Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Will Auston Answer Against Chicago?

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look ahead to the Toronto Maple Leafs' matchup against the Connor Bedard-less Chicago Blackhawks on Joe Bowen night. They discuss what to expect from the leaders after being called out by Craig Berube on Saturday, how Auston Matthews will respond, Joseph Woll's return to the lineup, and more. Then, they chat about Connor Bedard's season and whether his recent injury provides Hockey Canada with an excuse not to select him for the Olympic team. Later, the Chicago Sun-Times' Ben Pope joins the show (32:12) to share a Blackhawks perspective on tonight's contest, the latest on Bedard's status, how he's evolved in his third professional year, Chicago's prospects in the pipeline, and Spencer Knight's Vezina-level play.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, here we go, game day on the real Kipper and Boren show. Nick Kipperyl, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandale, Leaf Hour edition of our program. We're live on Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 590, the fan in Toronto, and streaming always on Sportsnet. Plus, also available at your convenience, Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube. All right, boys. Did a lot of dissecting yesterday, but it is game day. Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago, Blackhawks.

So let me get this straight. The leaders got called out. Did they? Yeah, like Craig Bruby. Okay, okay. The other day. Yep, carry on. Connor Bardard.

Out for Chicago. Yep. Their second overall pick is a defenseman, Lu Shinov. Lev Shinov. Lev Shinov. Okay. Healthy scratch because he showed up

to the rink the other day late. Traffic's brutal these days. Benajad late or didn't miss a meeting. Should I go on? Joe Bowen Knight. Yep. Right? Yeah.

Big night for one of the best Holy Maconoff play-by-play man. Joseph Wall is back. Joseph Wall is back. automatic two points tonight. It's free W-Night. Yes. Holy maca!

Just come picking up at the rink. Sammy. We were a little negative yesterday. Don't look at me. Free dub, kid. But come on. We're starting the show with an automatic two points. Yeah, I mean, it better be.

Listen, I don't want to be. You guys are a great, positive moods today. I love it. We're getting close to Christmas. The Christmas cheers coming in here in a giving. mood giving them two points tonight but at home at home i think you know before we get into the actual analysis of this it will be cool for bonesy tonight to be honored 44 years this is a really long time saw the video of the trauma may police in the locker room they gave him the the

framed jersey with his yeah with the first game sheet golden microphone trip to i think trip to Notre Dame. Notre Dame. Against Wisconsin. So very cool for him. So that's going to be cool. But yeah, I think

if you don't, they should win tonight. But I think you need to see a certain something from the quote unquote leaders that were called out by the coach to make sure that they're still locked into this coach. I don't want to be too serious here.

But like he called them out. You're playing. a crappy team you're at home if they don't come out there and look great I would be concerned Do you want to comment? Is that fair or is that too much? I don't know that went in a lot of directions we did Bonesy there

Yeah I started Bonesy but then I went into the league and down to the coach Let's go to the coach and then let's re-attack. Craig Barubi on the kind of response he's hoping from from his leaders Club stacks.

What sort of response you're expecting from your top guys after the way? Oh, I think a good one. I do, you know, I think that conversations that I've had with them and last couple days, they know where we're at, they know they've got to be better and I believe they will be. All right, so. I should have looked at the group chat. Sorry. We, I don't know.

Our show is five years old now. By far, the most critical we've ever been, at least for me anyways, with Austin Matthews, was yesterday. For me, anyways, I don't know, you tell me. Sure about that. No, what else have I said about it? What?

We've been doing it for five years. We've all said a lot of things. I can't go back in time. The other thing that came close to yesterday for him not showing up when he was requested for a post-game comment, was, you know, he's not a great pastor. He's not a great playmaker. But that's probably it.

I'm very complimentary as a goal score. I would agree that yesterday was collectively the hardest we've been on them. Okay. Sure. This is where I want to get to. The point of argument, for the point of the argument, I'll say yes. You know, if you scroll 30 seconds on the internet, we weren't the only ones. No.

so by far I think since he's been drafted first overall going back to the mid what 14 15 when was he first pick overall I think his first year was 16 in the league

16 whatever I don't think he's ever felt that type of scrutiny ever before so I wonder how much of it he's hearing and feeling that's a really good question

because I was not in the internet era when I played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and I felt it when you went to the supermarket or pump gas for five minutes and a few people recognize you

and you walk around like you just knew you just just can pick up the vibe but I don't know today whether or not players can avoid it or not or it's just I don't think so. It's there. And I think like the type of questions he's getting asked postgame

are more like, hey, man, what's going on? What's up, dude? You know, like anything to say on kind of what's been going on? Even if he absorbed 20% of it, 30% of it, not 100% of it, it would still be a pile to come out with a little bit of urgency tonight. And so in the history of these leaves, when they've been down and out, that's when they play their best, right? And so I'm curious if with Matthews, for the first time, people are writing them off. People are tough.

I wonder if tonight we get a night. We get a night where he shoots two in. You know, I don't know what the rest of the game will look like, but I think tonight would be not the worst night to go to our little betting segment and see what Austin has in store. And if he doesn't, if under all this scrutiny against the Blackhawks at home without the opposing best center, with the best player on his line, Nielander, if he can't muster an effort tonight, I think the alarms are, they're going off. Yeah, but what are the, what alarms are being pulled?

To me, it's, is this physical? Yeah. Like, if you're the team, it's like, do you need time away here? Do we need to sort out what's going on? And if it's not physical And he's like, no, I feel great. Then what? Like, I think there's...

A new shrink. Yeah, like, maybe. There's been a lot of conversation about Broubaix early in this season and about the hot seat stuff and it was really warm there for a while where we were, you know, I think everybody was having the conversations

during that November stretch. And then, would they lose five in a row, six in a row they lost? Yeah, five or six. Like, if you go out and publicly call out the stars and they come back tonight against like you said

a badardless less not a very good hockey team and you don't get the response that you're looking for I think those would be that would be one of the alarms as well totally where it's like they're not listening to it they're not responding to it they don't care what he says they're not really challenged by him that would be a concern presumably will he's feeling better

coming off his illness yeah I get the goals goals would be nice for sure but just a different look yeah right yeah yeah where we've seen him in the past where he'd be back checking and absolutely just steal pockets pick pockets two or three times four times a game was a norm for him yeah that got people saying you know selky kind of type of guy shut down guy as well as his defensive stats here are not good that's another part of the game too right that has completely disappeared on him.

Yeah. But I think it's the look, the energy, the enthusiasm, the body language, all of it. And it's Chicago, guys. Please, it's Chicago. So it will just buy you time until Thursday night against Washington. And that's a good thing. It's a start. It's just a start.

It's also, you know, you're not going to do this 50 times from now to the end of the season. It's, guys have often. great players have off nights. But you need it like tonight. You need to know it's in there. You need to know it's certainly an option. The Blackhous, by the way, same amount of points as the Leaves.

Sorry, one fewer. So they're not exactly, you know, runaway favorites tonight. Yeah. Okay. Joseph Wall. Back tonight. Mm-hmm.

Too soon for your liking? You're okay with this? Well, Saturday would have been the seven days. So he's nine now, right? and if he just had a slight tweak I'm concerned yeah I'm concerned

I'll be concerned for the rest of the season for him but I think the most important thing now is that Hildeby has come in and shown aside to him that suggests that he isn't overwhelmed and that perhaps

he can play a little bit back up here in the National Hockey League and instead of now looking forward to Joseph Wall needing to play three out of four games maybe it's two out of three I like that the hill the beast

why don't we listen to the coach talking about Joseph Wall in clip one is that a wool back in tonight or I was like yeah yeah he's good to go it's great to have him back and you know obviously he was playing extremely well before the injury

he goes back he's back that's it He's playing extremely well. So we also have him on the workload, which we're talking about here. He got asked, yeah, like basically the way he'll to be looked, does that kind of give you more confidence to go more of a back, you know, with sort of a rotation. So if you can clip to.

Yeah, oh, definitely. I mean, we all know overloading them is tough a little bit at times and depending on the goalie. So it's nice that Dennis came in and played well. Scott said them, so, you know, we have a, you know, we've got confidence in both goalies. We can rotate them a little more. Joseph Wool, a 928 save percentage so far this year in eight starts. Like, that's not a small sample.

Yeah. Hill DeViste is a 923 and 11 starts. Tonight has to be. And they're second last. Yeah. Tonight has to be the start of a little bit of a heater here. for the Leafs. I think so.

Yeah, and I don't know whether, I don't know how you guys feel about Thursday where Washington's played well, but four points between now and the end of Thursday night would, once again, go a long way. It would, boys. It would bring Sammy back halfway.

They went five, one and one. They went five, one and one. And then they tied the sharks and lost a game. Like this, you know, it's not like they're in. mired in the thick of some terrible stretch here. It's just teams are getting points. You've got to get points.

Yeah. And last night again, Florida finds away, right, against Tampa Bay and Ottawa squeaks out two points. Ottawa gets there too big two points. Huge two points. So again, we've seen this where sometimes you go, okay, this team's

only three or four points out of the playoff spot, but if teams above them are taking three point games and finding ways to stay above them, then there's still many nights when you need a handful of teams to lose all at the same time and that just doesn't happen.

God, this is just Batman's dream. Look at that mess. Can I ask you about, you know, we're having all these conversations about the leaves, like, oh, they could get these points. Is this what Sabres radio is like for the last 14 years? Well, if they could just catch fire here in the next little while, they'd be right back in it.

They just fired their head coach and the new, or sorry, their GM and the new GM that said today, I think we make playoffs this year. They're last. Yeah. I just like, I'm looking at this and we're just talking it out like, well, if they could win four in a row or if they could get. You sure about that? No, we're not. I'm not sure they could do that.

Yesterday you both said they weren't going to make playoffs. We're trying to. No. With the record. If butts and candy and nuts, right? Come on. Let's be honest here. That's our show.

Thanks for joining us, everybody. Ifs, butts, candy, and nuts. Have a great night. Thanks for joining us. Kids need a lot to go right. All right. Also, we do have an update on the other goalie. Anthony Stollard.

Yeah, he's the old Florida guy. He came here. He's like really tall and bad knees, good goalie. Let's listen to the update on Anthony's. Anthony stole ours. Still no word on Anthony Stollars. No, he is going to go and see somebody. And hopefully we get some good news out of it.

And he can help him a little bit because he's not making the progress that we thought he'd make. Like, for Ruby's laugh. It's not. 100% not. Concussion. Luke Fogg followed up and asked him,

is it a concussion? And he said it's not. 100% enough. He couldn't do it without giggling. He's laughing. He's laughing at the absurdity of this. It could be a witch doctor. He's going to see a shaman in...

Yeah, he's... He couldn't keep a straight face. He's on his way to, yeah, I don't know. Hi, everybody. He's on his way to bet. He's on his way to bet. Like, I don't... He could be.

Okay. I know we've done this a thousand times. I know. It's... He thinks it's funny. But we're going to do it a thousand and one. Yeah. But just...

Give the fans something else. something give them a little bit and this goes back to you know matthews maybe coming out they just want a little honesty to the point where you show a little humility come out and say it didn't clear up like we first thought okay we want to say the neck area isish but today like recently he said that i don't know how long ago but you got to you got to give them more something and we're we're a little perplexed we're trying to find answers we're as frustrated as the fans something just come out and just work with some people here it's so funny you say this because um steve dangle who you know used to work at this network

and well-known to leave fans everywhere. He quote-tweeted one of our videos from after Pelly had the press conference talking about, you know, the relationship with, like, the media and the fans and there's this clip about, you know, how we want to be more forthcoming with the media and with the fans or whatever. And it's just like my reaction to it's like, oh, my God, that's going to be great. And it just, it was hard to watch my reaction living in the world that we're living in now. It was like, oh, my God, it's been the opposite.

where it's been, feels like it's been less forthcoming, unless like... Perhaps he's getting plate-plate-lit rich Well, what did R.J. Barrett get? Oh, I don't know. The knee injections? I don't know.

PRP, I can't remember the third word. Watching the clip was like, oh, my God, I'm such, just got tricked like a big dumbo immediately was going to believe it anyways. It just was interesting. It was interesting. We're all big dumboes.

Yeah, and that's why Hildebee's a key guy right now for the Toronto Maple Leafly. I mean, they need to get above league average goal tending. Chris Tanev needs to come back fairly soon. They need Austin Matthews to find another gear. Like, you know, they're not making playoffs if things are the way they've been. They need things to not stay the same.

They need things to get better. And so to your point, start with a win tonight, getting healthier. But he, Rubie got asked about adversity and like how can it be like a good thing? another thing that a Sabres reporter would definitely ask in the coach of the Sabres. But let's play clip five from Barreveon, facing some adversity in this season. You know, you go through a lot of adversity

throughout the season. It seems like it's been there for quite some time with different things, right? Injuries and whoever goalies, and it was all types of things. So you just got to keep pushing here. You know, the standings are tight. We all know that.

you know but we need to we need to start tonight and string some wins together and put ourselves in a better spot here by Christmas time by Christmas time exactly it's December 16 yeah not a lot of time till Christmas so getting a lot of Kipper and Bourne on these hockey games coming up by the way oh yeah we got we got Thursday yeah Thursday the 21st the 23rd the 28th the Sunday we're on like a one Wack of games coming up. Yeah, nice. Yeah, it's all cocky.

That's awesome. I'll enjoy that from my couch. I'll enjoy that from my couch with maybe a Coors Light. Hey, man. That's great. I appreciate the ocean. What else you got for us, Sammy? I mean, do you want to talk about...

Henry Thrun? We could talk about that. Well, I mean, he's liked what he's done. Thrender and Lightning. Yes. McMahon back in tonight. Yarn Croc out. Robertson stays in on the second line.

Any of those things interest you. McMahon playing with Tavaris and and Robertson you know don't be going down to the third line it just feels like they're just kind of I want to hear the thronger okay we can play the thronder clip play the thronger clip clip four pretty good I mean playing in a third pair but you know doing some good things and we want to keep him going here you know see if he can keep improving and see where we get to with him. You know, he has ability, he has the ability to make plays. So we've liked him so far.

So, sorry, the Benoit with Riley, we think that's placeholder stuff. Yeah. Yeah, we're not to. Yeah, I think, because Tanna's not going to. TANF's not going to. But that just seems like where Thrun will be, you know? Yeah, yeah. So.

Did they, they didn't do any more follow up on TANF, right? No, no. Other than we get the sense that he can. practice normal. We're waiting to see how he responds to contact and practice. Which he's already had a couple good ones. Well, no, yesterday was his first one on the ice where he was not wearing a red jersey.

So I guess they'll probably, I mean, what's tomorrow? They'll practice probably again tomorrow. And then a game day on Thursday. And then they'll maybe see from there. But kind of nervous for him. I am too. I don't love it. No, I, I, at some point, I think you've mentioned this.

million times at some point was the juice worth to squeeze like i you know this is a guy that's been a warrior forever but you look at the standings and you look at where this team leaves team's at and probably some of it's to do with his absence like i mean he was hugely important for them last year played big minutes shut down minutes with mccabe but like this is a borderline last place team you're coming back for to risk i mean how old is he 36 yeah it's just it's from me like everyone played poorly the team didn't gel early in the first like seven eight game, so there's this, like, penchant for people to dismiss the loss of TANF. You're like, well, they weren't doing well when he was in.

It's like, okay, well, now that they're kind of trying to get things straightened out, they really miss a guy like that. How many games did he play this year? Eight? Nine? I don't know. It feels like more than that, but not a ton more. I mean, but Jake McCabe has stepped up in his absence.

Since being paired with Stetcher, he's been really good. He's actually third in the NHL and block shots this year, kind of stepping into Tanev's role in that regard. Pannev played eight games this year. He's a plus five in those eight games. So that's a guy they missed. But they didn't, even at the start of the year when they had their whole decor healthy, you know, Carla wasn't great to start the year.

But since with the first 10 games, it really hasn't felt like they've had their, I mean, like Henry Thron, where on the depth chart was Henry Thron? Like, it's the fact that he's now played with his three. Byrifice, Myers, you know, you're getting into double digit depth. They have, I mean, and they're played their third strengoly a lot of the time. Like, you know, you hard on the team for. having the struggles, but they really have, I mean, to speak to the adversity, they have lost a lot

of guys. Goal differential of zero on the year, dead even. And about zero. After all this, yeah. In about 15 minutes, we'll welcome in Ben Pope, who writes for the Chicago Blackhawks. Of course, through our good buddy, we had a couple of choices for hockey games this time of

year. We went with San Jose, but we were close on picking Chicago. Yeah. And we made the right. choice we well come on no connor badard that's uh that's great for the leifes and their potential to get two points tonight but from an entertainment point of view uh we all lost out tonight i mean this hawks team is still i understand the rebuilding but look at the lineup minus connor

badard it's pretty stinky yes you know like you're getting a lot of oliver more ryan green Nick Lardis, you know, Colton, Doc, Ethan Del Maestro. There's a lot of who? Can I ask you? I watch that Habs game on the Saturday night against the Leafs where it was their first game back from the road trip and multiple people that were at that game said there was way more Habs fans than normal. My wife, Alley was at the game against the Oilers on Saturday night, said there was a million

Oilers fans. She felt like it was, you know, almost as loud for the Oilers' goals. And, you know, Chicago was a class. classic franchise, they have a ton of fans. You know, are there more Leaf fans that are just like, yeah, whatever. Here, opposing fan bases, take my... Because just watching them on TV, it feels like

there's a lot more of the opposing fans in the crowd than there are of the actual Leafs. It could be hyper... It could be hyperbole, but I really do get the feeling that people are just like, yeah, sure, take it. I do blame, even mid-December, a trickle effect of the Blue Jays.

Yeah. No. No, I do, yeah. I'm not going to blame the Blue Jays. No, I'm not blaming them. I'm just saying it's taken longer for those leaf fans that you think might be missing or there who are just not loud or willing to go put on a jersey just yet. A little bit of time. I do think that Canadians, what do you call it, discretionary spending or whatever your fun money is, they all spent their money going to Jay's games.

Okay. Like I do think, and I'm not, this is not like a long-term thing. I'm talking about. But there was, I think, in every statistic for the NHL in Canada after the Jay's run, people needed a break. Yeah? Like, if things were down a little bit, you know, it's coming back now. And there was a moment there, ever was like, okay.

And when they started out, myself included. Yeah. And it hasn't helped that they've dug them, they dug themselves into the basement here pretty much and are trying to dig themselves out. That's not helping. I just, I'm, I'm just speaking from a, you know, this is totally anecdotal. and I don't have any stats to back this up but when other classic teams have come into Toronto

the ones that have a lot more fans it just oh sorry change the jersey no 50-50 read it was just it just feels like there's a lot more of the opposing fan than there has been in years past yeah that's what I'm getting at maybe a string around your finger

so you don't interrupt our show are you kidding me church church bells Scarface Scarface Scarface give me a break First time my phone has ever made a sound In the history of our show

Five years Okay, fair enough, fair enough But I don't know, I just I wonder if there is a bit of apathy setting Yes Well, a little bit Yeah, you can get tickets You know around game time

Just a couple hours before you look for a ticket And it's just, it's been a long time With a very similar team And at least in years past There's been a disdain towards this core For a long time with the playoff failures we all know the story. But now without the regular season success to pair,

like to even get you hopeful again, I do, I think there could be in a little bit of a danger zone here in terms of people paying the money to go to the games. I really do. We'll get into Connor Bardard and his injury with Ben Pope, but a lot of people talking about a separated shoulder. You ever done that? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, same. But I wouldn't really. roll out a dislocation here either. Have you had one of those? I haven't done a dislocation. I don't know what they call it sublocation, where it partially pops out. You got to pull it to put it back in. And then it goes back in.

And then it doesn't come all the way out. And then what you need to do now is give it two or three weeks for this capsule inside of your shoulder to kind of settle and the soft tissue to kind of rebuild. And that's, I think, that's, to me. how I see this thing being played out because they said early January which should give them two to three weeks for this thing to settle down

and if you can then you avoid surgery. I don't know if you saw my tweet about Badaard but this this is like I felt like hockey Canada don't want to take Badaard only because they don't see him as one of their 14 best you know guys at winning this competition but Badaard kept producing offense

at a rate that was going to embarrass him. them you know like you're not going to take the fourth leading score in the NFL yeah that's true they weren't going to I don't have they weren't going to I don't think they ever were but this gives them the out right this gives them the out they can point to this and be like we didn't know if he was going to be available it doesn't hurt doesn't hurt I think this gives them covered yeah now now when you know let's say they lose they don't score enough goals you know less people are going to be like how how could you not take him who are there pure Hagel got

Who are their pure offensive stars? We know McDavid, we know Ryan Hart, we know Mitch Marner, McKinnon. If one of those guys was to get hurt and not make the team or not play in the Olympics, then you go and get a badard. But if it's a depth, if it's a depth guy, you go to your depth list. And that's That's not Begarde And that's what a lot of Canadian hockey fans

Would fundamentally agree Disagree with that philosophy of team building And I'm not saying I do I know But a lot of people would be like Why don't you just take one extra guy That can shoot it in the net And be dangerous offensively

It's funny because You know You hear the people be like We can't have four first lines And then it's like Why? Why can't you do that? But I think Because then you're building an all-star team

Yeah. Well, and you're not suited for certain situations, you know, defensive play, penalty killing, protecting leads. But I think if you have four first lines, you're pretty good. But still, I made my team, and I did have Bedard in my 14 at the end. I don't think that they were going to take them. And now I think this is kind of icing on the cake for it. It does suck for, you know, if you're a diehard Chicago fan and the one trip a year,

you get to go watch your team. And as a Canadian, you kind of. love to see the big name he's a huge in Toronto yeah yeah it's like and they just guys gets hurt the day before did you see the play that happened the how he got hurt yes off the face off yeah you thought

it was greasy no I thought I had a little grease too I watched it yeah he's you know push an opponent I think there's like 0.2 seconds left on the clock so Blaschel said it had nothing to do with the shove or oh

or Luke Shen did he I'm sorry Braden So, I don't know. He torqued himself and the shoulder popped out. I don't know. All I know is you've seen those guys in the dressing room who they start taping up the shoulder and then the shoulders start coming out a little easier like a strip screw in that socket. And you hope it's not, you know, hope it's not a recurring thing.

If some guy's shoulders just pop out. Oh, here we go. Ah, so it's actually not the. Yeah, I think it was off. I think when he dropped to a knee, his shoulder popped out. I would not want to take a face off against that guy. It certainly looked that way anyways.

Yeah, it sure did. Before we go to break, boys. Oh, your reminder. Yeah. Sports I find out of the fan is all in supporting 50-50 fortune for sick kids. It's a 50-50, so the more money we raise, the more kids we can help, and the more holiday cash you can win. This is your last week to buy tickets as the final draw is on Thursday morning.

The current take-home prize is over 400 and, $91,000. Buy our tickets at 50-50 fortune.ca or text the word money to 59590 and we'll send the link right to your phone. 18 plus. Please play responsibly. Standard message and data rates may apply. Lottery license

RAF 151-84-1-0. All righty. All right. Let's take a quick break. And when we return, Ben Pope who covers the Washington, or Washington, I'm jumping already to Thursday. The Blackhawks tonight at Scotia Bank Arena on Joe Bowen Night. That more when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne.

Everything you need to know 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 in studio. It's a real Kippin-Borin show, Leaf Hour edition. Nick Kippreel's, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee.

Is, have we got Ben yet? We are waiting. Oh, we're waiting. Oh, we're waiting. Okay. Are you talking about? You can ask some questions. Oh, never mind.

Never mind. I'll leave it to you. All right. Got the green light. Let's welcome in, writer, columnist for the Chicago Sun Times. Ben Pope does a terrific job. covering the black hawks uh ben how are you my friend i'm good a little bit cold uh the wind's been getting me here today but uh looking forward to the game tonight yeah we we all are minus uh one

of the sharpest shooters in the game today uh in connor badard uh just the latest on what you have we do obviously know it's a shoulder injury but uh any more hints on on what he may be dealing with or the questions that still need to be found out on how early he can return? Well, no news to break, but as Blaschell said yesterday, they're going to reevaluate him after the new year. And as of right now, surgery isn't considered required.

It doesn't seem like that's 100% a guarantee that he will never need surgery, but they're going to proceed for now as if he won't. and see how the rehab goes, which certainly in terms of trying to get it back as soon as possible, is good news on that front. But that's still, I mean, he's missed one game.

So far he's going to miss at least seven more in December and then presumably at least the first few in January. So he already up in the double-digit games missed already just with that. And then there's also the question that even once he returns, if he'll be at 100 percent or how quickly. That'll take and how it might affect his shooting motion and that sort of thing. So plenty of concerns with this. He is with the team today.

It sounded like he had some personal obligations to fulfill so he went ahead and came to Toronto. But it sounds like he'll go back to Chicago before the end of the road trip to start his recap. You know, I've got lots of general team questions on the Blackhawks, but just stay on Bedard while we're having the conversation. How do you see this, if at all, affecting his odds being selected for me? the Olympics? Well, I, you know, it's hard for me to say. Like my job is covering the Black Ox, not kind of the league as a whole. So I'm not maybe as well versed on the team Canada roster arguments as other people may be. But I mean, obviously it doesn't help. Coming into the year, he seemed like pretty well off the radar and it was with his fantastic play. So far they've been

pushing himself deeper and deeper into that conversation. And so with every passing game, his argument was getting stronger as he continued to rack up the points and play stronger defense, be more competent of face-offs on and fun. So for him not to have two more weeks to make his pace stronger is definitely not going to help considering he was kind of fighting an uphill battle to begin with. But it still, you know, it doesn't seem out of the question that looking at his sample size, if they do feel confident that he will be healthy by.

February that he could and earn a selection. I think a lot of people would be excited about that. After a couple of years with subpar kind of numbers, this year obviously shot out of a can in here. You know, you forget sometimes how young he still

is. And just the overall jump from year two to year three and the maturity that he's shown, Ben, mentally, physically. What stands out to you the most about how he's gone to another level.

Well, I think even off, I've really personally noticed a big difference than just his comfort level in his own skin, even in interviews or just some casual conversation that he's, I mean, he's always going to be a private, relatively introverted guy, but he is having much more of a voice. He's much more honest and blunt. He's showing a sense of humor. He just seems way more comfortable in this environment in this spotlight, in the league. And winning helps with that, but you also see just with his maturity, it's like kind of a switch flipped in him over the summer.

And he's also, I talked to him about this, and he's acknowledged that he also realizes that it's good for his brand. It's good for the fans to see a little bit more of him. And also just for him to have more of a voice on matters around the league, to have more relationship with referees, which is something that had kind of bothered him the first few years in terms of. of like how often he got thrown out of faceoffs and that sort of thing. So him just showing a little bit more of himself and making, having more of an identity as a person beyond just a player is a big thing I've noticed. And as you mentioned, he is so unbelievably young.

When Nick Velino got hurt in November, he started wearing an A, which was a big sign that the team trusted more to handle those kind of things. But it was funny Oliver Moore, who first round pick later, in that same draft as him had just gotten called up and it was playing one of his first NHL games and he joked that it was funny that Bedard was wearing an A and he's nine months younger than him where to think about because more

you know he's fresh into the league he seems like he's brand new whereas Bedard's played you know two and a half years now and yet he's he's younger than more so yeah he is he is very young still it is it's a great context for where he's at so turning the page on Bedard unless Kip you have anything else I want to talk about the greater Blackhawks team where they've taken a step from what they have been

in past seasons here as this rebuild starts to turn around give us sort of a fill us in on where that progression is on their way to being a Stanley Cup contender again well it was looking you know very good for a while there probably unsustainably so and then it has kind of fallen back to earth they've only won three of the last 13 games and certainly over this coming stretch

about the dart, it's going to be hard to rack up too many wins during this span. But they definitely look more competitive than in previous years. Jeff Lashill has made some smart moves in terms of adjusting the system and the roster to try to get the most out of these young guys. They've been in a lot of games. I mean, they're one in six and overtimes in shootouts. So we flip that record around, and their overall record would be even better. And they're 13 and 13 and 6 overall, which is certainly a lot better than we've seen

the past few years to begin with. But still, you know, it's a ways to go. Like one thing they really miss is kind of other top six scores that aren't just either Badaard or guys that compliment Badaard. Like Tyler Routuzzi and Andre Borkowski are solid players, but they're really there to just kind of help Bidard. Like Routuzi's a great finisher around the net and Burakowski can have to help Badaard carry the puck into the zone to take some pressure off him with that.

Without Bajar, they're not really abusive, whereas we're going to see by this spring or next fall a lot more talent kind of joining the forward group. Roman Kansarov leads to KHL and goals. Anton Fondell, the number three overall pick, who's been having a great year in Sweden, and the Nick Lardis, who will play a second NHL game tonight, who had 71 goals in the OHL last year and was over a point per game in the AHL this year. Once those three guys are in the NHL and established, if they live up to their potential, and the Hawks are certainly hoping at least two of the three do, then that's a lot more talent and help that Bedard will have around them because right now it's just him, Frank Nazar, and some kind of veteran fill-in pieces.

So there's still a ways to go, but this team is a lot more competitive than it had been the past few years. Sorry, so there was Lardis Frondell, and what was the KHL guy's name? Roman Cantorov second round pick also in the 2023 draft the same one as Bedard and Moore but his stock has really risen since then he's leading the KHO and goals by

I think four or five and he's doing that as a 21 year old and Ben just Spencer Knight at some point you know the battles that he's had have been well publicized with the Florida Panthers the Chicago trades for him maybe a thought that maybe he could come back and be that goalie that was once projected

as one of the better ones outside the National Hockey League overall, 10 wins, a save percentage above 900, just how he's fared so far in handling, you know, the number one rule. Yeah, he is really run with it. And that's certainly another factor in why this team is better that shouldn't be overlooked. I think he's still third in the league and goal save above to average, depending on what source you look at. And his ability to make the high danger saves is really impressive.

I think his high danger save percentage might be the best in the league. And even last year in Florida as a backup, it was the best in the league. Like if there's a big breakdown and there's a two-on-none or a two-on-one down low, his lateral movement and reactions are really elite. And so for this young defense, That is prone to some major breakdowns. His ability to make saves in that situation with surprising regularity is really helpful.

But he's been consistent, too. It's not like he's been allowing soft goals and making the big saves. He hasn't allowed too many soft goals. He's been really impressive talking to him off the ice just as maturity and knowledge and thoughtfulness really stands out in terms of the lessons he learned in Florida, watching Baburowski, watching whatever. it took to win a Stanley Cup. And just his own off-byte's habits have been kind of fascinating to learn about. And I wrote a story about that a few weeks ago that people really enjoy just and he has like a red light therapy map that he brings in the road.

And he's eating meals between periods of the backup just to increase his caloric intake. And he's just really dialed in on pretty much everything he's doing and living up and exceeding all the expectations of Black Ox have had so far. that trade is looking very smart in retrospect. Okay, so I need you to explain to me why every time I watch a Blackhawks game, I hear the name Louis Cravier like 10 times. Like this guy, he seems like he's in the thick of everything. What is his deal?

Yeah, amazing story for him. Seventh round pick out of the QMJL. Huge. It was like a third pairing defenseman, his first couple of years in the AHL, like even getting healthy scratch sometimes. It just seemed totally off the NHL radar. And then he just started getting better, and he just kept getting better and better, and had been kind of in and out of the line up the past two years as a depth guy.

And then this year, he's just kind of established himself at the top four defensemen. He's 6'8. He can skate pretty well. He's getting better at moving to puck. He has a bomb of a shot. He's a really interesting guy off the ice, very humble. It's just a really great story. kind of out of nowhere that they found a pretty solid piece in him,

someone who it looks like could be here for a while. Really cool story, and I'm glad to see him having the success he's having is one of my favorite people to talk to around the team. Ben, really enjoy your time, man. Appreciate the update on the Chicago Blackhawks. We're looking forward to the game. I hope you are as well. Thanks for joining us.

Yep, thanks for having me. Thanks, Ben. That is Ben Pope, Chicago Sun-Times. Crevier, 6-8-2-30. Oh, my God. 6-8-2-30, 24 years old. Skates well has three goals and eight assists this year. 60 off-skate.

It can be that tall on skate well. Charis-style. And 35 Pims, like, he's just, he's kind of nasty. I've, bomb shot. Not to change the subject of this, but have you seen the guy that the North Bay kid? Yeah. Seven-footer? Seven-foot.

Oh, I haven't seen them. What? Yeah. You just look out, open the, any door you want, look outside. You'll see them. He's the size of a building. It's crazy. That is so awesome.

But there's a, I saw a clip. He's playing well. I saw a clip of a kid, like a normal size talkie player standing beside him, and it's L2A versus Judge. Can you just not, like, string a guy out there and just, you know, like a cartoon character where you're swinging and you can't reach in a fight? Oh, I don't even know if he's a fighter. I don't know if he's going to be a meanie or not.

Or he better learn a fight because he's going to. He's Rempay is only, you know, he's a matchup for Rempe. Oh, Rampi's a shrimp compared to him. Yeah. No kidding. Yeah, he's, that's tough. I do think that when you're that long, it takes a lot of years to learn how to coordinate it all.

You can be 25, 26 and still be figuring it out. So Hawks, Ben was talking, that was great job breaking down all the prospects that they have, the guys that are kind of on the next level. And, yeah, the one kid lightened it up in the KHL, 22 goals at this point of KHL season is like a lot of goals. Yeah. No one scores.

They just play with a stone puck or something. I don't know what is. But this is where you're almost a little bit, dangerous when you're supposed to be right out of the game tonight. And some of these kids have everything to gain. These guys, they scored 70 in the, and the O, and it's like, look out.

And nothing to lose. Yeah. But the question is, is like, how much, you know, because they've shown some progress here, and he's talking about the veterans that are sort of placeholders. But you are a major market. You have Connor Bedard.

Like, at what point are you going to be patient and wait for these guys to turn into stars in three or four years? Or are you going to trade one or two? two of them to get great players. They can just look at Buffalo's program and say 14 years should be sufficient. That'll do the job. Yeah, that'll do the trick. First off, they are spending no money to Blackhawk.

They're dead last in salary cap spend right now. But you don't have to think once they're going to get good. They'll spend it. They will. But I love this. They have five picks in the first two rounds this year. Two first and three seconds. They were ready.

Five picks in the first two. They're ready to add for Connor this year. They have the lease for McCabe. Yeah. They're ready. Yeah. So they get to free agency. They're going to throw a pile of money to somebody.

So they'll throw money at some free agents. Nobody gets there. Nobody gets there. Yeah. But they'll turn these picks. You're right into a couple of guys. You need some Bertuzi and Burkowski. Not going to cut it.

No. You're not turning around just waiting for all your prospects to get good. That doesn't pan out. You have to do some other things. So they're at the point now where it's like, okay, you're about a 500 hockey team. You got lots of picks. You got lots of prospects. Yep.

Let's do it. Let's do it. Get feisty. Blackhawks. That's a market that the league desperately needs. Well, I mean, they're in a winter classics. They're like, we need another winter classic in Chicago. Connor's done a good job so far making people believe that this is now as a team that you're going to want to watch.

Well, it was never going to be, you know, without a, you have to have a superstar. You know, for these teams to win. lots of games to get lots of eyeballs to be what they want them to be. Gary was so excited. What years were they, were the Hawks and the Kings playing in the conference final every year? It's like, oh, yeah, this is my dream. Red wings were in there every year.

What was it? Rangers Kings in the finals in the final year? Are the sorry, sports fashion? I know you'll love this, but are the Blackhawks the best jersey in the league? Yes, they're the best jersey in the league. They're in my top three. The Black, though, you like the Black? No, I don't love the Black, but that's

my favorite. I liked my old Washington Capitals. Red. Red. Oh, the red one. The red one. Yeah. I like the capitals.

It would be a way red one. Yeah. My college hockey team is the best one. The Alaska Anchored. Rangers. No, the NHL. Come on. You're killing me.

Yeah, the zigzags are my favorite jersey. I mean it, by the way. I think Flames blue too. I think flames white with the red shoulders is my favorite in the league. It's a great sweater too. Beautiful. Tough to argue. Beautiful.

I can't believe I engaged in that. I love it. I love it, Kippers. We're all growing as people. Sports fashion, baby. Me and Gunner used to do a segment called sports fashion. Christmas pajamas next. Sure. That North Stars jersey.

We got a lot more than that. Yeah, it's pretty beautiful. So, must win tonight? Absolutely not. There's no must win in December. No, no. Must win. No, no. Or what?

What was the other term? Can't lose. Can't lose. How about that one? That one makes you feel better? It's a coward's angle. And are you okay with the point, No.

No. That's not a direct loss. You're losing traction with a point. Get yourself out of this stinking basement with Buffalo, please. You guys aren't going to know what to do if they have a real must win game. All right. Must listen is in our next hours. We go national with Steve Valliquette.

That is must listen. More when we return to real Kipprenborn. Do not go away. Bye.