OverDrive - OverDrive - June 2, 2026 - Hour 2 - Mike Johnson

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joins to discuss the Stanley Cup Final, Mitch Marner and Frederik Andersen and the Maple Leafs' head coaching search. The guys go around the sports world in the latest edition of Confirm or Deny and Bryan hands out his FanDuel Best Bets.

Catch everything soccer with Bell's game time bundle. Get 5 TV with TSN plus 5150 internet, all for $99 a month. Price guaranteed for two years with a two-year internet and TV term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for more details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. Hop on board, the Coffinwood Express for hour two. Get your own cart and let's get boogie. I have to address something.

A guy just sent me a tweet and he said, O'Dog loved the show, but he said, you've got to be a stronger association union brother when it comes to Major League Baseball and stand by their players. MLB has their strongest sports association. Telling them to bend the knee doesn't help them. I'm not telling them to do anything. All I'm telling them is if they want to sit there like we didn't say, we're not accepting a salary cap, just not going to happen.

We sat out a year and lost a billion dollars, and then guess what we accepted? A salary cap. And do you think these guys don't have a good life? You just talked about how much money is involved in hockey. Do they not have a good life? Is it not reasonable? That's all I'm saying if I had any advice to major league baseball players. Figure out what's reasonable.

You might have to give up on something. There's got to be some give and take. But you're not going to sit there and tell the owners that you can't have a salary cap. Because they ultimately decide what the hell you're going to do. And if they want a cap, they're going to get a cap. Yep, and at people's expense, that's the difference. They will still own the team for the most part long after your career is over, the people that are fighting for it. So I think my advice, and having gone through it several times, would say have an open mind,

be open instead of closed and says, we're not accepting this, this or this, have an open mind and try and get to, you know, a common ground. The owners know they're going to have to give something up. They're going to have to give, you know, there's got to be some movement from both sides to get it done. I just, if I had to do it all over again, that's the thing I would say. Let's find common ground so that we can get this done a lot sooner so people can get on with their lives and grow to sport. And the most important thing, let's do it not for the owners or the players, but for the fans so they don't have to miss a whole season. Agreed. Well, that would be ideal, but they're not going to accept anything in June of 26 when this experience.

Spires in 27. Players aren't going to do that. But I always said, Hayes, there are pressure points in negotiations. Everybody knows that who does business, especially big business like this. There's no pressure points right now. Nobody's missing a paycheck. But why not? Lock yourself in some rooms leading up to it so it gets done and still waiting to the last

minute. It's ridiculous. I always wondered that. Months would go by. Just no communication, no talk. And it's like, what good is this doing for anybody? Well, I hear you, but again, I think ultimately what it's going to come down to is what the owners can stomach in the end. Like if they are dead set on a cap and they are literally willing to shut the league down for a year,

which is something no one else has ever done. And we don't know that. No, we don't know that until like again, in 0405, what were there 28 teams in the league or whatever, those owners decided, yes, Bettman had them all, you know, around. his finger and said, we're not budging. And what the players, you guys would know for experience, eventually realized is they're literally, like,

we'll miss two years, three years, four. Like, it's just, it's not, we're not playing ever again unless there's a cap. That is the question. Like the players are not going to bend. The players are going to fight, they're going to fight, fight, fight, fight. Until the owners look them in the eye six months into next year or

a year and a half from now and go, guys, like, we'll literally just not play baseball for 10 years if you want And you would be shocked. Whatever your perception is of pro athletes and that you just have money falling out of their pockets, you would be surprised at guys that were missing car payments, missing house payments, and guys were like living paycheck to paycheck, and it turned into a circus. And that's how you end up accepting a salary cap because guys were like,

this doesn't work. I'm not earning a living. That's what I always said. Isn't some money better than zero? You want to miss a whole year and make zero dollars, those guys the cash that they make? I hope it doesn't get to that point. At this point, there's no reason to believe it will. I don't personally care.

I just want them to play ball. I'm okay with no cap. I don't need a cap. I kind of like the idea of give me a league that's unique and different. The other ones are all the same for the most part. There's some luxury taxes and stuff. But a lot of them, NFL, MLB, NHL, it's a lot of number crunching and bad contract talk. and stuff, and it's aggravating.

I don't need it. In baseball, it's different. I like the uniqueness of that. But, you know, as for the godfather of lockouts, Gary Bettman, I guess he's speaking to the media in Carolina. And he has said, you know, he's had some preliminary talks about a succession plan when he does retire. You know, Bettman's not a young guy.

He's been running the show for over 30 years. And I'm curious when that happens, because there's going to be a different commissioner someday. how many things change in the league? To chat about that, among other things, here's our TOSN Hockey Analyst joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Here's Mike Johnson. How you doing, Johnny?

What's up, fellas, coming alive. Gary Bembers doing the presser right behind me here. Hey, Z, I hate to disappoint you. I don't think anything's going to change. I mean, different personality, but I don't think a new guy's coming in saying, I envision the world of hockey completely different. I think it would be someone pretty aligned with the way things are going now. And the way things are going right now, regardless to how we got here,

are pretty good for the NHL. Johnny, I want to ask you about the baseball players and their agreement. If you're a smart guy, you've been through lockouts. If you had any advice to Major League Baseball players as far as what they should expect and how to approach this, because mine is just to find something reasonable how you can have a good life. If you think you're just going to bully anybody, you're not doing it, and you're just going to cost yourself money, what would your advice be?

I would echo those sentiments. Listen, we went through it. I was a player rep in 04. I remember in the meetings with the O. And we will never play. We will miss two years, five years, ten years. We'll shut the league down before we get to a salary cap. And we got through year one, which is already kind of stressful enough.

And then we just came a part of the seams because guys were not prepared to live any further. And then the cost of doing this. And it's good to do it for future. generations, but you also sort of need to take care of yourself and the current generation that you're living in. And if the average career is 3.7 years, you're going to sit out a year and half of those and flush yourself out. And if you might make, you know, instead of making in the NHL $4 million, you're going to get zero and, you know, you just can't afford to lose that kind of money. And baseball, I mean, the numbers are so staggering, you know, you're missing $20, $25 million.

I guess if you, baseball has a very principled stance. They feel like they're the strong. longest union. They've never lost a labor fight, but I think if I'm a baseball owner, guys, you just look around the league. Look at the franchise values in basketball, in football, in hockey. And I think the salary cap has a lot to do that.

And franchise values in baseball would go through the roof. So they could sit out. We might miss a hundred million dollar's profit. The second we sign a cap-based deal, our franchise value is going up a billion dollars. So we can wait forever. Much longer than the players can. Oh, I'm I don't want. I'm pro-player.

I was a player rep. I wanted to get everything the players could. Sometimes the juice is not worth to squeeze. And you've got to take the best that you can get and get on with your life, keep living, and making the kind of money they're making. So I want to follow up with your projection on the next betman because, as you know, as a big NBA fan,

going from David Stern to Adam Silver was a massive change. Like, as significant as you can get, in terms of being player-friendly, in terms of creating tournaments, and all these different things that they've done in the league ever since Silver arrived. You don't see that possibly be in there for the... Like if it's Bill Daly, I guess, okay, Bill Daley has worked with Batman forever.

I mean, they're kind of a two-headed monster. But if it's somebody else, like I'm picturing a new commissioner coming in and maybe having a different viewpoint of a second team in Toronto, something Batman has never entertained. Maybe the new commissioner willing to do that. A play-in, a playoff, playoff. and immediately. But that's drastic.

Like, Betman will not change off anything. If someone comes in and looks at one thing differently, I would suggest, I mean, that's more progressive than anything. Betman's done the last 10 years. No,

you're right. You're right. I guess I just assume it's going to be Bill Daly. That's part of my general thought. He's been there for so long. And I don't know if Gary will have a say in who a successor is. I mean,

you'd think it'd be the teams, not so much him, but if he has to say, you'd think it'd be someone who'd be sort of sees it the way he does. But I mean, the whole Gary Bettman and his dynamic with the owners and the players in the game is so different than it was when we were playing.

It is far more collaborative and less combative. And so whoever comes in will be more of that. You're right, Hayes, you know what? Whether it's games in Europe, whether it's playing tournaments, whether it's mid-season cups, whether it's anti-drafts,

tanking all those NBA stuff they've done or stuff we can't even think of. Yeah, I mean, I guess it makes sense that some of that would come through. I just think it's going to be Bill Daly, so he will have been under and with Gary for 30 years, 20 years, whatever it's been, and it will be sort of more of the same. Yeah, Johnny, I think there could be some tweaks that you could, you know, deem as progressive. Even if it's Bill Daly, they'd be like, yeah, I'll look at that. I'll listen on that instead of just an absolute no where Gary. seems to be but you know when you're in you're in Carolina let's swing to the game now

you know what do you make of this like you know who in your in the back of your mind has the upper hand here you've got the very structured Carolina team that's 12 and 1 and you've got Vegas who you know seems to be firing in all cylinders and really doesn't have a weakness as well like and plays a different style what do you make of it feels to me noodle like this series if you can, if you flesh out the goal tending, I mean, obviously that's the number one factor, but let's just say they're even, they're both playing well. To me, the series feels like the offense of Carolina, you know, that forechecking, that pace, that turnover base, the quick strike attack that they've been overwhelming teams with

versus the defense and structure and maturity of Vegas. And if that defense of Vegas is really good, then they'll get Carolina on counterattack opportunities. And we've seen that as well, not often in the playoffs, but when Carolina it breaks down it can be big. That to me is the conversation. There'll probably be some games where Vegas looks like they figured it out and there'll probably be some moments where Vegas looks like they're

getting sworn by it like everybody else is. I am slightly leaning to Carolina. I guess we'll have to see what happens here in the first game but without having seen them play each other, they haven't played since October so it's not like there's any sort of recency game to go

off of. I just think if Freddy's healthy and can keep doing what he's doing. So then Vegas no longer has an advantage in net, however good Carter Hart has been. I just think this unique style and the fact that they're so fresh and Vegas

doesn't, the only team that saw Carolina has been the four checking Panthers. And nobody plays like that. Vegas doesn't play like that. So I just don't know if the solution however good Vegas is, is going to be enough to win them a series. So I guess I'm winning slightly Carolina.

Johnny, Brian Hayes said, Regardless of the outcome, Mitch Marner will win the Conn Smyth. Earlier in the show. Jamie, I don't know why you're laughing. Do you agree with Brian Hayes? I disagree with Hayes the same way that Connor

McDavid will never win another Art Ross. The same sort of disagreement where Hayes likes a relative to the outrageous statements only be proven wrong in short order. If Vegas wins, yeah, for sure. I think Mitch Marner is the favorite to win. But I think he has to play, though, right?

he had a good series, great defensively, three points at four games, no goals. If he gets four points in six games, Vegas wins with no goals, he's not going to win the conspite. It's got to go to Carter Hard, it's going to go to somebody else. So he has to continue his offensive production that he's done in rounds one and two into round four. But if Carolina wins, it's Freddie, it's Stankov and it's Taylor Hall, it's somebody else. It's not going to be Mitch. He's not going to get 40 points. He might end up with 25 or 27.

He said it. He's not going to be McDavid 40 on a losing team. Well, I don't know, has he. Explain yourself. Justify this outrageous take, please. It was actually Joe from the bridge that threw that out. Yeah, exactly. He's also a brilliant mind, a brilliant hockey team.

What about if it's Freddie or Mitch? Either way, X-Leaf is right now the clear front-runner on both sides. Very, very likely that a former Leaf is going to win the cons might. I think that probably goes, I wouldn't say it goes without saying, because you're right. there are other players, like let's say Stan Coven has a phenomenal cup final or Blake has a great cup final or maybe Jack Eichel just has a dominant cup finals. You know, he's still, I think, lurking in the background. So there are other potential options here.

But, I mean, the awards are starting to come out. We're going to find out if that McDavid take possibly hit. I mean, if he doesn't win the heart in the next couple of days, you know, it goes Kutrov because we've been saying, Johnny, like Canada can't even can get a medal at the worlds, right? The men and the women silver at the Olympics. Canada loses in the world juniors. If Kuturov grabs a heart, Werensky and Americans grab the Norris. I don't think a Canadian is going to win, you know, the Vezna.

We got the rookie the year. We got the rookie of the year. Schaefer, we got the rookie of the year. But how would you kind of encapsulate the season that is in terms of Canadian hockey? I mean, we're still the best country. We've got the most players. We have the most good players. You know, I would take our team to win a seven game series against any country in the world.

I would take games, the Olympic gold medal final. We play that 10 times. Canada wins that eight of them. So I, you know, I pop the brakes on the, you know, the major intervention on all things wrong Canadian. Now, we might have to revisit, you know, world junior success and how we approach that tournament or the world championship. it's been a few years now, but I don't think it's, you know, we're running out. But the reality is, it's always continuously shifting away from Canadian dominance. Not to the point where we're not most dominant, but it's no longer by as much.

There's more Americans, more global players, more high-end Europeans. So, yeah, there are fewer or there are more other countries involved in the very best of the best, but, and it's still got the most of them all, even if we'd get shut out of the major awards, I would say. Okay. Johnny, yesterday the Leafs hired a chief of staff. What's the chief of staff to do in the National League? Talk to me. Talk dirty to me.

I mean, I watched like the West Wing and see what the chief of staff does there. It feels like a very political appointment. I mean, I kind of like the path. He's a player. He went to Yale. I think he got his NBA. He was working in private equity or edge fund or something. It's very interesting.

I'm sure it has got to do with alignment, vertical. integration that you are so fond of. What about horizontal? Don't forget my horizontal. Yes, horizontally as well. Is he just like another layer of communication? Is he just someone who can go down to the coach's room as a former player and talk to the GM and talk to the owner, the president?

I'm not exactly sure what he does. Hang a sec. You're telling me a guy with a private equity firm, a guy that worked at a private equity firm is going to go down and talk to a nine. National Hockey League coach. What are you talking about? Well, he played in the NHL. Freddie Hamilton is playing in the HAL.

Keep in mind, guys, all I can think about is top 50 Dougie, his brother, correct? Okay. Of course. In New Jersey. Of course. Maybe. Listen, we're not hiring Freddie Hamilton as a precursor to getting

Dougie. Buffer. Like, one, Freddy's not that good. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. But that's what it was in Calgary noodles. You know. In Calgary, that's basically what it was.

Dougie went to Calgary. Freddie sort of had to be considered to go to Calgary as well. So it's not out of the question, but not now, not in Toronto. Now, if McDavid's brother was the AGM, I kind of raise an eyebrow. David wants a job in player development. Yeah. Let's hire that job. Okay, but hold on a second here.

I wasn't going that like, okay, they hired Freddie because they want Dougie. but would it not make sense that that Dougie would be an upgrade on the back end at some point for that group? Would you, I say this very respectfully. I had the best conversation with Morgan Riley over the world. He's such a lovely guy. Like honestly, family the whole bit. We all love him. So I almost hate talking about who would you rather have, Dougie Hamilton and Morgan Riley?

I put it to you guys. I mean, I think Dougie Hamilton's a better player at this point. I do too. So that's not a slight on Morgan, but what they need is Morgan, Dougie, and Sondi and and two others. That's what they need. That's the difference is they need more players and guys that's younger. They need a 26-year-old Dougie Hamilton.

They don't need a 32-year-old Dougie Hamilton, but they will take them. Would you trade Matthew Nyes for Simone Nemitz and Dougie Hamilton? I would look at that. I don't know about that Nemitz. I mean, he... I'm not sure I would either, but I don't know how I feel about Nemitz, but I just... They need to get younger, they need to get better, they need bodies that can move the puck.

somebody asked me about today. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know how good I think Nemitz is, but he's going to get traded at some point. But anyways, it's fascinating. Oh, to your answer? I have not a clue what a chief of staff would do. I love that as a title I've never heard of it. I want it. I want it. I'll just go around and you're fired and you're hired and you're fired. Just walking around with the hammer on everyone. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, who knows? Like, I don't know, I mean, how Brendan's, like, they've made some changes, but they already, it sounded like they had a bloated front office already. Yeah. And if they're going to add more and more people, like, you probably will want to subtract people as well. So I just wonder if that's happening as well.

Well, that might be the role of the chief of staff to determine that, right? Like, determine how many people are actually on the staff. Who's doing well? Who's doing a good job? And who is necessary? area who maybe not is not quite as they should do that they should go through and say what do you do around here if you're a floater out you go because i think there is in any corporation when they go to to streamline a little bit when people let go you go what did that person actually do because i

saw them a lot i saw them in the lunch line i saw them at the cafeteria but i didn't see anything else from them and i think that's what freddie hamilton the chief of staff is got to figure out what the hell the 146 people in the front office do. Does he get addressed like that? Like if we were to interview him. No, you got to call him Chief. Chief. Yeah, you had a, no, you had a Chief of Staff.

He's got a heavy business card, Chief of Staff coming in, Velvet Rose Part, anywhere he wants to go. He is the man. The first inaugural, as far as I know. How old is he? Is he 33? 34. 34. Yeah.

That's also young, not to be smart, but sort of like, you know, to have the the gravita to walk into older, more experienced people. And, yeah, that's fascinating. I have no idea what it's going to be like, but it's going to be fun of watch. Can you imagine if he wheeled around in the top gun white, like, official gear they wore with the hat? I love it. Chief of staff. I love that idea.

Well, I mean, what are you bracing for in terms of the coaching pursuit? Now that we know, Manny Mulchre has got the gig in Vancouver, which I don't think anyone's surprised by. but the Leafs, I don't know who they're interviewing, who they're not interviewing. There's a lot of insider wars going on right now. I'm reporting this. No, I reported that. But I don't know what's going on with the Leafs. Are you bracing for impact, or what are you hearing?

What are you waiting for? It feels like if there was a rush haze, it'd be done, right? Like if there was, unless it's a coach that's coaching in the game tonight, and it's not. I don't think Tim Gleason's going to come coach the Maple Leafs or whatever it is. I don't think that's the case. Maybe they were flirting with David Carl and he said, no, thank you. Maybe they're waiting on Bruce Cassidy to be freed from Vegas at the end of the season. That could be an option, but they'd be bidding with Edmonton, presumably, for that as well.

Maybe L.A. I mean, it just, I don't know. I mean, I guess it tells you you don't need a coach to run a draft. You don't need a coach. It tells you, Hayes, the coach is not going to be involved or, might not be involved in planning the direction of what the team's going to play like next year. Because if the coach is not in place and up and running and familiar by July 1, then he's not involved in shape of the team.

He's going to end up coaching, which doesn't seem great. I know he doesn't have to make the calls, but you'd want to have a conversation. Okay, Hayes, you're the coach. You know, you coach this kind of style. Do you like Alex Tuck? Do you like Darren Radish? Do you like whoever it might be, Jason Zucker? Like what are we doing here?

As opposed to you showing up July 15th, that here's your team. Hope you like them. I don't know. I'm not bracing for anything. It doesn't seem like anything's imminent because if it was, it would be done already. Yeah. Yeah, it's, again, it's difficult to predict in the end, but it's got, the longer it goes, the more it turns into a Darko Ryokovic hiring.

You know, where Darko, they were the rappers with the last team. It was Nurse had left. and everyone else had picked up hirings and a lot of the old school boys who kind of jumped around the league and then Darko gets hired and everyone's like, where did this come from? And that was when they were starting from scratch.

Now the Leafs, you know, I presume look at themselves in a different position because they want to be competitive next year. But I think the longer it goes, the more likely it's going to be someone we were not expecting. You know, someone not necessarily out of nowhere, but, you know, the main characters right now it's Cassidy it's you know Carl if he's willing to listen yeah exactly where I wonder if

it turns into kind of a darko 2.0 and what if it's somebody in the a hl that's either currently coaching still you know there's four teams left you know I know it sounds like Ryan Craig might be the successor and from Henderson might be the successor to tortarella in Vegas potentially but he's the coach in Toronto so John Gruden John the coach of the Marley's yeah yeah Yeah. They're playing well. Like, they're still rolling in the... I mean, I don't know.

Yeah, but at the end of that, Ingrid's contracts up, so they'd have to sort that out. But I think there's... You look at it. It might be, to your point, Brian, it might be somebody that we're not thinking about because did we think that all of a sudden

there was going to be a 34-year-old chief of staff? You know, I think John Chike is going to do things differently. And we might, we should expect to have somebody different. Oh, who just won the Memorial Cup, the guy in Kitchener? You see, you know, like, I don't know, maybe, you see, yeah, like, who knows? Be stupid, not to look at him. Rick, you're stupid not to look at him. Yeah, I mean, you know, it seems like he did a great job there, and they won.

So I think you have to look around everywhere. But, again, it might be hiring a veteran coach because you're trying to get right back on the horse and be right at it. Yeah. But look at what Pittsburgh did with Dan Mews. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah. Well, we'll see. We'll see.

All right, Johnny. Enjoy yourself down there. Carolina Vegas game. Hang on a sec. Hasey B. hang on a sec. Hasey said one more thing, Johnny. Taylor Hall wins the con Smyth.

He goes right into the Hall of Fame. Agree or dis- No, it was him. Agree or disagree? I disagree, of course. But I bet if you came up of a list of players who won a singular MVP, a con smite and a cup, and haven't gone to Hall of Fame,

I bet that list might be zero. I bet no players ever won those three things and not gone to the Hall of Fame. Now, Taylor Hall is a unique case. It would be a hell of a career. It's just under a thousand games. Having a great sort of second act here in Carolina, but he's not a Hall of Famer.

Hasey, that's a crazy take as well. Again, not mine, but I will add this to him. Hey, I'm terrible. First overall pick, and they do claim it's not the NHL's Hall of Fame. It's the Hockey Hall of Fame. One of the all-time great junior players, right, back-to-back Memorial Cups down in Windsor, I believe. Okay, I'm just throwing that out there.

World Juniors. Any international success? Any growing up international success? Maybe the world's. You never played for Canada, but never had the best on best. Not at the Olympics or anything. Yeah. No.

Okay, what about this one? One final final for you, Johnny. You meet me and Hazy B out at Copp and Wood to tee it up, and Hazy says to you, there's your card over there, Johnny. You're taking your own cart today because I don't ride with anybody. what would your thoughts on that be? Sweet, I don't want to ride with you either. Perfect.

Love it. We're going to have a quick round. I'll see you at the green. Yeah, exactly. We'll chat on the team. We'll chat on the green. Everything in between, it's tour. I think it's fantastic.

Hazy. If we ever go play golf, we're getting three carts, and it's going to be amazing. I love it. I love it. We're doing it. Lock it in. Thank you, Johnny. Enjoy it down there.

All right, fellas. Mike Johnson joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. time the Toyota, check out the Toyota Tacoma and Toyota Tundra pickup trucks, both available as hybrids. Maple Toyota right near Canada's winterland of the Maple Auto Mall. See, that's a normal approach to a very normal procedure. Everyone in their own cart. It's a beautiful thing. I like that, you know, but his reasoning is that you can play a faster round because everybody

go get their balls. That's it. As long as everyone's in play, it's all good. All right, confirm it tonight coming up. Game one of the cup final. Jays down in Atlanta starting a series against the Red Hot Braves over. Drive continues up on YouTube live. Catch everything soccer with Bell's game time bundle.

Get 5 TV with TSN plus 5150 internet, all for $99 a month. Price guaranteed for two years with a two-year internet and TV term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for more details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. I'm Cynthia Lois and I'm Josie Dye. And we're done pretending we have it all figured out. Each week we laugh, cry and talk our way through life's messiest moments. The things you think about but would never say out loud.

The questions you are always too sure. I to ask. Relationships, regrets, awkward moments, and the stuff no one warns you about. It's honest, it's funny, and sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable. But that's kind of the point. This is Cynthia and Josie's unmentionables. Listen on the free IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. I can neither confirm or deny that this is in fact a segment. Austin trades Andrew Raycroft to Toronto in exchange for the rights to Tuka Rask. It's been my honor and a privilege to serve as the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Club.

It's time for confirm or deny. Do you regret giving all those gentlemen the no trades or no movement clauses? I can either confirm or deny that. I can't confirm or deny that. All right, confirm or deny. Brought to you by Boston, Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree, a side and a drink, and you get it all in 20 minutes or less. A fast lunch doesn't have to be.

be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch or your local Boston pizza. All right, confirm a deny. Statements are made. We go around the table, we confirm them, or we deny them. Very simple stuff. Let's begin with this one. Confirm or deny.

The Vancouver Canucks hiring Mani Molotra makes it more likely they'll take his son, Caleb, third overall. Some reason I'm going to confirm it, man. I don't know why, but I just think that there's the connection there, and they probably think they can make it work, so I'm going to confirm the connection. I don't know if I would do it.

I don't know the list if he would be the best option at three. Possibly he would be. I wouldn't do it, but I think they are. Confirm it. It's a weird answer. It's a weird answer. No, I know, but it's a tough question because they might have had that conversation saying, we're hiring you, but right now we have your son at five. Our scouts have your son at five.

Are you all right with that? There might be a different differing opinion in that room with the scouts. And they might have to argue over saying, we're going to hire the guy's dad, but we don't have him. Now, keep in mind, Toronto controls the order of this because if they don't choose McKenna, then that might throw the order off. You know, if McKenna is listed technically at one clear. If they choose Stenberg, it's Stenberg, right? I'm a butcher's name. I've chosen to take it Gavin McKenna.

I would bet my life they're taking Gavin McKenna. If they do, if they do, great. But there might be that somebody that values at two, who's at two. San Jose might not take Stenberg. Maybe they go a defenseman instead of a forward. Again, you have to adjust. I've talked to a few teams that say we've got mock lists. If this, this and this happens, this is what we're looking at.

You have to be fluid. So I don't think it's a guarantee. Vancouver at 3 takes Mahaltra. What if San Jose covers him? And he goes at 2. I think there could be an argument. I've seen these arguments with scouts. Some guys, they love their guys, and they fight for them.

So I just don't think it's a guarantee. That's the way I'm. I'm going to deny it. But I think the point you're making is every department within an organization has their own autonomy to make the, you know, Mahaltra, once they're in the room or on the ice practice game, that's his world. You know, free agency, trades, hiring different people. That's the GM's world.

When you get to the draft, that's supposed to be the director of scouting, whatever. Obviously, in conjunction with the GM, especially with a high pick. Right. But I just feel like this is something I would personally avoid. And I don't get the impression like Caleb Mulhutra is a lot to be a top three pick anyway. Right. I think he's obviously a very good player. If he went third, it wouldn't be shocking.

But this isn't the equivalent of like if McKenna dropped to three, where you have to take him. You know, like if some kid drops to you, it may still be considered a reach. And I just feel like that would be very complicated to deal with that. A father's son, new coach, rookie coach, 18-year-old rookie, in a market like that where they're just going to go nuts for whoever they pick, right like same thing in Toronto

same thing in Calgary same thing in Winnipeg you get picked in the top 10 in a Canadian city you're immediately a massively known commodity big story and immediately under the microscope and I just feel like that's a complication

I think if the Canucks are smart you just avoid like just pick a defenseman or take Stenberg if he drops to three and don't do it but it would be a fascinating story I would avoid it too Brian I would avoid it too man It would be a fascinating story if it happens, though. Like, truly incredible story where the head coach is now coaching his third over all son,

who plays the same position he played. Dude, now that you just said it out loud to me, it's just too much. It would be too much. First year head coach, high draft pick Canadian market. Unless it's overwhelmingly like this guy is so good you've got to take him, I would avoid it. We should call Craig tomorrow. Get Craig on it.

Well, Craig's high on him. I know that. Yeah. Like I've seen Craig. But just the whole idea, like how the, you know, how everything would work and his philosophy as a general manager, Craig Button will be on the show tomorrow. Well, and San Jose is in a really captivating position because they've got obviously the Golden Goose and Celebrini.

Will Smith is a stud. Mesa was second overall last year. Sam Dickinson was 11th overall, I believe, a couple years ago. You know, they've got, but they're pretty loaded with forwards there. but if Stenberg is the clear-cut guy and he can play with Celebrini, it's like Celebrini and Stenberg for the next 10 years, very compelling. I don't know what Will Smith would think on that front. Or do you take a defenseman just because that's clearly where they still need some help?

They could also flip the pick and get an asset they need for a 25-year-old player that's an impact guy, possibly a defense. Who knows? The options are on a lot of options for Santos. is in a great spot right now. And this probably is it for a high pick for San Jose. Like if they do things right, they should be competitive. Right.

Be out of it. You know, playoff spot or pushing for playoffs for the next, you know, five, six, seven years. Yeah. So if you get this one right, it can really launch you into a great position. All right, confirm with deny. Wembe enters the goat debate within the next three years. Next year he will be. I totally confirm this.

Like, if he will. wins a championship this year, which he will, hunge to you and Frankie Roobes. I think we're going to be, it's just, it's just how different he is, right? Like, obviously how awesome he is, but it's just, the guy's 6-7, man. This is awful for me. 7-4. Sorry, 7-4. I saw a picture with him and his parents.

His dad's 6-7, his mom's 6-4, and he's 7-4. Yeah. My worry for him is health. That's what worries me. You see these great players? Eric Lindross, I feel if we just saw him on the weekend, so he's fresh in my mind. Had that guy had been healthy his whole career, what type of damage could he have done? Like you often wonder because he was, there was a time where, when was it?

What year was that? 95 would that have been where he was arguably the best place? Six, I think it was, 95 or 96. On the planet. Like in a league that had Gretzky and Lemieux, and it was Big E, that was. So I think of this Wembe kid, he has to stay healthy. That's the only thing that scares me for him. I see how big and frail he looks.

He looks like he's going to break in half at some point. That's what worries me for him. And I think that's awful to say because I'm not trying to be, not trying to wish on him. I just, that would be my only concern for this guy is, does he have, a body that can hold up for 20 years. Well, that's what makes LeBron so incredible. Exactly. In 23 years, he never had a major injury.

He never had a major, like, nothing. No surgery where he's out for six months, nothing. He just kept playing. And I'm going to deny it because of, like, the goat debate is so established now, Jordan, LeBron. Then there's like, okay, it's Wilt. It should be Bill Russell. It's, you know, there's Kobe in there.

Where does Steph fall in line? Three years is not enough. for me to launch Wembe into that. I think he's got to have a decade before he gets in there. Well, that's the key then. You guys just mentioned you just said he's got to do it for a decade. And Jamie just said he's worried about his health. So can both things kind of marry each other as a massive thing?

That's where we're going, right? I will say, like, Mahomes threw his hat in the ring quickly, but it was five or six years before we really started having that chat. Right? And even then, it kind of felt a little. little bit premature, disrespectful to Brady, but it was like, man, this guy's already been to, how many Super Bowls have he been to? I think he's been to five, and he's won three.

I'll tell you what, that chatter ended rather abruptly. He's going to win more Super Bowls to Brady. He's still got a decade to play, though, right? He's still got a decade to play. I don't think he's going to rip off five more Super Bowls? I don't, but I think he's, I think he could win two or three. Would you be shocked? Okay, that's not seven.

I understand. I understand. but if he gets to like five goes to seven or eight. You know what? If he gets to five, they'll just say he's better than Brady anyway. Because when he got to two and he was approaching three, people are like,

this guy's already better than Brady. This guy is the goat, which I found completely ridiculous. Well, and it was subjective in the way that he played the game, right? Like he was so, his numbers were crazy, the clutch gene, which Brady clearly had as well. But, you know, now he's got to get back on the horse. Like, Mahomes got to get back on the horse.

confirm and deny. Jeff Hoffman will still be a Blue Jay past the trade deadline. Absolutely not. Deny, deny, absolutely not. Well, it's recency bias. Last time we saw him, it was just infuriating. Very difficult timing for you proposing this much. He's got a plus 6 ERA, you know, like his numbers are not good.

After the next blow up, we're going to get into Tanner Roark territory where you can't toss them out in the mound anymore. I think that's accurate. I think that's fair. honestly. I don't think it's not being ridiculous. He's a blow-up away and a blown save or whatever away from legitimately having a designated for assignment conversation. Dude, that was Roark in Texas one night. He went out there and it looked like he was just throwing pizzas right down the middle and guys were rocking him. And they just said that's it. It was that's it, brother. The thing is with Hoffman, like, he isn't the reason they lost

that game against the Dodgers, but he just, you needed three outs, man. And Miguel Rojas hit a home runoff view to push it. Like, it's 4-3, you're coming in, you got a chance to win the World Series, and that just is not going to leave him. Dude, you know. I'm not kidding you, Brian. I obviously think about things a lot differently than a lot of people.

I would have moved away from him after that just for Juju's sake. Do you know what I mean? Just for the symbolism of that and how it went down, and I probably would have guesstimated that it was not going to get a ton better the next year. So if I could have, I would have moved off of him after the World Series. I don't know if anybody – I really don't care if anyone else thinks like that. But that's how I would have played that. Well, I think, you know, Varland doing what he's doing.

You know, they go out there and get Rogers, who's not like a conventional closer type with the funky delivery, but he's been effective. they were, I'm sure, looking at other options. They didn't pull the trigger on it. But it isn't even about options right now. It's just about Hoffman. And prior to the blow-up in Baltimore on Saturday, again, his numbers,

he had a couple of clean sheets and he looked okay. He looked pretty good. And, you know, they removed them from the closing roll a month ago, and they've moved them in different positions and put them in different spots, and at times he's looked okay. But blow-ups like that, bloated numbers, a history, a vibe around him that is not uber positive. Yeah, I'm not sure he gets past the trade deadline.

I'm really not sure. I don't think he does. Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, he's really got to turn it around. Really, that goes without saying. Confirm or deny. The Stanley Cup final goes at least six games. I don't think so.

I think it's going to end quickly. Really? Wow. I'm confirming this one. I'm confirming. I think this goes to distance. You like a seven-game Cup final here? Six or seven.

I think both teams will have their, you know, get to their game. I think Carolina was squeezed, but, you know, they'll have an off night where Vegas gets to them. I think Vegas is going to try and bully them, too. I think that's the one thing. You know, Stan Cove, Tough Kid and all that. Taylor Hall's had his, you know, questionable hits and all that. Vegas is mean, and that Lazon's going back in. That guy, like, he's.

Yeah, I. I think Vegas is going to try and be really physical on that. Now, I don't know if that's going to scare Carolina. It's not because they're not an afraid team and they'll push back. But I think Vegas wins some games on their skill and physicality. So even if Carolina wins in four or gets four, I think at least Vegas gets two. Yeah, I think it's going at least six. I think it's going six.

I think they're both good teams. They're both fresh. You know, they weren't really pushed a lot. They're both healthy. Yeah. You know, like I think we're going six or seven here. I agree. All right, best bet's coming up, and we'll tee up game one of the cup final one more time.

Jay's down in Atlanta, Kevin Gosman on the mount tonight. Take it on the Braves. Overdrive continues up on YouTube live. Catch everything soccer with Bell's game time bundle. Get 5 TV with TSN plus 5150 internet, all for $99 a month. Price guaranteed for two years with a two-year internet and TV term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.com for more details and to check availability. Though, connection is everything.

Hello, Canada. This is Brian Adams Radio. Hosted by Brian Adams himself. We'll play a few of mine, a ton of my favorites, and some must-hear behind-the-scenes stories from the world of rock and roll. I'm coming to get you. One thing about doing rock and roll so long

is you end up meeting a lot of the people that you admire. Sometimes you even get to work with him. Brian Adams Radio. Now available on the free I-Hare Radio app. Everybody, how are you tonight? Sounds great. Confirman Denai is brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree, a side, and a drink, and you'll get it all than 20 minutes or less.

A fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch at your local Boston pizza. All right, best bets powered by Fandul. Make your picks and assemble a same game parlay in seconds on the Fanduals Sportsbook app. Hurricanes minus 156 to win game. tonight. It's a lot of juice, but I'm going to lay the juice. I think they got their game one jitters out of the way against Montreal.

I don't expect another performance like that. I don't think, I think they show up ready to play tonight. And they've actually played more recently than Vegas. You know, Vegas, it's been awful while. They're traveling. They're into Carolina. Place will be rocking tonight. It's a big game, but I'm going to lay the juice here and take Carolina best bets.

powered by Fandall same game parley's available for every Stanley Cup final game on the Fandall Sportsbook app please play responsibly 19 plus physically located in Ontario so yeah I can Keynes Brian have shut down some real things they've shut down their opponent but it's going to be fascinating with Vegas because they got some real deal players up front yeah yeah yeah and you realistically limit them to 15 shots a game I don't know if you're doing that but they're going to damn well try that's been their formula you know they they really they managed to do it, certainly against Philly and Montreal. Montreal, it was extreme.

But, yeah, it'll be very interesting. Can you do that to Jack Eichel and Mark Stone? You know, I don't know. Those, like, those boys are going to lean on you. They're pretty good players that will fight through a lot. Do you think there will be some vitriol at all? I think there might be, like, I don't think it's going to be right from the drop of the puck, but I think by game three, you might, there might be some irritable.

I hope so. It's a cup final you're playing. for you're not going to get pissed and hate the other team when are you going to do it yeah but if Vegas gets distracted trying to create some backyard brawl that's not there it's it's i don't know that's true you want to you both teams want to do their thing but carolina is not like they're going to stand up for themselves you saw jordan stall fight brady kachuk at the start of the game against they're going to do that stuff but if you just want to do if you want to have that approach i don't think it's the right one you just

It's like Torts said, they're going to play their own game. But if you just get distracted trying to turn it into some kind of backyard brawl, I don't know if that's the right play either. Yeah. No, I don't, I think you're right. I think Vegas is going to, they're physical. And I thought they were certainly more physical than Colorado. And I anticipate that they will attempt to do that.

But you know what thing. You got to get the puck sometimes, right? Carolina has controlled it basically every game they play. Yeah. We can talk about it tomorrow. We didn't bring up the fact that Chris McFarrow. just took over Nashville. Yeah.

Like that seemed like... Within the division. But I know, but that, did that seem like Colorado was fine with that? Like, hey, we're not going to fire here. That was leaked during the playoffs, Jamie. Like, that was leaked while they were getting their asses kicked against Vegas. I know, but it just... Might have been, I don't know.

It just seemed like that whole operation went up and smoked at the same time. I like Chris a lot. Like, I think he's a really good GM. So, I mean, Nashville's got themselves a good GM, but Joe Sackick's back in the chair now. So that's an interesting one. I just... We never got to, we could chat more. No, but you're right.

And Bedner is coming back, right? That was announced. It's a right call. I mean, I don't think they won, like dominated the league, but they didn't have a good playoff against Vegas. So I think, you know, now shorter leashes next year, but there's still a hell of a team. It's just McFarland put that team together and all of a sudden he's gone. Yeah, it's interesting.

And within the division, right? Yeah, exactly. We talked a lot about Vegas and their stance. Yeah. Obviously, he knows all the secrets in Colorado. and they're fine with that. Go to Nashville and good luck, you know. And Nashville now, you know, they had one GM throughout their existence,

and all of a sudden they've had a couple now, right? Like with trots in there, he steps aside. Trots right upstairs now and now it's McFarland. Yeah. So it's an interesting thought. You know, what happens not only in Nashville, but how Colorado responds to it moving forward. But Bedner, not on the table.

If you're thinking of that, leave fans, Kings fans, whatever. Jared better returning to Colorado. All right, game one of the cup final tonight. Jay's Braves tonight's going to be a great sports night tonight. Tomorrow I got game one of the NBA finals. We got picks for the memorial, right? Jack's House in Ohio. That's going to be a great tournament.

The RBC Canadian Open right around a corner. We're going to be up there all week. Get out there and get tickets and come see us and see some of the world's best players. A loaded field. Absolutely loaded field next week. Cannot wait for that. All right, great stuff. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out.

appreciate it. Everyone for tuning in today. TV, radio, podcast, web, up on YouTube live on TSN's YouTube channel, and later tonight, you can stream the whole show up on Crave. Enjoy your evenings. Enjoy the games tonight. We're back tomorrow at... Air Canada, you better get Big E a voucher. You did them dirty. You try to throw them off the bird. Not just get them in the back. You try to throw them off, like to say, you don't have a ticket. Make it, make it right. Four p.m. Well, chat then. Let's go.

New music. And the next big thing. Always on the new music first. Your first place to hear it all. Because you don't like it, love her, want to play it twice. Playing now. Iheart new music. Your digital station for brand new drops, fresh vines, and tomorrow's bangers.

Powered by North by Northeast Music Festival. Taking place June 10th to 14th across Toronto. Iheart new music. Stream now. Online on your smart speaker and preset on the free Iheart radio app.