Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Wild Wednesday + 4 Nations Decisions

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look ahead to the Leafs' matchup against the Minnesota Wild without their star Kirill Kaprizov. They get into the Leafs' recent dominance over the Wild, Max Pacioretty returning to the ice and Max Domi's unclear role. Then, they discuss the St. Louis Blues buying out Brandon Saad and evaluate Toronto as a potential landing spot. Later, they debate who should fill in for Alex Pietrangelo on Team Canada's 4 Nations roster - Chris Tanev or someone else? Finally, Wild GM Bill Guerin (33:15) shares how the team weathers Kaprizov's absence, the ceiling of their young core, balancing GM duties for Minnesota and Team USA and how he's approaching the trade deadline.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, it's game day. The real Kipper and Bourne show leaf edition. Wherever you are watching, listening sports at five 9090, the fans, Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet Plus, welcome aboard. Nick Kiprio's Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo and Jake Schultz with you for the next two, not one, two hours. Yes, sir. Game day at long last. Yeah. What's going on?

I'm good. Yeah. I'm good, Sammy. Yeah, it was a little bit of a snowy night in Toronto last night So it felt like winter, you know mid-january or late January now it felt like actually winter for a change here I know after last winter. This is kind of nice. Yeah, it's gonna snow on the ground I see you got your real kipper and born hoodie, which is great looks fantastic But like I'm starting to like the one of the first things I look at is like, what cap is Sammy wearing today?

I do believe that you just do not grab the first one by the door. You've got something going on here. When you put on a Blue Jay hat, it's like, you got something going on. Like, what is it? A signing soon, what? Quite frankly, it actually is the closest to the door I

have at least 150 200 hats in my in my home and About ten of them are in the like a little walkway There's like my go-to hats and this is one of the go-to hats there was a bunch of leaf hats laying around there I don't only wear a lease hat on the show so I went with the Jays today Decided between Jays and attack and I went with the Jays today. Okay. Do we believe them? There's no formula. I do in this case believe that, but generally there's something. So today's just a laziness

all on that. Yeah. There's just no formula. It is interesting you never wear a Leafs hat on the show considering your role is to be that guy. I know. I don't know. Just never do it. I don't know. I don't know. Just never do it. No baseball. Yeah. Maybe. Well, I mean, the thing is, I have a fantastic collection of Leafs hats. I probably have 15 of the finest Leafs hats in the land. I never wore one.

Have you ever thrown out hats? Eventually, like there's no room to put them. Every year I do like a purge of hats that I don't wear and then I either give them to my buddy Eric Prime who gets a bunch of hand-me-downs, he used to work for the fan, he gets a bunch of hand-me-downs. And last year, my Swansea Softball League, I just took literally a duffle bag full of hats

and I was like, here you go fellas and ladies, just have your way and they took them, there you go. I do that with popcorn at the beach with seagulls. Yeah. But like the thing is I have a ton of really nice ones. And then I just, they just fall out of favor. They follow the rotations and then somebody else come in. There you go. All right, as we mentioned game day

for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Minnesota Wild make their only trip to Scotiabank Arena, which leads us to Billy Guerin. Yeah, joining us. The Minnesota Wild, we always have so much fun with him. I'm not sure how much fun he's having lately with some key injuries to his star players, including Caril the Thrill out, I don't know, four weeks, five weeks, but clearly a targeted surgery to clean up whatever's bothering him around the shutdown of

Four Nations tournament? Yeah you know it's it's funny because Leafs are in a remarkably similar position to Minnesota so they're without Coril, Leafs are without Tavares and Nies. Points percentage both these teams 620 five on five goals it's a hundred to ninety eight goals against it's a hundred and forty four to a hundred forty three They're the same team. We have the same team playing each other tonight. Mmm one stat that you have here Sammy that kind of Just kind of caught me off guard a little bit was the fact that the Leafs have been so successful the last few years Against the Western Conference Ten five and one so far this year, which is, I think, really good.

But last year they went 24-6-2. That's off the charts kind of success. It is. It's a bizarre thing. Can you explain it? Yeah, the West sucks. That's why the Oilers get to go to the finals every year. No.

They play against Cupcake schedules. sucks that's why the Oilers get to go to the finals every year. No, to me it I don't know style of play or what but I like this yeah they may be considered they may be considered overall the weaker conference the last few years but like it's flipping to go 24-6 and 2. That's wild. How about the Maple Leafs have not in regular loss in regulation and nine straight against the wild So there you go, but no ownership I look at the Belize have a good record like that against a lot of teams because they've been really good in the regular season for six or seven

years, sorry eight years, but Look at the teams. It's the San Jose Sharks. It's Chicago. It's the crack and it's the ducks. It's the blues It's like it's the Uton's Coyotes like it's just there's not a lot of great teams. They've had good success against the top teams, too So I'm not that surprised with that Dallas no no high skin it. Yeah. Okay, we'll get into that plenty Probably maybe we'll have some sort of report on him because we have not heard yet on Miro's injury last night to

And what it means to Dallas just yet, but more on that in the national hour in the meantime Let's go to Craig Bruby for our first Kippers Clipper on meeting the Minnesota Wild Very good road team. If you look at their record Very good structure, you know, they their record very good structure you know they got some real good players too I know Kaprasov but very structured team they make you work for offense you know goals they do a good job with their structure and their D zone and you know they don't give you a lot you know and their goalies have played well. What do you call them? Kaprasov? They are close. There's seven five and one without Kaprasov as he would say and they are 22 12 and three with him

So they're a different they're a different squad without him in the lineup clearly is one of the best players in the league that makes Sense, but it is a bit of an easier test without him. Yeah, so to set the stage with the Leafs still having some injuries tonight, you have Max Pacioretty returns. He's going to sub it on the third line along with Fraser Minton and Nick Robertson. That's their third line tonight. Domi and Holmberg are up on Neil Neillander's line, second line. Other than that, not too many changes. Tavares is apparently practicing in a blue jersey.

I think he may be good by the weekend nice is good good to go on the weekend so leaves close to getting healthy but still with a somewhat patchy lineup tonight and I imagine that's because missing tonight kind of gives you that full healing time for everyone between games yeah listen they've they've built a cushion up here so that I think they can have a little bit of a less pressing need to get guys back in the lineup. Knives is another one that we will see on the weekend, but give him another three days off completely isn't the worst idea ever. And there's really good opportunities here

for some secondary scoring to step up. And that's basically it, is it not? Is just opportunity after opportunity for guys to find ways to contribute now? Is there an owl in here? Who? This is Nick Robertson, learn to shoot at the net or what? You know, it's not going to be Minton or Lorenz or Kamp or Reeves.

Maybe Domi. Robertson or Domi? Could one of you two get us a goal tonight? I know you've brought this up a couple of times, but like, Ruby will not put Max Domi with Austin. No. I think he likes the... He wants a puck getter for him, I think.

They've done nines for extended period. But there was once upon a time that that that was a big element also of resigning Max Domi because we talked about it and everybody else talked about it that if needed he's shown that he could play with Austin he can create with Austin and it's not over the course of like he is now Austin's left winger but when there were when there are opportunities in the past he's shown that he can hold his own for a week or two yeah I don't think that people said you know he's shown that he can play with Austin I think people said

if you need someone to step into the top six He's a guy who can do it and I think he's but I'm speaking specifically with Austin They have shown last year that they could create a little bit of chemistry And I'm just wondering on a on a game like Saturday night You know, is there ever gonna be an opportunity like and then that's suggesting that on a game like Saturday night, is there ever gonna be an opportunity? Like, and then not suggesting that McMahon isn't a better suited guy for Austin or Matthew Nyes, but I'm just finding it a little strange

over 50 games now that he's really not leaning towards that at all. Yeah, I did the morning show with Gunnar and Ennis and we were talking about the conversation we had earlier in the year where it's been a little bit frustrating watching Barubey learn things that we've learned watching the Leafs closely the past two seasons, which is,

oh, McMahon, pretty good player, not a healthy scratch. You know, starts the year as a healthy scratch. It's like, that's not right. I promise you that's not right. Here we are. It's like, oh, Nylander, he's not a 17 and, you know, starts the year as a healthy scratch. It's like, that's not right. I promise you that's not right. Here we are. It's like, oh, Nylander, he's not a 17 and a half minute a night guy. And then eventually they get figured out and he's playing a whole bunch. We're like, I could have told you that.

It's like now you're watching this Kip waiting for the Domi thing where it's like we started playoffs with him as Matthew's left winger with healthy guys. They chose Domi to be there. And I think it was with McMahon. Was that their other winger? No, Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi. It was Bertuzzi guys. They chose Domi to be there and I think it was with McMahon. Was that their other winger? No, Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi. It was Bertuzzi, Matthews, Domi by choice. And so to your point, it's like we know that it works. And so it's kind of frustrating watching him. Like I feel like

at some point he'll try it and it'll click and it'll be like, just ask. Ask the people who've been here. We've answered a lot of these questions. We made the comparison earlier in the year like searching for your wallet when somebody like have you checked your pocket yet? Yeah, we checked it No, it's just like I I definitely go ahead but no I get McBands, okay there for sure, but like max needs something to get going like Max needs Austin more than

McMahon does right now and the greater for the greater good of the team. I'm talking about did max McMahon and Matthews the three of them Mitch has driven a line with great success this year He's been very good, you know him and Willie could play together if they had to I mean It would be worth doing something to see if you can get Max going for sure. So I think it'd be nice to try Max there, but at the same time, we've talked about the lack of accountability and all this stuff from the coaching staff.

It's like, here's your reward for not playing well. Has he earned the right to go up there? Like it's a chicken and the egg situation where I want them to get him going, but I also like the idea of them remorting McMahon for a really strong play and him earning that role, starting from a healthy scratch, getting to the top line. I'm kind of caught between both conversations

because I do agree. And I'm sure the staff is too. Yeah, I do agree they need to get Domi going. Yep, that's a dilly of a pickle. Okay, where do you wanna go? You wanna go patch ready? What do you wanna do? Sure. Well, I think there we were talking about secondary scoring and something that just happened before the show probably about an hour before the show

That's got a lot of my leaf Twitter Rather and a little bit fired up is about the the Brandon sawed situation in st. Louis where? He mutually they mutually agreed to buy out his contract or to get a term and terminate his contract so he forgoes five million dollars in total money Elliott reported that he forgoes three point six three this season and three point six three next season his cap hit I believe is four five four five yeah so that's prohibited for teams to say we don't want him at four or five but someone might give him three with a three cap hit.

So the question I have for you guys and you look at sod probably playing for Borubi in St. Louis, there's a connection there. Secondary scoring type of veteran cup winner guy. Would that be a guy you would see as a fit for some secondary scoring on the lease? It's a really good question about what he would play for. Because you don't imagine he wants to play for much less than he was going to get. But if he had held to that other contract, he was going to be stuck in the American League. Would he play for two?

You know, like that changes the math to me for the Leafs. Like does it make sense at this number, at this number? Because there is a scale where it gets to a number that you'd say, yeah, it does make sense. With your buddies, Sammy, who are all questioning this as a look into, as a possibility, it would have to be a really cheap number. I got to think after 50 games that you've come up with a blueprint of a wish list and, you know, secondary wish list and third and I don't think Brendan Saad ever came into the equation.

How much does it change from here on in? How much are you willing to gamble to find out if the guy can still play or not? Like if he's not good enough for St. Louis, why do we think he's good enough for us? Is the question that needs to be asked. I think, first of all, on the surface you're like, are you crazy, man, leaving five million bucks on the table? Are you nuts?

That's kind of my thought. He's not leaving it on the table. Even what's he leaving on the table, a million? I know it's a lot of money. This is me a lot of money I I don't think it I don't even think it comes to Anything like this unless you are absolutely sure and I would hope through his agent. Yeah Yeah, that you know there we'll get back to you on the buyout And then in the meantime I'm making four or five calls to other teams saying you could sign him right now as an unrestricted free agent.

What are you willing to pay? So I'm almost positive that we're going to hear that he's going to end up with a team in a very near future. And it's already been decided how much money he'll actually lose. Two years times three million a year. Whatever it is. But you know, for the Leaf Leafs I wouldn't I wouldn't want to go much deeper than a million bucks to try them out here you know I that's fine

I got a tight salary cap it'll continue to be tight right up until the trade deadline I've we've been working on other options I don't need this to throw a hand grenade into our trade deadline day here if you're not the player that we think that you might still be. Yeah, his career earnings are $52 million and he's won two cups. Two cups? Both of the Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015. So I'm curious what he's prioritizing here If it is want to be somewhere where I have a chance to win a cup and I'll leave a couple of mil on the table

For that or or I want to go to Carolina And I want to go to California and play for the Sharks and make a little extra and sure play Oh be the veteran guy on the team. Yeah, no, he's not going to know he's not going there He's not he wants he wants to look good be part of something in the spring He's not going to Okay, I don't think it's about the money I think it's about an opportunity Well in that case it may be about making more money later He's 32 and he gets in a good spot. Maybe someone says hey this guy still got it

We'll give him another couple years or well now you're just Sign a contract for the remaining of the season and then if you do well then you go revisit it in the summer right certainly an option so I just think they're you know I don't I wouldn't say I'm a hundred percent super excited about the idea and the price would be but you do see the fit well and you look at the team and all we do is complain that no one in the bottom six can shoot one in the net 26 last year for sod that's just one year ago 26. So pretty good year. Hold on for a second. So you signed him Let's just say yep, cuz we're in a hypotheticals this week Vancouver Canuck fans that get me in touch in yesterday. No, not really

You're right away penciling him in with Austin Matthews and No, where is he playing then? tell me where he's playing third line somewhere, you know, whatever right now You got patch ready Minton Robertson is a line I don't know what it looks like with sod, but I feel better about it replacing any of them really well not Patrick You want you want to play these top line jobs I would think that you more than eyes or the you want to put these top line shots? I would think that you more than nice or the man put them in a position to succeed then you put them with your best players right away if you think he's still got some juice and some jam

some legs go put them with Austin Matthews and see what kind of magic you can create. Listen I'm not opposed like we're talking he's got McMahon there now you're talking about putting Domi there Brandon sods no different to me Yeah, yeah, I mean I Get not few nice is the guy but They're still relatively inexperienced yep, and There's a guy with all the experience in the world and I I mean, with everyone healthy, if all of a sudden your third line is like, you know,

Sod, Yarncroc, and you know, a decent centerman, you're like, okay, you got a chance. And again, this guy's now a free agent. He's got like, he can look around the whole league. I'm not coming here to play third and fourth line. Like I want to I'm 32 years old. I think I can play till 35 and I can still be a great player. It's a pretty big ass to say I want to be on a cup team Amma on the top line. He's gonna be like those spots aren't for you. Is the Panthers gonna be like welcome to our top six? I think he could be sold on a real legitimate shot to be a top six guy. Yeah. And I'm not starting, I don't want to start on the third line.

Okay. So. Good luck to him on finding a top line spot on a cup contender. Boston, Boston, would Boston take a chance on bringing them in just to make the playoffs? Okay, but we're stretching the definition of contender. They're out of the playoffs. I know that. I know that.

But at least they're not San Jose. You're right. Boston has actually made some sense. Jersey. They're hurt too, right? New Jersey would look at him as well. God, he can make three million in a heartbeat. There's like five teams that make sense for him.

Okay. All right. You want to talk about Tanev? Going to the Four Nations tournament? We talked about Pat Shreddy a little bit on the top power play. On the top power play, and then we can finish off with Tanev. Okay, and yeah, I mean, like to me, Sod is many ways, Pacioretty is your Sod,

where you're just like going, oh, I got this veteran whose best years are behind him, and let's see what we can squeeze out of him. I already got one of those. Yeah, but this one has two Stanley Cups. And would you like to have some of that in the dressing room? Yes. I mean, we've talked with the great additions.

They've made a veteran presence. Thornton, Spetsa, Marlowe, Simmons, Petruredi. And all of a sudden you go, oh, none of them want a cup. Like every vet they added, hasn't it? Yeah, you could add that and, I don't know, make him a video coach and he's still around the team. Well, sure. Yeah, keep the vibes.

That's fair. But yeah, I get what you're saying, but I'm not sure you're going to over overspend for that quality if you don't think the rest of the quality is there. No, I agree. It is a... Did you say Jared Dano when you said that? Dano's another quality is there. No, I agree. It is a... Did you say Giardino when you listened to that? Giardino's another one, yeah. Excuse me, a bit of a theme!

Let's see if Patch Ready can find that fine line between still being a physical presence and maybe adding a few more goals with the 30 games to go. Let's get Craig Bruby's thoughts. Clip five, Derek. Oh, just another... So the way it's been running with Nyes and Tavares there normally, we got the same type of player there with two big bodies around the net and in the blue paint. So looking for things around there, scoring goals in tight, screening the goalie. That's what their job there. That's what their job there. So he's on that's him talking about him being on the top power play in it. At some point you just got to go back to Riley, you know? Yeah, I do wonder when that happens. It's like what else has to happen here?

Like God love patch ready and God love what he's given them this year. But you know, you can't you're putting him in there instead of just putting Riley back. But also we're talking about getting Domi going, like it's more important to get Riley going. And I don't think that Riley is a great power play player, but I do think you have what you have when you've been dealt two, seven off suit and poker, you gotta play your hand or fold it.

Or fold it. But I don't think you're allowed to fold in hockey. Not till April. And they fold it. Oh, that wasn't fun. But, you know, like I like the idea of it, but do you agree or am I way off here? Well, you're going to have JT Miller soon anyways. You don't have to worry about it.

No. Riley. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not thrilled with five forwards. No, not a playoff fit to you? No. And there's some penalty kills that worry a little bit. But with no John Tavares still creating a presence around the blue paint, Patrick Reidy

could be real important tonight. I think that's how they see it, right? He's the natural fitter for a finisher, big body who can park it there and do his thing. So one thing that I tweeted about today was the schedule. They play seven of their eight February games on the road, and then they open march up with four of their first five on the road. A lot of road hockey here. They haven't been very good. 11, 8, and 2 on the road, but pretty darn good at home.

Why don't we check in on Borubi with the impact of the schedule. Flip four. Yeah, some months. I mean, we went through that stretch earlier on. I thought, well, it's a lot of games and packed in there compact, you know, and it's going to get like that again in March, obviously. It's just a lot of back to backs we had early on. And then it kind of died off a little bit for us,

but that was the challenge I thought early on. And then, you know, now it off a little bit for us but that was the challenge I thought early on and then you know now it's a little bit different now it's almost you know you have too much time off and you know it's just an unbalanced act going on that's the challenge that I find it's hard to get the consistency you, but that's the way it is and you just deal with it and do it the best you can with it. So that's March is going to be a real busy month for us. Kip said something good like Goldilocks man too hot too cold. You just can't get it right.

But you you said something that has stuck in my mind about two or three weeks ago where you said teams that have games in hand you don't view that as like the opportunity to get points you view that as the potential for more guys to get hurt well just like there's like 10 games like good luck games to play exactly I always find it funny that someone can look at some other team that's got three points, you know, games in hand, and they are automatically equated to six points. Yeah, or even five or four, but it's like, go play those three games and tell me that you got six points because sometimes six can turn to one or two with a couple of key injuries and a lot of wear and tear. We had three games in

hand and we're only three points back and all of a sudden you play the three games you got two points and three injuries you're like, no that didn't. Yeah. So that to me is always part of the equation. I don't mind sometimes when you've banked those games in and you're still got a relatively healthy squad and your stars are feeling good and they're not too beat up. Sometimes having more games under your belt and you hit, you cross the threshold of still feeling good about your roster is maybe a better thing than sometimes all those games in hand.

And just for context, that answer was a question from Freage about the Four Nations face-off and what it's done to the schedule. And he kind of answered it in that way. That's what he was... So just for context on that answer. But it has been a weird schedule. We've followed the Leazer whole lives. It's very different than it usually is.

December, the everydayness of it was crazy. It was just literally every other day. And then having these long breaks, like this was a one week, one game week, and then it's like the two weeks off for this Four Nations thing. Like it's a very weird schedule. So it feels like your theory.

I know it feels like it, but I don't know how much. Like we should look into this a lot more in terms of what exactly Four Nations has done to compress the schedule. I don't think it's crazy. No? No, I don't. But that's without researching it.

At least my perception is that you're still within the window of the number of days that you played still within the window of the number of days that you played last year and... Well, I think in the past, there's been a bye week. Like teams have had a week where they don't play. So this seems like two weeks where everyone doesn't play. I wonder if you probably have an extra set of back to backs that you didn't have or two extra sets,

something to that effect. But yeah, it just feels like it's been a little all It's all or nothing so far for the Leafs. Well and At the end of the day, there's only one team with the most back-to-backs this season and that's your Toronto Maple Leafs Right they'll end up with 16. I think if I'm not mistaken Wayne bonkers, uh Tanev on the First Nations thing.

Before we do that, I want to make sure we hear Berube on Garin before we get Garin today. Oh yeah. Is that cool? We'll save it last. Yeah, we'll save it for last. Okay, well we got a couple minutes. But there's a lot to talk about who's going to replace Petr Angelou and Berube was asked about it today with Tanev.

So clip two plays the first one. He'd be a great fit. I mean, you know, looking at their lineup and everything and what Tanny brings, you know, Petro brings a lot of that too with the penalty killing and the shutdown stuff. Tanny, that's his baby. He's very good at that both. So it would be probably a good fit for him.

I can't believe it. Brewery should have said, absolutely terrible fit. Makes no sense. He's the 43rd best defenseman in the league. What are we talking about? But he's right. He's a great fit. I don't know publicly if you can say anything less than what he said. It's just, again, you want to stay consistent. Either you're all in on this or you're all out and we know Petro's out. Right.

But do you mean the league? Do you mean coaches? Do you mean who? No. Well, what? Berube is giving you the right answer in terms of what the players want and the league wants like there's just there's no world that, Borubi gets to say today, listen, he's our best player.

I don't want him to go. I don't want him to get hurt. And then you're sending Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews there, right? Yeah. It's just like, doesn't work that way. Yeah. No, I'm with you. I get it logically.

You can't say that. And of course, it's just like Tanev is a guy who blocks more shots than anyone that plays a certain role who you'd love to get the rest The percentages are that he'll be hurt before Austin does or before Mitch does just because of the way He played but I've looked through the options and it's like is Doughty Ready to go tonight playing tonight on the third pair for the Kings. They're going 70 presumably just first game since the preseason. Yeah broke his ankle and it's like Mackenzie Weigars probably my next guy up if it isn't Tanev. Yeah kind of does everything. Everyone loves putting Tanev on the ice the second he's on your team like oh he makes every pair better.

Is Tanev still the player he is two years from now in the Olympics? No. I hope so. I surely hope so. But if you're team Canada there's no reason to take him if you don't think that he's got a legitimate shot to follow this group into the Olympics. Well aren't you trying to just field the best team you can? Two years ago. To win what? To win the Four Nations faceoff, the event that's happening.

Presented by Roger Seah. To win what trophy? To win what? So hold on, what kind of asinine logic is to try to not win? No, it's not that you're not trying to win. You're trying to develop a team and a program that will go seamlessly into the Olympics with this group.

Yeah, you are. Yeah, it's two years away. It could be an entirely different group by then. You'll take the best players that year, like you take the best players this year. No, no, no, no, no, no. This is with the fact that guys are going there to show that they can be successful

and play a certain role. It matters. So they can go to the Olympics. Showing that you can perform in big games and all that. That's what this is all about. Well then it's Evan Bouchard. It's not to win a made up trophy. Then it's Evan Bouchard, made up trophy.

It's no more made up than any of the other ones. Maybe it is Evan Bouchard. Yeah, well if we're doing a development camp, if this is the American League of Tournaments, and the second, if was on the team and they start bringing, you know guys who are gonna be good in the future I say oh, so this doesn't matter then we're not doing best on best as development. I'm good then I'm gonna be with Petro and okay. It's it's best on almost best. It's not best on best It's our country's best on your country's best Just cuz Germany's not there doesn't mean it's not best on best. Hock and P's best on your country's best. Just because Germany's not

there doesn't mean it's not best on best. Hock and Pah will play in this tournament. Yeah that's Finland's best. I don't think he will. That's not best on best. Who if it were the Olympics who would Finland bring instead of him? Someone else? Oh yeah. Yes it is. So you're saying they're resting guys for the Olympics? No I'm telling you they're not allowed to play. If you're not in the NHL, you're not allowed to play in this tournament. They're not bringing other Finns from other... Correct. OK, all right. All right. I stand correct.

I personally, unlike you, am not up on the Finnish defensive core right now. This guy's grinding over Joker at top pay. Give me a name then, Kip. You seem up on the Finnish D... To Joker at top pay. Let's hear it. Yeah, I can sign you And I couldn't call you wrong. I couldn't tell you wrong. That might be a name. We should go. All right. Oh Well, we'll have to wait and see when either one of they announce the Replacement substitute I imagine they don't until right up close as close as I can get

Don't know. Okay okay well wait pins and needles you say tan of I say hmm I don't know who I say Bouchard do you think it's it I do if it's if they're thinking of it in the way that you're thinking of it I think it's Wiger said he'll cancel Mexico which immediately put him on the top it's a great answer though eh isn't it he's got plans he'd give it up for the country a top pair there you go okay well no Billy Garan let's get Craig Brewery quickly on Billy Garan okay yeah clip 7 gotta hear this yeah for sure a hard worker hard-working team he's a hard-working guy very competitive scored a lot of goals you, scored a lot of goals in the blue paint and that type of player

and you know mixed it up like he was he was a great all-around player and Billy is one of the funniest guys you ever want to be around. He's a great guy to be around and hang out with and talk and stuff. He's a fun guy. Craig. There you go. He didn't rip him. No, he's a nice guy. Oh, it's not fun. We saved that. He's a nice guy. He likes him.

Okay, we like him too. Yeah, we're about to have a one. Okay, Billy Garan, former National Hockey Leaguer and overall great guy according to Craig Berube. Up next when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Dive deep into Toronto sports and the NFL, the JD Bunkus podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

["Railroad to the West"] Welcome back into the Real Kipper and Born show. Nick Kiprios, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee, Toronto Maple Leaf set face off against the Minnesota wild. Does the wild make their only trip to Scotiabank arena? Let's welcome in Bill Guerin from our NHL or Stanley cup champion. Now general manager and does everything for the Minnesota wild. Billy, how are you bud? Thanks for joining us. I'm good. Kipper. How are you guys doing?. Billy, how are you, bud? Thanks for joining us. I'm good, Kipper. How you guys doing?

Borny, how are you, buddy? Doing good. Maybe a little healthier than you guys these days and just not necessarily, you know, anybody in your roster going down here, but top players here. How are you handling it? Yeah, I mean, fine.

Look, you guys know it's part of the game it unfortunately players get hurt and You know, I think the more you dwell on it the the worst you're gonna make it you know what you just got to focus on the guys that we have in the locker room and Ready to play that night. You know the guys who are injured it's unfortunate but we got to do our best just to get them the proper care, get them back healthy and get them back on the ice when they're ready but until then we have to focus on you know the game. We have a big game tonight against a very good team. We have to focus on that. For

the record it's Kirill the the thrill Kapri SAAV and Brodean as well out of your lineup here, and I assume that Whatever is going on with Kirill is is the similar situation where he missed what 12 games prior and It was just an opportunity around the four nations tournament to clean something up that's with with minimal, you know, games played now with the shutdown, correct? Yeah, I mean, you know, this is something that we thought we could kind of rehab on its own and, you know, it just hasn't worked. So, you know, we're going to plan B and, you know, hopefully this will, you know, yeah,

it comes at a pretty good time. I mean, if there is a silver lining to it, you know, we got the two weeks off for the Four Nations tournament. And, you know, that helps. That takes a bit of the sting out of it. But, you know, we're a better team with Correll, with Broads, with Marcus Johansson in the lineup. And, you know, when they get back, they'll be back and we'll be a better team. Bill like NHL teams when they make their quest for the Stanley Cup it tends to be the elite difference makers the best teams have these guys that pull them

through obviously Kaprizov is one of those guys but you guys have some great young players who I don't know if other people thought they would become the players they are now watching Matt Boldy I cannot believe how good this guy is and and Faber same thing what are the ceilings of these guys can they be thought they would become the players they are now. Watching Matt Boldy, I cannot believe how good this guy is. And Faber, same thing. What are the ceilings of these guys? Can they be among that elite class of guys in the league? I absolutely think so.

I mean, I'm obviously a big fan of all those guys that, you know, the guys that you mentioned and all our young players. You know, Matt and Fabes, they're both on the Four Nations team. They are elite players already. But they still have a lot more room to grow. Marco Rossi's played really well for us this year.

Liam O'grin's getting a crack at things. So yeah, we need these younger guys to chip in a bit. And, you know, Matt and Fabes aren't really, they're not really young anymore, neither is Marco. But the more we can get from guys like that, but guys like Liam O'Gren chipping in, and some of our role players, some of our bottom six guys, the more we can have them chipping in,

the better off we're going to be. So far, Billy, third in the central, but Colorado is kind of knocking now a little bit with some movement in their roster. You probably got a few more losses the last couple of weeks that you're comfortable with. How is this changing your mindset going into a trade deadline in terms of big picture and a smaller one to have short term success here? You know, I always feel like I have to keep the big picture in mind when I'm going into the trade deadline, I think there's a process to success and I think you have to have a plan

and I think it's extremely important to stick to it. It's tempting sometimes to wanna swing for the fences and I think we have on you know a couple occasions but you know you just you just have to step back and think you know what's what's best for the team what's best for the organization and it's two different things like you said there's the now and then there's the long term but we have to think we have to think about both and you know whichever one we choose like what's gonna benefit us the, you know, whichever one we choose, like what's going to benefit us the most?

You know, where is this going to leave us? So yeah, those are, but you know, hey, look, I like to be active at the deadline or before. I'm always a willing trade partner. Hopefully the other 31 guys are watching. But it's, yeah, and you know, we don't really have, I think we have, last time I checked, we had about $39,000 in cap space. You can't get very good players for that amount of money. I'll play for you. Come on. Yeah, Borny, we could have probably got you.

39 grand would have done it Billy for sure. A buffet. We're going to do what we can do. Yeah. So, you know, right now you're kind of a crucial time for yourself because you're kind of looking at this trade deadline coming up. And I know some people have talked about two trade deadlines, almost like doing some thinking before the Four Nations.

But then also you're the GM of the Four Nations team. How much are you switching hats? How much are you thinking about that team and how that's going to look? Every day. I mean, the hack goes off and on, you know, all day. Things are always coming up on both teams. But, teams, but I'm lucky. I've got a lot of great people around me to help and ease some of the burden and help me make decisions, both with the Wild and with Team USA. So yeah, it's really important to have good people

around you and I do. So we just recently heard about Petrangelo not playing for Team Canada here and the term that he used was to tend to an ailment. Canadians aren't happy. Which, you know, Billy, I'm like, like an ailment. I'm not even sure like if we've ever used the word ailment in hockey history here. And I'm like, you know, and then I Google ailment, Billy,

and I find out like, it's like, you tend to put it together with like a rash or a cough or, you know, allergies. My question to you is that if a player came to you with an ailment, are you even in a position to question it or, you know, the validity of it or it's just at the point of, yeah, okay, next man up. No, next man. Listen, you can't question. You look at

Patrangelo, this guy's a champion. He's a star player. He's been an excellent player in this league for a long time. He's not going to the four nations. There's gotta be something serious. So you take it serious and you support them. The players need support. They don't need to be, you know, forced to try to, try to force them to do something.

They have to make their own decision. The number one priority is the health of the players. And you know what? If a player feels that he's not able to perform at the level that he, that he wants to or needs to tend to something else, then you know what, if a player feels that he's not able to perform at the level that he wants to or needs to tend to something else, then you know what? He just needs a support. Good answer. Yeah, I heard a guy who's happyaltending from both your goaltenders. How is it balancing a young quality keeper and then a veteran guy like Fleury that maybe in his last year, or I think he is officially in his last year, if I'm not mistaken?

Yeah, you know me, I'm not a goalie guy. I kind of leave them alone. I let Freddie Chabot, our goalie coach, kind of take care of them. But you know what? Honestly, they get along great. They support each other. They support each other at all costs. And you know, Flower's been a great mentor for Gus. And they're both great teammates. And Gus has grown up a lot in the last couple of years here in Minnesota and I, you know, a lot of it has to do with him personally. You know, he's really worked at it and I think a lot of it has to do with him having flower right next to him every day.

So they're a really good tandem. Like I said, they support each other and it's been really good. And yeah, they've played well for us too. That's the most important thing. So after Toronto, you guys head to Montreal. We assume that Marc Andre will get the start in Montreal, would you have to build a little PR team around him for that last visit into Montreal? He's just that pro that you don't have to worry about all that attention.

You know, you guys know you don't have to worry about all that attention. You know you guys know you don't have to worry about him He can he can handle it. He I mean he handles it with such professionalism grace, you know Humility like that's the thing about flowers. He's he's just incredibly humble and You know, I'm sure it'll be I'm sure the the Montreal fans will will have some nice things to say about them. And then the night prior being tonight, Toronto, any thoughts on this year's Leafs? You guys have seen them already this season. Different than you expected them or in previous years under Sheldon Keefe or still kind of the same team to you?

No, I mean, look, they keep getting better, they keep getting more experience. To me, you know obviously Austin has you know been been lights out. Marner's always such a good player. They've got a couple injuries themselves. Nylander's the guy that I really think has taken a big step over the last couple years. I think just, you know, he's got this swagger and confidence about him that I really like. They're just a solid team. I think Brad's done a great job here.

And, you know, like I said, I think they're just a solid team. Billy, just one more and I'll maybe get you to put your Four Nations General Manager's hat back on as we await to see who replaces Petrangelo. Are you aware of any injuries out there? And if so, how quickly would you go to another guy? Would you have a list already of who can replace who quickly and how quickly you'd want to get to the guys and let them know?

Yeah, Kipper, I got the list of injuries right here. Let me read it to you. No, I'm not asking for names, Billy. I'm just asking how quickly you would know who could replace who. I'll take the time. If anything does happen, I'll take the time if anything does happen. I'll take the time That that we're allowed to to make that decision I think We've thought about this we plan for it I don't You know, I say I take the time but I don't know I like making decisions. So maybe I'll just do it right away But maybe I don't know, I like making decisions. So maybe I'll just do it right away. But maybe I won't, I don't know. Okay, and I didn't expect you to give me names on our show.

No, I have them right here, I'll send them over. Email it to me. Billy, always great to have you on our show, man. Really appreciate you taking time. Wish you the best of luck in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for doing this. Thanks, fellas, always great to come out with you guys. Thanks for your time. We appreciate it. Bill Garren. He's one of my favorites, by the way, to have on the show.

Busy guy. And Craig Groobie's right. Like, you get this guy in a room, you're going to be entertained for quite a long time. There's actually guys that are like too sharp and funny and cutting in the dressing room that you're almost afraid of them like he is definitely a guy you would not want to get singled out by in a dressing room hmm he's got a sharp tongue funny guy that was funny though you're asking about uh about the injury replacements I wonder how many more will hear coming in here wonder if there'll be so few more probably when we guys get injured they didn't the announced the teams that started December the tournaments mid February there's gonna be injuries. Yeah, you know Petra Angelo just creaked open a little door for the ailment boys coming through

There's there's other guys that should be Would have been ripped a lot harder that would have been ripped a lot harder than Petrangelo. And Bill touched on just the respect that people have had over his career and what he's done and the championships in St. Louis and Vegas. If it's one guy that you can kinda say, okay, he'd be in that class. He's checked every important box.

You know, like you said, Olympics and Stanley Cups and all that. He's earned the benefit of the doubt for sure. Maybe he doesn't, maybe, I don't know, does he think about the Olympics two years from now? Like if he's hitting the high level, he'll still be there, right? Yeah, if he's still the same guy, for sure. I don't think this would, they'd kick him off because of this, but I think if it's between him and someone else

Maybe this ends up being the tiebreaker Yeah Good interview. Yeah Yeah, let me just read the list off. How busy with this guy? He really gonna do it. Oh, I know. Yeah, you're the busiest fan on earth yeah, where it's just you're trying to do both of these things and like you talk about the Drain it is on the players I mean imagine trying to run both teams and I I find it fascinating thinking about what John Cooper's

Going through right where it's like you're trying to stay in the fight of a season and then a bunch of your rivals are getting Together on a team and you're gonna coach them It's very interesting coach until it's time to coach. The managers can make decisions. You don't think he's you don't think he's field a few texts on players and talking about things like who would play together for sure. Yeah, so I did bump in a Brad tree living Monday night at the Oh, yeah, the foundation event there for the Leafs and I'm like so big plans during Four Nations.

He's like, yeah, we're going, I'm going back a West home to my wife's got me clean in the garage. Yeah. So there you go. I imagine there would be some peace in that. Everyone leaves you alone. I think he's looking forward to it. Yeah. Maybe he could maybe he get away from this show. Yeah. Maybe he could make a quick stop over at the Saddle Dome and no he's talk with Conroy about as he's got some key he's gonna do some scouting as well so I'm not just but the garage is definitely on the list well hey we all we all got stuff we have to do outside of this stuff we're talking about hats boys I bought a new hat today

did it say NHL on it no it's unbelievable and I really am cannot wait to debut it on the show tomorrow tell us it'll be a while it'll be a while it's unbelievable. And I really cannot wait to debut it on the show tomorrow. Tell us it'll be a while. It'll be a while. It's a retro one. So it'll be a while. Top hat. That's all right. Top hat. All right. It's one hour in the books already. Our thanks to Billy Garren for joining us. And when we return we go national. Jeff Jackson, CEO and president of hockey operations of the Edmonton

Jeff Jackson, CEO and President of Hockey Operations of the Edmonton Oilers will join us. Don't go away, more to come.