Halford & Brough in the Morning - Adnan Virk Talks MLB + What We Learned

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat the latest baseball news and notes with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (1:32), plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's time to chat with Adnan It's Adnan Ferg, he's on the show We're gonna talk some baseball And take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Adnan. Yes, and at first he joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the filthy scene. 804 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you

by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are now in hour three of the program. Adnan Virk from MLB Network is gonna join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound, real estate appraisers.

Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today We are coming live from the Kintec studio Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step Guests on Sportsnet 650 call in on the hotline powered by Power West industries Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most visit them at powerwest.ca today. They keep the lights on. Let's go to the power west industries hotline now. Adnan Burke joins us here on the Halford and Brough show on sports net 650. Morning Adnan. How are you?

My chase force them out for a bygone era. My eldest son is 17 years old. His bike has been on our front lawn for at least six months. So I finally took it to the local bike shop. Hey, can you fix this? He starts explaining now it's going to bench frame. It's got this fender issue, the brakes are rusted. Okay, great. He goes in the back of the bike. You should get instead. I tell him, it's like, it was 375. I looked at him. I thought to myself,

I just have a kid who hasn't ridden a bike in six months and you want me to invest $375 on a bike that will'll probably also rest the other six months. I said, I'm good, thanks. But thought to each of you guys, do you still see people riding bikes in Vancouver? It's a bygone era. I don't see it anymore in Jersey. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there's lots of people that ride bikes in Vancouver. We have a very bike centric city. It's not quite Amsterdam, but yeah, there's a there's a big biking culture here for sure.

OK, big biking. How about street hockey? You still see a lot of kids playing road hockey. Mm, you know why? Less and less. I think less and sure. Okay. Big bike and go. How about street hockey? You still see a lot of kids playing road hockey. You know why less and less, I think. Yeah. I know we had Andrew Ferrence on the show last year and they were talking about were some grass were grass roots work that he's doing with the NHLPA trying to get more street hockey in places where there's not a like a ton of ranks and ice sheets available. So I know that there's a push for it, not unlike what the NFL and NFL PA are sort of doing with flag football,

like trying to removing the cost and make it more accessible. Yeah. I don't see a ton of it anymore around here. You know, I don't see it at all. And I miss it. I think some of the great memories of our youth, right? Was playing roller hockey. Cause if you couldn't skate like me, we can always get a stick and whack it and do something with it. So I'm like, that that is the perfect sport for the undisciplined those that still love hockey. So I miss it.

Okay, Adnan, we wanted to get you on. It's very busy sports time, but we wanted to get you on to talk about a couple of big stories in baseball. What do you think about that Red Sox trade? What's going on there? Unbelievable, Jay. I laughed as somebody texted me.

So this is like the Luke and Don to straight. And I worked on afternoon on Happy Father's Day, by the way. I get home that day and then at seven o'clock, you know, normally don't turn on the TV after I've just been there for three hours, but I don't know why I was flipping channels and I saw the takers saying, Debra, wait, what? I was just at work. This could not have possibly happened. And there was zero rumblings, fellas, zero of a potential De Devers trade. That's why I was so shocked. Now you start to peer into and go, okay, has there been an acrimony between both sides?

Yeah, but generally superstars and teams don't always get along. They don't trade their 313 million dollar guy just because of a couple of spats. So I was stunned by it. I'm still stunned by it, especially when I saw the return. That's right, Sir Lap again, it is a Dodgers trade. I'm not saying Devers is Donchich,

but he's one of the top 20 hitters in baseball, maybe top 15, and they get back, and Harrison is okay, Hicks is okay, a couple projects I've never heard of, I'm like, wow, I guess it's a salary dump. And listen, from a Giants perspective, that's a huge win. Buster Posey's had a real challenge, and his predecessors primarily,

in trying to lure free agents, right? They tried to give Judge 370 million, he said, no, they offered Korea 300 million. He said, no, you can't get free agents there because nobody wants to plan. So let's go as a hitter. This is so hard to hit home runs and you get Devers, who's a legit great hitter, 28 years of age. He's going to hit the next six, seven, eight years of the duration of this contract. I believe is in a tough parking. Yeah, but Barry Bonds could do it and Devers and my thing is Bonds, but they haven't had a 30-hole-in-one hitter since Bonds in 04, that's going to change.

So huge win for Buster Posey. Essentially, you're just assuming salary, which he's willing to pay. The Giants still aren't even in the top 10 in terms of payroll, so good win for them. For Boston, guys, honestly, if I was the Red Sox fan, I'd be livid. You didn't get much for him.

He's a great player. You alienated him because of the way you treated the entire situation. It's a mess and they can see what they want as far as well. We think it puts our team in a position to win and we're allowing our youngsters more play to them. That's true. But this all gets back to back as Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe said, they felt like for

$313 million you should do whatever we tell you to do. Endeavors was not willing to do that. Whether that's right or wrong, whether you're on the management side or the player side, that's why this happened. It's because he was at third base, he wanted to play third base. He said, Bregman is better than you defensively. Moved to DH. Okay, fine. I guess.

Hey, Kostas and Sirik, can you play first base now? No, I'm not doing it. I already did it once, I'm not doing it a second time. I think I kind of get where he's coming from. So good for Devers and good for the Giants and bad for Boston. What about the notion that he's being paid hundreds of millions of dollars, play first base, you're on this team, it's the best thing for the team. Yeah, I mean, there's definitely an aspect to that, Jay.

There's no question that. I'm sure that guys in the team are probably going to him and like, hey man, seriously? Like, you can't just help us out here for a couple of weeks. I suppose, Jay, if I looked at it from this perspective, maybe he's very prideful and said, you know what? I take great pride in being a third base. That's why I am by the way, he's a terrible defensively to be clear. He was last,

he was last in defensive run, say the last two years. So it wasn't like, they're getting pregnant. He's a gold Glover third base. So his initial reluctance really I didn't get, but okay, once they say, pack up your bag, pack up your glove. You're playing, you're doing DH. Okay. Maybe Jay, the thought is, well, I already put the glove away, not to learn a new position first base, I might embarrass myself, I'm not willing to do that.

Pride comes before the team, I suppose. Maybe that was his thought process. How would you describe Red Sox ownership? Because they also own the Pittsburgh Penguins and they own Liverpool and they've got a lot of interests in the world of sports. And I wonder if Red Sox fans sometimes feel like their interests are elsewhere.

Perfectly said, Jay. I don't think you could have said it better. I'd like to just agree, move on. But yeah, you're right. For years, the Boston Red Sox was that team. It was New England nation. It's all they cared about. It's all they dreamt about and slept and ate about and that was it it was the Red Sox then they

win and it's like okay obviously it's still great passion it's different when you win but of course they still love their team they always will but once ownership started going into other ways like I'm not sure if the Red Sox are always a priority here and again if you look at and this is just one measure of a team's investment but you look at payroll the Dodgers will spend anything yes the Yankees't spend anything, yes? The Yankees won't spend anything, pretty much. Like not this time or the past, we know that.

Like they're a little more fiscally conservative. They did offer, so to be clear, $760 million. The Mets win 765, but the Mets will do anything to spend. We know that. The Yankees still very competitive. Cobb's not quite how they used to be. They even hit it right, so I actually go, wait, I thought that's like one of the top five teams in baseball.

Don't they have like crazy attendance? Fenway always sells out great merchandise, and yet they even live at Red Sox. You go, wait, I thought that's like one of the top five teams in baseball. Don't they have like crazy attendance? Fenway always sells out great merchandise, and yet they're not a team that spends. And the reason why is because of what you just said, their interests are now with Liverpool, I think primarily Liverpool, and the Penguins as well. So yeah, the Red Sox, they, I never thought we'd say salary dump

in relation to the Boston Red Sox, but kind of what it feels like here with Devers. Do you think it got to the point, like why do you think it was done so quickly too? Like, was there a flash point? Did something happen? Because I mean, I initially saw it was reported that the Red Sox didn't really shop them around

that much, which is reminiscent, as you stated, of the Donchich trade. What have the Red Sox said since? The Craig Bransfield came out yesterday, who is their president, who's listen, really smart guy, former pitcher himself in the majors, you know, Ivy league dude. There's so many, so many Ivy leaguers now ran in front of offices and a good friend of Jake Peebe who I worked with, and he'll be now working Peebe swears by himself.

Bransfield was saying yesterday and he actually mentioned that specifically, Jay, because I know there's a report out there, we weren't shopping. I guess that's not necessarily true. So to me, if I read the lines, that means he probably talked to two or three teams. He didn't call every team and go, hey, Devers is available. Give me your best trade by next Thursday.

But more than one, I feel like he's probably saying, okay, we talked to a few that we knew, who's willing to take on this kind of a salary, right? Who's gonna go, hey, you better take all $250 million. Oh, the Giants and Buster, that guy's burning a hole in his pocket, trying to spend money. And the Giants, by the way, were having a great season. Like they're right in the mix.

I get shocking that they're within three games. The Dodgers, they were there in one game last weekend. So Buster Posey clearly realizes, no, I can do this in a hurry. In my first year, I just need some offense. I'll go do it. So my reading of it is Brett, I'll probably call the few guys. We know he's pretty well, I E Buster Posey. Maybe he called the Cubs. Maybe he called the Rangers like a few teams. He's a guy.

I know those guys pretty well. We'll keep this hush hush. And then we'll get it done because you're right. That's, that's part of the surprise of it is that normally with these things, you always get a couple of rumors here, a slight inkling. Like when, Devers didn't want to play first base, maybe if there was a column, then being written, Hey, Devers has played his last game for Boston, right? Patrick Wall going to Rolland Corey, I'm finished. I'm never playing for you again.

We didn't get that moment. So I think it was within the last week. Breslau made a couple of calls, Buster pounced, and he goes, all right, let's do it. I thought this quote was interesting from Breslau. He said, as we think about the identity and the culture and the environment that is created by great teams, there was something amiss here. And it was something that we needed to act decisively to course

correct. Is that basically saying we can't have a selfish player that's making that type of money on our team? The key is the last part, making that kind of money on our team. You can have a selfish player who's your fourth outfielder. I got no issue with that. We can have a selfish player who's the setup guy. We could have a selfish number four starter, but if you're the guy who's literally the face of the franchise,

we gave you $313.5 million in Manchester's respect. Did you do what we tell you to do? And that's it period. We're not going to embarrass you and have you catch. We're not going to pitch, but if you're a third baseman, theoretically, you should be able to play first base just to help us out. Costas is done for the year. We don't really have any other options right now. Why not do it? And again, Raffy's point probably pride. No, we already did it once to me.

I'm not doing it again. I am the star of this team. I'm easily the best in this team. I shouldn't get special treatment. Heal the Garen judge gets special treatment. Princess Alandora doesn't want sort of etc. So you should ask my opinions. I am the best guy on the team. So if I don't want to do itora does the one, so do et cetera. So you should ask my opinions. I am the best guy on the team. So if I don't wanna do it, why don't you listen to my opinion? So I really do understand both facets of it,

but yes, ream between Breslau's line, I pay you that much, you do what we tell you to do. If not, see ya. Because we do have a bunch of young players we believe can be the stars of this team. But again, if I'm Boston, just as a fan, I go, wow, we just ripped off this winning streak. We just swept the Yankees.

How do we train our best player? Okay one final question did you watch Otani pitch last night and how much of a factor could this be this season? I did I was lucky enough to have it will be network shift last night which is we called the bridge slash updates meaning we're bridging from the Yankees game going to Otani and it was quite honestly fell as the worst possible scenario. We kept saying this Yankees game has to end by like nine 45, we'll do a 20 minute long pregame. We'll get people out to Dodger stadium. The way we go. And of course,

the Yankees can score a run and the game went to the 10th and now it's nine 55. Oh God, these TV people, like, what are we going to do? We'll have to toolbox it. I'll have to describe every single picture. It's on it all through the play by play. Thankfully, mercifully, the Yankees realize that their bats were dormant and in the 10-13, the two box experiment ended after three minutes. We could all watch Otani together. Great life on his fastball, Jay.

He was throwing 95 out of like 15 pitches. I saw a hundred went away, but I love Mando. Fernando Tatis gets a base hit, then he advances to second, a wild pitch. Eventually scores and it made him a shadow sack fly. So I'm laughing, so like literally the baseball world is all stopping to watch as an autonomy gives up a run, but 28 pitches first, first outing in 663 days. And a couple more nuggets for me, just how much the Dodger game,

anybody else there who says, Oh, you know what? Can I really have to have him pitch? Yes. He's the 15th different starting pitcher that they've used this year. 15th and it's the middle of June. They've got eight starters in the aisle including Snell, Glasnow and Sasaki. So you better believe they want to use them because they need them. And the real shock here was and I told you guys previously, Dave Robertson said that

probably after the All-Star break. It wasn't until last Thursday that he saw him ramping up. He said what are we waiting for? Let's go. Even if it's one inning just as an opener, get him loose. He's only the third player in the National League since 1900 to start a game and then also lead off the game. And of course, Abel and the client didn't pitch great. He's 7'2 for four, still drives in a couple of runs. Dodgers win. He's special. Adnan, this was great, buddy.

Thanks for taking the time to do it. As always, we appreciate it. Enjoy all the games for the remainder of this week and this weekend. We'll do this again next week. Mike, you sat this one out. Did you lose a bet? We just opined about biking culture and then you were done. I know I wanted to get a couple more Otani questions in there, but you, you got everything

that I wanted to, including all the guys on I R I L I think at one point it was 14 pictures on I L which is remarkable. I didn't even know they had 14 pictures on staff, but alas you managed to cover it all. You're the best. Thanks buddy. Thanks boys. Take care. Enjoy game six. Yeah. Have a good one. That's at Nan Verk from MLB network here on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650.

OK, let's do some what we learned. Adog, you've been waiting the whole show to play this audio. I didn't really want to do it because I've talked a lot about Elias Pedersen and I'm taking hopefully the summer off. You won't. I won't but go. Okay. Even when the trade happens you're not gonna talk about it? No, I'm gonna go like no. No. I've said enough. So Trevor Linden was in studio yesterday on Canuck Central which is pretty cool. What? Yeah he was in studio sitting right in between where you guys are right now. Oh.

Taking the spot of where the gold cup was sitting. Are you checking out the share? I'm looking at the spot right now. Yeah, so, Lyndon was asked by the boys about Elias Pedersen, off-season training, what to be expected for next season. And Lyndon had some interesting comments about Petey and how he's been playing and sort of had some comparisons to Connor McDavid. And I found the comments interesting.

They got some traction on social media yesterday. So here they are. Absolutely. I mean, young kids, I mean, you got to remember these guys, they're in their early 20s, you know? And even to have the type of success he had in his early 20s, I mean, is that's, you know, I mean. There's a reason he got the contract, right?

100%. Yeah, we weren't batting an eye when he signed it. Absolutely. But it's good. Sometimes failure is the best thing for you and it's how you react to that and move forward on that. And this is his challenge. I mean, he needs to, he needs to go to work this summer and put himself in a spot

where he's, he's ready to compete at a high level from, from game one. And, and I mean, he's a, he's a magician out there when he's on. It's so like his, you know, his ability to protect the puck and his strength and his vision. I mean, it's pretty amazing. I thought you were gonna play something else. I thought you were.

Yeah, so did I. I thought you were. Shh. I think the listeners have won today. The listeners finally beat us. You guys did it. I think the listeners have won today the listeners finally beat us You guys did it you complained so much about the content of the show you just go brush brough went in the microphone He's like just play the peterson audio It's what the simps want just give it to them and lo and behold we've got it

Yeah, but he played the wrong clip. I know it was the only one labeled Petey. So sorry guys So here's what happened today. We came in this morning. We're like, we got a ton of stuff we wanna talk about today. There's Stanley Cup Finals game today, game six. The cup could be handed out. There's a Calder Cup Final game tonight in Abbotsford.

Canada's playing in the gold cup at BC Place. We just watched the return of Shohei Otani to the mound last night. We're gonna talk about it all on the Haliford & Brough show this morning. We're gonna go around and we're gonna talk about all these different things. And then we talked about Connor McDavid's legacy

potentially being on the line and what the future has in store. And then we jumped back back we talked every time That we talked about something we got at least one text in telling us to talk about something else without fail Without fail we started talking about game six and we're talking about baseball I'm like I can't like it's just one of those days where you can't win. Yeah, we have a lot of them For a 500 show but today was maybe today we just every time we talked about something, it was

like, why are we not talking about this? When we talked about the Stanley Cup final, someone wanted us to talk about the Calder Cup. When we talked about the Calder Cup, someone was like, I can't believe we're talking about this. We talked about the BC Lions for 10 minutes. Someone was like, are we not talking about Canada, Honduras tonight? Then we pivoted to Canada, Honduras. And someone was like, how are we talking about this

when the Stanley Cup can be handed out tonight? Soccer talk boring. And then we're like, you know what, just play the PD audio. Just play the PD audio. And then we played the wrong audio. And then we played the wrong audio. Sometimes you have days like this. It's a friendly reminder to all the kids in the cars

right now is that you just gotta push through. We got the juicy stuff. I don't know why we didn't clip this particular part of the answer We weren't gonna play it. We weren't gonna do that's why we weren't gonna do this. It wasn't prepared We were in the other shows Brevard made a promise earlier in the summer that we were gonna lay off the feathers this part of the audio show is melting down This is part of doing it. This part of the audio is is interesting. This was the part that intrigued me

I think what's interesting is you see the top players and even watching Connor McDavid this year, I mean, you watch his game in the playoffs and he gets it. He knows now what it takes to be a champion and to be a difference maker in the playoffs. And that's the piece that Elias doesn't understand yet. And that's not uncommon. People said that about Steve. And, you know, and that's, that's not uncommon. You, people said that about Steve Iserman, you know, like he couldn't win, you'll never win with Steve Iserman while they

were wrong and, and, you know, but there comes a point in a player's career where they, they, they finally, and you know, Daniel Henrik, they came and they were out, you know, not particularly, they were young, they're boys. I mean, but they, but then they got it. They're like, okay, I understand. I've seen it the way Matthias Olin trains. I see it the way Marcus Naslin trains.

Okay, I get it now. And, you know, for Elias, like, you know, is he gonna learn, like, you know what I mean? It was good to see him this year when I was so, I was like, just kind of disappointed in him, but also kind of concerned for him when he kind of went to the media there. And I was like, hey kind of disappointed in him, but also kind of concerned for him when he went, kind of went to the media there and I was like, hey, don't go there. And then he walked it back after, which is the right thing to do. So is he going to kind of be able to look himself in the

mirror and say, hey, I got to be better. So what did that add to the, the Pedersen conversation? I know it was Trevor Linden saying it, but, uh, yeah, PD needs to work harder and he needs to figure out that, uh, you know, it takes a certain level of work ethic and commitment in order to be a top player in the NHL. Have we not said that six million times? He's got to play that Connor McDavid.

I love the people responding on social media. They're like, Oh, and Connor McDavid's won a Stanley cup. I was like, uh. I mean, have you watched him play? He's pretty good. Yeah. I mean, if Patterson could get even a quarter of that level,

I think would be okay. I saw one Galaxy brain take that said that between the two of them, Leas Patterson is the only one to have a professional title where he won the MVP. Because the consummate doesn't count if you don't win the Stanley Cup. I saw it it it was out there I think it was real. Was it the Sweden League? Yeah when they dipped him in gold remember that? Oh yeah yeah yeah.

I'm suffocating. Oh yeah it cuts off your pores. It was lead based for sure. Yeah I mean if you're trying to take anything away from it and I think there is one valuable takeaway, it's that it's not just one show or one individual or one group of people that are fully cognizant of the fact that really this entire season lies on one guy's shoulders because you kind of have expectations of what guys are going to do. You know what Hughes is going to do. You know what Hughes is gonna do, and you know what the goaltending's gonna do

if it stays healthy. The X factor here is always, always. We have no idea what he's gonna look like when he comes back. But it's just, he's the biggest X factor. The thing is. If you were the Canucks, would you hire a private eye

to go watch Pedersen in Sweden and see what he's up to. Yes. Like a Swedish private eye? Yes. Can you imagine? And then make a web series of it and post it online. No, no, no. You just want that information for yourself.

Of course. Like, do you think they've been tempted? Because they've said, like, we're going to keep an eye on him. Oh yeah? How close an eye? All joking aside with the there's that same Volvo parked in front of peterson's Gym again, it says not the FBI

He's like that Bush just sneeze But yeah, all like all joking there is And this is another debate that I think we've had countless times as well. It's do you err on the side of countless times as well. It's do you err on the side of over parenting where you're like helicopter parent? Yeah you're just you're parachuting in at every given moment. Is everything going well? Did you wake up this morning? Did you have your oats and berries? Are you ready to work out? Get on the scale. Or do you say and I think maybe what Lyndon was alluding to there that the leadership qualities and the stuff that and I mean

David's a tough comp I find I don't like personally I'm like I don't I wouldn't go there but whatever the it's all about the self motivation the self-starter conversations do you have the internal motivation do you have the fire that burns in the drive of the desire and all that stuff but when when we were talking to Adnan about Devers, I know a lot of people probably tuned out because it was baseball talk. Yeah, sorry about that.

Oh no, but. Those 11 minutes of your morning. One of the reasons that I asked Adnan about Devers and why the Red Sox traded him, and I'm not saying the Red Sox are right about it, but when you have the highest paid player on your team, in the sense is that he's not being a complete team guy. And the idea was like, hey, I know we've kind of, we wanted you as a third baseman and then

we got a guy who was better at you positionally, so now you're the DH, oh, wait a minute, now we need you at first. And he's like, oh, I don't really want to go to first. But like the whole idea is like, if it's your highest paid player, and that's what Pedersen is, you have to get full buy-in from that player. You have to, otherwise it's corrosive. The only difference in- Baseball and hockey are different.

Yeah. But the only difference with that comp is that Devers was playing out of his money. You smashed the cover off the ball. So you couldn't argue that like, well, your production stinks. And you're not doing the job. That's the issue with Pedersen at the end of the day is like the production stinks. But I think they felt like there was something going on here culture wise, that it was a distraction to the team and that he wasn't indicative of the type of player they want leading.

Shout out to, our listeners have been trying at the best of times today, but shout out to Gary, an unsigned texter, who just said that the Canucks will hire Magnus P.I. Oh, that's good. That's good. We got to go to break when we come back. More What We Learns. You're listening to the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650.

It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time on the show. 834 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com.

We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn in time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. 20 minutes to go. You can do it, Alfred. It's been a tough one. That's all right. You know what? It's like we say that during a game you have to be prepared for things to not go your way. You got to hang in there. And I think we've hung in there pretty well. We're still going to lose.

I don't think there's any chance we're going to come back and win. I do have some more pretty audio. But I do think we added a funny element when we imagined the Canucks hiring a private investigator. That is funny. To go watch Pedersen over in Sweden. And we got that funny line about it would be Magnus P.I. He now just sent me a Photoshop of a guy wearing a Trey Kroner jersey with Tom Selleck's head

Photoshopped onto it. See? That's pretty good. That's pretty funny. Now the only problem is that it's a Tom Selleck from Blue Bloods. It's not Magnus P.I. He's pretty good. That's pretty funny. Now the only problem is that it's Tom Selleck from Blue Bloods. It's not Magnapia.

He's not wearing it. It's Tom Selleck from Friends. Yeah, he's not wearing the Detroit Tigers hat or short shorts. I'll accept it, though, because he did wear those shorts. Who wore the short shorts better, Tom Selleck or Maradona or any of the Boston Celtics. Tom Selleck, right?

Tom Selleck still. Yeah, yeah. Do you know Tom Selleck was almost Indiana Jones? Was it this close? I did not know that, Andy. This close? In his short shorts? He couldn't get out of his Magnum PI contract.

I'm not kidding. Yeah, he demanded that Indiana Jones wear short shorts. Yeah. Yeah. Gilbert for a second was like, you know, you might be on something. Do you guys ever rock the short shorts? What's the shortest's the shortest getting progressively shorter? I know it's a little concern I'm sure pretty short. It's the style these days. You're like you're like do you remember when Bill Clinton when you go jogging? Yeah, like God even to the point where I'm like walking to the gym. I'm like, you know, I think I need some new shorts

These are yes a little revealing. Yeah, Jennifer Flowers was like, can you put some pants on please? Have you guys changed your shorts? I'm gonna take them right off though. Have we changed our shorts? That's pretty good, eh? Bruv's got a good Bill Clinton impression. One and done, one and done. Do some work.

I used to be a firm shorts past the knee or shorts at the knee kind of guy, but over time I've loosened my stance. By tightening your shorts. I'm open to more shorter shorts these days. Revealing, they're called revealing shorts. I don't know if I'd want to get to that point where it's considered revealing.

Do you remember the Adidas shorts that we used to wear in elementary school? Like real short. Yeah. Yeah. There's gotta be an actual appropriate length for a gentleman of our age. But I don't know what an eight inch short,

I think an eight inch short is short. Well, I think there's seven and six now. Yeah. Can't go that low or that high. I do have some actual sports information here. Yeah, what we learned. So the Oilers are having a full team skate this morning in sunrise ahead of game six.

Stuart Skinner is in the starter's net. And I think most people would have predicted that. That's right. It's an elimination game. You're going to go back to your number one and we'll see how he reacts. He often plays well after he's been sat down a little bit. Um, Klingberg is in. Is he sat down or smack down?

Klingberg is in, Klingberg is in for Stetcher. That also tracks. And I just wanted to point this out because we have talked a lot about the Oilers and how depth wise upfront, there's no comparison to the Florida Panthers. The great equalizer is I don't think anyone on the Panthers is as good as McDavid and maybe no one on the Panthers is as good as Dry Cyt maybe no one on the Panthers is as good as

Dry-Seidel and those guys are going to play big minutes. So McDavid is on a line with Corey Perry and Ryan Nugent Hopkins and Dry-Seidel is on a line with Kapanen and Vander Kane. Here's the bottom six. Adam Henrique between Frederick and Skinner and Jan Mark between Brown and Pod Colson. Having Jeff Skinner in your bottom six seems like a choice.

Well, it's also like compare that Henrique line, which is the third line with Frederick and Skinner to what the Panthers have, right? With Marchand on it and Anton Lundell. So when people say, well, it's unfair to put it all on McDavid and Dry Sido soldiers, unfair or not, that's what's happening. Like those guys are going to have to come up big tonight and if they win tonight in game seven back in Edmonton, give us a moocow on that. Okay.

I'll go next. I learned that the Sam Reinhart for Brad Marshawn first six change might not be the only significant change that Canada is looking at going into the twenty twenty six Winter Olympics in Italy. Of course, if he missed it

yesterday, the NHL and the double IHF decided that right in the middle of the Stanley Cup final will be the best time for all 12 countries to announce their first six for their rosters for the Winter Olympics in Italy next year. So Canada had the exact same six as they did when they first announced the four nations roster. The only difference this time around is that Sam Reinhart replaced Brad Marshawn. Doug Armstrong, the general manager,

the general manager of Team Canada, also threw out a few other names, not first six guys, but guys that might've played their way on to the 2026 team that weren't around for the four nations. As a matter of fact, Armstrong said, quote, we had one in St. Louis, Robert Thomas, who is now played his way into contention. He also name checked Nick Suzuki and Tom Wilson, which I thought was very interesting. The other thing that Armstrong said is that between what he did in the four nations and then what he did in the playoffs, that Jordan Bennington was the clear leader to once again

be team Canada's goalie at the Olympics. But then he also name checked. I swear it felt like every goalie in the National Hockey League that was Canadian as guys who would have potential to make that team. He even got so far down the list. They had Stuart Skinner on there. Right. I thought it was a typo at first. It wasn't. Kevin Woodley was on there. Yeah.

So who do you think like who's competing for spots that made that four nations team like? Sorelle Connect knee guys that were on that might be off. I mean I was thinking I was thinking Marsha Sorelle connect the Marsha and he mentioned Robert Thomas. Yep. No, no, no, we're talking about guys that did make it We're on that might be awesome. Oh guys. Yeah replace one of those. How about mark stone? His health is definitely deteriorating and he looked a little slow. Mm-hmm the other guys they I think Marsha I know you got to have him on there Unless he has a dreadful start to next season after the four nations. I was like, oh you had a little trouble keeping up

but look at what he's doing is Like they they put like last time, I didn't think they put enough consideration into current form. We talked about this a lot with what warning there's some soccer talk coming up. We talked about this with regards to when like the teams go on international breaks and oftentimes managers will take players that are specifically in form over the last couple of months and bypass a more veteran presence. And Canada didn't really do that.

Like they didn't go with a guy that had a crazy hot start to the season. And, you know, we're like, well, he played his way onto the roster. They sort of took the safer approach. Armstrong said specifically, like, we're going to monitor very closely who's playing well right up until January. And then maybe January is when they're going to make the call and then maybe make that more of a consideration going in. You mentioned that in the clip I heard that they're going to those two months of the season, he said, are going to be really important for him in terms of figuring out who's in. So I do wonder if they learned something about what they did with four nations where it kind of felt like they had the team picked in September and then they just let the season play itself out

They got I mean goaltending played out great for them because Bennington ended up in the end Being huge in the final and he was great and everything But I remember there was a big call speaking from this show is like go with a guy that's in form right now in the NHL I'm still worried about the blue line for Canada to be honest with you So like the guy it's funny because they were name-checking guys that could play their way onto the blue line It's like Mackenzie Weger. Yeah, Evan Bouchard. Yeah, Chris Tanneff I'm sorry. Thomas Harley made an impression. I think Made it yeah, he's in I would not be surprised if like doubt he's gonna be a year older. I know Colton Pareto

It's not exactly but he fought but yeah, JT Miller, You know, like feel like he gets, he gets a pass. I think Travis Sandheim played fine, but like if Travis Sandheim, I'm just comparing it to blue lines of the past for Canada, where you're like, Oh my God, look at all the future hall of famers in that group. Now I think you look at the American blue line, especially with Quinn Hughes on it, you're like,

they're the better blue line. You see the US give Charlie McEvoy the nod too. That was a sort of like, sorry, but what happened at the Four Nations? Doug Armstrong did mention a forward too, that he's thinking about that's gonna cause a firestorm for sure. That's Tom Wilson.

Yeah, I mentioned him. He mentioned his name right in that interview. But that was- He's on the bubble at least. And then- Would you want him on the Olympic team? I wouldn't mind, to be honest with you, in a fourth line role.

Even with this caveat, double IHF. No writing, or head contact. I can see Tom Wilson getting thrown out of rules. Yeah, I can see him getting thrown out of everything. He's a liability in the NHL rules. Which I kinda like. Also, the Bedard and Celebre anything. Yeah.

Now, here's one. Who do you think right now is more in line to make the team? Connor Bidard or Macklin so Close I'd say so even close now. It's got a bit hard I think so the way that is a more mature game or cerebral game perhaps I don't think you can trust Bidard defensively at all Celebrene has been the better of the two players so far I mean your dart is on Chicago granted, but Celebrini is on San Jose. Okay.

That'd be curious. I would say between the two Celebrini is a much better shot, but of course that changes if he's bigger and stronger and you're going to have to, you're going to have to consider that when you go up against the American team, they're going to bring a big and strong team. Now I think Canada should set the, Hey, you match up to us. We're not going to match up to you. But, you know, I think Canada for the most part has always been a big and strong team.

They've been talented, but they've also been big and strong. And that's why I would have time for the discussion on Tom Wilson, but Laddy, I think you make a really good point. For once. With the international rules, the head contact is like very strict. It's not the same as the NHL and you don't want to be in a situation when you got a one

and done game where you get a guy take a major penalty for trying to play the role that he's been brought over to play because you're not going to say, okay, Tom Wilson, we've added you to the team, but be careful out there. Immuted Tom Wilson. You're going to say Tom Wilson, go out there and hit some guys. Tom Wilson's like, so what can I do?

So Ian at Kukulub texted, hey, you guys are talking about Canada's defense, perfect transition to more Bowen Byrom talk. We tried, we tried with Byrom. Can I be dental? I just wanna say, we tried talking about it, but even I, who was actually going out of my way, and someone say bending over backwards,

to try and make it a reality, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Like I think we should all just acknowledge that. Well, I was gonna ask you guys during that conversation. It's hard to have a lot of meat on the bone when it doesn't make any sense. If they trade for Biomlo, do you think it's highly probable

that Ronin gets traded at that point? No, no. I don't love- They have too many defensemen. I don't love they're gonna lose Quinn Hughes soon. I don't love doing that Why do you think they're exploring this? I mean years. I mean it could be at this year's trade deadline So sorry to make you like You could say some semblance of reality, but saw the moment his heart broke. I don't like this.

I don't like this. It could be. No, I know. It's just you're stacking a lot of hype. You're stacking one hypothetical on, and then there's a hypothetical off that hypothetical. I wish everyone saw Adox's face when I said it could be at this year's trade deadline.

Hey, I was the one that said if the Canucks were brave, they would trade Hughes right now and start the rebuild. It was exactly like- Not two weeks ago. It was exactly like when Lisa told Ralph that she didn't like him. Yeah, I just don't like that. He just broke in half.

I just don't like to think of that happening. Okay, let's print, well none of us do. None of us do. It's a nightmare, man. It's an absolute nightmare. This is my nightmare. Canucks finally get this defenseman and they're gonna lose him?

It stinks. It stinks. This is my nightmare. Okay. Fire the dot matrix. Humanoid submissions for what we learn brought to you as always by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Homemade dough, premium local ingredients, and authentic cooking methods.

AJ's is for diehard pizza people. Dine in or order online at ajs.pizza. This one made me laugh from Ben and Langley. What we learned, Buck Pierce is the guy who was supposed to not rush work back from injury. The guy who was famous for playing through everything. Sure you should be playing right now?

Yes. Uh, there wasn't a lot, speaking of not a lot of meat on the bone, there wasn't a ton there with regards to, uh, Nathan Rorick's health or his outlook. I mean, I know it's Tuesday and the game's not till Saturday. So there is legitimately a fair ways to go here. I don't think he's going to be playing the next game.

That's why I asked the question about the quarterback depth. And he's like, I'm excited to, for the opportunities for these guys, like starting in week three against Winnipeg. There was definitely some meat on that boat. I'll tell you that. Yeah. I like this name, the mildly athletic quarterback.

That must be Cody Fajardo. He wasn't even mildly athletic. According to Siqueiros. What we learned, I learned that SGA is one win away from not just the NBA title, but the title of best Canadian basketball player of all time. Ooh, Halford. Yes. I know he's only 26 in this country produced a two-time MVP and Steve

Nash, but if SGA finishes the season with a scoring title, MVP, finals MVP, and an NBA championship, I don't see how you make an argument against him. And I agree with the mildly athletic quarterback. I'm sorry, Halford, but SGA in my books is already the best player that Canada has ever produced. So the question for me really is, do I continue to dig my heels in and be stubborn just for the sake of the Sports Talk radio format, the classic? I take one side. I think you've already, you've already just

admitted that SGA has surpassed Steven Ash. He's not yet. He has to win the finals MVP in the NBA championship. Well, he got to a finals. As laid out by the mildly authentic quarterback. If he wins. I'm just making people cry left, right, center on this show. I can't stand this show.

I'm like a listener. Laddie, nobody likes goalies. If he finishes the year With the scoring title the regular season MVP the finals MVP and an NBA championship, but let's be honest He's one win away from doing it's gonna win all he's gonna Then he's yeah Because he will cement it The only thing that Nash would be holding over at that point in terms of accolades is one extra regular season MVP

Yeah, and the which a lot of people debated by the way and the basketball Hall of Fame Yeah, but SGA at this point is on a like a fast track. Yeah to the Hall of Fame and Winning that title and doing in the manner that he's done it with an unbelievable regular season scoring the ball as well as he has and doing it in the finals. Yeah, like you're right. Like there's there's been other teams like, for example, Indiana, the best teams Halliburton without best players Halliburton without question.

But Siakam was the Eastern Conference finals MVP. Like they've had other contributors along the way. And I know I know the Thunder have as well, but this is SGA's team and this is going to be SGA's final and his MVP. How many people along the way in this playoffs were like, wait, Siakam's a Pacer now? Oh yeah. That's crazy.

Omar with what we learned. It looks like Skinner gets the start for the Oilers' must-win game against Florida. The failure to address the goaltending issue that was already apparent after last year's final is inexcusable. Edmonton might be in a completely different position right now if they had signed Kevin Lankinen

for a million bucks. Well, we'll see. We'll see. There's a lot of people throwing dirt on the Oilers. Hold on, Omar. Do you really think Lankinen put him over the top put him over the top could have at least you're the expert Do you think Lankanen is better than Skinner at this current moment? I think so Yeah, I still think Skinner has something in the tank there if he puts it all together

But as of right now, I would be more comfortable starting Lankanen It is such a funny conversation because I can absolutely understand why you couldn't run it back with the same goaltending duo But that's that goaltending duo got you to game seven of Stanley Cup final, game six of a Stanley Cup final. Close as you can get to winning a Stanley Cup. I don't know, I'm looking at his numbers, he's in the 800s and he's been yanked a bunch of times. It might be an easy sweep for the Oilers

if they have lights out goaltending, it probably is. Yeah, that probably is. You think it's a sweep against the Lord of Panthers? If they have a goalie putting up a 920 over this playoff run, no one is touching the Oilers. No one's coming close to defeating the Oilers. Well, we'll see how it plays out. Wes K.

Brad takes in with what we learned. All the Canucks fans who just talk it for playing a boring dump and chase game, somehow muting our skilled players. I hope they're watching the Panthers third cup final appearance in a row. Probably a second straight cup win, play the exact same game

system as Tocklet implemented. The difference is the roster design and talent level and if you look at both Oilers and Panthers as a Canucks fan, you can see just how far away this current roster is from contention and why blowing it up and trading everyone, including Hughes, is this organization's best hope for rebuilding the proper way. I mean, I don't hugely disagree with that sentiment, but I also live in reality where I know that the Canucks are going to do everything they can to try and convince Quinn Hughes to stay. It's an incredible challenge to make the type of changes that the Canucks want to make this offseason when there are so many other aggressive teams in the NHL and the salary

cap is not flat anymore. Okay. There's the music. It's been a fun show everybody. We really do appreciate all of the listeners and for those of you texting in, we're going to take all of your advice and all of your suggestions and ignore them for the remainder of the day and then come back and do whatever we want on the show tomorrow. But we do appreciate you guys. Thank you all for listening and thank you all for contributing we'll be back for tomorrow

enjoy a great night in sports Calder Cup Stanley Cup you can listen to them both right here on sportsnet 650 and for those of you going to the game tonight let's go Canada get a win in the first and only game gold cup game that's gonna be played in Canada and it's gonna be here at BC place now though we got to say goodbye signing off I have been Mike Halford, he's been Jason Brough, he's been A-Dog and he's been Laddie. This has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. ["Sportsnet 650 Theme Song"]