OverDrive - OverDrive - January 27, 2026 - Hour 1 - Darren Dreger/Chris Johnston

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss O-Dog's view on calling and texting, his interaction with Jennifer Hedger on not furthering his call and her response to what warrants a call or a text, the Maple Leafs' significant game against the Sabres and the importance of a win in the game. TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger and Chris Johnston join to discuss the Maple Leafs' trade options, Auston Matthews' outlook and the direction of the roster, Mike McCarthy becoming the Steelers' head coach and Bill Belichick's next steps.

This hour of overdrive is powered by Fanduil. Fan Duel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. All right, here we go, overdrive off and running TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker up on YouTube live, Brian Hasey, O'Dug, Jeff O'Neill, Jamie Noodles, McClinick. What's going on? How we feel in this afternoon? I know in the past you've warned me that I call a little too much. Just, I'm a caller, right?

Yeah. You're a big caller. Yeah. Big caller. I'll be scratching one of our co-workers off the list. Really? Yes. Let me guess who it is.

You'll never guess. You'll never guess. James Duffy? No. No. He gets the call? No way. You got a guess?

Doogie? I hope not. Jennifer Hedger. Wow. Hedge is getting flush. See, I have some insight on this. You be careful. No, listen.

No, no, I do. You go ahead, though. You explain. I'll explain. She was on Sports Center, and she made a rookie move, and she started a segment without her mic on, and then it came back to her,

and she had the mic on. So I just wanted to call her and say, like, great recovery there. That's very, very unlike you, one of the best in the world. Yes, Mount Rushmore Broadcaster. So I call her to discuss this in her honka shoes, and she doesn't answer and text me saying,

yo, what's up with the call? And then at the end of it, it says, somebody better have died. I appreciate that greatly. She was so pissed that I call. She goes, yo, what's up with the call? Did someone die? I'm like, who says that to somebody else?

She's 2026. People don't talk on the phone. They text. Yo, what's up with the call? It was like she was offended. I'm like, how gross is that? this. This is not the same person. I knew I've known for 15 years. I thought

you were getting a William Nealander. Like, I thought there was a finger involved or something. Basically, might as well toss that. That actually would have been less offensive. I think if she just sent you the middle finger emoji, the Willie, the Willie emoji. If she sent the Willie, that actually might have been less offensive. It's funny you say that

because I saw Hedge that day. She came in here and was sniffing around, like, what's up with the caller? What's up with this cat? She came in with her son. or son was in here doing the tour and I said to her son. I said, why don't you leave me your number? I'll give it to, oh, he'll call you.

He'll check in to see how everything's going in high school. I know you're lying. I swear she came in and she goes, yeah, oh, called me today. Is he a caller? Like, what does he want? And I go, yeah, he's a caller. He's a caller. I go, he's a caller.

Honestly, hedge, probably nothing. Yeah. And in reality, pretty much nothing. You know, like, it really didn't have to be a call. What are you talking about? I thought, like, that's call worthy where you say, hey, like, that was kind of Could have been a text. Hey, great recovery on the mic.

That's not, because you don't understand Nicole. Once you get through the meat and potatoes of why you're calling, then it's like, how are you the kids? Like, do you get into something else? Just do what you guys. He just goes, all right, buds, later. You do that, but no, no, no. You know what? You're Gen X or Gen Z.

No, I'm hedge X. That's what I am. I'm hedgex. Because I know where hedge is coming from. You call one of us. You can do the, I'm out quick. Yes. And we don't care. It's like, alright, fine, whatever. You can't do that

to someone you don't have a calling relationship with. So Hedge isn't going to just blow you off. Like, listen to yourself, what's a calling relationship? Unfortunately, you have to be polite. We've been colleagues for 15 years. I understand that. I get that. We all love Hedge.

Hedge is the best. You're not on a calling basis with Hedge. I don't think I've ever had a phone call. I never have. I've texted with Hedge many times. Okay, I'll delete her number then. Well, that's not necessarily. No. You would have been in high school now?

No, I'll delete her number. I don't think that's necessary. I'll never have contact outside of this building. That's how the rules go. No, a text is more than fine. And it's respectful. You just shoot a text and you go, hey, loved your recovery last night or love it. I've had a, I mean.

Yeah, well, it's also amateur hour, too, the non-mic. Do you understand where I'm coming from? I 100% understand. Because you will call us, you'll call me, say, hey, did you see that shot by Scotty Schaeffler? And I'll go, no, I did. And then while I'm answered, you go, I got to go. you'll hang up. And I'm not offended by that at all.

Not at all. Like I'm like, whatever. This guy will call me back. I'm literally saying, I'm on my way to I got to go. I got to go. I'm like, okay, you just call me, but whatever. I don't care. With someone you never talk to on the phone. You got to ask about the family. You got to follow up with stuff. There's got to be a, how's everything

going? How's the rest of the show? You can't be blunt on a one call basis. Yes. And I think that's where Hedges coming from. He doesn't want to ask about the kids. Dude, when you're friends with somebody, you're allowed to randomly call just to say, hey, that was a great recovery.

You're living in a different era, man. You don't live in the world. No, I'm not, man. You're in a different era. That world doesn't exist anymore. I don't mind the phone call. You're a phone caller, too. I'm a phone caller because a lot of my friends don't live in the city. So it's not like I'm, you know, I call and check in cities,

I check in on teams, all of that. But when, you know, three of us talk quite regularly. But I expect it. When I see you calling, I know there's a topic we're talking about and that's it. Yes. Jamie, what happened in Ottawa last? This is what happened. I went to bed. It was 3-0.

They lost 5. I woke up 5.3. What the hell happened? Didn't go that well. We have a chat. All right, buds, gone. See you later. No offense taken. None, and it's just, it's a transaction. When you are calling Jennifer Hedger,

you're having a full conversation. That's right. And Hedge knows that. You know, I don't like talking to people. He's ignorant as much. Hedge is running. Hedges is probably running, taking pictures of the Scarborough Bluffs. She loves taking a picture of the Scarborough Bluffs. Oh, really? That's her go-to, man, and she does a phenomenal job at that.

Well, I'll never find out, and I don't care. I'm on Team Hedge because I'm telling you right now. I'm Hedge X. Yeah, because she does it. A lot of people, I think, nowadays, don't call. So what kind of friendship needs to happen with a phone or without that you're allowed to call someone? It's not about being allowed. You're acting like there has to be a caller history to even place a call.

I think you have to develop that relationship to that you can. So I get it. How many times? What are you talking? I think so. You have to develop a relationship phoning someone. Listen to what you're saying. Do you talk to Dugie on the phone or do you text him a lot?

Text all the time. But Dugie is 20 years younger than me. I don't love the phone. I'm fine with the phone. Dugie has never lived in a world with the phone. Doogie doesn't do phones well. If you rolled in a pay phone here or one of those rotary phones with the court. You would have no idea what it is.

Doogie, what is your deal with the... You don't like talking about the phone? You're a texter? He texts. Like, text first, but if it's urgent, we got a call. Well, urgent, but a mic on Sports Center last night is not urgent. That's not urgent. There's nothing urgent about that.

Do you think I was in the wrong making the call? Not at all. Did you send her a text about it at all? No, it was just straight. Straight call. So, hey, your car's on fire. Oh, so that's startling someone now? Put yourself in Hedges-honkers.

Yeah. Okay? At the Scarborough Bluffs out for a run. She's probably looking at this wondering, why would Oak call me? That's a pocket dial or noodles is in the hospital. Yeah, my car's on fire. I saw your car. I was driving by.

It's on fire. And something is seriously wrong. Probably number 1,400,600,622 would be Mike malfunction on SportsCenter last night. And I think that's where Hedge is coming from. And I swear Hedge came in. Dugie can attest to this, right? That's true. It was, I don't know, it was pretty.

Question for O. When was the last time you called her? I never have. Not once. We need to call Hedge. Just a cold call, though. This is the other thing. Call her right now.

Call her right now. You know, it would be hilarious if she answers. Call her live on the show. I'm going to fly her. Call Hedge. Call Hedge. Why would she answer? I hope she does.

Why the hell is TSN Radio Call? But it won't even be labeled that because it's a totally random number. Oh, she flushed. If she answers this, that means she's answering, you know, duct cleaners. She's answering. everyone but oh. I'm okay. I don't need my ducks clean. Thank you very much. Thanks so much for the call. How's your family doing?

Anyone else is an answer from head. Yo, why the call? I need hedge to answer this call. I've never wanted. I've never wanted a cold call to get answered more in my life. In defense of her, like I would be like, what's up? Like you text what's up. She might be busy. That's a great. Look at Hedge X or Generation O.

Oh. What a great way. Like, start climbing on board to Generation O. Just start calling people. I got to be honest, though. I'm more Gen O because we talk on the phone all the time. But not on something like that, noodles. Oh, my God. Hedge answered.

Hedges on the line. He answered and she flushed you. She flushed the O'Don. And just say, ask her how inappropriate the response was. Okay. Hedge. I know. a fact because you came into the studio

that day. Can you confirm you came in with your son and you were sniffing around why the O-dog is randomly calling you? Everything you guys have said in the last eight minutes is 100% true. Oh called me. I swear to God, I look at my phone,

I'm walking my dog in the bluff and it comes up O-Dog and I'm like, holy shit. What is O-Dog doing calling me? At 11 o'clock the morning. So then I started thinking about it. I started going through all of the scenarios of why would he be calling me? What is this about? Is this gossip? Did something happen to his job?

Is he looking like, what is going on? So then I think to myself, I'm just going to text him and lay the groundwork. Just to sort of prepare myself for what I might be up for. And I say, oh, what's with the phone call? Did someone die? Because it's almost the only reason why he would have called me at a 11 o'clock in the morning. Nothing, right? I get nothing back. Yes, what I did next, Hedge. Oh, dog is calling me.

He's cornering me. He knows the phones in my hand, and now he's taunting me to pick it up. So exactly what I do. Hey, oh, what's up? Yeah. And I get, and I get, hey, did you forget to put your mic on that? I think that's phone call. Like, now that you've experienced this whole thing, Hedge,

is that not phone call worthy? Dude, I don't think it is. No, it's not even close. It's so, it's like the worst, right? Like, as a broadcaster, it's the rookiest move. And when I see people do it on TV, I'm like, oh, my God, amateur hour. Get your mic on. And then when it happens to you, you think to yourself, you know what?

No one's watching. Nobody noticed that. So when my colleague, the next morning, goes out of his way to call me to remind me of what an amateur. move I made a Sane on Sports Center and well by the way everybody was watching it was like okay and then I go is that it yeah and he goes yeah see you later go okay man talk to you later bye bye wow just a wild experience man the whole oh dog experience 15 years yeah I was kind of I was kind of rattled all day because I was like then I started second guessing I'm like was that

really it and I was just being a little bit curt on the phone so then he was he decided you know what, I'm going to, I'm going to cut this off right now because she's not in the mood to talk about what I really want to talk to her about. And then I came in with Jags. We're in. I see you. I'm like, is he phone guy? Was this normal behavior for us? And you're like, he absolutely is phone guy. And you either, you either pick it up or you don't. But he's relentless and he will call you. Yeah. Oh, it's basically like he's, you know, I don't even know how to explain your whole experience, your whole vibe. relentless person on the phone is the quiz master. Yes. The quiz master? Very much so.

You could be in surgery and you go, hey, I'm just going under an anesthesia and he'll go, I just got a question about the quiz. Yeah, just a quick. No, you don't understand. I'm in big trouble here. You ever fingerprinted him? It would just be the numbers on a phone come out. You know what is the irony, though, in all of this, oh, is that, you know, when, like,

sometimes you do, like, I don't know if you're doing, like, some random interview or something of someone and they think like a really cute question is, who's the most famous person you have in your phone that you could call right now? I would probably say, oh, Doc. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You're flushing the calls. Well, we appreciate the confirmation. I told you, her and Jagger came in and I said that. I'm like, and I told, what did I say to your son? I said, give all your number. He'll give you a show. I'll call him any time and shoot the breeze. Check in. How's everything going? It would be actually a pretty cool service for you to do. Oh, like just, you know, phone guy.

If you're feeling lonely, that would be, I'll start an app saying I'll call people. Start a new app. It's almost like that cameo or what was, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. The sad thing is I would do it for free.

Yeah, of course you would. Just robocalling people. Leafs talk. Who wants to talk about the Leafs? Who's checking in? Call them. That would be awesome.

All right, Hedge. Well, thank you for confirming that. And thanks for answering, too. Did you answer on the first call? Like, because that's the best part.

Listen, when it says unknown name, unknown number, I picked that right up. That's important. Those are. important calls. Those are the ones you have to get. All right, Hedge. Thanks again. There it is, Jennifer Hedger.

That is awesome. I think we, I don't know what we accomplished this. I don't know. The reasoning is just outrageous, I think. It's a flush and what's up. Well, yeah, what's up or pocket dial. Like, that's the other thing. I've had, you answer and you hear somebody walking or you hear them talking to somebody else is like, okay, they just butt dialed me. That's what you think. Right, exactly. But it is weird that you guys haven't talked the phone before. I think you have to mix hedge into the rotation.

I'll never call her again. I think you have to. I think you have to. I'll call him. I'll call her son to the honk. He's, he's what? Call Sean.

How old is he? Call Sean. Dagger. I don't know. He's in high school. He's not that old. He's 17? No, he wouldn't be that old.

Okay, so either way. He's a high team. Big Oilers fan. Big Oilers fan. Big goalie. I love him. But my point being is, kids don't answer phones.

I call my daughter who's 13. Never. And I'll get the, what's up? Yeah. Yeah. My oldest has like a watch now. So,

Fleth, leaves me on red. I'm like, you're 10. I saw you. I wrote nasty about something. Yeah. Left on red.

I saw that. I saw that. Yeah, I saw that. You didn't right back. I'm like, well, what were you doing?

Eh, and other things going on. Yeah. Anyway. All right. Well, we've established nothing in first. Generation O.

I think that's important content, though. I am Generation O as far as call. I'm. hedge checks all day. I love call. Text, text, text, text. And if it needs to develop into a call, we'll text and we'll say, let's figure out a time when we can work on a call. All right? We'll book a call at some point. I don't mind checking in. I like a check in. That's the thing. Anyway. Okay. We'll come back and get into the Leafs a little bit. Leafs

Savers. It's a big one for them. Yeah. And the bills have hired their new coach. They're hoping it's a Nick Nurse situation. Yeah. They've hired from within. Joe Brady, their OC, gets the job. It's basically going from Dwayne Casey to Nick Nurse. They're hoping for that. I don't know if it's going to develop the same way. But I can't imagine that's overly inspiring in Western New York. Unless

he has a good relationship with Allen. I think that's probably why he's got the gig. That's his guy, Alan likes him. Maybe Alan basically handpicked him or Brandon Beans like, I can keep my finger on this guy. That's what you got to hope isn't the case. That Bean and Jerry Paguel

aren't like, okay, we can control this guy. and we can figure out how he's going to work. Have they done any damage control with their bad PR? No, not really. You know what? Now he's just like, come watch the Sabres play. Because the Sabres now are red hot. Like in Buffalo, it's all sabers all the time as it should be. He'll be at all the games.

Oh, yeah, he's probably in Toronto tonight. His press conference, did it make you think what Kevin Adams was dealing? Like, did you now look at it and go, you look at it differently? You look at the whole thing differently. Yeah, I think so. Now, he might have just had a bad press conference and been like... And it had been a long time. Yes.

And it was a long... It was longer than just the clips that were isolated. To be fair to Pagula, they can't just look at the two clips. It was a half an hour presser. There's a lot more depth to it. Can cherry pick that. But I do wonder where Kevin Adams comes into play,

where Buffalo is won 18 of 22, I believe. The new GM hasn't made one transaction. Hasn't done one thing. Not one thing. Like Yarmot showed up because, I think we can be a playoff team. And now they're in the playoffs. He said that.

Yeah, he's like, I think we're going to try to go all in and figure this out this year. He hasn't done anything. If you look at it, Kevin Adams probably deserves a lot of credit. Now, listen. No kidding. It's this whole, all of this is doing.

Literally his team. But there were times where on this show, the three of us were like, now that's a mess there. What the hell's Kevin Adams doing? And then why is he trading Dylan Cousins, a 24-year-old six-foot-four centerman? Well, he gets Josh Norris.

Unfortunately, you know, Norris has had some injury issues, but he's a hell of a player. But you look at drafting and developing, they've got some, you know, a lot of them are coming into their own right now. Like that's the crazy part. And it's a weird situation for him. Well, they had about how many number one picks have they had? Two, just two? Is it Dahlene and Power? Yeah. But they had some high picks.

Well, they had, Ryan Hart was two. I call was two. I'll tell you one that I think is a hell of a move. That Bowen Byram's a player. Yeah. They got him for left shot, centerman, Middlestad that went to Colorado

and now he's in Boston. Well, even picking up the Dome kid. Yes. Like just getting some meat. And they just sign him. They did sign him post Kevin Adams. Right.

I guess Yarmow has done some work. Right. But they gave Dohn a long term. Look at all the moves that they made. Like Berturca, for Done and the right shot. Kesserling. Kesseling.

Kessel ring. Kessel ring. And good players. But again, you're looking at like, Peturka's like a left shot, 23-year-old, really highly skilled guy. You're like, you got to put that? Why couldn't you make that work? Like, just some weird things that you're sitting there thinking,

but all of a sudden, they come together. Now that the Leaf's got their hands full tonight, but they've got to play well. They have to play well. Like it's, how many times can you say, figuratively speaking, it's a must win, but it's kind of a must win. They have to get some momentum going out west.

Yeah. Yeah, you've got five games before the break. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. In Buffalo, that's what they're doing. They're just kind of running through teams. They are more nothing, 5-1.

The one thing that I'm talking to a coach the other day, Buffalo has tremendous speed. And that's one thing, you know, on the panel I was going to talk about is the Leafs have trouble with teams that have real good team speed. That's where the Leafs have run in. That was Colorado the other day. And like today, you know, Quillan went in the kid, and now they're taking them out.

Yeah. Which, you know, they barely played him the other day. He wasn't the reason they lost. But it's weird that, you know, Berube said, we need some speed and energy. Ah, it didn't work one game. Yarn Crooks back in. Okay.

And Wall's going tonight, which, again, kind of highlights, like, why did Stollars have to play on the Friday if Wall is now playing this game after playing on Sunday? It's... But you got to get them back in the mix. No, I hear you.

But it just, at the end of the day, you need Stolars to play and you need Wohl to be at the top of his game. That's the only chance they have. They have to have basically the best tandem in the league, the final 30 games. Like real close to it. That's fair. I know it's asking a lot and it would be crazy to say that at the start of the year.

But for 30 games, you kind of just need both of them. Like one to start 20 games, one to start 10 and they have to be great. Yeah. Have to be great. All right. The insider's coming up. Johnny coming up the game on TSN tonight. Confirm and Denies well overdraft.

continues, TSN 1050 and up on the TSN app. 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 Charm Diamond Centers,

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. Overdrive continues, powered by Fandul, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. Leafs savers tonight.

Oilers won again last night. Kind of funky what's going on with the goaltending. Like, Jari has not been very good. Like, statistically, but they're outscoring it. Stu Skinner is the hottest goalie in the league right now. Like, Skinner does not lose. No pressure. Somebody tweeted out the other day that two Skinner's turned into Dominic Hach.

He is unreal. He never loses. And his numbers are crazy. He lost his first three. and then he's 7 and 1 since then. Yeah. And been playing very, very well. Like outrageous stats.

There's a different set of eyes on him and they change something mechanically. Well, I will say this. A guy who worked here at TSN Radio, Andy Kyoto. Yeah. Unbelievable coach. He's done a great job in Pittsburgh. He's the guy who helped Tristan Jari get back his game. And if you look at it, Stu Skinner goes there.

Now, Jari made 40 saves last night. Like, Ebinton wasn't, like, I thought Jari played really well, but they gave up four. Right. And they just scored seven, so it didn't matter. They got back-to-back hat tricks from defensemen. Crazy. Crazy. But Jari is, I like, well, I like the situation for both.

I'm happy for Stu Skinner. He can get out of there, get out of Edmonton, and just go play hockey. Yeah. And Pittsburgh is, is Pittsburgh not the number one surprise in the NHL this year? Close to it. Darren Dregor in here. Yeah, I mean, I mean. I would think.

What's the biggest surprise? San Jose or Pittsburgh? I would say. Or Anaheim, maybe. Yeah. Although conversely, I might look at Winnipeg. They won the President's trophy last year. And they're not even close to the player.

I can go spin both ways, I guess. Right. But then look at like Detroit's in, Boston's in Buffalo. Buffalo. A lot of turnover. Islanders are in. Might be. It's right.

There's a lot of turnover, actually, when you think about it. Organically, at the starting this season, if you said, Pittsburgh Pank, they were the only team that was open for business. And we, you know, many in media were speculating on, where is Sid going to land? Right. You know, is he going to be, he's going to say, yeah, I'm not in this. Right.

I want to chase one more Stanley Cup. And the Montreal connections were made, and, I mean, go down the list. And every once in a while, that still pops its ugly head up there. But come on. I mean, Kyle Lewis has creatively done a decent job, but at the end of the day, it's still about Crosby and Malkin. and La Teng and the goaltending and all of that. So he's backfilling with some young,

I don't know if we'll call him developing pieces, but younger players that are NHL quality players, right? So in that sense, he deserves respect, and he's not done yet. There's still a lot of time between now and March 6th. Sure. Well, that's the question. We'll bring in Chris Johnston as well. Like the freeze is what?

Just over a week away? Yeah. I guess a week tonight, is it? February 4th. February 4th is the trade freeze. So are you anticipating deals before the freeze dregs? I mean, I guess anything's possible, but how many teams are like, well, we'll just get there, let it breathe, and figure it out afterwards?

Yeah, and I mean, there are some sellers that have recently jumped into the market, but that doesn't mean that they're selling off imminently. You know, why wouldn't you wait until post-Olympics? And I think that that's probably where we'll see the glut of the trade activity, But that's not to say we're not going to see something between now and February 4th. I keep looking at the Vancouver Canucks as being another team getting business done. If the deal makes sense, then any team that's chopping pieces like Vancouver, St. Louis, go down the list, then they'll do it. So it's possible.

CJ, in terms of the Leafs, like everyone's trying to get a read on what happens here. Do they try to buy? Could they become sellers? Do they stand pad? What do they do at McMahon and Lotton, et cetera? what is your read on when we might get an answer on that and how much is actually on the table for the leaves in terms of both ends of the spectrum,

buying and going in and trying to make it or being full-blown sellers and realizing this isn't your year? I think crazy as it might sound, both ends are very much still open as possibilities. And look, the Leafs have 11 games, including tonight, before the deadline. There's a lot of time between now and March 6th, but there's not a lot more that the front office is really going to learn about this team before the big decisions need to be made.

You know, I think they're going to let this five-game stretch before the Olympics play out, you know, barring something unexpected. I don't think they're going to make any moves in the near term before that period of time. And then they're going to assess over the break, you know, what the best path forward is. You know, let's look at both ends of what you're projecting there, haze. Buying, I don't think, will ever be that aggressive. That's just my feel. Like I don't think we're going to see them if it leans towards buying, do anything crazy.

I mean, we've been over this. They don't have tons to sell or to buy with. And I think there is probably a little reticence about how much they can really do to this roster right now. The selling end could go a little bit more dramatically. They do have pending UFAs. But that's going to take them likely losing a bunch of these games between now and the deadline. And so I really believe it could go both ways. And they're just going to wait and see and make a call.

probably over that Olympic break and enact in the 10 or 11 days before the deadline afterwards. Yeah, and look, I think all that is fair, but you also have to really analyze the next five games, right? Starting tonight against the Buffalo Sabres and where you're at. Because as we've talked about, and you guys shared yesterday on the show, I mean, if this trip doesn't go well, the answer might be right there, then Brad Trilving can't turn away from, right? I mean, if it doesn't go well, you know, what do you do directionally? and where is that pressure coming from? Is it coming from above the general manager's office?

It feels to me like, and you guys weigh in on this, it feels to me like this team needs a spark. But as players, does it have to be a meaningful piece? Or can you just make a trade where you get a depth defenseman to bolster what you've got? And that's a shot in the arm. They already got their, yeah. Yeah.

But I brought that up yesterday. Does that count those? Well, he's been good for them. He grabbed them off waivers and he's been good. But what if you're just nibbling around the edges and you find somebody in the league and it just adds to your group? Exactly right. I don't know. I don't know.

That's what I understand because we talked about this yesterday. But what if, you know, what if somebody just slides in that helps everybody, helps the process along? That's the thing. It's not going to change. Austin Matthews still has to be the best player. When Willie's healthy, he's got to be the best player. John has to get his game going consistently. McMahon, all of those guys.

But maybe it just helps the balance on the back end. And you don't have the assets to do anything bigger than that, potentially. If you did, and there was that player available, and we know that Trillovine is still eyeing the defenseman. Well, if there was a piece that he could bring in, he would have done that by now. There's nobody available that moves the needle. That's why I say from the player perspective,

sometimes it's just a little injection. Just a little bit of a difference. Because, look, the coach has done everything, right? He's had blowups on the bench in the first half. Well, that didn't seem to get a message through. He's called out William Nealander publicly. All right, you know, can't blame Willie now. He's not playing.

He has a leadership meeting yesterday. Went, well, everybody's focused. Everybody knows what they have to do. Okay. Seats tonight. Okay. You got a message got through. One thing we did is they fired the power.

I'll play coach. At one point though, and CJ, you can jump in first, Dregs, we can go around the table? Do they, can they no longer live in a world where they don't have assets? And that's where I wonder if sometimes you've got to take advantage of acute moments in the schedule to accumulate those.

Even though it's not comfortable. And, you know, you look at it, you might be able to trade some pieces and get back in the game in the summer if that player comes up. Yes, the right shot defenseman isn't there. right now, you don't have the assets anyway. But if you decide I'm going to trade player X, Y, and Z, now

I have them and I can get in the game in the summer. Like there's only so many opportunities, C.J., where you can accumulate assets. And the trade deadline is one of them. And I know it would be uncomfortable for the 25, 26th season, but it might be in the best interest for the 26, 27

season, and beyond, for them to simply use this deadline, not about wins and losses right now, but finally restocking. the cupboards so you can get back in the game a little bit. And if, CJ, that is the scenario, how does 34 factor into that? Like, does he...

No, I'm not talking about him exiting stage lap. I'm trading him for the asses. No, but I'm not. I'm asking what would his thoughts be on a punted season? Like, that's got to be a question asked. Well, I'm sure he would share the disappointment of others, but I will say this. my impression of awesome matthews is you know i don't think they need to do anything and be really

gentle around him like i think he's still very committed to being a leaf i think he loves being the captain this team obviously he's been front and center here in a lot of conversation the last few days but you know i don't sense at all his commitment waning and in fact i think if they were making decisions that made sense that they were you know if it's properly message to some degree in terms of what the plans are like he wants a chance to win too. And I'm sure, you know, he's sitting there feeling a lot of the things everybody is like that the numbers don't lie at a certain point, right? We're more than 50 games into this season.

The Leafs have rarely, to their credit, they did have a great stretch after Christmas and into early part of January. But other than that, most of this year, they have not looked the part of what they expect to be, which they started this season thinking they're a contender. You know, I think the truth is staring them in the face. maybe they can save it here and change some minds with a hot finish right before the Olympic break or what have you. But honestly, I think we're being honest, they have to be looking towards at least a soft little retool, maybe add some of those assets you're talking about Hayes,

and not with that idea they're blowing everything up, but just basically taking a small step back with an idea of trying to take a few forward starting next year. And be okay with having uncomfortable conversations, right? Brad Trillivin is willing to do that last year, not to go down the Marner path yet again, but you talk to Mitch Marner about waving his no move at the time because you acquire Miko Ratanin as part of that process. All right, now we're all in.

We're all in one here and we're going to go, okay, it didn't pan out. And now you're in a completely different stratosphere if it doesn't play out the way that Leaves Nation is hoping, but don't be afraid to go to Morgan Riley and go, we're coming to you in the summer. You know, you're protected by your trade coverage. No problem if you want to wait. But, you know, we're having this conversation now because it can't just be about managing the asset of Bobby McMahon who's an unrestricted.

Or what you do is Scott Lawton, who's a pending unrestricted. Have uncomfortable conversations, which I think they have to be and will be willing to do in the time. Don't you think everything should be on the table if you are heading down that pathway? Yeah. Regardless, there has to be, I don't even think it's just plan A or plan B. I think you have to kind of throw everything out there and go, okay, what does this look like?

Because these managers, as you guys know, talk all the time. So there might be a call out of left field that goes, I really like that player. Oh, I didn't think about that. Yeah. That's the kind of stuff that gets percolating and then a deal comes together. It's fair. And so do both of you, you know, CJ and drags, is the chatter there? Like, are we going to see something?

Or are they kind of waiting until after the Olympics to see? Are you talking on a bigger picture? picture. Because, like, I think it's important. I mean, obviously, it's up to the Leafs to figure this out. But you'll notice, you know, we all interact with Lee fans all the time, that it's like, well, you just got to blow it up. Just get rid of these guys.

I don't see that. I don't know. And I think it's important. You just said what you said, CJ. Like, Austin Matthews, and there's always been this concern while, like, he's been in the playoffs every single year of his career. But about Willie. Well, Willie, possibly.

Maybe you trade him. You don't move, Claus? Yeah. And maybe that's the conversation you need to have to really, spark something different. In the off season. They have some good pieces here on the NHL team. They got two goal. They got three goalies. They got to figure out what they're going to do there.

You have Austin Matthews. You've got Willie. You've got Nyes. You've got them locked in. You know what they are. Like, yes, it will be uncomfortable. Yes, it sucks. It's on the GM to pitch it and sell it to a guy like Matthews and say, listen, it may not even be just an offseason. Maybe two.

But we want you here for the long term. And we're going to make it work. It just, it might be two years down the road. Dude, he's got two years left on his contract. So be it, though. Like, again, you know, Boston just didn't. Pasternak didn't just say, get me out of here because you unloaded everybody. So, all right, let's figure it out.

McAvoy, all right, let's figure it out. There's other examples in the league where they had to reset and retool. That guy didn't say, I want out of here. And why is it so awkward or uncomfortable for people to talk about the reality of 34? It shouldn't be. Vancouver just went down the same path with Quinn Hughes. You don't think they wanted to keep their captain long term? Of course they did.

But they got to a place, two years out, by the way, where they believed and knew he wasn't going to extend for a myriad of reasons in Vancouver, which are all his own. Two years out. Yeah. So find that out. Because what Vancouver got in return for Quinn Hughes, that's a significant package. I thought it was unbelievable. Now, that's a blow-up, though. That's the thing.

But they're awful. If you're getting into the off-season and we're willing to have those type of conversations, why? Why do you take 34 out of the mix? No, I'm not saying that, Treggs. I'm saying, and to that point, hey, I'm going to be honest with you, this may take two years, might take three. Are you in it? Are you a leave for life or not? Because I can't care.

I don't respect, that's what you have to do. Yes, I can't guarantee you, we're going to retool this in one off season or whatever, and you're a cup contender this time next year. Are you in or not? He may say, I don't have the stomach for that. Then it opens the door to a completely different chat. I agree. But if he's like, I'm the captain, I'm a leaf, I'm here, let's figure this out. And if I have to win in 30-32, let's do it.

Then that's a completely different avenue you can go down in terms of what you can do. I think it's fair, though. CJ, you weigh in. I think it's fair. The one thing that should be brought with all this is the lines of communication. Austin Matthews is the captain. He's their best player. And he has been, for how many years has he been here?

Nine. This is year? Yeah, this is his 10th year. 10th year. So 10th year. And he's got a couple more. left. This is a decade plus that he's put in. So he's pot

committed. He's invested. So these conversations, whether they're difficult or not, you can include him in it, you know, at some level, because he does move the needle. He is a star player. I've said this all along. You know, we were

looking at the coach, looking at the GM. If the best players play to their capability, maybe they're not in this situation, you know, consistently. They've been banged up this year. You know, goaltending, you haven't had a full roster. When's the last time they've had a full roster? Now, Tampa would say, come take a look at us. And look what we're doing. You know, there's a lot of teams. Go ahead. CJ, get in there on this.

Well, I mean, look, look, I can only go on the history. First of all, I think there's a, there's an active dialogue between Austin Matthew, his agent, the team. Like, I don't sense any issues there. And this guy signed a year out the last time he could have been a UFA. Even when he was coming in an RFA, like they got that deal done well in advance. As much as I think people wanted to link his birthplace and just assume he wants to play other places, I just think the history shows that's not the case. You know, he's getting, he's mid-career though now. Like he's he's where McDavid is except McDavid's been in the last two cup funnels and not one. But like he, you know, he's got to the point where yeah, he's won an

MVP, he's won some goal scoring titles. He wants to win the Stanley Cup. And so I think as long as he feels like he's on a path where that's a possibility for him in Toronto, I don't think there's going to be an issue. Again, this season is not great for anybody. The Leafs did not expect to find themselves here. You know, that's from ownership to Keith Pelly to Brad Truling to Austin Matthews and everyone else in that roster, you know, Craig Brouba. Yeah. But I just think that they may, especially if this, like, tonight's game, it sounds crazy. I think it's a huge game. Sometimes, we build up games that don't really deserve building up, like whether or not they can at least get one win on the back end of this

homestand, go out on the road and get some work done, because to me their season is hanging in the balance in these next five games. If it doesn't go well, and then they have, whatever, almost three weeks off, the conversations that happened during that three weeks behind the scenes are going to be pretty stark in terms of the direction of the team. Yeah. Yeah. Listen, it's going to take some salesmanship, right, like about the plan and how you can execute it, fails to who. The plan is sitting right in front of you.

What are you going to bluff it and then lie to yourself? Well, and then you're going to have that team. If you want to lie to yourself, we've seen it with Phil and Dion. Oh, we're going to compete. We're going to be good. And you're not. So, yeah, I hear you. I guess what I'm saying is if that is a reality and it's set in at Maple Leaf Sports

and Entertainment right now, the way this is going, can't win a Stanley Cup. And I think that's safe. They might make the playoffs. They don't feel like a Cup contending team. This team is not winning a Stanley Cup. I agree. But I'm saying, if you're player X in this, that room. Let's say it's Matthews, who would be, obviously, they would be, he'd be the guy they'd want to talk to. You got to sell, like, hey, this is my plan on how I'm going to get you into the

Stanley Cup final. Now, he's got to carry the load, too. You got to look at him and say, if I build this team, you better show up in the biggest games because he hasn't done that in a lot of, you know, times throughout his career. So there's got to be honesty both ways. But that's what I'm pointing to is like, you might have to go to him and say, we're going to have to retool, we've got to get some picks. We've got to get some prospects. I'm going to have to get our pro scouting going. We've got to find some players that are out there that are going to come here and pop. And it's on him to accept it or not.

And be like, all right, I believe in that. And let's see where it takes us. Keep in mind the one thing you said yesterday, Brian, this is uncharted territory for a lot of people tied to this. Yeah. They've been buyers for nine years. January, February. It's a lot of fun. We're playing round one.

You know, like that. That's been and that's not only just for the organization and the players, but it's the fan base, it's the media. Like, the last nine years have been in the regular season quite, you know, not massive storylines.

Great storylines, hey, Matthew's going for 70, all that type of stuff. This is uncharted territory. So there is some crossroads, but I still believe there's time. Like, maybe I'm wrong. No, I hear you. There's time to an extent. Moving forward from here at this point on

for the pathway to be charged. Yeah, yeah, and it's on everyone involved to figure it out. Don't they have to win like 20 of 30? Yeah, I think they... mathematically, something along those lines. I think they need like 40 points. It's... And most of those games are on the road.

That is. They've had the easiest... Yeah. Two-thirds of those games are on the road left. Yeah. And they haven't played well on the road. They've had one of the easiest schedules. Which is, again, something you've got to consider when you're evaluating them.

Correct. You know, like they are, maybe this is the way it is. All right, boys. Good seeing you guys. As always, thank you for doing this. We'll do it again soon. I feel like we're getting radioed for this one. You think so?

I'm not sure. What would you say would stick out the most? Here comes the rebuild. Kind of feels like C.J. really put it out there. Yeah, it's C.J.'s fault. Yeah, okay. Doogie in the headline, what Chris Johnston says. It always goes well.

It always pops when that happens. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. All I said is the guy wants to stay here and he wants to win. That's right. Maybe you didn't say that. Who knows? That one will pop.

Doogie could screw anybody over. Doogie might. Doogie could formulate anything. All right, boys. Great seeing you guys. Chris Johnson, Darren, Dyer, TSN Hockey Insiders. Johnny coming up, Mike Johnson on the game tonight. A lot going on in the NHL.

We're cruising towards the Super Bowl and confirmed with the night in about 45 minutes. Overdrive continues up on YouTube Live. Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the glorious sons.

Hi, I'm Nellie Fittato. Made in Canada, the station that champions Canadian music. Loud, crowd, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca. Or the free iHeartRadio app. All right, Mike Johnson coming up in 15 minutes.

We never got into Mike McCarthy getting the, job down in Pittsburgh, too. Steelers, like, they're, do you bring Rogers back and try to rekindle McCarthy and Rogers? They won a Super Bowl on Green Bay. The best tweet about that was there's like a meme of like an old guy wearing a dress shirt and he gets

the same dress shirt for Christmas. Yeah. It's like, this is what you've just done here. Yeah. Like there's no way they had a plan. Yeah. Like, it was no way the plan was Tomlin to McCarthy. I know, like they had to get something new and different. Yeah. Like up-tempo and get the fans

all jacked up and say, this is completely different. Yeah. And it's like they got the same dude. Yeah. Like McCarthy, like he's, I guess he's doing his press conference right now and he's just stuffed into a suit. He's, you know, awkward, man. And I think he's

from Pittsburgh and, like, he's been a good coach. He's been around forever. He got ran out of Dallas, kind of ran out of Green Bay. But he won't a Super Bowl and Green Bay. He's not, he knows what he's doing. But it's, yeah, it's kind of like a recycled. It's a recycled. retread play. Is our guy Billy

Bellichick? He's seemingly I think he's out. I have not heard his name. In the NFL circles, he's done. To my knowledge, he has not had one interview. And there's been a million coaching vacancies. A million. And apparently it's just his ego every time. Yeah, I think that's

a part of it. I think it's and I think people are watching the gong show down there and they're like, we're not doing that. We're not doing that. We're not hiring your girlfriend to run the social media team and that's not happening, Bill. And we're not bringing in. Plus, he runs heavy. Like,

he brings, you know, his kid with him and other people he knows and Michael Lombard. Like, there's an entourage that kind of comes with Belichick. And I think, for the most part, that has just been shipped out of the NFL. Yeah, he doesn't want to bring the circus to town. That's what it is. More or less been, that's

kind of come to an end. Because his legacy is kind of tarnished. When you look at it, compared to this guy was arguably the greatest coach of all time. Probably is. Yes, you can't take away all the winning. Yes, he

had Brady, which of course factors in, but he also knew football players, he knew how to get, he knew how to scout, he knew how to draft, he knew how to scheme, like he is a brilliant coach, brilliant. The end here is just an asterisk then? I just think the

fallout, I think the fact that I said it yesterday, that New England's back in the Super Bowl, it shouldn't hurt his legacy. What he should have done was just walk away, and then you were just right off into the sunset. And it's like your legacy is just there. Instead of the UNC and the girlfriend's stuff. He was to a media.

Remember that first year out, he was everywhere. He was great. And he was fun. And he was more, like it's, it is crazy. Tom Brady being who he is just in the booth for big games. You know, he's just, he's on the road. He's calling games. Dude, I think he's the best one now.

He's gotten good. He's gotten a lot better. He is much better, man. And Burkhart's a really good play-by-play guy, too. Like, they have a really good booth. That Romo just gets, he could just say anything and people hate what he said.

He's the new Phil Sims. Remember Phil Sims just got destroyed to the point where CBS is like, you got to get out. And that's when Romo showed up. And it's just like Romo has slowly morphed into Phil Sims. I bet you next year, Jay J.J. Watt takes over. I'm telling you.

Man, he got like a 10-year deal at 17 million. Romo's good. It's just, I think people don't like the stick. You know what? Jimmy Nance is getting it, too. They're giving it to give him. Yeah, well, he's just, he takes a few tough calls. That's what it is. Well, it's just he, Jim Nance does his thing and Romo is all over the place. I don't know, Jim. Yeah. Jimmy Nance is, you know, he's retiring in 12 years. I think, uh, the 2036 masters will be my last. That'll be my 50th masters. Didn't he announced like a 12-year retirement? I honestly thought he was going to say, I got two more masters and I'm done. He said the master's in 2036 will be my last.

Yeah, because he started in 86, I believe, when Nicholas won. And he's like, yeah, I'm going to do it for another 12 years. Crazy. And that became a big story. You know, wow, Jim Nance announces retirement. 12 years. Talk about clickbait. You click on it.

You're like, oh, 2036. I probably went across somebody's desk at CBS and they're like, Jimmy. Yeah, maybe we'll see if you make it there. He's still great in the Butler cabin, though. He still calls a great master's. He is so horny in the Butler cabin. He calls a great master.

Him and Fred Ridley sitting beside each other. He loves it, the best. All right, hour two coming up. Confirm of the night. MJ will join us. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSNF. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandul.

FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. 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 Charm Diamond Centers, 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 IHeartRadio Network or wherever you get your podcast.