OverDrive - LeBrun on Marner's contract negotiations, the playoff impact in a deal and the Maple Leafs' additions

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NHL, Mitch Marner's contract negotiations in Toronto, the Maple Leafs and Panthers' matchup, the additions of Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo, the importance of Morgan Rielly and more.

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Bell, getting a new phone just got better. Here's Pierre Labrano, TSN hockey insider. Pierre, does it not disgust you that Josh Allen makes less money than Doc Prescott? It doesn't. I'll say this. When Doc restructured his deal last week to give the Cowboys more than 30 million in cap to play with this year that did give me some relief I won't say that okay that was pretty good a press cut to have done

that and I will also say that that Prescott's a great quarterback he's not Josh Allen that's for sure but he's a great quarterback and so it sounds like you're a Giants fan am I right? Struddy're a Giants fan, am I right? Struddy is a Giants fan. Yes he is. So, Doc Pesci thought, I believe he's 13 and 1 in his career against the Giants. That has nothing to do with your... That has nothing to do with...

We lost Struddy, he's going quiet. You actually finally got Struddy to stop talking. We gotta reset his whole thing. Well, I mean, Doc has absolutely owned the Giants. That is true. Like, I mean, destroyed them. That is true, Strudy. So I think we're getting some biased commentating here. And the reality is, all of these dollars,

the NFL is so weird. Like, I don't cover it for a living, so I don't totally understand the end and end of the CBA. But like, I don't even understand what it means when like what Prestad just did, he restructured so that the Cowboys have more than 30 million to play with this year on the cap. I know it's- How does it all work? It's incredibly confusing because Allen did the same thing.

Make no mistake. Like he's, it's pushing guarantees around and down the line. It's incredibly confusing. Like half the time I feel like they're just making it up They're like well, we're just gonna move some money around like what what money and where is that going? And that's not my listen Strati has a point that Prescott is no Tommy DeVito. He's no Tommy DeVito Well, we I want Tommy to be our quarterback this year. So we get Archie Manning. That's

Yeah, well, listen the Cow of the help you out by once again going to a dog we'll at least do that okay we finally agree with you guys coming together here we've got a bond between brokering deal and fans did they get a running back pier well they signed a bond to williams who uh Williams who's had a lot of injuries. I think he'll be their number two. And I do, they're going to drop a running back in the draft is what everyone who covers

the team seems to think. We shall see. Okay. All right. We got a big one here in Toronto tonight, Pierre. I'm sure you're aware of this. How do you, because this is the biggest regular season game I can think of, certainly this year. For sure.

And there's been other examples in the past, but not with the same, you know, with the same status on the line. The division was never on the line. The division's never been on the line. They've played Tampa where you know they're going to play them in the playoffs, or Boston where you know they're going to play them in the playoffs. But there's never actually been multiple stories on the line here where it's not only how do you match up against this team but if you beat them and you beat them in regulation you're gonna surpass them in the standings I really I don't think you can hype this enough the question is will the Leafs

meet the moment or do you think the emotions could get to them could they try to go over the top and be a little bit jittery tonight what are you expecting from them? No I don't think they'll be jittery. I wear more that they're coming off the long road trips and sometimes teams are asleep and the Leafs are asleep early on in those games. Not to mention that they're playing the quietest arena in the NHL on days not named Saturdays. But you know, this game is so big. I went to the morning escape this morning. That's how big this game. Wow.

I mean, I had to go down and get a feel for this. No, I think the lease will meet the moment tonight. And, you know, I know MJ's been big on this and you guys have too on the show, but you know, the carrot to win the Atlantic and avoid each other between Tampa, Florida and Toronto is so big. I will say with the caveat of this,

I mean if the Leafs win the division, there's a real chance they could play Ottawa and for whatever reason the Senators have had a lot of success against Toronto, so, you know, I'm late. So it's not like Nathan Carrot, he's first draft win for the Leafs either in the Battle of Ontario,

but I do think you wanna avoid Florida and Tampa at all costs if you're Toronto. And, you know, this is an interesting time for the Panthers too, because, you know, the suspension to Ekblad, you know, kind of, it throws a wrench into their plans of wanting to get a look at how their top four looks with Ekblad and Jones on the right side. So they won't get Ekblad back to the second game of the playoffs and that's not nothing because I think they really want to get a good chunk of the season at the end here together and look at that top four and they won't be able to do that now.

Jere, you know, looking a little bit ahead and I know they're recognizing Kachak, Saud and Marchand but let's assume these guys meet and they're all healthy at some point maybe in the playoffs who or do the may police have the ability to rise up and take on some of that gamesmanship that we'll see from Florida? So you know here's the interesting science experiment that the Leafs have been here the last 12 to 18 months. You know, under Brad Tree living, and that includes the hiring, obviously, of Craig Blue Bay, the Leafs have, you know, not so suddenly tried to transform themselves into a team that can better handle, you know,

the heaviness of a playoff game. But hopefully for them, not at the expense of scoring enough. And it's not easy to do, but of course the template is Florida themselves. You guys have talked about this, I think. But you know, the Florida Panthers made a coaching change after winning the president's trophy and leading the league in gold. It's like unheard of a couple years ago. And the reason they did it is that Bill Zito

wanted Paul Maurice to come in and transform their team into the to play a style that is more successful come playoff time and the rest of they say is history but that's what the Leafs are trying to do in the Brad Tree Living very similar philosophy and Chris Tanna was a magnificent addition that way last offseason. I love the Brandon-Carlo trade They are better suited I think to to wade through those waters come playoff time But they're not scoring organically like they have and and I guess what I'm saying is I won't know until we see it And none of us will but have they struck the bounce or have they gone too far one saying is I won't know until we see it and none of us will but have they struck the bounce or have they gone too far one way?

I don't know. Well, with the Panthers in town tonight there was some thought that Tanev, Chris Tanev would be a game time decision. He has been activated by the Maple Leafs, Jonas, so that would suggest he's playing. He's playing tonight. Go ahead. So I was curious, Pierre, obviously you mentioned the playoffs and scoring. Obviously one key component in that is going to be Mitch

Marner. So I wondered with everything that went down the last few days, do you think there was any healing that has to be or had to be done, has to be done between him and the front office or is it just now water under the bridge do you think? I'm really surprised that I'm being asked about this on Overdrive, no I'm just kidding. I'm not kidding. Couldn't think of anything else, Pierre. Oh, I'm not surprised. So let me, knowing this would come up,

I was collecting my thoughts and I talked to a lot of people. You know, I think the first thing to start with is to understand that from what I have gathered, when Brad Trillium in the least front office approached Mitch and his camp about this whole Carolina scenario, let's stress this again. The first words out of their mouth was, we want to sign you. But because there has not been a meaningful negotiation this year, But because there has not been a meaningful negotiation this year, it was presented to him as, well, you know, we haven't negotiated this year, is this an option that would interest you?

I, you know, the trade to Carolina and getting ranted and back and the least would have signed ranted in and so on and so on. And obviously the answer was no, which is absolutely in Mitch Marner's rights. I love when players use their no move because that's why you negotiate for them. That's part of your contract. But I don't think anyone, like I don't know why it's upset some people that the Leafs did this. I'd be more upset if our Leafs fan, Brad Truling, didn't look at all his options when he's

managing his assets. Like the guy that, you know, they've not been able to negotiate an extension. So you're getting to the trade deadline and you gotta look at everything. And here's proof of why other teams have done the same. Boston, a couple years ago, David Pasternak and his agent, JP Berry, were legitimately concerned that if they didn't sign an extension,

they ended up signing a really good deal, but if they didn't sign by the trade deadline, that could be traded and Boston was in first place at the time But I remember at the time talking to everyone involved and there was a legitimate Threat and who knows it could have been a bluff But there was a lot of tension around that negotiation that the passion act wasn't signed He signed just before the trade deadline that maybe they would look at what the market was for him. Fast forward to this year. If I would have told you in September

that the Colorado Avalanche, who were trying to win a cup this year, would have traded Meikle Rampson in in January, you guys would have thought I was on crack. But this is what happens with players of this magnitude when teams feel threatened that they don't control the asset past the trade deadline. But there's one key distinction there, Pierre, is the no movement clause.

Like Rantanen did not have full control. And neither did they have a full one. Yeah, you had to modify. Yeah, that is a key distinction. And so this goes back and we have these discussions, Brian, on this show. The day July 1st, 2023 came, which is just a few weeks after Brad Truling took over from Kyle Bevis, was a major day in this whole story. And it's not like we just realized it now. We talked about it at the time. When his whole move went to 100% and Mitch Marner stayed put, the leverage changed that very day. Yeah, and it was horrible negotiating,

but there's nothing you can do about it. I mean, that happened and the deal was brokered. And you're right, Mitch has got the keys to the car, but it still doesn't answer whether or not Marner really wants to stick around, whether or not the Leafs mines, can they change? Like it sounds as if to your point and you're reporting like they want to sign them, they want to sign them, does that mean what happens the rest of the year is completely irrelevant and they're just gonna try to

sign him up until you know midnight June 30th or whatever it is? Or now do the Leafs have to reset and possibly put some pressure on Marner that let's say he wants to stay maybe they don't want to keep him like is that is that option even available anymore is it just a hundred percent Marner has to make the decision and if he wants to stay then that option will be there for him well first of all what happens the rest of the year is definitely not irrelevant I think what happens in the playoffs might be ninety percent of what happens on this file like Mitch Marner being the scapegoat

for another first round exit, if he doesn't put up numbers, could greatly affect the outcome of this thing. Mitch Marner leading the Toronto Maple Leafs into the conference finals could greatly affect how this ends up. The playoffs are everything to me in terms of where this goes.

So there's that. Here's the other thing that I've been saying all week about this, just from a human being perspective. If I'm Mitch Marner, there are two ways you could react to what's transpired, even though again, I believe at least are really diplomatic in how they approach this. You either lose trust in the organization

because you feel slightly betrayed that they thought about trading you or It's scared to live in crap out of you that that could actually be a thing But you could no longer be a leaf and he made you wake up the next day and say you know what? I don't want to leave So it could be one of the other which are extreme opposite reactions by the way But I don't know that there's much in the middle. It has to be one or the other in my mind. Piero, when you look at the work that Craig

Barube's done so far this year, what would you like to see him get done or what do you think his maybe agenda is these last 20-some odd games? For me, the number one thing for me is having Morgan Reilly get to where he needs to be in his game and find comfort with Brandon Carlo. That would be, if I'm Craig Brubate, that would be the number one item on my wish list. It's feeling good about that tandem heading into the playoffs. And I think they will feel good about it, but you have to see it. And so the last bit of the regular season air strategy is really important to me on that because you know what you have with that.

You know, and so if you can get that high profile pairing in a place where the trust is through the roof entering the playoffs, I think that's the game changer. Yeah. And I'm not sure how much of that is, like how much Baruba can control there. You're gonna play him with Carlo, he's played with a lot of different defensemen over the course of the year. At some point it's just on Morgan Riley to do it.

He's just gotta play better, he's gotta defend better in particular, or you gotta pick a lane. If you're gonna defend the way you're defending, you better get up in the play, you better create offense, you better make the opponent feel uncomfortable at times when you're on the ice. And I just feel like he's in this, and maybe that's how Barube can approach it.

Maybe he can go to him and clarify this is which way you got to go here. I mean, he's probably been doing that. But you know, it's not like you're talking about a rookie defenseman or in Carlos case, a guy who just got here and you can You can kind of bake in some uncomfortable Scenarios that you that you know are coming I mean Riley's the longest standing leaf and we're still having these kind of I think the one wild card in it is now You've thrown a new partner into the mix now

You have 18 right aims to like suddenly figure out how to play together, right? Yeah, and again, it's on him I guess to do it though, right like and I guess how you it's on him, I guess, to do it, though, right? And I guess how you use them and the zone starts and who they're going up against. But if you're a second pair, they're playing hard competition. You're going to play really good players. And you're going to play a lot of minutes.

And there's going to be uncomfortable times. And the other thing that's probably obvious is I wonder if Craig Rubich tipped his hand a bit tonight at Stowell Writers' game of starting at Florida. And mean listen he's playing his old team so that's probably a big part of it but and he's also he's been lights out when healthy this year so I think most people that you would ask would probably think Stolarz is the game when started can play outside but I do think like this is one of the biggest games of the year and he gets a start so that's the only thought that you know what's crossed my mind this morning that

was good yeah that's a big one well in terms of the Canadian teams on the border of making it in Ottawa's in a pretty good spot right they got a big game tonight Boston in town and the Habs they picked up a point last night this this kind of Western road trip they're picking up points and they're staying although that was that stung that one stung trip they're picking up points and they're staying. Although that was that stung. That one stung because they're up 4-2 and they had it. They were down 2-0 also right? It was 2-0 then 4-2 but they blew it in the third against the Seattle team. They were lucky to get a point. I stayed up and watched that game and they somehow, he couldn't even celebrate because the body would get way back and come out. Right. They called it a goal but they still got a point and say what you want

but the Habs, whether it's winning ugly or not, they've been a plucky bunch in the second half of the season and they're still in the race but they were lucky to get a point last night. How about that overtime goal, Pierre? That's a tough learning lesson for Hudson there, right? You're looking around and in that situation, you kind of got to look at the center, the winger. Is someone talking here? Is there something going on?

And he had no idea. Montour blasted right by him. That's D-Men on D-Men. That's not forward on D-Men, right? So that's a tough one. You could see his reaction, hammer to stick into the wall. Five seconds. Well, how often do you see up the draw three guys lining up like that though, Strud? No, I don't like that lineup but as a D, you know, it's a D on D and you kind of think, okay, what's up here? What is something possible here? But

that's just youth and I love Hudson. I love the way he plays, but unfortunately sometimes you learn lessons like that that are really hard to see that are on SportsCenter every two seconds. He was amazing again last night. Otherwise, oh my gosh, what a year he's having trying to win the Colbert Trophy. But yeah, that was a crazy way to end an overtime game. Craig Button, who did color honors at the T a half broadcast, nailed it after he goes, whoever hit the pre-stab for Seattle backs off, because that was totally pre-planned. And by the way, Brandon Montour finished the year in that two-game set with the half with five golden two-games against Montreal. I love that. Yeah, that's pretty good. And you look

at it like he's leaning, like there's a still shot that was circulating online, like before the puck drops, he's kind of already cheating a little bit and if you're not cheating you're not trying but usually in overtime you see the two forwards line up and the defensemen both kind of concede we're back here like you do your thing I'll do my thing let's try to win the draw and slow play it and I'd have to go back and look at it I wonder if it was Montoya that lined up first and then Hudson was like all right I'll line up with you see you later and showtime for Montour but there's no big point. To answer your question I feel bad about it

I interrupted you but I think the half I looked at the half schedule this week they got a pretty tough schedule you know especially the rest of March and there went a lot of road games still and so I think they'll continue to show people wrong if they I think if they stay in it, but They've already won their season anyway, not that Habs fans want to hear this but Babs wanted to play real games in March That's what they're doing. But I really like where Ottawa's at and I think the Rangers will join Ottawa But I really like where Ottawa is at. And I think the Rangers will join Ottawa as the two walkers. That would be my pick right now.

Well then last night, three point game, Vancouver, Calgary, and one of those two teams with St. Louis, Utah won last night. Like, you look at the odds, it's like 20- Which helped for Utah. Yeah. Which helped for Utah. They're finally healthy. You know, both the Leafs and the Habs were through there recently.

They're playing some big time hockey, man. I mean, that game was closed last night against Anaheim, but they tilted the ice, actually, most of that night. I was watching a lot of that game, and they have depth. Their blue liners healthy, getting goaltending, that place is jumping. It wouldn't shock me if Utah, Utah slipped in. I could see that too.

They were good against the Leafs the other night. Like not the first, but second and third period and in overtime, they outplayed them. All right, Pierre, we'll leave it there. Enjoy the games tonight. Go Cowboys. Go Cowboys. Well, even though I felt attack coming on air,

I leave in peace. Peace out. Peace out. There's Pierre LePron, our TSN hockey insider. All new, all Canadian. There's Pierre LaFront, our TSN hockey insider. North all the way. Loud and proud. An all-new digital radio station from coast to coast. Made in Canada, played in Canada on the free iHeartRadio app and at iHeartRadio.ca.