[MUSIC] >> Fan, Morning Show Sports, 759 of the fan, Ben and Sam McKee, Euler's fans, very happy. Cuz they got Leon Dreyseidel signed up for nine more years, but eight beyond the one he was already signed up for. Didn't take any deferred payments either. >> Yeah, I guess that was always the thing. People are very aware of the deferred payment stuff of Seth Jarvis and they said, we don't need to do that. We'll just sign them up to the highest cap hit in the national hockey league for eight years. >> I mean, the player doesn't want to do it. >> No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, yeah, maybe it could have lowered the cap hit. Again, the details of that stuff is very confusing. To me, our next guest would be very well versed in it. It is Elliot Friedman, who joins us online. How's it going, Elliot? >> Not bad guys, how are you doing this morning? >> Doing very well, we got our one hour segment where we talked about Leon Dreyseidel and the uncertainty yesterday before he signed that deal. We're like, people keep saying it's gonna be signed, it hasn't been signed yet. Who knows? >> Not you. >> I mean, I said yes, I was naughty. >> It was me, you said. >> Not you, man, it was me. >> Anyways, turns out it was stress free. Like, was there anything beyond what it felt like where it was like, yeah, this was always going to happen. It was always going to be at that number and both sides eventually got to that point. >> I don't know if we believed it was going to be at that number. I think in the early in the summer, I thought it was going to be in the thirteenths. But it became pretty clear in the last week or so it was going to be around 14. You know, if you look at the cap percentage, I think it's high fifties. That's normal for a franchise player. So I know some people looked at the number and they had them at a sticker shock. That fits for where the star player signed for. I don't think it became pretty clear to be at the cup final that Drycidal was staying. And I mean, the one thing I kind of laughed about yesterday because I thought it was just funny was how he danced around the whole McDavid thing. I think he's being respectful of McDavid and letting McDavid talk for himself. But I always believe that this was not just a Drycidal negotiation. It was also a Drycidal McDavid negotiation. And I know that there's been a lot of McDavid Matthew signs and Matt is convincing McDavid to sign with the lease for the league minimum. >> Elliot, do you follow me on Twitter? >> That's going to be happening. >> Do you follow me on Twitter? Do you follow me on Twitter, Elliot? Yeah, I guess maybe you're talking about me because it's me. That's me, who does that? >> Yeah, well, no, no. Yes, I do, I don't know, Sam, there's these people out there. They follow like 2,000 people. I don't know how people do that. So I split it into lists, so I have like 600 people per list. So I don't follow your directly, but you're on one of those lists. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Yeah, and it's easy to say. >> Yeah. >> Unbelievable, I would laugh in my head off at some of your stuff. It was great. >> Well, yeah. So the Conor McDavid thing is one of my favorite things to joke about and talk about and try to hold over Euler's fans' heads. But this is all but a fatal blow to the dreams of Conor McDavid coming to Toronto, correct? >> It is, but it is a fatal blow. I would say like the patient is never dead until they're dead, but I would say the patient's on life support. >> Yeah, okay. >> So the question I have now is, and one we were discussing in our 630 block, Rage is, of course, about the lease, what does this mean for Mitch Marner? And what does Mitch Marner look at this contract, didn't think? >> You know, well, first of all, yesterday I was talking to another agent, and after, like when we, like the first tweet started going out that Medra Zilob was going to sign, you know, he called into what's the number. I said, it's four, before I tweeted it, I said, it's 14, but I just don't have it confirmed yet. And he thought about it and he goes, that's, now this is not Marner's agent, by the way. >> Okay. >> He said, he said, that's, that's a game changer. And it's going to be a game changer for a lot of players. And we talked about how the number with that percentage was, it was consistent, but, you know, it's, the salary cap world is a weird thing, Sam, because for every dollar one player gets, another player doesn't get the dollar, but there still is the pressure on the top players to push the limit. And you know, the thing about Marner, I look, if you look at the history, first of all, let me say this, I think Mitch Marner, when his career is over, what should happen is he should go down as the greatest Toronto-born Maple Leaf ever, but that's the way we should in 10 years or whenever it is, that's the way Marner should be remembered. He's a great player and he should be the best, um, relief, Toronto-born leaf ever. And I believe very strongly that if that doesn't happen, everybody involved is going to regret it. And, um, but the thing is, as we know, this is complicated. Um, you know, he has, he has an opinion of his value, that it is a big number and he is a productive player. I, the thing is to me is that I think the Maple Leafs are always going to argue that their highest-paid player is going to be Matt Hughes. And I think if it was as simple as Nieland or Steele, I just don't think we'd have this much trouble. Um, I think there's going to have to be, and again, the other thing that happens here is how we perform Sam, um, like, Willy, I don't think the Leafs were thinking eight times eleven and a half for Willy. And then he came out like a house on fire because the guy, and I give the guy a lot of credit for this, he doesn't care about all the noise. Nobody shuts it out as well as he does, and for the most part, and he came out like a house on fire, and they said, and they were like, well, well, he's earned this. And I think the question becomes, if Marner does the same thing, and I believe a hundred percent, that's his plan, because he wants to be great and it's great for the team, if he comes out like a house on fire, what is his number become? And I think that's going to be, that, to me, Sam, it's all about that. Yeah. How does the season start? And then what does that mean for his number? Well, the scary thing is for the Leafs is that he's really excellent at hockey and he's really good in the regular season. Yeah. He's going to do that. I think he's healthy. He's going to do that. So then, do you have any read on where tri-living in Co was at with him? Like, is there an offer out there? Is he like, are they talking? Like, I'm interested to know where they're actually at, in terms of communication at this point. You know, I think it was communicated to the Leafs that, like, the thing is you have to know the agent, number one, and the, and the agent Darren Ferris, and there's the great joke about him when you, when you deal with Darren Ferris, you ride the Ferris wheel. And the fair, Sam and Dan, the, this Ferris wheel is not like a fun, easy, the notebook style Ferris wheel. Is that Ferris wheel in the notebook? Yeah. Never seen, never seen. Yeah. Sounds like somebody's well versed on the notebook. Never seen that one. Well, I can tell you guys have been single for a long time. No, I don't know. How do we marry men? I've never seen it. No. Oh my God. Well, I, I give you credit that you were never forced into that. Thank you. But if you, if this Ferris wheel is like a Simpsons haunted, how do we keep Ferris wheel? And it's a Ferris wheel of doom. You know, the thing is like, like, if you know him, he says, you, you have to give me a reason not to take my guys right to free agency. And that's the way he is. Unless you make it work as well, he will take his guys to the market. But one thing I believe though is I really do believe that Meyer wants to be a leaf. And like, but the thing is, it's going to take the one thing that has to happen with him and I, and for, I think it will be best for him and them if it does is if everybody at some point just sits down and says, all right, let's put the ego aside and let's get a deal done. That makes sense. Cause I think that guy should be a leaf for his life. And like I said, he should go down as the best Lee, the Toronto born leaf in franchise history. And I know there's all the questions about the playoffs and things like that. But one thing I believe more than anything else is you always bet on talent. Yeah. And that, that kid is talented. And I, and I do think that, I do think that Meyer wants to be a leaf and wants to be successful as a leaf. Yeah, I, I don't doubt that he's going to have a great regular season because that's what he does when he, when he's healthy. And of course the questions for this entire team arise when the playoffs come around and no doubt, I, I'm sure Brad for living would love to wait to see that play out, to see whether he wants to get in bed with Darren Ferris and Mitch Marner for another decade. But at that point, isn't too late. Like it, at that point could, could he just price himself out of this market? He could. There's no question like all of, like the, like the thing is bang is, is, is we know when it comes to this particular situation, it's, it's never been easy. It's always been complicated. And you know, that, you know, like that could happen again. Like it's, it's never smooth. Like I, you know, there's none of us can deny that it's, it's never smooth. But I always go down with a base. And like if you listen to Stan Bowman yesterday, he basically said, you know, we were going to get this done because there was no alternative. And I think the others were hoping it would be less than that number. But at the end of the day, you, you do what you have to do to get this player signed. And I think the least kind of prefer that too. Like in the last, you know, some, well, first of all, Marner has portrayed protection. So he has to agree to anything. But unless some trade drops on their laps that they try to go home and say, we really want to do this. But don't forget that last year they had knee lander out there all summer who didn't have trade protection. They let it be known that if they got a top defensement, they would consider making the deal. And there was nothing that dropped on their laps that they thought made sense for knee lander. So like the thing I always wonder about is even if you wanted to trade Marner, what drops on your laps that make sense for you? So I want you to put on your little account advisor, you know, the green one that's kind of like seats right here, because I didn't smoke a dart while you were wearing it. The Seth Jarvis deferred payments thing kind of caught me by surprise. I didn't realize like, of course, yeah, you can structure contracts in certain ways and money can be paid out certain ways. But I didn't know you could actually impact the cap hit of the contract. Obviously, like I'm not in an NHL front office. I would hope that everybody in every NHL front office was aware of this, but doesn't this feel like a weapon that the Maple Leafs could use, could have used, could still use? I mean, it would, it would take paying somebody through the nose for a long time. But if any franchise was capable of doing that, wouldn't that be the Toronto Maple Leafs? What am I missing here? Well, I think that the, the issue with that is if you take a look at the way that a lot of star contracts get done, you know, if you look at the one that dry settled, like dry fells have been paid a million a year in salary and the rest is in signing bonuses. And the Toronto deals have been, have been done like that. Like Matthew's Marner Tavares was like that too. Like normally people tell you money now is much more valuable than money in the future. And so most people won't defer. And the thing that's interesting about the Jarvis deal is that I was talking to a few new agents about it, and they said in many cases with a player like Jarvis that who is younger and hasn't made his big money yet, they would tell them not to defer. Like for example, when I was, when I was younger, I was offered one contract in my career where there was some deferred money, and I took it to a financial advisor and they told me not to do it. And they said because you're young, you haven't built a huge nest egg, and money now is more valuable than money later unless you're really wildly irresponsible, and I go, I'm not that irresponsible. So, I'm really not now, I will say this is funny, like you said, this about Otani, because one of the reasons he deferred the money was because he's in a high tax state. And I came across, I was talking to a player last week who told me that, or actually just recently, because it was the contract was just signed, but he told me that when he was younger in a high tax state, then he talked about it with his agent, because he didn't want to pay as many, and then ultimately they just said it didn't, when they talked about the value of money later versus now, it didn't make sense. So that's probably why, like a lot of advisors will say, you don't really need to do that. I think what's unique in this case with the hurricanes is, all the money that's deferred is coming to him basically the day after his contract ends. That's a short time for deferred, that's the difference that Carolina did here, like Marciso, who talked about Vegas offering deferred money, it was a really smart idea by Vegas, the thing that didn't appeal to him from what I understand is the money was deferred for like 15 years, it was a longer time. So I think it, the thing that Carolina did here that was really interesting was that deferral was, it gets a huge chunk of money right at much quicker than I think a lot of teams have offered with deferred payments. That was what was unique and was done here. However, I don't know how many guys are going to do it, I've been told it's, it's going to be less impactful in terms of numbers than we all initially thought. Last one for you, for me Elliot, anything on Patrick Reddy, because there's been a lot of smoke with him in the lease. Well, you know, I heard that one of the things that's there is that Patrick Reddy doesn't want to do him PTO, he wants to actually have a signed contract, and he's hoping more for some bonuses too. Like yesterday, you know, like the Lisa, they have a PTO coming at some point with Stephen Lawrence from the Panthers. Yeah. So which I think is interesting because I think he's a guy that could potentially play for them. And as I look at the lineup, I kind of like wonder, okay, who's that going to knock out. So I think it comes down to what Patrick, it's funny, I was, I was, I was downtown earlier this summer and I walked into him on the street. And I said, what are you doing here? And he kind of said, I'm visiting friends, and I'm like, now I know that, okay, which friend was he visiting? Brad, we're living. Yeah, it's Brad, we're living. But the thing with me is that it sounds like he doesn't want it to be a PTO, he wants it to be a contract with some bonuses because of his injuries, which I would ask for too. So it's probably going to come down to who's willing to make the best deal. Yeah. Elliot, thanks for waking up for us. Appreciate it. Thanks, man. No problem, guys. Have a great day. And guys, like if you want, I mean, if you're, if you ever need a romantic night in your lives, okay. No book. Yeah. Yeah. I'm waiting. That's the nuclear option. Like if things ever get so bad in my marriage, I got to maybe break it out. Yeah, the notebook. I'm waiting. I'm waiting on that. I'm really bad on the note block works. It's great advice. Thanks, buddy. Thanks, bud. All right. Take care of the way. See you. Elliot Friedman. Yeah. It's a Ferris wheel of doom. I love that guy. Yeah. Darren Ferris. Yeah. Oh, right. Yeah. Of course, Max Patrick, he wants guaranteed money that makes all the sense in the world. And I have advice for tribal living. What? Don't give it to him. Yeah. Probably find incredible value. If you go somewhere else, that's fine. Stephen Lorentz, you got your juices for a step. He's got a ring. You're bringing in championship pedigree, okay? He played 16 games for the Panthers in the post season. How many games he played in the playoffs because I don't remember him at all. Honestly. I was like, who? Yeah. Like, what was his ice time in the playoffs? He scored two goals, apparently. Yeah. More than he scored the regular season. Which was one. Yeah. In 38 games. Yeah. Like, listen, he's big. And I think Brad's living has a bit of a tall guy kink, likes tall guys. Who wouldn't? I mean, I'm physical. I fall and walk into the room around Brad's living, and he's like, yeah, it's your stats. You can stand in front of a net. I can. I can. In fact, I have my entire beer league career. Yeah. But yeah, like, so I'm looking at his time on ice here. In the June, the June 15th, is that the last game in the, the rate of the playoffs would be right. June 15th. Sounds right. He played 10 minutes. He played 10 minutes in game seven. He was a dash one, you know, one, and it was a two one game. I don't know. Yeah. It seems like a million years. But then it was five, 27, eight, 14, five, 39, six, 16, four, whatever. Whatever. Whatever. Whatever. Whatever. He's on a PTO. Yeah. He should be on a PTO. Seventh round pick. 28 year old who scored one goal in 38 games last season. I'll tell you, I can just not get the juices flowing a whole lot. Knacks patch ready. Pedigree. If he signed a contract, that's one that I would really be willing to have a conversation on and, you know, an upside play and however much you pay him, bonus laid and all that stuff. But yeah, I can't, I can't give you five minutes on Steven Lorenz. I think he's a local guy. I think he's Kitchener maybe. Kitchener. I can't tell you. I think he plays. I think he plays from Kitchener. Yeah. Oh, wow. I feel like you must have looked this up. Yes. Yeah. I remember the junior year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kitchener. There you go. Good poll. Thank you. Okay. Last little conversation we're going to have about Mitch Marner because today's your last day doing the show. You get to sleep in to normal hour tomorrow. Oh my God. I cannot wait. But I, but it's, I'm screwed up though. Like I woke up at 615 every day this weekend. Yeah. You're messed up. I messed up. I can't see. You don't want to be kids too. No, I can't wake it up. I'm like, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? I just sat on the couch now. Like I'll go over to my phone in another location. Yeah. You can go sip your room temperature coffee. Yes. Bingo. Bingo. So I get an indication from Elliot Friedman that maybe it's not just that Brad for living doesn't want to sign Mitch Marner to an extension in season that wants to see it play out in the postseason that it might be more Darren Ferris doesn't want to sign his client to a contract in season. That's going to be an interesting wrinkle to this whether there is any communication, whether there is a number that gets it done during the regular season because as much as Mitch Marner is underperformed in the postseason. If you can get him locked up to him, like if he just acquiesces and takes the the kneel and ordeal, who is going to say that that's a bad decision like here's the thing. Do you want to be a leaf or you want to be the richest guy ever? Right. It's two different conversations and maybe Ferris wants him to be the richest guy ever. Maybe he wants to bleed the least for every last dollar. I think Ferris definitely wants that. There's no question about Ferris does not care. Ferris does not care. He's like, I don't care. He's like, Hey, Jill, will I give you $50 million? I do not care. Yeah. But I think if Marner were to take like not a discount because he's never going to take a discount, but even the kneelander deal would be a discount considering what he's done. He would be looked upon so much differently in the city. This contract here, if it if it is another like bad negotiation where the Leafs lose the negotiation, they sign him for a huge cap. Yeah, that can't happen. And he keeps underperforming the playoffs after he signs it. It's just not going to be a tenable situation where that's to me why I'm surprised he didn't want to leave. I'm surprised he still wants to be a leaf. I know he's local. I know all that stuff, but like you don't want to go to like Florida or Carolina or like somewhere where, you know, you're out of the spotlight, go to California or you're out of the spotlight. We're just talking about this in the break, whether Mitch Marner likes the spotlight, like he loves being a Toronto Maple Leaf. He wants to be a Toronto Maple Leaf. And if you want to be a Toronto Maple Leaf, you must like the spotlight and take a dot to Max Max then. That's what drives me crazy about these guys is that all of them want everything. I want to be a leaf. I love being a leaf. For what? Prove it for once. Take one cent less. But if you can get everything. Well, I guess that's true. Okay. Nobody's pushed them to like not all it's got to be like, I don't want it all. Yeah. Who's going to say, you know what? I know I can get everything from you, Kyle Dubas, because you're the worst negotiator on planet Earth. You're bad at this. But I'll do your job for you. No, who's going to do that? Who in the wrong? If you can have your cake and eat it too, you're obviously going to do that. Yeah. The question is. What's that saying mean? So it's like, not only do you get the cake, but like, you don't get any of the negative side effects of like, oh, it's fattening for you. It's like, you get everything. You get it all. I look at it. So it's like a scenario where I look at the cake on the table, but I don't get to eat it. Yeah. I mean, it's stupid. Anyway, it's good. Okay. Where is that number lie for Mitch Marner where it's like, well, God, I can't believe you're signing him to an extension considering this team's post season history. We were signing up for another decade of this. But it's like, again, I think 11 and a half, if he signs the knee lander deal, I'm sorry, as much as what I just said is true, the player is a hundred point player. He's a 200 foot player. Yeah. And yeah, the post season results haven't been there, but those guys do not grow on trees. And if you can get him for that number, that's an incredible deal and you should do it today. But like, where is that? 12 times eight. 12. I think what does that do for everybody? It's the same thing, it's like a half million bucks more than knee landers. You get the separation and it's so much for these guys, it's beyond money, right? It's like, where are you in the packing order? So like, I'm okay. You value me more than William knee lander, but less than Austin Matthews, which we all understand pretty much exactly where he slot. Yeah. Correct. Yes. It's like, that's fine. That's how it should be slotted. So to me, if it's like, yeah, honestly, is it, what about 12 and a half per like where? Okay. 12 is the number? 12 to five. What am I? What am I? One of my good buddies from one sound, his family's all auctioneers. Yeah. And I used to like, I never. Family's all auctioneers. Yeah. They run the city. They run. They run the, they send him auction off and on sound and I used to love going just to watch him rip it up. Auctioneer is incredible. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, you can't get 12 to five. You can't get that. Okay. 12 is the number. 12.6. So done. Okay. Darren Ferris, you're drawing a hard line in the sand. Here you are. Brad for living. It's November. Yeah. Mitch Marner has a quadrillion points. Don't get it. He has like five. Don't get it. Blinders are on. Blinders are on. And Darren Ferris is like, yeah, we'll give you a deal. I was like, listen, 12 and a half is a deal. 12. 12 brother. All right. It's a hard line. Yeah. That's where I'll go. That's where I'll go. And listen, I understand how complicated that is. Mitch Marner here for eight more years, potentially, as a conversation I'm very willing to have. Maybe not. Maybe I do. Like, you know, you don't, you don't know what you got till it's gone. Sometimes it's a very famous saying and the time you watch him walk out the door and he goes to wherever he goes to Chicago and he's part of the rebuild there and they start lighting it up and you're like, well, crap, yeah, crap, we should have seen that we could have that guy in the lease and that conversation starts and it's like, well, why didn't you just pay him the extra 2.5 million? You could have had him around or whatever it is. It's a tough one. And I think ultimately you should probably just bump and I hate saying that because I said they should trade on the second the playoffs ended as usual, but this should probably just keep them. Yeah. But maybe not a full no move class. Would that be a fair? No. How about you get the action? Hey, I got a pitch. How about we give you the 12 and a half, but it's not a full move. Not a full move. So you get the. Yeah, I got to get everything. No. No. That's the way she goes. That's the way she goes. That's the way she goes. 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, no trade list. I mean, yeah, we talked about Kyle doovis being not the master negotiator. I mean, what evidence is there to suggest right for living. Give David camp for no trade. Good stuff. Yeah, it's great. Anyways, as mentioned, McDonald's Canada has just launched a big menu edition with more of your favorite McDonald's ingredients all wrapped into one big satiating burger, the big arch, biggest bite on the Canadian menu to celebrate. We're giving away $100 McDonald's gift card to enter all you have to do is tune into the fan morning show. Listen for the code word. Then text the code word to 59590 standard message and data rates may apply. Today's code word is burger again. Text burger to 59590 right now to enter for your chance to win. You know it was a big winner yesterday? Yeah. Taylor Pendreth. And on Sunday. You want 900k? Yeah. Hello. Yeah. It turns out you don't have to win the golf tournament to make kids at the best. They pay great for 20. Correct. Especially at the tour champion. Yeah. Taylor Pendreth joins us next. The fan morning show continues. Ben and Sam McKee sports at 590 the fan. The best blue Jay show out there period. Blair and Barker, be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Good morning show sports at 590 the fan, Ben and Sam McKee. Wow. Four days we've been doing this. The first time I think you've sung coming out of a bag. Yeah, I got to stop that because I forget about the podcast. I was. Yeah. But no, I know people. No, you sing a cappella now. That's great. Like people on the podcast just hear you singing alone to nothing. I love music. I love music. I'm a huge music guy. I love songs. Can you sing? Hell no. Oh, give me a few in between five and seven Bud lights. I'll get on it. Like anybody can sing. It's a factually. Just very bad. Okay. Very bad thing. Yeah, me too. Today's first day of school for so many children in this environment. Sweet. What? Suckers. I mean, it's amazing for me. Oh, yeah. Two young children. The golf game is about to get lit up here for the next hour. Possibly. Possibly. Why possibly? Probably. No, not. Take the two people away. Well, I just had a D word definitely. I would say the only reason I say probably is because I was sort of secrecy on this point that I've or this story I was mentioning. I don't know. Did I mention it to you in the break? I mean, I mentioned it to my dad. The only reason I'm saying that's possible because I know somebody who golfs a lot who also has like is employed is in my general demographic as far as age is concerned. Oh, you're going to say in an industry. Okay. And it's knocked out for the month because of an injury. Okay. This injury was sustained on the golf course as well. Oh, no. So like, I don't want to jinx anything, but yeah, in theory, there is some golf in my future, which is one of the benefits if you were to like anybody out there looking to work, you know, six to nine in the morning, weekdays, you know, there's there's a hellish part of like not being able to go to bed until 11 o'clock and then having to wake up at four rather, like say, you know, you want to ingest all the sports action. Well, that's the thing about the the summer. It's nice in the summer. Yeah. You're up till 10 tops. Yeah. And then the winter. Yeah. And that's okay. No, it's there's a lot going on, but yeah, the the the benefit is that there's, you know, you can still get your golf and before your children come home from school. The thing about this morning show and I always whine about having to do the morning show, it's like there's people that get up and go to this work time and work till 3 p.m. Work till 4 p.m. And that's how do you do that? Yeah. That's they're the real grinders. I think the biggest, um, the the biggest learning part of of doing this time slot was yeah, just how many people there are on the roads at five o'clock in the morning. I thought it would be a ghost town out there and it's listen, it's not bumper to bumper. No, but there's more than you realize. Yeah. And I wrote the bus in today and like the the vomit comment, the 300 and all those work and stuff. There's no subway till six. It's like it's full every day. Yeah. Anyways, we don't need to get into Toronto politics before we talk to our next guest. Yeah, well, he's well versed in them. All right. Mike Ware made his selections yesterday for the captain's pick for the upcoming president's cup, which is occurring in Montreal at the end of this month and making his second president's cup appearance will be our next guest, Taylor Pendreth, who joins the online Taylor. Thanks for doing this. How's it going? Hey guys. Yeah. I'm doing great. How are you guys doing? Very well. Yeah. I imagine you're doing a lot better than us because that was, that must have been well, first of all, an incredible performance by you in the FedEx cup and being the lone Canadian in the tour championship and picking up a big chunk chunk of change. I imagine you felt like your performance late in the season had you pretty close to being a lock for the president's cup, but like, what did, what did you think and how nervous were you before you, you found out for sure? Yeah. I mean, I guess you never really know. You know, I've had a really solid second half of the season and especially late, I've been playing really good golf, really steady golf. And you know, a lot of aspects of my game are in good shape, but yeah, you never really know, but Mike called me the Monday of tour championship week and told me, and then you know, I was thrilled. It was a huge goal of mine to start the year to get on that team and to do it, you know, playing under Mike in Montreal with all the history he has there and the home crowd. And so yeah, when I got that call saying that I was on the team, it was an amazing feeling and super exciting and just got back from Montreal last night and I am super pumped for the week. It's going to be awesome. Yeah. So, you know, you were on the in 2022 year on the team and you got the call from Trevor Hillman, which is a real thrill, I'm sure as well. But to get that call from, you know, every Canadian golfer's childhood hero and I'm assuming your childhood hero and Mike Weir, I mean, what was that feeling like? Yeah, definitely, he's a, you know, a guy I've looked up to my pretty much whole golfing life. And when he won the Masters, I was just kind of getting into golf and so obviously he's a legend in the game in Canada and, you know, when this was announced that it was going to be at Royal Montreal and he was a captain that was obviously super exciting for all Canadians and we all wanted to do what we could to be on the team and to make him proud and play in front of the home crowd. So to, yeah, to get the call from Mike is pretty special and we've got three Canadians on the team. So I think it's going to be a really fun week and the team looks really good. So hopefully we can, we can do Mike proud and do the whole country crowd. Yeah. It's such a golden age for Canadian golf. I mean, so many PGA Tour winners that are from this country this past season. How much were you guys all talking about it? I don't know. It seems like everybody gets along and has a relationship, all the Canadian golfers on tour. How much were you guys talking about, you know, the possibilities of being on this team and what it would mean throughout the course of the last couple of seasons? Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, we're all closer to the small group. It's gotten bigger over the last couple of years, I guess, of Canadians on tour, but still a pretty small group. So we're pretty close. Yeah, we definitely talked about it. You know, there was a possibility of, you know, at one point in the year, it looked like there could be five or six Canadians on the team. We were all playing great, but you know, I think the reality is the last, you know, three four weeks is we're all trying to play our best golf individually so we can get the pick. And obviously the more Canadians, the better, but we're trying to, we're trying to beat each other because we want to spot on that team. I think everybody felt the same way and was in the same boat and it could have gone. In many different ways, you know, it's a really difficult team to make. I feel like all the international players have been playing really solid golf this last year and last couple of years and some tough decisions for Mike, for sure. But you know, I guess it's good that we made those tough decisions for Mike, you know, by playing good golf and him having to choose, but yeah, it's definitely, you know, a little stressful towards the end of the year. You've got a lot going on the golf course and off the golf course and big tournaments to play in and you're trying not to think about, you know, what can happen at the end of the year, but it's definitely on your mind. So it was on my mind, for sure, just tried to play a good golf and let that take care of itself. So 2022 is your first experience in the President's Cup. What did you take from that and what can you learn heading into Royal Montreal this coming this month? Yeah, it's obviously the biggest stage you can play on in our game. I learned a lot. That was my rookie year on the PGA Tour and I had been out for four months with injury that year. So it happened pretty quickly. But yeah, I learned a lot. I mean, playing in front of that many people with that much pressure. And you know, I feel like I lean on, there's a lot of good shots that I hit in pressure moments that week that I can lean on when I'm playing my individual game on the PGA Tour. But I think most of all, just getting a little bit more comfortable with, you know, the atmosphere and the guys on the team. And I think, you know, the atmosphere in Canada is going to be great. So you just got to really embrace that and not really lean on the underdog story and go out there thinking that, you know, we do have a real chance of winning this year. Our team's very solid and go out there and try and win the things. But yeah, I think, you know, I, on paper, I didn't get any points last time, but I did play some good golf and took lots of positives from it. And I'm excited to do it again and see how we do. Okay. Tell me about the home crowd thing because, yeah, it seems like it would be an advantage to be on home soil, but it's not like other sports. It's not like hockey where it's like, ah, well, now I'm going to run a guy through the boards because I'm so motivated, right? Like, I'm really going to hit this pot. Oh, no, I hit it like five feet by. So what does that do to you in such a, like a finesse sport like golf, having the home crowd behind you? How does that impact your game? Yeah. Well, I think, you know, last time in Charlotte, you could hear the roars from whatever hole you're on. And you pretty much knew what was happening because there was a huge American bias. So this time, you know, run Montreal's an old golf course and a lot of the holes kind of run, you know, beside each other back and forth, so you'll be able to know what's going on. So I think just, I think just hearing those huge roars will get the boys fired up knowing that, you know, our team's doing something good. So, and I know the Canadian fans are going to be out in full force and, you know, we're there Monday, Tuesday and the first tee set up is amazing. It's going to be, it's going to be loud and wild and I think just, you know, I think the guys will draw on the energy that the home crowd brings. It'll be, it'll be nice having people cheer for you when you hit a good shot or make a pod or, you know, just the support in general is going to be a lot different than the last time. So I think it's, I think it's going to be great. So, you know, you know, the history of this event with the, the president's cup and, and the internationals have always had a tough time against a stacked USA team and it's a stacked USA team this year as well, but like, I guess how much are you guys just embracing that underdog role? You're on the home, you know, having the home course advantage that, that combination seems like it could be a really fun one heading into the end of this month. Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, we talked about it the last couple of days and I think this team, you know, with, with the players that we have and the potential partners that we have is like one of the strongest teams that we've had in a while. So we're not really trying to play the underdog role that much. Obviously, we know the history and we're all excited to, to try and break the history and to, to win the cup, but it's not going to be easy, but the, the, like I said, the guys we have are really strong and a lot of them have had amazing years and are playing well at the right time and we've got a statistics guy that's got everything broken down perfectly that we, you know, can pair people up and, and so, you know, I think it's, I think it's, it's time and, and all the captains assistance and wheezy are, are just have been phenomenal and very motivational and, and can give you some good advice they've all played in them. So hopefully this is the year, but yeah, we've got our, our work cut out for us for sure, but we're all super pumped to get going. So you know, not to make it divulge any secrets here, but the, the statistics stuff of it like, I mean, this is a dumbball question, but how amazing are the statistics that they have? Like, are, is this, are you, I hope, are your eyes open by some of this stuff in terms of how dialed in they have it? Yeah. It's almost too much information for me. It's, it's pretty incredible what, what they could do. And yeah, it's, it's, they've got it broken down to every little thing. And it's, it's a lot of information and a lot of data and they're good at their phenomenal what they do. So, you know, everybody in that team room trusts them and their decisions and law goes into it, law goes into it. And yeah, we're going to roll with it. And you know, he's, he's really smart at what he does and doing things for a reason, making choices for a reason. So we, we all know that and trust that and we're going to do the best we can with the, the partners that we play with before they go. Like what has happened to you this year? I mean, you pick up your first PGA tour victory. You're a top 50 player in the world. You're making your second president's cup appearance. Um, yeah, you've had good seasons before. Obviously you're talking about your rookie year and being on that president's cup team, but picking up your first PGA tour victory, picking up a nice chunk of change at the tour championship. What has happened for you personally this year? Um, yeah, no, it's, yeah, obviously been the best year of my career. I, I got my first win in Dallas and, and that for sure gave me a ton of confidence and, um, I feel like my game's been trending, you know, uh, in the right direction for a while and I've just been continuing to work on the same stuff. But my putting has improved, um, a lot this year, statistically it's been the best putting year I've ever had. And, um, I hadn't been driving it great at the beginning of the year. And now it's, it's coming back the last, you know, four or five months. I've been starting to drive it well and, and put it well. So it's a, I would say those two things are, are key to my success, but also just, just having fun. You know, I've, I've played a lot of these courses a few times now. And, um, you know, I feel a little bit more comfortable on, on certain golf courses and, um, played my way into the, into the signature events, the remaining three after winning. Um, just kind of went on a bit of a summer role, which was, um, which was awesome and a ton of fun. And they honestly, just me and my catty, Mr, just, we're having a good time out there. And, um, just really enjoying it. It's a privilege to be on the PGA tour and it's, it's pretty fun to, to play golf every week, um, for a living and, and, um, to see some success is great. You know, I knew it was going to happen at some point. I just didn't know when. Um, that's been a great year. Yeah. It seems like, uh, it seems like a good life. It must feel great to average 318 year. What's that like? Is that fun? It seems fun. It's a lot of fun. A millionaire golfer and playing in front of your home, uh, crowd, uh, in Montreal later this month. Taylor congrats on an incredible season and best of luck in Montreal. Thanks, man. Yeah, thank you guys. I appreciate it. There's Taylor Pandrith. It must be good. Yeah. He hammers. This is his, he got hot at the right time from the rocket mortgage, mortgage classic on. Here are his finishes. Top five, five top 20, uh, tied for 22, tied 13, time 14. Yeah. That's good time. Anyone. Yeah. He's a winner. Um, and yeah, he's a winner in life. He didn't get off to a hot start this year. A lot of cuts and then he just kind of turned it on, which is very good. Yeah. Good for him. Well, he said it was the potting, but it was also the driving, which seems like a funny book. He's playing like me. Yeah. Can't drive it. Couldn't find it. Yeah. I know the feeling. It's good. Yeah. I mean, you want all the facets going, but if yeah, just the beginning and the ending of the whole, like those are the, I, if for my money, the most important part, honestly, I have the first part of it. Like I drive the ball pretty well. I can't hit the ball. As you can attest, the middle, middle part, like, it's, and certainly the last part, like potting, it's an issue. I take pride in my putting. I can pot. No, you got touch body. I can pot. I can pot and chip. Can't drive though. No, well, because you're a field player, right? Like you having incredible feel, but that's the way you play. I got the number around for three. I said, three, 18, it was three, 12 and a half. But still, yeah, still hammers it. Eight in driving distance average on the PGA tour this year. So good for him. It must be said that, listen, being a pro athlete in any sport would be amazing. But if you were going down the pecking order and there's more pressure on pro golfers because you got to perform to make your to make your not. It's not a team. It's not a team thing. But once you have established yourself as a PGA tour player making the occasional cut and you're going to survive, there can't be another choice as far as like if you had your brothers as to which pro sport you'd rather be. I don't know if you have plenty of golf in the world. Number one, that's what I would pick number one. I mean, sure, it'd be nice to be Patrick Mahomes. You get like so much like working studying and yeah, there's 350 pound people trying to launch themselves at you. Hockey. You love hockey. I love hockey. Good. Great. Again, same thing. You're like on the treadmill and on the stationary bike. Oh, your whole off season of the kale, you're either a broke boy or you're the richest guy in the world. Baseball would probably be number two. Like, especially if you're like a relief pitcher. I mean, I got a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure in any of these sports to perform. Yes. And if you're a relief pitcher and you're only making whatever 40 appearances a year, you better perform in those 40 appearances or you're not, you're not going to work here no more. But there's a lot of sitting around eating sunflowers. He's watching a baseball game involved. But I got to tell you, it doesn't seem like anything pops up to just getting a pro golfer and get to play the sick as courses all the time. And you're in the sun. Yeah, it's the best. It's the best. I, yeah, I'm really happy for Taylor Penderth. Like it's just, you know, he's a guy that was probably below on the pecking order when these Canadian golfers, you would probably be an afterthought. And now he's, he's made himself into maybe our best yet or the best this year. I know Nick Taylor won the Canadian Open last year, whatever. But Taylor Penderth had an amazing year that made himself lots of money. And now he's vaunted himself, vaulted himself into all the elevated events next year, everything like he had an amazing year. So congratulations to him. And I hope he helps him take him down. Yeah, that would be fun. That would be great. It is truly like a golden age of Canadian golfers on the PGA. I get it was amazing that we had a Canadian win a major and be a top 10 player for an extended period of time. Like, but that was it. It was Mike Weir. And you're right, it was Stephen Ames. We could get a major winner. Lots of time. I mean, that's the thing. There are lots of bullets in the chamber. Big time. Week in, week out, we have Canadians competing at the top of PGA tour leaderboards. And it's never forget. Mac Hughes is in the final pairing at the US Open. Then his ball got stuck in a tree. Yes, it's true. And never forget that everybody loves to throw a couple of ducats on corner corners. First down leader of the Masters annual bet. Alright, buddy. Well done. Thanks for having. Thanks for having you for having me. That's right. Honestly, though, I had an absolute blast to be Benny. I love you. And I was starting getting up at 4.30 AM. I really enjoyed this. So thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Thanks for being here. Brant will be back tomorrow with another edition of the fan morning show, Ben Anastemicis or 759 fan. Good morning. [Music]
