Real Kyper & Bourne - Modern-Day NHL Coaching Practices with Peter Laviolette

Episode Date: November 13, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on another overtime win for the Edmonton Oilers over the Flyers and whether they're back before welcoming in long-time NHL coach Peter Laviolette (5:24). He discusses his time away from the bench, the league's youth movement, the increased importance of speed in the modern game, what's different for the Leafs in a second year under Craig Berube, and his potential return to the league. Later, Nick, Justin and Sam react to the Tkachuk brothers starting a podcast, Rasmus Andersson trade rumours and what his next contract might cost, the Senators locking up Shane Pinto to a four-year, $30M extension, and they remember the legendary Hall of Fame hockey writer Larry Brooks.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.

Welcome back to the studio. It's the national hour on the Real Kipper and Bourne show. We are live on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary, and streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. If you don't catch us live, give us a download at your convenience on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. This hour of Real Kipper and Born brought to by Bet365. Nick Capriels, Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee, in a few minutes.

We'll welcome in Peter Laviolette, seventh all-time winningest coach in NHL history. I don't think he's done just yet. I would guess not if I had to wager. Kind of feel bad for some of these guys. Do you remember we had a few of them on, you know, in recent days just when it starts to get a little hairy around other teams, coaches. And it's like everybody's accusing them of campaigning now.

Oh, yeah? For the record, we reached out to him. Yeah. Yes. Not the other way. Let's make it real clear here. We've been trying to get him on the show for the last little while. What year was that?

We were still in the old studio and it was one of our faves. Was there like a break? We had like no hockey for a while. I just remember, yeah. We had a good one. And we were on, like, the Leafs were coaching. I think it was Sheldon Keith. I think Cheldon was on the ropes a little bit.

I can't keep track of all the great guests I get for the show. It's just so many. In the meantime, in the meantime, hold on for a second. Did you say something, Eric? No, Derek just said, don't forget Brett Hall, one of our all-time great guests. Okay, all right. We should get him back on.

I thought it was in trouble or something. Well, Derek says something earlier sometimes when I'm talking, and I just have no attention span, so I immediately forget what I was saying. The second it happens is that. By the way, that's one of the fun, like, TV challenges. Stuff's happening in your year while you're doing stuff. I mean, this guy,

He's been on Hockey Night and Canada for 25 years. You should be able to be fine at that. Oh, yeah. Pro, nothing. You did the Euler game last night? Yep. And for the second consecutive night, what could have been zero points

ends up being two. Absolute gift from the gods. You know, it's so funny. And actually, I thought it was a game that probably worked to someone like your sensibility. The Oilers had the puck the whole game. Flyers couldn't touch them. Nothing happening.

Fourth line in the Flyers comes out. Bang, bang, bang. All of a sudden, guys are rattled. They're jawing. You know, they're going to McDavid. Totally changed the game. Philly controls the second half of the game and looks like they get at one with 23 seconds left. Oh, and tip it.

Drag a leg, son. Drag a leg on the off side. You cannot make that close. You can't make it close. You're not trying to beat someone wide. The D's that you're above the D. there's no reason to cheat in the zone awful

oh my gosh and I saw a talk hit or someone on the flyers just like played a good game we got a point everyone thought we'd be last where you know we got a point it's like you gotta be steaming mad um I gotta say I like that Roslick he's look pretty good I've watched the Oilers games I've watched

this here he's jumping he does I'm really surprised that he was out there that long that late obviously he wanted more money than what the Oilers ended up giving him on a really short-term deal. But he's got energy and he's got some spunk. He can finish. Yeah.

You could have finished that one, but. How are teams not sitting out there today saying that we could have used him at, what, two and a half? I'd like to hear some of the saga that led to him signing this affordable deal on this team. presumably he could have had more money but felt this is a chance to big up his numbers. I don't know. I don't think anybody was offering him anything. It's hilarious that

not worth his while. That he dragged the foot on their foot. And if it didn't. Totally. So what is he? Is he 1.5? 5. You know, I had heard Kip, and I don't know if you had ever heard come across this, I had heard the Oilers had offered him something on July 1st. Yes, I did.

Much bigger. That he didn't like. Right. Whoops. Yeah. You know, like I heard the same thing. So I think this was like, the Oilers knew they wanted him, knew he was a fit, ended up getting him quite a discount. And there is the scenario of, do I want to wait in November or do I just want to play? Whatever the number is, have a good year and put yourself in a good spot to come back

and hit another chance at free agency. And if he does that, which he's well on his way, he can turn around and get his long-term deal. Yeah. I think it was a good decision by him. just to get back and playing. Yeah, you got to play. Got to play. Do not sit on the sidelines any longer.

Yeah. No, and he does. He's a good finisher. Savoy had a good night for them. He's trying to find his way on that team. But at the end of the day, it's... Not much like the Leafs searching, but I don't think these last two games really have done anything

to suggest that they're ready to go just yet. They're getting points. They're getting points. That's the most important thing. Okay, as promised, at the top of the show, Let's welcome in Peter Laveolette, seventh all-time winning is coach in NHL history. Peter, how are you, my friend? Gentlemen, how are you doing?

We're good. So let me get this straight. Am I correct in saying that this is really your first break in maybe like 25 years? Yeah, I think I took one when I was with Philadelphia, I think it was around December. I came back, but I didn't start the season. And so it's been, it has been a long run. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I've only, I, I, I, I, I, I've only, I, I, I, I've, I, it's, it's kind of nice just to have a break and take a minute and relax and, I don't know, see my family. I go see my kids play hockey and I've been to a few weddings.

I haven't been to weddings in forever, you know, so it was, it was kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of nice. I'm down in Florida right now, and oh, gosh, I think I'm going to try to get up to a Tampa game on December 4th. I've been watching a little bit of college hockey hockey, watching a little bit of pro hockey and you know just just a different pace right now so it's it's been good but no sightings of Doug mclean down there in florida or dale tallon they've got this dead GM society going on down there i i don't know where the dead GM society is i might be starting the dead coach society i don't know so there's a whole world out there when you're not behind a bench every day it is it's funny i'm sure to to step

into it a little bit. You know, we all assume you'll be stepping back into it at some point. And so I wanted to get your thoughts on the NHL so far this year, the way the game kind of evolves consistently. And if you feel like it's gone in a different direction, I know Kip, one of the things we were talking about, seems like there's less shots, there's more goals, goalies that are below 900. It's a different world.

Yeah. The, I've been, like I said, I bounce around. I watch different teams. I watched Pittsburgh because of Dan Muce, like I'm really proud of him and the job he's done with the penguins. I watch Chicago a little bit. I watch Tampa because I'm down here and friends with John Cooper and I watched a couple of Leaf games. Not too many, but just kind of bouncing around. Check in on all my own teams, and I probably only watch one, watch their game once a month

because I've just kept coaching so many different teams. But I just bounce around and just watch the game. I do think what's amazing when I watch it and continue to watch. I agree with you on the shots. Like sometimes you see it, you know, that the shots are 25 to 22. You know, like it's just the volume of the shots are down. And but the game's still good. I think the youth that comes into the game is unbelievable.

Like you look at the top scores right now in the game and the people that are up there in the top five or the top 10. And the young kids, I think there's two or three young kids in the top five in scoring. And to step in a first year or second year or third year, and you know, you're talking about names that have been engraved in that top five or that top 10 forever to come in and break that is pretty impressive. So the youth and the skill and the impact in the game that they're having is exciting. Like, you know, you see Conradar up there right now. Again, I watch them a little bit just because of Michael Pecca and the centerman

and maybe some sort of an influence there in helping him develop as a player. But the young players are certainly having an impact in the game right now. You're watching and listening to Peter Laviolette, long time NHL coach. Peter, this is kind of an open-ended question. You can almost take it anywhere. And correct me if I'm wrong, you came in as the Islander head coach in what, 2007? if I'm not mistaken. No, I think it was, it's longer.

It goes way back further than that Kip. It's like 0-1 or something. Oh, one, okay. Yeah, it's been a minute. Just the overall scale of coaching of the kids or the players today, and yeah, I refer to them kids as I get older. But Justin mentioned the shots on goal down. In a world where we've done everything to open it up, right?

More offense. take away this face-offs deep in the zone power plays. And yet the shots are going down. Is that coaching? Is that just the players? Is there more structure than ever before when it comes to guiding the players to play a 60-minute game? Like, how can that be?

How can we have shots down when the game's opened up? I do think that there's a lot of structure. And so, you know, you go back to, they go back to the islanders back then, right? And so oftentimes it was two assistant coaches on a bench. And even there's still some teams that have two assistant coaches on a bench. And so now there's three. There's a skills coach.

There's a goalie coach, more minor league coaches, more going in towards that. I think that there's more looked at. There's a defensive coach, a power play coach, a penalty kill coach. a head coach. And so all the coaches are constantly working. I think the video's gotten better. I think the information's gotten better on what we pull from what we see and the actual game that's played.

You try to take that and you implement it into the game. I think the players do the same thing as well. Like they take that information. They learn whether it be on their own or from the coaches or from meetings that happen. And it's, yeah, I understand what you're saying about the shots being down, the scoring being down. But there's, I also think that when you watch the game and you look at the game and the speed of it and the opportunities and the chances and the saves that are made from those chances, I still think it's unbelievable. I think it's come so far. I can't explain if numbers are down, but I'm neutral right now.

Like I don't have a horse in the race, so I just watch hockey to watch hockey. And I think it's unbelievable, the speed of it and the skill of it and the chances that do get created from it. And with that, I think coaches and their staffs, they go back and they work on defense, about plans, about ways to stop things, do things to try and prevent it. And so I still think watching it as somebody who's neutral and like I said, doesn't have a horse in the race. It's still an amazing game. and it just seems to get quicker. Certainly has gotten faster and quicker from the, you know, from the time that you're talking about,

the islanders or the Carolina hurricanes. So pretty amazing stuff. Peter, one of the things we have our eye on, so we watch the Leafs, we have like a Leafs Hour to start the year, or sorry, to start our show. Last year, I believe they were in the same structure that they're in this year. I can't make out anything different. It's not going well this year.

And, you know, we're trying to make sense of, why a team with the same structure. Yeah, there's some minor personnel differences, but why it's so much worse? Is it just a matter of some players don't understand the systems as well? Like, what can you do with the team when it just doesn't seem to be working and not a whole lot has changed? Well, there's always some change in the roster.

And you never know what that change could be. I'll give you the simplest thing. Just, you know, Jacob Truba now goes to, And just that real defensively structured good leader goes to Anaheim. And so he was a good addition for them. And it doesn't always have to be the biggest player or the biggest name. And I know there was a big change in Toronto. But sometimes it could be somebody like that that makes a difference.

And, you know, when you talk about Anaheim, you know, maybe you're talking about the young kids and the success that they're having or I believe Carlson's in that top five in scoring. You know, sometimes it's people that can come in and provide some defense or some leadership or a different grit or a different grain to the, to the to the team. And, you know, I can't I know that I know chief chief's a good coach and he'll figure it out. I worked with him and he'll he'll figure it out. But sometimes the personnel changes just a little bit.

And I don't know the details of all the roster moves that were made in Toronto. But no team is ever the same from year one to year two or year two to year three. It changes. Whatever it is, and whatever that team is that comes out that year, they have got to figure out a way to win hockey games and make their own way. It's very difficult. I mean, I've rollercoasted with teams up and down. And you think it's the same team, but it's a little bit different.

There's a player missing. It could be somebody in the room. It could be somebody on the ice. You never know what it is. But there's certainly a lot of talent there in Toronto. I don't think the injuries help at all. You take goaltenders out of the mix and everything. You know, you start, it saves that are sometimes made,

are not being made, and losses are starting to come. And everybody's asking questions, what's wrong with the team? What's wrong with this? And so injuries, I don't think they hurt. You lose a player like Matthews. He comes out of the lineup. It's going to be tough. Goaltenders come out of the lineup.

That's going to be tough. It's going to change things. Yeah. So would you ever look at a roster to say, okay, we're 20 games in. It's not working. And then change the way you play in stream. Like would you try to make any adjustments like that

or just try to drill your point home with the same guys? No. Well, changing players. isn't as easy as you make it sound, you know what I mean? There is no other Austin Matthews to come in and replace him. He's injured, so you can't, that is what it is. You're going to have to figure out a way around that, the same with the goaltenders. I do think that you can make some roster moves inside of what you have.

And then there can be a trade possibly made, but trades are harder to make nowadays. With regard to systems and stuff like that, I think there's always small tweets. weeks. I mean, we, you're always changing things. If it's not working, not major wholesale changes, but you might change your neutral zone forecheck. You might change your D zone coverage or you might change what you do off of faceoffs if you lose the face off. And so I think that there's opportunity for small changes, but not really wholesale changes because if you're, if you're not having the success you want, you change everything and you continue. Now you've just got a team that's lost. And so I don't, I don't really think that's the,

the way to go either. But I do think that there's definitely been times, you know, even last year where for me, small changes are you try to make, or the year before, you try to make those changes. You know, we made changes in the Carolina series against, you know, two years ago. We made some changes and just inside of that series with regard to the neutral zone because they come at you so hard. They throw so much at you and just to try and switch things up. And so I think there's always little things you can do. Peter, I want to ask you as a head coach, how important and how valuable is practice time during a season.

It just seems now more and more, and I know we're compressed because of the Olympics, but it just seems to me it's harder and harder to get a team to practice. I was talking to Jeff Jackson, President of the Oilers, the other day at the Hockey Hall of Fame. I think he said that we had our first two consecutive days of practice all season long.

And when things aren't going well for Craig Baroo or Knobloch in Edmonton, how important is it for a head coach to get guys on the ice and just go over a few things? Are we baseball now where we just play the games and lucky enough to have a batting practice, you know, a couple hours before the game? Is that what we're down to? I think it's a fine line. You know, the players, you ask so much from them you demand so much we all do right and then um if the game doesn't go

your way you want to take them out on the ice the next day and like work them and get them going and really get after them and um there's so much information out there about nutrition about rest about you know different options that are available i think what it came down to for me and trying to manage it was how many games and how many days. What did the travel look like? Did the practice follow a game? Anytime that there was a practice that didn't follow the game, that was an opportunity to have a really good practice,

even if it was mid-season, a good 50-minute, work on the things that need to be worked on, a forecheck, a breakout, a power play, and really try to get better what you're doing and talk about it with your team beforehand. like let them know that we're going out to do some work today these are the areas that we want to get better on this is what we're working at today have the plan up there so they can see it so they know what's coming so they don't you know they don't come in and say well we're midseason why are we going 50 minutes or why are we going an hour and five minutes or whatever it might be and so for me those are the days that I think you really have to capitalize on and it does get tougher in a season that's kind of it's crunched down by the Olympics but there are still days I feel like we you can get out on the ice. But at the end of the day, the players are in shape now.

Like they're not out of shape. They've trained all summer. They come in and they have strength coaches and conditioning coaches here. And so I feel like they're in really good shape. It's more about the information that you can give them possibly after a game. Maybe you go out on the ice, but it's a 30 minute and it's a move around and it might not have the grind or the bite to it that you could do if you didn't have a game the next day. And so I think you're constantly managing that schedule. And it's changed.

I do think, Kip, that that's changed a lot from, you know, 15 years ago. But there's a lot more information out there, too, that says that the players being rested are more valuable to the club than if you take them out on the ice and take a strip out of them. Yeah, as long as they know where to stand, I guess they're in pretty good shape. That's the key piece. So I want to ask you just extend on that is the relationship with you or any coach. and the injuries, managing injuries with the medical staff and the players. You know, when I played, it was a lot of, hey, are you ready? The coach had asked you, or they say, hey, let's get you back out there.

Now, do you kind of have to wait for the medical staff to tell you? It feels like sometimes the coaches don't know who's available and who's not until, I don't know, day of sometimes. No, I feel like there's pretty good communication between the trainers and the coaches. Okay. You know, it's funny, you hear sometimes that somebody got brought back to, and on the odd occasion it does. But for the most part, when players are cleared to play, they're cleared to play. You know, they're healthy. And that's the communication that goes on right now.

And so if somebody has been out of the lineup for three games and they're back working on the ice and they've had a day by themselves on the ice, they've had a day in a non-contact jersey and then they've had a day in a practice jersey and all signs from the locker room are clear from doctors and trainers and I think the communication is usually pretty good between a coach and a trainer or the coach and the doctors I've felt like it's been good in my career anyway and if they say that player's good then he's good now I think you ever push him and say make him good yeah no yeah yeah you can but then you you run the risk on that too. So, and again, it depends on where your team's at, too, right?

You might be afforded that luxury of an extra game and say, all right, well, let's, or maybe ease them back in. Somebody comes back in. You're sitting in the second place in the conference. And you say, well, we're going to, you know, usually play 22 minutes. Why don't you jump in here tonight and play 15 minutes? We'll take the penalty kill off your plate and we'll get your back going. And so I think there's communication.

I think it's pretty good. I don't think it's been an issue. So I take it, Peter, you still got the itch, right, to come back and experience all of that? Yeah. So like I said, it's been, it's been, it's been good. I've been watching a lot of hockey. I've been coaching for 25 years. And so I think when you're not doing it, you find yourself like, you know, watching and it's almost like a little bit of a refresher, too.

And I think that that's a good thing as well. like I said I've been watching a lot of games watching college games watching pro games you know we'll see that the coaches coaches right now I feel like they're every coach in the league is deserving and should be there and I wish them the best right now and so I'm good down here right now and you never know what happens in the future but um you know for me for me it's a it's a it's a it's a tough racket there it's it for all coaches and um you You know, they're in there slugging it out every day. So we'll see what happens.

But right now I got a lot of respect for the guys doing the job. You guys are great at your job, but it's always nice when a celebrini can drop in your lap, too, right? That helps. Oh, for sure. I said that. Like, it's sick to watch these young players come into the game right now. It really is. And that's what I'm saying.

Like, I think McKinnon's up at the top. I think he had a five point night the other night. But these guys are pushing right now. And you think about all the, and that's the, that's the, that's the, not the changing of the guard, because a lot of the guys are still up there with points, but you see these guys come in and make a difference. It's awesome.

It's awesome. Great stuff. The Rangers, like I got the coach Willie. I got the coach Will for a little bit. And you see him come in. And, you know, what a, what a difference. He's, we watch his career goal right now, like a power forward, a guy that hits and finishes checks.

It's like pretty awesome to watch him to come in. I think he's got, I don't know, half a dozen goals now. He's doing a great job. Well, listen, don't be a stranger. You're watching all this hockey. Come and talk to us about it anytime you want, okay? My phone. Well, you finally dinged my phone, so I was happy to jump on with you guys.

Well, good luck, too. We appreciate your time today. Enjoy Florida. Take care. We'll see you. Peter Lavio-Lette, 7th, all-time winning us coach in history with 840 846

oh that's a big number a lot it's a big number it's got a good winning percentage too it feels like that maurice that's got the most losses ever too yeah it feels like if you've coached 25 years in the league most of those type of guys have places in florida i've noticed that seems like a decent place to spend it out i thought that was so funny it was like i've been to a wedding yeah i never went to a wedding

well and it's funny that you would even ever want to go back to the coaching thing it shows you how cool it is to be in because you know There's a whole world of things to do out there that isn't coaching hockey, but... Only 32 of them in the world, in the best league. You can only do it for so long. Eventually, they tell you that's enough, so... Exactly.

Won't be the case with him. He'll be back in for sure. What are we going to do? We're going to do game time? I'm just looking at his winning percentage for his career and where he ranks. Joel Quenville's got a pretty... Scotty Bowman's winning percentage pretty good, too.

Yeah, you want to do game time? Sure. It is game time. He's there by Bet 365. visit the app for the latest odds and see why it's never ordinary at fed 365 was 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly um I was looking at the NHL lines for tonight and one that was a little bit curious to me uh was the San Jose sharks this games on sports net one I believe tonight San Jose sharks visiting Calgary San Jose big underdogs tonight going in there plus

135 in the money line Calgary flames minus 160 and I'm sorry to our Calgary. very listeners, but if you're betting the flames tonight at minus 160, that's not, I wouldn't necessarily recommend that. How many in a row? You do? Turn your mic on. I do think the flames will win, but I wouldn't bet on it. I mean, how many in the games in a row of the sharks won?

Haven't they on a little bit of a rip here? Yeah, but they're red hot. The flames aren't that. That roster's not that bad. I mean, I know it's not good. They can't score. They can't score goals. Can't score.

Can't put points up. Their best offensive player had 60-some points last year. You know, like that's kind of where they're at. San Jose Sharks have won four games in a row and are one point out of the final playoff spot. They got good mojo going. Celebrini's on fire. Give me the San Jose Shards.

More points this year at the end of the season than the standings. San Jose or the Toronto Maple Leafs. Oh my God, Justin Bourne. What do you have? The reason that it's scary is because I'm thinking about it. I don't know.

I think Leaves. I think Leaves. And speaking of those Leafs, this is a very rare thing to see home underdogs with the Toronto Maple Leafs night usually not a not usually getting them as a home underdog you know very public team they are plus one 15 on the money line tonight king's coming in on the second half of a back-to-back minus

135 off their best game of the season is it not they didn't put in montreal not the second half a back-to-back i lied to you that's not correct so i am wrong on that one uh another good one tonight in montreal dallas stars there to take on the habs uh Dallas stars slight underdog plus 100 on the money line habs minus 120 so thoughts a good game tonight can i ask a bet yes an under in uh dallas sorry the toronto game toronto l a because l a defends well doesn't give up much the least you're making all this noise about defending better the total in that game is six uh over is minus 105 and under is minus 1 15 i like the under also because you get the six is it hit the post where you to get your money back so that's nice six i don't know at least make him six anyways uh was game time because

i'll be more than six tonight okay I'll take under. It was game time preserved by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and C.E.Y. It's ever ordinary. Bet, 365. It's 19 plus. Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back in. Take it down the finish line. And then me and you were sprinting for our regional coverage of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the L.A. games.

On the game tonight, that's fun. Something we didn't talk about yesterday. And I wanted to bring up that I put in the lineup. We may have some competition in the podcast world. Yes. Kelsey Brothers move over. Yeah. We got the discount Kelsey's.

What are we going to do with this information? I don't know. I don't know. Plus, we got a big signing. You got things to say? Big signing in Ottawa as well. Plenty more still when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Hey, it's Matt Markeese.

And I'm Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world. Weekdays at noon. It's the fan hockey show on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for Justin Bourne, Simon McKee. Welcome back to our national hour on the Real Kipper Endborn show. This hour of Real Kipper and Born brought to by Bet365. Peter Laviel, that was good.

I thought he, you know, I liked his answer on lack of practice. this time because I mean I was in that era where like you lost bad you were going to pay dearly the next day whether or not outside of a back-to-back game coaches didn't care sometimes I think the one I know I think the one thing that I'm changing my mind on a little bit is is you know everyone talks about rest as a weapon and all that but I made the joke about like the guys have to know where to stand still and I feel like with the leaf they've had no practice time that maybe it's not great to be to do more practice time or whatever but you have to go out there even if you're not as rested the next day and talk about where to be

and how the rotate and a perfect example of this and this is not great for the national honor but that back to back on the weekend where they lost the Bruins and Keynes that Monday it's like day off it's like day off yeah like maybe head to the rink and get a couple pucks out there Although there was a quote from... But it's not like the Leafs did that. It's league mandated. It's like you're not blaming the Leafs for that. It's just...

God, there's a quote from... I want to say it was Brandon Carlos. Someone who said that the Leafs did video, oh, it was Nick Wah and said it was bad video. All bad video. He's like, sometimes you have to look at it. And yeah, sometimes you have to say, what are we doing?

Eish. Like coaches have this whole obsession now and I know there's all these forward-thinking progressive coaches listen to me going, you got to catch him doing it. it right and show them what it looks like when you do it the right way sometimes you also got to show them doing it wrong totally yeah that helps too and then there was always that practice where the coach knew that the boys went out the night before and guys can barely stand up you know what coaches

do too is they'll do a disguised bag skate where they won't put you on the line and beg yet but it's like okay one-on-one that way one-on-one this way battle drill in that corner like you're doing drills. We were like, have you noticed we've been up and down the ring 6,000 times today? What am I skating so much? Yeah. The disguised bag skate is a real coach's weapon. Brian Murray was legendary in Washington. Stop practice.

And then just, he went up to Ike, Ivan Corvo once, and just took his helmet off, his head, and took his finger and he wiped it from one side to the other so slowly

like this. And we're all watching and it's like it's like an hour for his finger to go across his forehead and he just pauses dry and he goes dry as a bone dry as a bone oh man that's that's incredible that's legendary that's incredible that's incredible legendary brian murray yeah there's some little bat blues that got sweat out at certain practices around the world. What is it I hear now, like we're so proud to be one of the top

podcasts, right? We're seem to be up there with the big boys but we're... People like us. Yeah, people seem to like us. We thank you for the supports and the likes, but I mean competition's tough now. New horse in the race here. New horse in the race. They're going to take a run out of Sam. Yeah. The Pachuk, bro.

others are going to take a run at us. Yeah, let me read the thing you here. Oh, God, I got too many sheets. This lineup sucks. Who printed this off? That might not even have it. You know, they've been pretty decent lately, by the way. I don't know if I mention that to you.

So Brady and Matthew. Yeah, I did have another sheet where it was the story about it. Yeah, but I forget what it's called wingman or something. Wingman, yeah, or Wingman. I'm kind of stuck in the middle on this because I think if you were going to pick, if you're going to do a five five guys that you're going to pick from the NHL

that you'd want to have a podcast in terms of personality and ability to like carry it I think Matthew Kachuk would be in there Oh absolutely Marchand would be in there Marshan I'm trying to think of other guys that would be in there Matthew Schaefer give him a podcast today

I know Ryan Reeves wants to do Yeah I think there's So what's your problem? I just you know Brady? I don't think Brady can go No, it's not that. I just, the whole brother, like, they just are trying to be the Kelsey's so bad and it's embarrassing.

That's what it bothers me. And even the way, like, the promo came out and it was, like, shot the same, what's the other, what's theirs called? New Heights. But the Kelsey Brothers are very successful. Yeah, I get it. We've got two of the most popular brothers in the league. One of them is engaged to literally the most famous person on earth. And the other guy is like a Super Bowl winning.

I don't know. I just, they're much more relevant. And they want to be the Kelsey's so bad. And it's just a little bit. Like, it gives me the cringe a little. I've never really listened to the Kelsey's podcast. I saw that Jason got in trouble because he was saying something bad about the Jays or they're pissed off. I think it's going to be great.

I think the kids, I think the fans will resonate with these guys. You know, I think it's funny because I totally need to support this. That's great. I think it's good. We should have more of it. Player podcasts in the NBA are everywhere, right? Yeah, but for the most part, suck. Yeah, well, that's kind of where I'm headed, is that it's never going to be for me.

Yeah. But I don't know how often they're not going to be as dumb as us and try to do this every day. I think they're supposed to do it every Wednesday. They're going to do every week. Once a week, yeah. Four times a month. That's fine. You can build up a lot of opinions as long as they're smart enough not to get themselves in trouble.

Well, I hope they talk about the NHL and their current events. Like I'm hoping, all right, so there's a scrum at the end of last game. and Matthew's like, so why did you end up punching him in the face? And Brady gives us what he saw and what he thought. You know, like, I think there's the chance for that to be cool. If it's a lot of, hey, your right hands in the cast, do you wipe your hand with your, you know, or do you wipe your butt with your left hand now?

Like the promo, it's going to be a lot of. Oh, is that what they did in the promo? You know, it's going to be out of, oh. Can I be totally honest? I got like a millisecond into the promo. I was like, oh, off off. I just, there's a lot of the chance to figure out also what works and what doesn't work. I know.

Okay. I'm saying I support it. The toilet jokes, not for me. From my experience, over 26 years, don't go toilet jokes. Well, I sent out an incendiary tweet about this yesterday, and it kind of went a little bit crazy to the point where I just sent the meme of, I don't know, verbal meme here, Jose Marino, throw in the headphones off. And it went, like, people, like, you know, 4,000 people.

It was a lot of people who were commenting on it and whatever. And then I muted it because it was out of control, and I wasn't like in the tone of their responses. and then somebody sent me one of the responses. And it was like, how you know how people feel when they listen to Leafs talk. Yeah, yeah.

And I was like, that's a good chirp. No doubt. That's a good chirp. But anyway, good on them. Get out there. Good for the NHL. I get it. I think that's if Gary Betwin was going to pick a guy

to start a podcast, you'd probably be Matthew Chuck. Anyone else to draft there? Certainly no one on the Leafs. Riley, maybe. Riley, maybe. Carlo's pretty good talker. Yeah, he is actually.

Yeah. But, like. As Caddry would be great. Yeah. But I think there's certain guys. He's one of the few guys that I've ever seen write a book in the height of his career. Well, playing, yeah, yeah. Well, playing.

Like, I think once in, I don't know, however long Matthew Kuchuk is done, and I think he's going to be back on the ice in two weeks. I saw it today, like, he's getting close to coming back. I think he'll probably be on TNT. Yeah, he's got. Like, he's immediately. He got $150 million in your jeans. Why would you want to go on?

I mean, why would you want to go on? How much way to Chris is on there once a month and taken home the big. biggest paycheck. How much did Tronger make? He's doing stuff with us. Like, these guys, like, you're, I mean, you're a billionaire. You're on the air. You're on your time.

No. But that is the problem. That's the only reason someone like myself has a job is because the guys who have won Stanley Cup are like, I'm so rich. Like, I have a sick house in Florida. Doing a daily conversation on, you know, Nick Robertson. Talking to some dumbull from Owen Sound who screams about the Leafs. And J's.

In our Leaf Hour, we actually talked about Rasmus Anderson Okay, sorry, Jake just texts me Our wonderful, I gotta get his joke in He said that John DeVarer should have a podcast Because apparently he's the funniest guy in the Leafs Yeah, it's true He's a dynamic for Jake

For our 916 in Calgary fans Anderson, Anderson, is there Andersson? Is there Any rumblings about Rasmus getting traded now Because

Where's it coming from Toronto? Joe Rose Hill It was the first place I came across it But we knew that they were Pushing hard Last year around the deadline And last year on the deadline Right Shot guy

Offensive You know like he made sense He made sense for them Brandon Carlo is a different style guy But I don't know that they both make sense Now And considering the acquisition cost Well they went to Carlo

Because they didn't get Anderson Right And like what would you have to pay To extend Anderson To make it even make sense the leaf 8 mil a year 9 mil a year Yeah that that would be the number now with the going rate of defensemen right now I would think 9 would be a number that he'd be going for

And for what seven years You can you have 60 million dollars to Rasmus Anderson Max that's what he wants Okay just don't I want it to leave it to me just leave it Hang up the phone Brad Click But you've got to get better. It's in Calgary's best interest to create bidding wars for these guys.

And I know the owner, Murray Edwards, said that through Drager and maybe a few more reports that he's not interested in trading cadry, I think coming up and saying that publicly or letting, you know, reporters know that, I think was a big mistake. Why? That doesn't hurt. the price of the person you eventually move. I just, because it, first of all, it kind of takes away

Craig Conroy's power. It does. I don't know. No, it doesn't. Because it's like the way Connor McGregor for years was like, I'm retiring from fighting. And they're like, we'll pay more to come back. The Rolling Stones have been on 17. Yeah, well, too. All it is, is, oh, you don't want to do it. We'll have to give you more then. It's a standard reply. We'll do anything we have to,

we'll do anything we have to to better the hockey club. That's the right answer publicly. That should be the Marshawn Lind. I'm just here to not get fined. That's all they should say. Anything we can do to get better. But, you know, if the Leafs want to do it now in November, they're going to have to pay a hefty price right now, too, as well.

Because they don't have, that's like me having to pay a hefty price for a fancy car. I can't do it. I don't have the dollars to do that. And they're limited right now. At the trade deadline last year, he had four pieces. Cowan Danford Minton

And the first rounder Those were But those were the grade A Yeah 26 and 27 Those were the grade A Pieces And And so if

If Carlo went for a first And Minton Then Rasmus would have been Three pieces Because he was more valuable than Carlo was at the deadline I don't want to, like, I mean, from a least perspective. But that would be a good haul for Calgary, three pieces.

Totally. But I don't want to look back on last year and be like, how could they have done that? The least were really good last year. If they had won game seven and they're in the conference final. They took the Florida Panthers further than anybody else. They gave them a good fight. And like they were in that, you know, regardless of what game seven looked like, they were in that series.

They won three games against them. I don't fault them for doing that. But looking back now with the, the benefit of Captain Hindsight, it's bad. It's very bad now. But at the time you had to do it. But right now, you don't have to do it. And you don't have to make the same mistake when you're not nearly as good.

That's what scares me. They got to see where they're at here before they get too aggressive. All right, Ottawa news, Pinto. Yeah. We were thinking seven, eight years. He ends up with four at $30 million. I really like this contract for Ottawa. Yeah.

And for Pinto, would you? You say he bet on himself. Oh, boy. Sorry. Yeah, no, but I like it for all the parties involved. Like Pinto will have a chance to cash in again. Find out in four years what you really have. Totally.

And he's one of their most consistently reliable, 200-foot guys. He's having a great start to his year. Eight goals already? I think the way that everyone looks at their team and who, okay, it's Kachuk and it's Stutzlin and Stannerson, this guy is a heart and soul guy for them. That's a great contract all around. No, no pushback on that? Yeah, no.

I think I could push back a little bit. Like, they've got a lot of players that are locked in for around that much. Like, you think they got Stutzlow on a good deal? Like, I don't know. I just, are they... You just got to have them, Sam. No, but are they a couple years away from... Like, what's their ceiling?

Well, that's... That's my question with that. I think they're trying to win a Stanley Cup now. I actually think if they could get, if they get their Kauai Leonard sort of thing, if they could get like one big piece, they're pretty good. Is it a goalie? Well, maybe. No. Well, I mean, their goal is got an 8668 percentage.

You're not. And you're not writing off Allmark. It's way too early. I mean, I may not. I like their deal. I may not appreciate where he's headed or going. And I'm not sure how much faith I have in him, but you don't commit that contract to Hallmark and bail on it.

mid-November. Well, you know. Not a chance. Yeah, they won't, I agree. I mean, they're ahead of the leaves. They'll get to chuck back at some point. They're just quietly going about their business and getting some wins. So good on them.

Wanted to mention in our national hour, NHL or New York Post, prominent reporter and writer for almost 40 years, Hall of Famer. Larry Brooks lost his brief battle with cancer Thursday morning. Yeah. our condolences out to his family. Got a chance to work beside or with Larry Brooks during my Ranger days.

I was kind of a little intimidated by him because he was such a powerful writer. Like as a player, you were intimidated. Yeah, a little bit. Really? Like, God, I hope he doesn't. I hope he doesn't write bad things about me or that I'm about to get traded or I'm not fighting as much as I should or hitting. It's just, it was okay. It never got to that point.

But it just, you know who the powerful guys are and the ripple effect? And it's just not in the New York area. This guy carried a big stick for the National Hockey League for a very, very long time. I think his prominent weekly article slap shots always was a must read for anybody that followed the NHL. And, you know, it'll never be replaced. They'll never be another one like them with so many of these. dumb platforms that like sports at that's your time no no that's the good one okay just there's some really bad ones

out there that it's just there'll never be enough focus for anyone in particular like larry you know coming up now with so many platforms is what i'm trying to say savvy i i you know obviously follow a ton of hockey people on social media and the like the number one thing you see about him is just like enduring passion about hockey yeah and like love hockey and like and, like, cared and, like, loved having hockey conversations that just was, like, we should all be so lucky to care that much that long. Shut up my guy, Stan Fishler, who still writes about hockey. He's not of 90.

Yeah. He's still doing it. It's amazing. It's just, you know, you just love to hear that. And Larry was right there with your family during the dynasty years. Really, I got a great message from Jordan, Larry's son, who said that, you know, Larry had considered covering those Dynasty Islanders years, some of the highlight of his career and that my dad was one of his favorite players and

that was really cool to hear so i appreciated that a lot and and i will say like i've known about larry brooks since i was a young man you know and cool yeah it's he is a quintessential new yorker you know sometimes surly sometimes direct and as i said in the first hour like when torts used to go at him larry wasn't taking a step back no he was right there and you know that that's awesome i think you know you guys have both kind of convinced me about the how integral it is to have you know what is it like in an oyster like a irritation makes the pearl sort of thing you need some irritation in the media oh you told and the ecosystem it's incredibly important we've talked about we know who they are here in Toronto there's not many of them but we need them yeah

there's a there's a level of accountability credibility all of that and he he wasn't scared to ask the tough questions or hold people's feet to the fire. I'll even say our own Mark Specter will write critical things, but he goes there the next day and he looks him in the eye and he asks the next question

and I have a lot of respect for that. It's hard. It's hard, especially when a superstar like dry saddle is looking at you like you got three heads. Yeah. And you just keep doing it. You know, there's a certain amount of moxie

that goes into it and it's not something I could do. Are Luke Fox has a little bit of that. Luke is unbelievable. A young Larry Brexie. You know what? You know what I want? That's what I'm talking about, Foxy. You know what I'm saying? You know what I always? Get the

out of here. Get out of here, Foxy. You know what I do love about Luke and, you know, he comes on a show. He does a fantastic job. He doesn't do a podcast before he asks the question. When he asks the question, ask the question. Like, quick, just concise and doesn't like, that's a great point. Doesn't fill the air before he asks the question. No qualifiers. Just is like, what's going on with this? Not like us.

Not like us. Where do they go? I forget the question. He doesn't have to fill two hours. It is a different rule. Tomorrow, leaf slime. So if you're listening to this, we're going to do it in our leaf hour. 416, 413, 4141.

Anyone have any questions about the Leafs out there? 416, 413, 4141. Off the Rails Friday tomorrow. We'll track down Doug McLean. Love it. On the Rails Leafs show tonight. You and me heading over to the studio right now. Including yours truly and my good buddy, Justin Boren.

It's on the menu over there, oysters? Yeah. No, no. It's regional. Oh, right. We don't even get peanuts. They're worse than Air Canada, not even peanuts. We got to get cross-camp suits on makeup, and figure out what we're talking about.

Ready, set, go. As we mentioned, 10 games on tap, figure out which one you want to watch. You better be us in J.B. And then we're back tomorrow on Off the Rails Friday. Have a great night, everybody. Our thanks to Peter Laviolette and Lucky Luke Robitai.