OverDrive - OverDrive - February 24, 2025 - Hour 2

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 2 on OverDrive! ESPN Hockey Analyst Ray Ferraro joins to discuss Elias Pettersson's subpar stretch, Brad Marchand's status in Boston and Alex Ovechkin inching closer to Wayne Gretzky's goals record. The guys also discuss Mikko Rantanen's contract situation with the Hurricanes and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. entering the free agency market in MLB.

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Switch to Bell PureFiber, Canada's fastest internet, awarded by UCCLA. Starting from $60 a month. Visit bell.ca for more details and to check availability. Bell, internet just got better. Hour two overdrive continues powered by FanDuel. I took some serious shrapnel there with Jordan Bennington. Shout out to Jordan Bennington, a great Canadian, great Canadian. That was awesome.

I caught me off guard. He hit me with a one-two hazes of fraud punch on the way out and it's my drop like we're gonna have to clip that though oh yeah I didn't see it like I was kind of adjusting my mic or whatever I didn't see what he did you said he said hazes fraud just hung up like well yeah but not like forcefully like very cool common collective like all, see you guys, great chat with you, hazes of fraud, see you later. Alright, thanks guys, hazes of fraud. See you later.

Just chew on that one. Just chew on that one. Yeah, he hit me, Warren Fogel hit me back in the day. I think it was Warren that did that. I think there was a third guy that might have got me. You know what, Warren Fogel, when he was playing for Carolina, I was walking by, he came and stopped me and he's like, I know the show and all of that. A few times I've had guys stop me and go, Hayes is a fraud, which is hilarious.

Which is absurd when NHL players. National Hockey League. Somebody, a police officer that, remember I was telling you I had some stuff going on and he said that to be the other days like you know hazel's a fraud like love that guy that's not i had to it's a it's an icebreaker it is that has gone to people don't show or watching the show that and i'm a fraud owes the handshake guy noodles we gotta come up with something very specific

for what you're known for too There's too many weird things about me. Too many weird things. Look at this guy. This is the handshake guy. This guy admits, he sends in a tweet, says, by the way, I'm the handshake guy. Yeah, that was Brad, I think was his name. He was up there. That's in Blue Mountain.

So they've got video evidence of him, you with a glove on and him with his glove off. Him taking his glove off and I think I hit him with the glove on handshake and then we did the whole picture some of the some of the Outfits up there on skiers and snowboarders dude. It's just retro. Yeah, just happening stuff out there very happening It's not just I need stuff to go skiing they want to present of five big-time no like any like a guy in jeans like any though you know every day top mother there was a

guy in jeans or whatever that if top mother the guy was smoking in the back running up the amount now gene shorts no i think it was jean Dude I'm guys did a tough mutter in a Wrangler orange tab Yes, that's what I'm telling you. Yeah, and and finished like well before I finished which was adding insult the injury Yeah, but Yeah, it's a wild scene up there man because you get the convergent like as I got young kids So we're a lot of times we're doing the magic carpet And we're in the bunny hills and that's where a lot of people that are learning to ski and snowboard are

And you just see some wild wild stuff You know you get the guy decked out and five thousand dollar gear that has no idea what he's doing Taking people out on his way down the hill dude. It it's a great night out, like the night skiing. There's some, like some guys play men's league hockey, beer league hockey. I got buddies that like on Thursday nights they go rip down the hill 10 times and then they go hammer beers after.

It's a great, operate ski is a beautiful thing, man. Beautiful thing. It really is. All right, Ray's coming up here in a moment. Alex Ovechkin with a hat trick yesterday. He is now He's 12 goals back at Gretzky 13 away from breaking the record Is astonishing what he's doing. Has any guys got a point where he goals this season? Yeah, he's got to do it this year Doesn't he I think he does too

I think he has to it would be awful if he's too short and then we go into next season and it's like it happens on October 18th like it just to me that this gets done in like the last couple games of the season and the League celebrates it. Yeah, the chase is on man Like it's been on all year, but this guy putting the record aside Like I credit Matt cause was talking about this by the end of his show him and Owen We're going back and forth like put put the record aside because I feel like we're so hyper focused on that This guy is playing like he's 25 years old. I know like 39. He's 39 You know like you talk about old school guys and how they look and all that kind of stuff

He does not he is not a chiseled school guys and how they look and all that kind of stuff he does not he is not a chiseled you know Tom Brady and his prime kind of build and the guy is going out there he's got more than a point of game he's got 29 goals on the season his his like pace if he didn't get injured and break his leg or whatever it was that he that he injured this guy could end up with 55 goals this year 95 points it's crazy like it's one of the things you would look like you know how you look at injured. This guy could end up with 55 goals this year, 95 points. It's crazy. Like it's one of the all time great old seasons. Don't you think he would look like an NHL alumni guy out there where he's got basically me a boiler hanging out and it's like can't skate that well? That's not close to him dude.

No. He's too, like I have people that play in Washington that I know and coaching staff and that but like they Rave about this guy like I think he's 240 right now. Maybe a little bit more as far as the weight Look, he's a big guy. He's got gray hair, you know gray kind of hate For hair it's like all over every road trip and Ray knows this he grabs a subway sandwich with extra hot sauce trip and Ray knows this he grabs a subway sandwich with extra hot sauce and a bag he gets chips like he doesn't say no thanks and he wants the chips. Wants them in the plastic bag. The transparent bag that you can see.

And if he leaves with the bag and the chips aren't in it he probably brings it up saying don't even think about not putting chips in it. You know what you know who i am you know who i have get those chips in there uh... you're right about the hair though i want to see a break red ski and go jim bedding with his hair just she all black

would that be sure to call a little bit of a good if he grows it out and goes jimmy benning paint job of all uh... that's fact that i can die happy man right here's a great for our yes we had a key to the list of the seven people to have a lot of these support that move by over uh... i knew it

so good to come on in here at the not been changed i think right about it is a little bit and john garrick will still be when the cannot stop uh... he's uh... he's the call it a guy who get it uh... fresh again and so what he came there and i have and he left it into a wall

it was kind of like an orange sort of thing there was no more to go with that the game that night. Cheech is just the best. So he just went on with it. They could barely get through the open. It was impossible to miss. So if Ovi goes on there and for the anthem pulls off the lid and it's just polished and back and dragged back, that would be an amazing look. Or he could go full Giuliani and do a ringside interview and have the die going down the side of his head. That subway thing, like the other day the capitals put out a picture of you know like they're starting the second half of the year or you know that post-Forenation thing and he year or, you know, that post foreign nations thing.

And he's got that some way and they like always talking about in the clean bag or a clear bag with the chips, um, extra hot sauce. It's like he's, it's like he's a beer league guy. And he's, when he sits on the boards at a commercial, it's like looking around a soda machine. Like he's so massive and on the bench, his water bottles, right. They got the eight on it that are different and it's full of coke. It's crazy.

I mean, like, and he's going to be in short time, going to be the greatest, most prolific goal scorer in the history of the game. And I'm fascinated that, you know, some guys, you know, they're, they're measuring, literally measuring food and, you know, they're, it's the temple, you've got to feed the temple and all that. Braven points is like Ovechkin. He's got, there's, um, a gas station with a subway in it and it's on the way home and he always gets his subway there. I love that. This guy's one of the best players in the league. Yeah. And you know,

I guess I don't know what he gets there, but I'm assuming it's double cold cuts and all that stuff, too Well, and if you're over you why would you change anything like he's okay 39 years old He's got 29 goals and 46 points in 41 games. It's one of the great Late in your career seasons of all time like forget the Gretzky pursuit right the guy is time i forget the gretzky pursuit right the guy is dominating on the arguably the best team in the league

it's incredible what he's doing so on saturday we had to gain a Pittsburgh and or my gosh i was that was uh... so i'm going to drop off a from thursday night it would ever be the first the first drill before i'm gonna get the only effect the first sec, the first drill, I was watching Sid,

he must be just wiped exhausted. So they do the two corners and one guy comes out, so Sid comes out to get the pass from the other guy, from the other corner, the guy rifles it into his feet. And I'm like, he must just be like, are you kidding me? I'm back at it already. There's no more playing with Nate McKinnon here. But in that game, the Caps had a four minute power play.

It was a five on three to a five on four. Ovi stayed out the whole four minutes. He took four shots, plus he hit the goal post, and he missed the net once. I thought like his arms were gonna fall off. And he just stands there, and he's like, boom, and there goes another one, and boom, there goes another one.

It's like he's a machine. It's really something to watch. And then they get a four on four, oh, he's not on the ice. Like, Spencer Carver, he's like, I'm gonna give him the big minutes when he's gonna be at his best. And they just, the caps are, He's like I'm gonna give him the big minutes when he's gonna be at his best and

They just they the caps are there are there a really good team man They're really good and it'll be it's just really cool to still watch him score. It's incredible Yeah, yeah, it really is and it does feel like a formality now that he well, he will pass Gretzky at some point It's more about will he do it this year? but just an incredible story, you know the The drop-off we were just talking to Jordan Bennington And he did say it was a bit strange and I guess you just used your own anecdote going from calling the game Thursday night Four nations face off to then, you know calling a game on Saturday Are you still kind of coming down from cloud nine yourself?

You were a part of the whole tournament and you were there ice level for what was truly an incredible game on thursday night you know what brian i don't i don't know how those guys do it because when i went to the game saturday afternoon i was exhausted i'm just standing there and talking they must be those guys that played those forty guys that played must be just totally wiped.

Like to go and play, and these are important games and important points, but I'm sure their brain must be still a little bit behind. Like how could it not be? And so for those of us that got to do this, it was like, it was so great. It was amazing. Darren Pang used this analogy. We were talking yesterday. He called it a, like a pop-up Christmas store, the tournament. He said,

you know, like when they put up at Christmas time, they, in the town center, they just put up like, like a pop-up Christmas village. And it's like, it's all the best things about Christmas. And then it goes away. And that's what he equated the tournament to. And I'm like, man, that's exactly it. It was way better than I thought it could be. I'm sure most people felt that like it was, it was so good that from the first shift when McKinnon ran at headman, like took a run at him and hit him in the corner i would like well this is

they're gonna play and then i knew it was real without for the first period i was walking out you know i'm at the bell center and walking out under the tunnel or that home team comes out in some guys yell on me ray ray and i look up the ghost he's in the broad like this is real uh... i think we have that never stops as long as he's a fraud is real. This is real. It never stops. As long as Haze is a fraud

is around, it's a real event. Ray, you just mentioned Sid, like in getting the pass in his feet and that team is a dumpster fire. Do you think him playing with Nate for 10 days maybe made him realize that there's something else out there? Like, because I just can't see him finishing that stretch out two more years and they're terrible like that like they're flat-out awful They're they're so far away from being An average team like they're they're not big. They're not fast they're not skilled they got 30 draft picks in the next three years and

That's all awesome except each year you have to add three years on to the draft pick before the guy that you draft is really kind of a legit NHL'er. And that's if it all works in time. In three years, Sid's going to be 40. Like he's going to, you know, hard to believe, but he's gonna retire thereabouts around that time. So, I mean, he deserves to do whatever the hell he wants to do,

but I don't know how he would be able to, you know, as they chug through this rebuild, and like how, like mentally you could stay in it. Because what are you playing for? Like if the capital sucked, Ovi would be playing from the goal record. What's the motivation to it for Sid? And I don't know, but man, doesn't it seem possible

to your point, oh, like the Ray Bork thing? Could that not get into your head? I think it could and whether they execute it or not, it's totally Sid's call. If he wants to stay, he's staying. If he wants to go, then they have to move him. To me, there's lots of question marks leading up here for the next couple weeks Ray and If you take a look throughout the league there is a little bit of starting to be separation, but You know if you look at let's let's throw the East out there I mean it seems like we've been talking about this for weeks. It seems like the East is kind of wide open for business

There's some really good teams, but they're outside of Washington There hasn't been a separate Washington's got the points and you and Ira Texan yesterday, like I don't see a weakness on that team, but you know are they a Stanley Cup contender? A lot of people are you know they get regular season great team. I don't know, but what do you make of just how wide open the East is right now? There doesn't look like a Vegas from a couple of years ago. Like when they won, it almost felt like, well of course they were gonna win.

Like they had put all the pieces together and you're like, jeez, that's a really good team. When Tampa won their two cups, like you looked at them at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and the end of the year, and you go, man, that's a really good team. Like it's gonna be hard for somebody to beat them. I don't really see anybody like that.

Like, I mean, Washington in the East is really the team you would say, but you could see them losing four games. Like Logan Thompson's never been a playoff goalie. And that seems to matter. And they've got a lot of guys like McMichael and Protus, they've taken like huge steps. They've never played like where they're counted upon.

Last year they played in the playoffs. And I mean that series with the Rangers was a mismatch. But so I guess they got four playoff games, but never when you had to score. Like that was all just like a dream last year for the Caps. So if I'm one of those teams that's around the top four or five in the East six, I'm like, yeah, I'm going to try and improve because why not?

Like why not? The teams near the and improve because why not? Like, why not? The teams near the bottom of that group, you know, like Columbus, Detroit, the Rangers, Boston, like they'll all do different things, but there's also the pressure to, and to remember, like, and we all know it, is like, sometimes the owner says, you know what? I want a playoff team.

Like, I want us to push for a playoff that maybe we didn't expect. Like do you think Columbus is gonna sit there and go, oh yeah, we're just gonna wait until our young guys mature. They're like, they're right in it. Like I expect them to be a team that adds. I don't think they can win more than, I don't even know if they can win a series.

But I expect them to go, you know what? We're gonna try. We're gonna try and get in. Like from ownership to the fans, like to reward the fans, to reward these players. Detroit, same thing. You think they're gonna sit this out? Not a chance.

And every time I think the Rangers are dead, I look up and they're like, eh, they're three points out. Like they can make that. I don't think there's a great team that everybody should fold their cards with. Like, I don't see it. I'm with you on that.

And, you know, Boston's in that kind of wavering territory where they can- Okay, but they shouldn't be. They just got bonked on the head with the Lindholm basically is out for the season and whatever is going to happen with Charlie McEvoy. They don't have enough skill anyway. I think this is the time they need to, if they can.

Take a step back. Yeah, take a step back. Maybe you can add a player, you can add some picks. They just don't have enough in their system to, I mean, they tried to win and have had an amazing decade, but two years ago was their real time and somehow that fell apart in 10 days on them. And, um, right now they, I think they've got to be one of those teams that says, you know what, this is not the time to take that step.

I hear you. And that leads to the Brad Marchand question because he's a UFA at the end of the year. And you've seen him up close and personal calling his games. I don't know how much you think he has left in the tank. But you talk about an ad at the deadline, I could think of a lot worse than a guy like Marchand if he's healthy and motivated come playoff time. You could do way worse than that.

He's not a top line 20 minute player anymore. But if he's in a second line and he's playing 16 to 18 minutes in there and he's playing on your power play, the guy can still play. Like, he can still play. But, if you're another team, what are you giving up for an unrestricted 36-year-old player? Like, as much as you can say for Bruins,

oh yeah, they should reload and rebuild and maybe they should trade Marsha, you're not getting a first round pick for them. You're not getting a prospect in a pack. I don't think. I mean, maybe the market will dictate that, but if I were a good team, um, and I was a forward or so short, I, man, I would be calling Boston for sure. With Ray Ferraro. So we've talked about this past weekend where it was, you know, the Leafs won both games games Edmonton got pumped twice Vancouver lost two tight games and in Vancouver not surprisingly Elias Pedersen's name is

Man is he getting some pub out there and it is Ringing out throughout the country with what talk it had to say about him after the game not moving his feet doesn't shoot enough And then I guess he did an interview with Ian McIntyre and kind of gave a snooty little what basically what sucks is me dealing with the media as opposed to you know actually talking about what's going on with him or his response to talk it. You know Miller's out, Miller scores twice last night and helps the Rangers win and Pedersen obviously is not producing. I couldn't think of an uglier scenario here and JT Miller's out yet they're still clinging to a playoff spot race so like are you

holding out hope Patterson will snap out of it and get them into the playoffs or is that ship sailed in terms of Patterson's role in that happening? I thought last night he played his best game in about well since into January like he set up he set up a couple of really great chances early. He had a breakaway in the third period that he shot over the net when the game was 1-1. He had one other chance. I thought he played quite well.

Then they pulled the goalie, he's got the puck 30 feet in front of the net, and he double clutches, and then passes it off to his right. And so that's the stuff they're talking about. And so as I'm watching, I had this, and you guys tell me, when you fell into a place where you weren't playing very good,

if this ever happened to you, you almost can't figure out what the answer is. Like you think you're doing the right things, but nothing happens and the harder you try, the worse it gets. It's like I don't know why he doesn't shoot the puck more because he's got a great shot. I don't know why he's always looking for the next play

instead of just delivering the puck to the net. Like to me, it's like a golfer with the yips. It's like you just gotta let it go. Like just do it. And he can't quite get there right now. And if he doesn't, they're in big trouble. And he's so pissy Ray. He looks like he's so miserable every day.

And I get it, we live in a world where somebody's might have something going on but if you don't have any kind of jamming excitement in your just like that in the area and you're just pissy and whiny it's like you got no shot not well first of all the media and i thought it i will mention their apparently there were two uh... non-rights holders reporters there last night. It's not like you walk out and there's a scrum of 25 guys.

Right? Right? And Ian McIntyre, I know Ian, you would be hard pressed to find a more respectful, patient, legit, honest guy than Ian. Like he's not in there stirring it up. He's in there to write his story and he waited apparently for the camera to go away. So, you know, cause otherwise, I know why guys are careful cause you know, you do it on camera and they can take a clip

and that's not really the whole thing. But he waited till that went away. And, you know, we said, it's more frustrating dealing with the media. That's not really that's not you're not being pressed there. They're just asking. You have two points and six games in February. You haven't scored in 11 games. The team needs you.

And so there, it's a really weird spot because he is a very good player. And I can't tell you what's happened, but what I can tell you is he looks like to me, like he just can't quite figure out the answer. And, and that, and it, and it lends to, you're just kind of out there. He needs to be dangerous. And you know, last night, like I said,

I thought he was dangerous, but there's not been enough nights like that. With Ray Ferraro, and you know, again, getting back to Thursday night, obviously the reaction up here when Canada won in overtime was just immediate, and people were freaking out and then I'm sure every different fan base looked at it through their scope and said, okay, how do

my guys factor into this? And from a Leaf perspective, very directly with the way Marner played, setting up the Bennett goal and then setting up the winner, and Matthews for that matter, who I thought was phenomenal and had great chances in overtime and then gets stuck out there off on icing and loses his man and McDavid scores. I'm curious from a Leaf perspective, because of their history, Ray, we've talked about it for a decade, Marner winning and the positivity that comes with that, Matthew's losing again, and any inspiration that could come with that, do you think they can draw off that? And if so, which force do you think would be more likely to help in the long term? The winning by Marner or

another loss by Matthews? Well, I think the winning by Marner, and the reason I'll say that is when we talked to Mike Sullivan, you know, we got to talk to him quite a bit, and he said, I asked him, I said, hey, of the guys, like who stood out for you? Like maybe you didn't quite know them as well as you do now. And right away it took him zero seconds. And he said, Eichel and Matthews. And he said, those guys know how to win.

He goes, they play their 200 foot game, their commitment to the winning style of hockey, the way they see the game, the way they play, their size, he couldn't have been more positive in his assessment. And so I think the tournament aside, I think there was, there's a view of Matthews that might be different than what maybe some fans might think of, because he lost coverage in front of the net. Like, I think there's a bigger picture there, I guess,

is what I'm saying. That play, by the way, I didn't have a stopwatch, but I can guarantee you, when the puck went to McCarr, if you started your stopwatch just before the puck got there to within the net, it's less than two seconds. Right. And Matthews saw that Marner was open. It's easy to say now, he should have just stayed

where he was, but he saw a guy that was open. Adam Fox went around the net, he was chasing the puck. Like you're not going to catch the puck, he should have gone in front of the net, or just stayed there. So two guys made a read in literally a half a second, and it turned out they left the most talented player in the game standing all alone. Bad play.

Yeah. Right? But I don't think that takes away from his ability to play as Sullivan called it, winning hockey. I think they probably, like the Leafs probably benefited from that in the long run. Yeah, because it's amazing when you look at the numbers. It's a team sport. Matthews doesn't own them himself.

But when you're as high of a profile of a player as he is, he's one of the best players in the world, makes more money than anybody in the league. Now he's 0-7 lifetime and must win games. 0-6 with the Leafs, now 0-1 with the American team. 0-4 in that building, you know in 2018 19 20 24 and 20 25. It's incredible It just you know, it's kind of an astonishing Resume right considering how great he is and what you just told us about Mike Sullivan. We're like this guy's a winner

He does everything right? So is it's you start to wonder if he's cursed man Yeah, exactly like is it and is that a loser mentality by to wonder if he's cursed, man. Yeah, exactly. Like is it, and is that a loser mentality by leaf fan? Well, he's cursed. I don't know. I don't know how to. It's a 1967 from leaf fans. Yeah, exactly. Like for all those years it's got nothing to do with him, but now it does have to do with him. And we, we all have seen it, like, you know,

like Ray Bork could never win the big one either. And then he won the big one. Like, he was a Hall of Fame player before they won the Stanley Cup, he's a Hall of Fame player after the Stanley Cup. But it changes the resume. Ovi had the same thing. Oh yeah, he scores lots of goals, they never win.

Well then they won, and that's the only way to shut that down is to win. Yeah. Right. And so I look at them and I'm like, I kinda don't think they're very far away from anybody else in the East. Like, can you look at that Leaf team and go, Oh man, they don't have a chance. I don't. I think they do. It would be nice to add if they could, but you're not gonna add a better player than Matthews. Like, that's not happening.

So you better hope that, you know, they get good enough goaltending, their D hangs in there, that he scores a couple of big goals that Marner plays. By the way, Marner was on the third line when that game started. It wasn't until halfway through the game

that they moved him off. They flipped him in stone, because he was playing with Sorelli and Hagel. And so it's not like he played 22 minutes and dominated the game. I thought he was awesome in the third period, Marner, awesome. And then, you know, like he, it seemed to me

that the one thing that was learned by, if they didn't know it, by all these players is at that level of play, you can't trick the game. There's no time to slow the puck down, slow the play down. It's get it going forward. And if they didn't get it going forward, they got checked. And I thought later in the game, like Marner had it.

Like it looked like he got it and he went straight. He didn't go side to side. There's no time. It was really something to watch. It was an incredible event. It really, really was. And I guess we've got the Olympics next year, the World Cups coming after that, so we don't have to worry about any more 10-year gaps or 8-year gaps, best on best.

Which is ultimately a real positive. Yeah, it was long overdue for sure. How about the people that were watching it that had no you never heard of them watching hockey amazing they were just so into it it was just and so awesome when it was great it was just a grand slam so there's no other way to put it there was great for the league house credible is a great product i think the

i think they stumbled into it i a m like there's no way anybody office was gonna happen And then after those, you know, the three fights on the Saturday night, it was like, Oh, are you kidding me? Everybody was into it. Even people that had never seen it before. It was cool. It was amazing. It was amazing to see. Uh, and now we've got the stretch run. We're, you know, 10 days out or whatever from the trade deadline and playoffs

will be here before you know it. We'll do it all over again with that level of intensity All right, right. We'll leave it there. Always appreciate you doing this. Thank you Thanks guys, and hey, thanks for the Thanks for the laughs. I know you weren't there but Thanks for the laughs. You got a He's a fraud. He's a crack me up like you read about he's in the front is the crack me up with the readable appreciated as always today thank you for a

there's uh... refer our joining us here in the maple to the hotline count on maple to the for the right winter tire package for your toyota trading your old tires by a new set to get forty dollars back was a maple to the dot com that's interesting mike solvin you know talking about i call in matthews and how he plays and what he's all about and they're back in Boston tomorrow night leaves prunes tomorrow night and Man, there's a lot going on like in terms of we touched on Pettersson

This Miko ranted and stories kind of fascinating like a big it. I can just call a Possibly trade him now? Yeah do you not want to know if he's going to re-sign there before you pull the trigger on that? So you dump Natchez and I still understand that if you don't get something done there's possibly some kind of trade that could be made but I don't know that's just seems like amateur hour to me. I but I think there's a lot of posturing. I think they put that out there because it hasn't been leaked that he's got, they offered him a nine figure contract.

You think he cares if they trade him again? I think you should care if you get traded again because where are you going to get traded to? Who can afford that contract? Like, that's the biggest thing because you get ready to go but i'm asking you those is that they're posturing say oh we might flip them again do you think he's saying all of that that bothers me i don't think you can care

boys got no establishment ralph no carolina to be honest with you he doesn't look at that interested in being there to begin with it hasn't been a good start not as well as there though though and Carolina listen with notwithstanding Saturday they're pretty damn pretty good sure they're a good team so be careful what you wish for because you get traded to a team that might not have an opportunity then you begin now you move around now you go to a free agency and you're gonna have to do it all over again like you you've got to find somewhere where you can be a big contributor to me and sure I I hear you but they're not

for Carolina's not trading them to Buffalo well no it's got like I believe it's got a ten team no trade yeah like there's ten teams that are competing that would take them like no one's gonna take them if they can't you know they're not trying to win a cup or something I mean so I don't even know where Carolina would flip them that's where you got to ask yourself guys and Everybody deserves to put every last penny and if you want to put the screws to somebody and say you want to be the highest But I'm pretty sure there was some kind of fit for him to make a ton of dough and have an excellent life and Playing a team that he's won a cop and go on the ice with Nathan McKinnon every night and he chose not to

So yeah, I think there's definitely a story to be told there I think that is the reality like you can push and push and push That team some at some point could say we're going a different direction and then then what do you do that scares me though? I know we got to go we'll get into it But like sometimes the agent gets in the guys ear to go we got to do this got to do that and then all of a sudden it's not there and you're going well I thought you said it was gonna be there absolutely to me You know, I don't know we're not privy to the information behind the scenes, but you're right at some point What was the you know the breaking point here? All right

Well, let's come back and get into that because I think there's there's a lot to it in terms of pending free agents in this Town not only just on the hockey team on the baseball team daddy overdrive continues TSN 1050 and on TSN for all right so we're just talking about Miko ranting in his situation now that Carolina I guess is trying to sign him long term and he hasn't given them a definitive answer and maybe they'd trade him which I find it hard to believe i don't see it happening but uh... all you referenced it like in colorado

i'm sure the ads were willing to pay of something probably not what he wanted maybe not what he thought he deserved but they're willing to pay a lot of money that's the million dollar question that i'd like to know what was it that they were willing to give him where he was still like, nah, that's not ... Was it 12 million? Was it 11? Because if his agent was like, we're going to try to put the screws to them and we want

this and we want 14, I get it over eight years, that's $16 million, but you can't make it work 12 million bucks a year playing with Nathan McKinnon or something. And I'd like to know the numbers before talking like that. Maybe they offered him eight and a half and nine and he said, screw you guys, but we don't know that. But I don't think that they would be that stupid where they were like... And the other thing that Colorado would have to factor into is they probably going to have to pay the defenseman closer to 20 when he's up. And that is a part of it that I think Colorado

in the back of their mind may have always thought this can't work. Yes. Right. We're just we're going to lowball to an extent and we're going to move in a different direction where I think we're going to lowball to an extent and we're going to move in a different direction. Where I think you look at the parallels between the Marner scenario and the Guerrero scenario, obviously one is a hard cap league, the other one is not. And you know, Vladi is going to make infinitely more money. But Vladi, you know, he was speaking with John Heyman in the New York Post and he actually told Heyman the two reasons why he was never a fan of the yankees i guess one of them was uh... his dad was close to signing with him back in

the early two thousand they flipped on him last minute signed gary sheffield instead and when he was a kid down there i guess some security guard told the scram or something told him to get out of there and he's been uh... you know affected by it his whole life, which is a wild story. Again, I question how much I believe it, but maybe it was the same security guard that told Juan Soto's parents that they're not allowed in. And that one guy is just causing havoc for the Yankees. Just messed with their whole organization.

20 years of causing havoc at Yankee Stadium, some security guard with way too much power I think house time Brenner like sought any of these people out like the Juan Soto guy Do you think he sought him out or tried to I think you'd have to have to have to try to corroborate that story You'd have percent. Yeah, you 100% Yes, did this happen? If so, give me the explanation that's you go to the president of the team or whatever you go it is your job to find out who did this or at least get to the bottom if it's a rumor or whatever like do some investigation and go I want a full report I'll give you two weeks go and sort this out and give me a full report yeah give me a full report but within the article and I do think it's important to point this out, you know,

Vladdhi keeps saying all 30 teams, blah, blah, blah. And of course, if you're going to put your business hat on, it's so stupid to cut the Yankees out before you even start free agency. Like it'd be so stupid because the Yankees are one of the four or five teams that could pay the most money. So I think Vladdhi is trying to put it on here as if actually I've moved on, I'm cool with the Yankees. I don't know if I believe that or not but he did consistently say throughout the article or certainly wrapped it up with the New York Post that he loves Toronto and wants to be here. Like that was not what Soto was saying. Like Soto was different. It was a rental. Soto was like Kauai. It's the same

thing. They traded for him. He put on a great performance and then he left. Vladdy continues to tell people in Toronto and elsewhere, I want to stay here. But this is where it gets back to your ranting in comparison. If the J's are offering him 300 million and someone else is going to offer him 500 million, he's leaving and he has to. Like $200 million, you have to be like, sorry guys, I'm out. But I'm curious what the number is that can bridge the gap. Is it 25 million?

Is it 50 million? I don't know. I don't know what that answer is right now. But if I'm the Jays, I'm leaving open the door if I want to. Maybe Shapiro doesn't really want to. Maybe the Jays don't really want to commit. But the fact that he continues to make it sound as if he really wants to stay here that should give you it should give you a big advantage and When it comes to Marner, you know Marner's always said the same thing and my thing is with Mitch

The Leafs are not gonna get their doors blown off by some other offer I can't picture that that doesn't mean they won't have a limit where they're uncomfortable. And it may be Matthew's deal. It may be. But he's not getting 16.5 million somewhere. Like that's not going to happen. Mitch isn't going to hit free agency. He should hit free agency. Just like we talked about the last month, every player should experience it. Sure. He might have his doors blown off by some organization.

But if he goes past July 1, that eighth year is gone. The Leafs can't give him. Sure. He might have his doors blown off by some organization. But if he goes past July 1, that eighth year is gone. The lease can't give him... Right. If you go to July 1st, then everyone can only give you seven years. So the lease can no longer give you that eighth year. You're right. I just... You know what? With Marner though, here's the thing. And this will be... We're going to talk about this at Nausium it's the scenario where if you can't get it done you're using him as your own rental this year and then you're using the cap space next year trying to replace the player that you know that talent right so you're going to be like oh well you got we'll call it 12 million in cap space you know Mitch is just 11 sorry he's 10

nine right so you know but you're to be chasing Marner that's the the biggest thing if you give in and gave him the eight years, given is the wrong word but if you get it done then you're bringing the band back and maybe Tavares you you move past but it's asset management like that's the biggest thing here you could be losing a top-tier superstar player for zero and that's what the Blue Jays are facing right now and the Maple Leafs are facing that too. Regardless of whether we talk about it or not, that's the elephant in the room.

Mitch Marner does not have a contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs next year. As of July 1st, he could not be. Jamie, I tried to explain this a zillion times. If he does not resign and he goes somewhere else you have allocated yourself eleven and a half million dollars plus to bring in a couple different players I don't know who those players are but it like you don't have to be like you don't have to go by the Vegas Golden Knights they were impatient right and they but the one thing they said is we're not gonna fall in love with something that doesn't work

we're not just gonna keep going to bat with it and I truly respect that Like I get that just to just watch something and say, you know what? We keep getting smoked in the first round, but god we got to run it back After how many years is enough of doing that? It's it's now trust me. It's not yeah We're certainly great now or years years, you was certainly now or years, years in the rear. So it's not about Mitch, the player, he's a great player, he's done great things for the Maple Leafs, he's one of the top players in the league, but it just so happens that he's the one that's contract is up and nobody knows how long Matthews is going to be around.

After this year, there's three years left on his deal, right? Yep. So you got three kicks at the can, why not try to mix up the group? Yeah, I mean, and yet it sounds like the Leafs, according to reports, would like to talk to him or Marner or get a deal done, who knows? I mean, I don't know where it's all gonna play out,

but I do think it's being promoted as, in some ways, and this has always been the case here that the Leafs would be desperate You got to keep these guys got to keep these guys like when does it go the opposite way where should be the player thinking? I don't want to lose this Like I don't I don't want to risk free agency where the Leafs could it could be a Kyle Dubas scenario Now I'm gonna wait and see actually no you're not we're moving in a different direction Thank you like we would have signed you three months ago but you want to wait and go ahead and wait and go somewhere else we'll go sign other players and

then all of a sudden you're like well where am I going now you know this was a bluff like it doesn't mean the contract won't be there of course it will be Mitch ranted it they're gonna get paid a fortune and tons of teams are gonna call on them and love to sign them. But you can't wait forever. If you really love it here, at some point, like Rantanen, maybe call him and say, you think you should have called Sakic and said, let's just get a deal done? Or you think you played it right? Or did you wait a little too long?

That would be a great question to ask Rantanen if you had him in a candid moment. If you could go back, would you have called Sakackett yourself and just write can I do something here because that's what you have to be completely aligned with and I've always been with my agent even working now we are can be we he understands what's going to happen for me before he goes and he's not blowing a gasket saying he has this demand and that we're aligned and that's that's that's it your career man yeah it's that that's the reality that's what I keep going that guys is like sometimes the agent gets into your ear and go that's not enough for this and that and then you know you you you you get ahead of yourself and it's it's far gone if you listen to Chris McFarland's comments

like talking about it they're their biggest concern is mccarr getting that one done right we'll talk about it when and biggest concern is the car, getting that one done. So we'll talk about it when we get back. That's coming up, like you said. CJ with John's Chris Johnston coming up. I know so many situations where guys are offered six times six and they're like, no, I wanted six and a half for seven and they end up getting nothing. Right.

PTOs two years from now. Exactly. Overdrive continues, TSN 1050 and on TSN 4. All right, something that Juon brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree, a side and a drink and you'll get it all in 20 minutes or less. A fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food.

See for a $15 fast lunch at your local BP. Asking people online, getting ahead of ourselves. But if Lattiei leaves worst case scenario signs of the yankees sides of the red sox signs with it dodgers and historically i think it's yankees i think that would just think so much that he goes to new york you know stays in the division but

clined to say that dodgers to like the idea that they just keep sweeping everyone up so i was there you you know, he's going to be real. What's that for teams? That's that's not many. Yeah, in terms of who's going to pay him that kind of money, the Mets, you could throw in there. Yeah, the J should be one of them. Like there are other teams that have paid.

Houston's paid big money for guys in the, you know, in the past. There have been times when Arizona's done it, Texas. But yeah, I think it's the Yankees. you know the past there've been times when arizona's done it texas but uh... yeah i think it's the yankees but i don't know if that's not so isn't that the one where he's like all their posts yes for that like the a key one to the right doodles don't forget that you have to keep up with the instagram like i know i know he's not on your post uh... you know it it's it doesn't want to be a distraction

doesn't want to be a distraction, Vlad. It doesn't want to be a distraction. And sit down doing interviews. All right, final hour coming up. CJ will join us. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSN app. Something to Chew On is brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree, a side and a drink and you'll get it all in

20 minutes or less. A fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch at your local Boston pizza. culture.