OverDrive - OverDrive - July 2, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: July 2, 2025

Join Aaron Korolnek and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys dive into the Blue Jays' impressive win against the Yankees and the strong performance in the series, Nazem Kadri's possible fit with the Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews' search to regain his dominant form. Los Angeles Kings Vice President and General Manager Ken Holland joins to discuss the free agency moves, the additions to the roster and the ceiling of the team and Damian Lillard's conclusion with the Bucks.

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Hello Canada and welcome into Overdrive on this beautiful Wednesday afternoon. We are live on TSN 2, TSN 1050 and on TSN's YouTube channel I'm Aaron Korolnik in for Hayes Dave Feshek has to fill the shoes of both the O-Dog and Jamie Noodles McClendon for the next three hours and Dave we need a massive show today we do because walking around the hallways here at TSN before we began today and a very high ranking TSN executive came up to me, asked me, what are you doing here?

Usually you're hosting in the mornings, today you're doing overdrive, and I told him what was going on and he said, sounds more like underdrive to me. And that was very insulting. So, what we're gonna do Dave, is put forth a fantastic product for the next three hours. Hey man, I get heckled pulling out of my driveway

in my neighborhood. All the Overdrive fans are like, oh no, you? Don't leave the driveway, Fast Chuck, stay at home. Seriously, you know, we don't want it, we don't want to see it, we don't want to hear it. But hey, we heard the tragically hip on the roll in there from JP in honor of the great Bob McKenzie. A momentous day in sports media yesterday

when the Bob father announced his retirement. Mementous indeed, no doubt, and a true legend. I mean, we both worked here for a long time and worked with McKenzie a long time. And he'll be missed, he'll be missed by, I mean, his contributions to the brand will last forever, of course. And he'll still be around. I know, you know, you say you retire,

but you know, McKenzie might have a scoop once. And he's like, you know what, let's throw this out there on Twitter and bring it up. But on the subject of big performances, I don't think it would be possible to consider anyone else than George Springer yesterday with his two home run and seven RBI performance for the Toronto Blue Jays who saw this coming.

Like this team is on fire, they destroy the Yankees again yesterday, 12-5. Springer is the catalyst and just consider all the guys that are out right now. Bichette didn't play, Thon Tondair didn't play, Dalton Varsho didn't play, Vlad and Kirk were 0-4-9 combined. Yeah. And Springer has seven RBIs, a career high, and he looks rejuvenated. They're just smashing Yankee pitching. I couldn't believe what they were able to do and an opportunity tonight down at the dome, Mr. Festchuk, to tie for the top spot in the American League for the Toronto Blue Jays

and go to 10 games over 500. Who saw this coming? Like name a single person. There's no way anyone could have possibly foreseen this, especially considering all the injuries that they've had so far this year I bet Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro say they knew it was coming all along Internal development internal it's there is there a development they've been waiting for it and here it is right But you're right like these guys out of the gate this year looked like they had an offense that was sputtering George Springer looked like his career was over a time. He did last year for sure.

Last year and early this year he did not look like anything close to a former World Series MVP with real pop in his bat at this point in his career. Yeah this is an incredibly unexpected but great surprise for the Blue J Jays fans in this town and so much fun. You know, the beautiful thing is AK and we said it as the season began is that the American league's not very good. Like there was no superpower in the American league. The Yankees are a good team, not a great team.

They're carried by Aaron Judge in a very uncomfortable way. Like he's, there's a lot on Aaron Judge's back and it's a broad back and a strong back, but that's a lot to carry for one guy. And you kind of look at it and it's, it's, it's wide open. So the idea that you're now in June, July 2nd, you're, you've got a chance to get a share of first place in the American League East. Everything's possible, man. Like the trade deadline's coming. of first place in the American League East. Everything's possible, man. Like the trade deadline's coming. There's opportunity in the wind.

And the idea that you guys haven't had playoff success. Well, this is the year where anybody that hasn't has a chance. And I guess the idea coming into the season was, oh, you have all these new pieces to augment the roster. You have Jimenez, who has had a couple of big hits the last couple of days, for sure. But overall has been underwhelming and injured. Santander has been a literal zero. Max Scherzer has thrown seven innings for you and you're still where you are. And what if they got a healthy Santander back which not

sure how likely that is but the man hit 44 bombs last year for Baltimore. You plug him into the middle of the lineup, you have Kirk doing what he's doing, Springer doing what he's doing, a healthy Bichette, Guerrero amongst others, Varsho of course could come back in the not too distant future as well. There's a lot of reasons to be optimistic about this team. Now, like any team, they have holes, right? I mean, they could use another arm as far as their late inning relievers go. They could probably use another front of the rotation starter. I mean, I don't think anyone's counting on Scherzer.

Eric Lauer has been an incredible story, but let's call it what it is. He's probably like a fringe rotation guy, even though he's been great. Gotta give him a ton of credit for his performance so far. You don't wanna go into a post-season game with Eric Lauer on the hill, ideally. But you've got three really good pitchers,

three really good starting pitchers. You could find a way to pick up a fourth and guys like Merrill Kelly and Zach Galen and, I don't know, maybe Jacob DeGrom could be available by trade and the Jays have not shown an aversion to spending money. They're one of the highest payrolls in baseball. They just gave Vlad Jr. $500 million.

The American League, as far as where the Jays stand at the moment, are they as good as the Yankees the Astros the Tigers the Rays yeah I mean as west as they're ruling right now and maybe some of the other guys who could be coming it's a very exciting time to be a Blue Jays fan well look I mean you want you want to pump the brakes a little bit because I think you made an interesting point there like they need they need helps they do like that everybody does you've got a yeah the idea that Lauer he's overachieving right now and it would be nice if he continues to overachieve but to expect him to overachieve to rely on him to

overachieve would be kind of naive I think because look at it like yeah they're one game back and have a chance to pull even with the Yankees tonight but if you look at sort of like that important column, run differential, the Yankees are a plus 105, the Blue Jays are a plus four. Yeah, and they were minus 70 or so at one point of the year. They were in a deep hole. So they're climbing out of a hole, right? They're climbing out of a hole with a hot streak.

But as we all know, what gets hot gets cold, what goes up comes down. Where is their middle? Where is their sort of, you know, even keel? It's probably a little below what it is right now, right? They're absolutely on fire. They're gonna need help, but the beauty of it is, AKA,

I mean, early in the season, you know, month and two into the season, there were real questions. Would they be buyers or would they be sellers? Would they just be bidding it due to Bo Bichette because he was in a contract year and saying let's get something for him before we lose in a free agency there's no way they're sellers now right that's the beauty of they should be buyers because of the quality or lack thereof in the American League and do I think Toronto's the greatest team ever assembled I think

they're as good as the 2015 or 2016 Blue Jays. I don't, but I also think the American League has come to a point where, who knows? Yeah, nobody's scared. Nobody is crazy good. And the Yankees have lost, of course, you lose Garrett Cole when the season starts. That's a massive hit to a team like the New York Yankees. And they will, I'm certain, be looking to make some moves

ahead of the July 31st trade deadline, just like any of the contenders have been but I mean Boston a lot of people expected that they'd be one of the best teams the American League they've been terrible Baltimore has been an abomination so for the Blue Jays and I don't know what that looks like and it's not like they have this incredible farm system to rely upon when it comes to trades but they have money to spend and a need, and actually I would say a number of needs as far as what they can look to accomplish out of the trade deadline to augment a roster that is already pretty damn good and make it even better.

And who knows, maybe they win the first playoff game in the Atkins-Shipiro era. Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't that be something? Let's start there. Win a playoff game and you go from there. But I mean, as far as their chances, I that I don't have I looked at fan graphs this morning there over 65% chance to make the playoffs as a wild-card team at least so that goes a long way at this point in time yeah and it goes a long way just

you know in terms of a sports town that's down right now right Harry down you think about Harry down you know. You know, Masayu Jiri, that era ending and the Raptors being where they are and the Shana Platt era ending and the Leafs trying to figure it out again with maybe some new DNA, whatever that means, and Mitch Marner in Vegas. And people in this town need something to lean on here

and they need something to be excited about. And this is a team that you can get excited about like yesterday I think to have a candidate crowd there you know a 3 p.m. game and to do what they did right like that was the hottest trick I was the hottest atmosphere oh yeah expensive tickets tonight to yeah tomorrow the four game set yeah the Jays a chance to take to win it today and how many times be awesome. Like I've got a ton of people, you know, in my email list and my text list that spend a lot of money on tickets in this town, who text me a lot of venom when they invest a lot of money to go see a game and the home team doesn't show up in Toronto, right?

Like I can name a few. Game five, game seven, Toronto Maple Leaf. There was some high prices paid there So when you get the hottest ticket of the Blue Jays season and obviously it wasn't as expensive as it wasn't as expensive Yesterday down at the dome as it was to get into game five and game seven Down on Bay Street, but it was expensive and but you know what when people Get what they pay for which is a thrill ride, a trouncing of the Yankees.

On Canada Day, in those red jerseys, they are elated. In the elbows up era. I mean, I couldn't believe the euphoria coming out of that building yesterday. It was incredible. Well, you make a good point about the Toronto sports scene, everyone a little down in the dumps as far as what products are being pitched here going forward and the Raptors, I mean we saw them make a significant financial expenditure when it comes to Yaka Pertle yesterday, an extension worth a hundred and four million dollars over

four years, so he's making close to 26 million dollars a year is Yaka Pertle so he's part of that core now long term with RJ Barrett and Emmanuel quickly and Brandon Ingram and Scotty Barnes say what you will about the team I think they're well positioned to be vying for a playoff spot much like in the American League in baseball the Eastern Conference in the NBA very much up in the air and then with regards to the Toronto Maple Leafs we know what they did or didn't do on July the 1st we know Nicolas Nicolas Waa is a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the sign trade for Mitch Marner.

We know that Matthias Michelli comes over from the Mammoth, hashtag Tusks Up, coming over from Utah in exchange for a third round pick. But I mean, it's pretty clear. You hear Tree Living yesterday doing his media. You hear Tree Living on this radio show. They are very much in the market for another top six forward they need to be because that's what that's the clear missing ingredient when it comes to what you're looking at this roster they have money

to spend the question is this is the million dollar question that everybody around the NHL is trying to figure out who is the player they're trying to pursue and will they be able to get it done with questionable collection of assets at their disposal and people will point to Easton Cowan. Don't think the Leafs will be overly keen on trading really their only pro ready prospect in a perfect world you keep it but you might have to do something. You look at the back end could you trade a Brandon Carlo?

You could. Could you package one of your draft picks which it's almost non-existent in 2026 They have a third and a fifth in 2027. They have a second and a fourth. They don't have any draft pick No, they have no four counters and then foreseeable. So it's it's for the Leafs. I mean they wanted Brad Marshawn. That's pretty obvious Yes, they did not get him. Mr. DNA. Mr. DNA I think it would have been the perfect fit and say what you will about what that contract would have looked like and does look like for the Panthers. Six-year deal for a 37-year-old. Good luck Florida in 2030, but they'll worry about that once they have had their fifth straight Stanley Cup. So I think they'll be just okay. But for the Leafs, they're going to be looking at the trademark. That's become blatantly clear.

The name Nazm Kadri has emerged recently. I don't know if it has to do with his Navigator Cup victory with the O-Dog against Duthie and Brendan Gallagher yesterday. That's actually a spoiler I apologize if you haven't seen it on TSN's YouTube channel very good content I enjoyed it. Naz that's good golfer good golfer and he put that on full display and a hell of a hockey player as well I guess the question is if Calgary was willing to trade Kadri to the Leafs and we know Tree Living loves Kadri, right? We know they tried to trade for him years ago. He nixed the deal with Calgary and we know he signed Kadri to the current deal he's on. So Brad Tree Living, an affinity for Nazem Kadri, how do you make that deal happen?

You make it happen any way possible because they need Nazem Kadri or someone like him. And to your point, obviously the plan was maybe Sam Bennett, well, no, that didn't happen. Maybe Brad Marsha, no, that didn't happen. But in terms of guys that can make a difference, be the ingredient they don't have on this team, the ingredient they've missed since Nazem Kadri walked out the building.

Not only 35 goals last year from Nazem Kadri at age 34, best goal scoring season of his career, but the unpredictability, the combustibility, the living on the edge that sometimes can go on the wrong side of the edge, as we all know, in terms of the history of playoff suspensions but the factor that makes the other team play with a head on the swivel and they don't have anybody on this team like that or they don't have enough guys on this team like that. Nas is the guy that had it and they let him get away and for Brad Treeliving who you, let Sam Bennett get away from Calgary before Sam Bennett became Sam Bennett.

For Brad Tree Living who had to trade Matthew Kachuck out of Calgary, another DNA guy, wouldn't it be something if he could bring a guy over that every Leaf fan would love to have playing in the blue and white this summer? Yeah, so he's got another four years remaining on his contract, an AAV of seven million, which is pretty reasonable with this rising salary cap.

And yeah, Kadri at age 36, 37. By the way, isn't it crazy that Nazem Kadri is what, 34 years old? I know. Where has the time gone? I think he and I are around the same age. I was out Western when he was playing for the London Knights and now, I don't know, time does fly by.

But yeah, he's on like the 13th hole of his NHL career is Nazem Kadri when it comes to age. But it's incredible that a guy like Kadri is sought after, well it's not really incredible, it makes all the sense in the world considering I think the contract is reasonable to some extent although, you know, bother time does exist, who knows what it looks like in the next couple of years, but the Leafs have a window to win now. The clock's ticking. It most certainly is.

You heard Keith Pelly, right? You heard Keith Pelly that, you know, winning rounds is not enough. We have to be on a, what was the phrasing? We have to be on a pathway to a Stanley Cup, okay? Is the CEO's vision for this team. So this is not about waiting on 20 year old Easton Cowan to become the player you hope he can become. We're past that, man.

They had two prospects, Fraser Minton and Easton Cowan. They traded one last year. I have no problem with them trading one this year. Look, it could all end in a big, you know, big thud if this group does not produce what they wanted to produce, either this play out front or maybe the next one, it could all go to you know what, but you have no other option but to double and triple and quadruple down on what you have. If you're not going to make a more creative move and really change the core in a more

fundamental way, which I think a lot of people would suggest is not a bad idea and should be explored, but if you're not going to do that let's say too many no move clauses too many guys that convince they got to leave town too complicated can't get it done trading for calories about as good as you can think of right now and he does have a no move clause and the belief is you'd be willing to wave it to come back to toronto and we know he spends a lot of time here in the summer so we'll have to wait and see but as far as the Leafs and where they stand in the post Marner era and he walks out the door 102 points say what you will about his playoff performances

which were as dreadful as his other compadres in the core four and Morgan Ryan. Well he had the most points out of all of them. Well sure and yeah people will pull all games five six and seven Marner didn't show up which is true. Those are important. But I think like when it comes to I would just paint them all with a broad brush and say all of them failed in an equal fashion Martin is the one who's gone and John Tavars is back, but he's making four three eight as opposed to eleven million dollars So it is different in that respect and you look at some of the names that I brought up earlier

Michelli and Nicholas walk coming over, like I think they're fine competent players and there's clearly a concern, all right you're losing a lot of offense, you're losing a lot of offense with Mitch Marner walking out the door. You know how you fill some of that offense? How about if your captain is performing like a top five player in the world as opposed to whatever he was last year? I know he was hurt, it's pretty clear. That is really a singular focus I have when it comes to next year's Maple Leafs and I think they will go out and get somebody to augment that top six, but if Austin Matthews is scoring 30, 35 goals for you,

it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. He needs to be one of the best players in the NHL. He's shown he's more than capable of doing that, but I just wonder about the physical limitations going forward here and the fact that his running mate for the last seven, eight years, nine years is gone. And probably play with Matthew Nyes and somebody else, maybe it's Domi, maybe it's Dlander, maybe it's Michelli, maybe it's someone who's not even on the roster. But Austin Matthews is a guy who's going to have to really step up next season and do what he's capable of doing and do what he's shown he's able to do in the past. Without a doubt I mean that to me

that was one of the underplayed storylines that came out of the end of season stuff was just the mismanagement to my eye of the Austin Matthews injury that occurred in training camp and then for unknown reasons that really we haven't probably been given a good enough explanation about for unknown reasons he's heard in training camp carries it into game one of the regular season and just continues to play inexplicably Matthew Kuchak was sitting out getting healthy yeah well to some extent anyways the groin was torn off the bone and yada yada yada was a late-season yes LTI are all Marshawn Seth Jones that must be

nice and clearly the Leafs could have done the same thing and yeah that's an and yada yada yada. That was a late season entry. LTIR, oh Marshawn, Seth Jones, that must be nice. And clearly the Leafs could have done the same thing. And yeah, that's an issue I've always had with the Leafs who don't really try to, you know, you know, play with some of those loopholes that other teams around the NHL do, like Florida. But forget the loophole. Like if you could play with the loophole, like it wouldn't have been insincere, it wouldn't have been underhanded because the guy was hurt. He didn't perform like the Austin Matthews that we know. And to your point about, yeah, if you're playing,

you're scoring at 30 something goal pace when your career high is nearly 70, that's a half a goal a game difference there. We talked about it a lot during last season, like why were the Leafs down in their offense a lot of it you could trace to one guy number 34 yeah not producing it anywhere near his potential pace and his proven pace as mr. 69 so you know what yeah like let's first of all let's hope he comes back healthy let's like that's priority number one. But the point is like if a

few months of off-season rest get him to 100% why didn't he take that rest in February, March, April? Very reasonable question. Nobody has answered and again there's no one who in the NHL who is more I guess just doesn't reveal their injuries you don't know anything about what they've got going on more so than Auston Matthews and I don't expect that to change anytime soon. I'll tell you what it's not it's it's not good fan relations if you want you want people to have trust in you and faith in you and you know by the way pay your salary as they pour money to the coffers of your hockey club

due to the fact that they're lifelong fans. I think you owe them something. And I don't think Austin Matthews is on the right track with this injury secrecy. Yeah, that's totally fair. And transparency in sports, especially with betting coming more and more to the forefront, you know, the fan duels and the like,

becoming more and more prominent in our society. It just you would think it would go the other way. But in fact, the secrecy has become even more pronounced when it comes to Austin Matthews and the injuries. And we knew, we know he flew to Germany during the midst of the season, but we have not received any concrete information about what he was dealing with and what type of shape he'll come into camp with in September in 25 and 26. Our hockey insider Chris Johnston will join us at 6.05. CJ tweeting out that we're expecting a decision on Nick Ehlers at some point today.

At some point today. And maybe it'll be the GM of the LA Kings, Ken Holland, who finds a way to finagle his way into signing Nick Ehlers, who actually will join us in about 10 minutes. Will Ken Holland. And the LA Kings were very active yesterday. They made a number of signings, including Corey Perry. and angle is way into signing nick eilers who actually will join us in about ten minutes will ken holland and the l.a. kings were very active yesterday made a number of signs including corey perry so we're looking forward the catching up with ken hall that another guy who was part of a big transactions thatcher denko the vancouver canucks who also

will join the show man do you do is a serious work when it comes to booking guests i don't go a three-year extension with eight point five million dollars uh... with the van the Vancouver Canucks who were very busy yesterday. They signed Besser, they signed Connor Garland. That's an impressive day for Patrick Alveen and Jim Rutherford, the Vancouver Canucks. So kudos to them. They deserve a lot of credit. We also have Keegan Matheson from MLB.com covers the Jays. He's down at the ballpark tonight. I had a game three between the jays and the yankies which will be stalking that extensively

throughout the course of the afternoon that's the first check from the toronto star i am erin kuralnik this is overdrive on t s and to t s and ten fifty live on t s and you to overdrive continues on this wednesday afternoon t s and to t s and ten fifty live on tsn's youtube channel kuralnik fest chuck with you until seven p m we have ken hall and the gm of the

l.a. kings joining us in about five minutes and i love talking to ken hall and he is old school as it gets one for stanley cups has been around forever and now with the kings which is kind of weird because of course he's synonymous with the detroit red wings and he went to Edmonton for I think four or five years and now running the show in LA following the departure of Rob Blake. But he's always got a lot of opinions and he and I don't know if he's going to admit it to us, if he's allowed to admit it to us, we know that Kings wanted Mitch Marner. Oh yeah. We know that they desperately wanted at least a sit down with Marner and depending on how you view how things go in the NHL, no one has any contact with anyone before free agency officially begins.

Of course, tampering does not exist in professional sports, but I mean they had to pivot to the LA Kings and they ended up spreading the money amongst a number of different guys, including Corey Perry who's been to about five of the last six Stanley Cups. So I'm sure the LA Kings are open for some of that Perry magic when it comes to a deep playoff run. Is it worth 3.5 million? You could say yes you could say no but I guess if you got the money I mean he does bring he brings an ingredient right like he's he is a pest he is kind of institutional knowledge about how to get it done in big moments we've heard

he was a presence in the admittal locker room in times of crisis at times you know you knows what to say when something needs to be said so you pay for that stuff and maybe overpay for it but and the track record is what it is you can call it coincidence that he's been on these teams are you can call it a confluence of his new. Or perhaps a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B when it comes to Corey Perry. But I mean as far as free agency as a whole yesterday, I mean it was very underwhelming as far as the activity, the

expectations and you would have thought heading into free agency all these teams have tons of cash to deploy and some of these guys will be making crazy money relative to what we thought they'd be making but in fact it was pretty muted as far as some of the contracts that were being doled out because the guys were just going back to the teams that they were on right like Brock Besser goes back to Vancouver who saw that coming? That was a shocker. Yeah it was and Gavrikov gets seven by seven leaving LA for the Rangers and I think a lot of people were looking at him as maybe a nine million dollar player and I suppose we'll see what Nick Ehlers is able to extract from an NHL team but I didn't think that the the rise in the salary cap contributed to some of these

crazy obscene contracts like some people were speculating with back to like remember Timofey Mozgov in the NBA in 2016 is making a crazy amount of money because of a massive jump in the salary cap. That didn't really happen this year in the NHL. No, it didn't happen. I think part of it was just, look, the two most marketable guys or two of the most marketable guys were, you know, the guys out of Florida, maybe three, you could call it. Definitely. So those guys decided to take hometown discounts to stay in a zero tax state and stay in a comfortable situation and winning situation. So Sam Bennett could have commanded far more money on the open market if he would have

decided to take himself to free agency. We all know Marchand would have been getting a hell of an offer from the Maple Leafs. I would have loved to see what Marchand, what the theoretical offers as we know Dave, what those would have been for Marshawn. Like I wonder what Tree Living would have actually anteed up for Brad Marshawn if he became a free agent. I mean, quite a bit of it. It would have been at least 32 million dollars. That's what he got from Florida over six years. Now what the Leafs would be willing to do as far as term might be a little bit different than the Florida Panthers. Well, they got a little bit of

cap space, right? So they could have probably overpaid them a little bit, maybe on a shorter term, in terms of the AIV. And then you wonder, AK, like, we'll never know the answer, but what number could Mitch Marner have extracted from an NHL team if indeed he did go to market? That's a question perhaps we'll never know, but the deal that Marner got from the Vegas Goldenites, eight years, 12 million on a sign and trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs and really we have a

man on the line Dave who's capable of answering all the questions we just asked however he's probably contractually obligated not to answer them. He is the VP and general manager of the Los Angeles Kings he's back here on TSN radio it is Ken Holland. Ken what do you think about everything we just talked about with regards to free agency and some of the speculation that we have here in Toronto? Well, I just, I just caught you at the end there, so I didn't hear too much, but it's always an exciting time in the NHL around July 1st. It is indeed. It was a very exciting time for you as well, because I mean, you made a number of

transactions and you've been doing this gig for a long time. Can you take us through what July 1st looked like for you this time around? Well I come in and obviously the team has had a real good few years here making the playoffs unfortunately not being able to win a playoff round every the last four years losing to Edmonton. So, um, my thought coming in here was that we wanted needed to get a little bit bigger, a little, little, little deeper, um, try to get some people in the locker room that that have been on playoff runs and have a Stanley Cup pedigree. I guess, you know, that's, you know, signed Perry and Armia up front. You know, Armia is a really good penalty killer. Special teams are real critical

throughout the regular season, especially in the playoffs. The team here has been really good on the penalty kill. Didn't have a very good year on the power play until they got Kuzmenko here at the trade deadline. So we found Kuzmenko. So we think Kuzmenko and Perry can give the coach some options on the power play. Both shoot right and everybody else on the power play shoots left. So it was important to get some right-handed shots on the power play. Perry goes to the net front, Kuzmenko can pass the puck and Armia can help in the penalty kill and then on the back end obviously losing Gavrikov which was a big loss, went out and signed two kind of veteran defensemen, Dumal and Cece, one shoots left and one shoots right and then added a goaltender Anton Anton Forsberg, to pitch in there with Kemper

in the net. So we believe we're deeper, a little bit bigger and now let's see what now it's got to happen on the ice. Ken, when the salary cap and how much is going to rise over the next couple of years, when that was all announced, a lot of people figured that would contribute to a bunch of player movement that we haven't seen in the past but it almost seems like it had the reverse effect that teams were more keen to keep their own players as opposed to the other way around do you think that's

going to be a trend as the salary cap continues to rise over the years? Uh, you know, I think, you know, my experience is with, with, you know, first off veteran, you know, the people that become unrestricted for age and you gotta be 27 and older. And, you know, I think the one, the one area that, that, that I've, I'd say it surprised me a little bit, but there, you know, there was, but there was a time five, six, seven years ago when you started to get to be 33, 34, it looked like those players were maybe going to be kind of fallen by the wayside. It was a younger league. The last two, three years, some older players, I'm talking early, mid, later 30s, have had major impacts on their teams and had great seasons. And, you know, I think it speaks to, um, the conditioning of the athletes.

Um, certainly as the salary cap has gone up, um, you know, when you're an older player and you want to stay and play for $800,000 or a million dollars. And, and now with the cap going up, uh, you know, there's, there's a lot of money to be made being made for everybody. It's certainly an incentive to get to the gym and train. So obviously older players have had a real impact on their teams, but ultimately I think as you get older, it's important to be on a winning team. You get older, you want to play with some good players you want to go to the rink every day and have a have a chance to win and be a playoff team and participate in the playoffs and

you want to you want to you know, you know you want to live maybe in a city that maybe you grew up in or or that some city is important to you so I think That there's different things for different people but I guess it's all to say I think it's there is no real blueprint. You know what I thought the blueprint was a few years ago that it was becoming a young man's league and the older players were getting phased out. Well today it's older players are incredibly important so I don't think there's any real blueprint you just got to kind of go with the flow.

Draft, develop, try to put a good team on the ice and that helps you recruit players to want to come join your program. Can you talk about the attraction of playing with good players on a winning team? The team that's won the Stanley Cup twice in a row and been to the final three times in a row, was able to keep, you to keep its three big free agents in-house with what could be perceived as hometown discount deals in terms of Sam Bennett, Brad Marshand, and Aaron Ekblad. There's been a lot of conversation about the inherent advantage that the Florida teams have, the other zero state tax teams have in being able to offer really attractive packages to their players and the take home pay is as good as it gets

in the US and it can obviously lower the cap hit. As a guy now, a general manager in a state that to my knowledge has got to be one of the highest tax states in the US. How do you feel about that advantage and is it a concern? Well, it's not a concern to me because there's 32 teams and if a team has an advantage or two for whatever reason, you can talk taxes or weather or whatever, there's still 32 teams and half make the playoffs and you got to run a good program. You got to draft, you got to develop, you got to try to sign good contracts and you build a good program. And when you build a good program, people want to stay with it.

And so, you know, whatever system, I don't care, whatever system you got, there's going to be some advantages for some teams, some disadvantages. But I do think that when you take care of your business, you can be competitive. So, I think great job by Bill Zito and his people down there in the moves that they've made over the last three or four years building that team. They've done an amazing job. Other people have done great jobs in their markets, but I just think that the teams that – you've got to try to – we're all trying to do a good job.

I mean, it's – and I just think that that's what you strive to do, is do a good job. And if there is some advantages here and there, so be it. But it's not a large portion. It's just a small portion, and and you just got to keep doing the things that you can do to make your team successful in your marketplace. Ken Holland is our guest. He is the LA Kings Vice President and General Manager. You guys came into free agency on July the 1st with nearly $16 million in salary, cash

space. There was a lot of speculation. You guys were looking for one of the big fish in free agency. At what point in time did you get the inclination that you might not have the chance to sign your intended target and how hard is it to pivot from your intended ideas before free agency actually begins? Well I don't know if we had any real intended targets I'd you know I think you got to go into these periods of time with multiple

plans. And then be ready to move in a whole bunch of different directions because you just, one team or one person doesn't really dominate or dictate what's going on. There's 32 teams and then there's the other side, there's players and there's agents. So this team had a really good team last year, 105 points, I think sixth overall in points. They got some really good young players on the up come there, Brad Clark and Byfield and Laferriere and Turcot and some good veteran leadership in Ca Tarandouti and then a bunch of players, a number of players that are in the prime of their career, good players, Fiala and Kempe and some other, you know, Dano.

So we're just trying to build the team the best that we can. I had a lot of different ideas. Sat here for two weeks with our people in a meeting room, you know, morning from, I don't know, got there every morning, started at seven o'clock, went till about five o'clock and went through a whole number of ideas, worked the phones with other general managers on whatever trade possibilities would be and we're ready to go in whatever direction that kind of the marketplace dictated. So we feel good about the things that we were able to accomplish. We still have $4.5 million of cap space. So we've got some flexibility here going forward.

So like you said, we feel good about what we were able to accomplish. Yeah and you talked about the importance of drafting and developing it's always been the specialty of your organizations through the years. What did you make of the new decentralized draft and how do you like it going forward? I'm old fashioned. I really enjoyed the old system, but I do think the draft weekend for me, it's really about the kids that are being drafted, the young people and their parents and the memories that they're going to take away from their draft weekend. So I think it's less important what I feel about me personally, if I like it here or

I like it there. So I'm sure I've talked to lots of general managers and ultimately Gary Bettman and Bill Daley and Colin Campbell and the league and the NHL p a will make a decision what they think is the best way to go but i just want to make sure uh... that it's a great weekend for the kids and their parents

you clearly still have some work to do with regards to free agency again july first was just yesterday but it wouldn't be a ken hall in appearance on t s n ten fifty if we didn't inquire about the annual golf trip that you go on. We know Doug Armstrong is a big part of it as well, the president of the St. Louis Blues. Can you take us through the destination this summer? About every three or four years I go to Europe for about a week. So I'm trying to grab a weekend in August in August, over in Europe. And then get back at it.

So, you know, still work the phones here for the next little while. Don't really have any ARB cases on our, on our plate. So that's about it. We're going to grab a week in August, you know, quick little week over and back and then looking forward to September and start going to the rink and getting at it. Are we talking Scotland, Ireland, what are we looking at Ken? Those are my two favorites, Scotland and Ireland. Actually I've never really gone anywhere other than Scotland and Ireland on a golf trip. It's always fun to be on the ocean,

It's always fun to be on the ocean, you know, Royal County Down and Royal Port Rush and Turnberry and some of those courses that host British Open. They're special places to be. So I always include one, two or three of those courses on a trip because you get to watch them on TV. They're world famous and they're great courses. So this year we're going over, we're plan to a three of those courses and then some other really good depth i call them be courses

uh... and it's it's a week and then uh... or over back in let's let's get good to know if they'll be back i think by the middle middle of august and uh... you know start you'll be in l a m started ready for a train camp well if you need a couple extra guys can be in our available so you just let us know alright now okay well you're single digit cappers and i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i yeah okay take all the money on me that is true that is a very good point well thanks so much for taking the time for us best of luck going forward here and I enjoy the summer the best you can thank you to thank you guys all right that's

Ken Holland the GM vice president of the LA Kings and for years for years Ken Holland's been in the NHL been appearing on the station since the inception of the station since 2011 right yeah I remember being a producer, a show called Mackle and Cause, and we booked Ken Holland when he was with the Red Wings. And I remember that, I'm a massive golf fan, I love going on golf trips and playing golf, and he brought up how he was going on this trip to Scotland. He's like, here's my number any time you're heading over there, you let me know, I'll give you all the recommendations you need. And I mean, you know, you need a lot of money to go over

to play golf in Scotland and England and Ireland, needless to say, but those guys have it down. I know Darren Pang goes on that trip as well. Doug Armstrong, a heavy NHL contingent. That'd be a lot of fun to be out there with those guys. That'd be a good one. Yeah, I know. It might be my next life. My next life. You never know. You might get, you might be a late, there might be a late scratch and they, and they call you. Yeah. Wouldn't that be, would that be something, you know what, I like the cut of that kid's jib. We gotta include him. Why not? We gotta include him, you never know.

You never know. Overdrive brought to you by FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. We have Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks in about 20 minutes as we continue here on this Wednesday afternoon. Back on Overdrive, Thatcher Demko in about 15 minutes. Talked a lot about NHL free agency day one. I've not talked a lot about the NBA and what was going on there. How about that Damien Lillard story out of Milwaukee where they decide to stretch $113 million over five years. The stretch wave. The stretch wave. So they get rid of Lillard they ultimately bring in Myles Turner from Indiana was a huge part of that Pacers team that went to the NBA finals all in an effort to placate Giannis who could still in

theory just say I'm still out of here yeah although I imagine Giannis probably had some kind of you know heads up that deal like this was gonna happen they lose Lillard who again has a torn Achilles and is 35 years old who knows what he's going to be able to do the rest of his NBA career but bringing in Myles Turner I suppose that keeps Milwaukee in the mix but that's a lot of money hundred and thirteen million dollars to give a guy over a five-year period yeah only in the NBA not to play for your franchise and now every team in the league wants them at the minimum

Oh sure essentially get them, you know at a massive bargain free and you take a gamble It's a very low-risk gamble in NBA terms because look there haven't been a lot of great success stories of guys coming back from Achilles Surgeries, but Kevin Durant's one, you know, he popped Achilles in 2019 and he's had some very good productive years one you know he popped Achilles in 2019 and he's had some very good productive years thereafter so there's also a lot of stories of guys that pop it and they never really get back to where they were they they were you know 70 percent of what they were. Clay Thompson he had the Achilles and the ACL in successive years and he's a good shooter but Clay Thompson was one of the better players in the NBA and now he's more like a third or fourth man on a legit team in Dallas. So you never really know what's gonna come.

You never know, but Durant's seven foot, or damn near close, and is one of the best shooters in the history of the sport. Dame, of course, a more explosive, much shorter guy. I don't love the odds of him coming back and actually having impact, but let's hope for the best for him. Yeah, we talk about tampering,

or lack thereof in professional sports De'Andre Ayton was cut a couple of days ago and clears waivers at five o'clock and who would think that a team that is in desperate need of a center who could really use a center in the NBA? A team with LeBron, a team with Luca, Don, De'Andre Ayton the expectation is he lands in LA to play for the Lakers. I just wonder how that could possibly happen. Was there any communication with Ayton's agent and perhaps LeBron and all the guys with the Lakers?

I would guess that's exactly it. But that's a hell of a pickup for the Lakers. They don't have to give up anything for a decent center. And remember they were going to trade the draft picks for Mark Williams and then the physical failed. So the Lakers are in pretty decent position. They're picking up eight and for nothing It's nice to pick up a guy for nothing when you actually have nothing to give Like they have no trade material. I mean, I guess you know outside of players that they actually need and so yeah

It's very it's a very good signing for the Lakers, as flawed and as questionable a character as Deandre Ayton is. Hey man, he can play and he's a body and he doesn't cost you anything. Yeah, and I mean the salaries in the NBA, like some of the deals, we saw Shea Gill just Alexander sign a deal that'll pay him almost $72 million per season.

And again, I got like, that doesn't scream as crazy to me as something like Pertle making 26 mil a year as like the league's ninth best center and I get it, Pertle, very valuable piece to the current and the future prospects of the Toronto Raptors. 26 mil, man, what a sport, what a league, Why am I not taller and more athletic, David? It's 20, 26 million and you don't know how to shoot. Imagine what you'd be making. He cannot shoot. Imagine what you'd be making if you could shoot

in a game where the object of the game is to put the ball in the basket and you're not very good at that part of it. It's amazing. No, it's a wonderful blessing to be an NBA player and to be one of the best is beyond belief Yeah, you know the idea that these guys are making that type of money the hundred million dollar player is not too far away Okay, definitely not we also mentioned the Knicks will sign will hire

I should say Mike Brown as their next head coach according to ESPN and the 12th choice We were we remember the process by which a literally every NBA team, can we hire your coach? No. Every NBA team, except for the Raptors, who apparently... Darko did not get the call. Darko must be like, hey, anyone want to ask if I'm interested in the Knicks job? It's very insulting that he wasn't asked, but yeah, it's pretty clear that the Knicks went with their 12th option to Mike Brown.

So congratulations to him. CAA, the agency, essentially runs the Knicks. You know, Leon Rose is former head of CAA basketball. So don't worry Raptor fans, they've hired CAA to find a new president. It ought to go really well. It most certainly will. Raptors fans are feeling great about the current prospects of their team, even without Masayu Jerry at the helm. It could be a roadside breakdown CAA. It could be. It could be. That's hour one, hour two ahead. Thatcher Demko Keegan Matheson on the Jays game three tonight against the Yanks after a stellar first two. See what the Jays have in

store in game three tonight. Hour number two is next. You've been listening to Overdrive powered by FanDuel. FanDuel bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Number 2 is next. Beyond, the hottest gaming news, insight and industry leaders, and more, weekly. Join me, Naomi Kyle, and stay ahead of the game with all the latest updates. Even if you're a total newbie. Stream This Week in Gaming on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.