OverDrive - OverDrive - August 6, 2025 - Hour 2

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

Join Aaron Korolnek, Frank Corrado and Michael DiStefano for Hour 2 on OverDrive! They dive into the rosters for Canada and the United States for the 2026 Winter Olympics, the offseason throughout the NHL and the free agents seeking a deal. Al's Brother goes through the hottest takes from the sports world in the latest edition of The Filter and the Blue Jays' powerful bats against the Rockies.

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I made it to my tournament and lost in the first round. But you got there on time. Intact Insurance. Your auto service ace. Certain conditions apply. from tariffs to trade deals the markets are changing is your portfolio ready for what comes next for all your questions you need a money guy calvin the money guy will help you develop a financial plan that includes the right levels of diversity the best way to navigate uncertain times with strategic advice from kelvin you can not only protect your investments you can grow them don't wait call four one six 457 plan or visit ask kelvin dot Welcome into hour two of overdrive on this Wednesday afternoon. I'm Aaron Kourulnick.

That is Mike DeStefano. That is Frank Corrado. Bill Garan, the GM of the Minnesota Wild and of Team USA at the upcoming Olympics. We'll join us in about five minutes. And I'm going to run something by you guys before I run it by Bill. Because I think the NHL's offseason is a disgrace. It is so boring. Nothing happens ever.

What has happened lately? that is worthy of conversation. Frank, before you answer that, I'm on TSN.ca slash NHL right now. One of the top stories is former stars goalie Anton Hu Dobin announces retirement. This is what we're dealing with right now.

The NHL needs to find a way and I'm saying this kind of tongue-in-cheek, but I'm being serious to generate some off-season content. Think about the NBA, think about the NFL, how prominent off-season storylines are to the fabric of interest for fans. The NHL, everybody goes on vacation for two months. No one does a single thing in

NHL front offices. It's a joke and it needs to. I want trades. I want signings. Let's go, McDavid. You know why you want that? Because I'm a fan of hockey. That's why. And there's nothing happening. It's a joke. You need to blame the insiders. Because all the insiders do leading up to free agent frenzies talk about how this summer is going to be bonkers. We're going to have all kinds of stuff. I think we're really settling in for one guys. It's going to be one of those wild rides and then nothing happens. The expectation

is what kills you. It has been. It was set really high. I will say, like almost every insider said, yeah, we're going to see a lot happen. No, we're waiting for like one more signing. And that like, the Eler signing was supposed to be what broke the dam and then everything was kind of supposed to

follow it after it. What have we had since then? Nothing. Basically nothing. We're waiting for Dakota Josh. We are waiting. Jack Roslovick. This is our life. He was a healthy for Carolina in the playoffs at times and that is a guy we are waiting for. And I'm looking at compared to the NBA.

The NBA, the Aaron Fox just signed a deal for $230 million. And Luca Donchitz just signed a massive contract extension. There are trades. There are rumors about Janus and this. The NHL is quiet. It's not the insider's fault. It's the GMs. They need to find a way. And I would say the league as a whole, and

I'm actually getting kind of angry. I'm just thinking about this. The NHL is doing itself a disservice by being a complete ghost town for two months on the sports calendar. There is no interest, there is no intrigue, and that makes the league a lot more boring, and frankly, is just making them fall further and further behind the other leagues as far as what they have going on. Frank, were you on when Stan Bowman was on a couple weeks ago on the show? No, I don't think so.

Okay, so he was on the show, and he essentially talked was like, yeah, we'll reach out to like Connor and his representatives here shortly. We're a month, two months into the offseason almost. You haven't had a conversation with Connor McDavid and his record? Like, how are you not hammering away at an extension for that guy? We're about six weeks from training camp. And you haven't had meaningful discussions and conversations with Connor McDavid? Because these are like made up timelines in your head.

It's like, why do you, yeah, sure, you'll open up the dialogue, but nothing has to be done just yet. They could wrap that up in a week. Connor McDavid tells you how much he wants to make and how many years he wants to sign for. What are you going to persuade him to take less money in more term? So have that conversation in July. Why do you got to wait until the first week of September? It's wedding season. It's mid-odging.

I believe McDavid is dry-siddle's wetting. I saw some news going on. David's not having those conversations. It's the agents that are like at the end of the day. It's not like McDavid has to be there to have that discussion. He's got to just sign on the dog line. I don't mind the fact that the league kind of goes quiet here for a little bit. Like we have the RFA stuff.

Nothing happened with the RFA's. No one really went to arbitration. Everyone settled up. Everyone got their deal. Where's the offer sheets that apparently were supposed to happen this summer? Well, you know why the offer sheets didn't happen also because everyone's got caps space now. Like, free agent, I was wrong on free agent frenzy. I will fully admit that.

I thought there was going to be an enormous amount of money handed out and some horrible deals because all these GMs were going to be trigger happy and sign a bunch of guys. You know what GMs learned? And maybe Billy can even talk about this when he hops on with us? that don't put yourself in a jam when it comes to cap space. Because all these guys had to do so much cap gymnastics and get a third team to eat this much just to make a simple transaction.

Who wants to live in that world anymore? So the GMs thought better and they said, you know what, let's take it easy. The cap's going to go up probably another $10 million next year. We'll have a lot of time to spend money. But I think teams were very much equipped to handle the offer sheets if they came their way this year. And of course, the major difference,

the NHL versus the NBA, the NFL is the hard salary cap versus the soft salary cap. And that definitely prompts less movement within the league, which, of course, does itself no favors as far as potential trades and signings that we clamor for here in sports radio. And we have not gotten much of a late, which is very disconcerted. But maybe Bill Guerin can break something for us when he calls it. He's going to join us in just a moment. There's a couple of things that he's got in his pocket. Like Michael Ross, he's one of the art things that's still out.

There's been a lot of, like, trade discourse of whether or not you want to someone else wants a Caprissov extension. We'll take that from Bill. We'll take that from Bill. I would have loved nothing more to wake up to a Caprizz off extension and us to be able to talk about that with Garrett today. It would have been perfect timing for us, specifically, but for the hockey world. You talk about that instead.

You got to say, all right, well, does you, you start to think, like, why is it taking so long? Does he not want to sign? Is there something going on? Is the conversation not started? I don't know. I also think some of these things. Some of these things, some of these things like these.

these extensions. Correct me if I'm wrong. When Hellebuck and Shifley did theirs, it was like they opened camp and they announced the extensions or something like that. Like it was it was around camp time. So maybe there's that element too where teams just want to conduct their business in a tidy way and say it's a nice way to open camp. Helibuck and Shifle are back. So Minnesota maybe wants to open camp and say Caprisov's here. You know, it's an eight year deal. Who knows? Yeah. And you don't have the insiders digging around maybe trying to get as much information. A pair of LeBruns up at Rocky Crest hanging out. You know, he's not, he's not grinding away maybe as much as he would be on a normal day

during the midst of the season. So I would almost argue I would contend that the Nazam Cadry comment underneath the TSN Instagram post of the orientation camp rosters was the most interesting thing that's happened all summer because clearly he wanted to be invited to that team Canada camp and wasn't. And whether or not you believe he should have been is, I think there's cases to be made for both. Well, it was almost like when, I think it was the World Cup of hockey, Phil Kessel, when U.S. lost out on their silver, and he said, hmm, something about, oh, is there something else that I should be doing right now?

And he had a little comment to make because he was left off the team. And that was kind of, you know, that was a funny little comment team. That's what it reminded me of when I saw Godry do that. But God did a nice season last year. I'll say that. And he had a career high, 35 goals. But, like, I don't know. I don't look at him and think like, oh, he's a lot.

Olympic material. No. You know, like, and that's not to disrespect Nazam Caddh. He's a great player and he's a guy who could contribute in the right role, but I just think that there are probably guys ahead of them. And I also think they're trying to bring some of the younger players as well along with Canada. I think perhaps both Celebrania Bedard and the right situation could be part of the roster.

Maybe it's like the taxi squad or whatever you want to call them. Or maybe Celebranian and Baddard are on the team. Who knows how the season goes? What if both of those guys start the season gangbusters? rip it up. All of a sudden, Connor Bedard really pops off. Like, Maclin Celebrini had an unbelievable start. Like, he is well on his way, and

he, it sounds weird to say, but it feels like he has more help in San Jose than Conor Bedard has help in Chicago. But both those guys, I think, will push to put themselves in the conversation. I think the only thing, the only argument you can make against Cadry for not

being at that camp is, you have to like make a cut somewhere. Like, that's it. Like, he had a good year. does he deserve a look sure but at some point you have to say okay this is as many players as we're inviting and he plays a center ice position there's already so many quality

centermen if he was a winger then he has more of a compelling argument to be there but it's already so deep down the middle of the ice it's a tough position to get a look at yeah we're talking about the 42 man orientation camp roster for Canada happening in Calgary in August and one thing I thought that was

probably even more interesting than the cadrio mission was the fact that they only have three goalies on that list. And it's the same three goalies who were there for the four nations. Well, yeah, there was already so much controversy. Why why not bring Kemper? Why not bring Logan Thompson? Blackwood? I mean, yeah.

There was a lot of names that could have been out there. I also am very curious as to why. Because that was the one thing I would say when I saw the roster come out. I'm like, it's the same three goalies. And there was already controversy surrounding those three when they got picked. So

Bennington, absolutely. I think it would What he did at the Four Nations, 100% earns an opportunity to be the starting goaltender for Team Ken at the Olympics. So he's the guy who there. But it's not even that they invited, you know, the same other guys, Aidan Hill and Sam Montenboe. But bringing a couple other guys, get a look at Kemper, get a look at Logan Thompson, who was in contention as like one of the better goaltenders of last year. Like, I just don't understand why they're so set in their ways on these three goalies and not could even take a look at anyone else in a camp. You know what I think it is else, brother? it's not even that you have to look at how they play at the camp.

You'll watch them play throughout the season. Like, you'll have a good read on them. It's more, don't you just kind of want to see what they're like around the room, see what they're all about? But at the same time, like there's coaches on the staff that know Logan Thompson. He's not invited. So maybe they're just kind of saying, we like our three guys, and we know who's out there,

and we're just choosing to go down the path of the same three guys, and that's our preference. I don't know. I feel like after the team was picked and they won, there was a lot of conversation around, well, why Logan Thompson absolutely deserved to be there? Okay, sure.

They clearly don't see it that way. Like they had a chance to say, yeah, we should have had them there the first time. And they're not doing that. So they must really be doubling down on what they believe. Yeah, you win,

there's not a lot of answering that you have to do realistically. That's true. It's like a third goal. Six games, you know, series last year. We talked so much about the third goaltender for Canada. I know. I didn't play. Did Montenbo get a start? No, he didn't get a start. But I understand the reason why we talked about the third goaltender because it was kind of like

the thought was it's very much up for grabs from the public perception, right? There's no hella buck or there's no, you know, I don't know, UC Soros, right? There's no that like just that number one stud guy. The third goaltender could factor in because what happens if someone blows a tire and he doesn't play well it's like that guy's very much in play turns out third goaltender was not really in play because jordan bittington always had the trust of the coaching staff and will have the trust of the coaching staff barring something you know unfortunate that would happen and hopefully for everyone's sake that doesn't happen if i threw a mini jerry's at you frank the likelihood that those three goalies binnington hill and montabo were for cana kick for canada at

the olympics what would the percentage are they all healthy let's let's say health health health is Provide. 83%. 92%. Really? Yeah. Yeah. I think it's very high.

If they were thinking of anyone else, why wouldn't they be there? I don't know. Like, I don't, I don't, like, they clearly are set. Oh, so like, what is an orientation camp anyway? Hold on. Why not just invite four goalies if you want it? So you think there's no rules. Goleys are done.

There's no rules. You could invite five goalies if you want. It looks that optically doesn't it look that way. Doesn't really make sense to me. But optically, doesn't it look that? Well, I mean, why would you invite somebody else? We don't even need to bring anyone else. We know who we want.

we want them to get the reps, those are a guy. And Binnington's starting. That is a lot. That is a lot. Bennington is starting. He deserves to. And he deserves to start. Yes, exactly. 100% he does. Yeah, and one of the things we wanted to talk to Bill Guerrne about was how they didn't name Connor Hellebock amongst their top six players, which I thought was noteworthy. Hellebuck was fine for the Americans of the Four Nations.

It wasn't incredible, but, I mean, there was a point in time where he was the favorite to win the Four Nations MVP, which, of course, we know how that ultimately ended up. But, I mean, you would think the depth and goal, for Team USA would be definitely a positive for them but I mean that that's got to be Hellobuck regardless right I mean well would you rather have in a tournament like this

depth and goal like three really good goaltenders or one guy that's just an absolute stud and you're going to roll with him no matter what it's just funny you have the reigning Vezna Hart Trophy goalie and who do you feel better about in the Olympics between Canada and United States it's like tournament like in a one game in a one game situation I'm probably looking at Bennington

but just crazy that series I understand it That series was so crazy, the St. Louis Winnipeg series, where Hellebuck goes on the road, he gets lit up, and then they finally went at home. It was so dramatic, especially in that game set. Like, that was crazy, man. And they score, like, 0.7 seconds left to take it to T. Yeah, like less than three seconds per Fetti scores.

They go to O.T. And Hellebuck led in two early in that game seven, and the camera keeps going to, like, Hellebuck in the bench. And then Hellebuck in the bench, it's like, hey, they're going to pull them. and good thing they didn't because he made some saves he really needed to make in the third period in overtime and ultimately they won and they moved on

but that was wild that that series went that way that was a roller coaster what an event I cannot wait for the Olympics it is going to be something special it really will be that hockey that we had for the four nations exceeded anyone's wildest dreams and I think the Olympics will even ratchet up is Tom Wilson on your team absolutely

Tom Wilson would be on my team for sure Why? Why not? Tell me on it. That was the game we played before the show began with Gugi. Sell me on the ass. Okay, outside of the fact that he's big and strong and physical. And scores.

And of course, exactly. He can score. He can play up and down your lineup. He plays with top players in Washington, but you can put him on the fourth line. Was he her at the four nations? It wasn't on the team. Right. So why would he be on the Olympic roster?

Like, that's what I mean. There was an oversight. He's at the camp. That's why. And he's going to show out. We saw him at the Spiles Zone. Cavars is at the camp. Golf tournament.

You think Tavaris is a shot? Not as much as Tom Wilson. Yeah. I would agree. If I was handicapping it, I would give him a... That is like... But there's more room for on the, like on the wing, there's more room. Well, I would also say there's more room on the team as a whole because the rosters are,

are larger for the Olympic Games than they were for the four nations. You can bring more guys. Remember the whole fiasco with Thomas Harley coming in and, and... The injury questions about Kail McCar, and we're trying to figure out who's going to play here. Dude, how about with the United States team? They were saying Quinn Hughes is coming. Quinn Hughes ain't coming. It's not going.

It's like, I don't think he's there. Yeah, but if you're giving up some of your summer to go to Calgary, no disrespect to the fine province of Alberta, you know, that's probably quite, you know, you're at Misscoka. You're like, all right, I'm hanging out here, time ahead of Calgary to skate for three days. Dude, you're going. The Olympic team calls you to go. You are going no matter what. I think tore his ACL in 2014, if I'm not mistaken. Is that an ACL? Maybe an MCL hurt his knee for sure at that Olympic Games when he was with the aisle.

So that's going to be something special. And again, we're still waiting for the big offseason news to drop. And I think clearly it's McDavid's deal. It's Caprisov's deal. I think Jack Eichol's deal is something that we're waiting for as well. All contract extension elbow, Kyle Connor, too, with Winnipeg. That's a big one. They could all sign.

This summer was supposed to be huge. All these guys, like, I think. I feel like all these guys, their teams, are going to say, what do you want to make? We'll give you market value or maybe a little above market value. Because make sure that we keep you because now we can do that and you don't have the cap casualties. And Kyle Connor, like, if you're Winnipeg, if you're a Winnipeg fan, you look at it and you say, well, Hellebuck and Shifley, they came back. Okay, Eilers left. Vilarty loves it there.

Samberg is back. Now, like, basically the band is back together. That will do a lot of favors for Kyle Connor recently. signing there. It's like this is our window to win and the majority of the guys outside of Eilers, everyone believes we have a chance to do this thing. So why not saddle up and they're going to pay you exactly what you're supposed to make, maybe even more. It is just really interesting with the rising salary cap trying to determine when to cash in on your maximum value. And if Kyle Carter comes out and has another 40 plus goal season this coming year,

he waits till maybe closer to free agency, maybe he has a little bit more leverage. Maybe he's getting another couple million dollars a year from Winnipeg than he would get this off season. I find that hard to believe, but committing a year out, I would call it pre-agency, as opposed to free agency. You should trade by that. I think it's a Bill Simmons term. I stole out from Bill. Sorry, Bill.

I know you're an avid overdrive watcher. But I think that it's pretty clear that a year out, you can sign these contract extensions. Teams get really anxious, right? Like, in Edmonton, people are like, well, isn't McDavid's on you? What's going on? Is he really coming to Toronto? I don't think so. I think it's pretty safe to say he will be back in Evanton.

It's just a matter of how long the deal is. I think it's safe to say Iko will be back. in Vegas long term. I mean, the guy's a total stud there. I think that's going to be Iko. It's going to be Marner. I do find it interesting, though. To go back to, you know, kind of bring this conversation full circle on why there's so much

more off-season stuff happening in the NBA, the NFL, you know, compared to the NHL, like, these guys, these players are far more willing to try and get contract extensions done early. Like, you look at the Micaherson situation and the Terry McLaren's situation,

they have contracts. And they're They're like, I'm not playing until I get a deal. Like, they want, they always want to. In the NBA, they're signed a contract extensions three years down the road. See, but I think the difference with the NFL is that the average career lifespan is three years. Michael Parsons, like, you know, you never know. If you're running back in the NFL, like you need to cash in as soon as possible. Like James Cook.

Yes, James Cook. Again, we, you know, we know, we know we were Booby Miles, you know, of course, from Friday Night Lights. You know, yeah, you hurt your knee. It's over. And you never, you never return to prominence once again. So especially if you're a skill position player, you just never know. And you've got to cash in as soon as humanly possible. And that's what James Cook should do.

It's just a matter of him. And I don't know if you guys saw hard knocks with the bills. But I plan on watching that tonight. I'm very excited looking forward to that. And it's a difficult situation for both sides because Buffalo would love to have James Cook, but they also understand that simultaneously they've got some quality options behind James Cook. They probably don't want to pay him a bunch of guaranteed money when he could get hurt, could be less effective, or maybe the guys behind him.

could be more effective at some point in the near future. So that's a situation I think is different than Parsons, McLaurin, and Hendrickson, the other hold-ins. Because Cook just doesn't have the same type of leverage as those three guys do. I agree. I'm just like when I'm crossing the sports spectrum, I do find it interesting how, like, hockey players are less, they're just less urgent to get to those extensions as opposed to other sports,

like basketball and football. Like they want to try and get themselves locked up long term as much. spot. I mean, the injury is always a possibility in hockey, too, right? Like, it's, it's a contact sport. Anything could happen, right? So, not to say that McDavid's going to, you know, undergo some catastrophic, you know, season end, career-ending injury or something like that, but, like, you would think they still would like to lock themselves up, regardless if it's today on April, it's today, 5th, 6th. August. August, correct? We're in August. Oh, it's the Masters.

Whoa. Oh, Mikelroyd's going to win, guys? August 6th, or it's September 12th. Either way, you would think if he wants to get an extension done, get it done sooner and later. It works itself out, though. These things get done at the right time. And like every, I think every year, a year out, we kind of have this conversation of, wow, look at the UFA class next year and how many guys truly do get there. Marner got there because he wasn't going to re-sign in Toronto. They couldn't get a deal done. That was a sign-in-trade. He never got to for agency.

Fair enough. Yeah, you're right. Okay, yeah, that's a good point. Like, and Eilers got there. There were a number of other players that Like Marshawn Bennett didn't get there Ranson didn't get there A lot of big names and you know

We look towards two years ago Sheifley Hellebuck who we've talked about a couple times They didn't get there like there's there's a lot of deals That just end up getting done But at the same time Hockey players like to know that they're secure And they're locked up And it's one more thing you don't have to think about

If you're like if you're an athlete And all you have to worry about is what's happening on the ice Or what's happening on the field You're in a much better place and you're not worrying about these external factors of, you know, man, I've got to stay healthy because this deal's not done. It's just, it doesn't do you any favors. Some guys operate that way, fine, but it's not for everyone.

And the last factor, if you compare to the NBA and the NHL especially, is in the NBA, there's one player with a no trade clause. Brad Beal. Brad Beal is the only player with a no trade clause. Yep, true story. True story. In the NHL, everybody has a no trade clause, which definitely limits movement. David Camp.

David Camp. With a 10 team, no trade clause. Everybody. And I would say if I was Batman in the NHL and I wanted to increase the action in my off season, no trade clauses. We've got to figure this out as a collective because too many, too many are out there. Good luck with the PA on that. Well, I understand.

There is. But I don't know. I'd give something up. If I was the NHL to increase interest in the off season, let's limit those no trade clauses, fellas. Do they care? Do the players care about that? I don't think the players want to. them. The players want them. No, I don't understand. Do they care about drumming up interest in the

offseason? No, the players don't care about drumming up interest. The players just want to play. Attendance is great across the league. It's in a very healthy place. Escro is zero percent, so players don't have to give any money back. And, you know, we had years where it was like 15 to 20 percent guys were given back and maybe getting 2 percent back. That's not the case. You miss that money, Frank? I do miss that. That's not the case anymore. So like every, by the financials of the league, everything's in a very good place. So not much really needs to change from that point of view. In a very good place comparatively to NHL circles.

But if you go out and you look at Major League Baseball, the NBA, the NFL, it is far lacking financially. Yeah, the NFL is a tough one to compare it to. When you own days of the week and you're a machine, that's tough. They're always just going to be number one. I think you can do a fair comparison to the NBA. Agreed. I think that's the one that you can say, okay, that's some closer to Apple's staff.

Well, it's the NBA salary cap. Well, there's different aprons. You need, like, calculated to figure out what's going on. I can't figure out how it works in the NBA. I don't think a lot of people can. You need to bring in a real expert in that regard. Again, we have the filter coming up in about 10 minutes. Should give you an update on the Jays who are just crushing Colorado 10-1.

And yes, the offensive production for the Jays has been very impressive. but how about Lauer, his start against Colorado in Coors Field? And now Kevin Gosman, who was just mowing down the Colorado Rockies. That's something that's noteworthy as well because Gossman started against KC wasn't very impressive last week. And now he's come back and bounced back in the toughest ballpark to pitch. And that's a very good sign for the Jays. Yeah.

The two starts prior to that KC outing was solid for Gossman. So you throw that one out, three of his last four starts, looks like his ace self again. And if you're the Blue Jays, that's what you need. Because he's at a very up and down season, very, very up and down. And you need that guy to be an ace for your staff. You're looking at him as a game one starter, most likely, in the postseason. You want him to round back into form of what he's been over the last two, three years here in Toronto. He's your number one, Gosman?

If he is pitching to his capabilities of what he's looked like the last couple of years, like he did two starts ago, yeah, I think he'd be my number one guy right now. He's got to be the most sure thing. I would imagine, like if you're going in, if the playoffs were to start today, like, yeah, Scherzer, it's not going to be Barrios, no, right? Probably not going to be Bassett. If it's at home, you would consider Bassett because his home road splits are crazy. At home, he's, at home he's Greg Maddox on the road.

He's Freeland from Colorado pitching today. Yeah, he just gets lit up. Yeah. You don't know what Bieber's going to be yet when he's back. Like, Scher, there's still, like, hey, you know, he's such a, could be such a, force, but there's still that element of they don't know. And so I mean... And you're going to roll the dice with Lauer

that he doesn't crumble under the pressure of... No, that's deep into the rotation. I know, but... It's another guy who's in the mix, at the very least. Not for myself, but to some. But gossiping to me would probably be my game one start.

It's going to be a lot of fun. That's a great debate. We'll see Bieber again soon. And I'm curious to see, you saw him in person. You did your whole scouting report down in Buffalo. over the weekend house brother so yeah what was the dish you got again beef beef something? Beef on whack. Beef on beef on whack, no? No, I can't say that I am.

No, it's like a roast beef sandwich on a on a bun, a little Kaiser bun. Dude, did you see the guy eating a banana with a fork today? I did see. I think it was that a fork or a spoon. That was at Starbucks. It was a spoon. He was eating a banana like but we have that Viz for the banana was a bowl. Yeah. He was

scooping it out like he was eating ice cream out of a Like you, you would have to heat that up, right, to get it mushy like that? I don't think you have to. Well, that's a yellow banana. Typically, if you got a mushy banana, that thing's, that thing's all brown. This is all, this is all scripted. They're just trying to get clicks. You think so?

Yeah, yeah, that's not a real video. Like, there's no one who actually does that. Although there's that video of the guy or the girl with the, the hot dog and the beer and using that as a dunk in the beer. Yeah, I can't believe this. Chicken tenders and chicken tenders. The sweater, the sweater's a red flag. Look at this guy.

The bananas, just, this is crazy. Like, throw Costanza eating the snicker bars with the fork and knife out the window. That is a million times crazier than that. All right, that's what 27 minutes of filling in sports radios like people. That was good stuff. Good work by us. Bill Garon didn't want to join us. I don't know if it's anything to do with Wilkes-Bear and 2016 Frank.

No, it's all good. I don't know. Looking forward to catching up with Billy. I know. I'm talking about a wild USA. That's right. You know what? Maybe Bill was working on a big deal for us

to break your TSA. Hammering the Capriza. Imagine that comes out in 10 minutes. I'll be so excited. And we get the exclusive one-on-one with Bill Garon. I think we will. Would we bump the filter? No, absolutely not.

The filter is next with Al's brother. And there are some very contentious debates to be had. That's next. No filter? You have no filter. It's not obvious. That's true. That's a good thing.

You just say whatever comes into your mind. You don't really modulate your feelings at all. Yeah. It's a good thing for me, but it's a bad thing for water. All right. It is time for the filter here on Overdrive. And, AK, have you had a chance to sit in on a filter before? This is my Maiden Voyage.

Okay. And the Titanic. Made in Voyage. Frank, I think Frank's had a couple of... I've been on the filter, but can I, can I? I want to ask you something? Let's go. You have like a different voice when you host a segment.

He's got like a game show here. He's got like a host voice. I bring it by Bob Barker. How's everyone doing today? It's time for. All right. Let's get to it. Explain how the filter works, please.

So the filter essentially, I got some takes. Got some takes that I want to run through the filter before I tweet them out. They're sitting in the drafts right now. You got to tell me, is this take? Do I send it, end it, or is this such an awful take that I got to delete my account. You can throw it in the drafts for a bit, like you could simmer on it. You could do that if you're on the fence about something,

you could kind of simmer on it, tucking the drafts, maybe a bit too early to come up with a decision here. But those are essentially the four outcomes that you can give me here for these. So we'll get this party started. We'll stick with the Blue Jays, who are currently undergoing an absolute beat down over the Colorado Rockies. But we're looking ahead to the playoffs. We've talked a lot about this.

What is the playoff? rotation look like. And for me, you know, you're looking at both Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer must be in this Jay's playoff rotation. Wow. Beber and Scherzer have to be in the Blue Jays playoff rotation. I would say end it. I wouldn't delete your account. I wouldn't send it. I think Scher, yes, 100%. At this point in time, I'm just not there with Bieber. I don't buy it yet. He's still in AAA. It's August. The playoffs are right around the corner. We're dealing with 50 some odd games to go. We know two more rehab starts are in line for Shane Bieber. The potential is there. And clearly in a perfect world, a perfect situation, the Toronto

Blue Jays would have a healthy and fully functional Shane Bieber at the top of their rotation. I just can't put them at the same level as Max Scherzer. I don't think both are going to be part of the equation, especially considering some of the alternatives that they have. I'll let you throw it in the draft, Sal's brother, because there's still a little bit of baseball that needs to be played. And I'll say this about the Jay's rotation, and Hayes talks about this all the time. The guys that have been the horses have been healthy.

So they've been reliable and they've been available. But if something were to happen, you have two unbelievable insurance policies right now in Bieber, if he can get there, and Scherzer, if he can stay healthy. Now, those are the two guys that would be maybe the most prone to being unavailable, and the other guys are not really wired.

that way. But with enough time, really, between now and then, I think you can keep that in the drafts and say, you know what, if guys round into form, guys are healthy, you might be able to throw that out. It might be a little bit of a hot take at the time still, but it would be worthwhile throwing out there. So those workhorses, who's thrown a lot of innings over the last couple of years here for the Blue Jays, like in your opinion, are those guys entitled to playoff starts over Scherzer and Bieber? No chance. There's no entitles about winning. It's about winning. Scherzer is probably for me. I'd go Gosman, Game 1, and I'm assuming Bassett would be in line for game 2.

If it's a home start, I want Chris Bassett out there at Rogers Center. His Rogers Center numbers are unbelievable. I don't see why you would look away from that. I want Scher starting game 3 on the road for me. Yeah, dude, that's where I want them. There's no like entitlement or we owe you this. Even though those guys have been available and they've been the workhorses, who's going to win the game for you?

Like, who's going to get you the series? Those guys have won a lot of ball games for the Blue Jays. Like, they're not in the conversation. No, no, no, no, they're leading the conversation. It's just, you're not going in there saying it's these guys no matter what. It's not those guys no matter what. It's, you know, who's available. What does your three look like right now, game one, two, three?

I would probably agree with A.K. Thank you, Frank. Yeah, it's Harrison one. It's Bassett and it's Perrios. Again, it's, I think you also have to consider the opponent. Yes. And the location of where the game is being played. But let's work under the assumption that the Jays will have a home game.

games one and two, I don't see why you wouldn't use Chris Bass in one of those games. His numbers of the Rogers Center are so staggering this season. He's one of the best pitchers in the sport at home. Why not throw him out there? And I know the road splits are not even close, but you keep him away from road starts? He's not making a road to playoff. He's number six for me on the road. But at home, there's something about the Rogers Center where he deals.

And he's a guy I want to go out there and dominate for me in a home start. And I think you will see that. All right. next up austin matthews go to leaps austin matthews will never win another rocket without mitch marner buddy you can end this delete this is you can end this you know austin matthews has been the best goal score from the moment he stepped into the league especially at five on five okay he's not going to have mitch marner but he didn't always have mitch marner he's had william nielander a lot throughout the course of his career and yes him and marner had some unbelievable seasons together, but this guy can score.

And given the opportunity, if he's healthy, there's not many guys. There's no one who can really do it like him at this point anyways. Can you rely on being healthy? I think yes. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that. He's going to win another rocket. Is it going to be a 69 goal rocket? No, but last year, like what a dry sight will have?

50. 50 and change. 50, like you missed a bunch of games the end of the season. Yeah, and he missed a bunch. Like, that's very attainable for Austin. Matthews. Like a down year for him like last year or even the previous down year he had where he had 40. Like if he's healthy, he's going to win another rocket. Absolutely. Totally agree with you, Frank. Matthews, 26 goals, 30 assists in 41 games without Mitch Marner in his career. So it's a pretty good sample size that Matthews can thrive without 16 on his wing. And I think you'll

also have to consider Matthew Nyes and his emergence will be a major positive for Austin Matthews and his goal production as well. We don't know who's playing on the right side. It could be Max Stomi, could be Mateus Manchelli, who knows? Maybe it's William Nealette. Matthew Nyes, but he's the thing, too. Matthew Nyes can sniff around and steal a couple of those goals, especially in tight. So you're taking away opportunities for Matthews to score. You may be correct, or it could create more opportunities for that line as a whole.

But I think you're saying he will never win another rocket in his career. This is the guy, in my opinion, who should be the favorite every single year. The only thing for me that can derail Awesome Matthews, and winning another rocket is health. Nothing else. Doesn't matter about Mitch Marner or anything else. He can do it. Without Marner, I think you could do it again this season without him. We also don't know, like,

for the course of Austin Matthews' contract that is remaining, the answer to who's going to be his right winger might not be playing on the team yet. It could be someone that is, we don't know, but there could be someone who's not on the team who eventually becomes Austin Matthews' wingman and would help facilitate, you know, him scoring a bunch of goals.

We always have to have a caveat, though. Austin Matthews probably couldn't care less and just wants to win a Stanley Cup. The team just wants to win. We have to make sure we get that over. Yes, yes, of course, of course with the caveats. All right, next one. This one actually comes from a fan.

We posed the question on Twitter, and we had a fan tweet this one in and wondering if he should send, end, or delete his account. The Maple Leafs will miss the playoffs. This is by at the underscore Pharaoh underscore MJ. The Leifes will miss the playoffs. Maybe it's Mike Johnson's burner.

Hey, that's an end it. That'll end it for sure. I'm not going to tell you to delete your account. Actually, I will. Delete your account. The Leafs, listen, the Leafs are absolutely making the playoffs. Like, I know Mitch Marner is a very big part of what they do and have done over the course of the last nine years since he's been there.

But he's not, he's not irreplaceable to a point where this team won't compete for playoff spot and make a playoffs. They won the division a year ago. They could still very much win the division this year. It could be difficult, but they can. It wouldn't shock me. Who would boot Toronto out of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference would be my question? And we know Ottawa, Montreal, were the wildcard teams last year. Like, do think Columbus is taking a jump? Detroit, the Rangers. I actually do like Columbus. I like Columbus, too, but to the point where the more points in the Toronto Maple Leaf seems like a stretch, and barring some horrible things happening, whether it's the stolars and a wall or maybe

on the back end. Maybe it's Matthews, but I just don't see a way in which that happens, barring. Remember that season that Tampa had a couple of years ago, maybe more when they had what, 126 points in the year after, they had all those injuries and they just couldn't string good play together and no one could stay healthy. That's the type of season it would take for Toronto to miss. Exactly. Yeah, the Leafs won't miss the playoffs because they don't have Mitch Martin. The Leafs would miss the playoffs because Matthews isn't available. Goaltenders are hurt. Chris Tanev is heard. Exactly. You have all these, all these. devastating injuries, that's what would make them miss the playoffs.

But the Leafs were 108 points last year. For them to miss, they would have to go down to like 90, 88. So you're telling me they're 20 points worse than they were last year? No chance. I'm not. MJ's burners tell them. Barrow underscore MJ, get it together, brother. Delete your accounts.

Are they maybe 10 points worse? Could be. Sure. But that still gets you in the playoffs. Yeah. Even if it's 10 points worse. Toronto finishing the top three in the Atlantic. you want like a mini jerry is that sure but what do we can we can shift to a mini jerry

top three in the atlantic 72% 84% oh interesting yeah i still think that it's a very established top three in the atlantic no matter what yeah and you have those teams nipping at the heels the ottawa's the montreal's who knows maybe detroit maybe at some point the boston bruin who we discussed earlier could bounce back to what they once were two teams that i really wonder about in the eastern conference. What are the Rangers going to be? And what's Columbus going to be? Like Columbus is kind of nipping at the heels, like you said. I think the Rangers are going to miss the playoffs two years in a row. That was catastrophic for them last year.

Yeah. They can't be that bad again. Can they be? Like they have a pretty good team on paper and they have one of the best goalies in the world on their team. It made no sense how bad they were last year. So like I would be surprised if they missed out. So like of the teams that didn't make the playoffs last year, that could bump one of those teams. out, yeah, I'm looking at at New York and Columbus probably being the two teams that might be able to do it. Columbus, if you recall, like, they went on an absolute run at the end.

Jack Reeves put on his cape and nearly hamburgered that team in and Montreal had to, like, come up with a win on the final night of the season to get themselves into the playoffs. So I can absolutely see Columbus getting into the postseason, but it's not going to be knocking out Toronto.

It's probably going to be, you know, like, what's New Jersey going to be this year? You know, Ottawa, Montreal, like I see Washington. taking a step back. Like, of the two division winners in the East last year, I think it's far more likely that Washington misses the playoffs than Toronto. Really? Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. Send it. Is that a send it to? No, I would say that's an end it. I think Washington's a very good team. They've got very capable goaltending.

Their blue line's awesome. Like, yeah, they probably rallied a little bit around OV last year, but that's a, like, dude, that's a solid team. I just didn't like what I saw from them after OV accomplished the goal. It seemed like they kind of,

lost the plot a little. Well, they have that movie that Ovechkin's going to be a part of, right? With that Russian tech company, they're going to make a movie about Ovechkin's career. Who would play Ovechkin in that feature film? Ove should. He should just do himself. Ovechkin, when he retires from the NFL, is going over the KHL and probably playing for 10 years, like Yager.

Like Yager? I think that'll be a very similar career arc. Could happen. Which I respect. Could happen. All right. Next up, we'll go to the NFL. The Chiefs will not.

not reach the AFC championship game for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era. I think you can send that. You don't like the Chiefs? I think I do like the Chiefs. I just think there are teams I like more. I think there's a lot of teams, including the Denver Broncos in that division. They could be a major problem. Expect Bo Nixon Company to take a big step in year two.

I think the Chargers are legit, but I'm looking at the other top teams in the AFC, namely the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens. I like both of those teams better than the Kansas City Chiefs. I do not think Cincinnati's in that conversation. No, I don't buy the defense for the Bengals at all. I love the offense for obvious reasons. But again, look at last year.

What were they? Three and four in games they scored 33 points or more in the Bengals. The defense, especially with the Trey Hendrickson questions, that linger, it's just not there. I like the bills. I like the Ravens in the AFC. And I think the Chiefs right now are number three. And I'm sure old takes exposed will have this clip out in February

when the Chiefs are back there for the. the six straight here. You can send it for sure, but it has to be like considered a hot take at this point because there's something about the Chiefs where they got this magic pixie dust on them and the big moments they seem to find a way to come through even though they didn't do it in the Super Bowl last year but like the Bills and the Ravens. Those are two teams that like they mean business and that's going to be the biggest issue for the Chiefs. But yeah, like this is not

this a mildly hot take, but I think you can throw that out there. Yeah, I'm not a, it's tough to say because Patrick Mahomes, and like you said, little pixie dust and all of a sudden that Chiefs team, they just find ways to win. But if you look at them, how many, like, lucky victories that they've had over the course last two years now, like, that offense has not been, has not been nearly as good as maybe we all think it's been? Like, you think about Patrick Mahomes, like, oh, this guy's been unbelievable, like, he's been the best quarterback in the last five years.

That might be true, but that offense as a whole has not been. Like, it's kind of been ugly over the last couple of years. I agree with that, Michael, but I would say that their collection of offensive skill position players this year might be the strongest they've ever had. Rishie Rice, savior worthy, who was a beast last year. Yeah. Once Rice went down, Hollywood Brown is finally healthy for them. Maybe. Say what you will about Travis Kelsey, where he's at his career.

If he's your number three or number four option, you know, even if Mr. Swift is where he is in his career, he's still a very high quality. player at that position. That's the crazy thing. If there's other guys taking up that much oxygen and it just alleviates a little room for Kelsey or like, oh boy, like all of a sudden, he doesn't have to do as much and it becomes, or he stays as effective as he has been for the longest time. I almost wonder though, like, can he get away with that? Like there's a lot of people last year that were kind of getting on him for the season that he had. Like the decline clearly started last season. Like I don't, I feel like he. he has gotten to a point in his career where people have expectations,

regardless, like, okay, you're a year older, but we still have high expectations on you. I don't know if he has the luxury of kind of fading back and letting other guys take on the role without getting kind of abused online for it. We will ask Herm Edwards in 20 minutes from ESPN, the coach, when he joins us in hour three, also coming up, Brad Gilbert, ESPN tennis commentator, Vicki Mboko in action tonight at the National Bank Open. It's hour two of overdrive as we continue on TSN2 and TSN 10, 50. The Js are up 14 to 1 on Colorado.

They won game 1 15-1, game 2, 10, 4, and then game 3. They're up 14 to 1. Yeah. That has to be in a three-game set amongst the biggest collective, aggregate scoring, most successful three-game set the Blue Jers have had in franchise history. I did see someone post something about that. I think it was they scored 11-11 and then had a 22 spot back in 2021. I think it was against the Orioles, if I recall.

Some special stuff, again, Colorado is an embarrassment of a baseball team. And I think everybody in that baseball team would nod their heads in agreement at that assessment. But still, the way the Jays took care of business, very good to see it. They've got the Dodgers coming up this weekend, where I don't think it'll be as easy. No. As the Colorado Rocky. So just an update on the Best Toronto Sports Trade, the bracket that we have going on, the TSN 1050. Too low trade is not here, but you could see it up on TSC.

N for Kauai beating Brian McCabe surprising. So the semi-final Kawhi to the Raptors, Batista to the Jays, Batista beating Lowry, which is interesting. Josh Donaldson to the Jays, Ricky Ray to the Argos, which I think is a

stealth favorite, is a six-seed in that Ricky Ray help bring two Grey Cups to the Toronto Argonauts in 2012 and 2017. So maybe that could be a guy who could dethrone Kauai, but I think we probably know where this is going. It's going to be cool.

Y goes through and Donaldson goes through and the Ricky Ray one kind of flies under the radar because like the CFL doesn't get the same notoriety as as the MLB or the NBA but when you bring championships that's the difference maker yeah yeah I agree and you know unfortunately didn't happen with the 2015 Js 2016 Jays but like you brought in an MVP and when you do that you bring in an MVP that's going to get a lot of consideration so yeah I in my my votes go on Kauai and Donaldson, but we'll see what the people say. Ricky Ray did not win Great Cup MVP in either 2012 or 2017, which is interesting and pretty rare.

Chad Kakard in 2012 and then Devere Posey in 2017. Yeah, he had like 175 yards receiving that night. That was some very special stuff for the Argonauts. Oh, what a night that was. That was a snowy night against the stampedees against Bo Levi-Mittal. You remember all your great-ups? I was there. I was there. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

I was there for both of those glorious times. Although last year's Grey Cup was the best. Was that the, who did the halftime show? Bieber was in 2012. No, in 2017. I'm not sure. We'll get to that in our three, I was brother. That's house brother.

That's Frank Corrado. Saline Dion, was it Dionne? Nia Twain. Hour three is next. The biggest songs in the world. You've heard them countless times. Now, learn the details of how they came to be. Join Ruby Car 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 IHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.