your third pair. Getting burned too and shoveling pucks out of your net. it's not much of an option either. It's a bad option. That's night, Darren Radish, almost at 25 minutes. They just got nobody.

McCabe playing 1820. And after that, no one plays 18 minutes. I can't help but feel like I'm watching like this. Feels like to me like it's Wade Redden at the end of his career. For Riley? Yeah. Where it's like, once upon you were a star, you were a star. And Redden was a star in Ottawa.

and then went on to New York. He signed a huge contract. And then just the speed of the game just left him. Morgan's always, his thing has been speed, right? Like he's been a, he's able to skate. But not anymore. Well, I agree. Not like he did even.

That's what I'm saying. A few years ago. Yeah. So like once you lose the thing you do, that makes you special, makes you a top pair of NHLD. It gets real hard. Like, who could have seen this? coming. Well, I know. Like, this is why in the off season, they should have done it.

Well, I think they went, hey, look, we didn't have TANF, now we have TANF. We didn't have Rattish. We've added him. You know, we're two guys better. And it's just, it's not enough. We do have Hiller on his D pairs last night. Sure. Tanev. I don't want to do a clip five from Jim Hiller, please. Well, I mean, I don't know. Different parts of the game will look like pairs worked. And then there were parts of the game where it looked like pairs didn't work. But that that wasn't just the D. Again, that's, that's everybody. So, unless all five guys are on, it makes it difficult for anybody,

whether it's a forward line or a deep area. And that's fair. You know, it's parts of the game where it worked is when you're behind and making up ground, right? Forwards are doing their thing. Okay, so you wrote an article today on the Leafs and needing to do something? Yeah.

What was your solution in your article? Well, the solution is that something has to happen. We talked about names like White Cloud and Restelan, and I don't know. who's out there and who's available. But my contention is just that they have said, and Hiller said the right things about next man up and we'll kind of see how it goes.

The Atlantic Division has seven teams out of eight who think they're going to be in the playoffs. You know, maybe the Red Wings do too. And they're all very good teams. You don't have time to figure it out and you learn the lesson we all see coming. Everyone agrees that the Leafs D are not going to be good enough with an injury to TANF to get in playoffs.

You can't wait. They can't wait till the deadline to see who's available. see who's frustrated. It has to happen by November. Pick any guy then. Honestly. White Cloud is a name that's out there out of Calgary. Another year at 2.75 this year.

I don't know if they're even really contemplating moving them right now. To me, it doesn't really make much sense for Calgary to do it now. But that's only how aggressive the Leafs are. and like what are you willing to give up the first rounder a prospect I guess anything on the roster because when you talk about him or even Ritzelan who I believe is injured right now in Philly I don't think he's back for another he broke his hand didn't he not sure

yeah he's got an injury won't travel with the team is the top story on Ristelainen hurt. Yeah, I think he broke his top hand. Saw Ian Cole mentioned. Even if you were able to get those guys that, and they are legit, 17 to 20 minute guys, you think it has to happen now. Do you? If you buy into the, they don't need one guy, they need two guys. Yeah.

then yeah, they need something to plug right now the loss of Chris Tanna. I know the concern is that they don't have many, and I cover this in my piece, but they don't have many bullets in their gun, right? They got this first of Colorado, which is they're never going to use. You know. Cobler.

Yeah, Kobler, you mentioned. Venus. Actimov, Danford. You know, the list of things they have to acquire players with is pretty thin. You want to keep everyone else? in your roster. So I know that once they make a move, if it's for someone who's not good enough,

the talk will be well, they need it better than that. Those guys just aren't available. So I think I've lowered my expectations for what they need to do a little bit. And I think you have to be careful dipping into past the next two years draft picks that you don't have, right? Because they don't have this year's first.

They don't have next year's first. That's well documented. But they do have their firsts after that. And I know Kippert, you'll scoff at me and say, oh, those have no value, blah, blah, they don't matter. But like, if you're going to be thinking about making a trade for a defenseman, first round picks are going to be thrown around. And depending on what the, you know, how desperate they are to win now

or whatever it is or to appease Matthews. And quite frankly, Chica's record of being very aggressive when it comes to trading, that part of it worries me a little bit in terms of dipping into past these next two years with the uncertainty with Matthews. That, that, which is, is that fair? Yeah, I think it's fair. But like, it's a concern. If you were, if somebody was going to give up, like, a decent to good defenseman for your 29 first-round

pick, which you're probably going to scoff me and say that wouldn't happen, is that something that you guys are willing to do to dip into that future? I think I am. Yeah, I guess it depends as someone who's good and is going to be here for a period of time. It's different than if it's like a real. like a 30-year-old guy? I don't know how if you're, Chika, you've gone this far and then you just stop at that. I think it's...

You think it's all on the table? Yeah. I think he's that guy that thinks he's only going in for like one or two tattoos and his whole back is covered by the end. That's a great analogy. I mean, the reality is this team last year stunk. They stunk out loud. Oh, my God. it was so bad. And, you know, this year watching them, you watch Marchenko flying around and

Jack Rosovic has speed and Cowan's better and he added Gavin McKenna and Nick Paul's a reliable piece of it and Darren Radish is playing 25 a night. The got the changes have been very good good and it's got them back into the conversation of, okay, how do you now get, you know, those incremental percentages better to be among the actually good teams? You're right. You've come this far. How do you then go, now we're content to finish 17th this year because we don't have an FD. Yeah. So something,

something got to happen. Yeah. Uh, oh, what? Last night won't exactly help, but if Stolars can play a couple of more good games

and just show that if there's health concerns, you know, are kind of set aside. Boy, do you take another couple of licks last night? Trade him. Yeah. That's another asset that you could,

you could hopefully, somebody could be attracted to. Wow. What did Sammy, what did you tell? I saw a dragger talking about on his podcast that the Rangers maybe kick tires on him. Yeah, but I don't know. Yeah. Do the Rangers have D?

I'm literally on their page right now. Do they have D? Shopping from their menu. Yeah. That's the only thing you can try to pluck something. Well, they just added Marcus Patterson from Vancouver. Sean Dersy was Utah last year, I believe. They got Albert Smith's the rookie there.

Braden Schneider. I read that he was going to be a better pick the McKenna. Schneider would be great, but he's kind of Carlo-ish, right? Sounds nice. But, yeah. You guys fine him for Carlo. You're not sick. But Carlos 6-5.

I know. Listen, you could put Stetcher on Blankenberg's shoulders, and they ate 6-5 together. I think they brought in Blankenberg to be like, wow, Stetcher, you're big. Like, look how big you can be. I think it's crazy. I brought up your guys Carlos take to Bunkus today, and he agreed with you guys. So there you go.

Stetcher is way too important on this team, which is also in what I wrote today. He is playing the seventh most of any player on the Toronto Maple Leaf this season. Time on Ice, seventh most. Everything's great. He was fighting his ass off last night, blocking shots, work.

Like, he works so hard. I feel like I want to make clear that he's good. I think he is useful. Yes. But he can't be important. He's the ideal guy that he was for the Oilers, where he can come in, he can come out, like six, seventh guy, he's perfect.

He's a seat filler at the Academy Awards. No. Cramer. They're saying that about my beloved Troy. He's a three-time nominee. On Seinfeld? My beloved Troy. How dare you?

How George, boys. Troy's boys are disgusted by that comment. That's... You want to hear Marchenko, Hilleron Marcheco's third year... I don't want to do this every day. How about that? I feel like I'm being super negative about him

and Leaf fans are positive about him and he looks good and he's... That one landed on his tape with three and a half seconds. He's buzzing around. I just want to see him enter the net. Yeah. And he had that great power move that went off of Beggie and ended up on Rossavitt's stick

and he's wide open net, shot off the post. Like, things are happening. But like you guys brought up, it's much too solo. It's a lot of solo efforts right now. I also think sitting here today, we just watched them play three, very good teams. Totally.

Like realistically, one of those teams, possibly two, are in the conference final this year between Vegas, Colorado, and Utah. I think that's fair. So that exposed... Well, two of them were in the conference final last season. There you go. That exposes where you're strong and where you're weak.

And so I think the Leafs look good. I'm confident about, you know, the developments and all that. But yeah, if you want to get into the mix of teams that have a chance, a big chance, they need more than... It will, like, once again last night, you're watching teams, Atlantic.

Like, it's going to be a dog fight. We watched Buffalo and Montreal get points. Three point game. Florida comes back with an impressive win. Brady. When I'm getting like six texts after, like, the start of the Florida Columbus game, they stink they're old.

They can't skate. They can't keep up. And the next thing you know, it's 4-1, Florida. Yeah. Well, maybe I was wrong. Natty Haddy for Brady after I buried him to Valley yesterday. A lot of people hanging their heads after that one.

Just one. I wanted to give a shout out to Hiller. Last night, two things that, you know, I was hard on him about the Tavares thing and I felt guilty about being hard on him. But two primary power play points for Tavares shoots one in the net, big goal, sets up another one. I don't think that's ever an issue with Tavares.

I know. It is crazy that he can beat goals in the same spot. Five on five in the three. in the neutral zone is a big issue and was big last night too. But one of the big talking points amongst Lee fans was like, how could you put this guy out here? Like he had no skill and he had two primary.

Somehow, some way, since this guy was in minor adams, playing for the Marley's, he gets his points. Yeah, because he's got unbelievable hands. His points. And he will get his points this year. He'll get his points this year. I wasn't so sure about that.

I mean, he's up to, guess what? Six points, five points and six games. Like, oh, I'm starting to look. like a Tavares here again. I'm not sure about that for Melka, boys, either for Not sold. Not sold. Agree.

Not sold. And that's hell of a shot by Tava, right? That's a hell of a shot by Tavares, but that can't beat you that cleanly. Yeah. From there. A couple of nice goals. The Willie hesitation pass over to McKenna. McKenna gets another one.

He just flies around a little bit too much for me. Like he's very perky jerky in there. The other thing I wanted to bring up about Hiller, I liked the McKenna, not benching. But sat him down for a few shifts. That's where he took a stupid penalty in the neutral zone. That's what you do with Brickney? No, no, I liked it. And I thought it was great.

And he came out hungry. Didn't like Hiller's power play start that led to a penalty right away? He put the second unit out. Yeah. Why? Actually, it ended up in a goal against, didn't it? Yeah. Like, if the ref calls two blake penalties.

It's a critical part in the game. It doesn't matter. Get your delay, delay, delay. I'll even take a time out. But get your horses back out there. that's an interesting one. Believe me, I had that thought as it happens. It's like, oh, second unit.

But then in my mind, they've scored a goal or two this year. They've actually looked like a pretty competent unit. And it's like, all right, you know, we can't be afraid to use these guys. They're talented players. You know, how scared are you to use a second power play? I shouldn't be that scared. I get game management 100%. But how often does the stick getting slashing two get called?

And here's the other one I had a problem with Hiller. Every single time. I'll go back to the Stollars conversation. Kippie League office just brushing that one off. Just brushing that off. Clear penalty should five on three. Obvious. Clear.

I know. They call that every time. I can't have these conversations with you. Okay. Because I'm not saying that you're wrong, but it's the world of hockey. This is not a hockey point. Times it's going to go for you. Times it's going to go against you.

We can sit there and say that shouldn't have been a penalty. We're still getting nowhere. Right. I'm with you. This is one of the problems I had with Hillary last night. Like, pull Stollars. Just pull him then. If he looks like he's having a tough night, can't find his net.

Just pull him. Like, were we dealing with last night that we, regardless of how bad he looks, we're just going to rest Bobroski for Thursday night. Oh. And just, like, I don't know, maybe he pulls them and Bob goes in there and rescues a point or two.

But like, just to like brush it off that no, Bob starts Thursday and you could suck all you want and you're not coming out isn't good enough for me. I would actually say that people, this is an underrated storyline in the evolution of how teams use their goalies. Because there's more tammoms, they know the other guys go on the next day. They're way less likely to put their backup in. It used to be the guy would be dying to get in the next. net. Now, you know, if you put Bob

in, he's like, oh, I got to, you know, I'm not warm, I got to play a period, I'm supposed to play Thursday, you know, it just feels like they're hesitant to put the guy on the bench in. I said the same thing to you guys, like, okay, are we just punting on the game and saying, ah, we'll get him on Thursday? Like, he's

no good, he's not ready to play, get the other guy in there. As soon as that Gunther one goes under his arm from above the circle, I'm, like, let's go. Yeah, we need to see the other guy. Are you going to hurt people's feelings? Here. Like that's an obvious spot for a poll.

Couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more. Okay. Take a quick break here. Got some questions from the mailbag. Ooh, I didn't even tee that up. What do we have, Sammy after the break? Lots of questions from our loyal listeners.

Loyal Sammy listeners. Not so loyal for us, J.B. No. All right. Sammy's mailbag when we return to Real Kippenborne after these words. Hey, it's Ben Anas. And I'm Brent Cunning. We got you covered on all things, Leifes, Rafters, and Blue Jays.

Every weekday morning, 6 to 9. It's the fan morning show. SportsNF590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in studio, Nick Kippreth, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. Before we get to mailbag, just a reminder, Gerald Sutter will be joining us at the top of the hour with his brand new book released yesterday. And this isn't just any book.

It's co-authored by our very own Justin Bourne. Borny. Thanks for helping push it, boys. Yeah. Go to the West. Can I ask Daryl some questions to prompt a couple of the stories in there if I can. Love it.

Looking forward to that. Mailbag? A mailbag. You've got mail. I think that's an every-time thing now. Yeah. There's probably some listeners that are like, what was that? Yeah.

AOL. Let's start with Chaplow on X. Curious about radish. I think he's looked solid so far, but still whether it's him or the team, he hasn't been able to utilize his shot as well as he did last season, especially on the power play. Looks like they've been focused on creating from the flanks,

less so firing away, him firing away. Thoughts. I'm afraid to ask us to Kipper because I know what he's going to say, but there you go. You can be like, oh, the little Kutrov. Well, that guy's good. But you know what bothers me most about the least power play in options is when Matthews wants to tee up a one timer, he sinks too low. He's outside the dots and he's too low.

Takes his angle away. Exactly. Did it twice six on five last night? Yeah. Like get up to the top of the circles. But he is getting more looks than he has in the past. For sure. Because of radish. Yeah, that doesn't hurt.

Right? It's given him a little bit more space. Yes. It has. But he needs, then pull radish back and let him come up higher so his angles better. At least creates better rebounds. Yeah. The one thing that people got to remember, too, is Rattish isn't sneaking up on anybody.

You're going to have your pregame meetings before the game, and you're going to go through all the video, watch this guy all season long with the Tampa Bay Lightning bombs. And it's, we're not, we're not going to allow that this year, right? We're going to take away his shot. And I would imagine, J.B., if they had a choice, between Radish's shot right down the throat or Matthews maybe at a more difficult angle

to the one where, you know, you feel like he's too deep, then I'd rather take the Matthews deep off the wall. Yeah, I think probably. I mean, Radish is still first in the NHL and 90 to 100 mile per hour slap shots. You know, he's still bombing it pretty consistently. But it is, to your point, they are taking it away. And look, the power place is success.

And part of that is that people have to hedge over to radish, which creates some space on the flank. Now fifth in the H.O. 29.22%. Even if it's not him, it's helping others. I know you brought this up, I think, a little earlier in the show, that without 10 of now, if this guy is going to turn into a 24, 25 minute guy

who also has to play more defense, better defense, penalty kill. It's not good. Yeah. It will take away whatever he feels like his biggest attributes are. And that's maybe finding a lane and jumping up or hammering the puck. This is the least forever have had Dionne Finoff, people say miscast is number one.

Riley miscast is number one. When I start seeing radish swimming on the ice with the snow angels trying to break up a pass, no good. Well, it's not good. Listen to Bradman. is not good. So this guy, he's not the best defensively. And the tendency is when you're in trouble a little bit,

you fall, right? You leave your feet. I don't want to see this guy leave his feet in his own zone. I've seen it a little bit. He's been texting me calling him Neon because he's new Deion. Just the guy with the bomb who were making a number one who's probably number two? Miss cast, big shot. I think didn't Dion sign for $8 million?

a year for that long contract, like, that's a three in his jersey. Take away that four and make him three. We have to tell the difference. Deona could hit, though, everyone was still a truck. He, if you put together the best hit mixtape of all the big hitters in NHL history, his is right there.

The one on the sour in New York when he had the puck coming along the half wall is maybe the hardest anybody's been hit. He got hammered. Him and Ovi. Did I tell you when I went out to BEI with the NHL alumni, Glenn Healy took about 40 of us out there, 50 years out there, like hung out with Dion.

Oh, nice. Yeah. For like a day and a half, two days. We had some really good conversations. Nice. Get him on the show. Including, you killed me a few times. Oh, yeah?

He was aware of that? Oh, very aware. Yeah. Very aware. That's my worst nightmare. Tell him I'm his number one defender. But next time you talk to him. I will give him full marks, full credit.

He goes, at the end of the day, you have. a job to do. Yeah. And you've done it pretty well for a lot of years. Yeah. And I'm like, I love you. I love you.

Yeah. It was almost like a Nick Robertson moment for me and beyond. Good. And he will come on the show. All right. Oh my God. Let's do it. That would be awesome.

Let's do it. I was a big fan. I have a Dionne for a jersey. Somewhere at my house. Well, you're going to bring it in and, you know, you won't remember to hang it up. No, I won't. I'll put it up after I forget to leave the Jay's jersey up there. Okay.

This is from Walter Largent. This is an interesting one. Could you see a Morkin Riley for Jake Wallman swap? Do I want to see it? No. Wallman was just a healthy scratch and he's got six more years in his deal or something. We don't know for sure if it was the healthy scratch. Oh, that's right.

It was kind of like he's not feeling well or he's dealing with something. That's right. I actually shouldn't have said that, but he was not in the lineup. So he was potentially not. has and has also been questionable prior to. Here's flat out all you need to know on a potential Walman for Morgan Rally trade. And it's not going to happen. What's left on Walman's contract and what's left on Morgan's?

Morgan has three more years, if I'm not mistaken, at 7.5. Does he really? Walman just has a gazillion. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I got Walman through 2033. Yeah, this is... 2033.

And how much? Seven. And Riley's until 2030 at 7.5. Maybe Edmonton. And wouldn't want that. I know. Just to lose the cash. Okay.

Maybe, but... Chica's hanging up. I think that is a leave to say no. Just think about Wallman for a second. Okay. I'll think about him. He was in Detroit. Mm-hmm.

Stevie Eisenman paid a second rounder to get rid of him. For no reason. No, to get rid of him. For a reason. That was the reason to get rid of him. Okay. Edmonton takes them and signs him to $60 million. That part was a mistake, but he was really good for them.

Last year, the Oilers were one point out of winning the Pacific Division. They weren't trash. He was minus 17. Eish. He'd fit right in. here. But he was like when they went to the final, he was good. Yeah, he did.

He did have a good start to his Oilers career. He had 10 points in 22 playoff games with the Oilers that year. Let's go with, this is from Philip John K. Morrow on Twitter. A lot of names. A lot of bash in there.

I honestly think the Marchenko expectations aren't fair. He's just shy of point of game. He looks dangerous every night. Once McKenna is with Matthew, and Marchenko both will score a ton of goals. Ease up on the Carill Nye's comparisons. Nyes is a player of the past now. Yeah, Nyes, by the way.

Quiet last night. He's got one assist in five games. Quiet last night. I think he had one shot on goal in 17, 18 minutes. Got to tell you, that whole Columbus team was pretty quiet. I think bonuses. Just killing them every day in the media. Yeah, I got a clip of bonus.

us in our national hour. Cut it? Yeah. I'll address that national hour. I got Sammy Squared together. I go to the reliable Sammy on this show. I was nowhere to be found. I was getting my phone switch.

I was gone. I showed up at showtime just like you guys. I'm pro Marchanko. Marchank pro, if you will. We have yet to see a chemistry, though, with Matthews. And we see a lot of individual stuff and capable stuff.

He can keep the ozone cycle going to. Really? like to see them kind of start using each other a lot more. And if not, then, yeah, separate them. This one's from Godfather's H.C. Edvinson, Nekethe, or Dunn. Rate them as you prefer them for the Leafs, then explain to Leifn, who you require,

how you require one without giving up Cowan and the deal. Well, you don't, probably. Yeah. Sean Horcoff came out today and said, we have no interest in trading Edvenson. Well, then give him his money. Sign him? Play him.

Put him on your team. That stinks. That would be good. Guys, you're back to Willie Neelander going to December and how it was a mistake that they caved in. Okay. Just let it play out. Yeah.

Let it play out. Don't just hand the keys to everybody. Okay. All right. Pick your spot. Okay. And I think looking around the league, the amount of keys have been handed out.

The one thing that Horcoff... The one thing that Horcoff said, and I totally agree with him, you can't find these guys. You're not trading them for cow and... Cowan you can find. Okay. That guy, as a blue liner,

that high in the air? Very high in the air. Okay? That high in the air is an amazing way to say tall. You can't find. Can't teach big? Can't teach it. You're not getting rid of...

He's way up there. He's up near the sky. Who are the other options there? Nikitian? Yeah. Or done? Niketian checks a lot of boxes. Nikitian.

So I guess he just fired his agent a while ago and he went somewhere else. Problem is Carolina's not dumb. He was, if he just stayed in that seven and a half, eight million kind of zone, he'll be playing right. now, but now he wants nine, nine and a half. Well, you look at

Booiam and you look at... Yes, I get it. All the guys who've signed. I get it. Mintyakov and Leno and... Yeah, no, I get it. So just waited out. Didn't they...

Didn't they offer them nothing? No, didn't the Carolina offer him nothing? Wasn't it like a report about what they actually gave him to be... But Nikesian... They had a deal with the Rangers. They had a deal with the Rangers. They did. Yeah, they did.

And they weren't prepared to pay him, I think, nine and a half. I mean, he's had 33 points last year, 11 goals and 81 games. Oh, he's good. He's really good. He's really good. He played in playoffs for them, like, consistently. He played 17 games for him, no goals, but one assist. He'd be great in Toronto.

That would be a nice addition, for sure. It would check a lot of the... Six foot three. Six foot three. God, Cowan's such a hurricane. Oh, he is. Little guy drives play, buzzes around. Wasn't competitive?

Wasn't there something with Marner at the day? deadline last two years ago with him and them. And anyways, I don't need to go back down that road. But let's not. I had a great one here. This is from Daffy Newport on Twitter. Do you think Gavin knew what he was getting into when he agreed to live with Tavares? Is he going to help out with the newborn?

Does he have really good ear plugs? I imagine Tavares has like a wing for him. I think the house would be big enough for you can get lost a little bit. I think there's probably thick walls and things. floors. Sort of two-bedroom apartment. No, I don't think he's sharing a semi-detached. I thought living above Cobb's bread on Bloor Street.

But still, it's a terrible setup. For me personally, like, Matthew Schaefer's a freak of nature. You know, the way he's like embraced the Martin family. And he's, you know,

see videos of him with the kids doing schoolwork. Not everyone wants that. I wouldn't have wanted that for anything. Yeah. You couldn't have paid me to live it. What would you have wanted, Justin? You have four kids? No, sick.

Isn't it's night. Nightmare. Going from junior or college into like the real world like that, it's very intimidating to go find a place to live by yourself. I don't think he should live alone. Living with a family is really, it's a good idea for an 18-year-old. Yeah, okay. Does it have to be the Sutter family with seven kids?

I'm sure. You know who's really probably thrilled is Gavin's parents. Probably like, that is a dream spot for him. Like just getting the good family values, kale smoothies every day. Babs. My babes and Tavares are coming together. Indistinguishable. Crap.

I mean, I'm sure it's fine. Meals cooked, laundry done. But it's great that he's living with a family. Surely there's other family men who don't have four kids under six years old. A lot of tweets about Danford. It's a time to give Danford a shot. No, no. No.

No. Not ready. All right. And this guy's, he had a nice bonus with the Marley's last year. but he needs to learn how to be a pro too. And he can be a little reckless too. Also, if you want to be Tanev-like, there's a learning curve to becoming that.

You need to be strong and experienced. I don't know that a Danford learning on the fly helps the Leafs. This year for sure. Yeah, not in a perfect world, you give him another year with the Marley's. Yeah. Or revisit later in the year. Or he's playing for Carolina.

Yeah, playing for someone else potentially. Anyways, that's not big boys. Good stuff. Yep. Yeah, the D question is the question of the day. Obviously, they'll go back to Bob on Thursday, but Rify, I don't know if he's going to help him until then. Kind of stumbled a little bit out there last night. Dakota Murmiss.

Mermis played 11 games for them last year. Philip Myers is still there who played half the season. He played 40 games for the Leafs last year. I've been seeing some, you know, optimism from C.J. potentially about tandem. It's like, well, maybe it's on his bad. It's like, well, it's going to happen. Like, what evidence is there to see that it's not just going to happen again?

Last year he came back from injury and played like six games. Not even, one or two games. Yeah. Heard again. Yeah. You know, feel for the guy. He's been through the ringer. Yeah, this one, this one was really troublesome to see something as innocent as what we saw.

If that's what, in fact, he's dealing with. Yeah. We don't know if it's anywhere else, but we'll see in the coming days if there's any more news on Chris Tanna. In the meantime, the Leafs gets set tomorrow night against the Buffalo Sabres. We're just getting started, warmed up.

Daryl Sutter will make his debut on Real Kippron Bourne. Can't wait to talk to him. Me too. All right. Stick around. The book is called, J.B., The Code of the West, baby. And we'll talk about it when we return to Real Kippenborn.