Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Vegas Wins the First Marner Matchup

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on the Toronto Maple Leafs' overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. They discuss the Leafs' struggles holding leads this season, a tough game for Joseph Woll, and Craig Berube's questionable personnel decisions in the late stages. Then, they get into the Mitch Marner side plot of the game and how the former Leaf responded to boos from his home crowd. Later, Nick, Justin and Sam discuss William Nylander's injury, a bad look for Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly in overtime, and the latest on Anthony Stolarz. Finally, the guys dip into the Leafs Line to answer your calls and questions!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. It's Friday, off the rails Friday, a real Kipperman Bourne show. Nickyneux, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandeo, and Ethan, Ja, Ja, Ja, Ja, Ja. Gabor. We're live on Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 590, the fan, and streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. And if you are big fans of the show on YouTube, a thumbs up, please for the the three of us.

Thumbs up. You're so good at doing that, jajaja. It kills you. It kills you. Sometimes I just, I got this thing with names. Right.

So I don't know if, like, you were a big guy in the room, but like I like to fire up guys. So I'd go around the room and I'd pick names out and sometimes a name would just strike me with,

do you remember? Bobby Rouse. Bob Rouse. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So for whatever reason, I go around the room and I'm like, come on, Hunty, Dale Hunter.

Come on, Bo, Bo. Don Bo Prey was our goalie. Hatchy, Kevin Hatcher. And then I get to Bobby Rouse. And I'm like, come on, Bobby Rouse. And guys would be looking. at me like, what was that? The Russian vibe to that almost.

And I'd like almost bark, rouse. That's really good. And then it got to the point where like, there's a lot of pressure on me. Like the guy, we could not go out on the ice without me giving a Bobby Rouse. This is maybe the best part of being on a team is these things you form and develop

that make it feel like family. And you're like, that's our thing. Do the thing. And correct me, this was on the capitals, right? Washington Capitol. Well, they do all this stuff they do now is bananas. Like they got one guy got the stick in the back of the guy's pants and he like barks like a dog and they're like doing all these weird things.

I love it. I love that stuff. We would after a game go out to a bar, it would be like 2 o'clock in the morning. And I'm like, you know, I bump into Bobby Joyce, which Joyce doesn't come out like rouse. No, no. But he'd be like 2 a.m. We're in a bar. He's like, cabra.

Gave me a bar. Bobby Rouse. I'm like, I'm not giving you a Bobby Rouse right now. Yeah, give me a Bobby Rouse. I'm like, can you see him with someone right now? Yeah.

I'm like, okay. Yeah, it's Bobby Rouse time. Bobby Rouse. Wow, it turns out of the rails. I don't know what it is. We're right in the ditch. Oh, we got Doug McLean at the top of the hour. Yes.

Plenty to discuss on your Toronto Maple Leafs Leaf Hour edition. So it is Friday. We've got no Kyle Tucker, no Bo Bichette, and the Leafs lose to Sammy's Vegas Mitch Marner team. That's not a great way to end the week. I would say that I think I was pretty public about the hesitance with Kyle Tucker. I when really, I'm being honest with the audience,

that one really didn't get me. But Bo Bichet, I was trying to convince myself that I was going to be okay with that. But Boba Shed is one of my favorite all-time Jays. He's been with the organization since he was basically 12 years old. He's come up through the whole system, Dunedin, Lansing, wherever, Buffalo. Place through injury to hit a three-run tank in Game 7 of the World Series. It's just, yeah.

And then like, you know, the lease last night can't hold a lead. They lose. Like, when's the, I've been doing this a while? When's the good stuff happened? Oh, how was your Jay's experience? How was that playoff run? Bad. Oh yeah, you had no fun.

Bad. That's what it is. Yeah, but can I just have one championship ever? Or like one? Just you. No other millions of fans out there, just you. No, not me. Well, I like to think that I'm the representation of some fans.

If he had the jersey, it'd be McKee across the front. Yeah, right. It just sucks. 24 out. Being a Toronto Sporting fan is a constant kick. You know what? It also sucks for Leaf fans today. A 2-0-0.

lead, a 3-1 lead, a 4-2 lead, and a 5-3 lead. Yeah. That's four separate two-goal leads blown. You know, that was a good hockey game last night for quite a long stretch, you know, pretty good pace, good effort, good energy. I like the Leafs, a lot of that game, pretty good hockey game, all told. You know, in the third period, I wrote about it today. It's on Sportsnet.com.ca.

I did a systems analyst on the way they play when they're protecting leads, which is really safe, conservative, bang it off the glass style hockey. And, you know, they had some mistakes from guys who aren't great. Stetcher and Myers, I thought, stunk in the final period. Otherwise, got that, it's a pretty good road game up until that. I disagree. But I get the energy. I get the things that we see at times way better.

That in itself is now consistent. consistently more appealing to us, right? But just the goals that they give up is it looks a lot like what we saw earlier in the season, which I think is a concern. And if Joe Walls off and not still ready to grab this net by the throat, it's, there's going to be some issues here moving forward. You've been on the goalie. curse watch so far this year.

Yeah. You write an article about the Stolars and the Toronto Star and that he disappears? No, no. And then Wall has got to be the starter and he has his worst game of the year. Stop writing about the goal. Enough. I think I nailed it. Yeah.

Right? I think I nailed it. Yeah. And I'm not putting it all on Joseph Wall last night, but that was coming off arguably one of the best efforts we've seen. seen in his leaf career going into Colorado. But if you're not going to do that

and be that rock who can't find four different ways to protect a two-gole lead, then I don't know where this team's headed. You know, there's a lot of teams in the league that have good goalies and have done well on the backs of that goalie.

And like I think of Hellebuck in Winnipeg. And, you know, I know I make this point a lot, but it's like the goalie gets to play two. Like, they're allowed to have a better goalier than you. That's part of how they built their team. And I think the Leafs are built somewhat like that. They're allowed to have a good goalie. So when he's not good, it's ugly.

It's ugly. I also think, you know, a couple things hurt them last night. But Philip Myers being involved in a lot of that stuff last night drove me crazy. I got a lot to say about coaching, too. So I know we're going to get into it all. Say it. Well, I thought it was a poorly coached game. I thought the use of personnel was,

way off to me. I didn't like anything they did in the last 10 minutes out there at the end of the game. You got Nyes and John Tavares, Lott and sitting on the bench. You got Philip Myers out there with less than five minutes left. You just got too many minutes for too many guys who are not defensively

responsible. Didn't like it. All right, let's go to Craig Barrowby on last night's game in Vegas and we'll pick up that conversation. Clip one. Just a couple mistakes in the third period. I mean, we give up a two-on-one. You know, we take a penalty, no need for that penalty, and they scored again. And then, you know, the goal, you know, the goal,

you know, we just, three, well, you know, the tying goal, I mean, it's tough. Like, we have a broken stick and you can't cover everybody. So that was a tough play, but seven seconds. But, you know, I just, we didn't finish them off. You know, I think. we can probably do a better job in a third period of, you know, just managing a little bit better than we did. You can't give up that two-on-one one. And, you know, there's no need for that penalty either. Yeah, to your point, on the game tying goal with seven-sex to go, like,

I think it was Tavares, just you got to come in the middle. You do. You got to come in. You cannot worry about the guy on the outside at that point. Make him pass it through seams before you let him pass it right into the bumper. You know, that's no good. And I thought Tavarice was better last night. I thought he had better energy.

He was around the net a little bit more. The thing he said in that answer there, which to me is maybe part of the concerning thing that you said, it's like we have to manage it better. And it feels like that's the mandate going into these third periods that has led to so many of these bloc. I mean, how many leads have they blown? They're the worst in the league at protecting a third period lead.

They are. The managing part of it is not the right verbiage for me. Like you can manage it. You can try to win, but like you still have to play hockey. And it feels that they just start playing a different sport when they're up late in these third period. And so that to me is part of the coaching thing, too, where I know I was all over our group chat last night kind of freaking out a little bit about active group chat night. Active group chat night. You know, Matthews wins three draws in a row under five minutes left in their own zone.

And they iced it, iced it, turned it over and it went out of play. It was like they didn't try to make one pass. They just smashed it off the glass. And it's like, you can't panic. Like, that's what bad teams do. Grab it, look up, take a stride. You need to continue to play. And I feel like the managing it is get it out of our end.

Just it's a grenade. It's like, guys, keep playing. Keep playing. I thought they broke it out well or broke it out well prior to that. I know we got tons to get into, including Mitch Martner, of course. But just coming out of that loss, coming out of Utah now, back to a little concern with the rest of the schedule. They got Winnipeg Saturday.

You got a very busy week. One for a row, by the way, Winnipeg now. Yeah. So, like, is this make or break forking the road again, time? Funny, we said going into this road trip, maybe it was on the desk, you and I said this, we looked at the four games ahead. Might have been on the show even,

where you said they got to get five points. Monday. You said that. Or the eight points available. If they get five points, it's a success. And I was like, Yeah, if you get four out of this, you're not dead, but it's not whatever. Can't get three.

It was the end of the conversation. Can't get three. So they got three of six. You win the next game. You leave with five of eight. Pretty good trip. Like a lot hinges on the Winnipeg. You're right.

And not a great time to be playing the Winnipeg Jets right now. But that doesn't really matter. But you cannot, you can't go back home Saturday night with just the one win in the one game. You weren't supposed to win. No. I mean, pretty good trip. If you come home and you've beaten Colorado, beaten Winnipeg, got a point in Vegas, like, you go, all right.

Yeah, it looks a lot different with the loss. And the Buffalo Sabres win every night. And every other game goes to overtime. I got to tell you, I love that outcome for the standings last night. Like just a little bit of a pucker up for the Montreal Canadiens and the Sabers climb up a bit. I think that's pretty fun. And, yeah, Bruins, by the way,

I think of won seven of eight. five in a row. So they win every night too. Okay. Yeah. Five in a row. It's really frustrating. Yesterday of course was a lot of the buildup towards a reunion game.

I don't know what they labeled it with Mitch Marner and the Leafs. I saw someone called, I think, Jonas, the Marner Bowl. Okay, the Marner Bowl. I didn't feel it as much as others did, but I did, it kicked in right at the start of the game for me. And I mean, I don't know why, but I didn't pick up on it as much as I felt it right before puck drop and it did feel different. It did have playoff type of vibe, right?

And I don't know. It probably brought everything I thought it would. I didn't see the booze coming. Like, not to that degree. Oh, I did. On the road? Of course. Not on the road.

I said it yesterday on the show. He's going to get booze. there. All right. I thought we'd hear a few, but it was pretty, like, noticeable all night. You know, I think watching Marner over all these years and, like, how big, I think big games can be a challenge for him because he can't take it to the game with like a power game, a Nate McKinnon, whatever. But he operates within the game, you know, like he's. pretty consistent last night in his game.

And I thought it was a typical Mitch Marner game where within an inch he's looking at three primary assists, which would have been a hell of a night. Yeah. Yeah, no. Like, I don't think he was in special. I don't think he was bad. I thought, but it's,

I'm just saying the way he plays, like in a big game, he's never going to come out and be like, runs a guy over, beats a guy wide, takes it to the net. So it kind of happens within the traffic. And as the game goes on,

and, you know, it kind of has to, it's just the mariner way. So in the big game sometimes, I think that's been hard because the game doesn't always come to him, but he is able to have such an impact on games when it does. That makes sense. I think that's really well said. But other than the assist that didn't count, I didn't really notice him at five on five.

I thought that the booze were getting to him. He was trying to get rid of the puck as quickly as he could. It would bother, it would have bothered me. I don't know there's a- Do you feel that? When he had the puck on his stick, he was not carrying it nearly as much as he was. I can't believe that it didn't bother him or it wouldn't have bothered anybody. Sure.

And I tell you, if I'm Vegas, the owner, I'm pissed. You know, I'm just, just, I don't know. I'm just, it's upsetting to me in my own building where I signed a star player that he would have to deal with that at home. You take him on the road, go back to Toronto this week or next week. week and all bets are off. But to hear that in my own building would have bothered me if I was the owner. That's fair. He's still only going to do about it.

No, nothing you can do. But under those circumstances still, like, listen, he's not, it's not Toronto anymore. He's playing with Riley Smith, who's way past his expiration date. And Dorfayev, who. has almost all his goals on the power play and can't play a lick of five on five, in my opinion. And it's not Austin, and it's not 25 minutes. You talk about coaching.

They're down 3-1. And there's a minute and a half, two minutes with a face-off deep in the Leafs zone, down 3-1. Cassidy's got, Eichl doesn't see the ice for the rest of the period. Stone doesn't see the ice for the rest of the period. Marner doesn't see the ice for the rest of the period. I'm watching Colissar. I'm watching Bowman.

Like, he wants four lines. Although last night, he didn't succeed at that. I was actually just checking before we came up. Three of their guys barely played. Lettla Zinski? That's a guy. Reinhardt and Holtz were all sub 10. So, yeah, typically, I think that's the case, right?

It's just, it's the when, too, right? Yeah. It's just not the actual. 22, 23 last thing. I just, maybe the Vegas is just, it's an eye open. Like I've watched them, but you haven't watched it like that

versus the Leafs in a big game like that. And like I... Markle looks. Marner is a great, Marner's a great player. Don't get me wrong. But they just have, dare I say,

way better guys than him that you want on the ice in these bigger situations. Like Mark Stone was unbelievable last night. That guy, every time he's on the ice. Jack Eichel, I thought, was nowhere to be found

for the first half of the game. But he certainly was there to be found in the second half of the game. kicked it in. He kicked it in. One and three for four points, 25 minutes, ice, time five shots. All of it when he pushed himself. My point is,

what, watching it play. Hold on. Hold on. Are you identifying Vegas Matthews? Oh, yeah. I just blew right past that. Continue? No, I'm good. I got it in. It's an effort. I don't know. Yeah, just to me, just

sometimes he waits to me. I just think that I understand Marner's lesser role on that team because there's better guys than him on that team and here it wasn't necessarily the case. Like I just,

I'd rather have stolen. Yeah, it's just different. It is. It is something that he's not playing with those guys more often. You know, Mark Stone,

you know, he was 24 minutes last night. I don't know. It is going to be interesting to see how that settles. Their defense, Petrangelo, gone.

Yeah. Good Petrangelo, not the one that was playing like at 60%. Yeah. They're going to need some help back there. And they have no goaltending. Yeah. Hanifin, Theodore, Lozon, Corsack, White Cloud Hutton is not. No.

You know, when they were won the cup, it was a little more. It was a fleet package there. Yeah. Give us the line on Willie's night last night, J.B. Yeah. Yeah, a Mee-Lander. Let's see here. One goal, one assist, two points plus two, two minutes of ice.

That's pretty good. Two minutes and 17 seconds of ice time. Sucks. He's like a pitcher. I'm out of here. Thank you. Have a good night, everybody. Just pitches one inning throws a hundred balls an hour.

Yeah. Good thing. He's not red and little. He was. He had it. He was electric. He had it. He took that one to heart.

What do we see? Like, uh... He's got a brain angle. ankle knee before it was his groin no yeah I don't know he had a bad groin because like sometimes I thought it was ankle

both no no I'm not saying what it is now right but in the past I think it was a groin that he was dealing with because when you tweak stuff even funny I don't know if you've pulled your groin before but you can pull it sneezing you can like once you've got it like it's it's just a nagging thing

be really bad and I've said this to you guys I know but like one of the worst parts of having a bad start to the season is that now if you get hit with injury luck you're just toast they just can't afford to be with a willie for all right let's let's get Craig ruby's thoughts on a kipper's clipper on willie clip three lower body well it's hard like yeah he was back playing great and then now you know he's out again so we'll see how long i think i put another one in there uh from today maybe i didn't uh but he basically he just said that like he doubtful for saturday we'll see how it goes

he's like I was sort of hesitant last time to say it wasn't that bad and now he's not saying that so he's going to miss him time again probably in the worst stretch of the season that's really bad well like last night that's the type of difference where not saying he does anything I don't know if he scores another goal but he wins it in overtime well that we know that and he at least has the puck sometimes instead of it being in the D zone like he can have that influence we talk about overtime yes they're terrible and three on three and it could cost in the playoffs. How many times have they lost?

No. 10 times? Morgan Riley's decision to shoot that is the last man back from a bad angle and shank it wide was atrocious. I don't disagree with that for one second. But Jack Eichel

and Austin Matthews behind the net are side by side. How Jack Eichel gets up the ice and Austin quits, I, you'll never give me a an explanation on that.

That to me was the three on three play that stuck out the most for me. Yeah, I mean, that's fine if there's an effort thing there that I didn't see and that's very possible. But yeah, because he does beat him way up the ice. Like he's not even in the picture. You were beside him behind the net. And that's fine.

And that can be a separate thing. The mistakes happen. Cowan doesn't make a good play with the puck. Riley shanks it, then Riley back on the 2-1 blows a tire and slides into the corner. Like there's a whole bunch that goes wrong there. It was ugly.

I think he had been a, I think he had what a 40 or 50 second shift to start overtime. There was one shift off and then he was out there for a minute 16. I mean, you got, you've played, you can't convince yourself to get, like, he's dog tired. They're sending him out of all over the floor. Again, that's the fastest guy in the league.

Then that goes back to the coaching. It does. But the thing is, they're trying to win the hockey game and he doesn't trust anybody else in three on three on three on three, we can complain. So he puts out Matthew. I will say the Leafs lack forwards who can defend. They really do.

And that's one of the ways you're playing Mitch Marner on the other side, a guy who was someone you trusted on both sides of the puck. You know, you picked up Machelli who now is coming around on the offensive side of things, but he's never going to be good defensively. Domi's no good defensively. So the least have lost eight overtime games. want to look that out. I think they've been better with their back pressure, but

past that, you're right, it gets tricky for them. Yeah, and like, even like Nyes doesn't think about it a ton. It's not Willys, you know, bread and butter. John Tavar's is not a dyed in the wool defensive center. Like they just, it's not in the psyche. A lot was made out of Austin Matthews' interview. With Masters? With Masters. Yeah. Love that.

You didn't love it? I thought it was absolutely, yeah, done talking about this. We have said everything I have to say. Did that surprise you that he would be that definitive? We've seen him have moments like that in the past. I wasn't surprised to see him. You surprised you? Yeah, it kind of surprised me a little bit.

Even Mark Masters mentioned, and then Luke Fox tweeted as well, Marner kind of slipping a puck. as the two left warm up. And I don't know. I mean, mention it, don't mention it. But people like that, right? I don't blame Mark for asking the question. I don't either.

At the end of the day, I don't either because, first of all, I don't know about the great answer. Well, he got one that we're talking about. Hold on. What's he supposed to say? My dear beloved Mitch. No, no, no, no. Listen, I didn't particularly like it or find it necessary for Austin to be so standoffish on like the whole Marner thing.

Okay, I think, I don't think that was the time to be dismissive or uninterested in Mitch Marner. That's the time. It's the time to be dismissive. Listen, there's different ways that you can do it really quickly and still make your, point. But... Like how? Like, yeah, maybe he's just trying to throw me off my game. But we're really focused on tonight.

And we really feel like the most important thing is the two points. And that's where our heads are at. Boom, gone. Whatever it is, it's, I don't really want to talk about Mitch Marner. And I'm like, well, first of all, it is a big deal. And second of all, where did he answer that? He didn't answer that like on live television. I've seen him seven times say we're,

good buddies. Say it eight. You're the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. You are the spokesperson. Ben the name, kiss the ring. No,

it's not. No, it's not. It's just take the high road. That's all. You don't need, you don't need. Whose feelings got hurt?

Mitches? It's nobody's feelings have gotten hurt. It just makes you, it just makes you look like you're like, okay, so. Leaves fans were happy to see their captain competitive. Leaf haters,

Marner. haters were happy. Sam's happy. Okay? But this is also a guy that is your biggest contributor in breaking a major record on a historic Toronto Maple Leaf team. Like, I don't know, just say something a little nice for just a token. Five minutes in the morning praising him and telling him what a great player is. But it's not on TV and it's not during the game. But every clip's floating around. It's been on social media on TV.

This is the exact stuff that was frustrating about the Marner thing, where it's like he hasn't been paid enough to. No, it's not. It's not. It doesn't matter if it's Marner. It doesn't matter whoever it is. Wayne Gretzky would never do that. Mark Messier would never do that to an ex-teamate.

Nobody, nobody. Matt Sandin wouldn't have done it. Wendell Clark wouldn't have done it. I don't know about these assumptions. You're talking about some pretty competitive guys. Oh, I don't really want to talk about that. Hey, he's coming back next week. So, hey, Mark Masters is allowed to ask him again about Mitch Marner next week?

Or is that now off limits? Did he draw the line now last night? Did he say, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it. I'm not talking about it anymore. It was before the game. They're going to have opportunity to talk about it not before the game. Okay, so there's just certain times.

So maybe somebody should have gone up to Mark Masters and said, don't ask him about Mitch Marner. Mark did the right thing. He asked him and Mitch did the, sorry. He did the right thing. He said, I'm done talking about Mitch. I just found it dismissive and unnecessary. We do not agree.

I know you did because. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? Yeah, we all, it's all, how can we hate Mitch? You know, it's all, it's all our fault. It's not, it's not. It's just us. Just, hey, Mr. Perfect, Mitch, just kiss the toes.

There's a C on your jersey. Just be a good, just. I would argue that that is the most captainly thing he's done as a. Well, I'd also say, like, you know, for what you've wanted Austin Matthews to do, and B, you haven't generally looked for more kindness. You haven't said, I just wish you were more thoughtful about the opposition. I think there's as a captain and, you know, J.T. Miller's running through the same thing. It's like people watch, people pay attention to how you carry yourself.

And as a spokesman, as a captain, right? Just didn't need to kind of beat it down. I wish to turn the page. We do not agree. We do not agree. We do not agree. That's okay. We do not agree.

I'm a little older. Would you like to hear Morgan Riley's thoughts? Yeah, let's hear that Morgan Riley's thoughts are great. All right, let's get Riley on playing Marner. You said you weren't quite sure what it would be like. You're training like normal going up against Mitch. What was it kind of like seeing out of? Yeah, it's just normal.

Nothing. More of the same. All right. Oh, how could he? I honestly didn't know that that was what in the clip. I had no idea of that clip either. Yeah. What about Stollars?

He speaks. He lives. What he says? Sammy. Well, let's play the clip. I was just, just an nerve issue. So it was just something that, you know, I had to kind of let settle down a little bit. So, you know, at the end of the day, it's, you know, not ideal and not what you want, but I'm feeling good now and ready to go. So does a little bit mean two months? It's crazy to be like, you just needed to settle down a little bit.

You just half the season. Can we get some seriousness about the whole? Could you? So what's a lot to him? Yeah. Can you just by the start of that again for us, Nick? I was just a nerve issue. Oh. Was it the worst nerve issue of all time? My nerves fell out.

What nerve was it? I was just a nerve issue. But I will say it is nice to hear what the issue was. And from the beginning, I'm not sure why they couldn't be like, he's got a nerve issue. You know, we sort of don't know when those get better. We're just going to kind of play it by ear. It would have saved a lot of us being like concussion.

Is it a spine? Is it, you know? But yeah, okay, nerve issue. November 11th. was the last game he's point like if if you're going to say it now why not six weeks ago what's the difference what is the difference but i do think that in that time they've changed their personal policy you know they're they're disclosing a little bit more of what's going on so we will take the crumbs and draw thank you thank you for the crumbs you know not ideal and

not what you want but well said i just but you're right though like it's just sort of underscores the fact that they could have, they could have just told us that. Before we go, do you want to hear anything from Mitch before we get to? What is your clip? I don't know. We got five clips.

Well, we already did the firing of the puck at him and warm up. I was in a really bad mood today with Bo and the Leafs losing to Marn and all this stuff. He made Josh. I didn't make Josh. I didn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to cut the clips. So none of us know what any of these five clips are. I might take my headphones out, quite frankly.

I don't know if I could do this. I'm in a bad way. That's the guy's name. You still are the producer of the show, right? Yeah. No, I got Jaja now. Okay. All right.

Jaja, ask him for more money, buddy. Yeah. Or part of his salary. You want to go to break? Let's go to break. What do we got, Sammy, after the break? Leafline? Yeah, we got some calls.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, we got some calls. All right. You're going to love them. Leafline, and then Doug McLean, top of the hour. It's off the rails Friday. Pick up the phone and start dialing.

Everything you need to about the Raptors and the biggest stories around the NBA. Smith and Jones. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the program. Nick Kippress, Justin Borence. Sammy McKee, top of the hour, Doug McLean. Tons to get into, with Mac, including the New York Rangers,

with another letter to the fans. Yeah, I didn't. Did I mess up my mic? Do I sound normal? I had a whole bunch of buttons on this thing. It's good to me. All right. Great. Yeah, another letter from the Rangers fans.

That's fun. For the Rangers fans. All right, Tammy, what do we have? A leaf mailbag? No, we got the Leaf Line. Oh, Leaf Line. That's right. All these. Let's go, I mean,

let's go for, yeah, we'll go from Mikey and Long Island. Because I hate myself. Is anyone going to point out the hypocrisy of the Leaf fans being praised for traveling to Vegas and Buen-Marner? After years of calling us barbarians on the island for Buen-Tavaris. love the show love kipper wow that's probably the first one in two years that you put one where they're not not a sammy it's not a sammy why isn't sammy in the name of the show love kippur it's so unfair that's so unfair uh listen i i didn't mind the booing i don't mind booing per se

okay forget about marner and lee but it's it's just part it's just part of the right every fan has to go to a game. And I got to believe that whether it's Mitch or anyone else who might be a little bit more sensitive to it, man, it should just thicken your skin a little bit. You know, it should just make you that much

tougher and more resilient. I will say, so I think this caller is my boy, Mikey from Long Island. I think he wants some validation for Islanders fans for booing Tavares all these years and continuing to boo. Boy, It is always about the Leafs, though, eh?

Mikey from Long Island calling into a Leaf show to get his little Leafs thoughts off. Like, think about us more, bud. Holy smokes. It's embarrassing. Hey, hey, hey. That's embarrassing. He's thinking on Islanders fans. Oh, yeah.

Oh, the big Leaf show. What are we going to call them? The thing that Islanders fans are most proud of is that they booed Tavares so mercilessly that Toronto declared John Tavares Day in the city. One of the most embarrassing moments in the history of this city. greatest shames as a city. Clearly. Yeah. That that happened.

Mitch, they'd be like, they'd go to the city hall in Vegas. Like, who's Mitch Barner? But Islander fans. Do you have a residency? Is he? Wayne Newton's backup answer? Cavarrest leaving the Islanders compared to Mitch leaving Toronto.

Like, Tavares leaving the Islanders was like a bullet through the head. No one saw it coming. Mitch, we had talked about Mitch leaving a year in advance. It's not really apples to apples. Yeah, I mean. Right?

I mean, Tavares misled really. At the end of the day, he had, he had quotes that said, I'm not thinking about leaving. There's no. Yeah, I mean. And Mitch never did that. No, but he did say, you know, of course he'd like to stay and all that sort of stuff. And with Tavares, there was no certainty that he was coming back. It was 10 times for Islanders fans.

So it's. No, everybody thought he was coming back. Nobody thought. Nobody thought he was going to leave. And that's what really stung them. Yeah, I think some people thought he might. I don't know. I thought he might.

I will say that I would like to put it on the record that I have never been against the Islanders fans for booing John Tavares. I've always, I mean, this city talking about anybody getting booed for a long period of time is always hypocritical to me. Like, we booed Vince Carter literally mercilessly for his whole career

until we put his number in the raft for God's sake. So like, I don't have any problem with any fan base booing any player. I think I honestly give the Islanders fans credit for still doing it. Like that's real fandom. They care. I love that. It's like it happened yesterday to them.

I love it. They're really upset. I didn't think it was going to be like that. I didn't think it was going to be that bad. I remember talking to Clark. It's the misleading part. And him being like, yeah, he was on board with the Boeing. It used to work before where you could fake that you wanted to stay and then just leave.

But then social media took over. He's going to get. I think he's going to get booed mercilessly on next Friday. It's tough to think anything but that after. And knowing what we know about him, I think of a lot of guys in the league that it would probably affect him a lot. No? I think probably yes,

but I don't think that precludes him from getting four assists or something. No, no. You can still be good. You can still miss the net with a muffin and have a tap in for an assist. Oh, boy. Okay. Part of the plan. Oh, yeah. Like, oh, I'm going to a fan on this one and have a guy poke it in. What a primary assist.

Oh, he's stunk, eh, Sammy. Thank God he's gone. Didn't notice him once five on five. He's no Micelli. Jelly B from Eastern Ontario. My opinion, the loss in OT can be blamed solely on bad coaching decisions. These would have included playing Morgan Riley, especially in overtime, playing Johnny T and Austin while trying to hold on to a lead six to five. And blaming the loss post game on a bad penalty.

and a broken stick, give me a break. My other observations based more on the season to date. Seems to me the best players during 60 minutes somehow don't count when it comes to the times in the game when it matters most. Coaching priority appears to be the highest paid longest serving players get the ice time in critical times and the rest, who have busted their asses the entire game, get to sit and watch from the bench while the stars give the game away.

the fans seem to have noticed this how come management hasn't great show gentlemen appreciate your comments cheers bye bye did Ian just get that in after J.B.'s comment on questionable decisions when you were saying then I was like

poor Ian and jellybee he's because he's almost like not word for word but a lot of the same points i'm like scrambling right now to find Morgan Riley's three on three stats this year but there may be a reasonable case to be like he's just not. He made one great stick play earlier in the game.

Yeah, he did. He went to the well again. Oh, and defensively, you mean, right? He stripped a guy, yeah. Yes. I think he made one great play on Mark Stone earlier on a two-on-one, if I'm not mistaken. And then in overtime, leaving your feet is,

especially in three-on-three, leaving your feet is a horrific decision. Okay, in three-on-three, Morgan Riley is on for one goal four and five against. So he's dash four in overtime. No one else in the team. No one else that can lug the puck up. Do you want to know what Oliver Ekman-Larson is?

Plus four. Plus five. Five goals four, zero against in overtime. So OEL's first over the boards for me from now on. And I don't know who else. McCabe, what's McCabe? O and two for McCabe. It's tough after that, man. Troy's boys now?

Are we down to Troy's boys? I got to tell you, Troy's having a tough time. What? Yeah. It's starting to catch up a little bit. Nothing's bad. You can't go from... I denounce this conversation.

He had an assist last night, even on the ledger, three block shots, bunch of hits, taking hits to make plays, battling his bag off out there. Oh, he's struggling. He's struggling. 20 minutes a night for Troy Stetcher. Denounce.

Is not... You can't go from being claimed on waivers to 20 minutes. minutes a night for a contending team eventually who's the contending team that's what i'm saying yeah well not the leaps that's that's my point is that you i guess you can when you're not a deep team sammy right that's why he's playing 22 minutes because brandon carlo played three minutes less than them riley played three minutes less than them phil got oh oh so let's go the phil myers i'm it's benning for sell all my stock i'm out i sold my house on myers island earlier this dear, at a loss.

Let's go to one of our favorite, Luis and Moncton. Let's go to Luis and Moncton. I'm incredibly annoyed and shocked at the fact that during the Colorado game, when Nick Robertson got hurt, that it wasn't blown down. People were skating around him to get to the net.

Why wasn't that blown down? We had no idea at the time, whether he was unconscious, whether he was bleeding out or anything else for that matter. I just would like to know why it wasn't stopped. Because Louise, Louise, great call. Part of it is that we've got a lot of guys that fake stuff.

We've got a lot of bluffers out there. We got a lot of guys that are looking to blow down a play. And that's the discretion of the official. So they won't until your time. team gets the puck essentially. Like if there's still live scoring chances, they won't blow it down. It's not soccer.

I don't know that there's that many bluffers. No, but that is the rule. That is the rule, for sure. But I don't think there's a ton of fakers. But there would be more if we had to go to an embellishment call. Don't tell me that there's not bluffers. But there's always been embellishers. We also had to flag down.

But more teams? More teams? More bluffers. Okay. That's fair. That's fair. If you could stop the onslaught of the opposition by laying on the ice, that would happen a lot. So they just got to wait. Timi Stootslet tries, that's for sure. Clear the carcass until your team gets the puck, unfortunately.

You're short-handed. St. Tutslet tries, that's for sure. All right, let's do some more Marner. Bill and St. Catharins. Three stars of the first half hour on Thursday are Mr. Bourne, Mr. Kiprios. And Sandy, I'm afraid you're last buddy because you are. a jilted lover. If I've ever seen one, you are

a jilted lover. Will and St. Catherine's. Great show, boys. Bye. Thank you. Thank you. Does he know you're at the top of the standings on the Valley Cup? No, I'm not. Borney. Oh, are you? Not by much. Oh, gosh. Okay. I'm in

the basement. But oh, I really like that call. I know you did. I know you did. You are a jilted lover. Let's go to Monty from Clyde River Nova Scotia. When you score four or five goals a game, and you don't need a Dougie Hamilton,

although it wouldn't hurt us. We need D-Man that puts people on a can. A guy like Luke Shin or someone comparable. You need opponents forward looking over their shoulders, half terrified to go into the corners. I had a little story for you. Forget the ballard curse. I think it might be me.

I was nine years old when I watched my first NHL game The Leach won the cup The very first game I ever watched Boy, oh boy, been watching every game Or listening to it on the radio For the last 57 years I thought maybe Clark, Dougie and the gang Might do it

But no Hence the disliked high stick on Dougie Sick to my stomach after that game last night 57 years of true fan but if they trade cowboy, I'm done. Take care, fellas. Oh, love the call, Monty. Love the cowboy.

Cowboy. Love the passion. And I got to tell you, man, there's no better people than the East Coast. I just love that call. That's a great passion for it. Monty's right. Like, under no circumstances, does Eastern Cowan go anywhere? No.

I'm sorry, but, like, do whatever you need to do. Like absurd circumstances. Try your best, but that prospect is off limits. Here's an insane thing to say. Say it. Would you do like Cowan for Elias Pedersen? No. Or like, no.

No, no chance. No chance. Less than zero. You know, I'm just, I'm trying to think, is there a good enough star that you're like, yeah. Cowan is going to be in your top six for the next 12 years. Yeah, and he has to play very well from here till earning anywhere near that money. I feel bad for him, too. He's young playing against those big Vegas boys.

He looked LLF's daft last night. If it's a deep, He doesn't want to go get that one, did he? If it's a deep team, there's an argument that he's with the Marleys. And you said it earlier in the season. If the team, he should be with the Marley's. And he wasn't because he still got enough to. He's still good enough to contribute in a pretty important way.

But it just speaks to the lack of depth that they have, that they got to go to that kid and make him feel bad for taking a penalty. That is a learning experience for him. last night. Yeah, you'd rather him learn it against the LaValle Rockette. And he feels like a bag of crap today as a guy that is thinking, did I cost the team the game last night? And it's so good.

It shouldn't be that way. It's him learning to be an HLer. I'm really excited to see him with two more years of man strength and ability. I know who I see for him. This like top, top, top, top, top, top end outcome is sort of that bridge. Raden point where you're, you know, low center of gravity, competitive, get points, like a...

I don't think he'll ever be as talented. Hagels, the comparison I like. Well, yeah, Hagels just got that tenets. I don't know if he'll ever be as durable as Hagel. Not as good as point, not as... He's never going to be a heavy guy. He's not heavy.

And I don't know, Tyler Bertuzi. I don't like that. come. You know why I disagree with that? Cowan, the way that Marner plays within the play and can see it really well, Cowan does that.

You know, not to Marner's level, but he sees it well. Bertuzi's like a goal crease, Heim and Light type to me. Yeah. I don't know. But I see what I see. Yeah, he'd be higher end, Tyler Batusie.

Yeah. I'll take that. Yeah. I'll take it more versatile. I like Tangle better. Let's go to, you're going to really like this one. Let's go to Colin from Ross.

BC. Yeah. I fully agree with the boo Marner sentiment at the home game. What I want to know is this. Do the Leafs do a tribute for Marner,

a video tribute? And even if you don't think it's a good idea, maybe they should do it just to give the crowd the opportunity to boo him for an extended period of time.

They'll applaud him. I would love to see that. love the show guys but go leaves they don't do a video tribute to oh my god the most him and him and Austin are going down

is the two greatest leaps ah I don't know no I mean graded great whatever you think's great means the highest skilled the most successful production guys

I mean great I don't know where you put that in the playoff picture but they're going down is two two of the very best. So, like, how do you miss that opportunity? Yeah, like, I think they have to do it.

You have to do it. Yeah. But on a night where he's going to be getting booed, I wonder if they take, fans take this one moment. I have to do it. Yeah. I don't know what that means. It means what it means.

You want to do it because you're going to get killed if you don't. I don't know. You think there's a chance that they don't do it and they, and nobody says a word about questioning it? No, I think that's why they have to do it. He's going to get booed. great player that gets moved on, gets it. Engval got a tribute video here.

He's going to get it because they have to. But it's a night he's going to get booed all night long. And so it's an awkward thing when you're like, celebrate this man, everyone. And everyone's like, but we don't want to. We want the opposite. So I think that. Is there anybody that's going to cheer this guy?

Yes. This is what I'm saying. 50, 50, 70, 30. They're going to take this moment to thank you for the good times and all the neat passes. They're going to go back to Boone him. Correct. That's what I think will happen. You think straight booze all with the room.

I think a smattering of applause through deafening booths is my prediction. It's probably right. It'll be the one guy that's like, I have no idea. He was the engine. It'll be Kipper in the crowd. There's going to be 500 Marner jerseys there tomorrow, you know?

I don't know. Sorry, next Friday. I really don't know. We have a whole week to talk about it next week. Good question. But we can't ask Austin because he said he's had enough of Austin. or of Mitch Marner questions.

Speaking of jilted lovers. Holy smokes, jilted. Right. Jilt Gipfrey was over there. All right. Are we through calls here or what? Yeah, we're done. Poor Mark Masters. He's done now. You won't even know where to ask him.

Masters is the master of just going in there and asking the question. Everybody needs to know the answer. Mark can handle it. Love Mark. Shout him out. All right. Do you think we're up to our eyeballs? and Mitch Martin talk.

Wait for Doug McLean. Oh, yeah. Sammy, you ready? You ready for Doug McLean? Can't wait. Can't wait. He's a plant. McLean's a plant.

From Caprio's plant. Our thanks to all leaf line collars. Great stuff. All right. Catch your breath. Off the rails Friday. Doug McLean next.