Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Lose Out on Rantanen + Deadline Recap w/ Elliotte Friedman

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee recap NHL Trade Deadline Day, beginning with Mikko Rantanen who ultimately lands with the Dallas Stars long-term. They discuss the Toronto Maple Leafs involvement in the Rantanen sweepstakes, just how big an offer Toronto put on the table, and why Carolina Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky decided to ship the superstar out west instead. The conversation pivots to the Florida Panthers, who acquired Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand in exchange for a conditional first round pick. Nick, Justin, and Sam react to Marchand and Boston's inability to reach a contract extension, the relatively low cost Florida paid for the 16-year veteran, and the Bruins unwillingness to enter trade discussion with Toronto. Then, the trio dissect the Leafs' adding Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo, and whether they kept pace with their divisional rivals. Afterwards, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman joins the show (29:30) after a marathon day breaking trades. Elliotte provides insight on the Rantanen saga, where contract talks broke down between Boston and Marchand, the Ottawa Senators swapping Josh Norris for Dylan Cozens, and more.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.

Music playing Are we up? We're good. We're clear. We are clear. Everybody take a deep breath. Welcome into the Real Kipper and Bourne Show Trade Edition Special. Can I give you some information right now? Okay.

Carlo, there's some retention down to about 3.5. All right. 4.1. We're live on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 360. I don't even know where are we. We're on Sportsnet. We're on Sportsnet. We're on Sportsnet affiliates all over our great nation.

Wherever they want to put us. We'll talk it in the mic and they'll put it where they want. That is. Just talk, just talk like you always do. That is Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo, and Jake the Snake Schultz. We are with you for two hours, not on our traditional four to six, but five to seven,

to give everybody some extra breathing room on a day where we didn't see as many trades as we have in the past. Sometimes they get up towards 25, 20, 30. I don't know what we're at now. Maybe under 20. I don't know, but they're good. They're a little bit more quality than quantity this year.

So all right. So, alright, so. How was your deadline day? It was fun. Yeah. Yeah. I watched it. I watched it obviously a lot closer because I've been doing a trade board for sportsnet.ca. And it's nice when you have dropped names

over the last six weeks and it's nice to see that you kind of were onto something. So that was kind of fun watching today. The Ranton one was particularly, you were one of the first ones on that. The Ranton one kind of took a life of its own on and I was able to kind of get wind early in the Colorado days where it was, I think they could trade them. And it's like, you're full of crap.

But I got a lot of that early. Yeah, but it did, you know, from Carolina's perspective, it was always one of the options. Like if he doesn't want to resign, they could flip him. That was one of the early things. I know, but you can also say the same thing for Mitch Marner. It was one of the options, but he had a no move and obviously Ranton and didn't, but it almost had the sense that between Ranton and Marner and Sam Bennett, they were all gonna be kind of at the very least their own team's rental.

And that didn't happen. And you almost would have thought there was a better chance that Marner and Bennett could get traded than Ranton as a Stanley Cup champion and a guy that has run toe to toe with McKinnon. But Marner's name came up zero times. You know, that wasn't even a thing. Rantanen's a little bit.

The Rantanen thing was fascinating the way that all shook out. Before we came on air, you sent a tweet, which I can't tell if it was just being incendiary for the sake of baiting our boy Sammy or if there's any truth to it. May I read it? Sam McKee, yeah, you can read it your may believe said the best offer on the table for an and today and the canes refused To take it we'll discuss in detail Well now this is the detail time. What are you talking about? I am talking about Okay for the record, I got already accused like crazy as click bait, right?

And you tell me now, I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna share you some details as I know them, and you tell me moving forward. Let me give it- Hold on, before anybody says click bait, you said that Ransom was gonna get traded from the start of the year Yeah, and then the day after he got traded to Carolina you're like this guy's gonna get traded again And then he does get traded again, so I think you may have a little bit of a knowledge of the situation

So I think that's proper context to the clickbait accusations continue, okay Can we get into a little bit of detail before we get into details about Brantanen? He was never going to sign in Carolina. Even if Colorado refused to sign him, it was never in the cards. So some people were saying he's going to stay and he's's gonna learn to love this place and he's gonna get a great offer. They could have offered him 20 million and he was not staying there. What if they had offered him Kauai and Dine?

Do you have any indication as to why that is, Kip? Just not a place, not a place, not a fit. Must not be a golfer. I'd play for them at a heartbeat. Didn't want to stay. Didn't want to stay. Not sure if it was a good fit with even Bryndamore as a coach who likes to match lines. And there's, there's multiple reasons.

He was playing four minutes last night. It was a multiple amount of reasons, but this is where Carolina really dropped the ball that they just were, let's say, arrogant enough to think that, like, just build it and they will come and it doesn't work that way. So it was always from a get go for me anyways that, you know, he's not staying there. And even to this point where Carolina kind of built it into the deal about retention on 50% from Chicago, it set it up, he was never going to stay, never. So that's why he's gone.

So I wrote an article for the Toronto Star a week ago linking Toronto Maple Leafs to Rantanen and it played out the way I thought it would play out. They were right in it to the point where everybody thought he was going to be a Toronto Maple Leaf. No kidding. And they must have had some sort of noon deadline. That's when things started to move on Lawton and whatever.

So you know, we know what the Toronto Maple Leafs did. They went and got Scott Lawton. They went and got Carl. Very comparable. We know what the Toronto Maple Leafs did they went and got Scott Lawton. Yeah, they went and got very comparable Just so no, but what what is? What basically it is is when once that door shut then they to their credit they had they had some backup here so essentially it's Stan Coven and two firsts and two thirds the Leafs had Minton Cowan as I understand it

and two firsts on the table for Rantanen. Two top prospects and two firsts. Yeah. God, they wouldn't have been able to get a D. That's their whole asset part. Oh no, basically it was like that's their big move. Yeah. They could have found different ways to probably shore up a lot of things, but that was the big move. Carolina said no on the thought that they could meet the Leafs and Rantanen down the road in the playoffs. They went west. They did not want to run into Rantanen.

They did not want to run into theantanen. They did not want to run into the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs. And they're pushing them out west. Really? So, okay. So he was willing to sign here? Okay, you want another one? Yes, I want it all, baby.

What else are we doing here? I believe that the Leafs were willing to spend anywhere between a hundred and five and a hundred and ten million dollars on an eight-year deal for Antonin Doing the math on that so that's we're talking 13 and a half Wow We're in the ballpark of 13. Yeah 13 13 plus. Yeah. They were all in on getting this guy until Carolina said, no, we're going to Dallas. And think how crazy, you know, think how crazy that changes the Leafs in the off season with

Marner and his contract with the Varas in his contract it would change everything about what comes next for them. Yeah, and some people made a bigger deal out of that. And I only know the NHL the way I know it. And that is you stay in your lane, you do what you can, everything else is out of control. I could be sent down tomorrow. I could be traded tomorrow I could anything can happen and I Think they were fully prepared to bring ranting and in and say

took to Mitch Marner at least Who knows what tomorrow brings who knows what we can look at in the summer? Maybe there's a world where we sign you and and have ranting in as well Right and when you really think about it,, you are getting Tavares off the books right next year. So that's 11 right there. Before the cap goes up. So Mitch is presently at 11 now. So how much more do you have to add to get both of them together if you drop Tavares'

11? Yeah, not that much more. Not that much more. No, no, it was it was doable. But now hold on. You know, it does change what the Leafs the Leafs have tried to be this outscore your problems team, they would have been running out three or two of Myers Benoit Timmons without an additional move the one they made yeah I'm not saying this is better to have Carlo and Lawton but it would have been interesting to see how it really was you're right it's really pick your poison right yeah and so instead of the two first-rounders now going to

Carolina they obviously one went to to Boston and one went to Philadelphia. Right. Those are, that's some news, that's something. Not clickbait. Very, very fascinating. So now that we're living in this fantasy land where that trade's accepted, to your point about maybe living in coal had a pivot to a lesser D man that would have cost a third or a fourth as opposed to going for the carla who costs you one of the first that

You end up spending but Hearing that like I'll never ever forgive Eric Tulski like on my list of like bad blood bad guys You just went to the top because yeah, mean, that is what you just told me is a massive what if in Toronto Maple Leaf's history. Like you think back to all these potential trades and all these different ones, like all they could have had,

you know, Jeff Carter for Caberley or what they could have done for Sundeen or what they could have done for, that just goes to the top of one of the most insane What a sliding door moments, but think about for Carolina It's not just getting him out West they need to be able to hold their head up this year and say we're competitive We have a chance this year and at least least Stankovic doesn't play that. He doesn't move that big of a needle.

He's still, he's, he's, he is a player. He's more serviceable than obviously Cowan or Minton. But in the grand scheme of things of having like assets the Leafs had a better offer with assets. Yeah, big picture. Those are better. And, and when they're out in the first round Carolina, they're going to regret it. Yes.

Dan Coven had 24 goals in the American league last year. Like they actually had him in the American league. So he, you know, he hasn't had a big NHL season. He does have one playoff run with Dallas where he had eight points in 19 games. But yeah, he hasn't, he's on pace for 12 goals this year at 22 years old. So yeah, you're right. You'd probably rather take the Leafs assets. Blue, blue chip assets. Yeah. Four blue chip assets. So the sense you get is that Nice, because nice was the hot name in that conversation that that never came up

Or is that something they wanted? I believe that it would have changed it but for the Leafs how They the world is ranting and and nice like we've this is to try to and nice. This is to try to get to a conference. You're not trying to get this much better. You want to get that much bigger. We're now welcoming in our national audience who just came off of Trade Center. And now we're on two TVs in here

that are going at two different times, so that's good for us. Do you want to reset what we just said? No, they can go by all fours. I'll just say, let me just give them the rundown that the Leafs had an offer That was maybe better than Dallas's offer in Minton Cowan to first And Carolina didn't want that deal fear of seeing the Leafs in playoffs

that is Explosive news to me. Well, I will tell you kipper Gonna lose sleep over that one I will tell you Kipper, gonna lose sleep over that one. All right. I will be losing some sleep. All right. Are we now- Are we talking about Brad Marchand getting traded?

Yeah, like how much stuff do we wanna- Guys, listen. The canvas is blank here, paint. We got Freage coming in at 5.32. The Randen contract is less than I think most people thought it was gonna be once again. Don't get caught up in just sheer numbers Because this world is about to agents and players this world is about Take home money. Hmm, and on the surface you go 12. Yeah, and You're like that's not that big of a number everybody was throwing around 14, but

To compare it to the toronto maple east You would have had to go north of 13.5 To match the same 12 in dallas Yeah, it's a different math on that. But still it's like there were multiple teams who didn't want to give him in multiple states that didn't want to give Ranton and a big number. You know, I know Colorado made him an offer, but I don't think they went to 12. I had heard 11-6.

Right. Yeah. And Carolina, it doesn't sound like they wanted to go to 13. If Colorado would have gotten to 12, like Dallas, he would have signed it in Colorado. Oh, Colorado, you! So what, they don't like him? I don't know. They didn't want to go to 12 for a guy?

They never went with anything with a 12 in it, Colorado. Last five years in the NHL He's fourth in NHL scoring behind McDavid dry saddle McKinnon you you think Sammy's gonna lose sleep over it a lot of people in Colorado and ranton and loses sleep over it wonder if ranton and Partially says okay to Dallas cuz he's okay with trying to ram it down Colorado's throw you don't yeah Excellent point by you. Yeah, like I don't think Joe Sackett

expected him to be in the central three weeks later. So Renton and now was at the point, and he understands the state tax, but he couldn't sign fast enough to get this over with. But the one thing that I was also told, to your point, I'm coming back in the West and I'm gonna shove it down Colorado's throat. That's his attitude going back to the West.

Yeah. I don't know if you've looked at the standings recently. They are shaping up to have a match. There is a looming First round matchup between those two hockey clubs. Yeah. Oh, I can't wait Dallas could be the two three matchup behind when it's so Minnesota right now is clinging on to the third span of 76 points Colorado's tied with them 76 points They're ahead in points percentage, Minnesota, but they're clinging on they're hurt

Mm-hmm. It really feels like there's a potential for that first round series jeez off the top of your head where do you see ranting in with Like like a why Johnson? No. Yeah, why Johnson? I mean he's he's a 70 80 point guy now He's a really gifted player Rupé Hintz. Hintz is unbelievably fast and big he'd be I mean right now Jason Robertson Rupé Hintz, Miko Rantinen, whoo then you can have like Marchand, Dushain, Granlin, Ben Johnston, Dadynov. Yeah they're good man. Favorites. Just

whoever gets in there. And why Johnson signed, I think Elliot said something about a five year deal. You don't find it a little strange here, you got a young player like that, you can only give them five. We know what five has done to the Leafs, right? And Matthew's never signed an eight year deal and a young player. You think they regret that? A shorter term deal with as much as over $8 million and an AAV? I was a little surprised. Well, they just signed and they wouldn't regret it nine minutes later.

What do you think? No, no, I'm saying down the road. It's a short, it didn't take eight years. But they got a great break on that AAV. Yeah, if I were any of these guys, I wouldn't do the eight year thing. Yeah, maybe it's a trend right now. Maybe it's like, I'll take my chances.

And see, there's no question that he signs a five year deal so he can negotiate in four years. And that eight plus turns into 12 and a half. I mean, the inflation of the cap takes 12 and a half. If he's any better, you're looking at 14. You know, it is gonna change quickly, I think, in the NHL. Yeah, it's nice to see another young star not sign for eight for once.

As in from a leaf. You know, it's nice to see somebody else do it. Okay, let's get to some other trades. Brad Marshad. Brad Marshad. Brad Marshad. I was tempted to take him else do it. Okay, let's get to some other trades. Brad Marshad. Brad Marshad. Brad Marshad. I was tempted to take him off my list. I had him on.

I had just heard that there was a big pause in the negotiation and like, would they trade this guy? And then it kind of grew legs, especially in the last 48 hours. I knew he was gone because Boston didn't say a word about him all day. And he's been hanging out like his name's out there. And at some point I was really expecting him to say and leak. He's not going anywhere, he's off the board and he's our captain and he's staying and it never happened.

Never happened. Never happened. And it was like Vegas or Florida. On our screen right now, is that all it is? It's gotta be. He's 36, 37. Oh, don't try to say it's gotta be. Anthony Bavillier went for a second. How do you say, how do you make Marchand equal to Bavillier?

There's a lot of teams that were not willing to give up a first round or four. This has to be, this has to be Marchand saying, I'll go to Florida. If you can get something out of Florida, great, I'll go. I don't know what happened today, especially with Carlo from the Boston Bruins being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but I had heard the last day and a half, two days that Boston would not trade him to the Leafs. Carlo? No. Marchand? Marchand. So, I don't know, he might have been a little different, you know, and there's a history of Toronto and Boston, so I don't know how much they would have liked to see their captain moments later at a huge rival. Go play for the Phillies, you couldn't do it. But Boston's got a thing going with Florida too.

Sure, they had a seven game series Yeah, Florida Florida broke their heart just two years ago, but if you had 135 points and beat him in seven, they're up three That's pretend. No, it's not the same. We can't pretend that Brad Marchand playing for the Florida Panthers is as offensive to the Bruins fan base as him playing for the Leafs It's not they can't even come even come close to pretending That and I think. And I think... Canthers fans. Yeah, the ten of them.

Yeah. I think a while, most recently, I think the Bruins kind of felt the same way. That they can get away with tucking them in Florida, but they couldn't in this market. Even Carlo surprises me that they would trade them to the Leafs. And to me, it says, and we can do the Carlo trade too now that, I don't know, maybe they're just not that afraid of Carlo or whatever. They don't think it matters as much, but I am surprised they dealt with the Leafs. It's been a pretty contentious rivalry going back a decade, you know, 2011, I guess was

the the first heartbreak. So Marchand was surprising just being a second for me. You know, him with Bennett and Matthew Kachuk possibly is unbelievably competitive and antagonistic and talented. Yeah. That, that sucks. It does suck. It sucks. Like, as excited as I think a lot of Leaf fans, and I know we're on nationally, but we do Leaf's show here too, as excited as a lot of people were to see the Carlo thing

and Lawton's a good pickup, you're like, really? Like of all the places he's gonna go, like I thought it was maybe gonna be Vegas, because they sent that weird little cryptic tweet around 255 being saying hi. Thought it was gonna be them. But I will say, not that afraid of Marcia. Oh!

Yeah. I do not. I think he can go down as one of the best penalty killers in the history of the game That I've ever seen yeah, and I think he could still do that Yep, and I think he can still shoot it in the net sure the thoughts and views of Justin Bourne do not reflect the real kipper I'm bored Brad Marchand is 36 years old and he is on pace for a year where he's well, he's got 47 points right now.

I think he can still hurt. He can make a another team hurt. Yeah, I know. I know he has that drive and that competitive level and I know we can't, but I just don't think it's like it didn't get ranted in is my point. There's tears to this fear factor. The other thing I was floating around to is if Boston trades him, it's as a rental and you can come back and sign with us in the summer. Yeah, that almost never happens.

Does that kind of play into a conditional second round pick? Maybe if he genuinely was going to go back to the Bruins, but it sounds like if the Bruins wanted him, they would have offered him the contract that would have kept him there. Sounds like he didn't get the contract he wanted. I think the last thing I heard is they were close on a contract. Two times six? Three times six? Five?

Yeah, three times. Six. It seems to be like six and obvious. Six one, six five. I think he can still, if he performs anywhere close to what we still expect out of him, he's gonna get that somewhere. Yeah. Who wouldn't knew that Matthew Kachuck getting injured

at the Four Nations faceoff was the best thing that ever happened to the Panthers. Yeah, that stinks. Right? Yeah, but we've always joked around with that though. It is still a huge loophole. What a time to get hurt. The perfect time.

Just play all year, take a five week break before playoffs, let them spend your tens of mill, load up. It's crazy. And yes, it's a disadvantage the first couple of games, but for elite guys, the way that Kutrow, remember Kutrow's first game back, he had like a goal and two assists and like power plays. God. I thought he was hurt.

He's back. Yeah. Really good. Okay, so. Leaf's deadline. We haven't done it yet. Leaf's deadline. So, Lawton and Carla, why don't you go first, JB?

It's exactly what I had hoped they would get. Lawton, maybe not the heights of who I had hoped they would get upfront, but he's a very good 3C. I love that they got him retained, kills penalties. He's a good guy. He works hard. He's competitive. Good fit for the Leafs.

That was a problem when you looked at their lineups, like Domi can't be your third line center. And then Carlo is, again, you have to accept Carlo for what he is. And if you do, he is a perfect fit for what they needed. I'm not saying he's the perfect player. I'm not saying he's a massive difference maker. I'm saying they needed a right shot guy. They needed a big guy.

They needed a guy who can play 20 minutes. He defends. He has some upside to him. He hasn't defended as well recently, but he can. So to pair with Morgan Reilly or even OEL. I really like the addition you get two additional years Retention on Lawton. I'm very happy with the deadline for the Leafs. Yeah go I Like both on paper a lot, you know, I'm not the I haven't watched a lot in particularly close I've watched a lot more of Carl over his career than I have of lot and I'll say, I would wonder if I'm a pessimist about Carl

while why they're trading a six foot five, 24, eight year old right shot D man to your bitter rival. I would wonder aloud about that. But on paper, I do really like the idea of it and it shores up your top four. Right? Like it's just, you're're not they've been taping

Labushkin or Schen or whoever to Riley and say Carlo, you know, he's not as physical as those guys But he is a defense first right shot guy. This says a lot to me about Riley too It's like this is this is a guy we've tried a lot of different guys. It's like your eighth right shot D We've got you at some point here. Someone's gonna take off thoughts. I Can't disagree with anything. You've said they are better deeper the only thing I Say in all of that is Is it enough? Yeah, is it enough? Yep to get

past a Tampa right now or Florida and Does that leave it in the hands of your goal tending? Does it leave it in the hands of now Morgan Riley being that that ace that I can control the pace of a game back there. Defenseman, does it change enough upfront where you can alleviate some of the pressure of your four guys, of Matthews Marner, Knight Nylander, and Tavares. And I think there were deeper guys.

I threw Charlie Coyle on my trade board earlier this week. We saw him go to Colorado. I would have preferred him over Lawton. I do you know, I love that there's retention on Lawton and another year. That's nice. In terms of like actually winning- Especially at one and a half for him. Yeah, Yeah. But winning the cup this season is going to be like winning the cup anytime with this core four group that they have to do it.

You know, there was no, there's no one's going to step in here and do it for them. They were going to have to be great. Matthews has to be better than he's been. Marner is going to have to look like the best version of himself that he brought at the Four Nations. Willie is going to have to be like the best version of himself that he brought at the four nations Willie's gonna have to be the guy who we've seen in playoffs get hot. They have to do it There's no it would help there and then would help But behind them now hope nice is another level now

You hope McMahon is another net level now you hope Lawton can shoot one in and I like their fourth line now, uh Freage is outside. So we should break and then come back with Freage to get even more into this stuff. You heard the man. He's Sammy McKee, number one producer in all of hockey. Back with the Freage. Elliot Friedman did a terrific job all day

on Sportsnet's Trade Deadline Day. Will join us next. You're watching Listening to Real Kipper and born show. This is our trade deadline special. And this is the part where I still get to feel kind of fresh today and you probably the same way, but our next guest, not so much. But before we get into that, let's just give him a round of applause.

Yeah, good work, Frisian. Elliot Friedman. On behalf of Sportsnet. Carrying Sportsnet right like this. Like a backpack. The whole world on your shoulders, my friend. Okay, it's, you know what, Nick, you've done the job. Like it's, you know the job, so

Okay, did you sleep here last night? No, I slept we stayed across street hotel Oh, okay, I got about three hours sleep, which was more than I thought I was gonna get I know I Don't know how you left it last night with ranting in was it that It cooled off or how did you leave it last night? Last night when I went to bed. One forty five I saw a tweet. I went to bed at three a.m. When I went to bed last night it was they had agreed to a trade, Carolina and Dallas,

and they'd given him permission to talk about an extension. And when I heard though, I don't know exactly, but when I heard when I went to bed that they kind of had introductory flows and They were like we're not gonna get this sorted right now. So let's get it done in the morning So they had a trade worked out agreed to and the question was could they sign them? And then this morning Things kind of changed a little bit I had had word that the Toronto Maple Leafs were back in it or right in it right up

Until the end we saw them pivot to go to Scotty Lawton first before Carlo in Boston But I had heard Elliot. I don't know if you caught a bit of our show. You probably walked I was walking over That's really took the bat off their shoulder and offered significant pieces, but they couldn't get it done. I do believe this. It was funny. I had one executive who sent me a note today saying that you have no idea how many teams in the NHL are trying to ruin this trade.

Oh yeah. Yeah, it was kind of funny. I don't, someday maybe we'll find out what the full story was, but I'll say this. I think that people, it was very clear to me from what I heard last night that people believe Ratan really wanted to go to Dallas.

Now I will say this, Nick, there was a time today for about between 30 minutes to an hour where I thought there was a decent chance the trade might fall apart. But I think you did say over the last half hour that ultimately the player said, you know what? I want to go to Dallas get it done and it really bolts to this like had to match Leon dry saddle at 14 like 12 and it's like where do I sign?

Yeah, and they gave him structure to. Apparently they did some real structure for it and I haven't seen it but they did some structure. They gave them the protection. You know Nick, the one thing I heard yesterday was, and I don't know what the Leafs stepped up with today, but the one thing I heard last night was, there was no player that Carolina thought that was as good as Stankovic.

That they were offered that they liked more than Stankoven. And I'll tell you something else, so I don't know what the lease offered, maybe we'll find out over time. It was Cowan, Minton, and Two Firsts. But wouldn't you take Stankoven over that? No, I'd take the assets. You would, eh?

I'd take. It's interesting, because I would probably take Stankovin over that. I'll say the other thing too Nick. One of the things that we learned here about Carolina is you have to be a certain type of player to fit in Bryndamore's system. It wasn't so easy for Rantanen. I think they felt Stankovin was a perfect fit.

To your point though Elliot, they needed to go back into the Carolina dress room and look Rod Brendan Moore and the players in the eyes and say, I still got a player for you. The Leafs offer wouldn't do that. And it could have changed if it was Matthew Nyes, but there was nothing else that was of significance to Carolina other than him. And those assets weren't going to help them today. Yes. And I think that's it. I think he's ahead of what Toronto offered.

I just heard that there was no player that they were going to get, especially if there was no guarantee that Ranton was going to sign that could be as impactful as Stankovic. Now, doesn't that contract, doesn't that seem light? if there was no guarantee that Ranton was gonna sign, that could be as impactful as Stan Coven. Now, doesn't that contract, doesn't that seem light? You know, fourth in NHL scoring over the past four years, 1.25 points in playoffs per game. Guys wanna Stanley Cup, he's young, he's big,

nicknamed Moose. You know, Dry Saddle gets 14. Okay, Dry Saddle's better than him, but it sounds like Colorado didn't want to give him 12. Or 12 and a half. Hold on, let me say this. Colorado's last offer or what we're calling an offer here was 11.75.

So it says to me that if Colorado known they could have done this deal, I bet they would have done this deal. Like you have to understand. But they never offered anything with a 12. No, no, no, but the thing is if you go to 1175 and the guy says 12, you're gonna get the deal done. They didn't, Elliot, they didn't.

Hold on, we have to understand what happened here. I think this was a big eye opener for a lot of people. Including Colorado. Including Colorado. Colorado, Rantanen, Carolina, everybody. If you go back, Carolina gets permission to talk to Rantanen. If we trade for you, will you sign here? Yeah, I'd consider it.

He doesn't think it's going to happen. He thinks it's a pressure tactic from Colorado. All of a sudden, the bomb drops, he gets traded, and he gets traded at the worst time Colorado, Carolina had one three game home stand after he was traded. There was the Four Nations. He didn't believe it was real. And then it happens, he's in shock. He can't believe it occurs.

He never gets a chance to get acclimated to Colorado. Him and the way they play, it's not a perfect fit. I think that was a big deal here. I think with 2020 hindsight, this was doomed to fail from the start simply because of the way it all went down. Yeah, absolutely. You know, for me, it's just like... That's fair. Yeah.

You know, these top end guys make such a difference. You know if Ranton wants 13 to me it's just like, okay we gotta keep this guy. He's one of the guys we gotta keep. So yeah, surprising though that seems like Colorado didn't wanna go too high. Seems like Carolina didn't wanna go too high. Carolina went more than this. They went 12, I think they went about 12-6.

Is that right? That's what I think. I heard it was McKinnon. The other thing too is like Dallas, I think if it would have come to it, Dallas might've walked away. Because they had, and I'll say this too, what we'll never know, because someone was saying to me today is, was there a rejigged second deal

that Dallas had on the table that if he was a rental. Like they probably would've gone for him as a rental, but they wouldn't have done it with the same trade, or Stankovic. And so I think this, I think at the end of the day, Dallas would have said, look, if you're not signing here, and if you look at Dallas' structure, a lot of their other guys are at eight, four, five,

I think 12 was the most they were willing to do. And so the player had to make a choice choice and I think he made a great choice We're joined by hockey night in Canada and sports nuts Elliot Friedman fresh off trade deadline day Elliot Probably the quantity hasn't been there like years past but the quality. Yeah, pretty darn good There are a lot of good trades out there. Tell me what? Where do you rank? a lot of good trades out there. Tell me where do you rank Buffalo and Ottawa with Cousins and Norris compared to maybe Marchand in Florida?

You tell us, where do you wanna go? Well, I think Marchand was the most surprising one because it came right under the buzzer. It was a bit of a surprise. I know people had speculated it, but it's also the biggest name. I had them on my list. Yeah.

I was tempted to take them off earlier this week. I said, no, something's just not right here. You're right. And I kept them on my list. Yeah, I was tempted to take them off earlier this week. I said no something's just not right You're right, and I kept them on Please tell me how the captain of the Boston Bruins is not signing an extension right now like where I Know is the image of trading your captain compared to a conditional second rounder? Yeah, you know what guys I think happened was I think they had a significant

disagreement on the AAV. I think it was a wide gulf that was just not going to get bridged. How wide do you think it was? I would guess over a million a year. That's what I would guess. That's what I would guess. Like I heard it was not enough money for me. Like okay, we'll go up 500. You come down to 500 and we call it a day. You know, I have to say this.

I think it's one of those things, Nick, and Justin, you too, like, you guys are, you guys have played at a high level. You understand dynamics, okay? So Brad Marsh, the Bruins are there thinking, okay, this is our captain, we wanna be loyal to him, but we wanna pay for future performance, not past performance.

Brad Marshand is on a contract that was a little under market value. Now look at what's happened over the last couple years. Postronaut gets paid, McEvoy gets paid, Ampers Lindholm gets paid, Zdorov gets paid, and you're like, okay, I'm the captain of this team, you know, it's my turn. And like, you guys both play at a really high level. You know the alpha male pride nature of a room. It stings. It stings.

And I think he was stung. And I think the Bruins just said, now I think at the end of the day, he didn't have a lot of trade protection, but they wanted to send him to a place where he wanted to go. And secondly, you know, he's hurt. Like that's the other thing that affected the trade value is he might be out until right

before the playoffs. So I think that was a factor too. But I think they worked hard to get him to a place. I think Colorado was around it, but they went for the two centers. I think Dallas would have been around it if ranting and hadn't worked out. There'd been a lot of rumors about Vegas. I don't know where that ended up. But look, like you guys, Gregory Campbell, Sean Thornton,

those guys won cups with him. I have no doubt that he was comfortable with that. I just think it's one of those situations where we want to write the final chapter of our careers. We don't often get to write the final chapter of our careers. Earlier, I had Josh Norris on my trade board. You did really well with your board, by the way.

Thank you, buddy. I appreciate that. Really well. Really well. So I had him on, it cooled off like an idiot. I took him down and then he gets moved. That one got away from me, but it was always out there about Josh Norris, on how comfortable Ottawa was, especially around his recent injuries, the surgeries, and true enough, they move him to Buffalo.

What can you tell us about that deal? Well, first of all, you know what blew me away was watching Brady Kachuk today. Like, that was a tough, tough scrub, man. You know, we're going to talk about Brady Kachuk, but it's been tough watching him be Captain America and then having him see the anthem get booed in Ottawa and seeing his best friend get shipped out. Oh, God, like, I hope this guy's comfortable in Ottawa. So just tell us about the parameters and maybe we'll have time to get into what I thought about Brady.

I think they talked to a few teams. I think they talked to Vancouver. I think they talked to Seattle. About Norris. Yeah, I think they talked to a few teams. I think they talked to Vancouver. Vancouver too. I think they talked to Seattle. About Norris. Yeah, I think they talked to Nashville. You know, Cousins, his name's been out there all year. Again, Vancouver, Nashville, Montreal, Calgary. You know, and I think we were all just waiting for Kevin Adams to do it, and he said it was gonna be for NHL players.

And I don't know, did you guys watch, did you guys hear Ray Ferraro last night? Yeah, I did. Like, wow, like I just wonder if that was like the final straw, like the Sabres and their fans saying, you know, we have to do something here. I think Dylan Cousins badly needed a change of scenery. I think he needed a new challenge, a situation and he's gonna get it and I

Think it was need for need one player needed to change another player needed to change and that's how they ended up where they are Yeah Any more on that? No, I'm good Toronto Maple Leafs. I like the Carlo deal. Yeah, I did not see that one coming. Lawton I saw coming. I didn't think the Bruins would trade with the Leafs. Well, you know what's funny, I was talking to, I think this generation is a little bit different. They're like, I'll take my best trade.

They're also not gonna be in the playoffs. They're also not gonna be in the playoffs. Well, they'll take my best trade. But I was surprised that Carlo won. I think he's exactly what Toronto needs. The Lawton won. I think Toronto, it'll be interesting to see if we find over the next 24 to 48 hours,

did Toronto simply get scared by the price on Braden Shen, or did he indicate he wasn't willing to move? Because I think there were a couple situations he indicated he wasn't willing to move. Might have been a combination of both. Yeah. And it was just probably left too late As well doesn't it feel like it worked out for the better for the Leafs to have shorter term on a guy less cap

Hit very similar role. Yeah, I understand that Shen is another level of maybe yeah physicality to him, but Was there's the difference between Lawton and Shen so large that you look at the price and say maybe that was the right decision. Totally. We'd rather have Lawton. And then you could go get Carlo too because you saved it. I hear Brock Nelson was also high on Tree Living's list. He lost out that bid to Colorado and Lew. I got to tell you.

Lew went with Colorado. Would anybody have outbid Colorado there. No, no, they Was that was a big price. It was a big price Islanders fans are not particularly happy. They're happy with that return They love that return. Yeah, but they're not happy with the idea that there wasn't really a cohesive plan for the Islanders had Lou been able To resign Nelson. It sounds like he would have he tried he tried to tried to re-sign him. On a short-term deal. Yeah. But the thing is, he's going to be 34.

I don't know how long. I think he can get four years. He might. Three or four years. You're right. I'll tell you this, that there was a report today, I think it was Andrew Gross, I think he reported three times seven and a half was the offer to Brock. Someone told me, like, in overall dollars, it might have even been more than that.

No kidding. There's also talk that maybe Brock Nelson wouldn't go to Toronto or Winnipeg. And I don't buy that for one second. I already was. Oh really? I don't think Toronto or Winnipeg were his first choice. Yes. But if Colorado wouldn't have been able to do it, he would not have blocked Toronto or probably Winnipeg. I would have loved to have seen Toronto or Winnipeg beat that deal

Like are you like I would like to see anyone beat that deal. It's yeah Well, I don't know that you have the assets. Yeah, you know like Winnipeg has good prospects, but that Callum Ritchie. He's the real deal man Colorado going all in and then getting coil, you know, I I can't move past I understand the Colorado's going all in and then getting Coyle. You know, I can't move past, I understand that Colorado's going all in, but I can't get over Boston going all out. So they won 62 games two years ago. I think there's five guys left on that team. From that 62-in team.

And there are three points, I understand that they're not a cup contender, but there are three points out of a playoff spot right now to give up on Frederick, Coyle, Marchand, Carlo, I mean, Brazot. Didn't want to waste eight days. You know, you're right. You're right, and long term for the franchise,

it's the right thing. But I'm talking about the Islanders. They're trying to keep Nelson. They keep Paul Marion, want to re-sign him. He's 34, they're keeping Peugeot. Yeah. Peugeot, you can still move though. I'm wondering, Justin, it's too early to figure out what the trends are here, but a guy who's

signed for five million with the cap going up, I don't think his value is going down. Peugeot's. Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. Depending on his play. Exactly. I don't think the value's going away. Who would be on your list of

I'm kind of surprised didn't move. Do we start in Vancouver? Yeah I think I think that Besser absolutely suitor like senators are People need centers. I like him. Yeah, I like suitor a lot, too. I really like his game I would love to know I would love to see a call log of Kevin Sheveldeoff the last two weeks because I'm sure he's tried to go after as much as he could. You know, that Winnipeg has the challenge

of the no trade clauses, but I have no doubt they tried. I would say also, you know, I was a bit surprised, Ryan Donato, nothing happened, this guy's got what, 20 goals, even strength this year. Now I heard they talked about an extension with him, so we'll see if that goes anywhere. I also heard for Connor Murphy,

they were not willing to retain, and I don't even know where they are on any of that, if they even had room. No, they can't. They can't. Because they had three full spots. Okay, so it's gone, and. That's a challenge in itself. Look around the room.

Everybody needed help. Yeah. You know, an interesting deadline deal in that, because so many teams were in it, so many teams were willing to put chips in, prices went up. Luke Shen got traded for buy the Leafs for a third a couple years ago.

He got two years older, his salary doubled at least. And he went for a second and a fourth this year Duma line yesterday second and a third right or second in a prospect yeah, Pavilion a second Gets a third the kuzmenko got a third yeah big big big prices You know I'll say this too like the Rangers are sitting there with a whack of money Like what's what are are they going to be doing? They were a weird team during this whole thing.

Like I remember years ago, St. Louis was going for cups and they still traded Chattanooga and Stastny. I felt like they were doing that, but they held on to Kreider. Yeah, Kreider's got the back issue that could have shut him down. Maybe I wonder. But like that first round series, like Colorado Dallas. How about Tampa Bay Florida? What if those two teams play against each other?

It's going to be brutal. Those teams are going to have nothing left for round two after it's done. So you guys are just going to go home and just like, you may get home. We got to work tomorrow. What's tomorrow? It's Saturday. Saturday night, they have a show every Saturday. Take a day off.

I'll take some days off next week. Oh my God. I'm staying at the hotel tonight. Oh boy. Just fall into bed like a ooze. We sure appreciate your efforts. I As you said earlier, I know what it's like firsthand to Pick up the phone and go, please very well, please

Tell me something now. I have to say you have figured it out very well you do it when you want to No expectations I'm gonna set an earthquake with this tweet and then I'm just going to go away and say, you know, I'm not an insider anymore. I can't wait till I get to that point. It is called like semi-retired. Yeah, semi-retired. You're going to hit that soon enough, but we're glad you have not aged enough to get to where I am. So again, terrific job. Thanks, Scott. Thanks for your time.

And we're happy to see you again tomorrow night. I look forward to the return of the 2026 Nick Kiprio's trade board. Elliot Friedman from Hockey Night in Canada, one of the biggest days in hockey. All right, we'll take a quick break. When we return, it really goes off the rails with Doug McLean. What does he think about the Boston Bruins? More when we return after these words Thanks for watching!