OverDrive - OverDrive - March 6, 2026 - Hour 1

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys kick things off by recapping their experience throughout this year’s TSN TradeCentre broadcast, and discuss the biggest moves of the day, the Toronto Maple Leafs moves of trading both Bobby McMann to the Seattle Kraken, and Scott Laughton to the Los Angeles Kings, and how those deals affect the club moving forward. Bryan and Jamie then go live to Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brad Treliving’s post-trade deadline press conference, and break down his comments.

If Bell 5 TV is now streaming, is it still TV? Is it still TV if there's no TV box? If I can stream all my favorite channels and pause and record shows, that's TV, right? A new era of 5 TV. It's streaming, but it's still TV. Well, glad that's settled. Bell, connection is everything. All right, here we go over, drive off and running.

TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker up on YouTube live, Brian Hayes, Jamie Noodles McLennan. I'm floored. I don't know what to say about what happened today. Well, we'll get to that. I just heard something as a guy walked out the door. A.B. said, I might be in on the marathon. I was like, I didn't hear that.

Did you not hear it? Four seconds ago, you were saying, welcome. to overdrive. He leans over. I'm locked eyes with him. He goes, I might be in on the marathon. Wow, that is actually breaking news. Yeah, that's actually... That's actually substantial news that will do serious

numbers. Huge numbers. Because Al's brother, who we just saw, and he looks great, and it's great to see him as always. Oh, threw that out yesterday, I think it was, right? Because this this marathon 10-K thing is getting carried away. The amount of people writing me who are legitimately insulted by calling a 10K a marathon. Yeah.

Like, I'm getting legitimate. Well, it is because people who run, that's a warm up for them. I understand that. It's not. It's all relative.

For us, it's a marathon. It is a marathon. All right, it counts. Like, for us, it's a marathon.

A lot of people that play beer league hockey, beer league baseball, whatever. For them, it's the major leagues, the national hockey league. That's what the 10K is for us.

Yeah. Oh, throughout the idea of Al's brother being involved in the race. And I, just completely blew past that. I said, let's not get stupid. We're trying to figure this out and make it work, but to get it

from Al's brother that he is possibly intrigued, maybe it's a kilometer from maybe. Maybe he starts the race or he brings it home with us. Yeah. That could be it. Maybe Al's brother gives us 500 meters out of the gate and then meets us at the end

for the final five months. For the photo op. That's what he is. The photo op. He gets started and then he comes across the line. It should be. I mean, I'd love to see it. I just, I heard about it. I obviously I've been calling games and stuff, so I've missed the last couple shows, but I keep hearing this, either couch to 5K, couch to 10 or whatever. Yeah, we're doing it. We're really doing it. And for A, B, to drop that. And listen, I know we need to get to breaking news. We need to get to what the leaves did. That's breaking news, though. That was breaking news for me.

I'm telling you, the amount of people down at Studio 6, which is the main studio here at TSN, Yeah. B buzzing about this 10K that O and I are going to run. The amount of people that want to be included, the amount of people that want to jump on board and possibly pushes in that direction. I don't think I can get out of it now. Yeah. I saw O in some very revealing clothing today.

That was. I wouldn't suggest that's a body type that screams 10K. That was outrageous too. Yeah. The ping pong. Playing ping pong against Marty with a high socks and a tight short short. And the pants were. When his side boiler was out.

Very revealing, put it that way. I had a back view of that. Yeah, there he is. Look at this cat. There was ass crack, left and right, like, staring at me. Yeah. Because I'm standing behind him. Right.

Oh, yeah. Dude, look at this guy's literally his ass is on TV. National TV. There's no other way to put it. Like, that's a heavy hitter. television program here at Bell Media and the O-Dog is

flashing the country. Yeah. So we got a lot to get to you today. Brad Truliving will join us. Nazim Cadre, this just came in. Nazim Cadre is heading to the Colorado Avalanche according to Chris Johnston. Interesting.

So this is the amazing thing about the trade deadline. And I don't know why this happens, but it has been consistent the last couple of years. All the biggest deals happen after 3 p.m. Yeah. Well after 3 p.m. So it leads me to believe that the queue is like one person. Can we not get more people working the queue?

Yeah, like you should be able to, every team should have a number and go, you know, like Calgary, Calgary trades, Nazim Cadre to Colorado, I'm reading. They should have a designated line. Right, a Calgary line calling into this line to get it into, so that they're not waiting. You're 86. It's like trying to get through to an airline. Especially when other teams are wasting people's time.

Yeah. We're trading a minor leaguer for a conditional 7th and 2032. Can you get out of the way? Exactly. Like we're trying to have a massive blockbuster trade. And you're right. There's a minor league deal done. And they're in the queue trying to dot the eyes and cross the T's.

Wow. We talked about it extensively today. You and I did panels on it. I did stand-ups. You guys did it with Gino in the back. Cadrey had to be traded. Right. because it had gone public that he wanted to be traded.

Right. Right. Like that had been reported on. Not that it wasn't anything anti-Calgary or anything like that. It was he knew where they were, where they were going, where he is in his career. And he had concluded it was in his best interest. And I think especially when McKenzie Weger gets traded to Utah. Yeah.

Hubertos hurt for the year. Like the veterans around them aren't going to be there. And again, we'll see what the return is. And I got to give credit to color. because now they've, look at their middle ice, McKinnon, Nelson, Cadre, Nick Waugh. Yeah. Like they trade, I got to think Calgary now is a little bit complicated

because Cadry's contract is longer, it has some more money. But if Colorado gave up a first and a fifth for why, I would think Cadre has more value than him. Probably, I would think the return would probably be that or more. And keep in mind, to make money work, Calgary might have to take something back. Who knows, right? So I think that's why you want to wait for all the stuff to trickle out.

But you're right. I did the game in Calgary last night. Nazim Kadri, you know, you could tell, and rightfully so, he's a human. And you're sitting on pins and needles going, is today the day, you're probably talking to your agent. I walked into the rink at 445. He was sitting in his car on the phone. You have to wonder if he's getting one last phone call in going, am I playing tonight or what are we doing here type of thing?

It weighs on your family. It weighs on everything. And to be honest, he played like it last night. He looked a little distracted. But, you know, Colorado got themselves a real good player. And I would argue, you know, depending on what we know what the return is, Calgary is heading in a different direction. They probably got a, you know, picks and a player or whatever. And some tidy work for Craig Conroy.

Well, and what goes around comes around, right? Cadre goes back to where he won a Stanley Cup. And this team, I don't know if they're as good as the team from a few years ago, but I would think they're pretty close. They feel good about it. They're the first place team overall in the league. Here's the other thing, if you're Chris McFarland, too, the manager of Colorado. You're watching Bill Guerr and just go, hey, player, he's bringing in player after player.

I think Minnesota grabbed Robbie Fabri off waivers. Is it yesterday or two days ago? Trading for players, he made the trade of the year for Quinn Hughes. You already had Caprice off and Boldie and Faber and, you know, like you're just, they've got a wealth of riches. I've said this all along. As much as I like Colorado, I think Minnesota is a, is a, they're a wagon. And guess who else is there? The Dallas stars.

And Dallas has won 10 in a row for fun. Just blowing teams out. And rant and insert, Rupert Hince has been sick. Yeah. Like they're two best forwards, arguably, not even playing. And they're just rolling through teams. So we'll see what else comes out because, you know, I concluded when we came over here, we walked over here about a half an hour ago.

It was a dreadful day in terms of activity. There just wasn't a lot that happened. And we knew and we know, based on past experience, post 3 p.m., there's going to be more deals coming in. This cadre trade is clearly an example of that, and I'm sure there's going to be more. But it, to me, felt as if today there weren't, enough teams that really grabbed the bull by the horn. You know, like you mentioned Minnesota, obviously you go out and get Quinn Hughes.

It's a massive, massive statement. Right. Vegas could probably put their head up and say, we got Ross Ms. Anderson a month ago. Right. You know, maybe a couple of other teams. But on a day like today where I thought a Buffalo, a Detroit, maybe a Montreal, you know, teams that are hungry. Like hungry and are in.

And they're seeing. And have picks and prospects. They have collateral to make deals. Keep in mind. the Stanley Cup champions are not going to be there. Right. Florida's done. They're out. It's going to be wide open for somebody. There's going to be a new Stanley Cup champion this year. Yes.

Which hasn't been the case for the last couple years. Right. The Stanley Cup, now, I actually stopped myself there because I said, the Stanley Cup's leaving Florida. I don't think, you know. Tampa's still in a pretty good spot. Here's a scary part. I joked about it. They just got Corey Perry.

Does that guarantee them to get to the finals at least? Possibly lose. Probably lose, but still get there. But you look at it like that's Florida's off the table. So it is wide open. There's going to be a new cup champion this year. Don't you think that's a little bit of a carrot for an organization ago? I figured so.

I figured so. And I honestly think there's going to be regret from some. And these teams made some moves. Like Detroit got Justin Falk, good player. Yeah. But it's, you know, it's one player. Buffalo made the Jets deal. And obviously they tried to make other deals and it didn't go their way.

Right. Montreal has not really done anything. Yeah. And they got to know, like I'm trying to think if they did anything else that, now here's a thought process on Montreal. I think they, if you had them in a candid moment, they're saying we're building, we don't see us as in the top, we see ourselves a level below.

Right, in ascending upwards. Exactly. And maybe we're not one player away from being there. But maybe that's, they let this group play it out and then assess in the offseason and go, we needed this or we got more experience. You know, Demadoff's a year older. Right. I just look at.

Lane Hudson, all of that. Well, and that's reasonable and I think that's what's happened. Right. Where a lot of these, you know, teams that kind of made the dance, I look at Anaheim. Now they picked up John Carlson. That's a really intriguing move. It is. And, you know, we'll see what else happens here.

But, like, they're new to the dance. Utah jumped in Seattle, obviously picked up Bobby McMahon. Like, teams have made individual moves. But it felt like to me, there was an opportunity today for a team to say, you know, we're going to just, yes, it's going to cost us a lot. We're going to grab like two or three big guys here. Especially if you've got cap space and currency. You've been banking that for many years.

Yeah. And then on, you know, the flip side, the sellers in Toronto, they trade Bobby McMahon to Seattle, and they get a second and a fourth. Yeah. Scott Lawton to L.A. for a third that's, additional. If they make the playoffs, it turns into a second. Yeah. So it's Nick Woff for picks, Bobby McMahon for picks, Scott Lotton for a pick. So they've acquired picks. You know, I think the Lotton deal is one that I know the reaction is going to be

mismanagement of asset. You paid that much for him last year and now you're paying what you are this year. I look at it differently because you had to move off the player. Yes. And if pride kicks in or ego kicks in or insecurity as a manager and you say, well, I'm not going to do that because it's going to make me look bad. That's worse management, in my opinion. You had to move off, Scott Lawton. You had to. I don't think Brad Tree Living's like that. I think he does what's best, what he believes is best for the organization. You're right. Lawton, if it ends up being a second rounder, he paid a first rounder. Yeah, and Grosvenkin is not a player in the NHL. I get in trouble all the time when I talk about.

He's not going to be a longstanding player. I do, you know, my argument, and I said this is some hockey people the other day. Burbankin is a Russian player. How many fourth line Russian players do you know in the NHL? Not many. Because they go back to the K. So it's always a crapshoot there. But, you know, first turns into a second.

Cost of doing business, you went all in last year because you thought you had the team and you had a really damn good team last year. And this year, it hasn't gone the way that you envision. So you're right. I think Brad Trevelling goes, I can get a second out of it.

Couldn't get the first. But to be honest, if this was swapped, let me ask you this. If he got a first for Lawton and a second for Waugh, he'd go, how bad? Well, and I think ultimately, yes. Because I didn't see a first for Waugh. I wasn't sure he would get that based on the way he's played this year. Now, Lodden, again, you've got to just be honest about it. Scott Lodden has kind of struggled, and he hasn't been given a ton of opportunity here.

Right. But he wasn't, you know, the reality is it was an overpay last year to Philly. That's just what it was. They felt they needed another center. They paid it. He didn't really fit in. This year he fit in more. He certainly had a role.

There was some redundancy there with Watt and Lotton, both in your lineup. They moved off both. So listen, what has become clear here, because Ackerman Larson stuck around. And I'm fine with that because you had to set a price on him. And if it wasn't met, then fine. We'll meet you at the draft. He's got him on term. He's got two years left.

He's a good player. He wants to be here. I've got no problem with that. I don't think you, I would have liked to have seen them capitalize on his value. I'm surprised they couldn't. Like I am surprised the team didn't step up and say, that's a really valuable player. I'll pay your price.

But it speaks to what's happening throughout the league. Now, maybe he is being dealt right now. We don't know. I don't get that impression. The trickle in effect. But I'm surprised no one stepped up and paid the price for Rekman Larson, but it's consistent with the way kind of everything has gone through. And if you look at the board here,

McMahon-Lotton walk out, a first and 27, a second and 27, a third and 26 that could turn into a second. a fourth and 26th and a fifth and 26. So, you know, you brought in five picks. You brought in some currency that you could either. And I think they've got to use these picks. Well, you have to draft.

Yeah, you've got to draft players. Keep in mind, there's a lot of people that track the Marley's. They're not stocked with blue chip prospects right now. You know, again, because of where this organization has been the last 10 years. You've had to, you know, trade picks and prospects going on. in at the deadline. This is the first year. This is unique for you and I and for a Leaf fan

and this city because it's always been, this team is good, let's give them an opportunity at the deadline. Going back, where did this all start? Was it Nick Folino? And then he came in and had the back injury. Like they've been having,

going in is the wrong word, but they've been very proactive at the deadline. Aggressively pushing. Aggressive. Yes. For quite some time. Eventually, when it comes to fruition, you're like, okay, we've got to restock the cupboards. Yes. And that's what they're doing. Well, Fulino was the year

before they went out and got O'Reilly and Achari and it all melts together. It all melts together. But they've been doing it for a long time. I will say, from these deals, because no one else was traded outside of pending UFAs, Nick Waw, notwithstanding, he's got a year

left on his deal. I still don't know what direction they're taking this team in. And we'll ask Tree Living this next hour. We'll see how much clarity he's willing to give us or how much he's willing to answer. But that is really at the core of every Leaf fans chat right now. With their friends and with anyone online or whatever, what are you going to do?

Because they're sinking like a stone this year. We know it's over. I think you've got to prepare for it to get really ugly down the stretch. Right. They got pumped by New York last night. They have been lifeless post-Olympic break. Craig Barouba, I have to believe, is feeling some insecurity right now. It's not good with the way they're playing, the way it's going, he's yelling at him.

They don't even look like they're paying attention to him. It's ugly. Like it's an ugly scene, and you've got 18, 19 more games. It's going to remain ugly. Their first round pick owned by Boston, top five protected. Can they get into the bottom five? It's very difficult. But if you lose 14 or 15 of your next games, you'll be.

real close to it. Yeah. Can you win a lottery, possibly? But then you're kicking that down the can. Boston gets the pick next year. Philly's got your pick next year, which would roll over to the next year. You're kind of just moving it further down the road. But what are you going to do here?

What is Brad True Living and the Maple Leafs? What are they going to do? Are you going to retool? Are you going to put these picks back in play and try to acquire a defenseman? They obviously have, they need centermen now. Right. Like Lawton and war are gone. John Tavaris is a three.

You know, they need a second-line center, a fourth-line center. They haven't changed the defenseman. Like, that's another thing that sticks out today. This defense corps is old, slow, they're on term. They have played very poorly this year, and none of them were moved. Yeah, I think the bigger question... What else are you going to do here? It's funny, because when I look at it, if you had to say, tell me the most consistent defenseman this year, it's been...

Backman-Marson. Correct. Undoubtedly. So they kept him. and I think really, it's not even the elephant in the room, I think they look at Morgan Riley's situation in the offseason and say, that's the starting point. And then what does that look like?

What does Morgan want? Because he controls that situation. And then you kind of have a domino effect after that. If Morgan wants to move on and you decide mutually to move on, then it's, you know, what's Chris Tanniv's situation? That's it. That's complicated. And then into Brandon Carlos situation.

and Benoit and Myers, you know, like it really trickles down. But I do believe if I had, you know, kind of a wish list right now, I think the goaltending can be stable. We've seen it. It hasn't been consistent this year. They've had injuries, all that type of stuff. But if you believe that position and then you throw in Hilderby, there still has to be a decision made there because Hildby needs waivers next year.

I don't think he'd make it through. So you've got to decide on one there. the forward group, it's a mixed bag. But you do have Austin and Willie, which are two top tier players, John Tavares on term, who, you know, regardless of what you feel he is, pretty darn consistent point producer, but you said slide to a three. You've got Matthew Nyes on term. And then some other, respectfully, other players.

Max Domi, you've got, Machielli, all those guys are still here. Right. So the question is, you start with the D first and then revamp and then start to reshape around those players we just talked about. Or is it in the offseason you're going to move a key piece and really kind of retool around Austin Matthews or, you know, or Austin? I guess a key piece would either be Willie or Austin.

It's two guys that you've got to determine. And if those aren't on the table, then it's the Boston mantra with Pashtonak. Yeah. Like you're staying. and everyone else is going to go out of play, and we're going to reshape it around you too. Yeah. Well,

and what also became clear, it again, it's not a surprise based on the whole market. Like, I'd love to yell and scream and say, I wish they got more. I do wish the leaves found a way to get more. I wish they traded more,

but not a lot has happened in the league today. A lot of GMs just played it tight to the chest. But what is clear is, if they could have moved, Yarn Kroke, Lorenz, Benoit, they would have.

Right. Like, you'd take a fifth round pick for those guys more or less. Maybe Benoit's different because of the position he plays. He's on term and he's cheap. But Callie Yarncroke, you would literally trade for a sixth or seven round pit. No one wants him.

Like no one's taking him. Yeah, because every team has has those players. Yeah, it has a Cali Arncrook. Why would you pay currency? But that's the issue. It's like, you know, Nick Robertson's still here. So what are you going to do with him? You know, Stephen Lawrence is still here. He's on

term. What are you going to do with him? You know, there's obviously other players that they have to figure out on. They've got to turn some of this defense corps over. But these were the guys they had to move. You had to move off McMahon. He was a great story. It came out of nowhere, East Coast League. And keep in mind if

you know, again, this is cart before the horse. If he goes to Seattle and has success, he's going to sign with somebody else, he might say in the off season, this is what I've got and I would like to come back, you know, again. Absolutely. On the table to do that. It doesn't usually happen. I understand. But it's just

there is things that you have to take a look at. But I think this is the beginning of, you know, the retool. You did what you had to do as far as pending free agents. The Waw deal was there. You have to take that, Nicholas Waw deal. Yeah, you get a first rounder. And you know, and you just. And another pick.

You know, and you've given first rounders not away the last couple of years. You get one back. Like to me, I thought that was a home run for Brad Tree Living. So now it's more about, you know, what do you do, moving forward. And what is the thought process? Like, what is the mantra? They play tomorrow, correct against Tampa?

Yes. Like, obviously Craig Barrube, Austin Matthews, winning Nielander, they're trying to win, like the guys that are playing. But is Brad Tree Living wanted them to drop in the standing so that they get a better draft pick or, you know, problem is if top five protected, I just don't know if you can get that. Listen, it's not going to be easy. Like, there's certain teams you're not quote-unquote catching.

You're not catching Vancouver. I don't think you're catching the Rangers, but the range. Rangers beat you last night. That was an uninspired effort. That was weird. The Leaves were awful last night. But it's not like the Rangers were great. But the least, even after that loss, they're nine points up on New York.

Yeah. You know, they're nine up on Chicago. The team that is currently fifth from the bottom is Winnipeg. And the least are five points up on them. That is not out of the realm of possibility. No. That with 19 games to go, you lose enough where you drop to fifth. It's possible.

is it likely probably not unless you're Chevy like the thing is is you get a a nick you're shut down type of thing like a little you know well that and that I think I wonder if Florida's going to do that because Florida is below them right in Florida I believe their first pick first round pick is somewhere but it's top 10 protected yeah um Nashville they still might think they can make the playoffs that's the weird thing the sharks the kings the preads you know they're all around the dog fight they think they might be able to still get in so maybe they're still pushing towards making the playoffs. Right.

So if you're the Leafs, again, it's not going to be easy to do. It'll certainly not be fun to watch, but it's not out of the realm of possibility they could drop close enough to fifth, where at a minimum, you're going to get an all-time sweat for that lottery. Like Leave fans, you talk about

sweating it out because there is a legit chance here. They either win the lottery and keep the pick or hand over like the seventh pick in the draft. Get the Boston. and Bruins. Yes. Like that's kind of what they're facing right now.

There's some really good players available talking to Craig about the draft. Like this draft seems to be, you know, it may not be like generational players, but really good player. Well, and that's where if you get depth in a draft, you've got to get back in, you've got to get those second round picks. Right. Third round picks. Yeah. Yes, they're not going to play for you in the next three, maybe four years. But what we've learned here is time goes quick, man.

Yeah. Like the Leafs will still be playing in four or five years. Like we had a big, not an argument. We had a great conversation about the Leafs on the panel today. And, you know, the Matthews stuff, he's struggling right now. Like, you got to be able to acknowledge that. They're all struggling, everybody. Yeah, they're not playing in the capability.

Way down my list in terms of concerns or issues in terms of how they got to this position. But he hasn't played well. Will he's not playing well. You know, Tavorous is slowing down. Riley's slowing down. But, you know, for the longest. time, it felt like this team and in a way the fan base

was so connected to the core four and the best players and there was always this anxiety. Like, are you going to keep them? You got to keep them. What are you going to do? What's the contract going to look like? And now, you're 10 years in and you have nothing to show for it. Why would you continue with

that approach? In other words, why do you feel like you're beholden to Matthews and or Willie to retool or go all in and try to get back into the dance just because they're under contract. Well, like, why do you, like, you know what I'm saying? I understand what I just like. Like the Leafs are who you're building, not Matthews and Nylander and their legacy is leaves. You're right, but the question that I would ask in retort to that

is if you believe that those are the guys that you can build around. Which I still do believe they can be a big part of it. We've answered the question. If you believe that if you're going to reshape, retool, however you want to frame it, around the guys that you have on term, then they're the ones that you want here. I'm not behind the curtain. I'm not sure if they're happy with the culture, with the attitude, the work, all of that type of stuff.

That's for Brad Tree Living and his management. And that's two-way street. Maybe the players are looking around saying, what the hell is going on here? I don't love this either. Again, so that type of stuff has to be answered. But if you believe in player X, Y, and Z, then you're moving forward with them

and you're trying to get better around them. And that's what Boston did. Yes. And, you know, now they're not ready to win yet, too. No. It's going to take some more time. And Boston's kind of hit the ditch a little bit recently to the point where,

you know, Ottawa is kind of the hills. Right. There's some teams that are sniffing, right? Like Washington traded John Carlson. That doesn't mean they're four points out. Yeah, they're not waving the white flag. Yeah.

They just waived a, or sorry, they traded a legacy player. Well, and that's, you know, the Matthews angle on this. and we'll talk about it later this afternoon. Willie's got six years left on his deal, seven years. Like, he's a very different story. Austin's up in two. But I think what needs to happen here

is you've got to go to Matthews in the summer. It's become abundantly clear. And you just have to ask them, are you committed to Toronto? Are you committed to winning here? Because I can't guarantee it's going to happen in the next two years. Right.

The way things set up right now, I'd be very surprised if they felt they were cup contenders in the next two years. could be wrong, things change quickly. This time last year they thought they were. This year we're talking about them dropping the bottom five in the league. Things change. But as I said today on the panel,

it's just you got to get a candid answer. If he's all in, then you go, okay, this is what it looks. And guess what? If you're obsessed with winning in Toronto, it may take three years, four years, five years. Are you up for that? Not every player is. I don't know if he would be.

I wouldn't blame him if he said, you know what? I don't think that's going to work for me. He'd be entitled to that. But you can't fast forward something if it's not available to you. Right. You know what I mean? You can't be like, well, Matt's got two years left. So you got to go get Robert Thomas.

You better go get this guy. Trade all the picks. Because you may lose any longer to get there. Exactly. It decides halfway through it. I'm out of here anyway. And then you're in an even deeper hole. Yeah.

So they've got to have that conversation. I'm sure they will. And there's some heavy lifting here because it has gotten ugly pretty quickly. Like, it's pretty shocking to watch some play right now. The thing is, too, I don't know you can speak to it more than I can, but would it be as ugly if they weren't losing the way they're losing? You know, if they're losing 3-2 and it's hard fought and they're... Or mix in a couple of wins.

A couple wins or, hey, you know, a bounce goes here or there. But, like, watching the Ottawa game, watching the game last night, like these are... The Philly game was awful, too. It was an awful hockey game. Well, it was, and they got a point out of it, but you know what I mean? No, yeah, yeah. Like I watched Calgary Flames last night. They give you everything they got. Right.

Now, you can tell the effort isn't at 100%. Right. That's where I'm at. And that's what they need to show up. And again, that's the players, the veteran players, they got to wear that. They should know better than that. Yeah. For sure.

All right. Well, hear from Brad Trilliving the Sauri's coming on the show as well. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSNN app. 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 doesn't have to be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch at your local Boston Pizza. Mellon Friday continues brought you by Boston Pizza. I could fire up a Boston Pizza tonight. Man, it's a weird day here for us because like there's so much energy, it's a lot of fun. This year was a different year. I mean, there was not a ton going on. We did some tap dancing today with what 10 trades. It felt like, it felt like an eternity that we were on and nothing was going on. And you're waiting for like, okay, when's the first shoe going to drop? And it just didn't have it.

It's 2 o'clock. And we're like, what was it, like, five trades? Yeah, we had been on the air for six hours. And there wasn't really a trade of substance at that point. Braden Shen. And Braden Shend's a very, I like that play by the honors because he's a gamer in the playoffs. Exactly. Like, he's a killer in the playoffs.

Yeah. And I think they look at that and think, why not, why not give it a shot? We can get in. Sorokan's really good. Him and Patrick Waugh, I think, will gel. Yeah, for sure. He's a Patrick Waugh type of player. Absolutely.

But, yeah, it was just, it was, it was different. Like, there wasn't as much going on, but it's a long day. You know, the whole eating, you're trying to eat away. There's a bunch of food, but not food that you want. Yeah. You can snack yourself to death there. Right. And that's what I end up doing.

I just snack myself to death. I don't know if you saw. I didn't even know there's a legal-sized Red Bull like this. It's like a three-liter. Super-sized. I grabbed it on the way over because I'm like, I, you know. And you don't drink coffee. I don't drink coffee, so I'm dying for some caffeine because I'm, you know,

two hours sleep. I was on a red eye last night. In Calgary last night. Yeah. Like, I just, but it's, you know, it's the cost of doing business. Of course. At this time of you. No, it's complaining. We're having fun.

It's great. But it just, I felt like I was so excited. I said to you, one of our hits, I'm like, again, I said, all hell is going to break loose this year, and it was like even worse. It contracted. It actually got worse. There's a weird, I'm trying to get a read on what's going on in the NHL right now, where free agency isn't what it once was. Now, there are some exceptions. Obviously, Marner leaving was substantial, and there's always going to be players that get there. Right. But a lot of guys just resign with the respective teams.

and even at the deadline this year, like you look at the trade bait board, Vinnie Trocheck, how can the Rangers possibly explain not trading him? Yeah. They didn't do it. Blake Coleman's still in Calgary. The least didn't trade Ekman Larson.

But Braskey didn't get traded from Florida. You know, Bennington obviously still in St. Louis. Like there were a lot of names that we were consistently talking about that are not like their household names in the NHL, like good, good impact veteran players. Yeah. And they just didn't get flipped. I think a lot of managers

sat there and said they're on, you know, all these guys are on term. They've got another year, at least, or whatever. Maybe we can deal with that. But how can you possibly think you're going to trade these guys in the future? Like that's where, like right before we came on here, we mentioned Vancouver. And that's a market that's in flames, right?

Like, they are so angry out there. Again, I'm just basing this off who I follow and who I know in Vancouver. Right. People that I've worked with in the past, we've all worked with. Yeah. And like Jim Rutherford, Patrick Alvin, are just getting torched. Sure.

Because they traded Connor Garland today, and that was effectively it. You know, and they traded Tyler Myers. You know, Myers went to Dallas. Yeah. So Myers and Garland, but you've still got DeBrosk. You've still got Besser.

Obviously Patterson's still there. You got a couple of other defense. Ronick, who I like, like, there's some guys in that team. I've said this before. They just signed Demko and he's hurt again. Yeah. Like, there's some guys in that team that I would be looking at and saying,

can I get them out of there? because I do like Jake DeBrusk. You know, I think Jake DeBrusk is a really good player who hasn't, you know, had that type of success there. Garland, I really like. I think he's a good. I'm a big fan of his. And I think he's going to be great in Columbus.

But when you look at it, you know, bigger picture. They got a lot more, like, breaking down to do in Vancouver. Yes, exactly. Like they might have to go south before they go north. Yes. And again, this might be draft and free agency. moves to start moving the deck chairs around. Right. And Patterson, you may just

be stuck with. And that's kind of the way to phrase it right now. You might be stuck with Pedersen. Which sucks, because I feel like there's another team you just mentioned, though. Carolina. Like, I'm sorry, you didn't mention it, but I thought about it. Like, Pedersen, like, would be a fit.

Carolina was linked to a lot of players because I think people believe that Carolina could be one or two players away from being, like, super elite. Always in it. They're doing it again. Back in the playoffs, they got Bussie and net. Yeah. But it's just like, okay, are they

good enough to get to the conference final like they do every year? But can't you get over the top? But do they have game breakers? Now, Florida's not there to knock them off. Well, and I wonder if that factored into the kind of calculation. Like that, we don't feel like we need to be built the same way because

we're not concerned about the team for playing. Let me ask you this. If this is the Leaf team from last year, didn't have to play the Florida Panthers. They had to play Team X. And they didn't make moves, so they picked up one guy, Nick the Laurier or something.

I think people would be going nuts. I think why aren't you being more active? It's your opportunity. The door's wide open for you. I look at it like Florida was such a juggernaut. They gelled at the right time. They knew how to play, all of that.

And they dismantled teams. And now they're not in the mix. Yeah. So maybe teams are complacent going, they're not there. We feel we're good enough to get through Team X, Y, and Z. Well, and again, to bring it back to the leaves, if it's becoming a league where you need flexibility, you accumulate and hold picks, you accumulate and hold prospects,

then they've got, that's a lot more work to do than people understand. Yes. Because it's one thing to say, well, what are you going to do with the second line center? What are you going to do with the defense? How do you handle Riley and Domium? pick a goalie. Those are on the pro level, and those are important. Right.

And those are very prevalent decisions that have to be made. But if the league is moving in the direction, kind of like how other leagues have operated in the past, the NFL I would say, you know, in particular, where it's like you have to put a lot of faith in the draft. Yeah.

Like draft picks are more valuable today than they were a year ago, certainly 5, 10, 15, 30, 40 years ago. Yeah. Then the Leafs have a lot of catching up to do in that area, too, because they just don't have that many picks. They don't have that many prospects. But that's been the cost of the business. Got to get that engine moving.

Of course. Of course. And listen, last year it's very clear. They went all in. They paid a premium for two players. Do they regret it? Now I'm sure they do.

At the time, could you make sense of it? Yes. Like you understood what they were thinking. It didn't pay off because Florida found away. Ripped their souls out in game seven. You know,

they didn't show up. And now we look back on that. That may have been the death blow of the era. That might have been a Florida may have just ended them. Just said, that's it, boys, you're done. And this is, and we've shaken you to the core. So that comes back to the decision by Brad Tree Living and his management group to go, okay, if that was the death blow, Marner's left, we have Matthews and Nylander.

We want to continue on with them forward because we believe they can get it done if we reshape the group. or again, it's decisions. Boston's two years away. He's got to figure out what you're getting... What do you almost think the value of Matthews would be if he hit the market? Hypothetically speaking, both sides just say, you know, it's in our best interest, this is the way it's going to go. It's big.

Like, I think what happens is we've seen the best and the worst of Austin Matthews. He's still a superstar. And keep in mind, premium in this league is scoring. and Fenerman like he checks all the boxes he's not physical

but I had somebody say to me the other day he's more leaning towards Barkoff the way he plays than you know just a prolific score

that you know because he's become you know uh drawn a blank on his name now because I'm tired of coach of the Rangers oh Mike Sullivan

Mike Sullivan was raving about him right over there saying, you know, his leadership and what he did there in that great 200-foot game, but he's getting paid $14 million. Right, exactly. To score goals, too. All right, let's head down to Maple Leaf Square, I believe,

or down by the Ford Performance Center. Here's Brad Tree Living. On trades and whatnot that we made today, officially they're still in the queue, so I can't speak to a lot of it. We don't anticipate any problems. they just got to get through the sort of the batting order here. So, you know, in Bobby's case, subject to everything being okay,

we've traded him to Seattle for two picks. And Scott was traded to L.A. for a pick here today, in addition to the move we made the other day with Nick. Why do you think he ended up in this spot where he ended up being a traitor on Deadline Day this season? Well, today, listen, I'll answer all the questions and take responsibility for our season. I don't look at today's the autopsy day. We've got 19 games to go. But I think there's a whole host of reasons.

I'll take responsibility. You know, we met earlier in the year through about the 20 game mark where we got off to a slow start. And again, the failure. years here start with me. And once we get through the end of the season, you know, there'll be all sorts of evaluation. But to start parsing through it right now, I think, Mark, we've got games to play. But it's, you know, there's a lot. You know, we got off to a poor start. You know, I look from my standpoint, some roster construction issues, lack of consistency. You know, the ability to, you know, to maintain any kind of level. You know, there's, there's been a whole bunch of, there's been a whole bunch of factors, but, you know, we'll get to that in due course. How do you evaluate the day and maybe just the market today overall? Yeah, it's not just today. I mean, it's leading up today.

You know, we made a decision a while ago before the break that, you know, we were, we were, we were, we were going to be as active as we could in terms of trying to regain some recoup some assets, whether that be picks or prospects. This team for a number of years has been adding at this time of the year. And today was a day, and leading up to today was a day to try to regain some assets. And again, I know there's lots of speculation and all sorts of things out there. The market speaks, you know, at the end of the day, We were trying to be as active as we could to obtain and acquire as many young assets as we could.

And we were able to do what we were able to do. How do you think an Ekman-Larsen trade didn't materialize? Why didn't an Ekman-Larsen trade didn't materialize? At the end of the day, there was some interest in Oliver to the level that I thought was required. you know, for us to move Oliver. I don't think it was something that we could just, you know, a term left on his contract. We required a return that I thought would be fair,

and nobody met that level. Why do you think it worked out this way for Scott Lawton, Brad? He paid a heavy price for Lotton last year. Like, why do you think it turned out this way for him in the trial? That's the market. I can't speak highly enough about Scott Lotton, you know, not only, you know, his play, but he's as quality human as you're going to find.

And yeah, I'll be the first one to say last year at this time. We paid a first and a young player in Greby Forum. This isn't a function of no teams knowing what we, you know, we communicated with everybody and ultimately the market dictates, right? And that's where it fell here for Scott today. How different was this market this year with the playoff salary cap, with the no double retention, with the, a lot of no remove clauses, just in general. What have you seen, what you heard? Well, there's no excuse.

Like, there's no trade protection that's there every year. Obviously, there's a couple nuances. I feel this year there was a lot more players available. there was a lot more you know there was a lot more players on the market you know and the retention piece

I mean that's another area for the first time and long time we've had cap space so we were very open to being you know taking on money taking on contracts there wasn't a lot of teams other than one or two that had cap issues

that you normally see right you you normally see double retention and guys trying to slot guys in. That wasn't as big a factor as it had been in the past. And then, yeah, I think there's certainly a lot of talk of how the playoff salary cap is going to come into play this year. And I think there's a lot of planning for teams leading up to it. But the biggest probably change for me is just the amount of money in the system as opposed

to the most recent years. Why do you believe Craig is still the right? coach for this team? Well, like everything else, Luke, we all take responsibility for it. And I think Craig's a terrific coach. It hasn't worked, right? So when it doesn't work, we all share a blame and we all share responsibility in it, right? So it starts with myself, it's the coaches, it's the players.

We all are partners in this thing and when it goes poorly, we all got our, we all got our We all got responsibility for it. But, you know, again, to do a summation right now, I think, is pretty mature. But like everything else, we'll review at the end of the year. No doubt. Do you approach any of the no-moot guys at all, so we ask them to consider waving around? No, I think communication with those is more at this time of the year.

Just being prepared if something comes up. that we weren't, you know, we used Oliver for an example, to talk to him. He's got some trade protection and just made him aware that, you know, as we're going through this time of year, there may be a conversation to be had, so you're preparing them, but I didn't have any conversations. There was nothing to have conversations about.

I'm just to provide a players, Brad, but just the idea of your group having some currency, if you will, and to replenish that. Yeah, for sure. Like everything else, you hope and wish it was more, but like I said, we're on that path if we have to collect some young assets. And today is a day to make changes as we lead into the end of the year and into the spring and summer is another opportunity. But certainly that was a big part of today is trying to collect as much currencies as we possible could. Did you send any more, at least to make them call their...

Yes, we did. And do you think you'll be using some Marley's later in the year to see what they can offer? I would anticipate that, yeah. What do you want to see in these last like in the years? I want to listen, and this is, this isn't, we've came out of the break here flat, you know, and like I said, it's important for us to find out why. I don't, I can't give you a good reason for it. It's not, you know, it's not anything we anticipated.

We're pros. We're in the best league in the world. It's a privilege to play in the league, and we've got to compete as such. I understand that this time of the year, I know there's lots of, I don't question the quit in our team, and I know there'll be lots of noise around quitting and all the rest of it. It's difficult when you're in the position that we are, and reality sets in. And, you know, not only how the losses are been piling up, not getting in the points, where you sit in the standings, you've got the trade deadline looming over, it's reality.

They're humans, not making excuses for them. But now we've, today's behind us, and it's our job to go out and be professionals, and that's what I expect. The pick you sent to Boston, only top five protected, why isn't it top ten? protect because that's what we had to do to get the deal done last year. Did you push for, how hard did you push for top 10? We pushed. How would you- How late did things go today in terms of making the deals? How late did it go and what was it like kind of the deals that you got done?

You said they're still in the queue, just how late did you end up leaving those last couple trades today and what was it like kind of waiting? Yeah, we weren't leaving anything. We were trying to, like I said, there was lots of activity of outbound calls and not a ton inbound, but it went down to the, it went down to the witching hour. Bob Freight kind of went down to the wire as well. What was the process like to land where you did on him? Getting the best, taking the best deal that was available to us, the best offer that we had. Do you think this team would be a playoff team next year? Is that

the plan? We're going to get to that once we get through this year. Today is not the day for that. There's, there's change that has to occur. there's changes we need to make. And that's not for today. But do you understand that fans might be a bit confused or in the dark about where the direction of this organization is headed next year and the year after? Where are the directions?

Yeah, like if this is a minor reset or if the... Oh, I think it's important that we have to communicate that, right? And that's what we have to get to people once we get to the end of the year, of where this team's going. The purpose of today was change. Change has to occur, right? How and what that is will be determined over the coming days,

but today was an opportunity for us to try as hard as we can to collect and gain as many assets as we possibly could, and then we go from there. So you don't know the direction you haven't ruled that the possibility of a rebuild? Yeah, I know everybody wants to speculate on, And we've all got, you know, the rewords. But we, there's got to be some change. And I think that's for us to sit down and look hard and fast at.

It's been a disappointing year. You know, we can look back at a big chunk of this team and the year that they had last year, but this is this year. And you have to sit down and be real. analytical you have to be real clear and you have to be real honest of where you're at and at that point makes some decisions. When did you kind of know yourself that you would be a seller not a buyer this year? Well you always hold out hope but you know there's been there's been just so much inconsistency

you know going back to October and November there's been injuries everybody has injuries right So now the significant ones for us were in goal over the course of the first couple of months. Chris Tannow's been a big loss. But if you're deep enough and you're good enough, you can overcome those things. We never were able to consistently get traction. And so I've been concerned for a while. And so then you look at how do you help, right? How do you make change?

You know, we weren't about to start throwing a bunch of young assets out the door for a quick help. So we couldn't find something there, you know, earlier in the season to help us change course. But we could just never get traction. We had a stretch there, I think, you know, 9-1-1 or something in that. But outside of that, it's just been too much inconsistency. So I've been concerned for a while. What are the conversation of ownership, like there's an ownership change in this organization? I'm just wondering what the message from the top has been.

Ownership's been good. They're updated regularly on what's going on and keep them advised of not only what's going on, but presenting a plan moving forward. So I can't speak highly enough about how ownership's been supportive. Call on about a month there without playing. I'm just wondering kind of what your thoughts are on his development and how things are coming along for him. You know, three weeks of it was because we had a deadline, right? Or we had a break.

So he's contrary to some of the things that I had been sent. He wasn't eligible to go down due to a number of days on roster. I think it was good for him to get a break. But as I said earlier, young players can't sit, right? He sat a few games leading up to the break a few games after, but Easton's going to be playing and playing a lot, whether that be here. or with the Marleys. He's a young player,

he's an important player. And so that's the plan for Eastern. He needs to play at that age to continue to develop. How much conversations have you had with Austin about the future of this team and the future of the organization? Austin and I have a lot of conversations, but a lot of our conversations are about how does the team get better? And the usual conversations you have during the year

and dealing with the challenges you have every day, So we have lots of conversations with them. We don't get much deeper that in terms of how we help our team and things that we can do better. Okay. All right, there he is. Brad Truliving, the GM of the Leafs. And I would say a somber disposition up here like a, you know, I'm sure the guy's not on much sleep. and he knows where people are at. He knows the way his team's playing,

and he took responsibility, he said it starts with me. He did say it's kind of a, I don't remember his exact quote, but basically team building issue, and he's responsible for that. Yeah, roster construction. But he also said, you know, players, we had injuries, all that, I'm not going to use the excuse.

But when asked about it, I think a lot of the questions were fair, and he said, like, I'm not going to do, I can't remember you use the word, like an autopsy or whatever. They're going to wait until the end of the year. Right. But I thought, you know, someone asked him about the messaging to the fans, and he acknowledged, like, we've got to do that.

Like, he's not going to do it now because they do have 19 more games to play. The trade deadline's done. There's nothing more to be done now. Right. Unless you're going to move off the coach, which I didn't get that impression. He was asked about Craig Barubei and he just said, Craig's a great coach. We all, we all have to take responsibility.

He didn't, that answer would indicate to me. They're just going to ride this out the rest of the year, then try to figure things out, but the dust settle. But messaging, I do think, is imperative here. They've got to let the fan base know, not exact details of what's going to go on. Right.

But which, do you think you can make the playoffs? People may not like that, but do you think you can? If this is going to take you a year or two, if you're going to preach for patience. I think the end of- You've got to give people something to chew on. But you're not going to get that until the autopsy of the seat. At the end of the year.

You're not going to get that. A week or two after the season. You know, 11 games left in the season. You're not going to go, this is the plan. Because, you know, this team, they got 19 games left. Like, the scary part is, what are they going to go? Yeah, they got to play. Well, yeah, what if they go, what are you going to say, 15 and 4?

12 and 7. You know what I mean? It's possible. It seems unlikely. And 7, but they get close but not close. And then you're like, okay, we're in the murky middle. Seems impossible to believe that could happen. Well, listen, given their effort, he talked about it.

The effort coming out of the break has not been good enough. No. So it's hard to assess your team right there. I think there's somewhere in the middle of what we're seeing right now. Not good enough. They're not this bad. That effort's not been good enough as well. And the best organizations do not allow themselves to get overly emotional.

Right. Or panic. Yeah. So they have to get to the end of the season, let it breathe, and figure out what you can do here. Yeah. Hour 2 coming up Overdrive continues up on YouTube Live. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind, and now, I've got my own show. So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week.

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