OverDrive - Johnson on the Stanley Cup Final, Marner and Andersen and the Maple Leafs' head coaching search

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joined OverDrive to discuss the next steps for Gary Bettman and the succession plan for the commissioner, the Hurricanes and Golden Knights' matchup in the Stanley Cup Final, Mitch Marner as the favourite for the Conn Smythe Trophy, Judd Brackett and Freddie Hamilton hired by the Maple Leafs, Dougie Hamilton, the Maple Leafs' head coaching search and more.

Catch everything soccer with Bell's game time bundle. Get 5 TV with TSN plus 5150 internet, all for $99 a month. Price guaranteed for two years with a two-year internet and TV term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for more details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. To chat about that, among other things, here's our TSN hockey analyst joining us here on the Maple Toil Hotline. Here's Mike Johnson. How you doing, Johnny?

What's up, fellas, coming alive. Gary Bem is doing the presser right behind me here. I hate to disappoint you. I don't think anything's going to change. I mean, different personality, but I don't think a new guy's coming in saying, I envision the world of hockey completely different. I think it would be someone pretty aligned with the way things are going now. And the way things are going right now, regardless of how we got here,

are pretty good for the NHL. Johnny, I want to ask you about the baseball players and their agreement. If you're a smart guy, you've been through lockouts, if you had any advice to Major League Baseball players as far as, as what they should expect and how to approach this because mine is just to find something reasonable how you can have a good life if you think you're just going to bully anybody you're not doing it and you're just going to cost yourself money what would your advice be i would echo those sentiments listen we went through it i was a player rep in 04 i remember you know in the meetings

with you oh and we were we will never play we will miss two years five years 10 years we'll shut the league down before we get to a salary cap and we got through year one which is is already kind of stressful enough. And then we just came a part of the seams because guys were not prepared to live any further. And then the cost of doing this. And it's good to do it for future generations. But you also sort of need to take care of yourself

and the current generation that you're living in. And if the average career is 3.7 years, you're going to sit out a year and a half of those and flush yourself out. And if you might make, you know, instead of making in the NHL $4 million, you're going to get zero. And, you know, you just can't afford to lose that kind of money.

And baseball, I mean, the numbers are so staggering, you know, you're missing $20, $25 million. I guess if you, baseball has a very principled stance. They feel like they're the strongest union. They've never lost a labor fight. But I think if I'm a baseball owner, guys,

you just look around the league. Look at the franchise values in basketball, in football, in hockey. And I think the salary cap has a lot to do that. And franchise values in baseball would go through the roof. So they could sit out. we might miss a $100 million profit. The second we signed a cap-based deal,

our franchise values going up a billion dollars. So we can wait forever, much longer than the players can. Oh, I'm, I don't want, I'm pro-player. I was a player rep. I wanted to get everything the players could. Sometimes the juice is not worth to squeeze, and you've got to take the best deal you can get and get on with your life, keep living and making the kind of money they're making.

So I want to follow up with your projection on the next betman, because, as you know, as a big NBA fan, going from David Stern to Adam Silver was a massive change like as significant as you can get in terms of being player friendly in terms of creating tournaments and and you know all these different things

that they've done in the league ever since Silver arrived you don't see that possibly be in there for that like if it's Bill Daley I guess okay Bill Daley has worked with Batman forever I mean they're kind of a two-headed monster but if it's somebody else

like I'm picking featuring a new commissioner coming in and maybe having a different viewpoint of a second team in Toronto, something Betman has never entertained. Maybe the new commissioner willing to do that. A play in, a playoff, playing immediately. But that's drastic. Like, Bettman will not change off anything. If someone comes in and looks at one thing differently, I would suggest, I mean,

that's more progressive than anything. Betman's done the last 10 years. No, you're right. You're right. I guess I just assume it's going to be Bill Daly. That's part of my general thought. He's been there for so long. And I don't know if Gary will have a say in who a successor is.

I mean, you'd think it'd be the teams, not so much him. But if he has a say, you'd think it'd be someone who'd be sort of sees it the way he does. But I mean, the whole, like Gary Bettman and his dynamic with the owners and the players in the game is so different than it was when we were playing. It is far more collaborative and less combative. And so whoever comes in will be more of that. And you're right, Hayes, you know what? Whether it's games in Europe, whether it's playing tournaments, whether it's mid-season cups, whether it's anti-draft,

tanking, all this NBA stuff they've done or stuff we can't even think of. Yeah, I mean, I guess it makes sense that some of that would come through. I just think it's going to be Bill Daly. So he will have been under and with Gary for 30 years, 20 years, whatever it's been, and it will be sort of more of the same. Yeah, Johnny, I think there could. be some tweaks that you could, you know, deem as progressive. Even if it's Bill Daley, they'd be like, yeah, I'll look at that.

I'll listen on that instead of just an absolute no where Gary seems to be. But, you know, when you're in Carolina, let's swing to the game now. You know, what do you make of this? Like, you know, who in the back of your mind has the upper hand here? You've got a very structured Carolina team that's 12 and 1. And you've got Vegas who, you know, seems to be. firing in all cylinders and really doesn't have a weakness as well, and plays

a different style. What do you make of it? It feels to me, noodles like this series, if you flesh out the goaltending, I mean, obviously that's the number one factor, but let's just say they're even, they're both playing well. To me, the series feels like the offense of Carolina, you know, that forechecking, that

pace, that turnover base, the quick strike attack that they've been overwhelming teams with versus the defense and structure and maturity of Vegas. And if that defense of Vegas is really good, then they'll get Carolina on counterattack opportunities. And we've seen that as well, not often in the playoffs,

but when Carolina breaks down, it can be big. That, to me, is the conversation. And there'll probably be some games where Vegas looks like they figured it out. And there'll probably be some moments where Vegas looks like they're getting sworn by it like everybody else is. I am slightly leaning to Carolina. I guess we'll have to see what happens here in the first game, but without having seen them play each other,

they haven't played since October. So it's not like there's any sort of recency game to go off of. I just think if Freddie is healthy and can keep doing what he's doing, so then Vegas no longer has an advantage in net, however good Carter Hart has been. I just think there's this unique style and the fact that they're so fresh. And Vegas doesn't, the only team that saw Carolina has been the four checking panthers.

and nobody plays like that. Vegas doesn't play like that. So I just don't know if the solution, however good Vegas is, is going to be enough to win them a series. So I guess I'm leaning slightly Carolina. Johnny, Brian Hayes said, regardless of the outcome,

Mitch Marner will win the cons smite. Jamie, I don't know why you're laughing. Do you agree with Brian Hayes? I disagree with Hayes the same way that Connor McDaniel will never win another art Ross. The same sort of disdegrored. agreement where Hayes likes to throw out of the outrageous statements

only to be proven wrong in short order. If Vegas wins, yeah, for sure. I think Mitch Marner is the favorite to win, but I think he has to play, though, right? Like he had a good series, great defensively, three points at four games, no goals. If he gets four points in six games,

Vegas wins with no goals, he's not going to win the cons might. It's got to go to Carter Hard, it's got to go to somebody else. So he has to continue his offensive production that he's done in rounds one and two, into round four. But if Carolina wins, it's Freddie, it's Stankovin, it's Taylor Hall,

it's somebody else. It's not going to be Mitch. He's not going to get 40 points. He might end up with 25 or 27. He's not going to be McDavid 40 on a losing team. Well, I don't know, Hayes. Explain yourself. Justify this outrageous take, please. It was actually Joe from the bridge that threw that out.

Yeah, exactly. He's also a brilliant mind, a brilliant hockey. What about if it's Freddie or Mitch? Either way, X Leaf is right. now the clear frontrunner on both sides. Very, very likely that a former leaf is going to win the cons might. I think that probably goes, I wouldn't say it goes without saying, because you're right, there are other players, like, let's say Stan Coven has a phenomenal

cup final, or Blake has a great cup final, or maybe Jack Eichel just has a dominant cup final. Yes. You know, he's still, I think, lurking in the background. So there are other potential options here. But, I mean, the awards are starting to come out. We're going to find out if that McDavid take possibly hit. I mean, if he doesn't win the heart in the next couple of days, you know,

it goes Kutrov, because we've been saying, Johnny, like, Canada can't even get a medal at the Worlds, right? The men and the women's silver at the Olympics. Canada loses in the world juniors. If Kuturov grabs a heart, Werenzky and Americans grab the Norris, I don't think a Canadian is going to win, you know, the Vezna. We got the rookie of the year. We got the rookie of the year. We got the rookie of the year.

But how would you kind of encapsulate the season that is in terms of Canadian hockey? I mean, we're still the best country. We've got the most players. We have the most good players. You know, I would take our team to win a seven game series against any country in the world. I would take games, the Olympic gold medal final. We play that 10 times. Canada wins that eight of them.

So, you know what? the breaks on the, you know, the major intervention on all things wrong Canadian. Now we might have to revisit, you know, world junior success and how we approach that tournament or the world championship. It's been a few years now, but I don't think it's, you know, we're running out. But the reality is, it's always continuously shifting away from Canadian dominance, not to the point where we're not most dominant, but it's no longer by as much. There's more Americans, more global players, more high-end Europeans. So, yeah, there are fewer or there are more other countries involved in the very best of the best,

but, and they still got the most of them all, even if we'd get shut out of the major awards, I would say. Okay. Johnny, yesterday the Leafs hired a chief of staff. What's the chief of staff to do in the National League? Talk to me. Talk dirty to me. I mean, I watched like the West Wing

and see what the chief of staff does there. Feels like a very political appointment. I mean, I kind of like the path. He's a player. He went to Yale. I think he got his NBA. He was working in private. at equity or edge fund or something. It's very interesting. I'm sure it has

got to do with alignment, vertical, integration that you are so fond of. What about horizontal? Don't forget my horizontal. Yes, horizontally as well. Is he just like another layer of communication? Is he just

someone who can go down to the coach's room as a former player and talk to the GM and talk to the owner, the president? I'm not exactly sure what he does. Hang on a sec. You're telling me a guy with a private equity firm, a guy that worked at a private equity firm is going to go down and talk to a national hockey league coach. What are you talking about?

Well, he played the NHL. Like, Freddie Hamilton is playing in the HAL. Keep in mind, guys, all I could think about is top 50 Dougie, his brother, correct? Okay. Of course. In New Jersey. Of course. Ah, maybe.

Listen, we're not hiring Freddie Hamilton as a precursor to getting Dougie. Like one, Freddie's not that good. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. But that's what it was in Calgary. You know. In Calgary, that's basically what it was. Dougie went to Calgary.

Freddie sort of had to be considered to go to Calgary as well. So it's not out of the question, but not now, not in Toronto. Now, if McDavid's brother was the AGM, I kind of raise an eyebrow. David wants a job in player development. Yeah. Let's hire that guy. We can have that conversation. Okay, but hold on a second here.

I wasn't going that like, okay, they hired Freddie because they want Dougie. But would it not make sense that Dougie would be an upgrade on the back end at some point for that group? Would you, I say this very respectfully. I had the best conversation with Morgan Riley over the world. He's such a lovely guy. Like honestly, family, the whole bit. We all love him. So I almost hate talking about who would you rather have, Dougie Hamilton and Morgan Riley?

I put it to you guys. I mean, I think Dougie Hamilton's a better player at this point. I do, too. So that's not a slight on Morgan, but what they need is Morgan, Dougie, and two others. That's what they need. That's the difference is they need more players and guys that's younger. They need a 26-year-old Dougie Hamilton. They don't need a 32-year-old Dougie Hamilton, but they will take him.

Would you trade Matthew Nyes for Simone Nemitz and Dougie Hamilton? I would look at that. I don't know about that Nemitz. I mean, he... I'm not sure I would either, but I don't know. I don't know how I feel about Nemitz, but I just, they need to get younger, they need to get better, they need bodies that can move the puck. I just somebody asked me that today.

I'm like, I don't know. I don't know how good I think Nemitz is, but he's going to get traded at some point. But anyways, it's fascinating. Oh, to your answer, I have not a clue what a chief of staff would do. I love that as a title I've never heard of it in an organization. I want it. I want it. I'll just go around and you're fired and you're hired and you're fired.

just walking around with the hammer on everyone yeah oh yeah yeah yeah who knows and like I don't know I mean how Brendan's like they've made some changes but they already it sounded like they had a bloated front office already and if they're going to add more and more people like you probably will want to subtract people as well so I just wonder if that's happening as well well that might be the role the chief of staff to determine that, right?

Like, determine how many people are actually on the staff? Who's doing well, who's doing a good job? And who is necessary and who maybe is not quite as. They should do that. They should go through and say, what do you do around here? If you're a floater, out you go. Because I think there is, in any corporation, when they go to streamline a little bit,

when people let go, you go, what do that person actually do? Because I saw them a lot. I saw them in the lunch line. saw them at the cafeteria, but I didn't see anything else from them. And I think that's what Freddie Hamilton and the chief of staff has got to figure out what the hell that 146 people in the front office do. Does he get a dress like that? Like if we were to interview him. No, you got to call him Chief.

Chief. Yeah. Yeah. No, you had a chief of staff. He's got a heavy business card. Chief of staff coming in. I love it. Velvet Rose part anywhere he wants to go.

He is the man. The first inaugural, as far as I know. How old is he? 30. 34. 34. Yeah. That's also young. Not to be smart, but sort of like, you know, to have the gravita to walk into older, more experienced people. And yeah, that's fascinating. I have no idea what it's going to be like.

Can you imagine if you wheeled around in the top gun white like official gear they wore with the hat? I love it. Chief of staff. I love that idea. Well, I mean, what are you bracing for in terms of the coaching pursuit? Now that we know many Mulchers got the gig in Vancouver, which I don't think anyone's surprised by. But the Leafs, I don't know who they're interviewing, who they're not interviewing. There's a lot of insider wars going on right now. I'm reporting this.

No, I reported that. But I don't know what's going on with the Leafs. So are you bracing for impact? Or what are you hearing? What are you waiting for? It feels like if there was a rush haze, it'd be done, right? Like if there was, unless it's a coach

that's coaching in the game tonight, and it's not. I don't think Tim Gleason's going to come coach to the Maple Leafs or whatever it is. Like, I don't think that's the case. Maybe they were flirting with David Carl and he said, no, thank you. Maybe they're waiting on Bruce Cassidy to be freed from Vegas at the end of the season.

That could be an option, but they'd be bidding with Edmonton, presumably, for that as well. Maybe L.A.? I mean, it just, I don't know. I mean, I guess it tells you, don't need a coach to run a draft. You don't need a coach. It tells you, Hayes, the coach is not going to be involved or might not be involved

in planning the direction of what the team's going to play like next year. Because if the coach is not in place and up and running and familiar by July 1, then he's not involved in shape of the team. He's going to end up coaching, which doesn't seem great. I know he doesn't have to make the calls, but you'd want to have a conversation. Okay, Hayes, you're the coach. you coach this kind of style. Do you like Alex Tuck?

Do you like Darren Radish? Do you like whoever it might be? Jason Zucker? Like what are we doing here? As opposed to you showing up July 15th that here's your team. Hope you like them. I don't know. I'm not bracing for anything.

It doesn't seem like anything's imminent because if it was, it would be done already. Yeah. Yeah. It's, again, it's difficult to predict in the end, but it's got, the longer it goes, the more it turns into a Darko Ryokovic hiring, you know, where Darko, they were the rappers with the last team.

It was nurse had left. And everyone else had picked up hirings and a lot of the old school boys who kind of jumped around the league. And then Darko gets hired. And everyone's like, where did this come from? You know, and that was when they were starting from scratch. Now, the Leafs, you know, I presume look at themselves in a different position because they want to be competitive next year. But I think the longer it goes, the more likely it's going to be someone, we were not expecting.

You know, someone not necessarily out of nowhere, but, you know, the main characters right now, it's Cassidy, it's, you know, Carl, if he's willing to listen. Yeah, exactly. I wonder if it turns into kind of a darko 2.0. What if it's somebody in the H.L that's either currently coaching still? You know, there's four teams left. You know, I know it sounds like Ryan Craig might be the successor,

and from Henderson might be the successor. to Tortoralla in Vegas, potentially. Who's the coach in Toronto? John Gruden? John Gruden? The coach of the Marleys? Yeah. They're playing well. Like they're still rolling in the...

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, but at the end of that, and Grudence contracts up, so they'd have to sort that out. But I think there's, you look at it, it might be, to your point, Brian, it might be somebody that we're not thinking about because did we think that all of a sudden

there was going to be a 34-year-old chief of staff? You know, I think John Chike is going to do things differently, and we should expect to have somebody different. Oh, who just won the Memorial Cup? The guy in Kitchener. You see? You know, like, I don't know, maybe you see, yeah. Like, maybe, who knows?

Be stupid not to look at him. Rick, you see. Be stupid not to look at him. Yeah, I mean, you know, it seems like he did a great job there, and they won. So I think you have to look around everywhere. But, again, it might be hiring a veteran coach. because you're trying to get right back on the horse and be right at it. Yeah.

But look at what Pittsburgh did with Dan Mews. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Well, we'll see. We'll see. All right, Johnny. Enjoy yourself down there.

Carolina Vegas game on tonight. Hang on a sec. Hasey said one more thing, Johnny. Taylor Hall wins the Kahn Smythe. He goes right into the Hall of Fame. Agree or disagree? No, it was him. Agree or disagree?

I disagree. of course, but I bet if you came up of a list of players who won a singular MVP, a con smite and a cup, and haven't gone to Hall of Fame, I bet that list might be zero. I bet no players ever won those three things and not gone to the Hall of Fame. Now, Taylor Hall is a unique case. It would be a hell of a career. It's just under a thousand games having a great sort of second act here in Carolina,

but he's not a Hall of Famer. Hasey, that's a crazy take as well. Again, not mine, but I will add this to him. Hazie, I'm terrible. First overall pick, and they do claim it's not the NHL's Hall of Fame. It's the Hockey Hall of Fame. One of the all-time great junior players, right, back-to-back Memorial Cups down

in Windsor, I believe. Okay, I'm just throwing that out there. World Juniors. Any international success? Any growing up international success? Maybe the world. But never had the best-on-best. Not at the Olympics or anything. Yeah. No.

Okay, what about this one? One final final for you, Johnny. You meet me and Hazy B out at Copponwood to T.S. up and Hazy says to you, there's your card over there, Johnny. You're taking your own cart today because I don't ride with anybody. What would your thoughts on that be? Sweet. I don't want to ride with you either.

Perfect. Love it. That's the... We're going to have a quick round. I'll see you at the green. Yeah. Exactly. We'll chat on the team.

We'll chat on the green. Everything in between, it's tour. I think it's fantastic. Hasey, if we ever go play golf, we're getting three carts. It's going to be amazing. I love it. I love it. We're doing it. Lock it in. Thank you, Johnny. Enjoy it down there.

Hi, fellas. Mike Johnson, joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. It's time to Toyota. Check out the Toyota Tacoma and Toyota Tundra pickup trucks. Both available as hybrids, Maple Toyota right near Canada's Wonderland of the Maple Auto Mall. I'm Cynthia Lloyds and I'm Josie Dye. And we're done pretending we have it all figured out. Each week we laugh, cry, and talk our way through life's messiest moments. Things you think about but would never say out loud. The questions you are always too shy to Relationships, regrets, awkward moments, and the stuff no one warns you about. It's honest, it's funny, and sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable. But that's kind of the point.

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