OverDrive - OverDrive - October 23, 2025 - Hour 2 - Luke Willson

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN NFL Analyst Luke Willson joins to discuss the headlines around Week 8 in the NFL and Hayes and Bro's selection for the Thursday Night Football matchup. Hayes hands out the moods of the NHL Canadian coaches in the latest edition of the Coaches Mood Meter and Hayes gives his FanDuel Best Bets.

Open a demo account at CMC Markets, trade CFDs with $10,000 in virtual funds, and diversify your portfolio on an easy-to-use platform. Learn more at CMCMarkets.ca. Trading CFDs involve a high degree of risk. CMC Markets Canada is a member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization. Hour 2 Overdrive continues, powered by Fanduel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. We'll get to our best bets later in the hour.

We'll get to our pick for the Thursday night or tonight. Coaching mood meter coming up, the seven Canadian coaches. May surprise you, may not. How I have them ranked, one through seven, we'll see. So if you guys have to say about it. There's not a lot of happiness, I know that. They're like, it's basically a couple at the top, isn't it? And then it's just a mad scramble for sadness at the bottom.

There's probably one that stands out as seven, but then maybe not. I'm curious. Yeah, I'm curious where you guys are going with that. Like, I don't know if there is an obvious one. Really? Who do you think is the obvious number of seven? right now Ryan Huska

Yeah I would think Ryan Huska Okay All right That means that's not him Like he can't be happy Like his goaltenders Freaking out now

They're just They're in a real situation There's no denying that They are in a real situation They have scored 12 goals in eight games I believe it is That's crazy And a bunch of them

They couldn't keep it out either Right. And I think their first game, they scored four times or three times, and then they won in a shootout. Oh, yeah, sorry, yeah, you're right. They won four or three in a shootout against Edmonton. And so do the math, as our boy Rick Bushwood might say. It's not good. It's not good in Calgary. And Huska is possibly in seventh, if not, he's very close to it. I know where you're going. He ain't there. He ain't there.

There is someone else that is more pissed off than him. And you don't even have to say it. No? No. I can just tell by looking at your face. All right. Well, we'll see. Yeah, we'll see.

I'll tell you who I, it's my ranking. It's all subjective. You guys could see it very differently in half an hour. We'll rotate. We'll let you do it this week and then noodles can do it the week after and then I'll do it. We'll each get different perspectives. Love that idea. Sounds good to me.

A buffet of mood meters. Buffet. A buffet of mood meters. Luke's coming up here in a moment. moment and we'll ask him you know you guys can speak to it from an NHL perspective and when you were playing in the NHL gambling wasn't legal like it is now in so many states and provinces and as prevalent as intertwined in sports as it is today I mean it's obviously there's you know gambling companies that you know spent a lot

of money on sports spent a lot of money on sports advertisement programming you know obviously we do a lot of it here on this show I would think the messaging you guys heard back when you came into the league isn't much different than what players would hear today. Jamie, I don't know about you, but I remember guys with suits coming at the beginning of the year for a little meeting saying, you know, the guy that does your suits and the guy that cleans your cars and the guy that's a hookup for this,

if they're ever asking questions, you need to report it. That's all I basically remember about it. It wasn't like a, you know, I don't know what the hell was going on. Like, you don't think of any of your teammates doing that. You're gambling on games or I don't even know what the hockey equivalent would be of that. Well, I think, you know, oh, my first year playing in the NHL was with the New York Islanders. And I remember vividly that conversation. You're right.

The guys with the suits from the PA or the league come, and they lay out and say, hey, like, if there are people around the team that are asking about injuries and stuff like that, you have to be mindful. also be mindful if people are offering you free things you know you go to a strip club you go here and there they there's a lot of people that can blackmail you into certain things they talk about all sorts of stuff i've told you guys this is a joke there was a guy that hung around our team who wore a track suit joe colombo as was his name last name colombo like i i don't know what the guy was but you know you could probably put two and two together at some point yeah i i remember that too. I remember one, they came in and they were like, the guy that was doing this and fixing

fridges, he's never doing that again for you guys. And everyone was like, okay. Well, the thing is this, I wonder if it's now, hey, you got to watch out if you think your teammates are doing something, shady. Well, of course. Right? Because, again, what happened in the NBA today is these are players and coaches, right? Like, Chauncey Billups is, as of now, you know, these are all allegations and was not arrested for the sports element of this. That was about poker playing. But there are, you know, the indictment is hundreds of pages long and it's starting to be revealed what's in there.

And if it's coaches that are possibly tipping off people, then that changes everything. And again, now we're hearing about this stuff. And obviously we heard about Pete Rose and we heard about, you know, the white socks throwing the World Series and all that. but there's a chance this has been happening in sports forever and you just never knew it. You know, like that's the scary part is that now there are some people that are, you know, there's a rest being had and because it's regulated and these companies really want it to be regulated so that everything is fine and everything is on the up and up and there's an integrity involved in that

with the sports, with the gambling, you give people your money, you want to be able to trust the product and trust what you're, you know, betting on or whatever it is. But, you know, who's to say 10, 15, 20 years ago? There weren't players doing stuff. Right. You just never knew. Right? You never knew.

Wilson is cooking. Just a brutal time to play that. Anyway, not Luke's fault, but we're having a serious conversation. Let's play a dumb intro, and here's Luke. Hey, Luke, what's happening, man? What's happening is if we revisit Monday, we revisit Monday, what was the chatter? Oh, we might be up by a touchdown by then. Had Monday go, Hayes.

It's a field goal now. We're still on the lead, are we not? You guys are still chasing us or you not? Yeah, and like we said, you guys got hot. Clearly that ended. Okay, we're going to come back to reality here. I will be honest, I hate this game tonight. And you're going to butcher this, and we'll be two.

It's our pick to start the weekend after tonight. Yeah. And we're in the driver's seat. It's possible. Yeah. Well, you won't be in the driver's seat. You lose this tonight. It's pretty much the ALCS and we're the J's.

You know? That's what you're going. I like that talk. I like that. I thought you're rude for the marriage. My part is flattie and I'm Springer. No question. We're the Jays.

No question. Well, we'll see, man. Al's brother and I, I'm not sure if we see out of eye on this game tonight. We'll flush it out. Al's brother will join us in about 10 minutes and we'll flush it all out. but how about this, you know, Russell Wilson, Sean Peyton stuff? Yeah, what's going on there? Yeah, man.

Russ just can't help him. Russ gets hit with so much shrapnel. Ever since he left Seattle, it's just been such a downhill slide for him. So if you're not familiar with it, Peyton was pumping the tires of Jackson Dart, which is hilarious considering what just happened with the Giants and Broncos game, where the Broncos made history in the fourth quarter and came back in one. But to paraphrase, Peyton basically said, You know, he told the owner, hey, wait to put in Jackson until after we play, insinuating, please keep Russ as your quarterback.

It's a D-bag thing to say, man. Totally. It totally is. And good for Russ, because he hammered back at him on Twitter, you know, about the, what did he hammer him about, oh, the targeting stuff back in a bounty gate, bounty gate when he was with the Saints. and Peyton came out today and said that's not what I meant. It's completely bogus. There's no way to interpret that as any other way of your Russell Wilson. Totally.

That he wanted you to be playing over the other guy, which is a shot at Russell Wilson, and we all know their history from Denver. Totally. And I was happy, you know, Russ said that because generally Russ doesn't show any side of things. Sean Payton is kind of known as a bit of a diva, you know, even going into that when Russ and Sean were married together.

in his second year in Denver. I was like, this will be really interesting because it's two guys that have very big personalities. Obviously, we know how it played out. But what's annoying for me with Peyton is it's like, okay, dude, listen,

you looked like trash against the Jets a couple weeks ago. One of the worst football games I think anyone has ever witnessed. In London. Was it not? Yeah, which is awful. It was a disgusting performance. Then you come in and you're down 19,

nothing to the Giants, and a rookie quarterback makes a bad decision. You know, he did a lot of good things that game, but the interception kind of sparked everything back. It's a very quirky ending. They end up, they being the Broncos, end up winning. This Broncos team is supposed to be a team that, hey, at this point, like, can you push for the division? You know, that whole division's wide open still record-wise.

Can you make a deep playoff run? They went to the playoffs last year, and you're coming off back-to-back weeks of playing the New York teams, and you should have been 0-and-2. And then the first thing Sean Payton does is go to the podium and takes a shot at Russ, the backup quarterback, a guy that he doesn't have to deal with anymore.

I thought it was childish, and then I was happy that Russ was like, man, this guy's a... You think he said he was classless? I'm like, what a clown play. And then for Peyton to walk it back, I didn't mean it like that. Like you said, Hayes, I'm like, dude, you've been in this industry a very long time. You know how things will be

interpreted. The way you phrased that whole thing, it just seemed like ridiculous, just an clown show. It's not necessary thing. Like, pumped the tires at dart. Nothing wrong with that. You're allowed to do that. Russ knows what's up. Russ isn't playing, and he's not going to play again. Yes. The Giants.

But the idea that you go out of your way to say, like, don't put them in until after our game is insinuating the other guy stinks and we want to play against the other guy. It's weird in New York, though, because like you got the owner with the Jets,

Woody Johnson, who is one of the worst owners going in terms of wins and losses. Totally. How are we going to win with a QB that has a rating that artist does? Yeah. Who says that?

Destroys Justin Fields. Terrible. You know what's funny, though, is like, I would love to know how the whole Aaron Rogers thing went down. As far as what? Because how do you sit there?

How do you sit there? anybody in that front office, anybody on that coaching staff? And I'm not saying that Aaron is playing at an all-pro level. He's having a very good season right now. He's not Josh Allen. He's not Patrick Mahomes. He's not Aaron of six, seven years ago. I understand that.

But he is in the positive, not Justin Fields. How do you sit there and say, oh, you have a quarterback who can't pass a football or can't complete a pass, whatever the exact term was? You know, mention his rating. You had Aaron Rogers in the building. You kicked him out, according to all sources. When Aaron Glenn got in there, we all know his story. Do you want to play football?

Get out of here, et cetera, et cetera. Now, again, that's why I said. I'd love to be a fly in the wall. Like, what did you think was going to happen? Justin Fields did not have a successful run in Chicago. He got bench for Russell Wilson, who's also on the bench, the team that shares a stadium with you. You've got to know that if you get bench around,

us, it's not good. This guy's not throwing the ball very well. Not good. You come in and it's like, man, we're going to ride with Justin Fields. What did you expect was going to happen? Did you expect that this guy was going to come in and light the league up? So I do think it's an indictment on him. I think it's an indictment on Aaron Glenn. I think it's an indictment on the whole front office.

If they were worried about winning football games, and I'm not saying that Aaron would have put them over the edge, but if they wanted to win more games this year, Aaron is a much better option than Justin Fields. That's just a fact. I don't know he's griping about i'd suggest robert sol a better option than aaron glenn you know looking back on it light years light years better light years better there was a 13 year old kid that got

like it was just a video and he said i saw it it's just like i hate this team i hate to it and i i just hate it and then he just walked away and he seemed like for a younger guy he was a kid it seemed like he was so depressed he just looked like dead straight face and said, I just hate this team. And I was born into it, and I'm stuck with it, and then walked away. It was so depressing. It is, in parts to further that, imagine, like, you're a young kid, and you have Garrett Wilson, who's a premier talent, you know, world-class wide receiver,

where as far as talent goes. Breeze Hall, who I would put as far as talent goes, kind of in that second echelon, like in that first one you got Sequin, CMC, Bejohn, Jonathan Taylor. And Breese is in that, you know, second group of guys, I would say. And you're out here, and it's just, again, it's not even that they're losing. I mean, that's the main part. But it's, it's, like, painful to watch. Like, watching them, you're like, this is so bad.

Right. Well, and that's it. Like, at least the Giants now have Jackson darts. Totally. Which is exciting. It doesn't mean he'll work. But it's fun. But it's different.

Gadaboo, yes. Yes, exactly. You have, like, a running back that's intriguing. You might be able, the coach may be gone at the end of the year, so you can reshuffle. Aaron Glenn's not going anywhere. No. It's a mess in New York.

As for Rogers, like, it's Pittsburgh Green Bay Sunday night, which is great. I think Rogers has handled it really well. I was watching his media yesterday. And, you know, not, he's not anti-Green Bay. He wasn't throwing anybody under the bus. He was talking about his time there in a really calm and reasonable kind of mature fashion. I just saw the writing on the wall when they drafted Jordan Law. he loves apparently the two of them are really close he was a really good mentor for him i don't believe

that that's true by all accounts like love says like far in him it was well documented farv had nothing to do with the guy wanted nothing to do with him now they became close as they got older like as they once rogers proved who he was and farv realized okay you're the you're legit i think they became boys but by all accounts rogers was actually like really supportive of jordan love and included him um he hated the organization for drafting him not the guy who got drafted. But I saw a report today that even though we're only into late October, there's already belief in Pittsburgh they want them back for next year.

How would you handicap that possibility that we see Aaron play another year in Pitt? I think it's a good shot. If Aaron is healthy and wants to do it, why wouldn't he? And to be honest, that team, I mean, they're in first place in the division right now, but they're not that many pieces away from being a contender. The way, again, the big thing is going to be Aaron's health, but it's like, man, I don't mind their running back room. I wouldn't call it elite with Warren and Gainwell.

But with DK, the tight end trio they've got, I think it's really solid. If you can get another wide receiver in there, which now of a sudden this offense is pretty special, the problem this year has been their defense. I mean, again, they should be a one-lost team, but their defense has really struggled at times. So that wouldn't surprise me because, you know,

I think even for Tomlin's run, if he doesn't get to a Super Bowl soon, he might be in that danger of like, you've been good but not great for so long now that we're going to move a different direction. You know, there was talk last year with that. So he's kind of at the level where it's like, he's got to win soon.

And then you look at Aaron, it's like, hey, if I want to get a chance at winning one more Super Bowl, where else are you going to go that's a better shot than Pittsburgh? So I don't think the team is ready to do it this year. I mean, you never know. but I do think that they're somewhat close if they can add a couple pieces. There is.

Yes, Al's Brother. Al's Brother, where are you right now? Are you a prisoner of war somewhere? Everything okay with you, Al's brother? What's going on, fellas? How we all doing? They're tightening up a little bit, Al's brother. Yeah, go Hawks, baby.

Yeah, you know what? Hey, look, a blind squirrel finds another. not every now and then. You guys had a good Monday, but it's Thursday. It's a short week, and we play great under the lights on a short week. So I feel fantastic about tonight's game. Can you go back to your pick Monday and explain to me the rationale behind that? Behind what?

Behind taking. Tampa. Well, I mean, the whole thing about-parts, we baited them. Parts, we baited it. Plus six and a half with Baker-Mayfield. It was such a large number. It was just such a large number, and Tampa's played good with all the, the injuries, and Baker Mayfield has still, you know, shown that he can get it done

offensively. They just don't know ball. That's why we're going to win the season. It's just luck with you guys. Flip the coin, right? We're plus three and rolling, man. We never, never miss Sals, brother, and we do not intend I'm missing tonight. Now, this is a difficult game because guess who's involved?

Carson Wentz. I couldn't, like, I would pay money not to ever have to talk about Carson once ever again. Don't take him then. It's a trash match. It's a horrible game for that. It's Chargers at home. What is it? Three points, Stogee?

Or have you adjusted the line somehow? What is it now? Wendver v. Wence, boys, is an easy pick here. You're traveling across the country. You're going to take Wenzh over here? Chargers Land 3. Charders Land 3. Alis, don't listen to the buffoonery over here.

Parch, could you imagine? We wouldn't even have to talk about this. Could you imagine? We know exactly what we're doing. Go ahead, Oz, brother. Go ahead, Oz, brother. Look, you know, it is a difficult one to get. I will say that.

And you look at it, I can make an argument for both sides here, but Carson Wentz has never lost on a Thursday night, which is kind of insane to think about. Carson Wentz is 7-0 on Thursday night, a guy who knows how to play under the lights. But I tell you what, I just look at the chargers, and I don't know, something's just not jelling there right now. They've lost three, their last four games. They've allowed almost 400 yards of offense in those games. And their red zone defense has been not great all season long.

So, you know, I think that you look at it. You're getting points. You're getting Minnesota. And what scares me is the Chargers have not been able to score either. The Red Zone offense has been the second worst in all of football. And the Vikings is an elite team. It's a really good defense. And they've got the third best pass rush.

Joe Alt might be back, but they're not going to have. Roshan Slater, obviously, he's dumb for the year. So there's some tackle issues with the Chargers. I kind of like Minnesota here, but I can be persuaded to go a different way, Hazie. Ball in love with your boys talk. This is a tough one, man,

because as the president of football ops, I need to put faith in my people, and I have more faith in I was brother than probably anyone, probably anyone in terms of duos. The Chargers, though, they've lost three or four. It hasn't been great.

This feels like one, you know, a fork in the road game, where they have to. get it right tonight. Yes. Like Harbaugh and Herbert have got to connect and have a night. And I just, I look at Carson Wentz, I can't believe he's undefeated on Thursday night.

Are you including high school games? It's kind of, you know, life comes at you fast, boys. Last week, Singapore's calling. After this pick, you're about to make, Cash Patel's calling, dude. The FBI. Hey, hey, Cas Patel's calling. He probably is. He probably is because he's like, these guys never.

miss something's got to be off he's calling saying listen you're on the opposite end of this don't ever gamble again take him he's sending us a warning that's there's been some great stuff online like that i heard that uh the fbi's been on their tail and they're trying to throw them off at this pick right here you're saying there's no way in hell those guys are making money that's right they can't be cheating taking this one it could be it wouldn't shock me if there was some big conspiracy dougie and dougie pettel dougie pettel dougie pettles dougie pettles dougie Dugie Patel is trying to orchestrate this and take us. Go ahead, send up your smokescreen.

Send them in a different direction. Yeah, exactly. Well, hey, it's like, what's your, what's your hesitancy? Is it all Wentz? Is it a Carson Wentz? Part of it is a principled anti-Carsen-Wet stance. And that's fair. Definitely it.

I also, I look at the Chargers, and I just, I don't believe that they're this awful football team now. You know, like they started much better than this. They've been dealing with injuries. Their offensive line has been a mess. There's no disputing it. Herbert's been running for his life. But I just, this feels like a Harbaugh, Herbert, you know, you've got to, if you're

going to get it, you're getting it back into the season, this is the game you've got to get, short week at home. There you go, it feels like you've got to find a way to win this game tonight. That's a gut instinct analysis. I get it because everything you're supplying says on paper the Vikings are the play, especially getting points. But I just, I look at it more as like the way the games played and the way the world spins.

I just uncovered some tremendous improvisation. Let's hear this one. Let's hear. Okay, go ahead. I think, I think we got aside with your chargers tonight, Hayes, because I'm looking at what happened the last time Justin Herbert played Brian Flores and this Minnesota defense. Look, we know that Flores is the most.

aggressive DC in the game. The highest blitz rate in the NFL. Justin Herbert this year has the fourth best passing rating against the blitz. And last time these two teams faced off against each other, Brian Flores' defense got torched by Justin Herbert for 445 yards. This guy is a dog against the blitz. So if they're going to try and send everything after Justin Herbert, I mean, he's shown before that he could pick them apart. I just uncovered this information. Noodles, noodles. I love it. I'll ask you something, man.

Is there anything worse than a yes, man? You know, this is why Al's brother is around here. He comes in here, he gives his idea. He's like, I'm not sure I like it. Now all of a sudden. Find some other information. Yeah, I got new information. What a yes, man.

He's finding information. What a shell. He's got the x-ray glasses on, man. He's seeing things when you don't see. Shooting from the hip and then Hayes shot him down. Now he's on board, though. That's what it is. It's a tough game.

In reality, it's a tough. It is. It's a really tough game. And it sounds like the Vikings might be without both their starting tackles, too, which is tough. Like, no Neal and no Derrissau. What's the moon reading tonight? It might be tough for Carson Wentz. What's your feeling on the moon?

Go with your original one, guys. What does the moon say else, brother? That's going to determine the pick. We're in a waxing crescent, boys. A waxing crescent. I just want to let parts. I got to talk you, man. We'll never be.

These guys are up three and we've got this much of a pretzel. We're taking the chargers tonight. We're taking the chargers. We're on the Chargers. Wow, look at his always so disappointed. You can tell he's so sad. Madison Beer is going to be in the house tonight. I was brother.

They never lose when Madison's there. They never lose when Madison beers in the house. He's got to put up a good game, just like in high school, right? You always had your best game when the pretty girl was sitting in the stands and looking over a couple gunshots. It's going to be real exciting. That's right. Real exciting. When the Chargers are down two and they get the ball of a minute, 45 and kick the last second field goal to win by one.

Wow, I'm going to love that. I'm going to love that. This is a fork in the road in the season. I can feel it right now. All right. Dugie, Patel, you tried your best, but it's not going to work. Right out, brother? You and I, nothing can take us down.

Nothing can take us down. Absolutely not. We're on the chargers, boys. We're on the chargers. Lock it in. We love it. We love it. We love it.

We love it. We love it. All right, boys. We'll catch on the group chat tonight. Have yourselves a great evening. I can't wait. There it is. Luke Wilson and Al's brother.

It's always uncomfortable when Al's brother and I don't see eye to eye or, you can tell right away. When he was leaning, you were like, no, that's not happening. Again, this is one I feel like this is where you get caught up in the paper. You start looking at the stats. You start looking at this, that, and the other. Sometimes you got to phase out a little bit and say, do you think the Chargers are really going to lose this game?

Can they? Of course they can. It's football. sports it's the chargers but a short week at home you've lost three or four like harbaugh is going to be going nuts and they got to have a game that defense has got to show up tonight and i think against carson wence they find a way to make him look uncomfortable so tough game no question tough game if this if the vikings roll tonight als brother is going to be insufferable tomorrow but yeah he will be he'll be allowed to i i i did the overrule man we haven't had an

overrule all year. There has not been an overrule all season. I think you had to do it, man. You described it perfectly. That is the play. There's no other way around it. We'll see. All right, I got my mood meter of the seven Canadian coaches. Who's at the top? Who's the happiest?

And who is the most bitter right now? Just a bitter, bitter individual. One through seven. All right, we'll break it down. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. All right, best bets coming up later in the hour. We'll get to our mood meter here in a moment. We've got a bunch of games in the NHL, the NBA.

We've got the NFL tonight. We got Game 1 of the World Series tomorrow. The Dodgers are in town, media day today. A lot of reports about how Bo looks, and maybe he's testing himself out at second base. Shortstop, taking ground balls, one of the bases. We'll find out. Somebody said they thought he looked pretty good. I didn't see that.

I didn't see a guy that can play in the big leagues. It's going to be the ultimate question. amazing how this is hanging over the world series like it speaks to the magnitude of bichette who he is what he represents how long he's been here how popular he is yeah that we're not even talking about you know what the rest of the lineups do vladdie's just been left alone for like three days which is great i think that's great if you're vladdie if you're bo bachette it's obviously a different story because you're trying to get back into the lineup but if you're springer just sit in the weeds man right

If you're Gosman, you savage, it may actually be a positive distraction for the team. But everyone buzz about Bo. And you just kind of prepare for the World Series. Exactly. Just worry what you need to control. And that's, you know, when does the roster and that have to go in by? Is that tomorrow morning? I believe tomorrow morning it'll be announced.

Yes. So that'll be big news if Bo's sitting there. You better believe it. You better believe it. We will find out, yeah, 10 a.m. tomorrow. That's something you might want to circle. We'll find out. Even what they do with the staff, right?

Like, what role does Chris Bassett play in the next round? Is Brendan Little going to be on the World Series roster? I think we're going to see B-Lit. I think B-Lit is going to be pitching in the World Series? I think so. You have a tough time pulling the trigger on that one at the dome. Well, I mean, isn't it time for redemption? It would be a great redemption story.

The guy comes in and has an ace of a relief type of thing. It would be a great story. A great story. Do you trust it? Well, Schneider trust it again? I don't know. He claims he trusted it in the moment. I'd have a hard time trusting it just after his postgame.

Not what he did on the field, but his postgame where he was just kind of devastated, man. He was like, I just couldn't do this and I couldn't find the zone. And he had a kind of tragic description of how it went down. That would be hard for me to trust after that. Yeah, you'd have to consider that. Forget the stuff. Forget the matchup. think about the psychology of the player exactly like where's this headache going into this

all right speaking of the psychology of someone seven Canadian head coaches in the NHL right as we know and we've done our mood meter list many times in the past a ranking that we are very fond of and it moves and shakes every week it changes every single week there's a little adjustment it's very fluid all right I have my one through seven how do you want me to start. I'm going to start at the bottom and make my way up. No, I think the easy one's at the top, right? So you probably should start there. Okay, I'll start at number one. We all know who it is. Martin Saint-Louis, Marty St. Louis, the head coach of the Habs. This is a dream start from Montreal. They make the playoffs last

year by the skin of their teeth. They just get in. Now, they earned it. It's not like they were well in and then fell apart. They did the opposite. They were chasing all year. They were awful in October and November. Terrible in October and November last year. They completely reversed the way they defend. They got some goaltending. They obviously got some help in terms of Demit off by the end of the

year. Hudson was phenomenal. They're a really fun team to watch play. Everybody's talking about them in a positive light. Oh, they're the most exciting team in the NHL. They're this demigod shirts are being sold. It's just it's all positive.

Dobish is getting some starts. They're firing it up with no lights on out in Calgary. It's all going well for the habs. And the only thing that they're trying to do is find a spot with line A. Like, you know, if he comes back, like, he might be on the fourth line. Like, that's the crazy thing they've got. But that's the point. There's no negative storylines there.

They're just, you know, question marks type of thing. But there's, yeah, nothing negative. Everything's breaking their way. Lane Hudson's doubling down. Wasn't a one-off. Not that you expected it would be. Right. He's unreal.

He looks great. So Marty St. Louis in the Haps at number one. Number two, Scott R. Neal head coach, the Winnipeg Jets. Right? Jets are doing not quite what they did last year. They won 15 in a row to start their season, I believe it was. But they look very good. Yeah, they're five and one.

Yeah, they've only played six games. They're five and one. Exactly. You know, Shiafrey looks great. Yeah, exactly. They lost their first. And Hala Buck is picked up right where he left off, the regular season, not in the playoffs,

but he loves the regular season. There's nothing to see here for the Jets. It's like we're doing our thing. Don't look over here. We'll just see you in the playoffs and then you can maybe have something to say. Exactly. Just business as usual. Jonathan Tave scored his first goal the other night.

Everyone's fired up. Everything's great. So you could jockey the two, but I think because the halves were not at the same level as Winnipeg last year, you got to go St. Louis I won, Arneal, too. This is where it starts to become a debate. Dude, I don't even know. How you decided who was four. Yeah, I don't know where you're going.

I have Adam Foote at three of Vancouver. I have him there, but you look at it, they are not getting offensive production from really anyone. What puts him at three is Demko has been unreal. Yes. And if he's healthy, that makes every coach happy. Show me a good goalie. I'll show you a good coach. Showing me a good goalie, you get a team with a chance to win.

Yes. and that is what has happened here. He's got like a 9-22, say, percentage. He looks good, looks healthy. They're winning when he's in net. Like at some point, Patterson's got to get going. I don't know if he will. Bessor's got to get going.

You know, there's a number of different. Even Quinn Hughes isn't off to like a statistical start like you might expect. It's been fine, but not outrageous. Not the usual. But you know, you're right, though. Being four and three, they had a five-game road trip. Like, that's tough to do. You know, so like they, you know, I, I, I, I,

I agree with them at three because I don't know where the expectations were coming in the season as well, too, right? So you've got to be happy with what's been going on there for the most part. For the most part. Winning record, road trip, Demko Healthy, foot at three. Here's where it gets, greasy. This is where it's a battle royale. Because at four, you're thinking, I'm kind of happy, man. I'm kind of in a good mood about everything.

but in reality, I don't know if there's a guy out there that is. So someone's at four because someone has to be at four. Right. That's how I would describe this. Someone has to be at four. I have Chris Knoblock at four. Yeah, that's the right choice. I was going to say because he knows his team hasn't played.

They've done this the last two years in a row. They've been in the cup final. They've played a lot of hockey. There's been turnover, distraction. He's also, he knows McDavid's going to be here for three years. So that's got to be kind of affecting your mood meter. Like the guy signed, you know, so you know that's coming. They just came off an OT win.

Yeah, they just won their last game. And the road trip, same thing. They played two games at home. So I think, yeah, that was probably the solid pick. Okay, so knoblock at four. I have Barubei at five. I got Barouet at five because in similar fashion to the Oilers, the Leafs historically just have bad octobers.

like they just don't start strong for whatever reason he's dealing with injuries he's dealing with one goalie and another question mark right we don't know what's going to happen with wall we don't know what kate and primo is going to be for this team he's mixing up his top line they're three three and one they've had a very soft schedule almost all home games he's five because he has to be five

because the other two to me are clearly lower but you could make a case you could probably sway me on him being lower i was i was going to say you could make a case brian for him being seven yeah but the other two are battling ahead of him that's exactly how i kind of that's that's how i got here you know i'm looking at the other two and i'm like i can't like they're not brube's pissed but he's just a little bit happier than those guys because you know they're trying to they're trying to work through the process they're an older team, veteran team, you know, there's, there's a lot of reasons to be unhappy, but there's still three, three, and one. Ultimately, you know, sometimes the tiebreaker

actually has to be the record. Yeah. And they're three, three and one. I think it's an appropriate five spot. Okay, Baruba at five. I have Huska at six. So I've got green at seven? Yes. Holy smokes. And here's why. Here's why. Calgary wasn't a playoff team last year, and they know, I think they know what they are for the most part. I know it's been awful. I think it's in their best interest personally. I think they got to unload as much as they can. You got to be careful because you can't take it down to the wood. Go talk to Buffalo about that. Go talk to San Jose about that. It's a very delicate process. You can't tank and be horrendous. You can't. You may never get out of it. But they're not a good team. They can't score. They got some

bad contracts there or contracts that aren't great. And I just, I know he's the only one once. I know they haven't scored. I get it. I just feel like Huska has more of an understanding where Ottawa, they finally shut people up last year. Finally. They've been saying for years. Rebuilds over. Rebuilds over. We're a playoff team. They did it. They made it. They dropped the mic. They said, shut up. We're a playoff team. Don't ask us anymore. There is some misfortune there with the Sends. Obviously, their captain goes down, but still it ain't good enough. Well, that still adds to the happiness meter. That adds to being bitter. and being disappointed because it chucks out for another six or seven weeks.

And, you know, the penalty kill hasn't been good. Defensively, it hasn't been great. Pinto's off through a great start. But, you know, that's more based on A, the record. It's not a good record, clearly. But they had to prove it again the next year. And remember what their Achilles here was in past years. It was a slow start would kill them.

They'd have a brutal start, and then they couldn't get back on the horse. They couldn't catch up enough. Now, they're lucky this year because we've talked about the division. It's not everyone's off to a bad start. Right. You know, Montreal notwithstanding. That might help them. That might help them.

It might in the end. But, yeah, I got green in Ottawa at seven because of the expectations. That's why. They finally shut people up last year. And now Brady's out and they're off to a bad start. And I think, you know, people are going to look at them and say, well, what are you doing? Montreal is proving it. Montreal made it just like you did last year.

They're not off to the start you're off to. I got green at seven. I think expectations, fair. Plus, you make a good point on being pissed that you don't have your captain. I thought about that the other day. Like, Yossi, he's not a dirty player, but it was a push that end up snapping his stuff. You imagine if he did that to McDavid, to Austin Matthews, you name it, to somebody else. It would be summits in hockey.

Yeah, it was a gray area of play for sure, man. Like, it was a greasy little push. You know what? You can't have excuses. You've got to go play. I thought they played well against Edmonton. One of those teams were going to win last game. They got a point.

But tonight's, I think, big for them. They got Philly. Philly's better than people, I think, better than people expect. I don't know. Where did you expect Philly this year? I thought bottom five in the league. Yeah, they got to get a win tonight. I think there's just no way around it.

Yeah, there are, I wouldn't say must win seven games into the season, and eight games in the season, but there are ones that can help the mood of everybody. But the only reason I thought Huska is just Calgary had 96 points last year. You're right. Different situation. But, you know, Hubert O missed the first five games. But Huska, I think, has shown he's been pissed a few times, too.

So you're right. Yeah, he was last night. Green at seven. Green at seven. Like, in Calgary, is there any major subtractions that I'm missing that? No, they just had, the only thing I would say, is they had guys who had great seasons last year. Cadre had a great season.

Coleman had a great season. Hubert was really good for them, and he missed the first, I think, of six games. But outside of that, that's pretty much the same team, I believe. There's a few young guys they're pushing through. But at the end of the day, the goalie was brilliant. If the goalie's only average, then that team might have been an 85-point team last year, but they ended up 96.

I thought, honestly, I don't know if you're watching any of that game last night. the goalie was is unbelievable i didn't Montreal had three or four breakways like just breakways he was good and he kept them in it and i kept thinking to myself like if he just is average last night they just they lose like four one like it's just not even

you know close so and you could see why he was pissed afterwards but i you know i i don't like these comments by goalies goalies are making comments man can't produce these guys are getting their contracts and they are Happy to talk, man. I don't like that because those are the guys that are blocking shots for you in front, bailing you out. Yes, they're the ones that. I know the noodles, when you just continue to have good games and you can't, like, get two or three, you're like, come on.

Listen, I put in the group chat, like, you've got to look at context of the comment, but he did say it. But there was, you know, I watch it, it was a six-minute interview. He was like, listen, we're trying, you know, we're battling to score goals. He said, we had chances at the other end. and he said all the right things, but then there was that comment where he's like, I can't go score goals, sorry. I was like, oh, like, it's just a tough comment.

That's what a coach would say. You know, I can't go out there and do it for them. Yeah. Neither can you're goalie. Well, yeah. And it just, you're right. Like, those are the ones that you just, you almost like see the words you just want to pull them back in, right?

Because you're like, and he's a fantastic goaltender. But you're right. Like six and seven you can see and make a case for it. Totally. And listen, Barouba, if he was at seven in this market that's what everyone thinks he should be right like they everyone here thinks they should he should be seven and i get it and i would it's hard to argue against it my thing with auto was they're two four and one could chucks out and i really think the

pressure needs to still be there for them to keep proving you know they're over the hump you can't the the step back after you finally make it is awful is just so challenging for a fan base man you can't have that you can't have it you got to get back in man you got it like you have to and it's a long season again this list could be totally different a week from now it likely will be but that's that's where i stand that's where it's a fair list it's a completely i don't disagree with anything noodles you had a total opportunity a brand new opportunity next week next Thursday to show we'll see i mean there's so many games like you know there's probably each team's going to play four games by the time we do this list next week a team could go four and oh a team could go

oh and four damn right like that's the thing that that you look at it and you know marty saint louis montreal's had a really nice start what if they stub their toe you know what if it's they're out west now like they're it's road trips sometimes do stuff to teams whether it's good or bad um you know the interesting one for me is adam foot there you kind of know all the other teams. Vancouver's really interesting for me. I'm just not sure what they are yet. I know they got their great goaltender and a great defenseman.

The goalie's been unbelievable. The defenseman's just been okay, but he's brilliant. He's one of the best defensemen in the world. Top ten. I like Marty's hair in that pick. It's Jet Black. He must love that. Now it's not.

He loves doing his workouts, too, man. He works out every, running the stairs at the ranks. You see the size of his legs? Yeah, it's still massive. Quadzillas. Massive. quads like and his calves i was walking behind him we did a game i was walking behind they look like like bowling balls stuck into his leg like he his calves are enormous like he's in

phenomenal shape get that guy behind home plate for the world series there's two of them legs in the there was another guy there i know there's two of them they're both massive i don't know if they'll be there behind the world series for the for the world series man these tickets are like 70 grand for four tickets yeah you know people are people are paying for them but all right best bets coming up and again Thursday night or tonight we got NBA games tonight shout out to the raptors they look great last night they really did they look great they played really well really good first impression best bets coming up overdrive continues tsn 1050 and on TSN 1050 and on TSN 4 all right best bets powered by Fandul make your picks and assemble

the same game parley on seconds on the Fanduel sports book yeah looking at the Thursday night or tonight we've already announced the pick else brother and I did not necessarily see eye to eye but That is healthy, right? That's the way the greatest teams to ever exist, always operated, and that's precisely what happens tonight. Lay in the points, charges minus three. Herbert over one and a half passing touchdowns over in his passing yards prop. I got Herbert going off tonight.

I got the Chargers winning tonight. There's your same game parlay. Powered by Fandwell. Same game parlay is now available for every NFL game on the Fandau Sportsbook Gap. Please play responsibly, 19 plus. Physically located in Ontario. All right. going to be happening tonight and tomorrow what could we possibly see happening in the sports

world i think we're going to have more people's names coming out in the gambling situation you're seeing again like big names like i'm i'm worried there's some big names in there there's one name that keeps floating about who was close you're seeing some floaters you're catching up on some floaters yeah okay um well we'll see we'll see what comes out of that you know all the games tonight tomorrow doesn't really matter what else what's happening in the rest of the sports world. The Blue Jays are playing a World Series game down at the dome tomorrow. It'd be interesting to see how the kid you savage kind of holds up under those circumstances.

Not kind of undermining how big the other ones were, but the World Series game one, the 22-year-olds wheeling out there against Otani and Company, who's been them and his teammates have been bashing everybody around. Isn't that his seventh start, too, in the... In the majors. Totally. In the major league. But they're banking on the Dodgers have never seen them.

Just like the Yankees had never seen them. Yeah. And, you know, the first guy he's going to see, game one of the World Series at home, Shohei Otani is going to be waited for. Just give him a four-piece. Four fingers up and... You want to walk him immediately?

Dude, I was sick of seeing that other dude, Raleigh. Like, what did he have five bombs against the J's? He had at least three. Dude, it was more than three, man. Yeah, you had one game one and game seven, so. I just got sick of seeing it. It's like, why throw them anything, man? Down in the dirt or take a lap, go to first.

I guess so. But then it's Freddie Freeman coming up, and Mookie Betts is coming up. It doesn't get much easier. Yeah, that's true. Doesn't get much easier. Go right at him. Go out of, challenge him. That's what I want to see.

Savage, go right at him. If he can hit it, he can name it. Bow tie. I want a bow tie and push over. I don't know if I can pull. I can't pull it off down at the dome. I don't know if I can do it for SportsCenter. I was talking a big game.

For Overdrive on Monday. Overdrive on Monday. I'll wear a bowtie. I will wear a bowtie. I know you don't have one, so you'll have to get one. I'll find a bowtie. I'll wear a bowtie. Hazenthal.

Brian Hazenthal. I love it. All right, boys. Good stuff. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out. We appreciate it. Everyone for tuning in today, TV, Radio, podcast, web, and of course, up on YouTube live, on TSN's YouTube channel.

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