Halford & Brough in the Morning - All Canada Needs Is A Draw

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

In hour three, Mike & Jason look ahead to Canada's matchup versus Switzerland at BC Place tomorrow with Sports Illustrated World Cup reporter Ben Steiner (2:23), 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.

802 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. They're open seven days a weekend. They're open late to help you get debt free with no judgment or upfront fees. Visit today at Sands dash trustee.com. We are in our three of the program. Our three is brought to by the BC Construction Safety Alliance.

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And that's what we're going to do with the Edmonton Oilers. That is the most impressive way I've ever heard us throw to, Breaking News. Sportsnet 650, Breaking News. As Jason's impression suggests, Mike Babcock is back in the National Hockey. just moments ago the Edmonton Oilers have officially announced that Mike Babcock has been named the club's 19th head coach in team history. The 63 year old joins after a whirlwind last week and a half, two weeks in which he was rumored to be in line for the job, then put under investigation from the NHL and NHLPA cleared for hire.

And now just moments ago, Mike Babcock has been named the newest head coach of the Evanton Well, that's going to be a very interesting press conference today. You did half of it already. Yeah. Okay. We will get into this in a little bit. We do have Ben Steiner. He's going to join us in the Able Auctions hotline in just a second here for some Canadian

soccer talk. But again, breaking news in the sense that it's officially done now. We kind of knew it was trending in this direction. But just a wild off season in Edmonton and what's been a wild off season in the National Hockey League, we will pick up this story on the other side. But again, just to reconfirm the breaking news, Edmonton has named Mike Babcock, their newest head coach. Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions.

Hotline our next guest, Canadian Soccer Writer for Sports Illustrated, and Goal.com. Ben Steiner joins us now on the Halford & Breff Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Ben. How are you? Morning, boys. It's certainly an exciting time in, I guess, every sport at this point, with the news coming out of Edmonton,

but Canadian soccer on an absolute high right now. Yeah, so let's talk about the match against Switzerland, all to play for in the group tomorrow. So let's start with the two biggest potential inclusions into either the starting 11 or maybe coming off the bench. What are you expecting, based on what you know right now, what Jesse Marsh will be able to get out of Moise Bombito and Alfonso Davies on Wednesday against Switzerland. I was at training a couple times this week and both these guys looked quite good. The difficulty with both of them is how do they look in a match? and I don't think we can really consider what Moyes Bombito did against Qatar as a proper runout

because there wasn't much defending to do in that game when he came on in the second half. And so I wouldn't necessarily start either of them. Jesse Marsh did say last week that Alfonso Davies wouldn't start against Switzerland, and they were targeting the round of 32 for that. Of course, they are now going through to the round of 32, barring anything absolutely exceptional, I think would have to be a round of 7-0 win for Qatar for them not to get there. and that's not going to happen. But with Davies, I think you still want to be careful

and the same with Bombito. But you do want to get both of them significant minutes because as high stakes as this is, it's still the lowest stakes because there's not a elimination on the line at this point. So I wouldn't be surprised to see both play the majority of the second half, at least coming on in the 60th minute, maybe even halftime. Remind the listeners what injuries those two are dealing with. With Moise Bombito, it's a broken leg.

that he suffered in October. And it's been a very slow recovery for his broken leg. He has a metal rod in his leg and looked poor in his first minutes against Uzbekistan in a pre-World Cup friendly. And that does not give you much confidence where he said at that point that he was ready and healthy to go back in. And then it was very clear that he wasn't. And he's saying that he's ready and healthy again. Well, is he actually ready and healthy this time? And with Alfonso Davies, it's a hamstring.

And that's going to be very crucial if you're trying to rely on his speed, especially if he's a left back where you don't want to be overwhelmed in wide areas against the Switzerland team. So in a hypothetical world, let's just say both were able to start. Davies would probably plug straight in for Richel Lurie, who's played very well, I might add, through no fault of his own. That's a straight swap. Would it go that way? At centerback in this hypothetical world that I'm throwing out there,

who would Bombito replace right now? Would it be the Fuzerol or would you maybe consider moving Cornelius out of there? Well, how complicated do you want to get with Davies? Because I think you can see him at various points of this lineup. And I think there's actually a crucial factor to having both Richel Larea and Alistair Johnston in this team. The question is, Alistair Johnston has a yellow card. If he gets a yellow card in this game, he misses the round of 32. So I would actually put Richie Larea on the right and then put Davies on the left if you're starting.

But the centerback is a big question because Luke de Fusier-olds, he's 20 years old, he's lived up to every task that he's been given with this Canadian team. It started at the 2024 Copa America where he played against Uruguay in the third place game and he's thrived at this World Cup. Maybe not surprising to people that have followed the Canadian National League closely, but when you see this kid that looks like a kid at centerback and bossing around some of these big forwards that Canada has played against, it's been very impressive. and I think the future is going to be Bombito and Defusurals when both are healthy. And I think I'd go to that right now. I think Luke DeFugerals has given us enough confidence in his play. And Derek Cornelius is at least at a point where if you start Bombito, Cornelius, I think with the maturity, can come off the bench and be that next man up.

Whereas I don't really believe that Luke DeFugerals at this point can step into a game in the same way that Cornelius can. So I've kind of got a question for both of you guys. Ben and Mike, who is the best player on Switzerland? Who should we be worried about? You want to take it first? I'll go first, but it's probably not the player that is going to be starting the game. It's 20-year-old defensive midfielder Johann Manzambi who scored a brace against Bosnia and their late onslaught there.

But he hasn't started either game, so he's potent. Maybe they've been saving him, but it's a bit of a confusing look for what they've been able to do. Yeah. I would say the guy you're going to recognize the most, the most prolific is Granite Jaka. Yeah, he's a fountain, right? He's Sunderland. Yeah, the attackers that they've got,

like Dan and Doi, who plays at Forest, and actually Vargas coming off the bench has been really good, men, zombies's been really good. They've got I Briel and Bolo. There's probably more attacking prowess in the four or five top guys in Switzerland,

and this is, it's going to sound disrespectful than anyone combined from Qatar and Bosnian. Like, they've got really high level guys. So it's interesting. They got a couple of guys from young boys. Yeah. Andy's favorite club.

You know, when we look at this squad and the way that the manager has been able to have impact subs and I'm not trying to steal Ben's thunder here because I know he's the guest, but the manager has talked repeatedly about how he's used the hydration breaks strategically as resets for his team

to implement subs to give teams the 15 or 20 minute boosts as opposed to maybe trying to get them in at the 60 minute mark. So I think that's something else interesting to watch your Ben, because with the amount of attacking options that Switzerland has, finding areas and opportunities to get all of them involved in the match is pretty important from a managerial and tactical standpoint. And we've seen the hydration breaks be used as a tactical approach

for coaches at this World Cup. And Jesse Marsh, I don't think, has used them completely to what he can. I think for the best use, you probably have to look at both Switzerland and the U.S. and what they've been able to do where they're pulling out a tablet. They're going full-on tactics meeting for three minutes, whereas Marsh, sometimes there's an intensity to how he's speaking during these hydration breaks, but I'm not sure he's using these to the same advantage. The thing with Canada, though, is this team doesn't really lose games.

They have put two very good performances against Argentina and lost both of those two nil, but this is a team that has grinded out nil-nil-nil draws with some big teams. France, Colombia, Ecuador, Tunisia, Mexico, Ivory Coast and Chile are all teams that they've grinded out, no-nil-drauds with. And, of course, that would be good enough. So I do think this Canadian team is good enough to get a draw. I'm still hesitant about them saying maybe we can get a win in this game

because this Switzerland team is very good. I'm glad you brought this conversation out because we were talking earlier about what the tactical deployment and what it's going to look like for Canada in a match where a draw wins them in the group. And there's the one argument that Marshball is Marshball and he's not going to deviate from what's made them successful and what makes them a unique challenge.

At the same time, the best countries and the best gaffers do have adjustments that they make into the formation or the styles or the tactics, depending on what the tournament puts in front of them. You brought up a good point that Canada's shown the ability to grind out these kind of results when they need to and maybe play less high event football. Do you think that's what we're going to see

on Wednesday against the Swiss? What we've seen from Jesse Marsh throughout this tournament is the fact that he's really doing in-game management. We haven't necessarily seen that in his time with Canada because everything has been leading up to this World Cup. There was a great example of that being the Bosnia

game and what he did with Jonathan David after he wasn't performing. The big call of course is how he fits in the midfield with the Ishmael Kone absence. That's probably going to be Nathan Saliba starting there just because he performed so well last time, but I am worried about Nathan Sileba under a moment like that,

given the experiences he's had in his career, I would be more comfortable, possibly, with Jonathan Nizorio. I think he can handle this moment, but I don't think he's a good enough player to start in this moment. So that will be the first big call that he has to make, and there has to be a quick adjustment there if it's not working. If Nathan Silibe goes in there, he looks overwhelmed. He's not focused.

He's getting overrun in midfield. Okay, then you have to make an adjustment. and I think that's probably Nico Seguer going in there because he's been exceptionally good with Haidu split as essential midfielder. But it's those quick adjustments that Marsh will have to make, and I think it really starts with that Kone Void in midfield. Hey, Ben, what's it been like for you covering the World Cup in Canada? What have you done?

Where have you been? You're relatively young guy in this industry, at least compared to us. It must be a pretty cool experience that you're having. It is pretty cool. I knew that going into that first game, and I was in Toronto for the game against Bosnia. I knew that I would get emotional at some point, and I wasn't sure when it would happen,

and it happened literally as I walked out the door to make my way to the stadium, because it was just a different experience going to the stadium. And then, of course, I grew up in Vancouver, but to go to a World Cup game at BC Place, and it almost set in maybe a little bit more of being at the Egypt versus New Zealand game, that this is the World Cup.

Like, this is something that you posted about it, like it impacts the globe, whereas we've seen big Canada events in Vancouver before. And it's amazing. It's awesome, but it affects what's happening outside our doors here. But it was that Egypt New Zealand game where I was like, wow, this is the World Cup. And that's pretty cool. Can you even imagine what the atmosphere is going to be like tomorrow at BC Place? I'm curious what it's going to be like because it's noon on a Wednesday.

It's not exactly. Yeah, that's true. It's time. So I'm sure it'll be rocking. I'm sure it'll be sold out. but I think it might have hit, I don't want to say a peak because there's a possibility of around a 16,

and I think that takes out all potential scheduling issues, but that would also be noon on a weekday. So I think the pre-match lead-up and the march might be a little bit smaller, but inside the stadium, it is going to be tense, I think. I think last time it was just a party until the Kone injury, whereas this time it will be tense. This is the biggest game that Canadian men's soccer has ever played. Yeah, I've got to be honest with you.

I'm, I'm already nervous. Like, I know Canada is going on in this tournament. Like, they're going to advance out of the group. And, you know, great, that's awesome. That was goal number one. Advanced out of the group, get your first win. They've accomplished all that. But now I'm getting a little bit greedy because I'm thinking about what it would be like for Canada

to play at BC plays in a knockout stage, maybe two knockout stage games. at the World Cup. And to be perfectly honest with you, I mean, Halford, tell you 10 years ago that Canada was going to be playing in a knockout stage game at the World Cup.

Oh, yeah, where are they playing? BC Place. The cathedral? I mean, it is a wild notion, and I don't want this opportunity to slip through our fingers

because I ain't going to see it again in my lifetime. I mean, I'm probably not going to see it again in my lifetime either. Like the opportunity to play, to like up to a quarter final effectively at BC place for this Canadian men's national theme with a coach like Jesse Marsh with the team like this players like this is I think more

than once in a lifetime. I don't know if this ever happens again period with you know where Vancouver is when it comes to stadiums where Canadian soccer is who knows what the future holds like I don't think this team goes back to 120 second in the world but I don't know if this is a team that the next generation is going to be as good kind of thing. So leaving this opportunity on the table would be a disaster, I'd be prepared to say, just because this is such a golden ticket to maybe not, I'm saying they're winning a round of 16, but heck if, I mean, Portugal has to do a little bit better. But if you get to a round of 16 against Portugal, whether you like Ronaldo or not,

I think we'd all be fine losing that game because that would be Canada's World Cup final. Well, I think one of the things that we saw against Qatar before everything kind of unraveled for them with the red cards and everything else was how overwhelmed an opponent can be by playing a host nation in front of a massively partisan Canadian crowd. I know that there was a lot of Canadians in Toronto,

but I think, no, not Toronto's fault, but there were a lot of Bosnians there, more so than they'll be Qataris, and I think maybe even Swiss at BC Place. But also the players have spoken about the nerves and the anxiety of being in that first World Cup match as opposed to being in the second where it's like, okay, we can take a deep breath. We've played one. Now let's get down to business.

Marsh's style, especially in the first 25 or 30 minutes, that's kind of what everyone envisioned with the energy and the frenetic nature that they're going to have with a home crowd. I'm hoping that they're going to be able to bottle that up and use it again in the early stages against the Swiss because, again, there's no telling what the future has in store. You know you've got this match at BC Place. It's been on the docket for a while. This is supposed to be your big, big advantage

as being the host and playing on a home pitch. They really need to be able to try and make that an identifiable strength of them to start this match against Switzerland. And I think it will be because the host nations in this tournament have outscored their opponent 16 to 2. There's been a real advantage. I'm glad you brought that up.

It's a huge advantage. playing a home game in a World Cup is not something that happens for most teams ever and Canada is getting the chance to do it at least until this game and if they come out of this game on the right side of things then they get to do it a couple more times like I think it matters a ton because sometimes you like you will have fans at World Cup games but it's at most half the stadium like this is going to be 50,000 Canadian fans and maybe 4,000 Swiss fans where you're not going to be able to hear Switzerland

The weird dynamic is going to be Switzerland's wearing red. The stadium will be red and Canada is wearing white. So unfortunately that's the way it was planned out before the tournament. It's a slightly different shade of red, slightly. I don't even know if it is actually. Different pantone. It's about the same. There's only so much you can do with red and white, right?

But I think it's a massive advantage to be playing at home for this Canadian team. Ben, this was awesome. Thanks for doing this today, man. We appreciate it. I don't need to tell you to enjoy the match tomorrow, but what the hell. Enjoy the match tomorrow, man. It's going to be a lot of fun. I hope I can. It's going to be a little bit nervous.

Yeah, for sure. Thanks, Ben. Ben Steiner from Sports Illustrated and from goal.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. So I'm reading the press release from the Oilers announcing the hiring of Mike Babcock as head coach and that is

official now. No quote. There's no... It starts with please don't get mad at us. It's that the first words are, don't free We have hired Mike Babcock as the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. They're going to get everything they deserve at this point. If this goes completely perishing. Okay, but imagine. Just imagine it somehow works out and the Oilers win the cup.

Because I'm just saying like... Is he a bad coach? I mean, I think he's a good coach. Yeah, I'm just saying like there is a world where that happens. Can you point to one bit of statistical evidence in the last eight years that suggests that Mike Babcock is a good head coach? What's he done in the last? It's like riding a bike. I mean,

in eight years. So go back to 2018. You've gone to Anaheim to the Stanley Cup final. No, I said in the last eight years. 2018 to now. As head coach of the Blue Jackets, he did not lose a single game.

Thank you, Zach. Good, good. Very good. Very good. Thank you, Zach. Yeah. We're talking about it. Laddie never comes to my rescue.

I think there's, I think this is a desperate organization making a desperation of play. I mean, there's no question about that. And how often does that work out? We're like, you know, remember when we had that really desperate moment? I know it's not. And we were grasping at straws and everything turned out great for us.

I know it's probably not going to happen. It worked out for the Canucks, didn't it? Yeah. Remember that? Remember when they were super desperate to keep Quinn Hughes? And they did everything in their power to keep him. Including resigning all of his monies and hiring his favorite coach as the ad coach. Might work for us.

Desperation is a stinky cologne and often not a good motivator for decision making. But imagine it. works. The, uh, the, the, re-signings of

Dickinson and Connor Murphy, not that those guys are bad players, but it also, I think that was a signal that it might be tough for the Oilers to get talent this season

because they were like, all right, we're locking these guys up. And Connor Murphy is, how old is Connor Murphy? You got a six-year deal or something like that? He's 32.

He's 32. And he's, he's gonna play for six more years. And I realize that maybe the expectation isn't there for them. 33. He's older than I thought he was. Yeah.

And Jason Dickinson gets, that contract and I know Drance will say like oh the salary cap doesn't matter and all that sort of thing. Dickens is 30. And you know it's a race for talent now and like I think it is. But I'm just not sure how much talent emigens can be able to attract to a roster that needs help. You know, if they trade darn all nurse, you might say, well, that's that's a good idea. You know, he's he struggles at times with the puck on his stick and his

contract isn't great and he's getting a little bit older. How are you going to replace those minutes? Like, how are you going to do it? And I'm not saying you can't or that, you know, in some ways it might not be addition by subtraction, but you're still going to need to go out and get a defenseman to replace those minutes. How are you going to do it? Well, they don't have to because Mike Babcock's going to solve everything.

With the systems? They finally got, I don't know, with pushing them harder, with yelling, at them. I genuinely think that that's what Stan Bowman and the owner, Daryl Cates, believe, is that what they are not able to make up roster-wise, they're going to make up with having a coach that I think they see as a, like, a depreciated asset or something that they were able to buy low on. And this was going to be their big gain, as opposed to we're going to try and actually surround Connor McDavid and Leon Drysidal

with better players. Well, they're going to try. They're just can't. And most importantly, a better goalie. Oh, yeah, that thing. I forgot about the goaltending, too. I mean,

I forgot about that completely. The reason, I know you did. The reason that I mentioned eight years in particular is that takes you back to 2018. 2018, 2018 was the year that they had Todd McClellan

in his final year and they got rid of them. this is the list of coaches that they have brought into Edmonton since then. Todd McClellan, Ken Hitchcock, Dave Tippett, Jay Woodcroft, Chris Knoblock, all different styles of coaches, all very well regarded and well thought of coaches, all of whom had varying levels, but all successful in Edmonton. None of them won the Stanley Cup. This has never been a coaching thing in Edmonton. I cannot stress that enough.

When did the Oilers have good defense? You just finished saying that they don't have the roster to win, that they're not good enough. And now it's a coaching thing? It is partly a coaching thing. Who is the bad coach? Don't yell at me. Who is the bad coach?

Who is the coach that let them down of that group I just mentioned? Well, I think their last coach clearly lost the room. He took them to two Stanley Cup finals. Yeah. Did you watch them last year? They were horrific defensively. Because they're horrific defensively. I think something happened in the room.

No, they aren't because they are, they are, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, have shown the ability to play better defensively. They have. They were relying on. When they got to the Stanley Cup final, they showed the ability. Do you remember their PK? Yeah, and then it got worse and it got worse year over year because they got old and they got bad. Maybe, but I

do think that the coach was not respected in that room last year. And I think something changed. And I've said multiple times, I really wonder what the hell was going on in that room where this is now the time that Darnall Nurse is like, okay, actually, I'm

I'm out. Let me phrase it to you another way. If you were to put the onus at the feet of the coach or the general manager right now in Edmonton, who would you put the onus on? Yeah. The GM. Right. Since McDavid, have the Oilers had good D and goaltending at the same time?

Like, have they ever had one team? Because I can't think of it. Every year it's the same thing with the Oilers. It's like, yeah, great offensively. D-Core and goaltending is questionable. Okay. It's like that every single season. But defensively, defensively, they played well getting to that first Stanley Cup.

final. They played the Canucks. Remember? The Canucks couldn't get a, I mean, that was partly a Canucks thing. They couldn't get a shot through, but they played well because they were all bought in. They were all locked in. And then ultimately, I mean, they lost to a good team in Florida. But I think in that series, you'd be like, oh,

the goaltending wasn't great. Okay. Before we go to break, I need to remind you about the hometown Heroes lottery. Don't miss the huge early bird with 61 winners. Beat Friday's deadline for your chance to win. Tickets are available. London drugs must be 19 plus to play. Know your limit. within it one final half hour of the program on the horizon.

It's what we learn time. Get them in. hashtag them WWL Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drans. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650 or wherever you get your podcast. Now from my favorite part of the show, what is a take?

Talk to the audience. Oh, God. This is always dead. 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, Bradford, Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. They're ready to give you the financial fresh start you deserve. With no judgment or upfront fees, visit them today at Sands. dash trustee.com. We are an hour three of the program. It is what we learn time. Hour three is brought to by the BC Construction Safety Alliance.

Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca. C.A. Not bad. Not bad. I actually want to start what we learned. I have a late what we learned.

I learned that just minutes after hiring Mike Babcock is their new head coach, the Evanton Oilers hired Mike Babcock's inevitable replacement as head coach. DJ Smith has been added as an associate head coach. Now you may remember previous to this, Smith most recently served as the interim head coach of the Los Angeles Kings. And he can keep that interim tag handy for when he inevitably has to replace Mike Babcock. Was DJ on, he was on Babcock's staff in Toronto, right? That's correct.

Yeah, okay. Four seasons together. Is he like the good time guy? I think he's good cop, DJ Smith. Yeah, he's like, okay, Mike was in a bit of a mood today. Guys, it's going to be okay. Yeah. He put me into therapy, coach.

Like, yeah, I'll do that once in a while. I'll drive you there. Yeah, that's DJ Smith. Okay. Give us a muckele on that then. Zach has one, regular Zach, that is. You've got it what we learned. I do.

I have a almost foolproof way to predict every single World Cup match, including Canada versus Switzerland. What? So far, in the World Cup, only three countries have managed to win a game whilst having fewer bird species than the opposing country. Okay. Canada has over 300 more bird species than Switzerland, therefore guaranteed win. Okay. Where did you come up with this?

So if you have more birds, you're probably going to win. Bird species. More bird species equals wins. So this was Nick Volpe, who's a wildlife photographer slash filmmaker ends up making a statistical chart. He noticed through the first seven games that all the countries had more birds had won. He extrapolated the data up until yesterday and only

three times has the team with less. And honestly, you could argue it's two. France has like 50 less and if it wasn't for lazy French scientists, they could easily discover 50 birds. So it's probably only like two. See, this is why Antarctica is never in the World Cup because they only have penguins. That's true. Those fools. Yeah. Yeah. Also,

they lack soccer players. Minor detail. Facilities, grass, balls, all of it, really. That's fascinating. So Canada does indeed have more species of birds than Switzerland. By about 300. So if you're going to bring a what we learned, you have to be prepared for questions. Which country has the most bird species in the world?

That's a fantastic question. At least so far in the World Cup, it's Brazil with approximately 1,800. Pardon me, no, Colombia has approximately 1900. Yep, that's right. But that's at least of World Cup countries. Okay, so the South American countries have a real advantage. They've got a real good shot in the World Cup. Yeah.

South America is generally considered the bird continent. Okay. That's what they call it in the bird world. Okay. Muckow the birds. Fire up the Domitrix. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa.

Whoa. We talk about this. You said Zach had one and then was it. No. You'll remember that I was going to do something that Rick Dollywall tweeted out yesterday. No, all you talked about was. Rick Dollywall's tank top. I learned two things.

Number one, Rick Dollywall has a new profile picture for Tinder. What is going on there? He's, so on, it might be used on Tinder. I don't know. But Rick, it is sons out, guns out for Rick, who's got a tank top profile picture for his profile picture on social media on X. I've seen it. And just to say I sour it.

And, you know, it's not bad. but it is it is a hell of a decision to put if you're a media in Vancouver and you're Rick Dollywall to throw up a picture of you in a tank top and be like

people are going to like this they won't make fun of this at all I feel like the thought process behind it knowing Rick a little bit was like well it's summer I guess I should change the profile like a seasonal profile change it is clearly a selfie too because you can see his left arm is, you know, holding the camera.

Yeah, I'm glad that it's closely cropped so we don't see, like, his bathroom counter behind him. Do you think... Do you think someone told him like, that's a pretty good picture of you, Rick? No. No, I don't. The profile pictures are pretty interesting.

What else did you learn? I learned that Teddy Bluger and Derek Forebort will be hitting the free agent market on July 1st. Now, on Forbort, he had... some real health challenges in Vancouver. I honestly think they missed him on the PK. He's a very good penalty-killing defenseman, but the Canucks, you know,

hopefully he's able to get a contract and continue on his career because it felt like his career was in jeopardy at some point. Yep. On Teddy Bluger, man, what a time we had with Teddy Bluger, who becomes the latest pending unrestricted free agent to walk away with the Canucks getting nothing in return.

Now, we can argue, in debate over what the Canucks could have had for him at the trade deadline. Maybe the offers weren't there. But I still can't believe that they couldn't get anything for Teddy Blugger, even a late round draft pick. I can't believe it. I just, I just refused to believe that.

I also refused to do it. I think it was fully the intention of the previous regime to resign Teddy Blugher. And now with the Canucks under new management, Teddy Blugher really doesn't enter into the picture with them rebuilding. Now, he could have been one of those. That would make us better. That would make us better. So we can't reset. I mean, he could have been one of those guys that you bring in as a good veteran.

But I really do think that this Canucks management group is like, there were no good veterans. So there were. We want, even if you were like an okay guy. Yeah. You were one of the veteran players on a team that was dysfunctional. And. And we got to move on. And we're moving on from you.

Okay, we talked about this earlier. I just want to bring this back up. Is it not hilarious that seemingly every move by the Johnson-Sadine regime is like a condemnation Yes. Of the previous regime?

Yeah. Everything so far. Without saying like, this is a condemnation of the previous regime, but we will not be bringing back Teddy Bluger. Yeah. Like our actions are speaking louder than our words here. But we did not like anything,

the last guy. did. Just the whiteboard just says do the opposite underline six times. Don't do what Don't does.

That's, it's ringing very true here. Also, you know what's really unique about this particular off season

is I don't know what the other shows have been done? I don't listen to the station. Is it even on? But on this show, we've not

once been like, what does the Canucks top six look like next season? I don't know if they have one. Who cares? Yeah.

We put one guy there, one guy. there. I mean, they've got to be doing that in, like, I know things are changing, but they're still, they've still got to, you know, put at least in pencil, like, okay, we're going to start the season with this guy's or one C and this guys

or two C, but I don't think they're there at all. That's the beauty of being bad for a few years. It's just like, who cares? Just put whoever. There's always those, they're like, no, Stanley Cup champs put Stankovin at Center, and Ian, played that for a while. So I mean, I don't know, Black or Mackey, can you take a draw? He's like, no, you're like, too bad, you're

taking them. There's been multiple sports movies and TV. shows where like the coach walks in and he's got the depth chart either on a board or written up and then he's like got to erase it because there's changes coming. The White, the, the, the Canucks version right now is the whiteboard is just blank. Like they've erased it all.

And then, PD at one C maybe. No, every spot is, unless he gets traded. Every spot has three letters and it's TBD. That's, we'll figure it out later.

We just need it because they need to tear this thing down. Yeah. It's very obvious. Right. Debrusk on the move. Bester reportedly on the move. Pedersen, these are all guys that have been here for a long time. You can't write their name, even in pencil at this point. Yeah.

Because they have a big old eraser for it. I mean, they do have four centers that they could put in right now. Sure. Like you go Pedersen, Rossi, Heedl, and then, I don't know, Ratu. Yeah, Atu, Ratu's got his name locked on that four C spot for next year. Yeah, but Heel, what's going on with Heidel? Will he ever playing it? No, TBD.

He's a TBD. I don't want to say nobody cares. because it's Philip Heedle's career, but, like, I just, I can't get into the debate because the expectations have been dropped and I just want to see young players put in a position to succeed, I mean, show their stuff, right? Not succeed, but less fail, but not succeed too well.

Less fail. Less fail. Less shame and less fail. Okay. Marketing slogan for next year. Canucks. Less fail. Bucow.

Actually, less shame would be even better. Fire up the top matrix. Pride? No, not that one. Welcome to another Vancouver Canucks season, hopefully less shameful. What we learned, what we learned, humanoid edition.

Brought to you is always by AJ's Pizza on his Broadway. From corporate events to special events, there's no order too large order online at AJ's. dot pizza. Oh, I got, I like this one from Peter. the people leader. What we learned, Adog,

you're not going to like this one. What we learned, Andy doesn't interrupt as much when the Kintech Studio goes mobile. The show might need to plan more live on locations all over the city. Look out, North Star Metal Recycling,

Dunbar Lumber, and ATS traffic. The Kintech Studio might be coming to a location near you. It would be very appropriate for this station if they threw us in the middle of a recycling plan. You just can't hear anything.

Did it? anyone think this through? There's a lot of grinding of metal going on right now. Jason in a chip truck, what we learned, please correct me if I am wrong saying this, but wasn't Noblock hired at the partial request of McDavid? Yep. Was it his

request or was it just like he was his old junior coach? Obviously it was but I don't think the answer is yes. We had numerous insiders that came on and said that Connor McDavid, a lot of the guys in Eminton sort of art fully dodged saying he hired the coach.

He's like, well, you know, he had a really good time of them in junior and there's a relationship dating back there. This isn't that uncommon. As we enter into the player empowerment era in the National Hockey League, the P. This is going to be more commonplace

where in order to appease your star players, you give them more responsibility, power, and authority in every facet, not just if they want to move, but if they have a particular coach that they want, and you want your player to stay, you're going to listen to who they want his head coach.

I don't understand how McDavid got in a room with Babcock and Emergent was like, that's the guy that I want, but I guess that's the power of Mike Babcock, the power of persuasion. He told me that's what I want. Yeah. Repeated it over and over.

Some sort of hypnotist dude. I don't know what. I don't get it. It's real simple. I don't get it, man. I really don't get it. What's his press conference is going to be like? Exactly how you just said it.

No, no, no, no. Is it going to be testing? though? Is he going to be push? I would be shocked if he was at all apologetic. Oh, he's going to be apologetic. You think so? Yeah. Yeah. You think so? That'd be funny if he wasn't. I was like, I regret nothing. Yeah. I just wanted to see their pictures.

See how their families live to see what kind of a man they are. I could see that. That was a good impression right there. That was good. Yeah. He's emboldened now. Yeah. Stephen North Sanich. The investigation proof nothing. Nothing. Stephen North Sanage. What we learned, the NBA takes one look at the NHL's big trade and says, hold my beer. Yeah, the Yonis one was big.

I've kind of forgotten about Yonnes, though. It's like, eh, we're out to Wimby now. We've moved on. Well, basketball Phil Texan, and it's with what we learned he said, happy NBA draft day guys, after spending time complaining about all the tanking in the NBA, this year, you now get to see why. This is expected to be the best draft since the NBA. the LeBron James draft or the Kobe Bryant slash Alan Iverson draft.

Very elite talent in the top 10. And if I still watch college basketball, I might know some of these players. AJ DeBonsa is supposed to go first overall out of Ringham Young University, BYU. Washington has the pick? Yes. Okay. Great. Can you tell the slight difference in prep that we've done for the NHL draft and the NBA draft

here at SportsNet 650? Now, the Wizards are still in. Washington, correct? Yep. They're not called the bullets anymore. I should call them, we should call the bullets. The first overall pick. What draft do the Vancouver Grizzlies take? What? What position is the Grizzlies take? Did you say

what draft do the Vancouver Grizzlies take? Yeah, what's their number? I'm so glad you interrupt. Smooth execution. What's, what were they drafting? Okay, we'll just just, by the way, is that? The Memphis Grizzlies third overall. Thank you. They're expected to take Cameron Boozer out of Duke.

The top, are they going to trade Joss? or what? I don't know. I don't know. I don't have the bandwidth for this. It's supposed to get interesting at five, as I understand it. The first four picks, everyone's pretty much agreed upon. That's how they're marketing the draft. It's supposed to be interesting after a few picks. Well, everyone knows who the top four are, is what I'm saying. Like, they're good players. This is, and Phil's right. The reason teams were tanking so aggressively this is because it's a very loaded draft. But it's supposed to get interesting at five in terms of who's going to come off the board. Mike with what we learned, what we learned, my daughter keeps asking, who is better? Messi Mbapé or Ronaldo. This is why the World Cup is so great. It gets everyone talking about the sport, these players.

Is that all kids do? It's like, who's good? Who's bad? Who are we talking to the other day? Kids are like a bit of a sports radio. Who are we talking to the other day who said that, and this is something that I think you and I are a bit unfamiliar with because we're old, but the current generation of fandom is less about following a team and more about

following a player. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's been going on for a while now. But I don't, but I've never, like, I've never thought of it. Kids today, they don't respect the logo on the jersey. It's all about the name on the back. That's right.

Selfish, unlike us. Anyway, we're getting distracted. The point being, we're good and they're bad. Yeah, but I guess part of it is, I mean, you can follow these players so much more thoroughly with the whole social media thing. But I've never, like, again, our generation, I never, I had particular athletes that I liked. Yeah. But I would never, I was a team, a fan of a team or a team.

city or a country. I mean, that was just how you grew up. That was it, but it's dramatically changed now. Justin and East Van, what we learned, Amar Dolman should use his talent booking powers to get Dala D to perform Klonafonia this Saturday, a touchdown

Kelowna. I think D's out of the game. I don't think he does music anymore. Surely he would come back for this. You'd think? He got his like, it's like riding a bike. Yeah. Dust off his cape. So for those that

have no idea what we're talking about here and that's probably a lot. The song we play every Friday on the show leading into what we learns and asks us anything's. Colonna Fornia, a classic a staple. It was sung, wrapped by a former recording

artist known as Dala D who was from, appropriately, Colona. A viral sensation. Timeless because of this show in part but his career as a recording artist, I'm pretty sure ended shortly thereafter. He rode into the show one time. Did he? Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. That's cool.

He's like, hey, love that you guys still remember the song. I don't know, I don't know what he does now. I think he sells cars. Yeah, or jet skis if he's in Kelowna. True, actually. There are no car dealerships in Colonna, just jet skis. Yeah, two options, pal. Well, since the, uh, the lines are going to Kelona. Yeah. What is your favorite Colona stereotype? Um, because you could say like jet skis. Yeah. Um, um, barbed wire tattoo. The tap out board shorts, the wraparound white sunframe sunglasses

on the back of the head. All the dudes are way too tanned. Way too tanned. The tanning is big. Where do you get your steroids? Yeah. It really is. That's why Canada's Jersey Short is being filmed.

I had a bid on that. And then I had to look up the, because I'm like, are they a sponsor? And they were, so I can't go with my bit. Sid in Maple Ridge, what we learned, I learned that the knockout round of the World Cup. is going to be incredible. The big teams and world stars have brought it to the World Cup.

Yeah, they have so far. Okay, by the way. I'm going to be curious to see in this expanded World Cup where they have now a round of 32. Yeah. Who's going to get screwed in the round of 32 with their matchup? And I wonder if a team that's going to kick off in about an hour here is going to be a factor in this

because could Portugal, in essence, drop to maybe even third in the group? If they don't get a result today. Maybe even third in the group or second in the group and maybe just play a role in someone winning their group or having a good group station and be like, we get Portugal

in the round of 32 because we talked about it yesterday. The Dutch could very well get Morocco. They're on a collision court. with Morocco, which is terrible for what we're like dominating. Well, they didn't dominate. They drew Japan, but being very good in their group. And they kind of get screwed because in that one, it's the group F winner against the group C runner up. Yep. And most of the winners get a third place group. Yeah, but some don't. So how did they

decide that? I don't remember how the computations and algorithm went at the beginning. For Canada, by the way, if you want to narrow it down, because right now, they're like 495 different combinations. If Canada win their group, let's say they go out and they get the dryer, they get the win tomorrow. Let's go on that, right? They play the third place team from E-F-I-G or J.

I've got the odds right now, if you want them. Yeah, sure. Algeria, 25% chances, according to the athletic. Iran, 23%, Egypt, 20%, Austria, 15%. And then there's also a chance, like, and you talk about these teams dropping. Dropping, you know.

Belgium is at 7%? Maybe we can get some revenge on the... rematch against the Belgies. That'd be fun. Yeah. All right. We're up against it for time. As always,

thank you for listening and thank you for contributing to the show. A reminder, I am not doing the AJ's pre-match show because I'm going to the match tomorrow, but we still have a one-hour pre-match show here on SportsNet 650 ahead of Canada and Switzerland

for all the marbles in Group B at the World Cup. I'll be at the match. I'll be enjoying myself thoroughly, but before that we have a show to do. We will be back tomorrow. Thank you all for listening and thank you all for contributing today. But for now, we got to get out of here.

Signing off, I have been Mike Alford. He's been Jason Brough. He's been A-Dog and he's been regular Zach, although I called him Lattie at the beginning of the show. This has been the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650.