OverDrive - Button on the Maple Leafs' draft lottery win, McKenna's draft position and Toronto's selection

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joined OverDrive to discuss the Maple Leafs winning the NHL Draft Lottery for the franchise, who the Maple Leafs should select with the number one overall, Gavin McKenna's potential role in Toronto, McKenna's skills entering the league, if McKenna will return to Penn State, the Canadiens and Sabres' series and more.

Here he is, the director of scouting here at TSN, our good friend, Craig. How you doing, Craig? 51 days. We got content for 51 days. That's all I know. Okay, I love it. Let's get right after it. You're walking up there to the podium representing the Maple Leafs. Who are you taking with that first pick? Well, it's today I'm taking McKenna. But I think there was a couple of big wins for the Toronto Maple Leafs

with that lottery ball coming up with the Leafs logo on it. Number one, they didn't lose the pick, which was a fear of fans in the Toronto Maple Leafs. Number two, it changed the narrative from what happened on Monday to a delirious fan base on Tuesday, which is really positive. And number three, picking first overall, having way more options than you had going into the draft lottery, those are three big wins for the Toronto Maple Leafs. I mean, you think about a franchise that doesn't have a prospect covered that's deep,

doesn't have draft picks, this was something that was a real positive for the Maple Leafs. Craig, some people's philosophy, I'd like to hear your take on it, is you have a piece now, a young piece, and there's been talk about Austin Matthews and what he plans to do in the future. would any part of you want to say let's just try to move on and possibly go after San Jose's number two pick and then move off of other pieces and then start building where in a couple years you have a bunch of different younger pieces and you're moving in a different direction or is it just let's see where Gavin McKenna fits in with Austin Matthews and William Nealander and hope this thing flies? I think, Jeff, you just outlined the options now that Toronto Maple Leafs can continue. sitter. You know, John Chacon, when he's asked about, will you trade the first pick?

He says, yeah, we're open. Like, that's what every manager says, right? But that's what every manager should say. And I think given where the least find themselves, and they're not one player away, you know, but you now have options you didn't have. And certainly, you know, Austin's a superstar in the league. William Nealander's a superstar in the league. And you look at a team that is trying to find a way to get back to a stage of contending. And, and, you know, and, you look at a team. And, And every team should be like that. But the options that are available to them now, not just with the first pick, not just with considering what could happen with Austin Matthews and William Neelander,

but those are things that now, if I'm the Toronto Maple Leaf Management Group, you've got to put everything on the table for what's going to move us closer to being a contending team. Now, I'm not talking next year. If you think it's all about next year, well, you know, I think that that's a really difficult task to ask. But if you want to really move into contending status, I think, Jeff, you have all these opportunities. Well, when I asked you a moment ago, you know, who you would take, you said if the draft were today, it would be McKenna. Is that suggesting in the next 51 days that could change for you? If it's not McKenna, who else would you take with the first pick of the least keep us?

I would consider a defense, I would. And I would consider Carl's or, for me, it's Carl's or Chase read the the Toronto Maple Leafs uh to me the last time they had an impact defenseman they had Brian macaque for a short period of time who was really impact but Thomas caberlay was their last real driver from the back end they don't have anything they don't have that guy they're not easy to find so that would be a that would be a conversation i'd be having internally you know how do we find these guys like teams yeah i know Vancouver traded queen hues but how do you find these guys so I'm not saying that I would consider a defenseman and I would have that conversation. I would delve deep into it.

Make me say no. So Craig, how deep is this draft? And what I mean by that is if we do this all the time, we'll go back on a draft class and look and say, hey, Morgan Riley, you know, came, was fifth. And if you had to redraft it, he might end up first in that particular draft. I think it was the Gelseniac and all of that. But when you look at this particular draft class, is there six, seven, eight impactful players? You feel like in that top ten?

Or am I being a little rich with that comment? I think you're being rich. I mean, if you go back and look at drafts, I mean, and I'm using impactful in a significant way. Correct. Like, you know, there's players that can, you know, contribute and be important players. But the impact players are not deep in any drafts. And I think when you look back at any draft, Jamie, like the way I look at the draft, and we hear this all with, is this a good draft, is it a bad draft?

Here's what the data tells you. And Jeff, I know that you're a data-centric program now, so I'm trying to see you have data here. Much appreciated. Much appreciated. There's approximately 45 players in every draft, approximately. Sometimes it's a little higher, sometimes a little lower. To play 350 games or more in the NHL. with varying degrees of success.

And that's the numbers. So you know those numbers going in. There's players that don't make it from the first round, the second round. There's players that have impact coming from later parts of the draft. When a team drafts players that make it, it's a good draft. When a team drafts players that don't make it, it's a bad draft. And it has nothing to do with the players.

It has to do with the selections made. With Craig Button. So I heard you last night. I saw you on Jay, you and Frankie were on there, talking about McKenna and the impact he could have next season. Let's presume they take McKenna. Let's presume Matthews is back. Link those two for me. Do you see McKenna being able to play with Matthews?

Can he have an impact on his season next year? Can he play? Can he play next year, Brian? Exactly. Where do you stand on all those projections as of today? That's a fair question. That's a fair question, you know, can you play? I think the situation for Gavin improved immensely when you start to think about the opportunity to play in Toronto with Austin Matthews.

Let's say they don't take them to play in San Jose with Macklin Celebrini. Because you're talking about premier players. And Jeff, you lived it. You were drafted as a center and they put you on the wing. Why did they put you on the wing? Not because you weren't talented or you didn't have potential. They wanted to protect you a little bit. They wanted to ease you in somewhat.

And so Gavin's already a winger, and now he can start on the wing, and now Austin Matthews can carry the burden. The other thing about Gavin McKenna is, is he's a playmaker. And what did Austin Matthews lose? He lost the playmaker. Why did Austin Matthews dip in goalscorn? He didn't have the playmaker. To me, Gavin can think the game.

He's got great creativity. He's got playing-making ability. And now to line up next to Matthews, that's something that I think could work. So, Craig, do you don't see a scenario where there's an Owen power type of situation where Gavin McKenna could possibly want to go back to Penn State and go back to college? Or do you think that he would be interested in going right to the NHL if that's possible? Yeah, just like if we, you know, Owen, it was a little different scenario with the pandemic with Owen. So I think under normal circumstances,

Oden with a term pro, I really do. So, and I think that Gavin, like, given the scenarios that he could be, he could be presented with, like, and I'm not here to knock a team, but let's say he fell to three. If I'm advising Gavin McKenna, go back to Penn State. Because I don't think Vancouver has the ability to support him and give him what he needs to, and you've seen him, Jeff and Jamie and Brian. like, you know, the maturity, the physical things.

And, you know, you need a little bit of help when you come into the NHL. He's not a Celebrini. He's not a Schaefer. He's not a badarde. He isn't that guy. So to me, it depends where you're going. But I think if you're lining up on the left side of Austin Matthews or Macklin Celebrini, you're coming to the NHL.

Craig, what would your viewpoint be on being a general manager, which you were, and one of the players, or there's different players around the league that I think are having kind of a wait-and-see approach with what their team is doing as far as roster construction, how competitive they think they're going to be. And I guess the approach is going to be if I don't like it, maybe I don't want to be back. If you were on the management side, how would you handle that type of situation? Because I know if it was me, I'd be like, we have to move on from you because there's a chance we're going to make some changes. and you still don't like them and then you're still going to want out. So let's just get this straight here. What are your thoughts?

I'm with you, Jeff, and I think Jim Rutherford showed that with Quinn Hughes. He said, hey, listen, we love you. You're our captain. We want to keep you. Oh, you don't want to stay. We understand. We're moving on. I don't think it serves player or team to go through that dance.

It feels like you're not dancing in coordination. to the music, the music that each party might want to be dancing to and stepping to, is different at that point in time. And now you end up at the end of it going, oh, wait a sec here. We don't have anything. And, you know, we've gone through all this exercise of trying to appease. And I'm not saying that in a negative way, but you got to run your team with the idea that what's best for the team.

And when I was a manager, Jeff, players, I mean, there's all kinds of trade talk. maybe it's a little bit more enhanced now. I told the players, simple. If I can improve the team, I'll trade anybody. But I'm not looking to trade anybody. But you always got to be having your mind open. But to me, you have to move on. Jim Rutherford showed that.

And really, quite frankly, you better not dither. Because if you dither, you're going to be sitting with the music stop and no chair to sit in. With Craig Button. So we've got Havs Sabres tonight starting. It should be a great series. If, you know, a lot of Montreal fans watching and listening to the show, a lot of Sabre fans watching and listening. Which way do you lean when it comes to the outcome of this series, Greg?

Well, I got to work with the data. How many Sabres fans are listening? Because, you know, if more Sabres fans are listening, I might lean Sabres. If more Canadians fans. You can be swayed. That's the smart man. Yeah.

Well, you're just trying to appease the numbers. What I would say to you is this. I thought that Tampa Bay's big problem against Montreal was their defense couldn't contribute to the offense. They just couldn't. Tampa Bay Lightning had a lot of offensive zone play. They had a lot, but the offensive play from the Blue Line wasn't there. The Buffalo Sabres have that. I think that becomes the biggest challenge for Montreal.

They've got some big players that can hem you in. And now the Blue Liner's Byron and Dahlene specifically, O'empower to a little lesser extent. can contribute to that offense. I don't think Tampa Bay had that. Conversely, they're also a team that takes risk. And I think that Montreal can exploit that. They're quick, they're fast. And if you can counteract some of their activity

to get into the offensive rush and be a little bit risk worthy, and you want to take that away from them, you get some odd man chances, and you back them off. That's what I'm watching for in this series. Dobish was great against Tampa Bay Lightning. Alex Lyon got in the net and played really well. You know, that's where I look at it. We know that the top line for Montreal has to find a way to get on the scoreboard.

That goes without saying. But I think how they handle the aggressiveness of the Buffalo Blue Line in the offense, it can work to Buffalo's advantage or can work to Montreal's advantage. That to me is the chess match. Yeah, it's going to be a great series starting tonight. 51 days from the NHL draft. We cannot wait for it. There'll be more mock drafts and analysis. Craig, you're

going to be all over it. Great stuff as always. Thank you for doing this. We'll do it again soon. Yeah, quick question for Jeff. Yes. What's with the Gray, they believe's alumni Blazers? Is that a new one? Is that a new suit? He's got a point to you. Brian, explain to Mr.

Button, the outfit. All right, so you were watching the lottery last night. The lottery Ball Security Guard had a really tight ponytail. And we were very inspired by that. So always said, I'm going to grow out the ponytail. I don't really know why the alumni jacket, other than the fact that the Leifes won the lottery last night, and he decided, I guess the blue one, maybe it's being tailored because everything

else this guy owns gets tailored. So he's bringing out the road white, the road white alumni jacket with a tight pony. That's the inspiration, Craig. Yeah, okay. I like the gray alumni jacket. I only saw the blue ones, but I like the gray. Let's show him with the blue tie, Jeff. Oh, it's custom made.

He made it himself. As far as I know, he's the only Leaf alumni with that jacket. And I don't care. And I don't care. And I don't care. Nobody else makes their own. It wasn't given to him by the Leafs alumni. No.

He went out and made it. Yeah. And I've asked other Leaf alumni, and they said, you're insane if you think I'd ever do that. Only Jeff O'Neill would do that. I've gone Jeff a long time, and there's one thing you can take to the bank. He's his own. person. And we love them for that. Very authentic. Very authentic. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, Craig. There's Craig Button. Joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline, Red Tag Days are here. Check out

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