OverDrive - OverDrive - August 4, 2026 - Hour 2 - Ross Atkins

Episode Date: August 4, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes, Frank Corrado and Jonas Siegel for Hour 2 on OverDrive! Toronto Blue Jays General Manager Ross Atkins on the Blue Jays' trade deadline, the buy-sell mode and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s season. Frank hands out his list on the NHL offseason checklist and Bryan gives his FanDuel Best Bets.

Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Crave, Netflix, and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on Internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. Hour two, overdrive continues, powered by Fanduel, bringing you more ways to play your game your way. Brian Hayes, Jonas Siegel, Frankie Carrado. Frankie got a list for us a little bit later in the hour. Got a list for you whenever you want it.

No problem. We also should acknowledge something. Rest in peace, Vincent Pastore. You know who that is, of course? Absolutely. From the Sopranos. Can't say his name on the show. You should be able to say his name.

It's a great nickname. For obvious reasons, we can't say it. Absolutely. Rest in peace to him. And unfortunately, he died out in the Sopranos before it really blew up. And like, they were making big money. I've seen, I've read some stuff from him where there was some bitterness. Two, maybe, right?

Yeah, the first couple of years, he was a big player. And obviously, he was a rat in the end. And Tony found out. Hey, spoiler. Spoiler a third. I've seen it, but come on. You think a spoiler alert applies to the Sopranos 20 years later? 25 years later.

Some people might just be getting around to him. Well, I hate to break it to you when you figure out what we're figuring out here. Didn't they drive him somewhere? Yeah, it was on a boat. It was on Tony's new boat. And he goes to him. A, Tony, just not in the face. Yeah, which I think they respected that request.

They did respect it. Which I think is important. Tony was always a really good guy when it came to requests on how he was going to kill somebody. Tony and Polly, they were men of honor. Always those guys. Always men of honor. Salvatore bump and Sierra. There you go.

That's how we'll say it. Perfect. You think Ross Atkins watched the Sopranos? I guarantee you. I guarantee you he did. I'd be shocked if he didn't. I'm shocked when anyone says that they haven't. Let's cut to the chase and get to right now.

Is the GM of the Blue Jays, Ross Atkins? Go ahead, Ross. Have you seen the Sopranos? I was actually busy watching curling, mostly. That's reasonable, too. I got bored of the Sopranos. It's all sports all day. Okay.

Well, we don't want to spoil anything for you then. But I couldn't keep up with that recall. That was impressive. I know. That was pretty good. I don't know if we're wasting it at this time or not. Frank. Thank you.

Frank, he's an Italian. He's a thoroughbred. He knows what he's doing over there. Well, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Obviously, you've been busy. And we have been kind of debating ourselves. Did you buy?

Did you sell? Like, how would you define? your trade deadline. Yeah, I mean, any time that you're taking away from a team that we were all in, I would put us in the cell category, we were just fortunate to be able to acquire players that impact us now and beyond. So adding Araggeti and Soriano and others that are near Bateman and Klein that can impact us this year, you know, we were fortunate.

That was certainly our goal and not always able to do that, but feel good about that return, given the circumstance. So you say you're all in. You're in Game 7 in the World Series last year. How difficult was it for you to come to that conclusion that that's the right play that you've got to sell? Yeah, it's absolutely brutal. You know, it's been very, very difficult.

It's been as challenging of the years I've had. Just the emotional swing of that is so far from our expectations and I'm very disappointed in myself and, you know, where we are. So it's hard. No matter, you know, any, I'm sure all of you are, obviously, you have been very competitive throughout your careers and no matter where you are in your career, no matter what you just accomplished, you know, not meeting expectations, and especially when there's high as they were for us is about as gut-wrenching as it gets.

How hard was it to come to the conclusion on Kevin Gosman, a guy who's been a really good soldier for you guys, beloved in the market? How tough is that one specifically? Yeah, I mean, they're always difficult. That one especially, it is all the things I just said. You know, we waited as long as we could possibly wait and would like to have. You know, I think there were scenarios where we were just adding.

Then there were scenarios that were looking more like a hold. And, you know, not parting ways with Kevin Gossman, even if you are acquiring someone like Jose Soriano. But in the end, with where we were, we felt like it was the best thing, as painful and as difficult it was, is the most responsible thing to do. And work through that with Kevin. I talked to him before the fact and tried to explain. Well, not I did explain.

And hopefully I feel he did walk away completely understanding the position. And the interesting or great thing about our clubhouse is that it's been accountability throughout. And many players saying that one of the reasons that we are in this tough spot is because of all of us, not just one person's decisions, not just one person's performance, but the group. Well, Gossmann, prior to leaving town, was, I guess, vocal on the clubhouse dynamics or the kind of camaraderie within the clubhouse. And he said it just is not as close-knit of a team this year as it was last year.

And he referenced some players who aren't here anymore. How do you respond to that? Yeah, we've talked to Kevin about that. And he spoke to the staff about it. I think it was just, you know, obviously, it's, not something he didn't feel. I'm not taking anything away from that. Losing is not fun, and it is really hard to enjoy losing. So I think that's really what my takeaway was, and I agree with it. Whenever we get through a trade deadline, and you guys are active,

and you've got a number of players who have contracts expiring, you know, you discuss which guys you're possibly going to go, and you decided to trade Gosman, Varsho, Hoffman, in particular who have been, you know, mainstays on your roster. But you look at a guy like Shane Bieber, George Springer, two guys who also will expire after this season, they're still on the team. Can you take us through the mentality or the decision to keep a couple of guys who do have expiring contracts? Yeah, you know, a few things.

One is the support we've had from our fans that puts us in the position to not have to, you know, push contracts or money out the door. and obviously the incredible support we've had from Rogers. It's been absolutely unbelievable. So that's one. Two is the players feeling good about the environment and being comfortable staying in it and being motivated to stay in it.

So those two things allowed us to not have to move players, which is not always the case, and quite frankly, rarely the case where you have both of those things occurring. So to follow on that, though, What is the benefit of keeping them? Like you just said you're sold. You know, you've concluded that the season isn't going the way you wanted to.

Why, like, what benefit do George and Shane bring you the rest of the year if they're not going to be here in the future? Yeah, we have a couple. There's a couple of benefits. And, you know, I could go on for a while on those benefits. But the main benefits are that we do have a chance to compete. And we believe there is a chance that we are going to compete. we were going to be a competitive team, and there is still a chance that we could get hot. So that is one reason, and we can afford that.

The second reason I mentioned about their desire, that impacts our environment and other players around them. So that elevates that level of competition, that spirit in the clubhouse. And yes, is there a potential return that we could have gotten for them that would have also had value? we felt like those two things were more important to us than that potential return. Well, Ross, speaking of the... The other thing is small, sorry, sorry, Frank. And just one more thing to add to that, it's smaller and could have been offset, is just keeping guys in healthy and the right positions as well around them,

especially as it relates to pitching. Well, Ross, speaking of the ability to continue to compete this year, what did you like about the opportunity with Jose Sariano beyond this year, but obviously this year as well? Yeah, I think there's not a team in baseball that wouldn't like to have Jose Soriano. Even if you have good starting pitching, he's a very good one that, you know, I think all teams in baseball would like to acquire. We were in a position to do it. And fortunately, our return was enough for the Anaheim Angels.

And we're very glad to be in that position to have the control behind this year of two more years. and that ability, that performance with we feel still some upside in him because of the reliever transition and still growing. We're excited about him playing with our defense and our ballpark and excited about the dynamic with our catchers and Kirk and Valenzuela and the impact our pitching staff has had on other pitchers. So all of those things made that acquisition, you know, pretty compelling for us. I use the Burrios acquisition as an analogy on this in terms of trading a high-end former first-round-pick prospect to get him, where he is in terms of his age, how reliable his arm seems to be. Is there a comparison there? And if so, like, is this a scenario where, Toriano, you've got him under control for the next couple of years,

but could you see this being more of a long-standing relationship? We would love for that to be the case. We're always talking to players' representatives and the players about this being more than just what it states in their current contract right now. So, you know, certainly open to that. With Ross Akin. So you trade, though, Arjun Nimalah, your second-rated prospect according to, you know, baseball America, MLB.com. Again, former first-round pick, why were you comfortable in paying that price and giving him up in particular? all the things I said about Jose.

It's much more about the acquisition. Arjun's a great player. He's a really exciting young prospect that in the middle of the diamond with elite bat speed, elite power. He's got work to do like any young player that's only in AA, but it was really more about the return for us. Ross, it's no secret that it hasn't exactly been a banner year for Vlad. only six home runs on the season. Do you talk to Vladi? Do you have meetings with him?

Do you have any kind of communication on where maybe things have gone wrong or where they need to go this season? What's the communication like? Yeah, I mean, we try to narrow those communication lines for him to make sure that that helps with a consistency. You know, we don't want eight Blue Jays voices. We'd like that to be about three. And that would be, you know, maybe it's four.

if we're including base running. So it's, you know, the manager, offense, defense, and base running, and those being the key voices. And then there's the pregame and your medical staff and strength coaches and the post game recovery that's led by our performance staff. But we're trying to narrow those communication lines. And my interactions with Laddie are about his family and, you know, about the human being and how what he needs from us and what questions he has about

with the team. And, you know, I've talked about this a little bit. I really encouraged by his toughness and his perseverance. It is that is the most important attribute after loving the game. And you know that well from your hockey experience that if you don't love it, you better be the most talented guy in the world. And if you're not tough, you're probably not going to have a long career. And he's got those two boxes checked very well.

So, you know, putting communication aside in terms of pure analysis, it is staggering, you know, the performance is staggering. There's no other way to describe it. Like what has gone wrong in your opinion? When you watch Floddy specifically at the plate, what is it that you know is not happening that needs to happen in the future? Yeah, I think timing has then impacted rhythm, which impacts confidence. So it is such a fine motor skill to be able to have that synced up. And your timing starts to change just a hair, then finding that rhythm to be synced up, to be in powerful positions and have enough room to still cover a breaking ball when you're

on time for a fastball is one of the hardest things to do in sport. And if that starts to get a little bit of. bit out of sync that can start to impact things that are going on in your brain. And to stopping or recreating that or getting back to the pattern that is appropriate isn't just the click of a button, isn't us just showing him that pattern. It's a feeling. And he's working towards it. I know he's going to find it. And, you know, that could be, I don't believe that, although I should, you know, I shouldn't say I don't believe. Hitter's say it just takes one swing, so I should believe that.

You know, I'm not expecting it to be a light switch turnaround for any offensive player, but I do believe things can happen quickly. With Ross Atkins, and, you know, it's interesting. You look at the off-season moves you guys made. They've pretty much all been great. Like Dylan Seas is likely going to win a Cy Young. Okamoto's been outstanding. Rogers has been great.

You mentioned off the top that you're disappointed in yourself. I'm curious what you think you could have done differently to write this ship, considering how good the off-season was. Yeah, I think that our overall preparation, deployment, and overall just what is happening in our environment. And our environment's good. I don't worry about our environment, even though we were talking earlier about it not being as as good as it was a year ago. I point that to losing. And that is why those things haven't been as

joyful. So I think about the preparation. I think about our adjustments and something that I missed. And I haven't found it yet, but that's where I spend my time and energy, is what did I miss in terms of preparation, in terms of deployment, as the league is constantly adjusting. And that's where I spend not all of my time and energy, because I have other things to be worried about, but a very big chunk of my time and energy these days. Well, with that in mind, how do you thread the needle with all this uncertainty about the future of baseball in terms of the pending CBA negotiation, the uncertainty of the economics of the game in the future?

Like, where does that come into your anxiety and trying to, you know, figure things out? Yeah, I mean, fortunately, we have such good support from Rogers that they have told us to operate as business as usual and happening. I also have an incredible belief in the love of the game becoming the what drives us to a situation that we're playing baseball. we're operating as if we're going to be playing it just as we are today. So with that mind, again, I get it. You've got a lot of games left, and you know, you're not out of it until you're officially out of it.

But how do you think your roster shapes up for 2027? You know, presuming health, everyone's available the way you want it to be. Do you feel like you're in a good place to write the ship next year? Yeah, I do. We just made a big step towards that. One of the things we're concerned about is the free agent market and being able to acquire players like Spencer Arrigetti and Jose Soriano was going to be very difficult to do this offseason. And we did subtract Arjun Amala and Jeff Hoffman. So that those subtractions are, and that's not taking anything away from Kevin Gossman and Dalton Varsha, but they were definitely going to be free agents.

So competing for them and not having the, we feel like we replace the value loss in Arjun Namala and then some with the returns we got in prospects, and we've added now Major League players that can help us this year and beyond. Well, Ross, to end on a high note, has Dylan Seas been maybe better than you could have expected when you signed him in the offseason? Yeah, he's been, man, he's been great, you know. So, you know, I get asked those things like, you know, the questions, what are you surprised about or better than expected?

And it's so, you know, with professional sports, you know, I'm kind of never surprised and tried to always manage the expectation. So just because it's just so difficult and so incredible at the same time. So how impressive Dylan Ceece has been his entire career to say that he exceeded expectation. We knew he's capable of this. And we're just kind of coming away very impressed. Yeah, I mean, the pursuit of a Cy Young, that's, I mean, he's in the driver's seat right now, clearly. He's just been phenomenal.

I mean, how much at a minimum, obviously you want wins and you want to get back in the playoff race. But the idea of having that kind of as a part of the journey down the stress. What is that worth in terms of the clubhouse, dynamics, and the organization in general? Yeah, I mean, not taking anything away from it. It means the world to Dylan Seath, and we will support him. And I, you know, celebrate that for he and his support system. And Pete Walker's done an incredible job with their staff if he gets to that point and does win it. But man, we're focused on winning.

and focus on team accomplishments. And that's what we spend our time and energy on. Ross, if you need, I can share my Crave password with you. And we can get you all caught up on the Sopranos and everything HBO has to. There's a lot of curling on there. There's some curling. And it's only on Crave. There you go.

Frank, I heard that you were at a golf tournament where there was three hole and ones recently. Yeah. Yeah, it was crazy. Glenn Howard got one of them. Isn't he a curling legend? Absolutely. A legend? Absolutely legend.

The $40,000 prize on that hole was already claimed, and he got a hole in one. Didn't get anything. Happiest guy in the room. Happiest guy. Were you guys planning at a par three course? No, it was up at TPC Toronto. It was a great time.

Yeah. It was legit. It happened. It was legit. Well, thanks for doing this, Ross. And thanks for not trading Dylan C's to the Dodgers, too. I think a lot of people were happy to do that. And, you know, good luck.

the rest of the season. We'll do it again down the road. We always appreciate you finding time for us. Thanks, Brian. You got it. There's Ross Atkins, the GM of the Blue Jays. And feels optimistic about the future, right, and how they're set up into 27, and, you know, I think he's striking the appropriate

cords. They're disappointed. They're trying to figure this out. You've got to support. Like, Vladi, obviously, there's got to be an element of, like, just being completely perplexed by the season in general and what's going on with him. But you've invested in him, you invested in him because

you knew he had talent. The guy plays every single day. I know that that's not worth anything right now, but there are guys in the league that would have shut it down by now. I'm done with this. I can't keep playing. I've got to come up with something. He keeps

playing. When 500 million was 300 million or 250 million, there were guys getting paid that much money that were injured and didn't play every day. So there is value to that. But when you're in that stratosphere. Like you got to have more than six home runs in a season, right?

And I will say this. Like, it has to be an anomaly this season for Vladdy because it like, like the law of averages would tell you. But it just has to be. It can't be two years in a row like this. It literally can't based on how much you're paying the guy and how much you need him in order to be successful. This is not a prospect that's just getting into the league.

And you say, man, we had him hyped up and he just, he can't figure this out. Maybe he never will. He's been in the league a long time. you know, he's 27 years old. He's in the prime of his career. He will figure it out, yes. What the, like, what the limit is for Vladi is a legitimate debate. I don't know.

This is the floor, though. Like, this has got to be the worst season he ever has, right? Short of 39 years old, broken down, barely playing. This is as bad as it ever is going to be. He owes them a big bounce back next year. And they're, like, and I think that's legitimate, conversation, like Ross is being diplomatic, as you would expect publicly. Yeah. On the way out of town, there's a sit down before he leaves.

Go collect your thoughts. Go figure your stuff out. That can never happen again. Well, they're dead in the water. Absolutely. Like, and Vladdy knows that. I mean, Vladdy's not stupid. He knows how important he is to the team. But I feel like this time around, remember when Vladdy first got started, he, like, he had that, he had a really good season and then a down year. And then you're like, the down year, maybe there's some questions or concerns about the preparation and getting ready for a season. I don't view this that way.

I view this differently. I think Vladia is more mature, but I also think it's just something's gone wrong. Maybe it's the timing of the swing like Ross is saying, but it doesn't feel, I feel like he is really trying to work through it. I don't think there's like, I don't think this is an immaturity thing or anything like that. This is just a guy. It's down bad right now. It is what it is. Yeah, what?

I mean, you watch them. He just, he has absolutely no confidence. The swings he has, you're like, there's nothing behind him. Never saw that before. And he's got no command of the strike zone, which is wild for Vlad. Like when he's on his game, man, he was a guy, you know, he'd take walks. He's, he's waiting on his pitch. He knows what's coming.

It's a chess game up there. Right now he is guessing wrong every single time. Every time he's guessing wrong. And then when he's trying to catch up, it's just completely out of sorts. very difficult to watch. And the reality is, you know, it's a team sport, maybe more than any other sport you need everybody. But it's reasonable to expect wins above replacement.

He should have like three or four more wins. And three or four, like four more wins out of the loss column going into the win column and they're right there in the race. Yeah, exactly. Like it really is if he is kind of based on talent, age, and money, he should be like a four or five wins above replacement guy right now and he's like a one. That's his end of it, right? Like that's he's got to own that.

There's also other guys that could be a little better and pick up the slack in certain ways. That's what a team is all about, right? Well, and look at the Yankees. The judge has been out for a long time and he's still out, and he's likely going to be out the rest of the regular season or close to it. Pellinger's been out and they keep winning. Exactly. So if one guy stinks your ship, then your ship was probably not built the way you thought it was.

But what do you think that one thing he's thinking? Like he said, I can't find the one thing I wish I could have done. What do you think it is? Ross? Yeah, like, I've been thinking, like, if he could have done something different, like, I wonder what that, I don't know if there's one thing. Like, I don't think it's as simple as we keep Bobauchette. I know people, like, clean on that.

I don't think that's what it is. Because a lot of it has been bad luck. And then, like, performance from guys, you need more out of it. A hundred percent. That might. be what it is, is that he looked at a couple guys who had great years last year

and looked at them optimistically as opposed to so maybe you add more like Springer, Springer being the example. He knew that. No, I know that, but George is completely fall. Like, I'm sure they accounted for there was a little slippage. Yeah, like, you know,

he's going to have like an 800 OPS, which is a big drop-off from what he had last year, but that's still a really good player. Like, you know, we think he's going to give us 24, 25 home runs. OPS of about 800, nowhere close to it. It hasn't been all year.

Maybe that's like we should have accounted for more of that coming back to account for that though. But so maybe it's like, I don't know, maybe it's like we don't get Kyle Tucker, we need to go get some other bat. I don't know who that is. Maybe, and again,

Tucker hasn't been great in L.A., but maybe it was, hey, we actually had the ability to pay him what the Dodgers were willing to pay them and we chose not to spend that money. Yeah, Yeah, but it's all circumstantial. Like, who knows? I know, exactly.

Totally. Totally. Of course. I mean, of course. Like, who knows? Ultimately, that's the beauty of sports is you're going back and forth all the time. Yeah. You also don't have to spend money just to spend money.

Like, okay, you strike out on someone. It doesn't mean you have to allocate all those dollars to someone else. If that guy might not be worth it, then you look at it and say, we're going to hang tight. Like, and then we'll figure it out after. Absolutely. And the reality is in sports. There's so much that's unpredictable. For the teams that do great, the GM gets a ton of credit.

A lot of times they didn't know that that was coming either. They didn't do it. It was just the players all, everything worked for them that year. Yeah. You know, four or five guys had magical seasons. They didn't think we're going to have magical seasons. And all of a sudden, they look like a genius. But if you went back in time in the spring,

they're like, this guy's going to be brutal this year. This guy stinks. You know, but then he's like, oh, yeah, we always had a lot of confidence. You know, it goes both ways. I'm just thinking, like, the one additional thing, like you don't get Tucker. It's now if you're Vlad Guerrero, it's like you look around the lineup,

and you're like, if I don't hit. Yeah. And the bow's gone. Springer's not, you know what I mean? Like it's on. Barger's been hurt all year. They were banking on him protecting.

So the pressure just ratchets up. Kirk's injury affected him greatly. Those are things you can't predict or plan on, no either. Anyway, something to chew on coming up. Frankie's got himself a list. Our best bet still to come as well.

Overdrive continues up on YouTube live. Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Crave Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on Internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. IHeart Radio invites you front row for IHeart Live at the Horseshoe. With Brent Smith and Zach Myers of Shinedown. Hear acoustic performances of fan favorites, second chance,

a symptom of being human, and the brand new single Young Again. Plus, Shannon Burns sits down with the guys for an exclusive conversation about the music, the stories behind the songs, and what's next for Shindown. Search IHeart Radio, CA on YouTube, and stream the full experience today. All right, we'll get to our best bets later in the hour. Frankie Carrado's got himself a list we're going to get to here momentarily. A couple more, you know, confirm it than eyes that we can possibly sprinkle in. We got a lot going on here.

We left a few on the table because we got into the whole Leafs chat there for a while. That's right. And, you know, we're just talking to Ross Atkins. And unfortunately, even though it's still only the beginning of August, and we get a lot of baseball games left to be played, a lot of people are starting to look to next season already, including Ross, who did say, hey, we were sellers. Like, he admitted that we were selling,

but they've got to jump on the offseason and bringing in, you know, a couple of arms that they believe are going to be a big part of their future. Something to chew on. I'm brought to you by Boston Pizza Canada's favorite sports bar. I enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree of side and a drink, and you get it all in 20 minutes or less of fast lunch. It doesn't have to be fast food. It's here for a $15 fast lunch of your local Boston pizza.

Are you confident the Blue Jays can be a playoff team in 2027? What you stand on that? Absolutely confident. You're confident. I am. Okay. What percentage? In the minority, 46% of the majority,

46% voting. Yes right now. 54% voting. No, it's tight race online. You know what? I would say no if they weren't proactive and they pushed all their work to the off season and they were still holding up hope for this year,

but they're realistic. Like they understand where they're at. And I think they, you know, sounds like they've all taken accountability for how things have gone wrong. So the fact that they've even recognized that leads me to believe they know what they're doing and they're going to find a way to turn it around.

And there's just no way Vladie can have this year two years in a row. it can't happen. I think you're right up. It can happen. Jonas, feeling confident right now? I don't think you can be. Like, until we see what the team is going to look like,

how can you be confident? There's still a lot of holes. Confident in their ability to put a good team together. I don't know. Like, before, like, I hate to bring it up. Remember the beginning of last season was not, it was not exactly a rosy time. No.

So. Yeah. Listen, now, they would argue they were a playoff team. you know, three of the previous four years, and they did make the play. They lost in the wild card all the time. This is now two or three years. I know.

I agree. The only miss really has been, what, Santander? That's been the only miss that I can think of off the top of the head. And that's purely injury related. It's not performance related. He hasn't really been able to perform. But you're talking two different things. You're talking about like the team and the wins and losses

and what you see in front of you right now. And Frankie, you're speaking to the front office. office and their checkbook and their ability to be proactive and get out in front of this thing and what else they could do in the off season. That's, you know, the unpredictability of baseball, it could obviously break both ways. I would vote yes, that I lean more towards what you said that, like, Vladdy will be better next year. Like he's, and I get, it's, you know, how much better I don't know.

This is horrendous, how bad he is. He's got six home runs. It's August. It's horrendous how bad he is. you're legit like a nine hitter that almost shouldn't be in the lineup. That's how bad it's been. So he's going to be better. They're going to get healthy again next year, I believe. That's a big part of it too. But I think, you know, presuming there's not going to be a huge work stoppage or a strict salary cap. I think the checkbook afforded to the front office from ownership is significant here.

And I don't get the impression that's going anywhere. Yeah. But there are other teams. I know that. And it's, I don't know, like just look in the division. Like the Yankees are good, the rays are good, the Red Sox have been unbelievable. Baltimore is like, I don't know what they're doing. They're kind of reloadings. But you know what I mean? Like it's not easy.

That's not exclusive to this year or next year. That is a constant. Every year. Every year no matter what. How can you be confident? There's just, I don't know. So you're not confident. If you gave me like a percentage, I'd be more comfortable with like putting a confidence.

All right, why don't we do this? Why don't I give you a list? and then you tell me how confident you are that any of these things could happen. We'll combine like Jonas's confidence meter with my list. Let's go. This is a doogie tasked me with this today. I'm going to steal this idea. I'm going to do this.

Okay. Good. This is doogie tasking me today with my wish list are things I'd like to see happen this offseason. The rest of the way in the NHL. About five more weeks we're talking about here. Yeah. I got five things I'd like to see happen. Number five.

I'd like to see the HABs make a big trade. Like they have all this momentum. coming off of last season. We know what they need. They need like a true, you know, top six centermen to supplement that team, play with a guy like Demidov. And the reality is their front office has done this every year. They've made a big trade. Dobson, Doc, who is really good in the playoffs, New Hook, who is good in the playoffs? Like, it's kind of paying off now that they're in the playoffs. So I got that at number five. Habs need to make a big trade. Who would that? Like, Dylan Larkin would be a one who got. Yeah. Right. But who else? I don't know. Maybe it's

something off the board. Did you think they were going to trade for Kirby Doc when they did? That was kind of a surprise. That was a strange one for both teams because he was a third overall pick, I think, in Chicago, moved off them even though they were terrible. Yeah. It was a weird play. Like Larkin would be perfect, I think, for them.

Yep. 100%. Like the perfect, slotted number two centerman, two-way guy. He's a left shot, Suzuki, basically. Like, Suzuki, I think he's a better player. But, like, Larkin would just be perfect. And he flies up and down the ice. Exactly.

And skate, he plays in every scenario. This is what is frustrating. Like, if you're Dylan Lark, now, I don't know if Detroit would make the trade within the division. I don't know if Montreal would be willing, if they really want them or they'd be willing to get up the pieces. But that's what I was getting to. If your beef is, I can't take the losing. I got to get out of here. In Montreal, wants you.

And you're like, no, I'm not going there. What do you, what do you, then you don't, you're not serious. I can't take you serious. Then you want to go. it's like a vanity thing. Exactly. And it's about lifestyle more than it's actually about winning. Because if you're obsessed with winning, now they haven't won yet.

No, I know that. But they're going to be competitive. You can't name me five teams in the league that are set up better for success in the next four or five years. I'm not guaranteeing they win anything. I said the same thing about the leaves seven years ago. Yep. You know, or whatever.

And I've said it, you know, about a lot of different teams. But their cap is in place. They got a lot of talent. They got young talent. They got two goalies. The hockey market. If he would be... Like what else, if you're Dylan Larkin?

If he would be willing to go there, then the conversation becomes, can Montreal stomach giving up Michael Hage? Yes. And that's where the conversation goes, if he's willing to go there. Or Fowler or something like that. I mean, yeah, that's... The thing is, Detroit's pretty set for goaltenders. They got young goal.

Yeah, Trey Augustine. Like, they got good young goalies. All right, you got number five. Habs, you want to see him make a big move. Number four, I want to see someone blink first. Kail McCar or Quinn Hughes? Who blinks first when it comes to this contract? Because it feels like if Hughes goes first, he's going to set a high bar because he can.

They traded for him. They really want him. And then Kail McCar all of a sudden could look at whatever number he was going to give to Colorado and say, this is my number to help keep a little bit on the table for you guys. Maybe that just ups a little more for him. Like it's advantageous for McCar, I think, to let Hughes go first. I would like to see one of those guys go first and get that extension. Likely setting the new bar, right?

They both have a year left on their deal. Right. And I don't even know if it's a celebrini bar, likely. It's in that vicinity, dude. Is it higher? It should be. I think Hughes has the opportunity to go to 20. And if McCar was going to do 16,

now all of a sudden McCar could do 18 and say, look, I took $2 million less than Hughes. Yeah. I did you guys a solid. Meanwhile, he was probably going to do $2 million less before. Right. Well, and the reason I say it should be is because they're unrestricted. Like, Celebrini wasn't going anywhere.

They were going to match. There was not going to be an offer sheet. Well, and how many years? Well, that's what a be... Five-year thing? Dude, Hughes could go three years to line up with Jack. Jack, there you go. That's probably what he ends up doing.

Go three-year deal, $20 million a year, $60 million deal, and then line up with Jack and then shop it around. Package deal. Yeah, that could be an interesting one. Then you get the old, like, the new version of Parise and Souter. Just where do they, like, do they go to New Jersey? I don't know. Yeah, interesting. Okay. I like that. Number three. Number three, here's our Leafs spin. The Riley Resolution, which we already talked about at length today. But, like, what happens? Are they going to bring back Morgan Riley? Are they going to bank on, you know,

Radish being there and Tannib being there, alleviating some of the workload, Jim Hiller being the head coach and maybe finding a way to get, more out of Morgan Riley's game, or are they still trying to work out a trade? Like, we know that they gave him a, or he gave them a list of teams that he'd be willing to go to in the Western Conference. I don't know. It feels like you need a pressure point for something like this, and training camp would be the next pressure point. Like, there's no pressure to do anything in August.

Can I ask you guys something about this that we didn't talk about before? At what point is there, and they may have crossed this point long ago, at what point is there too much change? and like he's the longest serving player in the team like at what point do you need to kind of maintain something or does that not even matter? No, I think it matters. You know, listen,

last year was a terrible season, a dreadful year. But prior to that, they went to the playoffs nine years in a row. Like it's not as if this was some rotting carcass that had been horrendous for years. It was just an awful, everything went wrong and they were terrible. I think you're on,

I think it's a reasonable question. Everything. Well, and you're talking a lot of it behind the scenes, too. Behind the scenes, but like half the roster's new. Yeah, they got a new starting goal. New coaching staff. All new coaching staff. The amount of, like, things are like, oh, yeah, I forgot they did it.

Like Daniel Alfredson. Dude, it's an interesting thing because sometimes there's moves that happen and then guys will, you know, go to the guys that have been there a long time and say, this is how we do things here, right? You're like, okay, but should we still be doing them that way? Like, do you just do it because you've always been doing it that way? Like there's a balance there But I guess in the scheme of like getting back to the playoffs

and being a good team like At what point have you changed too much And it's just like you're going to have all these new people Like trying to figure out what they're doing Yeah And that's it like sometimes it takes a year for someone to acclimate You know like it doesn't always pop Now they didn't outside of Radish

Which was a big signing and a big commitment He's got a hit immediately The other guys were predominantly like bottom six debt players Yeah Oh Bob and Radish have got a hit One. Those two have got a hit. There can't be a Stamp Coast scenario where it's like first year, I just, you know, I couldn't play. I couldn't figure it out.

Next year, I'll get it together. You can't have that with Bob. Quietest, quietest 42 goals season, I can remember. Phenomenal last year. It was because it was so bad the year before. Right. Where it was like, man, this guy has forgotten how to play or he's sulking because he's not in Tampa. Last year, he was great. Forty-two. And they just

won a great team, but it was a phenomenal year for him. But you bring up a great point, Frankie. How much of this change is so that the guys, the incumbents, you got to change. You know what I mean? Because you said it, like a lot of times the longest standing players, the new guys just acclimate to them.

Right. How much of this is the organization saying Austin, Willie, John Morgan, you're not setting the talk. You got to feel the change. But you get a change the way you operate. I don't know. They got to send a message to those guys. I mean, they didn't pull their way for the most part last year.

They didn't play that great. No, you're right. It's good to have a different energy. It is good to have a different energy, but to Jonas's point, you don't want it to go overboard. Okay. Number two on Frankie's NHL offseason checklist. All right.

Number two, the Cutter-Gotié contract. What is that thing going to look like? Leo Carlson signs for $18 million. Connor Bedard signs for $15 million. And I don't know, man, this cutter Goethe, he's the kind of guy that'll sit there and say, I'm a better player than Leo Carlson, and I scored 40-plus goals, and I deserve $18 million. And there's just no way they can have two players making that kind of money. on that team. So what is that, like, what does training camp look like?

Could be the kind of guy that says I'm going to sit out. And I want, like, Pat Verbeek has been notorious. He needs a contract, right? He needs a deal. He has no deal right now for next year. And Verbeek has been notorious for being a tough negotiator. Yes. Like, I don't think this is an easy resolution as we sit here in August. No, it's not. I mean, you wonder if there's a team looking at an offer sheet for him. He can't get offer sheeted. He's not, okay. He's not eligible. So then that's trouble.

Like that, then that's, because Verbeek just got hit pretty hard. Yeah. Like the Carlson deal was not a good look for him. That it happened. And then he had to match it. And then it all came out that, you know, Carlson was willing to sign for this. And Verbeek said, no. Like, it just, it's not a good look for him the way the whole thing played out.

Even worse was the Minchikov thing. Because they could have got Minchikov done for three to five million and they had to pay him seven after. Afterwards. Yeah. Right. So he is, he's on thin ice, which means does he feel even more emboldened to win this negotiation? Or is he like, man, I'm, I got to just get this over with and pay this guy. But to your point, you just, you can't give the guy 18 million. No, and the O' Carlson shouldn't be making 18 million based on merit.

Exactly. And this is the old school RFA squeeze. Doesn't have arbitration rights. Can't get off for sheeted. So all you can do is sit out. That could be the old's, this could be a kneelander. This could be a kneelander. We could be getting updates from Stockholm or something. All right. So that's number two.

And number one, I find this like, I want to know who's going to be the nude Red Wings GM. They are operating without a general manager right now. And for a long time, it's been, you know, Stevie Y, and there's been Horcoffs around and Chris Draper's around. And there's, like, you know, very esteemed alumni there. Is it going to be someone like that or is it someone external? Been a couple of weeks. Right? Like, it's been a while, man.

When are they going to hire somebody? Do you remember, you would remember this, when they let go, I guess it would have been Dave Nones. And they didn't hire a GM until, I think it was like the middle of August when they hired Lula Amarillo. But Shanahan was there and he was effectively running the operation. Well, and they had Hunter and Dubed, anyway. But yeah, no, I guess my point is like, I guess it's not urgent now and it's not, when does it become urgent? I mean, Galen Larkin probably wants to call at some point. Can you hire somebody to figure this out?

That's why I didn't put Larkin on this list because I feel like it goes hand in hand. You get a new general manager, you get a new voice, and then you have to see where the Larkin situation is at. You got a team in the offseason who hasn't been in the playoffs in a decade, and they just don't have a GM right now. And they let him go through everything. Everything. And then kind of wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Now you're an assistant to the assistant advisor or whatever. Yeah, kind of delicately.

We're moving you aside. But it's like it's a strong alumni group within the organization. But it's a good question. Like, do they need to get off the glory days? You know, like the, because if you hire Draper, that's not saying that Chris Draper isn't capable of doing the job. Maybe he'd be a phenomenal hire. I don't know.

For sure. But I'm sure the market will be like, really? We're going back. Okay. We can only hire former. Yeah, like his dad's suit coming over next to be the assistant GM and then we're bringing in. But sometimes, you know, sometimes when there's been GM searches, like when Chicago did it, it was like, hey, we just interviewed Kyle Davidson and Eric Tulski.

And it was very transparent. You don't really hear anything about this. No, I know. It's pretty quiet. Okay. I like that. Let's get those things going. There's the five pack.

Let's get it going. Like that five pack. My confidence in that sky high. Guy high as it should be. Very confident guy. Always a confident guy. He always has been, especially about the Leafs. I've always thought of him as very confident.

Joe from the bridge wants Shanney to go to Detroit. Oh, good. That's a report. Joe from the bridge. Breaking. We'd like to see Shanahan take over the operation down there. All right. Best Betts.

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Cheers. Open the free IHard Radio app. Search video podcasts and tap watch. All right. So we've had a good one today. Thanks to Ross Atkins for coming on and breaking down, you know, the trade deadline, the decisions that went into that, the guys they traded, the guys they chose not to. Guys, they acquired.

What's up with Vladdy? I urge you to go check that out. And maybe most importantly, we have Joe from the bridge chiming in saying he wants to see Brendan Shanahan take over the operation in Detroit. That's important. Dude, he goes, they're going to go from the Izer plan to the Shanna plan. Can you have a second Shana plan or is that not owned by the lease? Wouldn't the lease put their hand up?

You know how they are about money. They probably say you're not allowed to use that. That's our thing. You know? I wouldn't be surprised if the Leafs kind of own that, so to speak. So, anyway, best bets. Powered by Fanduel, make your picks and assemble a same game parlay in seconds on the Fanduals Sportsbook app.

Jays are on a bit of a heater right now. Trey is Savage on the mound. What are you thinking, Jonas? I'm leaning into the Js up plus money. I feel like getting past the trade deadline is actually going to be beneficial for a team like that. I think it's been hovering over them. I feel like the pressure's probably off because the deal's been done and they know wins and losses, you know, it's not what it once was, especially considering the expectations coming into the season.

And you're getting pretty good plus money with you Savage on a mound tonight. I'm on the J's on the money line. Best bets powered by Fandual. Same game parley is available for every MLB game. On the Fanduals Sportsbook app, please play responsibly 19 plus physically located in Ontario. My guy, Ricky Fowler, he hit my top 20. bet last week. He's actually T-10. He likes that tournament. He loves that track.

Great birdie on 18, the 70-second hole. That was big because he was kind of threading a needle there. Great-looking track there. It looks amazing, actually. What they've done with the bunkers and stuff? Like, Thor Boranson, am I saying that properly? Thor. He's a player that kid. Like, he can play golf. And he got himself a win, and he's going to be someone to, like, be reckoned with, I think,

into the future. But almost into the FedEx Cup, and more on that later in the week, the PGA Tour player of the year. lot of debate on that. We'll touch on that. All right, Jonas, Frankie, good seeing you guys. Thanks for doing us, as always. Great seeing you. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out. We appreciate it. Everyone for tuning in today, TV, radio, podcast, web, up on YouTube live, and streaming soon, up on Crave.

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