Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Two T.O.s & CuJo

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne start with Katie Strang (3:49) of The Athletic to discuss developments in the Canada Junior 2018 scandal, the legal proceedings ahead of a trial, the next steps and what punishment the league might hand down ahead of any criminal conviction. Then, they regroup with Sam McKee for a short chat about expansion and what a second Toronto team would mean for the league. Joining the conversation, former NHLer Curtis Joseph (26:35) shares some memories from All-Star, then his thoughts on the Leafs' goalie situation and power play problems.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

it's the real kipper and born show we are live on sports net 590 sports net 360 and sports net plus from four to six and if you don't catch us live download us man seems to be the way to go yeah jb hey it's a new era of consuming yeah stuff like more more yours right not mine i don't know i'm getting i remember the the dial turning in the car yes cranking it sure mine not yours lots of people going to youtube after the show is done too and watching our shows so it's nice nice to see really good to see so anywhere you get your pod please uh download us if you get a chance and as always today tomorrow friday from the metro convention center uh we'll be there live and in color we will texas 590 590 any comments any questions you know where whalers jersey or a

tux you got a plan for the what are you gonna wear down there aaler's jersey or a tux? You got a plan for the, what are you going to wear down there? A Whaler jersey. Whaler tux, maybe? That'd be kind of cool. Yeah. We got a jam-packed show again. Seems to be that way during All-Star Week here. We're going to talk Curtis Joseph in about half an hour.

We've had him on in the past. Absolutely love talking to this guy. Do we have him on Zoom? Is he joining us in the video? I think we're going to try to get him on Zoom. He's moving. I sent the request on Zoom. Okay.

He's in town. He flew in, I think, today or yesterday. So he's loaded up with appearances. So I don't know for sure where we're going to catch him. And hopefully it is on Zoom so we don't know for sure where we're going to catch him and hopefully it is on Zoom so we can see his pretty face but looking forward to Curtis Joseph in about 25 minutes

at the top of the hour we're going to welcome in Emily Kaplan as well from ESPN of course all the big shooters ESPN TNT they're all here in Toronto getting ready to cover the NHL. But she'll join us.

And amongst many topics will include expansion, which, guys, I'm hearing is growing legs. God. Yeah. How many teams? Too many teams. No kidding. And in the second hour, Patrick Alvine,

general manager with a new contract out of Vancouver, will join us. But in the meantime, away from the ice, away from the NHL All-Star weekend, the biggest story remains that lawyers now representing Calgary Flames forward

Dylan Dubé, Philadelphia Flyers goalie Carter Hart, New Jersey Devils forward Michael McLeod, and Devils defenseman Cal Foote have all confirmed the charges and statements shared with Sportsnet. So we're going to welcome in Katie Strang, who does a terrific job

as one of the lead investigative reporters for The Athletic. She'll shed some light on where this story's going and how quickly it gets going here. Just seems like people have been waiting forever for any information at all. And over the last little while, I mean, there's been nothing on this and then like floodgates. Yeah. You know, and there's great sensitivity with the topic. You know, not just because you want to get everything right,

because, you know, these are a lot of people's lives at stake here, you know, so we'll, all right, well, we'll get to Katie here in a second and ask her what she knows. Okay, Katie, thanks for joining us. We really appreciate it. We know you're real sensitive on the timing here, so let's get right to it. Just your initial reaction, Katie,

to what has been really a very quiet lack of information, say, in the last 6, 8, 12 months on this, and just how surprised were you with all the news surfacing this week that five players have been charged? Yeah, I mean, I think there's a couple different ways to look at this. Like, I think some people, you know, obviously understood that there had to be some sort of resolution to this matter, whether that resulted in, you know, charges being laid or,

you know, or not. But I think the longer that it dragged, it started to sort of feel interminable to people. And I think there were, you know, naturally a lot of questions about why this process was taking so long. I don't think it's probably necessarily unusual for anything, you know, that's part of a criminal proceeding to take quite a bit of time, especially if there's, you know, forensic data to review and search warrants to obtain and production orders to be applied for and executed. So I don't think that's unusual, but I certainly understand like the frustration and confusion that I think a bunch of people have been feeling over the last six, eight, 10 months. But I think, you know, if anything, this past week has, you know,

been sort of a meaningful, tangible step towards some sort of resolution on the matter and clarity. Yeah. And, you know, I think that's something that everyone's looking for. My understanding is that it doesn't feel like any sort of conclusion is going to be reached quickly with some backlog in Canadian courts. Do you have some sort of sense of how long it could take to get a resolution? And while we await that, what would the NHL do with these players? Yeah, so from my understanding, and I'm going to offer the caveat that I'm an American, I'm based in the U.S., so there is some significant divergence in Canadian criminal law, in U.S. criminal law,

and even in Canada, certain provinces do things differently. But my understanding is that they'll have two different roads and routes that they can take in terms of, you know, assuming this goes to trial, that they can either try this in the provincial court or the superior court, and depending on which route it takes. The trial has to begin within either 18 months of the initial charge date, whether it's Route 1, or within 30 months of the initial charge date. And to my understanding, that is also not factoring in if the defense, you know, appeals for or requests any sort of delay. So I think that gives you just on its face, a very sort of stark reminder that the, you know, the legal proceedings often, you know, those machinations do not move along as expeditiously as we often hope to see.

And then I think, you know, Rick Westhead reported yesterday that because of significant backlog, you can potentially even expect more delays even beyond the initial time frame. We're talking to Katie Strang, senior investigative writer with The Athletic. So, Katie, outside of the five accused, the three major players in this are the London Police, the National Hockey League, and Hockey Canada. We have heard from the London Police. In your mind, who steps up next?

We've got the NHL All-Star weekend. Can we expect some clarity out of Gary Bettman in the National Hockey League this weekend? I mean, I certainly think Gary Bettman is going to be asked about this, as he should be in the in the press conference this weekend. I will not be there, but I'm sure there will be many journalists who are eager to hear what he has to say. I would be surprised if the league offers any comment of substance prior to the London Police Service press conference. And I'll be honest, I'm not sure how much more meaningful substantive information that press conference will yield, just because those five individuals who have been charged

have now been publicly identified. I think in the same way that the London police said that they were limited with what they could divulge during an active criminal investigation, I think they, you know, now that this is going to be moving its way through the courts, I think they will be similarly circumspect in what they're able to say. And I would imagine the league probably is unwilling to divulge much of substance either. Katie, is there much in the way of precedent for these guys? Like, you know, what should we expect for the rest of their careers? I guess I'm asking, does it depend on the outcome of these charges? Or is it, you know, would the league ever sort of move more aggressively than the legal system against these guys?

Yeah, I think I can. I feel pretty confident in answering that question, which is, is there any possibility that players could face discipline absent a criminal conviction? And my I feel pretty confident that the answer to that is yes, which is, you know, there are certain evidentiary thresholds that you have to be able to prove in a criminal court of law to obtain a conviction. And the league, you know, I think would have a much lower threshold in terms of evidence, whether it's, you know, a preponderance of evidence, whether it's a majority of evidence, whether it's, you know, sort of the balance of information, et cetera, that, you know, we don't know what

the NHL has yielded and found and discovered in its own probe, but it's certainly possible that they have discovered elements or will discover elements as part of this potential criminal trial that they could discern and decide contravenes their code of conduct in what I think is referred to in the CBA. It's like running in contrast to the welfare of the league or any sort of conduct that could cause detrimental reputational damage. So I do think the league could act even in absence of a conviction, but I still think we're probably a long way from that happening.

But that said, the league has been very opaque about, you know, I would say the contours of its investigation and what that has uncovered. Katie, you mentioned you're down in the U.S. here, and we know a story like this around the game of hockey and the coverage that it will have in Canada, but how big of a story, in your opinion, can this be in the U.S. or international here when it comes to media attention? Yeah, I mean, I've certainly had some requests from national news outlets down in the U.S.

I mean, I certainly do not think that it captivates sort of the nation's consciousness in the same way that it does in Canada with hockey just being the premier sport of interest and this being something that has transcended sport in Canada and obviously prompted parliamentary hearings, federal oversight, you know, institutional reform, you know, all of those things. You know, we haven't seen that same sort of ripple effect in the U.S. That doesn't mean that that still won't happen, but I think it's just a different scale when you're in Canada. People really are aware of this topic, are talking about this topic, and are keenly interested in this topic, for sure.

Do you think the extended fallout that you just sort of referred to, like Hockey Canada lost a bunch of sponsors, and people, I think the board was fully turned over has the extended fallout from this sort of already happened and now it's just sort of down to the players or are there other bodies or people who are sort of um whose fates are hanging the balance here as well no i think we could still see um significant follow i mean it's going to be really interesting to follow this potential trial. It will be fascinating to see who they call as witnesses. You know, remember that five players have been charged,

but I just went back and read through the warrant packet today. And in the 2022, like it's called an information to obtain, it's essentially an application for a bunch of search warrants and production orders. The police, you know, implicated to some degree, even just by association or by testimony they might have to provide. And I think that there are certainly people, you know, within Hockey Canada whose role in this investigation and sort of the follow in perhaps, you know, any level of containment or, you know, strategizing around messaging around this.

All of those things could become uncovered in a criminal trial. It's really hard to speculate as to the scope and sprawl that this thing may have. Katie, we know you're real busy, and we thank you for your time and shedding some light on this topic, and we'll continue to follow you as well as Sportsnet.ca for all the latest. Thanks for making time for us. Of course. Thanks, guys.

Thanks, Katie. Appreciate it. Katie Strang, senior investigative writer with The Athletic. Yeah. Obviously, I just want to know, too, not asking Katie questions about the victim here, who is at the center of everyone's, you know, concern and all this, you know,

can't be a fun time for her. And so in keeping that in mind, not asking too many questions there either just to respect privacy. It'll be interesting now just in terms of how much Gary gets asked on this subject, if it's one statement and then it's done with, I assume that he will not try to avoid it, but not say anything more than what probably he knows at this point. And then possibly early next week week we could see him with

something more significant to announce but i don't anticipate much this weekend guys do you well like katie kind of alluded to there it's like what can he say at this point you know we know who it is we know yeah it's he he he's gonna give a statement kim and i bet she takes no questions on it but yeah he'll i think he'll try to not take questions but it's an open forum and there's gonna be people down there that are gonna want answers they're probably not afraid to push him like this is a situation where it's not just gonna be sports reporters down there now right like this is gonna be like the ctv city news like everybody's gonna be sending people down there trying to get answers on this and they

probably won't take no for an answer like some other people would so we'll see but i don't expect him to be able to just put out a statement no but have it be done he reads some sort of prepared thing and then when he gets asked follow questions he'll say i'll refer to my previous statement we can't say anything else at this time london police will say nothing because they can't outside of what we already know you know as katie sort of implied not sure what else could really come of it and then gary's kind of off the hook and he does though guys he does yield a tremendous amount of power to do a lot of different things not just with these five with anybody on a daily basis based on their activity based on

how they represent them the league code of conduct has wide latitude to punish for basically whatever they want. So I don't think he can also do and say nothing until he finds out if and when they're going to court and if and when someone's convicted of anything. What's going to be a challenge, I think, is that it sounds like from some other reports that this could not be cleared up before 2026 which is two years from now which let's just say hypothetically these guys were found not guilty or whatever like can you keep them out of the league on that's a good question i don't

know yeah i don't know but uh someone told me that they'll find a way to speed this up. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That it's because it's so high profile. High profile, politically tied. Yeah.

That they just, they will try to find a way to speed this whole process up. It's got two of the biggest non-political governing bodies involved in the country, the NHL and Hockey Canada. Yeah. Like two pretty powerful entities that are very popular in Canada and all that stuff. So I imagine it's going to be hard to keep it as a slow process. Yeah. But I'm sure that's probably going to be part of what the lawyer, like it's just going to

be, it's going to be a mess. That's what it's going to be. Yes, indeed, Sammy. Yep. So we can take a break and come back and talk some hockey. You want to read? You got a couple of... Here.

Let me just find my lineup here, boys. Reads for us, Sammy? Yeah, I got a couple new ones for you. Well, I'll read the Hockey Night in Canada one here. It's Hockey Night Punjabi in Brampton, and it's a partnership with the City of Brampton, the NHL, Hockey Night Canada, and Punjabi is celebrating the sport of hockey on Monday, February 5th with a free community skate

at Gore Meadows Outdoor Rink. Come meet the team, check out the United Hockey Mobile Museum, go for a skate, and take a pic with the Stanley Cup. There'll be food trucks and plenty of games and activities for everybody, so celebrate hockey with Hockey Night Punjabi on Monday, February 5th from 3 until 8 p.m. at Gore Meadows on the outdoor rink in Brampton. So go check that out. Then we can hit the break and we'll come back

and talk some hockey. Okay, you heard my producer. When we come back, we'll talk a little Leafs and then welcome in the seventh goalie on the NHL list for wins. Curtis Joseph will join us. All right. More real Kipper and Bourne after these words.

The best Blue Jays show out there, period. Blair and Barker. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. When's Gary Bettman's press conference? Do we have an official? Friday at 1.

Friday at 1. You at 1. Yep. You'll be there, right? Yeah, I will be there. Is it at the Fan Fair? Yeah. I'll be there, 100%. I'm going down early, boys. I'm going to be there all day. I'm not going to have to pull you off a shooting machine or something, am I?

I'm not going to embarrass myself like that, buddy. Focus, focus. I'm not going to embarrass myself like that. I'm just playing goal at some fan event. That's how he plays goal, by the way. I mentioned earlier, and we got Emily Kaplan at the top of the hour, and we'll get into it as well. But just hearing a little bit more and more on expansion, guys,

and it's so funny to hear you guys moan the moment I said it. Do you think a lot of people feel that way? Yes. This is my actual job. And it's like, God, there's so many teams. Who's on Anaheim again? I watched Columbus and St. Louis play a 1-0 game last night. And then San Jose and the Seattle Kraken played a 2-0 game.

Barney texted. He said, I don't think there's a top 100 player on any of these teams. Yeah. That was correct. It's like, there's many teams. You watched last night? I gotta be honest, I watched the entire St. Louis Blues,

Columbus Blue Jackets game. I did. I mean, what percent of the time were you on TikTok or Instagram? I had two screens going. I had the Raptors on one and I had the hockey game on the other. I had the hockey game on mute behind me

and I don't think I looked up one. I was scared to turn it on. I break out in hives. Watching Columbus, and I don't think I looked up one. I was scared to turn it on. I break out in hives. Watching Columbus St. Louis in the All-Star Week. Like a bad rash. Everyone is on vacation right now. I've texted a million people. I'm getting beach pics.

It's like Valaketski-ing. I'm like, what the? Around the NHL. Jordan Beans and Disney World, it looks like. Next year, boys. We're going to make an oath. It's not here next year. We're taking All-Star Week off. The boys are going to Pinehur year, boys, we're going to make an oath. It's not here next year. We're taking All-Star Week off.

The boys are going to Pinehurst. Yeah, we're going golfing. There's some that have suggested to me, and this is not a confirmation, this is not what I'm reporting, I'm just telling you, I'm pulling in the Doug McLean, I'm just telling you what I'm hearing, that there is at some point

where the league may have suggested to Arizona, you got a certain date that you just got to prove to us that you're building something, or you might need a shovel in the ground, and it may have been around this weekend. And is there a shovel in the ground? Last time I've heard land why don't we ask panger who's golfing with all of the golf community i don't think there's anything of significance right now other than that arena that they're playing in right now as the future of the arizona coyotes

all right so it's january 31st 2024 we We're doing the show January 31st, 2028. And I tell you, Arizona has moved to Utah. There's a team in Atlanta and Toronto, a second team. I mean, is it possible? Does that sound like a... How'd I do for expansion? I don't think you're... I think everything's on the table right now.

Yeah. I really do. But can I ask you, why is Atlanta being considered again? Atlanta's building their rink. Kevin Weeks is tweeting about it. Yeah, that rink's coming no matter what. With or without an NHL team.

I had heard that last week. That rink's coming. Why? Our boy Bucciaross was tweeting about that a year ago. They just want a third chance. They want to fail again? I don't think the NHL believes you can be one of the four major sports if you're not in some of the biggest cities in the U.S.

Phoenix is the huge market. Houston's a huge market. Arizona, or sorry, Atlanta's a huge market. Like, I think eventually those places have teams. So, Gary Bettman or the board or the owners go back to Arizona and they say, we're moving this organization up to Salt Lake City. But did you see

what Elliot tweeted on Spotted Time? He thought that it's possible a team could go back to Arizona then once they got the rink. Four or five years. Yeah. That's the feeling that in four or five years you guys want to build a rink we're happy to go back there. You can't run a

league like that, can you? Yeah, you can. Absolutely. So many teams. 40 teams in this league at some point. I don't think it'll be... If something like that happens, I would be surprised if

the owner of Arizona got a chance to sell it to Salt Lake City, I think it goes back to the league. Yeah. And then the league sells it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

That would make sense. That would make sense. They need to be able to collect their billion dollars here. And Houston's very much out there. And then you had mentioned a second team in Toronto with, we don't know how, we don't know what the Leaf ownership group's going to look like in two years. One tech company owning them.

Are they still split? Does one go off and do something else? Kipper, you talked about certain things that like, this is going to happen, isn't it? I feel like you're going to be really, you've mentioned this enough where it's like, but this is the start of how something like this happens. There's dribs and be really, like, you've mentioned this enough where it's like, ah. But this is the start of how something like this happens.

There's dribs and drabs of like, you know, I can see that. In the past, Gary wouldn't have anything to do with it. Commissioner Bettman wouldn't have anything to do with the talk of invading the Maple Leaf territory. With good reason. You're protecting your biggest stakeholder in the maple leaf territory with good reason you're you're protecting your biggest stakeholder in the league the most powerful one the one that generates the most revenue but if they've come to an understanding between bell and rogers to move forward in a

different direction then it could open up a second team in tor. It's like the live golf PGA thing. No one thought it was possible until it was. Until it was. And your initial thoughts to a second team in Toronto? Love it, love it, love it. Would you jump ship or stay at least there? Of course not. It would be my favorite thing in the world

would be to make fun of the people that do jump ship. Well, I can't tell you the amount of people who would be dying to do it. You think so? Oh, God, yeah. People have had their hearts broken for so long. You grew up in the Rangers and the Islanders. Yeah.

Is that not... It's amazing, right? A close comparison or the best comparison? Probably the best you can do. I think it's great. I mean, Rangers and Isles fans love nothing more than that rivalry, than hating one another, than, you know, Potvin sucks. And I can't tell you how embarrassing it would be for people who jump ship.

Actually, text in 59590. Would you jump ship? I actually, I would be curious to know, like, let's say this is going to happen in the Leafs win of the cup this year. How many fans then say that they've been rewarded as Leafs fans? How many could you keep with success before the Toronto whatever has come here? There are not many things more sure in this world than that team winning the Cup before the Leafs. Oh, God, yeah.

If I could bet right now, they're minus 110 to win a Cup before the Leafs. No question. Enough. We got Curtis Joseph joining us right now. Hope he didn't hear that last part. I don't think he wants to jump in on the conversation on a second team in Toronto right about now. Do you, Cujo? Welcome, buddy.

Hey, how are you? Always great to see you guys. Yeah, good to see you. Thank you for having me. Yeah. Yeah, I want to jump in. Okay. Like, have you ever thought about it?

Like, legitimately thought about it like legitimately thought about it i if there was another team and i could be part owner i'm all in printing money you imagine we have such a rabid hockey fan base in toronto and it's amazing and it will never happen because the Maple Leafs are such a historic and great franchise. But if there was an availability, all my chips would go to the center. Every penny I have would invest in it. Because if you were one-tenth of success that the Leafs had, you're okay. Well, listen, if someone that knows this market well, it's you, my friend. And you've known it as a Leaf.

You've also known it as an NHL All-Star. A lot of the same vibes coming back, not so much as a player, but one as a fan. So great. I mean, I don't know why they don't have the NHL All-Star game here every three years. Lucratively, I'm sure they're killing it. I think the cheapest ticket's $800, isn't it?

Jeez. Crazy. I can't get tickets. Another reason to have a second team. Lower those prices. Kipper, the only reason I'm on your show is because you said you'd give me two tickets to the game. So how was your experience as an NHL All-Star? What do you remember most from your experiences there?

How about this? I remember the skills competition. And being in Toronto, you want to perform and you're the hometown guy. I literally had, I think i had the breakaway competition jaeger beret and maybe timo stellani i'm like those are the guys i get those are the guys i get you guys try to embarrass me it was uh jammer what's up ah ex-teammate love this guy oh he's the best hey um what would um and and of course you know we've seen so many great pictures of you over the years but the one with you and matt's on the cover of the all-star back-to-back one of my favorites mine too and just before the picture was taken

matt's is like six four six five i'5". I'm 5'11". I stood on my toes. And so I could be in the picture and that's exactly what happened. So I love that picture. He was Team World. I was Team North America. I was the home team.

But I had to stand on my toes back to back. What would Marner, Matthews, Riley, Nylander be thinking and feeling right now? Is there a little added pressure to being players of the host besides being in a skills competition? Yeah, there is. You want to perform well. But you also know that the home crowd is cheering your every move. Like anything you do is going to be – you've got everybody.

Everybody's got your back. So that was the fun part about it. Being at an all-star game in Toronto, so much fun. And the media and the family requests and everything else are overwhelming. It's going to cost you a little bit of money these days, but it was great. I wouldn't trade that experience for the world.

I enjoyed it tremendously. And to be an all-star is a great honor. What do you think of the idea that they have put a million dollars up for grabs in the skills contest? Like, I imagine guys were halfway motivated before. What are your thoughts when you see that? My first thoughts are, can the goalie win it? That's a great question. And I'm guessing no.

How can a goalie win it? Like, that great question. And I'm guessing no. How can a goalie win it? That's what I want to know. That's not fair. That's a really good point. Really good point. We're going to take this up with the league. What are we, chopped liver? We play 60 minutes a game.

Honestly, I want a chance to win that. It is the equivalent to our era, or maybe even before that of winning a car can you imagine now a guy uh making 60 80 000 cars the early 80s and winning a car do you remember thinking about winning a car when you were in your all-star games two of them correct well i was invited to more i was hurt for for a couple. And one was the Olympics that I was able to turn down in case I got hurt. So I always try and clarify that. But in all honesty, getting back to the last point, if I'm not going to win it, guys have got to be cutting deals with me. I'll be like, who wants to win this?

You don't think I'm cutting a deal with somebody how much you want to win this yeah give me the spare tire something i'm like hey you want to score on this shot like yeah who wants to 100 grand i'll stop nothing you're gonna see those deals being cut when guys go up talking to the goalies, you know something's happening. You just mentioned, you know, turning down a few with the thought of getting hurt. You think that's in the back of their minds as well? Like, it would be horrific for one of these guys to leave with a tweet, groin, pulled groin. But it is a reality when you think about what they're looking at this weekend. Yes, but generally, like, you tweak a grind, that's okay.

You have time. But for me, the Olympics were right after the All-Star game, and I ended up churning it down because, hey, what if you miss the Olympics? Like, that's not good. So that's the decision you're going to make. In hindsight, I had too much time off and I should have went to the all-star game and kept playing well going.

So these are things, but if you get hurt, you don't have a gold medal. We've talked a little bit about the Toronto factor with this all-star game, but I want to ask you about the goaltending for the Leafs in general, because Ilya Samsonov had kind of a hard time with some of the mental side of a slump.

How much harder is going through a tough time in a market like Toronto? Or did you ever go through tough times, Kujo? Of course, yeah, I went through tough times, but fortunately I was at a point in my career and mentally that I was able to somehow be able to get through that. That was one of my strengths. Six foot four was not one of my strengths. So the mental part of the game was probably one of my better strengths.

So you know when a guy's struggling, you don't magnify in the media. I used to tell Jack Campbell that never say you play bad because it will be magnified and you don't want that coming back on you. But it's way tougher. I've played in other markets as a home team, and there's nothing like Toronto. But, but, this is the big but, risk-reward. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. So there's nothing better.

And fortunately, we were able to play. I think in that four or five years, we get the second most player of the NHL. So, we're great.

All right. You got us okay, Kooch? Because you broke up a little bit on us. We might have lost him. Want to see if we can reconnect? Because I really, really like talking to Cujo. You guys are fine. You're okay.

No. But you're no Cujo. I didn't stop many pucks in the NHL. Any for that matter. I struck a nerve with this this uh he's not happy with people jump ship oh really oh yeah struck a nerve text line just what do you think i'm sorry remind me what we're talking about people would leave the leaves oh yeah no no no stay with me on kujo for a little bit hey uh you think other goalies are sitting there going, excuse me, but

like, I can't win a million dollars. What am I standing here? Unbelievably good point. So I don't know how many goalies are in the game, but there should be some opportunity for them to win some commensurate amount, right? All right, let's welcome

in Cujo. You got us? Curtis Joseph, line three. Oh, we thought we had him, but we don't. Listen, if, is that it, Sammy? What do you think, buddy? Do you want me to call him? Yeah, see if we can get him on the phone. Okay, we can try to call him here.

All right, we'll give him one more chance here, and if not, you know what? He's a busy guy, too. We don't want to call him? Yeah, see if we can get him on the phone. Okay, we can try to call him here. All right, we'll give him one more chance here. And if not, you know what? He's a busy guy, too. We don't want to bug him. Well, so he's in town for the All-Star game, right? Is he like an alumni ambassador sort of role? He may wear a few different hats this week, but whatever it is, he's the star in whatever avenue he chooses. Are you going to be around we've got thursday night

we've got our hockey hall of fame uh event uh around the 67 toronto maple leaf uh stanley cup team okay friday you'll be at the fanfare from four to six friday i'll focus on our show you're gonna go to the game on saturday uh i'm gonna start with the skills competition. See how it feels. See how it goes. And how long my night goes. Yep. Fair enough. I do have a... There's parties.

I have an appearance Saturday morning. Oh, my God. Yeah. Who booked that one? The skate. The skate? Yes. At what?

City Hall for Scotiabank. Are you cutting a ribbon down there? The game at City Hall? Holy. I'm a man of the people. He's cutting a ribbon on the new rink they're going to be building for Toronto. Lease part duh. Yeah.

Or whatever it may be. No. Yeah. So, I mean, a few things here and there, but I also want to enjoy it. And the best part about it is just catching up with some familiar faces. You know, Mark Massey will be in town. Nice. Yeah, I've heard there's lots of Long Mileage people coming to town.

There are lots of parties. I am fascinated by something Cujo said about cutting deals. Oh. Okay, let's give him one more try. Cuj. Wow, thanks, buddy. Better, right? one more try. Cooch. Wow. Thanks, buddy. Better, right? I got a different connection.

Okay. We were talking about the Leaf goaltending situation. I think you were just talking about Samsonov. Yeah. So it definitely is a mental game, and you can see how it can come and go and um you really have to be able to be mentally tough and keep those uh slumps to one game uh it's hard to do but um there's a way to do it um and you gotta have great confidence you can't let you can't lose it yeah and so how do you feel about the coach handling that in the media we saw sheldon keith with uh ilya samsonov generally protecting him you know we're always torn or i am

anyway enough the coach should be harder on guys in the media or take it gently i think you probably feel gently is the way to go based on you're saying samsonov shouldn't say he's playing bad even when he does yeah uh for goaltending it's all confidence a lot of it is um and literally you you cannot destroy a kid's confidence you have to but he has to be uh resilient also um you know it's just sometimes it's uh it's internal like you can you can uh avoid those slumps by being ultra confident and there's many tricks and many ways to do that and uh um it takes experience sometimes and it takes uh some some inner confidence hey curtis i'm not sure how much you've seen of joseph wall but prior to him having a high ankle sprain he had some real uh curtis joseph moment uh and the feeling is

when he's ready he will get some looks again and is it a double-edged sword here bringing him back and possibly giving him a chance to take the net on a guy that has yet to play 40 career pro games. Is there such a thing of playing with house money where there's only upside with Joseph Wall, or is that something you still got to be protective of? No, I like, and Kipper, you know this, sometimes when you're young, you're insulated to pressure, and I like that about him him and he's obviously got talent uh he's growing um i think they made the right move by not making a trade or trying to get

somebody he looks to me like a bona fide real good nhler obviously there's ups and downs that he's gonna have to go through and work through, but he's got tremendous skill. And sometimes when you're young, you've seen goalies come in and steal playoff games, like, you know, or series like Steve Penny. I mean, there's many examples. And when you're young, you're insulated to that pressure. So sometimes it's a good thing. So as they head towards, you head towards another playoff push here,

this sort of core has been together for a while. How do you feel about this year's iteration of the Leafs compared to the previous ones that they've headed towards playoffs with? Well, if you think adversity is a prerequisite for winning in the playoffs, then they're all set. Been through a little bit, huh? Yes, yes which is good it's never a bad thing i'm i don't put a lot of stock in the regular season it's whoever's hot uh come playoff time but if your goaltender is extremely hot and everybody's firing in all cylinders you can go right through so uh i do like the offense is tremendous i'm a

little worried about the defense but if you have a goalie that gives gives you great confidence uh that can be a game changer so i'm expecting joseph wall who's a good kid he seems like uh to have that uh to run with it um that's my prediction hey kuj i want to I want to ask you about Austin Matthews, who's projected to have a 70-goal season. You in your heyday went up against a few 70-goal scorers and 80-goal scorer, I think, in Brett Hall. How do goaltenders go about going up against a guy like that?

Or can you? Can you get caught up too much on this guy's different this guy's got a shot that can embarrass me i gotta focus more on him or is it no you just gotta have the same mindset of going into any other hockey game like you do so you always know where glenn healy can attest to this um you have to know where that guy is on the ice at all times and you have to be when he gets a one-timer he gets this um you have to know where that guy is on the ice at all times and you have to be when he gets a one-timer he gets a shot you have to be there early and you have to have no holes obviously you gotta be there early and set up also when you're playing a guy like that in

the playoffs you tell your defense you tell your players be close to him don't let him shoot he's the guy who can score the rest of the guys the guys have a way less percentage to score. So unless you want to lose the game, stay close to him. That's how I remember one playoff series, Jaromir Jagr was on the half wall. And I literally would tell Yuskevich, be up in his face. Every time he gets the puck, be up in his face. And their power play was not as efficient.

And that's what you have to do. That's what it takes to not get scored on on power plays and to win hockey games. It's that one goal. So don't let Jaeger shoot. Don't let Auston Matthews shoot. Just be up on him. No worries.

Every time he's on the ice, let's take our chances on the rest of the guys. Yeah, make someone else beat you that's pretty sound strategy um you know i see i see you are around a lot of uh nhl alum and all that there um sounds like a fun weekend who who are you most excited to spend time with uh here in toronto this weekend well honestly i i love uh seeing doing events and seeing all my old teammates. Like Kelly Chase just came in. We know Kelly Chase's fight. So he's over talking to my buddies. And it was so great to see him.

And I'm going to spend some time with him now. And, I mean, everybody's got a different story and a different story with you or a different relationship with you, whether it's adversarial against each other or a great teammate. So for us, I think as we get older, we appreciate what we did and we appreciate former players a little more than when we were playing. So this is the good stuff. We don't have any pressure this weekend. This is the good stuff.

We get to tell everybody how good we were and have some fun. And remarkably still friends with Glenn Healy, right? Yeah, of course. We were goalie partners, and we talked about defensive strategies many, many times. Yeah, Heals is a great buddy of mine, and he does a great job for our alumni, writing checks to guys who are less fortunate

or have fallen on hard times. So we cannot forget the good work that our alumni do. Yeah, no, no, no question about that. I'm leaving the show right now. I'm coming to find you guys. I'm not hanging out with Sammy and JB for the rest of the hour here. I don't blame you, man. We'll handle it. It's not fair. We'll handle it. It's just not fair. All right, Cooj, we'll let you guys. I'm not hanging out with Sammy and JB for the rest of the hour here. I don't blame you, man. We'll handle it.

It's not fair. We'll handle it. It's just not fair. All right, Cooch, we'll let you go, pal, but we really appreciate the effort of coming on the show and then hooking up when we lost you on the feed, man. You're a good man. Thanks for doing this. Well, I love talking hockey with you

guys. You guys are very in the know and very intelligent and it's always fun you make it easy for me thanks appreciate that i might have to buy you a beer i'm open i'm open curtis joseph everybody yeah that's quite the crew there i mean i'd get up out of your seat yeah we can handle it um. That guy's my hero. When I was a kid. Kujo. Yeah.

Broke my heart bad. Didn't you? Broke my heart bad when he left. Didn't you love hearing about going up against a guy like Yager and the top shooters and just that mentality of, listen, you have to take this guy away. Well, but what it is, Kip, is you look at the Toronto Maple Leafs who haven't gone on these deep runs and the way that they're built

and how teams would talk about, say, just make someone else beat me. Don't let it be Marner and Matthews. You know, we'll handle those guys. We'll just make someone else beat me. It does give you a sense, though, that if the Marners or the Matthews or any other top scorer

just cannot get the the same rate going in the playoffs as a regular season it's because of what he's talking about how it's amplified yeah the tight checking more time to prepare for one team putting the book on uh on tendencies and shutting that down. And like we've always said, it's easier to defend than it is to score. For sure. That was my role with the Marlies before playoff series is just go through each line, each individual player, identify tendencies and what can we take away

and make them beat us with their C option. Sammy, you got any more reading for us? I do have some reading for you. The NHL's transformation of Toronto for the 2024 Rogers NHL All-Star this year includes the NHL Fan Fair, a four-day family-friendly event from February 1st to 4th with interactive hockey games, special appearances by NHL players like Nick Kiprios, and much more.

Visit Rogers and Sportsnet for the fanfare to win awesome hockey prizes. Have your photo taken at the Sportsnet broadcast desk and test the speed of your slap shot with the Heart Rogers Hardest Shot Skills Competition. If you haven't already, be sure to secure your tickets at NHL.com slash fanfare while supplies last. What do they give you for a stick, I wonder, to test your hardest shot? By the way, if you're wearing a pair of Stan Smith Adidas

on a piece of plexiglass with a Sherwood PMP, good luck getting it up there. Isn't like the lore that Iafrate did it in flip-flops, like 102 in flip-flops with wood sticks? Here's what I think about that. Yeah, okay. Say that to his face. What do you think you could get right now?

Right now? Am I in flip-flops on a piece of plexiglass? Or am I on skates? I'll give you, I don't know, a pair of Kodiaks. I don't know. Run up? Like a skate up to it. 83?

83. I don't know. What about you, Kippy? I don't know if I'd break 80 right now. Maybe I won't. Maybe I'm being generous to myself. Both you guys were excellent at hockey. I don't know if I hit 90.

I was like an 88. Let me skate into one with my proper everything. No, I could. I definitely could. I don't know if I ever could. Jacob Chikrin hit one in Ottawa the other day. I think he hit 106. In game?

Oh, in their skills. In their individual skills. But I think he started to escape from the canal. It was the full length. By the way, him in overtime in their winter the other day, he went length of the ice, length of the ice, length of the ice at top speed. Guy flies. Guy can absolutely fly and shoot it.

Beautiful skater. Obviously. Leafs could use a guy like that. Oh, boy. There's always been interest since Arizona from the Leafs. Well, that was due. But I guess the guy in charge is still the same. No, there's still interest.

Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah. How much? We'll wait and see. Oh, you dirty. You hear the music? We're out of time. All right.

All right. Our thanks to Curtis Joseph, Katie Strang from The Athletic off the top of the show. Still plenty more to come, including Emily Kaplan from ESPN. And we started touching on expansion. We'll get into that with her.

And then Patrick Alveen, who signed a new contract with the Vancouver Canucks, will join us in about 35 minutes. So plenty more on The Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Do not go away.