Leafs Losing Streak Grows + Raptors Fail Another Test

0:00The police are going to out-shoot New York, it's 31-25, but that's to little avail. The other night they got badly outshot, 47-26, but lost in a shootup. And tonight they're going to out-shoot the Rangers and get buried six to two at this point. The first 40 minutes was pretty solid, and we're right there, obviously, on the second night we're back to back. I thought we had some good jump. And they got some scone outside, they played really good transition game, and I just thought we had kind of five minutes of, you know, just bad breaks, bad, you know, maybe bad decisions, bad reason. The puck obviously ends up in the back, you know, a couple times, and that's kind of the game. It was a good, just didn't come out with the intensity and the directness that we needed, and the shot ourselves in the puck definitely frustrated, pissed off, you know, it's, it's,

1:05you know, the games are right there, and, you know, we don't push, as a team, hard enough to win them. I don't think it's a give-off, I think it's like, it happened quick tonight, and I'm not going to go back through all the games, but it happened quick tonight, and it's, you know, we didn't, yeah, they scored a goal, while we need a, we need a big shift in that shift, and we need to go do something, and just put some pressure on them, and, you know, we didn't sack the place enough, and the third period to win them off again. But Steve Correll had a good time, so that's really all that matters. Ben Morning Show Sports 9.590, the fan, Ben NS, Brad Gunning, happy NHL trade deadline day, three o'clock this afternoon. We'll talk about the trade that may believe have already consummated the ones that they will consummate today. I guess we got to spend some time on a hockey game that was played. Yep. They got more of them, paid for it to you. Yeah, like, wow.

2:05So, hey, this situation does harken back to that ill-fated homestand, right, that involved Mitch Marner's return to Toronto, coming off the great road trip, beat the avalanches, like, holy cow, man, this team is probably going to be a buyer, as long as they don't just absolutely shoot themselves in both feet, and then cut off both feet, and then bury the feet, and then blow up the cemetery where the feet have been buried. And then they went home five on the homestand, that the losing streak extended to six games, and like, oh, goodness gracious, but then they won three straight going into the Olympic break, and you're like, all right, it's probably over. Are you sure that happened, like that wasn't a mirage? That really happened. Okay. The Olympics happened, and okay, everybody had a mental reset, and it's, okay, six games before the trade deadline, yet it's probably over. But man, if this team really does want to stay together, they can show us something by going on some incredible tear here, and it starts with some tough teams, and there's

3:09just teams that they're chasing, and oh, and six, awful, awful, awful, awful, awful, sorry, oh, sorry, oh, four and two, no, no, it doesn't matter, we're out of the business of, of loser points, so although unfortunately they aren't, because I thought they were going to sneak one last night, as well, the way that came was trending. Two, two, headed to the third period against a team that had not won at home in regulations since November. Yeah. 101 days. Oh. What was the thing you said about cutting off feet and blowing up, whatever you said there, that's what happened in the last eight minutes of the third period in that, in that case. Nothing accomplished. Yeah. Agreed. Although again, there are people who'd say, like, good job, hey, good job throwing that game away at the last second way to go. That's what you got it. Hey, you know, when you're good, you got to beat the good teams, and when you're bad, you got to lose to bad teams. I don't, I have fluctuated so many times on this, I think I've just like, I'm just going to let my body like float out to sea with whatever happens with this leafstick

4:11here. I still think I know, I know, I make the joke myself all the time. Like, are we sure they can't get bottom five? If they play like that, I suppose, but man, oh man, there's just so much sludge in the, in the bottom of the NHL, and it's only going to get worse. These teams are rushing to trade away anything of, of consequence, and you know, sometimes consequence is like, heisman not going above the low. So they find taller, worse consequence, and we'll get into all that that happened last night. But man, oh man, imagine how it the, has a game ever started and ended so oppositely. Austin Matthews wins the face off. Well, he's going to come say, bing, bing, bing, bing, I haven't even had time to blink and the game like from puck drop to goal, I did not have time to blink. Can I be honest with you? I missed in real time that first goal because I was like, I was watching my TV and I was like, the game should be starting now. Like, why is this pregame still happening? I was like, oh, it must be some sort of ceremony. Sure. I had accidentally, my TV just does it if it's like you turn on the channel, like a minute

5:12before the thing starts. Oh, it like goes to something else. And no, it like restarted the pregame, and then I look, wait a second, yeah, so no, he went back and watch it. No, no offense to great pregame shows everywhere. But maybe I would have missed it because I'm usually like, you know, I, as you've said, you called me the other day when we were doing like our pre show meeting and you're like, is now a good time? And I'm like, it's not a good time for the next 10 years of my life with the chaos that is my home. But I was locked into pregame because it's like, okay, we're going to have insider talk and deadline. That's the only reason I saw that in actual real time is because of that. But yeah, then, then the rest of the game happened and the elation or if you care, if you care elation or indifference at the beginning of that game for them scoring the goal and it's like, hey, hey, maybe it's Willie's cookie night and he's just going to have a four point game and you're going to feel great and in a lost season, maybe those nights are nice to have every once in a while. And then it ending with just the thud of thuds.

6:12And again, I know there are people out there going, whoa, more thud, give me more thud. But that's the biggest takeaway I've got from that game is just the absolute night and day of the first four seconds of the hockey game to everything else. Yeah, it's like, it is what are we doing here? And yeah, at least had three fellers sitting out and had already traded their third line center. The team that were playing, so the New York Rangers, again, had not one in regulation on home ice in 101 days. Yeah. Also, we're going to be in Sam Carrick was traded Vincent Trochak, I guess it's going to be traded today. Sure. Sitting them. And that, so a little bit goal medalist, Vincent Trochak, which is what I'm sure they put in the Craigslist ad that they put out for him. It's like, no, no, not used in decrepit Vincent Trochak, Olympic gold medalist totally. And yeah, so as far as the bottom five is concerned, the Rangers are the fifth worst team in the NHL right now. So that, that is the bar.

7:13They don't out shoot or outscore anybody like they don't score goals at all, like that's not a thing that happens. I mean, the Sturkin was thinking about trying last night because he knows it's like off that's hard to come by for that team. Yeah. And that the Cowan goal was a little curious and it's called bad for it. So I guess good for the tank crowd because you give up two points, but to the point of the task being Herculean to get into the bottom five, again, that's the team you're chasing. So the Leafs giving two points to the Rangers, accumulating zero, they've narrowed the gap to nine points to get to to fifth worst in the NHL, which is almost, that's like the same distance they've got into the playoff chase in these tournaments. They are in purgatory. Yeah. They're just stuck there. And they might flirt with it and they might get a lot of luck, but the idea of them tanking

8:13hard enough. And man, I watched the game last night, I watched Craig Brube screaming at them and all of them going, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, I'm not even going to look around and give this a lick of credence. Even then, I don't know that it's enough because yeah, like to your point, like the Rangers, that's the, that's the bar you're looking out there. God, we can't all be the connox and have, let me say this out loud, 43 points on the season is just abhorrent what they've done. And think about how bad the Leafs have been and they've got over 20 more points than that, that connection. Now the connox are, they're running away with the worst record in the league, like even the Rangers are nine points up on them. It's remarkable. But, but yeah, when you see the way that this, this season is shaking out for the Leafs, I'm not going to begrudge anybody cheering for losses here, but I don't, I, I would honestly like, I don't want them to tank their lottery odds and go on some crazy win streak here. And I don't think that's going to happen even if they wanted to, but I would kind of rather just see the team play the odd competent hockey game now and then even if it means stealing

9:14another two points and hurting their lot of odds by 0.01%. Yeah. It's okay. So I will say yesterday it was a weird game, right? Yes. The Eve before the trade deadline. And yes, Leafs were sittings of fellas and as with the Rangers, the Rangers have had a little more time to get used to this. Leafs are still coming to grips. I suppose they did have a trade that happened before the game. Yeah. So maybe there wasn't any of the guys who were being sat. Yeah. Right. There's also that. Jacob Quillen is now up. You're man. The first of many call ups, you would imagine if the Maple Leafs accomplish what they're attempting to accomplish. I don't know. It does make you think about what there is to play for and what the message is to be sent to both the current players and the fan base because you mentioned the Baroube gift that was going around on X where he was because Craig Baroube understands. And he's a professional. These players are supposed to be professional, right?

10:16Like there is, well, there is no meaning to the two points in the standings and yes, in an overall organizational lens or lens, like if you take a step back, bird's eye view with the thing, maybe accumulating as many losses as possible is actually the best course of action here. But the player is like, this is your career, limited number of NHL games. These are some of the games like their cameras. People are watching. That's true. Not many people are watching and to see that type of effort and to see that type of response to the head coach, um, yeah, I don't know if you need to do it in season here. There is absolute, like I don't know how you can have any other opinion at this point now. Then there's, okay, so all the trades have to happen for sure, yes, yes, yes. But going into 26, 27, and I wouldn't even say this necessarily about Bradshaw living, but about Craig Barouba, this is a non-tenable situation, like I don't know how, how you

11:18could possibly message this to both the players and the fan base that this is your head coach next season. I was text from somebody's last night and the prevailing sentiment has been that it's been two weeks straight or however long since we've been back from the Olympics. Like, well, okay, surely, surely this is the game that's going to do it, right? And if we're at this point, I've been thinking about it. And look, everybody at this point in time enters a bit of self preservation mode, right? This isn't like selfless hockey of, hey, man, whatever the team needs to win because who cares? Quite honestly, I've been thinking about it. And if you're Bradshaw living is the best sales pitch, not that you can do this off season to keep your job outside of like the deadline and doing a good job there of like, hey, man, like new head coach, new voice. If you try new voice now, even if it's not the new voice, I guess one that doesn't turn around at all, what is that to say about the bump or the growth that can happen for this team? I really, and again, I've been on record about this, whether it's Craig Rubay's fault

12:21or not. And I think he like everyone involved in this wears this to a certain extent. I don't think the ghost of Toblake is going to make this team a better hockey team here. I don't think that's a coaching issue purely, but obviously it's a coaching issue partially. And I've made my point about, come on, what are we doing? I floated the idea of like, honestly, just let them have Gabby in here and Bruce there would be right. Yeah, let them have some fun, let there be life. But I do think if you're Bradshaw, let there be life, if that's the Leafs new slogan, not Honor Pride Courage, just life, please, question mark. But I think if you're true living and you're going into the off season, I'm like, okay, so hey, you're, you're still here somehow in some way. What is going to be different? It's like, well, we're going to have a new head coach and whether that's Pete DeBore or sexy assistant X or young upstart head coach who whatever, whatever it may be. I think that that's one of the sales pitches he's going to have to why he should continue to be in charge of the show here.

13:23And I don't need to rehash this. I don't, I don't need to call for these guys jobs every day. I think everyone knows where everybody stands on all of this, but I was thinking about it. That's probably why it hasn't happened. That's as much a reason as any. Yeah, that's fine. It's got to happen before opening day next. Oh, it has to happen before the first round of this Stanley Cup playoffs, like it's, it's over. Yes. Of course. It was very over. It was okay. It was a good mix last year in like everything worked out swimmingly for the Leafs and guys were healthy. Yeah. And even in a down year for Matthews, you had the finally hundred point season from Mitch Mariner and you had all of these different things. And Neil Anderson had, you know, great season, all of all of these things. It worked out well. And guess what? The guy who's job and it shouldn't be purely his job. It should be the captain's job. It should be the guys who have been here forever's job to breathe life into this team in the most crucial moments couldn't do it because I watch game five and I watch game seven and that doesn't mean you fire him after going to game seven of the second round of the playoffs.

14:23And then to see it go this way and the team obviously needing a pivot, a retool, a rebrand, a redux of what all of the words that have been floated around other than apparently rebuild because that one's a little, little too tenuous for this group. That's why it has to, has to, has to happen at this point in time, but is it going to happen in the season? No. The idea that you've waited now and after the deadline, you're like, no, no, no, no, now what's New Zealand show, no, no, no, no, they can, they can, they can ignore them for the, the final 19 games of the season, which they did yesterday. Awesome, Matthews, you heard from him and yeah, bad breaks and what are you going to do? And they're pretty good. I don't know. I don't know. I just saw the other team pretty, pretty good. Despite being fifth worst in the NHL, not with a home regulation win since November. Yeah. Over 100 games. His goal is streak now at 10, 1000, so just 10, okay, so the longest goal is streak. So this, this goal is streak currently is the longest since his rookie season, the longest

15:26of his entire career is a 13 game or do you know when that took place? I don't. You obviously not following me on Twitter. No. Well, honestly, I can't, I don't know that I've ever seen a tweet from somebody I'm following. I could do everything in the world to go to the like following tab and they're like, nah, come on. I got some stuff. No, I know. I press it. No, and I press it and then it like come back and they're like, you need news about what's going on in Iran. I'm like, I promise you. I don't. Yeah. Yeah. It's deadline season. Okay. So the longest streak of awesome at these goal a streak of his career was a 13 gamer. And I for the life of me, don't remember this. So obviously everyone remembers game one, no duh. He had six goals in his first six games in the NHL. Yeah. Then immediately went on a 13 game goalist route. I don't remember that. Yeah. Of course, who would remember that? But that, that's not what we're talking about. We were still giving him credit for blaming himself for the OT loss when he scored 10 goals. Yeah. Yeah. This is, yeah, this is the longest goal a streak of his career outside of that 13 gamer,

16:31which is the longest. And I get it. Like this team stinks. No doubt. And he's had his looks. Yep. Doesn't look like he's, he's not hitting a bunch of crossbars and it's a million 10 bell saves. And Igor Shostirkin, what are you supposed to do? No. This is, and he, it's not like he's not playing with anybody either. No, I don't believe the other best player on the team. Dude, what's going on here? Well, and, and, and you, you heard from him off the top of the show and I, I guess he's trying to put on a brave face and, and he's coming off one of the highlights of his entire career. Even if he does win a Stanley Cup, winning a gold medal, being the captain of Team USA is going to be in a, a top five moment of his entire career without question. Like, so, I understand the emotion that he's gone through this season, but what's happening here? Well, let me throw this out there, because I hate it that we have to go to this place, but it is the thing that everybody goes to at this player, we sure he's healthy. And I'm not doing that as an excuse, I, it's, excuse factor, whatever way you want to

17:33go about it. I'm of the opinion of like, look, you make 13 sheets a year, shoot it in the net, or go sit down. Like, no one's going to begrudge you. People are, people are pouring over like this photo of him in, in the dressing room with a bunch of teabond tape on his shoulder, like I, I, I, me thinks you go through the locker room photos of all 32 teams. There's more than a few fellas with tape on their shoulder, right, but this is what happens when you have the guy who was supposed to be a Vetchkin 2.0, a minus the hitting, which is kind of a part of a Vetchkin, but a better 200 foot player than a Vetchkin, of course, of course. But you go through the footage of this or, you know, you talk about this player and when it just suddenly falls off, I don't know that there's a reason why you would jump to anything first other than that and then throw in the injury history the players had. But I was also digging in doing a little research, little development, no development, just, just looking at numbers and the high danger chances for year in and year out. Okay, so he has 86 high danger chances in 57 games.

18:37That is on a better clip than he had in the, you know, the 28, 29 season when he had 23 goals and 68 games or the 30 goal season in 70 games. It is on pace to have more high danger chances than he had even in last year. Now, those are five on five. Is that encouraging or discouraging? Well, it's, it's encouraging in that I think there's an element and we do this all the time in this sport, specifically more than any other because it is a try hard sport of, well, you're not trying. I think he's getting to the areas he needs to be in and that's where I go to again, I don't want to give the excuse because look, man, when we ask about injuries 10,000 times and everyone's like, I don't, I'm healthy as it can be what in Germany. No, for fun, not for doctor purposes. I don't want to just automatically give that excuse, but, you know, these are all five on five numbers. But the idea that he's at a better clip of getting high danger chances for than he was last year, to me, that means there's a will to still go to those areas and, and, and it's not the Mitch Marner went away and he no longer can get high danger. Look, that's where I go to is you'll risk back is you old shoulder bugging him.

19:41And I am done trying to make excuses for the player because when you look at it, it is a case of if you don't want to take the excuse, I'm kind of done making it for you. And I don't, I'm not doing the like, I saw the tape on the shoulder that is proof positive because to your point, sounds like a lot of guys in professional sports, but I do wonder if that's what's happening here and that only further emboldens me to say, go sit out. You did the thing this year. I could understand in like what was what was appearing to be a lost season of like, now I'm going to keep this train of moving to go try to wing gold. And do I wish he won silver? Sure do, but he did the thing job done. You're and this actually is truly George George Bush on the aircraft carrier because like, not the mission I care about, but like some mission was accomplished. I don't think any missions were accomplished. Yeah. Okay. The thing I look at with that is that's where I go to got to be an injury, got to be hurt. And I hate that that's the place we're at with this, with this player. Yeah. To me, that's discouraging because that means that, okay, he's not finishing at a right,

20:44yeah, okay, maybe he's injured. This is the second consecutive year, like to to be Austin Matthews and the elite goal-scoring heart trophy winner, he needs to shoot 18% and that's not like for most people, that's like, oh, well, that's a fluke freaky season. Yeah. You can't do that. No, Austin Matthews can end him with back-to-back seasons of 12% his career is 15 something. Yeah. Yeah. No, he shoots that ridiculous percentage because he is Steph Curry. Yeah. Right. So him getting all those chances and not converting again and having this low shooting percentage for him, again, what is he still at 12, right? The season. Yeah. When I looked at it yesterday, it was 12 two or 12 six. Yeah. Those are the numbers for the last two years. No, that's not good. That's an indication that, oh, back-to-back seasons, and maybe it's a health thing, but if it's a health thing, then it's two consecutive years of a health thing and what's the indication that the health thing is going to be not a health thing in 26, 27. Well, he is getting more looks this year than he got last year at five on five. So I think for me, well, no, because what I do with that, the other thing is, oh, is

21:49he shooting percentage? Is it dipping because of what we talked about, again, like I am just a, and I love Jody, but I'm just as shocked as anyone, and he's the one who led us to this place. But it's like, yeah, it's not the right coach for the player and you're playing a different type of hockey. And yeah, you're getting the high danger chances, but you're also having to have in the back of your mind of like, all right, I'm out here against Conor McDavid. Oh, I'm right here against, and it's all the match-up minutes that he's playing. So I think, and also I would imagine I did not do digging into this because, man, like, I feel like only Mike Kelly is allowed to do this level of digging of when we see the age curve drop off, right? We were talking about it yesterday. It's like kind of 28, 29 as the high water mark for a lot of these guys. And sometimes it comes a little bit sooner than that. And then sometimes the plateaus, but a lot of times it just starts going down. I'd imagine the chances are not coming in the same way. I don't think it's a strictly finishing problem for those guys. Like, and you know, Yarmereyog is a freak, but it's like, I think about him. It's like he was able to, when he was in the position, you just turned into like a basketball power forward and you back guys down, but it wasn't the ability to get to those spots

22:5020 times again. I think generally you hear, hey, the hands, I think, I think, I think, I think generally, hey, the hands are still there. It's just like the legs aren't there anymore. So if you're getting the chances to me, that's what leads me more to injury for most. Yeah. But like, I think the finishing is the injury like, yes, agreed. Yeah, the finishing is the injury. Anyways, I'm sure it'll be fine. New head coach and all the picks that are going to acquire today, they'll just be packaged those for all the best players in the NHL or a doctor season. Anyways, this trade deadline update is brought to you by your local Ontario Subaru dealers, Subaru. Welcome to Uncommon. Well, I will say it's off to a pretty good start, like if, if yesterday was an indication of what we're in for today with the Toronto Maple Leafs, you may feel pretty good about this team at three o'clock this afternoon because the late, the Leafs did trade NICWAT to the Avalanche for a conditional first and a fifth. I don't know why we're calling them conditionals when they're just top 10 protected. Yeah, I was so, we've changed the messaging on this for some reason. I was so confused because I told you I woke up from a best part about our job, getting

23:55have a big old nap every day. And I woke up from my nap and I saw that and I'm like, okay, it's hard to protect it, but what are the conditions like this NICWAT have to turn into Jesus himself? No, it's, it's just in protection. The condition is you can't have it if it's good. Yeah, that's the condition, which it's not likely to be, but yeah, even the Avalanche are like, we don't want to totally discount the possibility that we could have a lottery picking on. Yeah, Nathan McKinnon and Kale McCart are getting a fight and they both could hurt each other, right? Right. Anyways, so yeah, you're going to be in the market for more center depth and, yeah, no question. You're, if you're going to compete for a playoff spot in 26, 27, you're probably going to have to flip what is now your best draft asset. It's the only first round pick you got in the next two years. Totally, totally. You're going to have to flip that for somebody. But you're getting it for a fella who's not a rental, does have a cup, but not exactly lighten the world on fire as Nick Waw. No.

24:55It deployed in very difficult situations, no doubt that's part of the job, though. Wow, that's, that's a good piece of business, especially considering some of the other prices that have gone around. Yeah, it's a good trade. Obviously the, you know, the Nick Waw story of yesterday was, well, hold on, hold on, not willing to retain to get a first round pick, evidently not willing to retain to get some prospect that is Nikita Gerbenkin-ish of like, yeah, okay, that's a guy and do what you will with that. And I'm okay with that. If it was, if not willing to retain was what was costing you from getting a truly valuable asset, because we just saw it like Mackenzie Weaker, right? I think he's a good player took three second round picks and one of them's basically a first rounder to get that player, right? So if the difference between retaining and not retaining is first and like second and a third, yeah, you should retain. But if it's throwing prospect X, no, I'm fine with that. Also this gives them and, you know, I don't know how much of this will be there. This gives them flexibility for the rest of the day, right? They're able to retain, you're only allowed to retain three contracts in this way.

25:55They have all three now. Obviously if OEL is out the door, you know, maybe with the longer tenure of that, you're a little more hesitant too, but hey, it's all cost of doing business, right? Scott Lawton, we see this all the time. It's like with his number, you don't need to retain, but the idea of like, hey, whatever it takes to fit it in somebody's spot, and McMahon makes no money. So I don't think he's getting retained, but it gives them the flexibility and you want to maintain that heading into deadline day. So no, I, we were all ready to rake Bradshaw living over the coals, the idea of like, would you do a thing, would you make a trade? And it is curious that it's none of the guys that have been sitting out and watching all of these games, but it's probably the player who, and you know, this is, this is a much more classic deadline ad. Like we talk about the rental all the time. This is the move that like the true cup contenders, you know, the teams with like foundational pieces that think they're going to be good year over year. It's what the leaves did with Scott Lawton last year. Yeah. Right. The idea of like, you get two cracks at this thing. And Nick was a classic guy of, he feels, he, he, I was about to say a chameleon, but that's not quite true.

26:56He feels like he fits in some org so much better than others on a bad leaf team where you're for whatever reason, using Austin Matthews is your matchup center. It's like, what is there for him to do here on an avalanche team where you got Nelson and McKinnon one, two up the middle and you'd say, uh, go eat all the hard minutes so those guys can feast. Uh, yeah. Sounds pretty good to me. Yeah. No, it's, I'm glad you brought up Lawton because yeah, and you mentioned the Grubankin of it all. Yeah. Yeah. Remember, there was retention on Lawton as well, right? Right. Yeah. No, this is a good piece of business. It's a hard to argue with it at all and off to a good start are the leafs as far as they're, their selloff is concerned also overnight. The Anaheim ducks acquired John Carlson. He's going to play outside of Washington, D.C. for the first time in his career, conditional first round pick. Uh, I assume that's also a protection, uh, in the upcoming draft, the third round picking 27. The ducks are going for it, pending for the agent. Love that. Uh, they're in a playoff spot currently, uh, also the sabers will get to the paraco. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

27:57Later on, but the sabers had to pivot yesterday. And they did so with notably not, uh, Colton, paraco, uh, tall, and, and he hates the leaves. He's going to fit in just fine. Logan Stanley, like, is popping off offensively this year. Nine. Yeah. Nine times. So they, they get a defenseman Logan Stanley and Luke Shen from the Jets for, uh, Isaac Rosen defenseman, Jacob Bryson, a second round pick in the 27 draft and a conditional fourth round pick in 2026. Do you think they called the oilers and are like, you know, if you want all the guys from one team, you could just make a one trade like the, like the sabers, like, what do you do and make a nine trades with the black box here? We just do it in one and get both guys here. Uh, hey, Luke Shen, good on you, uh, going to kill me to see him in those sabers colors because it's like he'll forever be a leaf for me, human eraser himself. Uh, but no, that's a look. This is, this is what you want to see out of your sabers teams and the sabers teams of this hill.

28:58They've been in the loss in the wilderness forever. You have to give them, talk about this all the time and like teams earning a trade who forget the NHL, who in professional sports in the 2000s has earned a trade more than what the sabers have done in the lead up to, to this deadline. So they tried to have a bigger swing. Everyone worth a damn said get out of here. I'm not going to Buffalo, uh, but, uh, but evidently Logan Stanley and, uh, Luke Shennell fit in, fit in just fine. And, uh, hey, like good, good for them. Just quickly, what we're talking sabers, can I talk about if getting Malcolm trying to murder. Oh my god. In cold blood. Yes. Yeah. Oh my god. Malcolm. He, he has a short fuse. It's like often it's like, oh, there's goofy. You know, just kind of chilling and he's like, he's the more goofy guy to sit super serious. Man, don't piss him off because that looks exactly like it did last night. Just like off with your heading of it, I will be curious to see what supplemental discipline is because I'm old enough to remember, uh, Oster Matthews getting a two game suspension, but it was a cross check or a slash on whatever it was on Dalline. That looks like it minimum five.

29:58It wasn't that. Yeah. And not the five in a game. He got like, like supplemental discipline five. So yeah, I mean, uh, penguins, hey, they're all important games for them to, uh, they are going to miss him. But I'd be lying if I didn't say like, yeah, on a team where we've watched it, nobody play with fire all year long, it's like, yeah, good for him. Yeah. Absolutely. Good for him. And Oster Matthews secretly smiling when someone showed the highlight because he hates that guy. It's so weird that Malcolm Dulleyn. Dulleyn, he does. He has a history with Rosamist Dulleyn for some reason. Of course. Of course that, I don't know, skilly Swedish defenseman obviously makes sense. Well, it's like he probably, I, I, it's just like he's the one guy that he's felt like he has the upper hand on the whole time in the league because it's like in the division. It's like he got the panthers and ends like the sabers have been over there and now Dulleyn's this. So must felt nice for Matthews. I hope someone texted them. Maybe someone sent him your tweet, which I saw. I see your tweets. Okay. I saw it. Thanks, man. Yeah. Yeah. You, you quote tweeted the Malkin head shop with a picture of awesome, Matthews smiling.

30:59Yeah. It was harder to find than it used to be. Let me tell you, I did dig into the archives for, for that one. All right. There's a lot more obviously on NHL trade down for hockey. Nice. Yeah. After seven o'clock, we're going to diverge slightly in the upcoming segment and talk about the Raptors now, like doing performance art against good teams. It's, it's crazy. And it actually had me thinking, is, are we sure that it's good to be frauds the way that they're being the frauds this year? You are the arbiter of all things fraud. So I will, I will follow your lead. Okay. And also, Kazuma Okamoto is playing in the world baseball classic and he's part of an absolute onslaught that team Japan is putting on Chinese Taipei. But does anything he does in this tournament impact your belief or lack the rub when it comes to his performance with the blue jays that's coming regular season? Not more than that. Since the fan morning show continues, Ben and his brain got in sports net 590, the fan. Hey, it's Matt Marcazi and I'm Mike Fuda.

32:01We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world weekdays at noon. It's the fan hockey show on sports net 590, the fan and wherever you get your podcasts. Fan morning show sports net 590, the fan Ben and his print gunning. So the Raptors, now a ridiculous 4 and 17 against the NBA's top 10 teams after yesterday's 115-107 loss in Minnesota, which was predictable but like not in a fun way. Like it's not fun at all, like it's just and and you can, everybody's wearing it now including Darko Ayagavitch who's pulling his starters with like five minutes to go in the game. Well, he listens to the show. He's like, Brent Gunning came on here the other day and he's like, well, they're not mad enough about losing all these games and he's like, oh, I'll show you, Matt, I'm the king of facial expressions. I could have been decaprio in another life, but here I am. I do think they're mad though.

33:02I think they're all very agreed, very mad. But there was a motion on Brendan Ingram's face. Yeah, it's what are you supposed to do when, I mean, I guess it's better than not being mad, but and you shouldn't be, you shouldn't have a feeling of resignation, but the fanbase certainly does at this point and judging by some of the tweets going around on X yesterday, it's weird, it's called X, but they're still called tweets. It's not like called an X, right? I hope not. It feels like that's an HR violation of them like, hey, let me send you this X. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, judging by that, the fanbase is kind of into, it's done a little bit of a 180 on how fun and exciting it was to have a team that could be in the postseason this year. Yeah. Hey, baby steps. They're still in a developmental phase, which I guess is true, but like again, go back to our conversation with Michael Grange. It's not a normal development season team, right? All these guys are paid. Yes.

34:03And they're in like their mid 20s, not 21 year old who was just drafted, who's just dipping their toes into the NBA waters. No. Like this. No, no, he is not even playing. So that one, yeah. So this stretch, look, just this stretch proves everything you have been on all season long. Let's go back to the pistons when they got their doors blown off by them. Okay, lose to the pistons. Hey, beat the bulls, beat the bucks. They both stay in clues to the thunder, lose to the spurs, beat the wizards and only by nine points. Lose to the next, lose to the timber walls. So if it's a good team, you lose, if it's a bad team, you win, and that's this team. Yeah, totally. So now they're only a game up on the sixers who are also not very good. Actually, I have a negative point differential, but they're only a game up on them for six. And then what a game and a half up on both the magic and the heat who are currently in a, and a play internment position in seventh and eighth and Hornets are coming on rather strong. I would say winners of six straight and one of the most exciting fun teams in the NBA.

35:06I've actually been monitoring that situation to see if we could get like a more additions to the Raptors, like top 10 wins of our wins against top 10 teams because they've had those close, close games against the Hornets. And it's like a back then it was like, come on, close games against the Hornets. What are we doing here? Well, they lost at least one of them. Yeah. The overtime game. Yeah. Brandon Negro didn't cover his man. It was that conkiniple that made that shot to send it to overtime. Yeah, I mean, that's going to be, let me tell you, that's going to be a lot of dudes in this league for a long, long time. Anyways, are we sure that it's so good to be this? Like are we sure that this is so great for this team's development to be, hey, I know we know they're not in the upper tier, they're just firmly in the mid tier of teams. I would say like parenthetically like on the lower end of hope when it comes to those mid tier teams, right? Like, who would you rather be right now? The Hornets or the Raptors, I think is a very fair question to, I don't know how many people are going to say the Raptors? No, they Scotty Barnes is the fourth overall pick and he's the reason why this team will

36:08have success one way or another conkiniple was the fourth overall pick and he's and like I was going to say no shots, yeah, couple shots at Lamella ball. The reason he that team's going to have success is because whatever conkiniple becomes. So they're just, they're on the upswing as opposed to the Raptors who like, we're swinging up. And now that like they stay there, question mark, that's the way you want to be. And they're swinging lower because the schedule, they're facing more of those top 10 teams. But like, just fact, like the games haven't changed, like the Raptors have been the same team all season long, totally. And luckily for them, they have more games against crappy teams going forward than they have. Yeah, games against teams that are in the top 10. Yep. So they're probably going to be okay as far as they're standing in the top six in the Eastern Conference. Are you sure? Like, that's, that's good. Like, are you sure that that's what you want? If you're a Raptors fan to see the four or five games against the cabs or the nicks or the Celtics or the piss, like what are we talking about here? Okay, I think there are two questions for this season.

37:10No, that's not what you want. You don't want to sit here and look at it. And when I say the future, I'm not talking about the future of this core. But if you are of the belief, and I still am, though, like the best way for this team to succeed and whatever succeed is, whether it be title or you're back to like the Lowry and DeRose and Raptors or whatever it is, it's with Scottie Barnes with the right pieces around him. And you need to have the better seasons that you've got out of pick your guy, manual quickly, RJ Barrett, maybe it's Brandon Ingram because there needs to be a pivot that's going to come here. Like this group is not leading anybody to the promise land. But if you want to have the pivot and needed to be with those players, reestablishing some semblance of value. So no, I'm not going to sit here and be like this group as currently constituted. It is a good place to be, but I think this was the year that needed to happen for Bobby Webster to be able to go make whatever trades need to be made this off season. And whether that means you're restocking and hey, Scottie Barnes is signed. So you're not worried about that, although like what does a contract mean in the NBA these days with how much we see it all the time, like the pre-agency thing of like, yeah, locking

38:14my money. And then I'll tell you where I'd like to go. But I think if you need to have a pivot and this team obviously does, you can't pivot with nothing to offer in said pivot. You need it quickly to reestablish value and whether it's got to the high end of what you would have hoped and dreamed on. I don't know what you were hoping for more than this feel like he's done that. RJ Barrett has been a guy who I think has kind of reset some value there. Obviously, obviously Brandon Ingram is a more valuable player than he was when the Raptors traded for him a year ago. So I think from a can this group move on? Is it a good place to be? No, no, no, no, no. But for the franchise, this needed to happen because guess what, Grady Dick was not netting you anything in a trade, yakimperdl, all they ever tell us is he is the key to this. And guess what? Like a healthy yakimperdl has kind of even reset some value. Now if someone's going to buy how healthy yakimperdl is, I'd pull the trigger on that immediately, quite, quite frankly. But I think that's the way I look at it with this Raptors team. It's not about what is this group together and what is the future hold, but what can you turn said pieces into because I feel like you are in a better spot now than you were

39:16at the start of this year from the pivot that needs to happen from this group. Yeah, it's a pivot that needs to happen. I don't think any smart base, a basketball executive is or baseball people, honestly, it's so obvious. Anybody with eyes, I don't think anybody with eyes or that's paying attention is convinced of anything other than, yeah, the, okay, they got the expensive mid-tier pieces that are good enough to beat crappy teams and nowhere close. Like honestly, nowhere close to being a team in contention and you have to have at least one good team you own. If that's the case, like it is, it is also crazy. I mean, they had the thunderbolt, so that's great. And they have all the calves wins in the before times, but they can't like fluke into one of these like bad shooting days against any of these teams since November. It's been no wins against these teams since they couldn't have fluked into one of these things just. You would have thought there would have been like James Harden Rockets against the Curry Warriors. It's like, I don't know. They got a thousand open looks and not a one of them fell.

40:17Anyways, that's the part where you're like, oh, these guys, like, come on. It can't. And again, it's double digits again, but again, so like best case scenario, they have two of those nights. You feel better about it? No, no, no. No, no, no. Right. They don't feel like these guys feel awful about what's happening here, right? Okay. And they are a likable bunch, but there are total frauds and it's not fun to say it anymore. I disagree. Like, I don't think it's fun to say it, but I refuse to believe you think it's fun to say. Although you didn't, you didn't regale us with the rendition of fraud boys. That's your thing. I've never done that. No. Anyways. Okay. So it's big world baseball classic day Canada starting its tournament tomorrow, but like almost everybody else is in action, including the Americans later tonight. We have a game on right now and it is no contest, but there's lots of intrigue because Japan is leading Chinese Taipei 13 to nothing in the bottom of the fourth inning. Top of the fourth, Shoyo Tani had a chance to hit for the cycle. Yeah. No, say that again.

41:17I think people might have glad. They're like, oh, yeah, Shoyo, hey, nearly hit for the cycle. And did he do it in the fourth inning? Yeah. And how close, like, because I saw it pop up on the screen. We have it on in front of us here. And I'm like, oh, man, could you imagine he was what at most a foot and a half away? It did feel like it because to hit a triple, you probably need to hit it into the right field corner. And he's just laced it down the line. Yeah. And the Chinese Taipei first baseman leapt in the air and made a jumping catch. But yeah, Shoyo Tani already has a grand slam. He's three for four, five RBIs in this game as his want. And I know it's Chinese Taipei, but he is unbelievable. It's also just fun to watch games in this ballpark, right? Yeah. We've all, we've all seen the videos. Imagine the pressure on him, right? Of course, right? I mean, we, we, I mean, we just lived it, right? It's a little different in that, you know, Japan is not Canada and hockey where it's like you, you feel like you're firmly atop the perch, but they're one of the nations that absolutely should be competing for this thing. He had, before he, you know, like one meaningful baseball game.

42:20So he had his biggest moment in this event, right? Striking out of my trout, telling him to take a seat to win it. There's the speech he gave. And yeah, I mean, you want to talk about national icon. Like there's, I think you can put people on par with him, but I don't think anybody is more from like a sporting perspective, an icon for their country than Otani is for, for his. Like, yeah, it's like Crosby matters a lot. Got a million hockey players, guys. It's like all the whole thing is it's like messy for Argentina. Yeah. That's certainly certainly a good one. Go on. Like, you know, they're an although for Portugal. I don't, I don't pretend to know, but it sounds about right to me. Like it can't be anybody for America. There's just like, it's like one such like a fractionation into the idea of like, oh, it's Lebron. It's like, it's a thousand people. Yeah, you're right. So good at everything, depending on what you care the most about. But no, this is again, like whether he is one one or on tier one with all the other guys and the guys you most notably mentioned. I have nothing better. Like I'm not throwing shots at those. They're trillion years old. It's guys like in his prime.

43:21Yeah. Uh, it's not going to last forever because he is in his 30s, but he's unbelievable. I dare you say this is not a sprint. I'd just watch him nearly hit. No, he's in his prime. Okay. I didn't say. I was not going to last forever is what I'm saying. It's not 21. Even that feels offensive to me to the great Otani anyways. He's ridiculous. Um, Kazuma Okamoto, obviously playing in this game. He is hitting fifth and playing first base. He does have a hit and a strike. And he is a single in an RBI and a run score, but also a throwing error from third base. He's playing third base here. Man, remember when we saw him make that play on the, the little trouble or down the line. He's capable. Um, is anything that happens in this tournament going to impact your feelings about Okamoto? Uh, I think a big moment just like gives you another kind of like log to throw on the hope fire there, right? I think if it's like, you know, you're in a knockout round game against a real team. And it's like he hits a bomb in the seventh through the eighth or hey, even gets the party started or, you know, he has a big day at the dish. Yeah, sure.

44:21That can like add to the confidence there. These are going to be the first big games anybody's like since the last WBC that anyone's watched him play. So yeah, I think there's a world in like good luck body language, doctrine at the best of times. It's like, you don't have like a wealth of knowledge to go off with off of this with him. That's the stuff you're going to do. It's just like you're watching a game. We do this all the time in baseball. How do you feel? My confidence rankings. How do you feel when he comes up to the dish in a big spot? And like, obviously, I don't think you'd be as invested in how Japan does as the Toronto blue jays, but that's what you're going to take away from it. He could go. It is preciously close to spring training of like he could go all for a trillion. I'm not going to worry too much, but it does feel like there's a touch more to be gained as opposed to like a spring training bomb. It's like, yeah, congrats. I was throwing curveballs for six straight innings or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To me, there's only gains that can be had told him like it's hard for me to imagine a scenario where it's like, oh, he goes over a million. He won't because he already has a hit where I'm like, oh, no, the blue jays made a tremendous

45:24mistake. He's up to the plate right now. Taken ball one. What an incredible eye. Anyways, see confidence rising every pitch, you know, no, it's, yeah, it's a situation where I can only see gains, right? And he's, he's to your point, the last time we saw him at this tournament, he had an incredible tournament, had a big home run against a legitimate major league arm. We've seen him like the numbers in Japan. He's hit a home run of a Yamamoto. By the way, this is a trigger warning game for blue jays fans that Yamamoto started this game in Otani is, is, is murdering Chinese Taipei. I will say just like my own feels about it. I was more triggered at the Yamamoto of it than the Otani of it because like the Otani, like, yeah, and he had a great series and one of the greatest games in the history of the postseason against the blue jays in that series. But notably, Bob Shett took him yard for three run home run in that series and also had a chance to give the Dodgers a lead.

46:27And okay, I, I'm watching the same thing, buddy. Yeah. Okamoto turning on a three one fastball, hit it hard, but into a glove in my field. Anyways, had a chance to give the Dodgers a lead in the ninth inning after it was tied it up against Jeff Hoffman, he's hit a can of corn to center field. So I am more triggered by watching Yamamoto pitch in this game that I am watching Otani do Otani things, really? Yeah, I think that everyone's made their peace with what it was. It's like Yamamoto was like, I got again, like there's, there's more. This is so unfair. It is interesting with this sport, you know, compared to others is that the vitriol can be there because they murdered you in cold blood. But it's not like, it's not like in even, even like basketball or somewhere. It's like, oh, that was a dirty player. I didn't like the way he low bridged it. It's like you, it almost adds to the hate because it's like he didn't do anything wrong. Like he just was incredible against you. It's like, you go hate Brad Martian, for example. It's like, yeah, buddy, I got here here, here, here, here's my long list of things to hate about Brad Martian. It's like, well, Yamamoto, it's like, he's very good and he never stopped pitching end

47:30of list. And it's like, it murdered you in cold blood. But it's almost harder to hate the guy because he's not like a detestable figure. And then that makes you hate him more because you're like, God, I don't even have the laurels to rest on of like, and see, I have the moral high ground here, right? So no, it is just so different of hating a guy like Eric Cole or like God forbid Trevor Bowers back in Major League Baseball and he was the guy that pitched a zillion innings in the world series against you. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, rognando doors, like punched it was about teased in the face. And obviously, you know, slightly different caliber of player we're talking about there. Oh, by the way, there are mercy rules in the world baseball club. I was wondering about that. Okay. So it's, and it looks like this one will not be mercyed after five. So you have to be up 15 after five. So Japan almost there, there are 13 to nothing. And they just made the third out in the top of the fifth inning. I do wonder if there's like impetus for teams to be like, let's get the, let's get there, right? 100 pictures and totally, right? I mean, not that you're burning your high end pictures, but I mean, it's like you don't

48:31want to burn anybody in a tournament like this. Yeah. As long as there's no comeback by Chinese high pay, this thing will be over after seven though, because if you're up 10 after seven, it's also over to the world baseball classic. But yeah, I start that everyone would have anticipated for Japan over Chinese time. Do you think there are guys watching it like in Chinese time, pay like, God, if we could just get to the eighth, like that'd be a moral victory for us. Why not? Probably not. Yeah, I don't think so. Before take break, also wanted to get to this that it's spring training. Nothing really matters as far as results unless you're a young player, like you're a prospect and you're trying to make a team, or you're trying to like revive your career and people are rightly curious about whether you have the stuff. If you're a pitcher or a hitter, whether you're healthy, whether you look like you have the bat speed, Alec Manoa, and it gives me no pleasure to tell you this, but it does look like the blue jays, when they wave goodbye, knew that the time had passed and by, and

49:31the stuff was never going to return. Despite what we saw on the box scores, which was like not great, but like not important. Right. Yeah, every report is that the stuff is not majorly caliber. His last spring start, which was yesterday, he walked five, gave up five earned runs on three hits and two and a third innings for the angels. And he'd have three strikeouts, but yeah, it does, it does, like just once again, emphasize the point that it feels like the world is trayous, avatars oyster, right? Like how could he fail? Like we saw how good he was in some of the biggest moments that anyone could ever have. And he was shutting down showy Otoni and the Dodgers and striking a million, and Aaron Judge before that. And maybe it is, maybe that, that maybe it's nothing, but, but great stuff I had for trayous avatars 20 years, Alec Manoa was in an all-star game where he was like one of the faces of Major League Baseball.

50:32He was, he was starting game one of a post season series. And again, gives me no pleasure to tell you this, his career might be done. Yeah, this is the way she goes for pictures, when it's, you know, with hitters sometimes is like a new approach and, you know, not that no picture has ever turned it around, but when it's an injury, when it's a health thing, it's just impossible to kind of get back to those heights is how it feels. And yeah, you, you know, you want to talk about things that give you no pleasure. You're right to remind people about what could happen. I don't, do I think it's going to happen to you, Savage? No, absolutely not. I do not think it's going to, it's going to happen there. But yeah, it's just, it is kind of remarkable that how quickly it happened from Manoa. And, you know, you obviously understand why, but yeah, it sucks, sucks to see in this way, because he was such a like bulldog mentality guy too, and yeah, brutal. Was that Timothy Shalamet? I don't know. We, we had about four crowd shots and it took us to realize I'm like, well, they're not just showing any old Puerto Rican guy. And it's like, that was bad bunny years and just to clarify, I don't think Timothy Shalamet is Puerto Rican. I know there was a little confuse in there. No, it was, it was drinking a beer and very much if it was not Timothy Shalamet, that

51:34guy needs to get a job traveling the globe, like as a Timothy Shalamet impersonator, could you travel the globe doing that? Like, I mean, I guess he's in Japan, he's in Japan. I'm going to go out on a, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it probably is him. I don't think so. I don't think in the truck, they're like, God, have you ever seen someone look so much like Timmy? Yeah. No, that's, I was just going to say that's a sports guy. This guy loves sports. There was the college game day thing from like, I think it was last year or two years ago, where he went on there and he was just like breaking down like North Texas's defense. You're like, okay, is this a bit like did he do the, and then it's like, obviously, we know the next stuff there and that's legit, but buddy, let me tell you, if you are in Japan to watch the WBC and it's not, that wouldn't be a fun time for me, but it's like Timothy Shalamet can do anything he wants in the world, and that's where he wants to be right now. Good for him. I mean, it probably would be me too, right? Like, who wouldn't want to go see Shohei Otoni in the world baseball classic at the Tokyo don't?

52:34Sounds amazing. Mackie, we should book Shalamet, get on that. We should talk to him. Right now, he could probably do live. We don't have to tape him. Yeah, that's a great point. All right. I'm like some guys. When we come back, it's NHL Shure deadline day, leaves starting the work. How much do we expect to be completed today? That and more than actually the fan morning show continues, Ben and spring getting sports net 590 to fan.