OverDrive - OverDrive - October 3, 2025 - Hour 1 - Mike Johnson

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Blue Jays and Yankees set to clash in the ALDS, Kevin Gausman getting the Game 1, the team's battle in the series, the Maple Leafs' preseason performance against the Red Wings, Scott Laughton's injury timeline and David Kampf being placed on waivers for the team. TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joins to discuss the protection around Anthony Stolarz, the Maple Leafs' roster depth and NHL Futures Day picks.

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Conditions apply. Visit a Virgin Plus store or virginplus.cae for details. This hour of overdrive is powered by Fandul. Fan Duel, 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. Brian Hayes, your dog, Jeff O'Neill, Jamie Noodles, McClennan. What's going on?

What's going on? How are we doing? I'm begging you guys can hear me right now. Can you hear me right now? I am begging We can hear you But it sounds like you're in a closet I don't know where you are

But it sounds okay It doesn't sound great But it sounds okay Everything okay over there What's going on? We're having technical difficulty You have no idea of the panic You have no idea of the panic

That I went into Obviously It's not actually funny This machine decided That the earphones And it wouldn't start and then I had to call Doogie, and then I'm on the phone with Joe from the bridge. And you wouldn't imagine the sweat that started pouring down my forehead

because this needed to happen, and it's a bad scene. And this is what we came up with. It was fully panic for the last 40 minutes. Okay. J.P., Doogie, everybody, just a full panic mode. Well, we made it, and we're good, and it's all good. And listen, it's a beautiful Friday. it's a beautiful Friday man maybe a nice day of the year I feel like I've said that a lot this summer because it's been a very nice summer but we know it's coming now right we got the Yankees in town they're flying in the New York media right all of Major League Baseball and I've always looked at the Jays and felt like they're kind of upper middle class in baseball right like they're they're not a major market they're not just because they're the Canadian team and they're not going to jive you know they're not going to be able to compete with the Yankees

and the Red Sox and the Dodgers, but they're also not, you know, at the other end with the Tampa's and the Oakland's and, you know, I don't need to run off names who are at the bottom of it, but I could if I had to. I always thought, okay, kind of middle, upper middle class, it is going to be on display with the Yankees here, in terms of how the media is going to respond, how I can already see it coming with Blue Jay fans thinking the fix is in, if there's bad calls going against them, you know, Major League Baseball, trying to. get the Yankees into the championship series this is going to be quite the experience well

i got a question for you though and both you weigh in so if you know it's an analogy and it's a leaf analogy because the Leafs are like a big conglomerate they're a big brand they travel they get noisy you know they travel well all of that fan base media so the Yankees are the leaps really in in baseball right loud media loud fans all of that type of stuff who are the Blue Jay's comparison in hockey then. I don't think it's like Ottawa. I think it's more, like, what would it be? I'd say it's like the

Flyers or something like that. You know, like a well-respected team been around a long time. They've won, flyers have won, they've been to Cup finals, and they've had a lot of legends play for their team. But the Flyers are not an original 6th team. You know, they get overshadowed by the leaves, the halves, the Rangers, the Bruins.

Detroit, Chicago, you know, that's kind of how I would see it. And now, it's different because the least are... I think the Flyers is the perfect answer. Yeah, go ahead. Flyers are the perfect pick, Hayes. But when you talk about Toronto being upper middle, you know that wouldn't you say all the players in the States, like, they love coming up to Toronto? Like, you know the New York Yankees.

They said it's going to be lit up there, and they're very excited to be here. Yeah, they are. And like your boy, Jazz Chisholm said that, and I think Judge was reiterating that, and Stanton, and listen, they got through the Red Sox. They were down game one. They lost game one. Crochet was great, and Chapman closed the door, and they survived game two. And last night, it was basically one inning. But it hasn't been, like, the Bronx bombers through three wildcard games.

It hasn't been them hitting home run after home run after home run. I'm kind of anticipating that showing up at some point. morning. But you're right, the Yankees are very familiar with Toronto. I mean, Judge has played up here as much as he's played anywhere else, like outside of Yankee Stadium. He's played here as much as he's played at Fenway, right? Or Camden Yards or whatever, this is all he knows is coming up to Toronto and playing in the division. And obviously it's the first time they're ever going to play in the playoffs. And it's going to be very different.

Like Seattle was cool and Minnesota was cool. This is the Yankees. Like the New York Yankees are rolling into town. You've got a chance to knock them out. And Gosman will pitch. game one. We still don't know who's going to pitch for the Yankees, but it's, I heard Steve Phillips on Matthew Cause, and I could not agree with him more. Game one is imperative. You've got to get game one if you're the Jays. You've got to set the tone. You've got to take advantage before Freed and Rodan and Schlittler get back on the mound. So Gosman going game

one, and let's see what comes of it, man. It's going to be a blast tomorrow afternoon. Dude, that's Schlittler. He's a dangerous human being, man. What he did last night and just the way he went about it and the way he's so calm and cool and he was wheeling off the mound like nothing was going on that's a dangerous human being pitching right now that was an incredible performance last night unbelievable 12 k's no walks to be that young and and to be from boston and grow up a redsock fan and understand the history and playing against you know your childhood team and at yankee stadium and a must-win game man that guy was unbelievable last night and we'll see him like if it goes to four we'll see schlittler again so it's

going to be great we can't wait for it and we've got davis schneider who's going to join us at 530 so we're looking forward to that davis would join us and he'll help us set the scene on on the yankee series we'll ask him you know how closely was he watching the wild card what's these what what has it been like playing these simulation games the last couple of days and we'll get into it with Davis at 530. We look forward to that. Johnny's coming up later in the hour. It is Futures Day on Fanduil for NHL picks.

We've got a bunch of them. We'll get to them. Johnny will help us get into that as well. And, man, at least we're doing their best to make sure Stolars is ready for the season last night. Like, that guy got peppered last night. Like, crazy. Almost 50 shots. I was trying to find, like, three or four guys that had, like, real solid performances.

And it started out, Austin Matthews, look, like he might have been cooking, scored early on the power play, and then you're like, we might really have something here. And then it just went downhill and stole ours. Just got absolutely smoked in the net with shots. And he even got bummed. I hate seeing him getting bumped like that. You talked about that.

He's, I think he sent out a tweet or something. Like, every time this guy gets bumped, it's going to turn into an ordeal. But, man, that was quite the performance. That was one where coaches usually don't have a bit of a snapshot in preseason, but that might be one where I was like, guys, that's our heater lineup and that's the performance we came up with because it was an onslaught by Detroit. Yeah, it was.

I chalked it up, guys. Again, it's exhibition. Guys are trying to get through without an injury. But I would have liked to see more. Like, Detroit just looked more interested. That's really what it was. And Detroit looked pretty quick. Like, that's the one thing I took away is Detroit were on pucks

and they were aggressive and the Leafs veterans just kind of were like, You know, I'm 50-50, you can take that. I'll defend kind of getting back to the net. But, you know, you take away that Stolars look sharp. I thought, you know, the power play looked good. But outside of that, there wasn't much to take away other than the fact that, well, there's one injury, right? Was it Lotton that? Scott Lotton, yeah, week to week.

And what's interesting is David Camp is on waivers today, which I figured. That is interesting. Yeah, when Lotton got hurt, I figured Camp would step right in. and maybe it's about trying to get them through waivers. I can't imagine. I'm sure they'd be happy for someone to claim them. But maybe it's about getting through and then they have the ability to bring them up and down

and they get through that dance when the rest of the league is doing it. Or it's just Craig Barubic refuses to play David Camp. We're a lot in his shirt, and he's going to be out for a while, and Barube still is not willing to accept David Camp as an option. Correct me if I'm wrong. Does Yarn Croke take draws? Like, who would be the other options down the middle of the ice here with an injury to Lotton, let's say, for a couple weeks, and David Kamp is not on your roster? Let's say he gets picked up or he's with the Marleys.

What is that fourth line center? Who are we looking at there? I'm not sure, because I don't think of Yarn Crook as a center. I don't think they want to put Cowan in that position this early in his career. He has played center in London, but I don't think they want to do that. I don't think of Lorenz as a centerman. they're not going to play Posetta, I don't think, in that position. I don't know.

I mean, it's a great question. I guess they're probably planning on camp clearing waivers, and then maybe they bring them back up and he plays. I mean, maybe that's what they feel is going to happen, but we'll find out by next week. But I think the Stolar stuff is very intriguing because of what happened against Florida. And it wasn't the same type of shot he took last night as the Bennett shot,

but not far off. You know, it wasn't far off, of an innocuous soap coming through sorry i got you type thing and this is going to be this is going to be a story i think all year for the leaves and they're going to have to address it because if joseph wall's not available then you're talking about a big drop off stole us is your number one he's going to be here for a long time he's got a history clearly it was really scary what happened to him against the panthers right something's got to give like you you you know if the book is out, hey, storm the crease and see if the Leafs have anything to say about it.

Like Detroit, I don't think of as this big, rowdy, tough team. Florida, when they roll through, that's coming. Like, Florida's going to crash the net and just say, you want to do something about it? Let's go. And this is where I don't know if the Leafs have the DNA to address that. I don't know because you look at the Florida Tampa game last night, like Florida is going to try to fight their way back into the playoffs, literally and figuratively. Dude, that was a never-ending brawl last night in Florida.

What the hell was going on down there? But those guys just would not stop. And every single shift, there was just an absolute brawl. That's going to be a war. I think they play each other again on Saturday night, too. Right. And that's it. And that's Tampa's chase in Florida, right?

Noodle's like in terms of that first round last year, Florida just kind of dusted them and pushed them around and said, see you later. Is there a bigger rivalry from a physicality standpoint right now in the NHL? I think, I genuinely believe those two organizations hate each other. Like, there's, there's a lot of vitriol. I get it, you know, Leaves, Ottawa, you know, Rangers, Islanders, Battle of Alberta. But I think those are two heater teams, heater organizations that hate each other. And every time, regardless of its exhibition, you know, regular season, there's going to be fights and dust-ups.

There is just no love loss there. and it didn't surprise me seeing that last night No, me neither And it was AJ Greer started it You know, he got fined I didn't think it was like crazy what he did to Hegel It was greasy for sure It was a greasy little play

But and Hegel's a kind of greasyy little player himself And I mean that as a compliment Like Hegel get in there and jab at you And he'll chirp and he'll do his thing And you know this really isn't that much What Greer did to him But still it led to Now craziness the rest of the game

and you're right, in terms of physicality, in terms of wars, in terms of really quality teams, these are the last two dynasties in the league. Between Tampa and Florida, that's six straight cup finals. Between the three of them, they've always been in the cup final. It was Tampa, then they pass the baton to Florida. And again, if you're the lease,

they're going to have to address that. Like, if it's going to get, and they're a big team. Like you mentioned at the pace of Detroit, like the Leafs are not a fast team. You can see that. They are not a fast team. So what do you have? They're big.

They're massive. There are some big, big boys on the leaves. And I think that is very beneficial come playoff time. But in the regular season, you're going to have some games where it's, you know, back to back and the other team's fresh and they're flying. And what are you going to do? How do you slow them down? How do you keep up?

A lot of that's going to be goaltending or your structure and playing defensively sound and possibly being intimidating. And I don't know if the Leafs have that ingredient. I don't think they're an intimidating team. Well, there's a mandate on both of those Florida teams, Hayes, where if there's going to be some goofy stuff going on, everybody is going to be getting involved. It's not like you can say, I don't feel like this line brawl right now.

That's not my thing. All those guys are involved, and it's a mandatory thing to play on both of those teams. If something goes down, there's history there, too, with the hits. because Eckblatt, he was just, they wanted to kill him last night, too. He got involved, like, it was craziness, but every single guy was taking part, and they didn't have a choice to do it. Yep, that's one of those rules, I'm certain of it, right? Eckblatt said it, that Palm Reese has got those rules,

and I'm sure one of them, I know one of them, I'd be willing to put the house on it, is if one guy's in, we're all in. Yeah, but, you know, coming back to the Leafs, Brian, like I look at it, you talked about their speed. like I think the biggest thing is you can you can move the puck fast if you've got skill and you can you can execute but where I saw just slightly last night and again I'm not judging on one night but their D are big but they're not super mobile they're just they're good skaters but they're not that's the one thing where I noticed Detroit was able to apply some pressure because the D were going back and taking hits and and you know if it gets turned over they're stuck in their own zone that was the biggest take away outside of mailing it in for a home last home game for them but you know they're going to have to get the puck moving and i think that's something that they'll address uh you know either just internally going hey guys let's be a little sharper let's move it but they looked a little bit big

and sluggish back there but not as as crisp i would like to see them because it's going to happen opening nights coming here soon yeah it is and listen it's a preseason game it's funny matthew said after the game well we're all healthy so it's all good and that was actually inaccurate because Lotton got hurt. So, you know, that kind of spoke to the mentality of the team that they were just trying to get through it. And they just, you know, they don't, no one really cares. Like, that's kind of what comes out of it.

It's been set out loud. It's been set out loud. Let's get through this one when nobody gets hurt. Yes. You would like the crowd performance with the heater lineup, but it just didn't happen. It didn't happen. It did not happen. And Detroit came into play and, you know, they looked good and stole our scott.

He got like two or three preseason games. games worth of work last night, so he'll be ready to go. So the least will play in Detroit on Saturday. Tomorrow, it's Yankees, J's at 408, then they play game 2, 408 on Sunday. I'm going down to both games, so I'm going to be down there, and I'm looking forward

to it. I've got to be dome open. I haven't heard definitively, but it's got to be dome open for both. And Gosman on the mount tomorrow, and they haven't announced who will start game 2. And I guess the playoff roster is going tomorrow morning. They're still playing coy with Bichette, day-to-day,

coming down to the wire. It's not happening. No, man. There was a video of him yesterday with this giant brace on from, like, his hip to his foot, and he was limping on the baseball field with a glove, like, tossing it to another guy. Yeah. That's not playing.

No. Not playing. He said he's got to have, like, he's got to be running at least in a straight line. He was limping in a brace. That means he can't play. Yeah, they've been doing the simulating stuff. They've been in the cage. They've been running the bases.

The media's down. there no one's seen him do anything he's not Bichette's not going to play but it starts tomorrow and we got to get into what happened last night what a win by the Niners full credit to them we have to address Matt Jones in his suit postgame

because the suit I've never seen anything like this move man and there's some great content. I've seen it it the different colors yes the two face Harvey two face dude like the guy's got a black and red two

piece, two-color suit, and it's an amazing look. It's one of a kind. And listen, Jones played pretty well. And the Niners picked up a win. Al's brother and I, Hazenbro, we're in our mid-season slump. It happens every single year. We get motivated from a slump, and we come out flying, and we intend on doing that just after 5 o'clock. So Mike Johnson coming up, Luke Wilson coming up, Davis Schneider coming up. We've got a bunch of NHL futures, courtesy of Fando. We'll get to that. Overdrives off and running. TSN 1050, and on TSN 4. Mail it in Friday is brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar.

Enjoy $15 lunch at BP, where you get an entree aside and a drink, and you'll get it all in 20 minutes or less. A fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch at your local Boston pizza. Mail it on Friday, brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP, where you get an entree aside and a drink, and you'll get it all in 20 minutes or less. So fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch at your lunch. local Boston pizzas will be rocking this weekend, man.

Rock it. We've got CFL action. We're coming down the stretch in the Canadian Football League. We'll have the NFL going, another London game, and it is a beauty. Browns Vikings over in London, just begging for the Brits to love the National Football League. It should be great. Carson Wentz, Dylan Gabriel. Imagine going to that game thinking this is great stuff?

No, thank you. Who wants to go to that game? Why would they even bother with that card going over there? It's embarrassing. I know. That's what they do in the NFL. There's certain teams that are cool with going over. Jacksonville's over there all the time.

In Cleveland, Minnie's over there a fair amount. It feels like it anyway. And it's a big market. Like you're trying to get in there possibly and maybe grow your brand a little bit. But if you play terribly, I'm not sure it does it. You said you were heading down to the games. hazy is those work trips or those you're not trying to break up the dynamic duo are you

who's the dynamic duo hedge and keegan is that what you're talking about yes don't even think about getting in there man i might be joining i might be on the field i might be on the field do you not want me to go down i'll run that up the i can run that up the shoot if you break up that duo man that is such a joke because we've been hearing little sound bites from you with your little cameos on some other things and if you go down there and break up that duo that is something else man here's another thing there was uh there was like a scene when you would go to leaf games right they weren't winning and people were getting upset and all that you show your face in that i never thought about that you show your face at rogers center and they lose people are

going to be choked well i am a little bit concerned about that and yes i'm going to i'm not breaking anything up, right? Everyone's going to still be down there and having a great time. I'm just, I'm going down. I'm going to the game. I'm going to be in a suit. I'll be around. I'll be on the field afterwards. And I'm more concerned about wearing the suit. It's going to be 28 degrees.

And, like, it's different. We go to a Leaf Playoff game in April. It's like 12 degrees. 15 degrees. I can do a suit walking in there. I get no problem. I'm concerned to the opposite, how hot it's going to be down there. But Dude, a suit in that heat, man

Depending on where you're situated, you better be somewhere cool because you won't be able to go on TV after you'll be melting. I know. You'll be melting. I'll ask Keegan for help. But Keegan and Hedge are still going to be there

doing their thing. I'm just going to be in there somewhat in some sort of a contributing way. I don't know exactly what I'm doing yet. I know how it's going to go already. Jen and Keegan are going to be talking and then after he answers the first question, question, it's just going to pan wider, and then you're going to be standing beside

Higgan looking to steal some action. I know that that's going to be the move for you. It's possible. I'm not producing the whole thing. I don't know what's going to happen yet. I think I need – I need some royalties from this prime, man, because noodles, you were showing – you were sending us clips today, the season two of whatever it's called, the NHL show, and the Leafs and the Leafs and the playoffs and a big part of the Leafs journey.

and their show is the Panthers. And I look like, I look and sound like a buffoon. They're basically using me to basically get them through the story, like the ebbs and flows of the story, where after game two, the Leafs are up to, you know, 2-0 in the series, and I'm just pointing out the obvious. Leaves look great. They're in the driver's seat.

Wow, this is amazing. And then after game six, after game five, I'm like, oh, whatever, I don't know, I guess, you know, maybe they can push it to game seven and then see what. happens you are you're everywhere the only thing i can hope for is that you get hit with gatorade if you're going to get like that means they've won and somehow somebody vladdie comes up behind you and just dushed you with blue gatorade it would be unbelievable i don't anticipate that happening i don't think it's going to happen uh all right here's uh mike johnson or tsn hockey

analyst what's happening johnny i think that could be a career for you easy you can be like a narrator for documentaries you're just like narrating the leaf's journey and that could be a nice little new side gig to go along with your baseball analysis and your hockey analysis and everything else you do i like that idea because uh what's the guy's name live schreiber or schreiber or something yeah yeah yeah he's been the voice all that guy's making a fortune like a absolute fortune he does the montreal craved one or two i think yeah he does all rebuild one on crave i think you might be narrating that one too so why not i why not man you know who i met over the summer was the voice of

EA sports. Like, the guy who does the... It's in the game? Yes. Yes. Really cool guy. Where did you meet that guy? He's a Canadian guy. He's a Canadian. He lived in L.A. forever, but I guess he's from Toronto, and he's got himself a setup, dude, because he has it, I think, in his deal where they have to continue to use them.

Like, it can't be a scenario where, hey, we had to say E.A. Sports 30 years ago, and we're just going to keep... No, I got to come back in the booth, and I'm going to keep doing it. And that guy just continues to get residuals and royalties and repaid and what a life man being the voice of EA sports that's in my future. Does he talk like that in real life? No not really but he can put it on. I think he gets bothered a lot for people to be like hey you're the EA sports guy you got kind of give me an example of it. He's probably happy to do it. He's a millionaire. He's happy. He's

fine. He's living a great life. Bruce Buffer. Bruce Buffer is another one. There you go. Bruce Buffer. This guy, let's get ready to run. Humble, made that guy $100 million. Crazy how much money he's made. All right, Johnny. So we're talking about that Leaf game last night. The protection of Stolars. Is this a story for you?

Do you think it will be a story all year? Where do you stand on that? I mean, protection of him physically. A guy don't let guys get around him. Yes. I don't think it's any more a story for the Leaf than it would be for any other team. I think every team, you know, this will say, right? You're trying to protect your goalie from traffic, from rebounds, from contact.

And I understand their heightened sensitivity, given the way his season last year ended, where he's bumped into and he was hurt. But he's also 6.6 and 240 pounds. Like, he's not a little guy in there. And the Leafs have to do a good job in front of their own net to stop goals and to stop people from touching at these goals. I don't think it's a hot button issue for the Leafs, like, oh, God, we've got a fragile goal. we've got to protect them, or our goalie is so great, we got to protect him. I think they just want to do it the same way everyone else does. But I was actually down at the game last night, just doing a little bit of work.

And hearing Craig Barubei talk after the game, the one way, he talked about the sort of puck decisions and puck movement and just pace of play. And it was the pace of play that stood out to me because I know it's preseason, and I know it doesn't matter. And I know they have a veteran team that's got to be really good. but that was the starting 18 skaters every single one of them that's the starting 18 and they played slow

and that we sort of touched around this topic with this team and yes they're bigger and they're more rugged but I think they might be slower because they're slower of foot and they're slower of mind and puck movement without you know martyr or whatever

that's a concern for me and I'm going to be sure to see how that goes when the game starts for real if they can play faster, not physically escape faster, but just play faster because they played slow last night and it wasn't great. Well, if you see it again, Johnny, then what the how are you going to do? If you think that that's your starting rotation and your team that's going to start the season

and then all of a sudden you realize it's slow, like, what are you going to do? It's kind of problematic, isn't it? It might be a one-off. They might have went out there and said, I'm not really into this, but what are you going to do? I mean, you just said it, it's problematic. It's very problematic, and I think what you would have to do is remember and try to cater your game to sort of straight-line board play, right? Where you're not having to go up and down rushes and zone entry.

There's more sort of chip it forward, get in there banging around, and maybe play a little bit more of a grindy kind of game. But I think it's tricky because the NHL, especially in the regular season, especially in the regular season, it's just getting faster. And if the game's getting faster, but you're getting a bit slower, that's sort of headed in the wrong direction. So I just, yeah, it would be a problem, but they would have to kind of continue to work to work around if they can't, you're not going to change the personnel, so they have to change the way to play and use it.

So, Johnny, first and foremost, I heard it's the first anniversary of your 50th birthday. So 51 today, your old boat. Nice, happy birthday, Johnny. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it to let everyone know just how old I am, noodles. Yeah, after 50, it doesn't even matter what birthday it is. Like, there's no real big ones anymore, so you get to be 100. So, yeah, it's just another birthday.

Yeah, I mean, I had two people reach out to make sure that I set it on air. So there you go. You can thank Sam Ciceroa and Garrett Gansford for you. But, you know, quickly, in watching that game last night, and then you look at David Camp on waivers and the injury to Lott, and what do you make, like, who do you think can play that fourth line center in their interim, if either Camp gets picked up or they decide to put him with the Marleys?

I mean, Max, I mean, Max is not going to go down there, but Max has played in the middle a little bit. You know, could tell the Yarnbroke, he has taken some face-off. He's a veteran guy. If you're going to sort of play position with hockey, the primary uniquely sentiment responsibility is face-off and the play right after a face-off. and yardbroke might be just experienced enough to do that. But, yeah, Islam is not good to go and Camp gets claimed.

Although I don't know necessarily if Camp will get claimed because it seems like they probably try to trade them throughout the summer to shed the salary. And if no one takes them then, I don't know if it takes them now unless there's another injury around league somewhere else, but I guess it would be yardbroke. Would be the guy to step in there and have to go or you'd be sort of doing a makeshift.

but not ideal because Scott Lawton's supposed to be more than just, you know, air quotes, fourth-line center, but, you know, most teams got to be able to withstand around the league, some of the injuries going along right now. If you've got to shuffle a fourth-line center position, that shouldn't be a massive problem in the short term. Johnny, what do you think it means for Easton Cowan? Like, they kind of had some chemistry with Lorenz and Lawton, and they were all talking on the bench and doing this and that and doing well.

What do you think it means for Cowan? And what do you think he needs as far as playing in the NHL if he does on a regular shift? Because he had some plays last night. He got rocked a couple times. He had a little silly back pass. What do you think it means for him? Yeah, you're probably right, oh, especially if he's going to play in that kind of role where he's further down the lineup, which is where it looks like he's going to start,

it would be really comforting for a young player, a rookie, to have a couple veterans that he has some rapport with that he feels are looking out for him, that are they're sort of in it together as opposed to he's on this sort of journey in the lineup on his own and if he loses that he loses probably some of his comfort zone and maybe some

of the insulation he gets on the ice and Scott Lotton's a good defensive player and Lorenz is a good defensive player then when he has some of those moments where he turns it over or makes a bad decision or your favorite all that little backhand path in his own end which was ill advised

then they're there to help clean up some of the messes he makes. And so that would be, that would be preferable, but it's not there, it's not there. And again, if you're Ethan Cowan, you know, you're a high, high-end player. You're going to play in the NHL for 15 years.

Like, you've got to be able to be good enough to play a fourth-line winger position with a multitude of options in the middle on the other side and still be as effective as you can be. So not ideal, but it shouldn't be backbreaking to him and his ability to play in the NFL. this year to start a season.

With Mike Johnson, our TSN hockey analysts, so it got a little bit crazy last night, Tampa, Florida. And those two teams, they do not like each other. They meet in the playoffs a lot, and Florida's beating them up a lot. You know, Tampa last year, I think a lot of people thought, you know, could get back to where they were a few years ago, where they were the cream of the crop, and Florida just dummied them in the first round. they didn't make a ton of moves in the offseason. I'm curious, where you stand on Tampa, where you stand on Florida.

I know a lot of fans up here, Toronto fans, Ottawa, Montreal fans, trying to figure that out. Like not overly concerned about Detroit or Buffalo, but it's the two teams in Florida, and where do you stand on those two teams going into the season? So, you're right. I thought Tampa was going to win last year in the playoffs. I was very wrong.

but if you ask me who I have winning the Atlantic this year I have Tampa again and it's not that I think they're so great but I think they're probably have gotten the least worse from last year like I think Florida obviously injuries age could shock bark off there they're worse than last year in the regular season I think Toronto until their departures they're probably a little bit worse off in the regular season as well and Tampa stayed as you said basically the same and the reason I like Tampa in the regular season is because they can score And when you can score, it makes playing in the regular season a lot more sustainable.

You can win games 5-4. You can score your way out of some tough moments or where you're maybe not quite on top of your game. Whereas if you don't score as much, and I'm not sure the least you're going to score as much, then you don't get the 5-4 game. You have to weigh everything 3-2. And that's harder to do as consistently in the regular season. So I think TEPA will be good. That game last night, that was really chippy.

And that was chippy in a little bit of a different way than, let's say, the Montreal Ottawa won. In the game in Florida and Tampa, there was a lot of starting players in it. Like Kucharov was playing in Reinhardt. And the best players were playing, and it was those guys involved in it all. But I think when you're Florida,

and you are the schoolyard bully, people are going to keep challenging you in that way. Like across the league, everyone's like, We want to stand up to Florida. We're going to stand up to Florida, push them back, push them back. And Florida, who does not care, they're happy to playing games like that. They probably will play in more games with that sort of energy than anybody else because people are trying to answer the bell and the challenge that they've presented the last few years.

So maybe not surprising, but Florida, they don't care about it, right? They just don't play that way day and day out. They're more comfortable in the alley than you are, and they love going down there. If you go down there with them, then they are intent to be their. with you right yeah it's going to be interesting to see you know how that how that goes because it's a different world it's a different game than it was a long time ago but it does have a broad street bully vibe to it to an extent modern era yeah modern era you know they're tougher than you they're they can they can meet you with talent they got a great goalie and yeah like like the old

sand goes like they'll meet you in the alley on the ice whatever it is and who's going to take them down and do they feel like do you have to take them down in the same fashion do you outskill them you know like back in the 70s it was the haves right the haves came in with all that skill but ever i've heard i'm sure you guys heard the same story larry robinson beat the hell out of someone and it was like oh oh watch out like the habs can fight too and next thing you know they win all those cups and around montreal that fight from robinson and even around the nchel history books and we're all maybe even on my birthday a little bit too young to know that but

But apparently, yeah, he fought whoever, one of the tough guys on Philadelphia, and it changed the entire trajectory of the league where it went, okay, you can't just fight and fugilist your way to championships. Montreal, Curseillaire Robinson is going to stand up to you and then outskilled them. And that's basically what Tampa was sort of doing last night. They made nice plays and they scored five and they won the game, but then they also pushed back. And that is a, you know, it's a uniquely hockey spirit where if you get challenged physically,

your instinct is always to fight back. And not just, you don't want to just win the game, especially in the regular season. You want to win the at least physical confrontation or the respect that you are willing to engage in it. And that's what Florida does. They just challenge you to say, okay, we're going to test you. And if you push back, well, good for you.

But if you don't, then you're not going to have a very good chance of winning. So that's, you know, every team around the league is going to be doing that in the regular season and then even more so in the playoffs. So Tampa on Fandau right now, Pam, plus 195 to win the division. Again, it's Futures Day on Fandau on the Fandau Sportsbook gap. Tampa plus 195 to win the Atlantic, Toronto plus 290, Florida plus 330. Then there's a bit of a drop-off.

Ottawa at 7 to 1, halves at 12-1. There's some value there for Ottawa and the haves if you think they can jump all those teams. But you just said you got Tampa. Do you have any other division winners you like, anyone else that sticks out? in terms of point props or goal props or whatever you can supply for a futures day on Fanduil today. All right. I mean, it took a little peek at it, and we got some of the stuff coming up in our season preview. But I think Carolina is a good bet.

I think they are plus, I don't know, what are they, plus 800 to win the President's trophy. And Carolina, they churn out good year, you know, our regular seasons. Ron Brindamore, they got Nick Eilers. they're going to be really good, really good again. And I don't love the Metro Division. So they're going to play a bulk of games against teams that aren't quite as good. So I think that's probably pretty good value as opposed to taking like a Dallas or an Edmonton or a team like that or in Vegas that might have a tougher run to go there.

So I like that one. And I also like guys, I checked the Austin Matthews futures for goals total. Was his 46 and a half, 44 and a half? I'm taking the over. I think he's basically never scored less than that rate if he plays every game. The thing that will stop him from scoring 47 goals is not him, it's his health. So long as he stays healthy, then I think he's going to get 47 goals. So I think that one is, you know, it's basically the money, whatever, minus 110.

But I think that one is a pretty good bet as well. And the other one, guys, and took a look at this one, Hazy, the holder where Demadoff is a massive favorite to win the Calder. Like massive. And there's a guy in St. Louis named Jimmy Snuggarood. Great name. Dad used to play for the Buffalo Sabers.

He's playing on the first line with Robert Tumps and getting power play time. If you play on the first line on that team with those players, if it doesn't go great for Devadoff, is it out of the question that Snuggarood puts up, you know, 25, 60 or something like that, which might be enough to get him right in the running if it doesn't go great. any plus 1100,

that's good value to me because I get the Demadoff's the most talented guy, but we know that there's question marks about that second line. I don't know if it's kind of worked the way they anticipated. He's not on the first power play, Demidoff.

So in that sense, I think maybe there's some value in the Calder play because some of those guys a little further down, if they're in the right situation, then they can maybe be a threat like Snuggaroo is. It's a great handle, man.

Remember Rick Jenet, Jenneret, calling out Snuggarood. Like, he just would go crazy with that name. He loved that name. All right, those are good bets, man. There's a lot of value there, and you're right. Like, you look at Demidov, it just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to put that much money on him. You know, he's a young guy, like all these rookies are going to be.

We'll see what Montreal does this year. If he's on the second line, he's probably going to get power, you know, PP1 opportunities. But there's so much hype with him. I just don't think that makes sense. like it's too much juice to say it's incredible but he's not on the PP1 to start the season they split the power plays and he's on the second unit

so um you know maybe that changes and he's crazy talented but I'm just like no matter how good you are it's hard to do it if you know I don't know if Kirby Docs the sentiment for him I just I just don't know they'll have the puck enough to really highlight

what he can do so yeah this is a value play like I would take Devonoff is the best rookie, but I just don't know value-wise, I can go a different direction. I like it. I like it. All right, there you go. Future's Day on the Fanduals Sportsbook. Yeah, we'll have more future picks later this afternoon.

The O'Dog, myself, and noodles. Happy birthday, Johnny. Great stuff, buddy. Have yourself a great birthday weekend. Oh, yeah, I'm going to Detroit to cover the Leaf American League team tomorrow. So it's going to be a wicked birthday weekend. Listen, Detroit's sneaky, sneaky good town now, man. Sneaky good town.

It's too bad the Tigers aren't still playing, but it's a sneaky, good town. We'll see what we can find. All right, buddy. Enjoy yourself down there. All right, boy. We'll do it against him. Have a good weekend. Mike Johnson, TSN Hockey Analyst.

All right, more futures still to come as we look ahead of the NHL season starting on Tuesday night. Luke will join us. Al's brother coming up. More picks for the weekend. We've got Davis Schneider in 45 minutes. Jay's Yankees tomorrow. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4.

Overdrive continues. He's brought to you by Fanduil, bringing you more ways to play your game your way. We'll get to some more future picks a little bit later this afternoon. Davis Schneider coming up in about 40 minutes. And Luke Wilson on what a win by the Niners last night? And would he ever trust a guy in the suit that Mack Jones was wearing last night? Pretending as if Brock Purdy is still the starting quarterback and he's not coming for his job.

If you could trust a guy with a suit like that, I don't think I could. So we'll get to that with Luke and tell. I keep saying, well, Purdy makes $50 million. He's, like, the way he played and the way they play with him, don't you got to kind of seriously consider it, Hayes? Look at this suit, man. The red and black. Yeah, Harvey Two-Face.

And if I'm Brock Purdy, I'm looking at that guy thinking he's coming from my job. Like, he might be coming from him. That's exactly right. And he had the old school Dan Marino five braces on his knee, too. He could hardly walk in between place. Did you see the braces on his knee? Yeah, yeah, didn't stop them, didn't stop anything. And Luke's boy, Matt Stafford, couldn't match last night.

The defensive stops by the Niners, like the fumble that was created, you know, at the end of the game was incredible. Then the fourth and one stop in overtime was amazing. And I credit McVeigh for going for the win, because remember last week, Lafleur accepted the tie. The Packers were like, oh, just take a tie. McVe knew if he, you know, kicked a field goal there, balls in the hand of the Niners, and at best, you're going to tie that game.

so he went for it but couldn't muster up a yard yeah well isn't he one of the brainiacs like one of those guys that has all those smart ideas how do you come up with that play if you're going to go for on fourth and one isn't there something a little bit more creative wouldn't you think man yeah you'd think like Fred Warner's like largely considered the best linebacker in the game let's just run right at Fred you know I don't know if that's going to work out so well for you like the line collapsed and credit the Niners They saw it coming. It was almost like they were in the huddle and knew exactly what they were going to run.

So it was pretty amazing win by the Niners last night. Puts Hazenbrough on a bit of a bind. All right, noodles. You're still out in Edmonton. You have an update for us on strutty in the chili contest? What did we get out of strutty? I just reached out to him, and I just said, listen, the boys want to know how the chili testing went. Did you need a diaper when you got home?

And he said, I must have the stomach of a grizzly bear. because I expected a much worse explosion. So apparently he's pretty proud of his stomach that he was able to battle through that. But I don't know. I think he might be lying. Okay. Homer Simpson, man. That guy, yeah, he's, Struddy's a big boy, right?

Struddy takes care of business. And I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing for the chili contest. Like, I don't know if they want the judges to feel horrible for the next week, week and a half. And then that's a good sign of maybe what was delivered, or do they want someone like Struddy who's evidently built like a grizzly bear? And will he get the return next year? Yeah, will he get called back in? I don't know.

I guess we'll find out. I might have to bring him back in. I don't know. It's a weird thing because I don't know if you should feel bad after eating that much chili or you should like feel good and happy about that amount of beans is not good for you. You should feel awful, horrible, horrendous. No, you guys are dead wrong, man. I can eat a whole barrel full of it.

it's so delicious turkey chili beef chili like every kind of bean every kind of bean you want to toss in there well yeah listen it's one thing for it to you know taste good it's another thing for it to sit properly but i guess you and strutty are built the same way all right so we've got david schneider coming up at 530 and uh kevin gosman on the mound for game one tomorrow so we'll start team up that series we'll get to our best bet we'll get to to more future bets as well, courtesy of Fan Duels. We get into the next hour. Luke and Al's brother coming up as well with more picks, including a Sunday game.

So we've got a four-pack to get to for the Sunday slate. That's coming up in hour, too. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSN app. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by FanDuel. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. The newest tracks and the next big thing. Look what we found.

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