OverDrive - Boudreau on Matthews' leadership as captain, the Maple Leafs' goaltending options and Tkachuk looking for production

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst and Former NHL Head Coach Bruce Boudreau joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NHL, Auston Matthews' comments on the crowd during Ryan Reaves' fight and his goal scoring, Joseph Woll's significance in the crease, the Canucks and Oilers' matchup, Brady Tkachuk's leadership and more.

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for a year too. So that goes against it. Everything balances out. I like that Hawaii. Yeah you can't take a free trip to like New York man if it's free you gotta go to Hawaii or something. You gotta take a long trip right? You have to. I just looked as far as they could go and Hawaii was the furthest so that's where we went. That's right you're a businessman I love it. So I saw you earlier and we were discussing you know what Austin Matthews had to say after the game and what I find interesting about this topic is making heads explode in Leaf Nation

because on one side, Leaf fans hate how quiet Scotia Bank Arena is. They hate that. On the other side, they kind of hate how guys like Matthews and Marner and Nylander never hold each other accountable and don't win and aren't really, you know, rah-rah in terms of yelling and screaming at each other to make sure that they step up when they're supposed to step up. So like worlds are colliding and people aren't quite certain how they should react to this. What did you make of his commentary postgame last night? What kind of message do you think he was trying to get across? Well, I mean, I think he was trying to be

a captain and deflect the loss and blame it on something else. And what are we talking about today? We're not talking about Columbus beating them 5-1. We're talking about the crowd noise. And you know, nothing's changed there. But I will say this, I firmly believe that the next home game, I think it's the Wednesday night of next Wednesday, even if it is against minnesota which isn't the most exciting team in the

world uh... if capra soft stop playing will be very loud at the beginning of the game i guess uh... it depends on how they played to see if they stay that loud but i think they'll be very loud and the crowd will show that were behind you and i i just thought it was a leadership thing and it was the first time I'd heard Austin actually be negative towards anything. So I think it was fine. I'm okay with it. I mean, you wouldn't want him to go off and say things like that every night, but I think once it's January and it's the first thing he said so I don't have a problem Yeah, and it's exactly I mean it's it's not like it was overly harsh either

Like he said he would have liked to have seen a little bit He wasn't like criticizing anyone individually and it was a fight 90 seconds in it's tough A lot of people weren't in the crowds yet or in their seats yet, but Austin's on fire man Even in that 5-1 loss Bruce. He he's he's scored nine goals in his last 10 games. He's up to 20 on the season. What do you do you think he like William Nylander's got 28? Do you think he can catch Willie between now and the end of the year? And if so, you know, how quickly could he do that?

Well, these eight goals, when you if you were talking me, then eight goals would catch you in a heartbeat. But I mean, William Nylander is going to get 40, 45 goals maybe this year. That means Austin would have to have quite a second half, I think. And I don't know if he's going to catch it. Look at William Nylander at three breakaway that i saw last last night

more breakaway than any other player in the nl he's going to get his goals but often matthew's is simply the best score in the national hockey league i mean you got sixty nine last year uh... he's gonna he's gonna get his goals but i think it and a both of them are scoring at the the rate they've been going

i think uh... i think believes a lot more games in the last half of the season brucey what's the key to get a lot of breakaways is simply anticipation just sniffing out when the parks can be going the other way i think in william neil and risk is you don't watch a lot of you know he's just floating or he's cheating. I mean back in the day watching Kovalchuk or Pavel Bure, they would literally stand at the far blue line. He's not doing that. Well no, that's not the case with him. And I'll tell you one of the reasons he's getting a lot of breakaways is because so many people block shots now and Well when a defenseman shoots the puck and he doesn't block it

He just keeps going and it's blocked and he's wide open up the middle more often than not Obie used to do that an awful lot when the year he scored 65 He'd go out to the point if it wasn't blocked He would keep going and get breakaway passes all night long now watching last night's game they did a little thing on this on his breakaway and he is anticipation is great i mean and he's got that first step that he can get beyond the defenseman but no he's not have lburing uh... he's not alex mcgillian eight he's not any of these guys even in the past when they would come back so slow

hoping that the the the leaf guys and it might give me another getting away from sheldon but i mean this is how we coach is that he would always have one guy hanging high at least and a lot of time it was me lander but i mean

they'd be come back hard through the middle but they anticipate so well and that delete defense is really uh... uh... doesn't get the the credit because they don't score but they got some pretty good outlet pastors on that on that deep and they can hit him with those one timers and and consequently neil ander gets an awful lot of chances to score

was we were having a conversation about the way the Leafs are handling Joseph Wall this year. He doesn't play last night, even though it wasn't a back-to-back situation. Hildeby goes in there and he gets drilled a little bit and he's back in the minors now. But what do you make of the way the game has changed when it comes to handling goaltenders? Only a few guys got over 60 starts last year. When you were coaching the league less than 20 years ago, it wasn't uncommon to have guys getting 70 plus.

And now here's a guy, Joseph Wall, who may get 40 and the Leafs are worried about it. I mean, how do you see it? Well, it's the first time thing for Joseph Wall too, I mean, to play that many games. But I mean, I think the fear isn't play that many games but I mean I think the fear isn't in how many games he's playing the fear is quite frankly at how many goalies get hurt and and so you have to be able to worry about this I

mean I don't think the Leafs have a great number three right now and and they've already got stole ours out. I mean, there wouldn't have been like there was no reason for Wal not to play yesterday other than resting him, especially when they sent sent Hildeby back to the miners today. And you know, so but I think it's more of a they want to make sure that they're rested and ready to go come playoff time because you're right, there's martin broder's um... that's gonna play seventy games the closest guy i think is is uh... alabac in and i think in the second half you're gonna find him not playing as much uh... specially be placed

for games in the in uh... for nations to go along with everything else he's done I think you'll find him taking a rest as soon as they can get Connery a win they don't seem to be able to get him a win when he goes in the net so it's a little dicey but three goalies that third goalie usually isn't the best goalie in the world and it's a unless you were in Vancouver and we're lucky enough to pick up Kevin Lanken and it has become a godsend for them but I mean you don't see it going around the league too much speaking of Vancouver they're they're in Edmonton tonight obviously first time since the weekend

when you know McDavid and Garland got into it McDavid suspended Tyler Myers and Bruce Sharpe got into it Myers suspended so McDavid and Myers won't be in the lineup tonight but Garland will, and it's in Edmonton. Like, do you expect fireworks tonight? What are you anticipating in this game? Okay, so you think the Edmonton Oilers are gonna sit there and say, we're gonna get that 5'755 pound Connor Garland tonight.

We're gonna eat him up because he was holding He was holding that man. He was holding he was holding and I mean it's bad enough if you get hit really hard You got to fight a guy if you have to fight a guy and go after guys that are holding I think the league is in trouble. What's next? The coach is going at it for too many men on the ice? I don't know. I just don't think that is the importance of tonight. Each team needs the two points. And I mean, Connor Garland is a pretty tough guy to hit because he's a little whirling dervish and he's really good at it. But I mean, a chance to get them they're gonna have my think the worst thing that's

gonna happen is if he goes by the bench is a good chance uh... korey perry's just work water on him and he's going by uh... good korey that kind of guy but i think both vancouver need this when and mccain's lost to a role i think the focus is on winning and not the fact that you know He held Connor McDavid and Connor McDavid Cross-checked him in the face to get three games Well the other side of the I guess continent is going to see Ottawa play Boston tonight Bruce

And Brady Kachuk has not had a point in eight games pointless in eight games. Pointless in eight games. Boston got pumped by Jersey last night. The night before, Ottawa got pumped by the Rangers. So you'd think both teams would be ornery. Both teams know where they stand in terms of the playoff pursuit. Two wild card spots are up for grabs.

No one is grabbing it right now. Yet Ottawa could get in, Boston could get in, Montreal could get in, maybe the Rangers, they're red hot, like there's a real race going on, but how much pressure do you believe is on Brady Kachuk to A, get on the game sheet tonight, but B, play well in Ottawa, get a win? Well, I think there's again more pressure on getting the win and if Brady Kachuk plays really well and scores a goal and or gets a couple points i think they'll they'll forget about the eight game pointless thing i mean every game is a new day every new day is a new game and

i think we can't worry about what he hasn't done we all know he's a really good hockey player we all know that i mean he's a really physical hockey player but I mean to me Ottawa's got to focus on putting a string together one of these teams whether it's Boston whether it's Ottawa whether it's you know go far as Philadelphia Pittsburgh Montreal Detroit these guys now that they're all pretty well even now's the time they got to put a six and seven game win streak together because all the streaks that have happened so far I've been to get even but that's the that's the thing about having a cushion now they got to

put a streak to get above 500 to get into the playoff spot so I think again Ottawa needs Brady Kachuk to score if they want to win consistently. I think he worries about it internally but I don't think there's going to be a big focus on let's get Brady the puck to score. I think it's more the focus on to win. In both cases Boston's got to win they just got humbled the other day by Jersey I think and Ottawa's you know right there so it's an important game for both and I don't think individual stuff is gonna be the thing that matters. Hey Bruce we were talking about Matthews

suggesting the crowd could have been a little louder after the Reeves fight last night but the point Hayes was making off the top of the show was it was 90 seconds into the game and people hadn't even taken their seats really in a lot of cases. When you were a coach and you had a guy who was a heavyweight or a guy who wasn't against fighting would you ever sort of maybe suggest maybe he pick his spots in a certain way? Because that didn't seem to me like the best spot to really motivate a team or rev up a crowd in such an early portion of the game or how did you see that as a coach?

Well, I mean, I thought first of all, it was too early for both of those guys to be on the ice. Yeah. I mean, 90 seconds as fourth liners. So I kind of believe that the coaches might have wanted that to happen. Both are tough guys. Dean Evison was a tough dude for his size and they both like fighting but I mean I thought it was a little early to get involved but you knew since Ryan hadn't been in into

a fight all year and Matthew has fought everybody that's come his way that it was going to be just a matter of time before they did it last night. But I mean, I just thought it was really early for the usually the fourth line is on about the four or five minute mark of the first period. And to be on it, the 92nd mark is, is this, you know, it's almost looks like, yeah, I think we want to get something going here. And I think it worked for Columbus. I think Columbus got,

their guys got all lifted behind it more than for whatever reason the Toronto guys did. It's an interesting point. Yeah. Go ahead. Percy, how much are coaches and like we're starting to get the trade bait lists coming out and you know who should the Leafs get? When you were coaching, how much were you a part of those discussions about possible centermen coming into the fold? Or if any, is it just a general manager thing? You've got to be in the loop, don't you? Well, I mean, I think if you're a good GM, you keep the coach in the loop. I mean, we were all... Is there something, is there a story you want to tell, Bruce? No, but I mean, does it not make common sense to keep the coach in the loop?

Like, what do you need? Like, I mean, if you're going to be successful, what do you need? Now, I may not be able to go get it for you, but I'm going to go try. And for example, when George McPhee asked me that the one year, I said, we really do need a second line center. And he went out and he got Sergey Fedorov. And I remember the minute he got him, he came back in and said, is he good enough for you? And I said, yeah, he'll do, you know.

And at the same time, Chuck Fletcher did the same thing. He said, what do you guys think? And we were in first overall tied with Washington at the time. And what do you think you need to put you over the top? And I said, well, I think we need another center. And I mean, at that point in time, we didn't have a fourth line center. It was always a minor league guy that was being called up. And he went and got Martin Hansel.

Now it didn't work, but it tried. And that's the big thing. I mean I've had other GMs that they phoned me up and said, we've made a trade, you just lost your best player, deal with it. And so I mean it's who you are. But I mean it's who you have as your GM and the communication between him and the coach, I think is vital. When you've got the GMs here, then that's really good. Like I said, he might not go out and be able to get the guy you want or even think that that's the right thing, but it's important that they

communicate to want to know what do you think the coach or the coaching staff in general needs to put this team either into the playoffs or over the top. And if you don't have that communication, I think you're in trouble. Yeah, that does seem strange that like, especially if the GM hired the coach and you're all on the same page, you know, it's one thing, I guess, if there's some sort of ugliness between the two for whatever reason or things are going south I don't know even that I'm not sure I can explain but we hear it all the time from coaches from GM's like we're on the same page we have a great relationship we talk all the time like they'll express that publicly as if like the opposite happens all the time like that's some something you actually need to proclaim to people that we actually talk to each other like shouldn't that be routine I mean that's something you actually need to proclaim to people that we actually talk to each other. Like shouldn't that be routine? I mean, that's the way every other

business is supposed to work. You would think it would be routine. Yes. And you would think that that makes common sense. But I will say that not one time in the four years, four and a half years in Anaheim did they ask me what we needed they just went out and got it I've got what they thought that we needed well there you go well you should have been in Hawaii at that point Bruce that's where you should have been a real good team yeah we had a real good team so it wasn't a big big problem except we never won the cup even though you know

we went to seven games against cup winners a couple times but I mean some guys do it do it on their own with the scouts and some guys have everybody involved well Bruce it's always great catching up with you we appreciate you doing this and I'm sure we'll do it again real soon I hope so take care guys have a great night you got it you too Bruce Bujo joining us here on the Maple Toyota hotline. Count on Maple Toyota for the right winter tire package for your Toyota. Trade in your old tires, buy a new set, get $40 back. Visit mapletoyota.com.