Real Kyper & Bourne - Valentine's Day Off

Episode Date: February 14, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee celebrate Valentine's day by reliving Kyper and Sammy's date night at the Leafs Gala yesterday, sharing some interesting stories from the events. Justin reveals his newly released book 'Down and Back,' and goes over the writing process. They are joined by Michael Futa (22:09) who give his take on the deadline from an executive's POV, contracts the Leafs need to consider before making a big deal and which players they should target. The Daily Faceoff's Mike McKenna joins the show (42:25) to discuss the Leafs' netminding situation; Matt Murray's improved season still not enough, if Joseph Woll could be the backup come playoffs and if the team should be looking for goalies at the deadline. Later, Ian Mendes, Senators reporter for The Athletic, breaks down the looming sale of the team, the Ryan Reynolds aspect and Ottawa's chances of cracking the playoff picture (1:09:07).The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

This is real Kipper and born on Sportsnet 590, the van. Army crawling closer to a Toronto Maple Leaf hockey game. See what you did there? No. Oh, no jokes intended on the talk it practice. Do you see the Canucks doing that? Yes, I did. Okay.

All right. I did. Okay, all right. I did. It is just a foregone conclusion that once you become a new coach, the team that you're inheriting is out of shape. That is such a go-to, isn't it? Well, first thing I'm going to do is whip these boys into shape. I've had it too easy. Who was the head coach before this that left me this crap? Now, in fairness,

Bruce Boudreau, maybe not the hardest driver of the boys at times, so maybe there was something to it. Well, not till tomorrow night do we get to see the Toronto Maple Leafs

back in action. Still, there's a residual off that stink Saturday night against Columbus. We got a ton to get into, so we'll continue to tap dance around the Toronto Maple Leafs until we get another

hockey game. Has anything happened in a month for this team? No, not really. Get some hockey going, man. The tap dance. Plenty to get into. A terrific show coming up. We've got Mike Fuda.

There it is. Former nhl executive who's just uh i don't know maybe three or four months ago it's like he's been shot out of a broadcasting cannon i know we should really have him in studio the man cannot live too far from here does he i i totally agree but we'll get his thoughts as a former executive maybe one day soon again but in the meantime we'll pick his brain around this time of year because it is an interesting time closing in on two weeks before the trade deadline a lot of uh a lot of articles especially when it comes to the insiders the consistent push on the what-ifs and the hypotheticals and is there a sense that like the hype does not match the reality i think that's pretty typical of any market here in toronto the the sheer volume of hype you know it's not like any one person says anything all that inflammatory it It's death by a thousand cuts.

Everyone has something to say. Well, we got Mike McKenna as well that'll join us a little after 40 minutes from now. Terrific job on Daily Faceoff. Does a great job with the goaltenders. We'll get a feel for him. And where,

as far as the Toronto Maple Leafs are concerned, where's Joseph Wall in all of this with under 30 games to go? I don't know. You have a thought on that? Well, I don't, to be honest with you. Me either. I know what you mean. I'm kind of baffled on where the Toronto Maple Leafs stand on

who's second in command here? Are they going to thrust Matt Murray in there? And that's if he can get healthy. If not, do you go as early as the weekend back to Joseph Wall? It's just going on so long with Murray. Like the tweak and, you know, you run out of hockey at some point and you just can't trust him. Ian Mendez will join us in the second hour,

senior writer for The Athletic. He's based in Ottawa. Of course, lots of talk. I think Bruce Garriott came out with an article that linked Ryan Reynolds to a development group, Remington, if I'm not mistaken. And what does that do to the perception out there uh does a ryan reynolds uh whoever ryan reynolds uh aligns himself with automatically become the favorite

here i you know i think so i mean i'm excited to have men dot mendes for that reason but betman has outwardly stated we would like to have ryan involved i got my thoughts on that i'll save it later on in the show i can't wait you better not say anything other than pro ryan reynolds or the world will come for you we've got uh alex ovechkin news as he's heading back to russia what does that mean to the washington capitals some rumblings about pat kane out there as we talked earlier vancouver laid an egg the other night oh boy detroit red wings beat him up 6-1 uh calgary flames with a uh horrible overtime loss to ottawa so there's there's plenty to get into but before we go into all of that, happy Valentine's Day. Thanks, Kipper.

Did you get me a card? I did not. Me either, sorry. I think I officially quit doing that in grade five. Did you get your wife a card, a flower, anything? Every day is Valentine's Day. Married to Nick Caprio? Yeah. I gave her an amazing shout out today with Justin and Ailish on the morning show.

Did you? Okay. I did. I told her I love her very much. That's very nice. How about you? Are you a mushy guy? We don't acknowledge holidays, period, really.

Honestly, we don't. Is that because you forget well sometimes but also like if you want a gift at this in june or something go ahead and just why am i forcing it now we we have an understanding all right do flowers let's bring in the the rest of the uh romantic uh uh members of the real kipper and born show uh derek brande Jen Rolnick, and the most romantic of them all, Sammy McKee. He did get his fiance a card. Sounding better today, boys, or worse? Oh, better.

Much better. Better? Okay, good, good, good. Powering through. Yeah, I am a romantic guy, and I would love to give my wife a shout out for doing that today. Yep, go for it. I love Allie very much, and I'm really happy she married me. Yeah, that's really wonderful.

He has a nice card in his bag that I saw which is very touching. I'll get the flowers. We're going for dinner. I have not, I have not met Allie yet.

No. But clearly, Allie, if you're listening, Sammy overachieved. Yes. Absolutely. Outkicked the coverage.

Punching way above his weight class. No doubt. So there's also something that happened today. I don't know if you heard or not. Mr. Carwash himself, Justin Bourne, his book came out today. Yes. Hey!

Aligned with February 14th, Valentine's Day, you officially launched your book down and back. We have a close- up of it right now. Nice work, Jen. Got the full shot there. Terrific. Congratulations. And just must be a great feeling. As someone that has been through it,

it is a wonderful feeling. But let's get your thoughts on it. Yeah, it's a lot of build up and work, isn't it? Like to get to the actual day when it comes out. I will say that when um i talked to penguin initially about doing the book i guess i didn't understand that they were going to treat me like a real author and like to see it in indigo at the eaton center on the shelves by like prince harry's book and oprah's book yes you know sorry michelle obama and you know everyone else has a

book right now it's like they're treating me like a real author and it's an absolute mind-blowing feeling i'm very proud one of those things that like it's not like i just won a championships the championship here but i do want to say it takes a team you know like my wife watched our kids every sunday for like i don't know five months so i could go find time and write um you know my my family to, the family support was there to make it possible. So I'm proud for a lot of people who helped. And I, the way I look at that book is that even if it doesn't sell, whatever, it will have been a success for me. A, it's an accomplishment to do it, but you know, I've reached, I've talked to so many people who have been affected by alcoholism since and deal with those struggles and deal with alcoholism in their family, maybe their parents or maybe, you know, children in some cases.

So that's been a win. And, you know, we're raising money for Renaissance Foundation, you know, where I went to rehab. Like a lot of good things are going to come from it, even if it's not a bestseller, though. Fingers crossed. No, it'll be terrific. And it's something that everyone can relate to uh you don't the life lessons in there um are go far beyond just connecting with uh people and struggles i mean there's i have not got a copy yet we got that for you i know it's coming and I'll gladly buy it. Go to Indigo, go to Chapters, get your down and back book because there's an amazing life lesson in there.

And whether you struggle or you don't struggle, anyone can relate to these stories. For sure. Yeah, for sure. Like I said, it's a proud day to say the least. So appreciate you letting me give a little plug here. And it's been a's a proud day to say the least so appreciate you uh letting me give a little plug here and it's been a fun day and thanks to sportsnet too because they put me on basically everything they can to promote it beside uh prince harry's book hey probably be a little

less uh detail on this one than the prince harry's i do not reference my nether regions in the book which is good you'll be pleased to know there's none of that. You're not bringing down a moniker, are you? You're not stomping on a crown, are you, in this book? I imagine that one might move a couple more copies, but on the other hand, I think his advance might have been more than mine, just a guess. A couple extra bucks. So, I think it's a decent

trade-off. Congratulations, buddy. Congratulations. All the best to you moving forward with your book. It's Down and Back, Justin Bourne's story. Please pick up a copy and get your reading in. Now, speaking of Valentine's Day, we had a Toronto Maple Leaf gala last night. Yes, you guys had a romantic date. We did.

We did. My wife could not make it. I had Sammy step in. And this was a full affair. Like the players were there. The alumni were there. Full attendance by the Toronto Maple Leafs. And, you know, I've done many of these.

I really enjoyed last night's. I thought it was clean, simple, in terms of, you know, listen, every cause is fantastic. But we don't need the 40-minute speeches. Right. They did a terrific job from Brendan Shanahan starting this thing. Aris, a friend of mine who does the Maple Leaf MLSE Foundation, again, a couple minutes. They kept it moving. Christine Simpsonpson hosted what a pro she is fantastic and then they they did a couple of things um sammy what was the first one

it was a uh hollywood readings where they took a scene a table read a table reading where they took uh the scene out of a movie i I can't believe they did that. And they had the players reread them. Yeah, he was telling me that like Marner and Tavares did like a scene from The Notebook or something. The Notebook. You guys think I'm joking at home. That really happened. Yes.

And to be honest, as you know John Tavares' reputation, I was kind of like, I looked at Kip and I was like, oh, Jesus. Yeah, this is going to be boring. I was like, this is going to be brutal. And he was the most passionate I was like, oh Jesus. Yeah, this is going to be boring. I was like, this is going to be brutal. And he was the most passionate I've ever seen by far. It was like there was this actor waiting to break out out of John Tavares. Okay, so here's just the only question

I have about that is why? Why? Because life is very stressful and you need to add some levity to it. You know, I said, that's why. Okay, great.

I said to McKee the other day, like the Islanders in 82 had like a talent show. Tonelli wins. He dresses up like Elvis. Clark sings the gambler. They do the whole thing. And I was like, can you imagine that happening today? But like it happened. Some version of that happened with you guys last night.

Didn't you say they played Jeopardy? Yeah. Yeah. They played Jeopardy. Yeah. Yeah, they played Jeopardy. Freed was the host. So, you know, we're at a table and they're like, oh, Elliot Freedman's here. Is he going to give us some inside information?

And I'm like, no. It's going to be the most opposite of Elliot Freedman you'll ever see your whole life. And he hosted the Jeopardy game. He strikes me as a guy who could host jeopardy. I'm glad you,

I'm glad you weren't there because the answer is no, you can't, you can't. No. So it was Willie Nylander, Wayne Simmons and Morgan Riley and Morgan Riley. And they played a guess. Morgan dusted them

well no no they did not and you know Elliot went through the whole shtick it was like watching Jeopardy you know the only thing missing was the category I'll take

broadcasting killing decisions you know, for 400. And what is Elliott hosting Jeopardy? That should have been a category. But Elliott actually muscled through it. Good. Powered his way through. The final score in Jeopardy from all three of them was Willie Nylander, zero.

Wayne Simmons, zero. And Morgan Riley, zero. No. They gave us 20 minutes to get through this thing where all of them ended up zero. And the only thing our table thought is like, I hope this isn't an omen to how the rest of the season plays out. Listen, Jeopardy's hard, and you don't want to not guess if you don't know. So I'm sure they took some stabs as ones they didn't really know.

They went into Final Jeopardy, and Morgan Riley had the most. And then they all gambled all their money, and all of them were wrong. So they all ended up with zero. Yeah. You got to give a soft final Jeopardy question. And it was very soft. It was what's the number one selling concession food?

And what would you think? Geez, I got French fries. Oh, my God. It's the easiest one ever. Popcorn. Okay. Obviously. They're not as dumb as I thought then.

Is popcorn that obvious an answer for hockey game? It's all over the place. Every game? It's all over the place. Every night, it's all over the place. That's the first thing I get when I go to a hockey game. It's popcorn. Yeah, me too. I guess I should answer that. The amount of popcorn I used to eat in the press box was disgusting.

Like, I'd go through two bags every time. And that's like, if you look at the caloric details. Oh, it ain't pretty. It ain't pretty. But yeah. And I think both of them, two of them guessed hot dogs and Morgan Raleigh guessed pizza. I'm really upset I'm not saying popcorn. So I have some sympathy now.

There you go. So overall, I think a good night for a lot of people. Again, bringing everybody down to earth a little bit on feeling like, you know know what we do for a living is like close to curing cancer it's not no have we had enough of a break unfortunately you guys had this bit of levity we had the all-star break we had a bye week we had a week with one game can we hockey again we can they're not hockeying a lot no next week you gotta probably wait what one game next week too tuesday night under 30 hours we'll get the hockey thing going again in the meantime the Leafs back at practice again teeing up their their matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks Austin Matthews in a regular spot would you sit him out one more and go to the weekend are

you quite comfortable with Austin Matthews in? You know, without knowing the details of his injury, I guess if he's fine, he's fine. Like, let's get him back playing, get him going. I'm here all day, I guess. Because he can. Okay. Let's see what Sheldon Keefe has to say on Matthews today. I thought he looked good in terms of the outlook.

You know, today's practice was an important one in terms of getting him proper reps and non-contact jersey and all of that. There hasn't been a ton of practice time with the team, but he has skated quite a bit, so we'll see how he is in the morning and we'll look to get word from the medical team in terms of his final status. But I think his intent to come into practice today was to feel good and be ready to play tomorrow, but that determination won't be made until tomorrow. Skated with Willie and Michael Bunting.

Go ahead. No, so if they're just saying that, that's just procedure. That's how they handle it. But if there's any chance that it's not right, why the hell would he play? It's either, yep, he's playing tomorrow, he's in the game, he's ready to go. If it's like, ah, we'll see how he feels in the morning, maybe just wait until Saturday.

You know what? That's a great point. If you're not sure, if you need day of clearance. Hold on. Time out. Yeah, yeah. Did we not just, and still are shaking our heads at Matt Murray? Yeah.

So why would we think it's just a foregone conclusion because we assume that they would learn you know you take that as education you're playing one of the worst teams in the league yeah at home you know maybe maybe just pump the brakes a little bit we're talking about in the matter of hours he happens to feel good this day maybe let's punt it down the road. But this is also just their sort of protocol, the way they handle all these injuries. They always kind of talk about this before the night before,

but it's like, it's annoying. Which goes back to that whole Matt Murray, which is so unlike the Toronto Maple Leafs to kind of leave themselves out there with like, what's going on here? He's playing, he's not playing. He doesn't want to play. He can't play.

That's the strange one. Yeah, it is. It just fell out of that pattern that you're talking about, about how it's so structured, how there's protocol, and we got to go through the proper channels to make sure everything's okay. And it sounds like that's what they're doing. Yeah, it does.

It feels to me like there's too many cooks. You know what I mean? Like there's so many approval process checks, balances, whatever. Like, I don't know. This is simplistic or whatever,

but like, yeah, go talk to the guy. You good. Okay. You're not. All right. We'll take another day.

It's just, it's the black hawk. So not, not rushing. I do want to say though, looking at their lineup, it is so evident to me how all four of the four have to be healthy for them to look like a threat because when he's there all of a sudden

the third line is engvall camp and yarn crock it's a good line it's a good third line when he's not there it gets so thin so quick it just so essential the whole plan balances on the health of those four individuals. Wow. That's it. One guy's hurt, it falls apart. We saw it in Montreal with Tavares. And Tavares cannot shoulder that responsibility to carry the offense at the center ice position.

Yeah, that's true. That's the other issue. It's not only can Camp Fu who, what did we say? 25 goals? Or 25 games without a goal? Yeah, 25 games, you have four goals on the year. So you're right.

Without Matthews at center, you've got Tavares, who's a point per game. You're done. Kampf, Holmberg. Right? Kerfoot? Kerfoot.

Yeah. So, that's maybe why you are kind of, no, let's not wait the weekend for Matthews. We don't have the luxury to go into another game with John Tavares. And who's our second line center man? When he's it, I guess it's David Kampf.

Or Kerfoot. Yeah, Kerfoot, sure. Whoever. And who else? It's just not pretty. It's not pretty. It's not pretty. We got else? It's just not pretty. It's not pretty. It's not pretty. Mike Futa is going to join us in the next minute or two.

Before we get to him. Quick 20. We kind of discussed a little bit what we didn't like about Saturday night's game. And I did mention that I didn't like Hall's game at all. Is it is it about Hall coming out after a subpar performance Saturday night? He will not be in the lineup tomorrow night. We'll see

Connor Timmons in. Is it just getting Timmons in or is there a subtle message to Justin Hall on the decision to make him a healthy scratch tomorrow night do you want to hear Sheldon on this let's go to Sheldon and then we'll go to Mike Fuda and and then we'll get your thoughts on Hall out for Timmons I've been wanting to get

Timmons in and it becomes harder to do when we're healthy in the back um like he's done a good job for us and obviously he hasn't played between the break. And just us being healthy, he hasn't gotten in, but we've liked what he's done. He's put lots of good work in off the ice. So you want to keep him involved and in the mix, but it's competition. And in that mix, you've got to try to find guys to move in and out of the lineup. And, you know, for me, I've talked to justin at different times and i felt this his game at times has been tremendous and has helped us through some real tough times

with injuries and he's been a real constant for us on defense in terms of his contributions but at times it's also slipped and and to me the other night was one of those nights and when you're looking to get a young guy like Simmons in and you want to keep him going, you're looking for someone to take out. So don't give me a reason. Okay, that's a lot. Don't give me a reason. Right?

He said a lot there. Well, I'm on yesterday's clips. Yeah, he's back. Sheldon's back. Yeah. He had a good meal last night. Yeah. A few chuckles.

He's back. But you got you got all of it there he wants to get timmons in they're all healthy but i didn't like his game saturday night yeah and that's a big thing i can see for sure like timmons had played very well for the leafs for quite a while i understand them them wanting to get him in. Someone's got to come out. Bing, bang, boom. Alright, do we have Mike Futa? Healthy Mike Futa. We assume the ribs are in

fantastic shape. Oh, like, Jake, just off the charts. Off the charts. Broken ribs from what were you doing? You were vacuuming? The story's changed on numerous occasions.

I'm sticking with the shoveling. We're sticking with the shoveling. Okay, no problem at all. Well, listen, we're glad you're healthy. We're glad you're on the show. And we were just discussing the fact that Justin Hall will be a healthy scratch tomorrow night. And, you know, for the most part, Feuts, The fact that Justin Hall will be a healthy scratch tomorrow night. And, you know, for the most part, Feuts,

this is a guy that has been played like a top four defenseman. The minutes will prove it. And yet I'm out of the lineup here and you're treating me like a fifth, sixth, or seventh defenseman, would there be a part of Justin Hall going, hold on for a second, come on. Me, really? You know, well, here's a couple things on that.

Obviously, there's a relationship. Sheldon loves the kid. He probably played his best hockey when the big boys were out injured. He's easy to pick on for the big year, but I mean, his teammates love him. And I think it's probably just chance to get Timmons in the line of mind and somebody's got to come out. Yeah. It's pretty, pretty simple sometimes, isn't it? And Justin Hall, you know, not, not he's beloved here, but not, you know,

he's still the kind of a bottom end guy for them. I think, you know, feuds they're, they're heading towards this deadline this trade deadline um and this is where a lot of the work gets done by gms and agms and all the other different roles trying to piece together what's going to happen what would the process be like right now for the toronto maple leafs of shopping um in terms of trying to find exactly it is what they need? Well, I'm sure they've been working at it for months. I mean, they clearly want to add to their top forward. They, I believe, should be adding to their defense.

But I think they're obviously the cap situation. I was talking to Kip the other night when we went by each other. I just think they have to find out what they get back with knees in the equation. It's too much of an important

season for them to not put this kid out there. I look at the whole stuff about Chikrin. I would look at Lawson Krause as a guy that really intrigues me. And now this is if Arizona seems to have everybody available. I don't know if they've decided one or two guys are going to stick around

for the rebuild, rebuild, rebuild. But there's a guy that sticks forward 220 pounds, can play in your second line. He's got 19 or 20 goals. He does have a physical element. And I think he'd help anybody. And then if you're giving up an asset, you're not getting a rental player back. And I don't see how they can make...

We were debating this the other night. I don't think they can make Meyer work and still resign Willie. And I guess you said you can punt it to the summer, but you're going to lose one of your core four in order to keep that guy. When it comes to the, is the right term for the Toronto Maple Leafs in this year, limited assets, first rounders matthew nyes is is the prize possession here for

the toronto maple leafs it's is it can't be a foregone conclusion that they'll that kyle's got a green light or mlsc is not watching carefully here on how much they spend between now and March 3rd? Or do you just feel like everybody has to collectively be in on whatever it takes for this season? Jake Muzzin money has got to get spent to make this team better if Jake is not coming back, bar none. I mean, everybody says they have a window that's open for, you know, four or five years,

but that's until you've got Austin Matthews on the contract, you've really sorted out your goal team situation. The window is right now. And I don't see if you can get a player that's going to make this team

better that has term and you have contractual control over him, needs has got to be in play. And I think they've kind of, whether they meant to or not, with the injury, Robertson's value has kind of been devalued. So they're not going to be able to sell him as the scorer, the up-and-coming scummer, because he couldn't get in the lineup, and when he did, he suffered a tough injury.

So it'll be interesting. But this whole goaltending situation I was driving in, I heard you guys talk about it as well. You're hanging a lot on Samsonov. You've got the oft-injured Matt Murray, which is basically par for the course. It's unfortunate. But there's a lot of question marks going into the playoffs. And the only thing that matters is how do you stack up

against the Tampa Bay Lightning and how do you get home ice against Tampa Bay? Do you think Timo Meier is a good enough player to make the difference worth pursuing? Is he, you know, you hear his name paired to the Leafs. Is this the dog they should want to bring into their kennel here? I love him, absolutely. He brings a lot of aspects that they need,

and he's a great player, he's a tough player, he's obviously got great touch around the net, but I truly believe that the Carolina Hurricanes will hold the keys to that car if they want it. I mean, and they're a great team already. Obviously, where I worked with them last year, I know Roddy Brendamore has this team cooking on their A game all along. They've got, and it's obviously unfortunate injury to Pacioretty,

but they've got $10 million in cash fees right now. Next year, Jordan Stahl goes from $6 million to the hometown discount, a la Mark Giordano. You've got Pacioretty coming off. You've got Freddie Anderson coming off. Ranta coming off. You've got oodles of dough. Plus you've got Kachiav,

Pierre, or whatever you pronounce it, coming up. And I think Roddy Brandemore would be happy if Peter Kachiav started the playoffs this year. That's how much he likes him. And that's confidence in him. So you've got a whack a dough and a whack a cap

space and you've got the cap space to, if you acquire a player like Meyer, that you can sign him without question. And if ever a team has a window and obviously there's this tax situation in Carolina, they play

hockey the right way. He's not a rental. Tom Dundon is a complete competitive guy that wants to win, but his MO really doesn't want to give up a lot of assets for a rental. So this is the kind of player for me that's a perfect fit.

Is there a danger of Fuchs that he will go to Carolina as a rental, but there's not a chance that I'm resigning there long-term. Therefore, I will force you to pay my qualifying offer or watch me walk out the door for nothing. I mean, there's the thought that you could trade him for sure,

but maybe this guy wants to control his own destiny. Is there a chance that a team will get caught here? I don't think it'll be Carolina. I just think once a player gets there and you meet Rod Brindamore and the atmosphere there, especially if you've got a family, not too many people want to believe they're on their own. It's a very good place, and especially their window to be good is, like, they still got Pesci and Slavin under

credible contracts for three more years. So, and, I mean, Ahu, I think, has two left. I mean, they've got Nekesh on a nice little bridge deal. I know a couple people have said that Jarvis is somebody they would move for a big piece. I would be shocked. I believe

Roddy Brandon Moore has his picture in his wallet. He's probably one of his favorite players of all time. Yeah, no, there's certainly a ton of talent there. You can understand why people would want to stay. You know, when hunting for specific names out there, is there anyone for you to think that makes more sense for Leafs? And I am thinking depth guys. Was there Lafferty or Barbashev? names out there is there anyone for you to you think that makes more sense for leafs and i am thinking depth guys there's was there lafferty or barbachev or is there any other names that

you see like boy that'd be a nice fit boone runner is a name that was talked about the other day just guy that's he's got an incredible work ethic uh he's a. He's a local kid who just would dream of pulling on the Toronto Jersey. And I think he would bring an added dimension of speed, penalty kill, and tenacity year bottom six. I would love Josh Anderson. That's the type of player that if I was, again, if somebody wanted to bring up my top prospect in my first round pick, and obviously it's not easy for the Toronto Maple Leafs to make a trade,

but that's the kind of player that I think solves all the Leafs problems up front, our holes. Just backs everybody up a little bit, a little bit more depth, a little more energy protection. And I think you're going to be able to find a guy in the back end. Like, I mean, there's a lot of talk about Shen. I don't think the big fish is out there for them salary-wise, and I don't think they're going to blow it up to get a rental player.

But I just think there's players like that that have got a little Stanley Cup pedigree that can help you, right shot, can feel penalties. And again, he's not going to be worried in the Toronto market. Futes, we've still got a little over two weeks to go, so we're going to lean on you a lot on the show the rest of the way as we get towards March 3rd. Hey, thanks for doing this for us, pal. We really appreciate it.

Two quick things, Kipper. Yeah. Borny, congratulations on your book, buddy. Thanks, Fuse. That's just an incredible accomplishment. I'm glad I got a chance to talk to you on the day it was released. And Kipper, if you can talk to your lawyer about getting me back into that place that I'm barred for life. Because I walked in to give you a hug.

Yeah, for sure. I'm working on it. Thanks, buddy. All right, pal. Take care. Take care. Bye-bye. That's a little bit of an inside moment for us at the hockey game.

All right. Maybe a couple of weeks ago, I was in one of those areas where it's kind of hard to get in. Yeah. Share club? No names. There's an unnamed club that's above that. To protect the identity of a few people. And I'm like, hey, Butte, come on in. Come on in.

Swarmed. Apparently wasn't maybe right of me to say that. But I had also thought that someone that had the authority okayed it. Man, these are tight places. I'm not saying that he was handcuffed and let out of the room, but yeah, very. That's great. So he's like, could you put a good word in for me?

I'm like, you're Mike Feud, a Stanley Cup champion, man. You don't need me that's funny i'm just and there's a very strong exaggeration on that story for my part so i just just having a little bit of fun here i uh i saw when i mentioned the name to mike fuda i saw you write down lafferty on your paper you know when it comes to those type of names and barbachev and i'm i'm not discounting them on how they can influence a lineup but i just look at this trade deadline and there is just one guy for me that is a true needle mover oh boy and that's timo meyer like yeah that's that is the prize out there and and we just heard feuds talking about some teams that could make that work

that we've seen so many big names in the n already. And I'm not disrespecting Pat Kane or Jonathan Taves or any of that. Those are big names. Yeah, but he's a current prime. We don't know, like, truly, like, if Pat Kane did get moved, you're not sure of what Pat Kane you will get. Yeah, I agree with that. And Taves is another guy. It's going to be

if I'm not mistaken 35 years old and there's a lot of wear and tear there. He's not healthy either. So outside of Timo and it's limited on what you can expect. i know there's huge names but it's like

how do you know what you're gonna get at this point yeah i know so but timo meyer is he's a good player he's legit 30 40 goal scorers got tremendous upside for a long time. He would command a lot here. He would. You know, it's funny because, you know, obviously there's a Toronto market, a lot of noise. The big names are in play. So this one has come up quite a bit lately. At a rival network today, you know,

there was mention of like Pat Kane picking a few destinations that he would actually go to and Toronto being one of the two. You know, if that becomes available and you can't get Meyer, what do you think an acquisition cost on Pat Kane would be for the Leafs? It's not Matthew Nyes.

Once you're dealing into a no-movement situation and I think the prime example was Claude Giroux leaving the Philadelphia Flyers. They had Owen Tippett in a couple seconds or something. And going to Florida. And yeah, you're exactly right. So, there's

just, if in fact Pat Kane says, okay, New York's off the market, I'll only go to Toronto, and you've got a young, inexperienced general manager in Davidson who is staring down arguably best player in franchise history, two of them, in Taves and Kane, you want to be the guy to tell them, I'm holding out for this the seventh round pick but you know the best thing he could do is that the best thing he could do

is at the start of his gm career say all the Leafs are going to give me was a third for pat kane and i'd just rather not disrespect pat kane like that so i didn't trade i don't want your stinking third but if pat's coming back to you and say i really want you to make this work yeah and if you don't get me to a contender i'm gonna wow listen i it it you you ruined my last two years you got rid of this guy this guy this guy i've been the good soldier gave me a crap sandwich for a year and a half i've bit my tongue i've played good veteran i want to go to toronto make it happen you're kyle davidson now stand off to that and dig in don't you think that would go miles for his own career or would it bury him in chicago i get what you're saying but

you got to live with the fact that you screwed pat Kane over. Yeah. And that's not an easy thing to do and think you're going to stay a long time in Chicago. So funny because Pat Kane had Panarin, boom, success. He had Dabrinkit, boom, success. And now they're like, do it with... And this is the way it works for us, right? We watch. Yeah. And it's like, well, if you treated Pat Kane like that and he's won three Stanley Cups and he's sold a million jerseys,

what happens when it's my turn and I'm at the end of the year and you don't get that seventh round pick, right? People watch. I want to be associated with Davidson as a general manager when he didn't help Pat Kane out after all these years. It's so funny, though, because Pat Kane is like, I understand he's a left winger and the Leafs could use a left winger, but like not what they need, right?

When we talk about... Well, Sammy... He's playing on the right side with Tyler Johnson and Jason Dickinson. Sammy. Woof. Yes. When you think about the needs of the Leafs, does a Pat Kane and his style of play,

and maybe he is... Small, skilly. Maybe he gets his level back up to Pat Kane-like, but is that the first thing you say that the Leafs really need is a super skilled 5'10", 5'11 player? On one hand, no. But on the other hand, yes. You know, I wouldn't mind having a guy

that scored multiple massive goals in multiple big games, having a guy out there that's with Matthews, like a guy that knows what it's like to play in big situations. Like how many times over the last five years have the big guys gone silent in the biggest games ever? But this is why I'm okay with Pat Kane.

In theory, if he didn't cost them $5.75 million or whatever, it's going to be after retention and whatever. Like if he was a guy that you could get cheap and low acquisition cost, maybe you could say, yeah, I can see how that helps. But it's going to cost you that cap space and it's going to cost you some asset. And anything over $10 million in all probability, and Timo Meier's the same thing,

Eric Carlson's the same thing, is that even if you get a team to bite on a percentage, are they really willing to go all the way with 50 yeah and you know most often you're gonna have to invite a third team who you got to check them a fourth to take on two million so maybe more yeah maybe you hold the team hostage for for that that that holding pattern that i can't make a deal without you. Well, that's a third round pick. I'm sorry, but that's what I want. And now you're doing all this cap gymnastics,

another pick we're talking about. And it's a guy you're not sure if he's healthy, if he's going to move the needle, if he even checks the box of what you need in terms of a physical guy, you know, like I understand what packing can do. He'll be involved in some goals for sure. Both ways. The other thing, too, is...

You've got to trust the ability. Pat Kane... Playing with Matthew is one of the best defensive forwards in the league. He's not playing with Jason Dickinson here. Yeah, but you're already talking about covering up from a guy you're acquiring. The other part, too, is... We've got to go, by the way. Yeah, we'll get going.

We've got lots of time. All right. I want to pick up this Pat Kane conversation and what that could look like for the toronto maple leafs if in fact he's in the lineup so uh plenty more still there uh we're gonna take a quick break mike mckenna daily face off hockey analyst uh great friend of the show we'll break down what the leafs goaltending situation will look like uh because uh I think it's official. We've got a three-headed monster from here on in for the Toronto Maple Leafs and that Mike McKenna after the break, boy, real kipper and born.

Discussing the biggest stories that matter to Toronto sports fans. The Fan Morning Show with Ailish Forfar and Justin Cuthbert. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Still a lot of meat on the bone on conversations, including finishing one on Pat Kane and what his look will be potentially on a Toronto Maple Leaf hockey club. We've got Mike McKenna coming in to talk about the goaltending situation.

And he, right from the get-go, Mike never wavered from the start of the season, and he's been on pretty regularly. Let's bring in Mike McKenna from the Daily Face-Off. Does a terrific job as an analyst for them. Mike, I was just talking to Justin and mentioning that you never wavered, that you always had your concerns about the Samsonov-Matt Murray situation. Just want to get your thoughts on a little bit of that craziness prior to the All-Star game where he was scheduled to play against the Ottawa Senators,

had this ankle situation, ended up backing up, and then going on the IR. So before we get into what the future looks like, just talk to us about maybe how bizarre you found that situation. Yeah, I mean, it just, to me, seemed like it was a player who really, really wanted to not let his past history get out ahead of him. Again, I'm being injured all the time and he's probably,

Matt Murray is probably trying to absolutely fight through every ounce of that, that he could before realizing this is just not going to work. I can't do this. So is it surprising? No, not a bit. I mean, Murray at this stage of the game has done pretty much everything he can to try to stay healthy.

Bulked up, I don't know what. You guys see him in trial. I think he put on 20-something pounds worth of muscle and size because that was always the knock on him in Pittsburgh was, oh, look how he's built, tiny, not very strong. Well, he gets bigger and stronger and he still gets hurt. It was odd, to say the least, but I think if there's any

kind of silver lining to this, it's that Joseph Wohl has been playing pretty well in the American League. He was an AHL All-Star and now he's going to probably get some reps up at the big club here to audition for the future. Mike, what would you know about AHL goalies

who have great success and come up and get shots in the NHL? I mean, who are you to weigh on any of this? Well, not very good because I didn't get many shots in the NHL. So what would it be like for Wolven, man? Like, you know, what would he be walking into trying to be? What's his mindset? Does he have a chance to be the backup going into playoffs? I mean, I think there's a chance of that.

And full disclosure here, okay, I coached Joseph Wohl in St. Louis, Missouri from the time he was probably 10 years old until he left town at, I guess, 17, 16 or 17 with the U.S. National Development Committee. You're a team Wohl guy then. And I got to tell you, this kid at 10 or 11 years old was so far head and shoulders above the rest of goaltenders in the area, even by the time he was 13, 14, 15. Now, that doesn't project to him being an NHL starter by any means.

You have to keep going and progressing. But he went to the development program. He did great there. He went to BC. He did great in the NCAAs. But the problem is that he, too, like Murray, has been hurt quite often in the past couple of years in pro. And he's never really been able to grab that role with the Marlies,

even after the first year that went. The first year, we didn't go very well for him. And after that, he's played well but not been healthy. So he's a kid who has an incredible work ethic. He's very intelligent on the ice. He's very dedicated to his craft and his movements and his mechanics and his skating routes and all those things. And bottom line, he can stop pucks. So could he really be a number two towards playoffs? I think. But man, it'd be, it'd be awful tough if your Kyle

Dubas to just roll with Samsonov and wall, if you don't think you're going to get Murray back and not knowing the case on how Murray, how long he'll be out, it's really hard to gauge and judge what that goaltending picture for the Leafs may look like even in the next three weeks. Hold on for a second. Hold on for a second. What you're saying on our show today is the Leafs don't have one injury-prone goalie. They've got

two. What do you mean? They have three. You've got Eric Sheldon, too. Oh, no. Okay. E-bugs, come on in. McKenna, you're up next. David Ayer's on the line. Oh, it sounds terrible, doesn't it?

Man, I'm rooting for all of these guys. I want them to be healthy, but it is reality, isn't it? They have been hurt quite often. Is there any time for Kyle Dubas to eventually listen to you and do something about it? Or is it just you're all in with these three guys and I can only hope and pray? I think the hard part is that what are you going to give up for an asset

and what are you going to get in return? It's a really soft goalie market out there right now. I mean, the one guy that kind of makes sense, if you just need a reliable goalie, steady Eddie, is probably James Reimer. He'd be available, I think, at a decent price, probably way less than a Cam Talbot. Reimer hasn't had a great year in San Jose.

The team's not very good defensively in the first place. But I don't know how much of an upgrade Reimer really would be. The scars run too deep in Toronto. That's what I mean, right? And then you're walking into that whole hornet's nest in the first place. So, you know, judging that market, I think Cam Talbot, if you ask me, I think the Senators should trade Cam Talbot and get whatever they can out of him. I don't think he'll be back there next year because he still wants to win Stanley Cups

or at least have a chance to do that. He's going to be 36 years old. A team like Pittsburgh or L.A. could really use him. What's left after him? Jonas Corposalo. Do we trust him to stay healthy? You know, is he a big upgrade? Maybe you'd have to pay for him too. So I think it's a tight spot for Dubas. And honestly, midway through the year when two goalies were hurt, I thought that adding somebody might make a lot of sense, but with the way wall has played, I think at some point you got to just go with what you have. It's very scary, but allocating assets would be better off served, I think, elsewhere to try to improve that team in Toronto.

The strangest thing about talking about goaltenders to me right now, Mike, is how we struggle to evaluate them. And I understand that you can see the technical side where a lot of us can't, but teams don't seem to have any idea who's going to be a good goaltender from year to year. Why has the position changed in such a way that it feels like that there's inconsistency and like all of a sudden this guy's unbelievable and this guy's terrible. And I don't know, it just feels really tough to pin down. I think we're in a hypercritical world these days.

But a part of that also is that, you know, it used to just be fly by the seat of your pants, goaltending, you know, up until 15, 20 years ago, you could kind of do what you wanted out there. That's when goalie coaches started to take over. And really in the last 10, 15 years, it's become a very optimized game. That's why most of the look pretty similar, but I think it's gone to the next level in the last five years. And the crazy part to me is there's still executives out there. ESPN had a piece today where they ranked the top 10 goalies in the league and they had John Gibson at nine. And I just went, is anybody watching? Is anybody paying attention to technical goaltending at all? When a guy is on his backside

30 times a game and pucks are going through his five hole because he's not recovering. He's not pushing. His legs aren't like an accordion. Like you don't have to be a goalie guy to understand that a goalie is not on their butt or on their chest. And that's a good thing. You know, that their whole body's behind the puck, like the Russian goalies that are just killing it right now. They have great body control and they're amazing skaters. And that's the biggest thing for me. Those top guys, the Sorokins,okins the um the shishurkins the vasilevskis the soroses they're great skaters anybody can learn that but you need a goalie guy to help guide you and i tell you what i got a message the other day from a former player that i

played against for a long time who's scouting now and he said hey i need some help with goalies what can you do for me here please help me because i need to be able to write reports on goalies this guy didn't know anything about goaltending. There's still a ton of that in scouting. There's very few ex-goalies at scout. I have a ton of respect for him for coming to me and asking because he's trying to learn, and I believe everybody can learn. But ultimately, you do need goalies evaluating ex-goalies,

and you need modern goalies evaluating today's goaltenders to be able to understand who really is going to be good now and into the future. We're talking to Mike McKenna from the Daily Faceoff, who's our goaltender guru here on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. So if you're the Toronto Maple Leafs, either Sheldon or Kyle, are you at the point of the season, Mike, where you want to go up to Samsonov and say,

you're the guy right now. We're going to get you ready. We're going to get you groomed. Here are the games that we want you to play. Or do you just let him believe that he's still in a race no matter how hurt the other guys are? I don't think it needs to be conveyed to him that he is the guy. And I think with Samsonov, it might actually be a negative to do that. I watched the game against Boston right before the break for the Leafs.

And to me, it was a classic case of a goalie who was just way too amped up. Like he was so overly aggressive and impatient. And you could tell that in that moment against the best team in the league, he was still thinking he needed to do more. I would be very hesitant with him to give him those reins and say, you're a guy,

we need you to do this. I just let him keep playing because to me, Samsonov is at his best when he lets the game come to him. You look how good he was against Columbus. I know he didn't face as many shots in that game and he had a shutout in, but like, were they as quality shots against Boston? No, but the game came to him. He wasn't chasing. He wasn't in the white ice. That's when he's at his best. And guess what? It was against a pretty crappy team. That's because he didn't feel the pressure. So I think this has always been something that is a bit symptomatic of Samsonov's game. When he feels pressure, he tries too hard.

He's just got to chill. Just relax. Remember Carey Price in preseason about a decade ago? Preseason. Chill out. Kind of a message that's got to go to Samsonov, man. The same type of thing. Like, just relax. He's going to be fine in Toronto in Game 7. He's preseason. Chill out. Kind of a message that's got to go to Samsonov, man. The same type of thing. Just relax. He'll be fine in Toronto in game seven. He'll be fine.

Sorry to step on you there. Yeah. Just one more thought on Samsonov from my end, and I want to hear your answer to JB here. Without telling him you're the guy then, you've got 28 games

to game one in the playoffs. What would be a number that you'd want Samsonov to hit to get ready for that if, in fact, he is your guy? Is it well over half of them, 18? They've got two back-to-backs left. What's the number that you would focus on samson off to make sure he's mentally and physically ready here yeah i want to get mike on that 18 makes sense to me but mike what do you think yeah i think you're looking 18 to 22 in that range depending how he's feeling a bit too um i would want to be every bit

of two-thirds of those games, which when Murray's been healthy, it's been a pretty even rotation between them, but Samsonov has had to carry larger load when he's been out, so I'd want to continue that. I think if you go towards two-thirds of games, you're ramping him up a little bit without running him dry in terms of energy mentally and physically, and I think realistically, let's say Murray's out, you're probably giving Wohl a decent chance to play too okay I thought he looked pretty good against Columbus I don't think he could do much about you know three of those goals that were right and tight in his crease but I'd like to

see him get a little bit more playing time too especially thinking with the thought that Murray will be back I think that would be good so you give me 20 to 21 games for Samsonov I'd be pretty happy with it Mike I feel like sometimes we paint you into a corner as this goalie guy i mean you've been a analyst for you're with vegas on the the full state of the game so i want to take you out of the crease a little bit we were just talking about patrick kane and the potential for him in toronto what kind of fit he might have what do you think of kane the player now how he might work in Toronto. Obviously not the same player, but still something there with him. Well, I just wonder if that's really the route that the team needs to go.

Do you need another person on the right side? If Nylander's going to be there and you've got plenty of depth on that right side, I just look at Kane on the Leafs and I go, I don't think that works in terms of the dynamic of their top three lines. Does he make them better? I don't know the answer to that. Because I'm still leery of a player coming from a bad team. I don't care how good they are.

I get nervous about a player coming from a bad team. And the Hawks have been bad for a while. And Kane this year, has he had as much to work with around them? No, of course not. But I think he's looked a little pedestrian at times, and I'm not sure if you can turn it on right away. It'd be a big shot in the arm to be able to play with Matthews or Tavares or

Marner or any of those guys. But I just worry about that. And I don't think giving up the assets to acquire him for Toronto would be worth it as much as it would be for a team like, Oh, let's say Vegas who's missing Mark stone now for probably the rest of the year. That could really use somebody on the right side. If you want to get in a bidding war against Vegas, if you're Toronto, see you later.

You let Vegas spend all that cash and you keep your assets, because I don't think Kane would make as big a difference there as potentially somebody that maybe helps shore up the blue line. Were you surprised at his response to watching Tarasenko go to the Rangers when apparently he wanted to go there? I was baffled at why the Chicago Blackhawks wouldn't keep him in the loop or at least have ongoing discussions to say, let's play out a few scenarios here and let's do it together.

I was really surprised that first off, Kane was just that odd. He just laid all his cards out on the table. Yeah, I was disappointed. I would have liked to have gone there as a place I was thinking about talking about the New York Rangers. That caught me off guard because very rarely does a player have a chance to say that. But for Kane, I mean, he holds all the cards, right? He's got a full no movement clause. Shouldn't that be a daily discussion? And But for Kane, I mean, he holds all the cards, right? He's got a full no-movement clause. Shouldn't that be a daily discussion? And he even said, you know, you want to do good by the team that's been so good to me, speaking of the Chicago Blackhawks.

If that's what you want, there should be daily conversation between Kyle Davidson and Patrick Kane's camp on what's available. What it says to me, I'm not sure the Rangers are that interested in Kane. Really, that's what I think it comes down to. Maybe those negotiations never really went far enough for it to even matter for Kane to be able to consider the Rangers. When you talk about

being left without a dance at the prom, that's a tough pill to swallow for a multi-Stanley Cup winner like him, but I think it might have been the reality in this situation. And it really could come down to the fact that maybe they had a little bit of a background check physically where is he there's a hip issue a it's a heavy truth though he's talking about here what if the

other team to say we don't want him yeah there's various reasons salary i think salary cap i think the salary hits a big thing like tarasenko came in at by the time you take back half the salary on tarasenko compared to half on Kane, you're saving almost two million bucks. I mean, that's a reason why you can put Amigl in that deal as well. So I think from that way, it made a lot of

sense as well to keep a little cap flexibility. The one thing I would like to get both you guys to weigh in on is the idea of a big star like that coming into your locker room and not changing the dynamic it's not like adding labushkin who can just like oh we hope he plays well like you can't ignore patrick kane what he would do media wise attention wise hype wise like is it is there some fear of bringing in another guy who's a huge name like that. Mike? For myself, when you're putting him with his best bud or Timmy Panarin,

I don't think so. I think it really helps when you've got someone who is a big piece of the puzzle in the first place. What you really just hope is it doesn't become a faction. You know what I mean, guys? If you've ever been on a team where you've got one faction of guys that do everything together, you hope that they stay ingrained. But Panarin's been there long enough

that I don't think that club, especially Chris Drury, would have done something he thought could blow it up. I think they thought that would be seamless. It wasn't always seamless here in St. Louis with Craig Berube and Tarasenko, but I think he's going to a situation there where it has. Look at the returns, man. Goals first shift, and the next game Panarin pops four, even with them being on a different line.

It gives depth to the Rangers. It rounds out those top four lines for them. I think any team would welcome Pat Kane with that resume and that pedigree and especially with the Leafs being in a situation where they look around the room and the only Stanley Cup

guy we had we lost in Muzzin. And maybe a couple less microphones in your face too. Maybe they go to his stall. And they know how to handle it. Right. One more and I'm going to pull you back into the goaltending guru. Markstrom Calgary.

Man, he can't win, huh? Everybody's ready to write off Markstrom and go to Vladar. Is there some validity to that? Well, Vladar. Is there some validity to that? Well, Vladar's winning games. That's what it comes down to, isn't it? I mean, this is the Grant Fuhrer School of Goaltending.

This is the Ben Bishop School of Goaltending where the only column that matters is the win column. And I will be the first to tell you that I don't think Markstrom has been as best this year, but I don't think he's been as bad as many people want to write him off to be. And I know his save percentage is not good at 8.92. His goals against is below three. And he's also lost 14 games this year, and in a combined total,

his team's given him about 1.7 worth of run support in those games, goals in those games. So how are you going to win when your team isn't even scoring two goals a game and you're allowing less than three? Okay. Now, has he allowed some absolute head scratchers this year? Oh yeah, he has. And I think that's on Markstrom. He knows he can be better. I have a piece of daily face off. You can even find about the, some of the problem areas, I think. But the reality is that when winning games, well, it really hasn't been a lot better statistically or advanced analytic wise, but if the team's winning guys, don't you have to go to him?

I've been surprised that Daryl Sutter hasn't been able to make that switch and really give a heavier load to Vladar. I don't know if you caught the highlights or you watched last night of Calgary's two-goal lone lead. The brinket bullet was pretty well placed. The brinket goal was placed perfectly, but at the worst angle ever. Yeah.

Yep, it was deep. And then the game winner from Stutzla, it's one of the problem areas on Markstrom. Five hole is one and seven hole, the area between his body and his blocker is another, and that's where Stutzla put it on the game winner. All right, pal, we're going to let you go. Thanks for doing this.

Always interesting stuff from you. Welcome on the show anytime. Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it. You got it, guys. Have a good one. Thanks for having me as always. That's Mike McKenna, Daily Face-Off.

Terrific work for the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. He's so good. Now, just my final thought on a pat kane potentially being a toronto maple leaf and like where the fit would be and mike touched on it and it's something that i i didn't have enough time to before we went to break and that is bunting matthews kneilander leaves you with kane jt and marner do we see a world where there's tremendous chemistry between kane and marner on the same line when both of them want a quarterback well but aren't you given you're given kane to matthews? That's what I'm asking here. Absolutely. Where do you see? Kane to Matthews.

Kane, Matthews, Nylander? Oh. I got to chill up and down my spine. No, no, I know. Where? Like, what is the call here? Well, I think you... Let's play Pat Kane at Toronto Maple Leaf. Is it with JT and Marner,

or is it with Matthews and Nylander? I think you need the defensive support with Matthews for Kane. And I think the whole connection between Kane and Matthews, like isn't that his favorite player? Yeah, they're a couple American. Yeah, he loves Kane. They trained in the summer together. I think that's it.

I'm okay with that. Okay. Who's on the other side? Well, if it's Bunting. Bunting. I love the idea of someone. Bunting, Matthews, and Kane. Yes.

And JT, Nylander, and Marner. Oh, well. Yeah, unless you want to create a third line, which now we're talking. But I love that as a second line. Sounds pretty good to me. I mean, let's be real. That's your first line. Matthews is that point.

Who's bumped out for Kane? Kerfoot. Yeah, Kerfoot. Kerfoot's playing the top six. We're back to Kerfoot in the top six time again. Yeah. But listen. Listen to these conversations we're having.

How close their lineup is to make you go, oh, that's good. Like, if you add whether it's Meyer or it's Kane or it's even O'Reilly, you know, then you're three lines deep. But they're just like one more forward for making you go, oh, it's so good. But right now the hole is so glaring for their sixth forward. I just see right now on the first two lines, the quarterbacks right now for me are Marner and Nylander

back to back. So what's the guy who just won the Hart Trophy? He's a shooter. Sorry, did you say power play? No, I'm just talking about the first two lines for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The guys that you want carrying the mail on your first two lines are Marner and Nylander. That's the way I see it. Okay. So Kane comes in and picks up a lot of that, and you're forced to tell Nylander or Marner adjust a little bit because we also got this guy who likes to dangle got great hands play make

finish all of it this guy does it all when he's at the best of his game i feel like this is a too fabricated problem is it too much well it's a great question because it is real to be like this is the classic combo there's only one puck yeah there's only one you know yeah no and thank you but it's it's legit but overblown like i i can't imagine a time like what you would say to nylander or marner is do your thing when you have the puck what do you mean do your thing what nothing changes when you don't have it do the thing you do when you don't have the puck all i remember when i played with the rangers and every once in a while i played with sergey nevchinov and alex kovalev where i'm like i i try to go over

and help him a little bit he's like uh get away from me get away from me i'm doing my thing get away from me and i'm like oh i'm out of here yeah we're not a cohesive i'm either going to the bench or the first row and watching you beat it like like sammy said is is there enough puck i just can't imagine the opportunity to get a player who you think improves your team and saying well we're worried that kneelander is not going to get to carry it through the neutral zone as much so we don't want to do it i think i think i mean this is an easy thing to say there's two there's two ways this goes he comes here and he's very hurt and he's not very good and he's been the guy that he's been this year in Chicago. Seems like the likely outcome.

But I also think the reverse outcome, where he comes here, he's rejuvenated, he's trying again, he's playing for a team that has Stanley Cup aspirations, he's playing with another American guy who's one of the best players in the league, and he's just, you know, point per game Patrick Kane like he was last year.

Like, there are two ways this can go obviously but like if he's bad it could be a very bad thing for his sort of legacy amongst leaf fans in terms of if he comes here and stinks it's just the felino conversation it's not only that uh it doesn't set you very well up for another contract exactly but if he comes here and he's good he's getting nine mil somewhere but then if it's Kane, so if it's too many good players or too many puck carriers. Yes. Style of play. Then do you prefer Ryan O'Reilly?

Or do you prefer Haves? Or do you prefer, I mean, do you prefer. Or you roll the dice and you bring Matthew Nise in and you hope that he can have a physical aspect to his game. How about you trade for a guy who's named like Ivan Barbashev, who you don't have to do this whole retention juggling, you know, circus. But Barbashev to me is not a top six guy. No.

Okay. I agree with that i agree so give up your second and a third and take him and hope he can find a good role in the bottom six okay but then who's the guy who's the guy that can beat top six that doesn't carry it too much yeah that i guess it's timo meyer but then if i'm if i'm Nick Kiprios right now, I'm like, who's going to shoot it? Austin Matthews shoots it all the time. You can't have two guys shoot it all the time. We've solved nothing, and we're two minutes out of our break time. I would like to go on record

that if Patrick Kane came here, he would absolutely light it up. I'd like to be on record with that statement if it does happen. That's super fan Sammy talking right now. Guys, a stud, three-time cup winner. Yeah. Reinvigorated, playing with great players.

I'm thrilled. Bingo. Listen. God, your drafts are good someday. It's a huge name. It's not a huge name. It's a huge talent. He's one of the greatest players in the history of America.

He's a stud. He's a three-time cup winner, first ballot hall of famer. He's right up there with Ryan Reynolds. Oh, boy. All right, Ian Mendez,ez after the break senior writer for the athletic we're going to talk ottawa senators and what ryan reynolds would mean to the city of ottawa you are watching and listening to real kipper and born if you get a chance give us a rating and review a thumbs up on youtube we're glad you're aboard back after this this. Diving deep into Leafs, Raptors, Jays, and NFL. The J.D. Bunkins Podcast.

Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. The book is called Down and Back, the story of Justin Bourne. Out on shelves today, Indigo chapters online. Assuming Indigo's got everything figured out, a bit of a hiccup there, team, but they're going to be all right.

A few pictures in the book? Yeah, not quite. Did you have like a middle section of pictures? Yeah, I did. Yeah, the glossy no we didn't do that yours had like madonna and mark messier people didn't want to see my family as much all right as promised ian mendez joining us from the athletic based in ottawa ottawa making some noise not just a comeback win against the calgary Flames, but bigger picture stuff. Let's welcome in Ian Mendez.

Ian, it's been a while, buddy. Yes, Kipper. How's it going, my friend? I'm well. How are you? Hey, fantastic. Listen, standing outside the UBS arena here on just an... It feels like spring. I know it feels like that back home in Ontario, but my goodness, it feels like,

it feels like I should be getting ready to cover a playoff game here with this weather. Well, listen, certainly a disappointing season so far in the big picture. This is a team that a lot of people thought that they'd be in a playoff hunt. I don't know how you feel after the two points last night, This is a team that a lot of people thought that they'd be in a playoff hunt. I don't know how you feel after the two points last night,

but overall, that's not the biggest story right now. Is that safe to say? The ownership situation, the pending sale to whoever is out there is leading the charge here when it comes to the vibes in Ottawa? Yeah, I think so, Kip. I think that is the number one story, is that we're all just kind of waiting for this other shoe to drop in Ottawa, because this is going to have long-term ramifications on the team, both on the ice, I think, and maybe more importantly, off the ice.

Listen, this franchise, you know, for people that, you know, have followed the NHL long enough, Ottawa has been low-hanging fruit for a lot of fans to kind of punch down on Ottawa and make attendance jokes and talk about the stability of the team. Well, all of that's about to evaporate, I think, when kind of deep-pocketed, stable ownership comes in here. And it's probably going to happen at some point in the next four weeks or six weeks, I think, where we get maybe a conditional sale.

And that's really going to turn this franchise, I think, just completely turn the needle here. And absolutely, it doesn't matter. Listen, I think everybody would love a Hamburglar type run here and get them back into the playoffs. But realistically speaking, I think we're all pretty excited to see what's on the horizon here with ownership. I mean, the Ryan Reynolds thing has become such a focal point of the conversation.

It would feel, to myself, shocking if they went with someone else. Is there a chance that they don't win the bid? Is Ryan Reynolds pushed it that much into the favorite position? Oh, man, you know what, Justin? It's a great point, right? It almost feels like you can't put the genie back in the bottle, right? Like, wouldn't it feel like a complete disappointment if all of a sudden you woke up tomorrow, you found out, hey, the Ottawa Senators have a new ownership group. And, oh, by the way, Ryan Reynolds isn't part of it.

You're like, what happened? Right. You know, and hey, listen, listen, full credit, you know, Bruce Garriock at Post Media had the story yesterday. Full credit to him for the fact that, you know, Ryan Reynolds is, you know, looks like he's tied himself to one particular group. And I think that's interesting because I think the sense I got before this was, you know, he was going to kind of sit on the sidelines, just kind of in some ways like what Daniel Albertson was going to do, not necessarily hitch his wagon to one particular group, kind

of see who wins it and then jump on board at that point. And now, you know, that does not appear to be the case, which is fascinating to me because I think if you're the NHL, like how do you not go with this? Look at what he's done for Wrexham overseas. Look at what the potential, I think, for marketing and exposure for the National Hockey League and the Ottawa Senators, I don't know how they say no to a bid involving Ryan Reynolds.

I give Ryan Reynolds a lot of credit because once this thing started, one of the first things he said is, I can't afford this. So, you know, I'm just wondering wondering what does this say about us that we've made ryan reynolds who can't afford to own his team by himself the focal point here and are we putting too much stock in ryan reynolds here uh as as being the key in all of this are we Have we gone so far into wanting Instagram moments that we feel like this can't be done anymore without Ryan Reynolds? Please!

No, no, no. I think this is the message. Listen. What do you want? Free mobile? Not aviation gin. That's right. You got the cell phone, you got the gin.

But no, I think realistically, and I referenced this a little bit earlier. Look, Ottawa has always been this sort of little sibling, right? Like, I think when you look at the Senators franchise, even just geographically kind of sandwiched between Toronto and Montreal, which I think are the two most historic franchises in the NHL, there's just a little bit of a little sibling feeling to the Senators, right, where they just can't quite sit at the adult table, you know, at these big moments. And I think Ryan Reynolds can help change and shape that narrative.

I do think it's important. I look, again, I look at what he did with Wrexham, and he took basically an anonymous soccer team over there and turned them into kind of a household name where they're, you know, all of a sudden you're seeing their game streamed in North America. That wasn't happening before. You've seen the merchandise fly off the shelf. Think of what he could do for the Ottawa Senators.

And I think where he can really make a difference is I think he really wants to go down the documentary route. He wants to be down the documentary route. He wants to be able to tell the story of this franchise that maybe never should have had a team in the first place 30 years ago, that kind of always was the underdog. And I think, you know, he's got a personal connection to the city. He's got, you know, I think he's got some investment into this where I don't think he's just going to show up every six months, you know, take some photo ops and take off. I think he is really invested into doing this. And I, again,

I I'll go back to the, the, the, the point Justin made, which was, I, I just don't know. I don't know that you can put the genie bag in a bottle at this stage of the game. So, sorry, do you want to add to that? You're such a renovator. I'm not. I'm just, I don't want to see this thing turn into a circus. I think he's already, you know, Ian mentioned the documentary thing. Like, he's got a team with him for the purchase process. Does he not, Ian? Have you heard that? Well, listen, I hear Kipper saying he doesn't want to turn this into a circus.

May I remind you of what the last 10 years have been like? As you're walking on peanut shells. It's been a three-ring, big-top circus, you know? So, yeah. Sorry. Now I've completely forgotten the question from Justin. It's fine. I've forgotten it, too, to be honest.

We'll move on. we'll talk about the hockey team um actually before we talk about the hockey team i i am curious to know what sort of timeline there would be to get in a new rink the whole le breton flats thing is something i have heard about for a long time but like when is what is a realistic timeline for that to be a reality for the senators i think you're looking at five years from now that they could be playing games there like i know and you know what's really disappointing for a lot of us to live in ottawa is had the original proposal not kind of deteriorated into kind of you know lawsuit versus lawsuit uh this would have been the season that they would have

been playing games in the new downtown arena. That's the frustrating part. But it's going to be probably, if they're lucky, they get the shovels in the ground in 2024, early 2024. But I was told, listen, you probably look at three years to probably properly build this. As you know, if we're known for one thing in Ottawa, it's red tape. There's going to be some red tape around this. There's going to be some, you know, there's just going to be a lot of things to navigate here. It's not as simple as, okay, here's the plot of land, you go. The federal government, believe it or not, is actually involved in this

because they kind of own the rights to that land. So this is going to take, I think, probably from right now, I'm thinking the 2027-2028 season would feel like a safe, realistic milestone. So maybe four to five years, I'm thinking, I guess, until when we could potentially see them playing games there. Ian, where's the dynamic when it comes to the day-to-day operations and a pending sale? And I would imagine it's business

as usual for pierre dorian but is there anyone in ottawa believes that he could still uh hang around after a pending sale well i think look i think what's going to be the challenge for pierre is that if they miss the look i think if they make the playoffs and they go on some sort of, like I said, Hamburglar-esque run, I think you can make an argument that everybody deserves a chance to stay. I think you've turned the ship around. I do. But if they miss the playoffs, guys, I don't think, I think I wrote about this about six months ago,

there has never been a general manager in the salary cap era to miss the playoffs in six straight years and keep his job like it just has never happened and so uh and and then you go on then dj smith would have had four seasons uh and not making the playoffs it just feels like boy something would likely have to change on one or both of those fronts um you know right now i think it's pretty much the status quo like i'd be shocked though like i the last time I checked in with the DeBrinket camp, I got the sense that there was nothing cooking, and that was in the early part of January.

I really don't see how they could make the financial commitment to somebody like Alex DeBrinket, and you're talking probably in the $60 million range, something maybe north of that. I don't know how they could do it with the current ownership group being kind of a little bit in flux. I think that's something that you have to wait for the new owners to come in and say, yeah, we want Alex to break it.

We'll sign him to whatever, eight times eight, and off we go. So I think for the most part, the day-to-day stuff is fine. I think if they want to make little moves, that's fine. They've got a little bit of salary cap relief from the Josh Norris injury that I think they can play with a little bit here. But, yeah, I don't see them doing anything drastic and certainly not taking on any significant term or salary here in the next few weeks.

I don't think. So let me get this straight. There are people in Ottawa that think they can still make the playoffs or just you? Listen, I think, you know what, like last night's game was the great example of everybody had to go. It was the old, you know, kind of old takes exposed on Twitter because I think 57 minutes into that game, people were like,

this team is done, they've quit, this is awful. And then boom, boom, boom, three goals in the span of four minutes and they come back and win. And it's just, boy, they've just kept you hanging around. Now you're asking me personally. I don't think so. I think it's about a, they got about a four and a half. Like if you just look at statistical probabilities, it's like a 4% chance of them making the plus. I think the bigger chance for Ottawa, it's not the eight points. Like there are eight points back of Pittsburgh. That's not the problem. It's the volume of teams between them and Pittsburgh. It's Florida. It's Buffalo.

It's all these teams. The Islanders are the players tonight. If you only had to pass one team and you were eight points out, you might be able to talk me into getting on a hot streak and make it some noise. But man, I don't see it right now. I want to be wrong. I think everybody wants to be wrong. We'd love to see

another Hamburglar-esque type of run here. Again, both the goalies are out. But at this time, I don't see it right now. I want to be wrong. I think everybody wants to be wrong. We'd love to see another Hamburglar-esque type of run here with, you know, again, both the goalies are out. But at this time, I can't sit here and realistically tell you that they've got a legitimate chance of making the playoffs. So, you know, one last one for me. I want to talk about the actual team on the ice and what's gone. I don't want to say what's gone wrong, but, you know, how do you assess this season for them?

Expectations were high after a good summer. They show flashes where you're like, you can see it. I can see why this team is going to be a pain to put away, you know, why they're going to win some hockey games. How do you assess the season for the Sens on the ice? You know, it's been really inconsistent, and it's been a little bit maddening, right? They'd win five out of six, and you think, okay,

they've turned this around, and they would lose three or four in a row, and it's just kind of bit maddening, right? They'd win five out of six, and you think, okay, they've turned this around, and they would lose three or four in a row. And it's just kind of been like that all year long. What I think is really interesting, I think at the beginning of the year, I said, you know, if Ottawa could end up maybe flirting with 90 points and just staying in the playoff race, like I figured maybe the playoff cutoff would be maybe 95 points or something, 94 points at least. I said, you know, if Ottawa can finish with 90 points

and kind of be in the playoff race in March, I think we'd all call that a win. And I think what's funny is now, like, if you look at them from a – NHL 500 is 6500, but from a points percentage standpoint, they're kind of on pace for maybe, what, 86, 87 points? And now you're like, you know what? They may not end up falling that far short of the kind of realistic expectations we set.

But I think when you're coming off the summer, it was the summer of Pierre, and they added Debrinket, and they added Giroux, and they traded Talbot. They kind of did a lot of win-now moves, right? Like, you don't trade your first-round pick, seventh overall of the draft,

and be like, oh, no, just patience, everybody. No, that's a win-now move. You traded a 23-year-old goaltending prospect in Philip Gustafson for Cam Talbot, who had one year left on his deal. That's a win-now move. So I think we do kind of have to judge them a little bit on being a bit of a disappointment, because I do think the moves, despite what they said of only wanting to play playoff games,

a lot of their actions seem to dictate that they were thinking that they could legitimately be a playoff team this year. They've got such great names and players that look like they can be all-stars if not already the case with Brady Kachuk. But will the demise of this season fall on Pierre Dorian, not getting this defenseman he's been looking for, like, forever? Yeah.

Like, that's been the one thing that has been the Achilles heel, right? Like, if you had talked to people in July and said, what does this team need? You would have said, well, they still need a defenseman. And now we're having this conversation here in the middle of February, and it's, you feel like, well, he could still use another defenseman.

And that's the difficult thing. Look, Jake Sanderson, it's too bad people won't see him if they're watching or paying attention tonight or in the next week or so. He's out with an upper body injury. Guys, he has been unbelievable. And I think he was trending towards potentially – I was thinking maybe he could make some noise in the Calder race down the stretch like he was just he was playing so well and i think he's their best defenseman right now and so you know i think he's exceeded expectations i think artem zub has been really

good um you're just you're missing that one guy though in in the top four to maybe play with shabbat or to play with sanderson that's going to be the thing. And look, most people know it's hard to land a defenseman, but people will say, look, the Devils got Ryan Graves, you know, a couple of years ago, and Devon Taves went to Colorado. Like, those types of top four defensemen, John Marino moved too, they move. You just have to be willing to give up the assets, and, you know, at this stage of the game, Ottawa hasn't been willing to go there. Listen, I'm not pushing Ryan Reynolds from here on in.

If anyone is going to become an owner with no money down, it should be a guy like you, Ian. You know the community better. I don't have the equity. I don't have the equity of Ryan Reynolds. Are they in a similar tax bracket? Ian and Ryan? He wants the team for free.

Oh my gosh. Wow. You do a terrific job. You'll work harder. You'll work harder than Ryan Reynolds. I guarantee you. Oh, I appreciate it. Hey,

by the way, congratulations, Justin, on the book. I think that's, it's, it's a great story. And I,

everybody in the hockey world is really proud of you. And I'm, I'm happy to see that. But that book is out there. Uh, kind of you to say my friend. Thanks. It's a great story, and everybody in the hockey world is really proud of you, and I'm happy to see that book is out there. Kind of you to say, my friend. Thanks so much. Ian, don't be such a stranger on our show. Yeah, anytime, guys. All right. We'll talk to you soon.

Thank you. Ian Mendez, senior writer for The Athletic based in Ottawa, terrific broadcaster as well. I got to spend a lot of time with uh ian over the years here at sports net we had some fun times it's actually it's always funny when we get someone on the air who we haven't had i don't know if we've had it's crazy and we're like we've never had him what are we doing okay so he's in the loop now yeah covered lockouts with them and yeah throwing footballs on fifth avenue at three o'clock in the morning waiting for lockout news.

Oh, yeah. Let's say Fifth Avenue at 3 o'clock in the morning. Boys, if there's somehow our show's still going when the next CBA's up and there's a lockout. We're going to need a new producer. I officially quit. I'm saying that now. You're not good with the filler stuff. No, I don't want to brag, but.

Oh, boy. You're not good with the filler stuff. I don't want to brag, but Hockey Central at noon, Doug McClain and I, during the lockout, our ratings went up. That's how bad your game analysis was. They just want... They love hearing you guys yell at each other. That's electric content. Everybody wants that. It's been amateur yell at each other. That's electric content. Everybody wants that.

It's been amateur hour at its best. I tuned in. I was tuned in. That's where the bar is. I was tuned in. Big time. I was locked in. We would have to get real feisty, you and I.

I won't be here. One more on Ryan Reynolds. All right. Let's address your issues here. What is going on with the Ryan Reynolds? Pooh-Pooh and Ryan Reynolds. All right, let's address your issues here. What is going on with Pooh Pooh and Ryan Reynolds? I just don't want to overstate this whole celebrityism and people getting caught up in it. He's not your average celebrity.

Yes, he is. No, he's not. He's your run-of-the-mill celeb. That is the wrongest thing of all. No. He's just a celeb. They're all. No. He's just a celeb. They're all the same. Another celeb.

Just like Kipper, another celeb. We do not agree. Likes and thumbs ups. He is a grinding worker. You said it. How hard do you think he's going to work for the Ottawa Senators when he gets a freebie? Super hard. Okay, Ryan.

Season ticket meeting on Thursday. Super hard. Okay, Ryan. Season ticket meeting on Thursday. Be there. Why do we know what Rexum is in Wales? Why do we know about Rexum? It's a good thing for the Sens because the Sens and Rexum are about the same amount of relevance. So it's perfect. Perfect. But they've got the black and red going on.

Got the Deadpool thing there. Yeah, put your movie schedule to the side because we got a town hall meeting on friday at three o'clock i think he sold aviation gin for i don't know half a billion dollars everything he touches turns to gold rexham turns to gold mint mobile turns to gold all Everything he touches. All right. Then chip in $300 or $400 million for the Ottawa Senators. I think he might. He doesn't have it. According to celebritylistrichness.com, he's poor. This guy's looking for a freebie, okay?

Oh, that's just, come on. What are you, freebies? How much do you think he's going to put up? $20? What is the number? You seem to know. I don't seem to know, but I got to believe it's $100 million or something. Are you nuts?

$100 million? I don't know. He's playing the Ryan Reynolds card. I'm famous. I'm this. I don't need to pay. If he can elevate the value of the franchise with his celebrity, that is value to the franchise. Great.

Show me the metrics on that, Mr. Analytics. Give me some hard numbers that Ryan Reynolds gets a freebie, and I'm going to drive up this amount of money for you. Can I have those analytic numbers, please? Yeah, okay. Wrexham was worth a bowl of Cheerios, and now it's worth, I don't know. Have you seen how that franchise has done?

Yeah. I mean, it's the value that he's increased it. I can't imagine what he would do for the Senators. I would be, if I was one of these big swinging you-know-whats, I would be trying to hire him so hard. 100%. Kippers, right. I love the idea that some grumpy rich guy is like,

oh, fine, I'll build a billion and just get rid of him. Get rid of Reynolds. I would want, if I'm one of the rich guys, I want Reynolds with my bid. What do they have for season tickets there? Do we have any idea? $8,000, $9,000? I don't know.

Ryan Reynolds becomes the owner. That jumps to $12,000, $13,000. Pretty significant. I don't think so. No? No. I do. I go to Netflix and get them for free after my $15 a month.

I don't need to go spend thousands on season tickets. But don't you think a couple extra people a game are going to be there because of him? A couple extra hundred? I just think the grand recognition of the Ottawa Senators changes when someone like him is involved. I think that's fair. But I do agree with Kimper. So I'm riding the fence here, Hart. I think that's fair. But I do agree with Kipper. So I'm riding the fence here, Hart. I'm riding the fence.

According to you. Uh-oh, me? Or you. I don't care. I'm playing this side today. The Raptors would probably be out of business if it wasn't for Drake, eh? I don't think Drake hurts their value. Or their brand recognition. I don't even know if he's officially evolved anymore. Is he still the global ambassador? Is that still a thing? I don't know. hurts their value. But he has brand recognition. And I don't even know if he's officially evolved anymore.

Is he still the global ambassador? Is that still a thing? I don't know. Yeah, who knows? The globe is a world. But who did he? He was like, oh, he'll bring all these sweet free agents. And like the Raptors for agent science have literally been the worst ever for the last like 10 years.

Was that a claim? Didn't the MLSC make him this jacket that cost like $800,000? Do you remember that story? Yeah, it was like the, yeah, it had like the lined. Yeah. It was expensive. I don't know if it was $800,000,

was it solid gold? Okay, I'll Google it right now. Google it. So, do you think Drake or Ryan Reynolds has no money? It's Ryan Reynolds by 10,000 times. You think Ryan Reynolds

is richer than Drake? I do. No shot. Those streaming. No shot. No times. You think Ryan Reynolds is richer than Drake? I do. No shot. Those streaming. No shot. No shot. You guys are in your mind. I just mentioned Aviation, Gin, and everything else.

I guess OVO might be. Drake is so rich. Like the music. He's on like. He's 68 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Just Google jacket. Okay. Okay.

Raptors jacket. I already Google jacket. Okay. Okay. Raptors jacket. I already have it. It's a diamond encrusted sports jacket with an estimated $769,000. So not $800,000. You're not even right. Oh, yeah. I'm a $40,000. My theory proves that Drake actually cost the Raptors money.

Inflation. It's worth $800,000 now. No, it doesn't prove that. What do you know know what they've done for the value of the brand you want analytics i just spent 769 000 on a jacket for drake yeah well maybe that's real numbers he's brought in 7.6 billion i don't know that was just not right but you know what i mean all right this is what happens when the leafs don't play hockey we're screaming at each other about who's richer i I just put a poll online. Who has more money, Ryan Reynolds

or Drake? A poll? Yeah. It's not close to me. Drake's kicking butt. I mean, we could Google that. Was Drake net worth $260 million? That was in 2022. So let's see

what Ryan Reynolds was. That's a BS number. It's all BS numbers. I think they said Ryan Reynolds was $150. He let's see what Ryan Reynolds was. That's a BS number. It's all BS numbers. I think they said Ryan Reynolds was 150. He sold the company for 400. Well, Ryan Reynolds is 150 according to the Googler. And Drake, according to the same machine, is 260. So therefore richer. I think he got a percentage of the gin sale.

He's like a spokesperson for the next 10 years. And his profits or his pay is tied to profits and stuff like that. Okay, okay, okay. Interesting. I'd be making him stroke a check if I want to come in and play with the big boys. Well, he's not coming in for no money.

Well, don't be pulling out the pockets like they're rabbit ears either. I don't think he will. I am now, I'm fascinated to see. I also can't believe I ever dug in on being like such a pro any celebrity. It's not really a distasteful thing. All right, let's move on. Just admit that he's a run-of-the-mill celeb.

No, never. They're all the same guy. Nope. Okay. All right. I ditch Ryan and go get The Rock then. Agreed. If you want to go big, go get The Rock.

That's a good idea. But he's a Leafs guy. He's a Leafs guy now. He he says let's go maple leafs or whatever he's chanting it turns out let's go i think i'm like way off too busy with some sort of like cfl xfl knockoff now or something like that the rock no i thought he did he didn't he what boys we got to get the show back this is not off the rails friday boys tuesday's a work day okay where do we go we go to uh the show back on. This is not off the rails Friday, boys. Tuesday's a work day. Okay, where do we go? We go to Alex Ovechkin going back to Russia,

a family situation with his dad. I think that's out there. Is that what it is? Yeah. I mean, I know he's going back to Russia, a new family. We just had Ian Mendez talking about some believers, maybe in Ottawa, still being in it uh eight points behind the teams they got to jump up but is is there something to be said about like ottawa or florida

that you're watching pittsburgh and washington and going yeah like they're not exactly running away with the the wild card spots here. Why wouldn't we hang in here? And now that Ovechkin's out of the lineup, and let's be honest here, he's not day-to-day. He's not coming back in three or four days here. You go to Russia, you got issues with your family. There's travel issues issues there's how to

get in there how to get it's not easy anymore he could be gone for a couple of weeks yeah well it's interesting so washington and pittsburgh are at 62 and 61 points behind them i mean florida's at 60 islanders 60 buffalo 56 detroit 56 i mean ottawa just behind that like there's a whole cluster of teams that if anyone gets hot the playoffs are not out of the question not to mention the capitals have played 55 games that's three more than detroit buffalo like the five games and you're looking at future games without ovechkin and we've talked earlier on this show about john carlson out of the lineup yeah and like who's now your number one power play guy it's the guy that killed the leafs there uh gustafson yeah that's right and orlov that's

your number one and your number two power play guys now caps in trouble caps in real trouble so we'll be curious to see when he comes back because they're, you know, we had Florida out of the playoffs pretty early. But, you know, they are 6-3-1 in their last 10. They're sniffing around there. Tom Wilson skated today but isn't expected to be in the lineup till the weekend. I guess that's a help for sure. But no Ovi for the next little while. Yeah.

Here's a quiz for you. Did you know who's playing in an outdoor game this weekend? No. Oh, yes, Carolina. Carolina. And? Washington? Yes.

All right. Yeah, there's an outdoor game. I just wanted to bring that to your attention. No, I know. It's like a stadium series. Like, I saw some pictures of what it's supposed to look like. And I was like, when, what year is that? Where is it played?

In Carolina. Which, what's the weather like in Carolina? It's 10 degrees here, Celsius. I would think it's not hot there. It's not like 80. Your daughter's there. Isn't she in like 15 degrees this time of year? South Carolina.

South Carolina? Is there a difference? Okay. And I think it's cold down there too. Okay. Cold and relatively speaking, like maybe 10, 11, 12 degrees. In Charlotte, North Carolina,

it is 19 degrees and sunny today. Have fun, Dan Craig. They're swimming. They're swimming. They're actually going to have a swim competition. Who wouldn't tune in to watch Carolina try to out swim them? islanders tonight against ottawa so that's one of those games where i'm not going to say must win but you cannot think that you

can make progress even if you're the islanders without taking two points tonight islanders are hanging on by a thread hanging on by a thread here this is must win for them this is actually a huge game for both teams ottawa's at that point where pretty dead you know the he mentioned ian mentioned the hamburglar-esque run they need something like that they can lost tonight pretty much does it but yeah islanders got to get this one tonight florida's the closest right now, are they not? Yeah. And there's still, there's not a real sense that this is now the team that's found its way since winning the President's Trophy last year.

No, but you do feel like if they got into the playoffs, they're real. Dangerous? Yeah. Like they have goalies who have gotten hot at times they have you know barkov and kachuk and they got guys like they're i don't think i don't think carolina wants to see them them and you know in the first wild card no carolina's banking on getting the islanders or the sabers or pittsburgh or washington limping in i'm actually looking at the standing it's going to be a pretty fascinating finish

for the Eastern Conference in terms of the bottom of it. Last year it wasn't. No, it was decided, remember? It was like the eight teams were in, basically, from the start. Islanders were ninth and out of playoffs by like 10 points or something. It wasn't particularly compelling. So who's in it right now in the East? You just say 100% this is going to go down to the wire,

which you're feeling like uh and you think buffalo and islanders in florida will all remain into playoff contention right to the end uh i could see i don't want to say this about my sabers but i could see them fade they've lost three in a row now uh after getting they were within a couple points they've lost three in a row now they're you know five points back and do we we put Detroit in there too because they're tied with Buffalo, are they not? Yeah, give them a little love here. They've won three in a row.

They've won three in a row. It's going to come down to Florida, Pittsburgh, Washington, and the Islanders probably. I think Buffalo can work their way into that. So Calgary has a huge comeback the uh a few games ago against buffalo and that's a feel good and then they give it all back last night against ottawa there is go ahead no team i know less about than the calgary flames in terms of just like are they good or not because i think you know like i like their roster and i bet on them and then they lose

and then i'm like here they come and then they're bad and then i'm finally like they're bad and they win they can't miss the playoffs can they the calgary flames oh yeah they can right now they're on the outside looking in calgary has a huge company just random what was that was that me was that who was that that was two seconds ago but yeah no, no, they're in, Sam, but they've got three more games played than Colorado and one more point. So they're out by points percentage.

That's scary. Yeah. Markov isn't doing the goalie union. Markstrom? Markstrom, sorry. You're good. Markstrom is not doing anything for the goalie union to believe that they deserve long-term contracts i know you don't

want to give anyone a long-term contract it's terrifying what are your thoughts not to change that subject but on vancouver uh post talk it so they were on video doing the army crawl through the neutral zone they got shelled by det, trading away Horvat. It's like any other scenario. It doesn't matter. You don't like what you see when you come in. You assess it, and you strip it down, and you build it back up the way you want to,

and the army crawl is just part of the process. We used to do that in junior with our, like, you know. I think it's a real junior move. Kind of. No, but it's like i think the idea is like we're gonna put the boys through the paces we're gonna work we're gonna you know it's it's a work ethic thing i don't think it's about this is gonna make our team better it's a mindset thing right that we're committing to the physical element of it and i'm a new coach boudreaux's those boys didn't do any army crawls at bruce how much do you think is optics because i look at the

army crawl and i could easily make them do planks in the weight room sure without the cameras yes i don't know that 100 i don't though i don't think that it's for the media i think it's for the players just again a mindset thing where it's like i am the hard nose coach we are doing hard things i don't care if you think they're stupid this is like the way we're going to do it and i don't know if that's i don't think it's for the media but you think part of that is i i'm just yeah there has to be a an element of that i think for sure for anybody that any time that you, down and backs, yelling. Thanks for the plug there. There you go.

That's where it came from, down and back. Down and backs. Yeah. Army crawls. Yelling at the players in practice. Banging a stick against the boards. Bruce Boudreaux said yesterday, the days of no pucks are gone. And Rick Talkett was like, are they?

Are you sure? So apparently there's a bit of a disagreement at practice today with the Canucks too. Quinn Hughes and Dakota Joshua apparently got into a spirited shoving match during a battle drill. Connor Garland involved too, if I could speak. And Hughes was very visibly upset, according to Brandon Batchelor.

You know who loved that? Rick Tockett. I would too if I was Canucks fan. I used to see somebody pissed off. Very common when things are really ugly on a hockey club is to pin them against themselves in practice. Yeah, and you do some physical battle drills and you

say, this is not okay. We're trying to raise the temperature and intensity of the group. Kipper, you ever fight anybody in practice? Nothing that stands out. Two practice fights. For sure. Gloves off? Flippers gone? No, more wrestling

and rabid punches. Mine actually were both college hockey, so helmets eventually came off, but you start off just with whatever and it escalates. Spirits, slash. Yeah. You know what it was for me?

Is that, you know, I would be at net front and taking like shots from our D-man. What the hell are you doing, man? Yeah, like we're, same team. I get it. You're a tough guy, but like not now. Please. Yeah.

Oh, one practice. I lost my bearings and I ran the out of out of Mike Lute. He went down like a ton of bricks. How are you going to do that with 10 seconds left in the show? And then he had the big stick with the Billy Smith slash. All right, we're back tomorrow. See you, everybody.