OverDrive - OverDrive - July 23, 2026 - Hour 1 - Ryan Getzlaf

Episode Date: July 23, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes, Dave Feschuk and Keegan Matheson for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys kick things off by discussing Patrick Kane’s return to the Chicago Blackhawks, and Darren Ferris’ comments on Mitch Marner’s tenure in Toronto. Former NHLer Ryan Getzlaf joins to discuss his new role as assistant coach with the Team Canada World Junior hockey team, the coaching styles he’d like to emulate from his playing days, and his management goals in hockey. The guys wrap up the hour discussing LeBron James’ free agency decision.

There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellair direct.com. This hour of overdrive is powered by Fanduil. Fanduel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. All right, here we go overdrive, off and running. TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker, up on TSN4, up on YouTube live, Brian Hayes, Keegan Matheson and Dave Festchuk

all in studio on a beautiful Thursday in Toronto beautiful weather outside. Life is good. Life is very good. Got it at a ballpark? You could be. I could be in theory. You in another world, you would be down there. I got enough opportunities to do that.

You got a lot of opportunities. Dave, are you enjoying the local baseball club? They're a lot of fun. I'll tell you what. A lot of fun to watch play right now. I was commiserating with our friend here about how many more these games, he actually is contractually obligated to take in.

Because any number is probably too many. I did choose the wrong sport. Now that I'm not risking any, I chose the wrong sport. I'd love to cover a practice. Give me an off day practice, head down, grab breakfast. But I think I chose the wrong one, fellas. But I've enjoyed a little day away from it. Yeah, good.

Thankful for that. No, you're right, though. It's funny how, I guess outside of spring training, they practice at spring training. But you basically get to the season and that's it. You know? You're in like off days. No one's going close to the park. No.

Obviously. And then, you know, you get there early and I remember, we've heard from a bunch of the guys that've got early batting practice. And guys show up at 11 a.m. noon for a 707 first pitch. So they're there all day and they're preparing and they're working on stuff.

But it's not like a, there's no whiteboard out there. John Snyder's not sitting there like, hey boys. This is what we're playing. We're going to get the ball to the Guerrero here, you know? There's no set play is happening. Yeah, that is interesting.

I had never thought of that, but you just don't cover practice. That's a tough one. If you're like a football reporter, that's basically all you do is cover practical. That's all you're doing. And it's tough because it makes my schedule very public, you know. You get the text saying, hey, I see that you're not working three Tuesdays from now. Anyone else that I know in my life, their schedule is very private. I can't access their HR files.

Mine's out there. Right. So when they're not playing, everyone knows, you're just kind of sitting around. And I'd like to sit in my cave. I would like to drink six beer in the dark, please. But I've been living the off-day life, fellas. Just a great start to the day today. Brilliant morning.

Drop the dog off at the groomer, took a nap, picked the dog up. Perfect. I mean, I need the work today. What a set up. What a racket. I like that. I mean, the amount of money you can pour into getting a dog a haircut in this city, fellas. I've strayed from the light.

I haven't had a dog since I was a kid, but I think I might be inclined to do the grooming myself. Like, how tough could it be? See, this is tough because by the time, and it's just a classic, picture the small white dog that everyone downtown has. Yeah. And here I am slightly larger than that thing,

lugging it around looking rather foolish. Don't get me wrong. Love it. But by the time you tip and get out of there, I'm dangerously close to $200. Gee, that's a lot. Yeah, that's extreme. And the layer that makes this worse, I cut my own hair.

Right. I go free for myself for the last 20 years. Yeah, and it looks. And here I am with this 10-pound dog blowing that on it. Let me get this straight, though. You're a lap dog guy? I mean, you know, I've kind of walked my way into it. Okay.

You know, I've come to a, I've adopted to the lifestyle, I think. So here I am walking this thing down King Street West. Okay. You know, me at 6'2 and closer to a 3 than a 1, let me tell you, fellas. with this dog. It's something. I like that. It's a good life. Like a Bond villain vibe. It is. You kind of got that. We're the odd couple. Yeah, exactly. But expensive.

You carry it in a bag at times? One of those little bags with a mesh? See, fellas, it does not respect me as a human being, which is the tough part. So when I take it outside, it will not walk. I carry it to the corner and bring it home. See, that's a downtown dog. It's completely demeaning. You can tell the difference between, like, a city dog and out in the country. dog. I got in a country dog is walking and running and off a leash. And you get a city dog, man. And I don't really blame them because their instincts are probably like, what the hell's

going on? Why am I outside? Where are we? This is just all concrete. The city's gotten into me, fellas. I used to think I had some grizzle gone. You know, to show up here with a $14 match at a moro or something. The game's gone. Yeah. Yeah. Well, to answer your question, Dave, I don't think anyone wants to cut their own dog's hair. Like, I just think that that's asking for a lot of trouble. But it's not a world that I'm living in right now, so I couldn't tell you. I couldn't. I mean, anything's for a price.

But it just, like, that bill. That seems crazy. That's a big deal. Yeah, that's a big. And, of course, like all of these small dogs, incredibly anxious. So we had this thing, essentially, on hallucinogenics, dropping it off. Right. I was quite jealous, actually, when I saw the two different directions.

Its eyes were pointed in. Okay. I had a better morning than me, at least. Yeah. Well, exactly. Now it's ready to go for a big weekend. Your dog is ready to have a big big weekend. Time well spent.

So, yeah, good. I'm not at the ballpark. And now you're not at the ballpark. I love it. And you're here. And again, we'll track the Jays and, you know, another disappointing loss last night. So that's, I mean, it's been over for a long time.

But now we can stop pretending that somehow there's going to be a miraculous run in them. And they're going to find a way, you know, they've probably got to win at least 40 of their last 60 games to even be close to the playoffs, and that's not going to happen. You know, 86 wins may not do it. They're not, like, if they were fully healthy and playing, great, 750 ball was not going to happen. So the numbers just don't number. You know, they don't add up.

It's not going to happen. It's, uh, I guess there's some clarity. I think if you're Ross Atkins and company, you know, it's, uh, it's got to be difficult to be making phone calls to people. because generally, like my understanding of the way any league works, if you won, which they didn't, but if you won or you got to the dance, you know, the kind of brotherhood will check in, hey, congrats, great run. I'm sure Ross saw everyone at the winter meetings and got a ton of pads on the back.

What a team you've built there in Toronto. What a run. It's good to see a season. All day. Just all day. And like Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro would have been absolutely peacocking around the winter meetings. outside of the executive team with the Dodgers, they would be getting the most attention.

And they deserve it based on the way their team performed last year. To go from winter meetings, wow, we got to watch out for you. You got yourself a club to, hey, we'd be willing to take that guy off your hands and not pay anything for them. Like nine months later is extreme. Like, that's an extreme reversal of game seven, World Series, just missed.

Wow, you got a great team. Really looking forward to seeing how you guys play next year to almost a mercy call. Like, we'll take that guy if you want to get rid of them. And, you know, we're not going to pay anything for it. But we'd be willing to take that guy because it's so ugly on July 22nd or whatever it is. Crazy. It's amazing. Crazy stuff.

It's amazing how harshly the pendulum swings, right? Like, I was down at that flown analytics conference in the springtime. and the Jays were being anointed as the best analytics organization in sports. Yeah. All the dorks, all the pocket protector spreadsheet, love it.

Love it. Dorca-palooza attendees, as they call it. Yeah. The Js were the, the balls of the ball. Couldn't get enough. They were the team. They were, they were the model, the gold standard.

Look at these guys. They figured it all out. They cracked the code. And here we are. Only a few months later. And now it's like, Are you sure you crack the code there? No, no more.

I don't think they have. It's a high effort trade deadline, too. You know, like, if you're a team that sucks and you have a star player on an expiring deal, you stand back. You're the prettiest person at the bar, and everyone's coming up to you and trying to buy you a drink.

Right now, you're the desperate one at the bar, and that's a much worse position to be in. You know, you're the team calling guys trying to convince them, hey, those last few starts from Kevin Gosman, trust me, not that. Hey, George Springer, you're telling team after team, don't look at the numbers.

Right. I promise you there's something more in there. And teams on the other end of the phone, this is when you can kind of BS your own analytics. Maybe there's a team out there that has an analytic model, whatever it is, whatever it's named, I don't care, that says the Dalton Varsha or George Springer is really twice the value they're showing right now.

You're not going to tell the Blue Jays that. You're not going to lead with that. You're going to say, man, look at this bad thing, this bad thing, this bad thing. It's the same as popping on marketplace, trying to buy something. Now, you're trying to poke it. There are obviously players on this team that they probably don't want to trade that would get the reaction you referenced. Like if Louis Varland's name is out there, that obviously is an incredible amount of value.

I think probably Rogers would be a guy that would have a lot of value in the league right now. Yeah, he's been phenomenal. He's phenomenal. And not giving us a single reason to talk about him, which is exactly what his special thing. He just shows up, funky delivery, gets the job done and leaves the game. I don't think I've talked to him this season. It's exactly who he should be. I don't recall seeing him interviewed or anything.

It's perfect. Just shows up, performs, and gets out of the way. Precisely what you're looking for. So obviously, you know, those guys would have a ton of value and the Jays could hang up the phone and say, call me back when you're serious. The problem is the players that they're more than likely looking to trade would be the opposite.

The Jays are going to have to pitch those players, you know, and pitch the value that they could possibly have. And, you know, we all know who those players are. And we'll see what happens between now and August 3rd. So Jay's raise will track that. Jay's down at Fenway tomorrow. We got Ryan Getslap coming up in 20 minutes.

He's going to be coaching for the World Junior staff, which is pretty interesting. Because he's been working with the league. He's done some management stuff with Hockey Canada. And now he's going to be an assistant coach for the World Junior team. So we'll catch it with Ryan in about 20 minutes. There is some hockey news, including Patrick Kane signing today, going back to Chicago. Eight million a year

on a two-year deal for Patrick. I was shocked. This was a borderline Jeff Finger response by me. I thought it was maybe $8 million total, but it's $8 million part. I know the reaction out of Chicago is we've got a ton of cap space this year

and next so it doesn't matter. What I have learned through experience is you never know when that money is going to be needed. Like, every dollar counts. And I like the idea of King going back there based on his history.

I think he's probably the greatest Chicago Blackhawk of all time. It's not him. It's Taves or Hall or McKita, Duncan Keith, Chelyos. Like, he's on a short list. And he's going back there and he's going to likely team up with Connor Bred. I don't know how much he's got left in the tank. It a lot of points, but he's a power play guy now. Defensively, he's never been great.

And he's worse now than he's ever going to be. doesn't skate great. It's just a lot of money for nostalgic purposes. And clearly they wanted him. We had Kyle Davidson on a couple days ago, and Kyle told us. He's like, it's in his court.

Basically, we've offered him a lot of money. We're waiting to see if he's willing to accept it, and he eventually did. But I have learned from experience when you look at it and say, it doesn't matter this year. In our next year, we get all this cap space. It can run out quick.

You get young guys that play really well that needs to get paid. you get a trade that falls in your lap. You get a great season, and then all of a sudden free agents want to sign and you run out of money. It's just not ever smart to just say, take the extra two or three.

Like I thought he'd honestly signed for like three and a half, four million. I know he had some points last year. I get it, but it was empty calories, a lot of it on a bad team in Detroit or a middling team. And it's just a lot of money

to pay a guy on a two-year deal when he is the player he is today and no longer the player he was 10 years ago. Well, it's definitely too much money because he was making half that in Detroit. Less than half that in Detroit the past three years. And, you know, if you're Connor Bardard and you essentially just gave back some money,

you gave a hometown discount on your $15 million deal. Now you can argue. That's a lot of money still. It's still a lot of money, Hayes, but the market dictated, highest paid player in the league is now making 18. Okay? And he's not as good as you.

And his name is Leo Carlson. So by that metric alone, you could have got in there with your agent and said, you know, I want something more than 15. Bottom line is he probably could have gotten it. At least he probably could have got a bump. He probably could have got a little bit more. You can argue that all you want.

But the bottom, if you have perceived yourself as giving a hometown discount, which I believe he perceives himself as having done, you start thinking, is this the way they're spending it? Like, they're paying this guy double what he probably deserves? Maybe. Yeah. Because why? Because it's a, it's a thanks for your great.

career, Patrick kind of contract? That's what it feels like. It feels like, hey, it's still pretty ugly around here. You know, they've got some young pieces, and prior to the Bedard injury, they were playing okay. In a tough division. You know, you got, you got Colorado, you got Dallas, you got Minnesota in your division. Winnipeg might bounce back. They're in a tough spot. Utah, like, they got good teams in that division. So it's a tough climb to begin with, but it does kind of feel like, hey, we need some goodwill here. We need a splash in the marketplace.

And it's July 23rd. Let's just pay him whatever he's willing to accept to come here. Like that also is kind of what it feels like. Like Kane was buying his time, maybe hoping a more competitive team would offer him something. And it didn't happen. So he's taking the money and the nostalgia. And again, I can't speak for Chicago,

the market, or being a Blackhawk fan. But I would think this would land pretty well. You know, like when he left, they were ready for him to leave because it was the end of the era. They were done. Everyone else was gone. You know, Taves was done. Keith was done. Seabrook was done. Quinvo was long gone. Obviously, there was a lot of controversy hanging around the organization.

And they were ready for him to go. Now he's coming back. And, you know, I think they'll sell jerseys and tickets and create a little bit of a buzz and a big sports town where the bears are pretty good and won the division last year. I know, but still the reality. You can't deny it. Yeah.

Like, you know, the white side. socks have been pretty good. The Bulls always kind of stink. But it's a battle for attention there. And I get the impression like that's maybe what's factored in here. But you're right. If you're Bardard, I think you like the idea of playing with the guy because Bedard's a goal score. And Kane, I think, still has vision and talent. Can he get there at the same level he used to? No, he can't. Can he run a power play the way he used to? Probably not, but he won't be expected to, to the same extent where everything's going through him. But $8 million this year, I get it. I'm saying, I'm

telling you, though, next year, especially if his wheels fall off, I don't care how much cap space you have, you still get a play to the numbers. Just never smart business to almost accept, well, that's going to be a loss, but we're still going to do it. It can happen fast, too. It can happen really fast. And with a better year, and on a team where you're already playing 15 mil to one guy, what's Byron 12 and a half? You've got some high numbers on the team. And if guys suddenly want to come there, if you look to move him next year, like he got to skip the bad years, I end be that. You skip your own orgs, rebuild, and come back for the glory days. I don't mind it. But it can get expensive quickly, man, and you've got to be real tight. When you're dealing with a

cap cap, you've got to be real tight. This is not like the Las Vegas Raiders where in the NFL you can have 110 mil and blow it on a guard or something because it really doesn't matter. When you're playing with a tight cap like this and with numbers exploding like they are, man, like so quickly, just the last few months, numbers have exploded in hockey. That's not going to Stop. Great example. Like Cain's an all-time great player going to the Hall of Fame, etc. 8 million at his age is crazy money. Considering he was just making $4 million. And the next guy who is old and going back to a team or trying to find that last deal is going to say Patrick Cain.

That's right. Right there. And his agent. Well, what do you think Mitch Marner is going to ask for to come back to the Leafs in seven years? Mitch going to need bonuses. Oh, boy. You need some bonuses, right? Mitch, if he ever returns to Toronto, he's going to have to make up of those entry-level contract bonuses that he missed out on. He's going to need a lot of help to, and he's going to need the team to protect him, right? He's going to need some help because Darren Ferris,

his agent was on the Puckpedia podcast. Man, can leave fans get dragged back into a Marner threat online? I love it. What a, like, good for the, I don't, I'm not familiar with the podcast. I know Puckpedia. It's a really good website. Yeah. And what a perfect encapsulation of the magnitude of the Maple Leafs and Maple Leaf fandom and how rabid fans are up here, how many of them there are, because Ferris or any other agent talking about any other player with any other gripe with any other team dies on a vine.

A few thousand views, a couple comments. This thing's trending more than any other comment I can think of online. Darren Ferris saying that the Leafs didn't do enough to protect Marner, that he was, I'm paraphrasing the scapegoat, that they didn't give him the bonuses, but then they gave it to Matthews, which we famously know about now. He mentioned the carjacking,

which again has nothing to do with the Leafs. No. Like, or Leaf fans. I mean, unfortunately, bad things happened in Toronto. It was an horrible situation. But to tag the two together, in my opinion, was completely ridiculous. But, yeah, we're talking Mitch Marner.

Because Mitch Marner's camp, is talking Mitch Marner and the Leafs. What do you make of it, Dave? Well, the amazing thing is it goes to show you that in pro sports a lot of times grudges never die. Like, that Marner camp is still holding on to the idea that Marner got screwed on an entry-level deal that was signed more than 11 years ago.

And he's made millions upon millions upon millions of dollars since. lives a life that by any human measure is exceptionally lavish and outstanding. He's got, he's pretty much got what you would consider a dream existence. And he's playing pretty damn good hockey too until games five and six when he was held off the score sheet. And his team lost the Stanley Cup final. At least they made it. He's been to one more Stanley Cup final than the Maple Leafs have since 90s. In any leap in 60 years.

Yeah. So good on him. And yet for whatever. reason when that camp, when members of that camp are asked about martyr's tenure, they cannot get off the fact

that they feel he was done wrong. And it's a fascinating psychological sort of exposition like of how something that gnaz at you and it gnaz at them and it never goes away no matter how many good things happen

between then and now. Yeah. It's never going to go away. And honestly, I saw this come up. My thought was like, is this has to be like a reaggregation of something that's come up over and over. You know, and that goes, we're still talking about it. Well, here's the thing. I have no issue, and I fully expect, agents, they have a sole purpose, and that is to support their players.

Darren Ferris and any other agent, they do not care about the teams, or should they? They're not there to do that. So I have no issue with Darren Ferris supporting his players. being on the side of his player, being overly ambitious to support his player. That's what he should be doing. If I'm Mitch Marner, that's probably what I want. I'm not sure I'd love this if I'm Mitch. I don't know if I need this to be, because, you know, by all accounts, Mitch is pretty

sensitive to social media and all that. I'll bet she's hearing it again from Lee Finns. Oh, yeah. I bet you leave fans kind of died down. They're like, it's the summer. Here we go again, you know, and it's because, you know, Darren Ferris decided to do the podcast, but he was asked about it. He was asked about it, and he gave an honest answer.

I really don't have an issue with him supporting his team, supporting his guy, and being anti-team. Like, that's what most agents think. I've spoken with many of them off the record. They're all in for every last penny. Yeah. They want their player to stick it to every team. That's the game. That's the name of the game.

Doesn't always happen that way. And a lot of times the players step in, just what happened with Mitch. And it's being stated in this podcast, Mitch said, I want to sign the contract. I just want to get going and get playing. and obviously the Leifes won the lottery the next year. They got Matthews. And that's on Shanahan because he capitulated and he gave Matthews the bonuses that he didn't give to Marner.

I don't believe William Nealander got those bonuses either. But what has been highlighted here, which has always been clear, and I think unfortunately, even if there was some different reality where the Leaves have this magical run and won a Stanley Cup, I think Marner's camp always felt like the Leafs were against them for some reason. They've always had a gripe with the Leafs. And it's kind of borderline sad, the fact that they're from here and they were all Leaf fans. Like that's what makes it even more confusing that you would have such a gripe with a team that you love, that you've been around.

You all get to be a part of it because he's in his hometown. But that's what came out of this, is that it really didn't matter the wins and losses. Their reality in the Marner camp was that the leaves, for whatever reason, just weren't on Marner's side, which is crazy, considering when he got out of his entry-level deal, they overpaid him by millions of dollars. And they put themselves into a spot where they had, that was the fourth, like the fourth pillar of the core four, where they put themselves to a spot where they had four guys making 50% of the cap. And everybody said he can't win that way when it happened. And Kyle Dubus said, well, just watch.

And then guess what? They couldn't win that way because there was no way you could balance the roster properly. It's amazing. But you're right. Like I think a lot of it came down to the fact that there were two guys. Like forget the core four. It was about Marner and it was about Matthews. And when they told Marner that Marner wasn't going to get the schedule B bonuses,

which were worth as much as $2 million potentially, and they said, we're not going to give them to anybody. And then they gave them to Matthews. That was like the original sin that has never been forgiven. And we'll never be, clearly. It will never be forgiven. It never will be. And I like that at this point, the only point of this is the beef itself.

You know, back then the beef with the agent, with the family, with Mitch Marner, yeah, you're looking at the next contract. You're looking at the next deal. Now it seems like the end game is just to keep the beef alive to stay bitter about this. Yeah. Well, and I also think that that's at the core of why he left. I know they keep referencing the fans and all that, because Ferris even said in the clip, the majority of people supported him.

Of course. So why don't you focus on that? You know, the majority of fans did love Mitch Marner and wanted him to succeed. No one was rooting against him to succeed. Why would you do that if you're a fan? Of course you want a Martyr to be great. The core four philosophy to work. Of course you wanted that to happen.

But in the largest, hockey market in the world. There's going to be a percentage of people that are not your biggest fan all the time. And when you, as a part of the team, fall apart and choke in the manner that you do every year, of course there's going to be more and more people that sway that way. I mean, that's natural. But I think him referencing the team and them not protecting him enough, it's not, it was never about the fans and how they felt about it. It was the fact that the Leafs didn't treat him the way they perceived he should have been treated. Whatever that means.

And them using, well, social media and this and all that, that's a cop out in my opinion. It's just I don't buy it that an athlete is going to throw away whatever he wants to be because of some social media issues. You're right. But I think that was part of it. But I also think it was a longer list of gripes. It wasn't just the bonus thing. And that was the fact that that.

Capcock was a problem. And then you had the, well, they didn't consider him for captain, which they didn't. And I think there was a beef there that, you know, you could have made the case. He was in, at many times. He was sort of the energy that the team needed. He was the, he was the provider of joy that the team needed until he turned into a sad sack who, you know, kind of, you know, walked around with a long face for the final, the final bit of his career. But it's, it's, it's, it's, you're right. I think you use the word.

It's, it's a sad story. lot of ways. Yeah, it really is because he just had the greatest run of his career as well. He chose Vegas. And the thing is, what is, the irony in this a little bit is that Vegas is, will protect you when they want to protect you. When they feel you serve them the way you want, but the second they don't want to protect you anymore, you're done. They have proven that many, many times, right? Go ask Bruce Cassidy, how they're protecting a Stanley Cup winning head coach. They're not going to protect you. And over there it was easy.

Just give me the rent-in-a-deal. But here it was way more complicated, way more of a strain. And it just led to year after year after year of clearly this just building and building and building. And Darren Ferris is his agent, but he's a big part of his camp. I think it represents the whole camp. But unfortunately, at the end, it's Mitch Marner's life. It's his career. And he allowed it to get to this point as well.

Because he could have told Ferris, he could have told him after he left. That's it. Stop talking about me. Oh, yeah. Stop talking about me and the leasing. If Mitch Carter didn't want Darren Ferris saying this stuff, Darren Ferris would not say a word. He wouldn't be, he'd be fired.

Yes. If this outrage Mitch Marner, Darren Ferris would have been fired a long time ago. Right, exactly. But clearly it doesn't. Ryan Getslaff coming up. We're tracking the J's Scotty Sheffler down at the 3M. I can't believe I just said that, but it's true.

And Sung J.M. is a man of style. We're going to tell you why. We're going to show you why. Overdrive continues up on TSN4. There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bell Air Direct and save. Get a quote at BellairDirect.com. Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Crave, Netflix, and Disney Plus from $94 a month.

Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. All right, overdrive continues. Powered by Fandul, bringing you more ways to play your game, your way. best bets later this afternoon. You got Ryan Dempster coming up just after 5 o'clock.

A lot of hockey news here for mid-July. Patrick Kane signing a big deal. You're a feeling the guy on the line could probably still play. I think you could bring something to someone. Oh, yeah. Right? Big part of that 03 draft. Greatest draft in history, in my opinion, the 03

draft. Absolutely insane. And you look in the first round, Anaheim took Corey Perry and Ryan Getslav. That's a pretty good draft. Here he is. Long time, Duck, big part of Canada's national team in the past,

and he'll be a big part of the coaching staff for Team Canada at the World Juniors. There is Ryan Getslav. How you doing, Ryan? I'm good. How you doing it doing, guys? We're doing very well. Can you take us back to that draft 03? How much did you know of Corey Perry and the fact that you guys both got drafted to Anaheim?

Yeah, it was a nice treat, I guess, when you get to go through it with somebody. But I didn't know pairs that much before then other than we had. had one world junior camp together. But I got to know him really well after that, that's for sure. Yeah, no kid, man. What a way to start. And then in 07, you guys get there. You win the Stanley Cup.

I mean, you guys want a gold together in 2010. Like, what an incredible career. And you had such a great career as a player, and you've been doing stuff with the league and some executive stuff with different teams. Why get into the coaching ranks here? Take us through that thought process, the idea of being an assistant coach for the world junior team.

Honestly, I'm just trying to get as much experience as I can. And, you know, coaching is something that I never thought I would really get into. But the more and more I was around the team and around the coaching staff during our Olympic run there, I just thought, you know, why not try it? I got the invitation to do it with Meish and thought I'd jump in and give it a shot. That sounds great. Well, you're coaching and obviously you're trying to get experience around the game at the executive level. Ryan, and I know you've worked into the Department of Player

Safety, but in the time since you last played a game back in 2022, have there been moments where you thought, you know, I could come back? There's been many of them, actually. And then usually I put my skates on and go on the ice for 15 minutes and realize that I can

play for about three and a half minutes a game probably and still be good. That's enough. That's a start. You get paid. Look at the salary cap right now. You can find a way to make $2,000. 3 million doing that? No problem.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's, well, I mean, we've talked to a lot of former players and a lot of them actually just, they stuff their skates away, and they never want to skate again. They never want to play again. Are you a beer league guy? Are you going to try to stay on the ice throughout the rest of your life, or what? All right, there you go. It was getting, it was icy off the top. I could tell we may have some issues there. We'll see if we can get them back. I think he's in the back of like a vehicle.

An SUV or so. Yeah, I was trying to get. Was that a train? I think it was being driven. Yeah, I think he's probably on his way to an airport or something, but we'll see if we can get him back on. Man, he was a good player, though. He was a really good player. Yeah, he won gold in 2010 and 2014. Copen 07. Could fight. Big dude. There he is.

We got you back. We got you back. So I don't know if you heard that, but as you guys, are you, like you said, you threw your, you throw your skates on for 10, 15 minutes, but is your plan to kind of stay in game shape throughout the rest of your life? Are you going to let yourself go a little bit like a lot of former pros, too? I've been letting myself go.

I don't skate ever. I kind of put the skates away and I'm playing in the odd charity game and stuff. So this is going to be, I've got to get back on the ice and get ready to go to this camp. We've got to coming up next week. So when you're talking about your career beyond the playing days, Ryan, I mean, what's intrigued you the most?

I mean, you've had pretty varied experiences. And now it's coaching, but do you have a long-term plan for where you want to end up beyond this? I wouldn't say a long-term plan really in place yet. I think that I want to be in and around the game for sure. And being a GM is probably my goal in the end. But as of right now, I'm trying to get as much experience around the game, different parts of the game.

And I've worked with the league now for a couple years. And like you said, did the player development. And now I'm just going to try the coaching thing and see where that leads me. Ryan, now they're getting into this coach and you've played for great coaches, you've been around great coaches, I'm sure there's some of them that you want to emulate, you want to do what this guy did,

maybe some stuff that you don't want to do that you saw when you were a player, but the good ones, take us through that. Who do you want to kind of mirror yourself off of and use some of those lessons from? Well, I think that's the best part about it. I've had experience at many different levels

and many different coaching styles. So I think ultimately as a coach, you've got to, first of all, be authentic. You've got to be yourself in some aspect their players are going to notice you're not doing that. And I think that I've learned a lot from different coaches. I had Mike Babcock at the World Events, and I really liked the way he ran those things.

But then I've had some other coaches, you know, Bruce and Randy and Dallas are all kind of different styles of things. So I'll take a little bit of everything from each guy and try and build my own stuff. In terms of the World Juniors, you know, having experience as a player, How might that help you once you get in the room? You know, you're talking 17, 18, 19-year-old kids, but you've been in that position before.

How do you think that could help you with this experience? Well, that's the best part about it. I can honestly sit there and tell them I've sat in your shoes before. I've been on the winning and losing it at the world. I learned a lot of different lessons throughout both of those events, and I'm trying to take that into the locker room and take that experience into those games. We still got you.

I think you're dropping us. We'll let you go, though, Ryan. It sounds like you're busy. I know you're going to be busy leading up to the camp, and hopefully we can catch up around Christmas. Thank you for doing this. Yeah, thanks, guys. Sorry about the service. All good. No problem. There he is. Ryan gets left. I don't know where he was. I'm kind of curious what he was doing. I know he was in a car. He wasn't driving. I hope.

Let's hope. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he wasn't driving because he was looking at his screen. But anyway, that's cool. I mean, those are cool stories. guys like that. Like you have to have a pretty significant reputation in the game to be handed that type of an opportunity. Oh, yeah. Right? Like, it's obviously the head coach of the juniors.

That's the spokesman. That's the guy who's going to pick the team with the executive team. So you're there for support. It's a quick tournament. It's a raw, raw tournament. A team like Canada is going to get out of the group stage, and the tournament really starts in the quarters. So you're playing basically three games.

Right. Like that's every year you're waiting to get to the quarterfinals so you can play three games. But for him to be given this opportunity, obviously hockey Canada thinks very highly of him. And he was a captain himself. He won two gold medals. He played on the World Junior teams, like he said, multiple times.

And he's a great player. So we'll see. It's too bad his phone wasn't working. But we'll get them back as maybe we'll get closer to the World Juniors. All right. We'll catch up with our boy, Dempster just after 5 o'clock. Because the Red Sox lost last night.

Finally. They're back. They're coming right back to reality. Amazing, man. It is take on that. The Jays and more overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance

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All right, Ryan Dempster in 20 minutes. Best bet still to come is well powered by Fanduel. I saw it, a buddy asked me today, he goes, is LeBron James going to Miami? I said, I don't know. I mean, I guess that's possible. And I do wonder if, like, Janus being there, would that be a comforting thing if he ended up in my mom?

Miami. I feel like the whole world wants him to go to Golden State. That's kind of what people are pushing. I can understand the nostalgic element of him going back to Cleveland, but for a third time, it's unnecessary. I want to see him play with Steph if I had to choose, but going back to Miami, that could work too. If you're on the East Coast, him and Janus, I think there's enough there? Not a bad life in Miami either. Well, he likes it. That's another thing. I could see him.

That's the golf. He's a big golf. guy now. I think actually that's a really important thing to point out. I'm not sure this guy's doing winters again. Once you get the bug and he's, you know, he's 42 years old, 41 years old. He's done everything. He's made everything. Why would you go through a Cleveland

winter if you don't have to? Yeah. Because you're garage to garage. You can't play golf in Cleveland. Yeah, but you can bring your clubs on the charter, Hayes. I mean, it's... It's... Off days in the NBA. That's a plenty of opt days. To Keegan's point, there's plenty of off days in the NBA where you can saddle up to a golf course for a couple.

You can get, like, Michael Jordan played a lot of golf playing in Chicago. You know? Yeah. Not every day. Not every day. Do you think he had anything on the line in those games? Yeah. A lot of things.

A lot of things. Like, honestly, he would have had a completely different life, obviously. But if Jordan was in Miami Heat, he would have been playing 45 holes a day every single day. His whole career. Without a doubt. Because I, I, my theory has always been that Kyle Lowry got down to Tampa in 21 and said, I'm not leaving here.

Like, I'm going, and he got traded to Miami, obviously. But I don't think he was coming back because of the winter. And I think he was like, I'm playing golf somewhere. Yeah. Because Kyle loves to play golf. Speaking of clubs on the charter. Yeah. Loves to play golf.

He towed to the clubs a lot of places. And I would guess when they were in Tampa down in the bubble, Kyle Lowry was playing golf every day. Every single day. Without a day. Yeah. I think every day. It's hard to leave, man.

So. Well, they were, it was a misdamping. Existible existence otherwise, right? It was one of the only things that anybody had any fun doing. That's right. During COVID, that's all you could do. In the States, not in Ontario. Well, yeah. Remember there was that one time when we were literally the only place on Earth that wasn't allowing golfing? Yeah. Because guys were having pops in the parking lot. That's what Doug Ford was saying.

That was a classic. That was a good line. But, yeah, I would put, I would put some money down on LeBron avoiding a tough winter. I don't think he's going to sign somewhere where it's no, where it's. a tough one. I think that Pat Riley's a way bigger factor in all of this than people are talking about right now. Like you go back to those big three years. They win in 11, they went in 12, and Pat Riley was pissed when LeBron left. Like there was some animosity there. Like he was really angry at LeBron James for a while. And he's kind of thought over the years. You know, he's saying all the right things now. Like Pat Riley's going out of his way to talk to people about this. He had that quote. It was back, ah, 2020, 21, when he said, I'll leave a key under the mat for LeBron. Like

it's got rusty, but I'll put a shiny one back under there. And I think that Pat Riley is just so fixated on this idea. Because Pat Riley's always said we could have had an ultimate dynasty back then. And Pat Riley's had three or four different Hall of Fame phases to his career, man. But he seems fixated on this idea. And he has for a decade that we could have been even more if LeBron had stuck around Miami a bit longer. And there's some magic to Pat Riley, man. Oh, he's the salesman.

Like he can hold the room clearly. The thing is it's not the same heat that he's coming back to. You know, and that's the thing. Like, yes, Janus is there. And like, I'm not sure where Miami ranks as they currently stand in the east. I mean, they're a playoff team, but I don't look at them as some like terrifying team now because they have Janus. And I'm not sure LeBron still carries enough weight in terms of the actual performance on the court where it's going to like skyrocket the odds of whatever team.

he goes to unless he was joining a team that was already very highly touted anyway and he was just supplanting or supplementing them with more talent and more experience and more depth like again if you join the Knicks like all right well maybe New York's supposed to win it anyway or he goes to Oklahoma City

they're going to win it anyway and he's just going to help them right he's doing the KD thing yeah exactly he's jumping on a moving train I don't think he like LeBron is taking a team that you think is going to finish fifth in the east and now they're going to finish because LeBron's there.

That's not going to happen. I think that's why this decision's taken so long. I really do. Because there's no clear-cut perfect situation for him. There really isn't. Like Miami, I agree. Like, I think Miami's probably the most likely scenario because of the weather, because of the past history.

81-year-old Pat Riley still has cachet. How can you have swag? He's 81 now. I would have said 65 and still dancing. He looks great, man. He looks great. Imagine dressing half as good as Pat Riley. Nobody does.

He's the hair. Nobody ever has. He's the man. He's incredible. I mean, did you hear him the other day? He was on the Dan Levitart show. He's talking about going. He's going to Switzerland with his wife to get his blood scrubbed or something. Good for him. A little scrubbing? Oil change.

He'll be looking 50 before you. He'll be looking 40 any day now. I like that. But they don't have a ton of shooting. They don't have the incillary players that you probably need to win with BAM and Janice and LeBron. And to your point, like, he clearly can't play 82 again. And at age 41, and you know, you wonder about his impact on a situation that's not kind of tailor-made. I mean, Philly's probably the one. That's the one that may make the most sense.

I just, he's got no connection to that market. If he wants to win, like Rich Paws. That's the thing, though. Does he want to win? Is that what he really wants to do? Yeah, does he need the story? Because he half to be empty. Like, I feel like he wants the story.

of going to with Steph, going home to Cleveland, going back to Miami. He wants the story. You know, the old factors aren't there. Like, none of these teams have spent two years clearing their cap for LeBron. You don't need to. You know, and the attention's not there. He's not being brought in to be the guy. Like, he can still be an elite facilitator.

He can be anybody he wants. Now, like, how he would fit with Bamatabio and Janus, like, I don't know. That's clunky. That's, yeah, like, who, basketball-wise, it's clunky. It is. I'll be passing the ball. But when you look at the factors, like, this is, not the old LeBron chase. This is not the

decision. It's not when he announced to go to Miami. It's none of those places. And I don't know if he's basking in the attention. I think he definitely is. His agent is. 100%. Like this is his last dance of getting everyone talking about him short of the

retirement. When he retires, obviously he will get the platform that he will deserve at that point. But this is the last time you're holding the league hostage. The last time, and he knows it, and he's going to take advantage of it, it's July 2030, hasn't even made a choice. And they're going to, when they, when it gets out, I guarantee you, I'd be shocked,

I should say, I can't guarantee it, but I'd be shocked if like Shams is the one reporting it. Like I don't think an insider is going to report LeBron's going. I think LeBron will control it. And I don't want to see an insider do it. I don't want to see it. If they have the power to do it. Yeah, exactly. I mean, like I understand the game.

I get it. And maybe the team will reach out and say, hey, listen, I'm telling you he's here for dinner. We just signed. But I get the impression. that LeBron and his company and everyone is going to control that. It's a grand. Yes. Like it won't be Jim Gray and it won't be at a YMCA in Greenwich, Connecticut.

But there will be an element of showtime to it. Well, to your point, you said you used the phrase last dance. Like you're hearing people saying, you know, he's a medium mogul. They got a production company. Like the whole, the idea that they're going to document his last season in a very grand fashion and make it a big, like a profitable production. It'll be a 10 piece. Netflix and 100%.

And make it a big deal. And so, yeah, to your point, it's what maybe the other reason it's taken so long because they're producing, they're producing his entrance to his final destination. Quite literally. I do see that. Then after this, we can move on to talk about what is broadcast deal is going to look like. This is going to be Tom Brady Times 2. You think he's going to go down that road?

The money. I mean, I have a billionaire, though. He's always have another billion. You can. NFL money is different than NBA money. It is. Like no one, like Brady's making $37, $38 million a year to call 17 games plus playoffs with some studio and interview stuff in there.

I don't think anyone in the NBA circle is making that kind of money. But if you're LeBron, I mean, I should actually say, like Michael Jordan just did a sit down with Mike Tariko. And I think they paid him like a ridiculous amount of money. show up for one day. And they just chopped it up and played it. Bring a few different jackets and ties. Yeah. I mean, LeBron, but I just feel like LeBron would be in a scenario where what he has proven here over the last seven, eight years is he wants to own it.

He doesn't want to go work for someone else. That's true. Like, I don't see LeBron working for NBC or ESPN or something like that. Yeah, that's what he's got the podcast already. Yeah, and that's his own thing. That's his thing, right? He's got it. Why would he go and work on a panel with Mike Greenberg? you know what I mean or whatever or be on ESPN and then it's tied in your contract

while you got to go on first take and I just don't see him doing that kind of stuff he's like I think he loves the podcast because he makes his own schedule right like yeah he'll do the podcast when he damn well feels like it and and I think to your point like this guy's got grander ambitions then then talking on a microphone at a schedule time right this guy wants to be an NBA owner yes now the prices are so high now it may be rich for him but Brady owns 10% of the Raiders. Could I see LeBron owning 10% of a team? I could definitely see that being a case.

10% of the team and 100% of the control. Yes, probably would in the end, which he is used to because he's been doing that with his own career for a long time. Hour 2 coming up, Ryan Dempster will join us. We'll get to our best bets as well. Overdrive continues up on YouTube live. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandul.

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