OverDrive - OverDrive - December 4, 2025 - Hour 1 - Darren Dreger/Chris Johnston

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss LeBron James and the Lakers playing in Toronto and his next steps in the NBA, the Maple Leafs looking to keep their winning streak going against Carolina, Kyle Tucker visiting the Blue Jays' Dunedin facility and Bo Bichette's future with the Blue Jays. TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger and Chris Johnston on the headlines around the NHL and the Scottie Scheffler's dominance at the Hero World Challenge.

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TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker up on TSN4, Brian Haseo, Doug Jeff O'Neill, Dave Feshchuk of the Toronto Star in here. How's everyone doing this afternoon? I'll tell you what, I heard an outrageous claim recently. Kara Wagland said, I find it crazy that you don't read. I read 129 books last year. Yes. Dude.

That, A, I don't believe that for a second. That's not possible for one person to read 129 books. Yeah, not possible unless they're... 29? Children's books or something like that. It's possible she's reading short stories. Right, ABCs, you know, stuff like that. But, yeah, I've noticed.

I have not heard that. Personally, I've seen the promotion. Kara's not alone. A lot of people that read books. They want everyone to know. They read books. Oh, and a lot. They look, a lot.

A lot. A lot. That's a lot of books. That, you got to find another hobby. That's too much. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not sure I'm buying that. Your nose is growing when you say a hundred.

That's 10 plus a month. Yeah. Exactly, Dave. That's ridiculous. More than two a week. She's got young kids. It's one thing in dummies like I say, no way. This guy, he knows the.

deal about reading writing everything you're an educated guy yes i could never read two and a half books a week i mean if i had to i guess i would but that would be like force feeding i mean be hard on the brain well unless you're in school or something like that like to do that with other stuff going on in your life what about if you had to interview a guy like on a friday and this guy was coming out with a book and you had to research could you rip it off from monday to thursday and be done with the book do it all the time yeah you do that type Well, you do it, but, like, do you read the entire book? Do you read every word in the book?

Sometimes not. Sometimes not. Sometimes you're looking for things that will interest your readers about what's in the book, and you read those parts really closely. Man, those Cole's notes were something. They were the best. There was nothing better. Whoever came up with that, a legend.

Yeah, whoever Cole was, I love that guy. Great guy. It was the best guy, because you'd go to a bookstore. This is the laziest thing you could ever do. Like, man, I've got to read a book. Let's go and hope there's a Coles notes out there. that I could read to reduce everything and I can get a good read on what's going on.

But it does remind me, I know, I don't know if you're a Kirby's enthusiasm fan. I feel like you're probably not. Because you don't read, you don't watch shows. You have nothing to do it. There's pop culture, politics, nothing. There's nothing that penetrates that brain of yours. It's actually incredible.

You should be studied. But there was a great scene where Larry was donating to, like a wing to some hospital or something like that. and he put his name on it, right? Dedicated by Larry David. And then someone came up, I think it was his wife, Cheryl, said, you're not going to believe. Someone has donated, but they just put anonymous up there.

Because they don't want their name up there. They just want anonymous, but I know who it is, and it was Ted Danson. And I find the reason I bring up that analogy is a lot of times that happens with book readers. You read all these books, and you read it so you can tell people, you read all these books, right? Like you could keep that kind of information. to yourself, but anyone that reads

a ton of books, I've got to post it online, just finished this book. 4.2 stars out of five onto my next book. You could do it quietly. Office for a day on vacation. This is my third book. You know what is it? Yes, you can just keep it to yourself. You're not reading. Exactly. Like that Paige Sporanick, who's been in the news recently, who's a golf influencer, I'm sure

many of the fellows are familiar with her work. She got caught. Cheating. Yeah, cheating in one of these big invitational. And for someone to that's been around golf her whole life. She went up to some fescue and started fluffing all the fescue down and she claimed she had no idea. Like she was matting it down and giving her playing partner a great lie in this fescue.

And then she was like, I had no idea you couldn't do that. Really? Like using her hands. Not the old club trick. Like the hands. Like fanning down the fescue all around. Like she was peeling a banana in the rough. And it was like she had no idea that we couldn't do that.

That's shocking. So anyway, she, I guess, made some money. on that and was nice enough to donate it to a cause but all the reports are saying she quietly donated and it's like well how do we know that she donated then if it was quiet like obviously it wasn't that quiet because she's told somebody because now it's a news item that everyone knows about you're right right like so it's the old ted dancing anonymous you want to a just anonymously i did this everybody in town knows you want everyone to know that you that's right so that's what's happened that was a great little thing up on the

screen. Kara Wagland claims she's read $199. Put that back up. Get that up. Leave that up for an hour. Leave that up for a full hour. Carrick claims to have read 129 books in a year. Share your take. Dude, that's not even possible.

Not even possible. Share your take in the YouTube, Chad. That's great. Is there everyone that tweets me and says you're a dummy you can't read? Throw something at her saying that's a lie. Spin it around the other way to anonymous Kara Waglin.

Anyway, what a night we've got in the city tonight, right? We got LeBron in town. Got LeBron here. Could be his last dance. You think this is it for LeBron? You think we see him play again in Toronto? I mean, turns 41 on the same day, Tiger turns 50 later this month, right? So, and this is the first time, guys, where he looks old.

You know, like, last year he was really good, you know? And, you know, the offseason before last year, he was the MVP of the Olympics. He was a four still. this year he misses 14 games of sciatica that's a tough injury for a young athletes don't suffer from a super athlete like lebron mr i spend millions on my body every year and now i've got sciatica think about that well i've got a theory too because apparently he and his son brawny really got into golf for the first time ever and i got we know what it's like to be

golf freaks i got to think he's got his mind on playing golf and like that's started to kind of creep into his mind a little bit. I've done it all. I've made it all. I just want to go tee it up. Like, I want to play golf so badly. There is such a massive ego involved with this guy. And I don't know how he could find a way on that panel with Chuck and Shaq and Kenny, but I think that he goes. Do you think he does that? I don't know, man. The guy loves the limelight. How many times in the past have you said, LeBron just doesn't want to be his people. He's got these people what is it clutch sports or that just say he's you know doesn't want to be doing this or doing

that but he's always in the spotlight he loves a spotlight and he kind of deserves a spotlight of course he does well i don't think he can go away from it and just go move to hawaii and tee it up every day yeah i mean i uh i think you're probably right i'm just saying it's easier to do it every single day if you're just setting up for the media not you don't have to keep your body in check like he has throughout his career but the point being is it could be his last dance the buzzworthy nature of his presence

like I was trying to compile a list today of who in my lifetime has created more of a buzz when they roll through town it's I'm not sure there is anybody like maybe McDavid maybe Sid I'm biased a little bit but like when the Canadian opens here in Rory's in town

you can feel the presence of Roy McRoy he's in Australia right now and it's just the crowds are insane following him around. I don't know if there's a baseball player that Otani matches that. Otani possibly judge, possibly Jeter at one point in his career. I think it's more

of the teams though, like the Yankees are in town you can feel. You know what I mean? The Yankees are here. The Dodgers are here. Because they bring fans. They bring buzz. Yes. But LeBron. Right. Cleveland, Miami, L.A., anywhere the guy plays, it's LeBron is in town. Not the Lakers

are here. It's LeBron is here. I think he's probably at the top of the list. Without a doubt, because it's not just a great player is here. One of the greats of the history of the game is here. One of the biggest, to your point, O'Dag, one of the biggest, you know, spotlight, social media figures, you know, pop culture figures. He transcends sports. He's a one-name human being who transcends sports.

You know, probably one of the most famous people on the planet. It wasn't just that. It was the fact that he destroyed things here. He got coaches fired. He got DeMard de Rose and traded. He got Masayu Jiri storming into Dwayne Casey's office, you know, looking for vengeance after he banked in that shot to sweep the Raptors in the final series. All because they couldn't beat him.

Couldn't beat him. The league couldn't beat this guy. He was a one-man wrecking crew. Some of those teams in Cleveland, it was literally a one-man wrecking crew. Yeah. The league revolved around LeBron. Everybody in the league. The East did for sure.

It was pretty much the league for 10 plus years. In that span of whatever it was 10 years where he made the finals, it was pretty much everybody, you talk to executives, you talk to scouts, you talked to coaches, it was all about how do we beat LeBron? And there was no answer. You couldn't. Well, I mean, when Kevin Durant showed up, they could. And like, Kauai got him once, right, in San Antonio.

And obviously he was the man, he was the king. He was in the East, though, throughout that run. like the nine straight years to the final, all in the east. And he's done, look what he's done with the Lakers. They won in the bubble. That counts. You know, it was different. It was unique, but it still counts.

He's won a championship in the West. He's won a championship as a Laker. But, you know, I know a number of people going down tonight. It's like you feel fortunate that you can possibly see him one last time. Maybe he comes back. Again, I lean towards him still playing because I think he would make the announcement that he's done. I think he'll do the tour. I think he said last year, you'll know, I'm just going to go away quietly and it'll be, I don't

He said that or he said I probably will do that, you know, like I don't think it was as to find. I think he wants the old goodbye. I think he'll do the tour personally. I think there will be some sort of an announcement well in advance of his last game. You know, certainly when he goes through Cleveland for the last time, I don't think he does that quietly. I don't think he just leaves and goes, hey, no one knows, but I'm not coming back. Like I think, and I think he's worthy of that. Let's be clear. A lot of athletes have done the tour. This guy deserves

it as much as anybody. Like LeBron has owned the NBA for 23 years. He has exceeded the craziest expectations you could ever have. He's a one-man content machine. He's one of the more unique athletes in history. And

it's too bad Luke is not playing tonight. I guess his fiance is having their second child. He's actually in Slovenia right now, which is crazy. But Luke is not going to be in attendance tonight. LeBron's playing. Rapplers in action. We've got a big Thursday night, or Al's brother and yourself and myself

making the pick in just over an hour. Luke Wilson will join us at 5. And the insider's coming up later in the hour. We've got a bunch of games in the NHL, including the Leaves, and Carolina. And this is a big one. Wrapping up a road trip. You got Montreal all in town on Saturday night. There'll be a lot of buzz on that.

Leaves have Saturday night. It doesn't get much bigger than that. And you'd ideally like to come home with a 4-and-2 record on the road. Find a way to get the win tonight. This always felt like the most challenging game. Game six on the road. You've been on the road for a long time. Carolina's at home.

They're waiting. We had Rod Brindamore on yesterday. He said they got to practice a couple times this week, so they're sitting around waiting for you. Gary thought. This is a tough match tonight. And it'll be, I'm curious to see if they can back up what they did against the Florida Panthers.

Yes, the Florida Panthers has some key guys out of the lineup. But Toronto looked like they had a sense of purpose playing that game. It wasn't just, Oh, what's going on here and just the gong show we've seen in the past month or so where they look like they didn't know what they're doing. They were like, it seemed like scratching the players woke them up a little bit and there was some urgency from guys that need to show urgency, which that's what is needed. Like your bottom six guys have to show urgency.

They can't just go out there and be like, oh, we'll see what happens out there. 100%. And I think, you know, Dakota Joshua comes to mind. Prime example. They scratch him. He's at a couple goals since. He's looked a lot more forceful, that third line in general with Wai and McMahon and Dakota Joshua has been more of that Burube-style, straight line, you know, forecheck, get the puck and keep it in the zone a little bit, hold on to it and make the other team pay a little bit for playing against you. Like, they've been saying they want to be hard to play against.

How many times do we hear that? But they haven't been anywhere nearly hard enough to play against, right? And that third line is, I think they play in a way that that's what Burrubon. Ruea is talking about when these past couple of games. It's been a, you know, it's been a minuscule sample size, but at least to your point, O'Dag, it's a step in the right direction, right? But, man, the hurricanes, though, that's a different beast in terms of a team that is relentless. They will smoke your ass.

They're not ready to play, and they skate, and they forecheck, and they bust their ass back, and they put a lot of rubber on the net. They can just overwhelm you. If you don't have your B stuff, even, like, you need your A stuff to have a chance, but if you want to show up sleepy and not barn against those guys, they will. They did it to them like two weeks ago. It was one of the more lopsided games you'll ever see in your life. Oh, yeah, the odd man rushes they had and the breakaways, that was insane.

The shots on net, the shot attempts, it was something like 88 to 33 or something like that. Like it was crazy what Carolina did to the Leafs in their own building. So that and that was when the Leafs were in their darkest place. That was the two losses to Boston, the loss to Carolina, stole ours left, then Matthews got injured. but you know this road trip has worked out pretty well for them so it's a big big opportunity leaves carolina tonight the insiders a little bit later in the hour speaking of insiders that i guess there's there's got to be a mole down and done eden tipping off what the blue jays are up to

because the report came out last night kyle tucker was down and done eden checking out the facilities meeting with i'm sure shepiro and atkins curious if the owner went down i would think that would be one where if you got to call in edward rogers he gets on a bird and gets down there, might be down there anyway. But I don't recall seeing any other reports of Tucker visiting anywhere else. It's not like he's exclusively going to meet with the Jays. I'm

sure he's going to do the tour. Meet with the Mets, the Cubs, guessing the Dodgers, gratuitously, the Giants, the Yankees, talks. Like, why wouldn't you just meet with everybody? I would think he probably will. How important do you think these tours are? Well, I don't think they can hurt if you're the team making

your pitch. You know, it's a good sign. Again, it didn't land, O'Tonnie. That was the famous one. he was down in Duned, and they gave him a hat. But apparently he loved everything. He loved everything until he got home and said, actually, there's no chance. I'm staying in L.A. and I'm going to sign with the Dodgers. So this, you can't get too far ahead of yourself here.

Again, I do find a curious that I have not seen him reportedly meeting with anyone else. You know, maybe he's down in Florida doing the tourists with the teams on the East Coast. I don't know. But it does indicate that the Jays are not doing this to waste their time, that they would sign him if he's willing to accept. their offer, which I think is the first step that needs to be met here, right? Because there was some conversation, does it fit? You just signed Santander. Where are these, you know, if you got Varshaun Center, where is he going to play? Is Barge are going to be, you know, what happens here?

Like, how do you make all these pieces fit? I think he's one of those players, wouldn't you say that you just sign him and all the pieces can adjust afterwards? I think so. And I think that's smart business, I do. I do think there's a Bobauchette connection here clearly too. Like if you're going to sign Tucker, the likelihood of them also signing Bichette seems pretty low. It does. So take that for what it's true. Because you've got other infield options. And look, I mean, let's be

honest here, you can say you've got other pieces you have to move around if you sign Tucker, but look, we saw Santan dare try and play the outfield in playoffs. That did not look like something that was sustainable. No. By any measure. Plus, he was hurt the majority of the season. Right. Which is also a concern. And Springer

is going to DH. And Springer is going to DH. And we also know that, look, Springer turned back the clock this year in a spectacular way that drove this team all the way to the World Series. But can he do that again? And we all know he's coming up to the end. He's a lot closer to the end than he is to the beginning

of his Jay's tenure. So you've got to be planning ahead and Tucker is much younger and much better, frankly. I mean, in terms of his recent stats, although not many people were better than George Springer last year. So in a lot of ways, it makes complete sense to go Tucker over Bo Bouchet.

But I think it serves two purposes. guys, like, it's good to let Bo Bichette know that you have other options when you're negotiating with Bo Bichette. Right, absolutely. The news is out there and Bows getting it. Yeah. But that, again, presumes that the Jays want to bring Bichet back. No, but, dude, if you're a player and you're seeing this stuff, this guy's in Dunedin,

and you know that if he signed, you're out, as a player, you're pissed up. Like, I would be pissed off and say, I would tell my agent, let's look anywhere but the Blue Jays. That's what I would say to my agent. You are risking that. I'm not a top priority, and they obviously know they could get the deal done. They just signed a pitcher and gave him $200 million that never played a game for the team. So what about me? Why am I not a top priority?

And it would piss me off. Now, I think that's 100% valid. I wouldn't be shocked if that was his viewpoint. Now, that again is assuming maybe the Jays didn't try to kick tires with him at some point during the season. Maybe they did. Maybe they didn't. But the Jays response might be. what we were trying to talk to you during the year and you were banked you said i want to be a free

agent i want to see where the market's at that's also okay you want to see where the market's at so will we yeah you know go ahead beau that's all good yeah that that's like that may have happened as well they may have been knocking on his door in july in august and saying what are we thinking here and he goes all good man i'm going to play it out and i want to see the market doesn't mean i don't want to come back okay you want to be a free agent you're allowed to be but then we're allowed to explore what else is out there yeah you know it's a two-way street when it comes to that that's what i think. I think this is a little bit of a message, a very big message, a loud message.

And he'd have every right to feel the way you would feel, oh, do, oh, dog, on this? If he didn't do what Brian said, if he told the organization, look, I want to sniff around and see what else is out there, and scroll left or right on Tinder on other teams, then the team can tell them to stuff it.

And say, we'll circle back on you and we feel the need. It's no urgency on us. Right. Well, and this also isn't a popularity club. You know, they're trying to win baseball games. It's a big league organization. There's everything in play here. Obviously his popularity.

The pop and his bat comes into play. But they also think injuries and what he's going to look like in two years. Yes. And maybe those numbers come back to them when it comes out of the printer and they don't like what they see. I think that is something that's being kind of lost in all this, is there's such a hyper focus on 2026, which I understand if you're a fan. Yeah, these guys aren't dummies, man. They've already forgot about that.

You got a plan for 27, 28, 29. and when you're given some guy 200 million plus, or in Tucker's case, maybe 400 million plus, eight, nine, 10 year deal, you're thinking what is the value throughout the whole thing? And how does my team look throughout the whole thing? Right. So that's what was considered with Dylan C's.

For sure, again, I think he asked the average fan, hey, I'd love to see Scherzer come back. He was awesome last year. I love Max Scherzer. Okay. Scher, if he comes back, is going to give you one year. He's probably going to give you the same kind of lineage

of what he gave you this year, 15 starts. Maybe he doesn't start in the DS if you get there. Maybe he comes alive in the championship series. Dylan Cease is showing up and he's pitching for seven years. Yeah. Like they're trying to establish something here and I think what they learned this year with some of the guys who

came up like Barger, like others, like you savage, that they feel like they can be a contending team for quite some time. And you can't just hyper-focus on 2026 where I think if you're making a long-term play, Tucker versus Bichet, taking a motion out of it, Kyle Tucker is the right play.

Like if you're building from scratch on neutral site, you go to Oklahoma or something, you're like, we're starting a team today. Who would you rather have to the next eight years? I think objectively, most people, if not all people, are going to take Kyle Tucker. So that's where it comes from. And if you

can lock him in and sign them, as much as everyone loves Boba Shett, they're probably going to learn to love Kyle Tucker pretty quickly. Because he can hit, he can run the bases, and he's a left-handed bat. You stick him behind Vladdy for the next decade, that's a pretty good one-two punch. Not bad. And look, the popularity thing,

I do think it can factor in. Like, there's no doubt it factored in to Vladdy getting the bag he got. You know, he got a premium because he was, he's the face of the franchise. He's, you know, the most beloved player on the team. He's, he sells jerseys. He's got name recognition. He's got that emotional

connection to a team that signed him when he was 16 years old and he's born in Canada. His dad's a legend. All that stuff, I think, that heaped up, you know, a few hundred million not a few hundred, but tens of millions on the price, right? Because that's that you pay for the brand

in some ways. Bo has a brand, but to your point, they already got their brand. They got their face of the franchise. You know, if Bo, Bo might have been able to beat Vladia to the punch it at some point in team history and sign a long-term deal. There were probably there were moments where he probably could have done that. Right? He chose not to.

And he wanted to play the long game and become a free agent. That's fine, but this is the big boy ranks now. Like, and the Blue Jays, I think the beauty for the Blue Jay fans, is it doesn't feel like they're getting played here. With Otani O'Tonnie touring

Dunedin, it felt like really. He was just using them. Yeah. Like they needed it, they needed an East Coast, they needed an East Coast team that was going to bid they didn't want it to be Steve Cohen and the Mets because Steve Cohn might do something crazy and outbid the Dodgers and then

they had to go to the Mets which they didn't want to do. They needed a team that would bid a modest or obviously not modest and but relatively modest in Otani's case, a modest contract and that the Dodgers would beat. And they basically use the Blue Jays. This doesn't feel like the same thing anymore. It feels like a different type of Blue Jay team,

a different type of Blue Jure approach, because they're high off of making, you know, millions off the World Series run because they feel like they can be a contender and go to more World Series. And they're the only ones being aggressive right now. And I think also they're benefiting from the fact that there's like a chill, around major league baseball with the labor

war coming where I'm sure the commissioner is, you know, very obviously not overtly and never on paper or any emails or text, but wouldn't be unhappy if teams didn't spend too, you know, too crazily this off season to make the point that, you know, the money doesn't flow as freely

as you players think it does. You think we're just lining our pockets over here, hang on. You know, it's a tough business, the baseball business, and even the Yankees may not be making a profit, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Yeah. That's putting the ball on the Blue Jays court

because they're not playing that game from everything we've seen so far. All the insiders are like the Blue Jays are ready to go nuts. Yeah. Well, they have. I mean, even like the Vladdy deal kicks in this year. Like he effectively was a free agent. Yeah.

You know, so that deal is going to kick in. Dylan Cese is going to kick in. Ponce is at a different level, but still. And if they are serious about Tucker, like if that's going to cost you $400 million, let's say, Like, that's, that's $1.1 billion in contracts for three players that are going to kick in at the same time

in C's Flaughty and Tucker. Like, that's an absurd amount of money. And yet, they're riding high. And if you're ever going to pounce and take advantage of a rabid market and fan base and almost 100% approval rating, now's the time to do it. Because they've got it.

And I know from experience. you know, like I, again, purely anecdotal, but out there buying like my nephews, like Christmas stuff, I'm like, I'll go Jays. Usually it's like I'm going on Leafs or I'm going around. I'm like, Jays, it is. I think that'll be a bigger hit right now. That's the truth.

It's Jay's fever, man. Yeah, that's the truth. They've captured something here, much like the Raptors did six years ago. It's like coming up on seven, I guess. And like as you now you realize with the Raptors, it doesn't last, right? It can go away quickly. Yes.

You don't capitalize on it. and the Raptors really didn't, unfortunately. They didn't really transition out of that. And COVID hurt them. Of course. And Kauai, which it turns out they actually benefited greatly from Kauai just leaving. Yes, they did. Greatest thing maybe to ever happen to them was one and done, preserve his legacy as, wow, what a player.

This was amazing. We love him. Thanks for everything. Thanks for everything. Get the hell out of here. Because if he stayed and demanded George and they traded all these picks and it was just a mess right now, it would be such a different history. They were never going to get, as soon as he started the man in George.

I think that's where it all stopped. Yes, for the Raptors. Like, this is stupid, we're not doing it. We're not going down that road. It felt like a shakedown from the Oklahoma City Thunder, and guess what? It was, a very successful shakedown. And it worked out beautifully. It worked out beautifully.

Just an update on the books. Waglin has reported on Twitter. Totally true. And this year, she's had 73 books. So last year was 124. 129. 24 whatever it was but this year there's also an additional 73 he's up to one or 73 wow yeah look at her this year I've wow

the numbers are down the numbers are down but they're still astronomical yeah if a book gets read in the waglin house but nobody knows it got red exactly did it get read how do you prove it how do you prove it reading comprehension test we might have to test her out how about a quiz you versus carra Dude, what am I going to answer? Well, we'll, we'll doctor it. The next time we have Fest truck on, we'll get... Okay.

Fest reads. Well, Noodles does too, evidently. Noodles is well read. He claims, but he listens. Man, I pissed off a lot of people yesterday when I was going out audiobook, like read, like people that listen to books. What, they claim that's not reading? Well, I...

It isn't reading. That's what I said. I'm like, it can't... It doesn't count as like a... You know, you weren't really reading. You were listening, but... Yeah, if you're smoking a cigar and you've got a truck with an audio book. That is not reading.

That's what I'm saying. No, but it's better than like, you know, listening to us. Well, that's not true. In terms of, let's not get stupid now. Expanding your brain. Well, it's healthier for the audio book. That might be valid. But I mean, you know, maybe not.

Maybe I'm selling this show. Come on. We're here to help people out. We do dear haze if you want some week. Once in a while, it's public service. Come on. Public service journalism. All right.

The insider's coming up. All right. We'll get into the Leaf Game tonight, among other things. the NHL. And we got Luke coming up. We got Danny Green in just over an hour. 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. European flavor. How would you describe it? Rich? Savory, hearty? How about yummy? Yummy Market is your destination for authentic European foods. From comfort foods and artisan bake bread to decadent cakes and pastries. Yummy Market skilled chefs prepare everything from scratch, honoring generations of traditional European recipes. They also stock a vast selection of rare European groceries. Yummy Market, a European food experience. In North York at 4,400 Dufferin Street

and Vaughan at 1390 Major McKenzie, east of Duffron. Visit yummymarket.com for their holiday menu. All right, overdrive continues, powered by Fandul, bringing you more ways to play your game your way. There are the insiders. Look at drags looking great, and I like CJ's whole vibe there. Is that a flap room too? You get the beard cooking.

Look amazing, by it. Look like Tony Hawk, man. you look cool. I love everything about it. I love everything about it. Pulled that one out of the vapors. Wow. It's a good reference.

It's excellent. Beautiful reference. CJ, I guess we'll start with you in terms of the Leafs and, you know, them in Carolina and good vibes. Like a couple wins, all of a sudden everything's moving in the right direction. But where do we stand with, you know, Tanev, Carlos, Stolars? That's what we get asked about all the time. What's one of these guys possibly going to return?

Well, it doesn't seem like any of them are particularly. particularly close, right? So, you know, in terms of looking at where the leaves are today, I think that they just have to keep muscling through more or less with the group they have for the foreseeable future. You know, we obviously heard this week about the setback for Carlos, so he's ways away. I mean, Tana seems to be in the same boat. And, you know, if you figure out what's going on, Anthony Stolars, please let me know because I'm not sure exactly what his status is of just being straight up on us. So, I mean, I don't see anything. on the horizon there that's going to help them, but

that being said, they have obviously gotten healthier for this stretch. The forwards are jelling a little better, you know, getting everyone back in the lineup up front, and they managed to put some wins together here. Are you guys not somewhat surprised that some teams just had, and I know trades are difficult, and that's the new life

of the NHL, but some team that's struggling hasn't said to another team that's struggling. I got three guys that I can't stand right now. You've got three guys that you can't stand. Like, let's just try to flip-flop and do something. change up the energy of these teams? Are we just stuck in a world where teams,

like they have their roster set in September and October, and that's what we're getting all year. Gaze has talked about it for years, Dr. It's like the fan engagement and excitement, it's terrible. Yeah, and it might be worse this year because of the obvious, right? You've got the Olympic break, but that break also includes

a trade freeze from February 4th through February 22nd. So now you've got a limited amount of time. And, you know, I've talked to a couple of general managers about this. I mean, it felt like last week there was more trade buzz and that's primarily because the Vancouver conducts just announced their shopping list and that caused a bit of

a stir. It's a bit more quiet this week, but there's so many injuries across the NHL and you wonder how much that is starting to influence these decisions as well, right? I mean, maybe you don't want to overpay to get that player and the change as O described for

sake of change isn't there in a perfect scenario so you don't really have much of a choice other than wait for your guys to come back and see how they fit moving forward. Well, we talked about Quinn Hughes last week, and I've noticed in the market, there was one shift of his that's been isolated. I'm sure you guys have all

seen it. It was not a good look for Quinn. He's just kind of floating around, and they were down 3-1 to Colorado. It was a really bad look. It's tough to isolate one shift on a player, but it's happened before it's, and when you get a profile guy like that, and I sense in the market they're getting worried about him.

Like, worried about what's going to happen, the PR going to look like? Like the fans, the management or everybody? Fans, media. Like, because, you know, just, again, tracking guys in Vancouver. We're all friends out there, media types. My understanding is he was like, he's off limits. You talk about anyone else you want.

Quinn's a guy you leave alone. All of a sudden, he's in the fire a little bit. And based on some of his play recently, maybe that's deserved. But how much of this is about preserving his PR in the market? Like, if you're the owner, if you're Quinn Hughes, don't you have to get out in front of this and prove I want to be here? I want to win here, and how does he handle this moving forward? Well, I think it's simply based on wins and losses,

and it has very little to do with the PR of Quinn Hughes. This is all about the Vancouver Connects trying to do whatever they can do to plug their holes to prove to him that there is long-term viability here. Like, there are some that just believe that it's not going to happen with Quinn. You know, he's already made that determination that, all right, you know, I have to play out my contract. I'm going to give you everything I can as captain of the organization. But the end of the day, I'm likely not going to extend there.

So if it goes right off the rails in Vancouver this year, and there's no reason to think it will entirely. But what does that mean? You know, if you're a non-playoff contender at the trade deadline around March 6th, if you're Patrick Galvin and Jim Rutherford, are you having that conversation about potentially throwing them out there? And I think that's what's starting to churn a little bit in that market. of the recent optics more than anything.

Right. How they're playing and how things are going. And listen, he'll be at the Olympic Games and be a huge part of that. But CJ, you look at the injuries with the Americans in particular. Like how might that affect what Bill Guerin decides to do or what he even can do? Because a lot of his main pieces

are a lot of guys are banged up right now. Yeah, it's kind of a tough spot. I think if there's a silver lining in it is they don't believe any of those players at this point are going to be out of the tournament. you know, that even the Hella Bucks and then some guys like that are going to have a window to get back up and running. But, you know, it was kind of amazing, actually, to me, looking back that the Four Nations sermon didn't have more injury issues. But it just feels like the way this season has gone.

I mean, these teams get named end of December, first week of January. You know, there's still quite a number of games to be played before the actual event gets going February 11th for the men in Milano. So, you know, I just have to believe we're going to see more injury replacements everywhere. And so maybe if you're in the U.S., you're just hoping that this rash of injuries, you know, Jack Hughes, all these guys, that there's going to be an opportunity for them to get back and playing and that the bad luck's getting used up now. Drags, you've got those Winnipeg roots, Manitoba roots, I guess. There's a lot of...

So do we, Dave. So do we. Oh, and I, we love Winnipeg. It's their second home. Their second home. Literally, it's my second home. I'll say it again. It felt like home.

I've got some connections out there. And there's a lot of dismay emanating from the prairie about this team. And I think, hey, head coach Scott Arniel, when you're saying your team embarrassed themselves in Buffalo, you're calling team meetings, you lose again last night, albeit you get a point at least against the Canadians in Montreal. But, you know, what is there to be done if you're running that club right now? Well, they're selling hope, and that comes from inside hockey operations. And, you know, I watch that game, and Winnipeg was obviously a lot better than they were the other night in Buffalo. I mean, that was abysmal in Buffalo, particularly the first period.

And I think I read somewhere, Buffalo scored on four rush chances, and they had nine chances overall. I mean, that's just not Winnipeg Jets hockey. It really isn't. I mean, the history of success in Winnipeg is primarily based around their defensive structure, right? They spent way too much time of late in the defensive zone. It looks like they're out of juice, but that's not all of it. And then instantly we turn to goal-tending because Connor Hellebuk, the Savior, isn't there. Well, Eric Commery's a backup goalie in the NHL.

He can make saves, but he's probably not going to make too many 10-bell saves. See, the amount of stress that is on that goaltender is too much. But then, as O talked about the other night, Tuesday night, I mean, their secondary scoring, by and large. Non-existent? It's not there. It's not there. It can't always be about Mark Schifley and Kyle Connor. And you can't fix that externally.

That has to come from within. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. Like, they're in a bad place, man. Like, they're in a, that division we talked about it yesterday, because Colorado and Dallas and Minnesota. Yeah, you want to dig a hole in that division, man, watch out. Yeah, like the wild cards are there. You're chasing the wild cards and you're in a wild card race with teams that are not that comfortable in the position.

Like right now it's Utah, San Jose, Seattle, Chicago. I don't think you'd be scared of those teams because they don't have any history of making the playoffs. Right. But still, it's not just Winnipeg. It's Edmonton, too. Yeah. Like the Oilers are in the same spot. Now, they can still track down, I think, L.A.

and maybe other teams in their own division. But you look at them tonight. They have, is it Seattle, I believe, in town, in Edmonton tonight, CJ. And, you know, what, what's the vibe check like out there when you're checking in on Edmonton and what they think they can still do? Well, it's funny.

It's a little like we had in Toronto here in that they just feel like they haven't played enough good games. Like, it's not a matter of, oh, some bad bounces have led to their record being where they are. I think they've been very up and down. perhaps they can draw something. They did have a shutout win in Seattle here recently, so they've had some success against the Cracken.

You know, the loss of Minnesota, it's a one cool game, tight game. But, you know, they've just been kind of all over the place, have the Oilers. And, you know, I think they're starting to feel the push. A lot of teams would be that the Panthers are feeling it. Now, obviously, the Leafs, I think, are still in this position where you realize it's getting late. Like, you can't keep putting off when your best hockey is going to come around

because maybe it's not going to go. So I think there's a fair amount of urgency around the Oilers and just in trying to get, they almost feel like that they have their own house in order before we're talking about, you know, external and trade this guy for that guy solving any issues. I think they need a more consistent, you know,

brand of hockey they've had in previous years or else this could be one of those years. They just never get it going. Yeah. Well, Florida, I don't know, man, I'm not convinced they can get back up off the mat. We talked about this the other day. Like those injuries are so substantial. They played so much hockey.

They've all won. They've all gotten their contracts. It's difficult. Like, psychologically, it's tough to be into December and dead last in the East and say, screw it, we're winning 10 in a row. It looked like the other night they didn't, there's not enough there to climb out of it. Right. And I'm curious what you think Bill Zito is going to do about that.

Like, does he have the stomach? Say, you know what's in our best interest here? Sit for a year. Yeah. Accept it. Reload. Let everyone get healthy, get a high pick, and come right back roaring. out next year. Do you think they have the stomach

for that or will he try to push and prod and try to get them back in? Yeah, he's going to try and push. I mean, not necessarily because he's feeling, you know, pressure from above or any of that. I mean, they're back-to-back Stanley Cup champions. They made nothing but money in Florida over the last number of years now.

But he's a fierce competitor, Billy Zito, and he's not going down without a fight. But, you know, because of the changes to the CBA and how you have to manage, you know, your injury scenarios, you know, they do need a firm answer on Sasha Barkoff. Now, are you coming back? And if you're not coming back, period, because again, it has to drift all the way to the end

of the year, you can't come back at some point in the playoffs, right? It just, it's not allowed anymore. It forces teams like Florida to make a more difficult decision transactionally with what you're trying to trade for and what you're getting back. We know Matthew Chuck is more or less back onto the ice. He'll come back, so that'll be a big boost, but he's not going down without a fight, the GM, that is. Yeah, could Chuck have be interesting to see what he looks like when he gets back.

I mean, obviously we're well aware of what he's capable of doing, but this is a pretty substantial injury. Yeah. Like, it's a pretty big one. And, again, he's got the Olympics coming up. We'll see. It wasn't exactly a packed house the other night when the Leafs were in town either. kind of embarrassing for a two-time Cup champ

and they had 40 people in the building anyway you just love it's disgusting though tell me you're not offended by that I know but they'll just come back at you and say well your team never made me I understand that I totally get that the counter could be your team as anything

60 years 40 people in the building disgusting I just wanted to make a point that it was very noticeable very noticeable all right guys we'll leave it there Good stuff, as always. CJ, just before we get out of here, how many books were just getting a count from people?

And Dregs, by the way, accused care of reading comic books. Let's that be noted. That's what we're doing. We're throwing each other under the body. CJ, how many books last year did you read? Not more than three. That's a good number, though. That's a normal number.

That's a normal number. And that's a perfect way to get people off your back. I just finished Duffy's book. He gave me a copy a week ago, and I finished it off in the last couple of days here. Great read. Because you had good. It took me 11 minutes to read.

It's a great read. All right, CJ, Dregs, good seeing you guys. There they are, the insiders. Chris Johnston, Darren Dregor. We got Luke coming up. We got Danny Green coming up. Big one, Leaves in action tonight. And we got LeBron in town, possibly for the last time,

and a big Thursday nighter as well. Both teams pretty much need a win in terms of where their playoffs are going. Detroit and Dallas tonight. We'll get to that pick in about 25 minutes. 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.

Polish families place an extra plate at the Christmas table for unexpected guests. Norwegians hide Broom's Christmas Eve to avoid being taken by witches. European holiday traditions are many, but one is shared by all. Authentic European foods. This Christmas, bring the taste of Europe home for the holidays. Shop yummy market for rare European groceries and freshly prepared dishes made in store from scratch. Yummy Market in North York at 4,400 Dufferin Street and Vaughn at 1390 Major McKenzie, east of Duffren.

Visit yommemarket.com for their holiday menu. All right, Luke Wilson coming up, Danny Green, leaves in action tonight in Carolina wrapping up their road trip. And the Lakers in town, you've got the Hero Challenge going on down on the Bahamas. I'm sure Scotty Schaeffler will likely win that tournament. That'll be a third year in a row. Rory McElroy down under, he's down in Australia. That's pretty cool.

of Rory decided not to play in Tigers event and go down to Australia? I don't know. I don't think he plays in it a lot, does he? Is he there every year? I always thought, like, Rory does his own thing. He doesn't go to Hawaii. And now he's in a spot. I think he's going on a Tiger tour where he's just like, I got

my four majors, and now I just want to pick away at the venues and the tournaments that he wants. Like he said the other day, he wants to win a U.S. Open at Pebble. He wants to win a British at St. Andrews. Like, those are the type of That's all he's chasing right now.

The venues and the big tournaments. Well, and he lives in Europe now, I believe, right? Is he not in London? He's got a new house in London. Which, not that that's, you know, Australia's right around the corner. But the point being is I think the DP World Tour, like, he may start leaning more into that. You know, as he gets older, it may not be a, I'm playing the PGA when I'm 45, 46. It may be I want to play over in Europe and play around the world.

Who knows? And it might be, it might be a smart play. Like from a calculation standpoint, the guy is red hot. right now. He's a one-man show. Wherever he goes. The crowds, I was watching it this morning. It's incredibly cool. It's just like what we see at the Canadian Open. When he comes up here, it's all him. It's all

McElroy. It's incredible. Yeah. He's very, he's one of one in golf. Like he's like Schaeffler's the better player, but Rory's the far bigger entity. Yes. The property. I think the DP World Tour has come up with like a Rory McElroy Award. I don't know

what his stroke guy. It's something I heard the other day where he's starting to get his flowers like this guy's a yeah and I think that's the only question with him is going to be like how does he stay motivated right he talked about that last year where it was like after he got the green jacket how do I you know he came up here and missed the cut

like you look terrible at the Canadian open he was brutal it was absolutely abysmal yeah it was like a it was like a trunk slam by design get me out of here that's right like fire up the jet because I just have nothing to do here besides get the hell out yeah like it was the most obvious I'm up here to

shake some hands and play a couple of VIP rounds. Throw one five in my jeans and get out of dodge. Yes. Throw a lot of money in. I'll play 36 holes because I'm obligated to and I am gone. And that's the problem with this sport right now, right? McKenzie Hughes has talked about this, the great Canadian PGA tour player. Like, there's so much money. The top players have made so much money of it. Rory, of course, the rich to them all. But Chef was ridiculously rich. All the big names are so ridiculously rich that money doesn't even

motivate them anymore really like it's got to be a lot of money to motivate them right which is why we've been talking about 20 million dollar purses and all the rest of it and now they all want to talk about playing less and having more you know scarcity of big events and that's not the way this game was built this game was built on hunger and all the great players of previous generations scrounging it out of the dirt to make their money and you wonder if you lose the spirit of the game right If none of these guys even want to play golf, if their goal in life is to play less golf, is that good for the sport?

What about sponsors? They're talking about wiping out some of the West Coast swing and like, what? Farmers, what are they going to say when they're like, we're wiping out your tournament? Yeah, like they want to avoid the NFL all of a sudden. Yeah. Golf is a totally different.

Exactly. You're not, there's no one sitting there being like, I don't know, do I watch the Cowboys or do I watch the farmers? Like, no one's doing that. It's a different world that always has. but you know that sounds like it could be a part of the program and you know I don't know well it's coming like it's clearly something is going to change with the PGA tour but um and you know fighting against the NFL what are you going to do they own everything nobody fights

them you can't yeah you can't win the fight you didn't lose because you didn't keep up with the NFL nobody does and we just like the ratings came out for the games last week on thanksgiving down in the states and what I found fascinating was that the afternoon game, the Cowboys and the Chiefs, broke a new record for the regular season, which everyone was predicting. 57.2 million on CBS and the States. That's just a massive number. The Packer game, according to Richard Dight, who tweeted this out, on Fox,

the earlier game, did 47.7, which was like shattering previous records. But that means 10 million people turned on the next game that weren't originally watching the first game. 10 million people We're like Nah we don't need to see that game Now we got to watch On over Thanksgiving

I guess And maybe you're eating and stuff But like I get the Cowboys Are a huge brand in Mahomes But there's 10 million people That are like Nah I don't really care about that other game You know what

I'll tell you what The one thing I've learned talking on TV guys Afternoon stuff Just does not draw as much as night stuff That's why they want to put stuff on later and later Right you're saying a 12-30 1 o'clock It doesn't matter how good the game is Maybe I'm a psycho

But when there's a big golf tournament on at a good venue. I'm watching the first tee shot until the guy puts out on the line. Like it's disgusting. Like it's a four and a half hour shift. Oh, it's more than that, too, on tour. Like, you go to like a U.S. Open, dude, that's a five and a half hour round. There's nothing I like better than seeing one of the top players tee off on one,

and I know I'm getting one through 18. That is disgusting. It is, but it's a great ride. It's a great ride. All right. Luke coming up. Danny Green coming up. Lakers in town, Leicston, Carolina.

night our overdrive continues tsn 1050 and up on youtube live you've been listening to overdrive powered by fan duel fan duel bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score the lights are twinkling the playlist sparkling i heart the holidays is here canada's home for christmas music with non-stop festive favorites 24-7 deep country. Turn it up and unwrap the holidays everywhere you go. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHart the Holidays. Or stream it anytime, anywhere, on the free IHart Radio app.