0:00

Okay, just before we bring in our hockey insider,

0:02

Darren Dreger, it's an awesome time to do so

0:04

because some big news out of Ottawa today. The

0:07

sale is, well I guess the sale is not

0:09

finalized, but there is a deal in place

0:11

for Michael Anlauer officially to purchase

0:13

the Sens. He's kind of been

0:16

the front runner throughout this entire process. There were so

0:19

many people saying they'd be shocked if it didn't

0:21

end up being him and here we are

0:23

with Michael Anlauer as the future

0:25

owner of the Ottawa Senators. And with that, let's bring in

0:27

our TSN hockey insider, Darren Dreger

0:30

on this fine

0:30

Tuesday. How's it going, Dregs? Yeah, it's

0:32

going well, thank you. It's a busy morning.

0:35

Yeah, I bet. So I suppose

0:37

at the Stanley Cup Finals tonight, that should be the hottest

0:39

news of the day, but this Ottawa Senators saga

0:41

has dragged out for quite some time. How

0:44

did it finally come to a conclusion

0:46

today?

0:47

Well, I think they just got through what

0:50

was a very complex vetting

0:52

process, bidding

0:54

process. I mean, go through it all, right?

0:57

And then on top of that, you had a pretty

0:59

collective collection of potential

1:01

bidders and interested parties

1:03

in purchasing the Ottawa Senators. So I

1:06

think by the time the bank, the lawyers,

1:08

the league, everyone involved got through all

1:11

of that, they then whittled

1:13

down where they thought they needed to be.

1:17

But

1:17

this was an exhaustive process.

1:20

Even though at times

1:21

it seemed frustrating for the fan

1:23

base or maybe even media who followed

1:26

this story, yeah, I'm sure

1:28

toward the end here there was growing frustration

1:31

with potentially the Anlauer Group,

1:33

maybe the Kimmel family, all involved, especially

1:36

those who started to bow out. The

1:39

league and the bank and the lawyers had

1:42

to go through the process. They had to. They

1:45

were on no one's timeline other than doing

1:47

what was best for the estate of Malek and

1:50

the best for the future of the Ottawa Senators. But

1:52

as you said, Julia, for me, zero surprise.

1:55

I felt like Michael Anlauer was, you

1:58

know, if not the best candidate, the most.

1:59

most likely right from day

2:02

one. And that's based

2:04

on the long history he has as a minority

2:07

owner of the Montreal Canadiens, but in that board

2:09

of governors group and knowing

2:11

the commissioner's office as well as he does. And

2:14

he played it the right way. He didn't need

2:16

the celebrity approach of anyone. He

2:19

used his expertise

2:22

and his savvy, right? And wasn't

2:24

looking for headlines. He wasn't looking for

2:26

publicity. He and

2:28

the group of investors

2:29

that he has and those that work

2:32

with him from a legal perspective wanted

2:35

to stay beneath the radar because

2:37

they knew in the end that would likely be the best approach.

2:39

Yeah, it's funny because we all talked about

2:42

Ryan Reynolds when he kind of jumped on board and

2:44

that was the flavor of the month. And then all of a sudden

2:46

Snoop Dogg jumps in and then we heard

2:48

that the weekend had some interest and all

2:50

of a sudden none of these guys end up

2:53

with a piece of the pie here and Michael Andlauer

2:55

just comes in ends up wanting

2:57

to bid. I'm curious what you think this

2:59

new ownership group could mean for the future

3:02

of Pierre Dorian and DJ Smith in Ottawa.

3:04

Yeah, well, it's easy to question the hockey

3:06

operations group because this is a

3:09

new boss coming in, right?

3:10

But nobody knows definitively

3:13

what the approach of Michael Andlauer and

3:15

company is going to be. You know, is he going

3:17

to take a bit of time to get to know Pierre Dorian

3:20

or is he simply going to pull the pin and

3:22

go with somebody that he believes is ready

3:24

and he trusts. And that's why you're getting

3:26

the ongoing speculation around Steve Stales

3:28

who is employed by

3:30

the Edmonton Oilers. In fact,

3:33

he's in British Columbia. They're having

3:35

coaching meetings in

3:37

BC. So that's what he's

3:39

consumed with doing now and will

3:42

probably stay that way leading up to the draft

3:44

unless there's a sudden shift here,

3:46

but we're not going to know that. And

3:49

as far as the coaching goes, DJ

3:51

Smith is a highly respected NHL

3:54

head coach and likewise the staff that

3:56

he has assembled there. But I

3:58

don't think that Michael Andlauer... is

4:01

going to react out

4:03

of sequence here. And what I mean by that, I'd be real

4:05

surprised if he dumps the coaching staff

4:07

before really taking a hard look

4:09

at Pierre Dorian and management of

4:12

the Ottawa Senators. And his plate is

4:14

full right now, and Lower obviously,

4:16

right? I mean, this has to be a very emotional

4:18

time for him and for his family.

4:21

I can guarantee you he is 100% thrilled that

4:24

all of this is soon going to be behind him once

4:26

he gets through the meeting with the executive

4:28

committee and then gets full board approval from

4:30

the national hockey league. And then there'll be a time.

4:33

There'll be a time where he can truly

4:35

assess what he has in hockey operations. The

4:37

problem is here, you know, we're

4:40

approaching the end potentially of the Stanley Cup

4:42

final, right? And then right around the corner

4:44

is the NHL draft. And then you have

4:46

free agency. There's

4:49

some big things on the NHL calendar

4:52

that hockey operations headed by Pierre Dorian

4:54

are going to have to manage here. So I

4:56

doubt that we see any sort

4:59

of real significant change before all

5:01

that. Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm

5:03

with you. Would that be a tough change I supposed

5:05

to make at the GM level? But one

5:07

guy who I thought about today,

5:09

and mainly because his name's somewhat

5:11

in the news, looks like Patrick Woz stepped

5:13

down from his post in Quebec. I'm

5:15

curious if that could potentially be a fit,

5:17

you know? That's pretty close to home for Patty

5:20

Woz.

5:21

Right, well, we can't dismiss it, but I wouldn't

5:23

read too much, Mike, into the timing

5:25

of the news from the Quebec Remport today.

5:27

My understanding is they called that media availability

5:30

two, three days ago. While that would

5:33

not have aligned with the news out of the national

5:35

hockey league in confirmation, Michael Ann Lauer

5:37

is the successful bidder to buy the Ottawa

5:39

Senators, right? So it is coincidental,

5:41

but it's salacious. And, you

5:44

know, this dates back to our time

5:46

in Kamloops, Julia, when, you know, I

5:48

speculated that there was

5:50

an ownership group that has interest in

5:53

Patrick Woz potentially as an

5:55

NHL coach. Don't know that that's Michael

5:58

Ann Lauer. I can appreciate it. how

6:00

there would be a fit there. I mean, French-Canadian

6:03

obviously, you've got a real

6:05

strong French-Canadian fan base

6:07

in Ottawa that's followed the Ottawa Senators,

6:09

but I'm not prepared to

6:12

link any further speculation to that being

6:15

real. And I think I read a quote not

6:17

that long though from Patrick Waugh who established

6:19

that he has no interest to this point

6:22

from NHL suitors, meaning

6:24

that no one has reached out to him to

6:26

this stage. That could change very quickly, but

6:28

I think today is more coincidental.

6:30

Yeah, with our TSN hockey insider,

6:32

Darren Dreger. Okay, so to the Stanley Cup

6:35

final now, Dregs, it's game five tonight

6:37

and the Cup will be in the building. Our burning

6:39

question of the day is a very simple

6:42

one. It's simply, does the Cup

6:44

leave with Phil Prichard tonight or does it leave

6:46

with the Vegas Golden Knights?

6:48

So where are you leaning when it comes to who's taking Stanley

6:50

home tonight?

6:51

Well, look, Ray

6:53

Ferrero on the Ray and Drake podcast made

6:55

a very bold, brash prediction

6:58

prior to the start of the series, saying

7:00

that it was going to end in five and

7:02

the Vegas Golden Knights will win the Stanley

7:05

Cup.

7:05

And that was from doing the Western Conference

7:08

final, right? I mean, Ray had a front row seat

7:10

in his coverage of ESPN and got

7:12

to know the Vegas Golden Knights very, very well.

7:15

No disrespect to the Florida Panthers, but Mike,

7:18

I heard you coming in with the segment talked about the

7:20

health or lack thereof of Florida

7:22

questions around Matthew Kuchuck. Radco

7:25

Gouda seemed to be in and out of the series. And

7:27

look, when you get to game five of the Stanley

7:29

Cup final, it goes beyond aches

7:31

and pains and pulled muscles and things

7:33

like that. I mean, you have legit

7:36

injuries, which we'll find out after the series.

7:40

Vegas looks much healthier and

7:42

I think that is going to matter. And

7:44

then you look at the layering of depth that

7:46

we've seen from the Vegas Golden Knights and in

7:49

particular in this series. You know, one

7:51

game it's Jonathan Marshasow who continues to

7:53

march towards the cons. And Aiden

7:56

Hill is, you know, eyeing that

7:58

potential individual award but

8:00

based on the significance of his

8:02

play. What about Jack Eichel,

8:05

who, man, has he been good through the

8:07

playoffs? I guess I'm overlooking

8:09

Mark Stone to some degree, who has

8:11

been very influential and impactful. You

8:14

just feel the experience of

8:16

the Vegas Golden Knights could be

8:18

the dealmaker tonight. Look,

8:22

I've told this story a bunch of times, probably on Leafs'

8:24

lunch before. I remember having this conversation,

8:27

like it was five minutes ago with Kelly McCrimmon

8:29

at the recent GM meetings in Florida. I

8:32

asked him about Mark Stone and at that point after

8:34

two back surgeries, they weren't sure Stone

8:37

was going to be healthy enough to play in the playoffs.

8:40

He was being flat out honest and he said if he's not,

8:42

that's going to be crushing because this guy is

8:44

the heart and soul of this team.

8:49

As it turns out, Mark Stone was healthy and the fact

8:51

that he stayed healthy is remarkable.

8:53

I can't imagine Mark

8:55

Stone and the Vegas Golden Knights don't take advantage.

8:59

But let's provide a little wiggle room here out

9:01

of respect to the packers. If

9:04

Barkov has another big game, if

9:06

Tuchuk can play, if Sam

9:09

Bennett can be a difference maker, if Sam

9:12

Reinhardt can get going here very quickly,

9:14

Anthony Duclair on and on and on it goes,

9:17

and Brabavski can flat out stand on his

9:19

lid which he's capable of, well, maybe we're

9:21

having this conversation going into game six

9:24

and that wouldn't be a terrible thing for the sport. That's

9:27

kind of the thing though, Dregs. You look at Vegas,

9:29

it seems like everyone's firing on all cylinders.

9:32

You've got depth scoring,

9:33

all four lines, you've got all

9:35

three defensive pairs rolling, you got Aiden Hill

9:37

and Net. There's a lot of guys who

9:39

have been sub par, we'll call it, on

9:41

the Florida Panthers. If a couple of those dudes

9:44

can get going tonight, I mean, maybe this

9:46

is a bit of a different situation. Can

9:48

you point to maybe one guy who maybe

9:50

outside of Tuchuk because I think the injury maybe could

9:52

take him out of the question, out of the running

9:55

for that. But is there somebody else you think can maybe be

9:57

a game breaker for Florida to give them a chance tonight?

10:00

Well, Barkov for sure and that's pretty

10:02

obvious, but you know until very recently

10:04

he'd been quiet for the most part

10:06

He'd been quiet. I mean he's always effective

10:09

right because he's such a solid two-way

10:11

guy But you know he needed to step

10:14

up and he did But

10:17

it can't just be about one player all the

10:19

guys that I lifted off They're all capable

10:22

and they've all been influential varying stages

10:25

of this post-season I

10:28

I just wonder you know we know that

10:30

the Florida Panthers are running on fumes and

10:32

since Late

10:34

in the season. I mean they have been fueled

10:37

by adrenaline who's kidding who I

10:39

mean the momentum that this team has has

10:41

written to This point has been incredible

10:44

and that's from Sergei Brabowski You

10:46

know all the way through but I

10:49

think it'll have more to do with the Vegas Golden Knights

10:51

I feel like there's gonna be some nervous energy

10:54

in that Vegas team they're keenly aware

10:56

of what they're capable of doing and That

10:59

the stage that is set for tonight Imagine

11:03

imagine the pandemonium in Vegas

11:05

if the Golden Knights win tonight on home ice

11:07

because that's that's not a Fabricated

11:10

fan base it isn't I've been

11:13

there a number of times that is

11:15

a legit fan base and

11:17

the community Absolutely has

11:19

embraced the Golden Knights So you

11:22

didn't get through maybe 10 minutes

11:24

of nervous energy and settle into their

11:26

game I just don't know that Florida has any

11:28

one player or a collection to fight back

11:32

Yeah, it would be electric if they were able

11:34

to win on home ice tonight and Fandul

11:36

currently has Jordan Marsh Jonathan

11:38

rather Marjosso and Aiden Hill

11:40

as the front runners for Consmite

11:42

so where do you sit it's one of the things

11:45

that gets the people going where do you sit on Aiden

11:47

Hill? Being considered this highly

11:49

for MVP just based on the fact that he

11:51

didn't play in that first round.

11:52

Yeah Well

11:56

In the first round so it's yeah

11:59

somewhere. It kind of does doesn't

12:02

it? I, I, Aiden Hill

12:04

has grown on me however, and I'm not

12:06

going to mention names, there

12:09

are a number of former goalies who

12:11

are now NHL analysts. We've

12:13

got a couple, they're just sprinkled

12:16

across the NHL and more and

12:18

more. I get

12:22

just harsh honesty in,

12:24

in analyzing Aiden Hill's

12:26

game and the fact that he's a puck

12:29

blocker, you know, and all of those things.

12:31

I, I mean, as somebody who's known

12:33

nothing, knows nothing about goaltending, isn't

12:35

that the point? You want to stop

12:38

the puck and keep it at it? Maybe he's not

12:40

as technically sound, maybe he's not as flashy,

12:44

maybe he's not as athletic. I don't know any

12:46

of that. What I know is he's got a masterful job

12:48

of keeping the puck out of the Golden Knights net.

12:50

So I'm, I'm all in for the possibility.

12:53

He wouldn't be one on my list though.

12:56

I think I'd have Marstow ahead of him. And

12:59

then I start to look closer at Jack Eichel,

13:01

Mark Stone and obviously Aiden Hill.

13:04

Yeah, I think I'm probably leaning very similar

13:06

to you. With Darren

13:08

Dreger, TSN hockey insider, you know,

13:11

today's also like a, it's a one year anniversary

13:13

for Bruce Cassidy being hired by the Vegas

13:15

Golden Knights. I mean, could you think of a better anniversary

13:18

present? I suppose like, but

13:20

when you think about it, how sweet would it feel

13:23

after, you know, watching the Bruins have

13:25

this historic regular season without

13:27

him, they moved on and went on to have the greatest

13:29

regular season statistically in NHL

13:32

history. But then when all said and done when

13:34

it

13:34

really mattered, he was the one, he could

13:36

be the one on top

13:38

of the mountain on the exact day that he got

13:40

hired a year ago by the Vegas

13:42

Golden Knights. It's, it's poetic justice. It

13:45

kind of is. It'd be richly deserved for Bruce.

13:48

You know, he didn't just suddenly become an

13:50

excellent NHL coach, right? I mean, they're

13:53

part of the reason anyway, and a big part, I would submit

13:56

that the Boston Bruins were as good this year as

13:58

they were, largely because

13:59

they kept the same structure, the same

14:02

sort of defensive game plan that was put in

14:04

place by Bruce Cassidy. Now, go

14:06

further up the ladder of hockey ops

14:08

in Vegas and you find Kelly McCremmon

14:10

and George McPhee and look at the coaches that

14:12

they dispatched in the short

14:14

time there, right? And you're talking

14:16

about the pedigree guys like

14:19

Pete DeBore of course and Tarrard

14:21

Galant. Well, to

14:24

make those tough calls, you've

14:26

got to see something, something and

14:29

maybe it's minute that is lacking

14:32

and you can't worry about the backlash,

14:35

you can't worry about any of it, you just have

14:37

to trust your hockey instincts to

14:39

tell you, okay, Bruce Cassidy

14:42

is likely going to be available, we need

14:44

to jump on him because he gives us a better

14:46

option as a head coach than Pete DeBore. Talk

14:49

about the stones it takes to make that call because

14:52

last time I checked, Pete DeBore is

14:54

a fairly established NHL hockey

14:56

coach. Like, come on. Pretty good. Yeah. So, you

14:58

know, of course, Bruce

15:00

deserves a ton of credit. This guy

15:03

is the best in the business, but

15:06

I want to give equal amounts of credit to

15:09

McCremmon, George McPhee and Dan

15:11

DeMion at the top of the food chain who is Bill Foley

15:14

who empowers McPhee and

15:16

McCremmon to make these

15:18

decisions, to, you know, make the difficult

15:20

calls when it comes to coaching or get creative

15:24

and in free agency or in the

15:26

crazy trades that this team has made

15:28

to make them as good as they are. So, yeah,

15:30

Bruce is going to deserve a heap of credit and

15:33

it is coincidental if it in fact ends on

15:35

the anniversary, but there's a long line

15:37

of guys that deserve the credit if this team wins

15:39

it. Absolutely.

15:40

And we'll see if it happens tonight.

15:42

Should be a good one. Let's

15:44

bring it local for some Leafs talk here. Drags

15:46

it as Leafs lunch after all and taking 20 minutes

15:49

to get there, I suppose. But our

15:52

Leafs kind of burning question yesterday was about, you

15:54

know, the likelihood of Nylander getting a deal

15:56

signed by training camp. And,

15:58

you know, the thought process

15:59

process is more so

16:02

on the lines of if there is no deal by

16:04

training camp do you think that there's a possibility

16:07

that maybe a trade could be in

16:09

the in the cards here when it comes to William

16:11

Nylander so a

16:13

game we play typically on this show good call

16:16

bad call and you gotta tell us whether it's a good call

16:18

or bad call and explain why here's

16:20

the statement I'm going to make for you Drake's Nylander

16:22

is more likely to be dealt this summer than

16:25

show up to camp without an extension

16:27

good call or bad call

16:28

I'm going to say bad call I'm

16:31

not convinced he's going to have that

16:33

extension in place we'll see

16:36

I know that Brad Kreloving and

16:38

the Toronto Maple Leafs don't want the process to drag

16:41

they really don't they want to get something done

16:44

sooner rather than later it helps no

16:47

one you know to let this thing

16:50

play itself out and then you know you look at the last

16:53

contract battle that the Leafs had with

16:55

Nylander and that didn't work out too well for him

16:57

to be fair it didn't but I'm

16:59

also of the belief that the

17:01

chances are low that the Maple Leafs

17:04

are going to trade William Nylander before

17:06

the start of the season now you

17:08

know if it's just clear that

17:10

they're not going to be able to ever get a deal

17:13

done okay well then you got

17:15

to cut bait but as we're having this conversation

17:17

here I think the percentages are low

17:19

that he gets traded I mean the better

17:22

option the option that the Leafs prefer

17:24

is to keep that group together

17:27

but they're

17:28

going to have to get creative and how they work the

17:30

math because it's not

17:32

going to be easy to make it all work yeah

17:34

yeah a lot of math to be done

17:36

there so I'm looking at the calendar right now drag this is

17:38

about two and a half weeks until July

17:41

1st so can you do you have any read

17:43

on when we might start to hear about

17:45

some of these Leafs

17:48

UFAs or RFA's

17:49

well there's been dialogue already

17:52

obviously that's not a news flash

17:54

you know when you look at the UFAs

17:57

it gets more challenging right you know

17:59

what we're doing with the interest in retaining

18:01

Michael Buntingby. I know

18:03

last week, which is a busy week because of

18:05

the NHL Comm, I never really wasn't

18:07

much of any communication between

18:10

cheer-living and the agent. And I'm sure that's

18:12

going to change. I mean, you have to go through

18:14

again what might even be a limited process. You

18:16

know, it sort of feels like from a business standpoint,

18:19

I'm sure that Michael Bunting has

18:22

recognized that it's a long shot that

18:24

he stays in Toronto. You

18:26

know, specific to some of the bigger names,

18:30

I expect that Trellivant

18:33

and Judd Mouldabour who represent thought

18:35

to Matthews will meet at some

18:37

point this week, I would think. And

18:40

we're approaching midweek here. So, you know,

18:43

I think that's the plan to

18:45

meet in the near future. Now, does

18:48

that mean that they're going to iron

18:50

something out prior to July 1st? I think, you

18:53

know, that too is a long

18:55

shot. In fairness to Matthews, this

18:57

might be just more of a get to know you

18:59

sort of meeting between Trellivant

19:02

and Matthews with Judd and

19:04

whomever else happens to attend that meeting.

19:07

You know, I'm sure Matthews is going to want to

19:09

know what the plan is, what's the new

19:11

GM strategy? What could this team

19:14

look like? And I think that that

19:16

could influence the process as well. What I don't

19:18

think is that Matthews is going to come

19:20

away from that meeting and go, well, I'm not

19:22

doing that. I don't believe in

19:25

the direction of this team. And therefore, I'm just

19:27

going to sit back and just play out

19:30

this season. I don't anticipate that's

19:32

going to happen as well. I

19:34

just know that, you know, July 1st matters

19:37

to the NHL, to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

19:40

But I don't think it matters as much to Judd

19:42

Maldaver and the often Matthews. We know the

19:45

no move clause kicks in. But beyond

19:47

that, I think they're willing to

19:49

take their time. Not for leverage, not

19:52

for leverage to put the Toronto Maple Leafs in

19:54

a vice, just because, you know,

19:56

these things do take some time.

19:59

They do take some time. But it also

20:01

I say all that and it could wrap up pretty quickly

20:03

as well if Matthews and company hear what

20:05

they need to hear

20:06

Yeah, would be nice Would be nice if we get

20:08

a nice present on July 1st an

20:10

extension is in place and that we don't have to speculate

20:13

All summer long but as

20:15

we know it's it's unlikely to happen Last

20:18

one for you drags there seems to be a lot of chatter

20:21

surrounding some some big names out in Calgary

20:23

This week to expect them to be some big players

20:25

in the trade market this offseason. Oh, yeah

20:28

Yeah, for sure, you know Calgary's got

20:30

a slew of free agents that Craig Conroy

20:32

is gonna have to wrestle with You

20:35

know you look at Winnipeg We've talked a lot

20:36

about the Winnipeg Jets and the potential

20:39

upheaval there that is is

20:41

kind of planned and I look

20:43

I mean There's no commitment to moving out top players

20:45

or extending top players in either market

20:47

but you know as management groups you definitely

20:50

have to go through it and Find

20:53

out what makes the most sense, you

20:55

know Calgary has been aggressive this offseason, you

20:57

know They made management change They've

20:59

made the coaching change I mean Murray Edwards

21:02

is on the hook for millions and millions

21:04

of dollars for people who aren't working with a

21:06

chowary flames So the expectation

21:09

would be that okay new management

21:11

figure it out You know, we need to be a playoff

21:13

contending team that would be the goal

21:15

for sure and in Winnipeg

21:18

opportunity to change things over But

21:20

to stay competitive as well that fan base

21:22

isn't going to tolerate a full-scale

21:25

renovation or rebuild So it's

21:27

going to be complicated, but I would look at both Canadian

21:29

markets as being hot spots Well if

21:32

the cup final ends tonight, there certainly will

21:34

be a lot more chatter over the course the next few

21:36

days So we'll see what happens with

21:39

with all that dregs appreciate it as

21:41

always Enjoy the game tonight and we'll

21:43

chat again next week.

21:44

All right guys. Have a good one use. Well, there he

21:46

goes Darren drag her TSN.

21:47

Hi