OverDrive - OverDrive - December 20, 2024 - Hour 2

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Join Bryan Hayes, Jamie McLennan and Jonas Siegel for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joins to discuss the biggest headlines around the NHL. The guys discuss Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette's next steps with the Blue Jays.

Alpine News Network is here live with one of our superheroes. I don't want to say I'm a big deal, but I am a superhero. I love helping people consolidate their debts, and that's what I did for the Smiths. I took their bills and ZOOM! Wabam! Zap! Turned them into one low monthly payment. No, this sounds not necessary, but it's part of the fun.

Own your home, need a loan? Alpine Credits can help. Alpine Credits, where homeowners get approved. Disrelicensed 12-616. Hour 2 Overdrive continues. Brought to you by FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Brian Hayes, Jamie Noodles, McLennan, Jonas Siegel of The Athletic.

We've got our man Mike Johnson coming up here in a moment. Leafs Sabres tonight down in Buffalo. The Buffalo Sabres are 0-8-3. I'm not sure everyone's aware of that. It is a pretty loud losing streak, and that's got to sting for the Sabres because they're close enough to the border that they get the coverage on the Canadian side of things, and they have to play the Leafs, and they have to play the Habs.

In other words, if Utah was 0-8-33 I don't think we'd be talking about it I don't think it would be a much of a conversation but the Sabres are kind of like the eighth Canadian team so when they stink it's like yeah I got a connection to them I see them play all the time or I've been to Buffalo to see games or hey I was at the draft when Austin Matthews got drafted in that building yeah yeah here we go tonight parity though like it's disparity because the football team is killing it. Yes. So that's, you know, that's the biggest difference for a Buffalo, you know, sports fan is you've got, if you're a Sabres fan and you're a Bills fan,

like, I feel like Sabres fans are like, well, at least we got the Bills. Like, it's kind of, you know, maybe a sports fan sports fan in Buffalo are going, at least we've got this. Maybe that's a soft landing for them. I think for sure. I think the Bills are the more popular team. It's a football team. The NFL is king. Not that the Sabres don't have a great history and a great support staff.

They do. They have a great following. They've been around forever. It's a great hockey market. Like, Buffalo's a great hockey town, but it's beat up right now. It's a really, really bad scene. I read someone last night tweeting about how on the American team, the World Junior team, no kids from Buffalo or the Buffalo area,

which, you know, that hurts because, again, it's always been a hotbed for, like, great, great players coming out of Buffalo and western New York. They've always had a great minor hockey system. And I think Al's brother said he was connecting with someone in Buffalo the other day, and they're predicting this will be the most lopsided crowd maybe in the history of the club. And what they meant by that is the amount of Leaf fans that will be in attendance tonight because Sabre fans are selling their tickets.

They're not fighting back anymore. Because that's always happened. In Buffalo and in Ottawa, they've tried to fight back. They've tried to push off Leaf fans from taking over. And they've had different programs and different campaigns. Buy back our seats. We're not selling if you're not in the area code or whatever. They're not even trying anymore.

I get the impression they're basically just saying take them. You can have them for free if you're not in the area code or whatever they're not even trying anymore they're i get the impression they're basically just saying take them you have them for free if you want if you're a leaf fan and you can find me you can have my tickets find al's brother find saber tickets in western new york it's a reasonable price though brian they go down there like you know i don't know i can't remember the last time i bought some leaf tickets i think it was last year like they're not cheap like no they're not cheap. Listen, I know. I know. And I'm going. I'm bringing my kids down on Monday.

We're going. And I bought the tickets, and we'll be in the seats. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be great. Next gen. We go try to get them to a game every year if I can. And it would be easier for us, cheaper for us to go to Buffalo, sit center ice, lower bowl,

hit the anchor bar, open tab, maybe the casino on the way out, hit target, yeah, exactly, Krispy Kreme, the whole night. It would be cheaper. Can I ask you guys a big-picture question? Yeah. Somebody who doesn't know anything about this, they're like, why have the Sabres not made the playoffs since, what is it, 2011? It's 13.

So 2011? Yeah. What would your answer be? Like, we were talking about the Jets yesterday and ownership. Like, is it ownership? Have they hired the wrong people? Is it like... That's where I'd start.

How did it go that long? That's where I'd start. Now, when you say Terry Pergola, the natural reaction is, well, why are the Bills winning? He owns that team too, which I understand. For whatever reason with the Bills, he hired Brandon Bean and Sean McDermott, and he just decided, I'm out, I trust you guys, and they drafted Josh Allen.

And Allen is idiot-proof. He's owner-meddling proof. You have a guy like Josh Allen, you need more than that you need the right culture and you need turnover and all that but alan helps significantly remember like it was darcy regear and lindy ruff those were the that was a two-headed monster forever and they pushed regear out and ever since then it's been inexperienced gms in a lot of inexperienced coaches impatience with certain young players. I don't know, man.

It's a disaster, and it keeps getting worse. Here's Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analyst, joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. What do you expect tonight, Johnny? Well, I mean, I don't even know where you begin. I mean, you kind of summed it up, Hayes. It's like you think they're going to hit rock bottom. You think the owner flying in and having a rah-rah pep talk,

we're all good, you know, settle things down. Then they go get smoked from the, what, the third worst team in the league, 6-1? I don't know. I don't know what to make of it. I mean, I think at this point, everybody, no matter how long you've been in Buffalo, is feeling the weight of the length of the failure. And it's hard to shake. And so I don't know.

I mean, I think it's more than just the owner. I guess it's the owner establishing everything. It's more than just the GM. It's more than just the coach. It's more than just the players. It's sort of a combination of everything else. It couldn't be as bad as it has been for as long as it has gone on. And you look at the roster, and they have talented players.

There's no doubt about that. It's just they don't have – I think they need some steady-eddy, veteran, strong, defensive-minded, but guys who've been through the wars a little bit. I was talking to Brent Seabrook, who's one of the guys running the World Junior Tournament here in Ottawa, one of the guys in management for Team Canada. I'm like, they need Brent Seabrook. They's one of the guys running the World Junior Tournament here in Ottawa, one of the guys in management for Team Canada. I'm like, they need Brent Seabrook.

They need a player like that. You know what I mean? Like a guy who will be tough on guys but also play well, but be demanding, has had success. They're lacking that. And I think until they get it, I don't think the coach sort of matters or what else they do because this group is just too beat down, and they're not maybe sort of mentally strong enough

to get through the wilderness, but they're in right now. Yeah, they're in one, and now you've got the Leafs in town tonight. Listen, if they were 11-0 going into this game tonight, it would be 50-50 Leaf fans. If the Sabres had not lost a game all year, there'd be 50% Leaf fans tonight. But it feels like it's going to be overwhelmingly the other way. Here's what Lindy Ruff had to say about that

and I guess how to address the fact that so many Leaf fans are likely to be in the building tonight. You know, you were here a long time as a player and a coach and played the Leafs in basically split buildings. This isn't going to be a split building tonight. So how does your team deal with essentially playing a road game in your home rink? Well, you know, I think it's something you got to embrace the challenge. It's not what you want to see in your building, obviously. But the, obviously. But we've got a challenge ahead of us.

We know it's all about the two points, not about the fans. If we play well, we can take the fans out of the game. If we play well, we can take the fans out of the game. Hayes, I get gallows humor, right? Like, it's going so bad, what else can you do? Like, if you weren't going to be able to laugh, you'd be crying. But given the palm tree and taxes from Kevin Adams, and given the discontent of the fan base,

that's not a good time to be funny that way. You think they want to hear about being outnumbered by Leaf fans, getting the home crowd out of it? We used to make that joke in Arizona. We'd play Detroit or Toronto. Like, yeah, get one, getting the home crowd out of it. We used to make that joke in Arizona. We'd play Detroit or Toronto. Like, yeah, get one early, take the fans out of it. But not publicly, and not when you've lost, whatever, 12 in a row. Right?

Like, it's not... I get what he's doing. I don't want to overreact, but that's not the time or the place for it, because you know what the fans are going to say? Win a game, and guess what? We'll show up a lot more often. I had the same reaction.

I mean, the clip, you know, he does say at the start, you don't want to see that be the case, but I thought the same thing. You already did the palm trees and taxes thing. Now you're goofing on your fans who are deciding, you know what? I'm not going to show up for this, and I'd rather just sell my tickets. It's, you know, the fans are just getting crushed there. If you're a Sabre fan, it's not like they won a cup three years ago and now you're being impatient or irrational.

They haven't made the playoffs in 13 years. The playoffs in 13 years and now you're the laughingstock of the league based on the way you're playing and your coach and your GM are like, hey, what do you want us to do? No fans in the building and no palm trees and bad taxes. I don't think that's healthy. I don't think so, Nittles. Don't you think Lindy could have just said, you know what, our focus is to try and win to get out of this funk.

Like you just spin it and go, listen, regardless of who's here tonight, we're going to try and win a game. Like to me, almost like I don't know if you guys read it and go listen regardless of who's here tonight we're going to try and win a game like like to me it he almost like i don't know if you guys read it or saw it like his body language looked like it looked defeated yeah that's what it was like and and that's the like you can't buy into the you're right i think it's tongue-in-cheek and he makes a comment but you can't feed into it. That's the one thing. That's where I think you were at, Johnny. Why feed into that?

Because all it does is it's a sound bite. Instead of going, you know what, we're going to try and get out of this. This is a big challenge against a really good team, against a rival. This is what we're going to try and do is break our streak here tonight. You don't talk about the fans. Go listen. Whoever's in the building, we're going to try and have a game for them tonight like that that way i think you remove yourself and as a coach if if a player because believe me these are all sound bites players are on their phones all the time

they're going to see that sound bite today like to me i just i think it's a miss where lindy could have just said we're focused on two points guys we're going to try and break the streak tonight and no better team to do it against the tor Maple Leafs. And the flip side, it may not matter, but I wouldn't be shocked if Leaf fans are driving over the border saying, we've got something coming for you, Lindy. You're not taking us out tonight. No chance. You thought we were obnoxious before?

Wait till we take over this place now. You kidding me? We're going to burn down Chippewa Street with the parade road afterwards. Yeah, like, it's... You don't want to make too much of it, but it probably could have been handled better. But I think it does speak, because Lindy's been around forever.

He's a smart guy. And yet, he is at a loss. You can see it in his post-games. You can see it on the bench. He is just like, I don't know what to do. I don't know where to begin to try to unpack this struggle. He just doesn't... He doesn't on the bench. He is just like, I don't know what to do. I don't know where to begin to try to unpack this struggle. He just doesn't have the answers, and he knows he doesn't have them,

and that's a weird place for a coach to be. Yeah, I agree, Johnny. Now, conversely, I brought this up with the guys in the last hour. It's not like the Leafs have been world beaters in that building. Is there any chance this could be a bit of a scary trap game for the Leafs? I think any time you play a team that's at the bottom and they're really struggling and you're not, it's dangerous. Because, of course, you're going to feel confident about winning the game.

And the idea that you might lose to that team when they haven't lost forever, it's the downside. If you win, it's sort of like, well, big deal. You're supposed to win might lose to that team when they haven't lost forever, it's the downside. If you win, it's sort of like, well, big deal. You're supposed to win. Everybody beats that team. And if you lose, especially when it's Toronto, it's a bigger deal than it otherwise would be. At some point, Buffalo's going to win.

At some point, they're going to win several games. You don't want it to start with you. But, yeah, I mean, they have what? Buffalo tonight and the Islanders tomorrow? And that's still the two makeable games, you're thinking, banking points and all the rest. And we know one thing about Toronto, and I think this is not just sort of feels this way.

I read a stat where Toronto, when they're a whatever, minus 250 favorite, they've lost more games than any other team in the league in the last three years. So, like, it's a thing. One, they get favored a lot because any other team in the league in the last three years. It's a thing. One, they get favored a lot because they're popular and they're good, but they also don't always beat the teams they're supposed to. Mike, we heard from Craig Berube today that Austin Matthews continues to play through something. I wonder what you've seen since he's come back. I think he came back November 30th.

What have you seen from him since he came back from the's been about i think he came back november 30th what have you seen from him since he came back from the original i guess not even the original injury but since he came back from the three-week absence yeah seeing that it did not not raise your eyebrows guys yeah like yeah like big time big time but and i guess i haven't you know, you want to grasp on to something positive, like, oh, it looks like he's back. And I guess it sort of looks like the same. He's still getting sort of chances, but not to the same degree. And for whatever reason, the shot's not as lethal.

I mean, that's the reality. The shooting percentage will regulate to some degree. But I think there's something to the fact that the shot, whether it's because it's a core thing, back, stomach it's a wrist elbow groin I have I honestly have no idea what it could be but the shot is not as dangerous like he is getting looks we run the numbers expected goals like he gets a lot I think he's second in the league in expected goals per game but those shots that he was converting on he's not converting on so I guess that's what I'm seeing, is a guy that has taken

his singular greatest skill in which he is better than anyone in the world at by a bit of a margin at this point, and it's come back to the pack where it's still exceptional, but it's not as good as it was, and that's what I've seen. But guys,

he has to be healthy for the playoffs. They're not going to win anything unless Austin Matthews is healthy, like 100% healthy and good to go. That's just the way the team is made up. He's that good. They need him that much. They've been really

good without him. I get it. But for them to do what they want in the playoffs, they need him. And he took what was he? Four or five weeks the first time through? Off? It was nine games. Nine games? That took him until a month.

Day to day for four, three and a half weeks. And he came back and he's still not healthy. So that's the concern. He took a month off and he didn't get healthy. He went to Europe to get treatment and he didn't get healthy. He went to Europe to get treatment and he didn't get, he might have got healthier, but he's not yet healthy. What do you do?

Isn't my first reaction like, well then, how about you sit him out until he gets healthy? That's what I said, but that didn't work. Don't let him play through. Again, without knowing what it is, can they do a procedure to expedite? Is it something that's never going to get healthy?

Is it going to take five months? Without knowing what it is. But if it can get healthy in two months, I think it's almost better to take the two months and then have him right to the playoffs. I don't know, guys. It does seem very concerning that he's not healthy, but not surprising to hear that he's not.

Well, and they were winning without him. And listen, I appreciate any athlete. We were just talking about this with Patrick Mahomes this weekend, that he's likely going to play. He is going to play. If Austin felt like he was ready and he could play, then he's going to play. But they weren't in a desperate situation. The idea that he had to come back on November 30th, play, then he's going to play. But they weren't in a desperate situation.

Like, the idea that he had to come back on November 30th, I think we pretty clearly know the answer that that was simply not the case, that maybe he needed, maybe he gave him another month. Again, hindsight being 20-20. But if he's still laboring and still fighting through whatever it was, and this is dating back to camp. Forget going to Germany. This guy's been dealing with this for like four months now. Yeah, that is concerning.

And again, I don't know, because they don't give you any information and everything's day to day and no one knows exactly what's going on, you don't know what it is, if it's muscular or what have you. But you can see something is in. Yeah, there's been some shifts where he's been laboring. if it's muscular or what have you. But you can see something is in. Yeah.

There's been some shifts where he's been laboring. Hayes, if you look at actually the NHL has all those NHL edge stats. If you look at his skating stats, he's below 50 percentile in all of them. And it's like, yeah, that kind of tracks. That's not good for an MVP caliber player. But you know what, guys, though? I thought it was weird at the end of the season he wouldn't share what he had wrong you know remember like it was in the scrum it was like you know what what were you fighting whatever i just prefer not to talk about it so is it something that he just has to live with like i don't i don't know

like maybe is it the same potential thing that he was dealing with last year that's just like, hey, this is how your body's going to be? I don't know what it is, and I don't like to speculate because all we're doing is throwing spaghetti at a wall. But I just thought it was peculiar. Last year, at the end of playoffs, always, it's like, yeah, that guy was playing with a broken thumb. Right, who cares?

Dry side of it. The ankle, the thumb, or the ribs, or whatever. It's like, yeah, I'm not going to talk about it. We heard about all of them. I know. Yeah. It's just like, Matthew, the fact that he didn't share it, it just leads me to believe

that maybe it's something that is going to potentially linger for a long time for him. I don't know. Well, I mean, if that's the case, then that's a real concern. Again, we don't have a definitive answer on that but if he is going to be playing at 80 that's trouble you know that that's gonna yeah it's big big time trouble um as for matt murray making his return to the nhl first time in i, 628 days. Not only that, Joseph Wall was not a participant in the skate this morning. Oh, boy. So he's not playing tonight.

He will back up, but they play the Islanders tomorrow, and then they've got an afternoon game against Winnipeg on Monday. I wouldn't be surprised if Murray's playing tonight and Monday, and that's already been determined because they don't want to tax Joseph Wall. What do you expect out of Murray, and where's your hat at when it comes to the volatility of the goaltending position? Well,

first on Murray, I think the Toronto Maple Leafs always intended for Matt Murray to be their third goalie. I think they wanted Hildeby to be in the minors. They wanted Murray to get healthy. He himself, Murray, I think he had surgery on both hips. I think they wanted Hildeby to be in the minors. They wanted Murray to get healthy. He himself, Murray, I think he had surgery on both hips. Like, I think he now feels like he can move better.

He's freed up. He went through a tough time, both physically, off the ice. You know, he lost his dad. Like, there's a lot going on in his life. And I am sensitive to that. I'm glad that he's back sort of invigorated enough to want to play. Because, you know, I think he was probably at a point in his career where I i wasn't sure if he was going to keep playing because it was not going the way he wanted it to go so in that sense i'm i'm happy for him you look at his numbers in the minors

he's got a 931 save percentage he's played eight games like feels like a viable option to come play you forget he's only 30 he feels like he's 36 because he's been around so long and he's been through some stuff and Canadian markets, some stuff. So this is always the plan. Get him healthy, get him up and running and then have him be a third option in case they needed a break

or someone got hurt. And unfortunately, someone did get hurt and I don't know, maybe he needs a break. Which is crazy to me. I don't know, maybe Wall needs a break, which is crazy to me. I don't even want to believe that anything other than Wall is getting a scheduled day off just because. Because he's got to stay healthy. Like, he cannot get hurt. Not right now.

The Leafs are a good team. Matt Murray in net. He'll be in net. They'll still win games. They'll still make the playoffs but the concern to start the year was always can both these goalies stay healthy the majority of the season and it was an understandable concern given their track records and it would be a real shame for the Leafs who's done a lot right this season and their goaltender has been spectacular to have them I mean Wall, Wall's already missed time with injury. Now we're going to have Stolarz miss a whole bunch of time with injury. Like, it's already sort of reared its ugly head.

You don't want it to happen anymore, even though the Leafs will keep winning regardless of who's in that. With Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analyst. So the Ottawa Senators went again last night in overtime, and they're on fire. They've won more games in the month of December than any other team in the league. And based on points percentage, if the playoffs were to start tonight,

Leafs, Sens, Battle of Ontario, if that ends up happening, which fan base or which team do you think would be happier with that? Wow. See, that's a good question. I mean, I think Ottawa would be happy because they love the idea of ruining Toronto's life.

I think as a fan base, they would probably be just as happy about beating Toronto than happy about winning themselves. You know what I mean? Just ruining it for Leafs and Leafs fans. So probably that. I mean, if you're a Leafs fan, you'd be like, okay, we're happy because I guess we think we're better than them.

And it's not Tampa and it's not Florida. It's not the teams that we've struggled against. But at the same time, I guess maybe then you feel more pressure when you're a decided favorite and you're supposed to win and what an upset it would be if you don't. Maybe that resonates the wrong way. I want to see it. I don't care about the pressure.

That would be awesome. That would be incredible. I think the answer is Ottawa, too, because that would mean Ottawa's in. If you're a Sens fan, regardless of who you're playing, you're in. You're guaranteed your playoff spot. It's funny. The Battle of Ontario stuff, and johnny you lived it you know 20 years ago leaf fans were putting their hand out it didn't matter what ottawa did you're

dying to play them because you always believe the least we got beat them now like that doesn't count anymore you know like the leafs are are the modern day ottawa senators of the late 90s and early 2000s great Great team, loaded with talent, regular season, get to the playoffs and can't find it. So as much as I think if you're a Leaf fan, you'd appreciate not playing Boston, Tampa, Florida. You'd certainly be a favorite. You'd be at home.

Allmark's a guy they've had some success against when he was in Boston. It was Swayman that got him last year. But the psychology of Leaf fans, the idea of losing again, but this time to Ottawa, would just be crushing, man. That would be devastating. That would be so tough. It would be devastating, and you would hear about it forever. Forever. Forever.

And they would hold it over forever, which, you know, why not? They would. They should. Listen, Ottawa's no joke. They're a good team. They are playing well. They are sort of the underlying numbers are matching up with goaltending and the overriding ones now.

So, yeah, their best will be pretty good, although I still think Toronto would be quite a favorite in that series. But, yeah, good on Ottawa, though. You know, one good run, goaltender playing lights out, and all of a sudden they're the hottest team in the league and up in the playoffs. Yeah. Brady Kachuk, what happened last night?

I was just going to say, do we have the clip there? Like, it's pretty good. Kenzie does a postgame with him. Yeah, we have it. Why don't we play it? He was banged up. Let's play it. Was this after the game?

He scored the OT winner last night. Yeah. Because he's got, like got like the the shirt the undershirt is like hysterical on this guy post game but here's brady kachuk uh with with kenzie on on tsn post game last night let's talk about the obvious here uh the work around the mouth here how was the mouth how are the teeth how you feeling i don't feel too good right now but it'll be a tougher day tomorrow but yeah, yeah, nine stitches, one tooth gone. So, oh, Jesus, I've got a face for radio right there now.

So that ain't good. You know what? Barely talk, man. You know what? He's got a list going. Yeah. He's a mess. And he knows tomorrow it's going to really be painful.

All I could think about is that's twice in, what, a week and a half? Because the Tom Wilson one was just as bad. Like, that wasn't worth what it was worth. How about Zach Hyman? Hyman broke his nose. He scored last night, too. Hyman scored. And his face was mashed, man.

You're right. Between Wilson and Kachuk and Hyman, it has been a tough, tough week. Advisors are mandatory. It's an old school look. I don't know if you guys heard Brad Marchand. Did you hear Brad Marchand's comments about Hyman breaking his nose? Because Marchand's like, I've broken my nose. He was pretty funny in the scrum in the morning.

Because Marchand's pretty funny. But you're right. That's some pain that those guys have had to go through. Brady, it was a weird game for the Sens last night. It was kind of a methodical. Calgary kind of plays and clogs you up, and there wasn't much going on. But we were saying in the booth, it's like, man, if Brady ends up coming back off of that, you know, the split lip

and losing a tooth and winning the game, that would be pretty impressive. And sure enough, he does it. So, you know, the Sens are on a roll here. They're on a heater. They're on a heater. Lastly, we'll get you out of here with the Vancouver story. They lost again last night. Their offense has dried up.

Demko's back and has been playing decently. But this Pedersen-Miller stuff, which is now completely taken off in the market. It's like everyone is buzzing about whether or not Elias Patterson, JT Miller, can they get along, do they get along, is it going to work? I mean, what do you make of, I guess as a player in the room, player dynamics, like I don't know if they like each other or not, if they're friendly or not, but you would know this.

I mean, there's a lot of guys in the room, not everyone's best friends, but you've got to be a professional and play through it. And if you can't, then something's going to have to give, I would assume. Yeah, so it's amazing how much traction this has gotten. I think we all have been around long enough that we've heard, oh, Jamie McLennan doesn't like Mike Johnson. You kind of hear stuff every now and then. And there's no doubt that teams've heard, oh, Jamie McLennan doesn't like Mike Johnson. Like, you kind of hear stuff every now and then, right? And there's no doubt that teams can be very successful.

Not every Stanley Cup winner is full of 25 best friends. Like, absolutely, guys are different. They get along differently, whatever it might be. To suggest that this is news, if you've sort of been around the NHL, it's not really news, that there's maybe been a little friction there over the last few years. But to get to this point, and the thing is, Hayes, the fact that it's so public is only going to exacerbate whatever issue there is.

Right. Because now it's out in front of everyone. Now everyone knows Miller doesn't like Pedersen, or Pedersen doesn't like Miller, or they don't get along, or they don't like to play together or whatever, however you want to phrase it. And now they're going to get it. How they don't get asked about it every single day,

what's your relationship like with him? What is the problem with him? But if it gets to the point, and I've seen definitely, I've been on teams where guys didn't care for each other 100%. But never to the point where it ever bled over to the ice. Like, well, I don't want to play with Brian Hayes because I i don't like that guy i'm not going to blast him the puck i'm gonna you know whatever i won't i won't feel good about my own game if i unless i like that stuff that stuff doesn't really happen so that's the surprising part but at the end of the day they're

gonna have to make a decision if it's so public, and it's so distracting, they'll have to pick. Now, you'd think you'd pick Patterson almost just because of the age. He's like, whatever, four or five years younger than JT Miller. But the contract's heavier, and if you're asked Rick Tauk, and which player is more Tauk's kind of player, you might say it's JT Miller, with sort of an in-your-face style of play and style of carrying himself. So I don't know.

I just think the worst thing that could have happened for this already maybe fractured relationship is for it to be this public that there is a fractured relationship. That's not going to help anybody at all. No, that is for sure. And, again, they're still hanging on to a playoff spot, Vancouver is. But it's tedious. You know, they don't have a ton of wiggle room right now.

And it's only December. You've got a lot of time to figure it out. And I think if they're all healthy again and moving in the right direction, you would think they're going to be a very good team by the end of the season. But there's been a lot of these stories in the NHL, man. It's pretty wild. It's like a soap opera right now. I'm sure that'll be the case in Buffalo tonight,

and I'm sure it'll be the case in Ottawa come Boxing Day. So have yourself a Merry Christmas, buddy. Have a great World Junior call. I'm sure we'll catch up during the tournament. I certainly hope so, and we appreciate you doing this as always. All right, boys, thank you very much. Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and we'll talk next week. You got you got it there he is mike johnson our tsn hockey analyst joining us here on the maple toyota hotline check out maple toyota's huge truck and suv lineup including tundra

forerunner highlander and grand highlander in stock and ready to deliver visit maple toyota.com all right luke wilson in half an hour al's brother will be a part of that as well we'll get into the thursday night or last night big Big win for the Chargers. Crazy scene at the end of the first half as well. A free kick. First time we've seen that since the 70s. We'll get into that with Luke. And dear Santa B coming up in an hour.

This is going to be quite the production, I'm sure. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN 4. Alpine News Network is here live with one of our superheroes. I don't want to say I'm a big deal, but I am a superhero. I love helping people consolidate their debts, and that's what I did for the Smiths. I took their bills and zoom! Whabam!

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Stop by your local BP for $7 touchdown pints, shareables for the whole crew, and weekly prizing up for grabs. Football game days are better at your local BP. Luke Wilson, in about a half an hour, Al's brother coming up. You go to Boston Pizza, you're going to see sports. Occasionally they might put a movie up there, right? Maybe a Lifetime movie.

You see there's a clip that's gone viral recently because someone forgot to check how ridiculous the dialogue is. Again, we're talking Lifetime. It's like Hallmark and cheesy Netflix and stuff like that, where I don't get the impression if you're putting together a script or writing a script based on Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift, football acumen is ultimately that important. I don't think there's a lot of like diehard sports fans

that are combing over the dialogue saying i don't know about that so i don't think they're that concern i think we have the answer as to you know proving that theory this is a clip that i saw a couple of days ago i wanted to play it's again it's about taylor swift travis kelsey football about Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey, football, Christmas, lifetime. Here's just a little snippet of some of the dialogue you're going to get in this movie. Am I supposed to know who he is? He's only the best wide receiver in the world. Nine-time MVP. He holds the longest record for yards received.

Nine-time MVP. So, nine-time MVP. So... Nine-time MVP. Why receivers never win the MVP. I saw someone took this seriously. It did one of those great threads. Someone got so mad. I saw a great tweet.

Jerry Rice, the greatest wideout ever, has never won the MVP. He has like 5,000 yards more receiving than anybody else, and he's never won it. And whoever this prospective date is for this woman is the greatest wide receiver in the world, and he's won the MVP nine times. Like, wouldn't you think you'd get someone on set saying,

hey, I don't mean to be a nuisance, but there's no way that that's believable. Like, you have you think you'd get someone on set saying, hey, I don't mean to be a nuisance, but there's no way that that's believable. Like, you have to change that. But do you think the people watching that movie care? Absolutely not. Zero. Absolutely not. But I care, Jonas.

Why were you watching that? I didn't watch it. I saw it online. Someone sent me the clips saying, you've got to see this. The whole pitch is you've got to go out with this guy. He's won nine mvps i i feel like step like steph watches those religiously they're on at our house all the time yeah i feel like she would call that out and go hold on a second here like i you know like she

would be going through it like there are people that would want to fact check that because you're right like there should be when you are writing a movie or whatever, regardless if it is for a different demographic, you should have truthful facts or close to it. You could say, you know, the guy's like an MVP. Listen, if he was a quarterback, I might be able to accept that. Have you watched Jerry Maguire? Yeah.

Talk about something like the contracts and this little known wide receiver? It's like, really? That's close enough. I mean, I think that's how it is. Have you watched Armageddon? Is that real? Obviously, Armageddon and Lord of the Rings is not real, Jonas. Jerry Maguire, though.

Like the agent Tom Cruise runs on the field. Right. If an agent ran on the field, he'd get cross-faced chicken wing by players. No agent runs on the field to check on his player and all of that. They're in the stands. They care about them, obviously. But Jerry Maguire, you're right. If you went through any movie, every movie, and did a fact check, you'd be like,

that's not real. That's not real. That can't happen. That's ridiculous. True enough. Mission Impossible. Tom Cruise would die a hundred times. Then ripped off his face?

I do believe there is one. What's the movie with Keanu Reeves where he's indestructible? He's got a suit that you could shoot a thousand times. Isn't that John Wick? John Wick. No, he's not indestructible there was analytics for john wick where he like in in john wick four or whatever he got shot like 4 000 times hit by many cars and all that they're like eventually there's going to be a headshot there where there's no suit or whatever like there is some of this stuff is ridiculous but

hayes you're upset about the nine-time maybe i'm being a wide receiver i'm being a stickler here i guess again there's you've got it it is make-believe it's not real it's just a slight detail the idea that the wide receiver has won an mvp nine times to me seems like something someone should pick up on that said you're right if you're on other sets you might be like yeah we're letting this go jerry mcguire's on the field you know whatever did no one think to mention like a money ball that maybe the pitching was really good well that was just throwing like a memory though that you're right jonas because that never gets brought up that they had like the best staff you know in the league and their pitching was phenomenal and they literally never mentioned

any of this all scott hadattaberg getting on base. But movies are make-believe, and you stretch the truth a little bit. But this is just pure dialogue filler. I guess that's what I'm saying, right? It's dialogue filler. So you would change it to, like, four-time MVP? I would say maybe one- or two-time MVP. Maybe the reigning MVP.

That has a nice ring to it. That's not going to change anything. Hey, you just wontime MVP. Maybe the reigning MVP. That has a nice ring to it. That's not going to change anything. Hey, he just won the MVP. Perfect. Great sales pitch. Or maybe the guy told her he was a nine-time MVP. Could have been that, too. Could be completely bogus.

Anything's possible. No, listen, I hear you. If you start taking movies too real, then... Well, movies are supposed to be an escape, but some of them are so ridiculous. I think that's just a misstep in dialogue where people writing that are not football fans, so they have no idea. Like, oh, nine times sounds great.

It could have just been two times, and people would have just let it slip. That's probably the best way to put it. Two times, nine times. Whoa, that's the greatest athlete in history. Are you ever watching Home Alone and being like, this is not possible? Home Alone. He could not outsmart these guys.

You tell me, Mark, you couldn't take five bricks to the head from a third story of a house and survive? Is that what you're suggesting? And an iron to the face. My kids are obsessed. Home Alone runs 24 hours in our house. They are the best. In my opinion, the greatest Christmas movies ever are Home Alone. One and two.

One and two. And they're the exact same movie. The exact same movie. They switch a tiny detail. And obviously the setting is different. The one is in Chicago and the next one is in New York. But I was thinking about it. Even in one, it's the old guy across the street who's misunderstood and he's all like yeah and then in two it's the pigeon lady who's all misunderstood and they're just like yeah we

got we can't do the old guy again what should we do i'll do as a woman in the park and yeah kevin gets to know her and yeah he's great it makes her Christmas. It's the exact same movie. But here's the thing. If you're a parent, how do you leave the same kid twice? That is the biggest thing ever. I'm glad you brought that up, Noodles, because nine-time MVP pales in comparison to the idea that, A, everyone in the house would sleep through the alarm the first time,

let alone the second time. Everyone in the house would sleep through the alarm the first time, let alone the second time. And thirdly, after the most traumatizing moment in any parent's life you could ever think of, you literally left the child at home. A year later, you do it again. No, but they lose him in the airport. I know, but it's the same thing. We're in a rush. Where is everyone?

How do you lose him? You can't. You would handcuff that kid and make sure that he got any other kid to go missing. Yeah. That kid would have one of those harnesses. You ever see parents with kids that have a harness at the mall, and they're pulling on them? Exactly.

The kid's going, like, I don't know. I see that all the time, like a kid who's high energy, popping around, and the parent's pulling on the harness. I would have the kid harnessed for sure i like the part i lost him the first time the best part too is when they get on the plane and he's like yeah that's my dad over there yeah they don't go to chat all right just go grab a seat whatever same coat now we're in new york it's brilliant brilliant dialogue brilliant writing it is is. Totally. Just great movies. Great, great movies. Yeah, that's true.

All right. Luke Wilson in about 20 minutes. Dear Santa B at 630. And back into the Leafs weekend with the Sabres tonight and then against the Islanders at home tomorrow. And the Raptors coming off a loss last night. And they were favored. I believe for the first time all year they were favored, certainly at home.

And they had that game. Like, there were different points in that game. You thought, all right, they've got control of it. And then in the fourth quarter, Brooklyn took off, and now they're 7-21. 7-21, and that's with Scottie Barnes returning last night. Like, if you're 7-21, you've gone this far. You just got to commit.

Like, you just got to commit. It sucks, but you're going to lose a lot. You're going to win like 13 or 14 games. Hope you win a lottery. That's where the Raptors are at right now. That is their reality as we creep towards the new year. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSN app.

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 Alright, Best Bets brought to you by FanDuel still to come later this afternoon. World Juniors right around the corner. We look forward to that. The Blue Jays, we're waiting to see what's coming from them, right?

At some point, things are going to happen here. Moves are starting to happen in baseball now. There's been signings today. There's been some deals. And there's still some big names out there. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reporting, I think last night, that they are in fact talking with Lattie Guerrero Jr. about an extension. I would like to believe they would be doing that anyway.

I don't know why that even needs to be reported on. It would be ridiculous for them not to have that conversation. The question is, will they find a middle ground? That's left to be determined because I'm sure, and I think we all established this, once Juan Soto signed for the money he did, Vlade's deal was going to go up. You're going to have to pay him more.

Even though he plays a different position and he's not the same player and his numbers aren't the same, he's still a really good player that's going to be 26 years old and free to test the market out. That's going to cost you a lot of money. What number will surprise you guys? 500. Yeah, that would, I think, be surprising, yet 765 was shocking for me.

So maybe I have to adjust the way I feel. And I know it's different players in different markets and all that. But considering we were debating a year ago, would he get 300, the idea that he would go up $200 million on that in a year is pretty amazing. Why wouldn't you sign him before? Why did they wait? Well, to be fair to them prior to this year the last two years he wasn't like great no like he really wasn't you look at vladdy's numbers

they have been booking in 21 he almost won the mvp he was phenomenal in 22 and 23 he was closer to average than phenomenal he was a good player played, played every day, but was not great. The pop wasn't there. He wasn't hitting for power. His numbers weren't that great. He was inconsistent. And then this year, he was great again. So I think a year ago, they probably were thinking,

I would guess they would have been willing to talk deal with him, but it would have had to have been for $250 or something on a 10-year deal. And Vlade probably thought, I'm going to bet on myself. Generally speaking in baseball, it makes sense to wait until you become a free agent because the money will be there. And he bet on himself, and he performed the way he performed last year. And if he bets on himself again this year, and he has the exact same season, he's going to make, I think, probably over $400 million on a deal.

That's just what's coming, and if they want to keep them, they have to pay it. Did you see the other part of that report? Yeah, the other report is that Boba Shett is on the market. Not at all surprising to me. Is that surprising to you, Jonas, that the Jays would be willing to talk about a deal featuring Boba Shett? Because he's only got the year left, right? Yeah, he's got a year left.

And not coming off it. But I just can't see you trading him for anything that makes sense but they like what it my question has always been every time we have a baseball insider on like what are these players what is boba shett like what is he and everything like what's his ceiling and then the same thing with vladdy hayes you just laid out his first year lights out, then some meddling years, and then second half of last season lights out again. Is he lights out or is he inconsistent? Maybe Vladdy's ceiling is a lot higher than Bo's,

but for a while there, Bo was unbelievable. Yeah, listen, Bo Bichette, I think he's a guy that he's very aggressive at the plate. He's going to strike out a lot. He's not going to walk a ton. But's very aggressive at the plate. He's going to strike out a lot. He's not going to walk a ton. But when he's in the zone, he's going to hit for some power, and he's going to rock up hits. You know, like he's a guy that's capable of giving you like 25, 30 home runs, 180, 190 hits, plays a prominent position.

You know, I don't know if every team in the league would want him at short. Obviously, he's not one of the five or six better shortstops in the league, so maybe he'd have to move to second base or third base or move to the outfield at some point later in his career. I don't know, but that's a player of value, and he's still a young guy. He's in his mid-20s. I'm not surprised they're not talking extension with Bo Bichette.

It was always more likely they were going to trade him than sign him to an extension. Vlade's a different story. But also, Rosenthal threw out the idea that they could be kicking tires on Alex Bregman. And Bregman, I think, is done in Houston. Because the report came out earlier this week that Nolan Arenado had turned down a trade from St. Louis to Houston.

And if they're after Arenado, then that's their third baseman. They're basically saying, we're done with Bregman. I think Houston's going to move off him. He's a winner. That's a dicey one. It's a dicey one. It feels like George Springer II. It's exactly that.

Yep. That's one of the guys that I watch. Like you talked off the top of the show, the players I watch, I watch a lot of Bregman. And he was really, really, really good for a while. And last year it was like, is he getting kind of old? Like he's not getting on base as much, not getting for as much power. That's a concern.

What are you buying, right? Right, you're buying a declining stock. Jonas has turned on him. He's turned on Bregman. No longer one of my guys. Not his guy. Not anymore. He's turned out Wegman.

No longer one of my favorites. Not his guy. Not anymore. But I think what it symbolizes to me is that there's still a lot of potential moves in the offseason. As of now, it's been very inactive. There hasn't really been anything. They made the one Guardians trade. But if you sign Vlade, that in and of itself would make an offseason. If you trade Bo Bichette, that in and of itself would make an offseason. If you trade Bo Bichette, that in and of itself would make an offseason.

I mean in terms of noise and doing something. If all that came out of their offseason is they signed Vlad Guerrero, I don't think that will be enough. I'm not saying it would be enough for them to win, Jonas. I think a lot of Blue Jay fans would be ecstatic with that. We should talk about that. Okay. Let's come back and get into it. We'll get into that. Okay. Let's come back and get into it.

We'll get into it, me and you. We will absolutely get into it. Luke Wilson will join us. Al's brother coming up. Best but still to come as well. Overdrive continues. Final hour up next, TSN 1050, soon to be up on TSN 2. TSN Plus is taking game day to a whole new level with NFL Red Zone.

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