OverDrive - OverDrive - December 3, 2025 - Hour 2 - Craig Button/Rod Brind'Amour

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joins to discuss the biggest headlines around the hockey world and the Olympics arena construction in Milan and Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour on the matchup against the Maple Leafs, the team's performance throughout the season and Nikolaj Ehlers' start with the team and Bryan gives his FanDuel Best Bets.

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Of the final score Brian Hazio, Doug Jeff O'Neill Jamie Noodles-McClennon We've got Rod Brindamore Your former teammate coming up Later in the hour, right? You and him would hit the gym all the time With no tarps and crack iron

I love it, you and Rod So we'll catch up with him a little bit later Leaves in Carolina tomorrow And we've got Craig coming up here in a moment Craig Button will join us and get his take on a number of stories throughout the league, including what he thought of the Leafs last night. Edmonton losing.

I thought they played pretty well. They just ran into a great goalie. And Winnipeg, Montreal tonight. Ottawa with a big win. Brady Kachuk got his first goal last night. That game had some jam. Like it was, it ended up, what, 5'2? But it was, I thought it was a little closer than people thought.

Like, the O-Mark made some good saves. That's Anderson, man. Yeah, he's good player. man he's really good yeah he's really good that that's Ottawa Montreal has become a game that you can if you're just scrolling through games wanting to pick one that's turned into whatever you know the preseason stuff definitely helped it goes back to last year but that's a game to watch that's a good game man they don't like each other no no like each other like no love loss there and you

know it's funny that uh Ottawa dressed McDermid big monster and what he what he did what he did He didn't play a lot, but he just kind of keeps the flies off, right? Like, if Jack-Eye wants to go with somebody, it's, okay, go that guy, you know, type of thing. So it was a spirited game. There was lots of hits. There was a couple, a lot of scrums, but no tilts. Like, and I thought, you know, Montreal is a team that tries to bully around a little bit because they've got some guys who can drop the gloves.

Both brothers were playing the Jack-Eyes, the Brothers Jack-Eye, and then that Josh Anderson's tough, and they've got some good team toughness. But that McDermott, I think he kind of like settled the waters a little bit and let them play. It was pretty good. I think having the big boy back too probably helps. Well, Brady's not shot, right? Like Brady's a presence and see him trolling that kid before the game where he faked to throw the puck to him when the kid was chirping at him too. The kid had a sign that was chirping.

I love that kind of stuff. It's great. You got to have that. And, you know, that's what you, you crave that kind of, you know, back and forth between these three. teams you want the leaves to be involved in it as well yeah leaves montreal ottawa to all be good and all hate each other and kill each other it's the best yeah it's exactly it's florida and tampa and there's going to be different teams and different divisions you want edmonton and calgary to have that sprinkle in vancouver right you'd like a three pack out there that'd be great remember

colorado detroit that was must watch craziest tv now that was clode jeru or no clode lemieux glow of the mew on draper that was one of the most gutless awful hits ever door open going off the ice and just burst into the boards buried him from behind he had facial surgery after that didn't he like that was yeah it was really awful it was really bad but yeah who was a mccarty that went after lemieux yeah and i think he fought then was it the one of the times he turtled i think off the draw but the thing is lemieux could fight a little He was tough. Like, he was tough.

Claude Lemieux was a tough guy. Yeah. But, like, that was, he was kind of old-school tough. Because if you were going to play that way, you needed to back it up. Like, you needed to be able to answer your own bell type of thing. Right. But those, remember the goalies fought? I think it was Ozzy fought Waugh, and then it was Vernie fought.

Well, Shanahan and Waugh and mid-air. Remember the two of them, like, flying in mid-air and ran into each other. That clause of Mew, like, people's, that guy was a good player, too. Really good player. Yeah, he was a prick, though. Like, I can remember skating back, like, just skating. And someone just two-handed me quick in the back of the knee, like, just a quick one. And I looked, and it was him.

And I thought, how big of a pricked does that guy have to be to do that to me? I don't know him from a hole in the wall. Like, I was completely unknown to him, but it was just in his DNA to say, I'm going to chop this guy in the back of the legs, just because. Yeah. But, man, that guy could play. Oh, yeah, that guy could play, too. He was a hell of a player, and he's also a great guy.

Yeah, there was, I mean, that, you go back to rivalries. That's one, I mean, we're in the league. I was in the league, like, oh, you were in the league at that time, weren't you? That was, when was that year? Oh, of course, yeah. 96, yeah, late 90s, early 2000s. That was a crazy rivalry. Well, and they won cups, right?

Like, Colorado won in 96, and then I think Detroit won three straight, right? I think they won three in a row. And then it was like Dallas, Jersey, and then. in Colorado again and then Detroit again. Like between the two of them, they won six cups in like eight years. Yes. It's crazy. They had a little bit of everything on that team.

But like that, when I think of rivalries, like, you know, I played in some good ones, Ranger Islanders, that type of stuff. Calgary Evan, as you mentioned, you know, you guys are familiar. Like, oh, what was Carolina's biggest, you know, who were you, the, was it the Panthers? Yeah, it was back in the day the Panthers, Washington. Yeah, Wash. Seemed to play Wash a lot. They were in that division, but I don't know.

It was back in the day when we first got there, it was like it was difficult to try to find that rivalry early on because we were just kind of making ends with the market. Like, you know what I mean? Like we were just trying to get our footing as a hockey team in the market. But I think Washington, Florida and Tampa back in the day, that was the old Southeast Division. I remember coming out of the lockout, the rules had changed.

And that Eric Cole was drawing about six penalties a game just diving because you couldn't put a lay a stick on a guy, right? Like the game had completely changed it. He could fly. He was a good skater. Oh, he could fly. That was a part of the thing. He went to the net and nobody could stop him.

And defensemen were dragging him down. Yeah. And that guy could literally fly. Like his directions were Just take the puck on the wing You're off wing and go to the net And don't change Don't deviate anything

Like he was a really good player Yeah he was great That's honestly that's I remember playing an exhibition game against in Carolina And that cold drew like six penalties in a row And the refs just kept calling it Because they're saying hey we're going to try and condition you guys To not use your stick

So Carolina was on the power plate the whole night Like flat out And the reps were, like, over-emphasizing it so that the players would kind of learn. But that cold guys were chasing him around because they thought he was diving, right? Oh, they thought he was diving. And I believe he was, too, a few times. Like, there's no way you touch him and he'd throw himself into the glass. But he was a pretty good player.

Like, Carolina, I always thought they were a problem. Like, oh. One of the, like, it was a shocking transition because they missed a full season. Obviously, you guys got locked out. and then it's Carolina Edmonton in the Cup final, which no one saw coming, right? In 06, no one knew what to think. Like, what's the league going to look like?

How is it going to be played? Are they going to actually stick to the rules or the clutching and grabbing and actually come to an end? It was a really kind of crazy introduction back into the sporting world that the NHL had that year. And I think Rod was, Brindonmore was on that team, I believe. Sure was. He was a captain of the team.

Yeah, so there you go. And Rod's coming up in about. 20 minutes. But just getting some news here, Dugie's sending in that Luca Donchich won't play tomorrow. Luke has ruled out Thursday for personal reasons. Oh, that sucks. That sucks.

You think tickets right now? Right. Like Luke comes here once a year, and it's been his whole career. He's been in the West, his whole career. The Lakers are rolling. The Rappers are rolling.

Thursday night. I know tickets are going for crazy prices, more so because of LeBron. I haven't heard any reason to believe he won't play. I'm assuming LeBron will play but Luca is a huge draw man The first time you really get to see him as a Laker

You got to allow somebody for personal reasons But Like I think I saw LeBron in Toronto once Where he literally was sitting on the bench Chewing gum looking at the crowd the whole It was like what are you What are you actually doing here? Yeah it stings man it sucks

And it happens It happens in every sport But in the NBA it's so superstar driven you know and it's like luca he's having a great year again lakers are on fire they're here once thursday night tickets are going crazy on the secondary market and now he's not even going to be playing tomorrow so that sucks um best bets later in the hour rod coming up rod brindamore in about 20 uh joining us here the maple toyta hotline here's our good friend craig button how you doing craig i'm good brian how are you guys we're doing pretty well pretty well trying to get a read on

what's going on in the NHL and the ebbs and flows and you know I know you're following it and talking about it every day it's it's a challenge isn't it correct like outside of Colorado Dallas on the other side maybe Calgary Nashville though Nashville beat up on Calgary last night there's like 1520 teams in the middle where every night you just don't really know what you're going to get well it's tight right we talked about parity it is tight and I don't think I've ever seen it this tight in that type of a wide band you know last week I was listening to the Ottawa Vegas game.

So that game ended up going to a shootout. Ottawa won the shootout. And now that game started, Vegas was in the first wild card spot. Goes to a shootout. Vegas gets one point. They lose the game and they move up the second place in the Pacific.

If that doesn't speak to where the league is right now, I don't know what does. I mean, you lose and you move up in the standings? It's unbelievable. And I think this is what we can expect. You know, yeah, there's a few teams that are at the bottom and there's a few teams at the top, but I think this is what we can expect.

And I don't think it's going to change much. I really don't. And I can't recall the time I've ever seen it, maybe in a lockout year, but not in a season where you have a full complement of games. Is there an explanation for it? I was talking to somebody last night, and I've kind of had this theory, and I might be wrong with this, but we all watch a lot of games. the product is different this year

there's a handful of good games and then there's some games where you they spot in like hey it's a good game and then it's kind of out like is the product different for you this year is it taken a little bit for teams to settle in or what do you make of it? Is it just the flat out parody of the league Craig?

I think it's parity but I also think it's pacing Jamie and you know with the compressed schedule I mean think about Montreal Montreal plays Tuesday night at home against Ottawa and now they're at home again against Winnipeg. Winnipeg played Monday, now they're sitting there and they're going to come and play. You have this compressed schedule.

Players know their bodies better than anybody else. And you have a little bit of rest. You come back full of steam and you can play close to 100%. If you're playing your third game in four days, you don't got 100% in the tank, and you're not going to be able to do it. So I think coaches recognize it. I think players recognize it.

And I think that's why we get these games. I'll call them kind of just the, They're pedestrian. Everybody's just going through, okay, here's what we've got to do. We know you can't push us hard with intensity. We know we can't push. So we're just going to settle in and play the game. And at the end of it, we might have to settle up with a shootout.

And I think that that's the reality of the league and a compressed schedule. What I don't understand, and I'm not here to criticize, is that we knew there was going to be an Olympic year. Why didn't we start the season earlier? and not have to compress the schedule because I don't think it's best for the players and then you run the risk of injuries. We've already seen injuries happen. Tyler Sagan, I'm now with the ACL.

You start stressing the body, you're going to get injuries. And I think that we talk about recovery, we talk about nutrition and training. Best way to do it is make sure you give yourself a little bit more time to recover from the rigors of playing because the intensity, Jamie,

with the parity, doesn't allow you to just take a deep breath and go, Okay, we only have to play a period tonight to win this game. That's not the way the league works anymore. Craig, we've asked you a bunch in the past teams that are struggling or that need to kind of have a shake-up. What do they do? What do they go get?

On the flip side of that, what do you think the position is of management out in Colorado with what they're doing? Like, how do you think they handle that? Do they just sit back and watch and enjoy? Do they say we have to find ways to make improvements at the deadline? Like, what would it be like is management watching those guys just crush everyone every night. So two parts of this, Jeff.

I was in Colorado for the Montreal game Saturday doing the broadcast. I was talking to Mark Moser, they were play-by-play guy. And he was talking about how well they had a great game against Minnesota the day before that they lost in a shootout. And he was just saying, he goes, this looks like a team now that's not going to have to do very much at the deadline. That's the first part. And I think that, you know, when you get out, in 1999, Jeff, our team in Dallas was a wag. and we were rolling along.

And we were the same mindset. Okay, we don't have to do anything here. And then here's what ends up happening. You get pumped in the first round. No, no, we won. We won. We didn't get pumped. We won. But we didn't know this at the deadline. So we're comfortable. We like their team. We're not going to do anything.

You know, a couple little gut moves. That's it. And Colorado makes some big moves. Detroit makes some big moves. And we're standing there going, oh, maybe we should have done more. And, you know, it ended up good. But I'll tell you what. feel a little bit of the pinch thinking maybe you didn't do enough now I think there's other teams

that probably have gone in with the same attitude but you know have gone out in the first round probably the Boston Bruins a couple of years ago you know we're on this great and I think that's the thing you have to guard against if you're if you're Colorado this might come down more to coaching and when you don't have anything to play for down two weeks in the season three weeks in the season. How do you push your team? Scotty Bowman, I always said, I pushed my team the hardest when we were winning. He goes, after they lost, we were a good team.

He goes, I knew they took it hard. But when we were winning, he goes, everybody's happy. Everybody wants to be together. I could push them harder. I could be a little bit more demanding in practice. I think a team like Colorado, Jared Bedner and his coaching staff, if they're continuing on like this and they don't make any significant moves, you've got to push the team. Because when Boston got into the playoffs, even they got up 3-1, it was like,

yeah this is where we're supposed to be before you knew it they were out yeah this colorado team they are um they are something else you know they really are and nathan mckinin like i'm not i don't think you can say he's getting better because he's been phenomenal for his whole career and certainly the last few years but the you know with him and and mccar and you know it's they've got depth they defend incredibly well their goaltending's been great um it is it is kind of astonishing and and you look at that division. We were talking about Winnipeg earlier, Craig, with them, obviously struggling in Hellibucks hurt, and they're at the Bell Center tonight. Dallas is great, Colorado's great. Minnesota's on an absolute heater right now. They seem to have two goalies they can trust

every night. If you're in Winnipeg or in that central division in general, like, how do you keep hope alive considering how good these teams are above you? Well, you're now fighting for the first wild time, right? Or the second wild time. You're, you've talked. You've taking yourself out of the top three positions in the Central Division. And, you know, we look at the absence of Conrad Ellibut. Hey, he's the reigning MVP of the league. He's phenomenal. But that team right now is terrible defensively.

And that, I think, is what's most surprising to me. It's that for two years previous, this has been a top defensive team in the league. They've been disciplined. They've been structured. They've been hard. And it's all gone. I mean, when you look at their, when you look at all, all the numbers that tell you the story.

They've gone from a top 516 to a lead to a bottom 516 in the league. And yeah, maybe Hullabuck saves the goal here. So you don't lose, you don't lose 5-1 to Buffalo. You only lose 4-1. If they don't approve that,

I don't care what else. I don't care if Hullabuck's back in the net. They're not going to win. They're not good enough playing that way. And so I think that's the number one thing they have to improve upon. One thing I want to say really quickly here when you talk about McKinnon too like we do

all the polls at the beginning of the year who's the best the best play on the planet right now is Nathan McKinnon. There's nobody better than Nathan McKinnon right now on the planet. Yeah, the way he's playing, it's unquestionable. Like that's, he's dominant every single night.

Every single game. He's leading the league in goals, points, everything. It's unstoppable. And he's a leader and he's a chugger and he plays every situation. The guy's an absolute beast. And it's such a luxury for Canada. Like, you know, we talked about it last week.

You get McKinnon and McDavid as your one-two. And I don't know how you beat that, Craig. And four-on-four, you could put them out of the ice at the same time. Yeah. And the rink may only be about 80 feet long. So it's even better. It's going to be 80 by 80. 80.

These guys would be flying, Craig, in Italy. It would be like playing on the outdoor pond in your backyard. Right. I mean, again, you know, the NHL shuts down the league and sends their best players over to the Olympics. The ILC gets to take advantage of the best hockey players on the planet playing. The NHL really doesn't get anything meaningful. I'll be honest with you. Like, the NHL and the NHLPA should say, listen, we're not playing there.

Like, we've given you everything. You give us very little. We're playing in a different venue. We're not playing at a subpart venue. In 06, in the convention center where they put the other rink, like six inches from the boards wasn't frozen. It was all slush because they didn't put the freezing. They didn't put it underneath the rink.

I think it's abysmal. It had many years to put everything in the place. I think it's terrible. Yeah. I think it's terrible. Like, Craig, wouldn't they have sent a guy over there, like somebody with hockey knowledge to say this is your project for the next two years to make sure this is

it's just one of those things Craig we asked the standard question how do you screw that up well it's a great question right and so the IIAHF runs the Olympic tournaments like to me you know

they've made the regulations known that this is how the rink has to be built it has to be done in a certain fashion I mean Italy's only known they're having the Olympics for what seven years and now we're down now we're down to like two months and we don't know if the ring's going to be ready.

Like, give me a break. Like, you know, it's just, it's just abject failure as far as I'm concerned. So, you know, I don't think you blame it. The NHL says, here's what we're going to do. The I don't see in the I, IHF have to take, have to the organizing committee. They have to take responsibility for this. And like I said, like, I would be, I would be very open to just say,

we're not playing in that venue. We're not going to a subpar venue. The players are used to something that we think about the game being, so fast and so intense and the Olympics are going to be all of those things and now you're going to compromise the playing surface not happening for me it would not happen

it would not happen the World Cup draws happening this Friday they would not allow that in the World Cup so why are they allowing in here no you're right that's absolutely a fact it has to be pristine conditions they would never accept anything less

and it would never be expected that there would be anything less you know there can be Great point, Brian. Great point. Yeah. And, you know, you're right. Like, the NHL does a lot. Like, the NBA doesn't shut down their business. They play in the summer games. You know, they're not doing that, and the NHL is doing it.

They shut it down, and you've known they're coming for a long time, and, you know, hopefully it all works out because it'll be a gong show. Like, the players want to go. You know, that's the thing. Like, the players, they feel like they have a responsibility to their countries now, and I don't know. I don't know how you get out from underneath this problem, but the fact that the rink may not be appropriately sized is in and of itself.

It's scary, actually. It's just crazy. The rink's just not the proper size. I don't know. Like, Craig, you're wired in over there. You go to a lot of those tournaments and stuff like that, and you go to countries that take a lot of pride in hosting these things. Like, this hasn't snuck up on them.

Like, I don't know, like, are you assuming they get it done? They hosted the games 20 years ago. I know, but I just... Like, they've been through this rodeo before. I just don't know where... Where's the disconnect? I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out. Where's the disconnect with all of this?

Yeah, and I think that'll be the examination, Jamie, in terms of like, how did this happen, you know, like, how did we arrive at this point? Like, we're not talking about, okay, four inches, okay, we're a little bit off. we're talking three to four feet and like that's significant like imagine Jamie you're you're a goaltender right and you go jeesh this net looks a little bit bigger

and they measure it and it's like two inches taller and two inches wider right they go well you know like we're just going to keep playing well that's what we have well wait a sec like it's four by six like the rink needs to be these dimensions so I don't know how it

happens I just think it's wrong and I'm not saying that there's not the Olympics But maybe the Olympic men's hockey competition isn't in the land. Maybe it's elsewhere. Well, quickly, Craig, before we get you out of here, the World Juniors, like Canada is doing it differently this year, right? They're just going to announce the team on Monday? No, there's a change. There's a change for that.

So this is good. I'm glad you brought it out. Okay. So the idea was, the plan was to name a team on Monday, and that was their plan, get everybody there and everything. But with the uncertainty of NHL players and who may be available and who is not available, available. They felt that, you know, what are we going to do? If we get players back that we know can help us, are we going to cut players that we've named to a team? Are we going to go short and then hope we get these guys and have the call and have them come in? I think they

harness their inner Lou Lambrillo. Llamurole said you always have a plan, but if circumstances change, you better be ready to adjust in five minutes. I think that's what Hockey Canada has absolutely done. So there's going to be more players to the camp than just the team, and I think that they have to understand that there may be some NHL players coming, there may be not. So a little bit more of a competition. They're only going to play exhibition, and they're not playing any games against new sports or anything, but the idea was to name a team, but given the reality of where they stand

with the uncertainty around some of the NHL players, they've decided to have a few more players at the camp than they originally were going to have when they just named the team. Okay. Where is their pre-camp at, Greg? It's going to be at Niagara, and then they're headed to Kitchener. They're going to play an exhibition game of pre-tournament game against Sweden and Kichner on the 17th, and then the 20th in London. So they're playing Sweden two games, which will be good competition for them,

but they're going to be training out of Niagara at the outset. Perfect. Yeah, that's going to be great. Tournaments in North America this year. It'll be awesome. We can't wait, and we'll see what comes of it, and I'm sure we'll break down the team once it's a fit. officially announced.

I think, too. I wish Jeff all safe travels, because I know he's traveling over to Europe to do all his pre-scouting on the junior team. Always does. Yeah, he does. So safe travel. Jeff, pop into Zurich, talk to the IAHs,

and ask him, how the hell would this happen in Milan with the short in this ring? Please do. Yeah, I can't wait to hear their excuses over there. René Feschel would have never let this happen. Never. That was your boy. Never would love that.

That's your guy. It is. some guy named Anthony at the rink said go across 70 feet instead of 80 don't worry about it no one's going to notice insane story all right all right Craig it is insane it is insane it is it is we hold hope we're hoping they get there and they get it done yeah thank you for this as always okay thanks have a good day guys there's Craig butner TSN director of scouting joining us here on the maple toy to hotline get in and go where adventures take you in a new 2025 Tacoma from maple

Toyota near Canada's Wonderland and the Maple Auto Mall visit maple Toyota.com all right well we'll see I mean a lot of people wondering if that has anything to do with the team being picked and if it's a bit of a smaller rank do you take a bigger team a more checking team

does it affect the philosophy I don't know you just got to have the best players with a mix of guys that can do some different things like you got to have some guys that can kill panelies and block shots and win a face off and then you got to have your just Game Breakers.

You see that goal by Boudard last night? I was just going to say this Badaard kid is making a case man. I was so gross for him to cut in the middle and like that that went off the twine and out so fast. He can shoot it, man. Real credit to the kid because everybody knew what the expectations of this guys were. I pumped him after the World Juniors saying what I thought he was going to be. And he played two years in the league. Connor Badard did.

And he went home in the summer and said, I got to change some things to be the player that I want to be at that next level. So as good as that guy wasn't junior, one of the best junior players to ever play the game, played two years in the NHL and said I've got to make some changes to be better. Like, if you're just Joe Blow out there playing hockey, just look at that and take a real good look at yourself and everybody can make improvements, man. He has. He looks phenomenal.

He was great again last night. All right, Rod Brindamore coming up. Best bet still to come this hour. Overdrive continues up on YouTube live. Every year it's the same. I get socks. You get socks. We all get socks. Not me. This year, I got more. More socks? More for less.

Virgin Plus hooked me up with an affordable phone plan and member benefits on food, fashion, and entertainment. So while I'm knee-deep in snow and novelty socks, you're unwrapping deals all season? Exactly. It's the gift that keeps on giving. Get more for less this holiday season with affordable phone plans and member benefits you'll love. Virgin Plus, obviously. a virgin plus store or virgin plus.ca for details. IHeartRadio, everything holiday, all in one place. From 24-7 Christmas music to the stories behind the Christmas hits with Drew Savage,

listen to the podcast on the free IHeartRadio app, your destination for all things Christmas. Merry Christmas! These are the songs that get you in the spirit. listening from all your Christmas favorites. All right, best bets later in the hour. The Leafs off to Carolina, playing the hurricanes tomorrow night. Rod Brindamore will join us in a moment. We're talking about the World Juniors and how they're doing things a little bit differently.

I was, you know, reading up, reading up on Rod Brindamore earlier. He was in that World Junior team back in 89 when it was up in Alaska, and that was a year when Burey, McGilney, and Fedorov were on the Soviet Union team and just dusting teams. Burey, McKilney, and Federoff. Yes. I believe they were a line and just absolutely destroying everyone. Buree would have been an underage, right, like a year younger than them. Because I think Bury's my age.

He's a 71. You're right. He was 17. The other two were 19, I believe. Yeah. Yeah. So. Bury was, I played in that Quebec.

Beckasso Cup as a 16-year-old, and Pavel Burray was on the team. It was ridiculous. Like, he was the best player in the tournament by far. Like, Matt Sundin was in the tournament. There were some really good players, right? But Burr-A was on another planet, and Russia was, like, a unique team. Like, their starting goaltender had new gear. Their backup goalie had, like, catalogs for pads.

Burry had nice skates, and, like, their fourth-liner had, like, tube skates. Like, it was the weirdest thing. Like, they were... Haves and have-nots, man. Big time. Big time. And, yeah, like, you look at the leading scores of that tournament. Jeremy Roneck, Mike Medano,

were there for the Americans. John LaClair. Timu Salani was there for Finland. Imagine the scouts there drooling for those guys at that tournament. Oh, man. Ronik. That's a stud fest. Yeah.

Ronick, Medano, Buree, McGilney, Federov, LaClair, Solani. You know, and obviously, Rod Brindam. more, a bunch of great Canadians who were in the tournament. Bobby Holick was there. Robert Reichel, Dmitri Christage. He had a good career. Yeah, I did.

Man, there was so many good players. Bobby Holilke. That guy was a monster to deal with. His head was the size of, like, a mascot's head. It was ridiculous. And I've never seen a guy. He would eat 10 pieces of fruit, but he would eat an apple, the whole core, the stem, everything.

I love those guys. They're the best. He never like, you know, you eat an apple, you eat around it, and you throw the core out. He just ate the whole thing, like a horse. Right. He doesn't matter, man. He wanted the whole thing.

I love it. That's like what a black bear would do. You know, that guy's teeth were probably so strong. I'm not lying. Bobby Holink would eat 10 pieces of fruit a day, but it was like the whole apple. Everything. You eat a whole apple.

Banana doesn't peel it. imagine seeing some guy just bury a banana unpeeled pregame pregame yeah it was just that guy was that guy remember him though Glenn Saither signed Bobby Holyke he was making 8.5 or nine and a half million three there was a bunch of guys Billy Garron Bobby Holick that signed three year deals for nine per huge money yeah that was that was slats that was Slats signing all those signing with the Rangers. It didn't go anywhere. No, we didn't make the playoffs.

$80 million payroll. And then he had to trade everybody at the deadline. Traded Leach, I think, up here to Toronto. Yeah, that's right. It was Barnaby got traded. There was, Yager was on that team. It was just a weird, weird dynamic. I went in that dress room.

I was like, what is going on here? Different world, right? Different world. Yeah, it's so fun. Like, sometimes just to go back and look at the HockeyDB page of, like, different world juniors. like obviously you're expecting great players but like the Canadian side it looks like it was kind of Andrew Castles

Mike Ritchie Rod Brindamore you know I'd have to go through the list I'm sure Eric Desjardin was on that team Sergei Zubov was there Who won the gold that year? Soviets they were like it was Borei they had Bury McGilney Federov Zubov

Christage like they you look at it it's just they're loaded yeah I mean Boulin and I'd have to go look at it. I don't know. Ask Roddy what it was like. Bring him in here to see what it was like playing against those cats.

All right. Here he is. The head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, Rod Brindamore. And, Rod, we were just talking about the World Juniors and Canada's plan moving forward. And you were there in Anchorage back in 89 and like McGilney-Burray-Fedder-up were a line. Were they not? Like, what was that like? You know what?

I've never talked about this. This is unbelievable. you guys are talking about this so world juniors in alaska yada yada we lost 8-1 i think and i'm to russia and i'm telling you i'd never forget this because this mcgillian guy so uh my best best hit of my life okay he was coming across the middle you know i was like canada russia we're trying to kill him and that's why we're losing right we're running around but whatever i lay him out like you wouldn't believe right across the middle take i mean his head off this is back when you could, you know, hit high.

I'm like, oh, I'm like, this is unbelievable. And I'm thinking he's done forever. He just got up, came out, scored three goals, I think. I was like, oh, man. It was, I've never had a beat down like that in the game. Crazy. And then that was against the rest of June. What did they do?

They just have to puck the whole game? Yeah, it was, we were just running around trying to do that and kill them, and, you know, it was stupid, but we couldn't catch them. and then they came and traded us all their crappy sticks through the good sticks that we had after and you know how they didn't have good equipment or anything like it was it was embarrassing that was a beat down they were really impressive

yeah well they had like sergey zoobobb was on defense for them and like I'm looking at the roster it's absurd how many guys eventually made it to the NHL and a bunch of them hall of famers and obviously you guys had a good team but they were just crazy good yeah yeah and Americans Good memory, but not really. Yeah, no kid, man. No kid.

Well, it's great to see you. We appreciate you doing this, and obviously the Leafs are in town tomorrow night. You guys are off to another great start. And, you know, we're always wondering, like, how do these teams that are constantly playing the same way? How do they do it every year? Like, you guys are always chasing the top of the division, always going to the playoffs. Like, what's the secret sauce for you for that consistency in Carolina? Well, I think it starts for me.

You know, the one thing that's been consistent over this time is we have a great group of guys, but great leadership. They don't let it go sideways. And so it doesn't really matter who's in or out. It's like there's a certain way, you know, try to do things. And it doesn't matter what system you play. There's 32 teams. I don't care what system you play.

If you get 20 guys doing it, you have a good chance to win. And like I said, I think the one constant with this group is, you know, Jordan Stahl and, you know, Seabas, and, you know, I know Slaidman's been out all year, but, like, these guys just do it right, and then it's kind of contagious, so it gives you a chance to win, regardless who's in your lineup, and that's kind of what's happened. Rod, a little tougher managing your practice time and the schedule based on having a compressed schedule? Yeah, for sure.

We've had, up until this week, we actually had three days between games. I think we had two practices in two weeks. And it's just because you're playing every other day and, you know, you can't, you can't run out there the next day in practice. And there's no point in practicing with half the guys if, you know, your guys that are playing heavy minutes. So you just kind of move on, practice on video, right, the next day, a couple clips. And so you're definitely, you're not getting sharp, like I guess as a way, but everyone's kind of in the same boat. And so when you do have a little time, it's nice to get a real practice in. We had, really, we had one on whatever day, Tuesday, so it was nice.

But I think that's just how it's going to be this year. And, you know, injuries are mounting for every team. It's mostly just because of the games, just bang, bang, bang, bang. You know, maybe they're not the same as, or they are the same as the previous, but you didn't have four games in a week. So you miss a week, you're missing four games instead of maybe two or whatever. But like I can say, it's same for everyone. Roddy, with the busy schedule, does that mean you give the boys a break in the gym after the game

where they still have to go do that. No, no, no, come on. That's a constant. I mean, that's part of that day. But where you're seeing the day, like, the time off is there's just no, we don't practice the next day, right? So now that's a good trade-off. They'll go in the gym for 15, 20 minutes and not see you the next day anytime.

They'll take that over, getting on the ice. Yeah, I mean, it's a weird year. And you mentioned injuries, like Slavin is obviously, you know, that guy's as good as it gets and he hasn't been available to you and um the wrap there it's almost like you got you're closing your eyes hoping it doesn't happen to you because it's everywhere like news today say again's likely done for the year and he somewhat of an innocuous play just kind of got run into and his ACLs all mashed up and like it's just it's a it's a war zone out there right now yeah well it's i just think it's the you know consistent you're in your game game game and

the body just doesn't quite have that extra deep even a day here or there to just kind of recoup, and then these little things happen. You know, guys are going to play hard. I mean, that's not going to change, but the injuries are going to mount. Yeah, with Rob Brindamore, head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Go ahead, Nourdes. Rod, it's a bit of a weird question, but if you're seeing with the amount of overtimes this year and extra time teams getting there, has the coaching taken over now? Because you're seeing, you know, rushes and it's all puck possession so circle back throw it back to the goalie get a fresh player out there it i feel like overtime was played differently in years previous but is it the

coaching is it the players it's tactical what is it now that you're it's all about possession first of all i think overtime's great i i think i mean i don't know how many games end in overtime but it's like i know all ours do we never go to shoot out it's exciting like it's it's over and yeah there's a little more in that right you drag The puck back, you know, I can't stand watching guys drag the puck back. That's trash. Right, but, oh, just wait. Guess what it's setting up?

It's coming. You just got to have a little patience because sooner or later it's going to happen, and then all of a sudden it's going to go ding, ding, ding, back and forth. Then someone's going to win the game. Because I'm pretty sure last time I looked, there was some, like, 7, 8% of the games were ending in overtime. This might have been about two weeks ago they had this thing. So to me, it's, yeah, there's that little lull that happens,

but that's just strategy too because you're hedging your bet right you know you're trying to score off the rush so wait wait find that rush chance and then you know then it just opens up then it goes back and forth but don't you think roddy would be more exciting if you just you could take it back but you only get one line and you've got to transition the other way it would force turnovers and I think it would create a lot of confusion and not exciting it might but you know what you might see you know what you might see is dump pucks in overtime you might get to that oh I can't take it back so I just flip it down there and you know what I mean like I don't know

they'll coach someone will figure out a way that that won't work and you know I don't I listen all the things in the NHL we could fix to make the game better overtime's not it for me we got that figured out in my opinion Roddy Nick Eilers had a bit of a slow start with you guys

how has he been of late well a slow start because you're looking at the points right and really I think he's played really well I think he's hit five or six goal posts in this time. So you've got a couple more goals that you think differently. But he's a very unique player for us because of the way he plays. He's got that ability.

Like, you know, those guys that can all of a sudden there's nothing cooking. And then all of a sudden they hang on to it for that second longer. And then boom, there's a pass to somebody and there's a chance. Like he has that ability and obviously the speed too. So I think it's coming with him. he's just been kind of really unlucky. Like if I was to say over 25 games, he should have two or three more goals easily

and be a little different story. With Rod Brindamore, we talked to you last year after the, you know, rant and in trade and then him being traded again. You know, getting Eelers, how significant was that for you guys as an organization? Like he was a pretty big UFC.

There were a lot of teams kicking tires on him, and he chose you guys. You know, how much of a, you know, benefit was that for you? Well, we'll see. But I think, like I said, I loved what I've got out like we've seen so far. I mean, he came as advertised for me. This wasn't a player you don't know what you're going to get. Like, he's pretty consistent, you know, his game over year after year.

And again, it's all about for me that kind of fit or what are you missing as an organization as a team. Does that help you? And we drop him in. It changes our dynamic a little bit. to put him right now he's with two other guys that are very similar kind of players that really shifty and dynamic and think the same way so they haven't really it hasn't shown up on the score sheet yet but they've they've had really good impact in the game so I'm hoping that that starts translating on the score sheet well and you know we talk about the condensed schedule

and all that with your goaltenders you've had you know three different guys play multiple games, how much can you even predict and plan in terms of who's going to start for you, considering changes every night, there's injuries, and what guys are going to face whenever they do play? Yeah, the one thing that I've been doing this very long time,

even when I was in assistant sitting in the back room, just watching, and then I always plan the goalie rotation. Okay, we're going to do this, this, this, this, da, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's a good plan. And I'm like three games into it, it's like, no, this goal he's on a heater, we'll keep him, but no, he's going to play a game. We literally, it's more, it was up for next game.

We don't try to get too far ahead of it. We have three, but we've only had two healthy for most of the year. And right now we've still, we got three on the roster, but we really only have two. So it hasn't really come an issue too much yet on how we're going to do it. You know, could check off practice the last couple days. So this might be our first little run of having three guys, and now it will be a little more of a challenge. But, you know, until we really get to that point,

I'm not going to worry about it too much. We've got three guys we like, and, you know, we'll see where we go. Well, Leaves in town tomorrow night. It's always a fun game, and Leaves coming off a win last night. They're playing better recently as well. It should be a good one tomorrow night. So best of luck, best of luck down the road, and we'll do it again down the road when we have you back on.

I appreciate this as always. Of course. Thanks, guys. Appreciate you. See you, God. Yeah, see, bye. Rob Brindamore. Your old teammate, roommate.

Jim Rat, the two of you. Always great catching up with him. That roommate experience with Roddy, he did not want any. He was horrified. That's what it is. You scared him. I know. We got to training camp, and it was the year after we went to the Cup finals.

So it was a bit of a loose environment. And I had some buddies come up from Miami, and they were taking to me this golf course called Old Florida. It was just such a sick course. and we were just hammering pints and going out and blowing darts and coming in he was he didn't do much like he was an intense intense individual yeah and it lasted two days and he told me to go get another room me you're out that's the best part is he goes you got to get another room yeah right this is mine i'm established well you guys were

you guys were teammates for a long time right four or five years me and rottie yeah i sat right beside him in the locker room he didn't exactly like that either because i guarantee you let me just guess was there chew involved and it would roll over it's just he he was like he's just the type of person like he had a certain way that his tape was there and if i went and just used a roll of his tape that bogged him and he didn't he just he's a very particular guy and i think he really found it eye opening when i ended up sitting beside him you guys know what i'm like it's just it's an eye-opening experience at times they're just shrapnel everywhere and he's very diligent and structured and you weren't that's what it is i love it i love that trains

planes and automobiles yeah like between every period i don't know what that guy him and gary roberts and i was having a dc i'd have a dc on ice delivered diet coke between periods he must have been looking at that like who he i wouldn't use a diet coke between period him and gary robert as like an intense off would be crazy to see which one was more intense. When Roddy first got to Carolina, that was our line. Me, Roddy, Brindamore, and Gary Roberts. I love it. Imagine the combos they had amongst themselves.

Oh, yeah, when you weren't around? It would have been great. All right. Best bets coming up. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. Every year it's the same. I get socks.

You get socks. We all get socks. Not me. This year, I got more. More socks? More for less. Virgin Plus hooked me up with an affordable phone plan and member benefits on food, fashion, and entertainment. So while I'm knee-deep in snow and novelty socks, you're unwrapping deals all season? Exactly. It's the gift that keeps on giving. Get more for less this holiday season with affordable phone plans and member benefits you'll love. Virgin Plus, obviously. Visit a Virgin Plus store or virginplus.ca for details.

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It's been so much. We just talked to Rob Brindamore about it. It seems like every other game is going there. I think both teams need to figure it out tonight. Like Winnipeg's not happy. Montreal isn't happy. I think it'll be a spirited quality game tonight. You're getting plus like 3.30 on that.

Put a little sprinkle on it. Call for some overtime. That's a good call. It's a good call. I like that idea tonight. Best bets powered by Fanduel. Make your picks and assemble. Same game parley on the Fandual Sportsbook app.

And same game parley is now available for every NHL game on the Fandual Sportsbook app. Please play responsibly 19 plus physically located in Ontario. All right. Well, Luca's not playing tomorrow, but the Lakers will be in town. Lucas not playing. It doesn't sound like Pertil is going to play for the Rappers. Leaves in Carolina tomorrow, big Thursday night. Or what a night tomorrow.

What a night it's going to be. So we'll tee that up all day. Maybe the Js make another splash. shock anybody between now and 4 p.m. tomorrow. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out. We appreciate it. Everyone for tuning in today, TV, radio, podcast web, and of course up on YouTube live on TSN's YouTube channel.

We're out of here. Enjoy your evenings. Enjoy the games tonight. We're back tomorrow at everybody. Get your pimples sorted out. 4 p.m. We'll chat then. The lights are twinkling.

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