OverDrive - Dreger & Johnston join us for an Insider roundtable

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

TSN hockey insiders Darren Dreger and Chris Johnston join the guys around the table to discuss Easton Cowan playing on the 4th line, Leafs players on thin ice, the market for Kampf, the latest on Stolarz' extension talks, and why Kaprizov could make more than McDavid

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All right, Overdrive continues, powered by Fanduel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Brian Hayes, Frankie Corrado, Jamie Noodles, McLennan, there's Darren Dregor, and there's Chris Johnston. What the hell is this? What are we all doing here? Why are we? This is the greatest thing ever. Look at CJ. It looks like a million bucks.

What's better than one insider? Two insiders. Especially one on the road sitting in his vehicle pulled over, yeah. Going for a massage. Oh, man. that first week I didn't get to where I was supposed to be doing this from so I'm stuck in the car on the side of the road

You have those sensors on with the rain You remember those things were going off like crazy In your car that one time Now the car is off There'll be no noises Oh my God Okay yeah that was good man That was driving us crazy

That was a great hit too That was like right around trade deadline And I have something goofy like that too That was my smoke detect Yes you did Yeah you had the smoke That was all around the same week and Brian Hayes was, he was not having a good day.

I'm like, there is massive news coming out. And I'm like, give me your take on this. Okay, moving on, we'll try to adjust. That was a kitchen fire, too. It wasn't anything else. 100%. Well, it's good to see you guys. Thank you for doing this.

And we're getting close. And let's begin with the least here. I guess we'll start with you, C.J. In terms of Easton Cowan and the fact that he's playing again tonight, like what is your indication of what Bruce? Brubay's telling us here, what tree living's telling us here. This is all three games. Easton Cowan's playing.

He's playing with Lotton and Lorenz tonight. Are they, in your opinion, giving him the floor to make this team? Absolutely. I mean, I think it's clear they're at least giving him the chance to have the kind of imprint that he would need to have to stick around to start the season. And, you know, reading between the lines a little bit, some of the things Craig Brubay said. even today when you know he was asked about it by the reporters didn't really want to give much of an answer that kind of tells me that that this guy's in the coach's good books right now I think that you know that they're encouraged by what they've seen from them through camp but you know you're

still 10 days a little bit more away from the start of the season so it's got to you know be a day by day process in terms of what they see but you know right now I do think that he's you know made a pretty good initial impression here and they're going to keep giving him that opportunity to go out and win a job and start the season with the Leafs. Yeah, and I think there's a template here, and that would make sense for Easton County. There's nothing wrong with putting them on that

line with Lawrence and with Scott Lawton. And, you know, teaching him the grinding side of the National Hockey League a little bit more, but he also complements those two guys, right? I mean, Scott Lawton has to find a way to produce more offensively, and you could

get some of that out of Lawrence as well, but it's not like Greg Barouba is saying, all right, well, you're going to be stapled into the bottom six with those guys until further notice. Now, he's going to throw him a bone as he did the other night. He's going to give him a power play opportunity, and maybe we see

more of that inside the regular season. But I think when Barube acknowledges that, look, I'm not giving anything up in terms of this guy, you know, being a lock to make the Toronto Maple Leafs, I think that's managing us to a degree as well. He knows that Eastern

Cowan is a hot commodity in the media circle. He knows that, right? So why not just say, hey, I don't want this guy's head growing any more than it needs to? He just needs to drill down, keep the confusion out, and make the team first and foremost. Well, with Cowan in the mix, and he certainly is in the mix, and it looks like, you know, Chief wants to give him a good long look here in the preseason, who's, you know, who's on thin ice? That's my, you know, David Cam. It feels like Robertson and Cowan? Like, can they both be on the same team? Like, 12

forwards, opening night, can you have a scenario where Robertson and Cowan are both playing? But you got, no. Robertson said a 1.8 and change, right? Right. He'll get paid on. The Cowan gives you the same as Nicky Robertson or more than it's Easton Cowan's job. Sorry. Short answer is no. I don't think you

and especially the way Burubay and Tree Living want to build this team. Like, they obviously made a point to get Dakota Joshua, big, Nicholas Waugh, bigger guy. Like, they're going big, so why are you going to double down on the same kind of stature of guys? Listen, I'll give Nick Robertson credit because he's obviously working very hard. You can see the effort, but when you're not built that way, it's hard to do over the course of the season.

So he's fighting an uphill battle. And the same goes for Easton Cowan, but Easton Cowan has a higher ceiling at this point. Right. Yeah, well, in terms of the other guys on the outside looking in, David Camp, Callie Yarn Croke, C.J., you know, And Dregs, you can chime in as well. Like, I would assume if they wanted to move off those guys, the market would have presented itself by now. They would have done it.

So what happens if you got a scenario where Camp isn't going to play or Yarn Crow possibly isn't going to play? What are the Leafs going to do with these guys? Well, it's going to be waivers. I mean, I think that there's, the reality is, is some kind of players going on waivers for the Leafs unless they have a whack of injuries and that sort of shuffles the deck in terms of the numbers.

But, you know, I think Camp is the, one, the obvious one to highlight as being on the bubble, I mean, lost his job towards the end of last season after the trade deadline and the additions they made there. And he still got, you know, another year beyond this season on his contract, which is, I think, part of the challenge in trying to move a player like that. And let's face it, most teams are on the league, you know, no one's lost a game yet. Everyone's got too many, you know, numbers in camp. And so it's just not really a time, I think, where most teams are looking to make an addition. And so, you know, I think if worse comes to worse,

And there's no other way to reduce, you know, this forward group by one, then you just put someone on waivers and you set them to the Marleys if they don't get claimed by another team. Yeah, I agree. And look, I mean, Trilloving has made it clear he wants to add. You know, his coach would like to add, bring in a top six. Well, how do you do that? Well, first of all, you do have to figure out what your numbers look like now. They've got an abundance of forwards.

And the players that we've talked about, we know that they've been shopped around for months, for months. Like dating back to last trade deadline and the market hasn't been there. And that includes Nick Robertson, David Kamp, and Callie Yarncroke. So, you know, the organization is ultimately going to have to bite down hard, either

find a trade fit that isn't great, but it moves out a body. How you do that, I don't know, because Toronto can't sweeten the pot too much anymore. You know, they're trade capitalists. They've given up a lot of assets. They've given up a lot. You've got to be careful in that regard. And also then, if you're adding who's available.

You know, there are some players that could be signed. Tricky stuff, but they could be signed. They could be pieces. And the trade front right now, same teams are lucky at the same players. Like Brian Rust, I mean, go down on the list. It's hard, Raquel. Yeah. Let me ask you guys this.

You saw Barkoff went down with injury today at practice in Florida. Like Vasilevsky's not with Tampa right now. Don't you think the path for the Leafs to win the Atlantic just opened up way more than it was going into the season? Like, I think there was, no, thing about it, there was doubt around, like, them. They didn't win it last year. Yeah. The Leafs did.

The Leafs. Yeah, no, I know that. Did they not win the Atlantic last year? Yeah, they won the Atlantic. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying, with Marner gone and the team looking different, it's like everyone just kind of said, well, the Leafs can't do it again.

Like, Florida just won a Stanley Cup. Don't count out Tampa. The Ottawa senators are a good team that's up and coming. Like, everyone's going to have to deal with their own stuff. but, like, are we dismissing the Leafs too early? I think that's a good point. Like, we'll find out Barkov, and you guys can speak to it if you don't have any info on him. But, like, Kachuk's not back until December.

That might turn into January. Like, if you miss him for half the season, he's just as important to them as Marner is to the Leaves. And Kachuk's not playing. So, yeah, I'm with you on that. I'm just saying it feels premature to say, like, yeah, there's no way they can win the division two years in a row with El Marner. I don't disagree. I think you can. They have to be in that group to be favored.

Right. Because Florida doesn't care. No, they don't care about inhibition. They don't care. Tampa, I think, is a different story. Yeah, Vasilevsky is missing a couple days. But, like, I, you know, who knows what that means? Like, I don't know.

But the end of the day, all these teams are pretty good. It's how they start and the health of their group. You know, that's the biggest thing. And at some point, someone's got to care because you still have to get to 100 points. Exactly. Like, you have to care enough. Agreed. And CJ, you jump in here as well, but when's the last time?

Let's just make a terrible dark assumption that Barkov is going to be out an extended period of time, long term. It looked that way. We just saw the video. I mean, it's ugly, right? And we're not going to guess and be the radio doctors, but it doesn't look good for that right leg, whatever the capacity is. When's the last time Bill Zito sat back and said, hmm, yeah, I've got cap space now with a guy on long-term injury. I'm just going to see how it all plays out. No, he's like a guy like...

That just doesn't happen with him. He's waiting for a stock to crash in the stock market so he can buy it and then it's going to go up like 500%. That's what he does. Seth Jones. Seth Jones, 2.0. They've also got Anton Lundell just sitting there, right? I mean, he doesn't get as much love because of some of the other players there,

but I think if they need someone to step into a top six role for a period of time in the regular season, you know, they're comfortable doing that. I mean, I'm with you guys, though. I don't think the Panthers, you know, a bunch of the... their guys are coming off three straight cup finals. Like the irony of Barkov getting injured today, that was the first day. A lot of the veterans have actually skated with the Panthers. They actually gave their guys an extra week to work themselves back because they played

so much hockey. You know, for them, it's going to be a matter of just qualifying for the playoffs. So, Frankie's original point, I don't think any of us should discount the possibility the Leafs are in the mix for the top of this division. But there's just so many unknowns right now, even the Joseph Wall situation, just, you know, how long is he going to be out, you know, as much as Anthony Stoller has had a great season last year, obviously he's never been a straight number one guy, so, you know, does it get to the point the Leafs have to bring in someone else, or is it Hill to be?

I mean, there's a lot of questions, I think, with every team in the division, and including the one that plays there in Toronto. Yeah, look, I know we're going to talk about this is part of our intermission coverage in the regional game between the Leafs and the abs, but, you know, as he should be, Trilling is kicking tires on what goalie-depth looks like around the National Hockey League. And, you know, they have a lot of faith in Dennis Hilderby and how he might further develop in that role if he's part of the tandem with Joseph Wohl on the sidelines.

But they have no timeline for Joe Wohl. They don't. So that would encourage the general manager to make calls. Noodles might know what he'd be looking at in terms of who might be, quote, unquote, on a scrap heap somewhere. But they may have to bring in that level of depth. So you look at guys, and, you know, the only reason I would, bring these names to the forefront.

CJ, you can probably weigh in as well as everyone in Evanton's talking about maybe the Oilers are going to grab somebody off waivers too. And it's Dawes, it's DiPietro in Boston. It might be Connor Ingram, who was waived by Utah. But are they significant upgrades or are they just NHL players? That's basically what you're looking at. And if you believe, now the Hilda Beast is playing again tonight. So, you know, they're trying to give him as much time to play and settle in

if they do envision that Joe Walt's going to have an extended leave of absente. Right. And what's the latest with Stolars in his contract? Yeah, like, we're getting close to go time at the start of the year. I don't think he's indicated that there's a drop dead date. I don't believe he's indicated that. And Chris, jump in, but I mean, they talk every other day, and that's Elaine Waugh and Brad Trilliving, right? So there's no animosity here. You've just got a goaltender who doesn't have the same level of games played as some of the comps that are being thrown out there, like Lankinen or,

Melka is another one. So you're dealing with, okay, is it a three-year term, a four-year term, or a five-year term? Well, the Leafs would much prefer a three-year term. They might have to settle on a four-year term at four-and-a-half, maybe slightly above, four-and-a-a-a-v. I expect something is going to get done, but I don't know that it'll get done before the start of the year.

Chris? Right, well, and the one thing I'll say is, you know, I would caution I say it's a drop-dead date, because look, it's a fake sort of deadline or a soft deadline. But, you know, he's been given a chance to talk about it, Anthony Stollars, and he said he wants to focus on the season when it gets going. So, you know, it's if they may be off for him, but exactly what he wants on October 15th,

I imagine he still will accept it. Yeah. But, you know, I think the time to really grind on these negotiations, which what seems to be happening now, you know, effectively has to be done by, you know, October 6th, 7th, 8, somewhere in there. So Caprisov going into his final year, Eichael going into his final year, Kyle Connor going into his final year,

are all of these guys connected to Connor McDavid? Are they waiting for McDavid to kind of set the bar? Not that they're going to reach it, but if Caprice have turned down $16 million, maybe he will. Maybe he can. Like, CJ, how does McDavid in that contract negotiation

if it's going to happen or if it's not going to happen affect the other guys I just named? You know, it's funny. It depends you ask on this one, and I've kind of kicked around on this idea with a lot of the people that represent the players you just mentioned. And, you know, some basically say, look, my guy knows Connor McDavid's in a class of his own, even as great as my player is. It doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with ours.

Ours is just about, you know, X, Y, or Z. But, but then, you know, I do think that there is an element of, you know, the bar is being reset here. You know, if Capriso gets more than 16 million, it's possible he's actually going to be paid higher than Conner McDavid on his next contract. I mean, I'm obviously getting a way ahead of myself. But, you know, I think if McDavid ends up staying in Edmonton, it's going to be hard for him to, you know, really reset the bar because, you know, part of what's held that up, of course, is his thoughts about what the team will need to do to stay competitive. And part of that will be needing money and flexibility to sign other players and to make trades and to keep improving the team around him to a degree that I don't know that he could, you know, go way above that mark. So we are at this interesting moment in time. You know, I don't expect Ico, for example, to leave Vegas, you know, as much as that hasn't produced a deal just yet.

I think that's one of those ones where both sides are pretty comfortable. You know, Dregs is reported about, you know, Kyle Connor and the Jets, you know, being, you know, pretty well down the road, at least in having conversations and having a lot of things in common, even though they haven't got all the details lined up. But Caprizov is a bit of an X factor, and, you know, I don't know how that's going to shake out there. I don't know if he really wants to leave Minnesota. I mean, there's a lot of misinformation flying around about him, but he could end up getting paid more than Connor McDavid. I think that's, you know, not because he's a better player, but maybe just the circumstances bounce in his favor that way. Yeah, and some believe that, look, ultimately the deal that Caprizov turned down eight years at, what, $128 million is the deal that he likely will end up accepting. You know, we'll see how it plays out individually.

Each one of these negotiations is tricky business. As C.J. mentioned, the feeling is that Eichl would like to stay in Vegas. Kelly McCriman is excellent at this kind of stuff and moving the chairs and making sure that the pieces are... But he's not going to make that level of money. Kyle Connor is an interesting one. I'm sure there's a mutual appetite for him to stay, but I think that he's pushing hard on what the structure of that contract looks like.

It'll be a minor type of deal that Miner signed with Vegas in terms of the AAV. Winnipeg does not... They can't afford to give out the big signing bonus money. And so what if the player goes, I'm okay with the EAV, but I'm digging in. I want that front-loat money, and maybe that's part of the reason why it's taken this long. And what if Caprizov gets it, Panarin gets it, Eichl gets it.

Like if you're in that category, you're like, well, why am I forfeiting that? Well, there's guys way further down the list. Like in Toronto, they're handed fourth-liners get bonus money. By the time, though, you said can't afford, or there's a difference. Well, right. Yeah, exactly. That's a very wealthy organization. That ownership.

The guy who owns it's the richest guy in the country. I believe I could be wrong. They have a different philosophy. There's a difference between can't and won't because I think that they... Language is important. Well, I think they can't afford it. But there's a difference between won't and that would be my add to that, but maybe I'm wrong. Okay.

There it is. The Insiders Roundtable, Chris Johnson, Darren Dregor. Great seeing you guys. Thanks for doing this. You bet. We'll catch Dregs on the panel tonight. Great seeing you, C.J. All right, Luke coming up in studio.

Brad Faxon coming up ahead of the Ryder Cup as well. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSNF. Get ready. All Things Go Festival lands in Toronto for the first time ever. October 4th and 5th at Budweiser stage. 16 artists that define the next generation from Casey Musgraves and Renee Rapp to Remy Wolf, Raven Leney role model, and more. And with IHart Radio, you can win the ultimate festival. hookup for two with VIP weekend tickets and $500 cash. This is your IHRRadio experience. Enter daily

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