OverDrive - Modano on the Winter Olympics experience, USA's roster and Matthews' spotlight

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

Hockey Hall of Fame and Olympic Medalist Mike Modano joined OverDrive to discuss the Winter Olympics, USA Hockey's roster strength, Auston Matthews' stature and under the microscope, his experience in the Olympics representing the country and more.

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Mike Medano here on Overdrive. How you doing, Mike? I'm good. Afternoon, fellas. Good catching up. Great catching up. Go ahead. Modo, I got a question for you.

I just want your honest opinion of it. Right now at the Olympics, the Swiss team that's assembled right now, if they played the Vancouver Canucks 10 times, let's say right after the Olympics, how many times do you think they'd beat the Canucks? Maybe seven? Oh, my God! No way. I love the way these people are thinking.

You've got to give him some context. We and Jamie McLennon, Modo, us three are former, no, we're not. No, we're not. We're not. We think that Vancouver would beat them nine out of ten times because it's the National Hockey League. Do you think that's crazy talk? I don't think it's crazy talk, but I don't know.

I've always thought the Swiss play a real good team game, but that's the only thing that saves them and keep these games close, but they don't really have anybody to break open any games. But they always seem to play real tight defensively and play good and just kind of wear you down and hope you make it. a mistake and um you know so i don't know i don't know if vancouver has that type of patience in their game anymore that's exactly right that's exactly right i just this is a tough show for me i just getting stuck like my argument was is that a lot of those swiss players are an

nch l players so eventually you know you would wear down the nchel players would shine through but you make a good point about the team play but i i still hold tight that i i believe the The NHL is the best league in the world, and those players, half of them on the Swiss, we don't even know who they are. But they're going to try hard. Vancouver stinks and they've quit. But they're NHL players, though. That's the difference. Like, most of Vancouver players, if they were Swiss, they'd be on that team.

That's my point. Well, the big argument someone brought up is like, well, everybody says, well, it's great to see the Olympics or whatever. It's best on best. and everyone's like, well, the NHL is sort of best on best. You don't really have the best of, you know, Italy or Switzerland or

whatever, Germany, you know, Denmark, whatever, you know, the NHL is, you know, you got the best players, you know, practically in the world, Russia, wherever, in the national hockey league. So the best on best thing is kind of, you know, you could argue that

if you get to the gold medal game with USA, Canada, that could be, you know, obviously some of the best players in the game, period. That would be. That would be a best on best. These guys would have Canada just squeaking past Vancouver in game seven. Sorry about this guy, though. He's a joke.

Squeaking past, lank it in and double overtime. What do you make of the Olympics so far, Mike, and how exciting it is for, you know, everybody to be back to it? And, you know, what do you expect, you know, not only a. out of just you mentioned Team Canada, but Team USA and what the team they put together. Yeah, I mean, it's really, you know, not a great job for Billy Guerr or Doug Armstrong because you could build a couple teams out of the amount of talent that's in the game nowadays, especially in the U.S., where it's kind of really, you know, the increase of talent and the players that they've got

and the skill level that has the pool they got to pull from is pretty impressive in both countries. obviously so it's it's been you know you've kind of been waiting for this i mean the the four nations was kind of a precursor hoping to have a little bit better you know similar hockey coming into the olympics but you know i think it's something always everyone's always excited for this time when the olympics come around and just uh you know you're supporting your country and playing for some honor and some uh you know some credibility there so it's always a a fun thing to be a part of and and and to watch and then, you know, obviously we're glued to it just to watch the other, the other, the other sports and throughout the night, we're glued to the TV,

and, you know, when it was fun playing with it, when you're playing in them, it was even equally fun just to go to the other venues and watch the other sports. And, you know, we're around when the women's USA hockey team really got going in 98, so we're around them and watching them. And, you know, so that part of it being in the Olympic Village was, you know, quite the experience being part of the whole festivities and the atmosphere of the Olympics. So I love it. I know you know the value of, you know, the guys getting together and having chemistry and team camaraderie and all that motto.

But in a short tournament, like, is it as simple as you really need your goaltender to make some big saves? Obviously, you've got to have key guys contributing. But if you don't have a goaltender that's going to make the regular stops and, few special ones. You probably don't have a much of a chance, do you? Yeah, I don't think so. And I think you got a couple guys there, Hellebeck, Bennington, who, you know, have had, you know, not gears up to their standards that they hope to have. So, you know, there's an opportunity for them to really kind of come in here and, you know, kind of refine their game, so to speak, and kind of, you know, lift Canada or U.S. into another level.

So, you know, they got some pressure on them. but, you know, they've had it in the past and they've performed well. But, yeah, it's a tough position to kind of go into. So, you know, we thought that about Bennington last year, and he kind of stole the show at the Four Nations. He was phenomenal and great, but Helibach is such a competitor, and he would know one another other to get another shot at Canada for sure. With Mike Medano, Hall of Famer Cup winner, Olympian.

You know, we discussed legacy. players all the time on this show. And obviously we've got Matthews in our backyard. And we've talked a lot. We've talked more about Austin Matthews than any other player in the last decade, you know, as being a leaf and the captain of the Leafs and the face of the Leafs. And now he's the captain of the American team. How do you look at his game?

You were a first overall pick. You know, you were a phenom. You obviously had a remarkable career. You're up there really high in the rankings all-time, great American. Like, how do you look at his game? And what do you think? is still left for him to accomplish. What's reasonable for him to accomplish as a player?

Well, I don't wish that environment and that scrutiny up in Toronto on anybody. I think you're a little bit under the microscope, especially a very highly talented kid as often is, the number one pick kind of coming in there to kind of, you know, you look to kind of resurrect the organization and kind of put them back on a trajectory to kind of, you know, have some success in the playoffs and maybe make a run here or there and then you know he put up some great numbers phenomenal you know some scoring rate that he's been going on and uh you know i think

it's just a matter of trying to find some you know some secondhand scoring around him some depth you know obviously some defenseman that can kind of you know it's it's a luxury to have Quinn hughes for capersov and mccarr feeding mckin coming up the ice i think it'd be nice for him to have someone that could kind of free him up keep his skating and kind of open that game up from offensively. So, you know, I, it's hard to say.

I think the, you know, you can say the jury's still out on him, but, you know, productively, he's been phenomenal. I think it's just a matter of, you know, you start getting graded on playoffs and how deep you go and how many you win. And, you know,

so that's a tough measuring stick in Toronto for him. But, you know, if it ever did flip the other way, I mean, no better place in the world to play when you're having some success in a couple runs in the finals and some final fours there would be a phenomenal environment there in Toronto. But I think he still has, you know, obviously some ton of upside and, you know, he's got some pressure. But, you know, like I said, he just needs a little bit of some love around him to kind of make it easy for him. For sure.

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, he's right in the. the line of things over there. I mean, the captain of the team, and, you know, put us in that room. You've been in it, you know, multiple times, obviously. Multiple times you've been in an Olympian. Everyone in there is a vet. A lot of guys are captains, you know, assistant captains. How does the room kind of work at the Olympics?

Like, not the village, not back of the hotel, but specifically, you know, around the rink in the dressing room. How does the pecking order generally play out over the course of two weeks? You know, I think that was really kind of something unique that we had. We never really had some type of, you know, pecking order. Maybe there was quietly among us. I always thought, you know, Chelly owes was kind of the ringleader, per se, to kind of speak some things to us when we needed to. But everybody, you know, everybody, respectively is their captain from wherever they come from.

So you have 20 guys who wear the A or the C and, you know, they know what it takes to be, you know, maybe lead by example or verbally be a guy that, you know, expects a lot of guys out of a lot of guys. But, you know, I go back to our days, you know, you know, obviously Holly and Chellios and Brian Leach, Phil Housley, I mean, Palafontaine and, you know, obviously the Cich, Keith and Billy and, you know, Dougie Wade and, you know, those guys that all played an important role on. their team back home and I think that's really what kind of gave us a little spark in the World Cup in 96 and leading up to that Olympic run was you know just everybody was kind of checking what they did at home at the door and we just kind of came together and you know we had such a fun time in 96 in the World Cup leading up to it we had all summer to kind of prepare and be healthy and get ready for for that tournament which was just an amazing tournament I've never seen I've never seen such brutal hockey back then since then.

It was prison rules out there, but nonetheless, a lot of fun. But yeah, it's just an honor to be in those rooms and, you know, just kind of see how guys go about their day-to-day preparation and being around some of the best players in your country was quite a thrill for us. Mike, you mentioned Billy Guerin. I mean, you know, you're working with him with the Wild, you know, their special op advisor. How good is this wild team?

And I mean, you know, Billy Garan obviously swinging for the fences bringing in Quinn Hughes. You know, a lot of focus has been, you know, on the teams like the Colorado Avalanche, you know, that have been that good. You look at it. But this Minnesota Wild team, maybe talk about them and, you know, how the expectations have maybe changed a little bit after the big trade. Yeah, I really had. And I think leading up to even Halloween, we're kind of looking at each other like, you know, what's, what should we be doing on here to kind of change things up and maybe change your chemistry or some personnel and whatever? Because it wasn't the best start that we had compared to the year before where we came out of the gates and we were like one of the top two teams all the way up till probably say Christmas.

And then it just kind of faded off. But, you know, since mid-November, these guys have been out of big tear. And then you add Quinn. I mean, I've never watched them as much as I have obviously here. But, boy, he just, I mean, he just adds a dynamic that. not too many guys have a luxury to play with. I felt I had one with Zubov in Dallas, but the way this guy controls the play and makes the game easy,

I think he's kind of transcended our team and just took him to another level. So that was a phenomenal move by Billy, one that is one for the record books for this organization, that kind of set the tone. And the guys have played more exciting, they played more loose. they've defended well obviously both goalies have been playing great and uh you know so but you know

Quinn's able to just control the pace and the poise and you know his ability to make something out of nothing is really really fun to watch so um you know the tough part is you're in a you're in a tough division and someone's got to go out in the first round which uh i've always been a strong advocate of going back to the old one through eight kind of system so it gives those top teams a little bit of a Cush maybe going in that first round where you think you're going to get a light opponent in the first round, but, you know, we thought that in Dallas.

We always got Edmonton and it was a brutal first round, but it got you ready for the long haul, but, you know, it's a tough matchup now when you've got to go through Dallas or Colorado in that first couple rounds. Definitely. Yeah, and that's exactly what's coming. I think we all know where we're going to be in a couple of months.

He is a Hall of Famer Cup winner Olympian, Mike Medano. Great catching up with you, Mike. Really appreciate you doing this, and we'll do it again down the road. Anytime, guys. Take it easy. Good talking about you. There is, Mike McDonough. I'm Dylan Playfair. And I'm Tyler Smith. We're putting loneliness in the penalty box by talking to some of our favorite athletes about the importance of friendship. This is Bromance.

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