Real Kyper & Bourne - O'Reilly, O'My!

Episode Date: February 22, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee begin with last night's Leafs' game against the Buffalo Sabres, the bounce back, doubter-silencing game from Ryan O'Reilly and the Ontario line, a dazzling performance from Mitch Marner and the incomplete effort to close the contest. Former Stanley Cup winner with the Sabres Brad May shares his expectations for the rest of Buffalo's season, if they should go all in at the deadline and how far the Leafs can go with Sheldon Keefe (40:52). Colby Armstrong of Chiclets Game Notes discusses the Leafs' improved chemistry with O'Reilly in the lineup, the next move for Dubas and how the Penguins pivot out of a mid-season collapse (1:05:38). Later, live reaction to the Shea Weber trade, Connor McDavid reaching 800 career points and Jake Muzzin being shut down for the year (1:31:41)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 Born on Sportsnet 590 The Van. Plenty to dive into on the Real Kipper and Born show. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Derek Brandeo, Sammy McKee, and David Siss-Boomba. Not filling in for Jennifer Rolnick. He is. The guy. The guy now. Hey, what is Sysboomba from?

I know it's a thing and it's a generational thing here. I don't know. I don't know. It's a real thing. I think I've heard it once or twice in my life. I mean, I've heard it. But I saw his name and that's the only thing I came up with. I'm figuring it out.

I think it's a 50s thing. It's from Johnny Carson. Johnny Carson. Okay. That works. Does it help us at all? Rah-Rah Sisboomba? I have no idea.

Princeton and Rutgers. Was there a little Sisboomba last night in Buffalo? That's what we got to ask. Thank God they don't listen to you uh about not liking john tavarez on the way come on you just poo-pooed all over it i said a situational last night was a good situation they ended up with 13 points right who's who could have ever seen it coming now i think we we did a fair job of saying that we did see a lot of small area passes that it could work when they're in the offensive zone we liked some things you know

there it was the we liked john tavara's at center type of thing but there was a note that sammy tweeted out last night where it's like sammy bailed he just got so scared of twitter dumping all over him he tried to make what would you say last night on Twitter? I just, I think we spent 40 minutes on that line. Yeah, we spent 40 minutes talking and nitpicking at this line and legitimately five minutes into the game, they had nine points. It was, it was the just under 15 mark when O'Reilly scored the second one. So, so does, does does last night completely tell you that you'll never nitpick the line again

and that this is set in stone and this is the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the next few months? No. Okay. Exactly. I mean, it felt pretty good last night. Oh, it was. What a showing smokes i that was awesome it may be both chargers versus the washington generals there were there was a moment there

where it was it was just like well and keith talked and we'll get to all his quotes and stuff he talked about like that's how it looks when every facet of the games is executed the way we want to play that's the dream scenario now not the dream 60 but you know for the first 15 minutes that first period that's what it looks like that's the plan i just i can't imagine just to look at it from a buffalo sabers perspective and a fan perspective i can't imagine the nightmare night that was for buffalo sabers fans in that building like i first of all if i was a sabers fan like you know you're really excited to play against the leafs but that's when you got to tread lightly against going in there they're a good team it's gonna be half idiot

leaf fans like me screaming at you crushing beers and to have the guy that legitimately said he lost passion playing for your franchise he fell out of love with the game go in there playing for his hometown team scoring a hat trick uh looking unbelievable that couldn't have been a fun night i would have left if well i would have left immediately after the second goal i went out of there like turn and burn baby i'm gone i didn't i've not watched every minute of the buffalo sab, but I wouldn't be a stretch to say that was the worst 12 minutes that they'll ever have. Yeah. Maybe in 10 years.

I don't know. But that was a horrific 12 minutes. It was. The one thing that we did say on this show is that last night was the exact scenario where you expect the Leafs to play well. Right? Like, I actually bet them minus a goal and a half last night. They just had a bad game against Chicago.

They've got more respect for Buffalo than they used to. O'Reilly's in his third game there. They've finally got a little flow. Like, that was it. And so I give the Leafs credit for how bad Buffalo looked. You know, sometimes we watch a game, we go, man, that team stunk. I give the Leafs a lot of credit for that first period oh sorry go ahead i'm just gonna say that they were on like they didn't give them a second to breathe from the very second the puck dropped i just felt like it was a

swarming effort for the first seven or eight minutes maybe mitch marner's best game of the year the hat trick by ryan o'reilly 13 points among the group. You mentioned Mitch Marner, first Leaf player with five assists game on the road since Boria, the king, saw him. He did that in 1977 against the Minnesota North Stars.

Five assists. I mean, the first assist is some of the best vision. So, you know, Brody gaps up, takes the puck away tavarez gets it to marner and when marner starts to make the pass to o'reilly i don't know if o'reilly's in the offensive zone yet he has to like i mean and then to execute the hook pass there that's mitch marner at his absolute best last night i i agree with you uh you know the the thing that stood out to me too with Mitch,

it's just not those passes that you're talking about, but his ability to still find a way to be responsible, third man high, cut off neutral zone plays. Yeah, get pucks back. I don't know what he ended up with, six takeaways on record like like i don't i don't know if there's a better complete 200 foot player out there right now yeah and that includes connor mcdavid i mean that's right yeah i mean the well i mean i think the part of that that's fair is the defensive play there's no there's no comparison in terms of the two's defensive plays like commitment to that side of it for sure but i mean mcdavid is on a different and we'll get to that yeah we'll get to that uh

a little later on the show and what he's been able to do in such a short period of time uh amongst the history's greatest uh but well i mean what else stood out for you uh with that line in particular well you know it's another option another guy who you know i don't want to use like winner and champion and whatever but he knows where to be when and for marner he puts those guys those guys who know where to be he makes them into the best version of themselves austin matthews is a great example tavara is getting 47 with him o'reilly is just the latest guy who knows how to get in good spots.

And when someone can get you a puck in all those little spots, you know, it's just, it maximizes the intelligence of the guys you plays with. Yeah, and that's what stood out for me too is I saw like, again, small sample size,

but like a ton of chemistry between O'Reilly and Mitch Marner. again small sample size but it like a ton of chemistry between yeah o'reilly and mitch marner which you know throws an interesting wrinkle into things like let's say those two have a great sense for one another and where they're going to be you don't feel like john devarez can go be the third line center you know that's that doesn't work for me he needs someone with him that can you know and john tavaris and mitch have played a lot together this year yeah and they've managed to get points yeah but it's never really off the off the backs of each other and I don't know like I how many goals does Mitch Marner have 20

21 I think he just scored his 20th against how many how many would you say that John Tavares has been a primary assist on his goals I mean I can't like remember any directly I don't know for some but

three yeah that doesn't seem to be a lot for two guys that are playing together on a on a contending team and to me i i instantly saw a better kind of one two scenario with ryan o'reilly and and and tavars can can play real well in those short areas that we talked about yesterday and find a way to end up what did he end up with one in three last night so i mean he's smart enough and that's awesome that's that play off the wall where he uh put it back into mitch marner uh through his legs off the wall was a fantastic play. But now that you've got a real thinking man in Ryan O'Reilly, there's no question that that line can have tremendous success. The only question is, is it there to stay?

If you want to talk about versatility of Ryan O'Reilly, then you're going to put him in different scenarios. And obviously one option is to drop him to a third center spot. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've got an article coming out on sportsnet.ca today looking at the Leafs lines and what comes next for this group. You know, we're going to get to Sheldon.

Do we want to start with? I just want to make sure that we point out, because you're saying that Marner and O o'reilly had good chemistry yes the two even strength goals that they scored right away bing bing were two excellent plays like by tavaris that you mentioned the first one off the wall getting it down to marna like you mentioned and then off the wall on the second play where he digs a puck out and fires it across to marner and they give and go with O'Reilly. Like he was instrumental in both those goals as well. Looking very comfortable on vacation on the wing.

Yeah. Yeah, it'd be interesting if they could conceivably play well enough to make life hard for Sheldon in terms of decision making. And that's what my article today is about is like the next look that they're going to have. So we know that they're not just going to keep this line until playoffs they are going to change it and this is part of an intentional plan again we're going to get to sheldon's clips on this but the next look is exactly what you had before bunting matthews kneelander tavarez marner and kerfoot and then back to then it's o'reilly yarn croc engvall and hope that you suddenly have a

third line that can score we're going to see that at some point it's going to be hard not to go back to this quickly every time you don't have goals though because that looked sexy that that's why it's going to it right away now when you go away from it everyone's like why the hell aren't you just going back to that yeah get the ontario line the passion line back together is is that you calling them the ontario line there's a million different names it just started already right it was just it was just easier than writing down all three of their names so just put ontario line but i saw a good one is ohl ontario hockey leafs i saw a show just was leaving the studio he was on before i said that they took some texts and mto was big because it's marner tavarez o'reilly but it's also the ministry of transportation are we holding contests now

sure what do you think cap you got an idea uh no okay no not yet the line naming type yeah maybe two weeks from now i was gonna say maybe when they have what more than one good game together yeah i think that's fair all right for uh naming sake let's go to sheldon key for first kippers clipper on uh what he saw out of the ontario line well obviously they were just uh at their best right from the start but as we talked about leading into the game, I thought that that group was close the other night to a few chances. Obviously, Riley missed a breakaway right at the very end of the game. That one probably sits with them for a bit. But, yeah, I thought that line, our team in general,

our team game in that first period, that's as dominant as we've been all all season long so it was tremendous to see i so i just mentioned the ontario line and we were talking about that and i saw an unbelievable tweet from uh kevin pipetti it was a great twitter follow and uh the toronto's goals last night the first first one, Ontario from Ontario and Ontario. The second goal, Ontario from Ontario and Ontario. Third goal, Ontario from Ontario and Ontario. Fourth, Ontario from BC and Alberta's own William Nylander.

Alberta's own William Nylander from Ontario and Ontario. And then the sixth one, Ontario from Ontario. So he's telling us you don't need Arizona anymore. That's what you're telling us. Listen, I'd be lying if I said I didn't dream of a day where it was like this, where there was a long time where we had these conversations that they don't have any guys from Ontario on their team, they don't have Toronto area guys.

There might have been a certain pundit that did intermissions on hockey night in Canada, that this is one of his biggest gripes about how there was no Ontario guys. I don't want to necessarily take it for granted how interesting and cool this is for the least to have this many contributions from Ontario guys. You know, that's something that you could speak to uniquely. I think it kept obviously you too.

Like I'm not from here matters, you know? Yeah. Like I'd be in a BC guy. It would never would have registered to me that it was important, think and kip obviously you too like i'm not from here matters you know yeah like i'm being a bc guy it would never would have registered to me that it was important but they're being here long enough now there is a pride and a not just a a passion we are a passion that unites us yes not just a canada-wide thing but yeah i can see how that's a cool thing no question that for whatever reason over the many years, it just wasn't that valued. It was draft the most skilled player.

So do you think this is at all intentional? Or do you think this is just luck of the draw? Where's Achari from? Is he Ontario? He's from Maine, I think. Maine. He's not here at all. Yeah, no.

He's from Maine, I think, yeah. You love Ryan O'Reilly. I think. He's not there at all. He's from Maine, I think, yeah. You love Ryan O'Reilly. I think the first thing you do when you want to know about a player is not necessarily go to his birth province.

I think it's just an added thing. In this case, maybe a coincidence for Ryan O'Reilly. If he was from wherever he is, you'd love to have him on your team. Yeah, but maybe like a bonus thing, whether it's Jason Spezza or Wayne Simmons or Joe Thornton. I think all those guys are Ontario guys, are they not? All those guys were after their prime, though.

Their expiration date was removed. It was tough to focus on anything other than that line because they were just so unbelievable. But it really does change their lineup below. The fourth line last night for the Leafs was Aston Reese, Achari, and Kerfoot. And Aston Reese looks better to me with a guy like Achari. Do you think it's motivation or fear?

I think it's just a domino effect. That's all. There's an energy that he brings. And I think it's crystal clear that if you don't come close to looking like that guy, then you run the risk of really making yourself look bad. And I think a guy like Achari can lift people up like good players can. You can do it physically as well. You can guilt people into playing a little harder, playing a little more noticeable,

not taking that many shifts off. And that's why I think a char is such a strong pickup. It is interesting too. And I know it doesn't matter, but we had on whoever it was. Oh, Jamal mayors. And I asked him about charry fighting. He says,

no, no, no, not going to fight, but he does it. Blah, blah, blah.

A charry has seven NHL fights like he's he my point there is just that he will stand in with someone be in their face there's a more of a willingness now on that line to engage i've seen a couple of his fights too yeah you can check them pretty good i mean he's a he's a cube he's 5 10 to 10 and i mean did you how much of the zach aston reese you know elevating his game here i guess for lack of a better term is him being like oh god looks like i probably the next one out i could be the next one out here which is good because it creates internal competition and i think what kipper said about him running into more he's running to more people in the last i know he kind of has a lot of hits on the stat sheet, but it doesn't necessarily translate.

I think the eye test with him throwing his weight around since the char he's come in has definitely been better. So maybe it's just a little bit of him fearing for his own job at this point. For sure. Yeah. You're either with us or against us now. Yeah.

And I think that's where these two guys can really elevate the dressing room. It's the ripple effect. I mean, they look good all the way through, and you're going to have nights where they're not as good. But, you know, last night they didn't get anything from the Matthews line, but the Matthews line is there to be the Matthews line. Like, they're going to get that on some nights too. And it just, you feel really good about that forward group.

Sheldon Keefe spoke about that forward group. Would you like to hear about that? I'd love to. I actually don't have my lineup, so you just tell me when there's relevant clips. You don't have your lineup? I just forgot it. Oh, do you want me to get you one?

We'll talk later. Okay. Yeah, I think, like I said, our team game, I mean, obviously it was that line that broke out tonight. You know, next night it might be the Matthews line. It might be each line spread out. But I think that's as I said to the guys, that's what it's supposed to look like

in terms of the team game. We're supposed to counter quickly on offense. Most of our goals came out of good defending and shutting down the neutral zone and transitioning the other way. That was key for us going into the hockey game,

and the guys executed at a high level. So it happened to be the O'Reilly line to get us going, which was great. But, you know, Bunt scores was a great goal, and I thought the Kampf and the Charlie lines were really, really good defensively and gave us good shifts too. Yeah, the really, really good defensively stuff is interesting you know i meant to mention this after montreal chicago but jen botterill did a nice bit on achari in the first couple games and getting back above and reloading we talked early

in the season about the leafs when they're at their defensive best getting back above and reloading trying to bail out the d and with this like team defense they have it you know like they added two guys that add that element that Marner already has, which you mentioned and camp already does. And they got a bunch of forwards who are really good defensively. Now it's lovely. Can they also play defense? Can you put one of them on defense?

Why would you like someone to plug a hole last night that became very visible? Let's just say it. And I know we're not ready to go here yet. No, we're not. We're going to save it. We're going to save it because we want to hear from Sheldon Keefe on letting the Sabres back in it because it will lead to our next conversation.

How's that? Good. Well, when you have, like I said, when you have a period like we did and you grab control of the game on the road the way that we did, you're not going to get too critical of the rest of the game from there. That said, while there's a great sample of what it's supposed to look like and what we're capable of, I think there's still plenty in there in the second half of the game that shows why we need to stay on our habits,

on our details all the way through, regardless of score or opponent. Yeah. I'm not really buying that. I do buy it. Like once you're up like 5-0, can you judge the rest of the game? Yeah, you can. Well, I mean, Kipper, you know, like you've played a million hockey games in your life, buddy.

Come on. No. Listen, they were bad. They were bad. No, don't let them back in but no butts yeah there's butts there's a couple butts candy nuts butts you don't think there's yada yada it's human nature it's impossible to coach it out all every team does this no every team doesn't did dampa bay do it last night against uh it's a different and i'm oh excuse me they're playing

the ducks you're comparing the ducks and the sabers to the same thing i'm talking about a five nothing lead and putting your foot on their throats that's what i'm talking about they could have got a savior in there maybe that would help too come on guys okay finish it off i mean you went from a five nothing lead halfway through to giving up a quality chance to tage thompson to get them within one goal with two minutes to go sammy sorry bud but your your bar is way too low for me on this one mid i i'm just I don't like them letting them back in. Ben Sheldon's, to be honest with you. Yeah, I think there's a level between what we're talking about here where it's fair to expect more than how that game finished

and at the same time saying, when it's 5-0, I don't expect the same performance. And maybe you should. As a coach, you should. Why not ask for it? You should ask for it. Why not demand it? He should. As a coach, you should. Why not ask for it? You should ask for it. Why not demand it? He should.

For sure. But as Sammy mentioned with human nature, it's just there's no team that then goes on to win 10-0. Human nature, he's a beer league guy. Okay? That's the human nature. Okay. He doesn't care.

And he's going to go get his beers and his chicken wings. And he's going to go home. Yeah, chicken wing eating i don't eat i don't eat wings after hockey but not i my body's not a team that has to still learn how to finish teams off when you've got a reputation for underachieving against the bottom six teams in the league i'm sorry you know they have had press conferences after playoff series where they've said killer instinct. We're looking for killer instinct.

I understand that that is a relevant factor here. It is hard for me after a game last night for that to be the thing that fires me up, given what I saw from the rest of the team. But I don't disagree that as the coach, you may say, hey, we're, you don't just want to get up at five nothing and walk away from it. Even if you feel it, don't let them off the hook publicly.

That's all. Yep. Yeah, no, it's, I mean, that didn't end well, but to Sammy's point, Samsonov didn't make me feel very good for a guy who just won a hockey game, six to three,

and, you know, had a couple really good periods by and large i thought he was good really good in the first and second period yeah um but yeah the two of those goals it could have very easily been a six one game but you know they missed a couple chances too where it could have been five five two so i you know i we can also sit here and uh uh looking at Luckinen? What's his name? Uka-peka-lukinen? Uka-peka-lukaping.

I'm going to shoot the puck in. He was god-awful. Yeah. The first 12 minutes. And you know that that's not... Which one did you want him to... The only one I wanted him to have was Bunting. Which one did you want him to have? Bunting?

Bunting was horrible. Yeah, but I mean, like, he got beat clean on three nasty plays. I don't know. They were all over him. Listen. like he got beat clean on three nasty plays like i don't know they were all over him listen oh uh a 60 foot one-timer brian o'reilly's one-timer is not an easy shot it was an incredible shot but that's not one that you should be beaten on off of a strong side one-timer that's all tough crowd that's all i gotta say i'm just saying you can you can play it you can play it both ways here with samsonov and and buffalo's goaltending but i'm i'm the number i get it the game was over 12 minutes in i get it

the number one person i'm blaming for that comeback is probably the goalie you know like shots kind of hit the middle of the net like they're clean that's the thing that's really getting to me recently about samsonov when i'm watching these games is he's getting beat clean a lot like clean looks they just get through them it's not like they're tip shots they're not they're just yeah he's staring down the shooter. And they're beating him clean. And that is not what I like to see. He just. You know you're going into playoffs with Samsonov. You feel like you can win.

I feel like they can win a playoff series. And more with him. But I don't feel like he's going to win them a series they don't deserve to win. You know. Like Vasilevsky. You can be sitting here at the end of a Tampa Bay series going. I don't know who was the better team. But that team has Vasilevsky and that's why they won. We're not having that conversation about Samsonov, I don't think.

So, yeah, it raises the expectations for the Leafs. All right. We got a couple other clips here, Sammy. Is there either one of these that you recommend you want to see next? Yeah, let's go with the sticking with the Ontario line because there's some interesting stuff about Tavares in there. Well, I don't know. I mean, I didn't put any sort of timeline on it other than, you know, just to say that I wasn't going to do it for one or two games.

I think we owe it to the line to spend some time, some real time together. You know, it would have been easy the other night after a loss and maybe it didn't go so great to break it up. But our third and fourth lines have been so good, there's lots of reasons to just stay with it. I felt like they were close. So I think it's a good sample of what we're capable of. I still feel at the end of the day we're going to have John back in centre

and all those kind of things. But you want to build chemistry and you want to build confidence that if and when you go to it that that's what it's capable of that's the pull quote from the presser is at the end of the day we feel like john devars is still going to end up at center right given our show yesterday didn't we say that we said that we thought that should be the end game yeah well we just said that we probably would have worked it the other way around started there yes that's all yeah and we said like of course if you're down a goal and they're situational the good news is in a short period of time you found out that there's chemistry there and that's what he talked about let them build chemistry okay it's it's there there's no question about that but it is

interesting to me i think he saw the quote from yesterday where he said it's not a one-off i think he saw that quote getting away from him a bit and like as in it's a commitment to this line this line is a thing if i break it up it's a failure so he he talked too much i think so i think so i i definitely think that this is like a get out ahead of it and say we're open everything we're gonna go back to other looks just to clarify it's not a one-off but we're not married to it is there a chance that ryan o'reilly and marner have such great chemistry that you actually may have to put John at center on a third line? As I was saying earlier in the show, I just don't think he can. Like, I think Tavares needs someone to work with offensively.

He's so elite at getting in a position to put the puck in the net that he needs someone to get him the puck there. And who's a disher left on the team? Like, who's another setup guy on the Toronto Maple Leafs? It's not Engvall. It's not Yarncroft. Kerfoot maybe passes it a bit. And he needs that because he's the finisher.

He's not the playmaker. Like I said, I think he's got one primary assist on Mitch Marner all season. Is that right? Yeah. I do like the idea of John Tavares against third-line matchups, though. I do, too. Yeah. Like, you know, I don't think you're going to find a much better third line center in the NHL than John Tavares.

No. Then you'd have to make an effort to keep Kerfoot with him then. Yeah. Like to keep some sort of. Pace and passing ability and whatever. Yeah, and just high end ability. Yeah. But.

You got. What are you writing in watercolor today? What kind of marker do you have? Yeah, I got a broken marker and it's just like it's like a roller paint. It's like I'm rolling paint. Thickness is that fun.

What are you writing? And by the way, thank you for the book. Oh yeah. You wrote something very nice to me and as I'm reading it all I can think of is that you've got horrible penmanship. I do. That's why the book has to be typed and not handwritten.

The first thing that came to me when you said all these nice things about me, that's the first thing that came to me. It's like, man, you've got horrible penmanship. Just child's handwriting. But it's quicker than printing. It's better than my paintbrush here. Yeah, there you's quicker than printing. No, no, it's better than my paintbrush here. Yeah, there you go. For sure.

We've got a couple of ex-leafs on the show today, including Colby Armstrong in the next hour, Brad May in about 15 minutes, so we'll get their thoughts on what they saw out of Ryan O'Reilly, John Tavares, and Mitch Marner. Are we done on the blue line? Any concerns at all last night? Yeah, lots.

Yeah, many. Why didn't you bring it up when I was talking about, you know, a blown 5-0 lead? Because I... You went to Samsonov. You just pooped all over him. Yeah. But you didn't mention anything else.

Listen, I didn't love Connor Timmons yet again, I wouldn't else listen i didn't love connor timmons yet again i wouldn't say i didn't love his game last night i mean two games in a row where i've been wow he's looked really bad for me riley still makes some plays that leave me scratching my head and i don't like doing it every show if you like it's you can kind of bring it up whenever you want but i just there's question marks there they it really whenever you want but i just there's question marks there they it really seems like a decor to me that's one piece short wasn't it your boy pipetti who had a pole who would you prefer timmons or justin hall and people pick timmons like 75 to 25 hall did get burned last night pretty bad on the skinner goal where he was kind

of too close to the middle of the ice and he beats him outside and shoots it in the middle of the net from the top of the circle but too close to the middle yeah riley's too far off the wall it was not pretty but timmons you know a couple of turnovers in his first couple shifts you know chasing the guy you know we shared that clip in our group of him sort of chasing a four check well he should be backing up and defending up five nothing and part of the was he on for the third goal against her we don't need to do the breakdown of it but some concern if this guy's going to be in in playoffs which he very well may be right he's they're seven right now you're probably going to see your number 70 i would say every team who's ever won a stanley cup has played seven defensemen.

Is that fair? I think any team's ever just gone six all the way through. Oh, the Habs played four guys. I said nine. No, I know. It's more common to go nine. The Habs played four guys. Four guys.

That's right. That's true. They didn't ask me. Yeah. Yeah. The bottom two guys played five minutes a night. I forgot about that. Yeah.

The weirdest run to the cup final in league history. Definitely. So I don't know. Like, do you think they have the ability to add something else on the back end here? Because it really feels like they need it. You know, if you do the fancy stat stuff. Go ahead, Kip. Yeah.

I was just, I was wondering between now and next Friday, right? That's what we're looking at yeah we're we're we're on the clock nine days here nine days okay how much more do you want to see do you think that if they can get that sweet spot that they had earlier in the year that that could be enough enough to what i that's a good question you know you mean beat tampa bay how about that let's start there you mean the stretch when their highest paid defenseman was out of the lineup uh was that when they were at their best definitely defensively definitely yeah uh then yes can they hit can they hit that with morgan riley you know what's crazy is riley

has made some real morgan riley plays in the last couple weeks like the pass to marner off the end wall like unique vision creativity whatever he has to get involved hey you could just see it that he's got this like this is itch that needs to be scratched by jumping up on the play and pull to the getting involved in and when it's on it's it's good yeah well he but he's made these plays but at the same times or you know you're talking about him being too far outside a couple of plays last night where he gets outside the dots someone takes him to the inside and it's you know you're not changing him now. He's just, I mean, yes, you can maybe coach him up a little bit to say,

we'd like you to adjust your slider bar a little bit more to the defensive side of things, but. Well, is the ask now for the forwards to just be that much more diligent in their back checking or their back pressure to bail out? But I don't think, I think we've talked about this a lot this year, but there can't be a much more defensively responsible forward group in the league than the Leafs. So if you are going to have that kind of defense,

then I think you do have a forward core that's really committed and coached up well to play defense now. But you still need guys to play defense, but I'm just saying they are responsible. Yep, for sure. There is news that maybe Matt Murray is really close here to coming back. Okay.

And I'm just wondering. Good timing, I would say. Well, it's timing where you also have to make a decision here. Do you not? Whether or not. On Murray. Yeah, yeah. What's his term fisher cut bait sure sounds right did i get one right i think he did okay our show is wildly bad at getting those sort of things right but yes like with the trade deadline again do you feel like you are comfortable enough that this guy will not

disappear on you no yeah so you're asking me i'm not comfortable i'm not comfortable at all but you know we've done that on this show too what else is available but i think what you might have to do is let's say matt murray's ready to come back you got to play him as many times as you can before the deadline don't you i thought we were gung-ho to get samson off ready for game one we need to know if murray's gonna be a goalie in the league or not yeah you know this is like terrible timing i guess it could be worse it could be happening a month from now so at least to get him back and you figure out if you can figure it out and you know the crazy part about it is what do they got up to the deadline for games many at home so we got to get matt murray in this friday this friday yeah because it goes it gets kind of greasy next week seattle edmonton calgary and vancouver so five games pre-deadline or is one of those games

on the third no there's they play uh three after friday okay so five total games from now till the deadline calgary and edmonton are back four four total okay yeah calgary don't know. I got to think maybe Friday feels rushed. I don't know. I don't care. I'm impatient. I am. No, I'm like. The indication you're getting is that he could be ready to play Friday, Kip?

Maybe a little bit of an outside shot, but I heard he's really close. And that, you know, time to get him back in. Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's coming at a good time with a bit of a swoon for Samsonov where you're like, you could play him in Seattle. Yeah? Yeah. I just so badly don't want to be sitting here in early May going, man, they outplayed the hell out of Tampa. Beat the brakes off them. But Alex Killorn shot three in from the top of the face-off circles through Matt Murray's body. Like, I just, I'm very uncomfortable with matt murray listen that is really realistic i know that's the scary part like that's said it once i'll say it again that is the absolute elephant in the room and all of

this incredible buzz around the wind last night ryan o'reilly hat trick forward core deep they gotta get saves too like it is a it's a real concern for me this is uh this is fork in the road here he is his career is hanging on by a thread yeah if the fork is going in him next if he's not able to come in and play like like if you're another team looking at murray and saying he just can't be available who's going to take on that money no it's not it's not that someone's well they're going to take it on because you're getting something else right it's the significance of having to lose his contract to bring in a new one and i don't know if that's possible now we'll see we saw minnesota get involved a little bit veggies my guy if we can get a guy in here

there'll be more teams to to to take on cap money for draft picks that's coming yeah carolina is an interesting team to watch not related to this i just didn't realize they had so many picks and so much cap space. They're going to do something. But yeah, Arizona always looking to take on money. Here you go. Canucks might be willing to, too, if they can figure out a way with some of their injuries. I don't know, man. Now I'm just sad.

I was so passionate after last night. All right, let's get back to the good stuff on the way. I was passionate about last night. It's just we liked the additions. They're doing everything that they're supposed to do but when they're not on the ice there's some concerns should we mention matthews or do you want to i mean of all the positive things last night he just had a quiet night where he was from he's not on from ontario i mean is he worthy to be talked about because he's not

from ontario one thing i said in my article that may be live now maybe isn't is do you need to get mitch marner with him for a little bit just to find get the big rig going just to you know breaking up the ontario line wow immediately breaking up the ohl no wonder people hate our show we gotta figure out what we got. And one of the things we don't got is 60-goal scorer Austin Matthews right now. I'm not. Just split him in half. I'm not sure I've ever anticipated a practice tweet more than the lines tomorrow.

I really am interested to see what they do at practice tomorrow. I'll be very disappointed if it's just the same there there has to be a a little bit of a surprise that you you get six in and he's not involved like it's for matthews yeah for matthews yeah i'm quiet quiet quiet quiet i mean his zeros had one shot on goal yeah yeah you know kind of the way his season has gone all year we'd like to see a couple of games here where you go oh boy you know he took that one over that you know that's coming but it hasn't for a while here and it's definitely on my radar is something so it's coming though it's coming you you believe you don't just suddenly at 24 become ungood. You don't have no other choice but to believe, Sammy. One goal in his last five games.

Just be ready game one. For sure. And listen, all these numbers get scratched off the second the puck drops to the playoffs. I understand that. But I would like to see many enter the net before then. Yeah, I think you will. A few games to go, including the one coming up Friday

against the Minnesota Wild. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. As we promised, former Toronto Maple Leafs, Stanley Cup champion Brad May, up next on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Let's be back after the break. The best Blue Jays show out there period blaren barker be sure to subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

my boy sammy working on brad, former NHLer, Stanley Cup champion, and former Buffalo Sabre, so he can appreciate the vibe last night from both sides. And Maydag, I got to think that one of those rare occasions when the game really meant something to Buffalo this time of year. But certainly the line of Ryan O'Reilly and Tavares and Marner did them in real early. Real early. And it was, boy, how about Toronto?

How excited they are to have Ryan O'Reilly, the way he played. And, you know, what a shift he had, scoring two back-to-back. But, you know, Buffalo's a good team. They're, they're getting better, but they're still, you know, they're a ways away from, you know, obviously getting to the playoffs. It's another level. And you saw it there, Toronto was, they were humming. They look really good. You know, they're so close as Buffalo Sabres team to being not just, you know, they're not rebuilding anymore, but to being playoff bound and competitive,

where, where do you think they should be at in terms of actually adding? Like, I don't think anyone thinks they can win the cup here, but like, should they add to give these guys some playoff experience, give the fans some excitement? Well, I mean, listen, playoff experience, they got to make the playoffs. There's so many teams. I'm not counting them out, that's for sure.

And I think that's the question for Kevin Adams is, would we trade a draft pick or some youth to bring that player in or a couple? I think that's a tough decision because you don't want to give away the future either to bring

in the right guy. But maybe somebody on an expiring contract that could actually want to be competitive, possibly sign a contract in Buffalo that they would love, that would be a great guy. That's an older player, I would assume, and somebody who's probably not at the top of their game. So does

that player make a difference trying to chase the playoffs? You could definitely tell, though, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres are at two different levels. And last night was pretty indicative of that. Hey, Mayday, you came close a couple times with some very good teams in Buffalo. But you did experience a Stanley Cup championship in Anaheim.

And that came off the backs of, of course, Timu, Scott Niedermeyer, Getzlav, Perry. What is it that Ryan O'Reilly brings the Toronto Maple Leafs that has been missing so far? Well, I think, first of all, Nola Chari is going to be a big part of that deal. So he's been kind of forgotten in this whole thing. I mean, he's already scored for Toronto. He's a solid guy. He's the type of player that everybody wanted and needs Toronto to have,

right? Bottom six, gritty forward that puts pressure on the opposition. As for Ryan O'Reilly, it's just leadership. He's won the Selkie. He's got behind Pavel Datsyuk. He might be one of the best. And Patrice Bergeron, of course. He's one of the best defensive forwards. And he's so legit that face-offs and the way he plays responsibly, that's a huge help. So if he's in the top six, he might even be in your next line,

your third-line role. And, boy, if he's your third line center and he can shut down the likes of a you know kucherov and a stamkos or a marchand or bergeron and go head to head all of a sudden toronto looks pretty solid right i mean if if they're able to draw penalties and get that potent power play on the ice i mean how do you feel about loading up the elite guys up top versus spreading it out throughout the lineup in playoffs? We had Ken Hitchcock on who said that in the playoffs,

the top two lines tend to saw off. Who's going to score in your bottom six? But obviously the top guys looked really good as a unit last night. Where do you stand on the best method for getting through in the postseason? Thanks for the question. I think I just said it in some way. Ryan O'Reilly, maybe he's your Swiss Army knife, right? He can play in the top lines.

Obviously, he's proven that, and he's been a heck of a player. But he's a guy that can shut down. You give him that role, and he's going to relish it. He wants to win a Stanley Cup, and he wants to do well here in Toronto. There's a lot of pressure, and he feels it, but he's been there before. He got traded from the Buffalo Sabres to St. Louis. They're the worst team in the league. January

the 4th, if I'm not mistaken, the year they won the Stanley Cup, he goes on to win the Conn Smythe, and he was outstanding. And he had great chemistry with David Perron and his line mates. But Ryan O'Reilly, I like this move. If he's your third-line centerman, that's exactly what you're –

to answer that question, he's the guy that's going to saw the better players on the other side. Now, all of a sudden, he's going to be able to possibly pitch in offensively. And, again, if he's your third-line centerman, if that's where it ends up, you've got a really deep team. We're talking to Brad May, former NHL or Stanley Cup champion. Mayday, is the depth now up front enough to maybe cover up a little bit of maybe some deficiencies on the back end and what may come down to an inexperienced playoff goaltender?

You know, here's the thing are we going to be optimistic are we pessimistic are we are we are we listening to our show are we the woe is me you know um here we go again group i i just don't know i i think it feels differently for me watching the toronto maple. Yes, they still aren't the best defensive club. I'd love to see a couple of players added that really their mandate, and they'd be so proud and excited to get out there and shut people down. You get that mentality on the bottom six. They all can skate. It's just a commitment right and yeah you need that whole defensive unit all five players

playing playing solid but you don't have to hit home runs all the time get the puck out of your zone you know let the big boys let the top two lines if that's the case let them run and gun but the bottom half of your lineup has to be incredibly sound and willing to do whatever it takes. And you know what? Ryan O'Reilly, I don't want to put the cap on him, but he's definitely earned it. He's a great player. And yeah, he's aging, but I think he's going to make a difference.

And we've seen it already. But again, I like that Nola Chari, when that trade was made, in my own thoughts of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Noel Achari might make a bigger impact at the end of the day than Ryan O'Reilly, which might be crazy. One thing we've talked about here that's going to make a difference is Sheldon Keith finding a way to motivate and use his guys in the best ways possible.

Do you have an impression of Sheldon as a coach? A lot hinges on well his own career hinges on this season probably and and the least success as well what are your thoughts on him and the job he's done in toronto well i i'll go back to the comment when he's when he apologized to the fan base and his team that the way he talked about them i didn't like it i didn't i didn't see that as being the right move, but I'll tell you what he's, his team has responded since that time. They've been great. And you know, maybe you give a little love and a little respect to your, to your top players and maybe the players throughout your lineup, and they're going to give you more than what they, they anticipate they have themselves.

So, um, I think he's done a great job. Now we all know this team is, it doesn't matter. They could win the next 20 games in a row it's what they do in the playoffs so um we gotta wait until then but for sheldon keith he wants his players with the utmost confidence and the belief that they can beat anybody and if he can instill that in his players listen coaches, coaches do great, but players win games, and he needs his big boys to play. Mayday, would it help the Leaf players if they played a game called Touch

Sheldon like you did with Touch Randy Carlisle? That's a bestie. I don't know if Randy even knows the story happened, but that was amazing. I'll tell you what, it inspired the group. The boys in Anaheim. We loved it.

It was Sean O'Donnell and George Peros brought that game to us, and we played it every day. It was great. And there's something to be said that alleviates some of the tension and the pressure. But, you know, the year that you guys won, like, was he a hard ass? Did he have a, you know, was it a tough job to kind of keep everybody in line eagles checked ice times all of that and can you can you compare it to what maybe

sheldon might have to do or be the rest of the way the only thing i would say that i mean maybe there's a lot of differences in personalities and even the personnel, but we had an older team, a lot of aging veterans that were just hungry, guys that have been to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and losing, and knowing how hard it is. And these guys, you know, had total buy-in. But, yeah, I think, you know what, it doesn't matter. You don't have to like your coach.

I wish I could play the game again and not ever worry about the popularity contest and does the coach like me or not. If you're playing and you get to play a little bit more than others, then clearly you're in good standing with your coach. I think Sheldon, it's a balancing act, right? You don't want to be too soft on your players because you need them to be hungry and focused, and you don't want them to lose that ultra-competitiveness, right, where they've got to play from whistle to whistle.

But I like Sheldon Keefe. I've actually watched him since, Nick, you and I were in Niagara Falls, and we had a great conversation about it. And I like the way the Maple Leafs have responded to them. So bottom line is it doesn't matter. It's the playoffs, and they've got to get there. But the move they just made, they made it before others. Other teams are going to scramble and try to make that difference.

And I like that move for Toronto Maple Leafs. So the deadline over the years has evolved I think how has it evolved over your career and from being a player to now were you always hyper aware of that day coming up and worried about how the dressing room has changed or is it sort of a media creation over the past 10 years that now is this hyper focus and the build-up to it? Well I think no it's been around for a long time. But as a player myself, I got traded at the deadline twice. And once from Phoenix to Vancouver to a team that wasn't going to make the playoffs to a team aspiring to really go deep.

And then I got traded to a Stanley Cup winning team. The only guy traded at the deadline to Anaheim. And the one thing I can say is I didn't screw it up. Our team accomplished their mission, but it's an exciting time for players. I loved it. It was an opportunity to continue to play and play for others. You know, you're playing for the team or the crest you're wearing on the front of your jersey, you know, the team you're playing.

But there's scouts in the crowd and people are looking and you want to impress them too. So I think it's a really exciting time for players. but there's scouts in the crowd and people are looking and and you want to impress them too so um i think it's a really exciting time for players and you know it's not the easiest life of course but you're getting paid a lot of money to have a lot of excitement um i think this time of the year is the best for hockey for the game the excitement for the playoffs and um this year is going to be no different but i think to answer the first part of your question, the salary cap is a different part, right?

You can't just move players for players. There's so much more, like future and money in, money out. It's much more complicated today than it ever was in years past. You were fortunate enough to win a Stanley Cup in the latter part of your career. Pat Kane's out there, and he's already got three. What do you make of his performance the last, what, week and a half, two weeks? And it seems like it's a guy that has got a lot of passion here

and got a lot of gas in the tank, despite the thought that maybe his hip isn't 100%, but he's sure playing like a guy that wants to play meaningful games in the spring. There's no question, Nick. He is preparing to be moved. He's trying to get his game up. He knows. The interesting part is a lot of times you trade for a player on a losing team

or a team having a tough season, and that player's got losing habits, and he's not in shape he's not in the condition that you need to be for a championship you know team or caliber patrick kane understands that i i've been watching him too in the last couple weeks the goals he's scoring are legit superstar like goals and he's basically telling the nhl listen if you need the difference maker, I'm going to be that for you. And I bet you that's his motivation. He wants to continue to play.

He wants to elevate on that all-time scoring list, and he wants more Stanley Cups. He'd be a heck of a pickup if a team's salary cap can support it. Brad, I'd love to get your thoughts on the likely competition for the Leafs and first and maybe second round in Tampa Bay and Boston, you know, is Boston beatable? Are there any flaws anywhere?

You know, they're, they're up a couple of up against a couple of juggernauts here. They are. I guess that the answer to that is if you want to be the best, you got to beat the best. Yeah. And you know,

I really, and I think that's the only thing I can say about it. We can parse this any which way, every which way. But, yeah, the Boston Bruins are putting up one of the best seasons in National Hockey League history. And then you have Tampa Bay who, geez, you just don't, you can't be that confident going in and thinking that you're going to, you know, roll over a team like Tampa. But, you know what, for Toronto, they've got to be hungry. You can't be that confident going in and thinking that you're going to roll over a team like Tampa.

But you know what? For Toronto, they've got to be hungry. They've got players. They've got Ryan O'Reilly now. They've got John Tavares, hungry player, captain, so committed to his teammates and winning. And then you've got young superstars. Now, this is the window for the Toronto Maple Leafs. With Marner and Matthews and Nylander is going to have to sign for a boatload of money.

You may as well win one before that happens. One more for me to kind of compare where you were in 2007 when you won the Stanley Cup with your goaltender. And correct me if I'm wrong, but it was a historic kind of spring for Jean-Sebastian Jager. And the feeling that you had knowing that that guy was in there and he was in the zone. The Leafs, it appears that they've had small sample size of some very good goaltending, but nowhere near the feeling of it being a sure thing for them here. So just take us back a little bit to what Jaguar meant to you guys in that run

and how important is it that the Leafs get something out of Samsonov to really believe he can be the guy? Well, you know what? J.S. Jaguar, Jiggy as we call him, he's a Conn Smythe winner, right? I mean, he won the Conn Smythe trophy in 2003 in a losing effort in Game 7 against the New Jersey Devils. History and experience are the greatest teacher. So I don't even think we can compare the goaltenders or their situations. I can tell you this. Ilya Brzgalov can compare the goaltenders or their situations. I can tell you this.

Ilya Brizgalov was our backup goaltender, and if he didn't stand on his head the first four games against the Minnesota Wild, we may not even be close to winning the Stanley Cup. Jiggy was injured, and Briz was fantastic. And he literally was the MVP of the first round of the playoffs for our team so you just need a hero you need a guy to step up well if matt murray's you know if he's healthy and he's playing for toronto if that ever if that's what's going to happen he's a winner he can go back there and he can dig deep and you know look look into his his soul where he was up

where he's been and what it it takes. And he understands that. Listen, Steve Penny, Montreal Canadiens, when I was a kid, went on a historic run. Cam Ward, young player, went on a historic run. You need your goaltender to be a hero. And why not Ilya Samsonov? Binnington, one of the best runs, most recent runs for goaltender. Matt Murray did pretty well pretty young.

Yeah, he did as well. So this is not something that has never been done before where we're trying to figure something out. Teams have heroes, and why can't it be Toronto's goaltender? They made the move last summer. I'm not so sure I was bullish on it, but you know what? He's proved that he's a pretty decent goaltender. The question is, can he hold up under pressure in tight overtime,

really tight checking games, you know, where the goaltender has to beat the other guy down on the other end of the ice? That's a different mentality, different mindset for goaltenders. Talking to Curtis Joseph about that, you guys should have Curtis on and have him talk about his mindset when he's looking down the ice at the other goaltender that he's competing against. Because as a player, I never really understood goaltenders competing against one another.

And if you have Curtis on, he can enlighten you. But he was saying that the pressure you feel when the other goalie makes a big save in a big moment and now the puck's coming towards you, you have to be ultra-focused into the moment. And I just love that psyche. As a player, I didn't understand it. Hey, some great stuff today, Mayday. Really appreciate your time. Thanks for doing this. Thanks understand it. Hey, some great stuff today, Mayday.

Really appreciate your time. Thanks for doing this. Thanks, guys. Yeah, thanks so much. Brad May. Had some great stuff today. Yeah, he's a Sheldon Key fan. And I don't know, what did we read?

That he was one of the fastest in... To 150 wins. To 150 wins. It's Mike Keenan, Bruce Boudreaux, and then him. One, two, three. At the end of the day, that's really frigging good. Yeah, it's great. Incredibly impressive.

Yeah, they've been really, really good under him. And listen, it's not just here that he's won a lot more than he's lost. Every stop along the way. He's like John Cooper, just won all the way up. Going back to Pembroke, the Lumber Kings, they won every game they played. They won five chimichips in a row or so. And then the Sioux, they won. The Marlies, they spent a lot of money, as you know, Borny. Spent a bit more money than the rest of the league, but they still won.

It's still a hard league to win in. It's almost like even if it's circumstantial that if they don't get out of the first round, Kyle loses his job, he loses his job. That's a resume that would open the eyes out of a lot of clubs to go. I've wondered that a lot. You know, because his relationship seems to be with Kyle, right? Yeah. It's not like he has been with Kyle for 10 years.

I could see other clubs taking that package. Yeah, that's interesting. I wonder how they would view that. Wow. That package is a deal. Because you've mentioned the fear of like. I have the fear. You know, all of a sudden they're gone and it's,

you don't know what you got until it's gone type of thing. Some breaking news. Break it. Blockbuster trade. Shea Weber's contract has been traded. And a 2023 fifth round pick to the Coyotes in exchange for Dyson Mayo. So some cap chicanery going on there. Yeah, that stuff's going to, we're going to get a lot of that in the next eight days.

So they traded, it's year 11 of 14 on that contract for shea weber i believe and they traded a 2013 fifth rounder as well with that i just don't understand all this stuff works i'll be honest it's too much for me guys also dyson mayo leads the league in names that are probably not a real person. Dyson, spelled with an I. And Mayo. Well, we're going to find out. Wouldn't say he's having an excellent year, Dyson. Montreal.

A lot of zeros and a big minus. All right, we'll keep that. We don't need to clown on poor Dyson Mayo. No, it has nothing to do with him. I just haven't watched Arizona enough because they're Arizona. They're not very good. Thankfully, he's not from the area. He's from Victoria.

So his family isn't listening to us clown on him for no reason. For absolutely no reason. I'm so sorry. The other excellent point that Brad May came up with is just the goaltending situation. And he nailed it. You're just going to roll the dice and you're going to hope that, that it's just Samson off or like Breeze Galoff did for him in 2007, finds a way to contribute. And one of them takes it to and runs with it.

But that's really what you're down to it at this point. I think we've come to a point with goaltending in the NHL where teams aren't necessarily just throwing up their hands but they're saying we have one of the 30 guys who might be good on any given week and we don't really know much more than that like is samson off way worse than kemper no is he way worse than binnington no but this is the one thing that i will say i've been noticing about people talking about the Leafs and the goalie situation. It's in Elliott's 32 Thoughts and the Leafs segment is like the Leafs won't make a trade for a goalie unless they can get appreciably better. Like definitely better.

That to me, we're talking about one goal in a series could turn the tide of the series. Literally one goal. So I don't think they need to get appreciably better. They need to get half of a percent better and to take that chance to get someone. If they can. The only thing I come back to you, Sammy,

it was when you, if you ask, is he, is he that much better or worse than Kemper? I mean, we are talking about the difference between someone on the nationwide tour or a PGA tour. Yeah, a couple of shots a week.

Right? But it's not that. It's just tell me if you can perform when the pressure's on. Tell me when you – You're right. Very true. When you have to step up and shut the door, can you do it? Not your style of play, not, you know, how good you look,

but that's where you're more a golfer. Mental. A goalie to a golfer than a goalie to what I would do on a fourth line. Yeah, you can go out there and bring it with energy. Go intimidate, go pound someone, go whatever. Goalies got to be like locked in like tiger. Some of these guys, they tend to get tight when the situation gets tight and your buddy for all those years freddie anderson you could look at him all day long and

say good goalie but tightens up tightens up and get to the point where he gets hurt when he tightens up. Yeah. Yeesh. Nice. In eight career playoff games for Samson, obviously a 9.07 save percentage. I'll take that. That'd be better than Jack Campbell last year.

It'd be good. It might have made the difference. I'm telling you. That's why I'm saying. That's how close it was. If you can get someone you think is a little better, all veggie out of Arizona. All right. Another break. Okay. was if you can get someone who thinks a little better old veggie out of arizona all right another

break okay they're coming fast and furious on the real kipper and boring show but we're gonna take a quick break you're gonna go get a little piece of chocolate and you're gonna pass me a piece just before we come back on air perfect i love this plan and then colby armstrong former nhl also former toronto maple leaf sportsnet hockey analyst co-host of chicklets game notes he hasn't been canceled yet that's not canceled no it's just like literally the most other than ours the best hockey podcast oh is it okay good well they call me i show up i i crush an energy drink. Oh, we got the real thing. Not just Derek Brandale's list.

We got the real thing after the break. Come back, please. Smart takes on the biggest stories in sports. The Fan Drive Time with Ben Ennis. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Always fun with Colby Armstrong. We'll get him going too.

For sure. Man. What's he been up to? He's a busy guy. I don't see him anymore on Sportsnet. Well, he does the Penguins broadcast. Okay. He does Skip the Dishes commercials, and he does game notes for chicklets.

That's a big deal now. And he's going for, I think, intact insurance or something. Desjardins. Desjardins. Hey. I saw you on a commercial, I think, last night, where it's you and a bunch of kids and a Zamboni driver and not a parent to be found. Like, where's the adult supervision, man?

You think I would trust my kid with you on the ice? Oh, I had. You don't think I had that taken care of? Boys, you should have seen that day that day i was absolutely electric like just herding those kids around handling the parents that were all on the bench at the time it was a full-on production energy coming out of everywhere and i'm surprised you saw those commercials they i they're not playing them much i heard why i mean you're a natural.

I'm joking. I heard they're on all the time, which is hilarious. And I'm getting chirped. I'm getting chirped for them. One, because they're on all the time, but I'm getting chirped because I'm wearing a helmet. But I was told to wear a helmet, so it's like safety first, right? And I've told these guys when they have conversations on unis, I usually stay out of it. But that's an ugly uni you're wearing.

You need it to get involved in better colors and a better logo. What do you think? Yeah, well, I think the jersey fabric could have been better for sure. It was like, it wasn't like a real jersey. It was like a pinny that you get at, like, soccer practice, you know? It was just like one of that, like, mesh material. Athletic knit. Yeah, athletic knit.

Yeah, that's right, Bordy. Yeah, it wasn't like top high-end jersey quality, but you know what I am, boys? Low maintenance. You know what I do? I just show up and I get the job done. I work. I go to work. I'm like Ryan O'Reilly.

I'm like Ryan O'Reilly. That's what I'm like. And then you put your hand out. Can I have my money now, please? I make way less than him. So, Order of the Rings, you all set for a parade in Toronto after watching Ryan O'Reilly last night? Yeah, what are they?

Do you think they're done? Are they going to get some Ds? Wow. Are they going to look at some Ds? Can you slow down the conversation here, please? Because we got a lot of people in Leaf Nation that just want to hear positive vibes around Ryan O'Reilly here. And then we'll go there.

But what did you see? What stood out for you? What was missing? What has now been filled, in your opinion? Well, I think Ryan O'Reilly is what they've been trying. They tried to do previously, right? Like Joe Thornton, some of these guys that come in. And I think Ryan O'Reilly is like, I know him.

Like I've talked to him and met him at several different things. Had Luke Braden Shen, sorry, his wedding. And, you know, got to hang out with a bunch of the St. Louis guys. Like, and I've been in that dressing room in St. Louis working. That's just such a cool group that they have there. And it starts with a guy like Ryan O'Reilly with what he's able to do. And look at him with, you know, coming into this team like you know kidding oh we don't want one no kipper don't kill me it wasn't my fault buddy i wonder what's what prompts the official doinking like

it's not like he hits the end button it's sammy. Is it Sammy? Yes. Yeah. It's just, Sammy gets a little caught up, I think, in forgetting he produces. That's what I think it is. Okay. It's a fair assessment, fair take to have. Is it good you're on an island nation in the middle of the ocean? No, that's fine. But he was making the point, old Colb, about the dressing room and chemistry.

And I look forward to asking him or following up about, can you bring that into a team? Colby has returned. Colby, I want you to finish your point about... There's nothing that grinds my gears more than when that happens to me when i'm doing this stuff like i lose it i spent two years through covid in my basement doing live tv with bad internet like i have ptsd right now boys i'm freaking out i wanted you to finish your point on chemistry on chemistry and ryan o'reilly can you

bring that to the toronto maple leaves from the st louis blues i i i think he can i think he like oozes leadership he oozes like the cool personality factor he cares so much in and in the right ways to do it right he's old school he can play in hard games he can do all that stuff he's grinder but he's like good he's skilled and he's i think he just brings so much of what they've you know have been looking for or are looking for and they've tried to go find other guys as i mentioned and joe thornton and other guys in the past and he brings all of that and more doink oh we're going for the hat trick. See, this is always the question.

Is the callback going to happen for... Do me a favor, Sammy. Get him back on and then hang up right away. And that way we save the next drop. And we'll just burn it. So we can get the third one in and keep him. Because it's three. It's never two.

It's always three? Always three. No. Oh, well, okay, we'll wait for Brad. But, you know, the interesting point in what he's saying is that we've watched this group of Toronto Maple Leafs the last few years. Yeah. And when it comes to chemistry, I would say it's average at best.

The skills there, but as few as... You mean on ice or the guys? On ice. On ice. Okay. That I haven't really... When I've watched the Leafs the last few years, I've never seen a team that was really solid in chemistry when it mattered most.

Yeah. And maybe it's just one guy that can pull it all together and kind of reset everybody when it comes to maybe the energy or the chemistry in a room. And, you know, Colby, to your point, maybe that's Ryan O'Reilly. Yeah, that was the, if this happens again, I'm going to snap. Yeah. Like you did between takes on the kids. Oh yeah.

Yeah. Well, I was trying to drink my coffee, talking to myself like Chris Farley on the bus and Billy Madison. What a beast. Yeah. No, I think he's like a Zen master a little bit too, Ryan O'Reilly, guys. I think he has

this way of working with people that is totally unique too, kind of outside the box of the hockey guy style, which he can bring as well. I heard you talk about chemistry. I think he's a chemistry guy.

Like if you went in that St. Louis Blues room, like there is just such a different sense of – and I know, you know, yeah, they won the cup, and, you know, they have their struggles now, and they're kind of blowing the team up a little bit, and we'll see what happens. But like that group was just so easy to go into. Like it was just such like a family. And it started with him. And that's kind of what he does.

They go out for team dinner. I saw them when I was working a game down in Tampa. And they're out for team dinner. And they all hang around him. They're around him. And he just has a quality and an ease of which he leads with. And watching him do that, he really is just a really cool guy, but he's just like, I think has a great grasp

on how to deal with teammates and people to get the most out of them, peer to peer. You know, I've said, okay, he's not coming back. We're over three-three. He did call it. I'm telling you. So here's what I was going to say to Colby, which I can happily say to you,

someone who has been in dressing rooms and all that. I have had questions in the past about the ability to import that to a team when a core is already built. The core of the Leafs is Matthews and Marner and Tavares and Nylander and Morgan Riley. That's the core of the Leafs. Bringing in Joe Thornton was never going to change the chemistry of that room. If he's playing 12 minutes a night on the fourth line, same with Simmons,

same with Spezza, guys who are not playing. Ryan O'Reilly feels like the first guy they've brought in. Yeah, because he's legit. That's going to play 20 minutes or 18, 19, 20 and have the chance to change. Just the thought that he still is in his prime years and that, yes, he had an off year, and there's some that could say at 31 or 32 that, you know, is he falling off?

That was a legit question. But I think even, again, small sample size, but he's not, he hasn't dropped off. Like there's, there might be different reasons. Yeah, and even if it is half a step, he's still really, really good. He's still legit top six. Yeah. And we never said that about Joe Thornton here.

No. Or Spezza. Or any of the people that came in to be culture fixers. Foligno, you know what? Foligno, guys, wasn't healthy. I know, but wasn't he brought in as a top six guy? Of course he was. With a first and a third.

He was brought in as that. And, you know, one thing worth mentioning. Foligno was placed in the top six with Matthews and Marner, I think, to start. And had four points in four games and played pretty well. You know, he was kind of what the doctor ordered until he got hurt i just got a text from colby he said you can't go let me go out like this he wants back he's like i gotta say bye get him on oh my god okay set a record okay no okay calls boys i gotta tell you i love doing this show and this show, but there's not anything that I hate more than when the calls drop. The way that Kipper looks at me is terrifying.

That's like going into a corner. I'm coaching with Sheldon Keefe, and when electronics sometimes just fail, calls sometimes just drop, and you do everything you can to ensure against that, I don't know if Sammy's doing all that. All I want to know is, does it happen on other people's shows here? I would imagine. God, I hope so. But, Kipper, when I first started out with Keefe and with that staff,

some days I'd go in and I'd be like, ah, the internet's not working. Sorry, we can't do the meeting today. And they'd be like, okay, the internet is not working. I heard that part. But you are. Yeah, but we can't do the meeting today is not a thing. That's your job. Colby is here to say goodbye. Okay. No, no, no,

just keep talking. No. Guys, guys, that was a hat trick of drop calls. I don't know if that's ever been done in the biz before. That was absolutely unbelievable. I'm blaming the weather, massive weather advisory warning, but I couldn't go out like that. Thank you, Sammy, for bringing me back on and say goodbye to you guys.

No, no, no, no, no. Just hang in there. Just we're going to hang. Oh my God.

I'm not letting you go now. I'm not. What a disgrace. What the heck is going on? Winter advisory boys. Hey, even with drop calls, we've got great chemistry.

Unbelievable. That's what Ryan O'Reilly does, right? Is he the jinx of the drop calls, though, when we're talking about him? It might be him. No, certainly not, because this trade's got a lot of people excited, Colby. It should. I think it's an exciting trade. I do think it's big for, obviously, the Leafs.

I think it's like a massive like a massive uh you know dubious kind of cool move for him for the fans and for him right for his job right like they have to get going they have to have a playoff push and he's the kind of character leadership you know playoff guy he is yeah so I think you know I didn't, do we hear anything that Ryan O'Reilly might be moving? But, you know, three-way trade made it work. Moves everything around. Noel Achari, too. I like him.

I like his game. So they got two, like, kind of veteran guys that can play that style of game and are important. It's big. It's massive. Leaf fans should be super excited about that. All right. Just jamming in questions for fear of losing you. I want to get your take on the Penguins quick because what's going on here?

This is a team up against it. We're good there, Kipper? I wanted to go one more with the Leafs. Okay, okay. Stay with it then. Because I do want to go to Pittsburgh as well. You stay with it then. Quickly, before you drop off, I pushed you off, you know,

the rest of the challenges for Kyle Dubas and preparing this team to play Tampa Bay. What are your concerns outside of the Ryan O'Reilly and Achari deal? Defending. What do you do now? Tell me what you do. Well, I think you have to go get a couple rock-steady guys, like along the lines of what Mark Giordano is right now, kind of just rock-steady, rock-, rock solid, shot blocking, physicality,

some kind of guys like that that you can go find in the depths to be difference makers through your lineup, through a playoff series. Because look, you're going to have Stammer, you're going to have Kucherov, you're going to have Point, you're going to have all these guys

that play this kind of, you know, winning style of hockey, but are skilled and know how to get it done. They're going to need, I think, on the back end, some kind of, you know, support in that area um that's what i look at but i don't know what's tampa going to do tampa's just laying in the weeds right now it's i don't know if the leaf fans are kind of worried about that or what they might pull out i guess it's like just sit and watch right now if you're a leaf fan to see what tampa's able to pull pull off here um yeah up to friday

up to next friday right you assume it's not going to be nothing that's for sure another team that is interesting was the one i was starting to ask you about there is pittsburgh what's happening man is this team on the verge of falling out of the playoffs after giving the contracts to those big name stars there the big name guys are playing well for them it's yeah you know they're they're suffering with some you know bottom six depth issues their third line is non them. You know, they're suffering with some, you know, bottom six depth issues. Their third line is nonexistent right now. They've dealt with, you know, several injuries,

including, you know, nine games missed to Tristan Jari. You know, he's important. Jari's super important. Actually, Jari's super important to watch in the next few days and into the Edmonton game, you know, how his body kind of holds up and rehabbing coming back from this and playing last game. But it is a little concerning watching. Like, I don't know what they're going to do right now to kind of remedy,

you know, those depth issues and fix those or who they can find or what kind of money they can move around to make everything work. But, you know, Jari's the key. Their health is key. And finding a little extra from the depths of their lineup because, you know, the big boys have been carrying their weight. They're getting the job done. And once one weird thing lately that they haven't been able to do is close out games.

Like the Islanders came back on them twice in the last week. Then they played less than 24 hours later in a back-to-back situation against the Devils and the Islanders. That was crazy. But, yeah, for them it's health. For them it's a look at their depth and if they can find something that fits. And, Kipper, you talk about chemistry. Chemistry is big, I think, with their depth too.

Like, you know, finding the right mix in chemistry and, you know, what works for guys in certain situations to the depth of the lineup, which I think they've had a struggle with, you know, finding that right now. So that's big for them. Can Ron Hextall do something there or do enough? But Tristan Jari, obviously the big piece who just came back last game,

they did lose to the Islanders. Sorokin played out of his mind, but it's going to be a cage match, an absolute cage. There's like seven teams in the East right now in the mix for those wild card spots separated by like six points so down the stretch it's imperative they find ways again to close games out um and i think in the next week and a half we'll see if they're you know going to do anything about it i heard some there's some media here talking about if they go the other

way you know like save it for next year try to sell off some guys and and save it and because you got those guys under contract right the big boys and there's only so much life in in them as they as they age um how do you how do you hit it at the right time and if this year is not the year then how do you get prepared for next year they're talking about that around here as well so it'd be interesting to see what kind of happens here in the next week and a half and you know where the decisions lie on, on which way they go. You think your buddy Sid Crosby will be okay with taking a year off of going for it and how much pressure, how much pressure,

how much pressure is on Ron Hextall and that fan base who are going, well, why did you sign these guys? If you're going to take a year off? I think, yeah, I think there's lots of pressure. to take a year off i think yeah i think there's lots of pressure i think there's lots of pressure i think there's new ownership you know there's pressure from that angle there's pressure to you know make the playoffs uh i think and they know they have the longest standing playoff streak in the nhl right now and you know since only missed the playoffs this rookie season after that straight playoffs every time. And for the most part, their team's always kind of been in talks of being a contender.

So I don't think it would sit good with him at all to go, okay, let's just see what happens. So can they straighten it out here? It's do or die hockey. The math is they can only lose probably nine more games the rest of the year to 26 games. That's the kind of hockey they have to play right now if you're doing, like, what it takes to get in the playoff number.

Somewhere around, you know, 98 points probably, 97 points. So they've got to play some pretty good hockey down the stretch. And, you know, I think the next week and a half will be big, what direction their team decides to go and make a push for that. So they signed those guys back for a reason right it's to make playoffs and play winning hockey so i imagine that's kind of the mandate around here all right last one for me and i'm going to bring it back to the leafs on the way out the door load up the top six with o'reilly marner tavarez or put uh one two

three down the middle with matthews o'reilly, and Tavares as centermen. What a great option to have, eh? It's nice. I've always loved guys that are... I think every coach probably loves versatility through their lineup, and guys can play both wings, and you can move some centermen up on wing and pop guys around.

I think you have options to do that. I think that bodes well for playoffs also, but I think if you have to do it, you know, the three-headed monster down the middle is a nice look in a seven-game series. But, you know, if you feel like you need that quality up up front and that little bit more punch, you can always jump back to stacking it up top. So the versatility factor on any team is huge, especially for the Leafs when they've got the weapons that they do.

All right. I would stack them. I would stack them up top. You would. That's the look right now. Anyways, it's worked after the Buffalo game. We'll see how it shapes up for Minnesota. Plug your co-host podcast, Chicklets Game Notes. How's it going?

Chicklets Game Notes. Yeah, it's going good. We got another one coming up next week. So we only do one a month, boys. So it's a pretty... One a month. It's like an eight-hour show or what? One a month. Can you be lazier? No, you can't be lazier.

It's actually the essence. It's the peak laziness of work ever. And I'm proud to do it it's great it's been fun with it's been fun with burls but the the thing i went on chicklets just the other day the recent one they dropped to give a little update on the quebec peewee tournament boys i was super dad at the quebec peewee tournament this week my son's team the pittsburgh pens elite i never got to go to this i don't know if you guys got to it It was an awesome experience. Yeah, I played in it. You did, hey? Yeah, it was an awesome experience.

It was so fun. The kids billeted. Our boys played their best hockey of the season. We lost by one goal. It was 0-0, the greatest 0-0 peewee game ever. And it went to overtime three on three. And the Detroit Red Wings, or the Detroit Little Caesars, beat us 1-0 to go to the final and lose to the Czech Knights team.

They went 3-3. Yeah, they went to 3-on-3. You can't just play OT anymore. I know. It was crazy. Like, I was on the edge of my seat. It was just nuts. So we had our chances.

We had some tears after the game from the boys, but it was a great run. It was a great experience, boys. I went snow tubing. I did the whole carnival. I was just eating poutine like mad, drinking my face off. It was great. Hockey dad style. That's awesome.

What rink did you play out of? Was it a full building? Yeah, it was Videotron the first game. Were you in Quebec City or Montreal? Yeah, Quebec City. Oh, my nephew was there. That's awesome. Yeah, it was incredible i'm

sure you know your nephew would share the same kind of sentiment on the experience it was it was unbelievable the pin trading kipper do you have pin oh we did the pin thing yep oh that's like insane like it's like crack you know it's like get the pins get the pins they're laying all over the videotron concourse, trading pins. There's kids everywhere. It's a complete gong show. But we lost our first game to Billy Jaffe's kid, and he was coaching the Boston Junior Eagles, I think they were,

the Boston Junior Eagles program. And so we went to the loser side. So then we went to the small side, the little rink, which was awesome because it's like more what we're used to playing. And like, you know, the smaller rinks, regular minor hockey rinks. So it was loud. They were packed. The Videotron was crazy.

It was packed. Just an awesome hockey experience. It was incredible. My year, I went. Who did you play against? Who else was there? You know, that was the year Sylvain Cote was like the best 12-year-old on the planet. It was like...

But was he like he was 16? Yeah, no, it was like he was a man. It was like a man out there. He would just end to end all day long. Yeah. And you're like, what am I doing here? I talked to Bob Urie here. He works with us at AT&T Sports Center here in Pittsburgh.

He played in it and was saying, oh, we beat out Iserman's team. And then we played this guy. We beat them. And then we lost to this guy. Like he's naming like literal NHL stars, which is so cool. Hall of Famers.

Yeah, Hall of Famers. Like he's like, yeah, that's when they were 12 years old. The cool thing for me, guys, is to go there. I never got to go to it. I just heard other people talk about it and how great it was i was like yeah yeah okay okay okay but the experience i was trying to see it through the eyes of my son and being a 12 year old and they're signing autographs yeah right so there's the they're stars to my locals my nephew is achilles capitanakis is his name, which you may recognize as fairly Greek. He's Greek.

And they played their first game against the Ukrainian team. That was their 18,000 people. They sold out every seat in the barn. Oh, was he on the Boston team? Yeah, he's on the Boston Bruins, yeah. Oh, yeah. Guess what? They televised it there.

I know. It was on, like, TV. It was, like, unbelievable. They called it the whiteout game. Everyone wore white. It was, like, can you imagine being a 12 Completely. They called it the whiteout game. Everyone wore white. It was like, can you imagine being a 12-year-old playing in that? I know. And they were up 2-1 with like four minutes to go and ended up losing in regulation to Ukraine.

All the fans rooting for Ukraine. It was insane. They're going to get a league. What do you mean? Yeah. I don't know. Everybody wants a league. A professional peewee league.

They're going to get a league. Paying the kids. Pay the kids. Hey. Yeah. Hey, Colby, thanks for doing this, man. Thanks. Signing off the new president and CEO of the new peewee professional hockey league, Colby Armstrong. Get us some insurance too.

Meetings are once a month. You can never have enough insurance. I got it all covered. Colby Armstrong. See you, boys. See ya, man. And the new real Kipper and Born leader

of Dropped Calls. He's tied in the clubhouse at three. We had another three packed, didn't we? Who's our three? Who's Colby tied with in Dropped Calls? Oh, Kevin Kurz. Kevin Kurz, was it? Yes, from the Islanders beat. Yes.

That was quite good. And that was within the last month. How does Colby structure a deal with, you know, the Barstool Boys for once a month? What is that even? Who's that for? I don't know. Imagine how good our show would be if we did it once a month.

Or the complete opposite. It would be fantastic. Just get them a month. Or the complete opposite. It would be fantastic. Just get them all out, all our great ideas, all in one show. I think Fabro's listening, Fabs. You can let us know what you think of the once a month program. I got a lot of good ideas, but I'm saving them until tomorrow. That's the problem with the daily show. So the Coyotes made that trade.

I saw this great tweet from Craig Morgan, who covers them. The Coyotes legends, who have never played a game there, their lineup is really shaping up now. Datsouk, right? First line, Marion Hossa, Datsouk, Brian Little, with Pronger and Weber on the back end. Oh, my God. Dave Boland will center the second line,

whenever that materializes. I don't know if there'd be a better deep pair that you could create than Pronger, Shae Weber. Yeah, listen, there's something wrong with our system that you can do this. Yes, there is. It's just 100% right.

It's so bad, so embarrassing. Like, why is any team dealing, a guy's permanently injured and a team is stuck dealing with the salary cap implications of that like seriously like you players out there like how did you agree to this i don't think they understood it i mean how did you let this happen it's like when apple asked me what i think about their terms and conditions i'm like yeah just let me use the phone yeah someone else has

looked at this agree yeah i'm sure someone else has gone through this. Agree. I'm sure someone else has gone through this. I'm not going to be the one to say no. Yeah, it's just that was the loophole of all loopholes for teams like Arizona. Yeah. That they can bank this and get away with not spending real money. I don't even know what they got out of it. They got a fifth rounder? Okay. Well, then that gets the Coyotes the cap floor insurance, right?

Oh, is that it? Yeah, they don't have to pay a lot of money to the actual deal. It just saves you real cash. Yeah. Gotcha. Way to go. Yeah. Good job.

How exciting. Anyways, okay. Connor McDavid, 800 points. How is that possible? How does he get 800? He's a rookie yesterday. I saw that he had 800 points, and that's as flabbergasted as I've been in a while. I know.

800? That's career. You're bordering on a Hall of Famer soon. Yeah, like that's. Another few hundred points. And how old is he 26 okay i saw the list yeah 26 and it is incredible but then you know as incredible as connor mcdavid is how about the fact that there's what's the list we've done guys what list uh fewest games okay to 800 points

in history and of course first connor yeah no he's wayne yeah wayne wayne like so connor's at 545 what do you think wayne's at i say 320 or something well 352 yeah it's like 200 almost 200 that's a joke what's over 200 well over two points per game at that point no just under 200 yeah so it's like that just mind-boggling what's the rest of the list kipper you have it or no? Mario Lemieux, 410. Okay. Mike Bossy. There's a name I would have never. You think of him as a goal scorer in 50-50, 50-50, but you don't think about him with 525 games to 800 points. Which is just better than Crosby, I would guess.

Yeah, it's 20 better than McDavid. I don't remember him scoring points like that well with bossy with bossy i just remember the goals i don't remember the points or the assists when you start your career going 53 69 51 68 64 60 yeah but then i mean then yeah i mean 91 points 126 points 92 points 119 149, 147. Oh, I see the 147. I can make up a lot. 147 in what year? In 81-82.

Which is what, his fourth or fifth year? His fifth year. In 80 games, he had 64 goals and 83 assists for 147 points. All right, 83. And then in 19 playoff games, he had 17 goals. I want to say Brian trache won the heart trophy somewhere around there like where was bossy in that that year must have been a rookie or some trotson won it in 1979 and then what who was the last name on that list was it connor i guess was

that four no the one we're missing is uh at fourth peter stassny really yeah where was it not not Stastny. Really? Yeah. Where was Sid Crosby on that list? There's one that not, not, I only had the top five. Okay. Okay. Not on it. Probably. That's Peter Stastny. Really close. Stastny's got to be the most unheralded point getter of hockey history.

All right. He, no, he just had, the start of his career was massive. Like, and then he kind of, he didn't fall off. He really, his production was massive. And then he kind of didn't fall off. His production really dipped. 531 to 800 points. Peter Stasny, 109, 139, 124, 119, 100, 122. That's how he started. And then after that, he kind of dropped off.

But listen to the names that McDavid's with. That's all-time guys he's an all-time guy and not to mention that era of point getting was very different the 80s were you know there was i think on average eight goals a game for a little while you know whereas mcdavid's career it's been six and a half we're known to have a few bad goalies full advantage who's the guy that panger was telling us about the other day rajon rondo definitely wasn't his name that guy played he was an NBA superstar. Yeah. The guy that was head was below the crossbar. Yes. We had mentioned yesterday, big week for the Washington Capitals.

They get Ovechkin back. But is it too late? We mentioned Pittsburgh in some serious issues with their playoff spot. Now Washington, Detroit. A huge win last night. You know why? Over the Caps, 3-1. Yeah, huge for their standing. And now two points back of the final spot

with four games in hand. Yeah, like by points percentage, the Red Wings are flipping in the playoffs. They're in. The dash five goal differential. Wild. By the way, the capitals who have lost five straight three and seven in their last 10 are a intriguing seller if they lose a couple more

and decide to start selling guys you're talking or love you're talking hathaway you know which is both intriguing names for the maplers can you imagine Achari and Hathaway on the fourth line? Oh, Kip, he couldn't contain himself. That would be very hard to play. That's a custom-built fourth line for this show. And you call up your boy Bobby McMahon, put him on the other side, and there you go. Bob's your uncle.

Bobby McMahon's your uncle. There's a race for D because it's maybe the Leafs. It's certainly Boston, Edmonton guys. Orlov, to me, would be a guy that they could use as well. They got to do something. He makes more sense. Ken Holland has to do something. He makes more sense for them than all the other names I hear them paired with.

Carlson and pat kane get someone to defend yes gonna score like someone who can play and he can he can he can shoot the puck yeah oh yeah boys and the first thing we put on the lineup today and we didn't mention it was jake muzzin so we should maybe spend a couple minutes wild yeah until now yeah it's officially announced that jake muzzin will miss the rest of the regular season and playoffs due uh to uh cervical spine injury and uh we all knew that that was coming so i didn't oh i thought i wrote it about a month and a half yeah i don't believe you though i held out hope like a kid at christmas necessarily uh at least officially a career yet they said that they'll reassess this

at some point maybe in the summer or at training camp uh but it's it's really a shame for so many reasons because he still had a lot to give i think uh when he was healthy and something that's sorely missed is most recently the second and third period in boston yeah against buffalo i should say there there is a muzzin sized hole in the toronto maple east and just you know the other things he provides you talk about the dressing room and leadership and character you got o'reilly if you had another muzzin like you'd feel so good about this team and you still do but yeah you know it it is missed and you do feel like that needs to be replaced somehow god he was effective last year in the playoffs it really him and brody

were a pair the way his career here played out i don't feel like it could have gone you know much worse in terms of the injury luck like you think about the first for that weird that weird injury he had against columbus and then he goes out against and so the marincans marincan is a name i don't like to speak was playing a lot against the the blue jackets and then he was got a bad injury against the habs it's just he hasn't it's just played out badly yeah and they paid a stiff price for him and it's one they had to they they kyle's done two deals with the la kings there are two separate deals one with was around jack campbell and the other one was around muzzin uh they got muzzin for dersey grunstrom in a first i want to say is that what that was and then the other one was

just straight muzzin that's it yeah and then the other one was no clifford too no no that was with jack hamill that was the one that was with a for a second round pick and trevor moore i believe if i'm if i remember correctly muzzin has played almost 200 games as a maple leaf you know like it's not like he came here and couldn't contribute at all. And he had great stretches with them, too. Oh, I thought sometimes he was just a rock. Yeah, he was an important part of what they were trying to be.

He was the most important guy on their decor for when he was healthy and playing at his best, he was really huge for them. Really huge. But you're right, he just hasn't been able to be in the lineup. Are there a dozen Muzzins out there? Yeah. And when you get them and they can contribute 20 solid,

like that's the one thing too, right? Is like there's some nice guys can find them way to have a 21, 22, 23 minute night but can you do it every night yeah and be successful uh efficient productive you know who do you feel great about going over the boards in late in games mark giordano is that for me like he's been i feel very comfortable there muzzin was that guy for a long time on giordano uh coming down the stretch if they don't rest him a little bit i saw his interview with elliot and jeff and he said he doesn't want to be arrested and he doesn't want to anyone to suggest it to his coach because he

wants to be a he wants to play okay dude can you look up icings he was how many first oh he's got to be the first in every every league in the world first sign that he might be tired is i don't know i've seen the puck he's smart too what's the there's not a huge punishment for icing there should be should not be able to ice the puck twice within 20 seconds it's my theory but yes he ices a. I don't know. I appreciate him not wanting to take a day off, but come on, be a parent. Tell your kid to get to bed early. Love that analogy, yeah.

It's like, it's great that you don't want that. We appreciate that. We love that you love to play. Take a couple off here, fella. Well, the hope is that the Leafs can be in a position that down the stretch they can rest some guys give some guys some time i'd like to see that the process start now with giordano i don't want to see it three days before the end of the season or the last game what do you want to see like actual games off i'd like to see him, yeah, take two or three of, what, 24 left.

Okay. I can live with that. I can get on board. Three. Get Timmons and some more reps. Maybe they can play him at the wing and have in-game load management like John Tavares. Yes. Load management.

Is that the term? Yeah. Yeah. Kawhi made it famous. All right. Just like that. Two hours gone by. We solved nothing.

We did talk to Colby four times. That's pretty good. Yeah. So thanks to Brad May and four times we want to thank Colby Armstrong. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And all of you, of course, wherever you are watching or listening,

Sportsnet 590, the fan, YouTube, we're back again tomorrow. We do it all over again. Have a great night, everybody.