OverDrive - Johnson on the Maple Leafs' new chapter, the management role and the Oilers looking for a bounce back

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Oilers looking for a bounce back against the Stars, Stuart Skinner's redemption in the series, the Maple Leafs' next steps for the franchise, the players looking for a contract, Canada's elimination at the Men's Worlds and more.

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Join today and be part of something amazing. Let go from your job without a severance package? You need employmentlawyer.ca. Your employer is legally required to give you as much as 24 months' pay when you lose your job. Call your Sam Firou and get what you're owed. Employmentlawyer.ca. Here's Mike Johnson, our TSM Hockey Analyst joining us here on the Maple Tire to Hotline. Where would you stand on that? Let's say Florida just continues to steamroll, they end up winning another cup.

Where does that put them historically? Yeah, it's a good question. Also, shout out from Stockholm. I'm watching you guys on YouTube couple social media influences you guys are now Hashtag full live stream for me. You know what if they were to win again That would be three finals in a row and two wins That would place them amongst the best teams since

1990 I'm like that about Tampa Bay that would place them amongst the best teams since 1990? Am I right? What about Tampa Bay? Yeah, well, like in that conversation, you had like in a three year window, no teams have really done more than that. No team has won three in a row. You know, some teams have had to have been

to the three finals in a row. Yes, but they didn't win all of them. So yeah, they would be in that conversation. And it's amazing, like we talked about this previously, like if Florida goes on to win, would it make the least defeat thing less? And I said no. But maybe in hindsight, if they do,

there is an element, we're so quick to want to point out the shortcomings of the losers, we don't probably spend enough time focusing on the positives of the winners and what they do well, not so much with the other guys who lost it and do well. And if they do roll through and win in five games in the conference final and win the Nets Stanley Cup and the leaf of the team that pushed them the most and the furthest and the longest, there is probably something, it feels empty, but if you're not sort of

attached to the team, there's probably something to that that has merit. Okay, we can get a banner up there, push the Panthers to seven, we can get it up there. Right beside the Canadian division. That's right. Right down the street from Otani, Flew Dude, Dun Eaten. There's a lot of that going on around here. We love that kind of stuff you do you see Taylor Hall said after the game we couldn't find the vis of the audio Greg Wyshinski tweeted this out from ESPN asking when he was

asked about the Panthers leading to nothing going back to Florida Taylor Hall said quote I mean they just won seven games against the Leafs right they're not a perfect hockey team, and we know that there are areas to exploit, like any team, end quote. Is that? Is that a shot? Is that a shot at the Leafs, or what is that?

I will always, like, that is completely a shot at the Leafs. But I think it might just be like a sub-aunt, I don't think Taylor Hall is trying to take an intentional crack at Toronto. I really, truly believe that. But I think there is this notion around the league that Leafs, they're not a punching bag because they're really good, but they're also a punching bag because they don't win in the end. And so I think that's what he was saying, like listen,

if the Leafs, who come up short all the time, can't get three games on them, they're not the 78 Habs. We should be able to find something to do against these guys. I don't think it was conscious, but it's hard not, if you're feeling sensitive, to see that as a bit of a shot at Toronto. Now if you're a Toronto fan, you'd be like, why don't you worry about getting more than five shots and half a game at home when you're down a game in the series, then taking shots at our organization, you've got enough to worry about.

And then if you want to go after Taylor Hall, because I don't think he's going to stand the cup in his very long and productive career either, you could probably go down that road as well if you wanted to. Right. Yes, maybe that's what we need. Matthews to respond. Can we find him? Your take on Taylor Hall's take.

As far as number ones go, you're way worse than I am. Like what do you want to say? Exactly. Although they both have the same amount of heart trophies, so Taylor Hall can take. As far as number ones go, you're way worse than I am. Like, what do you say? Right, exactly. Although they both have the same amount of heart trophies, so Taylor Hall can't say that. Oh, true enough. But, he often has a couple more Rockets in there somewhere. Yes, he does. But yeah, listen, Florida has dismantled Carolina, and then on the other side of things, I know

you've been busy, and we'll get to why you're busy in a moment Johnny but Yes, a couple nights ago It's 3-1 Edmonton. They are in the epitome of the driver's seat like a perfect Statement road game dry saddles on fire McDavid Skinner and then they give up three power play goals in a row and They lose and now they got to reset and It's clear the special teams are a priority. They got to get the power play going on the road. They got a kill on the road And Skinner took one game now for people to look at Stuart Skinner and say what's going on

Does this a must win considering what we saw against LA where they lost the first two on the road? How does that jive with what needs to happen tonight for Edmonton? I don't think it's a must win. Of course going down 2-0 against Dallas is not ideal but I think Edmonton has shown themselves even in these playoffs as you just mentioned capable of coming down. Back from that deficit, Edmonton is a good team. I think Noodle, you tell me, I watched the highlights. And I guess the penalty kill has not been good, which is not a good sign in the playoffs.

But like Stu Skinner, he never looked happy after those goals went in. He was always looking for a call or a goal interference or something. But he didn't look great. They gotta get decent goal-tenning. Doesn't that be great? But Edmonton with decent goaltending,

I think that team is good enough to go to the stand-up final again. But I think it's on Skinner. And one more game like that, is Pickard backing up yet? Because if Pickard's available, they will not hesitate after one more. He's not available yet.

They're not sure he's going to. So they're riding it. No, so that's it. They're riding Skinner until it's over. But Noodle, you tell me, like, Skinner seemed very vulnerable in that game one. Oh, oh, oh, Noodle? To be honest, I thought he was awful. I thought he was awful in that game.

Like I just, like, you look, go back to the Tyler Sagan breakaway. Okay, yes, it's a breakaway, but watch what he does. Like he falls, he ends up on his ass. Like he, Sagan just shot it around him. It was like a delayed reaction. Like it was slow motion. That's that shot I talked to you about. A lot of shots, guys are shooting low glove now,

because you talked about the positioning, the goalie's glove is up like that. I've never seen, especially righties or lefties shoot low glove now because you talked about the positioning the goalie's glove is up like that. I've never seen especially righties or lefties shoot low glove. I'm seeing a lot of pucks go low glove. Yes, it's a great point, O. And the other thing is Skinner, they exposed his movement. They exposed his movement. Side to side, they got him moving.

And listen, I'm not going to lay that loss at his feet, but he could have been better. Put it that way. A lot better. He could have been the reason they won, though, Noodle. And the other part of it, you say his movement, and it seems like there's two different things for goaltenders, and I'm not a goalie guru like you, Noodle, but there's guys who are not great movers. And that's one thing, that it's not as quick or maybe not as explosive but then there were guys who are clumsy movers like James Reimer respectfully he's a bit of a clumsy mover in net Roberto Alargo your boy at

times he looked a little clumsy in net and you watch Stuart Skinner he looks clumsy at times when he's moving around where he doesn't you know he kind of tips over or falls off with me off balance and yeah again, again, he wasn't the reason they lost, but he could have easily been the reason they won, especially given where they were after two periods. Johnny, I wanted to, we had Keith Pelley, he had a presser today, and I just wanted to ask you, the decisions moving forward, big ones,

who do you think is gonna pound their fist down on the table and say this is the way it's going to happen? Is it obviously Brad Trey Living? Like it starts and stops there? I think it's Brad Trey Living, yes. And it starts and stops there, except there, you know, I have no idea. Oh, I watched a bit of that presser over here live, and this is just guessing, not any sort of knowledge.

There might be the occasional veto power available from Kelly or the board or someone very you know hi I guess Kelly would be the guy if he said you know if Brad Turlevin came and said we want to trade off at Matthews let's say and it's the thing we're gonna do I could see occasionally on a really big thing that that might be up for discussion and not completely out of the trade of anything. But I think for the most part, day to day, hockey team management, roster construction, cap issues, contracts, that'll all be tree in his group

that will take care of that going forward. Yeah, that's the hope. I mean, it's a weird kind of vibe here. I know you've been overseas for a couple of weeks, take care of that going forward. Yeah that's the hope. It's a weird kind of vibe here. I know you've been overseas for a couple of weeks, but you can imagine. With the way they went out in game seven and then the Shanahan news hanging over them, there's already a million reports about Marner and Tavares and what's going to happen on those fronts.

I was saying earlier, Johnny, it finally does actually feel different. Now that can change quickly if they re-sign Marner and Tavares, it won't feel different at all. But Shanahan not being here, even though he's been kinda poker-rew the last five years, like he's not been around, he never talks, you kinda understood he was still

the guy that was running the show, like it was still his operation. And if Marner does leave, I mean, that's outside of Matthew's leaving, that's as tangible as it can get in terms of that change. Yet now you're dealing with a fork in the road, because if the era has come to an end, and yes, there was not enough success, now we're close to it. Hopefully it gets better, that's the plan, but it could get worse. It could go the opposite way. We may look back at this in a year or two or three and say, you know what, that was actually the end of an era and now it's worse. Now they're reverting backwards. That's going to be very difficult for them to make sure they stay where they are,

but even more so to get to that next level because I'm not sure they have the answers on how to do that right now. Totally fair. I mean, they've been really good for a long time. And yes, the playoffs are another conversation we've had nauseam. But the idea that if Montero leaves and Tavares doesn't come back, you know, are they gonna be, would you say for sure,

oh, no matter what they do, they're gonna be 105 point team again? I don't know. I don't know what they become. You know, who do they spend the money on? How do they build their team going forward? Do they save money for the 2026 crop of free agents? Like, there's a lot of questions out there and it may be one step back to hopefully take

several steps forward. But that will be the intention, but that will not be the guarantee. It's not easy. I always put it in golfer terms, right? It's a lot easier to go from a 20 handicap to a 7, then a 7 to a 3. Like the early steps that the Leafs have taken are more doable, and they did them well. It's the final steps that are hardest to figure out,

and they're going to try to figure it out again. But there's no guarantee, despite their best intentions, the same best intentions that have been going on here for a decade, that the team will be better in the regular season, that the team will be more successful in the postseason. You know, they have smart people running it, they're going to try Hayes, but I don't know with any sort of guarantee if Marner leaves, if they're going to be better next year. I just don't know.

Yeah. Yeah, we don't have the answer to that. I mean, I think we're fairly certain Matthews, Nylander, Knives will be back up front. Obviously another bunch of other players, you know, you're not going to turn over everybody. There are going to be guys that return. And then like we said earlier, like the six defensemen that played every night in the playoffs, they're all on term. They're all on term. They're all locked in and the two goalies are locked in. So you have a framework. What about Morgan Reilly?

Hey, what about Morgan Reilly? That's the one that sticks out to me, Johnny, is where does he come into play? Because I don't- Maybe as simple Brian as he needs to change the scenery, man. Freshen it up. I don't know. But he's got five years left at 7.5, a full-node trade. That's not-

I get it. I get it. It's not a full no trade that's not added not easy man not easy he didn't help his value this year like he just didn't he didn't play well at the worst year in our right now yeah and part of it and and look at it

pre-murder is going to be there for three years and a part of the dynamic this year for morgan riley was that the system of pre-murder they did not i like his killed the way that showing keep system did the dynamic this year for Morgan Riley was that the system of Craig Barubei did not highlight his skills the way that Sheldon Keefe's system did. Well, I don't think Craig Barubei's system is going to change. So there is that dynamic, is that maybe Morgan Riley hasn't fallen off, but just the system wasn't as ideally suited to him.

And maybe you get into a team where it does and he goes back to being a 50, 60 point guy. But again, a really hard conversation. I'm not trying to get Morgan Riley traded. I don't even want to start that rumor. But I think where the Leafs are right now is that they have to look at everything, including really hard stuff. And Morgan Riley has been like a really solid representative of the Toronto Maple Leafs on and off the ice.

In many ways, he sort of is a senior leader voice, even more than Austin Matthews, on stuff when it comes up. But they're at the point, they gotta do hard things. And if that means Tampa forcing Ryan McDonough to get traded because otherwise they're gonna wave you, or the Rangers getting barked at, like sometimes it's tough, and sometimes you to do those things to try to get your team better.

Well, Johnny, do you think that Morgan Reilly would be viewed different if he got some power play points because that obviously changed, right? We had Mark Giordano talking about that where you get a lot of free points on the power play and all of a sudden it looks different, right? The production looks different Yep, yeah, I mean you give them 15 20 more assists that he would have picked up if you played power play one all year long Then Cali gets 20 more points, you know, you can't like this is the thing I don't disagree, but he's not playing on power play

They took him off of it. So everyone gets 20 more points and everyone looks amazing. That's not reality. But on a different team, he would play on the power play because he's playing on the power play for the Toronto Maple Leaf when they have been the best or top three power play, top five power play in the league for five years in a row. He was a big part of it. So he's not just taking a guy who's never done it and say, okay, we'll concede. So it's not Cali Arnbroke getting eight more power play goals.

It's a guy who's done it before. And maybe you could make the argument if you were to, if you were to go somewhere else, yeah, you put them in the power play, you'll have a good power play and he'll get you 55 points. And at seven and a half with the cap going up, that's a second pair of guy. That's not a first pair of guy at all anymore. Seven and a half million dollars. That's a second pair of guy. That's not a first pair of guy at all anymore. Seven and a half million dollars,

that's a second pair of guy. And maybe having an offensive defenseman who's maybe not perfect defensively, you can stomach that for that amount of money in a different sort of environment. Yeah, and that is valid about the contract. I mean, it's not, now it's term more than anything. He's got five years left, I believe.

That's a lot of term. But the dollar now it's term more than anything. He's got five years left. I believe it's a lot of term But the dollar amount he is more than capable of playing to that number or exceeding it, you know And I do think there should be a concern if you tried to move off from you're moving off from after his worst season You know, like I think he's got more in the tank than the way he played this year I just you know again any more better with Carlo like maybe a full year with Carlo I just, you know, again, any more better with Carlo, like maybe a full year with Carlo at five on five, forget, forget about the power play. Now, again, if you, if you lose, and this is where you extrapolate it out. If you lose Marner,

are you running five forward next year? Good question. So if you're not, if your next best power play guy is not whoever, then maybe it's Morgan Reilly again and if you look at that decor there is I mean I guess all of Reckham and Larson but there's not really anybody else who's gonna run that power play if it's gonna have to be a defense man so these are the sort of stuff you need to work through as you make these decisions you know how the dominoes affect each other going through the summer and then into next year absolutely and all that is is to be on the table and you know maybe there's a

chance some of these canadian players of the least wanted to come over and play in the semi finals in stockholm it's not available to the child what the hell happens not really a denmark it's insane it's in there i don't want to overstate it with hyperbole.

It's got to be the biggest upset in the last like 40 years of this tournament ever. But Denmark, I did the research on this. Denmark had four full-time NHL players last year. Four. And, again, they might have four Hall of Famers on their team between Flower and Sid and Nate McKinnon and who knows maybe Macklin Sellegreen whatever and yeah it wasn't my game I didn't call it but Canada played well early the goalie for Denmark played great but to be fair in the third period guys it was 0-0 to start the third period the shots in the third period guys, it was 0-0 to start the third period.

The shots in the third period were 22-10 in favor of Denmark. So it wasn't just the two late goals. It was that Denmark was a better team. So they were inspired, home crowd. Canada had an off night. Clearly Canada couldn't score when they had the chances early. And this sort of coronation of McKinnon Crosby, this great sort of Team Canada experience they're going to have out the window.

It's shocking. And the worst part about it, guys, so in Canada, it was based in Stockholm with me. They had to fly to Denmark to play this game. They were obviously assuming they were going to win. They left their stuff back in Stockholm because they were coming back from the semi finals. Oh, no way. Yes. And their families did not go to Denmark. The family stayed in Stockholm waiting for

the comeback for the final weekend. All the parents and the spouses and the kids are flying home Monday. And now every one of these guys want to get out of here. They had to find their way back to Stockholm. Also they had a charter plane for the team that won to fly them back to Stockholm. So it was Switzerland and Denmark who got on the charter. No room for Team Canada. They didn't even have a flight back to the city where their families were. It's just a disaster upon disaster. They all want to just get out of here now and get on with their summers. I mean, bad news if you're Canada, but one of the coolest scenes you could ever imagine

if you're just a neutral sports fan to watch Denmark, their fans, like the king of Denmark move to tears about this victory that they've never experienced before in their hockey playing history so wow neat story but stunning and brutal and hard to comprehend if you're Canada yeah man like I've heard of a walk of shame that's a flight of shame it's a plane train and automobiles of shame yeah Yeah. Can you imagine, oh, how sour some of those guys would be like as the travel plans don't get worked out properly or they're having to wait.

What do you mean I gotta lay over and open hanging for six hours? Like what? Like it's just, I keep thinking, Sid and Nate, like, all right guys, we're just gonna get a plane. Yeah, everyone can do that. I was just gonna say, depending on what your bank roll says.

Private Bird. Private Bird, get me that. Yeah, we'll take a proportional of our career earnings. One guy will put in 10, you put in two. We're getting the hell out of here in two hours. Who's on board? That's where Sid sends a note to the king of Denmark and says, I need a plane waiting for me.

That's right, private plane, fueled up, ready to go. We're actually not going to Stockholm. We're going straight to Greece We'll see you there. Yes, what's what's the currency over there like Kroner Kroner Kroner Kroner Great Kroner Sid paying straight Kroner. Yeah to get home Like Randy Moss a straight car and a straight Kroner homie all day get me out of there And no Freddie Anderson even playing it's amazing no I mean listen Lars Eller we're not playing Oliver Bjorkstrand not playing Freddie Anderson those are three of the four guys the only guy who

is playing Nick Ehlers who scored the time goal amazing amazing well Johnny enjoy yourself over there it's my a... Alright boys, real quick. I'm fascinated by your YouTube stream I'm watching all the time now. And the comment, the live chat is tremendous. Right. And I read a comment that legitimately made me laugh out loud.

It said, watching on YouTube, Oh's picture, he's making me think that the video is frozen because he doesn't move. This guy's rebooting his computer because Oh always has the lowest pulse on TV or on YouTube. It doesn't move. And now I'm watching and I'm like, I totally, it's amazing.

Yes. I love it. Oh, you got to move your shoulders every once in a while or something. You're a manicurist on YouTube. I don't care. Johnny, what do you think our mode of transportation should be as YouTubers? Should we pull into Scarborough Channel 9 court like with scooters or something? I feel we have to represent the YouTube nation.

We need scooters or something. We do need scooters. That would be cool. I think one... Backpacks, scooters and helmets and we just wheel in. One guy grabs a scooter. One guy grabs a Vespa. Yes. Like a bestial. Really slow. And then one guy rides a bike and is a full hipster.

Done. That's what we need. We start that on Monday, man. We're all coming in different transportation. It's going to be like YouTube, Google around here. We're changing the world. Not the bicycle, just the two little wheel, the thing you stand on with two wheels that Mike Tyson fell off of. Oh yeah, people actually had her. You ever go to New York?

The one-wheeler thing that you put, that you pin between your feet, those guys go like 30 miles an hour. Crazy. Crazy, they bomb around downtown New York. It's wild. Yeah. Like it's already insane already in New York. Why would anyone implement that?

You know, like it's- They're dressed like the Terminator, riding these like one wheel thing around. Craziness. I know, man. That's what you got to come in as, oh, that's your move. Okay. We can do that Paul Blart that thing, man. We'll make it happen.

Paul Blart. Small cop. Let's go. We're doing it. We're really doing it. All right, Johnny. Good stuff, man. Have a great weekend.

We'll do it next week. All right, boys. I will talk to you from Toronto mercifully next week. Yes. Can't wait. There he is, Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analyst joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. and more with $500 spending cash to do it up right. Celebrate North by Northeast in true VIP style.

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