OverDrive - OverDrive - March 7, 2025 - Hour 2

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jamie McLennan and Dave Feschuk for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston joins to discuss the Maple Leafs' additions at the NHL Trade Deadline, Mikko Rantanen's deal to the Stars and his departure from Carolina. Maple Leafs General Manager Brad Treliving joins to discuss the Maple Leafs' moves, acquiring Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo to the team and the team's depth on the roster.

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He might fall asleep on us. I felt bad for him. I mean, if they're asking him to crunch numbers, he's like, how long I've been up for. Yeah. What is it? So 50% retention on Scott Lotton and 15% on Brandon Carlo. It doesn't matter. 15 is still a bargain. Cause I have to get them for under 4 million. That gets him in at 3.48. Okay. So like about that, let's call it 3.5, 3.5 for Brandon Carlo, but still three and a half for this year in the following two years Fantastic and you got McCabe's deal which will be kicking in right or I guess it already has

Tanev Ekman Larson locked in Riley locked in like you got five defensemen locked in but you know We can do the math on what all five of them are making it's very reasonable Yes, and the caps going up like that the point being is you get a number of look we'll call it a number four regardless of where you fit you think he fits in your lineup a clear-cut number four defenseman for under four million three and a half million that's a win. Do the math.

Exactly and it puts I think Ekman Larson likely into the third pairing which is where he always should have been. That's where he should be. That's where he was in Florida. Like it was him and Kulikov on the third pairing. Like that's what you want. A guy he's capable of moving up if need be. But ideally give me 14-15 minutes on the third pairing. Be a veteran guy. Play with some grit. A little bit of size. That's what they're looking for. So yeah and you know he said it. Ideally're bringing guys with terms Scott Lawton's got another year and Carlos got two more so you made deals that were not pure rentals I think that's important to point out yeah they were hockey deals and they help your team and they addressed a need and I

liked how he also said like you can't react to everybody or like you're trying to take care of your own house okay go okay that team did that so we got to do this because who knows if you're gonna to play them. Like that's the other thing. There's no guarantee that you're going to play Tampa or Florida. You may end up winning the division and playing the Rangers or Ottawa or something like that. And those team guys beat the hell out of each other. Then you move on to one of them. Like to me, I, I think you just worry about what you can control. And, you know, I think there were good moves. They were shrewd moves.

Yes. You have to give up players, but you didn't give up. I mean, the first rounders. Yes. Well, they've been flying out the window for a long time. You know, you might end up in the Pittsburgh situation at some point, but you have to go all in right now. Like, I mean, you have to, with in right now like I mean you have with

reason based on where guys are with this core Mitch Marner is on an expiring contract the virus is on an expiring contract you've got Austin in his prime Willie in his prime and Morgan Riley is would you call it prime close to it on the north end of it 30 yeah he's not over the hill exactly well we'll see where i think let's see if carlick and rejuvenate he's having a rough year yet that's no doubt about it and i might have to go both ways yet by carlo has has not had his best game the last year so also but i think you're hoping for a rich other get out

get into a new place in the bull feed off each other and i think that could happen here but i think you know that we frankly defended you know morgan pretty well there in the previous segment talking about how he has had instability back there and I know a lot of fans like I you can really sense the fan base is like do we really have to blame Morgan Riley's partners for all of Morgan Riley's problems? Like he is the highest paid guy in your blue line core. Maybe he can take a little bit more of the load. Maybe he can take a little more of the responsibility. I think there's also the added complication, guys,

of the fact that Craig Brubbe's talked about it. He's tried to take some of the risk out of Morgan Reilly's game. I think any time you do that to a guy with offensive instincts who likes to jump into the rush, I think you put a little indecision into his brain. And you can see that in Morgan's game this year. And the other thing, too, is we always look at just the stats.

And we had Gio on. When was Gio on with us? Last week? Mark Girodano? Yeah a couple weeks ago, yeah. Let's not forget they've gone to the five-man power play so there's no free points in the power play. That's right. Second assists for Morgan where he distributes it to Mitch and Mitch passes it to John or to Austin and hey I got a second. You get 12-15 extra points in the power play there all of a sudden Yeah, he's not having that bad of a season look at his points per game look at that But you got to look at the bigger picture when you've got a five forward power play, and he's not back there Now you got a good five on five points. Yeah, and they're they're leaner. They're very they're a lot leaner

So you know there is a trickle-down effect. I Just I hope that it stabilizes him to a point where his confidence comes back and you know there's a pull give-and-take there where you got a stabilizer and a guy can go absolutely because it was like Morgan's got to be better he hasn't had a great season he's got to be better and you know you put him with I would presume you put him with Brandon Carlo you could have a cave with Tanavan Ekman Larsson you got to find out who he's playing with. Is it Benoit? Is it going to be Myers? I'm not sure what they're going to do there. Probably be a rotation. Probably a rotation and they'll

find out who deserves it. Yeah. You know, come playoff time and there's always, in the playoffs, generally the sixth and seventh guy, there's turnover. There's guys that come and go. We've got a lot of minutes. But we heard Austin Matthews a couple days ago, you know, intimate that he would like to see some action and other teams are doing something. What I think the team did again today was put a spotlight on those guys and say, you want to help?

Here you go. You know, there's Scott Lotton's coming in and Brandon Carlos coming in. And guess what? If we win or lose, it's not because of those two guys. It's still going to be because of you guys. Right right it's paying all the money to you're getting all the money you're the best players so when all the dust settles on this and everyone's gonna react one way or the other at the end of the day it's still

gonna be Matthews Marner Nylander Tavares can they get the job done yeah can they get the job done come playoff time? Everything else, Tan of arriving, Anthony Stollars here, Ekman Larsen, all good players, all good moves. I think a better team today than they were at the end of last season, I think for playoff success. I think if you look at the way that they're built now, I think they've got a better kind of savvy playoff success type blueprint here and the ability to do something they never do which is finish with that first seed have an inferior opponent in the first

round and have home ice throughout like it's right there on a platter for you but at the end of the day it's gonna be the same guys that either do it or don't do it yeah and we're not gonna look back on this if they lose in the first round and say well Scott they shouldn't have got Scott Lawton yeah it's probably gonna be where the hell was Austin Matthews? Yeah. Did he show up? What is Mitch Marner doing?

Did he show up? And more importantly maybe, where is Anthony Stolars? Because there's a lot of heavy lifting for the goaltenders. With Bob and Vasilevsky down in Florida. That's the thing, I had this argument on our goalie panel and I didn't bring this up because it's not really, so everyone's like, Ebbenton needed to get a goalie, Ebbenton needed to get a goalie, and are they comfortable in that? And I'm saying, well, at least Ebbenton knows what they have.

And then Marty Biron's like, I'm so comfortable with the Leafs goaltending. And I'm like, yeah, so am I in the regular season. But Anthony Stollars has zero starts in the playoffs. He has one appearance. And Joseph Wall has four starts in the playoffs. He has one appearance and Joseph Wall has four starts in the playoffs. So there would be extreme pressure on that goaltending tandem. Whoever starts and we believe it's going to be Stolarz because it's just untarnished territory. It doesn't mean they're not a fantastic tandem. It doesn't mean that you have trust in them

with what they've done this body of work this season because they've been great. It's just we don't know. We know what Bob has done because we watched him lift the Stanley Cup last year. We know what Vasilevsky has done. We know what Shosturkin is capable of and whoever else is going to be. All Mark has games in the playoffs and starts. These guys don't. Yeah.

So that, you know, this is going to be an ongoing conversation until it's not. Because you just don't know. I don't know. I don't have a crystal ball and go, hey, Stolars is going to be unbelievable and he's going to win, you know, 12 games in the playoffs or whatever. You name it, 14 games in the playoffs. He hasn't won one yet because we don't know. So what do you think Mitch Marner is thinking today with this Miko Ranton situation where

he ends up going to Dallas in the end, eight year deal, $12 million per, that's his cap hit. Yeah. 12 million per, he just leaped over William Nylander, 500 grand more than Willie every year. Yeah. That's the marketplace. That's what he should do.

That's what the league is telling you Mitch Marner should make is 12 million per. Well if I'm speaking for Mitch Marner and I'm his agent I'm saying no no no. Like if Mitch Marner goes where Mico Rantini did not want to go, chose not to go, which is the open market free agency, 12 million will probably be the floor. Right? Like the idea of being... On a good team? On a winning team?

Well, no. Exactly. No. Who said that? But a paying team. But that's an important distinction. Absolutely. If it's simply, I want to get the most money I can get, then he'll get more than 12 million.

You're right. And I would, I would, my guess is if he's in Toronto, he'll get more than 12 million, because that's the way the Leafs operate. But, Rantonin, I think, was told by Colorado and then Carolina and now Dallas, you're a 12 million dollar player. Maybe 12-5 in Colorado, maybe 12-7-5 in Carolina. If you want to win. If you want to win and you want to play on these teams and you want to be a part of our program, this is what you can take. And Rantonin decided, I'll take it. Yeah, that's but that is like don't the Leafs look at that and say well we have to apply the

same logic here. You should. How could all these other teams that win all the time say well this is how we operate but right we're gonna do it differently. Why start now? Well but you're right Dave because you have to at some point. Yeah. You made the mistake every other time you negotiated i just had some point you got a hold the line i'd like to think you'd like to think i'm not holding my breath don't get me wrong i think it's not what you go this is what we have for you you want to stay you you're familiar with the

situation you want to stay home here's eight years here's all of that type of stuff here's the number we're gonna make it work if you can't live with that number, you go test free agency. It might be the Stamco situation because- That's the last minute. But Stamco's went, right?

Stamco's the first time took all the meetings, didn't he? Yeah, he did. He took the meetings. Oh yeah, Canadian Sire and all the endorsements he was gonna get. You know what's standing outside, I think it was Newport's offices. And Stamkos did the gauntlet.

And then he called Julian, or no, he called, he called Iserman. That wasn't even Julian Brizba. He called Iserman back and said, I'm staying. So we don't know what that scenario is. But Iserman and Tampa said, here's it. This is the number. You want to stay? This is what it looks like.

You don't? We're going to move on. Julian Brizba moved on from Stephen Stamkos. And he said, I got Jake Gensel. We were talking off air. Colorado said, Rantinen? No. Well, they're a better team on paper now,

because they got three different players. And moving away moving Nelson. They bring Nelson in, they bring coil in, they get in the nature of that nature's nature's in. Right. And those guys added up. What do they add up? Just, just about 13 million.

Yeah. What ran to them would have gotten. So the Toronto model, whatever they do in the playoffs, they they're, they're going to have cap space to go, we either can plug and play that player again, or we will do the Colorado, we will do the Carolina and go, fine, you'll move on, we'll use that cap space to grab player X. Sam Bennett's out there, whoever. That's where I think the Leafs are in the driver's seat also with the moves that they made today. The Carlo one in particular. Like iflo steps in and is a a player of impact for this team and he has been

that at times in boston right now boston decided to move off him and you do have to wonder what is the valuation there why would they move off a twenty eight-year-old defenseman with term right obviously they saw something or they decided we're gonna we're gonna move off this player right the least like in the least bring a in but what the least now have is five veteran defensemen locked in on term both their goalie sign Austin Matthews William Nylander locked in right like that regardless of anything else is solidified in in in

playing Max Domi and Max Domi and Cali yarn croaker well yeah I mean you got a roster obviously you have other good David Camp's got another year left I and Max Domey. And Cali Yarncrok. Well yeah, I mean, you gotta fill your roster. Obviously you have other good, David Camp's got another year left, I believe. But the point being is, you got Matthews and Nylander, you got five veteran defensemen and two goalies. Like that's kind of the spine of your team. Then you gotta determine what else you wanna do.

Chris Johnson, our TSN Hockey Insider, joining us here in studio. So we've been talking about how Marner is possibly gonna respond to Miko Rantinen. And Rantinen deciding to sign for eight years at $12 million. Now that means Mitch is, if he goes to free agency, he's the only guy that's at that level.

I mean, Sam Bennett could get there, there's other players. But do you see a link at all Marner, Rantinen, the fact that Rantinen's making 12 in the future, should that have any bearing on the evaluation of how Marner thinks this will play out or how the Leafs believe it should play out? It really depends if that conversation is happening on June 1st when it's just Toronto that can deal with them

or it's happening on July 1st when you've got the entire market. And you know my impression right now is that Mitch Marner is more than willing to go to market. And if he gets to the true open market, I mean think of our sport, it does not happen too often right? A guy in his prime, it looks like he's gonna have a hundred plus point season, we'll see what's to come. Maybe he's coming off a great playoff soon. There's lots of outcomes here. He just had a great four nations tournament with Canada. I think the Rantanen number is less relevant if it's truly the whole field.

Now if you're the Toronto Maple Leafs and you're having that conversation, of course. Mikko Rantanen's got better career numbers than Mitch Marner. He's more accomplished player just by the pure numbers. So that would be a fair comparable to bring up. But if Mitch is willing to use his leverage, which all... He's allowed to if he wants to. Sure. I'm not saying any of this is negative.

I just think it's a fact of where Mitch is at in his career that he's able to do that. I think that he can certainly surpass that. Depends where he signs too, right? Because there's a Dallas tax down on that amount. I mean, we know that Carolina offered Ratanin over a hundred million. So that's over 12 and a half times eight. He took less money than he turned down in Carolina, but it's a different sort of calculation because of the taxes and everything. So it's a long way to say this in a perfect world mitch marner probably earns a little less then ran in but it's not perfect in this is a supply and demand business

and right now mitch is in a tremendous but he was already in a great spot but he's even in a better spot now because there is only one mitch marner out there i think it was both ran in a marna hit the hitting the market you know some of the teams we bidding on the same guys mitch is right now one hundred percent the top free agent any entire nhl even if it doesn't go well in the next few weeks or month month or two here

i think he's in a huge position to swing big in terms of rand and when he was still a carolina hurricane we have any clarity on the leaves and how much they were actually showing interest in him a lot you know i think how much they were actually showing interest in him? A lot. You know, I think they were showing a lot of interest in him. In Ranen? In Miko Ranen. Yeah. With the presumption they try to sign him long term? Well, I think that they wanted to see what could happen. You know, even this whole Dallas thing, like the reason why today was so confusing from late last night till this morning, till when they finally get the deal done is because the Stars weren't sure they could sign them either,

until whenever, you know, early afternoon today. Teams like the Leafs didn't know, you know, what Mikko Randen wants for sure. I think that there's been some general indication in the industry that Randen liked the idea of playing in cities, you know, that the Leafs could satisfy some of his criteria. Obviously a competitive team, great market.

So the Leafs were 100% over many days in conversations on again, off again, I believe with the hurricanes to see if they could do something on Rantan. I think there's different permutations of what that might look like. And you know, when it got down to today, it sounded like Carolina wanted NICE, they wanted at least the first, they wanted a prospect, like it was going to be a big package. And if you're the Leafs in that, you look at it and you go, okay, so we lose Knives in the deal. I think everyone would say that's probably fair. Rantinin's an upgrade. That's Logan Stancovin. Right. Equivalent. And let's say you sign Rantinin. Just, we're game-theoring this out, but this is what the

Leafs front office had to do. So then you've got, you know, you've got your Rantinin, but Marner probably leaves then as a free agent, like 100%. So you've lost Nige, you've lost Marner to get ranting in. Now maybe you're ahead then. That's what probably we got to debate in the bars and the coffee shops now. But that was the decision the Leafs faced and they just weren't interested in going there when push came to show up today. And this has been a fascinating like let's let's

hope this is the beginning of a new era in the NHL we got the cap going up we got teams doing things we've never done before you know the Leafs have had to think about a life without Mitch Marner now because he's got a no move clause and as I mentioned he's perfectly poised right now to to walk away from the team not because he doesn't like it here and it's nothing there's no drama this could just be about dollars and cents for Mitch when push comes to shove. If you're Eric Tulsky, the GM in Carolina, how do you how do you justify what you just went through?

Well I think his owner is very involved with what he does so you know Dave the way I look at that is you're always managing up in business. I mean he's probably had to manage a lot of emotional moments behind the scenes there, but I think these decisions were made in lockstep, so I don't think he has to justify it internally. Now externally, the way you justify it is we want to be an organization that's going to take risks, that's going to 100% pursue winning at all costs. Julian Briesbough kind of had a point like this when he gave up the two firsts and made the trade he made the other day is you

know Carolina wants to be a team that's taking big swings and and that the deal they made for Ratanen on January 24th was a huge risk and obviously to some degree like I think they've mitigated it with the return they get here but it's hard to sit here and argue they have a better chance to win the cup this season. Now, longer term, maybe this worked out well. Keep in mind, Martin Aitches was only signed next year. They already had a tough contract negotiation with him. He was the real jewel they gave up in the original trade, so he wasn't a long-term hurricane necessarily either. And so what they've done, you've got Stan Kovan, five years of team control

after this, good young player, two more firsts, two thirds. I mean, let's see how this this banks out. The industry, you're right though, Dave, is there's people laughing at them, scoffing at the set of decisions. But I think there's a world you can justify, but the harder thing right now, if you're selling hockey in Raleigh,

this team has been in the playoffs and won a series each of the last six years. It's hard to sit here and say they're going to win a Stanley Cup in year seven of that. It might be a small step back to go ahead. They're a worse team today than they were yesterday. Right. On paper. Yeah.

That's really what it is. Now, you're right. But would it have been better, and I'm sorry to interrupt, but Ratanen was not performing there. He was not comfortable there. I understand, but it was i i i always find it's tough like this is a guy who was shocked with the trade it's a new environment it's rare that a guy hits the ground really definitely in dallas

i guess dallas taking a gamble at all the like what he shows up and doesn't know that i mean that's why i didn't see it yes but no not everything what you said how i guess now the second time he's trades are old hat for me but it is it just I I I think Carolina you're right with time this this trade for them and they've got cap space to spend and all of that you they could come out on top but right now where we're talking about Eastern arms race they are a notch below it now because of the moves that they made. That's the way I look at it because ranting in could have turned it on,

you know, at some point into the playoffs. He knows we know what he does. We don't know Stan Kovan and we don't, you know, to me on paper, they're a worse team and they've taken a notch down to the point where I think somebody might catch. Well, that's the thing. Do you know what's weird when you look at it too and like sometimes it seems that when the trade deadline don't win anything

that really matters that exact you know two months but the metropolitan division is kind of a mess like new jersey obviously do with the hughes injury you know the rangers have been buying and selling all year me columbus great story but i don't think it seems a cup contender even washington like modest you get empty the billy today was played on sixteen that they can last three years like right But I don't think anyone sees them as a cup contender even Washington like modest, you know get Anthony Bavillier today He was played on six teams I think in the last three years like right that the arms race is really only happening in the Leaf side of the bracket

At least in the East and that's been the case for quite some time with these Florida teams in particular CJ great stuff, man Good seeing you you too. Sorry. I was a bit late. All good. There's Chris Johnston We got Brad truly been coming up the GM of the Maple Leafs. He'll join us next All right overdrive continues powered by FanDuel. Get Mike Johnson in here later this afternoon. We'll get to our best bets. Leafs in Colorado tomorrow. Mark Masters was doing hits outside this morning

in Colorado. Yeah. And I didn't quite understand why he was doing that. Had the gloves on, looked cool. It looked very, very uncomfortable. Where did he want him to do it? How about in the hallway of the hotel? Why couldn't he be in the hotel room or something like that?

Nice backdrop though, hey. Was that what it was? It was the backdrop? It was Harry and Lloyd. He wanted the rink in the background. You're right. I gotcha. He could have done it from the lobby of the hotel and nobody would have cared.

That's the thing. Why does he have to be at the rink? Like he's out there, like clare hanna was on i think kenzie was on they were both at ranks and it's very early in denver again he was at the rink and that the habs were even in town right at the habs practice for exactly which i guess she could have been outside but masters was like i don't know what if you're in denver go down to the pfk there's a lot of change right around the corner from the west and do it from the parking lot and then

go in and have some mongolia beef maybe that's he doing where the leaf setup shop the war room of the bay orange chicken and Scott Lotton here's the GM of the Maple Leafs Brad sure living where were you all day tree what were you doing out there? Well, I would have liked to have been in the P.S. Chang's there with Noodle. We were hunkered down here at the hotel, so yeah, busy day. Absolutely. Well, let's go through the acquisitions. I guess we'll go in chronological order. You bring in Scott Lawton. He's an Oakville guy, he's got a year left on his deal after this, they retain 50% of the deal in terms of his cap hit.

Third line center, I know you guys obviously went out and acquired it, the whole city, the whole fan base have been talking about it for a long time. Why was it important to make this acquisition and why do you think Scott Laughton's the right guy for it? Well a number of things I think you know the first thing as you said I mean he's a Toronto kid and that's not the reason to bring him back here but I've been watching Scott since he was playing in Oshawa and the first thing that everybody talks about when it comes to Scott is just such a character guy. I remember him, like I said, in junior, he's the captain of his junior team.

You know, just the way people that have played with him, coached him, worked with him, just the highest level of character, very competitive guy. I think he just brings a lot of depth to the center-edge position. As you said, it's an area we've tried to look at for a while now. And, you know, even coming into this deadline, you saw, you know, there wasn't a lot of centers available. I think this is the first deadline in recent memory where there's a lot of teams going in the night before and two nights before the deadline where they could have gone either way in terms of declaring whether they were buying or selling. So trying to get a sense of what was going to be available

in the market and especially the Senate position, the Premier position. There's versatility in his game. He can kill penalties. He's got some bite to his game. So to me, there's not much not to like about Scott. And I can tell you, here's the guy who you know you listen to some of the words that were spoken about him in Philly

when he left there and the impact he had and you know it's an emotional day for him I mean this guy's been a flyer his whole career but he got emotional on the phone talking to him today coming home being Leaf, what it means to them. You know, so it was exciting to add them and I'm looking forward to seeing them join the group here tomorrow or tonight. So yeah, you guys in Colorado are playing the Avalanche tomorrow night. I made the mistake asking your head coach if he has an idea of what that game one roster will look like and the playoffs he shot me down pretty quickly last week.

And so we're taking it day by day. But you know, as a manager, you have to be thinking, okay, this is how we can piece it together. And then Craig will, I guess, take it from there. And as it currently stands, you got Austin, John Tavares, Scott Laudin, I'm guessing David Camp is your fourth line center. Like when you look at that four pack up the middle and now the options that

Could go to the wing. How do you feel about your depth today as we creep closer towards the playoffs up front? Well Brian you always greedy you always want more yeah, you know and so We were trying to navigate that but I you know to me the object was You know, you're trying to get as many good players as you can. I think we're a better team today than we were a day ago. I like our depth in the middle, but not just those four guys, the ability. I always think it's important to have seven centers, like seven guys that can play the middle.

It's such an important position. You're going to have injuries. Having guys that can move off the wall to the middle of such an important position. You're going to have injuries, you know, having guys that can, you know, move off the wall, um, to the middle of the ice is, is, is critical. And, you know, we've, we've got that now we've got, you know, and, and, and, and can do the different jobs, right? You know, we needed to take some, um, we needed to take a little bit of weight off guys on the penalty kill. Or I think Scott can help there.

Um, and in key situations, you know, some, can help there any key situations you know some defensive zone face-offs you know some of the heavy lifting their matchup wise so I like I said I like to look a bit better today better I like to look today than it's better than I did yesterday and as you said some versatility the guys can sort of move back and forth and And, you know, we still got 20, you know, 20 plus games to go and, and it's still a grind at the end of the year. So having that depth, I think is important. So you made the depth addition on the forward side, uh, Brad, and now you also

made a depth addition and more than that on the defensive side, what sort of was the defenseman market like and how did you end up arriving at Brandon Carlo? Well the market was you know it was it was it was a it was a tight market you know it was um as I said you know earlier trying to determine you know a who's in and who's out and who's available and then those premium positions not to put the wingers down but the center iceman and then those right shot D are hard to find. You could tell by the limited product the prices were as good on the sellers. When there's limited product, you can charge

where you want to charge and see if people want to buy. And Brandon's been a guy, obviously we've been aware of him and been a fan of this for a long time. I think he's been, and again, you talk to the Boston people, I think he's been a, maybe they, maybe, maybe they've had, they've had great success in Boston over his tenure there and maybe not the sexiest name, but I think he's been a big part of that success. Um, you know, again, in some of the guts of the game pieces, penalty kill, um, you know, he's a big man. He's got, he's long, he's

rangey, he's got great reach. Um, you know, he's hard around the blue paint. So, you know, I just thought adding another right shot D was important. And to handle some of those tough minutes. You know, we've seen Tani's been out here for a week or so and, you know, be able to distribute those minutes and have somebody that can handle, you know, handle some PK time. That was critical for us. So we like his size, we like his range. He's coming from a great program in Boston

where he's been a big part of it. And again, he was excited about it today. You know, it's a switch from, I said, I like the look of him already in the blue jersey then the black and gold thing he got off. So, but real good, you know, we were happy to get him. It was a grind, but we were happy to bring him on board. With Brad True Living, GM of the Leafs,

Leafs Afs tomorrow night. Now you look at it, you've been here for about a year and a half, two years. You have Morgan Reilly on term, Chris Tanev on term, Tanev on term Jake McCabe on term Brandon Carlo on term Oliver Ekman Larsen on term five veterans five guys with multiple years on their deals how beneficial is that for you as a GM to know that you have that locked that you don't have any rentals currently in terms of those top five defensemen for you what does that open up for you in the future knowing that you guys have all these

players locked in well it's important and especially today listen I and I've said it publicly before I you know I prefer when you're when you're outstanding assets and listen I we were shopping in the rental market meeting up to the deadline We were shopping into the last two days But you always prefer, you know You pay a price and and you don't like to see a walk out the door, you know a few months later. So The fact that we've got you know an experienced blue line, you know One of the things when we came in here,

we wanted to add some length to the blue line. I think there's lots of versatility there. You've got some guys, some lefties that can play on the right. It's a veteran group. They all kind of do some different jobs. I think when we, a lot of time we put into looking at how potential pairings would go and speaking a lot with, with chief. And I think you, you

know, you've got buck movers, you got, you got some guys that can defend hard. So, but having that cost certainty and having those defensemen, you know, especially, you know, the big thing with, with Tern is we're, we're living in a rising cap era. And so when you can get those numbers locked in, the only day more difficult than the deadline day is July 1st. And so when you're not out there shopping for defense and shopping for veteran defense

and shopping for right shot defencemen on July 1. That was a big part of what we tried to accomplish here today and like I said, excited about that group. Trey, in your press conference you talked about the human element, right guys that are going out, you thanked guys for their service with the

organization. Now that you get through the deadline, do you address the troops? You go into the room and have a conversation, hey, this is what we're doing, now we're trying to continue to build the program for something special? Or do you allow Chief to have that conversation, or is it a combination of both of you? Yeah, I'll go down there tomorrow, like the way we were set up here today, I was at the hotel when the guys were skating. But yeah, I try

to limit my time down there. They don't need to see me down there a whole lot. But I'm going to talk to them tomorrow. This is our group now. I felt the group, it was my responsibility to add to the group. They deserve it. I thought we had areas that we needed to upgrade in. Like I said, you're always greedy, you always want more. You never know how it's going to flow, but this is the group that we're gonna jump into the fight with here starting tomorrow night. And I think there's, as you know, Noodles,

the other part of it is, the team, the you know you the deadline the deadline of the difficult time to every you know everybody sort of wonder as a player we lose sight of that he was part of it i know uh... you know uh... you guys do such great job of his you know i think that is not much coverage of the uh... that might have been here all day, we're as tired as you are. Uncle, we had a TV on like uncle.

But the other part of it is, you know, as exciting as it is, and that's part of our job. We all come up for it, this isn't something that we should feel sorry for, but a lot of guys get uprooted today. Like what guys are getting on planes away from families and all those things. And again, not asking for anybody to feel sorry for them. But I think it's important that we understand that too. So today we're excited about bringing a couple good players in. But we said goodbye to some good guys today. They're packing up their stuff and jumping on the bird.

And their life kind of got turned on its ears. So I think it's important that things need to be handled the right way. Two good young players, Fraser Minton, who I think is going to be a terrific NHL player, and Nikita Grvenkin, who we got to see in the Leafs uniform here throughout the year. Those are tough. But when you're looking to add your team, you've got to give to get. But I'll go into more on those. And you always want to give the guys something.

I think as you're going out there, the guys aren't stupid. They're looking around them and seeing where the competition is at. So you've got to be focused on not just doing something that do something but we try to you know kind of be focused and disciplined on attacking some areas that we thought we need to attack but you always feel a little better when you can give the guys a little help the rest of the way. Well you guys have 20 games left to go and a few games left against Florida a game against Tampa you know your two points left against Florida, a game against Tampa, you know, your two points

back in Florida with a game in hand, that top seed in the Atlantic, that's a pretty valuable spot and I know you're aware of that so we'll see where you guys take it from here Brad but I know it's been a busy day and congrats on the moves you made and we appreciate you taking time for us. We wish you nothing but success down the road. Thank you for this. All right guys, good job. There's Brad Trillip in the GM of the Maple Leafs and yeah we'll see. He's as tired as us. That's it. Well you're up all last and

you're on the West Coast to an extent. You're in Denver. Keep in mind like he's a guy that is relentless on the phone. Like, so guaranteed those conversations were deep into the night. Last night, early in the morning today, you mentioned he's two hours earlier so he's probably up at 5 a.m. making calls out east to 7 a.m. to GM's that are already in their office. Like, it's a long grueling time. So I'm sure you'll sleep well tonight and then back at it tomorrow and that's a long grueling time. So I'm sure you'll sleep well tonight and then back at it tomorrow. And that's a juggernaut there waiting. It was waiting for you tomorrow.

That's the thing, multiple guys are gonna show up. Like Brock Nelson will be there. I would assume Charlie Coyle will be there for Colorado. And it sounds like Lawton and- Coyle's gonna fly out with Carlo. With Carlo. Yeah, the two of them, Coyle and Carlo, will fly in probably together, I guess.

Well, maybe not. I think it's private bird, private bird. You think so? I think so. You go fly like Boston down in Tampa though. That's what's like Boston's got the lightning tomorrow night. Yeah. So you're right. So they're flying in from different cities, but I don't think it's like who's flying out that like, okay, so Colorado and the Leafs both be like, why don't we split a private Bert? Okay, we pick one up get both guys here. We'll split it like it's that allowed and Bob I don't know what the the protocol is but it's didn't Mitch Marner and Austin fly back together from yeah

You know, yeah, but they're teammates but they these guys are gonna teammates that are playing against well They were flying Edmonton was flying to back to Philly, right? And it was right it was gonna be like McDavid and Konekne and John Tortorella. He didn't wanna be on the bird, naturally. Why would he? Of course, he's grouchy about it. John Tortorella.

These organizations, I still think it's a great story that Craig Conroy flew down to pick up Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. I think that the story is well documented like the private bird down flew down and and met them and brought them back to Calgary like that's just it's a touch of class yes it costs money but it's trying to show hey you're an important part of the organization moving forward. The Leafs you know what they deep pocket they've got their own planes. Oh yeah they'll make sure the guys are going to be there. I hear you on that.

It's not a ticket in row three on Sunwing or what's that, Southwest, Jet Blue. Sunwing's the one that's had an issue with people down there. Mexico, Dominican. I'm not throwing any in there. They're not paying 75 bucks to check their hockey back. They'll be there. paying 75 bucks to check their hockey back. Yeah, exactly. They'll be there. But yeah, okay. It's gonna be an emotional night, you know, for sure, for a lot of these teams. For every team. Every team in the league, for the most part, got involved in one way or the other. Is there somebody that made zero moves? Did Utah do anything? I think Utah. I never heard Utah. I think Utah made like a move at the last. Now they extended Vamalka who was out there in trade rumors as a goaltender.

I swear I thought they made like a bit piece move or something like that. Did Calgary end up making a move? I don't think Calgary did their move. Like they did the Frost and Farabee too. Yeah I don't think, is there a team, that's what we should have. I think there's a handful of teams that did Nothing Vegas the Vegas do anything that is what is surprising Montreal Vegas is Generally the team that makes the most or make some sort of a move and they didn't really do that

Alright Mike Johnson will join us get him to grade the Canadian teams you know who he thinks came out on top with them, you know, all the action that took place today. And we'll continue with, you know, where the Leafs go from here and where the other Canadian teams go from here. There's a lot of action on Trade Center today. Overdrive continues, TSN 1050 and on TSN 4. All right, it's time for you to tell us where Al's brother was hiding this week. Call us right now at 416-870-1050. 416-870-1050. The first caller through with the correct location wins a pair of tickets to see the Leafs play the Ottawa Senators. Dylan Cousins will be in the lineup and Fabian Zetelin your boy

noodles. My boy. On March 15. Another chance to find Al's brother and win-leave ticket starts next week, right here on Overdrive, brought to you by McAlpine Ford in Aurora, our family, the Ford family and you. 416-870-1050. First one in gets to chat with Doogie and win a pair of tickets,

if you know where else brother's been hiding all week. All right, Mike Johnson coming up. We'll recap our chat with Brad Treeliving and recap what was a really wild day in the end, at Trade Center 2025. Also, Vladik Rowe Jr. sneaks in there with his details on what he's looking for in terms of contracts. We might have to get into that conversation as well.

Overdrive continues, TSN 1050 and on the TSN app. Mail It In Friday is brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree, a side, and a drink, and you'll get it all in 20 minutes or less. A fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch at your local Boston Pizza. All new, all Canadian.

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