OverDrive - Dreger on Marner's contract outline, Rantanen's exit from Carolina and the Canucks' team dynamic

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NHL, the background behind Mikko Rantanen's trade to Dallas, Mitch Marner's contract negotiations, the Canucks' overall team movement and more.

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Here's our TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger. What's happening Dreggs? Hey, Bells. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on there. Like I'm, I'm about, now I'd be about 200 yards from the studio. Yes? So... Okay, so you're here about 200 yards from the studio. So. Okay, so you're here. You're in the building tonight is what you're telling me. No, no, no.

I'm just joking. I don't wanna throw Josh completely. Tomorrow I will be. So if we wanna revisit tomorrow, I'll be okay. Okay, yeah. Now, get set up for the night that is. That's all I'm doing. Yeah, we got some good games tonight.

And tomorrow you'll be here, I guess, guess for the panel right? We got Leafs Panthers tomorrow and you know I'm sure the Leafs will try to downplay it and they'll say it's just any other game and we want to win like every other time we step on the ice but yeah it's a massive game for both teams but I think it's clear that the Leafs are the one with more at stake right Dragg? Sure. Like Florida's gonna be pretty comfortable think, whoever they play against. The Leafs, the idea of them being in a position where they can avoid either playing the Panthers or the Lightning, it's almost like playoff pressure before you get to the playoffs.

Yes. Like here's an opportunity for you, the Maple Leafs, to prove you can put your foot down here and possibly win the division. It would be massively beneficial for them. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And I mean, you never know, right? Like, you know, sometimes you can face the best radar out of the gate. You know, it can pay dividends.

But that hasn't been the case, you may believe. So, you know, maybe you need to just kind of go through the grind a little bit more than they have, even though there have been deep disappointments, get through that first round and then see where you're situated. I mean, when I look at Maple Leaf's roster now, you know, I'm sure True Living and Company are going to wonder, did they do enough? But they did a fair bit, right? You had Brandon and Carlo, you're going gonna get Tana back healthier real quick.

And you have Scotty Lawton as your third line center. So there's lots of reason to think that the Maple Leafs have bolstered their lineup. But then you look at Tampa Bay, you look at Florida, you look at some of these other teams and you're still questioning as to whether or not that's true. So we get a real good taste tomorrow night as to what Florida is going to be completely made of and we're not going to know that yet until Brad Marchand steps in in the mix. So you win that top spot in the Atlantic and it opens up doors I think otherwise you're facing the same demons that

you've faced for the last few years. I agree Dragg but you know you are facing a team not without Marchand, without Kachak, now without Ekblad so you know they are on paper weakened you know that's that's the one thing that you know so you do have to go for that top spot. That's the one thing that, you know, so you do have to go for that top spot. Drex, I just wanted to, you know, circle back on the trade deadline. You know, you guys, the insiders do such a great job. Were there, without telling tales, but were there other, you know, maybe crazy trades that just didn't come to fruition, whether it was time or, you know, the teams couldn't agree on the final product? You know, you always go down that road not you specifically we

collectively and I'm sure there were some I mean as far as the bigger items go I you know I'm sure Leafs fans want to hear about well what happened with Nico Ratanen was it even possible that he was gonna end up in Toronto and I think was it was it close it was it was ah well yeah I think my sense is that Toronto was plan B if Dallas didn't work out Toronto was plan B now Marner was not going out the other side Nyes wasn't going out the other side. Knives wasn't going out the other side. It would have been, probably would have been, a collection of other items.

Obviously, the prospects had been speculated on. I don't wanna go too deep into the weeds here, but yeah, and how juicy would that have been if that had come to fruition? Especially if you're not well, I mean, Mika Ratan probably wasn't going to go through the possibility of a third trade without an extension. And that could have been conceivable as well. Whatever team is getting them, in this case, Dallas said we're not making the trade without an extension. Toronto probably would have been the same.

Any team that was willing to step up would have been the same. So then what does that do to the Marner situation? I think it becomes pretty obvious what it does, right? So, I mean, it got pretty dicey and the reason it got dicey, and I wanna say, I think I think we're safe in saying that there wasn't a firm answer until noon

Eastern on Friday that there wasn't a deal outside of Dallas that wasn't gonna happen and That's from high-level sourcing there and and look we know with the night before early evening or early morning of Friday that Dallas and Carolina had made that trade, but it was conditional on the extension. And I know for a fact that there was outside consideration and conversation negotiations upwards of noon Eastern on Friday. So Carolina, their second choice was the leave package, is what you're saying. Like Dallas's package was one and it worked out

in Dallas-Inebrile extension. Yeah, I believe so, I believe so. Now unless there's another package out there that we haven't heard of that, you know, just didn't surface, but you know, obviously it doesn't matter because Miko Rendon clearly wanted to go to Dallas and I not saying he wouldn't have wanted to go to Toronto, it's just that Carolina had a decision to make and they had to make him the best interest of the hurricanes and and the easiest way of clearing that path given the assets that were being driven by Dallas compared to what might have come on Toronto or somebody else

was based on the extension so they they were able to allow that to happen and Mikoran they wanted to take the deal that he ended up getting from the stars so what is your read on why the Leafs asked Mitch Marner to wave why did that happen like if he wasn't going to go if he wasn't ultimately going to be a part of the trade why did the Leafs even ask him to wave why but why wouldn't you Brian? And I'm not playing devil's advocate here. I'm just saying, you know, he has a no move. You've tried on more than one occasion to get the player and his agent to the negotiating table. And look, I mean, you know, we have to remind ourselves

that Mitch negotiated this contract in fairness and he's allowed to play it to its hilt and that's coming up on on the 1st of July and it has a no move clause so you know as he stated at the beginning of the year he didn't want to move away from the focus of being the best player he can be for the Toronto Maple Leafs and I feel like he's lived up to that and his focus hasn't changed but if you're the GM or you're the the hockey operations of Maple Leafs, God aren't you trying to get them to the table? Like we're willing to spend the money because we value the asset of Mitch Marner so let's get negotiating but he hasn't been able to do that and and that's just true to what

he said prior to the start of the year. He just wanted to focus on hockey. So then the next move in that play is okay well now you're open to vulnerability and other teams pay close attention as we would expect to every team's RFAs, UFAs, all of that and the the highly coveted ones like Mitch Miner draw an audience. So I'm sure that other teams came calling and obviously the Carolina Hurricanes give them the situation that they had with Miko Rantin. So that's ultimately, I believe, why Brad Trillivink went to Barnard and said, hey, if you're not gonna stay,

then we have to present this option. What do you think of that option? And obviously he said, I'm not gonna move. Yeah, I'm just trying to like piece the, trying to put the puzzle together here where I, like I picture a scenario where if you're Treleving and company, you go to them and I guess you say, listen, do you want to wave?

Cause Carolina they'll take you, you know, and then we'll take Rantanen and move on. But if you don't want to wave, fine. But you have to know we've put another package together that if they take that we're bringing in Rantanen and signing him and then you're gone. Like is that the problem? And then again again I'm

my my thought would be because if they want Marner more than ranting and basically it's it's you got an hour here because Carolina might take it and then we sign them. Do you want to negotiate the next hour and I guess Marner just called their bluff and said I'm not waiving and if you want to go get ranting and go ahead and neither happened. And now what? And now what happens? But that's what he's entitled to do. No, I'm not disputing that, Dreggs. But like, I'm just saying,

like it could have been a scenario for Marner. Like if he said, I'm not waving and obviously you're the lead, you can do whatever you want to do. Well, they could have in a different universe, like acquire ranting and given him eight years by 13 and effectively Mitch Marner gets to 3pm and goes, this is it for me, I'm gone after this season.

Like I'm out of here. And he was willing to risk that. Yes. I mean it seems like that he was willing to risk that. And how uncomfortable and awkward or great would it have been? How do we know? We're never gonna know because it didn't happen I mean I I got again I'm gonna give Mitch full credit here because he knew this was how it was gonna play out from the beginning of the year

It's not like you know Toronto didn't try and and get into negotiations in the offseason, right? He knew that like that's the environment that this kid has played in and has experienced. So I can, there's no way that they wouldn't have had that scenario in mind. Now maybe it played out that way closer to the deadline because I don't think that two months ago, anyone expected that Meekle Ratner was gonna be traded

by Colorado to Carolina. now in hindsight would have probably taken the deal if he had known he was going to be traded to stay in in Colorado. Well that didn't transpire. Then all of a sudden you have this trade that actually has worked out but it's contingent on an extension and the bottom line is 12 million. Ratman wants 13. So now everybody is exploring other opportunities and one of those, yes, 1,000% is Toronto and the possibility of playing with an extension

if you're at Ratman with Barner, who is on an expiring contract to the end of the year. That would have went one of three ways. expiring contract to the end of the year that would have won one of three ways Yeah, you know no good Okay, and they win a Stanley Cup and then one guy leaves at the end of the year I mean how how else does it factor in it's crazy Well, the other kind of quizzical thing here dregs is the idea that we hear Bryndamore in Carolina Say that hey Rantin showed up and said,

there's four places I wanna go and sign and you're not one of them. And then today Rantin comes out and says, oh no, I would have considered signing in Carolina. Like who are we to believe on that front? Well, Dave, I'll leave that to you, but I was told point blank by my sources that that was not the message to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Now how Rod interpreted that from messaging from above, because Rod Brindemore is not negotiating Conqueror extensions with his players. Is he in the know? Of course he's in the know. I mean, nobody is more swagger as an NHL coach than Rod Brindemore, by NHL standards. So I think that was a bit of an exaggeration because I never had that interpretation going

in to Friday and I've talked to the random camp since since and I think that and I haven't watched or heard the entire interview, but I mean, I think Eric Tulski came out publicly yesterday and tried to correct all of that. So I don't know. How do you know? Like honestly, when you're in that, I can tell you one thing I know is that Mika Ratan did not expect to be traded. Like he's made this clear. He,

he didn't know that that Colorado was at their, that this our final offer. If you don't take it, we're trading you. And maybe he had taken it if he understood that. Okay, well that's water under the bridge. That happened. But, you know, he wasn't going to Carolina thinking that he was going to extend there. He was open-minded, my understanding is, to getting there and seeing how it played out and wasn't going to be forced into signing in an extension. And frankly, that's what the trade deadline is all about. So now you've got an active owner and Tom Dunman is like, well, we just gave up a fair bit to acquire this player.

I'm not letting them walk out the door for nothing, which is what could have happened. So let's got bait. I think that's, that's probably more to the reality. With Darren Drager at TSN Hockey Insider. What's your read on what happens with the Vancouver Canucks over the next, let's say, six months? Like, who stays, who goes, how, like, because they lost again last night. They have 13 wins on home ice this year. Pretty staggering number for a team that played the way they did last year. Patterson, you know, we know what's going

on with him. Hughes in and out of the lineup. He might play tonight. Demko's a mess. Like, it just's it's flipped so drastically. The market is so rattled. It is. What do you see happening here? Well I mean a month ago we were led to believe that you know Vancouver just had to get a centerman and it made sense you know whether that was before or after the JT Miller trade. I mean, now, you're trying to replace that top center and you're hoping that in Alias Patterson, you can get that piece of the puzzle back in place and neither happened. And the messaging I got from Vancouver was when they basically threw out the SOS for a centerman, that was around the JT Miller trade.

That was to kind of blanket the league and smoke out what available centers might be there. And there wasn't a whole lot. And so obviously they didn't make a move. And now you're, you know, you move JT Miller, you get good return for JT Miller, and you're uncertain about Pedersen. Absolutely, no doubt about that. And you're going into the offseason going, all right, well, we didn't move Brock Besser,

we didn't move our pending three agents other than Besser, and we're going to try and retool if we can in the offseason. The problem with all that is, and I get it, I do understand, like they had flies swarming around Brock Besser. Nothing that was even tangible. Zero first round picks on the table. I heard that they had somebody nibbling at a second round pick and then that team bailed. So they couldn't get for Brock Besser what Washington had to give up for Anthony Bavillier. I mean that's questionable for sure. So you start to scratch your head as to why and what's going on.

And then as I was reminded today and I forgot about it to be fair, you know, now you have the uncertainty of Rick Tauke. And what does Tauke want to do going into an option year? I think it's a club option but an option year at the end of this year. So, holy smokes. There's a lot going on in Vancouver as they continue to kind of push for a playoff spot here, but they don't have a whole lot of help at the moment. No, no kidding. Big one tonight, Vancouver and Calgary. I think Quinn Hughes might be playing here he's he's on the trip they're saying that is a good

chance of playing man could be used out yeah but uh... that's that's a big one big one tonight calgary vancouver by drugs believe it there were doing in some god heavy lifting today and call us yes and they really taking you through it softball next week we're at the end of the year and then actually so but talk about

i don't know cba non-pandemic something role changes will talk about rule that i have yet byron and i was late you guys come up with the top no this uh... the legit homework aside you come up with top two three i will change is you'd like to see on behalf of overdrive and I will present them to the GM's next week. I like that idea. Alright Dougie, fire it up we'll send it your way. ASAP. Thank you Draggs. Thanks boys. Darren Dragg or TSN Hockey Insider. All new, all Canadian. The best of our great nation, one song at a time.

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