OverDrive - Dreger on Marner's future on the fence, Tavares' likely return in Toronto and the Maple Leafs' direction

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around Brad Treliving's press conference storylines, the direction of the Maple Leafs' roster, Mitch Marner and John Tavares' future in Toronto, Keith Pelley's overall standpoint of the team and more.

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Powered by North by Northeast. Taking place June 11th to 15th across Toronto. iHeart New Music. Discover new music. Stream now online on your smart speaker and on the free I heart radio app Here's our TSN hockey insider Darren Drager Dragg's are you surprised at all that we're possibly looking down the barrel of both series ending in five games Mmm, a little bit

You know, maybe more in the West to be fair than the East. I know that Dallas has given up on the series by a long shot here. I just felt like the momentum that Dallas earned coming out of the Colorado series and taking down the President's trophy winning Winnipeg Geth, I thought they'd be harder to handle than they have been for the Edmonton Owners. But you know, Edmonton is a real good team. They're getting offense from different areas. Stu Skinner has been really good, especially the last couple of games. So we'll see how it plays out. There's still tons of momentum and time there. But you know, Florida, man, they're just that good. They're just that good. And you know, I thought there'd be a

little bit more pushback in the Carolina Hurricanes. Freddie Anderson was out of his mind the other night, but do we really believe he's capable of doing that and extending this series to a six or seven game scenario? Not for me. And I just think Florida is gonna,, they're going to cut bait as quickly as they can here. So Darren, if both series happen to wrap up, I know Jamie touched on this earlier in the show, but would they kickstart up the finals a little bit quicker or would they wait the full duration? No, I, you know, this is just planning from a TV perspective, it's starting to sound like if the series ends, even on the weekend, both series, they'd go as early as next Wednesday.

Perfect. Yeah, I'm with you man. Don't drag it out. Don't let people get caught up in other things and start doing summer stuff. Get it fired up right away. Yeah, and then you look at the cadence of what that best of seven looks like. Does it, does Wednesday, you know,

I think they're gonna, again, just according to the loose planning that's happening at the American network level, you know, above all else, it does sound Wednesday, Friday, but that's just written in pencil. I don't think that they've made a firm decision on it. But I was surprised because I thought, okay, well, if Florida, Carolina were to end tonight

and then Edmonton beats Dallas Thursday tomorrow, that makes sense that you'd get going as early as next Wednesday. But now it now sounds like there are at least discussions at the ad net level of that goes into the weekend and they've got their two teams and they'll get going as early as next Wednesday so that's a great thing. With Darren Drager a TSN hockey insider so we're we're going to hear from Brad Treeliving tomorrow the GM of the Maple Leafs and by the time he steps up the

the playoffs for the Leafs will have been done by you know for more than 10 days and I guess the dust is officially settled these Matt with Keith Pelley he knows that Brendan Shanahan is no longer his boss what are you expecting to hear from Tree Living tomorrow well more about just the direction that they're hoping to take the Toronto Maple Leafs and we're talking about roster here there there is off-ice stuff going on. That's the case with every organization every year. And I think Keith Felle used the word forensic

when he met the media late last week. And I don't think it's gonna be any different under the umbrella of MLSC. And what that means is whether it's hockey operations, whether it's marketing, all the departments under the brand of the Toronto Maple Leafs would get attention in this process. changes, whether it's hockey operations, whether it's marketing, all the departments under the brand of the Toronto Maple Leafs would get attention in this process. So there could be changes happening that we don't even know about.

In the bigger picture, from a hockey perspective, maybe don't mean a lot, but I do expect that there will be some level of change both on and off the ice. But that's not being specific to what we see in hockey operations. Now, you look at Craig Barube, his head coach, Lane Lambert, we know, we interviewed in Seattle, and he sounds like a finalist. So just naturally, they may have to make some changes

to the coaching staff. We'll see how it plays out there. But what all Leafs fans are most interested in, okay, what's the roster going to look like? And I know you guys have talked a little bit and the market is kind of focused on the Core Four and is it possible to roll it back? It isn't because I just don't think naturally

it's going to happen. It's just not. I mean, Mitch Meyers is gonna go to free agency. The Toronto Maple Leafs are gonna try and invest, reinvest that money. So really when you're looking at core four, not to rip the scab out here, but you're probably talking about one player and that's John DeVaris who's a pending UFA. Because if you talk to you about say the idea of throwing Morgan Riley into a trade scenario, well he's got an old move clause.

So there's still lots of complications, but the direction, the want of the coaching staff, of management is for this team to be different, to be heavier, to be grittier, all those great things. I just, I think I've got a pretty good grasp on what the pool of players available looks like, and I'm not sure where they're getting those players. I'm not. I mean, you can come up with trade speculation in this player, why he fits here and all of that, but you also have to have the trade assets to make it work, and that's where it

gets a little bit tight, I think, in Toronto. Darren, as much as i'd like to see some different players because i don't know i want to sit late nights with you and do the same panel year after year after year but the book is it like a done deal it seems like it's basically done deal with john that john to bars is going to be returning there just sorting out the numbers with with

would you be comfortable saying that not done deal all uh... but a strong appetite from both sides to get it done uh... you know and and the challenge that i think most people have is okay that's fine everybody is a healthy respect for for to barris and thirty eight gold that he scored and what he is as a player turning thirty five in sept 35 in September and all of that. But the numbers matter because anything that you're investing in Tavares has to

come out of the pie, right? And what sort of dollars are we talking about here? We know what he made and that was 11 million flat. We know that he's not going to make anywhere near that. See, I get less bothered and people get wound up in, okay, what is the term and how important is the term? The term, if I were a Leafs fan, wouldn't matter to me at all for the next two years. Because I think that there should be comfort in believing that John DeVaris is going to be a contributing player for the next two years. And so if you're Brad Trilliving, not that you're just spending willy-nilly here, but I always use a Chris

Taneff contract as my exhibit eight. Do you think Maple Leafs wanted to throw that term at Taneff? No, obviously they didn't, but they knew that they needed that type of player, the history, the character of Taneff. And so you overspend on term just because for the next couple of years, if you're gonna win the Stanley Cup, he's gonna be a big part of it. And I think that that does apply to Tavares at least the next two years. So why sweat it if it's a four year deal, who cares?

Now, I mean, if the team doesn't do well the next two years, you know, it's probably a different management group that's making those decisions anyway. So let them worry about it. So Draggs, in the press conference tomorrow, obviously it's Brad Treeliving addressing, but do you suspect that Keith Pelly would be there? And do you suspect that if he speaks that then maybe he would lay out the, you know, the chain of command,

how he envisions that the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be run this season or do you feel like you got that answer with Keith Pelly talking earlier in the week? Yeah, I'm not sure what, you know, how much more Keith Pelly can provide and that's not knowing. I'm not saying that he isn't going to be there and I don't know that he isn't going to be there and I don't know that he isn't going to be sitting beside Brad Treleving. They're in pro-scouting meetings but again that doesn't really involve Pelley, you know it more involves Brad Treleving and uh and Greg Borubey. I do wonder if if the head coach is going to be there because without getting into specifics because we don't really know them and I don't know that they've officially sorted all out.

Well, we do know from what Keith Pelley said is that Craig Barubei has a different role. Of course, yeah, he's head coach. He makes the decisions in terms of what's happening in game and all of that. But he's got a louder voice if he wants it, but he also has a healthy respect, I know this, for Bradshaw Living and management of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the decisions that need to be made that are going to be made.

It just sounds like the conversation that he had with Keith Dulley while Trelin was in Calgary you know intending to his daughter's graduation was about okay well Brendan Chanan is now gone we're not replacing the president's role I need you two guys to mostly handle everything under the label of hockey operations and they're more than willing to do that but I still think that there's some wrinkles in this process that do need to be ironed out with darren drager at the s and hockey insider uh... so i you know i feel like we're gonna ask this question a lot of the next month

you just you just said that martyrs going to free agency uh... just does that mean do you think they have told the least i think they have to tell the least anything to think there'll be any conversations between now and july first or is brad trilling in the may please you know if they get the message in the leg area all good man like good luck will will see you later

but that is how does their relationship work in the next month i don't think that would be that cotton right brian i mean we're in may you know quickly coming to the end of May here and July 1st isn't that far away. I don't think that the messaging from the Miner camp really would change from what they've already heard, right? You know, there's been some market speculation and well, could they trade Miner's rights?

And would he be interested if it was going to the right fit in pursuing that because in that case it'd be a sign of trade and he'd get the eighth year and and I I don't think that that motivates the miner side too much I think that when you've gone through everything that that group has gone through and I'm by group I've talked about everyone including the Maple Leafs and you're this close to July 1st, why wouldn't you stay on the script? And the script dating back to last, this past off season, was that, hey, focus is going to be on hockey. Mitch is going to try and help this team win, which he did in the regular season, and collectively

they just weren't able to beat the defending Stanley Cup champs. Okay, that part is over. Now you get to July 1st and we know that the market is going to be vast and it is going to be multiple teams with expressions of considerable interest. It's not going to be a problem finding a huge amount of money for Mitch Miner. His challenge is going to be, okay, well, is there a better fit available to me and my family where I'm getting the money and I have an opportunity to contend for a Stanley Cup? I think there will be. You know, the teams

that have been speculated on ranging from the top possibility of Florida to Vegas go down the list. I mean, I can't dispute that. Why wouldn't those teams have interest? We can look at the financial challenges of making that work among that group. But the plan all along was to see what the open market presents and then, hey, if Brad, for living in the Toronto Maple Leafs

are still in it at that point, of course, Marner is going to listen. It's just, oh, joked about this a couple of minutes ago, you know, not wanting to sit on the panel a year from now and do the same stuff over and over again. This isn't on Marner, but this is opportunity for this team to change, right? Nobody knows if change is going to equate to a better run down the playoff path, but why wouldn't you seize that opportunity to change and try

something different? And I think that that's more or less the way that the Maple Leafs are leading as well. All right, well I look forward to hearing from Tree Living tomorrow, like most people do. I mean, this would be interesting. I'm sure he'll be asked about Shanahan, he'll be asked about Pelley, he'll be asked about Marner and I don't know how many answers he's going to be willing to give, but I guess we'll find out starting tomorrow. I guess we'll find out. Yeah. All right, Dreggs, good stuff. Thank you for doing this as always. Have a good night.

We'll do it again soon. You bet. Take care. There's Darren Dregg or a TSN Hockey Insider. The newest tracks. And the next big thing. And your first place to hear it all. I Heart New Music.

Your digital station for brand new drops, fresh finds and tomorrow's bangers. Powered by North by Northeast. Taking place June 11th to 15th across Toronto. I Heart New Music. I Heart New Music. I Heart New Music. I Heart New Music. I Heart New Music.

I Heart New Music. I Heart New Music. I Heart New Music. I Heart New Music. I Heart New Music. I Heart New Music. I Heart New Music. I Heart New Music. Your digital station for brand new drops, fresh finds, and tomorrow's bangers. Powered by North by Northeast. Taking place June 11th to 15th across Toronto. iHeart New Music. Discover new music. Stream now online on your smart speaker and on the free iHeart Radio app.