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Johnson on the Stanley Cup Final, Marner and Andersen and the Maple Leafs' head coaching search
02 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What are the next steps for Gary Bettman and the NHL succession plan?
To chat about that, among other things, here's our TSN hockey analyst joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Here's Mike Johnson. How are you doing, Johnny?
What's up, fellas? Coming alive, yeah? Gary Bem is doing the presser right behind me here. Hey, Z, I hate to disappoint you. I don't think anything's going to change. I mean, different personality, but I don't think a new guy's coming in saying, I envision the world of hockey completely different. I think it would be someone pretty aligned with the way things are going now.
And the way things are going right now, regardless of how we got here, are pretty good for the NHL.
Johnny, I want to ask you about the baseball players and their agreement. You're a smart guy. You've been through lockouts. If you had any advice to Major League Baseball players as far as what they should expect and how to approach this, because mine is just to find something reasonable, how you can have a good life.
If you think you're just going to bully anybody, you're not doing it, and you're just going to cost yourself money, what would your advice be?
I would echo those sentiments. Listen, we went through it. I was a player rep in 04. I remember, you know, in the meetings with you, oh, and we were we will never play. We will miss two years, five years, 10 years. We'll shut the league down before we get to a salary cap. And we got through year one, which is already kind of stressful enough.
And then we just came apart of the seams because guys were not prepared. to live any further. And then the cost of doing this, and it's good to do it for future generations, but you also sort of need to take care of yourself and the current generation that you're living in. And if the average career is 3.7 years, you're going to sit out a year and a half of those and flush yourself out.
And if you might make, you know, instead of making in the NHL $4 million, you're going to get zero. And, you know, you just can't afford to lose that kind of money. And baseball, I mean, the numbers are so staggering, you know, you're missing 20, $25 million.
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Chapter 2: How do the Hurricanes and Golden Knights match up in the Stanley Cup Final?
Yeah. I guess if you baseball has a very principled stance, they feel like they're the strongest union. They've never lost a labor fight. But I think if I'm a baseball owner, guys, you just look around the league, look at the franchise values in basketball, in football, in hockey. And I think the salary cap has a lot to do that. And franchise values in baseball would go through the roof.
So they could sit out. We might miss $100 million profit. The second we sign a cap-based deal, our franchise value is going up a billion dollars. So we can wait forever, much longer than the players can. Oh, I'm pro player. I was a player rep. I wanted to get everything the players could. Sometimes the juice is not worth the squeeze.
And you've got to take the best deal you can get and get on with your life, keep living and making the kind of money they're making.
So I want to follow up with your projection on the next Bettman because, as you know as a big NBA fan, going from David Stern to Adam Silver was a massive change, like as significant as you can get in terms of being player-friendly, in terms of creating tournaments, and all these different things that they've done in the league ever since Silver arrived. You don't see that possibly being there?
Like if it's Bill Daley, I guess, okay, Bill Daley has worked with Bettman forever. I mean, they're kind of a two-headed monster. But if it's somebody else, like I'm picturing a new commissioner coming in and maybe having a different viewpoint of a second team in Toronto, something Bettman has never entertained. Maybe the new commissioner willing to do that.
A play-in, a playoff play-in immediately. But that's drastic. Like Bettman will not change off anything immediately. If someone comes in and looks at one thing differently, I would suggest, I mean, that's more progressive than anything Bettman's done in the last 10 years.
No, you're right. You're right. I guess I just assume it's going to be Bill Daley. That's part of my general thought. He's been there for so long, and I don't know if Gary will have a say in who his successor is.
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Chapter 3: Why is Mitch Marner a favorite for the Conn Smythe Trophy?
I mean, you'd think it'd be the teams, not so much him, but if he has a say... you'd think it'd be someone who sort of sees it the way he does. But I mean, the whole Gary Bettman and his dynamic with the owners and the players and the game is so different than it was when we were playing. It is far more collaborative and less... And so whoever comes in will be more of that.
And you're right, Hayes, you know what? Whether it's games in Europe, whether it's playing tournaments, whether it's midseason cups, whether it's anti-draft, tanking, all this NBA stuff they've done or stuff we can't even think of. Yeah, I mean, I guess it makes sense that some of that would come through. I just think it's going to be Bill Daley.
So he will have been under and with Gary for 30 years, 20 years, whatever it's been. And it will be sort of more of the same.
Yeah, Johnny, I think there could be some tweaks that you could deem as progressive. Even if it's Bill Daley, they'd be like, yeah, I'll look at that. I'll listen on that instead of just an absolute no where Gary seems to be. But, you know, when you're in Carolina, let's swing to the game now. What do you make of this? Who in the back of your mind has the upper hand here?
You've got a very structured Carolina team that's 12-1, and you've got Vegas who seems to be firing in all cylinders and really doesn't have a weakness as well and plays a different style. What do you make of it?
It feels to me, Noodles, like this series, if you flesh out the goaltending, I mean, obviously that's the number one factor, but let's just say they're even, they're both playing well. To me, this series feels like the offense of Carolina, you know, that forechecking, that pace, that turnover base, the quick strike attack that they've been overwhelming teams with.
versus the defense and structure and maturity of Vegas. And if that defense of Vegas is really good, then they'll get Carolina on counterattack opportunities. And we've seen that as well, not often in the playoffs, but when Carolina breaks down, it can be big. That, to me, is the conversation.
And there'll probably be some games where Vegas looks like they figured it out, and there'll probably be some moments where Vegas looks like they're getting swarmed by it like everybody else is. I am slightly leaning to Carolina.
I guess we'll have to see what happens here in the first game, but without having seen them play each other, they haven't played since October, so it's not like there's any sort of recency game to go off of. I just think if Freddie is healthy and can keep doing what he's doing, then Vegas no longer has an advantage in net, however good Carter Hart has been.
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Chapter 4: What roles do Judd Brackett and Freddie Hamilton play in the Maple Leafs organization?
The only team that solved Carolina has been the four-checking Panthers. And nobody plays like that. Vegas doesn't play like that. So I just don't know if the solution, however good Vegas is, is going to be enough to win them a series. So I guess I'm leaning slightly Carolina.
Johnny, Brian Hayes said, regardless of the outcome, Mitch Marner will win the Conn Smythe. Jamie, I don't know why you're laughing. Do you agree with Brian Hayes?
I disagree with Hayes the same way that Connor McDavid will never win another Art Ross. The same sort of disagreement where Hayes likes to throw out these outrageous statements only to be proven wrong in short order. If Vegas wins, yeah, for sure. I think Mitch Marner is the favorite to win. But I think he has to play though, right?
Like he had a good series, great defensively, three points in four games, no goals. If he gets four points in six games, Vegas wins with no goals, he's not going to win the conspire. It's going to go to Carter Hart. It's going to go to somebody else. So he has to continue his offensive production that he's done in rounds one and two into round four.
But if Carolina wins, it's Freddie, it's Stankoven, it's Taylor Hall, it's somebody else. It's not going to be Mitch. He's not going to get 40 points. He might end up with 25 or 27. He's not going to be McDavid 40 on a losing team. Well, I don't know, Hazy.
Explain yourself. Justify this outrageous take, please. It was actually Joe from the bridge that threw that out. Yeah, exactly. Which he's also a brilliant mind, a brilliant hockey mind.
What about if it's Freddie or Mitch?
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Chapter 5: What is the current status of the Maple Leafs' head coaching search?
Either way, X Leaf is right now the clear frontrunner.
That seems very, very likely that a former Leaf is going to win the cons might. I think that probably goes, I wouldn't say it goes without saying, because you're right, there are other players, like let's say Stan Coven has a phenomenal cup final, or Blake has a great cup final, or maybe Jack Eichel just has a dominant cup final. He's still, I think, lurking in the background.
So there are other potential options here. But, I mean, the awards are starting to come out. We're going to find out if that McDavid take possibly hit. I mean, if he doesn't win the heart in the next couple of days, you know, it goes Kucherov. Because we've been saying, Johnny, like Canada can't even get a medal at the Worlds, right? The men and the women silver at the Olympics.
Canada loses in the World Juniors. If Kucherov grabs a heart, Wierenski and Americans grab the Norris. I don't think a Canadian is going to win the Vesna. We got the Rookie of the Year. We got the Rookie of the Year. Schaefer, we got the Rookie of the Year. But how would you kind of encapsulate the season that is in terms of Canadian hockey?
I mean, we're still the best country. We've got the most players. We've got the most good players. I would take our team to win a seven-game series against any country in the world. I would take the Olympic gold medal final. We play that ten times. Canada wins that eight of them. So, you know what? Pump the brakes on the major intervention on all things wrong Canadian.
Now, we might have to revisit... World Junior success and how we approach that tournament or the World Championship. It's been a few years now, but I don't think it's, you know, we're running out. But the reality is, it's always continuously shifting away from Canadian dominance.
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Chapter 6: How might the new NHL commissioner impact the league's future?
Not to the point where we're not most dominant, but it's no longer by as much. There's more Americans, more global players, more high-end Europeans. So, yeah, there are fewer or there are more other countries involved in the very best of the best, and they've still got the most of them all, even if we'd get shut out of the major awards, I would say.
Okay. Johnny, yesterday the Leafs hired a chief of staff. What's a chief of staff do in the National League? Talk to me. Talk dirty to me.
I mean, I watched like the West Wing and see what the chief of staff does there. It feels like a very political appointment. I mean, I kind of like the path. He's a player. He went to Yale, I think, to get his MBA. He was working in private equity or hedge fund or something. It's very interesting. I'm sure it has got to do with alignment, vertical, integration that you are so fond of.
What about horizontal integration? Don't forget my horizontals. Yes, horizontally as well. Is he just like another layer of communication? Is he just someone who can go down to the coach's room as a former player and talk to the GM and talk to the owner or the president? I'm not exactly sure what he does.
Hang on a sec. You're telling me a guy with a private equity firm, a guy that worked at a private equity firm, is going to go down and talk to a National Hockey League coach? What are you talking about?
Well, he played in the NHL.
Freddie Hamilton is playing in the NHL. Keep in mind, guys, all I can think about is top 50 Dougie, his brother. Correct?
Okay.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of the Maple Leafs' recent hires on their strategy?
Of course. In New Jersey.
Of course.
Listen, we're not hiring Freddie Hamilton as a precursor to getting Dougie. Like, one, Freddie's not that good.
I'm not saying that.
Dougie's not that good.
I'm not saying that.
But that's what it was in Calgary Noodles, you know. In Calgary, that's basically what it was. Dougie went to Calgary. Freddie sort of had to be considered to go to Calgary as well. So it's not out of the question, but not now, not in Toronto.
Now, if McDavid's brother was the AGM, I'd kind of raise an eyebrow.
Listen, if Kevin McDavid wants a job in player development... Let's hire that guy.
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Chapter 8: What are the predictions for the outcome of the Stanley Cup Final?
So that's not a slight on Morgan, but what they need is Morgan, Dougie, and two others. That's what they need. That's the difference, is they need more players and guys that's younger. They need a 26-year-old Dougie Hamilton. They don't need a 32-year-old Dougie Hamilton, but they will take him.
Would you trade... Matthew Nyes for Simone Nemitz and Dougie Hamilton.
I would look at that.
I don't know about that Nemitz. I'm not sure I would either, but I don't know how I feel about Nemitz. They need to get younger. They need to get better. They need bodies that can move the puck. Somebody asked me that today. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know how good I think Nemitz is. He's going to get traded at some point. But anyways, it's fascinating.
Oh, to your answer, I have not a clue what a chief of staff would do. I love that as a title I've never heard of in an hockey organization.
I want it. I want it. I'll just go around. You're fired. And you're hired. And you're fired.
Just walking around with a hammer on everyone. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Who knows? And like, I don't know. I mean, Brendan Pridden's like they've made some changes, but they already sound like they had a bloated front office already. Yeah. And if they're going to add more and more people like you probably will want to subtract people as well. So I just wonder if that's happening as well.
Well, that might be the role of the chief of staff to determine that, right? Like determine how many people are actually on the staff.
Who's doing well, who's doing a good job, and who is necessary and who maybe is not quite as.
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