OverDrive - Pronger on the Maple Leafs' playoff dynamic, the Oilers' series plunge and the Kings' elite strengths

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

Hockey H all of Famer and Stanley Cup Champion Chris Pronger joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Maple Leafs' mentality against the Senators, the Oilers declining performances and the Kings' excellence on the ice, the Canadiens down in the series against the Capitals and more.

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apply. Visit a Virgin Plus store or virginplus.ca for details. We're joined now by Hockey Hall of Famer Stanley Cup champ joining us on the Maple Toyota hotline. There he is. Chris Pronger. What's up, Prongs? Look at this guy. How's team overdrive? Oh, we're doing very well. Loving life like we do every day, Prongs. Loving life. As only you can. Absolutely.

And we were just talking about Matthews and Marner killing penalties, the amount of minutes they're getting shorthanded, and how that's actually been a change. Like prior to Barube showing up, Matthews never used to kill penalties. Marner always did. But it's been a bit of a discussion here, the idea that maybe you save them for five on five minutes, maybe you get them off the PK. I like this messaging, I like that they're placing importance on the specialty teams because they've been winning those battles.

Where do you stand on your best forwards in particular killing penalties? It's not only your best forwards, it's your smartest forwards. They know what they're trying to do, the systems that they're trying to do on, and the schemes that they're running on the power play, therefore they understand them on the penalty kill. They know the lanes that take away, you know, you look at Steve Iserman and the years leading up to their success. Who was killing penalties? Who was diving in front of an armageddon slap shot?

It's Steve Iserman. And I think what Chiefs trying to do is create that identity within this group that That you're watching your star players sacrifice their bodies jumping in front of shots doing what they want need and are willing to do to be successful and that Sets a tone in the temple for everybody else. Did you feel that obligation yourself as you know captain superstar like if I'm not gonna do it how can we expect everyone else to do it? Where did you stand on that? I love blocking shots. Look who my buddy was. I had to he was terrified. Damn I can't let this go on that uh... no idea i'd you know what i think just just understanding keeping them involved in the game especially if there's

one two three penalties in a row if you don't kill penalties you're sitting there for a long time you lose the flow of the game you get a little cold uh... if if you're involved your you're digging deeper into the bench as well, and I heard you talking prior to me coming on about getting equal number of minutes to everybody and things of that nature. Yes, you want to save your star players for key times, but who's to say that those penalty kills aren't the key moments in the game to stop a goal and,

and as Noodle's alluded to, be a threat and force the noodles alluded to be a threat and force the Powerplay to play a little defense when you do get turnovers and stops and you're able to go the other way Because you have those dynamic offensive weapons out there. They're able to create and ultimately try to score some goals, too Wrongs, you know if you're the Ottawa Senators now going home you're down to nothing But it's you know but it's your building. You feel like, okay, what do we need to do? So what have you seen from the Sens side? If you're in their shoes, what do you need to do to feel like, okay, we can get back

in the series and make it a series on home ice? Game one, while it looked like a blowout, in my opinion opinion was a little bit closer of a game than than the actual score Game two obviously overtime You know could have went either way Ottawa had some chances to Ultimately Toronto found a way to win I Think going home they have to understand they can't start looking big picture. They got a really Simplify it keep it simple and worry about that first period worry about second period but in order to be successful they have to get traffic and they have to get to

the middle of the ice Toronto's back end has done a really good job of clearing the front of the net for the most part and and allowing stollers to see if he sees the shot as you know at level, you should stop the puck. And I think Toronto versus Ottawa, Toronto's been able to really get some great A chances, really able to get inside the hash. When you're coming from outside the hash marks, you really only have one area to shoot the puck.

And so if you're Ottawa, you're trying to outside the hash marks, you really only have one area to shoot the puck. If you're Ottawa, you're trying to get the first goal, you're trying to play with the lead for a change, trying to play from the front. If you're able to do that, use that as momentum for the crowd and build with each excessive shift. Get that wave after wave mentality, get on the forecheck, start crashing and banging and just kind of let that momentum kind of fall off the cliff, if you will, and just start kind of rolling, get that snowball rolling down the hill.

With Chris Pronger, we referenced that 07 cup final last segment, game three, when you're on Anaheim, you guys went in there, you're up 2-0. So obviously, much more amplified cup final compared to the first round, but you've been in the skates of the Leafs going into a scenario like this. So take us through what you think the messaging would be from Baruba and company going into a scenario where you can really lay the hammer on Ottawa tonight. Well, I think they're going to try to keep it simple. They're going to force Ottawa to make the mistakes, whether it's the undisciplined plan of these turnovers at blue lines Aaron passes in the middle of the ice things of that

nature and and get on the attack get on the transition game and really create those odd man rushes that that they've been able to capitalize on here thus far in the series wrong so much trouble do you think the Edmonton Oilers are in right now? Ooh. Does that mean a lot? They are in a world of hurt right now. Both games, albeit the first one, they mounted an epic comeback and that could have been an all-world come from behind win. Instead, it was a painful loss and last night's game, wow, they looked really slow. Outside of Connor McDavid, a couple other players, Tri-Cidal was doing his best.

The real amateur hours mistakes in their own zone prongs, like awful. The turnovers have been egregious. They're not getting the stops when they need it and it's everything everything is just biting them and LA who have been on fire the last 15-20 games of the regular season are capitalizing on every single mistake it seems like. Skinner has not really come up with very many big stops when they've needed it as Noodle is going to test. It's not how many you make, it's when you make them.

And in key critical situations he's just not coming up with a stop. Albeit they are making massive, massive mistakes that are causing a lot of the problems. And then outside of that, how they're defending, giving up the middle of the ice, the penalty kill looks lost out there. They're not playing. The penalties they're taking are undisciplined. The Henryks penalty was not smart. And then they're not very physical. We have a laundry list of issues that they need to correct in order to get back into

this series. First and foremost, they got to play with the lead and force LA to get out of their systems and really kind of get them off kilter because as of right now, Edmonton is playing right into their hands and look how spread out they are. They're jumping around trying to force but they're coming out of position. I mean this is unfortunate balance right back on because Mancos stick but on Kuzmanko's stick but you know when you look at Edmonton's power play versus LA's power play night and day the way they're moving it around the zone and spreading out the the the PK and creating seam passes and you know point

shots and things of that nature. Chris what do you make of the five forward power play because LA's doing it had tremendous success the Leafs are doing it tremendous success is theres are doing a tremendous success Is there something to it is there something to having a just five forwards out there with creativity because in brains Well brains create all of that I was gonna let that go, but I I mean we are seeing You know a little bit different thought process because one process. Because one of the things I notice here, you look at Kopitar is on his strong side,

but technically on the power play, that's his off wing. He's not in a one time position. And what that allows him to do, the angle that he gets when he can move back and forth with Kuzmenko going behind the net that we saw in game one, that play, they move it back to Kopitar, he moves it up top, they move it across to Kempay, and then they move it across to Fiala, up top to Kempay, down low to Kopitar.

They're able to move it around, but they can move it around on an angle with which the penalty killer really has to go outside of the lane to try to get there with their sticks. And it makes the box move a little bit too much, and then he can come inside to a one-timer. He can go across the seam to a one-timer. They've got a lot of options, and Newell Brown's their power play guy who I had in Anaheim, and Newell's very forward-thinking.

You know, Wren, Vancouver had the number one power play a few years ago phoenix had a good power play when he there when he was there uh... he's really smart at utilizing the weapons that he has and i'm sure they talk when they picked up kuzmanko that was probably one of the biggest reasons they picked up that plot that specific player was for their power play to get a right-handed shot and kind of utilize the uh... the skill and the assets of those players.

With Chris Pronger ahead of a bunch of games in the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight, the Habs are down 2-0 going back to Montreal and last night Patrick Lina did not play a shift in the third period. How would you anticipate Marty St. Louis handles him going into game three? Like I'm presuming he's gonna play but what is the messaging and what can you expect because that's a guy's been around for a long time is getting paid money uh...

but not seen us not seen a shift in the third may you know seems to end up in a position where the coaches gotta make a call on do i put a sweater on or not uh... absolutely that at the end of the day, you're asking the player to step up, be accountable, be a leader, be a presence. You talk about his contract, you talk about what he can provide from an offensive production standpoint. His game has not been great.

Game one was soft and game two yet a couple chances fan on a couple chances uh... on the power play but but but he's purely a power play specialist he doesn't create much in five off i play uh... you know soft at the red line get parks deep uh... he's made a lot of mistakes of cost them

and and you just want a little more oomph in his game, a little more sandpaper, a little more grit. He doesn't need to be out there running guys over and whatnot, but he needs a little more pep in his step. He's got a long powerful stride that can look lackadaisical at times, which I think can aggravate fans and aggravate people that don't really know how he moves out there. He's actually a pretty decent skater. He's just got that long, loping stride, but you just want him to get more engaged and more involved and really kind of assert himself in the series and get to the dirtier part.

If you're not scoring goals, get to the front of the net. You got the hands, you have the skill, look for a dirty one. And he's got the size, but you know, Prongs, I was mentioned before he came on in the four o'clock hour. On the road, it's a lot tougher because you, you know, you've heard this saying you got to hide players. So Marty's like, I can't, you know, I can't put them out there because it might be a mismatch on home ice.

You might be able to find maybe an extra shift or an extra look for him in an offensive zone because you have that last change, you have that last opportunity. Is that something that Marty might have to think about? Much easier. I think, you know, if you're thinking about the power play, you certainly don't want to sit him. He's been a key focal point for them on that first power play unit. You know, at the end of the day,

he's got to look at his lineup and go, who's going to give us the best chance? Who's going to sacrifice their body to get the puck out at the blue line, or get the puck in at the red line, or the offensive zone? Who's going to make the smart play? Who's not going to make an area pass

through traffic when you don't have to? Who's going to just chip it up the wall and play safe and look at the matchups and who you're out there against? The hockey IQ and the hockey sense that comes into play at this time of year is very critical and very important. Having guys that understand that instead of just throwing caution to the wind every single time they're on the ice with the hopes of scoring a goal Sometimes can be more of a detriment than a positive for a team

Is there a bigger indictment on a player when the term we got to try to find a way to hide them? Comes out of a coach's mouth like it just makes me sick saying it If I was ever in a back room and I heard a coach saying that about me I think I would pass out and throw up like it's disgusting we've gotta hide this guy it is tough man it's tough and now when you're relying on a player too of his caliber and his stature in the league you're like you're counting on him you have a very young team you're counting on him to step up in this pressure-packed moment and be a leader. And unfortunately, when you do hear that comment, you're like, you kind of cringe and you're kind of like, oh.

Oh, it's so cringe-worthy, man. Hide that guy. Yeah. That is tough, man. It's a tough reputation to have. I've been hidden in the NHL. Coaches have hidden me before. I can only throw you out there if

there's two guys from the AHL that have been called up I can possibly toss them out. I had a buddy I won't tell you who it was but when it would go to three on three over time he was a defenseman and the coach would just go down to the like look at the defensive coach and go like just there then no basically and he knew he was done that was it like he would just go that guy no no like that's it he's done his night is done because I don't want him on the ice in three on three yeah and it was it's like god it was tough because he goes I would I would see him actually peripheral you could could see point to me and go

No chance you can't be on the ice Level if I was a coach and just tap them and say hit the showers Well, we were talking about I don't know if you saw the video of Mark Savard In game one where he was going nuts. So far was going And they looked at him and basically said you know, are you crazy? Like it were ten minutes in a game one here settle down How did you read? What were you expecting out of your coaches? You know behind the bench, I guess head coach, assistant coaches, during playoff runs in particular? Yeah, I think you have to act as if you've been there before.

And game one of the first round, probably you want to get off to a good start, but as an assistant coach, you may want to keep the tone down a little bit and not get too fired up. Let the players enjoy the moment. Start thinking about what's next. You know, and I think, you know, as Chief knows, it's a long, hard grind, and it's going to take everybody understanding

what the process is going to look like, how we need to get there. They're going to encounter some adversity, whether it's tonight in Ottawa or further down the line, and they're going to need the calming influence of moments where, yes, the highs and the lows have to be here in the middle, and it just needs to be a little ripple. And it starts with the coaching staff, as we know. They set the tone and tenor for the players.

There's countless times where you always come out of the locker room and you have those meetings where the coach is telling the players, hey, stay off the ref, stay off the ref, let me deal with it. Within the first second, if there's an offside call, they're screaming and yelling at the officials and the lights, and chaos ensues on the bench but uh... you know you just he's a very calming influence back there and he's very uh... he tries to stay you don't see me yelling at the rest much you see him talking uh... as an assistant coach who's the exact same way

uh... pretty pretty quiet reserve back there you know when he spoke you were paying attention listening and and and i know is that same way uh... as a coach prongs you should hear uh...'s got a story about Pat Quinn. Pat? About yelling at the refs? Yeah. Yeah, he had a big meeting with us and he was like, guys, you gotta stop yelling at

the refs, it's getting out of hand. He didn't like, this is the opening face off, he didn't like the way the ref dropped the puck and he goes, you're a coward! didn't like that this is the opening face of he didn't like the way the ref dropped the pocket ego sure the he didn't wait three seconds and just yelled at the top of his lungs damnit you're a coward and i was thinking to myself

because i didn't know i was new to the team and i'm like is this guy for real? he just gave us a discipline don't yell at the refs because we all gotta? You gotta tone it down. He just gave us a discipline, don't yell at the refs. He goes, we all gotta settle it down. Tone it down. Half of a second he went nuts. Danny O'Halloran. Yeah. Bad puck drop.

Yeah. O'Halloran, you're a coward! Yeah. It could be like Jimmy Roberts, who would just be spitting sunflower seeds all over everybody's back. Oh, really? Like, the guys would come off the bench, they'd have sunflower seeds all over their nameplate.

Dude, I wouldn't have any time for that, man. That would be trouble, man. Well, he just... God forbid somebody was in the penalty box. If I was in the penalty box, he'd be like, Al, you're up, and somebody, and they'd go, Pronger, Pronger, Pronger! Pronger! Yeah, Pronger out there, he's starting to.

Prongs, Al, Prongs in the penalty box. Prongs and Mule, or Alan Mule, you're up. He was just, he was a beauty back there. I think it was pretty funny, though. The old school coaches, man. Sunflower seeds. Ricky Lee. Yeah. Sunflower seeds everywhere. Prongs you knew Ricky Lee. Ryan Tom you're

up. Play the hits man. It's like a top 40 station back there. There's nothing wrong with that. Play the hits. There was no spreading out the minutes back then. No just get the big boys out and let's see how it happens. See what happens.. All right, prongs. Great catching up with you, buddy. Good seeing you. Enjoy the games tonight. We'll do it again soon. Yeah. Good luck to you guys. Enjoy. Have fun. We will. There is Chris Pronger joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline.

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