OverDrive
Boudreau on the Maple Leafs' direction, drafting first overall and the Canadian team landscape
28 May 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's our TSN hockey analyst joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Here's Bruce Boudreaux. Bruce, we're going to be presumptuous here that we know what the Cup Final is going to look like. We're going to put Carolina into a Cup Final here against Vegas. Again, presuming that's going to happen, who do you like in a Cup Final, Carolina or the Golden Knights?
Chapter 2: What are the predictions for the Stanley Cup Final between Carolina and Vegas?
Well, that's a great question. Vegas has won seven in a row. Carolina has won... 11 out of 12. They both are playing fantastic defensively. I'm still thinking the West is stronger and Vegas has peaked at the right time and they beat the best team, supposedly. So I'm going to take Vegas because they've even gotten rest to boot winning the series in four games. But Carolina...
has looked awful impressive, especially the last three games where they haven't given Montreal a chance at all to win. And last night was almost a coup de grace. I mean, Montreal didn't have an answer for anything Carolina was trying to do.
So, Bruce, is there anything? We just talked about it, how Carolina's played perfect and Montreal trying to get anything going. Is there anything that you can see as far as maybe adjustments or something that Montreal could try to at least even the playing field, get some shots on goal on Carolina's
or break some of their systematic play in the neutral zone to get some offense going, because right now they're just being stifled.
Yeah, they're, you know, Carolinas, the pressure they put on in the neutral zone doesn't give you any opportunity to make a play. It just doesn't. They're attacking. I call it playing above the blue line because they're forcing the play. They're not letting you dump it in. They're not sagging.
But the biggest thing, or not the biggest thing, but one of the things, if I was Montreal, I would change every line you had because nothing's working. I would put somebody with Caulfield that could get the puck out of the corners. I mean, because it's not working. But, I mean, give them something where Carolina goes, geez, I don't know what to do against this line.
Maybe it would, you know, at least give some momentum to the Canadians and they'd come out. And I think if they ever scored the first goal, they might make it a bit of a different game. because then they'd get some hope.
Because I think if Carolina comes out, and I really believe that they're going to come out as hard as they can, and they want to bury them in the first period, if Montreal scores the first goal, they might say, hmm, we've got a chance. And that's the only thing that I think can happen, if it does happen, that they're going to have a chance.
Because Carolina looks just overwhelmingly better than them right now.
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Chapter 3: What adjustments can Montreal make to compete against Carolina?
And this is a crazy thought. I always look, okay, at McKenna. Is he a great player? Like, everybody... The first pick, they always say, is generational recently. But Lafreniere was the first pick overall where they said the same thing. And he was a winger. And it took him a couple years to actually get better.
And I don't know if in the environment in Toronto, if you can wait a couple years before you become an established, really established star. So, to me, if I'm Toronto, like, I mean, Vancouver's got to want him. Maybe you can get the third pick in Toronto. and a really great player out of Vancouver, if they have any, and do something along those lines.
If Toronto doesn't want to just... If they want to retool rather than rebuild, I think that's something. But to hide... If you put McKenna... Right away with Austin Matthews and it doesn't work, then you're almost not blaming it on Austin. You're saying this guy's a bust, and that's unfair to him. So I don't know what you do, but I'd always want to draft a center or a defenseman.
I'm sorry, but wingers seem to take longer and they don't produce at the level you think a first overall pick should produce at.
Yeah, they've got to be... all-time greats, kind of. Obviously, Alex was one of them. Ovechkin went first overall. Now, he's as good as it gets. Patrick Kane went first overall, as good as it gets. But beyond that, you're right.
History would suggest it's centers and defensemen, and that's what complicates things when you get the first overall pick, and there isn't that McDavid, Crosby, Ovechkin, Lindros, Lemieux. If they're not sitting there... it becomes dicier, right, Bruce?
It really becomes ā it's a crapshoot, and you can trust all you want and do all the scouting and believe in the talent, but there's just no guarantees it's going to pan out the way you hope it does.
No, there isn't. And you know what? I don't know what the Leafs' plan is, but I still think Matthew Nyes is a really good player, and I think Easton Cowan is going to be a good player. And those are two good left-wingers. McKenna's a left-winger. Where do you slot him in? That's why, I mean, I don't know. I haven't seen him play. I didn't see him play at Penn State.
He might be everything I actually ever wanted in a player and say, what are you doing, Bruce? Are you stupid? You take this guy. But it's funny how we doubt everything when you don't have to make that decision. And that's where I am now. I'm saying, what's the best thing for the Leafs to do to be really competitive for the next five years? And is it rebuild or retool?
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