OverDrive - Johnson on Maple Leafs' win against the Blue Jackets, Matthews' performance and Domi's possible healthy scratch

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Maple Leafs' triumph against the Blue Jackets, Auston Matthews' return to the lineup, Max Domi's possible removal from the Capitals' lineup, Alex Ovechkin's season impressions and more.

The NPHL North and South divisions are on fire. The Blitz are leading the north. The killer bees dominate the south. Now the league's best collide at the All-Star game January 10th in Alveston, Ontario. Tickets available at nphlhockey.ca. Here's Mike Johnson or TSN hockey analyst. Who do you think we'll get to start tomorrow for the leaves? Yeah, usually, Hayes, I would say Wall would get Friday and give Hill to be the back-to-back.

But tomorrow's games at 5 p.m. So no morning skate, a bit of a disjointed day, even after the game, ends in 8. They'll be in hit by 10 o'clock. So it won't be a late night. So I think you're right. I would probably go wool on Saturday. He'll be a bit of an awkward start tomorrow at 5 p.m. And I mean, at some point, obviously, Wool isn't going to play one of the two, but he has been incredible.

He was so good against Columbus. But you just have to be mindful of not playing him too much. I know you'd want to because the other goal is not as good as he is. but you just have to just keep make sure he gets his rest days fresh because when he's fresh and he's right he's been really really good johnny you never complain about a win in the big leagues but what did you make of it last night we were talking about you know they kind of stuck with it the goaltender was very good basically won them a hockey game but what was your impression of it not the most aesthetically pleasing game a oh like not a lot going on out there um you know

the need the tavar's line was again the most dangerous the most effective they scored the one five-on-five goal late they play in their own and probably a little bit too much a few too many big breakdowns Sean Monahan probably could have had four but if you want to focus on the positive and I think that's where Craig Barubei with the glass half full business is coming from they've gotten excellent bowl sending from Joseph Wall that is significant and if you get that you'll be in every game they got pretty good penalty killing and that is not something they have had this year and the first period that game could have got away from them I didn't agree with all the calls but they had three miners and they killed them all off that's

insignificant. And they got a big goal from someone not named Tavares, Nielander, Matthews, or Nyes. And he's think howl. And he think how when it's playing himself into the fifth most important forward, if he's not already there. I mean, he's out there on the five-forward powerplay group. And so I think that also a big goal late to tie it up. So those are some things they can build off of and knowing that they still have more to go. But I think sometimes when you're struggling and the confidence isn't there. Making the game ugly, it's not the worst thing in the world. Just hanging around, picking up points as you try to build toward whatever your best game is.

And that wasn't it last night, and they'll have to be better against Washington, because Washington will beat them if they give them that many chances. But there are some positives that they can build off of knowing they also need to be better. Yeah, the Houston Cowan conversation is an interesting one because, you know, he breaks camp with the team. Baruba has been very complimentary of him. And they sent him down, I think in large part. because he was exempt from waivers

and they wanted to give him a chance to maybe breathe a little bit. And ever since he's been up, he's been good. And I'm with you in terms of your calculation of where he is in terms of the importance ranking. But how much of that is based on his own play, earning it, and how much of it is the other guys don't do enough

to fight for that fifth spot in terms of importance? Okay, well, I'm going to tell you this. So I was prepping for tomorrow's game, and I know we think I was playing well, but I was curious to see, like, you know, how well he has done. And I know he's played mostly on the top six but he hasn't always like he's been down in the third line and fourth line at times and i looked at so i know you're going to love these numbers but you

know his expected goal percentage first on the entire team his actual goal percentage second only to ox and matthews on the entire team amazingly i danger chance of percentage first on the entire team expected goals against per minute played best on the team so i that was my reaction like what really are these numbers correct because i don't necessarily see that but when he's been on the ice whether it's because his work or the work of his line mates or the work of all of them he has been the most effective forward um for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the time that he's been there so i get what you're saying it'd be great if he was sort of challenging for a top six spot but he was trying to catch somebody who was really playing great he's not doing that but i don't want

to discount how well he has played sort of on both sides of the puck with his linemates when he's been out there. He's been sneaky, very effective, and you could say, you know, he hasn't been as prolific as the other guys, but the underlying numbers for him are as strong as there are for anyone on the entire team. Well, what do you make of the statement, Johnny, that Barouba was making by scratching Dakota Joshua, by scratching Matisse-Michelli yesterday. Judging from practice today, it looks like Joshua will draw back in. Micelli still looks like he's going to be on the outside looking in.

And do you think that can have an effect on this team as they move forward here in terms of just setting the tone that Brubay is trying to set? And it's so far not had a lot of success doing so. I mean, I think as far as the statement goes, I think it's just, I don't think it's this wide-ranging statement to Tray Living or I don't like my players. It's more like we've got 14 NHL forwards. I'm going to put the combinations out there that I think give us the best chance of winning. I don't care who you are. When you got here, how you got here, what you make. and if that's a message that is delivered throughout the lineup

and that goes to Yard Croke or Domi or McMahon or whoever or he thinks that one, that should be delivered loud and clear to everyone. If you don't play, we'll find someone else, we're willing to scratch you to get someone who will play better. That is, that I think, is the message he's delivering and that should be received loud and clear. What I am curious about, though, guys, is you wonder,

you know how, you know, Nick Roberts had at a hard time sort of gaining Craig Brubay's trust and his faith and his belief. and I wonder if Machelli and Robertson, well, very different kind of players, stature-wise, similar, stylistic, you know, offensive-minded guys, similar. And I wonder if Burubi is thinking, I just can't have both. I can't have one or the other, but I can't have both in the lineup at the same time. I wonder just with how he sees his team wanting to play, if that's going to be difficult for Michelli and Robertson to both crack the lineup unless they're scoring.

Johnny, what do you make of Willie V. Perube? Like, does this just go on every game this year where the coach just loses it on him and he just kind of shrugs it off and then scores a goal? What do you make of it? Don't you kind of love it, O? I do because I would find myself laughing all the time. Well, it would probably be me involved with it, though. Yeah, it might be you and the coach, but I would be down the bench rooting for O to react and

like give it to a little, oh, don't take that. And I love that Willie is, you know, principled enough and believes whatever he's saying that he's not going to shy away from having that conversation and having that conversation publicly and having Craig yell at him and saying, I disagree. And that's okay. And that's okay because, you know what Craig Brubay keeps doing? Put him on the ice and put him back out there and put him in positions to go score important goals. And Willie is the kind of guy that doesn't let that stuff linger. We've admired his sort of aloofness, if we want to call it. ability to shake things off. And that's, you know, that was me yelling with my coach. It would

probably stick with me at least the rest of the night, if not to the next day. It's gone out of him in 10 seconds. And he's back doing whatever it is he thinks he should be doing. So, yeah, oh, I think we do see it. I think we'll see it in practice. You'll see it in games. You'll see it morning skates, whatever. They have talks all the time, sometimes animated, sometimes calm, sometimes sort of confrontational, sometimes jovial. But they go back and forth. And I don't think it's a bad thing. That's just how their relationship works. And Willie's what? Fifth in the league in scoring. So it's clearly

working for him right now. With Mike Johnson, ahead of Leaf's Caps tomorrow. So, Alex Ovechkin has 11 goals on the season. Crazy. And he's getting hot again. It seems like every night he scores now. A bit

of a slower start. We're joking, like, what kind of off-season is this guy up to? What's he doing back home? Is he in shape? Is this going to be his final year. How can he be motivated now that he's Cockcretzky, now that he's scored 900, what's the next bar for him?

And Washington had a slow start, and he was kind of a microcosm of the team. And now they've come alive, they started to win again, they're starting to play better. And Ovi's on pace for what, 40 again? Yeah. Like close to it. His ice time is down, as you would expect. Five on five, I'm sure Carberry's

going to shelter him a little bit, but what can you say about this guy? And if you're the leaves, you know, how do you, how do you game plan against him because I got a feeling he'll be lurking tomorrow. Well, that's just, that's just it. That's what makes him hard to game plan is that he lurks. And, you know, he doesn't do

much, he won't see him much, he doesn't skate with him much, but then he just drifts around, the puck finds him, and he still can shoot at an elite level. And the goal he scored last night against Winnipeg, and I heard the Caps broadcasts, say it and say it correctly. He is the greatest of all time at shooting rolling pucks. It is unbelievable

how well he is able to sort of corral and read it and release it and get a hold of it. And the watch, I'm on now, Hayes for him. This is my new Ovi thing, okay? First he was Gratz, then it's 900, whatever. Now it's,

he's like a golfer trying to shoot his age. He's a goal score trying to score his age. He's 40. Can he score 40 and become the second oldest player to shoot his age? Gordy how, when he was 41, scored 44.

But Ovi in the modern era, if he could score 40 at the age of 40 would be, like a monumental achievement and I didn't think he'd get there and you watch the first few weeks this easy like there's no way regression is coming to Washington but they're playing better and he's finding goals and being opportunistic and every other week he's got a major ceremony on the ice and he's loving life

and he's got his kids out there and warm up you name it he's having fun with it and he's scoring goals which is I guess he will do until he retires days I think that's what we have to accept he will never not score Johnny, out in Evanton, Stuart Skinner's jersey number, 74, and I think he'd like to make 74 more saves the rest of the season, if possible. Can they put him back in the net out there, or what the hell's going on? So the challenge hero is that, you know, goaltending market is tricky. The guys they're talking about, you know, if you're thinking about making a move

and you're going to go get somebody, the guys who are available generally not having great years themselves. No kidding. By the way, the Oilers suck defensively. Don't forget that. The other part of it, you can put Dominic Aschik in there, and he would get goals scored against them. They suck defensively. They've been one of the worst teams in the league. So you could put Tristan Jari or Usses-Soros or Jordan Biddington.

If they are the 28th best team in high-danger chances against, those goalies will get lit up. Maybe not quite to the same degree the current guys are, but enough that they'll keep losing. So they can talk about making changes to the goaltenders, but until they change the way they play, It won't matter. But sometimes, oh, I don't know if you've ever been on a team like this with a goalie. Like, it gets the point where it just gets almost untenable. It's almost better for everyone to just move along. And, you know, you're getting Bronx cheers and you're getting media and social media and in the public.

It just becomes a really sort of toxic situation. And I don't think Stuart Skinner, you know, necessarily deserves that, even though he hasn't played well this year. But if you're training him for Bennington and play the way they are, that is not going to change a damn thing in Edmonton or even Sorrows. Tristan Jari of all of them is probably played the best this year but if you're Pitt you're going to trade a guy like that you're in the playoffs. You're going to trade one of your two goaltenders who's playing well. That's also a tricky message.

So I'm not sure what happens Owen Edmonton other than he has taken a lot of the heat that should be shared by the goaltenders but also by the entire team because you said it. They have been no good defensively. No. Well, everyone's off today in the NHL

but back at it tomorrow. Tons of games. Tons of games this weekend. It's going to be A lot of turning points. You know, a lot of twisting and turning. We've hit U.S. Thanksgiving. All right, Johnny. Have a great call tomorrow. We'll do it next week.

I'm just saying this weekend is important for Toronto because they, after this, they go to Florida and Carolina. Those are two really tough buildings to play in for them. They kind of need three points in these next two games. Because we're at the schedule coming up. It's a tough week next week. Yeah, totally agree. Got to have it.

Got to get one. All right, Johnny. We'll catch you tomorrow. All right, boys. Happy American Thanksgiving. giving and oh, just make all the picks for Hayes and see what you can do, turn things around for him. Dude, it's ugly, man. I think I lost my...

He's on waivers, man. He might be on waivers in 15 minutes. Oh, my goodness. I have the waiver wire. I will be listening. Yeah, make sure you do. Thank you, Johnny. All right, boys.

How about your weekend. Mike Johnson joining us here on the Maple Toyota hotline. Get in and go where adventure takes you in a new 2025 Tacoma from Maple Toyota near Canada's Wonderland. And the Maple Auto Mall visit Maple Toyota.com. It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas with IHart the Holidays. Non-stop Christmas music 24-7. All your festive favorites.

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