Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Welcome the Champs to Town

Episode Date: March 15, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee begin the show by discussing when they expect Auston Matthews to return to his old self on the ice, if Calle Jarnkrok fits on the top line heading into the post-season, and what they expect from the Leafs home game against the defending Stanley Cup champions. Then, Eddie Olczyk (21:14) jumps on to chat about where Luke Schenn could fit on Sheldon Keefe's roster, the state of the Western Conference, and if the Colorado Avalanche has a chance to hoist the Cup again despite dealing with some injuries on the team. Next, ESPN's Ray Ferraro (41:59) weighs in on the current group of Maple Leafs and their chances against the Tampa Bay Lightning when the playoffs come around, why Jon Cooper's hockey club has struggled in the last stretch of the season, and why he's not overly concerned about the Boston Bruins. To wrap up the show, Aarif Deen (1:06:15) joins the guys to give the Avalanche perspective ahead of their game against Toronto, how they've navigated line juggling with players injured, and if their goalie Alexandar Georgiev can lead them to another Cup. 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.

This is Real Kipper and Bourne on Sportsnet 590 The Van. Nothing like a mid-week game to get the energy going again. Woo! Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche, Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Derek Brandeo, David Sispuba, and the star of Leaf Nation, Sammy McKee. And a good night's sleep will get the energy going again too, eh, Kipper? What was that? Your good night's sleep last night, you got a little more energy today.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, you know why? The tequila wore off on Monday. Dry it out. I am dry. And ready to go. And I'm staying that way for the next little while. That's what we like to hear.

Love it. At least for two hours, for sure. That's all we ask. Unless you guys drive me a drink. I'm going to Arizona next week. I'll probably be a little, won't be as dry. The weather will be dry, not me. There you go.

So we're glad everyone's with us for the next two hours. Live on Sportsnet 590. The Fan, our YouTube channel. Sportsnet Now, iTunes, Spotify. Let's get her going. Leafs on the ice this morning ahead of their matchup with Colorado. Why did you feel the need to print that? Aren't they usually on the ice?

Well, I was just setting the scene. It's a scene setter. That's a hell of a scene setter. Thank you. I appreciate it. shen was out there i think i cut my chops at 680 news or city news 680 as it's called now where i was writing a lot of script for news and you gotta set the scene oh no it's a good scene thank you i said it was it was everybody on the ice or was it an optional uh everyone was on the ice they had

lines they had practice lines they had everything going this morning i put i even put those in the lineup for you another scene setter that uh that means they mean business tonight yeah i would agree so we kyle's has spoken to this they nothing really seems to fester too long for this hockey club so we we expect a good game tonight. Yeah, and again, they tend to play well when they are incentivized to play good teams. So Colorado has certainly been that of late. They hung eight on Montreal on Monday night. Not too shabby.

You know, they're one eight of their last 11. They're humming a little bit here. They're finding it. In the next hour, we're going to welcome in Arif Dean, who covers the Avalche for Mile High Sports. He's the host of Hockey Mountain High. Excellent podcast name. Yeah.

Hockey Mountain High. That's really good. So we're excited to get more into detail on Colorado and their chances of defending their Stanley Cup. In the meantime, as we focus on the Toronto Maple Leafs, where do we start? On maybe Austin Matthews and how good he's looked lately and now things get serious for him and the team

and be the player that we saw last year. God, that would be nice. But, you know, we have seen a few flashes of that lately. Last three games, he scored in each one. He's had three assists along the way. So, you know, that's encouraging. And today there was an article out, Jonas Eagle, that he had been playing with a hurt hand,

which people had speculated on. I'm not fully saying giving Matthews the pass because to me it's the skating that's been an issue yeah energy sometimes has not been there and that shouldn't have anything to do with your hand agreed i agree it's an energy thing but we have seen over the course of the year where a puck could just explode off his stick and jump over a blue line and lose the zone and just stuff like that that maybe kind of connects the dots a little bit with his hand yeah you think well yeah and we had talked for years about how the puck was like a magnet on his blade like talk about on a string everything they got you can't give him a bad pass

and it hasn't felt as magnetic at times this year. It would be great if his hand was hurt all year. All of a sudden, he was like, I'm back. I'm that guy again. Let's go to Sheldon Keefe on Matthews and his star player. The goals to me are secondary, but I think he's been

really skating well and on the puck, jumping into holes. I think in terms of how skating well and on the puck, jumping into holes. I think in terms of how he's moving on the ice, I think that's more of what we're used to seeing in the goals. I mean, the other night he falls off the play and gets a tap in at the crease, so I don't know if that's much of a rhythm thing as it is, just that you're moving well and you're confident and you're getting to spaces. That's more of what we like to see from him in terms of just getting around the ice

and being, looks like he's light and free and all of that. So that's been really nice. It's been a few games now he's been really skating well. See, that's exactly what you just talked about. Light and free he has looked heavy and tethered at times this year you know like the the light and free thing's great because that's what i see too it's it's about his movement it's about his you know ability to look fast because he's a big dude and he hasn't when when you're not fast you tend to look slow

and behind he he's looked really good lately. I wonder if conditioning has anything to do with that. I think it's fair to ask when you have a two-hour radio show. I think it's fair to say that if you want to throw in light and free, it does make you think. Yeah. There's been stretches of play this year where it's not like he's been bad, but it does look like he's playing off a steak dinner. You know, it's just a little not as light and free.

And so that's good. You know, that the coach is acknowledging it as one thing. That Matthews had some quotes about it, too, about how he just hasn't felt quite right is another. So, I mean, that's, he's so sick of the line, but your best player's got to be your best players he hasn't been at times this year so this is this is a great step for the leafs at north's playoffs sammy where's uh austin matthews on your list of things to keep an eye

on here for the rest of the regular season i don't know when i said it but i felt like i said it within the last couple weeks that there is a possibility that he just turns this baby on right like we talked about how this is a thing that we've brought up all throughout the year though that there's not the 60 goal chase there's not the the chase of who you're gonna be playing in the first round there's kind of to be honest a lot of just another game here right and now that they're starting to get bigger there's less games left in the regular season you got to solidify home ice advantage you know he knows how good he's gonna have to be in the in the in the postseason for the least to win there is part of me that thinks it's just kind of ramping up here and that it's just he knows how

much more important the games are about to get and he's ramping it up and that like i'm not suggesting that he wasn't trying before i guess maybe by saying that in a backhanded way i am but i just really do feel like he's turned it on and he's looked a lot more like himself within the last week or so just towards the tail end he's gotten three straight games like it's following him around again 50 and 50 in the back end of the season last year i don't know if that's related to get to 60 yeah i just i i do think there's a world in which he's just kind of turned it on in the last couple weeks just on a quick note here in about 15 minutes we're gonna get in eddie olchuk oh man this is uh this is a broadcaster show today because eddie o and ray ferraro in about 40 minutes like it doesn't get any better than that

sammy yeah good booking by you kipper really good booking by you, Kipper. Really good booking by me. Producer Kippy was on fire today. Good work, good work, fella. So we heard from Adam Oates, who, by the way, guys, like maybe one of them, and if you didn't listen to yesterday's show or download it, you should. Please do it and listen to Adam Oates, Hall of Famer, discuss Trevor Zegers, who's a face and a young star one of those guys that uh

has already you know made an impression for um probably instagram goals yeah which was the hot topic of conversation with adam oats yesterday and uh i just i just loved his his candid view of where that line is for him. But, you know, just to switch gears again, on Adam Oates, he talked about the need to have Mitch Marner with Austin. And how important is that to him that he stays with Marner from here on in? And is it the biggest reason maybe outside of a legit situation with his hand that, you know, you go from 60 to 40, 45 goals because of Mitch Marner? It's just tough to say when they started the season.

What did they play together to start the year? Like 10 games? Matthews had like two or three goals or something. And like they just tough to say when they started the season. What did they play together to start the year? Like 10 games? Matthews had like two or three goals or something. And like they just didn't seem to have that same thing. And again, that just felt like Matthews not having the same. I think a lot of it. Listen, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that him scoring 60 goals last year wasn't. A lot of it had to do with Mitch Marner.

Mitch Marner put a lot of them on a platter for him. Don't get me wrong. But I do think a lot of this is onews just in terms of the way his games looked like i think there's i think if he had played with matthew with marner all the year maybe he'd have two or three more three or four more but i don't think he'd be like close to 60 again yeah he was dominant i do think it's integral now though that those guys you know now that you got ryan o'reilly and another guy for good players to play with i i think you leave those two together and try to get the most

out of them all right did you you said you gave me the lines yeah they're in red they're right in red they're right in front of you we got yarn crock with matthews and marner nice so we just talked matthews and marner we got sammy is happy because Kerfoot's gone. And Callie Yarncroft, recent goal scorer. And I think he's a guy that can jump up in short stints. But you know how I feel about Yarncroft being in a top six. Mid. What a drop. The timing. He's mid. He's the timing he's mid he's mid he's mid um yeah that's fair but i mean they got a bunch of mid left winger so but sheldon keeps gonna tell me otherwise on this clip oh

i haven't yeah let's let's find out how he thinks of cali let's do it uh it's just you know something that we haven't really looked at much. Just stop it right there. Can we get that opening again? Because I think he's on board with me. It's just something that we haven't really looked at much. No, one more. One more start.

It's just something that we haven't really looked at much. Listen, we got to listen to the rest of the clip, though, because he says hilarious. Please. I only like, yeah. Please, let's just listen to the rest of the clip. Okay, all right, all right, all right. It's just something that we haven't really looked at much,

but obviously with 11 and 7, things are pretty fluid there for us. I wanted to get Kerfoot paired with Lafferty a little bit more. Just similar type of skill sets in terms of how they skate and move with and without the puck. So I suspect things will move around a fair bit. But, you know, if I'm going to use Yarncroft from time to time in that spot, I just wanted to give them a little bit more familiarity, starting with today's morning skate. But I think you'll see things move around there as they have been.

So he's like, but Kerfoot, he's still going to be around. You can't take away my blankie. So it's just Kerfoot and Lafferty. Yeah, they don't even get a guy. They're both great killers. They figure we're just going to kill. That's a lot of speed, though. Oh, man, they could fly.

Look at them get up the rink. Beat the puck to a square together. No, but like, you know, you got to look at every guy in that Matthews and Marner spot. I think, you know, Yarncroft's on a rush with Matthews the other day. Makes the right play and not forcing a pass through him and shoots the puck. Scores a goal. And the guy's, you know, one goal off a career high now in goals. He's got 15 on the season.

It's just, you know, something that we haven't really looked at much you gotta do it but listen i wish oh go ahead i was just gonna say i just wish yonka could score like that when it's not beside matthews or marner all the time that would be or nylander like go back and look at his goals yeah has it mostly been with the good guys still yeah yeah it's mostly with the good guys it's in that that position yeah what happens can he i like his shot is it a fixture here can you go against tampa bay against their top six yeah with yarn cro You know, I think Matthews and Marner are so good that Yarncroft is a pretty reliable guy. Like, he's at least, I don't think he hurts them. Maybe he doesn't add anything extra to that line.

The way when you get, like, the perfection line, all three guys bring their own flavor to it. But I don't think they have a lot of options for guys who add spice. And the difference between him and Kerfoot, you're talking about, you know, a guy that can score with good players. And a guy that can score with anyone. You can just stop the

sentence that he can score. Yeah. He's got finish. You can shoot the puck. He's got 15 goals this year. Yeah. Kerfoot is not showing. Kerfoot's got one since the ball dropped on New Year's Eve. Yeah. Okay, yesterday we were going. It's March, by the way. Sorry? It's March, by the way. It's March, by the way, yeah. It wasn't recent

ball drop flex seal oh there's gonna be some plug-in tonight yesterday we talked about uh the rotation that we could possibly see the rest of the week Samsonov's in no real surprise here right no well I don't think so no i mean this is this is the way it's gonna go here though they'll both get their looks this is listen the defending stanley cup champions the guy who you think is gonna start game one of the playoffs i'm you know the pressure's on samsonov murray's back in the net and available i got a close eye on old sammy tonight it's a big game for him murray's starting to gain some. Murray's starting to gain some momentum with the coach.

All right, let's listen to Keefe on Sammy. There's Sammy. Sam's not going to go today? Yeah. Yeah, he's fine. I mean, he's just, like I said the other day, he's a little bit less than 100% and all of that. We wanted to make sure he had a little more time to be certain that he was 100%.

He hasn't missed any time in practices or anything, but he's had a little bit of discomfort in the last couple of weeks that we wanted to make sure settled properly. That's a hell of a recovery. Oh, he's back. Yeah. It's only hell of a recovery? Oh, he's back. Yeah. It's only like 97% before, but now he's 100.

Yeah, he's ready to go. Yeah. What a miracle. He recovered. So he's not, so if you've had the flu or a little bit of a bug, you're not in discomfort. You're just miserable. Yeah, I think that's fair. Yeah yeah so what do you think he's masking a groin uh a knee i don't know what do you think i don't know i mean

none of the above yeah i don't think there's anything going on really aside from just wanted to get murray another start and you know sammy's tired and whatever you know how it is this point of the season for something bugs you. It feels like it's been a while since he played, right? Was his last game, was they played in Edmonton? His last game would have been Calgary? That seems like too long ago. No, my bad.

Not Calgary. New Jersey. He hasn't. Been over a week. Yeah, he hasn't been very busy. Been over a week since he's played. I wonder if a little rustiness, little rest versus rust would he i could see him being a little anxious tonight yeah but if i'm not mistaken they have both played at their best when they've both been available

like when there's been a little bit of a push right like murray's played well and samsonov has kind of raised his game a little bit this might be the best case scenario to get the the most out of him you know these are these are big starts for claiming the creasing playoffs and for him earning his next contract and what the value of that will be okay let's go to sheldon keith on playing the stanley cup champions well we've had no shortage of uh difficult matchups and difficult games here recently. And today is another one, and there's more coming here for us. That stretch of the schedule where you've got to be real good.

I mean, Colorado's definitely playing more like you had expected them to get to in terms of their quality of play and level of play. They're a much different spot than when we saw them around New Year's there. So, yeah, to that degree, I mean, they have injuries and such,

but the way that they play as a group and certainly with their best people on forward and defense, they keep you very honest. Winners eight of their last 11 on the road, and McKinnon scored five straight games and has 15 goals in his last 15 games. That's not bad. He's the only guy who can look like Connor McDavid to me. Through the neutral zone, with the puck barreling through the Ds.

The only guy you're like, oh, that's different. Oh, yeah. You know? But it's a fascinating difference. The way he he it looks much more like a labor when he's skating like not like it's hard for him but the way he chugs and the way like oh it's much more forceful it's like a train where it's like you don't want to stand in front of it whereas mcdavid's gonna break your ankles by changing directions like mcdavid's going how

fast and he barely took a stride yeah like it's a very different style he's light and effervescent while mckinnon is you know who the second hottest scorer is on the odds don't you yeah it's dennis maligan sorry dennis maligan yes yeah yeah yeah i brought that up the other day and you're making the trains i i didn't think you were serious yeah yeah he's hot guy's hot he's on the second line with val nachushkin and jt comfort a tonight. Top six forward. How could the Leafs chain a top six forward? They could have Malgan, Barabanov, and Patan as a line, and they let them all go. I think I'm going to do a parlay tonight

because Galchenyuk's getting into the lineup tonight for them too. A Galchenyuk-Malgan goal parlay. Plus six billion. And it's a lock. It's a virtual lock. I would, yeah, Malgan is parlay. Plus six billion. And it's a lock. Yeah. It's a virtual lock. I would. Yeah. Malgan is scoring tonight.

That is an absolute promise to both of you. I know. It's so true. I've never been more sure of anything. You predict Buffalo is going to beat the Leafs on Monday. I got to go with them. I hope there's a camera on Dubas when Malgan hangs two on him tonight. He just looks over at like Shani or someone and goes,

hmm, hmm, hmm. Who'd they trade him for? Hunt. They are with Hunt. They have. Who'd they trade it again? They have been bitten hard, though. Every time it's like one step forward, two back,

lecking in out of the lineup four to six weeks. You know, they miss Josh Manson. Yeah. Yeah, he's had some rough injury luck hasn't he obviously an exceptional player but they're still without landis cog they're they're hanging in there but i mean they're still you know they're on the cusp of the top of the division again just pull out my fancy color sheet here and nate's already uh playing the underdog uh underdog card yeah well yeah if we're in a wild card spot we'll be tough i think no i think he's doing the opposite of the underdog card you saying we're better than that yeah no he said like no one wants to face us if we're under the wild card spot all right we'll take that i prefer that yeah be who you think you are

three games at hand in the Dallas Stars and seven points back. Four points behind the Minnesota Wild right now, this Colorado team. So they got some work to do to catch up. All right. We got one last one here for you, pal. You got one more clip? Yep. It's discussing the idea of Luke Shen.

Do you want to go to Edzo first, or should we get this clip in here? Let's do it. Let's play the clip on Keefe on Luke Shen's status. For lots of reasons, but, you know, the biggest one that he, in today's morning skate, you're not getting much out of that. He's traveled, and it's two days in a row he didn't skate leading up to today, and, you know, he'll get a chance to get a full practice tomorrow with you know players on

the ice and competing and all of those kind of things so we'll start to get him today is a good step to get him ramped up and then make some decisions from there for the weekend okay there you go we got yeah it's a little too quick to just insert him it is but depending depending on where you have him slotted and how is he, has he got a chance to be an everyday player for you in the first round? If so, you got to get him in the lineup. All right, let's welcome in Edzo, Eddie Olchuk, former NHL player, color analyst with Seattle, Kraken, and TNT. Are we good?

Why are you guys looking at me like I got three heads? All right. Did you make up that introduction on your own, or were you reading that, Kipper? Listen, I can't do anything without Sammy. No, no, no, listen. It's just awesome. Justin, how are you, buddy?

Oh, great. Great to hear you, Edzo. Yeah, it's on a giant cue card. I won't lie. Great work. How are you, buddy? Oh, great. Great to hear you, Edsel. Yeah, it's on a giant cue card. I won't lie. Great work. How are you? You okay?

You're not running out of gas this year, are you? No, no, no, no, no, no. We're good. We're on the right side of the grass. And it is an interesting time of year because where are we going now, especially with, you know, the NHL and TNT. And as you mentioned, we're in town here, Kipper and Justin, for the hours and weeks tonight. But, you know, what have Clems done?

How have they handled, you know, the trade deadline. And then it's, it's, it's post it's, it's understanding and taking a look at it and how's it all going to play out. And it's hard to believe that we're, you know, just over 30 days from the playoff starting. And, you know, there's still obviously a few match-ups. We have no idea what the hell's going to happen, but some, we have an idea. So it's, it's's as you guys know it's an incredible time of year and lots of questions and uh you know lots of opinions not many answers but at the end of the day this is why we do what we do so it is uh feeling

good and looking forward to uh you know the last uh just for an eighth to go here and then we'll see how it all plays out in 30 plus days edzo before you joined us we were listening to sheldon keith talk about luke shen who's in town not playing tonight you know his sort of situation what are your thoughts on where and how he'll fit in with this leafs team that's been toying with this 11 and 7 format um which is something they haven't really done over keith's tenure yeah well I think sometimes it's the hand that's your belt. And, you know, with the injury to O'Reilly, would they be playing 11-7 if they were, you know, if O'Reilly was healthy?

I mean, you can play that game until you're blue in the face. I mean, sometimes you've just got to dress 11-7 out of the necessity. And having stood behind the bench for a couple of years a long time ago, there is that thought process, look, I've got to get this guy in the game. And especially when you start bringing in the new bodies in the lineup. And we met myself, Kenny Albert, and Keith Jones were doing a game for TNT tonight. We met with Sheldon this morning. We're going to get a chance to meet with Coach Bednar here shortly.

But, you know, it is that challenge of, you know, not only getting guys in and then, you know, obviously with Luke Shannon, his personal, you know, issues of dealing at home that, you know, that he's had to deal with his wife. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's, you know, you got to get guys in there. And sometimes just out of necessity, you're going to have to go to 11 and 7 if you got so many defensemen there. So I think it is what it is. And look, we all know what Luke Shen

brings I mean that's why there was such a high demand I mean I heard at least you know 10 plus teams had been really kicking the tires on Luke Shen and you know what you're going to get and it gives you a little bit of something that the Leafs you know don't didn't have a lot of especially on the back end. And when you're a forward and you're coming down or you're playing below the top of the circles, I'm not sure, Justin, if there are any numbers or analytics to look at how many times a guy gives a shot with a stick

or a cross-tick in the ribs or a cross stick in the back. But I would venture to say that those numbers would be pretty damn good for a guy like Luke Shen. And that takes its toll on guys, whether it's game one, you know, period two of game one in a playoff series, or most importantly being a Stanley Cup champion like he is, maybe game six or game seven. That has its toll.

And, you know, you've got to have your head on a swivel when he's on the ice. And that's a real positive thing. I think that Kyle and his staff addressed some major needs. But, yeah, right now maybe it isn't. It's probably not ideal. I think if you talk to a lot of defensemen, you know, they'd rather be in the lineup than sitting up with us watching the game um it's probably not ideal but you got to get them games and you got to see who can do what and

you just never know when somebody goes down and you're going to need to play yeah just throw two you know two new guys throw gustafson and shen out there together and yeah i've got at least a game and a half or two games that i've seen them play and And I have confidence that they can play or, you know what, I want to stay away from that combination and then figure it out from there. So I know there's a lot there, but I believe it's, you know, out of necessity sometimes. But then also, too, it's like, OK, I got to get these guys in and we'll figure it out from there when we get completely healthy and then go back to our normal 12 and 6. We're talking to Eddie Olchuk, former teammate of mine,

TNT broadcaster extraordinaire. That was really uncomfortable. You've got to practice that stuff. I mean, really. It's my charm. It's my charm that I'm not good at it. Former teammate of mine. I mean, yeah, okay.

I kind of look at it the other way, is that you were a former teammate of mine because I am a little bit older. Yeah, without a doubt. You've played at the highest level. You've coached at the highest level. 11 and 7, you can talk about all you want about depth, but I got to think guys still hate it.

Or at least defense. As a forward, if I saw... No, the forwards don't. More ice time, maybe. Yeah, 100%. Nobody's texting or emailing or calling Sheldon Keefe after the game complaining that little Johnny isn't getting more ice time. What about the defense?

The forwards love it. What about the defense? What about the defense? I don't want to see an extra guy sitting there. I don't know. Listen to the last four minutes of me talking about the defense. I mean, obviously you didn't, or maybe your, your right ear is, is not hearing correctly. I just said like, look at some guys, you know, it's, it's not easy.

It isn't, but would you rather be in there as a seven D or whatever the D is, or would you rather be sitting out as a 7D or whatever the D is, or would you rather be sitting out? I mean, like, at least for right now, again, players will be thinking about this. Good for the seventh guy. Sucks for the first four. Well, why is that?

A rhythm, room on the bench. I don't know. It's just a bad feel for me anyways, and I don't know if It's just, it's just a bad feel for me anyways. And I don't know if it's just a thing that teams now do. It's much more accepted now than it was maybe 15, 20 years ago. Yeah. But I think,

I think a lot of, I think, I think more so, I think this started and I mean, I look at it'd be interesting to get, you know, you know, a real veteran coach that's been around for,

you know, for a long, long time. I mean, the first guy I think of, I mean, obviously it would be Joe Quinville. But, I mean, you could talk to Bruce Boudreaux and go, like, sometimes it's about I want to get Matthews double shifting. I want to get Marner out there double shifting. And look, you can't do that even if you have 12 and 6. I understand that.

And there is a risk with that if, you know, somebody goes down or, I mean, look at, look at what the Rangers had to do in order to make the trade to get Kane to the Rangers. I mean, they were addressing what 11 and five at one point. I mean, you know, like because of the gymnastics with the salary cap. So look at your, your best players. And you guys tell me who you know tipper you said the four the top four okay whoever the top four you think are the maple leaves those guys are going

to get their reps they're going to get their minutes i mean yeah yeah maybe you might go out there one time with with guserson or maybe mckay bumps up or every once in a while but you know look i think most guys once they get into the game, yeah, you want to be going out there all the time. But the understanding is that those guys usually are a piece of the puzzle and you're going to need them at some point. And as I said earlier, out of necessity sometimes, regardless of what the end goal or the end game, we understand. But I think that you, you know, for the forwards, they love it because there's a better chance of me getting out there a little bit more

with only 11 and 12 and so what can we draw for a conclusion from a colorado team season where i mean everyone's been hurt the biggest the the best players the team have been struggling like their third in their division but like do we still feel like this is one of the league's elite teams once they get everyone uh yes i think they're the most dangerous team in the western comets if they can get you know some sort of healthy i think the only thing that we're waiting for for any kind of an injury or whatever is when you ask coach jared bettar about you know a certain guy's situation and he comes back on you comes back on why he isn't playing. Has he hurt? Has he got a leg? Has he got a knee? Has he got a groin? Well, only his feelings are hurt because he's a healthy scratch tonight.

I think he's probably just dying to say he's not playing because we don't need him. The season's been unbelievable, but the West is absolutely wide open, Justin. And I think it really is. But the avalanche to me is when they're going and they're healthy, but they haven't, you know, they've gone on a couple of runs and, you know, but they have had these, you know, these injuries and the run of them, which is really hard to comprehend.

I mean, the other night, Leckanen gets hurt. He's going to be out now a period of time, and he's a really, really important part to this team, not only positionally, but the units that he plays on and real integral on the power play. But again, look, it's somebody else's opportunity to step in here. But I think if they can get there, you know, everybody will still question, like I think we all did last year, is, you know, is the goaltending good enough?

You know, can it be good enough to be able to do what happened last year? And everybody had question marks about Darcy Kemper. You know, he got injured. I mean, he was at least at least you know having some issues with that stick in the in the eye that he took earlier in the year and some issues in the playoffs and then Fransos came in and they were able to you know win some games but yeah I think everything on a you know equal level we haven't even mentioned Landis Scott yet and you know forget him just coming back but you know here's a guy that hasn't played in a long time,

so it's going to take him, you would imagine, a few games or two if he can get back or a series if he indeed comes back. Can he get back to a real impact type of player? So I think there are questions. But looking at the West, I think the one team, if I could, I think the one team I think is most intriguing and I don't think gets anywhere near the public should is LA with the acquisition of corporate Salo, you know, getting grab, grab a cough, grab a cough in this is like Todd McClellan's done a hell of a job there.

They went through a tough time there early. They weren't getting a lot of saves. They were playing a lot of high-scoring games. They found their game here to last, I'm just going to say, 30 games or so. They're big. They're heavy. They've got experience. Kopitar's playing out of his mind.

Now they've got a guy that looks like he can be, instead of seeing 15-8 chances in Columbus, he's probably only seeing 8-10 right now in L.A., and you like your chances with a really elite goaltender. So I think L.A. is a really interesting team. And then Vegas has found their defensive structure and Bruce Cassidy's done a hell of a job there and they're scoring goals now. And so I think it is wide open, but long-winded, I think if Colorado can, you know, get some sort

of healthy, I think everything goes to Colorado. I don't care where they finish. They can finish eighth or third or whatever it is. I think they're going to be one heck of a tough out. Just one more for me in the West, and that is whether or not Winnipeg and Seattle let Nashville back into the party here. Calgary gives up a huge point to the Coyotes last night, but a nervous time for Seattle, who had been real good up until, what,

maybe about a week and a half ago at home? Well, they just lost two games to Dallas at home. You know, they've had some games here. Like, they had the Ottawa, I mean, Ottawa was on that, I think, the five-game trip, right? They got hammered in Chicago, and then they came to Seattle, and they got a big lead, that being Ottawa.

And then Seattle came back and had them on the ropes, and then Giroux made a hell of a play. And next thing you know, Ottawa wins the game. But I think for Seattle is that, look, they're in a pretty good spot because they've got Edmonton on Saturday afternoon. They're in San Jose tomorrow night. They've got Nashville a couple more times. And I think they have Arizona three times.

They have Chicago one time now. Really, as we've seen, some of these teams that are bubble teams obviously still got everything to gain, but the teams at the bottom, they're playing loose. They're playing free. We saw Chicago take out Boston. We saw Arizona, as you mentioned, Kipper with Calgary. The last 20-some games, I think they've gotten points.

That being Arizona, they've gotten points in 14 or 15 games. So they're playing well. There are no easy games, and, you know, you've got to go out there and find a way. So, yeah, Winnipeg and Seattle here the last little recent time, they've kind of gone through a tough time. But, I mean, everybody has. And I think you are what your record is right now, and everybody keeps saying, well, Calgary's going to go on a run.

You know, I mean, they're going to go on a run. They're going to go on a run. Well, have they gone on a run yet? I mean, I don't know if that, I don't know if that, I don't think that answer is yes, but they're still hanging around. And you're right. When you do have a little bit of a dive and you lose, you know, five or seven or whatever it might be, even though, you know, you win seven games on the road, like Seattle did

a little bit earlier, you know, you go on the road and win four in a row, it's tough. That's what it's going to come down to is can you play to your record? And if you play to your record, Winnipeg and Seattle will both make it, like down the stretch. What do you got, 15 games or whatever it is? If they play to their record, and Justin, you would know this better than anybody with the numbers, like if they play to their record, and Justin, you would know this better than anybody with the numbers, like if they play to their record, they're going to get in.

But you got to start accumulating the points and giving yourself some separation. And for Seattle, it starts tomorrow night in San Jose. Hey, listen, don't ever question my right ear. If I've got issues with my right ear at all, it's because you chewed it off in 1994 with your okay well give me a chance headlines sports friends too and second of all that was like that was like a very aggressive uh attack before you started your uh your statement there

i appreciate the energy and the passion and I love you guys. And I look forward to being here in Toronto and Ron what at some point against the light. Have a great call, Eddie. Thanks. Yeah. At all.

Chuck, former NHL. And I was his teammate. Make that clear. Great stuff. He's got the call tonight for TNT in the U S of a. All right. We're going to take a quick break.

Well, we got a couple minutes here. All right. I do want to throw something out there before we do that. Canada Baseball? What's that? Canada Baseball? Oh, what are they up to? Oh, they're just playing in a big game against Mexico.

Win or go home, and they're the first inning. Are we winning? We're down 2-1 in the first inning, but big RBI knock from Blue Jays prospect Otto Lopez. Oh, big Otto Lopez. And we have no Freddy. No Freddy. The Dodgers are like, we're guy. And we have no Freddie. No Freddie. The Dodgers are like, we're done.

And they pulled him. He's gone. Really? Yeah, yeah. I thought Vladdy's going to go or wants to go. No, I was talking about going. But don't go. Oh, come on.

Yeah. Hang now. Freddie, yeah, something with his hammy and the Dodgers are like, Enough. Bye-bye. We're paying this guy $800 million per year. He's coming back to LA. We're going to have a look at him.

That tells you all you need to know on how important that tournament is. Seriously. What were you going to say, Barney? I was going to say that the, you know, with all the injuries the Avalanche have had, you know, guys have had to step up for them to be third in their division.

Mikko Rantanen's season is maybe one of the under-discussed great seasons in the NHL this year. Any guess at how many goals he's got this year a lot 40 yeah 43 really fourth in the nhl and goals behind mcdavid dry sidle and pasternak that's a good company he should be in like i guess on merit you'd be talking about him as potentially a heart finalist if you're talking about most valuable oh he's been essential to that team think about now landis codog coming back to that lineup oh i know you want to talk about the ultimate like warrior yeah power forward i love landis kog

how can you not yeah and by the way uh leckanen who's out is 50 points in 60 games he's been having an unbelievable season too so those two guys are obviously integral to their success. And I do like Lars Eller coming in with his playoff savvy. That's a nice addition. I will say, so Rantanen has 78 points in 65 games. That's 17th in the NHL, just behind William Nylander. So a little love for our hometown boy here with 35 goals and 44 assists. What a season he's having. And he is two points away from a career high.

Bill is. Yep. All right, we go from one great broadcaster to another. sis what a season he's having and he is two points away from a career high bill is yep yeah all right we go from one great broadcaster to another ray ferraro is going to join us after the break so what's the deal now he is uh of course espn yes sir last night they had this cartoon oh yeah live cartoon game was was ray part of that if i hadn't seen that and you were describing that i'd be like what are you talking it was mess who's on the call last night mess was on the call so it wasn't ray but kevin weeks did the color commentary for big city greens like i saw kevin weeks in the cartoon well we have the man you should ask him we're gonna ask him perfect if disney uh drew him a middle-aged crusty guy i know the goalies were i think the ref was a chicken and the goalie was something else they used the player tracking to anyway

they should have done the the rest of the three blind mice all right ray ferraro espn hockey analyst after the break you're watching and listening to real kipper and born breaking down the top stories in the nhl every day the jeff marie show subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts this is real kipper and born on Sportsnet 590, The Van. All right, we'll go from Eddie Olchuk, the TNT, to Ray Ferraro, ESPN. Great guest. I wonder if this is like in this first real year of like Channel 7 versus Channel 9,

kind of an anchorman thing going. Probably not, Kev. Right now, in a knife fight, who would you take, TNT or ESPN? Listen, I'm picking whoever side Ray's on every time. Ray, who are you going with? You've seen me fight. I have I'm picking whoever's on the other side because they probably win

Kip, you know I'm sure Kip I know you have but halfway through a fight you go I'm in the wrong fight you got a memorable one? Oh, boy. My rookie year, I fought Steve

Thomas. Oh, big mistake. Yeah, halfway through that, I realized he's the middleweight champ of the world. To steal a line from Jamie McLennan, I came third in that fight. I made a couple of mistakes early in my junior career going up against Stumpy. Oh, and then you're like, where are they?

You know, because I don't know how to fight really to start with anyway, but I figure he's my size and it can't be that bad. And I'm like, where are all these punches coming from? Like, how many guys am I fighting? And so when he got traded to the Islanders, I used to say from time to time to him, hey, Stump, tell the guys about the time I kicked your ass in Toronto. And he'd go, yeah, I had to go to the hospital, broke two knuckles.

See, they could put that in your animation show last night for Disney and ESPN. I'm looking for you in that animation. Where were you? I didn't make the cut. Didn't make it. And by the way, I thought that was amazing. Like, could you imagine if you were a little kid and you got to see that and then they interview the referee and it's a chicken

and like, I just, I don't know, I thought it really, it doesn't take the game very seriously. Yet, if you're watching hockey, the kids are playing video games all the time and they all got these little caricatures and I just thought, I thought the whole thing

was awesome. I'd never go back to the real thing if I was like a kid. Why would you want to listen to a bunch of us talk? You go listen to guys in animation. I thought it was great. Well, it certainly seems like there's room for growth in that department. I know other sports like Nickelodeon

has done some stuff with the other leagues. So hopefully we see some more of that. Ray, we probably won't see it this year anytime soon by the time the Leafs play the Lightning in the first round. We haven't had you on this season. I'd be remiss if I didn't get your thoughts on this year's iteration of the Toronto Maple Leafs and, hey, their chances against that same old

Tampa Bay Lightning team. I think the worry that it's the Leafs always have a good regular season and they have a bad playoff. I get why that's just baked into the mindset of the fans in Toronto. I mean, it's been forever, right? I think they're really good. I don't love their goaltending. So most teams are going to end up second place to Vasilevsky anyway.

So, I mean, that's just the way it is. So the next concern would be, is that defense going to be stout enough in a playoff series? Yet, for the most part this year, all the time it's been, while it might not look the way you want, it has been really pretty good. And their forwards are deeper, more varied in their construction as opposed to in the past. I think they're a better team than Tampa this year. Tampa's team, through the number of games they've played the last three years,

the defections that have gone through free agency, the age that creeps up while you're not looking, they're not as good a team as they were in the past. I mean, I think it'll be a hell of a series, but I think Toronto will be a hell of a series, but I think Toronto should be relatively confident that they've got the right team for this time.

God, it makes so much sense, but you'll never get John Cooper to admit that they're tired or they've played so much hockey, but is that what we've seen in the last 10 or 15 games or is it mental? Like, why haven't they been a good hockey club the last, what, month maybe?

500? Well, I would say, Kip, it's a couple of things. One is that it's hard to play championship hockey or top-caliber hockey for 82 games. Imagine trying to do that for three years or four years now, and yet they've only got 22 losses. It's not like they're a disaster. But Stamkos has been in a bit of a lull before he got hurt. Point and Kucherov have been the big boys all year.

You know the guy that's really struggled, and I think it hurts them immeasurably, to his standard is Victor Hedman. He just has not had a great year by Norris caliber standards. And that, given you lose Ryan McDonough as well. You lose a guy like Jan Ruta who you never really look at, but man, he kind of just fit in that mix there. Their defense isn't as good. They don't, they don't, they don't, they spend more time in their zone.

Check out the number of times they give up 40 shots in a game. It's, it's kind of shocking and i i think they're just so well coached and well seasoned that they can work around that i just i think it's going to be hard to just continually kick it up another gear another gear another gear and it kind of feels like this is the best Nylander's ever been. I mean, clearly Matthews has got another gear, yet he's starting to heat up a little bit. Marner's had an amazing year. Like, they're, you know, Yad O'Reilly and Tavares Saddle, like, they're just, I'm going

to go through the lineup and go, I just think they're better constructed. I think they're a pretty well constructed team and if you go through any team in the league you can nitpick one part of their roster because the cap means you can't have everything yeah that is the reality which is why it's been strange this year when we've been sitting here and we've been talking about the bruins and going well that's a team that has it right they they seem like they've perfect. They've had their first little lull here, a couple of losses, but I don't think anyone's panicking over the Bruins. Do you feel that they're as good as their record reflects?

Like right now, if you look at them, they're one of the best records in NHL history. If they continue this pace, do you think they're that good and that dangerous come playoffs? I have a hard time. You know how you remember things from when you were a kid? And I have a hard time remembering that or equating this Bruins team to the Canadians of 76-77 or those Islander great teams.

I'm like, there's – that your dad played for. Like, there's just no, I don't see it yet. Win, win, win, win, win, win, win. It's amazing. They don't give up any goals. They don't, I mean, I know they've taken a nap here for the last four games or so, but even if you look at the construction of their team, they're helped by a couple of things. Pasternak's extension doesn't kick in until next year. They're paying their top two centers $3.5 million combined. That just doesn't happen. How could that be?

Could that be a weak spot once you get to games 90 of the season? Maybe. But if I'm the Bruins, I look at the schedule, and what have they got, like 15 games left? I think the next, like until you get to seven games left, I'm not worried about a thing for the Bruins except making sure my guys are healthy and rested as possible. If that means Bergeron sits out four of the next eight games, I don't care. Same

with Krejci. I don't care. But I need about five to seven games so they can recalibrate before the playoffs. And if you're the Bruins, the points record, who cares? Who cares? You could get the points record and then

get kicked in the pants in the first round. Like, who wants good congratulations? They don't want that. They're built in a really solid, consistent way. They look so organized. And, you know, one point I'll say on that is that when Jim Montgomery took over, we were doing one of their early games, and he said, look, I was lucky here

because the Bruins have been a great defensive team for a lot of years. I've got a couple of the assistant coaches from that team in Chris Kelly and Joe Sacco, who are back. He goes, we didn't change a thing, really, defensively. Not too much. I mean, why change? My job was to get more offense.

And that's where you see their D are way more active all over the place, up the ice, in the zone. They play a more aggressive offensive style. But he's like, we already had the defensive foundation here. Like, what a luxury, right, to be able to build from. You know, just thinking about the the bruins and you're damned if you do you're damned if you don't because if if things continue to have rolled the last 15 games you know the the narrative right off the bat is they haven't faced any adversity and it's coming

yeah but what are you going to do right you're like you you have it that's for us to talk about for them you can only play the game in front of you they just happen to be better than everybody else and so they whatever except kip i will say this though go back to september who didn't think about the bruins the top two centers are 37 years old they don't have mackaboy marshand or greslick into november man if they can just hang on they're going to be okay and then they won their first eight games or eight of their first nine like these now they don't have taylor hall and nick felino who by the way i i don't know how you can't feel good for one of the good guys in the game. He's had a miserable couple years with injury,

and he was on waivers last year, and until he got hurt, he's had a fantastic year. But once they get him and Hall back, their team really rounds out again. I think they've dealt with everything they have to, and they've had to this year, and they've put themselves in a position to make a good run of things. Will it happen? I don't know, but man, I'd sure like to be starting at the, at the starting line from their position.

We're talking to Ray Ferraro, ESPN hockey analyst. You like anything in the East in terms of teams getting back in it. It's almost as if we watch Pittsburgh lose to Montreal and the Islanders lose to LA and you're like where's the push going to come from now to challenge them? It doesn't seem to be

there from Florida at times or Buffalo at times. Are they going to just get in by default here or is someone going to push? Well, you know what, Kip? The two teams I keep staring at, Florida, I can't quite get my head around because they're not – like, they've used this, and they've set it kind of off and on

as a little bit of a reset year. You know, they've got all kinds of money coming off the books next year. They feel like, you know, they almost felt like they were going to take a step back this year. And really, they have. I mean, they had 122 points last year. But they've got a couple of games in hand on the Islanders. They're just three points back. Buffalo's got, what, they've got three games in hand. They're five points back.

So it's not over yet. I think Pittsburgh's going to make it. I really do. Even though it must be confounding to watch and coach that team because, man, they were, they gave up seven shots in the first period yesterday and they're down four too. Like, you don't need great goaltending,

but you can't have that goaltending but you can't have that goaltending and they have guys on the bench looking through their their gloves oh kip how many times you just sit there and you look back and you go just one of them get in front of one of them don't eat them all just something help us out when's he there and it's funny you know the goalies looking out you know when when i lose my man 12 feet from the net and the guy hammers a one-timer in, you know he's looking at you like, really? Did you not see him there? Goes both ways.

But never when Heels was in that. Oh, I loved going back there when Heels was having a bad day and you'd go back there and he would just start giving it to you from about five feet away. All I was doing was going back there to say, hey, don't worry about it. He's giving it to me from four different directions. There would have been a better chance of you getting slashed by him than Heels slashing the other team. I'm going to go off the board and tell my favorite Glenn Healy story.

We're in St. Louis. He doesn't start, so he is sour beyond belief. And there was no room in the old rink for the spare goalie on the bench, so he sat down in the Zamboni entrance. Just like a little kid, that head of his sticking over the boards. Halfway through the second period, Brett Hull gets his third goal. They're playing the Budweiser song. Everybody's throwing hats on the ice.

Al Arbor tells me, go tell Heels he's going in. So all the guys are coming on the ice to shovel the hats up, and I'm skating through them going back. Heels is just sitting on his chair with his arms folded. He sees me coming, and he's shaking his head. I know this one, yeah. He's like, I'm not going. I go,

Al says you gotta go in. He goes, you tell him to go in. Come on. So I turn around and go back to the bench and Al had that big deep voice like, where's Healy? And I go, he says he's not coming. He goes, you go down there. So I turn around again and voice. He was like, where's Healy? And I go, he says he's not coming. He goes, you go down there.

So I turn around again and here comes Heals through the guys collecting the hats to come off the ice. It was so good. That's an all-timer. I mean, you got to have some personalities on the team. I actually want to ask you about that with the Leafs. You know, they added some guys, Nolichari, Sam Lafferty, Jake McCabe, some guys who, you know, aren't afraid to get in the face of the other guys and have some of that personality.

Like, do you agree with the direction they went here, trying to get a little sandpaper and, I guess, personality to a team that didn't have a ton of it? Yes, because a couple things first. I'll start with Kyle Dubas. I get it, but I don't get it. Like, what else do people want him to do? Like, the team's got 115 points again.

Right. Like, what exactly is he supposed to do? Like, where have they fallen down here building this team? I don't see it. Now, you could say a couple years ago they were way too top-heavy. They added guys that were past their due date. So I use this example. They added players that were $10 players that only had $6 left to give. That's all they had in their tank. That's not what they did this year.

Like, Sam Lafferty is a player that on 29 teams nobody's going to notice. And he gets more play in Toronto because it's Toronto. But he's a good player. Like, he can do his job and do it effectively and will do it effectively when the games get hard. Nola Chari is like a bowling ball that you start at the top of the hill, and he hits everything on the way down. He's played that from the first second he came into the league. O'Reilly has some game left, like some top-end game.

Now, I worry about his foot speed always, but he's not been fast forever. He's really smart. he knows how to play now all of this looks great and the personality is right and they were able to target shop for the pieces they need i think that's always more effective than teams that take the big swing at the deadline the big swing rarely works it's more the teams that have a lot of their team in order and they target shop those ones seem to be the teams that do better well as far as uh chemistry goes i think toronto's been searching for it and the new york rangers as well uh do you buy into that it does take some teams a lot more time after a trade deadline?

Oh, I do. I think it depends on the significance of the change, right? Like, look at the Rangers. Like, last year, guys, they target shopped. They went and got Frank Petrano, Andrew Kopp, and Tyler Mott. They're not world beaters. But, man, those guys fit perfect. Detroit has Kopp in the middle, which is where he was drafted and where his original position is.

I like him on the wing because I think he four-checks better. He's a better complementary player. Vetrano has one elite NHL skill, and that's a shot. And he didn't need the puck. Just when it came to him, he shoots it in the net. And so that fit. Mott was a really good penalty killer. So you didn't have to change much.

Right now, Gerard Gallant's juggling balls all over the place. What is the best place for Kane? Who's the best center for Tarasenko? Where does the power play all fit? How do you make it all work? I think it's a real challenge in New York. I really do. Hey Razor Man, really appreciate your time

on our show and I'm pushing hard to get you a cartoon. Oh, I I'm a cartoon character. I'm going for that middle-aged crusty look. Oh, yeah, but hang on. If there's somebody that should be in a cartoon,

it's you. Oh, God. Could you imagine your avatar, Kip? Two things. Your laugh and your ass. Could you imagine? Which one's bigger?

I don't know. Great man enjoy the rest of the season we'd love to have you on back okay you bet you guys be well and uh we'll we'll talk soon he's hilarious he is he's uh as good as it gets man yeah knows his stuff that was a delight and i gotta say if you're a Leafs fan and you heard that interview oh did you enjoy that you're like oh Tampa Bay's reeling the Leafs ads are good Dubas did good things to the deadline

tickled a lot of people's fancies out there I enjoyed that I thought you might have just to kind of pick up on the new york rangers uh i know you guys sammy how many games did you watch last night every game i hope you played next rewards too crap that's all right you don't want to be rich yeah you like the rangers a lot i do i do i just i think that come playoffs, last year they showed they can do it in the pressure situations.

The kid lines a year older, they got scoring depth, great D-men. They got a great goalie like... Kane's best game last night. You know, like that's the part, the chemistry up front has to be sorted out a little bit, but I would not like to face them. Watching Marc Messier last night call the game for ESPN and a big thing uh topic of conversation was him was the the chemistry and it needing time but it's almost as if i watched pat kane last night

kind of go all right i'm feeling his way in well but we need a shooter here oh yeah right and i can shoot the puck and i think if he kind of has that mentality now that I've got enough dishers here where I could start really focusing on shooting the puck in the net. Yeah. Kind of like Connor McDavid conscientiously said to himself at the beginning of the year, yeah, I'm changing it up a little bit here. Yeah. No, that's, you know, and elite players do that. You know, like how am I best used? What skills can i you know bring to this group and he initially probably a little bit well you know you want to show your new line mates that you're great vision you're helping them out you're

fun to play with and eventually you get to the point where i might be best suited firing this thing in the net i mean panarin's bandaged tarasenko is a first line is all kinds of nifty but crider trochak kane is good lafreniere heetal caco they just got a little bit of everything for you they do that's a good team man miller and truba mikala and fox yeah i mean schneider and the third pair is good just how's it is there going any good or no yeah come back down to earth a little bit though yeah but from the heights of mount everest to you know k2 or something so it's he's still very effective man connor uh mcgregor at the game yeah at madison square in full

nine-piece suit really oh yeah he was there so i give him a one-day contract just to sit on the bench and just stare guys down not if there's anyone in sports that you recognize is a complete dipshit, but you fully enjoy them anyway? I'm a big fan of McGregor, and I realize he's a scummy dude. I hate his guys. He's an awful guy. The worst type of person. He's an awful guy.

Perfect fourth line guy. Yeah, right? I'd love him on the fourth line. That's what I want on my fourth line. I don't like really any UFC stuff a whole lot, but he stands alone for me as a despised guy. Oh, he's awful. Tiger Woods is not a good person.

Yeah. Big fan. Listen, I've been... Let's not get into that. It's up for the comments and questions at the end of it, right? Listen, Michael Jordan's no hero, you know? Listen, I got... Yeah, don't meet your... Can't help it. Anyone else you want to take a run at before we go to break? question at the end of it right listen michael jordan's no hero you know it's this and i got yeah don't meet your uh can't help it don't meet anyone else you want to take a run up before we

go to break here's some of the greatest athletes on earth i'm good for now i despise that dude all right all right get us to break will you all right um araf dean is going to talk abs after the break and their chances of coming back and winning another stanley cup that and more we'll get your predictions boys before we go uh off air on toronto and colorado all right quick break and we're back after these words. Okay, we welcome in Arif Dean. 590 The Van. Okay, we welcome in Arif Dean. Covers the Colorado Avalanche for Mile High Sports. He also hosts Hockey Mountain High. Arif, how are you?

I'm good, Nick. How are you? We're well. Thanks for joining us. Just want to get into the abs, who the Leafs will see tonight. And just where they are, want to get into the abs, who the Leafs will see tonight, and just where they are. I said earlier in the show, it's almost as if one step forward, two steps back when it comes to them dealing with these injury issues. Yeah, I mean, that's been the entire season. It's kind of been a drag. I have to say, I respect the heck out of whatever John Cooper

and the Tempe Lightning have been doing these last three, four years is so impressive because the Avalanche won one cup and everything has just been a drag for this team, from injuries to just getting through the regular season. It's kind of crazy to think that they're 17-5-3 in their last, whatever, 25,26 games or so, because it's just been bad news after injury, after bad news, after an unfortunate trade deadline, if you want to put it that way. It's just been a very strange regular season for the team.

So are they on track to get everyone back? Could they be fully healthy come a playoff run? The only one that's a little bit of a question mark, well, a big question mark right now is Gabriel Anastog. And it's not by any means a small part of their lineup. Obviously, Arturi Lekanen just broke his finger, which it wasn't confirmed, but I don't know if you saw the replay for his second goal in Montreal.

He deflected a shot from the point on the power play that him and the Glovin went in, and I'm pretty sure that's the one that broke his finger. So similar to Ryan O'Reilly, it's about a four- to six-week timeline, so he should be back. Josh Manson is expected back by the end of March. Darren Helm looks to be getting closer.

Curtis McDermott's not really a regular, but he's getting closer. Pavel Frantzouz is a little bit of a ways away, but he should be ready. Same for Eric Johnson. The only question the entire season has and continues to be Gabe Landis-Gogg's health, which went from, you know, back on July 13th, the day that free agency opened, we talked to Chris McFarlane and he said, nobody from the Stanley Cup team is going to have any lingering issues in training camp.

And then we got to training camp and gave land of fog and Darren Helm weren't dressed. Uh, and then gave land of fog. We found out that when he started skating again in August, he started to feel some knee discomfort. Then he had another procedure. They said it was a 12 week recovery, 12 weeks came and went. He still hasn't been recovered, and now it's gone from they expect him back in mid-March, late March, to fingers crossed he even plays a game.

He is skating now, though. He's training every day. Is there a sense that he's getting stronger and, you know, he will be a part of this? He is getting stronger, but he's still in just the early, early stages. The first day he took the ice, we went out to watch him at the practice rink,

and it was a very robotic, working on half a stride at a time. He started to ramp it up a little bit, but not to a point where he looks healthy enough to even be part of like a full practice and an on contact let alone taking contact so it's been a very slow progression for him but he is making those steps and it just kind of seems I mean my prediction with him is like if he does come back it's going to be one of those things where as silly as it sounds he's just he's

not ready until he is like you know last year in the Stanley Cup final Kadri missed game one and you know we saw him walking around the hallways with a sling on his hand and then he missed game two and then they flew to Tampa and he flew with the team and we're like well there's no reason for this and he missed game three and then we showed up to game four and he was in morning skate taking part in line rushes on the power play so that like sudden Nazem Khadri is going to play I feel like is if Gabe Landiscock plays this year it's going to be pretty similar to that we're going to not expect it until eventually he just says you know what I'm ready to go

a player like Josh Manson for obvious reasons doesn't get uh you know the spotlight on him like a Landiscock but we know how coveted those guys are at the trade deadline. Tough stay at home, a playoff hockey kind of guy. It just seems a little strange to me that he was in the lineup, then out of the lineup. Clearly he's got some issues going on, but what are the odds that this guy is going to be able to play every day

or every other day for the Avalanche to try to win a second Stanley Cup. And what have they been like with the lack of his presence? So I'll answer that second part first. The conversation around the Toronto Maple Leafs missing Jake Muzzin the entire season until they eventually added sort of a Jake Muzzin light and coincidentally Jake McCabe is is what you notice when Josh Manson's not in the lineup like he was I think we we don't put enough credit on what the Avalanche did at the deadline last

year not in the sense of like you know everybody talks about how the abs didn't you know they didn't add the big name they didn't get the Claude geroux or this year's version of patrick kane they went out and added guys like arturi leckin and josh manson but like josh manson to me doesn't strike me as the type of player that you know just look like slightly put them over the edge he strikes me as the kind of guy that was the exact type of d-man they were missing on that line because you know byron taves macar sam gerrard all smaller guys that play a very similar style game. They can be physical but not to the extent of what Josh brings.

He's very much a key piece of this lineup. He's the only guy on the team that does what he does and when he's missing, in my opinion, it hurts a lot more than when you're missing the Bo Byram or Sam Gerrard because when Byram's out, Sam Gerrard and Kel McCarr can pull weight and vice versa.

So he is a key piece of the team. Now the injury thing, it was whatever injury was hampering him earlier in the season is why he was out again. And Jared Bednar made that very clear. It was the same thing with Darren Helms. He entered the lineup and exited again because of the same injury that was hurting him earlier.

Kel McCarr with his concussions, same exact thing. So it kind of strikes me like the Avalanche were kind of rushing guys back a little early, but now they're taking a more, you know, wait and see approach with him. You know, Jared the other day did something that he hasn't done all season. Well, he gave a pretty specific timeline with Josh. He said he'll play games by the end of March. And it kind of seems and sounds like they're taking it really slow with him, making sure that they don't mess it up this time so that he's out another week or two later.

Because the last time he returned, his very first game back against the Minnesota Wilds, he was so impactful and it was so noticeable. Again, similar to what you notice with the Leafs when they added Jake Muzzin or Jake McCabe it was very it gave the team a very different look on the blue line and they would be silly to rush him back at this point because they know how important he is in the playoffs. No, Kael McCarr is a guy who you know I expect to be a Norris top three guy for the next decade essentially but you know statistically this, maybe not quite at the levels people thought he may be. Has he been hampered by the concussions? I see he has 10 points in his last five games.

So it seems like he's doing okay. What do you make of Kael McCarr's season to date? Early in the season, he was just kind of asked to do way too much for way too much time on ice. He, he never really had much of a summer break. And then he came back and he was playing a lot of minutes. There were some games this year where he was playing 32 plus minutes and it was in, you know, in that same note.

Yeah. That was the November, December stretch where a lot of guys were playing those minutes playing up into January. He played in December. He played upwards of 31 were playing those minutes playing up into January he played in December he played upwards of 31 minutes against the Islanders in November upwards of 32 against Dallas upwards of 32 against Carolina and he did that in a three-game stretch uh he just was playing way too many minutes relied on to wait to do way too much Bowen Byron missed three months Josh Manson missed three months it was him and Caves and Gerard. Gerard had an unbelievably slow start to the season. His season has completely turned around since New Year's Day.

New Year's Eve was that game against the Maple Leafs where Toronto came to Denver and really embarrassed the Avalanche 6-2. But since then, Gerard has pulled his weight. So that's taken minutes away. Obviously, having Bo back has taken minutes away. Josh, at times, the Avalanche haven't had all five of their top defensemen healthy and in the same game. So that's

Cale and Devon, that's Josh and Byram, and then that's Sam Gerrard on the third pair as the number five guy. All five of those guys haven't played the same game since November 4th in Finland. So when they have all five of those guys with number six being, you know, any number of Jack Johnson, Eric Johnson, or Brad Hunt,

it'll really ease the pressure off of him. But for times this season, kind of like Nico Rantanen, he's just had to play way more minutes than he's used to. And then he should be coming off the Stanley Cup run. We're talking to Arif Dean who covers the Colorado Avalanche for Mile High Sports. So much talk over Darcy Kemper leaving after winning a Stanley Cup. The thought of Georgiev coming in now and trying to anchor this team down.

Has he done what he needed to do this year to make people believe that he could be the goalie to maybe win a second championship? Oh, I think so. I don't know, Nick and Justin, have you guys ever talked to Alexander before? No. Yeah, he's such, like I've yet to meet, and it doesn't come off as arrogant. It's just confident. I've yet to meet a more confident guy than Alex G.R.D.S.

When you talk to him about being a starter and going on these long stretches, like the other day I told him, you know, you're tied with Igor Shostakhin in wins, tied for fourth in the NHL or something, and he kind of just looked up at me and said, oh, I know. And he has this confidence in him, like, I got this. I can do this. Whenever people throw out stats like, you know, you played this game, you played, I think it was 12 consecutive games. It's always like, yeah,

I'll play every night. And that's always what I've wanted. He always tries to reflect back to, this is what I've always wanted. This is what I've always said. I've wanted kind of reminding everybody of his time in New York and why it went the way it did. So it seems like he's always thought he could do this, but it was hard to really gauge if that was a smart move by the avalanches, you know, management until he started to play. He had a little bit of a blip there in November, December when, or maybe mid

December through mid January when the entire avalanche did. But, uh, he's been incredible since Frankie has been in and out of the lineup, the up, Pat Alfonso's, and Georgie's been carrying the weight. And his numbers, they look very similar to what Darcy Kemper had last season in the regular season. And the difference is, you know, with a fully healthy D-Core, his numbers are only, you know, probably going to get better, and he hasn't had a healthy D-Core all season like Darcy did a year ago. All last one for me i just want to get a sense for the central division and

if you can handicap that for us like how important is it that this avalanche team climb the the standings and and get home ice or anything of that uh is that important for them or is this a team that just wants to get in it's funny funny. I asked Jared that two months ago when it looked like they were, you know, stuck in a wild card position. Maybe not two months ago, maybe about six weeks ago when they started winning games.

And he said, oh, you know, we're not there anymore. Like, we're constantly getting games. We were great on the road last year. You know, if you remember in the playoffs last year, they lost one road game and it was game three in Tampa. They didn't lose.

They were nine and one on the road in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And, you know, he kind of, you know, reminded us of that and said, we don't really care about home ice advantage anymore. Then they started going on this run. They went 14, two and two. And then I asked him again and he said, you know what? First place is within reach. We kind of wanted, and Nathan McKinnon said he was score watching and he wants it too. So they kind of go back and forth on it i think they do want the higher seed but whether they play minnesota or dallas or one of the wild card teams be it winnipeg or i don't know nashville if they make a run or calgary if they have some miracle run or even

seattle like i don't think any of those teams really scared the avalanche i think the two that could give them a little bit of pause are vegas little bit and Dallas even more because Dallas plays a very heavy game. So I don't think they're concerned about when they play Dallas. I just think that they'll have to get through Dallas to make it to the Stanley Cup if they want to do it again. There's a chance right now that Minnesota can catch the stars and they end up in a two, three matchup with the stars, or there's a chance that they catch the stars and have many in Dallas play, you know, in the two, three, or maybe they play Minnesota, but the stars are the one team that I think concerns them home ice on the road. It doesn't really matter. Uh, they won't admit it, but Dallas is the only team that I think gives them a bit of pause. They went into Dallas the other day and lost. I think it was 7-3 was the final. And if you look back at the last three times the Avs have lost in the playoffs,

in 2019, they lost to Pete DeBoer and the Sharks. In 2020, they lost to Dallas. In 2021, they lost to Pete DeBoer and Vegas. Put it all together, you got Dallas coached by Pete DeBoer, and it's a tough matchup for them. Eric, I'd be remiss if I had you on the show and I didn't ask you this next question. Our producer, Sam, is a huge Dennis Malgan fan

and just wondering how he's doing. He's been spectacular. He's been so fun to talk to. He had a very similar stretch to what he had with the Toronto Maple Leafs to start the year where he was getting all these opportunities and all these breakaways and he just couldn't bury the puck and now suddenly he's got six now he's got six goals in his last 13 games wow yeah

yeah right so here's here's a fun fact Arturi Lekekin and Zad are the lineup. Guess who's stepping into the top six tonight? There you go. It's Malkin time, baby. We'll be watching. Sammy will be watching with regret. Eric, really appreciate your time. Thank you. I appreciate you guys having me on. Thanks a lot.

Yeah, thanks so much, man. Eric Dean. That was a terrific job. Knows them in and out. Yeah, Malkin, six goals in 13 games. Who'd have thunk it? Could he be Kelly Yarncroft on the top line with Matthews and Mulligan? Let me save you time on that.

No. You and Mulligan right out of the league. I didn't know where you were going with that. I was like, what's he going to do? And then the Mulligan came out of your mouth. I almost threw my phone to the desk. That'll be a good watch tonight listen there are limits to leave fandom where it's like surely that won't happen surely that won't surely mason it's like surely

it's like surely uh rasp of sandin won't get another assist last night and play 26 more minutes surely dennis malgan won't have six goals in his last 13 games in san jose hey there's no there's no end to the curse like it just every aspect of being a leaf fan has to be just jammed down your throat at all times so he was talking this is true he was talking about kale mccarr's uh time on ice and so i was just giving it a quick perusal a game against the oilers this year a regular season game he played 3309 60 minutes uh they went to overtime all he did was have a goal and assist plus two the ot winner you know all that 33 minutes plus. That's wild. It's going to be fun watching him tonight.

Yeah. He's rolling. Like I said, 10 points in his last five games. Yeah. So, you know, put a bell on him. I think they are just, with all these injuries and all these guys, it just shows you what a war the playoffs are. Like, these guys never, the short summer, you get little things you pick up

over having to play that much more hockey than everybody else. But then Tampa, they're cyborgs. They don't really have – none of their guys get hurt. It's tough not to leave the show with some optimism about the opposition, though, that Tampa has been through this. They've been there. Whether you win the Cup or not, you play until June. So they can have a 500 record for like the last month month and a half and then you

watch them last night and you go okay that that team would that team's scary yeah and like no biggie but like tampa's two points behind the leafs they're not 10 points behind them they're two points behind them so yeah you can't be dropping points to the sabers when you're up to nothing with no 10 minutes left in the second period no you certainly cannot like watching hagel last night yeah in that first period on i i focused on the ranger game i know you sam you watched a lot more of it than i did i did my pre-scout you can see in the highlights that oh okay i i get the two first rounders for this guy. Did he rip it off the bar? Didn't even score, but he ripped it.

So I think that their decor is definitely nowhere near as good as it was last year. Like, we talked about McDonough, but, like, Radish is playing a lot. Purbix, like, you know, Chernak got hurt last night, and he's not even that great or whatever. But their forward depth is obscenely scary. It is. Like, I know, Chernak got hurt last night, and he's not even that great or whatever. But their forward depth is obscenely scary. It is. Like, I know their fourth line, you can talk about how, like, they're not really the factor I'm worried about.

But you look at, Sorelli scored last night. Hagel scored last night. It's Cologne scored last night. Like, it's just the second wave. Yeah. We heard from Ray Ferraro talking about Hedman, who's not having, as Ray put it, you know, a banner season. Is there any stock at all on that being a good thing

for the Toronto Maple Leafs? Or is it the fact that Morgan isn't at his best of his game either? And maybe that's a wash. Is that, is that just hopeful thinking? Yeah, probably, you know,

I, all right, nevermind. Hey, I really appreciate the positivity. I really do. I'm trying Sammy, you know,

though, like with Victor Hedman, like this guy's a future hall of famer. He's, he is 32. And so some people think that's prime for, know for a d-man that's not old right that's still a number you can be really good but he's 32 and off playing a thousand games in arena in a row here he's had four deep runs and he's been the guy playing 25 30 minutes a night

like if there were more miles on his knees is my point it would be understandable were he to be slowing down a bit he's got 43 points in 63 games this year he's not doing nothing like send him send him to like florida oh no wait a second send him somewhere though to like rest to raise point like shutting down he said patrice bergeron for like four out of six games i don't care yeah like isn't that the perfect guy to just let him rest like from here on end you're finishing in the two three battle don't worry about home ice just make sure your guys are at their best he has in the playoffs over the past four years it's been 17 to 25 23 23 games5 playoffs. Aren't you guys just sick of this? Just one year.

I love that your best leave hope is that the other team just doesn't want to do it anymore. Aren't they just sick of this? Can't you guys just go away? One year, just be done with it. Beat them off. Yeah, just beat it. That's how the MLSC will finally wield its wealth.

Throw it at the other team to go away. So any, we didn't really nail down on the Bruins. I don't know if you guys watched any of that game last night. Once again, I was watching, just grinding. So a horrible start for the Bruins. And then they chip away and they come back. They took the lead at 1.32. And then the house caved in.

Boris Kachouk scored. He looked like, honestly, a prime Ovechkin. I don't know if you saw the goal caved in. Boris Kachouk scored. He looked like, honestly, a prime Ovechkin. I don't know if you saw the goal that he scored, but he caught Forbort going the wrong way and just pulled it into the inside. He tripped over his feet. He comes down, goes top corner. To me...

Boris Kachouk, former Tampa Bay Lightning player. Yeah, and Radish in the same trade, right? I just... To me, watching the game, it looked like a team that doesn't care about the game. Like, it's like, you know, it's not just the Leafs that has nights against crappy teams where, you know, they're like, you know what,

I'm really having a tough time getting up for this. And it's a reminder, the Leafs do it way more, but there are other teams that do it from time to time. Yeah, I mean, the bruins have given up 11 goals to i believe it was detroit chicago to the back-to-back opponents they lost edmonton so they've lost three of their last four and this is not to say that they're going away but yeah i mean it's tough to sustain and and i'm sure nice to see for whoever a first round opponent may be that like they can falter,

they can give up a cluster and maybe get in the goalies heads. And boy, Mershand last night took a bad fall, like caught an edge close to the boards and like his knee kind of got twisted up and he banged into the boards. I was like, Oh my, this,

and all I thought was Kipper being like, just don't get hurt this time of year. Just don't get hurt. Like it feels like there's going to be one, I guess it's Shvetshchenkov would be the big one, but there's going to be another one where it's like, oh, my God. Yeah. You know?

And you just hope it's not. There's luck involved in winning a Stanley Cup. There is. A lot. The other thing, too, is if Tampa is running out of gas or they're finally, it's catching up to them, they shouldn't have been so physically dominating over New Jersey should they yeah and you saw that you saw that push like did they run them over last night yeah they did they did yeah they took it to them and that's

to me that's the concern with new jersey is that they're a team more susceptible to that the leafs are trying to ensure against allowing that like i said to you guys on this show, Tampa Bay is the number one team in the NHL in penalty minutes. They will take it right to you and see if you can hold up. Go after Vasilevsky and see what happens. Yeah. You got to take five of them are taking penalties. Yeah. You don't get within a stick's length of their crease,

but you're going to have to. We had to take some abuse and hope your power play can, can do it. i don't know we had a gary betman presser today sammy oh one more time we had a gary betman presser today i was i don't know what happened there but i couldn't hear you you're fine uh we had some clips from it would you like to hear anything not really no you don't want to hear gary i heard gary give the promo to big city green got some time every everything's hunky dory i bet so these are all uh the clips are about the divisional playoffs working well there's uh expansion there is uh what else we got here

uh and about the cap going up. So which one would you like? Start with the cap. Yeah. Start with the cap? Yeah. Okay, let's see what we got here. If we even exceed those projections, there's a possibility that the escrow gets paid off and the cap goes up more.

But that's a possibility. I think it's more likely than not we will still see an escrow balance. But I suppose there's always a possibility of discussions once the new executive director of the Players Association, who I believe officially starts today, and we welcome Marty Walsh to the NHL family. But subject to that, it appears that the cap will go up a million there is the possibility that the cap could go up more and the escrow will be paid off it's all on marty to me that's negotiating is what that is a hundred percent yeah and if there's a feeling that gary will go back to the players and say,

hey, listen, you want to open this up again? It always comes with. What do we get? I need a sweetener. Yeah. Oh, it's you guys who want the cap up. I'm sure the league wants the cap up too. There's no sweetener.

There's nothing. It's got to be like you're not getting anything. The owners aren't getting anything back. That's the first nothing it's got to be like you're not getting anything the owners aren't getting anything back that's the first thing marty's got to tell them yeah that if we talk you're not getting anything right and i don't know if future considerations exist in a negotiation of a may of that magnitude but that would be what betman's saying like okay like we'll do this for you but you guys owe us one here this is for you we're doing this for your players type of thing he's kind of caught too because he must want the cap to go up no big market teams want the cap to go up the the the small market teams don't want it

well for competitive reasons because they got they don't want the cash they want to deal with the cash it's not a mickey mouse league i'm telling you right now for players that don't want the cash. They don't want to deal with the cash. It's not a Mickey Mouse league. I'm telling you right now. If you can't afford to pay for players, then don't own a team. There's more teams that want to not have the cap go up than there are caps going up. I don't believe you for a second. No way. Yes.

No, no. And let me tell you something. What probably isn't getting probably talked about enough is this whole Valley regional bankruptcy guys. Yeah. We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars here. We're talking about. Of revenue for the HRR that's gone.

50%. You're exactly right. 50% of whatever that number is belongs to player contracts Alan Wall shared it out it was what 8 billion or something 8 billion is what

the debt is yeah okay we don't know exactly what the number is and we are talking I think a dozen or 13 teams. Some are making better money than others. Who knows how it all falls in. But they're going to walk away from owing that money.

Yeah. And now the NHL is caught. So the question is, do they completely disappear? Or do they go back and say, we're gonna hang around but uh we gonna have to come up with a new number so you you are as a as a league hopefully gary can go back and recoup some of this money that's lost. How much? Don't know. That does sound problematic indeed. Well, it just seems so Mickey Mouse to me to be scrapping over a million bucks here or there or whatever. Talking about franchise worth is a billion dollars. They're trying to sell that to us.

Don't say Mickey Mouse. Big City Greens. Big City Greens. Brought to you by. There's a team that's in the NHL. Their average attendance is 4,600 people. That's not good. I know of a team.

4,600. I know. So listen. It's my junior team. The London Knights draw better than the Arizona Cubs. Oh, yeah, double. Who knows how this thing's going to play out in the next few years, this lost regional money.

But that's real cash, cash flow that will affect certain teams. And just talking to somebody with one particular team that says, you know, we're cash poor. Yeah. You know, that's real money that's not going to be there for us. You know what they need then? More teams in the league. You know, like's real money that's not going to be there for us. You know what they need then? More teams in the league. You know, like what is going on?

You know who's not cash poor? Who's that? Ryan Reynolds. No, he is cash opposite of poor. Did he just sell again? He started a company, this mobile company. Mint Mobile? And he just sold it. I'm sure he's a minority partner

i don't know what his cut would be out of 1.35 billion is that what they sold it for yeah god everything he touches turns to gold he's making a mint wow sorry is that good news for ottawa senator fans everything he touches turns to silver or gold. He owns 25%. That he's liquefying some assets, I would say, is an encouraging sign. So it's probably around $300 million. That's not enough. Yeah, but he gets half of it

to taxes. I would like to hear about expansion from Gary Bettman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do it. Let's do it. There continues to be a number of people, entities, and cities expressing interest in having an NHL franchise where they don't have one. Places like Atlanta, like Houston, like Quebec City.

But we're not in an expansion mode right now and it's not really something at least right now that's anywhere close to front burner for us is he pronouncing houston houston houston interesting that's huge can you really can anybody really see expansion with what's going on in arizona like aren't we talking relocation before we ever utter the words expansion please can team be temporarily relocated can they let them entertain one of these fan these cities that has an arena go play in kansas city or at the videotron in quebec city for a couple years here so we don't have to look at this debacle yeah but it'd be like you know

be like letting a dog go live at somebody else's house for two years they ain't giving it back well i wonder when they go to quebec it's like that but i wonder then you say okay quebec you're gonna have this franchise for three years they're gonna go back once they get a new barn and then we'll give you your nordiques part de part i just get rid of 10 teams that's the better idea how good would other teams get and the budgets would be huge all of a sudden it's massive payroll for big games would be off the charts good if they if they shut down teams yeah i the product would get better when he was at you that was talking about this? Was it J.D.? But there's just not enough goalies for expansion. Yeah.

You can't. All the goalies suck now. There's, like, there's one really good goalie, and then there's kind of the rest, right? It's like. It feels like there's 15, 20 guys, and then about 80 guys in a pool that are all about the same. You know what's kind of ironic is that like in the

era where there was no real like goalie coaches or teams of goalie this and goalie that and all these clinics there are better goalies but it made sense that the below average guys couldn't be brought up to looking good or okay like they couldn't just be positional and do the right moves and make saves like they can now like then it was it was athletic and guys who read the play really well and i think it allowed the great guys to stand out now the worst goalie in the nhl is an unbelievable goalie. But there's no separation between them and the best guy. You know, they're all kind of the same guy now, it feels like. Yeah.

With the exception of one space between your ears. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And that's what separates, you know, the top 10 from the bottom 100. A competitor like Vasilevsky, you know. Who just, as soon as the games get big, the goals just don't go in the net. Yeah.

It's a little piece of one here and there. Where? Where did we lose mentally tough goalies? I don't know. I think it's not that the best guys got worse. I think it's that the worst guys got better. And it all kind of fit in a pile now. That's well's that the worst guys got better. And it all kind of, it all fit in a pile now. That's well said, buddy.

We got another? It's about the divisions. So if you wanted to piss off everybody listening, we can listen to it. Yeah, especially you. Yeah, let's listen to it. If you've been tracking it for the last month, there isn't much difference between either format. We think, and I think it is concurred with the general managers,

what we've got works really well. I know that some people may have a preference for doing things differently, but this is working well, and we're not looking to make any changes. Do you guys concur? I concur. You concur? Gary Batman. Yeah, definitely.

Although, you know, it doesn't always work in your favor, but it just makes more sense. Even if you don't like the matchup you draw right now, one to eight just makes more sense. This is another instance of Bettman being like, we've talked to people and everyone actually likes this. You guys are wrong. This is actually super popular and we've done internal polling.

It was the same people that like the board ads. Yeah. Actually, we've done internal testing and people are super into it. Like, I saw this tweet from ActiveStick, who does a great job. Yeah. And he did a big thing talking about, you know, regulation wins for teams in the last, since 2018 2019 the top three teams in the nhl in regulation wins in the last four or five seasons taba bay 218 boston 217

atlantic division toronto maple east 206 yeah it's just it is a gripe that's coming from Leaf fans. I understand that. But they matter the most. If it were 1-8 right now, let me ask you. It'd be Tampa, probably. No, it'd be the Rangers. But at least there's... Who would you pick? Leafs Rangers?

Leafs Rangers. You want the Rangers or you want the Bolts in round one? I would take Rangers all day long. Would you? Oh, yeah. I think I tend to agree with Kipper, but that's not a great choice either. No, it's not.

But at least there's some intrigue that you could move up or move down. What's interesting is then you're five points behind the Devils. You got a game in hand. If you catch them, then it's Pittsburgh. That's a different look. There's more room for late season playoff

races which if you're the nhl might be the most appealing part there's more room for drama in the standings so if we catch new jersey we play tampa ah good point eric anyway there's still there's some compelling format there where you can it's interesting longer into the season outside of that it's everything's great everything's great the league's great the rules are great six billion dollar industry great i just hate everything's great i hate his tone he's just so condescending does he have to be like that to be the the commissioner or is that just years of being in that position just defensive from the get-go but condescending is the better word yeah it is let me go to any company ceos at the top i was thinking like drop silver

but silver's not like 20 million a year come on roger goodell makes 44 million a year last i checked well and the commissioner of baseball literally just saved the league so we have to uh oh yeah they never hate that guy like 10 minutes ago he was the most hated man in the world because of they were doing contract negotiations during covid like about like they weren't gonna play because they couldn't get the the owners and the players couldn't get it figured out and they finally finally did. What else? Besides the pitch clock, they went to bigger bases. And no shift. How's that working out? Great.

More stolen bases. Really? One of the most exciting plays in baseball. And you can't shift, right? So you can't bring the second base on the shortstop side or vice versa. I hate that so much. What?

Do not tell the defense how they can choose to defend the offense. Yeah, you just love bouncing out to the guy. You just hit it on the other side where it's open. Well, that's the idea. The offense should have to adjust. I understand that like basketball, you can't like stand in the key. I get that there are sports that limit some defensive movement. I have no time for it.

Yeah, I want to see the big left-handed power hitter try to hit a home run instead of him being like, oh, I better bloop this one down the third baseline. Like, it's more exciting. Base hits, baby. True welcome. Suck. Get the ball in play. Yeah, but now there's going to be more balls in play because there's not as many shifts. Well, guys were only swinging for home runs before and they're shifts you're supposed to adjust.

Ah, it's bad, Tate. Alright, whatever. Okay. Bring it up with Ben. He'll love that, Tate. Sammy, you're not going two for two this week in predictions, okay? I'm telling you that right now okay yes i am dennis malgan goal at least one uh i'm actually gonna bet that i don't usually bet these but i'm definitely betting a malgan goal tonight uh i like the leafs to win tonight it It's a good team. They had a bad performance. I think Leafs win 4-2 tonight. It is a good spot.

Coming off the usual disappointment. Get their attention with the abs. I think it's a close game, but I think the Leafs win tonight too. I got high scoring game tonight. Yeah, I got a ton of goals tonight. 6-4. Leafs don't even want that outcome and a win.

Right? Leafs come in here tomorrow. We're sitting here and they've won 7-5. And Samsonov got, well, no one gets pulled in this team. I don't know. No. Has anyone been pulled this season? Yeah, one time.

One time? Murray got pulled once. Cramps? What? No. That's not nice. That's not nice. He was, wasn't it Shalgren? He got pulled for a bad performance. That would be nice. That's not nice. He was, wasn't it Shulgin?

He got pulled for a bad performance. That would be nice. Yeah, I think you're right. I think once. One time. All right, just like that. Two hours gone. Great show.

Great show. Yeah, good job. Eddie Olchuk, Ray Ferraro, Arif Dean. Great insight on the avalanche. Should be fun tonight. Like I said, hopefully we see some goals and maybe some big saves as well. That would be nice. Good mix tonight.

All right, thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Give us a rating and review if you get a chance. We'd love to hear from you. Thumbs up on our YouTube channel. Have a safe night. Enjoy the games. And we're back to wrap it all up again tomorrow on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show.