Chris Johnston on the SDP. Going to tweet out some points that he said without taking away any clicks from @Steve_Dangle!

A lot of juicy stuff on Babcock vs Spezza. Johnston basically said the whole thing was Babcock exerting "control" rather than focusing on dressing the best possible roster. Also said he personally interviewed Jason just before Babcock made his comments about him

There were no "fireworks" between Dubas and Babcock, it was just like a "marriage ending". Also correction to the previous tweet, Johnson said he thinks Babcock wasn't intentionally dressing an inferior roster.... So yes, he legitimately believed Gauthier > Spezza lmao

Talked about the Tyson Barrie disconnect and that he was being misused by Babcock. He needs to be careful with free agency and needs to choose a place where he can be used efficiently. Johnston seems to think Vancouver isn't a great option with Hughes there

On the Marner v Babcock situation: There were no other major stories of Babcock overstepping boundaries like that. Johnston says the old school way is get wins by whatever means necessary and it was a learning curve for Mike (notes he is NOT defending Mike).

Said the players didn't hate Babcock as much as the media made it out to be but the big name guys were frustrated that little things wouldn't change and that certain players wouldn't play together.

Leafs paid more than market value for Marner because they "love the kid", think he'll be even better than today and this negotiation was important to him. They realized Marner wasn't given a fair shake in his first couple seasons (assuming due to the bonuses and 4th line time)

Johnston got the feeling that Marner hasn't gotten over the summer with the media and social media bombarding him.

This "left a mark on him"

Johnston says the Leafs are a team "nobody wants to play in the playoffs" despite how fans have perceived the season. I'm sad again and I miss hockey

Johnston said Matthews' finger issue made him feel like he was struggling to shoot the puck in January

"A lot has to go right to hit 50 in today's NHL"

Man he was so close, this virus actually sucks so much

Johnston is personally pessimistic about the NHL returning. His sources in the past few days says the league is confident they will come back though (?!). Thinks the league must be getting something from the medical committee that we don't know

People connected to the NHL expect the league to come back at some point despite Johnston (and most of us) not thinking it'll happen

One plan is the NHL will have several cities that will be regional hubs for games. North Dakota is a target with the low COVID-19 numbers, has NHL sized rinks. Buffalo, New Hampshire are candidates as well.

Says there will be no fans if we get playoffs in the summer. Expected.

Things could be weird, mentions best of 5s and best of 3s as playoff series.

Taking a dinner break. Pasta with homemade sauce

Doesn't think there will be regular season games at all and teams that are way out of it won't play. The playoffs could expand to more than 16 or there will be a play in tourney. So the bottom of the barrel teams likely won't play until 20-21.

Playoff format could change for next year if they're making radical changes this year. (More teams may be able to get in especially with Seattle expansion)

They talked about the current shitty playoff format. Could not agree more lol

The salary cap is "not going to go down".

A lot of teams are going to be tight to the cap. Free agents are going to view free agency different this summer. Thinks it'll be a wild offseason. Guys will "make different decisions" than they would've. Thinks there could be a bunch of 1 or 2 year deals

Pietrangelo does not have interest in Toronto and obviously the Leafs don't have the cap space anyways. Johnston laughed the idea off lol

The Leafs could be an attractive destination for players to come for a 1 year deal to bump up their value for the following offseason

Oh shit, he thinks the salary cap might not go up for a couple years... But we're in a very good position to not have a lockout for a while at least.

Possibility for more compliance buyouts with the events of this season. Players would be fine with it and obviously teams as well.

This is a scenario that Robertson goes back to the OHL but neither Nick nor the team wants that.

Thinks Ceci and Barrie will walk. Might trade 2 or 3 players to open up spots. Spezza will be back.

Johnston isn't sold on Engvall as an NHLer, cites his very long scoring drought. Personal attack to @HardevLad

CJ still feels Engvall has something to prove. Leafs aren't afraid to send him down. Thinks he has to fight for a spot for sure.

Steve mentioned the possibility of Robertson and Spezza on the same line and I'm excited as hell now

99% chance Spezza will be back, just not officially set in stone or anything

It'll be tough to trade Johnsson, the Leafs might just lose any deal with Johnsson because of the injury and the fact he's making more money for 3 more years.

Kapanen is the most movable guy because he's an attractive asset but the Leafs won't want to move him

Thinks the Leafs will be very creative in the offseason (said he was reading between the lines)

There is interest in bringing back Clifford still. They really like him but will only bring him back if it's a team friendly deal. That 2Mx3 rumour is bullshit guys lol

On Frederik Andersen:

Hard to say if he will be back after next season but will be back next season. The Leafs like him, he's close to Matthews, he likes Toronto but there is a "scenario where they're not able to pay him".

Described Fred as TBD on his next contract. Need to hope Woll or Scott develop soon :/

If Fred's performance is bad again next year it might force the Leafs' hand to look somewhere else anyways.

Dangle thinks the organization thinks that Campbell has #1 potential despite his age. Johnston doesn't think so, sees him more as a backup or a platoon option

Johnston doesn't think Barabanov will be as good as Mikheyev but he will play in the NHL next year. KHL free agents like the Leafs b/c they honour their commitment by giving them NHL games (Ozhiganov, Zaitsev, Mikheyev, etc)

I left out a lot of stuff but give it a watch/listen. @reporterchris is one of the best in the business and the whole SDP crew are awesome, once again here's the link and give it a watch. Stay indoors, stay safe and stay healthy folks.

BREAKING: Chris Johnston thinks Carole Baskin killed her husband: "she did it"