OverDrive - Kaplan on the Battle of Florida's heated physicality, the Maple Leafs' approach and Tocchet's next steps

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

ESPN Hockey Reporter Emily Kaplan joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Battle of Florida's matchup and the heated physicality, the Maple Leafs' mindset to close out the series, the Eastern Conference playoff picture, Rick Tocchet's next steps after his departure and more.

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Join today and be part of something amazing. Lee Sends, game five down at Scotia Bank. Here's Emily Kaplan of ESPN. Emily, what did you make of John Cooper's approach to being asked about bad hits again for the four straight game? Well, firstly, thank you guys for having me. I'm literally down at Scotia Bank. I'm like calling you guys in the basement here. So hopefully the four straight game. Well, firstly, thank you guys for having me. I'm literally down at Scotiabank.

I'm going to call you guys in the basement here. So hopefully the connection's good. Perfect. Look, covering this series and covering both of these teams over the years, it's a real rivalry. Like these guys hate each other. There's obviously so much familiarity of playing each other so much, including in the playoffs. And I think that there's also gamesmanship between these two head coaches.

We know they're both brilliant orators. They know what they're doing in terms of public messaging. And John Cooper's pissed, right? Brandon Hagel is such an important player to them. He's an impact player. He's a guy that John Cooper wanted to bring to four nations for Canada. He was suspended.

He was really upset by getting suspended. They agree, that's whatever, he served his punishment. But then to have him go down like that and not have it punished, A, on the ice, and B, knowing that the Department of Player Safety is meeting today to announce whatever the supplemental discipline will be, and I expect us to hear from that shortly,

like this is him just kind of making sure that he gets his narrative out there, and I give him a ton of credit, and this is why guys like to play for coaches like this because he stands up for them. So Emily you know you're around a lot of series you're around a lot of games like how nasty is this series? I mean I know there's a history they play each other it seems like every every year in the first round it just it's almost carried over the hatred every time they play each other it's every

whistle it's scrum every whistle it's punch in the face and then the hockey's been great but is it being overshadowed by this rivalry like is there enough light being shined on it because there's other great storylines throughout the league that's a great question and I don't know if enough light is being shined too much lights being shined but I will say of the series that I've covered so far this is probably the nastiest. I just think that the Florida Panthers built a team of guys that like to get their hands dirty.

They joke that they're a pack of rats, but they really are. You've got Matthew Kachuck, who I think is a master at just toeing that line of the dark arts and really getting under a guy's skin, both physically and with the chirps that he has on the ice. We know Sam Bennett can be that type of player. Then you add Brad Marsh and into the mix. And then also when you look down the roster, you're like, wait, there's so many other guys that can do these things. If you're the Timba Bay Lightning, you get annoyed when you see that again and again, and especially in a playoff series and they claw back. So I would say out of all the series that

I've covered so far, the hatred in this one is very real, is rooted in history. And I think it was telling that when I interviewed steph jones on the bench last night i mean he's only been a part of this for a couple months couple weeks now and he's like i feel like i've been part of the four or five years like i hate the tampa bay lightning yeah and you know that's just the way it goes that's the way it should be absolutely with emily caplan of the sbn down in scotia bank at a game five tonight it's interesting what's going on in the east you know like three one

panthers three one leaves three one carolina three one washington uh... i don't know what you're anticipating but does that surprise you at all and do you feel like all those teams that are in the lead now it's just a formality we're gonna see the four of them into the second round i never view anything of the formality when it comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs. I feel like anytime you're ready to write off a team, it's when they come and surprise

you. Out of all of these series, I think that the Carolina Hurricanes probably have the strongest hold on the New Jersey Devils just because of how banged up the Devils are. Now without Jack and Luke Hughes and Brendan Dillon, it's a lot. It's added up and they perform valiantly, like at some point you just lose some manpower. I would say this about the game I'm covering tonight, the senators remind me a lot of the mentality of the Montreal Canadiens where they feel

like they've been playing playoff hockey for a couple weeks now. And so it's a young team, but they know what it takes to play with that urgency. And neither of these teams are here for participation trophies. Like they believe in themselves and they've got confidence that they can do it. And so I'm expecting them not to be a walkover tonight. In fact, it very well could go the Senator's way, especially, you know,

with all the pressure on the lease in their own building, you know, not having to deal with all the questions again and again, like, Oh, can they not close out a series? So, um, I just, I don't know what to expect and I'm expecting really good hockey. I think it's probably the only thing I feel certain about. Where do you fall with goaltenders? Because we always argue on this show. I mean, Hayes, he gives them a lot of heck and O's in the middle and I'm obviously a goalie hugger. But when it comes to playoffs, goaltending is front and center. If you have it, you don't complain about it.

If you don't have it, obviously it is a storyline and it has been throughout the league. You've got Anthony Stolars who doesn't have a lot of deep history in the playoffs and Linus Almark has been a bit of a lightning rod with his playoff performances. You know, you've got the Toronto game. Vasilevski was taking some heat earlier on the show because he hasn't been great in that's aren't great that's aren't great hellebuck has not performed well in his last couple games you know do you make it that the league should just be called goaltender and you either have it or you don't yeah and you know it's funny because it's almost like you have it in that moment and

it's really just about picking up the right time because going into the playoff i'm like the goalie I'd feel best about is Andrei Vasilevsky. Look how he's played the last few weeks and I don't think that any, you know, deficit in that series is his fault but he definitely hasn't looked like the Andrei Vasilevsky we've seen in the past that can completely steal games. So I think it's just about who can get hot for a period of time and who has the depth because you know, like the Carolina Hurricanes are dealing with it right now your goalie at some point is either gonna need a rest or get injured and you trust your backup so I'm curious to see what Kachakoff can do. Yeah no kidding I mean and that's a completely

different element the guys who get hurt you're like what are we supposed to do now? Samuel Montembaugh, yes, gets hurt Logan Thompson gets carried off and plays the other night and wins and looked very sharp. You know, it's Connor Helbuck, like I say, is in one. Darcy Kemper, who's a Vezna finalist. Like, people are talking about Stuart Skinner and Calvin Picker, but if you look at Kemper, it's given up goals.

A lot of goals. Like, Edmonton's gotten to him as far as scoring. We'll see what happens tonight, but it is, you're right, I think it's more in the moment. What have you done for me lately? Because know Anthony Stoller's I think is fantastic season Fantastic first three games a little bit of a step back last game and all of a sudden people are whistling Wow, you know, maybe Joseph Wall questions were coming up today and Craig Borube looked at the people like that We're asking him like he had a he had three eyes

He's just getting used to Toronto media still. Yes this is when it really gets cooking Emily you know that you're in town you'll see it tonight you'll see it tonight. What do you make with Emily Kaplan of ESPN? Rick Tauke at Leaving Vancouver how do you connect that to Quinn Hughes and in his future? You know I wouldn't put it as closely to Quinn Hughes even though that's obviously going to be a big question mark and an even bigger one going forward more so just in the landscape right now where there's seven other openings and saying okay if I don't feel super confident where I am and maybe have questions about ownership or the way things are going or the

direction or the facilities or whatever it may be well there's no better time to be a coveted free agent than now because so many teams are thirsty. I've got a lot of experience. I'm an attractive candidate. Let me see what else is out there. Maybe there's been some back-channeling. You know, the last couple of weeks, you know, tampering happens in all different areas where he knows that there could be a place that he would feel comfortable going.

So I think it was more so of just the landscape around the league, which is probably why the timing was right. But I do feel for the people in Vancouver and specifically that team, because I know they love Dirk Tauke. And I know Quentin Hughes loves them. And you know, Quentin Hughes is American

and the two brothers are playing in America. And maybe, you know, the thoughts go into his head of like, is that something I want one day? I don't know that to be true. I know that he's very dedicated to the Canucks. He really takes pride in being a captain, but it's definitely a shockwave to that organization that had a really tough year that this was not a year that they wanted and this is not going to be a summer that they wanted either. No, that is a hundred percent true and we'll see

what Jim Rutherford who's speaking to the media in about 20 minutes has to say about this out in Vancouver. Game five tonight, Sends Leafs on ESPN. Emily, enjoy the game and we'll chat again soon. Thank you for doing this. I appreciate you guys. Have a great rest of your show. You got it. Emily Kaplan. All new, all Canadian, the best of our great nation, one song at a time. This is Justin Bieber. Hi, this is Terry Clark.

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