Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Wrapping Up the Road Trip in Style

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with some NFL thoughts following Divisional Round Weekend before discussing the Toronto Maple Leafs' overtime win over the Winnipeg Jets. They break down the game and get into Oliver Ekman-Larsson's strong offensive impact, the Leafs' defensive volatility, William Nylander's injury, and what it means for his Olympic status. Then, they weigh in on Scott Laughton's promotion to the second line, Max Domi's fit alongside Auston Matthews, and what the Rasmus Andersson trade means for the Leafs. Later, The Athletic's Michael Russo joins the show (31:58) to discuss what the Leafs can expect on Monday against the injury-riddled Minnesota Wild, his impressions of Quinn Hughes' impact so far, and whether Bill Guerin's next move will be a big splash at centre.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.

Live and in color on SportsDet 360. 590, the fan in Toronto and streaming, always on SportsDet Plus. If you can't catch us live and in color, there's always Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and our appreciation out there to YouTube for all those great chats. And if they like us, they give us a thumbs up or half a thumb if they just like me and they are bothered by the two of you. Yeah, we'll take a half. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shills, Derek Brandeo, and Ethan Ja Jaja Gabor with you for the next two hours as we go into a leaf hour edition.

Game day, Toronto Maple Leafs in the Minnesota Wild tonight, puck drop 730, Scotia Bank Arena. In the meantime, plenty of action on the weekend. Sammy, a little flippage between. NFL and hockey on the weekend? My first, I do notes for when I do Leafs talk, so I just write stuff down so I can remember to look at it. My first period notes for Leifes and Jets were 35 good, Leaves look flat, goal bills.

Those are my three notes I wrote for the first period. I had the second screen. I had the Leafs on second screen, bills on the big screen until the end of that game, obviously. But yeah, I mean, one of the best sports weekends of the year. It was. The divisional round for the NFL. And it really, you know, outside of the two, there's a couple of duds in there, right?

Like the Seahawks killed the 49ers and the Patriots Texans game. It's just the overtime games. The two, the Bills game and the Bears game, the two teams that actually lost, were fantastic. Just fantastic games with Twits. Those are like game sevens, right? Overtime. Guys, I got kids that are 9 and 5. I was sledding and skating and going to hockey practice.

but don't know what that's like. One parent can do that. My wife was out of town. I was the parent. Yeah, but I just, I am sick for the bills and their fans. It's just, they can't just lose in a normal fashion. They have to lose the most heartbreaking fashion possible on a controversial call that should have been a catch,

but it's not a catch. Does it have a name yet? I don't know, the non-catch. And then the pass interferences and then Bo NICs, breaks his ankle and the second last play of the game like it's just it's crazy Alan doesn't have a moment anytime during the regular season like he had in the dying seconds of the second quarter he used to he used to in his first couple years he used to be a real space cadet he kind of dialed it in it's like a bozo gene that kicked in leave live to fight another day no question take your

I felt awful I felt awful for him got crying at the podium that was tough to see man tough to see. That was tough to see. And interesting, you know, I actually wouldn't mind getting your thoughts on him crying at the podium because I know we've had a thing here where you don't like to cry.

It's uncontrollable, right? It's just who he is. Listen, Mark Messier's my hero. Yeah. And nobody balls like him. And you're not ripping on Mark. Nope. And you're not ripping on Josh.

It's just, it's just the way they are. They're built that way. They're emotional. Yeah. And I think he probably was coming to the realization that, you know, there wasn't exactly going against Mahomes and Burrough and Lamar. Like if he wins that game, he's going to...

Just wasn't equipped with the best surrounding cast of his time in Buffalo either, you know? Goes to Foxborough to take on the young ups. Like, they could win that game. They could beat anybody in the NFC. Like, it was right there for him. Yeah. So, I know. We should go.

Okay, we're going to move it on. But just my last thing is this is a sports in general question. Like, does it feel like it was, it was, Was a knee-jerk reaction to fire their coach, or was it just something that was in the making over the last, I don't know, eight, nine years? You know, that's a long time. In hockey, where coaches get two and a half years,

it doesn't seem like it's a knee-jerk reaction. You got enough cracks with a good team you don't get through. I just, I hear a lot of people from Buffalo saying would have liked to see the GM go as well if you're going to do start over. I just think coaching in the NFL is super volatile and guys lose their jobs after one year all the time. And for him to be there as long as he did without, any Super Bowl appearances or anything with Josh Allen.

You liked it. I did because it's just, hey, you had your chance? Time for a new voice. Time for a different philosophy. Whatever it takes, you've had your ample opportunities. You move on. Sheldon Keefe out, Craig Barubi in for the bills. There you go.

If Josh Allen doesn't turn the ball over four times, he's probably still got a job today. Okay. More importantly, on our Leaf Hour edition, Max Domi scores in overtime. The Leafs rally from a deficit of 3-1. Yeah, they jet scored early in the third and they come back, score two, tie it winning in the overtime.

And what almost feels daily from here on in is almost like must wins just to keep up with the Joneses because whatever we see out of the Leafs, somehow some way gets answered by the majority of the teams in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa, Montreal, three-point game. Ottawa, Detroit the next day, three-point game. I guess just you got to keep up with the Joneses

And they did To me that was a pretty good effort Top to bottom I mean you know they I thought they took it to Winnipeg I know they were down in the game And had to chase it a bit at the end But got some good effort from guys and

And they brought their energy back up For this one to close out A tough road trip Yeah and was it 17 shots in the third for Toronto Was it a week ago today Where you had Sitting in that very seat

That they had to get five of eight points on that trip for it to be successful. And going into that third period, I got to tell you, I didn't expect them to have that effort. Look like three of eight. And that Jets team, it kind of looked like the Jets to me. Yeah, they won four in a row going into that.

They looked up for the game. They looked like they were, you know, into it. It was a, and they kind of just took it away from them. The third of surprise. You're not, you're not coming back on them last year. I just, yeah, I thought they looked really good for the most. Better, better, for sure, from what they've been. They're coming a bit.

They're, yeah. That holes dug way too deep. I agree that the hole's too deep. I don't think they're going to get back into the playoffs, but I thought they looked like the winning. Yeah, I don't think they're a 30th place team or if they're 32nd like they were a week ago. All right, let's go to Craig Barrowby for our first Clippers.

Kippers Clippers, Clippers, Clippers, Clippers, Clippers, Whippers. Craig Bruby on the overview of the game. Yeah, no, he stuck with it. Good character win. Obviously a great way to finish off the road trip. a tough trip, but I liked our road trip overall. Here's my

idea. He was mad. Here's my idea. Let's get, you can generate voices now. Let's generate one AI, Barubi clip per show, and if a listener can guess which one was the AI clip, they can win some sort of prize. That just spooks me and freaks me right out.

But like, that was one, that was AI for sure, right? That was just a Peruvie, like, formulaic. There's no way that's real. Here's what I'll say. After the game, I've listened to so much audio from him. And I've really know kind of the beats of his he was pissed off

because he MFed those the refs going off the ice even after they won and yeah if you play there was a couple, yeah if you play the clip three on the PK you can hear the in the tone of his voice. Clip three. Excellent. Especially

you know that kill at the end that's huge wasn't a fan of the two of the calls tonight. But you know I thought our PK like all year it's been really strong part of our game. They did a great job and provided some opportunities the other way too. So there you go. To give some context for him being boring after the game, he was pretty pissed off.

I'm not, I don't like beating up on the officials, but I'm seeing some weak calls lately too. Yeah. Overall. Guys are mad. And hey, let's just give Scott Lawton a little bit of love. His reaction to the Valardi head snap back was an all-time. Not all time, but it is a Leafs moment for the year. I think a lot of Leafs fans like having someone.

I totally agree with you on that. And he came close to pulling off, you know, Lardy and then Taves has to come in and kind of make sure that one of their best players is protected. It's great because he went back at Taves. Like, oh, you want it to? Love the energy off of it. He just like, I'm not.

Three minutes left at the end of a road trip. I love that player. I love the guy. Yeah, no, it was really, really good. You want to go to Scott Lotton now, or you want to dive into a few other things? I do want to note just before we move on, you know, this road trip, the five, you know, just a big picture, the five of eight points they got, think how close it was to being three points. Nathan McKinnon and overtime in Colorado rung one off the elbow of the crossbar.

Remember that? Split the bottom two. And then Taves on that penalty kill that they're talking about hit one that you thought for sure was in. You know, that could have been two points. They're hanging in. They're scratching, they're crawling. They're getting some puck luck to your point. I mean, and it went the other way too,

but like there were moments where it was like, this thing, they're still alive, thankfully. It just sitting here looking at the standings. It just really hurts. The start of the season really hurts. They were so bad for so long. I don't think the Leafs are particularly, like I don't think they're necessarily a team

that's a 12 of 13, every 13 games going to have points, clearly. but they're not a bubble playoff team if you look at this Eastern Conference. Like if they had a had a normal start to the year, where they're just... Or even not a stinky one. That's what I mean. Like a couple games above 500 start to the year as opposed to what it was.

They'd be in a much better spot. And they're in an absolute dog fight, boys. They are. Dog fight. Which includes coming off this road trip into a five-game homestand, which includes Minnesota tonight, Detroit, Vegas. and Colorado. And Buffalo.

That's Tuesday. And okay, we'll add Buffalo in the mix as well. It went every night. So that's just, again, how important Saturday night was. So outside of the obvious, what's stuck out for you? Well, we do have Ruby on the road trip. Do you want to hear him give his summary there, clip four? Yeah.

Yeah, let's just put a bowl on that with clip four. Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's a, again, that's a tough, that's a tough trip we're on. We're seven seconds away from getting six. So, extremely good trip for the group. That's the glass half full way looking at it. Yeah, that's true. They were seven seconds away from getting six, but a couple inches away from getting three.

I guess the other observation for me then is Oliver Ekman-Larsons, fantastic. Yeah. I mean, this guy's making $3.5 million, and he's played 25 minutes against Winnipeg, one goal, two assists, plus three, four. Plus four. He's turned into their best defenseman. I mean, he takes this pass and does not hesitate. Cablamma.

He doesn't show off that offensive pedigree as much, obviously, anymore. Like, he's having a good offensive year, but he used to be one of the more dynamic offensive defense in the league. When he was in Arizona, he was up there with the best. Like, he was paid like the best. Right? He was making, I think, if I'm not mistaken, 8 plus. And that was, what, four years ago?

Yeah, maybe more. And I don't know what happened. They never made the playoffs. He got tired, I guess. Of being there, I don't know what happened. But then he goes to Vancouver and it doesn't even hit there. Yeah. And then he ends up in Florida where he kind of gets a second wave

as a different feel for him, right? Because there he was, I don't know, second, third pair. I think, too, there's, he's one of those guys that has changed who he is as a hockey player. I don't, you know, I think he was a skilly, power play guy. Fun fact about this run from Ekman Larson, and this is from a Jonas Segal article,

this is, he's one point off his career high in five on five points in whole season. One point off his career high. He's at 23 already, 24 is his career high in five on five points. used to get a lot of points on the power play. But this is, you know, and he's only played 48 games this year. He's going to pass it by a lot. There is a comfort zone. By the way, he signed an eight year,

$8.25 million a contract with the Arizona Paiotes. Yeah. I don't think he's that comfortable being the guy. The guy. Yeah. And if he can quietly come in underneath a layer and there was not huge expectations when the Leaf signed him to be,

to be that Norris trophy kind of, Big boy. He goes down to Florida. He doesn't have to be the man down there. Wins the Stanley Cup. Parlay's that into what the Leafs are. But he's in a comfort zone right now with minimal expectations. Everything's a bonus with him.

Yeah, yeah. Can I ask you totally off the cuff, random question? Do you think there's anything to the idea that the Swedish manner is well equipped to handle the Toronto market? Like I'm just thinking of some of their best players. The Willie does well. Salming was a legend. Sundin's one of their biggest names.

Ekman Larson's having a good time. Like, is there anything to these guys who are just like, I don't really care. I'm just here to play. They seem a little bit more. I don't know. Is there anything to it? I mean, there's an undeniable connection between Sweden and the lease.

And I don't know what that is. Holmberg was awesome here. Until they cut them. It's just great for Tim. I don't know. I do believe that there's a manner about the Swedish I play with. There's a mannerism there that is a little bit. on the laid back side, they're typically really great teammates.

Yes, people love that they're just. And then that kind of parlays into the media too. They're accessible. They look you in the eye. They don't hide. And all of that can buy you time with the media. They're less likely to kind of rip on you a little bit. I mean, that's goodwill.

And I've seen it work in this town. It's interesting. Such a question. Just a random thought. But one of them's got to also help the Leafs win a Stanley Cup, right? That would be nice too. I would love that. Do you make anything of the fact, I guess this is useful or useless,

that the Leafs have had the second most third period rallies and the most blown third period leagues in this year? Useful or useless? What does that mean? Okay, okay, I can give you something on that here. Yes, it does. mean something to me. They have very good offense and very bad defense.

Okay. There we go. They do. So Anthony Petrilli wrote a good article. One of the, here I'm going to read a line from him. Leefs are second league in five-on-five goals so far this season. And they're the only team in the top ten that have actually been outscored at five-on-five. So they score a pile.

That is strange. Isn't that? And so the next line, not helping matters that the Leaves play Morgan Riley a ton over their 12-game hot streak. Riley is averaging about 21 minutes per game and has been on for 20 goals against while getting outscored by 8. Oh my God. Only other guy who's closest,

Philippe Myers, who's been outscored by 5. So Riley is on the age for 20 goals against over this hot streak and is minus 8 over that time. So this to me answers the question. He's one of your most important guys, if he's 27 minutes a night, he's on the ice, he can help you score, can't help you defend. Things happen when he's out there both ways.

I don't know. they might need better defending at the deadline. Like if you're going to add someone, I don't know if you can just grab skill as much as I want them to have more skill. That's, I mean, that's a really telling number. I actually do think the Pontus Holmberg thing hurts. I was thinking about it last night.

I know that's silly and everyone's going to be like, ah, he's nothing. It's like, God, he was so good defensively. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. I got it. You're preaching to the choir.

I got no answer. I have no idea why. and ultimately it's Craig Bruby and his staff, why he can't lock it down. He's got a clip on where their defense has improved here, and I don't think it has. Okay, let's have a listen. 12, please.

A few different areas, I think our rush defense has improved tremendously. You know, our gaps by our D and our forwards getting back above things. I mean, that's, to me, has been the biggest area of improvement. and I think in our D zone, we're just, we're killing more plays and not spending as much time in our zone and defensively, just with numbers around the puck and winning those battles and getting out of our zone. There you go.

You sure about that? They have been better on rush chances in the past five games. What a drop. Oh, my God. You should have a bit? Okay. Injury stuff. Willie.

Yeah, this one is, I guess it was, he had it earlier. They thought they got to it. And now he's back. And with the Olympics coming up here, boys. Do you want to play clip seven here? That is, that's a tough one right here to deal with. Let's play the clip from Barubei on William Daylander. Lower body groin.

Still, you know, I don't know how long timeline will be for him. when he feels good enough to get on the ice and he goes out there and skates and it feels good, then, you know, I expect him to be back fairly quick then. But until then, I'm not sure when he's going to be on the ice. Outside of taking a billboard out on Dundas Square, they can't be more forthright on injuries. This is incredible. Like, it's so nice to know.

I wonder why. Yeah, but it is. Hey, we're taking full credit for that. Yes, we are. I'm telling you right now, our show is taking full credit for it. I'll argue anybody. We drove the bus. It has done to do with anything.

Great drop. I agree that we are. However, it's just, have you pulled a groin before? Have you? Yes, of course. It's brutal. Like, and you don't really know and you can kind of tweak it. And so I'm a little bit more understanding for them being like,

we're just, it's tough to know when he's going. going to be ready. Could he just play for two minutes, get two points and leave the game every night? Well, that's the thing. If it's game, whatever the playoffs, you definitely say, all right, well, can we do this? But no sense to do it now. What is tough is I've heard people being like, does that mean he came back too soon because you got hurt?

What do you play? How many games? Three games? Yeah. From coming back to going out again? He played Colorado. I think Colorado. No, Colorado is the second game back.

He played Vancouver on Saturday, Colorado, Utah, got hurt in Vegas. It was the fourth game back. So you get four games. And I don't think you get to say that it was too. too soon anymore. Like he was back functioning and playing well, playing very well. So I give him credit for wanting to play. Like if he is a little bit, like we always are worried about them keeping guys out too long.

The fact that he wanted to play and he's out there pushing it when he's maybe not perfect, I respect it. And he's playing well. So he had missed zero games in the previous eight seasons. Really? Seven seasons. To injury. To injury.

Yes. So what do you do? You bubble wrap him here. You let him play a few more games to prove that he's good. to go over and play in the Olympics for Sweden or just shut it down? Here's the thing. Here's the thing. If you're doing what's right for the Leafs, this is a no-brainer.

That's the perfect time to let him get well and make a push and you're paying him 11 and a half to be a leaf. But at the same time, you respect the person who this is probably one of their lifelong dreams. So, I mean, there's the hockey side, which is a no-brainer. Then there's managing the person. How much does Willie want to go? And if you're going to argue about who is the face of the team for Sweden, is he their, like, the biggest star in their team? Like, I guess it's Carlson and, you know, there's other guys on that team that,

but he's their probably the biggest star in their team. And God, that's unlucky. Oh, did look sore here. See, I'm totally with you. I'm just scared we've gone so far to the other side now where it's almost going to be. I don't know if the right word's acceptable, but it will be just the cost of doing business

of associating ourselves now with the Olympics, and this is a big deal to the players, and now he gets equal bill on the Toronto Maple Leafs and representing his country, and he's willing to take that chance. And season ticket holders and leaf fans and everybody that wants so desperately to see this team make the playoffs

and take a run at it, we'll have to just eat that. You know, I get the points you make on this Olympic stuff. Like I understand that, you know, the league is all letting the players do this. They've agreed to do it. The players have risked a lot and put up a lot, right? That was a bargaining chip they gave the other side. The players have given up a lot to be able to do this. Bad negotiations.

Well, whatever you think of that, That shows how important it is to them. I know it is. It was. That just validates that fact. So I know that from a pragmatic standpoint, it doesn't make sense for him to play. But there is emotional stakes here too. And I mean, I've.

I'd love to hear Willie Talk of Mist any reporters listening. But I've, I mean, I can't. I've talked about how badly I want best on best hockey. And if it was a guy that was really important to Team Canada, I'd want them to play. So I can't talk it to both sides of my mouth. What if it was a leaf? Yeah. Definitely.

You've Braden Point played for the Leafs right now. You'd be like you'd want him to play for Canada? Yeah, for sure. Of course I would. I mean, I care deeply about Team Canada's success and I would want a guy that's going to go there and be good. I get why he'd want to go and I wouldn't ever fault him for pushing it to go. It's also great.

You won't, eh? No. If he goes there and reagravates it or something? I can't sit here and talk about how badly I've wanted best on best for the whole time we've done this show and then we finally get it. I'm like, well, we better be careful. He doesn't play any games before he goes. It'd be concerning, but, like, he's the face of their team.

The tough part with that is it looks like you're skipping NHL games to rest up for the Olympics. Definitely. Tough. The perception of it will not be good. Just from a business point of view, like, we're talking about a guy that could make the difference between making tens of millions of dollars in a playoff scenario or zero to them. Sure. If they miss playoffs by a point or two and he takes three games off

pre-Olympics to rest up for the Olympics or something It's going to stock. And boy, listen, my opinion will not be a common one, especially with Neelander. Yeah. Because he's already a lightning rod in this market. I do feel the wins of drama for Willia blowing here. How many games pre-Olympics do we need for it to not be fishy?

Yeah, like if he plays three, four games prior to, No, no problem, right? He's back. He's playing. He's contributing. But that's in like a week. He's not on the ice yet. And they have four games this week.

They have four games next week and then it's the break. And also, let's just talk about how much this hurts the Leafs, period, right now. Yeah. You know, they're in a dog fight against great teams. And now you're looking at a second line that you're talking about bringing up Lawton and Machelli. All right. To play with Tavares. All right.

Let's keep this thing moving, including what you just mentioned, Scotty Lott. on moving up in the lineup, you guys, we've been kind of calling for this. He's been calling from it in an indirect way, wanting more, feeling like he has a bigger role for this hockey club. It won't get much bigger than riding shotgun on the second line right now with Johnny T.

He's been in those situations before and played wing, played up with more top six, role. You know, he's played some real good hockey for us, so you know, he's he has an opportunity to go up there, but it's not, I can move by the

guys in and out too, so we'll see him move around if that's the case. He's still what is it? He's your Braden shin. You gave us the Shen clips. You have a little bit of a shin, a semi-shen. Why don't? I don't know. I don't know. The last

thing I want to do is if he's in the car right now listening to that. He's Scotty Lotton. He's going like, you're just, you're going to find somebody else. You just said it. You can find anybody else.

It's like, and it's not reassuring if you're Scotty Lotton listening to that clip. Scores a big goal for him the other night. He's an emotional driver for him last game. He doesn't want to commit to Scottie Lotton. He played 13 minutes in that game against Winnipeg. Sam, you love that he gave the fan the cry face after they won. Like, he's, he's all.

in. He is locked in. And the coach is not all in on him. The lines overall and I know I've said this before, but like, are we all in agreement that Max Domey's the best for Austin Matthews right now? Right now, definitely. Yeah. Okay.

Is there anyone else? No, no. Would you be looking at right now anyone else? I would do McMahon and Willie, but Willie's not playing. But yet, the feeling was that Max was with, that that was. leading up to the start of the season. And then he pulled the plug on that. And now he's back.

Yeah. Right? And it's like it just doesn't feel like he's ever really, truly sure about his lines. Right? Yeah. You know, the one thing I will say about Domi, so Domi, sometimes I give him a hard time because he makes these hope passes, guest passes, whatever.

They're down, though. Those are significantly down. He can make a play. He's among the few guys who can really make a play. It's great sauce from behind the net. He has good vision. And with that, he looks for Matthews. He knows where his bread is buttered.

And they got a guy who's red-hound. And that's what Austin wanted all along. They got a guy who's looking for him. And part of maybe Austin's frustration this season has been watching the revolving door around his winger there. I don't know. Is that true? I wouldn't put it past it.

I don't know how Austin feels. I'm just saying that. Could that be a possibility that part of his frustration or his lack of looking engaged sometimes would have been going, can I just have Max here and keep him here? Yeah. Well, that's working for him for sure. That was, uh, Matt Max was plus three last game, goal and an assist. I would have, you know, at the start of the year, if you had to show me that clip that there of Austin Matthews staring down Hellebuck and going bar down,

I would have thought it was from 2022. Yeah. So that looked Vintage. Yeah, vintage. I know in our national hour we're going to get into a few trades that happened already.

We will talk about Rasmus Anderson in a bigger picture at the top of the hour. But as far as the Toronto Maple Leafs are concerned with Rasmus Anderson, we had heard all along that Bradtree living and the Leafs had had the interest in him

even this year, more so, maybe what I had heard was at the last trade deadline. But now you watch them go to Vegas here and you see the price that they paid. And is it just a reminder now to leave fans that like, we can't do that. No, not. And don't look for that.

There's nothing there. We are dealing with what we have right now. And is it almost an admission right now that you wanted them, but you can't get them. I didn't want them. Did you want them? No, not, but I think the great point is...

They're a better player. They're a better team with Rasmus Anderson. I'm good. Yeah, but I think in general, the point, though, is about shopping for the bigger names that are available. And he was the biggest. And the line from Grandma and Happy Gilmore

keeps ringing in my head, which is, well, I would have, but I didn't have any money. And that's how I feel. The Leafs don't have any money. They can't buy that. I'm sure they would have paid that, but they don't have any money. They cannot do that.

that. I'm glad they're broke. Yeah. Well, there's other people to buy and... Well, I don't think they're in a position to be... Derek, can you mark that? I'm glad they're broke in January, because I'll play... March 7th, that's going to be tough when they get open on everyone. Well, I mean,

I would be talking about... No, no lee fans. That I've said the whole time that they should just leave this roster as is and see where it goes. Like, if they trade away what they've got left for Braden... Do you want to tell me where it goes? For Braden, Luke Shen. I mean, then I don't think there's going to be a lot of happy people. They got to just sit.

But I saw that trade and said, no, my actual reaction to that was, thank God. Yeah, they didn't. That they didn't do it. I was like, how much worse is White Cloud than Anderson? It was my first thought. Much worse? I think a lot.

They're going to, he can play minutes. He's 19 a night for Vegas. He's a right-handed shot. 6-2, cheap deal. They could resign them. They got a lot of options there. Well, they should flip them. They could flip them.

They should flip them. Because then you will have traded Anderson for two firsts in a second or whatever. You know, it would look huge if you did that. Okay, let's take a quick break, Sammy. Sure, let's take a break. We are jam-packed. Mike Russo, NHL writer for the athletic will drop by after the break and we'll get into the Minnesota Wild.

Frank Sarvelli, NHL Insider at the top of the hour. And Brad Larson, former National Hockey League head coach with Columbus and also Calgary. will drop by and give us his thoughts on Rasmus Anderson. Plenty more when we return to Real Kipper and Born. Diving deep into Leaps, Raptors, Jays, and NFL. The Jady Bunk is podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Sammy McKee, Toronto Maple Leafs in Minnesota Wild, set to battle it out at Scotia Bank Arena. Let's bring in Mike Russo, NHL writer for the athletic, based in Minnesota. Mike, how are you, my friend? What's up, Kipper? How are you? We're good, we're good. So as far as the Minnesota Wilde is concerned,

they certainly shot up to another level in terms of how we perceive them with the big trade. But overall, the bigger story, at least for now, is the injury bug and how they come in limping a little bit in Toronto. Yeah, you know, that's been the story of the last couple years with this team and they went through a week, week and a half where they were healthy. And of course, that was too good to be true. And now they suddenly are out without a bunch of guys.

And so they're missing an entire line tonight, which has been their best line of the season. Julesenects centering Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson, Jonas Bordine, and Zach Bogosian also out of the lineup. So all five of those guys are still back in Minnesota, won't be in Montreal tomorrow as well. And yet the other night in Buffalo, they figured out a way to play really well for that game. and wound up getting two points with the extra point in overtime. So we'll see tonight how they do against the Toronto team that seems to have turned its season around here the last month. I am legally obligated to ask you a Quinn U's question now.

So how has his impact been on the Minnesota Wild? What has changed since he has arrived? Well, you know, they're obviously scoring a lot more. They've won a lot of games here. They've been a little blip of the radar lately, But Quinn's been outstanding. You know, the one biggest thing that the difference is that they're getting production from their entire blue line, just not him. Before he arrived on December 14th, they were 29th in the NHL and blue line points.

Now they're first or second in the league in that span. But he has just completely changed their ability to get out of the offensive zone. You know, their ability to just transition five on five has been second and non. and he's still playing 29, 30 minutes a game. But even he's been saying in the last couple of days that it feels like a little bit of an easier type of 30 minutes than he had in Vancouver just because they're a better team. He loves playing with Brock Faber.

Favor has been outstanding playing next to him. So, you know, he has completely changed just the way that they play offense right now. Their power play, I know, has been one area where they want to improve. It's been a little up and down. But again, you're playing a number one power play tonight where suddenly you're without Boldie, you're without Erickson, and that changes the complexion of that number one unit.

You're watching and listening to Michael Russo, NHL writer, talking Minnesota wild. So even with Ekman Lars, Erickson Eck. Oh, my good. You got it. I like OEL better, but,

Mike, even with Eck, they're questionable down the middle. Now I'm looking at Ryan Hartman, maybe their number one centerman going up against Tavares and Matthews. There has to be, you can't just go Quinn Hughes and then cut the tap off if you're Billy Garron here. So it has to be a number one centerman in my eyes to think about going up against the likes of a Dallas and a Colorado. Yeah, I completely agree with you. And I think Billy Garron would completely agree with you. That's easier said than done, though.

I mean, you know, it's been 25 years of this organization that they've been looking for a number one center. Obviously, Marco Rossi went in the Quinn Hughes trade. And so for a team that already lacked depth up the middle, now you take a, you crater it a little more. Donella Uroff looks like he's going to be on the rise. Obviously, at being out of lineup, it hurts and Hartman, as you mentioned, is playing the number one unit. But the number one line. But to your point, you don't give up four huge assets for Quinn Hughes to get this team, approach contender status.

But know that you have to play Dallas probably in the first round. And if you get by Dallas, Colorado in the second round, without getting another center. So he hopes to make another big swing. The question is who that player is. There's only so many centers out there right now. And, you know, even those guys, I think that you'd question whether or not they're a true number one center. So I do expect at some point that Bill is going to try to make a move. He's been trying.

You know, I talked to him for a while the other day. But the other issue is that they have traded a lot of assets in the last couple of years, both in the Quinn Hughes trade, in the David Eurocheck trade. You know, they traded a second in the Nyquist trade last year. So, you know, they're suddenly without, when you trade for equivalence of first-round picks for Quinn, you just don't have a lot of prospects anymore or eight-plus prospects left. So it will be really interesting as we get closer to trade deadline, what he plans to do. but I do certainly expect at some point he is going to have to address the center position before the deadline.

One of the places at the wild been very good is in net. Gustafsson and Walsed seem like they're kind of going back and forth. I know Gustafin's got more games on this season. Where are things at? I see there's a Walshead back to back in there not long ago. Are things shifting with who would be the primary goaltender there? Yeah, I mean, Gus is playing again tonight after winning the other night. So lately it hasn't been for about a month.

month and a half, it was a strict rotation. Now, even after shutouts, there were three or four times where the goal that got the shut out the game before did not start the next game, which, you know, as we know, is abnormal in the NHL. Lately, they've been going more, you know, depending on the opponent and the strengths of those teams or where those players have played well in the past. So Gus, the other night, wins in Buffalo. Wally's going through a bit of a tough stretch right now.

He's given up three or more goals and six of his last seven starts. He'll get the game on Montreal tomorrow. But Gus has been really good while he's had an unbelievable six weeks stretch there from the beginning of November until mid-December. And that has definitely been one of the strengths of this team. You know, like over the last three or four years, our good pal here, Sammy McKee, has been all over the fact that a very good team in the Atlantic the last few years, Tampa, Florida, Toronto.

end up getting eliminated early in the first round. There's no question that Minnesota has gone to another level in terms of the excitement of their fan base. But is there any talk down there about the playoff format and the fact that they will in all probability play a very good Dallas team and one very good team will be eliminated in the first round? Is that kind of taken away any of the excitement or not? Well, I think, yeah, I think that, you know, the wild perennially have exited in the first round.

So there's always trepidation going into the playoffs amongst the fan base. But to your point, this is a year that, you know, there's a very good chance. I mean, you could have technically the three top teams in the NHL. And one of them is going to start on the road and two of them might not get past, get to the third round. I mean, you could say that in a lot of years. But the playoff format is something that Gary Bettman, trust me, we've asked him year after year after year, about the format and whether it makes sense to go back to one verse eight and and he seems to be the one naysayer that as long as he's in charge it's not going to change i do think this will be a subject again at

the gm's meetings in march which i'll be at um you know i don't think gary you know we know that he loves this format i think he's stubbornly going to stand and buy it but this is a year where i do think that you know this could be a year where we're all of a sudden people start talking more and more about it because it just does seem unfair where it doesn't seem like it's the right format when you have the easier path to a Stanley Cup being a wild card team. It just seems to be, you know, completely the antithesis of the way that it should be in professional sports. And so, you know, I mean, wild fans have talked about it. Would it be smarter for them to fall back to that wild card spot and, you know, maybe go play in Edmonton or somebody cross like they did last year when they played Vegas?

So we'll see that when we get there. But wild fans are always nervous about the playoffs, whether it's, this format or any other. So how soon do you expect there to be reinforcements coming for this wild team? You look at these, you know, Colorado and Dallas, you're just talking about it. It's like, is this going to happen soon to get the most value or is it like a deadline post-Olympics thing? Yeah, I do think that if Billy can pounce early that he's going to try to make a move. But again, the one thing that when you have as few assets as they have remaining, you know,

you also don't want to take the first thing that falls on your lap. and then next thing you know, you're shut out of something else that might pop up closer to trade deadline, or if you add a guy with a bunch of term, next thing you know, the summer if some big, big thing happens and falls in your lap that you're not going to be able to get involved. And Billy, you know, the one thing with the buyout pain that this team went through the last four years is that he's been pretty much on the sideline. And I don't think that he enjoyed that. I think that's why he went out and shot the world with the Quinn Hughes trade.

But, you know, there's also the element here that Quinn has won your last. on his contract afterwards. And if you're gonna, you know, go on a run, you've opened up the window now, and you've got to make a move. So it's gonna be just really fascinating what Billy's got up his sleeve. He's running his organizational scouting meetings right now

in Arizona. And then when he comes back, you know, you pretty much the February 4th trade freeze comes into play very, very quickly. I mean, it's basically nine days from today, I believe, or excuse me, you know, two weeks and two days from today. And so I'll just be really interesting to see where he goes from here.

Just one more for me, and that's just Quinn Hughes. Up here in Canada, everybody would be discussing every day, is he staying or is he going? And that's still another season away. How about in Minnesota and the talk about Quinn Hughes up until now? Will it remain? Is it quiet? Will it remain quiet?

Where do you see the cutoff between, okay, when do we start really seriously talking about if this guy's got a real future here. Yeah, I mean, you know, I think definitely after this season, a lot of it will depend. I mean, he wants to win. And, you know, the one thing I could tell you is that he is thoroughly enjoying won the team and his teammates. You know, I sat down with his parents about a week ago in Minnesota for hour, hour and a half.

And the one thing that both his parents said, but especially Jim, is that he's really enjoyed his time there and loves his teammates, loves the way that they're playing, believes that they're a team that can win now as well. So, but, you know, again, he's got a lot of connections throughout the National Hockey League, and there's going to be a lot of teams that would absolutely love him. So I do think when I talk to him and to Pappertsum, they're both keeping an open mind here. I think that he even said after he got traded here that he's well aware and he is a hockey nerd, he's well aware of what Billy Garon gave up to get him in four huge pieces.

He loves the way that he's treated so far, starting with Billy Garen and Chris Kelleher, you know, flying in New Jersey and picking him up on a private plane. the way he's been treated once he got to Minnesota. So I genuinely believe that he will resign, whether it's not it's eight years or maybe three years even to align himself with Jack. That could be a possibility. But I do think that he so far is loving his time in Minnesota. He's happy to be back in the Midwest, close to his folks, happy to be in the United States. But again, you know, the wild have to show him that they could win here.

I think when he looks at this team and sees guys like Faber and Boldie and Capri and Cri's up. and their prime, the great Colton, and that they have. I think that he's enjoying that element and believes that he can win here. But at the end of the day, the Wilde have to win in the playoffs. And that's something that they really haven't been able to do since their third year of existence when they shot the world and went to the conference final. Michael, great stuff, man.

Enjoy the game tonight. Really appreciate you stopping by. Anytime, guys. See ya. Thanks, Rousseau. Appreciate it. Mike Russo, NHL, writer for the Athletic covering the Minnesota Wild. I was just thinking tough sell on Minneapolis right now. Well, it's like minus 20 Celsius in the middle of January,

and you got a bunch of high school dropout stormtroopers taking over the city right now. It's a, what do you think of Minneapolis? What a war zone. It's great in the summer. Yeah. Great in the summer. I swear it's not always like this, Quinn.

Puff sell, man. It is. There's only one thing that can trumpet. What? Oh. Winning. Winning. Winning.

Yeah. Well, they're missing half their line. The whole second line. Yeah, it's tough. I don't know, man. They've got to play against that division. Stolars on the potential return here. We got Craig Barubi, Clip 10.

I want to get into this. Yep. Timeline for Stolarts is returning? No, he's getting close, so he's practicing now and he's feeling good. I think it's just getting him in a few more practices here, and, you know, you could see a return from him. But I still think he needs a little more practice time. be a bit of a tough call here because he's going to come in and if solar's plays he's going to win now

there's no warm up there's no a week to feel good here you want to disrupt Hildeby and Joseph Wall right now if you're coming in you better be ready yeah why is there no conditioning someplace can that not is that not allowed yeah you're not you're not trying not to be sarcastic but do you want to put him at risk for just more games that don't count for your team. Yeah, yeah, you know, you do. You know, you do, yeah. You got to be, you got to, you got to test it. So then yeah, let's do it.

That's allowed, right? If the wheels are going to fall off. Hey, you're allowed two weeks. Let, let it be in, with the Marlies. Okay. Don't come up here and. Well, then let's get her going. Yeah.

Set her to the Marleys, let him play until the Olympics. That's two weeks away. He has been off for over two months. Two months. Two, three, two and a half. November 11th. Two and a half. Yeah, two and a half.

Two and a half. Like, he needs a week with the Marley's. We saw what Hayden Hill looked like when he came back and that game against the Leafs where it's like he couldn't find the net. And he was off for three months or four months at that time. It's hard. Stallors has experience coming back from long injury layoffs. He's a veteran of this game.

It's not the worst point I've ever heard either. I mean, he's so good. He's such a good goalie. It's such a shame to have to have these conversations. But he's right now, those two guys, Hildaby and Joseph Wall, you know you're going to be in the hockey game. True. Right?

Yeah, I mean, they've been giving you all the saves you could possibly ask for. Thought Hildaby was really good on Saturday. Yeah, he was. And he continues to get the job done. And for Stollars now to be the third wheel to come in or even potentially send Hildaby down, he's going to have to come in and be great right away because, as we know, there's not that much wiggle room.

Did we hear Buffalo lost this afternoon? They lost in regulation to the Carolina Hurricanes 2 to 1. I will say, like, not to be too, hyperbole too much here, but like Hildobie kind of saved their season. Okay. Like, carry on. The way he's played as like the backup sort of 1B. Had he been, had like a Casca Suo type run, they're done.

If he stunk when they, he was, he was the starter. The Hill, the Beast. when Wall got hurt and he was good and he's really good when Walls needed to blow, like the points that he's accumulated throughout this stretch has saved their season. Yeah. It has. And I didn't expect it in a million

years after watching him last year. Totally. Even talking to Valley, like, you know, the technically not awesome. Valley doesn't love him. No. Still thinks there's some regression coming, but hopefully he stole his. He has his moments. For sure. But overall, I'm with you, Sammy. As far as your third stringer goes, you can't

ask for much more, boys. We also have yet to talk about Matthew Nyes, who is not going to play tonight. Am I speaking out of a turn there? Play the quick, the Nyes clip. What's the show? Here, play the clip. It's clip number five on Nyes. The latest on Matthew Nyes?

I'm still dealing with the same thing. It'll be a game time decision tonight. Well, yeah, it's obviously bothering him a lot, you know, for quite some time. And it hasn't gotten really much better. other than when he gets some breaks, you know, Christmas time and stuff, he comes back, it feels better, but it's, you know, it's an ongoing issue.

What? This is one of those ones where it's like, why, now, you told us groin. You told us growing. You told us what else is. We've talked nerve, we've talked plate in the foot for Carlo, we've talked.

What is it? Let us know. If flexor, something. Yeah. Yeah. But I will say, I feel moderately encouraged that he's been playing with a nagging,

something because he's looked like he's playing with an egging something. You know, for a guy you just gave seven years, seven, whatever, you want them. They need them. You know, the ceiling is still, yeah, they do need them. But, you know, hopefully it's nothing that lingers too long because, as you said, important player. That, uh, that Olympic break will do them good. Help Tavares too. Yeah.

He needs a little boost and he'll come back fresh. He could use a good break as well. Okay. Our thanks to Michael Rousseau. covering the Minnesota Wild. When we return, we go insiders on our national program. Frank Saravelli, Brad Larson, former NHL.