OverDrive - Corrado on the Canadiens' season turnaround, the Eastern Conference race and the Maple Leafs' centers options

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst Frank Corrado joined OverDrive to discuss the latest around the NHL, the Canadiens' season turnaround and the team's goaltending's tandem, the Eastern Conference race, the Maple Leafs' leading the Atlantic Division, centers who could be a fit in Toronto and more.

My name is Corey McMullen and I run a small family-owned appliance business in Smiths Falls, Ontario. Since we joined TikTok, we've almost doubled our retail sales. Having the support of TikTok Canada has been crucial. Knowing the family business is secure for the next generation is incredibly fulfilling. Here's Frankie Carrotto. Frankie, have you ever been involved in a game where someone's throwing nachos on the ice? No, no. Never seen anything like that. I was playing in the playoffs in Utica and they were crazy down there. There was a guy with a prosthetic leg and every time we scored a goal he would take it off, pour his

beer in it and then chug the beer out of the prosthetic leg and stand up and wave it to everyone else in the crowd. That was wild but that never made its way onto the ice. Wow, that's wild. That's a fan. That's a true fan. Buddy, that's upstate New York. Like, you want to talk about gritty, upstate New York, the Paris of upstate, but real gritty. Yeah, that's Cooperstown vibes, man. I got O going on it yesterday. We're road tripped to Cooperstown. What's that course out there? Leather stock or something like that? The Turning Stone. Leather stocking golf and country club. Oh, but what about turning stone just outside syracuse i think i just played there i love it

and there's a famous one upstate new york in rochester to the just had the was at the u.s. open there the pg eight so name of that one worries anyway it doesn't matter but uh... that is commitment that that is commitment taken the prosthetic leg often chugging beers every time they score And yeah, we saw the nachos last night and I'm assuming nothing was thrown on the ice in Montreal you were calling that Habs game last night and Man, they're buzzing. They are buzzing. They responded well to Saturday night

They beat the Rangers on Sunday and then they beat Tampa last night in regulation and you wake up in Montreal today and they're in a Playoff spot. It's very interesting man 13-3-1 in their last 17 and they had the day off on Monday and then so Tuesday morning we show up to the rink we're kind of expecting a whole team skate and it's a very lightly attended optional and it kind of dawned on me like these guys have been on the road so much since the Christmas break and the schedule has been such a grind, so much so that Sunday's game against the Rangers was the first time in almost, I want to say three weeks, that they didn't have to get on a plane to play a game. And there's been a lot of games in that stretch.

And so the result of that was a really sleepy first period. Like there was not a lot of energy, not a lot of juice in the game. They were kind of just a step behind it. The penalty kill kept them in it. And then it was like, they just kind of shot out a cannon from there. Like all of a sudden they found it. Jampo looked a little bit slow. Vasileski looked a little shaky, like he lets in the one from the sharp angle by Slawkowski. And then Evans kind of beats him with a little bit of a knuckler. And another pretty gritty effort where

you know they had that sunday against the rangers four times they came from behind and eventually one didn't play with the lead until two minutes and fifteen seconds left in the in in the game last night there's there's something you talk about vibes man there there's some kind of vibe going on with that group but like it's not a fluke it's not an accident there are like they'd they've they have found something within that group but like it's not a fluke it's not an accident they are like they they they have found something within that group yeah they really have

and the goaltenders you know this Dolbash guy and like his commentary after the game on Sunday I believe it was right after the Rangers win where that was his first home start at the Bell Center and he played to the crowd brilliantly and I'm assuming that was organic he He may have been helped out, but talking about the greatness of Montreal and the history and the fans and how awesome it was, you can't ask for anything better than that because he's been a revelation for them ever since they put Primo on waivers. This kid's shown up, he's been great. Montalvo's been pretty good at times, really good at times.

They kind of have this two-headed monster. And I'm sure people in Montreal are loving that idea, because that's the best way to chip away to playoff spot, is make sure you get good goaltending. Well, think about this. He's played five games. He's got five wins. That's 10 points that you maybe weren't budgeting for. Like, 10 points in this span of the season,

that's massive in the grand scheme of things. And so, you're probably not getting those 10 points realistically when Primo was in the net. And this guy, like now, you know the way the hype train starts. It's the same way in Toronto as it is in Montreal. It's like, oh, maybe Dobish should be the starter and they got to give him a run of consecutive games. But, you know, and then last night Montabeau has a nice bounceback performance where he was getting peppered early in that game. And he kind of showed, he showed signs of the goalie that he was, you know, right after he got named to the

Canadian Four Nations team. So it's a good situation in net. And I think you like, if you look at Dobish, you say this guy got us 10 points that weren't in the budget and that is like that's found money those are those are bonus points and that's why you sit there in a playoff spot today and you know I come back to this like it's just it's not it's not an accident and and Marty St. Louis had an interesting quote early in the season when they were struggling they were giving up goals left right and center and he was asked about a number of things but his one quote was I'm not looking for a band-aid solution. So if it gets worse from here, I don't care as long as we come out the other side, you know, feeling better as a group. And like

you can honestly say, when you go 13-3-1 over your last 17, there wasn't a band-aid solution there. Like they've, they've, they've, they figured it out, whatever was ailing them defensively. And now they're one of the highest scoring teams in the last month in the NHL. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that. But, you know, line eight at that the star players are playing really well. And it's a, yeah, it's a good situation in Montreal. Frankie, could you pull your crystal ball out? I don't want to put you on the spot.

We were talking about how tight the race is in the East with the wild card. Do you see them there at the end of the day when it's all said and done? There's a very good chance, like you and I were talking about this not too long ago, like there could be a year. Make a yes or no question. Yes or no question. Yeah, I'll give you a yes. No problem.

I'll give you a yes. And if you're giving me yes or no, I'll take the yes just because think about what they've had to do since the Christmas break, all the teams they had to beat on the road. This is the part of the schedule that was going to sink them. Florida, Tampa, Vegas, Colorado, Washington, Dallas, they won all those games on the road. That's kind of what can cave you in, and they made it through that. If they've kind of come out the other side, and there's still going to be some hard games for them, and they're going to have to stay healthy just like everyone else, but I would lean more towards yes than no.

And I would even put Ottawa like right there with them and say like Ottawa might be that team that's just a step above all the teams in the wild card race right now. And it's crazy to think that like there could be five teams from the Atlantic making the playoffs and the Bruins might not be one of them. Frankie do you, do they have to be careful with Dobrish as far as playing him like maybe a market correction on him? What I mean by that is Merrill Lyon has come back down to earth a little bit in Ottawa. They've got Montembeau to go to. Omar isn't you know close to playing yet.

I still think he's another week or two so you know Ottawa may have to go to. Omar isn't close to playing yet. I still think he's another week or two. So Ottawa may have to go to Forsberg. What do you make on Dobush? Do you think it's adrenaline early on or do you think he's really a tender and they're going to ride him? He's a tender but he's not a 1, 6, 5, 9, 40 save percentage goaltender. It's so hard to do. It's impossible to do that over the long run.

So there is gonna be a market correction and he is getting a little bit of that, you know, I'm naive, new in the league and all that. You know the way that works, right? Like you don't overthink things and you're just kinda in the moment and everything's new and you're there and enjoying it. But I don't know, with five games into his NHL career, kind of in the moment and everything's new and you're just there and enjoying it.

But I don't know, with five games into his NHL career, he has shown signs that he can battle. He's shown signs that he can bounce back. I thought his last game was pretty telling, the one against the Rangers, where he looked – it was the first time he looked jittery and he looked a little bit nervous and it was actually the first game that he had played at home. And so, you know, like you want to put on a good show, like regardless of how much you read out there, you kind of get the vibe that people are talking about you and there's a little bit of buzz.

You can't avoid it in a city like Montreal. And he battled through that and he settled into that game. So if he can do that once, you just hope that he can do it a little more consistently. But like, you know, he's not a 165 940 gold tender. There will be some what of a market correction. But if he keeps it within reason, they're still going to get points around him. But you're right, like it is similar to the Levy, Maryland, and where like nothing could beat the guy and like his at some point

He's gonna have a game where everything goes in It's just a matter of how do you bounce back after that? Can you forget about it or do you dwell on it and let it snowball from there with Frankie Corrado? The other end of the Atlantic is where the Leafs have been standing for the majority of the season as the top seed And you know, they've got a few point buffer on Florida right now for the majority of the season as the top seed and you know they've got a few point buffer on Florida right now. How do you project you know that the top end of the division playing out? Do you think the Leafs can and will hold on to that one seed and if so how beneficial could that be for them come

playoff time? Yeah I see them hanging on so why not like they've they've kind of you know we talk about it all the time where it's like yeah it's it's a little more of a boring style of game, but maybe it's more conducive to success in the playoffs. And like they're still showing that. But if the offense ever explodes the way it can, and you know, even the way we saw it go on Saturday where everything goes in and then they follow that up on Monday against Tampa Bay, it's like, you know, that's the nice combination that the Leafs can have moving forward. And if that's gonna be the case, you know,

their, Tampa's doesn't look like a team that's gonna charge up the leaderboard. You know, Florida is what they are. They're just a team you don't wanna play in the playoffs. And so with that being the case, you know, getting first place in the Atlantic is probably going to give you, you know, the top wild card team because Washington, it doesn't seem like they're slowing down and they're the second highest scoring team in the NHL right now. So yeah, it is beneficial, although the Leafs play really well against Tampa. Like,

we were talking to Dave Randolph and Brian Engblom last night before the game and I was like, what is it with the Leafs and Tampa? Why can't Tampa beat them? And they're like, it's a good question for some reason, whether it's the star guys or the matchups, it doesn't go well for Tampa against Toronto. So it's nice to win the division, give yourself an opportunity, but we've seen this team have the easy road before and not be able to get it done. So at the same time, it's like, what does it even matter? Just winning the first round of playoffs doesn't matter, like if it's the easy road or the hard road.

Frankie, in your tour throughout the league watching different centermen, our good friends and colleagues, Jonas and Chris Johnston, put out a list of available centerman free agent are not free agents guys that could be available via trade for the leaves to any kind of stick out i'm sure you're aware of the different names available yeah i i thought the left and you and i did a quiz uh... back couple weeks ago with the the carolina game and some of those names were run you know the quiz i said

ryan o'reilly because eighties familiar with the team uh... he can give you a little scoring punch more right what about the idea that he had an opportunity any said no already like he could have came back like this in that factor in the you deciding that that's your guy it's a little It's hilarious though.

Yes, it does for sure. But we're almost like, it's like we're playing fantasy hockey. We're almost just operating under the pretenses that like, yeah, this guy just wants to come back or you know what I mean? Which is not always the case. You're right. And so if that's the case, like if he doesn't want to or the cost is too high then my initial thought is I want someone who can buzz around and bring a little speed to the table. Like O'Reilly

is not speedy but my first priority would be the offensive punch. Outside of that like whether it's Lawton or I heard you guys talking about Trent Frederick like that is that would be my next kind of priority. Like add a little speed into the lineup and see if, if, if they can find a little offense, you know, at the right time, those guys. But yeah, you're right. Like we can't, we can't just assume someone wants to come back, especially given that they had the chance and there's turn left on that deal. So that, that makes it more expensive to bring in that, that type of player.

And I know there's term for Lawton as well, well but uh... just a different type of player the cost you know should be different well i saw kevin shovel day off uh... gm of the jet speaking of media winnipeg but jonathan tapes right in him right possibly working towards a return in cheville they have was pretty blunts about his interest if and when taves decides that he wants to return to the nl was he like hands off that's guy? I would think so I mean he's a Winnipeg

guy right? Taves is from Winnipeg and obviously you know who he is and what he represents. You talk about Buzz we were joking about Cadry returning to Toronto and how the city would respond. I think the idea of Taves signing in Winnipeg would be just remarkable theater. But let's say between now and the deadline Tavs says I'm back. I'm ready. I know I can play. What kind of pursuit would you expect the Leafs, Winnipeg? Like I would think every playoff team in the league would be calling them and just begging them to accept the deal wouldn't you think? Like there's you wouldn't have to pay him a ton and give it a crack and see what he's got. Yeah, for sure.

I just, I just want, it's been what, two, three years since he's played. I mean, I know he's one of the, you know, he's so beloved and was so good in the playoffs and won and all that kind of stuff. Is there not just part of you that is like, this guy's gonna join the team potentially in March, you know know or right before the trade deadline and we're expecting him to turn back the clock right away like I still would would be a little bit skeptical of

that you know and and so if that's the the kind of way you want to throw your eggs into that basket that's fine but you're putting a lot of faith in a guy that hasn't played in a little while and you're just not sure what you're gonna expect. So, I don't know, I'm sure every team will, like that's looking for a center man, is gonna pick up the phone and they're gonna do their due diligence. And like maybe it's one of those things where like,

I don't even know if you can do this, like CBA wise, but can you do like the old football, kind of where you bring him in, skate him, see what he's got and then, you know, kind of say, okay, we'll call you in a week once we make up our mind. Like, I don't even know if that's a thing you can do, but I think there would still be a little skepticism just because it's March. If this was happening in September or you had the whole off season, you have training camp, you can ramp up, totally different story. But the timing of it, it

seems like it would be hard for him to get up to speed i don't know where he's at but after my first bottle yet and that's reasonable for sure uh... i frankly what you get on that plane safe travels with the against them okay boys actually brought my shorts and flip-flops from heading to the uh... hot pocket detroit whoo very highly and he don't know i to be trading in the park and currently

wearing for the uh... and open flip flops in a few hours i love it enjoy the body weather down their site say hi to everyone for some you know that it's the help of there's a frankie carano