OverDrive - Dreger on Ehlers' future stance, Boeser sticking in Vancouver and the Maple Leafs' deals

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger joined OverDrive to discuss the storylines in the Free Agent Frenzy, the Maple Leafs' deals across the market, Nikolaj Ehlers' sweepstakes emerging, Brock Boeser remaining with the Canucks, Bowen Byram in offer sheet territory and more.

Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Bryan Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the Glorious Sons. Hi, I'm Nellie Furtado. Made in Canada.

The station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeartRadio app. Here's our TSN Hockey Insider, Darren Drager. Draggs, what'd you make it today? Good.

You know, I mean, it was what it was, right? And I know that's cliché to put it that way, but when you had everything that went into Florida retaining their three top guys, some of the other deals that were signed internally for teams to keep their players, I think we had to reset our expectation of what this day would be all about. And I think that some teams made the best of it and others are still very much in the shopping mode but that's kind of the way this this day can go uh... especially when you're like you had a different cba and some thing that general managers and the players and player agents had to respond to in a real quick period of time dregs do you think um

you know with free agency not being you know the the the crazy day that we saw or we wanted is that shift focus more to the trade market then i think we hung up on up last week's we lose track i'd i was concerned that he was i'd like to know that but thought that was the character I was concerned that he was I thought I was joking a bit. I thought that was the

but I Basically going on with Tregs thought process anyways The market may have reset on a lot of players But I believe like, you know, you look at the team like Ebbinton You look at a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs looking for top six if top six aren't there Traditionally to sign now you're looking at the trade market market so that's kind of where I was going with Drex yeah we have Drex there he is yeah okay no no I heard something about trade market and then I heard nothing yes that's where we're going like is that obviously the next step we mentioned the Leafs the Oilers like the Oilers have got to do

something you know they just lost players today. You're right, because you know, you don't have to have an educated eye to look at the remaining unrestricted free agents. And there'll be some bargain shopping that happens in the days ahead and throughout the summer, but not to the pieces that certain teams need. You're right. I mean, I think Toronto was hopeful, but they weren't expecting that they'd get a crack at Brad Marchand. I don't think that Brock Besser was a good fit in Toronto, but they still had to nibble there to see. I'm sure that Brad Treloving has thrown his hat in the ring on Nikolai Ehlers. I don't think that Nikolai Ehlers wants to play in Toronto. I think he wants to literally stay out of the spotlight You know, I mean he found it bright at times in Winnipeg. So

Toronto is a completely different beast so how do you acquire that top six forward that Toronto is in the market for and It's gonna have to be by trade and I'd love to be able to sit here guys and tell you okay They're targeting this player or that player can do it and and that could also be because teams don't know yet who is entirely available and then you shift over to the Eulers and you're right but what's obvious with the work that Stan Bowman has done is that they're opening themselves up for all possibilities and and maybe there is some some free agent work that can still be done for Bowman you know Manzi Manzi Appani, I think was on their radar. I was driving. So correctly,

I don't think he's signed anywhere. Um, yeah, you know, beyond that then I think you don't have a choice. You've got to look at what is available to you and trade. Brian Rustin has been attached to the Edmonton owners, mostly in, in media speculation. So at least, at least Dan Bowman has some wiggle room. But now the pressure is on Bowman too, isn't it? You look at what Bill Zito and Florida Panthers did in basically bringing their lineup back. Sure, they lost some pieces, but the significant core of the Panthers is there. And the Florida Panthers were way better

than the O'Haners in game five and in game six. That's just the reality of the situation. Throw Zach Hyman into the equation, maybe, maybe it's a little bit different. So again, unless there's just this magic top six forward that pops loose in the market that we're unaware of, Edmonton's got a bit of a problem here. For me, they do. For me, they

do. Yeah, and then look, you know, they've got Bouchard signed, the dry federal money is on the books. So they prepared for that by clearing out some of this money. But that doesn't make them better. It just makes them compliant. And then they're looking over their shoulder again, and they're the Florida Panthers. So I can only imagine with Connor McDavid and company are thinking at this point but that can change. Hey Drake so many players obviously decided to stay with their incumbent teams this year and you know I guess that makes sense in the case of Florida. Marner was the exception in Toronto but make sense of what happened with Brock Besser here. Hayes was just saying that was his biggest surprise

of the day that you see Brock Besser hit free agency and surprise, he's back with the Canucks. Yeah, honestly, I think that Adam Foote, the new coach of the Vancouver Canucks had a lot to do with that. And I might say the same thing of that's your damn coach coming back, Connor Garland staying with the Vancouver Canucks, I feel like that group feels pretty good about themselves,

but they're not done yet either, right? You know, you look up the middle of the ice in Vancouver and you see Elias Pedersen, who's their number one, you know, they're just saying the right things. You know, he's working out hard. He's motivated, of course, to prove that he's much better and will be much better. Phil Piedl is a big story because he's healthy.

If he can stay healthy, then maybe he covers off their number two spot, but I think that Patrick Galvin is going to continue to look. The broadcasters saw enough that it wasn't worth him exploring beyond the Vancouver Canucks. And he had, as of this morning, at least 10 teams with a variety of different formats and contracts, especially term and money that he had to peruse. And that includes the Winnipeg Jacks. Winnipeg saw Brock Besser as being as good a fit as they could find in replacing Nikolai Ehlers.

And it didn't take long once the market opened at noon for Brock Vester and the Vancouver Canucks to come together on that seven year term. So a bit of a head scratcher, but more from Vester's perspective, I think based on some of the other options that were available to them. With Darren Dreger, a TSN hockey insider, I guess we could be into offer sheet season

technically. Love it. Love it. Are we bracing for any or do we stand on that? Well, I mean, I guess more or less actively happened with Kay Andre Miller going to the Carolina Hurricanes because that offer sheet threat was real, right? So Chris Durie and the New York Rangers wisely said, all right, let's just figure out compensation.

Let's make a deal and, you know, we'll do the sign and trade. And it got a bit more complicated, which is why we didn't spend a whole lot of time reporting on it during our live coverage on TSN. I was told that the league didn't intervene. They had to iron out some of the rentals that can go along with a transaction like this because it's layered, right? And so they had to get through that and the engineer and the impoverisher had to negotiate fully I guess what that sign would look like and it's eight years of a big number going to Carolina but the threat of the offer sheet was there. What we don't know is whether or not somebody is going to sign off on an offer sheet for

Bo Byer and the Buffalo Sabres and we talked about this early in the day and you know again when you're on live TV, you don't have a whole lot of time to explain it. And I'm not gonna take a ton of time here. But so I think that the agent here, Darren Farris, who represents Sam Bennett and Mitch Meyer, made it pretty clear, it has made it abundantly clear to Kevin Adams.

Well, they have a request to the trade. He's two years, buyer was two years away from unrestricted free agency. He has ARB rights. So I think the message has been pretty clear. You're never going to get better value on the trade front for Byram and Buffalo than you are right now. So take advantage of it.

And it hasn't happened to this point. And my understanding is there is a team or teams that are interested in offer sheeting on bull buy run. And, you know, if you come in around the 7 million market and what is the exact number 7,020,000 or something, compensation is a first and a third. And that seems to be the sweet spot for any team that's gonna wanna sign buy run to an offer sheet.

Not saying that's happening but no different than threatened to under a dollar in the rangers getting offer sheeted that some of the pressure i think that's being applied in buffalo all right drugs well we uh... appreciate doing this and it's been a busy time busy day we get the offseason now so uh... best of luck with that will do it again so although i'm where's O? I was expecting

a question or two from from the dog yeah he just sitting silent right now or what? Well yeah I mean him and Bob McKenzie I think he's thinking about pulling the shoot like he said Bob's gonna retire which he did which was incredible maybe O's thinking I need to be doing the same thing I don't know. Yeah he's gonna pull that Jimmy Rutherford card from way back in the day when he scored 41 or whatever it was. Jimmy calls, oh, hey, oh, where are you? You're missing your exit interview, your end of season, Jimmy. You and I both know that. No, I scored 41. I'll see you in September. Yeah.

That's what he's doing to the brass. J-Mac is getting that call right now as the dog is headed north. That's exactly what it was, and that's exactly what's happening as we currently speak. Anyway, we'll let dogs lie. Is that what they say? Sleeping dogs lie. Sleeping dogs lie, that's it. Thanks, Draggs. Appreciate it.

Okay, boys. Have a great summer. There's Darren Dragg or TSN Hockey Insider. Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the Glorious Sons.

Hi, I'm Nellie Furtado. Made in Canada, the station that champions Canadian music. Loud, crowd, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now. On iHeartRadio.ca. Or the free iHeart Radio app.