Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Wrapping up the Road Trip

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with the Leafs' back-to-back over the weekend and thoughts on the team's aspirations this season as they return from an up-and-down West Coast road trip. They get into the games themselves - Martin Jones starting to cool off, penalty kill problems and concern levels for Tavares' slump. Then, a chat about the Leafs' tradeable assets and what sort of return the Leafs could get for guys like Nick Robertson & Pontus Holmberg. Later, the Oilers sign Corey Perry and whether the Leafs missed an opportunity or dodged a bullet. Finally, Ryan Reaves voices frustrations from the sidelines and Samsonov is gaining momentum in net.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.

time to get the real kipper and born show going we are live on sports at 590 sports at 360 and sports that plus from 4 to 6 p.m You can always download us wherever you get your pod. And remember all week, Texas at 590, 590. It's Nick Kiprios. It's Justin Bourne. It's Derek Brandeo. It's Jen Rolnick. And it's the Wayne Newton of our show.

Back. Sammy McKee. Hey, boys. Wearing the Vegas Golden Knights hat. Yes. Back, Sammy McKee. Hey, boys. Wearing the Vegas Golden Knights hat. No yes. Are you allowed on a Maple Leaf hour to wear Vegas Golden Knights? I am, yeah.

You know, this mic's really high. Didn't really get to look at it here. I will say that I am a bit of a convert to the Golden Knights. I was able to take in the game on Saturday night. Are you past the Leafs and on to the Knights now? I would love to be. I got to tell you. I got to tell you. The whole experience.

That's the best answer of all. Can't be. I wish fully that I could just absolve the Leafs and just be a Knights guy from now on, but it doesn't work like that. You went down the strip. You went to the sphere. I don't care about that.

I want to hear what you thought about going to a hockey game in Vegas. I can't say enough great things. I really can't. Like, I just, from the pregame show, which is just the most absurd thing ever. Like, it's like a knight, and he's like breathing fire, and he's got a, it was insane. And then just the game ops in general general and just how they keep people interested, the passion of the fans. And I will say that, like, you know,

we were there with a few people from Ali's work, you know, shout out Justin, shout out the boys. And they're talking about it, how there's no scars there. Yeah, that's nice. Right, where it's like you go to a Leaf game here and you're like, oh, everybody's just expecting bad things to happen. Yeah.

And you go there, and they've been a team for, what, seven years? They've been to the final twice. They've won the cup. They're in the conference final every single year. We had an Uber driver that found out we were from Toronto, and he's like, we were talking about, he's like, oh, I love hockey. He's like, oh, we had to wait so long for that cup. And I looked at him, I was like, buddy, my dad was 10, okay?

Can you save it? And he's like, if it wasn't for that flurry, we wouldn't have won it. I'm like, what the hell is going on? So all in all, an incredible experience. But, yeah, I wish I could be a Knights guy through and through. They're my new team, my second team. Go Knights go. You know, it's not as satisfying without having to go through.

You know, when Frodo finally got to Mordor and got through, he got rid of the ring. It would not have been as fun had he not had to go through the marshes and all the misery. You got to go through something to really appreciate it. And they're down two zip going into the third period against the Penguins. They weren't playing very well. And, you know, there's just championship pedigree.

They come out in the third period, light them up, score three, win the game. A little bit of a dubious team in the third period. Pat Brisson's kid scored the winner. Yes. Which is hilarious. That's a great story. Well, because he's Sid's agent. One of the top agents.

And he's Sid's agent. And Sid used to babysit Brendan when they were kids. Not a joke. Yeah. So they go way back. And Sid gave him a stick after the game, I guess. Sounds right. And he was a beautiful goal.

But, yeah, Vegas is just a different world. It's a different world. I've never experienced anything like it. So there you go, boys. There's the breakdown. It's a hellhole. It's a dystopia, but it's fun for a weekend. I'll tell you right now, I would not want to be there one minute longer.

I couldn't have been happier. No one leaving Vegas is going, wish I had more time. That's for sure. Well, despite how successful our show was Friday, we're glad you're back. I know. We're glad you're back. But I got so many messages.

Disco Dan coming for you. I came in on Monday. Kipper's like, your lineup's crap. I'm just like, I'm dead. I take off one day, well, two days all year, and they bring in the A squad, and now I'm screwed. He says the first thing he says on our show this week is my mic's high. And I'm like, that's where Dan set the bar, buddy.

Your mic's high because that's where Disco put the bar for you. Yeah, I saw my boy. I'm happy for him. Good job. Thanks. Thanks a lot, Daniele. Appreciate your help. Just move on.

From afar, I think you stayed on top of at least knowing what's going on in Leafland because we're here to kind of break it down before we do on the things that we liked and didn't like over the weekend. Let's start with you, JB, first on the overall feel of coming home off a Seattle win with basically a win one, lose one feel. Is that okay? Is that enough to suggest that people shouldn't be ready to judge this team today for the rest of the season?

Is it still wide open based on what you saw this weekend? You know, you look at this Leafs team, and I think I've said on this show that I think they're probably somewhere between the 6th and 11th best team in the league. People listening might think they're higher. People listening might think they're lower, but they're not.

They're kind of a middling to good middling team. They go on this road trip. They beat Seattle, who absolutely stinks. That team is, and they're missing Yanny Gord, whatever terrible team who they beat. Great. They lost to Vancouver, who absolutely stinks. That team is, and they're missing Yanni Gord, whatever terrible team who they beat, great. They lost to Vancouver, who's unbelievable. Do you expect them to lose to the best team in the NHL? They beat Calgary, they're okay.

And the Oilers were unbelievable. So in a nutshell, they can beat the teams that are out of the playoffs, but they can't beat the teams that are in the playoffs. Well, I'll say they can beat the teams that are out of the playoffs, they can't beat the teams that are in the playoffs. Well, I'll say they can beat the teams that are out of the playoffs. They can't beat the teams that look like legit cup contenders. Because, I mean, the Oilers and Canucks are not teams that are squeaking in the playoffs.

And end of Leafs hour. That's like where they're at for me. So my point is I'm not sitting here today feeling different than I did when I talked to you last. I think last night put a better taste in my mouth for sure. I think Seattle was pretty bad for a lot of that game, when i talked to you last i i think last night put a better taste in my mouth for sure i i you know i think seattle was pretty bad for a lot of that game but i think it was a pretty disciplined effort from the lates i thought they were they played well they had the puck a lot i thought they they

did well there but that saturday game was a it was you know they could on them for battling back but the goals that are going in brody and riley front row seats for everything it's just like oh my god that's a wake-up call yeah two totally different hockey games see i am they're coming but the goals that are going in, Brody and Riley, front row seats for everything, it's just like, oh, my God. That's a wake-up call. Yeah, two totally different hockey games. See, they're coming home. They go from playing one of the worst teams in the league in Seattle, and I get it.

I know, they won nine straight. The guys that aren't there, and they are a better team. They've lost four straight now. They've shown. But last night, they might as as well been one of the worst teams in the league right so i forget it was yanny gourd they're missing and vince dunn vince dunn who basically those are two and and there is a flu going through them that's wiped out a lot of them on the energy and and it's real and i'm not using it as an excuse. It's just a real fact that when you get hit hard, it's going to affect your hockey club. But they are coming home on a basic split.

And to your point, if they are 6th to 11th, it is a possibility for a team to win the Stanley Cup from 6th to 11th. Yes. for a team to win the stanley cup from 6th to 11th yes but there's also so much evidence to suggest that they won't still coming home right yeah so where are we yeah going into the all-star break for this team we are that they got a couple of really big hockey games coming up against a very good winnipeg Jets team. Like, I feel like every game it's like, well, next game we'll get more answers. I just, we got, what's his name there?

John DeVars. Eight games without a point now. Bertuzzi's. That's the longest of his career, I think. It is. Six goals through 46 games for Bertuzzi. You're looking for these depth guys, someone to help out, and Nick Robertson's shooting it in the net. That's good.

But you're just waiting for more than what we thought they were, which was a top-heavy team. It was harder for Bertuzzi to shoot it at the goalie's chest than it was to score on that chance in Vancouver. There was more open net. Where are you on using two Winnipeg Jets games

this coming week before going into All-Star break to truly deciding that this team should go for it or not? It's a good question, but I mean, there's a lot of games before the deadline, so I don't think these two games are end-all, be-all, but I think it's pretty telling. I mean, if you get starched in both of these games,

I think it's pretty clear to the 6-11 conversation you can talk about maybe even a little lower than that like they're they're in there but i mean you know what we've talked about this team they go in there they beat they win one of these games they get three points out of these games everybody be feeling great so it really does feel like it's a game to game basis on how to feel about them like i don't remember it being so up and down the the feelings. I know they're way more inconsistent this year than in years past in terms of the feeling about them. I see such a fork in the road right now. And listen, there's nobody that follows the Leafs

closer than us. There's maybe a few that are right there with us. But I can honestly tell you, I don't know. I know. I don't know whether or not this team should be a buyer or a seller at this point well you know it feels to me like you can't i understand the point like from a neutral whatever but it feels to me like you can't tell matthews marner neilander tavarez riley that we're just going to punt a year. You know, like, so even if you don't go all in,

I feel like there's no way you can sell guys. I think it's a light buy. Yeah. As opposed to my wife in Vegas this weekend, it's a light buy. You know, it's a little, you just, you add a depth guy. Yeah. That maybe you can mix in on defense defense at a for at a walker yeah like on walker a winger to play maybe a defensive guy like i don't think you're

and then you roll the dice with basically the lineup that you have wool gets hot you hope your superstars finally have a playoffs that blows people out of the water but wouldn't this be like this would work they'd be unbelievable or something The thing to me is that it would be you go into the playoffs, you're the eighth seed, the seventh seed. No one's expecting anything. You're Florida last year. Yeah, but they're not. But the thing is, they're not Florida.

But in theory. In theory, you get hot at the right time, you catch somebody off guard, and then you get going. Like, I feel like they're the least predictable they've ever been. You put a dollar in the slot machine you pull it and then it it rains money might win 800 definitely did not do that when i did it yeah didn't work it was over pretty quick let's get some thoughts uh on saturday night's game because i have a few of my own on saturday night uh but let's go to sheldon key for our first uh kippers clipper on what his overall

thought was with this 6-4 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Well, I thought our first two shifts were good. Thought we had good life and good energy on those first two shifts. Even the third shift, which was where we got scored on, started while we were on there half of the ice, playing in their zone. And then three or four times we don't get the puck out or don't make a play with the puck, I should say. We give it back to him.

Jonesy has a chance to freeze the puck and end everything for us and gets away on him. Now we're just defending tired and they out-competed us at our net. And I thought that was a bit of a theme for the game with their goals, just them out-competing us at around our net. We should double-dip on clips and just play your audio from last night showing the nize yeah penalty or sorry another bad shift to start the game kip's point was just that vancouver had some good ozone changes keeping fresh bodies on the ice mckeough comes off for hoaglander who ends up scoring the goal meanwhile leafs guys out guys out there for Nyes was 2-0-4 when the puck went in.

Late in the second period. 2-0-4. Yeah, 2-0-4. And I'm with Sheldon that you could spot different plays or shifts or lapses, but I still thought the Leafs could have won the game. Against Vancouver, yeah. It was a winnable game. You just didn't find a way to get it done.

Dumb penalties and let it get away from you. Yes, yes, yes. Bad penalty goal. Number one, just a better goalie Saturday night. That's all. I thought he was it is that's horrific i didn't like help up maybe one goal yeah and demko didn't have a great game led by what three goals in seven minutes yeah but he still made the saves that he had he was really good when the

chips were down like at six four he was unbelievable but better goaltending could have left the game. At least a lot more open-ended on, on a leaf win. But I mean, yeah, you can pick and choose a number of things that you didn't like outside of a bad goaltending. You know,

it's funny. Cause we sit here today and it's like Ilya Samsonov has been redeemed. He had this unbelievable game he made 16 saves against Seattle but some 10 bell saves and Martin Jones is going the wrong direction and it's all too much and you look at they gave him the Vancouver Canucks and they gave Samsonov you know a flu-ridden Seattle team minus their their best players you know it was set up for samson samson off to find his way back and that's good sitting here today i think a lot of us would say and maybe we will that samson off should probably get the next game but he definitely got handed the the better cards

this weekend among goalies we've been talking about the worm turning with martin jones here for a while yeah it wasn't just one game that's true no it's been kind of trending in this direction three or four goals now for the last little while it gets and i've said we said this from day one that it's like yeah you can lean on this for a little bit and he's gonna have the best numbers in the league for 10 games or whatever but this is gonna turn he's martin jones there's a track record there he's getting older and it's starting to turn but there's a lot of those guys i'm not taking away from what he gave them like he gave them a massive stretch of hockey against some bad teams that they need they're out there they're they're good enough to be in the league and they're good enough to look great in in short spurts but they're not number one goalies no if he right reimer yeah uh ranta

like there's a number of them that you can say will always be able to, but it's not sustainable. This is the thing with a lot of call-up guys. They give you their best for a short stretch, but there's a reason they can't be in every night. Yeah. Jones's last five games, he's given a four, five, four, four, six. Let's go to Sheldon Keefe on Martin Jones.

How would you assess where Jones's game is at? I think Jones has been fine. We've got to do a better job in front of him. Yay. I like that. I like that he's just like, no further questions, Your Honor. Well, Rick Tockett, in between

periods, tells his players, hey, try the back door on the power play yeah just like that two goals yeah i know yeah not his best yeah that's i mean that to me is if the leafs were you know we're talking about light additions to this team the penalty kill is somewhere where you should try to add some guys that can do that yeah giordano is probably past his best before date on the top pk unit and i know you probably feel that same way but jake mccabe been better for them and the pk should probably take on those minutes i don't know

simone benoit can probably handle some of that lilligren's not a natural pk guy to me either so you want to hear about the pk do we want to hear coach on it not really okay i don't need that's fine i mean just win a couple more face-offs and you'll be a lot better peachy keen yeah uh one thing that i thought kind of got underplayed saturday night which which bothered me, was the Tyler Myers swing at John Tavares that almost decapitated him. I mean, that's as vicious a throw as you can throw at a guy who's not in a fight with you. That was a widowmaker.

That was a bomb. Yeah, 100%. The thing that bothered me the most about it is the little noise that followed it. When was it in the game? Was it not at the end of the game? Yeah, it was. Yeah.

It was. And I'm just saying to myself, what if that was Sid Crosby? What if it was Connor McDavid? Like, where would we have been on that topic? Where would we have been? Media-wise or team-wise? Media-wise. Everybody. Players, media,

fans. You thought that was a pretty bad punch-in. I thought it was just... I thought it was a really bad attempt to hurt the captain of your hockey club yeah if you if you don't can't picture it it was he was kind of tied up with someone else tavarez came in to help him out and myers hauled off his face and test of ours is coming in and it glances off the side of his forehead so where would we have been on a topic

of conversation on that particular play if he swung at austin matthews how would you have felt about it i don't think i would feel any different in that in those scrums people throw punches and it's hard to like penalize a guy for you you know, attempted murder in this case. It's not the penalties. It's like you just can't let that go. To me, just the mere fact that because it's Tavares and because we've painted a picture about Tavares that he doesn't get the same respect on other players. But, yeah, I get it. He's not Connor McDavid.

I get that he's not connor mcdavid i get that he's not sydney crosby but he's also the captain of the toronto maple leafs where something like it just it just genuinely asking to me because he wears the c on the jersey today and it's not about whether he deserves it or doesn't deserve it or right it's just, it's just not, it's a bad look to me. So genuinely asking, do you think that like in the newspaper, on sports talk radio, whatever, it should be like, how is this punch allowed to be thrown? Or do you think it's that the team should have decapitated Myers?

Well, listen, I mean, there's different ways that you can turn around and answer anything out in the ice. And that's for the players to determine that not me sitting in front of a mic today, but I just, I think it's another example of teams feeling like they can take more liberties to the Leafs and,

and perhaps feel like there's, there's no consequences. And I'm not, listen, if you want to bring it back to, where's the sandpaper? Where's the snot? Are they soft? I think Myers takes a run

at a soft team by going and almost breaking your captain's face. He was running around the whole night. Do you know? Yarn Crocker, the bench, Krawcheck Riley. Is this tied to Ryan Reeves at all? Ryan Reeves is, Luke Fox had a great article.

Yeah. He's available. He says he's healthy. He's on IR. He doesn't know why he's on IR. It's not to say that, I'm not here to say Ryan Reeves should have been in the lineup. I'm just saying that you haven't solved your problem of teams feeling like they could take a swing like that at a captain and feel like there's fix that for you no no

repercussions that's all i mean i don't know maybe i'm a little over sensitive to it and it's not that big of a deal no it was a bad but i think it's a big deal and well i mean to to varus's credit and i think the fact that it didn't connect is obviously why it wasn't a bigger brouhaha, but it was part of a scrap that was already happening. Like, he's the third man in. He's going in there to support his guy. He's going in there because Morgan went in there.

And let's give credit to both those guys who were physically involved and engaged. Morgan took another cheap shot in front of the net. And he... Morgan's been so good this year. He is no problem, you know, going and confronting. Morgan took another cheap shot in front of the net. Morgan's been so good this year. He is no problem going and confronting Myers, which you should. He was feisty. Which you should. But somehow it just doesn't get the energy up on a hockey club

or a pulse up like it should. That's all. Yeah, I thought that game had good, I don't know, drawing, a lot of energy, a lot of back and forth. So, yeah. Well, that's what happens when the Leafs go out there. The games are always great. By the way, the Leafs had three great games

where the Oilers are like, rivalry night, and the Canucks are like, rivalry night. And I know going into Winnipeg this week, it's going to be like, you know, going back to Jason Spezza and Neil Pionk. It's rivalry time again. I wonder why that is. It's like every night for the Leafs.

It's getting better to beat the Leafs. Getting better. Do you want to... Every team plays like it's their game seven against the Leafs. That's why they... Do you want to go to Samsonov or do you want to stay on Tavares' slump a little bit here? How concerned are you that this is just time of the year where he happens to have one of the worst slumps of his career and he will get back on course to being a solid second line guy producing or is this more well it's definitely

more to me like i don't think this is just super unlucky i had some stats on the broadcast last night about tavar' last eight games, his fall off statistically. It's underlying numbers too. It's cycle chances. It's slot chances. It's shot attempts. All that stuff.

So I think some of it is real. Just don't really know what to do about it, boss. You know? Like put him on the wing and have Nylander as center seems to be the only suggestion. I threw out on the telecast putting him with Marner and Matthews. I like the idea of putting him with Matthews say and having Marner and Nylander

as the wings on a line that can be dynamic together. Or a center on the second line. Who's that? Nylander or Marner. They're both natural centermen. So play those two together and give them someone else. I like that too. I like giving Tavares an option like that. And who moves in with Tavares, Matthews, and Yarncroft?

Is that what you're saying? Well, I'm not saying that, but that's probably the best answer. But the problem is you don't want to use your best guy because you need to be on three lines. So maybe Domi? Yarncroft is curfew. We're having the same conversation. Yarncroft is the fifth best forward by a mile this year.

No, he's the fourth best forward this year. Okay, Jarnkrok swung me. Ten goals this year on every line. PK works hard. That's not what I noticed. I noticed he's getting his nose dirty a lot more. He's a lot feistier. He's maybe the best deal on the team.

He's been really effective for them. I tip my hat to Yarncroke's season. Yeah, he's pretty good. So Matthews is a goal-to-game guy. He's going to want to see Marner disappear. All Marner does is just feed him. Yeah, but I mean, you and I can go in circles on this, but I don't care if he wants that. I don't. I want to have mean, you and I can go in circles on this, but like, I don't care if he wants that.

I don't. I want to have the best hockey team I can have. The best team. We've given him four more years of contract. Please help our hockey team win. Don't care about who you want to play with. So how long does Tavares get on a second line before you got to do something?

I don't know. Remind me to get to that. He's at a point playing with Willie. Probably get into that conversation time. The one thing I do think is Tyler Bertuzzi is your best bet at salvaging a fifth forward who's really can be good, who can really be effective for you. But he can't put a puck in an ocean right now. Which is where I'm going with this.

I think Tavares, you'd be justified in saying, we're going to give Bertuzzi some net front time on PP1. You know, I know that sucks for JT. It's a hockey club, though. We're trying to get this guy going. Let Bertuzzi get some touches, get a goal, get some good juice going, get a little mojo, because you're right. He can't shoot it in from a foot away.

This guy has played with the best players on the team all year. Can't score. All right, let's go to Sheldon Keefe, clip 10 on Tavares' slump. Yeah, no doubt it's going to come for him. But more importantly to me than whatever the goals and assists and points might be, because the production will come, John hasn't cheated for one second. He's not concerned about it.

John is at a point in his career as our captain and as a leader on our team where he knows what's important. He needs to play the right way. He needs to take care of the puck. He needs to have good habits and details. And for a guy that hasn't had the production and is getting questions about it and all these kinds of things, to just stay with it, not cheat, not cheat the system, not extend his shifts, but to do all the details. I think that allows us to be in a position, I think,

to win a game 2-1 like we did tonight. So yeah, I do think the results are going to come, but more importantly to me is that John's setting a great example for our team that it doesn't matter what his individual stats say while he's fighting through it he's not going to cheat the team in the system well that's not a coach about to take away any ice time that's for sure i don't know i've never that's you don't hear that over the top coaching you don't hear a coach coaching a guy i hear all coaching you ever hear uh anyone in boston talk about patrice bergeron like that during the game going yeah well we know he's gonna not take long shifts out there right

he definitely i mean it's hard to be really bad against that seattle team last night but he was definitely better last night had to puck around him more thought he had some few chances kind of forced in a bit i thought trying to find one because he was missing or whatever but the thing was like them beating teams that are a bit lower like they all those guys look great against yeah i did eighth place teams that clip was eye-opening to me that he went out of and i feel the exact same way about you you know how long he's talking he's talking to him yeah he's not talking to us he's not talking to the fans nope who's he talking to in that clip him john saying you're not going to cheat the game for who's he talking to in that clip him john saying you're not going to cheat the game for us you're going to stay with it you're going to whatever

like it feels like you're a laundry list of things that you know but i mean kind of like it has been a bit of cheating i'd say well i think maybe he's aware that it's starting to happen he's going listen all one thing we know is he's not going to start doing that all goal scores cheat. It's just about how close can you make it to look like you're not. And the more goals you get, the more you're allowed to cheat. When you're not getting any goals, the coach starts to say, we know he's not going to cheat. Robertson?

Robertson, yeah. Let's talk about Nick Robertson yeah let's talk about uh nick robertson because uh here's an here's another one here's another kippers clipper where i think sheldon's hoping that nick robertson can hear i thought nick was excellent tonight uh that's what i was hopeful for hopeful for with both he and timmons coming in this has been not just a long trip but it's been a tough stretch of games here for us for the last while, so it was important to get some fresh legs and energy in here today. With Nick in particular, you know he's going to

give you everything he has. At a time when we haven't used him on the trip, he's going to have more in the tank than anyone else. With it being so tight a game, it was a little harder to get him out on the ice. His minutes probably reflected that, but a little harder to get him out on the ice. His minutes probably reflected that, but I loved

every second that he played on the ice. He did a tremendous job, not just because he scored the goal, but how he worked and how he managed the game and managed the puck. Okay, so the sense out there as of a few hockey clubs that I've spoken to

is that Brad Tree Living is not interested in giving up a first round pick or the two kids in junior or Matthew Nyes. So what are you left with at the trade deadline? Would Nick Robertson be one of them? I would imagine so. Yeah. Yeah, what do they have for

picks so they've got a third fourth yeah they got some late round picks yeah altered late round picks so um yeah how do you you trade them right now best game of the year if you sort the the leafs team by goals for per game the goals per game he's fifth yeah the four stars the nick roberts yeah i don't know what you could get by himself but you could package him with something to get some help on the blue line but it it won't be chris tan of right the flames aren't like nick robertson's gonna fix our problem it won't be a Chikrin or a Hannafin. Can it be no-name brand Hannafin? I don't know who that is. I don't know who that is.

Can you find me some discount version of one of these guys? Seeler, Walker. Seeler, Walker. There's a possibility if Nick can continue to show that he can score. Like, what's he got now under 10 minutes? Yeah, under 10 minutes last night. He's got seven goals in 27 games. I think that's one more than Tyler Bursucci.

So you assume that there's 31 teams that can say, I don't know what Nick is, and I don't know if he's going to help me win in the playoffs, but can he score 15 or 20 goals for me next year to help me get into the playoffs? Just help me get in there. If I'm the Flyers, he's the perfect guy. Yeah.

Take a Flyer on him? Yeah. I mean, you're already overachieving. If you want to give up one of those guys that you mentioned with Seeler or Walker or whatever, you just added Drysdale. You're looking for more guys that you can build around. You take a shot on him. He clicks with the right guy like for me blackhawks too it's like yeah or the sharks you know it's like i so he doesn't play in the top six here so i think that's a big

reason i think yeah go ahead no i was just gonna say i think it's a given that you know it's it's Robertson and another player. Can you sell Robertson and Steve, who's in the minors, right? He's been up a couple of times. He's not a regular on the Leafs right now. Or, you know, Holmberg now has drawn a lot of attention. And where are you with Pontus uh pontus like he's hot too as far as true value on a guy who's got another year on his contract next year at 800 000 he's a lot more attractive than he was yeah four weeks ago 100 you know there's there's an interesting thing in the nhl where like

so to me nick robertson and i feel kind of like this about max domi but we'll pretend i didn't say that i feel like he's not probably not going to play in your top six as an offensive guy like if you're if you're a stanley cup contender you don't see him on colorado who's winning a cup or vegas who's winning a cup or tampa bay who's winning cup you can't picture him on any of those teams but he can score in this league if you played him 82 games i am confident he'll score you 25 goals he could do it next year but to me it's not in the top six on a good team so it is going to be some 24th but it's still the nhl and you still need goals so he could have value to a team that's trying to get some offense i agree with that you know trying to the standings, get it in contention, see if he can get close enough for things

to go right. He can help someone. Now, how do you feel that the Leafs may not pick this year to go after a frontline defense? Who's available on defense? The biggest names on defense. You think

Leaf fans right now are expecting Tree Living to go out there and do that that i don't think this is a particularly loved version of the toronto maple leafs if i'll be totally honest with you i think a lot of people are pretty would be pretty understanding of not going all in like i just you know you can only get the cupboard so bare fellas at some point here you know you like you can make some trades around the fringes but like is tan have gonna make you a cup contender? Like, with your questions and net and everything else that we've talked about, I just, I don't think that Leaf fans

are expecting them to go all in. I really don't. You know, they're, what's funny about this team. I'm a Knights fan now, so I don't really talk to any Leaf fans, so. It's not, you know, there is a way, because of the elite talent on this team, there's a way you can see it break right

that they are a cup contender. That Joe Walcombe's back and he's healthy and he's as good as he was before he was hurt so now you've got a very good goalie and you trade for one or two d and that patches your holes mccabe's been way better for me he's a valuable guy morgan's being awesome another good d or two and then you've got your elite scores like i can do it i can get there in my head where this is a legitimate cup contender. It just takes everything going right. Yeah. So, how much do you want to bet on rolling the dice, you know,

double sixes ten times in a row or whatever the math is? And a couple of their guys that are reforming in their – I wouldn't know if – sorry, Dolmy's really underperforming. But Bertuzzi's way underperforming. But I think he's one of those guys. Dolmy's four goals in 45 games. Yeah, but he's, I don't know. I've just gotten more of what I expected out of Dolmy, I guess.

But Bertuzzi was so good in the playoffs last year. So maybe once it flips, he turns it on. Dolmy's been a good playoff guy. Like, I just, maybe it's a different type of team. Or maybe they stink. Maybe you've come to the conclusion that if Bertuzzi is going to be this player, he's not doing it with us. He's not.

Can I move him? At the end of the day, Holmberg's giving me more than Bertuzzi anyways. Slide him in there for 800 grand next year. Yeah. It's just not for me. Is there value in Bertuzzi still that a team can go, he's not doing it for you but i saw what he did in boston and i'm gladly take a second rounder for him it's just

problem is you need a guy this year you need a left winger that you know you're way too thin without him and i know it's crazy to say thin but like you just he occupies a spot on the left side you just need a guy who can be good what is scary with bertuzzi is he's had his 30 goal year he before that he had 221 goal years in like 82 games so he wasn't like an offensive dynamo and otherwise i see him struggling too in his own zone i do slow and he's not he's got heavy feet right now yeah the leafs have played a lot of hockey lately and and you can kind of see it, right? Like, this is not the most dynamic outside of Matthews guy right now that, you know, from a lot of guys.

Okay, we're going to take a quick break here, and when we come back, we'll continue our conversation on the Leafs as they head in towards a back-to-back with the Winnipeg Jets before breaking for All-Star Weekend. In the second hour, Mike Rupp will join us. Plenty of news around the National Hockey League.

And some positive stuff after the break, too. What happened? Corey Perry, not a Toronto Maple Leaf. We're going to talk about that after the break. And also the Islanders with Patrick Waugh. We'll get into that with Rupp at the top of the hour. So much more to go on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Do not

go away. Everything Raptors before and after the games. The Raptor Show with Will Liu. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's Nick Kiprios,

Justin Bourne, and Sammy, Mr. Vegas. Oh, yeah. That's what they call me. Mickey. Mr. Vegas. Are you getting any messages at all saying get the Knights hat off? No. No one said that. Nothing? I personally love this hat. It's very nice.

Love the shimmer. I will say, their team store was insane. The things you could buy in there. You could buy, like, frilled jackets. It was unlike anything I've ever seen. What did they charge you for a hat like that? I think it was $35. American.

Yeah, so $50. So $85, maybe. At least. It was pretty reasonable, honestly. But, I mean, you're not getting it cheaper here. Yeah, it was reasonable. Okay, one of the biggest stories around the National Hockey League today, Corey Perry signing and now a member of the Edmonton Oilers.

In the second hour, we're going to go into greater detail on this. So I will just throw it from a Maple Leaf perspective here. Sammy, how disappointed is Leaf nation that watching cory perry reinvent himself as one of the better role players on a hockey club uh didn't end up in toronto yeah i i wouldn't say that i've gotten a ton of messages about it today surprisingly i haven't really heard from a lot of people on it which surprised me considering when he first was a free agent everyone was pretty excited about the potential of it no you were thought about it you were a lot of people were and i have to say that you look at the least bottom six and you can't lie to yourself and say there's a pretty clear need with the lease where a guy like

that a playoff proven guy where you would want to have him in there, but on the other side, and we're going to get more into this in the National Hour, I watched that press conference today, and I would be lying to you if I told you it didn't feel a little dirty. So I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth here. I think I can't completely kill the Oilers because I would have wanted

him on the Leafs, but at the same time, it's like, I don't know. So I'm kind of stuck in between, fellas. Is he going to really help? Yeah, he time it's like i don't know so i i'm kind of stuck in between fellas is he gonna really help uh yeah he'll probably help i don't know you know i'm not 100 sold that he's going to be as much of a difference maker as people think he is you know he hasn't played for two months two months at 30 whatever he is you know on the ice five times a week he said during the time so yeah you know how it is you can practice all you like it's not the same as he's got plenty of time all he really needs to do is get himself ready for the playoffs yeah for sure i i just i don't i'm not as sold

that this is going to be a hockey slam dunk but it probably will be better than they let adam ernie go who's a pretty good player but nothing special okay no cory perry but also no ryan reeves to be found for a sheldon keith to find different places or areas to put him in so what is the deal here in terms of his availability or is he not available based on still being on a long-term injury reserve i do just want to note for people on the perry thing we're going to talk more about the well-roundedness of this conversation you know that was a pretty quick hockey two cents so there is more on that coming um yeah the reeves thing's interesting luke fox talked to him and and reeves is like i'm healthy i you know i've been ready to

play for weeks and you know he's still on IR. And so I do wonder. Here's the quote. Okay. Yeah, I've been ready for a couple weeks now. That's a question for them. I'm not in the rooms in those conversations. I'm not going to speculate anything.

Just stay ready, and if I get called upon, I don't. I'll get my work in. But I do think that the Leafs are at some risk there of, look, you know, you can't keep a healthy player on IR. Like the PA would not love that, I would think.'s got to get I don't know I mean I don't know we've we've seen teams manipulate this thing before and how do you stop it like oh our player thinks he's healthy we're the doctors. Well, yeah, I think there's a really fair,

but when the player says I'm healthy, you know, and the team disagrees, someone needs to follow up on that. So I think there's a game this Wednesday. They'll probably sort it out before then. I don't know. But by sorting it out, that means someone has to go on waivers, right? Like he's another contract.

Is it a foregone conclusion that the way holmberg stepped up at times you love mcmahon nick robertson had the game of his life where is this guy ever gonna fit back into the lineup do you think brad tree living after 20 some games i don't know how many ryanves has played exactly, 21, 21 games, he'll admit a three-year contract is a bust. That's a pretty big statement in January when you just got the job. But I think they're going to waive him. Kipper's right, though. It's like, where does he play?

He's just going to continue to sit. Maybe if he clears, he can go down and play with the Marlies and get back up to shape or whatever. Listen, this is... What do you call and get back up to shape or whatever. Listen, this is... That's probably where it starts. This is... What do you call it? A conditioning stint or whatever.

Oh, yeah. This is Wayne Simmons all over again. Except it's not... Wayne Simmons wasn't a three-year contract, was it? Yeah, was Wayne willing to hang around? I'm not talking about contracts. I'm talking about a guy that they refused to put in the lineup and what do you do with them so this was the difference wayne simmons wayne simmons refused to play another game in the

american hockey league and with his career i couldn't blame him yeah but he was an excellent nhl player for a long time and you, good on the Leafs for respecting that, but it ultimately did nothing for him moving forward, and the Leafs drew their line in the sand saying, hey, listen, you don't want to play, don't play, and could factor into putting you back in or not later on, we don't know, but you're not playing here. And that's all that's going on right now i think with ryan reeves yeah

and it's like i don't know i mean he's got a three-year deal so what you wave him you put him in the minors you get to write off 950 of it if i'm not mistaken one yeah 1.15 okay so what are you left with 200 grand yes 200 grand big deal well it's not no deal but you're right it's not it's not no deal yeah but it's not a big deal. It's not. People get caught up on the feeling that you sign him to a three-year deal. So what? It's just cash for them.

It is just cash, but it's also like it is a contract towards your 50 contracts, and that's annoying. And it's $200,000, which, you know, it's just a little bit annoying. And it's just, you know, like it's another guy you can't invite to camp. And it's just annoying. I get it. I get it. And he just signed it.

And it's not like he's, you know. Gave you a good year. No, he's not Mr. Quiet Guy. Yeah. He's not like the guy that's like going to go out there and not say anything. He's already talking to Luke Fox, telling him that he's pissed he's not playing. How do you think he's going to say to old Luke when he goes down? Yeah.

So, yeah, that's TBD. But it does feel like they're going to say to old luke when he goes down yeah so yeah that's uh tbd but it does feel like and i was fired i can't sit here and say that i was not excited about this signing i feel like an idiot grab him i wonder if anyone would say hey we need this element in our on our team you know like the blackhawks want to protect bedard or whatever for a couple years while he's developing and they're losing i don't know. I don't think he did himself any favors by coming out and fighting in two out of three games. Yeah, and then not for – The first two and then never again.

And then not again. Yeah. Or at least making noise about it or at least creating a bit of a different feel for the organization. He was supposed to come in and give them a different feel. And it just didn't happen. You know what I think is hard is I think these guys, like Reeves is a smart guy.

I think these guys get older and they're still tough, but they don't want to fight all the time. No one would want to fight all the time. You're 37 years old, 38, but that's the job. You're right. And then you want to have your reputation carry the weight of whatever you're trying to portray. I come in pretty hot.

But the thing is, I mean, you can't, there's, you know, having an image to portray, but you just can't play. Yeah. Like he's just 11 in his 21 we saw we saw it him playing like you it was a good shift if he didn't get scored on yeah let's uh let's get in samson off before we change hours here all right is that okay yeah uh i have nothing else to add except best and by far uh the look that he had a good portion of last season. How's that?

I mean, some unbelievable saves. You know, going post to post and not necessarily like the desperation type that we, you know, because he's over pushing, just a really good game in a game that would have been hard because he only saw 15, 16, 17 bucks.

I thought he had, he found the center of his net is the best way i can describe last night what i saw yeah if he's over pushing he can't get those toes across yeah on the comebackers all right let's get uh no let's get sheldon in on what he saw from samsonov confident prepared i would say for whatever was going to come at him you know and uh he didn't get a lot of work here tonight, but that sometimes is even harder because you've got long gaps between us.

You've got to really stay focused. Yeah, he was great. You look at that third period save that he made. It was his first shot of the period that he had faced. I don't know how much. It's over 10 minutes of game time and no shots, and then you've got to make a big save. So I thought he was excellent.

A few huge saves in the second period as well. So tremendous job for him. Really happy for him. Obviously it's been a tough road for him. He's worked extremely hard. And as I had alluded to before the game, to me it had felt all week. You know week like he was back to

himself. Today was certainly a good indication of that. Can he be Stu Skinner and find it? Have a turning point where all of a sudden he's just good again? I need about five more of those.

Yeah. We're fixed here. Can I tell you something? Yeah. You can get five. You're still going to be nervous in March. Absolutely. You know me very well, Kipper. You're bang on. Or in the first round. Yes. So it doesn't really... The relationship is definitely frayed.

He can build blocks, which I thought he did last night, but there will always be that seed of doubt i think i said last night and if i didn't i i was thinking it that you know in the backup role it's just so much easier to trust martin jones who you know such a calm big pro like you just think he'll go in there if you need him to just face the puck and do his job, that it's really hard. Samsonov will have to be really good for a good stretch for me to be like, it should be Wol and Samsonov.

It's going to be hard to get back there for me. When Wol comes back, I think after seeing what the people have seen from Martin Jones, he'll probably get claimed. Oh yeah, really tough to put him through waivers. That's true. I doubt he would get through again. So, you know, it's the big decision looming with the goaltending

when Wall gets back. At least you were happy for him. I think we saw Willie Nylander's reaction after the game. He seems like a well-liked guy. He's been through a lot. Finally, some smile. Pro sports, congratulations. Congratulations congratulations you got a win against the crappy kraken well once once again i'll be the first one to say that every time i go this way

uh sheldon keith goes the other way with the goaltending yeah but he has to play now samson off wednesday you can't carry all that momentum and have him look as close as he did last year and not carry that in and go back to the goalie right now who's exhausted in Martin Jones. Yeah. It makes no sense. 100%. It's got to be. Got to be. No, it's from February 1st to the 3rd, all the stars are in Toronto for the NHL All-Star Weekend.

We'll be giving away tickets to the different events and episodes today until January 26th. Today we have tickets for the NHL All-Stars competition featuring 12 NHL All-Stars competing in a series of challenges like Rogers NHL Hardest Shot for a chance to take home a prize of $1 million. To enter for a chance to win, text in today's code word MILLION to 59590 and we'll have another code word in tomorrow's episode so be sure to tune in that code word again fellas is million two toronto maple leafs i believe are representing the team in the skills contest i believe it's matthews and neilander so that should be uh you know a couple of guys with skills 12 in total yeah i think we had a kind of a description of what fans could expect in our show last night. Yeah. I got to be honest with you.

I wasn't paying attention. Can I give you a follow-up test and see how it went? No, you. You're the brains of this whole operation. Not me. There's six events, and the players will choose four to go in. They will collect five points for first place.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Collect points, four events, then move on. I guess it would be Matthews going to accuracy in. They will collect five points for first place. Collect points for events, then move on. Matthews is going to accuracy shooting. All I know is Matthews said he's not going in fastest. This is why I have you on the show. Willie should go fastest. Because you're smart. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. Mike Rupp will join us and we

will get into the Corey Perry signing with the Edmonton Oilers. Don't go away.