OverDrive - Button on McKenna's career trajectory, Reid's emerging stock and the Canadian teams at the draft

Episode Date: June 26, 2026

TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joined OverDrive to discuss the NHL Entry Draft, the Maple Leafs' selection at number one overall, Gavin McKenna's career trajectory, Chase Reid becoming the standout, the Canadian teams' draft perspective, Connor McDavid's future and more.

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This is go time. He's putting in a lot of work leading. up to tonight. The draft is here and there's our main man Craig in studio. How you doing, Craig? I'm doing good. See the headphones I put on? I like those. They're like yours. I don't want to mess up my quaff. That's it. Right? You got to be thinking about that. Vanity's

okay every once in a while when we're in TV. Vanity's part of who I am. That's right. Exactly. It's a very quality piece of the characteristics that you bring to the table here. We saw you on Jay last night and a lot of people have been asking

a lot of people. What is Craig What is he insinuating? There's a word I'm looking for. He's going for the headlines. That's what he's going for. What is he got? What are we got? McKenna to the Leafs, not McKenna.

Where do you stand on this? Oh, that's straight clickbait. Okay. Well, it works. You know, the analytics, as Jeff knows, like, are really good with clickbait. Yes, sir. So.

Yes, I'm aware of it. Here's what I said. Were you surprised when John Chaker got named manager? Mm-hmm. Were you surprised when Jim Hiller got named manager? Yes, I was. Why wouldn't you be surprised if Gavin McKenna's name isn't the one that comes out of the announcement of Pick First overall? That's fair.

That's been a consistent theme. And the margins between the players are razor-thing. See, that's what's important. And you can expand on that. Like this is not, this isn't McDavid, this isn't Crosby. Not Maclin-Cellibrini, Matthew Schaefer, where the jersey's already done. The name plates on the back, you know, Macon-Colabrini, 71. And that's based on what you project their career.

careers to be, obviously, not just who they are today and right now. Exactly. I mean, that's where you're at. And to Jeff's point and Jamie's point earlier, you know, when we look back, we're going to say, okay, who hit? You know, I get this question, Jamie and Jeff often. They go, what kind of draft is this? Is this a good draft?

Is this a bad draft? So let me give you a little data. This is a data-centric show. Always has been. Approximately 45 players from any draft will play 350 games or more in the NHL with varying degrees of success. 350 games, that's just over four seasons. That's the numbers.

Seven or eight of the players drafted in the first round will not have a career. Those are the numbers. You know how a draft is? If you hit on your players, you had a good draft. If you didn't hit on your players, you didn't have a good draft. And whether you're picking in the top five, the top 15,

we know there's going to be players come out of the third, fourth, fifth round that are going to end up being really good. And we're going to say, how did they last that long? Right. Lane Hudson, and went 62. I can tell you why he lasts 62. He was 5'9, 142 pounds. That's why he lasted that long.

The people watched. But that's what goes on in the draft. This year's draft, whether it be McKenna, whether it be Stenberg, Karls, Chase Reed, Vigo, Björ, Caleb Malhotra, it's razor thin.

Verhoff. It wouldn't surprise me if Verhoff is in the top two or top three. It just wouldn't. Do you have a feeling for who you think will have the best career? Like who do you think is the best player, I guess? Well, I think at this point in time it's McKenna.

Yeah. But, I mean, but again, I allow for the fact that other players could end up, I shouldn't say surprise you. I said this about the 2020 draft. I said it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Tim Stutzel ended up being the best player in the draft. At the time, I thought that LaFranier and Bifield were one, two, and Stutzel was three. Well, who's the best player in the draft? It's either him or Jake Santer. Right, well, three and five.

And so I've allowed that Chase Reed, it wouldn't surprise me one bit of Chase Reed turns out to be the best player in this draft. Interesting. That's, you know, Craig, I wanted to ask you, like, was Slav Kosky a little bit of a surprise? Like, you know, when, what was the Shane Wright draft? That was, that was. 22. Yeah. That was 22.

Like that, you know, was that one, you know, like everybody kind of thought Wright was going to be the guy and then, you know, Maybe I'm wrong. That was maybe just the consensus outside, like in the media and all that. Is that the same type of scenario here that could happen tonight? Yeah, it could very well. And that's why I say, I'm not saying don't be surprised. I'm saying I wouldn't be surprised. So it's not about any information I have.

I lay it out just on some different, the players, you know, just how Toronto's operated. If it was me, I'm taking McKenna. Oh, you would take McKenna. Oh, yeah. Just to be clear, I would take me. again. I think he's the right fit for the Leafs where they're at right now. I think he gives Matthews what he needs. But back

to your question, Jamie, I think this Slavkoski had really gained up. And it was one of those, and I don't think any players like that in this year's draft, where it was kind of, oh, Shane Wright's the number one guy, Shane Wright's the number one guy until the Montreal Cade and said,

maybe for somebody else, but not for us. Simon Nemitz went two, Cooley went three. Cutter Gochay went five. Yeah. There's a pretty good example. you know, we saw that Shane Wright went forth. Jason Robertson just turned down $15 million a year for eight seasons there. Maybe they should have drafted Cutter Goce. Good point.

Yeah. Yeah, no kidding. Craig, what kind of preparation is a general manager have to go through for tonight? Like everyone, it's different now with all these people on Twitter coming up with crazy scenarios. But if you're the actual GM of a team, like how? prepared are you for madness or is it pretty straightforward where there's only a couple situations where, you know, a crazy scenario would present itself? You're prepared for the scenarios that you've been discussing for whether it be days,

whether it be weeks and you have your finger on the pulse right now. The tough thing about the NHL draft is that you only have so much time to make a maneuver or to make a trade. Like they've really locked it in in terms of time. So if you want to make a trade, you're going to make a trade. You've got to do it ahead of time because you can't sit down and go, okay, we're going to talk. You know, we watch general managers in the past go over and talk to another GM

and everything that went with it. That's not allowed anymore. You have so much time. Then if you want to make a trade, you've got to do it within a certain period of time. So I think it limits kind of that last minute chaos, Jeff, those last minute scenarios where somebody goes, well, we give us the fourth pick. If you haven't really talked about it, it's hard to. execute a trade at that time. So you're on top of it. You got your finger on the

pulse. You got your finger on the list. You've told the scouts, hey, listen, no dithering here. We need to know exactly what we're doing. And I think the preparation is found by all the NHL teams, but I just don't see the same type of, it used to be like that, Jeff, where you could have some of these last minute scenarios happen, but for the most part, because of the time constraints, you just can't execute that quickly. Craig Button with us ahead of the NHL draft tonight. So the potential for a very unique situation to play out tonight with Vancouver picking third. They've hired many Mulhulchra as their head coach.

Caleb Mulhulchra, his son, is the highest rated center on the board and projected to be a top five pick. If you're running the Canucks, how would you handle that? Well, I'd go two places. And I think they're not mutually exclusive, Brian. Number one, you evaluate the players. Who are the players? What do they mean? How do they fit into our organization? I mean, Vancouver is not in a spot where they're looking for one player to come in and be the difference maker. And I think that there's other players right in that group.

I talk about the margins with Caleb and others. So you do that evaluation. And unless Caleb Mahhotra is clearly better than anybody else there, then I think that you're going to, to the second part, which is said, okay, what does it mean if we take Caleb Malhotra? I think he's a good player. I think he's a really strong two-way center. How does he fit into us? How does it work? You sit with Caleb. You sit with Mani. But you also have to consider what it means for the other players. That's a pretty

big significant element of this whole thing. So if you think that he's clearly better and you're satisfied with the fact that Caleb fits some, or checks some boxes for you, I'd have no problem taking, Caleb. But if I think there's another player there that's just as good, I'd be leaning towards passing on Caleb. Me too, man. I just don't see how that's going to work. Yeah.

I really think it's, I think it's unfair to both of them, quite frankly. Like, Mani's never been a coach in the NHL too. And now he's stepping in in a Canadian market with his son is the top prospect, a place that's going to go crazy for him. So you're going to have fans saying, why is it manny playing him more? And him having to explain why he's not playing?

playing him, but he's got to answer it as not his kid. He's not playing. He's number 18, he's not playing. But what Manny's mother says to the coach, you've got to play by my son a little bit more. What's going on here? But even the guys on the plane afterward, like it's,

it's an awkward situation. It really is, Jamie. Like, guys having a beer saying, I can't stand this, you know what. Well, Jeff, like people might, like, we laugh, we lean back. That's true.

Yes. You've been, you've had, you've had some conflict on the bench. You've had some conflict in the dressing room and you need to vent and everybody's going and like, geez, I can't believe like this, they name this guy the coach. And not everybody's going to like the coach. Not everybody's going to. That's the fact. So again, if it was clear cut that he's the best guy and you're satisfied with how the dynamic

could work, okay. But there's, in my view, I'm not going there. Calgary at 6, Winnipeg at 8. I guess start with Calgary. What do you see them prioritizing? Yeah, I think that they're, like, obviously, I think they'd love to get a center. I really do. I mean, and they're trying to get high-end skill in there.

It just feels that this draft at that part is offering a lot of defensemen. But, you know, I don't think Chase Reed would get to 6, but that high-end defenseman, I mean, they have Nemitz, they have Perak. I don't know. I think Carls is an excellent defenseman. I think Smith's is really good. So I really think that it comes down for Calgary. Would they take Vigo Bjork at 6?

Would that be a reach in your opinion? Not for me. I think he's a Swedish Nick Suzuki. Oh, okay. And so I think that Vigo's a really good player. But everybody rates it differently. So they think Carls or Smiths or Veerhoff is better. I think that they'll clearly go and take the player that they think is better.

but I think that the conversation comes back to Vigo Bjork. And I would say that if Caleb Mahaltrow got the six, he won't go past six. Right. Right. They would jump on that. That's my sense. Yeah. I wonder if the Rangers, though, would jump on it at five.

You know, like if Mahaltrow's there, who knows. But, like, because they need a lot of help too. They could use some help up the middle of the ice. Yeah, they drafted his dad, too, in the first round. Yeah, they could, they need to get the five, six, seven, and eighth page. picks so they need a lot of themselves. They need a lot of help.

Yeah, Calgary's an interesting one. You know, picking at six and they got a ton of picks over the next couple of years. They've acquired some young players. They just don't have that, like, that Parek, I think they believe could become like a true star.

They got the goalie, too. The goalie's a star. The goalie's a star and the D might be a star, like the Perek might be a superstar. But they need help up front, don't you think, guys, like Craig, too? You know, they've got good players. they don't, like you said, Brian, they don't have a...

Any game breakers. Yeah, clear-cut, super stud, you know. But Connie and his management team, they've done a really good job there of getting picks and, you know, and they've had a couple really good strong drafts in the last couple years. So now they've got some currency. Just be interesting to see what they do with it now because now they're, you know, you've got a new building coming, what is it, a year from now? Yeah.

So, you know, they're kind of, what we were talking about earlier in the last, hour. Anaheim rebuilt, Chicago, San Jose, all these teams want to get better now and are getting better. They're ahead of Calgary, but Calgary needs to turn that corner and try and get that high-end talent. And you can get in the draft. You've nailed it. It's the high-end talent, right?

And it's not about just one player. You know, you're not talking about Marilyn Mew or Sidney Crosby or Eric Lindross coming in. You're talking about a piece that can now help that. along because you look at their top line they don't have a top line. They don't have number one first line players. And so they compete, but they could it's a real struggle for them to get

on the right side of the game and you compete and compete and compete. You need to get some rewards at the end of the night as well. And I think for Calgary going into the new building, that's got to be a focal point. But I also think too as it comes to Winnipeg at 8 like it feels like

Montreal looking for a second line center, Winnipeg looking for a second line center, Calgary trying to get to that top line. What can you do with those picks? Because I think that those are the, it seems, I don't know, quiet, it might not be the right word, but that's where I'd be focusing my energies and my efforts. Can I take the sixth pick? Like, just look at what Chicago went and did with the fourth pick. They said, we need a top end defenseman.

They went and traded for. Well, you got to go try to find a way. I said this about Kevin Shevel Day off. You better turn over every stone. You better be relentless in your pursuit of a second line center. Because if that team doesn't improve, there's going to be an exodus there. Well, and keep in mind, Hellebuck may be exiting regardless of what you do. Right.

And I'm very curious how that might affect what they plan on doing in the next week and a half. Like if Shevled Dayab knows more than the general public, if he has concluded this guy's going, that I would have to believe is going to have a serious effect on what else they do this summer. And whether or not you're trying to sell, no, we can still be good, or are you going to turn left significantly and say, okay, we're going to be bad here,

but we're going to have to build it up through the draft. That's a long way to go. Well, and you also might have to just sit back and say, okay, it's not right right now for us to do it. I mean, there's going to be interest in Connor Hellebuck. And my own feeling on that is, as you go to Connor Hallibuck, let's just say that he's feeling, maybe it's time for me to move on. Play hard, play well.

We'll work at this. The time is not right right now. It's in your best interest. It's in our best interest. Work with us. And then as the season unfolds, you might be able to really get a good return on it. Because everybody believes in their goaltending now. Everybody believes in their defense right now.

everybody believes in their forward group that they look at their holes but Connor Hellabon 10 games in it's different yeah it might be five yeah might be a training camp and if Edmonton's believing in any of their goaltenders then they're just delusional they should call Carolina to see if they can get Eilers out of Carolina for Hellebuck that would be interesting just flip the two of them bussy and Eilers I like that well Edmontons you know they're the I wouldn't say they're the odd man out here because Montreal hasn't really done anything so far. Ottawa clearly has with Brady.

In Edmonton, they hired Mike Babcock, which was pretty loud, and a lot of people had a conversation on. But they still, yeah, the goaltending, they got to figure out, what are they going to do with Darnell Nurse? Like, how much more do you expect in Edmonton? Well, it was interesting because when Stan Bowman said

we feel that Mike Babcock is the missing piece. Like, really? Like, does Mike play goal? No kidding. I said that last week. He's going to look at the tape and say there's no goal. I think the system will help them be better, though. That's the thing.

That's like, I can't judge Tristan Jari. He was ninth and goals saved above expectation in Pittsburgh last year. And then he got to Edmonton and Dog Park Defense just destroyed him. There's not been a goaltender in Everton that hasn't been destroyed. in the last 10 years. Really? And I know, listen, I'm not defending Tristan Jari. He was not good there.

But it's not just goaltending. It's structure. They can't defend. They stink defensively. So if they get playing better, then maybe the goalies don't get exposed as much. But I still think they need more roster construction there. You're not just done.

You're not just hired Babcock and say, okay, structure's going to protect this. You do need another goaltender. You need to deal with Darnell. nurse. You need to figure out another forward up there. Maybe it's like Howard who gets an opportunity. But they're not done yet. I'm sorry, if they're done, they're not at the top tier with the teams in the West. I'm going to wait and see what they do because all I know is this, and it's fact, there were one win from winning the Stanley Cup, lost 2-1 in game 7 with Chris Knoblock behind the bench. There were two wins the next year away from winning the stand. And Mike Babcock hasn't won a Stanley Cup playoff series since 2013.

Yeah. And he hasn't coached since 2019. And I'll say it and I'll say it again. After they lost in 2024, management did a hell of a job of downgrading that team. So you can come in with structure. You can come in with all kinds of strategy. That team isn't good enough. Yeah, that's kind of what I was saying.

Like, they need more work on their roster. Like that was arrogance of letting Broberg and Holloway go. And McLeod. like just continue to go through. I mean, Kulak just signed a contract there. Like, hey, listen, Carter McDavid said we're an average team. Leon Drysettle said we've downgraded our team.

Oh, they know. That's their words. I'm just saying what they've said. Well, it's asking a lot out of Mike Babcock, right? Like to... 2013. No, I understand. But in their, you know, the implementation of a system,

like those guys, they can say all they, want in June that this is what we want and we're going to buy in. We'll see if they do or not. You couldn't buy in after you were one win away from the Stanley Cup? You couldn't buy in when you were two wins away from the Stanley Cup? That might be an indictment on those players.

Well, that's not allowed in this country. No one could say. Only I'm allowed to say anything about McDavid, publicly apparently, but I'm the only one. What have you said? Well, I don't think I'll ever win a heart again. And I don't think he'll, you know, I don't know if it went hard again.

And I was very critical of him game seven in the cup final. I have a suggestion for Connor McDavid. You want to know what it takes to win? Watch Crosby. Just go watch tapes of Crosby. You want to watch how a young player comes in the league and plays? Watch Macklin Cellebrini. Celebrity.

I'll bet you'd take offense to that. Why? Because he's two years into the league. He's 20 years old. I'm not saying it's not an accurate statement. So that doesn't mean you don't play the right way and don't play and invest in all the right areas? What did the coaching staff for Team Canada say about Celebrini?

I mean, they said he would never seen a guy hunt a puck like that. We had Peter DeBoer on our show. Remember? DeBoer was like, this guy was impressive. Never seen a guy hunt a puck down, never give up on a puck. Never, like, Salabrini. He's a gamer, that kid. The details of his game are unbelievable.

Year one, I believe he was up, I think, third place. in loose puck recoveries. That's a stat usually for grizzled vetny of the Mark Stones of the world. John Tavares has a heavy stick. This celebrini was right there. I think for most of the season, I think he was second or third.

That's a compete, man. Connor McDavid is a hell of a player. He's the most skilled player, whatever we want to call him. All I know is Chris Knoblock did a hell of a job with that team. Management didn't do a very good job with the roster and how they manage it,

and now they think Mike Badcock's the answer? I'm not buying. Well, it's going to be a lot of pressure on them, but they're used to that. I mean, McDavid, I don't think, he's not going to be overwhelmed by the spotlight or pressure. No. Like, he knows what's coming. Yeah, and let's not get crazy where Connor McDavid has to completely reinvent the way he looks at hockey. No, I agree.

Oh, you're right. Oh, you're right. 100%. Very sensible. But I think it's more the details of their game. Like it's, it's, you see. But Craig just mentioned, it's one win away and it's two wins away from a Stanley Cup. They don't need to reinvent the wheel.

But what they could have done is different areas of the team could have helped out, i.e. goal tending, depth players always build up the defense core younger legs. And they didn't do any of that. And now we're talking about Connor McDavid, reinventing his game. I think all of that that you three gentlemen just had is crazy talk. Crazy dog You go and look at game seven Or sorry game six

When they lost the cup in Florida There's Matthew Kichuk's goal That's details And McDavid over back checks on that play Because it's dog park defense I watched Florida Practice that morning I watched Edmonton's pre-game skate

It was night and day The details of their practices the details of their game. And McDavid said after that game, it was like we were buttoned our heads up against the wall because they were picked apart defensively. They were picked apart systematically. They need structure.

They didn't have it all season this year. Zero structure. That's the only thing. But to Craig's point, is there not a guy that's won a playoff series or had more recent success than 2013? How did they handpick Mike Babcock of all the people in the world? That's what it is. It's Bruce Cassidy, and he's going to sit at home and make $5 million this year

because, you know, Kelly McCriman said you're not going to Edmonton. That was the pick. That's true. Well, the other thing I would, just to add to that, too, when we talk about Steve Eisenman, and people say, well, look what happened. Well, what happened with Steve Eisenman is Chris Draper showed up and Kirk Malpsey showed up, and Martin LaPointe was older, and then Darren McCarty was there, and then they built out that, just to what Jeff said, the depth.

He had a deeper blue line. deeper players in the lineup. And so you take some of the burden and the pressure off those guys. Top players, when things aren't going the right way, they always want to do more. Why do they want to do more? Because they don't have the help. So when you get the help for them, they don't have to do as much. Yeah.

Great point. Yeah. And that's kind of been the way Florida has been operating for the last few years. And that's their MO. Tampa Bay, just quickly. Tampa Bay went out in four straight after winning 62 games. They went and traded for Berkeley Goodrow and Blake Coleman. They went back-to-back cups.

Worked out for them. Yeah. Draft tonight. Full coverage on TSN. Enjoy it, Craig. It's been a long, slow build to get here, but we're finally here tonight. Thank you for doing this.

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