OverDrive - OverDrive - December 16, 2025 - Hour 1 - Darren Dreger

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Maple Leafs' matchup against the Blackhawks, Auston Matthews seeking more production, Anthony Stolarz's injury, Joseph Woll and Dennis Hildeby's role and Connor Bedard's injury impacting the Olympics. TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger on Stolarz's mysterious injury timeline, Bedard's shoulder injury and the Sabres' managerial changes.

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Fanduil, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. All right, here we go, overdrive off and running. TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker, up on TSN4, Brian Haze, O'Dog, Jeff O'Neill, Jamie Noodles, McClennon. What's going on? I just have to say, we just recorded a podcast, and I lied about everything I said about you. guys. Yeah, it's always awkward when everyone's in the room.

Yeah. And you get asked, like, say something nice about that guy. And, you know, we come up with enough things. We came up with enough stuff. I thought we handled it pretty well. But it's kind of like at the end of a presidential debate. And they've just been, not that we were like. Torching each.

Going against each other. But remember how awkward it was when Trump and Hillary? Like, we're just going out. And then it was, can you, you got three minutes to say something nice about your opponent. And you can tell both of them, we're like, how am I going to possibly do this? Not that that's what happened with us. But, hey, we floored it.

We had a great time talking about the history of the show. And it actually makes you've been a long time, man. It's been a minute, like. Well, you know, it's crazy is, I think when we started Leif's lunch, you had some hoodies made. You still have your hood? I still have them and I wear them. I love them.

The gray ones. The gray ones. they're so good lunch on it so good so comfortable i still have them and i was wearing it the other day and and my wife goes man how long have you had that and i had to think i'm like that would have been 12 or 13 years ago yeah i've got i know exactly where mine is it's hanging my closet on the right side i see it all the time i like push stuff out of the way to get this um push it out of the way but it's got to be in the rotation it's there it's there it's a great i'm bringing it back great hoodie great call that's what i should have said when i was asked like

oh strength superpower is he's is merchandise like he always had hats we always have hoodies what's the one with the the the golfer uh Greg Norman Greg Norman but that was him was that was and that's one of my favorite hoodies I still have it I only we only break it out for the master that's one of my favorite hoodie we got to get the I'm going to get the Monty hoodie made up the Monty Grinscrew that's the big pick of Monty's face. Yeah, the grin-screwing Monty. See, we should have merchandise,

overdrive merchandise, and one should be just Monty's face. You could actually write Grinscrew, or you, that's probably what it should say. Just grin-screw, grin on top, screw on the bottom, and Monty's big face. It's like a billion-dollar idea. I think it is. What an icebreaker at a

Christmas party. He totally grin-screwed somebody the other day. Because the European seniors, they had like this mini kind of rider crub. And, And the Euros won, and Monty was asked, and he just looked at the guy and grinscrewed him, and he goes, that's what Europe does. It was the biggest grinscrew of Monty's ever. No one does it better. No one.

Nobody does it better. Well, yeah. I mean, listen, there's a lot going on, right? We've got some big games tonight. We've got the Leafs and the Blackhawks without Connor Bedard. You got Jari versus Skinner. And I'm pulling for Stuart Skinner in this game. You want Skinner to win a night?

I'm pulling for him because, you know, listen, I've been hard on him. everyone's been hard on his play. I've always appreciated his approach, his attitude. Really, like everyone out of their Rishog and others in Edmonton say, easiest guy to like root for. Yeah, just a really good guy to deal with. And this is a shot across the bow for Stuart Skinner. Like, you're out of here.

You're going to pit. We're bringing in another guy. The way this team is going to go over the top is by removing you from the situation. Right. In other words, you're the issue. You know, like it's not the other guys. not the other core guys, you're going to go. And he said, you know, happy to be here, can't wait.

And I hope he plays well tonight. And obviously you hope Jari plays well, too. But Jari, it was a promotion. You know, who's Edmonton said, we've got to get you. Yeah. Skinner, it was like, yeah, we'll take you in Pittsburgh. And I hope he plays well tonight. I hope so, too.

I actually hoping for Stuart Skinner to have a good showing. You know, we were talking about him yesterday. Like, I never dislike Skinner. I just believe Jari's a better fit. his stylistic, whether it works or not. Skinner's a good goalie. If you look at the history of Stuart Skinner, keep in mind, he was pressed into duty.

They signed Jack Campbell to be the number one. Stuart Skinner was in the minors. They brought him up. They drafted. They developed him. The job was supposed to be Campbell number one to bring Skinner along. That wasn't the case. Campbell claimed out.

Okay, Skinner, here you go. Play 64 games that year. Is Jack Campbell even playing hockey right? No. He's retired. No. He's retired. Yeah, I do believe he's retired.

I don't want to speak out of turn, but I do believe he's not playing. But that's what sprung him into action, I believe prematurely. I think they wanted him to play 25 to 30 games to start off, learn the league, settle in, develop into this, and it was like, go play. And now you were right. He made the All-Star team a couple years ago. 23, yeah. played well and he's been their guy but he was pressed into instead of just like allowing him keep in mind he's 26 he's the same age is joseph wall right who's back tonight too joseph wall

shout out to joseph wall making his return this evening i did you guys see that coming or no i didn't i just always feel like it's a coin flip at best right you know like until you see it and you hear it and baroube did confirm it this morning that joseph wall will in fact play now it opens the door to the next conversation. We got into it with Jonas last week, where Jonas is a true believer that you have to map out everything and do what you can to avoid

future injury. I'm with you. Which means what? It's like, okay, Wall, you're back. You can get two games and then you've got to take three off because let's not get stupid here. That's kind of what is being suggested. And Jonas is not alone. Don't get me wrong.

It's just, what are you going to do with Joseph Wall now? Because he played he started seven or eight games and then he got heard yeah so what are you going to do with and noodles hayes bought off the point we were talking with jonas actually giving it to jonas like a dessert we were like if that's the case yeah how could you even ever expect somebody to get through a playoff run you can be a tandem goaltender to lead you up there but with stole ours and wall how could you trust one of them in a playoff run to play every other night that's the biggest challenge that's the biggest challenge you're right when you look at games played of the guys who go

of the Stanley Cup, it's always got a two in it, right? 22 games, 24 games. Like, that's Stuart Skinner a couple years ago played it, I believe, in 24 games. Like, that's, you got, that's in two months. Like, you're not going, hey, now with Skinner was a different story, because

Pickard grabbed some starts off of them, same thing, in both runs. With these goaltenders right now, I disagree on, I understand them mapping out, but nothing is a perfect science. You can go, hey, you know what, we're going to have a nice fluffy start for you on a Thursday night.

What if you get the doors blown off of you? And you get pulled halfway through the game. Well, you're not mapped out to play for three more games. Like to me, you can lay it out at the start of the month and go, this is a perfect opportunity for you to play two or three here or whatever. It never seems to go like that. It just never does. Well, and that was my point is I almost feel like you can't avoid the injury,

unfortunately, with a player that's injury prone. You can say you get a week off in between every start, then he could still get hurt. So I feel like you've got to treat him like a professional, and you're never going to start them in back-to-back games, but that goes without saying. That's never going to happen. If it's getting a little bit crazy where it's, you know, in this year with the condensed schedule, there can be crazy stuff playing, you know, whatever it is, four games and six nights. Okay, you're not going to play three of those.

You're only going to play two. Totally reasonable. But you got to trust the guy can play. And there was a report on Stolars today that he's going for an opinion or a second opinion. And it's not concussion related. Berube was willing to acknowledge that, not concussion related. Yet there's no progress. But the progress is not happening in the fashion that they wanted to.

There's nothing, which he's not even on the ice. And there's no progress. It was November 11th the last time he was on the island. Right. So I think you're going into the abyss here with the assumption that Stolars is not going to be helping you anytime. So you have a Joseph Wald, Dennis Hill to be tandem. That's your tandem. And they're the ones that have to be responsible for getting you out of a dark place right now.

You've played yourself into a dark place. You've got 51 games left. Chris Tannab appears really close to returning. That's big. Yesterday he had a regular shirt on and he's up there practicing and I don't know when he's going to return. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's relatively soon. Not tonight, though. Not tonight.

He's not playing tonight. I'm not sure he'll hit the road, right? throughout Washington at Nashville at Dallas. He may go on the road, but not play. But I think he's pretty, yeah, he's pretty close, and I think Carlo will return by the end of the month. So you're getting close to a full lineup here.

Right. It's just the goaltending, which means you look at a game like tonight with bad dart out. You've got to take advantage of this game. You have to win this. You have to win. Like, this will say a lot about them because history scares

you that the ones that they're supposed to win are the ones they lose, even when they're in a really good place. Right. but this is a non-negotiable must win must win and borderline non-negotiable dominant performance like chicago's starting to reel a little bit again but darb being out that's very deflating for them yeah and you're coming off a bad loss on saturday the coaches challenged the leaders the coaches called out their best players it appears as if they're loading up on a top line kneelander

matthews and nyes you got to get going tonight yeah go at you got to get going and it's an opportunity, though, against a team that is, like I say, missing Bedard. Chicago is a better team than they were the last couple years. Yep, absolutely. No doubt. But they have a young defensive core there, for example. Good young players, but young. The goalie's really good. There's a difference, like, my only worry is if they get goalied. Like if Spencer Knight, I don't know if he's confirmed to start or not. I didn't check, check, I should check quickly, but he's a really good goal to.

you can get goalied sometimes but you've got to find a way like this is an opportunity for them to put 35 to 40 shots up and have a really strong response to a game you didn't like on Saturday. How about just put something together to build momentum? And let me just mention

one guy because Neelander seems to get abused every day and now the vultures are circling around Austin Matthews. Since the hot start John Tavares has dropped off a cliff he has not been getting it done to any degree. I don't care how old he's still John Tavares and he's still

a quality player in the league. He's another guy that needs to elevate and play a lot better than he has been. Yeah. Him, Matthew 9 is the same thing. Nice has got three goals and 18 games. Something like that. You're getting paid now. You're a veteran in the league. You're a core player. But, you know, I do think

you know, we talked a lot about Matthews yesterday and I thought about it more last night. I was on with Jay last night. Like there's all this focus on and, you know, his complete game and what he's got to do. Right. The fact of the matter is, he has to score.

Right. Period. End of story. It's all about production. It's all about, like, you are paid what you're paid, and you have established your reputation as such. Rightfully. Because you score goals, man. That's it. How about that suit was regarded as a great two-way player?

Yes. Very responsible, always in the right place. But you know what he did? He did the spectacular. He produced offensively. He was an offensive guy. The other stuff was almost like an added bonus. Exactly.

He's like, I'm going to commit to a 200-foot game and be a complete player. But what separates me from everyone else is what I do in the other zone away from my goaltender. That was the separator. 100%. This guy, he's in the same vein as an Ovechkin. He plays a different position, much better defensively, has different challenges because he plays on the penalty kill now. He's down low, obviously, playing center. It's not the direct equivalent.

But Ovi, at no point, was it like, hey, you better start thinking about, about, you know, the back pressure. It was like, dude, just go rip goals home and terrify the opposition. Yeah, if you want to hang your hat on all, I was always on top of the puck, and I was responsible, and I was taking the right routes in my own zone. Like, you're not Bergeron. No, exactly. Like, do you think Jeff Blashele is, like, scared tonight?

Do you think they're going in, say, man, 34, that guy's going to kill me this evening? I honestly think that he's thinking that if you get on top of these guys, you can take over this hockey game, as opposed to being scared about anything. thing. What have they done for anybody to come into the building and be scared? What game would Jeff Blashell put on and show them to say,

you better be careful about this? Nothing. I can't reference one. Exactly. Yeah, I can't reference it. There was a stretch. About a month ago? Okay. He's digging back a month. No, I know, but I'm just, I'm trying to find in my mind.

Wasn't there a stretch not that long ago? Call it a month where they won three in a row and they were putting scoring up. They were putting on a They went through Pitt, and they went through Florida, Carolina. But it seemed like, okay, the team found, they found offensively what they needed to do, but they weren't cleaning it up defensively. I think Blaschill is aware because you have to be aware. I keep saying this.

I said it yesterday. You keep waiting for it. It's like Matthews gets these chances because I saw it even last game. He took the inside for himself, made a great play. But Jari made the save in tight. Like that type of stuff. He hasn't done five times in a game. Well, that's the difference.

That's the question. Like, is he a sleeping giant, is the question. Because other guys, when they're struggling, you're like, that's a sleeping giant. Like, he's going to snap out of this. He's going to wake up. It's tonight to night type of thing. Well, that's, if it's not going to be tonight, when is it going to be? You know, like it's got to happen in the next seven, eight games.

You know, like they've got to get going. Like Ottawa won last night. Montreal obviously had a good performance on Sunday they picked up three points over the weekend whichever way you look at it to just see yourself barely above Buffalo should send alarm bells

and Buffalo I don't care what the I don't care how far away you are from first you're just above Buffalo in the bottom the basement of the division and the conference that should be the that should be the that's the barometer man

it is the barometer because it's not the word I was thinking of that should be the Catalyst for urgency. Catalyst. Very good word. Very good word of the day. No, I do believe because regardless of where other teams are, you have to be looking at the standings and going,

we have to stay within striking distance. You can't be losing points, you know, losing regulation. Again, it's about points. Wins and losses, you need points tonight. You need points because you've got to climb against Ottawa, against the Rangers, against Florida. one last night. Correct. Did I? Yeah, Florida beat Tampa. Tampa. It was a good

game. Yeah, absolutely. So that's the challenge right now is you've got to stay within striking distance because all these teams are playing every night. So it's two points for that team, two points for this. You don't want to be eight points out, ten points out. That seems like

a massive mountain. But if you're four or five, then you're right there. And again, back on the road at Washington, we know what happened the last time they were there. Yeah. You're going to go through Dallas soon, not easy building to play in so yeah you got to find a way to get it tonight and Joseph Wall returning

I'm sure is you know certainly a boost for the team we'll see what he's got but he's playing really well prior to the injury and no Connor Bedard and you know I saw Craig on Sports Center last night making the case that if Bedard's made the team like Team Canada you should make the team and then

make adjustments if need be which you know what if there was a badard or a Tom Wilson debate amongst the group you know what I my my thought would be Canada will use this as a reason not to put them on like that's not my opinion for what should happen I just wouldn't be surprised if that's what it is and they're like man our instincts lean Wilson but but darts killing it right now and the whole country's on badard and this injury gives them an opportunity to say we just couldn't trust we love him you know and he's right there and if he gets back and someone else gets injured maybe then he becomes a replacement if he proves he's healthy but just it would appear to me to give them somewhat of a cop, but I wouldn't be shocked if they used it. But I think what Craig

said, I concur with. I mean, he's played himself onto this team. So if he's played himself onto this team, should he still be on it? And then you just hope he returns, and he gets back to 100%. Like, he's going to be out for a month. I think Kevin Weeks said it's a separated shoulder. That's his

report. That's what it looked like. Just comes down to the grade of the separation, how difficult it's going to be for him to get back to 100%. I'm sure if people a lot of people, most people would understand this, especially playing any kind of competitive sports. Sometimes this stuff is not fair. You know what I mean?

Sometimes you can play yourself onto a team and then this happens and you're not on the team. And you know what? You've got to suck it up and deal with it. Like everybody's like, oh, they better if he's injured out of a month, he better still, maybe he's, maybe he shouldn't make the team. Maybe it costs him making the team, who knows? And that's something Connor Bedard is going to have to deal with.

They got to make decisions, and they got to make the best one for the team. And if they say to him, you know what, this one cost you, then it costs them. Big deal. That's – deal with it. Very, very realistic. They're trying to win a goal. They're trying to win. They don't care about – they're going to have to hurt a lot of feelings on the 31st,

making phone calls to good players, some of the world's best players, and say – and some returning guys who probably thought they were on the team, and it's like, you didn't make the team. Absolutely. And listen, he's got his whole career ahead of him. He doesn't want to hear that right now. But in four years, in four years this happens, he's already been picked, more than likely. He'll be locked in as Connor McDavid's right winger.

In four years, when you're 24 or whatever, you'll be there. But now it's no guarantee because you're right. There's going to be guys getting calls who are 28, 29, 30, having great years that think, man, I've done everything I can to make this team, and you're not going to be on the team. So it is not about feelings. It's not about popularity. It's not House League where everyone gets a shift. you're playing for the country.

Hockey Canada's got to make a tough choice. You're going to play for keeps. That's the other thing. Yeah. And the Americans, like, we keep focusing on them, but they're bringing big boys. You know, like, they're going to be, they're in the fight. They're going to be a very good team. Yes.

A very, very good team. Like, I... It was one shot away. It was a one play game. Yeah. Like, that's what it came down to, one play. Yeah. It is.

And we can't sleep on some of these other countries either. Like, this Sweden team might have a team, you know, like you... I know, I know, Russia's not in. But, like, I think there's some other countries that we can't just assume it's going to be Canada, U.S. That's the other thing. There might be a surprise country. Is there a country that would surprise you if it wasn't Canada? Well, I mean, it feels like it's either Canada, U.S., Finland, or Sweden.

So anyone, any of those non-four nations teams would be shocking. I mean, Czechia maybe, you know, there's going to be teams that, I mean, can, I don't know. I'm not bracing four. That's a thing. One of those four teams will win gold. Yes. And I think we're all polling for Canada, the U.S. in the final. I mean, that would be as good as it gets.

Gold medal match between those two teams would be phenomenal. Yeah. All right. So we got Leaves Blackhawks tonight. We've got again Sid McDavid, right? It's Jari versus Skinner, but really it's Sid and McDavid. You know, and the two of them are playing really well right now. Like McDavid's flying and Sid's had a great year.

Should be pissed off. Did you see what they did on the weekend? Twice. Twice. They blew multiple. 5-1 to San Jose lose 6-5 in overtime. Up 3 Cobb on Sunday, I'm watching, they lose again. In overtime, they look on Carlson's face, it wasn't a good goal.

The game-winning goal in overtime was not a good goal they gave up. But it shouldn't have got there. I can't remember who they played on set. It was ridiculous. I was watching the game. I'm like, 3-0. Now, that's over. Mammoth.

Yes, Utah. It was Gunther, I think. Yeah, they threw away two points. Just it away, like literally. So they should be... What are they even doing, the penguinos? Are they... They're right there in a playoffs.

I believe they're a wild card team right now. Yeah, but I mean, are you talking, like, are they sellers? Yeah, like, do they even want that? Or, like, what is the direction? Like, as everybody thought that it was like, this is the year that everybody's going. I mean, we were talking at the beginning of the season.

It's like, okay, Sid to Pittsburgh, or Sid to Colorado or Montreal, is happening this year. And now that's stuff's up. They're in the hunt. That's not going to happen. They are one point out with two games in hand on Boston. Well, they've had youth that's shown up and performed. They're right. They've had some kids both up front and on the back end

and they've gotten better goaltending, which has been big. Now, obviously they just moved one of them, but their goaltending has been pretty stable. It'll be interesting to see because I felt, you're right. In the offseason, they were the only team that I felt were open for business flat out. Everybody's

available outside of, you know, Crosby, whatever. And now they're making moves. And Kyle's made some moves. He's got some flexibility there. Yeah, he does. And the team is still hanging around a playoff spot. Yeah. Well, we'll see. It's going to be a big night down in Scotia Bank. Again, Joe Bowen, the great Joe Bowen

is being honored tonight, right? Holy Macon night. It's going to be awesome. We'll talk about Bonesy throughout the day. We've got Dregs coming up. Who will get into the penguin side of things? What happens next? And what we can expect out of the Bedard injury and how it could affect Team Canada and their projection and got Mike Johnson coming up.

game on TSN 4 tonight. Lease Blackhawks or Johnny coming up from the rink and confirm a deny in just over an hour. Overdrive continues up on YouTube live. All right. Overdrive continues. Brought you by Fanduo, bringing you more ways to play your game your way. Man, that Tua hates playing in the cold. Doesn't he just absolutely go into a shell and throw ducks around whenever it's cold outside? It's shocking. This guy cannot win when it's uncomfortable outside. Who are the two playoff performances when it was freezing? One was Green Bay. For him, and one was Kansas City.

Remember, it was historically cold. He was horrendous. He can't throw the ball down the field anyway, but you can see he's so uncomfortable. And I have thrown this theory out before. I don't think it helps when the coach looks the way he looks in the cold as well, because he screams, I'm uncomfortable. Like, you need a coach like Andy Reed, who's not as frozen on his mustache. And he's acting like he's at the beach.

He's got a windbreaker on. look at this cat there's mike mcdana imagine going up to him and saying sorry what are we calling here on this play dude this guy's got 30 different pair of glasses i'm telling you he's every day he's got this is his last year yes and i think last night a percent i don't listen the two of them now two is a big problem right like two uh he cannot play in in cold weather he can't throw the ball and what kind of league like what kind of sports league can you have a guy that can only play under one circumstance it can't happen it can't happen and mcdaniel the same thing like he can't can't get them up for the game.

And the way, like, Troy Aikman was destroying them in the fourth quarter last night. Like, he was flabbergasted by the way they were controlling the clock when they decided to call timeouts. They got called on a delay of game when they were in a hurry up offense. It's impossible. Like, you have to have plays ready. And Tua was looking at the sideline. I'm watching the clock.

I'm like, guys, what are you doing here? And they took a five-yard penalty. It was just crazy to watch. They look so disorganized. It looks so uncomfortable, and it just looked like McDaniel was dying to get back to South Beach. And Tua's right there with him. Get me back to the heat. I can't handle it up here.

Andy Reid, though. I just, the visual, do you remember during COVID he had the windshield? Yeah. It was all fogged up. The best, though. But he's right. Like last night, again, it's different. That guy, he's got the Tukon, the hoodie. 15 layers.

Tomlin had like a quarter zip and a baseball hat on. Yeah. And there's something. about the visual of your coach in a sport like that where it's like I'm not going to look like I'm miserable here because we're here to perform. You guys are going out there with short sleeves and battling for

me. I'm not going to be bundled up looking ridiculous on the sideline. I always told you about the just the impression that your coach brings when you walk in a room. Pat Quinn like had a presence about him. Always dialed in suit, tailored. I mean, it was funny when he dropped

his pen and he couldn't pick it up, but just the overall impression appearance, it's massive. Yes. And if you're a guy that's like, oh, it's so cool. Like, what kind of message would vibe through the team? 350-pound lineman there with like a t-shirt on. Right.

Battling, grinding. You think he gets another gig as a head coach? I don't think so as a head coach. I think he goes back to being an offensive coordinator, and I think Tua ends up as a backup somewhere. Yes. And I think McDaniel will be brilliant as a coordinator. I don't deny he's a great football mind and all that.

It just hasn't worked in Miami. All right, here's Darren, T. or TSN Hockey and Seder. Well, this isn't working. Well, you don't have anyone at home or anything. You don't even need it. It's just the four of us, hanging out. Just come on in, man.

I'm all disheveled here. It's all good. It's all right. Everybody gets set up. Well, a lot going on, isn't there? Pretty wild, like, week or so in the NHL. Trades, firings. I mean, how often is a GM get fired during the season? Yeah, a bit weird.

A bit weird. But that, you know, that Buffalo speculation had been drifting for several days, I would Doing that kind of ridiculous, Dreg's how it was like, you bring in Yarmal and everybody knew that that's a red flag. And then it's just being reported. It's like, probably when they get back from Seattle is going to get canned. It's like, what kind of business is that? That's nonsense. Well, the media march in Buffalo.

I mean, they were literally doing the hour-by-hour watch of this for several days, right? It's not like you needed, you know, the gaggle of hockey insiders to give you the goods. I mean, Buffalo media was all over it. Now, we do think that, you know, there was some timing issue. I think Yarmel was in Finland. for personal reasons. So that may have slowed the process a little bit, but at the end of the day, I think everybody knew it was coming.

And now you start to wonder, okay, well, you know, to your point, Brian, you know, general managers don't get fired in season very often. And it's difficult when you come in in season to manage any sort of significant change, right? You can look at the Alex Tuck negotiation. All right, well, that's pretty obvious. You know, he's got his own view, I'm sure, Yarmot, on the VAL. value of Alex Tuck. I mean, the former general manager shared that Tuck was looking for money that was just beyond Alex Kempi, or Adrian Kempi. So Kempi is, what, 10.6 on his

extension in L.A.? So is that enough to make Alex Tuck a legitimate trade bait target between now and March 6? Maybe, maybe. So stuff like that is, I think, where he starts to sink his teeth into. Let's go around the horn here. What is the one thing that the Stabors desperately need to get out of this 14 or 15 year rut of nonsense. I think it's honestly an ownership

change. Like I don't think the owner pays enough. That ain't going to happen. I hear what you're saying, but Pagula he's, I've got one... Billionary. He's a buffaloonian. It's a buzzword. A culture. You need an identity.

Regardless of whether you live up to it or not, but that's the one thing. Now, I'm going to defend a little bit on one side. It's because Marty Bearon, Rhett Warner, all of these guys that I've talked to, we work with, know, and that. Those guys are alumni that love

and retired in Buffalo. Like, there's a culture there. Like, when you go there, a lot of guys love with it, they fall in love with it, they stay, or they marry somebody from there, whatever. But there's something there to me, but I don't know what the identity of the organization is. And I think

that's probably where you start. I heard Yarmu used that word today, too. No, but if you look at the identity or culture or whatever, if you look at some of the pieces that were there, it's like, number one centerman is so important for an NHL franchise. Yeah. They had one. Yeah.

And there was a dispute over surgery, and the guy got pissy, and he said, get me the hell out of here. There goes your number one centerman. They had Allmark and Net, and it was like, Allmark just goes somewhere else, and he's a starting goal. It's like, you need the pieces and good players to identify any type of culture, and some of them were there, and they're just gone. Yeah, no, you're right.

I'm not arguing against you. I'm just saying that that's where I would start. I don't know how you do that, but I think that's where you start and go, we're going to create a culture here that where guys are going to want to stay here, want to play here. Yeah, I mean, it starts with the forensic audit, the new management of the roster.

Is this NHL roster good enough for us to compete for a playoff spot? And if it isn't, then, okay, you do have to start moving out some pieces. You know, cut bait with Alex Tuck in the sand, to draw that line in the sand. Okay, here's as high as we're going to go. And that's it. Because if they throw Alex Tuck officially on the trade market, I mean, you don't think that... Brad Trilling has been looking for a forward. Well, go down the list of all the teams in the NHL that would dive into that pool given the opportunity, right?

Well, that's where it starts. And then beyond that, if you're okay with your NHL roster, maybe it needs some tweaking. I think you have to ask some hard questions about the coaching. questions about the coaching. I mean, who doesn't have respect for Lindy Ruff? He's been around the game forever, right? But that's what tough decisions are all about, and he's not Yarmos guy. And when you've got a Pete DeBore floating out there, or maybe another guy that you cover. If your organization is bold enough to fire its GM in season this early in the first half of the regular season, then I think you have to be open for business to do

just about anything. Where do things stand with John Tortarillo? Like, does he want to coach again? Does, like, he's a Yarmou guy? He would love to coach. He's a Yarmou guy. They were together in Columbus. Yeah.

You want culture. That's the face of it right there. He does create, regardless of what you. That guy steps in and will immediately demand certain things. I want work. I want this. That he does, he's demanding. It would be interesting.

I, DeBore, I think, would be sexier. I mean, just based on. I hear you, but. Well, the one thing Kevin Adams talked about. about, he said, you know, there's taxes, there's no palm trees. What if you throw torts on top of it? Like, are you going to get, and I know it's about winning and it's about culture. The worst thing he could have ever said, though, was that press conference was so embarrassing.

It was so stupid. It was. You can't, you can't, like. But I'm just saying if you throw torts on it's another, it's almost like another tax where it's like, do I want to go there and deal with torts? Valid? Right. I hear you? Or do you live with it through the, through another year?

which is tough because we're still so early. I mean, Buffalo is far from out of it when you look at the standings. You know, I mean, why throw in the towel here? I wouldn't throw in the towel, but you do have to be creative. Like he said, I'm going to address my goaltending. We've got three. We've got to figure out. We want to go to two.

You know, we've got some decisions to make with Alex Tuck. I just, what's weird about this, he's been sitting there in the wings, forensic auditing his team already. Yeah, he knows what he has. He knows exactly what he has. wants to do, whether he's able, now he's able to do it because he's the guy. He was sitting on the couch,

now he's in the chair. Now he's in the chair to drive the bus and go, this is the vision I have and he's probably had to sell that to Pugula. Yeah, it's going to be interesting too to see some of the off-ice stuff that happens that we don't know about, we don't talk about, because it doesn't,

to us, it doesn't matter. What I mean by that is, you know, the guys that were faithful to him in Columbus, that maybe still are in Columbus, maybe don't love what they have and Don Waddell in the direction of the blue jackets. That stuff likely doesn't happen in season. But when you look at hockey operations of the Buffalo Sabres, there's definitely going to be change. Darren Dregor in studio.

So we got Leaves Blackhawks tonight on TSN. Joseph Wald back. Stole ours, an update, I guess, today. Not concussion related what he's dealing with, but going for an opinion or a second opinion or what have you because there's no progress there. How are the Leaves going to handle the goal-tending? But I just want to back up like 30 seconds. So you guys saw the release from the Raptors yesterday. Mike Lane and I were talking about this yesterday.

And they acknowledged the specific injury to R.J. Barrett. Did you notice that? Oh, yeah. I think it was widely assumed that maybe it was Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. The parent company had this clause. All right, we do not disclose injuries. Well, clearly, the Raptors aren't, they're not adhering to that. So it isn't that. It's a maple leaf's issue.

And I think that they're inching towards being more honest and open with Anthony Stollars because they don't have another way to explain why this guy isn't on the ice. And there's been wild speculation that's been floating out there as to the mysteries that are keeping Anthony Stolars off the ice. And some of it was getting goofy, to be fair. And now whether or not it gets to mainstream guys like us or not, doesn't matter. Once it's out there, it's out there. So I think that encouraged, you know, the decision to come out and say, okay, it's not concussion related. It's not this. He's got an upper body injury that we haven't been able to figure out yet in terms of why he's not progressing to a point where he can get back on the ice. They say he's making progress, but you still can't get a timeline as to when Stoller's might be back on the ice or back in the net. Right. And Wall's back tonight, and this is an evergreen topic around him.

Do they just let him play? Or is there, you know, how do they... Whatever game it was, you know, was it just prior to him getting hurt, or was it the game where he got... It doesn't matter, but we were having this discussion as to whether or not he plays in this game. I think it was a Thursday game, and they had to play Saturday. And, you know, I was like, now you got to, whatever, just ride him. Play him. And he was like, I don't know. We're playing with fire here, and then the poor guy gets.

I think you guys had that date with Jones. Yeah, like, how do you handle the guy? I mean, it's great that he's back. It's a relatively quick recovery. Think about this. Like, this isn't talked a lot about, but think about, like, the salary. Like, some of these modern-day goaltenders, it's like they're earning top dollar, and they're playing half the games of another guy.

It's crazy stuff. Yeah, and it's so important. It's so important. It's made injury versus injury here, right? But then you think of Conor Halibuck. And, you know, as soon as he stepped on to the ice early last week, I mean, he was just doing goaling movements. He wasn't even taking shots initially.

And he went to the training staff and said, no, I'm good to go. But there are certain guys. You guys played with them, I'm sure, as well. They're just, hey, just get the clearance sign and let me go. Enough of this. How about this? Lie about it. Connor Hallibuck is a guy that, like, these guys now,

at 30 years old, whatever, even younger. They know their bodies. So Helibuck's like, okay, minor procedure looks like four to six weeks. Now the procedure, feeling good. Okay, let's do some butterflies. Let's do some pushes. I'm good. I think guys, with the other guys and a bunch of guys throughout the league,

the one thing that's completely out the window is any type of sense of urgency. Like if you look at how tight the standings are in the Atlantic, some guys that are injured, you'd be saying, You'd think they'd be saying, man, like, there's no option for me now. I've got to play. Like, the points are so important, but everyone's just so comfortable to say. That's the approach for a lot of guys. Yeah, they're like, I'm not stepping on that.

And it's their prerogative. And that's how, if that's how they want to deal with it, it's their careers. But it's their, like, their mandate is I'm not stepping on that ice unless I'm 100%, which is this crazy to think. Well, we won't see Bedard on the ice tonight. We're not going to see them any time soon. What do you, how does this affect? Early New Year, I think.

Early New Year? Do you think that's going to affect the way Canada approaches him and putting them on the team or not? I don't think so. But, you know, you've got guys kind of dropping left and right. You know, is the news bad on Horvatt? Not so sure. Better than expected, I think. You know, we saw Brandon Hagel take one in the chops by, you know, Seth Jones last night,

which, by the way, I think Chris Johnson is talking about tonight in insider trading because the lightning are white-hot. Yeah, no supplemental discipline at all. No, and the explanation that was provided to me, and I don't work for the NHL or the players' safety department here, was that we've all seen the still pick, and the still pick is egregious, right? Because it shows Seth Jones with the elbow, like two feet from Rand and Hagel's head. Looks just like what Eckle did to him. But in the video that we're looking at here, you can see Hegel stop up and then cut back, right? And by that point, Jones had committed. So is it more of an unfortunate collision that led to the injury?

head hunting as the Tampa Lightning would want you to believe. Well, obviously, George Perros and Department of Player's Safety said, no, it wasn't that. It was an unfortunate collision, but... I have time for the debate, but here's what I remind everybody when we get hot and bothered over

this stuff. I've been to every general manager meeting in March for the last 25 years. These guys talk about this stuff. You know how many times they change it? Not very often. Not very often. We have seen changes related to... I mean, the evolution of the player safety department is because of the general managers.

The Matt Cook days and the league. I'm not throwing them fully under the bus. The cross-checking penalties, the slashing, you almost never see that stuff anymore, right? So they do good work. But I hope Julian Breeze spawned the Tampa Lightning are as emotional in March in that meeting with other general managers and spool that up and say, I want everybody to go around the room. And if that's your player, how do you feel about that player? Well, you know, and I agree with that. The issue with that could be is they'll find something a lightning player has done and said,

you speak on your guy. 100%. That's always the issue is every GM hates it when their player gets it. And then when they get called, well, your player just did something. They said, well, wait a minute, there's an easy explanation for that. Yeah. And that's the problem. Everyone's got an easy explanation for their own guy.

For their own guy. Remember, Bouchnevich, they put, the Rangers put the letter out. Yes, yep. And then next day, Bouchnavich got a suspended. The guy who got hit got suspended for high-sticking somebody. I'm sorry, that clip of Seth Jones, I love Seth Jones, I love Paul Maurice and the Florida Panthers. That looked like he took a shot and elbowed him right in the face. It looks eerily similar to Eckle on the playoffs.

So you're suspending them, in other words, whether it's two games, one game, whatever. Absolutely, that looked like he elbowed him right in the face. I don't care about a cutback or anything, he elbowed him in the face. And I got to think Tampa is particularly sensitive to Hegel because of his role in that rivalry. I don't think he put the player. He's targeted, man. Yeah. He is.

He is. But, now again, to go back to what you were initially talking about, yeah, there's going to be some tough decisions for Doug Armstrong and Team Canada. I mean, Badaard was absolutely playing his way, not only into the conversation, but making that decision as whether he goes to Italy or not, incredibly difficult. I still felt at the time of the injury, he was on the outside looking in. I did. Hagel, of course, he's in with John Cooper, right?

Darcy Kemper, yeah, he's in that conversation for the number three. No doubt about that. Who's the number one, Dregs, just that of curiosity? Well, I think because of resume and Four Nations bias, it would be Bennington. Yeah, I think it's Bennington. But based on play this year, you could make that case for Logan Thompson for sure. His team is not very good. You know, you put Bennington on a different team.

We saw it with the Four Nations. You put him there and played very well. Like, I think Finnington is the guy, and he proved that the Four Nations, he could stand up on the biggest stage. No, he did it. He hasn't had a great statistical year, but keep in mind where St. Louis is. We're going to juice things up on the insider trading for you, fellas. Oh, yeah? Some leaf talk.

Ooh. Some nuggets. Okay. Love it. Interesting. Do the Leafs need the foreword, for four words? We've talked about that often on the show, right? Specifically, one to saddle up beside Austin Matthews, you know, Marner 2.0 or whatever.

Get them the puck more in the offensive zone. Or a defenseman with the lingering issues. Preferably a top four guy. You say D. A defenseman. Somebody who can move the puck who not named Troy Statcher, who's played 22 minutes. Just a guy available that went to Minnesota. Okay, updates coming up.

Insider trading tonight. Can't wait. We'll catch on the panel tonight. Yep. There is. Dregor, a TSN Hockey Insider. Mike Johnson coming up in about 20 minutes, confirmed with deny as well. Overdrive continues.

TSN 1050 and on TSN4. All right, Mike Johnson in 15 minutes, confirmed with deny coming up as well. We talked about Tua and the dolphins, but we got to give a shout out to Aaron Rogers and the Steelers, man. Rogers was slinging it last night. Like, I was getting flashbacks.

It's cold. You know, the crowd is amazing. As a Green Bay. Pittsburgh and Green Bay, They're very, very similar, like just blue-collar, old-school championship teams with a great history and a great fan base and high expectations. You actually think they can do something? I don't think they can do, I think they can win the division, for sure. Other than that, no way.

I don't love their chances, but he still got Zip on his fastball, man. Like he was slinging the rock last night. I don't think they're a Super Bowl contending team. I'm not suggesting that. but if you win the division, you get a home game. Yeah. So if you win the division, you get a home game, it's probably going to be against the bills or something like that.

It might be able to turn the clock back for one night. You never know. Dude, it goes to show you, like, if Philip Rivers can jump into a game, like Aaron Rogers could be a backup for four more years if you wanted to. What is he, 41 or 40? 41 or 40. Yeah, something like that. 42.

I think he might be an 83 birthday. Rogers can do it. Yeah. Does he want to? That's the question. And ultimately, you know, how much does he connect with Tomlin? Is Tom going to stay there?

Is it Pittsburgh or bust in the future? Right. I don't know. But I get the impression like the market's kind of gravitated to him because, you know, he's still a bigger-than-life personality. And everything's kind of quieted down. He's not doing McAfee anymore. He's not, you know what I mean?

Like, he's just... That was the best thing he ever did was to get off that show. He just disappeared. Like, those were incredible interviews. Incredible. But they were clearly distracting for him, the Jets, everyone else. And he just, he shut that down. I don't recall the last time a soundbite came out

from Rogers. Yeah, he has literally said nothing this year. Nothing. Just going about his business and he's got his media obligations, which he has to do. Tomlin had that effect on. Do you think Tomlin just said to him, come play football for me and? I think the market too. I really do. I think New York, the Jets are such a gong show. I think the fact that he's back, again, a lot of comparisons to Green Bay. It's a great football town. Right. And he probably trust Tomlin. You know, how could you trust the New York Jets? You couldn't. It's impossible to do that. And I I think he got to pit and just said, I'm in a foot, I'm surrounded by football people that have winning pedigrees and a good culture and I'm ready to play.

And the last couple of games, he's been phenomenal and he was really good last night. Really good. Yes, Miami's not a great team. And still, he got the job done. So it'll be interesting. It's a fight between them and Baltimore. And one of them is going to get to the playoffs and we'll see what happens beyond that. All right.

Mike Johnson coming up on Leafs, Blackhawks. tonight and what we can expect out of Sid versus McDavid, Skinner versus Jari and more confirmed than I as well. Overdrive continues up on YouTube live. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandul. Fanduil, bringing you

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