OverDrive - Dreger on Stolarz's mystery injury, Bedard's shoulder status and Sabres' managerial changes

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NHL, the Sabres' managerial change and the next steps for the team, the Maple Leafs' goaltending outlook and Anthony Stolarz's injuries, Connor Bedard's injury, Seth Jones on Brandon Hagel and more.

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Well, you don't have anyone at home or anything. You don't even need it. It's just the four of us, hanging out. Yeah. Just come on in, man. I'm all disheveled here. It's all good. It's all right.

It's set up. A lot going on, isn't there? Pretty wild, like, week or so in the NHL. Trades, firings. I mean, how often is a GM get fired during the season? Yeah, a bit weird. A bit weird. A bit weird.

But that, you know, that Buffalo speculation had been drifting for several days, I would say. They're doing that kind of ridiculous, drags how it was like, you bring in Yarmal, and everybody knew that that's a red flag. And then it's just being reported. It's like, probably when they get back from Seattle is going to get canned. It's like, what kind of business is that? That's nonsense. Well, the media march in Buffalo.

I mean, they were literally doing the hour-by-hour watch of this for several days, right? It's not like you needed, you know, the gaggle of hockey insiders to give you the goods. I mean, Buffalo Media was all over. Now, we do think that, you know, there was some timing issue. I think Yarmu was in Finland for personal reasons, so that may have slowed the process a little bit, but at the end of the day, I think everybody knew it was coming. And now you start to wonder, okay, well, you know, to your point, Brian, you know, general managers don't get fired in season very often. And it's difficult when you come in in season to manage any sort of significant change, right? You can look at the Alex Tuck negotiation. All right, well, that's pretty obvious. You know, he's got his own view of Sherry Garmo on the value of Alex Tuck. I mean, the former general manager shared

that Tuck was looking for money that was just beyond Alex Kempi, or Adrian Kempi. So Kempi is, what, 10.6 on his extension in L.A.? So is that enough to make Alex Tuck a legitimate trade bait target between now and March 6? Maybe, maybe. So stuff like that is, I think, where he starts to sink his teeth,

too. Let's go around the horn here. What is the one thing that the sabers desperately need to get out of this 14 or 15 year rut of nonsense? I think it's honestly an ownership change. Like I don't think the owner

pays enough. That ain't going to happen now. I hear what you're saying, but Pagula, you know, he's billionaire, he's a buffaloan. It's a buzzword, a culture. You need an identity. Regardless of whether you live up to it or not, but that's

the one thing. Now, I'm going to defend it a little bit on one side. It's because Marty B. Ron, Rett Warner, all of these guys that I've talked to, we work with, no, and that. Those guys are alumni that love and retired in Buffalo. Like, there's a culture

there. Like, when you go there, a lot of guys love the market. Like, they ball in love with it, they stay, or they marry somebody from there, whatever. But there's something there to me, but I don't know what the identity of the organization is. And I think that's probably

where you start. I heard Yarmu used that word today too. Yeah. No, but if you look at the identity or culture, whatever, if you look at some of the pieces that were there, it's like, number one centerman is so important for an NHL franchise. Yeah. They had one. Yeah. And there was a dispute

over surgery, and the guy got pissy and he said, get me the hell out of here. There goes your number one centerman. They had Allmark and Nett, and it was like, Olmark just goes somewhere else, and he's a starting gold. It's like you need the pieces and good players to identify any type of culture and some of them were there

and they're just gone. Yeah. No, you're right. I'm not arguing against you. I'm just saying that that's where I would start. I don't know how you do that, but I think that's where you start and go, we're going to create a culture here that guys are going to want to stay here, want to play here. Yeah, I mean

it starts with the forensic audit, the new management of the roster. Is this NHEL roster good enough for us to compete for a playoff spot? And if it isn't, then, okay, you do have to start moving out some pieces. You know, cut bait with Alex Tuck in the sand to draw that line in the sand. Okay, here's as high as we're going to go. And that's it.

Because if they throw Alex Tuck officially on the trade market, I mean, you don't think that, I mean, Brad Trilliving has been looking for a forward. Well, go down the list of all the teams in the NHL that would dive into that pool given the opportunity, right? Well, that's where it starts. And then beyond that, if you're okay with your NHL roster, maybe it needs some tweaking. I think you have to ask some hard questions about the coaching. I mean, who doesn't have respect for Lindy Rough? He's been around the game forever, right?

But that's what tough decisions are all about, and he's not Yarmos guy. And when you've got a Pete DeBoer floating out there, or maybe another guy that you've covered, if the organization is bold enough to fire its GM in season this early, in the first half of the regular season then I think you have to be open for business to do just about anything where do things stand with John Tortarillo like is he want a coach again

like he's a Yarmot guy he would love the coach he's a Yarmow guy they were together in Columbus yeah you want culture that's the face of it right there regardless of what you that guy steps in and will immediately demand certain things I want work I want this that he does

he's demanding it would be interesting I DeBoer, I think, would be sexier. I mean, just based on... I hear you, but... Well, the one thing Kevin Adams talked about, he said, you know, there's taxes, there's no palm trees.

What if you throw torts on top of it? Like, are you going to get... And I know it's about winning and it's about culture. The worst thing he could have ever said, though, was that press conference was so embarrassing. It was so stupid. It was.

You can't, like... But I'm just saying if you throw torts on it's another... It's almost like another tax where it's like, do I want to go there and deal with tourists valid? I hear you. Where do you live with it through another year which is tough because we're still so early? I mean Buffalo

is far from out of it when you look at the standings I mean why throw in the towel I wouldn't throw in the towel but you do have to be creative. Like he said I'm going to address my goaltending we've got three we've got to figure out we want to go to two. You know we've got some decisions to make with Alex Tuck

I just what's weird about this he's been sitting there in the wings forensic auditing his team already. Yeah, he knows what he has. He knows exactly what he wants to do, whether he's able, now he's able to do it because he's the guy.

He was sitting on the couch, now he's in the chair. Now he's in the chair to drive the bus and go, this is the vision I have, and he's probably had to sell that to... Yeah, it's going to be interesting, too, to see some of the off-ice stuff that happens that we don't know about, we don't talk about, because it doesn't, to us, it doesn't matter.

What I mean by that is, you know, the guys that were faithful to him in Columbus that maybe still are in Columbus and maybe don't love what they have and Don Waddell in the direction of the Blue Jackets, that stuff likely doesn't happen in season. But when you look at hockey operations of the Buffalo Sabres, there's definitely going to be change. Darren Dregor in studio. So we got Leaves Blackhawks tonight on TSN, Joseph Wall back, stole ours an update, I guess, today, not concussion-related what he's dealing with, but going for an opinion or a second opinion or what have you

because there's no progress there. How are the Leaf's going to handle the goal tenting? But I just want to back up like 30 seconds. So you guys saw the release from the Raptors yesterday. Mike Lane and I were talking about this yesterday, and they acknowledged the specific injury to RJ Barrett. Did you notice that? I think it was widely assumed that maybe it was Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

The parent company had this clawed. all right, we do not disclose interest. Well, clearly, the Raptors aren't, they're not adhering to that. So it isn't that. It's a Maple Leafs issue. And I think that they're inching towards being more honest and open with Anthony Stollars because they don't have another way to explain why this guy isn't on the ice. And there's been wild speculation that's been floating out there as to the mysteries

that are keeping Anthony Stollars off the ice. And some of it was getting goofy, to be fair. And now, whether or not it gets to mainstream guys like us or not, it doesn't matter. Once it's out there, it's out there. So I think that encouraged, you know, the decision to come out and say, okay, it's not concussion related.

It's not this. He's got an upper body injury that we haven't been able to figure out yet in terms of why he's not progressing to a point where he can get back on the ice. They say he's making progress, but you still can't get a timeline as to when Stoller's might be back on the ice or back in the net. Right. And Wals back tonight, and this is an evergreen topic around him, do they just let him play?

Or is there, you know, how do they? Whatever game it was, you know, was it just prior to him getting hurt or was it the game where he got it? It doesn't matter, but we were having this discussion as to whether or not he plays in this game. I think it was a Thursday game and they had to play Saturday. And, you know, I was like, now you got to, whatever, just ride him, play them. And he was like, I don't know, we're playing with fire here. And then the poor guy gets. I think you guys had that great with Jonas.

Yeah, like, how do you handle the guy? I mean, it's great that he's back. It's a relatively quick recovery, which is good. Like, this isn't talked a lot about, but think about, like, the salary. Like, some of these modern-day gold tenders, it's like they're earning top dollar and they're playing half the game. of another guy. It's crazy stuff. Yeah. And it's hard to be...

It's so important. ...injury versus injury here, right? But then you think of Connor Hallibuck, and... You know, as soon as he stepped onto the ice early last week, I mean, he was just doing goaling movements. He wasn't even taking shots initially.

And he went to the training staff and said, no, I'm good to go. But there are certain guys. You guys played with them, I'm sure, as well. They're just... Hey, just get the clearance sign and let me go. How about this? Lie about it. Connor Hellebuck is a guy that, like, these guys now at 30 years old, whatever, even younger, they know their bodies.

So Hellebuck's like, okay, minor procedure looks like four to six weeks. Now the procedure, feeling good. Okay, let's do some butterflies. Let's do some pushes. I'm good. I think, guys, with the other guys and a bunch of guys throughout the league, the one thing that's completely out the window is any type of sense. sense of urgency. Like, if you look

at how tight the standings are in the Atlantic, some guys that are injured, you'd be saying, you'd think they'd be saying, man, like, there's no option for me now. I've got to play, like, the points are so important, but everyone's just so comfortable to say... That's the approach for a lot of guys. Yeah, they're like, I'm not stepping on the night, and it's their

prerogative, and that's how, if that's how they want to deal with it, it's their careers, but it's, like, their mandate is, I'm not stepping on that ice unless I'm 100%, which is this crazy to think. Well, we won't see Badaar on the ice tonight, and we're not going to see him anytime soon. How does this affect? Early New Year, I think.

Early New Year? Do you think that's going to affect the way Canada approaches him and putting them on the team or not? I don't think so. But, you know, you've got guys kind of drop and left and right. You know, is the news bad on Horvatt? Not so sure. Better than expected, I think.

You know, we saw Brandon Hagel take one in the chops by, you know, Seth Jones last night, which, by the way, I think Chris Johnson is talking about tonight in insider trading because the lightning are white hot. Yeah, no supplemental discipline at all. No, and the explanation that was provided to me, and I don't

work for the NHL or the players safety department here, was that, we've all seen the still pick, and the still pick is egregious, right? Because it shows Seth Jones with the elbow, like two feet from Brandon Hagel's head. Looks just like what Ekplad did to him. But in the video that we're looking at

here, you can see Hegel stop up and then cut back, right? And by that point, Jones had committed. So is it more of an unfurringed? fortunate collision that led to the injury or head hunting as the Tampa Lightning would want you to believe. Well, obviously, George Perros and Department of Player's Safety said, no, it wasn't that. It was an unfortunate collision. I have time for the debate, but here's what I remind everybody when we get hot and bothered over this stuff.

I've been to every general manager meeting in March for the last 25 years. These guys talk about this stuff. You know how many times they change it? Not very often. not very often. We have seen changes related to I mean, the evolution of the player safety department is because of the

general manager. The Matt Cook and the league. I'm not throwing them fully under the bus. The cross-checking penalties, the slashing, you almost never see that stuff anymore, right? So they do good work. But I hope Julian Breeze spawned the Tampa Lightning are as emotional in March

in that meeting with other general managers and spool that up and say, I want everybody go around the room. And if that's your player, how do you feel about that player? And I agree with that. The issue with that could be is they'll find something a lightning player has done and said,

you speak on your guy. A hundred percent. That's always the issue. Every GM hates it when their player gets it. And then when they get called, well, your player just did something, they said, well, wait a minute, there's an easy explanation for that. And that's the problem. Everyone's got an easy explanation for their own guy. For their own guy. Remember Buchennevich,

they put, the Rangers put the letter out. Yes, yep. And then next Dave Bouchnavich got suspended. The guy who got hit got suspended for a high sticking somebody. I'm sorry, that clip of Seth Jones. I love Seth Jones. I love Paul Maurice and the Florida Panthers. That looked

like he took a shot and elbowed him right in the face. It looks purely similar to act flat on Hagle in the playoffs. So you're suspending them, in other words. Whether it's two games, one game, whatever. Absolutely. That looked like he elbowed him right in the face. I don't care about a cutback or anything. He elbowed him in the face. And I got to think Tampa is

particularly sensitive to Hagle. because of his role in that rivalry. I don't think he's put the player... He's targeted, man. Yeah. He is. He is. But, now again, to go back to what you were initially talking about,

yeah, there's going to be some tough decisions for Doug Armstrong and Team Canada. I mean, Badaard was absolutely playing his way, not only into the conversation, but making that decision as whether he goes to Italy or not, incredibly difficult. I still felt at the time of the injury, he was on the outside looking in. I did. Hagel, of course, he's in. with John Cooper, right? Darcy Kemper, yeah, he's in that conversation for the number three.

No doubt about that. Who's the number one, Dregs, just that of curiosity? Well, I think because of resume and Four Nations bias, it would be Bennington. Yeah, I think it's Bennington. But based on play this year, you could make that case for Logan Thompson for sure. His team is not very good. Like, you know, you put Bennington on a different team.

We saw it. With the Four Nations, you put him there. and play very well. I think Finnington is the guy and he proved that the Four Nations he could stand up on the biggest stage. He did it. He hasn't had a great statistical year,

but keep in mind where St. Louis is. We're going to juice things up on the insider trading for you, fellas. Oh, yeah? Some leaf talk. Some nuggets. Okay. Love it. Interesting.

Do the Leafs need the forward? For four words, we've talked about that often on the show, right? Specifically, one to saddle up beside Austin Matthews, you know, Marner 2.0 or whatever. Get them the puck more in the offensive zone. Or a defenseman with the lingering issues. Preferably a top four guy.

You say D. Somebody who can move the puck who not named Troy Stetcher, who's like 22 minutes for 17. Just a guy available that went to Minnesota. We've got updates coming in on. Okay, updates coming up. Insider trading tonight. Can't wait. We'll catch on the panel tonight.

Yep. There is. Darren Dregger, a TSN Hockey Insider. The lights are twinkling. The playlist. Sparkling. I Heart the Holidays is here. Canada's home for Christmas music with non-stop festive favorites 24-7. Gifted to you by Sleep Country. Turn it up and unwrap the holidays everywhere you go. Just ask your smart speaker to play I Heart the Holidays. Or stream it anytime, anywhere on the free IHard Radio app.