McKenna Turns Heads + Opening Night Decisions Loom
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What happened in the Leafs' preseason finale and why does Gavin McKenna’s performance matter?
Come on in. Fastest Hour in Hockey. Don't blink. Real Kipper and Bourne Show Season 6, Sammy. You believe it? Me, you, Justin Bourne, Jake the Snake Schultz, Derek Brandale, Samuel Gacera. Did I say it right?
Gacera.
Gacera. Heading
in the right direction. Yeah. Assistant producer.
He is Sammy squared now for the rest of the season. That's fine. Okay. Live on Sportsnet 590 The Fan, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet Plus on YouTube, wherever you get your pods, Apple, Spotify, we're here. Toronto Maple Leafs last night putting a cherry on top of their preseason on what was another Marty Feldman night. Split squad. And 2-0. They swept the Sens. Battle of Ontario, back. One was a lot more convincing than the other, and if you were going to have your choice, you'd certainly take the one at home with the majority of your star players.
Yeah, but I think you take the other one, too, where you send a bunch of grunts on the road and get a gritty fight-bang sort of win. Perfect. Good night to the Leafers.
I don't want to come in here and do the thing that everybody's expecting me to
do. I'm
going to do what everyone thinks I'm going to do. But boy, 92 is looking
pretty good out there, boys. Holy smokes. Jeez. Well, the head coach wanted a little bit more, wanted him to kind of push it a little bit more off of his first game against Montreal. Safe to say he did it.
Yeah. I mean, he didn't go two shifts without doing something
that
made you go, oh, that's not something they had in the lineup last year. So, you know, not going to get ahead of ourselves and say it's going to be this or whatever all year, but it's just cool that that's in there, that he can do some things that they haven't had before. Really impressive thing.
Yeah, he was the best player on the ice for me.
He was. Totally agree. I don't know how you watch it. I mean, it's preseason. They're playing a lot of bums from their team that no one really knows. It's a lot of guys that are not going to be on the
team. Don't want to overplay it, but you just don't see that type of skill, performance, mindset, IQ. It just doesn't come by very often. At 18.
Yeah. I mean, the confidence to even try some of the things he tried. And, like, you can say, yeah, it's an AHL and a half squad or whatever, but everyone else on the Leafs also played that squad, and he was the most impressive of them. So, you know, they're going to have decisions to make as things go on, but, like, how long you keep Jack Roslevic on the power play? I know he scored. Well, he's that thing sitting on the bench, you know, that weapon. I don't know, boy. That was some showing.
I mean, you already put him up
with
Matthews last night
at some point. You
know what? We're doing it. Nize is going off that
line. We can
talk Nize too, but
man. It's what stood out again for me, and there's a couple times when I'm like, I think they got him, and it's his escapability in short places on the ice that he can turn – what deems a turnover or getting closed out into drawing a penalty.
Mm-hmm.
There was a moment on yesterday's show where I was going to talk about, like, these quad A guys who just can't quite get to the spaces they need to to do the things they do to score in the American League. I was like, it might look like that the first year. And then last night totally changed my mind where I was like, oh, he sees when he's getting painted in a corner and he's able to devise a way out of it. He's... Oh, boy. That's ridiculous. Highlights if you're watching on TV.
I really do love, though, how bent out of shape everybody's already getting that we're excited about this. Like, it's just... No, it's
legit. No, the
other fan base, like, as a fan...
It's okay. I'm just saying that they're already... You and a lot of people have been the butt of jokes for a very long time. Unrelated to anything. Oh, yeah, there's nothing to happen. So, why... Why break precedent now?
Well, I personally love it because there's a ton of fan bases around the league that are incredibly sour that this guy ended up on the Leafs.
And you
know what? Quite frankly, other places in Canada that were Canucks, Flames, specifically, that really thought they had a chance to get him.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What happened in the Leafs' preseason finale and why does Gavin McKenna’s performance matter?
0:11–7:32
2
How did the hosts evaluate McKenna’s skating and overall impact on the team?
7:32–14:57
3
What are the projected opening‑night roster decisions for the Leafs?
14:57–20:37
4
How will the Arizona team‑building trip affect the Leafs before the season starts?
20:37–26:17
5
What did Mark Messier say about Mike Babcock’s return and why is it controversial?
26:17–31:35
6
Which players are on Kyper’s trade board and what are the likely moves?
31:35–39:19
7
What are the long‑term implications for the Leafs based on the preseason analysis?
39:19–45:18
8
How do the hosts wrap up the episode and what are the key take‑aways for listeners?
45:18–49:41
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Real Kyper & Bourne
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