Real Kyper & Bourne - Treliving Speaks & Coaching Canada with Jon Cooper

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee discuss the Canucks hanging on to Dakota Joshua and Teddy Blueger, their cap-saving trade with Chicago and what those moves say about their interest in Guentzel. They review Leafs' GM Brad Treliving's draft presser - his uncertain stance on Marner and how he approaches the team's pending free agents. Then, a chat about the goalie market and how confident they are in Joseph Woll as the Leafs' uncontested no. 1 netminder. Lightning & Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper (28:37) shares his thoughts on his state rival raising the Stanley Cup, how he balances his different coaching duties and his part in the selection process for Canada's roster.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.

all right once again it's the fastest hour in hockey the real kipper and born show i'm nick kiprios justin born sammy mckee derrick brandeo and jake the snake schultz for the next hour wherever you're watching and listening on 590 The Fan Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver Sportsnet 960 in Calgary and Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet Plus thanks for being on board

tons to get into storylines far removed from our Stanley Cup Final it feels like the Stanley Cup final was like a million years ago because there's just constant news coming in now moving forward. I've never seen a book close faster. It's like, yep, in Florida won.

Book closed. Preseason. Enjoy it down there. The fans felt the same way. The fan did? When you're setting the cup back up, make sure you get the sand out of the yeah the shoes yeah make sure you let the particles off the bottom of the uh from the atlantic ocean there and off we go

make sure you let them cross the street yeah and then away we go the learning lesson yeah this hour real kipper and born is brought to you by bet three six five on on top of that, must see TV tonight. Oh, yeah. Presidential election. No, no, no, no. The NHL Awards. Oh, right, right, right. I know what I'll be watching.

Sportsnet. Yes, the long-awaited NHL awards show is on tonight. Will Conor stay in the dressing room for this award too? Hey, now. Please tell me he didn't go. I hope not. I don't know. I hope they didn't drag his ass over there.

Let the guy go home. I got a question. Can the league pay these guys above and beyond their team to make appearances? Like, can the league say, I know you don't want to be here. No. We'll give you a hundred grand. No. no no but don't you think it would be worth it to have these guys in the building kind of think the players of course you know coming off that last lockout and then the build up the last 20 years it's like boys you want to get your salaries up

start working your asses off and start promoting and i think for the most part they've done a really good job every time we see colby on a couch you know at the beginning of the season with like with guys and you're like dry sidle yeah it's said you know they're trying hard they're not doing it because they love colby like we love colby it's because we do love they think they're they're growing the game you're right no they they're they're doing their best they're putting themselves out there and at times it's kind of cringe tv i gotta be honest with you it's it's like guys you're just trying too hard well you guys know me fairly well by now.

Like, to do what Colby does, I would rather die. I would rather let you both punch me on camera once and call it a segment than have to do those interviews. It's a hard interview, you know, to like, guys, you don't want to be there. And listen, I experienced it when I came out of hockey and got right into Sportsnet. We were a new station as well.

And I did some kind of those goofy things just to kind of grab some attention and stuff. You got to do it. I know. But Colby's got a window to do that. I crush an energy drink and away we go. You don't want to see a 45 or 50-year-old Colby on a couch with, you know, a 22-year-old. So there's a small window I don't know people seem to want to

no no no nobody wants to see 50 and 60 year old men on a couch you know goofing around I don't know there's a small window back on the rails here thank you they've done a heck of a job these players beyond

the call of duty to grow the game but they got to stop squeezing every last drop out of them oh yeah oh they got an nhl mcdavid they got to go to vegas and drink and get awards that sounds horrible no no no he needs rest oh but mcdavid's not gonna go there's no chance he's there is he there i don't know i don't know call david amber find out if he's there i don't think we can do that we can get those answers yeah okay where do you want to go sammy like you've had this maple leaf withdrawal i see a lot of uh clips uh kippers clippers of brad tree living because he addressed the media yesterday you want to start there do we Do we talk about Vancouver opening up room?

McKay of going to Chicago. I love that for Chicago, by the way. They open up room. All of a sudden we see meat and potato guys like Dakota Joshua signed $13 million. So there's room for him. That's a rare middle class contract. We almost never see middle class deals. Maybe we talk a little bit about that before we just go straight into the leash. Because that's the rare middle class contract we almost never see middle uh see middle class deals

maybe we talk a little bit about that before we just go straight into the least but because that's of course the news of the day listen he had a hell of a year he became he's only 28 he he gave them some serious identity yeah and you know talk it loves having them and said to rutherford and alvin said i need this guy here so you okay need a bit more of that. You okay with 13? It's a little pricey. I am okay with it. The only thing that stands out to me is like, it changes expectations.

And I think of like Alex Kerfoot or even Yarncroft to a lesser extent, but Kerfoot here in Toronto, what does a middle-class player look like? What do you get for that money? Your expectations can't be that he's a $6 million guy. He's just a well-play played worker on the third line here and i hope that this doesn't raise the bar where people are immediately disappointed when he's not a i don't know 25 goal guy or whatever i thought it was a lot yeah for sure again it's like he's been he was good this year in a contract here and i mean

we've seen that a million times yeah and he was really good for them in the playoffs so there's a lot of that recency bias or remember him being very good in some big games and he's a bruiser or whatever but like it's not gonna kill you that contract but i did think it was a little rich no 20 years old six two if he's coming into his own and this is what you're gonna get the next four years. It is pricey, but it's worth it. He had 18 this year. Scored 18 times. And he's a physical presence, and we know what that means.

Like the player, I really do. I'm just saying. Yeah, yeah, I get it. But I do feel like if he's available as a UFA, he's exactly the type of guy the teams go, that's exactly who we need. A big third-line guy who scores scores 20 he would have got paid so teddy uh bluger also a two-year deal at 3.6 but everybody's wondering in vegas if this is opening it up for jake genzel lugar got 3.6 over two years over two years oh okay yeah i thought it was 1.8 okay yeah. Bad math on my part. Yeah. So what do you think that means for Vegas?

For Vancouver? Sorry, Vancouver, yeah. I said a couple of days ago, I think at this point, and I don't know who else is coming in, someone mentioned Dallas may take a run at Gensel, but I think he's probably sitting on Carolina on a last-ditch offer by Tom Dundon. I think if they come up with the right numbers,

I think there's a very good possibility that they could sign him. But where's that owner who's notoriously been alligator arms? They don't quite reach the market. But I think you can sell an alligator-armed owner on the idea that you need playoff gates, right? We need those extra games. Extra games. And this guy's going to help you get a couple.

And you've got to justify the assets that you gave up to get him in the first place. Yeah. Wow. No first-round pick. He's 29 years old. No question Vancouver. uh no first rounder that's true would love him no first rounder there's a mythical first rounder they announced it as a first rounder with conditions just of note too in about 20 minutes we're going to welcome in the head coach of team canada at the Four Nations face-off. And the Olympics.

John Cooper. Yes, very excited about that. Did want to stay with Vancouver for the McKay of Lafferty thing. Sure. Which I think for Chicago, I am so critical of them for not having players, like NHL players. You get a couple guys. You got tons of cap space and you get a couple of guys. And good for Vancouver again, you know, with the space opening up.

Yeah. So, I like this deal from both sides. Just enjoy missing the playoffs after experiencing them. For Chicago. Or McKay, Evan, Lafferty. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they're. And I think I saw somewhere that he had a choice between San Jose and Chicago.

And McKay chose Chicago. Because he had the no trade clause so i would have two yeah i would have three yeah i just i like the city and the location hockey city and bedard and there's some hope for upside pressure to come faster you can see it turning there yeah before san jose i think so no question all right leaves can we do the least i we just we talked about marner at length here in this show and we had talked about the general manager it's not addressing it and he came out yesterday he's got nowhere to go and he addressed he got cornered at the draft i was like why is tree living speaking

yeah because he's at the draft no it's because kip won't stop talking about this it's all you buddy you did it let's let's I haven't said a word about this. Not a word. You've let other people say words on this very show. We had Frank say some words. Yeah. Let's listen to the general manager of the Toronto Police. The first clip on Mitch

Marner. Please, Derek. I'm not going to speculate on everything. I think it's real clear. I want to make it real clear. Mitch is a star. Mitch is a superstar in the league. He's been that since he's entered the league. He's been that ever since he put on a Maple Leaf jersey. We said it at the end of the year that we weren't happy how the year ended. That's not Mitch. Let's not focus it on Mitch.

As an organization, as as a team we felt we should have gone further than we did so when that happens you have to look at everything okay like who's not clear if mitch isn't a super a star superstar the guy's like one of the top producing guys yeah a handful of producing players in the league. So why does he make that clear? He needs to say it, right? Because you, literally you, multiple times has said like, he hasn't come out and said anything. And then he did come out and said anything.

He's like, why do you have to say he's a star? It's like, what do you want him to say, Kippy? That's the question I have for you. What do you want him to say? I'm not saying, you know what I wanted him to say right from the get-go? Yeah. That he is a great player. If we can, we'll sign him like we wanted to sign Matthews and Nylander.

And if we can't, then we'll. But we love him. We love him. Even if it's not true, you need to come out and you need to protect that asset as much as you can. And I just think if it was me in Tree Living's situation, I would have come out right out of the gate. And I think it would have kind of curtailed a little bit of this narrative of people trying to run them completely out of town it would have for mitch but i think it had been bad for tree because i think that last year when those guys were you know didn't deliver and then there was the you know after dubas it was shanahan immediately

protected these guys and told them they're all safe and all coming back whatever people were a little up in arms that that was how it shook out i think if tree after another bad performance came out and said we want him back i think people would have been on tree living so i think part of that was deflecting selfishly though i think brad's number one priority was to protect a great asset which he is he's a hundred point guy and he's a tremendous asset. And by coming out and not coming remotely close to the attitude that you had for re-signing Matthews and Nylander kind of exposed him a little bit because by not saying something, you're also sending a strong message that this is the guy that uh needs to go and i think i agree i think the media and i think social media as well have fed off of that well that it was just a

foregone conclusion because you're not saying that you're interested in resigning him means you're pushing him right out the door would you like to hear the second clip where he addresses that yes marner clip two uh clip two from marner living for their there good too yeah maybe not no i try to have a real open dialogue with my players all the time now what i can't do is every time that there's, you know, and nothing personal against your guys' side of the business, but sometimes there's reports out there and there's rumors, especially this time of year. I get it.

It's people that's news, right? I'd caution us to pay too much attention to some of the noise. We can't react to all the noise, right? Like that's just, you just, you can't. Other than Mitch knows what i feel you know about him as a player and uh you know in this line of work that we're in the great thing about playing in the market that we're in is the passion that people have and when things don't go the way we all want them to go you see the passion right and you just got to stay steady

at the wheel and and um you know, so we communicate that. But, you know, you can't control all the outside noises sometimes. You can't control, you know, what rumors are out there. And you can't just react to them, right? He knows sort of where I'm at and my feelings about him. Like I said, we were all disappointed at the end of the season, right? But that doesn't go on one person's shoulders or two people's shoulders that's our team um didn't achieve what we wanted

to achieve we moved back moved by that and now we we we look forward but mitch is a star you know this guy's uh like i said there's very few players that come into the league and do what he did from day one and uh special player uh and people talk and the rumors the real kipper and born show yesterday we're listening i uh so is that they were like there was a report that you're really aggressively was that because of frank on our show potentially i mean the timing's good um i think two things are going on here. Part of the reason he hasn't softened it or didn't soften it earlier is because I think that maybe he does want to trade him and want him to wave and want him to feel like it's going to be

a little uncomfortable here. Maybe that was initially some of that vibe. The other thing is Mitch isn't waving. He's just not waving. He's not waving he has all the cards right i mean in terms of he is a there's no move he's going to be a ufa he has a contract like unless someone i see tons of team making or signing mitch to the deal you think he might get but also giving up a first rounder or a top pair defenseman or whatever

i can't see them doing both it's just it's hard my point is i think you should start the year also see a world where they could and again i'm not this is not me suggesting that to your point mitch is waving or signing or anything but is there a world where you see tree living going if i could sign them for like four years at 11 or 11 and a half that's value to me that's a good signing buddy i would do that in a heartbeat okay but you're not gonna be able to do that without giving them a no move clause and you're gonna want to have that forget about for a second forget that's a huge part of it if if if you see value in that then why not come out of the gate saying, listen, if we can sign them, we'd love to sign them.

Yeah. I'm not arguing at all that the best thing to do for the value of the asset was to claim it's going nowhere. Yeah. Right? There's no doubt about that. But I do think that Tree's reputation would have taken a bit of a hit if immediately after they lose they losing round one,

he's like the guys who didn't produce, we need them. You know, I think he was, he said, you can't listen to the noise, but what you're saying is he's listening to the noise. Absolutely.

Saying that, no question, you know, they listen to the noise. They all listen. I, I have been on a coaching staff with Sheldon Keefe and Kyle Dubas, and they had every day,

the news clippings would get printed and put in the coach's office, whether they read them or not, which they often didn't, and Sheldon himself said he got a lot better over his career not reading it. But the early days? Yes. Yeah. And, like, when we're in the dress coach's office

clipping video, talking about it, there's TVs. Like, Sports Central's on. It's all happening. So they can't. Look at Paul Maurice. He was talking about how it's amazing. Sports Central's on. It's all happening. Look at Paul Maurice. 15 minutes. Biggest choke in NHL history about to happen. Maurice left it on the screen for 15. They know what's going on.

I'm in agreement with you that I don't think Mitch Marner's going anywhere anytime soon. And that'll be what it is. And the noise will continue. Either he's got a deal done. The beatings will continue until morale approves. That old line is coming.

Yeah. All right, what else you got for us, Sammy? I guess we're coming up to free agency. Maybe we could talk about the UFAs that are pending for the Leafs. And, you know, most notably Bertuzzi, Domi. You addressed that a little bit. So clip number six, please, Derek. Well, I haven't got anybody signed yet.

They're going, right? It's a little bit as what I talked about earlier, David, is, you know, and we all know the players, right? We've got some players we'd like to retain them. We've got to focus know the players, right? We've got some players we'd like to retain them. We've got to focus on the defense, right? So it's hard. If you want to give yourself as much flexibility in the blue line, every dollar that you spend up top maybe takes away from that.

That's not to say we wouldn't sign a forward. You know, we're just stuck in any negotiation out there yet. So we'll continue that, you know, over the course of the next whatever it is until Monday, I guess, is free agency or Monday, Tuesday, whenever the first is. Certainly some players we'd like to retain. You got X amount of dollars. You got X amount of seats.

It's, you know, you just got to see if the math works. The Leafs cap sheet for the defense is wild. Like Riley, McKay, Benoit, who doesn't like all three of those? We all like all three of those players. The dollars they make, great. After that, it's Connor Timmons, who I just don't think is going to be a Leaf. I could be wrong, but they showed no real interest in him.

Maybe he is. We'll see. Cade Weber is signed, who probably not going to be a Leaf. So then you got Labushkin, Giordano, Edmondson, Brody. Of those four, I don't think any of them are going to be Leafs. I can't disagree. Labushkin, Giordano, Edmondson, Brody.

Oh, Edmondson they want back, but there's a lot of teams that I think would be willing to give them a pay raise. So I don't know where the Leafs are. I'd like him back, too. At three and a half. I like them, too.

Would you pay four for him? Probably not. Yeah, you run into that problem with all UFAs. It's like, yeah, love him at 3.25. Yeah, I like the one he was making this year for the Leafs. And then Lilligren is the one I didn't mention who's an RFA. And Arbright's, if I'm not mistaken. Does he have Arbrights?

We have a clip on that. Would you like to hear it? You're such a good answer. All right, clip seven, please, Gary. Lilligren and Robertson. Yeah, you know, nothing really to report there. Similar as we talked about with our UFAs. You know, that's the difference between the two is Lily's got ARB rights. So sometimes, again, just as we all know, you look at it,

and the qualifying offer is one thing. What the ARB case could be is another. So, you know, we've been in touch with his camp to see if there's a number that can work. But that's certainly a consideration, right? Having, you know, the higher the number is, is that you know you got to see how that fits into the puzzle as well so where we are is is ongoing talks um uh with their representatives yeah lilligren is 25 right shot d what do you think he's asking for he's worth he's gonna get

i i don't want to spend much more than three million on him you give him three a year i feel like that's really high personally what do you make this year 1.4 yeah that depends on his comparables and his minutes. Yeah. Getting scratched in playoffs for the third straight year is not great as a comparable goes. I think he's the type of guy that thinks, I've got to get out of here. I need a fresh change. I think they think that too. Right? I'll drive the Uber.

Listen, he... 55 games this year, 23 points. He saw last year, and forget about how it turned out or the outcome for Justin Hull, but he's thinking. How am I not Justin Hull dollars? Well, yeah, or how am I, like, I just need that opportunity to get out. Well, and then he saw his boy Rasmus get out, and what did they give him in Washington? Four times four and a half?

Yeah. Was it six times four and a half? It was longer than four, I think so. Good Lord. And it really sounds like Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi will see Monday unrestricted free agency. The Leafs are not happy with the term and the money that they've asked for.

Really? Yeah. On both? On both. This may be the year, you you know in an effort to differentiate themselves from the dubious era of management that they just dig in on players and say we're not doing it and yeah they i do think that it's not the worst thing to just maintain some cap space and not overpay ufa and figure out as the season goes on, you know, are there some distressed assets

who are looking for a new home? Can Kawhi Leonard, you know, come here at some point? Five years, $4.6 million for Rasmus. Five years, $4.6. That is so much. Skinner's out there. I thought it was a foregone conclusion that he was going to get bought out yesterday.

At least that's what people are saying. Most of the reports were, but I guess they were a little inaccurate because the buffalo sabers and kevin adams said no decisions yet on skinner really really like like what are you guys doing still sitting around the campfire going haven't made your decisions yet but that's that's the type of guy that could come in here on a one-year deal for doesn't work. Don't get it. It's just,

it's the same guy they've had, you know, you think, Oh, they've had so many of this. I don't, I don't mind Skinner. I like him too.

I listen, I don't mind him. I don't want to give the impression that I don't like him. I, he's just, it feels like exactly what they've had. Although we don't know, maybe he's the best playoff player in history.

We've never seen it. We will find out.'s bob gainey who knows ryan suiter could he have bought out for a second time from dallas but it's over it's 40 years of age and it was apparent that the speed had caught up to him called me a bender in college once, so I've resented him ever since. Wow. Yeah. So you don't think, so then Domi's not back. Well, I don't know. All I know is they think it's too much money, too much term for him.

Do you have any idea what the number is? Pierre Lebrun floated out $5 million and everybody thinks that the agent told Pierre Lebrun that to put it out there. and everybody thinks that the agent told Pierre Lebrun that to put it out there. For Domi? Well, that's the feeling. Okay.

That that's how that number kind of came to, and the sense is that if it's not that number, it's a lot higher than the Leafs are still comfortable going. And Burt, Burt, not the same agent, is it? I don't know. I don't think so. That's too bad, though. Right?

I really did like Domi's contributions here, and I thought he really improved. Yeah, for sure. And a few people told me that they like DeBrusque, too. They think he's a better skater than Bertuzzi. DeBrusque to the least. Louis DeBrusque. Louis DeBrusque.

Yeah, Jake. And Perron, too. I've seen a lot of talk about as well. Older player, but great veteran presence. Perron I like. Yep. Okay. All right.

Yeah. So I guess we know where we're at. Today in the Toronto Star, I wrote about Joseph Wall basically being the number one goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Wow. With Markstrom gone and Ulmer in Ottawa, the sense is that they're going to look for an experienced backup that can mentor him and be very supportive. You mean the starting goalie for 80% of the year?

The veteran backup? Well, listen, the thinking is if Wall's not ready to step up and get on a roll that could get him to 45 or 50 games, then they've got a Boston Bruins scenario of 1A, 1B. But who's, I mean, like, Brassois or Stolarz? That's a good question. To me, that's terrifying.

That's a good question. Stolarz is, to me, the best. I saw, you know, Wall miss three months of a season because of a flutter puck off the half boards and then disappear in the most important game of the year. Like, it just... Well, that's the gamble. Yeah, it's a big one.

It is. You're gambling again on these guys' primes with lottery tickets in that. If you look around, there's not a lot to choose from, Sam. I know. Well, there was a couple guys, but they didn't get either.

But those ships sailed. It was really bad fortune for the Leafs that it was the Calgary Flames with every asset the Leafs needed. We should go. Right after Treelift, Calgary. We've got to get to Cooper. We can pick this up after Cooper. We've got to go.

And your boy Saros looks like the intention is Nashville to resign him. So then what, him and Askarov are going to have 1A and 1A? I'll ask Askarov. I'd say 22, 23 22 23 yeah and they're not ready they think he could use a year or two wow and they want to bring him along slowly yeah slowly all right okay we're going to take a quick break uh game time on the other side as well as john cooper head coach of the tampa bay lightnings your team, Canada. Back after these words. Teeing up the biggest games of the night.

It's the fan pregame with Ailish Forfar and Justin Cuthbert. Weekdays at 6 p.m. on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. The Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. It's the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. A couple minutes. When, Sammy? We got John Cooper or are we waiting on John?

I think we're waiting. Yeah. All right. We'll have some fun with Coop. Head coach, Team Canada. Love that. Wonder how much he enjoyed watching Florida

win a Stanley Cup. Probably pretty easier when you got two. Yeah, probably. But... Florida can beat them in five? It is their main rival. Oh yeah, for sure. I wonder if he would ever say something like,

guys, I don't care. If it's not us, I don't care. But you kind of have to pretend to be the big guy. We're going to ask him. Right? We are? Oh, yeah. Okay. You got, I think in his mind,

he's got his Team Canada lineup picked out. He's probably going to be seeing a lot of Braden Point over the next couple of years. I would imagine. Braden Point should be involved, yeah? Yeah, probably going to be involved a lot. Wouldn't you think? how much would the head coach get them oh we got him he can answer all the questions all right um i hope we didn't tip our hand on all our tough questions while he's been waiting on us let's welcome in two-time stanley cup champion with the lightning now head

coach of team canada for four nations face off in the the Olympics. How's it going, John Cooper? What's up, boys? Hey, I just ran into David Amber. Where are you? Were you at the gym? Was he doing curls? So, you know, you kind of give the handshake and then you pull it in for like the quick half one-arm man hug.

And I was like, Jesus. He gave you the one-arm man hug, eh? Oh, yeah. But I didn't, like, he, yeah, it felt like he just came from the gym. He's a strong man. So I don't know if you caught any of us. I'm not sure if you caught any of us off the top when we came back. But what was it like for you watching the Florida Panthers win a Stanley Cup?

Is it equivalent to a Leaf fan watching a Montreal Canadian lift a cup? So it's weird. Like in my career, I've thought about when you get knocked out of the playoffs and watching and things like that. So there was a stretch there for a while. We were making it to the conference finals and had some Game 7 heartbreaks, and then I just couldn't watch the finals. It was just really tough to watch until it was time for the cup to be handed out,

and I always made sure I was in front of the TV when the cup got handed out. Just for so many reasons, it's the greatest trophy in sports and it's you know your goal to win that and and it was always motivation for me like I want to be I want that's where I want to be and so I'd always watch that and you know the last you know two years unfortunately we've been knocked out in the first round and I I found myself glued to the TV watching all the games. And so, again, it's motivation for yourself. Now, to watch Florida win, obviously we're in the home state. They're probably our biggest rival.

I think they might say the same thing about us. And so, you know, you want to be the team that, you know, you want to be the guy at the top of the mountain in Florida. And, you know, this year they passed us. But in saying that, you know, you cheer for good people and you're really happy to see, you know, Paul raise a trophy over his head. I think, you know, somebody that's put his time in this league and done everything possible, it was really cool to see him raise the cup.

They were deserving. It was a phenomenal final. You couldn't go wrong with either team winning. When we played Florida, I knew they were going to be a tough out. They have a heck of a team. Bill Zito, the way he's built it, and Bobby Lou, all those guys, you've got to tip your hat to them. They did a hell of a job.

Yeah, they certainly did. I can't help but wonder as a coach, it has to be such a different experience watching these games versus a fan, just seeing it the way that you see it, knowing Florida as you know them. So when they were starting to lose their grip on the Stanley Cup final, you know, they lose one, they lose two, they lose three.

Do you find yourself going like, Paul, you gotta do this, you gotta change this. Are you doing it in your head or is it like you just feel sympathy because, you know, sometimes it just doesn't go your way? Well, they won the Stanley Cup. So they did it. They probably won it the way they probably didn't want it to go the way it did. It made a little nerve-wracking for them, but Edmonton, they were really good.

You've got to give them credit for the adjustments they made. I mean, when you go up 3-0 in a series, I've been in that situation. You know, it was Montreal we played them more recently I guess Florida we were up 3-0 and we closed them out but that game we closed them out to sweep them they dominated us that was a Vassie win

and they're hard games to close out and so I remember a few years before that we played Montreal and we were up 3-0 and then we lost the fourth game then we lost the fifth game, and we're coming home, and Carey Price is playing unbelievable. But you have to – it's a mental mindset. And I think those closeout games, I'm telling you, they are so hard to win.

And the other teams playing a little bit more free, they're playing with some urgency oftentimes especially when the big prizes went to knock a team out you know family are flying in tickets you're doing all these things and you can lose a bit of your mental edge and even you know the the bubble cup when we played Dallas you know We had a chance to close them out. And, God, actually, I think it was Corey Perry that scored in overtime. And we didn't close them out, so now we had to wait another game. And a big thing for me was get off social media, get off doing this.

We still have a prize to win. And we can walk with that prize for the rest of our life. But it's just that mental game. And I think there was probably a time there that Florida was grappling with that. And then in the end, though, it is hard to beat a team four times in a row. And I give Edmonton credit to call their way back in against a phenomenal team. Now all of a sudden it's a one-gamer. But to watch Florida lose four in a row,

that would have been a feat for Edmonton. They did as, I mean, they pushed it right to the end. But it's tough. And I think that's a big thing Paul probably did. And his adjustment was fix the mental side of things for his team. We're talking to John Cooper, two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and now adding Team Canada to his workload.

So between now and September, it's focusing on your training camp and getting ready for that, but also as a head coach for the Four Nations face-off and ultimately the Olympics here. So do you know, Coop, what your workload would be in terms of now balancing your responsibilities as a head coach in the NHL, but also to Team Canada and what that may look like now for you moving forward?

Yeah, it's definitely added a few more hours to the day. There's no doubt about that. It's humbling, the honour. I was so fortunate to be named for 2022. And then when the NHL didn't go, you're just in that situation like, wow, did I miss my window? Am I going to get another chance? And fortunately, Canada gave me that chance.

And it's hard to explain because you grow up and you grow up in Canada and it's just hockey. It's in our blood. You know, it's the fabric of how, you know, we've grown up. And to have that honor to represent your country, you don't take that lightly. And so it's our job and my job to make sure that whatever you do, you work your tail off to no end to put our country in the best situation to succeed. And that's my job.

And it's also my job to do that with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Now, the one thing I do have on my side is we've been with our group in Tampa and have a good feel for them. And who knows what's going to happen moving forward. But fortunately for me, I'm not walking into a brand new NHL job. So I know my landscape. I know what we have to do to push ourselves back to where we want to be. But thank goodness I've been there for a decade now. So that will help this whole situation with uh you know all the planning that has to go on this summer with team canada

john i know in the nhl it doesn't make sense for a gm to provide his coach with players who don't play the way the coach likes to play there has to be some sort of connection between the gm and the coach that to me seems more important in a tournament like this where you're going to put the team together immediately. So, you know, how much say will you have in what players you guys use? Well, I'm definitely going to have some say. And I think there's a management group with Swings and Jim Nell. Like, these are great hockey minds.

They've done it in the NHL. They know this league, you know, for me, do I know all these players? Of course I do, but I'm not watching them on a daily basis with the eyes, you know, the managers are. And so, you know, I'm watching my team and preparing our team and, and, and how those things go, but probably have maybe a little bit of a leg up because I was so involved in you know prepping for 2022 it's amazing how you know the landscape

of the players there's have changed a little bit in not that long a time but as you said there has to be synergy between the coach the managers managers, the assistants, all those things. And just in the small window I've had of recent, everybody's on the same page. I think style of play and all those things come into it. But being from Canada, we're extremely fortunate to have a plethora of some wonderful, fantastic hockey players. But they do.

It's like pieces in a puzzle. And you have to, you know, you've got your framework, and then you have to slowly put those pieces in, and it's our job to do it. One of those players, maybe one here in Toronto, I don't know how much you've paid attention to the news off the ice up here in Toronto, but there's a lot of people here that would gladly drive Mitch Marner to the airport if it meant him being traded.

You had him as a 19-year-old, if I'm not mistaken, at the World Championships. And what you saw back then and what you could potentially see moving forward on Team Canada? Well, it's hard for me in this situation. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but to talk about individual players and things at this outset. I mean, everything's brand new.

Oh, that would be posturing, right? But I'm going to tell you one thing about 2017. So World Championships was a little bit different because some players are asked to go for whatever reason. Somebody's getting married or something's going on and they can't go or they're injured. So there's a bit of a pecking order. And back then, it was all these new kids on the block

where Mitch was one of them, Braden Mitch was one of them Braden Point was one of them Travis Connect Me and so you know at times you're putting a team together saying okay you know maybe these guys will be future Canada guys like in in pro hockey let's bring some of these young guys over for experience and so that was kind of a mindset back then because they were such, you know, young kids. And all they did was by the time that tournament ended, I had those three on the line and they were phenomenal for us. And so, you know, you go in, you don't know the situations that, you know, you think at one point, this is how it's going to be. And then it ends up being completely different. I remember in 2016, I was an assistant on Team North America. Nobody, speaking of another

Leaf, had really seen Austin Matthews play. And so he was like, we didn't even know where to put him in yet because we didn't really have a feel for him. And then by the time that tournament ended, he was a top line player for us and was just phenomenal so it's this is the exciting part of it is trying to put the pieces together uh but all the guys you've mentioned in this in the time i had them and i know that was eight years ago or whatever but they uh they're fabulous hockey players and so uh it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out just a quick note you you will have impact on the players that you want to coach like i mean at the end of the day they don't have

to listen to you but you will get your two cents in right i would hope so like i said it's uh it's just being around you know the managers already it's, it's an exciting time, and they're all just really bright guys, and you just sit in the room and you take in everything they're saying, and you're like, wow, these guys are smart. And so it's great to be around them, but like I said, this will be a team effort. It's not going to be an individual just stepping in and picking a team.

Well, listen, we hope to have you on a few more times between now and the tournament. Thanks for always being a good friend to our show, man. Appreciate it. Yeah, you guys are awesome. And hopefully we'll talk down the road here and time to go over here soon and watch a few awards get handed out. All right.

Thanks, Cooper. Appreciate your time. That is John Cooper, Stanley Cup champion. Good man. He could take our jobs. Yep, he will. How about a podcast with him and Paul Maurice? I don't think they could do it.

I honestly don't. No? It's overkill. It is too much going on there. They need to be separated. I don't know if it would work. There would be too much. That's hilarious.

Who leads? Who follows? They need an actual mediator but hey okay when you those two are on board i would love when you finally need a breath i'll go okay get the a in there to host it yeah volunteer to do that i find this fascinating him talking about just all the inner workings of doing the team canada well being the coach of i think the olympics will be a little bit different because it like shuts down for a lot longer i think than it will for the four nations face off but just having to look at these guys you're battling with every night and then immediately start coaching them over a short little period

of time getting to know their intricacies getting the like it's a hard job man yeah but who would you trust more to do it i agree it is you know coop seems like the guy to like it's a hard job man yeah but who would you trust more to do it i agree it is you know coop seems like the guy to do it so paul marie sir hammer be the only two guys that i would trust your dad's era like edmonton and the islanders they just hated they never talked to each other they never did anything and then they'd end up like together right yeah either not so much an all-star game but even that 70 uh 79 uh canada versus or not canada nhl stars versus russia or something of that magnitude where they just had to come together very quickly yeah yeah dad played on a team on a canada cup team and i don't know the exact year but there it's in

gretzky's autobiography about how it was basically half oilers half islanders and at some point gretzky you know wrote or said that my dad stood up and was like we don't like you guys you don't like us but we you know we need to make it work better than this like we at least need to get through this week sort of thing hilarious yeah so that uh you know but that was a true level of passion it feels like everyone is more temporary now in the nhl you're on a roster for a year or two years all these guys are best buds and follow each other on instagram and you know they're all same agents i actually was gonna ask if we had more time about like their team got ripped apart by the salary cap you know like you

know how would they how long a run could they have been on if they get to keep yanny gordon tyler johnson andre palat and okay forget those names Just get to Stephen Stamkos. Come on. Get to that name. Like, what is going on? I wrote today in my article there in my notes that I didn't use the word insulting offer, but I heard it was pretty close. And he is 100% going July 1st.

100%. If their offer does not improve between now and then, he is going July 1st as a free agent. Wow. I don't know that the dollars are going to be out there for Stephen Stamkos that he thinks are going to be out there. Okay. You know what?

Do we need game time? Just quickly. We got time. What do you want to say? No, no. What do you want to say? I'm starting to hear, too, that, you need game time? Well, just quickly. We got time. Go. What do you want to say? No, no. What do you want to say? I'm starting to hear, too, that, you know, there are certain guys in the 34-35 that could still end up with seven

or eight-year deals. What are you talking about? Like 34, 35 years old. Like, you're talking about Chris Tanev. I'm talking about Stamkos, too. That there might be a situation where they're willing to give them seven or eight years knowing that they'll only take four or five but didn't they do something about this and then i don't think you can't like stanco is actually under the 35 age where it becomes it's on your cap

regardless so that's something and and tan of would fall underneath that? Yep. He's 34 as well, I think. Interesting. But if they go on long-term, you get to bury it. They just got to be hurt. But they are hurt. No, I know. They're all hurt. They're all hurt.

You're hurt. I'm hurt. Everyone's hurt. But everybody's got wear and tear that could get them to the long-term IR. I could go in a doctor's office today and him be like, these knees are no good. You cannot play hockey ever again. For sure. long-term ir i can go in a doctor's office today and him be like these knees are no good you cannot play hockey ever again so for sure so why not give them extra years knowing that you'll you'll write them off shady business uh like it it's game time presented by bet 365 visit the app

for latest odds to find out why it's ever ordinary at bet 365 it's 19 plus ontario only please play responsibly now um i'm'm doing this just to give a promo for the show that's coming up after us. The Toronto Blue Jays are home tonight to the New York Yankees. They are pretty formidable underdogs, plus 115, minus 135 of the money line for the New York Yankees.

The reason I bring this up is because Blair and Barker are coming on after us, have the general manager, Ross Atkins, at 415. What a get. So, a lot of pressure for old blair and barker ask the right question there's a lot of pressure for ross oh yeah i gotta tell you one of the highlights of my day is when we interact with that show yesterday kip asked barker a question about fielding a pop-up at first he's in here running out the steps and

the movements you gotta make. We only have about a minute and a half, two minutes of a transition between our hockey show and their baseball show. In 30 seconds, Burks is giving me something new I learned. I know. About baseball. So just to say

that the show coming in after us has the general manager of the Blue Jays very under fire. He's coming on to talk to these guys today at 415. So make sure you stick with SportsFM by running the fan, find Blair and Barker podcast. So just want to bring that up. And that was game time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. It's the 19 plus Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. So in saying that, like, could you, in theory, give give stamp coast uh three million a year for seven years the nick paul contract the exact i'm just saying if he wants to get to 20 million or 24 yeah i can't get you there in three years but i can get you there in seven years yeah it's pretty insane right like right that's pretty insane because he's probably closer to a seven mil over three years type of guy he just scored what he got 35 last year i don't even know what the number is so i mean who knows how this ends up but call the tire guy boys now all of a sudden you hear stamp coast with detroit and stamp coast uh linked to vegas nashville is the third favorite on bat 365 for

landing him eight-1. Nashville, so you know how I'm all about Chicago getting NHL players? Nashville needs some talent. They need some, like I looked at that roster last year, and they were a very good team, but they need some guys like that. Some San Francisco type guys. All right, there's a guy who can make an elite play for us. I can picture him in that jersey, too.

You can, too. Yeah. That would be a big hit to that organization, losing their face. Big coast yeah i think so for me he's in the like part of the one and once he's gone he's above vinny he's above yeah san luis he's above a lot of them he is he sits at the top of the mountain there. He's one guy that should retire there. You'd think he'd be a one-team guy. He just seems like it. He's got two cups.

Two and a half minutes in their first cup of playoffs. Scored a goal. Amazing. That's amazing. Nothing surprising about Ken Holland expiring contract. This is Jeff Jackson's team, guys. This is not. Did Ken Holland hire Jeff Jackson?

No. No. So, Cates hires Jackson andson decides we've seen enough of ken holland or just mutual yeah i i think once jeff jeff came in it was apparent that you know he's either gonna make all the decisions with somebody else but it's just not gonna be ken hey um boy, Julien, on the bench again with an NHL team. We lost another one, boys. Did we get him that, John?

We lost another one. Are you not getting a cut? No. I think Sam McKee could get a cut. He might. I texted him today. He said, thanks, thumbs up.

Let's go. Here we go, boys. All right. Thanks to John Cooper for joining us. Enjoy your NHL awards show. We're back tomorrow after the show. We're back after the rails Friday. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, for joining us. Enjoy your NHL Awards show. We're back tomorrow, Off the Rails Friday. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne.

Sammy McKee. Have a great night, everybody.