OverDrive - OverDrive - December 22, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

Join Aaron Korolnek, Jason Strudwick and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Maple Leafs' losing skid and the team's foundational issues, the concerns throughout the locker room, if Craig Berube is on his way out as head coach and how Brad Treliving has to make a mark. They also dive into Canada's roster construction, players who fit the roster and the outlook for the tournament.

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Visit yummymarket.com for their holiday menu. This hour of Overdrive is powered by Fandool. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Welcome into Overdrive. It is Monday afternoon here on TSN4, TSN1050, and TSN's YouTube channel. I'm Aaron Kournick with my man Dave Feschuk, Jason Strudwick. We'll join us momentarily. Dave, I'm a little bit surprised that Hello Darkness was not played coming in from JP and Dugie. A little bit surprised, considering

the way that things have gone for the Toronto Maple East of late. They are in last place in the Atlantic Division. They are three points clear of last place in the National Hockey League. Not worthy of a hello darkness? They do play it a lot in their defense on this show.

That is true. You don't want to overuse it because there will be more moments I would imagine, Mr. Carollick, that this season will require a hello darkness. and it gets worse than this was that a little Tate McCray was that what that was it's very topical

Stop pretending like you're not a huge Tate McCray fan I know you love Tate I don't know much about Tate I do know that she was at the last time the All-Star game was in Toronto she wasn't as big as she is now because now she's huge right she's a household name

but she played at one of the breaks in one of the many breaks in the action at the skills competition yep and now she He is with Jack Hughes. There's a place away. The paparazzi is following Tate McCray and Jack Hughes all around New York City. That's something I saw on Instagram before we came on the show.

Are they getting paparazzi? Oh, they're getting paparazzi now. Pay McCra is at that level of popularity where it's nothing to do with Jack Hughes. I can guarantee you that. Oh, come on. He plays for the, he plays. Yeah, he plays. He plays.

He plays a prominent New York area. He comes back as a beautiful goal for the New Jersey Devils coming back from the very weird hand injury in which he suffered at some team party. I don't know what the real story is there. Regardless, he beat the timeline. He was back in five weeks and he's going to be rolling for the devils, but now he's got the paparazzi following. It's kind of like the hockey version of Taylor

Swift and Travis Kelsey perhaps gets to that level. You never know. I think Jack Hughes is going to, we need to step up his game to another level to hit the Travis Kelsey level, but Tay McCray, who knows? Well, her star is on the up, no doubt. When you do the math on how much money

that Taylor Swift brought into the NFL, bell coffers. I mean, I'm sure Gary Betman is like rubbing his hands together thinking this could be big for us. Yes. Well, I don't know how much HRR is going to be generated from the Toronto Maple Leafs. You know, the postseason can bring in a lot of cash for the National Hockey League

and it has over the years. Every time the Maple Leafs have a home game, it's very beneficial to hockey-related revenue. But the way things are trending for the Maple Leafs, not a positive trend. To put it mildly. That three-game road trip, they just finished up last night in Dallas.

They lose 4-0 to Washington. They lose 5-3 to Nashville. They lose 5-1 to Dallas last night. 14 to 4 in aggregate. You get crushed. The first two games, they played better last night. But come on, what are we doing here? Maybe if they were first place in the Atlantic,

you could look at it as some kind of moral victory. Well, you out-played the Dallas Stars. Congratulations. But this is a team that's dead last in the Atlantic Division. Nobody is taking solace in the way that they played, the way that Dallas Stars played. Ottinger was great. Congratulations to the Star.

for picking up the wind, but the Leafs are in a very precarious spot. They are teetering here. The fan base is irate. Maybe irate's the wrong word. Maybe apathetic could be the right word. They just say, I don't care anymore. Attendance is crashing down. Everything is going wrong. And I think a lot of people are wondering what's the next move for this hockey organization, not the team for the organization

because people are clamoring for heads to roll. And frankly, I understand why. Well, look, the organizational stuff, I agree with you. This is like existential stuff, right? Like, what is this team anymore? We're in year 10 of the Matthews era, and we've seen all the failures in the postseason. This is the first time we're seeing it in the regular season,

where they're just failing to launch out of the gate here very early. You know, you're not even halfway through the 82 game schedule, and already it looks like this team just doesn't have it. This is something new. The organizational stuff at the top level, like who should run the team, who should be making the decisions. That was thrown into shambles at the end of the Shanna plan. Brad Trilling was brought in, you know, on almost an emergency higher basis

after the parting of ways of Kyle Dubus and Brennan Shanahan after their long relationship together. And now Keith Pelley's running to join his CEO. But it, you know, so I agree with you. Like there are a lot of existential questions about what this team is. But there's also the organizational stuff. And then there's the team stuff. Like, they got to attend to the team stuff right now.

Like, why is this team not doing what it's supposed to be? How is this power play as putrid as it is? They had four opportunities last night against Dallas. You score one of those. Could be a completely different result. Their power play is absolutely pathetic. It's the worst thing. It's so bad.

And say what you will, I understand Mitch Martin is not there anymore, but come on. Worst in the league? You still have Matthews? Actually, you don't even have Nealander and Tavares on the first unit anymore. you're running Nick Robertson out there. Not a bad move. No, I mean, I don't have any issues with, again, it was terrible when all those guys were playing together.

It's terrible without all those guys playing together with the two unit solution as opposed to the one unit solution. So it just couldn't be going any worse for the power play, and that has to be a huge terrain on this hockey club because remember Mike Babcock was taught, oh, our power play is our toughness. And I don't know if that was the same thing for the seven years subsequent to Babcock leaving, but clearly that was something.

that they looked at and thought that is a differentiator for us. We have a great power play and we can cause some damage. Now, it's just, it's just heinous to watch night after night. And something's got to get with that power play. And they're trying all different things. And the name Mark Savar continues to come up here. And I think that is a very realistic possibility for this team to try somebody else to run this power play, to be the overseer of this power play.

How much longer? We're 35 games in the season. Maybe we have the worst power play. in the National Hockey League. They tried everything. They tried everything except the last resort, which I think is replacing the guy who runs the power play. Well, I don't know.

See, my thing, AK, I go to practice a lot. I watch all the games. I don't know if they've tried everything because they've recently changed some things. But it's taken a long time to get to that. For most of the season, for the bulk of these 35 games, it's been the same thing to most people's eyes. Like you watch them in practice, you watch them in the games. It's the same five guys.

doing the same stuff, trying the same things, and just, like, beating their head against the concrete wall, not getting a different result. And so I'm not sure about, you know, the recent changes, I think, are productive because change had to happen, whether or not they work or not is another matter. Guess what? The guys who work those clipboards and those whiteboards

are supposed to know whether they get a work or not or have a pretty good idea. And, but to your point, like, when you're in a moment like this, there's not a lot of levers you can pull as an organization. So, fire an assistant coach or changing an assistant coach or changing the rules of the assistant coaches, that's one, and it would seem like a no-brainer to me. You see what the L.A. Rams did after losing that game to Seattle, they fired their special teams guy because it was, I mean, Rashid Chaheed returns that kick. And, of course, the two-point conversion, all the nonsense that followed. McVeigh was so pissed off. He's like, again, I'm just going to fire somebody. And they made that call. There's a sacrificial lamb.

And I'm not advocating for anybody to lose their jobs, but this is professional sports. when you have the worst power play in the NHL, fans are just beyond pissed off as to what's going on with this team. And we see that the stats about the lack of sellouts at Scotia Bank Arena versus the past, I don't know, 30, 40, 50 years. They're not bringing in the same amount of people as they used to. I think you might need to do something.

And it's going to happen today. Doesn't seem overly likely. Now it's 408 in the afternoon. Probably not making any changes ahead of the game tomorrow afternoon against Pittsburgh. but I think everything should be on the table. And that just seems like the easiest move. Is it fair?

Probably not. Probably not. But in the national hockey league in 2025, Dave, you know it as well as I do. The easiest thing to do is just change coaches. There's no salary cap associated with that. There's no trade clauses associated with that. It's just the easiest most seamless move. And it's the most likely move if you want to find a way to shake things up with this organization,

an organization that desperately needs a shake up at this point of time. Yeah, exactly. Obviously, everybody's going to talk about, well, you should just change the head coach. Yeah. Ultimately, Craig Barouba is responsible for the power play. The head coach is responsible for everything. You're right. And he put Mark Savard in charge of the power play.

And if he's not offering some input, you know, given his extensive history plan and coaching in the league, then there's something wrong there. So Craig Barabia has to take responsibility for the fact that the power play is not working. But, like, it's really not working. Like, to your point, it has to be an integral part of who this team is because this team is built on its skill. It's built on its high-priced offensive players. The fact that they've got 12 power play goals as a team, 35 games into it. Like there are teams with almost three times that many. There's a player.

Wyatt Johnston has more power play goals in the Leafs? There's a player on the Dallas Stars. Good Toronto boy named Wyatt Johnson, who's, you know, not particularly, you know, old. I mean, he's 22 years old. He was young enough to have looked up to Austin Matthews and William Nealander and John Tavares when he was growing up as a Toronto Marley here, you know, rising through the ranks of Toronto minor hockey. Wyatt Johnson has more goals on the power play

the entire Toronto Police team at this point in the season. It's just, it's so egregious that you can't overlook it. And so it's got to fall on Burube and whether or not they fire Burrubi, but to the point you're making, like the assistant coach is the easier move and it might actually bear some fruit or you'd hope it would because can you really go in front of the board if you're Brad Tree Living and say, I got to fire the coach. that is less than a year and a half into a four-year deal?

Is that really the argument you want to be making to an ownership that doesn't enjoy spending money it doesn't need to spend? Well, and again, there are people saying, I'll just hire Pete DeBoer, no problem, you pay him, you pay Barube for the next two and a half years. MLSC is cutting team presidents, it's cutting all types of different staffers around the organization.

I don't know how keen they are to bring in a new coach on top of Craig Baroube. They're not. We have a man joining us now who looks outstanding, as usual. Jason Strudwick, who I'm sure wants to opine on his beloved Toronto Maple Leaf. Struddy, what's going on? Hey, good to see you guys, two of my favorite people in Toronto. Yeah, it is ironic that today is the day.

I get the tap from a pond high to come on and discuss the Toronto Maple Leafs. Listen, this is a team that I follow probably second most closely to them to know orders. And I've heard all your comments. I think they're all really well made. My message, if I was a GM, I think it's time to him to go in and maybe he has, and you guys, I don't know if he has or hasn't, going to talk to the players and say, listen, there's no night and shining army coming, right? I'm not going to make a massive trade to bring someone and is going to fix it because one player doesn't fix this whole situation. Just like, I don't believe that the coach, you just said it.

He hasn't been around for that long. You're going to move him out already, so now you have a rotating mix of coaches. I watch this team play. I think that the last couple of games, they are improving. The problem is that it's not good enough. It's still not good enough. You look at some of the goals against, I know those are just a moment in time,

but it's just been some of those goals are just too easy. They're getting out muscle. They're outworked in front of their own net. So you can't say, hey, we're going to fix this with one thing. And I think that's a message from the general manager to even the fans and the media. We have to dig out of this together. This is our problem. We created this as a group, and we have to dig out of it.

So I don't know. I think it's low-hanging fruit to hammer on a coach or to say we're going to trade for whatever. Nick Robertson, but the whole team has to get better and improve. So I understand that the coach is the easy one to tag out, but there's a lot of blame to go around, in my opinion, in recent play. Yeah, there's so much blame to go around. You can make a case to blame tree living. You can make a case to blame the coaches. You certainly can make a case to blame the players.

And why don't we bring the board up, guys? The last five games for the Toronto Maple Leafs up on. TSN4. I mean, you look at the top players for the Leafs, whether it's Matthews, Neeland, or Nyes, Tavares, like, these guys have just been ghosts. They have been playing terribly. They are dash a million combined. They are not bringing it at all. At all. Forget just a power play. Five on five, it doesn't matter. This group isn't playing nearly to its capabilities. And it's star players.

Say what you will about the Scott Lawton's and the Dakota Joshua's and Stephen Lawrence. The guy's in the bottom six. What are you really realistic expecting? But you're expecting Austin Matthews. to be one of the best players in the NHL because he's paid to be one of the best players in the NHL. He's shown he's one of the best players in the NHL. Nealander, DeVars is really slowed down. Matthew Nyes has really slowed down.

Morgan Riley is like the Frederick Weiss of the NHL and he's posterized constantly. Luke of Angelista made him look stupid on Saturday night. Just dangled him and we've seen it time and time again this year. Morgan Riley has not looked good on the defensive side of the ice. These guys have to be better because if they're not, they will be in the basement of the NHL, just a straight up fact.

Well, and that's the point, Struddy, that people are making it Toronto, is that whether or not they should fire the coach, the players are playing as though they want the coach gone, okay, because they're playing heartless, they're playing gutless, they're playing effortless. And the parable that people point to, Struddy, is an Edmonton parable. It's the story of firing Jay Woodcroft when you're three, nine, and one back in 2020, bringing in Chris Knoblock. and we know what's happened since. And so I think people in Toronto are saying, hey, it's worth a try. We don't have any other moves up our sleeves. To your point, there's no Night and Shining Armour

coming from the player personnel side, so why not try a new coach? Yeah, and I hear that. And I guess my counter would be, you know, I believe Troy Stetcher, a Wyver pickup played the most on the back end the other night. So, you know, what does that tell you about the group of D? You know, are they, are they, A, good enough,

and B, are the ones that are they playing hard enough? Like, I can't believe that that's what's happening. And I love Troy Stetcher. I wish I would have played that much at times. He's a 6-7 on a really good team. On this team right now, he's a 1. That's right, like a 1. Think about that for a second.

This is a guy that was on waivers that anyone could have had. And good for him. I love the way he competes, but that tells me about that team. So if they don't want this coach here, I get that. But then who is their right coach? What's their right coach? And is it guaranteed to change? Because if they don't like the message, are they going to shut it down again?

So I'm hesitant to say that a new coach, you might get an initial bump. But if you're, like, who's the guy, Pete DeBoer? Everyone's, oh, Pete DeBoer, this, Pete DeBoer, that. He wants to win. Can he seriously look at this Maple Leaf team and think, yeah, we're a couple tweaks away of my magic wand to make this team a Stanley Cup contender? Like, do they, does he really think that? So are you getting the top-tier coach, guys?

Would this be attractive to Pete DeBoer, a guy that obviously wants to win wherever he goes? No, I think you're right. It kind of reminds me the Mike Vrabel situation, right? He's in the sidelines. He's just waiting, waiting, wait and waiting. Oh, Drake May? Yeah, I'm in.

I'll join the Patriots. I'll take that job. And I think B. DeBauer is going to have the exact same luxury, whether it's during this season and the off season. He knows, maybe it's two off seasons from now. He doesn't care. He's getting paid. He's all good.

Now, he wants to find a great spot. And maybe the prestige of the Toronto Maple Leafs would be alluring to him. And again, this is all a hypothetical. There's no guarantee the Leafs are considering making a change from Brubay. And maybe they don't have any interest in bringing him Pete DeBoeoe. Who knows? Maybe it's Derek Lalonde who would get promoted. He's been a head coach and he's on the bench right now. I suppose that is a possibility as well.

Certainly would be a lot more cost-efficient for the Toronto Maple Leafs. But I think that's a reasonable question. The strutty asks, is that is the Maple Leaf's job that attractive? Considering everybody on the blue line is 30 plus sign long term and is getting half of them are injured. Their goalies are constantly injured. Their top forward seemed disinterested and older at the same time. I don't know how exciting that job would be for somebody.

Well, on the other hand, though, and you know this, Struddy, like the prospect that you could be the savior of the Toronto Maple Leafs, anybody with an ego, and we all know head coaches, they don't stand behind that bench chewing gum if they don't have big egos, okay? And most of them have pretty sizable egos. And they all believe, I think, in their hearts that they can be the guy that changes things. And if you look at this team, you could say, look, they're only a year removed from winning the Atlantic Division. only, you know, six plus eight months removed from taking the Florida Panthers to game seven, the only team that took the Florida Panthers to game seven

on their march to a second straight Stanley Cup. So, yeah, it's bad, but it's not that bad. Like, it can be turned around. Like, there's very recent signs that this team is a lot better than what it is. So if I'm Pete DeBore, yeah, there's parts of me investigating

like how injured are these guys and what are the chances that this decor is ever going to be decent again? and are these goalies ever going to be able to, you know, play an extended stretch without, you know, pulling up lame like they traditionally have? I would be investing at all those things independently, but I'd be pretty attractive, you know, I'd be pretty attracted to being the guy that turns around the Maple Leafs. There's been a long list of people who thought that. Yeah. And there's a lot of disappointed people who didn't get it done.

And listen, this isn't an anti-Turonto thing, but if you're just looking at it, you know, there is a sense that the Trondon of my beliefs are viewed as better than they are as a whole. And I think that ever since I've, before I enter the NHL, to the time I play in the NHL to now I'm watching it, it's because there's so much attention to it towards that organization. So, you know, if I'm looking, if I'm Pete DeBoer or a coach that wants to come in and find a winning spot, this would be a, I'd really have to look hard. There's other opportunities that maybe might pop up and it might take a look at. But this one, to me, it would be a really tough pickup.

Now, are they better? For sure, they are. And the fact they have some injuries on the back end, that does hurt them with this group. They're trying to figure out this power play. This power play, I watch it. Man, it looks uncomfortable. That is really, that's how I felt when I was on the power play. Like, I don't really want to be out here, and I don't really want the puck.

Like, I don't know what's going on. It's incredible with the talent they have. That's the one area you think it would be the easiest for them to figure it out. It's five on four so much talent boys. and that shot of Matthew, so I don't know. There's a lot of questions going around, but people love team meanings. Well, they had a team only, a player's only meaning. I'm not a big fan.

I think when the manager comes in and he talks to the group on a very honest level, I think that has as much and probably more impact than a player's only meaning that people seem to fantasize about team players having. Big game tomorrow. It's on TSN 1050. Leifes hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins. we saw Crosby set the Penguins franchise record for points last night

passing Mario Lemieux and think about how staggering that is passing Mario Lemieux in career points and Crosby's not close to finish he's got a long way to go guy's still pretty close to the top of his game so congratulations to sit

and Pittsburgh's had a really nice start to the season they've kind of tailed off here a little bit but if the Leafs think that the penguins are going to come in and just lay an egg against them that is not going to happen because Toronto isn't better than anybody right now. I don't care who they're playing night after night. They need to be close to the top of their game

to beat the worst teams in the NHL. Well, it's one of those Christmas time games. It's a 4 p.m. start. They're calling it the next gen game. But it might be, to your point, the next coach game. Well done. Well done. The Maple Leafs don't show up because you're right.

Last time we saw Sid come through the building, he was like most of his shifts. He's still the best player out of the ice. Like, that's how good he still is. And Malcolm is still. pretty potent and they're a serious team but strutty like the thing i want to ask you about like when people talk about yeah it's easy to change the coach don't don't give into the players don't change the coach and yet when they changed the coach in edmonton it was a pretty

miraculous turnaround that has brought them an awful lot of success like when you look back at that time a couple years ago like what do you remember about what really changed when knoblock took over you know what if i knew i'd probably be an hl head coach and you guys would be talking about me becoming the next Leafs coach. You're on the list. You're on the list, Freddie. Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you. I'll take that interview if it does come to that. Now, when you look at it, I think that that group was playing maybe better than they had.

Sorry, better than the results to just like that. And the line numbers weren't that bad. And I think that what I felt is that Jay was using those guys quite a bit, the top guys. And I think that he was unable to take pressure off of Connor and Leon. The first thing that Knoblock did when he came in was say, hey, you don't have to win these games by yourself. We have other people that are competent. It can help.

And I think he shifted some of that pressure off those guys, and it kind of got everyone going, got the whole team going and played everyone a bit more. Now, you know, could Woodcroft have done that? Well, he'd been there for a while, and maybe it hadn't quite gone, he hadn't been able to unlock that with him. So I think that was at Nobloc's number one thing he did. But is that the case in Toronto? Like, does Matthews feel like yes to do everything?

or Tavares or Nielander, like I'm not there every day, so I don't know, but it is because you're trying to do too much, and you're really not getting anything done, and that doesn't help any, then it just keeps screwing you further down into the ground. Well, awesome, Matthews is on pace for 59 points this season.

How many points did McDavid have in the year that they fired Woodcroft and hired Chris Knobloff? Was it 154? He was like, a little, a little... Yeah, I think it's a little bit of it. Like, again, this whole conversation around the Leafs is meaningless, unless their best players start performing like their best players. And you could place the blame at the feet of a number of guys,

but the guys who are making the big money aren't performing like they need to. And you can maybe place the blame on the system, the style that Brub is playing, the enforcing and the power play, how they're running it and whatever. But at the end of the day, it still comes down to the guys on the ice for me. Yeah, for sure it should. But the point is that it kind of reminds me a little bit of the waning days of the Mike Babcock era, where Babcock, much like Barraubay, a Stanley Cup

winning coach who wanted to play us, very specific detailed structure that the players eventually just said, doesn't suit us. And I think once management got the idea, and Kyle Dubas was the general manager at the time, the management got the idea that, you know, it was holding the Maple Leaf's back, that there was not this sort of sympathical between the coach and the players. Once that became kind of an ingrained feeling in that Babcock was actually holding them back instead of kind of allowing them to fulfill the potential, what do you know?

Sheldon Keefe was coaching the team and talking about the skill coming out and allowing these guys to be who they are. Of course, a couple years later, Sheldon Keefe was talking a lot like Mike Babcock and started to sound like Mike Babcock and was kind of demanding the same things Babcock was demanding because they realized

they couldn't win without the structure. And we kind of keep going between those two cycles, right? Struddy, where it's like, ah, the players need to be free, but the players also need structure. And I think they're in a position now, Struddy, where the structure is overwhelmed them to the point where they're not free to produce. Yeah, I mean, it's really interesting.

Your last 30 seconds is so accurate for so many different teams. And you do want to not, or you don't want to take the paintbrush away from artists. And that's what Matthews and Nylander and all those guys are. But the problem is sometimes they paint themselves into a really bad place. And other teams that are more structured, like, you know, maybe not so much quite to start the year, but Florida last year was just a machine. and they're waiting for you to kick yourself in the junk and to make a mistake. And they turn, they feast on it.

Now, the Leafs did well against them in the playoffs, but who won the Stanley Cup? So it really doesn't matter at the end of the day that you almost beat the Stanley Cup champion. So I think there's a fine line, and I always liked it when coach would say, listen, when you're here, here and here, you're going to play it my way. When you get into this area, it's your way. And generally speaking, your way is over the offensive blue line, generally speaking, right? You can pretty much do what you want down there. And then from the blue line back, we're going to get hard back to Pucks and then defend in our zone so we can get out and get you doing it what you want again in your end.

So I don't think it's that wild to ask teams to do that. Now, top players aren't always as eager to play that way. And you give them more leash going through their neutral zone to try to make plays than he would a third or fourth liner. But at the end of the day, the goal is to win, right? It's to win games and beat the other team. So, I mean, Barubi is in a tough spot. His top players aren't performing. He's not winning.

so do you let it out a little bit and know when you get more points for those guys and more wins but ultimately you won't win when it matters the most if experience has taught us anything with this group chris johnson tsn hockey insider will join us in about 10 minutes we'll talk to cj about the noise around the leaves and just how much noise there really is behind the scenes uh with the organization there's also a couple of trades on friday just before the freeze philip deno ship back to the habs Mason Marchman to Columbus, so maybe when the trade freeze unlocks, there could be even more deals ready to go around the National Hockey League, which I think we'd all be excited about.

Davis Sanchez will join us in studio, TSN NFL analyst. Talk about week 15 in the NFL. It's also big game tonight between San Fran and the grandfather, Philip Rivers. That's just what I call the Colts these days. It's all about the old man and see what he's able to conjure up any more magic. Confirm or deny at 530 as well. I'm Aaron Coralick.

That's Dave Festruck. That is Jason Strudwick. We're in for Hayes Noodles and the O-Dog here on Overdrive. Overdrive continues. We're brought to you by Fandul, bringing you more ways to play your game, Your Way. Aaron Kourlnick, Dave Feschuk, Jason Strudwick, with you for the next hour and a half. Chris Johnson will join us momentarily.

The Toronto Maple Leafs in one right now. The Raptors scored 81 points last night, which I didn't think was possible in the modern NBA. So the Blue Jays need to pick up the city of Toronto. go out and sign Tucker or Bichette or Alex Bregman, as was speculated by Ken Rosenthal over the weekend, that Alex Bregman could possibly be a fit for the Toronto Blue Jays. So do something because Toronto sports fans need some help at this point of time. Well, at least at least where Toronto sports fans have the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays are the good news story until proven otherwise.

But you're right, like they got 81 points, not against a good team, against the, a horrible team, against the Brooklyn Nets who were not, who were like a 296. winning percentage. And by the way, it'll be 20 years next month that one single player, Kobe Bryant got 81 points in a game. The entire 12-man roster of the Raptors managed 81 points in a game. Think about that. Yeah. What do those Bregman rumors mean to you when it comes to the future of Bichette in Toronto? Maybe Kyle Tucker, do you think this is just smoke floated by Scott Boris behind the scenes to essentially inflate the contract of Bregman elsewhere? Or do you think he's a option for the jays. There's always smoke, right, Struddy? Like when you're in these

free agent seasons, the agents are constantly spinning the insiders, trying to get them to write stuff, trying to get them to say stuff that will influence the market to some degree. It's hard to know how to sort it out. It really is. I mean, the fact that I think the bigger, the more significant thing, Struddy, was that Boba Chet leaking that he'd be happy to play second base, which to me said, the market for Bobichette as a shortstop isn't maybe what Beau Bichette hoped it would be, therefore it's plan B. Hey, by the way, I'm happy to play second base, even though I've previously said otherwise.

I don't know, Stretti. How much can you believe when you're hearing people try and spin a story that'll get their guy a good contract? Well, yeah, I think that there's a big part of it. And I think the part that we haven't maybe talked about is the relationship between Bichette and Guerrero. And how bad does Guerrero want him here? And how does that affect him?

Like, he's not going to pout and just not try. He wants to win. But how important is that relationship when he's looking at him versus Tucker versus Bregna. Well, let's welcome in a huge Blue Jays fan. Also at TSN Hockey Insider, joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. It is Chris Johnson.

C.J. Greetings. How are you? Oh, we have C.J? Close captioning. Close captioning. I think he's doing right, though. We got the video component.

We got the video component. Looks great. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes here. Just went for a run. Yeah. I think he does that early in the morning. He's got an epic streak of running. I think it's like five years every single day.

It's incredible. It is. I love it. He's like the Cal Ripkin Jr. of running. He doesn't take a bit off. He is. He is. He's the Phil Kessel of running.

Phil Kessel have a long run of games. Oh, yeah. Kessel. Keith Yandel. Who's the current Ironman? Is it Yandel? Yeah, did Yandle pass him? Yeah.

In any case, we'll get, we'll get CJ back. And I think the question everyone has been asking. How many texts do you think CJ has received today? So are the Leafs going to make? a coaching change today and I'm sure he's been doing his best to try to find out the answer from somebody within MLSC but I guess we'll have to wait and find out when Chris joins us once again but we talked about how there was those trades on Friday night Dano back to Montreal for a second round pick were you aware that Philip Dano has not scored

yet this year zero goals in 30 games I did that is quite a surprising stat and he still goes for a second round pick in spite of scoring zero times Well, I mean, he's not really out there to... I know, I know, but still. I mean, that's always been his role. Yes. As a shutdown guy, the Maple Leafs fans will remember well, him shutting down the Maple Leafs as the Montreal Canadians came back from a three-one series deficit to defeat the Leafs in seven games a few years back when it all really started unravel for the Leafs. And a lot of that was filled to know pointing out that, hey, you can get a guy for a few million bucks who can shut down your 10-11 million-dollar guys because he's just that good, right, Struddy?

Yeah, it's so true. And I find fascinating for the Kings is that they're now without, after this year, they'll be without two of their top three center. De No and Kopitar are both gone. So they're both gone. I'm going to call it like $15 to $16 million that is going to be sitting there or whatever the number is. But you've got to replace those guys because you've got Quentin Byfield there. Now, are there others that can take the mantle?

Yeah, sure. But you're not getting a Kopitar. And then DeNoh, you know, he has struggled offensive, but he's pretty capable center. Yeah, and you saw Montreal trade a second for Dono. You saw Columbus trade a second and a fourth for Mason Marshman. Both of those guys are quality NHL players, no doubt about that. And to bring it back to Toronto, those are two teams in the Eastern Conference that have draft capital that they can expend, and they went out and got guys who improved their team

immediately. The Toronto Maple Leafs do not have the same luxury. They've already traded away all their draft capital for the most part. And sure, they have a random third round pick in 2027 and a first round pick in 20208, but there's not a lot there in the cupboard. Meanwhile, other teams in the East are saying, screw it. We'll take those guys who will make us better now because the Eastern Conference isn't good. Anybody can win it.

I think Carolina is probably the class of the East right now anyways. Beyond that, who else is a lock to make the playoffs? It feels a little bit like the NFL this year. Yeah. You tell me who's going to win the Super Bowl, I'll accept your answer because I'm not sure. either. I mean, I don't think there's a clear-cut best team. There's definitely not a clear-cut best team in the NHL Eastern

Conference, but to your point about, hey, the Leafs don't have draft capital. Like, Dugie put up a poll. Who do you blame for the current malaise? People are pointing to figure out management, but when you think about it, is it really Brad Tree Living's fault that Dubus and Shanahan let first-round pick after first-round

pick fly out the window? Well, if you want to play that game, you could point to Tree Living at the deadline last year, which was an object. But Shanahan was also at the deadline last. You know what? That's fair. Shanny. Shanny was there. That's true. And desperate. Very desperate. And, you know, we know exactly what was going on behind the scenes there, trying to keep his job and get the Leafs into the playoffs and get them as deep in the playoffs as possible.

But I suppose it worked to some extent. But now you're... Game within a game of it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, true. It was 6-1? 6-1. 6-1. 6-1. 6-1. 6-1 game 5, 6-1 game 7. So, yeah, say what you will about that. All right. So we're going to take a quick break. Come back with Chris Johnston on the other side, our hockey insider.

Who promise? Probably. Yeah. You never know these times. You never know. No guarantees in life. Overdrive continues after this. Overdrive continues on this Monday afternoon. Coralick, Best Chuck, and Strudwick. Chris Johnson momentarily.

Davis Sanchez will join us around the table to talk NFL at the top of the 5 o'clock hour. Confirm or deny at 5.30. I saw Pierre LeBron on Insider Trading over the weekend talking about Matthew Schaefer. And I'm going to quote Pierre, calling it a real possibility, likely as the 8th defenseman on Team Canaan. Canada in Milan. Wouldn't that be a story? Matthew Schaefer making the Olympic team as a former stud defenseman yourself, Struddy. What is your take on that?

Well, first off, I'm jealous. I would have done anything to be on that team. I would have sharpened skates or carried bags or anything. But just think about this for a second. I remember watching him play. He was so talented. Then the World Juniors has injury. And it didn't really play.

He gets drafted. And you're like, okay, well, I hope he has a good first season in the NHL, right? Islanders aren't the most dynamic team, you know, on and on it goes. And now you can't stop watching this guy play. He's all over the ice in a good way, making plays, bringing energy. He seems to have breathed new life right into that organization. And now he's on the shortest of shortlist for the World, sort of the Olympics, not the World Juniors.

He should be in the World Juniors. He could be. He could be. We're the best eight D man in the NHL for Canadians. It's insane. And I don't even know what to say. If they think he should be there, then go for it, because he's must watch hockey guys. Yeah, and I mean, Travis Sandheim was on the Four Nations team.

I would presume that's who Schaefer would replace. I think Thomas Harley's probably coming back, and we know Taves in the car will be there. Morrissey will be there. Who am I missing? Don't have the list of it from him. Perico. Paraco, Shea, Theodore would be on there for sure. But Schaefer, you look at the numbers.

I mean, it's indisputable. The guy's been unbelievable for the Iowa. and he's a large part of the reason that this team has been as good as they are this year. They're really good. They're right in the mix in the metro, and he's just been outstanding. It's been a lot of fun to watch. He's skates. He covers ice. He's so big and ranging.

It covers ice, and it just brings energy to an organization that hasn't had it for quite a while. And that's no disrespect to whoever was running it or whoever's on the team. But, man, they're fun to watch now. You can't stop watching them. And I also think it's important, look, you want to win the tournament, you want to win the gold medal, that's the number of priority. But if you can also justify bringing some next generation guys, because, you know, as we know, like most of the guys that are at the top of the roster here, how many more Olympics do most of them have left, right? And you don't know, but, you know, they're into their late 20s, early 30s, most of them in the case of Sidney Crosby even deeper. and, you know, you got it, and the defenseman is pretty veteran, too.

So to me, it's important to balance. You want to have the best roster possible, but you also want to have at least one or two guys that are from that early 20s cohort that will be around a long time. Yeah, and LeBron went on to say that the forwards highest on the list that weren't on the Four Nations team, Celebrini and Wilson, who LeBron calls close to locks, which isn't overly surprising.

We've heard a lot about Tom Wilson. I mean, an awesome year, and Salabrini don't really need to expand on that. Also named Bo Horvatt and Nick Suzuki is guys who are getting serious looks as well. So that's going to be a really fascinating team. So that's what one week tomorrow they announce it on Christmas, on New Year's Eve. So we're getting closer and closer. And Bedard, as good a year as he had, it looks more and more likely he's going to be outside looking in. And again, there's a long time to the Olympics, right?

There will be injuries. And maybe Vidard is one of the replacements, depending on. who's named to the team if he's not. But that would be kind of a shame. Schaefer and Salabrini, we're on the team. But no, Badar. And Connors, hey, guys. How's Milan?

I mean, you know, Struddy, I don't know how you feel about this, but for me, Badard is a guy that's proven himself as a big game performer. Just the way he's shown up at the World Juniors. I mean, you can't prove yourself as a big game performer playing for the Chicago Blackhawks. They haven't had big games. But with a maple leaf on his chest playing for Canada, this is a guy who's proven himself. Like, he shows up when it matters.

I would lean more Baderd, as much as impressive as Sellebrini's been. But where do you stand on that one? Yeah. Well, I'll say all three weren't even on my Olympic radar September 1st. And that's, like, in the future, 100%, this is the group that's going to be, you know, leading you hopefully towards success. But I didn't even have on my radar. So the fact that these three guys have bullied their way,

and in the case it may be two of them, may hopefully, all just built their way right onto this team. It's absolutely incredible. I would go Celebrini, a little bit bigger guy, and what I like is he's a little bit more puck takeaway guy, right? He wins a lot of 50-50 battles and strips pucks. So I think that that, you know, who doesn't want that on their line? You know, if we're all playing men's league and I go and get the puck for you guys,

I'll play with him, I'll play with Strzbuk. You might not score all the time, but he gets me the puck. Now, Celebrity can't score, but he is really good. I think he's one of the top guys in the league. taking pucks away and i think that's a nice thing to have if you're playing beside i mean does he get a chance beside connor or mckinan or really why not but they're all they're all stars like they're all stars like my thing is badark to score like he you know butard's got a got a shot and and and uh and that can come in handy that can that's been proven to come in handy

in close games with our arch rival to the south what about zach hyman strutty i mean what have you seen from him since coming back from the injury and a lot of people leading Four Nations thought you just slot him right next to 97 and let him fly.

Of course that didn't happen. Now that he's back healthy and McDavid has just been unbelievable of late,

is Heim and a guy you would look at as maybe the Chris Coonets to Crosby's or the Sydney Crosby from yesterday year. Yeah,

really well said and so I guess Connor is flying right now. It's incredible. He scored a goal last night. He skated around

Vegas team, man. It didn't look like he was trying. but that's when he's at his best, when it looks easy. Zach, let's go back to last year in the Four Nations. I think the coaching staff had a tough time finding the right wingers for Connor McDavid.

You'd think it'd be easy playing with him because he's so good he's going to get you the puck, but he thinks fast and plays even faster. Or maybe he skates plays fast, but thinks even faster. So if you put Zach Hyman on that team, it's automatically a duel there. And then you're plugging someone else on the other side. is it Rynard, is it celebrini, is it whoever? Just go through the list. And so that built-in chemistry, I think, does matter. Kind of like Crosby and McKinnon. I know they don't play in the same team, but they seem to have it figured out together. So just for that instant chemistry, I would

put Hyman on that team. And then this isn't a huge rink. Hyman gets around the ice, he's fine. It's even a little smaller than we know. But in those moments, when you just talked about those tight games, can we envision Zach Hyman get an ugly one off his foot? because someone shoots it at the net. Like some of those ugly goals, maybe they could have used it last year. So I think he's always skating well when he came back, Hyman,

because he was able to skate with the bad wrist. His form of scoring is coming back and we're starting to see him score Zach Hyman like goals. So I would put him on there, but I haven't heard guys like Carole Brun or anyone really talk about it even being close to the list. It doesn't sound like he's going to be on the team. Yes, I think it's the insiders.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think the Bidard thing is the same, it's just, it's not going to happen. Barring something unforeseen, Vard's not going to be on the team, nor is Zach Hyndt.

You want Wilson on there? Yeah, I think so. I want to see that fourth line of Sam Bennett, Brad Marchion, and Tom Wilson. That's what I want. That's what I want. As a Canadian, a passionate Canadian,

yeah, I don't think anybody else in that tournament wants to see that, but just imagine the hell it would be to play against those three guys. Yeah. So the challenge, that could work. Go ahead. But I guess, I should have to jump into, I think if that is the line, the challenge those guys have to do is stay on the right side of the law, right?

They can't just go out there and try to just to go crazy, but I think there's enough experience. Well, there's two Stanley Cup winners, or sorry, three Stanley Cup winners on that line. So they understand, I think, how far they can go without going, or if they need to push it a little further. But it'd be pure chaos, and not so much Marshall, but the other two can really hit. So that's also a good, it's a good thing, but it's also a bad thing. because sometimes those hits that are huge in the NHL and we are smiling about, they can really be rung up quite heavily

in international play fest, Chuck. Man, it's a tough team to pick. I mean, you can't go wrong at the end of the day. Well, you can if you don't win. If you don't win, but looking into it, you're picking between superstars, right? Like, top line players on your respective team in the NHL. Yeah.

They have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to their option. But I think it's like you almost are in some ways you're picking between the hero. in now of, you know, the scoring standings, like you look at Celebrini, how can you not have Celebrini on there? He's been tearing it up, right? Versus guys who've maybe not had those

stats this season, but have Stanley Cups in their past. Like Bennett. Bennett would be an example of that, right? Who's, you know, may or may not be on this roster, right? You know, I think, you know, you look at, I know Craig Button and Mike Johnson had their consensus roster, Bennett wasn't on it, you know, and, uh, but Bardard

and Celebrity wore. And so I think there was a feeling that you got to put some young generation guys on, I think. Baderd gets on there because Baderd can finish. And how many, you know, it's hard to find finishers. And they don't have, you know, an endless supply of them, as much as obviously when you have McKinnon and you have McDavid, you assume offense is coming. Well, and another thing with this iteration of Team Canada, Mitch Marner has not had a really

good season. Braden Point has not had a very good season. Sam Rynard has not had a very good season. All three of those guys are going to be on the team. And we'll all play a prominent role. none of them have exceeded expectations. There's not even come close to the expectations. And you talk about point, like he's, you know,

it's a huge fact that John Cooper's coach in this team and he's been a go-to guy for John Cooper for so many years. And we all know that John Cooper's had a soft spot for Mitch Marter too, right? So it's, you know, judging, you know, balancing what the coach wants, what the manager group wants, and what's best for Canada and winning the tournament, it's a tricky balance. It really is. And we haven't even talked about the big conversation.

the goalies. I think that's what we're keeping me up at night. That's keeping me up. That's where it gets dark. Yeah, that's going to be a tough one. And I think Bittington's going to be on the team. Logan Thompson's got to be on the team. Darcy Kemper, I think, despite the reservations.

Yeah, it's not great. And meanwhile, the Americans, we saw Jake Onger last night against the Leafs, man, that cat is good. They've got Hallibuck. They've got Swam, and they're just loaded, loaded with the United States. How many United States goalies would be the number one? goal on Team Canada. Maybe we'll go through that a little. Oh, my goodness. That'd be a fun exercise.

Maybe we can make a trade. That's right. That's right. No, they probably have probably no trade clause, Freddie. Come on. It's the NHL in 2025. Chris Johnson's brief appearance here on Overdrive, the Maple Toyota hotline. Get in and go. Wherever adventure takes you in a new 2025 Tacoma for Maple Toyota near Canada's Wonderland in the Maple Auto Mall, visit MapleTiota.com. Second hour of Overdrive coming up, Davis Sanchez in studio.

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