OverDrive - Johnson on Canada’s quarterfinal loss, where the blame lies for Canada, and Easton Cowan’s tournament

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joins the show to discuss the fallout from Canada’s quarterfinal loss to Czechia. Where the blame lies for Canada and Johnson breaks down Easton Cowan’s tournament

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The smarter way to book travel. All right, here's Mike Johnson, our TSN Hockey Analyst, joining us here on a Maple Toyota Hotline. Johnny, you've had a night to sleep on it, man. I don't know if the dust has settled quite yet in Ottawa, but how do you look back on this? What do we make of Canada losing in the quarters for a second straight year to Czechia?

Yeah, I don't know if the dust has settled. It feels like there's still lots of conversations going on or have to go on. Yeah, it's unusual. Not so much, Hayes, the story is that they lost in the quarterfinals. I mean, I think there are five good teams, and if you don't play well enough in the round robin, you're going to play one of the other good teams in the quarterfinals. I mean, I think there are five good teams, and if you don't play well enough in the round robin, you're going to play one of the other good teams

in the quarterfinals, right? Three teams had easy games. Two teams had one tough game. And if you don't play well enough, you get that game. The bigger story, and it really needs to be unpacked more, is why it looked like that the entire tournament. Not that they lost it to the Czechs. Czechs could win the whole thing.

They never looked like a powerhouse Canadian, more talented, deeper, faster, more skilled, more prepared. They didn't really look like that kind of ever

during this tournament. That's unusual. I don't think most people think it's because there's not enough good players at that age that kind of effort during this tournament. And so that's unusual. And I don't think most people think it's because there's not enough good players at that age group in Canada. And I don't want to hear about Bedard being available and Celebrini being available. Yes, I know that would change the nexus of the team,

but even without those guys, there should be enough good players to not have them look like this. So why did they never look dangerous offensively? Why was the power play never quite right? Why did they never look dangerous offensively why was the power play never quite right why did they never practice the entire tournament like these sort of questions um those are the ones that sort of leave you scratching your head the kids they think they tried their hardest like they were they they laid it out there yes there was some very poor

decision making yes the penalties were an issue that they never reined in, but it wasn't a lack of effort or lack of care. Sometimes it's almost too much care, but just the decision-making on how to run the team, how to pick the team, how to coach the team, how to prepare the team, that all is not just a reactionary

to last night. It's things that have been being asked throughout the tournament. What's going on there? That's sort of a sentiment for the people around here and for me as well. Well, so, Mike, how would you break that up between coaching and management? Like, I'm reluctant to use the phrase, like, blame pie, but that kind of is what's going in my mind. Like, how do you divide it all?

Well, I mean, I don't know. I'm not going to act like i know exactly how much uh well the roster construction is one component of it and then what the coaches did with the roster is another and i think both left game canada in not the best position to be successful so i don't know if it's 50 50 i don't know with a different roster and the same coach it wouldn't matter because the roster might have been better but the coaching didn't have to be as good i'm not so sure there i mean i think they're both, you know, bear responsibility. As do the players.

There are certain players who didn't play great, and that's fair. We'll get to that. But they both bear responsibility. I don't know about how we can divide them up, but I think both had to be better. And they worked with each other, and they worked in concert the whole tournament. And I'm not going to act like a lot of people do.

I'm not a junior hockey expert. I got a big enough job covering the NHL. I'm not watching Saginaw play Oshawa. I don't do that. But I talk to people that do. I read. I certainly watch the kids when they're here. And you get a sense of what's there.

The reality is this team, I think, was built as a response to last year's team being thought of as too easy to play against. So they went out and got a whole bunch of energy guys and physical guys and sort of more consistently, you know, consistent guys in how they play. But they did that at the expense of maybe higher skilled guys that are point getters, point producers, goal scorers, and the

idea that you need two full checking lines, which is essentially what they had, even though... I didn't think they were physical, though, Johnny. I didn't leave that tournament being like, wow, that team was crushing the opponent. I didn't think of them as a physical team. Well, I guess in today's hockey haze, physical means you're was crushing the opponent. I didn't think of them as a physical team.

Well, I guess in today's hockey haze, physical means you're hard on the puck. Yeah, I guess. Not you're hard on the other team's body. I think that's kind of like you'd love guys to run into each other, but quite frankly, every time you hit someone really hard, you're likely going to get a penalty. Which I hate. I hate it.

Which is ridiculous, but that is the reality of hockey in a lot of leagues, including this one. But I think it's more they're hard on the board, hard on the puck bats of hockey in a lot of leagues, including this one. But I think it's more they're hard on the board, hard on the puck bats, hard on the face-offs. That's kind of harder to play against. Those guys played hard in that role, but they

never really threatened to score. Quite frankly, they never really threatened to score. I don't know if you need two lines. You can use some of those guys, but you don't need six or seven or eight. You know, mix in three, four more skill guys, even if they lack in some of the areas where the guys you picked are better. I think that roster composition, I think, you know,

they lost their best defenseman, which is crazy. He's 17-year-old Matthew Schaefer, but that also hurts. You know, they lost the guy. Everyone's like, what about Parekh? What about Yakimchuk? They had the guy that was better than those players at that stuff and he got hurt.

I don't think they felt comfortable making the very bold decision of taking his roster spot and not giving it to the guy who'd been with the team for three weeks and giving it to someone else. Even though if you're looking at the team, that probably would have been better for their success. I don't think they wanted to do it to the guy who'd been with the team for three weeks and giving it to someone else. Even though if you're looking at the team, that probably would have been better for their success. I don't think they wanted to do that to the thing that was Bo Ake at the time

who had not been activated. They didn't want to do that to him. So that's the roster construction. I just don't think they fleshed it out well enough or they thought that they could win games 3-1 and the top six guys who are all really good would be able to score a bunch and score on the power play a bunch, because those guys didn't get done either.

And then there's the coaching staff. Like, right from day one, the philosophy of this coaching staff was 200-foot, responsible, reliable, no mistakes, no turnovers, you know, that kind of mentality, which is good, except I think it was hammered home so heavily that the players who wanted to do what they're supposed to do got coached out of their strength. Like, you didn't see the players be as creative and as dangerous with the puck

because they were so worried about doing what the coach was asking them to do, which is be safe with it. And Jonas, you can appreciate this. They really, really wanted to focus on point shots and traffic as an offensive philosophy. That is not a good

offensive philosophy. I'm sorry. I think you don't have to be a modern day NHL coach to know that. Look at the numbers. By the numbers, it's not a consistently reliable offensive philosophy. Is this harder to score? It's just harder to score. That's the reality.

We see, like, the numbers bear that out. You're going to be asking for tips and rebounds and luck. Yeah, luck. And when you have a better team, you don't need to rely on tips and rebounds and good luck. So, you know, I think that part of the coaching left a lot to be desired. You know, getting guys to not take penalties, that's on the guys with a bit to the coaches,

but that's mostly on the players. The no practicing, I don't get that at all. Like, I understand fatigue. I am the king of, like, optionals, but these guys are 18, 19. And they didn't travel. The game wasn't – they weren't playing in Japan. They didn't travel. Yes.

Hey, every one of these players plays 23 minutes on their team. They're playing like 14 minutes. Right. They were not getting extended. You just mentioned it. It's emotionally intense and it's physically as hard as they can play, but it's not a physical brand of hockey where guys are getting banged up. So we kept asking. We'd get that

schedule every night and have the practice, and it would say cancel, cancel, cancel, and I'd get asked about it. I'm like, you know what? I'm not saying go out there and you need to do an hour and a half of systems work. But for a team that can't score, mix in 25 minutes of two-on-ones and three-on-ones and snap it around and have some fun and see the puck go in the net.

That's not going to tire them out. So, you know, all these things, and there's no one single laser you can point and someone say, that's the thing that is to blame. It's all of it, and it culminated with a game that

they were 30 seconds away from getting to overtime and probably would have won because they were just rampaging in the third period, one of the most electric third periods I can remember being part of. So despite all that, they still might have, you know, were half a minute away from likely getting to the semifinal.

But they put themselves in that spot with tighter margins because the way they built the team and the way they coached the team to play, that's what they really did. They tightened the margins of Canada's excellence and Canada's advantage and brought it closer to the pack and then

it didn't work out because other things happened. Yeah, it feels like a classic example of overthinking and especially with the non-practicing like my impression from afar is, well, we don't want them in front of the media. We don't want them them in front of the media we don't want them you know exposed to public we're going to put them in a bubble

and and johnny you know this the only time they were really going to breathe was when they were probably on the ice like that's when they really could escape because it wouldn't they'd have to leave the phone in the dressing room hey their parents aren't around just said it you just said it like they talk about going off social media? they didn't so what do you think they're doing on their day off? playing video games and mucking around on their phones

and the reality is, it's human nature they're not strong enough as a collective to not look at social media and there's lots of criticism flying around. Some of it's ridiculously directed and languaged at young people. And then not strong enough to have that negative social media impact them.

They're not, as a group. They can have, you know, the high-performance coach, and some might be able to, but generally speaking, nobody's able to take that kind of stuff coming at them and just not have it matter. And agents, family, friends, teammates, current organizations, NHL organizations, all these people are in their ears. There's a lot on these kids. It's a lot. Everyone cares.

Everyone wants them to do well. Everyone's invested in their success. cares, everybody wants them to do well, everyone's invested in their success, and they have to hear from all these different sources, and the actual coach, and their own internal monologue, and then try to come out of all that with no practice and bad memories from the previous game,

and then write themselves for the next game. It was a daunting task made more difficult because of, maybe again, good intentions will keep them away from stuff. You're exactly right. When things are bad on the ice, when things are bad even in your life, you know, how many times have you heard, like, the place where you find sanctuary is out there on the field.

Get on the ice. On the course. It's on the ice. When you're not thinking, you're just playing, and you're with your boys, and you're having a good time, and you don't worry about the weight of everything else, and they never did that. Yeah, I think that was, you know.

That won't happen again, I guarantee it. That was a bad decision. That just simply won't happen. They're in Minnesota next year. They're going to be on the ice. I guarantee it. They will never do that ever again. No, nor should they.

Nor should they, exactly. Well, this is the whole thing. Don't you have to learn lessons? You get it. Yeah, exactly. Remember some mistakes made? Eval them like learn lessons and then change behavior because of it well mike do you think a lesson for hockey canada is and maybe this could even extend to like four nations the olympics just take the best players like just stop worrying about like

role like or is that how do you define the best i don't know like just take the most talented players like you could even look at their four nations team and be like do you define the best player? I don't know. Just take the most talented players. You could even look at their Four Nations team and be like, did they take the best players? Are they trying to build... I don't know. Mike, what do you think of that? I think there is... They should skew...

Not entirely. Is Conor Bedard more talented than Sam Bennett? Sure. Is Conor Bedard playing the Four Nations over Sam Bennett? I can have that conversation. It's a legit one to have. I think as a general guiding principle,

take the most talented guys. Don't worry so much about positions. Don't worry about so much, well, who's going to kill a penalty? If you're that good, especially at the adult level, maybe the kid level is to kill a penalty? If you're that good, especially at the adult level, maybe the kid level is a bit different, but if you're that good, they can kill penalties.

They can play left wing. They can make the adjustment. And if you want some maybe super talented players that have a little bit more defined role, like a Sam Bennett or something like that, then you bring three of them up front. You don't bring seven. As

overriding philosophy, I think that is something that Canada should do because Canada has the most talent. The other countries, not the U.S., other than the U.S., the U.S. can also have tough decisions and go for roles. Do you remember the last World Cup with the young guns team?

They flamed out with Brandon Dubinsky and David Backus and those guys. They tried to bring role players instead of the best players. But they are the only two countries that could do that. The other countries just have to bring whoever they can because they don't

have enough high-end guys. But for Canada and the U.S., and you look at the U.S. team here, they are way faster, way more aggressive, way more creative than Canada showed themselves to be in this tournament. You referenced a lot of the idiots online, a lot of people, Ruth, a lot of anonymous clownery. That's just been in existence forever.

But it does feel like Easton Cowan has been at the forefront of the attack, courtesy of Canadians. Yes. And I feel for the kid because he is that. He's 19. He's still not a pro. Back-to-back years, never played for a medal. Back-to-back years, playing for Canada at the World Juniors,

and goes out in the quarters both times against Czechia. I give him a lot of credit. He met with Kenzie after the game. Kenzie Lalonde interviewed him. You could see he was in tough, man. But he stepped up. He talked. But, like, what do you make of the Easton Cowan scenario?

His play, the whole situation. Here's the reason, Hayes. Here's the logic behind it, and it's so crazy. So, Easton Cowan was identified as going to be one of the most important Players and best players on this team Okay? I can see you're in that Responsibility and that privilege By being as good as you see has been in London

The fact of the matter Is the team disappointed In their results and maybe in the way they played For two years in a row and as a leader in that team Some of that spotlight is going to be focused on you Totally fair He didn't play as well as he wanted to So some of that spotlight is going to be focused on you. Totally fair. He didn't play as well as he wanted to, so some of that's fair as well.

But there is no question, and this is not me because I'm from Toronto, I don't give a... The fact that he's a Maple Leaf prospect made it exponentially worse. That people were loving to dump on a guy who was a Leaf high prospect. To be able to say,

see, he can't play for Canada and you Leaf fans keep telling me he's going to be so great and he stinks. Because that's not true, but that was a lot of the tone and tenor of what he would have to deal with if he checks out social media, and I hope he doesn't, because it's not going to be a very nice place for him.

And that stuff is undeserved. That stuff is, you know, that is just a Leaf thing, not an Easton Cowan thing. is, you know, that is just a Leaf thing, not an Easton Cowan thing. So, you know, I think the Leaf management group that are here sort of recognize that part of the attractiveness of playing in Toronto is that people care about whether you succeed or lose. Like I did experience it firsthand, and the ups are way higher.

The lows are also a bit lower, and he's sort of a function of that. But then the other part of him actually as a player, which is almost more important, because I think this will not define him as a pro or his career or any of that. It'll take a while, but he'll get over it. But as a player, I think, again, I don't watch enough junior games to say that I'm an expert, but I think junior players are so good, and the way the league works,

is that they're comfortable playing at like 85% speed all the time. And they win with that, and they play a ton, they take long shifts, and it's all fine, because that's the way the league works, and that's how the top players play 23 minutes a night for london and pile up a bunch of points and when he came to start the camp like his pre-tournament game first one was switzerland i think he had a hat trick and i remember commenting on the broadcast in the entire tournament last year i never saw easton Cowan look like this. This fast. This engaged. This quick. This dangerous. And I think what happened, Hayes, is as the tournament

wore on, and he had a few games where he didn't score, and the team didn't score, and he got more stressed about it because he felt the pressure and the weight of the responsibility, then he started to drift further away from maybe the way he has to play at this level,

the way he'll have to play at the next level. And more into his junior habits, because that's what has been ingrained in his brain longer. And that wasn't working. It just didn't work. And so I think that's what he's going to have to flesh out with the Leafs about, you know, you're very good, obviously, one of the best junior players in Canada, obviously, but for you to be good at the NHL, you can't play how you play in London.

That won't let you be successful, and so that's going to have to tighten up and change, and I think he kind of got away from that, and then it just was confidence, it snowballed. That sequence where he didn't pass the puck to Oliver Bonk, and then Bonk reacted. Bonk's reaction was pretty wild. And again, I don't even want to bury Bonk for that

because that was instinctive. That wasn't like, I'm showing up my teammate. That was a legitimate, in the moment, I cannot believe this guy didn't get a pass. And it's not that Ethan Cowan, and I saw like, oh, he's selfish, he just wants to score. That's not it. He was so in his own head that even a simple hazy B 15-foot backdoor tap in,

he couldn't see it. He couldn't see it because he was so in his own head. And that's too bad for him and for Canada and for the Leafs, I guess. But the heat he's taking is as much a function of him being a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect as it is the way he plays. 100%. And if that play happens in London tomorrow, 10 times out of 10 he puts it on box tape.

14 times out of 10, it's a goal for his 57th game in a row. Exactly. 100%. But on that stage, second year, you can see it. Yeah, you can see it with all of them. Every interview, on the ice, it's in his head, man. Yeah, you can see with all of them. You can see every interview on the ice.

It's in his eyes, in his face, just the weight of it all. And that's, you know, it's a real, it's a great tournament. It's great because Canada cares and the players care and it's provided so many great memories. But almost Hayes, when I'm here doing it, and I guess for the first few, I had the Edmonton crazy McTavish goal line goal, then a Kent Johnson overtime gold medal goal. Right.

Then the next year I had Conor Bedard, the one man show and a Gunther overtime gold medal goal. And then last year I had a strange year in Stockholm where it didn't go well, quarterfinal loss. And then this year back in Canada, quarterfinal loss. stockholm or didn't go well quarterfinal loss and then this year back in canada quarterfinal loss and the lows and the losses almost highlight the magnitude of this game of this tournament more than the win like the way the reaction and the heat and the and the burden and the pain that the kids feel, especially Canadian kids,

when they don't do well in this tournament, is almost more illuminating into how they look at this tournament than the joy they feel when they win. And it's a lot. It's a lot for these guys to deal with. And I think when it goes wrong, like it did on a lot of different levels in this tournament, then it's difficult for them to be their best. Yep.

There's no question about that. Well, we've got four teams left. You'll be calling the games. Enjoy the weekend, your final weekend out there in Ottawa, and we'll do it next week. Thank you, Johnny.