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Johnson on Marner's triumph against Toronto, Matthews silencing approach and the return to Toronto
16 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What insights does Mike Johnson provide on Marner's performance against Toronto?
Here's Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analyst, joining us here on the Maple Turtle Hotline. What's up, Johnny? How are we doing? Now, oh, you're right.
I'm not sure about the compliment or criticism, but yeah, I would gladly take 22 homers, 22 goals, whatever it might be. If anyone wants to pay me $6 or $60, I'd gladly take it. $60 is a huge amount. $60 is a big number.
Although I read, guys, that the Dodgers, despite massive salaries and everything else, they are making so much money with all their international sales, the growth of their business, Otani, all the rest of They are not losing money, even if they don't win the World Series, despite the huge salary. They're more than fine.
What would those paychecks look like? Rod Brindamore got mad at me one day because I opened the envelope in his stall with his paycheck in it, and I think he was making like $250,000 every two weeks. And I was just like, wow, man.
Well, you think six-month season, so $10 million a month. $5 million every two weeks mixed in some tax, so the check would be for $2.5, $2.8 every couple weeks.
$2.8 in your stall. Hey, Kyle. That's cash out the door. Out the door. Nowadays, it's direct deposit, but I've played with players. I won't name a name, but I went over to a guy's house. There was like five checks sitting on his dresser, like hundreds of thousands. The checks were like you were... There was like a million dollars sitting there, and I was like, are you going to cash those?
Yeah, yeah, I'll get around to it. I was like, it was insane. Those are the best stories. The guy couldn't care less about the checks. The best one was Dion. I think Dion put one in a frame. Well, Ricky Henderson. Maybe it was Ricky Henderson. He put it in a frame. A million dollars. Framed it. Never cashed the thing, I don't think. Ricky Henderson. Those are great stories.
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Chapter 2: How did Auston Matthews respond to comments about Mitch Marner?
Today, I'm the greatest in the world. Wasn't Ricky Henderson the guy that said, I played with a guy who had a weird helmet like yours? Yeah, John Olerud. And Olerud was like, it was me, you idiot. I was on your team. I was there in 93. John Olerud. I used to play with a guy who used to wear a helmet when he played first base. Yeah, because Olerud wore the batting helmet in the field.
At first base, yeah. Stinky old Ricky was like, I played with a guy that did that before. And Olerud was like, yeah, bro, it was me. We won a World Series together. Can you imagine? Oh, it's so good. Close team. The winning teams are always so close. Always. Always. So you were down in Vegas last night. Yeah. Man, it was a fun hockey game. Awesome game. It was a great, great hockey game.
If you're the Leafs, how are you feeling today about the way everything played out?
I'm not feeling great. I'm not going to lie to you. You can talk about the stuff they did well, and they did. They put up a five spot. They created chances. They're dangerous off the rush now. But I think, well, two things. One, the knee lander injury or aggravation, we showed it after he scored his goal. I think he tweaked his ankle in the celebration.
And the fact that that's all it took to knock him out of the game tells you that he wasn't remotely healthy to begin with. If he was 100% fine, that little stumble would have been nothing. But he's not. He's trying to work through it. So that is troubling if you're the Leafs. But more than that, guys, I think we've seen it a lot this year.
And without Tanev and the D gets stretched in and the forwards the way they are, they don't play great in their own end. They have stretches occasionally, but they just don't play great in their own end. They just give up chances. Once the team gets in there, and Vegas is a decent offensive team with good offensive players, They were creating a lot, as was Toronto.
Like, the offensive side of the puck, great, but I think I would be bothered by, we had four two-goal leads, including with 10 minutes left, and Rubik summed it up. Like, you think Calum Pelley's a tough one. I think the two-on-one when Matthews' line went out there right after they scored a goal was a, you know, that's not great. Fucking game management by that group.
I think they'll be more disappointed with not having won the game in regulation because they did enough to do it. And it sort of exposed their warts, which is like defending in their own end. They're just not great at it.
Yeah, and it seems like when they have the lead in the third period, it really is highlighted, Johnny. It's old school. It's kind of got that Randy Carlisle era vibe to it where they get into the third, they have a lead, and they're just not comfortable. They're not aggressive. They're not...
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Chapter 3: What factors contributed to the Maple Leafs' defeat against the Golden Knights?
Remember when training camps like that's enough of this. We're not going to go down this every day. So, you know, he talked about it for a couple of days and Mark has to ask it. He has to. And I don't think Mark Masters is offended at all. He went right back. They have a good relationship. I like the fact that he used Mark's name. Like, Mark, that's enough.
I don't really want to answer any more questions about this guy. And they moved on. So I wasn't bothered by it. The Marner attempted to playfully shoot a puck at his skates as they both skated off the ice. Austin wasn't having any of that. I think he wasn't worried about Mitch last night. He was worried about his team.
Yeah, and I think that'll be interesting the next time.
I'd rather have that, no? Wouldn't you rather have that with your captain than having a love-in with this former guy and then going out there and tapping each other's shin pads? Like, we're playing. We've got to have points. It's way more important than to be buddy-buddy with your old line mates.
Yeah, I get it, Johnny. I just want to chime in here quickly. I just pointed, I think people were pissed. They wouldn't have a problem with it. It's the way the game ended. So they're pointing to Matthews on the last shift of the game. They're pointing to giving up the two-goal lead. And then you put in he's chippy with Masters.
I think that's what compounded maybe some of the frustration or the criticism of Matthews. I always just look at it, you know, how would Sidney Crosby, how would Jerome McGinley, guys that I either know or how they handle it, they might have said something different. And I think Matthews is a pretty funny guy. I thought he would have been like, all right, enough with it, Mark, and move on.
He was stern because he's getting ready for a game.
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Chapter 4: What concerns arise from the Leafs' defensive play during the game?
I get it. I don't think it's that big of a deal, but I think it got a little bit more gasoline on the fire, per se, because of the way the game ended. That's kind of where I feel like some vitriol is coming. And that's the more important element of the game, right, Johnny? He's on the ice. Eichel's his guy. Eichel beats him up the ice. He wasn't even close.
By 50 feet.
Yeah, by 50 feet. I thought the draw in regulation with 40 seconds left, that was a huge moment in the game when he got beat clean.
Yeah, but hey, just for perspective, I think he was 14-4 in his own end the whole game. I know it was the big one, and Eichel did something different. He bull-rushed him. He cross-checked him. He didn't even go for the puck. He just sort of slammed into him, which maybe caught Austin off guard, but he had been really good in his own end. I do think, though, a couple different thoughts.
One, I'm there. he was already buckled, right, minute 25 in his shift. He almost elected not to skate back. He was so tired, he got upright against the boards behind the goaltender in Vegas, and was like, oh, my God, I can't even move. And by that time, Michael was, like, you know, top of the circles, and it didn't matter.
But I think it may be the overtime strategy and philosophy, you know, we celebrate the greatness, but we sort of criticize when it doesn't go well, and they really do play it all or nothing. They are willing to give up glorious chances, breakaways, for the opportunity to get a two-on-one. There is no sort of defensive mechanism in their thought, and that's a strategy.
But maybe more important, guys, and this is worth talking about, with Tavares sort of maybe having some of the mid-season fatigue, with Nylander going to be out of the lineup now, it has been out actually the last little bit at different times, Like how much is too much for Austin Matthews to play? Like we know he's a horse and he's playing awesome. He's got great energy.
26 minutes in Colorado, really tired. And then to go, you know, whatever he was last, I don't even know what the number would have been, but it would have been a big one. And he gets points a game where he just is tired. And I don't know if that's on the coach for continuing to put him out there.
Like, I don't know how you solve this because he needs probably a couple, three less minutes in some of these games. And he gets himself in troubling situations, especially late when he's played already 22 minutes prior to that.
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Chapter 5: How does Mitch Marner's role impact the dynamics of the game?
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