OverDrive - McKenna Mania | OverDrive: Sept. 11, 2026 - Hour 1

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! They dive into Brady Tkachuk's ranking outside of the TSN Top 50 list, Gavin McKenna's spotlight at training camp and not playing in the NHL Prospect Challenge for the Maple Leafs. New York Islanders Pete DeBoer joins to discuss his experience coaching the Islanders, Matthew Schaefer's excellence and his position on the team.

There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellairdirect.com. This hour of overdrive is powered by Fanduil. Fanduel, 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 YouTube, live, up on TSN5, Brian Hayes, the O'Dog, Jeff, Neil, Jamie Noodles MacLennett.

It's going on today. How are we feeling this afternoon? Hey, Zee, how is the forearm holding up? Because me and noodles are going to enter you into the Masterton conversation for playing in the member guest. Somebody sent me a picture during the member guest. It was somewhat sad, but you gutted it out because the member guest is like a manly kind of thing, right? Yeah. It's a Mike Babcock type of.

operation. And there was someone, there was someone at the table with all these dudes with like an ice bag on an arm sleeve too. Like I've been dying on arms sleeve? No. There's been an arm sleeve involved. Oh, an arm sleeve. I saw it in his Instagram.

This guy has been battling it out all summer long. I did not want to bring the story out. I didn't even know about the arm sleeve. It's accurate. What was the arm sleeve? Was it like a. I need to hear it. the nature of the injury, what happened?

I didn't want to bring it up because I wasn't sure if it was a sensitive thing. But you've had an injury? Are you okay? I'm fine. What happened? And now what's up? The reality is it's an old guy injury. It was like tennis elbow with, I tore some stuff like under my forearm.

And it was bad. Let me guess. I was out. I was out. You didn't go see one person. I didn't. That's not true, actually. I saw a couple of different physiotherapists who kind of ran me through the ringer.

and I talked to my buddy, Danny, Dr. Danny Whalen, the best orthopedic surgeon in the game. And, you know, what's he going to really tell me over text? But he said, I think you'll be okay, which was a pep talk I was looking for. You wanted someone to say, I don't worry about it. You'll be fine, exactly, because once you go down, you're done. Your season's done, right? In a Canadian tour, six months. So it was bad, though.

I was out for a month and, like, really complaining. Like, I think my wife was really start. The first little while she was there, you know, yeah, sympathetic. And then after a while, she's like, okay, dude, you got to figure, what are you going to do? Like, go get an MRI or don't get an MRI or one way or the other. So anyway, I missed a while, battled back for the member of guests because I had to because I bring my buddy Adam every year. And if I didn't, I don't think he'd ever speak to me again. And I had a full sleeve from the shoulder to the wrist.

Like those white ones that guys use for sun tanning and stuff? Basically, I was Alan Iverson. protection. I was Alan Iverson with like an arm's band. Is there an arm sleeve pick, Jamie? I got one. I saw it on his Instagram because he was, but I thought you were battling through engulfing with an arm sleeve arm.

I was. I was. And it was bad and it was ugly and I haven't been playing a lot. Was there any comments or just like people thought you were Alan Ivers? It's like a guy who goes to the mall with a knee brace on and he's wearing shorts. Right. Like that's what it was. Exactly.

Like, this guy's golfing, but he's got an arm sleeve on. I didn't want to ask what it was because I was concerned that it was a bad injury or whatever. Well, I mean, it's sensitive. I'm going to survive. I'm surviving. You know, it's not life or death. And I'm much better today. But it was, I tell you what, man, you've got, like, if there's an ounce of vanity, you're not playing.

Because I had to pull the sleeve up and I've got the, like, icy hot cook. You could smell me from three kilometers away, which is the worst part, right? I'm doused in A535. I got the arm sleeve. I'm on ice over dinner afterwards. People are looking at me like I'm a lunatic. And noodles, this is like at Coffinwood. They have the best member guests in the country.

Right. It's phenomenal. It's the best one in the country. And this guy's wheeling around like a loser. It was tough. And then guys, you know, are want to ask, but they don't really want, you know. But it's like, hey, what are you wearing that for? You know, and some people don't ask out of courtesy because they're like,

what if this guy's actually got real problems? And I don't. I just, you know, I had to battle through and I found a way to do that. But, yeah, I was getting beaked, man. There were a lot of guys who were really giving it to me. And that's understandable because I would do the same thing. If I saw one of my buddies show up with a full arm sleeve, it's an outrageous look. Was it?

Especially after a few sea tails? Exactly. And I got the Peter Millard dial. I got everything else looking great, and it just is a disaster with the arm's sleeve. Give us the timeline, though. Was that midsummer? I swear I saw this. So you're right in like the middle of your, like, both of the summer, and you go down,

so you fought through it with the arm sleeve. Big time. It's been about two months, and I've played, you know, a handful of times. It hasn't been good. But what are you going to do? What are you going to do? You grind and you make it work. I'll tell you what.

When I, like, playing in the NHL and I used to. look at like you just you're at things and you just see older guys that played in the NHL and they might like walk with a bit like a limp or sport like sports and I'm like man I'm glad that I don't I'm not going to have that problem there are some days after the clock hits 50 that I creak out of bed and I walk down those stairs man and I'll tell you what the old knees. It comes back and says, I didn't forget about that. My knees are just starting to,

garbage, garbage knees. You're not wrong. You get up in the middle of the, like, my body cracks. That's what it is. Like I, so I, like, I will get up at like 2 o'clock in the morning to take a leak, and I'll wake, you know, step up and be like, what's wrong with, you can hear this cracking? I'm like, that's just my knees and my hips and my back.

Like, it's like this cracking bars walking to the bathroom. I know. And when you're a kid, you look at older people, like, they are the most pathetic losers ever. And you think that'll never be me. Like canes, walking aids, this and that. Look at you, dude. You blew your knee out, getting off the ground.

Standing up. And now I've just, I've got an arm sleeve on, and I'm stretching. Stretching is always what I, I remember as a kid, I'd go and play with my buddy and his dad. His dad would have a full stretch routine, like morning of a round. And he was probably 45. He was my age, basically. And back then, 30 years ago, I'm like, what is wrong with this guy? My dad has never stretched in the one day in his life.

Well, see, so he's on the other end of it. There are other guys who feel they have to, or it's impossible. They can't move. Like, if they don't stretch for an hour. I remember Pooley used to tell me that. Dave Poulin, who obviously played in the NHL forever, and Pooley had a million injuries. He told me we were playing golf 10 years ago.

he said if he doesn't do his stretches, he cannot move. He has to do them. Keep in mind. He has to do them in the morning. Pooley's in better shape than all three of us put together right now. 100%. He's about 10. He's maybe eight years older than I am.

I think he's early 60s. But at the end of the day, this is a guy who played in an era where you fought, the score was 3-1 and you fought your way out of the building. That's right. And it was Dave Poulin, who was the captain of the Broad Street Pullies. That's right. So can you imagine you have to have a routine just to get your body fired up? Got it.

And he rides, what is it, the green bike still? He's very athletic. But, I mean, Pooley has told he, and I'm listening to him now, man, I'm doing the same thing. I got a deep stretch going, and I love it. And Pooley's first fight was Ron Dugay. That was his first fight in the league. He tells a great story. No bucket on Ron.

Thinking about Ronnie, by the way. I think Ronnie's battling cancer. Oh, yeah, that's right. Give him some love. So, yeah, I'm thinking about you, Ron. Yeah, one of the great Sudbury wolves of all time and a good Sudbury boy, Ronnie Dugay. And a New York Ranger legend. Well, and the story, I'm going to butcher it a little bit, but Pooley's age was Brian Burke.

And Pooley was coming out of college. And I think Burke he told him, hey, the league's going to have you targeted. You know, like you're a college guy. Someone is going to challenge you. And I think he basically suggested it's in your best interest to get into a fight pretty quickly in your career to let everyone know, I'm willing to fight, so leave me alone. And I guess he picked Ron Dugay's door. And Ron Dugay just tuned up, Pooley, because he was tough as nails Ron Dugay. And I guess he said Burke was in the crowd.

like no, no, no, no, no. Not that guy. That's not the guy you're looking for, is Rod Dugay. But speaking of the Ottawa Senators, we've got a lot to get into today. But I saw on that talkie, they were talking about, you know, the top 50 list, obviously, that's coming out. And they revealed that number 51 was Brady Kachuk. Former Ottawa Senator, Brady Kachuk did not make it into the top 50 this year.

And did you have them on your list? I did not have him in my top 50. Personally, and I love Brady. You guys know I love Brady, and I consider him a friend. But I didn't have him in my top 50. I just think that the league, the league is so much amazing players. Now, he missed six weeks, we'll call it two months last year. So he was chasing a little bit.

I know it's looking forward, but I did look back on how guys played last season as well. I probably should have, but I had his brother in there. I know one of the, like that. Oh, for sure. I had Matthew. I think I might have snuck Brady in like right near 48 or something. But it's just hard to think of like, and it's difficult, Hayes, because you brought it up the other day. This list is not just a projection of who we think is going to be the top 50 players this year.

Right. It's not like, oh, you know, people get into it. Because we get into it ourselves. Like, how could you pick that guy over that guy? It's like, it's projection of who is going to be this year. Yeah. And obviously, I hope any, I hope people, because you know what's going to be common when people get wind of this. This is going to be, oh, petty TSN, pissy that he left Ottawa and went to Florida.

That's just, that's not the case. No. You know what I mean? I just, I think you're right, though. The biggest challenge, I don't know how you guys felt. I think 30 to 50 is interchangeable. in this league. Of course, you know.

So you can make, there's an argument, you know, Clayton Keller's a hell of a player. I had to find a spot for him because it's like this guy, you kind of hidden out in Utah, but if you look at his points per game and look at what he does, there is going to be a year where Clayton Keller has a year where it's like this guy is a rock star and Utah's a team to be reckoned with. I don't know if that's this year. You know, Adam Fox wasn't on my list. Is this guy going to have a great season?

He's been very quiet the last couple years. I would talk bad about that guy because I did it last year and people were like, oh, folks, one of the North. Dude, he has not been good in the last couple years. There are great players. I actually had an omission that I had to go back and fix, but that was my mistake and this was just the idiocy of me. I didn't have net cash on there.

I was like, oh. He's a stud, man. I had him high. What am I doing here? Shit player. But with Brady, it's a couple of different things. One, yes, you're projecting, but he has never been like a superstar in the league. He has been a unicorn in the league.

You know, he's capable of scoring 30 plus and being a point of game guy and he can hit and fight and be a good leader. But he is not a no-brainer. So once you get past the top 30, which are no-brainers, then you are talking debates. And I genuinely don't know where he fits in there in Florida, where he's not as good as Barkov. He's not as good as his brother. he's not as good as Sam Reinhard. Like Reinhard, I think, is like an all-around better player than Brady. So if he's on the third line, how can be a top 50 player if you're on a third line?

There might be a situation. Like Paul Maurice is always going to defer to a guy he trusts. If he needs somebody like four-on-four, he might defer to a guy like Berhegey before he gets the Brady. Just because, yes, yes, and he trusts them a lot. You're right. I do think, though, I think early on you're going to see Brady, he might play top. Top-minute lines on the left side. Top-line minutes, sorry, with like Barkoff and Reinhardt.

And then you go into Verhege, Bennett, Kachuk. Like, I've been saying it all along. This Florida 9-pack is, well, even their 12-pack, but Lister Ryan and Lindell and Marchand could be your third line. That's a hell of a third line if that's what it looks like. And then we forgot, you know, Hathaway. They went and got Garnet Hathaway, who was really tough to play against. Yeah. But I think there's a chance, Hayes.

Brady's going to find, I think, top six minutes. It's just, is he going to have chemistry with Barkoff and Reinhart? Or are they going to have to move him around to figure it out? He's a very unique player. Like when he's on, not many guys in the league like that. Four check, hit. 100%. You know, like he's different than his brother.

Matthew gets under your skin, but Brady hits. Yes, he does. He's also not as skilled as his. brother and he needs to know that yeah like sometimes i do wonder i'm like is he playing a game of skill it's like dude you're a straight line guy like matthew is a legit like he has star 10 super star tendencies around the net little chip plays tell you one thing brady what he does have he's got an under people don't talk he's got i watched him before practice numerous times he's got an underrated he can shoot the puck yeah jamy you probably seen him at morning skate he's always the first

sky of the ice and he can rip it but it's just who knows where he's going to play but it's i'll tell you one thing it's probably pisses some off that he's like is this the first year he's off in the last two or three yeah i believe in the last couple you know and listen he his profile around the league is might sick now florida's still uh you know they're an a list team because how good they are and the kachr brothers in the u.s are going to get a lot but he's not going to get the same amount of attention obviously from Canadian media. If you're no longer the captain of one of the seven teams, then you're eventually going to kind of fade into the league. So he's not going to get nearly as much attention.

What I'm more curious about is how many people on Ottawa are going to be clear cut better than him. You know, like Stutzel is on the list. Sanderson's going to be on the list. Is there a third? You know, I don't think there will be a third Ottawa senator in the top 50. Batherson's good. Pinto's good. You know, Shabbat's good. He's not top 50 good. Mark clearly isn't in the top 50. Yeah. But that'll be interesting to see who on Ottawa plays better than him, because if it's only two guys, that's trouble.

Because then Florida's really going to be rocking. You know, if only two guys on Ottawa have better seasons than Brady does in Florida. I think you also have to take a look at, you know, Brady's at, you know, Florida's at a point where I think those guys aren't cookie monsters. They don't really care. They've won. They just want to get back to winning ways. So I don't think Verhege is like,

I need to get 40, you know, to earn that contract. Oh, I already got a contract. I just need to play well and settle back in and, you know, be healthy. They were missing 12 regulars at one point last year. I think there's enough wealth to be spread around there. Brady, it's interesting because he's hungry. Like, he wants to go win. Like, and not that, I think, you know, Ottawa is a team that's really up and coming.

But his, he's going to a winning environment. Like, they expect to win in Florida next year, like, or this season. that's expected because of what they've done already. He was the face of the Ottawa Senators, the captain and all of that, that was trying to get to that next level. It's a different role, to your point, Brian, it's just a different role what he's going to do. I think Ottawa, you know, they trade for that Eklin. He's going to be a good player for them.

It'll be interesting to see, you know, how they play. I think they're a very skilled team. I think they've tight defensively. They're goal-tending if it holds up to be good. but it is Brady what he brings is kind of that intangible we always talk about that the numbers can't really back up right now they already have a ton of that in Florida like how valuable is it when you already have it I guess we'll we'll find out I guess you can never have too much and that would be the argument in Florida you know as for the least today rookie camp is opening up kind of I guess I'm a bit surprised McKenna's practicing with the rookies but he's not going to play with the rookies so it's kind of a hybrid. You have to go because you're a rookie, but you're

already in the NHL, so you're not going to play. I've always thought, and people have thought I've been crazy. When you get, like, you're drafting a guy number one, and you expect him to play, and there's expectations, it's like, just forget about the rookie camp. Like,

I think it's more valuable for a guy like Gavin and McKenna to be around the NHL guys and talking and seeing NHL stuff and just working with those guys as opposed to being out there with a bunch of junior kids. That's what I think. I've always thought that.

It's like, you know what? And I get it. It's the process. The rookie camp, it's like, forget that. If you're a high-profile guy, I want you around the NHL people. You're right, oh, but I think what they're doing, in my opinion, is the best of both worlds. They're getting him so that they're not giving him too much preferential treatment, but he's going nowhere near a game.

So you can't go out and get run by a guy who's going. going back to junior and all that type of stuff. There is, and that might be a Matt's thing for Matt Sundance. I don't want to give him too much early on. I want him to understand, like, hey, you're going to play in the NHL. You're going to be here. But go through the process of, you know, keep in mind, this guy's 18 and turning pro. So why not give him a little taste of, like, turning pro with guys who are his age and maybe a little bit older?

But then, you know, next week, you're back. You're with the big boys. He's making the team. Well, of course he's making the team. It's just more about, I think if you're sending a message, like, you're skipping everything, you don't have to do this and that, you're stepping in. It almost has that sense of entitlement, which I don't want. I struggle with young guys having that already, because we already know he's going to make the team and be a good player.

That's the point. He already has that entitlement. He knows he's making the team, like, it's like, what's the sense of. Yeah, well, that's obviously what they're doing. Like, you know, it's a right of passage. You play at the rookie thing. You know, I don't remember if Matthews did. I know Marner did.

Neelander. You know, Marner might actually be pissed off if you found out that McKenna got to skip this retrospectively. You know, not just bonuses. Why does McKenna not have to go to the rookie camp? But, you know, that's if all those guys have done it and all the great players have done it, then it's a formality. You show up. You put in your time and effort.

You still are a rookie. and I'm fine with him not playing. I'd like to see him play because I'd love to kind of watch and see what he's all about, but we're going to get that pretty soon. And the real stuff starts in a few weeks, and he's going to be a part of that. And the amount of clips that are obviously coming out of that camp, like he's obviously a big fish in a small pond there. I think he's probably going to lead the Masters and Jonas clips at practice count, though, this year, period.

You know, I'd say over the last 11 years, Matthews has been at the top of that list, obviously Marner. Whenever new guys show up, Rattish will get it. Chris Tannib, there'll be a lot of intrigue. What does he look like? But I think McKenna versus the field in terms of this kind of stuff, like doing things at practice and tracking where he is and tracking what he's up to and look at the pass he just made in a three-on-two drill.

Dude, that little Michigan he just did. I think he's going to dominate that type of content this year. And he should. That Michigan is just going to be 25 minutes of interviews worth. Right off the bat. Yeah. How did you, what did you think of that? What did you see there when you're coming around the net?

Yeah. What's it like playing with so-and-so? Yeah. What about his game do you like? This is all going to be a big adjustment for him, too. You know, medicine hat to Penn State to hear. Big adjustment. Big time.

And, and not just the National Hockey League, the bright lights of the National Hockey League in the biggest hockey market, them in Montreal, right? So it just, you know, to me, it's, it's going to be an adjustment. I think he can handle it. Obviously, we know he can handle it, but it's just, it's, there are going to be some stuff where he's like, what is going on here? 100%. You're right.

Like, he did a Michigan in a practice that means nothing. And we're talking about it. It's trending on Twitter. It's this and that. He's 95 points now, not 60. Oh, got 95. He's going to do that. Yeah, like it just, you know what I mean?

Like, there is going to be this things where he's get, all eyes are going to be on him. And rightfully so. Yeah, right. Go from the bridge. Try to pull up. my stats after my first year, I had good line mates. I would say for 50 games, 60 games, I played with Brendan Shanahan and Nelson Emerson, and one guy had 44 goals, and one guy had 30, and I had six. And those were my linemates for 60 NHL games.

I think I had 14 points total. And I came off of two junior seasons of 126 points. Yeah. Well, that's it. It's an adjustment, bud. But, you know, the game's different. I just think he's going to be placed in situations. I could be wrong, but I think he's going to be placed in situations where he will be able to have that success.

And maybe, you know, I think it power play. I think power play is where I don't know how it's going to look, but I think they've got to find a spot for him. They don't have a natural. Absolutely. And, Jamie, the one thing is going to be very clear. If you're going to put this guy in the power play, because I think that he can he can definitely add something different if he's ready to make plays at that level, because he's pretty dynamic in some of the plays I saw at the World Juniors,

which I know does not mean he's going to do it at this level. It could be something different, a different element. And if that's getting Austin Matthews the puck, that's great. But one thing it's going to do, they've got to sign up on it, and they've got to go while. Someone's feelings are going to get hurt, and you've got to deal with it. Yeah.

You are not on this, because they've been rolling out that power play. It seems like for 10 years in a row, and it's had its ups, and recently it's had a lot of downs. And now you're going to be adding radish, which is a much-needed addition of right-handed shot. Morgan Riley had stretches where he was great on that power play, and they had a ton of success.

But it's clear that they need a guy that can rip a one-timer back there, and they finally seem to have it. but up front, if it's Gavin McKenna that's ready to make plays at the NHL level, because maybe he's not. But if he is, you just got to point at somebody and say, sorry, you're run on that power play unit, it's over. So you're going on a different one. For me, it's Nyes or JT.

Because I think Willie, I think Rattish, I think Matthews are playing on it. Those are, for me, the locks. Now put in the other two. Nize and or Tavaris and McKenna. There's too many bodies there. And it's easy to get a lot. a lip on when you're not on the first unit because let's be real the second unit if you've got big boys on the first you're getting 20 seconds of power play time if you're lucky depends on if they

yeah there's not a lot left if they try to go with the evinton model which is you know a buck 45 and the second one gets gets the cleanup or you know hiller might be i'd have to look back on this what did he do in l.a did he try to have balance with you know kempa and fiala and guys like that because let's keep in mind we've been talking about coaches lots we haven't talked about jim hillers coaching style like you know he's analytic driven he's defensive driven it'll be interesting to see what he's going to want out of those players and he gives them the leash creatively offensively but he's going to demand x y and z of how they defend but just like barouba did and you know this will be different a different system and different expectations

and all that but right yeah and listen he he he made made it very clear, and the organization did very clear, that they have to get the power play going. That is clear-cut, number one objective, I think, is special teams for Hiller and how he's going to utilize players and put guys in different situations. We have a coach coming up. Pete DeBore will join us. We've got Kevin Harlan coming up. Jay's Orioles starting a big series tonight, Scherzer versus Bassett, down at the Rodgers Center.

The Rams got pumped. They were awful last night. We'll touch on that, too. And after the break, I want to introduce you to the hazy season. sleeve. Okay, there we go. We got some entrepreneurial activity happening here. You got to see how good you look in this thing.

The hazy sleeve is going to be a game changer. Yeah, we got more picks to come for Sunday as well. Overdrive continues up on YouTube Live. There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote

at bellairdirect.com. Behind every night spent making the kids lunches, there's a lot of suspense. Will they finally eat the veggies? Will the pesto survive the first bite? Will the lunchbox come home empty, half full, or come home at all? And will you finish episode 8 before you're done slicing the cucumbers? Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Craved Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month.

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Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree aside and a drink, and you get it all in 20 minutes or less. A fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch of your local Boston pizza. Man, the Rams were horrendous last. night and yet you got to give credit to the niners can't just be about the negative slant i thought brock purdy looked phenomenal like he was really really good last night i'll tell you what that plan and people were paid to really think outside the box and i was thinking about it at five in the morning having a coffee how stupid are you to fly in right before the game so stupid yeah like

it's so stupid it was like matt stafford is basically he's close to my age and he looked like an old guy jet lagged who couldn't believe he was in australia like he just was horrendous he could make throws there's a great point right there at matthew stafford's age alone yeah get him over there a week early and get the jet lag out and he'll be on normal time it'll be better for matthew stafford there's there's exhibit number one but he knew this was coming guys whoever failed last night if it was the other way people are like why the hell were they over there for eight years or eight days for that junk. You're right. You're right.

It was literally two sports science teams going either these guys are dummies or the other guys are dummies. And last night it was the Ram sports science people that were dummies. The sports science nerds and San Fran, man. They pulled it off. What a play. What a maneuver. All right.

We've got Kevin Harlan coming up. We've got more picks still to come as well. You're going to reveal the hazy bee sleeve, which I think people are very excited about. Yes. And, you know, we're talking about coaching and game plans for camp and the upcoming season. And sure enough, we've got one of the 32 coaches in the NHL joining us. There he is down in Long Island. Big Hampton's guy now, I would think.

Peter DeBoer. How you doing, Pete? Doesn't compare to Muscoqa, boys. Doesn't compare. That's very true. That's very true. How's life down in Long Island, though? I mean, you got in late last year, right?

You got a few games under your belt. Do you feel like you're a veteran down there now or what? I don't know. I've never coached a team for four games, so that was the first time ever. And, you know, it's hard to feel comfortable after that. But I will tell you, and I don't want to set a precedent here for late season coaching firings. But it was helpful for me to have spent two weeks there at the end of the season, and coach four games, run the exit meetings, kind of get set up for this year.

I feel like I'm definitely ahead of where I had been, you know, when I'd gone into other places over the summer. Pete, we were talking about drafting, drafting a high-profile player. You guys obviously had one last year in Schaefer, who's just a megastar already. When something, we were just talking about Gavin McKenna here in Toronto. Like, to you, does it make sense for them to go to, like,

the rookie camp and do all? all that stuff. I always said because I was a high-profile junior player myself, Pete, you know that, that it would be better. I remember. It would be better around, to be around NHL guys and just forget about the Mickey Mouse stuff, or is that just part of the dudes you've got to pay? The Mickey Mouse stuff.

That's a true high first-round pick speaking, right? There's been a lot of those Mickey Mouse guys end up being pretty big contributors on your teams. I think I had one in Joe Pavelski, you know, in Dallas. That was a sixth or seventh round pick. So, no, but you know what? It's a good point. I actually met with Schaefer this morning. I was at the rink.

Our rookie camp started today. And we were just talking about it. It's hard to believe, but this guy was in rookie camp a year ago this time. which is crazy to think about when you're out there watching the rookie camp going on after the season he just had where he probably would have been a contributor on the Canadian Olympic team, never mind winning the rookie of the year. So, you know, I think those experience are always good. And, you know, how I would look at it is, you know,

maybe he's not getting anything out of it because of where he's at and his level of play. But he is giving back to the organization from a leadership point of view and learning to lead. Now he's not in our rookie camp, but I think there's always benefits to participating in those camps. Maybe not from a learning end, but definitely from a leadership end if you're on the other end of that. Are you in Boogie going to go out there in training camp and try to help Schaefer out with his edge work? Peter, what's your plan with him? Boogie's got a bad back right now. He's not in good shape.

He pulled something swinging a five iron, I think, late in the summer in one of those Windsor Money games on Fridays they have down there. There's nothing worse when the assistant coach can't hit the ice because he was golfing in a money game. So good.

That's where we're at. That's a rat. We were talking about, you know, the game is so different now. And, you know, skating, everybody, you know, it's about pace. It's about speed. You know, Schaefer's style. You know, you look at it. He's a defenseman, but he's a guy who's up in the play all the time.

All I can remember in my era was Sandus Ozilich was a guy who was a rover. It wasn't a defenseman. He was a rover because he would just, he played every position. You know, do you see Schaefer as something? like that who just basically stays into play in the offense but also gets back on D when he has to because he's such an elite skater? Yeah, you know what? Well, you're exactly right. I remember, and this I'm going way back, but I was coaching junior hockey. O was in Guelph probably at the time and we had Brian Barard and he was the first overall pick, was going to be the first overall

pick that year out of junior hockey, Detroit Junior Red Wings. And he was, He was a phenom at the time, you know, a similar type of characteristics up the ice all the time. And I remember we were playing out of Joe Lewis Arena and the Red Wings would practice after us. And it was Scotty Bowman and Paul, he had Paul Coffey at the time, that type of player. And I remember I thought, you know what, I was running the D for Detroit. Paul Maurice was the head coach. I said, I'm going to ask Scotty about, you know, how he handles Paul Coffey. I got this young stud defenseman that's up the ice all the time.

I remember grabbing Scotty after practice and saying, can I ask you a question? I got this young stud defenseman that, you know, is up the ice all the time. And, you know, I'm trying to think how I should be coaching him. And I remember Scottie looked at me point blank and he said, does he get back? And I said, yeah. He goes, what's the problem then? And you know what?

It really, it sounds simple. It sounds stupid simple, but it is really that simple. Like he has that, those guys have that ability to get up and make those decisions aggressively because of that world-class skating and they can recover and get back. And, you know, there's very few of those guys in the world. I mean, they're generational type players when I mention those type of guys. And he's, he's one of those guys. somebody with feet that don't have feet like that,

they make a decision on the wrong side of the puck and they're a foot or two off. They're done. They're toast. So, you know, he has that ability to recover. So we're not going to take that away. The other part of that is he is such a rover. Like, you know, we've been talking about maybe playing him on the right side this year.

He's a left shot. And I was watching video. He ended up on the right side. you know, probably 30% of the time last year, starting on the left, just because of how he was playing the game and where he was jumping into and where the spots he ended up in. So I don't think it's a big transition for a guy like that to switch sides either. In terms of his partner, that's always a curious one,

because, you know, guys on the right side and he's looking over, he's like, what are you doing here? That means I've got to be on the other side now. Like, how do you coach the partner? that's going to be out there with Schaefer, if he has that ability and that freedom, because I'm assuming they both are not going to have the same green light. No, no, absolutely. Well, I'll tell you, there'll be a long line of guys signing up to be his partner.

That's a big paycheck spot. I can tell you that. Somebody's going to get rewarded for being on the ice with him. You know what, and I think, I mean, listen, I think you just have to understand and have that hockey sense and IQ that, you know, you can slide in and out and around depending on what he's doing. But, you know, I've said this before when, you know, we always talk about, you know, he's obviously a number one defenseman in the league.

And when you're on the ice with a one, really a one can turn a four, five, six, into a two if that makes sense. So I think you've got all kinds of options there. He has that type of ability. I don't want to oversell this kid, but he really is that special. Chatting with Peter DeBore, head coach of the Islanders. Big adjustment this year, Pete, as you know, you're going to 84 games and a lot less preseason games.

You're down to four, some split squad games. How does that affect your plan for camp, your evaluation, having, you know, Historically, there used to be always stories of a guy who had a great camp and made the team because he plays six times, seven times. That's not available to players anymore. How does that affect your kind of approach to the preseason into camp? It's funny how the games changed. My first year in Florida, I believe we played 10 exhibition games, and I think we played eight on the road. We went on a cross-country tour with two full teams.

I remember Mike Kitchen and I, who was my assistant coach, we coached two exhibition games in one day. We coached in Calgary in the afternoon, drove to, or coached in Emmington in the afternoon, drove to Calgary and coached at night that night, the other team. So I don't think there's anybody complaining about shortened camps and less exhibition games, coaches or players. It's true that you probably get less looks at guys in NHL games.

The guys who are going to take the hit on this are, it's not necessarily the bubble guys. You're going to find room to get those guys games if you think. It's going to be the guy that really is coming out of left field into camp that in the past, you know, you would have found a way to get him a game and then he turned that game, you know, into two or three and put himself on the radar. Those are the guys that are going to get, are going to have to do it the other way and, you know, go down to the miners and work their way up because there's just not enough games to do it.

The other part of the 84 games, I think, is obviously goaltending, you know. You can't play your starting goalie, you know, 60 games. You probably can't play them 55 anymore. I don't know what the magic number. They've done a lot of analytics on this, but your backup goalie or your other goalies are going to have to play at least 30 plus games, you know, every year for everybody. And I think that's a different situation than it's been in the past.

Pete, I think this year is the first year where there's no fitness testing. The three of us, we all support fitness testing. Is that going down where there's no fitness testing? Yeah, no fitness testing. You would have loved it. I mean, listen to this, no training camp, no fitness testing. I'll tell you what, you're going to be Hawkeye and some fat asses walking around to say, what have you been eating?

Because that is a hall pass for a bunch of guys. Good luck with it to all the coaches. Yeah, it'll be a fun one. All these guys are so skinny nowadays. Like you run into, nobody carries extra weight. They're all very, even the big guys are really lean nowadays. So there may be, you know, a goalie here or there, although a lot of the goalies are in great shape now,

but it was the goalies that would get beyond the fat farm, have to ride the bike after practicing that if you couldn't be under 10% body fat. Nowadays, everybody's at 8, 8% and under. Everybody's so lean now, eh, Pete? It's unbelievable the condition these guys come to camp. I was talking to one of our scouts today in Long Island watching the rookies on the ice. And he asked me, he goes, do you know, do you build any conditioning drills into camp anymore? Like, you know, the old bag skates, you know, down and back or lines, things like that.

you know one with the three-hour rule you really can't you don't have time you know it chews up the ice uh you know and the guys are so big and so heavy now that uh but but the other part of it is you know you don't really need to they they come in phenomenal shape you know they're not playing themselves into shape and and you know in a practice the pace is so high these guys have been on the ice skating, you know, for months at their homes, you know, a lot of them in high-end skates, you know, if you're in the Toronto area, you know, you're probably six, eight weeks into, you know, almost daily skates here. So, you know, the conditioning is not an issue.

Pete, I remember in Hartford, our dear friend Glenn Featherstone, we had like a bike group after practice. And at 19, I was in the bike group. room and feather wasn't. So I'm going up to him and I'm like, feather, how come you're not in a bike group? Like, with all due to respect, you just don't look like you're a fitness freak. He goes, come here, I want to show you something. So he took me into the weight room and he said, like the scale that you step onto and the slats,

he said, instead of putting this little bar all the way into the slat, you just put it halfway and you lose 20 pounds. That was his trick. He had it all figured out. My best feather story, he always had a weight problem, as old is alluding to. And I remember he was weighing in one year. I'd always check on him. We were, you know, we were always trying to take care of him, you know,

and I don't know if it was one of the Sutter's or whatever, but he was, he had a lot of anxiety about weighing in the camp. And I called him, you know, after the day ended, and I said, you know, how'd the way in go? What did the scale say? He said, ouch. The scales said, ouch. That cuts the chase pretty quickly.

Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore, Pete. Everyone's going to show up in great shape, right? Everyone's ready to go. Yeah. And camp right around the corner, and it's going to be a great season. So good luck down there. We always love having you on, and we'll do it again down the road. Thanks, guys.

See you. Well, we're there. I guess our first game, Leif's second game. of the year so look forward to seeing you there you go can't wait there is peter de bourn you got it you got it from the uh new york calendar is one of our favorites uh man it is tell you why that guy if he ever gets out of coaching he would be fantastic on the air phenomenal he's got great story that's got that scotty bowman anecdote is a great one does he get back then what's the problem it's like oh yeah good points yeah so true that's great great having pete on all right kevin harland

coming up. More picks for the weekend. Jay's Orioles tonight. Overdrive continues up on YouTube live. There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellair direct.com. Behind every night spent making the kids lunches, there's a lot of suspense. Will they finally eat the veggies? Will the pesto survive the first bite? Will the lunchbox come home empty, half full, or come home at all? And will you finish episode eight before you're done? slicing the cucumbers? Get Bell pure fiber internet with craved Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit.

Visit bell.com for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. Gentlemen, last night I witnessed and I don't, I'm not Mark Row. I'm not Mark Masters. I'm not tennis guy. But last night I witnessed one of the worst beatdowns I had ever seen in a pro sporting event. That's Sabalanka. Pagula.

It was the worst beating in sports. It was so bad. The second set was just, dude, this thing, it seemed like Hayes. I just got, I turned it on. I'm like, I'm going to watch this. I think it was 35 minutes, man. And Pagula just went, good night, everyone, and see you later.

And I've never seen anything like it. Dude, I've never seen anything like it. First set was a tie break, and Sambalanka pulled it off. And the second set, it was like, you have no. chance. Like, Sabelanka on Hardcourt is a problem. Pagool is a superstar, too. Like, she is a great player.

Yeah. And they kept saying, like, she's playing good. And I'm like, what? I know. She got smoked last night. And Cocoa golf lost as well. So no American on the final on the women's side, there's going to be an American on the men's side, right?

So we'll find out what ends up happening on the men's side. But with sin or not there and Alcoraz out, you know, it's just, it's different on the men's side. If Sinner's not playing and you want Sinner Alcarez almost every final. Like that's kind of what you're waiting for and that's not going to be the case this time. But U.S. Open,

like even that's coming to an end this weekend. Right? Like things are happening here quickly man. Like you got rookie camps going on. The NFL's going. We're into the season. We're playing. Post-Labor Day in the Canadian Football League, right? Yeah, NBA's coming back. We don't know if Kauai's going to be

playing in Toronto or not. That's being taken a step further, I think, man. Yeah, now it's like there's more investigations, and maybe the clippers are so spiteful that they're just going to hold on to them, but do what? Not play them? I don't know. I mean, it just seems like a really weird situation.

And if you're the Raptors, you need clarity. Camp opens up in a couple of weeks. You've got to know, is this guy playing or not? Because if he's not, you got damage control on your hands. Brandon Ingram, Grady Dick, you got to figure out where you're going to. you're doing with those guys. Well, that's who the commissioner has to fix this for. It's like, you've got to fix it for the Raptors.

They just traded for the guy. Right, exactly. Is the guy playing or not? Yeah, and the league is saying the trade can go down whatever, but you got to call someone with the clippers that's going to answer the phone. Everyone's been suspended. Hour two coming up. Overdrive continues.

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