OverDrive - Ferraro on the Maple Leafs' performance concerns, Matthews' significant importance and the Senators' elite run

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

ESPN Hockey Analyst Ray Ferraro joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NHL, the Maple Leafs' issues on the team and finding success on the lineup, the Senators' sizzling run, the Canadiens in the playoff hunt, the Capitals' impressive season and the depth on the team and more.

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Switch to Bell PureFiber, Canada's fastest internet, awarded by UCCLA. Starting from $60 a month. Visit bell.ca for more details and to check availability. Here is our ESPN hockey analyst, Ray Ferraro joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. What's happening, Ray? I don't think you should disparage San Jose. I've been on teams that have been out of it right now. Well, we were referencing you earlier because you see you Elia Kovalchuk just announced his retirement right I wasn't aware he was still playing professionally. For five years.

For five years I have never heard. Ten years he hasn't played I feel like it. So Ray, Odog and I are gonna announce our retirement and sign the papers too. I've never announced mine. All three of us. What's the purpose of the whole signing thing? Like does the PA want that for some reason? Like no one seems to ever sign the retirement papers. As soon as you don't show up at a training camp, they call you within two months and say,

all that stuff, the covers and stuff, Scott. So get your life together. That's how I figured we announced our retirement. We didn't show up because nobody asked us to. That's how I figured we announced our retirement. We didn't show up because nobody asked us to and then nobody asked us again. And so you're retired. Like, isn't that it? Yeah, that's a good point.

I guess the team's gotta retire you. And it's like if you're not Gretzky and you're not Sidney Crosby, then you want me and Noodles Array to go in front of a mic and say, I just want to announce my retirement. I'm telling you, we have to do it. We have to announce our retirement. Somebody in the crowd would say you had to retire, you idiot. I think so the Hall of Fame can start the clock on my three years. I'm gonna officially announce my retirement. He played, Kovalchuk played for Moscow Spartak last year. Yeah. So it's just this year he's been waiting for, at what age at 40 he's 41 right now enough's enough yeah

yeah but he i gotta tell you when he showed up like he was on the ice seven seconds and we're like oh my god he's way better than anyone else out here like it was he couldn't speak english he did the drill like kind of however he figured it would work you know because he couldn't really follow along and we're, he's so much better than everybody else on our team. That's where you, three breakaways a game, Ray. Oh, he was unreal. He, and he didn't,

he played off that he didn't understand really well, because there were times there, I'm sure he looked around and go, these guys suck, that I'm playing with, so I'm gonna play however I wanna play. And him and Danny Heatley were like, there was those two and then the rest of us like stumbling around, you know, trying to, you know, trying to do whatever we were all trying to hang on. And these guys were just starting and Colby,by, whatever people think of him, he loved the game. He just loved to play.

He loved to score. And, you know, he didn't love to back check. I mean, that wasn't going to be part of his thing. But he actually became a pretty well-rounded player. Man, he was just fun to be around. His mom came over, and so he's 18, and all of a sudden, after a month, we're getting changed, and he takes his shirt off, and we're like,

Jesus, Coby, how much have you been eating? And he goes, Mom, he goes, Mom, make butter bread. He goes, butter bread? He must have eaten 20 loaves of the stuff. And then, you know, he was kind of, he was 18 years old. They didn't really bother him, but we were like, wow, he probably needs to lay off the butter bread here. Yeah, you hear that sometimes with like European players or Latin American players.

That's the story with Vladie, like Vladie Jr., his grandma comes up and starts making these dishes and he can't stop. Now you're in trouble. Yeah, it's a real problem. When I went to Russia, I was there two months. We worked out six hours a day. I didn't lose a pound because everything was drenched in butter and there was chocolate everywhere.

So you take your gear off, there's a bucket of chocolate in the middle of the room you got a doctor no sleeves walking around handing out pills so you have no idea what it is and then you go into the mess hall and the meat was soaked in butter the potatoes were soaked in butter the salad had butter in it like it was you wonder why like some of these guys battle the bulge. He's not lying when he's talking about butter bread. Butter bread. I can just, for someone who enjoys the absurdities of life like you do, noodles, you must have

been giggling your ass off over there. Like what are we doing? It was, I'd never, I mean, the chocolate in the middle of the room was unique. And then like I say, the red and the blue pills, like I grew an eyebrow. I took them one day. I grew an eyebrow in the middle of my forehead. And then I don't know what was going on, but the, I just remember there was a layer, like you would eat mashed potatoes and there was an inch of butter sauce on top of the mashed

potatoes. They'd push aside to scoop it on your plate. That's what, that's the food there. and there was an inch of butter sauce on top of the mashed potatoes they pushed aside to scoop it on your plate. That's what that was the food there. Yeah. But it was rich and it was so good. That's the thing that gets you right. Oh my god. You start going and if everyone else is doing it you're like, nah, this is how professional. Nothing else to eat. Yeah, exactly. That's what it was. All good, all good. Anyway, it's good to good to catch up with you. We appreciate you doing this. And I'm sure you're aware, but the nerves in Toronto are starting to percolate here a little bit with the way that they're playing, because they're being outperformed

basically every game. Like the last seven or eight games, they have not outplayed their opponent in any of them. And the last two games, since they arrived back home after going out west it was Playoff atmosphere in Florida's here on Thursday. They lose that game, but it's all good Get back on the saddle Saturday night with Ottawa in town They lose that game and now Barubei saying well, they're pissed and they're gonna show it tonight

We were asking the question like the best players What would that look like to you Ray because I've never I don't know what a pissed off Auston Matthews or a pissed off Mitch Marner or even an urgent yeah I don't know what what that looks like because I haven't really seen it in eight and a half years. Yeah I guess well it's not like they're gonna run or start running around and have this big you know physical outwardly aggressive presence I mean that's not their thing. Matthews is the guy for me that changes just about everything there. He just, there's a gear missing.

I'm sure everybody sees it. It's like it just doesn't look like it normally looks. Like the pace, the hunt of the puck, the aggressiveness to shoot it, it all seems just a little bit off. And then if he's not at that level, then you become a good player, not a great player. And if that happens across the board, at various times that affects the wingers, that affects at various times, that affects the wingers,

that affects the power play, that affects the usage. I think everything kind of comes out of him. Like his presence when he's at his best or near it changes everything there. And when I watch that, it's the first thing that strikes me all the time. Like he's kind of there, but he's not kind of at his level. And it's the oldest adage, right? If you're best, aren't your best, then it's really nice that your third

and fourth line guys play well and all that, but you're not the team you're supposed to be Right. They've got the third coach. They've got Chris 10 at Brandon Carlo now Scotty Lawton like Going into these playoffs and even finishing the season strong Like are the Leafs a team where you would look at them and say maybe this year could be different or do you look at them and say it wouldn't shock me if they got pumped in the first round? I think they'll win the first round. I do because I look at like if they don't win the, I'm assuming they're not going to

win the division and that might be goofy but I just kind of have in my head since we're projecting things campus campus sneaky good, but I don't, they don't terrify me like they might in the past. Um, they're the bottom end of their roster is it, there's quite a drop, but they're, they're a very good team. I just, I felt until, I don't know, three weeks ago, a month ago, that I kind of liked the way Toronto was going about their business.

Whether they were winning by a large margin or not, I just kind of liked the way the approach of the year was. Now all of a sudden, it all seems unsettled again. It feels a little bit like whack-a-mole there, like they fix something and something else pops up. And maybe that's the way it is around the league for a lot of teams that, I mean, nobody's got enough depth to just kind of sail through except Winnipeg and Washington, it seems like. Like they haven't taken a backwards step all year. But just when it looked like the Leafs, you're like. Like they haven't taken a backwards step all year.

But just when it looked like the Leafs, you're like, oh yeah, that's the playoff style. I see what they're doing. They kind of fell away from it. And now they're just okay. And we know in a month, okay isn't gonna be good enough. So if you're around that team, instead of trying to find this whole five things wrong,

is there one thing you could go, okay, this could start the process to get some more consistency in their game, whether it's loose buck battles or it's 50-50 battles or it's just as simple as your goaltender's got to steal something or your top players have to be better? When I, I look now, I, and again, I'm just, I'm not seeing them live. So I'm just watching them on TV. They look slow. The, the, the pot doesn't move like it needs to move. The, the breakouts aren't as crisper as sharp instead of one pass and out of the zone, it's one path deflected back.

Everybody swings back in the regroup again, get control of the park. Then they break out, but it's one path deflected back, everybody swings back in, they regroup again, get control of the puck, then they break out, but it's slow. And so I guess I look at the best, even Florida, it's like Florida's not super fast, but man, they play fast. They get it, they move it, and it goes straight up the ice. And for the Leafs, it seems more of a meandering pace. And that to me, more than anything, it seems more of a meandering pace. And that to me, more than anything, it can change and they're good enough for it to change.

But we all know, like, it's not just one guy. It's like when the puck goes into their zone, the D have to get there quicker. The forwards have to be available in a better spot and that pass has to move quicker. They have to have better support so they get out of the zone with one pass and then they're gone. Because otherwise you're just you're just plugging along and you never make the other team scared. You never back them off and I thought one of

the things Ottawa has under Greenie, under Travis is like, they've defended way better, but they spend way less time most nights around their own end. Like it's out of there fast. And then up the ice they go. Yeah, they're playing really well Ottawa. And I was gonna ask you that, when you look at the three teams

kind of at the top of the Canadian rankings, I would say for the last few years, Vancouver jumped in last year, now they're out again, but would be Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg. And this year, that's been the case. Like those have been kind of the pace cars of the Canadian teams. Would you say Ottawa now has played themselves into that group or are they still being compared to the Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary group if we're using specifically Canadian teams? Well, they're not in the group. Winnipeg's in their own group. Okay.

Like they're so good. I'm doing the game here in Vancouver tomorrow and they just steamroll teams. Like it is really impressive. And of course they're gonna get to the playoffs and everyone in Winnipeg or around the league watching is gonna say, well that's nice, but nobody cares, let's see if you can get through the first round. But I think Winnipeg's the best team.

Toronto and Edmonton, if anybody can figure them out, really then you're gonna be the first in a while because they each leave you wanting because you think there's more there. I would say Ottawa and Montreal are relatively similar. I did the Canadian show here about a week ago. They're fun. They're fun to watch. That top line's playing great, man.

They're playing great. Nick Suzuki is so good is so good and Him and Caulfield just you know they just fit like hand and glove and then they got the the big kid Slipkowski he's he's starting to get it. I mean people are in with or you know, we're so impatient when he's 20 But they you know, the guy reminds me of Natuskan. Like he's that big, he's that strong, he holds the puck and I'm like, man, they're figuring it out there.

But Ottawa and Montreal are on an upward trajectory, both of them. But I wouldn't put Ottawa there quite, like up with those top teams yet. But I'll tell you, they're young and they're aggressive and they're confident now and they got a really good goalie. If he stays healthy, I wouldn't be hoping for them in the first round, put it that way. That would be a pretty good test. Yeah, it would be.

You mentioned that Chushkin, he's 17 goals already. He's played 30 games. Listen, he's seventeen goals already he's played thirty games but that's good listen he's a brilliant player yeah but i guess it's it's almost like we've been talking with all these teams in the playoffs show me for him unfortunately show me you can stay healthy will call it right because that's the same thing like you playoff center road that he's been on he was leading the playoffs in with nine goals last year. Was he not and then all of a sudden not available because of personal stuff and then

the playoffs before same situation Seattle and and then he's gone like that's the biggest thing is the Trust factor with him. He's a hell of a player. He's a unique player like Ray I don't he's big. I don't know if there's another player in the league kind of like maybe Tom Wilson type of thing, but he doesn't fight, but he's that powerful and dominant. You just can't stop him. That's the, when they traded Rantanen, I always would look at those two monsters they'd get on the ice together and they'd start cycling the puck and you're like, you never get it back unless it bounces over their stick.

Like how are you going to get it back off of these guys? I think there are guys, there's very few guys that can move like them. You know who's going to be like that? He already is, I guess, is Protus. And this guy, he's six foot six. Last year, he scored three goals in 56 games. Got 30. And yes, Spencer Carbree told me we were doing a game and I asked him about him.

And man, he can't, it's like, he's his son. He's so happy with this guy and proud of him. And he's like, we told them when he went home that, you know, you need to be in better shape, like after 15 or 20 seconds, your knees are straight. You're out of the ship. So I guess he went home, him and his brother was having a monster year in the Ontario Lake, another capitals draft pick.

All they did was, like they worked on their conditioning. They sent them a weekly program and the protists would send videos back of them working out, of themselves working out. And he came back and they like, they couldn't believe the change in the one summer. And they moved up, Washington did, in the third round, I think it was last year,

to draft the younger brother. So they got two of these apes. They're like, they got arms that, their arms are down to their ankles. Like they're, you see them, they're like, they're so big. And if you can move like that, which is what we're talking about, Slavkowski and Naciuskin

and Rantanen, a guy's like, they're, oh man, it's like, it's, it's, it's found money for you. You already got a good player, but that size like how I mean it's unique it's unicornish it really is. Yeah like Washington's farm system they got Hudson's brother they got that Ryan Leonard kid coming they've got the other Protoss like they are loaded in terms of their system and Ovi keeps scoring and Ovi keeps scoring yeah And Ovi keeps scoring. Yeah, he scored again. Was that last night or on Saturday? Saturday, wasn't it?

It is just, there is nobody that can... Well, there's nobody that scores like him, of course. In short time, we're going to say there's nobody that's ever scored more. But at his age, there are times when he just looks like, not tonight, it's not happening. And then he gets one chance. And nevermind the empty net stuff. He gets one chance and he just, he's still got it. Like he can still deliver the puck to the right spot.

It's super impressive. I mean, it's not like he's got 12 goals this year. Right? Like he's 40 years old. He's got 30, what 31 or something. Top five in scoring. I believe top 10. He missed almost six weeks.

Crazy. Broken leg. Out for like 17 games. Comes right back and like did not miss a beat at his age. By the way, like about the caps, uh, they've got, uh, that Leonard, they lost out. So like he's available soon. That kid kids a player. He's really good man Yeah, and so like I think I think they're they saved cap room to get him signed and in and Like he's gonna be in their lineup

Right in the playoffs. He'll be around the team for sure, right? Like he could step up. Dude, he might play. Oh yeah? I think he's gonna play like, if they're, I believe they're out, they lost this weekend. Okay. And I think he would be available in the next week or so. Wow.

Man, yeah, and he's 20. Like he's, man he's a good player. They've done a really good job there. Like, you know, they kind of got all the rounds of Backstrom and Kuznetsov and Oshi and that, They've done a really good job there. Like, you know, they kind of got old around the Baxterman, Kuznetsov, and Oshie and that. And they just transitioned a little bit. And then these young guys like Protus and McMichael,

they hit, they signed Schicker, and he's been a grand slam for them. And last year, I think they were the lowest scoring team in the league last year. And this year they're one of the top scoring teams. It's amazing. Every one of their moves hit. The goalie, Logan Thompson, you've got Manji Apani,

even that Duhame is a monster. Like they're a big team, Ray, too. Like they're, like physically. They've got their top six. I think they, I think four of the top six are six or over six four and that's tough to handle. I'm looking at this kid Ilya Protas the brother. He has 50 goals in the Ontario League this year 119 points he's 6'5". Yes I would say move down the line and look at that size. Imagine those gorillas on the same line. Oh my god.

The legion of doom times two. They're both 6'5". This kid in 60 games with the Spitfires, 50 goals, 119 points. He's 18. Oh my god. How did no one else take him? First overall. Yeah, like he went in the third round. doesn't need to go out what about them if it mrs progress must be busy all summer cooking off by the way i read that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that

pounds of butter before we get you out here i have to ask you one question i think you're going to be okay with this because i am but he said he went to the game on saturday night and some guy put his put up on the urinal to tie his shoe. I see no problem with that. No, hang on a sec. I see no problem with that because you're tying your shoe. Hayes and Noodles are disgusted and just beside themselves that somebody would do that. Would you have a problem either doing it

or seeing someone tying their shoe on a urinal? Oh, that's a tough one, oh geez. I know, but all you're doing, Ray, is tying your shoe. You can't just, dude, there's no justifying it. You're trying and you can't, go ahead, Ray, you express how disgusted you are, please. Okay, so here's the thing, like, you're at the game. The generalization, I would think, of the aim of the urinal

at a sporting event would be rather low. Yeah, anywhere for that matter. I know, but it's not like your hands are touching anything. The only thing your hands are touching are your laces. Dude, here's another element that we haven't even referenced. There's a slippage potential there where the whole shoe goes in. If you go face first into that, that is game over. If it slips down and you go forward face first into that, how do you possibly recover? Imagine having a face-to-face convo after that what your cranium smells like.

How's the game going? Excuse me. Here's one other thing. I don't know if you guys got into this. What is the percentage of that that somebody that is tying their shoe like that wash their hands after they left? Zero percent. He's going to get splashed on because the urinal will flush at some point because it's automated. Automated flushing. And he's gonna wipe his hands on his pants and walk out of there. That's what he's gonna do. Let's just for all you

people that act like you're clean freaks, there's some East Coast League hand washing going on too. It's a little tinkle and then it's a wipe your hand and gonzo. Trust me, it's one of my moves and a lot of people are using it. I gotta, since I'm gonna leave with this. One of the, I couldn't believe this happened. I was in Edmonton, this was about 10, 12 years ago.

Before the game, it was in the old rink and I had to go to the bathroom so I walk in into the bathrooms downstairs where the dressing rooms were and this guy comes out of the stall and he sees me he's like hey Ray Frowd he holds out his hand to shake my hand I'm like buddy are you kidding me? What are you doing? I don't even think you can fist bump in a situation like that. You won for your life.

You're like, hey buddy, no chance. Thanks, good seeing you. See you later. I like a good handshake when you go straight out after a leak with no wash and water shakes. Anyway, I don't know what we've accomplished here, but we're trying. We're trying to help people. That's how we generally operate. It is a public service that you guys you guys give to the

public daily I mean we can't aren't we lucky aren't we lucky in our time to have this yep society would be nowhere without us every single day thank you Ray enjoy the games tonight I will great to talk to you guys there's a Ray Ferraro joining us here on the maple Toyota hotline drive the built-in Canada fuel efficient fun to drive toyota rav for gas or hybrid models available visit maple toyota dot com this songs in the world you've heard them countless times now learned the details of how they came to

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