OverDrive - OverDrive - August 27, 2025 - Hour 2 - Dallas Braden

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jason Strudwick and Frank Corrado for Hour 2 on OverDrive! Baseball Is Dead Podcast Host and Former MLB Pitcher Dallas Braden joins to discuss his views on the Blue Jays' bullpen choices, how a change could be imperative to a team and George Springer's incredible season. Hayes, Strudwick and Frankie play Role Play Level of Concern diving into Connor McDavid's contract with the Oilers and Brad Treliving's perspective on the Maple Leafs.

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Loud, crowd, and all yours. No passports required, just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca. Or the free iHeartRadio app. Hour two overdrive continues, powered by Fanduil, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. Brian Hayes, Frankie Corrado, Jason Strudwick, roleplay level of concern. A little bit later in the hour, Jay's twins tonight. Eric Lauer on the mound after a deflating ninth inning last night.

Jay's had that game. George Springer hits multiple home runs. What a story. George Springer is. Like this guy is just, when he got injured, was that a few weeks ago, I guess, when he had the concussion. I was concerned, man. I was legitimately concerned a guy of his age who's really struggled the previous two years, who was so good, was going to leave the lineup for a couple of weeks and just not find it again.

Or if he did, it was going to take some time or take on a bit of a different complexion and maybe a lower tier of production. And I was dead wrong, man, because George has returned and he has been an absolute stud. Hey, how about that? Do you change the hitting coach? you get better hitting from guys that you know we're good hitters, how does that apply to the Edmonton Oilers? Change the goaltending coach.

Okay. Same goaltenders. I like that. What do you think, buddy? I like that, Frankie. Okay. You know what, listen, I think it does make a difference. Like, I think, and not to steal your story away about the Blue Jays,

but I think that a goalie coach or hitting coach, it's so specific and so detailed, it's an approach. It's an approach to hitting. Like, yeah, it's how you swing, but it's approach to the mindset. I think goaltending is a lot the same. So I think it's worth a look. Look, but George Springer, those two balls, I didn't think they were going to land in the stadium. He absolutely unleashed those things.

They were gone. Like, as soon as it hit, I was like, oh, they're gone. No, no datters. They just bombs. No doubters, man. And that's been Springer all year. His numbers are so good across the board. You know, he's moving all over the place in terms of positionally.

I think ideally they're going to want him to DH, but we're talking to Keegan about it yesterday. and maybe they've been kind of slow roll in those. Maybe load managing his fielding so that he's prepared to do it in September and into October. And this is a guy who was playing center field when he was winning a World Series, when he was winning World Series MVP back in 17 for the Astros. And now if George Springer was having this kind of year and the Js weren't a good team, it would be like all for nothing, really, because you need George Springer having a good year banging the drum,

when the team is playing well and they're going into the playoffs. And it's like that's where that guy can really kind of stir the drink the way he did when he was in Houston. And he hasn't really been able to do that as, you know, the Jays just haven't been able to do that since he's gotten here. But now it lines up perfectly, man. He's having this resurgence. The Jays are playing great. They're getting offense from everywhere. But still, like, you have to be worried about what happens in a playoff game when they go to the bullpen.

and you know that you're going to have to go to the bullpen a little earlier than you do in the regular season, and you have to know that your closer can come in and close it out. And no one's saying you can't make contact. You know, like the closer is going to pitch. It's going to be contact made for sure. But you can't get rocked. Like it's going way out of the ballpark.

Yeah. It's uncomfortable, man. It's uncomfortable. The guy who hit it, the first. one, I believe, was by Gasper, correct, the little catcher? And, like, he, there was a no doubter. Like, that was a no doubter off the bat. I'm like, that's not the guy that you want hitting a no doubter off of you. It's further up the lineup or a, you know, judge. But that Gasper, the little catcher, I'm like, ooh, that is not a good sign. That's the issue,

overpower, three, four pitches out. Move on to the next guy. It's got, it's the seven, eight, nine hitters, you know, to your point, if judge gets you, he gets you. You know, it's, you got to, you just got to swallow that pill. I'd be like, he was better than me, he is better than me, he got me. But even, you know, the famous five-walk routine at Dodger Stadium, that was a 7-8-9 hitters he walked before Otani came up and Betts came up. And again, Schneider is trying to give him the opportunity to pitch out of it and he waited too long last night. And it turns out they actually put up some runs in the bottom of the ninth and maybe if he gets them out earlier, it's a different story but you know it's a conundrum if you're a manager because that's the

guy you have to rely on him you've chosen to rely on him and quite frankly there's no one else that screams you know i i should be the guy usurping him you know what i'm saying like it's not i know sir anthony dominguez can throw heat he's been pretty good and varland when he first showed up look good now he's hit a bit of a rocky patch and they have stuff they have closer like stuff because they can hit 98 99 or 100 but it's not that easy. And I think if they really, if the Blue Jays, if Walker and Schneider believe, you know,

Dominguez could do it or Varland could do it or any of these guys could do it, they probably would have given them a shot by now. And I think they're pot committed to Hoffman because they believe that's their best guy. And he's the guy that can pitch in the most high leverage situations. But, man, it's been ugly as a bullpen. It's not just him. The whole staff for a month now, five weeks has been terrible. Like terrible.

I think outside of, I want to say Colorado's bullpen, no one has a worse ERA, collectively in Major League Baseball in four or five weeks. Yeah, it doesn't instill confidence, man. No, it's a real. Those are high leverage situations. You need guys, specialists, you go in, you strike a guy out, whatever the case is,

but it's not happening right now. Yeah, like, you know, yes, it's been Uber positive, great thing. Jay's been awesome. Their season didn't end last night, but it's okay to have higher expectations. and it's okay to be disappointed when the game's right there against a Minnesota team that's not really in the hunt for anything, you're on home field and Hoffman comes in and gets rock last night.

All right, here is a former MLB pitcher, and of course you can catch him on the baseball as dead podcast joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Here's Dallas Braden. What's happening, Dallas? How are we doing, boys? We're doing well. We've been talking a lot about the bullpen up here, and the numbers have not been good for the better part of a month since the end of July. It's one of the worst, you know, one or two bullpins in baseball based on, you know, team ERA.

Hoffman got rocked last night, blows a save. He's given up 12 home runs this year. How important is it over the next four or five weeks for John Snyder and the Blue Jays to find some semblance of a bullpen they can trust going into the playoffs? Imperative. This is when the arm race begins, whether it's identifying. in-house options, right, because the opportunity to go and get some help outside of your building has come and gone. And when it's in-house, I'm talking, is there options, are there options, excuse me, by virtue of an extension of the bullpen in AAA? Are there guys in the

rotation in AAA that you could think about, bring it up and maybe impacting the bullpen because you're right. As far as how this bullpen is performed for the Blue Jays, you go back to July 28th, just an arbitrary date, which I picked up while I was listening to you guys, kind of touch on some of the shortcomings. The Blue Jays have the second worst bullpen ERA in baseball at 5.72 behind only the Colorado Rockies who play baseball on Mars. So it is tough to win ball games. It's tough to win close ball games. And it's tough to win important ball games if you just cannot get the most important outs in the ball game, which is, number one, the ones you need to get when you have the lead, and especially when you have the lead, the last three outs of the ball game.

So whether it's identifying a combination, a platoon of arms, that you feel like you can run out there and match up, because I heard you guys talking about, you know, are you just at this point, Pock committed to Hoffman, who, you know, leads the bullpen with 28thage, that is just based on the opportunities, but is there a combination of matching up? You know, you've got a couple of lefties down there in that bullpen and whether or not you feel like those guys can help split the difference on whether it's finishing off the eighth inning and heading into the ninth inning, starting the ninth inning,

and look, you get the three that you're going to get and if it goes any further than that, we already have somebody playing catch by the time you've taken the ball on the game now, you know, there's going to have to be some sort of shaking out, though, because down the stretch, this is where teams can either close the gap or I believe start to collapse because we know that it's bullpins that start to peter out when it comes September and that's because of usage over exposure and this is when your money is earned and that's why it is so important to have at least the last

six outs accounted for and I don't mean to just say you've got to have the you know you got to have a closer identified sure that helps but you have to have an attack plan on how to secure the win. Dallas, are you familiar with in your experience a reset for the group and or the reset for an individual when they're in the bullpen at this time of year? Absolutely, because what you can do is you decompress an individual's mental process and you allow them to simplify it, you allow them to dumb things down because a lot of times what happens is at this point you become mentally exhausted long before you might be

physically exhausted and those two things do go hand in hand because if you feel like mentally you're just not up for the challenge or the challenge seems so great well now physically are you going to respond are you as eager to try to face the adversity head on and so i think finding yourself in the bullpen is a wonderful opportunity to maximize your stuff as a pitcher because now we're talking about going out and performing in a short burst and you have the ability you now give the manager flexibility right you give schneider flexibility on how to be able to you utilize you. And if you have starting pedigree and you've been built up to serve an extended role, well, now we're talking about one individual covering four, five, six plus outs. And he becomes

almost another reliever of sorts in that bullpen because we're not asking him to flip the lineup two or three times. We're asking him to get as many outs in a row as he can. And if that's five, six, eight, so be it. If you look at the Jay's, bullpen and then at some point, you know, John Schneider and company decide that Hoffman's not going to be the guy or we tried the reset and we just can't trust him come playoff time in this high leverage situation. You don't go there. Is there an obvious candidate for you when you look at the Jay's bullpen as far as who could be a guy who could close out a game? I mean, is there any thought? I mean, this is where you're starting to think about the kind of swing and miss

you're looking for in big spots, right? Because that's what you're looking for in high-leverage situations. That's what you're looking for when you're trying to get the most important outs of the game, is how can I dominate the bat? That's what I need to be able to take care of. So when you think about that, you think about swing and miss. I mean, is Sir Anthony Dominguez an option? Is it Varlane?

And that's where I think when you start to talk about playing the hot hand, I think you really, at this point in time, you're just trying to see who can continue to put together good outings after good outings, who's stringing together the outings with the least amount of traffic that is giving us a chance to go out and dominate the last three outs. So I think in terms of opportunities, those are a couple guys you might start to take a look at. With Dallas Braden, in terms of starters potentially moving there, again, the Js, they're in a really good spot. You know, they still got a good buffer in the American League.

They've got a good buffer in terms of a top two seat in the American League period. I should say buffer on the AL East and then in terms of the American League and trying to finish in one of those top two spots. But they're shifting their rotation around a little bit. They have a six-man rotation. Lauer is going tonight. They're going to push Burrios back. He has not pitched well recently.

So when Milwaukee's in town this weekend, they're going Bieber, Gosman, Scherzer. I think if they're healthy, that's your one, two, three. I think they're tipping their hand at what likely is going to be their starting rotation for the first three games of a playoff series, which means Barrios, Bassett, maybe Lauer, who's the left, who's been very good. But let's push him aside for a second. Of Barrios and Bassett, either of those guys, both of those guys, you know, can you see them possibly contributing at all in a bullpen role come to playoffs?

I absolutely think you can't, and I think it's probably, I mean, again, just kind of go into who's going to give you an opportunity to generate swing and miss, who's going to give you an opportunity to give you a link? Well, I think both those guys kind of serve that purpose to an extent. And I think it's really going to be about the individual matchups that you're going to be getting. Who's going to perform better in that role? I think what you're doing is you're really splitting hairs between who you're identifying as competitors, because is it Verrios, who you have more confidence in to generate the swing and miss?

Well, I don't think so because he's not a strikeout per nine kind of guy right now. right he's not a strikeout an inning per guy right now where Chris Bassett may be a little closer to that but is is that going to be ultimately the biggest difference maker for you you know I mean in terms of keeping the ball in the yard both these guys have surrendered 22 homers a pop so I think it's really just a matter of what the opponent looks like and who you're going to be able to rely on in that moment what are the matchups say because that's where and I hate to really start to get into the weeds here but when you think about Chris Bassett and some of the arm angles that he creates and some of the different movement he's generating with these different arm angles

and how funky he is, that can be tough as opposed to Barrios. Well, now he's pretty much a one-plane guy in terms of arm angle, and so if you have a guy who can kind of disrupt swing playing at the plate and offer different looks, that's an option. So I think Bassett very well may be the leader in the clubhouse out of that starting rotation to make an impact. Dallas, I'm interested in know the relationship and dynamic between starting pitchers and the relievers.

Let's say a starter goes through an evening and has a decent night, hands off the ball, and then the game ends, you know, in a loss or vice versa. The starters are really, you know, over-extending the relievers. Is there, what kind of that dynamic look like between those two groups? Oh, it absolutely exists because as a starting pitcher, you go out there, you lay an egg, as we say early on in the ball game. you've given up a three, four spot in the first couple of innings. And you know now your job has shifted sort of from trying to continue to dominate a lineup

because that didn't work out. So now what do you got to do? Well, you've got to get out and you've got to give that bullpen an opportunity to get to some of the important guys down there. And when I say important, I mean the high leverage out getters, not the guys that you run out there in the fourth and fifth inning. I've been that mop-up dude before and I know what that's like. So you want to avoid that at all costs.

and that means what you're doing ultimately is giving your offense a chance to climb back into the game if you can keep the score kind of where it's at, but you're giving your bullpen a chance to breathe. You're not asking them to cover, you know, 18 outs, and that's really, really important because, I mean, you know, 369, 12, 15, there's your five-inning performance, and now you're still asking the bullpen to cover the remainder, and that's quite a few outs still. So the further you can get into the game, the better. And then on the bullpen side of things, when your starter goes out there and puts together a gem, right, gives you seven innings plus worth of outstanding baseball, maybe just a run, if anything, and then you come in and you end up putting guys on base, you're walking a couple people, you give up a double, you give up a homer, and it feels like all your starter's hard work has gone for not. And now you, a high leverage guy, aren't available the next day because you've just spent 35 bullets trying to get yourself out of this mess.

and things just go awry quickly. So as a starter, you never want to put your bullpen in a situation where they have to cover any more outs where they're exposing guys because then you start to think about, you know, you get guys out there who have given you three, four innings, and they're going to get sent down. Now you're changing lives, you're changing paychecks, and it's all because as a starter you just couldn't get the job done.

That is a terrible feeling. With Dallas-Breton. So let me run through the top five in Major League Baseball OPS on-Base Plus slugging. To no one surprise, that number one, Aaron Judge. Number two, Shohay Otani. Number three, Cal Raleigh. Number four, Kyle Schwerber.

Number five, George Springer. George Springer is fifth in baseball with a 930 OPS. He had two home runs again last night. When you talk about him daily, I'll give the floor to you, Dallas. What more can you say about a veteran like this who was awful the last two years? Terrible. And the guy's been phenomenal. this season. It's incredible.

Well, and that's the point, right? It's kind of been an MIA thing. Like, hey, George, where have you been? Not Joe DiMaggio. Where's George Springer been? And it's now a guy that is squarely in the middle of the lineup, sometimes at the top of it, quite literally. And that's where

you have somebody who's setting the tone, setting the table, but you have somebody who has been reliable. You need pieces like that in the lineup to be consistent. You need guys that you can regularly depend on in terms of what you can expect from their at bat. And from at bat to a bat, George Springer, you just laid it out, has been as good

as you could hope for. I mean, and just to kind of zoom out a little, the Jays, as a group, second best OPS in all of baseball. I mean, the ninth most extra base hits. They've got the 13th most home runs in baseball. So, I mean, George Springer is a big part of what is pushing that, what is motivating that offense. So when you have guys like Bo Bichette who you know are going to make a run, it feels like at 200 hits, you know, every year. And you have a guy like Vlad who, whether it feels like it's

been a down year or it's a resurgent bounceback year, it feels like he just quietly gets his numbers. And at the end, I mean, we're talking about a guy who's flirting with 300 in terms of average. He'll probably get to that 30 homer mark. He's going to need to do some work here this last month. But I think that's well within reach. So George Springer, Being who he is right now is almost like getting a former George Springer who he was. I think when the Jay's initially signed him what they had hoped for, this is what you're getting now. George Springer, Dalton Varshow, there's a lot of really good defensive players on this Jay's team, and they've been a good defensive team this season.

I'm just curious from like a player's point of view, when you're kind of critiquing other teams around the league, you know, you're going to talk about hitting, you're going to talk about the rotation, you're talking about a bullpen. Like where does how good a team is defensively kind of rank on the priority list when you're talking about, man, I wouldn't want to play that team come playoff time because they're good defensively. How high up is that? Well, it matters because of the things that we were kind of just talking about

where if you're a team that's not going to generate a ton of whiff and the ball is going to be in play, you're going to need the boys behind you to play catch. That's going to be important. You have to be able to turn. these weekly hit baseballs into outs. And even if they're not weekly hit, that's where defensive positioning comes into play,

which is really more of a credit to the staff and their preparation in the analytic department doing their homework. But they have to be able to get that information to the staff. They have to disseminate that to the players. The players have to then go out and execute. So it is a priority in-house without a question. It absolutely matters. can we turn ball in play to outs?

Again, that's what we're after, right? Scoring at least just one more run than the other guy, and we got to get our outs. We have to do that. We can't give away outs. We can't give these opponents extra outs. And so playing catch as simple as you can boil it down to is paramount. And I think if you don't have the ability to do that,

then you're really starting to flirt with fire because late in the ball game, what happens? the at-bats really start to really start to ratchet up. The ball in play becomes an emphasis. And I always say from a reliever's perspective, there are three things that you must do as a reliever, and this starts to become

all the more important once we get into the postseason. And that's you have to come and spin the breaker ball for strikes. You have to control the running game, but you have to be able to defend yourself. You have to field your position as well because the last two innings, you see teams more than willing to try to trade

outs for 90 feet and if you are somebody who's going to end up throwing it off the forehead of the popcorn guy in the fifth row well that's not going to be a problem that's you're not reliable so we got to turn we got to turn balls and play into outs absolutely great catching up with you Dallas as always man it's going to be a fun stretch run we're almost into September I'm sure we'll do it again soon thank you for this no problem hold on tight boys down the stretch you come absolutely there's Dallas Braden the The Baseball is Dead podcast joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline, drive the built-in-canada fuel-efficient, fun-to-drive, Toyota Rav-4,

gas or hybrid models available, visit mapletoita.com. So, yeah, listen, the bullpen is, something's got to be figured out there, but you keep mashing the way they have. You know, the rotation's been pretty strong, and, you know, they're running in some injury issues. Now, Clements banged up, not in the lineup tonight. He had a couple of hits last night. Alejandro Kirk's a little bit banged up. Heineman will go tonight with Lauer on the mound.

To see that hand on Kirk last night? Yeah, it looked a little concerning. Look concerning. I guess the x-rays came back negative. Yeah. But that's the last guy. He had a golf ball on his hand. He kept looking at.

He's on base. Like, I got a golf ball growing out the side of my hand here. Yeah, that's concerning. How do you squeeze a bat? Like, that's, you know, it's so hard. You know, sore that would be? Yeah. Yeah, it's not good.

And he had a strategy was blocking shots on the PK. That's what he was blocking Al McKinness, one-timers taking them off the hand. That's right. You get smarter as you get older. You get out of the way. That's why the goalies have pads. That's right.

What are they getting paid for? Stop the pocket. You can see the guys. They try to make it look like they get there, but they don't quite get there, right? And you know, because we've all done it, and I'm not proud of it. I haven't done it many times. We just can't. Oh, who's that?

That's whoever. Weber? Oh, I almost got there. You could have got there. Yeah. But watch games. You'll know. You know the difference between the two.

Oh, yeah. The business decision, right? Oh, I just, oh, just missed it. Stuck the stick out, almost had it. But when you see one of those ones, when you see, like, the first time I saw the Shea Weber slap shot, or even a one time or two, I'm like, that thing is singing a different tune than other pucks I've seen being shot before. Like, that sounds different.

Oh, it just flies and just comes off so fast and so powerful. He just, he looks like he's trying to beat that thing every time he hits it, right? It's so. scary and oh it's just and you're standing there in front you're like please god like i'd honestly rather go in than hit me you know like i i really don't care because you know how much it's going to hurt oh it's insane and you can't predict where it's going to hit you no if you're too far away like if you get close and you know it's going to shin pad it or whatever that's one yeah but if you're at like the hash marks and he's kind of top of the circles that could go

anywhere well that's the crazy thing about chris tannive like chris tannive will block one-time where the guy, like the defenseman's kind of near the blue line, and TANF will be like below the circle. He'll be below the dot in the circle, and he'll crouch down and just take one off the midsection. You're like, that could have gone anywhere. You have no idea whether the shot's going to elevate or it hits a stick, and he's just eating them like from distance.

That's crazy stuff. He does it better than basically anyone, I think. So brave. So brave, guys. It's incredible. And then you have been to watch baseball and see the catchers that, you know, a foul ball goes off the bat, hits them in their hand. Oh, man, you know, painful that would be? So painful, man.

Oh, so painful. Yeah, well, um, there was a viral clip going around recently of, uh, I think it was a little league game where the ump was getting hit in the, like, hit in the stones, like three times in a row. Now, they're wearing jocks, but still, you know, like, it was, it was like a foul tip and just dropped the guy. and then he'd get up, he'd be like, all right, let's go. Five pitches later, he'd get hit again. He'd be like, oh, my God. He's probably getting paid $10 an hour. You know, he's freaking out.

He's like, what am I doing here? This is crazy. Dude, I'm sorry, but after two, after two, you have to change your own leg position or something. Right, I'm going to second base. You're coming in. Like, someone else is going to be. Stand behind the backstop. Stand behind the screen and call it from there.

Yes. Like, I could call it. I know this isn't, you know, I'm not catching a mile out. It's crazy. Totally. Yeah, it's very true. but you're right like those hands like catchers you got to be careful you have to be careful all right roll play level of concern coming up this hour we'll also get into the rider cup decision keegan bradley

he basically snubbed himself he's not playing just going pure captain steve stands on that more in about an hour i hate that decision too i wanted to see him play i think it would have been thoroughly entertaining to see it but i guess he's mature now and he doesn't see it the same way so we'll get to Sansey a little bit later this afternoon and a crazy trademarking decision. We'll tell you about that and how it relates to Bill Belichick and his new girlfriend in about a half an hour. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN2. You can never, never ask me to stop drinking. Do you understand?

I do. I really do. All right, role play level of concern. Very simple stuff where we're all going to be playing the role of somebody. And there will be a scenario that will be presented. And then you have to lay out your level of concern. Pine on the patio is no concern whatsoever. And obviously Nick Cage and leaving Las Vegas is about as concerning as it gets. All right.

Very simple stuff. Very simple. We're each going to have one. And then, you know, after each one we can kind of spitball. where we stand on things here, okay? And I might add a little bit as we go on here, but Stratt, I think it's appropriate to start with you. Governor McDavid was speaking today

about his contractual situation out in Edmonton, and Strata, you're playing the role of the Edmonton Oilers. What is your level of concern? McDavid's slow playing these negotiations is a sign he's thinking of leaving. Well, you said the lowest form was, I'm on the patio. Pine on the patio, yeah. Yeah, I'm sprinkling the infield for the whole patio.

I'm not worried at all here. Water's for every one. There's no rush to get this done. I think that he stated that a couple months ago. He has a lover of comfort with this organization. The team has been very good. So I have no issue with this all. I am relaxing in the shade, no issue at all.

Okay. I'm a little bit surprised it's that low. I wouldn't go Nick Cage. I wouldn't go Rick Bushwood maybe. But I might go a six-pack and a shirt. shot or something. I mean, until it's done, there's got to be an element of concern, like a modicum of concern that, you know, I don't, I think he's going to end up staying.

I would expect that, but, and he, you know, I just, I feel like his phrasing, I find very curious, like I have every intention to win in Edmonton. Like that, that is very manipulative, right? It's very planned. It's obviously been something he and his team have worked out. They knew this question was coming. and they know it's going to continue to come. And it's not exactly a grand slam.

Like, I'm staying. I'm not going anywhere. I have every intention of winning in Edmonton. It could be a three- or four-year deal. And at the end of that deal, I think you're getting closer to Nick Cage if they haven't won. I think at the end of that deal, you are Nick Cage if they haven't won. But, you know, he holds all the cards. And if he says, yeah, guys, I'll resign.

but it's three years. That's still a grand slam for the Oilers. A hundred percent, that's 14 years. That's four more runs, and you're right. Way over a decade. You can't ask for more than that. Exactly. You'd love it.

You'd love to be, you know, a drive settle 2.0, and maybe that happens. Maybe he just goes, forget it, give me the eight years or seven, and I line up with drive set. I could see that. Dude, eight percent chance. Eight percent chance. You don't think he's signed a long term? I don't think he's going to do the eight years.

But even if he does, you know, he can. could he could pronger this and say listen the second i tell you i'm out i'm out right like i'll sign for seven or eight i'm going to take my money and i don't want to deal with the negotiations anymore but if i call you a year from now and say i want to be traded to this team or what you're trading me you know like that that would also be understood i think players of this magnitude in any sport they have so much power you know like it's if they want if they if he ever wants out, even if he's on a one-year deal, an eight-year deal, he's going to have the cards. And the Oilers will clearly need a lot in return if that ever happens.

They would get a lot in return because of who we're talking about. But if he signs an eight-year deal, that does not mean he is saying, I am 100% playing all eight years in Edmonton. He might. That's intention. They'd never get enough. You could never get enough in a trade for Connor McDavid. It's just impossible. But it wouldn't, it's not, they wouldn't be initiating.

net is the point. No. It would be him if they're not, if they haven't won in three or four years and he goes, I got to go try somewhere else. That's him telling them this is what's happening. But I think I have to look at like this. Any contract he signs will be negotiated in good faith. His intention will be to play out that contract.

I don't think he's got to, I say, if we don't win in three years, I'm out of here, right? Like I, they've been close. They've been really close. Unfortunately, I haven't got it done. And, you know, this past year was, was, wasn't as close to the year before that. And Florida is as good or better. and I don't know the donors are the same team now they were this time last year. So there's a lot of – it's hard, but you've got to look at it like this too.

If you had to pick a team, July 1st he had to go to – let's go back before everyone signed their deals. Which team was the one that you know you're going to win on, that this is the winner? I hear people saying Dallas scars, yep, odors spit them out in five games, spit them out. There's a lot of players there are missing. I might have been some injuries in there. What about on the other side? You know, Florida, I guess they could have made room for him. They did not pay room, but accommodated him.

But let's leave that team out. Which team on July 1st, if you were the for agent, would you know he's going to? No, you wouldn't know. You wouldn't know. That's the problem. On the east, you could say, oh, Carolina's a good team. Carolina gets, they get ran over by the Florida Panthers. So, I don't know.

Now, getting him makes a big difference. That's the thing. You have to consider what he would do. Let's say he goes to Vegas, use them as a. example, you know, and Jack Eichael all of a sudden is your second line center, or if he goes to L.A., you know, and it pushes Kopitar down, and it pushes, you know, byfield in a different position of need and all that. I don't know. I mean, he's so good that he's going to boost the chances of any team he plays for him. For sure, he does. Which has to be considered in this hypothetical,

but you raise, I think, an appropriate point, and an accurate one is there's no, outside of Florida, and like Dallas doesn't deserve that. Now they've got a new code. You know, and we'll see what Galtzen can do his second time around down there. But that goalie does not scream confidence to me in the playoffs. Like, Ottinger is not exactly, you know, Billy Smith here. Hot and cold with Ottinger. You know what's going to be, like, I think, yeah, Connor McDavid, we're having conversations about the contract.

The crazy conversations are going to happen if McDavid re-ups for three or four years and we're having, you know, conversations. of do they need to trade McDavid at the end of that deal before he before that deal expires or in Toronto when Austin Matthews his next deal is coming up like are they at the point where they got to trade Matthews at some point this season or are they going to let it play out as an own rental because how do you do that well that's it will depend on how crazy down the road right like that's the thing for like let's say using McDavid in the order let's say he signs a three-year extension he's got four more years left there and I think

they'll be very good this year. I would anticipate they would be very good for the next couple of years. But how can you predict in sports what anyone's going to be in four years? I don't know. Yeah, like how would you possibly know? I guess, you know, but looking at Dallas, if I

was congregative, I should like those two D men there. Yeah. I'd be very comfortable getting passes from those guys. Now, he has good D man here as well. But I guess the point of this exercise for me is that it's hard to identify which team is going to win for the next X number of years because you have to, you know, let's say

Kopitar, you know, he's just, he was done. He was done after this year and Connick David drops in there. Yeah, that's a good team, but are they going to win for sure? Like, did you love that deed? Do we like their wingers? Yeah. Like that's, and I know we're to stay on the Western Conference, but let's say Ottawa. Well, let's say Ottawa found, you know, they've not found. They've created space for this guy. Him and Suzuki won two points. Yeah. So is that, they've, I sure like that D right now. Yeah. But are you sold on their goal? you like they're waiting like it's just hard and i think for that level player to to kind of find a place you're going to win for sure it's not that easy the last guy to do it in a different sport is

thomas brady that's right and i guess you know like you're right though like he went down to tampa he took a flyer on a team where he knew the infrastructure was there and they were going to be good and kevin durant did that but durant joined the equivalent of the florida panthers that's a good team exactly hasn't once since and they have one since well i guess they did actually they He hasn't, but he hasn't. You're right, he hasn't. But that's it. Outside of joining Florida, and he's not going to do that.

That's the thing. Like, you look at, you look at Duran, and Duran was desperate. Like, Durant was sitting there saying, I've got to join it. I've got to get a ring. I have to, in this ring culture we live in. And McDavid may face that at some point. Maybe he's facing it right now. Like, I'm sure he's contemplating all what we're talking about right now.

He's thought of way more than we have. Oh, yeah. Where do I think I can win in the next five years? I think you can talk yourself into Edmonton It's not difficult to do They've been to back-to-back cup finals And also you have guys on that team One guy in particular, you know is ride or die with you

Like you know Leon if he's playing with you That guy's going to be an absolute machine in the playoffs You can bank on it, you don't have to do it every night He will do it a lot at times So that I'm sure allows you to sleep at night But it may get to a Durant situation You know in two, three, four years Where it's like 31, 32, been in the league for 14 years

what are you going to do? Like, what are you doing at that point? Because I don't know if it will be an easier answer. The question we're throwing around right now in four years, I don't think it will be. Especially if there's 34 teams then or 36. You know, the league might be even more watered down. So, yeah, it's a struggle.

All right, Frankie, you're playing the role of Brad Trillivik, GM of the Maple Leafs, keeping this hockey theme going here. I love it, end of August. What is your level of concern? You have not done enough to improve your team for this upcoming season? Honestly, I'm a pine on the patio. Really?

Everyone's relaxed in August. I'm pretty relaxed. I can throw in like, I get thrown a couple shots, but I'm not, yeah, like, I'm not Rick Bushwood. I'm not Stevie Caldwell. Okay. I'm not getting into anything really alarming because I think, okay, let's start with this.

The games have to be played first. So we'll see how the dynamic of the team looks and the results will kind of speak for themselves. If we're talking about third liners or depth players sinking your team, it's because 34 isn't healthy or 88 isn't healthy. That's really, I think, what it comes down to. And 88's healthy. He's always available. It comes down to 34. If Austin Matthews is feeling like himself, and he has that, you know, that like roaring up the ice type feel, I think the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be a good spot. You know, having this depth kind of scattered throughout the lineup, at least on paper,

is something that a lot of people have been clamoring for in this market and saying we just, we haven't been able to compete with Florida or Boston because they could win a matchup lower in the lineup. Maybe now the Leafs are able to do that. It's not always about, you know, a guy that has 102 points, even though he's a better player. And on paper, you're like, well, how do we match up at the top of the lineup? So I'm not concerned about it because if 34 is healthy and the guys that I brought in do what they're supposed to do,

I think you've done a good job of kind of mitigating the loss of 102 points in Mitch Marner. Got to play the games, though. Could be proven wrong, but that's why you play him. You know, he had the infamous DNA comment and, you know, Marner left, which naturally, I guess, played into that. when a guy of that statue who's been here for nine years leaves, your team is going to look different, feel different, play different. So I guess, you know, by osmosis, that took place. But beyond that, the team, yes, you got Machelli.

I don't know what the hell to expect out of Machialli. I mean, Utah dumped them. I see people mocking up lineups and he'll be on the first line. I'll believe that when I see it. You know, maybe he will. But I think you've got to be careful penciling in, you know, 60 points for a guy Utah basically said, please get out of here. But you got Machelli, you got Wah, you got Joshua, you know, you got a couple of guys who came in late in the year last year that now have a full run.

I'm thinking of Scott Lawton, Brandon Carlo. But it's the same goalie, same defense. They've not changed the defense whatsoever. Tavares is back. You know, it's a lot of the same team, you know, which I'm not surprised by necessarily. But, you know, this isn't about the regular season. It's about changing what you do when you get to game five again, game seven again. if you face Florida again.

I can't sit here and say that they're in a better position today to be Florida than they were three months ago. No, but can you say they're that much worse? No, and that's valid. That's fine. I'm not saying they went backwards. I don't think they've taken some big step forward. They might be kind of right in the same place. You're right.

If they took a big step forward, that would have looked like they got Sam Bennett and they got Aaron Eckblad from Florida. Right. Like that we would have been, oh, they're ready to be Florida. Yeah, and you took something away from those guys. Outside of that, I don't know what move there was to be made that you would have said, no, this team's beating Florida this year. And that is valid, that the options just weren't there. And listen, we're into the end of August, and nothing has happened in the league.

We talked about it the other day. Just, there's nothing going on. No one's moving, and I don't, I'm not bracing for all this movement before camp. There'll be some PTOs that signed late. That happens all the time. But I don't, you just wait for a big trade to, shake the NHL's I don't think it's kind of bedrock.

I don't think it's going to happen, man. Everyone's got their guys, everyone resigned their guys, everyone had the cap space to do so, no offer sheets, everyone could match. You got who you got now. I think this is going to be a trend for the next little while. Teams aren't going to be in a cap line so they can retain their talent.

I'm uptight if I'm Jay Living, really uptight. So I'm not relaxing on the pad of. This is my concern, is that you may not have gotten worse, but I don't think you got better. You got different. And I think that's good.

I think they need to maybe get a little bit different, especially when Mitch Marner controlled the cards. But I think their third line is going to be better. You take a look maybe some steps forward in guys like Nyes. You mentioned the guys that came over last year. But they didn't get better. They got different. And I'm still thinking they need to get a more dynamic,

one dynamic defenseman. They need a guy to change that look back there, guys. So, you know, different. doesn't beat the Florida Panthers in the playoffs. And that's the goal. Well, that's ultimately what it is. It's very focused. Like Florida's the team.

You've won two rounds in 20 years, and both times you ran into Florida and they beat you. And this last time, they kind of embarrassed you because they spotted you two, and they spotted you a two-nothing lead in game three, and we saw how it played out. All right, we'll continue with role play level of concern. We've got Brad, or not Brad Fax,

We've got Steve Sands coming up of the Golf Channel NBC on Keegan Bradley, snubbing Keegan Bradley. That more still to come with Sanzi. And the NFL season right around the corner, the college season right around the corner. We'll get to that in about 20 minutes. Jay's back in action tonight as well. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN2.

All right, Matt Chatham in about 15 minutes, Super Bowl winner with Bill Belcheck in New England. And Bill is going to start his new voyage as a head coach in college football coming up. this week and he and his girlfriend I guess have tried to trademark the term gold digger which how do you trademark that like how can someone own a phrase like that that is just everybody knows and uses and um it just feels like come up with it they didn't make it exactly gold digger's been around that term everyone knows what it means it also just kind of feels like bill's not in on the joke, you know, that it seems like it's just awkward, man. Like you're trying to make light of a scenario where the rest of the world's kind of

looking at you saying, yeah, I don't know if that's a trademark as much as a kind of mirror looking at the two of you right now. This is so weird, this whole whatever Bill Belichick is doing here, man, this guy was one of the most fierce competitor coaches in the NFL winning Super Bowl after Super Bowl. Now he's trying to trademark the term gold digger With his like 20-something year old girlfriend It's really weird man It's a weird career arc

I don't know what else to say about it But it's just it's I find it It's very odd North Carolina He's not coaching a USC or Texas Or Alabama or Ohio State or Michigan It's another thing It's just a weird school

He's got no connection to it Why are you at North Carolina What are you doing? But did you not finish the rest of the article He's also trying to trademark what's up and how are you doing? Exactly. That's what it's,

it's almost as ridiculous as that. Trying to, you know, I'm going to trademark hello and goodbye. Those will be ours. And no one's ever used this before. He should reach out to Taddy and get in touch with him

about his trademarking people. But like the Tadman legitimately owns that. You know what I mean? Like, Yes, Guy was not. I wasn't a kid. I didn't know that. Like Kanye West doesn't have a song called Yes Guy.

You know. That's his. He owns that. Man, I wish, though, if Kanye wrote a song called Yes Guy, Taddy would take him for so many millions, it would be amazing. I need that track, man. You know it would be the song of the summer to be just a phenomenal beat. One of these people, one of these, like, EDM or a rapper needs to slip up and make a song called Yes Guy. And Taddy is just going to come over the top rope with multiple lawsuits.

I need that. I need that so badly. I need it. I ain't saying he's a yes guy Like whatever We need it We need to put the beat to it Come in with gold digger

And we'll try to loop over some yes guys on top of it We'll try to make this work It would be all time man Taddy would be moving in Very lucrative Penthouse downtown Very lucrative Oh yeah

Tapman would be Yeah if Drake did it He'd just go right to his house on the bridal path Taddy would go from We're taking that now White underpants To strictly gold underpants to strictly gold underpants all the time.

Gold member. Non-negotiable. Silk gold underpants. All right. Matt Chatham coming up and Steve Sands coming up. And our best bets is while. Jay's Twins tonight. Overdrive continues.

TSN 1050 and on TSN2. The biggest songs in the world. You've heard them countless times. Now learn the details of how they came to be. Join Ruby Carr for Encore, the stories behind the songs you love. New interviews and newly unearthed archive footage make for a fascinating weekly deep dive. Stream Encore, the stories behind the songs you love, on IHeart Radio, or wherever you get your podcasts.