OverDrive - OverDrive - October 7, 2025 - Hour 1 - Craig Berube

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the NHL season starting, the Panthers and Blackhawks opening on the ice, the Maple Leafs set for the Canadiens to begin the season and Auston Matthews playing healthy for the team and the Blue Jays looking for the series win against the Yankees in the ALDS. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube joins to discuss the season outlook and approach for the team, Auston Matthews' chemistry on his line and Easton Cowan's role on the team.

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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 up on TSN4, Brian Hase, O'Dog, Jeff O'Neill, Jamie Noodles, McClennan. What's going on? What's going on? How are we feeling?

I'm going to give you guys a thumbs up because I sometimes get confused how to do the thumbs up, and I give other gestures and get confused, much like a friend of mine, stinky old Jerry Jones. Get your damn act together. Jerry claimed he saw some fans down below him and wanted to give a thumbs up, but just accidentally gave him the finger, and it was weird. Accidentally happens to the best of us. Dude, I think that's what he said.

He's like, I saw some of our fans, and I wanted to give a thumbs up, but I gave the finger. Instead, it was a miss. I think he called it inadvertently, which is a word that I don't even really know if it works or applies. It was that, or like, signal cross up or got things crossed up, but. Yeah, that's. Come on, dude. You didn't see cowboy fans. You saw someone else, and you gave him the finger.

And he's been fined, and the thing is, the Cowboys just won. Like, they won this weekend, and they're in a pretty good place. You know, why would he possibly be angry? You know that somebody said, hey, your old goat, head back to the massage place. You know, like somebody gave it to him or something. I know that's Bobby Crabb, but, you know, he probably has that same stigma around him. You know what I mean? Like that?

He's had some accusations be sent his way, Jerry, over the years. I guarantee you somebody said something to him, and he handed out the O'Doyle Wave. Yeah, and I think he got fined, right? I think he got clipped like $250,000 or something like that. There's a chance he could appeal. How are you going to appeal? There's cameras all over the place. Like, I haven't seen the video.

I'm not sure if you guys have. It's pretty blatant. It's just the finger. Literally, there's a picture of it. Literally, there's a picture of it handing the finger out. It's not like he started with the thumbs up and then switched into another move. It was. I love that.

Listen, why not give it a shot that you were trying to give the thumbs up? Like, what's it going to hurt you? You know? Like, I guess if you're going to try to go into defense mode, now you could just own it. He has enough money. He owns the Cowboys. It's $250,000. That's chump change for him.

Yeah. You could just own it and say, bad timing, bad moment, shouldn't have done it. My bad. But there's a part of me that kind of respects that he's that old yet he's also that immature, that he's going to try, try to slide in. I went in for the thumbs up. The wires got crossed. I don't know what happened there.

Totally reasonable explanation. Sorry about that. Just misremembered. Misremembered. There's no way. I misremembered. He handed out the bird and it was a strong bird. That was it.

Yeah. I guess so. Hey, I don't know. Again, obviously it was something that really bothered them. Who knows? There's some wild stuff going on at sporting events, man. I was just going to say, though, like, I feel like there might have been some middle finger emojis going on in that group chat last night because who, like the Hazenbro, are you guys

Yeah, we're plus one. Absolutely we are. We tried our hardest. As I said, I told you, we tried to spot them like an eight, ten point lead so that we could be challenged this year. But these guys just can't help themselves, you know, like the Jags look good. That Travis Hunter playing on both sides of the ball is incredible. Yeah.

It's not Otani. It's not quite Otani, but it's pretty awesome to see that guy catching balls and then flipping around and chasing Xavier Worthy around the field last night. What I want to know is Trevor Lawrence, how does he take a snap, fall down on his back like a Ford at downtown Toronto, and then does it again, and then he wheels into the end zone. I'm like, what is going on here? There's like some, and I give some of these organizations credit because, like, they've just said, you know what, we're not just going to be doormats again this year. And you're seeing a shift, man. I don't think, like, the Ravens, the Bills and the Chiefs, I think I read today it's been like since 2017 that they all lost in the same week. So, like, it's incredible that those guys all took an L this weekend.

Yeah, you're right. Here it is. Here's Rob Ford. Look at this guy. Yeah. That is Rob Ford. It's City Hall. And then there was that Mahomes pick.

I'm like, what the hell is going on here? Why is this happening? This never happens. Lawrence was Mahomes last night. Are the Chiefs D. that bad, though? No, they're outstanding noodles. That's the thing. Listen, it's a broken play.

It's a weird broken play that feels like it was just going to be a dead play. Like generally, I credit Lawrence because he could have just stayed down and said, all right, I'm done, try not to throw it away here. but he got up and recovered and ran into the end zone untouched. I thought he battled Hayes and he was really good last night, man. He did. And that's a guy, first overall pick, had all the hype in the world coming out of Clemson as a true freshman won the national championship.

Massive contract. Massive contract looks like Josh Allen, you know, with long hair, like a beast, a big guy with an arm and just could never get it done. And listen, the Jags, they have some browns in them, they have some jets in them. that they never get it right with coaching. They never get it right with the infrastructure. They don't have the owner that can support anybody. So, you know, maybe it was that Trevor Lawrence went to the wrong place.

Like Baker went to the wrong place. Like Sam Darnold went to the wrong place. That was possible. But to his credit and the credit of, you know, this staff, they put him in a position to succeed. That defenses look good. They create a lot of turnovers. Lawrence looked good last night.

They're four and one. Like they're four and one. The chiefs are two and three. Like you said, the bills are still 4-1, and the bills are going to be a very good team, and they're going to win, and they're going to win the AFC East, I believe that. But the Ravens look cooked. The Chiefs are clearly not who they once were. They're still competitive.

They're still in it. They're still very likely going to make the playoffs. Then that's what I felt last night. He's, like, maybe there's just a little bit of a shift where some of these teams that have been terrible for a long time. Like, maybe they're going to turn the corner and be quality opponents and be something to – Possibly? Something to match up against instead of just getting crushed every night.

Maybe the Jags do that. Maybe Denver does it. Maybe the Chargers do it. Maybe the Pats do it. Maybe the Pats do it after three or four years of real struggles. Yeah, it's definitely possible. It's early in the year. It's early October still.

But there have been some surprises in the NFL. The Jaguars would probably be at the top of that list. So, yeah, big win for the Jags. Big win for Hayes and Bro. We'll get to more picks, obviously, later in the week. We got Game 3 Jay's Yankees tonight. You got the NHL starting at 5 o'clock for some reason. Do you ever get the explanation on why the cup champs are playing at 5 p.m.?

Did I miss something? I don't know. Do you know why they're playing Chicago at 5? Did I get that wrong? I read it today. It's staggered, isn't it? Don't you have like a 3-pack? They got a 3-pack, right, 5, 8, and 10-30.

But the cup champs should be at 8. Why are they at 5? You're right. They're playing Chicago, which is the lay-up of all lay-ups. like, hey, you know, in your own building, though. But you're right, 5 p.m. Eastern, that's a 4 o'clock game in Chicago. Right. Who's watching that?

Put Pitt versus Chicago. As awful as that is to say with Sid the Kid. I think they did it a couple years ago when Badares first got into the league. But, like, the Florida Panthers deserve the New York Rangers or some spotlight team at 8 o'clock. Primetime. Yeah. Like, I get it's tough because, again, the Yankees and the Jays are playing tonight. You got baseball, you get playoffs happening.

You know, there's other things going on. The Yankees in particular, down in the States, obviously take up a lot of shine. But at the same time, the Rangers are playing at 8 o'clock. So the Rangers are playing in New York, home opener, when the Yankees are playing a must-win game in the Bronx. So I just don't understand the reasoning behind that why you would have Florida who runs your league right now. Whether you like it or not, they run the National Hockey League playing at five of the o'clock. Did you see what they put on the inside of their rings?

Yes. What did it say? I apologize to no one or something like that? Yeah. It says, well, Sam Bennett said it at the parade where he's like, we want to apologize to absolutely bleepin nobody. Inside there's Stanley Cup ring. It says, we apologize to no one.

And then it has the teams that they beat all crossed out. All cross through us. You win the cup, though, you can do that. I know there's some teams, like, they'll just, on the outside of the ring, they'll have the teams they beat on the ring somehow or some way. But it's just they've got all four crossed out. Two Canadian teams on there, which is crazy. Obviously, Tampa, Toronto, Carolina, and Edmonton.

But, yeah, we apologize to no one. Man, they love playing the villain. Like, I give them credit because they have an identity. they know they're good, they know they're tough, and they know that they're a wagon that no one can stop right now. And it will be a celebrated downfall. It will be a celebrated downfall. Oh, my word.

And it's going to happen. It will be. Right, like that's sports. You don't run the league forever. Like at some point they're going to lose, and at some point they're going to fall off, and they're going to be in a bad place. And when that day comes, they'll have to chew on it.

But right now, they don't have to chew on anything. They don't have to explain themselves. to anybody. You win two straight cups and go to three cup finals, re-sign everybody, you don't have to explain yourself to anybody. Dude, even that song, that stupid pink poem, like they would not stop playing that, man.

Well, that was a goof on Edmonton. It was Edmonton's song, and I don't know if you saw it. It's crazy, but if you see, if you watch that, whatever, it's Crave or Prime and whatever it's on that, that NHL special, I watched it, like, they follow Matthew Kachuk. They actually follow both Kachs. And, you know, Matthew makes no apologies.

And you hear him when he walks in. He's like, play that song, like, just basically to stop it to Edmonton. But that's, you're right, Hayes. Like, when Boston crashed and burned last year, the Bruins, nobody was feeling sorry for them at all whatsoever. At some point, Florida is going to have a downtrend, whether they age out, they cycle out, they injure out, all of that type of stuff. And there's going to be a lot of people going, yeah, you know, we've been

waiting for this yes in the meantime they're on top and they're giving it to everybody but there will be somebody that makes a comment saying we're not going to apologize to you anymore like that there is going to be the next wave you know whoever takes them down type of thing yeah it's it's coming man it's it's like a lion that's run the pride forever and it just ages out and finally someone else shows up and goes you're done like that's what's coming this i'm the captain now yes exactly look at me i am the captain now. But yeah, I guess, you know, Florida's starting at 5 p.m. tonight. We've got three games and we'll get to that. Craig Barubei coming up in 15 minutes. So we'll catch up with Craig, the head coach of the Leafs ahead of their game tomorrow night. Leaves halves. And, you know,

the Leafs, they've established basically what their lines are going to be tomorrow night. We'll see on Cowen. We'll ask him about Easton Cowan and what happens there. But, you know, he spoke on Matthews and we'll ask him how this camp maybe was different than last in terms of his approach to Austin trying to get him through camp he couldn't get through camp last year he couldn't get through it he was injured he was banged up and it just never reverted back to his usual self which is a totally when you look back to last season him starting like somebody you had to have known i don't know when the injury happened but he wasn't going to be healthy all year you know what i mean somebody would have had to gone to say to him like you you can play

with this but this will probably be lingering which is a difficult decision because i don't know what it was, but if you pull the pin on it, you're probably done for the, I don't know, a long time. Well, he never had surgery or anything, which is crazy. Yeah, which is also weird. If something was, yeah, nagging a player for that long and there's no surgery, so why, I guess it's just you're going out there, you're going to get

hit, and there's going to be competition, and it's just going to bother you the whole season. Yeah, no, I, I just, when he was over in Germany, when he was doing all these things, we were like, okay, when is this guy coming? What I didn't like about last season and his injury is we didn't know anything and it's his right it's his to be private

but like there was no whispers of like oh it's his because people are like it's his wrist it's his shoulder it's his back it's his knee whatever it is and he still hasn't disclosed it and it's his right but there was just so much like you know from even the messaging from the organization it's like yeah he's day to day it was day to day people have spotted him in germany you know like that that that was a that was a tough look on everything shady it's unnecessary And it's very unique because other players don't do it. Other players don't do it. Other organizations don't seem to do it to this extent.

There are a lot of them that do upper body, lower body, and all that. What's shady, though? Going to Germany or not reporting that? They're not report. He got caught over there, basically, and then it was going to be reported. And then they're like, well, we better say that our captain is in Germany before it starts to get reported. You know, and not disclosing the injury is one thing, but not discusing the injury is one thing, but not disclosing, like, this guy's just not ever going to be 100%

is equally, you know, it just seems like you're withholding info that is somewhat unnecessary. If they knew all year this guy's never going to be himself, the other teams already know that. Like, just be open and honest about it. And we'll see if that changes this year. Like, if something else happens to them, because again, everyone last year, the viewing experience was strange.

You know, we're all looking for something. Oh, a shot doesn't look as lead forward. or maybe he's not in the same spots as he used to be. You know, we're all playing. Is he hunched over? Is his back sore? Yeah. I respect their gadget watching every game

trying to figure out what's going on with this guy. And hopefully it's behind him. And if it is, as we've all collectively said, we expect him to have a great, great year. Yes. He's still in his prime. That's the thing, though. Oh, you always say it.

If a guy wears a jersey, he's healthy enough to play. So we really can't challenge him. You know, the guy's out there playing. We all knew he wasn't 100%. It was just tough. there was a little stretch of messaging. I thought that they put the coach in a tough spot. They put the players in a tough spot because they were trying to keep the messaging kind of quiet.

And, you know, Chief just kept coming out saying, yeah, he's, you know, day to day. And you're like, okay, day to day, like this guy's not even in the country. So you're not going to land and all of a sudden jump on the ice at 7 o'clock that night. So, you know, that was tough from a messaging standpoint. But the minute he got back, he started playing. So it's like, okay, you can't challenge. an injury the guy's playing you maybe he's at 70 percent but he was still out there so it was it was just a weird scenario put it that way yeah although it kind of challenge is the theory like

if you're playing then you know you're expected to to you're going to have the same criticism if it doesn't work because he didn't have a great year so you can't then be like well you know he was hurt and that's why he didn't have a great year it which one is it is it well is it if you play then you got to play well or is it if you're hurt then it's understandable you're not going to play well um anyway that's behind them it doesn't matter anymore until if it flares up again but leaves halves tomorrow we get the jays in new york tonight and um man this first inning is going to be something tonight like it's everything it's everything tonight you cannot over-emphasize the importance of i think the jays finding a way to get some hits in the first inning i don't even

think you have to score runs obviously that would be great but if you could get a couple of hits off Rodon, force him to kind of go deep in counts and avoid being struck out, which is what they've done brilliantly through two games, that sends a message immediately. Like the bats have flown in New York. They're here. They weren't left in Toronto. They're still in New York. Gear up.

Vladie's going to be coming up third. So he's coming up on the top of the inning. He steps in the box. If he can get a hit in the first inning, that building will absolutely be shook. and furthermore, Beaver can get out of the first inning. And Judge will be coming up second. Find a way to get around him. Find a way to get out of this inning clean.

Because you know the fans are walking in there. They're going to try to force confidence, force, you know, this optimism. But it is just that. It's forced. It's not real. Like there's no way Yankee fans are walking in there thinking this is going well for their team. Well, Toronto fans, we were all over Vladie saying, you know, it's your time to shine and step up in the playoffs.

judge hasn't exactly been dialed in as a playoff performer like he's got to start doing something too and you just it's all about the momentum he's you saw what they did to the boston red sox this is a more extreme situation like they're in obviously more trouble but if they get cooking and hitting and the crowd gets into it and i just i don't know what beaver's going to bring it's one of those things where it's isn't it a massive question mark for you like what is this guy going to bring to the table in tonight's game because i just really don't know i'm almost not as confident as last game with you savage i'm just like i don't know what it's going to be man i i hear you i hear you and listen he doesn't throw a splitter where that's that's been the pitch

of the series so far like that's gosman and you savage have absolutely you know paralyzed the yankees like they have had no idea how to how to hit against it like gosman had him cooked and you savić had him completely flummoxed and that's not in beaver's repertoire like he's to throw fastballs and sliders and cutters and, you know, he's going to throw different pitches and yet he's a, you know, a veteran Cy Young winner with a stash and he's going down there and he's ready to party, right? And I think it's a good position to be in to mix it up a little bit, to put him on the road. Again, it's, they put him in a very good position to have success and to be somewhat relaxed. They're up to nothing in the series.

Like, if it was the opposite and they're down O2, like, they're, they're going to. Like, they about whoever's going to start for Philly flying to L.A. for game three. Like, the Phillies are cooked. Dude, what happened to them, man? Like, I was so fired up for them the way they played during the regular season, how awesome they were. Then they get to

the playoffs and they fizzle out. It's crazy that team. It's the Dodgers, man. It was a pitching duel through six, and then the Dodgers, they rallied in the seventh, put four on the board, and see you later. Game over. You know, and the Dodgers are up to. Imagine flying across the country to know,

you're going to get your brains beaten in and then just your seasons over. You're done. I would bring a duffel bag and stay in L.A. I was just going to say there might be a few guys. You'd have to check to see, like, open table. Imagine wheeling on the bird noodles with a giant suitcase, like a massive one. Anything. Like, usually it's a duffel bag, but if you had one of those big things, like big square

luggage things with wheels and you just went on the bird, that would cause problems. Yeah, exactly. I would love that. Team services guys wheeling it on for you. It's got your number on it. You look down and it's like you've got a week's worth of clothes and golf hudders sticking out the side of it. Guy comes over and goes, you're all set at Riviera tomorrow. He leans in.

He leans in and tells him his tea time. Yeah, Riviera, then you're at LACC on Friday and Bel Air on Saturday. You're all set. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. All right. Craig Barube is coming up. head coach of the Maple Leafs. He won't be golfing anytime soon. He's getting geared up for the season

to start tomorrow night. We'll detail camp. We'll get his take on, you know, Austin Matthews through what he expects out of him this year, Easton Cowan. A lot of things to get into with the head coach. We'll catch up with Craig Barouba next. Overdrive continues powered by Fandul, bringing you everything from the opening line of the final score. We've got Mike Johnson coming up in just over a half an hour. Eric Hosmer in an hour on Jays Yankees tonight, game three tonight, a chance to sweep the Yankees at Yankees Stadium. That would be the third party, champagne, beer, the whole nine tonight at Yankee Stadium. That would be somewhat electric for the Jays.

But got to believe the Yankees will be better tonight. They have to be. They got to get some hits. They've got to strike some people out. You cannot imagine this will be a third straight blowout. But more on that with Hosmer as we get closer to first pitch tonight. Leaves Habs tomorrow night. Leaves Habs tomorrow night.

It's basically an annual tradition now, right? These two teams every single year on a Wednesday night. And we're excited for it. The NHL is actually dropping the first puck of the year in about 40 minutes, 45 minutes. The standard 5 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. Cup champ at 5 p.m. I'm sure our next guest would be cool with that next year, right? The Leaves win the cup.

5 p.m. It probably play at 2 in the morning next year to start the season. If that's the case, here's the head coach of the Leafs. Craig Marouba. How are you doing, Craig? Good. How are you guys? We're doing well. We're doing well. You plan on watching some hockey tonight? You're going to watch baseball? What's the plan tonight? I'm probably going to watch a lot of them. Both.

I mean, I'll definitely be watching the Jays and games. Hockey games, watch the Jays. So, yeah, looking forward to it. Chief, did you watch yourself? What's a lot of? it like being a head coach before we get into this year last year the clips of you know the bench and some of your comments how weird is that for a head coach to kind of see that again and kind of replay it do you have some laughs with the guys over that actually never watched any of it and uh none of the guys have brought it up to me yet but it's early yeah the prime series man it's

creating a lot of buzz like you and willie in particular i know you've been asked a lot about it. But you and Neelander in your relationship, is it, how would you describe it? You know, someone asked you, how would you describe your relationship with William Neelander? Well, I think it's a good relationship. I think it's pretty open, you know, to be honest with you. You know, I think, you know, he, he's not hesitant to come to me about things and what he's feeling and how I'm using them or, you know, different things that we can do to help the team. And then the other way you know i'm pretty i'm open with him too about what i think of his play and what i demand more of them and you know but it's it's uh you know we we get along well i think i mean

i think it's a it's a good healthy relationship um because it's open and honest you know that's all you can ask for as a player chief so we we talk about your roster and you talk about your relationship with nielander uh you know you've got some players here that you know you've got almost too many NHL players that Trees had to make some decisions on and you've got to set your opening game roster for tomorrow night. What was your toughest situation?

You know who your first line center is. You know who your second line center is. Was everything else kind of falling into place as camp was going along? Well, yeah, I think the Lotton injury kind of put a wrinkle and everything. I had to put Max back in the middle.

You know, you've got to make adjustments like that. That stuff happens. but it's not anything new for the team or for Max to go back in the middle. He's done it before and he's capable of doing it again. You know, there's always tough decisions with guys that get put on waivers. We all know that. It's not easy for anybody, especially the player, and it's not easy for us either.

We like all our guys, and we can't keep everybody. And you've got to make decisions and you make them on what you think is best for the team. So in terms of Easton, and where he factors into all this, you've been very complimentary of him, you know, through a camp. What have you seen out of him this year that maybe you didn't see out of him last year? Or what kind of message did you send to him last year that he got and he applied this year? Well, I think the message was in the summertime of what we wanted him to do in the summer to prepare for camp with his off-season training. And just the mindset coming in the camp,

I think he took the same mindset that he did when he tried to make the junior the London Knights when he was a young kid. You know, this guy's got a motor on him. He can hound pucks. He's a very good forechecker, and he just works. And that's what he did in cap, and that's what impressed me, because that's what we asked him to do. And for the most part, that's what he did.

He wasn't trying to make all these plays like he did in junior. He played direct, he put bucks deep, he worked, he hound him. And I really liked the line of him a lot, and the Wrenz throughout camp. I thought they were very effective and they look like they had great chemistry together and they look like they really enjoyed each other out there on a line.

Now, things change. Lotton gets hurt and so, but right now, Easton Cowan, you know, who knows he could be on the roster tomorrow. Like, you know, we have options and we've got to just, we'll deal with them when they come. But, you know, he's done enough to show me that

I think he could play in the NHL now. But in saying that, who knows, we'll see how it goes. Like, you know, it's a game-by-game situation right now. With Craig Baruba, at least haps tomorrow night. Austin Matthews, he got through camp, played a couple of times. He's healthy, feels good. Obviously, last year, you know, he didn't get through camp healthy, and you said it a couple days ago.

Last year he was hurt. You know, he didn't feel like himself. With that in mind, did you approach his training camp differently this year? like the approach of getting him to opening night at 100% did you treat his buildup any differently this year than you did last? Well, not necessarily, but he did. You know, like I think he did a great job in our training staff and the people he works with of preparing him, you know,

to get through cap and be healthy and to be a healthy player going forward. So, you know, I dealt with him like I would, you know, with any player during camp, I didn't, you know, if he was needed maintenance, I would give maintenance, but it felt like he came to me and was asking for maintenance all the time. He was out there every day competing in the drills, and, you know, I just noticed a different player throughout camp and all the puck battles and how heavy he was out there and how strong he was and how heavy he was on a stick. So I saw a very healthy Matthews.

I don't think he's going to necessarily need him to turn into Eric Lindross. Does he have to do anything different, Chief, as far as, you know, no Mitch and the given goes because Mitch is a right-handed shot coming out from behind the net. There's a lot of opportunities there because as a left-handed shot, it's kind of a blind play with Mitch being a righty. There was a lot of connection there. What does he have to do just as far as five-on-five to create offense? or just go out there and do his thing?

Well, he has to just go out there and do his thing and not overthink it, but I think there's one area. Him and Mitch had such good chemistry together with the giving go game, as you all know, and I don't think that chemistry is going to be there necessarily right away with, you know, Machelli or whoever it is on his line,

and they're not the same player as Mitch. So Austin, you know, I think he might have to just hang on to pups a little more himself and create more space for himself. if you know what I'm talking about it's not going to be such a giving go game you know he looks like his shot is you know really good right now he's shooting

a ton of bucks in practice I watch him on a DPP it's a shot first mentality right away which is great and I think he doesn't have to change a whole lot he's got to just be himself out there and play and again it's about just fine with some chemistry with a new line made more than anything and I believe he will

Chief, a little bit more of an adjustment with, you know, Stolar's obviously being available to you, but Joseph Wall not available to the team. So he had one of the best tandums in the league last year. Now you only have a half of it, you know, and Primo's available. But a little bit different mindset to start the season with that? Well, for sure, there is. You know, but the schedule is going to dictate a lot of it, as you guys know. There's a lot of back-to-back games and a lot of three and four.

So you're going to need your backup. You know, I think it's conversations with the Goldie coach and Stoli about how he's feeling where he's at, mentally, physically, how he's feeling. That's going to determine the starts a lot of times and how heavy we give him those starts. But, you know, we're confident. Oh, I think we lost them there. We'll have to get them back. Confident about something.

I was going to say confident. Maybe Stoller was going to win the Vesna this year. His picture was on the screen. I'm like, either he's gone or I've lost everything. I got fearful there. I knew it was, yeah. I was just waiting to see if it was just going to be the quick crackout, you know, because I'm like, is it just a quick blip in the radar or what?

We'll get Craig back in just a moment. I think he was heading to, you know, maybe they've been in touch. I read today and Trey talked about that they've been in touch with Joseph Wall and he seems to be doing well. So maybe it's a situation where they get him back sooner than later. That might be a scenario. Right. And that'll be interesting, like how you build him back up.

He effectively missed camp, right? Like Wall was here for the beginning of it, but has not played. Did he play early in the preseason? No, I don't believe he did. One or two days into camp where he. wasn't available right so you know that would leave me to believe it's likely you know a stint with the marlies maybe for a game until although they're not even really starting for a little while so i'm not sure how you i handle that but yeah yeah that's only in baseball hockey doesn't do that

i know i was just thinking that i'm i'm in baseball mode with that just no matter how good a baseball player you are you're going down to the minors to play for a little bit right doesn't matter barry bonds babe ruth it doesn't matter you're going back uh all right we got craig back Craig Barube, Maple Leafs coach ahead of the game tomorrow night. Yeah, in terms of Stolar's, like, you know, he's obviously got that contract done. He was so good for you guys last year. In terms of, you know, how many games you'd be hopeful he can play. Like, do you think he can get to 40 plus?

Is that a goal for him, a goal for yourself and the staff? Like, where do you stand on the, you know, best case scenario for Stolars this year? Yeah, you know, that's a good question. And I don't know if we all have anybody has the answer to that. Listen, he's going to, you know, right now, he's going to get a bigger workload than he did last year at this point right now. And, but, you know, like I said, we got Primo in here. We got Hildobie, so we added some depth with Primo.

And then a lot of it's going to depend on the schedule, and a lot of it's going to depend on Stolar's how he's feeling where he's at. So that's a hard question to answer how many games do I, I think he's going to get, you know, as going into the season right now, he's probably going to get more starts than he did last year, you know, early on at this point with the way things are. I can't recall the last time a Leaf team went to the playoffs, had six defensemen that played every night,

and then returned all six the next season. I don't recall the last time that's happened, and that's what you have this year. How much of a luxury is that for you, your staff, Craig. You've got six veteran, you know, grizzled defensemen that obviously know each other well and have been through battles and they're all coming in to a new season. They're all healthy and they're familiar with each other. Well, that's huge. And you're right. A lot of times you don't get the, you know, the same D corps

back. We've got the exact same D corps back. You know, veteran guys that have been around, they played extremely well last year for us. You know, it's the backbone of our team. And, you know, we just play a good defense, check, be harder on our net. You know, they're simple with the puck. They move it. They get it going. But, you know, they do so much back there for our team. It's really important to have all these guys back and healthy and ready to go.

One of those guys is Riley. Apparently, he's flying out there looking slim and trim, and everybody's in the best shape of their lives, Chief. What's his expectation on the power player? Well, we all were at camp, right? It's amazing. I love it. All these guys, I love the guys that need to add it 12 pounds of muscle or whatever,

and then they get to 30-something, and they need to get rid of it. But just him back on the power play, should he just be comfortable and confident that he's going to be there and not looking over his shoulder if it doesn't go well right off the hub? Well, yeah, for sure, and we talked about it. And, you know, he's ran this power plate here before in the past. We all know that. He's capable of doing it. You know, for him, it's just trusting.

his instincts more than anything like don't second guess yourself like you know shoot the puck when you have opportunities because that's always a good good plan right and you know he has a good shot and he is a good he is a good passer so

you know just do things you know use your instincts and just be confident and do what you think is right you know I think more than anything you're right just getting that confidence back that he's done it in the past and he

to do it again. With Craig Barraubay, we've been talking the last few days about this Tampa, Florida situation. I'm sure you're aware of it. I'm sure the whole league is aware of it. I'm sure you're getting flashbacks to some of the stuff you were involved in probably back in the 80s and 90s. It's been crazy. That reminded me of the rookie games back when I was in Philly, and we go play Wash,

or we go play the Rangers and these rookie games, and there's nothing to fight. crazy you know but you know that's just that's uh that's that's that's that's been getting heated up for a while in my opinion uh going back to playoffs last year between the two teams some of the things that went on uh between the both of them um just you know went overboard this year a little bit but uh that's the way it goes sometimes and uh you got to do what you got to do um you know it's just this division's tough it really is it's a hard division it's a physical division, you know, and there's, you know, everybody's improved, and by opinion, Montreal, Buffalo, Ottawa, you know, so we're in a good division. It's going to be a tough division.

Well, it has been for years, and you guys have consistently found a way to navigate through it, and, like, you're a veteran team and a big team, like, you've added size. You've got a lot of big boys on your team, and I'm curious, you know, how you feel about team toughness, you know, what that term means to you and how it applies to the Leafs. Yeah. Well, I just think team toughness is, you know, you're always going to get in there for your team in. I thought our team did a real good job of that last year. When things had to be handled, somebody went on to handle it.

And that's the bottom line. You know, there's nobody, you know, we're not going to get pushed around. We never got pushed around last year. We're not going to get pushed around this year. There's no reason to, you know. I don't think you have to have any fear of anything. to be honest with you. You know, so our team understands that.

You want to be a pack of wolves out there, and you want to protect your teammate at all costs when you have to. And we want to initiate the physicality as much as possible. We added Joshua and Roy are pretty big guys, and, you know, they play that hard, heavy style of game, especially Joshua. So he's been a good addition. And, you know, we picked up Sammy playoff waivers.

I had him in St. Louis. and he's a physical player. He hits people and gets in there in a forecheck, so, you know, I think we're fine in that department. I'm not worried about it. With Craig Baruba and, you know, we were mentioned in the Prime series earlier and, you know,

the all-access stuff, and obviously they were following you guys throughout the playoffs. And, you know, game seven in particular against Florida was, you know, it was great content, I'll give them that. And, you know, at the time, you were trying to get to your team, you're trying to motivate your team, you're

trying to get them up and going. I'm curious if you have a better idea, you know, today now that the dust is settled, you've gone through the offseason, on what happened there in Game 7 and have a feeling like you've got to figure that out, your team's figured it out, and you'll be in a better position the next time it comes up. Yeah, for sure. I think, you know, when I look at that game, we get out of the first period killing that penalty off at zero-zero, and for me, like, we didn't come out and initiate the game

in the second period and we got on the wrong side of things from just not being direct and not just doing the right things at the right time and they capitalized on some goals and we got down and we didn't fight back hard enough to get back in the game.

That's how I look at it. It's all mental for me. You know, we've got to get past that. Hopefully we've talked enough about it and I don't want to really talk about it too much anymore. know, our team understands what we need to do to push forward here. That's in the past, and we've got to move on from it, but we've got to learn from it, too.

Hopefully we learn from it. I mean, you know, I always talk about you, you don't have to make great plays out there. You've got to be good, and you've got to be consistent in your game. And, you know, I think if we were to take that approach in that second period and just dumbed it down and played a direct simple game and just waited for your opportunity, these but just play the right way we would have been okay but we didn't do that in a second we opened it up got

beat on us gave up some two on ones and some different scenario that cost us a hockey game that we didn't do before you know so that's really what it boils down to Chief one last one before we get you out of here I know you talked about your relationship

with Willie I think he's got a YouTube channel and cameras following them around like if you ask you to make a little cameo on it will you do it or you tell them to stuff it. Well, it depends on what kind of mood I meant and what's going on with our team at the time. But, yeah, I might be willing to jump in there with William do a little cameo with him. It might be fun.

I like that. He'll probably have his wife beater on at the time. Man, he loves that. I think he wore it golfing. He loves that thing. He wore it on a TV show in Sweden last year. Remember when you guys went Sweden a couple years ago? He's quite a character, Willie.

He's a great guy to be around, and, you know, I'm fortunate to be able to coach a guy like him with the talent he has and the approach he has towards the game and the team and stuff. So, yeah, it's been a lot of fun. All right, well, look for that, man. That's going to get a lot of clicks, man. YouTube, that's going to get a lot of views. I think we just possibly gave him a great idea. Well, it starts tomorrow night. So good luck tomorrow night.

Good luck the rest of the way. And as always, we appreciate your fun and time for us. Thank you, Craig. yeah thanks for have me on guys there he is Craig Baruba you too Craig Barraubay head coach of the Leafs Leaves Haves Havs tomorrow night All right

Yeah Willie and that YouTube channel man Have you checked it out yet I was trying to find it I couldn't find it I have no idea how a guy playing in that league Would have enough kind of What I think he's got siblings With him like I think his sister I don't know this for sure

But he's got a younger sister that I believe lives with Two of them like his With Alex or whatever, yeah. Yeah, and I think she's pretty tech-savvy, and I would guess someone else is kind of running the whole operation. I know Hayes, but, like, playing in the NHL, it's like to have that on the side to say, okay, just I'm thinking about scoring, I haven't scored, and to wake up and say, I've got to film myself having a bowl of cereal here, like, or whatever the hell it is. I don't know what it. I don't think of this, although this is the new era. How many NBA players have podcasts while they're playing?

Like even, you know, look at the Kelsey brothers when they were playing. These guys were playing against each other in the Super Bowl. They did a podcast. Like it is, that's the way of the world. The one thing that if you look at William Mealander and Chief has talked about it, this market and the amount of attention on him does not phase him. If anything, he's like, yeah, I'm fine with it. And, yeah, to even show you, I'm going to do a YouTube channel.

Like, it just, you know, it doesn't seem to bother him. Crazy thing about him is he could probably get healthy scratched and then the next day go up to Craig Baruban. So you want to be on my YouTube channel? Like, we're going to do a little video over here. Like, it wouldn't affect him at all. Min is five. Hey, can you make a cameo and just talk to these people?

They want to say, I feel like, yeah. But you saw what Chief did in that prime. Like, he was giving it to Willie. He was giving it to the team and that. If he asked him, the thing. The thing is Craig might throw him over the glass, too. He might just pick him up and throw him over the glass. I'll tell you what, if Jeff Cougal was in any of those rookie camps back in the day,

he'd be facing that guy. Craig, Berube wouldn't be skating off the ice. I guarantee it. I need to see video of Philly, Washington rookie games back in 1980. Somebody told me yesterday, by the way, we should add Cougal to it as a level of concern. Yes. Like he should be a level. Above cage or not?

I don't know. Anything can go above Nick Cage, but right under. Cougall hammered. Maybe above Rick Bushwood. You go Bushwood, Cougall, then into Nick Cage. Yeah. Give me a Jeff Cougall on that level of concern. Jeff Google.

All right. Mike Johnson coming up, Eric Hosmer, Jays, Yankees, Game 3 tonight. We'll tee it up with Hosmer. We'll get to it on our best bets as well. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on the TSN app. All right, Mike Johnson coming up, Eric Hosmer. We'll join us Game 3, Yankees.

and J's tonight and Tigers and Mariners. Tigers Mariners are the only series that's Split 1-1. Everything else, you know, like the Brewers look great. Jays have looked great. That's another thing about tonight is like if you can get it tonight, you get

yourself another break. You know, and they've benefited greatly from time off the Blue Jays all season. Are the Brewers Hayes the team that is so dangerous that's kind of like over there and no one's really paying attention to the series because it's It's kind of, like the brewers mean business, man.

They've been the best team all year. Yeah, I know, but how much limelight do they get? They don't get a lot, man. Not a lot. Market, whatever, but they're dangerous. They're very dangerous, yet they're likely looking down the Dodgers in the championship series. That's where, you know, the rubber will hit the road, as they say. That's where you'll prove who you are, right?

Because the Jays are doing that now. They haven't won it yet. Still got to get a third one. But you beat the Yankees, that's a massive statement in the sport. Like you beat the New York Yankees. If you can beat the Dodgers, that's as big as it gets. That's even more significant than beating the Yankees. So if the Brewers could do that.

And honestly, I thought the Phillies would get them. I thought the Phillies would at least give them a series, and maybe they will, but they're in really big trouble going back to L.A. but yeah if the jays can beat the yankees it's going to ring out like crazy man and the majority of the stories in the state is not that it matters will be about new york and the fallout and Aaron boone will he be fired and judge is he clutch or not

if they get swept boon is gone like that's that guy's been rumored to be gone 500 different times if they get swept it's got to be game over would you think so you would think so they won 93 games and people call it a bad season for them Like, it was like a inconsist. It was a 93 or 94. They tied 94 against, yeah. But they didn't have a great season.

Well, notice I saw some tweets today. They're not taking advantage of anything of Aaron Judge's prime. They went to the World Series. Last year. Yeah. Yeah. They went to the World Series. But they just take it as they didn't win it so you're not taking advantage of Aaron Judge in his prime.

Same thing. I guess if you don't win it, it doesn't count. You know, it's just not enough, especially in a place like New York. And Judge has got a lot of. heat on him, man. He's got some stats. It's empty calorie stuff, though. The two moments that have defined his series of the strikeout,

top of the six bases loaded in the first game, and him making out with the wall in right field when Varsho hit that ball out there and he fumbled it and he took an error on it. It was a double that turned into a triple,

I guess, from Rarsso. There are some memes on that one, man. The memes are bad. They're ugly. It's not good. Our two coming up. Mike Johnson, Eric Hosmer, on Game 3 tonight. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandul. Fandul, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Seasoned gamer, or just video game curious, this week in gaming is the podcast for you. We break down the latest in the world of video games, from basics to beyond. The hottest gaming news, insight, and industry leaders, and more.

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