OverDrive - OverDrive - May 5, 2026 - Hour 2 - Mike Johnson

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson delves into Auston Matthews' uncertain future with the Maple Leafs, a possible duo with Connor McDavid and the organization's next steps. They go around the sports world for Confirm or Deny, the NHL Draft Lottery simulator and Bryan hands out his FanDuel Best Bets.

Hour 2 Overdrive continues. Powered by Fandul, Brian Hayes, The O'Dock, Jeff O'Neill, Jamie Noodles, Jamie Noodles, McLennan. And look who's jumped on the train. Look who's jumped on the train in the second hour. Disappointing, you didn't play it coming in, JP. Yeah. Mike Johnson in here. He's got, he runs the operation in the second hour.

You want to hit it just quick, JP? Get back on the train, folks. Hour 2. Brian Hayes, Jamie McLennan, Jeff O'Neill, and MJ in studio. There you go. It's seamless. this guy is a season pro. This feels like old school.

We used to do this all the time. All the time. Around here. You know what we are? Chike and Sundin. Just two buddies running the operation. Since 2012. It's 2012.

How about that? They've been buddies for a long, long time. We have complementary visions. Yes. In alignment. Vertical integration. Totally. Connection between the two is undeniable.

It really is. They stayed in touch since the MEM Cup back in 2012. What do you make of that, Johnny? I mean it was not surprising what's happened we all sort of knew it was going this direction you know press conference yesterday was illuminating I don't think they

the people on the stage were sort of been surprised by any of the questions I mean maybe the tone of them but the actual questions for Matt's having spoken to Matt's and sort of hearing what he said yesterday I think he's very much with his immediate eye on that culture is a weird word, but like the dressing room and how guys are treated

and treating each other and the atmosphere and that's when he's referring to the older guys and Dougie and Wendell and Tux or whoever that he's going to go down that road of trying to make the room

a way that he envisions it should be. And let me just interrupt there, Johnny. For people that think that Mats is this skillful European player, he is that, but this guy... Yeah, fiery.

That's right. like he can lose it and he can set the standard where it's just like I've seen it happen where he's not just whatever those guys can do it that's not the way he can know he's not saying I'm going to lead only by example

that's not what he was now you read a lot of people saying he was never a good leader I'm like no he was just because you didn't see it she didn't hear it they say that because they never want right but they were never in the room when he tears a strip out of me

for not being very good and demanding more He has a real sense of that. So I think his title, for Matt, specifically, it's sort of clear what he's going to do. And while he is going to have conversations about transactions and players, he's not talking about depth charts who the Milwaukee admirals might have in their third line, right wing or for a P. He's not doing that to start.

He may get there, but to start, he's like, how do we make it so this room functions better in a manner that he believes a winning room has to be. operate, and he think he is very equipped and experienced to have those kind of conversations. So, quickly, I want to ask you guys, because you can answer this. You guys have both

been in that room. Noodles, you've been in your own rooms. He's no longer the former player, though. Right? Like, he can't pull Matthews aside and say, hey, we're just two captains, let's grab a beer and talk his players. He's not that anymore. Why can't he? Because he's not. He's technically Matthew's boss

now, or he's in the executive of office. What I'm getting at is... That's part of the reason is why he's there is to go and grab a guy and have a coffee, have a beer and say, let's talk hockey. He can blend. Okay. That's what I'm, I guess that's what I'm asking you. I'm asking to play the role of Matthews and Willie, do you look at, do you think they look at him differently as, is he a confidant? Or is he going back to tell Jake on them and saying, hey, Austin just told me we got problems in the room. And it's like, well, you're no longer Matt's the guy who, you're not a player anymore. That's what I'm getting at. You know, he's got to shed the, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. He's got to shed the, I'm

the former player because he's he's an executive now. You don't think Dave Poulin and Ottawa who is an executive, he's an assistant GM, you don't think he goes down, has a coffee, grabs a guy and says, you know that play last night? I'm not saying he wouldn't do that. I'm saying, do you think Brady speaks to him as the player Dave Poulin or as the manager? It's a very different conversation. I think it's just hockey people talking. I don't think when somebody comes down like that, you're like, oh, God, it's not like

the head coach for you're like, what does this guy have to say? It's just people talking hockey. Can he mentor them? There's an element of trust that has to be there. And not confidentiality, but understanding that if I'm going to be frank with you, you're not going to hold it against me if you don't hear something you like. Otherwise, I'm not going to say anything to you. Right.

I think that's fair. Yeah. But I do think blending executive, assistant, whatever his title is, and what he's bringing in experience is as a former player. He's not bringing an experience of running for Lunda. Right? Like, he's, he's been there. under the life.

Has gone through what you're going through. And maybe having that conversation, I get it, different era, but I get it, can help him in that regard. So we'll see. But that's where I was going to go, do you think that, you know, him coming in and observing, but having been in the chair, being the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, understanding the weight of things that carry in this market, you can have that bond with Austin Matthews, but he has to look at it through a different lens, as we all do,

as former players where, you know, I try and look at it like 2026, not 1999 or 2004. So Matt's going to have to adjust, but it might be subtle things as like, what are you doing there? Why are you guys wearing that? See, that's what I'm talking about. It's not just, hey, Austin, how do you lead? How do you get people to follow you? When you get run over by a knee on knee, how do we make sure everyone jumps in there? Right.

Some of that. But it might be as simple as, hey, when we take a bus to the airport, this is like, hey, when we go, we get to a, placed on the road, why aren't we eating dinners together? Hey, why are there so many middle managers hanging around the practice rank? We've got to cut that out. Like, you know, just the data-dust stuff that maybe has slipped away from way he sees it to the way it's been recently. And all-encompassing and all those kind of things is that's where he will probably set his sights.

What do you make of the report from Chris Johnston that Austin Matthews wants? I fell out of my chair. Like, was that not surprised? you guys? Well, Johnny, I was saying you can't let somebody say get rid of assets and do this and that and then I'm going to sit back on my couch and make an assessment of it and if I still don't like it, I'm still going to leave.

You can't run, you can't operate business like that. It's an impossible situation. Because you could do a bunch of stuff and what if he doesn't like it? What are you going to do? Bring him in the room and have the guy running the team. Can't do that either. What threw me off was not that he might leave. I think that's, whether it's Connor McDavid, whether it's

Quinn Hughes, where it's Austin Matthews, if they don't like what they're seeing and they want to go somewhere, I think we sort of get that. But when I read that it might be for next fall, I'm like, excuse me, next fall, what could have to happen or not happen this summer that would force him into a spot where, yeah, I'm not, you know, I'm like to trade it now. Well, if that's your mandate, you're basically saying you're leaving

because there's nothing they can do with the situation they're in to make themselves that much better. This is where my head goes. I'm like, well, wait a second. So there's something that Austin and his camp clearly sees he wants the team to do. Is it feasible that the team is able to do that in the next four months? It feels not

feasible in the next four months, especially before you get out there back on the ice and see what happens with two healthy goalies and different kind of defense and maybe a new coat, whatever is going on this summer. That's where I went. I'm like, wait a second, like, what could happen or not happen in the next four months to make

him make his mind up? Okay, so if they're seeing or he's seeing, I'm saying Matthews camp, seeing something that they don't like or they feel like that can't be fixed in the next four months, is it wise for them to get out in front of it two years ahead? And I know, again, it's Connor and Edmonton, it's Brady

in Ottawa, it was Quinn Hughes, it's Austin Matthews. The narrative, and I said yesterday, is it Kutrov in Tampa and Hayes made a good point? He's won, twice. Right. So it's different. I saw Vasilevsky called the crew today. Yeah, he wasn't not happy with the Cooper comments.

He's fine. Listen, but at the end of the day, doesn't it make sense to try and get ahead of things and say, my intention is this or mine? But they don't know. I would say no.

I say it's not in his best interests. Right. And I have a lot of time for Austin. He's a smart guy, jodd everybody. But why open this can of worms? Even if this is what you're thinking and you want certain changes be made or you're anticipating changes

might be made that you'll like, I don't know getting it out today only forces this conversation to the public. And you're going to have this conversation. If you want to end up going that direction and it's December or it's August and you don't like it, have that conversation then. I don't know why you need to have it out there

that he's thinking about these things when you've said it over and over and over. He's got no idea what the team is going to look like next year. Who's coaching it, what changes are going to be made, the direction they're going to. The GM has never even spoken to him yet. He's texted him. So I would just say, if it was me, I'd be like, well, just wait and see.

Well, like, there's a part of me that wonders if he's taking this out of a playbook of like a LeBron James or something where he's putting pressure on the organization. You know, don't think I'm just automatically happy and coming back. Pretty rich, though, for a guy that's making $13 million in a cap system to say, you better get a bunch of depth. 100%. No, that's fair, though. This is normal. Like I know you might like it's That's what all players are going to think

All-Star players We think that way How are they going to get rid of the eight players That they need to get rid of It's impossible What if he's What if it's not even the Leafs It's that he's looking at

Somewhere else he wants to play Like what if it's not really about Looking at the Leafs and saying I need a new coach I need new defense minutes What if he's getting out And he's like actually I kind of like what's going on over there

And it's not about the Leafs as much as it's, I don't know if I'm coming back because I want to play somewhere. Talk to X, Y. As opposed to you haven't done enough. Yeah, because like you look at, through the lens of McDavid, it's like I want to win.

Like right here, right now, what are you going to do? I'm putting pressure on you to make sure maybe it's got to be a new coach. Maybe it's got to be. And the sacrifice he made to empower him. Absolutely. Here's the thing. As Austin Matthews ever said, my whole goal is to win a Stanley Cup here. Never heard the words.

I've never heard him ever say that. Like, God has it, Johnny. Trust me, we've never heard. We have boots on the ground on this show. We've never heard it. Like, hey, is your goal to win the competition? I think every player. Every player.

But I've never, like. He doesn't go out and say it loudly. Not McDavid-like, but McDavid's a psycho about winning. Like, writing Players' Tribune articles. He might be a psycho about saying he wants to win. I don't know if Connor cares more about winning than Austin Matthews. He just is willing to put it out there publicly. Fair comment.

Fair comment. But what I'm saying, is I've never heard or seen the fire that I've seen in other players. And Austin is very measured, and it's his right to be. You know, Willie's year-end was 93 seconds. Dry Suttles was 15 minutes. Leon put on a clinic too. And Leon put a clinic on, but it's like, hey, we're on notice here.

We want to win. You know, we're bang, whatever. It's apples and oranges because one team's been at the finals two years in a row. The other team hasn't. But at the end of the day, I would love to hear. Austin Matthews step out of his comfort zone going, I'm winning here, or I want to win here. Maybe it's...

Well, you could do that now with this report. Two years ago, it would have made sense for him to say that. The summer, there's no sense to say that? Is there any scenario where Matthews and McDavid could be conspiring to make a super team somewhere? Is that even possible with their dollars?

It depends how little they're willing to take. Well, they're both signed for two years. In the next two years? I'm just saying right now, is there any way that they could find themselves. I think Anaheim could take them both on with shedding some money. Now, Annah's got a massive contracts

coming up on their own. Excuse me. Yeah. No kidding. Like, Carlson, like, Seneca's going to get paid. La Come. Like, he's already getting... Lecombe's kicking in, though. I think he's kick in or whatever. But at the end of the day, you're right, there could be conspiring.

There's no guarantee. Like, I keep saying this, there's no guarantee. You start chasing it. That's dangerous. When you think about... Way back. Iggy, but you go to Iggy, I go to Kujo. He chased it to Detroit, thinking,

well, where else would I have a better great chance? He didn't get any further than David the Leaves. I think about when Tammu and Paul Korea went to Colorado.

Right. And for like a million bucks and like, okay, loaded them up, they didn't win there. There's a danger in thinking you can just pick the best spot because the best spot in the NHL

the best team has what? 18% chance of winning? Well, that's a great question right now. Like forget, we don't have to use one of these players in particular, but let's say you're just a great player in the league and you have the pick of the litter.

Which team would you choose? For next year? Yes, I guess if you have, you're looking at it, and I want to win a couple of it as quickly as possible. Right now, there's no denying it. I'd either go to Florida. Rejoin the Florida Panthers for next season or the Colorado Avalanche. Those are your two teams?

Yeah. We're understanding that as good as Colorado is, we don't know if that goal tendings is going to hold up, man. Florida doesn't have a goalie next year. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Is it those two teams? I'm picking Colorado because of the best team right now, and Nate's there and Kail's there.

So you're not taking Florida? He said we were teammates at the start of the segment, ham and eggs. Yeah, no, I get it. You're not in sync. You're not vertically integrated. Listen, Florida, there's a chance that they did their thing, and it's now it's over. I know everyone just thinks they get right back on the horse. I don't know.

They're old. They've all got paid. Like Anaheim. I'm serious. What about Montreal? Next year or Montreal. Montreal is high on my lap. Montreal's got so many good players coming, and all their players are signed for cheap that they can afford other good players.

And they've got two kids in the minors in LaValle, that Anstrom and Reimbach. And Hage is coming. Hage is like they've got... Montchior. In every position. Garnowski, the Russian kid, too. And Fowler. Fowler.

The crazy thing is Dobish is playing amazing. He might be halak to price. So I keep them both. You don't have to get rid of them. That's right. If you're looking at it for next year, you're right. Anaheim maybe takes a step even more and does things in the offseason. San Jose might be a force next year.

Yes. I think they're further away, but they'll get there eventually, but they're further away from now. The point being, there's no guarantee. Instead, it's 18%. It might even be lower based on... But everyone wants to possibly jump and go somewhere else, and that's the point. I just... Vegas is consistently competitive.

Funny, Carolina's consistently competitive. No one ever mentions them. Like, you just... I'm not going to Carolina. Because I haven't won. I understand that, but... They're a damn good team, and... really well coached. Yeah.

And there's, there's, it seems like that team has the minority on the, on the panel here. What? I found Carolina, I say this properly,

as a road city, underwhelming. Like, it's, it's, I didn't sense a lot of, watch yourself. This guy lived here for 10 years.

No, I thought, so you're not a fan of Raleigh, North Carolina. Like, I think when you see, nobody talks about Carolina, I'm not sure if the,

around the league, guys like, I can't wait to go that road trip to Carolina. That's a place. We're saying by the highway, across from a mall. Right.

There's a P.F. Chang's there. There's a P.F. Chang's is the highlight. Right. For some game team's experiences. I'm not saying they don't have great golf courses and communities. But cost of living there is cheap. And the almighty one thing is they win. They win.

And the program doesn't seem like there's a bunch of egos there. It's just go play. And that's the thing. Like if you, someone writing in with a very good point that right now, Mitch Marner and Quinn Hughes took their destiny into their own hands and they're still playing. Right. Like Marner said, I'm out of here and I'm going to Vegas, and he's up 1-0 in his series.

And Quinn Hughes says, I want out of here and he's down 1-0-0 in his series, but still, they're both playing. But he doesn't. It's a dangerous game. He didn't pick that. For the league, man. Like, if you look at what's going to happen in Canadian markets here in the next three years, there might be some dark times.

If this is the new way of the league where it's like, no thanks. But you're right. Yet they had. It's all over different levels, Brian. Cutter-Goti. going to Philadelphia, screw that. They meet his demands to go into Anaheim. Like, we are literally entering a

time where it's the haves and have-nots and it's where these kids want to play at any age or any level where it's going to be, there's some markets. And Kevin Adam said it best, we got taxes. We don't have palm trees. And it's like, if you don't have a good team like they do right now, what the hell are you going to do?

That's... The good team is the way. That's the part. Billy Garon said the hockey's got to be good. That's the part that trumps everything. The good team. You got to have a good team. Bad taxes? If you're Stanley Cup container, bad taxes, it's not a big deal. I know, but it's the job of getting to a good team that much more difficult because of those elements, John. I don't know.

We still have, teams still have seven years control of all their players. Look at what Buffalo had to go through to get where they're at today. Ryan O'Reilly, get me the hell out of here. Jack Eichael, get me the hell out of here. Reinhardt, you name it. Yeah, Reinhard, Montour. There's a lot of guys exiting stage left. It's difficult to recover, and the results spoke for themselves.

I think they had a better run organization in the moment. those guys might have been more inclined to stay because they'd be winning more often. Like, teams have pressure to win. They have pressure financially. They have pressure for their own competitive spirit. They have pressure for their players. And I don't have a problem with a player who's beholden to a team for seven years out of their entry-level deal, whatever it is, and say,

I'm five years in, we have no chance of winning. I would like to go somewhere to win. I'm not offended by that by a player. I'm not either. If they just get used to it and they don't like it, I appreciate you to give him a chance. Like Cutter Goce gave Philly no chance, but I think that was because they wouldn't put him in the NHL leaving school.

Having went right to the NHL, I would have picked a different team if I wasn't prominent with the NHL. But, yeah, give them a chance, and then if you don't like it, keep in mind, every player we're talking about has put a decade in with their current team. Right, Matthews, McDavid, Chuk, and Quinn. Here's the other thing, too. Nobody mentions He'll be some comments at the end of the year.

This is going to be a spicy, spicy, spicy situation. For the weirdest off season in a long time. If you want your goalie for Florida. Connor Hellabook. But why are we just, it just drives me nuts where it's like a pissy

press conference at the end of the year and it's like new destination, new home? Well, that's us. We're talking about it, but that's Johnny said it. No, we all said it. I'm just there watching. Wait, hang on, but do we listen to what he said?

It wasn't a ringing endorsement for I want to be back here for seven more years. What the hell did he say, Johnny? It was just like, He said basically... Get ready, because Winnipeg people are coming after you. Go ahead and say it. Winnipeg people are just as afraid as people in Toronto,

Edmonton, Ottawa, you name it, as the people that were in Vancouver. You notice the common denominator there, Jamie? All Canadian markets. Well, you just said, no, Philly. Go-Chay Buffalo. Johnny Control left Calgary, Matthew Chuk, left Calgary, Quinn Hughes out of Vancouver. And now what's going on now?

Canadian markets is... Which one of those teams is good that those players left? Calgary is pretty good when those two guys left there, Johnny. Calgary was... Forget with Matthew. Yes, that's fair. Now, on the division, that's the team who I think is going to win the... The lottery tonight.

Calgary? Well, this is the thing about the Canadian markets for the last decade is they have had more superstars than maybe any other decade or you've got to go back to the 80s. Like, think about the heart winners. McDavid, Dry Settle, Hellebuck, Matthews. Quinn Hughes won a Norris, right? Like you've got, you had super star power. You had Eric Carlson and Ottawa prior to leaving or he won multiple Norris trophies. You know, if you look at the last 10 years, there have been a lot of superstars playing in Canadian markets.

And none of the teams could win. I mean, Edmonton got to, exactly, Kerry Price. Like, Edmonton got to two cup finals, Montreal got to a cup final. Yeah. And that's it. It's not like they were, they didn't have the star power. that they couldn't figure out the rest of it, which was not a Canadian thing.

They didn't draft properly or they got impatient or they didn't have the right coach. This is the challenge of pro sports. It's hard. It's tough. You get players. You got to make it work. There's timelines. There's pressure points. Noodles might want to go back and play in Alberta. I might want to get back to play in Toronto. Some guy might want to go back and play in Florida.

Everyone's got their own preferences and you've got to figure out how that works around the league. Well, and the two guys we just referenced, Quinn Hughes left Vancouver. They're the worst team in the league. by a mile, and Mitch left and the Leafs were the fifth were his team in the league. Now, it was a different context of the Leafs scenario, and his situation was much more,

that wasn't a Canadian thing, that was very specific to his history with the Leafs and all that. The Toronto thing. Very much so. But those two guys are, they're still playing, and the teams they left in their dust are a mess. But let's just, big hypothetical. The Leafs are really, really good

whatever the summer happens. They get off to a great start. Do you think Austin's running out of town if they're really good next year? I don't think so. Probably not. I don't think so. He's probably going to stick it up. What do you think his reasoning is then?

Do you think it's like, is it the key wants a new coach? Is that possible that he's like, I'm not coming back if Craig Baruba is the coach anymore? My opinion on Austin is I don't think he and his camp are trying to call the shots. I don't think he's saying we want this defenseman. We need this coach. I want to play this way. I think he just wants to play on a winner.

and around good players. The idea that you put pressure on the Leafs, you don't need to. Watch the pressure yesterday. There's tons of pressure on those guys, and they understand keeping Austin, keeping Willie, and keeping them engaged with a potentially winning team

is part of their job. So I don't know if it's a pressure thing. The team's no good. What pressure is on the... That Austin will leave if it's not. How are you going to make the team good? You're a smart guy. Tell me how they're going to.

I didn't say how they're going to. I just said the pressure is that they have to. Okay, but I said, you're a smart guy. What would you do? The owner of the team has said, we want to keep Austin Matthews around. So the president hires a GM that is going to come into a plan to try to keep Austin around. How do you do that? I mean, I think you have to change the defense and you have to change the way they play.

How you do that? I mean, you've got to get very creative. Whether it's free agency, value fines, taking advantage of financial flexibility, taking on other bad contracts that you think will be less bad for you than they are for their current team by getting rid of one of your bad contracts, all of which are risky and not guaranteed to work out. But to think you're going to go, okay, we'll sign Radish and talk, we're good to go.

That's not going to work either. So you've got to be creative and aggressive, and you've got to change the way you play because you've got to play faster. They're slow last year. So you want to what they're going to do? Get fast. Start there. Look at the teams that are good.

They all can wheel. It's speed, and the young teams now are not afraid of the moment. No. They're here. They're not. And the teams that we think, too, Detroit, regardless, them missing, they're knocking at the door too. They may have a better year, they might have a better offseason,

but you've got to make hay in your own division too, because Florida's got to figure it out, they've got to get healthy, and they might be right back there. The Leaf's got to figure it out. You know, Ottawa's going to have changes. I guarantee you every team in the Atlantic is going to go, we need a little bit more here. Okay, real quick.

Toronto returns the exact same group. Exact same, whatever, fill in the guys who leave for free agency. How many points they get next year? Same coach, same everything. 85. Thank you. 88?

Not 102, but they're not 72 either. They're working from a terrible, terrible year. Terrible year. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. They're not as far from being, not a cup winner, a playoff contender as it feels today. Yes, I would agree with that. Everything went against the monster. A lot of it was self-inflicted, too.

You had injuries. Your goaltending was there. The year before, the goaltending and masked a lot. So your goaltending, let's assume both goaltenders, they've got to decide which two they want. Well, yeah. That's the other thing. Tric has got to figure out.

Another way to get better, O? You trade one or two of the goalies. Right. You got four that are good. Okay, well, what's that going to get you in return? Well, Joseph Wall will get you a good top six. It might get you. Okay, and then you got Anthony Stolars as your number one goal tender.

And Hill to be. And Hill to be. Like, you're going to have to. Not perfect, but what are you going to do? Like, you have to take for your areas of strength and try to address your areas of weakness. Yeah. Which will hurt your strength areas, but this is how it works because you can't have everything because you can't get those players. And in reality, you've got to chip away and chip away.

You've got to have a great draft. You got to have a great draft. What about the New York Rangers philosophy where they're just going to say to guys, you're leaving? Are they going to do that with certain players? Sure. Yeah. The Barclay Goodro? Like, waivers will see you? It stinks.

But if you're running the team, like, listen, No-Move protection, we love you. You've been a great player. It's time for us to go a different direction. Where would you like to go to? Can we work together? Yeah. Nudel says, I don't want to go anywhere.

I'm like, okay, well, you're not going to play the rest of this season. We're going to put your own waivers. Yeah. If you have no trade, not no move. Yeah. I don't want to do that. You're an NHL player. I don't want to do that.

Work with us. Yeah. But if you're not willing to, that is your right. You'll be in the Toronto organization, but you'll not going to play any games. Yeah, you'll be with the Marley's. It'll be with the Marley's. Guess what noodle's going to change his mind real quick. And it's a jerk move.

I get it's hard. It's cutthroat. People get angry. But you can have a more reasonable conversation than that quick one. But that sort of idea, you've got to explore all of it. Oh, all of it. Cutthroat, too. That's the thing.

Like I've said, a manager has to be a sociopaths sometimes and not have that emotion and fall in love with the player. This is a business. When the player in the player in the, the agent have a gun to your head going, we want an extra 500 grand times five years or whatever. They're not. They'll use it. They'll use it. It's not personal. If it's within the rules of the CBA, you're not breaking any rules. You've got to go down that road if you have to.

Right, Johnny. Who do you think wins the lottery tonight? Any conspiracy series? Chicago. I got Calgary. I do. I don't think Chicago. I don't think with a dream. Oh, I have a dream speech? That's why I wore my blue suit. You got the Leafs winning tonight. I really do. Because I did the draft lottery at Trade Center. Oh, yeah, that's right.

And they won it. It was fixed. That would be a conspiracy theory. What a conspiracy theory. Don't you think, guys, before we go, the worst thing for the leaps to happen in this draft lottery is for them to stay where they are. Get first, get sixth. Yes. Don't stay at five.

That is the worst possible. Either win it or just get rid of it and move off. Pay the price and move along. And adjust in the future. Yeah, I think, which means they probably say fifth tonight. But maybe that's the best player in the draft, right? Morgan Riley's draft, he went fifth. That was the best player in the top five.

I love that Carson Carl's defense member. Okay, well, maybe he's there. Great feet. Maybe that Reed kid's there at five. Who knows. All right, Johnny, we'll catch you tonight. Hi, fellas. There he is.

Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analyst. Confirm with Deni coming up. We're going to hit the draft lottery ourselves. We're going to spin it. Three spins coming up. Overdraft continues up on YouTube Live. I'm Cynthia Lois and I'm Josie Dye And we're done pretending we have it all figured out

Each week we laugh, cry and talk our way through life's messiest moments Things you think about but would never say out loud The questions you are always too shy to ask Relationships, regrets, awkward moments and the stuff no one warns you about It's honest, it's funny and sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable But that's kind of the point This is Cynthia and Josie's unmentionables Listen on the free I-Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts

I can neither confirm or deny that this is in fact a segment. Austin trades Andrew Raycroft to Toronto in exchange for the rights to Tuka Arras. It's been my honor and a privilege to serve as the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Club. It's time for confirm or deny. Do you regret giving all those gentlemen the no trades or no movement clauses? I can either confirm or deny that. I can't confirm or deny it. All right, confirm and deny here.

Brought to you by Boston Pizza. All right. Statements are made. We either confirm them or we deny them. Let's fire them up here because we're going to get to the draft lottery. We're going to hit it three times on the show. Confirm or deny Sundeen and Cheka will remain a package deal throughout their tenure with the leaves. So it's not as if one's leaving and one's staying in the future.

I'm denying that. They showed up together. They're leaving together. Not a chance. No. One will go before the other one. You think so? Absolutely.

What do you think this is fantasy land? You're very chummy yesterday, right? Two pals from the Memorial Cup. You're friends. I've always envisioned Matt's, like, he's been out of the game for 17 years. Probably has a boatload of money in his pocket. Young family.

Like, you think there's a chance he goes, I'm going back to school. I've had enough. It's a lot of work here. Well, that's a better question. Who is more likely to last longer? I think it's Chaka. See, I think it's Matt's because I think he's got way more security.

If Chika's the guy at the top, as long as he wants to do it, if Chika has the last vote on what's going on, then he's got more skin in the game if it goes wrong. Right. Like Sundin's insulated to an extent where he can say, hey, well, John made the ultimate call here. Yeah, right? Where Mats may have actually the perfect gig where he's got skin in the game,

he's going to have a voice, but he's the ultimate ambassador to and exactly and he works on the culture in the locker room and I'll take all there he's taking some heat is this the Shane Donne stuff like there's people that are claiming that and I want to find out the story for myself firsthand just the treatment of Shane Don't like Paul Bissinette

is just beside himself about Chica and Don in Arizona you mean yes and Shane has been a part of the front office here for a few years in Toronto I'm pretty sure when he caught wind of this It's just like see you later. Well, I think Don't's contract was up in June or whatever. Right. I don't think he's sticking around. They're probably going to, you would allow, take it to get his own team involved.

So he'll have to evaluate who's in place already for AGMs and people throughout the organization and say, I want to keep them or I want to move on from them. So, you know, whether Shane Don and him have a good or bad relationship, sounds like Shane Donne is probably going to move on anyways. Wasn't he interviewing for the Vancouver? I think of Vancouver, Pierre Dorian, apparently out there in Vancouver. Yes, the rebuild is over. I love Pierre Dorian. It's great guy. I really like Pierre, too.

And listen, he made some, like, Stutzland Sanderson in that draft. And Ridley Gregg in the first round. And really great. The same draft. That's an unbelievable draft. Treat really good players. Unbelievable draft. Yeah, people think about the water bottle throwing and a couple of different situations.

There's also one that I, it's a meme. You remember during COVID, There's nobody in the stands. And you remember he was standing behind the net, behind Kerry Price. We've got to find that meme. Okay. Like they were, I think, I don't know if I was calling the game or not or whatever, but it was like, why is Pierre just standing in the corner?

Because they had the stands tarped up. Those in the bubble. Was it in the bubble or was it in Ottawa at that time? Okay. It might have just been like. For the 21 season where they were playing in their own rings. Yeah, like there's a, there's a scene where he's just standing in the corner. Okay.

And I think Kerry Price is in net, and he's just standing. Front row. It's, it's. All right. Well, let's do what happens. I wish him the best. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Confirm and deny. Vladdy Jr. ends the season with 20 plus home runs. How could you possibly say that right now? Got two. I'm confirming it. I'm denying it. And I'll bet you a side 500. You got it, man.

500. He's got it. I am bullish on this guy getting high. at some point. I know it's been a disaster. When we're waiting around for two months. It's incredibly frustrated. Yeah, it's like, oh, this guy's going to round in the form. He's getting close. He's getting close. It's completely unacceptable. You're getting paid like the top 10 player in the league. And you're the most important bat in the lineup. Forget his paycheck. I don't care if he's getting paid a dollar. He's the most important player on the team, the most important

bat. They need him with Kirk out. Barger's been out. Springer's been out. They're under 500 again. They're starting slow. He's got to perform. Aaron Judge is paid to hit the long ball. He's paid to hit it out of the yard. And he does it all the time. He does it all the time. Enough with this exit velo and off the bat. You hit that one really hard. It's not good enough. Not good enough. It's when he is, I wouldn't say, listen, he's 18 more. He's got a lot of games left. I mean, he can.

Basically 120 games. Yeah, I got a hundred and 125 plus games. You tell me he can't hit 18 home runs. Yeah, he can do that. I think he should. He will get red hot at some point. He should do that, though. For 500. 100%. Again, I don't care about the paycheck just based on talent and ability. Look what he, look how he locked in in the playoffs. Yeah.

Or that guy was mashing, mashing home runs. But I told you as every day that goes by, people start forgetting about that. I understand that. Like there's other guys in the lineup that are pulling their way. Okamoto is on fire right now. Absolutely the hottest bat on the team. It's not Vladdy right now. Springer back.

Vladdy's not even in the lineup tonight. But it's too early for me. to spin off 20 plus. Ask me again in a month. When you're... When he's got 80 games left. Yeah, then that's a different story. Yeah.

Confirm or deny. Jacob Dobish is the best goalie left in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Starting goalie. I'm going to confirm that. Tell me who's better right now. Frederick Anderson. Oh, Freddy's at the top of the heap for you. I know.

That's no slight on Dobish. I just think Freddy's playing some great. great hockey. I've always said, and you guys have heard me say it too, he's a good goaltender. I'm not. It's just not available. I'm just going to tell you guys right this, or right now about this, and it's

not being negative, it's not a pessimistic outlook. I can't buy into Freddie from all of the years that have gone by where it trends in this direction, and then all of a sudden, not available. Either not available or it falls off the tracks, and you're like, who is that guy right?

now. If he can keep this going, I hope he does. My old team, the Cains, I hope they go on a heater and they win a cup, whatever. But he scares the hell out of me, what could be next? Because it's always the same thing with that guy. Either performance or something happens. And it's crazy.

Yeah. I mean, Dobish has been amazing and probably who should be at one. But Anderson hasn't done anything wrong either. No, I know. They lost the game? No, he hasn't. They haven't lost the game. Yeah, there's 6-0. Like, you know, Freddie at the top.

There's something about Dobish so, man. Like, he's, he's, yeah, and he's, again, it's a weird year because you look at, it's Anderson, it's Lion, yeah, it's Darth Vladar. Ladars have a great. You know, Dostal and Carter Hart and Wedgwood and, you know, it's like none of these guys are like your typical rock star goalie. They're talented and good goalies, but. Well, I mean, not some, all the guys that you mentioned have probably had an off game at some

point, but Doebusch has been great and Anderson has been great. Hart's had an off game. Lion comes in for UPL. I'm trying to. Ladar had an off game, I believe, once so far. Gold Tending and Minnie has been... Well, yeah, that first game... Well, now they've gone to Gustafsson's going to play tonight.

Right, there you go. So Walshead, you know, they give up a nine spot. Yeah, that one. You got to... Not the best. But I think it's Dobish or... Or Freddie. Well, they might meet in a... a couple of weeks.

Exactly. All right, final one here. Confirm and I, rapid fire style. John Rom and Bryson DeShamba are playing in the PGA tour in 2027. Rom and Bryson on the PGA tour in 2027. I totally think they are.

I think they're just, those guys are going to make a phone call and get things done. Probably Cam Smith, too. I don't know if he cares enough. Maybe that angry little aunt from England. Oh, Terrell Haddon. I'd like to see him. back in that's what I would do if I was a commissioner it's like you guys some of you guys sued us

some of you guys left for the money we're gonna handpick well they're all left for the money well I get it but I would just handpick and say these guys are going to have an avenue back and the rest of you guys you have a very difficult road through it just make up your own rules yeah well you can it's your tour yeah it's your tour you want the product to be the best and you want to be more forgiving for certain guys yeah well now you see roms worked out I deal with the DP World Tour. Shocking when he realizes there's a chance he's got nowhere else to play coming next year.

I think he, Patty Reed did the same thing. Well, yeah, Reed's coming back to the tour, but he's paying the price before he can get back on the tour. We'll see about these two. I'm going to confirm it as well. I think it kind of feels like it's trending in that direction. Again, the RBC Canadian Open right around the corner. What a huge day for them yesterday.

Matt Fitzpatrick is coming up. Big names coming. Colin Moracawa coming up. Bridgman coming up. Capka coming up. Brooks, Capca, is going to be cruising around TPC Toronto. That's going to be awesome. I just stop in and say hi to the guy. I think we're going to be up there. He's a hockey fan, too. He's Aaron Eckblad's buddy now. Yes, he is. He's called the Pylad. And then they became buddies.

Yeah. Capca, remember him at the Cup final? Just like, dialed in with a clap. I don't think he was blinking through the period. You know what I want to do? I'm going to talk to Lawrence Applebaum from Golf Canada. and I know it's for volunteers and people that do a lot of better work than what I do. I want to be one of the scoreboard bearers in one of the final groups. Oh, really?

What do you mean? So you're just going to walk around with the little thing and flip the numbers? Yeah, the sign. Okay, I like that idea, actually. You and Ryan Fox. It's not going to last very well. It'll be hot.

I know, I guess through three holes and bails. Puts it down? I'm actually not interested in this. Oh, you think I would bail. You can do it for the pro-em. If I play the pro-am, you can be my little numbers guy. No, I told you I would carry the bag for it. I'll be your caddy.

I got to find out if I'm in the pro-am. Are you allowed to carts? No. Blue flag would be, that would be great. Yeah, we'll... Imagine you got a blue flag. It's a pro-am. I think people, there is always a sneaky rat at every course

that shouldn't have a blue flag. They're basically playing polo and putting on the green with the cart. Some of them need it. They need it. But there's always one rat that doesn't need a blue card. Yeah, you're right. Get a cart. All right.

Confirm with tonight, brought you by Boston Pizza. This playoffs BP is summoning the hockey gods to tilt the ice in Canada's favor. Join us and feast like a hockey god on our new playoff menu. See you for puck drop of your local BP. We're going to hit the Sim. All right. And Best Bet's coming up next. The newest tracks.

Let's go. New music. And the next big thing. Always on the new music first. Your first place to hear it all. playing now. I heart new music. Your digital station for brand new

drops, fresh vines, and tomorrow's bangers. I think we need something new. Discover IHeart new music. Always fresh, always first. Stream now on the free IHartRadio app. Confirm or Denai is brought to you by Boston Pizza. This playoffs, BP, is summoning the hockey gods to tilt the ice in Canada's favor.

Join us and feast like a hockey god on our new playoff menu. See you for Puck Drop at your local BP. All right, we'll get to our best bets here in a few moments. But the draft lottery is coming up. Don't forget, we're going to be live on the air at 7 o'clock. Okay, so we're going up at 7. Love it.

On TSN Radio, we're going to be up on YouTube live on TSN's YouTube channel. We're going to podcast everything, right? Iheart radio app, all that kind of good stuff, wherever you find your podcast. You can stream us on the TSN app, TSN.ca. So a full reaction to the lottery tonight. And I have a list that I'm going to get to as well, to start the lottery show. In terms of kind of where I want this to go,

who I think deserves it, but also where I kind of want to see this land in the end with all these Canadian teams in contention. But we are going to hit the draft lottery. We haven't done this in 10 years. I know. Like this used to be... It was a go-to bit for us.

I know. And we haven't even thought about the draft lottery in a decade in Toronto. When we'd hit Toronto, he would do a lot. Especially the McDavid draft. That was really go-time. That was like peak, peak draft lottery stuff. Who was the GM in Buffalo at the time?

Tim Murray. Timmy Murray was his, yeah. Remember how his blow darts? Buffalo takes Jack Eichol. Then you just walk off the stage. I was told he walked across the street and flicked the dart on the ground and said, God damn, I wanted McDavid. I'm not kidding.

I'm sure you're not. All right, who wants to go first? Who wants to hit the lottery here? Go ahead. You want me to go first? I'll go first. Go up from the bridge. Hit it.

Where noodles ends up here? Where do I end? This is your official draft lottery slotting, okay? Hit it. Oh, wow. What did I tell you? What did I tell you? Oh, wow.

The Maple Leafs have won noodles noodles draft lottery. There we go. Vancouver down to three men, they'll be sour in Vancouver. They will be sour. Now, this is a huge development because there is reporting on going as we speak that the Lottin deal and Philly believes that if the leaves keep their pick tonight, then they should automatically get next year's pick unprotected. So there's a debate going on.

Yes, and Chris Johnston is reporting that the NHL is likely to side with Philly, which means if the leaves keep their pick tonight, the next two years. Unprotected. Philly gets their pick next year unprotected, then Boston the year after unprotected. So noodles with the first spin and he comes in hot with the Maple Leafs at number one. All right.

Do you want to go next? Can you follow that up? How could you possibly follow that up? Joe from the bridge? Bless me. Seattle Cracken. Oh, the Cracken. And that has the Leafs down at 6, which means Boston gets their pick.

Oh, no. Because Seattle, in this case, would be jumping up. The Seattle Cracken. Nobody's talking about. That's a brutal draft lottery. Nobody's talked about Seattle at all. Dude, they can't. Think about Vegas since they've come into the league.

With their win last night, they've won more playoff games than any other team in the league since they arrived, which is a crazy statistic. More than Tampa, more than Florida, Colorado, Edmonton, more than anybody else. Really is. With that win last night. Vegas is a crown jewel of the NHL, and Seattle is not. The Sacramento Kings marrying the Charlotte Hornets. Take it easy there.

Your Seattle might be good at some point. Yeah, maybe. All right. So here, my pick. Here we go. Go from the bridge. Simulate. Give me Calgary.

Oh, my God. Wow. That's a gross one. The Florida Panthers have won the lottery in this scenario. With my pick, the Florida Panthers and St. Louis jumps up. The Leafs would actually drop the seven, and Boston would get the seventh pick. That's the most disgusting outcome, and there's nothing else that's even close. Like, just for the record, Florida winning it would be absolutely,

Bettman should step in and say, we're redoing this thing. You should. In that scenario, Boston gets this year's pick, Billy gets the next year's, and then it's over. No, then next year it would be protected. It's complicated because there was a protection on it. But Philly's argument is if the Leafs are keeping this pick, then Boston would be automatically getting a pick in the future, which pushes them to 2028.

It's a complicated deal because they both had conditions on them. And now the Leafs are keeping a pick that's high. It's complicated. But that would be a scenario where, yes, Boston would get this year's pick. and then one of the next two years, Philly would get a pick. But the Leafs go to noodles. First overall, Seattle goes to O, and I end up spinning and taking Florida with the first pick.

Panthers. Do you imagine Gavin McKenna on a line with Barkov and Verhege? That's a perfect spot for him. That would be crazy. Flying down the right wing, just making plays. That would be crazy. All right, best bets powered by Fanduel. Make your picks and assemble a same game parliq.

in seconds on the Fanduil Sportsbook app. I'm taking the under in Minnesota, Colorado tonight. I know it was insane the other night, 15 total goals. Yeah. They recalibrate the evening. That was an outlier that was an outlier that we will probably never see again or possibly won't see again.

But I'm taking the over in that game tonight. And I'm going to parlay it with the Jays picking up a win this evening as well. Even without Vladie in the lineup, he could pitch it later in the game. You need to still get going. Yeah. My, I said it. Tampa's red hot and the Yankees are red hot. Tampa is red hot right now.

Best bet's powered by Fandrel's same game parlay is available for every Stanley Cup playoff game. On the Fandall Sportsbook app, please play responsibly 19 plus physically located in Ontario. An hour from now, we're back up on TSN Radio up on YouTube live on TSN's YouTube channel. Streaming online. You can find everything podcast. We'll post it all up on YouTube.

So we're coming up with full breakdowns of what happens in the draft lottery this evening. All right. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for how. We appreciate it. Everyone for tuning in today, TV, radio, podcast, web, and of course, up on YouTube live. We're out of here. Enjoy your hour. We're back at 7 p.m. We'll chat then. I'm Cynthia Lois and I'm Josie Dye. And we're done pretending we have it all figured out. Each week, we laugh, cry, and talk our way through life's messiest moments. The things you think about, but would never say out loud. The questions you are always too shy to ask. Relationships, regrets,

It's awkward moments and the stuff no one warns you about. It's honest, it's funny, and sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable. But that's kind of the point. This is Cynthia and Josie's Unmentionables. Listen on the free IHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.