OverDrive - Colaiacovo on the Maple Leafs' first half overview, Knies' offensive performances and the team's center additions

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst Carlo Colaiacovo joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NHL, Matthew Knies' scoring outburst, Ryan Reaves' role in the roster, Scott Laughton being a fit to the Maple Leafs, the team through the first half of the season and more.

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new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you, new you did Kara dirty, okay? You on this show, Monday to Friday with Al's brother, brag about your NFL picks. And you can't pick anything hockey-wise for Kara? There were some garbage picks too. There would be third line wingers with zero goals. It's like, why that guy? I felt bad for Kara because I chimed in because I work with a guy, Jingles, and this guy is an absolute stud when it comes to picking hockey plays. So I just thought I'd offer some help. Well, then maybe Jingles, maybe he can help out. Because listen, I could own some of it,

but what I'm saying is Kara's got to own some of it too. That's fair. Kara, I would throw out a name and she'd say, nah, not feeling it. That guy would go home and rip home. When Marner had a hat trick in Detroit, I said, more, I said he was, he didn't play well the game before. I'm telling you, I think he gets off the snide here. She vetoed it, said, I don't like that play. Who did you pick instead? I was probably like Ryan Reeves or something. It was Yachty Hockenpah.

It was some awful pick, I can guarantee it. Did you pick that KHL guy that was playing with his phone in his pants? I should have picked that guy. The guy's description, did you see that he used the cigarette on the ear analogy? Yeah, it's like when you put a cigarette in your ear and you forget. Like, dude, you're a professional athlete. I mean, credit to him, he had a great excuse but there's no way that what the explanation he gave was true. You feel your phone when

it drops into your pants. Exactly man, that's a heavy, heavy item. He said that explanation was it's like a cigarette in the ear. He used that as an analogy as to why you would forget it. Yes. Right, he's like. You see what he said? He said the phone would go right above me on the ledge where my elbow pads was. Right.

When I took my elbow pads off, my phone accidentally split and fell into my pants. Right. And I didn't feel it. It's just like when you put a cigarette on top of your ears. And you forget it's there. And you just forget it's there. And you just forget it's there.

Like that's a professional athlete that is basically admitting... That he blows darts and hammers vodkas. Yeah, which makes me appreciate this guy so much more. Hey, the best reaction to that was when the ref came by the bench and he's showing the phone and everyone's like, no, no, it's not ours. Yeah. And he literally is head down and he reaches out for it. everyone's like no no it's not ours yet and he literally is head down in your reaches out for it is like all right that's you know that i walk off the bed as you saw the case to write it was kind of a unique cases like that's mine my

girlfriend got it for christmas it's uh... man i i said it was so good so good uh... anyway good to see a body and he said but by the way before we get started yeah what's why is Frankie have Chesco? Am I missing something? You should know cuz your co-host calls me Chesco all the time Krollnick, but oh really we're trying to make it a thing It's Frankie. We're trying to do away with Frankie. He's getting a little too old for it Francesco shorten it to Chesco I love I love it. It's awesome. it francesco shorten it to chesco i

love i love it's awesome yeah i agree it's big on twitter chesco carado start your own sandwich place yes chesco the chicken parm is just electric at chesco's buy some cologne and a sandwich all at the same time you guys let me ask you this because I've had it once and I did not have a good experience. Brio, the drink. Hate it. Don't like it. Thank you. Exactly. Dude, I loved it. I loved it because it was like a soda pop. It had a little bit of a different vibe to it. It's bitter. It is bitter. JP JP just jumped almost came through the glass JP JP I'm coming in for the Leafs game bring me and you a Brio brother

Just two old school guys make it hammering a Brio hammering a Brio. Need a picture of O-Dog and JP. Cheersing a Brio. I love it. I need to see that. Veal sandwich and a Brio. How's your breath after that? Dude, you know what? JP, forget it. I'm going to go to San Rimos up the street and I'll get the Brio there and I'll get us a cold cut sandwich and we'll have a nice little together time off at the office. A little picnic up here, I love it. I love it. Nice. Do you expect Reeves and Hathaway to be a thing tonight,

Carlo, or what are you anticipating? I think it almost has to be, right? I mean, if he's being inserted back into the lineup and he just saw his teammate get jumped and now out with a concussion, I mean, isn't that sort of what his deals like it feels like that the police situations like this and what i i get halfway

the ton of credit is well respected around the league is being a tough guy in i'm i'm pretty sure he didn't mean to do what he did uh... he probably has to know that there's got to be some sort of answer coming to that though I would think so and specifically like Reeves has not been playing he hasn't fought all year again like McCabe was looking for him. McCabe's a big boy like McCabe was instigating the fight as much as Hathaway was

willing to give it to him but in the end you know McCabe's a really important piece a veteran guy he's out now you're going into Philly and you know, Hathaway's tough and I'm sure he'll answer the bell. It feels like Ryan Reeves, the fact that he hasn't fought 41 games into the season and now you're going in in Philly, it feels like it's a formality. We could be wrong. I mean, who knows with the way the game is played today, but I would imagine that maybe Reeves is thinking about This being his moment to fight, but would Hathaway want to fight him? That's the question, right?

That's it. I mean he made he probably doesn't want to he probably knows he will step up though if he has to Yeah, it's a different story Also, like you just get it out of the way, but do you want you're gonna play a 60-minute game? Who knows how much you're going to play? But do you want Reeves just chasing you around all night? Just being like, hey, let's go now. Let's go now. Like, just get it done.

Get it over with. You're a big boy. You know how to fight. You're like you're in that category. Just get it over with. Yeah. Coco, what do you like about Matthew Nise's game? Since, you know, he's a hat trick.

He's playing better. What do you like about his game right now I think a credit to his success he's moving his feet right I mean if you heard Craig Barube come out a couple weeks ago and criticize his game to sort of get himself going I think though with the term he uses what he's got to start you know being more chaotic yeah is with with his game I'm pretty sure that's the the term he uses is what he's got to start being more chaotic with his game. I'm pretty sure that's the term he used. But when you're playing with those two guys, I'm not going to say it's easy to have success, but you have a better chance of having success because you just got to be in the right places at the right time.

You look at these goals that he's scoring. He's getting to the net, the puck's getting on his stick, and I think that's what he got away from a little bit. The NHL's a hard league to play in because when people start to figure you out, you've got to make the adjustment on your own to start to find success again. I think he just got too comfortable with his game, got away from the little things that made him successful by being heavy on pucks, winning the four checks, digging pucks out of the corner, and even getting to the front of the net. And I think the success we've seen lately

is because he's getting back to those areas and he's finding that game again. Carlo, I think what it is, I think you have to find something that, you gotta find a percentage of what time it's going to work no matter what. For Alex Ovachikin, he found that getting to the spot for the one timer, 85% of the time, no one's going to have anything to say about that because it's just going to go into the net.

And I think for Matthew Nyes, his 85%, or maybe it's not quite 85 but is going to the net and being a physical presence in front and skating hard through the neutral zone going like that's his go to where it's like when he does that and he's on his game it's tough to stop him like that's his go to and if you do that on a consistent basis that's where you're like for most nights man I'm not going to be denied you're're gonna have some nights where you go through some tough stretches But yeah, that's his way of doing business And if he tries to get away from that and think he's something different his percentages are gonna go way down He's not gonna have success

It's like every player and you guys were both if all three of you were defensemen You got to find your way of having success some guys are skilled like Brian You got to find your way of having success some guys are skilled like Brian Wafrowski got the puck out differently than anybody else would because he depended on his hockey sense his skill Other guys were power guys. You got to figure out what works and you got to do that on a consistent basis Well, there's great examples of the past. I mean Chris Kunitz made a career of playing alongside Cindy Crosby, you know Michael bunting found his way in the NHL because he knew how to play with guys like Matthews. And now he also had to find roots and patterns that were good for him.

Right. And so what I was getting at was you have to understand who you're playing with. You're playing with Matthews and Marner. You don't need to be the skill guy. You need to be the straight line guy that goes to the net with your stick on the ice, win those puck battles, win the net front battles, and you're going to get rewarded. I mean, playing with those two guys, oh, like you know in your career, when you're playing

with guys that can get you the puck, the game's a lot easier. Not every guy gets that chance. And for nice, like you said, Oh, you got to recognize who you are, what you bring, who you play with and where to be on the ice. Yeah, it's career defining. Like you get a chance to play with two of the best players in the world. If you can be their third guy who they go

into the coaching room and say, keep him with us. We want that guy. You're Alex Burrows playing with the twins. Exactly. That's what you roll out, man. 100%. And you and you're not like he's not he should never be not never But he shouldn't be the puck carrier with those two guys He should always be the guy kind of finishing things off Mmm, like the twins would do all this great work passing the puck this and that then who was there kind of on the doorstep?

It was Burroughs. Yeah, right. Like a hell of a career. Yeah made a ton of money a career yeah made a ton of money playing along so it's a great life man it's a great life it's a great career Carlo Kolyakova with us where does Scott Lotton land for you in terms of a list of players that the Leafs should be calling on if he's available I mean very fair than eerie top I mean like you talk about his intangibles. If the Maple Leafs are looking for a middle six center iceman, I think he fits the bill perfectly in many ways. One, he can play whatever role you want him to play, kill penalties, check, can chip in

on the offense once in a while, and he comes at a small cap it. You check a lot of boxes with that. I think the trump card on this is the fact that he is a local kid and right. He would love to come home and and and play for his hometown team I'm not and I'm not saying that because he said that to me because he's a close friend of mine. He loves playing in Philly he really embraces you know everything Philly represents you know with the way they play and and you know the city and the hard blue-collar

Type of you know a reputation that they have but if he's a guy that becomes available I think absolutely he'd be an amazing fit for this day. Yeah, he's got this year and next on his deal, right? And he's he's a guy that can score 15 to 20 and like you said it's he'd be your third line center but maybe he can play second line if you need to it's not ideal it's not it's not something you want to have a full playoff run that would appear to be the kind of price they'd be will that they'd be willing to pay more of a price for for that player because he's got term on his deal yeah i heard of this is where did

this scotty lot and stuff start i think because philly is not in the playoffs and you know we are based based on what danny breyer was telling us yesterday i think it's important point this out like he he doesn't want them to tank or bottom out or anything he wants them to be competitive so they may hold on a lot and because he's an important player for them a veteran guys plan well if he becomes available you can make sense of it from philly's perspective

because you probably get a boatload form because he's got term on his deal and he plays a prominent position is still in his prime is thirties not over the over the hill uh... well i i think if we can learn anything from philly you go back to last year's trade align where they had those two defensemen one of them was uh... sean walker and the other one was the left hand Sealer. Sealer, yes. They kept Sealer because he ended up agreeing to a deal that fit within their

structure. Right. But they got offered a price they couldn't refuse for Walker so I think Philly could potentially enter this trade deadline with the same mentality saying look we have guys here that we want but if we get offered something that we can't refuse We'll look at making that deal. Absolutely, and I think lot is one of those guys. Yeah, I would think so And he's a hard to play against guy which would fit with what they're trying to do here in Toronto

Like the Leafs are hard to play against you don't get to be the the first place team in the Atlantic if you're not And that's probably one of the biggest things that has changed in the fact that they're more comfortable in these types of games and they're willing to do some things differently to win these close games and not take themselves out of games that equals hard team to play against all there's no question i got sorry chesco there's no doubt that he would be the perfect fit

but i just wonder like how are we dreaming this up are we like is this somebody that's a trade bait board thing it's I'm gonna throw him on my soft he's on mine soft tamper like some soft tamper yeah listen again I think there's a local connection he plays the position like it feels like in Toronto everyone is just sewn in on Center which I'm not sure that that should be the case. I do wonder what they're gonna they're gonna add depth defensively. Now you got McCabe out, we don't know when he's gonna return. This is you know it's an opportunity. Like Morgan Riley is very secure as he should be. He's

long a standing leaf, he's made his money, he's got term, but now like does does he get a chance to play with Tanev again at some point? Like if McCabe's going to be out for a while? And if so, wouldn't you think, I want to seize that opportunity? Like he's had a good year. It hasn't been great offensively. It hasn't been over the top. Now McCabe's out. I'm curious to see what Morgan Reilly brings and, you know, how many more minutes he's

going to play and he's playing with Myers and, you know, Ben Wyethaw stepped up really admirably the other night after McCabe went out I thought he played well yeah but they're going to need him you know like it's it's depth right now in defense if McCabe's going to be out for an extended period of time. So let me ask you something is this the most comfortable you've felt about a Maple Leafs roster even if they don't add someone because it just seems like Maple Leafs roster even if they don't add someone because it just seems like like there's games that I that I you know that that creep up on me and Sometimes I don't even know who's playing who's in who's out But you see the same result with this Maple Leafs team where it's the answer is a hundred percent. Yes, right? I don't even it's not even a question, right? I mean Matthews is out for an extended time

They still find ways to win games, you know, they're the McCaves have missed some time. He's gonna miss more time It just feels like they've done such a great job in In instilling confidence even in the depth players on this team that are not Everyday guys that when they come in it's like they still don't miss a beat I feel that way about even on the guys on defense like Connor Timmons wasn't even a guy that we thought of and i thought he i i think he's played outstanding this year now philip meyers has come out of nowhere and

carter timmons can't come in and and philip meyers had to go he had to go to the marley's on a conditioning stand it was so long you know since games played for him and i was i was seamless strength salesman israeli said that i think the third line deserves a lot of credit too. Like Max playing in the middle with Robertson and McMahon, that line for whatever reason just clicked right away. Been good.

And they haven't been a liability. Yeah. Well, they're breaking that up tonight to put Reeves in. Robertson's coming out. Yeah. Which. Really? Yeah, that's what it sounds like.

That's what it looked like at skate this morning. Are you serious? Yeah. They're going to move Lawrence up. Lorenz is gonna move up and they're gonna keep Dewar in camp in there with Reeves. And that's where I don't understand how Dewar doesn't come out of the line and you leave the third line alone unless somebody pissed them off in the last game. Well I think you know I think there's some checks and balances with Robertson as well. I think it's Berubis saying don't

get too comfortable. You know you've been better but this is I will say this I don't think it's a great message if you're Nick Robertson as well. I think it's Berube saying don't get too comfortable. You know, you've been better, but this is I Will say this I don't think it's a great message if you're Nick Robertson that you're gonna play in the playoffs One thing to be really solid in December in January in that third line's click, which is accurate Domi's playing McMahon's plan. It is not a guarantee Robertson plays in the playoffs No, and nowhere close to a guarantee so to follow up on that point is Do you maybe get the sense that Ber ruby expects that the intensity of this game to be a lot higher and he wants guys that are going to bring it and be prepared as

through these the coach in philly this is a big game for him is probably playing in front of a lot of friends and family absolutely and maybe he wants more those type of players that can bring or be ready to play you know that type of hockey versus a Robertson that's not really known for being that guy. Like I think he's competitive but you know when there's scrums out there He's not the guy you want on the ice for that. No, but at the same time if you're if you're always concerned this could get carried away, and he's not a guy you can use Then again that that is not a good sign for him.

And I think he's played much better recently. I do think that third line, and we'll see, maybe come puck drop, he has a different view on it, and they go back with a similar lineup, but Reeves going in tonight speaks to that. Like they're expecting some physicality, they want some physicality, and I think that's another difference with the Leafs,

is they're going into Philly, and I think the Leafs are, they're thinking we'reity. They want some physicality. And I think that's another difference with the Leafs is they're going into Philly and I think the Leafs are, they're thinking we're going to be the bully here. Like it's, and that's, that's a big difference where they've, the shoe's been on the other foot for a long time here, where you go in there and you think, is someone going to do anything? Is anyone going to be pissed off? I expect Philly to be thinking we better be on our toes here cause these guys are coming in and they could be pissed

That's a big difference. I don't think you ever have to tell a tort around a Philly team that is probably not but You know outside like they sealers talk connect neo get involved by connecting will be in the middle of it He's agitating, but who are we talking about earlier Deloria? He's injured. He's not playing So, you know there there are missing some muscle and this is a big game for Philly yeah they're in the bubble they got there right in the mix I mean if you've seen the Eastern Conference there's eight teams right now that are separated by three or four points absolutely well Montreal's in man we've been talking

about it all day the Habs are are in the playoffs. It's incredible. It is incredible. And honestly, I look at it, I don't, maybe we gotta do a confidence rankings at some point because I don't really have confidence in any of those teams. It's funny, like we had written off Pittsburgh four separate times this year. Crazy, dude, how they're still hanking around. They found something recently where it's like they're still hanging around they found they found something recently where it's like they're they're playing way better and

like for the longest time said what wasn't scoring like he was getting points but he wasn't scoring and then they asked him about it in Pittsburgh goes oh thank God it's about time you guys asked me every time you asked me then I score and now he caught fire I was in Nashville I think he scored that night and see what actually I picked that Nashville I think he scored that night in Seattle. Actually I picked that, I picked Sid to score that night in Nashville. And? I can't remember if Kara, I think we did, I think that was one of our good picks.

I think that Crosby, Gordon, Nashville was one of our accurate picks and then Kara said I'll take all the credit for this and then steward me. We went from minus 16 to minus fifteen that's right we're getting lapped by everybody germane and everybody and i was looking at the story anymore your house exactly that's true although i think we need to be in the end so i think there was a little in general to make a reminder that's yes it was a lot of okay yes but everybody else like hedge everyone across the board it's ugly it's ugly yeah hey at least your football picks are on fire though

they absolutely are and golf picks are becoming back real soon too great about we're at and hey yeah go ahead how about Hideki Matsuyama shooting minus 35 at the same how many times did he drop his club in disgust on the t where this guy any even putt good in the first two rounds they were saying this guy might show up with a new potter on saturday unbelievable well he got the straight like he i guess he got a scotty cams that are shafts its custom potter really yeah there's no bent on it that are shaft. I guess it works. Minus 35. No kidding, man.

That's insane. He's got to stop with the dramatics on the tee, though. This guy, he hits a, rips a cut right up the middle, 320, and he drops his club in disgust. Because it throws off the guys in the booth. They're like, oh, that one's wide, right? Because he'll start pointing, and his caddy starts pointing right down the middle of the fairway. Yeah, it's one yard right of center. Yeah, and he's all bent out of shape.

And I feel for like Hicks and everyone, because they're like, uh-oh, this one could be, oh, it's perfect. What the hell is this guy talking about? But I'll bet you Hideki will be at the Waste Management. And TSN 1050 wants you to be our unofficial correspondent at the greatest golf event of the year. Here's how you enter.

Download the iHeartRadio app, create create an account and listen to TSN 1050 for at least 15 minutes straight. Once you hit 15 minutes, follow the prompts to complete your entry. And whether it's 15 minutes of first stop or 15 minutes of overdrive, the more you listen, the better your chances. And on January 20th, first stop,

we'll be calling one listener with a trip for two to the Waste Management Open in Arizona, full details at tsn1050.ca. You can't beat that. You and AK calling somebody else? Bang! We're calling the winner? You're calling the winner on Jan 20th.

Yes! How good is that on first up? That's going to be outstanding. Love it. Yeah. So it's go time. You can't be a family member, you can't rig it, got to be a neutral party observer. Completely unbiased.

A friend of Chesco's. Make sure it's a friend of Chesco's. Hey, a friend of Chesco to pay a friend of just goes to the friend of our absolutely any time anytime and i think that i have a variable catch and what six a m on first up you got a place that week calico leachable