OverDrive - OverDrive - July 1, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jamie McLennan and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Free Agent Frenzy around the NHL and the biggest moves across the market in the league. Maple Leafs gene...ral manager Brad Treliving joins to discuss the team's priorities on the roster, Mitch Marner's departure from Toronto and improving the roster. Maple Leafs forward Michael Pezzetta joins to discuss signing with his hometown team, the style of play and his fit on the team.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:36 All right, here we go. Overdrive off and running. TSN 1050 on the TSN app. Your home smart speaker up on TSN 4. Brian Hayes, Jamie Noodles-McClennan, Dave Festrack, happy Canada Day to both of you and to everyone else out there. The reason we're so late getting on, Bob McKenzie just announced he's retiring. That's it. Yeah. Bob, it's over. What an unbelievable run, 48 year career.
Starting point is 00:01:02 He's been at TSN forever since 1987. He's been on the network here full time since 2000. So we did a big presentation noodles here and I, we had to be front and center for the picture. And she had this hand kissing babies doing everything. So we made our way over. You were waiting, you know, Fess was waiting for us. He's like, okay, let's get going here.
Starting point is 00:01:21 But I was tearing up watching, watching the presentation there of the silver stick. That was a little bit emotional for me but I was tearing up watching watching the presentation there the silver stick that yeah a little bit emotional For me because I grew up watching Bob McKenzie and we all did you know the Bob father too you think about? You know the original insider. This is a guy everything kind of ran through him as far as Relationships with managers and stuff like that the one thing I always loved about Bob was his integrity You talked to managers throughout the league, like he wasn't a guy that would sewer somebody. I think he was really good at getting his sources,
Starting point is 00:01:51 making sure that he released it, you know, with their blessing type of thing. I thought he was amazing at that. Yeah, he really was like one of my first, you know, images of TSN as a kid. Was watching the draft more than anything. It was always bob with the feather and you know i got back in the day and
Starting point is 00:02:08 uh... yes so you know congrats the bob on just an incredible incredible run in you know we're over there doing free agent frenzy and i got to be honest pretty brutal day all things considered like not a ton of things happening today because everything happened yesterday yes all those part all hell broke loose yesterday There was trades and stuff like that, but I like the fact you and I were talking on the way over a lot of managers
Starting point is 00:02:32 They've still got currency and they got lots of time to work that out to reshape their team or shape their team Well, and I believe one of the guys you're talking about happens to be on the line right now I believe we've got him. Here's the GM of the Maple Leafs Brad Tree Living how you doing Brad? I'm doing good how'd you guys grind through the day? Well we're waiting for you to do something I guess you signed Posetta but what did you do all day I guess I think that's what Leaf fans want to hear. Yeah well first off I think I just jumped on when you guys were mentioning at the end there about Bobby Mack. And I remember, Bob's one of the first media guys I remember covering the business full
Starting point is 00:03:18 time and his draft coverage was legendary. I remember when he was writing for the hockey news. And he had a way better set of hair. That was quite a set of hair he had back in the day on those draft coverages. So just congratulations on a Hall of Fame career to the best that ever did it. So to Bobby Mack, congratulations.
Starting point is 00:03:43 Yes, absolutely. As far as, I mean, you know, today was, it was, it was as busy as it normally is. You know, we went in today, obviously with, with the, with Mitch leaving, our focus was trying to really focus at the top of our lineup. It wasn't what I would call a large list of guys that would fit. You're not replacing Mitch necessarily and saying, okay, Mitch is gone, you're going to get one guy to go do it. We've tried to do some things to make up for some of the things that Mitch does. But we spent our time on players that we felt would be a good fit there and really trying to keep,
Starting point is 00:04:31 you know, instead of racing out and signing a guy here and there and all of a sudden our cap space gets eaten up. We were trying to fish for somebody that could fit into our top six. As of now haven't been able to do that. The rest of the gang was looking at some depth, really some depth signings for our roster and and that that's really taken up the bulk of the day talking to teams on trade opportunities. So that's been that's been the bulk of the day.d Do you feel like you have the luxury of of time to and also now some flexibility with your cap situation?
Starting point is 00:05:10 where you can like you say start to chip away at the market and take your time to You know build your team out in the absence of Mitch because again, you don't drop the puck till October So, you know everything didn't have to be sorted out today. That was one of the things that I tried to get out there when we were talking today in our conversations is teams don't have to submit their list and submit everything today. So you feel like you've got some, some time with some patients here? Well, certainly have time. I mean, today represents there's, you know, depending on what you're looking for,
Starting point is 00:05:44 there's a handful of those players are what you're looking for, there's a handful of those players that are going to come off the board today, right, that are gone. So the list obviously gets a lot shorter and depending on what you're looking for, you know, the free agent market, if you will, in terms of finding the right fit probably comes a little bit shorter. So you're looking at the trade, you know, trade scenarios and the like. But so yeah, we've got time, but certainly you feel,
Starting point is 00:06:16 it's an interesting market right now because as in years past with the raising cap, you've seen guys and it'll take a day or so to flush everything out. You know, once all the signings come on the board to where, you know seen guys and it'll take a day or so to flush everything out. You know, once all the signings come on the board to where, you know, everybody usually takes a step back to see where they're at and what opportunities may be out there for us.
Starting point is 00:06:33 But with the cap rising, you know, one of the things that we talked about even going back in January is the, the probability of, of teams signing their own players, in my opinion, increased this year than really the last, it seems like a long time, but really since we ran into the flat cap, through COVID, where guys had money to retain their players if they so choose. And so you saw a lot of
Starting point is 00:07:06 that really leading up to today and even, you know, before the bell went off of a lot of people retaining their players left fewer players on the market. And, you know, one of the things you always want to feel like you've addressed needs coming out of, you know, free agency or today. Because as I said, the list gets a little bit smaller, but what we didn't want to do is just, you know, sign people to duplicate what we have here. And so we've got some, you know, we've got some flexibilities that relates to the cap, but you're always looking to... I always, I always would rather have players. So we'll see how that, that continues to, to work itself out in the coming days.
Starting point is 00:07:50 Well, you nailed it. The, you know, consistent theme leading up to free agency was that teams just kept their players, you know, and obviously you did that with John Tavares, but the most prominent free agent chose not to do that. And that of course would be Mitch Marner. You know, Marner obviously ended up wanting to go to Vegas. Um, and I'm curious if you can take us through the timeline here, Brad, in terms of when it became clear to you and your staff that Mitch did not want to be a Maple Leaf anymore. Um, I don't know if there's an aha moment, Brian.
Starting point is 00:08:25 You know, really over the course of the last year, I guess, when we were able to sign him, we went to his camp to engage and start the process. Early on, they just felt they wanted to wait some time and then it was, you know, they made it clear to us that they wanted to wait to the end of the season. And I say all this, Mitch is fully within his rights to do, as any player is, to do whatever they want. So there's no, you know, there's no responsibility on them to say we have to negotiate at a certain point.
Starting point is 00:09:08 So I want to be clear on that. And then as we went through the process, it became clear and clear to us that the potential is that they may not want to engage in contract. We looked at other opportunities, right? And throughout this process with Mitch's contractual rights that he had, you know, he controlled a lot of this process, right? And again, that was negotiated,
Starting point is 00:09:37 that's fully within his rights. And so in a lot of ways, he controlled the process because he had a no move clause. Now that doesn't prohibit us having conversations on potential outcomes. And I'm not going to get into a lot of, you know, a lot of the get into the weeds in terms of my discussions with the players representative because I think those things are, you know, those should be left confidential. Um, but I would, I would say Brian, um, the short version is as we, as we got into the season, it became more and more clear that, uh, um, you know, that
Starting point is 00:10:21 they're there, there was a strong possibility that they wouldn't necessarily want to be engaging in any discussions with us. When you mentioned, you know, not engaging or not revealing the details of speaking with this representative, I'm curious, at any point did you speak with Mitch directly? Yeah, I have conversations with our players, of course. I mean, the business part of it, that's why they hire agents. So the agents handle all the business affairs, and that's the way it should be. That's why they have agents to handle that.
Starting point is 00:10:58 The player's job is to play. But you always, with a player of Mitch's magnitude, you have conversations, you know, you certainly have conversations at certain points with the player, but both of our communication is always through the player's representative. So Brad, you threw out a phrase at your season ending press conference that stuck around the DNA phrase, and you talked about the change needed in that department uh... how'd you characterize your progress today on that to me being in the line would stick around in our market
Starting point is 00:11:37 you know there's a good one that is not because it was a good one uh... well i mean again when i talk about the d DNA is and again and I tried to reference it that day is You know, I know we all want to jump in and say, okay, we got to change 20 players. That's that's not it It's it's a lot of this is mentality Certainly, we're gonna try to find ways to make our team better and that That sometimes does involve involve changing of personnel. But it's also in those critical moments, right?
Starting point is 00:12:11 You get to the end of the playoffs and you're all emotional. If you're losing game seven around two and it feels like you've missed the playoffs for five straight years. And, but the focus when I looked at our group was just in those critical moments, finding a way to be better, you know,
Starting point is 00:12:32 defining a way to be at our very best. And that's, you know, that's what I was focused around when I talk about that. So some of that's internally, some of that's, you know, or whether it be from between the years and some of that's in terms of personnel. So that's when I talked about that, you know, or when I made that statement, that's really what I was alluding to. And from, you know, there's a lot of things we work on with our group over the course of the summer and in our communication with
Starting point is 00:13:03 them. But as far as the personnel side, it's a work in progress right now. We've made, you know, we were able to do, you know, handle a couple of our files prior to today with John, with John Tavares, Matthew Nyes, the acquisition of Michelli and, and we'll continue to work at it. We continue to work as we said earlier, and as Noodle has mentioned, we've got some time here before we start the season. Today's a big day on the calendar,
Starting point is 00:13:38 but we will continue to work at trying to find ways to improve our team. With Brad Treeliving, the GM of the Maple Leafs, we haven't heard from Austin Matthews, really since the end of the season. I wasn't anticipating hearing from him today, but I'm curious if you have any insight on how he's taken the news that Mitch Marner
Starting point is 00:13:58 is not gonna be his teammate anymore. I haven't talked to Austin today, and obviously they've got a close personal relationship. You know, a lot of, and I don't think it would be unusual that you guys aren't speaking with him today obviously. He's not in town. But that's probably a question better suited for him. I know obviously they had a close relationship. But I also understand, you know, what I found in this day and age too is, you know, players, you know, they respect each other's personal business, right? They're a close unit as a team. And I think players around the league, everybody's got
Starting point is 00:14:48 their own personal business to take care of. I think players are respectful of that. They don't want to infringe upon anything that's what I would deem personal business. But I also think that this, I don't think this is a shock to, you know, today, I don't think Austin was waking up shocked to the news of the move, but certainly that, you know, there were teammates for a long time
Starting point is 00:15:19 and they've got a close personal relationship. And I don't want to speak for Austin at all but I'm sure as all of us are, you wish him the very best but you also look forward to what's ahead for us. Tree you end up getting Nicholas. Is it wah or Roy? What are we gonna go? Now he's closer to Quebec. Okay, so Nicholas a leaf fan I said today and Michelle like you talk about the players that you have brought in here a little different look Michelle I think has some skill. He's not a big guy, but it looks at you know, I saw him live a few times last year I really liked him and and then wah has you know Best you use the word snot like he's got he's a big guy who plays hard and he can beaa has, you know, best to use the word snot.
Starting point is 00:16:05 Like he's got, he's a big guy who plays hard and he can be versatile. Like, you know, talk about the guys that you brought in here, maybe a little different look. Yeah. Well, Nick, Nick is a real good player. You know, he's, he's, he's sort of, I think there's even more opportunity for him here. Um, that's a strong center group that they have in Vegas.
Starting point is 00:16:28 Right shot center, long guy, really has excelled in a defensive role in terms of matchups, playing against good players on the other team, penalty killing. But there's some, you know, he's got good hands, there's some sneaky skill there. You know, highly competitive player. You look around teams that when you need that, you know, we all, we all talk, you know, we all want to put everybody into a box of a first line player, second line player. You know, we, the, I think there's, you know, a lot of talk about second
Starting point is 00:17:02 line centers all over the league right now. If you don't necessarily, and I'm not speaking just for our situation, but if you don't necessarily have the perfect one, two, three, four down the middle, there's lots of teams that you ... The league is all based on matchups. I think Nick is the guy that can take heavy matchups. Um, you know, if you look, look at Winnipeg, for an example, who's had, we're on the president's trophy this year. Um, you know, we're, we're Adam Lowry, I think everybody would consider as a third line center.
Starting point is 00:17:40 He really plays in a heavy matchup role. So you've got Shife Lee, then you've got, um, you've got Lowry a heavy matchup role. So you've got Shifely, then you've got, you've got Lauer taking heavy matchups, and then you've got Nemesnikov coming in sort of underneath. And, you know, that's where I look at a player like Nick, who's able to, if you look at our situation right now with Austin and John, I think he's able to come in
Starting point is 00:18:04 and play in a real matchup role. Our series with Florida, again, when you look at how things played out from a match standpoint, you know, Barkov took Austin, Lundell for the most part was playing against John and then Bennett comes in when you can get a favorable matchup. That's an area for us that we really wanted to try to address is somebody that can come in here and potentially play in a matchup role, handle some penalty killing responsibilities, gives us a right shot center at the faceoff. So He gives us a right shot center at the faceoff. So been a really good player for Vegas and I expect to be a good player for us.
Starting point is 00:18:51 And Michelli, as you said, he's a guy who had a down year this year. We think he brings some skill, some creativity, you know, with some of the players in our team, their offensive abilities, I think he could compliment, he can compliment those players. He's looking, he was obviously looking for a fresh start. And we'll see, we think the cost was manageable for some potential upside here. And so we're, I know speaking with him,
Starting point is 00:19:21 he's excited to get in here. He's excited to get around our group. So we're looking forward to see what he can bring us. Brad, we'll get you out of here on a question about those Cup champs. You just referenced that matchup and you know, they find a way to bring back Bennett, bring back Ekblad, bring back Brad Marshann.
Starting point is 00:19:40 You know, we were discussed it all day today and we've been discussing it for weeks. Like they're clearly the crown jewel of the nhl Right now they're within your division How often are you thinking of that specific? Matchup how you beat florida when you're building out your roster Well, they've set the bar so you're obviously You know, you're obviously looking to them and they've they've done a phenomenal job
Starting point is 00:20:04 You know, they're bringing back the same team. So, you know, they're the gold standard right now. I think, you know, you can't be just laser focused on one particular team, if you will. Now, that's, they're the cream of the crop. You got to continue to find ways to make, you know, make your team better. Where's the areas that you can improve in what's opportunities are available to you. So everybody in the league knows this, you know, what Florida is all about. We've seen them now.
Starting point is 00:20:36 I wasn't here for the first go around with them a couple of years ago, but had them this year in the, in, in the playoffs. And, and, uh, they've set, like I said, when you've gone to three straight finals and won two cups, you set the standard. But I looked throughout our division. And I said it a year ago, you have teams that have been in rebuild processes
Starting point is 00:20:57 for the last number of years that have taken big steps and are now becoming really good teams. The Ottawa's, the Montreal's, Detroit and Buffalo continue to improve. The division's a really good division. Certainly Florida sits where they sit for a reason, but you go throughout the Atlantic and there's no easy nights. Yeah, there's no questioning that. And that's been the case for a long, long time.
Starting point is 00:21:28 And we anticipate it will continue. We know it's a busy time. We always appreciate you finding some for us. Thank you for doing this, Brad. You bet guys. Have a good day. You too, Brad, Tree Living, GM of the Maple Leafs. Yeah, interesting about Marner getting it out. We tried to engage and it's his right to control the process.
Starting point is 00:21:48 I think he's alluding to the ranting and trade deadline stuff. Yeah, but obviously they're they've known for a while and they get Nicholas one return. Obviously not Mitch Marner. You bring in Michelli, but he's made it clear like Tree Living said they need they need to find someone else in their top six. They need to find an impact player. Like not, it's going to be a packing order. You got Matthews, you got Nylander, you got Tavares, you have Knives, but that's where they're looking to find a way to improve. And I don't think it's free agency. I think it's having some flexibility to either in
Starting point is 00:22:20 the trade market, you know, that type of stuff. I don't know, it's just, hey, Nikolai Ehlers come here for eight minutes, whatever it is, like I don't know. Sounds like the criteria from Ehlers is the exact opposite of the fit here in Toronto. That's the one thing, because it sounds like he wants a quieter market, warmer climate, all of that. Yeah, that's not Toronto. That just doesn't fit this situation.
Starting point is 00:22:44 But that's where you look at the trade market and say who can we bring in? And under the radar to fit in the cap structure that also can be a Facilitator to the players that you have already here big challenge for them and the point tree-living was making today was You know the basically the whole league is looking for a second-line center Yeah, which is you know, maybe why they won't get a second line center a second line winger might be, you know, more like likely, I guess. Right. And that means Tavares remains in the position he's been in for seven years. Right. Right. It's probably Matthews into Tavares into Wanda, Scott Lawton,
Starting point is 00:23:17 more than likely. That's your probably your four centers. Yeah. All right. Michael Pizzetta, local guy signed with the Leafs. He's been in Montreal for years. He will join us We've got Drex coming up today MJ coming up today a full recap of free agent frenzy Dave Fashtruck's in here from the Toronto Star overdrive continues TSN 1050 and on TSN for unmistakably Canadian It's the music that raised you
Starting point is 00:23:42 The artists raising the bar, hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name is Brett Emmons. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name is Brett Emmons. I'm from the glorious suns. Hi, I'm Nellie Furtado. Made in Canada, the station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required.
Starting point is 00:23:58 Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeartRadio app. Best bet's coming up later this afternoon. J's in action this afternoon. We got Yakuporto with a new deal sticking around with the Raptors long term. Yeah. Rumors, Messiah's gone for a day and people are saying Ben Simmons could be connected to the Raptors. Oh my.
Starting point is 00:24:20 If he, if they sign Ben Simmons. Isn't he worse than street clothes? He's the worst of the worst. No one plays less games than Ben Simmons. Like that would be automatic. You've got to fly Messiah back in. Terminate the contract and restart everything. But yeah, there's a lot of activity in the NBA, obviously, you know, Major League Baseball and the Jays. And today with the NHL free agent frenzy, it wasn't as crazy as in years past, but there was still a lot of player movement, a lot of money moving around. It's always a cool
Starting point is 00:24:51 story when you get a local guy who gets to sign in his hometown and Michael Pezet has been with the Habs for years and he signed with the Leafs today and he joins us now. How you doing Michael? We're good guys, how you doing? We're doing well man, take us through this process. Why did the Leafs make sense for you? Yeah, I mean, obviously, a Toronto boy coming home, just getting the opportunity to put the Leafs sweater on, something I've dreamed about my whole life. And yeah, to just get that chance, I'm just so fired up right now.
Starting point is 00:25:19 My family's going crazy and all my buddies. So it's been a fun afternoon. Oh, yeah, you're going to have a lot of floaters come out of the woodwork for you here soon, I would imagine. Although, I mean, it's more of just a road trip for all your buddies that you've been in Montreal for the last couple of years. But how do you think your style suits this team and especially the coach, Craig Berube? Yeah, I think especially with how the playoffs went this year, I think teams are trying to
Starting point is 00:25:45 get stronger and harder to play against and I think I fit that bill exactly and I know from what I hear with Barube, he loves guys that play hard and I just want to kind of bring my game to the table and do everything I can, you know? So Michael, I saw on your social medias you were posting some childhood photos of of you in in leaf sweaters Take us through your level of leaf fandom as a young man Yeah, I mean for me growing up. I'm sure like a lot of kids maps I think was always my favorite player. I wore number 13 growing up my whole life and
Starting point is 00:26:22 as a special growing up my whole life and as a special I sat in my room a bit today and there's like a still got a picture I'm staying at my parents house back in Toronto I got a picture of my wall and that's the Dean I'm sitting there and I'm just thinking how cool is it that I get the opportunity to work hard and be able to put this jersey on it's just such a special feeling and I'm so happy and blessed to be able to given this opportunity. We're chatting with Michael Pizzetta who signed with the Leafs today, Toronto guy he's been in Montreal, you've been with the Habs organization throughout your career so you know it's gonna be an adjustment. You got drafted back in 16,
Starting point is 00:26:55 you've been playing for LaValle, you've been with the Habs the last few years on a permanent basis, you know that's pretty significant too. A Toronto kid growing up a Leaf fan going to Montreal and now you're coming back you know how do you look back on your time as a Canadian? Yeah I love my time there the organization's first class and the boys were always great and Duffy shared a lot of good memories there pretty much grew up there in pro hockey and nothing but good things to say say about them and D definitely be a weird weird come home opener time and started the season playing against all those guys and
Starting point is 00:27:31 Having to try to run them all through through the glass, but it'll be fun and there's no hard feelings So you come from an organization made the playoffs But you've seen the last couple years the progression of a young team getting to that next level. Now you're coming to an organization that where there's high expectations and you know that team has been at that level for a long time and you look at the star power that with the Toronto Maple Leafs do you you feel the expectation that you know that comes with signing with this organization? Yeah definitely and I think anytime you play for a big market, Toronto, Montreal, there's expectations that come with that and the sort of responsibility that when you put that sweater on and you go on the ice, you have a responsibility to play as hard as you
Starting point is 00:28:12 can and give everything you've got. And it's about winning at the end of the day and bringing a cup back to your city. And I think that's something I'm ready for and just excited for. You've had a few tilts with Ryan Reeves over your tenure in the league. What's it like when you walk into a dressing room and you become a teammate of a guy who you've traded fists with many a time? Yeah, I think it's always funny. It's so weird, like on the ice you're definitely not a player that's making a lot of friends out there and then you get off the ice and you get in the room and there's never any hard feelings. They're both a couple
Starting point is 00:28:49 couple guys going to war and just trying to do their jobs so I'm sure we'll have a laugh and can both appreciate the jobs that we have to do. Absolutely well it's going to be fun to have you in camp and in town. Congrats on the deal. Good luck the rest of the summer. We'll do it again soon. Thank you for this. Yeah, appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me on. There he is. Michael Posetta, always with a great mustache. I was going to say the salad and the mustache. I didn't want to bring it up just to see. Big personality, big personality. On the ice, big personality. He seems like, you know, obviously really genuinely excited and he's a gamer too. he is he is and it's it's
Starting point is 00:29:25 interesting like the Marner stuff that's a local guy that's like I got to get out of here that became very clear like Mitch just was like I'm out of here I don't want to be here anymore and then you know Pizzetta is in a different place in his career clearly different player but he's like just get me there if I can John Tavarro's yeah what's it gonna take four point three eight done I just want to remain a leave. So, even Lawrence, same thing. Even Lawrence, exactly. Give me a three year deal. I don't want to leave. So, there's gonna be an exam. There's gonna be examples both ways. Like the Marner
Starting point is 00:29:53 example is significant right now and people are taking it and running with it. What does it mean? Local guys, media fans, is it too much? But then there's a lot of examples on the other side of guys that are like, I'm not going anywhere anywhere I just want to be a Leaf and I want to try to win here well it's fair and and the one thing is like you say you know Posetta chomping to get out a bit chomping to get here and be a Toronto Maple Leaf here's a guy who played in a loud we'll call it a loud market as well Montreal's a very loud market so you So we were talking about it before the last break. Nikolai Ehlers may be looking for a little softer landing as far as exposure and all
Starting point is 00:30:32 of that. There's some guys that go, hey, I have no problem. Pizzetta, I'm coming from Montreal, I'll go to Toronto. Exact same situation. But other guys, maybe their expiration date was sounds like Mitch Marner wanted to change That's Brad tree living pretty much can confirmed it for us Yeah, he goes to Vegas you move on from it the DNA you brought it up to the tree the word DNA It is going to change just through osmosis different players coming in
Starting point is 00:31:00 There's not that for lack of better words the baggage that come with these new players because what has no idea Not that he doesn't have no idea, but he comes with no baggage through the Toronto Maple Leafs He's not tied to nine years and playoff losses and all of that guys won a cup. He's been in a different organization So that's your DNA change. Shelly probably wants to be in the playoffs. He hasn't been a playoff guy So I think you are gonna see through osmosis some change here from some of the players coming in You still have to replace Mitch Marner's points by by committee though. That's the way I look at it Yeah, and I'm sorry that's gonna depend on who you can get in that top six role But it's not gonna be easy to do like not like you can just say here's a hundred points
Starting point is 00:31:42 You know plop it back in but you know to me this whole DNA thing is interesting because you know they are searching for something it was like this and they're searching for a different identity you know a different kind of right approach to big games to big moments and I guess it is there is something to like Nick while was talking today to reporters about how hey I love the big moments I've been on a cup team I know he's never been the guy on a cup team but he's right he's performed in you know high pressure games and ended up you know hoisting the trophy so the more guys you have like that I think the better obviously yeah and that's not a bad place to start I'm not sure I'm not
Starting point is 00:32:20 convinced that you can really have a change the DNA if the majority of the core is still here Well, that's in the top player. Yes, and that's what in tree-living kind of I wouldn't say, you know, he didn't he didn't Roll back his comment, but he's kind of adjusted the definition of the common a little bit where he did say It's internal like our players need to learn and that's where you know It's I think it's frustrating to hear that if you're a Maple Leaf fan because, you know, Matthew's been here for nine years. He's just going to flip a switch and be different in game seven next time. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:32:55 Can John do that? He'll be 35 years old. Is Tavaro going to do that? Is Nylander going to do that? Morgan Reilly? You know, I don't, we don't have the answer to that. And there's nothing they can do. They can't put them in a lab and turn them into something different. Well, they've tried Yeah, they've tried in you know sports psychologists the highest-paid sports psychologist on the planet was here for a while
Starting point is 00:33:15 I mean they had they've had a bunch of different people You know, he talked about the mentality and the between-the-years stuff, right? They've they've tried to know, to do that. They've brought them, they put them on the couch, let's say. Right. And had their feet up and said, okay, what do you need? Like, what is it about these moments that are difficult for you?
Starting point is 00:33:33 And, you know, all these years later, I'm not sure what has changed in between the years for a lot of these guys. Yeah, well, exactly. I mean, you are, the DNA is, that's who you are. Yeah, it is. You can't change that Necessarily like you can try to insulate it. You can try to help you can keep poking and prodding You can hope maturity, you know continue although it's not about maturity
Starting point is 00:33:52 I mean John DeVos been in the league for 16 years or whatever, but I Don't know. I I just I get Marner's out and that is that is very significant I get one less of them will call it one less of a job of the guys that you focused on it is significant because if it's not it's it's for now you're down to three and you mentioned john to bars being thirty five it's really
Starting point is 00:34:16 you know he was on the outside of that you know core four he there was really core three now it's court to yeah austin and it's austin and willy and in willies that he he's the biggest case study for me i know it for you it's austin for me it's willie because even see
Starting point is 00:34:33 comments from craig berubi going there is a unique i a m you're joking around why you miss that i saw berubi on a on a podcast i don't decide i'm talking about willie and saying, you know, I was teasing him, and you went high glove and the goalie made the save, and he said, well, you didn't play me enough early in the game, like joking around. He goes, he's a character. I think Willie needs to continue to grow his game,
Starting point is 00:34:59 in a sense, how it translates to the playoffs. Austin, throughout the regular season, we see that he can play on this side of the puck. I call Willie more of an opportunist. He wants to stretch, he wants breakaways, all of that. He's gonna have to be in the fight. He might have to adjust his game, continue to adjust his game.
Starting point is 00:35:18 He might not get 45, maybe he gets 40 next year, but maybe it's a more rounded 40, if you call it. Well, that would be that's what we're really talking about. That's really what we're talking about. It's the physicality, going to the dirtiest areas. That's really what it comes down to. And that's again with Mitch Marner, they're gonna figure that out in Vegas. He is not, like that was a big part of I think the reaction of Marner as he developed over the years. This is a white-collar town who's always loved blue-collar players.
Starting point is 00:35:44 There is not a further blue-collar player in the league than Mitch Marner as he developed over the years. This is a white collar town who's always loved blue collar players. There is not a further blue collar player in the league than Mitch Marner. Like he has, there's nothing about his game that's blue collar. It's not. And that's fine. He's not alone. Like there's a lot of players like that. But come the playoffs, you got to take a hit. You got to throw a hit. You got to go in the front of the net, you got like there's certain things that have to happen and again now he's out okay he goes to Vegas but the same thing's gonna apply to Willie for sure and Austin and whoever else is here. Agreed. All right Mike Johnson will join us, Darren Drager will join us, we'll continue to recap what was somewhat of a busy day but not an old not a crazy day at all. I mean in the end a lot of guys
Starting point is 00:36:24 and like Tree Living said because there was money a crazy day at all. I mean, in the end, a lot of guys, and like Tree Living said, because there was money, a lot of teams just said, I want to keep my guys. Like I have the money to keep my guys, so I'm going to continue to do that. So we're getting into why that has happened this year, and if maybe this is a sign of what could be happening in pre-agent frenzies of the future.
Starting point is 00:36:40 Overdrive continues, TSN 1050 and on TSN 4. Seasoned gamer, or just video game curious? This Week in Gaming is the podcast for you. Overdrive continues, TSN 10 in Gaming on the free iHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, Mike Johnson, Darren Dreger coming up as we recap free agent frenzy and there's still names out there. Nikolai Ehlers has not made a decision and he's the big name left you know but there's other players further down the line of the list of you know I wouldn't necessarily call impact players but good players guys will be signed guys will get tryouts right PTO doesn't
Starting point is 00:37:39 sound as if there's gonna be any offer sheets but I guess that's possible we'll wait to see in two or three weeks but there's teams that still got a that are going to be active I think the Lisa remain active I think Edmonton is going to get active at some point yeah they dumped everything but now they've got a like still figure out what they're doing that exactly attack their roster so to speak so yeah so we've got that that we'll get to in the next hour we're tracking the Jays we've got the Raptors making some news. Jakob Pertl signing an extension today as well.
Starting point is 00:38:07 So he'll be in Toronto for the foreseeable future. So we'll get to that and our best bets still to come. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSN app. You've been listening to Overdrive powered by FanDuel. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Seasoned gamer or just video game curious?
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