(upbeat music) - Good morning, Joe! It's 4.5.9 in the band, man. And it's Brett Gutting. Good morning to you, Brent. - And good morning to you, Ben. - It's Tuesday. - Yeah, man, you're on fire. It is a good morning, it is Tuesday. - It's March 12th. Man, do you know what else today is? - Uh, no. - Oh, well, I have an answer, but I don't think it's where you're gonna go, so I'll just keep that in the holster. - What were you gonna say? - Oh, just yet another day that the Toronto Maple Leafs don't play hockey. - God, you're right, you should have kept that holster. - I offered to, and you're like, "No, I achieved your blade." - And I did, and you're like, "Oh, God, put it away." - But once you say, "I could say a thing," like everybody knows, then the thing is eventually gonna be said. So just get it out of the way. And thank goodness you did. Get it out of the way. Now, today's the first day of my golf season. I think I'm gonna play outdoor golf in the world today. - Good for you. Good for you at your wonderful, wonderful course that you've taken me out to a few times. - Yeah, yeah. - They're like open all year round, right? Like, well, so they're not. It's one of these where, like, it's a semi-private, but not really. It's like a public course. Like, you can pay-- - You just say that because you-- - To have unlimited golf. - You just say that 'cause you don't want people to think your country club then, let's be honest. - Well, no, I've been country club then. - Yeah, no. - And then they just bulldozed my golf course. - They just, they turned it into a parking lot. - I didn't think-- - Pay paradise. - I didn't think you and your father would ever recover, but here you are. - Yeah, so, yeah, no, I've been the country club guy. This is a different deal, and more than happy to play the golf course that's less than 10 minutes away from my house, but yeah, no, it is one of those golf courses that I know people that have played at this golf course and know free ads. So I won't even mention the name of the golf course. It's in Oakville, bordering on Burlington. But I know people that have made a point because they only close when they're absolutely forced in a minute, they've played in each of the 12 months during the calendar year, didn't quite get to that spot this year, but yeah, I'm surprised it took this long to open, to be honest with you. And the ground is gonna be mushy. - Yeah, for sure. - Not a lot of roll today, I'm thinking. - No, lift clean in place. I will just put that in place if it's not there for you. It's funny, there is a course that I like to refer to and it's 'cause it's true as three turns and six minutes away from my house, no free ads. I'll tell you about it later. But they've been open as well. And I am, I'm very bad at like pulling the trigger on things I want to do just 'cause I'm lazy. And just about every day that it's been anywhere approaching 10 degrees, I've been thinking, could just take a six minute drive and do a thing I love to do, but inertia, it's a powerful thing. And I can't get her going, so. - Or lack thereof. - Or lack thereof. - It's hard to move a stationary stone. - A boy and I have a stationary as it gets these days. You might have spurned me to action, I might go. - Do you wanna play it with me today? 'Cause I haven't nothing's written in stone yet. Okay, wow, all right, well, you don't have to answer. - No, it's not that, I just, I'm not in the golf brain of like, yes, absolutely. 'Cause in the summer, there's not even a half second thought of that. - Right, I don't know if you look at the forecast today. Like it's gonna be 15 degrees. - Yeah, today and tomorrow. All right, okay, put that in your brain. - Well, okay, now, I was supposed to do a show for three hours just sitting here, hugging and hauling, but wanting to play golf? - No, okay, so today, okay, that's what I'm gonna do. Today, the Raptors are gonna bask in the glory of coming oh, so close. - No, no, don't say it that way. That was the moralist of victories yesterday. - And I have no problem with it. - No. - Because not only do you not have Scotty Barnes, Jakub Hurdle, seemingly for the rest of the season, although that hasn't, why just officialize, okay? This guy said surgeries, teams going nowhere. Obviously, they're done. - Half the team looking like they're about to strut the runways of Milan. Gary Tren Jr. just on the sideline yesterday looking. - Yeah. - Just a wrist blend that's going on, honestly. - It's not just that all the buttons were undone. It was like the, what was going on with the buttons? They were like different styles. They were like big buttons. It was like almost like in your face that they were not done up. You're like the buttons like that. You got to do them up. - Here's what it was. - No, thank you. - No, thank you. - You and I could not pull off is what it is. But yeah, it is just, it's always funny to me at this time of the year. And you know, for a team in the position the Raptors are in to look down at the end of the bench and just see the entirety of the team in street club. Just got quickly down there and Barnes and Purdle and yeah. - Yeah, no manual quickly, no Gary Tren Jr., no Chris Boucher who suffered a porn, partially torn ACL and he's not going to have surgery and he hasn't been ruled out for the rest of the season either. But yeah, none of those guys are all on the stand still of who will be the first to get ruled out for the rest of the season. - Right. - Then once won Domino Falls. - So, and RJ Barrett was coming off a miss game as well but he was back in that like this is, it's the walking wounded for a team that obviously yeah has not racked up the wins recently. Kudos to them though, at altitude against the champs and part of this must have been and clearly the way the Nuggets erased the 20 point deficit almost by the start of the fourth quarter was only down to five when it was 20 to start the third quarter or midway through the third quarter that immediately upon the reinsertion of Nikola Jokic at the end of the game was well, you know, that guy, you can't stop. You have no, you have no defense for that guy. - And then teams can't so. - Man, I meant to check the in game live line on that thing when they were down 20. It was a comeback that we all saw coming. But honestly, yeah, you talk about it being a moral victory. I'm all about moral victories for this team at this point of the season in this point in their development with this number of guys out and it's, we're still, we're in the process of evaluating the next group of Raptors but we're also in the process of evaluating the head coach. This to me is important that Darko Roy Akovich hasn't lost these guys that he's still got them playing hard in difficult circumstances in a game that they have no business even being a part of. - Yeah, no, you're right. I think a lot of that is spurned on by the fact that so many of these players have so much to play for and it's not team success. It is complete individual set yourself up for the rest of the season, for the rest of next year, for the rest of your career. You mentioned just the influx of bodies in the lineup and who was there, my favorite stat, longest tenured Raptor in the starting lineup last night, Grady Dick, who was drafted last summer. That dad puts everything in perspective but I think that if honestly what a, and not to say you would have expected as much fight as you saw last night but what a giant red flag it would be for Coach Darko if you couldn't get that group of guys who have the, they would never expect an opportunity collectively like this. I mean, okay, Kelly, Ilinic, RJ Barrett, those guys are gonna get their minutes but just about everybody else who got some run last night should not be expecting to get that much run on this team. Just look at all the different bodies that weren't there. So I look at that and I say, yeah, you do have to tip your cap a little bit to Coach Darko. The other thing I liked about it last night was it was a return to just getting to be a dumb sports fan for two hours. Dan Soder's good comedian is a great bit about how he wishes he was the right kind of dumb where he walks in a room and sees like the Fast and Furious trailer and is like, what? - Yeah. - They can go faster. - Yeah. - And so often in sports you get bogged down about, well, what is this gonna do to the protections on the pick? And what does it mean if we could convert this first round or into two second round and it was just nice to just click, turn all that off for one night. The Raptors are in a fist fight with the champs. They have no business being here. RJ Barrett's showing flashes. Grady Diggs got seven assists. He's making half his threes. Like it was just nice to be able to enjoy the game as a sports fan without thinking about the future machinations and what it means. And so often, especially in this league specifically, we got bogged down into tanking and every win for a team that's supposed to be losing is catastrophic. And just, they perfectly threaded the needle last night. They lost, it was a good game. It was entertainment when I should have been going to bed and it kept me up. So just honestly kudos to you Raptors. - No, it's actually a really good point. I don't know why I threw the actually in there. That sounds awful. - That really does. - It's a try again. - It was a good point. - Thank you. - Because yeah, I'm sure there is a correct take on the, hey, would you rather have your first round pick this year or next year? I'm no draft guru and it seems, I mean, depending on what this off season holds as far as this team adding pieces with the intention of winning and maybe controlling their first round pick or not impacts the decision-making that happens in this off season, I kinda, you know, I'm like a Messiah Jerry when all those trades were consummated before the trade deadline that hey, we're not gonna force it one way or the other. We're just gonna let the chips fall where they may. I'm not even thinking about the first round pick and whether it finishes top six or outside of the top six and they give it to the San Antonio Spurs because it's about a 50/50 proposition anyways. Like it's not like they're going to fall so precipitously that it's like clearly going to be their fact. The lottery balls are gonna determine whether they have their first round pick or not. So yeah, it's just about, hey man, that would have been a cool victory in Grange, you know, try to make that- - I missed it, what did he say? - He tried to make the comparison to that Raptors team that knocked off the 72-win Bulls team at Skydome and it wouldn't have quite been that, but I guess close enough. - I think San Nicolas is as good as Michael Jordan. Wow, what a take. - I don't know, Jordan never stuffed the box score like Yokech is capable of doing. - I don't think many people have picked up triple doubles with the regularity that he has in the history. - Jordan was like an all-time defensive player. - Yeah, yeah. - Okay, anyway. - Yeah, yeah. - But no, you're right now. - No, if you want to do LeBron, Jordan, no, I'm joking. I really joke about that. - But yeah, it's a great point that there is not even like an Iota of my brain that thought about, "Hey, but you can't win this game?" - No, like, no, yeah, you just, "Hey, it would be cool to see a ragtag bunch of raptors win some games down the stretch." - Well, that's what they are, right? Like even watching that game, you're not, and I don't, I'm not gonna say this is like a conscious thought exercise I have when I'm watching these games, but even without Scotty Barnes being there, it's just, and quickly for that matter, all right, cool. Who cares what happens? Like, yeah, like RJ to get some shots and like Grady Dick to look a little more confident. Yeah, like Kelly Olinik rolling around out there, but there's nothing you need to happen every single night to see the development. Like even we've had this in the past with Scotty Barnes where you're on a death march and you're going, "Okay, it's all about watching you." And every single play, every single possession you have takes on this outside's importance because I'm not watching the raptors play. I'm watching Scotty Barnes play, and now you remove him and remove quickly and, you know, purdle removes the, or takes away the idea that you've built this team with your center in place. You want to know they have Olinik, so it kind of changes things there, but you just remove so many parameters of what it is. Now, also I should throw in the caveat that most nights you don't enjoy it. It's a slog a lot of nights to watch the raptors group that doesn't have, you know, most of their best players, but on a one-off like that, you have to have to enjoy it. And again, I don't think it can be overstated how good it is for Grady Dick to get reps in a stress-free environment. It's like there is nothing but safety under the tight rope that he's trying to walk of being basically the second scoring option for this team right now with all the bodies out. - Yeah, night and day, the way Grady Dick looks now as opposed to early in the season, we're like, "Oh, well, we're on bust watch for Grady Dick." And it wasn't just the shot, it wasn't falling. It was like, the confidence started to waver. This is a guy that is not afraid to pull up from deep three in yesterday's game, finished seven to 12 with 17 points, seven assists as well. And RJ Barrett, remember the toxic contract that he had attached to him when he arrived from the New York Knicks? I think we're moving closer and closer to that being not just a neutral asset, but like a positive one because all the numbers, including field goal percentage, points per game, I mean, had a career high nine assists yesterday, the three-point shooting still there, the free throw shooting, I mean, being five and five yesterday is kind of the outlier since he arrived, that's the one part of his game that you're like, "Oh, where's that?" But no, RJ Barrett continues to look like, not just like a piece you had to absorb to get a manual quickly, but yeah, like increasingly so, more a part of this team's future and how far it's gonna go in the future. - For sure, and when you talk about Barrett, it's always gonna be something, especially here, that the passport is gonna be tied to it. Alvin talked about this on the broadcast last night, and it was kind of, you know, I think we sometimes take it for granted now 'cause we don't have it penciled on the calendar when they're playing a great Canadian, 'cause guess what, they're playing a good to great Canadian, I won't say more nights than not, but it's far from a rarity. When you come across as stud Canadian in the league, see with SGA, see with Jamal Murray, go down the list, the Pacers with Matherin and guys like that. So I think you see it last night, and I just don't wanna take for granted how cool it was to, like no one's gonna ever say that Nikolai Yokoch isn't the best player in that game or just about any game he plays in, but to see two Canadians going head to head, these are guys who are going to, you know, they haven't really had the moments to share together because of Jamal Murray's injuries and contract stuff each way, it was just kinda cool to see them kinda going toe to toe and they weren't guarding one another, but that's fine. Like it was just we sometimes take these moments for granted now as Canadian basketball fans because they're, they happen so often, but you had three, you had three fifths of your potential starting lineup out there for your Olympic team at times in that game and the other team out there was the defending NBA champs. Like I just think sometimes the obvious thing doesn't get stated in that way and I was at the album brought it up last night. So it's cool to see. - Yeah, we're good at basketball in this country. - And like allegedly, I still need to, we need to like, no, no, like we did the bronze thing, but you need to show up in a tournament with all the guys. Like it has been continued to be the promise, the promise, the promise, the promise. - I mean, yeah, you're gonna blame Jamal Murray after his championship run, not being there at the FIBA World Cup. - I didn't say blame. I said, we need to put all the pieces together and see it. - That was a great, that was a great FIBA World Cup run. - It was, but there were pieces missing to that roster that you wanna see. And we've never got to see Andrew Wiggins as part of this thing anymore. - Okay, peace. There was peace. Jamal Murray, I'd like to see him out there. - You will this summer. - I know. - I can almost guarantee it. - I can guarantee it because, oh, you know what? I don't think we ever actually mentioned this with Kelly on Linux signed. That is now seven of like the lock loaded core NBA players for Canada basketball all under contract for next year. So we don't need to worry about any contract shenanigans. Although I don't know that it would ever come to this, but I'm pretty sure Kelly Olinik might give up his contract if it came to that play for Canada at the Olympics. - Yeah, nothing stopping him. - No, no. And SGA and Jamal Murray, you think you're gonna be playing deep into the spring and the summer. Anyways, fun, out of nowhere game for the Raptors yesterday. - Here's one more question for you on that. Over under two and a half. Do we get more of those this year? - I just like, wow, no, I haven't either. That's the thing though. It's just the schedule doesn't matter. It's a Raptors team that over. - I mean, there's so many more games to play here. - Okay. - Yeah, no, you're gonna get. - And not at least three, no, you're basically asking, are there three more entertaining games before the end of the season? - But it's not, okay, here's the thing though. That's the difference, right? Is that it's not just that it was-- - But it was 17 games to go. - It's not just that it was entered. If they have that exact same game against the Hawks, we're sitting here going, all right. - Cool, thumbs up, good job. But because it's the nuggets, there's some element to that. So I don't know, just, I don't ask that to get an answer out of you. I ask that to put it in perspective and cherish what last night was because you know that we're getting a ton more of those. - Yeah, well, I mean, that's obviously the end of their series against the defending chance. We got one game in Milwaukee in early April where the Bucks are certainly gonna be looking ahead to the postseason. Could that be one where you sneak up on them? - Maybe. - You got a Knicks game, although the Knicks are gonna try and re-establish what they had with OGN and Obie back in the lineup. But he's due to return for them. You got a Thunder game. No, there's ample opportunity for the Raptors to provide the type of entertainment they provided. - I'd like to see it. - You have to wait a couple more days for the Maple Leafs to provide you with any level of entertainment. They had their first practice since the trade deadline yesterday, of course, played on Saturday, had the day off Sunday yesterday, first practice. Nick Robertson called back up. No corresponding move yet. Doesn't seem like cap wise. They're gonna be capable of keeping them on the roster. There was some confusion about that online, anyways. - Well, part of the, again, the confusion continues Rover to this part of the studio and the microphone regarding the cap. My understanding is part of the decisions they made at the deadline was we can keep three goalies. We can keep Connor Timmons, maybe Nick Robertson's part of that. So I think that was part of the retention. Like we all talked about the retention on all the guys and that's coming to another move. It also meant they can do what they want without having to worry about those guys. - Well, one or the other, right? Like they didn't fill it up by acquiring another player. So bonus time. Like I don't, yeah, I don't think that what I kept him from a Thomas Hurdle deal. It's like, no, we got to keep Martin Jones. We can't fit in. - They came one starter, they were wrong. That was in the before times. - But again, I'm sticking to that technique. - I've actually, I think I bore Bullish out of it now. It's like, I still am up the opinions. Like, I don't know, those goalies in the NHL man. I'm not saying it can't happen. - Yeah, no, that Ilya Sampson offered Joe Wall couldn't suffer some injury here down the stretch or, yeah, lack of performance. - Matt Murray might be involved in the discussion. - Anyways, Nick Robertson called back up. Although not skating on a normal line. He's one of the black aces yesterday. - And he, it's actually nice of you to call him that because we just call them extra bodies in the regular season. Black aces like playoff, but they like that. It's like, he feels important enough to get that. That's nice of you. - Sure. Well, is he one and two? Did he leave so many things? Like, it's not that he, he, and he was told explicitly when he was the extra body sent overboard when Callie Arnkrock returned that, hey, this is not performance related. This is just your, for lack of a better term, I mean, we don't call these guys optionable players in National Hockey League, but Waver's exempt. - Exempt, there you go. - Optionable sounds better though, honestly. - I agree. - Shocker. - Oh, because it's a baseball term? - Well, no, just like I, it's-- - Waver's exempt. - It's the term I've grew, I've most grown up comfortable with hearing, so yeah. - Shocker, I think it sounds better. - This has been semantics with Ben and Brad. - Yeah, so he was, it wasn't like deserving necessarily of being sent down. Wasn't a guy that you're like, well, how can you play another hockey game with Nick Robertson? But yes, he was told that it was for non-performance related reasons that he was sent to the Marlies. Call it back up at their earliest convenience to practice with the big club yesterday, although he's, doesn't look like he's gonna play on Thursday's game, although it also looks like Mitch Marner is gonna continue to, well, he's gonna be out of the lineup for Thursday's game. They call it day to day, but unlikely to play against the Flyers on Thursday. Leaves old Nick Robertson, anything like this. Nick Robertson, you know, now that the dust has settled, now that we know this is the team going forward, what does Nick Robertson's role on this team and do they owe him anything? Because at times you're like, oh, at least that, that's the guy that is capable of scoring for a team that at the worst times during the postseason has shown no ability to get any depth scoring outside of its top two lines. - Quickly, no, he has not owed a thing. - I can understand the frustration the player has. I mean, let's hop in the time machine here. You know, we all make choices in life and we all have to live with them. But this is a player who for went the opportunity to play his last year of the world juniors in a pandemic in a tournament that the United States eventually ended up winning golden. So he could be skating and working in Toronto and working with the Leafs trying to get there. And this is a player who I actually think has made a lot of positive strides in what he is. He's never gonna be the most well-rounded player in the world, but he is showing a determination and an ability to work this year that I don't know that we've seen from him in the past. And more importantly, it's been slightly more consistent than we've seen. So I can understand the frustration from the player, but they don't owe him a thing. This is part of the benefit of having a new boss up top. If this was Kyle Dubas, and I know people and they're not wrong to think this, think he is loyal to a fault Kyle Dubas, we've seen this move in the past with him. You know, Travis Dermott is maybe the best recent example where he says, all right, just not working here. Would we like to have you as the seventh or eighth defenseman on a team in case somebody gets hurt? Yeah, we would. But we're gonna give you a new lease on life. Good luck and guess what? It's kind of gone exactly how you would expect for Travis Dermott since he left here. But I think part of the benefit of having a new GM is he doesn't feel beholden to Nick Robertson to say, I gotta give him a fresh chance. Now, I think that this summer when he's a restricted free agent and you reassess all these things, do you find him a home if there's not a spot for him here? Yeah, I think that's entirely possible. But do they owe him anything this year? No, this is what happens when you're a fringy player on the roster, I'm sorry. You know, have you beat out Noah Gregor? Do I think that there is a world where Nick Robertson's a better player on this team than Noah Gregor? Yeah, but honestly, when we start doing the math on the forwards, he's kind of the only one. Ryan Reeves is Nick Robertson gonna help you more than him? Sure, but it's apples to cranes, to the comparison to what those guys do. Mechanical cranes are like the animal. Either or, which one is farther from apples because that's what I'm trying to drive home with this point here. I think the mechanical one. I think so as well. One made of metal. There you go, so that's the one I'm talking about. But David Camp, completely different role. Bobby McMahon, he's shooting in the net all the time and that's supposed to be what Nick Robertson's doing. I think that's the last part of it as well, is that the guy who's taken the spot has been McMahon. That should have been his spot. And who would you rather have on the forecheck? Bobby McMahon or Nick Robertson? It's not even close. So that is my very long-winded way to say no. They don't own a thing. They don't, but I will say, and you know, again, he was told not demoted for performance-related reasons. Here are the top five Toronto Maple Leafs in goals per 60 minutes at five on five this season, right? Number one, you're never gonna believe this. Austin Matthews, obviously. No, but he's not even on pace for 70. I've been told these things. Number two, William Neelander. Number three, Mitch Marner. Number four, Bobby McMahon. Number five, Nick Robertson. Yep, Nick Robertson, ahead of Matthew Nis, who's played basically the entire season with Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner, ahead of Kelly Arnkrock, ahead of John Tavares, ahead of Max Domi, ahead of Tyler Bertuzzi, ahead of just about everybody else that's going to be, it's slam dunk, no doubt about it. Part of this roster for game one of the post-season. Now, yeah, like I said, who would you rather have in the four check? Bobby McMahon or Nick Robertson, there's just no debate about it. I'd actually also rather have the ghost of Bobby McMahon, like if something unfortunate were to happen to him, I'd actually think that would be more effective than Nick Robertson. But Nick, I mean, is anyone surprised? Like Nick Robertson, his one job is to put the puck in the back of the net, and you can make the case that he's doing that, while the raw totals are not there. Given the limited sample that he's played all season long, it's actually going in the back of the net for him. I mean, I would say that that's just a good thing to have in your back pocket, if in case you need it or an injury arises. But yes, he is not exceeding expectations, he's living up to expectations this season. Here's the thing that I think would frustrate me the most if I'm Nick Robertson is, you know, I think truth serum time, sorry. Sodium Penthefall time, he looks himself in the mirror and says, you know what, like push comes to shove, I get it. I am not the best third or fourth line option for this team. Everything Ben just said is true, and I need that guy to say that more often into a mic to remind everyone how good I am at shooting the puck in the net. I think the thing that would frustrate me is that if Mitch Marner is gonna miss a consecutive, or second consecutive game, if a skilly winger is on the right side is gonna miss time and you still can't crack the lineup, then I don't know what the roadmap is for you because that's the case that you would make for Nick Robertson is, okay, you know what, Marner's out, you've liked the way the three lines are rolling, is Robertson and Nick Marner close to the same player? No, they're completely opposite of one another. One loves to pass, one loves to shoot, one's wiry, one's kind of stocky, like they're very, very polar opposite of one another. But that's supposed to be the roadmap to him being able to get back in. Now I suppose you can make the argument that his game is more of a closer, comparable to a kneelander, again, miles between the players than it is a Marner, but that would be the thing that would drive me absolutely not to if I was Nick Robertson, is that hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm a skill guy, you're missing a skill guy, put me in the lineup. Problem is, Kelly Yarnkrock is just better, like he also puts the puck in the back of the net and who would I rather have on the forecheck, or in the 200 foot of ice that's available to you, Kelly Yarnkrock or Nick Robertson. - Well, and I also, I agreed, not even close. I also wonder if kneelander, again, let's just go on the assumption that Marner is gonna miss the next game. If kneelander, Matthews and Bertuzzi had worked better, then you could say, okay, Max Domi, Nick Robertson, I know we've tried this, but that, maybe go back to that as a more confident version of Max Domi, but because kneelander and Matthews and Bertuzzi were just, quite frankly, so god awful in that game on Saturday night, I don't know that you're clamoring to go back to that as your top lane. - Well, they were skating again at the top line yesterday, so we'll see if that changes before Thursday, but again, it looks like Mitch Marner's gonna be out. So we'll do a couple of these things that you're most interested in, the final 18 games here. I think we're probably gonna come around to revisit them at seven o'clock, but yeah, 18 games to go. Leafs pretty cemented into the top three in the Atlantic Division, probably not gonna finish top two, although the Bruins lost in regulation, and now it's like three games in hand, and like, man, you squandered and you can still see it, and not that it's the most important thing in the world. The Bruins and Panthers still yet to be decided who finishes a top, the Atlantic should be also stated, but largely, wins and losses are not the most important thing, I don't think, for this Leafs team going forward, not the anti-raptors. Yeah, that being said, Brent, what are the things that you're most interested in these final 18 games? This is like more of a hipster one, 'cause we're gonna do this later on, so I don't wanna give my absolute best one off the hoppier, but is David Camp gonna be something? What are we gonna get out of David Camp? We've talked a lot about the three lines, and maybe they're going away from that a little more. The only way they can go away from the dummy Matthews Tavares down the middle, one, two, three, is if David Camp is gonna be what the best version of him has been in his time in Toronto here, and the best version of that guy in his time in Toronto here has been exactly what you want as your 3C, a lockdown center who plays responsibly, who can win big, big draws, and this part can't be overstated, or sorry, it cannot be overlooked. He is not a good offensive player, but he is more comfortable playing with skill guys than we sometimes give him credit for. He will chip in the odd goal for you here or there. If you were gonna get playoff performer, third line center, David Camp, I'm not gonna say it completely changes things for this team, but it gives you a much, much, much different look up front. - Yeah, it's hard to view that line as anything, but a punt line, but if they're deployed at the rate at which they were on Saturday, where it's like 80%, like defensive zone draw starts, and they're driving play, like they're getting out of their own zone, and they have the majority of shot attempts. And you can live with that. And I'm of the belief that Bobby, like there's something there offensively with Bobby McMahon. Maybe this is actually a better spot for Matthew Nye's, where the pressure's off, being the third wheel next to those two great players. - Yeah, I still think that you have to think about creating offense outside of this, the top line when it comes to the postseason, because it's just, it's been the issue for this league team in the postseason. It's scoring goals. It's not having goals scored against you necessarily. It's scoring goals, even in that Panther series. And part of that was running into a hot goal tender that led the Panthers all the way to the Cup final, but- - Guess what? - You're gonna run into one at some point this play. - Yeah, everybody has good goal these now. - If your playoff goes well, you're gonna run into a guy who's hot as a blazing pistol. There's like a good 50s turban for you. - All right, I'll do one before we take the break here. The penalty kill. Okay, and that's, I guess maybe one of the obvious ones, but it's 11th worst. - No, just 'cause it's obvious doesn't mean you shouldn't state it. - It's 11th worst in the NHL right now. It was a clear point of, it was a clear target point when Brad's were living, went into the market before the trade deadline was to get the crop top kid. - You get to get penalty killers. And that's what he did, right? And they're not, you know, we're not talking about needle movers in the three players acquired, but killing penalties is part of their arsenal. What I think hasn't been discussed enough in thinking about how special teams might play out for this Leafs team, is that, okay, not only have they failed to kill penalties at a good enough rate during the regular season, and at this point, no Eastern Conference playoff team has a worse penalty kill than the Toronto Maple Leafs. But while you and I believe that Max Domi and Tyler Burtuzzi, their best moments are going to come in the postseason, those guys might take some penalties. Joel Edmondson, you don't think is gonna, you know, break his stick over somebody's back and end up in the box for two minutes? And then that would be Jersey to get penalized for it now. And that would be bad because he's a guy that you're gonna be counting on to kill some of those penalties. But no, part of what Brad's were living attempted to get in acquiring snot before the season, and then again at the trade deadline is guys that are gonna elevate their game emotionally come the postseason. Jake McCabe fits this mold as well. But a couple of guys that, you know, they're gonna test the limits of what's being adjudicated during the postseason, which you want. But that's gonna mean that you're gonna take some penalties, I think. And if you can't kill them off, it's going to kill that part of your game. Like how aggressive can you be if you're a Max Domi or Tyler Burtuzzi, when you know if I get called for this borderline play, that could be curtains for me and this team. - Well, and the penalty thing in the playoffs is always so interesting, right? Because, you know, I know you've had these conversations as well. The idea of is the thing that holds the Leafs back from getting more power play opportunities, the fact that they play a relatively clean game. And I'm not gonna say sitting here and taking penalties as a recipe to success, 'cause guess what? The power play has also gone ice cold at the time. So in the postseason for this team, but that's the part of this, I'm curious to see how it plays out is, you know, not that last year's final iteration, what started out as the Leafs team is different, but not that last year's final iteration of the Leafs team didn't have some snarl, didn't have some bite with Shen and O'Reilly and Achari and guys like that. But there seems to be just a little bit more of that nastiness up and down the line up and I wonder how that will all shake itself out. But yeah, I'm happy you bring up the penalty kill because, well, I'll save the power ranking of things that could be their undoing, but scary high on that list for me, for sure. - Oh, yeah, and especially if it's a Bruins team that they're facing first round again, because go back to 2019 and the myriad of power play goals that they scored in that series, I believe it was seven. - And the Bruins power play, yeah, they had Patrick's Burge run on it, but like, yeah. There's a couple of those guys that were on that power play gonna be on this power play for the Boston Bruins. - And are two things to watch, they're like, they kind of go hand in hand, like they're skipping through a medal holding hands because it's like if David Camp's gonna be good, he's gonna be killing penalties. - Sure is. - You got a good David Camp killing penalties, probably gonna work out pretty well for you and then conversely, that allows you to not, nothing you want to go back to the Babcock where Austin Matthews play in 18 minutes a night, but it allows you to not burn Marner and Matthews and Nyland or not say they can't ever kill penalties, but allows you to pick your spots with it a little bit more. - All right, so we'll revisit some of the things that we're most interested in these final 18 games after the top of the hour, but the iconic Canadian rock band Blue Rodeo hitting Budweiser's stage on Saturday, August 24th, along with guests Matt Mays and Bagonia to celebrate. We're giving away tickets all week long to enter. All you have to do is tune in to episodes of The Fan Morning Show. Listen for the code word, then text the code word to 59590. Today's code word is blue, text blue to 59590 right now for your chance to win. We are giving away another pair of tickets tomorrow, but if you don't win with us, make sure you secure your tickets on Friday 10 a.m. on ticketmaster.ca. When we come back, Matt Rempey making headlines, yes? - Yes. - And Kirk Cousins is on the move again, has NFL free agency. I was going to say officially opened up, but like the league countertops start until tomorrow, like none of these deals can be officially officialized, which is so stupid the way we do this in North American pro sports. - Yeah, no, you know, it's soccer's way better where it's like guys are just rumored to be sold for months on them. - Yeah, I don't know. - It's like, what's the line about democracy? It's like, it's the worst system we've got other than all the others. - Yeah, any who. - Lots to talk about next. - This is the fan morning show continues, Ben and his friend, Gunning Sportsnet 590, the fan. - Hey, it's Ailish for a Fire. - And I'm Justin Cuthbury. - Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. - It's the fan pregame, 6 p.m. weekdays on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590, the fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Bad morning, Show Sportsnet 590, the fan, Ben and his friend, Gunning. He didn't hear a lot about Matt Remedy today, okay? - Man, he really knows how to reenter the conversation. I'll let you set up the topic in a second, but yeah. I feel like I willed this into existence on my car ride home yesterday. I was, now this says a lot about me, the driving home after talking about sports for three hours, I was just sitting there thinking about Matt Rempe, and this has nothing to do with traffic conditions. This wasn't like I was angry. - I wish he was there. Like you go, I wish I won out of your passenger seat. - I could just be like, all right, put the car in park or like neutral, 'cause you know, sometimes it's creeping along which let it roll along. - Go ride the whip. - Yeah, but I was thinking about Rempe about, man, he burst onto the scene and it's been a minute. I could do with some Matt Rempe content and oh, thankfully he obliged. - Yeah, now it's not necessarily the type of Rempe content I want when he's delivering a pretty vicious elbow to the nog and if you wanna see him fall off. - Crazy. - Just flat out like, and this isn't, 'cause he will get this a hundred times in his career where he hits a guy in the head and it's, look, he's tall, okay, that wasn't this. This was a nasty chicken wing, it was greasy. He's gonna be suspended. I think pretty clearly given a game misconduct and a five minute major penalty in the game against the Devils yesterday, that's part of the discussion. The other part of it was Curtis McDermott who was acquired early this month by the Devils. - It's acquired nine days after the last thing Matt Rempe did against the Devils. - Yeah, the Nate Bastian hit to the head from Matt Rempe again earlier this season in the brief tenure of Matt Rempe as a member of the New York Rangers. Curtis McDermott wanted to go on the whole game. - He wanted it. - Yeah, it was just giving him some slashes, getting in his face. - And in his defense, that was explicitly what he was brought in there to do. Like, let's not mince words about it, of they wanted team toughness. - No, this was kind of a Ryan Reeves, Tom Wilson scenario of we need a nuclear deterrent after what happened. - Well, and especially after Rempe does what he does in the game and then waves goodbye to McDermott and the Devils upon his departure. Yeah, it's just an interesting piece of drama yesterday in the National Hockey League. Now afterwards, so again, I want to lay my cards on the table for people who are not familiar with my view of Matt Rempe. - That's awesome. I think Rempere State Building is a spectacular nickname. I think they had a shirt, some website made it, it was Rempulmania in like the Hulkster font, but in Blue and Red for Rangers. I love it. - I think an adult human can do whatever is, between, you know, within the confines of the law, or in this case, acceptable behavior. And I believe getting in fights with other fighters in the National Hockey League is well within the realm of acceptable behavior. Now, elbowing people in the face is a different deal, but I have no problem with the Matt Rempe thing that's happened this season. Where I get into like, look, roll my eyes a little bit, is this stuff? And we'll play the post game comments from Curtis McDermott. - I guess there's obviously some tension going into the game with, after the bastion hit from a few weeks ago, did you hear about that pregame or like two guys? - I mean, I knew about the hit on Matt and going in this game. First shift, I asked him. There's bit of a code and I think he, I thought he would have answered that, but I don't know when he was told, but he said no. And, you know, after a hit like that, you know, it kind of goes with those things, you should answer the bell in some way, and be a man about it. And then game goes on and throws another hit like that, gets kicked out and hospitals suspended. So there's a right way to go about things in the wrong way. And, you know, I kind of lost a lot of respect for him tonight. - Okay. So I'm of two minds here. One, like, if that happens in game, like if Curtis McDermott is playing in the game in which Nate Bastion had been removed from that game because of a vicious hit from Matt Rempe. I do believe there is some level of responsibility that Rempe would have to, like, hey, the other tough guy who was like in your weight class, which are few and far between, wants to go here, like kind of a bad look for you not to, like, boy, and I understand why Curtis McDermott was acquired also, but like, this is where we get into, like, this is ridiculous. Like, this guy wasn't even there. And I love the follow, like the lead up to the answer from McDermott. Hey, were you told, were you made aware? It's like, yeah, again, like, why are you there? Like, obviously that's the number one reason for your existence. Team Services, when they sent him the package of, like, here's where we're gonna put you up until you get settled, here's your pass card, here's the Nathan Bastion hit. It was like, those are the three bullet points in the document he got when you got, like, corporate onboarding to become a New Jersey devil. That's okay. What I've preferred those two to have fought, yeah, 'cause I think, again, there's few opportunities for Matt Rempe to fight, despite the fact that it did feel like he was getting one every single day in the early part of his career. But I think it's silly to be talking about the code. Like, the code, first of all, just that word in particular? It's hilarious. It's such a trigger word for everyone. And it's just, it's cringe to me. So the way I look at it is, like, the code is special and you can't talk about it. You can live by it. You can go out there and try to instill it and hold other people accountable to it. And you and I can talk about it. But I do think it's weird when they openly discuss it. - Say the word code. It's like, that's your secret handshake. I'm not even supposed to know about that. I feel opposite to you. I do think that they should have had the fight. It's like, you know what you're in the lead to do, Matt Rempe, you know what McDermott's there to do. And quite honestly, if you wanted to squash this, now, part of this, I think that has to be taken into account, is that this isn't Rangers yolts. It's Rangers devil. So that is the part of this now. And that is why I actually think this complicates things so much because as much as Matt Rempe is out there to instill fear, and Kipper was great on this from the jump that he actually does have a hockey purpose as well, like you screen the goalie last day, his purpose is to make guys nervous. One, partially because of he'll fight you. And two, 'cause it's a big body and it'll blow you up on the forecheck. And he will lay a greasy hit from time to time. He's out there to instill fear and get under the skin. And I can see a world where they say before the game, outside of, I don't know, pick your Rangers, you know, Schisturkin. Outside of Schisturkin, get and run. You're not going anybody tonight. They're gonna be after you all night. We want them to be unfocused on the game. And I have no problem with that coming from the coach. But if it's from Rempe, I would have liked to have seen them gone. Now, the part of this, again, that I do a wholeheartedly agree with you on is such a bad look for Big Dermot to come out afterwards. And I understand he has to say these things because that's what he's brought in there to do. But it just, it seems like go deal with this yourself. The only way he could've done it was to take the instigator 'cause he did try to go at him. He asked him once, he tried to go at him separate times. When he got booted out of the game, McDermott was out there and he tried to get at him and the line's been stopped it. So it wasn't like McDermott did anything wrong, but this, when you talk about it so openly, this is where, and I love Damien, for the Damien's of the Damien Cox of the world, go, "Oh God, this is such a circus sideshow." And a small piece of them is right. I still love it, I would never ever remove from the game. But this one instance is where you can allow those people to laugh on. - It went too far, it went too far. It's just, and it's like, it is, it's one of those, hey, I think even the people who are anti-fighting can get closer to being behind the organic fight between two, just like tough guys who are not, tomato cans, right? Which is like, here at Mad Rem Bay, serves a purpose, but like pretty close to like, he's got one job to do and it's to fight. Like that is his number one job. I think we can all-- - Okay, like yes, but the Rangers are also like, look at the position the Rangers are in. And it's, Leafs and Rangers are not apples to apples. It's apples to oranges though, not apples to cranes. Like we did early in the show, but they wouldn't have them there if he was not helping their purposes, right? Like look at the position they're in in the standings. - Sure, sure, sure. But yeah, I think most people, even the daymians of the world who are anti-fighting can get closer to, hey boy, like the rare like, skill player fight that happens organically because of frustrations-- - It's just damn close. - Bubbling over? I mean, who doesn't get behind that? - That's awesome. - And then, yeah, it's the stage fighting where the guys whose express purpose is to get into a fight where people start to back away from that. I'm okay with that. Like I'm okay if you do have a couple of guys and Ryan Reeves and Matt Rempe who their job is to fight and it's building up to a point in which they do fight and that being a pretty good fight and being at the end of the game, I'm cool with that. Again, the cringe part of it is when we get to these little comments post game where you're talking about the code and what has to happen. I think if it happens, again, it's never gonna be organic organic because it's not like, oh, Matt Rempe needs to be ginned up to fight. Like you look at the roster than the other team and you pretty clearly have a good indication as to whether you're gonna be fighting in that game or not. But yeah, it's just, when I see how the sausage is made, it takes some of the sheen off it. - Three weeks tomorrow, Rangers doubles again. Did they go then? - Yeah, I would hope so. 'Cause at a certain point, there is an element of Rempe and again, it's entirely possible he was told or it was part of something he has in his toolkit to say, you know what, I'm not gonna give in. I'm not gonna give it to him. That's gonna drive him absolutely nuts and take them out of the game. We're gonna be able to pick up our two points, but, and part of this will depend on where the Rangers are at in their season at this point, but you'd like to see him just squash it. - That's generally speaking the way these things go. - And I would like to think that there's an actual level of real animosity between these two players now too, because even in the comments after the game, Ryan Reeves has no ill will against Matt Rempey and Matt Rempey obviously respects a veteran fighter. - There's definitely- - 37 year old Ryan Reeves, but these guys certainly Curtis McDermott, a big fan of what's happening with Rempey and Rempey. Certainly, if he didn't hear the comments in the moment, yesterday has been told about the way he was addressed by McDermott after the game yesterday, and that will play into, I think, yeah, the return engagement between these two fellows. - Yeah, you're right. I was about to say, my wonder if Rempey is, if it's a little bit of the madmen, like I don't think about you at all, but tough when you're a fighter and a guy says something about as a man, it's tough. - Yeah, and again, this is- - This is some respect for you, this is where it gets dumb. Again, just to be clear, this is where it gets dumb again, but dumb things can be great. I just said, there are people every day who wake up and intentionally you're like, I want to watch a Fast and Furious movie today. And guess what, those people are living a better existence than me. - Yeah, and while I said this was cringe, this part of it was kind of cringe, especially a guy that wasn't a part of the initial team that was wronged by Matt Rempey trying to right a wrong. Now it gets good again, you're right, because now there is true emotion. Again, it's not gonna be organic with two guys who are on this earth to do one thing, but now that there is, we can put our minds in a spot where Matt Rempey, Curtis McDermott, not fans of each other and actually are going to bring some of that emotion to the four when they square off and through it. - Yeah, the only problem with that for Rempey is that every fight he has had for the most partners career looks like it's been against a person he's hated since he was born. So it's hard to reach that threshold for him, but I would love to see it. - But if it's up to him and not just, hey, the team telling him, keep it within the lines tonight because we're just trying to pick up the two points against a rival. If it is, it was his decision to go McDermott yesterday and it'll be his decision, whether to go them or not in three weeks, you would think that the decision is easier to make when you definitely would. Now the last thing that is gonna be litigated about this, and again, it's all dumb, but sports can be dumb and fun is the wave. Like was that too much? Is that poke in the bear? Is that rubbing salt in the wound? - If they fight in three weeks, it's gonna be great. The wave will have been like the precursor to the ultimate fight, but if he dips him and dodges him again a couple weeks and the wave is the last sentiment and I'm gonna feel differently about it than then I do now. 'Cause I will admit, right now in the moment, if I was like, of course you're a devil's fan, you're spitting mad about it, but I saw that and I was like, no, that's awesome. It's like, you can't fight him. He's being kicked out of the game. It'd be different if he was like, oh, this is my last shift. Bye bye. I'm gonna go sit on the bench. That's different, but yeah. It was a great spot. You got kicked out of the game. Be the heel. You're already there. So, yeah. I cannot, in a world where we talk about things that have like great importance in sports and who's gonna win titles and what does it mean for futures of the team, I'm so ready for a day of discourse about something that matters, not a lick at all. - Oh, yeah, you're gonna hear plenty about it today. - Real kip, we're important to a uniform. When we come back, get back into the Toronto Maple Leafs and some of the things that are most important to this team done the final 18 games of the regular season. Me thinks goal-tending will be discussed. That and more next is the fan. Morning show continues. Ben Anis, Brent Gunning, Sportsnet 590, the fan.
