OverDrive - OverDrive - January 6, 2025 - Hour 3

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 3 on OverDrive! TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston joins to discuss the Canucks' trade buzz, the Maple Leafs at the halfway point of the season and Auston Matthews' return to the team. Philadelphia Flyers General Manager Daniel Briere joins to discuss his views of the team, John Tortorella's coaching role and Matvei Michkov's impressive skill set and Bryan hands out his FanDuel Best Bets.

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We'll get to our best bets later in the hour. Danny Breyer coming up, GM of the Flyers at 630. John Tortorell is fully committed to a sweater on a bench. Like he had the zip up yesterday, fully zipped. Like he doesn't even undo the zipper. Yeah, it's like a fluffy zip up thing. Yeah, it's like a Columbia. Yeah, one of those things.

Yeah, it's like apres ski, the guys in the lodge having a beer behind the other coaches have just followed on like they they're on board. Yeah. Patagonia is that what Patagonia. That's a big one too. Yeah, you that's what he has. That's what he's got on. I don't flyers Patagonia.

Why does he need to wear a suit? He could wear a track suit. I just couldn't take it seriously. I need my coach to come in in a suit. Pat Quinn, he'd come in with the suit mm-hmm yeah but there are some coaches that they look like they like the suits are tough like well Barube is not yeah but he he's got good suits he does but Craig's wearing it's pretty standard colors it's not loud or anything like that that's him in a nutshell totally just look good but I

bet you in a candid moment if you said to him, you want to wear a track suit on the bench, he'd probably say yes. Do you think Barube would prefer to wear that? Do you think every coach in the league would prefer to wear a track suit? I don't. I think they would want to go suit. One of the funniest moments is when Pat would come in with the suit on. He'd never have the jacket on for the pregame speech. suit on he'd never have the jacket on for the pregame speech and if this guy dropped his pen dude he did a straight-legged bend over with a groan I'd have to cover my jersey up because if I looked at Kaver or Tux I couldn't do it I couldn't do it I think there are some coaches that they look like they

just crawled out of a dumpster with a suit on. Oh yeah, there's some of them. Some of them are like wrinkly or whatever. Like I love a lot. Remember Dale Hunter? I think he had like one suit. One suit. He wore the same suit every single time. With like a gray shirt and a black tie. But that's what he was. Our boy Brucie. Brucie Boudreau liked a relaxed... Brucie can wear relaxed relaxed jacket.

No, dude, I remember we did a show down at the rink and Brucey was running morning skate from the bench with his running shoes on. He didn't even go on the ice. Yeah. Remember that? That was that was great. Those are those are the old school coaches. I like we got to figure out if he ever used the whistle like would he or was he just kind

of barking out instructions? That used a whistle like would he or was he just kind of barking out instructions that's a good question he was not on the ice but he was running the show from the bench was always weird when you'd see that with NHL coaches that wouldn't update their gear yeah you know like they were the old where micron mega black plastic they would squeak when you walked onto the ice so I'm saying like that's the head coach of the richest team on earth if he said hook me up with a new pair. No his skates I remember now they were called Langs. Black plastic Langs. Right with a probably a wooden stick or a stick with no tape on it yeah that was always the best. Like the lead he could have had a

new pair of skates every day. Absolutely. That he coached for lead happily the team would have been like yes. What do you need Pat? We'll bake them for you. What's what do you need? We will make sure these are so dialed in for I'm going with black langs Yeah, I had a coach old-school stick old-school gloves with like no remember We guys wouldn't have palms and the bombs to be ripped out a grab clutch and grab So greasy back in the day. Yeah Jimmy Roberts our assistant coach in st. Louis So you could grab clutch and grab. So greasy back in the day. Yeah. Awesome. Jimmy Roberts, our assistant coach in St. Louis, he had like these gloves that had tape on them.

Like they weren't hockey gloves. It was gloves with tape and he'd wear like a hat with a pom pom on it. That was his coaching. Got his job done, man. Unbelievable. But coach, you're from the. Those are Pat's skates right there. Wow.

With the tube blade. That's crazy I'm pretty sure he even had the black black black blade the molded blade Yeah, yeah the molded blade, but those Lang's were old-school. I remember my brother's had them growing up Like that's it. That's electric stuff man. Like you don't see that anymore No, no, like there's just certain things that you just you can't find you couldn't find those anywhere no they don't run that kind of stuff we've got Danny coming on are we gonna ask him about the torts dress code like oh yeah I think we gotta ask like they're there

are good they were a great place last year yeah good place that they're in the mix yeah John's an old-school guy and he's like this is I'm rocking the Patagonia behind a bed you know what else I love did you see the translation of the Michkov like he came out and talked about Tortorella and his relationship because he's like I can't talk to him because he talks to him through a translator but he's like Tortorella I like him he's always been honest with me straight shooter like it was actually a really nice statement I wonder if it was written by him or not right towards is like a make sure you but that's what all the players players say like Frankie played for me is like you straight as

shooter like was honest with you wouldn't always like what he said you know where you stand he'd tell you that's what's going on yeah exactly Danny Breyer later in the hour and Al's brother clue coming up as well but here's Chris Johnston our TSN hockey insider, joining us here on the Maple Toyota hotline. CJ, in terms of the game at the Bell Center tonight, you got Montreal on a heater and Vancouver here in a bad spot, in a bad position. Which storyline, which team is more compelling for you? It's probably got to be the Canucks, I just because you know everything going on you know beyond the games for

them goes without saying there's been a lot of trade speculation discussions about the state of their dressing room and on top of that you know it sounds like Quinn Hughes will try to play tonight but you know Elias Pederson isn't expected to, Thatcher Demko's out I mean they're hobbling into that arena and it's a tough week for Vancouver I I mean, they play tonight, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday here in Toronto. I mean, it's, you know, four games and six days in the East and they need to get some wins together. December was a tough month in the standings for them and as they try to keep the band together, I'm just fascinated by, you fascinated by what we're going to see on the ice tonight.

So CJ, you know, you're doing your due diligence. Do you hear a lot of rumblings around Vancouver as far as potential trades or them shopping players or I'm sure teams are calling, you know, willing to lend a hand for pennies on the dollar? Well, absolutely. And, you know, there's certainly been a lot of conversation there and i think it's you know i think they're seriously looking at

the possibility of moving one or both of allies peterson and j t miller uh... but the say it's definitely going to happen but you know the fact that they're they're having those kind of discussions you know i i think you know you're right to say a lot of it, you know, is teams seeing what's going on in the media, reading the tea leaves and then trying to suss out, you know, what might happen. But you know, it's been a kind of a crazy few weeks for the Canopsio, even heading into

the holiday break. And, you know, they got to make some decisions for their team too. It's not just about two players. You know, I think that the entire thing has had a lot of impact on everyone in the organization and you know, there's still a team that's trying to have a great year that has high hopes that, you know, was in the second round of the playoffs game seven last year. And so, you know, it's, you know, maybe a little too soon to say where it's going to go, but there's certainly a lot of trade conversations and they're kind of at the nexus of it because they obviously have some pretty talented players that they're

at least listening on if not trying to move. So CJ, let me just for clarification, they've had the coming to Jesus moment where they've said you guys need to figure it out, whether that be Quinn Hughes or Jimmy Rutherford and Alveen, they've had that where they're like figure this out because we're too good a team and you guys are too good at players and that just doesn't seem to work. Yeah, I think that's where they are right now. I mean, look at it. If we step back from this, the ideal thing probably for Vancouver is not to consider some trade that could

blow up in your face with one of your most talented players. The ideal scenario would be, you know, whatever this has been to be something that maybe they could use as a stepping stone as a team to come together, to find a way to work together and, you know, play the kind of hockey they did last year when they had 109 points and, you know, pretty good playoff run, you know, came within a whisk or get to the Western Conference final. You know, if that doesn't happen, then, you know, the choose your own adventure takes you down paths that I don't think that they are too excited about possibly exploring, but they have to think

that way at a management level. So I don't know exactly how this is going to proceed. I think some of it is results on the ice. I saw Quinn Hughes, I believe it was, mention like if we just win some games, everything will quiet down. And I do agree with his assessment. If they can You know string together some good hockey

I think you know the it's a chance to move forward and leave some of these these discussion points behind But you know if it keeps going in the wrong direction You know that there might be might be something else around the corner So we have Danny Breyer coming up in 20 minutes, and you know the Leafs were playing Philly last night They play in Philly tomorrow and they're only two points out of the playoffs and it's it's pretty incredible when you look at the wild card a little bit deceptive. Tampa's in the first wild card, but they've only played 37 games. They have a lot of games in hand. I think Tampa will be closer to the Toronto, Florida, Washington, Jersey, Carolina category by the end of things. But Pittsburgh's in that second wild card. They 17 17 and 7 like Ottawa's 500 Columbus is in it there's 17 17 and 6

Montreal's in it now Philly Detroit I guess what I'm getting at is you know we're into the new year now the trade deadlines a couple months away do all these teams think that they can actually get in? And if so, how does that possibly handcuff the potential for trades to happen? Well, I think what it might do is it might push off until March 7th a little closer than in the past before some teams declare whether they're a seller or not, essentially. I mean, I'm not saying those teams are necessarily going to become buyers even if they're right on the playoff precipice. But it might change what some teams on the line will do because I think really the way I look at it, it sets up that at least

one team in Eastern Conference is probably going to make the playoffs that most people didn't think was going to make the playoffs entering the season. Whether it was even the Canadians, I mean I think people expect them to take a step forward but I didn't see a lot of people outside of Montreal predicting them to be a playoff team, whether it's the Sen know, even the Canadians, I mean, I think people expect them to take a step forward, but I didn't see a lot of people outside of Montreal predicting them to be a playoff team, whether it's the Senators, even the Penguins after a couple of years out. If the blue jackets got in there, I mean, there's no one on earth outside their dressing room that would have predicted that.

And so, you know, there's, there's opportunity there. And I think, you know, if your team, like the Flyers, and as much as they do have, I think they're, they're eye on the bigger picture, you don't want to be subtracting from that group too soon if you're in Danny Breyer's shoes. And so, you know, it's been a different year for trades. We've had more, I'd say, than normal to this point. The fact that we're even talking about guys like Pedersen maybe still being dealt is not an every season occurrence in the league.

And maybe we'll end up having kind of a different deadline window if a lot of teams are still in it because at this point I think it's pretty clear the trade market big pictures will take shape. TJ we were talking about the noise with the New York Rangers the noise with the Vancouver Canucks and usually it would seem like that would be a leaf thing where there'd be noise and it would be ugly and there'd be something goofy going on is the quiet kind of vibe in the locker room and on the ice and just the way they're doing business maybe i don't want to jinx it cj but maybe just kind of plotting a path forward like this might be the way to go well it certainly feels different doesn't it i'm sure you know those working for the

leafs will still feel like maybe it's been noisier than it needs to be just because there's always something. But you know, this season really hasn't had as much, you know, as many ups and downs. I mean, obviously they've dealt with a lot of different injuries stuff. You know, the Austin Matthews story, you know, went through November and December and he's only just returned here with a couple of games. You know, so that's been a big talking point, the goaltending, you know, there's been some injuries there, but I mean, in terms of on the ice, they haven't had as many alarming losses, I would say, um, you know, where they're

playing really down to their opponents. I mean, every, every team is going to have some of those, but it felt like more of a, you know, of a hallmark of the teams prior to the season. I think Craig Brevet has low key done a nice job of not, you know, he's direct with the media, but he's, he's rarely if ever been the one to start any kind of media fire with something he said about a player. Um, and so, yeah, I think it has been a quieter season. I think it is a different team.

I mean, the same main characters, of course, uh, but. You know, they're, they're winning in a different way than they have in the past and you know, we'll see what that means. I mean, still half the season to go here and the most important half season ahead, you know, typically teams that have long playoff runs and a pretty strong finish to the year. So you know, there's still some land to be conquered here, but I do think there is a different feel around the Leafs and certainly doesn't seem to be as, conquer here but i i do think it's it there is a different feel really sent and early doesn't

haven't seem to be is you know that the market is in blaring over every little thing because the teams that are really nice job and look at the right near the top of the circumference standings what is your understanding of jake mccabe status another put him on i are uh... he took the part of the head about a month ago i miss some time and then obviously not the result after the fight last night.

What are the Leafs saying? What is the feeling in terms of his status moving forward? Well with the IR spin he's out at least a week but the sense is it's going to be longer than that. And with the nature of the injury he did hit his head on the ice as that fight was wrapping up but it's hard to put precise timelines on it, but you know, I think there's an understanding he's going to be out for the foreseeable future here. And you know, we'll really depend on how he's feeling,

what kind of symptoms he has and all those types of things. But I think there's going to be, you know, a fair amount of caution. You'll remember, you know, Jake took a, a puck in the side of the head, uh, you know, a month or so ago and missed five games at that point. I don't believe they called it a concussion, but with a suspected head injury or concussion there. And so, you know, given the, you know, how close this injury is to that one, you know, I think it's probably going to be a couple weeks at minimum and just hope he feels better

sooner rather than later. With Matthew's returning, it caught a lot of us off guard like outside of the team. I can't imagine it caught the Leafs off guard but did he basically just show up on Saturday and say I'm going tonight or were they along for the ride and the Leafs were pushing for it? Like how did it happen where he goes from practicing and not certain when he's going to return to all of a sudden not only is he back, he plays it back to back over the weekend? Well, certainly they left a lot of the sort of decision making in his hands, obviously along with the medical staff, but I think a lot of it was how he felt.

And you know, the real indicator to me that it was possible is, you know, he went to Long Island last week for that game on Thursday. It was a one game road trip, you know, not one an injured player would typically take, but you know, did give him a chance to skate then. And then the Leafs sent down Marshall Raffaei, I believe on Friday, which was kind of a tip, you know, because they needed a roster spot to activate Matthew. So I don't think it was a case of showing up Saturday and saying he was in, you know,

I think they had a pretty good idea on Friday that he was likely to go, you know, just by the roster moves they made there. And, you know, I think for him, it's important as much as, you know, I would expect Craig Grubbe to manage his minutes a little bit and, you know, try not to put too much on his shoulders. You know, I think Matthews really wants to play every game. And so for him, the fact that it was a-to-back wasn't didn't end up being uh... much of a consideration and and you know it seems like it went pretty well i think now you can look

uh... like he had some explosive missing skating stride we haven't always seen at times this season and obviously that the team got a couple when they put up some points to you think he plays in the four nations or what is the plot moving forward with this guy the plan to kind of get him healthy and make sure he's ready for the playoffs you know i don't think we're gonna know that oh dog until late january who would like to call on that the team or the player both obviously you know i think ultimately it's the player in this case i mean the team's gonna have its opinion and I would expect there's,

you know, a discussion, but, you know, I don't, I don't think that they can stop nor do I believe any team could stop a player from going, you know, this is an NHL event. Um, you know, again, there'll be opinions and I think there'll be discussions. And I don't necessarily think this is going to be, you know, a controversial thing. Like I, if, if Boston isn't feeling up up to it I don't think he'll force it You know a lot of really the discussion is going to be what are these next few weeks look like I mean It's great to see him play the two games and play the way he did

But you know How does he come through the the next stretch of schedule because it doesn't really ever let up for the least the way the season's going And so you know my guess is you're looking late January early February let's assume he plays all the games between then and now and then there'll be a conversation about what everyone feels is best but you know I would think given his stature and who he is you know it's gonna be his call ultimately you know to decide to go or not. Do you get the sense that some managers and maybe some organizations would be fine with their players, we'll call it opting out or not being available for the four nations?

1000%. I mean, you might even remember years ago when when John Savaris was an Islander and he went to Sochi for Team Canada in the Olympics and believe he broke his leg there and at the time that the Islander's owner came out and spoke out about it. I mean, this has always been I mean, I know Olympic participation is different than this tournament, but the same principle applies. I mean, every owner wants play updates. They want their best players available to sell tickets.

And there is risk in any of these tournaments that, you know, players are going to be injured. And so when given the choice between, hey, this guy gets 10 days off from competition or he's got to go play in potentially four games. I mean, I don't know how emotional those games are going to be yet to me. That's one of the big, you know, what ifs or, or one of the things I'll be watching closely when we get to the four nations, but you got to think there's a possibility Canada, us playing a final that that ends up being a physical game and that, that ends up being a high emotion game.

And, and, you know, if that's the case, obviously there's obviously there's a risk players could be injured and be unavailable down the stretch I mean that's part of the deal with this thing but you know certainly if you're a manager you probably don't care which country wins you just want your team to have the best chance to win a Stanley Cup and you know some of those things could be changed but what happens there. All right CJ we'll leave it there we'll do it again next week. All right guys have a great night. You. We'll do it again next week. All right guys, have a great night.

You got it, Chris Johnston joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Count on Maple Toyota for the right winter tire package for your Toyota. Trade in your old tires, buy a new set and get $40 back. Visit mapletoyota.com. Yeah, that'll be a topic of discussion between now and that Four Nations.

Like it's gonna be nonstop. And there's so many different elements that come into it as well that you know 80s guys haven't played best on best in a long time there's a business component you know if you're in if you're thinking about that over the weekend if you're McDavid if you're Matthews these guys have big money endorsements yeah and that can't be the priority but there may be an element to it you know we wouldn't mind seeing you at this Four Nations face-off you know wearing our stuff and promoting our gear. It's like any other international event or event like this

there's somebody that's paying a salary to the guy saying we don't really care. How do you think the Islanders felt when John Tavares went to Sochi and that's the whole thing. Listen the flip side of it is the teams are like man this is great but it's an NHL run event. So you got a problem with it, call Gary Bedman. Talk to your owner. It's all of that stuff attached to it. But people will look at it differently if Matthews goes and then comes back and... There is a risk in that because it's been a full season. Even if he plays great the next month, he plays great the next month, he's going.

Like if he is healthy between now and next month, I believe he is going. I would guess that. If he has another setback between now and then, he should immediately announce, that's it, I'm out, I'm done. You don't need to announce until the day before. Well, that's the thing, Hayes, like what is the likelihood of there being no setbacks from now

Until then it seems kind of yeah, you hope it's zero, but it seems kind of unlikely You can't be at that point based on what he's already gone through this year like three different times He's had to take himself out of action due to this injury, right? So I don't know he doesn't have a general manager like What they would be thinking like a natural feeling would be as soon as the second incident happened with the Buffalo game. They would say, by the way, don't even think about the face off thing. I would think so too. Yet, as CJ said, big time players like this isn't like a seven defenseman going to the USA. Exactly. And I'm sure he wants to play. I can totally sympathize for that.

exactly and if i'm sure he wants to play i i can totally sympathize for that all these guys wanna play that and i appreciate that they want to play a lot of other kind of wanna play in the all-star game and i don't blame them because it was terrible that would be different clearly if it was the all-star game and like this guy's not going out there on the ice like no chance but this is a different component because you representing your country yeah which they all want to play they all should want to play yeah but it. Four nations is different than the Olympics.

Totally different. Like if Matthew skips the four nations, he me or says not giving them the treatment like, well, you didn't show up here. You know, he's playing. He's different. Also, that's what I'm saying. Like it just to me, it's it's a if he's available

and wants to play in it great but I think there are manager outs even outside of Austin Matthews I think there's other teams that would be fine with their players going you know I'm gonna sit this one out for sure it's only four nations it's not all of them too well and it's short it's quick it's a manipulated thing it's it's new there's no history to it you know I don't know what to expect we'll find out when we get there yeah all right Al's brother somewhere out in the city with a pair of leaf tickets you guys ready for the first clue of the week do it

all right maybe we have any fans it's a new week which means we got a new set of tickets to give away it's Leafs Devils January 16th, and here is your Monday clue. I'm heading out on holidays this week to celebrate the championship for Team Hazenbro. So the secret spot that I'll be at this week is not even in Canada, for Pete's sake. So make sure you check back the rest of the week

to hear the rest of the clues. Ooh, Al's brother is taking this contest somewhere out of the country he's not even in canada that's outstanding that's the way it should be he's not even in canada that hat looks phenomenal doesn't it protection program that's what he looks like he does that's cruise wear for him he's wearing the hazen bro championship hat he said this is a big icebreaker for me and i'll stop him and be like what's that hat? yes I would and then once they hear the explanation they'll say you're a disgusting human being and I'm leaving. You gotta really like a cruise to go that

many times like there's something I don't know if it's the gambling the feeding. He told us he went on moment like off the air. I believe right. I don't think he cares if this is out there I think he was on six cruises In the calendar 2024 calendar year, I believe that was factual six Somebody's going I don't know somebody's either hitting the slots or they're dumping money in the waiters Yeah, I mean that's buffet. You got to be getting some sort of invite back because you're doing something where they want you like the

family's platinum club member. I think that's what I think they're they're on a first name basis with like, here's the captain's level of a cruiser you go enough and you get a certain package and you dump it up because the casino, the casinos run out in international waters. Once they dock, the casino's gotta close. So you wanna see degenerate behavior. It's the guy who's like, all right, we're docking,

what time are we leaving so I can come back when the casino opens back up. Because once you get, what is it, 20 miles offshore or whatever, the second you're in international water, it's a pirate ship. It's a pirate ship. It's a pirate ship. There's casinos. You could do some wild stuff out there.

I'm not going to finish my thought, but there's some wild stuff that can happen on international waters. There's just no jurisdiction. There's nothing. There's no court of law. There's nothing. So when that thing's docked at Miami, you can't fire up the casino. No, because then it's different rules and regulations and there's you know tax code

there's a lot of different things. You take that 20 feet into the water. 20 miles in you're in international waters and it is it's porkies out there. It's a pirate ship. There's gotta be a reality show. What do you need? Gotta be a documentary on cruise ships. It sounds as if it's just some of the most wild stuff you've ever experienced in

your life eat and drink yeah and it's not that it doesn't cost a ton of money I don't know how it operates I don't know I went on an all I've never been on one I have no interest actually next time we have Struddy on or if he fills in for me ask him about we went on a cruise the Strudwicks the McLennan's the Aguinalas there was there were four or five families we all went i couldn't do it i wouldn't want to do it florida something about if like i think cc chris cuthbert's mom got caught on a cruise ship when covid started for like a month that's terrifying because there was a ship that was caught out there for a month i think yeah

they wouldn't let it in back into the land in inland how were they living? Well, I guess they were boating out food and drink, but they were basically saying, COVID's gotta run through the whole ship before you can even come out. And there was an issue with also, because it wasn't all Americans on there, so they're like, once you get off, you gotta get out, how are we gonna get you out of here?

It was complicated. I'm grabbing a dinghy, and I am not staying on a boat. That's my concern, is you get out there and something happens and you know, someone's got an illness or something and they're like, we got a dock. It was over stuck out here. Imagine Al's brother yelling at the top of his lungs, iceberg ride ahead. In a Hazen bro house.

And he's just crippled on the boat. 90 degrees outside. That's right in front of the... He's... 90 degrees outside. He's pained with the wind that took part of the boat. That's what he is. Yeah, it's exactly what it would be. All right, Danny Breyer coming up. We'll ask Danny about the Four Nations face-off, how he feels about it as a GM. Right, Travis Sannheim will be there.

Yep. Travis Sannheim will be there. Overdrive continues, TSN 1050 and on TSN 2. 2025 is your year. 2025. Started right with New Year, New You on IR radio. New year, new you. Good vibes playlists like party hits, chill tracks on Lo-Fi and motivational podcasts

to crush your resolutions. From wellness, finances, travel and more. Let's go. New year. New year. New you. New you. Exploring all. resolutions from wellness finances travel and more new year new you new you explore it all at iHeartRadio.ca and on the free iHeartRadio app. Alright, Best Meds Later In The Hour. Got another really cool giveaway starting today. We'll tell you about that. You don't see too many home and homes anymore man. You got the Leafs, Philly last night.

Now they're in Philly. Tomorrow night. Old school. Used to see that all the time. It's the best. What, getting a little greasy too. Get very greasy. Might get greasy tomorrow night. Especially when it's like the very next night. Yes. Traditional back to back. Old school, like Friday, Saturday night.

Yeah. Those were greasy. Danny Breyer would have been a part of few of though Yeah, well when Danny was playing for Buffalo for sure like Buffalo, Toronto He's played Friday Saturday all the time or right Philly Pittsburgh. I'm sure there were a bunch of those So the Leafs are in Philly playing the Flyers tomorrow. Let's head down there. Here's the GM of the Flyers. Here's Danny Breyer How you doing Danny? Hey guys. Hey guys, you heard you're right about that. It's, the home and homer are always pretty intense. I kind of miss those home and home.

It's a little bit of a feel of a short playoff series almost. Yeah. Danny, are you getting rid of, are you getting ready to say goodbye to your nice black hair? Because it seems like when everybody goes into a management position or coaching they're like gray within three years why is it the stress level of that position as opposed to is it more stressful than playing or what is it about the position or guys have gray hairs within three years yeah i'll tell you it's way more stressful than than playing uh...

because when you're playing you're under control you you can control whatever you're under control. You can control whatever you have to do. You get ready for a game and you go through your routine and you get on the ice and you know what you have to do. Nowadays, you're at the mercy of the players on the ice and it's a lot more stressful. Believe me, the greys are coming out. I've seen a lot more popping up lately. Danny, we were talking about in the last hour torts and you know his whole body of work but also his wardrobe at some point when did it morph into the you know what

is it that this I'm going with the sweater the Patagonia behind the Patagonia like is it just is now the coaching and the dress code there kind of everybody comfortable and just warm because it looks like he's freezing all the time Yeah, yeah, and if you remember before he had the jacket we always had the sweater underneath it We had the talk and he you know He was asking if we we could change it up my only request was that you know our coaching staff looked the same You know I didn't want one one guy with a sweater. I didn't want one guy with a sweater, one guy with a jacket, one guy with a suit. I said as long as you guys all look the same and look professional, I thought that was a good idea. Those guys are a lot more comfortable

behind the bench. I was thinking about it too. These poor guys sometimes, they're sitting there 82 games for three hours behind the bench barely sitting and barely moving and it's probably the worst seat in the building You can't see in the corners And we're asking them to make you know decisions on the fly. So You know the coaching gig is not an easy one No, it's not and John's been doing it for a long time and you know Everyone's got a viewpoint of him in terms of you know his approach to the game but you know the players respond and you know you guys have been pretty

open and honest about you know the process in Philly and you guys were in a playoff spot for the majority of the season last year and you're in the hunt this year. What is it about John Torrella and his coaching i guess process that makes you feel comfortable that he's the right guy to to push this program yes forward in philly and we you know i'm from the perception of the torts is that he's east off on the young guys and he's you're not letting the young guys

play in its actually be quite the opposite uh... you know he's always the one that uh... you know what that you know who give the young guys a chance to play and play more and put them back out there after they make mistakes. I've been really, really impressed with him as far as that goes. He has a way. He's tough. He's demanding with the players, but it's genuine and he shares with them how much he cares about them and he's doing that not to it's not personal it's not personal vendetta against the guys it really wants to make them the best that they they can be you know sometimes you don't like it in the moment but most players come back later

and appreciate what he's done for them. He's been hard but fair with Miechkoff I mean how special is this player and you know Miechkoff through his interpreter later and appreciate what he's done for them. He's been hard but fair with Michkov. How special is this player? And Michkov, through his interpreter, came out with a statement the other day saying he respected torts and has had good conversations through his interpreter with him and likes the process that he's had with him. Yeah. It's... he's had with him. Yeah, it's, you know, what I've been impressed with with Madve is how he reacts to the benching,

how he reacts to, you know, missing a few shifts or being challenged or called out, you know, in front of his teammates. He responds, he's, he's really a, he's got a special character in a good way. He's ultra competitive. I think when he was younger, you know, we've heard some rumors that he was a bad teammate, but I think part of it is that he just didn't know how to channel it, didn't know how to tell his teammates that they had to work harder and work at the same level as him. So he's maturing, but really what's impressive is how he answers the bell.

Already at his age, he's not afraid of the big moment. He actually welcomes the big times in a game where he can make the difference. And he really believes he's there to make a difference. So that's not something you can teach. You have it or you don't. You're afraid of the moment or you're not. And so far ready at nineteen it's impressive that he that he has that in feels confident enough to to want to

be a difference maker danny you got some great young players what do you think it takes for the for a team in the position like the philadelphia fliers to get to that next level to be a a team that contends for the playoffs and ultimately is family Cup year after year is it for your young players to turn into star players is it like did like you look at teams that are kind of fighting in that same position do you need more star power what is it that you guys need

well I think everybody wants more star power we all want to Connor McDavid and the Austin Matthews and etc. But you know the reality is those guys are extremely tough to find. You know there's a chance that a guy like Mishkov could turn into close to a star or superstar. But otherwise you need depth throughout your lineup. You need your young players to become really good players. It feels like we're trending in that direction but there's still a long ways to go. I think consistency is probably one of the toughest things as a young guy, as a

young player to find and to get and we see that. We see that on a nightly basis for us. You always have two or three guys that are not going. And to become a good team, I think that's one of the things we're going to need. It's so tough. You look at the teams that are stuck in the bottom of the standings, it's so tough to get out of it. That was part of why when we talked about the rebuild, we didn't want to fall all the way down to the bottom.

We wanted to stay competitive and have our young guys learn through a competitive team and a team that has a chance to win and make the playoffs because it's so tough to get out of there. Chatting with Danny Breyer, GM of the Flyers, Leafs in Philly tomorrow night playing the Flyers. The Four Nations face off about five weeks away and you've obviously got players that are gonna be there.

Travis Anaheim, a a Canadian will be on the Canada team And I'm curious we asked you off the bat, you know about the stress of being a GM and with your club team How might that relate to what you expect out of the tournament? In other words, you know player safety guys getting out of there healthy But also what you you hope your players experience and what they can bring back back to their club team in Philly to hopefully help you guys down the stretch. Yeah, well for us the exciting part is those two guys have never been part of something like that and representing their country. Both Travis's, it's really exciting for our organization, the experience these guys are

going to acquire being with the best and you know just just for them their mindset realizing that now they belong with the best players in any NHL for years we've been hearing here in Philly we we don't have top end players we don't have talent you know we don't have top pairing defensemen well you know what when when you look around the league the guys like Sandheim and Kinneth, neither are not easy to find. And we feel fortunate that we have them.

I'm really excited that they made the team. And I hope it helps their careers and they take another step forward to help us get into the playoffs and become a Stanley Cup contender. Garnet Hathaway's a guy who plays in that gray area on the edge, he's physical, he's who plays in that gray area on the edge. He's physical, he's the type of player you want on your team. You see him play that type of style.

Do you mind it? Is it a situation? Obviously last night he got into it with McCabe and backed it up. Is it something that Torch is fine with putting him out and putting him in every situation? You just talked about a back-to-back with with you know the leaves here you know is it a situation where you want to be mindful of maybe retribution tomorrow well I mean first of all we hope that McCabe is okay that's the you know the most important part I don't think anybody wishes anybody to get hurt but you you know, it's the

type and for Garnett, he has to play that way to be effective. He has to be a guy that finishes his check and plays hard. He's always done that. I know I hated seeing him come in and bang your defenseman around, you know, when he was in Washington and Boston. So we love having him on our team. He's a tough customer. Every team has those guys. And they bring something that is tough to find. And he makes our younger guys feel a little bit more safe out on the ice.

So we really appreciate how he plays, but obviously he has to play. It's a fine line and a few times he's crossed the line over the years and he's well aware that he has to be careful at how far he pushes it. Should be a fun one tomorrow night. Back to back like we said, home and home. You don't see it often so enjoy it Danny. We really appreciate you doing this today.

We'll do it again down the road. Thank you. Thanks for having me guys. Always a pleasure. You got it. You got it. Danny Brier, GM of the Philadelphia Flyers and good Canadian boy Danny as well. Played for that junior team. Wrote juniors in 97 who won the Golden Switzerland I believe it was. I never like you see different guys like one of my first roommates was Kevin Dunneen and I

always kind of knew that like I would he would be out he didn't sleep that much and he would be up at three in the morning and then when I got up I'd look and he'd be writing down the drills that he liked for practice and I'm like this guy's gonna be a coach yeah he's gonna be a coach but Danny Breyer I never pegged him as like a general manager well just from like you know what I mean he just I think he had a boatload of money that he made while he was playing He was a really good player. He was really good He scored a goal under the bar in Phoenix. I'll never forget that guy could go bar down God, he had this thick

Black blade with white tape on it and he would rip it under the bar kind of like a dry side Yeah, yeah big big shovel wedge shovel and he like that was under the bar. It was kind of like a dry side. Yeah, yeah. Big, big blade. Shovel, wedge shovel. And he, like that was in the old Phoenix building where that was the basketball rink or basketball stadium or whatever. He scored on me under the bar. I remember thinking like I had, I felt like I had everything covered and he just hit it like, I'll never forget that goal.

Jeff Courtney was like right there and I handed him a minus unfortunately was a short side goal Probably should have had it, but he looked at me and going like how do you not have that? I'm like he hit literally a spot like just by my ear and he was just didn't look I didn't think I like he didn't I was like that guy's gonna be the GM and I never thought I never thought I'd see that yeah Yeah, I mean he spent like he jumped around the league a little bit right he was drafted by phoenix started with phoenix then buffalo philly cup of coffee montreal

ended in colorado i think of them i would think of them sabers first to remember coming out of the lockup they had a great year and he him and jury were like unbelievable uh... manager stru and they're they're both gms that's right here is the same error in game seven of women like carolina beat them in game seven of the eastern conference final that's right

yeah and then uh... like you look at it then he went to philly oh seven away i'm looking at his playoff stats from all five oh six through seven away eighteen playoff game sixteen play of game seventeen play of games and then filly went to the cup final in all nine ten he played twenty three like he played a ton of playoff games over the

course like five years or do it i think he was on one of those philly teams that was had a series against boston that went down all three of the series and then in game seven they were down all three in the series and then in game seven they were down 0-3 in the game and came back and won it. That's right. That was that Bruins team in 0-9-10 and then Philly lost on the Kane OT winner in Chicago's first cup.

That's right. Michael Leighton was in that. Yeah. And that was Philly. And then the crazy thing is the next year Boston beat Vancouver in the cup final Yeah, so they respond you talk about responding after blowing an o3 lead which at that point We had never seen the Kings did it to San Jose like two years later Yeah, remember, but right prior to pride of Boston do it and it only happened like two or three times Did I remember that series down oh three and then they come back and then in game seven Boston goes up three Cobb

And I'm like, okay now you're really done and they won the game crazy anybody areas he's uh... on keith jones is the president there that's right now out of the booth we'll see what they got moving forward like you mentioned it connect me in santa both on on canada for the four nations face off that he was kind of quite last day was sick he had is he was as a stuff the other thing tomorrow

here morgan frost he's uh... he's getting at least some ice time you know plan days become a like a veteran in the week now he's been around he's been in philly for a few years now and you know they need help offensively he's got he's got a lot of talent he does uh... right tSN 1050 wants you to be our unofficial correspondent at the grittiest golf event of the year here's how you enter download the iHeart radio app create an account and listen to TSN 1050 for at least 15 minutes straight once you hit

15 minutes follow the prompts to complete our entry whether it's 15 minutes of first up in the morning or 15 minutes of overdrive in the afternoon the more you listen the better your chances and on January 20th first up we'll be calling one listener with a trip for two to the Waste Management Open in Arizona full details at TSN1050.ca. Can't beat that. Can not beat that. Bring your clubs down, go to the tournament, play.

Phenomenal. It's going to be great. We're getting closer to that man. We got good golf tournaments coming up like they stay in Hawaii this weekend. This is why I told you when I first got in here I love the frosty weather because I know there's only gonna be max two months of it. Yeah that's right. It's only gonna be around for two months and then a month after that we're teeing it. I love it. It happens every year i put my clothes when november december i've been tired you don't even think about a throat

all i do you know i'm not a garage or another in the basement talk the way they're gone i haven't even looked at them get up and start swinging and i i will starting this week i guarantee i want to put my hands as a q i thirty five yes well that's a big part of it like tail of mate starts coming out with a new line of stuff I'm like seeing videos on that Can I try that they get they get to Kapalu in Hawaii and the big boys show up and start playing And so people start you know you just start feeling I buddy's have a golf where I got the itch

He's like more cow was hitting the qi 35 it looks thick and I thought I need to go to Vaughn I need to get up there too i mean it i'm i'm gonna break the clubs out this week you know the same absolutely and assumes right year-round yeah all yeah there's a stem close to here there's one of my name is not a sin date one day come out by me is place called golf two four seven and bring in and we're gonna meet here on the law before work there's one like within half a kilometer from you'll show up all crabby now

We'll sim it or work and somebody I'll show you so sim it with doogie to get some footage there you go do You got it. Okay. Let's we're working this out because you're right now. We're into January We're gonna grind through two months tops, and then it's go time Okay, come back with our best bets overdrive, TSN 1050 and on TSN 2. 2025 is your year. 2025. Start it right with New Year, New You on IR Radio. New year, new you.

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Explore it all. Feel brand new. At iHeartRadio.ca and on the free iHeartRadio app. All right, today's best bet's powered by FanDuel. Make your picks and assemble a same game parlay in seconds on the FanDuel Sportsbook app. I'm on the haves tonight. They're getting plus money at home.

Listen, my concern is road trip one day off and then at the Bell Center. But Vancouver's in one right now. I think it's time tomorrow boys, where we hit the coach happiness meter. Cause there could be a change. Canadian coach happiness. There could be a change in the list.

Great idea. And I'm on the over in the Panthers' Avalanche game tonight. Like I think that's a bit of a shootout. It's a high number. Well yeah, the Avalanche lost what, 2-1 or? Yeah, which never happens. That'll be, yeah, there'll be some goals tonight. Never happens.

But Wedgwood's banged up, right? Yeah, that was, did you see that? That was weird that they let the play keep going. Oh, down the guy's like writhing in pain. Yeah. Dude, I love the refs, the rest man but roughing needs to be looked at sorry that's nervous and fedner was really bent out of shape

uh... today's best bet power by fando live same game parlays are now available for every nhl game of the fando sportsbook gap please play responsibly nineteen plus physically located in ontario yeah i think a coaching meter think it happened i had an arbitration cooking for wednesday a little twenty twenty five outlook is i think we still have about two weeks we can do it twenty twenty five never kind of put in the bug in people's ears

no more saying happy new york is gonna say when you stop because every day of january third and uh... it's about that i think it's about right now right about now yes that's enough but what if you haven't seen somebody doesn't matter I think it's okay over you say I hope things are going well there you go hope you have yourself a great channel I don't mind a happy new year till the tenth okay that's it the tenth is your limit yeah all right thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out we appreciate it everyone for tuning in today radio TV podcast web we appreciate that we're out of here enjoy your evenings enjoy the games tonight

we're back tomorrow at it's time for me and the players commish to step on the gas big-time 4 p.m. we'll chat then TSM plus is taking game day to a whole new level with NFL red zone Subscribe now for every touchdown, from every game, every Sunday afternoon. NFL Red Zone, available on TSM+.