OverDrive - Johnson on the Maple Leafs' team additions, Cowan's ceiling in Toronto and the Canadiens' rise

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Free Agent Frenzy, the Maple Leafs' additions on the roster, the direction of the team's lineup, Easton Cowan's ceiling, the Canadiens bolstering their team and more.

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Updated daily. Tomorrow's chart toppers today. Discover iHeart New Music. Always fresh. Always first. Stream now online on your smart speaker and on the free I heart radio app Here's Mike Johnson our TSN hockey analyst Where do you stand on that idea that Cowan is either a guy they might flip to get that top six help or a guy that

They might rely on to actually play and perform for them next year. I Think if they had their preference it would be that he plays and performs entry-level deal younger body all the reasons we know and it's amazing that in Toronto like any other player who goes and wins a Memorial Cup and playoff MVPs and Memorial Cup MVPs and he'd be like of course he's playing in the top six why wouldn't he play the in the top six? But with Toronto, you know, there probably are understandable question marks with Cowan if he can do that. But yeah, I mean, if somehow you could put him

on the second line and it worked, that'd be really good. Like that would be a perfect person to slot in there at an affordable number. So I mean, and maybe that's what they want to see. Like maybe they will give him a chance. Although there is always you run the risk, you let them try it. If it doesn't work then can you trade him for quite as much? I'm not so sure. But yeah, this is not the trade deadline. There's no finish line on what happens today. They can do this all summer trying to change their team, add players, subtract players, whatever it is.

But for Toronto, yeah, I mean, I think Brad Sureliving knows where their holes are, what they need to replace, what they need to try to augment. And Cowan would have to factor into that. But if you're Nick Robertson, now you've not had the junior career of Ethan Cowan, I'm not saying he's the same player,

but he might be saying, listen, I can score at the NHL level. Like give me a look too. Like, you know, I think there's some, a few guys that might be wanting to angle for some of those good minutes. So Johnny, we just talked about the luxury of time. The one thing that I haven't, you know, really been able to identify is what team is willing to not blow it up, but willing to part with players that are good players. Like everybody seems to be like, Hey, we, we can take another step here this year. And I understand San Jose wants to get better.

Chicago wants to get better, but they're not going to be playoff teams this year. So is there a team that you would identify that maybe Toronto would circle and say, you know, give them 10 to 20 games and they'll be selling, you know, whether it's Pittsburgh or, you know, maybe an organization that we're not focusing on that believes they're not a playoff team, but they're trying to at least sell to their ownership, to their fan base. We're going to give these players a run and see how it unfolds in the first 20 games of the season Well, I mean, I think the obvious answer noodles is the one you mentioned Pittsburgh. Yeah, like they have Brian Rust and Ricard Raquel Yeah, both are legit top six wingers both can score 30 goals and playing with good players

Both have decent contracts that the Leafs or any other team could probably absorb if you move out a little bit of money and if you give them picks and prospects and good young players like anything Caliber player you could get that guy you could get them now probably if you wanted but maybe you wait 10 or 20 games and Pittsburgh realizes they're not going to make it again and and the motivation for the team to move them and for the players to allow themselves to be moved grows a little bit I think that will be a team that every other club in the NHL will circle and say okay let's watch them because eventually they're gonna

want to move off those guys and the other guy I don't think the top six guy but he's one of the best third-line players in the league is that that Blake Coleman. I think Blake Coleman in his last year in Calgary you know I don't know if they're going to want to extend him well into his 30s. He can catch a pretty price with how good he is and the contract he's on. So I wonder, Calgary maybe not waving the white flag at all, but just saying, we're going to move off some of our expiring guys, Rassus Anderson, Blake Coleman, and bring

in young talented players. That might be a guy as the year goes along that you could look at and say he could help us. Maybe not on your first line, but he's a very good player. He could probably play with Tabars and Nylander on the second line and help them. MJ, when you look at the DNA change that Brad Tree Living is seeking here, now he's sort of, we had him on earlier in the show and he sort of amended it to talk about you know it's a little bit about a little bit about bringing in different players but also about changing the internal mentality the stuff between the years and big moments and all that stuff but

when you look at the way you know they're gonna proceed with they brought in some guys here we all know the... but in your experience like what can be the effect of the subtraction of a player as significant as mitch marner personality is significant as mitch marner like is there a way you could spend it obviously not replacing the hundred points but

there has been moments there have been situations in sports of addition by subtraction just because it changes the mix somehow how do you see that yeah i mean a little two thoughts one you know it's i don't want to be one piling on mitch martin the way of the door and he was part of a group that didn't win but he wasn't the only root cause of the fact that they didn't win and it feels like

the guy who liked it about you the problem uh... that somehow removing him and his game or his personality will somehow free up the other guys to go and become greater than they were when he was around. I don't think he had that kind of influence. But there's no doubt, like the personality of a team is largely, you guys can attest to this, is largely dictated by their best players. And Mitch Marner was one of the best players. And so whatever that personality

was, you know, the other, the team would take some cues from it. And Hayes, you've referenced this a lot over the years. Not that you have a problem with any one of the big four guys, but they're all sort of wired similar, sort of, you know, sort of quiet or sort of internal sort of driven to be great on their own, but not necessarily outwardly emotional or demonstrative or someone who reacts in a physical manner rather than going and try to score. So I think, you know, taking Mitch Marner off of the team and replacing him eventually with a player who maybe does some things differently or reacts to stress differently or reacts to stress differently

or reacts to tight situations differently, even if they're not as good of a player, will that help steer the team in a little bit of a different direction? That's what you're hoping for, Fess, if you're talking about DNA change from maybe somebody leaving the team. But the other part about it is when Tree talks about growth and the guys that are there dealing with things differently, if it was easy, they would have done it by now. Exactly.

This is not a new phenomenon. This is 10 years in the making. They've had plenty of stressful situations to learn, to react, and to in theory theory, do something different the next time through. They haven't, as a group, done anything differently. This looks actually quite similar year after year after year, which is part of the frustration with a team this good. So, it's easy to say, and unless, and I'm not even being flippant here,

like, unless there's a commitment to, like, a sports psychologist, or like, you know, like some tangible change, other than just saying, let's try to be different. Let's try to be bold. Let's try to be brave. Let's try to be courageous and embrace the stress. They've done that before and it hasn't worked.

So I don't know eliminating Mitch Marner, talking about it out loud. I don't know if you can expect it to change significantly because I don't know if it was, if they could have, they would have. Yeah, well exactly and that's, you know, there's going to be a lot of carryover. Yeah. There's going to be a lot of the same team. Right.

You know, and that's, and they're a good team. Like they're still a really good team. Like they have both their goalies, all their defensemen, you're, they're going to add some depth, the S. Marner's out. That's a very significant regular season piece in particular. But, you know, Wa's in. I don't know enough about Michelli to make a projection on what he's gonna look like. You know what he's like though, Hayes? He might be like, I don't want to stretch too

far. He plays a similar style of Mitch Marner, just not nearly as good. Does that make sense? Yeah. Like he's sort of a complimentary facilitator, creative with the puck, pass first guy, not robust physically, relatively responsible, and he might get you if he plays a good player he might get you 50 points. So versus the 100 Mitch gets but like that that that's sort of what he is. Okay well listen if and if it pops here then that's a good find because they didn't pay a lot for them. But beyond that, there's gonna be more additions, there's gonna be depth,

but there's still gonna be a good team. Like this year, I fully expect that there's still gonna be a good team, but Florida's gonna be a great team. I think Montreal has improved. I'm curious what Ottawa still has in store the rest of the off season, because they haven't changed a lot. They kind, like they kind of brought the band back for the most part.

But you know, it's going to be, Tampa is going to be good. I just feel like those are the teams. Like I don't think Buffalo's improved. I don't think Detroit's improved. I think Boston's still going the wrong way. This Montreal team, you've got, they get a center man. Man oh man, like under 25, you've got Hudson Suzuki, Caulfield, Demidoff, Slavkowski, Bull Duke now, Fowler, Dobson, Gouli, Reinbacher, Newhook, Dobish

in net and Kirby Doc. All under 25. Alex Newhook is still under 25. That's crazy. He's 24 coming 25. I checked it out because like I thought he was older but they're gonna have to part with some of those guys like you actually might look at Montreal and go maybe new hook would be available or Kirby Doc might be available again I'm Anderson Gallagher yeah those guys because they're gonna have to move some players around to either add or you know just get a little bit more well veteran presence but it'll be interesting to see like I think they're better but they made the playoffs last

year so they're trying to chip away you know Ottawa added Lars Eller but I think they're looking for Shane Pinto growth I think they're you know Dylan Cousins a full year there see what what he does like there's there's work to be done but I like that I don't Johnny that Jordan Spencer I like the the addition of him that right shot D that they brought in like he's you know He's gonna take hammanocks minutes like so I think they're just trying to be better with it Exactly, just a better player and and younger obviously, but these teams like they're not going away No

But this is the nature of pro sports. Like, and I was on the panel. Okay. Put Florida in their own situation. Obviously they're unique. They're returning versus the entire team. What you're hoping for them is they get old and they get broken down and they get bombed, gets an injury, like, you know, something happens that changes their

dynamic because we've seen when they're at their best with that group as they currently are, they're better than everyone else. But if we take them out, and I know you can't, but if you take them out of the Eastern Conference, who else is much better than Toronto? You can argue Tampa might be a little bit better and Washington might be a bit better and you know, I don't know, Carolina will be good again. Who's much better than Toronto? They're all lumped together.

They're all lumped together. But Toronto to me would be at the top or towards the top of that group of five or 16. Yep. And that's as is. So, you know, that's not the worst place to be when you have a bit of calf space and you've lost a hundred point player

who's such an important part of your team. They're still gonna be good, better than good, and maybe will be better than that when they eventually get to whatever they look like when they're all finished because they're not all finished in and we'll see what that you know that what that looks like and i had the summer goes on and probably as the year goes on next year yet mike johnson at the s and hockey analyst uh...

you know in terms of the the teams in the western treating me because you know we're talking about vancouver party coming on rock best so that was the biggest shock of the day for me yeah that he gets the agency and ends up resigning with vancouver anyway they keep garland they find a way to resign and they decide to resign them coaches an extension which will kick in next year

edmonton dish shaved off players but that's all they've done today. Calgary, I don't know, they got Dustin Wolf and then they gotta figure out what else they're doing. You know, I think, I mean, I don't. Yeah, they've got a kid, a goalie named Devin Cooley that they liked last year, he was an all-star in the minors. He's gonna challenge Wolf. I wouldn't be surprised if they brought in another

goaltender to replace Lidar. Because Lidar left. Lidar went to Philly, which I was happy for him because Philly doesn't have any goalies. They got that Ericsson and then they got this mutant Russian goaltender, yeah, who's like 6 foot 10. He plays dodgeball sometimes, though, in there. It's tough. Yeah, it's an opportunity for Lidar to possibly start and play games. That's a team that's still retooling as well. Like, Philly kind of knows who they are. But you know of those teams in particular, Vancouver

and Edmonton let's say, which one had maybe a more surprising day, confusing day, you know how would you kind of describe what those two teams did today? Okay, so for Vancouver, I say maybe not as surprising but really quite confusing because when you factor in you know Evander Kane coming over, Garland getting his re-sign, Bester getting a re-sign, so those are two guys, Noodle you just mentioned, they tried to trade Garland and Bester in the last year and eventually re-signed them. The reason why Bester comes back, them, I think initially Noodle during the year, they were hung up on four or five years max for Brock Besser

and then they realized they got shut out of everything else. Matt Duchesne went back to Dallas and they couldn't get the players they wanted so they upped the years and that's probably why Besser went back to Vancouver even though he couldn't get eight, he still got more than what they were offering before. So that's all, that sort of makes sense. You know, they're all good players and they're important guys. They need more goals.

Those guys all can score. We got, you know, everyone talks about Pedersen and him getting better and Phil Hedl, him trying to stay healthy. But then the one part we haven't discussed is they got Dempo on a big extension as well. And again, Dempoko when he's good, he's an eight and a half million dollar goalie,

I guess, sure. But when he's healthy, when is that gonna be? It hasn't been for several years. They signed Lanken into that big extension. They have Shelovs. The American League playoff MVP who now needs waivers. It's just that one was positive, but also confusing, so I'm not quite sure what they're up to, hey, is when it comes

to the goaltending situation. Maybe Noodle's gonna explain it to me, but I didn't quite get that for Vancouver. Even though I understand the goal scoring, I don't quite get the goaltending. Even if they're all individually good, I don't get the mix in why you would do it the way they did it.

Yeah, no, you make an interesting point there, MJ. MJ, we were just talking about Vegas. I mean, obviously, there's going to be a lot of eyeballs on that team this year from the GTA with number 93, Mr. Marner in the roster. With the terrible news about Alex Patrangelo being out for the year with multiple health problems here at this late stage in his career.

How do you look at that team? Do you consider them a potential contender or is the death blow of losing your top defenseman, the guy that was the linchpin of your Stanley Cup team, just too much to overcome here? That's a massive hit for sure. Massive hit for sure, but they're gonna be good again. I think Bruce Cassidy is an incredible coach.

He really does get a lot out of his team. Jack Eichel's still very good. Hurdle, Stone, Carlson, Smith, they have a lot of good players. Have a lot of out and down they go. I think even getting Sissons and Lozall from Nashville and that Hague deal does shore up their depth, makes them not so weak at the bottom parts of their lineup.

So Theodore is going to have to be incredible this year and they'll be probably shopping for another right shot defensive. But I still think, you know, if you're looking at today, I don't love at all what LA did today. Edmonton got worse. They haven't gotten better yet. They're going to, but they haven't gotten better yet. They just haven't replaced the players that they lost you

know Calgary like who in the I guess San Jose Anaheim yeah they're better but who is much better than Vegas in the Pacific I don't I don't know even with Petranjola's injury fast that I would say anyone I would take significant maybe Edmonton but other than that I would expect Vegas to have a whole nice advantage in the playoffs again so they'll be good and Mitch obviously be really good there you gotta play good players and you know that stone plays right wing Mitch plays right wing so you're gonna have Eichel, Hurdle, Stone, Marner like those will be the two I don't know how they pair up but don't like and maybe maybe it's Hurdle and Marner

together and Stone and Eichel together, but like those are two pretty good duos to anchor your top two lines and I expect them to be really good. So, um, yeah, I don't know. Like no one really seems to stack up to Florida, but other than that, they look pretty good to me. Yeah. Yeah.

And those 93 Marner jerseys were ready to go, weren't they? They got in that team store. They had a quick turnaround. Man. A quick turnaround. Yeah. And those 93 Marner jerseys were ready to go, weren't they? They got in that team store. Turn around. Turn around. Wow. That's good work. No tampering here. I was gonna say, isn't that the tampering evidence? Isn't that all the tampering evidence you need, MJ? No kidding. No, they took video of them getting pressed on at 1202 just to make sure. No, no, we were not doing this until the trade was done. But I think with Bob who said it best, the fear of tampering and the discussion that has happened the last week and maybe the last year

has not curbed the actual tampering. It has curbed the leaking of the obvious tampering evidence that was coming out in the past couple years. It's still going on, kids are just being smarter about how they announce whatever they've done prior to. Exactly, exactly. And it sure sounds like Mitch might've had his eyes on

the strip down there in Vegas as early as a year ago. More power to him. He can do whatever he wants. He earned the right, the no move, he enforced it. And many fans might not like this, but the reality is he got everything he wanted. He got the market, he got the contract, he got the team, he got the he got what he wanted and you know good for athletes for

exercise and leverage when they have it. Yep and that's the reality he's in Vegas and his return is gonna be quite something, man. It is gonna be. Okay, so Hayes, right now, Jerry's percentages, many Jerry's to you. Yes. Likelihood that, obviously he's gonna get booed initially. Likelihood that the boos laugh

and are kind of venomous all game, or as compared to just like yeah they boo them and they sort of forget it they probably applause when he gets his tribute video what do you what's the percentage of it getting nasty the whole game? 90% like I don't think it's a hundred because it's 93 yeah I mean 93% that's a better number because it is Toronto and Toronto is just not wired that way like that building's not generally wired that way it has been though at times it has been for the whole team when way. Like that building's not generally wired that way. It has been though at times.

It has been for the whole team when the Leafs fail. It's not gonna be Islanders to Viruses. No, it won't be anything close to that. Like it won't be anything close to that. Like it's, you know, and the Leafs, I guess they probably will show, they're gonna show some montage. You gotta do a video tribute for them.

Yeah, I guess you do, but if it gets booed the whole time, right? What's the point? Are you inviting negative energy by by doing it? Would he be perverted? Don't even bother because it's a boo-la. Here's the other thing too guys. The schedule gets out what July 18th or something like that. Yeah, it's soon How they arrive and what I mean by that how Vegas plays here will also build up the vitriol If if Vegas plays the night before in Montreal type of thing It's like in and out he's playing there if they play on Wednesday in Montreal and play Saturday here and it's a three day and Vegas is here for three days practicing or two days practicing

It's interviews. It's all like, that's where I think the buildup can either get pretty, a little bit more spicy. Yeah. Don't you think? Yeah, I think it's possible. I mean, Marner, he issued a statement today online and I thought it was a classy letter, you know, I thought it, I found it quite interesting.

He finally took accountability. He never did as a Leaf, but he did as a gold knight, you know Finally admitted I wasn't good enough when I had to be finally admitted. We just didn't do what we had to do to win And I again it just it makes you wonder like why wouldn't you just do that when you're a leaf? Why not say that two years ago three years ago, but that ship is sailed. It doesn't matter now But yeah, I would say 93%. It's crazy and loud the whole night, and he hears it. And then we'll see what happens the rest of his career.

He's gonna come back here eight times over eight years, unless they meet in the cup final. You know, he's not gonna play here a lot. He chose the West, I think, for a reason, and he's gone. He's as far away from Toronto as you can get. All right, Johnny, I'm sure you're about to do the same thing, get as far away from Toronto as you can get. Alright Johnny, I'm sure you're about to do the same thing. Get as far away from Toronto as you could possibly get.

Happy Canada Day, have a great summer. Thank you for this. Alright fellas, happy Canada Day and we'll talk soon. You got it. Mike Johnson or TSN. Hockey Analyst. mistakeably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Bryan Adams. Hey, my name is Brett Emmons. I'm from the glorious sons. Hi, I'm Nellie Furtado. Made in Canada, the station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required, just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeart Radio app.