OverDrive - OverDrive - January 21, 2026 - Hour 1 - Kelly McCrimmon

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jason Strudwick for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss Terry Pegula's candid comments around the Bills' defeat in the playoffs, the Maple Leafs' matchup against the Red Wings and the team's trade deadline trajectory. Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon on the Golden Knights' managerial approach, Mitch Marner's season and Rasmus Andersson joining the team.

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All right, here we go, overdrive off and running. TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker, up on TSN4. Brian Haseo, Doug, Jeff O'Neill, and Jason Strudwick in here. What's happening this afternoon? There he is. My main man, Jerry Pagula. You damn screwed up, Jerry. You damn screwed up, man.

That's just the way you run HBO. You're Jerry Pagula. You call people out. Jerry Pagula. That's what you're calling me. As soon as I heard that, I'm like, Oh, my God, think a Lisein-Hourne and Hayes Jerry Pagula. It's a damn act together.

Do you know what he's referencing here, Strud, that Terry Pagula, the owner of the bills, had an absolute disaster of a press conference this morning. And for some reason, I'm Jerry Pagula. You are, man. The thing that I don't understand, guys, is what about those comments? Like, isn't there some kind of prep going? I guess you can't prep someone for saying something that's stupid, can you? Like, you're a PR guy.

You're not going to say to the owner, man. Hey, don't go off the rails here and say something stupid like that exactly what happened. I can't believe it, man. I can't believe that press conference. And Mike Greenberg had a great tweet where he said, they've done the unthinkable in Buffalo, where the job to coach Josh Allen may become just a little bit less attractive now because of this nonsense.

which is a great tweet and it's so true. How could you possibly make that job less attractive? It's probably the best job in football right now. But do you think that he prepared? I think you'd want to come up prepared and ready to manage your comments and kind of get your message out there. And I think it's more scrambling now than it was before when you hear about the reasons why he let the coach go.

I think he, like, billionaire prepared. So what that is, Great comment. This is a vanity purchase, right? That's what this is. Anyone that owns a sports team, it's not real life for them. It's not real, like, you know, he wants to win and lose, but this is a fantasy. It's a complete vanity purchase.

He made his money, I believe, in oil and gas. No, he's a fracker, dude. Bobby Mac told me he's a fracker. This guy fracks. He told Bobby nobody fracks like me. What is that, though? What is a fracker? It's like drilling holes into the ground.

It's fracking. Doogie, look it up. or Alex, look it up. I thought fracking. I thought that was for the purpose of, like, finding oil and gas, though, isn't it? Dude, I don't know. What are you asking me for? Bobby Mac, this guy's the best fracker in the world.

Bob McKenzie knows. Bob's got a distinct knowledge of the fracking community. Like, I love Bobby Mac, but how is Bob the source of this? No, this isn't coming from Bobby Mac. Bobby Mac had a convo with this guy. It might have been on an airplane or something, and the guy told him he's a fracker. Okay Meet the frackers

That's what it's like a joke It's called fracking man They dig for oil and stuff It's all kinds of good stuff Do you think Bob Like again I love Bob I'm not trying to take a run at Bob Do you think this guy

Flies like economy To the World Juniors He's never been on a flight with Bob McKenzie Now that you say that Bob been sitting on a flight with Jerry Pagula This is what happened This is what happened

There was an award show in Vegas, and I think Bobby Mac ended up on a private bird with Jerry Pagula. And that's where he told them about the fracking. Well, that makes a little bit more sense. But nevertheless, I don't know. I thought fracking was like a form of drilling and fine. It doesn't matter. Who cares what the hell he's doing? He's fracking for stuff.

The point is, if there was a big fracking meeting, right, with like. He's all ears. And he would be very well prepared for that, I would think. You know, if it's a publicly traded company, it's like, okay, we've got a lot of stockholders here. You better be prepared. This to me, it's billionaire prep. It's, this is beneath me. I'm going to go up there.

I own the team. There's nothing anyone can do if they like it or don't like it. And he went out, we got a couple of clips here that I think the guy who came out of this, maybe the worst is Brandon Bean, the GM of the team. Because Bean is sitting there just like, it seems. so obvious he's been feeding Pagula all this information. Right? Like trying to pump his own tires.

Like blame McDermott. McDermott's the problem. That guy's the issue. Not me. These dummies wanted Keon Coleman, whatever. Like the Keon Coleman clip, let's play that. Do we have that? Okay, this is, and the background on this is that

Bean has been getting hammered in Buffalo because they haven't drafted well, they haven't signed the appropriate guys. You know, beyond I guess acquiring Stefan Diggs via trade. That was a really good trade and it worked out really well the first few years. Eventually it kind of blew up and they

had to get rid of them. This guy is taking a lot of heat in Buffalo for not surrounding Josh Allen with enough talent and they drafted Keon Coleman and when that question was posed this was the back and forth between Bean, the media and eventually

Terry Pagula. Jerry Pagula. How do you answer the fact that you have not given Josh, a good enough wide receiver. Can I interrupt? I'll address the Keon situation. The coaching staff pushed to draft Keon. I'm not saying Brandon wouldn't have drafted him,

but he wasn't his next choice. That was Brandon being a team player and taking advice of his coaching staff, who felt strongly about the player. And, you know, he's taken, for some reason, heat over it and not saying a word about it, but I'm here to tell you the true story.

Jesus. Yeah. One thing that hasn't even meant to, what about the player? Like, what about the player? Yeah, I know. You're going to go ahead and whether this, I hope the kid says, get me the hell. out of here, and there has to be somebody that wants them.

But who wants that? It's got to be the end of the road for Keon Coleman. Oh, geez. Picking up shrapnel at the end of season press conference. By the owner? Yeah, if you're Keon Coleman, you're like, find me a new place to play. And I got to believe that's a part of his future. But how would Pagula, like, I guess maybe he's at the table.

I'm sure he's in the room. But he's privy to all this information, the private conversations between being in McDermott. he's not. That's blatantly Bean feeding that to him. Hey, I didn't want this guy. He stinks, but go talk to McDermott. It wasn't my problem. And it makes Bean look so weak. Like, you're the architect. You're the guy, you're the GM. You're the guy with the

final decision and you just, you just buckle to that. You know, you just say, okay, well, McDermott really wanted him. So I guess we'll take him, even though maybe I didn't want him. I guess when that combo came up, when they realized that Coleman wasn't playing well, they were probably sitting at a restaurant one night and He said, you know what, that guy, I didn't want that guy. Who drafted that guy? Those other dummies on the coaching staff wanted him, and I said, all right, if that's the guy you wanted, there you go.

Strud, this is the Buffalo Sabres the last 10 years. Right? This is why the Sabers have been the Sabres. But the problem is this, is that everyone else in that room is listening to this. Like, every player would watch this press conference, or at least any of their interest in remaining in being a Buffalo Bill. So you hear that comment, you're like, is this guy serious? Like, he just threw him under the bus. right away.

So you're like, does he have my back? Like, what's going to happen next? Like, do we want to be a part of this? So I think to me, it just complicated things for the owner, for the management staff, not to mention getting a new coach, trying to find more talents to surround arguably one of the best players in the league in the world right now. And it's like they lost the other day, but I think they lost more with this press conference almost than they did at that game.

Yeah, I agree. I think it looks so much worse. It feels so much worse. It feels like the sabers, right? Like 14 years without making the play. playoffs. And it also might explain the reason they were so good. Yes, Josh Allen, first and foremost, but Sean McDermott. Like McDermott actually installed a culture, a process, a trust system with the players. He could push Bean away, push Pagula away, and he managed to do that. And it just feels like the next guy,

there's, you know, there's basically two options here. It's either going to be a young coach with no power that they're going to hire, and it's like, there's Bean's whipping boy, him and Terry Pagula, or, and I don't see this happening, a John Harbaugh situation where some guy who's got so much power, let's say it's Tomlin, it's not going to be, but use him as an example, where Tomlin will come in and say,

actually, Brandon Bean, get the hell out of the way. I'm not reporting to you. Like, no chance I'm reporting to you. Because that's what just happened in New York. Harbao's like, I'll report to the owner, actually. Like, the GM, you can go sit in a corner. I'm not reporting to you. And I think that's what that just opened up if you're the bills.

It's either a young coach who everyone's going to label as Brandon Bean's Patsy, or it's going to be someone with so much power that would come in and say, actually, Brandon Bean, get out of the way. And I'm not sure that's a possibility anymore because of what we just witnessed this morning. Why wouldn't you want to have a working relationship? A coach in the National Football League or any professional organization should have an outstanding, somewhat cordial working relationship. Like, why didn't Harbaugh just go to the owner, which I'm sure he sat with him,

just him and the owner, and said, let me help you assist you bring in a different GM because I'm not reporting to the guy that's already here. What's the sense of having the guy that? Power-broken. I understand it. It's happened before. It happens in sports. It's all about power.

You know, it's all about autonomy, right? Everyone seeks it out. The reality is the owner is the guy that actually has it. no one really has autonomy. They can claim they have it. They don't. This is truth in Buffalo, you know. But,

but you're trying to, as a manager or coach in the NFL, you're trying to help your owner make the best decision. So if he has a bad idea, you're trying to stop those. And we hear about that of sport all the time. You know, this owner want to do this or this owner want to do that. So you're trying to manage up, if you will, to the owner to make sure that they don't get too involved because we have a plan or I have a plan. to try to help this team get out of it.

I think that's ultimately the owner can do whatever they want. I mean, that's why they own the team and they have the big bucks. But I don't know, sometimes I think owners get in their way. And I know the case of the Giants, that was a huge conversation. Harbaugh wanted to have direct access to the owner so he could help direct what was going on in and around the different levels of management, whether they were sons or friends or in the case of the manager at this point. Including. The Baylor has a great quote, boys.

I've told you it many times before. the most dangerous thing in pro sports is an owner that's had six beers that goes in the video room. That's scary stuff. Stick to fracking, guy. Stick to fracking. I have a little information. Terry Picoula built his massive fortune primarily through early and significant investments in natural gas fracking. Frack it up.

He's a fracker, man. Yeah, he's a fracker, but I told you it was a natural gas thing. It's an oil and gas thing. Dude, what are you talking about? I told you he's a fracker. You get the fracking part right, but I got the oil and gas part right. It's pretty broad. There's probably different levels of fracking.

There's all kinds of stuff you can get into. Possibly could be. Possibly could be. So more on that and the fallout of the bills and the McDermott firing and what else could happen. A little bit later this afternoon. We got Kelly McCrimmon coming up later this hour. GM of the Golden Knights, Vegas in town on Friday. The Red Wings are in town tonight. And they're 02 and 1 against the Leaves.

Actually, the Lees are 02 and 1 against. them have not beaten Detroit this year. Feels like a massive game. I just feel like we're going to say this 32 times now. Well, we're in a position that we have to say that, Hayes. And if they don't get this one tonight, then you're talking about the disaster week. The potential of a disaster week where you got Vegas coming in on Friday, Colorado on Sunday. Like, that's no joke, man.

Like, you have got to get this game to kind of salvage something and make it turn it into a positive week. or the possibility of a positive week. And give you momentum into the weekend, right? I mean, right now, what are the eight points behind the Red Wings? They lose tonight? 10 points, that's a long way home. I know there's other teams that can pass, but that's a long way home. So you get it down to six with a game at hand?

Okay, you have some momentum heading into your weekend. Yeah, and Joseph Wall is going to play tonight. And, you know, as of yesterday, Barubei said he was uncertain. I guess he slept on it and it's going back to Joseph Wall. I think that's the right play. Wall has been your guy. He's struggled lately. His numbers are starting to

balloon a little bit. But he's the guy that you're going to put faith in. It feels like when Stolars returns, they're going to send Hildaby back to the miners. Right? And Hildaby's done everything you could possibly ask out of a third goaltender.

But if the plan is, Woll and Stolars, and you've got a big game like tonight, and you've got days off in between all these games and you're at home. I feel like I know we've had this chat so many times this year. How often do you play them? How careful do you have to be with the guy?

But you need a response. I didn't think he was great the other night. The whole team played poorly. Defensively, they really played poorly. I thought their best defensemen really struggled. McCabe really struggled, Riley struggled. You know, they all, yeah, they played poorly. So you got Detroit, divisional game.

it's not just about finding two points. You kind of got to find two points in regulation tonight. I think it's the right play. Go to your number one guy, Joseph Wall, who for the most part's been very good this year. They dust it off with everyone else. No one played great the other night. No travel. Day off yesterday.

You got to play well tonight. The head coach, one of the responsibility, it's very simple. It's all the time. People say it all the time. You're going with the goaltender that you think is going to give you the best chance to win. So there's two messages here to Joseph Wall. In a game that we consider almost a must-win, you're my guy right now, and I desperately need you to respond from your last two performances

because they just weren't good against Minnesota and against Vegas. There's just too many pucks going in the net. You can talk what you want about the D-Corps. Yeah, it's a lot of goals, man. A lot of goals. Detroit is kind of high-flying team. They can put up some offense, man. They've got guys that can rip at home to Brinkats playing well.

different guys are chipping in offensively. Like they're playing well. They're on a heater the Red Vines, man. They're getting goaltending lately all year for the position they're in. But that was always a question about them, right? Will they hold on? And listen, they got a lot to prove, Strud, because the last two years, Detroit,

their wheels have completely fallen off at the end of the year. Completely falling off. Oh, yeah. This is a chance. If I'm in that Red Wings dress room or as a coach, I'm like, guys, this is the chance to really push someone down that's looking for a leg, They're trying to find a reason to believe they can get in.

And the Leifes have been playing better as well, but they're not in the playoffs. And we have, what do they have, eight games between now and the start of the Olympics, then a quick break, and then you're back at it and then you've got the trade deadline. So their team has to make some decisions. I think I'd want to come out with the Red Wings and bring my absolute best to step a little harder down to this team's throat and push them down. Because 10 points to catch us, that's a lot of points to catch if you're Red Wings between them and the Leaves. It feels, you know, borderline insurmountable. You know, and again, I know what I just said.

Detroit has completely blown leads and great opportunities the past couple of years. They have to prove it's different this year. And, yeah, 10 points. You know, that's a lot. That's a lot. It's even more for Florida. It's even more for Ottawa, you know. So if you can pad your stats, if you're Montreal, who won last night, Montreal beat Minnesota, you're in a good spot.

And, you know, with the trade deadline, you mentioned, the deadline, there's some activity starting to happen in the league. I just don't know what the Leafs can even accomplish. You know, I just don't know what they can even accomplish with, we get asked about it all

the time. They just don't have a lot of assets. You know, I'm not that comfortable with Easton Cowell. I would be willing to trade Easton Cowan if it was a guy that was here for long term that was still in his prime at a decent number. I'm not going to give you names because I don't know who's available.

But, you know, we're back into the swing of things. Nazim Cadry, could he be the next one shipped out? Nas, I love Nazim Caddry. He's not a young guy. Got a lot of term left at a decent number, like in terms of his cap hit. I think he's 34 years old. Yeah, he's 35, oh. And he's got a lot of hard miles.

Yeah, he's got a lot of hard miles. You know, a few years left on his deal, three, four years left at over seven million. I'm not trading young prospects in future first round picks or whatever for that scenario. and I just, I know they might want a high-end winger, doesn't fit the bill for Cadre, I know they might want a puck-moving defenseman, but that just costs so much, and I just don't know if they have it.

Let me ask you guys about this. Doug Armstrong has said to us on this show numerous times, the players are going to show us what we should do with their roster, if we should add, if it's go time, or if it's just time to do it just dictate what happens. So if you two are the GM, what does this Maple Leaf team showed you as far as how to proceed moving forward? Brian, go ahead.

I'm not doing anything. That's exactly right. They've shown me. I'm not doing anything. And that's not me. I hope it's not being received as I think they've been awful. I think they've played really well. They've dug themselves out of a big hole the last month.

Full credit to them. Full credit. Because I was going to spin the other way. month ago. Month ago, I was like, I'm trading pieces. I got to find a way to get some draft picks. Got to find a way to get some flexibility. But this team, what I think they've actually accomplished is now I'm in the middle where I'm saying I'm not necessarily going to move pieces, but I'm not going out to acquire because you've got to consider a number of things here. One, the division they play in, only five teams can make the playoffs.

Like, Buffalo keeps winning. Boston keeps winning. Florida, I don't know. if they're going to make it or not, but they're probably going to be hovering around the line of making it. So you've got to consider them, and they're not even in front of you. They're behind you. What you have at your best? What are the least at their best? They're the eight best team in the league? Seventh. You know, they're a good team, I think, at their best. I think they have the potential to be a good team that can win a series. Can they win a Stanley Cup at their best? I don't know. I don't think they're in the top five. or top six, and I don't think they're a trade away from that strutty.

Yeah, no, he didn't give me, leave me much to chew on there, but I'll try. So when I look at the Leafs, I see a team I think that's trying to flex up in the last couple years, and I don't know that they were able to do it. They weren't able to get past where they want. Let's compare the Leafs team to the San Jose Sharks. I had no idea that Kiefer Sherwood was even on their radar. When I saw that trade that they made my career made for Kiefer Sherwood, can you imagine the excitement in that room?

this team, I don't think they, maybe they may believe it. I didn't believe they're a playoff team to start the year. They've come out and, to your point, Hayes, they've exceeded what I think most of us were the thought the sharks are going to do. So what does he do? The GM goes out and rewards him. Hey, we're bringing this guy in. Yeah, they're going to try to sign to an extension.

I get that. But you're thrilled and excited to get that in there. The same can't be set of the least. They've been okay all year, and they're kind of around. But, you know, are you going to reward that group for being maybe. less than what you expect it? I don't know. I think it's two different organizations. So I love the message that's sent to the Sharks players.

What was it on whatever? A couple days ago, yeah. Keeper Sherwood went in. I loved it for them. I'm excited for that team. The Leaves are a different story. I agree with you. And I think, you know, the lease, if you're Brad True Living, you've got to consider, you know, the fact that they don't have a lot of draft picks.

They don't have a ton of prospects. And, you know, is this your time to strike? Maybe you're reset in the summer. But the way the NHL moved last summer, too, I think would scare me as well. Like it just, there wasn't a lot of movement. You know, like how many guys are going to be available? Dude, what is out there for movement? Honestly, the Ottawa senators just added James Rimer, man.

James Rimer. James Rimer. And we're happy to get him. Ecstatic. He won last night. It's crazy. Yeah, he played great. But it's like, think about that.

James Reimer, man. It's incredible. Yeah. It's incredible. It's not like the old days, man, where it's like you need a quality right-winger that can get me 25 or 30, and he's just out there somewhere. No.

Too many teams. No. Yeah. Too many teams. Either one of you guys consider trading off some pieces. I think you get to the Olympic break, Strud. That's my line. Yeah.

I think, because again, I think the messaging for a veteran team that had high hopes, This year. Now, self-inflicted wounds, they're the ones that played the way they played the first 25 or 30 games. But they have really battled the last month. You know, I think it would be a real strike if you took that away from them now. You know, like basically, if you trade a pieces away now, regardless of the price, even if it's a great price, and you could explain it upwards, which is what we just talked about. You could go to ownership and say, look what we got for player X or player Y.

I think it would kill the room. Like just end the room where they're like, all right, no one believes in this and this was all for not. What have we even been doing the last month? They're right on the door of still being in the playoffs. They were technically in a playoff spot a week ago. They had battled their way back in to a wild card spot. So I give it to the break. I certainly get through this homestand and let them effectively determine what you're going to do.

I just, I don't see anything happening. I guess what I'm trying to get to is. I'm not sure the least are going to do anything between now and the deadline that is going to make me think you got to go all in. Yeah, or all in in particular. I could see the other way. You know, you lose four or five in a row. Okay. Time to reset.

You know, now you're five, six points out of a wildcard spy. You got to jump teams. Not your year. Injuries racking up. Let's try to reset the books here. Let's try to bring in some pieces. Tough pill to swallow. But it's a reality.

I don't see a scenario. between now and the deadline where it's like you got to really go all in Danford. You just mentioned it, Brian. You can't go all in with no assets. Well, that's another good point. Like you could trade the 2028 first rounder

29 first round up, but then you're really getting into dangerous territory. Let me show this out. Would you be willing to make a swap of a more defensive defense for a more offensive defense? Sure, if he's out there you're talking to Gaggy Hamilton or something like that? Yeah. I'd like

like to see that. I'd like to see a little more juice. Who's the stellar defensive defenseman going the other way? I'm curious of that. Well, I guess McCabe or Carlo would be your answer on that. I think those two guys would have value, a lot of value. I think they need more juice out of their back end, puck moving, a little more speed back there. Okay.

Ryan Nugent Hopkins coming up. 1,000 games. Do you play with him strud? No, my last year, we got him, because I played well, but the team struggled. And then I remember the captain's skates. I was looking across it as some in the summer. I'm like, I don't want to be here. And he was probably thinking, I'm so happy to be here.

I just, I just done. I did not want to play anymore. Totally different story. Okay, well, Ryan Nugent Hopkins coming up. Kelly McCrimman coming up, GM of the Golden Knights. And more on the Terry Pagula, Brandon Brin. Fracking. He's fracking over there, man.

He's fracking. Bill's fans are fracking out, is what they're doing. Yeah, he fracked up that press conference. It's what I did. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and up on YouTube live. With corporate traveler, you get a dedicated travel expert and 24-7 support. So business travel feels effortless.

Big meetings land. Business grows. With corporate traveler, the booking is just the start. Search corporate traveler today. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind. Now, got my own show.

If you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, Join us each week. Film Never Lies, available on all TSN platforms in the IHeart Radio app. All right, Overdrive continues. Brought to you by Thandoel, bringing you more ways to play your game your way. Kelly McCrimmon, GM of the Golden Knights coming up.

Brian Nugent Hopkins in just over a half an hour. Wasn't a great outing for the Oilers last night. Not the greatest game ever played. In terms of entertainment, not the best. Someone is just giving it to strutty on Twitter saying the oilers only have two more points than the Leafs, and the Leafs have two games in hand.

Would you rebuild the Oilers strutty? Yeah, no, I hear it. I mean, I think that this team is slow starting. I think a lot of their parts of the game are improving, so I'd be willing to hang on to a few of these assets for the order just a hair longer than maybe I would have tried. Well, we're 50 games into the season strut. What are you talking about slow start?

Like, when are they, oilers going to? turn it around. They've played 51 games. Is it me? Strutter, are they going on a bit of a dip right now after they turn their game around? Well, I mean, look at their PKs improved on their goals against, have gone down a ton, recent. Like, those are areas that I

value, and I think they're getting there. And listen, their division isn't the most strong. You know, Vegas is a good team and everyone else is kind of up in the air a little bit, right? Yeah. And Leon's not around right now, too. Like that always is going to have an effect. No capitan. That's big, too. Leon and

captain in, right? The captain. But yeah, you mentioned Vegas. You know, it feels like a kind of a two-horse race to see who's going to win the Pacific right now. Vegas has three games in hand, though, on the Oilers and have a two-point buffer on them. And they're going to be in town on Friday night, and that is going to be a fun game. Friday night in Toronto, obviously Mitch Marner is making his return. I guess Ross Miss Anderson will be making his return to Toronto as well, because it just seems like Vegas, oh, you and I talk about it all the time, they're always in on everyone,

and they must feel like they can make everything work. They must feel like they can always get everyone. And the guy who's generally leading the charge on that would be the GM of the Golden Knights, and he joins us now. Here he is Kelly McCrimmon. How are you doing, Kelly? I'm doing good, guys. How are you?

We're doing very well. Thank you for doing this. I guess we'll begin with that Anderson trade. How important was it for you to try to replace the absence of Alex Petrangelo who isn't playing for you this year likely won't play for you again and do you feel like that's kind of what you've achieved here

bringing in Anderson? Well as we went into the off-season we were aware by that time that we wouldn't have Petro so that's a big hole in your lineup not just the obvious stuff but off the ice the alpha male personality that he is so we still liked our defense and we were comfortable enough to start the year.

We weren't panicked in any way based on the fact we thought Caden Corsack was really ready to take a step. He'd been 40 games last year. We thought he was ready for more. We like to make up of our blue line in addition to that. But when we get into the season a little bit further, we just were looking for one more playmaker back there. And, you know, Rasmus is a high-end defense. He's got legitimate offensive tools.

he's got some swagger and some moxie to his game and we think he's a guy that can make plays. We've played them enough over the years that we've got lots of regard for him. Our pro staff followed him very closely because it was no secret that he would likely be traded. So, yeah, we were happy to be able to acquire him. Kelly, Brian just made the point of you guys being aggressive.

What's your philosophy on that? Like I've been complaining about GMs being satisfied with their product and not wanting to move guys. Not that they don't want to improve their teams, but they just seem to be happy with their own guys. What's your general approach to that if you're having a chance to improve your team? Well, it's different in different situations. I always believe you kind of manage the team in front of you.

And we like our team. We've been successful since inception. I heard you just as I was coming on that we are in on everyone. We're not in on everyone. We are in hard on guys we like. And, you know, we've traded a lot of draft picks, which is contrary to how, you know, lots of Stanley Cup champions have been built.

We didn't have the luxury of a deep farm system when we started. We had success right out of the gate. And, you know, that kind of changed our approach. So, you know, the first round picks we've used, we think we've put better value into our organization than we, you know, took away. So, you know, that's the Eichel, that's Barbertsch of Hanepin

hurdle. There's a long list of guys that we've put first-round picks in on on Beal that I think have become very good players for our team. Well, let me follow up on the, you know, idea that it feels like you're in on everyone. I guess what I mean by that. Let me say this by you're the one that said that. Yeah, I said that. Oh, absolutely. Don't point fingers. No, it's me. I'll stand on an island. Listen, that's the ultimate compliment. I'm not saying you guys are, you don't do anything. That would be a bigger problem and probably a bigger shot at you, Kelly.

I guess what I'm saying is it feels like from my standpoint, when you guys are attached to a player, you know, like the rumor mill gets started, you get that guy. And it's the ultimate compliment. And I guess I would ask you to expand on that. I know that's not

ultimately true all the time. But the mentality that you seem to have in the whole organization, that you feel like you can make the deal happen. And I think that kind of speaks on what I was just saying, like other teams like, I'll call, but I don't know if we can make the, it feels like when you guys want a guy and you feel like you can make it happen, and ultimately it does a lot of times.

Yeah, and I, as I said, I heard you when I was coming on, and I say it tongue in cheek because I think there's almost the perception that we're reckless in our approach and we're anything but we're aggressive, but we're very strategic. I think, you know, when you use the strategy that we're using, you need to make real good decisions. Otherwise, your organization is going to go backwards and you're going to be in a position where you're at a deficit with draft picks. So, you know, I don't have the whole list in front of me of the draft picks we've traded away, but for the most part, you know, pretty much exclusively, we've been able to add good value back to the organization. So I think in

terms of our roster makeup, in terms of what we want our team to look like, I think we're really, you know, firm on what we think a championship caliber team. team needs to look like, and we work to try to make that available for our coaches. So that's, you know, again, no one expected the franchise to be the way that it was in year one, and once that happened, it changed the calculus for us, and we've been, you know, pretty aggressive ever since and have been able to, you know, have a lot of good teams. Kelly, it seems like your D is always big and take up a lot of space and can make plays, and Anderson's no different than that. So when you look at him and you envision a player like

that prior to the trade, entering into your back end. Do you have a specific spot in mind? You're the coaching staff, or is it kind of, we'll just kind of feel it out. We'll see how it fits beside whether it's Hanifin or Shea or whomever. Yeah, that's a good question. And it's interesting when you acquire players and you might have it in your head where you think the player is going to work the best and after a few games you realize there might be a better fit. I think the easy answer for us right now, Jason, he's played a lot of hockey with Noah Hanifin. So there's some baked-in chemistry there in terms of, you know, they played a lot of hard minutes in Calgary. They played together as partners for the better part of four years.

So we know that works. And if that's how it plays out, that's fine too. You know, Shea Theodore and Braden McNabb have been longtime partners. Jeremy LaZan is playing real well there now in Braden's absence. He's out of our lineup with injury. But, you know, that'll be up to Bruce and John Stevens, who runs our defense. but I'm pretty comfortable that, you know, it could work a few different ways, but likely we'll start out with Noah.

Kelly, before I get into the Mitch Marna question, I'd just like to quickly ask you, if you had Jason on your roster, what kind of D-partner do you think he would need? Well, he needs, I've seen it first hand, he needs Scott Niedemeyer, and you dump the puck in, Scott Niedemeyer goes and gets the puck,

and Jason Stroudwood finds the first forechecker, and then that's the end of the port check. Yeah, that's kind of right. watched it. I knew my role. I knew my role, buddy. The less I touched the puck, the better, even in warm-up. Cross-check, the first four-checker right in the face, and then just nothing happens.

Let Neer-Myers skate out with the puck. That's a good recipe. And for the benefit of your colleagues there, I'm referring, of course, to we played in the league final. I think it was 1995 against a very, very good Camloops team. We both ended up going to the Memorial Cup, but if I remember right, that was your partner. Yeah, no, my partner was Nolan Baumgardner. Oh, okay. I'm sorry.

Yeah, Scottie, he wished it was me. It would have been, you know, we would have won four-year. He would have had an even better career. Somehow, he would have got to the Hall of Fame quicker if he played with Strutty, but unfortunately he didn't. Go ahead. So good. So with Mitch, Kelly, how has it been the transition from him, just the first 50 games or so, the Mitch Marner experiment in Vegas, how's it gone?

it's going good Jeff and it's progressively getting better as he gets more comfortable we've sure noticed and we expect this a little bit with Rasmus Anderson happened with Thomas Hurdle when you get a player that's been in one organization

for a long period of time it's an adjustment everything about it is different getting to the rink where you fit into a locker room with new teammates new coaches in Mitch's case switching conferences that part's different but he's progressively

got more and more comfortable I think he's played his best hockey in the last month. Interestingly, he's ended up playing center, which wasn't in the plan at all, but we've just had enough injuries to our centerman with William Carlson and Colton Sizzins, both being out of our lineup with injury. Brett Houghton is a guy that can play center for us as well,

has been out of the lineup with injury. So Mitch has played center, and he's done real well. Just finished watching practice here in Boston, and I kind of remarked to myself how comfortable he looks there. So that's where he's at for now. And, you know, we, you know, Uber talented, the hockey senses through the roof. The two-way play, I think, is something that we've really appreciated.

And he's fit in real well with teammates. And we're very pleased to have him. With Kelly McCrim and GM of the Golden Knights. And you guys will be in here on Friday. And, you know, I remember when Jack Iko went back to Buffalo for the first time, it was, it was loud. It was, there was a lot of anticipation. And I'm curious if, you know, Mitch. you would ask him or you would expect him to lean on Jack for any advice.

Are you guys preparing him for Friday night? We're not sure what to expect. But as you can imagine, Kelly, I mean, it's the biggest story in town. There's a lot of people waiting for Marner to return. How would you expect he's going to handle that experience on Friday night? Yeah, it'll come with some emotion. I think it's impossible to ignore. He played, you know, he's from there.

He played there a long time. He, you know, he had a great career in Toronto. he's now a member of a different organization. I think we got a bit of a precursor to it when Toronto was in our building 10 days or two weeks ago. And that'll likely, you know, just in terms of playing against the guys

or your friends for that first time. I mean, you guys all know that that's different. So he's got that out of the way. You know, I don't know how it'll be received. It's interesting. In fact, the night we played Toronto, we recognized Nick Waugh, who was with our organization for six or seven years.

And, you know, we did a real nice video tribute. It gives our fans a chance to show their appreciation. I think the player really appreciates it. I know after the game, you know, I went over and shook Nick's hand, wished him well. The week before, we had Nicholas Haig. In his return, we did the same thing there. I think your fans appreciate the chance to, you know, show their appreciation to the player. So how it will be here, I guess, remains to be seen.

based on the reception in Vegas, I can't tell you exactly what I expect. But the thing that's important for me, just in listening to interviews with players in Toronto and talking to Mitch, is he sure had good relationships with his teammates, which ultimately at the end of the day you guys played, you know how important that is to a player. Kelly, when it comes to the players that are going to the Olympics, and there's so much hockey for them in such a short time, including the travel to the Olympics and then hopefully a long playoff run.

You know, do the coaches and the trainers get, do they actively manage giving those players, whether it's more rest or watch their minutes or the way they're working out with all that sports, science stuff? Is there a different plan compared to non-Olympic years for your highest end players? Well, you might think there would be, but it just never works that way. And, you know, coaches ride their horses as hard as they can. and those top guys want to play. So if you go to cut back ice time on a player,

that's not real well-received. I think where you'll maybe see it come into play is planning some rest for guys when they return. We've got nine players going to the Olympics, so it's going to have a big impact on our team. Obviously, we're pleased and proud. We've got that many Olympians. It's better than having no Olympians.

I do know that. But it's going to take a toll on some of these top guys. So the final, the gold medal game, I believe, is on a Sunday. We play Wednesday at L.A. Two days later, we play out Washington. So, you know, you get right back in it. As you know, the schedule has been compressed all year because of it. And it's a lot of hockey.

It's a lot of hockey. So, you know, how that all plays out will be interesting to see if we can get guys some rest down the stretch. But, you know how it is every game. The next game is always the biggest one, right? And it's the base in the standing. It's sort of all of those things that we live in this. business. Absolutely. Well, you guys are added tomorrow, then into

Toronto on Friday. It's going to be fun to have you guys in town. Best of luck down the stretch, Kelly, appreciate you doing this. Yeah, you bet. Thanks for having me, guys. There is Kelly McCrimmon, GM of the Vegas School, the Knights. Yeah, he makes a good point. Imagine going to a guy, so we're just going to play

you 12 minutes tonight because we want to save you. Probably not going to work. Well, if you're up 5-0 in the third period, I wouldn't mind seeing that. I know. You don't see that as much. Oh, don't you think, like, 20 years ago, when you got up, the big players didn't play. You sent out the meat wagon, and not even to fight, but just to, like, rest. Like, I remember Bertuzi, Nazle Morrison, not even playing when we were up by a ton, right?

And they just run the rest of us out there to kill the clock. And now, you know, I don't know if it's those guys, I get they want to play. They wanted to play then, too. But I would rest them. Like, it's over, man. Sit down. I don't know if it's like a stat patting thing where they're like, I want to continue to go out there. And if I get eight points tonight, I want eight points tonight.

I want eight. Yeah, I wonder if it's just maybe the pace of the game. Like, look at the game the other night. Five one mini, I think. Five two. Matthew scores five three. And then Heinz is like, okay, we've got to close the game now. You know what I mean? They're going to

pull the goalie. It's, yeah, guys are pulling the goalie with eight minutes left. So you're just, you're seeing like goals that are like can be, you score two, three goals in a minute and a half now, which I just don't know if that used. to happen. I think both teams would put up the white flag. It's they forget it, we're done, get out of here. Now teams

they're not quitting, so it's a matter of having to get it to the finish line and you don't want to pull the shoe too early because then now you've got to put the guys back out there and I don't know. But it's a good point. I mean, especially one way or the other, if you're up big or down

big, just why even play them? Why even play them? Last six, seven minutes. Especially with injuries. You look at a guy like Matthew Nyes who's suffering from something, and he has been suffering from it all season. He's going tonight. He's in game time the other night playing tonight. If you get a big lead or you're down big,

why even play them? Exactly. Like, why even play them? It doesn't make sense. The problem is the Leafs are never up big. Like, how often have they been up big all season long? Few games, maybe? In the way they blow leads, what is up big for that?

Well, yeah. Yeah, that's fair. That's another point of it. Kelly's talking about his team. they play in L.A. and then Washington. That's a weird schedule. Nine guys, I almost tell my guys, like, we'll see in Washington.

You know what I mean? Like, that is, that's a lot of travel, man. Weird skid. All right, we've got Ryan Newton Hopkins coming up in about 20 minutes. More into the Bill's press conference this morning, and where things stand today compared to even yesterday, and where the bills are going to go with their head coach and maybe how Josh Allen feels about all this. And we're getting closer to go time.

Like, it's midweek. I've got to send the text out. Although, oh, you're on the clock, right? Like, you are on the clock. What game we're picking? Happily. How we're picking it. Do you have a lean one way or the other?

I haven't heard much out of you this week. Last week you had leans. Seattle and New England are coming to mind. Okay. You've got to think New England with a backup QB. Jerry Steader going in there. Jerry Stead of it. It's incredible.

It is a little scared. That Broncos defense is really good. It's on the road, right? You got Drake May's first road play. playoff game. What is that going to look and sound like, feel like? I don't want to sway you one way or the other. This is your big opportunity. Yeah. So we're going to get to that way. My heavy lean in Seattle, man. Heavy lean. But where's the spread out with that still? Like four and a half, five and a half? It's

like a pretty decent number for a divisional team that they're playing against. But the Rams have just gotten by two straight games. Like barely gotten by and Seattle looks so good. I think the party's over for the Rams. Okay. All right. We'll get to that later this week. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. With corporate traveler, you get a dedicated travel expert and 24-7 support. So business travel feels effortless. Big meetings land. Business grows.

With corporate traveler, the booking is just the start. Search corporate traveler today. I'm Dylan Playfair. And I'm Tyler Smith. We're putting loneliness in the penalty box by talking to some of our favorite athletes about the importance of friendship. This is bromance. Bromance is brought to you by Charming.

Diamond Center, proudly Canadian-owned and operator. Charm has been part of your love stories and bromances for over 50 years. And you can find Bromance on the IHeart Radio Network or wherever you get your podcast. All right, so we're going to get to some picks later this afternoon as well for the AMEX. Scotty Sheffler making his debut. I look forward to that. Fast about's coming up. Might sneak in a couple of arbitration cases.

I love arbitration. Yeah, arbitration is very good. Did you ever go to arbitration strutty? No, no, no. Did you? Hell yeah, fun stuff. Was it pleasant? It sounded like it's always really kind.

Dude, it's the most disgusting thing any player has to deal with. Like getting carved right in front of your GM. Buy your GM, isn't it? Buy your GM. Yeah. Yeah, well, we'll try to do something like that

into the next hour, but I guess there was some hints that Travis Kelsey might be making a return next year. I don't know why, man. Yeah, I'm curious about that, man. He's just, he's a year older, slower. He's going to be very preoccupied in the off-season. It just was really not good this year.

What is he going to bring to the table next year prepping for a Taylor Swift wedding, the off-season? But does he have anything to us to achieve? Like, can he achieve milestones or records? It's not about him achieving. I think it's about the team moving forward in a different direction. And I think that's the ultimate cutthroat thing is when a team just says,

we're going to make this decision for you. Right. And you might be on a something strut. Like I'd have to look. Maybe he's chasing down Tony Gonzalez or something for most receptions or yards or touchdowns. It's possible. Like Patrick Kane's only a few points behind Mike Medano

for most points by an American player. Right? The reason I bring that up is they're in town tonight. But I'm with O here. The ultimate kind of alpha Andy Reid move is thanks, but no thanks. Yeah, exactly. We appreciate it, but we're actually going to draft a tight end this year. We have to revamp everything.

We're moving in a different direction. Outside of Mahomes, and I guess probably Chris Jones, coaching staff, everything else is possibly up for grabs. All right, hour two coming up. Ryan Nugent Hopkins, more on the Terry Pagula, Brandon Bean Presser earlier today in Buffalo. And Leef's wings tonight will tee that up, make some Amex picks, arbitration, busy hour coming up overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandul.

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