OverDrive - Pang on the Oilers' goaltending outlook, Binnington's role and the Maple Leafs looking for positives

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

NHL on TNT Analyst Darren Pang joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NHL, the perspective of the Maple Leafs' team problems, the Oilers' goaltending and defensive issues, Stuart Skinner's performances, Jordan Binnington owning the number one spot, the Avalanche at the top of the league and more.

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We're joined by our good friend from the NHL on T&T. Here's Darren Pang, joining us here in the Maple Toyota Hotline. Hey, Pang, or how you doing? Well, this is for, this is for O'Dog, this for Mojo. We need Mojo. See, if you need Mojo, you hit these mere irons. That's how you get Mojo, my friend. You know what I mean?

You know what I mean, buddy? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I see you got those T4 box behind you there, O'Dog. I saw that. That's why I thought I was inspired to have my clubs there for you. I can take you guys up a little bit. Around here.

Lice. Darren, around here, we play real golf clubs called Taylor Made. I know you do. That's all Canadian is. That's like a Sherwood PMP in Canada, buddy. I know that very well. Yeah, you get those at gas stations, man. You can.

You love it. You got to love it, Payne. A lot of positivity up here. How are you guys? How are you guys going to, you know, everybody in Columbus, you're right about the cannon, they're going to be, everybody's back home. It's going to be a real raucous crowd because you've got I mean, American Thanksgiving is a huge holiday.

Families get together. Everybody's coming in all this week. Kids are out of school. And there's going to be some life in that building. So you're right. You don't want to be here. And if you're a Maple Leaf fan, you don't want to be hearing that cannon go off too many times.

And also, I mean, I'm looking at the standings at the bottom of the east. And I've got to be honest with you. Sometimes when you're fixated on, you know, your own team or your own games coming up, I've got a TNT game on Friday, and it's the Rangers in Boston. So I've been watching that a little, you know, those two teams of the last couple of days. And then I was scrolling down. And I was scrolling down to see the standings. And then I was scrolling down and down and I was like, oh, wow, they're in the bottom.

And that is, you know, and not only in the bottom, but against Columbus, this is a, Columbus goes 27 points in Toronto State at 21, hypothetically. This is a huge game. I mean, it just is. You know, I know the team above them is Buffalo. You don't want to get too separated with the teams you're going to be chasing for a playoff spot. And that would be the stunning. humility of our game that is an unrelentless game that's unforgiving our game is and somehow

you've got to find a way to grab a hold of what you're losing onto faster than the team that's ahead of you and that's easier said than done but uh anyway that's going to this is going to be a heck of a game that i'm looking forward to it Darren what are those people around the rink saying you talk to a lot of different NHL people on a daily basis regarding the leaps is it like oh maybe just an off year or maybe they should blow it up? What kind of different things have you heard about what the Leafs are up to? Well, I mean, I think

O'Dag, that when you watch the team, they're you know, with the injuries to Austin and, you know, when you look at the top six or top nine, O'Dag, it's, I mean, it's not a big, burly team that if you want to play the game down

low that Chief loves to play and they did, you know, Sometimes I see glimpses of the team and I go, whoa, that's a good hockey team. Where they're wearing down the opposition, they're keeping it down low. And they're making that little goal line to the slot play that not very many teams can do. And it takes a certain amount of discipline to not cheat and, you know, to not send a hopeful, wishful play in the slot when you've got no chance of making that play. And then it goes the other way. That's what drives Chief Nuts as a head coach.

So to have that discipline to play that way for an entire 60 minutes is hard. I watch the St. Louis Blues do it, and it's hard work. It's hard hockey. So what do they say about the team? Well, some nights they say that that's a real good, heavy team to play against. And some nights, and some nights they say, whoof, they go away rather meekly into the night. And I think that's not the good thing to hear if you want to, you know,

if you're talking about your team. So, you know, I watched them, and I just think they're in a bit of a, you know, a bit of a pattern right now. Who are they and what are they? And are they really good enough to be. to be putting that much pressure on them right now because some nights I look at the lineup and I'm like, that's not a, it's not your playoff team.

And then, you know, some nights when you see Austin back and you see Nyes back, well, then that balances things out. And when you see Nielander going and you see Taviris going, well, that's five. That's good hockey players. But then you need the other group to be able to raise the level of play too when they're not on the ice. So I guess my question would be, how deep are they?

I think that's a legitimate question. You know, and I think we've seen that with some of the injuries that have happened. How many guys can step up and not play a bottom six role, but how many guys you have in your system that can come up and play a top nine role? And not too many teams do, and that's around our league. It's not like everybody's full of depth of high-end players. Maybe they've got good drafts, maybe they've got good prospects, but they're not ready yet.

They're not in the NHL yet. And if they haven't drafted well and you haven't seen that pipeline and that cupboard full, boy, that's a, it can be kind of depressing, you know, looking and saying, well, who's going to replace this? Who's going to be able to come up and do it? I've seen Ethan Cowan a couple of times. I've seen him play, and, you know, he's a young player that sometimes can make a play in small areas when the pressure's on.

And sometimes you go, he needs a little bit more time. So maybe not quite, you know, maybe not the quite the player that he's going to be in maybe two or three years. And maybe there are no players that can step up and do that in Toronto. And not just Toronto, you guys. It's all over the league. We're a little thin, I think, right now in terms of depth. And still in depth.

A lot of teams, there's going to be more teams added into the future. That's a good idea. Yeah, you get the 34, 36 teams in a bunch of injuries. Then who are you filling those? No, you're talking about the American Hockey League when you add two more teams. Seriously, there'll be three or four good players on every team, and the product will be crap. I'm sorry.

It's just ridiculous to add two more teams. Yeah, it's happening, though. It feels like it's inevitable. It's going to take place. And I agree with you, and there's injuries everywhere, and it's a condensed schedule, and with the Olympics back, and the World Cup every two years. and more games being added.

I think injuries and load management and stuff. Now you're bringing me down, you guys. I know. It's a reality. It's a reality. I came on this show to get a pick-me-up, you know? Okay. Let's do that.

Let's talk about the Edmonton Oilers. Let's talk about Edmonton. We'll really get you fired up, panger. Because, man, they got pumped again last night by Dallas, and Skinner got like a mercy pole. The Oilers were asleep. They were lifeless. They had nothing.

I don't think it was Skinner's fault. but he gave up four goals on like eight shots. He got pulled. So I'm curious, you know, how you, what you read on the Oilers are. Like, is it just, you know, another cup hangover, even though they don't have the cup ring? Is it that they don't trust Skinner? And if that's the case, how do you eradicate that? Like, if you're running the Oilers, what would you do right now?

Well, you know, I think when I watch them play, I, again, I, I'm going to, add this because, and I'm sure it's been added before, but I think they missed Paul Coffie behind the bench. You know, I mean, there's been certain coaches that have come and gone, like I was just in Tampa Bay and Kuplas Jeff Lashel. He was an integral part of their coaching staff. You don't just replace those guys in a moment's notice, but what I did see with cough was when, when you know what hit the fan with that, he had a calmness about him. He had a way of telling the boys, get away from the iPad, let's talk hockey, let's watch

hockey, let's make a good first pass, and let's make a play. Right now, they don't look like a group. I'm not saying that Suey's not doing a good job. He's a good coach back there. But I just, I think that I think as a group, there's just no trust. It just seems like the, I don't know, the goalie doesn't trust the D. The D don't trust the forwards. The forwards don't trust the goalie.

And, you know, when that happens, we've all played a game. It just doesn't work. I mean, the goalie's not going to be able to stand on his head and spit out wooden knuckles. He's not that kind of wooden nickels. He's not that kind of goal. He's not Grant Fear in that net. He's a guy that has to trust what's in front of him. He has to play the angles, trust the back doors covered,

trust that if he makes a save that someone's going to tie up a stick in the rebound. He doesn't sprinkle in these superlative saves, you know, that the top end goalies can sprinkle in. And those are the facts. So if he's not going to be able to turn around the momentum or the loss of momentum in a hockey game with some save that's just unbelievable, then they've got to do something different in front of him. And so that's what I see with the Edmonton order.

I see a team right now that even though they're what, oh, they're only two points out of a wildcard spot and they're not playing very good hockey. They're playing awful hockey. I mean, can you imagine after that game last night, look at each other in the mirror, and we've been in those rooms, you guys, where you just, there's no yelling at somebody else.

There's no, it's just yourself. You look at yourself in the mirror and you say, what are we doing, and how can we get out of this and what are we going to do to get out of this? And that's what they're going to need. They're going to need that interruption to get out of it because right now they're not a very good hockey team. Darren, you mentioned goaltending.

I have a two-part goal team. tending question. I don't like two-part questions, but I feel like these are together. The average save percentage in the NHL right now is 897. I wonder why you think that is. That's the lowest it's been in like 20 years. Part two is what does Team Canada do about their goaltending with Jordan Bittington? Okay, part one and the save percentage is, I think it's a culmination of October, November hockey. I don't think teams defend very hard right now. I never thought they,

I thought October in the middle of November is kind of, it's always been kind of pawn hockey. Everybody's looking for the glorious two-on-one, heal-hiel-to-to-sosser, play one-timers, dot-to-dot. So I don't think the defending part of the game is very good. And I do believe early in the season that a lot of penalties get called that maybe aren't the type of penalties as we go along on this season get called.

You've got a lot of power plays. You've got a lot of danglers out there. You've got a top end guys that are hunting candy. And so for me, that's number one. Number two is how good is the depth of the goaltending? You know, if we're not going to play your top guy 70 games a year, can your second guy get you 24 to 28 points? It's kind of what you need to have.

Your second guy has to get you 14 wins or somewhere around there. So I haven't seen that. I've seen a bit of a drop-off in the backup goaltender as well. So I'm going to take those two things and throw them out there. Binnington, I like this question because I do like to answer it because, again, I go back to St. Louis right now, and they're not playing very good defending hockey. And when Jordan Binnington is in a position where the team isn't playing well, and I've seen this movie before, he tries to do a lot.

He tries to tie the game up one-one. He tries to make a backhand pass that's over some people. He tries. He tries. He cares. He's got a lot of passion for the game and for winning. But when they're not defending well in front of him, he, very similar to what's happened in Edmonton, he doesn't trust anybody around.

So now he's going to leave his short side post to take the backdoor play when really he shouldn't be doing that at all. He should be focused on the puck. What I'm saying is, should Biddington be Canada's goalie? Yes, he should be. The reason is team Canada defends. Team Canada will say you stop the puck, we'll take care of everything else. I mean, unless Kerry Price is rehabbing right now in a faraway land that I don't know about, and he's making a comeback, you know, it's where we're at.

And I think that Bennington, in a pressure cooker situation in Boston, showed what he was all about. He's just done that before. So he has that layer of confidence and swagger about. him that I think resonates with his teammates and he's just one of those guys. I don't think they're going to worry too much about it, about his same percentage, about where he's at because he's on a team right now mired in defending issues. And so he's just a part of that equation.

I don't see anybody that's taking it over for him right now. I mean, I saw that Wedgwood, I mentioned this on T&T last week. They asked me about a goalie. I said, Scott Wedgwood, you want a guy that's the hottest goalie that's from Canada? Scott Wedgwood is the hottest goalie from Canada. And I would, you know, I mean, he's got to be somewhere on that list. And I know that, you know, like, that's where it's at. He's having a heck of a season on a very, very good team so he could jump into an excellent Canadian team and feel that trust and feel the same kind of confidence that he has right now.

Darren has got added to the testing. Few other guys, right? Yeah, a few other guys. Matthew Schaefer get to added. Schaefer's on there. Man, he looks good. His GM was saying today, he changed the whole thing. Like the whole perception of the Islanders.

Because you've got spirit. He comes to the rink every day. Remember when we were young, you guys? We came to the rink every day. We didn't know any better. We're just full of life. And, you know, all those older players that were on our team, you know, maybe at the end of their career,

maybe they were, you know, afraid of getting traded or sent down. And they had all the pressure on them. And the young guys come in there, like, you know, hey, every, they're okay, boys, you know? And he's got it. He's got swagger. He's a game changer, too, Panger.

Like, he contributes offensively, defensively. He seems like he wants all the minutes in the world. And you just see everybody. He's literally, everyone's got a spark now. And they're a good team again all of a sudden. It's like, what the hell happened to the Islanders? That's how you know you got a special player and you drafted the right guy. Look at Bo Horvard.

Look at Boe right now. Yeah, he's alive. I mean, Bo is having a heck of a season right now. And, you know, I think they're all feeding off this young kid. And it's just great to me. And their head coach. It's showing some passion behind the bench. You know, I love it when Patrick Waugh shows something.

Remember that hit that happened just recently? It was the ranting it hit. Whether anybody likes the hit or doesn't like the hit or thinks that he might have been pushed a little bit, lost in balance, whatever. When your coach has that kind of fire, you can't do it all the time. But when you do, I think the players are feeding off that emotion and energy that I don't think Patrick has had the last couple of years. Pang, do you think Colorado might pull off? one of the like big sweeps in the league with like cup contender norris heart trophy

um rocket richard like it kind of looks that way where they might just have a clean sweep this year yeah that's a six point scotch game they get six for 12 and if you press them for 24 they got the whole umbrella oh dog you know what i mean oh that's a sweeper buddy that is a sweeper I mean, you know, so, yes, I think so. I think, I mean, I saw them the other night. They were here in Chicago. They'd won in Nashville. They didn't play very well.

Mackenzie Blackwood stood on his head made 35 saves, shot out, 3-0. They come to Chicago, back-to-back. They didn't play very well, but they managed their game well enough. And they got some great goaltending also from Scott Wedgwood. They didn't get much from, in fact, line for line. Jeff Blasho put, he put Conner, Badard's line, head-to-head with McKinnon's line. And he put Dick, Dickinson's line, he went up against the Brock Nelson line. I tell you what, Honor Bedard's line outchance them.

They, you know, so, but what, what McDavid, what McKinnon didn't do was chase the game. That's the maturity in this game right now. He didn't chase it and cheat it because it wasn't going. Well, he managed his shifts. He didn't lose them and didn't really win them, but he didn't, he didn't lose them entirely. You know what I mean? Do you know what I mean? Like, I think there's a maturity in their game right. now where they don't even like the way they've played the last little bit, but they've still come up with wins for one reason or another.

Yeah, that's a pretty good sign, man. They've lost one game. It's U.S. Thanksgiving. They've lost one time. It's just a remarkable. I think I feel pretty good about that. I think home ice almost feels like a lock at this point. We'll see. There's a lot of season

left. Positivity. There we go. We end it with some positivity, Pang. That's what we're looking for. And as always, we appreciate you doing this. Thank you. It's always my pleasure. There you is. You got it. You should.

Oh, don't. A little shot at you on the way out, Darren Pang. Joining us on the Maple Toyota hotline. Get in and go where adventures take you in a new 2025 Tacoma from Maple Toyota near Canada's Wonderland and the Maple Auto Mall. Visit Maple Toyota.com. It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas with Iheart the holidays. Non-stop Christmas music 24-7. All I want for Christmas.

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