OverDrive - Boudreau on why Rielly should be on PP1 for the Leafs, different panic levels in Canadian markets & Ovechkin's placement on the TSN top 50 list

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Former NHL head coach and TSN hockey analyst Bruce Boudreau on how much veteran players care about the preseason, how to lineup the Leafs PP, panic levels in different Canadian markets, Ovechkin at 49 on the top 50 list, what the Canucks need to do to be successful, who should play on Matthews' wing and more!

Josh stares down the business end of his baby brother as he takes the reins on diaper duty. But Josh comes prepared with a diaper change tutorial. The video stream, fast and strong. The baby stream contained. Yes, when the Harmon switched to Bell Pure Fiber Internet, they wondered why they didn't sooner. Experience proven reliability with Bell Pure Fiber Internet, Canada's fastest awarded by Ucla. Switch today. Plans starting at $60 a month with a two-year term.

Visit bell.ca for more details and to check availability. Bell, Internet, just got better. Numbers 21 through 30 were revealed today, and to chat about that, among other things. We're joined now on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Here's our TSN Hockey analyst, Bruce Boudre. How you doing, Bruce? Hi, guys.

Welcome back. Yeah, it's great to be back. It's great to chat with you again. You feel like you're right back in the swing of things. We've got games on every night. Well, we do, and you know what, it's interesting because as a coach, you're just looking at who's in the lineup. in and out. And you can see that there's a lot of, right now, there's not a lot of names that

you recognize if you've been hanging out with the NHL for the most nights. But as the preseason goes along, every game, you'll see more and more NHL guys every night. Yeah, and I'm curious what the messaging is. Like, we always, Noodles talks about it as a player. Like, as you're a veteran and you get older, you're kind of like, I just want to survive. Is the coach okay with that? you know, like publicly maybe can't admit to that because people are buying tickets and they're coming out. But as every coach aware that a veteran that's been in the league for 8, 10 years really doesn't care about the preseason?

Like, is there an understanding on that level? Absolutely. They don't care one iota. Like, to me, last night, for example, if Austin Matthews, he wanted probably to get out of there as quick as possible. I know when I used to have Ryan Souter, he'd say, I'd say, okay, suits, you know, you're in your 30s, how many games you want to play in the preseason? He says, none, please, don't dress me at all.

And, like, I mean, I think that's pretty well it right there. So, I mean, you know, they don't want to get hurt. They want to get ready. They want to get in shape. But it's, I always look at the team with the most American League players in the lineup usually wins because those are the kids that are trying an awful lot harder than the NHL guys. So, Bruce, you know, again, we're allowed two weeks to talk about Mitch Marner, so I'm just

going to bring it up quickly with you. But what do you make of the power play? So if you were running the power player or coaching that team, and is it very natural to just put Morgan Riley back there? And, you know, we saw, I guess, glimpses of it last night. You know, Neelander was going to play on his off wing. it looked like Matthews was going to slide to his off-wing type of thing or one-time position and then bumper position for Tavares and then net front for Nyes.

I mean, is that how you would set up? What would you think that first power play should be looking like? Well, I mean, I think you have to give Morgan Riley an opportunity to get back there and be that guy again. I think you would almost lose them if you threw somebody, if you threw OEL on the first power play. play unit at the point or something. I think you would lose a little bit of Morgan Riley right there because I think he's really looking forward after an off year to get back into that spot. And I think he'll make the best of it. But the top five are going to be the top five in the Leafs. You're going to have the Tavares, Nylander, Nyes, Matthews, and Morgan Riley,

I think, at the start. And then I don't know what the second unit's going to be. And then it'll change according to how good they are during the course of the season. But I really believe Morgan Riley is going to get that definite opportunity to be there. Bruce, we're talking about the TSN top 50 NHL players, the ranking slowly

trickling out. The other day, Alex Ovechkin, a guy who you coached in his prime, obviously, in Washington was ranked 49th. And our guy here, the captain of the show, Brian Hayes, was making the case that he shouldn't even be in the top 50.

anymore because he just turned 40. He's past Gretzky. There's nothing left to play for for old number 8 OV. How do you see that one, Bruce? Well, love Brian, but don't we go on what they did basically the year before? And his

44 goals and missing 17 games with a broken leg definitely means he would have been, I think, the leading goal score in the NHL last year if he hadn't got hurt. So you have to put him in there. even if you don't want him, even if you think he's fat and old,

he's in the top 50 because I can't think of 40 other forwards or 35 other forwards that scored more than 40 goals last year. No, and listen, I hear you, and last year I'd like a do-over because I did not have him in my top 50 last year, and he was, he went out there and he earned it. My case for this, go ahead, go ahead, what do you have for me, Bruce? No, I was going to say he didn't earn it last year. I think you'd gotten 32 goals the year before.

So he didn't deserve to be in the top 50. No? But this year he does. Well, so here's where I'm at. And people are very sensitive to this. Very sensitive. I'd like to point out that he was 48, I believe, on the list. Not 8th.

And I'm saying he shouldn't, 48. 49th, actually. 49. 49. Okay, even better. So I went on TV and I'm all over the place, and he shouldn't be in the top 50. The guy's 49th.

Yeah. Maybe I could say he's 50 first. It's worthy of like two spots out, two spots back of where the consensus is, but people are going nuts. I'm getting doxed almost. People are going crazy down at D.C. And everywhere else where they love Ovechkin. My thought is this.

I think it's his swan song. I'm preparing for that. I think this will be the last year. So I'm wondering where his head's going to be at with all the road games, where he's at. Jason Gretzky was a massive carrot in front of him. That's done. Like now he'll get to 900, but he's probably going to do that in the first week of the season. week or two of the season. He's sitting at 897, I believe. He's going to get there.

Everything broke their way last year. Dylan Strome was phenomenal last year. Dylan Strome might have been one of the 50 best players in the league last year. Does he come back to Earth? Do the Capitals come back to Earth a little bit? I'm kind of bracing for that, Bruce, and I know you're down there and you cover them closely. I just, I wonder where his head is going to be at this year compared to last year, where he was so motivated. I'm not convinced he's going to be as motivated. And yes, he scores goals, but what else does he do at a top 50 rate. I'd ask you that, Bruce. Like, he's not as physical as he once was. He's never

been a sulky guy. You know, like, yes, scoring goals is hugely important, but what else is he bringing to the table? It's certainly not back checking. No, it's not. But, you know what? There's a reason that people don't score

the amount of goals in the season, say, 40 and above, like Alex does almost every year, is because it is the toughest thing to do in hockey. I mean, it's to score goals. So, I mean, if that's all you can do, then I think you're, but you're one of the best at it, you still get up there. I mean, you're putting some of the best defensive players that can't score on this kind of a list.

But I would take the goal scoring because it is the toughest thing to do in hockey is score goals. And Alex is going to score goals as long as he can shoot. And the one thing that he's not going to lose is his strength. Now, he's injured right now, so I don't know, you know, if it's going to be a long-term injury. They play here in Hershey tomorrow night, so I'll get to know all the scoops here tomorrow. But I'm hoping he gets back on, gets ready soon, because let's face it, the older you get, the harder it is to get into great game shape. And he's going to need a couple games, and every game is going to count for him. But to get to your question, I think the motivation is to be super great like he's been.

his whole career, you're self-motivated. So it's not a question of, I don't want to do it anymore. I think he'll want to do it. The question is, is he capable to do it over 82 games? And that's going to be the biggest problem. With Bruce Boudreau, so sticking with the top 50 list, again, numbers 21 through 30 were revealed today. Nick Suzuki's at 25.

That's a big jump. He wasn't even ranked last year. That's a big jump for him. But I think it's pretty clear now that we're all this high into the list. Lane Hudson didn't make it. And people in much house, I was taking Schrappel everywhere, D.C. I was on radio Montreal today. They're going at me, and I'm like, I don't make the list.

I vote, but I'm one of the 20 voters. Where do you stand on Lane Hudson? And I don't know if you had them top 50 on your list, Bruce. Do you think he will end up as a top 50 player in the league this year? He was pretty good last year for the abs. Well, he was great last year. And I look at him as Quinn Hughes type thing. Quinn came into the league.

He was, you know, I think Blaine had six goals and X amount of assists, which was great. And Quinn had always six or seven or eight goals early, and then he exploded the last two years to get double-digit goals. So I think if you're looking at future of a guy that didn't start out great with the Canadians, like he didn't start getting points until the last half of the season, then he got him in buckets. I think he's going to start out tremendous. I think he's going to be, if he shoots the puck a little bit more, and with Dobson on the power play, you don't have that anybody else that really can't play the power play in Montreal,

he's going to shoot pucks and he's going to get more points. I think he's going to be better. And, you know, it's a gamble maybe to put him on the top 50 this year, but I guarantee he'll be in the top 30 next year. So, Bruce, we're talking about anxiety throughout, you know, we'll call it Canada and the NHL teams. The Leafs, obviously, without Marner, Edmonton, McDavid, all of that. You look at Vancouver, and I think it's a fascinating case study.

Obviously, you're very familiar with that team. But, you know, we know what Quinn Hughes is capable of. I think the biggest question mark coming into is can they get back to the level they were at a couple years ago if you've got a motivated and, you know, really strong Pedersen, and you get a healthy Demco. I mean, there's a lot of question marks that surround that team. But what do you make of that team and what they're capable of if kind of all the chips fall into place? Well, I think the biggest thing is getting Demko healthy

and getting him to play 50-plus games. I mean, he hasn't done it in a couple years now. But when he's healthy, he's as good as anybody is. And the one thing Vancouver has, I think, is a pretty solid defensive structure. and I think that'll keep if Demko's on top of his game, they're going to win a lot of two to one, three to two

kind of games. They're never going to they're never going to overpower you with offense, but I think they're capable of getting there. I don't think they're a playoff team yet, but this year again, but I think they're going to be much better than they were last year.

Bruce, a lot of conversation around Toronto about who will replace Marner on the top line alongside Matthews. We've seen a little preseason glimpse, as much as you point out, no one's really enthused about playing in the preseason. Maybe Matthias Machelli was a little bit enthused about the idea that he could show what he could do as a playmaker

on the wing with Matthews. I mean, when you think about the options, if you're Craig Barube, you got Machelli, you could have Max Domi, there's any number of other forwards that have played along Matthews in spot duty over the years. Who do you like in that spot? And do you, or do you think it's just going to be a revolving door of Baroube trying to

out any number of guys for the 82 games? I mean, sometimes it's a tough question, but I mean, as a coach, I would probably put Nylander there. You get the best players, and Tabaris can hold his own on the second line. But if you have a line, a big line of Nealander, Matthews, and Nyes, I think that's going to be as good as there is in the NHL, and you just play them a lot. but I don't think Machelli's going to be able to do it.

We keep forgetting like, I mean, it's great that he, they signed him, but on the same token, he was sitting out in Utah last year. And if you look at his career, and I can see what they're saying, why they'd sign him, say he's a good passer, and he's in offensive-minded like that. But, I mean, he's not the guy. I mean, I'm just not been a fan of watching him. And I watched them a lot when I was in the West.

A, because, I mean, he was in Arizona, and he came from the American League after having a really good American League season, so that always piques my interest. But I think they're going to be doing what you just said. I think they will probably – I mean, I like Neelander there, but I think they'll be using about every winger on the team to see who fits, and it might be for two games at a time. And Matthews and Nyes are going to be having rotating wingers there in the end of the year. great catching up with you Bruce we'll do it again soon thank you for this

all right I'm watching the Leafs now I didn't get to see them last night so I'm watching them on TV now to see to see if whatever I said made any sense so you guys later you nailed it thanks Bruce there he is Bruce Woodrow joining soon the Maple Toyota hotline get in and go where adventures take you in a new 2025 Tacoma from Maple Toyota near Canada's Wonderland and the Maple Auto Mall is at mapletoida.com during the break I'm watching in the Jay's game from last night.

Right. Yeah. Hey. I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything. You never know. Bruce is always honest. Not a fragile than Bonham Bruce's body. He's the best.

But Baroupe was, again, very complimentary of Easton Cowan. He set up that Bobby McMahon goal on the power play. I mean, set up might be strong, but he fed him. Passed it down to him. Yeah. And I guess at Skate today, he was on a line with Lotton and Lorenz.

and we keep emphasizing this. It's Nise and Matthews, Tavares and Nylander, Joshua and Waugh, Lottin, and Lorenz. Those are the two packs on every line, and everyone else is going to battle for position, and there's Cowan getting an opportunity today, noodles. I think that's pretty significant. I really do as well, and here's why,

because I don't think Craig Barubi will start him near the top six. What he wants him to do is learn to play away from the puck. learn to compete, learn to do all the things that, you know, in junior it came really easy for him because he always had the puck. I mean, you're your top player, you play as much as you want, take a two-minute shift here, do whatever you want because you're in a winning program in London. Here at the National Hockey League level, if you're a young player and you can learn to play away from the puck,

the quicker you can do it, the farther you will get up the lineup. And I think it's a scenario is can you fit into a fourth-line role, with two guys that play straight-line hockey. Give them a little bit of skill on that line, obviously. I mean, Lawton and Lorenz can score. We've seen it. But, you know, add a little different dynamic, work very hard, be responsible. And guess what?

Oh, there's a little second power play time here for you. There's a carrot where you can get some points and you can settle in on the offensive side. So to me, it shows that Craig Barubi wants to give him an opportunity with the big club, in this lineup and and you know i'd be shocked if he didn't play every game here in the preseason just to just to kind of put him in every scenario like hey we're going to try it you the game you know he got the assist on the power play because he got the puck down to McMahon and McMahon made a really nice backhand play under the under the bar but he's getting that opportunity you go and earn it by working hard five on five with whoever you play with

what happens to be lorence and lawton right now yeah i think you make a good point noodles. They want this guy to succeed, right? Like he is something they need him to succeed. And that might include a stint in the minors. It might include half the season. It might include the full seaters in the minors. We'll see. It'll be up to Easton Cowan. But the other guy they've put with Lotton

and Lorenz in the training camp so far is Nick Robertson. And I think that could make some sense too. Like they, you know, they reluctantly or not, they paid, you know, Nick Robertson double what they paid him last year, 1.8 Plus million on that pre-arbitration settlement.

He provides something that, you know, Bruce Brudra just said is the hardest thing to provide in the sport, which is goal score, right? Like Robertson's goal scoring race, 15 goals last year in 60-something games. He scores every time he gets out there. Lottina of the rents have, you know, I agree with him. Like they're a straight line guys, they're veteran guys,

zero goals apiece in the playoffs last year in that fourth line, right? Like, if Nick Roberts could figure out how to play with those guys and do the things that would make him, a mainstay in Craig Barabez's lineup, which is not a given because he played three playoff games last year for a very good reason because Barouba didn't believe he could trust him to be out there. But if Robinson could evolve his game, he's another guy that could fit with on that fourth line and make it a little more of a scoring threat than it was last year in the playoffs. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see because the waivers and whose waiver exempt hangs over everything. They don't want to admit that because it goes against messaging. You can't message, compete, compete, compete, competition, competition, the best man wins.

And then, well, you probably won, but we're not going to lose you, so you're going to go down to the minors. That's what I'm curious about with Cowan. Because publicly they're going to say, you know, if he earns it, he's on the team. I'll believe that when I see it. Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it because what happens then with Yarncrook? What happens again with Nick Robertson? You know, these are guys that have value in the league. Like David Camp has been completely lost in the shuffle.

Like he's been here a long time. This isn't a guy that they picked up on waivers last year. He's been with the lease for years. Oh, yeah. And he just appears to be on the outside looking in. And I think that's a Barubei evaluation. I mean, clearly. Craig Barube is the guy who determined who played in the playoffs

and Camp never played. I think he went in once against Florida. It didn't work so well and they pulled them. Minus two. Yes. So Camp, I don't think they'd have an issue. issue with losing. They might place them on waivers. I'm not sure anyone

picks him up. And he just goes to the minors and his deal goes from 2.5 to 1.5, or whatever, in terms of the cap hit. Or they buy them out. I'm not sure what the numbers would look like on that front. But Yarncroke and Robertson are different. Very, very different. Right? Like, they can

skate. They can play when they're healthy. Different ages. Different experiences. And can Cowan, that'll be intriguing to see the battle between the coach of the GM. Again, we're not going to be privy to it. But if the coach is pushing for Cowan, but the GM who's always got the Trump card in the end says he can play with the Marleys and I'm not going to lose them, how does that battle work out? I mean, we'll find out in a week and a half.

You know what, though, the fact that he can go to the Marley's, no waivers, and the Marleys are literally at the edge of your parking lot, you know, it could be a scenario where we talked about it the other day, Brian, is, you know, is he going to play six games or he's going to play 48, you know, and it might be at a training camp that go, we got to put you down for the first week because we need to sort the numbers out here, wait for an injury, wait for something, wait for an inconsistency, or we have a trade brewing 10 games into the season, 20 games when we're going to start, you know, getting active here. But you have the luxury with Cowan to place him in all situations with the Marleys. You can go down and play 23 minutes and play in every scenario

and learn the program. You've got your development people all around him. You're close to the main team. That's the luxury they have with Cowan, where, like you said, Yarn Croke, well, you've got to put him on waiver. Somebody maybe plucks him, and you might not want to lose that depth, right? Well, but here's another thing, though. Cowan on the leaves, fourth line playing 10 minutes,

you better compete, you better prove you can do different things. Cowan on the Marley's, 22 minutes, top line, top power play. So that's what's kind of confusing if you're the player. They're not going to put them on the Marley's and say, well, you're on the fourth line to mimic what's going to happen when you get to the leaves. Right. So, you know, and listen, he's not the first one to deal with this.

This is the history of the game. This is the way it goes with young players trying to break through. But here's the other thing. Like, this is like they want, they've been very complimentary of Ben Danford too, right? The defense one of their rare pipeline guys who's coming up, they'd love to develop these guys. this is not a developmental moment for the Maple Leafs.

Like, they don't have a lot of time to waste, right? Like, they've got to make it happen fast here. Right. But that proves the point, though. If he's going to help with that, if he's better than the other guys, who cares about the way? Well, they'd be happy. He should be playing.

I agree with you. You know, because is, you know. Is he substantially better? Is he going to be that much? And does it matter in October compared to where you are in April? Exactly. That's where I was going to go, Brian. I know we got to go, but that's the biggest thing.

How many times have we seen a guy out of the gate? the Cali Rosens and guys like that first day, you know, got to find a spot for him. And then all of a sudden, like, the league overwhelms you a little bit, or there's a market correction, and you're overwhelmed 20 games in. And you've moved somebody that maybe could bring value into you. Sam Lafferty a couple years ago. Remember the year he had in Vancouver? And it was, I think, Fraser Minton maybe that made the team.

And they put them on waivers, and Lafferty scored like 15 in Vancouver. Yeah, really good player for them. Yep. All right, Best Buds coming up. Roll play, level of concern. We'll get to that next. Seasoned gamer, or just video game curious, this week in gaming is the podcast for you. We break down the latest in the world of video games, from basics to beyond.

The hottest gaming news, insight and industry leaders, and more weekly. Join me, Naomi Kyle, and stay ahead of the game with all the latest updates. Even if you're a total newbie. Stream this week in gaming on the free IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Thank you.