Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Trust in the Tandem + Preds' Offseason Overstep

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee share some final thoughts ahead of Team Canada's official roster announcement for the Four Nations Face-Off today. They discuss how the tournament can impact the Leafs' season and Jani Hakanpää getting selected to Team Finland. Then, they look ahead to the Leafs' matchup against the Predators tonight and get into Nashville's failed offseason experiment, Jake McCabe's absence, the goalie tandem's recent play and more. Finally, to help look at the Preds' side of the game, Nashville radio host Robby Stanley (33:17) shares what's gone wrong for them this season and their chances of climbing back into contention.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, don't touch that dial. Not for our Leaf Hour edition. Not for our National edition. No. Where we'll welcome in Hall of Famer Marc Messier in studio. Super cool. But even after, because we've got the official announcements coming for Team Canada, Team USA at around 6.30,

and then we kick it into game day. Like, seriously. This is a good run from here till, I don't know, 10 o'clock tonight. Great run on the network. We are live right now. Sportsnet 590, the fans. Sports, 10 o'clock tonight. Great run on the network. We are live right now. Sportsnet 590, The Fan, Sportsnet 360, and Sportsnet Plus. Nick Kiprios.

Justin Bourne. Good day. Sammy McKee, who's got his autograph book out for Mark Messier. No, I do not. I would never. It fell out of your pocket. I would never. I would never. No?

Because you're a pro. Well, no. Anytime I go to those, like, events that I see those guys floating around with the books, I'm always like, oh, that never is me. Anyways. If you didn't do it when Matt's was here, you're not going to do it. I didn't do it when Matt's was here. I got a handshake and a pick, and that's all I needed, boys.

Browning out the lineup, Derek Brandeo and Jake the Snake Schultz. Kipper, I can tell you that tonight for that Four Nations thing, they're going to have Don Sweeney on after the announcement, John Cooper on, Connor McDavid on. They're going to talk to some people. Connor McDavid making it? Well, he's already made it. That one we know for sure.

Lots of speculation out there. You want to add to what, you know, we expect to hear officially in terms of, you know, like we said, there's news filtering out until it's official. It ain't official. The league, the PA and Sportsnet will have it for everybody at 6.30. But, Sammy, the feel is, from a tweet that I saw, whatever you're hearing, you kind of like what you hear. I'm liking the looks of what I'm seeing. If there's stuff out there that's true, I'm thinking that we have a pretty good hockey team.

Yeah. Yeah, it's a good team. I mean, they had the official release of the finnish and swedish national teams this afternoon they did that and you know i gotta say i really impressed by both those squads as well very impressed i think lotus you look at finland's team i think their forward core is excellent you look at their decor and the fact that they named uh yanni hakenpa to their to their decor tells you a little bit what you what they think of that group but the swedish decor is elite they have a bunch of great forwards obviously like now that the teams are starting to come out and you're seeing potential news about canada

i am getting really really really excited for this yeah i am so the you know again we don't know we don't know but you know hearing rumors on things, the biggest surprise probably is that it doesn't look or doesn't sound like Mark Scheifele is going to make it. Does that one surprise you if that's true? First of all, what's not to love about Winnipeg's overall start, and I know they've kind of hit a bit of a skid, but I thought Scheifeley would be a perfect guy that could fit anywhere between one and four. Yeah.

I mean, God, if he's your 13, you feel... Center, wing, power play, regular shift on the bottom six. He can kind of do it all. He can do it all. So that one was genuinely surprising but you know some of the third or fourth line looks you know sam and i were having a chat before if your fourth line is what did you say it looked like uh sorelli connect me bennett yeah something like that bennett sorelli connect yeah it's like whoa that is a feisty

competitive talented line and i think one of the things when you when this team starts to come out and people maybe have their uh trepidations towards it or whatever you want to do like it is an nhl hockey tournament it's not an ihf tournament you're playing with nhl rules you're playing on nhl ice you're playing an nhl game like look through if you look through a lot of the Canadian guys that are potentially making it, a lot of cups, a lot of deep playoff runs. This is an NHL-style game that they're going

to be playing at this tournament. And everyone's just like, oh, America. Oh, look at Sweden. It's like, you know, Connor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon and Kael McCarr, they're going to be playing a lot. And those guys are rather good. If you pick the three best players from the four teams, they're probably all in Canada.

Probably the three guys you just named. The other thing you got to kind of be on the radar is that there's a lot of time between now and this tournament, which means there's a lot of guys that potentially could not be there that will hear yeah on the list or on the roster today and there was a lot of calls on to players in the last two and a half three days to say you're not on the list but but be ready and how many do you think how many extra players would they call and put on notice like sam said this isn't the ioc this is your tournament you could call 20 call 20 or 30 be like hey a lot of respect for your game never know in our leaf hour we'll we'll tell you that Morgan Riley and Chris Tanev are on high alert.

That you keep your game sharp. You're not that far off away of being in this uniform in February if a guy goes down. And that's... Not bad for the Leafs. It's not bad. It keeps everybody on their toes. Sure does.

Mid-season lull time. You've got guys playing their hearts out trying to get in that event. Okay. Bowie L probably too. Before we get into specifics on Nashville and the Toronto Maple Leafs, another game night for us, which is better than this once a week crap they gave us. And then we've got Robbie Stanley who coversley who covers the nashville predators in

about uh 25 30 minutes we'll get into what the heck's wrong with the predators but before that craig berube was asked about the official announcement coming today and whether or not it would be a distraction let's have a listen to this. Do you concern any of your players will be distracted tomorrow with the Four Nations rosters being announced? Is that something you're going to worry about? Who's in and who's out? No, not necessarily. I mean, it is what it is.

Like, what am I going to do? I mean, congrats if you're in. If you're not, well, that's life. Get ready for the game. That's why he's perfect. I know. I love it. That's a perfect answer.

No, the perfect answer would have been, you've clearly run out of questions. Yeah. Do you have any actual do you really think that this announcement is gonna affect their ability to play the nashville predators cut to morgan riley in barubi's office with his head on barubi's shoulder tears streaming down his face like that didn't happen you know i will say that i'm sure there's a lot of, like, fans, like I've mentioned, maybe I'm just the only fan that thinks about this, but I'm sure there's a lot of coaches around the National Hockey League.

You look at John Cooper, who's actually coaching this thing. You look at Craig Berube, who's losing a bunch of players. You look at the Flyers, who are two of their best players, are going to this John Tortorella. I'm sure a few of them wish it wasn't happening, right? Especially the Leafs, who are having their best season, like, this John Tortorella. Sure, a few of them wish it wasn't happening, right? Especially the Leafs who are having their best season like under in this sort of era. Like they look great.

Everything's humming. Everybody's feeling good. Good goaltending, good decor, all this stuff. And you know, it's two weeks off where guys go play super high stakes. Buddy, Chris Tanev can't not block shots. That's what I mean. Imagine he goes in that

event lays out in front of a u.s shot in the gold medal game and the leafs just have to go well we're without chris taniff for playoffs and i just like i've said before and i'll say it again i'm excited i'm excited for the best on best but is the juice of derailing the toronto maple leaf season worth the any teams we're well we're in the lease hour derailing the Toronto Maple Leafs season worth the squeeze? Any teams. Well, we're in the Leafs hour. We're talking about the Leafs. Is it worth it to be like, boy, we lost Marner, but God, that inaugural Four Nations face-off cup was sure worth it.

But I guess, you know. Gold medal. You've got inside information they're giving away gold medals. Well, I assume if they're giving it out. What else are they? Something gold-colored, right? What did they give out in 2016? It was like that big... I think they're giving out ribbons?

Don't you remember? Trucks? I think they left it in the dressing room. I don't even think they left with the 2016 trophy. It was like that big... It was like a crystal-looking chalice of some kind. The crystal's such a cop-out. They're like, we know our event is not.

Crystal. I will say, someone said in our tweet, we mentioned something about the Four Nations, said, ah, it's just a made-up event. It's like, yeah, bud, they're all made-up events. The Stanley Cup was made up. Once upon a time, the Olympics was made up. Yeah, like, you're going to put the best players

from their country against the best players from our country, and they're going to try their asses from their country against the best players from our country, and they're going to try their asses off. That's a great point. Whatever you call it, you know. Yeah. We had to make something up to make it happen because there's no Olympics. It's just.

Where are you emotionally tied to this? Well, yes. That's the basis of that comment. Of course, the cup is. Yes. It carries bigger emotional weight and all that. I gotta tell you, I think I would rather see the Leafs win the cup than Canada win the inaugural Four Nations faceoff.

If I'm being totally honest with the audience. One more thought in our Leaf hour, and you mentioned Hockenpah being named to Team Finland, and I actually think that this is a good sign

for the Toronto Maple Leafs. That long term. He's on this team because there has to be a sense that he's going to be around. Yeah. He's going to be around and he's going to be around. Yeah. He's going to be around, and he's going to play at some point. And it's not like he's completely on Robida Island right now. You're right.

They have not written him off. There would have been plenty of opportunities for Brennan Shanahan or Bradtree Living to go back to Team Finland and say, hey, bud, he's got the knee of a matchstick. Yeah. Like, guys, you don't want to do this. A wooden matchstick. Okay.

But maybe this is like the dowdy thing where they're like, he either can do it and we want him or we can't do it and we get to pick someone else anyway. I think it's just a matter of where he is in terms of feeling good or not feeling good. I think he's going to be on this cycle where it's like good week. Two games, one month out. Good week, bad two days, three days.

Good week, bad week. And you just hope if it's Finland that you catch them on a good week. You know, if you're Henry Yoki Harju or Urho Vakkanainen, you're standing by, you're at the ready. Let's put it that way. So there's a couple of finish options in the NHL waiting to step in. Okay, Nashville, what do you got for me? What are you thinking? Is this just another game like Chicago where they can kind of play at times poorly

and still get away with two points? It's hard, right? They haven't had much success lately. But, you know, they've lost four straight games. They lost to the Devils. Very good team. Lightning. Very good team.

Wild. Best team in the NHL right now. Like, they're not rolling over to you know tomato cans here they they've played some good teams we know they have good players but yeah it's uh you know it's a game you should win brube had a good clip on uh on the national predators why don't we play that and react off the bat well i look at their team the last 10 games and they've really tightened things up in my opinion defensively and they've been a lot better. I think they got five overtime

losses in those games so I mean their record could be a lot better. You know they got good veterans over there. I'm not going to name them all. They got a really good goalie. You know so it's a challenge. It's a desperate team right

now the way I look at it, the situation they're in. So we need to be ready to go and match that desperation. I love that he's like, I'm not doing your homework for you. Yeah, he's like, yeah. Three straight OT losses. Yeah. We spoke yesterday of the New York Rangers

and how collectively they're all underperforming, underachieving. And this team's right there with them. Yeah. Especially when you factor in the key signings. On paper, they look fantastic, or at least a team that could quite easily make the playoffs. You would have thought so, preseason. You would have thought so preseason. You would have thought so.

Yeah. But that chemistry thing has not worked out. It's real. It's fascinating too. Like Stamkos, who they gave a pretty good chunk of change to. On the power play, six goals, even strength, one. Points on the power play, he's got 10. Even strength, three.

You know, like his numbers on power play and even strength are night and day so he's like kind of a one-dimensional guy for them right now nashville kind of gave me a thought that i was you know just looking at their roster and looking at the way their season's gone and how by all accounts they quote unquote won the offseason right you know i would say that their offseason this year is certainly a cautionary tale for this upcoming offseason for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Where, you know, there's been a ton of talk, and I don't really want to get into the Marner thing right now. But there's been a ton of talk about him leaving, John Tavares leaving, all that relief off the cap and all this money to go out and spend on free agents. And it's like, you know, you can go go out there you can spend all this money on free

agents and you can look better on paper and you can convince yourself that these new guys are going to be different but you know you might not be any better and you might actually be way worse and like it's it's a bit of a cautionary tale for me looking ahead for the Leafs here because at least they're going to have so much cap space especially at Marner and Tavares walk here 22 million bucks all these big name free agents the Bennett's out there all these that are going to have so much cap space, especially if Marner and Tavares walk here. $22 million, all these big-name free agents, the Bennetts out there, all these that are ripe to be overpaid. And you do it, and you're like, oh, crap, we're not going to.

Go take your $30 million into Dollarama and see what the best you can do is. It's tough. I don't think that the Leafs have a foundation that's as bad as Nashville. Like, the Leafs have a good foundation, and I think they'd find a way to be a good team. But it's just, you can't change everything in free agency

and think you're going to be a cup contender. Because it rarely ever works. Is that a lesson that Barry Trotz has found out the hard way right now? Yeah, I think so. Or do you think that there's some hope here? Well, it's funny. Like Nashville must have thought, or they must have talked themselves into being close,

don't you think? Like, to go get old guys. And, yeah, in context of the league, these are old players in March or so in Stamkos. They must have thought they were pretty close. Or is it that market that they have to compete? I think they're still good players. Yeah.

But it's almost as if that, you know, you had Brent Burns and San Jose, and you went and got Carlson, and they never mixed. They never worked. You think it's the batter just doesn't work? Stamkos and Marcheseau, like two right-handed shots, two guys that can kind of play similar. I know Stamkos has got more of a reputation

as the top-of-the-circle slap shot, but you didn't need two guys that are quite similar. If they would have picked one, and for me it would have been Stamkos, left Marcheseau off, and go get another quality centerman, and Ryan O'Reilly cannot be the number one centerman on this team it's just he's too far gone he's he's he's trending right there with tavaris where it's like yeah on some nights he can look really good but he can't generate on his own he's not in the right slot right now at this point of his career to carry this roster part of me believes and i don't know anything but like if you're ryan o'reilly and you're familiar with this toronto market and you know that you are in decline like he would have some idea where he's at in his career arc this would have been a really tough market to

sign for four years and have people all over you as you're not as good as you once were well is that the main reason why he didn't sign here it would have factored into my decision but i can't speak for him i also think that where he would slot on the toronto maple east right now he'd look a lot better he'd look a lot better i think right i mean this team i don't think they'd be struggling like the national predators are he'd be more part of a team that's playing well and people would be but he'd still be the same player and just yeah maybe propped up a bit for a while yeah yeah but he's still a power play guy like their specialty teams actually are

are strong yeah right i'm not sure let's find out where would he where would he have been on a leaf power play yeah that's true so there's 17th really good pk best in the nhl and power play power plays 17th in the league mid okay all right um yeah so they're going to be fun to watch tonight just because big stars try to figure out what's going on there. UC Soros up against Joseph Wohl. They won't have Jake McCabe tonight, which is, I think, genuinely surprising

considering what we heard after McCabe took the puck to the head. What did we hear? Well, we heard the coach say well the they said it wasn't serious it wasn't serious and he took part in the main practice yesterday was a part of the line rush that he felt good he felt good after yeah and then i'm getting a completely different sense this year from previous years where even if they think it's day-to-day, they got no problem with guys sitting out a week or multiple games. I think it's completely changed because they've now established true depth and they're not scrambling in the standings

and they don't go through long funks. So I think this is just really about keeping guys fresh, keeping them in, and getting to April where there's not a ton of... There isn't any more wear and tear on guys than you really have to be. He could play. For sure he could play.

Game one of the playoffs uh meaningful game for a division he's playing yeah but this is the new this is the new leafs right now we got depth let's spread it around i do think this one is a little you know the fact that he practiced yesterday and was part of the line rushes and said he was going to play yesterday. This one is a little bit more less of a lie. Now concussion symptoms. Less of a lie. And him actually maybe not feeling great.

Well, because they've been lying to us for less of a lie. Less of a lie is just a fib. Less of a lie. Well, they've been lying for the entire season. We go home sometimes and tell your wife, this one was just less of a lie, honey. I never lie to my wife and she listens to this show. So I just, we can listen to the clips.

Oh, yeah, Kipper, you have my sheet. There's two McCabe updates. There's a clip one there. Clip one. So Jake, McCabe okay to go tonight? No. Oh. He's out.

What happened? He's just not feeling right. He's not feeling good enough to play. So he will not play tonight. Third quarter, I don't know who that was. Mark Masters. So surprised. What happened?

It's Mark Masters. He didn't play a bus? There's a clip, too, to play the second one, too. On Will McKay playing the second one. Yeah, I'm a positive guy, so yeah, I do expect. But listen, I mean, it's just how he feels, right? So hopefully he's feeling better and better every day, and we'll see. Like this guy, he's a warrior. He'll play if he can.

So I'm hoping he's back. Okay, so he's just... That's it. What does that mean? 70%, 75? He wants to feel 90, 100? It's... I don't like a guy getting hit in the brain

and then two days later saying, I don't feel good. I don't think that's good. No, I don't either. And he's a really important guy for them. I just, you know, I thought a lot of... You look at Monday night where they were pretty crappy against a bad team

and not having the ability to lean on that Tanev-McCabe pairing, I think you notice it defensively. No, like it just, it felt. The one that went in off Timmons, he's there because McCabe isn't there. It felt different to me defensively, not having him in there because it's just the way everybody slots in when he's there because Gabe isn't there. It felt different to me defensively not having him in there

because it's just the way everybody slots in when he's there. I think it changes them pretty significantly not having him, so I hope he gets back all right. That would be good. All right, you got a clip of the goalie situation. What struck you on listening to this? He got asked about how he was going to split it up, and he kind of went into it.

I mean, it's not a groundbreaking one, but I thought it's a good jumping-off point for the goaltending. Yeah, well, it's very good. You look at this month and the schedule and how many games are packed in there, the back-to-backs, and there's four of them. Need two goalies. So it's great that they're both playing well and doing a good job for us

part of our job is convincing the people this is very complicated and it's just not a and just sells us out it's like well look anybody that's never been around the game can not go wrong picking a goalie for the toronto maple leaf yeah yeah you know what i'm saying yeah it's like you could be the biggest moron can not go wrong picking a goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs now. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. It's like you could be the biggest moron hanging out at Tim Hortons

and you're not going to go wrong picking a goalie to play tonight for the Toronto Maple Leafs. There's not a bad option. I will. Pretty solid. You know, I'm a generally pretty cynical Toronto Maple Leaf fan. You guys would say that. But I would say that the way these two goalies look,

and this is all with the huge caveat of health, and the health has been a huge issue, especially for Joseph Wall and for Stolarz in years past. But having this goaltending is something that Leaf fans and the Leafs in general have not been used to right and you add that in with chris tanev you add that in with oliver eckman larson two capable nhl defense i mean above capable for chris tanev an elite defensive guy i would say that i am starting to let myself believe i'm thrilled in a little different outcome this year is that allowed

or no is it it just November? No, I'm not going to allow it. You're not allowing it? It's got my stamp of approval, Sam. No, really? If you can't believe in this team, what team can you believe in as a fan? It's not that I don't believe. Listen, Sam's not been in six a night last year at this time. My experience of a very long year where a lot of things can happen. A lot of things can happen.

It's be cautiously optimistic. Yeah. Right? That's what I said. I'm not saying they're winning the damn cup. I can see you right now. You're in love. You're in the clouds right now. You're in love.

That's the goalies. I love what Craig Levy's's the goalies. I love what Craig DeLiva has done to the team. Okay. I love his press conferences, even though he's ruined Kippers Clippers. I love. I don't think he's ruined them. He's just altered them. He's just turned it down a little bit.

Well, he's, yeah, he speaks English. You know, just direct. Yeah, there's not a lot of words. Don't read into anything like that. But this is the best goaltending duo in the league. So, yeah. Like, I mean, it's a semantics thing because there's guys who are the better number one or whatever and all that stuff. But they're the clear best tandem.

You're not going wrong right now. But if they're this good, why am I not allowed to be excited about a different? Because do you believe that they're this good? I do believe that they're this good. Because I don't know... We don't have Vezina track records behind them. If one of them goes for a major dump, like, you know, or we're going to have to

find a new producer? No. Listen, buddy, if you think that is going to make you... I've been through a hell of a lot worse than that, boys. I've seen you drag your leaf lip into this room on many occasions. Leafs have gone into every single playoff series over the Matthews era, outside, outside, with... With not the best goalie.

Second best goaltending. And they've won one of those playoff series. And you can talk about a lot of stuff. You can talk about penalty kill. You can talk about power plays. Everything drying up yeah but so many of these games i know have come down to them not getting a safe i get it yes i get it i'm i'm not not with you i think of i think of brandon gallagher shooting one in from the blue line through jack campbell's pads one that came to mind for me too. Samsonov swimming.

So going back to 16-17, which I think is Marner Matthews' first year if I'm not mistaken, the best goalie tandems for the Leafs. Combined save percentage of their best two goalies. This is the best they've ever been. 9-24 between Stolarz and Wall. The next best two were both

Freddie Anderson and Curtis McAleen. yeah and that was 17 18 and 16 17 yeah but freddie played anderson and spark were in there and then yeah samson oven murray the fifth best so want to get your thoughts on stolars being named one of the stars last game and they came out with sunglasses. Did he take some heat for that? Well, I saw. No, I just. I liked the sunglasses.

Did you see that they were camera sunglasses? Well, that was the idea. I think like a social media Leafs person gave them to him because they had camera in them. Yeah, it was a camera that filmed. Now, the story I got that it wasn't the Leafs PR. It was just a fan. Oh, okay. Just a fan.

A fan? A fan. That's cool as hell. That just threw these on and said, can you videotape for me? Yeah. Real? And Stolarz, as the story I understand, went, sure, why not? And he went out there and...

That's hilarious. I love that. I do love that because, you know, it's not... He's not showing anyone up. He's not looking too cool for school just because he wants to. Like, the visiting team's gone. That was just an interaction between him and a fan

connecting. What's wrong with that? That's fun. That's funny. It's funny. Everything is so tightly controlled from a PR perspective with the Leafs. Yeah. It's nice to see a guy do a thing.

And everybody out there who will never get a chance to know what it feels like to be the first star for the Toronto Maple Leafs got to see what it looks like. Yeah. You skate out on there and you get to see a fully empty building because nobody stays to see you watch the three stars as usual. After every show, are oh second star we do a ceremony in here after every show the old saying right that's what used to don knock bauer used to tell me in hershey kept her second star tonight i'm like who's first star he goes everybody else uh that's pretty rude uh did

you guys want to hear craig brube's thoughts Alex Nylander's time with the Leafs? Is it over? Well, he's a healthy scratch tonight. Sure. Okay, clip four, please. Just okay. I mean, he's, you know, he's done some good things. He had some scoring opportunities early on when he was playing.

You know, he's a skilled guy that scores. Hasn't been a ton of power play time for him. The first unit eats a lot of that up. But, you know, I'd say fair. I just wanted to play that because just okay. The flashbacks. Jimmy Vesey. No, that was Vanilla.

He called him Vanilla. Yeah. James Reimer and Randy Carlisle. Randy Carlisle got asked how James Reimer played, and he said, just okay. And it was a S storm. And he said, just okay, and it just brought back memories. Just okay, yeah.

I believe fans listening will remember that. I thought of Sheldon Keefe talking to Jimmy Vesey and saying, it's just been Vanilla. He's going to be one of those tweeners where he's good in the American Hockey League. Banking for expansion. Give me two more teams and I'm making a million. Even expansion probably can't save him.

He's just not going to be an everyday regular NHL-er. And he can go down there and have great success. Go look over the last 50 years of really good scores in the American Hockey League that just can't make the jump. I bet you willie like they're best buddies i bet you willie will say to the organization and alex will say to the organization like this is where i'm gonna all play in the minors i'll be a up and down guy i just want to be in toronto i mean we got our pictures right we got all the pictures we need do you don't think he would get claimed i think he'd clear no i think he'd clear i think he cleared i think he'd clear. I think he'd clear.

I think he'd clear. It's crazy. What happened in Columbus? He scored 11 times in 20 games and everyone's like, eh. Others... Nick Roberts scored 14 and 54 here, too. You could study that one. Others could get claimed. Others could get claimed off waivers. Okay, let's... We guess the clock, aren't we? Yeah, we can take a break.

Alright, we'll take a break. Robbie Stanley, host of Robbie and Rex Road in Nashville and also does some work corresponding for NHL.com. We'll join us next. We'll talk Nashville Predators, Barry Trotz, Roman Yossi, Ryan O'Reilly, what the heck's going on with them, Andrew Burnett. All when we return to Real Kipper and Born.

Hey, it's Ailish Forfar. And I'm Justin Cuthbert. Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the Fan Pre-Game, 6 p.m. weekdays on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. Nick Kipper, it's Bourne, Sammy McKee. You got a quick read before we get to Robbie, our next guest?

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It's the 50-50 fortune supporting Food for Kids, Standard Message, and Data Rate Supply, Ontario only. Thank you very much. Nice job. Kip, what would you do with $413,000 right now? Be somewhere a lot warmer, I can tell you.

Not be with me? Not be with you guys. That's a fair... If I won, I'd still come every day. All right, let's get to our next guest. And Sammy, you're going to go out on Mount Pleasant, roll out the red carpet for. All right, let's get to our next guest. And, Sammy, you're going to go out on Mount Pleasant, roll out the red carpet for our national guest, right?

Is he here? Not yet. Okay, yeah. I'll go when he's sitting there. I hope the mess elbows you when you pick him up. It's like Christmas. But in the meantime, we've got a warm-up band named Robbie Stanley. No disrespect.

No disrespect. But we do have Mark Messier coming in the National Hour, Robbie. How are you, pal? Trust me, no disrespect taken. I'm fully aware of where I stand on that. I'm standing beside you in the pecking order. Don't worry. We're all well behind that.

You host Robbie and Rex Road covering the Nashville Predators. We appreciate you joining us. Also do some great work with the Nashville predators. We appreciate you joining us. Also do some, some great work with the NHL.com. And, and where is the Nashville predators from here on hand, moving forward here? Is there,

is there still a chance that this team can climb back in Robbie? I mean, I guess there's a chance, but they're playing so poorly that it's hard to see it. It really is. I mean, and you know, everybody around here keeps talking about the 18 game point streak that they went on last year that really propelled them into the playoffs. Problem is that doesn't happen very often in the history of the national hockey league. I mean, those are rare for a reason. And right now, I mean, they'll put together a game or two here and there that looks pretty good, and then they go back basically in the game after that

to just getting totally outplayed 5-on-5. Their 5-on-5 game this year has just been atrocious. I mean, there's no other way to put it. And they have not been able to really make any progress in that area from the beginning of the season until now. And I think beyond the record, which is concerning enough, if you're a Predators fan, the way that they've played five on five is probably the most concerning part, because to me, there's not really many signs that they're digging their way out of this right now.

Yeah, that's fair. That five on five play is pretty telling sometimes. So the question is like how do you go from being a 99 point team with a plus 21 goal differential to what's happening right now considering it looks like they added some pretty good players yeah i mean they've got what's been either at the top of the league or near the top of the league with a penalty kill all year long their power play has been pretty good not great good. And yet they're still way behind last year's pace. They're getting pretty good goaltending from Soros, but they just can't score. I mean, their, their offense is totally dry five on five. And you think about the pieces they added in Stamkos and Marchessau and Brady

Shea on the back end, and it's just mystifying. And I think probably the most telling part is I think guys in the locker room are searching for it. I asked Stephen Stamkos last Friday after they lost to the Lightning basically how mystifying it is that they got all these guys in the locker room that have scored a ton of goals throughout their career, and they just can't do it. And he said, you know, I got some thoughts on that. And then he wanted to kind of pause there for a second before it felt like he was about to call somebody out, thought better

of it, and then talked about how they just can't generate and they can't get open. They need guys that can, you know, find seams and get open and get to the middle of the ice, which they've just had a really hard time doing five on five. They, they can't generate enough offense and they're near the bottom of the league and goals for per game because of it Brady Shea I get as a blue liner for sure but now is there a feeling of did you need two similar type of players like Stamkos and Marcheseau in in one UFA free agency I think it's fair to ask. And I think one of the things that we wondered about heading into the year that I think is,

is really starting to kind of rear its ugly head here is all right, you've got Stan coast, who is obviously an elite finisher, one of the greatest finishers in the history of the game. Marcia. So just scored 40 goals in his career for the first time in his career. Yeah. I feel it Forsberg on the wing. All those career. Yeah. I feel it. Forsberg on

the wing. All those things are great. What about up the middle? Like how, how equipped are you up the middle to really generate offense and get these guys to puck and Ryan O'Reilly, as you guys are well aware, really good season last year for the predators that line with Forsberg O'Reilly and Nyquist was really, really good from start to finish last year. Well, they've not really picked up where they left off. Tommy Novak, a lot of expectations on him this year to be kind of that driver on the second line as a centerman,

and he just hasn't done it. He's not scored a goal since October the 22nd. He's not really distributing the puck all that well. They're not hanging on to it when he's out there. So I think what some people feared could be their weakness, which is their center ice position at the middle has been a huge weakness for them so far this year. And I'm not sure that Stamkos and Marcheseau at this point in their careers are really drivers of lines. And if you're not driving the line and nobody's getting you the puck, hard to produce that way, which is why I think the production

has been so limited for them, particularly at even strength. Yeah, to drive home your point there, 32nd in the NHL in goals for per game, 2.32 goals per game. So a lot of work there. So where do you start with trying to fix this thing? Because I think all of us, and I think Kip and I here included, see a pretty good roster there. Like there's enough players there to have some success it could it get to a point where they look at andrew brunette or you know what is the solution here other than just kind of hoping

things get better well i think brunette's the first one that comes up right because i mean you if you look at their roster you know forsberg Forsberg, Yossi, Saros, Stamkos, Marciseau, a lot of these guys are older guys locked down to, you know, longer term. And many of those guys have trade protection as well. So it's not like you're shaking that group up too much. So they've got some young guys in their system that they feel pretty good about. They have three first round picks at their disposal this year that Barry Trotz has not touched yet. So they do have some assets that they could use to try to shake things up via trade a little bit.

But the problem is so much of their core right now is locked in that this was kind of all in for the next couple years. And it's not gotten off to the start that anybody wanted. So I think when that happens, the first thing you look at is the coach. Now, Barry Trotz has been pretty staunch in his defense of Andrew Burnett. And I don't get the sense that he's looking to make a move with Andrew Burnett anytime soon. But if it continues this way, guys, I mean, you may reach a point at some point this year where you don't really have a choice if you're Barry Trotz. And that would be unfortunate. Like, I think Andrew Burnett's a

really good coach. He won the president's trophy florida as an interim coach there he was jack adams finalist last year i think he's a good coach i think he knows what he's doing but for whatever reason the results just are not coming with this group right now robbie you mentioned the lack of depth at center ice where's that left ryan o'reilly and and the weight on his shoulders i think it's an extreme weight and you know ryan'Reilly is probably as hard on himself after a loss in a post-game setting as any player that I've ever heard. He basically just takes everything bad that happened in the game and puts it all on himself.

And the goal scoring, you know, came pretty often for him last year. I don't think he went more than like six games last year without scoring a goal. And he's had a few droughts so far last year. I don't think he went more than like six games last year without scoring a goal. And he's had a few droughts so far this year. It's starting to get back in for him a little bit lately, but he's kind of symptomatic of the rest of the team. They just can't really generate anything five on five. And that's probably the most surprising thing in terms of his line with Forsberg and Nyquist. They were so good together last year and it's just not quite been the same. And maybe you expect it to a certain degree with O'Reilly and Nyquist. I mean, both of those guys

are not exactly spring chickens anymore. Nyquist in particular had a career year last year, basically out of nowhere, over 70 points. So you knew he probably wouldn't replicate that again this year, but that line has just not been as dangerous philip forsberg included and if that line's not going it feels like they just may not have enough right now with the way other guys are playing in the lineup to overcome that uc soros is a 9-11 save percentage everyone feels pretty good about the decision to extend him long term and trade off askerov uh they do given the fact that you you know, in terms of the moves you made this offseason,

you're kind of going all in with this group. There was a huge debate here in the city about what the right path was there. And it was basically, from the fans we interact with, split right down the middle of trade UC Saros, get the assets you can for him, and go with Askarov, or go with the proven commodity and Soros.

Obviously that's what they decided to do. I thought the number of the AAV that he got coming in at under $8 million was a pretty good value for them. He's played great. Like he's been the least of their problems so far this year. So I think at the moment, Predators fans are feeling pretty good about the way that he's trending and the way that he's playing so far under the new deal, which doesn't even kick in until next season. But eight years for a goalie that's about to be 30 years old still is a long time on

that contract. We're talking to Robbie Stanley, host of the Robbie and Rex Road show covering the Nashville Predators. Robbie, was it about three weeks ago, a little over three weeks ago, Barry Trotz's threat of blowing the team up, and obviously we kind of felt a little bit of a, well, that's not really what I meant, but just the pressure on him now to kind of rectify this and make a decision on still hanging on

or, yeah, let's get ready for next season? Like, how long before we see another type of decision or comment about the future of the Nashville Predators? Well, I don't think we're too far away. And he actually came on our radio station yesterday and said, basically, he's going to give this group until Christmas to figure it out and turn it around, or you're going to see a lot of the younger guys start to infiltrate the lineup.

And they've started that a little bit. You know, Zach LaRue got called up over a month ago. Fedor Svetchkov, who was their first-round pick in 2024, got called up a couple of weeks ago, and he scored his first NHL goal the other night. So some of the young guys have started to trickle in, I think probably a little faster than he anticipated. But Trotz did say yesterday that if this team hasn't figured it out by Christmas

and they haven't gotten themselves back in the fight, that he's going to react accordingly. And you'll see some moves start to be made there, whether it's via trade or just simply putting some younger guys in the lineup in place of some of these veteran players. So it sounds like time starting to run out here for the Predators if they're going to turn this thing around this year. Well, let's see in the next two hours if they can turn around the first five minutes here. Robbie, great, great stuff, man.

Thanks for the feedback. Really appreciate you guys having me. Thanks for your time, man. Have a good one. Absolutely. You too. Bobby Stanley covering the Nashville Predators.

I had no idea their offense was that putrid. Dead last. Yeah. And dead last. Andrew Burnett now leads

the league in bench minors. Is that right? Yeah. That's not helping. Do you think he's taking them with yelling or are they too many men penalties? I think they're too many Is that right? Yeah. That's not helping.

Do you know if he's taking them with yelling or are they too many men penalties? I think they're too many men. Yeah. Yeah. And I think he's made it abundantly clear that the onus is on the player going on. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

You know, I've had that conversation before and I still do that. I still subscribe to that belief, but it is. What else are you watching other than the person that you need to replace? Yeah. No, you're right. It's not that hard. I think it can speak to a lack of communication on the bench where, you know, you and your line, maybe you and the other winger are confused about who's got what guy, but I don't know

about you, but from when I was 15 years old no 13 years old on it was always when your line was called you said the name of the guy you were taking just for clarity's sake right i got kipper even if i got you a hundred times it's yeah i don't know yeah a little bit of talking to Brad. All right. A couple minutes here. Just in terms of Minton, Fraser Minton, and the growth of this player in a short period of time and how he's raising eyebrows now on a guy that is not making it easy to necessarily want to send down to the minors once healthy bodies come. And, of course, he doesn't need to clear waivers. But how do you not pencil him in the lineup if you're Craig Berube?

Yeah. And, like, to your point, it's not just, yeah, he looks better than I thought he'd look. It's do you want him on the ice or Holmberg on the ice here? Do you want him on the ice? Or, you know, you go through the list, and it's like just, yeah, he looks better than I thought he'd look. It's, do you want him on the ice or Holmberg on the ice here? Do you want him on the ice? Or, you know, you go through the list and it's like, God, he's ahead of a lot of guys. We do have a clip on this.

Well, let's check out what Craig Brody's latest comment on his IQ. Clip six. I think hockey IQ is probably something you just have for the most part. I think you can get better at it. There are certain guys that see things and learn from it, and for sure he's probably one of those guys. I think he's a guy that studies people, the game, players. But he just has hockey IQ.

Do you think that that is true, that hockey IQ is something you have? I think you're born with a rhythm, for sure, of understanding movements. And for goal scorers, it shows. Let me ask you, were you a drill wrecker i never went first see that's that's fine i never went first but that that's that to me is someone who's smart enough to play to their strengths which is probably in your role as a player you did extremely well you played to your strengths right yeah it's the guys who are unaware that they don't have high hockey IQ who want to go first in the drills.

There's some guys that think that they have it and they don't have it. They don't have it. And then as a coach, you're like, just follow the arrows. It's not. That's what an assistant coach, John Perpich, Kipper, follow the arrows. But you're like, yes, I will. Yes, I'll absolutely do that. But I had a lot of success in minor hockey scoring goals and just finding right areas of the ice.

I had it at an incredible level in junior hockey. Slow start to my pro career. Ended up scoring 24 goals the year we won the Calder Cup in Hershey. So it was kind of there. Had my best year at 17 goals, which should have been a 20-goal season. I didn't have a sports hernia, if that's the proper term. So there was always something there for me.

Whether you could, you know, as the level gets better, it's harder to get there, but you knew... And it wasn't coaching, right? It's not coaching saying like, stand here or go there. It's, hey, this is an area of the ice where I feel like a puck can come to me. And it often does for goal scores. Yeah. And I wasn't sure, sure you know it was because i

did i grew up with a dad who was in the nhl i grew up at the rink watching the rhythms of the game and the puck and you know that's that was my only strength really was being what was your dad's best year um points wise yeah i had four 30 plus goal seasons i have to look it up but no but he had good numbers though right like 70 points seasons yes absolutely point of game kind of guy yeah let's find out real quick i know we're going to break his best point total was yeah we got 73 76 a lot of 60s 30 goals four times good year all right we're gonna take a quick break mark messier in studio you're not gonna want to miss it do not go away it's gonna be a great night here on sportsnet we're just getting started We'll see you next time.