OverDrive - Duthie on the Senators' search for a turnaround, Tkachuk's leadership and the Flyers making a statement

Episode Date: April 23, 2026

TSN Host James Duthie joined OverDrive to discuss the views of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Ottawa looking to rebound after their defeats against Carolina, Brady Tkachuk becoming the x-factor for the Senators, Connor McDavid's tough start to the playoffs, the Ducks and Flyers finding positives and more.

Beautiful day. If you're working on something with your golf swing, you jump on Skype and connect with someone halfway around the world, James Duthian studio. Have you heard about this? What is wrong with you guys? Yeah, not with us. Let's clarify. It's the one guy in his Collingwood basement, wherever he is right now, who is claiming you get Skyped lessons from Bernhard Langer's coach. You know, usually, usually I come on this show.

And I have to clarify all the lies that are told. This time I actually like O's story better than the truth. So I might just let it ride. Okay, I like that. I mean, this is the closest to the truth he's been in the sense that I do have a German golf coach. But I did not accost him on the green at the Masters. You see, he finds out a nugget. Yes.

Here's what you want You want to Well you can be quick with it Yeah I mean All right real fast I was bored in the I was bored in the middle of winter

Like I don't know December or January And I follow a lot of golf guys online Right A lot of the stuff the O says about me analyzing It's true I have a problem

And I've had a bunch of great coaches I were Shaheen In Montreal Who I think You're just mulling to Ralph Bauer Gee at my course There's a million guys

All right But this guy DMs me and says hey, you're working on your golf game, you need any help? But I'm like, hey, you guys kind enough to DM me. I was following him. He gives great tips. Danny Lampy's his name.

So I say, yeah, you know what? I'm going to the Sim tomorrow. Let's do it. So we hooked up. And I'm like, where are you? Hamilton, Toronto? He goes, I'm in Germany. Because I kind of forgot that Instagram's worldwide.

So, yeah, I have a German. I'm going, I go over every two weeks, spend a few days. So do you have to pay in euros for that? Or how does that work? I do pay in euros. Yeah, I do you pay in euros. Yeah, I have Venmo or whatever they call it. I like it.

All right, well, you're working on a game. Are you ready to rock? I mean, it's beautiful weather now. I was out at Coptown today. Is that right? Has it been officially announced that there's another event coming out at Copeland? Not that I'm aware of it. Nothing so official.

Can't talk about it? I think it's still embargoed. Okay. It's very important. I was doing a site survey. Okay. For a big event that's coming up at Coptown Wood. I love it.

Okay. It may or may not feature a couple of members of this podcast. That's right. Noodles is taking on. Wouldn't that be amazing? television to see noodles go out there and just do his thing. I think I would surprise people. I think you're an athlete.

I think you would as well. But I mean, I've always had a terrible slice, so I actually line up for the slight. That's the, I love those guys who aim dead left in it. Not dead. That's slightly. Dude, that's Patrick Maroon. I'm telling you, this guy's golf ball started over Clearwater and ended on the right side of Tampa every time, but he knows how to manage it.

Yeah. If you know your swing, you know your swing. I shouldn't mention him because he works. for the other network. I'll blank out his name. It rhymes with Mavid Fambor. But I play with him a lot. He aims 150 yards to the right. That's an athlete though. Yeah, he knows his stuff, man. Amber is like actually very athletic. You weren't supposed to name him.

Whatever, it's all good. He's a dear friend of him. Yeah. I love that guy. Love that guy. All right, Jady. Good to see you guys. Am I done? No, I was just going to say, like, now we can get to what you guys are in here for because you're on the Ottawa panel tonight, right? Right. Do you have a player? in particular on Ottawa that you have circled. Got to have a night tonight. I mean, I would normally say Brady and that's there, but it's got to be Stootsla,

who played really well the other night and should have scored five goals. But when you should have scored five goals and you don't score any and your team loses in double over time, I think it's probably on him as much or more than Brady. That series, by the way, has been terrific. Yeah, it's been great. The level of hockey's been particularly in that game too. been amazing, but look at it. We know the numbers with 86% or whatever when you lose when you're down 02. Obviously, if they lose tonight, it's over, they're in big trouble

anyway. But I still think if they win tonight, they have a decent chance to get back in the series because it's been, Carolina was better in game one, but Ottawa probably deserved to win game two. I think it's been as even, certainly as even as Tampa, Montreal. Dallas Mini's been super even. It's been pretty good so far, hasn't it? Pretty good hockey. When you look up there and you see only, you know, only not too many zeros, a lot of one-ones and two-ones and stuff.

Philly Pitt has been the biggest disappointment at all. That's kind of wild that that could end up being a sweep. I would not have expected that. You think that'll be a sweep. I think they'll get one. Yeah, possibly, but they might be dead in the water now. You think that that's. That building's going to be flying.

And Dar-Fledar has been really good. Like, Like, Leardt twice in five minutes yesterday. Oh, good. Battles. Did you see,

like one, it looked like like he hyper-extended his elbow. The other one, his skate blade got knocked off, and he went to push, and it looked like he ripped his groin right off his leg, and somehow he just got up and played.

Like, I was watching, he's a bit of a beast, like his big guy. Very, he's tall, he's skinny is a rate. He's thin,

very thin. I got to see him a few times at the Olympics. Yeah. He went, by the way, he was, remember when Canada, when the check scored that goal,

when they had too many, when they had too many men on the ice? And nobody in the whole building knew, nobody in the broadcast, nobody knew. And afterwards, I just happened to run into all the check players in the hallway. And I'm like,

did you guys know there was too many men on the ice? And none of them did. They were all, I was showing them the video and they were like, what? They had no idea except Vladar, who was the goalie on the bench. He was the only guy in the building

that knew the checks had too many money in the ice when he scored that goal. He saw it. Yeah, no, he's been good. and Philly's been good, but like I worry about, I shouldn't say worry, but Allmark's got to keep playing well. Like when you're down O2, if he gives up three goals on nine shots tonight. Those are wasted performances.

Well, don't you think if this feeling started, and you were to say, now Carolina's up O2, without knowing any of the details, you'd go, Allmark was early season, Allmark again, right? The fact that he's played terrific outside the first goal in the first game, which was kind of that off-speed pitch, the fact that they're 02 the way he's played is Lunis. He's been so good. Hayes, I watched your comment on the J-show,

and I agree with it because as much as Timmy should have five goals, I think Sanderson is a big storyline. Brady just can't punch people. I think Brady's a guy who has to, like, score and, like, pace this group. That's it, Jamie. There's no, like, there's no, oh, I was good,

and I had five shots, and my metrics were great. It's just, that's the one beautiful thing about the playoffs that's tough for anybody to take, because if you come out on the wrong side of it, you're disappointed and everyone's disappointed. But it's just, it's do it or don't. Like you got to get it done. You got to score the goal. You got to make game-changing plays, whether that's a defenseman blocking a shot,

a goaltender making an outrageous save, or a high-end skill play on the power play to give your team the lead. That's just, that's the nature of it, man. You do it or you don't. There's no, oh, this guy could have scored three or that guy had five chances. Nobody cares. It's a non-negotiable thing. Yeah. Well, he is, he's tough to handle when he's on his game, right?

Like that ultimately is what it comes down to is he can change a series with a big hit. You know, you can literally hurt somebody tonight, literally go out there with a mean streak on and go completely change the dynamic of the series. We'll see if he can do it. I mean, he's been, he's had chances. I think that he was neutered a little bit the other night. He, you know, he punched some guy a little soft punch in the back of a head in a scrum and got a penalty for it. Terrible call. Right away as soon as that happens, if that's going to be the standard,

then you can't get away with the sort of Brady-Coch way that he likes to play the game. And they were calling everything in that game. The other thing, I think I was one who I had to Ottawa going to the conference final. I think Ottawa became a trendy underdog pick. I think a lot of people overlooked Carol. because they've sucked so bad in the conference finals every year when they get there, but they get there, and they're really, like, to watch them again, they're really good. They give you no space whatsoever.

They're as fast as can be. So if this ends up being a four or five game series, I'm going to change my tune on who's going to the Stanley Cup final. Well, O's got Philly beaten Carolina in the next round. Do you not like Philly's mojo, Jimmy? Yeah, but I think at some point they'll get out manned. I don't think Pittsburgh is really that good. They had a, you know, they overachieve,

and had a good season, but I think the canes are kind of a different animal. Not saying that series is over, because, again, if Ottawa wins tonight. And Aaron Kournick's stunt double has been unbelievable. Your boy, Stan Kovin. Stankov and Kournick. Yep, Stan Kovin. He's been a handful. Yeah, he's been really good.

And, you have Carolina, they do have some skilled guys there. I think we just overlooked their team game, but their skill guys have made some. in place. And Freddie, I think that was the one question mark for, oh, look at that. Don't you think they do look alike? Where did we get that glamour shot of Corolla? I think that this is, this is the equivalent

of the Hayes at the Raptors game. Exactly. He's better looking than Stankhole in here. Look at him. Did he send that picture? This has got to be his Tinder pic. That's A-I. 100%. In real life is actually really ugly. I don't know who took that picture. Yeah.

Like, when did Corona get access to determining which picture we use? I've never seen him in a, you know, whatever that kind of sweater or fashionable. That's something that O would wear. That's not something to the Coral Nicolica. Right. It's a cardigan. Yeah.

That's kind of like I was needing more Mark. I think I date him if I saw that. Look at that. Okay. Oh, good for him. That's a glamour shot there for A.K. They're, there, I think the question mark coming in, it obviously was goaltending. It's like, what are you going to get from Allmark?

And Freddie has been the guy, even, you know, MJ is saying I would have started bussy and gone to Freddie, all that. Not an issue. The cousin's cool notwithstanding. He's been very good. He's been really good. James Duthian's studio. What's up with McDavid here? McDavid's not at 100%.

Do you think Anaheim can win this series? If he's not at 100%. Yeah, I mean, we're all wondering how's the ankle, the knee, whatever it is. Yeah. Like if he's not at 100%. I think we kind of, the way Edmonton played in the last month made us forget the way they played in the previous five months, which was very average.

and I think that we all sort of thought, okay, they've got it figured out. Look, they had a nice run without dry sidle, without Heimann for much of it, and it looked like they'd figure out their defensive things with coffee back there, and they looked ready, and I think this is kind of a reminder that they're a flawed hockey team. And so, yeah, I still think they'll win the series, but if McDavid's hobbled or if he missed his time, was there any update today? No, nothing that we've seen. Yeah, well, there never is.

He's not going to say anything. The fact that he came out and did, you know, his post game was walking around his bare feet. I'm sure he's fine. But that's, that's, that's, he's been so healthy. Yeah. Like, was his rookie year or his second year they got hurt for? Rookie year he blew his shoulder out. Yeah.

The Giordano one, when was that? Where the Giordano, like, where he went around Gio and broke his leg or whatever the hell that was? Yeah, that was year three. I think that was in 17 when they, remember they were playing Anaheim and they lost that series. He wasn't playing in that. It feels like beyond the occasional bump that he's been pretty healthy. He's five, six years now. We've almost taken for granted.

He's always going to be there. That's right. So anyway, can Anaheim win? Yes, I still don't think they'll win, but last night was a bit of a wake-up call. Yeah, it was. Yeah, they got a lot of talent on that team. Oilers have a habit usually of though kind of goofing around in the first three games of a series, right? I will say this.

That Anaheim team, with those three up front, Carlson, Goethe, Senica. Seneca. They're going to be a handful for a year. Yeah, they got three really good players. That coach is so good. Philly, too, like watching them. Like, I didn't, Philly's ahead of Sked.

Like, Zegris is suddenly Zegris again. And like, there's some interesting. Well, we were, yeah. You're looking at the scores now, and I'm like, man, the league's just changed overnight. And you know, it's crazy about that. Wyatt Johnston is like 21 years old. Yeah. Like, he feels like he's 30 because he stepped into the league.

He was 18. He's younger than Zegris, I believe. Yeah, Zegris is 25. Right. Zegris is still relatively young. But the light has gone on. That's the one thing that we should all take a step back from. Just because you're not a superstar at 21, you sometimes do mature into a better player as you get more experience, or maybe the light goes on as far as your off ice conditioning, maybe your preparation or your complete game. And that comes to changing organizations. In Rick Tocke, probably saying, we don't do that here. This is how we play. and we need you to play this way. Within your skill set, let's do this. And always talking at the start of the hour, Jimmy, about Meichkhov just doesn't get thrown over the boards every time.

Like, now there's competition. So it's like, okay, Zegris goes in there. The Martone kid, you know, now they've got some depth there. And they're all young legs, and they've got some bite to their game. Even Utah with, like, Cooley and, like, Dylan Gunther. Puffier, our producer the other night, if you were in, he's like, guys, how many goals do you think Dylan Gunther scored this year in the regular season.

40. And I was like 32 and somebody else was like 20. You just said 25? You're, you, noodles, no, 40 goals this year. Yeah, he was a 40 goals. Bill of the country scored 40 goals. You don't pay attention to those teams because they're not, and I'm trying to be respectful.

They're not that sexy. Like, I watched Jason Botterills, I don't know why, but I watched his end of the year press conference. He's like, yeah, we got a good core here. We just got to add to it. I'm like, what? In Seattle. Seattle is just

They have become They've got a lot of work to do that Yeah they've blended into the league Some of the teams Have some really good young town Utah Anaheim Philadelphia

Yeah Well Maddie Baneers Jamie was trending like he was going to be in the mix As one of those young players And he completely fell off the map I don't know if it's because of concussion But they They need to take a serious look at themselves out there

Well they had a few drafts there Where it's not always your fault It's not always like the Shane Wright draft. Again, Shane Wright, a good player, but not a difference maker, really. And he missed, like, we forget, COVID messed with that year with those kids. Yeah. Because they had no development. A lot of them didn't play.

A lot of them played a handful of games. They had to go to Europe to play. They missed a full year of development at that age. I think maybe, that's why Slavkovsky took maybe a half a year. Yeah, it was a weird year. You're right. In terms of him being at the top of that draft, it was difficult to evaluate. Now you're seeing kids really pushed through again.

In summary, boys, Seattle does not have a good chord. They need way better players than what they have. It seems like all of the players they have are all the same. They're just kind of buzzing out there and they don't do a whole lot. And it's like that's why they're not taking that next step. Jimmy, I want to ask you something. We talked about Philly and their management, like how it's just kind of simple. It's Jonesy, Danny Breyer.

Yeah. Does it kind of make you think like what kind of circus is going on here where this thing in Toronto has just like blowing up and this, I don't know, it just seems like things should be right in front of them and it's like right there. Instead, there's people that are being talked about. It's just crazy. What it also made me think of, oh, is just that sometimes I think I complicate things in my mind, I think to be a general manager or to be somebody in high-level management, you have to be some brilliant whiz kid. And Jonesy, when Jonesy was on the panel, which he was on for several years,

there was like he was he was basically o dog right he joked around was the most lucy-goosey guy I could never see him as a president of a team but he's a brilliant really super smart guy and now that I see him I'm like of course it makes total sense right so maybe that means

oh dog oh dog's the next maybe not the GM but a presidential type goal let me let me practice thanks everybody to come into the presser taking your time out of of your day. What I'm just saying is you've got to be better than that. You've got to have something more scripted.

I'm just saying the good hockey guys are good hockey guys. And Jonesy's a good hockey guy. And sometimes maybe it's that simple that you get a couple of good hockey guys like Jonesy and Breyer running the show. Thank you. Thank you. That it works, right? I'd love to see that.

Imagine the O'Dog running the leaves, the material we'd have. He'd be Harold Ballard. Oh, yeah. Somebody would have an off game. I'm like, I've seen enough of that person. Trade that guy. Dude, it would be great for this show. Like it would suck to lose them, but man, would it be fun to just run him out of town?

Jerry Jones calling in once a week. Okay, well, if you're the president, but you have Shanahan-type hiring credentials, which member hockey analysts do you hire first to be on your management team? Is it Jamie Noodles-McClennan? Is it Mike Johnson, who is it, you know, what they're talking about? That's an alumni, too, right? Frankie Corrano. Is it also?

I would hire three people. I would hire Jamie to Rutton. my goaltending worldwide. Every level, every league. He's in control of all the goaltending coming out in and out of the organization at all different facets and levels of the team. Mike Johnson would be the general manager

and Craig Button would be the director of player personnel. Wow. Perfect. I would politely decline. You're declining? You're declining. You're fired.

Well, I'm just saying that my point being is you have to spend a lot of money. Five years. Five years. million a year plus stock shares in MLSC? In the brand new MLSC? You're in? You'll ponder it?

I don't know. We've got to go. This is getting more and more ridiculous by the second. All right, J.D. We'll catch you on the hot zone tonight. Hot zone on YouTube or after the game for all you send spats out there in Leafland? Listen. I love it.

I love it. I can't wait for it. All right. There is. James Duffy. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind. and now, I've got my own show.

So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies, available on all TSN platforms in the iHeartRadio app.