OverDrive - Dreger on DeBoer being let go by the Stars, the Leafs offseason options, Panthers approach to Game 2

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger joins OverDrive to discuss Pete DeBoer being let go by the Stars. Dreger shares his thoughts about the Leafs offseason options and the Panthers approach to Game 2

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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. It was an unbelievable game one in the cup final. Game tonight Edmonton, Florida. Here's our TSN hockey insider Darren Drager, how you doing drags? Yeah, I'm doing good. Just quick thing with you guys. So then a little pregame meal Yeah rumor has it Frankie Corrado's alligator arms might get into his pockets and see I'll let you know Wow, that would be a big big development. He's the old Anybody want dinner? I forgot my wallet today It's a signature move

Disappointing to hear that it is pointing to hear that Yeah, we got game two of the cup final, but we had some news in the NHL today We did Peter DeBoer fired as the head coach in Dallas Everyone's got a different viewpoint on why it took so long. I mean, it's not like it took two months, but it took a while. There's no other vacancies around in the NHL. And the way he went out, game five, Ottinger, what happened here and what is your impression of why Dallas decided Peter DeBoer can't be our coach anymore?

Well, I mean, the way the season ended in the big part of it and and not just because of the jacob your incident or the postgame comments were obviously people boarded not back it up uh... well you did the boss in any rollover on jerry cannon canton in his postgame remarks uh... so that was a uh... a factor i i think just the fact that the dallas started dot advance to the Stanley Cup final was as crucial as anything. They really felt and still feel to this day that they were the better team.

They just didn't prove it. They didn't execute. And because of that, you know, there's speculation around Jason Robertson. So clearly they feel like their roster needs some adjustments and maybe further change and felt like they did that at the three deadline and bringing in Miko Rantman. But on top of it, you know, they also feel like Pete DeBoer has had his run and they just need a new voice in a different direction to push this team over the top. So I get it.

Teams go through this. Every coach has the shelf like it just seems repeated aboard when you look at recent stops you know uh... vegas of course you know why would be the guy that to get the vegas gold tonight's you know to the promise land of of the stanica championship don't know and now in dallas but he's got another year left before plus million dollars so i think he's he's going to be fine

financially and and now that all the the jobs of the fact that they've been taken and you wonder if maybe it is in his best interest to just hit tight just hit tight and if something surfaces next season that's a fed where he feels that it's another good opportunity to win that might be the best option for him. So Drex, they go through the process and obviously you know year-end meetings and you know a forensic audit of the organization. How much do you think having meetings one-on-one with the players factored

into it? Definitely factored in no doubt about that But I don't want to paint this picture that, two-thirds of the lineup went into their meeting with Jim Neal, the general manager, and just roasted him. I don't get that impression. I don't. And in fact, I would say that there are veteran players who have a lot of time for Pete DeBoer and liked him a lot as a head coach. But there was some of that. there's no doubt. So you know Neil would take the comments from you know the players maybe other staff members along with his own concerns or questions and his own discussions with with Pete DeBoer and then ultimately he would meet as he did I believe yesterday with the owner Tom Galardi and collectively they would make that call so i think all of those factors

contributed along with what i said about the end of the year in fact dollar stars are not in the family cup final amendment in his with their trigger tsn hockey insider so the uh... we started their own long as their associate coach or assistant coach, basically taking over for Lane Lambert who is now the head coach in Seattle. I don't know what his connection is with Borubey. I guess they've been around the league for a long time, but kind of quick work. And listen, he's been an assistant coach in Tampa when they won two cups.

He was a head coach in Detroit. And I said earlier, Dreggs, I think what's really significant is he knows the division so well he's right in the division for a but decade he knows everything about florida tampa detroit beliefs and i i think it's i think it's a really good higher night i think there's a real chance that he brings a different viewpoint of not only how the least perform but how the division

works they could be very beneficial i i i think it's an excellent iron and look i go into this earlier today uh... and you know what sure it was going to happen today and then the dallasians broke and i hope what wait a minute like you know maybe jim pohle has their colon on speed golland and maybe he slides over into the opportunity of dallas obviously

that that is the case. I like to hire because of the experience of Derek Lallone. The one thing that people around Detroit especially talked about, and this isn't a knock on Lallone, it's just the reality of the situation. If he lacked anything, maybe it was a tad bit of presence on the bench, if that makes any sense, because tactically he's noted as being a real good hockey man you know in-game adjustments all of that he's got that so now Craig Barube no different than Lane Lambert he's he's got an experienced guy on the bench that he can

lean on in game in building game prep and and all of those things and if you're Derek Lalonde you've just watched Lane Lambert who came in building game prep and all of those things. And if you're Derek Lalonde, you've just watched Lane Lambert, who came in as an assistant and associate coach last year, get a head job in the National Hockey League. So the money is going to be good as far as associate assistant coaches go. The Toronto Maple Leafs are noted for being a well-paying organization. Why wouldn't he roll the dice in this situation it makes a lot of sense for him but i think it's an excellent app with the maple leaves

with darren draggers so speaking of the leaves you know we're uh... it's june six today through the math twenty-five weeks away from free agency mitch marner sam bennett brad marshan those three names where likelihood of any of them being made by says of july first uh... i'd say unlikely with all three

uh... but you know none of that is a slam dunk that just a gut feeling you know you do have to go through the process and that's exactly the maple leaf will do that with those three individual players will do uh... i i i think it's publicly i did That's exactly what the Maple Leafs will do and that's what those three individual players will do. I say this publicly, I just, I have nothing but admiration for the way that Bill Zito does his job in Florida and I get it. There are creature comforts that many organizations just can't match, including, you know, the taxation system in the state of Florida. I get all of that, but he's made some real interesting

and devious transactions to make Florida Panthers better, right? But he's got two primary unrestricted free agents to contend with. One of course Sam Bennett, the other is Aaron Eklat. And I remember wondering when they acquired Seth Jones from Chicago, whether or not that might come at the expense of Eklat at the end of the the year. So you know, sure, you know, there's going to be a circle back by Zito and the Florida Panthers with Sam Bennett. And you know, as we saw in game one, on many nights, Sam Bennett is the guy. And going into game two, there needs to be more players like Sam Bennett or Florida is going to be in trouble here quickly.

And I believe they will have that in game too. But if Zito puts a seven or an eight year deal in front of Bennett at some point before July 1st and it's fair, like it's in and around that 8 million, 8 million plus mark and it maybe comes at the expense of Aaron Echblad, can't pay everybody, don't you take it if you're Sam Bennett and you stay where you'll wanna be? So that still makes a lot of sense to me. And this is no disrespect to the Toronto Maple Leafs and all that, but I'm led to believe that Bennett

just doesn't have an interest in signing in Toronto. He doesn't, and it might be because of lifestyle above all else, and he knows that he's gonna have outside opportunity. Meyers-Han's a little bit different knows that he's gonna have outside opportunity Marshawn's a little bit different maybe he's the best of the three options in terms of not being afraid of the environment giving what he went through in in Boston and and and all of that and and I think that there will be conversation with the Marner camp but that'll be part of just everything that

goes into July 1st once Mariner has everything in front of them. Draggs, if you could come up with like a description or a tone heading into this free agent frenzy, like how would you describe it? Is it kind of mild? Is it, I mean, I don't think people are too jacked up about the class of players that are involved. Like, what are we getting into here?

Yeah, that's, i think mild is fair you know everybody can see all the players we've already talked about here could help them uh... but the reality is that that the guy here the top end guys uh... they're gonna have their wish list and and what the intel combine just wrapped up in in buffalo this week and i jokingly in the league gets offended when this week, and I jokingly, and the league gets offended when I say this, but I jokingly refer to the NHL Combine as

Camper Fest because all the player agents are there, the general managers are there, and sure they're there to look at the top prospects, but who's kidding who? You have the conversations that ultimately might lead to decisions that are made on July 1st. So if you're a team that has a strong appetite, we know Toronto is among those teams, to embrace change. Well, how are you going to do that? If you're really not a player, and maybe they will be, maybe they won't be, Sam Bennett or Brad Marshan, and Marneraret decides that he wants copy go somewhere else okay well what do you left with now you know there's no decent free agent pieces that that ronald i'm sure are

going to take a run at if it's not that what is it then it has to be trade what are you using for trade collateral you know you've got easton cowen is you know coming off the memorial cup championship uh, but the cupboard is getting pretty thin with some of these young prospects that you're hoping they're going to develop into good NHL players.

You can't continue to dole out first-round draft picks, so you've got to look at the roster that you have and start identifying your trade chips. And that's where, for me, it gets interesting in Toronto. Darren, we had your friend James Duthie in here earlier. your trade chips and that's where for me it gets interesting in Toronto. Darren we had your friend James Duthie in here earlier just out of curiosity I know how the hot zone prep works you're in there watching games yeah yeah has he tried to tear any of us down to you? I can confirm that he is still very skeptical of the 64. Like, in fact, it's gone out of his way to prove

that it didn't happen. And he's had conversations with guys that he trusts, good golfers apparently, he didn't mention any names, but just to prepare himself for, has he already been on the air with you guys today yeah he laid it all on the line yeah yeah well there was a lot he did more prep work for that for that availability with you guys today

that he did with anything that he's done on air for tsn to this point asking me to help us here here about that it was like perhaps it and ready. He had his hair. Charts and graphs. Yeah, he had props. Like he put a lot of time and effort to taking you down. Yeah. That is a lifetime goal. Clearly, you have James Duff. The whole thing seems a little personal. I'm not going to lie. It is disappointing. It really is disappointing. So we got game two of the cup final tonight. You couldn't ask for a better game one No, that's kind of what I'm curious and I there's ebbs and flows of everything but now you've set a tone

You're like you got a great game again tonight. I don't see a blowout where the I thought I woke up this morning drags I don't know how you feel as well I was like this could be like a two one snoofest, nine chances on each side and I don't know maybe. I don't know. These teams are just too powerful as far as offense and you know a 4-3 game kind of sound right but Who do you look to at Florida though? Is it Bob where your head goes first? Like is it Bob who's got to set the tone? But Bob said that they had 46 shots in 24 chances. I understand that. He was great the other night. I look at their like Kachuk, Verhege, I look at guys in that, you know, Reinhardt, Barkhoff, like, you know, just-

They're big boys up front in particular. They're big boys up front. Yeah. Drex, go ahead. Nah, I'm with you. It is the big boys up front for me as well. So after the Little Leaps announced that they'd hired Derek Gollum, they had a quick back and forth with Craig Berube, and we got talking eventually

about game two tonight, and his sense was Florida is going to do something to make it uncomfortable for Stu Skinner. All right, what does that look like? Does that look like Sam Bennett on Anthony Stolarz? Like what are we talking about here? And then I mean obviously it's not that but you know there does have a feel like there is going to be more chaos in front of that Edmunds than that. Provided that they can execute it that way. It can't be Sam Bennett leading the offense in this seven-game series. I mean, he's capable of that. Of course he is. But you can clearly see Matthew Kachak

is not healthy. He hasn't been healthy this entire postseason. But he's still capable of doing a little bit more. We bow at the feet of Sasha Barkov, and who doesn't respect the game that he plays because it's so well-rounded, but it feels like he needs a big night, too. And certainly capable of taking over the series. So anyway, I think that we'll see a lot more jam from the Florida Panthers up front in game two. Yeah, I think it's interesting that the viewpoint is, you know, get the Skinner, which is natural. Now, I would count on that if I'm Edmonton saying I plan on doing the same thing with Bob Ross. Why would you make

his life comfortable? And they were trying the other night like that Corey Perry's not going anywhere. Vander Cane's not going anywhere. No, they smell blood, man. Yeah. You're up one nothing. You're that close to a cup. Like you're you're gonna do whatever you have to tonight yeah now all right tracks well catch on the hot zone after the game tonight a i i don't know who's thought billy dot to the the famous producer tfx showed me

uh... picture of you guys have a big screen right there uh... and apparently my mug there's like a mug shot of me just team up over drive in my face a camera obviously dress all of them now there's like a mugshot of me just team up over driving my fake obviously all of them now yeah i guess it's still planned for you about that

now but it's a good shot man you're they they said a good picture you are not the one there it is direct when you get if you get a chance but i mean it's that's a good but the one of the raising raise was tough yeah eggs raised was a funeral shot that was really like it should have been On a grubby casket with a three-wood. Yeah, I was favorite pack of cigarettes When he joined we had to leave him high and dry We got kicked off the air what he was on Yeah, well, you live in his best place his family in Vegas for your cold play tomorrow. So Ray Ray doesn't mess around here to use the laws made

by the way if you guys wrap up in the final hour here can you keep it down a little bit i'm hearing that players are complaining about a lot of the that's a bit of a answer we just gotta keep motor in here we got a job to do just like that we're not trying to make a cut for trying to get some ratings here uh... they don't have to try to shoot sixty four

well that's not easy to do and not right now right shot seventy eight today fourteen strokes more than you c that uh... he got he got absolutely cursed by keith belly handing him that leaf sweater the other day on Wednesday that but i think you're on a site you know that you're a very awful, you know, that's

Every other fan base in the country is like look what happened a Mac I never even thought of areas with the leaf Jersey. That's crazy. And what does he do in game seven? Blows a 78 shard it Who had a worse who had a worse game five we'll get into this without you drags will let you know We'll pick it up from here Thanks dregs. Hey, this is Ruby Carr the host of the podcast on core Do you find yourself singing Shania Twain's man? I feel like a woman every time you do karaoke with your friends You're not alone billboard has named that song the number one karaoke hit of all time

Tune into on core the stories behind the songs you love, for the unbelievable story of Hennadah's own Shania Twain and Man I Feel Like a Woman. Listen to Encore on the iHeart app or wherever you get your podcasts for that and more stories behind all the songs you love.