OverDrive - Button on the Canucks' team priorities, Pettersson's tenure in Vancouver and the Canadiens' playoff chase

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NHL, the Canadiens and Panthers' matchup, the team's response to Niko Mikkola's shot, the Canucks looking to make improvements, Elias Pettersson's role in Vancouver for the team and more.

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Made in Canada, played in Canada. On the free iHeart app and i heart radio dot c a our good friend craig button tsn director of scouting and potential member at august national in the future can you confirm with an i that craig well that's right total one hundred percent tonight first of all you have to you have to like be able to golf like to a reasonable level like not even close. If they had like a

putt-putt I wouldn't even be able to get into Augusta. That's disappointing. We need you get you in there. We need you to get in so you can bring us. If they ever call you direct the call to me if you don't want to be a member, okay? No, I will certainly direct the call to you, but like, Jeff, I mean, your buddy on the panel, James, like, I mean, like, I think he's got pull there. Oh, he's a big shooter down there. Oh, yeah. You know what grossed me out the last time, last game we had?

Puff, who is our, one of our producers, he has played the course and I was like, no way, man. It's like as they have a media lottery after every Monday of the tournament and Puff played the course. And he says his favorite thing on earth to do is just sit and have beers with random guys that he's met at hockey tournaments and stuff and he tosses this one out there what's the best course you ever played at and then he comes over the top and says I've played Augusta National and they can't believe it they don't believe them that's kind of greasy to for you to start the conversation hey let's go around the table where have you played golf

like you know I's getting to? I would crawl over I would jump on somebody if they ever did that. Let's go around the table here and see what's the best course you've played. Oh that's a good one. Ever heard of Augusta National? I happen to have played Augusta National. You've played it festival? I would not bring it up. I would not bring it up. How are you not bringing it up? Well I don't like to brag. I mean I say I got lucky. I won a lottery. It wasn't exactly a great accomplishment, but I was happy to get it. It absolutely is a great accomplishment. Whose clubs did you use?

I used the guys whose house we were renting. Really? Did you play well? No, but I birdied seven. Got up and down on the short side on six. Wow, look at this guy. I'll bet you could relive that whole experience. I mean, I hit hit up i piped

i piped one down 10 which is the nicest feeling in the world that's beautiful down the hill um and i'll tell you the one more thing because it's all right craig but the most nervous i've ever been in my life and i'm talking you know first kiss first time yeah anything was on the first tier to guston national oh man you'd terrified. There's a bunch of green jackets standing around It's a media lot like there's no crowd the media lottery. It's the day after the Masters, right? There's a lot of people around but all your co you know fellow media members that are already at the off And I was so nervous, but the guy in front of me guy from New Zealand. I think he was Writer from New Zealand. He goes up

He was actually turned out to be a pretty good player, but he goes up and chops one takes a diva with his driver goes straight up in the air sickening i'd leave i'd be out of there and said it actually loosen me up i'm like that he's worse than i he was in front of me okay i said okay i can do better than that and i see i put one in a poem down the middle in the fairway got on the ground i can't even just learning this then i five putt it okay that's fine you got on man that's all the matters uh... brian weak we need a poll yes okay I'm just learning this. Then I five putt it. Okay, that's fine. You got on, man. That's all that matters. Hey, Brian, we need a poll.

Yes. Okay. So Jeff just thought, first of all, Jeff, it's, remember when your parents said life isn't fair? Like Puffy with that, like that's the statement, right? Life isn't fair that Puffy gets to do Augusta. But like, I'm amazed here. So like, what was the bigger brag?

Like Puff around the table or what Feschuk just did? I'd say Feschuk because we're on national TV, radio, I mean this is going to be everywhere. Now people are stopping in the streets asking you questions about this. I think it was a jerk move as well as Feschuk holding that in for so long and then just coming over the top at the very end saying, I did that as well. Just for the record. But I never bring it up other than the one time on national cpa you know you did it was very naturally a product now in a very natural tone and i dirty shabba and i don't know and i was a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little Put it in the water on 12. Okay. That's fine. I'm still looking for that one. You still got to play it, man

What are you expecting at the Bell Center tonight Craig? We got a good one We got a rematch here Montreal and Florida and the Habs have played Florida really really well the last couple of times Bigger game for them clearly than Florida, but the Panthers are you know, they're chasing the Leafs now in the top seed in the Atlantic This should be a great game. What are you expecting tonight yeah i'd i'm expecting a great atmosphere at the bell center uh... you know the muncher or canadians were stumbling a bum one to say the least and they go on a florida on sunday and they play a great game and the intensity picked up the color decided that

he was gonna act like a jackass so uh... you know that that that raises the temperature a little bit but Florida needs a points as well. I mean, they come into Toronto on Wednesday night and I don't think, I think if you ask Florida, they don't want to play Tampa Bay. I, Toronto, they don't want to play Florida or Tampa Bay first place in that division is important. And playoffs now for the Montreal Canadians, you, you keep winning, keep showing that you can do it.

And I don't think there's a better atmosphere than the Bell Center come playoff time. It'll be a playoff atmosphere in there tonight. Yeah, it sure will be. And when you look at Montreal, what is it you've seen over the last few weeks? I guess go back to the four nations face off. Like, what have you seen from the Habs that have put themselves in this position? Were they're the pace card now for that second wild card spot? Yeah I think it's a couple of things Brian. Number one is the top line has been outstanding. I mean Slavkovsky

really has taken his game up a notch and certainly Suzuki and Caulfield have been outstanding. We know what Lane Hudson has done and one of the other things that I think has been really important kind of understated is that Alex Newhook has moved into the second line center spot and he hasn't just played like in that spot like with some goals and some offense he's been a really good player in there and I think it's really really helped their overall game. The other player, Alex Carrier. They traded Justin Barron to get Alex Carrier,

and just a stable, steady player. Not a lot of flash, just gets in there, plays, doesn't make mistakes, plays his 20 minutes, and I think that that's been really important, as well as Montembeau. So you get all these different areas of the game in order, and now have a chance to win more games and that's exactly what Montreal has done. Greg, a couple of young kids joining NHL teams, Americans, Perot and Leonard going to Washington. Do you expect those guys to jump right in and kind of be contributors or learning curve or what are you expecting out of those guys?

Well, Jeff, you've seen those two guys play at the the world junior tournament and you know that they're really good players So I I think that Ryan has Ryan Leonard That is has a has a little bit better chance to come in there and and and really settle in because he doesn't have to Step up and provide you know significant offense or something. They have that all in order I I think that Ryan Leonard is like a great trade deadline, in this case college NCAA edition, because he's coming right in there to help your team, and he doesn't have to play up in the lineup,

he can just play there. He's a big time competitor, he's smart, he can skate, he can add offense, but you don't have to put him in a frontline role. Gabe is a little bit different. I uh... the rangers might be looking for him to come we give them a little bit of offensive pop and i think that expectation is a little bit bigger on game that is on ryan going into uh...

going into washington but if you're looking for some offense gave perot has been a really good offensive player in ryan lennon i think this makes a strong team that much stronger in Washington. Hey Craig if you're in the front office tonight and would you want your coach to send a message about how to deal with the Mekula situation here like can the Habs afford to sort of deal with it or should they let this thing slide for another day where the points don't mean as much the stakes aren't quite as high and take his number and get him back

down the road? Yeah, what I would say, Dave, is that the focus has to be on two points. So, you know, what Michal did the other day, like I said, was a dumb move, Department of Player Safety find him. You know, like it's just one of those unsportsmanlike moves. Nobody got hurt.

And so what I would say is, let's just get the two points, let's zero in on that. If there comes a time somewhere down the road where somebody feels they have to deal with it or they should deal with it, well fine, we'll deal with it then. But for Marty St. Louis, that should not be any type of comment or focus in my view. You need two points and making the playoffs would be significant for this. I think making the playoffs and getting two points is way more significant for the Montreal Canadiens than trying to deal with what Mikul did on Sunday. With Craig Button. So Ottawa's in action tonight and they've done their part. They've banked likely enough points to hold onto a playoff spot. They're going to get more down the stretch.

Pretty much laid out now. They're the first wild card. spot they're gonna get more down the stretch pretty much laid out now they're the they're the first wild card so they're gonna play whoever wins the Atlantic Division based on what you've seen out of them presuming health and Brady Kuchek won't play tonight he's been banged up since the four nations but presuming health how dangerous do you think Ottawa could be to any of the three teams they might face Toronto Florida or Tampa? I don't think it'd be dangerous to all three of them you know one of the things that happens when you're when you're a team such as Ottawa you come into the playoffs in that spot in the in the seating you have nothing to lose you have zero to lose you you go

in there I'm not going to suggest that it's that it's you know a scenario where you're not feeling excited or not feeling some pressure, but you get into the playoffs now and you get a healthy group, you get playing and you get that excitement of playing in the playoffs without the pressure of having to win. Florida, Toronto, Tampa, they all have pressure to win. Ottawa get into the playoffs, I think their pressure was to get in the playoffs. They won't feel that. They'll just feel, hey, let's just leave it all on the table there. You're not playing with house money, but you have a little bit of house money to play with, so to speak. With Craig Button. So I'm just seeing, I guess, Rick Tauke had been speaking

in the last little while and Elias Pettersson still not even really skating like who knows if we're gonna see him again And I guess Phillip he'll he'd all is done for the year likely done for the year courtesy of Rick Tocket and the Canucks and I'm curious what you see happening with Vancouver this offseason like how much change could be a Foot out there how crazy could the offseason get the future of Rick Tocket appears to be up in the air Like what what should we be bracing for in Vancouver? Amazing isn't it what a year's difference does I mean in game seven isn't it Jeff like game seven they lose to the Edmonton Oilers all the everything that had gone right for the Vancouver Canucks a good team lots of happiness in Vancouver and now you know

this season I mean injuries from the summer I mean the drama with JT a good team, lots of happiness in Vancouver. And now, you know, the season, I mean, injuries from the summer, I mean, the drama with JT Miller, and now the uncertainty with Rick Tauke. And I think the uncertainty with Rick Tauke is big. And when you think about, you know, I think he's done a hell of a job in there. I think he did a hell of a job last year.

He's had to deal with a lot of things that I would label as distractions this year. And I was in Winnipeg on Sunday with Vancouver and a coach's job is to max out the potential of the team. Make sure you get everything you can out of a team. He did that. They just didn't have enough to beat a really good Winnipeg team.

And I think Rick Tauke is a really good coach. Now when we start talking about a really good coach and talk, we're also talking about timing. Whether it be a potential free agent having a career year, somebody coming up for a new contract or a coach that has a place that would covet him. Oh yeah, the Philadelphia Flyers. I mean, Rick Tauke and the bodies, everything the Flyers are, I think that if the Flyers named Rick Tauke at their head coach, there would be a parade. And I think that Rick Tauke, much like Mike Babcock coming to Toronto in 2014, could provide, or 2015 he came, excuse me, could provide a real significant boost for the organization.

Because everybody loves Tauke in Philadelphia and he's a good coach. And right now, I look at the Connucks and with all the uncertainty surrounding it you know Rick Dawkins gonna have some choices and he what the connection is with him in Philadelphia Philadelphia and him I think it's pretty strong. Craig as far as, we had a little odds on putting a percentage on next year making the playoffs. What percentage would you give Van of next year qualifying for the playoffs?

Probably where they're at. Right now, probably about 40%, just 50%. Jim Rutherford is the one that even said it best in my view and he's the one that's got his fingers on the controls. When they traded JT Miller he said we're going to have to find a way to get another center in here to get more moves. It's not going to be one move, it's going to be multiple moves. Heedle's out, Heedle's a good player, but that team struggles to score.

That team really has a struggle to score. You need more offense and I don't think they have enough offense. Obviously, they're counting on Elias Pedersen to come back, but now you're asking Elias Pedersen to come back after 125 games of off-performance. Certainly, we know he's had the talent, but you know, now it gets longer and you start to question what's he going to come back to? And so I don't see them right now. They got work to do to be able to, you know, get into a better odds of making the playoffs next year.

And if they don't have Rick Dawkins, that also puts them into another spot because as you try to attract free agents, they want to know who your coach is going to be. If you were another GM, how difficult would it be for you to fall under the trap of acquiring Elias Pedersen on a different team? Or would you be interested in something like that? $11.6 million for the next seven years on a player whose play has dramatically fallen off. I would be scared to death. Yeah, that's it man. I don't see how you couldn't Dave. I don't know how you couldn't. It's scary. It's scary. But Craig, Craig, I mean when you think about that

team, I mean isn't there some way to kind of turn that around quickly? Like to your point, like talk it's a great coach but maybe you need a new voice, maybe you need you know a crop of free agents that come in there and sort of change the dynamic to some degree you get some better goaltending which wouldn't hurt to shore up demco's situation um you know it doesn't seem like it's impossible to make peterson back into the hundred point player he was if indeed he wants to be that guy we don't know that but you can change the environment around him hopefully you know change the result

you're paying a guy eleven point six million dollar you're trying to change the environment around them but i pay a guy eleven point six million dollars he's the guy that drives it he's the guy that changes the environment and you just listed a number of things today that lead me to believe that there ain't no quick fiction Vancouver. Well, you're stuck with him though. I mean, you got to try and change something to bring back the guy he was, right? You know he can be that guy. You know there wasn't too far, you know, too long ago that he was that guy.

And you know, like, have you lost all hope that he could be that guy he has to give me any indication that he can be that guy again much like Johnson Hubertoe Trotter Hubertoe is playing really well for the Calgary Flames not anywhere close to what he was when he came over from the Florida Panthers and I think Elias Pedersen is right on the same path and you can buy him out yeah you're not stuck with anybody terrifying Terrifying, man. Terrifying. That is scary. So you're thinking about the bio? You'd be looking at the bio?

No, no. I'm just saying you're not stuck with anybody. You don't have to be stuck with anybody. Wow. Wow. The idea of a bio would literally haunt my dreams. It would make me throw up every morning. Can you imagine sending that email to the owner? Can we meet for lunch? I have a proposal for you I'm gonna buy this guy There what has to happen there is what LA did and what Washington did you got two scenarios? Where Pierre-Luc Dubois was clearly not working out in LA and they needed to change him out and he had a lot of years left

On his contract they believed in him and a change of scenery worked out for Pierre-Luc Dubois and that was the decision. Now there was a lot of rumors last year that they were going to buy out Pierre-Luc Dubois but the Stanley Cup final ended up going till June 24th and Pierre-Luc Dubois turned 26. So the buyout was going to be two-thirds instead of one-third and that's not the case with Elias Pedersen. But when you start to look at the scenario of how they moved them and how they trade them, that to me is what you're going to have to try to look at doing. And it doesn't change the fact that as a GM, what are you getting because you got 11.6 times 7.

And Dave, you just talked about it What do you got to do to get? Players making that much money have to drive your team Leon dry side all has had nothing on his wings this year and this guy's in the MVP conversation That's what I want for eleven point six million Yeah, I don't want to try to find players to get eleven point six million out of my guy. Yeah Yeah, you you put it listen. They paid him They gave him the money. It's on him to pull his way. He's got to fulfill that contract, man. And it has not been a good calendar year

for him. All right, Craig, we'll leave it there. We'll do it again soon. Thank you for this. Did I tell you the best golf course I ever was at? St. Andrews. St. Andrews, that's over the top. See, St. Andrews. St. Andrews, that's over the top. See St. Andrews can compete. Yeah, St. Andrews was okay. I mean, but it reminded me of that first tee. You know, they call your name four ball and you get up there and everybody's watching and you only want to make one good shot and that's the tee shot on one. Absolutely, man. I've heard some stories over there that the starter,

like if you're chopping it around, he may say, sorry, you're not playing St. Andrews today. Yeah. It's just not an option for you. You cannot be playing. That is terrifying. Next time I'm on the show, remind me to tell you my Luke Richardson story.

It's pretty funny. Okay, I love it. Mark that, Doogie. We'll bring it up next time. Thank you, Craig. Okay. Have a great day. Craig Button. That Just Happened with me, Vashi Kapelos. Candidate Asides 2025. Stay informed with my exclusive iHeartRadio podcast, available Friday afternoon straight through to election

day and beyond. I'll have your weekly highlights and my unvarnished analysis of the campaign of a lifetime. The candidates, the quotes, the polls, and the momentum. That just happened with Vashic Apello's Canada Decides 2025. Fresh every Friday. Stream on your schedule with the free iHeartRadio app.