OverDrive - OverDrive - September 3, 2026 - Hour 1 - Dylan Strome

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

Join Michael DiStefano and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys discuss the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard's punishments from the NBA, Adam Silver making a statement on cap circumvention, Kawhi Leonard's long-term future with the Raptors and Toronto's ceiling in the Eastern Conference. Washington Capitals forward Dylan Strome on the role with the Capitals, the improvements to the team and the bigger contracts in the league and the Blue Jays' series win against the Guardians.

Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Crave, Netflix, and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on Internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. This hour of Overdrive is powered by Fanduil. Fan Duel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Off and running here on Overdrive. It's Mike DeCefano, aka Al's brother filling in for Brian Hayes.

Festhook of the Toronto Star here with me today. And we were talking about it when we first got here together, just how brutal that weather was yesterday on our way home. You said your neighborhood got tagged pretty good. Yeah, I live in the middle of the city. And just around my house, I saw like pretty large trees. Trees that look like they're 50, 60, 7 years old, falling on cars.

I saw a tree that took out an entire light post, like the street light, snapped it like a twig. I mean, you're talking about roads that were impassable. You're talking about some crazy damage. Yeah. And thankfully, I mean, both you and I got home safe, and I think most people were safe. Yeah, it sounds like it.

We're showing it up right now. Did you see the destruction? Was it Rogers, the Rogers Stadium up there? Oh, my God. Turn that thing into a pretzel. Apparently, ACDC is supposed to be playing there in a couple of weeks. I don't know if that's going to happen. Look at that destruction.

Oh, my God. That place. It looks like a dynamite went off in there. A little two weeks early, though. I mean, I haven't been up there to see a show yet, and frankly, I have no play. Neither do all. It sounds like an absolute mess getting to and from that building.

But everything you hear and everything you see, it looks like the most, it's the flimsyest kind of low-rent stadium ever built. It's essentially a temporary structure. Well, so temporary. How long they're going to put up? Like nothing. You blinked and it was erected. A bunch, yeah.

Like a fleet of trucks roll in. You know, a few guys with, you know, pliers and socket wrenches, you know, go to work and, you know, Jimmy the thing up there. And next thing, you know, they're having rock shows. But clearly, like, would you want to be there in bad weather? I mean, there's no shelter to begin with. And not only does there no shelter, it's not exactly the most structurally sound. music stadium ever built. It's funny, though, because remember the

stadium that they added, the seating that they added to BMO, there was a lot of similar thought process was like, man, this thing looks janky. Like, is this going to hold up? And it did. That's exactly what I wrote. I was there for that incredible game.

Portugal, Croatia. Unbelievable game, right? You saw it. Everybody saw it. It was incredible. It was a thriller. There was controversial calls. The fans on both sides were going crazy for good and for bad.

I mean, outrage and ecstasy. And I was thinking if those stands are ever going to fall down, it would be right about now. But they didn't not waver, man. Those things looked rock solid. Despite the fact it was scary when they went up. Well, I don't know who contracted, who BMO contracted to put those bad boys in, but that's who Roger Stadium needs to do to get this next, get this back up and running.

I would think. I would think. There's going to need to be a little bit of construction going. on up at Downsview before ACDC tries to rock the house. Like, do you think that it'll be ready to go by then? September, 16th, like next Saturday? Is that, I don't know? I think it's next.

It's two weeks yesterday. Okay. It's like 13 days. I mean, I'll say this about, I'll say this about concert promoters. I've met a few over the years. They don't like to lose money. That's true. And, you know, they don't like to give refunds.

Yeah. So I would guess if there's a way to do it, they're going to find it. Yeah. Either that or just find a new venue. But there isn't one. There isn't one. You can't just find a new venue for 50,000 people in this town. Is ACDC still, like, an appointment viewing concert in 2026?

There was a video going around last summer, I remember, and they sounded awful at this age. Like, that does not seem like the same group that they were back in the 70s and 80s. I don't know. Well, yeah, they're old. They're old men. I know. Just hang it up. Maybe this is a sign.

It's time to hang it up. Hey, man, if you can get 50,000 people to show up to your show, I don't know if it's time to hang it up, Belsbrother. Like, bills need to be paid. You know, I mean, grandkids need to be fed. You know, so it's, I don't know their situation. But to your point, like, the day they're playing, or scheduled to play, we should say,

the Jays are at home, so they can't go down to the Rogers Center, which may have been an option, I guess, if the Jays were on the road. So if they can't go down to Roger's center, you know, the Scotia Bank is the bank open. That's a 20,000 seat venue. They get 50,000 coming. Yeah.

You know, that's the difference. You can't make a cut. That's not the... I don't know how you do that. I don't, I'm not sure there's an easy way. Yeah, well, if I know, I'm sure that's a story that a lot of people in the city who planned on going down to watch ACDC, I'm sure they'll be following what's going on and try and get some updates.

Maybe Kyle Leonard was planning on going. He's gone to everything. He'll be back in the summer. Yeah, that's true. He's been all over the place, and it sounds like he's going to be making his way to Toronto pretty soon. Like, what do you think this trade is going to be finalized? Like, it's been, I don't know, roughly 24 hours since the NBA came out with their verdict,

slapping the fines down on the, on the clippers, five first round picks, $30 million. Steve Bulmer, suspended for a year, a couple other executives, suspended for various times. Like, at what point does this trade come to fruition? Like, it feels like it can now. There's nothing holding it back now, right? It's a great question. because here's here's the one complicating factor. All of the relevant executives have been suspended on the clipper's side.

Yeah. Who can authorize that? That's another question that I actually have because the president of basketball operations and the general manager. Both suspended cannot operate for at least six months. So who can operate? Well, they've got other executives, obviously. But, you know, the guy who's the drive, the guy who makes all the decisions that we all

know is the owner. That's what I mean. He's like he can't even make the top decision. He's technically not supposed. Right. And Lawrence Frank, who was essentially their top basketball executive, he's suspended without pay for six months because of the Wachtel-Lypton investigation that is

hammered the clippers with the stiffest penalties in the history of the NBA, including, as you point out, you know, the suspension's to major executives and $30 million fine and five first-round draft picks. Question is, does Bobby Webster right now have them right where he wants them

in terms of maybe sweetening the deal a little bit on the Toronto side? Wow, what does that look like? I mean, how could that possibly work do you think? Like, well, what's that conversation look like? Well, let me ask you this. Can the Clippers not do the deal? Can they have Kauai Leonard back in their organization this coming year? Probably not?

I would think not. Probably not. I would think that would be a bad look. I would think we already saw Kauai's statement yesterday talking about how, you know, he mentioned going to Toronto. Like, he's in Toronto in his mind. You know, you got Brandon Ingram and Grady Dick are in L.A. Already they've been hanging out with the Clippers all summer at Summer League and other workouts. And so this trade is done in terms of the minds of the players, right, which is a huge factor.

You know, you can't walk this back. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Right. So the Clippers can't have Kauai Leonard back on their roster this year. So I would say they've lost a considerable amount of leverage from before the results of the investigation. Certainly they lost leverage from the time a couple of weeks ago when ESPN had a story that there were going to be no consequences. And the NBA had nothing on the clippers. Pulling one of the picks back, getting rid of the pick swaps.

Like is that kind of what you're thinking? I mean, I guess it depends how ruthless you are. I'd be operating in bad faith. Like if you're Bobby Webster, I feel like that'd be operating a little bit in bad faith. Because you got what you wanted. You wanted Kauai Leonard on your team. team, day one of camp, and that's what's going to happen, right? At the end of the day, that's what he wanted.

That's the package he put up was to get Kauai Leonard to the Raptors and ready to roll this season. He got that, in my opinion. So for him to kind of operate bad faith and hold the feet to the fire, I understand that I suppose he could do that if he wanted to, but I think that that would just, that'd be bad faith negotiating if you're Bobby Webster there. Well, it depends on what they agreed on. It depends on what they said when they paused the trade.

Did they say, you know, the trade's off and we're going to, we'll discuss it when this whole thing clears? Or did they say, we have a deal? So is that what maybe why it hasn't been announced yet? Because maybe there's still a little bit of negotiating happening here. Well, I'm just saying, first of all, there's a lot going on at Clippers head office. They got a lot on their play right now, including figuring out who the hell is going to run the team while everybody's being suspended. So there's that. there's that factor, right?

Like they're talking about fighting all of the NBA's punishments, and you'd have to do that legally, of course, because there is no recourse under the NBA Constitution. So the Clippers have got a lot on their plate. I think that would be reason number one why this thing hasn't gone through yet. Is it just a phone call? Hey, a deal that was already in the queue waiting,

like we're signing off, make that go through, and then move on. I would think so. And, I mean, we all understand. The Clippers really need those three drafts. They need those picks desperately now. I think Owen was saying on gameplay that they hadn't made a first round selection since 2018. Yeah. And they now will not have a first round selection until 2034.

Amazing. Unless they get these picks from the Raptors. Their own pick, yeah. Unbelievable. Unless, of course, they get those picks from the Raptors and make it. But, yeah, they want that entire span without draft picks. And it's all because they wanted to bring in Kauai Leonard's boy. Paul George and man, did that ever blow up in their face?

Gosh, it took a big swing. They took a big swing, but they set up the OKC Thunder to be a championship team by trading away. Shea Gilgis Alexander to them, along with those five first round picks that they ended up giving up in the Paul George deal. And they've certainly, you know, they've spent a lot of capital employing Kauai Leonard to very little success. I mean, they went to one Western final, didn't win it, missed the playoffs, you know, went out in the first round an awful lot, and obviously saw Kauai Leonard sit in the street close an awful lot. So I want to go back to the conversation of the Clippers intend on fighting this, right? The Clippers came out with the statement yesterday, and they're going to fight it.

They believe that they were wrongfully accused and they're going to go after it in the courts. We do know that the appeal cannot be done through the NBA and now has to go off to the court. There was a document that came out yesterday after we were off the show that kind of the NBA's investigation put out their report and their findings. There is a lot in there that really paints a picture for how much more the Clippers knew, how much more the Bollmer knew about the situation that they're leading on. After that report, would you be surprised if they continue to fight here? Like, it's pretty cut and dry that Bollmer knew. The Clippers knew what they were doing.

fed money to Kauai and possibly others through these four companies, and it seems like the NBA has all the proof they need. Oh, there's no doubt about it. Like, there's an incredible amount of evidence that they did exactly what it looks like they did. And there's no question about it in my mind. I mean, I don't know how anybody can read that report, read the reporting of Pablo Torre and others around this whole scenario and not believe that just like we heard the

rumblings in 2019. I was brother, like, we were hearing the rumblings of all this going on during the courtship of Quaill Leonard in 2019 when the Raptors were desperately trying to keep them on a championship team and go for a repeat. And when the Lakers were after them as well, and you heard it out of Toronto, we heard the commissioner of the NBA at that point

talk about the deals that were being offered that fell outside the collective bargaining agreement. So everybody in the NBA knew that this was happening. They didn't have evidence that it was happening. I mean, other than people saying, hey, do you hear what this Uncle Dennis is asking for

when he walks into the boardroom? It's crazy. He's asking for pieces of the Leafs and pieces of this and real estate and jobs where Kauai doesn't have to show up to work and millions and millions of dollars that fall outside the salary cap. So everybody knew it was going on. Hard to prove it. Pavlot

Tori, thanks to his hard work and the bankruptcy of aspiration, made the picture an awful lot clearer. And now, Walk Tell Lipton with their, I believe, an investigation that I've heard has cost a staggering $50 million in legal fees. Those guys are billing by the hour. Oh, yeah.

It ain't minimum wage. No, absolutely not. They're okay with all this and how long it took. But it's given us, it's given us clarity on something that is important because, you know, why it's important. Like it's, you know, people get paid and, you know, that's fine. I don't ever begrudge anybody getting paid. but if you make a mockery of the salary cap,

which is what the Clippers have been doing, if you don't respect the competitive structure of the league, I mean, what are we doing here? Like, you're just wasting your time. Like, the league becomes a sham very quickly. Absolutely, which is why I think it was imperative that Adam Silver stuck to his guns and gave a proper punishment.

And I believe he did that. And stripping five first round picks, which is massive. Like, that's going to cripple this team. what that means for the clippers, I mean, how they're going to bring in new players, how they're going to be able to trade again. Like, this team is going to be awful for many years to come. So that's one thing.

But to your point, he needed to send a message to the rest of the NBA. Hey, this is not right. It's not okay. And I think he did that with this. Because, I mean, look back a couple of months ago, right? A lot of big talking heads sitting here saying, I don't expect for Balmer to get that much of, like maybe it could end up being a slap on the wrist. I don't expect it to be a major disappointment to him just because of how much he means to the NBA

and how much power and influence he has within the NBA and basketball itself. Adam Silver put that to the side and put the league first. And I appreciate that about Adam Silver. He's someone who we need to hear from too, right? He's someone need to hear from because he took a lot of bullets over the last few months here. as more and more evidence was being put out there, the Pablo Tori stuff, and he had to kind of bite his tongue this entire time. He knew what was happening with the investigation.

He knew what was being uncovered, what was true, what wasn't true, and he knew that what was coming down the pike. And now that we finally know, and he actually, you know, levied a punishment, which I think there is not a lot of people that I expected to be as harsh as it was. I'd love to hear him speak at this moment in time. 100% of us, brother. You nailed it. And I think, you know, one of the reasons why this punishment and the severity of it was a shock to a lot of people.

And I'm not talking about you, me. I'm talking about people in the league who live in the league who know everybody in the league. It's a small village, right? The reason it was a shock because people also know Adam Silver. And I think a lot of people in the league didn't think Adam Silver had this kind of oomph in him. Yeah. I don't think a lot of people felt that Adam Silver. silver had the David Stern cutthroat, this is my league and you're not going to mess with it.

You know, F around and find out type of gene, right? A lot of people thought, no, he's going to be too easy on him. You know, he sees these guys as his partners, and, you know, he understands that he works for the owners, and he's subservient to them, and especially the owner with the most money in the group, right? The guy who is maybe three times or four times. Richard's the owner in all sports. And he's not just the richest. He's like three times richer than the rich.

the next guy. Like he's, he's incredibly rich. But, you know what? Everybody said there was no amount of money that you could find Steve Bummer that would make an impact. And that's true. Like, when you've got hundreds of billions of dollars, $30 million doesn't mean anything. But you know what? 30 million,

there's other owners who are going to look at $30 million and go, yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's a real, that's real money. Yeah. Tommy Dundden out in Portland probably doesn't like seeing numbers like that get floated around. Yeah. I mean, that's real money for, you know, Like, we all know.

Rich guys don't like giving away any money, let alone 30 Schmill and the five first round draft picks and the suspensions to key people. And then, above all, I think the biggest punishment is saying, hey, buddy, you're locked out. Yeah. You know, owners love locking out players. Here's an owner locked out of his own building for a full year. Yeah. Can't come into the building for a full year. How do you really track that, though?

He can't come in. He can't come in the building, but doesn't mean he can't have a say of what's going on. Oh, yeah. Like, you don't think that guy, first of all, you don't think that guy's going to throw on a wig and a mustache and get himself in there. Like, come on. I'd be hard-pressed to not see that guy wind up into a dome that she spent billions of dollars on. Pretty cool. Pretty damn cool.

Imagine if he tries that. He's just sitting, just the guy sitting courtside. Who was the baseball manager who did that? I'm blanking on it. put on like the wig or put on the mustache and glasses or whatever and showed up after that's probably been done a few times yeah i think i've heard that story but but could you imagine balmer trying that like first of all i wouldn't put it past him he's the loud it wouldn't work because he's so freaking loud that as soon as you didn't you you wouldn't have to recognize

him you just hear him right i mean this guy is this guy's got the most bellowing voice that that's ever been bellowed did you imagine if they just like in the fan supporter section they got there at the Intuit Dome. Right in the middle, he just finds himself clapping, pretty cool, pretty cool, glasses looking. It was Bobby Valentine, who it was back in the day with the mustache and glasses. Okay. That'd be a sight to behold. That'd be funny. But I mean, look, and I agree with you.

Like, obviously, he's going to, you know, he'll, will he have communications with people? I mean, it would be pretty hard to ban that. Although the NBA has, you know, they've got these sweeping powers. They can, you know, they can, you know, they can get your phone, right? They have that ability to say, if we think something weird's going on, you know, we can make you confidence to get your phone. We can, so I guess you can put, what, he can communicate via Snapchat where the messages disappear or, you know, whatever, whatever other messaging, covert messaging app is hot these days. But, but I mean, that to me else, brother, like, that's what people didn't think Adam Silver had in him.

Yeah. Just actually look Steve Baumar in the eye and say, sorry, pal, I know you're rich. I know you are a big part of our league and you're like one of the driving forces of the expansion committee and everybody loves you for your enthusiasm and obviously for your money. But we can't have this nonsense going on. And all you guys were doing was nonsense. You got convicted of salary cap circumvention once before. That's a big multi-time offenders of this. Yeah.

Are you going to come out and say we did nothing wrong? You got investigated for it in 2019. We spent a crap load of money investigating. you again and we found mountains and mountains of evidence and guess what if we kept investigating we'd found mountains probably we would find mountains and mountains and well that's where i wonder like the clippers like there's bobby's yeah there it is right there came back out it was like but yeah if you're the clippers like why would you keep keep going you know why would you keep going with this they if there's mountains and mountains more evidence just shut up take your

suspension, pay your fine, take your licks, take the five first round picks. Maybe you get them back, like you saw it happen in Minnesota, maybe a couple get back. You're going to get a couple back in the Toronto trade with Kauai Leonard. You hope. We would imagine, we're assuming. I guess we'll get into it with Josh Lumberg. We'll ask that question. He's going to join us at 530.

So we'll ask his thoughts on that. Was the punishment too light on Kauai Leonard? That is kind of the other side of the coin from Adam Silver, who's been known to be a bit of a player's commissioner in a way. So we'll ask him that question. Ricky Romero, going to join us at 505. After the Jay's game kind of wraps up. But on the other side, Dylan Strom,

going to join us to the Washington Capitals. You're watching Overdrive on TSN, listening on TSN 1050, and up on YouTube live. Overdrive continues on TSN 1050, live up on TSN, and on YouTube, Mike DeStefano, filling in for Brian Hayes, Dave Feshoek of the Toronto Star,

in with me. you got two more shows just today, tomorrow, and the boys are back on Tuesday. Boys will be back on Tuesday, which means hockey's coming. Hockey's coming. We're less than a...

It's later this month, I guess, yeah, because it's a September start now. He just got a few weeks until the start of the regular season. Like two weeks until the start of training camps. Everyone's going to start reporting. It's amazing. It's amazing how fast it's going to come. You're right.

It's exactly two weeks today. I believe the Leafs will be on the ice. First day of training camps. camp. Then they're playing a preseason game. A couple days later, they've only got two nights of preseason games where they're playing one home, one-of-way split squad in both nights. And then they start on the 29th. It's like, think about that.

29th of September is the opener against Montreal. It's insane. And then I think I saw it today, actually. I think they're going to be opening the Amazon schedule or whatever. They're going to be the Wednesday opener taking on the Islanders. He got Matthew Schaefer in town for that game, so that'll be a fun one to watch. But,

But yeah, I'm real curious how different it's going to feel and it's going to be, especially for a team like Toronto that had a lot of turnover. Yeah. Right? And you only got two preseason games to like find some chemistry, see what lines work. And you got a young kid like Gavin McKenna. You don't want to throw them into the wolves. But at the same time, you're going to have to learn on the job.

There's not a lot of games and not much time to get going. Like September 29th is going to be here before we know it. Yeah, it's incredible. Somebody was saying there's like, yeah, there's the two nights of preseason games. I think somebody calculated. They got like eight or nine practices. Like that's it. Like it's a very short training camp, right?

Yeah, like how's Hiller going to be able to, he can't really trial and error things? He's going to have to try it on the fly through the first couple of weeks of the season. What works? What doesn't? What was the Elkawai Leonard thing, that the regular season is just 82 practices for the Leafs? It's not 84 practices, but the first few might feel like practices.

Yeah, legitimately, legitimately. So I'm here to see how that's all going. going to work. I don't know if you saw it today too. Looks like the the Ottawa senators put out their new slogan. Oh, yeah. Yeah? It says this is the hill we choose. The hill we choose is the slogan

there. Yeah. The hill we choose. The hill we choose. Like Parliament Hill? I don't know what that means. Oh, the word choose is in bold lettering. Upper case. Yes, I get it. It feels like it could possibly be a shot to the captain.

that went out the door for not choosing to stick around. But we get into that a little bit later on. Or is it the hill they die on without Brady Kachuk? It's one of those two, one of those two, I would imagine. All right, joining us now here on Overdrive. Once again, he's always a treat to have on the show. Dylan Strom, forward for the Washington Capitals. Good on. Dylan, has your summer been.

Hey, guys, it's going great. You, well, I know you're a big Jay's fan. You've been falling along. on with the Blue Jace here? Think they make it in or what? I don't know. I mean, they've been playing a little bit better as of late. We actually went down maybe last Wednesday. They beat Kansas City 3-0. It was kind of a boring game, but they got the win.

No, of them following. I actually just had to get the MLB pass. I'm back down in Virginia now getting ready for camp. And a lot of the Jay's games obviously aren't on TV here. So I picked up the MLB pass for the last month of the season. So hopefully they can get in. They've been playing better, like I said, so hopefully they get a big win today. Or is it over now, right? Still going.

Technically, we're still going. Okay. I saw it five, three, and the eight, so I didn't know if it was going on still. Yeah, yeah, it's still a little bit to go, but hopefully they got that one in the bag. You mentioned that you're down in Virginia getting ready to go for the season, which we're just talking about before you came on. It's coming quick. Like you got training camp in two weeks, and then all of a sudden, like, just two weeks later,

the regular season starts. Have you wrapped your head around how quick of a process it's going to be from breaking camp to the start of the regular season? It's all very truncated this year. Yeah, it's definitely a little different than what we're all used to. They obviously wanted the season to start a little early. So I think now they wanted the two more games. So the players got no fitness testing and I think we'll take that trade off most times.

And no, it's exciting. I think just, you know, like I think I heard our coach Spencer Carberry talk on on spit and chick I think that's like 10 days, five practices and two games, basically for the players that are on the team. And then you're basically in the regular season. So I think it's a good thing. Just jump right into it. We have a few new faces.

So we'll work on getting them up to date with everything that we got going on with our team. But our team's a pretty tight-knit group and pretty easily able to get everyone acclimated to the team. And it's exciting. So Dylan, you talk about a very familiar face. Mr. Ovechkin, there was a lot of consternation and contemplation about whether, you know, he would come back to play another NHL season after all he's achieved, including, of course, the all-time goal record, which you were a big part of, him achieving.

What was your level of, you know, concern or surprise as, you know, July approached, and nobody seemed very sure if he was coming back, and how did you react when you found out he was indeed coming back on a one-year deal. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's, I think everyone on our team would have said the same thing at the middle and towards the end of last year. Like, we really didn't know. I mean, I think we all kind of had a bit of an inclination

that he was going to come back once, you know, he didn't want to shake hands with the Penguins players, and he kind of didn't want to do like a little final goodbye against Columbus in our last game there. And, you know, his family wasn't at the game. So I think we kind of got an inclination, like I said, that he was probably going to be back for another year. But at the same time, you never know what happens in the summer

and if he really wanted to do it again. But I think he saw some of the moves that our team made and the fact that I think we can be a really good team and really competitive team this year. And obviously, he's still a huge part of our team. Like, he led our team in goals and points last year. So, you know, you don't want to lose a guy like that, obviously. And what he does for the locker room on the ice and off the ice.

It's just you can't really replace that, obviously, with what he's done in his career and how much he means to the team. So I was very happy when he sent the text that he was coming back and it kind of came out of nowhere. I think it was maybe a week or two after the free agency and just decided that it was the time to come back. So it was awesome to see and the boys were all fired up. Well, that's not I was going to say.

I was like, did you get a heads up at least? Or did you find out what all of us did, but a little text in the group chat, about how he broke it? Yeah, texting the group chat, but it was on Twitter probably two minutes after that. Actually, I was actually golfing with one of my buddies and, and he had texted the group chat maybe five minutes before. And then my buddy was on his phone and saw it on Twitter. And then I checked my phone and he had sent the message.

So all the guys were really fired up and excited to have him back. You know, it's hard to imagine that the Washington Capitals without the Great Eight. So it's exciting to have him back for another year. And I'm not going to say it's going to be his last year because who knows with him. You're right. You never know when it comes to the Great Eight. And, you know, a couple new players coming to Washington, Alex Tuck, Jordan Cairo. What are the expectations for the group for the upcoming season? Yeah, I think we're going to be a really dangerous team. We got, you know, 12 or 13 or even 14, like really good forwards that I've never been a part of a team that's, you know,

kind of looked like this on paper to start the season. So obviously it's going to be a little bit different with coming in with high expectations. Like my previous four years in Washington, there hasn't been, you know, a ton of expectations, at least heading into the season. And, you know, two years ago we had an outstanding regular season and then got, you know, kind of stopped by Carolina in the playoffs there. So I think just building on a little bit of that experience. And like I said, a little bit different expectations this year of, obviously,

you know, there's lots of talk about us and our team around the league and on social media and stuff. So the management's done their job and now it's on the players to go prove, you know, why people are talking about us. And I think, you know, we've got a lot of really good players, There's a lot of high-end offensive talent that I don't think goals are going to be our problem this year. So it's going to be fun to be a part of. It's going to be high-flying offense. And I think Carb is going to have us dialed in on the details on the defensive side.

And it's a lot to look forward to for sure. I mean, when you look at sort of the idea that you didn't make the playoffs last season, and obviously that was a disappointment given the way your team had performed the year before. I mean, what's the key to having the kind of bounceback season you guys want to have? Yeah, I think it's just, you know, last year, at one point in the season, I think we were like 17, 9 and 2, whatever, however many games that is, into the season, 28 games into the season. And first place in the division, those things were looking great. And then we just went on a bad stretch in kind of like late November, like throughout December and then kind of led into January. And just we put ourselves too far behind the eight ball.

And, you know, I think definitely with, you know, the kind of the guys we added, I think there's going to be some more consistency throughout the lineup. and maybe some of those games in the dog days of, you know, December, January, February, when, you know, when your team kind of can't find anything, I think we're going to have those type of game breakers that are getting paid a lot of money to score goals and to, you know, kind of create things on their own. And I think, you know, I think we were a team last year where we need to kind of everyone to be, you know, kind of firing on all cylinders to be successful.

And it seems like this year, I think, like I said, kind of in those dog days, in those tough games, you know, when you're playing on a back-to-back or whatever maybe when we've got some really. really, really good players that can kind of, you know, explode for a, you know, a big night that can kind of lead your team to victory, you know, throughout the season. I think just not having those, like, long lulls of the season or long stretches of the season where your, you know, your team's not playing well. I think that's going to, that's going to bode really well for us. So you're 10 years in the league now, Dylan. I mean, it's been a long time for you.

You've had a great career. But the league's changing. I mean, we just talked about the expanded regular season schedule from 82 to 84. there's a lot of talk that they're going to expand the league in general with a couple more teams down the road here in very short order from the current 32 up to as many as 34. I mean, as a veteran player, what do you make of that? Yeah, I think if you ask a majority of the NHL players,

I would say everyone thinks it's a good thing, like more jobs for more players and more guys, I think. It's going to be definitely a different season. games doesn't sound like a ton but you know with how cram the schedule was last year and and you know some parts of it are this year i think it's just going to be a different you know a different style of of game a lot of the time especially like i think we have one month where we have 16 or 17 games in i think it's um i think it's january and you know that's a lot of that's a lot of hockey in a in a month so um you know i think you know being around for a while just you know kind of

learning how your body you know works on back-to-backs and know what you've got to do to be successful for the next game and the next day and um i think our team does a really or our coaching staff does a really, really good job of preparing us for, you know, each game, no matter when to, you know, no matter who it's against, no matter if it's afternoon game, night game, you know, whatever it is, I think we're really detailed and dialed into the process of what we have to do to be successful. And I think we just caught fire a little too late last year. Like we finished the season on a really, really good run of playing some great hockey. And it was unfortunate that we didn't have, you know, two or three more regular season games, which we do now this year. So we'll see what happens. but I'm pretty confident our team that is going to be, you know,

firing a lot of the year on all cylinders on offense, and, you know, it's going to be fun. You talk about catching fire. There's a kid on your team that caught my attention who got hot, real hot the end, Nicole Hudson, Lane's brother. How impressed for you what he was able to do when he got to the team last year? Yeah, very impressed. You know, you don't see many, you know, kids, I guess I can say that.

Now, you know, many kids come in with, you know, with that kind of like aura, I guess, that he had walking into the dressing room. Just kind of the way he danced on the ice, like he definitely felt like he deserved and belonged to be there. And you could see it in his play. Like he was making moves with the blue line when he was the last guy back. He was carrying the puck up on the ice and the power play, like kind of, you know, avoiding the drop-pass at sometimes, which seems like every team does and just kind of carrying it in himself. So I think, you know, his game is only going to continue to grow.

And obviously he's still really young and only played, I think it was 14 games. last year. So very excited to see what he's got to offer this year. He's an incredible talent. I know him and his brothers, you know, all of them work extremely hard in the offseason. And, you know, they work on their craft, like, like maybe more than anyone else in the whole league, those are the guys. So it's credit to them and credit to their family on how hard they work. So exciting, exciting times ahead for sure. He's going to be a heck of a player. And you see what Lane's doing in Montreal, obviously, with the talent that he has. So if Cole can kind of replicate some of that, I think we'll be in a really good spot.

Talk about exciting times, Dylan. I was wondering when you're hanging around with fellow NHLers this summer and you're seeing some of the contracts that are getting handed out. We had $18 million players. Now we've got a $20 million player for the first time in league history. What's the chatter around the players association around those deals? You got two years left on your deal? I'm thinking about it.

Yeah, two years left on my deal. Yeah, I mean, it's exciting. I think it's hard not to be excited about it. It seems like I remember maybe four or five years ago when it seemed like, I know a lot of guys were getting $4 million. That was like the new $2 million. And now guys are getting $6 to $7 million that maybe would have been $3 or $4 million in the past couple years. So, you know, I think it's only a good thing for players, obviously.

Everyone's getting paid a little bit more money. You're seeing guys sign, you know, even the short-term deals are worth a little bit more money. The guys that are long-term deals, you know, are getting, you know, money that hasn't been kicked around in the NHL in a long time. So, yeah, it's a good time to be an HL player and you got to produce and you got to execute and hopefully you can stick around with a team that wants to have you for a long time. And I think everyone wants to win and win Stanley Cups and be a successful player. But at the end of the day, you know, with the money going like the way it is,

it's exciting time to be an NHL player for sure. Well, Dan, we appreciate to take the time. You'll be happy to know the Jays did win the game. They just Louis Varland. Huge, huge. Okay, one game back now, one game out, maybe half a game out. I'll see what happens tonight. Half a game behind Cleveland now.

And with the win, it gives them the tiebreaker too against Cleveland. So that's a big win. It's a big win for the birds. Huge. Huge. Huge. We'll be following the rest of the season for sure. Absolutely.

We'll be following you and the caps. It should be a fun season for you guys. Best of luck and we'll do it again soon. Sounds good. Thanks for having me on, guys. All right, absolutely. Dylan Strom, the Washington, Capitals. Yeah, massive J-SPAN, him and his family.

They always get caught up on the Jumbotron and on the broadcasts whenever they're in attendance, obviously. You know, Dylan Strome, big name here in the city. Yeah. But yeah, you touch on the thing there where he's just like super excited about the amount of money being thrown around these days. And he's like, yeah, used to see guys who were getting paid three, four million as, you know, middle six rolls. And now all of a sudden those guys are getting paid six, seven mill. Yeah. And, like, he's one of those players, and he's, he's doing two years, and the cab's going to keep exploding.

He's got to be pretty happy about what that number could possibly be in a couple of years. He keeps going. Yeah, I mean, he's a guy on a very, very modest $5 million AV right now. But he's, look, he's a career. He's averaged 23 goals over 82 games his entire career. Yeah. I mean, 60-point player. I mean, that's worth a lot more than $5 million right now.

Absolutely it is. I also know it was very interesting. He's talking about how, like, like impressed he was by Cole Hudson coming in and what he was able to do. You got 10 points and 14 games coming out of college. Pretty impressive for a young defenseman. It just really makes it, you know, you look at what Lane Hudson's been able to do, Macklin Sellebrini, Matthew Schaefer.

It really is like a young man's game nowadays, too. Talk about all the big differences in the game over the last 10 years from when he started until now. Like you just have all these young players coming in and making an impact and a difference right away. And I think you look at right here in the city of Toronto, and it's like Gavin McKenna, like there's going to be some, you know, some people out there expecting him to come out and play like his head's on fire, come out and produce much to the way that a lot of these young kids are doing nowadays.

Like, granted, like you said, he's going to be thrown to the wolves. There's not a long runway before the regular season starts and the real stuff begins. I mean, there's going to be pressure on this kid to perform right away. Yeah, there's no doubt about it. It's huge pressure. I mean, teenagers can do it in this league. They've proven it. You know, he would not be the first one.

There's been a long line of guys who've come in at very young ages, ages where they could be playing, you know, in the world juniors or junior hockey. And they're not just, you know, hanging in the league. They're making, you know, massive impact in the league. And I think that's exactly what you would expect of a Gavin McKenna. That's not to say, you know, that people wouldn't have patience if he takes a while to develop. and you should have patience with the young guys, but, like, you know, the names you just listed. I mean, there's been a ton of guys who've looked very comfortable, you know,

Dylan Strome was talking about the aura of young Cole Hudson, right? Like, there's confidence in these young kids. They've got the skills. They've got the skating. And I think when you've got the skating and the skills, you can hang with anybody. Yeah. So we'll see, you know, kind of what Gavin Kennedy can bring us. So Jays do win, six-three is the final down there in Cleveland.

now just half a game back of Cleveland with that win. They get the tie breaker over them should things end up in a tie. So it's a very important win. We'll chat about that with Ricky Romero at the start of the 5 o'clock hour. Josh Lewenberg still to join us as well at 530. I'm Mike DiStefano with Dave Festhuk. You're watching Overdrive up on TSN, YouTube live and listening on TSN 1050. Overdrive continues on TSN 1050 and on TSN5.

Mike DeStefano filling in for Brian Hayes. Got Dave Festhuck at the Toronto. star with me. And the Blue Jays finishing up their game with a win down in Cleveland. They win six to three, Louis Varlane closing it out. So the Jays win the series pick up a tiebreaker over Cleveland. But I think the story of the series, I mean, the way obviously picking up the wins, it's huge. You know, now it's just half a game difference between you and the wild card, which is currently held by Cleveland. I think this was a big series that we saw signs of life from one Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Yes. It's a big bomb last night. First Homer in 15 games. Had a big double, both of which hit hard, both over 105 miles an hour, both them. And he had another 106 mile an hour hit today.

Picked up another ribby on a sack fly, pimp the walk. I don't know if you saw that. There's signs of life there from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. And I think that is a big development for the Blue Jays who are now just half a game back. Without a doubt, I mean, It was nice to see some launch angle from Vladdy, the line drive hitter that he is on that moon shot of a home run.

That was an absolute towering blast yesterday. Look at that thing. He just watched it. Watched it go. He watched it because he hadn't seen it in forever. I mean, when's the last time he hit one like that? It's been an awfully long time. You got to feel good.

And then you slap one a little later on in there. Well, that's what he's been doing. The slap hit to the opposite field has been his bread and butter. this year. But doing it with guys on second and third, I'll take it. Right? You know, you choke up a little bit. You got two outs. You kind of just bring in runs when you can't, right? Just like you did

earlier today. There was sack fly. Sack fly, guy on third, let's bring him in. Got a guy from second to third, like Lucas moved from second to third, brought in the sack fly, gave you a little fist pump too. Like he was happy with himself. And that's big. That's big for the Blue Jays. We've

been talking about it for months now. Like, this team's not going to go anywhere if that guy doesn't start hitting the baseball again. Yeah. The last two games. Well, he didn't get a hit today. He was 0 for three today. He didn't get a hit today, but he got a walk and he had a nice hard hit ball to the outfield to make

contact. But he made, he definitely made an impact and an influence on the game today. Yes. And more so, you look at yesterday's ball game, though. Like that double and that moonshot home run, certainty signs of life from flight. Good. Yeah. But I mean, like, let's face it

here. We're looking at a team here where it's Brett Bateman goes three for five and Nathan Lucas goes two for five with a couple of ribbies. And, you know, they're getting powered by guys who aren't getting paid to power it, you know, but they're doing a great job of keeping his team in the race. And of course, another great game, another great game by the star of the team in a lot of ways, the bullpen, right? Flew Hardy comes in, then Miles comes in, then Rogers comes in, then Varland Close, it out after Soriano has a decent start. You know, four and two-thirds, three earned runs.

But he walked a few, only struck out a couple. It wasn't his strongest work. He did enough. He did enough. And then he got some help on the fifth inning. The bats came alive. Yeah. Right?

He got some help there. They put up some offense for him. And, yeah, he ends up. Yeah, with a so-so start. But Dylan sees last night, another great outing, man. Another good outing. Six innings. No runs.

I gave up six hits. Only four Ks. though. That stopped his consecutive seven strikeout You had the over. I did. I did. So he did kind of jammed me on that one. But I mean, the guy just consistently goes out there

and just, he's so unhittable, man. Like this guy's pitching his ass off and I saw a stat. Where's that stack go? He got like a 0.18 ERA over his last seven road starts. And an opponent batting average, sub

100. Yeah. Over his last seven roads. That's getting, that's the definition of unhittable. Like, that is unbelievable. And we're going to get Ricker-Rameral on to start the next hour. Like, just how, how do you look at those stats and think like that's, that's legitimate? And that's not a small sample size. Like, seven games, whatever, like, that's 48 innings. He's going out there. And he's only allowed one run on the road. And he's gone into Boston twice, right? He's gone into Cleveland. Like, there's some good teams that are on that list, went into Tampa. And he's locked in, man.

His last seven road outings. Well, they need something that's bankable. The offense has not been bankable, though, hey, they'll take it. I mean, a day where you get six today, you scored a bunch yesterday, you're getting something that you hadn't been getting on a regular basis, and that's important. But he is as bankable as it comes, and they're going to need that as they continue this race, which, by the way, has got a long way to go. It does, it does, and it might be getting some reinforcement.

a little later. It sounds like Trey Savage, Shane Bieber, I think Savage pitching off a mound, either today or tomorrow, potentially he could factor in later on in the season. Anthony Sondondar's sighting down and Dunedin as well. Tony Taters. Tony Taters could make an appearance. John Schneider saying that, I think, a little, maybe next week could make an appearance in AAA,

a couple rehab starts, and then all of a sudden, a long rehab. Right-hand of power bat to bring in, and he's got a lot of money to recoup here. Let's not call it a power bat just yet, Alice, brother. It's supposed to be. He's paid to be that. Definitely paid to be that. Oh, it's a, yeah, it's a power bat on paper,

but that is very thin paper that's got a lot of crinkles in it and has been in the garbage can for quite some time. Yeah. But, man, I mean, the Js, it's, they've been playing some good baseball. They've been playing some good baseball for almost a little more than over a month now. It was like July 24. when they started that series winning streak. And now here we are in September, still playing good ball.

Still playing good ball. Yeah, the last six weeks, I think you got, you know, depending on which day you cut it off. I think they got the second best record in baseball behind the Phillies. So they're rolling at the right time. Absolutely. Can they keep it rolling? And they get the big boy going.

Exactly. And they keep them going. But they've been rolling without the big boy going. So that's a good sign. It's a great sign. And we'll chat more about that. Riker Romero to join us at 505. Josh Loonberg at 530.

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