Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Uncertainty Ahead of Season Finale

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee get set for the final game of the season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, as they take on the Senators in Ottawa. They discuss the latest on the Leafs' GM search, with Mike Gillis reportedly getting a third interview. Then, they break down the Athletic's post-mortem article on the season and discuss the organisation's spending cuts and use of AI. Later, Sportsnet's Luke Fox stops by (31:23) to share his thoughts on Craig Berube's season, Morgan Rielly's future in Toronto, and what questions Auston Matthews might get at locker-clean-out day. 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, let's get her going for the next two hours. It's the real Kipper and Bourne show, Leaf Hour edition. Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandeil. Yours truly Nick Kippreos, Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee, live on Sportsnet 360, 590, the fan in Toronto. Streaming always on Sportsnet. Plus, if you happen to not catch us live, there's always the option. Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube.

Toronto Maple Leafs set to play their final game of the season. Thank God. Oh, did I say that? Sammy. Sammy? Thank God. Sit back and relax on this one. That the good team start playing on the weekend, boys.

I can't watch this anymore. Is your draft pick locked in? No. So Seattle? Still need to point out of the squids. Unless the leaves lose tonight, then it's locked in. But if they don't, if they win tonight, the squid still need a point of the last few games.

I think they play Vegas and I forget the other team. You just hate the teams are incentivized to do this. So I don't blame you for feeling that way, Sammy. But it is been tough the last stretch here. And I think, you know, it's time to take them behind the shed here and just be done with them. Yeah, it's going to be nice to put them all on. Night, night for the season. Yeah.

It'll be interesting, too, as we wrap up, I guess, probably give them the day off and then bring them back in on Friday for. I think it might be. I don't know. Do you think it's tomorrow? I think there's potential for it to be tomorrow. Is that based on what you're hearing? It's what I'm hearing. Just what I'm hearing.

So there's potential for it to be tomorrow. I think there's potential for it to be Friday. It's going to be either Thursday or Friday. I would imagine I'm hearing Thursday. I don't know. Feels like to your point to be in Ottawa, come home after a game, get up the next day, face all of us. It feels like a quick turnaround.

But it doesn't to me. What would you do? Just get it over with? Typically it's like, rip a bandaid off. Well, typically, you don't know the season is going. going to end. And then it ends. And so the guys kind of go through the emotions and they go out and party and like,

this is all. So we know where we're at. There are games Thursday night, right? Lots. Still? Lots of games. Well, not a lot, but like a few for sure. I don't know.

Do you want to have it on Thursday when the league's still going on? Does that matter to you? Or does it just feel like it should be the day after the regular season ends? Not yours, but the leagues. I mean, I think your chances doing it Thursday are best. the boys are probably going to go out one night regardless. Coming home from Ottawa is probably not the night. Just do the thing tomorrow.

Let them go out Thursday night and be done with it. But I mean, this is back to our who owns the chief situation here. But I'm, you'd be way more familiar than I would be. Do they not do like an exit meeting with the players or like would they do that before them the media availed or after or how would that work? That's a good question. And I would believe that with not. No general manager.

If they want to go in and talk to their head coach, I don't anticipate the Leafs making any decisions on anybody the next day. No. I think you can probably go have a conversation with Craig Bruby if you want. But to me, that exit day or that exit meeting would have more to do with medical and getting signed off on your health evaluation and your. summer program and you'll get you clean up grab your equipment i don't know whether or not like what else is there to say boy you guys were bad outside of kregg bruby do we expect like you know

the interim guys handling the office now and and and uh print them and uh how are you going to go in there and evaluate these guys i don't think evaluate but i don't think it's unreasonable to take the inputs of the players what do you think went wrong here this year. I don't think it's unreasonable to talk to guys who are under contract next year and say... I don't think... I don't think those guys would have the authority to get their thoughts on

the season. Well, someone needs to, though. Someone should. You only... Yes. Someone should. Well, you can still be a phone call away and that can maybe be the next general manager who might be named as, you know, early as next week. I just think the current staff

is going to operate, hold on. The current staff is going to operate like they're coming back until they're told otherwise, right? They're not going to... I know, but they get strict instructions on what people above them want them to do and say and ask. And that's what we're talking about. And I don't believe that that would be that they would also... Like, they're in limbo too.

Let's be honest. There's a lot of people in that office that have no idea. Yeah, it's a... And if you're going to... You can resort right now. There's a lot of limbo going. If you're going to let go of a few people, the last thing you wanted them to do is do the evaluation of getting information for you.

Yeah. And then taking that information and then bye-bye. Bye-bye. Right? Yeah, that's true. Okay, just glossed over. You think a GM could happen? I'm hearing.

Yeah, I think that, yeah, I hear some are progressing. Mike Gillis might be a guy that, has visited the Leafs multiple times now. I heard some things. But there's others still involved. Like Chica, I think, came in and impressed a few people. So still kind of wide open here. But again, if you feel like you're in a position of,

if you feel like you're in a position of other teams, looking at other prospects, are you in a race to get somebody? that's what you're up against. Well, I do think that that is an important thing. I've stressed that this week, that my concern is by being too slow on the uptake, you could miss people, you can miss decision-making windows.

Were you guys too young from Mike Gillis in Vancouver? No, no. Remember, remember? How old do you think I am? I don't know. That's arguably when I was like the biggest hockey fan during that time, when those Canucks teams were dominant. Yeah.

But, you know. Now, he's got, he's got, he's got, old school, right? He's kind of an old school guy. As I mentioned on this show, a little bit of, you know, maybe he's arrogant enough or smug enough to maybe pull this off.

Yeah. But the key is that if he can sell them on being a progressive guy. How many... Go ahead. My concern is that everyone knows what the answers to the test are, right? I am progressive. I am very into. But everybody does that to a certain degree when they're going out for a job.

But I think when you go to, you know, like if I didn't interview with the flyers tomorrow, I wouldn't, and you don't know what they want. You just tell them who you are and what you think works and hope that aligns with them unless you're constantly just trying to figure out the other people. But that's not honest or authentic. Do you have a ballpark on how many people they've talked to? just decide so it's gillis then that's what we're saying no i'm just saying that uh that that's the name that i've heard most early this week that i he may have come in monday or tuesday and maybe for the third time maybe third time it's a lot of dates there's something about a charm with third time i think that's the third date i think oh so again uh that's not to suggest that's not to suggest

that he's the odds-on favorite, but he covers a wider net than if you were going to go and get one of these analytical gurus. So it's just going to be him. But hold on. I don't know. I have no idea. Do you think he's, what role?

I know you, I liked your bit yesterday. The title's not important. Do you think he would have one? Do you know what he would be interviewing for? I would think that. The guy that I remember in Vancouver would want to be that guy, not unlike Brian Burke, when I see a third hand on the steering wheel, you know.

I'm cutting it off. Yes. So like Kyle Dubus in Pittsburgh, he'll be a president of NGM. For Mike Gillis to come here and want this job, and this is the difference again between if you want to go get an experienced guy, NHL guy who has some status but also has doesn't have to worry about maybe his next paycheck or his reputation or what not that there's a big difference between a guy that stature coming in and then

laying out some parameters than a guy like Sonny Mata who will be probably more inclined to say I'll give you whatever you want I'll do whatever you want, whatever the ask is. Let me know the questions and I'll answer appropriately. But that's the difference between the one guy and the other. So I kind of like that. I like that Gillis would want to be a guy with a clear vision and direction rather than someone who would be more of, I don't want to say,

be more pliable. I want someone who's a little less pliable. That's Tulsi and Carolina. And I told you that. You got to really understand that he is not that guy that can come in. Like, you know, if Rob Bremdimore says, you know, you got to stand outside the dressing room. There's not too many other teams. The head coach gets to tell the general manager you're not allowed in the dressing room right now.

But in Carolina, that's what's going on. Yeah, I mean. And it's just a different, it's a different way. I mean, it's not better. It's not worse. They're in the playoffs. The Leafs are out of the play. playoffs, maybe that's better.

Yeah. But that's what's going on. And it's just you got your title, but you don't have it like in the traditional way that we've been accustomed to seeing for the last 50 years. Yeah. So, I mean, relevant to this whole conversation that I guess would be, I don't know, the quote unquote elephant in the room was the article that was written today in the athletic voice. And, you know, there's a lot of stuff in there. I don't know how you guys want to talk about it, where you want to start or whatever you want to get into. But it's quite a piece.

It is quite a piece and it's making a lot of noise out there. I got to be honest with you. My first thought was I got a bit of a chuckle out of it. Yeah? Yeah. Because only in this city can we see something like this at this level, right? Where you got like three writers and I think I read 20 sources. 20.

Yeah. Like tell me where. Like you can't even find. 20 people in Carolina or Columbus to follow that team. And they got 20 sources here. 20. Yeah, people care. Like people are locked in.

That's why they have two people working on. That's what I kind of find that humorous is that, okay, and obviously one of the main titles in the word is dysfunction. Okay. But any team that misses the playoffs, I assure you, is dysfunctional. Yeah. Okay. So I get that a lot of people are up in arms on this.

And but like it's going around the whole league for 16 teams, but nobody cares about that. Where's the athletic on the, on the articles on the other team that it's a total mess or in their perception? It's like it's just not there. It's just this is what we do in Toronto. Yeah. Right?

It is. It is a comp. comprehensive sort of amalgamation of things. I think we... There was a part there when I thought I was reading my own manifesto at one point. Yeah. When they were talking about the willy finger

and the cut on Brubin's head. I was like, oh my God. It's like pulling together the timeline of the way the season went. And I guess the thing that stands out to me more than anything is that the team got desperate, right? They wanted to win and make changes. They had trouble adding the pieces.

They wanted to add when it started to go sideways. You're grasping for ways to reel this. thing in and Keith Kelly comes in and right now it's just there's a there's a watch on him man he might as well be Jim Carrey and Truman man we're watching him 24-7

he makes one mistake there's going to be 50 reporters to write about it maybe 20 sources who's going to give you their version of it and listen he's made some mistakes but he's been on the job for I don't know

18 months, 24 months. You can't learn hockey in 24 months. You can't learn what works and what does in 24 months. There's going to be some growing pains, and it's been documented in this thing, but it's the way it works. It's the way it works with every team. You want to go and get a fresh guy, a new guy to come in.

There's going to be mistakes. They don't get highlighted as much as they would hear in this town under these circumstances. I guess that that's the part that concerns me as someone who wants this team to do well is that I don't know if you pulled this together for Columbus, you saw Rick Bonas yesterday or the Vancouver Canucks who are, I know,

hot. You know, I don't know that a comprehensive review of a year gone wrong looks all that different, but I hope that for someone like Austin Matthews doesn't see an article like that and think it's a massive outlier. They're cutting costs in certain areas And to me, it's like, they're still spending.

Okay. But God knows how much more than... So the perception out there that the Leafs are gone cheap now. Yeah. Okay? And I'm like, is that the same team or the same ownership group that has the Blue Jays that sunk in like a gazillion dollars in the building, a gazillion dollars in the building? A gazillion dollars in the, in the, uh, uh, Daniedan practice facility? I'm like, how can that be, right?

How can that be? That all of a sudden they're not spending on the Leafs, but they're going to go spend on the Blue Jays. And it just, it doesn't. You don't think that's the case. You don't think that they would. I thought that earlier in the week we may have alluded to the fact that that wasn't going to be the case,

that maybe there was some worry about the two things. My one concern is that this happens because to me, part of, okay, Toronto, people say it's a, tough place to play, which, you know, we have different feelings on, you don't necessarily agree. The one thing they've done super well here for a long time is it's been the best place to be a player in terms of treatment, right? You go and it's massage therapists and nutritionists and it's, you know, even, you know, I was with the Marley's and, you know, we all stayed like NHL per diem and stayed in your own room.

And I do think that those are important things to keep up. But I understand that not everything is going to be the same. This is a big company up here, okay? And I don't believe for one second this is the way it works, that someone walks in the room and says that we're going to do this, this, and this, and then Edward Rogers signs off on it. Like there are people up there making some decisions in terms of where they put the money, how they want to spend it, where the budgets are.

And I don't know what ends up on ultimately the owner's desk and what doesn't. it could be just simply someone that no one's ever heard of in finance that just says, okay, we're going to do this this time. And it's not, it's not that they're cheap. It's just that maybe someone in this mecca of a corporation is just making some decisions that ultimately may fall into the, that's not good for morale, right? Well, that was the parents trip was a big one, right? where it's like it didn't happen, but then they ended up doing the mentors trip,

but some of the, you know, the staff didn't get to bring people. And yeah, I think there was, you know, who makes that call? Who makes that call, right? I mean, how far does it really go up? I mean, like, it's the thing, the problem is, is that regardless of who makes that call, this team has tens of millions of hundreds of millions of fans that don't know who the person who made the decision is, it's just going to fall on the organization and the guy to assumptions, yeah.

It's like you're not going to be able to comb through the organizational structure and figure it out. It's just going to fall in the lap of one person and that's what the people would have an issue with. Yeah. Like, I don't know. It's just... The bigger question is just, does it affect the team going forward any of this stuff? And it's like, it's been a bad year. It's been a terrible year and everything that could go wrong will go wrong.

And that highlighted it to me. So I think one of the big... One of the big points that came out of that is sticking in people's craw and I want to get your guys' thoughts on. is the AI aspect of this. And the AI aspect has been... But look at him when you ask this, because I haven't got a clue on AI. I think...

Tweeted about hating it two days ago. I think the... I think where we're at with the public perception of both the Toronto Maple Leafs and artificial intelligence where there has been this massive pushback towards it in terms of people being scared of it and people not understanding it.

And I think those two things coming together and then having this article come out really terrifies people. And me and Fab's are talking about it upstairs. Like, let me finish. Like, what are other teams using AI and it's just not getting talked about? The answer is yes. Are they?

Yeah, the answer is yes. Yes. The answer is yes. Okay. I mean, I've worked with a couple of companies that are, one in particular, that's trying to do video tagging without it being manually. So they just tracks events based on player movement and just tries to minimize the workload.

But the word is scary. The one thing, too, is like data-centric. And we've had so many data conversations over the past week. But if you and I were in a room and I said to you, here's two players, we want to acquire one of the two of them. They have the exact same stats. This guy started in D-Zone every shift last year. This one started in the O zone.

So what if we took this guy? You know, you'd be like, yeah, it makes sense. You know, that's all we're talking about. Another thing, more information. That's all we're talking about here. And I think the words are scaring people more than the information. Yeah. And Sammy, it's not just you.

and how it pertains to the Leafs. Everybody is nervous about it. Everybody's scared. They're scared for their current jobs. They're scared for their children's jobs. What it means to all of us. So it's okay. Let's all just be scared together.

For the record, I asked Chat Chaptee T today, who should the Leafs trade Austin Matthews for? And it said, short answer, they shouldn't. Trading Austin Matthews only makes sense if he wants out. or the return is absurdly good franchise altering. Otherwise, you don't move a heart caliber 60 goal center in his prime. Wow. So I don't know.

All right. Maybe it knows. Maybe AI is a pucknower boys. I don't know. So I don't know. I just, you can understand in the climate we're in with both the Leafs in AI, why people having the data-centric thing coming out, having Pelly mentioned at the press conference, having this article come out,

you can completely understand why people will be terrified of that. And you have like the AI industry being like any day now. Yeah, you're done. We'll do real Kipper and Board on chat GBT tomorrow. So again, it's so new to everybody that, so we're just kind of wrapping our heads around an analytic guy. But now there is the, what do you call it again, GP? Chat, GBT, GBT. It's one of the pop.

It's now out there and it's now another tool. So now there's two tools. So the pronunciation is Humza, I think. He's an MLSC, but he's the innovative guy, right? Yep. So he kind of comes into the picture a little bit. And there's also the hockey analytic side, which has been the last few years, Daryl Medcalf.

but the chat guy isn't a hockey analytic guy. So now when you try to get the both of them together, they're like, well, I don't know you, you don't know me, and people are putting us in the same lane, and we don't know how this works. And that's an issue in itself. The most valuable person you can be in this industry right now is someone who can take all that guy's information

and that guy's information and the scouts information and say, useful, useless, it's our segment. Useful, useless, use. All this stuff and tease out what's important that you're going to be inundated with information and knowing what information matters is going to be the most valuable asset. So I don't think you can be any one of these things.

I don't think you can be just a data guy, just a scouting guy, just an AI guy, if that's a thing. You know, like I just think you need someone who can distill the information. That's the whole rule. Should the least rebuild or retool? Short answer, a full rebuild would be overkill, but a serious retool is probably overdue.

Here's what's the reality with the Toronto Mapleies. Why Arabia doesn't make much sense. So it'll tell you. So far it's doing a pretty good job. You don't tear it down when you have elite prime age talent like Austin Matthews and William Neelander. Maybe I am obsolete. All right, Tammy.

I don't know. I just. Dennis Hill will be starting tonight. Okay, I guess we're moving on. What does chat say about him? That he shouldn't be starting? Don't have a goalie. Ask Sam GPT.

Like, why the hell is an Actimov starting? He stunk, perfect. You have to lose. Like, oh, he was so bad. You better send him down to the Marley's. Why are you calling up the better goalie to play him? Because. That's why you think Actimov's nuts?

Just, why would they send him down? I don't know. You have an experience. Yeah. I think Hildebees been a good soldier all year long, and I think this is like a... The Hildebees should be in the plans next year. Well, I agree.

He's a, I think he's a good goalie. Like, he's at NHL caliber backup goalie. Why is he playing tonight? It's very funny that your argument is that. There's too good to be playing tonight. There's paying customers. Oh, Krak. Yeah, the paying customers in Ottawa

who aren't seeing Brady Kachuk and Stutzla and all those people guys. The paying fan. The paying fan is not seeing Brady Kachach, Sanders, and Shabbat. Stutzla Amadio, the great Amadio. They should have to sit in the stands and sign autographs for two hours. I think DeLeeves tonight, I get why John Tavares is playing. If he plays tonight, full 82, which at his age and the way he plays is a really remarkable

thing to go at all 82. I respect that. He should play. Yeah. No one else should. Why, like, is there anyone in the world that would be more thrilled to not play tonight than William Neelander? Okay.

Is there anyone like, what would he be like, I don't have to play tonight? I can stay in Toronto. Let's get Craig Bruby on the Haldibeast starting. Clip one. Good to get him in for a game. And, you know, we'll, we used him a lot down the stretch here. So good to get Hilda be in there before he go back to the Marley. And, you know, he, Beast played, what, 19 games this year for us and did a good job.

So I thought it'd be good to get him back up for one more. 19 games? Yeah. And he was good. What was his numbers? Like above 900, for sure. He ended up being way better than I thought. What did, do you have his numbers?

I do, yep. He played 19 games and he's a 912, which is near the best in the league. Put him in a must-lose game. Exactly what you should be doing. Oh, my goodness. He almost played a thousand minutes. What's the other guys left? They have the Cracken tonight.

Oh, does it say Cracken play tonight against Vegas? And I think maybe Florida or? I got to tell you, there's a re. a very real threat of the Leafs winning tonight. On auto addressing no one, Hildo be coming up to show that he's part of the plans. I got bad news, boys. It's Vegas,

and then on the second half of back-to-back, Colorado for the Crackin. But Colorado doesn't need it. Doesn't need it at all. Yeah, they didn't need last night, and I was pouring over that game, watching the finale of Flames, and they still won that game. They didn't need it.

Yeah. Shame on them for trying. Oh, come on. Well, hey. Honestly, Kipper, at this point of the season, like really? It's the last game. Shame on them for trying. That's where we're at.

Like, really? I'd fill the net. Oh, give me. I'd still fill the net. Honestly, God. Well, you don't want a good draft. Getting a goalie, getting a goal in practice excited me. Yeah.

Well, you saw Rick Bonas. I'm not turning down. These guys just don't care. They don't hate to lose. One more, one more goalie related clip. Play the Joseph Wall one. Clip two on Joseph Wall. I think overworked, you know, in my opinion.

You know, from not, you know, playing a good stretch of games, but also faced a lot of rubber. Too much. Do you think he's capable of pedaling more, like you? I do. I do believe he is. There's a few things. He probably has to.

think about and change a little bit to handle that load, that type of load, you know. It's a lot. If you look at the goalies in the league, there's only a, I don't know how many, a handful of guys that play, you know, 50 or more games in the season. Joe Woll will clock in at 39 starts this year. He's above league average. Almost 40. Above league average, save percentage at an 899.

That's a He's 899 Hey he had some bad ones recently That's a it's a bummer Because he was above 900 For a good run there And he missed But overworked

Did he miss eight weeks to start the season Six? November he came back I think Six and a half Yeah I mean And nothing was really said about that What do you mean

In terms of From Ruby? Well we just never really Understood it other than, you know, are we sure it wasn't an injury? Or we sure it wasn't? Well, I think we assume now it's mental health. And I think it does seem like a faux pa these days to ask about that or inquire about that.

But I think fair as an employer, you know, the least to wonder, okay, is this going to be something that we're going to have to, you know, build into the plans with him a little bit? Yeah. what's he saying though the guy that doesn't play 40 games and is overworked right like is he ever going to be that guy that could put one year together at 50 55

is that is he kind of waving the white flag on that well to me overworked is since he came back right like if he had been there from the start of the season his pace is a 50 game pace he just so I think his implication but he's overworked at 39 Well, in a condensed period, right?

It's not 39 over the season. He came back in six and a half weeks late. At this point, I find it hard to believe you're ever going to get more than this out of them. Yeah. Like, you know, it's easy to sit here and say that when he's never done it. So, but I have a hard time. Trust in either of these goals.

Most he's ever played was last year's 42. And that's any season going back in career high before. That was like 25, right? Yeah, his elite prospect page going back to juniors, anything, never. more than 42. Yeah. Which, yeah. So maybe that's what you're looking for

and you need Stolars to give you some and Hilda B and you're a tri-dom, not a tandem. I don't know. Does it worry you that it appears that did Barubi say anything about how Stolars injury could affect the way he trains in the summer or? That last week or sometime he said that like, yeah,

it could cut into his off-season. So he's just, he's behind the able. for training camp now. Do you know what happened? I've not heard definitively lower body injury. LBI for sure. Yeah.

Oh, we should go. Okay. Still plenty to get into. You mentioned Rick Bonas. We're going to play those comments, hey, after the break? We got Luke after the break. Luke?

Fox. Luke Fox! Why do you tell me? Hames. Kipper, you haven't read a text for me in two weeks. I don't have my glass of it. All right, Luke, Fox.

The force is with us when we return to the Real Kippron-Born show. Diving deep into Leaps, Raptors, Jays, and NFL. The J-D. Bunk is podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the program. Nickyaprious Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee with a big Jays win last night, Sammy. It doesn't work.

Oh, yeah, there we go. It did. I don't know why. It just felt like everybody was kind of, watching that one last night. My Twitter feed got a lot of texts. You two were in on it. It was a really exhilarating baseball game.

They just needed that. And I don't know how there's just certain points over a really long baseball year where there's these flash points where just games feel more important. And that one last night really felt important. I was getting away from them. And I got to say, I don't care who knows it.

I love Miles Straw. Miles Straw is the perfect type of guy for Toronto sports fans to love. Undersize. Hey. You know. And just the, quietest guy. We love the quietest guy.

Just gritty, big hits and big spots. Great defensively. Huge my old straw guy. Love the straw dog. All right. Love the Luke dog. All the way from the nation's capital. Let's welcome him in.

Luke Fox, NHL writer for Sportsnet.com. Look what's going on, my friend. Lots of talk. Lots of articles. People feeling a little bit dysfunctional. What's the vibe amongst 20, 22, guys out in Ottawa right now we're in the blue and white. Well, I think more than a few people with the Toronto Maple Leafs got up and read that

article in the athletic this morning. And there was definitely some discussion at the rank about it. That's for sure. And my big takeaway talking to some members of the Leafs was it raised eyebrows and no one thought it was inaccurate, put it that way. So tonight there, you know, it's been interesting watching this team try to get to the finish line. I've been open about what's best for the team is get the best draft pick possible. What does their lineup look like tonight?

We got a bunch of kids. What's going on tonight? No real changes. I think the big change is Dennis Hildeby getting called up and he's going between the pipes, getting rewarded. You know, Joseph Wall kind of interesting, the fact that they sit him out. the last couple games of the season, even though, you know, he's really ended on a bit of a losing skid.

Kind of lost his way and not entirely his fault, to be sure, the Leaps have given up more shots than any other team in the NHL. But, you know, he's kind of leaving on a bit of a low. Anthony Stolars is leaving on a low, injured, with a rehab that's going to eat into his off-season training. We're going to see more Vilnu. and Luke Hames, the only major change with the skaters is Callie Yarncrock apparently is a little banged up.

So Pizzetta will come in for him. But outside of that, I think it's more interesting that the senators, with nothing to play for in terms of seating, are sitting like five of their best players. So there's a fear if you're on Team Tank that the Leafs could salvage a win here. but we saw what the Florida Panthers did with their AHLers. They just still were able to outwork the Leafs. So we'll see. When it comes to the Marley call up, you know what you're going to get out of them,

and that's just a chance to impress and do whatever you can in a league that they've dreamt about their whole lives. But what about the other guys? Are they getting tired of Sammy and J.B. going lose, lose, do they talk about it? Do you get a sense that, like, where these guys are. guys feel about the fifth overall pick? Yeah, yeah. As you might guess, Nick, they don't care about the fifth overall pick.

A lot of the guys are worried about their own jobs. I mean, William Nealander's fine, right? He's not too fuss about it. John Tavares is just John Tavares every day, no matter where the Maple Leafs wake up in the standings. But guys like Simone Benoit, right, who is, he's under contract, but his future is uncertain. He feels like he needs to fight for every day in the NHL. I had a long talk with Troy Stetcher this morning. He doesn't

know what GM he needs to impress yet to try and get another deal with the Leafs. He'd like to return. He's fighting for his NHL life. He's not even sure that he's going to be in the league next year as a veteran who's hit the waiver wire a couple times. So they're leaving it all out there.

A guy like Stephen Lawrence feels like he's had a bad year. Feels like he still has to show up for the crest. Nick Robertson is a major question mark as an RFA again. Same with Matthias Machelli. So individually these guys don't care most of them about that pick.

They want, you know, to play because they need a new deal or they need to impress even if they don't want to be in a Maple Leaf next year, they need to impress the rest of the league. And I thought it was, I was blown away and impressed by what Rick Bonas

said. That game meant nothing to Columbus. But there is an element of culture setting, I think, for the individual and for the group. We're going to get to those comments in the National Hour. But just quickly, J.B., can I just jump in here? Is the first thought, you know, in our Leaf Hour edition or where you are covering the team is to compare Rick Bonas to what we've heard from Craig Bruby all year? Yeah. I think there's a segment of Leaf Nation that would have wanted to hear that type of rant. Whether it was from Brubay or whether it was from Sheldon Keith before him,

I feel like they wanted that moment. And Baroubae never really went there. I mean, he hinted at it. There was a moment where, you know, in Washington, where the Leafs had a really flat effort. And it was said, you know, where is the pushback? And he said, go in there and ask them, not me. And there was another moment after the Olympic break where he said,

I can't give him this. And he pointed to the head and I can't give him this. and he pointed to the heart. So there were hints at that, but there wasn't a full-blown emotional rant about the culture needs to change here. He hadn't gone quite that far. So in the scrum today,

he answered his thoughts on bonus and kind of said, yeah, good teams, you know, the players in the room have to say some not-so-nice things to their teammates. They have to be the driving force of that hate-to-lose attitude. And the follow-up came to him, you know, is that a problem in Toronto? And he said, I'm not going there. You know, he's going to keep his true thoughts, I think, close to vest,

whether that means, you know, maybe one day it comes out. And maybe he's not the coach of the Maple Leafs anymore when we hear what he really feels. But no doubt, I think just being around multiple different teams over the years, I think the Leafs could use more guys with that hate-to-lose. attitude for sure. You know, there's a funny tweet today, is Michael Amato, who tweeted about

Kelly Arncrock finishing that four-year deal. It's been incredible. He's the type of guy who didn't really inspire much passion in anyone. He was fine, right? Got through the four years and he had 15 points the last two years. Well, it kind of embodies. I'm watching him the other night. I'm like, it feels like back to the future.

It embodies kind of what's happened. Like one of these guys just kind of went away when it got hard, but everyone kind of liked them, a nice guy and all that. 15 points in the last two years. So these are the kind of guys that aren't going to be here next year. Is Morgan Riley? We don't know.

Well, fair enough. Is Morgan Riley, though, do you get the sense kind of another one of those guys that's just not going to be a part of whatever the solution is next year? And do you feel that from him? I don't know, Justin. You think he might be bad. I say flip a coin. Oh.

I think it depends who the GM is and his vision for Morgan Riley. And Morgan has a massive, massive. of saying this. But I do feel like just this week, we saw more of an open consideration to the idea that he might not play out his contract here. And he signed through 2030. Like, there's still years on this thing. I don't think a buyout makes any sense.

And I do think if you want to move him and he's open to moving that he would have value on another team with the rising cap, with the fact he can loss. minutes. He can still, you know, produce on a good team's second power play in my mind. He can still break out a puck. And I actually think maybe there's better hockey in him if he feels a bit challenged, a bit refreshed, you know, not walking into the same room where there's, he's seen the highs. He knows what it feels like and he knows this isn't it anymore. So I wonder if he's starting to have like some serious thoughts about what's more important to me, my little or winning a Stanley Cup.

You're watching and listening to Luke Fox, who covers the Toronto Maple Leafs for us. Does a great job on Sportsnet.com. So Luke, I asked Sammy this earlier, but is there any word out of Ottawa about what tomorrow or the next few days could look like for the Toronto Maple Leafs in terms of their availability?

Yeah, it's interesting because originally they had kind of circled Friday as the day where they would do locker clean out, and they've moved that up to tomorrow morning. And this is the quickest turnaround since I've been on the beat that they've done that. And I think it's just a realization that this whole last month has felt like one big locker clean out in a way.

And they just want to get out of town and, you know, get it over with. So tomorrow is the plan. Austin Matthews is scheduled to speak. I think he'll be definitely. Definitely the story of the day since he hasn't spoken publicly since the Radco Goudas incident. So he'll probably be the headline guy. I've been informed that no one from management, so no Brennan, Pridham or Ryan Hardy, are going to sit at a podium and answer questions.

So I would expect Brubay and, you know, a handful of the key players to do scrums at their practice facility and Ford starting tomorrow morning. And then they get to scatter and start to, you know, wait and see news on the next head of hockey ops, begin their off-season training, probably take a little vacation. I'm curious if, you know, John Tavares, maybe even Morgan Riley, if they get an invite to Team Canada at the World's. William Nylander is non-committal.

He said he's going to think about it so far. So some of those guys will go over to Europe in May and participate in that tournament, and that's about it. As someone that will be covering tomorrow morning, can you give us some insight on what kind of day or what kind of questions it could be for Austin Matthews? And where do you begin? Where do you go?

Because we haven't seen him or talked to him while he gave out the season tickets. Maybe he made someone's life with amazing tickets. But what kind of questions you think he's going to get hit with? Oh, I think it'll be, you know, pretty hard hitting questions in terms about does he still believe in the team? Does he see himself a member of this team? Is the turmoil of this season?

In my mind, this is the most disappointing season in the club's history in terms of their expectations going in. I know he had high expectations. You know, at training camp, he was very much, you know, talking about wanting to prove people wrong that he can do it without Marner. And he didn't have a good year and it ended an injury.

So does he say, still believe. Does he want to wait and see? And I think that's probably going to be the truth that he'll probably say something along the lines of, well, I want to see who the GM is and what the roster looks like and who the coach is. That's probably what he's thinking. He probably doesn't know.

But I think he's going to get questions about his future, which is a little bit odd for a guy who's still under contract for two more years. And then the other thing is, is he going to chime in on player's safety? You know, we saw his agent, like Judd Maldeaver sound off. We saw Connor McDavid throw his

two cents in. Did the Guddest thing affect his ideas about player safety? Are they protecting the stars enough? And also, did it affect how he views his teammates who didn't come to his aid? I hope you're the only one who gets questions tomorrow because that was a great list. Well, I did. No, I mean, these things, I'm sure they're big topics that are going to come up, no matter whose voice they come out.

Yeah, yeah. Luke, congrats on a great regular season. unfortunately the Leafs aren't moving on so we don't get to have you back on the show covering the Leafs but there's going to be Leafs not happening there might be news yeah but not games not games you've done a great job

you're awesome every time we wanted like a tough question where like remember that commercial like you know you guys weren't even born with but there was a life life cereal commercial and it's like you won't eat it let's get

Mikey. Mikey, let's get Mikey. Let's get Luke to ask a question. Let's get Luke. Let's get Luke asked a tough question. You're like Mikey. You did a great job. You're Mikey in the cereal, bud. All right. I got nothing out of the end of the bowl. Nothing. Just drinking the milk through the end of the bowl. All right. This milk's sour right now. Thanks for doing this, Luke. Thanks, pal. All right, have a good one, guys. You too. Enjoy game 82. You too. Very topical reference. My Mikey went over like a lead balloon. In fairness, I have heard of it because my mother references it. I've heard of it.

Thanks. Never even heard of it. I'll be in a corner in a puddle right now. No disrespect. All right. You're Terry Koshan and you're Luke Fox. Your question to Austin Matthews, Luke Fox. Do you want to be back next year?

Your question, Terry Koshan. Can you let me some money? Whatever it is, I hope he has a real strong understanding of the message that he wants to come across, no matter what he's leaning towards. It's no one's saying to give up state secrets here, but have an objective of coming out and meeting the media because you're ultimately reaching the fan base. And I've been critical and hard

on a lot of the messages that have gotten kind of lost towards the fan and, you know, whether you need to lean on your PR guy or your agent or your somebody, but just

come out and don't look like you're kind of adhering headlights. You're the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Look at camera in the eye and tell them what you're thinking or feeling without again giving it all up. My question would be, do you have an athletic subscription? I had a friend text me today and he said,

whoever gets hired here needs to get him and Willie in a room and say, the nonsense stops here. These are the new standards. You know, this is not a, you know, we're not going to figure it out next year. And basically it starts now. and you're either on board or you're not on board. Do you think you can do that with those guys? No.

No. Well, who's doing that? Sonny? Mike Gillis? Yes. Who's doing that? Mike Gillis, yes. Or Sunny, sure. Yeah.

Whoever that. Sonny can't do that. Okay. Can't do it. Not the guy. Is Mike Gillis the guy? They'll look at him and go, who are you?

Okay. Well, they say that. That should impact their decision on. What about Mike Gillis? Yeah, maybe. Maybe, but like, so Mike flies in. He's known nothing. He hasn't been in the league in 14 years.

And can he do it? Can they respect it? Can they like, okay, you say nonsense. Okay? Yeah. Stop the nonsense. Yeah. Now I'm Willie or I'm Austin and I go back.

Hey, Mike, what nonsense are you talking about? You just got here five minutes. You're going to tell me about the nonsense. Yeah. What nonsense? Yeah. So yeah, you and a tank top and flipping off the camera and you being, You.

I legitimately think that this is a very important piece of the puzzle. But you can't take this Leaf's job and go, well, I haven't been here so I don't know what happened before me. That is the one thing I will listen for with the person who gets hired is I cannot have. I don't know what happened before me because that's part of getting jobs. I think if it's Mike or whoever else comes in, you got to rebuild a team. And you need. strength in numbers and just it needs a it needs a make up a spice up that whole that whole hockey department needs and listen i'll go just for a second go back to the athletic article 20 sources

that's 20 people who like are like who are these people you work for the organization okay why are you talking I want to go back into that office and go, and listen, you got a problem, bring it up, because all I'm going to do now for the rest of my days is now try to find out who you were and get you the hell out of here. Jack Nicholson and the departed, looking for a rat.

Yeah, there's 20 rats right now in there. Yeah, I mean, it's a big staff. It is a large number of humans, for sure. but just get people in there that you can trust. Let's start there. Well, that's how you rebuild. I think Mike or whoever needs to come with people knowing that he's all right, that's my guy I trust,

this is my guy that does this that I trust. You need people. Everyone needs help. All right. That's one solid hour where we solve nothing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Eric Johnson's next. you see him on the sidelines there in between the period

yeah through periods god he's guy should be in movies man not sitting there asking tortarella questions too handsome to be on the show you think i'm going to tell him that too when we return all right our thanks to luke fox plenty more as we go national the real kipper and bourn show