OverDrive - OverDrive - July 7, 2025 - Hour 1

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

Join Jim Tatti and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys dive into the Maple Leafs trade targets on the roster, Matias Maccelli's introduction in Toronto, Zach Hyman's injury timeline with the Oilers and the Blue Jays sweeping the Angels to mark eight consecutive wins. TSN Hockey Analyst Martin Biron joins to dive into Anthony Stolarz's contract trajectory, Bowen Byram going to arbitration with the Sabres and Connor McDavid's possible deal with the Oilers.

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The station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca or the free iHeartRadio app Well, there we go. Welcome to Overdrive. On a Monday, Jim Taddy gave Festec with you just playing around with the earbuds So I can hear myself now, which is kind of sad because I never listen to myself Yeah, well, you know you're a pro you don't need to.

All these years of the business that just a lot of people comes out. A lot of people would agree with you they don't listen to me either but nonetheless what do we have in the show today? Let's go through this. This is a Monday obviously first full week of July right? Marty Barone will be buying at 420 after that uh... after that we have uh... steve phillips at five oh five yes guy no guy five thirty so fastener seat belts for that when eastern

county six oh five and eric kratz talking baseball former blue jane at at six thirty so i guess you know just because marty brown's up first what was sort of dust off the hockey uh... and and i guess the the breaking stuff is uh... forget about offer sheets all the r f a's are going to arbitration and and those that tried to serve off the hockey. And I guess the breaking stuff is, forget about offer sheets. All the RFAs are going to arbitration and those that tried to sort of skate through the teams decide to take them to arbitration. So there's going to be no offer sheets, right?

Yeah. And you know, bad day for talk radio, right? Summertime NHL talk radio really benefits when there's a good offer sheet story going and we can delve into the what ifs and whys of you know who is trying to poach who from whom I'm not gonna see it this year it's a real shame you know I don't know how many times it gets said but it'd be nice if NHL GM's played a little dirtier now and then tap man well you know I don't know that we ever you know obviously both of us go back a number of years I don't know that we ever thought we'd reach the point where the cap would go up and people would still have a lot of money To spend and and so, you know, you can just sort of follow up. Well, there wasn't much on free agent frenzy days So now we'll go to the the offer. Oh no offer sheets. Yeah, and right away we're going well

There has to be a lot of trades. Well, what if there aren't? Well, what if there aren't and you you want to write and you're a leaf and you know because the they they need you know they need some stuff they do and and i think that you know as we sit here right now i think we we both believe there's some sort of a trade that will happen i don't know exactly you know what goes out and i'm not really concerned anymore about what goes out

because that's the easy part of what comes in comes in is the big question. So you've got a hole on the right side of the top line, you got a hole on the left side of the second line, and you've got a glut of bottom six forward. So I don't know exactly how you solve that in July and maybe you don't want to. Maybe you sort of take up to the trade deadline to solve that after you've looked at a number and you know they will. They'll shuffle the deck on both those they did that last year on the left side of this the second line and and it seemed to be negotiable

going into the playoffs to yeah I don't know if you can afford to wait to the trade deadline Jim because you think about you know you've lost the 105 point player in Mitch Marner the guy who's assisted on 50 percent of Austin Matthews goals since Mike Babcock left town and they play they've played together primarily over that stretch so you lose that you're coming off you know a year where Auston Matthews wasn't at

his best health-wise a career-low 33 goals didn't do much better in the playoffs in spite of that one really great game six moment down in Fort Lauderdale. You know, isn't it a little risky to go into the season knowing you're a top six forward short and just hoping that someone will fill that void, the old internal improvement idea. You know, you do that and then you get an injury or two, That's the recipe for kind of flirting with not making the playoffs in my head And it's not just the top six forward It's as you say fifty percent of Austin Matthews production came from him pretty good penalty killer pretty good power play quarterback

Yeah, so there's a three-pronged pitchfork if you will and you believe look you look, you believe you can, the penalty killing you can do without Mitch Marner. I think you're pretty sure you got enough. That's probably the easiest one to solve. You can probably fill that hole. Yeah. The power play one, look, they've been really good with Morgan Raleigh at the top of the umbrella before, but obviously he lost his job for a reason, right? Like, and the idea that Morgan Raleigh just slots back in there, who knows? Maybe it's maybe it's Ekman Larson maybe maybe you find another forward well I'm not sure there's any bit really fits the bill to be the point man of a five forward you know amalgamation like they used so often last year so yeah the power plays a concern like there's gonna need to be some adjustments there

if you're losing the guy who was you know the the quarterback of the whole thing and that's gonna be on the coaching staff to figure out. But you're right, beyond that the five-on-five stuff and being line weights with Austin Matthews and being Austin Matthews number one setup man, how do you how do you fill that whole gym? That's tougher to do and you're probably not even gonna do it no matter who you trade for, no matter what move you make from here to the season opener or from season opener the traded line you're not getting an equivalent player you gotta

just you sort of hope you can do it by committee you sort of hope you can do it you know by a change in chemistry which is a lot harder to quantify but sometimes does happen when you lose a guy out of the room that suddenly it just changes the dynamics somehow and maybe for the better hey maybe maybe it'll be for the worse we'll find out that's that's what makes this team really interesting next year that's the guarantee we're gonna find out yeah and we'll be watching really closely but yeah but look it hey it could be our 605 guests that overachieves could be shows up at training camp announces himself as, Hey, I'm not just a great junior player.

I'm ready to go at the top level right now. Maybe, maybe Eastern Cowan says to the world, hang on here. You need a top six forward. I'm that guy. Now what are the, what's the likelihood of that happening? What are the odds that Eastern Cowan announces himself as a top six forward and actually can follow through on that and play at that level of for an entire NHL season as a rookie probably not that high right well yeah but you know I don't know what the expectations were for

Knives when he first showed up if you could get something like that over the next two years to be able to trade all those draft picks away and still have a Knives Eastern Cowan daily double that's pretty good it could be great yeah although as we've pointed out many times in the show maybe count as the guy you trade because he's here he's your number one asset right now at six thirty dot net we're not going to talk about that he's not a six-hour-five i would have to say that's a topic for

six thirty as old uh... what happened in leaf land today much only was that introduced to the media and uh... he uh... admitted that i think this was available in the weekend to uh... that he uh... he was telling his agent that that ronald was where he wanted to play any well was so it most interest so i was uh... definitely right from the start i i i told my agent that i would love to uh... love to play for the police

so this is another opportunity we don't know where this goes but he's got a refind his game he was uh... lights out for two years and last year's a bit of a drop off with the phoenix slash utah so uh... and who's to say sometimes it changes scenery will do that a recast uh... you know it's not on the same line so so that's got to help right we have i mean you look at me maybe you're buying low on a guy that that still has it in him as he said today I mean that has he has been a 60-point guy 57-point guy at his height a 40-6 guy at his height he's

he's you know he's a natural playmaker so you're losing playmaking in Mitch Marner maybe you get it back you know some of it a portion of it in Mattias Michelli I mean he's only 24 years. Yeah, there's plenty of room there for him to grow He's a scenery might be might be the agenda Yeah, and would be and you don't know how guys are gonna react when they like when you got a guy that played in in Arizona and you know, Utah I Mean, you don't know how he's gonna react when you still market where people actually watch

and people are actually they're actually saying his name on a regular basis they're actually noting on a daily basis how he did publicly because i don't think that happens the guys that play in a lot of friends as in this league and all it and he's either gonna love it or he's gonna hate that's a just gonna go there you either love that and you relish it or you absolutely despise it and can't deal with it. Zach Hyman had his charity golf tournament and

obviously didn't get in the Stanley Cup final because of a wrist problem and he was asked about the possibility of everything being okay for opening night in the fall. You still hoping to be available for the start of the next season? Yeah. I don't even know what the timeline is, to be honest, but that's definitely not out of the question. So I haven't set a date or anything like that. I've dealt with it with the ACL. Once you set a date, you get disappointed if you don't play on that date.

So I hope to play on opening night. I don't know if I will. We'll see. Well, they missed him, didn't they? Massive, massive loss. And look, let's hope Zach Hyman comes back healthy. He's been through, as he pointed out there,

he's been through a catastrophic injury before with the ACL repair. This doesn't sound like it's quite as, quite potentially career altering as any sort of knee injury, but look, wrists are very, very finicky. I've dealt with doctors who work exclusively on the wrist and the hand, and you do surgery in that area,

it can be very, very finicky. There's a lot of nerves, there's a lot of moving parts in there, so they do take it slow on the rehab, because you gotta make sure that that thing is 100% repaired. You do not want lingering wrist injuries that could really have you so they've said at some point about five oh five as the folks who be one six

thirty four blue jr kratz will be by we're gonna talk about the jays i'm i like to play this game what did i see so let's go back to the weekend which was almost a walk off weekend until yesterday uh... and so i'm trying to figure out what the better story is. The fact that everybody participates, the fact that the week started with like a Bombers Club with home runs all over the place, and then you have three games against the Angels which are Squeakers.

You've got the sack bunt which was invaluable in two games. And then you've got people that are, everybody's contributing on a strata. We were talking about him being called up on Friday and he pitched four really good innings on Saturday. I mean this is mass participation and I think really the real story and we'll get into that with our insiders is the pitching. So I did some numbers in my prep time earlier today. The starting pitching over three games, 15.2 in fifteen hits and uh... six runs over three games not bad the bullpen over the same three

games fourteen and a third innings uh... six hits and two runs that bullpen was unbelievable you know you're the hottest in baseball for a reason right and so many reasons yeah and it's you're right it's reason, right? So many reasons. Yeah, and it's, you're right. It's not a reason. It is many reasons. It is an incredible job by it. Like how many times were we saying

about this franchise, they lack depth? Oh. How many times were we saying they didn't have enough pitching? How many times were we saying they didn't have enough power hitting? They didn't have enough kind of situational hitting? Last season, the story was they couldn't hit with runners in scoring position.

Yeah, that went on for a couple years. Basically take every criticism that has been lobbed at the Blue Jays over the past handful of years and even for the past couple months of this season, sorry for the first couple months of this season, take all those criticisms and they've turned them all on their head essentially. Every one of them. And the one I like is the mass participation and the depth. You've got people that are called up from Buffalo and making immediate impact, Estrada

leading the way as I said. But literally, I mean we talked about the Hoffman and Friday. Hoffman and Fisher both pitched five times last week and were pretty close to flawless. Yeah. Just incredible. I mean it's just, couldn't ask for more from this team. I mean, eight wins in a row. You've got the three game lead now in the American League East. And I think more importantly, Jim, you know, you sort of just you just recast the narrative about your team. You've totally you've recast the feeling about your team. It's almost now unfathomable.

They're not going to be a factor in late August and into September right like they've put themselves in such a position now where you know 14 games over 500 you know even you know you're gonna have your ups and downs you know the wind streak doesn't last forever there will be regression here but even when you get your regression your inevitable regression you've you know, your inevitable regression, you've made enough hay here that now we can really start talking about what are they gonna do with the deadline, which is what, 24 days away now.

What are they gonna do after the deadline in terms of can they win this division? What kind of wild card spot are they gonna have? And then how do you sort of optimize yourself to finally get that long awaited playoff win that they haven't gotten for so many years? So 52 wins, the Tigers are 57 and have been lights out since the opening pitch of the season, so they're only five behind them. This is great because you don't know where the falter is.

Our insiders will tell us how legitimate this is, but in the meantime, we're all having fun here. They start in chicago tonight and finish uh... after a day off thursday in oakland so road trip in the all-star break burrios tonight and you know literally i would never say this but based on the eight straight wins i don't see them losing much until the all-star break and then that's that's being sort of uh... i mean i could see them winning everything but i

don't want to go there that you know time and scheduling sort of creates a loss here or there but they should they should idle into that all-star break in pretty good shape well we were talking with Rich Griffin on Friday on this very show Jim talking about now watch out you know the Angels may not be a powerhouse but you don't want to you don't have a letdown against that team right and guess what they didn't I mean you know as much as maybe you would have predicted it But you don't want to have a letdown against that team, right? And guess what? They didn't.

I mean, you know, as much as maybe you would have predicted it, yeah, it's remarkable that they didn't and good on the Blue Jays for keeping it going. So when we come back, we're going to talk hockey. Marty Baran will be with us. He can tell us about the Sabres going to arbitration. Byron didn't want to go to arbitration of the savers will take in there so there's no uh... when i'm looking for uh...

what's the opposite offer sheet thank you no offer sheet there uh... and but there's a lot of talk about the the sabers moving things around great collection of young talent but the chemistry is in there and that's why they haven't met made the playoffs in fourteen years so we'll explore that next this is overdrive and t s and ten fifty playoffs in 14 years. So we'll explore that next. This is Overdrive on TSN 1050 and TSN 2. Join Ruby Carr for Encore, the stories behind the songs you love. New interviews and newly unearthed archive footage make for a fascinating weekly deep

dive. Stream Encore, the stories behind the songs you love on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, yes, guy. Bouncy intro music. Got to love that. Jim Taddy gave Fest Check with you today, man, all week. Al's brother will make guest appearances throughout the course of the week, but

for the most part, it's us too, the duration show. We we flog each other into the ground. And then if there's something left, Doogie comes in with his cologne and spices. Thanks. Oh, man. Yeah, do won't be joining us today, but later in the week. That's right. But you see, Doogie got a big a big product placement on FanDuel Sports app today. Oh. Beautiful stuff. Like Dougie is front and center with his parlays on FanDuel. The guy's a freaking, he's a brand. He is a brand. The big brand. Yes. And that's a

nice way of saying it. Hey you big brand you. Anyway, Overdrive is brought to you by FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score let's get back to hockey marty baran is here tsn hockey analyst among other things of course big member the sabers family uh... martin how are you today and you're a great how you guys doing we're going to be looking for the replacement for mitch marner how do we how do we go out how do we do that help us out here we go at this guy with a hundred plus points fifty percent of what

austin mat Austin Matthews does great penalty killer great in the power play sounds like four guys to me yeah it sounds like four guys to me as well now if I would be looking for a Mitch Marner replacement right now it just it won't happen you have to think that this will be an in season addition and more likely more like February going into the trade deadline, you're going to say, okay, where can we find somebody that's going to come in and give us with Mitch Marner was given us earlier and plus you have to identify within your team and your forward group. Where are you know, where's Matthew Nizat and how is Austin

Matthews? Is Matthews able to, to continue to perform and produce without Marner? Where is John Tavares? Last year, 38 goals. Where is it going to be this year? So I think there's a lot of big question marks, but you're not replacing Mitch right now. And, and you shouldn't have to do that right now either. I think Toronto is a really good team. They're a team that's going to make the playoffs. So wait a little bit, buy some time, accrue some savvy cap space and then make a move later in the season. Marty, when you look at their goaltending situation, there's been some talk in town that if they

were needing to make a trade for a top six forward maybe they could trade from a position of strength in goal because you got stole ours you got wall you want to run with one and not the other trade the other you could do that now I'm not a big fan of it how would you feel about moving on from one of those guys selling selling high on one of those guys, and relying on your organizational depth to carry you beyond that? Well, I mean, I suggested that a few weeks back, right? Even like just after the season ended, then look, this may be the summer to do it. But it's a little too late now when you're looking at the teams that have still up some of their goalie needs, the goalies that were either acquired like John Gibson to Detroit or, you know, free agent

goaltenders, which was not like a great class of free agents, but still there's some goalies that have filled up needs and they're going to re-evaluate later in the season. And look, Colorado last year in season revamped their crease. They looked at San Jose and they said you guys aren't going anywhere how about Mackenzie Blackwood? They looked at Nashville. You guys aren't going anywhere how about your backup right Scott Wedgwood and they just changed their whole crease. Now Toronto could look in November and December and say which team is really struggling in their creed situation and which guy do we feel can you know we can part ways with and I think we lost them

oh well we'll get them back Marty Barana it was going down an interesting road there and you suggested that as sort of as you launch into the season just because of the weird marketplace there's a lot of people that need goalies yeah there's a lot of people that need players but the supply is down supply yeah the supply of proven guys that you can actually rely on I mean I look you know I was gonna ask him in a follow-up but Edmonton like yeah you really believe I'm like I know they've been to the cup final twice in a row and that's impressive in a certain way, but they've also had moments in those cup finals where they've been let down by goaltending. Well, did you go back with Skinner again? Okay, let's bring Marty's back in. So Marty, just pick up where you were. We're talking about maybe the goaltending thing is something you look at as the season launches. Yeah, so I mean, I think you'd have to look, and right now you're not dealing with,

from a position of strength. Teams have filled up their needs. But in late October, November, by December, you may be looking around and saying, okay, first of all, I mentioned Wold, because I think Stolarz is the better of the two goalies right now, but you have to see, where is Anthony Stolarz held twice?

They all, he was banged up last year. He didn't finish the season, the playoffs, he was backing up the last game, but you have to evaluate everything and see if there's a possibility. But I do believe that in November, maybe early December, you may gain that position of strength again, when there's teams that are going to say, Oh, we really need a goaltender. And I heard you guys just mentioned the Edmonton Oilers. I mean, maybe it is the Oilers,

then we can't continue with Skinner and Pickard. We have to go get somebody. And at that moment, maybe the phone is going to ring with the Leafs and they're going to need to look to one of their. I believe we lost them again. Wow. That doesn't happen often. But nonetheless, he was making a good point. You buy some time because they have it. And then all of a sudden somebody gets a little more desperate and maybe the price goes well, the price will go up. Yeah, it's a dicey one for me. Like I batted this one around a handful of times about whether you could trade one of wall of stone.

I just be afraid to because it took so long to get there. It took a long time to get there, Jim, you're right. And they both had a really well-documented history of pretty regular injuries. Like, these guys have not had really long runs of healthy play, right? Well, I think that anybody with any kind of doubt would suggest to you, the moment you trade one,

in the next game, the guy that you kept gets injured. Exactly, wouldn't that be? That would make total sense, I mean, we've seen that. Yeah, it would be concerning, right? What a break for Dennis Hildeby. Yeah, it would be, exactly. But, you know, and they got Akhtymov and and you know, they got active mob and and Hildeby They got they got some guys they they seem to believe will

possibly become NHL goal tenors but that possibly is a big word and you've got two guys here that are proven right like Wallen Stolars have shown you at their best they can be Elite to near elite guys, right as long as they can stay healthy now We don't know what kind of workload either one can take because we just saw last year where they both had unprecedented types of workloads, and what do you know, Stolar's got hurt.

Yeah, you could blame Sam Bennett for that. I mean, I would, but he also had, you know, he's had other Nixon cuts throughout the years, as has Joseph Wall, so it's tough. I mean, right now, to have those guys under contract for six million bucks for the pair for the year. has Joseph Wall, so it's tough. I mean right now to have those guys under contract for six million bucks for the pair for the year. Pretty good. It's a great deal. Now Stolas is going to get more expensive because his deal's up at the end of next year. They're going to have to

extend him. You would assume probably he's at a 2.5 million dollar cap. You assume this guy's getting a raise times two basically. Okay, my are crossed now we're gonna bring Marty back in again yet again. Fingers are crossed over here too guys I don't want to be cutting out cutting out cutting out. It might be a tariff thing I don't know. So let's talk about your blue liner in Buffalo. Boren Byrom I mean what's happening there's all kinds of trade talk and they're going to arbitration which doesn't really I guess take away the trade talk and they're going to arbitration, which doesn't really,

I guess, take away the trade talk because maybe they don't like what the arbitrator says. What do you think happens? Well, here's an interesting situation because I think that, again, if you were to deal from a position of power, it would have been two weeks ago, right, at the draft. Maybe you acquire a player, maybe it's a pick from that draft, maybe you flip that around. The Sabres already had moved JJ Peturka to Utah. So I think that was the time right now. So Bo Byrom decided not to go to arbitration because I believe he wanted the leverage of an offer sheet in his back pocket and

then yesterday by 5 p.m. the Sabres had to decide if they were going to take him to arbitration the team elected arbitration which they did so now it guarantees Bo Byron will either be signed with the Sabres signed with a different team or traded or whatnot but he will be in uniform game one somewhere and I think that's good for the Sabres because number one if Byrom is signed I think you got a very good blue line with Dallin Byrom power the acquired Kessel ring the acquired Connor Timmons to play you know third pair with Samuelson I think with

Byrom their blue line would be really really strong if you don't have Bo Byrom where do you trade him and what do you get in return? That is the big question and I don't know right now that the best return is out there. I think two weeks ago it would have been there if you know there was you know some good options on the table but they really like Bo Byrom and he played really well with Rathlis Dallin last year. So why force something if you don't have to? Right now you know that at worst Bo Byrom is signed to a one year deal in arbitration

and will be there game one. So that's the worst case scenario and that's not a bad thing for the Sabres. You got Dallin at 11... on power at eight point three i gotta believe that byron is somewhere in between but that makes sense now i i don't think so by i'd like thirty eight points last year i think or you know seven goals or he doesn't play power play i think when you go to an arbitrator

and you're gonna show all the numbers the i'd time and everything, I believe it probably will slide in between six and seven. That's kind of like what I think a lot of the analytics projection we're saying a one year deal somewhere in the five and a half to six, but I think it may be more than that. Now, if you go long term, you're probably pushing closer to eight million and and I think that's where the holdup is because the Sabres have Dahlene at 11 and and power at eight and a half so

Bo Byrom is in do I have the ability to continue to grow in Buffalo because I don't I don't have a spot in the power play. Those are the two studs. So I think that's maybe where the holdup is, but I think Byram on a one-year deal somewhere between like six and a half and seven million dollars would probably be the tops I think you could get. Marty, there was a lot of talk in Toronto last week about a little stunt the Maple Leafs developmental team pulled. They brought the developmental camp players last week about a little stunt the maple east developmental team pulled

they uh... they brought the developmental camp players down to a horse barn at the x here in toronto and they uh... they have spent some time with a horse trainer and a and a young colt that this horse trainer was attempting to train and i guess the idea according to hailey wicken has the assistant g m a car you know in charge of development for the Leafs, was that this would help the players sort of think about controlling their emotions

and learning how to manage themselves under pressure through the eyes of this horse trainer who's attempting to tame this wild colt. A, what do you think of that? And B, did you have anything like that happen in your career where a team got creative with how they sort of attempted to mold you as a player? Yeah, I remember going to Whistler with the Philadelphia Flyers at the start of the season. So we played Edmonton and Calgary game one and two, and then we had four days before the game in Vancouver.

So we all went to Whistler. That was 2007, 2008. A lot of new guys guys on the team and we had the team bonding experience. They brought in a firm to do a bunch of different puzzles and outdoor activities and figuring out working as a team. Throughout the whole year we used examples of that as John Stevens, our head coach at the time, would always say the the process you have to stick to the process And remember when we were in Whistler the process and and it was great. I loved it I'm a sucker for all of that But I laughed when the leaves did the thing with the horses because I have horses myself like my kids my girls

I've all grown up in the horse industry my daughter last year went to South Africa competing in the World Cup of Saddle Seat Equestrian and listen, there's some time we had gotten her a horse and man, it was going to be so beautiful and they didn't fit, right? It didn't work and then we sold that, bought another one and we're like, yeah, this one's not going to work and boom, it just magically happened. And I love that, talking to trainers and our industry of the Morgan's and the saddle bread and the settle seat world.

Um, it's been fantastic to, to learn how they train. And, and I tried to use that and many different, um, you know, sports analogy when I, when I talked to my young goalies and, and I give them, you know, different training idea uh... because you have to learn i've i've been watching a lot of tennis watch from the tennis players and their warm-up and their mental approach baseball football hockey

uh... equestrian uh... you know tracking field whatever i think it's important to be able to to dive into a lot of different things i like we said there is a you know you never once quoted anybody in hockey so so you're looking outside of the hockey rink to to figure out different things to motivate in and maybe little ideas or theories that you could apply to yourself well and it's important i i i know like i watch

some of the trainers that we've dealt with and some of them are young and full of energy and they work until one in the morning, and they get up at four the next morning to work the horses again. Some are more older and established, and they've figured out ways. And sometimes you got a horse where you gotta spend so much time and energy,

and you gotta ride them two, three times a day, and long line them, and do all of that. And sometimes it's just, no, get them out, one times a day and long line them and do all of that. And sometimes it's just, no, get them out, one turn around each way and then you're good. Like it's so interesting to me that they did that with the young players to give them, you know, animals are like humans. Not two of them are identical. Not two of them are going to have to do the same thing. And you have all these 30, 40 kids at development camps and you have to let them know that we're

going to work with you. We know that you're not like Joe and Bill and Mike next to you. You're an individual, you're unique and just like they're working with horses, we're going to work with you in how individual and unique you are. I think that's fantastic. Well, that's interesting stuff, Marty. We had Bruce Boudreaux on last week and we talked about it and he thought it was the dumbest idea he'd ever heard.

So everybody's got a different take on things. Bruce is so cool. I love Bruce and he's awesome but but it's to me and I've had a chance to encounter like when I was in Philly I live next to a baseball player for the Phillies and I got to see his routine and you know how early he showed up to batting practice and and they played every day right and 162 games and and I'm now watching the Jays now and how they have to do it over and over again and I'm like man don't tell me I can't play back-to-back games as a goaltender like I'm watching

these baseball players do it like all the time I'm like no no no so I think there's a lot of that mentality that we can be adopting for sure in hockey. Well talking about goaltenders Marty there's a lot of talk about Stolarz. Obviously he's in the last year of his deal with the Leafs at a really reasonable two and a half million dollar cap hit. There's a widely assumed trope that he's going to get an extension. It's just about the number and the term. You look at Stolarz, you've seen him play, you saw him have an incredible year for the Maple Leafs last year and you also saw him get hurt in the term you look at stole ours uh... you've seen a play you some have an incredible year for the maple leaves last year you also some get hurt the playoffs

you know what would you be comfortable with if you had to get into that executive suite make that deal with that place dollars so when i look at it and he's so hard i did a full package the five of the athleticism uh... dead and the quickness uh... the reaction i think that a guy that wherever he's been there was always good indication that he could be good but there was always roadblocks

right in every organization there was either it didn't work out perfectly or there was somebody else there and in Toronto I think those roadblocks kind of opened up in front of him and he was able to go ahead. So for me, if I'm the least, obviously I'm, I'm trying to manage the cap. Like, do I, do I really think Anthony's Stolar's in the five to five and a half million dollar range is going to say no. Like this is a guy that until last year was a backup goaltender. Like, if I say, okay,

we'll give you a four year deal at five and a half because you're our number one. And look, this is so not clear. Like by the end of this year, maybe it's Joe Wall and unfortunately, Stolarz is not their number one. But if we continue the way that it's been last year, I'm thinking Stolarz could be their number one. He's not going to say no to that. He's not going to say no to that. He's not going to say I want six and a half, I want seven. Like he's got maybe 20 million or whatever, four times five on the table. That's more than he's made his whole career.

So I don't think he would say no to that or say no to somewhere. I get agents get in the way and say, oh we can get and that whatever but there's only 32 teams there's only 32 number one goaltender when you have one of those chairs you don't want to give it up that walls at 3.66 I mean even if you gave him 5.5 or 6 that's still pretty good money for two goaltenders you'd be at nine and a half for both that that's pretty good I think this story is until the contract is signed is gonna be the major headline. What do you think Edmonton does with Conor McDavid?

Where does that go? Oh man, I feel bad for the Oilers because this summer, the first week of July could not have gone any worse, right? They have to trade a Vander Cane, they lose Conor Brown. You know, they just been, they look like they've not been able to add any of the depth that they would have wanted. And it started maybe last year when they lost Holloway and Broberg, but this has not been good. So I think Connor McDavid will stay in Edmonton. The big thing for me is I don't think he would

stay for much longer than a two or a three year deal. Like Connor is still you know in the prime and will be in the prime of his career for the next eight nine years but he doesn't want to give that up and say all of a sudden I have no control over that so for me I think Conor McDavid will stay an oiler but will probably sign a two or three year deal and say okay in three years if it doesn't go the way I want or if it doesn't go the way that we want it as a team then I have the option to just go somewhere else and chase a cop because we we all know, I mean, I remember my first year, my first full year with the Buffalo Sabres.

I had a couple of guys in the locker room sit next to them and they're like, Marty, I tell you it goes fast. You think you're going to win a Stanley Cup in your first year and you're in your last year and you still haven't gotten a chance to win it. It goes fast. If you're Cardamon McDavid, you give yourself a little bit of time here with the Eulers, but after two or three years, if it's not happening, you're probably going somewhere else. What do you think the number is? If he goes, like we had MJ on Marty and MJ was sort of making a case, you know, sort of pretending he was McDavid's agent saying, give me two years at 16 million a year

and I'll put you on the clock to make this team a contender and then we'll talk in a couple of years. What do you think is the reasonable cap hit if he goes two or three years? So next year the cap will be a hundred and three point five or somewhere around that so the maximum salary that he could make would be twenty million dollars right like 20 percent like 20 percent so it's not gonna be 20 million but I also don't think it will be 16 I have a number I think 18 million is probably the number gonna McDavid I get it that maybe he says okay let's go to 16 so you have two more million dollars to play with and bring in

somebody because you'll make it, right? You'll make it on another contract. You can go and trade the money. But at some point, you know, you're going to say, hey, you know what? Like I'm worth eight. He's worth 20. He's worth 20. Like how much less are you going to take?

I think 18 is the number, but I wouldn't be surprised if Conor McDavid does the Euler's a solid and says I'll go to 16 on a two-year deal But you know that's coming with strings attached that in two years if it's not good is bye-bye and I'm gone. Wow Marty you can uncross your fingers now. Everything's good. Thanks very much Okay, good. Thank you. You too. Marten Baran, TSN Hockey Analyst. You know what?

I mean, that whole, that McDavid thing, when you think of it, I don't see that as a situation where the player should compromise. He's the best in the business. If he can't make 18 or 20, nobody's going you're with what he's doing on the ice and if he can't do that nobody can you're right i mean to a degree i see where you're coming from except this is not the nba

where you can exceed the salary cap sign your own players this is the end of our work right here when you take that extra couple million or that extra three or four million whatever yeah if his max is twenty point six or whatever it is under a hundred three million dollar uh... salary cap the max is twenty point six how many you know he's never he's never taken the

max at this point no right but um... all i'm saying is like and maybe not on the dollar figure i think it to your deal is is really good for both uh... but i don't see one of those uh... i guess i don't know when the new cba kicks in but i i i guess of it kicks in a year september that next july first it would still be the old cba you could do eight years i don't see him doing that

and and while a friendly number i think that would be ridiculous you know hey who knows he's he's done eight years before he could do it again i wouldn't put it past them a lot of players love the security and just and the lack of hassle it's like I don't have to worry about that anymore some guys get stressed about these contract situations to the point where they're like I've heard players say look I don't want to go through that again like I want to push that as far down the road as possible you know I don't want to be in that room again I don't want my agent columnary five minutes tell me the

updates I just want to play hockey and make my money But you know Jim to the point of you know, what can he make and what should he make? Yeah, he could make the 20% he could demand the maximum salary of 20% But the last time he signed he signed for 15.7% of the cap On that deal that currently pays him 12 and a half million now There was all that talk at the time that he'd give him back some money on that deal. So I'm just thinking that, you know, for an entire sport, and that's what he represents, for an entire league to not have somebody at the max doesn't make a lot of sense. All the other sports do. Makes sense to the owners and they're

all snickering saying, ha ha ha, We make these guys feel bad when they make money. How about that? That's why Gary Berman's in the Hall of Fame, Jim. The players feel bad when they take more money. I still remember the old days when they used to say, protect us from ourselves. Yeah. Please. For sure.

The new CBA. Yeah, before the cap, for sure. When the Mike Illiches of the world were spending all kinds of money to build the Detroit Red Wings into a dynasty or try to at least and and And the Maple Leafs had their their war chest where they'd pay guys whatever they wanted Not too much effect, although they got close a couple of times But yeah, it's it's you know, that is the beauty if you're an owner of the NHL CBA It's just that every time a guy takes some money out of the pie that exists for every team,

you know, he's stealing from somebody else. So like that's that's money another guy can't get in that same dressing room and yeah it can cause problems as we've seen in Toronto. Yes it can. Coming up next something to chew on and that'll be what is the priority for the Blue Jays management going into the MLB trade deadline. So we've got some options here. We'll explore that. And of course, at the top of the hour, baseball insider Steve Phillips will stop by to join all of us on Overdrive, TSN 1050, TSN 2. The biggest songs in the world. You've heard them countless times. Now learn the details of how they came to be.

countless times. Now, learn the details of how they came to be. Join Ruby Carr for Encore, the stories behind the songs you love. New interviews and newly unearthed archive footage make for a fascinating weekly deep dive. Stream Encore, the stories behind the songs you love on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. stories behind the songs you love on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. Nice, bouncy, bassy drum roll to get us back into the final segment of the first hour in overdrive. Jim Taddy and Dave Festjack all day today. Just before I get into something to chew on, Blue Jays' George Springer has been named

American League Player of the Week and from basketball Tyrese Aliburton will miss the entirety of next season without Achilles tear ouch. Such a shame that's a tough one to watch right yeah and yeah but not not surprising I think I think was widely assumed that coming off a torn ACL you know the idea of you getting back early it's not gonna happen in the NBA we saw Aaron Rodgers get back in something less than a year yeah to the NFL but basketball puts such a strain on the Achilles big pounding yeah it's just it's tough but you know what I mean look every injury is a part of the game and Jim I just think it's another reason why

the East is wide open yeah there's opportunity there for somebody to seize it nobody saw Indiana being the team that was going to seize it this year. Could it be the Raptors? Could it be the Raptors is the question we have to ask. And if you're an optimist, I mean, there's so little that we know about this team and what they can be because we've never really seen them play together. No. Why not just leave the mystery open in a positive way and say, maybe. That's something to chew on for another day. But something to chew on today is brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy a $15 lunch at BP when you get an entree aside and a drink and you'll get it all in 20 minutes or less.

A fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. See you for the $15 fast lunch at your local Boston Pizza. So what is the priority for Blue Jays management ahead of the MLB deadline? Is it a starting arm, a bullpen pitcher, a power bat? Which one of the three would you go with? Can I say yes? Yes, yes, and yes? Yes, guy, yes, guy, yes, guy. Yes, guy, yes, guy, yes, guy.

But look, I mean, to me it always starts with the starters. Oh really? I mean, to me it does because you look at it right now, you essentially have three guys you can count on in Gossman, Barrios, and Chris Bassett, and then beyond that, what are you gonna get from Max Schurzer down the stretch here? You're not sure.

I mean, you hope you get a guy who turns back the clock in future Hall of Famer that continues to give you great, great starts, but you can't be sure of it given the problems he's had with his thumb and various other injuries into his 40s. And then Eric Lauer, it feels problems he's had with his thumb and various other injuries, you know, into his 40s. And then, you know, Eric Lauer, it feels like you've been stealing a little bit with Eric Lauer being a guy you can count on and you have been able to count on him. But the idea that this guy is going to continue to do what he's doing, you'll take it for

sure if he does. But, you know, you would like some insurance on that front. You don't know what you're going to get from Alec Manoa if he goes back yeah if you know there's there's a lot of optimism that he might and he could and he could be a factor but yeah to me like the starting arm is got to be a big factor there I mean you know Bowden Francis is also hurt could could be a factor may not be who knows so we I think I think the arm is is where you begin so I'm gonna disagree with you because the wording is what is the priority

i think you're gonna get a starting arm anyway i think there's one out there if you really wanted uh... and it's hard for me to one of bullpen picture but you could always have another one but the bullpen has been excellent so that you know it's hard to based on what we've seen over the last eight games you don't want to touch anything but you know you have to sort of project how this works out.

I like the bullpen. I think I would go with the power of that. Okay. Yeah, because I mean, you could say that that makes some sense because you've been getting power despite the fact you haven't had sent on there playing a role in this in this great surge basically, it's been since the moment that down there went on to the D of the IL DL whatever you want to call it yeah that you've had this incredible stretch run of you know AL East commanding winds and so yeah you know the idea that you needed said you felt you needed Santander when you

required him yeah you don't have him I think the logic should hold that you need somebody to take that place even though you've had guys step in and we've talked about the by committee approach here where there's been so many different heroes and so many different nights that have been able to contribute. But I'm with you. Like it would be, it would be nice to be able to assume you're not going to get much from Santander this year. This is a lost year for Santander. And that happens. Sometimes when a guy moves guy moves inside the big contract it takes a year to sort of iron that out or or figure it out uh...

so you know that as i say i think they need one of each but but i think the uh... you can actually out of starting arm in the bullpen picture because they're around uh... and i i'm pretty sure they have the assets to do all of this i think i would like one of each uh... but i would focus on the power back i mean the fake you know maybe maybe you'll be thinking less about the power bat. If the guy you just paid 500 million dollars starts hitting like a powerheader instead of a singles

hitter. Yeah, but I find it kind of funny. Like when you think about the year that, you know, Vladimir Grosje Jr. is having, it's not horrendous. You know's it's you know eight twenty three o p s got twelve home runs we've had similar years where he he's had twelve around twelve at this time of year and then ended up in the thirties but imagine if this team wasn't winning you know matches this team was in on on the surges on right now jim and they were more like the team that we saw the first couple months of the year extended

i mean i think we'd be a little harder on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his lack of power to this point this season, because 12 home runs, that's, there's nothing wrong with that, except if you're a $500 million man. We'll explore that next, Overdrive, TSN2, TSN 1050.

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