OverDrive - Johnson on Canada’s New Years Eve showdown with U.S., challenge of defending U.S. ‘Boston College’ line, and fallout of Schaefer’s injury

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joins OverDrive to look ahead to tonight's showdown between Canada and the U.S. at the World Junior Championship. Johnson shares his thoughts on Canada’s underwhelming offensive performance throughout the tournament, why U.S. dominant ‘Boston College’ line will be difficult for Canada to contain throughout the game, the fallout of Canada losing Matthew Scahefer to injury for the rest of the tournament, and more.

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The smarter way to book travel. Overdrive continues up on TSN 4 and on TSN 1050. Mike DiStefano filling in for Brian Hayes. Got Dave Feshuk of the Toronto Star in with me. And joining us on the line now is our TSN hockey analyst, Mike Johnson. Joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. What's going on, MJ? Still, current analyst

at a boy AB. All good here. We're done the early game. We are waiting in anticipation of the late game. I've not called a New Year's Eve Canada-US game, and there's a certain buzz about it in the city for the players, and I'm looking forward to it.

It's going to be a neat experience, and it's an important game. Two teams that have played well, but maybe not played quite to the standard they expect to, so it should be a great, fun night. Well, it is kind of interesting that Canada can, if they win this game, still have a shot to win Group A. If they win the game in any way, overtime or regulation, they're first. If they lose in regulation, they're third, which is no good because the other side, Slovakia and Switzerland, are coming over at three and four.

They're not particularly strong, but if you come third, you get Czechia or Sweden. Both teams are really good so it's it's a very important game for both the U.S. and Canada they pick up at least one point if it goes to overtime they probably would both be a little bit happy but for Canada yeah they cannot lose in regulation or else they come third and have a really tough pass through the quarterfinals into the semis and and however far they go from there so it's kind of a good news bad news kind of tournament so far for canada in my view mj the good news is you know they haven't allowed a goal against at five on five they got a great goaltender in carter george who's had a couple of shutouts the bad news of course is they haven't scored much especially at five on five

uh and you know they've lost to latvia and and had a tight one with germany how do you sort of balance those two things and and come to a conclusion about what this team really is it's hard fast and i think you know maybe it's sports fans or maybe because the high expectation of tournaments past that this is usually such an offensive celebration of great players for canada that it feels like they're struggling but it's not usually a good defensive effort you mean like young kids are not great defensive so I think the coaching staff would tell you you know because of the goaltending because of the defense because the chances that they give up which are few and far between they are generally pleased with that very

important part of the game now tonight, tonight will be the test. If they can control the U.S. and the chances that they get and the offense that they can generate, then maybe you can start having a conversation that this might be one of the teams, a very rare team, that wins a lot like our Olympic teams win with great defense and great goaltending and suffocating five-on-five play. Tonight will be the test.

I don't know if they'll be able to do it, largely because I think the Americans are not talented. It'll just be hard, no matter how organized you might be or how committed you might be, to keep them at bay. But tonight will be the greater test. If defense wins championships, they're in a good spot, but they still need to score goals at some point, and they'll probably need to score some tonight.

Well, who in particular do you want to see more from in this game, Johnny? Okay, so it's a lot of pressure, but I guess that's sort of the responsibility of being one of these guys. And to me, there's four guys A and B that stand out. And the way this team is built, there are four, you know, two offensive lines and kind of two energy checking lines, even though they're all good players. So that's the role they're playing. And of those two offensive lines and kind of two energy checking lines even though they're all good players so that's the role they're playing and of those two offensive lines there are certainly four players that are more offensively inclined than others so first line right to easton cowan you got

you know ohl mvp playoff mvp 56 game point streak he's got to be a difference maker returning player from last year he's been good hasn't been great cal richie the centerman dominant player last year played in the nhl this year he's been good hasn't been that great hasn't been productive then you look at the second line you got berkeley catten who had a monster year last year the highest drafted player on team canada he's been okay but he hasn't been that productive and the last guy is gavin mcken, of course, we know is likely number one pick in 2026. He's been flashy. He does have a goal.

But those are the four guys. And it's a lot of pressure. They're going to play against really good players on their team, really good goaltending. But it's not even just about they have to play well. They've got to produce. They have to find a way to create goals, not just expected goals. And that's the burden that they carry, because they're the guys on this roster up front that likely have to do it.

So, MJ, obviously there's a lot of pressure on Canada. We spend most of our time dissecting Canada. But let's take a look at that U.S. roster, especially the number one line on it, the B.C. line. roster and especially the number one line on it the bc line not british columbia but boston college centered by james haggins who's obviously a very highly touted draft prospect may go number one may not uh what have you seen from that college line that is so talked about and obviously is producing at a very high level they're a handful fast you know see it tonight like the chemistry is there of course but i think it tonight. The chemistry is there, of course,

but I think it's more the talent is there between the three of them. So we'll start, we'll go left to right. Gabe Perrault might be the slickest player with the puck on Team USA.

He is so talented. It's Yannick Perrault's son, my old line-maintenant center in Yannick Perrault, the great center and face-off guy. Gabe plays on the wing, just a great passer and manipulator of the puck,

time and space, plays a little slower. High, high-end talent. First round of the Rangers, really good. Higgins in the middle, you mentioned him, sort of battling with Matthew Schaefer to go first overall in 2025. Dynamic and just when you watch him, you're not sure what physical skill is his greatest, but you recognize his mental process of offensive plays and spacing

and shooting and all that is elite already. And he's piling up the points like he always does when he plays for Team USA. And the third member is the guy who should really be in the NHL. Leonard, who is a capital seventh or eighth overall pick, they wanted him to turn pro last year. He elected to go back to Boston College, wanted to come play the World Juniors one more time, had more to prove there.

He will be playing for Washington in March, as soon as his college season is over. He is powerful, straight line, monster shot. And you put all three together, very talented, but sort of perfectly complementary skill sets and chemistry that comes with playing in college together as well as on the national team, it's tough. There are a lot to handle.

Even if you're in good positioning and you're doing everything right, they still can break you down. And I think that's going to be the greatest challenge and test for Canada. I expect Canada to be in the right spots, but even if they are, is that going to be enough against a team in the States that has that first line, but also the lines behind it, second and third, are also very good. Well, and especially with the loss of Matthew Schaefer, you bring his name up.

Draft junkies were getting very excited to possibly see this matchup, Schaefer versus Haggins, here on New Year's Eve. But no Matthew Schaefer. He's out, injured with that collarbone over the weekend. I mean, how big of a loss is that going into a game like tonight? It is so significant. He was Canada's best

positional player in this tournament, which is crazy to say. He was an underage defenseman. The last underage defenseman to play for Canada was Jamie Drysdale, and he didn't play a massive role for Canada in the year he played. Schaefer was playing big minutes, manning the power play. And he can skate well enough that he can skate and was strong enough that he's physical to handle anybody in this tournament.

And that's what makes him special. And in a game where Canada plays with so much structure and sort of caution at times, he was able to be creative with his legs, jumping up to play and making things happen. So yeah, it's a big loss. But what are you going to do? You have a batch of all-star players playing on defense that play 24, 25, 26 minutes a night on their junior teams anyway.

So that shouldn't be an issue. But just his unique ability to skate and being as strong as he is, that's going to be missed tonight. his unique ability to skate and being as strong as he is, that's going to be missed tonight. You know, we heard from, I saw in a tweet from Mark Masters, MJ, that the Hockey Canada folks are putting their players in touch with the mental performance coach that they've hired for Luke Medill. And I guess because, you know, they're snakebitten,

they're hitting posts, they can't score goals. I'm wondering in your experience, MJ, you've scored plenty of goals in your life. Did you find use in that kind of mental performance side of the spectrum of sports? So, unfortunately, they didn't really have that available to us when I was in the NHL. It was around a little bit but not quite as you know right there every day or the you know on speed dial if you want to talk about anything life goals or whatever and i think it would have been very helpful because i don't think i was any different than a lot of players who want to create offense or sort of

expect themselves to create offense when you don't you're really hard on yourself. You talk about the pressure and the scrutiny. The mental scrutiny that you put on yourself is probably worse than anything you're going to get from the media or for the fans or for your family. You beat yourself up when you're not having success. And you're really hard on yourself. And I think having a chance to talk to someone who could offer some perspective,

whether it's your brother or your sister or your friend or your dad or a high-performance coach, I think there's great value in that. And it's not unusual. It's not like, oh, man, they're really struggling and they have to talk to this guy. People talk to these guys all the time. It's a very healthy thing to do. And if it can help them sort of alleviate the negative energy and focus on the opportunity, even if you haven't made the most of it, that's probably a pretty good place to be heading into a game where there's going to be a lot of pressure, emotion and adrenaline and keeping that all in check. It's going to be an important part of the game. With Mike Johnson, I know you were on the air, so I'm not sure if you watched or saw

what happened in the Leafs game, but Patrick Watt. Hang on, baby, real quick. Did Joseph Wall, like, I was watching it. Did he not hurt himself? It looked like he hurt himself. Yeah. He was down. He was limping.

There's some stretching. There's some stretching. I'm like, this guy, and I say this, like, respectfully, you can't get hurt right now you can't do it man you gotta stay healthy please tie your groins together hips whatever's bothering them i was i was frustrated for him that it looked like something he did there when he went down i think it was in the second period it looks like he bothered something there but he managed to finish the rest of the game, which is good news. But that was sort of, I'm like, that's no good. No, and I think also it's like you're hoping, okay, at this point,

Stolarz, he's still about three weeks, a month away, based on the timeline at least. And it was just the first time that he'd gone back-to-back, not back-to-back nights, but started in back-to-back games. And you're thinking, okay, this is a test. And I guess he battled through it. So, I don't know, would you consider that a past test? But it definitely kind of puts your stomach in knots when you're watching that game

and you're watching kind of stretch it out there at that point. So, I'm of two minds, right? Like, first, visceral reactions, like, yeah, that's a past test. Like, yeah, gut it out, man. Play. Stay in the game. Stay with your team. Throw your in test. Like, yeah, gut it out, man. Play. Stay in the game. Stay with your team. Show you're in it.

Like, you're not always going to feel perfect. Hang in there and play well. That's awesome. That's gutsy. You love that. That's like my sort of visceral teammate fan reaction. Good. My sort of pragmatic coach and management reaction is like, man,

if you're not feeling good you've got to get out of the net because we can't afford to have your tweet turn into a poll which turns into a few weeks of your own so um you have to be careful with the bravado and the guts and how much you want to take it because you might hurt yourself and ultimately hurt the team more but i'm glad he stayed in the game and i'm glad he played well enough for them to win it um i'll be curious to see what if there are any updates or is he able to practice on a regular basis because you know

this is something he's managing while trying to play games because Stolarz is out. No, can't have it. What did you make of the goal he pulled though in the final 30 seconds with the face-off in your own end out of Patti Waugh? I did not see that.

Famously he did 7 minutes and 5 minutes. face-off in your own end out of Patti Wah? I did not see that. We were called for a period. Famously, he did seven minutes in five minutes. He's in his own end? Face-off, so they took a penalty. They took a penalty. Face-off was in his own end with about 30 seconds left, down by a goal, and instead of putting Sorokin in and hoping to win the draw and move upwards and pull him in, he decided, nope, I'm going to put pressure on the centerman to win the draw

because we're going five on five, no goalie in our own end. And did the Leafs score on it? Yes, they did. It did not work out. I saw the empty netter. I didn't know if that was it. I mean, there's somewhere probably someone's done a numerical analysis about uh one face-offs and the likelihood of with 30 seconds left you being able to take advantage of an extra guy out there

especially when you're down a man but i mean that seems you know like you're grasping at straws seems like so low percentage and then i mean with savars taking the face off for toronto and is he not one of the best three in the entire nhl he's like 62 so you're asking bo horvat or whoever was pajo i know it's very good as well but you're asking that guy to go up against a guy who's very proficient of his own i don't know that seems like a low percentage play like a bit of a hail mary that obviously didn't come through but you know i I think Patrick was interesting in one is that he doesn't care what I think of his decisions. And I also think there might be a little bit of frustration with how he is.

He has performed. He hasn't been able to get them to the point where they want to. And I think there's some frustrations maybe with the roster. And I don't know if that's a bit of a past. Like, I remember, guys, back when I was maybe my rookie year, maybe, you were barely even alive, but we were playing against Vancouver, and Mike Keenan was the

coach. We were in Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens, and he was mad at his roster. He wanted different players. So we were winning like 5-2. He pulled his goal with like 12 minutes left. But not because he wanted to win, but it was more like a middle finger to the management saying, hey, this is what you're making me do because I have no other options and my team is not good enough.

There's some parts of Patty Ruhle that maybe there's a little bit of that creeping in as well. But that's unusual and it seems even a numbers guy like myself would have a hard time making that make sense. Yeah, that is an unconventional one, MJ, for sure. But I wanted to ask you about Carter George. You know, we were talking about him, like, you know, before you came on, like as Al's brother was saying, maybe he's the next Carey Price. Maybe he's the next great Canadian goaltender. And it's a lot of pressure on a kid.

And you worry about the pressure maybe eating a kid up. But then again, I often think that the guys that are destined to be great are not going to be bothered by that kind of pressure because they're just going to be great. I mean, how do you see this kid, and what do you make of all the hype around him given the fact that Canada is starving for a legitimately great number one goaltender? Now, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, and I hope he becomes the next Carey Price.

But you know who else he might become? The next Justin Pogge. You remember how great that guy was at World Juniors? You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. He fenced him. Yeah, I think he had four shutouts at that World Junior. Like, it was just ever-worldly.

And they traded Tuca Raff because they had Justin Pogge. Like, that was the Leafs' management decision coming out of his World Junior. So, you know, you're always hesitant. He's not having a great, like he's like 4-13 in Owen Sound, even though his save percentage is pretty good. But he's been incredible whenever he's played for Canada. The U18s, the Holinka, he's been lights out good.

I've only been around him a little bit, but he appears very calm, very confident. Not arrogant, but like that confident that any good athlete needs, where like they know they're good and they carry themselves like they know they're good. He has that, which is important. He's not the biggest guy. He's maybe six feet, so that in today's NHL is not sort of the ideal size for a goaltender. But, you know, we'll see.

At this level, I think he exudes that I'm the guy vibe. And for this moment, I think that's good for the team, and it's good for him. I'm not yet willing to extrapolate as much as O-Dog wants to get him on the Four Nations roster. I don't know if I'm ready to go there just yet. Let's see how tonight goes, and we can talk again next week. Yeah, no, I agree.

And, I mean, obviously, being a little tongue-in-cheek, you say, the next Carey Price, but someone eventually will have to be that. He's played well so far. But I want to ask you about your opinions on what you've seen at a Conor Bedard, actually, this season, because he's had a decent

year, I think people would say, but it seems like it's been a little bit of a sophomore slump, if you will. Like, they're currently, I think they're down 1 but it seems like it's been a little bit of a sophomore slump, if you will. Like they're currently, I think they're down one nothing right now in the outdoor classic over at Wrigley Field. How would you characterize Bedard's sophomore season? I would call it a grind. A grind mentally, a grind physically, a grind emotionally. I think Conor Bedard had the expectations like a lot of us did. That he would take a pretty seismic step this year

in play and production. And I think a lot of us thought that he would do that even recognizing that Chicago is not very good. They brought in some different players and some Bertuzzi and Teravine to help him along. He's supposed to be so good,

it doesn't matter exactly what they have around him, that he's good enough that he's going to have 85, 90 points, whether the Blackhawks are good or not. And I think he thought that, because he's always been able to do that. And it's been hard for him. He went to that long goal-scoring drought. I'm sure it's the longest of his entire life. You know, he looked totally beaten down at times

when being asked about it by the media about sort of raising his hands and exasperation. I don't even know what to tell you. I'm like, I'm so bad I can't even score right now, which is unusual for a player that is as great as he is to feel that way at any moment. So it's been hard. What I think we've learned is that the nhl is hard and even conor

madard needs he's not good enough yet that he can do it without really good players around him chicago has the puck about as little as any team in the nhl when it comes to time of possession the offensive zone so he needs more support around him to produce the points that we think he can and so for that reason i think it's a bit of a reality check for him. He's gone through a coach getting fired. This is all sort of new to him and not necessarily new in a great way. So it's probably been a grind. Yeah, no doubt about it, MJ.

I mean, when you look at Bedard, I mean, he's been playing with, what, Taylor Hall and Bertuzzi. But when you're playing on a bad team, and I think we've talked about this before, I think that's a big part of this, don't you? Of course. When you're just grinding, you're getting drilled too often, and everybody's looking at you all the time. You're the big story all the time,

and yet what are you supposed to say when the team's not very good? Yeah, when you're the best player and the leader and you're 19 years old, it's a big burden. Chicago's a big market. They sort of hit their franchise to his superstardom, and it's not gone as well as he wanted. Now, Regina wasn't a very good team in the WHL either when he was playing there, so he's had some experience. But what's different, Fasten, I think that's important, is that there's never been a team in his life that he can't make good right like and he knows he knows it's the nhl but he still thinks i'm good enough or i'm great enough that i can

make the team competitive because it's me and then the realization oh it's not me um it's hard there so they got to get better players around them and i I wonder on some level, and I have no idea like what their relationship is like, but you know, Macklin Celebrini is getting a lot of positive attention deserved. He has been amazing. Now his point totals are around a point a game, which is sort of what Bedard was last year, but the conversation being,

you know, more complete and the puck battles one and better on face-offs and like all those other stuff that maybe Bedard struggled with at times. And I wonder, if I'm putting myself in his shoes, if I thought I'm the best player of these few years and all of a sudden a new guy comes in and people are talking that he might be as good as me or maybe even better than me

and if the Four Nations team was getting picked again, he would make it, not me. Again, that would chip away. It would probably anger me, motivate me, frustrate me, but also might chip away at my confidence and how I feel about my game because it's just not gone great for me this year. That's a good point. I mean, Celebrini has been terrific.

He's been amazing. But the thing is, we talk about Bedard not playing on a great team. What the heck does San Jose got going on over there? That's not a great team either. And Celebrini still seemed to be putting together a pretty good season. Well, they didn't win their first nine games. Guess who didn't play their first game? He played the first game, scored, but then he got hurt.

He didn't play. And then he got back in the lineup, but all of a sudden they're like sort of around 500 when he came in the lineup. Again, you know, he's a different kind of player. I think at this point he's probably a more complete player, better without the puck, better in his own end, better defensively than Bedard, straight up. But, you know, to sort of back to Bedard,

he probably hears that and that bugs him. And that makes sort of his existence harder. Now, he's got a lot to worry about, just to worry about himself and not worry about what Celebrini's doing, but it's all these great players. Like, it's all part of it, right? And maybe for the first time, he doesn't, you know, feel quite as confident and great as he usually does. Johnny, we'll get you out on this one.

We're asking the people at Twitter, what are some New Year's resolutions for some of the Toronto sports teams? So I'll ask you this. What should the New Year's resolution be for the Maple Leafs heading into 2025? The New Year's resolution is everyday back rub for Boston Matthews or whatever he needs. I don't know if it's his back. I'm not saying it's his back. I did not slip.

I have no idea what's wrong with it. Groin rub, knee rub, elbow rub, wrist rub, whatever. That's what the resolution. Whatever it takes to get that guy 100% healthy, that's the resolution. More frequent flyer flights to Germany, I don't care. That's top

of the resolution. And the other one for Toronto sports fans, just to go off the board, non-hockey related, can we please, please have the ping pong balls fall and get Cooper flagged to Toronto, please? Oh, yes. That would, talk about franchise changing situation. Like we won the lottery and it was Bargnani's year. Not Bargnani's fault, but it was Bargnani's year, not Bargnani's fault but it was Bargnani's year

it wasn't like a world class player the scooper flag is so good plus sort of the star factor and get Toronto kind of buzzing again about the wraps that would be my New Year's resolution lots of hand wringing over the weighted ping pong balls or envelopes for Patrick Ewing

whatever it takes, that's what we're doing. Well, they did their part today. They lost 125-71 to the Boston Celtics. Can someone play for the defense? Oh, my God. 155 this past week? They might put Fess out there for perimeter defense. Stop a three-pointer.

I don't know what they're doing. Johnny, the Celtics scored 80 points in the second half alone. The Raptors scored 71 in the whole game. The Celtics didn't have to play the first half and they would have won. Well, if they want Cooper Flagg, they're doing everything in their power to make sure they have a good chance to get him. Which I'm kind of okay with. I think a lot of people are okay with that.

Exactly. We're going to be bad. Don't be sort of bad. Yeah, go all in. Go all in. Just go ahead, lose every game. And they're only, what, two games back of final spot in the league? So just continue to be brutal, and that will make everyone happy, funny enough.

All right, Johnny. What's not going to be brutal is your call. It's going to be amazing on the Canada-U.S. game. It should be a fun time. Canada-U.S., New Year's Eve classic. It's always a good one. Appreciate the time, as always. Happy New Year, buddy.

All right, boys. Good talking to you. Happy New Year. Everyone out there, have a safe and happy New Year. We'll talk soon. Thank you. You as well. Mike Johnson, join us on the Maple Toyota Hotline.

Check out Maple Toyota's huge truck and SUV lineup, including Tundra, 4Runner, Highlander, and Grand Highlander in stock and ready to deliver. Visit mapletoyota.com. Yeah, the Raptors today losing 125-71 to the Boston Celtics and just, like, can't make a shot, can't defend. Like, this team, like, it's so funny because we talked about it going into the year. It's like, oh, they're not really bad enough to tank, but they're not good enough to make the playoffs like no i think they're bad enough to tank and they are showing that they're quite horrendous and granted no rj barrett no grady dick to their you know better scorers on the team to be fair um but it's it's been such a terrible

season and it's now what four straight games have games? They've given up 125-plus points on defense? I mean, they actually played a pretty good defensive first half. They held Boston to, what, 45 points in the first half, and then they allowed 80. 80 in the second half, I was brother. I mean, and they get drilled by 54, the largest margin of defeat in the NBA this season. After, as you point out, they gave up 136 to Atlanta, 155 to Memphis, 139 to the Knicks.

I mean, like, it's one thing to tank. It's another thing to be completely embarrassed and just look like a bunch of losers. And right now, this team appears to have checked out on the defensive side of the ball to the point where they've got to start thinking about, is Darko actually, you know, is Darko in command of his room? Does he have the room? Does something else need to change?

Because you can lose with some dignity. You can tank with some dignity. At times it's looked like they've been doing that. But whatever's happened in the last couple of weeks there, they have fallen off a cliff defensively. And that's about effort. That's about attention to detail. And they don't have any of it right now. Yeah stinks it smells and not very good i will tell you that but hey if they

can capture the flag that would definitely turn this franchise around to make the city very happy and make all of what we've been going through the last couple of weeks well worth it because that kid's going to be a star in the nba if he can do it north of the border in the six, that would be pretty good. I would accept that. In the pooper for Cooper. In the pooper for Cooper. In the pooper for Cooper. Capture the flag, whichever one you want to use.

We'll see. That should be, certainly should be in the resolutions bucket for the Raptors. Just tank. It's done. You have no hope. 7-26 now. 7-26. They're not making no play-in at this point. They're not making the playoffs.

It's done. So tank. Lose as many games as possible. See if you can just continue to improve the odds, the probability of winning the lottery, and see if you can get a top-tier prospect to come in and help this ragtag bunch of players

that are not playing very well right now, that's for sure. All right, we've still got Hazy B to join us a little bit later on. Confirm or deny as well. That's all coming up next on Overdrive on TSN 1050 and up on TSN 4.