OverDrive - Dreger and Johnston on Cowan heading to the AHL, Stamkos' cold stretch and Schaefer's impressive run

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger and Chris Johnston joined OverDrive to discuss Easton Cowan assigned to the Marlies and the meaning of the deal, Steven Stamkos' trade possibilities, the Panthers looking to improve from their start, the protection for Matthew Schaefer and more.

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This for license 12-616. Darren Dregor, Chris Johnston, C.J., I guess we'll start with you, your take on this and what it means for Easton Cowan, the fact that he's been sent to the Marley's, and Scott Lawton has been activated tonight. Well, the biggest thing that I look at is, you know, I know the Leafs were very cognizant of not wanting to get into a situation with Cowan where he was scratched for any length of time. And, you know, obviously he did have a couple little resets in the early part of the season, but with them getting back, you know, in addition, a lot of. and also Lorentz back in the mix. They've just got a lot of forwards. I mean, there was 15 forwards of practice yesterday. And, you know, it's not to say Easton Cowan couldn't hang in the NHL.

I think he did pretty well, you know, based on where he's at. But it was going to be hard to say he was going to be in a lineup every night. Now, we'll see what happens. Performance could be further injuries. You know, there's a lot of unknowns and things even the Leafs aren't totally sure with. But, you know, I think that the most important thing, of course, is that he's playing games and he'll get a chance to do that for the Marley's. think he made pretty good account of himself and

I'm sure we'd all agree we're going to see him at some point in time back in the Leach uniform and probably the relatively near future. Yeah, Dregs, you can comment on that too and I want to ask you about where Cowan stands in terms of asset management. We always talk about the leaves and what they could

get up to in the future, who they might want to acquire, you know, and they don't have a ton of prospects. Like, where does Cowan fall in line with those chats if other GMs are calling the leaves? Yeah, I I think he'd be top of mind, right? When you look at the cupboard of Brad Trill Living,

it's reasonably bare, to be honest. You've got Easton Cowan, you've got Danford, you've got that first-round draft pick in 28, or you're starting to rip apart your roster, and what are they giving up from that roster? I mean, I guess if you want to talk about somebody in their bottom six, he'd be open that. Depth defensemen may be open that.

But I think other clubs have paid attention what Easton Cowan has done to this point in his young NHL career. And I agree with everything you, guys said and cj just nailed it the issue is it's a number situation here the maple leaves have too many forwards right so you know to to bring scottie lotton back into the mix somebody's got to go down and they have the the luxury of flexibility of doing that with east and call on it does become a bigger issue though again i heard what you guys said coming into the chat uh if he's bouncing up and he's bouncing down. But I would remind you of the path that Craig Baroube saw Easton

going down through training camp and that he would be managed. And there would be nights where he'd be spending time in the press box. That's not an indictment on his game. That's just where he's had in certain situations and where they are roster-wise. But look, I mean, if Brad Trullivan is trying to hit a double and acquire another top six even though they're not available who are you guys asking for you know it starts i would think with east and calum and then you kind of work off of that that's why it's not happening well darren you just mentioned too many bodies what does an organization do in the n hl when you have too many bodies of the similar type that that score 15 points in the nchl in a year like what do you do to

yeah to kind of chip away at that and make people go away to not have too many bodies no you can't and and honestly that's why there's a speculation around Kamp, right, who's in the American Hockey League. He's happy being there. Of course he's not. He thinks he's an NHL player, but his contract dictates that he's not playing in the national hockey league right now. And Bradshaw living has worked hard to move that because the Maple Leafs would love to get

off the money. So you're either stuck there or you make a bold career decision if you're David Kaff and you all right, well, I'll play in Europe. I'll do something else. And, you know, that situation eventually is going to come to a head. But every conversation you have with general manager's tree included, sure, there are pieces that they could move, but they've got to take a contract coming back

because most clubs are in a similar predicament here. And guys aren't peddling off decent young players that just haven't quite made it there. No, they're trying to move out their bad contracts. Nobody is throwing Brad Tree Living, a life preserver at this point, to get rid of some of the extra weight. that he has around the team right now. So, guys, we use the terms, two of them,

watered down and diluted with the league yesterday as far as things being very bunched up as far as last place to first place. And it's early, but have you noticed maybe increased chatter on the trade front? Are managers trying to be a little bit more proactive to add to their teams sooner than maybe, you know, we'll call it American Thanksgiving?

anything? No. CJ, go ahead. You can start. I said, you know, guys, I feel like I'm being pranks because I haven't heard

one word drags has said, so I have no idea. I have no idea what he said there and they said at all. He was chirping. He was chirping you, but he'll text you what he was saying.

Go ahead, CJ, on the possible trades around the league. I hate to say it. I talked to a few GMs today. I don't get the feeling I don't get the feeling anything's getting that hot yet on that front. And look, we'll see where it goes here. I mean, there is a GM's meeting next week.

Sometimes getting face-to-face, I think, can help things along. You know, obviously a big weekend in hockey with the Hall of Fame celebrations coming up. So there'll be lots of folks around and, you know, maybe some of those conversations will get going. But the biggest thing I keep hearing is just how close the games are. Like, it feels as though there's more coin flips than ever. I don't know the exact stat in front me, but the NH will put it out the story. morning. There's more one goal games through this stretch of schedule than there has been in like 20 years in the league. And so I think you've got a lot of teams that don't fully know

what they are, even some of the teams that we'll call the pleasant surprises, maybe aren't feeling great, just a little wondering if they're going to come down yet. So it's been a strange start to the calendar. There's only a couple teams, you know, a team like the flames that are obviously, you know, already well behind the pack. But there's not too many, not too many teams that have sunk to the bottom yet. So I just think that things need to sort themselves out a little bit more before the trade market really gets heated up.

Well, one name that's coming up, and it came up in our group chat earlier today, is Stephen Stamco's and his play, man, he's got, what, three points on the season? Two goals. Two goals, one assist. Two goals, one assist. Big goal last night.

Big goal, last night. Big goal, but they've played 15 games. He's making, what, $7, $8 million, and he's got a couple years left after this. Dregs, like, is that a is it possible they have to move them? Can they move them? What happens with Stephen Stamco's in Nashville?

Well, is it possible, sure, just given the pedigree in the history of Stephen Stamcoe. If you're grading him or you're grading the lack of success that he's had with the Nashville Predators since jumping over there from the

Tampa Lightning, then that's a tougher sell. You'd have to believe in the game that Stephen Stamco's has or that you think he still has to take on the weight of that contract. And, I mean, the term is fine, right? I think you can live with a term, but on an annual average salary, what are you getting? You know, are you getting the Stamcoast that finished the year in Tampa Bay and didn't shock all of us, but certainly surprised us that, given the year that he had there, that

they didn't find a middle ground in Tampa Bay to keep him in that lightning organ. And as he talked about publicly, I mean, he didn't know for sure he was leaving until July 1st. If you're getting that guy, then, yeah, I mean, for me, he'd be worth any risk if you'd feel that there's a risk. But this is also a family thing, too, right? And CJ and Pierre and I have talked about this internally in our insider group chat. just the fact that, you know, when players go to Nashville, they love it, right? I mean, aside from the hockey, and they're not getting the results that they're expecting all of that, you know, it hasn't worked out for Stamco's, it hasn't worked out for some other players,

it hasn't worked out for the team, but is he going to uprood his family again? So anything is possible, anything is possible? Is it likely? it doesn't feel likely unless Stamco's goes, I'm not finishing my career this way. This is not the way I'm going out and he takes control and nobody is any evidence that that's

going to happen anytime soon. Right. It's still very early and Nashville's like a lot of these teams we're talking about. They're, you know, two points out of a playoff spot and I'm sure Stamcoast would like to be part of the reason why they can get there. But, you know, you mentioned what's going on throughout the league, C.J.

And I think you look at the East and I'll pose you a question. We can all go around the table and answer it. What is in your opinion more likely to continue? The Montreal Canadians continuing to be the pace car in the east or being, you know, hovering around the top of the east or the Florida Panthers being at the bottom of the east? I mean, I think, I don't think Florida staying at the bottom of the east, but I don't say that because I'm down on the first premise that you threw out there. I mean, I think Montreal is going to, you're going to, be, you know, like to me, they're squarely in the playoff positioning, and I could see them,

you know, pushing even to be at the top of the Atlantic Division. But I still have a hard time leaving Florida isn't going to turn it on at some point. I know it gets, it gets early late sometimes for NHL teams, but, you know, it's just we've seen enough of that group and even what the injuries they're dealing with and the key people that aren't going to be available, it's still yet for some time. I think that they're going to turn it around. So I'd say the more likely for me is that Florida surges back up into playoff position. But that being said, I'm certainly not low

on the Canadians as sure. They deserve a lot of credit. But Dregs, I mean, you know Paul Maurice pretty well. He's not a guy I don't think to panic, but Barcault's not coming back. Kachuk's likely a couple months away. They're an old team that's played a lot of hockey. What's your read on the Panthers

and how they might react to this? Yeah, I tend to agree with what Chris just said. I do feel like Florida is going to quad's way back into the middle of the pack. I do think that they're a playoff team. They've earned that level of respect. Challenges that they face, I mean, they are significant.

There's no doubt about that. But I feel like there's enough there. And maybe Billy Zito does do something. But no different than any other club. Again, you know, we look at Toronto and how hot or cold the maple leaves, mostly cold, to be frank, have been at this point in the season. You look around the national hockey. and you wonder about what Washington is going to do with the loss of Pierre-Luc.

My point is there are so many general managers around the NHL that are desperate. They're eager to improve, and they just don't have the capability to do that. And I don't think that Bill Zito is in a position of panic by any stretching the imagination. But if he gets the sense that this team needs an injection, or better yet, he gets a message from Paul Maurice, we need player. X. He'd be a perfect fit here. Then Zito is going to find a way to get that done. So when we see that trade, then I think we can look at the Florida Panthers as being, if not poised to make a big jump, at least feeling the pressure of what they're not doing to that point in the

season. Sure. Man, we got to call the race here with this Schaefer and this Demetov, man. I was talking to someone today about it, and like Zedorov went after Schaefer. I loved the Allender's response, like Anders Lee got in there. I didn't see who the other guy was, but they pounced, and we were, you know, wondering about that today. Like with Schaefer being who he is and how important he is, you know, he's been hit a couple of times. We talked about Cowan, and there was, you know, some disappointment in this marketplace

when Cowan got hit a couple times earlier in this year and there wasn't much of a response. You know, the protection of young players, star players. Are there enough heavyweights in the league to go find one? Do you think, you know, the Islanders might end up doing that, Dregs? Do you think they could look at that and say, we've got to find someone here that's just going to send out a vibe. Like, you can't have a guy like Zedorov trying to go out of them like that. What do you see the Islanders doing with Schaefer and the protection of him,

you know, maybe into the future? Yeah. Well, I mean, are those players available? Sure. Are you going to have to overpay at this point in the season? If you feel it's a strong need, yes, no doubt about that. I like the response. The response we've seen from the New York guys,

founders, I'm fine with it. So I wouldn't waste too big of an asset in trying to acquire more of that. Because look, I mean, I get lots of time for Ryan Reeves and the type of hockey player that he's been. I understood. I appreciated why Brad Trillivin brought him in when he did keep the flies off Matthews and company. You got to be able to play.

You got to be able to play every single night. And if that's not the case, then how is that helping Matthew Schieper or helping the guys they're going to have to police. I think you've done an okay job. I do. I think guys are just taking their licks on this kid because he's that good and maybe eventually that too kind of fades away.

Yeah, that definitely could be the case. And again, I like the response too, but he is something special. Yeah. Talking about Demadov and Jack I got into a fight. Who was that with last night? Was it DeLoree he fought last night? That was a big tilt, man.

That was a big tilt. But all right, we'll see where I, goes here, boys. We always appreciate you doing this. CJ, my understanding is you heard Dregs there the last couple of answers. That's always a positive. We'll make sure that that happens next time. Let's just

say that his first thing better have been better than those, what I did here, so. Okay. I can't hear you guys. I think you're breaking up. There you go. I can't hear you. We're breaking up. Good seeing you guys. Thanks for doing this. There they are, the insiders. Darren, Chris Johnston,

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