OverDrive - OverDrive - July 8, 2025 - Hour 2

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

Join Jim Tatti, Dave Feschuk and Michael DiStefano for Hour 2 on OverDrive! SiriusXM NHL Radio Analyst and Daily Faceoff Analyst Carter Hutton joins to discuss the Maple Leafs in tandem in Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll, Stuart Skinner's role with the Oilers and the importance of a goaltending coach on a roster. FloHockey Prospects Analyst Chris Peters joins to dive into Gavin McKenna's monumental move to Penn State, the development landscape and the impact to the CHL and Al's Brother ranks his most shocking announcements in sports.

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The station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeartRadio app. Hour number two, Overdrive on a Tuesday. Jim Taddy, Dave Fest, Chuckman, the Toronto star, and Mike DiStefano, AB,

as the, I guess, the participants in driving this thing forward. So just to sort of map out what happens in this hour, Carter Hutton will be by SiriusXMNHL Radio daily face-off analyst followed by, at 5.30, Chris Peters. He's going to go over that NCAA deal and the Penn State thing with Gavin McKenna that'll be announced at 6 o'clock tonight. Whoa, guy. Hasn't made the announcement yet. How do you know he's going to Penn State?

Oh, guy. It was all over the place. He did not much of a decision announcement coming up. It's a confirmation announcement. He didn't exactly keep the leaks at bay in the way LeBron did 50 years ago. No, so there'll be no suspense. It'll probably be like an update instead of a full-blown feature. So that happens andris peters up as understand what goes on there we moved a b's power rankings of the five forty five on but what again the the uh... the category it is the biggest shocking announcements i love the decision way back when fifteen years ago to the date okay so all kinds of stuff there

and that means that we can yes guy we still got i know that's an abbreviated segment here. Yes Guy, No Guy number one of the carryover segment. Nick Robertson will be a part of the Maple Leafs roster by the start of training camp. AB? For years I've been saying No Guy on this, but I'm going to stick to it. I'm going to stick with it.

No Guy. I don't think he will be with the roster. I think that this is the year, this is the summer that those two finally move on from each other. And I know he filed for arbitration, so it's likely that there could be a situation here. And if he does go to arbitration, I don't believe they can trade him at that point. They could walk away though, if they don't like like the it has to be like four and a half million dollars in order for them to walk away yeah don't they make it that far but I think they find a trade partner before we get to that you would think so I

would think so it just where does he fit on the roster if he's gonna get like I saw there was a projection in like the two million range if this guy walks and goes to arbitration he doesn't fit in this lineup for me and I just don't see them wanting to wither away two million dollars up in the press box every single night especially come playoffs so I think it's probably just better for him to find another spot parties for both absolutely well look I mean I'm with Al's brother it's a no guy for me I mean he just doesn't fit into Craig Borube's line of thinking here I mean, I'm with Al's brother, it's a no guy for me. I mean, he just doesn't fit into Craig Barubei's line of thinking here.

I mean, what did he play, three playoff games? Yeah. It's not in the rotation. And the only thing though, guys, that I do give it a quick pause is that Brad Tree Living has made a couple of entreaties publicly about how they need Nick Robertson to be good for this team. And that was before they lost Mitch Marner.

Yeah. They don't exactly have a surplus of highly skilled wingers, which is why they're talking about needing to add that top six winger before the season begins. And if they don't manage to add that guy, whoever that guy may be, I mean, doesn't this turn into an internal audition among the guys on this roster and who maybe has better credentials to

be a top six winger than Nick Robertson well you would think you would think don't you look at Easton Cowan is sort of a younger version of Nick Robertson does he score like Nick Robertson does we he hasn't proven it Nick Robertson is a proven NHL scorer you know what is it 15 goals and 60 some games this year yeah he's scored at a very good clip you know whenever he's in the lineup which is not often as currently constituted with the lineup I would say if there's someone that they're going to give opportunities in the top six Robertson will be there Callan will probably be there given the opportunity and then probably Max Domi

right and Mattias Michelli like pick two whichever to make it those are your guys but but it's a contest it's not it's not a clear-cut like these are the anointed top six wingers right because none of them are ideal okay let's squeeze in one more very quickly yes guy don't get number two stole ours and wall are arguably the best tandem in the league. I'd give that a yes, guy. I mean, you just look at the, some of the numbers out of last year

in terms of goals saved above expected. I don't think, you know, Connor Hellebuck kind of stood above the crowd as a one-man operation out of Winnipeg, and of course it didn't go as well when it came to the important games in the playoffs. But if you just look at look at you know regular season stats goal-saving unexpected

those two guys put together a total that was very impressive i don't think it's you know has been matched by any two bullies in this week yeah about a no guy i think that there are some ten is out there that you can argue are a little better mean well you've got been inton and Hofer, very

good tandem, I guess, like depending on what you think about them. But like Thatcher Demko and Kenan Lank, and then two talented goaltenders, I think those guys are in the mix. So Roken, Varlamov. But for me, the number one would be Shosturkin and John Quick. Those are the two guys to me would be the top tandem in the league right now. But Stolaris and Wold are right in that mix. But right now, just how good just Sturken is, I'd give that the tip. Is that a true tandem though? That to me is it's not really a tandem. I mean what a quick play. 24 games last year. It's really a one. It's a one and a two. I think the thing with Stolar and Wol is it's one and one. It's more of a platoon out

you could argue that the police would rather be a little less balanced if they get one of those guys that take the proverbial met run with it but they'll be hasn't happened joining us in the middle of the hotline is current and former nhl goaltender carter welcome in and where you on on how the least goaltending ten and

stacks up in the NHL. So, honestly, in my opinion, you know, you can make that argument. And I think, Feshek, you made a good point there. Just the fact that you can look at some other tandems, right, but there's kind of that 1A guy that runs with it that is like that outright top 10, top five guy that's, you know, a lot better. But I think for the Leafs, they're in a good spot here,

right? Yeah, Joseph Wall, I still feel like has a really high ceiling and he can keep getting better. And then even you look back to the playoffs, I think losing Anthony Stolar has really hurt the momentum of the Leafs in that series against the Panthers. So I do like where they're at. They're a true tandem where going into this year, obviously you feel like it's Anthony Stolar's crease.

But at the same time, Joseph Wall is one of those guys. He's only going to keep getting better, in my opinion. Well, how important is it, do you think, at the NHL, like this seems to be more the focus for teams. They're trying to build out a goalie department and there's a lot more tandems in the league nowadays than there used to be. There's a lot less goalies, you know, encroaching the 60 games played mark and now with the NHL adding an extra two games, like does that make it even more important to have two guys to share the workload

It does it's so important right now something that started to really change to I remember reflected on my career when I had a chance to Like I left as a free agent with the Buffalo and played some more games But I remember that year Boston was trying to sign me as like a 1b to play more games Because they wanted to try to rest to harass because they knew that you know They were good enough to get in they need him to be playing well at the right time so i think teams are going to be more strategic in that sense where just the wear and tear of what goes on during a regular season and the fact of the matter is with more games there's not as much practice time and what's nice in the cba now is they've moved to the fact where they can have a full-time third goalie which

is going to be really big because we had that that during the COVID year. I remember it was me, Lena Saumark. We had Jonas Johansson who went on. He's having, he's had a great career so far, but he was our number three. So say if I had strung a few games together or, or Lena's per se, and then you're in a practice or in a pregame skate and you're trying to rest yourself and be strategic about how you, you know, platoon your energy, getting ready for a game, you know, you had that third guy there. So I think for the NHL standpoint, that's really smart. And from a team standpoint, you have that third guy there so i think for the n.h.l standpoint that's really smart and from a team standpoint you

guys know how it works now it's all about sports science and they got us poked and prodded we're a bunch of animals out there but in that sense so that's what they're trying to do set us up for success at least they're given the tools to do it now. Well you bring up the the third goalie and and you know in the upcoming CBA it's going to be an emergency backup so they they'll have an actual e-bug, which will be essentially a third goaltender, but like, how do you expect that to work? I mean, is it going to be a veteran guy? Is it going to be like if you are a goaltender, I guess, like if someone called you up

and you were interested when you were still playing, would you have interest in that role? Like you think other guys would rather play even if it's in the American League or, you know, as a backup but how do you expect this to really work out? I think they're gonna find a guy that just wants to be there that wants to be in that position that is probably not a borderline guy because realistically your number three guy is going to be your starter in the American League right that's always the fact where you want that younger guy playing like

we kind of saw this year on Abbotsford with Arthur Shieloff's right he didn't have a great start in the NH, goes down plays a ton of minutes and now he has like a ton more experience So the Leafs actually employ a guy that goes out and practices. He's on the practice score The Capitals have a similar player. They pay him I think $30,000-40,000 Parker Milner who was a former pro who never really had a chance to play in the NHL and he's a food critic He has another career so it could be something like that where it's just a local guy who's there for practice and for injured players You know when the team is on the road So I don't look for that to be like your number three guy like it's not gonna be Hildeby with the Leafs, right?

It's gonna be someone else that they've kind of hired on contract The interesting part will be where that contract lies, right? Is it gonna be league minimum because hell life I was on my way out I take another year a league minimum to the right just to was on my way out i take another year lead minimum the sister i just hang out in practice and you know make eight hundred grand but so that would be a transfer and i'd assume it be somewhere where they can pay a guy you know hundred thousand bucks to come on just be a practice guy and and guys are playing the east coast meeting that transition period of their life what

would definitely jump on that opportunity the car wanted to your take on the the big news around gavin mccann a presumptive number one pick in the 2026 NHL draft. Every expectation that tonight on ESPN he's going to announce that he's heading to Penn State to play his developmental hockey at the NCAA level and quite lucratively with the reported something in the range of 700 grand US NIL deal attached to it. A lot of people are calling this a real groundbreaking move.

You're a guy who went the NCAA route in your career. What do you make of it? Well you know what Dave, honestly like I went the NCAA route because I wasn't good enough to play in the Major Junior right by the time I got to 20 was my last option. So honestly the new rules for a guy like me it would have never been an opportunity because of what's happening now. I've had conversation with Norm Bazen, who's the head coach at UMass Lowell where I went.

And they're looking for guys that are 19, 20 that have kind of, you know, overrun the OHL and their times run out and their goals that are not really ready to make the jump to pro where you can get them for a few years. But for Gavin McKenna, this kind of changes the landscape, right? The fact that you can get paid and you look at some of the other big sports and he's going to

a big school, right? Which can get TV deals, which can have this team nationally televised. So they're going to make money on him as well. And I think it's great for the game, right? I think it's more opportunity for these younger guys who, you know, you always are an injury away from not making it or, you know, your career ending. So more power to him. If they're going to make money off of him, it's good for him. But it definitely changes the landscape, which I think is interesting because of the fact now there's no fear of where you're gonna go, right?

I remember as a kid, a lot of players having to make that decision at 15 or 16 years old. If I'm gonna go major junior, those NCAA doors are closed, but that's not the case anymore. Well, and because the guy's gonna be drafted first overall, and I think the deal is worth about 700K, that opens a big door, doesn't it? It does, it does.

And now you look at teams, right? Like Penn State, Harry Pagoulas pumped a lot of money into there, I played for the Sabres. This guy's looking to win wherever he can, and you start looking at a team where, if you can get a guy for a few years, it changes your whole dynamic of a school. And that's the, I guess that's the interesting part

with the NCAA, right? It's not really a pro run organization where when I was there, you get a guy, you got four years, you're stuck with them. Where now with this, you know, this landscape changing so much, you know, you can really try to push to have a winning team. It will be interesting how it affects the players

that are there. The players that if Penn State starts to load up and they start getting higher draft picks, they're paying all these players. Now, if you're a player committed there and you have to leave and get pushed out, it kind of brings in that more, you know, major junior pro feel where guys are more of a commodity less than a commitment to a school. I mean, Carter, when you think about it, like, you know, what do you think this is going

to mean for the CHL and major junior hockey in Canada if You know that if this becomes a trend where it's not just one guy getting real NIL deals But there's a there's a series of guys getting real NIL deals has always been talked that you know CHL players should be paid more than they're paid currently, which is not very much Could you see you know sort of a reaction to this at the CHL level to increase the compensation for players? Well you think there'd have to be a great like because at the end of the day you're going to start losing all your top guys right now you start talking about a CHL that for years we've watched some of the best players in the world come out of still producing a lot of guys

it's going to start to get watered down if you take every top player off each team it starts to filter down effect yes there's going to be more opportunity, but I truly believe as it goes where even if you're going somewhere for $100,000 or maybe you're a late second round pick and you can get some money out of it and take away that chance of not just getting your school deal, right? Because majority of these guys that signed in the major junior, they're just looking for a school package, which can be minimum. But if I go to the NCAA, I can get a full ride and I can collect some extra money to put in my pocket. It's a pretty good start to life without the worry of what happens in my pro career.

So I feel like there will be a response. I just don't know where that 700k or that amount of money is going to come from when you're trying to compete with Division I schools that have the alma mater, that have the sponsors, that have the people around it that wanna have a winning program. We see that with football, right? There's a lot of deep pockets. And when you start talking about Penn State,

then even getting into the Ivy Leagues like Yale, and there's a lot of big money in these pockets of the players that have been there. And just students in general that love the program, they can pump a lot of money back into the program to support it. So elsewhere in the NHL, a lot of heavy lifting has been done for majority of the teams. The Edmonds and Oilers are an interesting team. Obviously, they have to prove to McDavid

that they can win. He quite literally came out and said if they prove they can win, then I'll sign. They also said they wanted to address the goalt the position it's july eighth and they have not yet done that like how do you expect through skinner to uh... like has been things that play out in edmonton will still be stew skinner was there something else someone else still out there for them to upgrade the gold-tining position

honestly i don't know if there is right now and i think steward skater gets a raw deal a lot of the times, right? This is a guy that's been in the Stanley Cup final twice and yes He's had tough goes and but he's 26 years old right like where are you gonna replace him unless there's a guy that You can trade in like a sign and trade or somebody can bring in but They don't really have the guys to move out to make it happen right now So I do think the idea of of matter here is like you're trying to replace Stuart Skinner. I think when Gibson got traded to the wings, that was a big guy

that you know possibly could have fit that role. You've heard Bennington's name a lot. They talked about Joel Holford possibly an offer sheet. It feels like those doors are closed now. So I think for them, the best thing they could do is not make a rash decision right now and kind of let this play out as is. And I feel like they have they could just play without a goalie they'll probably still make the playoffs like this is how good this team will be but that being said I don't think when we look at next year by the time we get to the trade deadline we're gonna see Calvin Pickard and Stuart Skinner right I don't know which piece moves out because I don't think Calvin Pickard I hate being critical of him because I love him. I played against him a lot. He's blocky, right?

He doesn't fit the modern mold of what we expect from an NHL goalie, but he's a gamer, right? And that's something that's so important. But we're also talking about the Edmonton Oilers who have two generational players on the team, and it's two years in a row they've got to the Stanley Cup final, and their goal tending has been the biggest difference. So that being said, I don't think we're going to see both those guys. I just don't know when the ball drops on that.

So let's talk about the goaltending coach. Dustin Schwartz is not coming back. How vital is it to have the right goaltending coach? And how much blame does the guy get? Well, if the goalie doesn't play well, it's an easy cop out, right? Like, I feel like it's one of those things where a goalie coach doesn't matter unless I'm having a shit year and I can tell them like,, hey, this is the goaltending coach's fault. He's not getting to me, right?

So this is the fact where I think for them, you know, I think there needs to be a change, right? Sometimes it can be a different message. And I think that's something that's so important for guys, right? Because when you get to the NHL level, it's not necessarily about what are we doing on the rink? What are we doing day to day? Sometimes it's like less is more.

It's almost the sports psychology of it. How do we manage a guy? How do we like compartmentalize his game where, okay, you've had a brutal game. Like let's, we don't need to watch video on it. We need to get away from the rink. You need to find a way to, you know, be healthy in the sense of how do you get away and come back to the rink refreshed. And that's where a goalie coach can be a big buffer zone. And by buffer zone I mean if he's been playing bad with Stuart Skinner's going on and making it fun for him, making him feel like he's a kid again around the rink. So I think that will be important in that relationship building. As for the excellent goals of goal-tending, once you get into that part of the season,

it's usually just little tweaks and it's a little too late at that point if it's not playing well. Hey Carter, there's arguments being made out in Edmonton that they need to not only fire this goalie coach but really build a goal-tening department. Like a lot of the higher revenue teams, Toronto certainly has a handful of people in the goal-tening department on the coaching level developing the guys in the minors as well as attending to the guys at the top of the food chain. Talk about the evolution of that from when you came into the league to where

it is now and how you think that's affected things. It's affected things a lot. I think I'd be a good example of that because I came up with Mitch Corn with Barry Trotz and he was this guy and they brought me over from Rockford. So I was in Chicago's farm team and I had a really great record against Milwaukee, Nashville's farm team. So that year during the 2013 Stanley Cup run, Nashville kind of poached me over. I went over to Dernsbury agency. I got to meet them all and they brought me in. And at that point, Mitch kind of had

so much control of what went on in the goalie department. And then Barry left. He ended up obviously in Washington. And then Mitch became like the goalie consultant because he got a little bit older and he's been around the game for a long time. Then they brought him in as an advisor to oversee all the projects that went on with goaltending. That's what's so important in that situation is the fact where at times it's tricky just to go to free agency and strike, get a guy and overpay and have it work out. For a few years there, we looked at that Bobrowski deal and we're like, the Florida Panthers

ruined because they gave him $10 million. Now we're looking at it, now we're going, how don't we pay a goalie $10 million? So in that fact, the matter is you got to make sure that you have the right guys in the right place and you have a right standard too. So experience is something that's so important with goaltending. And that's why I was quick to defend Skinner because at 26 years old, like I made the league at 26 full time. So I thought like my growth from 26 to 31 when I had like my top statistical year, it changes mentally and you get exposed to more experiences and you kind of just add to your

toolbox and as I look at guys as they get better and I use this story a lot because it's something that hits home with me, Mackenzie Blockwood who's from Thunder Bay, who had a great year. He told me something that I used to do a lot because it's something that hits home with me. Mackenzie Blockwood who's from Thunder Bay who had a great year. He told me something that I used to do a lot. He's like, honestly, I've got so much better because I care less. And then you start to think about that. Like, well, how do you care less? It's like, because you've learned that the stuff that doesn't matter, right? Where I'd be lying in bed Friday, I got a game Saturday night and I'm stressing over playing the Leafs on hockey night in Canada. Well, like, does that help me in this moment? But now I have the experience because I've been exposed to different stuff.

So that's where having a good experience goalie coach really pays dividends in my opinion. So let's talk about tenums. I mean, Edmonton Spins combined 3.6, the Leafs combined are under 6. I mean, this is like NFL running backs. At one time they were the premier part of the football team and now they're not. And for NHL goalies, seems to me like a kind of a lightweight market in terms of dollars You know what? I think people get scared at times now because of the fact where if you do sign a big goalie

And it doesn't play well at the right time it just kind of hinders you to write you look at even Connor Hellebuck granted I think any team would take a chance on Connor Hellebuck But his playoff woes have been concerning, right? For a Winnipeg Jets team who won the President's Trophy, now it gets to the point where who can be hot at the right time? And I think some teams strategically are thinking, well, if we can kind of disperse that income over two guys, now we have at least two chances to have a guy who can play well and maybe carry the load for a bit of the playoffs.

But that being said, you know, I think of maybe five guys in the league, six guys that are big time difference makers that you're going to take that chance on and pay that big money to. Other than that, maybe surrounding your team with like just bigger defensemen, better defensemen. I think the vaguest theory worked very well where Aiden Hill hasn't really been great since that playoff run. He's been, you know, off and on at times, but he's a big goalie. He takes up up a lot of space but their decor was big and protective and they spent a lot of money on it and then that but kind of came the pattern now we're looking at the Florida Panthers who are who are deep in their

third and fourth lines and what they have so it's always that copycat league so it will be interesting to see how it goes because Bobrowski's been so well but who could be hot the right time is always the main question for goaltending yeah Carter well the Leafs were hoping it would be Anthony Stolar's hot against the Panthers and we all know how that went, but as the tap man pointed out, he's on a very reasonable $2.5 million cap hit for the coming season and then he's going to be a UFA. There's every expectation the Leafs want to extend him and should extend him. What do you think a fair number for Stolarz is,

given his injury history, the fact that really last year was a breakout year for him, how do you see it? I think for him, honestly, if he's in that five, six million dollar range would be my ticket. That seems like a number that they're giving out to every goalie. You look at the Lankton deal, you look at McKenzie Blockwood. Obviously the ages are a bit different.

It seems that the Melka out in Utah, he's a little bit older, and I feel like if you dangled that carrot in front of him right now with his injury history and with what's gone on, he'd be pretty quick to jump on that deal. And for me, a guy who, you know, a different path, but same idea, you know, I had my really good years in my early 30s and then I signed a three-year, you know, starting ticket with Buffalo. If I was during that year in St. Louis, if they would have dangled something on me when I was on a bit of a heater, I might have took it because I've always wanted that term.

I've always wanted the sure thing, right? And I think that's a strategic point for the Leafs where they're at. But for Stollers, are you betting on yourself, right? We see a lot of younger players now taking short-term deals, betting on themselves that the cap's gonna go up and they can play well. But you dangle 25 million in front of them 30 million I don't see how he

turns that down. So free agent frenzy wasn't much of one a lot of teams have money to spend that leads us to trades you see that happening a lot of trades in the next five or six weeks? Yeah I think at times some of these teams that have a lot of cap space are trying to weaponize themselves right as things go and you look at a market where I think when the Marner ball dropped right that was obviously the big song beforehand and then the other one was obviously the Florida Panthers retaining all three players then after that it was a little bit ho-hum I remember working that day being like it felt like everything was done beforehand and now as these pieces

start to drop you know where are the moves and where are they going to make and I think I guess my takeaway is we look at last year and I might be speaking wrong here, but I think it was eighth and ninth or ninth and tenth were the Oilers and the Panthers going into the playoffs. So now it's like, how are we setting our team up for success here? Because we need to be good enough to get in, right? We need to be offensive minded, we need to get points, we need to win. But where can we beef up around the perimeter?

So when we get that third line matchup, we get that fourth line matchup and try to tilt the edge in the series, can we move in some guys because we have cap space, because we can make some additions to maybe a player on an expiring contract late in the year, where maybe he's going to demand a lot of money from that team, but maybe we can trade a pick and pick him up to beef our team up. So I think that's where being smart about how you go about it, where, you know, getting Brad Marsh on from the Florida Panthers turn into a first round pick. It was obviously a conditional pick, but that being said, that was the turning point, I

think, for the Florida Panthers season for them to push on and win the cup. Carter, thanks very much. Appreciate it. Hey, thanks for having me on guys. Carter Hutton, former NHL Goaltender, SiriusXM, NHL radio and daily face-off analyst. Carter Hutton joined us on the Maple Toyota hotline, drive the built-in Canada fuel-efficient,

fun to drive Toyota RAV4, gas or hybrid models available, visit mapletoyota.com. So I don't know exactly where that e-bug, that emergency goalie fits in, but under that new CBA, the minimum goes from 750 to a million bucks. Yeah.

So I don't know if that just sort of floats. It's sort of maybe a bonus one million bucks you get to spend on that emergency goalie or what? I would think not. Like I don't know if they would be considered as part of the 23 man roster is the thing. No I don't know. No, no, no just there for emergency purposes. So what do you have to pay for that?

I wouldn't think it would be like any more than what like HLers are making on two way deals, which isn't anywhere near a million dollars. So it'd be like a day rate at the NHL minimum maybe, but it doesn't carry the whole season. Oh, if you're playing, yeah, if you're brought up to the roster, you're gonna get the day rate for sure, of course.

Yeah, it's not like you got a million bucks to do that. If you're playing for the Marlies for the majority of the season and then you're the third goalie, you're not getting the NHL rate. Absolutely. So we're gonna continue the hockey talk. Chris Peters, Prospects Analyst for Flow Hockey and host of the called up podcast dealing with that NCAA stuff is next in Overdrive, TSN2, TSN1050. Seasoned gamer or just video game curious,

This Week in Gaming is the podcast for you. We break down the latest in the world of video games, from basics to beyond. The hottest gaming news, insight and industry leaders and more, weekly. Join me, Naomi Kyle, and stay ahead of the game with all the latest updates. Even if you're a total newbie.

Stream This Week in Gaming on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Overdrive has brought you by FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Jim Taddy, Dave Fest, Chuck from the Toronto Star, Al's brother Mike DiStefano with you. Very shortly, Chrisers will join us in the course of jays busy tonight continuing on in chicago looking for the ten straight win at some pretty interesting conversations and everybody's after the jays to load up so the question i asked you guys in the break will just do it while

we're waiting for chris would you have a leaf roster that has easton county nick robertson on the starting twelve starting twelve forwards to start the season no guy no guy no guy that's not the off season went very poor if you got both of those guys in your starting 12 on opening night of the season I mean you did not find a replacement for Mitch Marner at all did you think they would well you could at least find someone better than

then than those guys i would think than those players that you know you think i was going to be interesting and chris peterson join us in a couple minutes i definitely want to know his thoughts on easton cowan prospect guys watching for a couple years you know what can he can he project to that next level cuz it's one thing to tear up the on terror hockey league it's completely another to tear up the Ontario Hockey League, it's a completely another beast when you go to the NHL.

And he's a bit of an undersized guy too. There is nothing sure about Easton Count is my kind of question. Anybody I talk to, Adam, bottom six starting mid-six as he progressed. Let's bring in Chris Peters now, prospects analyst for flohockey and host of the called up podcast that chris you probably heard someone were talking about where do you have easton count how do you project him you know he's an interesting case because i think obviously as a first round draft pick he's a guy that uh... there's massive expectations for him um... and i would say that for for him, you know, in all honesty,

it's probably more of a middle six kind of long term projection guy, I think that the skill level that he has is pretty solid, but it's also, you know, it's not of that high end variety where you say this guy is definitely going to be a top six. What I love about Easton Cowan is the work ethic is off the charts. He's the guy that plays hard every single game. He's going to give you an honest effort the whole way through. And I do think that that is going to help him kind of as he pushes forward. You know, could he potentially round out into a better, you know, top guy, like a second line player with some energy, I do think that's possible. So he's a real interesting case.

As a first round guy, you always want to hope that a guy's going to be top six, but I think he's probably a second line guy at the top of his projection. Well, it's interesting because there's a lot of lead fans out there that think that he could be the next big thing right like he could be that nice 2.0 that prospect that you know there wasn't a lot of fanfare about him but he turned out to be a stud but there's a difference between the size of these two

and and when you talk about Easton Cowan and you listen to Craig Brube last year he said puck protection was the biggest thing about him you know as someone who's watched you know, and you've watched a lot of players, could maybe, would it surprise you at all if the Leafs elect Forge development to spend a little bit more time in the American League to start the year and kind of season them up before getting him to the NHL? Because that would surprise a lot of Leaf fans, I would think, but how would you react to

that? Yeah, you know, I think when you look at the way that he played in the playoffs, you say, well, he's definitely a cut above the junior competition, right? So you say that clearly there's got to be a step taken there. I think you give him every opportunity and camp to make the team. I think he's fully capable of making a push to do that. But I also think that the idea of a player going to the AHL, especially if they're at a younger age, and especially when you feel like you have kind of a steady pipeline in your program, I think that that's definitely helpful in terms of where the Leafs

are, what the Marlies have. You know, I think it's a good thing overall, because there is kind of this hybrid step. And, you know, we'll talk about you know, the the big change and having the CHL guys and having that opportunity to potentially step into college and almost play like a hybrid between junior and professional. But I think that the AHL for players that are 1920 years old, that is kind of the same thing for them. It's this hybrid opportunity. It's a step in the right direction. If that ends up being the case, I wouldn't view it as a failure, I just view it as another opportunity to get him to be the most ready he possibly can be.

He's a really important prospect for the Leafs, no question about it, and I think you should be encouraged by what we saw in the postseason, and you should expect a big summer for him, he'll have a shorter summer than most of his junior compatriots because of the Memorial Cup and everything else. But, you know, having a good summer, coming into camp ready, there's every reason to believe that

he can make the team. I just don't, you know, with all the pressure that exists, it's not a failure if he doesn't. It's just, he's just not quite there yet. Chris, speaking of hockey development, a really big moment in the history of hockey development happening shortly here where Gavin McKenna, the presumptive number one pick in next year's NHL draft is expected to announce he's going to be heading to Penn State University for his draft year, leaving the Medicine Hat Tigers of the CHL. What does this moment mean to the traditional pipeline that we've come to understand in the hockey world?

Well, yeah, it is a bit of a watershed moment. It's obviously this has kind of been trending in this direction for the last little bit. It's only been a few months since the NCAA made the ruling that would allow CHL players to gain eligibility. They were expressly written into the rules as not being eligible to play college hockey, viewed more as professionals. But now in this modern era, they made this change. And I think it's a good change for everybody. And hopefully, most importantly, it's a good change for the players. But in terms of what Gavin McKenna himself, obviously the CHL player of the year

had this tremendously productive season, had this remarkable 54, 55 game point streak that he was on throughout the season. And so when you see a player like him, not every player, even Easton Cowan, you think of the guys like that, that hey, there's so more that can be gained from playing in junior hockey. I think that we've seen Gavin McKenna

kind of reach the peak of what he was gonna be able to do. And so now he's taking on this new challenge with this opportunity to play college and by going to Penn State specifically, he's going to a place where they actually have not had one NHL regular. They had Casey Bailey who played for the Leaf for about a minute and they've had a couple of guys that have had cups of coffee but they haven't had a regular and they've had a couple of guys that have had cups of coffee, but they haven't had a regular. And they have Jackson Smith coming in this year, and now Gavin McKenna.

And what it means is, now you've got one of the most influential junior hockey players. All the young guys are watching what Gavin McKenna is going to do. And now they're seeing him take this pretty substantial step in not just going to college hockey, but going to a program

that isn't necessarily one of the blue bloods and yes they have NIL money and they have other things and have a lot of advantages that some smaller schools don't but it's an opportunity for him to really put his mark on a program and leave college hockey is one of the most important recruits we've ever seen. So I mean what we always do is we take what's happening and project it forward. This deal is reported to be $700,000. I don't know where all that comes from or how they get there, but also when you add in the new quirk of the CBA where your rights don't expire with your team that drafts you

until you're 22, which is two more years at it, it almost creates an entirely new avenue for that, doesn't it? It really does. I think that, you know, this would be a unique circumstance. I think most hockey players are not going to be able to make, earn that kind of money in NIL. We've heard of other six figure deals

that have kind of been out there, but nothing really confirmed. This is the first time that we've heard this. It does sound like Penn State was able to offer substantially more than other schools were willing to or could part with. And so that's another thing. I think it was important for Gavin McKenna in this process to get as much as he possibly could

because he has the highest earning potential of any hockey player. And if he takes the highest amount that does open kind of the door for some of these other players to earn higher dollars. Now, for guys that are gonna go into the NHL immediately out of college, it wouldn't necessarily make much sense for them to stick around. But for the guys that know that, Hey, I'm probably gonna have to spend a couple of years

in the AHL. Well, you can actually potentially make more money in college than you could in the AHL because the ELC, you know, goes down to under a hundred thousand or under a hundred thousand dollars. So we're talking about opportunities for players to extend their playing careers in college if they feel like that's best for them. I think in most cases, we're still going to see players making the decision that gets them to the NHL as fast as they possibly can. This having that longer tail on signing rights

is definitely beneficial to the players and to the teams, especially with contract limits being what they are. Maybe you can kind of defer a kid for an extra year or maybe two. So there's a lot of, you know, benefits to that. But absolutely the NIL situation has changed the game. And we're starting to learn more too about what teams opting into this house settlement where there's actually revenue sharing happening with these schools. And some schools will give most of that money to their football and basketball programs, but in some cases, you know, the hockey programs could benefit from that as well. Chris, you know, speaking to people around this whole situation,

you know, I've heard the argument that from a player development standpoint, yeah, the CHL is a proven road, there's no doubt about it, but you do play 70 plus games plus playoffs, you're on the road a lot from an athletic development perspective. I've heard people say, hey, you're better off to go to the US, play a 38, I think Penn State played 38 games last year,

you get more time in the weight room to build your body, build your speed, build your speed, build your physique. Matthew Nyes is a good example, who came into Toronto after being at the University of Minnesota with a really good strength program and was a chiseled specimen who obviously could compete against men right out of the box.

I mean, have you heard much on that front just in terms of the pros and cons of these two systems that are now at war? It's, it's really interesting because back when, when CHL players couldn't go to the NCAA, the one of the recruiting, uh, you know, negatives was viewed as the lack of games played. Um, and that is, that has shifted, I think is more people have understood the value of the additional time away from playing games where there is more practice time, where there is a more dedicated strength and conditioning

program, where there is easier travel so that there's less time spent on a bus and more time spent in the weight room or on the ice. And so there are benefits. But what I'll say is that the CHL is decades and decades of proven development as well. There is no one-size-fits-all for all of these players. I think for a player, in Gavin McKenna's case in particular, what are the things that he needs to do to be ready to play in the NHL day one? He's got to get stronger. That's probably the number one thing. He's a bit of a slight build. He's got good enough size. He's incredibly quick, obviously very skilled, but you want to see him get stronger.

You want to see him get a little more endurance, different things like that. That will help him. And I think that that's a reason to potentially take that route. The other thing that's important about college hockey is that the age gap between the players. He'll be a 17 going into 18-year-old as he plays college hockey, and some of the guys in college hockey are 22 23 24 years old so they are older they're stronger and they're more experienced so that's another thing there's a lot of

differences between the two both have great benefits I don't think that this is a replacement it is just an alternative option and for players like Gavin McKenna it certainly seems to make sense for them well the Gavin McKenna, it certainly seems to make sense for them. Well, Gavin McKenna kind of opens the floodgates for a lot of guys to maybe make that crossover from the CHL to NCAA. Like if you're Dan McKenzie, the president of the Canadian Hockey League, I mean, how are you feeling about all of this and maybe, you know, like how can you limit that potential exodus? Well, I think, you know, there's can you limit that potential exodus?

Well, I think, you know, there's, I think there's a way where everybody can win. I think, you know, the CHL is probably going to have to get younger, they're going to have to institute, you know, probably more 16 year olds will get opportunities earlier than they would have. I do think that there is going to be that this idea of competition and competition requires,, investing, and doing more. And I think we've seen a number of OHL teams,

a number of WHL teams, QMJHL teams, that have invested in facilities, in weight training, in additional things like that. You're seeing the same thing in the USHL, where there's money going into those programs to try to better compete. And so, I think that that's part of it. Competition does breed improvement of all things, and hopefully there's an opportunity

there. I think, you know, as Dan McKenzie has approached this, and I think that a lot of the commissioners in the CHL leagues, they have an understanding of this option that's available to players. They're not resistant to it because they know that there's still going to be a large number of players. But the other thing that there is a benefit to this, there will be more American players, there will be some more European players that will choose the CHL that wouldn't have because it was not possible to go to college afterwards. So I do think you're going to see that. And then you think about the guys like Adam Fantilli, Macklin Celebrini, Owen

Power, who chose to go to the USHL, they now have this additional option available to them. So I think the CHL by because of this will get a bit younger, but it doesn't have to get worse. It might get a little less experienced. You might have fewer 20 year olds playing, might have fewer overagers, but there is still going to be a very valid and good development path throughout junior hockey

in North America because of the pool continues to deepen as Hockey gets you know more widespread and we see more players interested in the North American development model Chris. Thanks very much really appreciate the conversation Hey my pleasure guys. Thanks for having me Chris Peters prospect analyst for flow hockey and host of the called-up podcast I mean interesting times so a lot of those guys were parked in the US HL on their way to the NCAA program. Now they can go into the the OHL or whatever CHL team they want and a couple of guys have already done that and done well and then there's talk about the OHL expanding because the US HL may not be as viable anymore because of this change. So I mean that you just have to sort of figure out the different business plan right? It could because it

is a new business model it certainly is if you're injecting seven hundred thousand dollar deals into the equation where nobody been getting anything other than scholarship money and in in the chl maybe you know you'd hear whispers of the occasional brown envelope or something i don't know what it was but no proof of anything of course yeah but you know hey it's yes as uh... as chris pointed out it's it's competition right like it this is this

competition that good for the system you know there's a lot of money in junior hockey maybe even a little more of it'll go to the players now the wind is adjusting adjust your sails here you go otherwise your boat will topple uh... coming up next a b's power rankings on Otherwise your boat will topple coming up next a B's power rankings on top shocking announcements in sports history how far back do you go the Latest one like 90s. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's late for you

Ancient is I know the one you're talking ancient. Okay, pretty me free me. I'll tell you that free me free a be okay That's the pre a be that's impressive. That's next on overdrive TSN 1050 TSN to unmistakably Canadian It's the music that raised you The artists raising the bar this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name is Brett Emmons. I'm from the glorious sons. Hi I'm Nelly Furtado made in Canada the station that champions Canadian music Alright, so to start and do a little power ranking There it is, the intro. Take it away, AP. It's all you. All right. So decided to do a little power ranking. It is the 15 year anniversary of LeBron's The Decision. The decision that shocked the world when he announced he was taking his talents to South Beach. I thought, hey, let's do a little power ranking 15 years in the making the most shocking

Announcements that we've seen in sports or heard in sports. So let's go five all the way down to number one Okay coming in at number five David Beckham leaving Europe for the MLS. I Remember I was a kid but I remember actually that About 12 13 years old. It's a kid. I remember sure I remember being absolutely floored cuz like not that I was a massive soccer fan But I knew David Beckham, right and the MLS was nothing was a joke But it was nowhere near to the extent of what the European leagues were and the fact that he was coming overseas to play here in leagues were and the fact that he was coming overseas to play here was an absolute stunner. So I got Beckham leaving Europe to sign with the LA Galaxy at number five.

Like it. Big moment. Yeah. Big moment. Adds credibility to a league that was struggling. So part of that, part of that deal, he ended up getting, so what was it here? Part of the clause, A, he got some team revenue when he signed with LA, but he also had the ability to buy an expansion team when he retired. So he bought Inter Miami, CFFC, whatever, for $25 million. Note that's worth today. Oh, yeah, quite a bit more. $1.2 billion since Messi has arrived on scene. Yeah Yeah, quite well and there's Toronto connections there because obviously Tim Laiwiki who tried to bring his warm transformed Toronto sports about a decade ago. He was he was a big big part of Beckham coming to the LA Galaxy

Yeah, number four Andrew Lux retirement came out of nowhere Maybe a little bias being Colts fan But you are a little biased but this was a guy who was was on his way to being one of the greats, right? He was a number one overall pick He was the best prospect since Manning and then all of a sudden he you hear through the grapevine in the middle of a preseason Game that Andrew Luck was gonna retire and then a couple hours later he steps up to the mic and announced that he's walking away from football in the middle of his career in the middle of his prime it was a shocking announcement Barry Sanders for me hmm could be on there yeah

yeah there's kind of similar right yeah yeah hiring too young. Yeah coming at number three the Luca trade Oh Came out of nowhere I remember it was a Saturday night and I was actually I was playing a little blackjack at the casino and my phone rings and my it's it's my mother and I give It to my girlfriend. Hey answer this see what she wants and she says apparently Luca got traded I'm like what she's like yeah Luca Donchich got traded Lakers I'm like excuse me you say that again that I did not hear what you just said can you say that yeah Luca Donchich trade to the Lakers for Anthony Davis I'm like excuse me I had to grab the phone right away

put the game on pause and figure out what the heck was going on that was a shocker that that that for me had to be on this list. So we can squeeze in one more. You're at, you're going to two, right? And we'll do number one on the other side. Number two, the Gretzky trade, Wayne Gretzky going from Edmonton to LA, the great one, how could Edmonton possibly trade away the great one, but it happened. And it was an absolute shock to the system

Oh, but it comes in at number two boys comes in at number two Wow number one What gotta save it gotta save it Gretzky was stunning the kind of thing that you thought could never happen and and yet it did And then of course I would promise miss. I wasn't gonna try That was one of the great press conference conferences all time yeah and you you were uh... you're on sports line back then i was and as a guest wrote my my my uh... i guess pack is what we call it guess who wrote it can't get

steve coolies while who no any always every time i see him as a briskey back because yeah yes good at coming up next number one in al's list as overdrive continues on tsn2 and also on TSN1050. Hi, I'm Nelly Furtado. Made in Canada. The station that champions Canadian music. Loud, crowd, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play.

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