OverDrive - Corrado on the Panthers' free agents future, teams looking for a splash and the Oilers in a must win territory

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst Frank Corrado joined OverDrive to discuss the storylines from the Stanley Cup Final, the Oilers looking to flip the script of the series, Edmonton's lineup changes in the game, the futures of Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Aaron Ekblad in Florida, the possibility of offer sheets in the market and more.

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Get over a thousand dollars off amazing phones with eligible trade-in. Switch to Canada's fastest 5G plus network today. Visit a Bell store or Bell.ca slash Blue Dot Days for details. Bell, getting a new phone just got better. Here's Frankie Corrado, our TSN hockey analyst joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. What's happening, Frankie? Boy, you know which one used to drive me nuts? You know at the start of practice when you're doing the Daytona 500 and everyone's just

kind of shooting their pucks around, there's that guy who seeks out the coach and he goes, I need to go have a Daytona 500 chat with the coach right now, the assistant coach. And I don't know what they were ever talking about, but there was giggles and it was like, ha ha ha. And it like, you know, some of us that were crusty because we never played would look at it and be like, what do you possibly have to say to the assistant coach every single practice when we skate around and do these laps before the practice gets going.

Just planting the seed, right? Planting the seed for that extra shift, right? Yeah. Just trying to avoid being the guy who serves the too many men on the ice penalty. Yeah. Just every inch counts. We had a different term for it. We didn't call it ass-kissing.

We had a different term. I don't think we can say it on the radio. Yeah, I'm sure you did. I'm sure you did. But, yes, someone had a different uh... i don't think we can say it on the radio show you do that i'm sure you did but yes but someone at a great three i think it was about tj mcconnell from the pacers uh... it's like he just he looks like the kind of guy that would say quote like coaches right guys it's on us to get it together

uh... like just go out of his way to echo what the causes were so you know what there are guys there's got I have heard that before. Coach will come in, like, Kara strip off the walls and then someone's going to be like, boy, you know what? He's right, eh? Like, here we go. Yeah, exactly. It always happens. Just hoping the coach just is outside the door and hears him say it too.

It's like, maybe I'll be wearing my jersey next year. Who knows? Anyway, so we look ahead to game four tonight. We've been playing the hits here the last couple of days, talking about the big boys and how reasonable it is to expect them to have a night. I said it the other day on this show, I said it on Jay's show, that the beauty of where we are right now when we're in the cup final is like all these these goat conversations happen all year, they're going to happen all summer. And there's all these different, you know, pillars that you talk about what Crosby accomplished

and Lemieux and Gretzky and all that. Like McDavid's in the eye of the storm right now of a legacy build. Like he's he's right there. He's playing game for the cup final tonight where over the next 10 days He he can really really kick that can down the road in terms of just chasing down Sid Eventually, maybe chasing down Gretzky like I really don't think you can overstate you know how significant tonight is and really the next four games are because you only get so many cracks at the true like pegs in your legacy, like the real building blocks of legacy.

And that's what McDavid is facing going into the game tonight. It's true. And for me, the biggest challenge of that is, and if you go back to game three, McDavid sometimes, he's unbelievable, but he wants to kind of play hero puck a little bit, right? And be the one that goes through four Panthers players and kind of put the team on his back. And it shows you how much he cares about that and how much he wants to win, how competitive he is.

But sometimes in those situations, it's not going to work. More than trying to play hero, it's about having that one play on your stick where you execute it and make it happen in a big moment in the game. And that's what happened at the Four Nations for me when he scores that goal. It wasn't the McDavid show like we weren't We weren't leaving that came if he didn't score that goal talking about how McDavid dominated that whole night But we were we were talking about McDavid after he made that one great play at the right moment And that's you know that's the challenge for him playing against this Panthers team, where it almost feels

like it can be counterintuitive. The more you want to push and the more you want to say, like, I'm going to have that, pick your basketball player over the years that had like a 50 point night and you said, like Michael Jordan put the Bulls on his back tonight, he had 52 points. I don't think you can compare the two equally because it's hard to do that against a team like the Panthers. But if you kind of stay patient and stay with it, eventually you're gonna have that moment

where you can pull the trigger and say, that was the one. That was the McDavid legacy moment. But it's almost like he has to find that balance between staying somewhat persistent but also patient at the same time and hoping that that play eventually develops for him. Frankie, Chris Knobloch has been a pretty proactive coach. He's a guy who kind of tinkers here, tinkers there, especially in-game adjustments. We see a couple of adjustments here coming into the game. It's Klingberg who hasn't looked great. You slide in Stetcher. Arvidsson

comes out for Jeff Skinner. Let's talk about the defenseman. You know, just a slight adjustment with Stetcher that comes in. What do you think he can bring to the table different than a guy like Klingberg? Probably just less variance from shift to shift right now i can't and with that being said clingberg had a nice play out but the florida panthers are at their just a different piece compared to who they have played as far as how they forechecking how tenacious they are uh... in i think with with trice thatcher

you know what you're gonna get like it's not a super high ceiling like it's not a clingberg ceiling but the floors is pretty good on stature any fairly consistent and I get it, you know, smaller guy, you know, but I'm not more worried that Troy Stetcher is going to get pushed around as opposed to John Klingberg. So I think it's more just, you know, not having the potentially Jekyll and Hyde type ships from Klingberg and knowing

that it could just be like a little more flatlined with a guy like Troy Stetcher who like he's played well for the Oilers just like Klingberg has but it gives you a different look and a guy that's new to the series and I think a guy that you know consistently know in the minutes that he plays that he can he can move the puck fairly well he's going to defend as hard as he can and ultimately if you're not asking him to do too much you're putting him in a position where he can potentially help your team. With Frankie Corrado our TSN hockey analyst we're starting to see some news around the NHL like the Cryder leaving New York to Anaheim News I guess he had

a 15 team no trade he had to wave it to go there but now he's talking up how great they are and how they're turning the corner and all that we had an interesting chat with Pierre Lebrun yesterday where Pierre said you know his his understanding is there's not that many sellers out there like even the Rangers are selling but they're doing it for a purpose like they're not trying to bottom out ton of phony teams that think there's something and they're nothing that they well I guess that that's what I'm getting to like how Delusional are all these teams To think that they shouldn't be seller like this feels like a great opportunity for a crafty team

That can be patient for another year or two and I know it's difficult to do team that can be patient for another year or two. And I know it's difficult to do. But if you're San Jose, if you're, I don't know, Utah or something like that, maybe you take advantage of the fact that there's a lot of desperate teams out there. There's not a big market for sellers. And just bide your time a little bit more.

And it feels like there could be some stealth mode moves. It's just a matter of whether or not GM's have the appetite for it. Well like we know that you know executives agents they will try and shape a narrative to make it more advantageous for them like we see it all the time stuff gets leaked with something like this I think there's two things. I think the first thing, if you do realize that it's a great market for a seller, yeah, you're gonna say, we don't wanna be sellers, but for the right price, of course, we could be persuaded

and all of a sudden, you're working behind the scenes. But the other thing I think is relevant to this conversation is there's some teams that have been bad now for quite a while and probably have in their mind what are the pieces that are supposed to move them along and they're probably saying well if we've been really bad for three years enough's enough like we can't do a fourth year we got to start climbing up the ladder but they're probably better served to take a look around them and say,

well, realistically, who are you passing? Like if, you know, like San Jose's been bad, Chicago's been bad, you know, Anaheim started to take a step last year, Buffalo's been bad, like you kinda go through the list, Philly's been bad, like, I don't know, I see all those teams and I'm like, well, you've all been bad for a little

while now. Are you getting to the point where you're getting impatient with things? Is your fan base getting impatient? Are you having trouble selling tickets? All those types of things I think enter the conversation. It's not even about Gavin McKen know because it is hard now to tank for the first overall pick but you almost want to take a page out of the montreal canadians playbook where let the let the progression happen organically they didn't they didn't force it they didn't push

it all of a sudden the team got better and they were they were knocking on the door to the playoffs and they made the playoffs um against all odds like against all odds they didn't declare that it's their time if anything they kind of were a little more cautious about it that's the approach that these teams should be taking and be patient because what's the difference if you're bad for three years or four years if you can find ten good years at the end of it where you're competitive Frankie

we debated the three uFAs for the Panthers and how many of them would return with Echblad, Marchand, and Bennett. How many do you see returning to the Florida Panthers? And do you think if they go back to back, that could influence their decision in moving on? At the most, it's gonna be two. I cannot see them finding a way to bring all three of those guys back and

The two guys that I would would put my money on is Bennett and Eklat I think Brad Marchand has been an unbelievable story. He's also 37 years old It's gonna be show me the money mode after this I think that's not me there's gonna be teams lining up not better desperate to bring in a winner and march and and let's like all of the way that he still got a uh... if you can have game in three years will save a right now we can play uh... you know that the thing about that why such a legacy guy there uh... you know he ultimately

you know that there's going to be some hard conversations as far as the the money in in you know what that looks like but if if we kinda look at how last year when for the florida panthers where they had a reinhardt and montour and they had to make a decision like they went with the forward and they saved money on reinhardt and they inside montour but in the long run

they found a way to bring in their replacement version now which you know I guess if you want to call it Seth Jones or then Seth Jones becomes your Eklad replacement like they have some wiggle room that way and you know I'm sure you guys are sick of talking about taxes and how that you know can be implicated and all that stuff but you But it's a real thing. If the Panthers wanted to pay Sam Bennett $7 million and he was willing to accept $7 million, that's basically nine and a half in Toronto.

So they do have an advantage there, but I think all things, once they kinda go down the road, I would say it's two at the most and it's Bennett and Echblad. And the road, I would say it's two at the most and it's Bennett and Echblad. And I wouldn't be surprised if it's just Bennett based on their track record of just keeping Reinhardt last year. Yeah.

And yet they'll probably recover and, you know, fill in the blanks and move on and continue to be a great team. That's the amazing thing here. Jonathan Taze will sign there for 875 grand. Great. Exactly. No trade for defensemen. It wouldn't shock me, man. that's the amazing time and jonathan tazel sign there for eight hundred seventy five great exactly and i don't trade for defense on the net next year at the deadline the trade for the next defenseman that's available that's not a lot of way guys like they they have

blended the best of both where they can go out and get the big fish like they've done and they've also taken swings on guys that people were afraid to and it's worked out for them like it's not just one way of thinking they've they've blended the both perfectly well and that's you know gonna put the pressure on the other teams within the conference and certainly within the division to follow suit you know and that's where the Leafs come into play Tampa Tampa, what are they gonna do? Montreal, they're gonna have some room

and some flexibility and they got a lot of young players and you know, are they gonna stay patient? Ottawa is a team, it sounds like Ann Lauer wants to make a splash, they got some money. They made the playoffs this year. Everyone wants to make a splash, like everyone wants to make a splash, where are the guys that you're making a splash with?

That's the issue it has seen and it goes back to florida and to far as goes back to toronto uh... and you shane goes back to dallas you know the biggest named centerman it out there is it's phew suitor really that that's not a splash that the good player we get the it's a handy guy to have uh... but it's it's not easy for teams to make a splash. If you want to make a splash, you're going to have to find ways to be creative with trades or RFAs or something different.

It's just different this year. Do you want to do a mini Jerry's on the fly, guys? What's the mini Jerry's? There's an offer sheet. I think 100%. I think I'll give you 68 percent that there's an offer sheet but it is going on here at the i think we're we're gonna have to see who overspends in free agency and put

themselves in a tough spot because there's going to be a team they get crunched it you know and says we're just going to do it we're gonna spend money and we're going to try and squeeze our rf a and not the team that someone's going to do it. We're going to spend money and we're going to try and squeeze our RFA and that's the team that someone's going to target and say, you know what, we got you now. Well, there's also a lesson that came out of last year and that is that Dillon Holloway has fired his agent. I'm curious if players want to be...

For what reason? I'm not sure what the reasoning was, but my guess would be Phil's like he made a mistake, either taking the deal in St. Louis or he felt like he should have got paid more because he had a great season. If you're dealing Holloway and you're looking at it saying, why didn't I just stay in, I'd be in the cup final right now. Like why did I leave Edmonton? Think about this, if Dylan Holloway just accepted a qualifying offer, right, which would be, you know, roughly a million or,

you know, around there on a one-year deal after the year that he just had, he's signing a huge ticket. Like, he's signing a $60 million ticket. Meanwhile, he's stuck on another year with his deal with St. Louis making two in a bet, and he's going to have to have that same year again and hope that he can sign the big ticket. So, maybe there's a McDavid Drysidle influence for like maybe there might be that in Toronto too where they have big dogs making big cash and there's a feeling of those type of guys aren't getting a big ticket. Like they're always going to try to get low ball because they have

to have money for those other guys. I don't know if that would be an influence. Yeah, you're right. At least then you have arbitration and then you know like you have comps after and it's just different because you're just You're more in a position of leverage where you know this year He got a little bit of leverage from st. Louis But now he had a great season and he's like now I'm stuck still making two in a bit when I could have had a Comparable of someone who was making $6 million and have a strong case.

Yeah. And the other thing too is I think this is the first time we're actually going to see, like, keep in mind the cap's going up and it's not going to go back down. They're talking about the cap being, you know, north of 100 very, very soon, 120 within five years like that. So I think you're going gonna see salaries continue to grow and that's the biggest challenge he we went to matthews agent right is judge

edge of the world over his uh... i think david's agent as well as well but you know i i i think if you look back at a lot of people were kicking edmonton in the junk about letting them go and you know listen both are really good players but in the end you know Broberg they had to trade for Wallman who I think Wallman is maybe farther along than him more veteran guy so that's what they were looking at and Holloway would certainly be extremely valuable there but again he was a young guy and they what did they give Arvidsson or Skinner one of those that's the type of money he would have been slid in there's and more veteran guys.

So in the long run, I think Edmonton didn't, you know, didn't make out as as well letting them go. But right now the orders are back in the cup finals. Well, that's the thing. Again, I don't know the full reasoning why he fired his coach. But the point I was making or his agent, but the point I'm making is, you know, there might be players learning from that. Being like, why would I, why do I want to leave this place?

So why am I going to low ball myself and go somewhere else? And then I'm over there and that team now owns me. And there's just, you know, an offer sheet doesn't guarantee you anything. Like it doesn't guarantee you're gonna, you're gonna get it. Like those were low, those were like short-term deals. You know, it's one thing if it's an eight year deal at Massive Money, okay, then you're gonna you're gonna get it like those were low those were like short-term deals you know it's one thing if it's an eight-year deal at massive money okay that then you're locked in then you have importance you know all

the way in Broberg those were short-term deals and short money well you're trying to call your bluff at that point right like you're just trying to say you know what guys like I'm gonna call your bluff like I'm ready to go so and I think they would have thought Edmonton would know what like yeah like those are those are you know the Broberg one was more aggressive but the Holloway one like they could have matched that if they wanted to yeah for sure that's two million dollars not a big deal that's that's the crazy one broberg is four and a half broberg's four and a half. Broberg's four and a half. That one's different because you every every dollar counts but you can't match the 2.2 for Holloway like that's the they saw something there or they were

like we're just gonna move past it at that time and you're right him signing a two-year deal at 2.2 and having the year that he had he should have been better he would have been better signing a one-year like Frankie said at a million bucks and you're in the cup final and you're right now when you go on like you go on this year and write yourself a big check make a lot of money this year for sure he's gonna have to stay healthy and have a 60-point year and score a bunch of goals and then he'll have options because he'll have comps and he'll have some leverage but he could have been

doing that this year. No player guy, let's be honest with ourselves, no player is sitting there saying, you know what, I'm going to have about 5 million guaranteed coming to me, I'm a young guy, I'm in my early 20s. No, I'd rather take 8 hundred and fifty grand and and just you know kind of play it by your that way like that at the top weight to think i wouldn't be thinking that way at that age right it yes it was i'd say this

twenty twenty with everything but he did fire stage so something happened clearly sat down i frankly enjoy the game tonight. Thanks buddy. Yeah, boys. No worries.

Just deciding where I'm going to take Dreggs out for dinner again tonight. So we'll, uh, Oh, you're picking up the tab for Dreggs now. Okay. Cause he was throwing some grenades at you last week. No, no, I heard, I heard, I heard there's a signature move involved in everything. So it's all good. Oh, good.

Landing seeds. That's a brilliant move. in everything. So it's all good. Oh good landing seeds That's a brilliant move veteran move actually from Drake. So make sure he enjoys himself this evening on your dime I'm sure he will. Okay, buddy There is Frankie Corrado joining us in the maple Toyota hotline drive the built-in Canada fuel-efficient fun to drive Toyota rav4 gas or hybrid models available, visit ma behind the songs you love. New interviews and newly unearthed archive footage make for a fascinating weekly deep dive. Stream Encore, the stories behind the songs you love on IHAR Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.