OverDrive - Kevin Cheveldayoff discusses the Connor Hellebuyck trade | OverDrive: Oct. 26, 2026 - Hour 1

Episode Date: October 26, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Maple Leafs' massive win against the Oilers, Toronto's depth making their mark, Auston Matthews leading the team, Easton Cowan's strong performances, Kawhi Leonard's injury impact for the Raptors and Quinn Hughes' return to Vancouver. Winnipeg Jets General Manager and Executive Vice President Kevin Cheveldayoff joins to discuss the trade of Connor Hellebuyck, the process of the deal and American players in Canada.

This hour of overdrive is powered by Fanduil. Fan Duel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. All right, here we go, Overdrive, off and running. TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker, up on TSN4, up on YouTube live, Brian Hayes, the O'Dog, Jeff O'Neill, and Dave Thestruck of the Toronto Star in here. How are we doing this afternoon? Doing great. Usually, this term, is saved for vacation.

when you say, take me back, but I'm going to use it for Saturday night. Man, take me back. What an atmosphere, and you really pissed off those Euler fans when you used it. Dude, I swear, I saw that tweet and I said that, much like anybody else I see on Twitter, I said he just couldn't stop himself. You said there's winning vibes, and then there's crushing the Oilers on Saturday Night vibes in their own building. Yeah. Man, did that piss people off.

Yeah, man, oiler fans. You know, this is the analogy I would use, all right? Because I have two children, and my oldest daughter, unfortunately, she gets bugged a lot by my youngest daughter. And I always talk to her. I say, don't take the bait. Just don't take it, right? And I ended up spending. Well, hang on a second.

What's the bait? Like, just annoying her. Because she knows it's bugging you, so she's going to keep bugging you. I'll step in and try to stop. My wife and I'll step in every once in a while and be like, all right, you're over here now. But you just got to let it go. Sometimes you just got to let it go. So that's your message to oil fans.

Just ignore my tweets. And by the way, for Euler fans, when I took this job, I was asked, do you want to come in to TSN 1050, Toronto? Like we are a Toronto station. But here's the thing. Let me finish my thought on a couple of different levels. First and foremost, before I continue this, it goes the other way because I'll send out tweets carving the leaves after they lose three in a row. And everyone in Edmonton loves it.

Retweeting, ah, the Leafs stink. I knew it. Toronto Media turning on the leaves. They're running Matthews out of town or whatever. You know, all the typical garbage that gets thrown out there. Now the Leafs have won four in a row. They played great. They crushed Edmonton.

And the atmosphere was amazing. It's amazing. Like outside of maybe. Saturday night at the Bell Center, that's the best vibe you can find, I would think, in the NHL. Yeah. Is Leaves Spoilers Saturday night in Edmonton? Yeah.

But what I'm pointing at is, I was just pumping the tires of the Leafs, which I do think they're on fire right now. They're playing great. They got Mojo. That would have been a really big night for them because McDavid and Dry Settle have been destroying everyone. Babcox on the other side, right? Like, don't think Matthews and Neelander and Riley weren't well aware of that.

and I think they all played really well on Saturday night. But I spent the rest of the night, because I was in beautiful Cornwall, Ontario, shout out, reading Leaf fans, responding to Euler fans. And this is why I bring up my kids and don't take the bait. Because Euler fans just can't do it. They have to engage. Because you know what the Leaf fans were doing on Saturday night, Dave.

Oh, yeah. That's McDavid in two years rolling through. That's McDavid's going to take a look at that. You know he wants to come. come home and every oiler fan took the bait. Everyone's like, how dare you say, oh, no chance he's going to do. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, guys, what are you doing?

Like, of course Leaf fans are going to goof on you. You got pumped at home on Saturday night. It was a perfect moment for Leaf fans. It really was. To troll the Oilers can say, hey, the Oilers can say, hey, we've been to two cup finals recently. How many have you been to and blah, blah, blah, blah. But I saw, oh, Doug, I saw the Leaf fans were pulling

out the clip of a junior reporter asking with David, what's your favorite place to play other than Edmonton? He said, you know what, you know where. Don't take the bait. I blame Connor on that one. He should have just taken his step and said, Nashville.

Anything but Toronto. The little kid had the microphone on the stick, and I'm like, don't do it, don't do it. And he said, yeah, Toronto. Toronto. But watching the game, I will say one thing about the new additions and just watching them. And let's not forget, this is like micro assessment

because who knows what the hell is going to happen two months from now. But it seems like they just got some personality. You know what I mean? It's not like they were so bland like on off the ice. And the other thing is they understand it's a competition. Like they're getting in people's faces, scrumming it up a little bit. where it was before it was just like this is kind of what we do and if it doesn't work

we lose at least the new guys and Cowan and even McKenna to a certain degree they've inserted like some energy and some personality where I don't know how many times I've heard in the last couple weeks at least when they go out and play like that they're likable yeah yeah exactly like it being likable is just it's a positive after if you just go out there

and it's like well last year like they were never more unlikable than what they were doing last year I get it. It was a bad year. Injuries, this, that, the other, but they were just, everybody would say to me on the street, God, they're just so unlikable. They don't work. They don't hit. They don't do this. They don't do that. They're likable right now. As for right now.

And it's fun to watch. It's very fun to watch because they're winning, right? And listen, we will find out how new the new leaves are, based on how they play in Calgary tonight, how they play in Vancouver on Saturday. They got Seattle sandwich in between the Seattle Crabb. and have been off to a better start than most people expected. But this is where you've got to prove you're really different. You've got to beat Calgary.

You've got to beat Vancouver. You've got to take four of the next six points for sure, or just keep rolling. Stay hot. But you're right. I was listening. Actually, Ray was talking about it last night. And he made a point that should go without saying,

but I'm not sure it comes up enough. He said, you cannot play professional sports without emotion. You can't. Like, you have to have emotion in your game. Like regardless of what you're playing, and especially if it's a physical, fast-paced, changing on the fly sport. And the leaves, again, appear to have that with the likes of Cowan,

who was phenomenal again on Saturday night. You know, Radish has added a lot of that. I think Nick Paul, you've been in the room. You said he's kind of the guy, the glue guy right now. He is a glue guy. Like, he's a jokester and likes having fun, and chats. He's a welcome edition. Brandon, Du Hame's playing. You've got a fourth line there that's playing 10 minutes.

And they hit and they cross-check and they don't like when you touch the puck. You know, like stuff like that. They're little things that don't make sense to someone that doesn't get the game. They'd watch it and say, why would you scrum in a situation like that? You got to scrum every once in a while. Well, I think you're exactly right. And, you know, you're talking about you have to play the game with emotion. I mean, we've seen this team for a handful of years,

you know, try to make a mockery of that statement by playing lifeless hockey a lot of nights, right? And, O'Dock, to your point about Nick Paul being a glue guy, like talking to people around that team, there was a feeling that they really needed to reinvigorate the team culture. And I don't even like using that culture word because it's a corporate word,

but the team spirit, if you want to call it that. That's why they made that unconventional decision to go, to Arizona, basically volunteer for a West Coast trip right before the season opener and hang out with Matthews family. Because they really felt like that was something that was lacking. It was like this wasn't really a team in the most recent couple of years. It was like a few guys at the top of the food chain and a bunch of other guys at the bottom.

And they didn't really meet in the middle very often. But I think that's been a big part of it. You know, Nick Paul is a glue guy. Brandon New Ham, a veteran guy who's been around who people like. everybody was saying like last year it was Scotty Lotton doing a lot of the heavy lifting he was the one guy in the room with any personality now they got a bunch of guys in the room

with some personality and also veteran credibility and that that makes a big difference yeah when you parlay that with your best players playing the best they possibly can it's going to lead to results and Austin Matthews again was great on Saturday night you know like the greatest of McDavid

and Drysutter was still on display that the lease, they kept them in check and they felt great about the way they performed against them and McDavid had two primary assists and dry settle at two goals. Like, it was not their best night. You know, and Matthew's line was out there against them, basically the whole night, like a lot of it anyway. And that was Babcock's choice.

And that was Babcock's saying this is what we want. You go out there and you try to take Matthews out. Matthews scored. He set up a beauty on the roster of a goal. They didn't get an assist for that for some reason. Neither did count, I guess, because it went off the defenseman's stick. That's a weird rule. very strange rule, but like that's, you know, Austin Matthews was right in the thick of everything

and took on the fight and he's not Mr. Personality or whatever, but he appears to be playing with a lot more life. And, you know, again, you talk about why these things are starting to work and gel coming into the season, there was so much focus on Matthews and how he had to prove he could return to the form that he had for a long, long time. And he's doing it in a little bit of a different fashion because he's still scoring. He scored again the other night. And I, I think if he continues on this pace, he's likely to hit 50 goals. But he's contributing in so many different ways in terms of the offense, in terms of setting guys up in terms of the defensive plate.

But I think you look at him taking East and Cowan under his wing. We've talked about great players in the league forever. You've got to make the players around you better. And coming into the season, it was like, well, you got to go get Marchenko to prop up 34. You know, and maybe Neelander's got to play with him to prop him up. and maybe McKenna's got to play with him to prop him up. And I think the proof that Matthews is back is he's like, give me Roscovick and Cowan and we're going to roll.

And they're playing great. And to the credit of Cowan, he's keeping up and contributing and supplying a lot. And Roscovick has not stopped. Like he has played really, really well in his history and reputation in the league is 10 games on, 10 games off. Yeah. He hasn't taken nights off yet.

Again, he's got to keep going. But it's a testament to Matthews that it's not Marchenko and Nylander on his wing. It's give me Cowan, give me Rasevic, and we believe we can play with anyone, and they proved that again on Saturday night. That is very significant that he continues to play at that level

because it's allowing the absence of Tavares to not really be felt because Willie keeps doing what he's doing. Markchenko's a point-of-game guy right now. Their power play's been good. Their penalty kills been good. Solars was great the other night. It's a lot of positive. It's a good you talk about the special teams. It's been

very good. The power play looks good. And I know what's going to happen. Tavar's is just going to go back on the power play. And that's fine. I guess that's what he deserves. Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Yeah. But if you just have good special teams,

and like a prime example is Neelander. He didn't have his best night on Saturday night. Agreed? Yeah, he kind of was blending into the action. Yeah, he wasn't at his best, but you know what he had at the end of the night? He had two goals. He had a massive power play goal to put it away.

And if you can do that, and Matthews contributes, and their big boys are a threat and get the job done, special teams and I love what this fourth line is bringing to the table I don't know when the last time they had a fourth line they can chuck out there create momentum contribute offensively which is a major bonus and those are the guys with the personality and and they're like that's acmekewen should not be coming out of the lineup no as of right now he won't be no he's playing his butt off I mean yeah he is and you could tell he values

every shift he has in the NHL I love what that guy brings to the table he might have some blips and some screw-ups or whatever. But not too many guys on the fourth line that can fight can boogie like that, too. He can skate, which is just a massive bonus. And he goes to the net, and he's not afraid to tick off the other team, and he'll fight if he needs to. And they haven't had a guy like that in a long time that can actually do all those things. And he also plays with emotion, and he understands the assignment, right?

Like, you're not going to play a lot. But when you're out there, you've got to do some damage. And I think that fourth line is getting that message, and they're providing the damage in spades. They're not going to be able to contribute offensively every night. I mean, but when they do, you see how much people are happy for them. What's that tell you? It tells you that they like those guys, that they appreciate their effort.

And we haven't seen that all the time with this franchise over the past decade. Yeah. No, it's, you know, it goes back to Chica. And when he got here, and when he started moving and shaking, he talked about, like, identifying roles and having an identity. an identity on the third and fourth line. Third line is a mishmash right now, right? Because McKenna's on it, Tavaris has heard, so Paul's up.

They're still trying to figure that out. But their fourth line is intact. It's going to be Blugher, Duhame, and McEwen for the foreseeable future. It doesn't mean it's going to be all year. And Brian, I give Chica props for taking value in those guys. Because when the analytics guy comes in, usually you know what they do? They put Smurfs on the fourth line, saying we want a fourth line that can control the puck and do whatever the hell they think they can do. And it doesn't work. Right, exactly,

because you're playing limited minutes and you mention it, Dave, like they're not going to supply offense. It's not going to happen. It'll chip in from time to time. But what you can't expect, and what I'm sure Hiller is telling them, is you've got to hit everything you see. Yeah. Like you go out there, you've got to work your ass off every shift and hit everything. And if there's a fight that presents itself, you're fighting. That's kind of what comes with the role. If something happens, you guys are going out there to kind of take care of business. And, you know, Leaf fans love that kind of stuff. Like, Leaf fans will make a mountain out of a molehill player just because he works hard,

fights a little bit, has a good personality. And that's why, you know, McEwen and Du Hame and, to a lesser extent, Bluger is a line that, you know, I think Lee fans greatly appreciate it right now. And it's, you got Calgary tonight. Devin Coley's the story of the NHL right now, or close to it. He's been outstanding. His last three starts, he's been almost perfect. 9-62.

Almost perfect. Four goals against. So, Calgary. I worry about some of his interviews. Like, he's getting a lot of press, and he's a fascinating guy to listen to. It's refreshing how he talks about kind of where his heads at and the demons and this and that. I just, that doesn't go well with things sour. You know what I mean?

I don't know where that goes. I like it. I appreciate it. I just don't know where that goes if things go a little bit south. He's a goaler, though. He's a goalie. Like, it's such a goalie. The way his interviews, his answers.

The flow state. Yeah, he's, and he's got to let his unconscious brain do the work because when his conscience brain does the work, he really plays poorly. Oh, Doug, when you played, did you ever get to the flow state? Dave, I tell, I tell these guys a million times, like, all you can really do from my perspective when I was playing in the league was just really simplify and it's like you got to bring it like you got to play well that's I call it stress I don't even call it the NHL it's soon as the for when guys on the TV talk about you know we're going to be happy about this for 15 minutes they're not they're not kidding like it's 15 minutes and then all of a sudden your brain turns over to the next game but I got a hit I got to skate I got to you know try to contribute offensively and you just simplify and I always go to a quote from Adam foot where he just would say, think about the three things that you bring to the table. And you try to do them on a nightly basis.

And mine was like hitting, scoring and getting shots on net and being on the powerplay and being a power play contributor. So if you just simplify the things that you can do and just focus on that, I mean, thinking much deeper than that, that's just not my thing, man. Not my thing. I guess that's what he's saying, though. He's saying, like his basically, he's basically been saying, I can't think. If I start thinking, I'm finished.

Oh, when you start thinking out there, you only start thinking when you're struggling. And I guess that's what he's talking about. And maybe that stuff does happen. But it was never in my wheelhouse to bring it into the equation for myself. When you're playing good, your legs are moving. And it's amazing when you start struggling. You feel like garbage. You have no confidence.

And then you start thinking. You're almost like, man, if somebody passes the puck, to me right now. What the hell am I going to do with it? Like, am I going to just butcher it? Am I going to give it away? And then you're a mess. And then it's a vicious... Like, you've got to start the cycle again. You got to start with hard work, and you've got to get a bounce

off your ass, and then you start feeling good, and then your legs... It's just a big cycle. Positives, and then you've got to ride out the good ones, and you've got to grind through the bad ones. Yeah. Well, that's it. Like, lessons in the NHL, and, you know, I'm thinking of Houston Cowan, as you're talking about that, because it also, you know, that

applies to every role and opportunity you get. You know, when you first get into the league, you're a young kid, they're going to play on your third line, fourth line. Okay, I've got to take advantage of that, but I want to move up. I'm sure he's an ambitious guy. I know he would be based on his junior career, first round pick. Now he's in a level where he's got to keep proven this is where I need to be. Yeah. Like you talk about stress.

I'm sure he's enjoying it. He had some great quotes today about I love being a leaf and it's so great and, you know, all this kind of stuff, which I'm sure is genuine and I'm sure he's having the time of his whole. life, but there's got to be a part of Easton Cowan leaving the rink after another great performance on Saturday. I got to do that again in Calgary and again in Seattle

and again in Vancouver because he's going to have to do it another what, 20 games, 25, I don't know what the line is, like the amount of games until you prove I am a defined first line player or top six player.

Because he's playing like it, but he, you know, like Matthews is not moving. Matthews could have 10 awful games in a row. He's still playing 20 minutes a night. He's proven that throughout his career. What he's got to get to is a point where the coach, he's got to get past that one-off. What I mean by that is if he has a bad first period,

the coach isn't going to say, okay, you're on the fourth line now and somebody else is going to play. If he can gain the trust of the coach to say, you're not going off the line. So he has belief that he's just going to get back on track, and that's kind of knowing when you're there, that you're not going to be that guy.

that's bouncing up and down the line, you're just on the line. And what he could really use, he's been so good. I think he's been fantastic. I've been raving about Easton Cowan. If he could have one of those big nights where he gets two and two, and you feel like you're in junior again, where you're getting points, you're playing with the best player, because that's what he did in junior.

The guy was a point machine in junior hockey with the London Knights. So if he can just have one of those big nights, that would just boost his confidence massive. And I'm not trying to, you know, he's got some opportunities here, potentially coming up against some teams. We'll see if you can pull it off. Because that Calgary team and the Vancouver team... I watched that game last night.

I thought the crowd did everything they could in Vancouver. But it was almost like, why do we even... They were mustering it up. It's very challenging. We talked about it last week. I gave so much credit to the Ottawa senators, the players, for allowing their fans to have fun when Brady came back. Because they played so well, right?

It was the opposite. when Marchenko went back to Columbus, the lease pumped Columbus. When the lease went down to the Islanders and played their first game with John Tavarous, the Islanders destroyed the leaves. So it just kept adding gasoline to the fire. It got louder and louder and louder. It was a complete opposite last night. Quinn Hughes scores such a Quinn Hughes goal, like zone entry,

and then he's backdoor for some reason, like a typical Quinn Hughes play. He made a brilliant play on an assist later in the game. And they were trying. You know, they were yelling. He's not signing. and that's a shot of Minnesota and Quinn Hughes sucks and all that and then when they did their

you know the awkward video thing you know some people cheered some people didn't but Vancouver is so bad they're the worst team in the league by mile by they have no redeeming quality now unfortunately watching them like Buham the

the defense when they got in that trade he was dancing a bit last night they played with some energy early on they are so awful that even as the biggest Canuck fan and a fan that would have felt the most flited by Hughes saying I'm not staying, how could you possibly blame the guy?

You can't blame him. It's like impossible. You're like, of course he's not staying. This team is atrocious. Yeah. Like they are miles, they are years away from being competitive. Yeah, it's like years away in Vancouver.

You can't blame the guys that are asking. Oh, you've got to blame management and ownership. Like that, that's the problem there. not like another situation. It's not like Brady Kitchuk leaving Ottawa and Connor Hellebuck getting out of Winnipeg where those teams have actually, you know, shown signs of life.

You know, this is a different scenario altogether. Like, you cannot blame anybody that wants out of Vancouver right now. And if you do, you're just delusional. Yeah, completely. And it's not a slight on the market as a hockey market. It's a slight on the team. It's not a slate on Canada. No, it's not a Canadian thing. It's the team.

If you're the worst team in the league, anywhere in the league. any province or state, players are going to be like, what the hell is going on here? Exactly. Like, I don't know if I'm going to make this work. And you're right. That's the separation between Larkin and Hughes and Hallibuck and Kichuk is that simple. The teams, Hallibuck and Kachuk left, have been good teams. Ottawa was a really good team, really good team.

Winnipeg won the President's Trophy two years ago. He was in the second round. You know, very different scenarios. Kevin Shevoldeoff coming up in about 20 minutes, the GM of the Jets on the Hellebuck trade. The haves of the win last night. Fowler again was great on Friday and great on Sunday night. And we'll get into what I thought was embarrassing for the New Jersey market. We're going to play a clip from a reporter that I want to touch on.

And we got a sports equinox tonight. We got all four big four sports going. Game three of the World Series tonight, Monday night, NFL NFC East. I'm on the clock. My partner is still parading around. Is the honeymoon not over yet? I don't know where the hell else. It's a 19 day honeymoon. I'm not kidding. Yeah. 19 day honeymoon. Somewhere in Italy just cruising around.

It's good to be else, brother. Yeah, it's good to be else brother. It sure is. So Luke coming up as well just after 5 o'clock. Overdrive continues up on YouTube live. All right, overdrive continues powered by Fanduel, bringing you more ways to play your game, your way. Jets GM, Kevin Shevoldeoff in about 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Luke Wilson coming up as well, Monday night or tonight, game three of the World Series. Raptors

off. Ugly last night. Kauai. Knee swall. Last minute shoot ball on a swollen knee. Dude, swollen knee is scary stuff. Yeah. Who knows what the hell that turns out. And that's the good knee.

Yeah, that's the one he hasn't had trouble with a long time. That's MRI terror. like we got to get it checked out and they were so bad last night. Scotty Barnes, that's the worst I've ever seen him play. Pointless. 0 for 12. Didn't get to the line. Awful. I mean,

horrendous. He was out to lunch. It was wild watching last night. On a night when, like, it's got to be high alert. Like, you're sitting in that locker room before the game and you find out, oh, our best player is not playing. Doesn't that signal

something, O'Dag, to Scotty Barnes and to Manuel quickly. That's what I want to ask you. With this talk of, with their roster, with Kauai only playing 55 games, is it going to be their world beaters with him in the lineup and then trashed with him out? Like, they've got to figure out what the B-square is going to look like without him, don't they? If this guy's only going to play 55 games? Who knows how many he's going to play, right?

Who knows? 55 might be rich, O'Dag. Who knows, man? But, I mean, that's the challenge for Darko Ryakovich and for Scotty Barnes is to figure out how do we play without Kauai. Because it's got to be completely different, right? It's a completely different approach. And I guess, look, there's been a lot of euphoria, Odagh and Hayes about this team. And rightly so.

Like, it still is an exciting team. And they're two in one. They're two and one. It's not the end of the world. But you do, like last night you started having flashbacks. You're thinking this was the team that was two and 22 against the top three teams in the east and the top. top six teams in the West combined. This is a team that was terrible against anybody over 500 last year.

So when they faced a quality opponent, they generally did not win. And couldn't shoot threes. Didn't shoot threes last night. Couldn't rebound. Couldn't get a rebound last night. Yaka Purtle, seven feet tall, played 19 minutes of basketball and somehow got one rebound. Yeah. Zero points.

Zero points. One rebound. And he's healthy, too. Well, allegedly. Allegedly. Yeah. I don't know if it's possible for Purtle to ever feel 100% anymore. But that was not a good performance last night.

And, you know, the Chiefs are reeling after last night. They're five and one. But there's a lot to get into today. And yet I want to revisit something I saw over the weekend because I was cringing, embarrassed. You know, one of my famous lines on this show is nobody cares what people in New Jersey think. I don't even remember the context of that. I don't remember what it was such an ignorant thing to say.

I said it. I stand by. hit to an extent. But Connor Hallibuck gets down to Jersey. And the complete lack of self-awareness from the reporter,

I want to play the question and come back and get into what all these players are doing to their own legacy and accentuate why Canadian teams, we've got to get our act together here. Because down in the States, it is a

completely different world when it comes to this sport. This is what Hallibuck was asked about over the weekend. In Canada, it's a very fishbowl kind of situation. You go to the grocery store. They want to talk to you about hockey. They always want to bother you. It's more of a relaxed situation. You can really enjoy that.

Be able to going to the store, be able to go into park with your family, without anybody really kind of buggering you about hockey. So that is code for no one knows who you are. Yeah. Welcome to town. Nobody cares you're here. No one cares about what people in New Jersey. think. Thank you. No one cares.

No one knows who you are. You can go do whatever you want. And like, for me, that's such an embarrassing. It's an accurate one. I know what he's getting us. He's right. People care about the Yankees and the Giants and the Jets and the Mets and the Knicks are 0 and 3. Nobody cares to Connor Hullabucks in New Jersey. Nobody cares.

And it's the same thing with Brady Kach. No one in Florida cares that he's there. Nobody. Quinn Hughes is in Minnesota. That's a hockey market. But if he goes to Jersey, they'll be next. And it's... So what about the question? Do you think is ridiculous. It's, it's, it's the, the fact that it gets asked in that manner is what I've been talking about forever is that like these players, this is like going to college, your college

foot, you're a five-star recruit. You play at Alabama. You can play Ohio State. You can play Michigan. No, I'm going to play at Rutgers. Right. You can play Manchester United. You're a great international soccer player. United, Liverpool, Chelsea. Now, Nottingham Forest is probably better for me. It's, it's just, it's so exclusive to the NHL, but to me, it's, it's like a, a self-owned of the players. I don't want to be in a market that actually cares. It's only NHL players that think like this. And that

actually promote it. And like even reporters within the sport, hey, you must love that you're down here, nobody cares. Right? Yeah. Like to me, it's just that's not, that's embarrassing. Well, there's two things to it. There's two things to it. When you play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, because the guys would always

talk about it on the back of the bus, there's no better place to play. If you're winning. It's a lot of fun. everybody knows you. And when somebody comes up and says, hey, can I get a selfie? I don't think that that's bothering people. That's just fandom. That's just, that's the guy that plays for the Leafs or the Oilers or the Canucks or whatever.

And when you're winning and things are good, guys love dealing with it. They're like, yeah, let's go hit the town. Let's see people, whatever. But when you're losing, and there are some people that can be idiots, too. If you haven't dinner with your family and some guy wants to come by with a stupid comment, nobody wants to deal with that. Absolutely. That nobody wants to deal with that.

But when it goes the other way and nobody's, I don't know, it just goes both ways. When your team stinks, obviously people shouldn't go up to them and say, hey, you guys suck. I wouldn't want to deal with that. But for the guy to say people are bothering you all the time, I just don't think that's the case. That's the thing. I don't think that's the lived experience of the average player on a Canadian NHL team. It's the, the Leaf guys, they don't complain about that on a regular base. No, I mean, you can't be happy getting the car deals and the free golf at this course and that course and everything that goes along with it.

And then if things don't go well, you say, oh, I hate being in Canada. People just bother me all the time. Well, what is it? Yeah. Like, what do you like? Do you not like the other stuff, too? And I guess what I'm driving more out, too, is like the tradition and the importance and the heritage. And, you know, maybe I'm romanticizing it too much.

but the idea of playing in a pack building with fans that live and die by it that are going to remember you forever where unfortunately there's a lot of other markets in the U.S. where that just, it's not applicable. It'll never be that way. It just can't work out that way. And that's fine.

Like, that's just the reality. But it's as if the players, there's too many players that are like running from it. And that's something that I just feel like there's a chance they get later in life and go, man, I wish I didn't do that. Well, and they're missing the big picture. And you understand this.

So, Dog, like, there should be a communicate sent out from the Players Association that says, hey, fellas, just a reminder here. The HRA that is, you know, that we base the salary cap on, which tells you essentially how much money you're going to make, is essentially driven out of one place. Yeah. And it ain't Florida, okay? It's driven out of Canada. The most profitable team in the NHLs in Edmonton.

I mean, probably the second most is in Toronto. I mean, there's a ton of money flowing in because guess what? People care. And for you guys to be running around, you know, giving reporters quotes about how there's too much pressure on those guys in Toronto, you're hurting the product. Yeah. I always said fast chuck when, like, everyone talks about, and Pat Maroon, my buddy down in Tampa, he talks about the Toronto media. And he's always like, like, is it that much to spend five minutes with the media? and I sound like a hypocrite because I play it and I'm in the media now.

Is it that much if there's 15 people and they're asking you two minutes worth of questions as opposed to two? And I get it when you suck and you're in a big market. I don't know. It's like nobody wants to deal with the lack of – they don't want to take responsibility and everybody hates it when they stink. Yeah, exactly. And listen, we hear the term all the time, best fans in the world. Players, when they say that in certain markets in all sports,

they know they're lying. And the fans that are listening to it know they're lying. lying. It's like when bands roll through. This is our favorite town, really? This is your favorite town. But Lee fans believe it. But yes, yes, exactly. But the truth is you know, if you're a Maple Leaf, if you're

a Canadian, if you're an oiler, like they actually, these fans are living and dying by it. Like they really truly are. All right, Kevin Shevledav coming up. Luke Wilson will join us. Troubles with the Chiefs. They are five and one, but Mahomes, man, they didn't get in the end zone last night. They weren't even in

the red zone last night. First time in Mahomes' That's career. Didn't get in the red zone. Yes, the red zone. The red zone. Forget the end zone. So there's a lot to get into from the NFL and game three of the World Series tonight. Overdrive continues up on TSN.

All right, Luke Wilson coming up later this afternoon. Eagles, Cowboys, Huff game to pick. And I am on the clock tonight. Both teams are terrible right now. We've got a sports equinox. So we got baseball, football, basketball, hockey. We had the Heritage Classic last night. Habs ended up winning 2-1.

and all eyes have been on Winnipeg the last, I'd say really three or four weeks, if not more than that, but certainly the last three or four days with the Connor Hellebuck trade going down on Friday. And then again, the Heritage Classic outdoors last night and to chat about the Jets and where they're going and how they got to this point. We're joined now by their GM. Here's Kevin Shevoldeia, joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. How you doing, Kevin? I'm doing well, thanks for having you on, guys.

Yeah, thank you for doing this. I guess we'll begin with last night. I mean, there's so much buildup, it's an outdoor game. How did you think it, obviously, you wanted a better result, but in terms of the city rallying around the team and the crowd last night, what was your experience like? Yeah, it's always special to be part of those NHL events like that. And, you know, the buzz in the city, you know, for that, not only that,

but obviously we had also, he had an alumni game that was played on Saturday night as well. And, you know, the fans got a real treat to see Big Buff, you know, twirl around the ice there and lay his personality on the fans with some interviews, which he was not really known to do much of those in the regular time when he played. So it was, you know, I think it was a great, great weekend, you know, for all of the hockey fans here in Winnipeg. Chevy, would you say Buff has the title that I do, that no one looks at us and says, that guy could still play? No, no, dog, like, I'm going to tell you, like, Buff wheels around out there,

Oh, I know. It's effortless. It's effortless. So maybe you can too. So, you know, maybe I should hold tight. I should see if I were going to watch you skate as well before I, you know, take that away from you. That's true. I don't know the last time I was but on skates, though.

Well, in true form, though, Buff did exercise his option on the pregame skate in the morning, though. He did not go off. I love that. And I appreciate it greatly with Kevin Shevoldeoff. Well, Kevin, I was wondering, obviously, you've been under. the microscope, so to speak, these past handful of weeks, as Hayes was referring to with really the hottest storyline in the NHL hanging over your head. How would you describe your level of stress in the days before you made the trade to now that the trade is made? Yeah, so the days before, the weeks before, the months before, you know, it's been a process.

And, you know, again, when we met and he asked for a trade back at the, just after the season ended in his exit physical, and, you know, those other guards. Obviously, you know, that set in motion the wheels for me. So, you know, I guess the different various, whatever pressure points they tried to, you know, impose, they were what they were. But at the end of the day, you know, we were, you know, we had a goal set in our mind as to we were going to try and help this current team here right now. And, you know, obviously try to help build for the future as well because you're never going to get a one-for-one type of, you know, deal for a player like Connor Hellebuck. in a situation like that.

So again, we're comfortable with the package we received, and now it's just a matter of putting the pass behind us and moving forward. Did you ever feel like there was an opportunity for you to sway his mind after the request was made to be traded? Well, I don't think we really felt that, but I did impart upon them at that point in time that this is more tricky than what you expect. They said this isn't a sentiment, this isn't a defenseman. You know, every team's got four sentiment,

and every team's got six, you know, six D, eight-wingers. You know, there's only one net on any given night. And if a team has a, you know, has a bona fide number one that they're happy with and locked in and all those kind of things, then, you know, you can give me that team as a trade, you know, place, but it's not going to work. So, you know, again, I just think that, you know, what we try to impart upon, that this could take a long time. So he hasn't gone public as to why he wants out. Did he express it to you? or did his representative?

Like were you right off the bat, you understood where he was coming from, why he didn't want to be a jet anymore? Look, you know, again, for me, you know, again, it's one of those things where, you know, I'm comfortable talking right now that he asked for a trade because he came out and said that. And, you know, we said we would do our best to do that, and we acted accordingly.

Okay, so how does this turn into a win then? How does this trade and moving on? How do you, how does this turn into a positive for the Winnipeg Jets? Well, I think going back here, the real credit, you know, is to the current players on this team that came back, you know, from a tough season last year where, you know, again, we didn't achieve what we wanted. And we certainly, you know, weren't at the same level or playing on the same par as the 350 win these seasons prior to that. So, you know, there's a chip on the shoulder of the group that's, you know, that's here. They all came back to training camp saying they want to prove, you know, something different. We've got some new players.

We've got some young players trying to integrate them. And with young players, you hope that where they are, you know, in September and October, is not where they're going to end up being in November, December, January, February, as they continue to get more experience and grow as players. That's how you have to, you know, get better as an organization. It's not about where you're at in September. But these guys came in and they were focused and they, you know, didn't let any of the outside noise become distractions.

You know, we know it's incumbent upon us to, you know, integrate Dawson Mercer and, you know, continue to build on what we've started here. Kevin, that conversation about outside noise is one we've been having a lot in the past handful of months about Canadian markets. And what's your level of concern, you know, running a Canadian team, that there's this perception within certain areas of the NHLPA, that it's undesirable to be in a market where there's a time.

ton of noise and it's better, you're better off playing in a place where they care about hockey less. Is that a real phenomenon in your mind and how do you fight against it? Well, look, I think each and every individual is going to have their different thoughts on that, you know, as players, as managers, as, you know, people on the inside or the outside, you know, at the end of the day, you know, someone asked me, you know, what I learned, when I was in my press conference, someone asked me about what I learned about our market during this whole ordeal. and it really wasn't what I learned. It was what I was reminded of.

And I was reminded, you know, how important this team is to the city of Winnipeg. How important, you know, the players are and the passion that the fans feel for each and every player and the connection that they feel. And that's what drives the fandom and that's what drives it. And I saw it, again, I was reminded about it again during the alumni game. To see the level of engagement that these, you know, these fans have. with Andrew Ladd, who was the first guy that came in and planted his flag here and signed an extension coming from Atlanta and said, this place is going to be good. You know, to Blake Wheeler, who the C was handed off to sign, you know, to play the best years of his career.

I think he played 12 years here, you know, around that. And, you know, and again, you know, Brian Little. And, you know, and I mentioned, obviously, you know, Dustin Bufflin. Like, these fans, you know, love their players. They love, you know, the fact that those players committed to being part of Winnipe. And that's what I was reminded of during this ordeal. Shannon with Kevin shoveled day off, the GM of the Winnipeg Jets. And, you know, your situation gets brought up a lot because, you know, the market and no trade clauses and no movement clauses.

How do you respond to that, Kevin, this idea that you might have the toughest job as GM of the Winnipeg Jets? Well, you know, I'm one of the luckiest people. I'm one of the 32 lucky guys, you know, to have a job that, you know, involves being the custodian, you know, of Winnipeg's hockey team. And that's why I look at it each and every day. And, you know, I look back over the course of time and I'll choose to remember some different things, you know, maybe than some of the other people will about, you know, whether it was hellier or the situations or anything like that. 17, 18, you know, we went to the conference finals. We probably left some stuff on the table there. We were a damn good hockey team that was built, you know, for, for a.

period of years to culminate, you know, at that point in time. And, you know, 17, 18, 18, 19, we tried to replicate it again. You know, unfortunately, you know, we didn't. So, you know, you kind of bide your time and, you know, you get to the point here where, you know, we, you know, we won a president's trophy two years ago. We had three years in a row of 50 wins. So you just keep putting your head down. And, you know, what, we'll find another way to, you know, to continue to grow this. I'm extremely excited about, obviously, we had the opportunity to draft Eagle, Beard.

York 18 years old. He's only going to get better and better and better. He's in our lineup right now. We were able to add a fellow countryman in the deal that we just had in Alexander Command, another young going to be, you know, good center, you know, when it comes into his time. We've got Braden Yeager in the organization that came up and played wing the other day for us as a centerman, looked really, really good. He's over a point of game right now in the American Hockey League. We got, you know, you know, Solomonson, who's a, you know, a 22-year-old defenseman that was hurt coming in. He's back playing now. We've got, you know, Sasha Bomedian coming.

We've got Alphonse Frey coming. Like, you know, again, that's how you build this. That's how you continue to grow. Chevy, your fan base has creative chance on a regular night. You think they'll be fired up on November 10th when the New Jersey tavels are back there? How do you think the reception will be? Yeah, I don't know. You know, again, this fan base is very passionate.

They are very creative. Unfortunately, I won't be in the building that night. We got GM meetings, so I'll have to get it secondhand. Okay. I got a pretty good idea of what it's going to sound like and look like. I think we all kind of do. Anyway, Kevin, great to catching up with you. We appreciate you doing this as always.

Thanks a lot, guys. You got it, Kevin Shevel-Da-up joining us from the Maple Tread of Hotline. That's going to be the most vicious one of them all. I think. I think so. They do it on a regular. They got the chance call, and they carve guys. it'll be very fascinating.

Ottawa, like it was a raucous crowd when Brady came back there. I think Winnipeg might take the cake on November 10th. What if he doesn't start? Good question. I think he'll start. You know, he's got the mentality where he's already claiming he's ready to play. You know he's going to tell the coach, I want the net for that game. He's not going to shy away from that.

I will guarantee that. I hope not. I hope not. Like at some point, you only go there once a year. if you're in New Jersey and he's a goalie. You've got to play at some point in that building. I mean, he's shying away from talking about why he wanted out, Oh, Dog.

So we'll see, you know, we'll see how he feels about facing the music on November 10th. But I wonder, like, that's a great crowd. It's among the best buildings that you go to. I thought the spirit in Ottawa was kind of fun. Like, they were having fun with it, partly because their team was drilling the Panthers. I think they might be a bit meaner in Winnipeg.

I don't know. So he didn't want to decide. discuss the reasons why he, when do you think that occurs? I don't know. Maybe he'll never occur. I'm not convinced you will, period. And I, listen, it's his decision. It's his call. But I find that strange. Like you, you demand it out. You didn't show up. You threw away a legacy. Well, his reasoning, Brian, was that the Heritage Classic and he didn't want to, you know,

but that's focused. No one's going to be like, oh, I'm not watching the Heritage Classic now because Hellebuck told me why he wanted out. I mean, that to me is a cop out. And he continues, needed it today. Like the Heritage Classic is over. I'm not ready to talk. Not quite ready. I'm not ready.

He'll write a Players Tribune Puff piece. You know, loved it there. We just grew apart. You know, whatever it's going to be. But it's unfortunate

because, again, that's probably the greatest Winnipeg jet of all times, certainly the face of the franchise. Well, can you be the greatest? But can you be the greatest when you didn't do it in the playoffs? That's the question.

Well, but they've never won a Stanley Cup in Winnipeg. No. But partly because he never did it in the playoffs. No, I understand. But I'm saying Dale Howardchuk didn't win a cup. No, I know. Tijuana didn't win a Stanley Cup. Someone's got to be the best player in team history.

They won an Avco Cup when they were in the WHA Hays. Maybe it was. Bobby Hall would be the greatest. I would say so. Of all time, possibly. Possibly. Possibly. But, yeah, it's just, you know, it was a tough few days in Winnipeg.

As they lose the Heritage Classic, the hell of buck deal goes down. They got a really good prospect, second round pick and Dawson Mercer's a good player, like a middle of the pack. He was on the third line last night. It all comes down to if Hallibuck goes to New Jersey and he's lights out, that's

Yeah, it's going to hurt even more. Yeah, because he's capable. The guys won two Vezna's in a heart trophy. He could be like he could be one of the best goaltenders in the league. Absolutely. And if he does that, New Jersey, then you start looking at what you got back, you're like, man, we just had to get rid of one of the best goalies in the league.

It's a tough deal. I don't know. My thing, O'Dag, is they're putting a lot of faith in the fact that he had one great game, and he beat Canada almost single-handedly to win a gold medal, and you can't take that away from him. It's clutch, but he hasn't been clutching the Stanley Cup playoffs on numerous occasions. There's a really long record. Totally agree, Fess, Chuck. Totally agree. And Jersey is not a guarantee to do anything with the way that they're built. They're not guaranteed for literally anything.

Anything. No, exactly. All right. Hour two coming up. Something to chew on. Brought you by Boston Pizza on Cole Coughfield's comments post game last night. We'll play those and get into it. And Luke Wilson on the Monday nighter and what's up with Mahomes and the Chiefs offense? Overdrive continues up on YouTube live. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fanduel. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. The music you love.

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