OverDrive - OverDrive - November 18, 2025 - Hour 1 - James Duthie

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss Brad Treliving's first quarter press conference, Treliving calling the team 'vanilla' for their performance, Craig Berube's coaching role for the team and how the Maple Leafs could improve their style. TSN Host James Duthie joins to discuss OverDrive on the Maple Leafs' panel, the Canadian playoff contenders and his Grey Cup experience and O-Dog's microphone control.

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Restriction supply ships registered in Panama and Malta. This hour of overdrive is powered by Fanduil. Fanduil, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. All right, here we go, overdrive off and running. TSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker up on TSN4, Brian Haseo, Doug Jeff O'Neill, Jamie Noodles McClennon. What's going on today. How are we feeling this afternoon?

J.P. Activates. J.P. is working overtime. in here. J.P. had a sweat on trying to get some things organized. All we want around here is a fuse box or something. We got some electrical issues. Right. It's not fair to

JP to fix everything around here. Not his job. No. Do that. At JP, I thought he was going to come in here and start Kung Fu fighting with me because I thought he was going to come in and scissor kick me right in a squash. Well, you got chippy and said, I need my computer, which is fair. Well, I think your exact words where the first priority is my

computer. That is not accurate. I was not talking about my computer, but we were shooting a promo before the show. Oh, yeah. And I kind of said, hey, the promo is important, but we got to make sure we're live at 4 p.m. We got a show here. And I don't think J.P. was ecstatic about that. But he came in, got the job done, and we got the promo done, and we're live on the air, and it's all good. And you're activated.

J.P.'s secondary option was I was going to have to sit in noodles's lap because I was fully prepared. I was shaking your hand saying, see you later. we're doing the game tonight, and I couldn't do the show. But I don't think that's the option. I'm not sitting over there. That was an option. The option is not to shake his hand and say, I'll see you later. It's like, let's put another mic right here, and you and I can press this button. I don't think so.

Get creative and grind your way out of an issue. Yeah. You have things like you like things certain way, so do I. If this thing wasn't working, I was ninja dust, and I had to prep for the game tonight. I understand that. There is possibly Al's brothers' old office that could have been an option for you. The O desk fired up the O desk. Yeah, the O desk would have been fine.

Am I spotting, is that an alumni coat? No. It looks good. I thought that was, that's an alumni coat. It's not? No, it's not. The alumni coat has a logo on it. Well, I thought the logo was on the other side.

That looks a lot like an alumni coat. Yeah. It looks good. I thought maybe after the leave start, this guy took the logo off the jacket. That would be disappointing. I've got a feeling. Maybe I'm in the minority of this, because we were talking before the air. I think they went tonight and I think like I you know Brad Tree Living talk today I don't want to get

unpacked what you guys felt about that yeah we'll get into it it's just I always feel like never things are never as bad as you think it is but they're never as good as you think is there's somewhere in the middle that where where's the middle for this group oh jamie with that saying comes getting out of it yes because once you get out of it you can turn back and say that wasn't that bad we want it's like William Nealander he he's so casual He was just like, well, you know, we keep doing this for a month. We got a problem. And he just said it so casually, I was like, man, that guy just doesn't have a pulse.

But they're in one, and I always go back to one thing, and I'm sure you know that everybody thinks this, Jamie. Yeah. A lot of times it takes your goaltender to get you out of it. Sure. Just to have a performance where it's like, you got to steal one and say, okay, boys, let's get back on track now. I think what is very clear is this has to be rock bottom. You can't go lower than this. This is it.

You've played your card. You've played your 19 game card of poor play, inconsistencies, haven't worked hard enough. Everyone's pissed off. And this is as low as it can. Now let's dig up. Yes. Like, if you're still digging further,

like I don't think you have another week. That's three or four games where you say, okay, now we're going to catch it. Because, yes, it's only six points right now. But that's really all it can be this early into the season. If it gets to 10 or 11 and you're jumping over six, seven teams that are playing each other every night. It just isn't possible. Like mathematically it's not possible unless you're going to go on some ridiculous Cinderella 18 of 20 run.

I don't know if you can have that run in them. And it's not reasonable to ask that out of anybody in pro sports. I don't care how good you are. It's just it's not fair to ask of it and it's not reasonable to ask of it. So this has got to be your rock bottom. Like you had to have hit it now, and now you've got to start moving up. You've played the card. Every team's going to have their rock bottom.

Now, in Colorado, maybe it's like three losses in a row. It's not that bad. It's not that deep. It's pretty shallow. But for them, it'll be all right, time to snap out of it. Worst team in the league, it might be 10 losses in a row. Right, right. Where the Leafs, it's got to be five losses in a row.

Yeah. And you haven't played well. And you're eight, nine, and two, and everyone's pissed off. and that's got to be it. You've got to start moving up now. Buffalo's got the same amount of points as you after last night. And they didn't have a great start. Yeah, exactly.

They had a dreadful start. That's the, you know, Buffalo's won five or six and five of their last six. They're coming on, but I look at it. If this is rock bottom, then they've got to find a way to get out of it. And it may start with the goaltender. It may start with just a special performance from a good player. Or it may be a tight game and you find a way to get it done. But you have to find a way.

to, you know, get to that next level. And, you know, I unpacked a lot what Tree had to say today. The one thing that kind of stood out for me, I don't know what stood up for you guys, but when he said, like, everything's kind of been vanilla. We have that clip. Why don't we play that, all right? Here's how he was Brad Tree living earlier today, kind of described his team's play and identity through 19 games.

And you feel like the team has established an identity or is that maybe part of the disconnect that you're talking about? 100%. I think there's been too much vanilla with our team. All right. So he went on and on and kind of described that,

but who do you think should take that most personally? The players. The players, because the way that you play, and there's lots to talk about in the two hours here, but when I looked at the Toronto Maple Leafs, the last, let's call it,

five, six years, when they've been really, you know, 100 points and just rolling along regular season, their identity, on any given night, whatever happened, he's got no mute by them. Dude, if you go into coughing fit, we are jam. Well, you've got to give a sign to JP. Well, what are you going to do? It's not air traffic control.

Usually I hit that button and I cough. I know. You're going to have a sneeze attack today. I know it. We're just going to have to fight through it. Nettles and I were basically at a camp here to prepare for tonight. You better get the Odess set up. or something. I don't know.

It's some air traffic controls in here. You've got to throw up a flag or something when you need your mic turn off. But let me get back to it. In the last five or six years, when I look at the leaves, their identity was high skill. And then you bring in, regardless, whether it was Keefe or Burubi, they could defend and they had good goaltitting. Okay? So there was a couple. But two-two game, there was always somebody that was special that could dig it out.

You know, whether there was a power play, it was this great job by, you know, Matthews or Marner or Nieland or Tavares like, you know, Corps 4 would dig him out or whatever. They don't have that anymore. Now, they still have pieces of that, but their identity, they're still trying to find it. So when you look at it and say, what is the identity of the group?

It's supposed to be heavy, tight checking, and then you've got the skill pieces on top. They haven't established it. It's only 19 games. We'll call it only 20 after tonight. But that's one thing I think Brad Tree Living's talking about is in past years you kind of had that identity as this is what they were and if they could get to it on that given night good chance they were going to get two points

my concern with that my concern with that is for every other team in the league for the longest time for as long as I've been doing this you get to the 20 game mark and you get everyone in the NHL says well we're going to kind of know what we are after 20 games yeah so we all the sudden and I do understand they have some bodies out some important bodies yeah are we all the sudden going to give these guys a hall pass and say well let's give them 10 more games. Yeah.

How come everybody else kind of knows what the hell they are after 20 games? But because what? We talk about these guys. We're going to give them an extra 10? I don't know. If they're going to create some form of identity moving forward in the next 10 games, what he just said is too vanilla. And I think you break that down to individuals.

If they're going to form some type of identity on the positive, there's a lot of guys playing vanilla that are going to have to drastically improve, drastically for us to change our opinion. Is your interpretation of changing the thought process of vanilla? Well, like I think a couple things on this. One, I think Trilov and speaking today is important. I think it was the right play. I think he looked and sounded composed for whatever that's worth.

I think the vanilla comment is an interesting one because for me, I would go, the first guy I thought of was the captain of the team. Like you're the captain, you're the leader, and your GM saying your team is too vanilla. like that would be something I think Matthew should take personally now he's not playing right now and injuries are not an excuse for why

they're in the position they're in they are a reality of what they have to deal with as of tonight moving forward they're dealing with significant injuries I think the coach would be most insulted by that term because he as a player was the complete opposite of vanilla

like Craig Baroube I don't know what that is it what is that chocolate I guess but whatever he was, it was extreme. He had an attitude. Yes, there was a lot of flavor in his game. And I think if you're the coach, you're listening to

that, and I think he's got to bear a fair amount of responsibility. I understand players are first and foremost, but they get out shot, they get out chanced every night. They lock confidence. You know, like there's, the coach has got it, get the best out of this team. He's got to inspire them to do what he wants

them to do. And it's on the players, there's pros to do it. And if you're not checking, that's on you. If you're not skating, that's on you. But this is a difficult job right now. Like it's a tough job, but it is one that Brubay has been in before. Like it was different context in St. Louis,

but they were a mess when he took over, a mess. And he pushed all the right buttons, in conjunction with Bennington showing up, who will be in town tonight, ironically enough. But I think the vanilla thing speaks to, you know, lack of sticking up for each other, which has been

consistent all year. I look at tonight, I'm like, how about a fight tonight? Is anyone going to show up and say, we're going to get in a fight tonight? You know what's sad? Not sad, but I would consider that to be highly unlikely. I'm not holding my breath on it either, but GM saying vanilla, Brube is yelling at him trying. He's poking and poking. We saw the audio in the video yesterday. He's on them. He wants them to play harder. He wants them to play tougher.

They're being called out. The whole market's on fire right now. And it's a real opportunity for someone, ideally, multiple players, if not the whole team, to show up with an attitude tonight. Now, that's the thing. I don't know if they have it. So that's the problem. Like if you are vanilla, or playing vanilla, it's too much vanilla,

but what if you are vanilla? Like that, how do you, how do you get yourself out of that? And GM has to bear some of that responsibility too. It's his team. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, he's got to work with somebody in here

that was an executive and then became an executive again. And he would describe it as just a guy. Like that guy, Jag, just a guy. It's like they go out there and they're just a guy

roaming around out there with a hockey stick and you don't notice them might not get scored on, might not be a minus, but he's literally just a guy and they have way too many of those guys

and way too many that are like $3 million players, five, like too many guys that are being paid to be better than what they are and they're just guys out there

and you cannot win squat when you have a lot of just a guy. Yeah. You can't do it. I think if you take it personally, then everybody's got to get to their game as quick as possible tonight. And it's simple stuff, but it's play fast, play aggressive.

I'd rather a team make mistakes by being overly aggressive than being passive and just watching people go by you. Like, play mean. If it means that you've got to kill off a penalty here or there, like let St. Louis know you're in one tonight. And now, it's a fine line. We're talking about, like, I think Max Stomi cares, but I think sometimes he wants to show in certain ways, and he'll take an untimely penalty. If you can drag somebody into it, if Max Domi gets an opportunity to run Robert Thomas tonight, do it, because he's one of their top players for St. Louis.

And take a piece of them, maybe there's a reaction and everybody jumps in and a guy like Dakota Joshua, who's a big man. Lorenz is a big man. There's some big man. Like Bobby McMahon's not a small guy. And Bobby's had a couple tilts and been in it recently. It's not about so much drop in the gloves as being there, being present, being aggressive. I think that's where Craig Barubi's probably going,

give me some of that. Give me some aggressiveness. And we don't have to apologize for that. Now, he's playing against this former organization, too. Craig Barubi knows the guys on the other side, too. And they're in one as well. They're in one. They can't defend.

They can't get stops. It's basically carbon copy. They're looking at each other in the mirror right now. Now, who's going to break out? Each team has some game breakers. William Neelander, we talked about him yesterday. 88, he's statistically, he's had some great start, 26 points. Top ten and points.

He's doing great that way. But you're not expecting him to change the way he plays, but there is a factor where it's like, well, that's outside the box for William Neelander, which I would be fine with. It's, and I would point to him and Morgan Riley as examples of that. The two longest standing leaves who are playing tonight. Right.

Because most put up points this year. Yeah. He's got numbers. Great. Keep doing that. But you've got to be a dog defensively. Yeah. You've got to be a dog.

Like you've got to be, you've got to set a tone. And that's where like a vanilla comment, which I think is accurate, you know, you can't expect Troy Stetcher to react to that. he just got here. You can't expect Dakota Murmiss to be like, oh man, I better show. If it's not Riley, McCabe, Nealander, Tavaras, I throw knives in there, domy in there. Like, your veteran

kind of leaders who are playing tonight, they're the ones that have got to take that personally and change it and grind through it. I wouldn't ask for a tone setter. Like, when have you known, as much as we love Morgan Riley on this show, when have we ever seen him be a tone setter? You just got to go out there and have your best game.

But that's what it is. And you can't be. and you've got to drive play offensively and do the things that you do best. Adam Foote has this rule. I go to it a lot. In big games, he would always say, pick the three things that you do well and go out there and do them and focus on them.

That's what you got to do. Drive play offensively and don't get beat and don't stand out for the wrong reasons. Run the power plate. Maybe those are your three things. Everyone's got to find the three things that they're good at and do them.

Don't try to be some tone setter. Then you got guys taking stupid penalties and they just don't have, they're not tone. That's not what they do, but they got to play a hell of a lot better. They got to play better, though. They got to defend, you got to battle at least. But you, like, that's got to be expected.

And the problem is, why is it, like, wouldn't you think, because they've, whatever their record is, after 19 games, they've had a lot of games where they were awful, even some games they've won. That game against Pittsburgh, they were terrible. Well, Tray Living said that today. Even our wins. Yeah, it's like, we score more goals. We didn't win the game, you know, if that makes sense.

Like, they didn't win the actual. So that's kind of concerning where it's like, we're at game 19 now or 20. what is going to change? What, like, what is it? The commitment to the details of the game, you could start there. But the names that you said, it's not going to be Quillan or Mirmus that digs them out. It's going to be the spine of the team, the veteran guys, that you're going to rely on to dig them out. It might, Murmiss might get a goal, or, you know, you might get a great play from Quillan,

but I expect Willie to be a difference maker tonight. I expect John. has been very consistent. I think he's been, you know exactly, if I have to protect one player in the game tonight, I know exactly how John Tavares is going to play, which that's pretty good. Yeah. That's pretty darn good. But I look at it, all of those guys have to play to their capability. And, you know, a week from now we can be talking about and they've won a couple and it's like, okay, that was your TSN turning point and they're feeling better and they're getting a little bit more healthy, all that

type of stuff. You mention it. The goalie just stands on his head. You're not in the video room that much either, right? Because it's like, yeah, that turn over really doesn't, nothing to see here because the goalie made a save. So, you know, the goaltender who played well in Chicago, I like this game, and he looked comfortable, but he can have a game here tonight. Yeah. Now, again, I think because it's so much sample size and they played so poorly, you know, like a 45 save miracle game will not go over well.

Like, they have to, you're right in terms of getting the flies off and, hey, you stop the losing streak and you get a win. I don't think the pet game is going to cut it. But exactly, it's like you've got to actually own a game. Like you kind of. The style of the game, the win of the game. Yes. I mean, at some point, because they've had like three or four all year where you can walk away and say they've actually maybe out of the other team. Yeah.

Absolutely. And the goaltending, in general, I think over the course of the next 10 to 15 games is going to be the best way to get them out of this. at any jam is always a couple goalies or one goalie gets hot and you can breathe reset but yeah you know tree living speaking today I think it was the right move but you know effectively said no moves coming you know coaches safe

and he had one comment that I'd like to hear if you have it ready JP it caught my attention about different players on the roster and plug and play go ahead no we don't know how it's technical difficulties get us back to Winnipeg yeah honestly let's go back to the peg let's just move to our pets heads are falling off your computer doesn't work

my lights aren't working and we don't have clips ready yeah get us back to Winnipeg man I just Polo Park was got a soft spot I told you doogie you had no idea about the clip that we were talking about Duggy put on one of the great performances of all time. In Winnipeg or here? No, here he looked, both of us right in the eye, said, I know exactly what clip you're talking about.

Well, he was grin-screwing haze. He goes, yeah, he was Monty. He goes, I know exactly the clip you're talking about. And I wasn't paying attention. I looked at him and I go, well, what clip was it, Doogie? And he goes, I don't know. Dugie's on top of things. We got it now, Tuggy, okay.

Hang on a second. Throw it to the clip that you picked off earlier. This clip caught my attention about different. players on the roster and plug and playing and who could make a difference go ahead where we're at right now you could bring in certain players if we're playing the way we're playing it's it's it's not so much an individual thing as much as it's a team thing right now so um put anybody in the uniform and playing the way we're playing we're probably going to have the same result so number one get the group stabilized figure out the where areas and as we've talked about the area

areas that we've talked about and identified that we can be better in. But as far as looking at the market, Jonas, and stuff we do every day, that doesn't change, regardless of where we are in the standings. So what I find interesting about that is, again, I look at the coach. I know it was your clip and you want to comment on it, but effectively saying, like, you could drop Connor McDavid into this lineup and it's not going to matter because of the way they play. Also a tough comment. Yeah, I mean.

What's it saying about your team? Well, that's it. Like, how, A, how bad are they playing accurate? But, like, who's responsible for that? I don't... And the guy who put the players on the ice? Well, I guess so. I mean, Tree Living would have to be responsible for some of it.

The coach would have to be responsible for some of it. I mean, it can't just all be the players think. You know, they haven't played well. No. But it's an organizational issue right now. Well, everybody has to wear it. And, you know, Brad Tree Living started his comments saying, like, I take responsibility. He wasn't hiding from him.

But I also think he was taking a bullet for trying to, hey, nothing to see here. Like, it's me on me. And he was trying to maybe take some fire away from Craig Barubi because it's been quite noisy on, you know, Craig's, there's been a few articles, all of that type of stuff. But he comes out and gives, you know, Chief, a vote of confidence and says, listen, we all can be better. I would like to see this. I've been saying this, and we'll get into Abington's the same way. You look at some of these teams that aren't playing to their capabilities. abilities. A manager has to look at it and say, okay, when they play to their capabilities,

are we good enough? And that's when you add to it. You don't, you know, you don't make these knee-jerk reactions when everybody stinks right now. There's a fine line in between because they're injured. There's just some key injuries. Big injuries, right? But the players that are there aren't playing well. So can Max Stomi play better? Absolutely. What is Max Domi's ceiling? Probably a 50-point guy, right? He should be in that 40 to 50. point, depending on where he is. He's nowhere near that. We were talking about it was five points.

Yeah, and defensively, it's been a disaster. If the guys play to their capability, I still think trees making trades. Their team has been a work in progress all year. So we just haven't seen anybody play to their capabilities for a full 60 minutes, pretty much all 19 games. A lot of the stuff, like the individuals need to play better.

But as far as like market correction, We're talking about, like, dumb, dumb stuff, getting pucks out, being physical. Yeah, winning battles. Like, don't turn it over at the blue lines. The simplest hockey. The simplest stuff that is like caveman type hockey, like, it shouldn't be that difficult with the amount of goals you're scoring. You're right. Well, we'll see, though.

Tonight will be fascinating. It's a big one tonight. It's a big one tonight. I feel like I've never been on the panel. and had a loss. I don't think, like I feel like I've got a winning record on the panel. Last year it was New Jersey

where Stollar stood on his head and Matthews wanted an overtime, I think it was. For our game? Yeah, the game where we were all in the panel. A couple years ago, I had the black guy. Yes, and I think they won that game. They're telling you, I don't, I feel like my panel. It might be, it might be an overdrive bump

for the Leafs tonight. They need one. Well, they do need one. They need one tonight. They've got to get a win tonight. So, yeah, we're on a panel in JD. This is Duffy country around here. Right? We're not in Winnipeg anymore.

So Duffy, they hate him in Winnipe. It's unfortunate how they treated our boy out in Winnipe. And there's a rumor floating around that I bought everyone a drink at Boston Pizza to boo him. Not true. Not accurate. We were there. That did not happen. Did not happen.

So Duffy will address why he was booed. He so disliked in Winnipeg. Get his take on a great cup. Get his take on us being on a panel tonight, the Leaf Game tonight. Well, touch on Edmonton. They lost in Buffalo last night. The Habs lost in a shootout last night. Now, they got themselves a point, but they were chasing that game all night, too.

I'll tell you what, Bruce's take yesterday on five, what did he say, five Canadian teams are making it? Yeah. Insanity. Two max. Well, you got two max Canadian teams? Two max Canadian teams playoffs. Winnipeg and Ottawa?

As of right now, that's where I got it. I say five still. I say all five. Maybe four. Maybe one falls off. But I think we might have to have a new meter, like not the coach's meter, which I might have to do this week. Well, here's the truth. If the playoffs were to start tonight, there'd be two teams in it.

Winnipeg in Montreal. Winnipeg in Montreal. How about that? Yeah, but guess what? How about that? I know, it doesn't start tonight. I get it. It doesn't start tonight.

But the Leafs, Ottawa, Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary. I'll stretch it to three max. You're willing to give one more. One more. I say four to five. I think at least three are going to make it. There is not five teams from Canada making the playoffs, boys. Sorry.

You're saying 500 put on there? I'll put $10,000. If you want to bet $10,000 right now, three next. We'll come back and settle this. Duffy will join us. Duffy's got a level-headed mind on this kind of stuff, right? He can contribute. Maybe we get some people in here to give him an applause when he comes in.

That would be good. We can give him a round of applause. Should we do that? We can't even get our electronics working. That's true. How are we going to get people to come in here? If we had a fake studio audience. That would be great for Duffy's arrival.

AI. Right behind us. Just there he is. Duffy comes. Clapping. AI. Get some AI. Okay, let's get some AI.

Yeah. And a new. And a new monitor. New monitor. Moth button. Coth button and an A, and some AI. We can get this done in five minutes.

Let's go. All right. Duffy's coming up and some AI. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. There he is. Duffy Country. We're back.

We're in Ontario. Activate, JP. Activate, baby. Activate, that's where we're at. Activate. On or off. Yeah.

So JP runs the whole operation. You know what I feel like when I come on your program? I feel like, Daniel Dale. When he comes on, that's his name, right? Yeah, yeah. He comes on after a presidential news conference and has to refute all the fabrications and the basically slanderous statements that are made. And that's what I feel like the few times that I come on this final program.

That guy's fake news. Oh, you're calling fake news on the fact checker. Where does it start? Dan Dale's a good kid. I played golf with his dad. But anyway, no politics here. Yeah, exactly. I mean, no matter what the president is, he comes.

on, you're right, he comes on, and fact checks. All right, where do I start? First of all, having a great time at Gray Cup week, I get invited on the Overdrive program, I make the long trek interrupting my research to come out to the Boston pizza and

very excited about it. Find out I'm double-booked with the CFL Commissioner, so there was absolutely no purpose of me being there. I didn't understand that either. I were there. Waste of my 20 minutes. I barely spoke. Second of all, I get booed upon arrival, to which, I I mean, my 92-year-old mother called me afterwards in tears, saying all I ever wanted was for you to be liked, and now you're booed.

Friends were texting me saying, why does Winnipeg hate you? We were disappointed, too. We want that pointed out. Only to find out, through sources, that a member of the Overdrive team promised alcohol to the entire restaurant in order to boo me. It's interesting how a rumor will fly. That is. We just said boo you. We didn't promise any alcohol.

We don't have that power. Well, then, to the folks at Boston Peace in Winnipeg, why are you pigeons? You know, why are you the robots controlled by this man? Then, yesterday I found out, I was maligned for my footwear choice in the Grey Cup celebration. I had Jerry's shoes on, which I brought the shoe today so the crowd can analyze it. This is a Hugo Boss, half-sneeker, half-dress shoes. I screwed it up then. Are you sure you were wearing that?

It's not like it's a seat. are you sure those are the ones? These are the shoes I was wearing very stylish. Those are all the NFL guys were there. Those are gorgeous. I like the dress shoe normally. I'm a dress shoe guy and I would, if you look back at CFL Great Cups over the years, usually dress shoe but I decided

you know what? It's very homey. Okay, my bad. I thought you had like a jogging A6 shoe on like Jerry. Yeah, you had the, that's what it was called out yesterday. It's like you were wearing like sketches. And then further to that, the host of the program suggests

that the crowd was booing me and not the commissioner on the warning of the great cup. Yeah, that was an ego play for us because we got a little bit carried away with how popular we are. I missed that one. I did not know that you made that comment.

No, but he inferred. You were speaking and the booed Well, here's what happened. I'll tell you the lowdown. There was a mistake made in the presentation. And, you know, first of all, I love Stu. I understand people's anger in circumstances. circles. I personally would

like to see what the rules look like and we'll see you know, history will judge whether the commissioner should be booed or cheered. I kind of like a lot of the changes, but I do understand why people are angry. There's a lot of fans who stuck with the CFL for a long time. We don't want it to be changed. I get all that. So they

Stu was only supposed to present the Grey Cup, not the awards. They just had somebody else up to hand the awards. But the voiceover said to present the awards for MVP and those Valuable Canadian Commissioner Stuart Johnson with James Duffy. And so I'm up there by myself.

And the booze are raining out. I'm saying, see, I told you. I saw it. And I'm like, there's booze raining it down on something. And I'm a load on the stage. Yeah, exactly. And I'm like, I don't think that was a Boston pizza carryover. I don't believe so. No, but you publicly suggested.

I thought maybe that would be cool for us. Actually, we had that kind of cloud. As far as the rules go, Jimmy, why doesn't Stu, like, you remember back in the day the NHL formed Shanny and Marty St. Louis, they formed a competition. Committee? Why don't they do that in the CFL and work with Stu? There is that. There is that in the CFL and they will go to that, and this is what Stu has been saying, but I think it's fallen on

deaf ears, is that a lot of the things that he seems, like the three minute, there's a lot of fuss about what happens in the last three minutes because people want to preserve how slow it goes to have big comebacks and they're worried it's going to be like the NFL where everybody's taking the knee. Well, that's not done at all. It will go, like, it will go to the competition committee and they'll

figure it out. So a lot of these rules will be figured out by the competition committee. Again, I asked him that question, well, you know, Why didn't you consult with players and coaches? I think it's a valid criticism. But I think the people who think he did all this on his own are nuts. Like this was the Board of Governors wanted change. Everyone wanted the, you know, everyone within wanted the league to go forward.

He has to take a lot of the heat for it. Did he act too fast? That's the judgment of all fans. But isn't the Commissioner, the Commissioner is just basically a conduit of the owners and the Board of Governors. Like, he's basically the guy who takes the bullets for the people who want change, right? You're right. He's not the guy going, hey, I got an idea. and ram it down everybody.

You got to be the face of it, and like I said, he's probably going to get that for a couple of years, and then when the changes happen, you know, everybody can judge whether the game's better or whether the game's not better, and we'll see if he's booed in four years or five years. Does the commissioner not get booed every time? I don't remember. Probably a little bit. I think commissioners are generally just the commissioner is unpopular. Maybe not that much at the Grey Cup.

I'm sure this had, you know, a bit to do with it. But, yeah, it definitely happens. What about depends on what venue you're in? Like, Winnipeg is diehard CFL, right? So you get to some other venues that maybe, you know, love their team and very, very passionate, but not as much. Would he get boot in Hamilton? Yeah, exactly. Would he get boot in Toronto?

Like, or is it more kind of in the West? Sure. I mean, look, that's the heart beat of the CFL of Saskatchewan in Winnipeg. And I thought he was smart in the presentation. He got, you know, pretty quickly to congratulating Saskatchewan and it turned to cheers pretty fast, which is what you got. Anyway, let me. just wrap up my little Daniels soliloquy. Please do.

To say that, you know, despite the slander and libel, I still come with autographed copies of a certified Wow. Yes, there you go. All right. You're disgusting.

You're disgusting. Get a close-up of that, Joe. Go, get a close-up of that. You don't get one. I have one already. You won one on the quiz. You were making friends with guys are my buddies from illegal curve

just to go on there's Joe. What a beauty. Yeah, do whatever you can. I like those guys in the legal curve. They were awesome. See how quickly I can flip? He wasn't being booed. He wasn't being a booed.

They were, one present. They were chanting, doofy. I love the inscription, though. I think you've been now in four of my books. I've been in all of his books. I love it. You're in all the time of the Brian Kilray book. I think you were in that one.

Contem machine. Even O'Dog's only been in three, I think. How many, like, how many you got left in the tank books wise? A couple more? I don't know. I'm trying to turn this in. Maybe this turns into like the Harry Potter, where there's 12 of them. And then they become movies?

Is there enough interest for that? Probably not. This is probably the edit. This is great. I don't know. Let's flip over to hockey here. We were asking a question and tossing it around. Canadian teams making the playoffs.

Confidently, what would you say right now? Well, it's funny. I looked at it today, and I was going to ask Joe, our great stats guy, when is the last time that there were no Canadian teams this deep in the season in the top 10? I think 12 and 13 is where Winnipeg and Montreal are, and then five of the seven in the bottom half of the league. And I think it's been a few years. There were some down years in there, but I would go, I think I'd still go three. Max, right? Three, but the over and under is probably two and a half right now if you were to do that, right?

Like, Wittipeg's going to get there. The reason I'm asking is because yesterday, Brucey Boudreau and these two were like four or five, and I'm like, no way, man. Edmonton, if you think we'll find a way, I would say Ottawa, Montreal, maybe it's only one of the two that gets. And now I'm writing off Toronto, which I'm not.

But, I mean, it could still get to four or something, but it could be two. I say four, not easily, but four for sure, and maybe a fifth. That's the way I look at. Well, right now, right now how many are your playoff positions, too, right? The one two I mentioned is in. Montreal and Winnipeg.

That's it. It's just so chaotic in the Atlantic. It's so hard to pick, like you say. I know the leaves, it feels like the sky's falling in and they're four points out of a playoff spot or whatever. Was it 10 days ago, 12 days ago, the Leafs had won three in a row. Yeah. Right?

Like they were, and I believe somebody called them a wagon. Well, I did, and I'm glad you brought that up. You called them a wagon? I believe on this program. I did. I wasn't on that. Let's roll in the wagon sound. You got that?

It was saying it's facetious. I was saying it sarcastically because I did not detect that. I know. Well, and it's been posted everywhere. Leaves sir a wagon with my face on it. Dude, I texted it to him. I'm like, that's what you get for that. I know, but you were being a smart ass.

He got radioed by his own show. Jonas was in here, and I know Jonas was going to be, they're terrible, they're brutal, they're awful. And this guy wasn't in the mood to really pump tires either. Right? You're like, even though they're winning, it doesn't look great. And I was like playing the role of the contrarian. Let me spin it.

And I was, I'm like, the Leafs are a wagon. I said it jokingly multiple times, assuming people would pick up on the staccas. When I was driving my card, felt serious. I know, but the amount of people writing me being like, you called them a wagon two weeks ago. And I'm like, yeah, I did. I guess my point is, is when you look at it at Jonas more than anything, which I love to do. But I say it all along. Five game lost streak, they're at the bottom.

Five game win streak. You're right back in there. You talked about out west Between first place and out of the playoffs Is like three points Here it's four points The division's upside down And everybody could be still packed in February

The thing I would be concerned about is the schedule's been easy Easy-ish compared to the rest of the league The schedule's been heavy home Now you've got all these injuries Oh yeah and Toronto yes Well you know it's crazy There's one Canadian team With a plus goal differential

One The HABs are minus 3. Ottawa is minus 1. Winnipeg is plus 9 goal differential. Edmonton's minus 12. Yeah, that's not. That's crazy. The lease are minus 5 in Calgary's minus 19, Vancouver minus 10.

Those are big, big numbers into the red in terms of goal differential. And that's usually an indicator to go Michael K on this in terms of like run differential, goal differential. One Canadian team in the plus. My bigger concern, and I'm completely with noodles, like we always rush and judge and they could turn things around and still be a playoff team easily. I haven't given up on that whatsoever, but I feel like the NHL breaks down into like five categories a team, and it's probably more than that. It's probably 10, but just for the sake of this. One is like the true Stanley Cup contenders, right at the top, the who would Colorado's, the Vegas is, you'd probably put Carolina in there. You can make your list, whatever.

The next would be like the close to the would-be contenders, right? The teams that are, you know, Edmonton would fall into that still and then like the teams who have really solid cores who are looking, maybe the jerseys and the Ottawa's teams like that

and think they're ready to make the next step. The third would be the teams that are, the window's opening. So maybe Anaheim that, you know, they're not a contender, but the window is starting to open. for them. They've been through the rebuild and they're starting to get their. Chicago not quite there yet.

Montreal, maybe? Yes, Montreal would fall into that. The fourth would be in a rebuild or just, you know, starting a rebuild. I can't think of one off-hand right now. Maybe Calgary starting that right now. And then the fifth would be the no man's land of either you're at the end of your window and you got nowhere to go. And the thing that would concern me is those first four groups all have the same thing in common. same thing in common. They have hope in some way or another. Hope of winning a cup soon,

contending for a cup soon, or that things are getting better. And if the Leafs continue to fall this year, they fall into that category five where you got nothing in the cupboard, and what do you do? I just... I've always said it's the worst place in pro sports to be is if you just miss the playoffs or just make it and get crushed in the first round, where are you actually going? The answer is no one. But if they tumble, let's say the injuries pile up in the end up near the bottom of the division this year.

I mean, you're not going to trade Matthews and Nylander. That's not going to happen. Like you say, you have nothing as far as first round picks. And that, to me, that would be the most dangerous, depressing situation they've been in in 15 years or something like that. The only thing I would

say, and I just made him do a head shake I haven't seen in a long time. Thanks for that. You're still a ways. I think you're a ways away. I'm not saying that's now. I'm just saying worst case scenario on the season. I would take a look at recency. The Boston Bruins went through some weird things last year. Right? That's...

Retooled and... They retooled in the right back. But my point being is Lindholm was gone for the season. That was their number two defensemen. That's a big blow. McAvoy gets injured in the Four Nations. They decide to move away from Marchand. Like, they trade Charlie Coyle. That was at the deadline. That was after they made the decision, we are going to bottom out. Swayman, coming to the camp late, couldn't really get it on the rails. There were so many things. Lynn home comes over signing, didn't settle in.

Elias Lynn got hurt, I believe, at some point. So there was just all these things, but that took a while. That was like a wave. You could see that build, and then they made the decision, and then they crashed and burned. I think the Leafs are far away from that. Yeah, 25, 30 games from that. That's my point is right now, we're looking at it through an 04 and 1 lens. 100%.

That's where I, like, I try to remove, there's still 75. percent of the season left, but the team has to play better. I want to see when Nicholas was healthy. What is his capabilities? As your number three centermen settled in, if Lawton can get healthy. Where are people slotted and can they play in the post-Marner era, different identity, all of that type of stuff? Haven't got to that yet because we haven't seen the finished product. There's been injuries and inconsistencies. Until that happens and the decisions made, like that's why I'm still going. I'm with you. I was

talking about where we are at the end of January, if it's 18 wheel or off the cliff sort of thing. Then they're in that predicament. When Bradford Living said vanilla today, and everyone's trying to interpret what that means, do you think it means what O's been saying for a while here that they have a lot of guys that just look the

same, that are just guys? What do you call them? Yeah, Jag, just a guy. Just a guy. Is that what that means a bit, maybe? I don't know. Well, there's a lot of guys you watch them, what do they accomplish out on the ice? It's not a whole lot. So it's like, what are you doing out there? Hayes made a great point, though, before you came

on, said, there's like, who should be taking that personally? Like, is it the coach? Is it the leadership? Is it the players who are just the guys? Isn't it all the above? Probably. Yeah, I think everyone should. I think Baruba would be most insulted by that. I think the captain should

be very offended by that. You represent the life line of the team. The The personality of the team is the captain, right, generally. Right. And if you're the captain of a vanilla team, that should hurt. Now, he's not playing, and Matthews skated today, won't play tonight, won't play Thursday, we'll see when he plays again.

But, yeah. I mean, the last thought on what you said, though, James, about, like, that could be a reality, is that for the first time in nine years, it actually could be a reality. Does it mean it will happen? We've never had this. We've had slump discussions, and you guys have had to do overdrides where they've lost four in a row in the middle of the season, but there was always the feeling that, you know, they would

find a way and get it done, whatever. And I think this was the first time in a while that there is doubt about that. Yes. And the fact that Boston owns their first round pick next year also just doesn't jive well with people here. Yeah. All right.

Well, we'll catch you on the panel. This is my favorite night of the year because I don't intend to do, I'm going to say, welcome to the show everybody. Brian Hayes take over. And then I just sit back and put my... Really? Beautiful. I'm going to put my little Hugo Boss running shoes up on the table. Make sure that they're, yeah. Well, I got, you guys, I got in trouble last time because I gave an answer that was too long,

and you guys are like, that's an amateur play. Remember, we did the Sports Center hit? And I talk for two and a half years. I want you to do some of the throw to breaks to see if you can talk into black again like you've done before. I did do that. The Harvey's throw, you were still talking. Still going. Hey, coming up next.

When do we get back? We're on to the next commercial, Brian. It's Putin. You might cut up 12 seconds ago. go. I'll try my best tonight. This will be awesome. Everybody loves it when overdrive takes over the show, so I will step back and let you guys do your thing. That's your show.

We're jumping on board. I'll see what kind of lies are told tonight about me. I think we've got a streak going, too. I believe we're 2 and 0 for overdrive show. There you go. The Leif's guaranteed window. I think I speak for Leaves Nation and saying this is the perfect timing for this. Yes. That this trio is what is needed to

turn things around. Now, what happens to Dregs and Sherry and so on, if they win five-nothing tonight. That's a great question. And then it starts to be a thing. It was like when they didn't want you in the building on those playoff runs a few years ago, but the reverse, where you have, maybe I'm going to be in trouble.

Maybe you're right. Maybe we just got to be on a panel. Okay, well, we'll figure something out. All right, J.D., we'll see you in a bit. Okay, guys. Thanks for having me. We're, of course, on the panel tonight with J.D. The Leaf Game on TSN4 Overdrive continues.

Up on YouTube Live. JP, Activate. It's the new way you're doing business around here. J.P. is winning the Heisman tonight. He is. Like, this guy is going to win a sports Emmy with what he's doing today. Because it has been phenomenal activation. It is.

Every time it's on. The activation has been perfect. Perfect. Overdrap brought you by Fandoo, bringing you more ways to play your game your way. Cowboys win and cover last night. You and your boy are pretty quiet. Al's brother's still completely M. I.A. No idea what that guy's doing.

Completely. Like, no idea what Els Brothers is doing with his life right now. But it's such a, like the Cowboys are one of those teams and they're in a spot. Like Vegas is terrible. They're just awful. Dude, what does Tom Brady think about watching that? He's 10% owner. And Pete Carroll, like what?

Pete Carroll had to take that job. He's 73. He won a Super Bowl. He was an all-time great college coach. $5 million in his jeans. Oh, well, bet you. you more than that. Way more than that in the NFL.

But he's probably been making that noodles for 30 years. He's just a football junkie. When you're a football junkie, guess what takes the wind out of your sales, a team like that? Yes. That's true. Like, look at Bill Belichick in North Carolina. Like, he just looks like a shell of himself down there. I bet you a lot of money that that man's back in the National Football League next year.

You think so? Okay. All right. I really do. Maybe we'll get to that and confirm with Deny. Love it. Confirm with Deny coming up and MJ coming up. Leaves Blues.

We're on the panel tonight on TSN4 Overdrive continues. TSN1050 and on the TSNAB. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandul. Fan Duel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas with IHeart the holidays. Non-stop Christmas music 24-7. All your festive favorites Unwrap the magic of the season

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