Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - The Montreal Canadiens Are A WAGON… And The City Is Buzzing 🔥 w/TSN's Darren Dreger | BB Clips

Episode Date: April 12, 2026

Boomer, Pinder and Rhett are joined by TSN’s Darren Dreger to break down a massive night in Montreal as the Canadiens take down Tampa in what could be a preview of a first-round playoff matchup, with Cole Caufield hitting the 50-goal mark and the building absolutely electric. The guys dive into how the Habs got here through a proper rebuild, the pieces they’ve put in place, and just how dangerous this team could be heading into the playoffs.Video Link: https://youtu.be/ZgquMaIWS-c#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #montrealcanadiens CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Like you were on there. You popped in as we were looking at the highlights from last night. Yeah, terrific. It feels like they've been, we showed highlights in whatever, January on a Tuesday, and the horn goes for two minutes and the crowd is off their, like they're off their rockers. Last night, John Cooper, Tampa, hey, nice, go with under two left. Bang. Perfect.

We're going to get a point. What are we going to do? We got, get the shootout list ready. Who's, is his hand okay? Because we need to. Not a minute later. It's in the back of their net. they lose in regulation.

Cole Cawfield, 50 goals. Slaff 30. There's just a feeling with that team sometimes. Yeah. And, you know, Nick Suzuki, as a young leader, you know, when he was named captain, I think many of us went, that's a lot soon in a market like that, right? But he has handled that role,

and it hasn't negatively impacted his game even a little bit. I would submit the opposite because he's so dialed in. And you look throughout that roster And we don't have to go man by man You know, Deminoff is going to be He's a nice player now But he has the potential to be a star I was at the draft when

Montreal took Slavkovsky first overall And whether Shane Wright Peered at the Montreal Table or not It doesn't matter But It didn't shock anybody But it certainly raised eyebrows

And you know I remember at the time thinking, talking to hockey people there. And, you know, okay, like, when Slavkoski walked by me on the draft floor, without seeing this kid live, I watched him on video lots of times, but I'm like, holy smokes, this man is a horse at 18 years of age. Like, just that big Russian whatever arse on him,

like just an absolute mule of a human being. I'm like, well, if they can develop this kid, he's going to be something else. And I mean, you're nowhere near the ceiling on Slavkovsky at this point. And none of these guys. No. Hudson, the goalies, obviously. Yeah.

There's more coming. Hage probably will make his debut. The, uh, the, the, the centerman. Yeah. Oliver Caput. Yeah. He had 20 goals. There was not a whole lot expected of him at this point.

Yeah. And so for me, they are exhibit A of a rebuild and how, you know, you, do have to brace your fan base for the pain and the suffering, which they did initially. But they also didn't lolly gag. Like they drafted properly. They've developed slowly, but in the right way. The only, maybe the only flyer they took was putting Marty St. Louis on the bench,

on an NHL bench as a head coach coming out of minor hockey, for God's sake. If it didn't work, they could have turned to a veteran right now, right? Sure. He's on his second contract right now? Yeah, but Ken Hughes has openly talked about it. You know, it was the hockey IQ, the intellect of Marty Saint-Louis, and the arrogance, the personality of the man who can handle that market in both languages, French and English.

So it seems like everything they've touched to this point has worked out. But as we all know, the postseason is a different beast, completely different animals. So you get into that first ground, who knows what's going to happen. I mean, they get their teeth kicked in. I doubt. They did a good job last year, get up against Washington,

having, you know, sticking up for themselves anyway. Like, it was an entertaining series, bad with that one. Yeah. Look at Anderson and Jack, like there's some,

they got some small four. They're not, but it's just, they have had at least a taste of. And I'll tell you what, like, I think it was Craig Barubei who mentioned something to me.

It wasn't critical of the defense of the Montreal Canadians. This was maybe coming out of the rookie tournament or preseason, whatever it was. And he said, I wonder about the size of their defense. And yeah, they're mobile. They can skatepox out of traffic and all that stuff. But are they physical enough to box out when the games get heavy?

And I guess after watching them all season long, I would go, I don't think that matters. And maybe it does in a seven game series when the bigger teams do find a way to the inside. I don't know. And I don't know the size. you could commit to doing it too. Like Jordan Leopold was not a big man. Right.

When we go to the finals, he's bad, you know what I mean? When you get all in and you're, you dig in and you want it. Well, that's an excellent point. And I think just to flip to Cole Cawfield, I think you'd agree with this. Ray Ferraro made a distinction on the podcast recently where he said there's a difference between being short and being small. Yeah. Cole Cawfield is short.

but he's he's not small. He does not play the game small. He doesn't shy away from certain areas, you know, based on his stance and lower body gravity, all of those things. Like he can get into tough spots in the ice and he can wiggle his way into position

and get that shot away and all of those things. So again, I guess we're preaching to the same choir here. But I mean, I've been in that building. often enough to still submit that Montreal is the church when it comes to celebration in the national hockey. There is nothing nowhere better, not in hockey.

There just isn't. And I feel like that is a deep connection between the fan base, their knowledge of the game, and again, their connection to the player and what that player means to the game and what he means to the community. Like when Caulfield scored 50 last night, oh, I mean, you know, yeah, as dad's crying, but half the building had tears in their eyes, you know, just because it's, it's just such an abnormal place for milestones and high-end celebration. It just is. I watched the HBO series last night, the Flyers one.

And there are certain times where certain teams develop a certain chemistry with their community. We kind of had it in Florida. You had a hero for. Typically when you win that chemistry as an easier chance of building. Yeah. But it never leaves in Montreal. Never.

And in some places you watch, like if the New York Yankees or whatever, it's okay, get over yourself. Like you get sick of it. It rings different for me in Montreal. It's like, no,

you kind of deserve it. It's genuine and they love it. But I think as a player, as a coach, his management, Jeff Moulson as an owner, you have to be wired for it, right? Because you have to be able to walk into a restaurant with your wife,

with your family, and be okay with, you know, fans coming over and just saying alone. They're not going to mob you. You know, they're not. I've been there lots of times and I've watched it firsthand. You know, if you're on the street and you can take a quick picker, sign an autograph, all right, they know that comes with a territory. But there's a level of respect and appreciation in that fan base that, that it's tough to emulate.

It is. I think it's just the history. That's what it is. Can we rewind a bit? Because when the decision was made when Bergervan left, Zey took a non-traditional route with Kent Hughes, who was an agent.

We're seeing more of this. Like Bill Zito's an agent, there's two other guys that are surfacing. A lot of the candidates that we're now seeing for GM jobs have some agency background. And they also wanted Jeff Gordon, who I think is criminally underrated, given the tiny amount of work he did in Boston

that turned that franchise around like six months, but did a really good job in New York. Obviously, there's owner GM dynamics, but that tandem, having the balls to say this is an anglophone guy, we're going to put them with a guy that can't speak French. Talk to me about that model and if that should be maybe all these teams that, like the Leafs, like that are looking for GMs. And how much credit should Bergevin get?

Yeah. Some. This young core is a lot of the new guys, but Bergeman did get to the final in that bubble year. Yeah. And look, the owner, you know, again, for, for, for, for knowing that in that market, it's hard to take it to the studs. And they more or less did that. More or less, that's what they did.

But, Ryan, you're bang on. If I were an owner in the National Hockey League, and I was going through what Toronto is embracing now, New Jersey, it feels like Nashville has been doing it for months now and can't seem to find their way in their process, I 100% would be looking at the model of the Montreal Canadiens and really, really, really looking at how. that works. And it works because Jeff Gordon

is a deeply experienced manager, right? So he did what he did in Boston. I think that he was grossly mistreated by the New York Rangers. I just do. Oh, that was nasty. That was sort of. That was just a volatile owner that was pissed off at everybody. Well, okay, John Davidson, you've got to go. Jeff Gordon, you've got to go. This guy, that, like, I mean, they just flushed in New York. But that made the Montreal Canadians better and made them stronger.

So here's why the dynamic works so well. So Jeff gets a little bit of the management juice because he's still on the phone. And he's talking to managers and he's talking to precedents and he's talking to all those connections, you know, in the hockey community worldwide. But he also acts as that buffer the go between business and what management has to do. And that frees, Ken Hughes, to make sure that he is on top of everything. So, I mean, Ken Hughes, there isn't a general manager that knows that every deal is common. But there wouldn't be many that Kent Hughes didn't have knowledge of.

And maybe didn't participate in, in terms of seeing if there's the right fit for the Montreal Canadiens. When you have that luxury as a general manager where your sole focus is on the organization of your team and your American. league and where your prospects are and all of that. And you're making sure that you're in daily communication with your amateur scouts, your pro scouts, and all your layers of hockey operations, that speaks to a level of success. And just to finish my thought and link it back to the Maple Leafs for a moment. So I think we misunderstood a little bit what Keith Belly was talking about when he talked about having a data-driven management group.

All right. Okay. Sunny Mehta is coming in for the interview from the Florida Pat. He's an AGM in Florida, but he's their director of analytics for the Florida Panthers. That's what he is. But you're right to mention Bill Zito. Bill Zeter, a lawyer, Bill Zito, a player agent. Bill Zito worked his way up through management of the Columbus Blue Jackets and now is surrounded by

terrific people. But he is a razor, razor sharp man. Likewise with Kent Hughes. So if I were in ownership, man, I'd be looking at guys like that that were maybe, looking for something fresh, a different challenge, something new, because they're very talented people out there available. And so if you're an owner and it's like, okay, I'm going to get this highly-tetted president,

I'm going to get this GM that's done phenomenal work. You've got two highly paid executives. Like, are we talking north of 10 million a year for those two? Because you mentioned ownership, and I think that's important. A lot of teams don't have the stomach for that. No, they don't. And Seattle Crackett, I think, are exhibit eight, right? I mean, you know, they had a Hall of Famer and Ronnie Francis overseeing,

their hockey operations with Jason Bottero as general manager. And it's pretty evident that they just decided that, okay, well, it feels like we're overlapping here. Maybe we don't need that role anymore. So they amically figure out, okay, what's the best way to cut bait? And that's what Toronto did with Brendan Shannon. Granted, the Shana plan had lots of time to materialize and it just didn't work out. But I do think that you have that disconnect.

You've got teams like Montreal that see the value in the two-headed monster of Gordon and Hughes and see how it's playing out. And then you've got other clubs that are maybe more concerned with counting their dollars. You can go on, that might be a redundant voice in a redundant position. So let's maybe go a different direction. It's tough. I mean, desperation can make you do some strange things.