OverDrive - Johnson on the Maple Leafs and Red Wings' matchup, Cowan nearing his debut and the Oilers' goaltending look

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Maple Leafs and Red Wings' matchup, how Detroit has started the season, Easton Cowan's status to play, the Oilers' redemption after opening defeat, the construction of the team and more.

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Joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline, here's our TSN Hockey analyst, Mike Johnson. Johnny, have you ever used a public washer and dryer and had your underwear stolen while doing that? What? Noodles did some laundry down in Tampa, and somebody stole his underpants. I mean, I'm not going to lie to you.

I would even do my laundry in public, probably. I would not go to a laundromat. And because, you know, that seems like it's already rife with its own hazards, let alone having someone pilfer. Like, aren't those doors kind of locked until they're done? What is going on? What kind of name? In Tampa? Where did you go in Tampa?

There's no laundromat's post the hotels? Where were you saying? We stayed at a new hotel. I'm not going to name the hotel because I don't want them to get in trouble. But it's like, we stayed in a new hotel, nice hotel. But I, on the eighth floor was like laundry. So, like, I went up and washed it in the hotel. Yeah, in the hotel.

So I went up to the eighth floor and I washed. Johnny, I was watching the game. I'm watching Leaves Play Montreal. I'm watching the game. After the first period, I go up, I take it from the washer, throw it in the dryer, pay. And I set my timer. 35 minutes later, I come back at TV timeout. And I grabbed this stuff and I'm like, there's no underwear here.

And I'm like, okay. And you would need a key to get in there to get that. You do. You need to swap your key. So I'm like, okay. Exactly with ocean. Maybe it's caught like in the washer, caught under a lid. Nothing.

Like I scoured that place like and I gave it like the once over. I'm like, there's an employee doing jumping. That is. I was like, something went sideways on it. And I was, I called back today to just go, listen, I didn't have the best experience or whatever. Talked about the, you know, the cockroach who was sleeping. and then I said that's uh but I said that the ganch was a little bit of a yeah you got to find a new hotel man

it's that simple like you just you can't johnny you'll be down in tampa you keep your head on a swivel man keep your head on a little bit i'll be doing a full-scatting report i don't need to worry about the laundry mat so much because i'll just go buy new underwear i don't even do the laundry i'll just go get new stuff uh but the cockroach i can't i'm not an outdoorsy person I came from Scarborough. There's no, there's no, like, there's no animals. I don't like lizards. I don't like snakes.

I don't like any insects. I am, I'm like a, you know, a 10-year-old child when that stuff comes around. I would, I would, if I saw a cockroach in the room, I would probably get up and just leave the hotel immediately. I would just go somewhere else that night. Yeah. And say, sorry, that's getting invoiced to whoever, not me, but whatever. 100%. No chance I'm staying there.

Well, listen, I guess that's consistent with the way the NHTS. has started this year. Noodles, travel experiences are equivalent to some of the funky stuff we've seen. I mean, there's just crazy stuff going on, Johnny. Where do we start? Where do we start? Where do you want to start? Well, hang on, noodles. Real quick, before we go to Detroit, in your entire, let's say, junior career forward, did either one of the two things that Nadelcovic did last night happen to you at any point ever?

We were talking about it. He had the flipper from center, which I almost, like, I was like Vesatostola when that happens, the islanders all those years ago. And then the attempted clearing, like, out by his blue line in overtime. Did that, those are two once in a career things. They happen 90 seconds apart. That's craziness. I've never, so I've obviously, and I would fully admit, I've allowed awful goals.

Awful. But I did get scored on from like just. outside the blue line but like it was a slap shot it wasn't like i just couldn't put that in yeah but this one this is going wide and short hops in at that one like and then this one i don't know like he just let up on it i think he just tried to fire it through him but this has to go fight hole yeah noodles wouldn't you think after letting in that muffin he would say i just don't need to take this risk here like you would think that that would be the first thing that entered his head I actually went to bed, like, thinking about this, Nadelcovic, and I was like, I hurt, my heart hurt for him.

Like, I like him as a goaltender. Like, I think, you know, he's, he just, it was an awful two minutes of his, you know, life there that, you know, he's going to be on highlight reels forever. Oh, yeah, that's top ten. Both of them are in the top ten forever. That's the amazing thing. It's, they're both top ten worthy in the same game within 90 seconds apart. Oh, just awful. Yeah, it's crazy.

We mentioned Todd McClellan, who's losing it on his team, game one of the season in Detroit. And I'm curious how you would look at that or hear that if you're the Leafs, who are in Detroit tomorrow night and then have the Red Wings at home on Monday. Like the Leafs won on Wednesday. They didn't love their game, but they found a way to win. Do you think, is this right for the picking? Are you scared of what could come from Detroit tomorrow night? What would you expect if you're the Maple Leafs,

and you hear the coach, you know, blast into his team like that? I'm thinking that we better be ready for them to come out hard. If nothing else, they're going to skate, they're going to hit, they're going to be engaged, going to be chippy. He's looking for an emotional reaction, and whether it's well-executed a game plan, that might not happen, but be ready for them to come at you with some speeds and physicality. But you also know if after in the middle of game one,

And after game one, the coach is snapping. It's kind of a fragile group as well. So if you can play well, if you can get them on their heels, if you can get to their goaltenders, then you might be in for a good night yourself because you have a bit of a wounded opponent in front of you and back-to-back as well. Detroit's a funny team.

Like last year, they were really good on the power play. I think they were tied to the league lead and power play goals, but they don't score a bunch of five-on-five. They bring in John Gibson to be the answer. I did one pre-season game. He was not good at all in the preseason game. for if that was worth. He wasn't particularly good, didn't finish game number one against Montreal.

Of all the team, like if you're going to talk about Buffalo taking a jump or maybe Detroit taking a jump, I think Detroit is the further away, less likely of them doing something good. But if you're the Leafs, you know, they are a prideful group. They'll be better and be ready certainly to start the game. As far as the least, Johnny, Chief talking about their puck play and he said it wasn't good and it's got to improve. Is that like for you, defense to forward? forward's getting back in position, just managing it on entries?

What do you think of when you think of puck play? I think of when it looks good, oh, it all sort of flows together. All the stuff you just talked about, right? Defense and going back, interchanges with their goalie, support in the right places, at the right time, plays out of the zone, whether it's a chip out or a passout, and it all flows together cohesively. And it didn't look like that against Montreal. It was a whole bunch of it was choppy.

it was disjointed and it wasn't and it didn't allow them to to look very good um so that's a work in progress but as i talked to you guys about right last week the lease didn't look good in preseason this is sort of a continuation from the a group from what we saw when they played in preseason it wasn't a real fluid effort for them the guy that i thought though that was the best player on the ice for them Morgan riley yeah i thought yeah for what you expect out of him and what he does well, that was the closest player playing, like, his best game. Up in the ice, he probably could have had three goals. He had one. He, you know, timing it really well. He wanted to skate. He wanted to shoot. He wanted to be aggressive. And I thought he did all

those things in a timely manner appropriately to look really good. But yeah, I think the forward lines are still very much a work in progress. And I thought Morgan Riley was really good. I thought Anthony Stolars was really good. Beyond that, there's work to be done. Yeah, and, you know, Johnny, last hour we were talking about the East and Cowan conversation. I just pointed to the schedule. What do you make of it? I mean, this is a team that plays Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday,

and the following Tuesday as well. So there's lots of games to be had here. Do we just need to be patient before we see Easton Cowan, or what do you make of, you know, his whole situation? He'll play at some point in that next stretch of games. I think noodles, they're not going to go undefeated. I guess, you know, Craig Baroube is thinking winning a lineup,

give the new guys a chance to sort of gel a little bit. Nick Robertson really did play quite well in the preseason. You don't want to yo-yo him right out of the lineup because he didn't, you know, he wasn't great, although he had a couple of good looks at against Detroit in the game. And Cowan, I don't think they want to play in the fourth line. I think he liked that Lorenz-Wa and Yarkrope line, right? They scored a goal. They were in the offensive zone.

So I don't think he's got to go in there. So basically, you're going to take out Nick Robertson. I think he's essentially the swap that you would go to before you do anything else. And given that they won and given that they probably want to let everyone get a little continuity, he's going to be patient. But I know everyone's clamoring for Easton Cowan to get in lineups as is Easton count. You got to remember, though. He's still just the first year of pro.

He's also going to be entering the lineup as a third. third line right winger coming from a right winger oh like third line right winger might be the most pedestrian position on the team like you know what i mean like you're not going to get a lot of power play time you're not going to get a ton of ice time you're not going to get matched up with their best players or their worst players you're just sort of doing it so even when he gets in the lineup i would just temper expectations about you know what a guy in that role could do in his situation well i i played third line kind of center right wing where it's like you're going out there and it's not like you're filling time,

you're playing with some good players, but it's not the high-end skill game that you're used to, and then you're getting courtesy second-unit power play time, but on the Leafs, as bad as their power play was the other night, like what are we talking about, 15 seconds of power play time? So to get in any kind of rhythm, it would be awfully difficult. Yeah, and you know what, that's another thing, too? You mentioned, oh, the power play.

I know they gave up a shorthy, and that was a really poor pass. It was Neelander kind of put it in a particular thing. between Matthews and dies and left everyone hanging out to dry. But just generally speaking, didn't look dangerous, didn't enter the zone cleanly. And you know what? The zone entry thing, I don't want to go back to Mitch Marner too many times. But that is one area where they will miss Mitch Marner.

Yeah. He was good at making plays at the blue line and getting possession and getting set up. And that might be one area that they'll have to work through maybe more than anywhere else to deal with his absence. with Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analyst. So the Oilers and Canucks play tomorrow night, and I believe Skinner is going to get the start. We're talking about Nadalcovic, and, you know, Skinner wasn't far off with what he was doing

with that third goal the other night. You know, the Oilers, they still got a point. They're going to be very good this year. But the last two years, they have had horrible starts, and then they have figured it out. You know, through one game, there's no reason to believe it's going to go one way or the other. But do you think that would be like a constant conversation for them?

Do you think Knoblock's kind of hammering that? Like, let's not just throw away October here. Why put yourself in that position? And if so, you know, how big of a kind of bounce back for Skinner in particular is tomorrow night? I would imagine the team is pretty aware of it. I mean, they're a veteran group. They've been around together for a few years, had great success in the postseason. But, yeah, it gets harder than it has to be in the second.

in half because of their slow starts and there's no reason to have a slow start given everybody is basically back other than Zach Hyman who is you know is hurt and maybe a van der kane who's last from last year's team so yeah i would expect to be good now haven't said that at the 25 minute mark of their game against calgary i thought the game was going to end up eight one for edmonton they were killing them they were all over them mac david is setting speed records left and right like he's a professional skater it looked like it was going to be one-way traffic and then it you know a couple goals and yes skinner looks terrible on that goal but evan bouchard like i think both of them bear some responsibility like if bouchard is going back to

skinner saying no no no no i don't want it and then skinner shoved it to the corner or skinner saying here it is here it is take it but like there was miscommunication it wasn't just skinner lazily he thought bouchard was going to take it he was looking for bouchard to handle it so maybe both of them bear some responsibility but what's going to happen is he this this this whole year for Evanton is the dynamic of that team and the reality that they have already shot for addition to their goaltending group all summer unsuccessfully every time they lose and it might be the goalie's responsibility every time they win and the goal they plays poorly it will come up as if can you win a cap is this goaltending worthy of this team and that's a

doodles because that would be a pretty tricky place for the goalies to be and and i don't think that's going anywhere unless they both play exceptionally well i i agree and i actually wanted you guys all the way and you probably talked about it yesterday but johnny we have you on that that goal is is casual like you're right the oilers should have won that game six one seven one there's two things that stood out for me dust and wolf at three nothing didn't allow it like it was fantastic, fantastic, because Calgary wasn't very good. But Edmonton, Darnell Nurse

turns that puck over on the first goal. It's casual this, casual that. So on that Blake Coleman goal, if I'm a goaltender, you're right, like you're the general, you're the guy directing traffic, you see what's coming. So you see Bouchard

coming back, you see Coleman coming on to him. Like my whole thought process is, right, you go, take it or you pop it to the corner, and you let Bouchard skate into that. But the fact of just, there's no communication, and you stand there. And leave it under your feet. Your feet are wide apart.

Your five hole is wide open, and you move your stick out of the way. And then Coleman goes, I'll just poke this in if you guys are not. Like, it was insane, that goal. Like, for me, insane, because that's the goaltender's responsibility. Regardless, I know Bouchard has to own some of it, but there's an argument. There's people arguing in Edmonton of whose fault that is. I'm sorry, that's the goalie's fault. He has to make the call.

You pop it to the corner. At worst case scenario, I've always been taught, chip it to the corner and let the guy have a 50-50 battle in the corner if you want to bumble it around. But the fact that you just stood there, not backing it up with a paddle, not backing it up with a pad, standing with your feet, shoulder width apart, and Coleman just pops it in. The look on Bouchard's face is like, what are we doing here? Well, he's always got a weird look on his face.

Doesn't the goaltender have the ultimate King Daddy Topper whenever the criticism starts to say, I was in the last two Stanley Cup finals, so what about that? He does. When everyone starts saying, you know, the goaltending, what about the goaltending? He can always fall back on. I've been in the Stanley Cup finals two years in a row.

It's a big star game. You're right, but let's break this down, guys. It's like all of us way in. You're right. He's been in the All-Star game. Two years ago, he played 82 games, 59 in the regular season, 23 in the playoffs. But he also, his backup had to come in for a reset both times, okay? And when you look at it, in those games, those critical games, go back to game seven.

They lost 2-1. Was Sam Reinhardt's game winning goal? Brilliant? It wasn't great. Should you know, like it wasn't, okay, and in game six, you know, there's, there's, the point being, there's lots of blame to go around, but, and I, I don't think Evanton is sweating today about their goaltending, but I think what they are looking at it is going, can we get over the hump and is he the guy going to deliver it, which it's a fair question, and Johnny,

you're bang on, saying every time there's an off goal, because if that was Vasilefski that let it in or Scherker last night, we're chuckling about it going, geez, that's a, miscommunication. Stuart Skinner, he can't allow that because of the amount of attention on him. That's the difference, because I think he's a good goalie, but the problem is he's been allowing one bad goal a game, it seems like, for a while, and it's at the wrong time. And that was at the wrong time in game one the other day that let Calgary back into the game.

Such a polarizing player. Like his career is a fascinating one. What makes him so unique is you could probably put your stake in the ground on either end of the spectrum, and fight to the death in terms of opinion, you know, that he's, you can't, he shouldn't be there, get rid of him, it's awful, it's a disaster, or the other end, actually he's really good, plays well, he's been to two-cup finals, like you could make a very compelling case on both sides for him. It's crazy.

And in a crazy dynamic, guys, the McDavid contract, which, of course, is great for Emmetton, it probably makes life harder for the goalies because it will just exacerbate the conversation. look at what's at stake here and look what we have, or he would have all this extra money, how come we're not going to get something else? It just sort of fuels that narrative or that reality that at times the goaltending isn't as good as they want it to be. Well, last thing on this, you're right, Hayes.

You can make a case. So in a positive light, I can go, this guy has proven that he can play 60 games in a season, proven he can go to a cup final. he's 26 years old and gaining more experience like there is a lot to see six foot four big guy exactly like there's a lot there and i think that's where when evinton management looks at it goes there is a lot here and what is the alternative who's out there that could replace that type of situation but then again what we just laid out you know sometimes change is better just for the

sake of change. A lateral move might change the whole narrative around that situation. Yeah, and at some point, yeah, they're going to have to make a call. Are they going to go through another trade deadline? Again, we're one game into the season, but I think it's going to be a topic. We know it's

going to be a topic all the way up until March and certainly up until the playoffs. There's no disputing that. All right, Johnny, good stuff man. Have yourself a great Thanksgiving. Thank you for doing us and we'll catch up again next week. All right, boys. Happy Thanksgiving. Extra on the gravy, extra on the stuffing.

Yes, love that. Total agreement on that side. Love that statement on the way out. There's Mike Johnson, our TSN Hockey analyst, joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the glorious sons. Hi, I'm Nellie Fattano.

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