OverDrive - Johnson on the Oilers' comeback triumph, Draisaitl's incredible role and Marner's deal

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joined OverDrive to discuss the Oilers' comeback win against the Panthers, the team's resilience in the series, Leon Draisaitl's elite skill set and his ranking on the all-time players list, Calvin Pickard delivering a clutch game, Connor Hellebuyck winning the Hart and Vezina Trophy, Mitch Marner's future and the contract value and more.

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eligible trade-in. Switch to Canada's fastest 5G plus network today. Visit a Bell store or Bell.ca slash Blue Dot Days for details. Bell, getting a new phone just got better. Here's Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analyst joining us here on the Maple Tidal Hotline. Were you in the building last night, Johnny? I was. I was. And I was sitting there, and you know what it's like, guys, right? At the end of the game, we're not really invested in who wins or loses, but all you're

thinking is, as long as it doesn't go to overtime, we're all wired up, we're ready to go on air, and of course with 20 seconds left, Sam Reinhardt dribbles one and you're like, oh my god, here we go again three of the four games going overtime and deep overtime days. So I was there it's been like it's a funny because the series has been incredible right? Three overtime games and yet it doesn't feel like it's been that close. It's a weird feeling when you're there because largely Edmonton has been trailing most of the games and Florida seems to be better than Edmonton, but there we are, two-two.

And at this point, I haven't checked the betting lines, but Edmonton would probably be the favorite to win the Stanley Cup now, wouldn't they not? With two or three at home, given what they did last night, forget about how they got there. That's two out of three when you're at home for two of them, you would be the favorite. Well, and Calvin Pickard's your goaltender. Like whoever saw that coming that you're favored at home to win the Stanley Cup and Calvin

Pickard is your guy. Yeah, the updated odds are Edmonton minus 115, Florida minus 104. It's still pretty close to a Pickum on the which is i think reasonable i mean yeah i don't know who's gonna and i i i really don't and i think that that's what makes it so compelling yeah and in more than a i can't admit were there every day every day and i usually have a pretty good sense of what's gonna happen but i think that's what our job is like

trying to be able to have an idea what the games will be played like and this one you don't. You don't have a great sense of how it's going to go game by game, period by period. So yeah it's fascinating. It feels like Edmondson has more in them and yet they're still there at 2-2 but Noodles, like this Cal Pickard from all reports, guys love this this guy like he's just a perfect backup good dude you know they laughing like body made by Funyuns like just like not a prototypical new age athlete and yet he goes in there and

like he doesn't look like he's particularly flexible he doesn't look like he's Bobrowski dynamic but he was really good in the game last night made several huge changes with that love save off the crossbar from Sam Bennett and overtime and The Oilers have won 14 games in the playoffs Calvin Pickard is 7-0. He's won half their games. He's not lost yet So I mean, I'm assuming he's gonna play tomorrow night as well but you know Calvin Pickard goes on a run here and wins two more and I think nine and oh in the playoffs, it would be one of the most unlikely stories all time for a goal center to lead their team

to a Stanley Cup. It would be a hundred percent. And then one thing we were talking about in the last hour, Johnny, like I didn't think it was Stuart Skinner's fault. I mean, the high danger chances's fault. The high danger chances in the first period were 13 to 1 for Florida, but then the ice tilted in the second period. The one thing that Pickard does very well is he moves side to side very well. He can actually push across and very fluent, where Skinner is a little bit more robotic and gets opened up

and it looks like it's a lot of work for him to move side to side. And Pickard made a couple really good side to side saves yesterday. And the other one was the Lundell break weight. They only had three high-nature chances in the second period, but it was a timely save. That's the biggest thing that I've noticed with Pickard is he makes a timely save When the team needs it and and they're feeding off of it And obviously he even said in his media afterwards He goes the team really knuckled down for him where it was a lot looser in the first period

But you're right. They love him and he's he's a reckless goaltender in there It was just a little bit maybe hard on florida's far as from predictability standpoint but he just goes for it he's aggressive he's side to side and and it is like a not made bed but he gets it done it works man it was a work it also one thing he's better than skinner at playing the park and i think we thought that with toronto the district store the wall without for checking you can help yourself just a little bit because you can play it better, it can have

a slight neutralizing effect on Florida's four check because when that four check is going as good as Edmonton is, it eats Edmonton up. Like if Edmonton just doesn't, they just can't get the puck out of the road. They can't make 20 foot passes under that pressure. So any help there is also more than welcomed if they win who gets the cup first skinner picker all right you know what

it would be skinner because picker wouldn't take it first and i mean that in theory that's the kind of guy he is even yesterday in this glorious moment for him huge overtime win he's the hero of relief but first thing you said it'll alluded to it on the panel or on the podium listen if Stu was in that for the second or third period he would have the same result it wasn't me it wasn't him it was our team played better yeah I

honestly I don't even think Skinner would take it before or Pickard would take it before Skinner because out of respect for his partner. Okay. I kind of want to see that. That kind of stuff intrigues me. Of course it does. Like, if Skinner reaches out and some guy blows past him, like, where's Pick? Where's Picky? We need Pickard up here.

You know, just, I kind of want to see that. I think people in Edmonton would be willing to do that too. It'd be like, when Tyree Talurton saw him getting MVP of the Easter Conference final, he's on his way to the podium, he's like, oh, not for me. Pascal, yeah, good job, Siakam. I thought you'd win it too. Lovely. So happy for you. Totally happy. So happy for Pascal. His dad's going to rush in the court and smoke Siakam.

No kidding. Well, we you see a b a file mvp which you know would probably go to halibut if this continues uh... what about on the flip side where florida choke last night like there are three nothing after one they get a chance to take a stranglehold on that series and it didn't happen

that what's the viewpoint from the florida side of things on what got away from them last night yeah i mean because it took so long for that happen it didn't feel like a sudden collapse it was just more methodical needed for a stop playing in the second period but you're right and it was so long time the first we were saying okay game over series over like that's it they get they're going up 3-1 they're gonna win another cup that's how it's going to go and you know

Bobrovsky led in that short side goal by nurse that was not a good goal the second goal kind of got Edmonton back within one and then you know Florida just didn't play as well they didn't weren't they weren't as quick weren't as aggressive weren't as engaged the four check they got passive which is sort of human nature but what you would have thought was that Florida's experience third cup final in a row coming off the last year where they had three fracks at closing out big moments to win the Stanley Cup and they didn't really play their best, they would be well served for having gone through that. And yet, in a pivotal moment, where they could have taken a stranglehold in the series, they did not play anywhere remotely like their best hockey. So,

yeah, yeah, it wasn't great. Now, I still think Florida has this air of still think Florida has this air of confidence because in this series, eight Florida has shown that their good game works well against Edmonton. Okay. Like when they play their game, they're the ones in control and Edmonton, the spigot being two, two, and dry settle, sworn these overtime goal after overtime goal. Edmonton hasn't really shown for long stretches that their good game takes control the series and that's why even heading back to Edmonton it's basically a pick-em because it's the game seems to be on the racket,

the club, the skates of Florida more than it is. If Florida plays well they'll win, if they don't then Edmonton has a chance. That's sort of the vibe around the series. Mike, to bring it back to Edmonton has a chance. That's sort of the vibe around the series. Mike, to bring it back to Edmonton, I'm curious how you think Dry Sido compares as a sidekick to Malkin back in the day with Crosby. Is he better? Is he going to be better? Are we underselling? Am I underselling Malkin? It feels like a similar dynamic to me. Am I underselling Malkin? It feels like a similar dynamic to me. Yeah, and it's funny because I'm thinking, it feels like Dreistead will probably be more

accomplished as far as individual awards than Malkin will have been in his career, right? More Rockets and he won a Hart, you know, Hart-Ross, whatever it might be. He probably will win a ConSmythe here if Edmonton wins. But Malkin was incredible. I think it's a pretty fair comparison. I don't know if anyone's better or worse, era-wise, but McDavid and Crosby, the face of the teams, the face of the franchise, take all the attention,

take a lot of the heat, and then Malkin was sort of, could just drift in, alleging he didn't speak English well and just avoid the media. Dry Settle kind of gets a little surly sometimes and very direct in a very German fashion that you know he doesn't handle things the same way McDavid does, the same way Malkin didn't handle the same the same way Crosby does. No it's a good comparison and I think it's part of the reason why Malcolm wasn't as good as he was, and part of the reason Dry Settle is as good as he is, is that they don't have to deal with that stuff.

And they don't want to deal with that stuff. This isn't like a jealousy thing, like I'm upset that I don't get all the attention. They don't want the attention that the main guy, that Batman, has to carry, and it frees them up to just do their thing. Yeah, it's a pretty good comparison that's pretty similar. With Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analyst. So what do you make of Connor Hallibuch, of course, winning the Vezna. Everyone knew that was coming, but he also solidified the Hart Trophy that was announced

last night. I'm on record as not really liking to vote for goalies for the Harts because by the nature of the position the Vezna could essentially be the hard every single season and I and but I think this year I don't have a vote for this if I did I think I would have put Hellebuck first because his numbers when you're first and wins first and goals against second and saves first in shutouts and you play 60 something games for the team that is the best team in the league and your backup goes like months without winning a game.

So it's not like anyone can play. They're like, poor Eric Comrie did win for two plus months. I think it's, you know, in, in November, December. So I put all that together and say, okay, that's obviously a great, historically great year. And then who's he going up against? Yes, Kucherov, incredible. Yes, Dreisel, incredible. But based on the performance we've seen the last few years,

nobody got 60 goals, nobody had 140-something points, and it was the right year for a dominant goalie performance, historically good goalie performance to go up against excellence but not historical skater performances and I think you put all that together and I think it's like a Kerry Price, like a Dominic Hachik who leaves the Jose Cedar one out of there. It's that kind of year that made sense that he would get it this season see i i voted johnny and i had hellebuck at one i would have had dry saddle that one if he wasn't injured near the he missed i think in nine or ten games so there was just there was a pocket there where i thought that kind

of took it him out of it even though he was brilliant this season and stuff i would have had you know i i thought i had dry saddle at one one but I ended up going Hellebuck for just his body of work the whole season. You look at how Winnipeg was great yes Winnipeg played very well in front of them they work hand in hand and I thought Hellebuck which you laid out statistically what he did the amount of games he just played every night he He played every night. It didn't matter Analytics, you know, you got to start the back up here. He played back-to-back sometimes It's just that that's how good he was. So it was unique. I didn't have Nico Hescher in there. I don't know if you On their ballot Nick Suzuki Nick what he was by someone someone's ballot yes

yeah and i think it it so party what i want but i think i thought the bomb and how it could lead that person i want to hear from them i want an explanation i want to make put them up there on the public trial and tell me why do you think that but but i think but valuable is such an interpretive word. If you want to take it literally, you know,

somebody might say, well, Suzuki is more valuable to Montreal than Dries et al is to Edmond because of McDavid. Like, you know, you can try to spin it any which way. You know, I thought Ilya Mikheyev picked up a selkie phone. I'm like, what? Ilya Mikheyev, what are we talking about here? But yes, Suzuki first. I mean, even if you wanted to be bold and say, billion-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million-million- million-million-million-million-million-million- million-million-million-million- million-million-million-million- million-million-million- million-million- million-million- million-million- million-million- million-million- million- million-million- million- million-million- million- million- million- million- million- million- million- million- million- million- million- million- million- million- Now, if they win a Stanley Cup, it's all good. That's all he wants and he's going to be the highest paid. Well, he may not be. Maybe Mitch Morrow will be the highest paid player in the league next year.

But he's second in heart and he may be second in the Con Smythe. He is that close or was that close. Now that the heart trophy is in, it's over. But that close to completing one of the all-time great seasons terms of hardware you know how many guys in the history of one the heart the cons might and obviously the stanley cop i can imagine there's a lot of sure gretzky did a multiple times uh...

when you may have a little of you or but not a lot of guys but not many and he was that close to possibly doing that and uh... i mean it just speaks how great of a player he is. And they're lucky to have him. They're lucky to have McDavid. And you know, You wonder, Hayes, like what, I have no idea.

I think for those guys, like they want at least one. Like they want to be recognized. I got a Harks. I got a Rocket. I got a Lindsey. I got a Concemite.mated of course as many cops as possible but i wonder if the other i felt is legitimately

but i would be picked on still kind of take i was not files for a good year twenty five years ago yeah all like everyone were differently but i don't want to hear that i don't care if i get and another hard is that it'd be nice but i think first or second i want to leave the board i have no idea i would like it i'd want it i want to be is that it'd be nice but i think first or second i want to keep moving people read i have no idea i would like to i'd want it i want to be because that the elegant and what was getting everyone's gonna make money everyone knows the great

player you know but the heart like that just that puts you in a category for the rest of time and like that's the kind of stuff that you can grab it if you have it they could never take that away from you uh... and it just all of a sudden, you know, he's already playing himself into all time, great chats and rankings and all that. That's how great he is.

But you, you know, again, you just, you shrink the amount of players that have ever done it, you win, you win multiple hard trophies. Very few players have ever done that. Very few. Um, and you know, that like of the modern players I believe it would only be McDavid, Sid and Ovechkin I think because Kuturov's only won it once and McKinnon was only won it once and Dry Suttles won it once, Matthews won it once. Anyway I want to get to this Marner stuff where Drex was on with us yesterday

and he said he believes you know there are teams that could offer him more than 14 million. I've seen other reporters indicate that that's possible. Like in line with the Dry Settle chat, now Leon signed his last year but he's making 14 million a year. Like how could any GM possibly justify that? I love that you brought this up. I can't wait to talk about that. How could you ever go to your owner and say I'm going to pay a guy more than dry so they like how how can you do that mike school i don't know how it's going on school be a how anyone on earth could say that makes sense to pay the state has a serious

player really was the cap next year what does that have to do with it thresholds and i said that the cap but i had a quick try to try to deal is not kicked in yet guys he did side of the way your signed last year so i don't know what i was we didn't know the cap was going up against my kid you tell me i don't know what they don't know what we're gonna be honest the the agent there and i was the player that copy a different they were

not officially but they were forewarned that this is gonna happen but he is here it is okay I've talked to agents and they were not officially but they were forewarned that this was going to happen but Hayes Here it is. Okay, we're gonna take you back to grade 10 economics. I know you love that course you and oh in the locker Chilling with a textbook. Yeah, the flying demand, right? The reason why you have to pay Marner more than dry settles not because he's better It's because there's a scarcity of products You can't get Marlowe if dry saddle was available to open market he would get more than Marlowe on the

open market he never got to it so a reason why Marlowe could get more than dry saddle yes it's percent of the cap yes Jonas you're right and when it was signed and we can make that argument but no one's gonna go and say he's better than me on dry so of course nobody's not going to make it but right before you can get margaret for nothing if you're willing to pay him you couldn't get drive that on that alone will be enough applying demand limited supply

monsters demand it will drive prices up that's just how it's going to go like a private sale of a house version of public auction just how it goes to be in when on the open market market for them will dictate the price of that market force is going to drive his up yeah i have a lot of work with that to write this is it's logical like it makes that's not logical it's totally is not my right like don't use the top agent by

a mile it's so the cap is going out to do that like do the cap hit percentage like it's not the same that's not what I'm talking about I understand supply and demand but you also are who you are also a optic dry settle could have gone for more money like he it's not like I took a maximum dollar well he did he got the highest paid he's the highest paid guy yes but he's worth more according to you of course.

I'll spin on it, okay, in a nutshell, okay, to my very personal life. I left school the same year as Brendan Morrison. Brendan Morrison won two Hobie Bakers and two national championships, a better player than me. He had the sign in Jersey, he got $150,000 a sign. I got the sign anywhere I wanted, I got a million. Does that make me a better player? No. It's just the nature of the business when you are a free asset

which Mitch Marner has played himself into being and that's why he's got to get more. Jonas is kind of right, but not entirely. Hey, the point you're making about like nobody can have a little GM say we're going to pen this guy's price. It's not about Marner. I'm not saying don't go get whatever you can get. That's not my nobody can go to their gym and say we're gonna tennis guys dry settle and make good physical sense. That's not about Marner. I'm not saying don't go get whatever you can get. That's not my point. What I'm saying is, like Marner, what is he, the 22nd best player in the league, let's

say. That's arbitrary. Maybe you'd have him 15th, maybe someone would have him 28th. I don't know. Whatever. Yeah. Dry settle is the second best player in the game. Maybe you have him third, maybe you have him fifth, but he's in the top five.

That's what I'm saying, is that the idea that you go to your owner and say, I am going to give a right winger with the playoff performances that he has, the most money anyone's ever been given in the league, is crazy. That's how sports work what's working always all i have in house made name someone that got more than the broadest have a little bit happening in the late two years ago jane brown was the reason got the way i thought he's not really not that's different brown state was with boston and that's the end of the nba cbs basically if you get certain check

marks there's not even really a negotiation yes not as a free agent okay it is an answer me this let's say dry saddle didn't sign the extension he was going to become a free agent right now what we get eighteen okay so i think we're going to be a horrible eighteen sixteen like he chose to sign early like i understand all of this guy can you tell you i don't know

what actually don't have a lot i'm talking about what he's talking about i want to interject here for a second cuz i understand exactly what you're saying johnny and and jonas but what brian is saying is the optics of this is awful and how do you do awful's the wrong word but someone is eventually going to pass dry salt noodles like that's gonna happen on the big david jonas that's my point How do you do? Awful is the wrong word. But someone is eventually going to pass Dreisel noodles. It's going to happen. Yes, Connor McDavid Jonas, that's my point. Well he's going to pass Marner.

He's going to pass Marner too, so what's the difference? Again, Marner can get whatever he wants. I'm not trying to withhold him from getting money. You're saying this is not about Marner, this is just about Dreisel. I'm saying it's weird that the league may have the highest paid player be the 22nd best player in the league. Who's never won anything. That to me optically is very strange.

That's what I'm saying. How much time has to last before you're comfortable with the idea that the rising cap is going to take players who are not as good are going to get paid more than players who are better who have signed a long-term deal? One year? Two years? How long is it going to be before you're going to be okay with it? Good point and I don't have an answer for you but you're right i

mean it's going up and everyone's floating up at all and again i'm not saying mitch shouldn't going to the free market I get it but ranting indeed he could have as well and he decided all right I like this yeah but it was the free market Jonas it wasn't good of just no it was because he could have said I'm not signing with you and Dallas was like well we really want you he's like all right well then let's work this out pay me what I want they said 12 and he took it He could have stayed in Carolina and played it out. He didn't and again that was like a month ago a guy who's on the same Wavelength in fact better certainly in the playoffs signed for 12 and Mitch is gonna get

2.25 million more per year and a team's gonna say I can justify that that's that's crazy. It's crazy behavior I'm not saying it won't happen. I'm not predicting it won't happen I'm not predicting it won't happen I'm just saying if and when it does it's absurd well let me ask you guys this that we talked about I know the cow implications yeah yeah we've all got a lot of Scarts issue for ranting and getting bounced around he wanted the security of a deal he didn't want to take it to open market go ahead doodles well I'm just gonna say is there is there a contending team that is going to be able to fit him in? That would be my... Or is it going to be the

Utahs, the Chicago... Do you think Vegas will pay him 14.25? I don't think he's going to get 14 in Vegas. They will pay him net tax 13 million dollar contract. A Toronto 14 is a Vegas 10.5 that they'll give them that that you know i i i get it was a but but the but the point being is this cap it will be ten and a half it will be fourteen that's the difference right like that so i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i think that's the point that i had my point johnny is he's not going to be walking around so that the p a doesn't it with an asterisk saying he's in a tax-free state.

So he's only... They don't take home pay. They do cap it. Right, exactly. They do. So my point is, if he is going to get a number north of 14, is it going to be on a contending team? That would be my question. Anaheim, Utah, Montreal, Chicago, Detroit, all would be willing.

Toronto would not do 14, but something close to it. Toronto might be the best team that he'd get the most money from, really, to be honest. Oh, it is, yeah. And he'd get that eighth year as well. But I don't know what you think of Anaheim as a team, but they would certainly be up and running out of utah's not the contender but they're not garbage uh... and maybe even

carolina another carolina won't give fourteen i got kicked it they will not but they're good team and they would give him a contract would make it one of the high-paid players a week who are you like you might get a good team i mean there and there might be teams moving money around or whatever also, right? You can free up stuff. It's kind of difficult to do this because it's been seven years, but if you can recall

when Tavares signed here, who do you think is a higher profile free agent? Mitch Marner where he is today or John Tavares where he was seven years ago i mean the entire profile of mention the coming from tron person john tomorrow to make it a better player although he wasn't on the bar that he never had he was a hard road finalist twice

you are you know one of the other one time he died with jimmy bennett weird year eighty nine points you know, Mitch, yeah, no, Mitch is probably slightly higher. I mean, the point total is up. The exposure in Toronto is up. The hype around his contract and his career is much greater than what John Savard was when he was leaving the island. So as far as profile, I would say Mitch.

As far as player, you know, that's a more in-depth conversation. Okay. Well, we'll have that over the next two weeks. We'll have that in-depth chat. I'm not going anywhere. We're around. We're going to be around. All right, Johnny, enjoy your travel.

We'll do it again soon. All right. I'm back out to Edmonton. I'm in quick layover in Toronto, back out to Edmonton tonight. Noodle, aren't you supposed to be out in Edmonton this week or no? Are you? I am out there right now. Are you there already? Oh Exactly, you're out there. I'm in Toronto. We're all backwards. There you go. All right Well, you guys can meet up tomorrow night at the rink visit

quick turn for game five Thank goodness. I just Just get going. Exactly. Just get to it. Just get back on the ice and start playing again. Exactly. I totally agree. Yeah.

All right, Johnny. We'll do it again soon. Bye, fellas. There he is. All right. Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analyst, joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Hey, this is Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast Encore. Choosing the perfect song to release as the first single for an album is a crucial step

for an artist. So how did the band Nirvana decide to release Smells Like Teen Spirit, a song that would become one of the biggest in history as the first single from Nevermind? We were asked what songs you guys want to put out first as a single and we just thought about it and we thumb wrestled these two Teen Spirit as our first single. Listen to Encore on the iHeart app or wherever you get your podcasts for stories behind all the songs you love. Don't make me thumb wrestle you.