OverDrive - OverDrive - August 6, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

Join Aaron Korolnek, Frank Corrado and Michael DiStefano for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys dive into the Blue Jays' offensive outburst in the win against the Rockies, Victoria Mboko's strong run at the National Bank Open and the Atlantic Division projected standings in the NHL. Florida Panthers Forward A.J. Greer joins to discuss winning the Stanley Cup, the culture of the team and bringing the band back together on the roster.

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apply. This hour of overdrive is powered by Fanduil. Fan Duel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Welcome to Overdrive on another beautiful day in southern Ontario. What a three hours we have in store for you. I'm Aaron Carole, joined by my boys. Mike DiStefano. Frank I almost forgot your name, Frank, because I don't see you nearly enough. Devastating. I see Al's brother all the time. We carpool up here together, but you look great. It's fantastic to see you. Great to see you, boys. Did you guys drive up today? We did.

Yeah? Any... My turn to drive this time around. My turn to drive. How was the conversation? Did A.K. answer his phone? Was he cutting deals on the way up? No phone calls.

We put the phones away, and we had a nice conversation on the way up. A little pre-show meeting. Did you guys save anything? Like, we got three hours. Did you guys use it all? Or did you save some of it? That's the problem, I guess. Maybe we exhausted a little bit of our conversation.

No, no, we did not. But one thing we certainly did was establish the quality of, vehicle that house brother drives i mean this guy's got a screen up there i've never driven a car with a screen what do you mean a screen like you know a touch screen on his on his on the dash i have never driven a car with that year is your car 2012 okay you're just on the cost of technology i'm really hoping one day i get a i get a screen with my car you need that guy technology and stuff yeah i know i know it is a little bit embarrassing but we had a great time but you learn a lot about somebody when you carpool in with them drive like an hour in toronto traffic

Very even keeled when it comes to traffic. He doesn't weave in and out of lanes. This man obeys all traffic laws. And you're impressed. You were you like that? Oh, buddy, I am. You know, like when you can get onto the shoulder for a cut a couple, got a couple cars, that's me.

Yeah, yeah. I am just a savage in that respect. You'll get cars sick in the car. Oh, for sure. It's not pretty. 401 DVP. It's gross what's going on out there. Yeah, it is.

It is. You try to avoid driving at all costs. But we're all here together for the next row. Great to see you guys. I know, it really is. It really is. And we got a lot of stuff going on. The Js are currently playing, but nobody's watching that.

Everyone's listening and watching this television program, because Bo Bichette's already homered, the Jays are up. Games done. So stick with us here on overdrive. But we have some quality guests coming up. A.J. Greer, a man who I sat beside in the press box during game two of the Maple Leafs and Panthers. Oh. And he did leave after the second period.

I think he knew what was coming for the Panthers. Did you pepper him with questions? We had a great conversation. Now the problem is I never saw him again because he went into the lineup in game three. It never came out. Well, that's what happened, right? Maurice put those three guys in. It was Gajivich.

The fourth line completely got right in range. No Sick and Greer. And I think some of that has to be accredited to you for what you said to AJ Greer in the press box. You know what it really came down to? He's like, I do not want to listen to this guy who's like five foot 10 on a good day. Talk to me with his. That's very nice. With his grubby little.

On a great day. On a great day. Yeah. 510 on a great day. I need to be back in the lineup. I can't do this again. Sure enough, he didn't have to do it again. Yeah, I'm actually really looking forward to hearing the stories because, you know,

you hear the interviews with the Brad Marchons and the Matthew Kichucks, but you don't hear from the A.J. Greer's as much. But this is the opportunity. Hear the real story about that $500,000 bill they got at Live Miami. Like, what's the real story there? Who's paying? He's not going to tell you that. I think he will.

There's no way. We are press box buddies. Even if I think a lot of the bill comes and guys don't even know what was ordered because you got 30 guys. putting in orders to multiple people. And next thing you know, it's like, here comes the bill. Someone's got an Amex, it gets swiped, and no one knows what the hell is on this thing.

And it wasn't going to be Greer's Amex. He knew that walking in. It wasn't going to be on his bill. No, that's like a few different. That's a few of the big boys have to split that one up. Well, Frank, you live that life. Did he make a comp? Not Stanley Cup.

No. Celebration, but you're playing the NHL and had some cups of coffee, let's call it, like the one you're holding right there. Like, what is the protocol when it comes to the, maybe the rookies versus the veterans and who pays for what? Well, so my rookie party was in Miami. We had a couple days off when I was playing for the Canucks. And initially they had capped the price.

And we weren't going to be able to, like, there was three rookies. We weren't going to be able to cover the entire cost because it would just have been like an astronomical. 50 grand a person? No, it wouldn't have been that much. But like, I'll put it this way. Like we, each rookie was supposed to pay five grand US for the day. And that was, you know, our set price. And then the fine fund.

was going to cover the rest, right? Like whatever guys put money on the board, that's going to make up the difference. We had gone so far over budget that eventually the vets came back to us and we're like, can you guys just give us like $1,500 more? Just to like give in a little bit more, so it ended up being like $6,500 U.S.

For the... Must have been a pretty boring night. Not a lot of excitement going down. There was like three or four stops along the way. Like it wasn't just one spot. Those parties, again, back in the day, this is what, 2011, would be very... different today even than 15 years ago, 14 years ago, right?

Because the advent of the advent, but cell phones and social media being so much more prominent in today's world than they were 15 years ago. Imagine rookie parties in the 80s. What we're going on in some of these restaurants. Now you have to be so careful. Yeah. Because if you're a team rolling into some restaurant in Miami or Vegas, there will be people noticing a bunch of big hockey players rolling in and videos will be taken and yada, yada.

It's not like, you know what happens? You know how it gets out of hand? Is one of the veteran guys will grab a hold of the wine list and see like an old Italian wine from the year 2000 and they're like, ah, we'll bring that one out. And that wine costs like an exorbitant amount of money. That's where it kind of gets out of hand. But everyone's the liquor bill at the end of the day is what always ends up. Everyone's keeping it between the lines.

As you would expect. Oh, yeah. Those are the stories I love hearing about the most. Maybe Bulgarian can share some stories with us when he joins us a little bit later in the after. And also, it's Vicki and Boko Night in Montreal, not in Toronto. It's the semifinals for the men and for the women. Toronto hosting the men and Montreal hosts and the women. And Vicky can get by her Kazakhstan counterpart, whose name I'm not even going to try to pronounce.

That would be a hell of a story. She gets to the final, maybe he plays Naomi Osaka, something like that. Huge. That would be incredible. We have Brad Gilbert, who Doogie is very excited about having on the show. As are we, of course. He'll join us in the 6 o'clock hour. Man, what an incredible story that would be.

And, of course, we've been seeing Summer McIntosh do what she has done now for a while at the World Championships. Now when Boko takes the baton and maybe wins, 18 years old. It's incredible. It's absolutely amazing. He's going to win a tennis tournament amongst, like, beating Cocoa golf on the way to doing it, right? A top-ranked seat. It's not like she kind of had a cupcake schedule going in. Like unseated, had to play some of the best women in the country in the world, realistically.

And again, she has to take on Osaka. in the final, like, well-deserved championship. And it comes at an interesting time, too, because Jeannie Bouchard is obviously retiring now. Like, Bianca has struggled with injuries and hasn't really been able to find the form that she had when she was winning a U.S. Open. And now there's, like, this next coming, this next wave, and she represents that in a time where, like, we're supposed to be in the golden era of Canadian tennis, right? On the men's and women's side, and it hasn't really panned out.

but maybe this is the next one that can turn into something and keep it going for a longer period of time. That still could pan out just in a very different way than we anticipated. And if Vicki and Boko is the one who can do it and emerges a superstar, which we've kind of all been clamoring for, that would be really, really special to watch. So we'll be watching that tonight. And last night we're all watching the Jays.

And the Varshow was on, the Dalton Varshow, who I think has the most fascinating stat line in all of Major League Baseball right now. He has six singles and 11. home runs. Yeah, this guy's mashing. He just hits dingers. That's it. He is not interested in doing anything else. And yes, it's Coors Field and yes, the elevation and yada, yada, yada, but 467. Exactly.

Moonshot. Yards. Not feet. Yards. That's how far it was. Yeah. It's unbelievable. He's got 24 hits on the season. 11 of them have been home runs. 11 of his 24 hits. He's like the new Adam Dunn. Dude, watching that last night, all I could think about is how can Colorado ever be a good

team because what pitchers would want to sign there or be a part of that team? It's a great point. They would have to make like serious acquisitions as far as trades and drafting and keeping those players under team control because you're not going to sign quality pitchers to make yourself a good team. Many years ago they signed a guy of Mike Hampton. I don't know if you remember him from the Mets, a lefty and a lot of people are wondering, oh, he's going to come to Coorsfield, they'll continue what he did in New York. He'll be an ace. He got absolutely bludgeoned. Everybody in Coorsfield gets killed. If you go there, you have to get

paid so ridiculously because your number, you're never going to get another real contract again because your stats will be so bad emerging from Coors Field. If you're a pitcher, like that's the old OHL where teams would call you and you would be like, yeah, I'm not reporting. If you're a good picture going through the draft,

if the Rockies are calling you, you have half of mine to be like, I just don't, I'm not going to report. I don't want to go there. If you have a four and a half ERA at Coors Field, you're essentially the second coming, Bob Gibson. Yeah, it's not bad. No, it would be incredible with that team as a whole. It's brutal.

It's crazy. It's so tough to watch. It's hilarious. Being a Rockies fan would be, it would be difficult. Well, we talked about yesterday. They were what? 291 runs yesterday was what, six run differential? Six, let's do that.

So they're 297. And it'll be 300 plus after today. Probably it will tip over 300 plus. And the record for an entire season is 345. So, like, they're within 50 runs of run different. of being the worst of all time. It just must be difficult to watch every single. There's some weird stuff going on right now.

Like the Yankees are in a weird tailspin. I saw they have the same amount of wins as the White Sox from, was it June 1st onward? They've been so bad. They've lost five in a row. Yeah, like July 1st till now, they have the same amount of wins as the White Sox. That is crazy stuff for the Yankees who like bolstered up at the trade deadline.

We're supposed to be this team like on the Blue Jay's heels. They're going to get them. They deserve to be. top of the division. I don't think so. They've all been lit up. They went out and they got Bednar, they got Jake Byrd, who they sent down to the minors after. Judge is back. That helped last night.

Well, yeah, it was strike out. Every time. Right? Like, they got shut out last night. Like, you mean, they couldn't get any offense. They can't pitch. The bullpen's been horrendous. It's, it's dicey out there in New York. It looks like he's in rough shape, too. Like, he's, you see his interview

after the game. I don't know if he's got answers. No, he doesn't have answers. All he can say is the same kind of stuff. yeah, there's issues, I believe in the team. Like, what more is he supposed to say? Yeah, they are six and a half behind Toronto at this moment where the Yankees were at one point, I believe, seven and a half up on Toronto in the month of May.

It's just incredible the turnaround for both Toronto and for New York and opposite directions. When we saw the Yankees kind of roll through Toronto, you looked at that team, and although Michael Kaye came out and he's talking about run differential and all that, like you watched the Yankees play, and even watch over the course of this five-game losing street that they're on, it's an unserious ball club.

Like, look at how poorly, They're booting the ball around. Like defensively in that last series when they were here in Toronto, horrendous defensively. Like they had like two, three errors each and every night. And they talk about, you know, like, well, jazz chisholm the other day with that very, very hideous base running, gaffed that he had. But it's like it's a nightly thing.

Anthony Volpe on a nightly basis is throwing the ball away. Like, it's just an unsirious team. It's the fundamental. Everything is bad. Everything's bad there right now. And it's great for the Jays. Oh, it's so good. And J's fans should enjoy it.

The Jays shouldn't. Like, any time. the Yankees either booted around or the Jay's beat up on the Yankees, which is what they did a little while back, awesome. Because, you know, they're going to take their licks at you every chance they got. I was thinking about this, hey, K. As someone, you know, born, actually, we're all, all of us from this area, I guess, born and raised, but like,

that's correct, yeah. Well, you look at the Yankees and you look at the Bruins. Do you take more solace in the Leafs beating on the Bruins or the Jay's beating on the Yanke? Oh, it's, it's... The Jay's beating on the Yanke. What? It absolutely is not. The Leafs have never been.

beaten the Bruins. Dude, I'm an impartial NHL analyst. But you know that's not the answer. What was the last time the Jays played the Yankees in a playoff series? I don't know.

But I don't know either. The 80s? I am a Js fan. I'm a hockey analyst. But like when the Bruins lose and when the Yankees lose, like what makes you feel better?

Well, again, it's clearly the delight, the plight of the Boston Bruins. Now, the season they just had. They're shipping everybody off of the trade deadline. And you hope they're going to be garbage for a long time, although I'm skeptical.

That's going to be the case. But the Yankees are always going to still be there. I know they had that reset a couple of years ago, but as far as I think the average Toronto sports fan and their frame of mind, the Bruins being worse than the Yankees would be much better. Make that a poll question, doggie? Make that a poll question. Are we allowed to do a mini jerry's in the summer? I think we're allowed to do that. And include the Montreal Canadians in this too, right? I mean, and I know you're another Montreal Canadians. You're everything. I'm an impartial

analyst. I know you are. You are. Mini jerrys, if the Boston Bruins last place in the Atlantic this year. What's your Jerry's on that? Very low. I mean, Buffalo is in the Atlantic. You don't think Buffalo could be better than Boston? I don't. I think they could be. It's not like, it's not like that. I think it's more likely. I think it's more likely that Boston's

a playoff team than last place in the Atlantic. Really? I do. I mean, they still have pillars of quality. Again, Swayman's there. McAvoy's there. Asternax's there. And beyond that, there's not much. They don't, they don't quite have enough for for David Pasternak around him. Like that's a question.

For sure. Can Swamen have a bounce back year? And like new rookie head coach, right? Like they're, I don't know, there's, there's going to be, I'm sure, some kind of feeling out that happens there. But I think 35% that the Bruins could be last place in the Atlantic. Listen, I'm not like saying I would sign up for that. No, I would sign up for that.

I'd be very happy if that was the case. I'm just skeptical that Boston struggles to that degree, simply because the pedigree that they have, even though they're not the same team, their depth is not even close. I think, yes, I think you're right. And you look some of the depth, like their third pair and their bottom six, it is thin. Dude, right now, if you looked at their lineup, if you looked at their lineup, the bottom six, you, like the average hockey fan would recognize two names. And a leaf fan would recognize three.

I'm trying to think of a single guy. Oh, Fraser Minton. That's right. Breakout Star for the Boston Bruins. Yeah, they got Victor Arvinson from Edmonton. That's a good pickup. Yeah. They had an interesting offseason.

A real interesting off season. He died. Arvidson. They brought in Sean Corralli to pay Tanner Genoa. Ridiculous amount of money. I like it. I like it. That sounds like a quality hockey team. Second last, the Atlantic to my eye.

35 seems a bit strong, but I'll give it a 20% chance. 20% chance. Yeah, 20% chance. We don't have to spend too much time on it. I'm just saying it was, it came up in conversation in one of my stopping chats the other day. I was talking about how brutal their offseason was earlier today, like honestly. So I, you know, I don't think the Bruins did anything to help themselves. and last year they're a pretty junk

teams. I expect them to be much better this upcoming year. As bad as the Bruins have been, maybe will be this season. They are nothing compared to what the Colorado Rockies are. And Frank, you've played on some unfortunate teams throughout the course of your career. I don't want to bring out the 2015 and 16 leaves,

but I mean, I will say, that was your greatest opportunity as an NHL player. And I'm sure there's a lot of guys on Colorado who are just kind of playing out the string. I'll get all these at bats I'm getting, all these innings I'm getting. That's kind of, you have to make the most of what is a very unfortunate situation. Yeah, that's the, it's a weird dynamic when you're on a team like that because there's

some guys who are very established in the league and this is just a blip for them and they'll go on and they'll sign other contracts and they'll keep playing. But there's like a group of guys who's like, this is actually my chance to do something here, whether it's a pitcher or an infield or someone has an opportunity there and you want to grab it, but it's hard, man. You need, it's like the Js right now have everyone bought in and everyone's on the same page and everyone's feeling the mojo and doing everything together and the star players are playing the best and you know what that means when the star players are playing great

everyone kind of falls in after that you have a bad team it's disconnected up and down the chain and it's tough for the guys that are getting the opportunities to really make the most of it because it's just not a not a cohesive unit the way it's supposed to be yeah and lee fans need to thank you for austin matthews being i was in charlotte i was like minus 12 i think thank you minus 12 could have been worse could have been a lot worse could have been worse could have been worse Who was the biggest minus on that 2015-16 and Leaves team? It is amazing just knowing you. Knowing you, like, it's a close fraternity amongst that group of hockey players all these years later.

You guys are still pretty tight. Pistol Pete Holland. And amongst many others in that 2015-16 Toronto Maple Leafs team, it's incredible all these years later that you're still kind of doing it. Guys, I'm looking to see who the really bad plus minuses was. I was minus 12. There would have been some ugly ones. a minus 17, a minus 15. Oh, you weren't that bad.

You didn't win the green jacket. All the guys that played a lot, though, were the big minuses. I didn't play that much. Anyway, should have been played a lot more. Should have been played a lot more. We're here now. Yeah, and a guy who is not playing, just to shift over to another story in the national football league that's going on right now,

Matthew Stafford, and your wife gave birth to two lovely baby girls just under two years ago, Frank. Matthew Stafford is dealing with an aggravated disc in his back. He received an epidural. And correct me if I'm wrong. Oh, yeah. Isn't an epidural what women receive when they give birth? Yeah.

Isn't that? Yeah, yeah. So that would be concerning for me if I was a fan of the, of the Rams. My quarterback who's like 36, 37 is having an epidural fired into his back so he could, I don't know, possibly play sometime soon. Listen, man, I've, like I've had a lot of injuries. I played hockey for 10 years professionally. Saw guys get hurt, back stuff, hip stuff. I never heard or saw of a guy get.

an epidural in like in sports i've never heard of that i've never heard of that before that's like a major painkiller right that's what would be oh yeah and i think the size of the needle is something like it's a big boy don't want to be seeing come at you oh man yeah yikes yeah but like it's nice like not that they were doing it regularly in the regular season but come playoff time or certain special occasions like you're you'll get shot up with some kind of payroll right torridor yeah yeah but yeah epidurals a different level man And that's, like, we're in August and you're doing that. That doesn't scream, like, that would be concerning.

And they still say they think he could be ready for week one, even though he was receiving an epidural at the beginning of August. Well, there was whispers that he was mulling retirement at the end of last year and obviously decided he wanted to continue to play. And, you know, this is, I guess, an attempt to get out there and play. And it's a way for him to kind of deal with the pain that he's suffering. The problem with Stafford is, like, he's had a lot of injuries. he's throughout his career.

Like, he's someone who, he played through a lot. Don't get me wrong. Played through a lot, but like, his body's taking a big toll. And I just, I'd be concerned if I'm a Rams fan and, and this guy's getting shot up in preseason, like week one training camp. Not even the preseason. Yeah, like he hasn't, he hasn't faced any, any contact since last January. And he's already being shot up with some pain.

Like that, that would be very concerning to be if I were Rams fan. And I like the Rams this year. A lot of people. William's Devantay Adams like that's a that's a legit team with a really good young defense and yeah they were the team that pushed the Eagles to the brink in that snow game in the NFC playoffs last year like they were the team by far that was closest to beating the Philadelphia Eagles if a couple things went their way who knows maybe it was the Rams winning the super would have been last year with Matthew Stafford so the fact that he's

dealing with an injury like that's so early is a major that's tough he's climbing like that's not an uphill battle if you're getting an epidural at this point like you're climbing a mountain the rest of the year like I don't I don't see how he plays every single week. Like at some point, that's a bit of a ticking time bomb, but he'll have to manage that. And like all these guys are managing injuries, right? Like everyone's got something going on.

No one's truly 100% healthy, but at least you want to get into the first quarter of the regular season before you start dealing with things like that. Right. Yeah, I would say that would be a very good call because the Rams they need Matthew Stafford healthy because you know who their backup is? No.

Any idea of Al's brother? He's a very good-looking man who once took the Niners to Jimmy G. Jimmy Gropolo, who's going great, too. And he looks distinguished with the gray hair. He is going salt and pepper, yes. I'm sure Jimmy G could still pull whatever he's trying to pull down. If you had enough around Jimmy G., could you not get that team to the playoffs? I think Sean McVeigh.

I think if Stafford goes down early with that team, I think he can get to the playoffs, especially in the division that he's in, where the 49ers are going to struggle. Seahawks are fine, right? Like, what are the Seahawks? They're probably, they'll be like a 500-ish team, if that. Like, I mean, they're going under, under, like, they got a new coach in there from last year. Like, they're going under a bit of a different situation there. And Gino's gone now.

So we'll see what has to happen over there. But I think that it's a team that certainly should be considered the favorites in their division with Stafford. And then we'll just be competing, I guess, if Stafford goes down. But they definitely just hope and pray that he can stay together. Herm Edwards will join us just after 6 o'clock tonight, the coach from ESPN in our number three of Overdrive. You have the filter as well at 530, so we have a jam-pack show, jam-pack show. That's Mike DiStefano. That's Frank Carrado.

I'm Aaron Kourlnick. You are watching Overdrive on TSN2 and listening on TSN 1050. Hour 1 of Overdrive continues. Kourlick-Dicepano, Carrado, around the table. A.J. Greer will call in in just a moment. Stanley Cup champion, AJ Greer, who I imagine has a take on George Kittles. antics yesterday with the NFL network. We were talking about the possibility of trying smelling salts live on overdrive today.

Sadly, that just didn't really work out logistically. Also, I'm concerned what the CRTC would have had to say about that is that. Would that be well received here at TSN? What do you think? Just getting yourself ready for the show. We couldn't get it. Was that assigned to Doogie today? Doogie, you know, Dukey tried, though.

There's a valiant effort made by Dukes, as there always is. Don't worry, Dukes. You're all good. And he tried. He went to a number of different stores. They were sold out. And maybe the stores heard about the NFL's plan to cut off smelling salts as part of their, I guess, what's allowed as far as the game goes. And George Kittle stormed the set of NFL network yesterday.

Here's what he said. George. Hello, friend. How are you? I honestly just came up here to air a grievance. Oh. Our team had a memo today that smelling slats and ammonia packets were made illegal in the NFL. Wow.

And I've been distraught all day. You illegal? Yeah, he even said he's not practicing anymore. I considered retirement. Yeah. Yeah, so they bring that back for George Kittle. Yeah, so we got to figure out middle ground here, guys. Somebody help me out, somebody to come up with a good idea.

Said email. Erring of grievances. Yeah, that's all I had to get out there. I'll get that off. Is it every, is it? Is it a, is it? I'm in every drive-dry. I'm in every drive-dye.

I'm in every drive-guyen. Between every play, he's, right? No, no, it feels like the energy is still out here, though. I mean, no, definitely, definitely, but I missed those already. Well, they haven't been out of practice. No, no, we don't have them out of practice. Okay. Just checking.

That was my only grievance. But besides that, you guys look fabulous. We'll fix it. It's all yours. Thank you. We'll do our best to help you out with that, man. You did great. Yep.

Well, that's an unfortunate development. Yeah, I didn't know that. I didn't get the memo. It just came out this morning. And obviously, he's very distraught over it. Wow. What a clip. There's a lot of take in, too.

So obviously in the NHL, the ammonia package. If you don't know, you kind of burst something open and you kind of wafes it into your nose and click it, and you have to make sure you click it in the middle because it's glass that you're breaking. You click it on the side. you can cut your hand. Then it gives you a little jolt. Just wakes you up a little bit.

But you don't want too much because, like, I don't know, it's a lot. Was that something you did before NHL games? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Were there guys who did it before every shift? Not a no. No, no. Before every period.

Before every period. Before every period. Start of every period. Yeah, the kiddle usage. How many drives would there be? Maybe 10 or 12 in an NFL game? Yeah, more than that. 14 or so, 14, 15 drives on average, I'd say.

But you know what's going to happen now? Like, the team can't get it. The guys are just going to get it on their own. And there's just going to be like a black market for smelling salts within the locker room. You think they're going to go into the back and be using smelling salts before each drive? They're just going to have to have different ways of getting it. At the very least, pregame halftime, they'll have it sitting in their bags and they'll probably in the locker room. Give themselves a little waft before they go out onto the field, I think.

I would say of every player in the NFL, George Kittles, the guy who surprises me least as far as being addicted. Yeah. The smelling. Somebody didn't do this in the NHL, man. Guys need the smelling salts. Yeah, no, you're right. You can't go on the ice and hockey players are very superstitious. You know that.

And I wonder if our next guest needed some smelling salts through the Stanley Cup final. Probably did, but even without them, I'm sure he would have thrived in a major way. Let's welcome in Stanley Cup champion. AJ Greer, always got the hat on too. Is that a Calgary, Stan Peters hat? I love that. I love it. I love it, AJ.

Thanks so much for doing this, man. I'm sure it's been a whirlwind for you of the last couple of months. Just take us through what it's been like for you. Vince becoming a Stanley Cup champion. It's been amazing, the best summer of my life. Just been really taking it all in and all these celebrations with my friends, my family, and I had a little parade with my hometown. It's just been so amazing.

And I really wake up every morning and look at my pictures every day and really take it all in, realize I'm a Stanley Cup champion, that's forever. So I'm very grateful. AJ, take us back to when you become a member of the Florida Panthers. What's going through your head? automatically think like, man, I'm going to a pretty special group, a special team, and I have a chance to win a Stanley Cup here, and it's very realistic? Definitely. Actually, I watched game seven of last year's finals, and it was a pretty

thrilling game, and I looked at how the Panthers play, and those were, you know, it was a team that I had an option to go to, and it was a tough time for me. I had broken my foot in Calgary. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to be the same players I was because of just the gravity of the injury but I chose Florida because of the like the style of play they play they were losing a couple pieces on the fourth line and I thought I could step in and make a difference and seeing them in that game seven and how resilient they were

and how detailed they were in their game plan and how ferocious they were on the forecheck like that's exactly what I wanted to do and that's exactly what I had in mind coming in is not really moving anything major just kind of fitting in and kind of you put a piece of paper in a folder and it fits in perfectly I really wanted to put my spice on the table but also just fit in and kind of be in addition to this group and it's been an amazing journey so far, and I'm so grateful to have another year. Well, you're a guy who's, you know, been in a lot of different locker rooms around the

NHL, and when you got to Florida, like, was there something that stuck out as to why it's so special there? Because it seems like the culture is just top-notch compared to the rest of the league. Definitely. The culture is all of it. There are really little things that you think about when you think about culture, and I can name so many, but I think one that stands out that's small for me is. the patch on the jersey.

Vinnie Viola, who is our owner, he's an Army guy, and I think that patch, rather than a number, kind of represents a group as one. It's a Florida patch. And also, a little thing, like, the way these guys work in the gym and work as one

are never kind of settled on being a champion. I mean, coming into, I wasn't really sure what to expect coming in after the team won already this year. And they were just so hungry to win again. Everyone was on the same page as far as just putting everything out on the line every single game and preparing for the playoffs. It was really beautiful to see.

So definitely the culture on and off the ice. We have so many different personalities. But again, once you get out and you get to the battle and the thick of things, everyone's on the same page. So it's just such a fun environment to come to every single day with the staff. and the coaches, the players, it's been an unbelievable journey. And you're in Florida. I mean, they always talk about earn it and have fun and enjoy Florida.

And that's really what we've been doing. You've got guys fishing, got their boats, you've got guys golfing. We really enjoy the lifestyle, but it comes with a price. And I think that everyone is signed up to really do what it takes to win. Our guest is A.J. Greer of the Stanley Cup champion of Florida Panthers. AJ, I was telling these guys about game two in the press box when I sat next to you and how, and you, of course, go back in the lineup in game number three, you never leave and you make a huge impact.

Like, what was the turning point for this team? Because here in Toronto, we remember the Leafs are up to nothing. The Leafs are up 3-1 in game number three. Marshawn scores in overtime, and the rest is history. What changed with the Panthers between game two and game three? I don't think anything changed mentally. And the game plan was really the same thing, but I think we just had to figure out a way to be a little bit quicker with how we did things. And we had to be the instigator.

And we had to be, we call a lead dog, right? So we had to be first to puck's and we had to be a little bit quicker with everything that we did. But just how calm these guys were being down to nothing. I really didn't know what to expect that night. You know, we play some cards at the hotel and then on the plane the next day. You're not sure as a new guy what to expect being down in a situation like this. We've never really faced that much pressure throughout the year compared to how big of a moment that was.

And I just remember getting on that plane and you got guys joking around. It's kind of the same energy. And they always talk about staying even keel and knowing that this series is going to go to a game seven. So we were prepared for that. I think being in front of our fans was a huge push for our energy. And as soon as Marci scored that goal, we were just on the same page. And we just kind of took that energy and ran with it.

So Paul Marie spoke really glowingly about your line that enters game three. It's you, Nosek, and Gajovic. And, you know, prior to that game, I would imagine you guys, are getting ready and like do you guys have any kind of dialogue as far as what you want to accomplish getting thrown in and bring something to the table or was it just you know one of these unspoken things we're just going to go in and we're going to work as hard as we can and see what happens um no we we got off the plane actually three of us at the same time paul was waiting um below the stairs as we came off the plane told us we were going in as a group

as a line and just to stick to what we do best and what we've been doing the last 20 games that we played together um we kind of walked to our cars looking at each other not speaking too much but we kind of knew what we had to do and um we did it perfectly and i think it just our energy together came in so well um at the right time and once you do well one game it kind of transfers to the other and then you're just on a role and you figure out what works, what doesn't. And for us, it was just to keep it so simple that the opportunities are going to come, just stick to what you know best defensively and on the forecheck and set up the next line. That was the biggest thing for us, we talked as a line, is set up the next line for success,

whether that's the other team icing it, you know, a face-off in the offensive zone. As long as you set up that next line and you win your shift, you did your job. our guest is a j greer of the stanley cup champion florida panthers so there was a lot of partying that you guys did after you won the stanley cup like a crazy amount i was live streaming the elbow room at times just to see what was going on no you were i was nine a end i do morning radio you can't admit that to this guy you want to stanley car i do morning radio we're looking for things to entertain us but there was this this guy's streaming elbow room he's got a coffee next to him yeah that's right and gets a beer from the fridge you know me too well a jay but that's a real that The real reason why you played so well is because you didn't want to listen to him in the press box anymore, talk to your era, isn't it? You might be right, you might be right. We had some good conversations. We did. We had a great conversation.

That's why AJ came on the show, nothing to do with your relationship with him, Frank. We know that. But as far as this $500,000 tab that it was Matthew Kuch and Brad Marshall talked about, I think it was at Live Miami, if I'm not mistaken. And they said you guys got comped 500 grand. It was 11. Sorry, 11. Yes, my mistake. So how does that work?

Take us through that night and the experience of a $500,000 bar tab. It's just like, go ahead. Number 10 on the Florida Panthers is not take care of the bill. No, I have no clue. I just kept seeing gold bottles and rosé bottles come out. No, it was a great night. I think just all of it. Ever since we won, it was so fun to be in that locker room after we,

we were in the locker room dancing and partying to, you know, the best songs with all of our family and friends till five in the morning. Next thing, you know, you go home, I had an hour nap. I was back at the elbow room at eight. The breakfast box. An hour nap. That's so good. I got dunked donuts on the way.

I ate it up on the second floor of the elbow room and then, you know, had a beer with it. And then I was looking around and I was like, God, I don't know. With all these parties, I don't know if I'm going to be. able to get you know a nice trim and my my haircut like I look like a slob and I texted my barber and he actually came to the elbow room and gave a cut to a few of the boys nice that's unbelievable so uh no it's you know we had such a good time the the team just did such a great job at giving us opportunities to really celebrate and and have the cup with us and um really really enjoy it best time my life um and it's just it goes without saying like this group is such an unbelievable group of guys

so close together and in every step of the way like we were so confident with what we were doing and we just enjoyed it so much i remember winning game seven after guys were dancing in the locker room and for five minutes and then after that five minutes music shut down and it was like back to business like let's go um so there's a very good balance of work and fun but um we like you said like marshy chucky we got some guys that can go and got some good personalities and just it's so fun well and and and they're all coming back right like bill zito i'm sure you know i was shocked that he was able to get all three marshawn ecblad and and and bennett all to come back and basically the bands bat together to try and make a

three pete here like what was the mood maybe in in the team group chat when you found out that everyone's coming back for another go at it. Yeah, Bill's a magician, because I tell you what, we didn't know what was going to go on. And we really just, like, enjoyed our time together and hoping that it wasn't our last. And as soon as we saw Benny sign, like, the group chat went nuts.

Everyone was so happy, fired up. And Benny wrote, love you boys. And then two seconds later, Marci writes, love you boys too. And the group chat went insane. Like, we couldn't believe. We thought he was messing around because he always messes around, right? And we were like, are you serious?

No way. And everyone started questioning the message, sending question marks. And then it came out. And then of course, Eki, like, just such great guys to have. And I'm so happy everyone's back. It's almost like a AAA summer team. Like, the band's back together. Everyone's excited.

and there's no, like, barely any new faces. I mean, it's going to be such a fun thing to do. Life is good as a Florida panther, right, Frank? Paul Maurice talked about this a lot. I think it was after the first cup where, you know, he mentioned some guys that maybe they were healthy scratched at times or didn't have prominent roles on the team, but they were like the center of what happened in the dressing room.

So if there was an inside joke, it was, you know, just because you play 10 minutes a night doesn't mean you can't have a big personality or be who you are in that room. Is that something that you guys really take a lot of pride in? Because, you know, like you've played on a few teams now, like that's not something that you see everywhere. There's some teams where it's like,

you're a fourth line guy, you have a fourth line role when it comes to the camaraderie in the room. Yeah, and that goes back to the culture. No one's as big as the logo, and truly everyone's on the same level, and everyone gets along with each other. Everyone hangs out with different groups of guys all the time. It's just a rotation of who you go to dinner with on the road.

And, you know, you talk about culture, another thing that really was amazing to me. As soon as Barkie got the cup, we celebrated as a team, they announced to the guys on the ice that whoever didn't win it yet is going to go first and have their lap. And I thought that was just so special. You can't wait to get your lap. You can't wait to get your hands on it. And for them to think in that moment to get the guys that, you know, hasn't won it yet it's just a small gesture that means the world to me right um what a moment

and it just again it comes back to culture and the leaders and who follows um it's really just a special special group well congratulations and all your success it's well deserved we're huge a j greer fans here on tsn 1050 the panthers uh maybe not so we like greerzy we like greerzy we like greerzy we like Greer Zee. So, yeah, congratulations. Enjoy the rest of your summer. We really appreciate your time today. Thank you guys. Thanks for having me. All right. That is A.J. Greer of the Florida Panthers. What a beauty.

What a dude. Wow. He is an awesome guy. And, man, they have quite the summer. And I still remember when we were talking in the press box, he just kept on reiterating. He's like, this is the best place to play. They treat us so well. We're in Florida.

Everything is perfect. There couldn't be anything better than this in pro. sports. And I'm just nodding my head. I'm like, oh, God, Ben, it's definitely coming back. He's coming back. But it makes sense. And people will talk about state tax, state tax, state tax. That is a part of it, for sure. But at the end of the day,

that organization is class. And the way that they treat their players, the way that they have their new practice facility, of course, everything that comes with living and playing in the state of Florida as part of it as well, it's going to be tough to beat that team this year. And those guys really have a great

culture. Really have a great culture. You know what's crazy about it? Even if they have a subpar regular season, like even if they just roll out 98 points. That's what they had last year, 98 points. Which is what they had last year. Like, that puck's going to drop in the middle of April and those guys are going to turn into the exact same group of animals that they were last year in the playoffs. And they're never out because like, like A.J. Greer said, and this is something Paul Maurice, if you listen to him talk after games throughout the playoffs, they treated every series like it was a seven game series. Like they were fully expecting going into every series and play seven.

So it's not like they were hoping for a five or a six or a sweep. They were bought in to go the distance. And clearly that paid off for them because they were very resilient. And they just, they had that grind, man. They'll grind you right down. Yeah. Only one one seven, I believe, right? The Toronto is it.

That is correct. There's only one team that took the Panthers to seven games. And I do kind of cringe, of course. This is a Toronto radio station. and, of course, we broadcast a lot of Toronto Maple Leaf fans. We're pumping the tires of the Panthers hard for the last 15 minutes. But they won. You know, they did win, and of course, their incredible hockey team.

I just wonder that this iteration of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the offseason that we've seen, how much better they'd be able to compete with the Florida Panthers than last year. Well, we won't know this probably until April or May when those two teams perhaps play one another once again. But I'm curious, Michelli and Law and Dakota Joshua, amongst others. Mitch Martyr,

not there anymore. Deeper team, heavier team. That's exactly it. How that team... And guys you can skate. Yes. How that team competes with Florida

as opposed to what last year was able to do. And you need a healthy Austin Matthews. Probably the most important thing. I saw this, someone tweeted out today, like I want to see this version of Austin Matthews back and it was this goal in Dallas where he picks it up in the neutral zone

and he drives wide and he drops his shoulder and brings it right across the crease. And you're like, man, that was the Austin Matthews. That was an absolute animal, but it was a healthy Austin Matthews. It was either, it was a big goal. It was either the one that tied or broke Vives record. It was one, because he had two, I think, in that game. He did.

And the game winner. I think it was the game winner. They won like four, three, and O.T, I believe. And I believe that was the one. But that's just a small clip. That's the Austin Matthews you need. And if that happens, then the loss of Mitch Marner doesn't seem so bad. And all of a sudden, the depth that you think you have in the lineup might,

come to fruition a little bit more. But it always starts at the top. It's kind of the same thing in Florida, although they had it spread out. It's not the same. There's nobody who can replicate what Florida did last year. They have three number one lines. They go against the grain in so many ways because if

the first line wasn't doing it, the third line was doing. They really are, they're the deepest team. It's so hard to replicate what they've done. Well, and again, I think we all like what the Leafs have done for the most part over the course of the offseason, but again, look at Florida's third line. If you want to call it that with Marshawn, Lindell, and Lister Ryan, and how dominant they were last

year in the playoffs at even strength. I think that Nick Waugh with maybe Dakota Joshua and Bobby McMahon coming like that. I think that line could be fine, but compared to what Florida could throw away. Well, that's it. Right. Who's a line driver and who was potentially, he was just a couple votes away from winning the cons might trophy. Yeah. There's not a lot of Marchands though. No, there's what, there's really literally one guy like that. The Leaves would have loved to have Brad Marchehan on their team. Clearly that was going to be a strong pursuit of theirs. If he had gotten a free agency, it didn't happen.

So they decided to pivot the other way. Marshall's back in Florida. Congratulations to them. Panthers are a menace again. They are indeed. So thanks again to AJ Greer of the Florida Panthers for joining us. We have Bill Guerin coming up in about 20 minutes. We'll give you an update on the TSN 1050 bracket.

Best Toronto Trades ever coming up as well. And Al's brother will have the filter coming your way in about 45 minutes. Overdrive continues. Overdrive is brought to you by Fandul, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score, the Jays are destroying Colorado once again. Now, 35 runs in three games for the Jays and counting. Colorado, get it together. I know their run differential is approaching the worst in the history of the sport

and will be by season's end. 35 runs to the Jays. I mean, I love it. And talk about a bounceback that was desperately needed for the Jays because they had coming to the series, struggling, the bats were scuffling a little bit. You were kind of wondering, oh, is this team? coming back to Earth. The Rockies are like, here you go, boys. Let me serve it up on a T for you and just go to work. Yeah, 52 hits over a three game series, which is just unbelievable. So yeah, if the

bats were cooling off, this came at the perfect time. And the big boys are leading the way, right? Like, Vladie's had a great series. Bichette's had a great series. Barshals mash in. Like everyone's kind of doing their thing. Like barger's still out there hitting bombs. I mean, it is very reminiscent to that athletics series victory they had just kind of at the end of May that really propelled that two months stretch and they kind of hit a lull right

before that the athletics rolled into town they crushed them and this is kind of a similar situation so hopefully the next couple months they can use this and parlay it into some success because there's a team coming up behind them they gotta keep winning because the Red Sox keep winning yeah it's like point night in the NHL

you have some garbage team coming to town and they're playing their backup goalie let's rack up some points. Let's get some cookies. I will forever be betting overs and homers fading the Rockies the rest of the season. Probably a good call. Yeah. You'll be profiting in a major way off Fanduel. As you usually do, Owsbrother. Yeah. As we usually do. That is How's Brother. That's Frank Carrado. I'm Aaron Coronaic. Hour two coming up, Bill Garan and the filter with Al's brother. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fanduel. Fanduel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score.

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. Thank you.