OverDrive - March 17, 2026 - Hour 2 - Mike Johnson

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your way. Brian Hayes, Dave Fessjuck, the Toronto star, confirmed that I later in the hour

Mike Johnson coming up from Scotiabank, Leafs Islanders tonight. Same Patrick's day.

I don't think they saw Guinness down at Scotiabank. I mean, I don't know if they've seen it

down there.

Yeah, like I'm not generally a Guinness drinker, so I've never really looked into it, but

they do have that one pub where they got a lot of different beers. I'm sure they've

got it.

I mean, I'm sure somewhere on top in the building or a can. Yes. Got to be. Got to be.

They bring it in for a night like tonight. You got to make an adjustment, right? Although

they all, you know, all these buildings they've got deals with different companies.

Oh yeah.

So who I don't know who even owns Guinness, you know, if it falls under the umbrella of

Moulson or Budweiser or whatever, I don't know. Global behemoths of beer.

There's a lot of them quite a few. There's a there's a less or less though, right? They're

like, there's a they all get bought up eventually. Yeah, true enough. Yeah, true enough.

But Leafs Islanders tonight, big trade in the NFL today, Jalen Waddle on his way from

Miami to Denver. Like Miami is you talk about taking a down the studs. They are just fully

committing to being effectively the worst team in the league for a couple of years.

But I understand why like they haven't been competitive in in so long.

Well, and when you roll the dice on a quarterback and it doesn't turn out, I mean, you

could you got to get another quarterback. And how do you get one? Right? You got a tank.

Got a tank. Got to get him in the draft because how else the how else the stumble upon a

generational quarterback that might give you a chance to have a 10 year run like the

bills have Allen and the chiefs have my homes. I mean, if you don't have that as your

centerpiece, you're kind of kidding yourself. Yeah. And this is not the draft where they're

going to likely get him. I mean, I there may be that Mendoza is going to likely go first

overall. There's other arms in the draft. They could take them, but they've got two picks

down the first round, a bunch of picks. I think in the second, third, fourth round, they're

loaded. They've got rid of their GM, new coach, who was gone, all their weapons, Tyree

kills out, Waddles out. They've lost lineman. Like they're basically just saying we're we

are fully committed to this. But it kind of is the way it has to go in the NFL.

I think so. Like when you have Drake, May and Josh Allen within your own division, the

jets are loaded with picks. Now they'll screw it up because they're the New York Jads. And

I can't sit here and say I have a ton of faith in the Miami Dolphins either based on what

they've done in the last 20 or 30 years. No. But if you're Denver, if you're Bonaix, man,

you got talent around you. Like you got a coach who is uber smart and it's going to put you

in a great position to succeed. They got a really good def a great defense in Denver.

You know, they were right there. They're the number one scene in the FC this past year.

And I add Waddle, it's put up or shut up time. I think for Bonaix.

And that's the question, right? Can he get it done? Bonaix really scare you, right?

In a big game. Yeah, the defense is great. And they've got you're right. They got weapons.

They've got weapons and Peyton's one of the best in terms of, you know,

scheming out, scheming the guy on the other side lined for sure. But

and look, I mean, hey, Bill's fans will tell you, you know, it's, uh, you know,

beat the ball. No guarantees. There's no guarantees. It's no guarantees.

And like that game, I mean, Bill's fans will replay that game in their mind a million times,

right? Where they had that game three point games should have had it on a number of plays

and some controversial, controversial calls. And that's the NFL, right? But the question is like,

I guess, I guess you can win with Bonaix. You can probably win with Bonaix.

Well, I mean, you just won with Sam Darnold. Yeah. And Darnold's been really good the last

couple of years. And I think he's proven he's further along than Bonaix. But Peyton likes them,

you know, and Nick's, he's got a live arm. And if you put weapons and everyone around you,

you get to get that. It's not always my homes that wins. We just proved that.

But he likes them. But what's his, what's his option? Like he's got to like him. He's, yeah,

fuck with them. That's, that's the NFL. Russell Wilson was his option. Yeah. And he made the right

choice. But you're right. I mean, what else are you going to do? Bonaix is your guy. You got

a hope. You're hoping you can bring the best out of him and, and get him to a level where he's

not hurt. Yeah. Absolutely. Uh, at least Alan is tonight. The honor is one of the surprise teams.

Like I was trying to put a list together today. Pittsburgh. Yeah. Buffalo. Buffalo's number one.

Buffalo's number one. Like without question because it's not just that they're in.

They're the best team in the league the last three months. And how much fun they are to watch.

They, you know, they're incredibly entertaining. They're the top seed needs for top seed in the

division. Uh, but Pittsburgh, I think, I think San Jose is right there. I think the ducks are

right there. Although most people thought they, they take a big step forward, but they're leading

their division right now. Columbus, if they get in, yeah, fit the mold of a massive surprise.

But the islanders, I think, have to be pretty high on this list. You know, I mean, Patrick

you bring in Shafer. They weren't horrible last year, but they haven't been great for a couple of

years. Uh, the guy who'll be making a call tonight alongside Gore Miller joins us now. Here's

our TSM hockey analyst, Mike Johnson joining us on the Maple Toyota hotline. Johnny, where does

this islanders team rank for you in terms of kind of the surprise rankings of the NHL?

They would be in like tier two. I think if we're going like the teams that will achieve the most

to me, even more than Buffalo, it's San Jose and Pittsburgh. I had, I think, both of them in last

in each conference. I got to where I thought they were going to finish. And even though Buffalo

might be better and have a better chance to go further, we thought Buffalo would be around the

playoff picture. 84 points, 86 points down. They might be at 92 or, or sorry, 102 now, but

but the islanders, yeah, you're like, well, what's changed? Because they do just roll over so many

of the same players year after year. What's changed is that Ilius Rokin has had a

Vezana caliber year that David Riddick has come in and been a really good backup.

And that Matthew Schaefer may have bearing the lead. Matthew Schaefer has come in. It's not just

the 20 goals of the 47 points. He has been a franchise altering in how they play and how they feel,

the energy that they have. There are perception around the league. All of it, he has changed

all of it as an 18 year old. And guys, maybe the best story I think I've ever heard.

My first game in Toronto, Maple Leaf Garden, I'm from Scarborough, my hometown. I probably had

100 people there. I didn't get 100 tickets, but I don't have 150 people there that I knew.

Matthew Schaefer is pushing upwards of 1,000 people at the game tonight. And

as a jaded sort of locker room guy, like sometimes Rookies, they get so much oxygen. You want to say,

okay, enough with the Schaefer show. We got it. He's good. We're a team here. That's not the case

with him, not because the person he is and the story that he's everything he's been through.

I think legitimately his team would be looking at saying, we have to do this for Schaefer tonight.

It's not important to them to make it good for him, but a 1,000 out of 18,000 people.

5% of the crowd are going to be somehow there to see Matthew Schaefer, which is mind blowing

and so spectacularly amazing. It's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, that is incredible. And

you know, there's just certain players that roll through town where, you know, they create a buzz

with their presence and it becomes a game that you're going down to see them as opposed to even

seeing the Leafs. It's obviously more highlighted now because the way the Leafs are playing,

the fact that their season is effectively over. But, you know, I think,

David's held that title for a decade, comes through town once, got to have it, got to have a

ticket. You have access to it, got to have it. Sid OV, you've had that, you know, kind of presence

for the last 20 years. Schaefer is pretty high on that list for me, Johnny. Like, if I could pick one

kid to watch play, it's it's probably him or Celebrini. And, you know, we saw Celebrini roll

through town about a month ago. Schaefer might be at the top of the list. If like an ISO can't

start on him. It's incredible. You, you want to watch him? You get to watch him for 27 minutes.

Yeah. He's going to be out there for half the game. He's whatever he is 14th in the league in

average minutes, 24 something as a rookie tonight. I'm sure if it's a close game, he'll play 27 or more

as Patrick. Well, maybe the right coach to play superstar young player to let him do his thing,

be aggressive, live with his mistakes. But yeah, he's, he's, he's amazing to watch. He's that,

he's that good to think he only played whatever 17 games last year with the injury and everything

else. He's been an incredible story. MJ, we were talking about the Leafs and Hayes and I was saying,

you know, it's tough to sell winning right now. And maybe you winning next year, it's tough to

sell hope because you don't have a young guys. And yet you look at the Islanders as sort of a team

where what would happen? Let's just say the Leafs theoretically, you could somehow get Matthew

Schaefer next year. Like, how much in your mind would one good young or great young puck moving

defense when make a difference on this Maple Leaf team? I mean, if you could put Matthew Schaefer

on their team, it would make a massive difference. Of course, of course, offensively transition,

breakouts, all those things. But what, almost feels like there's two separate conversations going

on around Toronto right now. One is, can they bounce back and be Boston? Can they turn it around and

be the Islanders? Yes, they can do that with the same group next year. Absolutely. They can. Yeah.

But I'm not going to suggest, yeah, for sure, for sure they could. If they're gold,

like if they're gold tending plays really well, they have better health. They're going to chase

their team a little bit for sure. But I'm not mistaking the Islanders or the penguins for a Stanley

Cup contender. That's an entirely different conversation. And I do think the Leafs for the last

three, four years have warranted being considered a Stanley Cup contender. I know they never got there.

And I know they struggle those big games and there may be some reasons why that were sort of

identifying after the fact. But they were legitimately good enough to go multiple rounds and

challenge for a cop scraping into the playoffs in eighth spot doing what the Boston Bruins this year

are doing. The Leafs could do that, but that's not a cup winning team. So I'm not exactly sure

what the objective is. If it's against the playoffs, they could do that with the core as is and

nibbling around the edges and things falling into place better. But to be a cup contender again,

that is a far larger project for them to take. So Craig Marubey said today that they're still

talking about the good is on Matthews hit daily around the team. It has been less than a week.

But it was last Thursday that happened. We're into the following week. It's Tuesday. I was off

yesterday. I figured by yesterday it was kind of a dead story. It clearly wasn't it clearly still

isn't. It certainly won't be until they go through Anaheim I think in two weeks. So or a week

to have from now. But is this does this have life for like 14 more games, 15 more games,

whatever they have left. Or do you see this kind of after tonight, Diane, then it comes back alive

when they go to Anaheim. Like how much more oxygen is in the goodest Matthews lack of response

conversation. Seals haze like it has to maybe be in the periphery every game in that whether it's

a reminder before they start or weren't on the bench or just the reality that if anything even

remotely happens, everyone's filing in right like I think in that sense for the next 14 games.

If there is anything anything at all that goes on, it will be part of the overreaction that they

have. So yeah, that will last till the end of the year. I can't imagine what more they could say

about it. Whatever speeches they're going to have and I I agree that they should have had them.

There's not much more you can say we shouldn't have done this. We will do this in the future.

You can call out guys individually. You can teach them how to fight whatever you want to do. But

after that, they got to just go out and play and then react differently. And then the Anaheim

game will be the other flashpoint in this year where I mean, I guess I'm expecting Michael

Pizzetta to come up and fight someone's going to fight. Someone's going to go to Joshua or someone's

or fight them, fight them multiple times like you might have to fight them three times and get

them out of the game or fight him and then go fight Leo Carlson. I'm not calling for guys to get

hurt, but this is sort of the reality of the jungle that is the NHL at times. Then it will be a story,

but I don't know. And if he's one of you're one of the guys in the fetch, say what you want

about Max Domey, he would have been in there, right? He would have been in there. And at some point

for guys that would respond that way, you'd almost get tired of hearing these

talks about the lack of reaction or lack of this lack of that. We're like, but it's not me.

I would do it. He was the guys on the ice that have to do it. So the whole thing has been an awkward

unpleasant sort of humbling, emasculating experience for the guys that were out there and for the team.

So it'll be in their awareness, but I can't imagine they talk about it much more after today.

Well, the league doesn't stop talking about it. MJ, obviously, Matthews agent made a lot of noise

about the suspension, not being adequate said that George Parris and the player safety department

should be suspended for giving him a five game suspension. Yeah, very good line, very good line.

Got an agent you want on your side for sure. And Parris spoke today. And I'm sure you were tuned

into your US college guy. He's a Princeton guy. And you know, he, he basically, you reminded me

Eric Spolstrom's response to the bam at a bio 83 point game. You know, the night when the coach

of the Miami Heat said, I apologize to nobody for nothing. I thought George Parris was essentially

saying, we're good here. This we do what we do. And if you don't like it, well, sorry.

Art of George Parris's job is to take the arrows. Like that is absolutely part of the job.

You know, if they've taken for the league and taken on the chin and be criticized and scrutinized

everything else. And he knows that. He also was very sort of confident in himself in the process

they have. You could see when he was asked about his little presser today. There wasn't a lot of room

for doubt that maybe they weren't doing exactly how they should do it. Also two things worth noting.

One, the rules and the suspensions are not George's decision. He operates based on what he's told

to do by the GMs and the clubs and the league. Like it's all a function of what they want the

suspension to be. The same way that you used to be able to jump over the boards and get a jump

on the ice and a fight and then it became a 20 game suspension and then it never happened.

If they wanted stuff not to happen, they would change the rules with the implementation of the

rules to make it not happen. So while he is the face of it, it is not strictly his decision on how

kneeing penalties get penalized. That's not just for him. The other thing though is that

you could have softened the stance by offering up like, you know what, we're always open to new ideas

as good as we think we're doing with it. We can always get better. We're always

willing to take Conor McDavid to input. We've hired one to get together, we're happy to have a talk.

Like there's none of that that could have showed a little bit of not contrition, but just openness

to conversation. But maybe that would be also a can of worms he doesn't want to deal with the rest

with Mike Johnson or TSN hockey analyst. So sticking in Edmonton, obviously McDavid is healthy

and playing, but dry subtle is not. It was announced earlier this afternoon. He's out for

the rest of the regular season. Conor Ingram has been announced as the number one starter,

Tristan Jari, you're officially a back of if that. They're hanging on by a thread. You know,

that said, they could still win the Pacific. You know, there are two points out of top spot in

the Pacific and four points out of being out of the playoffs. How big of a blow beyond the obvious,

try settle out. Like how does it change your math on whether or not you believe they're going to

make it, whether or not you believe they end up with home ice, winning the Pacific. What is this

change in your eye in terms of the projection of the oil is the rest of the way.

So the thing they got going for them is you said it Pacific. It's terrible. And so they could

probably get in with a low point total. What changes is the idea that we've been waiting?

All your long with the assumption, not the hope, but the assumption they'll figure it out.

It'll be fine. They get rocking and rolling. They'll dial it up. They've been to these finals

in a row. They'll, you know, last 20 games and then they'll go in the playoffs and whether they come

first or second or third or fourth. They much like Florida last year would be okay wherever they end up.

So the idea of them finding their best game. Well, that's out the window because without dry

settle their best game is going to be 97 go, 97 go. And I hope for the rest. So that does change.

If he's back for the playoffs and he's 100% healthy, do you not like them in a first round matchup

against Anaheim? I would. Yeah, of course. You know, I would like them against LA or wherever

like, you know, anyone but Vegas, I suppose that they'd be a pretty heavy favorite. So that doesn't

change. But the whole thing which we thought would smooth itself will continue to feel

scratchy the rest of the way. No dry settles on our anger. And then we talked about this

like a month ago. Remember I said would not surprise me at England's playing in the playoffs. Well,

sure enough, there he is. It's going to be a grind and they won't look very great the rest of the

way until maybe he gets back until maybe the playoffs and and it will be harder for them to even

make the playoffs or maybe get a whole nice the playoffs given this injury. Well, what's your

level of concern, MJ? Because Hayes was sort of sketching out an idea that maybe this is where

my David goes ballistic, right? He just he drags them into the playoffs, you know, playing 27 minutes

and night and scoring like he's never scored before. And maybe he wins the heart because of it.

But what's he got left in the tank when game one rolls around? Always a believer in that heart.

Go ahead, Johnny. Johnny, please. Who cares as long as he wins the heart? That's all that really

matter. I'm hedging. I'm hedging. I'm calling the heart. I've hedged. It's an official head.

Listen, do not maybe get Daniel Dale on this show again. All right, we see what he can do with

old video. Yeah, I mean, obviously, make David is is as uniquely qualified as anyone to go, you

know, out of this world and and run up a ton of points and go on a tear at a heater and get to

50 goals and get to 130 points. It's all right there that he could do now. He usually does that

with dry settle it, right? He doesn't often do that because dry settles really been pretty durable

even when he gets hurt. He plays and he plays actually quite well when he's hurt,

which maybe says something about the fact that he's missing the last month of the season.

But yeah, that is the great luxury they have. Like they have,

make David and they have their power play. So you figure that they'll be able to score

three goals a game, almost on those two things alone. And if they can do the rest enough,

they'll be able to win enough games to get enough points to get in the playoffs. It just

it just won't feel like they are a legit content. It feels like if they were to bump in

under the current state to any of those central teams, even with Minnesota not playing great,

they would they would lose that series. That's the way it feels today. And I think that's

the big change with dry settle out. Well, if you move to the east, you know, Edmonton's the

lone Canadian team in the playoffs. So at West, the Habs are the lone team out east. But

they are also not necessarily breathing easy right now. Like Columbus is chugging, Ottawa is

chugging. And the Habs have Boston in town tonight. They're at Detroit on Thursday. And those are

the two teams directly behind them within the division, you know, even Tampa is not exactly

breathing easy right now. Like this is a real race. But you know, Marty St. Louis sat healthy scratch

Brennan Gallagher a couple nights ago. First time in his career. Yeah, they brought

Fowler up. They're going to play him. They don't know what to do with Montenbo. They've got Columbus.

I'm looking at their schedule here. They now they're not directly competing with Columbus because

Columbus could still catch the Islanders or Pittsburgh and, you know, get in through the metro

with how red hop they are right now. But the Habs have got to play Columbus two more times.

So they've got Columbus twice. Again, they don't play Ottawa again, which I think benefits

Montreal because Ottawa would probably love to play them again and get a chance to possibly pick

up points, maybe a four point game. But where do you stand on the Habs? And, you know, many

Jerry's on them pulling this off and sticking in a playoff spot. I mean, there's so little time

left. Many Jerry still feels 70% because they have multiple paths, right? They can beat Columbus.

Columbus could jump the Islanders, pass could get Islanders. There's a lot of different ways they

could get one of those spots. But what is interesting and what I'll be curious to watch, I'm going to do

the game on Thursday in Detroit with Montreal is that it has been largely in the last two weeks,

such an overwhelmingly positive vibe check in Montreal this year, you know, the party in the building

and everyone scoring. And it's just good time's role. Like here we go, Demi Doff's grades and

all of the reasons to like that team. And so what will be curious to me is if they were to lose

tonight and Columbus wins, if they get down in one of those wildcard spots, it's the first sort of

real adversity and pressure that they will face all year long. And what do they do with that?

They are still a very young team. And most of their best players don't have a ton of

down the stretch or playoff experience in another belt. So that will be interesting to see.

I just think though, you know, three, four points with a game ahead. If you look at those games

played, they have more than Columbus. They have more than Detroit. They have more than Boston. So

that does work in their favor. So yeah, it's still probably 65, 70% they make it. But it's gone a lot

tighter. And you can feel the tension for the first time all year in Montreal. And that's a very

different atmosphere for the guys to go play it. Yeah. And it was the opposite this time last year,

where they were auto, right? And they took off and they didn't lose. And they were clutch. And

Suzuki was phenomenal. And Montenbo was great down the stretch. Now it's, you know, you're the

you're the pace car effectively. I mean, Buffalo Tampa notwithstanding. But yeah, they get a

really interesting schedule because they played Detroit. They play Boston. They still play the

Islanders twice. They play Columbus twice. So like those are big, big games. Yeah, like big,

big games, man. It's it's kind of crazy. Like where there isn't a Canadian team that you can

sit here and say, I definitively know they're making the playoffs. Yeah. Good about Montreal

and Edmonton. Yeah. Feel okay about auto wall, though. They're running at a time. But this time

last year, there was three or four teams you knew were making it. It's been a wild season.

All right. Well, one more thing before go MJ, we had a conversation. Doug Armstrong basically saying,

it's over for me as, you know, the chief player picker of team Canada. And we're looking at the

World Cup in 2028. And then an Olympics after that. Is there a name that pops to mind for you?

Hayes made the point that it's, you know, the history of Canadian hockey's been great players

running it from Bobby Clark to to Wayne Gretzky to Steve Iseman. Armstrong was an outlier.

You know, who pops to mind for you as the man that might be good for 2028, 2030?

I mean, I saw you guys kicking around sit. I feel like he would be too near-remove. He'll probably

be playing. And if we don't sit, he probably would say, I don't want that. I'm not ready for it.

He might be on the advisory board like Ryan Getzlaff was on the Olympic Advisory Committee.

But he wouldn't be the head of it, right? He might be, you know, a support staff. To me,

it feels like Jim Nill. He's been around it a lot. A guy like that. He was put together

some pretty good teams. We want to understand how hockey Canada operates and what those international

tournaments are like. You're going to hate the Kyle Dubas. He's been involved a lot in the world

championships for four days. Yeah, he's synonymous with next one. I hate it. It's not you.

Do a good job this. I think he's your Jim Gregory winner this year. Very close to him.

He might win the jam of the year. Yeah, he might. Well, you know, I fast you, you say Tongue and

Cheeks and all the next ones. I think he pretty did win the Calder Cup. Yes, he did with the Marley's.

Yeah, the brand of brand loudly. Yeah, he did. Give, yeah, listen, I'm not going to party. I never

want the Calder Cup. Somebody as loud as you want. Who cares? Don't be too cool for school,

like pass my beats. I don't know probably that. And with what the least might be embarking on,

pass you might be longing for those trappy Dubas days in the next couple of years.

Right? I mean, like, let's be serious here. The team they didn't win, but they're pretty good

when he was running them. Yeah, pretty good. We're going to do this run. Let's go. Let's go for

pretty good and team Canada at 2028. Pretty good to do for us. Let's get to this running the whole

operation. Would you like to pick, fast? Who would you pick? I like, I like Neil. I'm with you.

I like Neil. Yeah. I mean, I'd go with the experience. I mean, I don't like one like

Troy. He doesn't want to Dallas, Jim. No. Like what does he want? He wanted Detroit, but he was

Ken Holland's assistant when they were winning. Yeah, having Julian Breeze Bois. Yeah, Breeze Bois

right there too. Let's get a former player. Just make it because it's more about being a

spokesman. It's not tough to pick this team. It's really not that tough. And you got to

commit it. I don't know how you guys like you got a committee. I don't know. They could have had

three or four different players and made it could have helped with different result in the Olympics.

Although they played great, they pause your one. But like, I do think whoever runs the team sets

the template for what that team is going to look like along with the coach. So I don't think it's

inconsequential. He's like, once you pick it, yeah, like you're not doing anything. You know,

like Gretsky had the fiery speech in 0-2. Yeah, but that doesn't happen very often. Like,

you're mostly a figurehead. But yeah, X player. I don't know. Chris Pronger. He seems to be out

and do the rounds. Yeah. Pronger. Prongs. Why? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I like it. I like where this

is going. All right. We'll see. We got a couple of years to the world cup. And before you know,

we're going to be back over in France right in 2030 for the Olympics. All right, Johnny. Enjoy

tonight, buddy. Oh, I love it. That's going to be it. You got to make sure you're there for that one.

That's a good one. It's a very good one. Nice will be nice. Yeah. I don't boy. There you go.

Thanks, Johnny. We'll see you tonight. Just like Mike Johnson joining us here on the maple Toyota

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Leaf Saloners tonight. Cheyfer in town. Hey, speaking of guys that could have been on the Olympic

team. Hey, for probably should have been in retrospect. Absolutely. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050

and on TSN 4. I can either confirm or deny that that this is in fact a signal. Austin trades Andrew

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final tonight, which I'm throwing a curveball at Joe from the bridge pun intended. But if the

Americans win this tonight, confirm and deny. Do you think this is like a big legacy moment for

Aaron judge in particular say wins MVP couple of big hits tonight. The Americans win it on American

soil. What does this do for judges overall legacy? You can tell by the way they're setting this up that

they're judge himself in baseball in general or trying to set it up that way. Get the win. Yeah,

get a win for this guy and look, I don't doubt the sincerity of the players judge among them who

said this is a huge event. They love it. They think actually the atmosphere is better than a world

series. That's boisterous. That to me is absurd. Like I got more boisterous. Like it's when the

Dominican Republic plays in Venezuela. It's been pretty good. Not when the US is playing Canada

or something like that. I wasn't picking up on like, wow, that's the equivalent of what we saw at

Rogers Center for games seven of the world series and games, even though they're not in the final.

Yeah, would have been great to see show in the final for sure. Okay. The Japan games have been

pretty good too. I'm just calling the bluff one like the equivalence of the world series vibe. Look,

I mean, I'm going to deny it because it's it's not the world series. Yes, it starts with world,

but it doesn't end with series. Exactly. Okay. And he's got to do it for the Yankees. Right.

Like you like the Americans plus the like this tournament started with Bryce Harper being like,

I don't know what do we do? Like the Olympics are way bigger and other players be like,

no, I don't really care. It's like, I think it's moved. I think it's moving on the right direction.

It absolutely isn't. I think it's something the NHL has to learn from maybe 2028 when you

launched the World Cup. Maybe it isn't as big and bold and beautiful as you were hoping for.

Doesn't mean you shall fit. Yeah, but they never should have shouted after 2016.

You should have played in 20 24 28. They just said, nah, I wasn't really what we thought.

I get COVID hit. Obviously, that goes without saying. And that affected a lot of plans.

But you got to, you got to commit to it. Like the WBC, they're on, what is it? How many of

they done now? Five? Yeah. Some of them like, you got to, you got to commit.

And you got every four years, you got to do it in 20 years. It may mean a lot.

And that's obviously the plan, but I'm with you. I don't think this is going to be paramount

for the legacy of Aaron Judge, but it's better than losing. If he loses, he's going to take a ton of

heat. Yes. Right. And everyone's going to say, look at this guy still can't win.

Captain America, Captain of the Yankees doesn't win anything.

And then if you want to pressure on him, if he wins, it'll be like, hey,

well, Mariner set up the winning goal at the foreign nations. Will he now performing the

playoffs better than he ever has for the Leafs? Right. I know.

Maybe not. All right. Confirmed tonight, the NHL should uproot the Department of

Player Safety with new staff and new guidelines. A complete renovation of the Department

of Player Safety. I'm going to deny it because I'm a realist. I mean, they're not doing that.

They made should they? Well, you know, MJ brought up a great point. Like

George paris is doing the bidding of a lot of different people, right? It's not George

paris is opinion here that is ruling the hockey universe. Although I'm sure it has a place and

it has a voice. He's a smart guy and he's obviously, you know, very influential. But

to MJ's point, like the GMs make the rules of the game. The owners by extension are involved.

The commissioner, if he thought George paris was doing a bad job, but I had him fired.

And guess what? The NHL PA is very influential in these hearings because they represent both

players. They represent the perpetrators and the victims of these plays. And there are big

reason why the suspensions are as long as some people would like them, including Conor McDavid

and Conor McDavid and Matt, Austin Matthews agents. So yeah, it's just realistically, they're not

changing it. And actually, practically, I'm not sure that anybody can do that job any better

because of all the complications I just laid out. Yeah, you can never, you can never make everyone

happy. You know, I'm denying it too. Like there are some fans of the game, those that cover the

game that, that just want violence completely eradicated from it, right? 20 games for this, 50

games for that. You're a loser, if you think this, you're a loser or whatever, if you think that

they shouldn't be considered in my opinion. Just as the other end of the spectrum, we need,

you know, bloodbaths back in the game should not be considered either. The fact of the matter

is the game is softer than it ever has been. It has slowly just been eradicated from the game

biosmosis. Effectively, it's just we live in a different world than we did 20, 30, 40 years ago.

And it's really not that big of an issue. Like not to the point where you need to completely

uproot everything. So I'm denying this. Do I think there are inconsistencies? Yes, I do. So I think

there's enough transparency, maybe not. But I don't think the game, I don't think this is

some big plague on the sport. Like every night, there's just vigilante justice happening all over

the place. And it's this rudderless ship of just craziness. That's not the world we live in anymore.

It's not the league. It's not, and it's not going backwards. It's not going to with or without

George Parros. So if it's your player, your team, you're going to be pissed. If it's another player,

another team, you're probably not going to care as much. That's the reality of sports as well.

Yeah. Right. This one is particularly highlighted because of the players involved.

Matthews and Goudus, the market. And the fact he's out for the season and he's out for the season,

which is brutal. I mean, it sucks. That Austin's out. He's never faced anything like this before in

his career. He's been knocked out with a hit like this. That injuries before, but not to this extent,

not this acute, but I don't know. I think people just love hating and love, you know, a gripe

and the league. They don't know what they're doing. Except, you know, it's Conor McDavid.

It's Conor McDavid suggestion. They review things. But what is his suggestion? That's the thing.

It's easy for Conor to say, wow, we should probably review it. All right. Come up with some ideas.

What do you got in mind? Well, I've looked. I mean, if it's and he's not going to put his neck out

there because then when it affects one of his players, they're going to look at him and say thanks,

dude. Yeah. Thanks for pushing for that new guideline when now I'm suspended 25 games because you

spoke. Well, I do think you could probably put it a little more of a star system to protect

the star players. But how does that not ease? How does that? Well, it's finesse. You need finesse.

The game is fast. Yeah. Right. It's difficult to break it down. I mean, it really is. It's a fast

game. Things happen quickly. The best players have the puck the most. They're targeted the most.

But you're not going to put in a rule where if you hurt us superstar instead of a fourth

liner, you get suspended. You wouldn't write it that way. Yeah. But you might enforce it that way.

That now that is something different. But are they going to do that? Exactly. I don't know.

I don't know how they would necessarily get that in fine print. All right. Moving on,

confirming that I both Columbus and Ottawa will make the playoffs. Both of them get in blue jackets

and senators. They're both red hot right now. They're red hot right now. But I'm going to go with

the percentages and say deny that. I think one might get in, but you know, the percentages don't

really lend themselves to the idea that they're both getting in. I mean, Columbus right now,

what are they at? They're at, you know what? I'm going to confirm it, man. I know it's a

difficult parlay, but you're talking about the Habs, the Islanders, the Red Wings, the Bruins,

or all on thin ice. Pittsburgh is not a lot to make it either. They've been very resilient. That

was a great win by them last night. They keep winning without saying they keep scoring. It's a great

story, but they got 15 games to go. Yeah. If they're five or six games and that's a little bit

different, there's still enough points up for grabs to either win or lose, or I think you can see

some jockeying of positions. And, you know, post Olympic break, I was embracing for this.

Couple teams to get red hot, couple teams to ice out. Yeah. The only thing that gives me pause. Look,

I think I think Ottawa's got a slightly better chance. Columbus has got, according to just

strength, the schedule in terms of the winning percentage of the teams you have left in the schedule.

Columbus has the second hardest schedule. They got tough. They've got Carolina three times.

They got the Canadian twice. They got Boston twice. They got Buffle. They got New York Islanders.

They've got the Red Wings. Don't hit the road a lot though. A lot of home games. I know, but

that's a tough schedule. That is, but they're a tough team to play right now. Yeah. That's

two way street. Like, yes, it is a tough schedule, but I don't think a lot of teams want to play

Columbus right now. I just feel like there's still, there's room for some craziness here. Oh,

this debt. Look, it's it's going to be a nice edge for the final couple spots, right? Big time.

There's no, there's we're coming down to the last game. Yeah. I think so for a lot of these

possibly multiple spots, which will be great theater. Conferring to the night, Scotty,

Sheffler will win at least one major this season. This felt like a lot. I wouldn't have done this

a month ago. No, nobody would have. But he's his numbers is, you know, he's slowing down a little

bit. He's not playing as well as he was. I didn't think I'd see Scotty Sheffler looking like a

human being in the way he's looking like a human being right now. Yeah. Like, especially early

in rounds. That's what I mean. Like the irons or playoffs. The irons just aren't kind of

sort of magnetic, you know, to the to the pin. Like they have been when he's playing great. He looks

just a little different. Doesn't he? Like, I heard some of the swing analysts talking about how

this face is wide open. His swing just doesn't look as fluid. Yes. Chandle did a great job on that

on the gold channel. After Thursday, I think of Friday, like it just did. Now, now, McGinley made

up a very good point. He said that will happen when you're starting to get a little bit jittery,

right? Yeah. You speed stuff up. It's not that he's lost his swing. It's maybe more mentally.

It just doesn't feel confident in his swing. But that's all you need to spin you into a dark place.

Yeah. Especially in that sport. Mentally, you start messing with yourself. That's a dark play.

I'll tell you what, though, man. Like, just like, I'm not going to, I'm not going to deny this

because I know like he's going to walk under the grounds of Augusta National.

Yeah. A lot of fun. And there's something about that place in him. Like it's, he's pretty good

out there, man. Like he's going to be hard to beat out there. And when you think about the people

who are good out there, like, you know, it's like who's going to beat him? Like it's,

it's not going to, like he'll be in contention at Augusta. So I have a hard time saying,

just flat out. No, he's not winning a major this year. So I, you know, yeah, I'm going to deny it.

Yeah. He's going for the slam at the US Open. And it's being played at Chinacoch this year,

which is an incredible place to play golf. Not that I played it, but I've seen it. I have not played.

I would love to. I'm reluctant to deny it as well because I don't want to get caught up in

like a month. And let's be clear here. He hasn't been horrendous. Don't make it a cut. Yeah.

He said issues on Thursdays. His swings a little bit off.

But he's still, you know, he wasn't really in contention the last two weeks. But those are

courses. He's won at multiple times, much like at Augusta. Yeah.

But it is difficult to get caught up in two or three weeks of poor play relatively speaking

and say, I'm just going to completely scratch him off the list for four majors.

I mean, he's just, he's still the favorite Augusta as he should be. Yeah.

As he should be. He's still the best player in the world. He's clear cut. The number one.

The other guy's coming. Cam Young, I think is a, is a good bet at Augusta. Yeah.

And they give more Kawas healthy. He's a good bet. Rory will see. If he's healthy, a good bet.

Rom coming back to Shambo. Obviously, we saw what happened with him last year.

Like, it's not, it's not a layup. It's not a lock by any of them.

He kept kept his start to play better, like starting to pot a little bit.

I'm not sure he's completely out of the picture as a, as a major contender.

No, there's some, I mean, there's a, there's a lot of guys kind of lurking.

Shoffley's starting to wake up a little bit.

And our guys, Sudarshan. Yes. How cool is that? You guess how to money us today?

Yeah. That's a really cool story. YouTube golf.

Incredible. I'll figure it out.

It's great. Hey, straight from high school to the pros.

No college. I'll figure this out. No coach.

All good. But still, still not, doesn't have a ticket to the master's.

No, he doesn't. No, I'm just, I was just joking. But still.

But he said, man, he could, you know, hopefully he'll get into a major too.

You never know. What a story.

He made almost a million dollars in that something on Sunday.

And it's, and it's, you know, that, you know, it's interesting about pro golf.

That almost never happens anymore.

Like all these guys that are, you know, in the top 10 most,

most weeks, most of them have, you know, 20, 30, 40,

100, 200 million bucks in the break, right?

But they've won or earned.

And so you don't see that underdog story very often in golf.

No, no kidding, man. And it was a leaderboard that was like,

talk full of big names.

Yeah. And then he just kind of came out of nowhere on Sunday.

And he looked right at home.

Yeah.

Right at home.

But like, like, I just have a hard time betting against Scotty.

Like, yeah, maybe there's probably a small tweak he's got to make.

And he'll be absolutely flagging it.

Yeah. No time.

He's got a, he's got, he's still got a few weeks before we get to Augusta.

And it doesn't have to just be Augusta.

He could win the PGA when the US open.

Obviously, we know what he's done overseas.

Tough to bet against that guy right now.

Last one, confirmed that I have to the trade today.

The Denver Broncos are the team to beat the AFC.

Oh,

bills mafia is up at arms.

What are you talking about?

Listen to bills.

I don't know.

They're going to have to prove themselves next year.

They did not win the division.

No.

You know, we'll see what they do at the draft.

Their GM's been taking a lot of heat there.

Joe Brady, I'm curious.

I don't know what that's going to look like.

The guy, I don't know if they got the right coach.

I'm not saying they got the wrong one.

We'll see.

He's never been in the coach in the end.

You're right.

It could go south on them way.

I got to, I'm pretty confident in what Sean Peyton's going to bring the tape.

Yeah, and the bottom line was, you know,

you could, you could quibble with McDermott about a lot of things.

And I know some of our colleagues here.

Carlo is one of his biggest critics.

Our good, our pal Koliocaville hammered him regularly.

And rightly so at times.

But he was beloved in that locker room.

Dude, and they won.

They played hard for him.

Yeah.

They didn't quit on him.

That defense generally got better every single year as the year went on.

And you, and you worry about that.

You're right.

Like that, that is.

But am I ready to confirm that Broncos has the favorite number one seed last year.

They're better on paper now than they were at the last season.

I guess, you know what?

It's going to have to be an underdog story for the bills.

I think, I think it is a confirm.

I think they are the favorite.

I mean, New England's the one that was in the Super Bowl,

but they have to prove themselves.

Yeah, with the way the Super Bowl played out,

the pathway they had, the easiest schedule in the league.

I'm going to confirm it.

I think at this point, the number one seed is Denver.

They're in a tough division,

but that defense is young and stout and really good.

Peyton's really good.

Nix is good enough clearly to win games and they got more talent.

I think it is the Broncos right now.

There you go.

Confirmative deny brought to you by Boston pizza.

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Lee Sileners tonight totals at five and a half.

He's getting actually plus money on the under.

I'm kind of leaning the under tonight.

They get just kind of feels like a bit of a sleepier game.

Gold tenors are going to have to be good tonight.

Like the leaves, that's their best chance of picking up points,

which they have been doing recently.

And I'm not suggesting a lot of people are rooting for that.

No, but you look at it.

Wall has been better.

Stole has been better in the last few games anyway.

And they're kind of playing for something, right?

Like they just sent another young goalie.

That's it.

Exactly.

We might have to get rid of somebody here.

Some the writings on the wall.

Yeah, you can't have all these goalies.

Only two can be on the team.

So I'm leaning towards a gold tending performance tonight.

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Yeah, please play responsibly.

Must be 19 plus physically located in Ontario.

So yeah, we get the we get the lease in action tonight.

And we get the orders playing.

San Jose tonight.

Yeah.

And that's big.

Like dry subtle obviously out.

He's been out the last couple of games.

But he's done for the rest of the regular season.

But whenever you get celebrity and and McDavid facing off.

Line mates.

Line mates at the Olympic Games.

And both teams playing for something.

Edmonton trying to push off.

San Jose and San Jose is kind of on their heels.

It's a big game tonight.

Yeah, man.

San Jose wins and reg tonight, man.

Every day it's going to get dice here.

Yeah, I feel you kind of feel economy.

David's pain and like.

Like what more does he need to do?

But guess what?

He's got to do more.

Yes, he does.

Yes, he does.

And Boston Montreal tonight.

That's a massive game as well.

Columbus at home against Carolina.

Like it's too bad.

The Leafs are out of it for a decade.

It's been like what a game.

Big game for the Leafs.

How are they going to draw?

You know, where are they going to end up?

What do they mean?

MJ's right.

Like you know, we like to laugh about Dubas.

But you know, there was there was a hell of an era.

Just it just did.

Well, yeah, it didn't produce the ultimate results

that everybody hoped for.

But it's fun to be in the dance.

They were in the dance every single year.

Yeah, and you do take that for granted.

I don't blame anyone.

Anyone for saying all right.

That's enough.

Let's have more success than this.

Of course.

But now they're going the wrong way.

And we'll see how quickly they can turn that around.

All right, Dave.

Good to see you, man.

Great to be.

Thanks for doing this.

There's Dave Festschuk, the Toronto star.

I'm Brian Hayes.

Thanks to everyone behind the scenes for helping out.

We appreciate it.

Everyone for tuning in today.

TV radio podcast web.

And of course, up on YouTube live every show up on TSN's YouTube channel.

We're out of here.

Enjoy your evenings.

Enjoy the games tonight.

We're back tomorrow at 4 p.m.

We'll chat then.

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