OverDrive - Masters on Hockey Canada’s approach to building their Olympic roster, his interview with Marner, and the reasons Marner gave for leaving Toronto

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

TSN Maple Leafs Reporter Mark Masters on Hockey Canada’s approach to building their Olympic roster, his interview with Mitch Marner, and the reasons Marner gave for leaving Toronto.

Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from The Glorious Sons. Hi, I'm Nellie Furtado. Made in Canada, the station that champions Canadian music.

Loud, crowd, and all yours. No passports required, just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca. Or the free iHeartRadio app. But I guess Masters is down there. He should know. There he is. Mark Masters. Mark, do you get the impression that that Four Nations team,

like they're on the team until someone knocks them off? Or is Hockey Canada going to reset here to some extent? It sure feels like the Four Nations event had it made an impression. Obviously, you know, you win like that. It's going to make an impression. But, you know, John Cooper pointed out today it's a 25-man roster for the Olympics. So there's going to be two new players regardless. so there's going to be some new blood just by virtue of that.

And then he also said, you know, there's usually an injury or two, and you hope there's not, but you have to, you know, have that on your mind. So we'll see. We'll see. There's a lot of hockey still to be played, a lot of times still to pass, but it does feel like that Four Nations, maybe if you're on that team, you've got a bit of a leg up there. Well, and now I guess this time around,

they'll have a little more time before they decide or submit the roster, right? like with the four nations, that had to be in at the beginning of December. That's not going to be the case now for the Olympics. Do you think that extra month makes a difference for anyone, or is it kind of just, you know, if you're kind of pencilled in by early December, you're on the team? I think it makes a difference for some players, for sure. I like for some guys from some battles, why not?

Yeah, every extra day, something could change. You know, I can't imagine, like, one game or one hot streak might do it, but you never know, right? A goaltender, you know, that position, which is what, you know, Doug Armstrong today was saying is probably the most wide open or the biggest competition. Even though they only invited the three here to this camp, they've still reached out to other guys, let them know they're in the mix. But, yeah, if a guy gets hot at the right time, maybe that's enough to get them on.

I mean, it's going to be very interesting to watch this season to see who can kind of put themselves in the debate and maybe seal the deal. Yeah, I am surprised they only invited three goalies. That is weird to me with all the amount of players that are there. There's so many guys there in only three goalies with Mark Masters. So it's our understanding, Mark. You caught up with Mitch Marner today. Anything, what can you reveal to us that, you know, stuck out from your conversation with Mitch?

Yeah, you know what? I just really kind of wanted to drill down a bit on why he, like, you know, he spoke in Vegas. at his news conference, his introduction there, like why he liked Vegas, why the Golden Knights were attractive to him. But I'm just wanted to drill down a little bit more on how he got to the point where he was ready to leave his hometown team. Because I'm not sure he's really come out and address that.

I mean, we've guessed we could see, you know, he seemed to be weighing on him certain things, but I've never heard him really articulated. So that was kind of my thought process coming into the interview. I asked him, you know, first of all I asked him, I said, you know, like, what was, you know, you built up all these friendships. You spent nine seasons of the least. What was the hardest goodbye? He said the phone call with Austin Matthews was very emotional. He would have preferred to do it in person, but Austin had gone back to Arizona.

And then he just said, you know, Riley, Tavalli, you know, Riley, Nylander, Tavares, guys that we went through a lot together. They leaned on each other when things got tough. And those were those were the tough guys. And then I just said, oh, well, why? It didn't have to be tough. He could have stayed. he didn't want to give a detailed answer on that he just said you know needed a change needed a fresh start basically a new chapter and then I said well is it because the market

was tough and he didn't want to go down there but then as we got more into it I think you can just tell where he was at because you know his agent Aaron Ferris he did an interview on a podcast 100% hockey and he kind of came out and said you know after the season ended police they needed protection for Marner's house security because, you know, stuff was getting dumped in his yard and there was even a death threat and, you know, Marner, I asked him about that and he got into it about how hard it was and he's a new dad and, you know, he doesn't like not feeling safe when he goes for a walk with his kid and he goes for a walk with his dog and so we got into that a little bit more and he was kind of open about that and just how tough it was and how he had a mental

coach for the last three years to try and help him tune out what was going on in the market and deal with it properly. Anyway, so that was kind of, that's kind of what popped out. And he kind of got into a little bit of how hard it was, you know, in a way for him to deal with it, to deal with everything, and why he got to the point where, you know, he's leaving his hometown team, which was a dream come true, got drafted by his hometown team. You know, this is what you live for.

You grow up, you dream of being a leaf. So how did he get to the point where he just wanted to leave? Did he speak of the leaves, you know, glowingly or with disdain, like, how did he, when he started speaking about the leaves, because some guys have a difficult time, like, actually kind of releasing themselves from it, because he hasn't been in Vegas yet. He hasn't played for, you know, in his mind said he might still be a leaf in a way. Did it feel, did he speak of it as like a distant past, or how did he relate to even, you know, talking about the leaves?

Well, yeah, it was, I don't know if even, I don't know if I got a great, read on that. A lot of it was just kind of rehashing stuff and what he's gone through. It was funny at the end. I just, you know, I thanked him. I said, you know, it was great catching up. And he's like, oh, good to see you. And I was like, you know, I'm not sure you missed this. He's like, I might miss you a little bit. And then he was like, yeah, the schedule makers didn't really do it right. Like, when I come back to Toronto, it's a back to back. And I'm like, people think that that's a good thing for you. Less, you know, less time in the spotlight, less time in the chaos of what Toronto's going to be like, and he was like, no, I would have preferred to have a day at home.

So he's already at least contemplated that. So perhaps that's a sign that he's already thinking about that, and he's turned the page a little bit there. Yeah, I didn't get a city. We really didn't get too much into the leaf side of it. It was more about him and his personality, but it did feel at least in that part on how we ended it, that he was already kind of looking forward to next year. Mark, when you were speaking with Mitch, did you get the impression, that some of this reaction surprised him

or if he was braced for it because you see so often when an athlete leaves a place they've been for a long time, they're so far inside their day-to-day, so far inside their sport that they may not be as tuned into this stuff as we are. But do you get the sense that this caught him off guard at all because it seems to have affected him?

Yeah, it's funny. I kind of, I talked to Jeannie Bouchard when she announced her retirement and she talked about how she was so surprised at the positivity around her announcement with everyone saying, And, you know, it was kind of a weird thing to say because, like, why wouldn't people be, you know, she went to the Wimbledon Final? She did a lot of great things for Canadian Tennessee. She's like, I've been so beaten down by the negativity on social media that I just, I'm so numb to it, that it was a surprise that anything was positive. And it kind of feels like Mitch got to that point in Toronto. And I asked them, like, you know, it wasn't all negative. Like, you got a lot of love. A lot of people loved you. Your fifth in franchise scoring, you had the charitable thing. There were a lot of people loved Mitch Marner. and appreciated what he did.

He's like, yeah, but it was always the hate comments that you heard the most, or that got through the most. So I think he's a little bit numb to the reaction. He would have obviously contemplated, you know, what the market would think of that. But I think he'd already gotten to a point where he said he had to have security outside his house for two weeks after the playoffs ended. So I don't know. I think he just got to a point where all that just kind of blurred together

and was numb a little bit in terms of, like, now kind of turning. into a villain. I guess you want to call that in the market. Have you heard of players, maybe all of us can contribute on this, like having a mental coach to handle the noise? I've never heard of that before. Do you heard

of that, Mark? Well, I hear about in a lot of different sports. Goalies, I know, have, I think, more so goalies. I know I remember talking to Dennis Hill to be about, you know, and he was using the same guy Esper Bratt uses, and like, just having a mental psychologist, I guess,

it's mostly called a sports psychologist, I guess, and teams themselves have that on their staff and guys to talk to. But, you know, a player, yeah, I've heard that, but I did, you know, that was, that was in response. He revealed, he talked about that in response to the question was how, how much did what you're going and dealing with off the ice impact how you played on the ice. And that's when he said that I got this mental coach. And, you know, he's, you know, he's still a hundred point player,

despite, you know, obviously dealing with this and got nominated for the Selke in recent years. And obviously we know what happened in the playoffs, but he's still emerging. You know, he's still on Team Canada. He's going to be on Canada's Olympic team. He still was able to do some incredible things despite that. But yeah, I have heard that before. I just found it interesting that he brought it up specifically when talking about the market. Because obviously guys deal with pressure, but it can sometimes be a different type of pressure.

You know, okay, it's not uncommon for guys to have a mental coach or a sports psychologist, but I think the thing, it's always about on the ice, or most of the time it's about on the ice, right? And then when things that are happening off the ice bleed into performance on the ice, even though we look at it and say, well, the guy is a 102 point player, but he's probably not focused on the regular season portion. He's probably looking at it like, why am I roadblocked in a game five or a game six or a game seven? And how do I get over that? Because realistically, it's those three games of the last, whatever it is,

eight or nine years that have probably caused this whole thing. Because if you looked at it from the regular season, you're like, Mitch Marner's a great player, should be a leaf for life, should never leave. But we're so focused on a large sample size of basically three games towards the end of a series. And I guess my question to you, Mark, is, you know, if the Leafs do find a way to get past Florida, is Mitch Marner still a Maple Leaf? Is he getting the death threats

or does he have to hire security or police in front of his house? And are we talking about Mitch Marner being a leaf for life? Yeah, in that Florida series, game two, was it a game two, he scores the game winning goal? And he's at the podium,

and it just felt like a really big high moment. So I don't know. It just feels like he'd gotten to the point with where the market was at. But like, I mean, if they win that series, I'd probably like them to beat Carolina. And then they're in the color. Who knows, right?

It's hard to go down that road. But just certainly talking to him today, it felt like he had reached a point with where things were at the market, where he was, it felt like. And you could sense it all year. Like it was, you could feel it with him and how he kind of handled certain moments that maybe he was just, he needed a fresh start.

It was stale. And frankly, maybe that's just part of that as the team being stale. and the core being still, because we've talked about it at nauseam forever. And he certainly, I'm sure, it felt like, and he didn't say this, but it felt like he was kind of the face of it, right? Like he would take the most heat when the season ended up, even though it wasn't just him that was not coming through in those games, five, six, and seven.

But clearly he was a polarizing guy, and, you know, Austin goes to Arizona, perhaps in the immediate aftermath of the season, William can get out to Sweden, but he was really there. It never really stopped for him. him is the sense I got. So, yeah, it's quite something that this guy, this hometown guy, got to this point with the Leafs. Yeah, no kidding. I do think it was still on both sides. It's in the best interest for this to play out this way. Like, someone had to go, it's Mitch, Leaves move on, he moves on. As for, you know, the Olympic orientation, you're out there,

this McDavid story, we talked about a lot yesterday. Is there deja vu for you, like, in terms of the way Marner handled things last year? Do you see any connection there? Like, what is your read on McDavid's approach to his contract and how much of a story that is out there at the Olympic orientation camp? It's the story. It was the story yesterday,

for sure. For him, the difference is, like, it's not the market. The market's fine. It's because he believes that this Oilers team is going to be a contender for whatever the next contract's going to be. Whereas with Mitch, there's a lot of stuff in, like, just the market.

But, you know, does he look at Mitch and say, well, you know, Mitch Marner just went through a contract year in the biggest market with all the glare, and he had 100 points, and the team won the division, and they won a rent, like, I mean, it didn't have to be like, the, it wasn't, you know, it caught, it came up, of course, at the deadline, but even if Connor McDavid is, it goes into this year without a contract, they're not going to, I can't imagine they're going to trade him at the deadline, or even look into that. I guess weirder things have happened, but there is a difference there, I feel like. It was funny.

Like I was sitting, I was waiting on a day like today where there's a schedule and there's 10-minute blocks. And so I was waiting outside the room where I was going to interview Mitch. And just in case it started earlier, it flip-flopped. And he was doing a joint interview with Zach Hyman. And they came out and he saw I had the U.S. open on my laptop. I just had it on. I was keeping an eye on.

And he's like, oh, you're watching tennis. I'm like, yeah, it's kind of a passion project for me. He's like, not hockey? so he's like you know hockey is his passion right like he can't you know why wouldn't it be my passion so he's focused that's his passion he wants to win he's all in on hockey even like in this moment right now so um that's what he's focused on it's up to the oilers to prove it if they do whatever they can i guess to show them that that in this next contract they can win but uh that's kind of where it's at with with mac david but that's a fascinating thing too because uh obviously

he didn't seem to be in a big hurry yesterday when we talked to in our Ryan Rashog was asking him those questions. Yeah, he's relaxed, man. He's the best player in the world, and he's got his feet up, and it's all good. All right, Mark, we'll leave it there. How about Chapo winning today off to the third round of the U.S. Open? Huge, huge. He's going to play center next.

So I'm just excited. Good luck. Yeah, good luck, but at least you get the moment. You're going to play on Arthur Ash against World Number One. You're supposed to lose, no pressure. You know, Dennis, when he plays at his best, he's doing he red lines, you know, he can, you know, he can play at a very high level consistency has always been the problem

but good for him he needed this. He hadn't won since the title in Las Cabos and I'm just watching Leila Annie Fernandez playing doubles with Venus Williams and they're about to upset the number six season. It is cool. I know doubles doesn't get a lot of attention but I just find like this could be the last time we see Venus Williams play tennis like who knows she's probably not going to play the rest of this year

she's 45 and you know she's playing with a Canadian and she's only twice played with so in doubles that isn't her sister. Cocoa Gough and now Lila Fernandez and they're about to knock out the number six seat. It got moved to the second biggest court at the U.S. Open, Armstrong and there's a

huge crowd that's loving it. So that's pretty cool for Canada. It's funny. We all were focused on Vicki and Boko, right? Going in and she loses, but it's almost like she kind of sparked a bit of Canadian tennis and got everyone else revved up and Lela's going to play the world number one on the woman's side tomorrow night

and Chappo's going to play the world number one in the inside. So it's been a fun U.S. Open for Canada. Love it. All right. We'll see how it goes the rest of the way. Thank you, Mark. Thanks, guys. Mark Masters.

Yeah, that's going to be tough trying to knock off Sinner. Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the glorious sons. Hi, I'm not.

Nelly Potato. Made in Canada, the station that champions Canadian music. Loud, crowd, and all yours. No passports required, just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca. Or the free iHeartRadio app.