OverDrive - Button on the Maple Leafs' stars' performance, Pettersson and Miller in the spotlight and the Bruins' impending retool

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joined OverDrive to discuss the storylines around the NHL, Matthew Schaefer leading the prospects, the Sabres and Sharks' system, the stars' importance on the Maple Leafs, Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller's conundrum in Vancouver, the Bruins looking to retool and more.

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Details at iHeartRadio.ca Here's Craig Button, our TSN Director of Scouting joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Craig, we're just talking about your list, your midseason draft list. You got Schaeffer now at one. You know, if you're Chicago and you end up with that first pick and you get Schae how does that sound but darden shaper moving forward sounds good i mean i think that shaper's uh... defense but we do doubt he didn't control the game

and you're true number one i mean i'm a true number one defensemen are there in the week while turning is not thirty two no and you know they dropped a wish you know off last year in the first round and good player there's not a number one He's not a guy that's gonna control the game for you and the struggle black cards It's not like they're not like San Jose San Jose to me Like if they have a chance to draft a player at one it's Schaefer because they don't have a guy like that

And if they're dropped in two, they should drop for the more tone in my view because they don't have a player like that They have centers. They don't need centers and to me Chicago needs a lot of everything so take the guy that you control the game and I think that Matt Schaeffer is that guy what he's brought up an interesting scenario Craig and I know what I would do what a Buffalo gets it are you still drafting them I just heard Dave talk about it's a good start if you can get these top players like the Darden and Sal Labrini, but isn't there a caveat to that? Isn't that what Buffalo's had for 14 years?

No kidding. Right? You know, so it's not just, you're right, Dave. It'd like to be able to have the ability to draft these players and to set the course for your franchise with a franchise player. It's really important. But it's also what you do after that. So Jeff, to your question about Buffalo, you know, Buffalo just seems to me to be in a

place where they're like the Detroit Lions. Like they had top kicks, they had good players and they could never win. And you know, to me, what's the identity of the Buffalo Sabres? Do they have one? I don't know what it is. I don't know if they don't even know what it is. So to me, you got, it was like Dan Campbell went into, went into Detroit and he just said, here's what we're going to be. And, and, and he, there was some growing pains, but they knew what they wanted to be. They knew who they want.

I don't think Buffalo knows who they want to be or what they want to be. So to your question, you know, like it's one of those, I guess it's an existential question. What do the Buffalo Sabres do? Cause I'll tell you this, I don't think they know what to do. That seems to be the case. You know, it really does seem to be the case that down in Buffalo, it's just constant turnover, constant finger pointing, constant, I don't know. I mean, it's just year after year after year, they haven've been in the playoffs and what 13 years 14 years and they're not even close it's it sucks for the fan base and yet to your point Craig it's one thing if you accept okay we're not gonna be that good but here's the plan like I was

saying that prior to you coming on like if I'm in San Jose I'm looking at what my career is doing so I get this I think I know where we're going here. Like it might take some times and there's going to be some misses but you had to shed contracts then you're going to load up on young players you're going to try to get top picks. All right we got a plan here. Buffalo I don't know. I mean I really and even Chicago I wonder what you think their plan is like clearly it was to bottom out and get Bidard. They did that now what? Because they fired Luke Richardson as if they considered this a legitimate

Team this year and they're not they're they're awful Well, they are awful and Kyle Davis in the end of year talked about trying to fast forward the rebuild fast forward the rebuild Are you kidding me? Like you're hearing everything going on in Chicago right now. The players spirits are broken. They're not high. They're losing They're getting beat up bad. They're the fans spirits are broken. They're not high. They're losing. They're getting beat up bad. They're the fans are booing. They're going to stop showing up. They can't get their games on TV. I mean, it's a mess in Chicago.

And to your point about San Jose, you think about like Mike Brear said, you know what, we're going to have to move off a hurdle. So, you know, we took on a little bit of salary and he makes a trade. He moves off of Carlson, you know, take, holds on a little bit of salary and he makes a trade. He moves off of Carlson, you know, holds on a little bit of salary, but says, we're moving on. And then when he sees a chance to get a number one goaltender in a scar, boom, he acts. He's got a real good defenseman in Dickinson. They got real good players in Will Smith and Salabrini, obviously, but they got Quentin Mustaine. They got Casper Holton and William Atland who are already there. So some really good players. And what you can see to me, Mike Greer, it was a competitor big time.

He knew, he played on good teams. He understands you've got to have different players in different spots. You can't just collect players. You can't just collect players and select picks and everything. I'm going through this with the Montreal now in different media. Oh, no, keep getting picked. All these picks and all these prospects are not going to play for the Montreal Canadiens

So you better recognize at some point in time. We better help our current group We better help them taste a little bit of success. They don't start tasting success. Good luck heavy success With Craig Button and in terms of where the Leafs are at going into this game tonight. You got John Tavares now week to week He's been placed on the IR. They've lost three games in a row in regulation, Craig. Is there a player in particular on the Leafs that you have circled tonight that you believe has got to leave the charge and have a big night? Yeah, I would put it on the captain and three of them, like Neil Andrew Marner and Matthews. I mean, they're top players. You know, you're facing the crux of it.

I don't think you can ask, you know, other players to start trying to show the way. I mean, it would be different if you, if you had that catalyst type player, like I mean in Detroit, I just go back to Detroit. Like Stoddy Bowman could run out McCarty Draper and Maltby to set a tone, but Toronto doesn't have that. So I think you have to look at the, at the top and just say hey if I'm Craig Ruby hey listen we really need give us your best tonight just give it everything you got tonight you got tomorrow off and you know what we'll make sure but but those are the guys

that I'd be just trying to just pat on the back and I'm gonna ride you tonight get out there and you're gonna be playing lots yeah we talked about that yesterday right that like they need they need either a line or a power play they need something they can look at it and say things are going to align up our play and a player they need to a something because they got nothing they they don't have its it's flat more or less across the board or another thing they don't have craig is production on the offensive side from the back end and you talk off the top of how hard it is that

get a number one defenseman in this league and a lot of teams don't have one. The guy the Leafs have traditionally thought of as their number one defenseman, Morgan Riley, is going through his worst offensive season, I believe, since 2016-17, in terms of points per game. What do you make of Riley's inability to really be the offensive force he has been in the past? How do you make O'Reilly's inability to really be the offensive force he has been in the past? I think he, you know, the way they played in the past days, I think afforded him a lot more of those opportunities.

Fred Bruby and this coaching staff has asked him Morgan to play a little bit differently. I mean, you had Jake McCabe, you had Chris Taneth, you had all of Reckman-Larsen. So I think there's been a shift in the focus. And so Morgan O'Reilly is not being asked to, you know, contribute offensively in the same manner. Now, what I will say is this, I think the key is not always about points, it's about can you get out of your zone quickly

and can you get the puck onto the sticks of your good offensive players? I think the Charl Maitleys have enough good offensive players, and it's not so much about do they get the points, but can they get the offense moving in the right direction? Can they get the play moving in the right direction? I think that that's the next step for this blue line. And I think they've made some strides, but I think on the power play, they got to switch

up the power play. When I say switch it up, Morgan London is a great player. He's a distributor, he's a player, he's a puck transporter, and he can get the puck into the right places, but now he becomes a little bit easier to defend if you're the penalty killing team. He's not really that threat to thread the pass or to make that big shot. So I think there has to be a change there, but I think where the Leafs find themselves with respect to how they want to play, it's about moving up the puck to the offensive

players. I think they're doing a better job of that this year but i think that's the that's the difference that i think that more than in the rest of the blue line have to become acclimated to in terms of how they how the offense of push starts from real good defensive play greg how would you handle the situation out in vancouver when it first happened, I was like, maybe Miller and Pederson had a pissing match and it's not that big a deal.

But clearly there's an issue. And the team's struggling. And I think something needs to be done sooner than later because who wants this to linger on and fester and the performance on the ice continues to to go downward like how would you handle this you know jeff i'm a big believer is when you have a problem identified and look at the solutions as

and i i use the term often and it is problems that go away by themselves come back by themselves no player nobody wants to be asked daily what do you think about you know what you think about your life peterson you know when you when you when you, when you get ready to play the game, everybody's going to dig in and play. I think that that's the case, but it's a distraction and you don't need the games hard enough as it is. You don't need distractions. So I think when you're looking at this from, from internally and me externally, like you got to say, okay,

what are the solutions? What can you do? How do you deal with it? And then you gotta act because back to what I just said, you got a problem. If you wanna move forward individually and collectively, you gotta find solutions. That's true of any walk of life. And I think that that's where Jimmy Rutherford and Patrick Alveen find themselves right now is trying.

And the solution may not be easy. Like don't get me wrong here. It's not like you just wave a magic wand and you have to identify, is this something that can be resolved internally through our own or do we have to make a move? But if you don't address the problem and you're not ready to deal with it,

the problem will linger. And I don't think that's good for the team. So whatever that turns out to be, Jeff, if you gotta get the players in and say, what what what's going on here what what what you guys got sorted out to not moving either one of you you resign yourself to go move somebody whatever it is you got to do it you got to commit to it

that's it's it's got to be awkward in that room right now the l l a r a deal with it that's where i would get to the point is a teammate i would look at them and say that nobody wants to deal with this nonsense no exactly but that that the issue is and again we don't have the answers it could be just one of them that's the problem yes you know really it may not be collectively or equal most likely it is

one is not as generally not two guys that are a pain in the ass like towards each other right and that's exclusive to that like it's just you two guys and then when you're with everyone else everything's all good so they know and they've known the issue at the conundrum is as you know craig we all know prior to last year the canucks have not had any success in quite some time and it's a market that

is volatile it's a market that's not happy right now and everything broke their way last year they had a magical season everything was incredible they almost won the president's trophy get they they beat nashville in just a remarkable fashion remember all the comebacks and late goals and overtime heroics and then they almost had edmonton with a third string goalie and you show up at camp this year and you're thinking this is it man like it's go time in vancouver and we're halfway through the season and they may not make the playoffs and everyone hates everyone It's a PR disaster. It is like it's a disaster. They got to be thinking as a fan base. We can't have nice things

Yeah, what happened here? What how did this happen? Yeah, and to Jeff's point like the players know they always know and they always know first and They can't deal with the issue. So it's not up to the players to deal with it. They don't want to be bothered. And like, can you imagine the media walking in every day to go on? Are they going to ask me? Are they going to ask me? Please don't ask me. Please don't ask me because it's, it's lingering. It's like a bad smell that keeps lingering. And you know, one of the things that, you know, and I'm not saying they should do it, but if,

but if they're not going to, if they're like, if they're not going to do anything or like, if they're not gonna do anything or they, I shouldn't say do nothing, if they've examined the problem and they've looked at solutions, then somebody's gotta come out, the manager and say, listen, we've dealt with this internally, we're satisfied that we're moving forward,

no more questions, and you guys get going. And you gotta say that privately and publicly. Yeah. I haven't heard that yet, I haven't heard that yet. No. I haven't heard that yet. I haven't heard that yet. No, I haven't heard that yet either. And you know, that's, it's not the only sideshow in town, right? You've got last week, we had the Bruins stuff

and the reporting on that and whether or not it's, you know, what it leads to or what have you. But I'm sure you saw Cam Neely came out today and spoke with the media and said that as of now, their management group, we have to have two paths to move forward with one where we're a buyer at the deadline and one where we're a seller at the deadline. He's saying that on the record. They're in a playoff spot.

And they're in the playoffs and it's Boston it's the Bruins. That's trying to get a spark. Do you think that's all about a mess? Is that how you read that Craig? No way that he's even thinking about being a stellar. I know because Boston has established that standard, right? Because we go back, we go back, we're just talking about the Knucks, right? And so we talk about, do they deserve good things?

Well, the Bruins don't think that way. We're a playoff team and whatnot. So I do think there's a dual message there, one to the players and one that says, Hey, like there's, I guess there's a, uh, a disguised message cannily to the players. Yeah. Is this what we really become? Is this what you want? And I love what Paschonik and Marshaan did after those comments. And then, Hey, it's great to come out and deny it. And I believe the players don't get me wrong but then they went out and performed. Yeah. They squashed that in a big way through their performance and I think that Cam right now he's looking at it and I can sit here and go well you got to be realistic maybe

they should be sellers or whatnot but that's not the mentality in Boston and I agree with Jeff. I think that that's just a little bit of a smoke screen and probably a pretty strong message to the players. Yeah it's pretty good one I mean when Cam Neely speaks I would think people certainly listen in Boston for sure. All right Craig we'll leave it there good catching up with you we'll do it again soon. Yeah great catching up with you guys too have a great day. There's a Craig Butner TSN director of scouting joining us here on the Maple Toyota hotline counting on Maple Toyota for the right winter tire package

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