OverDrive - MacLean on the Leafs demons from playoffs past, the contrast between the Sens and Leafs heading into the Battle of Ontario, and dealing with the Leafs invading Sens home games

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

Former Leafs assistant coach and Senators head coach Paul MacLean joins the show to discuss the upcoming Battle of Ontario. MacLean details the Leafs demons from playoffs. He compares the differences in mentality between the Leafs and Senators and shares his experiences dealing with Leafs fans invading Senators home games.

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Join today and be part of something amazing. On Sunday night at 7 p.m. down at Scotiabank Arena, the schedule is official. It's what we've been speculating on for a long time that the Leafs will take on this end Sunday here at TSN 1050. We have games two, four, and six on the station, which I know is of keen interest to our next guest, the man who coached the Ottawa Senators, was with the Toronto Maple

Leafs just a couple of years ago. Thrilled to welcome back to overdrive, long time NHL coach, played for the Winnipeg Jets for a long time as well. There's Paul McLean back with us. What's going on Paul? Good evening. Well, it's a nice sunny day here in Nova Scotia. Oh, nice. Which means it's a nice sunny day here in Nova Scotia which is which means it's playoff weather and very much is and yeah well I mean the regular the regular season has given us some wonderful matchups for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs there's a there's a lot of really like

every one of them is really an interesting detail of teams and success that they've had and rivalries that are going to be there. I think it's going to be right now it's set up to be one of the best playoffs first rounds maybe ever, but I think they say that every year, don't we? We do, we do. I mean that's how excited we are for the Stanley Cup playoffs, Paul. You know that. And here in Toronto and certainly in the province of Ontario, you can imagine how excited people are for the Battle of Ontario, which is reignited for the first time in 21 years. You coached in Ottawa, you coached in Toronto, you managed in Toronto. What type of emotions do you think you'll have on Sunday night watching two of your

former teams go toe-to-toe? Well, it's a good thing I'm at a piece with myself, so it doesn't really challenge me either way. I'm just looking forward to watching a play. There's two teams that are really ready for something. They're ready for something to happen, especially the Maple East. They've had enough of their despair over the last three or four years when they've had really good teams and not, and had to

play a Florida team and now they're, you know, they get a different opponent. So I think that gets them really excited. And then Ottawa back in the playoffs for the first time in a while, and that gets them all excited. And anytime there's a Kachuk involved, you know, there's going to get, there's going to be some action in the thing. And it's, it's not going to be Daniel Alphitton and Max Sandin maybe like the original Battle of Ontario but you know with Kachuk and Marner and Matthews

and Nylander in there I think it's gonna be an exciting series. Paul you used the word despair when you talked about the Maple Leafs in the playoffs and you used another D word in a very famous clip of the Amazon all, all, uh, what was it? All or nothing. Yes. I was thinking all for nothing. Uh, but also appropriate, also appropriate. But, but I was wondering, you know, you talked about the demons in that great coaching staff

meeting about how this team has demons. They see them in their closet. They see them everywhere. I mean, if you're still around there, how are you dealing with those demons as they approach the ninth run at the playoffs of the Matthews-Marner era? Well, I think now when they go to bed after the season ends tonight and before Saturday night's first game, there's going to be some demons come up from under the beds again. I mean, because now they're back. There's had an outstanding season again.

This time they win the Atlantic division, which is, which is massive because they're not facing a Florida team or a Boston team that has been the center of those demons. So right away they exercise those ones, at least for the first round. I mean, you have to settle with those if they move exercise those ones at least for the first round. I mean, they have to settle with those if they move on. But at least for the first round, that biggest demon is out of the way is the opponent and how that opponent could have been in their heads and done things to them. And now they have an opponent that's finished lower in the standings, but are they lesser than them? I mean, the statistics roll out that they're probably pretty close, but at the same time, with getting back to those demons,

they have a chance now to be a little more relaxed, because they're not playing one of those teams that's been a big fault of those demons. And I think that's a big thing for them. I think also the play of all three, the Mitch Banner in the Four Nations Cup and the success that he had when the game was on the line and a great play that he made for Canada. The Austin Matthews persevered and changed his role with the U.S. team, not necessarily being the go-to goal scorer guy, but being the glue guy that made everything go for them. And William Nyland... doing such a great job doing what he does for the swedish team and all

those three players or what's going to drive it i think they've had to accept that that will make things would give them confidence against good players and then they've been kind of show that you're at the end of the year and some of the game that one of the way they played at the end of the game but maybe they turn the page but charred is going to be the one account count. Our guest is Paul McLean, former Ottawa Senators head coach, was an assistant here in Toronto for

a couple of years as well. I am curious to know your perspective and the subject of playoff experience is debated and discussed non-stop leading into round number one and Toronto has more experience, maybe the Demons may be a part of it but clearly more playoff experience. Ottawa has very little when it comes to its top guys. How much of an effect do you think this will have on the results of the series? Well I think experience matters. I mean it's been proven over the years experience matters and experience is not only winning, experience is also losing. I mean, like the despair as we've mentioned earlier that the Leafs have faced in the last number of years,

that's a motivator. Like I don't want to feel like that again. I really don't want to feel like that again. Now the Ottawa Senators, they have nothing but they're happy. Like there's no despair in their team. They made the playoffs for the first time in however long. And some of them, or maybe none of them has ever been there. So they're not really sure. Everyone says it's hard, it's hard, it's hard. But you don't know until you're actually in there and you actually get involved in it and you go through it. And all of a sudden you realize, oh my God,

this is like way harder than I thought. It's four games to play and it's all over. So like it happens very quickly too. So that's the one thing about the experience in the playoffs gets you with it. You know you've got to do it like right now. It's right now. It's right now. There's no time to wait. You can't say, oh well we'll do it this game and that game. You've got to do it right now. And I think the Leafs are full of that because of the despair that they've had and I think it's going to be a great motivator for them and we'll see how it turns out. If you're on the Leafs coaching staff this year, Paul, and you've got Brady Kachuk, the Ottawa

captain, to deal with here. Now he's never played in the playoffs but we know he did very well in the foreign nations. He's 25 years old, he's been in the league a long time. How do you sort of approach him? Because obviously he's going to be a disruptor, he's going to be physical. Is there a way you can sort of turn that against him and try to get him to go over the edge and put himself in a bad spot? Or how do you approach a guy who brings a skill set unlike anybody else in the series? Well, he's going to be a factor, whether it's for his team or for your team. And you're trying to want to, you kind of want to make them a factor for your team if you can. But

it's also something that it's not a one person thing. It's a multi-person thing. And I think the bulk of it is going to fall on the defensive core of the Napoli and keeping him away from the net. I mean, that's where he like from, from goal line to goal line, like no one's really afraid of Brady Kachak. He's not, doesn't have outstanding speed where he's going to escape by everybody, that tough skills that he's going to toe drag everybody and get into. His game is, let's face it, his game is below the goal line to the front of the net and being, being involved in front of the net with the goalcander. So it's really going to be a big job of not only one pair of defensemen, I'm assuming it's going to be the McCabe and Tannis combination with Benoit and

somebody else going out the next time, but they've got to keep him away from the net. And that's going to be a big challenge because he's a big man And he's determined to get there But if you try to do it you just say like Chris Tana is going to do it That's not going to be enough you're going to need two two shots two pair of the defensemen in my opinion I'm going to have to be there to make sure that you keep him away from the net all the Ottawa Senators swept the season series Against the Maple Leafs this year Toronto score just three goals in three games five games in a row Ottawa has beaten Toronto dating back to last regular season. Does that matter at all to you? That's the playoffs now

It don't matter I don't think it matters to me. It never mattered. It's how we're playing Right now and whoever the opponent is and whether they beat us 10 times or we beat them 10 times, you always have to have great respect for your opponent, especially in the playoffs. You have to have a greater respect for your opponent and prepare for them in even a more detailed fashion. And the team that does that the best and then goes out and executes it and stays healthy

and gets some bounces is who ends up winning the series most of the time. Paul, you've coached the Senators and you know about the phenomena of Leaf fans invading the arena out in Kanata. How do you deal with that if you're the head coach of the home team and yet it feels like it's not completely a home game when the Leaf fans really can make it a pretty balanced crowd in a lot of ways. Can that be a factor or how did you look at that?

Well, I always looked at it when I was there that I would say, hey Eugene, the place is full. Speaking to the owner, Eugene Melnick. Yeah, Eugene Melnick, I said, Eugene, the place is full. What's our complaint? But again, when you're at home and everything is blue and white, it could be a little bit, I guess it can kind of irritate you a little bit, but I tried to make it more of a motivator that, hey, we need to play better. We need to play better to make sure that our fans

buy all the tickets. So we have to be better as a team to make sure that fans by all the tickets so we we have to be better at the team uh... to make sure that the people of in our own value in the region that uh... are are all the while fans are going to come to the game until the length of we've got to be better with the motivation i've got to use policy treat to catch up with the as always we really appreciate your time tonight enjoy the beautiful novus scotian and hopefully we can talk to you again soon. All right guys, let's have some fun.

Buckle up. All right, buckle up. That's good advice. That's Paul McLean, former coach of the Sens, was an assistant in Toronto as well. And I think... All new, all Canadian. The best of our great nation, one song at a time.

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