Real Kyper & Bourne - Surprising Starts in the East + Avs Extend Nečas

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee reflect on the Blue Jays' Game 5 win over the LA Dodgers to move to 3-2 going back to Toronto. Then, former NHL executive and agent Brian Lawton (10:19) shares some thoughts on the Jays before discussing the NHL's raised-cap contract landscape, the Leafs' slow start, the Canadiens taking strides, the Penguins' unexpected hot streak and Matthew Schaefer's immediate impact with the Islanders. Later, Nick, Justin and Sam discuss Martin Nečas' big extension with the Avalanche, Brad Marchand's leave of absence, and Zach Hyman nearing a return for the Oilers.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.

The Real Kipper and Born show, waking up a little happy, or should we say split? Blue Jays won, Sammy's Leafs Lost. We'll get into that all that in the next two hours. In the meantime, we're happy you're with us. We are live on SportsNet 360, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary and streaming, always on SportsNet Plus, also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube, this hour of Real Kipper and Bourne, brought to you by Bet365. Nick Kippreos, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Schultz, Derek Branddeo. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Brian Lott and former NHL player agent. He's done a lot over the last few years, and we'll get his thoughts.

of a lot of things. Maybe included the Blue Jays who are one game away from the World Series. Wow. Crazy talk. Spooky set today. Not sure if you're watching on TV or not, but we got spooky stuff going on,

much like the Maple Leaf's behavior. However, on the positive note, yeah, man, one game away. What do you got, Sammy? How are you feeling? In pretty, a lot of days. disbelief. Yeah.

Like I really, after probably like a lot of Blue Jays fans, after that 18 inning banger, you're thinking that that was their shot, get ahead, you know, and if Nathan Lucas takes ball four from Clayton Kershaw with the base is loaded, we may be talking about a World Series championship already.

It's crazy how much they've dominated. Can we just for a minute acknowledge greatness out of Trey? We don't even call them last name now. You Savage? The Madonna. That is, like, I mean, the bar has been set for everyone. I was listening to Bunkus and Ennis talk about it.

It's like, you can never have a rookie performance again in this country and be like, that was good. No. It's over. But we'll never see that in our lifetime ever again. A guy, like it is truly one for the ages in a hundred years to get a guy that the equivalent in hockey would be you start your year in men's.

league. Yeah. No, it's not that. Come on. Men's league. There's lots of good young players playing in the low A and single A.

Let's not go in the details of his analogy. Men's league is a little much. Go with my sense of humor a little bit. Okay. How about we start? I was joking. How about we start with the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball team at Christy Pits? Let's go with that.

Whatever the case is, it's a really low bar. Low bar. Okay? Yep. So we're talking about what? Three or four pit stops in minor baseball. minor league baseball to pitching in the majors to now going into a world series on the road in a very historic place like Dodger Stadium and just jamming it down their throats 12

strikeouts no walks a hundred years I'll put all the money in the world we'll never see it again Well, I mean, the Major League Baseball has been around for how long, 120 years and no pitcher has ever done it before. That is, no one has ever gone 12 strikeouts, no, no walks, against a lineup that costs a half a billion dollars. I mean, that was, that was unbelievable. What an unbelievable form. My favorite part about that is that he not only struck out 12 batters.

Struck the ball. He struck out every single one of them. Every one of them. And listen, I don't know if there's been a more terrifying battering. better than Freddie Freeman over his career in the major leagues, a guy that I fear the most on that team right now when he's coming up with the dish, I know that's O'Donnie, but Freddie Freeman's just got that quick bat. He made him look like, I don't know, like he plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team.

He made him look stupid. Betts too. I mean, Betts has been really struggling. Betts has had a really bad World Series. He's had a bad year. So he's a guy that, you know, they really need to kind of wake up if they want to win two games. But Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off home run in this series. Like he's a guy that's threatening at the day.

I mean, Otani, that picture with his helmet popping off. You have to really splash cold water on your face as a Blue Jays fan and be like, this isn't a dream. Because, I mean, what was the line going into this series? It's a minus 220, minus 230. Every game you're giving us that they're minus 200 and the Jays are plus 175, 180. To sit here through five games of this series heading home for two kicks of the can to potentially win the World Series at the Rogers Center on Friday night on Halloween,

like the Toronto Blue Jays have unequivocally been. the better team in this series. Yeah. From top to bottom. It's better hitting, better hitting, better pitching. Better fielding. It's just, it's not even close. It's not a comparison.

This series could be over. Even for it to go to six games, it's not, it should have been over in five with a, with a it should be over. Did you guys get sat down for first pitch? Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I was getting. I got caught in a flip.

Did it? Yeah. Yeah, with our Wednesday night hockey game. I was getting my, because I was watching. watching the game, the least game on the main screen. But then I was getting the computer situated with the J's on. And I looked up like, oh my God. And then two pictures later, it leaves again, Vladie.

Like, I, to make a hockey parallel, because we are a hockey show, those two home runs to start just felt like getting the puck in deep and just blowing a guy up in the glass in the first shift of a game where everybody starts to be like, oh, my God, oh my God. They set the tone, man. You guys were reading quotes. Was it Snell, the picture? Yeah, so.

Yeah, Blake's now goes, they didn't. really get to me. Someone asked him, like, you know, what happened that they got to you so early? He said, they didn't really get to me. He's had 97 up and in. He only hit at 98 and it just unlucky to go out. That's the equivalent. I'm sorry.

The equivalent of hockey is I had my man. Oh, totally. Totally. I was just a blessing. I had my man. He didn't hit at 48. He did it 98. And, and I mean, forget to be Davis Snyder, who how do you not love that guy?

And one of the sweeter moments, I'm sure, in that game for Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins, who've taken a beating over the past few years in terms of their mindset and their, you know, shift in philosophy from offense to defense. One of the most beloved Blue Jays over a certain area here is to Oscar Hernandez, but what people talk about with him,

the defense, with the aloofness. What a terrible play on the barso head. It just takes a softball route to this game, this ball goes into the corner, ends up going over to third. They drive him in, Ernie Clement. I thought he might score. I thought it was going to be inside the park home run.

Mark and Ross sitting there being like, we told you yeah we told you he would do it and boy did he do it like it just he he was brutal in the field and here we are boys i i can't imagine when it's going to be like at the rogers center tomorrow i can't imagine can't imagine you can't imagine you're going to go tomorrow kipper somebody's going to take you for sure i don't know come on i don't know uh i mean i'm kind of caught a little bit what when they win yeah it'll be nuts duh yeah but that's good for you that's a young man That's a young man nuts. Okay.

Well, give me a ticket. You'll be, you know, reach for darts and you'll share darts with strangers. That's not my world, Sammy. Okay. Okay. I can say, thank God. That is my world. That is my heart and soul.

But, yeah. I can be talked to, do it too. Yeah. I just, you know, tomorrow's obviously scary, spooky, if you will, just like our state. Well, they got Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the hill there. Yeah, I mean, the Jay saw he was unbelievable in game two. Why would you doubt them that they can't get to him to? I don't doubt them at all.

I'm at the point now where what else they got to show you? I get what else they got to show you? They feel like a runaway train. I just, yeah, the momentum is too strong. Too strong. They're just, they're, like Simmer said to us the other night, they're just undeniable right now. They're just a, it's a wave.

It's crazy. Barger, man, what a game. I mean, it lays out in the field, great base running. Tough, tough, great. the base running situation was tough for John Schneider in game two or game three where he lifted him for Miles Straw and then he's like literally the best base runner I was like

that ball bounced in the dirt and he got he was in third base before it was incredible yeah yeah we're gonna welcome in Brian Lawton in a few minutes here just a quick question here because a lot of talk

about the leaf struggling and I'm sure we'll get into this for sure in our leaf edition hour but we may touch up the attention that the Blue Jays have gotten, which is clear, more so clear than at any point, I think,

over their history since 1977, that this isn't just a Toronto team. This is Canada's team. And I love that. It's going to be in it with everyone. Has it been overall a good thing, not just for the Leafs, but maybe, you know,

people out West in Edmonton with a smaller start. I know they had the big win the other night, but, you know, they've sucked a lot of attention. attention away from from hockey but you know i think you mckee it might have been you saying this that like yes they have drawn eyeballs and attention away from the leaves but it's also created such an obvious contrast in vibes you know like it's really hard well give us your analogy i just think

that like people are totally resenting the leaf my analogy on the leaps is that right now the jays like i'm like at college the first week having a credit card for the first time and I'm spending uncontrollably watching. I'm like, oh, my God, this is the best thing ever. This credit card's unlimited. Spend, spend, spend. And the Leafs are the bill. Because at the start of next week, these beloved Js will not be around anymore.

And we, us three, will be stuck there in our group chat, not with positivity being like, yay, this is so fun. Oh my God. Being like, this team rigs. There's, the bills come and do next Tuesday night. All right, let's pay a bill now with Brian Lotton. We're paying you, by the way, the same amount that we pay Doug McLean to come on our show. How are you, lots?

Doing fantastic, Kipper. How are you? We're good, pal. Just, you know, I mean, you're from the Minnesota area. You're used to championships there over the years with the twins. I mean, you've been watching the baseball from afar, and more specifically, as we talk about maybe a little bit of a contrast between the Blue Jays, and maybe the Leifes or any other team in Canada. But all of a sudden, you know, the Blue Jays particularly have this reputation

that hockey teams of championship caliber have always had. And that's a tight-knit group. You watch each other's backs. You like each other. You support each other. Not the old days when you saw a baseball player miss two weeks with a hangnail. No, you know what? I love the look and feel.

of Toronto. I really do. They remind me of a hockey team. They got a cast of characters. The broadcasters were talking about it last night in the U.S. This is one of the loosest, most confident groups they've seen in a long time. And a good friend of mine from MLB, John Schmoltz, who does an amazing job with his call of these games in the U.S. It's just one of the things that's blown them away. L.A.'s been the favorite. Everybody keeps talking about L.A.'s gotta wake up and the bats haven't come alive yet where Toronto's just been like a duck through the water just very smooth on top probably paddling like hell down below but at the end of the day they've played outstanding the way they opened that game was incredible last night

lots can you can you have that attitude without the wins you know what I mean like you don't see a lot of teams that are below 500 and everyone's going what a great group of, you know, the chemistry is wonderful, right? Like, you have to have some success for that to build. You got to win. Otherwise, you know, we'll stay on the baseball references. Otherwise, it's Bull Durham. It's a little fungus on the shoes. It's gross in the miners, but that's character in the majors. And that's what Toronto has. I mean, they're winning. Everything's working. But I love their team. I love the energy they bring, and I love the no fear out of They've had, it feels like, in every single game.

One more for me with the baseball lots because it's the human interest of the story that really I want to get to in this 22-year-old, Trey Yusevich, who tore a piece out of the history books like few ever have done before at just age 22 to see this guy come from various levels of the minor leagues to proving in a short while that he, can pitch against the majors to dominating in a world series now you were once upon a time the highest rated 18 year old player in the world just take us in that mindset on on on pressure and how some can get through a stage like that and and another one like tray could get through it like it's a walk in the park or at least it appeared to be a walk in the park yeah tray has that

syndrome where they just don't know enough to be nervous it looks like at times you know i saw him talking today and he was talking about how excited he was uh for the eventual world series playoff check because he essentially had made about you know a number that was so startling i had to kind of replay it 57 grants yeah this year like that blew me away i know he was a call up in a late season player added, but, you know, baseball's a different system. The good news for him is if you can show any consistency in MLB, he'll be making about a gazillion dollars pretty soon. But I really think, you know, you only know what you know, and you asked me about myself when I was 18, and I knew nothing. As a matter of fact, back then, without social media, I really

didn't have any idea other than I figured I was in one of the in the top 10 players ranking wise at that stage. But it's not like now where everything just gets communicated so quickly. People had a different attitude about back then. I remember when I was playing for the North Stars, one of the coaches at one point was saying, well, you know, if you're good enough to make it here, then you must know everything. And I literally remember thinking, I don't know anything. I was playing against 15-year-old kids last year, not men. So in some ways, it was a benefit in other ways I was fully aware. It could be overwhelming at times. Lots, I want to get your thoughts on, you know, you talked about you savage and the money he was making. I want to talk

about hockey. A lot of young guys are starting to get paid before they've done anything. I think a lot of old people. I know they've done stuff, but they haven't done anything in the NHL of consequence. And you're seeing coolly with the big deal. You're seeing, I mean, you go through the list, right? Guys are getting paid before they win a Stanley Cup or have big years or anything like that. What are your thoughts on, I guess, how that affects the NHL, their game? What impact would that have on the league? It's really a strange time. right now because we've never seen the cap go up the way it's projected to go up and teams are nervous quite frankly you know you have some teams you know that

feel like they're in cap jail and you have other teams like Utah that you know their highest paid player before Logan Cooley was obviously Sergachev who won a couple Stanley Cups multiple finals long history finally gets up to eight and a half million. And then after him, it was like Clayton Keller. So for Utah, it's a team that hasn't been in any type of salary cap jail, find themselves as one of the better stories of the year up until that Edmonton game the other night. I really felt they've been cooking with gas rolling along and surprising a lot of people. And, you know, you got Ryan Smith, new owner, all kinds of money, super excited about owning the team. And I hear him this morning talking about

this is unbelievable. This isn't like my basketball team. I mean, this kid, he can buy a house now. He's going to be here for eight years. I love this term. I don't know if anybody told him that's going to get shorter here, but in any event, it's massive changes for the NHL. And so far, I think the teams have done remarkably well. I won't name names, but there's been a few signings. where i went hmm and even logan coolly i'd been told about four days ago by an agent that he was looking for double digits and i for a second i was like what do you mean double digits right 10 million i'm like 10 million he just started i mean i like them i like the progression he's a bigger guy than when he got drafted he's shown to have more depth but that uh that surprised me

and then i took a look at it and you look at the other comps and you go around what's happening in the league. And maybe it's a little bit high, but I'm certain that Utah feels really good about that contract today, especially if you want to go to the new metric, which not everybody is accustomed to, and that is what percentage of the cap is it today and what percentage will be going forward? It's only going to get less. And if you believe in how you build your team that methodology, then you probably

probably feel pretty good. So Billy Armstrong, I'm sure he feels great about it. But not everybody's entitled to whatever percentages are going up. This is just really your star players. And we saw another signing in Colorado with Martin Nakesh at 92 million, is it? 96. Yeah, 115 times eight. 115.

60 million of it in signing bonus. It's like, it's crazy, but they are fairly, safe bets when you know the talent level you know you can't predict if a guy's going to get hurt or not but you're comfortable with all these recent eight-year deals i'm not totally comfortable with all of them i am very comfortable in the talent that you know the skill and the talent is there for all these guys but at the end of the day you know in the past the really truly great money really went to the not just the really talented and skilled guys, but the guys that won. And to be fair to the players that are in the league today, it's harder to win today than it was

when you and I play Kipper. There's just more teams. It's just math. But at the end of the day, you had to not only be that elite player, but you really had to win if you wanted to get certainly double digits in any era. So I'm not totally comfortable. with it. Martin Neckash is a nice player, super skilled, great fit for their offense, going to score a lot of points. Love to see him win something

before you get paid $11.5 million. Sorry, my headphone issue. I can't hear you now. Okay, we're all good. You want a question and I'll relay you the answer. Yeah, thanks. I appreciate that. Not sure if you had the chance to check in on the Toronto,

belief so far this season and you know we've been following along as closely as anyone i think and it really weird start to the year like i can't pick up a whole ton of positives lots what do you make of how they've looked out of the gate so far this season um they've looked like they've dropped a tier in the league to me to be honest with you i always considered them you know as a team that probably will finish in the top two in their division and the legitimate Stanley Cup contender and I don't know if it's fair to say that they've dropped or others have moved up but you know when you look at Detroit and Montreal now where they're at and what's happened the last few years it feels like those roles got reversed for Toronto and it's only

early but I'm not predicting a massive change you know usually with by 20 games you start to you know, really have a sense of what you have, but I don't see the reasons why I could sit here and say, well, give them, you know, eight, ten, twelve more games and they're going to look like themselves. I just don't see it. They've had many different issues. Losing Mitch Martyr has been more penal than I think anybody thought. And they just have looked discombobulated at times to me. Matthews has not had a good start. You know, he's got Nick, you and I were talking about this this morning. He's got three assists, you know, thus far in 10 games.

I mean, that's your number one center. Now, John Tavares and Nyes, I think, have both played well, as had Nylander. But after that, there hasn't been as many bright spots as we might have seen in the past. So I'm nervous for Toronto this year. it's still early I'm sure Brad Tree leaving when you're managing a team you're always nervous that's just the way it is but I'm sure he believes in his guys in his group this is the group he's put together but I think Craig's got a lot of work to get this group to where they want to be as an organization did you get that answer because he basically said it's not good well it's not good

I did get that okay okay just in speaking then what else you've seen in the Atlantic Division, there's a natural evolution when it comes to teams dominating over a certain amount of years and while the other teams slowly build and load up lots, have we seen enough out of Montreal and Detroit and, you know, even Buffalo at 4, 4 and 2, have we seen enough to say for sure that they've closed the gap and they're going to take their points and this thing could all come down, including Toronto on last week of the season on who's in and who's out? I really think that's where it's at, Kipper. Have I seen enough from those teams? Montrell's just done a nice job of convincing me that they're continually

getting better, although it went slowly at times. But I feel like they've shown excellent progression. This is the best they've looked. It's certainly early. Cole Caulfield continues to prove me wrong. He's just a dynamic gold score, and he hasn't let up one bit. Detroit, I've said for years, and it hasn't resonated with people, that I thought Steve Eisenman was doing a wonderful job there. He just had not caught a break. When you looked at the individual moves that a GM was making, whether it was Moritz, Cider, or Lucas Raymond, or Edvinson, I just felt like he did a lot of things right and wasn't getting rewarded for it, so I'm very pleased to see them. Todd McClellan's been great since he's gone there. That's really helped, but I'm very pleased to see them making

the strides they should. I feel like it's been somewhat long overdue for Stevie. I know how hard he works. I know the time and energy he's put in. I'm always sensitive to the job Steve he's doing because he followed myself and the rest of our staff in Tampa, where he did a wonderful job. And I would say he had the exact opposite experience there where everything just kind of popped for him right away. And that's just what the jobs are. There's a lot of randomness and luck that are involved in them. But I like where Toronto. I like where Columbus is at now.

I like where Montreal is. like these are shockers. I've been waiting a long time to say these words. And some of it was justified and some of it was not. So when it's all said and done, I think Toronto is now more in the soup versus in the past where I felt they were a shoe in to make the playoffs and they were a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. You talk about luck. How about those New York Islanders getting Matthew Schaefer and the draft has kind of changed the vibe around that team? What have you made of that kid showing so far? Incredible.

Reminds me a lot. Somebody asked me the other day about him. And I was playing in New York or got traded to New York when Brian Leach was there. And I knew Leachie beforehand had played in the world championships with him. And I knew he was good. But he was always kind of out of shape. And Leachie would be the first one to tell you that. His rookie camp, he was about 20% body fat.

He was still the best defenseman immediately, which was shocking to me in Matthew Schaefer. I mean, I can't believe how well he's played out of the gate. And to give Patrick Waugh, credit, he's been saying it right from the first minute he got there. He's the best player on our team, which is unheard of. That's a veteran team. They're playing very well. They had a start like Buffalo where I was going, oh, boy, this could be a long. year, but at least I thought they've got one player that's really exciting, and they have a number

of others, but I felt like the way he came into the league and how he started his career has been incredibly impressive. As good a defenseman as I've seen come in so early since Leachie, really. And don't forget, we had Victor Headman in Tampa, so not like he was a slouch, but he's just really impressed me. And I just think that was a lot of people don't give it enough credit. He did not play a lot of hockey last year. So, you know, it would have been easier to default to a player that would have been, would have resonated a little more because of maybe the numbers they ran last year. But no, to Matthew Darsh and the Islanders, they made the right pick in my opinion and I think it's going to be

a really, really great pick for them for the next 15 years. You're watching and listening to Brian Lawton, former NHL agent, former NHL executive and any other job that was out there in hockey. He's done them all. Lots.

Before I let you go, I got to ask you about the Pittsburgh Penguins and their tremendous start and lots of talk right now about the job that Dan Muse has done lots of talk, which is warranted for Kyle Dubis because he's pulled some names out that he's getting

tremendous mileage out of. Ryan Shea and Watherspoon on the blue line with Carlson and Justin Brezzo, who's good goal score. Almost broke my record in North Bay. Kindle. Right? So that's great. But in the big picture, Kyle would have gone

probably in another direction if there wasn't this huge emotional attachment to three particular players in Crosby and Malkin and Latang and we would have seen those guys gone with almost any other general manager to start the rebuild on guys

that are knocking on 40 years of age but they didn't and they're off to a great start my question to you is simply where are they heading where they're heading i think is still unknown if you had offered me a bet that malkin and crosbie would have more points than dry sidle and mac david at this stage i would have said not in no kidding but uh sid's not a surprise malkin is a surprise sid's going to do sid's doing

exactly what i thought he would do he's such a professional but malkin i thought boy that's you know this is his last season, 39 years old. Does he have it in him to have the type of start that he had? I did not see that coming. So you have to compliment him. And maybe he's just signaling to the market that he may be 39, but he wants to continue to play. In terms of the job Dan Mews has done, this team has a real strange history. You know, if you think back, Mike Sullivan replaces, I think, Mike Johnson at the time and goes on a historic run with Pittsburgh. If you go back, before that Dan Bilesma replaces. This is a long time ago.

French guy, who is the coach? Who was it? Tarian. Tarian, thank you. They go on a historic run. Maybe we'll see that again. It's been such a feel good story. It's been a shocker to me.

From what we saw from Pittsburgh the last three years, you would have said they were regressing for sure. And nothing was really working out. And yet this year, they've, got a new coach. They've got re-energized star players. Carlson's played well, but Latang hasn't probably played as well as Crosby and Malken have, but he's still been good. He's still legitimate top four defensemen for him. They lose Raquel. That didn't seem to affect him or slow him down. It's been a really good story, a really big surprise to me in what's

happened in Pittsburgh thus far. I'm not sold. It's going to continue. I think there's a lot of pressure on a lot of young players there because they have contributed in a big way and not the young players maybe were the thought. I thought Rudker and McGrady might have been playing a role if not for his injury early. It's just it's been some veteran HL players that have stepped in and really contributed in a lot of big ways. So we'll see in time. I hope that they make the playoffs. I think they certainly have put themselves in a great position to do that. And as everyone knows, it hasn't happened in three seasons. Let me ask you a lot.

Is the City of Toronto planning a parade early next week, in your opinion, tomorrow night after the game? Easy. I don't know if they're planning a parade, but I got to think they're feeling really good. The Dodgers have been a great story. It feels a little bit like Davy versus Goliath in some ways. and yet Davey is going to win out in this fable also, if you ask me, I do think Toronto gets it done and I by no means am sold that they should have been an underdog.

They've had a really great season. They deserve it, and I'll be watching very closely on that. Because I don't particularly, when I worked at NHL Network, we shared space with Major League Baseball. and I used to hear from these guys how at this time, a lot, say five, six years ago, how long the games were and it was terrible and they couldn't stand it. Well, I give baseball a lot of credit. They changed that. They left it the way it should be in the playoffs for the one historic game we just saw.

But this has been a really interesting series and a really interesting year for Major League Baseball. A lot of your fans out there might not know. they're coming up on a new CBA next year and all the talk I hear is that the NHL is doing so great because they have a salary cap and Major League Baseball needs that so that'll be interesting to watch but you're always bringing it on our show man thanks for doing this my pleasure guys thanks for having me on thanks lots appreciate Brian Lotton former NHL player agent general manager you know that's that's a great great thing that he just brought up there because the jays can save baseball by winning

they think so yeah they can yeah because how because the salary cap i mean everybody all the other owners are sour at the dodgers because they're spending so much money and they're making them look bad and they want there to be a cap so that they can spend under it and like just like they did with the nchel so that every team looks exactly the same and everybody's parody and blah blah blah meanwhile major league baseball has had the most different champions in the last while than any other sport. We got to change it because the Colorado Rockies owner who's a billionaire is like, I don't want to spend with them.

The Jays can beat the Dodgers and be like, oh, this super team, blah, blah, blah. Now they lost to a non-super team, so it can happen. So we don't need a cap. Get Sammy McKee in the negotiation. Yeah, give you in there. It's over in five minutes. Done deal. You'd be like looking at the J's capture

salary sheet and they go, wait a sec. Wait a second. They also spend. Wait, hold on. They're fourth. That's so funny about this. Yeah. It's like they're not, like David and Goliath, yeah, like all that stuff is we're not the pirates. You know. Like they spend, baby.

They spend. And they will spend more. Listen, that's the really, really exciting thing and cannot look past Friday night. But you think about win or lose this series, looking down the road, this team has made a lot of money and they've put money that they've made back into this team. Hard to believe they're not going to do the same next season. Yeah. And, you know, for free agents, looking for a place to go, it's, you say, you got a serious chance to win.

Pretty exciting place to play in the playoffs, too. Dome. Who, boy. Shout out, Jays fans. The Dome, the last three games. Unreal. Has been sold out. 40,000 plus.

Amazing. At 15 bucks a pop, just there, eating popcorn and cheering together, just to be together. Crush and beers, love and live. And, I mean, there are people in there the entire game. Yes. On Tuesday. I was thinking that, I was like, God, they're at a game. Monday, something at night on a, you know, week night.

just because it's 15 bucks yeah great the thing is 15 000 you pay me 15 bucks I'm not going uh I would give you the atmosphere of being like something being a part of something memorable totally totally not trying to discount no I will say I will say I am very tired but that I've loved that I'm very tired a communal you walk in here it's worse than everyone's because everyone's up watching your emotional roller coaster. I know, man. I know. I couldn't be you. I'd be like, I'm done. But could you?

I'd need a vacation if I was you. I don't take vacations unless it's the summer. Or I go to Hawaii when I lose a jersey. You don't, were you able to go to sleep right after the game last night? Yeah. Oh, you? I was, first of all. I'd be honest. I stay up and watch some of the after.

You got to have a sense that the game was over, right? In 7th and 8th. But that's, see, that's such a difference between a real just cruise into like the emotions nothing's on the line it was like you know the last couple games you could send a guy to third so he doesn't steal your signals it's like do whatever you want do you walk a guy no problem do you want something really pathetic game four when uh louis varland put the first two batters on second and third right nobody out i'm taking lewdog for a walk

put my phone on the couch and took my dog for a walk around the block last night. I'm like, well, did it last night. Blue dog around the block for the bottom of the, or the bottom of the night. I'm a mess. I can't handle this stuff. Like I'm actually looking forward to it being over.

Because it's such an emotional tone. I don't understand that whole philosophy of like Sam's going to change it whether he walks his dog. Yeah. It's absurd. It's so remarkable narcissism to it, eh? It is so probably. all senders on me that you think that you have some sort of energy to

dictate the outcome i got another one for it i got another one for if you want it but me and my boy jd we watched the bat flip at a certain establishment in the city of toronto and before every game that we've gone to together and not together we go to the elephant and castle and we have a beer and we go and we rub the same table that we were sitting at when it happened every time i i hear that i tell you you shouldn't be on a show no jd should not have a show no you should be on meds something something you know doctors should be wearing white coats around you guys we're a little bit stitious okay not super i would say we're sort of stitious i think the combined energy of the people like yourself is a positive force in the end i just really

people care just really really hope they went on Friday night that's what I'm hoping for okay yes let's take a quick break when we return few few storylines around the league maybe we'll get into Colorado's big signing today and also Brad Marchand takes a leave of absence from the Florida Panthers but in a good way we'll get into that more also just a shout out to tell Blake Snell to go kick rocks with all of his post game comments

yes if Vladdy's a good hit or the rest of them you know he said they didn't really tell Oh, I didn't catch that. Oh, I'm mad at Blake's now, though. Wow. Beat it. All right. Beat it, nerd.

More on that when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Hey, it's Blake Murphy. And I'm Matt Bonner. Join us weekday mornings at 11 as we break down all things Toronto Raptors. It's the Raptor show on Sportsnet 590, the fan. And wherever you get your podcasts. As I was saying, a reminder, this hour of Real Kippur and Bourne brought to by Bet

365 Nick Kippreel's Justin Born Sammy McKee Martin Nakesh close to the 12 million we believe that would have gotten Brantin and Dunn many seems like many

moons ago but they chose to trade for him Martin Nakesh who signed it now Natchis Natchis 11.5 over eight years, a very lengthy contract. So are they better off with

Nakesh at 11.5? What is, what are they saying? Nais. Chess. Natchis. Natchis. Not Nacash. I always thought it was Nacash. It's Natchez. Sure did.

Oh, I know. You and Lodge just having a butcher off his name. Anyway. Well, maybe if he went to us down like a final, I'd learn it. Maybe he had some playoff points. This is like my favorite thing is like if he's important to enough, we'll be forced to learn it. He clearly thinks that they can win.

He stays. Ultimately, good contract. You like him. He's a talented player. He's a talented player. He can skate with Nathan McKinnon. He's 26 years old. Yeah, like this is what guys like that cost.

I guess the counter to this would be what, that you don't believe that he can do it in the playoffs? No. Well, he's unproven to be a big game. game player like Rantaninan was you chose not to go with Rantan at 12 million which ultimately he signed in Dallas like it was nothing yeah and he could have gone and you know Martin might have been in the similar situation where he would have been the prize July 1st I think he could have got over 12 on the open market he stays at 11 and a half for Colorado is that a win that

they get him at 11 and a half and they avoid Rantanin at 12 well it to me it's kind of like you tried to buy the house that was Miko Rantinan in 2019, and then, you know, you weren't able to get the house. And so you had to buy NACIS in 2021. And you got a lot less house for the same money. I see as someone who bought their first house somewhere in that window. Sounds like you may be speaking of experience. But so, you know, it just feels like the price went up. You know, unfortunately, it's not apples to oranges. They didn't. No one offered them, would you like, rantan in at 12 or Natchez at 11 and a half? And they, you know, unfortunately, it's not. chose natures at 11 and a half they didn't want to do rantin in the 12 and then got stuck and said

oh boy we need somewhere to live so you know we both follow uh domlish isn't from the from the athletic who does like the great like you know the projections for these contracts and all these contract have been signed recently and like most of them feel like value signs that like they're going to out you know out produce the the contract as it goes on this is the first one for in a while that's like yeah maybe sure like he had it as like a as a te as a te as a te as a 10 and a half million dollar player. He signs for 11 and a minute. If he's going to be playing with McKinnon.

He's going to look good. He's probably going to light it up. But the second that kind of goes away. Natchez is guaranteed to play with two of maybe five of the best players in the world. It's a fabulous line. And you're not. Those two guys, Lekhinen, McKinnon, and Natchez is a fabulous hockey line. What are you supposed to do?

What are you supposed to do? But he's got McCar and he's got McKinnon. That's what he has. And I think you're probably. leaning towards the idea that like let's say you stuck natius on i don't know who you who you don't you like right now columbus or the leaps the leaps okay you put him on the leaves could he is he a driver is he going to drive a line on his own i think people aren't sure about that but he's a guy who can play with great players and when you're trying to put together a cup champion i think he's in

a fine spot we'll see we'll see how that pays out but i like his age too 26 is good all right we mentioned at the break brad marshand no longer with the florida Panthers as temporary as it is it's all in helping a friend so uh this is just from the sports net website the story on there that the Florida Panthers uh forward took a leave of absence from the team this week to head back to his hometown of Halifax uh and coach for his long time trainer jp mccallum which is the most Nova Scotia name uh possible mccallum's daughter ceila tragically passed away just 10 years old from cancer so uh macallum is the head coach for the the March and Mill Company Hunters of Nova Scotia,

a under 18 league hockey league team. Arshan's outdoor apparel company sponsors the youth's hockey team, volunteer behind the bench on Wednesday to allow him a Calum to be with his family. And do we want a clip? Yeah. I think I put that clip in there. Yeah, okay. I should give the shout out to play the clip and then I'll give the shout out to it after.

Okay, first of all, Brad, thank you for doing this. I appreciate your time. How does it feel to be here back in Nova Scotia to be able to support your long longtime friend J.P. during this difficult time. It's tough because, you know, we're, the only reason I'm back here is because something extremely tragic has happened and a beautiful life has been lost. But, you know, my bond with J.P. goes back many years. You know, we have a group of guys that are all here this evening and we grew up together.

And, you know, our lives have, have been, you know, across from many, many years. And there's no place that I'd be, you know, other than here right now with JAPS. So, you know, obviously I'm here to support him and his family. And I think this is something that, you know, this night here, CELA would have absolutely loved. And, you know, that's why we're doing it. You know, she loved all of us. We all had great relationships with her. And she loved being part of this organization and team with her dad.

You know, and she'd be very proud that we were all here supporting her tonight and supporting her dad. So it would be a special memory for us. First, the commercial with the teddy bear and now this. It's really hard to hate this guy. I mean, this is, you know, you talk about hockey sort of the way the family orientation of hockey and how, like, hockey is a community. And, like, this is just such a quintessentially beautiful hockey thing that just,

I don't know. He's such a stud. God, I just wish I could use. even come close to hating him anymore. There's a running gag and family guys at like the badass male clerk with the heart of gold. It's like, you know, and it's like that's what Harshand is where you're like, everyone's like, stay away from that guy, he'll slice you. And it's like, no, he's actually a really sweet guy and donates his time.

You know, he's like, that's, I think this is all part of the, the master plan for him for the next few years is that. I thought you're going to be like the next prime minister. I thought that was the master plan. No, no, just that, you know, there's a number somewhere out there for him, 60 games, 65. and, you know, there's times when you need to take a weekend off or a week for whatever reasons, family, friends, whatever. We're cool with that.

And I just wanted to give a shout out. High button sports is where that interview came from. I think they're based at Halifax or Dartmouth, one or the other. But I just want to give them a shout out because that's who interviewed Brad Marshand yesterday. All right, very cool. I mean, good, just, that's just a beautiful story. It is.

It's a horrible tragedy and you feel awful for JP, but just, I mean, that's, that's, oh, look at this. We got him on the bench. I mean, that, what a thrill for those kids. What a thrill. Thoughts with that family. That's terrible. Terrible.

We continue to go around the league here. We wrap up the NHL hour. Zach Hyman out Saturday. We'll miss another week. The coach says, here's a quote from Knoblock where he says, he looks ready. I want to put him in. The medical staff is holding him back.

I love that. Derek, Derek, can we get it, beep, right up over the medical staff. Don't have. underestimate the pressure on some of these coaches to get guys in. But can I tell you something here? So the culture has changed now where it's not the coach who decides when you're ready or the player who decides, it's the medical staff who decides when guys are ready.

I don't know. I don't know about that because we've had a real good example of that the last few days with the Toronto Maple Leafs. And we'll get into this in our Leaf Hour edition here. but Willie Nealander played two nights ago and he can't play last night. With my time with the Leafs, that was like a big thing, was that the coaching staff didn't know when a guy was available. Can we have him today? Can we use him?

You weren't even allowed to talk to the guy about it. Well, Freddie Anderson, is she on the ice? Right. Because, you know, they would feel like it's pressuring the player. The medical staff had to approve a guy. But my argument, not even argument, but my thought on this is like, if you're the medical staff and a guy is, You get no reward by sending a guy back early and he gets whatever.

Like there's no reward. If you hold a guy for an extra week, you're safe. You're only worried about the worst thing that can happen. You send a guy back early. So they hold guys. It reminds me of the Mike Tyson line that all is good and dandy until you get punched in the nose. So you give me the example of the Leafs building this foundation of doctors and scientists and sleep guys. and everything's good on the way up

as we look at the big picture. But now you look at the starts in Edmonton and Toronto and it's like, you know, I'm not saying they're desperate, but like you get off to a bad start in these markets. Yeah, we're going to go ahead and use that guy next. There's a ton of pressure to go, hey, get your ass in there.

Well, I mean, he's not a doctor. He's a coach. He's like, he skates and shoots well at practice. That looks like a hockey player. I would like him on my top line again. Yeah. Heart and soul guy. Go, go lose three games or four games in a row

and tell me that you value the doctor's opinion as much. He just needs another kale smoothie, Chris. He'll be fine. Okay, we'll get more into that on our Leaf Hour edition. Our thanks to Brian Lawton, covering the National Hockey League. Sammy gets an off day from the Blue Jays. He says he's going to be in bed by 9.30.

I call. I call. No. You think? I believe you. You think you can fall asleep at 9.30 after everything you've been through. Friday night. More of the real Kipprin-Born show next.