Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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All right, here we go. Overdrive off and running. TSN 1050 on the TSN app. Your home smart speaker up on TSN 4, up on YouTube Live. Brian Hayes, Jamie Noodles, McLennan, Frankie Corrado in here. How are you guys doing?
How's everybody doing? I think it's very appropriate that the sun was out today, and maybe if you were driving around, Hazy B, you thought to yourself, we could be teeing it sooner rather than later. And isn't that fitting, given the performance that the Toronto Maple Leafs have had over the past couple days, to think about teeing it?
Yeah. You know what? It is interesting because I've had these chats like the last nine years they've been in the playoffs. Right. You know, you've been kind of planning for the playoffs and what's that going to look like and what are you going to do with the show and you're going down to the games and, you know, how's TSN Hockey going to handle it and SportsCenter and everything. And now it's...
kind of a foregone conclusion like it's just not it's not going to happen you know they're they're not going to make it they've never really been in the playoffs at any point all season and you're right it was beautiful sun's out it's i read today it's going to be maybe like 20 degrees in toronto and like a couple of weeks so there you go everything's coming together here it's gonna be okay you gotta take the positive but yeah man like that's i don't know i i
I wasn't on the show, obviously, yesterday, but, Hayes, how did you guys tee it up? Were you expecting a response game? Because I think Tampa's a great – like, I really like Tampa. I've been consistent with that. So I'll throw the Tampa game away because I think Tampa showed how good they can be. They were really good the other night. 4-2 was a generous score, put it that way, I felt.
Anyways, a couple goals called back. Last night I expected a response game from the Maple Leafs. That doesn't mean that the Florida Panthers can't show up and play, but I just expected, okay, you don't play that well the night before in Tampa. You got your game, you know, the cobwebs off kind of.
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Chapter 2: What were the Maple Leafs' recent performance issues against the Panthers?
stunk, to be honest. It's reasonable, though. But it's reasonable. But the extra night, I'm thinking, okay, because last night, Brady Kachuk, Dylan Larkin, the ones that I watched, they were difference makers in the game. That extra night's sleep probably helped. So I'm sitting there thinking, Thursday... It's going to be Nylander's night. It's going to be Matthews' night.
It's going to be, you know, and they had chances. Don't get me wrong. I think goalie Bob made some good saves. But, you know, it wasn't a performance that inspired you, put it that way.
No, exactly. And, you know, now everyone's trying to figure out. Is it mental? Is it coaching? Is it personnel? And in reality, it's probably just a combination of all of them. I think a lot of teams that had belief that they could have a great unofficial second half probably were chomping at the bit to get out there and prove it.
And I'm not sure the Leafs ever really believed based on the two performances. And that's simply an intangible conversation. That's not X's and O's in what we saw. But I do think the mentality of Tampa coming out of the chute, Florida last night, I don't think Florida's going to make the playoffs. But I think they realized throughout the break – We better come out hot. Give yourself a chance.
We have to be inspired immediately and come out flying. And they proved that they did that. Again, it doesn't really change it for me. I don't think they're going to make it. But they made that statement. Tampa was well into the playoffs, but they were dying to get back because they can smell a Stanley Cup. They're like, get us back.
Feels to me like the Leafs, they got on vacation and they said – We have to play 25 more games. That's kind of what it looked like the last two nights. We have to play 25.
It's a formality. We've got to go out there, and we've got to play, and it's a formality. I don't know if I'm shocked. I think the whole thing of the sun coming out today, my whole point in that is there's no more guessing anymore. We have our answer. We know what this team is. They're not going to make the playoffs. We know exactly what direction they're going to go in.
And they're doing a lot of weird stuff right now. And I think if you're a star player on that team, you're probably watching what's happening. And you're almost laughing or giggling to yourself saying, what's next? Do these guys in charge know what they're doing? And if so... What is that next move going to look like? Because we always put it at the hands of two or three guys.
The fact of the matter is it takes more than two or three guys to win games consistently. So what's the rest of the team look like? Why is a guy like Easton Cowan not playing? All these things just don't make sense with this team right now, but maybe it does make sense because they're not a very good team and they're not going to make the playoffs and they've got a lot of work to do.
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Chapter 3: What roster changes are the Maple Leafs considering before the trade deadline?
Yeah, and more stuff can happen in the offseason, but you have to also determine what is available to you because I think it's become very clear They need to get younger. They need to, I think, get more speed in their lineup. They need to be able to move the puck better. These are three objectives that I think anyone that's been watching this team... has realized are pretty clear-cut.
They've gotten old pretty quick. They're pretty slow. We were saying this back at camp, watching them. We're like, man, they look pretty old and slow. And then you play slow, and the transition game isn't there. The puck movement isn't there. And that's what's really struggled the last couple of nights. They look very stale as a team and as a system and everything. But...
You can have those objectives, which I'm sure they do, but if you can't fulfill them, then that... offers up other challenges. You can't just go find a bunch of guys in their early 20s. You can't just go find two or three puck-moving defensemen who are immediately going to change the complexion of your team. That's not available to you very easily. So it's a challenge from that standpoint.
And listen, at this point, it's a bad season. It's just been a tough season the whole year. There's no other way to paint it. It doesn't matter if you're the most eternal optimist, eternal pessimist. And I'm not even talking three, five years down the road or what's happened in the past. If we're just looking at this season, it's been tough. They've never been in the playoffs. Never.
At one point, when they went on that 8-0-2 run, they snuck in by like a point. And like 24 hours later, they're already on the outside looking in. They've never been a playoff team at any point. They've never... offered up much confidence if you're the fans to watch it and think this is going to turn a corner. This is not unpredictable. We've been bracing for this for 60 games.
So this is where they're at. This is the reality. It is what it is. It's imperative they find a way to make sure it's just a bad season and instead of a bad team and a bad era that's about to hit. We talked about that yesterday. That's what's lurking. You're a couple of wrong moves away from it getting exponentially worse. They're not a complete disaster. They're not a mess.
No, there's framework there. Yes, it's been a bad year. They haven't played well. They've never looked good. And, you know, I do think we're going to have the coaching conversation a lot between now and the end of the year.
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Chapter 4: How is Morgan Rielly's performance impacting the team?
How can you not? Yeah, the last two games, if you're Craig Berube, like they're talking about it in L.A. Like how does Jim Hiller possibly survive that? They got pumped twice out of the break. Berube's got to be thinking, man, I've been in the league a long time. This isn't great. They're not really picking up on my messaging right now.
The evidence is there, man. Listen, you don't want to kick a guy when he's down, clearly. But with the way the team has performed, I think it's a valid conversation to have. The team that you're talking about, Brian, I think, where you're talking about a bad year and it's just, hey, we'll show up next year and it might be different, it's the Florida Panthers.
That team's been decimated by injuries, and it starts with Barkoff, and at one point they're having eight or nine regulars out of the lineup. All the guys that won cups are under contract. They're all coming back. Just this year's the bad year. They'll flip the switch next year and show up and be a good team. Can you honestly say that you have the same faith Toronto can do that?
You know, it's a great point, Frankie. I could say no, but if I'm Keith Pelley, I think what you say is everybody's under evaluation. Like, you have to look at the manager, you've got to look at the coach, and you've got to look at the roster construction and the players.
Outside of you guys that you have on term contracts that you want, you know, again, the framework, that's when you start to go, okay, where do we go from here? And, you know, I think in the next week you have to make some moves just for the sake of business because you've got, you know, it's roster management. It's asset management. But you have to decide who's driving the bus moving forward.
If you have full confidence in Brad Treliving, then it's him that executes the plan. If you add to, you know, we talked about Brendan Shanahan's role not getting filled. Maybe there is a scenario where you bring in more smart hockey people to help support the situation because they have nothing but money and resources. Like that's, MLSC is not cheap. That's the thing.
They're not cheap and they will spend the money for the best people.
but all these decisions these things have to be put in place here again is is the coach like you brought up frankie is the coach uh a guy who's they believe in by the way very well respected coach right like you talk to guys that have played for him they all love him very well respected guy no one's gonna deny anything of that nature it's just it's just clearly it just hasn't gone well on the ice this season maybe you get more than that but
Maybe you get more runway than that, but that's just how it's looked so far.
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Chapter 5: What is the significance of Easton Cowan being scratched from the lineup?
Yeah, you need the contract. You need something expiring that you can just, you know, say be gone next year.
That's fine because the Leafs, again, aren't going to go to the playoffs. So go ahead. Take on whatever you've got to take on.
You've got to take on, but again, you've got to take a look at what – if you can get a first, let's just say, out of McMahon, it might be because you're taking back money and a bad contract that needs to clear it up and all of that type of stuff. There's going to be some wild things, I think, happen. Again, I've been saying it. Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it.
I think Leaf fans – I guess what I'm getting to is there's a perfect world where you clear out –
20 of the roster that's not gonna happen you know like max domi and morgan riley aren't being traded by next friday morgan riley's a leaf as of next saturday i think those are off-season situations if you can and again with riley it's it's particularly delicate because he's been he's been a great leaf he's been here for so long he's the longest serving leaf he's
Up there all time in games played, points by a defenseman. He's worn the leaf with pride. He's been a great Torontonian for a long time. Yes, that's it.
The fan base very connected to him.
Very connected to him. Watched him grow up.
It's a great story from start to finish. It's just you're 12 years later.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of the Maple Leafs potentially selling players?
When's the last time he had a stable partner that helped him?
Well, Carlo last year when he arrived. When Carlo got acquired, down the stretch, Carlo, I thought, did actually help him.
But it can't always be the defense.
It's been 13 years of that, Noodles. Wow, he needs a partner. It's like, well, you're making 7-5. You're a vet. Come on.
You're right. But the thing is, that's one thing I think Toronto has always missed. If Morgan's not a number one, which I think a lot of people really believe he's a top-pairing guy, but they've never had a top-pairing defensive core. To help. Frankie, you could speak to it a lot better than anybody. Your partner is somebody you have to rely on and it's give and go.
I've seen the list. I saw it firsthand. Whether it was Polak or Carrick or Zaitsev or... Then it was Ron Hainsey was the best partner of all. Then it was Luke Shen. It was Ilya Labushkin. It was, I mean, Cody Cece at one point. Tyson Berry. Like, go through the list of guys.
There's like, I want to say there's 15 partners that have, you know, had some kind of consistent playing time with Morgan Rielly. Yeah, maybe they've never had the perfect partner. Maybe Ron Hainsey was the guy at one point. But it's just, yeah, the way it's fallen off, it's hard to see for a guy that has been such a likable and still is a likable guy in this city.
T.J. Brody was a decent pair for him. T.J. Brody was great. Again, we're answering the question. He's had a couple of good – and he was playing well at that point. You could play him beside Kael McCarr. It's not changing anything. what he's doing right now. I'm sorry. It's a Morgan Riley issue. It's not a deep partner. And it may be a systems thing. The whole season's in a bad place.
He's in a bad place, man. Every night it's a real struggle.
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Chapter 7: How does the team’s current performance affect their playoff chances?
Honest to God, we used to have, in St. Louis late 90s, we used to have one plate on each side. So what was that? That's 135.
135.
Tony Twist did it 55 times.
Yeah.
That sounds about right. It was like Twister was six feet too far.
We should get the sports science people from like University of Toronto to come in and do the Wingate and the VO2 and just yell at the top of their lungs like two feet away from your face.
Push!
Go!
That's what they do. Is the Wingate the one with the 25 seconds they drop the weight on the... Yeah, you start pedaling your feet as fast as you can, and then the weight drops, and you feel like you're going to fall over the bike.
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Chapter 8: What are the management's plans for the Maple Leafs moving forward?
I think they might be, unfortunately, with the team they have, even if they make trades, Lawton, McMahon, Carlo, OEL, whoever. I'm just throwing names out there. If they trade some of those, all those guys, I don't think they bottom out fast enough to get to a bottom five pick, even if you could say, all right, listen, guys, in the boardroom, the best case scenario for the Leafs is,
We're going to miss the playoffs. Let's be the worst team in the league. That's always the best-case scenario. I just don't think they can get there.
Johnny, how do you see the Morgan Rielly conundrum playing out here? Where does this go with Morgan Rielly?
How about that goal? Thank goodness that was offside because that was a tough one. Oh, yeah. He fell down. It happened. But it was really a comedy of errors. I don't know if they're going to be able to unwrap that this year. I mean, Morgan Riley has to waive. Obviously, he's got control. Other teams have to be willing to absorb his contract.
The way he's playing, I don't necessarily see a Stanley Cup contender thinking, we've got to go get Morgan Riley right now with a term left on his contract. So I think it's a summer deal. It's when a cap goes up deal. It's when the Leafs might have to eat a little bit of his salary or offer a sweetener or take back another contract that's not perfect from another team.
But it feels like, and I say this, we always put this caveat out there for Mo. With great respect to him and his time, he's been one of the most productive defensemen of all time for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He's been a great ambassador for the organization. He's been a great leader, a great person to be around.
given what they're asking him to do, it almost feels like for the organizations, maybe best if they found a way to get a change of scenery for him. But I don't think it can happen this year, Hayes.
I think it's got to be in a more flexible time and maybe when Morgan can get to the summer and get away and sort of reset himself and open his mind up to going and playing somewhere else, which is not easy to do after 10, 12 years. But it feels like almost like it has to happen that way.
Johnny, if we are talking next Friday at 3.30 p.m. and the trade deadline has come and gone, what would have had to happen for the Toronto Maple Leafs to you be on the desk doing your SportsCenter hit to wrap things up and say, the Maple Leafs nailed this deadline. They got an A-plus from me. What would have to happen on that day?
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