OverDrive - OverDrive - January 29, 2026 - Hour 1 - Brad Treliving

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Maple Leafs in a downfall stretch of the season, Jonas Siegel's article on Toronto dismissing director of sports science and performance position and the organizational standpoint. Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving on the importance of sports science in the organization, the team's rough skid and the outlook of the roster.

This hour of overdrive is powered by Fanduil. Fandul, 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 Hayes, Yodog, Jeff O'Neill, Jamie Noodles-McClinnet. It's going on today. How are we doing this afternoon? I'd like to shout out and thank you to Chris Pronger for that Ichiro Suzuki Dragbunt at the solid bar and then he went right down to the prime rib and then he disappeared into the

night. He walked it out the door, man. He disappeared into the night and he left it for us. I had people, I went to get my haircut today, people yelling at me how to stop. I leave the Leafs and I'm just like, oh, thanks, prongs. Yeah, prongs. Take it down to the studs. Yeah, Otis Nixon dragbunt, down to the studs.

Which was not successful, right? Otis Nixon, man. You're right. He tried it that weasel. What are you thinking with the World Series on the line, laying down a drag bunt? Serves you right. Otis Nixon. Serves you right.

For drag bunting. 34 years later, how dare you try a drag bunt with the World Series on the line? What a crazy operation. He must have called off a signal because it's not like the third base coach would have been drop a drag bunt. it's a Jake Taylor move, right? It is. Point and then dropped like Jake Taylor pulled off the drag bump, but it was actually successful. You know, he made it the first.

Otis Nixon obviously did not in 92. But yeah, Prongs, he came on here yesterday and a full breakdown of the maple leaves and everyone's got a different reaction. I talk to cooler heads of prevail, go ahead, noodles. I talk to it for half an hour today. I go, well, thanks for that. He goes, what? Like, he literally is like what?

And I go, what do you mean? What? Like I said, your, you know, your clips are going viral. He goes, well, what do you want me to do about it? I said, well, you, he goes, I just said what I meant. Absolutely. Like, he shoots, listen, it's his opinion. He shoots from the hip, but that's him in a nutshell.

I've been dealing with that since 1997 or whatever when I play with him in St. Louis. Like, he's, man, he's a piece of work. You know, we chatted for half an hour today, just laughing about stuff. But he's, that's him in a nutshell. Ask him something. He tells you exactly what he is and what he feels. Yep, that's his opinion, right? And he's entitled to that opinion.

Everyone has an opinion. That's the beauty of it, right? And everyone's got an opinion on what should happen, where the Leafs are going. What's going on with every team, right? Everyone's got an opinion on something else. Hey, maybe Ottawa's back in the fight, big win last night. And, you know, Montreal, they fired their goalie coach. That was long overdue.

I got one of those the other day. Like what? You know the inner one. workings of the goaltending room? You know what's scary is? My buddy sent me an excerpt, whatever it's called. There's group chats around, like, leaf group chats with thoughts and ideas that are so insane. Like, you wouldn't believe the stuff that goes up on this stuff.

I got a little snippet of it, and I just was like, please don't ever send me that again. my buddy was like this is what my one buddy said in the group chat about the like i can't imagine what goes on deep inside the group chats maybe somebody's got to just send us in some material deep inside their leaf group chats and we can just sift through it and see if there's anything that's either really cool or really outrageous because i guarantee you the people's thoughts and ideas of what should go on right now it's right at crazy point like i i i I think it's at a crazy point where ideas are because it's not like completely over yet where people are just like piss on it. I don't even care about that.

It's teetering. Well, you can get to swing the other way, right? You get the Joe from the bridge type that goes, I see a 25 and 4 run and they make the playoffs. You know, and it's all you need to do is pick up this guy and that guy and trade for this guy and that guy. Trade Robertson for McDavid. Yes. You know, Evanton will be fine. And with it, like it just.

Absolutely. But you know what, there is everybody, and three of us included, we're all on multiple group chats with different friends, different, you know, thought processes. So it's interesting. You know, I got friends in Calgary, friends in Evanton, friends in Toronto here, friends in Ottawa. So you're, you know, friends in Winnipeg, I heard from our buddy Jamie Thomas out there. So you get all sorts of people reaching out about not only, hey, what's going on in Toronto, but you should see what's going. on in Market X. And geez, I, you know, did you hear what's going on in Dallas or Anaheim?

Right. That's the beauty of it. The league is not short for storylines, but again, as we pointed out yesterday, this is uncharted territory for this particular group here in Toronto in January. Everybody else has had this years on end. Yes, everyone else has been through this. Well, it does beg a very good question. Like, what is the biggest gong show in the league, right?

right now. If you had to pick one circus above the mole, I have my answer. Yours is Toronto. No, mine is the New York Rangers. I have the, like, Panarin's sitting out, you know, are they close

to a deal? They got beat up again last night. They're sending letters out to their fans. You know, Shasturkins hurt. No one knows what's going to happen there. Mine is New York. I would say the Rangers would be number one. And there's some quiet, I think Vancouver's got to be high.

I'm sorry. Vancouver's high on the list. You know, the Leafs are knocking on the door. The Leafs are. They would be in the top five, I would say. They're making noise for sure. Yeah, just when you have a home stretch like that and you've got Willie in his tank top, giving the bird and then eating birthday cake with letters.

Is that what it was? Is that what it was the other way? I don't know. Like some kind of thank you, Carter. So I don't know what it was. You know what? This is what I have a problem with. You're allowed to live your life.

Like you're allowed to sit in a press box and eat cookies. You know, I laughed because the bottled water now that comes in glass, it looks like a bottle of vodka sitting there. Have you seen that? Like their bottled water, Willie was sitting there. There's a glass bottle. Some people, James Duthy drinks bottle water out of a glass bottle, not the plastic. So, you know, you pan the press box.

there's cookies or some sort of things sorted out. Like, whatever. As long as you come back and play hard, I'm fine with it. But just people are just, as you said the other day, Brian, it's death by a thousand cuts. You look at something you're like, oh, I'm pissed about that. You look at something you're pissed about that. Like it really doesn't matter. It's not circumstantial until it all adds up and they're not playing well.

Right. And when it coincides with losing, you know, that's when obviously the powder keg explodes. And, you know, that's where they're at. For Willie, I guess he's not going to play tonight. It sounds like he'll play Saturday. You know, he sounds close. Obviously, if you're going to go to the Olympics, I think he's got to play a game or two before that.

And I'm not suggesting that's a consideration, but it might be a consideration, right? Like, I got to get out and play, and I got to prove to my club team I'm 100% before I go to the Olympics. Stolaris will get to start tonight. It's a late start. You know, it's a 10 p.m. start. They're back on the West Coast, 10 p.m. starts.

quick turnaround. But I think it's actually in their best interest to get out of Toronto. Like they had to get out of town. It was such a dreadful. No better time. No better time. Had to get out. And they got four games before the break.

And we'll see what comes of it. And Brad Trilliving is actually going to join us in about 15 minutes. So we're going to catch up with the GM in 15. And he's, you know, we'll ask him about what's going on and why they're in the position they're in. And, you know, we're going to get them to respond to this article from our good friend, Jonas Siegel and Jonas has written an article in the athletic that I would say has gone viral. You know, it's up there with the pronger clip.

It's gone viral. And the title of the article in the athletic is, why did the Maple Leafs eliminate a job designed to keep players healthy? So Jonas, you know, spoke with former employees of the Maple Leafs that were the director of sports science and performance. All right. So I guess there was originally someone hired in 15. He left and someone else came in. And then that guy is now actually down in Pittsburgh with Dubus. So I guess Dubus hired him and brought him in.

And he's on the record. Like Jonas gets a lot of quotes from the doctor and he's got quotes from Dubus. And, you know, indicating that this was a job that was in charge of basically keeping players healthy. You know, coming up, sports science, there's so many different sciences that go into it, right?

It's not just one thing. Like, sports science is not just one thing. There's a million different sciences that factor in. Analytics, there's all sorts of things. All kinds of different things. Like, you know, diet and sleep and rest, all that kind of stuff. There's a million different things.

But, you know, he speaks on the record and Jonas, I think, has rattled some cages here, quite frankly with this because I think the interpretation for a lot of people is it looks or feels cheap on behalf of the leaves. Like why wouldn't you pay to keep this guy?

You know, why wouldn't you keep a seemingly important position around? And I think it's the- That's a fair question. Like, why was this guy not kept around? Well, and we're going to ask Brad that. You know, we'll ask Tree Living that in 15. You know, take us through your response to it. Why wasn't this guy kept around?

What was the job? Like, what are you doing in terms of sports science? There's a, you know, some of the quotes read to me as somewhat of a scorned ex-employee. You know, like there's, there's, some of it reads as if it's, I was the one that magically kept everyone safe. There were some arrogance to it. Yeah, like, I'm an element of it. Yeah, like, for sure. At the end of the day, though, the one thing that doesn't, that strikes me that the Maple Leafs have never done is spare.

expense. There seems like there is five people for everything in that organization. So to me, that's the only thing that kind of was weird about it is like, okay, I can understand trimming the fat in certain situations, but the leaves don't spare expense on anything. Are you guys not surprised the guy from another team now spoke on this? I thought he would be like, I'm with Pitt now, and I don't talk about that. Yeah. Well, and this is, is, you know, Bettle. Dr. Bettle was the original guy, and Dr. Rothenberg is the guy who's now in Pittsburgh.

But, yeah, I agree with you, Noodles. Like, I think one thing, my understanding, again, I haven't been behind the curtains. Oh, you were, but it was 20 years ago, different ownership and different team. But what I've never questioned is that they treat their players like five-star across the board. best in the league yeah and i think that's why sometimes when i hear and i'll get it and i'll have

people that will come up to me and say this you know you're running this guy out or you're saying this and the players must like i don't think the players care that much some of them maybe do but i don't think a lot of them care what i have to say because they're so insulated there's such a bubble within maple sports and entertainment and within that they are treated immaculately well. Like they have access to everything you could ever ask for. So from that standpoint, I just find it hard to believe that out of nowhere last summer the Leafs decided we're not, we don't care about injuries anymore.

We don't care. And that's not what Jonas is suggesting in the article. But it kind of reads that way like it was MLSC that went cheap on this. And they have adjusted on the fly, you know, Jonas points out they've hired different people for different jobs, but, you know, it's just one more bullet that the Leafs are taking here. You know, that is, in my opinion, actually streamlining further up the system. You know, this is Keith Pelly. Keith Pelley's taking hits now.

Like, why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? How many people have you cut? How many people have you fired? Why didn't you spend money here? You know, why don't you have a president anymore? You got rid of him. You got rid of Maasai.

What are you doing? You know, and again, when it coincides with losing five in a row, being out eight points out of the playoffs, people are going to start poking at you. And that's what's happening right now. Well, especially when you come out and say, I'm not here to sell jerseys. We're not here to sell jerseys.

That wasn't that as kind of... That was a sales pitch, and then obviously we... But they are here to sell jerseys. That's the thing about a quote like that. They're always here to sell jerseys. It's a business. They're in it to make money. Like, no one should be surprised by that.

And it's not, like, if you just look at the hard facts, they had a tough home. stand. 04 and 1, and they're 8 points out of the playoffs. So nobody, you think if the fan base is not happy, you think the guys in that room or in the organization are happy? Like, to me, there's probably stress everywhere. And again, come back to, you know, the comments you made, Brian, like not everything

is doom and gloom, but it's just now it's just one more thing to add on to the pile that has not been positive in the last week and a half, two weeks. weeks and they got to find a way to dig out or they've got to find a way to streamline a plan or you know all these types of things like that's there's a lot of questions that's i think what would leave fans and and people that have talked to me is like what do you think they're going to do what's going on here what's going on there and and and the other thing is you said something at the starting it's like well willie you know willie coming back and and you know Olympics and you know what Willie should be worrying about the team out of eight points out of the playoffs like he should be if he's healthy chomping at the bit to get back in and help his teammates like that's what I would hope should be his front and center priority not making sure he's healthy so he can go to the Olympics because lost in all of this the players agreed to this schedule and now the product sucks on most nights because you're looking at a team that's dead tired the condensed schedule you're seeing injuries up left

right. You know, I talk to fans all the time. They're like, man, that game was a dud. Well, the players are dog-tired. You're playing four games at six nights. No, it's very true. Everyone's got to own all this. Yeah. And that's the reality. Listen, the Leafs are not a young team. Like, they have had a lot of injuries. They're not a young team. It's a very condensed schedule. They're not alone. Like, everyone's suffering. Injuries are way up and everyone's dealing with it. But, you know, I think, we'll ask Tree Living this. Like, how did you plan for, you knew it was going to be a condensed schedule though, right? Like you knew it was coming.

So how do you plan for it? But if you look at two of their scheduling scenarios over the last three weeks, they played two nights ago in Toronto, and then two nights later, they're playing a 10 p.m. Eastern game. They did it when they went to Colorado. They played on the Saturday night. In Colorado, they played at 10 p.m. Eastern. They played two nights ago against Buffalo, and now tonight they're playing against Seattle.

regular year that would never happen. Like, never happen. It's certainly not twice within three weeks. You know, you'd have a buffer day in between. You'd fly out. You'd wait a day. Because you get out there, Hayes, and you're all jacked up. It's like you get out there and you have dinner.

And then all of a sudden at 7 p.m., you're literally, you can't keep your eyes open and you're going to bed. Right. Then you wake up at some random time at three in the morning and you're like, I've got to go back to bed. And then you got to fire up the next night to play. That's just one thing. And the other team's waiting for you.

They're in their time zone and they're building and they're like... Guess who cares? Nobody is that actually. Everyone's dealing with it. It's not an excuse. It's a part of the NHL. I'm just pointing out how different this year is. There's literally two examples in the last three weeks where they, in less than 48 hours,

they're playing a Pacific time zone game against the team waiting for them. It's crazy schedule. It is. And you're right. Everybody has to do it. And that was my main concern when things were, it was a lukewarm. start for the Leafs because they had a bunch of home games, hadn't played much on the road, they hadn't left their time zone.

The furthest they went with Chicago, I think. There was, you know, outside of that, they went down in Philly and to New York. Like, there was nothing. And now of a sudden you look at what they've got to go through here until the break. And then when they come back after the break, I believe somebody correct me if I'm wrong. Is there like six back-to-backs here in March and early April? Like something ridiculous. Yeah, of course.

So you've got a sprint to the end. Their strength of schedule is very tough, just like the Ottawa senators. Like they're not alone in this, the Leafs, but that is the biggest challenge for this group. There's a lot of things that you go, geez, that's going to be tough. And then you throw on top injuries. And, you know, Willie Neelander watching in a ball cap instead of being a difference maker on the ice. Stuff like that. It's been a challenge.

And how are they going to respond? Like it's, it's, you know, we talked about it. Must wins, all of that type of step. You've got to put something together here to climb the stand. Sorry, you do. There's no more, you can get five of eight or every single game is a must win. That's the reality. And it's the same thing, like with Ottawa, with Florida, you know, with a lot of these teams.

Even the teams that are in right now, they've got to hold on for dear life. They cannot fold. And, you know, that's the reality of what you're going to be dealing with in the NHL right now. And, you know, it's different in the NBA, but the NBA is moving in that direction, too. You know, once you get to crunch time, you get to the trade deadline and all these rumors that are out there and who the Rapplers might get and who other teams might get, that, you know, is going to jolt you a little bit. But it's crunch time down the stretch, man. Yeah. That's where things currently land.

All right, Ray Ferraro on the show today. We got Ray coming up. We're less than a week away from landing in San Francisco. I haven't spoke with Al's brother much this week, just a little bit here and there, but we've got to start really starting to zoom in on what we're picking, who we like, what we're taking, the props we're looking at. So all that's still to come over the next few days. And as we said, Brad Trillivin coming up this hour to respond to this article by Jonas

to get us take on what's going on with the Leafs, what we can expect down the stretch here. He's coming up from Seattle. The Leafs take it on the crack in tonight. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and up on YouTube. The overdrive continues, powered by Fanduil, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Get to our best bets later this afternoon.

We're tracking the farmers, Brooks Kepka back out there, and tracking the Australian Open, as we always do. There's a lot going on. We're inside a week of the Olympic break. It's go time, man. A week from now, it is go time. They're going to be over there. It's going to be awesome. And Brad Shulving is going to call in here in just a moment.

Sounds like the rink looks a little bit better. Did you get that news today? It seems like the rink has got lines and looks all sorted out, so maybe the Italians got it together. I think a little Chepetal went over to CJ and said, here's 10 grand, and on this date, I want you to tweet out that everything's looking good. It's great.

Exactly. Well, CJ's the man who's connected, right? Like, he put boots to the ground over there in Milan, and he has made some connections, and that's your go-to reporter if you want to know what's going on with that rank. Of course. No one knows more than Chris Johnston. He probably hated that assignment.

Yes, I'm sure he did. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure he did. Well, we'll see. I mean, listen, from San Francisco to Milan, like, that's the Duffy routine, right? J.D. is going to be at San Fran, obviously, for the Super Bowl, that right over to Milan, you know, coming back for the trade deadline, and sure he'll find a way to get down to Augusta. It's be very tough.

He's got a busy couple weeks. That's why he goes to Turks to rest up. As he should. I'm just going to say, this guy, oh, you were giving it to him pretty good the other day. So, I mean, you know, he's at a good rest, and now he's ready to get back to work. As he should. Yeah, as he should. While the weather, I mean, it is what it is.

At least the sun's out, right? I'll take sun at minus 15. I can handle that. I don't care. As long as it's out, I'm good. Yes. Give me sun. That's all I need.

Cloudy in minus 15. not happening. All right, Leaves in Seattle tonight. Four game roadie before they hit the Olympic break. I'm guessing they're happy to be out of Toronto. They may not say that on the record, but I have to believe they might be happy considering the homestand they just went through.

Well, let's go to the source. Here's the general manager of the Maple Leafs, Brad, is that a bit too far, Brad, that you're happy to be out of Toronto or where to things stand right now with you guys in Seattle? Well, we've got a big game tonight. Let's call a spade of spade. It hasn't been a good week. It wasn't a good road trip, or excuse me, a good home stand.

But as you have to do in this business, you park it, and you worry about the one that's in front of you, and that's the one here tonight. So that's where the focus will be. Well, we appreciate you doing this. There's a lot to get into with you, but we want to begin by talking about what we were chatting about earlier this hour. and Jonas Siegel, a good friend of ours.

Jonas is a big part of the show, as you know, and he wrote an article in The Athletic Today, and the title of it is, why did the Maple Leafs eliminate a job designed to keep players healthy? And, you know, he writes an article about how there used to be a couple of different guys who basically ran the sports science department for the Leafs. And this past year, you know, the most recent guy who was running it, his, I guess, contract was up and he's moved on to Pittsburgh, and you guys have not fulfilled

that role, and there's more to the article, but I'd like you to respond to that. Where do you stand on that? Yeah, and I get it. And listen, I understand the job sometimes is to dig into different areas of the organization. First and foremost, I'd say, we're, when we don't perform. form. We should take every bullet that we should take. And

in this particular case with this particular article, I just take issue with it and I stick up for our medical staff. I think the slant of the article is quite frankly completely incorrect.

There was a gentleman here who had a Rich Rottenberg that was with the organization. left the organization, went on to Pittsburgh, a good man, did a good job. But basically his duties was a coordinated position. We promoted somebody into that position to coordinate, you know, the oversee, if you will, and coordinate the daily job description and the daily duties of our medical staff.

And quite frankly, we've added more staff this year than we had last year. So the insinuation that we are, we've cut back in any way, shape, or form in terms of the medical, the performance, or any of the care of our players is simply incorrect. It's, it's, it's wrong. And I think the gentleman that was quoted in the article is a previous staff member here. I've been here two and a half going on. This is my third year. This individual's never, I've never met him. He doesn't, he hasn't been around to know the inner workings of our staff.

I would put our medical team and the care that our players get amongst the very best, not only in the NHL, but in professional sports. So I think that the article is not. a true indication of the the care that our players get. Like I said, we've added to our staff in terms of the player facing positions, the people that are, you know, touching the players, administering therapy to them. It's something that we take, you know, we take very serious. And I think if you asked any player that's come through Toronto, the care that they get is second to none. And I think when you look at the injuries, there's certainly some injuries, as you guys know,

it's a contact sport, you're going to have injuries. I think if you really look at the numbers that we do every single day, you've got close to 100 more players in the exact same time period from October 1st to January 28th, from last year to this year. League-wide, you've got, it's almost exactly 100 more players that have been placed on injured reserve this year than you were last year. think it's more of a result of a condensed schedule, more games being played in a shorter period of time, and it has nothing to do with medical attention. So I bring that up not to

arm wrestle with anybody, but other than, but just to let's let's let's get the facts involved here that the medical care of our players has not, will not, and never will be compromised in any way, shape, or form. And like I said, the actual, um, Truth of the matter is we've we've increased our staff. We've increased the amount of people that are touching the players. I think we've, we continue as every year to improve our operation, not go the other way. Has budgeting for something like this changed it all over the last 18, 24 months, basically since Keith Pelley arrived in terms of, you know, everything we're talking about,

the all-encompassing, you know, treatment of players? do you have the same amount of money today to do whatever you'd like with it that you would have a year or two ago? It's increased since I've been here. So the actual expenditure in terms of what we put into player performance, the individuals, the staff size has increased, the expenditure is increased. So that is never an issue in terms of what we need. I look at our sports performance staff our goal is to be

on the cutting edge of of whatever new and innovative technology is out there and like I said the fact of the matter is we've increased personnel we've increased therapists

we've increased our strength and conditioning personnel and program, the success on the ice is not any, or the lack thereof that we've had so far this year is not an indication anything to do with the medical staff, nor is it, you know, I think the headline was, you know, the process that we're going or the process that we have right now isn't conducive to keeping players healthy. I would push back on that. as hard as I possibly can because the process continues to get better, I think, each and every year. And any description otherwise just is simply false.

With Brad Trilliving, and Dr. Bettel is the name of the individual that I guess was originally hired in 2015. He left in 2019. And then, you know, you referenced the doctor who's off to Pittsburgh now. And I think, you know, one of the arguments Betel was making, and he's the one that, he's the one that's quoting this, and he was here before you got here, Brad, was indicating that you need somebody who is medically inclined to make a call on a player if, let's say, a strength coach comes to you and goes, I think he needs to do this, and a medical or a therapist comes to you and goes,

actually, I think he needs to do this. That's where you need someone who's qualified to do it. and his argument is a GM can't do it, a coach can't do it. That's where you need someone at the top effectively to make those decisions in terms of injury prevention or making a decision on an individual player. How do you respond to that and how does that work today? Yeah, I would agree. I don't know this Dr. Bethel, but that's exactly how it works.

The coach, no member of the coaching staff, no member of the management, makes any decisions with respect to players' health, players return to player. We have a full comprehensive process that is directed by our medical directors. And to your point earlier, the position that we had last year, which I think where Jonas has gone down a rabbit hole,

is in titles. We've gone from a sports performance director to a sports performance coordinator. And then we've invested more into the actual, the coordinating part has not changed at all in terms of how we go about our process. We've increased a number of people that are actually working on the players,

which, and really looking forward, I think it's the right thing to do and you're always evaluating it. But specifically last summer when we looked ahead to this year and knowing that you've got an increased schedule, you've got games coming at you at a faster clip, we wanted to increase the number of really hands on the players.

And so like I said, if we really wanted to dig into the actual workings of the medical staff, this is not a step back to me. This is as progressive an operation that I've seen. and we'll continue to be so. Tree, as far as on the ice, you talked about the homestand, like, from your eyes, what are you seeing that led to the results that happened last week? Well, I just generally disappointed, right? Completely disappointed in the homestown that took place.

So, you know, as I said earlier, oh, you got to park that, And all you can focus on for the players and the coaches is tonight's game and moving forward. But as a manager's perspective, you know, you're looking at what happened before, what's happening now and what's going to happen in the future. I look at the homestan is, you know, we were flat. The first game back against Minnesota, we were flat. We had fits and starts throughout the homestand. But just not the consistency level to be at the level that we needed to be against,

especially with the teams that were coming in, just it wasn't good enough. And we're, like I said, we knew the critical point and juncture of the season that we're in. And there's no excuse for it. We didn't perform well enough to win games. And so you continue to watch and you continue to watch. and you continue to evaluate. But ultimately, there's all parts of the game. You can look at each individual game and pick specific critical moments out.

But for me, it's just the consistency level or the level that we needed to be at. We just, we weren't, we weren't there for enough stretches and for long enough stretches. And the results, you know, we got the results that we got. thought. So certainly disappointing. But for us, we have to focus on tonight. That's, there's nothing you can do. The manager can be pissed off and and, and, but, but all we can do right now is focus on the one that's ahead of us. And especially in a season like this where the games come at you quickly, that's all you can do is focus on what's ahead of you and be ready to go at puck drop tonight. So it was, you know, well done.

documented that Craig Baroube had a meeting with the leaders of your team prior to the game the other night and that we saw how the game played out. How do you respond to that, Brad, that, you know, your coach is meeting with vets, your veteran team hoping for a response and then you lose in the fashion you did against Buffalo. Well, I think just the, I know there's been stuff mentioned about leader, those are all things that are preset, right? There's regular meetings with the leadership group.

So this isn't, you know, this wasn't a call to arms here. Those are, those are scheduled in advance. We, you know, both Craig, myself, as regular occurrence, we meet with the leadership group on a regular basis of getting, you know, a feel for, really, it's feedback both ways. You know, the Buffalo game, again, how we came out, It's not necessarily how we came out. Again, at critical moments, it wasn't good enough.

You know, at the end of the day, you can go back. There becomes certain times where you just got to find ways to win. And, you know, ultimately, we haven't found ways to win. And so that, to me, isn't whether you're meeting with players, those things happen regularly. So I know, you know, things will get made about a player meeting or that. Those coaches meeting with players every day. But we didn't do enough good things in that game at critical moments to win. And, you know, when you're, the trouble you've put yourself in as much as you're going to have,

you're going to have stretches where you go through parts of the season. As critical as that homestand was, it was made more critical. by what happened in October, November. So you shortened your runway to give yourself, you know, room for air. You're not going to win every night. But when you put yourself behind the eight ball in a real competitive division and a real competitive conference, you've shortened your window for having rough stretches.

And we came off after a good road trip. We had been, you know, we've been playing better. We've been finding ways to accumulate points. and you come back and you get one point in a fine game homestand, you're going to have stretches like that, but when you've had, you know, when you skinned your knee enough in the first two months of the season, that just, that makes it that much more, you know, profound of a stretch.

So, yeah, Buffalo, similar to the other games, just not enough good play to put ourselves in a position to win a game. So, Tree, you said you're constant, evaluating. Is there a timeline for you where you make a decision one way or the other on, you know, the trajectory of the group, or is it just a constant evaluation game by game leading into the Olympic break and then leading up to the deadline? Yeah, I think news you're always evaluating, but you're, listen, we're very cognizant. I'm not going to come out and make any profound statements, but we're also very cognizant

of where you sit in the standings, where, you know, you're looking at probabilities, you're looking at schedules ahead of yourselves. You know, the players and the coaches have their job to do, and that's to perform and be ready for every game. And we certainly have four games remaining before the Olympic break. We've got a three-week break for the Olympics. We come back, and we've got a handful of games before the March 6 deadline. So you're always evaluating the short term.

You're evaluating the long-term. and my job is and always will be is evaluating where your team is at, but making decisions that don't just, you know, we look back here, this team for a number of years, the two years that I've been here a number of years before, we're spending a lot of assets. You're trying to win. Your team, you get to the deadline.

It's the last opportunity for you to make additions to your team. You're trying to do things. as all teams that are in that position are to push your team over the top. We're in a different position than we are than we've been in the past. So you take all that information. You're continually talking throughout the league and seeing, you know, what's in front of you. But you're planning based upon where your team's sitting and what you thinks in front of you. So it's the combination noodles of, yeah, you're, you're, you're,

You know where the game sit leading up to the deadline, but you've also got, you know, four months of information already in the rearview mirror, and you make decisions accordingly. Do you believe that, you know, the core pieces you have here, the ones that you have locked in, is there enough here for the cup window to be open years into the future, in your opinion?

Yeah, you know what? Listen, I think we've got some really good players. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I understand the question, Brian. I believe in our, I believe in our players, but you also, I'm not going to be sitting here making profound statements or doing an autopsy on the team here. We're certainly not in a position that we want to be in. So you've always got to be able to, you know, read and react and act accordingly. but, you know, the top end of our lineup, you know, Willie's been out for a while, battling an injury, but every team's got that, right?

But listen, I think we've got some really good players here, but we've got to continue just to watch, evaluate, and make the necessary decisions. Obviously, you've got a deadline coming up that forces decisions on that, and then you go into the remainder of the season and the off season. So we'll continue to look at things. And like I said, without being vague, continue to evaluate and see what the best steps for us are moving forward based upon where we're at. Well, you're in Seattle tonight. As you said, looking forward the cracking tonight, you got them through Western Canada,

then a pretty long break. And then we reset and see where it goes down the stretch. Appreciate you, you know, the insight and you take it time for us today. We always appreciate it, Brad. We'll do it again down the road. You bet. Anytime, guys. There he is, Brad, Tree Living, the GM of the Maple Leafs.

All right. Well, yeah, like, you know, there's no dancing around it. Like you said, they're in a different spot today than they have been for a long, long time. Well, that's true. That's why I asked them and said, you know, the event. evaluation like is it you know you create a pathway going if if if nothing happens in the next four games this is going to happen or you know obviously he's not going to say yes but you you want to know they're going to have plan a b c d all sorts of things behind the scenes and he was realistic

he said listen you read and react off the group there's coming off an oh four and one you know i guess would it be different when they're eight o and two is he thinking differently right But I talk from that is if we get smoked on this road trip, it's right in front of you. Yeah. Like it's, you know, it would have to be a fantastic road trip for any kind of momentum to change or, you know. Guys, we talk about this all the time as far as what Brad's job is and different managers. Your best assessment of national hockey league talent has to be of your own team and your own players. And if you screw that up, you've got big time problems moving forward.

forward. So if anyone wants to trick themselves, if they crap the bet on this road trip, and think that there's some kind of contender or something, or are there anything different than what their record says they are, it's a massive mistake. It's just... Yeah, I would totally agree. I mean, I know there is a case to be made, and I don't know what the percentages of it are, but the case to be made, injuries to rail the season, what would they be if they're fully healthy and all that? But not to the extent that drives you into the elite category of the NHL.

You know, if you fall apart here and fall apart down the stretch, then that's a big sign because they're not a young team. And again, it might be different if you're young. And you're like, all right, it was a learning curve season. They're not young. They're a veteran team, you know, and it might be a sign that they're on the other side of it. And that's why, again, I asked them, I'm like, do you think you have what it takes here, the framework of it to be in a cup window?

and he wasn't going to answer that. Injuries are out the window. I know Jonas wrote his peace and we're making a big deal. The Ottawa Senators played without Brady Kachuk for two months. Well, look where they are. No starting goaltender too for, you know, quite a while here now. There's just teams that overcome it. If you've got a deep enough team and quality enough players, you overcome it.

Well, we talked about Tampa yesterday overcoming. The other thing I took that, he wants to put on my karate suit and attack Jonas. He wasn't happy with that. Jonas will be on tomorrow and Jonas, you know, he'll respond. And listen, Jonas is a journalist. Like this is all, like Dr. Bettel is his name. Bethel, I thought his name was. Betel or Bethel, whatever.

Samson, I, whatever. He worked for the team, you know, 15 through 19. He actually had a funny line where I tweeted like Kessel took shrapnel because he goes, I remember being an interview with Mark Hunter and Mike Babcock and pitching them on what I can do for the team when they were laughing and saying, what are you going to do for Phil? Like, why is that necessary that Kessel's taking Shrapville, you know, seven, eight years later? But, yeah, listen, it's just, it's another thing that the Leafs are going to have to answer for.

And I guess he just did. You know, his answer is they employ a lot of people. They have a lot of money, a lot of resources that care about their players. You know, and I'm not going to dispute. And I don't think Jonas would dispute that they care about their player. That's not what Jonas is reporting. And for everybody listening, let me just inform you of one thing. Anybody looking after sports science or any trainer,

that's not the reason why these guys are where they're at. Everything can be a factor. There's all kinds of different factors, but as far as what they're doing on the ice and their record and why they are where they are, that's the players going out there and playing and not being good and not doing it. That's the main factor here. That's what they are.

You can dig in and try to find some different shrapnel pieces and chuck them around where you're journalists, that's what you do. That's fine. But it's not the reason they're at where they're at. All right. Ray's coming up in about 15. We've got Colorado and Montreal tonight. Obviously Edmonton taking on San Jose, Celebrini McDavid tonight.

So we'll get into a number of things with Ray. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and up on TSN5. All right. We've been saying it for weeks. This is your chance to walk alongside. the legends. We're sending one fan to be our correspondent at the Players

Championship. You can't beat this down at TPC. Cannot beat it. Can't beat it. I know, but next year, Hasey, we're going to. Like, I can't stress that enough. With the correspondent? I love it. Yeah, we'll be a correspondent for our own show. Is that what your plan

is? No, like the correspondent can go, but we're also going to be on site as well to interact. Correspondent. We're going to correspond down there. I like that idea. I like that idea. I'm with you on that idea. I agree.

I'm hoping it comes to fruition. That would be great. The three of us and a correspondent live from the players. But this year, we're not going, but someone else's, flights, hotels, cash, once in a lifetime, VIP experience, courtesy of the PGA tour. Go to TSN1050.ca. So get to the website, TSN1050.ca, and submit your audition tape today. So many different options that you can do and show us why you would be. the best option for TSN 1050's unofficial correspondent at the players. Again, get to TSN1050.com.

You can't beat this. Weather will be perfect. Great, great course. Brooks Kepka's going to be there. It'd be great if Patrick Reed was there, but he won't be. But Shepler, McElroy, the whole crew, all going to be down there. Tracking the farmers. Ray's coming up in the next hour. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and up on the TSNF. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandul. bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Introducing Brian Adams Radio on IHart Radio. Hosted by Brian Adams himself. Join me for an insider look on a wild ride through 40 years of global rock and roll.

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