OverDrive - September 4, 2026 - Hour 2 - Keegan Matheson/Connor Brown

0:00Hi, this is Dave Roberts. Heading into summer without a medical emergency kit, that's a risk. Summer colds can linger and getting sick on vacation can derail everything. That's why everyone needs a medical emergency kit. It includes Dr. prescribed medications to treat common and serious illnesses. So if you wake up sick, at home or on the road, you already have what you need. It's like having an urgent care and pharmacy at home. Say $45 with code blue at urgentcarekit.com slash blue urgent care kit.com slash blue. And I thought it'd be a good way to kind of put a little bow on the summer.

1:00And I'm looking at the five stories that defined the Canadian sports summer. So we kind of already talked about what I had at number five. And that was Canada's impact, both on the pitch and off the pitch at the FIFA World Cup. Coming in at number four, Dave, Dylan Cease's Scy Young campaign. For me, this has been a massive story this summer. I mean, when he was first signed, you thought, okay, all right, give him a big contract. It was seven years north of 200 million. Like, okay, can come in and you know, pitch a long side, Kevin Gosman and Treyis Savage. He's probably going to be the ace moving forward. I don't think I saw. I can tell you I personally did not see him compete with Cam Schletler for the Scy Young. And it being a two horse race and you're one of that deal. That has been a big story for me. It's an incredible story. And it's one of the reasons the blue judges are still where they are. Which is fighting for a playoffs, but despite the fact they've been under 500 from much of the year. And yes, Cease has been an absolute lock.

2:00I mean, leading the American league in strikeouts is a good place to start in a swing and miss league. And he takes it from there, man. You had the number of his what, his most recent eight starts. Oh, his last seven road start. He's allowed just one run. His last seven road starts a point one eight year a just a good 0.18 year a. And a potent batting average under 100. It's unbelievable what he's been able to do this year. Yeah, 221 strikeouts, 6.1 wins above replacement. Like couple of complete games. You know, it was a twice nearly no hitting teams this year. Like why is he was on no hit watch deep into ball games and. Yeah, he's been unbelievable. So for me, the Dylan C Scy Young campaign, one of the big stories of the summer. Coming up number three is obviously massive. But like the Maple Leafs massive overhaul. I mean, from on ice to off ice, the leaves from when things ended back on was in April 14th.

3:01That final game 14 15 against the Ottawa Senators. How drastically different this organization is from that day to today. 35 and your colleague Kevin McGrand actually went and found this number. 35 names wiped off the Maple Leafs staffer database from last season. And we're talking obviously up the top whether it's Brad tree living up at the top as the general manager. Craig Barruve as the coach, he's gone Brandon Predum, Darryl Maccalf, Hailey Wickenhizer. Like a lot of big names, but there's also many long times. Scouts who were let go like they completely revamped the front office there in Toronto. Just gutted it and put in people who they believe got to share more so their vision of the team. The new era of Maple Leafs hockey. It's no longer you know the the Shana plan slash the tree living. It's now the Chundine era as we've been calling in here on the TSN 1050 Airways. I think it's myself and Eric Coralnik might be the only ones who use that. I don't think that's going to catch on.

4:02I'm going to keep saying it. I'm going to keep it for your show. I'm not sure many people are going to try and steal it from you. Yeah, maybe not. Maybe not. But it then just on the ice like a complete revamp of the bottom six, right? They decided to swap out Joseph Wall, bring in and bet on Sergei Babrovsky. They get Gavin McKenna with the number one pick in the draft. It's just the massive overhaul from you know over the course of the summer from the outlook of the Maple Leafs when things ended last year at the beginning of the summer to how it looks coming out of the summer. This massive story all year long. Yeah, you can just keep going, right? I'm looking at their puck Pia Pature and there's like 10 new guys on their roster that are significant. I know there's others too. But you know, and you go to the boo on Darren Radish. Big edition. Very big bet on Darren Radish and Emil Andre who it figures to get a really good opportunity on the back end. And then on top of that, you got a lot of guys that they're hoping will have a sort of new lease on life. Who Morgan Riley, being one of those.

5:04Austin Matthews. Chris Tanov, who just talked about it, having played 11 games last year and obviously coming off a very serious groin and core surgery. Still not clear to play, but is hoping to be ready for day one of training camps. So all those things put together as brother, it's you're right. It's a completely different team. And I know Keith Pelley, CEO of MLSE, who presided over the entire reconfiguration of the organization, including Finding Chica. And you know, the hiller coaching hire that came after that. I mean, they're essentially billing John Chica as the theo Epstein of hockey. And we just had we just had Mike Wright talking about how you can't do money ball and football. I'm not sure you can do money ball in hockey either. Carolina. Carolina's in our own type is close as it gets. Yeah. It's a money ball and it up and yeah, Eric. At the end of the year. I met Eric Telski at the Sloan MIT sports analytics conference like 12 years ago before he was anybody in hockey.

6:10Yeah. He just was, you know, he was sitting there presenting a little chart that he had on zone entry data that he compiled. And now he's a Stanley Cup champion GM. So that's certainly the theory. We'll see if it works in practice. Yeah, we shall see, but definitely one of the big stories of the summer that may believe is big overhaul of the entire organization coming in a number two. Vladie and the Jays summer of struggles. Yeah. Now you can't talk about one without talking about the other obviously, but you look at the season that Vladimir Gerrard Jr. has had and granted the last couple of games he's shown signs of life. You know, a couple of hard hit balls, couple of extra bass hits. That has been completely absent from his game pretty well all season long. The guys got a 689 OPS just eight home runs this season. That's the same amount of home runs he hit in 18 playoff games last October. Like that's that's incredible how he has really struggled to this point this season. And I looked at since May 1st.

7:12WRC plus right the 100 WRC plus is considered league average hitter since May 1st. He's been a 25% below league average hitter since May 1st. That is a big sample size and a big problem for Toronto. And we've been talking about it all summer long and it just led to the blue Jays faltered as a team. I mean, this is a team that last year was two outs or two feet away from a World Series championship for Pete's sake. And all of a sudden here we are granted our vibes a little higher now. But a month ago we're sitting here the team was selling off with the deadline. You're thinking, what a wasted year. This is an awful awful season. And here they are. Yeah, sure they're still in it within half a game of the playoffs, but the offense has been putrid. Absolutely terrible. Wow. I've got the statistical analysis of how different it's been from last year to this year. Love it.

8:12So last season as an average they hit 246, which was or this season 246 middle of the pack. They were the number one hitting team in baseball last year. Right. Home runs middle of the pack 13th at home runs last year this year 28th in baseball 29th in runs scored this year. They're fourth last year in baseball OPS. That's something that the teams OPS this year has been a bit of a big talking point. It's 27th in all of Major League baseball. They were top three team in OPS last year and they look at WRC plus as a team. They ranked fourth in all baseball last year 13% above league average this year 26% below league average in terms of being an offensive team. The offensive struggles have been just outrageous this season. They really have and I think it all stems from one guy and people say well you can't blame one guy, but he's a $500 million player. The harder the order man, he's the harder the team.

9:13The simplest way you put it, I was brother and those are great stats you had there. The one that sticks out to me is I mean at Flattie's best his two best seasons. He's been a six win player or better like six wins above replacement. This year as it stands, he's a point eight win player. Meaning that's a five win swing minimum. If they had five more wins, they're comfortably to play off. They're hanging with the Red Sox for the second wildcard. They're like a game back of the Red Sox for the second wildcard. There you go. That's the difference. Yeah, that's everything when you say that's not all Vlad. Well, a lot of it is is Vlad in his struggles and oh, wouldn't you know? They went two straight games coming out of Cleveland. Who came alive in those games? There you go. The 11 nothing shut out who sparks that fifth inning yesterday. It was a walk from Vladimir Garrow, Jr. Later came around the score. So yeah, him heating up is a big deal, but all summer long we talked about how poorly things have gone for them. And that number one, it's the quiet Leonard suck. I mean, Kauai and the Clippers and the investigation.

10:14It was always loosely, you know, followed by Canadians obviously with the connection to Kauai. But it really kicked into overdrive as a Canadian story. When the rappers traded for them and then put it on pause. And then we assume at some point at any time now is going to go through. But this was the biggest sports story of the summer and it was very, very much dialed in here in Toronto and Canada after the trade. And we finally found out what the punishment was going to be. Five first round picks, $30 million fine to the Clippers, the Balmers suspended an entire season. Kauai, not much has to pay back $700,000 in restitution. And he gets to come to Toronto and compete. See if he can win another championship for the city. It's good to be Kauai. Good to be Kauai. I mean, Pablo Torrey was estimating that he made something of the range of 60 plus million dollars. Yeah. Off the books. And all he has to pay back is $700,000. Yeah, it's an incredible, incredible story.

11:14And you know what? The bottom line is nobody in Toronto will care about this story. If this guy shows up and plays like he played in 2019 or something. I would say at the end of the day, like it shouldn't impact the on court of Kauai Leonard at this point. Right? Like it would be different if you got suspended. I think that there'd be far more people who care. But at this point, like it gave a lot of content throughout the summer, which is why I was one of the biggest sportsmen. Which is why I was one of the biggest stories. But moving forward, like there's not much debate here with the Raptors. He's on the team. He's not suspended. Contracts all good. He's going to sign an extension. He's probably going to play out the rest of his years as a Raptor and retire as a Raptor. Sounds like that might be what he wants to do. You know, if you're the Raps and you're the city of Toronto, like it. This story is kind of behind you now. Yeah. Right? Yeah. It's gone with the summer fling. You got to hope. I mean, you as long as, as long as somebody is not suspended in a management position in LA, they can actually consummate this trade with Bobby Webster and the Raptors.

12:17Everything should be fine. But it's probably chaos at Clip Ressential right now, those brothers. So I'm not sure how long it's going to take for this trade to get over the finish line. It is. All right. We got to, we got to get to our guy, Keegan Mathison, who is here on the Maple Toyota Hotline Jaisy Porter for MLB.com. You know, we left out as a major story of the summer. My boy, Keegan, getting engaged. Congrats, pal. That was a major story. Was that last week, two weeks ago in New York? A couple of weeks back, fellas. It's right up there with Kauai. I think so. Less scandalous, depending on who you ask. You know what my favorite part, guys, of this whole Kauai message? A couple of things. Number one is that statement where he says, I apologize for the lapses of judgment from people in my inner circle. I'm going to use that for the rest of my life. The next time I make a mistake at home or I'm hungover, you know what? I apologize for what the people in my inner circle have done. And I, I've love fellas listening to, especially US media talk about this, asking, how will fans in Toronto react?

13:18This guy could walk along court side punching people in the face and they'd still be cheering. Come on. Yeah, I don't care. Thanks for there to be booze for Kauai. No, come on. There's this expectation in the US, some media, I think that people in Toronto will be booing this guy onto the court day one. No chance. For what reason? Like, I don't understand what the reason could possibly be. He wanted to come to Toronto is here is going to extend. I mean, I just don't see how they see the clippers. That's a mess. I mean, of an organization when he walks into the into a dome this year, boy, that'll be a roaring amount of booze. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I fully trust he had no idea where those millions came from. No, he's so focused on revounds. If a couple million went in my bank account, I wouldn't notice either. You know, I respect it. Yeah. It's the hey, it's the show a Tony School of Accounting, Keegan. He doesn't tell the way. I'm not the money man. I don't deal with money. That's right. Yeah. Too focused on the sport. Too focused on greatness.

14:18Speaking of money is Vlad starting to earn a little bit here. Signs a life over the last couple of days in Cleveland. Is there in a few bucks of it? It's overdue. And guys as much as the home run and the big swings are exciting, I just like the energy around him, frankly, I like the fist pump on a sack fly. I like that he's flipping his bat on a walk. Some people might think that's stupid, whatever. I like that. There's some energy to that. And everyone else is going to follow that because he's locked in right now and that has not always been the case. Everybody cares. I'm never going to say that Vlad or another player is slacking off or not caring, but it's a very long season. The days are hot. You're with the same people every damn day. Okay, it gets tiring. There's a level above it when you're locked in. Like it's what Maxures is right now. He is locked in. I think we're seeing that from Vlad. Finally, it's taken a long, old time. And he has had five months of bad baseball. That does not go away.

15:18But the rest of the ale wild card race sucks right now. And if Vlad does anything, he's their shortcut, guys. He can decide all by himself that they are going to make the postseason. I can't believe they still have a shot. I cannot with a straight face say they've earned being a half game back right now, but it's where they are. They've been given this gift and Vlad needs to reach out and grab it, man. It's right there. Well, speaking of things, we didn't see coming, Keegan. You know, when you look at the guy that's been in the lead-off spot and really injecting some energy in his own way, it's Brett Bateman. And I don't know how you feel about it, but I just think this guy's been a godsend in terms of, you know, Al's brother put it. He's almost three pro. He's obviously, you know, he's hitting. He's running the bases with, you know, some real disruptive energy. And he's also playing some incredible defense. I mean, did you see it coming? No, not at all. Frankly, guys, I didn't like the Gossmann trade. I think some other teams got better value with the deadline for Gossmann level of starters.

16:19But that's before I saw Brett Bateman play baseball, you know, he's been great for this team. And will the bad-ed ball luck last forever? Is he going to hit 330 on ball sneaking through forever? No, but we can, like, let's save that for next year. I can be cranky next year, okay? It's working right now. And that's all that matters. The speed is undeniable. This is a slow team. A team that does not do much on the bases and didn't have enough chaos. Like I even put like Kaz Okamoto in that category. Yeah, he strikes out a lot, but there's home runs. That's a little bit of chaos. The rest of this team, all year guys, has frankly been quite boring and quite predictable. Anyone who's watched every single game and had the same experience for like 140 nights this summer, I think would agree. It's been a very predictable team. Brett Bateman is chaos. And that's so welcome on this team. What he can do on the bases, the energy he brings to the top spot in the lineup, he just feels like that classic lead off guy. Now, whether it lasts forever or not, we'll see next year.

17:19We'll care about that next year. Right now it's working. Right now he is a step ahead of pitchers. He's making contact. And his speed is so refreshing. Guys, just even watching this team every night, it's refreshing. It feels different. And that's really changed everything around them. He's got a guy on base now. And Vlad, he comes up. It just feels a little bit different for a team that's spent a long time looking for a lead off guy. Yeah, I like to like him to a bunch single last night too. Yeah, a little stare down after that. I don't know if you saw it, but he had a nice little stare down. I appreciate that out of a kid like Brett Bateman. With Keegan Matheson, I want to go back to like Vlad and more the big picture. Like if the J's actually do this thing and they get into October, and they get Vlad back, like October, Vlad, he re-emerges. Like how would the J's be a team that other teams fear? I think they're maybe not fear, but I think that you would look at the star power that Vlad he brings,

18:19and he's a player you could fear at the very least. You need one of those. You know, we're sitting here in Kansas City. I fear Bobby Wood Jr., because he's one of the best players in baseball. The Yankees, even when they're going bad, if they have Aaron Judge, they've got a shot, because they're one swing away. You don't have to play a perfect baseball game. Right now, the Blue J's still have to play pretty perfect baseball, without Vlad, he's best. They've got to do everything right. They need to pitch well, run well, play defense well. But when Vlad is himself, all he's going to do is have one good swing at the right time. We saw the postseason with eight home runs and 19 games, I think it was. That's the best I've ever seen, a hitter in Toronto. It's one of the best we're ever going to see in Toronto. If he can get back close to that, he at least gives the Blue J's a shot to steal some games, to steal something. Right now, they are built as a 500 team. That's about what they are. It's not all that exciting, but with Vlad, he changes everything. And if you have Brett Bateman creating that chaos, he changes everything. I don't think the Rays or Yankees or Red Sox are looking at the Blue J's and saying,

19:19oh no, because they've seen them too much. But if you sneak in and the American League, is anyone else scary? Maybe that's the way I'd look at it. Who else actually scares you? The NL does, but you don't have to worry about them until the World Series, whatever. Frankly, there's probably two or three extra NL teams that you could slide to the A.O. and it would be a little more competitive. But they have, again, been given this gift, man. It is wide open. And I think for years, guys, well, next time there's a bad Blue J's team, we'll be looking back and saying, oh, I don't want you to wish it was 2026. Whenever one else sucked to, it's wide open, man, right now. Hey, Kigs, when you look at this Royal team, where the J's start the first of a three game set, tonight in Kansas City. And you can also say, hey, they stink too. They're 63 and 78, but you look at their recent results. I mean, obviously the most recent time they played the J's, they took two or three from the J's. They took two or three from the Indians when they played the Indians. They've swept the Tigers fairly recently.

20:19What is kind of a click for them? Obviously, Bobby with Junior being probably exhibit A. And why is maybe the strength, the schedule thing, something you really can't overemphasize when you're playing these games in September. Against teams that don't, you know, they're not in the penitent race, whether or not in the wildcard race, but they're still winning games. Yeah, they took two or three from the J's in Toronto. They were on that winning streak. Like, this is another example of a team that's playing with nothing to lose at this point. And you get young players into games. That adds an element of chaos as well. They can't really prepare for. You're facing some pictures you haven't faced throughout the year. It's not like you're playing the Yankees again, facing the same reliever for the ninth time. There's a lot of newness to this when you are facing the Royals, even though the J's just did recently. They're coming off a great stretch. And I think they're a better team than their record shows this year, absolutely. And this is why when we looked back, remember when there were 30 games left? It was, you know, build as 30 games against teams with records under 500.

21:20Number one, so were the J's. They weren't very good either. But number two, I think that September is so different. And some of these teams are either past injuries. They've brought up young guys. Something's changed along the way. And the blue J's right now do have an advantage of opponents at the very least. I mean, the guardians are playing the Tigers. You look around, the Rangers up against the raise. The Red Sox are getting involved. This is an opening for the blue J's. But the moment you look at it as an opening, you get swept. And you get caught with your pants down real quick. Yeah. And yeah, it's happened a couple times this year where it feels like they're getting going. You know, she's themselves in the foot. Really quickly, we got a mini Jerry's for you. The boys are back next week. So we'll get to the full Jerry's when the boys are back. But there's been some chatter about Treyis Savage, Shane Bieber, maybe even a Tony Tater's sighting at some point later in the season. What are the Jerry's percentages that we see one of those guys back in the J's uniform before the years end?

22:23Done. Oh, baby. Let me go with assuming the J's stay involved. Yeah. Let me go with your Savage 75 Bieber 35 Taters 14. Guaranteed. I can't believe I'm talking about Anthony Santander at this point of the year. But it's just like last year, you know, maybe maybe he's going to come back late and say, how would that work? Who would he play over? Would he be any good? Good Lord. Yeah, I know. But he's given it a go. He's apparently getting close to some game action. But you Savage, I'm very interested in. I think he's going to take a shot at that, man. I think you savages the right mix of close enough, talented and stubborn, which can be a very beautiful thing when you're trying to come back late. Yeah, yeah. Be nice, you know, for team, if they're within a game or half a game or whatever in the final week, he comes in, provides, provides, you know, a nice starter to be big for this Blue J's fan. All right, Keeks, by the way, just so you know, there's also an air show happening in Toronto as well.

23:28So it's not just in Cleveland. So you're skipping out on it by being down in Kansas City. If that makes it feel any better. I love it. I'll stay in the Midwest another week here. Good barbecue. Got a nice little barbecue joint that you're going to head to at some point. Oh, absolutely. Tomorrow, I plan on just wrecking my day with a barbecue visit, you know, like right before we're in, when better to have some barbecue? Then when it's 100 degrees in human. I think it's going to be good. You're going to see me on sports center tomorrow looking as bad as anyone's ever looked on sports center. I guarantee it. Oh, man, Keeks, your beauty is always pal and joy the game tonight. Can't wait to see you on that post game hit. You got her. Well, he's good talking to you. Take care. You as well. He gave Madison joining us on the maple Toyota hotline. Down the Toyota check out the maple Toyota to come in Toyota Tundra pickup trucks. Both available as high birds, maple Toyota near Canada's Wonderland in the maple auto mall. Yeah, I mean, it's a big series down in Kansas City this week at big series for them trying to pick up a couple more wins.

24:34Keep stacking series wins. That's what it's all about for the J's. They keep stack a series wins into one one only one game under 500 now. Yeah. So you win tonight. That's 500 with 20 games to go 20 games to go back to 500 with 20 games to go and think. I don't know like way. 80 84 wins. Does that get you into the post season 83 wins like 82 wins might get you into the post season for Pete's take this year in the American League. Yeah. Yeah, that feels like no one's really going on a tear. No, you can play above 500 ball in these final 20 games. We can take care of business this weekend. Pretty good shot and making the playoffs. I think it feels like it's there for them. It feels like it's there for them. It would be nice to get your savage back and I was glad to hear kids. If you're a J's fan and you hear Keegan Brad or Keegan Matheson say 75% Jerry's percentage that we see your savage again. I like that. I like those odds.

25:34That's good odds. Good number. Good number for sure. 14% I thought was maybe a little high on taters. That caught me off guard. Where that 83 Santander was taking swings down and Dunedin and a potential triple a rehab start could be coming. Maybe gets his way into the into the mix down the stretch. I don't know. We saw that same song and dance last year in it. I mean, he ended up getting in there and then he got hurt again and we was nowhere to be seen until I guess earlier this week. I mean, couple of swings down and Dunedin but I mean not holding my breath. Even if he was healthy, what can you really provide? Yeah. Yeah. I don't see it. I'm a lower. I'll give it a 4%. Yeah. 4% on a Tony Tater sliding in 2020. And yet, Al's brother, I'll tell you what man. They're so desperate for a power bat. You know, you went through the stats. Right in the power bat at that. I mean, you went through the stats. There's a reason they acquired this guy because they don't have a guy like. I know. And that's part of the issue. Like, so many times we look back on the season.

26:35It's like, how did they not address that situation? It's like, well, they thought Addison Barger was going to beat that. They thought that Tony Taters was going to come back healthy and try and get back to being a 30 home run. They had 40 home runs the year he signed with Toronto. Like, he was coming off of 40 home or season. He expected some of that to translate here to Toronto and give you some power. Andries definitely had other. Yeah, for him and the blue jays 90 million bucks kind of circling the drain. Yeah, up in flames. We'll call it up in flames. All right, on the other side, Connor Brown, got a John S former Toronto Maple leaf currently with the new Jersey Devils. I might just definitely know if they've festivoked the Toronto star. He'll listen to Nova Drive on TSN 1050 on TSN 4 and up on YouTube live. The battle for every yard. The chase for the end zone. The war. A Bill's Mafia. Buffalo Bill's football has a new home on TSN radio. Every snap, every hit, every touchdown.

27:36Here, every game live on TSN radio. Plus, here from the players, coaches and NFL insiders daily on one Bill's live. Allen, steps up, fires Buffalo Bill's football on TSN radio. Touchdown. The Bill's live here. Now available on I Hard Radio. Overdrive continues on TSN 1050. TSN 4 live up on YouTube. Mike DeStepfano and Dave Festchuck with you from the Toronto star. And it's the final show ahead of Labor Day weekend at the big Labor Day Classic on the coming up this weekend down in Hamilton. That'll be a lot of fun. I know that I'm a big fan of the Labor Day Classic. Dave, I imagine you would be as well. Oh, yeah. Big supporter of the Canadian game there. You happen to see the news about the NFL Hall of Fame selection committee making changes to how they do things. Kind of slashing the committee in half. And I think they're getting rid of the senior portion of the ballot.

28:37Seems like a lot of people weren't happy with what happened with Bill Bellichek last year getting left off the ballot. And I think they're taking charge of who is and isn't involved in that process. That's interesting. I mean, that was to me. That's outrageous. That's a great of a certain pettiness that you don't want to see in a Hall of Fame selection. Even though we know it exists, you know, I've known people that vote for Hall of Fame. I've had off the record conversations with them about the way these meetings go. You do hear about, there's people in the room that just say, over my dead body, is that guy getting in? Why? Because I say so. And that's not really a reason. Now, get those people off the committee. They don't deserve to be on the committee if you ask me. If that's kind of how you're operating. Shout out to Jim Porter, who is the Hall of Fame president, CEO. He did come out and say, the Hall continually reviews its bylaws to ensure the selection process reflects the highest standards of integrity and the magnitude of the election into the voting.

29:38Hall of Fame, there's no more important task at the Hall of Fame than the election of each new class. And clearly last year, there was some deferious business going on within the selection committee to keep Bill Bell check out. And the Hall of Fame took notice and they're slashing it a significant reduction in the number of selectors is part of the changes. So we can change through its selection process. I don't know if that's going to make it any different. Is reducing the circle better? Well, if they got rid of the guys who decided to dig their heels in and not put the bias aside, then yeah, I think that makes a big difference. Yeah, that's a tough thing to do. Especially tough for us to know when we're not in the meetings. And most of these meetings are everybody that's in them are sworn to secrecy on them. You don't often hear. I don't know if these are because I was reading the story on TSN.ca. So they're reducing it from 50 to 28 and they got to be in person, which leads me to believe that was it secret balloting before.

30:44Now that it's also in person, probably a little less likely for people to kind of dig their heels in. Yeah, that's a good question. I know that in the hockey alaphayn, they have a committee that meets and is sworn to secrecy, not to discuss who they voted for, who they didn't vote for, why they voted for them, why they didn't vote for them. And to my experience, they generally stick to that, especially in the years close to the vote. Maybe years on, you sometimes hear dribs and jobs about what happened in one particular hall of fame selection or another. All right. So let's get to Connor Brown, who's on the line with us right now, a forward for the New Jersey Devils, formally the Toronto Maple Leafs. Connor, how's it going? Welcome back on overdrive. Yeah, I know it's going good guys. How are you guys doing? Yeah, we're doing well. Kind of summers wrapping up, coming to an end. How'd your summer go? It was good. It always goes by quick.

31:45You know, our little man was keeping us very busy, a little time on the lake, family time was great, but I'm excited to get going here. So Connor, you know, you talk about a quick summer. We were just talking about the new format of the NHL season with the, in the newly expanded regular season schedule from 82 to 84 games. And the shrunken preseason schedule where a lot of teams are only playing on two nights, split squad home and homes on two separate nights, a maximum of four preseason games. And most guys, I think veteran players don't have to play more than two. Very, very quick training camp, but what do you think that's going to mean for the NHL this season? I personally like it. I think, you know, I like the quick training camp guys guys come to camp in shape at this point. You know, and if it's not, it's kind of on you and it's up to you to be a professional and, you know, you get a lot of the good work in practice, you know, whether it's these own work or battles.

32:48And, you know, so I think two preseason, preseason games is plenty. You know, the season's long enough. I don't think we need, you know, I think I've played five or six before. So, you know, it's too plenty and, you know, just hit the ground runner. And, you know, we had Dylan Strohmon the other day and he was reminding us that another part of the new, new look NHL that was negotiated by the players was the end of fitness testing. Yeah. Where, where are you on? Strohmon, I love that one. Yeah. Where were you on fitness testing, Brown? Did you, did you like it? Hey, did, where, where did you stand on the fitness testing question? It depends what test. I mean, it put me on a treadmill. I'm pretty good on there. But if you, if you had me bench press, I think I'd come dead last. So it really depended on which test that I was doing. But I think, like I said, it's the same type of thing. You know, he never really seen a guy make, make a team to strictly on a fitness test. You know, the games played on the ice, you know, the fitness is really comes from making yourself a better hockey player and also staying healthy.

33:54So I think it's great. I mean, like I said, guys are just as prepared. It's not like anyone's coming in full milk bag because there's no fitness testing. I mean, you know, it's going to shine through in your game. So I really like the adjustments that the PA has made. With Connor Brown, we're talking about a little bit earlier in the show. There was a big kind of massive overhaul here in the city of Toronto, new GM coaches and lots of new players. You know, you guys got some new faces in New Jersey. And I'm curious from a players perspective with a GM shift going, you know, from from Fitzgerald and to sunny Meta. Like what's going on in your head when that stuff's going on throughout the summer? Do you ever think about that to the players think about, okay, is there going to be, you know, a coaching change, a philosophy change? Like, well, what's the future here with me? Well, of course, I think like any business, a lot of a lot of the time comes down from the top down. And so, you know, when you when you get a new general manager, it's usually a different feel.

34:57Around the rank. It's a different feel about, you know, what type of game we're going to play, what type of players we're bringing in. What's expected? So for me, you know, I'm excited. I think we have already, you know, a lot of really great pieces. I think that we've brought in a lot of really highly skilled players. You know, a really deep team. And, you know, me personally, I'm hungry to try to win. Obviously, I had a had a taste and was pretty close a few times in Edmonton. So I've been really excited at the ads that Sonny's made. And, you know, it's still a group that needs to take some steps and it's one step at a time. But, you know, I have a lot of a lot of belief in our team here. And, you know, the nucleus that we have and the players that we've added. Connor, Joe from the bridge are esteemed technical producer here. Very, very keenly citing that you're wearing the Miscoka hockey hat there. We've been hearing, we've been hearing a lot about the Miscoka skates this summer. That the number one overall pick who's now in Maple Leaf has been up there.

35:57And did you catch, did you catch any looks at Mr. Gavin McKenna when you were up there skating? And what else did you see? No, I was, I was back in Jersey when they, when I think did that camp up there. Sam Gagne, who runs that and, you know, the mastermind behind a Miscoka, I texted him. I said, you're welcome for the free ad. But, you know, it's, it's a fun place to play. You know, obviously we have a place up in Miscoka and it's just an incredible spot to spend the summers. And, you know, Sam's done an incredible job bringing so many good players up there. And it's just a, you know, it's a great place to hang out in the summer and also get better. So, you know, good for him. With Connor Brown, formally the Maple Leafs. And when you were here with Toronto, Jim Hiller was an assistant with the team. Just curious, you know, he's back now with the Maple Leafs. Now, what can you tell us about him as a coach and your experience with Jim?

36:58I absolutely love Jimmy. He was incredible for me. You know, he really was a personable coach played. I think he really understands the game. You know, obviously that was a, you know, very much a different role at the time. You know, you're being assisted to the forwards and more of a helping hand. And, you know, sometimes Babs will be barking down at me. And so he'd have to communicate it down and he'd soften the blow. But, you know, Jimmy was great. And, you know, I'm happy to see him land up there. I think he's going to do a great job in Toronto. And, you know, they have, you know, Toronto has so many great pieces. So, you know, I'm sure everyone's expecting a big bounce back season from them. How about you, Connor? Obviously it's your deep in your career now. What is this? Year 12 for you coming up. I mean, when you've gone into this off season, is there anything you kind of were focused on working on to sort of to make yourself the best you can be coming into the new year? How do you look at the off seasons at this point in your great career?

38:03Yeah, I think, you know, early in my career, you know, being a late pick, I used to live on the ice. You know, I'd kind of, you know, hit the pavement every day. And, you know, now after you're coming to, you know, two finals runs and you know, it was lucky enough to play in the World Championships last year. So, you know, played a little longer. Not as many hours on the ice in the summer. You know, a lot of time focused on the health and a little bit more strategic when I go on the ice. You know, focus on little things that I think could help me, you know, whether it's shooting or... Little things that you pick up along the way. So, I think it's a little bit more, you know, a less just hammer in the pavement, a little bit more systematic and analytical about the summers. Well, Connor, really appreciate taking the time out of your days. Only a couple of free days left until you got to get back out onto the ice. You're back in Jersey, skating yet? What do you expect to start ramping it up or have you already? Yeah, yeah. Most of the boys have already rolled into Jersey. I think a lot of guys are excited. So, you know, a few golf games still ahead of me before the season gets going.

39:06But, you know, guys around the ice and working out together. So, you know, it's always a fun time here when the boys start rolling in. And so, we're excited. You guys got a fantasy football draft coming up at all. It's the situation there in Jersey. Yeah. Yeah. Monday night. Jonathan Colville, seven, which is our GM. And he's already taken assault and there hasn't been one pick made. So, it's always fun. I feel like I said, those are the type of things that you, you know, you love. It's exciting to get back in the room and you just, you know, the banter and whatnot. So, it's an exciting time. Well, Connor, really appreciate it taking the time. It's, I'm hoping for, you know, good season for you guys. Nice bounce back here for Devils. And again, enjoy the rest of your summer and best of luck next year. Yeah, no problem. See you boys. Absolutely. Connor Brown of the new Jersey Devils. They've had a lot of turnover too. Like Toronto talk a lot about how much they've kind of overhauled things. You know, they've, they've, they've, you know, they got a new GM in place.

40:06They held on to shelving key, though. To find interesting that they continue to kind of, you know, they think shelving key is the guy. But they bring in, well, they bring in Jacob March, Sherman net. So they hope that they have the answer there in goal. And they made that Luke evangelist to trade the other day. Yeah, that was, that was a strange one on both sides. I mean, evangelist, I mean, I guess it was maybe a little more questionable on the Nashville side with you, where you're getting rid of a 24 year old for a couple of draft picks. But yeah, it's, it's going to be interesting. I mean, you never know when you get a new GM in if your coach is going to last long, right? Because Sonny Metta is a different dude. And he comes from that Florida Panthers, you know, analytical, minded coaching or GM tree or, I guess, executive tree under Bill Zito. And, you know, it was a big part of building those Florida Panthers teams that have gone to, you know,

41:08three cup finals and one a couple and are very much expected to bounce back this year. And it's going to be really intriguing to see what he builds in New Jersey. Yeah, we'll see. They created a way, Jacob Marchim. He's in Florida, actually. And they go with Nico Dawes and Jake Allen in that. Yes. We'll see what that looks like for the devils. All right, on the other side, we get to our fan duel best bets next here on overdrive. Hi, this is Dave Roberts. Heading into summer without a medical emergency kit, that's a risk. Summer colds can linger and getting sick on vacation can derail everything. That's why everyone needs a medical emergency kit. It includes doctor prescribed medications to treat common and serious illnesses. So if you wake up sick, at home or on the road, you already have what you need. It's like having an urgent care and pharmacy at home. Say $45 with code blue at urgentcare kit.com slash blue urgent care kit.com slash blue. Pro football is back and so are predictions. Trade yours on CalShi America's number one prediction market platform.

42:10New England is currently trading at 39% to beat Seattle, meaning $100 trade pays out $246 if they win. Download CalShi, use code heart to get $20 when you trade 20 KALSHI. CalShi, trade on anything. 18 plus only, restrictions and eligibility applying, trading involves risk, not available at all jurisdictions. Prices, values and markets may differ from those mentioned. For more see calShi.com slash regulatory. Melody and Friday is brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar. Enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree or 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. See you for a $15 fast lunch at your local Boston pizza. Today's best bets are powered by fan dual make your picks and assemble a same game parlay in seconds on the fan dual sports book app. Looking at the Jays down in Kansas City tonight. I think Vladie keeps it rolling. I'm taking Vladie two plus bases and a run two plus bases, parlay that with one plus run scored and get that a plus one forty today's best bets powered by fan dual same game parlay is available for every MLB game on the

43:16fan dual sports book app please play responsibly 19 plus and physically located in on terio. Bet non Vladie. At non Vladie. Yeah. Hasn't been profitable this year. It's been terrible this year. There's a little bit there on on gameplay where we were like, yeah, we should start betting no bloody home runs. You got to bust out of the funk at some point. Yeah, that was a bad idea. Hasn't happened. It was a bad idea. Yeah. I wonder if it's insane how we're into September. Like it's now Labor Day weekend. Guys still don't have a home run at home. At home. Like it's unbelievable. It's inexplicable. Like I don't know what what's more what would be more inexplicable to you the fact that like we look at Austin Matthews in the season that he had with the season that Vladie said. I mean, Austin Matthews. I mean, average and 30 goals over a couple of seasons 33 and 27 like that's like half your production at your height, right? Or close to it. Yeah.

44:16Ballpark. You know, you were a 60 goal, 69 goal at your height. So you're getting 30ish. That's half. I mean, Vladie is at eight, right? I mean, at his height, he had 48. 48. Yeah. So he's like one sixth of his height. And he doesn't have the injury excuse. He doesn't have the injury excuse and you know exactly. New manager. And by the way. Yeah. By the way, you just got paid. He's a $500 million player. Yeah. That's the other thing that has to you talk about you. Do you feel bad betting on Vladie tonight with your Fandall best bets? How does Mark Shapiro and Ross Akkins feel about betting $500 million on this guy, given what they're seeing right now? Not as great. Not as great. That's for sure. Oh, this is a it's a long term deal. And let's hope that this is the anomaly season, right? As the problem is like there was a clear hesitation to pay this man. A clear hesitation. Yes. So if we're looking for a good decision, what's the point, I mean, I think that's the only thing that we're going to have. But they've got all the measures from our options. Where? Well, like what happens if this is the anomaly season like we saw that 48 home run year or last year when he had a really good OPS and,

45:20but you're before that like, that's kind of the struggles that you have. If you're Vlad Merikuro Jr. Or if you're the front office, thinking like. Alright, what is this guy? Because that is height and I think he's worth it. Like at his height when he's planning out his best. He is one of the top 3 to 5 hitters in all of baseball. Right? But we haven't seen anything like that. This is part of what we're going to see right now. all of baseball, right? But we haven't seen that at all this year. Yeah, not at all. When he's outhitting Aaron judge in the playoffs and he's outhitting Shohei O'Hotani in the playoffs. Yeah, he's worth whatever you want to pay him. But that guy hasn't shown up in the regular season this year. Since, since May 1st, which is a pretty big sample size, 25% below league average hitter. Vladimir Groginger has the 75 WRC plus. But, but that's Dave. The new horizon is coming post Labor Day and starting to heat up a little bit with the Guardian series couple of hard hit baseballs, even Keegan was saying, look like you had a little swag back in his game. Biss pumping, you know, a big long line, a

46:22big fly out to get the base runner in on a sack fly. Pimp at a walk. It's starting to get a swag back. Maybe that's a sign of things to come. He's a fall baseball player. He is. He proved that last year. Right? That's a thing. I mean, if this team, if they can continue to pitch the way that they have, whether it's the bullpen, the starting rotation, and if they can continue to get the contributions from from Brett Bateman, maybe Nathan Lucas comes up big one night, Alejandro Kirk George break. They take turns. You can get that bloody character to get going. Buckle up. Changes everything. It changes absolutely. Changes everything. All right, David was fun. This last couple of days. It was a lot of fun. Thank you to letting us into your homes for last few days and listening. Thanks to the boys behind the glass. You guys did great all summer long. But on Tuesday, the boys are back. The boys are back. The original three amigos will be back. That'll be 4 p.m. They'll chat then. Hi, this is Dave Roberts heading into summer without a medical emergency kit. That's a risk.

47:22Summer colds can linger and getting sick on vacation can derail everything. That's why everyone needs a medical emergency kit. It includes doctor prescribed medications to treat common and serious illnesses. So if you wake up sick at home or on the road, you already have what you need. It's like having an urgent care and pharmacy at home. Say $45 with code blue at urgentcare kit.com. Slash blue. Urgentcare kit.com. Slash blue.