OverDrive - Dreger on Tavares and Knies' contract headway, Kane's role with the Canucks and Demko's future in Vancouver

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NHL, Evander Kane's trade to the Canucks and the meaning of the deal from Edmonton, Thatcher Demko's future in Vancouver, the progress on John Tavares and Matthew Knies' contracts, Florida's contract trajectory and more.

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Some restrictions and exclusions may apply. See participating stores for details. Here's our TSN Hockey Insider, Darren Dreger. What's the latest out in Vegas, Dreger? We're just talking about Riley Smith signing one year for two million. That doesn't put a damper on their pursuit of Mitch Marner, I would assume? I wouldn't think so, no. Again, when you look at the history and the track record of Kelly McGrumman especially,

like Bill Zito, like the top GMs in the league. I mean it's a game of chess and he always seems to be a step or two ahead. Now there's going to have to be some significant maneuvering either using LTIR again right or moving players out to comply before the start of the regular season if Mitch Meierner ends up going there. Obviously there's a lot of work ahead, but McCrimmon has it figured out. And he's probably got multiple trade conversations happening. I know there was a total hurdle trade rumors yesterday, the day before that was debunked, things like that.

It's going to be ongoing around basically every player on that team until we smoke through free agency and it becomes apparent as to what their next move is there. It just stays true to Vegas though, Draggs. They'll just keep tinkering and they'll believe in a guy and bring him in and if it doesn't work it's like they don't wait around and say, oh, we're going to honor the contractor, give this guy three years to prove his worth They get a look-see and if they don't like it They'll they'll tinker and they'll want to bring in a different player and I give you credit for that man. It's business

But McCrimmon would be offended by me saying that as bluntly as that because he does he cares for his players Yeah, of course Yeah He cares for his players. Yeah, of course. Yeah, but look at the challenge every single season since the Vegas Golden Knights broke in on the National Hockey League by expansion. From Bill Foley, the owner, is go and win a Stanley Cup. And I remember, you know, when they first kind of acknowledged that, we all sort of chuckled,

but it's as if you're gonna win a Stanley Cup in the first few years, but here we are and every year they're a top contending team. So when your owner is fully on board, then isn't that management's job? Like, yes, you can collect top end guys, but there was no guarantee when they inquired Jack Eichel from the Buffalo Sabres and he went through a surgical procedure, which was inflammatory at the time, that it was going to work out the way that it has, right? Well, if it didn't work out, okay, well then you figure something else out.

And they do that as well as any. The better destination of choice, no different little Florida teams and that helps as well. So Dragg's Evander Cain gets traded. We're starting to see some movement here in the league. You sense that there is more trades brewing as opposed to maybe free agent because maybe the list is a little thinner than expected? Yeah, I think that there are trades brewing, but it's a bit of a circus trick to try and pinpoint exactly who or what we're talking about here.

I kind of sound like a broken record in talking about Bo Byram and the Buffalo Sabres, but man there's a lot of activity around that guy. And Adams has made it abundantly clear he's not moving him until or unless he gets exactly what he wants, he wants a right shot D coming back. I mean that's a perfect scenario, right? There could be other pieces that sway his decision, but more or less, it's contractual. You know, Byrom has our rights, and then you could lock him in the free agency with a two-year deal.

Probably, if he stays in Buffalo, gets a one-year deal. But even if he gets traded, you know, the team that acquires Bo Byrom could have a challenge in getting a longer-term contract extension. And it's because of the carrot that is the expanding salary cap. Like what is the salary cap gonna look like three, four years from now, especially if you're a top defenseman.

And that's what Bo Byron believes he will be when he moves out of the path of Bowling Power and Rasmus Dalí. So that's a hotspot for all of us, I think. You know, beyond that, yeah, there's lots of trade conversations. Picks are also, you know, when you get this close to round one,

which is Friday, first round draft picks are currency, and they become significant trade bait. And so I did a little bit of trolling around the league, especially with the clubs that have at least two first-round picks And I think there's a couple with three first-round draft picks including Nashville What are they going to do with those picks?

Well the majority of the teams that I touch base with if they've got more than one first-round pick They'd like to keep the higher of the two or three first-round picks, but the other picks are in play So I mean we could see multiple first round draft picks get exchanged as part of either players moving up, moving down, that sort of thing. Draggs, if you had to ask Stan, like you can only give me one reason and it's the real reason that Evander Cain left Edmonton, what would it be? Like is it money? Was it the discipline problems in the playoffs? Like why was he moved? No money. That's the primary reason. Look, at the end of the day, Evander Kane didn't contribute enough in the Stanley Cup

final. But you could say that about a number of different players. I'm not convinced that Edmonton was going to beat Florida, period, the way that the Packers played in game five and in game six. So I think Pierre Lebron speculated on social media about, okay, well Kane is cap relief and Victor Arbetson could be the next run on the latter of moment and the Edmonton Oilers trying to relieve some of that pressure. Let's not forget that Leon Dreisaitl's contract kicks in as of next season. So that's a big cap hit.

And then you've got Evan Bouchard who they're in the early process now of negotiations and you know, what does that feel going to look like and on and on and on and goes. So it was mostly cap relief around Kane getting moved. With Derek Dreger and in terms of Vancouver, um, you know, we've talked about their goaltender situation that that's your Demco. He's got a contract. He's, he hasn't played a lot, you know, we've talked about their goaltending situation, that Patrick Demko, he's got a contract, he hasn't played a lot, you know, he barely played last year, he's had real injury issues. Like is Demko, where does this go with Demko?

Is Vancouver in a position of leverage or would they be trying to just unload him? I'm confused by the Demko status around the league. Yeah, so for me anyway, it changed a little bit as today unfolded, and I'm going to talk a bit more about this tonight on SportsCenter, because it did make sense until recently that Vancouver would have to consider trading faster Demko. If they're not comfortable with his long-term health, well then why would you commit to a bigger contract like Audinger or Sleiman or a deal like that? And I don't know what the firm numbers are.

I don't know what the term is that's being discussed by the Vancouver Canucks and factor Demco's representatives. But I was told by a couple of teams midday today that Demco is again more or less now off the market. There was a team in the East that was pretty interested in Demco, there'd be lots of teams that would be interested, didn't like the sticker price, whatever it was, the ask was really, really high,

but they still had interest. So I got poking around that a little bit more and I wouldn't call it close or imminent. I don't like using those words because things go sideways pretty quickly, but it does sound like progress is being made on a multi-year extension. Say it's done, Dragg. Say it's done.

No, it's not, though. It's not. And look, both the players' side and management for the Vancouver Connect have acknowledged that it's still an open and ongoing negotiation, but more from the players' side, I got the sense that the extension multi-year was far more likely than trade at this point. So then basically what they're saying is they're going to probably go at it with Demko and Lankanen and they got Shilohff there who needs waivers. So would that present a trade for Shilov then? Because, you know, I don't know what you get for him in a trade, but that's in the end. If you're extending

Demko and you've got Lankanen's deal kicking in this year on an extension, you know, you're going to have 10 million bucks in gold tenders, which is fine. I mean, a lot of teams have that, but it kind of leaves the odd man out because I don't think you'll get Shilov's to the miners through waivers. Probably not and that makes sense Noodles. You know and the other thing too is even though you've got a lower paid salary than Shilov, you're still lucky at every cap savings you can. It's not like the Vancouver Canucks are overrun with cap space. They still have some,

but they also have needs, right? I mean, they're, they're, they're bringing in a Vander Cane. Okay. Well, they get maybe a bit faster, a little bit more competitive and all of those things, but they, they're still in the market strongly for a center. How are they requiring that person? What are they using as bait? Maybe it's a roster player or roster players that you know help their cap situation they they do have cap space they go around seven million

uh... when when they're all said and done by you're probably not going to keep those three goalie so she loves makes a lot of sense that he could be in play with their triggers so the least do not have a first round pick for the next three years uh... so you know friday night is not a little bit of a still you might have his feet up watching the you know the tallies years yeah they've traded away first round tax

uh... they don't have any like i think there's no protection on a couple of them so it can roll over if everything falls apart. But you know we know Tavares, Matthew Nyes, you know like that's been a big story. Putting those two aside, unless you have an update on that, like what else are the Leafs trying to do here? What do you think Brad Treloving is you know trying to attack in terms of his roster building plan? Yeah I mean a little bit of everything right? I mean he's trying to add more

competitive players uh... you know there's there's a name that will surprise you that we know are out there like yarn croak and david camp guys like that on the trade front uh... but that's probably lower down the list you know again teams are are are big game hunting or bigger game hunting right now on the trade front and then you go to free agency and you shop around there and you see what it

looks like. And if you don't get the player or players that you're looking for, then maybe you explore the interests that you might have in the players that I've mentioned from the Maple Leafs. Um, yeah, I mean, he's, he's grinding away on Tavares and Nyes. There's no doubt about that. And you know this morning it sounded like it was really slow moving. I think that there's

been progress made today and I'm careful and hesitating in how I describe this because to be fair I don't know if it's solely with Tavares and if it is I'm fascinated to understand and see what what the complexity of that deal would look like. But, you know, he's been grinding away on Matthew Nyes as well. Those two guys are obviously the priorities you head into the weekend. I think he'd like to get them done ASAP so that you can focus on the draft. If there's a trade that makes some sense, okay, well that can happen in Los Angeles as well.

Well, not that Trilling will be there. But then, you know, you flip over on July 1st to focusing on, okay, well Florida hasn't signed Brad Marsh hand yet. What does that deal look like? You know, let's kick into free agency gear. So, it's played its full. There's a lot going on.

But again, it does, it smells like there's at least some progress being made, let's kick in the free agency here so inflated for the lock on on but again uh... it does it's smells like there's at least some progress being made especially with the verse yet i'm curious if i mean there's there to players are completely different ends of the spectrum like the bar is not thirty five and i was a young kid is our family but i wonder if there's

you know bold number in mind you know that that RFA, but I wonder if there's a bold number in mind that Tree Living would be comfortable if you combined the two. In other words, I got 12 million that I want to split up between the two. I don't know, I'm using that arbitrarily. Do you see a connection there as they're trying to put the dollars together here that the Nise and Tavares, the combined money is what has to be figured out before they can move to that next step like you said yeah well for obvious reasons you want John DeVaris at the lowest AAV

possible yeah right the absolute lowest how creative can you be to get there because you also know that John in the open market is worth way more than Toronto Maple Leafs have the stomach to pay him. And we know we don't have to go down this road again. We all know that he's willing to take a hometown discount. But there's only so far you can go with that knife before the cut is too deep. And I think that Toronto is recognizing that to some degree in the discussion. But it's not just those two guys because now you are, you're also creating space.

Like how do you, if Brad Marchand doesn't get a deal done to extend in Florida, how are you making that work? Right? Like you're going to have to be super creative with term. And you're talking about older players here that you can see helping you for two, maybe three more years, but what happened after that? Right. And if you're Brad Marsha and you're going, Hey boys, I just want another Stanley Cup. Um, that's not my problem. I deserve to get paid and I'm going to get paid.

If it's not in Florida and it's not in Toronto, then it's somewhere else. Yeah. Yeah. I'm curious what that deal looks like. What, like what his bold number, you know, cause you do hear that a lot. Like, guy I gotta get 24 million, let's say you figured out, is it over two years? Is it over five? Like I'm apparently Stamco's had a number where he, I think it was like 32 million last year and it it was like that's the number you got to get to in nashville got to him

yeah and and stammer as he's admitted publicly felt like he was staying in camp up until july first like that but i think that's good and i mean you know with a life for to that point uh... so i i think that the representatives, Marshawn, F. Vlad and Sam Manit, they're going to get into the weeds this weekend with Florida to find out, okay, where are we at, how do we get there, or is it doable at all?

So the fun stuff is over, Dreggs, where it's like, oh yeah, we won the cup, like is it down in numbers now, or it's like, hey, don't forget. There's a bunch of other teams here Yeah, pretty much, but you know again It's better than the players talking about or the player agent that we're talking about You know because that that there has been a legit threat made by the National Hockey League when it comes to tampering, right? So there's only so much you can talk about but but in Florida's case, they own those three guys. So until July 1st rolls around, they're free to talk to the agents of those players until they've exhausted the conversation. So I think that they get into the heavier lifting this weekend.

Yeah, it's interesting. All the players have sobered up now. Money starts being real, our possibilities become... Yeah, it becomes more realistic. And also from Florida's standpoint, like you guys were on the ice with Bill Zito, why wouldn't he say, yeah, we're going to try to get all three, of course. Hey, we're going to try to get everybody, McDavid and Dyson, why not? You just won the Stanley Cup, but you got it. Yeah, you know, I feel like it's just as likely that

Florida is ruthless and it's like, you know, we got it. We have other plans, you know Right and we're gonna move off you because we talk about being in a position of leverage. They want to be out already So I think we are gonna see some trend developing here We've already seen it with the older players and okay You give them an extra year to you know to lure that player and then you already seen it with the older players and okay you give them an extra year or two you know to lure that player in and you worry about it down the road. I think there's a couple players that are noteworthy here that we could see take shorter deals and i'm not talking two three four years but maybe four or five maybe four or five on extensions.

Wouldn't shock me if if Marner was okay going with that term. Wouldn't shock me if Evan Bouchard, who's an RFA, opted for something like that. Wouldn't surprise me if McDavid opted for something like that. Why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you? Bet on yourself.

Like that's, Matthews has done it in Toronto and he'll continue to make money with the cap going up when his deal expires. So why wouldn't some of these other superstars try that? Well keep in mind too, with the RFA's or the guys who are not RFA's but the guys who have one year left in their deal, if you sign a four-year extension, that's five years. That's five years. Yeah.

Right. Like that's still a long and the cap is going to look so different five years from now. So I can see a guy like Evan Bouchard betting on himself going, I'll take four at 10 or whatever. The number is going to, I'm not going to guess. And then saying, what's it going to look like four years from now if I continue to put stats up? And I think Marner is a different situation.

He's a UFA. But the guys who have a year left in their deal, you can go shorter because the cap's going up and they got an opportunity to bet on themselves again or give themselves an opportunity to move on if they don't like what they're seeing in their current situation. Yeah, and that's also why this trade and sign or side and trade formula, it's fun to talk about but players who have that level of swagger now are less worried about that eighth year. And I remember having this conversation with Andy Scott,

who represents Mika Ratnam at the time that that was all happening at the trade deadline. And yeah, we're all thinking, Oh geez, you know, you'd want the eighth year and that, that worked out fine for him, but it wasn't a deal maker or a a deal-breaker because the belief in the player is okay we get through seven years all right well what is the cap at that point you know so you play for one more year and what 12 million on a discount in that final year to get it to eight at that point so it has become for toplers we're talking talking about less and less of a deal-maker

You know making sure that you get that eight here in a deal All right drags. We'll leave it there. It's gonna be a busy week. We'll do it again soon. Thank you for this Okay, boys, and I'm a grotis and hockey insider You've heard them countless times. Now, learn the details of how they came to be. Join Ruby Carr for Encore, the stories behind the songs you love. New interviews and newly unearthed archive footage make for a fascinating weekly deep dive. Stream Encore, the stories behind the songs you love on iHeart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.