OverDrive - Laviolette on the Sabres' surge against the Canadiens, Maple Leafs winning the lottery and the Stanley Cup Playoffs experience

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

Former NHL Head Coach Peter Laviolette joined OverDrive to discuss the Maple Leafs winning the NHL Draft Lottery, how it changes the viewpoint of the organization, the Sabres' opening win against the Canadiens, how Montreal will respond in the series, Carolina's dominance, the best atmospheres throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs, winning the Stanley Cup and more.

Joining us down the Maple Toyota hotline is Peter Laviolet, so I don't know if I should be talking golf at this point because I know he's all business usually when it comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs. But, you know, when you're, Peter, when you're, might as well ask you, when your season ended, how quickly were you out on the course and getting away from the game and playing something that you're, you know, you try to hold off on playing golf as long as you can during the hockey season? Yeah, I mean, I don't play at all during the season. I'm not a huge golfer. so I do get out. I find my best rounds, probably like the first or second round of the year, when I don't have any stress. And as it moves into August and close to training camp, everything just comes.

The wheels just fall right off the car, literally. But I don't play that much. I think probably because I'm down here in Florida, the humidity is just wicked. Like my boys grabbed me, we go out and play nine holes, 18 holes, maybe a couple times a month, but nothing every day. So, Labby, what was your philosophy as a coach, where you knew your boys were teeing it up. I mean, your players, not your sons,

your players on the road. Say you guys are heading out to California and maybe it's a day off in between games. Were you fine with it? Would you look the other way? Or was it more result-based if they threw a dud up the next game where you, like, pissed off that they went out to the course? Yeah, I mean, I think when you go on those long trips,

you know, the players kind of work it out and they go golfing. And listen, they're going to do what they want to do on their days off. I think when you're in the playoffs or close to the playoffs or coming down the stretch, I think there's always conversations just to say, hey, these are good things to do that help you. These are things that probably will take away from your game and put you in a different direction. And you try to control what you control. I think there's always those type of meetings. There's no question that the guys are slipping off to play golf when they go out to California or down to Florida.

They're trying to find a place to tee it up. Well, I always found the problem. and I don't know what your philosophy as a coach was, but the pool day. If we had a pool day, the next day, my legs were nothing. I didn't have the best legs to start with. That was, those were frowned on, I got to believe, by a coach. Yeah, again, I think anything that's going to take away, I mean, you're going out, you're going out at night, you're going to a pool, you're going golf,

and whatever it is you're going to do. But I also find, too, guys that, you know, they're professionals, and they try to manage that. So if it's the day before the game, maybe they're trying to manage what they do a little bit more as opposed to two days before a game. Or if you get caught three days out in California and you decide you're going to go to the beach or something like that.

I mean, those are your own days and you can do what you want to do. But I don't know, I'd like to think that, but I could just be naive too. You know what I mean? I'd like to think that the players realize where they're at and count on them. But I do realize, though, when the games are big, when some things are big,

it's the responsibility. the coach to kind of jump in there and say, hey, we got a big one tomorrow. This is for first in the conference or this clinches our playoff spot or, you know, we're in the playoffs, so knock it off, you know what I mean? And hopefully they listen. I had a teammate that

fell asleep by the pool for his pre-game nap and he missed the game that night with a sun. Can you imagine? That's something. And then to come in red like that, too, like a lot of it. Because there's a good chance of coming from someplace with no sun. And so it's nothing but a red lofter walking in the room.

Well, Lavia, you know, unfortunately, the team that plays in this city has been able to golf for the last few weeks because the Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time since 2016 did not make the playoffs. And it has been, to put it mildly, a wild week for this organization. Take me through the coach's perspective of you have that press conference, you have your best player potentially deciding, I want to move away from this situation and he might be playing somewhere else next year. And then you get the number one pick in the draft. How quickly are, especially with the best player element, how quickly are you talking to your GM when you read a story like we saw on the athletic this week? Yeah, I mean, it was, it was a crazy week for sure.

You know, the best player thing in a GM, I think all that's going to work itself out. And I don't, I don't really have the input on that. The new GM getting named, and so that's a lot of talk and a lot of conversation in a city like Toronto for sure. I mean, for me, kind of the icing on the cake for the week was getting that number one pick overall, watching the draft lottery.

It was actually really cool to watch it. I'm down here in Florida, and I'm out of it a little bit. I'm not in Toronto. And so to put that on and watch that and happen, how it happened live and for them to get it, that's a huge pull. I mean, that's a huge pickup,

Because they do have, you know, their last pick was Austin Matthews, right? Number one pick overall was him. Yeah. And so they have him, and now they go and they get, you know, potentially another star player like him to come in and probably provide immediate help for their team. So you pick up a young player that could be with you for, you know, 10, 15, 18 years, whatever it might be. And so that's just a huge, that's a huge pickup on a busy week for Toronto.

I'm sure any coach who was watching that was jumping through the moon because, you know, he's clearly the consensus coming out of it that I'm reading and that I'm seeing. He's the number one coming out of it. And that's a big boost for your lineup. You get a young big player like that that can produce. That's good stuff. Yeah, it certainly is. And let's turn our attention to the teams that are still playing.

So, you know, you look at Montreal Buffalo last night and, you know, they've got through to the second round. It's kind of first time around for these cores. I mean, I know the Suzuki and Caulfield made it to the finals in the bubble. but outside of that, what do you make of that game last night? I don't know if you laid eyes on it, but two very fast, skilled young teams, you know, how do you like that matchup? Yeah, I mean, a little bit different than the, a little bit different than the Montreal Tampa series, I thought,

but you're right, skilled fast, moving up and down the ice. I actually, I don't think it was as bad as what the score says. I mean, two power play goals, especially teams, it just dictates play. It can dictate games. I don't know if it can dictate a series, but it can absolutely dictate a game. So two goals on the power play. You know, for Buffalo, I think, is big.

You win that advantage is a good chance. You're going to win the hockey games. So, you know, for me, I still think that Montreal played a pretty good game. I don't think it was a horrible game. They blocked a lot of shots. They forced a lot of shots to the outside. They kept them from a defensive standpoint, I think under 20 shots in the game.

And so, again, a pretty good game from them defensively. I said it before. I honestly think it's going to come down to them creating. And I said Buffalo is going to score three or four and maybe five. So in order to win a game, you have to score four or five or six. Six is not easy to do, but unless you're in a different series than this one, then it's really easy to score six or nine or whatever it might be. But this series from what Montreal was, that was the big thing for me,

is that they have to produce more than they did against Tampa. They did a great job of blocking shots. They did a great job defensively. Their goalie played really well. But in order to move on, you have to produce. The top line's got to get going from a five-on-five standpoint, just production-wise. Power play's okay, but you've got to have the big dogs, you know,

producing in order to get past Buffalo. I don't think it was a terrible game. I don't think it was necessarily the score and a shalacking by Buffalo, but they've got to put some, They've got to continue the good defense, and they've got to put some offense on the board. They've got to put some goals in the back of the net, especially five-on-five. Watching the canes and flyers, I just have nightmares about the way the canes play. They're so disruptive, and they put so much pressure on you to make quick plays.

So if you're looking at that series, how can the flyers just find just a little bit more time to make a play? You know, just a couple years ago, we're in New York. We ended up playing the canes in the second round. And you're absolutely right. I don't know if there's a team that forces things or disrupts things more on the ice. There's games that you can go down into Carolina and you can walk off with a 3-1 win and you're in your room just hating the way you play. I mean, you know, you got out attempted at the net 95 to 38 and you're like,

gee, how do we even? But the wins and win in the playoffs and you take it. And that happened a couple times for us. And what I think the one thing for me is that you have to match. them in that aggressiveness, that skating and that physicality and that battle that they have, you have to match it. And a lot of teams have that already in the playoffs. But the one thing for me with them is you have to be physical, you have to be heavy on the puck.

You have to play the game fast. And if you don't, you're going to be second everywhere against that team. It's their forecheck. It's the way that they slam the offensive zone. It's the way that they close forward in the neutral zone on defense. It's not this passive, backward game. And then in the D-Zone coverage, I mean, it's quick to close as a five-man unit, so there's not a lot of time and space.

It's about winning races back to the net. It's about getting above them on the rush. And so all of that thing has, all those things have to be done really quick and with pace, and then you get a chance. But there's been so many teams that have played Carolina. And really, if you look at it, they don't come out on the right, maybe they come out on the right side of the score, but they don't come out on the right side of the analytics.

or the numbers or the scoring chances, whatever it might be. Laveo is going to say, you know, yeah, your former team looks pretty good as they play, your former team, and there are two teams that you've had a lot of success with. And it's so great to get your perspective of the Stanley Cup playoffs because you've gone on deep runs and they've all looked a little differently with different types of teams. And, you know, we're still just getting into the second round. But who's the team that impresses you the most so far this postseason? I mean, it's too easy to say that it's Carolina and Colorado, but it is.

If you just watch them play, and they're both playing good teams, especially Colorado, play in Minnesota. I mean, and yet Colorado seems to have their way with it a little bit. And the one thing about Colorado is that you've got to make sure defensively that you're above them all the time, from the offensive zone, the neutral zone, and then the interior and the defensive zone. Like you have to make sure there's so much speed and attack. off of that game, it seems like they're, they're hard to beat. It seems like Carolina's going to be hard to beat.

It seems like they're lining up on a path just the way they're playing the game. I mean, they both kind of play it similarly. I mean, and what a series would that would be? You know what I mean? Just from a speed and from an attack standpoint. But, you know, I think somebody could catch Carolina. I don't know if, I don't know if somebody, if Minnesota can't do it. I don't know.

I'm not sure there's something on the other, and, in the, rest of the other division in there on the west that can can take that down. And so they just, they look dynamic to me. They look fast. They look like they have scoring chances all the time. They defend pretty good as well. They have star, star players like elite players on their team that can make a difference. And those two teams to me look like they got it going on.

Labby, it's a bit of a strange question, but is it hard to coach ultra elite players? You know, you just talked about system and being above it. all of that type of stuff. But you see in the NHL now, there's a cut above players that kind of free wheel. And, you know, how hard is it to allow them the long leash to make plays, but also they make mistakes and keep them accountable? Is it a lot tougher than you make it? No, I think there's coaching that goes on with what you're talking about.

You know, everybody needs a message and a direction and a plan out on the end. ice. I do think that you don't want to curb the creativity. I mean, I've worked with some really good players. Like in New York, Artemi Panarin, I think he's brilliant. Like, I think he's brilliant out on the ice. And so the last thing you want to do is, you know, we had one year, I think we had 100 and my first year, you had 125 points or something like that, 121. He was up there. And the last thing you want to do is, is take that and try to tone that down. But again, it gets to a point where you need some structure and they need to understand they still have to be

taught or shown or what it is that we're trying to do, whether it's back checking or getting above the rush or, you know, off of a forecheck, whatever it might be. And I'm not saying him, I'm just saying, I think there's coaching that goes on with all players, but I do think that there's more, you know, there's a little bit more leeway, a little bit more wiggle room with the elite players.

Roman Yosey was a really good offensive defenseman. You know, back when I had him, he was, you know, he's 20, 25, 27, 28, 29 years old. He was elite. I mean, he could attack the ice. He was an effortless skater. He could put up points.

He was a great defender. He was a great leader. You know, his game, to me, there's still room to coach and to show and to teach. But in the same sense, you want to make sure that he's, you're not handcuffing him and he's taken, he's taking what he needs out on the ice as well. And you're right, there's, you look at the defensemen,

you look at the two defensemen in the Colorado, Minnesota series. You look at Donnelline. I think Buffalo's talking. four defensemen are really good. Like I think that that could be a difference maker. You know, Donline really getting a chance to show like with those other two guys the impact that he could have as he grows through a playoff series. And, you know, he gets that opportunity to shine.

I think he's he's as good as the others. But he's certainly in that category and he has that opportunity in the playoffs here. But I don't think you want to do anything to try and curb that either. Peter, Lavuillet, joining us on Overdrive. and Lava, you've seen it all in the Stanley Cup playoffs, including a very improbable run in 2010 with the Flyers. You were hired in the middle of the season. You got to the Stanley Cup final.

You had that epic comeback against Boston. But I want to take you back to game five of the Eastern Conference final when you eliminated Montreal to go to the Cup final. And I'm bringing it up because I was in the building simply as a fan. And I was a neutral fan. And yet I happened to be wearing, I guess, some sort of hockey Canada shirt. and I had like 10 and 12-year-olds say things to me that I can't stay on air right now. And it was, and like, I don't know if you remember when Halak came out to,

he got aggressive and tried to poachek and he missed it. And Mike Richard scores that goal. And like the building is shaking. It was my first real experience of a crowd being intimidating and just, you know, having a factor in the game. And I bring it up because you've been in so many different places, you know, where are the spots where you can point to and say, that crowd has a difference.

Well, you're talking about moving the building a couple feet by the fans and the way they react to the game. Yeah, exactly. I think Montreal is one of those buildings. It's hard not to get used up when you walk onto the ice of Montreal, and sometimes it goes dark, and they've got one of those songs going on, and the older players that were around 40 years ago, 30 years ago, 20 years ago, and the highlights and you can just feel it kind of building inside of it. Buffalo, I think, is a really tough place to play.

You know, my first year was, my first year was in the Nassau Coliseum. And, you know, it wasn't a, it wasn't a wow type of building, but the ceiling was really low. We played Toronto in that first round. I could not even, there's nobody that could hear me on the bench. You know, not my players, not my assistant coaches. It was just so loud in there. You know, I think a lot, it's playoffs, and everybody kind of gets that way.

everybody's building is probably pretty good. I've been in Vegas, and Vegas can be really loud, really crazy. There's just great building. I think it's just a playoff hockey that brings it out, you know, and out of the fans and out of the players. And they see the product on the ice, and then they react to what they're seeing. And usually their reactions are warranted.

The game on the ice is so good, especially in the playoffs, that it just makes it really, really easy for the fans to become super involved in the game and to really shake that building. Of the teams you took into the playoffs and the runs you had, do you remember a moment where, and it could be a great player, a moment where someone

settled the team down or took over a game for your club or you're like, do you just like that, you know, I coach younger kids, and I just have moments where I remember the kid just, he just does it, he just takes over. So if you have that or a moment of talking, you can share with us? Yeah, so the biggest one for me is

probably in the finals in Carolina. And we had lost in game five at home, and we got a power play with one second left in the third period. And so we were going to get a minute 59 on fresh ice in our building. You know, they showed on the TV. The TV might have been a TV on the locker room and the guy was polishing the cup up and he was getting it ready and the power play goal. And I remember that they scored a shorty about 30 seconds into the period and we had to go back to Edmonton. And we were up, I think, 3-1 in the series, so that made it 3-2.

So we had to go to Edmonton for game 6. And I'm telling you that we got destroyed. I mean destroyed. I remember looking up at the second period, and the shots were like 28 to 6. And we ended up losing the game. I think it might have been 4-0 or 5-0, something like that. And something had to be said after the game. You know, like that was one of those times where I would go in the locker room

because you had to regroup and you had to adjust and something needed to be said or needed to be done. And I got about halfway there and Rod Brindamore had stood up and you could hear his voice in the locker room as he was addressing the team and the confidence in which he spoke. And I pumped the brakes right there and I said, Roddy's in there. I'm out of there.

I'm not going in there now. I'm not following that, that message and that voice. I think when a captain stands up in a room, even during the regular season, if he can stand up in the room and grab the team, that's when the coach would just turn around and walk the other way and let those words stand. And so we were lucky too. We had to fly back to Carolina for game seven. There was a couple days before the game seven.

And so we could lick our wounds on the first, you know, on the flight home or whatever. But then you have a practice before the game, because there was a couple of days. And it was a chance to go out there and sweat as a group and get really positive and take Rod's message and put things together and have meetings and feel good about it. And arguably, one of the best games that our team played the entire year was game seven against Edmonton. I think it was a three two hockey game. Kim Ward made a save with, I think maybe six minutes to go that that kept us at three two and Justin Williams scored an empty netter and we ended up winning. but it was just a, that was a phenomenal moment for me when Rod, and that was his leadership.

You know, that was Roddy and his leadership in what he was capable of. He didn't go in there a lot. He didn't, but when he did, like, that was it. People stopped and they listened. And that was a big moment for us in that, certainly in that series. And you probably knew in that moment, one day he's going to be a great head coach, and you would be right as he continues to lead the hurricanes in that series against the Flyers, which resumes tonight.

Peter, really appreciate you, join us. Love your work so far on TSN and looking forward to seeing more of it on SportsCenter. Great guys. Have a good night. Take care. There you have it. Peter, Love Yolette. joined us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Rag-tag days are here. Check out the Toyota Crown Signia.

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