OverDrive - Button on the Maple Leafs' approach against the Panthers, Bennett's hit on Stolarz and the Islanders selecting first

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joined OverDrive to discuss the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Sam Bennett's hit against Anthony Stolarz, Maple Leafs' strong opening victory against the Panthers, Joseph Woll looking to make a statement in the crease, the Islanders getting the first overall pick and the outlook of the management for the team, the standouts in the NHL Entry Draft and the picks

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loneliness. That's why Bell believes that whatever you talk about, just talk. I'm so glad you called, man. Even if you don't know you're up from town. It's up. We'll get into that this hour. Craig McTavish later in the hour but we get begin with our director of scouting your tsn his craig budd how you doing craig and good mister a car you don't doing very well and very well let me ask you uh... let me ask you to put the stole ours bennett story to the side putting that to the side what was your what was the biggest story for you last night that one not was standing?

I think, hey listen, I'm going to go right to the old dogs. The old dogs said they got to play on their toes, they got to initiate. It's exactly what they did. They didn't wait to see how they were going to respond to Florida. They made Florida respond to them and for two periods, I thought that was two of the best periods I've seen the least play you know at a high level consistently and that's what it takes to win and that's what it takes to beat a good team but you know if you're gonna dip your toe in okay we'll see how we respond we'll see how we react no go right after them Pat's already was was in beast mode you know Nylander scoring that first goal but but I thought all the way through,

I thought it was a really, really good, strong, what I would call a purposeful playoff effort by the Toronto Maple Leafs. One, it shows you what it takes to win. And one other thing I'll add, Paul Maurice after the game talked about, this is a more mature Toronto Maple Leafs team. I think we've all seen that.

We're gonna play the game, we're not gonna chase the game, we're not gonna try to hold the puck. If we don't have a play, the puck's going into the other zone and we're gonna forecheck. You know, the idea about playoff hockey, there's certain elements that are never gonna change. And the Leafs, I think, you know, it might have taken them some time to learn it,

but I think they needed Craig Berube to show them the way and I think you're seeing taken them some time to learn it, but I think they needed Craig Barube to show them the way and I think you're seeing some good signs of that. It's almost like something clicked Craig where they have an understanding now where it's like all we've talked about for two years is how Florida can overwhelm you and they're mean and they're nasty, but it's like Toronto and the players have realized that they're counter to that much like McDavid and dry side was Their skill and they can just play better than you if they dial it in and it's like if they have that answer for anybody It's gonna be tough to deal with

You're exactly right Jeff and again when I talk about Craig Barube, you know different coaches have different philosophies and Sheldon Keith had a philosophy that's very different than Craig. But Craig, and it's what I, and I'll use this as an example. If you want to get ready for the beginning of the season, you got to start preparing yourself and get yourself in shape in May. You can't start one week before training camp or before the regular season and get yourself in shape. If you want to get yourself into playoff shape, you got to start preparing for it during the regular season, get yourself in shape. If you want to get yourself into playoff shape,

you got to start preparing for it during the regular season. And that's why I feel so strongly about Craig last year coming to the team as a coach and what he's done over the course of the season. There was different moments in time. Well, you know, this isn't going so well. This was never about November. It was never about February. It was about right now. And Craig Barube is instilled a really good solid sense of play and to your point, Jeff, exactly where you want to find yourself and exactly how you find success.

So I mean the elephant in the room, our haze went around it but let's bring it back to the table. What are your thoughts on the collision, your thoughts on Anthony Stoller leaving and stretchered out all of that type of stuff, the reaction and just what you made of, we'll call it that circus. Yeah, I mean I think Jamie, I've never seen that with a player going over to the bench and then, you know, being nauseous and vomiting. I'd like, I'm nervous. So right away, there's, there's some concern.

We all know players have played with the flu and been sick and you know, you guys have seen it happen and you understand that when you're sick, but I'd never seen it under those certain, cause he'd come over what? Two minutes before three minutes before Everything seemed to be okay, and then he came back again, and it was like well. What's happening here So right away. I was a little bit like I wouldn't say concerned because you know I'm watching it from afar I'm like whoa That's odd and then obviously he leaves the game, and I didn't know if he was sick I didn't know if it was if it was didn't know if it was, if it was from a kimono blows,

one blow or whatnot, but it's, and then you hear, oh, he's being stretched out of the ring. You're going, oh my God, is going to be something else. I wasn't even honestly, when the, when the better thing happened and we watched it and Jeff, we were sitting in the room watching it and it was like, yeah, it doesn't, it didn't feel like anything in, in real time. But, and I started to think,

oh boy, is there something even bigger at play here, Jamie, when I saw that, didn't you hear about the stretcher? And then it comes back to the bat play and everything. I don't know, I really don't have an idea of what triggered it, I don't, but idea of what triggered it. I don't, but we know that sometimes it's the most innocent of things that could trigger it. Couldn't have been the better thing that triggered it.

Was it the better thing that caused it? I don't know, but bottom line is, I didn't think that it was, really quite frankly, I thought it was a hockey play, and I thought that he came there, and there could've been whiplash effect, was it something? I didn't see any force, I didn't see any drive-through there,

I saw a hockey player guy coming in the net, and I mean, we see that type of play all the time in the NHL. I didn't think it, if they gave him a two-minute penalty, I would've been surprised, not shocked. I would've been absolutely shocked if there was any supplemental discipline. Yeah, and in the end there wasn't for Sam Bennett. And yeah, you're right when you kind of, and Nudelz, you've been doing this all day, taking

us through the timeline of like, wow, I didn't see this coming and he looks okay. And now everyone is kind of wondering like, what exactly is he suffering from? And Craig Barube is not giving an answer in terms of exactly what he's suffering from but it was extreme in the end I mean he's thrown up and he leaves on a stretcher he has to go to the hospital so let's presume Joseph Wall is playing tomorrow night sell Leaf fans Craig if you can if you're willing to on why they should be confident Joseph Wall can get the job done tomorrow night? He's done it before. I mean he's gone in and during this season he's done it. Last year in the playoffs he did it. I mean you think about going to game seven when he couldn't play against Boston. There was real concern that Joseph Wall wasn't available. I think there's a body of work there for Joseph Wall that's been really, really solid.

And yeah, he hasn't played a lot in recent weeks, and Chris Stolarz has just taken the number one role and owned it and played exceptionally well. But I don't think, this isn't Dennis Hildeby going to the net where you're going, oh boy, oh, what's this gonna look like? Joseph has been there and he's done it and he's shown a real capability and ability to play well.

So I don't see, like, you know, even when I looked at, like when Connor Hellebuck was struggling in Winnipeg, you know there's a big drop off to Eric Connery. Even with Skinner, Picker wasn't probably as big of a drop off, but you know he's not at that level. I think Joseph Wall is a good solid goaltender and I think getting in there and finding the rhythm, if anything, I think the benefit of him getting into game one, even though nobody would like to get in that thing, gave him a chance to get into a rhythm, gave

him a chance to get into the playoff sequence and pacing, playing against the team he was going to play against. I think it might have been a little more difficult for him to start game two without having a little bit of experience there. So I think that can benefit him as well as he's shown capability. With Craig Button, so the draft lottery goes down last night and the Islanders fly up the board and they end up getting that first overall pick. Utah moves up as well. They're in there they end up picking fourth so it goes Islanders one San Jose two Chicago three Utah four. You know it's you never know exactly how the draft is going to play out you know 10 years from now you can have a better idea clearly but what kind of draft are we talking about here and how significant was that

for the forecasting of the islanders you know organization the fact that they're gonna have the first overall pick well i'd i mean taking ten and taking one is very different i mean there's no generational player in this job is no celebrating there's no good dog does no we cannot uh... so you know what the uh..., if you were 10 and you're, let's just go back to 2015, can you imagine being 10

and getting the one and getting McDavid? Oh boy, right? So there's not the same type of like, oh my lord. So now they're gonna be faced with a decision. I mean, Schaeffer's a heck of a defenseman, Hagens is really good. Nees is really good. Now, instead of kind of seeing how a draft unfolds,

you're now the one that's going to dictate how it unfolds. I think it's great for the New York Islanders. I think they're going to get a really good player, whether they take a defenseman, whether they take a center. And they need skill, they need defensemen. It's not like they need just one type of player. And this can spur them on. They made a great trade to get Callum Ritchie in the Brock Nelson trade, so they got a really good center. The plays in Oshawa is going to be in the OHL

final, so they get that. Now they get another chance. I think all in all, if you look from the trade deadline until now, and despite missing the playoffs, I think there's a lot for the New York Islanders to be happy about, and certainly when you move from 10 to one, it'll create a lot of dialogue and a lot of discussion in the Islanders market about who they should take and why they should take that player, and we'll be doing it.

But it's really fun when a team from ten goes to one one of the thing i want real quick you know all the teams that want to take be careful your fear that you know i'm thinking first overall this year all the time thank you greg how do you find a guy to run the new york islanders like how would you go about putting a g m in place because there's a bunch of guys who have track records that are impressive, but you're trying to fill the void at the same time, give your fan base some excitement, and a guy that just has some different ideas on how you can kind of run the ship here, like how would you go

about putting a guy in place there? John Collins, who worked in the NHL, has a real wide swath of contacts. So I think that the fact that John is leading the search is going to help them narrow down who they want, what they're looking for. I think John, working in the environment, is going to help them say, okay, we might need a little bit more of this. Lou, I mean, he's a Hall of Fame GM, and everybody knew how he ran things, and, you know, change happens. But I don't know if you need somebody that doesn't have experience

that's coming out of the assistant manager ranks or if you want somebody with experience. But I think clearly, you know, how Lou was going to view his team is something that's going to change. I think they're looking for something a little bit different. And if you want any kind of an example, I would go back to the New Jersey Devils when they hired Ray Shirow. You know, he took over for Lou.

Ray Shirow came in there and he wanted to do things a little bit differently with respect to how the team was going to play and how they were going to proceed. I think the Islanders find themselves in a very similar spot. So finding somebody that can navigate through that and you got to keep in mind, Ray was in Nashville. He went to Pittsburgh. He took a team that was at the bottom of the standings, helped them win a Stanley Cup. Yeah, they had Crosby, they had Malcolm and Flurry and LaTang and there's some good players in Long Island. So I think kind of looking along that path,

Jeff, whether it's somebody that's been in the management ranks and not a manager or somebody like Ray who took over in New Jersey, I think it's kind of leading a team that needs like some vision about what worked and what was okay but it's not going to get us to where we want to get to and you need a new vision there. Not one that's radical but just something that just gives you a different lens and there's different ways to win in this league. I think Ray showed that in New Jersey. I think that's what the honers could benefit from here as well. So Craig, as a show talked about, we were going to ask you this question.

We probably know the answer, but if you believe that Schaeffer is the best player, do the Islanders just go with that? But Hage is just frightened from your backyard. So if it's a bit of a coin flip or you value him. No, no, tell tell the truth jamie hay said he was running the islanders he would take a local kid no that's not so i said said how would that be now what i said what i said i would i this is what that means let me set this all ahead yes i wanted to ask you craig you're the

other day i know that you would you would want to do that you get i'm marketing standpoint of course i would have on the day i'm in the business make a money what i what i want to know is craig let's say craig but needs the new gm of the new york outers how do you react if the owner picks up the phone and goes hey craig uh... it turns out james haggins grew up right around the corner from me i think you'd be great for the island of them based on the other one is that a money all he could bring to the game

he knows twenty seven told not about who he knows it's about what he represents how do you handle that if the owner is sniffing around the birth certificate we're talking about uh... you know what the Cleveland browns did you know i have a good and we're gonna have we're gonna grab grab Johnny football. The guy in the corner told them you should grab Johnny football.

But they did it. They did it because the owner told them to do it. I know. I know. And look where it got to, Cleveland Browns. That's why I'm bringing it up. I know it sells tickets in the national hockey league, winning hockey teams. There's lots of teams that have had high picks.

I was in San Jose, you guys have all been in San Jose. The Shark Tank was unbelievable. They had Celebrini, that building was half full. When they start to win, they will start to sell tickets again and they will start to fill the building. It'll be the same thing in Long Island. Now, I'm not dismissing the effect of a local player going there. If it's me talking to the owner, it's simple like this. Listen, we're going to evaluate the draft class. We're going to evaluate the players, whether it be Schaefer, whether it be Hagens or whether it be Michael Miescher or anybody else,

we're going to evaluate it. And if everything's equal, we'll take the local kid. If it's not equal, then you've got to trust us to take the player. We think it's best for the franchise. That's's a simple and and and maybe he says to you listen We need it then you got better start telling them and showing them evidence that winning teams sell tickets not individual players Because if that was the case the Florida Panthers would have sold out from 1998 through 2022 and they didn't because their team was garbage Yeah, that's very very 100% valid eight through two thousand and twenty two and they didn't because their team was garbage. Yeah that's very very 100% valid with Craig Button. So I'm going to add one more thing here that I think about yesterday because Jay asked me and I really like Schaeffer. Hagens is a really

good player he's a really good player. Paul Eisenman was their first round draft pick last year he's a top-notch goal scorer And he and James Hagens played together at the National Team Development Program for two years, record setting years for James Hagens and for Cole Iseman. Iseman has the all time goal scoring record at the program. Hagens broke the under 18 scoring record in one year and he was excellent. You might have to look at it too

as a center and winger duo that already have history, that already have had this unbelievable opportunity to have success, could it translate to the NHL or the Islanders? I think that's another factor that goes in that I hadn't thought about last night, that I'm certainly given some strong consideration to now as him as the first overall player. Yeah, that's a very, very good point and a good connection considering their history. Craig, we were, because we were talking about the draft lottery, we got buzzing about like

all-time great junior players and the buzz that they can create. Noah and I were talking about going to see Lindros when he was a kid and going to see McDavid and I'm curious because you've seen them all. Is there one kid, like one 16, 17 year old where you went to see him play the first time that sticks out among the others in terms of the hype, in terms of the buzz, in terms of your own excitement that when you walked in the rink and you saw him you're, I can't believe I'm watching this. Oh, there's some great ones. Do you want me to tell you the Jeff O'Neil one?

Absolutely, if you got a Jeff O'Neil one, that's even better. Jeff was a prodigy, and I had heard about this young player at 15 years old playing in Thornhill. Okay. I remember Jim Bernhardt and I went and watched Jeff play in Thornhill and we were very duly impressed. I think I told Jeff this, I know I told Jeff this right,

but in we had drafted Todd Harvey in 1993 and Jeff was in the 94 draft and we spent a lot of time with Jeff you know we talked about trading up and we talked to Jimmy Rutherford and the years we thought Jeff would be a really good center for us. And Jim Rutherford goes, yeah, I'll trade you the pick for Todd Harvey. And we said no. And interestingly enough, Jim was very clear on what he was looking for. We thought and you know, you draft the player the year before, ninth overall and Todd was

a good player. But I do remember, you know, being told about Jeff and going and and Todd, and Todd was a good player, but I do remember being told about Jeff and going and watching him play and certainly was impressive. Now, on a different, when we talk about the Lindros and the thing, Sidney Crosby was the guy for me. I heard so much about Sidney Crosby, and he was the buzz of the thing,

and I remember Pat Bresson telling me, you can wait till you see this kid. So at 14 years of age, he came in and played at the, what's, it was called the Max Midgep Tournament here in Calgary. He was playing for Shadot. And I remember the first shift, second shift, third shift, it was like, you gotta be kidding me.

But this is unbelievable. Like he was that good. And so there was Lindros, there was also McDavid. I mean, what they do is they capture your attention like immediately and you realize, ooh, this is something special. It is, because like now we know where they went and what they became, but you're talking about a rink.

You know, there's 500 people in the rink or if it's in the OHL, there's 3,000, 4,000, and it's tight, and it's amazing. Like it is uniquely Canadian. What I'm always fascinated about those guys, Brian, is I always just call them automatic. Like it's not like you get to junior, and they're overwhelmed, and they don't,

they take two years to get adjusted. They just are amazing right off the bat, and then they get to the NHL, it's not like, oh, it's different, now, they just are amazing right off the bat. And then they get to the NHL, it's not like, oh, it's different. They're just amazing right from the hop. They're just automatic amazing all the way from Pee-wee right until the NHL. That's so true, Jeffrey. And it is. And if they didn't become automatic, you'd be shocked because that's how dominant they

were. And again, I was just blown away by Crosby. And he was 14 playing against kids two years older than him and it was just like wow. Yeah, Craig, just quickly before we get let you go, and that's why I'm not shocked and it's not a massive disappointment. But after watching Connor Bedard in Halifax

I was like this is going straight to automatic and it's gonna be dominant and it's gonna be electric and it just really Like it hasn't really been automatic for him. He's been good, but I thought it was gonna be different Yeah, and and I I did comparison. I've been using Jeff is Nathan McKinnon Nathan McKinnon. Nathan McKinnon came into the league, first overall, he won the Rookie of the Year in that 13, 14 season, and then the Colorado Avalanche were terrible. And it really hurt Nathan McKinnon with respect to who he was surrounded by, how he was able to take it.

And then, you know, he signed the contract to the extension. A lot of people go, how do you give him this contract? That was commentary, him coming out of his entry-level contract. And then in his fifth season, he just exploded to superstardom. I think in my mind, having watched Connor, I believe that once the Chicago Blackhawks get him surrounded, like McKinnon got surrounded in Colorado, you'll see that real uplift in his game. We know McKinnon is one of the best players on the planet.

He became Super McKinnon in that fifth season and hasn't stopped. And I think the Dargs can find that level once the team becomes better around him in Chicago. No question about that. No question about that. I certainly hope there's no question about that. Well, we've figured out who's picking first, and I guess the owners will kick start the party and we'll take it from there. Couple games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs tonight, game two tomorrow night. Leaves Panthers, it's going to be a great ride. Thank you for doing this, Craig, we appreciate it. Yeah, I appreciate you guys, thanks for having me.

There he is, Craig Button, Director of Scouting here at TSN. Introducing Brian Adams Radio on I Heart Radio. Got my first real six strings. Hosted by Brian Adams himself. Join me for an insider look on a wild ride through 40 years of global rock and roll. Brian Adams Radio. Now available on the free iHeartRadio app.

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