OverDrive - OverDrive - June 17, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Frank Corrado for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Panthers and Oilers' matchup in Game 6, Edmonton's mentality to bring the series to a Game 7, Connor McDavid's quest to win a Stanley Cup and the players who've made an impact throughout the playoffs. TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson to dive into the storylines for Game 6, Edmonton looking to tie the series and the Panthers' strong dynasty and Mitch Marner's next contract in the league.

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Some restrictions and exclusions may apply. See participating stores for details. This Hour of Overdrive is powered by FanDuel. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Alright, here we go. Overdrive off and running. TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker. And up on TSN for Brian Hayes, the Odog, Jeff O'Neill, Frankie Carrato, a little pro athlete. Salute.

What's up, boys? To start the afternoon. I'm excluded immediately from little pro athletes salute what's up with fish to start the afternoon i'm excluded immediately from the pro athlete this is going to great to see you and i have to tell you i was golfing last week and my phone was sitting in the cart and my buddy danny said to me he goes i wasn't being nosy and I know you're heavily connected in the sports world but were you texting Bryson DeChambeau and I said

no I wasn't and he said well who is that and I said Frank Corrado his name is in my phone as Frank DeChambeau. And this guy saw DeChambeau and he said, are you texting Bryson DeChambeau? I said, no, kind of, Frank Corrado. The equivalent, the Canadian version of Bryson is Frankie. I feel like, you know when Happy Gilmore gets hit by the car and his shoulder hurts and he can't drive the ball far anymore. That's how I feel now Yeah, you got you got here. I don't play that much anymore

I'm like disappointing not even out my swing is who knows what my swing is. I don't come you'll find it I'm fine. Yeah, you're working through things. You'll be golfing again in five years, mr That's when you yeah, that's that's when you get back into the swing of things. That's about right back I would say when I had my first it was like I don't I maybe played five times the first five years She was around. Yeah, maybe and and each round the first time I played was like mid-september I get invited somewhere through work and I'd be like, what's the point by this out the it can you toss out the idea it's what i've always done so it's the norm for me okay

so you've read the book on this i can't wait to you know i just yeah if you want to see it early you can present the idea if you just man the fort until 1030 I'll be home and then you're off duty and I got it the rest of the way if you wanted to play that is a great point and I think that's definitely a reasonable request my thing was with like any anything in life any hobby or whatever the less you do it the less you think of it and you care for it, like that was my thing with like playing golf or whatever else.

You stopped caring about golf? Yeah, I did because I stopped playing. But then when I swung back in, it was like, I can't wait to start playing again. It's just, I think that's life, man. Like the more you're into something, the more you have this kind of fascination or obsession with that, whatever it is.

Golf or photography or chess or painting, whatever it is, golf or photography or chess or painting or whatever it happens to be. Beer league. Yeah, exactly. There's beer league guys. They play once a week all the time. Gotta play two, three times a week. Since we're talking of, I wasn't going to bring this up.

This is going to be my own little secret, but after the show today, I'm driving straight to my course, grabbing a cart and playing like a nine holes by myself in like 45 minutes. A wine and dine. I'm the, no, it's dude. Little nine and dine soul. It's literally just like, I have such an itch to get out there that I am going to boogie up to King City and I'm playing and I'm gonna have the game on.

Like I brought my iPad. I love it. I've got like hotspotted to my phone and I'm watching the first period playing nine holes. I love that idea because. I think it's outrageous but that's what I'm doing. And I told my wife, I'm like, I'm thinking of doing this playing nine holes. I love that idea because that's what I'm doing and I told my wife I'm like I'm thinking of doing this tonight your your mom's here she's gonna help put the kids down go ahead go ahead because

it's almost the longest day of the year it basically is yeah like you could be outside doing stuff until about 9 20 tonight you could get in 18. If you realize that if you're solo you could do it you can fly around eighteen has played eighteen holes and my buddy pat i won't say your last name because i don't know who you want to know this or not want to know it wasn't bad but he would jimmy up a car seat onto the golf cart and we played like it was a put his kid and kid in. Oh, yeah. I've seen that before

I've seen that kind of behavior. I won't name names either but I've seen it No, I've seen a full child snoozing eating having a great time in the car seat in a golf cart 18 holes of golf. Yeah, listen, you got to get creative Sometimes you got to get creative and it sounds like you're gonna do that. I love that idea. It's Sunday I got nine holes in in 35 minutes and I really rushed Yeah, you can fly around I like as long as you're playing your ball and you're not messing around I'm not dad or we go let's go out and play and have fun And yeah, that's the beauty of like as the like it's beautiful now. Finally, like it is kind of crazy

We got game six of the cup final and it's 30 degrees out Like think about what it is in, Florida It must just be absolutely abnormal Absolutely obscene how hot it would be outside of the the rink in Florida tonight But the couple be in the building, right? I think this is the last dance Isn't it for our boy with the white gloves Philip Pritchard? I believe he's retiring. retiring yeah i think he's retiring after this year i think so that's why they did doubt the hockey hall of fame the philip pritchard lookalike stuff to commemorate

you know his incredible career looked at up to the might have one more year but i think it's coming up on the end of the road for philip pritchard he's gonna pass the gloves off well i don't know the last like ten years he was smart enough to understand like to bring some kind of like small camera crew with him not that there wouldn't be anyway and some kind of Netflix like maybe PG version of just Days with the Cup like I'd watch that. Yeah that would be a really cool behind the scenes story. The thing is you'd have to get everyone to sign off on it. Yeah because

there's probably people that are shattered no one had been everyone's day for the day with the cop you know it i'm sure there's some some extreme activity happening that and that job posting didn't make its way on the linkedin i can guarantee now that one they've handpicked somebody that is capable of the lifestyle and the travel and you have your liver trained well for something like that yeah I think that's

the number one thing when it comes to training for that job is how much can your liver take do you think he's partaking in the party so like is that because it's a good question like would that be a party foul if Philip Pritchard is just sitting in the corner and you're like Phil we'd rather you join us it's awkward you're just sitting there with your white gloves come on in can you hammer a couple of drinks with us gotta be an element of peer pressure whether he succumbs to it or not we don't know yeah exactly but there's you know there's a lot of people that are hospitable

I'm sure listen how could you not be if you're hosting a cup party how would you not be the most jovial, you know, gracious host of all time? I mean, I couldn't imagine a better place to ever be in. Maybe not so much now, but back in the day. Definitely before cameras and stuff like that. Back in the day, I'm sure it got clear. If he partook every time, it was like he would have a long summer if it was like... because every day it's the biggest day of their life and if he got involved in life part,

that would be a messy summer. But could you imagine if he did it every day and the people who were having like the once in a lifetime party looked at him and were like, this guy's hungrier than us for this party. Well it could be like what we just talked about. The more you do something, maybe Philip Richards got the itch, like he's like get me on this

cup tour I would guess that he's like hungry not touching booze I got a babysit this thing I got to make sure no one takes it I got to make sure well what about like tonight in the next couple of nights like the one the pre-planned parties is one thing hey August 12th you're going to Stockholm blah blah blah yeah if I think if late like they win it tonight Hayes I think the guys are like Phil we're taking the cup with us yeah you ain't comment and that's what I trust us to bring it back somewhere tomorrow right like that that's the one you want access to that's where you want the Netflix cameras or the

Crave cameras or whatever what are the Panthers doing with that thing for the next 48 hours if they win tonight? Because you know it's it the Larry O'Brien is gonna be in the building in Indiana on a on Thursday night and obviously the the cup is in a building tonight and it's you know I keep looking at this this final through the lens of the Oilers just because of the connection to the team, the Canadian connection, the McDavid dry subtle storyline. But I was thinking about it coming in here where I think we can run off, you know, the obvious, you know, pressure list players on the Oilers.

Stuart Skinner is going to start tonight. Massive amounts of pressure. He's got to play great. He has to play great for two straight games. McDavid at the top. Yes. I think I agree with you I think Skinner's number one I think the nature of the position the goalie the fact that he's yo-yo'd in and out he's going back in. Because if he's no good and it's a four or five spot there's nothing McDavid like you can't say McDavid and Dreisle needed to get six tonight. Yes. You can't say

that but that would be bizarro talk. Right it's Skinner number one I think it's clearly McDavid number two like McDavid in my opinion has got it he's got to be the best player on the ice I think three of the five games he's been between okay and good not great a couple games he's been great at moments he's been great I don't think he's had this unbelievable unforgettable final like that has not been the case with McCavitt. I will say this he has had some moments Hayes and Dreisaitl's had some moments but I also think that there's been a real drop-off from their like Connor Browns, Evander Canes, Jan Marks, like Nugent Hopkins who's clearly injured but like there's been a drop-off with those guys because they were stepping up massive and in

Previous year. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's it's got a leaf field to it What is he Vanderkane done in this series except take stupid penalties nothing scored one alone? I'm not a first or second. So that the the no Zach Hyman conversation Probably this is where you start having it right like Connor Like, Connor McDavid has been, like you said, he's been OK, he's been fine. Like having Zach Hyman would help Connor McDavid. And I know it's weird to say that because the guy is the best player in the world, but the best players always have in any sport, they have like that one go to guy and I know Dry Cytle is there with McDavid,

but not being able to have Hyman and McDavid and then maybe mix Dry Cytl on the second line, like the nuclear option hasn't gone well for them either. So it's, it's, you know, that, I think that factors in, but it's one thing of, of many things that are happening. Yes, the Hyman absence at some point was going to show its face, and it probably has by now, but they knew it was coming. He wasn't going to play. The season's done and, and you and you've got to live with it I mean that's the thing about Florida to their credit now Kachuk has banged up but he's been banged up the whole time he hasn't missed a shift he hasn't missed a game like they have been remarkably healthy and on their toes and prepared to play but you know again I think Skinner's

number one on that list for the Oilers McDavid's a clear-cut number two I think naturally you would go dry sidle three but it may be Ekholm after the game he just had and the position he plays and how important he is. It might be Bouchard. Like it may not be dry-cidal at number three in terms of, you know, who has to have a game tonight. But if you look at the series and again you look at McDavid in the way that he's played, like let me run off some names here and you guys tell me who you think has had a better series by just this series mcdavid or brad marshall

marshall mcdavid or sam bennett mcdavid or barkov maybe you know mcdavid well i think barkov's been better as the series is going on better but it's mostly yeah that's too bad about the folks of the world and i don't know and so we're talking about making impact you can sell on the saw okay

uh... mcdavid or dry subtle dry sides okay so i think you start there there's at least three forwards that have been more impactful you can look at brian hardy scored two big goals in the last two games if you want to throw in Bob Horsling this guy's played in Hayes you've never been able to say that and that's what I think I'm getting to and even in preparation for tonight exactly that he still has an opportunity to spin all that and in they

get a win tonight they get a win in game seven it's's all good, but yes, you're right about the depth that hasn't been good enough, and Knobloch continues to bring people in and out, and he's doing it again tonight. They've had injury problems where Florida hasn't. Florida has been exceptional from top to bottom, but if you can run off four or five forwards, that says nothing of Forsling and maybe Seth Jones

and others who have just simply had a more impactful series than the best player That's a problem. Yeah, and I think it speaks to what he has to do tonight. I think knob blocks running out of blender material I mean If he goes with this new jumbled up lineup with different deep airings and forward lineups and and then five minutes in it's the blender again forward lineups and and then five minutes and it's the blender again it's almost like that could be the end of the line you're out of combinations and you got nothing because it's just it you can only go so far your plan against the team how many line changes have they had up front

if any early any there are like a fourth line has changed a little bit and maybe it's a simple is you know without zack hyman they just they haven't found the depth and they're out of gas. And Florida just has that ultimate depth and they're able to just roll it out there and say this is what we got, which is the ultimate luxury for a coach. This is what we got and you have to react to it. The other thing about all these lineup changes, you know, Klingbergen, Kaepernick, they're so secondary to the main, the main issue is that you need, the way the Edmonton

Oilers are designed is for Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl to be the best players and go call it hero mode, have a legacy game. They're not designed the same way as the Florida Panthers. So for the Oilers to be successful, of course, you need depth contributions, but you can't count on it every single time. And that's an issue for the Oilers, whereas it's not an issue for the Florida Panthers where they've got how many goals from Barkov? Barkov's got one in the series? Yeah, he's got six in the playoffs.

Six in the playoffs? I believe. And it's like they're basically asking him, what is it you do best? You check, you're the best defensive forward, go do that to the best of your ability, and we got other guys that will score. And you look around the league, how many number one center men on their team

can you say that about? Like just go be the best checker and we'll score around you. Not very many. Less than a handful. And yet he still has the ability to break, he could score two tonight easily and be the guy that and that's kind of what I was getting to is like we're looking at the Euler side of things Like who could be the hero on Florida?

It's it's much more difficult to pinpoint because it has been Sam Bennett It has been Brad Marsh and but Reinhardt could show up tonight and be the guy absolutely Forsling could rip home could show up tonight and be the guy absolutely for sling could rip all the line and i'll add to the guy yes that that guy loose the rain and all the sudden he's thrown past household name that guy and crazy for hagi's a big game player but he has been is his whole run in florida's been a big game player

you know or bob it could just be bob goes boys don't worry about me tonight and let's look at the guys that just get ready for your party the bigger picture comment about these guys it's just a total team and there's ultimate depth and it's just they buy each other time to show up in different times of the playoffs and that's that's what they do it it's it must be the ultimate luxury for palm race

the do you guys do you guys think that the mcd McDavid game is available to him tonight where he just goes psycho and it's like you can't stop him and he propels the team to a win? I think it should be available. I think it's obviously very difficult against this team. It's the toughest test you can get in the sport is performing at an extreme level against Florida. Just the way they're built, how good they are. You're either on the ice against Barcov, Bennett, or Lundell. Like immediately who you're going up against is a formidable foe.

But if you're the clear cut best player in your prime and the most desperate you've ever been in your life on a sheet of ice, it has to be available to you. Like it has to. I just don't know man, like the one verse three, one verse four stuff that's like superhuman. I can't see it happening. I mean, you still play with Nugent Hopkins

and probably Perry tonight and they're gamers and I don't know how healthy Nugent Hopkins is, but if he's out there with those two and Bouchard and Atcom on the point and Dry Settle's gonna be filtered in with them as well, it's, you know's it's not you look at probably Gretzky one of Gretzky's most famous games of course game seven at the Gardens Against the Leaves and he had some bounces that went his way that night but he had five points. Yeah he had

a hat-trick in five points and you know he went in there and just said this is what's gonna happen tonight. Now I don't know if you can expect it twice. And that's what is difficult, is that the Oilers are gonna need this twice. And maybe it doesn't have to be McDavid. Maybe it is Skinner in a low scoring game. Who knows what it's going to be, what combination it's gonna be.

And ultimately it doesn't matter for McDavid. You just gotta find a way to win it. But if it gets to that point where, you know, they're down two-nothing early for whatever reason, you got to elevate. You have to elevate. It's like these are the moments in anyone's career when you're of a stature of that player. We're talking the best of the best.

There are already a fair amount of very, very smart hockey people that believe he's the greatest player ever. And it's like if that's the case, you can't have a final like this where you just kind of blend into the finals. Yeah, but guess what the Florida Panthers are saying with what I just touched on with their depth kind of falling off and not producing? The Florida Panthers are entering this game saying, those two guys aren't going to beat us tonight and we'll take our chances with the other ones.

That's going to be their game plan. Yeah, sure. As we've seen in other games. Especially on home ice. Yeah, on home ice we're going to get matchups ones that's going to be their game plan as you're seeing it actually on home ice yeah yeah on home ice we're gonna get matchups and we're gonna eliminate those we're not gonna get beat by those two players you'd be insane to approach it any other way yeah and if they find a way and they go nuclear and they do it then what are you gonna do as Zach blad said after one of the games that's McJesus what are you gonna do yeah it's just something that he does well and you're but they'll take their chances to

say we're not gonna give them an inch of ice tonight. And it wouldn't shock me if they got not a lot cooking around the neutral zone, any speed, any room, because they're gonna say, we are not letting those two guys beat us and shame on us if we take any sort of penalty early in the hockey game at any time in the game. You can make a mistake, you can let your guard down. You can lose focus, whatever. But like if you compare this hockey, you know, greatest player conversation to other sports, right? Like if it was basketball and we were talking about Jordan, it's like the ball could go to him and he's hitting threes and he's hitting his shots. Like if you're talking football, you're talking to quarterback that just like he's hitting everything.

You can't translate that to hockey hockey so random You know you want to wind it up on a on a power play I don't know if that has the same feel as like you're getting the ball at the top of the key and you're Nailing every single shot and going off for 50 points. No, it's not. I mean every sport is different I guess where I I struggle with is the reaction afterwards. Where like put it, we have an example with McDavid. I didn't think game seven last year, the cup final, he did much. Yeah, that's true. And I was criticizing him for that and I took heat

because it was like, well, it's a team thing. And I'm like, all right, here I am thinking biggest game of his life, game seven. I didn't think he played that well. Um, that's, I, I, you're right. You can't, it's not the equivalent of, of basketball or football. It's not where you can look at a quarterback or a pitcher in baseball and say, that guy's on his game and he's hitting the black and he's unhittable. And you expect that out of them tonight. But I do think there's a middle ground where he, there has to be some sort of

boxes that have to be checked Where you can't just sit there and say well, I didn't have it because of Florida It's like okay, then what then what conversation you ever gonna have about a great player in this sport? Like this is the biggest platform. It's unfair to maybe apply it to every game ever played But this is game six of the cup final he's got to have a night like the idea that it's just well Florida checked him so well okay well then then I'm sorry cuz I no one did that with Gretzky and Lemieux and Bobby Orr like you got you got to break through it especially after last year

right that yes two in a row yes years in a bob robs you you have 12 shots on net you just can't break through you hit four polls hey okay but if it's like the other night words like i didn't really notice that guy's current ice goal the game was over that to me is not going to cut it and i think you should be held to a higher standard than that that is fair uh... mike johnson will join us we've got noodles come up live from the cup final as well

confirmed tonight today keegan will join us keegan matheson ahead of the series uh... with the j's in the diamond back starting down at the dome today some uh... transactions as well courtesy of the blue jays that will get into bad frances on the i l shockingly we need a breather let's find something in put him on the i l move by the j's it was it was mandatory you know it was coming it's a smart play

uh... will catch a book you get on that a couple of hours the Jays. It was mandatory, you knew it was coming, it's a smart play. We'll catch up with Keegan on that in a couple of hours. Overdrive continues, TSN 1050 and on TSN 4. Alright, Overdrive continues powered by FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Brian Hays, Zildog, Jeff O'Neal, Frankie Carrotto confirmed with Denied just after 5 o'clock. Got Keegan Matheson coming up, Jays Diamondbacks tonight, NBA Finals, Oklahoma City back in the driver's seat, Jalen Williams, Shay Gilders, Alexander, unbelievable last night. Pacers did not cover the number. That's disappointing.

So more on that a little bit later this afternoon. But we head down to Florida for the first of multiple trips this afternoon. Here's our TSN hockey analyst, Johnson. How you doing Johnny? What's going on Hayes? It's a very... when we get to the final it's a funny... it's a funny dynamic with the media because you know what it's like right? Like we're here, it's in Florida, it's in Edmonton, it's a lot of fun, we're down in the sun, but now that it's almost over and you know we don't really care who wins you're not a boiler fan or panther

fan the prospect of the team to be more ready able to like kind of go home and have to be done with the becomes pretty appealing here's a point in the facility or say media would be happy not happy but it would be like yeah the hockey fan would be like all let's get one more game seven it will be so awesome but the kind of regular dad regular dude is like wrap this thing up and let us get back to real life bingo could not have said it any better now no one would act that way when it happened if if that was eminent way don't gonna be cursing but that's

exactly it oh it's uh if it's gonna end let's get it over with and let's get summer going Well that brings up an interesting question about the mentality of the Panthers tonight because you got to think they're thinking the same thing Like we have no interest to going back to Edmonton none none So could you like how could that? How could that you know play a role in their approach tonight? What what might you see in the first period from Florida that would indicate these guys are? How could that play a role in their approach tonight? What might you see in the first period from Florida that would indicate these guys are severely desperate to win this evening?

More of the same. For Florida, this entire experience has been about doing more of the same. They don't do it perfectly every time. They don't do it right every time. But they try to just do the exact same thing. And what they've done in the first periods of the series, if they do that again in this game, they're very likely to win the Stanley Cup at the end of the night. So, you know, they're going to be physical.

They're going to be on a four check. It's going to be hard, but really, you know, if they're aggressive haze, I guess, if I'm going to say one thing, because occasionally when they've had a big lead in the series, you've seen them get a little bit more passive. And when they get that way, they're just not as good. So if they're able to block out the want to win so badly and just go play and be aggressive and be on your front foot attacking, if they do that, that'll be the best version of their game.

Okay, and Edmonton, I mean, needless to say, they're desperate. I mean, I guess, you know, I don't know what that looks like for them though. Like we were discussing McDavid, who you would, you'd have to believe comes out like a rocket tonight. But what is, what does that even, what does that mean? What does it look like five on five, the Lions continue to change, Skinners and Nets, like what would you expect their mentality and their approach to kind of look like in the first period this evening and i think i would like to create it to

starting the u.s. open final round you're not trying to bury the first four holes let's just play even park and we find a fair way to find a green a two-part and let's get going because they've been behind day falls last four games they've been behind the eight falls the last four games they've given up the first goal and they're chasing the game so for the oilers like can we

just play and pass and kind of be even and work our way into the game and eventually take a lead i think that will be the focus for mcdavis specifically haze i think he's got to fight the will to or the want to try to do it more on his own. Like when he tries to go for the big mad dashes through the neutral zone, he bumps into Barkov, then Forsling, then Eklad. It's tough. Those guys are great and it's tough to be effective. He's almost like he has to trust his line mates to help them. And his line mates are a little bit different. He's got Corey Carey back there again tonight.

Evan is basically going back to their game one lineup. I said, it worked in game one. We scored first in game one, we won game one, let's see if we can't do that again. And then at some point, you know, we talked about this at nauseam, you need your goalie to be good. Now you can't will that to happen, you can't ask him to try harder, he's obviously trying his hardest. But you can't have an 870 to 8% at the end of the night from Stu Skinner.

It's got to be 915. And if it it is they'll have a decent chance of winning this game Yeah, Johnny if the Florida Panthers do did it tonight. How do you think McDavid how we talk a lot on this show? It's talked a lot through hockey the media about the great ones win a cup Like how do you think his cup final will be critiqued because he's been fantastic leading up to this point Like how do you think his cup final will be critiqued because he's been fantastic leading up to this point I think it will not necessarily be creeped critiqued individually. Although there may be some question marks about He didn't score a lot of goals. He had his first one last game He's got a boatload of chances I think he has three posts so it could easily be a four-goal final for him and then you'd say he's gonna win the

Cons might but it's a one- one goal final and they might lose again So I don't know if he's gonna get criticized other than boy would have been nice had he been able to cash it on the chance That he created but oh, I think that the conversation around him will be another missed opportunity and There is no guarantee. Yeah. Yeah, good if he is as good as Dreifel is, as good as the Oilers are. He may never get to another final, you know? It's probably even money whether he gets to even another final. So that's sort of the conversation because what does that mean?

If he doesn't win a cup ever in his career, can he ever be considered one of the greatest of all time? I think individually he has to be. He already has to be. But in his career and its entirety, if he doesn't win, and now he'll be 0 for 2, not his fault, he won a Conn's Mike last year, he could win it again this year in a losing cause. But another missed opportunity to kind of get the last piece of hardware that he'll ever need to be considered the greatest of all time.

Johnny, we were talking earlier about all the different line combinations that Chris Knobloch puts together and the Edmonton Oilers have used 25 different line combos in this series. The Florida Panthers have used eight. What should the approach be for Knobloch and the Oilers tonight, especially early in the game when it comes to how much you juggle the lines? I mean, I think given that what's happened, Frankie, you can't, you don't wanna be switching every single time, but like you don't wait long. If you get through 10 minutes of first period,

three, four shifts each line and one guy's not going, half of it is not going or team's not going and putt Colton is like, you make moves cause that team is comfortable with the idea that they changed. The team doesn't react as though the coach is panicking when they make changes, because they do it all the time, as you just mentioned, 25 different line combinations

in the series. So, I mean, I think it's, the contrast of the coaching is really quite interesting, whereas Nalbok is obviously motivating and inspiring and all that stuff. But he is coaching, like he's coaching his butt off, trying to solve these problems with his roster, with his combinations, with his pairings in game, between games. He's working hard.

Whereas Maurice is, you know, he wakes up in the morning. He doesn't think about a thing. What Maurice is doing is just sort of like imploring and motivating and, and energizing his group, but he's not he's not thinking about game plan because he likes his game plan because his game plan is working it's amazing how different the challenges for each coach because Chinoblox is like he's solving problems on the go all the time Maurice doesn't have that doesn't have that dilemma he trusts his group and he should.

With Mike Johnson, our TSN Hockey Analyst, ahead of Game 6 Cup Final tonight, Maurice is, you know, he was on fire again this morning. He's got his one-liners, man. His, you know, his post-game last year was very inspiring. You know, he talked about his, his, you know, from Sousa Marie and his parents and brothers and that's i hope they get one it uh... but what is on the basis of everything like what does he have left for tonight like what's if they win

and he does is you know commentary on the ice with everybody like what what does he think he because i would believe he's got new material you know he's a comic that's hit the road and he knows everyone's heard his stuff. What else is coming from Maurice tonight? He's got to bring something different. He's got to have some new material. Has to.

He's going to, but what he's got, he's opened up, if they win tonight, he's opened up another entire chapter of potential topics when it comes to history's greatness. And I think that's where he could go. Where his group, and he will always defer not him, but his group will now have to be considered in the sort of all-time great teams. Now they're not the greatest of all time, but they're in the conversation.

And certainly the last 30 years, three finals in a row, two wins in a row, that doesn't, no, two wins would happen a couple times, but it doesn't happen very often. Three finals in a row, two wins in a row. That doesn't, two wins would happen a couple times, but it doesn't happen very often. Three finals in a row almost never happens. I think the last time three finals was the Islanders, right? So I think you can go down that road and be very eloquent. Well, Tampa just did three finals in a row.

Yeah, the Islanders did four. Yeah, Islanders did five. Five in a row. Islanders did five, but they lost the degree. Yeah, so Tampa, the moment of the bubble, those were all kind of strange years, but they take nothing away. But, so the last 40 years it happened twice. So we're in that conversation. Not even the oilers of the 80s made three in a row. Right. So, you know, I think he goes down that road and he wouldn't be wrong to do so.

No, exactly. Exactly. Go ahead. Go ahead go ahead. Oh Johnny all we talk about after this when it ends is like Where's this guy gonna go? We're you know, where's Bennett gonna go? Marshand? I glad what's your mini Jerry that these guys get together and say guys we got to try to run it back Because the three I hate would be insane I Think Marsh and like an island unto himself he would be insane. I think Marshand like an island unto himself. Eklav and Bennett, they could easily have that conversation. The relationship they'd have, oh,

and I think they both are so tied into Florida and know why it's good here for them. They both will probably take less money than they could get otherwise and wanna come back for all the obvious reasons. I think Marshand who's had a good, highly paid career, but he's not been a 10 million guy for eight years, right? His last deal was what, 36, 38 million dollars,

40 million dollars or whatever it was. Prior to that, he's probably got 50, 60 million dollars of career earnings, which is a ton. But it wouldn't surprise me if maybe he is slightly more tied into perm and to dollars than maybe those other two guys might be. So as appealing as that is and I also would always caution like seeking you can chase a cup because you can pick the team that you think is good. That doesn't usually work out the way you

think it will. But Marshand is a unique guy because he's newish here and he probably doesn't have that same sort of city, not loyalty, but just you know, five to the other guys. He wants his cash. He wants four years and eight million dollars a year. He's going to get it. And the Florida is like, listen, we can give you three and five and a good team and good taxes and he might go like, I think I'll take the four and 32 and go to a good team and good taxes and he might go like I think I'll take the 432 and go to a good team and take my chances there and and no one could blame them. If you were hedging your bet as far as Bennett or Ekblad, only one of

those guys can stay because financially like I think the Panthers have about 19 million dollars to spend and they've got to sign six or seven more guys here. If it's one of those two guys, not who would you keep, who would the Panthers keep? They will effort to keep Bennett. And Eklat has been surprisingly good in this series. I thought he might have some trouble, he's been good. I just think the Seth Jones acquisition makes Eklat,

unless he really wants to severely discount himself. I think Bennett's the perfect fit. I think he knows that. I think Florida, if they had to choose, and they might have to choose, they'll choose Bennett over Eklad. Johnny, do you think if a team says about Marchand, we're going to give you the four times eight and we want you to come into our team regardless of your age and be a first line player, not a third third that would be interesting. Well I mean he was a first-line player in Boston and he was on pace for what 65 points? What did Matthew Nives get last year? 60? Everyone wants to throw 80

million dollars at him and that's not the diminished bias of like a first-line player can get you 65 points and that might be worth it. So he might be ideally suited although in a support role as opposed to the guy driving. If you ask him to play in your first line and be the best player on your first line that's not good. That won't work. But if you ask him to be a support player, a smart player, a complementary player who can produce you know 0.8 points per game over the course of the year I think you won't be disappointed whatever role he plays in he'll probably be able to do that because he's smart enough and he's still got the legs as he's showing but that you have to you know temper your expectations you're not getting 90

or 100 points out of him anymore no matter who he's playing with and if you can ask him to get you 65 on the second line and wait for the playoffs then you have a good team and you'll probably get the best version of Marchand. Johnny, what's your read on watching Sasha Barkov in person in this series? Because you know, I think you go around the league, you talk about what do you need to have playoff success?

Your number one center is going to have to be a big contributor offensively. And it seems like for the Florida Panthers, it's like they've kind of just asked him to check as well as he can which no forward can do it better than him and they've filled in the pieces offensively around him third line's been great Bennett's been great like what do you see out of Sasha Barkov's game that maybe think you think there might be more offense or he's just doing what he's doing and they're perfectly okay with that and they're going to win the Stanley Cup as as it is. Both are probably true they probably are going to win the Stanley Cup with him checking and and he's like a dad super Zetterberg where you know he doesn't ever deviate from

the defense to go get offense even though he probably could. He's still their most talented offensive player. He has been quiet though he just hasn't had that many touches but I think Frankie he's so concerned with being above the puck. You watch him even in the offensive zone when they have the puck you can almost see like like the angel and the devil on his shoulders and the devil's like let's get to the net and the angels like don't even think about it you better stay above the puck because here comes 97 you can't catch him and the angel wins and he's always in the right spot so he will keep doing

the same thing and it's a unique challenge to play against Connor McDavid in the playoffs but his numbers are still he's basically a pointy game player in the playoffs it's not like he has five points he's got 18 or something like that so he's been fine and the Panthers could not care less about no goals in the final they only care about one more win well we'll see if it comes tonight johnny uh for your sake i hope it does and if it doesn't enjoy edmonton for the next couple of days the next week the next week yeah exactly it'll feel that way

anyway if i'm doing our next chat on the eve of game seven in edmonton and maybe slightly disgruntled okay well see what comes of it man i'm i'm pulling for game seven personally but i'm sure i should hear what you know i'm your cow i'm dying for a game seven yeah i'd love to hurt of your whole absolutely this guy's down there and i don't know if that's a lot of it gets lonely when the game disappears for more than three days you're, there's no game and then some guy

I'll tweet out 60 days 60 days till hockey's back. Yeah. No, that's when your wife says hey We should watch this new show tonight. You know, there was a game I live in the bond tonight love the island is on tonight. We need game seven man. We need it All right, Johnny. Enjoy yourself down there Good boy, Mike Johnson our TSN hockey analyst. Yeah it's I mean all hell's gonna break loose pretty quickly in the league though like let's say Florida wins tonight they're a team of interest clearly what do they do? Like I actually think it'd be kind of cooler

if Marchand left and it just the myth like it just this legend of South Beach where this guy shows up for three months wins wins a cup, maybe a cons might then gets out of there. They can't afford him. He's going to make so much more money going elsewhere. There's no way he can justify taking that big of a discount to a place where he doesn't really have roots. Right, exactly. You went there, you did it, you conquered it.

You'll go cash in for one more big one because he was underpaid on his last deal too. But I don't think he'll go to a junk team. I don't think he'll go to a junk one more big one because he was underpaid on his last deal too. I don't think he'll go to a junk team. I don't think he'll go to a junk team. No. Team that needs DNA changing. You think the Leafs are just a lock for him if he's... Let's say he whittles his list down to six competitive teams, quote unquote, and he goes

to all six of them and goes, no, but that's the truth. Like you said, he's going to go to a winning team's going to go to a winning team, whoever that is. I don't know who that is. Competitive team. Six competitive teams and none of them are Boston. Cause I guess that ship would have had to have sailed by now. And he goes, just pay me the most. I think the lease would just say, fine.

If you're telling me you're willing to come, we'll pay you the most. I would, I would bet that it's in the eights. Starts with an eight. Man, that's basically going to be like it's almost Marner's money just going to Marshand. Not quite. You could do like... If it's like, let's say it's 8.5, it's almost Marner's deal. It's just going to Brad Marshand. You could do like Marshand in the eights, Manjapaniani and the fours and there's your two players at 12 million 13 million that

you're essentially replacing Marner with all of them smaller guys now March and is not play small he doesn't play small yeah my Japan doesn't play small I'm just I just threw that name out there because I was like I wonder if tree would be that's the number around that Calgary yeah he's like a four million dollar player familiarity with Calgary just I was I was like, I wonder if Tree would be... That's the number he was in Calgary with. Yeah, he's like a $4 million player familiarity with Calgary. I was doing the board today with Dryden. About how the leaf numbers could look or just players? No, so the Marner number, right? We have to have a projection as far as his AAV goes and we have to have it on the board. And it's like, you hear people say 14 million. I'm like, we can't put 14 million on the board.

Because what if it comes in at like 12? Yeah. But then it's like, OK, it's a good conversation. Because what do we actually put on the board as a projection for Mitch Marner? Like in your heart of hearts, if you had to write that board. Yeah, I would probably say 12 and 1 half to 13 million. Like something like that. This is going to the Brad Richards like I get it he's a

fantastic player he's a high profile guy he's a Maple Leaf he's not returning. This is gonna put Gino Reda outside of Donnie Meehan's office looking for Brad Richards information to shame. Yeah well and Dreggs was on first up this morning saying he's he thinks it could play out Over time like it's not a July 1st. Well, I think that's the right thing to do for him for Marner Yeah, how could that possibly what? Yeah, you're gonna draw up more interest No, no, no, no, because if he signs July 1st at 1201 It looks like you couldn't wait to leave Toronto like they weren't

even in the conversation you had your mind made up a month ago at least if you drag it out of a couple weeks it's like yeah we were meddling we were circling give it a rest Frankie that's nonsense talk I know but it's like it's an optics what is our thing kindergarten just I can't believe you said that that's stupid like I understand understand we're saying but i don't think it matters in toronto anymore like i i think all marter marter being concerned about how people in toronto feel that ship is still the guys and i think it'd be shady what a great day

and that what are people mad about her pissed off about these yet i played here for a long time he was a great player is a uf a is going to sign somewhere else you have no right like you you don't like that he shunned the the trade request off that's in his contract yeah that's it like i don't people are not spent by don't fit my impression of why he would

take his time is not because of toronto it would just be him love in the spotlight of it like the whole league is gonna be focused on Mitch Marner like that's all it's gonna hold it it's gonna hold things up yes well that's so many teams waiting on Marner and then they're not gonna make decisions on other guys that's what will be intriguing is how much of it is is actually true and how much of it is the team knows you got gotta wait for whatever reason also could be about moving money like let's say it's vegas and a lot of

people are linking him to vegas vegas may tell them like we're signing you this is the number but you gotta wait because we gotta move people before we can sign you yeah like you can only go 10 over the cap in the off season where on july 1 they might not be able to do that they might might take them a little bit of time to move off a player or two and you know reshape their team due to a basically open up the opportunity for them to sign Marner um but yeah i mean there could be a lot of different things in play but you know

dreg said it like there's a chance this thing plays out for a while like he's going do tours and he's gonna go to different places and that happens it's gonna be a circus everywhere he goes it is it is like and you know you know the market that'll be focused on it more than any of the other markets that he's going to see Toronto yes like it'll be okay today's in Vegas tomorrow he's in Anaheim the next day he's in Columbus and people in Toronto are gonna be following it The people down there the media will be like sorry. What are we doing? There'll be a Marner chopper

Toronto though like down there following them. I'm gonna edit my tweet I don't think two weeks maybe a couple days wait a couple days to make the decision So it doesn't look like you scurry and it's a big life decision. Why it for two weeks. Yes He has the right to do that. Can I do that? Is that allowed? No, it's it's crazy. It's crazy It's tunnel vision reporting like hey, it's been reported John on vision thinking this guy's got he's he's an owl Do you realize that I just don't understand the train of thought to think that oh if he if he signs in two weeks Or he waits if he signs right away. he's scurried out of town. He's already announced that he's leaving.

What the hell does it matter when he does it? He technically hasn't announced anything, but I hear what you're saying. Tunnel vision. All right, we'll come back with more on this. Both of you. Noodle's coming up, confirmed with an eye of the owls with us all afternoon.

Overdrive continues, TSN 1050 and on TSN 4. All right, confirmed with an eye in confirmed the night about ten minutes noodles coming up He's down in Florida ahead of game six tonight and Yeah, we get the Jays in action tonight we got the travelers coming up you guys see The groupings are out because it's one of these elevated events there's only two guys that go out at the time and They have Scottie Scheffler I

believe playing with JJ Spahn which is interesting. JJ Spahn getting the Scottie Scheffler treatment but at 10 35 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday Rory McIlroy and Keegan Bradley going out. So the presumed face of the Ryder Cup with the captain of the American Ryder Cup, that'll be an interesting crowd man and they love Keegan like he's a he's a New England guy. Past champion. And he's one of the travelers before and Rory I mean is he does he intend on sticking around for four days does he want to be there? I think it's an elevated event he has to. Yeah I believe so there might be one of those

you know top 50 cuts or something like that although they might only do that with like three or four of them. It may be a scenario where you actually have to play four rounds. Isn't that amazing that like it's actually a debate whether or not McElroy even wants to play? Like does he want to play the four rounds or would he prefer to just go home? Judging by the the body language and what he said recently he probably wants to just get out. I'm almost surprised he didn't pull the shoe. I'm surprised too, like I'll see you guys in a month. I'll see you at the British. Exactly I'm out of here. I'll see you at the Scottish and the British. That's when I'll see you next. All right, confirmed coming up, noodles coming up,

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