[MUSIC] >> Bad morning shows 4759 of the bad, bad at is and Brent Gunning. Awesome outfit needs eight goals into his final eight to reach the 70 goal mark. He's certainly capable of such a feat. Yeah, I'd say so, I don't know, he could be like 65 tonight. >> Scored six goals in his first two games this season. >> Yeah, so that's, I mean, you do that again? Yeah, you can even, you can take a rest for you like game 82 maybe on 70. >> You chuckled when we were having the like 70 discussion yesterday. I'm like, I mean couple hat tricks this week and we're having a very, and yeah, it too last night. >> Yeah, it too, it too. And now he's allowed to score empty netters, so it changes the math on things a little bit. >> Yeah, once the dam is broken, get them all now. >> Sure. >> Have him be the Zach Hyman of, I don't know, 100 years ago when he was a leaf, scoring all the empty netters. >> Okay, so these regular season games are of limited importance, cool. Like you'd rather them win than lose, agree. >> I don't necessarily like when Max Domi's in on a like clear cut breakaway. And he's like, but where's Austin Matthews? But like how do I pass this? That one, the other part is like literally turned his head all the way around. >> I'm looking for him. So he has to be careful because not only do we not like that, but the guy not in the lineup right now goes, that's my thing. >> Yeah, I pass on clear cut breakaways for myself. You can't have two diminutive London Knights wearing jerseys that starts with one doing that. You can't have it, that's my move. >> That was a weird play because it, in a way I kind of understand it because it was like, maybe this is a two on O, but Matthews like kind of wanted to back off and let him have his breakaway. >> I think for fear of what- >> Exactly what happened. >> But yeah, be like, right, like, couldn't you put your mind in everybody's spot? >> Of course you can. And the thing with Domi too is that, I mean, we've said this from the jump. Obviously he was going to want to make this a long term thing. But he is just making sure to butter all the pieces of bread. >> Yeah. >> Have you been following Instagram too? >> I have. >> Yeah. >> Now, he like, I did have a moment where I'm like, I don't like you so plainly stating that that was the best leaf crowd of the year in Buffalo, but it's like, hey, Fax, don't care about my feelings. >> No, he didn't say he was blessed to play with Austin Matthews. >> He had the quote where he called him the best player in the world like a week after Zadorov had his. He is the, again, like just, I'm not saying it in the room, but as far as speaking to the media, he's kind of the captain of the team like, Max Domi is checking all the boxes here and yeah, a big, big part of that, especially well Mitch Marner's not on the lineup is passing it to 34. >> Yep, so far so good as they were plus two yesterday, Austin Matthews scored once against the goalie. >> Yeah. >> Although it was like tapping into the empty net. >> Let me ask you this. So we've talked a lot about who Marner's going to play with when he comes back. Maybe it's as soon as tomorrow. What do you think, and not the answer he would give publicly, not the answer he would even give like privately, if he was just asked by Sheldon Keefe, but truth serum, who does Austin Matthews want to play with like right this very second? Does he want to break this up? Cuz I'm not, I'm not saying he would say, no, no, I don't ever want to play with Marner. I think he'd very much want that, but the way this line is going right now, I don't think he would sit there going, yeah, absolutely break this up right away. >> If I know anything about pro athletes, and I think I have some general idea. >> Yeah. >> You just spend my entire professional career. >> I was going to say, you go to Stanza, just like whatever you think, the opposite. >> Yeah, right, that's true too. But yeah, I spent some time around and I've heard them speak. They're superstitious bunch, okay? There is a lot of it, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And honestly, if it's going really well, don't even talk about it, just accept the good vibes that are headed this way through the sporting world, yeah. I think Austin Matthews likes playing with Mitch Marner, but man, scoreboard, like you thought Austin Matthews was scoring in a high rate with Mitch Marner, which it was. It's actually slightly higher, playing without Mitch Marner. >> And you'll still get his sweet boy on the power play. >> Let's look at their time together, loaded up at the end of the period. >> And maybe this is a question that will be asked of him, hey, what do you want? Because it seems the best player, is it too far afield to say that the head coach might inquire the potential 70 goal man, hey, what do you think the best look on this team is? >> Well, especially when the head coach, and I don't say this too much as a criticism of Keith, but when he doesn't seem to really know, this is a guy who, what do we say about Sheldon? Even the people who are most bullish on him as a coach, he can't help but constantly tinker with the lines and want to try something new. So if you're somebody like that, wouldn't you want to go to at least the most core principle involved and ask what they think about it? This goes back to the conversations we've had about Crosby with the Penguins though about McDavid and the Oilers is, do they even want that question asked of, well, I think when it comes down to playing on a particular roster, it's very different than make trades for me. >> Actually, now that we're down this mental pathway, I do think that you're right, that there is a potential awkwardness where it's like, you asked me, yeah, image marner is like, wait, you told him you didn't want to play with me? >> No, my feels are hurt. >> So yeah, I actually don't think you can ask him. >> Yeah, you're right. >> He asked that plausible disability, where he's like, I don't know, man, I don't write out that the name of the line up, you know, see what keepers cooked up, let's see. >> This total did I ability, right? >> I will say, there will be a paying of, if they do break that line up for tomorrow's game against the lighting. >> For sure. >> They don't see at least, you know, an experiment with the spreading out of the core four dudes. And Tavara's a knee lander on the second line, it's all in quotes, right? >> Yep. >> He's gonna have a first line in like two second lines, and Mitch Marner trying to drive a line with not like bad players again. Like you said, his favorite player, the guy he thinks is the best player in the NHL, Pontus Homburg centering him and Matthew Nye's, like I, there will not as much regret as I would have felt, if Iliya Samsonoff didn't start in yesterday's game, I thought that would have been like, almost offensive to my senses, right? >> Yep. >> Considering the guys coming off a shout out his best technical game of the season, and it feels like that's like it's too overt that you're forcing the issue with Joseph Wall. So that would have been the most offensive, but second most offensive would be breaking up that line tomorrow against the lightning. >> Yeah, I agree. And also the other silver lining of all this is maybe Mitch Marner will take half a beat before he talks to us next time about who his favorite player is. It's like okay. >> Careful. >> Careful. You're not pumping up. >> My favorite player is David Camp. >> Or it's like he really, he just wants to get as many London Knights on the team as possible. We just hear how great Easton Cowan is all camp next year. That's the next year problem. >> You don't want to talk about like maybe Easton Cowan, he's like throwing him in the playoff lineup. We have Jason Bukle coming on in 20 minutes, I'll be throwing that at him. >> I mean, there's already like, yeah, Nick Robertson has what, four goals in last night game. He can't get into a hockey game and like, here comes Easton Cowan. >> Can you imagine Nick Roberts said, oh, come on, why do I have to do here? He's even small, like me, it's not fair. >> I mean, very different player, nobody's compared, Nick Roberts into Darcy Tucker to the last I checked. >> Just to clarify, if they did and he scored in the like limited sample in more minutes, he'd be a $100 million per year player that was Darcy Tucker who scored at a per game average the way Roberts did it. But in terms of what you want to see with this group together, I don't think it is disappointing if we don't go, if we don't see the Matthews, Bertuzzi and told me together. I don't think that is disappointing by any means, but I do think that that's what I would do. I'd want to keep them together. But I also, I also completely understand the idea of you want Marner to come back in a comfortable spot. So I'm not saying that has to be alongside Austin Matthews, but it should be alongside Matthews Ortebaras. I do think that because I just look at with Marner, you don't want to throw him into a spot. I'm not saying he shouldn't eventually be tried out with a Holmberg and nize or something like that. I think you have to be wary of, I mean, think about how long this guy has now been out of the lineup. It's going to be a tough game tomorrow against Tampa if that is when he comes back. That's why the messaging is easy to throw him on the third line. Yeah. The messaging is easy, but I don't know that it puts the player in the best chance to succeed. I guess. And, you know, like we can all have our fun here, but at least still need the absolute best version of Mitch Marner to go anywhere. Yeah. Sure. On the power play for sure. Not on the penalty hill. Now you don't want to mess with the penalty kills Mojo. This is good. Yeah. So we don't know who's going to start in goal for tomorrow's game. Maybe we get an indication. Maybe Sheldon Keefe just says it explicitly today. I thought I was pretty good through 40 minutes. Not his fault necessarily. The game got close, although, yeah, first goal against where he didn't see it. They couldn't not see the puck. Also, yeah, goals very early on in the, we haven't talked about that specifically goal early in the second period goal early in the third, it wasn't quite off the hop, but it was like 17 40 into or left in the period. So he, I hate that when the team has a habit of that as well. Here's Sheldon Keefe talking about his goal-tending situation. Coaches like when players make decisions for you rather than you having to make decisions. Is, is Ilya making a decision for you now or is it getting close to that point? Well, I think he's, he's definitely getting close to that in the sense that he's, you know, he's, he's the, he's the goalie of record to help us win the first playoff series in a really long time here in this city. And here's that first of all. And then each other part of it is him to find himself, find himself with his game. And he's certainly done that. Another good effort for him here again. It's a tough third period for our group and for him, but, but being some big saves for us again here tonight, I'd be certainly building lots of momentum to a wall of God experience last year too. And he'll be hungry and our job is to have two goalies thriving and, and being ready to go when the playoffs come. But I think the most telling part of that is like he's the guy. He, do you remember? Yep. Remember how he was in net for the six games against the lightning? Remember that? Remember the high pressure situations of overtime in the elimination, close out games and him making enough saves to get this team over the hump and at least having some brief sigh of relief before the world came crashing down again like a week and a half later. But yeah, remember that? Like that's, that's important that the head coach is listing that as part of like, not just part, the first part of his reasoning as to why you might err towards him. Does that not feel like a big change of tune from him? Yeah. Based on, I don't know, everything we've heard up until that exact moment. Yep. And every opportunity that I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong was he was Samson off like spiraling and could have used a confidence boost of his head coach saying nice thing. But he had that in the chamber all year long, could have referenced at a point in time. Maybe I missed it in a post game somewhere, but I don't know, I'll listen to Sheldon Keith pretty closely. And I don't think I've heard that from him. It is jarring to hear the way the team has talked about him compared to Joe wall and to hear the way Keith talked about him. I don't know if it was as simple as, all right, that's the way we're going to play and he just did the thing against them and scoreboard. I don't know if it's that simple, but that seems like such a departure from, and not the key. He's been killing Samson off or throwing him under the bus, but he hasn't exactly been tossing him, you know, a lifeline either. That just feels like such a departure from how we've heard the coach talk about the goalie this year. That one specifically. Yeah. And you know what? I haven't even that's as much insight into the mental part of the process of deciding who's starting in the postseason than we've heard before, right? Like it's generally like, hey, we're going to split the games up. And you know, the starter will emerge. But yeah, that there are not just, hey, who's playing better, right? Like all things being equal. He indicated not all things being equal, are we going to air towards the goalie that is under contract for next year that's younger, that is more technically sound, that's calmer and net. No, all things being equal going to air to the guy who's the goalie of record for the first postseason win in almost 20 years. Yeah. I think that that is because of the way Joe wall has, I won't even say stubbed his toe, but not taken, not grabbed the reins. That's the right way to go about it. It was always an open competition between these two and they started and if they finally have, I don't know, work themselves into it or talk themselves into it, come around to it, I would commend them on changing their thinking because it is, it is being pretty apparent all year long that walls, the guy they wanted to go to, wanted to go to, wanted to go to and he has just not seized the opportunity in the way that he's had the chance to in Samsonov had. So I just, I honestly, I think in a, you know, we get so bogged down on what are the long term plans? What do you, what do we think the least long term plan was heading into this? I don't think it was this and you know, maybe it's a very obvious thing if you play the goalie that gives you the chance, but I do think you have to commend them for kind of at least it appears to be going away from what their kind of 1A plan was for this year. So if that's the case and yeah, Ilya Samsonov was really good through 40 minutes, nobody was really that great in the third period, but scoreboard got the victory. Who starts tomorrow? Like are we still doing like, are we still, the plan was to split up the final 10 games of the season between the two goalies and Samsonov's quote unquote injury, factoring in maybe for one game there, but he seems fully, although like man, he really does love to get up slowly. He does. That's his favorite thing. Well, other than reaching behind him to fish a puck out from just in front of the goal line last night, equally frustrating to see the two things anyways, but yeah, I mean, are we still in split the games up mode? Like you can, I'm not, I won't be as offended if, if, if wall starts tomorrow as I would have been if he started yesterday, but I do, like if, if you are going to run your team as a meritocracy, yep, there's no reason to go away from Samsonov. If you think, if you think Samsonov is your guy and you've kind of decided that until, until proven otherwise, you should give him the start tomorrow against another playoff test style team, then you let wall get Saturday night in Montreal. It's like that's, it doesn't mean a thing, but it still means a lot. Like we see the way those teams play each other all the time, then that sets you up for a back-to-back where you give Samsonov the first half on the Monday and then you get wall against the devils, and then you're kind of rolling, you got four games left. It's a pasta after that. It's possible Martin Jones plays one or two of those, depending on kind of where the goal tending's at, how much those, how much important those games have, no, they're not allowed to do that. No, they'll figure it out. No, my, my understanding is that, you know, despite being healthy, Matt Murray won't quite, but again, if he were that hell, the last game of the regular seasons, April 17th, would be not a medical miracle if he was maybe ready to go like April 18th, maybe. Yeah. Anyways. Yeah. We'll see. And we'll, we'll, we'll get some information I would imagine today from a practice yesterday on 32 Thoughts. Yes. We've got some insight into one of the bigger stories of this off season, and it will be the pending possible extension for Mitch Murray. He's next up. Figured it out with Willie Meylander, he got all the monies, and despite like a 10-game blip, he's kept up the pace, been really good. He's going to score a hundred points this season, going to pass Matt Sundine's franchise. I think he's still tied, right? For the most points, I believe, ever, ever scored in a Maple Leaf uniform. Mitch Marner, next up, here is Elliot Friedman, with Jeff Merrick talking about the conversations that are to come between the Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner. I wonder how much this affects the Maple Leafs decision on players like Mitch Marner? Like there is a feeling that there is a number past which Toronto won't go, but if you're looking at keeping Austin Matthews happy and continuing this chase, are they not obliged then to, much like Washington did with Ovechkin, surround Austin Matthews with players that can get him the puck? Well, I do think it's their goal to keep Marner. I don't have any doubt. I think they know Marner and Matthews want to play with each other. I believe that's been a conversation in the past where Matthews has made it very clear he wants to play with Marner, and Marner has made it clear that he's happy to do it. And look, at the end of the day, there's still going to be a negotiation, we'll see where that goes. And we're going to punt that to the summer because they're not going to do it now, but I absolutely believe their long distance plan is to keep them together. Yeah, I think the dot, like, does that surprise you? Can I add one thing I absolutely believe? Okay. There's no way on God's green earth that contract extension is happening anytime this summer. Well, short of the Leafs going on a run where Mitch Marner has big time playoff counting stats to punt. What isn't, isn't like now the landscape so obvious for him though? It feels that way, but I also think that like he's got to thread the needle between 11 and a half and Matthews, 13.25 like who's, okay, 12 times eight who says no. I think if you're Brad should living, I don't think you just immediately start from that position. Yeah, you got no choice. This is why, but this is why I think it's going to take a while. I think it's going to play. I think it's Marner is going to resign as a leaf. I think it's going to play out much in a similar fashion to where William Neelander did. The one thing I will add is that I have no issues with William Neelander's ability to play very good hockey while a massive life decision swirls around him. Until proven otherwise, I don't know how that's going to affect the player we're talking about here. So yeah, Marner's going to get his money. He's going to be signed up as a leaf. He's going to have some protection that's beyond no move. It's like he will have to be buried at Scotia Bank or something will be like the, the addendum in there beyond no move protection. What he's going to get. He will be a leaf. I just think that because of the way the Neelander thing played out and more importantly, because of the season this player has had, not a bad one by any means, but just based on counting stats alone, it's not going to be where he wants to. I think you're going to see him do exactly what Neelander did. So yeah, let me come back and prove it. And now again, a playoff to remember whatever that means to you out there. That changes everything. I guess I just, I mean, the parameters for William Neelander were very different, right? We're talking, well, first of all, the starting point is a huge raise as well. Yeah. William was under seven million a season and you're like, okay, you scored 40 goals. He led the team and you were tied with the team leading in goals leading point getter and yada yada yada or not so much last year, but yeah, you on pace to be that guy. Can you keep it up? And he did. And he was, there was an argument to be made that he was this team's best player. And he still has the points lead, I believe, on awesome Matthews. They're like neck and neck. Yep. Um, and yeah, so the 11 and a half was not a guarantee that he was going to get at this season. We're already starting from a place of 11, almost 11 million bucks for Mitch Marner. Obviously, the team cap is 13.25, which is awesome Matthews and I guess just because of the timeline that he's, he's getting extended a year after Neelander, he gets slightly more. He also plays in all, I mean, so does Neelander now in all special teams, situations, I, to me, the number seems obvious that it's 12 million. Like what are we talking about? We're talking about like a hundred thousand here or there to risk what you said is a legitimate possibility. This spilling over into the regular season and we already saw this guy and his fan perception taken serious hit last time there was a negotiation that didn't go into the regular season, only took up part of training camp and it was not the most contentious thing, but like a thing that clearly wore on the player, I think this, I think Mitch Marner wants this to be done as soon as possible. Yeah, I think, I think there's an element to that and I'm sure he feels that way right now, but then the agent starts bringing figures to him and it's like, yeah, you sit here and you're talking to me. I'm like, yeah, 12 sounds great, but if you're the agent, why wouldn't you push for more than that? And I hate when people do this. I load this, but it's just, it is the way that this is going to play out. I would love a world where Marner looks around and reads the room and says, okay, Neilander signed, he took this big leap in terms of what was expected. He's now equally on our level. Matthews is, you know, he's going to be the all time leaf scoring great, possibly league scoring great. That's Tavares is Tavares. The way he can endear himself or differentiate himself is to your point, having it be an easy, smooth, nice contract negotiation. The problem with that, I think though, is that Brad for living almost can't have that unless it is the deal of the century. He needs to be seen because what was the problem with the last guy was he just capitulated and gave everybody everything they wanted and maybe the tie has already been set and you kind of have to do that on third contracts now. But I think there's an element to him that he doesn't want it. You think he wants to be seen on July 1st, just say, okay, whatever you want, Mitch. He needs to be seen to be grinding this thing. I mean, it's not the upcoming no trade clause that's the worst. No. It's the one that currently is in place just for the final season of the deal, which is like, obviously, well done, like, because it absolutely puts you in an incredible negotiating spot. Final two, final two seasons kicked in as the map kicked in at the draft this year, basically. Right. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. And it was, yeah, but that's when you needed it to kick in because that's when Matthews up and the knee lander was going to be due and all that. Yeah. And Brad's were living in his first, like, couple of seconds on the job. That would have been quite a thing to be like, Hey, Mitch, how, like, let's test the extension waters. No. Okay. Off to Columbus, you go. But yeah, the, the, the guys already can't, like the, here's the beliefs are going to operate as if the post season has been a fluke and they're cursed and eventually it will not be or the fluke will flip and they will no longer be cursed. But these are the guys. I would like that on a t-shirt flip the fluke and then you could even have somebody flipping the bird on the t-shirt. Internet people, you can have that one. That's a free, that's a free fan morning show idea for you. Go ahead. Do without what you will. Internet. Uh, quick little Blue Jays note before we take the break and talk. That's a throw in. Yes. Or throw in. The throw in. Yeah. Swanson had a session Romano. Oh, yeah. Throw today. Well, to that point, that's actually what I was going to bring up. Is that okay? I mentioned it in our preseason preview that actually it's pretty incredible. You can lose your closer and your setup, man. I'm like, hey, but there's still enough guys on this team in the bullpen. Yeah. The thing is through five games and the guys have been fine. Yeah. And this is Cabrera was not so great yesterday, but he's about to depart like that we could have a ruling on his appeal of his three game suspension as early as today or tomorrow and he could be waving goodbye. And as we said, though, you should be a lot of trouble guys. You should be a lot of trouble guys, I think. There's enough guys, but also they haven't had like one second of high leverage relief work. Like it's been blow out one way or another, yeah, which is I. As much as I do believe that they have enough arms to paper over this moment, like is kind of an ideal scenario. You'd prefer to be on the winning end of like those 10 nothing no hit games. Ah, yes. Like the. Yeah. Game confirmed. Too many of those and it's the it's hard to find the silver lining, but the silver lining is for a team that's dealing with a bullpen that is not fully healthy to get through five games where like literally not one second where you're like, Oh, this is tense. Nope. It's just blow out one way or the other. They haven't had a safe situation in the two wins that they had and no a chad green gave up a run in like a blowout is one appearance of the season, but yeah, it's getting by so far with the bullpen that has been remarkable to play five games and not have one second of leverage baseball. It's like the woman's last time high leverage like after Yandy Diaz, when yard to start the season, right, then the Blue Jays got it back and we're off and running. Yeah. All right. When we come back, Jason Boogler sports on hockey analysts fan morning show continues Ben and his brain counting sports at five 90 the fan. Unrivaled insight analysis and opinions on all things Blue Jays Blair and Barker, be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Classic. Bad morning, Joe sports net five 90 the fan, bad at us, Brian gunning. Leaf winners of three consecutive and yeah, they can't come up. They can't beat the Bruins this year. Might not even have to blame score board two and oh against the Panthers. We were in the building for the first win, which is a 300 years ago, but that weird shootout game. Sure was. You eagle eye. I don't even remember what happened. I remember you being like, that was weird. Don't like that. I still don't remember what happened, but I do remember you Hawkeye all over it. Yeah. Oh, and the poor leaf reporters who were in the elevator on their way down the game wasn't over. Oh, poor for them. Yeah. Not us. Not us. All right. Guys, leaves taking care of business against the Panthers. We'll see if that translates into a first round series. We'll see if in fact, those two teams are facing each other in the first round of the postseason. Let's talk to Jason Buchola. Sports that hockey analyst. How's it going, Jason? Good morning, fellows. Doing well. How are you doing? Very well. So it's a good victory in two points and Sheldon keeps said, Hey, listen, we're not going to quibble. It's a tough team to beat and well, you know, you got a little dicey there and I take a time out and then the bar is wrong, like seconds later, but almost tied the game. But we won. Awesome Matthews fires the home, the empty netter, but yeah, that's a couple of times now. Leafs have looked incredible through 40 minutes against the Oilers and now the Panthers with the third period got a little dicey and there's reason to believe roster wise, this team might have some issues locking down leads in the third period. Where's your level of consternation concerning that element of the leaf game going into the post season, locking down leads in the third period. Yeah, Carolina too. Remember that? Yeah. Yeah. Two six on five goals. Yeah. So, you know what I it's these are these are really difficult opponents. I don't know if I'm overly concerned. I know that sounds kind of obscene really when these comebacks happen like this, what I like to, but I like to have a little bit less, you know, dicey moments as you describe them. Absolutely. But you knew there was going to be a question, especially when they pulled the goal center last night, they just got to kind of really simplify things. You know, I don't know if you just got to change it up a bit for check wise or you just got to dig in a little bit more, you know, in the face off dot or chip pucks open space. Not sure. You know, it's hard to break down when you're playing these top flight teams and they're coming at you like that at waves of a third period. Thankfully, they got that big enough lead, but it's not going to be like that in playoffs. We know that, you know, they're going to have to find a way in playoffs, but I also don't expect before to panthers to play the way they did last night come playoffs. Like, yeah, they were from my liking a shell of themselves for 40 minutes. You know, I think I don't know what they had like 14, 15 shots ago, maybe this is a team that has the best plus minus in the entire NHL and go differential and they had an off night. And if you look around the league last night, you know, there's a lot of what going on wasn't there like Colorado lost the CBJ last night and, you know, the Penguins beat the Rangers. So these things are happening right now. Yeah, I was looking at that. It was kind of a funny night result wise, but I mean, the Panthers have been kind of fighting it. I mean, they got to go to the shootout against the wings. They lose to the Islanders. They lose to Boston, you know, they before that they had a tough loss against the Rangers, you know, a couple of weeks ago, I'm just trying to look at this through a leaf lens. If that was happening to a leaf team that had been kind of cruising all year long, boy, we'd be in full panic mode. Where are you at on the cats and their ability to, I don't know, ref reflip the switch, refine their game, whatever it is. But imagine if you're Paul Maurice, you know, you don't want to swoon anytime, but at this close to playoffs, it's got to be pretty concerning if you're him. Oh, for sure. I mean, if it was if it was in the Toronto market, you're absolutely right. I mean, there'll be a lot of noise. There's no question about it. I I'm monitoring it. You know, they've got like two wins in their last nine games, I believe it is now. And, you know, Bob Rasky hasn't been the same. Some of the better play that they received out of guys like I've been Larson and even Kula Koff, you know, those veteran guys, they've been sliding, you know, on the wrong side of their checks and just not playing with the same amount of detail. And it says something, guys, it definitely does, you know, it's the hardest time of year. And this is when your warts are exposed the most, you know, the saying of baseball is that, you know, when you're fighting it, that shortstop, the ball will always find you, you know what I mean? Like everybody seems to hit the ball to you. And some of their guys are standing out for all the wrong reasons right now. So I definitely knowing that group, the way that I know that group, they're not they're not in a good place. They're they're more concerned than they're outwardly going to admit at this point. So they've got to be a lot better. No question. So what can the Leafs? I mean, when they have the two games against Boston, I mean, it worked out well for, well, not for them, but for us from a narrative perspective that, hey, you just played this team twice in a week. We can take a lot out of this. The Leafs are playing, they played the Panthers now, they're going to play them again in the second to last game of the regular season that doesn't, is probably not going to mean a thing for for either team. How much can the Leafs take what they did out of last night's game and transported into a first round series against the Panthers when, you know, I hear everything you're saying and I expect the Panthers to kind of refine their game and they won't look like they did last night. How much do you think Keith can kind of take that and look to apply it to playing a Panthers team potentially in round one that's going to look very different? Yeah, it's, you can't, unfortunately, you're not going to be able to take a lot out of it. You know, we're kind of slotted into the reality of who's going to play who, for the most part, I mean, obviously Tampa Bay is chasing and, you know, but for the most part, you're not going to be able to take a ton out of it because there are going to be some adjustments made and it's going to be a war of attrition. Like, when you get into seven games and we've seen it with this Panther team in the past, they are able to play that heavy, hard type of game and, you know, even in the second period last night, I did feel when they were down five one that they pushed a few times through the neutral zone with some really good pace, I can transition. So I saw like bits and starts of what they're capable of on balance. It wasn't, it wasn't enough, but, you know, the guys like Lombard and, you know, even Mikala on the back end is a big body and then, you know, Montour and Rodriguez, Stenland can play, you know, that type of depth role that's, you know, that heavy type, but the truck for me last night was really pedestrian. I didn't, you didn't have that type of growl, that type of, you know, after the whistle energy type in your face. So they're going to be a lot better. They're going to be a lot different looking. So more importantly, I concentrated on what we did well and, you know, like even Ryan Reeves last night fella was like, he's great, I thought he tracked back probably with the most amount of pace and enthusiasm that he has all year long, like he looked probably the best version of himself. So I take little peaches of the, the, the leaves more than I, than I'm worried about what Florida is going to bring. How about this? How about the penalty kill? I'm killing off its last 14 consecutive over the last four games. How much of those penalty kill gains are real? Super important that we get on a roll on the penalty kill and we get guys obviously the gold center is your best penalty killer, but we need that statistic to be significantly elevated. Like we need our special teams to equal over a hundred percent combined heading into playoffs because you just don't win with 75, 76 percent on the PK and playoffs. You don't. It's impossible to do it. So we need to be, you know, chugging around whatever it ends up being 84, 85 would be outstanding, but certainly 82 something around in there. Really important sacrificing yourself, getting the job done, winning face off, you know, it sounds simple. It's redundant. It really is, but it's hard. And you got it. You got to get it done. You got to, you know, the small details like a week ago, I forget the loss, but you know, the guys came out and they said all the right things like he was, was upset with the group. The leadership group came out and said, well, the, after he called out the virus, okay? So after that game, you know, they've responded. They could have, they could have put their tail between your legs, but they haven't. And they've been probably the best version of themselves on the penalty kill since, since that time. Yeah, they definitely have. And, you know, I think a lot of people would point to like a personnel group getting better, but no, they're still banged up. And yeah, they've been getting some saves, but it has just been, it seems to be a more concerted effort to kind of, you know, play with some structure in that part of the game. One thing the Leafs have done the last little bit, it's not so much an honest thing, but it's been Brad for living, doing his work, locking up Bobby McMahon, locking up Simone Benoit. What does it mean to guys who are, you know, I don't even know if that's technically the middle class of this team, but not, they're not the superstars of this roster. What does it mean for those guys to have some, you know, understanding that they're going to be a part of this going forward now? They aren't one year mercenaries who, yeah, let's see what happens after the year. What does it mean for a group to kind of have guys extended beyond just the core and to kind of have that, that buy-in now and not the Benoit or McMahon work showing it already, but they certainly have even more reason to give you that now with them having the term that they do. Well, it's, they're good stories. You need the guys that are making under one five to be able to contribute in your roster in the league, especially with the way that this roster is constructed. Yes, the cap's going up, but you know, it's, it's getting more and more expensive to pay, you know, Matt, who's on his extension eventually in the Marner, et cetera, you know, kneelander with the exception. So you need these depth pieces to earn what they're given. And you know, guys like McMahon, that's a great story because he's had the question, you know, there was a time when we had other guys ahead of them in this lineup, even the depth chart down like in the floor hole, and he's gone right past all those guys. It says that you're rewarded for, for hard work. It also says you're rewarded. And you prove that you get results, you know, in your role. And McMahon might, he might score 15 again next year. He might not, but I mean, McMahon plays the game the right way for what you need out of a depth player. And it's Simone Benoit, I think I'm not going to lie, like I thought this guy was a seven or eight at the beginning of the season. Okay. His small area agility has always been a concern of mine, but man, oh man, is, is he been good? Like we picked up Joel Evanson at the, at the deadline, but I would sit here and argue with you that he's every bit as good as Joel Evanson, you know, he's, he's long, he's hard to play against. And he's physical. And obviously, Evanson's on the shelf now and we'll see what he comes back, but well earned. And, and now they've gone out inside this Jacob Quillen kid from Quinnipiac, I have to tell you, I have to tell you guys, you're going to love this kid. Really? Yeah, you're going to really like him. I like him a lot. I think he's a three at his ceiling. And I don't think he's the top six guy ever. He's going to provide better than secondary offense. Secondary at worst. Let's just say that. But what he does is everything that we're talking about right now, he's like a six foot 200 pound guy wins 56% of his face offs, but man, does he play hard, goes to the net. He plays a 200 foot game. He's quick. He's fast. He's got relentless compete. So I really like this acquisition. It's kind of Bobby McMahon as coming out of college, but more offense, I believe. Can I, can I ask you a dumb scouting question about him? How much do you do? Yeah. Well, no, no, I try to make them sound smart, at least. This one's just dumb. He scored a massive goal. Like he scored if I'm not, I know it's the game winner in the national championships. How much does that stuff carry weight with you? I mean, like he could have scored just as nice or nicer goals and bigger or lesser spots. How much does that carry weight from a scouting perspective? Like, I know it's not everything, but I don't know. I feel like it has to count for something. Well, you want to be around it in high leverage scenarios, right? Like you want for players to come to you like, I don't want to look for a player. I want the player to come to me in high leverage situations. So the more he's visible, like even here in the NCAA's guys, when I was watching Quinnipiac play, like he was his ice time went from like, you know, around 18, 19 minutes in the regular season towards the end of the year in quite a bit, he was up to like 24, 25 minute tonight. So, you know, those are high leverage scenarios where the coach is saying, I need this guy to perform at the highest level and he does it. So yeah, it means a lot. I mean, you know, these aren't, I'd much rather have that than a 12 minute guy that accidentally, you know, gets a talk and overtime and we're like, well, that was a nice play. But you know, this guy does all this other stuff really well for you. And that's, that's what I appreciate. Yeah, he was last year's frozen for tournament MVP, Quinnipiac eliminated though from this year's frozen for now that we're talking about guys not currently on the Maple Leafs active roster. Easton Cowan has three points in, I guess he only played, no, yeah, yeah, they're up to nothing on the Flint Firebirds are the London Knights and we know the type of season he had a regular season, which was out freaking standing like, I'll give you the floor to like, take a super hot take, but like, how close is he right now to like being one of the top 12 best forwards in a in the Leafs organization? Oh, well, he's definitely the top prospect. I do believe he's going to take a run at a roster spot next year to be determined in terms of whether it's, it's the best thing for him, he, and I know like, so let's compare him to Quillan just for a second and it's, it's a little bit, it's totally different, it's, they're two different ages, right? Like, there's a real wide gap in age, but Cowan has a potential to be a top six and I think he is going to be a top six and he's going to score more than some of these other guys like the McManus and the Quillans or whatever, but what you're getting here now, guys, is closer and closer to a more relentless looking roster when, you know, not just that pretty, you know, like, William Nylander can drive us crazy, right? He can do some things that are off the chart, you're like, wow, that was outstanding and he's, he was a little pretty sometimes, right? And, you know, you don't, you want more out of him. These guys that are on the come see including Cowan, they're going to push for jobs sooner than later because they got growled to them, they got secondary pushback, they're always in the fight and so for that reason, he's going to, he's going to take a run at a roster spot next, next fall and we'll see what happens, but entry level deal and if he's close enough and he's good enough to make the team and it fits, you know, obviously financially it's going to fit, then I say let's get after it. Yeah, I mean, we saw them give it a run with Fraser Minton and, you know, I know Cowan just can change things, but we all see him a whole lot higher on East and Cowan right now than we were on Fraser Minton at this time last year and he was able to break camp with the group. Are you surprised how much living has been able to have a bit of a concerted roster turnover just in terms of that style? You talked about there. I mean, it was an oversimplification to say Dubis load that kind of hockey, but it certainly wasn't a priority for him. You know, he would go out and get your shins or rivalies at the deadline, but it wasn't necessarily the team he was trying to build. Are you surprised at how quickly tri-living seems to have been able to put his stamp on the team? I mean, you can go to a more fringe piece who's become important like Benoit or even a Tyler Bertuzzi. He goes out and gets on the second day of free agency. Yeah, I'm not because, you know, he had a vision right as first the news conference that, you know, he's called it he needed more snot in the lineup, more growled with the group. And he's, he's putting his, he's going after a certain style player and, you know, they're accomplishing that through the means that they had like, listen, they have zero draft capital. Okay. Zero. And they have limited amount of depth prospect wise. So these guys that they're adding and the guys that they're extending, they fit the mold. They fit the mold of how he wants to build the team. And I think that's a good thing. And I think that we got away from it, we had, we had too much of the same coming through guys. It was the same, you know, we recall the guy. It's the same look we, we dropped the guy was, it was relatively in tune with the same look. And I'm not surprised at this at all. You see, he's starting to put his own stamp on it and, and I'm all for it, by the way. Yeah. We got to be harder to play against, you know, I, I still like that the truckulence. If you want to call it eat, you need that. Oh, yeah, you need that at the hardest time of year, right? Yeah. We saw even a little bit of it yesterday. I mean, Ryan Reeves, but there are a bunch of scrums after whistles as well, initiated by the Toronto Maple Leafs, which I'm not used to seeing Jason. Always a pleasure, man. Thanks for doing this. Always guys. Look forward to the next time. Have a great day. Yeah, you too. Jason Buchola sports that hockey analyst, our Easton Cowan whisperer living out there in London. And I'm going to whisper some motive as well. Very good. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of hype surrounding this player, like where would you can, where would you compare his hype to? Because there's a lot of hype surrounding Nick Robertson too, right? And the gold totals he put up in Peterborough. Yeah, completely different though, in what way because the first round pick and there's part of it. That's that. There's part of that Robertson was so much closer to the wave of prospects that came. Like again, like he seems young, but it's like he's been doing this for so long. He was where there's been just this dearth of anything that's come along. So Cowan appears in that regard, and then I think the other thing is that with Robertson was always understood, okay, if he can score, he can play in the league, but if he can't, what do you do here? Yeah, there's more utility. With Cowan, it feels like. Despite the fact that he's not six foot eight. Yeah, it's a trade. We should all honestly, we should do, I have the running joke that Jake McCabe's full name should be Jake McCabe, who makes two million dollars because half a salary is retained, makes you feel differently about the player. We should probably start mentioning that Easton Cowan's like five, ten or somewhere in there. I don't know. He maybe has him listed at five eleven. Okay. But yeah, like sub six feet. Yes. Like what's and doesn't play that way. So it's not to say that, but I do think that not everybody, but some people are going to tune into a, well, no, no sickos tuning into the rookie tournament in Traverse City, but someone's turning into a prospect or a decision game next year. When the Ontario Hockey League title and then the Memorial Cup, like the idea of him being the standout star of that tournament, yeah, but it's like he won't look small. Against junior, as junior players there. And again, he doesn't play small. He won't look at necessarily, but I do think people have this image of him like he's Matthew Nye's. Yeah. And he's not. I think that's both a diss and a compliment in terms of, he's not Matthew Nye's in terms of being six two and two twenty five. It's also wired more like the Nye's we saw last night than the Nye's we see, generally speaking every night. Like he's got him more than now. Yeah. Let's compare him to the Nye's hype and both Nye's and Robert's the one. Yeah. And both second round picks and both guys kind of were like late bloomers as far as like the prospect shine growing less so Robert's and more so nice like Nye's and Cowan's doing this as a late first round pick where it was like that was a reach, the guy's that first rounder and then it's like, Oh, that guy was a first rounder. Well done. Good job. Who else do you like stock on the up like if you were just, if you just bought and sold prospects before they reach the NHL like great job. Right for living's millionaire of what he paid for and assets for East and Cowan being what the 28th overall selection and then what he has become now and where you would redraft him. But yeah, Matthew Nye's same sort of deals like second round pick and it's like, Oh, that guy's all of a sudden an untradable asset and you're like, Oh, what could he what could he be in the postseason for this team? And we did see boy, I will say like in the early days of Matthew Nye's, we saw a lot more flash to his game than we've seen in an entire season of Matthew Nye's and maybe that's just the, the, the, the elements well growing pains, but also the element of playing so many hockey games, especially in college, like you just play a pretty, pretty stilted schedule. I think that's the other part that makes the Cowan hype seem just a little bigger, quite honestly. And maybe, I don't know, maybe this is my own bubble, but you know, you'd see the occasional clip from Nye's here or there. If he did something special, you'd see it, but I just feel like I can't go a day without seeing East and Cowan pop up on my timeline. And I don't know, like I do follow the OHL to a certain extent, but I'm like, I'm not going to pretend I'm like overwhelmingly invested in it, but it does just feel like it's a little closer. You could touch it more than some kid playing in Minnesota. Yeah. Although I do remember following the run up to the frozen for and all that. I remember, I remember having a very specific time of when I wanted them to lose and they didn't. It did eventually. Yeah, I know. It was like the worst case scenario is like he gets to come here after having his heart ripped out. Yeah. He got to stay in Florida. Remember, didn't they? That's right. In Florida. No, it's like Emily arenas, his house of horrors until the Leafs finally broke through in one. Yeah, good for him. All right. Time now for the wake and rake presented by sports interaction, your homegrown sports book, 19 plus bet responsibly blue Jays didn't get a hit yesterday. Can only go up from there unless they're no hit again. Um, but yeah, they, they, they got their quote unquote ace on the hill today and Jose Berrios, Kevin Gossman is that, but was not healthy enough to start game one of the season. But we're back through the rotation, again, the start against the lefty framer of Valdez and it is blue jays underdogs, as you would expect in Houston, plus one 25, the Astros minus one 20. The total is nine after the Astros put up 10 by themselves yesterday, Brian, how do you feel about this? I'm taking the over a plus a hundred. I know nine it's a bigger number, but that's a ban box blue jays are going to run into a couple today you'd have to think and I got faith in Berrios, but the pen very TBD as we've said, they haven't pitched in a single inning that's actually mattered yet. So yeah, give me the over of nine plus a hundred there. Yeah, I mean, the, the under is playing is paying minus money. It's minus one 54. So I mean, you're, you're getting a good plus 100 on the, on the over nine there. And the way this usually works is that after one team looks like they're completely incapable of scoring runs and we'll never score again. They put up like 10 by themselves and stop and but it's not usually that you're facing frame or Valdez in that game. Uh, no, we'll say David Schneider is going to be back in the lineup. So I expect him to hit his, yeah, his, his, uh, prerequisite, one home run, a game, uh, I kind of, I kind of like the blue jays on the money line, plus one 25 because yeah, you know, it's always there's generally in Toronto sports, um, teams, a bounce back after a shocking, shocking loss like they had, uh, in getting no hit in game one of the series. Also lastly, if you believe in magic, uh, RJ Barrett potentially back in the lineup tonight, Raptors plus six 25, I know, but if you believe in magic, yeah, throw a little duck in on that. Maybe just one. That'll be an emotional moment for sure. He's back in the lineup. All right. That was the wake and write presented by sports interaction, your homegrown sports book 19 plus bet responsibly. When we come back, Corey Schneider, NHL network analyst, former NHL goalie, next is the fan morning. Show continues. Ben Dennis, Brent Gunning, Sportsnet 590, the fan.
