OverDrive - LeBrun on Draisaitl's elite season, Toews' possible return and the Maple Leafs' center search

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joined OverDrive to discuss the latest headlines around the NHL, Leon Draisaitl leading the Hart Trophy vote, Jonathan Toews' return to the NHL, the Maple Leafs' center options, the Eastern Conference close race and deals on the Canadiens and Senators and more.

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Let's go. New year, new you. New you. New you. Explore it all. Feel brand new. At iHeartRadio.ca and on the free iHeartRadio app. Here's Pierre Lebrun, our TSN Hockey Insider. Do you have a handicap system on the heart now that we're into late January?

And if so, who's kind of at the top of your list, Pierre? Oh, by the way, a great show today. I've been watching you guys since four o'clock. Very good show. Thank you. Thank you, Pony. Nice to hear Pete's on sometimes, you know? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

I think Dry Cytl is my guy. We've talked about this before. I feel Connie Halliburke doesn't get enough love and, you know, I just think he's putting on one of those Kerry Price type years and then Kerry Price won the heart so I got a lot of time for him and he's gonna be tested even more now by the way that Adam Lowry news is not good. What's the latest on him? He left in Utah but what is the latest on Lowry? So the Jeff announced today that week to week, but I think it's a true week to week and, um, uh, he's art.

So let's see, man. And, um, you know, I think that just, we're probably going to be already in the center market or at least a foreign market before March 7th, like any Stanley cup contender anyway, but. You know, I don't know this as they're here. Not luckily, they've padded their points and the standings pretty good. So if anyone can suffer a big injury, it's them. But yeah, hopefully it's not too, too long,

but you know, I don't think, you know, I don't think the Jets got there. So that's a tough one. I mean, that guy with the matchups and everything he does, I mean, one of my favorite players is NHL for sure, Adam Lahr. Pierre, how important is the media wave leading up to the conclusion of the season as far as major award winners?

Like, does Steam, a certain narrative or player, can either build upon or lose? Like how important is that, do you think, amongst voters? It seems like it's in my eyes pretty important Yeah, I don't think you can discount it I mean, there's a lot of voters and I should know this by now 30 years This is my house forget that there's a long list of voters that the professional writers hockey association You know those who get the boat it's a ton and because of that it came You know, there's always some wacky ballots every

year. They really get weeded out by the fact that the right guy he needed it because there's a lot of voters. And the other thing that's important to know, you often hear from Western conference hockey fans, oh, the Eastern bias, the voting is geographically balanced by the PHWA. So this is not a thing where, well, you don't stay up at night and, and watch in a King's or Euler's or Golden Knights. That's just not true. The voters are geographically balanced.

Having said that, I think what, I can't speak for 200 voters, but you know, in Zach Barinsky, for example, getting the kind of limelight you should be getting right now since he's in Toronto tonight? I'll point him out. He has the legitimate Norris Trophy campaign going on right now. But is he truly going to get the kind of vote that he should get or not because he's in

a smaller market team? I think that's what you're getting at there, O'Dogg. And certainly players who have great years on Canadian teams, I mean, they're always going to get a lot of sizzle for sure. But I think, you know, honestly, I know when I vote, like, you go through all the numbers, I text a lot of coaches, I want to get everyone's opinion on it before I send out my ballot so that I'm as balanced as possible. So Pierre, just going back to the Lowry News, would they be in the market for say a guy who hasn't played in a couple years that might be from Winnipeg area?

Look at you. Pretty good segue there, dude. Yeah, so Kevin Chevaldeoff did an interview I guess yesterday with Winnipeg Street Tests and our guy at the Athletic and was asked about Jonathan Taze who of course hasn't played in a couple of years, uh, when it big native and several day off said that, that the jets, uh, certainly would have interest in, in, in Jonathan Taze when the time was right, uh, potentially. Um, what I would tell you is that I think the chances are extremely slim that Jonathan

Taze is, is a factor this year. I think the chances are extremely slim that Jonathan Pais is a factor this year. I think the idea that he came out in a G-Cube interview during the holidays and announced that he might be doing a comeback, I think it's more realistic that it's about next season. Now I don't want to say that a hundred percent because never bet against a guy with the kind of the size of his heart in terms of Jonathan Taze but that's again I checked in on that yesterday and was told that it's more likely it's the next season thing that he we haven't played in a couple

years really has to ramp up ramp up his age and get himself in a place where potentially coming back next year and even that's not a sure thing like I think we got to be careful we don't but too much pressure on the sky in terms of the expectation but if and when he does come back to the nl i i i i don't think you can discount the possibility of the jet that all uh... you know again given the time so uh... in the athletic today our friends jonah cigal and chris johnston collaborated on a ten-pack of centers that they believe

the Leafs should be interested in. Very juicy piece. Could be interested in, absolutely. They have Ryan O'Reilly at the top of that list, who obviously was a Leaf a couple years ago. The belief is Brad Treleving wanted him to stick around, offered him a contract, and he said, no dice, I'm out of here, I'm going to Nashville. If that is the case, how could this possibly come to fruition?

Are you a believer that Ryan O'Reilly would be willing to accept coming back to Toronto where again he's got this year and two more left after it? He's not a U of A at the end of the year. If he gets traded here, you presume he stays here for the next two and a half years. Yeah. traded here you presume he stays here for the next two and a half years yeah so personally i think i i don't think you know i'm a little situation last week actually had a little note on it but because one of the things i want to know if you'd be action couple

on the floor names out there on the dark board but it's also i think uh... you know upon us to make sure the bender action available and answers a couple of reasons. One is that all the readings he brought O'Reilly there to Nashville in terms of culture and leadership and everything else are still things that the predators care about. Um, and the other thing is, and I quoted Barry Trott saying this about a month

ago after the Alex Carey HA at to Montreal, they were not interested in doing a retool or rebuild. They, they hope to spend money again next summer and get right back at trying to be a playoff team next year, which suggests that, you know, they, they want a lot of veteran players still to be around. Having said all that, that checks in on Ryan O'Reilly and what I believe Barry Trotter has told teams is, I'm not going to hang up the phone, but if you're going to come at me on Ryan O'Reilly, you better be for real. Don't throw a graphic at me. Like be for real and then we'll see what I think about it.

Here's where it gets interesting and I think it was Yo Dog that made that great point about well, how do we know if Riley would even come to Toronto? And I don't want to stir the pot here, but I just want to point out a factual matter. Reiner Riley does not have no trade protection in his contract. It was one of those kind of strange things where Nashville doesn't like to give them out, although I think they had to give one out to Sancos. But Riley went there without one. Now, I think out of respect, the high level of respect that Mary

tried to ask Ryan O'Reilly, my understanding is that, you know, he's already put a bug in his ear that, hey, I'll keep you informed here as this goes along. And, you know, doesn't have a no trade clause, but at the same time, I think wants to respect the dude. But at the end of the day, predators are going to do with special the predator. So I think it's important to note that I is Rhino rally doesn't really have a say in whether he gets traded. Which then would be up to you know, the team that would be trading for him to try to get a read on

his reaction to being there, right? Then that's the other side of the coin is, okay, maybe you put a package together that Barry Trotz and the Predators simply can't say no to, but if you're bringing a guy that has no interest in being there, what's the point? You'd have to sniff that out if you were the Maple Leafs or any team, wouldn't you? Like what kind of attitude and mindset are you going to get from a guy like Ryan O'Reilly? No doubt about it.

You know, and now Ryan O'Reilly is such a classy pro that I can't imagine that he would come here and tout, but nevertheless he'd want to do your due diligence if you're a Brad Trilling. And in fact, you know, my sense of things right now, and I'm not saying that this, you know, refers to Ryan O'Reilly in particular, but just in general, I know from hearing from other teams around the league, Brad Schilling has been certainly diligent over the last week or two calling around and trying to separate fact and fiction in terms of which centers are actually truly available or which ones are kind of, you know, forget about it. So those are some of the calls to the things you're making right now to get a better size

up on the market. You know, there are a couple of interesting factors in the trade deadline this year. One is, you know, I've had a few teams say to me, we're not sure if we want to try to get a guy before four nations or after because it's only 12 days after Four Nations with a trade deadline. And it made me think for a second, wait a minute, is there some kind of trade breach to Four Nations? And there is not. I double checked that today.

I knew there wasn't, but then I was like, I better double check this just to make sure because I might get asked about it and the league confirmed to me today. There is not a trade breach brief but it's being treated as one it seems like by teams and I don't know if it's because players are a lot of the players are gods of the homos and you know it is the schedule itself is a pause right there I know NHL games during Forrest Nation so teams are having this debate internally a lot of them are having the pro-scouting meetings the last couple of weeks.

Are we gonna try and get something done right before February 9th or February 10th? Or are we gonna just wait until the final 12 days? And I'm getting a lot of interesting different responses that there are some teams that believe it could be a bit of a flurry right before the four nations break. I'm not convinced of that.

I think it's nice to want that and to plan on that. The single number one reason why more trades happen on right around deadline days is because it's easier to do for the cap and the cap problem doesn't go away just because of the Four Nations break. So we'll see. With Pierre Lebron, our TSN hockey insider.

You know, we've discussed here the Leafs and where they're at. Then you look at the other teams in the East, Montreal and Ottawa, currently sitting in wild card spots and, you know, dealing with different realities in terms of who they have, what they have. Was it Josh Norris who left the game last night, Noodle? And I didn't see an update on him. So I'll just give a quick update.

I don't know. I don't know if he'll play tomorrow. They pulled him for precautionary measures he's hit his chin on the ice and By the sounds of that, I don't think he'll play tomorrow. Okay, so there you go Josh Norris may not play can't they say to him like do you feel okay? And if he says yeah, I'm good to go he play like I don't anyway go ahead Brian It's a big one tomorrow in Boston, but it doesn't it's not long term

I guess is important point out right the the hope is that the hope is that norris will not be a long-term he's had a lot of injury issues but they're having scoring problems all of a sudden in ottawa i would presume you know goal scoring is something they're looking for in montreal that was a story coming into this year can they score like they've had real issues scoring in the past since line a's arrived that has all of a sudden come to an end. I guess what I'm asking you is if you're looking for offense of firepower, is it more likely Ottawa would want to achieve that? Montreal would want to achieve that? How do you see the mentalities of the GMs in Ottawa and Montreal approaching

that? Yeah, I don't think either team right now sees that as a major issue, Brian, to be honest. You know, it's an issue in Ottawa because they're not scoring right now, but not an issue bigger picture in terms of the talent that they believe they have on their roster. The other thing I would say to you is that I think both those teams, and this is what I've heard, are still in the let's be careful here mode when it comes to March 7th because they're on the bubble. So the idea that they're, you know, both can to March 7th, because they're on the bubble. So the idea

that they're both going to be buyers right now, certainly in Montreal's case, I think that's premature. I mean, for Kenny and the Habs, this is more about, we have all these spending UFAs like Jake Evans and Yol R. Mia and David Savard. If we decide to keep a lot of them, that's maybe the byproduct of being in it as opposed to actually going out and being buyers if that makes any sense. Not to mention the fact that they've made one of the real good trades of the season already in Alex Garry. I mean, that really stabilized the right side and kind of everything had a domino effect

off that trade. I mean, that was a really sly trade by Kent Hughes. But the idea that everyone's excited, the 13-3-1, the lot 17, let's go up, be fires, I don't buy that right now. I think there's still a lot of games between now and March 7th, Ben. I don't think Kent Hughes is losing sight

of the bigger picture here, the one. Okay, now Ottawa's a bit different in the sense that I think there's still way more pressure on that organization to get into Montreal for obvious reasons. I mean they've been at this longer. This is supposed to be the year. I think what Ottawa would love to do if they upgrade is that it's more of a hockey deal and they don't get into the rental market as much as do something that can where it's a player that's still with them going into next year that makes any sense and and I could see that You know

You know the fact that they've hung in without all mark this long by the way noodles is around that team a lot But I think that's yeah, that's been a pretty amazing story. Yeah, I kind of wondered when he went down week to week I was like, oh boy But that could be a that could be it and it't. So credit to the Senators on that front. Well, he's been out multiple times, right, Noodles? But sandwich in between them, the guy was the best goalie in the league when he was playing.

Well, yeah, he was 8-0 and one before the injury in Edmonton, which was December 22nd, and what is it, January 20th? It's a month today he was injured. Crazy. Is he playing tomorrow? No, he hasn't taken shots outside of just with the trainer. I watched him yesterday at MSG.

He's on the trip. Yeah, he's on the trip and he's practicing but he hasn't practiced with the team yet. So I would say, oh, probably another week to 10 days before he ramps up if there's no setbacks. Of course. And you've got Forsberg and Marilline and that are playing. I do hear, I had a chat with David Perron last night.

I think he's playing, if he's not playing tomorrow, I think he is, with the Norris injury he might be inserted. So that is a boost for them, a veteran that they signed who really has had the personal issue with the family and then an injury. So that's almost like adding a player, which we'll see what he's got. Sure. Speaking of injury guys, just to pass on, given our audience, but I think the Least are feeling pretty good about how Tabaris is coming along, by the way.

I think they feel he's doing pretty well in terms of progression. They should get a better sense of his timeline in the coming days here, so watch for that. I know insider code words, that means he plays Saturday night? I'm not saying that. No, no, actually that would surprise me. But I think they're, given what it could have been, I think they're feeling better about it. The other thing I'd say on the lease, because I never really did answer your question, Brian, on the trade that Biden and the lease, going back to the piece that Jonas and Chris wrote

today. My guy from the beginning, and it's not the sexist name, but it's because I'm trying to be more realistic about guys that are actually available. My guy from the beginning has been Yanny Gorge for a couple of reasons. He's pending UFAs. Seattle's not going to make the playoffs. They're gonna have to get real at some point and start selling. And I just loved what he did for Tampa that cup year. He played on that line and listen, that's a couple years ago. He's not exactly the same player now, 33. He's actually currently hurt that now, too.

But it's more realistic for me, you know, and I know that the Leafs have scattered in a few games because of the price. I mean, you know, the Leafs have spent a lot of assets the last few years and because he's spending UFA and because he plays a hard game. Like, let's look at the moves that Treeliving keeps making and the coach that's now behind the bench, Craig Baruba, to me that has a great influence on the guys that you're targeting. What guy do they want in their lineup and what kind of player can he be to play off time? And I think if Gordon healthy, I just think we have proof from his Stanley Cup year in Tampa of the kind of hockey he plays.

Yep, that's valid and he is a winner. He's done it before. Alright, Pierre, good stuff as always. Thank you for doing this. We're out all around. See you boys. Pierre Labruner, TSN Hockey Insider.