OverDrive - OverDrive - December 13, 2024 - Hour 2

Episode Date: December 13, 2024

Join Michael DiStefano and Dave Feschuk for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joins to discuss the Maple Leafs' winning run, Anthony Stolarz's injury impact to the roster and the Canadiens' offensive issues. The guys go through the best sports tweets in the latest edition of The Filter.

It's a brand new year. Time to review last year's financial decisions and set new priorities for 2025. Kelvin the Money Guy suggests the three-step approach. One, clearly define your goals for the new year. Two, create a plan tailored to your needs and ambitions. And three, make sure your portfolio is designed to serve that plan. Goal. Plan. Portfolio. Contact Kelvin the Money Guy and set your plans in motion. Call 416-457-PLAN

or visit askkelvin.ca hour two off and running here on overdrive it is friday mail it in friday brought to you by boston pizza's new game day menu stop by your local bp for seven dollar touchdown pine shareables for the whole crew and weekly prizing up for grabs. Football game days are better at your local BP. Mike DiStefano filling in for Brian Hayes and Dave Festruck in for noodles and O. And, you know, it was a pretty big sports night last night. There's a lot to get into today, obviously. And I don't know, I found it very difficult. I don't know, what's your setup when you got a night like last night. There's a lot to get into today, obviously. I found it very difficult.

What's your setup when you've got a night like last night? You've got the Leaf game. You've got a Raptors game. You've got a Thursday night football game. Are you a triple screen, dual screen watcher? How do you, an astute journalist that's been on the scene for years, how do you

go about watching all of that at once? was tricky i mean good thing the football game was terrible and it was easy to turn away from that but you know look you're flipping back and forth you got the usually have one game on the laptop in my lap another game on the big screen i haven't done the like the multi-screen kind of endeavor just yet in my living room i don't think my wife would allow me to get away with that. AK's got that in his condo. It was there not too long ago, and he's got two massive screens. So you can watch one game.

He's probably watching right now in his condo. He's got probably overdrive, us, on both screens. I can almost guarantee it's happening. But he'll have the Raptors game on one side, the football game on the other, and then every now and then he'll put on a Leaf game plan, however he does it, but he's got two 60-inchers. I'm like, how do you even watch both games? We've got two massive TVs like that. That's the thing.

But there's so many people that do it that way. But there was a lot of great games last night. I mean, obviously the Leafs game was getting most of our attention, and for the most part, I thought the Leafs played well. There were spots during the game where maybe they were giving up a little bit too much and being a little too loosey-goosey. But ultimately, they got the win.

You know, the Stolarz injury definitely is a little bit of a bummer. But, hey, two points is two points. Right. They beat the no-name goalie once again. Yes, they did. Yes, they did. According to the Toronto Sun, of course. once again. Yes, they did.

Yes, they did. According to the Toronto Sun, of course. Those little deviants down at the Sun tweaking the Anaheim fans and crowd. He's a good goalie, though. He's good. He's been one of the best in the league if you look at some of the metrics. Even though the team's not very good, he keeps it out more than

most. There was a few opportunities that Matthews had last night. That one in tight. I thought for sure that was going to be a goal and it's the thing with austin matthews and i think it was it last night or maybe the game before craig brube was asked about him and the fact that he's been i think it was after the devil's game actually and he finally did score on one of the like five breakaways he had in that game and last night he had like six shots on goal and a couple were in tight, good high danger chances. This year,

it just seems like those goals aren't going in for him like they were a year ago. And again, last night, really good goalie, made some great stops on him. But I'm curious if that's

becoming a bit of a concern for you at all when it comes to Austin Matthews. Like the drop off in production for him has been a big reason as to why the team's five-on-five scoring has been down. Oh, without a doubt. Massive reason why.

It's a massive reason. It's the largest reason why. We can talk about Max Domi doesn't have a goal and Bob McMahon's been hurt and all the secondary scoring concerns that are legitimate. Like, Greg Berube has mentioned it more than once that they need some scoring down the lineup. They wouldn't mind a little more scoring from the defensemen,

but that's another story. But ultimately, the biggest reason why they're not scoring like they did last year is because Matthews is not scoring like he did last year, and that's a concern. Anytime your number one guy is not humming like he can hum, it's a scary thing for the Maple Leafs. And the fact he's been to germany he's not quite himself he doesn't look quite as electric the shot doesn't

look as crisp inspiring as crisp as it was a year ago yeah and i think 30 games into the season it it's almost teetering on it being a concern at this point if it was still you know game seven of the season okay he's still working his way in. He didn't play the whole preseason. He did get hurt, and he only got into two games, I think, in the preseason. You could make the argument that he's still getting his legs underneath him. I suppose you

could say, but he's been back now for seven, eight games. He should be operating at his elite pace at this point. The weird thing is like the numbers you analytically like it's it's looking all right like he's still getting those opportunities just not finishing like the shooting percentage like right now is sub 10 he's a 16 shooter year career wise like that's another big it's just not finishing and i'm not sure if it's still

injury related is there still something bothering him or is it just I'm not sure if it's still injury-related. Is there still something bothering him, or is it just one of those years where it's just bad puck luck? Yeah. Curious. Why don't we ask our main man, Mike Johnson, joining us now on the Maple Toyota Hotline. What's going on, Johnny? What's going on, fellas?

It's interesting. I hear you talking about it, and you run the numbers, and, you know, maybe, like, I agree with you. Like you should probably just turn it around because he's generating chances still, but I will say this is ridiculous. I'd have to probably check the NHL edge stats, but by just the eye test, when you're down there, the shot seems to have been a little less zippy this year.

Not just not finding the back of that for Austin Matthews, but just a little less pop on his shot. Not just not finding the back of the net for Austin Matthews, but just a little less pop on his shot. I wonder if the injury, whatever he was fighting that he went to Europe for was something that is still sort of maybe flowing down his release, maybe just velocity or just the time it takes

to get it off or whatever. It's just a little bit still elite, but I mean they're not quite best in the world right now. Yeah, well it's you know the bottom line is uh mj they've they've been winning without you know his electric performances they certainly won with him out of the lineup and they're doing a pretty good job of it with him in the lineup even if he hasn't been mr 69 goal pace um but to switch topics to the one of the day, MJ, do you believe that the Maple Leafs were sort of tempting fate

by throwing Anthony Stolarz in net last night, a couple of nights after a very high workload occasion beating New Jersey? I mean, I understand the Monday morning quarterbacking about this decision. But what are you going to do? It was two days off. They just had two days off before that. Him and Wall have been sort of alternating game on, game off. John, he's played six games.

Six games in the last 30 days. I'm saying, it's nothing. So if you're attempting fate, and I get what you're saying, and perhaps you're right, the same thing would be said for a wall if he plays two games in a row. Anyone who has a history of not being entirely healthy will, if you play him two games in a row,

one game after a busy night that I guess you're attempting fate, I don't think that they were reckless, careless. As long as Stolarz was completely forthright and upfront that he wasn't tight, that he wasn't tired, that he didn't have any sort of tweaky thing hanging on that he wanted to play anyways,

as long as that was the case and he acted and told everyone he was 100% healthy, then no. I think it's just reflective. He got hurt. They should have done something different thinking. It was always going to be a story for both these guys that's the reality neither one of us played 50 games in a season and both have had a history of injuries

at times in their careers and that was always going to be part of the story and we've seen wall miss time now we may seem stores missed a little bit of time but i don't think you can get on the leaf from the decision they made to start him last night. In conversation with Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analyst, obviously that was the big story last night, but the secondary story I thought was the play of Max Pacioretty and the line of Pacioretty, Tavares, and William Nylander. Why do you think it's worked out so well this season with Pacioretty? He went healthy, I guess the injury aside but

when he's been playing he's been fairly productive he's been very physical just seems to be a perfect fit for Craig Berube's system well I think there's a couple different parts to it one is you you're right you said system and Max Pacioretty at his state and age of his career is not a guy who wants to rip up and down trading rush chances. His greatest strength is probably his strength and his size and his willingness to be a guy who goes and bangs bodies. Like, even the guy who goes in there

and hits and gets physical and runs over Jack Hughes and we've seen him take penalties for boarding that were rescinded. Like, he's got a mentality, even though he's been a scorer his whole life, that he wants to be the guy who goes in and is super physical and get the puck back for his wingers.

I give him full credit. It's not always easy to make that transition when you haven't had to play that way throughout your career. And then you've got to give his line mates credit because, largely speaking, when you play him with Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Nylander, they do so much work to get the puck up the ice, to get the puck to the front of the net, to get the puck to the spots that Pacioretty

can still be effective with, like he's scoring goals from four feet out because other guys are getting the puck four feet out so in that sense it's been a good fit and as long as he can stay healthy and as long as he plays those good players, he'll chip in enough goals because he's got the brain and the hockey sense

to get in the right spots frequently enough. Yeah, no, that's a fair point. I mean, when you look at that, you know, the physicality that Patch already brings, MJ, I mean, you're a big skill guy. I know you're an analytics guy. And you've occasionally cast dispersions at the value of sort of wanton hitting. But this guy is on hits per 60. He's second on the team to Ryan Reeves.

I mean, that's how frequently he's been out there, you know, searching out opponents to lay a body on. I mean, do you see a lot of value there? Like, what are you seeing in terms of what his physicality is bringing to this team? Yeah, sure. And, I mean, I'd like to think, you know, I appreciate the role that physicality can be playing, but I'm also aware that I'd rather have the puck

and not have to hit people than be chasing hits because I don't have it. And there's a danger where you fall in love with hitting stats because you never have the puck. The reason why Detroit Red Wings never hit anyone in the 90s, not because they only had skill players, it's because they always had it And you'd rather be that than the alternative

But when you are playing a system That asks you to dump it in Go for a check Turn pucks over And try to grind out offensive chances Somebody has to go and hit And stop the puck And the fact of the matter is

Max Pacioretty is good at it because he is a surprise. I've been around Max Pacioretty his entire career. I always thought of him as sort of like rangy and big, but not really big, big, if that makes sense. And you're around him now, and I stand up between the benches, and I'm like, the guy, he's big. He's 6'4", he's 220 pounds.

He's a big, big player. And he, in this system, does a, plays a pivotal role because, you know, dumping it in does no good unless you can get it back. And one of the ways you have to get it back

is by going to hit people. And he's figured that out. And he brings value because of it. Johnny, it looks like Bobby McMahon is scheduled to return this weekend. David Kemp not too far behind. What do you expect this bottom six to kind of look like when this team's fully healthy?

Well, this is the trick. So now I guess you're going to walk through it, and it's going to be the top six will likely stay the same, right? The big four, Nyes makes a big five, and then there's a swing person in that other spot. It could be Domi, it could be McMahon, or it could be Pacioretty. Right now it's going to stay with Pacioretty. So now your third line wingers will be McMahon and Max Domi

with Fraser Minton, I suppose, and that turns your fourth line into Kemp when healthy, Lorenz, and whoever else. I don't mean whoever else dismissively, but sometimes Reeves, sometimes Dewar, depending on the opponent, depending on what's going on, maybe it's Holmberg, whatever it might be.

I think that's probably how it shakes out until they make a definitive decision on whether Fraser Minton can help them long-term. And I don't think that jury long term. And I don't think that jury is still out. I don't think they've decided. I think they appreciate the responsibility and mature nature of his

game. And I know he's got his four points in his eight or nine games or whatever he's played. Underlying's are not super strong for him. The shot share hasn't been the greatest. The expected goal share hasn't been the greatest. The expected goal share hasn't been the greatest. Now, put him with different wingers,

and you get a better sense, right? Like, playing with Holmberg and whoever, Lorenz is not going to probably tilt the ice all the time. Playing with McMahon and Domi, you expect a little bit more, a little bit more push with the puck, and that's what they are still waiting to see. And I think that's probably exactly how they shake it out. And then there'll be moments where Pacioretty slides down,

he plays on the third line, McMahon goes back up there, or maybe Max goes back up there. Maybe Max plays in the middle. They'll fiddle with that stuff. They have the big five forwards, if I put Nye down on it, somebody else, and then the depth guys will play on the third line, and the fourth line will be Camps, Lawrence, and somebody else, and then the depth guys will play in the third line, and the fourth line will be Camp, Lawrence, and somebody else. MJ, I wanted to get your take on the goings-on in Philly last night.

The Flyers beat the Red Wings 4-1, and Matt Vamichkov, in a highlight reel play that nearly was a highlight reel play, probably still was played on the highlights, tried the Michigan, and this is how John Tortorella reacted in the aftermath of that. I've lost the battle, right? I don't think it should be in our game, but I've lost that battle. I have talked to him early in the year when he was doing it every time. It was just turnovers.

The thing I want Mish to understand is he's such a good player moving a puck and passing a puck. When he's behind the net, he's dangerous to make plays. So what am I going to say? Don't do it. What I did, I said, you need to understand that there are other plays to be made there too because a number of the times you tried it early in the year all they were turnovers so yeah i've lost the damn battle with that i'm not going to try to fight it i don't come off what i feel about it i don't think it should be in our game but it is what it is where are you on that one mj okay so i'm gonna have have to my old coach's words carefully here. I can actually appreciate

what he's saying, and that he's right, is that if you do it haphazardly, it can be a turnover. And that's something that they want to avoid. That makes sense to me. There's a time and place to attempt that move, and it's not every single time. I agree with that.

I've lost that battle. Okay, I appreciate that because I think new, you know, when you're older, whether you're older like me or older like Torch, you know, younger players, younger people have different ideas and thoughts about the way things should be. And you have to adapt with it if you want to stay relevant with those people that you're working with. So that's probably not a bad idea but probably several things whether you can have your phone on the plane it's probably a battle torts wanted to fight at one point he's lost that battle because that's not the world i'm okay with that too the idea the comment that this should not be my game is so preposterously dinosaur-esque i I don't even know where to begin.

I guess, did you see Barkov in the shootout the other day? He went to fake through the legs and then went back to his backhand and scored. Did that not be part of the game? Should we outlaw that? What are we talking about? The Forsbergs get done mid-game? Should we outlaw that?

How about we outlaw the saucer pass? How about we outlaw the forward pass? What are we talking about here? Like, this is hockey. This is skill. This is not trick plays anymore. And he knows this because these players have grown up doing these things. It's not, you know, something that they're doing for being fancy.

It's not something they can't do every single time. They can do all these different things all the time. We see Matthew Kachuk score goals through his leg all the time. Would John Tortorella tell him, no, that should not be part of our game? That's ridiculous. The other stuff, actually, he has a point.

He has a point about time and place and recognizing when you should maybe try some of these things. But to suggest that they should not even be part of the game? And Torts is a good coach. And Torts is a good man. Yeah, for sure. That is a line of thinking that i think almost plagues hockey in general not just from torts but this whole clinging to the past and the and the change and the modernization and the fun and the creativity that should all be embraced not sort of downplayed and dismissed well the only thing

about the michigan mj that someone and we were talking about this at the rink the other day and a couple of the Leafs were chiming in, is that it's not working very often. Right. Well, how often do you score goals from behind the net, period? Well, no. Well, yeah, that's an interesting point. Relative to what?

Relative to a bump past the point in the slapper? Well, I guess the other point is that Talbot on that play, Cam Talbot really got the shoulder up. He basically cut it off. Like, the goalies are wise to it now, you know? Goalies are wise to it. Guys leave with their sticks high up in the air now. They're not sort of frozen with their stick on the ice because they've never seen this before.

Yeah, and then they'll do something different because they'll go with... I've seen junior kids and college kids and, like, you know, high school-aged kids run fake Michigans and wraparounds and fake Michigans to passes. And, you know, there are extensions to what we're talking about. And that's where the world is headed. So, yeah, like you don't do anything that doesn't work, fancy or plain. But that's part of the evolution of the game to suggest that anything that's creative that looked different doesn't have a place in the

game that's no good there are a couple of great coaching tirades last night you had the one on torts there marty saint louis had some interesting comments but my favorite of the night was patrick wah and uh i liked it i liked it too i like to do the same thing on air real time maybe i was i was on air last night at nhl Network, and we're watching the game. I'm like, oh, my gosh. I'm going to blow this. No, it's too late. But I did say, you know who's going to be pissed off?

Sorokin. Because goaltenders hate garbage time goals against. Yeah. Because they don't, the players, we don't, it doesn't bother us so much unless you're the one who makes the mistake. Because, you know what, plus or minus, whatever, we're going to win. It's all good. Life's good.

For the goaltenders who live and die with every goal against and they care about their stats and how they're impacted individually, they hate that stuff. So for Patrick Wad to say, in my day and age, if you would have played that garbage defense in the last minute to give up two goals to lose 5-4 instead of 5-2,

I would have come at you in the dress room. I completely appreciate what he's saying. I played with Sean Burke, one of my favorite players, one of the best boys I've ever played with. Absolutely fiery competitor. He would have not maybe beat me up,

but he would have got into the ear of the players in the room for that, not just out of a selfish nature, but also out of, like, let's have some professionalism to finish the game off for everybody, not just for me. I totally get it. And, you know, it's actually probably more common than Patrick Waugh made it sound.

Well, let's talk about Marty St. Louis as well, MJ, because we've seen the Canadians lose 6-2 this year. They've lost 7-2. They've lost 8-2. But it wasn't until last night that they lost 9-2 after only being down 3-2 at the second intermission. What did you make of that collapse? Giving up 6 in the third period?

Tough. That's almost hard to do. Yeah. I mean, I play on bad teams and I know what can happen, but that is as much a, even Jake Evans

sort of acknowledged it. He said, I don't know what happened. We gave up or something. And it's, giving up's a strong word, but they stopped taking great pride

and care in the results because the result got away from them. Once it got sort of 5-2, then the will to battle left for the rest of that game. From everyone. Sometimes it can be one player who's out of an off night, but everyone. I think that's the greater concern,

where they sort of just threw in the towel, and poor Caden Primo, if he goes in there, he gets lit up for free in like eight minutes or whatever it was like come on guys same sort of sentiment for sorokin like let's help each other out here um yeah i got i'm not gonna say it's an indictment and that that group of players a bunch of losers like that's not true but in that moment that was not a professional approach for themselves and for their teammates in the third period. Caden, 571 save percentage. 1636. That's against average.

And listen, Primo's had a tough year there. Yeah. And I know it was so strange. Montemayor got pulled with 10 minutes left in the game. No one ever gets pulled after 50 minutes. If you make it to 50, you make it to 60. That's how it works. But Primo, when he went in there, he could use a little love.

He could give him 10 good minutes. And it's not like Pittsburgh would be completely throwing the kitchen sink at the Habs. But at 6-2, they're sort of just playing at the string as well. But if you're going to give them chances, they'll take them. And he gets hung up to dry there. So yeah, not good. Montreal, they have some games where you're like, okay, there's some strides there.

Then they have some games like last one, and you're like, no, they're a million miles away still. Somehow Gino was a dash one in that game too. How do you a dash one in a 9-2? I got a better for you. You can look it up. Last game of the 1999 season, we're playing Toronto versus Florida. I was actually suspended for the game due to a vicious elbow because I'm a goon.

But we were playing Florida, and they had emptied their roster. So their entire American League team was up. And Sean Burke was in net for Florida. We won 10-1. And my guy, one of my favorite teammates of all time,. We won 10-1. And my guy, one of my favorite teammates of all time, Todd Warner, 10-1. Minus one, no points.

Oh, man. You talk about sourness at postgame. From a guy who was really happy-go-lucky, that was it. Because you're like, how is that even possible? How could I even do that? We almost felt bad for him. Almost. Couldn't have got him the phantom assist at some point. Something. Second one.

How many times did you get a chance to watch Macklin Celebrini play before he got to the NHL? A couple times, right? Juniors and then championships? Yeah, I was a world junior the whole time, absolutely. He's awesome. And I've said this before Jr. the whole time, absolutely. And he's awesome. And I've said this before, so it's not sort of hyperbole. It's not sort of reactive.

The thought being he's got a chance to not maybe be a better scorer than Conor Bedard, but maybe a better player, like a more complete player because he has an element of power and speed to his game, like a strength element that Bedard doesn't have. Bedard, as great as Celebrini shoots it, Bedard probably shoots it better, but Celebrini can skate. And when you go around the League A, B,

and I'm traveling around, I talk to different players or different media or staff coaches, whatever, who have played San Jose, they talk about him being way better than they thought he was, than they thought he would be right away. Like, they have glowing positive reviews for how good he is already in the NHL,

just, you know, whatever, he's 20 games into his career. Well, and the crazy part is, he got hurt in his first game, and then had to miss a couple of weeks, and then he comes back and he's been a point-per- ever since like the guy is truly exceeding all expectations and i think it's probably because there was so sky-high expectations on conor bedard generational talent so it kind of made celebrini not look as i don't know as as sexy as a prospect but man like this guy really could be just as good a player. It feels, an overall player at least.

Yeah. Yeah, and I think there's the idea, like, you know, Bedard, for what he did at the World Junior Tournament, was just, you know, mind-bogglingly best of all time. And the numbers he put up in Regina, and the other guys who did that were like Eric Lindros,

and like Connor McDavid, and guys who were the greatest players of their generation. Players who come out of college having won the Hobie Baker as a freshman is that there's been a couple guys, Jack Eichel, did he win the Hobie Baker as a freshman? He might have. But Jack Eichel didn't go to the NHL and get 95 points and 40 goals, right? I think the direct comparison to what he was coming from to what he was supposed to be able to do Was not as clean as Bedard And he hadn't been in the spotlight for as many years as Bedard And so you're right

I absolutely think the expectation Whatever the standard was going to be Was lower for him But maybe as impressively It's not like he's doing it with a ton of support around it The Sharks are playing great, give him full credit But that's not a fantastic roster just yet. He's a driving force

behind what they're doing well, and that is so impressive. Bedard, there's no one around him. He's got no help. Celebrini, same situation, but he seems to be putting up points. MJ, it sounds like AB's trying to corner the market on Celebrini trading cards.

Horten, AB, whatever you need to do. The pump and dump. He's pumping up the value as we speak. Exactly. He's a day trader for stocks right now, exactly. And the other part about this, the other side of this conversation, and it's one worth having, is that we've sort of been critical of Bedard's production, of his play,

of Chicago's play, of him not on the Four Nations. What does Bedard have right now? Does he have 26 points in 29 games? I don't even have it in front of me. He's just out of our point of game, a player playing for a crap team. 24 and 29. 24 and 29. Crap team in front of me. He's just under a point a game player playing for a crap team. 24-29.

Trap team in a crap situation and he's on pace for 70 points. And that's him being terrible? Pretty darn good. It's not bad. It's not bad at all. That's a better point for game pace than John Tavares? In that range.

Or virtually the same? And we are celebrating Tavares for being how range. Or virtually the same. And we are celebrating Tavares for being like, how much he deserves to be on the Four Nations and how great he's been. And I'm like, it's about expectations, of course. And I'm not saying it's not just points, it's not playing. But I think largely both guys are getting evaluated because of their points and not a lot of other situations.

So, yeah, it hasn't been good. But even if it's not so good, it's pretty darn good. Oh, it is. This is not a conversation to down Bedard. He's still playing well. I just think Celebrini's definitely putting himself in a higher echelon than maybe we thought. Johnny, I appreciate –

I would be curious, AB, real quick. Yeah. We'll never know this, and I don't think it was that close, but who would have been closer to make the four nations today, Bedard or Celebrini? Based on how they chose that team, where they kind of took a couple of role players, you would think maybe Celebrini, no?

I would think so. We'll never know, but maybe we'll find out for the Olympics when they both make it. Maybe they won't. We'll see. We'll find out. All right, Johnny. Appreciate it as always, pal. Have a good weekend.

Alright, boys. Have a good weekend. There he goes. Mike Johnson joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Check out Maple Toyota's huge truck and SUV lineup including Tundra, 4Runner Highlander, and Grand Highlander in stock and ready to deliver. Visit mapletoyota.com

Gonna get to the filter coming up next. I i'll hear on overdrive up on tsn4 and on tsn 1050 it's a brand new year time to review last year's financial decisions and set new priorities for 2025 kelvin the money guy suggests the three-step approach one clearly define your goals for the new year, create a plan tailored to your needs and ambitions. And three, make sure your portfolio is designed to serve that plan. Goal, plan, portfolio. Contact Kelvin the Money Guy and set your plans in motion.

Call 416-457-PLAN or visit askkelvin.ca. All right, it's time for the filter here on Overdrive. I'm Mike DiStefano with Dave Feschuk, and we haven't done a filter in a while here on the show, but with me filling in for Hazy B today, we figured what better time than to chuck the filter into the rotation. And look, the way it works, it's pretty simple. We got takes. There's a couple I have.

We farmed a couple from our listeners as well. And we got to decide, is this take? Do we send the tweet, tuck the tweet in the drafts, or is this just such an awful take, a bad tweet, that you just need to straight up delete your account? Those are the three options that we got for this segment. And why don't we start off with the first one here? Love it.

Looking up at Juan S soto juan soto uh just signed a big monster deal 15 years 765 million dollars soda was a luxury piece for the yankees they're a better team with what they've done this winter with the money he left on the table wow what do you think about that you know what i'm gonna put winter with the money he left on the table. Wow. What do you think about that one? You know what? I'm going to put that in the drafts. I'm going to put that in the drafts.

Now, let's say, I'll say one thing about Juan Soto. Money is the only thing he has left on the table if we're talking about a dinner table. Did you see that little punch he was rolling? Maybe that not-so-little punch he was rolling at the Mets press conference? I did. If he would have signed with the Blue Jays and rolled into town with that punch, they would have called him Juan Soto Soto.

Because he spent a lot of time eating some quality food. But that kind of concerns me on a 15-year deal. I can't stay in shape through a couple months of the offseason. But to your point, the pitching that the Yankees have added, the reason I'm keeping it in the draft is because it can't be a better team without one of the best hitters in the game hitting in front of Aaron Judge. That combination was one of the chief reasons

why the Yankees were who they were last year, a team that got to the World Series and might have won it if not for that ridiculous fifth inning in the game that killed them. Adding the pitching they've with Freed and now Williams, a great starter and

an elite reliever on a team that needed that kind of shoring up of their staff. That is an incredible value play and it might be better value than the 765 in the long haul when you talk about one bat who benefited greatly from hitting in front of Eric Judge. Yeah, and I guess we'll never know.

I guess in an alternate universe when he re-signs with the Yankees, what happens over the course of the years. But I don't know. I look at this team, and I just think they had offense. They've got home run ball hitters. They've got hitters in Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge. They can hit the baseball where they lacked last year was pitching. They just could not pitch.

And then the defense was horrible as well, obviously. You look at what happened in the fifth inning there. But to me, you bring in a guy like Freed, you bring in a guy like Devin Williams, was horrible as well, obviously. You look at what happened in the fifth inning there. But to me, you bring in a guy like Freed, you bring in a guy like Devin Williams, and all of a sudden, they can pitch. And in the AL East, pitching is key. And in baseball in general, they always

say, pitching wins you baseball games. And that's what they lacked, and that's what they used the money to go out and get. It's almost, you know, here in Toronto, we talk about with the Leafs all the time, for years, they had way too much money on offense, and they had no defense, and they did not win hockey games. Now they decide to put a little bit of money on the back end, and what's happening? They're winning hockey games.

They have good goaltending, and it's a result of great defense in front of them. They've balanced out their lineup a little bit. You look at the Yankees, they've balanced out offense, pitching, and I think that they might be better off for it i really really do all right good start all right let's move on to the next one that we're taking a look at and we're gonna head to the nba and it's our guy scotty barnes life without scotty began last night for the toronto raptors didn't turn out well they got dummy by the heat 114 to104. But here's the tweet.

Scotty Barnes' injury is the best thing that could ever happen to the Raptors this season. And obviously this is in reference to the fact that this team would have a much better chance at a lottery pick without Barnes there and will basically just go in full tank mode. Send the tweet. I mean, I'm on board with going to the pooper for Cooper. Sagging for flag. I'm going to capture the flag. I haven't heard pooper for Cooper yet.

Yeah, it's a good one. It's a good one. I like it. Look, I mean, no one wants to see what happened to Scotty Barnes happen to Scotty Barnes, so don't get it wrong. I'm not cheering for injuries, but there's a little bit of that front office in Raptor land that can't be particularly sad.

I mean, the health of their players aside, and they wish good health on their players, but they can't be particularly sad to see their lineup at less than full strength for whatever reason, whether it be a broken orbital bone like Scottie Barnes suffered or a torn UCL ligament like Emmanuel quickly, certainly us presently dealing with whatever it is that makes you not quite as good, whatever it is that makes you a

team that can stay in games but not win games, that's a nice recipe for a dignified tank. And right now, they're in the midst of what looks like a very dignified tank in part because they're having some bad injury luck it's been awful injury luck they're probably i i don't i haven't seen the numbers specifically but i would imagine that they've got to be up there and when it comes to man games lost this season yeah they're their first in the eastern conference the other day i checked that one and and i i actually would probably tuck this one into the drafts

a little bit. It's not quite to leech your account, because there is a benefit to it. There's some positives and some negatives, but honestly, this is a pretty pivotal season for Scottie Barnes. It's not great that a guy you're hoping becomes your franchise player ends up with another

injury and is going to miss a few weeks here of significant time. And then it's probably going to take him a couple weeks to get going again. Like it's an ankle injury. It's not, you know, that's something that he's probably going to have to manage throughout the rest of the season when he gets back, I would imagine. And it's a pivotal development year for him and for the team to see what they look like all together.

So without him in the lineup to see what it all looks like, to properly evaluate this team, I think it's not the best thing that could happen to the team. I do think that there is a little bit of some negativity that comes with it, and it's pretty much you're not getting a proper evaluation of what this team is. That is the downside, but it's still a good thing when it comes to the lottery odds. If they get there. If they don't end up with Cooper Flagg, but it's still a good thing when it comes to the lottery odds. If they get there. If they don't end up with Cooper Flagg, is it worth it?

Or is it only if they get the top pick and win the lottery? As you know about the lottery, you've got to have a ticket to win it. They'll have a ticket regardless. You want the odds to be as... I know the odds are flat, but you've got to be in that bottom four, bottom five to maximize

them. And right now they are. All right, next one. This one comes from a listener. This is from Purchase Dave on Twitter, and he believes that Mitch Marner will be a more beloved Maple Leaf than Austin Matthews when their careers with Toronto are over. What do we think about this one? Mitch Marner, will he be the more beloved Leaf

over 69 goal man, captain of your Toronto Maple Leaf? Yeah. Quite the take. I mean, it's not really a take. It's like a look into the future. It's a crystal ball. It's a forecast more than an opinion. And look, we would love to believe that both

these guys will be beloved if this team can actually do what it's supposed to do in the playoffs and actually take this fan base on the thrill ride it's long deserved yes deep into the stanley cup tournament but we just haven't seen it so until we see that thrill ride until they take us on that journey, there's nobody that's going to be as beloved as the guys who've done it in the past. Guys who took them to the precipice of a Stanley Cup final. And heck, the guys, many of whom are now dead, who took them to a Stanley Cup in 1967. You can't get into that echelon of beloved in this town with the Wendels and the Duggies. Well, they didn't win either, though.

No, but they got deep. Yes, they won some games. They gave people thrills. Right. They gave this town excitement in the playoffs, which just hasn't happened here but for that one shining moment and very brief moment in the wake of beating Tampa a couple of years back. So, yeah, it's a toss-up.

It depends on who's the bigger hero in the bigger moment, probably, is who will go down as the bigger legend. But that story's yet to be written. Yeah, I'm going to end the tweet, though. I think I'm going to end the tweet. And just how quickly we forget. This guy was enemy number one in the summer. Almost every single Maple Leaf trade blogger out there

was coming up with trade chips and trades to send this guy out of town. Almost everyone on Twitter hated Mitch Marner and wanted him gone. And now all of a sudden, we got people coming out here saying, oh, he's going to be more beloved than Austin Matthews. Austin Matthews decided to come back with this team

and at what we would, you could argue at a bit of a discount at $13.25 million. Oh, let's not go there. He apparently left money on the table. I'm just saying. Okay. But he's a guy who scored 69 goals for this team.

Scored 60 a couple years ago. Had 50 and 50. There's been a lot of moments that Austin Matthews has provided, and he's now the captain of this team. Go out there and take a look. You're down at Leaf Games. When you look down, do you see more 34-16 jerseys? There's more 34s. A lot more.

A lot more of those. And it's because he scores more goals. And he's the captain. He's the big dog. I don't think... I just don't believe that Mitch Marner will be able to... And especially, we'll see how this contract conversation goes this summer.

Because if it is as contentious as the first one was, then I think even more so, Leaf fans are going to turn on it. But there have been so many instances where Leaf fans have turned on Mitch Marner. Can you really think of one time where the Leafs have tried to run Matthews out of the city? I can't. No, no. But I mean, I still believe, though, that if something happens that becomes legendary,

like, hey, how about they win a Stanley Cup? I won't even, like, could that, like, they're in the running. They're in the league that has the Stanley Cup, right? Right, of course. Yeah, so if they win the Stanley Cup and he is the consmite trophy winner, Mitch Marner is, then yeah, then he probably becomes a more beloved figure than everybody who wasn't a Trophy winner in the time

they win the Stanley Cup for the first time after the longest Stanley Cup drought in the history of the sport. That's the only way it can happen. I think that's what that tweet was driving at, is that there is a future in which that could happen i agree with

you right now it's not reality i just don't think it's likely to happen like that that's that's where i took that i think it's more likely that matthews becomes the more beloved maple is it possible sure but i think it's more likely if i had to put money down on fan duel if you went and you you know pulled did did family feud you, a hundred people were asked, who's your favorite Maple Leaf of the Matthews-Marner era? I bet you there'd be more answers that say Matthews than Marner 20 years from now. If I'm a betting man, if I'm making odds, I agree with you.

Matthews is the favorite to be that guy, but I still think that job is open, man. Nobody has filled that job. Playoff hero for a playoff winner in Toronto. No one's ever done it. Is John Tavares at that point? Is he the leader in the race for the overtime winner against Tampa? Hey, that gets you a lot of mileage.

Yeah. Now, first-round wins aren't going to carry the same weight as later-round wins, but you've got to start somewhere. That is a good start to a legendary career. Sadly, it ended in a very big thud in five games against Florida, and that's why we don't look at that very fondly, or as fondly as we might have looked at it if they'd gone on a deeper run. Your Goudas getting booed last night, like every time he touched the puck.

Yeah. People don't like Radko Goudis in this city. Take him on your team. There's been a lot of times where the Leafs have tried to bring in a Radko Goudis-like player. You probably would take him on your team. All right, maybe we'll do a couple of filters after dark throughout the show, but we've got to go. Still to come, we're going to be joined.

Luke Wilson coming up. We've got our nfl picks we'll dive back into the thursday nighter last night get his thoughts on the whole devondre campbell situation and devon shepherd gonna join at 6 30 as well mike di stefano with dave festchuck of the toronto star you listen to overdrive on tsn 10 50 and on tsn 4 it's a brand new year time to review last year's financial decisions and set new priorities for 2025. Kelvin, the money guy suggests the three-step approach. One, clearly define your goals for the new year. Two, create a plan tailored to your needs and ambitions. And three,

make sure your portfolio is designed to serve that plan. Goal, planfolio. Contact Kelvin the Money Guy and set your plans in motion. Call 416-457-PLAN or visit askkelvin.ca. Time now for TSN 1050 Time Saver Traffic. Problems continue northbound on the 427 in the Express at Rathford, where that crash cleanup is still blocking all lanes and causing some very heavy delays. Only the left shoulder is being used to get by. And on the collector to express transfer, you'll find the right lane is also blocked. On the 401 westbound in the collectors at Avenue Road, a crash is in the left lane causing delays from McCowan.

And further westbound in the collectors past Keele Street, a crash is in the right lane. In town, there's a crash eastbound on Finch that is closed just past Keele Street, a crash is in the right lane. In town, there's a crash eastbound on Finch. That is closed just past Keele Street. Got PC Optimum points? Don't miss the holiday super redemption event at Shoppers Drug Mart. Get more for your points now until Wednesday, December 18th. From the Newstalk 1010 Traffic Center, I'm Christina Galli. Overdrive continues up on TSN4 and on TSN1050.

Mike DiStefano filling in for KZB. Got my main man, Dave Festschuk, in for the Toronto Star. And I've been somewhere else all week. I've been hiding, and it's time for you guys to tell us where I have been hiding all week. Call us now at 416-870-1050 the first caller through with the correct location of where i was will win a pair of tickets to see the leafs and islanders on december 21st buds islanders tickets december 21st call now and uh first one through we'll get themselves a pair of tickets some news the island the Islanders. You see, they sent down Pierre Engvall today, former Maple Leaf.

Saw that. I don't know. One of Lou's favorites. I still cannot believe they gave him that. Seven years, $3 million AAV for Pierre Engvall. Which makes no sense because... So he had the size that Lou likes, but he did not play up to his size ever never saw it never so what did lou love about pierre engvall i'll never understand never

understand it well i don't think patrick wah understood it either because clearly not i think he's part of the reason why we had that patrick wah quote a couple of weeks ago of this is the team lou gave us or or whatever it was it It basically said, I'm not the GM. Don't blame me. He wishes he was the GM. You think? He wishes. Well, he was coaching GM when he was in the queue, wasn't he?

When he was in junior. I get the sense that he would love to own the whole operation in the NHL. I think you're dead right. Yeah. That's always been the MO. That's always been the reputation or that's the reputation would the islanders be open to that you think well i don't think lou will be open to it well i mean if they get rid of lou yeah like who takes do they find someone else or do they maybe give patty

an opportunity to run the whole operations it's we haven't seen coach gm for quite some time in this league right like it's it's too big a job. Pat Quinn did it. Both, yeah. Pat Quinn did it here. Yeah. And, you know, that was 20-plus years ago when Richard Petty, the CEO, said it's too big a job for one man. And now it's a job that is done by multiple people.

Yeah. More than two. You know, you got more than one coach. You got many more general managers in terms of assistance and cap specialists and and scouting well that's a big difference too between now and when it was done prior we're living in a salary cap world right you got to know you got to know numbers backwards and forwards and maybe maybe patty was a savant when it comes to the calculations. Maybe he's brain man, but I would imagine that that could be a bit of a hindrance.

I mean, ultimately he's a good coach, so he should just focus on coaching, but they got to get some help. That's not a good team out there on the Island. Yeah. Not a good team. It's a roster problem.

More than it's a coaching problem. Right. And that's pretty obvious. And, but man, you look around the league, like the Leafs are playing two teams this weekend, Al's brother.

Same issues. Can you really blame the coaching in Detroit and Buffalo? Detroit's a really strange one for me. I look at that team, and it just looks like a mishmash of play. There's no identity to that group. No identity at all.

Five years into the Izer plan, it didn't do well. There's a identity to that group. No identity at all. Five years into the Izer plan. Yeah. It's not too well. There's a lot of question marks with the Izer plan. And yeah, Leafs and Red Wings are going to get in action tomorrow night. Then the following evening, they'll be playing Buffalo. I'd imagine we don't see Anthony Stolarz, who's day-to-day. Dennis Hildeby was called up.

I'd imagine he'll get one of those games. We can continue this conversation in the second hour. But Luke Wilson going to join us. Still got our overdrive picks. And Javon Shepard, our number three of overdrive, coming up next.