OverDrive - Dreger and LeBrun on Tkachuk's injury timeline, Hart signing with the Golden Knights and Bedard in the Olympics

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun joined OverDrive to discuss the biggest headlines around the NHL, Brady Tkachuk's injury timeline with the Senators, Carter Hart signing with the Golden Knights, Connor Bedard's possibility to make the Olympics, the players on the roster and more.

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Rangers leaves on TSN 4 tonight, which means Darren Dregers is in here. Here are the insiders, Dregs, Pierre Lebrun. Good to see you guys joining us. Look at this insider roundtable. Everyone looking great. What's happening, guys? Yeah. Doing all right?

Yeah, doing okay. Okay. You can confirm that, right? Ottawa doesn't have their first round pick this year. I'm pretty sure that's the case. And Ann Lauer has been furious about that ever since he bought the team. More or less, like trying to get the league to possibly give it back to them. but do you think that's going to happen because they're one and three and they don't have their first round pick?

Yeah, I would say at this stage it's unlikely, but in fairness, haven't checked in on it. I mean, I'd be shocked, but stranger things have happened. Yeah, that's tough, right? Because go ahead, Pierre. Just to jump in, guys, just by coincidence, I actually did check in on this last week. It was one of my notes in one of my rumblings blogs in the athletic, and I don't remember why I did. Oh, I know why I did, because the new CBA next year has actually, after all of this down and off fallout, which has been kind of wild, as drugs can tell you, in terms of the PA and the league's reaction, they have, in fact, then the new CBA starting next year decided to force teams to submit no trade list to central registry so that you never have a situation again where a trade's going down and you don't realize that a guy has a no trade list. and you know the team's on the list.

But in doing so, I checked with the league because Anlar had been hoping all along that the league would change its mind and soften its stance on this penalty and that they wouldn't lose their first round pick. And what I got back from the league last week was there is no change. So at this point, and I think Ann Lauer knows this,

that they're going to have to lose that first round pick unless something changes at the last moment between now June. Now, again, it's early. It's four games. Ottawa's going to be okay, but what's the deal with Kachuk? Like, Brady's not playing anytime soon, right? That's a big hit, man. Yeah, several weeks.

You know, there's, I don't know if it's official yet. I mean, there is a suspicion based on seeing a secondary doctor, another opinion, that he could require surgery, and whether that's happened or not, or whether that's official. We're not getting that from the Ottawa senators. But we're not talking a month, as Travis Green suggested. That would be best case scenario. It'll be several weeks.

You know, if, in fact, he has the procedure, it'll be several weeks. I mean, it could be as much as two months or maybe a little bit beyond. So it's going to be interesting to see, and we'll talk about this on insider trading, how Steve Stales responds. You don't replace a player like Brady. It's no different than what we've seen in Florida, but they do need internally guys to come together. The chemistry hasn't been there.

It needs to be there. The execution hasn't been there. It needs to be there. Gregs, what about a save? Like, they need their starter. That wasn't their starter in there last night, and he had to go in there and chew on at their backup. But their starter, Allmark, he has got a return to Vizna Form.

If they have any chance of climbing out of this. Yeah, and they felt like by the end of the preseason that Linus Allmark was rounding into that sort of game. But it is going to have to be sustainable. Otherwise, the Ottawa senators are going to be in a jam. But I wouldn't also suggest, look, you look around the league, and most teams haven't played five. games. So you've got to be careful in trying to

attach, okay, well, this team needs this or that team needs that. In saying that, I do know that Stales, if he's not in the market now, will be in the weeks ahead and in the second half leading up to the trade deadline for something bigger. Not a seat filler, something that has some meaning and value. With Darren Dregor and Pierre LeBrunn. So in terms of gold tending, Vegas announced that Carter Hart has signed a PTO. And Dregs, you You tweeted out and reported that it's just a formality and eventually he will sign a contract in Vegas? Correct.

Yeah, look, I mean, like every team that's right up against the cap, I think that's really what the Vegas Golden Knights are working through is to have the flexibility to bring him in. The expectation is that it'll likely be a two-year contract for Carter Hart. And then that's just a stepping stone for him. There's no guarantee that Carter Hart is going to step into the Vegas Golden Knights crease and be better than Adeniardt. hell, or better than what they've had.

But there's nothing but opportunity ahead for him either, right? You know, apparently he's talked about being in the best shape of his life. I would expect that to be the case physically. Seem pretty calm through this process of coming back into the National Hockey League. So, you know, the Vegas Golden Knights are hopeful. Carter Hart is hopeful. And if you get through two years and maybe they win another Stanley Cup along the way, then, you know, he's talking about a much bigger contract and the potential of way bigger money.

yeah well it's i mean obviously it's caused quite the stir and pierre i know you've been down there board of governors and you're always contacting and so are you drags talking with the league i mean what is the league preparing in terms of what this is going to look like like harder carterhart's going to be in the n hl i don't know if any of the other team Canada players are close to signing or if there's teams kicking tires on them you can tell us if they are but how is the league approaching this into the future yeah so gary betman was asked this yesterday after the Board of Governors meeting in New York and he kind of gave a pretty generic answer just in the sense that you know we've announced our

ruling everyone knows what the rules are the teams understand where we are on this and so teams will have to make their own decision is essentially what the Commissioner said it's which is something he said a few times and I don't want to read in between the lines when Gary Betman says that but I think what he's saying is understand I guess what you're getting into when you sign one of these players I think is what he's saying and so So, yeah, there was backlash today, you know, after the Vegas signing. From where, like, the organization itself, like people are the organization?

Yeah. Yeah, I think mostly just around the league, fan base related, you know, those who maybe don't know all the facts of the details that led to, you know, the legal determination. And then, you know, the things that the National Hockey League is put in place, keep in mind, Carter Hart, even though he's on the tryout. and ultimately will get the contract from Vegas Golden Knights. These players can't play until December 1st. So October 50th was simply a date in which the contract could be registered with the National Hockey League. With Darren Drager, Pielabrunner, TSA Hockey Insiders.

Again, there's no easy answer to this conversation because it's obviously a story that there are some people in society that believe those players should never play again in the NHL. And that's clearly not what the NHL has decided. But when news surfaced that Carolina was considering signing the cloud, for example, there was considerable backlash among some Hurricanes fans. And I think it's affected Carolina's thinking on it, where they're probably not going ahead with that now.

So again, it's not one of those conversations where it's just about hockey. So Chicago won big last night, and it's a tough segue, but Connor Bajard was unbelievable. There was some tweets, Aisy, that said Chicago may be turning a corner. I was like, wow. I'm not going that distance, but the Olympic stuff is interesting. I don't see him on this team, and I have not seen him on this team, just because of how young he is.

And if he's going to play deeper in the lineup, I don't see Cooper feeling overly confident with him on a fourth line, checking line with Sorrelli and Bennett or something like that. But he looks good. He looks pretty good. Like, do you think there's a chance he's at least poking at Doug Armstrong saying, don't forget about me before we get to Italy? Well, look, I mean, Pierre, you chime in on this, because you're a lot closer to that situation than I am.

I feel like there has to be a chance. I think that you have to allow the possibility for a young guy with this sort of skill pedigree to play his way into that conversation. I think, was it like a 29th multi-point game for Connor Bernard? What about just game-breaker stuff, drags? The World Junior Team in Ottawa this year, They could have used a few more game breakers. And I'm pretty sure after that tournament, they said,

we went about it the wrong way and we needed a game breaker here or there. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, he's got to be in the conversation. He is. And I asked Doug Armstrong specifically about Bedard and Salabrini a couple weeks ago. And there's a couple of things that the Team Canada GM said.

One is that they did invite those two kids to Calgary for the Olympic camp because they're future stars for Team Canada. or whatever. They invited them because they think they can make the team. You know, the notion that, well, maybe you take one of those kids so that they get their feet wet and then the next Olympics in four and a half years old, really, no. If one of these kids makes Team Canada for Boulan,

it's because they think they can be a player in that tournament, is what Armstrong said. And I think they're getting a real look. And to use Armstrong's words, if either Bidard or celebrating, pop. That was the word he used, pop. in the opening two months of the season they have a legit chance to make the

Olympic team. That'd be a cool story I feel like there's too many guys which is a good thing no like I mean like there's just too many guys for them to hop over oh then they have to get over like veterans established four nations players you're saying that's hard to argue yeah like I'm just looking at the

scores for Team Canada the last few years or just like Canadian players it's like McKinnon McDavid Marner Crosby Reinhart that's five all making it right 0.6 Suzuki I think he'd be on the team

and he wasn't even on the four names yeah but I you know that Nick Suzuki for me that is debatable only in the sense that okay that he hasn't shown up for the world champion and that's left a stain on his

resume now if you know he he played well in the second half of the year last year he played like a player who should be higher up the chart than I've got him and chances are that he's going to make it but he's got to have a real good run here

a real good start for the Montreal Canadiens to stay in that grouping because otherwise Jonas is right how do you factor them in if you're not allowing Bedard to play his way into the mix especially if Nick Suzuki is just hanging on there then doesn't really matter

well and it's going to be a different style of play over there too right like I know we're all we all love the four nations They're not fighting and throwing massive hits over there. It's not going to be the same game. It's going to be a very different game. And that, I think, is more conducive to Celebrini and Bedard, possibly pushing their way in. And, like, I look at a guy like Sam Bennett, who we all love. I love Sam Bennett.

I love him in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Love them at the Four Nations. Am I going to love him at the Olympics? I don't know. What about Marchand? That's another one. Are you going to take, like, he was great in the playoffs and he was fiery, but he's 37, 38. Go ahead, Pierre.

You chime in on this. Well, aside from Suzuki, which is an obvious bubble name who wasn't on Four Nations, Robert Thomas and Mark Schifley are two other, you know, real obvious bubble names. And I know Team Canada is tracking closely. You know, it's a 25-man roster for Milan as opposed to 23 for Four Nations. So there's actually two extra roster spots, something else to keep in mind. But, yeah, he can't take everyone. And one thing I'll say, and I think this is always something we forget,

is that the tournament in Milan is going to be played on NHL ice, not on international ice. NHL ice dimensions. So, you know, I'm not saying that definitely guarantees Sam Bennett makes it again, to your point A's, but it is NHL size ice. Now, if they get the rink built in time, which I won't even get into, because I've been tracking that story the last 24 hours about the arena delay construction delays. But so there are building an NHL roster is what I'm saying, not necessarily like, like 30 years ago where you're worried about all the extra ice

and international hockey. Yeah, that's kind of strange, but that's usually what happens with these massive tournaments. Like go down to BMO Field. They don't have that thing complete. The World Cup's right around the corner. So is it strange that the ice is not complete? Yes. What about that bridge at the

President's Cup? That bridge was supposed to be done a year before it was about done. That's right, in Montreal. And it was like, what did this creep up on you guys or what? Not getting it done. We'll figure it out. Just to wrap up the roster talk here. to play devil's advocate. I remember when Canada was building its 2010

Vancouver team. Izerman and Babcock just wanted, they wanted a team that would win a 2-1 hockey game. They didn't care about the scoring. They cared more about the defensive side. That was the strategy. I mean, do you employ some of that?

I mean, look around the top scores in the NFL right now and you look at Team USA, man. Yeah. I mean, do you build your roster to a degree with that sort of thinking in mind. More Stanley Cup playoff related than the young guns or

high-flying offense. That would be a guy like Sam Bennett. Or Brandon Hagle is a guy we haven't mentioned. He's probably going to be able to. Sorrelli. Sorrelli's a winner. Wyatt Johnston. Possibly, but a young guy without that experience. That's Jarvis. Didn't he make the Four Nations? He did. He was there. Connecting was there.

Like I was like that. Yeah. We'll see. Okay, boys. Good stuff. Thank you for doing this as always. We'll catch you guys next week. Thank you. There they are. Darren Dregor. Taylor Brunner, TSN Hockey Insiders. Hey, this is Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast, Encore. Remember when Taylor Swift's go-to producer Jack Antonoff

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