McGuire Monday: Leafs’ Roster Moves Could Make (or Break) Season

McGuire Monday: Leafs’ Roster Moves Could Make (or Break) Season

You’re watching Toronto Sports Rush on the Bet Rivers Network. Welcome in to the Toronto Sports Rush right here on the Bet Rivers Network. EJ Ratic here and it is Mondays, so that means it’s a little time for uh our friend Pierre Maguire. Mondays with Maguire and Pierre, it has been kind of a a quiet summer thus far. I mean, it got it was busy early July, but it really kind of tailed off. But we’re getting ready, I think, to ramp up again here now. We’re getting towards this the the latter part of August into early September. I mean, what do you think teams are thinking right now? In particular, the Leafs, who, you know, it seems like they still have a move or two left here before the regular season starts. EJ, great to visit with you again, by the way. But I think the Leafs are one of the teams that will be proactive as we go forward. I think they’re looking to clear some cap space out. remember was a couple years ago where they made a side deal quote unquote with Max Patch ready to bring him into the organization. I still don’t think the Leafs have one more move left in them. It’ll be interesting to see what they do with some of their depths forwards to create some more cap space and potentially bring in Jack Roselic. Uh I also think the Montreal Canadians are another team. Watch what happens if they move Carrie Price’s contract out of Montreal. And they had like a lot of teams, they have this everpresent need, EJ, of a second line center. Yeah. And if Montreal ever was able to do that, and I don’t know who they would target, I don’t like to play that game, but if they ever were able to do that, Montreal in that uh Atlantic division would cause a lot of problems. And I think they could push almost to get to the top spot where Toronto was last year. Yeah. You know, it’s interesting in the Atlantic because, you know, we looked at those teams and for for years it have been four up and four down, right? And now it’s starting to change because we were waiting on Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal, Detroit, and Montreal has done, you know, that group there has done a really good job of pushing forward because of those four teams, they seem to be like the furthest one away and yet there they were last year in the postseason and gave Washington a little scare in that first round series. So, you’re right. I mean, the the Washington, excuse me, the Montreal Canadians, I mean, they could be more of a factor, particularly if they could add another piece. And you know what’s interesting? People aren’t talking enough about the acquisition of Noah Dobson. And this is nothing against David Sevard, who had a magnificent NHL career. He’s retired now. That opened up a spot on the right side for David Seavard to come in, or sorry, for Noah Adoptson to replace David Seavard. And you look at it, Noah Dobson going in there. Let’s just say for the sake of argument he’s playing in the four hole rather than the two-hole which he was a lot of times on Long Island. That’s a big difference. He’s not going to be on the top power play. That’s Lane Hudson’s job. Th this Montro Kane’s defense is a lot better than what a lot of people are saying. And their depth forwards are very good. And if they ever get to your point, that second center, they’re going to cause problems. And one of the teams are going to cause problems for is going to be Toronto. Yeah, no question about it. and you got Ottawa that’s moving up the ranks as well with young players. So, it’s going to be it’s an interesting uh time in the Atlantic division as we’re seeing change. Boston is kind of, you know, moving into a different phase in their franchise. Montreal, Ottawa moving up. Detroit and Buffalo still trying to figure it out. So, I I expect another interesting year. Let’s get back to the Leafs, though. Uh, you know, I I was looking at through their roster and, you know, they’re set. I mean, they’re locked in on defense in terms of the contracts for for a while now. Riley, McCabe, Tan have all signed through 2030. Oel through 2728. Two more years for Benois, two more years for Carlo. I mean, I like the defense, but I wonder, you know, winning a Stanley Cup, is this group in your mind good enough or at some point, do they have to try to make at least one upgrade there? I’d love to see them try to make one upgrade in terms of a puck moving defenseman. And one of the things they did this summer, they brought in Henry Thron. I think Henry Thun is a very useful player. I watched him play for a long time at the prep school level in Massachusetts at Harvard University. His father actually went to St. Lawrence University when I was coaching there. So, I’m pretty familiar with Henry. And Henry’s a really good puck mover, but he’s a depth puck mover. He’s not a top four puck mover. I think if they ever could add one of those and take some pressure off of, let’s say, Morgan Riley on the power play, I think that would help them. I would be trying to gauge and focus in on a power play defenseman. Think about it. Last year they went five forwards on their first power play in Toronto and Mitchell Martin is not there anymore. He was the guy running the power play. So I think EJ that would be something that I’d be looking for if I were Brad living in the Toronto Maple Leafs. A puck moving elite offensive type defenseman. You know another guy I want to ask you about or a position is the goalending because you know I got to talk to Anthony Stolars last week and he’s feeling good. So, that’s the good news after being banged up uh you know in the playoffs and missing you know basically the entire round against uh the def the eventual champion Florida Panthers. But he’s got one year left on his deal. Joe Wall’s got three years left. Uh they’re both represented by Ela Wah who’s you know the same so they have the same representation. Starl has had two really good years in a row in terms of a save percentage. You know, he hasn’t played that 5055 games that, you know, you’d like for the a real number one, but on two good teams, he had a 925 926 save percentage. What do you think the future holds for Stallars? Will it depend on how things unfold this year? Because I’m thinking for Anthony at 31, he’s probably someone that’s more interested in term maybe than the bigger dollars. Where do you see his season as we look forward to the new year? I thought he was the biggest steal in free agency last summer. I really thought Toronto did a magnificent job being able to get him, especially at the price point they got him at, EJ. Number one. Number two, there not a lot of guys from Edison, New Jersey, almost in your backyard that are playing in the National Hockey League. Um, so congratulations to Anthony on that. And the first time I ever saw Anthony play at a high level, he was playing in Nebraska, Omaha before he went to the play for the London Knights. So I I know his body will work pretty well. I think Toronto’s a wait and see situation for him. Yeah, if he has a big year this year, I do think he’ll be able to get three or four years a term. This reminds me a lot of Ryan Donado. Different position, different organization, different conference. Donado last year was a wait and see in Chicago. He puts up over 30 goals. He gets a four-year deal at 4 million, $16 million bonanza for Ryan Donado. He’s made it. He’s done a great job with his career. I think Stlars is in the same situation as a goalie. get your team to the Eastern Conference final if you’re Anthony Stolars. And I think you get the long-term extension at a price point that’s better than $2.5 million a year. Yeah, that’s right. I mean, you mentioned it 2.5 on the 2-year deal that he signed last year. A really good deal for the Leafs. But the guy continues to play well. Yep. That will that will certainly be an interesting conversation for them because Wall is signed and if they if they don’t want to go any further on a deal, they might just go forward with Joe Wall. But we’ll wait and see. And you know, Anthony, the the one bugaboo is he’s just had a little bit of trouble staying healthy last year. Had the injury in December, missed some time, and then got hurt in the playoffs. So, but uh he has played very very well. And I always root for my Jersey guys, Pierre. I mean, that’s just uh you know, I got to I got to I got to look out for those guys. Um, you know, speaking of uh uh you know, of the American kids, they they just won uh the uh Helinka Gretzky tournament over overseas. And you know, Team USA really has never hasn’t won that tournament, I think, since 2003. It’s kind of their second tier prospects. Canada usually sends its high-end guys, and they did again. This year, they ended up losing a shootout. I mean, it’s a, you know, that’s a coin toss. Although the the US kids really made some nice shots in there to win that shootout and they ended up beating Sweden to win the gold medal. But, you know, from a from a scouting standpoint, it kind of kicks off the year that tournament for the draft eligibles for next year’s draft. What did you make of that tournament? And I know you were impressed with Kevin Porter, who was the head coach at Team USA. I thought the Canadian coaching was good as well. Um, but you know, the biggest thing to me is Kevin was a tremendous player for Red Barren at the University of Michigan. He won the Hobie Baker Award, which is the Heisman Trophy of College Hockey. And Kevin could never really get any traction at the NHL level as a player. But man, oh man, people, you know, again, I get it. People that are NHL fans don’t want to spend time watching the American Hockey League. Kevin Porter was a heck of a player at the American Hockey League. He really was. He’s a tre. And I watched him coach and I talked to Ben Sire who was his assistant. And Ben couldn’t say enough good things uh about Kevin and the way he handled himself with Team USA. This is a tournament not just for development of players. It’s a tournament that’s developmental potentially for coaches as well. Yeah. And I and I think if there’s one shining star that comes out of it for the Americans besides some of the players, it’s going to be Kevin Porter. And I think that’s a tremendous thing for Kevin and for USA Hockey. Yeah, their power play was off the charts in the tournament. and that, you know, special teams in a short tournament, obviously you have to have the players and they have to perform, but I think a lot of that is the coaching and the preparation to be ready to take care take on those moments and they seem to do a really good job. Yeah. No, I agree. That’s a really good way to look at it, EJ. I agree with you 100%. The other part of it is when I when I look at this whole the way hockeyy’s growing right now, I’m blown away by the tempo of the games and I’m blown away by the skill level of the games. The biggest thing is we’ve never seen young players shoot the puck with as much velocity, as much accuracy, and as much quickness as what we’re seeing right now, AJ. And and this is just all this training these kids are doing. And I work with a lot of kids over the course of a year, and I I’m just blown away by how well they shoot the puck. That’s changing the game. It really is. Yeah. And it’s it’s again interesting to watch because I was impressed with a lot of the kids on on the US team. Obviously impressed with a lot of the Canadian kids. I mean, they had some really good players on, you know, that were out there that are going to be guys that play in the NHL for a long time. But it just speaks to what you’re talking about, the the depth of the players, you know, certainly more so in the US than it’s ever been before. I mean, I can go back, Pierre, and remember when, you know, team USA would play team Canada at events like this and the American kids would be just intimidated. I mean, it was very clear to see physically intimidated. And now be maybe just because these kids all know each other. They play against each other all the time. That’s just the way youth hockey is now there that that seems to be gone and the guys just go at it. I think it all changed really after the Americans won their first ever World Junior gold medal in Helsinki, Finland in 2004. I was there to watch that. That was Zack Pereiz. That was Al Mononttoya in goal. That was Ryan Sudter on defense. Mark Stewart was a captain. You know, Ryan Kessler was on that team. You you I think it all changed then. and Mike Ees and Johnny Hines were coaching that team. You know, Johnny’s had a magnificent NHL coaching career. And Mike Ees, I worked for the late Badger Bob Johnson. Of all the players Badger ever coached, Mike Ees was his favorite. I can tell you that right now. You say, “What’s saying? What’s doing?” He used to say that all the time. But that’s where I think it changed for USA hockey. Thinking really go back and say, “Where’s the where’s the Mendoza line where they crossed over and really took off?” And they can go back to the 2004 World Junior and everybody said, you know what, it’s possible for us to beat Canada. It’s possible for us to beat Russia. It’s possible for us to beat Finland and Sweden and Czech Republic and Slovakia. And that’s what happened there. And the rest has been history for America. Yeah, I would agree. I was fortunate enough to be there as well. And I would agree. I think that was kind of a turning point for for sure with uh with USA hockey and the program in general uh kind of moving moving forward. Let me take you Pierre to, you know, a little bit around the league. Are you surprised that Conor McDavid has not signed an extension yet? We don’t know that, you know, if he’s going to do a long term. The feeling is he’s going to sign some sort of extension with the Os. Are you surprised that he hasn’t done it yet? No, this is all just uh part of the negotiation process. It’s a deal that will eventually get done. I’ve done a bunch of these contracts earlier in my career and even later in my career. So, it takes a little bit of time. there’s some minutia to get worked out, but I I think it’s been an everchanging landscape. They wanted to see where the new collective bargaining agreement was going to lead. Uh, and there’s no question he should be the highest paid player in the league. So, they just got to figure that out. I don’t think those kinds of negotiations are that hard. Um, I think it’s the guys that are in the middle and as an organization, you’re not sure if they still got jam left or if they’re falling to the other side. So, with McDavid, I don’t think you need to worry about that. So, I think his deal will get done. There’s another one. And I know people in Montreal are panicking about why isn’t Lane Hudson signed yet. Lane Hudson will get signed. He’s not going anywhere. He’s a restricted free agent. Even if he doesn’t sign now, they will get and they if let’s just say somebody tried to make a predatory offer on him, EJ guaranteed Montreal’s going to match, which is their right on an IFA. So this is these things are I get it, but no, I’m not surprised McDavid’s not signed with McDavid. Like there’s been a lot of speculation in terms of the term. I mean, and you know, if you go back five, six, seven years ago, you would have, it would have just kind of been a no-brainer that he would have tried to they would have looked for an 8-year contract. Um, but I think the landscape is changing. I mean, Matthews has done a couple of shorter contracts. The cap is going to be going up. I would think the agents look at it and say, “Hey, when a player like this, let’s do a short let’s do a shorter deal. Then we can go back at it when we have even more information about the market.” I could see maybe that taking place with Kale Mar down the road as well. What What do you What do you make of that? Are we in a changing environment now where we’re going to see maybe shorter deals for these guys as they kind of try to work out where the market is going to be and not leave money on the table? I think uh higherend players will probably do what you’re saying. I think guys that are maybe in the middle would prefer to have term over dollar value. So, I think it’s going to change for whatever group you’re in. And they’re going to be some guys who are just going to be happy to get a one-year deal. Yeah. You know, we see that a lot now. I used Travis Hammond, who I am a huge fan of as a person. I’ve known him really well. I helped bring him to Ottawa. And uh Travis’s a great guy. He just signed a one-year deal for a million dollars, you know, in in Detroit because he’s on the tail end. He knows it. His agent knows it. And he still wants to play and he wants to be relevant. And so you’re going to see those kinds of deals too. So I think there’s going to be like three or four different groups that you’re going to see in terms how deals get constructed. Yeah. I mean, and I would think too for for the guys at the top end and and term to me term is still really valuable because I think if anything we could say over the last several years now going back uh you know to maybe the the late part of the uh the teens here, you just don’t know what’s going to happen in the world. you know, the cap it’s going up. Everything’s rosy today. Things could change. I mean, having the comfort of a or having the the the security of of a seven or eight year contract is still a pretty nice thing for anyone. So, we we will have to just watch and see. Everybody’s going to try to kind of go at it a little bit differently. Pier, when we wrap up here, I want to ask you about like, you know, there’s been a lot of stuff that’s gone on the summer. As I I mentioned at the start, it’s kind of dried out a little bit, but as you’ve had time to think about things, is there a team or two that you get ready for the season that you’re saying, “Boy, I really like this team, and I really think the moves they made were really good, and the more I’ve thought about it, I think this is a team that has a a chance to move forward.” Uh, Anaheim would be one. I’ll tell you that right now. I think Pad Verbique and Martin Madden Jr. have done a great job. And it all started with the recruitment and eventual hiring of Joel Quenville. I I think Anaheim’s put themselves in a very good position to move forward. Uh I think Montreal’s done a fantastic job. People aren’t talking enough about Zachary Baldick. Everybody knows about Noah Dobson, but Zachary Bould’s a tremendous addition to that team. If they ever got that second center, we’re talking about Lookout. Um I think Toronto really quietly. Brad Tree Living and his people. They haven’t been braggadocious about their acquisitions, but they were able to keep John Tiveres. People forget that he’s a valuable component. And I know people started beating him up, you know, on not having Mitchell Marner, but Nicholas Wah is a very good player and they play him threehole that that’s a way undervalued property. And you know, if you’re playing Scotty Lton as your fourthline center, you look you look at that depth. Matthews, Tivera, Suis, and then Scotty Lton, that’s significant firepower down the middle. If you don’t have a stable center ice position, you’re not winning. Ask the Florida Panthers. Look at their team. You know, when they start rolling out Sammy Bennett and they start rolling out Sasha Barov and they start rolling out Antonell and then they start rolling out Tamas Nosk. Yeah. Like that’s serious depth down the middle. If you don’t have that, you’re not winning in the league today. No chance. Yeah. No, no question. No question about that. Uh you got to be deep in the middle. That’s the thing I always say, Pierre, like at any given time in the league, and at least in my time watching the game here, there’s always, I’d say, like, you know, we could argue about who they are, but like maybe 16 or 18 real number one centers. And then you get into those depth pieces and there’s some teams that have two of them. Like for years, Pittsburgh had Crosby and Malin, right? They had two number one centers there. So, they were really deep through the middle. Not surprising. They won Stanley Cups. To your point, depth through the middle. Why is it that there’s not more like, you know, we don’t have more really high-end centers in the league at any given time? Because it’s just like football. It’s just like baseball. If you don’t have good starting pitching, they’re hard to find those guys. Yeah. If you don’t have any elite quarterback in the NFL, you’re not winning. I don’t give a poop. And there are a lot of teams that don’t win in that league. It’s always the same teams that win because they had good quarterback. Patrick Mahomes, you know, Jaylen Herz, Tom Brady, you know, go go back to Terry Bradshaw. You know, I’m just telling if you don’t have elite quarterback and you can’t win in the NFL. And in hockey, it’s just hard to create. It’s an amazingly athletic position. You got to play 200 feet. You know, you were talking about the two center iceman. I Scotty Bowman and I created a thing a long time ago called a seven player profile to build a team, especially going into the cap era. Seven player profile is pretty simple. It’s two dominant centers. And every team since ‘ 05 06 starting with Carolina fits the profile. Two dominant centers, power forward, specialist forward. That could be a faceoff guy, a power play guy, a penalty kill guy, shot blocking guy, physical guy, doesn’t matter. So that’s four of your seven. An elite puck moving defenseman, an elite shutdown defenseman. And because there’s so much parody in the league because of the salary cap and so many games go to overtime and shootout, you got to have an elite goalie. So those are your seven. and then you build around those seven, you’re going to have that thing. But if you don’t have those two centermen, doesn’t matter how many other parts of the profile you have, you’re not winning. That’s why I always say that the number one thing in the seven player profile, you got to have the two dominant centers. I go back to Colorado. Imagine having Sackic and Forsber, you know, and and I’m gonna date myself. Those Stanley Cups back there I was fortunate enough to be around. We had Marielle Lemieu, Ronnie Francis, Brian Trace, and a guy named Randy Gillan. In one playoff game, Randy Gillan won 15 straight faceoffs. 15 in a row in a playoff game. So, that’s four amazing centermen. Amazing center. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it’s funny, too. You go, you’re absolutely right. You go back through the history of this game and even if you just say, listen, you have a legit number one center, a legit number one D, and a good goalie. like nobody nobody wins the Stanley Cup without at least those pieces. And you’re right, there’s always a skeleton that managers and teams, you know, that’s where you you build your team around and it’s that’s really good. I mean, that’s really interesting what you know, what Scotty and you share there with the way that he went about it. So, very interesting and it’s just you have to have those things and if you don’t have them, that’s why for the Leafs, you know, they have they’ve had some of these high-end players. They have Austin Matthews at the top and so now is the time to try to make it happen. So we’ll see with the additions this year. I liked I like Dakota Joshua too. I thought that was a good ad. We’re on this. Couldn’t agree with you more. And part of that again it’s intimacy. It’s knowledge. Craig Buby had Dakota Joshua in St. Louis. Yeah, that’s right. He knows exactly what he brings to the party. One other thing cuz we’re talking about center iceman. One of the trends that I saw when I was breaking down all the college free agents that were signed by NHL teams, whether they were signed on NHL deals or minor league deals, the number of center icemen that eventually could be those depth centermen. Yeah. This was a year that a lot of NHL teams sign players that none of the fans know about. They’re way undervalued center iceman, but it’s to what you talked about before, teams are starting to recognize we need to have those players. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and that’s the thing I always say cuz teams will overpay sometimes for a guy that’s play has done that role for several years. The value is what’s important. Those players are out there. Find the first version of that player. Don’t overpay for a second version because they’re there. You just have to do the work. You have to do the scouting work. You have to put in the time. So, yeah, you’re right on, my man. Well, Pierre, listen, we’ll wrap it up for today. Thanks again for the time. You’re the best. Enjoy your day. Enjoy your week. We will be talking to you. You have been watching the Toronto Sports Rush right here on the Bet Rivers Network. Thanks for watching Toronto Sports Rush on the Bet Rivers Network.

EJ Hradek and Pierre McGuire discuss the Toronto Maple Leafs’ potential roster changes and the Montreal Canadiens’ strategic moves in the Atlantic Division before the new NHL season.

00:00 More Leafs roster changes before NHL season
03:15 Evaluating Leafs defensemen
04:50 Anthony Stolarz’s future
07:30 U.S. wins Hlinka Gretzky Cup
11:50 No Connor McDavid extension yet
14:00 NHL offseason winners so far
16:40 Importance of depth down the middle

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