James Duthie is joined by TSN Hockey Insiders Chris Johnston, Pierre LeBrun, and Darren Dreger to discuss the Maple Leafs GM’s reaction to his No. 1 goalie’s callout, the Vancouver Canucks’ search for a centre, the Vegas Golden Knights’ injury bug, Pete DeBoer’s eagerness to coach again, and what’s next for the big game hunting Carolina Hurricanes.
James Duthie: Full slate of Insiders for you, Chris Johnston, Pierre LeBrun, and Darren Dreger. It’s rare to see a goaltender call out his team the way Anthony Stolarz did after the Leafs lost to Seattle on Saturday. Tons of reaction everywhere to it, but what was the reaction from his general manager Pierre?
Pierre LeBrun: Well, first of all, I would venture to guess, James, that everyone in the Leafs organization is relieved that the Toronto market’s attention was actually on the Blue Jays for those 48 hours, as opposed to totally focused on those comments from Stolarz.
I did reach out to the Leafs general manager, Brad Treliving, to get his reaction on his goalie stepping out that way and to quote Treliving, “He was frustrated after a loss. Emotion is good. He talked to his teammates, and we have competitive guys, so it’s really not a big deal. It gets play in the media, that gets blown out of proportion. It’s nothing more than ‘let’s get going.’ I like that our guys are competitive.”
This is just me saying this James, but I think the Leafs probably wished this had happened a couple times last year.
Duthie: I’ve never seen the media blow anything out of proportion, so that seems ridiculous to me.
Out west Vancouver off to a terrific start so far, Dregs. But a little issues right now, a couple of centres go down on the weekend, how does Patrick Allvin deal with that?
Darren Dreger: Well, he’s making calls. If you have a centre available, you should call Patrick Allvin, the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, because, as we know, centre ice has been an issue for Vancouver for quite some time. Throughout the offseason, preseason, and now into the regular season, they’ve been looking for that elusive No.2.
What amplifies the issue is the fact that they lost Filip Chytil on the weekend for an extended period of time. Teddy Blueger is out as well. You just don’t go out and scour the market and find a No.2 centre. So Allvin is looking at all options, including 3/4 depth guys, maybe No.5 depth guys across the NHL.
Johnston: Well, there’ll be no trade options to replace what the Vegas Golden Knights need to do here, Dregs, but certainly it’s an all-hands-on-deck situation after Adin Hill left the game on Monday night early after trying to make a save.
They are still waiting for official test results there, in terms of a timeline, but it obviously didn’t look good for the goaltender as he needed help off the ice.
That comes on the heels of an injury to Mark Stone, the team captain. He was off to a fantastic start this year; much like the Golden Knights, they had points in their first seven games. He’s officially week-to-week with a wrist injury, but that one also looks like it’s going to be some time.
So not only are these injuries the Golden Knights are concerned about, but those are two players Team Canada has on the radar as well, so they’ll be watching those situations closely.
Duthie: Former Vegas, Dallas, San Jose, New Jersey, and Florida coach Pete DeBoer. I was going through his record, Dregs, and 18 seasons in the NHL coaching those five teams; he hasn’t missed a season of coaching, so he’s always gotten work quickly. Will we see him in the NHL again shortly?
Dreger: Well, he’d sure like to be on an NHL bench in the near future. Keep in mind, he’s under contract with the Dallas Stars until the end of this year. He’s otherwise busy, he’s scouting for Canada’s Olympic team, he’s an assistant to Jon Cooper. He’s recently been part of Canada’s entourage that went through Milan, Italy.
So right now he does have something going on, and you’re right, James. When you look at Pete DeBoer’s resume, he could look for the best fit, he could cherry-pick, but that’s not his approach. He will look at absolutely everything. It’s too early in the season to put coaches on a hot seat, but if there is one in the near future, then he wants to be considered.
Duthie: DeBoer’s got around a little bit, Rod Brind’Amour’s been a Carolina guy forever, and the team looks great again so far this year. Is it fair to say, Pierre, they’re all in once again, as far as going out and getting whatever pieces they need?
LeBrun: I got to keep an eye on those Hurricanes. You may remember a year ago when they traded for Mikko Rantanen and shocked the hockey world, but that’s who they are. Then, of course, they turned around and flipped him after they couldn’t sign him.
They tried to trade for Mitch Marner, and yes, last month, when Kaprizov turned down the first offer from the Minnesota Wild, I can confirm that the Hurricanes picked up the phone and checked in with Minnesota because they would have swung big for him, but of course, that was not a trade opportunity for them.
For now, I’m told they don’t see that big name out there on the market after all these big names have signed. They’re going to focus with what they have and they think their lineup is very deep.
When I talk to other teams around the league, they wonder about the goaltending. Is Freddy Anderson going to be healthy enough? And the answer from within Carolina is they believe in him. They think this is the year he’s stays healthy, that he can be the guy that brings them deep and over the hump come playoff time, other people aren’t so sure.
Duthie: Finally lost a hockey game, but still tied for first in the Eastern Conference, Insider Trading.
