OverDrive - OverDrive - August 21, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Join Jim Tatti, Jason Strudwick and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss Auston Matthews' viewpoints at the Hockey Night in Brampton on Mitch Marner's departure from the team and how the team looks for the season, the top centers in the NHL, Matthews' ranking in the league, Matthew Knies' role on the team and Connor McDavid's possible contract with the Oilers. TSN Maple Leafs Reporter Mark Masters joins to discuss Matthews' comments, the team playing without Mitch Marner and the best players on Matthews' line and they play Yes Guy, No Guy going around the sports world. 

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Alpine Credits, where homeowners get approved. Fisrael License 12-6-16-1-6. Welcome to Overdrive on a Thursday, Jim Taddy, Dave Feschuk, and Struddy, live from Edmonton with us. Struddy, how are you? I'm great, man. How's the summer been, boys? Good, good. No complaints here.

Cannot complain, Struddy? It's been a good summer if you're Frank Nazar. I'll tell you that right now. Pretty good deal for the 21-year-old Chicago Blackhawks forward. What did you think of that one, Struddy? 56 games. Yeah. Listen, I'll sound like an old guy, whatever, this shouldn't happen.

But, you know, I was surprised when I saw it, and you start hearing that that's, you know, according to some of the people that know, that it's the least number of games for this big a deal. And that's a pretty big eye-opener. I mean, obviously, I've seen him play. He's a talented player. You know, it moves a puck well. It makes his teammates better. I know that's a cliche, but he does do it well. But, I mean, 56 games in, and you drop that in, that's a pretty nice little piece of work for him.

and I guess for Blackhawks, you know, if he continues to develop and, you know, get to where they think he is, that'll be a pretty good-looking deal. And, you know, what is it, six million a year? I think it averages out to or something. Yeah, something like 6.6 over seven years. And, I mean, Tattman, you know, you look at it, you're like strutty. He's right.

This is a guy with 13 career NHL goal. It was an oiler's like, wasn't it? Didn't the owners do that years ago? Not they got into those guys. I mean, they had had, you know, more, I think, two or three years. Well, they would have three or some of those guys. But, yeah, I mean, that's the trend, right? Or it's not even a trend.

That's the way they do things now. If you feel you've got a good thing going, you nail them down as quick as you can. And you have the cab space. So we've got a lot of hockey to talk about. Overdrivers brought you by Fandul, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Where do we have here?

430, Mark Masters will stop by. He was at that he can talk to us about the Austin Matthews stuff, which we'll get into very shortly, fundraisers for a second hospital for Brampton yesterday last night. So there's plenty to talk about there. We'll get into those clips. in a matter of seconds. 445, we're going to play Yes, Guy, No Guy, 505.

Kagan Matheson will stop by. Off day for the Blue Jays, but plenty to talk about. Leave it to Bieber, sweet baby Shane, whatever you want to go with. It goes tomorrow night for the Jays in Miami. And at 530, Nathan Rourke from the BC lines will stop by. Talk about the CFL, 605, David Nailor talking more football, and at 630 Mark Sikino talking about golf.

And just as we do that, CPKC is the event that's going on and I'll refresh my page at some point and get the leaderboard but it's it's really competitive there was a 15 year old Canadian amateur that was at the top of the leaderboard tied the three ways a couple of maybe a half hour ago so we'll update that as we motor along so so let's get into the Austin Matthews clips and and some of these questions we could loop them because they're not going to go away right so here he is being asked about the Marner trade Bobson, which is departure. Oh, man, yeah, right to it.

You know, we'll obviously miss him. He's a great friend, great teammates. You know, that's kind of the business side of it. That's tough, but obviously, I wish him nothing but the best. And, yeah, we'll just keep it moving. So, I mean, you could ask that question pretty well after every game, depending on what happens there, right? Yeah, like, yeah, how's it going?

You still miss him? How's it going without the guy that assisted on 50% of your goals for the past handful of years. Yeah, it's going to be an interesting question. But, I mean, Struddy, what do you make of Matthews sort of passing that off as the business side of things? When we all know, it's got a lot more to do with on-ice success or lack thereof when it comes and off-ice pressure, I think, than it does down to hard numbers. Because Martner could have got paid here if he's so chosen.

Yeah, the top players, I mean, their money's going to be the same everywhere they go. I actually give Matthews credit. he gets in there and he gave an answer, right? I'm guessing on the inside he's disappointed. You're not mad at your friend. You get it because it could have been Matthews, right? At some point, this could have been Matthews leaving. I'm not suggesting he wants to leave, but that's the way it works.

If things don't maybe go the way you want or you're looking for a change for whatever reason, I think that you understand, but you're still disappointed. For Mardra, I'm actually really excited. I've played in two Canadian markets. I've played in three American ones. There's a difference. There's a big difference, attention, focus, and that's good and bad, right? When you're rolling and playing well, I mean, there's no better place than to be a Canadian city.

When things aren't going well or maybe, you know, whatever the team isn't going the way you want, you can hide easier in the U.S. market. So, you know, for Martin's going down to a team that's been good since they've come in, it looks like he's going to play with Jack Eichel, who those two guys, someone's going to have to shoot the puck, I guess. But, you know what, I think, Festchuk, when I look at it, you know, I think Matthews has to come out

and say these types of things and just be up front and say exactly, you know, give clips so that eventually it will go away because there'll be a new storyline for the Maple Leafs and the NHL at some point here. Just, we're not there yet. Well, certainly if Matthews regains a scoring touch, going back two seasons,

that story dissipates really fast, doesn't it? Without a doubt. Yeah. The world's greatest goal scorer, which he's, you know, got a real legitimate a claim to being, you got to score more goals that he did last year. And we all know it was health related. And he didn't give much of an answer when he was asked about his health, you know, last night.

But I guess we're going to find out when we watch him skate and watch him play very shortly how he's looking because he didn't look like the Austin Matthews that we're used to for much of last year. Okay. So let's jump in here, Struddy on, let's burn through a couple of these Matthews clips and then we'll talk about it. Here's Matthews on Leif's expectations this season. Feeling good. Yeah, obviously a lot of changes, but excited about the guys we brought in.

Obviously, excited about the guys that we have. I know we've got a great team and a great group of guys in the locker room, so looking forward to kind of getting starting. You know, guys have to take some steps, but I think that's a good thing, a good problem to have. So really, really looking forward to it. And then we'll follow that up with questions. number two that you could ask basically on a nightly

basis, a quick answer on how his health is. And let's listen to the answer. It's very quick. Good. Thanks. Freddie, what do you make of this? I mean, obviously there's been a lot of talking in this market about

Matthews' unwillingness to discuss his health. He didn't want to even after the season when we're used to hockey players or hockey coaches reading off a list of all the injuries that have been plaguing their players through the playoffs, Matthew's declined to give us any insight at all into what's been plaguing him, and that was, you know, a case and point. What do you make of that from a player's perspective?

Well, I kind of like it a little bit as far as there's a bit of bravado attached to that. You know, you're trying to pretend like you're Superman, right? Now, the reality is there's no one who's Superman or we're all going to at some point get injured and get hurt. You know, I think that you can, if you don't want to reveal the injury, you can say, listen, I was dealing with something, and there was a challenge. I expect after four months or whatever time they had off, three months, I'll be 100%, right? You can give it that way. You don't have to say exactly what happened. But I think we all know that when it comes to, you know, the type of injury everyone seemed to think Matthews had, and the touch required to score at the level he did

as you referenced their tax a couple years ago, I mean, we'll know. We'll know if it's back. because it makes a difference. That, you know, an injury to your wrist, to your hand, whatever fingers, that drops you down from elite to maybe average. An average is great at 25, 30 goals, but that's not elite. So I'm guessing that if he doesn't think it's the story, it's over, and he will be healthy, and he'll regain that ability to shoot the puck that we, you know, we all love to watch.

Yeah, you know, having said that, I mean, you're a former player, so you know what the code is and how it plays out. When you don't answer a question, even though it's your right and not, to answer the question. The lack of transparency does send a message, doesn't it? Yeah, is that the place to do? Is the form that he wants to maybe at training camp? Like, does he want to address it formally in front of everyone?

Like, I'm guessing not every least reporter was at this event. You know, so maybe he wants to do it formally and he'll address it. You know, what is it? It's the day of training camp. The first day, don't they have some kind of media thing? Yeah, they'll have media thing. Yeah. So maybe that's where they want to talk about.

Maybe they'll bring in the training. I don't know. You know, maybe they want to do it more formally. But I honestly, I'm guessing, guys, if he doesn't need to talk about anymore, we're not going to have that, you know, there won't be an issue. But then he looked at like Connor McDavid, remember the issue, knee issue he had. You know, there was no news. Then all of a sudden they dropped that documentary, and we're all like, what the hell happened?

Like, we thought he was fine. They know what? We had no idea. And so maybe his teammates knew, and obviously the team knew, but that, I don't, I'm not suggesting that's what happened to do with math. to you, but I guess sometimes you can be misled. All right. I'm going to ask your expert opinion on this.

It sort of leads into a top 20 list of centers by the NHL.com. But first we've got this vintage stuff of Joe from the bridge, learning the leverage lesson. This goes back to YCBHL ball hockey action. He plays for the young Canadians now called the middle age guys now because it's years ago. But this is how not to sort of step into a hit. Watch this along the board, Struddy. Boom.

Oh. Oh. Boom. That's Joe from the bridge going down. Yeah, that's right. And by the way, Struddy, that's a non-contact ball hockey league. Oh. So, listen, I run some camps here, you know, and the first thing I say is play with your head up.

And you can clearly see his eyes are glued to that ball down there. So you might want to work on his stick handling first to get his eyes up. and he doesn't see, he doesn't see that train coming. Man, that's not hard. Was he okay? Did they have to... I don't know if you could say Joe from the bridge is okay. I mean, he was just in the studio, and he didn't make a lot of sense.

And here's where it unravels. We're talking about the NHL top 20 centers list. There it is again. Oh, I've got the back of his head in the boards, too. That's tough. So I'm just going to read this off. Connor McDavid, obviously, number one. Number two is Nathan McKinnon.

Number three, Leon Drysettle, number four, Barkoff, number five, Crosby, number six, Reichel, number seven, Austin, Matthews, number eight, Braden Point, number nine, Schifley, number 10, Suzuki, and I'll just go through the top 20. Sorry to overload everybody with the information, but we have to talk about this. So there's your top 10. Number 11 is Jack Hughes, Robert Thomas, Aho, Hirshire, Larkin, Stutzla,

Hince, Thompson, Celebrating, and Bennett, round out the top 20. Now, Joe was up the opinion that Austin Matthews should be higher, and Fess and I both ex-nade that. Where are you? Well, the point that, Joe, from the the bridge made, which may speak to the condition he was in after that hit, is Struddy. He made the point he believes that Matthew should be ranked ahead of Barkov. No, no God.

Which I said, did you not see who won the past two Stanley Cups and who was the captain of that team? How do you see that one, Struddy? The problem for Barkoff is that he plays in Florida. If he played in Canada, they'd be erecting statues about this great hell of grade of a player he is. I mean, he does everything well. He is just such a great, great player. So, no, I don't have Matthews any higher than that at all.

I mean, you've got Sidney Crosby, still playing at a high level. Jack Eichol, the two guys from Emerton. I just, and, yeah, I just, I can't, no, I could not at all endorse any idea where Matthews moves up that list. But it's okay to be seventh. I mean, you're the seventh best, or, you know, let's say in that area, best center in the world. That's pretty amazing. Now, can he push his way up that list? Sure, he can.

Sidney's not getting any younger. You know, there's the ability for him to really flex his muscles continue scoring and push his team deeper than have with his new mix to have here with the Leafs. But as it is right here today, the end of August, there's no way I could endorse him going up higher. Could you endorse Barkoff going higher than number four? McDavid, McKinnon, Drysiddle ahead of him. If I'm starting a team. and I get to pick one player, those four.

Who's your last pick? That's a good way to put it. Yeah. And I love Barkoff, right? You're asking me to pick amongst my three favorite kids here, right? So that's the hard thing. All different. You know, what I love about the, well, sports, is that Festchuk, you know, all four guys are so different, right?

Connor just overwhelms you with speed and kind of grace. It's dominant. McKinnon, speed, and just raw power. like he looks like he's just cutting through the ice he's so powerful leon you know still pretty fast but big smart passer big shot and then you got barcoff who's who's just covers all areas of the ice big and strong um still scores me shut down other team's top players i mean they're all different but fashch they're all they're all great in their own way and that's what i love about it yeah yeah it's a great debate i mean obviously the the thing with barcov that that kind of kills him

in some rank he's just like the stats aren't there right he's never been a stats guy I mean the selky trophy stats are pretty good because he's got multiple of those but you know a 71 point guy last year but he was you know something like a pointed game in the playoffs but you know so it's hard to kind of put a measurement on the guy when you realize that he's a defense first tone setter I mean you heard Paul Maurice during the playoffs guys that when you're when you're captain and your number one center you know things thinks about defense before he thinks about anything. It sets a tone that kind of goes through the entire team.

And I think that speaks to why this team has got the championship pedigree. It does. Oh, for sure. And he can just, he can score. It's not like he doesn't score, but he just, you know, he's like, you know, like a younger answer like Kopitar, right? Who just, just covers so much ice and does so many things well. So as a coach, you're like, okay, we need something.

Okay, open the door, get out there. And obviously your captain is going to be out there often at the, at the front. of that list. But I just like how he does so many different things so well at the same time. I can think of Jonathan Taze with someone like that role for the Chicago Blackhawks, right? And then he had Kane beside him who was, you know, just Mr. Highlight Reel. And Taze had his moments. But I wouldn't say he was a massive point producer either.

So, but all three of those guys, Kopitar, Barkoff and Tays, all are Stanley Cup winners multiple times. Yeah, I threw Datsuk in there as well. There are well-rounded players. They play really good defensive, high skill level offensively, and can play physically as well. Well, that said, you know, you talk about Matthews having the opportunity to climb this list. I mean, I think at his best, he's probably been as high as number two on this list behind McDavid, right? And he's obviously been the MVP of the league.

But when you got, what, you're coming off a 33-goal season, you've got four goals in your most recent 18 playoff games. those numbers are going to drop you in the rankings. I mean, you're a goal scorer by definition. You have to score more than he has scored. Well, I guess let me ask you guys this. Is there a risk that now with Marner out, and let's just say a really good player coming out of their lineup, with him out now, is there a risk that he's pushing too hard

trying to do too much and trying to be, you know, the superhero every night? Could be. I mean, this is the big question. What Austin Matthews will we get during the regular, to season and the playoffs without Marner. And this is something you would address every 10 games because it's probably going to be a different winger on occasion on that

top line. There's nobody set there. Yeah, it's a wide open race for who's going to be is his right winger. I mean, obviously it feels like Matthew Nyes and him might, you know, be a complimentary pair, but exactly who will fill out that, who'll fill out that Marner spot. You know, they got Matthias Micelli here, who has a potential begin, you know, kind of day one guy. He's been penciled in there, but that's, I would say, it's very light pencil.

And then, you know, see, but I mean, the bottom line is, you know, when you think about it, you know, it's uncharted territory for this guy. I mean, it's been ever since Babcock left the building, he and Marner spent a lot of time together. And, you know, there's that sample size. People have been pointing to the sample size of, you know, a 40-something games where Matthews has played without Marner in his career and, you know, scored at similar rates to when Marner's been in the lineup. but it's a really small sample size. If we look at the bulk of their careers together, they really did help each other an awful lot. Two elite players.

I mean, they're going to do well. So now, you know, Matthew Nyes, he has to, and I think he's one of the guy that Matthews is talking about, I think he's that take a step. He's a guy that has to take another step. What did he have, like 50 points last year or something off the top of my head? I think that he's a guy that could continue to improve and, you know, continue to help just drive a line.

because Matthew's an elite player, so you get to play with them. Can you become, you know, 60 points? I don't know if you can, you know, get past up with that. Maybe play with him than the guy on the other side. So there's really opportunity there for Matthew Nyes to kind of probably get more puck touches, feel like he can make more plays, because obviously with Marner on the line,

you don't mind him having the puck at all. So here's Matthew Nyes at the Brampton fundraiser yesterday last night, talking about Nyes getting invited to the U.S. Olympic camp. Talk to him a little bit. Yeah, obviously, I think it's well-deserved. I mean, he's a great player and, you know, just still coming into his own, he's only going to get better.

So, you know, I know he's really looking forward to the opportunity, obviously, and it would be a good time for, I think, everybody just to get together and kind of be in that kind of atmosphere with a bunch of other really good players. So, obviously, Matthews was there and gregarious enough to answer a lot of questions, and that's just going to be the ongoing storyline, who plays on the right side of that. So maybe the broad question is, when you had that configuration of Matthews, Marner, and Nyes, can you sort of configure it to go down on the left side?

Is that something you would do? I don't know if you can do it that way, because Nyes isn't really the facilitator that Marner was, right? Although he'd look, I mean, he's had, I guess he's got more assists than goals in his NHL career, 44 goals and 50 assists. So it's potentially possible that he can be more of a setup guy. And maybe you have to be, I don't know, strutty when you see it. I mean, sometimes you do the role that's necessary, right?

And if Matthews needs more, you know, needs more puck touches, his wingers have got to be the guys to facilitate that. Yeah, I hear you. I guess is that what he's his best at? And when I think of Matthew Nyes, I don't think of a guy who's, you know, setting up someone else. I see Matthew Nye is using his speed, his size, getting to that. He's got a good shot in making plays.

So do you take away from makes him him if you, you know, not ask him, but if he tries. to tailor his game more to get to Austin. But the reality is you still have to get the puck to Austin Matthews because he can score. And he knows that. When you play with good players, and listen, I played good players, I wanted to get them the puck as often as I could.

If I got a second assist, I don't care what people say about him. I think they're beautiful because they still count the same on the score sheet. So, you know, for him to figure that out, he'll have to wait to see who's on his other side. And then, you know, what does that player do? What makes him special? And it's, because it's not, you know, with two defense, it's a little different. You kind of know your role than the other guys. But three now, it's harder to kind of get everyone singing off the same tune here.

When you're not sure exactly how you can facilitate to make sure one of the best players in the world gets the puck, but not hurt your own game and make the right winger make his game as good as he can as possible, too. Well, there's sort of the in-game chemistry, and some people don't like the use of the word chemistry, but you also have to think the same way. You have to sort of have that sort of thought process that fits in with what the other two guys are doing, right? Well, and that's what Matthews and Marner had, right? They had that built-in chemistry of so many years together,

and, you know, they didn't need to, you know, they didn't need to talk to know where each of them were going to be, and that obviously is going to be difficult to replace. But, Stradi, I wonder, you know, the thing you have to wonder about for me with this is, you know, how does the dynamic, change and can it change for the better just sort of by not addition by subtraction because I'm not trying to downgrade Mitch

but without Mitch it's just going to be a different type of team with a different type of vibe and I wonder in your experience when an influential guy leaves you know how does it change the room and by sort of by osmosis how does it change the on-ice product well player they know you know anyone who plays any level of hockey you know when the other team is better than you, right? When you, and it's not working. And I was playing for the gang of Kruber Canucks, Marcus Naslin was our captain.

And I remember him, you know, I was sitting in the room in Colorado is always a team we were chasing. But they had like so many Hall of Famers, Rob Blake, Ray Bork, you know, Hayjuke, Forrestberg, Sackick. Like, it was just, it was ridiculous how good they were. And I said, I think we're catching him. He said, Stredi, let's just go through the lines. So we put our, you know, he took, we went in a hotel room, we wrote down our four lines, in our 60 and our 70 or whatever, then same thing for Colorado. And he goes, go through everyone and circle the player you like best.

Do you like Sackick or, you know, our sentiment? Or do you like Marcus Naslin or Peter Forsberg? And by the end, there weren't a lot of circles on our side of the ledger, right? And we weren't being, being, he's like, this just shows you how far we have to go. So, you know, as Austin Matthews, really smart guy, obviously knows the game. So he understands that, you know, there has to be some adjustments here to try to compete with the teams that are not just in the league, but just in

their own division. So you know, could they take a step back to go forward? Yeah, it may. And then there'll be a lot of pressure. Who's replacing Mitch Martyr? Do you think you want that in your first day of training camp? Hey, how do you feel about replacing a guy who scored 100 points last year and has been, you know,

from here and be loved? So I think that's, they might have to go a little bit backwards, but Craig Bruby is probably looking to spread it around more and bring just that constant stifle style that he wants to play that things will bring success while still unlocking guys' talents and their abilities. So a summer of lists, the Athletic did this list,

it's about fan base comfort level with the front office, obviously Florida leads, Dallas, Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Montreal came in fifth on this list. Edmonton came in 21st and Toronto 24th. I'm kind of intrigued by that because although Edmonton did it in the proper order, there's, you know, President, GM, coach, the Leafs did it sort of backhanded,

but all those three people have been replaced in a short period of time. The people that you want to blame for, for failure, and not much failure in Edmonton, but they're not there anymore. So I guess the question for you, Streddy, is, what's the comfort level with the Edmonton front office? Well, you know, the new guy came in, Stan Bowman, you know, at a time that I think it really,

the offer sheets really affected this team. of Dylan Holloway and Broberg. Those two things really affect him. Now, they'd already signed Skinner and others, not Skinner the goalie, Skinner of the player, and that affected their ability to get the deals done, and maybe the guys did never want to sign a deal with it. I'm not sure.

I got the feeling Holloway did. I think Broberg was looking for more opportunity. But those are two guys that are there, you know, early to mid-20s that are both fast, you developed them, you draft them, but all that stuff, and now they're gone. So Bowman now has to come in here, and he has to find some younger players,

to replace guys that are getting older, right? You look at guys that walked out, whether it was Cain or it was Perry, I mean, Fogel, all these guys that are out the door, and now you're trying to replace them with youngish players. Now they've made the trade for Isaac Howard, they're hoping Matt's a boy from Buffalo, maybe these guys can jump in there. But imagine they had Halloween and Brobeck still in this team, right? What would that look like?

That brings your average age way down. Yeah, and Hollywood's going to get a huge deal. There's no doubt about it. He had a great year last year. so I think that's for Stan Bowman now and I don't know what effect he would have had on or if he did have an effect on it but so I think

a lot of fans are jittery about that I know I look at that and say okay well how's that going to work out because you've got to replace guys you haven't a lot of draft picks who's coming in or there's going to be that 25 26 year old players that can impact and play with Connor Leon hopefully

for the rest of their careers well it's an incredibly tall order right to take a team that's gone to two straight cup final and then make improvements on it while you're, you know, at or near the cap. It's not an easy thing to do for sure. But I'm wondering, Struddy, I mean, the fans clearly do not have a lot of belief in the front office's ability to do it, judging by this athletic poll at least. But I think, you know, the main factor that matters to me is how does Connor

McDavid feel in his confidence that this front office can actually take him where he wants to get, which of course is to a spot. where he can be having his day with the Stanley Cup and getting fitted for a Stanley Cup ring. I mean, we haven't heard about a McDavid signing yet. We have heard him say that he'd be happy to stay there if he believes, you know, this team can be a cup contender on down the line. What's your most recent read on the state of affairs on that front?

You know, 100% right. I mean, Leon Drysiddle signs a long extension, and I cannot believe that Leon would have talked to Connor about his thoughts, at least you know what are you thinking of doing um they're best friends they're traveling together leon just got married everyone's there at the wedding like you just you even in casual conversations you'll talk about it so i think that leon is there's a comfort level for leon that Connor will be staying now does that mean eight-year deal i'm not sure but he'll be staying but the challenge i think for connor macdavid is to you know you can see the team as it is today they brought in some new

players and yeah they're you know they brought a new goalie coach i hope maybe allow change some of the things that the goalies do, but how do you predict, let's say he signs a five-year contract, can you predict what type of young players will be joining this team in five years? You can't, because, you know, these team doesn't, they don't have a lot of really good, you had Bo Acky, who's a pretty good young player, but he's a D man, but you need to keep replenishing this team from the bottom, and I believe it starts from drafting, developing, and bringing it up, and I know it's hard to think about with an NHL team, but Tampa did that for quite a long time. They had players that came in and replaced you, need to have that.

So I think that was the idea with Isaac Howard and Matt Savoy, try to get younger legs in there and then keep trying to find some little gems maybe out of Europe. But to sell Connor McDavid-on, this is our plan. Well, which players? Well, we don't know yet, but this is our plan. I think that's a hard job for Bowman to do at his former agent, Jeff Jackson. Coming up next, we're going to talk with Mark Masters or Maple Leaf Reporter, dive into some tennis talk as well.

This is Overdrive live on YouTube, TSN4, TSN-1050. Welcome back to Overdrive on a Thursday, Jim Taddy with you at studio alongside Dave Festuck for the Toronto Star and Struddy from the Man Cave back home in the basement. They slipped the food tray in yet, Strety? Yeah, I got three meals a day. It's pretty nice. Okay, good. And the facilities, everyone, the plumbing's work. Okay, good. Everything's worth.

All right. Let's bring in Mark Masters now. Maple Leaf Report. He's going to talk about some tennis as well, who when asked, you know, if he was ready to go on, uttered the phrase, yes, guy. Mark, how are you today? I am doing great. It's a beautiful day and happy to talk to you guys. Is there an over-under on who wears maybe two T-shirts for Leaf Reporters?

One is, how are you fielding? And second, do you miss Ms. Marner? I mean, if you had people with those T-shirts, you wouldn't have to ask the question. Yeah. Yeah, I haven't seen any Miss Marner T-shirts yet. Yeah, it will be fascinating to see kind of the response when he does come back to town. I'm going to miss him. He was an interesting guy to cover, that's for sure.

Certainly to watch him play, one of the most talented players I've ever had a chance to cover on a day-to-day basis. And then obviously, I know, you know, sometimes he was a little uncomfortable with the media, but, you know, I find when he wanted to be, he was really engaging. So I'm going to miss him. So obviously, Mark, that's going to be kind of the recurring theme with Matthews. We saw him ranked number seven by the NHL net. in the top centers in the NHL. And we all know that he's been as high as probably number two on that list at various

times in his career. But the health thing is the kind of the elephant in the room, right? And he chose not to address it again last night in any real weather other than to say he feels good. I guess we'll see it in real time soon enough watching him skate at training camp. But what do you make of that question and how sort of how it's going to loom over his season. Yeah, I mean, it's the big question, right?

If he's healthy, he's right at the top of the league in terms of centers, obviously McDavid, McKinnon, Drysiddle. Obviously, he can be part of that group if he's healthy, which he wasn't last year. But, you know, he doesn't like to talk about his health. Fair enough. He was a one-word answer last night at the hockey night in Brampton. Just good. So, I mean, we'll see what he looks like at training camp.

But that will be the big question for him, because if he's healthy, changes a lot of things for this Maple Leafs team, and with Marner leaving, they're really going to need them to be healthy and carry the load. Masters, I ask the guys this question, and I want the same question to you. You know, as you do, and you follow him every day. Is there a chance that maybe Austin puts so much pressure on himself

to be everything, especially early in the air, that it could, you know, just trying to do too much, might affect his game? Well, the question last year was, did he play through the injury when he should not have? right like it happened in training camp last year he like missed a game and we're just kind of wondering he's okay they downplayed it and then it turned out to be much more serious than anyone initially thought obviously last year it was his first season as captain um and you know it felt like he

maybe was was was maybe that on his mind we don't know nobody knows but he played through it wasn't as effective and eventually needed time off on a couple of occasions so uh only he knows you know how he kind of deals with that pressure certainly in the media he's always been kind of cool a cool customer it's never looked like you know you know there's been times obviously he's been short with the media he was certainly all smiles yesterday but uh you know i that's a good question only he really knows how much pressure he's putting on himself and whether that got to him at all last year with with the injury he's dealing with and really the pressure doesn't go away as the captain um you know he's everybody would expect him to return to his

totals from the year before or maybe a little less than that because that was stupendous, but they're looking for him to sort of grab this thing and push it forward, albeit without Marner. So, I mean, as we go along through the regular season mark, I think you'd agree, we're going to sort of measure every five to ten games as to where the team is, but also where he is, right? For sure. I mean, you look at how he started that 69 goal season, which, by the way, is still crazy to think of. They had 69 goals in today's NHL. That was so special. What, he started that season with back

to back hat tricks. So he's traditionally been a fast starter, goal scoring-wise, in his career. So for sure, early in the year, even in the training camp, even in the preseason games, we'll be looking for cues, even in those first few practices of training camp. I'm sure there'll be a lot of videos popping up on social media of Austin Matthews practicing the first few days of training camp getting set for his first preseason game. How does he look? Is there any sign of discomfort at all? And yeah, we'll be tracking that. That's going to be a storyline all season long because he's going to also have a new right winger, you would think. We'll see who ends up taking that Mitch Marner spot on the top line

and how he adjust to that, if there's any adjustment at all. It's going to be fascinating to see how Austin Matthews kind of approaches this next season and how it all comes together for him. I mean, Masters, we were sort of batting around who might take that spot on the right wing. It feels like Matthews Nyes is a combination for center and left wing, and then, you know, Mateus Micelli, I guess, is penciled in. as the first line right winger, but it's very much in pencil. I mean, he's been a 40-assist guy at his best in Arizona,

but he's never played in the market of this size with this kind of pressure on him. I mean, how do you see that? Who else might make a run for that spot? I mean, obviously, Neelander and Matthews could be a combination, but what's your sense of what Burubei might do in terms of cycling through players to play with Matthews as the season goes on? That's a good question. I mean, Marner played every game last year.

I think the one game he missed, every game but won. The one game he missed, I think it was Max Domey filled in there beside Austin Matthews, and obviously they've had a good track record in the past playing together. You know, a couple years ago down the stretch heading into that playoff series in Boston against Boston. They really caught fire down the stretch. Domi did not have a great season last year, but I like the idea of engaging him right away and saying, hey, big opportunity, let's hit the ground running here. The question, of course, is the Matthews line is likely to get the tough matchups.

That's what Craig Brubay likes to do. It's a big reason why William Nealander did not get any sort of sustained look on that spot, in that spot, it felt like at least. And so I like the idea of Max Stomy there. You'll be a storyline that will be watching all training camp to see who's there. Micelli is a newcomer to the team. Do you want to put that pressure on him right away, trying to bounce back from a tough year, put him right beside Austin Matthews?

I know Sheldon Keith always liked that idea of the new guy coming in and making him feel important right away. I remember Kelly Yarncroke got signed and he started training camp on the line with Austin Matthews and they wanted him to feel like, okay, you're really a big part of this. So that's one way of approaching it. I'm not sure what Brubay is going to do. I just

know personally, I like the idea of the Domi Matthews connection. We know they've had success in the past and I just want to get Domi up and running right away next season. What area of Matthew Nye's game do you think has the biggest opportunity for growth now that he may be

you know, asked to carry the puck or do more than when there was a martyr on the opposite wing. Well, I know when he signed his extension, he said the area he was focusing on was skating better. I think everyone says that to a degree they want to get faster. He's a big guy if he can add a little bit more speed. He was already, it felt like, surprising a lot of guys with his speed last season and just the burst that he had to, you know, I'll never forget one of the best goals of the season was that buzzer beater in

in Pittsburgh, where just, you know, the face-up in his own zone, and he just bursts through and beats Eric Carlson and, you know, stops the clock with 0.1 seconds left. So I find him already to be pretty fast for a big guy, but if you can add an extra step, I'm sure that would be helpful. And I just think he's still a young guy. He's just figuring out even every game, every season, you know, what he can do with that frame.

He feels like a unique for the Leafs for sure and in the league. I know he kind of models himself a bit on Brady Kachuk. and those Kachuk brothers are pretty unique. So I think maybe physically you can amp it up even more, you know, more consistently in that regard. And I think speed, if you add to a little bit more, I mean, this package is already pretty incredible. If you can do that, you know, watch out.

I mean, obviously, Mark, they've done a nice job filling in the lower ranks. The defense was good. The goaltending was good. And cap space is now somewhat limited. Do you see them adding anything else before camp opens? I don't think so. I mean, if anything, it looks like they maybe have to make a move out. If I guess if they were to move someone out, they could make a couple of, one change, maybe two changes.

I don't think anything huge is coming down the pipe, we'll see. But, you know, it's possible. They brought in a lot of guys. I'm looking forward to training camp. I think there's going to be some good competition there, whether it's for the spot on the top line, down the lineup, who fits in where, how's Bobby McMahon going to come into camp? Remember, he started last year as a healthy scratch, you know? He didn't have a very good training camp, so I'm sure he'll be motivated.

coming into a contract year to get off to a good start and maybe earn a spot in that top six because obviously he went on a huge drought down the stretch last year into the playoffs and in his first Stanley Cup playoff experience, you know, he did not perform particularly well. So lots of good storylines going into training camp this year, a lot of guys who should be really motivated. Easton Cowan is another guy will be watching. You know, he was asked at development camp about Marner moving on. Marner's been a mentor to him and he said, yeah, he moves on. It's tough. But opportunity there for a bunch of guys. So it should be an interesting training camp. So Masters, we'd be remiss without asking you a little bit of tennis stuff with the

U.S. Open on the horizon. The big story, of course, Vicki and Boko, she won the big National Bank Open in Montreal. She is she is the rising star of the moment in the sport. And the good news is she's the top-seated Canadian coming into the U.S. Open at number 22. bad news is she draws a two-time Grand Slam champion and Barbara Krechikova, what are you making that matchup? Yeah, it's a tough first round matchup, I would think. You know, I was looking back at Bianca Andrescu's draw when she, back in 2019, had won in Toronto

and then parlayed that momentum into a U.S. Open championship. And that was also, just like in Boko, her first U.S. Open main draw. So she was a rookie coming in, and she actually drew a player in the first round who was younger than her. So she had even more experience. And I thought that was a good draw to kind of ease her way in there. But, yeah, facing a veteran, two-time-champ, won Wimbledon last year. It hasn't had a ton of success since then, but, you know, we'll give you nothing for free.

And, yeah, that's going to be tricky, because if you look at it, if Mboko is going to stubborn toe, you'd think a big issue would be the inexperience. It didn't seem to affect her in Montreal, it did not seem to affect her really all season long, maybe a bit in that second round loss in Wimbledon against Taley-Baptiste, perhaps. but she really hasn't had that issue but this will be a tricky for sure and after that the draw does open up you never want to look too far ahead

but her third round opponent the first seed she faced Emma Navarro who made the semi-finals last year at the US Open number 10 seed but hasn't had a great season today really not in great form coming in and we'll have a lot of pressure to back up that semi-final result last year so I think the draw opens up well but this this will be a tricky

tricky opener for Mboko as she gets said it's kind of crazy when you think about it you haven't even played the U.S. Open before she arrives as a seated player and Canada's top singles player. What a story. Fabulous. Mark, thanks very much. Really appreciate it. My pleasure. Any time. Mark Masters are Maple Leaf Reporter and

Tennis Guru as well, getting a sit for the U.S. Open, and that's the sure sign that summer is concluding. Yeah. That is pretty much, you're right. That is the sign, man. Those late night matches in the waning days of summer out at Flushing Meadow. But this Vickian Boko story,

man, it's pretty incredible. this 18-year-old from Burlington and hey, she beat what, three Grand Slam champions to win the National Bank Open? What's another one to start off her run at the U.S. Open? Speaking of young Canadian talent, so we're at the

LPGA, the KPKC tournament going on at Mississauga. Aphrodite Deng, an amateur Canadian, 15 years old, has a share of the lead 5 under after the first round. Kang from the U.S. is also 5 under.

Lopez out of Mexico is also 500. So maybe another great weekend for a young Canadian. Yeah, pretty incredible story. I mean, Aphrodite Deng, she born in Calgary. He grew up most of her young life in the States, actually. She was a figure skater for a while. But, yeah, she became the first Canadian to win the U.S. junior earlier this summer, fellows. And now to see her, you know, it's one thing to win a junior tournament,

and she's won a bunch of those, but to see her among the world's best players, and pretty much all the best players are at this tournament out of Mississippi Golf and Country Club. To see her doing that today was pretty special. Coming up next, we're going to play Yes Guy, No Guy. Later on, Kagan Matheson, a 505 at 530, Nathan Rourke, BC Lines quarterback, as Overdrive continues, live on TSN 1050, TSN4 and live on YouTube.

Overdrive on a Thursday, Jim Taddy, Dave Fest, checked from Toronto Star and Struddy, live with us from Edmonton via the streaming service, and, well, it's time for this. Yes, Guy. No guy Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, drivers, and passengers. Time now for a yes guy, no guy.

And strutty, I know you play games similar to this, but this is the original. Okay, it started here. Okay, round zero. Okay, there we go. Yes, Guy, no guy number one. Austin Matthews, Struddy will lead the Leafs and points this season. Oh, yes, guy. Yeah, I think that's, who's he fighting with Nielander?

I'm going to go Matthews. Yeah, I think he's got it, guys. Yeah. How about you, Dave? I'm a no guy. I'm a no guy on that. I think, look, I think it's going to be, it's going to be an adjustment year for him.

And, you know, you look at not much has changed for William Neelander. I mean, he's going to be playing with Tavares. It's going to be kind of a status quo situation on that line. And when you look at it, you know, Neelander had a hell of a year last year. Nealander had more points than Matthews last year. And that was with Mitch Martyr in town, albeit with Matthews playing, what, 67 games due to injury.

But, yeah, I think Nealander's got more of a status quo situation. So maybe point-wise, I'm going to say yes, guy, he will. But, I mean, what makes Austin Matthews season, I don't want to say legitimate, but successful in the regular season. Forget about the playoffs. That's another story. But what point total, what goal total works, Freddie? Well, I think the first time I've talked about is a power play. I think everyone's going to be affected by the power play, right, of no Mitch Martin,

because he was kind of the guy that was filtered through him. So I think that's going to touch Nylander. It's going to touch, obviously, Austin Matthews. But, you know, I think with Matthews, it's always going to be about the goal totals. And I think he has to be north of 45 goals. That's what I look at. I'm not looking for, he'll have to get some assists, obviously, playing on the top line. But I'm looking at goals fours, so I'm looking at 45 goals, fast check.

Without a doubt, I mean, this is a guy that's average 52 goals. you know, pro-rated for 82 game seasons, which, of course, you know, he has, you know, he didn't have last year, but, um, yeah, he's, he's averaging 50. So like, let's see an average year and everybody will be happy. Okay. I'm with you on that. I have 45 is a good cut line. Um, yes, I know guy number two. Connor McDavid will sign a contract extension with the Oilers ahead of the start of training camps, strutty. Yes, Guy. I think that it's, I, I believe he's going to sign here. His friend Leon signed here. Uh, they would have talked about it. And I think Connor is the type of person that he doesn't want distractions. So

they'll be an announcement sometime the next two, three weeks. He'll be, they'll wait for him to come back to Emerton instead of doing it, you know, over online and his kitchen. I think he'll be here. They'll have a big talk. Everyone will say how great it is and he'll say, okay, I'm here. We're now focused on winning Stanley Cup this year. Distractions, done. I'm a yes guy too because I think everything Struddy said is dead on but Struddy I'm interested in

this question yes guy no guy that contract extension is more than four years Ooh Interesting choice of numbers I'm just a yes guy I think oh man

I think it'll be longer than five four years I think that again I'll go back to it I think that stability I think he understands that he stability matters for the team, understanding where his number's at for the whole group and for the salary cap situation, but also for himself. Let's just say he signs a two-year deal. So that means they have him signed for three more seasons.

Those questions will continue, right? Are you, are you not? Is this coming? Is he here or is he not? I think that with him on your team, you're trying to win every year, trying to put the best team you can together. So I'm going to say yes. I think it's going to be five years. What do you think, Fast check?

Yeah, look, I just like, I mean, we had MJ on here near the end of the season and he sort of broached the idea that, hey, if McDavid does, you know, pulls a bit of a LeBron who's famous for having short-term deals and says, hey, give me a two-year deal and I'll keep this management group on watch and make sure that they are giving me the best chance to win my Stanley Cup. Otherwise, I'm going to have to think about moving elsewhere. That would be really intriguing to me. Oh, yeah. I understand it. Like, I get where that's coming from. but, I mean, why wouldn't you try to win if we have LeBron or Connor McDavid?

Like, I don't really understand that logic. You know, maybe the other people have suggestions of, or examples of players that have been misused by teams. Maybe they can't win, Struddy. Maybe that's the thing. Like, if he can't win here, maybe he's got to go somewhere else. But then where is that?

I think that's a hard game to play too, right? We're going to go here. Are they going to win? Like, are the Hawks going to win by the next three years? No. No guy. Plenty to think about it. Overdrive continues.

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