OverDrive - Why was McKenna sitting? | OverDrive: Oct. 16, 2026 - Hour 2

Episode Date: October 16, 2026

Bryan Hayes, Jamie McLennan and Frank Corrado for Hour 2 on OverDrive! TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joins to discuss Gavin McKenna's benching against the Sabres, Jim Hiller's viewpoint and Rick Tocchet's hot seat with the Flyers. The guys dive into the Brewers' series win against the Dodgers, Hayes and Bro and O'Win Willson's selections for Week 6 and Bryan hands out his FanDuel Best Bets.

Hour 2 Overdrive continues, powered by Fanduil. Bring any more ways to play your game your way. Brian Hayes, Frankie Corrado, Jamie Noodles, McLennan. We got Mike Johnson coming up. Best bets later in the hour. We've got our picks for Sunday, another international game. Why not? Jacksonville, Houston, at 9.30 in the morning on Sunday.

Every week. Every week. Every week. 9.30 in the morning. Get up early. Football game on. So, yeah, we'll get to those a little bit later on. and how about Brady Kachuk back-to-back natural hat tricks? How about that, man?

Crazy. And the funny thing about that is, like, it was obviously a poor start to the season prior to those back-to-back hat tricks. You know, some players say, ah, wasn't paying attention to what anyone was saying. Not those guys, man. Like, they do a podcast. They listen to everything. They absorb everything.

And then he answers back with those hat-tricks. That's pretty incredible stuff. Pretty good. Well, yeah. And that's his former teammate, the goalie. I didn't think the goals were great. You know what I mean? Look at where these goals are coming from.

All three of them are, like, Brady deserves 100% credit. This is a great curling drag play here. But it's like, Maryland, and that's the guy they pulled off waivers. And like Brady knew where to beat him. Vancouver's a two-nothing noodles. I'm thinking, wow, they're going to beat Florida in Florida. Yeah. It was just a strange.

Like, I was scoreboard watching. I was doing my game as well. watching the Leaf game. And like there was just like, it was Bizarro World last night. Like they're, you know, you're looking at lead changes and stuff. I'm like, yeah, Vancouver's up two nothing in the third on Florida. I'm like, okay, that's, that looks like that's going to be, you know, kind of an upset on that night. Big time.

You're up four two. You're thinking, okay, that game's done type of thing. And then you, yeah, like. Edmonton lost in Reg last night. First time all year. First time. That game got greasy. That's a good game by Utah.

I thought Utah played really well. Utah's a good team, but that team got greasy. Like that game got greasy. There were some fights, and dryside on McDavid were getting hit hard last night. And, you know, Utah pushed back. They're a good team. I like the way they've built that team out, man. Like they kind of had these pretty promising young players in Arizona,

but they didn't have the money and the resources to pull it all together. And now, like, the last couple of years, man, they haven't been shy to make splashes. Sergeyev, Trocheck, like little things like McKenzie Wieger, John Marino, all these things really add up. and now they got a pretty good team. We'll see if the goaltending holds up, but that's a good team. So if you're looking at that Utah team's had a great start, and Vemalca's been their guy. Vemalke, I believe, played the most minutes in the league last year,

if not they don't want close to it. Are you in on Halebuck? Honestly, no. Honestly, I'm not. Why didn't they do it by now? That's the question. Well, what? Like, what's Halebuk going to do for you in the playoffs that Vamelka can't do?

Like, outside of one game where he wins a gold medal, and McKinnon misses a shot that he's going to score 99 times out of 100. Listen, all I'm saying is that if they feel like there's an upgrade in any position, do you not do it when you've got the currency? That's the way I look at it. Like, again, you'd have to give up maybe a Tija Gindler or somebody like that. They've got Utah has been banking for years, banking picks, prospects, all of that, and the team has turned the corner.

They're a good team now. if they feel that's a position that needs attention, do you sniff on that or do you go after? That's the guy. And you know what? He would, because you're not wrong, Frankie and jumping to the playoff conversation, but what Helleba could do,

and I do question whether or not he can get on a horse this year, because you know, you miss camp and all that kind of, he could be in one. He could return and be a pumpkin in the net for the rest of the year. But it's a race in that central division. That first seat is massively pay. beneficial to have. Yes.

You can beat Colorado and avoid Dallas, Minnesota, Colorado on the first round. That is huge, and that could be worth the currency. Yeah. So, you know, we'll see. But as of now, the hell of bucks, they just continue to pour out the room. It's pretty crazy. All right. Here's our TSN hockey analyst Mike Johnson joining us here on the Maple TOTA hotline.

Johnny, you were, of course, in the building last night. at what point in the game did you realize Gavin McKenna has not been playing for a while? Yeah, I mean, noodles, Frank, you guys know what it's like, I got on the talkback button about five minutes left

in the second period. And I just said, when was the last time McKenna was on the ice? Because a lot's going on down there. You're not tracking it to the minute. You just sort of have a sense, like there's a penalty, then a high stick,

then a four and four, than a goal, a lot of stuff was happening. And so that was sort of when it started, Hayes. It was like five minutes left. And then we tried, like, okay, he didn't play the rest of the period. And then the third period obviously became very clear what was happening. And that's an entirely different conversation.

But I will say this. Frankie, you could probably speak to this as well. Noodles, maybe not so much because maybe Hayes, you can too. Like, it's not unheard of her coaches to lose track of players on the bench. Like, I've sat there for six minutes to be like, I'm here. Like, get me out there. I got, you know, just rotation and

Natalie Kill and special teams and what a matchups, whatever it might be. It can happen. And it doesn't have to be a conscious decision. We're going away from this guy. It just sort of can be a rotational thing. That could explain the second period. That does not explain the third period.

Because after a break, everyone's cold. You can tell them to get on the bike, warm your legs up, get ready to go because you're going to play again. when you choose to play Brandon Du Hame and Teddy Bluger on a three-line rotation in the entire third period, you are choosing to foregole McKenna, you are choosing

experience, strength, I guess a defensive mindset over a guy who makes plays and that's the conversation that should be being had today. It's not about you know, Jim Hiller, lost control of his bench, what is he doing? He made a call in the third period to do what he did

and that's the conversation. Was that a good idea? Is that indicative? of what he wants to do in the future. He clearly doesn't trust Gavin McKenna yet to play in close games. But the biggest mystery to me, and these are all valid conversations, is the thought that you could somehow take this Leaf team,

the way that they are designed, the players they had the game last night and say, you know what? You know, it's a good strategy? Let's park the pots and show out what we defend. Can't do it. Let's just show how we can lock it down. Because we are so good at the game.

that, we are wired like the 95 Devils or No One Wild Team. Like, they're not that. They've never been that. And that's where to me, I would want to say, I get sort of the sentiment of wanting to be careful with the two-bow lead, but that's not who you are. The leaks are better off thinking, of course you want to be smart, obviously. But it's more about let's go get a fifth as opposed to stop them from getting a third. Because that's who they are.

Trying to stop them from getting a third. They're not good at that. and they showed it last night. So to climb on that a little bit, like, I agree. I think the best defense is offense as far as managing the puck and being smart. And within reason, obviously. But do you think, like, we played Jim Hiller's sound earlier, do you think if he had truth serum, he was actually telling the truth,

like, I lost him along the way, or is it as simple as, I don't trust him yet because he's 18? And Hayes brought up a point. It's like, I'd rather have. have just safe veterans out there and I'm going to roll Nick Paul out and make sure that he's going to try and win a draw. Like, is it more just a conservative approach? Or is there something that he didn't like or saw in McKenna so far?

And he's like, I'm not going to deal with that tonight. Truth serum, if I think Jim Hiller, honestly, McKenna got lost in the rotation in the second period. And then he got to like three minutes left in the period. And Hiller thought, let's just get to the intermission. We got a two-goal lead. let's just go a little bit more cautious. And then the third period, he said,

we have a two goal lead, it's a big game, we really want this one, I'm going to limit the exposure of Gavin Kenna. I don't be set out to not plan at all, but maybe it was, I won't get him defensive zone starts, I won't get him up against different lineups. And then once Tavares got hurt,

then it was absolutely a conscious decision. We're going to nine forwards and he ain't one of them. Now, I do understand, once he'd been there, let's say it's the 10-minute mark of the second third period, or eight minutes left. He's been sitting kind of still for about an hour, our actual time.

And it would be difficult to say, hey, jump out there in this game that is going fast and furious and make a good play on the wall. Be strong on a puck battle because he wasn't sort of engaged in the game. At that point, the ship has sailed. But he made a call noodles. And if he was being honest, it wasn't just oopsie.

You know, I missed a couple rotations. Like, no, we got to the third. I don't quite trust him. Now, I was doing the game. I watched a lot of clips back about McKenna. There was nothing egregious from last night where you'd say, I can't play him after that. That is awful.

We saw William Neelander get flown by in the neutral zone on the Samuelson goal. There are some moments of McKenna in the neutral zone where he's still figuring out how do I trap like this and cause a disturbance, but nothing that would say, I can't play you again. And there's also the element of like, you got to play him because guess what

in two weeks he's going to be miles better than the alternative. Even if the alternative is better today in four experiences you're going to want Gavin McKenna a guy can pass the puck out of his own end to finish off a game more than Teddy Bluger. All due respect to Teddy Bluger.

So there is that as well like you let him play because he's gifted he'll figure it out and he cares. So that part I think he wasn't quite being completely forthright about about starting the third period, that is when, if you lost him in the second, you could have easily got him shifts, easily got him playing again,

and put it back to rotation. He chose not to. He chose conservative, passive, defensive, older than McKenna. And that was a choice. So here's a question to all three of you, including you, Hayes, because I know you've gone through this in Barry. When you're not playing, like, is there ever a chance where you kind of lean back and give the horse side to the,

to the coach, like, try and get noticed. Because I remember being on a bench in St. Louis, and Brad Hall going, 86 over here, 86. Like, basically, I've scored 86, and I'm sitting on the bench right now. I had a more subtle way of doing it, noodles. This was actually my specialty, because I had to do this a lot, like the 90-second TV timeout. Like, this is where I really, like, I would look to the Getty images.

The Getty Images guy in the corner, I'd be like, I'm out here now. You can grab some picks. But what I would do is I would make it very visible that I am like standing up and stretching my legs on the bench. And then I rip one leg over and the other one. And then I go for like a pretty quick twirl through all the people shoveling the ice. So like even if you're not paying attention, you could see that I was out there, man, 100%. So I wouldn't say 86 because I didn't even get 86 games, but I would make myself visible. I think it's the difference between a player with confidence like Brett Hall.

and a player with none, I'm blending in. Don't poke me out there now, dude. I'm not going out. I'm done. I'm thinking, like, McKenna's a confident guy. Yes, he would be thinking, get me on the ice. I feel like he might just give a little lean back and a look over type of lock eyes. Like, MJ, did you ever do that at any level going, I need to be out there or, you know,

I want to be out there type of thing. Yeah, I would not do the power ever. I would give, especially when I was, you know, you're playing well, I think you have a an important role, I'd give like Yeah. Who are you kidding back there? Like that pretty? Like, smart enough.

Just give that one. And like, and then, but then I would also be the guy, like, if it went, my last year in Stanley was I wasn't playing very much. And once it went like eight minutes, I was the guy, like, I should be just start playing my skates. Because I'm so checked out of this game. I couldn't stay in it. Mouth guard.

Personally, if I wasn't playing. When the mouth guard comes out, it's like in the glove, like I'm checked out of here. Done. Yeah. Well. But to McKenna's credit, guys, just real quick, we had a clip where, I don't know, it was like six minutes left the game or four minutes left the game and Cowan got down beside him. Yep.

And McKenna was like smiling and engaging with McKenna or with Cowan and clearly still invested the game, which is a testament to him staying with it. Like he was, he was ready. So this is, this is an interesting potential inflection point, Hasey, where Jim Hiller is going to be asked about it. Obviously, Gavin McKenna's going to play a bunch tomorrow. I can't imagine he's going to be down at six minutes. And he will have to decide, and he'll have conversations with his staff, with his analytics, with Chica, maybe with Matt's.

And like, okay, what are we trying to do here? How do we finish off games? Do we get a lead? Like, is this what we're supposed to be trying to do? Do we have the bodies to play it this way? Or do we have to think about this differently? And one last thought, guys, poor Zach McEwen. Where's the, where's the concern for Zach?

Get him a shift. Play five minutes. Listen, he was playing. He was up from the Marley's and he was playing. There's no outrage there. I'll say this, though. If you're afraid to play McKenna in close games, you're just never going to play him. Like, there's going to be a lot of close games this year, like one, two goal games.

So what? He's just never going to play? At some point, you just got to get over it and he's got to play. The thing that is also concerning, and Johnny, like, if you had to talk to the team today and address what is going on in the neutral zone, with the defensemen backing into the hash marks when the other team is crossing the blue line. Like, it must look,

it must look really stark when you're down there at ice level. How do they fix that? Because Buffalo torches them for two off the rush last night. Utah got them for like three or four off the rush. Like, teams know this now. Toronto's got to fix it. It looks amazing if you're an offensive player. Like, there's nothing you like more than a nice, healthy gap

between the two other teams forwards and their defense. Two parts, Frankie. I think there's one conversation about, hey, we need to manage the puck better. So we're not putting our D in bad spots so they haven't got up the ice yet and they're coming right back at us. Because as you know, you have no gap to begin with.

You kind of can't help but back in. But the other part, so that's one conversation. And that's a pretty simple one. Like don't turn the puck over the blue line. Don't make the whole lateral plays. Like that's a, we've all heard that conversation a million times. But the other one is, okay, we drop it back into a one-two-two. If you think of the Samuelson goal,

the first forward steering has to do a better job and the second forward who's going to either hold the red line or pinch a guy off they got to do a better job of not letting them go through like a hot knife through butter like you've got to do something

other than stand there at times it looks like you guys remember when we do the drills in practice where they make the defensive team turn their sticks upside down to try to help the offensive team make plays token pressure stick upside down with a knob of the stick on the ice That's what that sequence right there

Samuel seeing goals looks like. Poken pressure sticks upside down. Make sure never to touch anyone or touch anything because we're working on offense. You can't do that. You got a hit, bump, slide, press, chip, whatever term you want all the time, every time.

And if you get that, then one defense can stand up and one can start to retreat, Frankie, in case there's a dump it. Right? Like you can have a bit of a stagger there if you trust the forwards. But if you don't trust the forwards, everyone's inclination is just to

just sink to sink back, sink back and, you know, Bobrowski gets beaten a good shot and Jack Quinn beats them and Samuelson beats them and I guess they're good shots but I'd still love saves.

Well, I mean, I still want saves on those plays. I'm going to ask you. I mean, the elephant in the room is the goaltending just has been okay. You know, there have been games where it was, they were good, very good. Oh, not a couple good ones. Colorado.

A couple good ones, Vegas, Colorado. Stollars first start against the Islanders, very good, especially in the third. So with that in mind, if I gave you these two options, you've got to pick one. Which one is more likely to finish in the top half of the league? The goalies, statistically, or team defense for the Leafs? The goalies. I mean, I just don't know if the Leafs have the personnel.

Like, the goalies will be, like, the goalies might, like, they'll have good numbers, say percentage, goals save above expected, and they still might have a goals against a 3.1. like I just you know just just by the nature of the team and the dynamic and Tannib's injury and everything else and just look at the look at the names the guys playing their second pair is Morgan Riley and Troy

Stetcher trouble that's our second pair second pairs play 21 and a half minutes you know Blankenberg at Ekman-Larsson Blankenberg is playing 18 minutes God love him he's like he's he wants to make plays and he's a decent player but

and that's with Yeah, he didn't have a contract this summer. And that's with McCabe, who I want to be good so badly, because I really like him as a player, and he's had good moments. He has had a tough start to the year. He hasn't solidified this year like he did two years ago, like he didn't do last year.

And Radish, again, say what you want. They did not sign him to play 28 minutes every situation. That was not what they wanted. He was supposed to be, he's our offensive guy, 23 minutes, all the power plays, all the offensive situations, and we believe he can be a better second pair defenseman than his reputation might suggest. But he's playing 28 minutes, Frankie. No, I don't.

They just don't have the personnel to be a great defensive team right now, even if they try to play the system really well. They've essentially got four guys there that are like third pair of guys, varying degrees of third pair of guys. You could be a 3A, you could be a 3B. you'd be a seven or eight guy, but that's what they got. And that's what they have to play, essentially anywhere between 15 to 21 minutes.

So let me, what does it say, what does this say to you, Johnny? When Chica took the job, he talked a lot about how, like, we need to build from the back end out. And the blue line was very much a priority. And we saw six new forwards, and we saw, you know, Darren Radish, the one defenseman, and we saw the Marchenko trade. Like, what does it say about the position of defense and how hard it is

to actually overhaul your job? decor. It's just that. They're a lot harder to get. The quality ones are a lot harder to get. There's not as many of them, by the nature of the position, there's half as many defense minutes forwards. It's a lot easier to revamp

your bottom six, right? Like, you can, he did, right? He went out there and he made a Nick Paul trade, and he got Du Hame, and he got Luger, and, you know, they tried some different things, and they swung big on Marchenko, who, by the way, was, you know, a couple games are always flying around and making play. He's not a perfect player. He got

beaten overtime, but you see what he does. does with the puck. But Frankie, they're not a lot of good top three defensemen. Doesn't have to do a first pair. Let's just say a solid top three guy. They're not that many of them and the ones that are out there

they're not available. I mean, so they don't have the assets for Simon Edvenson to go get them or Niketian or whatever. That's who they need, but they spent that currency on Marchenko. That's what they prioritized. And it's you're rob and Peter to pay Paul. You

can't have everything because they don't have everything. They don't have enough to get everything. And so they pick forwards, but it goes back to the original conversation. If you're going to pick forwards, if you're going to load up on depth and stars, then when you get up four to, don't think we're going to change who we are now. Leopard's not changing their spots. We don't have the guys. So let's just, they were dominating the game playing just as they were with their forwards, making plays.

Like, no need to change it because we don't have the guys who are great at doing it like that. How many more losses before Rick Tocke is in trouble in Philly? Because it's ugly, and the players are starting to bite their lip when asked about them and everything. It feels like it's getting to a point that could spontaneously combust here very soon. I think he gets a transaction first. I don't know what the transaction is. I don't know what it happens. but I think more than

when they sent, when they signed Michael bunting, they sent uh, but, uh, Alex bump down. Bump, thank you. They said bump down.

Not like that. Like a transaction that sort of matters. I think he gets one of those. And then if it doesn't turn around shortly thereafter or improve, then I don't know if it's his fault or not, but they make that move because they, you know, it doesn't go on forever and you can't fire.

the player, so you've got to make changes, it would be the coach. Yeah, like, you look at it, again, it's particularly ugly because it's the first nine games. If you're in 06 and 3... But it's awful. It's awful. They have scored 11 goals. They have a minus 22 goal differential, which

is needless to say, you know, the worst, it's worse than Calgary to put that into perspective. Joseph Wallis top 10 and goals saved above expecting and he doesn't have a win. Yeah, there you go. He's actually played pretty well for them. I looked at it today just for I'm like, well, maybe they're actually playing better because you know what?

Like, no team is this bad in the league. No, you know, they're, guess where they are an expected goal percentage? Dead last. Probably like 30%. Yeah. In the 30s, which is impossible to do for, they've done a 10th of the season. They're in the 30s for a shot share, expected goal share. So they're getting what they deserve, which is even more frightening.

Crazy. They have a goaltender playing well, and they are getting waxed night in. a night out because they're playing as bad as their record shows. That is a stunning development for a team that really was overachieving last year. They did overachieve, and that needs to be considered in all of this, for sure. Fla Dar was their MVP last year. Unbelievable. And I like that.

I think he's a good goaltender, but he can't score. I watched them live the other day. Like they're just... They have 20 less goals in Carolina, and Carolina's played a game less than that. Like they're 13 points back of Carolina in their own division. Tough to be that bad. Numbers are ugly. But the weird thing is, guys, like, we are going to get, we are heading into that 10 to 15 game range here.

Our GM's going to be itchy here. Like, you have to think Chikas' work at the phone's going, I got a nibble around the edges on a D, something. He goes and gets Adjurati yesterday, which I would think maybe Radi gets called up to play in, Yeah, maybe of John Sur. Yeah, he's a centerman. He's pretty good with the puck. His boots aren't very good, but he's like a smart player. Don't look at your phones.

Don't look at anything. Let me ask you this. Through nine games, how much are the Philadelphia Flyers getting outshot by? Oh, we did this other night. How much do you think? 20 shots. 130. No, no, no.

In total. I said 103. 103? 103. 103? 130. Somewhere in between. 119.

That's their shot differential right now. 20 per night. And where's the score effects? They're losing every game. They should be getting. They should see like what is going on there? It is awful. And guys, if you look at their Puckpedia page, everybody is signed.

They got one guy, wrist a line on the back end, Penn and UFA. Every other player has term of like two, three, four or more years. Like they committed to this group as though it was the group. And it's come so far off the rail. it's hard to figure. Buddy, how about off the rails in Columbus? Like, I'm watching Rick Bonas, and I love him, and I played for him,

and I'm watching him, like, he doesn't need this. He's 71 years old, and he is so mad. He's so mad that they're 30th in goals against per game. I don't know, like, at what point the guys are going to get it or not. Like, I don't know what's happening behind the scenes there, but it's a fascinating watch to see him lose it like that. It's got to be something behind the scenes. that we're not seeing that he's so frail.

Like, this might be a culture thing that he's come into and going, what is this circus here? And you know what? You're right. He's 71 years old. You're not going to change. I actually respect it. It's refreshing for a guy to just speak his mind and go, this is ridiculous, and I'm not accepting this.

Like, he was respectful about Marchenko on the trade. He said, the guy didn't want to be here. You know what? We moved on from him, and that's life. But I think there's just more to this Columbus situation than, you know, a coach just barking. Like he's pissed about something. He's seeing something behind the curtain here that he's not liking it.

He's not accepting it. I don't know how you guys feel. Well, I hear you. He's showing his cards, but he showed them at the end of the last year. Why didn't his GM change something then for him? Like, why didn't they trade? You can only go to the whip so often. Yeah, you know.

And I say like Bones is like my favorite coach of all time. I like him as a coach. I like him as a person, you know, whatever. I will say this, though, if I'm in the locker room, I don't love getting lit up publicly every day, even if it's a problem, and you can respect him saying it, and for sure,

but if the goal is to affect change, I don't know if going public day after day after day is the best way to go about it because you're going to lose, and people will hate this. People will hate me saying this, but you're going to lose the guys, and they'll say, well, they get paid a ton,

suck it up, take the criticism, sure, okay, that sounds good in a vacuum, but that's not today's world. That's not today's athlete. That's not the finances of the situation. And if you lose the guys because they're just, you know, they're probably, they're out there intentionally not trying. Like they got some issues, but they're presumably trying to do what they're supposed to do.

Then it, if they check out or tune you out, then it's all over. Then you're done. And what if it's got no chance. What happens when they publicly sit in there too? You got a Redsky who hasn't resigned. Well, they were going to trade them. It was continuously back there. They had a trade ready to go.

to Dallas and then he wouldn't wave or something. Remember that? Yeah, he re-sting. He's going to want to extend? You think he's going to want to extend, like going through a year where it's sort of this public flop? Could you imagine they were going to get Thomas Harley and then he didn't want to go so they didn't? And if they do a trade and they get a player like much significantly worse than Thomas Harley, that would be, I'd be pretty bitter if I were Columbus.

Yeah. Wow. It's, I don't know. We'll see. They're not off to a great start. It's early, but it gets loud quickly, you know, around the league. And when the Pace Guard teams are playing great. And it gets over quick.

Yes. It gets over quick. The math doesn't math for much longer. Yeah, exactly. Like, they're the same division as Philly, and they're looking at Carolina. The champs are 6'1 and 1 just like, let's go. And they lost their first game against Florida. Like, they've won six in a row in Carolina.

It's crazy to say, but in like the next two weeks, it's almost like, too late for a lot of teams. It's great. I think it's true, though. For the teams that aren't that good in need to punch above their weight, it's too late. You know what I mean? Like a team that's really good that has a slow story. Edmonton is famous for that the last five years.

Terrible starts. And they go, all right, enough. And they're good enough to do that. Montreal or Florida, these teams, they're good, and they're going to be able to write the ship. There's plenty of time. But if you're a team that has to, you're not good enough. to go on a 10 and 2 run.

No. Philly, Columbus. You need to kind of be consistently good for the start. Detroit. You know what that team is right now? That's Dallas. Dallas is 3-3-1. And they're going to be okay. They're going to be fine. They're a very good team. They'll figure it out. You're going to be okay. You're right. The ones near the bottom,

it just is going to drop off quicker. Absolutely. It seems like that. All right, Johnny. We'll leave it there. Have a great weekend. We'll do it next week. All right. I'm taking the over on Gavin McKenna, six and a half minutes tomorrow night. Okay. Great bet. Great, great bet.

Safe bet. Guaranteed money. Mike Johnson joining us here on the Maple Tretteut, Hotline. I don't think Van Duel, I don't think they post, you know, minutes played props. But I would be curious what that would look like for tomorrow night with the Islanders in town. But he's going to play. Meldon Friday brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree aside and a drink.

and you'll get it all in 20 minutes or less. So fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch at your local Boston pizza. Picks still to come. Leave Salonters tomorrow night. The Dodgers are done. Overdrive continues up on TSN. Hello, Canada.

This is Brian Adams Radio. Hosted by Brian Adams himself. We'll play a few of mine, a ton of my favorites, and some must-hear behind-the-scenes stories from the world of rock-and-roll. What I'm going to get to? One thing about doing rock and roll so long as you end up meeting a are the people that you admire. Sometimes you even get to work with him.

Brian Adams Radio. Now available on the free IHare Radio app. Everybody, how are you tonight? Sounds great. All right, so one ticket has been punched for the World Series, and that would, of course, be the Milwaukee Brewers who sweep the Dodgers. And Otani actually hit a home run last night, which is wild. They're giving them a lead early, and the Brewers just kept chipping away, and they kept scoring runs.

And now everyone's got to take on the Dodgers. This is the end. They're done. They're finished. And I am not going to have the same conclusion. No, I'm not going there either. No. They won the last two World Series,

and they were in the NLCS again this year. Right. But here is my concern, and I can speak as a kid that grew up in Toronto, obviously, you know, loving the Js and the early 90s runs and them winning the World Series. It's amazing for Milwaukee. They're going to be the favorite to win the World Series.

I think they will win the World Series. They've never won the World Series before. They haven't been there since 1982. And there's a very good chance you're going to win it, and then the league is going to have a lockout next year in some capacity. And I'm not putting the car before the horse, and if you're a Brewer's fan or a Guardian's a fan, you're going to love it.

You're going to enjoy the ride. If they win, you're going to enjoy the parade. you get to buy all the paraphernalia and the shirts and hats and be ecstatic. But it is going to be such a punch in the gut if next April they're not playing. You know, and you have to delay the banner going up and delay the ring ceremony.

And it might seem minor to the fans who aren't celebrating, but it's major for them because talk to Blue J fans. It was brutal. The Locket was the next year, I guess players strike. And it took them years to recover from that. Years to recover. I think it's amazing for the brewers.

It's a great story. Like you see how many people behind the scenes, like as far as like front office analytic people, like really put that thing together and have constructed it the way it is. As far as the Dodgers are concerned, people want to dunk on the Dodgers and go ahead and do it because they got all this money. They sign everyone.

Everyone wants to play there. The reality is, even though they spend all that money, they're not going to win every single year. Like, they're not going to dominate every single year, even though they spend more than everyone else. It's amazing for the Brewers.

But I have no doubt the Dodgers will find a way to re-rack it and be right back where they are. It's not like they missed the playoffs. Not like they got punted in the NLDS. They're right where there's supposed to be. They're still made the playoffs in the championship series. And not to mention, if Otani's hurt,

he'll be healthy by the time he's next time around. Like, yeah, they're going to be a year older and all of that type of stuff. But this team, now, is their owner kind of in some hot water? Yeah, he's in big trouble. He's trying to sell. There might be some stuff that, you know, what if the philosophy of the team changes because the owner either changes hands or has to shave money?

Possibly. That's a different situation. Very much so. And that is possible on top of the CBA. If the game changes the business side of it, then the Dodgers are not going to have the same advantages that they have had. So there is a lot of uncertainty on that front, but in terms of the talent and the players and all that, you know, it's not as if they won 65 games this year in plummeted and fell out of control. They were still a very formidable team.

And what has become an interesting kind of subplot storyline in sports is like the Dodgers did not sell out any of their home playoff games, which is pretty incredible for a town like L.A. With that many people, that much money, and the Dodgers have won back-to-back world series, did not. sell out. Did not sell out a bunch of games down the stretch. You know, I've been seeing the, you know, the oilers not selling out, Vegas, not selling out. Ottawa's numbers are very low. Like you've been there, noodles in the building.

It's 14,000, you know, and I think there are three or four thousand tickets short of a sellout. Like that, like something's going on here. And I don't know if it's the economy, which it very well could be. Probably could be, yeah. Definitely. And I understand that with inflation and everything that's cool. There's a lot of anxiety.

in the world right now, which I totally understand. But it's expensive. And the NHL in particular, and baseball, those are gate-driven leagues. They always have and they always will be. You know, you can bank on the TV money to an extent. And that complicates things, too. I wouldn't be shocked if there's some fans that are saying, man, I've got to pay for all these different subscriptions and all, you know, I can't afford to go to a ton of games.

Your necessities are a lot now. Yeah, they are. Your necessities in life are way more than they ever have. been. And it's not just, like, it's not just the ticket to the game. Let's say, well, I don't know what an average NHL ticket. Is it like 120 to 150? It depends on what, yeah, you're right, just an average median seat, okay? So then you're, you're two people, you're, you're in for 300. You go park somewhere now, you're 50 bucks. So now you're 350. Now your bottle water's $12, like, how many games can you possibly go to in a year dropping $600 or $500?

It's not easy for people, man. It's a special occasion now when you do it. It's just people are getting priced out. You're getting stretched. And that's it. And especially in smaller markets where there just isn't as many people and as much money, quite frankly. That's why the Dodgers is very surprising. Like that's Los Angeles and you're not selling out playoff games?

You know what it is? Is it winning fatigue? Is there such a thing where it's like, no, we saw this last year? That's usually in the regular season noodles. You know, like, wake me up in October. I'm not coming in April and May. Like, you know, whatever. But, but I guess my point is, is they were like, wake me up in the finals.

Wake me up and, you know, like, oh, this is, this is nothing. This is, you know. That is, that is a level of sports. The Vegas thing is like, I think they stopped, like, Vegas stopped selling to, like, third party vendors or something like that, like that. So they're basically saying, little short. short-term pain for hopefully long-term gain because we don't have to do it through the third parties is how I understood it.

Yeah, I talked to somebody out of Vegas there too, and exactly that. It may look like there's a loss of interest, but it's more about how the tickets are being sold and handled. So there will be a market correction on that, but that'll be fine. That market's fine. But I just, I think you come back to it, Brian. Like it's expensive. People, you know, they're keeping their money.

a little closer to home. There's a lot of uncertainty in life. I get it, but, you know, people still go. Like, there's a lot of buildings that still sell out. There's a lot of teams that still drive gate revenue. And I think that's what the owners are hoping for. Hey, we added two more home or one more home date. Two more games onto this.

Yeah. Like, it's still early in the season. People are still trying to get their feet underneath them. You know what's interesting about it? Maybe this doesn't go for every market in the NHL, but if you're a team that is maybe susceptible to that happening and your team is at that point where it could go either way as far as like, do you add some pieces or do you sell off some pieces

and kind of rejig it? Like they're probably going to nudge themselves towards, now we can't lose interest. We got to keep buzz. We got to keep hype because like it can go either way right now. And if it goes the other way and all of a sudden revenue starts dropping, it's like there's no guarantee that it ever gets back up. Like remember Chicago's building when they were a really good,

team, 21,000, second loudest in the league to the Bell Center, like sold out all the time. They're one of those teams struggling too. They had Crosby in town, and Baderd was playing his first game as captain. They're probably 3,000 empty seats in there. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's a lot. That's a pretty, like that, in theory, that's a hot ticket.

Yeah, it is. And, you know, with the Canadian markets, you know, there's a couple things going against collectively the seven markets as well. and that is none of them have won in 30 plus years. Yeah. So you're not really selling winning. You know, you're, you can sell some hope in some areas, you know, like Edmonton's been selling, but Edmonton, they jacked prices because they went to back-to-back cup finals.

Yeah. People are pissed about that. They're very expensive out there. Yeah. And, you know, Montreal, I think there's hope there. The lease are always a bit different because of the size of the market and the history and all that. But you have that.

And then you've got this other kind of thing. hanging over them about, you know, players not wanted to be here or holdouts. And, you know, Ottawa got hit with Brady. Winnipeg's got the Hullabug stuff. Vancouver got hit with Quinn Hughes. And, you know, he's just a tough team to watch this year.

You know, they're in a rebuild and they're struggling. But finally you're at the dome, like I think some people would look at that and say, we got to go to the saddle dome. Are they celebrating that out there? Like, you got to get it. It's like an all-year-long celebration. You have to.

I think there's going to be a step ladder of celebrations, right? their longtime voice Peter Marr passed away this summer so I'm sure there'll be Cliff Fletcher I'm at some point I think would probably be celebrated absolutely you know and then the goodbye to the Saddle Dome you know I'm sure they'll bring in the greats I'm sure they'll bring in the 89 team of the world I don't know about that but you'll bring in the 89 cup team and you know that type of stuff and and really do it right The new building, by all accounts, and obviously I've been by there a few times and seen stuff, like it's going to be, you know, as any new building is, it seems like the new building is always the best building in the league for a couple years.

Yep, always. By the way that they've designed it, it looks like it's going to be great. You know, it's been a slow start for them. It's not going to get easier for them. They play Carolina next game. Oh, yeah. So, you know, they're in Vegas last night. It went exactly as you'd think of it.

you'd go against Vegas, a very strong team. And then they got Carolina coming in, but they, you know, they're taking their lumps early on. It's a tough, tough go. Yeah, they're not alone. You know, there's a handful of teams off to a really sluggish start right now. Yeah. Kind of like, you know, Owen Wilson in terms of the way that they generally pick NFL games. Like, they were on the Seahawks last night.

And with Bow Nix, like I saw a stat last night, just to kind of put it into perspective how awful Bo Nix has been. and it is staggering. Like in terms of the last certain amount of years and the amount of players that have kind of, let me find it. There I have it right here. Bonix has the career, has the best career record in NFL history in games

with six yards per attempt or less. He's 13 and 3. So in other words, he's not throwing the ball yet he's still winning. And on top of that, there was another status I saw last night, 701 qualified quarterback seasons through six games in the past 20 years. Bow Nix ranks 701 out of 701 in average pass length.

Holy smokes, dude. That's how bad he's been. Like, I was watching him last night in the fourth quarter and into overtime. I'm like, you can't play worse quarterback than this. He is horrendous. Ryan Fitzpatrick destroyed him last night in the post game. And deservedly so. But he called him in, like, he was calling out his character.

Like, basically, you're not trying out there. You're not willing to put your body on the line. That was serious stuff. I thought it was great analysis, but it was harsh. And even with that, Owen Wilson couldn't pick a winner last night. So we are now plus one. Al's brother is somewhere on the Mediterranean. I have no idea what he's doing.

We have another international game, battle the AFC South over in London. Jags minus two and a half. We're on the Jags here. They got past the Eagles last week. The Eagles, you know, they were a desperate team. They fought them hard. The Texans are a very desperate team. I just don't think they're good now.

CJ Stroud against that defense. Jags have been over there. They're acclimated. That's their town now. It's only two and a half. I'm going to lay the points here and take the Jags. With my next game, the Sunday nighter is Bill's, or sorry, the 4 p.m. game is Bill's at Raiders. Bill, this line's moving a little bit.

I'm actually going to take the points on the Raiders. It's five and a half. I just, I have not liked the Bill's defense. I think Josh Allen has a day. I think the bills likely win that game. I just think it screams one possession game, possibly a field goal game. Raiders are coming off two tough losses. They got pumped last week.

I think they respond better this week. I think the bills can win this game. We'll win this game. I just think it's a tight game. So Al's brother and I are on the Jags and the Raiders, and Owen Wilson have sent in their picks. They're going to take the Browns with the points against the Ravens. Lamar not playing.

I think that's a terrible. pick. Hunley just showed us on Sunday night. He's more than capable. But this is why they pick the way they pick. This is why they're a team that just simply goes nowhere in the regular season. Team Owen Wilson on the Browns and then they're taking the Cowboys on Sunday night. Cowboys getting one and a half against the Packers. So they're on the Cowboys and the Browns. They're taking the points in both their games. So Doogie will post those on Instagram on Twitter. The whole nine. Doogie's on top of things. Yeah. Doogie's always

really, really on top of things. And we love him. And we love him. Mail it in Friday, brought to you by Boston Pizza. Canada's favorite sports bar, enjoy a $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree of a side and a drink, and you get it all in 20 minutes or less. A fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. See you for a $15 fast lunch of your local Boston pizza. Overdrive continues up on TSN.

Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the glorious sons. Hi, I'm Nellie Fittata. Made in Canada, the station that champions Canadian music.

Loud, crowd, and all yours. No passports required, just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca. Or the free IHeartRadio app. Mail it in Friday is brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree a site and a drink and you'll get it all in 20 minutes or less. A fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. for a $15 fast lunch at your local Boston pizza.

Best Betts powered by Fandu. Make your picks and assemble the same game parlay and seconds on the Fandual Sportsbook app. Game 4 of the ALCS tonight. You've got to pay a little bit of juice. It's basically a pick-em, but I'm on the race tonight to tie this thing up. I think this is going seven.

I think both teams very equally matched. I would expect another low-scoring game. The total is six and a half runs. That's a very low total. But I would not be surprised if it was a 2-1-3. three two game again tonight. I'd lean the under. Just it's cold. You know, it's Cleveland. It's going to be

dark and dreary. It's going the distance. I'd like to see it go seven. 100%. And Milwaukee's just going to sit there and say we're waiting for you whenever you're ready. Best bets powered by Fan Duel. Same game probably is available for every MLB game on the Fandul's Sportsbook Yeah, please play responsibly 19 plus

physically located in Ontario. All right. We got hockey football, the red blocks. I'm looking for a win tonight. Looking for a win on TSA. Shout out to our boy, A.K., maybe he's going to deliver a win to the Red Blacks, making his... NFL on TSN debut. Having the time of his life.

He's going to dominate tonight. Aaron Kourlnick, sideline guy tonight. He might be witnessing history. The Red Blacks might final win tonight against the Argos. We'll see. NFL action, baseball action, hockey tomorrow throughout the week. It's going to be great. McKinnon versus Sid tonight.

Awesome game. Good stuff. All right. Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out. We appreciate it. Everyone for tuning in today, TV, radio, podcast, web, up on YouTube live on TSN's YouTube channel, and streaming soon up on Crave. We're out of here. Enjoy your evenings. Enjoy your weekends. We're back Monday at 4 p.m. We'll chat then. The battle for every yard. The chase for the end zone. The roar of Bill's Mafia. Buffalo Bill's football has a new home on TSN Radio. Every snap, every hit, every touchdown! Hear every game live on TSN Radio. On Iheart Radio.

From kickoff to the final whistle. James Cook is in the kitchen. Buffalo Bills football on TSN Radio. Oh, that changed quickly. The Bills live here. Now available on Iheart Radio.