OverDrive - Mirtle on the Maple Leafs' trade deadline priorities, potential trade assets and the goaltending tandem impressions

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

The Athletic Senior Writer James Mirtle joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Maple Leafs, the team's trade deadline priorities, the best needs for the roster, potential trade assets to bolster the lineup, the goaltending tandem choices and more.

Thinking about the future? Think Conestoga College. Explore and learn about our programs. Search Conestoga Tours for campus tours, virtual tours and live online events. Conestoga, career focused education your way. Connect life and learning. Here's your boy, our boy. Love having him on from the athletic. We have him on a few times a year when you're in here Jonas. Here's our good friend James Myrtle. How you doing James? Good guys, good. How's it going? We're doing pretty well. What are you expecting tonight? Is it possible to be a trap game when you're playing a team in San Jose that's lost eight games in a row and is dead lost in

the league? Well, I think history tells us that the Leafs have a way of turning any kind of a game into a trap game. So, I mean, maybe this year has been a little bit different than some of the other years, but yeah, I think you come into this one and you say, it's back to back, the Leafs have won eight of nine and maybe, you know, I've watched quite a bit of San Jose this year because they've been on late and they've got some young guys that can burn you and they've made some games closer than what their record shows that it is. They've got a few guys that can score and I know Grandland's gone now and but it's not like it's not

like it's a team totally bereft of talent and they're gonna get up to play in this game for sure. James you just touched on the Leafs record of late. Jonas as impressive as the record was or is Jonas was kind of trashing them at the beginning of the show talking about them defensively. Like where are you at with their overall play what you've seen and what you think the expectation should be going forward well I mean Jonas will tell you guys we've been arguing about this almost all season so I'm not I'm not anywhere near and down on the team as Jonah said I said I said I said I said I'm down. Look at this. Why can't you not say you're down on it? You said you don't want a good team or not off the top of the show.

No, I said I'd pick it apart and there's some stuff that doesn't look amazing. And it's like, I don't just judge it on wins and losses. I'm sorry. You're deeper than that. Well, like you're a surgeon of analysis. Well, I like it. Here's an example, guys, like Donis is talking about, you know, they don't score the way that they used to.

But if you look at over the last, you know, since December 1st, they're one of the highest scoring teams in the league. And where are they defensively when during that stretch? Yeah, no, I know. But you're pointing out that they don't score, but like they've been a really dangerous offensive team for a while now. So I was like, that was months ago when we were talking about that and they weren't scoring. Like that was not an unfair point.

Yeah, but they were like six guys out of the lineup, right? I just I think that there's they've got great goal tending. They've re-emerged as one of the top scoring teams in the league. The power play has come back to life the last few months. Are they perfect? No. But one of the things that Jonas and I argue about all the time and that I say on my side is that there's no perfect teams in the NHL right now.

It's so wide open. The parity level is so high. And the biggest differentiator for the Leafs is that they've got really high end star talent and really good goal-tending. And that's a pretty big, those are two pretty big wins in your favor that you're not getting on another, a lot of other rosters around the league. I agree with that. I never said that that wasn't true. When they weren't scoring, I was saying they're not scoring and they don't have a lot of players that I look at beyond the

Core group that are going to score. I think that concern is still relevant. I don't look at this little spurt I don't know if you guys do and say well all these guys that are scoring now are gonna score how deep like I don't think I've deep like offensively I just don't know you're saying beyond the for the four obvious guys on the six days six guys i think you can count on to school you would include knives in who mcmahon yeah i mean i feel that everything is like a home but you can say i don't know what a panthers are other than their six guys

how many guys you counting on to score in florida it's a fair point but we have c anyway well but continue i guess we just have seen this team i mean you guys know history they don't score another playoffs and now they're even more top-heavy than they were that is concerned Like I think I never thought of them as more depth in the past What team are you referencing that had more scoring depth in the past? They're more top-heavy now than they have been if you look at like the person I mean, it's changed recently, but they were getting like six

75% of their goals from six players they were never that top heavy before okay I guess I guess one point I would make on that is that I do think like Nyes in particular really is the best fifth player they've had like throughout this like maybe you look at Ryan O'Reilly as an example sure and O'Reilly he would remember he was hurt kind of down the stretch he played well in the first round and then was hurt for the second round O'Reilly he would remember he was hurt kind of down the stretch he played well in the first round and then was hurt for the second round O'Reilly though is not an offensively explosive player but I think what Nyes proved to me in the playoffs last year James and I'm curious

where you you stand on this like he he elevated his game first year he absolutely before he got hurt like I think there's something to that where you look at the core four and their reputation the playoffs that is one thing Nyes has the opposite reputation you know shorter sample size and Bobby McMahon didn't play in the playoffs last year so I'm curious what you think you'd expect out of those two guys come playoff time. Well yeah well I and not only that but the big guys as well too right like I mean Jones is right that they've run into scoring problems in the playoffs but it's it's

been their stars and their their top six forwards that haven't delivered. So I don't know that there's any team that you look at that's going into the playoffs and you're like, oh, their third line is so good that they're going to produce all of these goals and it's going to be able to cover up our stars not producing. Like, that's just not a reality in the league. So I'm of the mind that I look at where they are right now and what's going on. And I think that they desperately need to add another defenseman almost more than they need to add another offensive weapon to this team right now.

That's where I'm at. And in terms of what you, you know, what we believe is available, is there anything reasonable out there that would, you know, if they acquire that player, you'd say, okay, that's enough and now we're gonna feel better about the way their defense kind of stacks up on paper and the way it possibly plays come playoff time. Well I think you're just looking for someone who's going to take minutes away from Timmons and Myers and Benoit and we've also seen too with Tannin out of the lineup that if they have one injury in the playoffs all of a sudden you're

going to be kind of white knuckling it through all the games and when you're playing against another good team. So that would be where I would be on. It goes for center too though, like is there anyone out there that they might potentially get that we're really excited about? It doesn't sound like the Braden Shinn thing is going to happen. So you look at what else is available and you're going pretty far down the depth chart and do you want to give up one of your top prospects or a first-round pick for someone who's gonna play 13 14 minutes and maybe not make a

huge impact that's what they have to figure out and you're right about that third pairing like the fourth line is in flux right now I don't know what they're they don't have one that's defined like I believe it'll be camp and Lorenz and then they got to figure out who's gonna play on the right side it could be Yarncrook I think he's gonna play there tonight Lorenz is still heard but that third pairing in the playoffs like you look at the teams that have won the last few years concerning man generally the third pairing are two veterans with some size

that played like last year I believe was Ekman Larson and Kulikov I remember when when Colorado one it was the two Johnson's back there. This, if it's Benoit and Timmons, that is really terrifying. There's no other way around that. That's a scary third pair on paper right now. I'd be looking to get someone like David Savardo to Montreal. Like get someone who is what you're talking about. Just a really safe veteran that can play the 16 minutes, kill penalties and nothing

flashy probably not going to cost you what he would have cost you a year or two ago when the Leafs were rumored to be in on him and I think that that's a really important piece for them at the deadline and it was interesting to me that I don't know how much stock he put in this Jonas but Tree Living seemed to talk on the weekend about maybe defense it has to be more of a priority for them than upfront. Yeah, I wonder if that's just what you're talking about, like with what's available and what they want to spend. But this gets into what I want to ask you about. You've been kind of Debbie Downer about what they can do with the trade deadline. But you wrote today about the cap and some of the obstacles that they have to get around. How big an obstacle do you think the cap is for them

heading into Friday? As long as they're willing to make some tough decisions, I think they can open up enough room to bring in someone who can play in the third line and someone who can play you know third pair D. I think they can do that but when you're talking about bringing in Braden Schenek it's really complicated because you know even if they start putting guys on waivers and trading players, they're probably only going to have three, four million to work with. And if you're trying to fit in a guy that makes six and a half million, it gets really tough. And if you're asking St. Louis to retain on that six and a half million for three more

years, all of a sudden they're going to be asking for way more if they are going to do it at all. So that's where I think the the shin thing breaks down for them And then you start looking at what plan B is with the amount of money that you have in the assets that you have And that's why I think you're probably looking at like second tier additions here and just kind of bolstering your death a little bit With James Myrtle of the athletic in the leaf report podcast Well a couple years ago Remember when Dubas had that crazy crazy trade deadline where it was like every six to eight hours a new deal

was happening and that's when they brought in O'Reilly and they brought in Luke Shan and they brought in other players and they moved some pieces off the roster that maybe weren't necessarily expected like Engvall went out to then Sandeen went out. Like I'm curious James, if you you if you could see a scenario where Trey Living does that where we know we're always focused on players who aren't here but could he have a player or two circled like a Yarncroak who returns tonight maybe a Max Domi like where you look at it okay that's three and a half million that freeze up or four four and a half million that frees up the ability to avoid those cap issues you're talking about and possibly

bring in different players who would not have been available if you didn't have that cap space. Yeah, I don't see them moving Domi. I think that's too hard of a contract to move right now with three years left on it. And he's got the no trade clause with I think it's a 13 team no trade clause that makes it really complicated. But they'll get enough bang for their buck by just moving some guys that are down the lineup because it adds up if you have two or three of those. So if it's a Connor Dewar who makes 1.2, if you decide to move Ryan Reeves and put him through waivers that could free up some money

for you at 1.1. You know they could look at if they're trading for a defenseman they could send a defenseman the other way. Connor Timmons makes 1.1. So I think if you're bringing in a right shot defenseman, you've already got Tanev, you've already got Myers, you probably don't want to have too many other right shot D and you can probably move someone the other way. So I think those are probably more of the names that they look at. Nick Robertson, I think still potentially could be moved because if you're bringing in someone on the third line, Nick Robertson's probably losing his spot there. And yeah, start adding those up and that's where you get to the you know Three three and a half million dollars that you have to work with to bring players in

So we were talking about this off the top you know in terms of what you can rely on come playoff time and the Goaltending is as Jonas points out there just isn't any history of them playing in the playoffs Like they just collectively have not had a lot of starts But stole ours this year when he's been healthy Has been outstanding and I credit him greatly for like the gap where remember when wall got injured and he came back And it was like kind of a slow roll and he had to build back up Storrs is not missed a beat Like he returned to that game. I think it's Seattle was outstanding and has been great ever since like for my money It's pretty clear Stolaris is

the game one starter if he stays healthy. Is there anything he can do or Wall for that matter the rest of the way that would lead to almost a definitive answer that he's just clear-cut your number one. In other words there's no discussion of he starts game one, Wall starts game two. Like do you think these goalies could play themselves out of any tandem? Talk in the playoffs Yeah, I think so. I think there's still room for that I mean a stollers really just has to keep doing what he's done this year in order to claim that top spot

I mean like he's he's 1a right now The only thing with stollers that I would say is that durability has been a problem for him his entire career And that's why he's never been a number one until now That's why the Leafs were able to sign him to the contract they did in the offseason He's had so many injuries, you know this year alone like he's missed a big stretch of time So the only thing I would say with counting on him a hundred percent to be the guy is That his body just hasn't been able to hold up Over long periods of time and he hasn't been able to be that starter where he's playing. The playoffs, as you guys know really well, it's such a grind you got to play every second night and it's really hard on a goaltender and if

you haven't seen a guy do that before and if a guy's body's broken down when he's done that before, those are the red flags but I think they should go with him for sure but what you don't want to do is just go with him right now, put Wole on the bench and Wole only plays four or five games the rest of the way and I don't think they're gonna do that but there's the reason you don't want to do is just go with them right now put wall on the bench and will only place for five games rest away and i don't think they're going to do that but there's a the reason you don't want to do that is because you might need well even if scholars played lights out the rest of the way plays great in the first two or three games of the series

you just don't know if that's going to hold up the whole way james we brought up the idea of facing both of the florida teams earlier in handicapping the chances or the probability of at least taking out one of the Florida teams earlier and handicapping the chances or the probability of at least taking out one of the two, how do you think they would stack up, I guess as of right now because we can't look a month and a half ahead against Tampa and Florida? How would you handicap their chances of advancing in those series if they started right now? I mean, honestly, I think both those series are pretty close to 50-50. Tampa's had a really good year quietly. They have one of the best goal differentials in the league. Vasilevsky's played way better

this year. The againstal acquisition has been excellent. You know there's some questions about their depth on defense and but they're they're gonna be a tough out. The only thing that I would say with Tampa is that the Leafs historically have matched up pretty well against them and their one Series win that we've seen was against them So you probably feel better about that and the thing you got to worry about with Florida is as CJ likes to say they're kind of like the butchers of the league like they just play such a physical aggressive style that That's hard for the Leafs to match and I know they've changed her personnel and things like that

But I would so I would say they match up better against Tampa, even though the Lightning have had a great year. And then Pitt the Panthers are gonna be a real challenge. So I think you do everything you can to not take games like tonight lightly and try and win the division because it's gonna be really important to avoid a war in the first round and maybe you get Columbus or Detroit or a team like that that hasn't been in the playoffs for a while and it's a bit of an easier road for you.

Yeah, it's hugely beneficial and in years past the first place team has generally been 10 points up by now, 12, 14 points up, you know, a couple years ago at Boston was like 30 points up by now. It's actually within reach and they're the only team that hasn't done it. But they never won the division. They're not that far from third, like it's so like it's so of course you could be starting on the road easily in tampa or florida and you know they've been that canadian bubble year they they were first place

in the division you have to go back to i think ninety nine two thousand the last time they won the division and then prior to that do you was i think have the start last week was like in the thirties or something you know they never win the division not that not the president's trophy, the division they don't win. Like it's a massive carrot hanging out there that they've got to grab. They have to win tonight. Like to your point, you can't piss away two points against the San Jose team. You've got to bank it because one of the two teams in Florida is going to lose tonight. They're playing each other and just keep banking points and

keep moving because it'll be massively beneficial to play a team that's obviously inferior to you as opposed to the two Florida teams. All right well we'll see what comes of it James. I mean I guess we'll get you out of here with somewhat of a prediction between now and Friday in terms of Leafs trades over under two and a half. Would you go over or under between now and Friday? No I think they're gonna make two deals and I think it's going to be a defenseman in the center and who those players are, they're still in talks and there's some posturing going on on both sides and I think they're probably, I think they know who they want

and they just got to get the asking price to where they feel comfortable with it. But I'd be very surprised if they make more than two trades just with their cap space and everything else going on. Okay, you can read them in the Athletic and obviously hear him with Jonas on the Leaf Report podcast. be very surprised if they make more than two trades just with their cap space and everything else going on. Okay. You can read them in the Athletic and obviously hear him with Jonas on the Leaf Report podcast. He is James Myrtle. Always appreciate you taking time. Thank you, James.

Thanks, guys. There he is. James Myrtle. Women run the charts, lead the conversation, and make history. This International Women's Day, I Heart Radio celebrates them all. Turn up the Women of the North playlist for iconic Canadian artists. Lock out with queens of every sound

and take a trip with hits through herstory. Plus empowering podcasts by women for women. Stream now and celebrate the power of women everywhere with the free I Heart Radio app.