OverDrive - OverDrive - March 20, 2026 - Hour 2 - Mike Johnson/Ryan Dempster

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

Join Aaron Korolnek and Dave Feschuk for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joins the guys to discuss the lack of urgency from the Edmonton Oilers this season, Matthew Knies’ comments regarding his injury status, how the Leafs’ should manage their games the rest of the season, which of Ottawa or Columbus are more likely to sneak into the playoffs, and the festivities around the Toronto Maple Leafs Fan Day. Former MLB pitcher Ryan Dempster joins the guys to break down on his level of concern for the Blue Jays’ recent list of injuries, if Trey Yesavage’s lengthy playoff push contributed to his shoulder impingement, what to expect from Cody Ponce, the gauntlet that is the AL East, and if George Springer has another dominant season under his belt. The guys wrap things up with FanDuel Best Bets.

With corporate traveler, you get a dedicated travel expert and 24-7 support. So business travel feels effortless. Big meetings land. Business grows. With corporate traveler, the booking is just the start. Search corporate traveler today. Second hour of overdrive here on Mail It In Friday. Brought to you by Fandul, bringing you more ways to play your game,

your way, Aaron Kournick, and Dave Feschuk, and for Brian, Jamie and Jeff. We're on TSN 1050 and on TSN's YouTube channel. You may notice I'm now wearing the headphones. And the reason is I almost burned down TSN in our previous segment. I used something called an IFB people, which is an inner, actually, I don't know what stands. Like in your phone. Yeah, it's like, what you do TV, you plug it into the thing, and it's more discreet, let's call it. You don't see it necessarily in the ear.

And I looked down during that last segment, and it was smoking. The plug was smoking. And I would feel very bad, you know, going to our boss. is Mike Lane and Stephanie Appalito and saying, yeah, sorry, I burned down the studio, my bad guys. It's a good thing we can work remotely, right? Coronavirus. I don't think that would be well received. I smelled something burning, and I was like, one of the guys bringing in something from the cafeteria that was kind of like a bit stinky or what was going on here.

I can't even explain how hot this thing is right now. You could cook an egg on this thing. Yeah, well, luckily, the side that was smoking was the side that was attached to the desk and not the side that was attached to your face. Yeah, that's a good point. That would be a tough way to go. I'd be like Two-Face in the Batman movies. Who was the actor there, Eckhart, Aaron Eckhart?

Yeah, that would have been unfortunate. But I'm all good, and we're all good here. JP, Alex, the Maestro's behind the scenes. I've taken care of me and taken care of the audience. Mike Johnson is going to call in momentarily. Looking forward to that. Ryan Dempster as well, the Jay season one week from tonight. Kevin Gosman will tow the rubber against the,

athletics? Do they have a city yet? Is it Sacramento? Is it Vegas? Is it Oakland? What do we call them this year? They're playing in Sacramento, but they are the athletics because they don't want to admit it because they're playing in a AAA park in Sacramento. You've been to Sacramento? I've been. What's Sacramento like? It's so so unremarkable that I can't tell you anything about it. Yeah, it's like as far as Californian cities, Sacramento's pretty far down the list. So what did Phil Jackson used to call it back in the day? Cowtown, I believe. Cowtown. All right. That's not a fact. That's not very. The lake. Complementary.

It's nothing like L.A. It's in California, but it's got nothing to do with L.A. Well, our next guest last night was in Detroit, a vastly superior place to Sacramento to see the wings beat the Montreal. Canadians joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline is our friend. Mike Johnson, there he is. MJ, do you hear how I almost burned down the TSN studios here? I caught the tail end of that.

I guess I'm glad you're okay. Thank you. although in my life I generally root for all things chaos. Like I am full chaos all the time. So like a little dust up, a little burn down that no one got hurt, just on some small property damage, I probably can get behind that. That would be a pretty good story.

Well, nowhere is there more chaos than in the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League. How about that say? We're right there. I'm like, not bad, not bad. But everybody wins every single night. It's looking more and more like to get in, you need 98, 99, maybe even 100 points. I mean, this is unprecedented what we're seeing in the East this year,

especially considering what's going on in the West where it might be 86, 87 to get in. Yeah, it wasn't it last year that Calgary missed with one of the highest point totals of all time? They miss with 95 or 96, and then they're going to turn around on somebody, whether it's the Islanders or the Senators or the Habd or whoever, might miss with 97 or 98. Yeah, it's tough. I think the proliferation of three-point games this year. I mean, there was more overtime games than we'd seen in recent memory this year,

so everyone's picking up extra points. And you're right, okay, you're watching the Outer Town scoreboard. And you're like, you know what? At this point, we're not even cheering for anyone. We're just cheering for regulation. Like, if one of the teams involved, just, you know, give me it. And that's why the teams actually were to see the result of the Ottawa Islander game, 13 seconds left, having Ottawa,

winning that regulation, like, okay, yes. I mean, Ottawa gets two points, but the point is there's not three for the game. Same thing in the Montreal game. It was going down the last minute, a brutal, tough turnover by Mike Matheson and Detroit wins it late. But, yeah, it's going to be there's

so many different permutations of how teams could make it, whether it's being third or second in the Metro, or being in a wildcard team, or maybe being third of them in the Atlantic, that it's hard to figure how it's all going to shake out. I just thought this, that the Canadians who have, been sort of comfortable and celebrated and exciting and all things going great are now tied

for eighth. They're also tied for third, but they're tied for eighth in their division, which is, you know, perilously close to being out of the playoffs, which is something they haven't even thought about for a long time. MJ, you were correct on the fact check, by the way. The Calgary Flames last year had 96 points, which tied the mark for most points without reaching the playoffs, and there were a few other teams that have done that. but the Edmonton Oilers this year are not going to be getting 96 points,

but they still have a decent shot to get in, MJ, despite losing last night to the Florida Panthers, who, as AK and I've been pointing out, got two points that put them one point ahead of the Maple Leafs in the standings, probably much to the chagrin of their management, because they're trying to do the same thing the Leaf should be doing. But what do you make the level of frustration with the Oilers getting shut out against a team that really has no business,

even winning games right now. Except, if I'm not mistaken, Florida's pick is top 10 protected. Yes. Not top 5 protected. So much more comfortable for picking up the odd point for Florida compared to Toronto. But I digress.

If you're Evanton, I think the whole year's been frustrating. I think everything about it has felt harder, not connected, holes in games, you know, whack a mole. You try to fix it. goal, you get another goal, you try to fix the defense from your changing coaches, you're doing a lot of

different things trying to get this team to play the way that everyone sort of assume that they would be able to find at some point. Even if we give them a pass, I think a lot of people did for 40 games because of the two consecutive finals and the fatigue and maybe the Olympics, but at some point, the assumption, they'll figure it out because they've been really good. They'll be really good again. And now with dry saddle hurt, what are the chances of them being really good in the regular season? not. It's not good. I mean, they may scrap and get in. They might win the division. But I don't think they'll be playing at a tremendous Stanley Cup

finalist caliber level. And they hope, I guess they find it. But the disconnect too fast, when you hear Knoblock, and I get coaches speak, and I get players don't really offer candid assessments of their game a lot of the time because they are trying to keep it in-house or they're trying to not get too negative. But to hear Knoblock talk about how they worked really hard.

a really good game. That kind of rings untrue. I think against Florida last night, they weren't up to the challenge. They weren't ready to go and be physically engaged. And you'd think if there's going to be a team in this situation to motivate Evanton beyond the points, the team to beat you two years in a row,

the team that sort of takes pot shots at your players, dry settle in the Olympics, whatever. Like that way, and you stir up a little something, a little sense of urgency. And it's just, maybe that's the word I'm looking for.

The whole year, there hasn't been a, sense of urgency. It's just like, we're going to be fine, we'll get it together, we'll get there eventually. They're almost at the finish, and they haven't got there yet. So I, you know, I guess I'm worried about them, the only thing they have

going for them, the Pacific, because they're going to be in that bracket, which looks like it's going to be pretty weak. PSN Hockeano is Mike Johnson, our guest here, an hour two of overdrive. I know you're fired up for Leafs Hurricanes tonight from Scotia Bank Arena. 13 games to go. Okay. Yeah.

I am going to the game. game not working. That's how fired up I am for the canes and the lease. The alumni box has a special sanitarians by me. Alumni box has some kind of special food tonight or what?

I'm giving out the military jersey. Oh, very nice. All right. Now I will watch. Now I will watch. I wasn't going to before, but now I will. So my guy's until the second break.

Yeah, exactly. I went on a diatribe earlier talking about Matthew Nyes, who came out this morning, was saying, well, I'm dealing with this injury, can't get any worse, and a lot of guys play with stuff at this time of year. I'm just going to continue playing. And my question is why?

Season's over. Why not get this guy some treatment? Get him as healthy as possible for the off season. And also, do your best to lose hockey games, because really, at the end of the day, that is what puts yourself in the best position heading into the off season. Do you see it the same way? I see it that way from a macro perspective.

Of course, you're right. Like, obviously you're right. And I don't know what's wrong with Matthew Nyes. If he needs a procedure, AK, then get him out of the lineup yesterday. Right? Like, do not wait until the summer, even though it's going to be a long summer. Do it now. Get him rested.

Get him healthier. So his summer training, which will take three plus months, will be unhindered by whatever recovery he's going to have to go through. If it's not a procedure and it's just sort of rest, it's a different kind of conversation. Because I also understand the athlete side where Matthew, I want to play. Like I know, I'm not feeling great, but I'm a competitor. I don't want to watch.

I don't want to just be icing my knee down while we struggle through this. I want to be in the grind with my teammates. And I respect that. And I would have been like that. I played lots at different times when maybe I should not have or could have used a break, but you just keep playing because that's what you want to do. But maybe this is one of those ones where if there was a really clear vision of what the rest of this year is supposed to be, and I don't know if there is.

I'm not saying there isn't. I just don't know if there is. But if there was a really clear vision from Brad Trul living, like, listen, we're going for the bottom five. We're not going to, like, you know, dress players that aren't NHL players. We have NHL guys available. But if we have guys that are hurt, they won't play. If there was a clear vision and a mandate and an understanding, then maybe that word would

filter down to Matthew and I's like, listen, if you're hurt, you have, not if you are, you are, you've been hurt all year. We're going to shut you down. We're talking three weeks now, I guess, three and a half weeks. not like a long time. Shut them down and get the rehab and the health started, but maybe the uncertainty of exactly what they're trying to accomplish. They try

to push that pick further up so that it's not a good pick for Boston, or they try to chase it all the way down so it's a good pick for them. I'm not sure they're stuck in the middle. But if they're going down, and it was an organizationally discussed plan that we need to finish as low as possible,

then both for Matthew Nize's health, his training, and next year, plus the draft pick it would make sense sit them out the rest of the year well aren't you a little like if i'm a fan mj i'm a little disturbed that i'm not seeing more marlies in the lineup like you want to start selling the future here you want to talk about resetting and having another good year next year part of that's going to involve ideally maximizing whatever you have in the system now we've seen you know we've seen bo grew and we've seen quillan um but there's there's a whole other

roster of marley's down there are we are they basically saying we don't have anybody else that's worth seeing or how do you look at this shouldn't we be seeing more Marley's at this point? I suppose but there are some rules about who you can call up and when and salary cap for mutations like you just can't bring up eight guys because you want to.

Like there are a roster limits to what you can do. But yeah, like you should be able you should try to get as many in as possible. Yes. For the reason we just talked about there's going to be some players that aren't coming back. If you're Kelly, you aren't broke or something, like, you know, totally respect his game in his career and what he's done,

but he's not going to be back here. So if you can get games for somebody else who might be, well, you get those guys' games. But more than that, Fess, I'd like to see some defense been mixed in. Like, who's on defense down there? We need to see Troy Stetcher again. Like, he's a free agent at the end of the year. Why not call up one of these kids?

Jacques Villeneuve. What's Jacques Villeneuve got going on now? William. William. He starts in comedy on F1 is what he's doing. That's the problem. Yes. I call him. I call him, Jacques. Well, and again, my guy... I like Jacques, too.

I think this speaks, and this is just my theory, to a larger disconnect within the Maple Leafs organization. Shree Living, Barube, they're probably not sure that they're coming back. So if there is some edict that needs to come down, all right, 13 games ago, we need to ensure we lose as many as possible to keep that traffic. Isn't that on Keith Pelly, the guy who's making the ultimate call? Because at the end of the day, I think it makes a, a lot more sense than not to do

everything within your power to keep your first round pick because the expectation is, Mike, that they're going to try to be good next year. And if that's the case, this pick's worth a lot more than next year's unprotected first. Yes. Yes and yes.

Okay, we're in agreement. I love to tell you. Like, I think, you know, Keith Pelley's a very smart person, very smart. And so, whether he decides this, or whether it's a conversation with Tree Living and others around him and they decide collectively, but he's

the one who says, okay, Brad, I know you probably want to have a more competitive team, you want to finish stronger, you want to represent, you want to do good by the players you've signed. I'm telling you we're not doing that. Like maybe someone has to tell Brad True Living for maybe a lot of valid reasons he doesn't want to go down this

road, that they're going down it anyway, so get behind it and start moving that direction. I'm not sure what kind of conversations. Maybe it's already happened and maybe they're just There's other factors at play. Marley's, where are they in the standings? I don't even know how good they're doing. Maybe they want those guys down there for the playoff run.

I have no idea. But yes, I mean, I think that it would be well served to go down that road while also saying it's not easy to pull guys out of the lineup. There's already been going to be pushback. Guys will get ticked off as a nice word. If you just start pulling different people out of the lineup when they think they should play to play some young kid just to try to lose, And these players are going to be around next year.

There is a lasting impact of that you would have to consider. MJ, probably the most exciting thing that's happened in recent memory in Leafland was yesterday's dog races at the fan fest down at the Scotia Bank Arena. And these were the players' dogs. I don't know if you tuned in, but it was riveting stuff. We had Troy Stetcher's. Troy Stetcher's Bernie's Mountain Dog, won the whole thing. Very quick dog, Phoebe got the big blue ribbon. But we had, like, Matthew Nyes had a dog, Zoe, William Nealander had a couple of pups out there.

Nick Robertson brought a dog. This generation of players, they love their dogs. And I was, I've covered sports a long time. I used to hear from pro athletes. I don't want to have a dog because I'm gone a lot. It doesn't seem to apply anymore. What was the dog culture like in your day, MJ? So many jokes flowing through my head right now that I'm going to leave alone.

Family show, Mike. There were not. There were not. No, I mean, I guess maybe the guys who were married with kids and stuff had maybe pets, but the young guys or the single guys or the guy, no. I mean, I mean, I didn't have a dog until I was, so I had children. Like, you might get traded. You don't want to take care of it when you're on the road. I get dog walkers and they live in these buildings and it's all fine.

It's not a big deal, expense or inconvenience. But, yeah, it was not like it is now. Now half the team has dogs or more. Yeah, no, that was not a thing. And I almost think if I think old school enough, if I go back to the days, like the idea of having a practice with the dogs out there running around and doing like the, you know, the Westchester dog routine, like there would be some guys that I play with early in my career. I'd be like, what the hell is this? Like, what are we doing here? And that's not to suggest it wasn't great.

Like, clearly it was well attended. Young people, spring break. They had a good time and the dogs are adorable. And like the more dogs, the better in a work environment. I get it. I love my dog. It's what we're here right now. But, yeah, it was not a thing,

and certainly a practice involving the dogs would never have been a thing. You've got to give Leaves some credit for that initiative. Of course, it's not exactly time of the best. But again, Pelley talked about it when he was hired. He wants more of a relationship between the fans and the team, and I think this is an initiative. Again, 8,000 people.

The tickets were inexpensive. A little bit, too, right? Yeah, it's great. I think that's an awesome thing. Like, oh, hey, there's William Neelander. who we don't know anything about except he's like a great hockey player and he, you know, his YouTube channel. But like, okay, he's, you know, he has dogs and he has like young pups or foster dogs or

Nick Robinson, who knew? Like, it just gives you a smidgen of a glimpse. And I think people, when they are passionate about anything, that if they feel like they're getting a bit closer or see something they don't necessarily know, that's a good thing. So, yeah, I'm not saying it's not a good idea. I'm just saying it would not have been a thing that we would have ever done when we played. Mike Johnson with us. So back to the National Hockey League last night,

Brady Kichuk scores the game-winning goal and the final minute of regulation, massive goal for the Sends. And Mike, we talked about the Columbus Blue Jackets, as you and I earlier this week. They're 17-2 and 4 since hiring Rick Bonas. Which team between Columbus and Ottawa would scare you more if you're one of the top teams

in the Eastern Conference? I would probably say Ottawa, because I think Ottawa's best game, is better than Columbus's. Now, Columbus is on an incredible heater. It's like all-time, great, great heater. But, you know, Volmark was on top. You look at the underlying defensive numbers for Ottawa.

They're like a top five defensive team. They don't give you much. And you get into a series of those guys, and they grind you down. Sanders has got to be healthy. And Brady Kachuk's got to get fully healthy. Take nothing away from Columbus. Columbus is on a great heater right now.

But I would almost fear a team whose absolute ceiling would be higher. and I do think Ottawa's might be. Now, having said that, do I want to play a team that's lost three times in 30 games? I don't think so. But that means you don't want to play Buffalo. That means you don't want to play Columbus. There's a couple teams in the East that will be like that.

That will be red hot heading in. But I'm so happy for Rick Bonas. I am very publicly, one of his biggest supporters, one of my favorite people I'd ever had a chance to play for. So I'm happy that he's been able to have that kind of impact. But again, it's a lot like Buffalo guys. Like what did Columbus do that they change the coach? But like the players are the same.

How come they can score all the time? Bones was my coach. I was not on a team scoring five goals a game because Bones is the coach. That's not how it worked when he took over. So I don't know what magic dust he had for that group. But as soon as he showed up, same group, all of a different team. Buffalo Sabres, Yarmu Kekyllian shows up. Same group, different team.

It's tricky to understand how fickle success can be, but ride it when you can. And any team that has a goalie named Jet Grieves, I'm sharing four. Well, that's the concern in Ottawa to a lot of people, MJ is the goaltending, right? And they've been near the bottom of the league, if not right at the bottom of the league. And team save percentage far too often for their liking or anyone's liking. Right now they're sitting five points back. I think they've got like a 45% probability of making it according to MoneyPuck, you know, nearly a coin flip, but far from a guarantee.

you know, you say their best games better than Columbus, but they don't bring their best game on a regular basis. Like, what's holding these guys back beyond, beyond the obvious of the bad goaltending? Well, I mean, the goaltending, I mean, it is the obvious. It's the answer, right? It is what's holding them back. Yeah.

I mean, it is largely just that. I mean, they've lost two of the last 13 games. So they're playing well because Allmore's come back from his time away and we're happy he's got himself into a better frame of mind in a place where he can go to work and do his best. but when they get good goal-tting, and his goal-tending is not even spectacular. Like, you look at his numbers and see he's come back,

his say it's a percentage is 902. It's not 9-32. It's 9-0-2. And they're still winning all the time. And they probably could use one more top six score. They probably would really like to use one more guy. They didn't get one. They probably were looking at different players at the deadline.

But their defensive game, Fess, keeps them in every game. And they don't have to score a lot. In a four-free league, they can win three-two all the time. And that's a scary opponent if they get there. They're five back with the game in hand. So you give them that. They're three back. And they have, you know, they can catch either through, you know,

if Columbus or like the Islanders jump up, they can catch one of the Metro teams that they have to springboard in there or one of the teams in front of them. And they play them. I think they got the Islanders. They played them last night, but they play them one more time. They have the teams that they're chasing that they play against.

So, yeah, I guess I'm a believer that the system play makes them scary. if the individual play lives up to what it's supposed to do. Ottawa's got the Leafs tomorrow night at home. So, you know, Joseph Wall or stole our stores will start tomorrow you would expect. Yeah, they definitely need that game. That's a must win of must wins for the Ottawa senators. And I did see Shabbat played something like 31 minutes last night with the injuries they're dealing with on the back end.

That's huge, man. And you've got to root for Ottawa. A lot of good people in that organization. I've been dealing with some unfortunate stuff with regards to their goaltending and injuries. So we'll see how it plays out. MJ, we'll let you go. You've got to get down to Scotia Bank Arena. Best of luck with the military presentation.

And we appreciate you doing this for us. I'll try not to fall when I walk up to seriously. No, no, please. Don't go too fast. Don't go too fast. Slow steps for Mike Johnson. All right, boys. Having a good weekend.

You too. That's Mike Johnson, to join us on the Maple Toyota hotline. It's time to Toyota in the 2025 Prius. Go up to 72 kilometers on battery alone, then seamlessly, switch to hybrid mode. Check out Maple Toyota near Canada's Wonderland in the Maple Auto Mall. You asked MJ about his dog.

And Carlo Coliacovo shares a great story about when he was in the NHL playing for St. Louis. He had a coach by the name of Andy Murray, who I'm sure you remember, who one day Koliakavo, for whatever reason, couldn't find someone to take care of his dog a practice. So Carlo brought the dog to practice, and he just got reamed

out by the coach. Wow. This isn't professional. And, you know, as you know, Carlo, he didn't like that too much. So, you know, it's a dog. But I think culture, dog culture has changed over the years like workplaces, maybe not TSN radio or TSN, but there are a lot of workplaces that are very dog friendly. People bring their dogs to work all the time. And I think COVID also played into that too where people were just stuck at home. They decided to get dogs in that period of time. So a lot of those COVID dogs were brought in the 2020, 2021 period of time. You got to find

someone to take care of them. And, you know, there's a lot of expensive things going on in these in the world. So having a dog would certainly, and having somebody to take care of your dog would be yet another example of that. That adds to the expense. But yeah, like that's one of the reasons why all these return to office protocols have been, you know, there's been some pushback on us because they got dogs at home. I know. I know that's exactly. You can't just leave the dog. You got to take care of it. So, and you know, shout out to dogs. We love dogs. Do you? I'm not a big dog. I had a dog growing up. Shout out to Wiley. Wheaton Terrier. Great dog. Was it? Oh, the best. Okay.

family no longer with us. Came up to university with me for a semester once when my parents were in Florida. So my mom was like, can you take the dog? I'm like, yeah, sure. Poor guy could barely move at that point in time. But we had some great moments together nonetheless. Yeah, we had a mutt named stitches.

A mutt. Yeah, it was like, I don't even know what kind it was. It was a multi-breed, I guess. And it was named stitches because it got to a lot of trouble. Like, it was always fighting raccoons and other, you know, feral animals. And then it ran away. And I was heartbroken and I've never had a dog since. I'm very sorry to hear that, Dave.

Yeah. I think you could rectify that. I could, but I won't. Okay, there you go. That's that. Dave Fastcheck from the Toronto Star. I'm Aaron Kourololnik. Ryan Dempster is going to join us on the other side. One week from today, the Toronto Blue Jays kick things off against the athletics.

We'll tee up the Jay season with Ryan Dempster next. With corporate traveler, you get a dedicated travel expert and 24-7 support. So business travel feels effortless. Big meetings land. Business gross. With corporate traveler, the booking is just the start. Search corporate traveler today. It's playoff time in the NPHL Metropolitan Branch.

Allison and Stratroy are still going head to head while Orangeville and Six Nations battle for a spot in the finals. This is playoff hockey. This is the NPHL. Overdrive is brought to you by Fandul, bringing you more ways to play your game, Your Way, Coronick, and Fastchuck in for the usual trio, who I think we'll return next week.

I think so. I'm not filling in next week. I hope so. I don't think you are either. So I think a couple of days you are, but yeah, they'll be back next week. As will the Toronto Blue Jays

who take on the athletics on Friday night down at the dome. And Dave, I got to be very clear when I say this. I am stunned by how calm Blue Jays fans are heading into this season, considering the litany of injuries that they've suffered throughout the course of spring training.

So let me run you through it. We know Santander done for essentially the season. Jose Brillos has a stress fracture in his elbow. Shane Bieber's elbow has been screwed up for a long time now. Traja Savage has a right shoulder impingement. He will start the season on the injured list. And then, again, not to play Mr. Negative here, but Cody Ponce hasn't pitched in the major since 2021. Max Scher turns 42 this year.

Dylan Cease, love the free agent acquisition. He did have a 4.55 earn run average last season. But Blue Jays fans are calm. And I get it. They've prepared for this. They signed a lot of guys. I think they've done a really good job in building an assortment of starting pitching depth. But that depth is going to be tested much sooner than they like.

It's the old mantra you can never have too much pitching. And I don't know when this whole offseason and sort of rounded out, and you looked at their incredible surplus of starters. I think most people were saying, what are they going to do with all these guys? And then time is taking its crazy toll here, and suddenly they've got just the right amount,

and maybe not enough. Maybe not enough, yes. And again, who knows what the future holds for Burrios, by all indications? Like, it's not that serious of an injury. Although it's a fracture in his elbow? What? And he says there's no pain.

it's a stress fracture. That's peculiar. And you're Savage, who knows. This is something he's been dealing with for a long time. And they played it pretty dicey. Well, again, this is classic Rogers MLSE with regards to injuries, right?

Berrios and Beber and Yisavage. It was, oh, you know, they're throwing there looking fine. All of a sudden, an injured list. Shoulder and this and that. And it kind of reminded me of remember when Anthony Stollars left that game, I think he'll be ready for Thursday. And then we didn't see him again for three months. Yeah.

Hopefully that's not the case with these pitchers, but clearly their depth will be tested. And again, Scherzer, all of a sudden is an extremely valuable member of the Toronto Blue Jays. So was Cody Ponce. And those guys were kind of viewed as luxury items. But now they have become key cogs along with Eric Lauer in a rotation that beyond those five, Dave, good luck naming who number six is because there's not an answer. Not right now. Not right now.

They hope there will be. and there's a good reason to believe there will be. I mean, at least, hey, they've got Kevin Gosman, all reliable. They do. And he will be the opening day starter, so that's a plus. And Ponce, I agree. Like, Ponce is a bit of a wild card, right? Like, the idea that you come over from the Korean League,

he was the MVP over there. He's had some great numbers over there, but exactly how that translates when you're back in the majors to your point, hasn't been here in a while. It's never a sure thing, right? It's never a sure thing. so and Scherer hey it did seem like it was almost peculiar that they got Scherzer back right because it was like there's no room for Scher's they knew when when when Scherzer signed they told him you savage Burrios, Beber not going to be ready to start right that's probably my guess they've known a lot longer than we've known that's exactly it which is fine again I would play things close to the vest as well if they have no obligation to tell us anything and I probably use that to my advantage as much as I could and who knows what other teams around Major League Baseball baseball knew. Maybe there's teams thinking out we can get Scherzer, but in reality, Toronto was

probably the best place for him coming back to a team that he was part of last season and now is going to be a big part of again this season. Again, you probably don't want to rely on Max Scherzer to be going out there every five days at soon to be H-42. Guys defeated father time to this point, but we know how this goes over the long run. Ideally, you wouldn't want him to be relied upon too heavily. You're right. You'd like to save him for big moments, right? Like you'd like to have him at full throttle, ideally when you get to October, right? And look, because that's what you... You got to get to October first.

I hear a lot of people say that same thing. Oh, yeah, you savage, burrios. People are like, take your time with them. Make sure they're healthy. Just got to worry about them in October. The AL East, I think, is a completely different beast this year. You look at Boston. Like, you look at some of their prospects who are coming up.

They've got some stud arms. That team's going to be much better this season. The Yankees are going to be winning 90 to 98 games in that range. They've got Garrett Cole coming back to. That's scary. Yeah, for sure. Baltimore's made some moves in the offseason. Tampa, who really knows, but they'll win some games because they always do. It's going to be very competitive in the American League East, something that our guest, our next guest knows very well. Longtime MLB pitcher, the Pride of British Columbia,

the co-host of Intentional Talk. Ryan Dempster, back on overdrive. What's up, Ryan, how we doing? I'm doing great, guys. How are you guys doing? doing all right. We're doing all right. We're talking about the Toronto Blue Jays. Certainly a lot of optimism heading in the season, but I'm sure you've seen the rash of injuries they're dealing with when it comes to the starting pitchers, Burios, Beaver, and now you Savage, what would your level of concern be at this point in time? Nice to have depth, isn't it? I think that's really important in this time of year, because you don't have to try and rush guys, and you can take your time and make sure that

they're going to be healthy and helping you throughout the season. I mean, kind of a formula has changed a little bit. I think just with the evolution of pitching now, teams that have a lot of depth can afford to have guys out. We saw that with teams that made it, you know, won the World Series. The Dodgers do that as good as anybody. Obviously, they have the finances, but they go ahead and do it and back it up. So, yeah, I'm not super concerned start of the year, you know,

but also you just want, number one thing, that's it. I don't care about a guy hits a ball, hard all, spring training. Izzy break camp healthy. Same with pitchers. So we'll see what happens. When it comes to you Savage, you think about this kid,

he had an incredible rise last year. You don't see it very often, Ryan, where a guy goes from low-A all the way to the Major League Baseball playoffs and in the World Series and becomes an essential piece of the team all in one year. And now we see he's down with the shoulder

and pinchment, and they're going to take it slow, as you say. But what would your level of concern be that it was a bit of an natural progression. Like they asked too much from him last year and that is now sort of the bill is coming due for that this year. Is that

something we should worry about or is or is this something that you know doesn't concern you? No, I think the worry and concern is that when we train guys in the minor leagues to not withstand a season like that

from a physical standpoint and what that takes in the grind that when asked to do it, it can present problems. you know, where it's like, okay, well, but now we need you to go ahead and, you know, throw 100 plus pitches, or now we need you to be out there and extending your season, whereas in the minor leagues, we monitor everything so highly where it's like, you know, pitch counts and pitch limits and all that kind of stuff, and can't throw on this many days, and let's give them an extra turn in the rotation and a lot of protectiveness, but I don't necessarily think, A, works, and B, I don't think it definitely doesn't work when you ask a guy that all of a sudden

and then turn on something that he hasn't really done his whole career. So, yeah, I hope that it encourages teams. Like, I love what he did last year, but it has ramifications for this year, right? And how you build them up in spring training. So anytime you hear any word like that, it's always scary. But at the same time, I think more than ever, teams are very, take a very precautionary route, especially when it comes to young talented players like Trit. Ryan, when it comes to spring training results and what they mean for the regular season,

Do you think a batter's results in spring training would carry over more often or a pitcher's results would carry over more often? That's a good question. I think sometimes a batter's, you know, spring training can last, like, into that beginning part of that season, you know? Sometimes you see a guy here's a problem that presents itself. Guy comes in the camp trying to win a job, right? Goes out there, maybe it's just like the 26th guy on the roster. Maybe not.

Maybe it's the backup in-field or whatever. and he has a great spring, but then the season starts and he doesn't play, so then all of a sudden the sudden that timing gets affected a little bit and it goes away, and then all of a sudden he had a really great spring, don't know what happened. Well, the only starts he got off were two reigning Cyang Award winners, so he's kind of like, you know, it's all like, it just depends. And I think for the most part, you know, if a ball's coming out of a pitcher's hand really well and the velocity's there and there's a break on the breaking ball that you're looking for,

that spin and that shape on the breaking ball, I think results in spring training don't really matter. It's the stuff there. I think that those can quickly shift come regular season and a guy can dominate when it matters rather than when it doesn't. What's your take on what to expense from Cody Ponce? Because he comes back from a lengthy stint in Korean baseball, hasn't been in the major leagues in a few years.

And obviously they're betting big on him. He's got to come through for them. He's got to be a member of their five-man rotation. right out of the gate here. Coming back from Korea, Ryan, in your experience, watching guys do it, you know,

what is sort of the downside, sort of the downside sort of yin-yang on that? Is there a way you can look at that that gives you any sort of indication of what we might expect? Yeah, I think sometimes

it's going overseas, whether it's Korea or Japan, for some guys, I think it gives them an opportunity to find themselves. We've seen it in the past. I remember I play with Kobe Lewis in Texas. He was the guy that went over and then came back.

Miles Michaelis, like, I know there's more that I'm forgetting, but it happens a lot where, you know, maybe a guy is, you know, labeled as something, and then every team that has him just tries to, tries to, I don't know, help him find it rather than him find himself, if it makes sense, you know, where you get an opportunity to just be like, okay, let me just, let me try something here and see if it works, and all of a sudden you find something that works. And if the numbers are there and the metrics are there,

and now you have confidence behind that and development in yourself as a pitcher, yeah, man, why not be successful? I think there's been a ton of guys that have gone over, done that, and come back and been successful. And, you know, it's a different look than guys might have seen before. So I think it's, you know, a good pickup and the potential to really be something

that could help to do is in a big way. Ryan Dempster here on Overdrive. So when it comes to the American League East as a whole, clearly Cody Ponce, guys like Scherzer, will be huge for the Toronto Blue Jays, and we've seen Boston make some big additions over the offseason, certainly Baltimore. The Yankees are going to be tough.

How do you see this division playing out with the season on the horizon? Yeah, right on, hey? That's what you want, like, just like boxing match. Let's go. Good teams, good teams getting after it. Don't sleep on Tampa Bay. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's just going to be a good division like it has been.

And I think, you know, that was kind of how it was for a long time. the AL East was like, that's where you went to go get your ERA inflated. You know? Absolutely. Yeah. And so, like, why not kind of have that back again? And these really good teams that are going to go out there. And, you know, to me, I look at the division.

I go, hey, man, the Blue Jays, in my opinion are the favorite. But you mentioned, like, the Red Sox, you talk about quality pitching. You know, when you have guys in the top of rotation like Gereachin and then you got Peyton Tully, who's like this young stud. And they just got a lot there on the pitching. can they score enough runs? I mean, that's going to be the question. But, you know, the Yankees are the Yankees.

It's just fun watching. I love it. I do. I don't want to see some team that just runs away with the division. I love when there's competitiveness like this. I love when I see a brawl, go ahead, clear the benches against each other, you know? Like, I don't know, start something at a restaurant one night with the other team, just for fun. You know, are you speaking for experience?

Is that something? That sounds like you've been involved in something like. Do you ever get into some fisticuffs? with members of opposing teams at any point during your MLB career? No, no, no, I didn't, especially not off the field. I always marveled at hockey players by that for that. Like, they could fight in their own practice, but then they're drinking beer at the bar later.

You're exactly right. That's a different culture, I guess. Hey, Ryan, one of the optimistic view of the Blue Jays is, hey, they're the reigning World Series finalists. Look what they did last year. Why can't they do it again? The other outlook on that is, hey, what are the odds they do it again, given the fact that they had so many guys that overachieved by any measure,

including the guy that in a lot of ways was the engine that drove the vehicle in George Springer at age 36. When you look at the Renaissance season Springer had last year, and then you think about, hey, he's got to do it again. He's not getting any younger. I mean, what are the odds in your mind that he can sort of keep some sort of a reasonable facsimile of that year going? Yeah, I think health determines that. I think he's healthy.

I think we find ourselves at that age. We start to like all of a sudden accept who we are. And honestly, like, you know, George has overcome things in his life, you know, off the field, right? And how to go through some tough times and like, you know, when it deals with like the stuttering issue and going through all that speech stuff. and now he puts himself on a platform that automatically is something that you're overcoming

and confidence-wise, right? And baseball was always a way to do that. And then all of a sudden you just become like the veteran and then you just know you're a badass. Like he knows he's bad. He knows he's a bad dude. He knows the dudes are afraid if they hang a breaking ball that he's parking one in the seat.

Like you start to realize that and that's a fun feeling to have because then now you're working on, I've got to maintain I'm healthy and stay healthy. And if I do that, I know I'm going to go out there and put the numbers up. And more than that, I just know I'm going to have the respect that I'm going to do damage if you make a mistake. And I'm also going to hit good pitching. Like, he's just one of those guys to me that has gotten better and better and has the ability to sustain that for a couple years. And also, by the way, if he doesn't, it's just, it's okay.

Like, other guys got to step up. But it might be 25 homers and it might be 80 RBIs. But when you're throwing out of the top of the lineup, you just want him out on the field every day. day. He makes everybody else around them better. And I think he's just coming into his own later in his career as a guy who just now knows he's he's one of the bad dudes out there.

As are you, my man. Thank you so much for doing this. We really appreciate it. Have yourself a great weekend. Yeah, you too. Absolutely. Let's go. One week away, I cannot wait. I know. Less than a week. We got baseball. Let's go. Almost there. Thank you so much for the time. That is Ryan Dempster. Longtime

MLB pitcher from Intentional Talk. Who's fired out for baseball. and there's a lot of people in the city of Toronto, Dave, that are very fired off for the Jays. Raptors had a very nice season. The Maple Leafs, however, have had a dreadful season. You need a pallet cleanser with some Blue Jays action. And you look at their early season schedule.

They start with the athletics. Then they've got the Dodgers, I believe, in the second series. But there's a bunch of easy games in the month of April. I know Colorado comes down. I think they go to Colorado as well. So you could see the Jays with a very nice start this season simply because of the opposition that they've got on their schedule and I think that's actually very well timed

because of the injury concerns to a lot of the guys in rotation that is absolutely a great time and you're right they got they got athletics they got Colorado they got the white socks out of the gate before they have to how long have the white socks just been utter garbage for like a long time a long time since like Mark Burley was pitching for Yeah, it seems.

You know, it's sick and how bad they are. It's crazy. And you're right. That is nice. When you've got three cupcake teams in the first nine games, that's a nice kind of consolation prize to all the bad news around the arms. That is exactly it. If there was ever a time to have injuries to your pitchers, it's the beginning of the season

considering the schedule for the Toronto Blue Jays. I will have my Fandual Best Betts on the other side. Leif's, Hurricanes, Raptors, Nuggets. tonight. With corporate traveler, you get a dedicated travel expert and 24-7 support. So business travel feels effortless. Big meetings land. Business grows. With corporate traveler, the booking is just the start. Search corporate traveler today. It's playoff time in the NPHL Metropolitan Branch. Allison and Stratroy are still going head-to-head while Orangeville and Six Nations battle for a spot in the finals. This is playoff hockey. This is the NPR.

Mail It in Friday is brought to you by Boston Pizza Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree of sight 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 a $15 fast lunch at your local Boston pizza. Things winding down here on the Mail It in Friday edition of Overdrive, Kourlnick Festchuk, with you. And it is time now for today's best bets powered by Fandul. Make your picks and assemble a same game parlay in seconds on the Fandul Sportsbook app. I like the second line for Carolina

to have a big night tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Taylor Hall loves playing in Toronto. He gets a point. Jackson Blake. His pops, Jason Blake, maybe he's in town, I don't know. Former Toronto Maple Leaf. He gets a point and my lookalike, Logan Stankovin,

sorry, Logan, two plus shots on goal, plus 319 on Fandul. Today's best bets are powered by Fandul. Same game parlays are now available for every NHL game on the Fandul Sports police player responsibly 19 plus physically located in Ontario. Yeah, my two NHL lookalikes, people tell me are Logan Stankovin of the Hurricanes and Artem Zube of the Ottawa Senators, not exactly household names.

You get people come up to you and say, are you like Brad Pitt or George Clooney? I'm sure. I'm sure you get a lot of Clooney, Dave. Yeah, exactly. Any lookalikes that come up in your line of work? No, I'm a singular. you know, atrocity.

Come on. But I like your idea of a Carolina offensive explosion. What was it? In November they played here, they had 47 shots on. 47 shot.

And that's when the least were somewhat competent. Yeah, back then. Yeah. So. It could get ugly tonight. It could. It should get ugly tonight.

Well, this Carolina team, they live with Brindamore coach, and they just, their default setting is just energy, right? They just, they just, they absolutely dog the puck.

The Leafs have been the worst team in the league and getting the puck. So I don't like the recipe for the Leafs. Easton Cowan's playing up on the top line tonight if you want to call it. I mean, it's hard to really decipher what a top line is. Generally speaking, Matthews is playing. That's the top line. Tavares, Nealander, who's the top line? It's hard to really ascertain exactly what.

But I am curious to see what type of effort we got. Again, that game against the Islanders was as lifeless as I can remember from any hockey team. and if that continues over the next 13 games, that's a great thing for the Toronto Maple Leafs because losing is exactly what they should be doing. I know a lot of people will be heading down to Scotia Bank Arena to see their favorite team play tonight,

but trust me, people, if you are cheering for the long-term viability of this hockey club, a loss is a win. And they should be losing with more Marley's in the freaking line. That would work as well. And some of those college guys. Where's Vinnie Borghazy tonight? Great question. I want to see Vinny.

Nothing wrong with putting him in there. I want to thank Alex Mandarino, J.P. as well. Everybody behind the scenes for helping us out today here on Overdrive. I'm Aaron Kournick. That is Dave Festchuk. The guys will be back on Monday. I think I've got to check the schedule. I probably should do that before I proclaim that. But that's my understanding.

The usual trio will return on Monday. Have a great weekend, everybody. Mail it in Friday is brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree, a site, and a drink, and you'll get it all in 20 minutes or less. A fast lunch. It doesn't have to be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch at your local Boston pizza.

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