OverDrive - OverDrive - January 27, 2025 - Hour 3

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 3 on OverDrive! TSN NFL Analyst Luke Willson joins to discuss the Chiefs' victory against the Bills, Josh Allen's performances against Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes' greatness. TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joins to discuss Mikko Rantanen's trade to Carolina, the outlook for the Avalanche and trade market in the NHL and Bryan gives his FanDuel Best Bets.

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line to the final score. Luke Wilson coming up, Pierre Lebrun our best bet's powered by FanDuel later in the hour. Raptors they won both games down in Atlanta they smoked the Hawks on on Saturday they've got New Orleans in town I don't know what they think they're doing like why are you starting to win games I mean I thought we were all committed to the tank here but not like they're gonna climb into them well I mean listen there's some awful teams in the league noodles they're not going to ever be

in a playoff hunt. But don't separate yourself from the basement. Yeah, like stay down there, right? With New Orleans, like tonight's a tank off. Like New Orleans is 12 and 34, perhaps are 13 and 32. Yeah. You think this kid at Duke is that good? It's tough to say, man. He man he looks great like obviously he looks great

numbers are off the charts he's worth taking and giving it a shot of that that is for sure and Scotty Barnes been playing better recently was just named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week that's what you're hoping for Cooper flag with Scotty Barnes the rest you figure out. Brady Dick? He had a good start he's kind of blending in now. He is on every commercial though. Yeah. Brady's got a good agent man. That guy's doing a lot of work in terms of commercials.

I still get, I don't know. What do you think of that? I'm not, what do you make? I haven't, the one I had a difficult time with was Scotty Barnes makes $285 million dollars and he's on like the trades commercial where he's got like the hard hat it's like I have a tough time by our Scotty is that what you're saying I have time without do the phone with Jack I have a tough time with the trade taking it seriously hey listen man

the it's out there shoving get it more this is going in your jeans that right well the ironside right like that's the reality strike while the ironside uh... by salute coming up in a moment if you're tracking hazen bro versus team owen wilson it's not good for hazen bro right now we're down three points we're down three points going into the super bowl and do you have supplied i think a beautiful point system for the super bowl and what we're chasing and what's gonna be on the table Right in terms of points available and the different props

We're gonna play and there was some language in the text though because I think Luke and oh didn't care for his system Well, they never care for the system because they're losers Well, we mean business and we don't want to play games like color of the Gatorade and coin flip I understand that but there is just got to be an element of fun and originality when it comes to the Super Bowl, right? It's about- Have a smile!

What the Queen Wilson is cooking! That is sickening to get cut off by that, man. It really is sickening to do that. All right, go ahead. Speak your truth. You hate on Doogie the commissioner right now or what? I'll get to Doogie first. I'll get to Doogie first.

And I'm going to be honest. First off, I was able to tune in to the beginning of the show, parts. Yeah, I thought it was a very articulate, very beautiful piece offering what you gave Al's brother. I won't be except those basketball NBA hoops 94 cards that I found in my basement. You will. Yeah, and we are going to retire the hashtag we stole your soul and your card. Dude, there's a Michael Jordan card in here.

There's a Michael Jordan card in here. Yeah, but it's not a rookie card. It's still pretty significant, man. There's a Larry Bird card in here. Okay, go on. I thought he'd like them. They could be worth money. I said, you know what, somebody, maybe it was me, maybe it wasn't. Somebody snipe this guy's cards, least I can do is give them whatever I've got lying around. Okay, I like that. We're having a go card me instead of a go fund me. So we're going to all try and reach out to our buddies. go card me instead of a go fund me so we're gonna all try and reach out to our bodies yeah we got a lot of maybe you should reach out to a few of your former

teammates and have them send you cards for Al's brother and the go card me oh you know what noodles I could do that I honestly parts how quickly do you think Ross Wilson would hang up the phone if you said can you do me a favor and ship me a bunch of your cards for my friend I think you Wilson would hang up the phone if you said, can you do me a favor and ship me a bunch of your cards for my friend Al's brother? I think you'd get radio silence immediately. What I would get, that's one option, or I would get the text to another guy,

to another guy, to another guy, like six managers removed, then to being like some 23-year-old kid, like hey, I'm Russ's assistant assistant assistant manager heard you were looking for a signed autograph card man you know that's another way I could see that whole thing falling falling out okay all right so you you you offered the piece yeah go ahead go ahead I offered the piece and hey I gotta be very honest here right so, I took a lot of slack this year,

as did my partner, for not winning the regular season. Rightfully so, I will wear that every day. First time, the combination, the greatest gambling combination of all time, O-Dog and myself lost a regular season matchup. Hell is frozen over. We then go into the playoffs and we've been dominant. As much as I'd like to say it's all been us,

the idea that you and your partner are stupid enough to bet against Patrick Mahomes is we're gonna get into that. Yeah, oh, are we ever. But, but then all of a sudden, Dooley's like, we'll give it to you by 3 p.m. and clearly had the one point lead. 3 p.m. comes, I don't have, nothing comes my way. I'm waiting for it.

Noodles is the only man of integrity. He should be the commish, but I'll explain. Then all of a sudden, Saquon breaks a 60 yard tutty and then we get a, I believe it was a fumble, the Eagles. And all of a sudden now, Dovey's like, here's the rules. And he's got like nine points available, Gatorade colors, coin flip. Also now the total's bumped.

Nobody has got, I don't think we've gotten a total right. I think we're one total correct. It is pathetic. It's pathetic the way we've operated on that. And we're gonna have the total equal the same amount of points as the spread in the super bowl. It was a bloodbath that it's done because he knew you guys were going to get jammed from Patty Mahomes, which it did. And he knew we were going to win the spread there.

So he tried to juice points being like, let's throw these guys a bone. And I, I, I like Doogie is a scumbag, but I do have a special place for scumbags in my heart. But we're not going to, after all the personal attacks from both sides, I mean, I went and sold cars out of Al's brother's trunk. But oh God, we can't bet on a Gatorade color. That's ridiculous.

Okay, well we got two weeks to figure whatever you guys are willing to accept. Al's brother and I will take on anything. We don't care. You wanna do 20 props, 30 props, it it doesn't matter but there have to be a certain amount of points on the table where we can still get back in this you guys are only plus three minutes the super bowl last year there were ten points on the table i believe

so at a minimum we're gonna match that so we can have some sort of fireworks come super bowl sunday i think that is now how about this with us being in the lead with us being in the lead we should have more say on what's available and how it's going to go. Okay, but you can't just put two points on the board or something like that. I mean, last year, we had a big lead on you guys and we threw you a lifeline. You guys choked all over it. And then you guys scumbagged all over it and didn't let us finish the trivia to give us

a Super Bowl. Last year, nobody won the playoffs. Don't think I forgot about that. And this year, we put our foot down. It's like the election, you guys try to steal it. That's probably an inappropriate joke right now. But anyways, where I'm going with this is I don't care if it's 10 props. If you guys want to go 10 props, I'll go that all day. But I don't really want to get, let's say this thing comes down to it, because we've only got, it's a three point lead. Right. Okay, if you guys get the spread,

if that's how we're doing, again, I don't know what we're doing, and we missed the total, and now all of a sudden it's a one point lead, and you win the coin toss, I'd rather this thing be like, okay, you pick your three props in the spread, we pick our spread in three props,

or whatever it ends up being I don't even care if it's first quarter bets I'll do that too okay I'd rather avoid that I'd rather avoid the Gatorade color in the coin toss or the length of the anthem I want this to be mean potatoes betting that's fine we will handle that doogies doogies a fun guy doogie thought Super Bowl Sunday trying to be inclusive for everybody you guys are too cool for that will put you down for a little over that we're getting to have some uh... okay fine

well that's fine what will reestablish whatever the rules are going to be with a two weeks here hats are in production we are them uh... are still going to be glorious alright but it but was your house and the rampage is re-attracted and is there for that one's rampage in the other ones we are that every quarter it changes uh... okay let let's get into these games right and let's begin with some of the fourth

downplays here something to try brought to my boston pizza canada's favorite sports for this january bp get delicious mouthwatering Pasta starting at 1199 every single day enjoy the pastas you love at prices You can't miss hustle your local BP tonight which fourth down play will be remembered more from the AFC championship game Allen's fourth and one that turned into a stop after the review or Kincaid's fourth and five drop the last offensive play the game for the Bills which one will you remember which one defined the loss more

for the Bills the Kinkade drop the Kinkade drop is what I may remember okay I mean you remember them all I it's unfortunate because another play is gonna go forgotten the James Cook fourth down touchdown was unreal. Wild. Unreal. For him to contort his body and not touch the ground. I was like, oh, like jaw dropping, jaw dropping stuff. But that whole fourth down play at the end of the game, the fact that Josh Allen, one, got that ball off, two was able to locate Kinkade and three was able to throw a catchable ball. Was it the easiest catch in the world?

No. But it's a play that I think Kinkade's going to want back, you know, and that's not dogging the guy, it's just the truth. That was, he catches that, Parts, and that play is on every highlight reel the NFL has to offer for the next 25 years. That's right. Parts, I'm curious before we get into the greatness of the Chiefs and how clutch they are, if you were hired as a consultant to go in the Buffalo Bills kind of team room

and somebody said to you, what do we need to do to get by these guys, what would your answer be? We need an elite, elite pass rusher. You know, Vaughn Miller is not it anymore. Vaughn Miller, I played against a guy and there was nobody more elite than Vaughn. But at the moment, he's not it. You know, Greg Russo is not a top five pass rushing guy in my opinion. I look at how Buffalo played yesterday and I don't love the narrative

like they didn't make enough plays. Okay sure they made a heck of a lot of plays. Yeah. They made a heck of a lot of plays and let's start with Josh himself. The one touchdown that I don't think wasn't on fourth down. There's a third nine, boom he smacks that. There's a third 13, boom smacks that, balls out on time. Everything's rolling. Fourth down they throw, the cook makes a sick play for a touchdown fork down Curtis Samuel in the back of the end zone sick play that ball is one inch away from being tipped up in the air and potentially Picked and says to touchdown

defensively You know, you just you got really nothing on Patrick my homes against an offensive line that is potentially weak. You look at the week before against Houston and part of the reason Houston was able to get after him was they got a ton of pressure on Patty Mahomes. So I firmly believe if you get one or two pieces on the defense you're there, you win that game. The next thing I'll say that I think Bill's fans need to be very careful of is trying to go get a perennial star on offense. You know, you get this idea that, okay, let's go get a guy. And there's two styles of offensive coordinators in this league.

There's the guys that will sit there and say, okay, my offense runs through this player. And basically if, if it's Jamar Chase, for example, we're gonna get Jamar Chase, 12 targets a game, we're gonna hope he catches 10, if he catches eight, it's still a good ratio, there's gonna be explosives built in there, and we're gonna give him all sorts of different routes.

Which is, if you've got Jamar Chase, it's great. And that's how you like calling plays, it's great. We're gonna get him on screens, we're gonna get him on goal balls, we're gonna get them on all sorts of different stuff and then everything will come off of that But then you've got your Joe Brady's which I and I want to be very clear I think the Joe Brady's of the world and Andy Reid's very similar with what he's got with my homes is the more easier more efficient way to score points And that is take what the defense gives you what he's got with my homes, is the more easier, more efficient way to score points.

And that is take what the defense gives you. Okay, we're gonna run these plays, and if the route is Shakir's gonna be opening and we're throwing that. If the play is, okay, Mario Cooper's gonna be opening and we're throwing that. You saw this with Joe Brady last year. He got in there as the OC and Stefan Diggs

went down the hill as far as his production goes. He is not a guy that really wants to star. And again, the human element of it, I remember this in Seattle when we got my very good friend Jimmy Graham, he'll be the first guy to say it. We ran a Joe Brady style offense. Oh, it was golden-painted, it was Doug Baldwin,

it was Jermaine Kirsch. And then all of a sudden we got Jimmy, and it was so much pressure from the media. How are we gonna get Jimmy the ball? How are we gonna get Jimmy the ball? And our OC at the time, Darrell Bevel, that's not his comfort zone. He's not a let's get Jimmy the ball at all costs.

I'm using the term Jimmy, it could be anybody. So I wanna warn Buffalo fans, I think when you do an honest assessment, you have an extremely great offensive line, extremely well-balanced offense. Your three backs are very good. Cook was very, very good this year. And Josh Allen played the best football of his career, and he's probably going to get

an MVP. I still believe that. I don't think you touch that thing very much. You refine it, and you can add a couple pieces if you want. Your weakest position, and I'm not saying this is going to drop the the ball but you probably want a little more production out of tight end you know King K probably didn't develop as much as Bill's fans were hoping but the key is if you want to go over this hump go get an absolute dog on the D line get a game changer a Chris Jones who is that I think they want to be at all Oliver.

You get a Chris, Chris Jones got a one of one, but somebody that's in that caliber, you look at Philly, they got Jaylen Carter, this guy is playing out of his mind. And now all of a sudden that defense becomes elite because Partsley, last thing I'll say about Buffalo is their defense was never, they were very middle of pack when it came to stats, except for one, which was takeaways. And they didn't really take the ball away yesterday.

Got a very lucky takeaway because of the operation issue with Mahomes with the check on the handoff. But it's kind of live by the sword, die by the sword. They're great at taking the ball away. And then they run into a guy like Mahomes, who was an elite, elite player when it comes to protecting the football outside of that fumble yesterday, I think they had done like 11 straight games of turnover.

And now you get jammed and you give up 32 points. So I think they're really one player away on defense. And that that seems legit. That team's gonna do it. I mean, they're obviously already legit, they'll get over the hump. Where are you at with the the narrative of the referee screwed everybody and they're just on Mahomes and the Chief's side? Yeah Noodle's I think it's an absolute garbage take. I think it's a garbage garbage garbage take. Yeah yes. Is there a debate that it was a first down on the fourth and one? Yes there is. I hated how they framed it because the up top umpire referee who had a marked pass, he doesn't get the final say.

If the guy runs to the left, the guy with the better view is like, this is where I had it, I saw it. Okay, so that was just the TV getting everybody wound up. They went to New York and reviewed it. As much as I would love to come on here and say the NFL is rigged, it's not rigged. It's just not, I don't wanna burst anybody's bubble here, but the fact that they went to New York

and were like, there's not enough to overturn this. And there wasn't. Like if you're doing an objective assessment, there was not enough to overturn it. And I could not believe, the whole game, they struggled with the push push. It's like they've been dominant. You've got the biggest, baddest quarterback in the world.

Why can't we get six inches? You should be able to get a yard and a half. So that one, I get where you're frustrated, but I cannot believe that they even made it close. The catch is a, is a very weird one, but per the rule book, and that's why I think a lot of people aren't complaining. It is a test for the chiefs. And yeah, there's other issues and there's always going to be a moment. Look at this hole. Look at that.

There's also moments where the bills got away with things. There's a, uh, what I thought was a very quick, but a false start on a big play in the red zone. One of the touch pushes that did work, I believe I thought was false started, but again, it happened so fast, they missed. I mean, what was at the end of the day, there's missed calls in every football game. The Bills did enough to win that game. They needed to tighten up on fourth and one and get a good push from their offensive line

in their absolute stallion of a quarterback, Josh Alley, didn't. And they dropped the ball late, you know, and it's tough, but you just feel like if the situation was reversed, and it was Patrick Mahomes who missed the blitz, and he rolled out, he threw it to Travis. He would have found a way to make it work. No Travis would have caught it.

Yeah, and that's, I think, one thing we haven't touched on is that I thought Josh Allen was good. I didn't think he was great. I thought that I agree. And that that needs to be addressed is that this guy is Superman and he just simply he didn't do it yesterday. And you know, it's he didn't make any plays with his legs like he didn't. He didn't run for anything last night.

He didn't get into the end zone. He made some nice throws. He kept them in the game at times But he kind of did what Lamar Jackson did the week before it was okay. It was good. I'll okay. Yeah, it's good It's good But if you want to beat my homes at Arrowhead you got to be super Superman and Josh Allen wasn't that yesterday Hey, so a couple things it's funny you say that because I thought the bills for the most part dominated offensively in the second half. They got out there.

They ran the football right. Excuse me, right down the field. Just like the Ravens a week before. Same thing. Yes. But what got weird for me in the throw to Samuel's elite throw the throw to Mack Collins, was it even, I mean that throw was unbelievable. Great throw.

With a touchdown there. Like there's five guys on planet Earth that can do that, if that. But what was a bit, to kind of further your point, shocking to me, was the way the Bills start, I just felt like the Bills had all this momentum, they had all this stuff going their way.

Everything coming into this thing was like, this is their year to get it done. In that first drive, there should have been two picks on that. And then the sack and the fumble, the Bills had two turnovers on downs. They did not have any turnovers. And there was a couple throws early where I just felt like, I'm like,

this is kind of the Josh Allen from a couple years ago. Not the Josh Allen we've seen this year. And that would be disappointing to me. Because like you said, it's going to take everything you can to beat Patty Mahomes. And this is, I think, why some Bills fans are a little more let down. Is in the media this year, there's this narrative

that the Chiefs are vulnerable, the Chiefs are this, the Chiefs are that. I'm throwing out week 18 when they benched everybody. The Chiefs are 15 and one, and the only loss they have is against Buffalo where Josh Allen on a fourth and two made a miraculous run that was made the play of the season to put that game away and the idea that you're playing the same team that took that kind

of effort except this time in the AFC Championship at Arrowhead like you can't every single small detail of that game matters. So that's where to me it's just like okay You said it like what did my homes mess up the exchange of Pacheco? outside of that like I Can't really name anything and I know it's tough to like compare but what did my homes do poorly yesterday? That's what's scary man. The guy never misses nothing like you can't bank on him having an off day. It doesn't happen.

Parts, let me ask you this before we get you out of here, pal. Yes. Do you think we could fit on a t-shirt, hashtag we stole your heart and soul and your sports card? 100%. 100%. What I'm hoping to do, because listen, what I'm hoping to do, to be honest with you, Tarts, and I'm never really bought a sports card in my life, you know, since I was a kid. But I'm waiting for one of these to surface on eBay. He's posted a few online. I'm actually gonna buy it from the thief if he does.

And then I'm hoping that we can get a photo of the card, maybe like you and me holding it up, to also put on the t-shirt we gotta find these cards yeah we gotta restock al's brothers breakdown if he sees a pic of us holding the stolen card well it's a it's a with our arms around the guy who stole it well we don't like that guy yeah that guy's a guy who scumbag. The guy who steals. Whoever stole this. Who does that? Exactly.

You guys are making light of it and joking, but the truth is, it's just such a gutless, greasy move. You want to catch them. Breaking into stealing someone's cards. You catch them in the right position. We're on T-Miles Brothers here. Give them some justice. We are.

T-Miles Brothers. Trust me, I know how gross it is. I've had three cars stolen out of my driveway. It's no fun. No kidding. Exactly. Well, that know how gross it is. I've had three cars stolen out of my driveway. It's no fun. No kidding. Exactly. Wow, that's just, that's the world. That is insane. No.

It's funny. Anyway. All right. We got two weeks to figure this out. Doogie's on the case. By next Friday, we will have rules and regulations for how we're playing the Super Bowl. That all right for everyone? I don't want to hear any complaining or anything. Whatever Doogie says will go as of next Friday. Done.

All right, Luke. All right, let's do it. All right, buddy. There he is, Luke Wilson. You guys are in a good place. You're in a good place, Timo and Will. It would take a colossal collapse. Anything could happen in the Super Bowl, though.

Yeah, I mean, that's the beauty of the Super Bowl Super Bowl right is we need a certain amount of points up for grabs where we can have things spinning one way or the other and we can still get back in it like we granted you guys that opportunity last year you didn't seize it. Gotta give Philly some love. Yeah well the sprints one and a half. But that's gonna change. It will but not substantially it's not gonna be seven and a half by kickoff like that's not going to happen it'll fluctuate a little bit but Philly's legit they're really good like we haven't even talked about them today because they just dismantled Washington like that almost felt like a

college game you I know that house brother embarrassed yourself talking about well wasn't our I told you that the party was over for Washington it was you guys started mocking us like Barkley three touchdowns hurts had three yeah it was like Barkley his first run was just he just shredded the commanders and it looked like Alabama versus like Eastern Tennessee you know what I mean it had that feel watching that game Dan Campbell yeah yeah you're right he would have been like yeah we couldn't, yeah, we couldn't meet those guys. We couldn't beat those guys. We couldn't find a way to beat those guys. That

was Washington beating the Lions. Beating the Lions was their Superbowl. That was it. Yes. They got their, you know, they got their win. Move on with life. But still sickening if you're Detroit, sickening if you're Detroit. Dan Campbell would have broken a few kneecaps. But think about what Saquon would have done to that Lions defense too. Like they weren't stopping him. There was no way. But the offense maybe could have kept up. Yeah. All right. Pierre Lebrun will join us on the ranting and trade. Mico ranting and trade and the fallout of that on both sides. Carolina, Colorado. What are they doing? Colorado moving forward. Could there be other deals percolating throughout the league? Get into that more with Pierre and our best bet still to come. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN 2. Something to Chew On is brought to you

by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. This January at BP Get Delicious mouthwatering pasta starting at $11.99 every single day. Enjoy the pastas you love at prices you can't miss. Hustle into your local BP tonight. All right, best best powered by Fanduil later in the hour. Pierre Le Brun coming up here in a moment. The Super Bowl is set and every incredible playoff moment on TSN is powered by Bud Light. A refreshing taste that's easy to enjoy.

Tune in game day for pulse pounding action. So Miko Rantanen is a Carolina Hurricane. And when we signed off on Friday, we didn't see this one coming. Nobody did. No one saw this one coming. He's an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. I think if you're Carolina, it's totally worth the move. I had my bingo card. Great play. Them letting them, like let them walk for free ahead of this. Yes I thought maybe Colorado would

say you know what if we can't make a deal work so be it we're going to try one last kick at the can. Yeah and instead they said forget it like we know you're walking because we're not going to pay you whatever you're asking for and we're going to get whatever we can. Well Neskash is a good player like a really good player. Have you ever seen him play in the playoffs though? No. That's the concern. That's what you're getting in Rantanen.

This guy's a playoff beast. But they're also getting Neshkash and Capspace to add somebody else significant. Jack Drury, they got a couple of picks. That's where I think, like I want see the the end product out of this because i think they're only halfway through it possibly and we talk last week about being like the top five boardroom conversations that we'd like to be

involved with like as of right now in different sports teams there's different things being floated about this combo what was he asking for why did they actually pull the trigger on you i'd love to be all access behind the scenes to everything well let's bring in pierre lebron rts on hockey insider try to get some answers on that pierre can you set the record straight or is as straight as you can possibly set it on why colorado decided to trade mico ranton yeah i mean obviously the easiest answer, at least on the surface, is that they couldn't get him signed,

but it doesn't explain the timing and everything else. I will say this, I had a chance to interview Chris McFarlane, the gym, the avalanche over the weekend, and I thought it was pretty revealing, some of the answers that he gave me in that interview, the piece and the athletic, and I'll tell you the one that caught my attention, I wanna know what you guys think of it

You know, I said to him obviously you didn't sign him That's why you trade him and started his quote was this quote I don't know if we can say we couldn't Simon and then he went on to say that when you have a player Nathan McKinnon's caliber and his contract and Gail McCarr and his stature and his next contract so on and so on and so on. What I got from that answer is a new wrinkle to all this which is this it wasn't just whether or not they could sign Lampton and I think they felt they actually probably could given the last conversation they had with his agent. This was more about making a decision, a huge one, that they didn't want once they signed the

car in two years time, and that's going to be a massive extension, that they have made a calculation that they couldn't have three guys eat up that much of their cap. That's what this is really about in my mind. Now, listen, whatever Colorado's last offer was, and there were contract talks last week, multiple sources confirm that. Obviously, had he signed their last offer, he'd still be there, he didn't. But I will also tell you, and Rantanen has been quoted

in multiple outlets, including in the Athletics Today, Rantzen was willing to take less than market value to stay. Clearly what less than market value was to them was still more than what the avalanche were willing to go to. But again, the answer from McFarlane in my interview with him about looking to the future with McFarlane's next contract, I thought

that was really revealing. This is just as much about not wanting to tie up that much of a cap in three players. Who's pulling the trigger on that? MacFarlane or Joe Sackett? Well, listen, they work together, old dog. It's a great question. Obviously they work together. Joe Sackett's his boss, but they're obviously on the same page here on this. I mean, this was a very difficult decision for that organization. And, you know, um, we'll see if they regret it or not. I mean, I, I heard you guys just as I came on, I mean, they got some pretty good pieces for it. Now here's, here's the other part of this that I find interesting.

One of the things I tried to press McFarland on was because none of us had heard a whiff of Nico Ransom and being on the market, but let's be honest, is that he clearly did not involve that many teams in this. It's very reminiscent of the Joe Thornton trade 20 years ago that way. And the reason for that, as you told me when I asked him about it, is that he felt that to have other teams in this, there were a number of teams that would have wanted Randon and Seinton extension as part of a trade.

And they made the calculation simply that they didn't want to go down that road where they open it up, where the player and the agent are now involved. Everything gets out, you know, and the public obviously becomes a whole different thing. I think we can all agree to that. And I think part of it is Carolina at the end of the day, offered up the kind of pieces that they felt were going to be hard to beat in their estimation in, in jury and nature. So again, you rarely win the trade where you trade the six highest court in the NHL,

which they did here in Lansing. And then Christian probably couldn't have been clearer in their interview. He said it was really hard, like you can hear this train and his voice, really hard to trade Nico Rantanen. But they thought about this long and hard guys about what it meant, even if they could try to get Rantanen close to their number, what it actually meant in two years when they signed the car and that's why they dealt with it. Was there a last like coming to Jesus meeting where maybe McKinnon involved, I'm curious about McKinnon's involvement if at all anything like he was just left in the clouds in this one like just.

Yeah, he was completely blindsided is what he said himself to reporters on Saturday. Oh, don't you did not see this coming I mean he he in fact what he said is that he assumed by the way, so did I I Assume that this will go down to the wire like it did with Gabriel Landis dog in July of 21 You guys may remember that that one got tested. There was a tweet I don't remember all this and then they signed him at the 11th hour and The kidna just assumed that this whole thing would go down the wire close to July 1st and they would get a dumb, the timing of the surprise, everyone, uh, absolutely because they still have five months to try and find them.

But once I was off the phone with McFarland and Saturday night, when we did this interview, I was a little clear now in terms of why this got done now and then halfway. I mean they they got what they wanted from Carolina. They decided that they didn't want to tie up their calf with three guys in the next couple years and they pulled the trigger. Yeah and it makes you wonder if they made that decision like months ago, Pierre. You know like if Colorado had decided this like well in advance that we're going to let this season play out. And like you said, we

know McCarr is coming up in a couple of years, you're going to pay them. And McKinnon is already making 12.6 million. And this is a philosophy thing that we have to make a decision on. It's going to be tough. What I appreciate is Carolina stepping in and saying, we'll take them and we'll pay whatever you need. Yeah because I think it's a brilliant move for Carolina. I look at the East, I think the East is wide open. I do not see any team that is the defined favorite. Washington's been good, Florida's very good obviously, but I think Carolina just made the biggest splash you could possibly make and they're clearly a better team today and man they ended

winning a Stanley Cup. It's just a brilliant brilliant move. No question about it and everything comes with risk and the reality is it may be that Carolina would have been the only team to give up those types of assets for a guy that may lose in five months. It may very well be as good as Rampson it is. You know I talked to another team this weekend that had heard very faintly that something was starting to brew with Rampson and, and, but they said, Hey, we're, you know, we're not going to give up major, major assets for, for a guy that we don't think we will be able

to sign. So, so that's what, you know, that's why Carolina is stepping up here. They're, they don't care. And, you know, I talked to Eric Tulsi this weekend, too, the GM of the hurricanes and, you know, one of the things that they said is that now that they have them, they are very bullish in their thought process that two things, one, they're the only team now that can give Mikael Ranfen in eight years. No other team can. So that's a big thing for them, the total money over eight years. Two, you know, he's close friends with Sebastian Ajo and Tulski feels that once Rampen and sees, you know,

what that room is like in Carolina and how they do things that, that they'll be able to convince them. Now there's no guarantee. He may be gone July 1st and Tulski acknowledges that they're willing to take that risk. And, and the other thing I would say, Tulski made a point of saying this to me. Losing a player like that would obviously be terrible, but the Hurricanes embrace Caproom. They see Caproom as a weapon. Worst case scenario, they lose an equal ramp to them,

then they come up with a plan to go trade or sign other guys, that's what he said. And I don't know how many teams have that view. I think a lot of teams would look at that and say, you just gave up two pretty good players for a guy you might lose in five months. Not to mention, they literally just lived this with Jake Denzel. They traded for Jake Denzel, tried to sign him and lost him. But the difference this time, according to Tulski, they have way more captain to play with than they did a year ago.

So this all happens over the weekend. Do you think now this starts a domino effect? You know you look at Vancouver's situation and I know Jimmy Rutherford, Patrick Alveen, I mean they're not going to just knee-jerk reaction but that seems like that's been going on and dragging out in Vancouver for a long time. I don't know what they're planning on doing, but doesn't this maybe open up the market to say, okay, if somebody is going to pull the trigger, we saw what Colorado and Carolina did.

Maybe there's some other manager that's on the fence of doing something that pushes him over to go, I need to do this too. Yeah, my noodles. I mean, first of all, the impact of Vancouver, they just lost a trading partner. I mean the Canucks and Hurricanes were deep in talks on the trade. That would have been the other option for Carolina this past week. I tweeted that Friday night, but Carolina and Vancouver went deep on one.

No one involved wants to confirm whether that was from Miller or Patterson, I think it's Patterson. But I know that Carolina spoke to Vancouver on each player over the last several weeks. Um, whatever it was, they decided to go ranting in instead. Um, Carolina did, but that leaves Vancouver now with having to circle back to the other teams they've been talking to, talking to on both Miller and Patterson. And, you know, I think it's been a tough goal here because the Coducks are obviously trying

to either move one of these guys, but move one of these guys and get something in return. And that's the difficult part in season of training these guys with turn. And you kind of just saw it. I don't know what was on the table for sure in the Carolina Vancouver trade. I don't think it's fair for me to speculate without no 90%. But we know one thing, the difference between trading for Pederson or Miller versus trading for Amphenen is that if you're trading for Miller and Pederson, there is the opposite kind of risk of a pending UFA. There's a risk of maybe not loving the contract you inherited.

And so I think it's somewhat telling, well, first of all, Rampant is obviously the best of the three players, but it's still telling that they went the risk route in terms of a pending UFA when they had clearly something they could have done with Vancouver as well. Yeah, it's pretty significant, man.

Those are great trades, like hockey trades, right? Like that's at the, and that's what I would say, like you just pointed out, Patterson Miller, they've got their own baggage, they've got contracts, they're great players, but Ranton is just simply better. And if you're in a window, in a one-year window, if you're Carolina and you think I can win this year you give me the option of ranton and Miller or Pettersson everyone on earth is taking

Miko ranton yeah but do yourself a favor and go get a goalie and go get another defenseman too if you're gonna do that yeah that's the question I got all in ready's back ready is back reactivated ready to rock here well one thing Eric Tul Eric told me is that as soon as he welcomed Taylor Hall and Nico Rampen and to the team on Saturday who the I went to so tell him try to make it more call to beat well he's not he doesn't want to be done he wants to to try and potentially make another move before March 7th so I mean we throw the expression all in around

way too much I know Jerry Jones, but I can tell you right now the Carolina Ernie's are all in. No question about it. And I think it's probably what you said, Brian, that the East, I think this is the most wide open, the top of the, well, the top and the bottom, frankly. The whole conference is the most wide open I've ever seen it.

There's not a juggernaut team at the top of this. All due respect to Washington, who is a great story, all due respect to the Leafs, who are having a really nice year on the Craig Blue Bay. There is not a juggernaut team at the top of the conference. And I think Carolina took that into calculation. But there's also this. Old dog knows this.

He has ties to the organization. The hurricanes have been taking swazier year after year after year. Reminds me of San Jose and their glory days. You know you don't get to do it forever man. You know I mean. Yeah at some point you'll pay a price. Yeah. Yeah. So they're home for it. And I'm sure they won't be alone. The question is who else is gonna be out there. You know like we know the again the Vancouver scenario but if if only one rantinens available they got them. You know like other we know the, again, the Vancouver scenario, but if, if only one randthin is available, they got them, you know, like other guys will be traded, but not of that.

I'm just curious and Pierre, I know it started floating out there. Well, now that is that like, they've got cap space in Colorado. Does that link them to sit and it's not that on Friday night, you know, you know what though? Okay. You can definitively, and we all can say definitively, no right now. But what if Pittsburgh goes 0-1-12 in the next 12 games by the deadline? They've basically gone 0-1-12. They're done anyway. Even if they sneak in, they're not doing anything. They're just ahead of Buffalo.

I'm just saying that... Listen, we all get the Nate McKean and Sid connection, and no one's going to deny that. Right. Let I, I, I'm listening. We all get the name machine and connection. I know I'm going to deny that. I let me start before I get radio here. Yes. And he started by saying, because I feel like it's like a legal obligation. We checked this weekend, CJ and I drugs, everyone involved with Pittsburgh and Cindy Crosby's camp completely shot down any possibility of that.

Okay. So let me get that off my chest. That's so, so we know that. Yeah. completely shot down any possibility of that, okay? So let me get that off my chest, so we know that. But I said this before on your show, guys. I mean, because Brian and I love this topic, but I said this before. When he signed that two-year extension, everyone's like, oh, that city's not going anywhere. That wasn't my reaction.

I looked at the way they structured the deal and saw that it was front-loaded, and that the last year of that extension makes an easier move. That's right. Now, that doesn't usually happen. Every time Sidney Crosby is quoted on this, he says, I'm finishing my career in Pittsburgh and I believe him. That's how he feels.

That doesn't mean he'll feel the same way in a year or two. For this year, I find it hard to believe, but I mean, if you would have asked me a week ago if Niko Rantzen was getting dealt, I would have told you no. But you know, that's, you never know. But right now, it doesn't feel like that would be a thing before March 7th, but things could change. Yeah, anything is possible.

All right, Pierre. Well, we'll leave it there. I mean, it's good to be talking big trades and we're getting closer to the trade deadline. Hopefully more is going to happen. We know there will be deals taking place, but it's go time now, man. Blood gates are open.

Yeah, I know this and the interesting, like I said last week, how many teams want to take care of business before pronations? Yep. And how many are forced or actually want to wait for those for that type of do it after it? That's going to change the problem. Absolutely. All right, Pierre, thank you for doing this. Appreciate it. Right on.

Pierre Lebrun, our TSN hockey insider. Should I ask him about his new coach in Dallas? I just feel like Cowboy fans are not in the mood for it. Brian Schottenheimer, it's almost depressing to watch Jerry Jones try to convince the world he knows what he's doing. If I was Brian, I'd bring out those stinky old gold glasses like Marty used to wear. Remember those square gold glasses? Marty Schottenheimer. He used to wear a flat hat, like a flat brim hat pulled down over his eyes with a big set

of glasses. Why not? Big glasses. One year old man's goggles out, do it. Yeah. Marty Schottenheimer was the original Sean McDermott. Like, he'd get to the dance every single year, just couldn't close, man. Could not close, could not win.

Clock malfunction, poor game planning, too conservative. It was definitely one of the football names back in the day. Oh yeah, Marty Schottenheimer. He'd always turn a program around and just couldn't win in the end. That's Marty. But yeah, Brian Schottenheimer, the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Joe from the Bridge, get a good pick of Marty with those shades on. When we come back from break, I want to have a good look at these.

All right, we'll come back with a picture of Marty Schottenheimer and our best bets powered by Fandool. Overdrive continues TSN 1050 and on TSN 2. All right, best bets powered by Fandool. Make your picks and assemble a same game parlay in seconds on the Fandirl sportsbook app I'm on the Raptors money line tonight you get a little bit of plus money on that it's like plus 102 it's New Orleans there are many teams in the league worse than the Raptors New Orleans is one of them and yes Sions playing but I don't trust Sion Williamson in Toronto's last night

Sunday night in January is not exactly a rock star night but he may have gotten up to something last night who knows and Scotty Barnes been outstanding Eastern Conference Player of the Week they're coming off two wins in Atlanta very rarely do I look at the Raptors at any point and think that's a good bet I think the place Raptors tonight plus money against New Orleans today's best bets powered by FanDuel bet the NBA live from first basket to the final whistle on FanDuel. Please play responsibly 19 plus, physically located in Ontario. Alright, we got two weeks of the Super Bowl build up, right?

Fired up for it. Fired up for that. Zion's status for Pelicans vs Raptors. Is he playing? Oh, maybe he's not even going to play now. Would it shock you if he pulled the shoot? We got a Schottenheimer pick? I think he is playing. Look at this guy! Look at those shades! Yeah, oh he wore those everywhere he went. Marty Schottenheimer. Man, he jumped around the league and was always like,

turned a program around and then just ran out of steam. I don't know why but I think of him with the Redskins. Was he not with the Redskins? Marty Schottenheimer? I don't know if he was. He was with the with the browns use with the chargers when they were good when lp was there and rivers early in his career they went fourteen into one year with marty and just dropped out at last wow love it anywho it's tough today

do you the commissioners got about eight nine days to figure this out i have point systems gonna be your fire i might have a're fired. I might have to get involved. I'm thinking of Al's brother today. You get involved. Yeah. Al's brother's not been feeling great. We gotta get his cards back. We gotta get Al's brother's cards. Yeah, there is with the chargers. I feel for Al's brother, man. I sent him a text too. I'm like, everything okay. I haven't heard from Al's brother. I'm worried about my partner. But he'll be back for the Super Bowl. I know it. Yeah. I know it. All right, good stuff. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out. We appreciate it.

Everyone for tuning in today. TV, radio, podcast, web, we appreciate that. We're out of here. Enjoy your evenings. Enjoy the games tonight. We're back tomorrow at 4 p.m. We'll chat then. TSM Plus is taking game day to a whole new level with NFL Red Zone.

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