Halford & Brough in the Morning - Andy Strickland Talks Jake DeBrusk + What We Learned

Episode Date: July 17, 2024

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat with St. Louis Blues reporter Andy Strickland about his chat with Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk yesterday on the Cam & Strick Podcast (3:00), 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.

Let's go! 8.05 on a Eurodance Wednesday here on the Halford and Brubshaw on Sportsnet 650. This is the biggest Prodigy rip-off I've ever heard. Even Prodigy is like, was this us? Did we do this? Was I on something when I recorded this? I don't remember. Okay, we got to move along here. We got a lot to get into in this final hour.

Andy Strickland is going to join us in a few minutes here. We're going to try and play some audio from his podcast before we get to him on the line. I also need to take care of some business. This show is brought to you by Pacific Honda, North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff.

They can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 3 of the program. Hour 3 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. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Okay, I want to play part of Andy Strickland, St. Louis Blues ringside reporter, long-time hockey guy. He did an interview, did a podcast with Jake DeBrusque, one of the new Vancouver Canucks,

probably the most highly, much ballyhooed, highly publicized one, the biggest signing anyway. There's about a three-and-a-half-minute clip, and I think it's important to play this because you asked openly about DeBrusque what was going on with Boston with these trade requests that he had. He had kind of wanted out of Boston, and then it never happened, and he kept playing in Boston, and then the first chance he got in free agency left.

So DeBrusque kind of explains it here in a link. It's about a three-and-a-half-minute clip. We'll play it. It takes three minutes to say I hated Bruce Cassidy. Right. So there was not that part exactly. But there's a little more nuance to it. We'll play that, and then we'll talk to Andy Strickland,

the guy who conducted the interview on the other side. Here's Jake DeBrusque on not asking for a trade request once, but twice out of Boston yeah well I think I actually asked for one earlier I asked for one in the summer um just with just with the kind of the way the team was shaping up when it came to just where I was looking where I could possibly play the lineup and things like that and kind of how the year ended you know I got scratched in the playoffs and I just thought you know it was time for maybe just a fresh start for both sides.

You know, obviously, I'm speaking for myself, but that's kind of my thoughts when we're going into the summer. There's nothing against the city of Boston. I love Boston. Boston's a great city. They've got so many things going on. People have always treated me so good there. And it's something that is probably the place I spent the most time in my life ever. You know, usually I was moving around a couple of places. And I consider it one of my second homes, honestly.

It's great. It wasn't anything to do with that or even the guys on the team. Just with the situation and just different things, I just thought maybe go on and then I'll get scratched again. I wasn't playing much, I'll get scratched again and actually find out I got scratched again in Vancouver with the last time I was scratched. At that point,

I just made the call just to try to get it moving forward. I didn't think they were taking it serious, and I thought that at that point, I was just fighting for my career. At that point, I was just like, you know, I think that I can add more than what is happening here. I didn't see anything changing. In a sense, for my own game, my game was getting worse. I was thinking about 10 different things,

and, you know, when it came out, it was very uncomfortable. It was very uncomfortable going to the rink the next day. I talked to the guys in the room, you know when it came out it was very uncomfortable it was very uncomfortable going to the rink the next day i talked to the guys in the room um you know it was then the guys that were there were the biggest reason why i got out of that situation that side of things you know they had my back they were with me through it all um and they're all good with me you know they understood why um in the room they knew it was just me trying to find a better fit for my career to have a longer nhl career and a better you know better chance at something and you know it was one of those things where I didn't want to play bad in this time either because I didn't want to I wanted to get something back in return that was respectable as well because I know when you go public with

something like that it just hangs your value so it wasn't anything against the team it was more so just me just in my own head I just needed changes to have a start but you know I remember playing the next game after because there was a couple injuries and I wasn't anything against the team. It was more so just me, just in my own head, I just needed changes to have a start. But, you know, I remember playing the next game after because there was a couple injuries, and I wasn't even supposed to be playing the next game after, but then there was a couple injuries that happened, so I played like a day later or something, or like two days later, and I remember I was getting booed

when I touched the puck at the garden. So it was funny because out of all guys, Freddie's like, hey, do you think you're going to get booed tonight? And I was like, Freddie, thanks, man. I was like, thanks. I was like, yeah, you know, honestly, thanks for bringing that up i didn't even think of that but you know what now you say that they're for sure gonna boo i mean they're passionate we're gonna boo he's like well they care they boo if they don't they don't care about you then they won't boo and he's like you

know that's the one way to look at it and um you know i understand what comes with that obviously i know i made obviously some enemies i made some uh with definitely different fan groups inside of boston it's not a pretty thing to do i just felt desperate in a sense for my own career i needed a change and um i thought i didn't want it to work out actually if anything it's it was more so just i needed to change and then sure enough things just started falling into place again and um you know it's one of those things where i look back now that was you know three or four years ago at that point in in time, you know, I wouldn't see this, you know, four years later. You know, so I think it worked out, but it taught me a lot about myself because I felt like my back was getting small constantly. I was walking on eggshells and the guys in the room made me feel really, really comfortable in the sense of just staying with it and just kind of doing whatever I can to help the team.

And, you know, to be honest with you, it made me mature and grow up really fast. You know, it was maybe a little premature, but at the same time, looking back at it, it got me to this point today. A really candid answer about exactly everything you went through in Boston. So we will quickly pivot now to the guy that was doing the interviewing on that one, Andy Strickland, ringside reporter for the St. Louis Blues, who joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Andy. How are you?

What's up, fellas? All is well. How are you today? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. And thanks for doing a podcast with Jake DeBrus that plays very well here locally. And that particular clip that we were just playing about his time in Boston was pretty important because Jason and I often wondered, like, what exactly happened with the Bruins that he had these very public trade requests and he didn't get traded and then you know the first chance to leave him free agency he does trying to figure out exactly what happened in Boston sounded like it was um very colorful and there was a lot that went on over the last few years in Boston

and I didn't realize that it was actually two trade requests, given the idea of how bad things got there. Were you surprised at how candid DeBrusque was reflecting on his time in Boston? Not really. I mean, you know, we've had a number of guys on. I mean, for the most part, these players, man, they come on with us and they're very candid. And we have great conversations with our guests on the Canvas Trick Podcast. So I will say, you know, you're never surprised when, you know, you get candid responses and you put these players in a comfortable situation and just have conversation because they don't get too many opportunities, I think, during the course of the season, you know, where they get an opportunity to tell their side of the story on a platform that they're comfortable with. So, you know, I love that from Jake, you know, and yeah, he was candid,

but I think he held back at the same time with certain things. You know, one of the best kept secrets in the National Hockey League was the relationship between a number of players and Bruce Cassidy when he was there in Boston. It was not good. And there's a reason why he got fired at the time of the offseason when he did. If you remember, it was several weeks after the season had ended. There was a lot of discussion whether or not Patrice Bergeron was going to return. He announced that he was going to return after Cassidy was fired.

David Krejci had left and went over and played in Europe and then came back after Cassidy was fired. David Krejci had left and went over and played in Europe and then came back after Cassidy was fired. So it was at that time when Jake DeBrusque pulled his trade request off the table and was able to get his career back on track and obviously put himself in position to get a great contract. And this is nothing against Bruce Cassidy because he had a ton of success over there in Boston. He deserved an opportunity to get a high-profile job, which he did with a very good team in Boston, and obviously took them to a Stanley Cup his first season there.

He's a hell of a coach, and he's not the first coach that probably had a long run with an organization and with a team. And, you know, maybe the message just wasn't, you know, getting across to a couple of guys. You know, he wouldn't be the first one to experience that as a head coach. But that's pretty much the gist of it with Jake DeBrusque in terms of, you know, his recent history with Boston. Do you think Bruce Cassidy was wrong about Jake DeBrusque? did he just communicate maybe in a way that Jake didn't appreciate or maybe in hindsight Jake looks back on some of the things that Bruce Cassidy was telling him and saying, yeah, in hindsight he had a point on a few things. I can't answer that. But I think there's probably something relevant to how the message was being presented, how it was being taken. You know, sometimes, listen, coaches can cross the line, you know. I mean, it's not – and I don't mind it.

I like an old-school approach. I think you've got to find that happy medium with an old-school approach along with your ability to communicate with a modern-day player. I think guys like Joel Quindle, for example, have mastered that and have found a way to do it. Rick Tockett knows how to do it. Craig Berube, for the most part, knows how to do that. But at the same time, you get a you get a Tocket and, you know,

you get Ruby, for example. Listen, their approach can be, and Bruce Cassidy, you know, I'll put Ken Hitchcock in this category who recently retired. He hasn't really officially. Hitch has never retired. I don't want to put that out there. But he's not coaching right now. You know, you don't lump those guys into the same category as a guy like Mike Babcock, for example,

who couldn't make that adjustment. These guys know how to adjust, and they know how to relate to the modern-day player, but still have a high standard and strong expectations. There's nothing wrong with that. You've got to find that balance. But I think once you lose the players in this day and age, it's kind of tough to get them back. I do want to ask you about a couple of the guys that you just mentioned,

the first being Joel Quenville. Do you think we'll see him back in the league this season? I do. I mean, now, I think he's put himself in a position where, and this is where it's going to be interesting, I don't think he's just going to jump at the first opportunity. I know a lot of people were saying, hey, Columbus would be a great opportunity for him, but, you know, Columbus just hired Mike Babcock, and they weren't going to go down that road again.

And it's probably smart, even though Quendo is the furthest thing from a Babcock. And his situation, obviously, and the reason why he's not coaching is a different situation than Babcock but um you know just based on the fact that several teams have reached out to Joel uh over the course of the last few years and have reached out to the league to check on his status to see if they even had permission to hire him tells me yes I, whether it's going to be this season or next season, I guess that remains to be seen.

I would think that he would want to coach with a contender. You know, I did a sit-down with him several weeks ago, back in April. His first public comments since he was essentially suspended by the NHL. And he said, hey, listen, there's a number of teams that he'd have interest coaching. But I think at this stage of his career, his age, I think he would want to go to a team that has a chance to win. I don't think he would jump at a rebuild situation or a team that you would consider not to be very competitive.

The other guy I want to ask you about is Craig Berube. We wondered a lot about where Berube might end up. I thought a place like Ottawa would be a good fit for him with some of the young talent that they've got, but he ended up in Toronto with established stars up front for sure, but some major question marks pretty much everywhere else in the lineup. Do you think he's going to have success there? I think he'll have success. I mean, you kind of just said it, you know, in terms of, you know, what's that roster going to look like? You know, they've made some adjustments. They've added some defensemen, which they knew they needed to do. Scoring's never really been an issue for Toronto.

The power play, obviously, has been very good. You know, they're going to need goaltending, just like any other team. And they're going to have to play strong, solid defense and really show a significant level of improvement in that area for them to have playoff success, which is what you're asking. I mean, the team's had a ton of regular season success, you know, so that's not an issue for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They find a way to win in the regular season.

Can they win in the postseason? Well, that's where, you know, obviously they're going to need healthy goaltending, strong goaltending, but obviously a commitment from your players up front, which I think he's going to work towards throughout the course of the regular season. But we're talking about guys that are in their late 20s who have been established NHL players for quite some time. It's not easy to get those guys to adjust and all of a sudden, you know, show the willingness to sacrifice offense for the better of the team.

And listen, Craig Berube is all about team. You'll hear him talk about team, team, team, team first all the time. And are these guys willing to do that? You know, Ken Hitchcock had success doing that with Brett Hall years ago when, you know, Hall went to Dallas and ended up, you know, making some adjustments. He probably wasn't a 60, 70, 80 goal scorer at that stage of his career anyway, but he could still score 40 and flirt with 50 if he wanted to cheat. But I think he got him to buy into more of a complete game.

And so that's going to be the challenge with certain players. Now, everyone's thinking Mitch Marner. I mean, wasn't this guy like a Selke finalist a year ago? I mean, would he have been if he was playing in a less established market that didn't get as much attention? I don't know. So maybe the commitment for Marner and the buy-in for Marner isn't as significant as people think that it will be.

But in the playoffs, it's proven that, you know, there's going to have to be some adjustments made. We'll judge the Toronto Maple Leafs just like we do every year come springtime next year when the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. Andy, real quick before we let you go, there was news about Torrey Krug yesterday. What is the outlook for Krug if he can't go this season? What is the outlook for the Blues?

What do they do plan B? Well, that remains to be seen. This certainly creates some significant cap space well that remains to be seen you know um this certainly you know creates you know some significant cap space that i would imagine doug armstrong is going to want to use you know they're not going to know i guess until uh and i would imagine they kind of have an idea i don't think they're expecting to recruit to play this season that's just my guess at at least for the St. Louis Blues. You know, they said they're going to reevaluate him in six to eight. If he needs surgery, he'll miss the entire season.

So I guess we'll wait for that time period to arrive in the next six to eight weeks and then get an idea of really where Torrey Krug is at in terms of his availability for this coming season. But I'm not expecting him to play in a Blues uniform this year. And if he does, then that opens up $6.5 million that Doug Armstrong is going to be able to play with. But he's also realistic in terms of where they are as an organization. You get some of these general managers, they just want to spend, spend, spend, but it doesn't really help the team. They just spend money to spend money.

You've got to spend money at the right time. You've got to fill the right holes. You've got to plan ahead, sometimes two, three, four years in advance. They've got a bunch of prospects who are coming. You know, when are they going to get here? When are they going to be up for their second contract and start thinking about all that? The cap's going up.

But if they're in a competitive situation where maybe they can make the playoffs because things change all the time. I mean, they weren't as bad as people think last year. If they were in the Eastern Conference, they would have made the playoffs. Then I would imagine he'll look to use some of that money. And there are some players who continue to be rumored to be available out there, a guy like Theodore, obviously, in Vegas. So we'll see what happens, you know,

and what this defense ultimately looks like, you know, when we get to October. If you want to check out the full Jake DeBrusque podcast, I recommend you do so. It's a very good listen. It's the Cam and Strick podcast. You can check them out on Twitter, at Cam and Strick. Hey, Andy, thanks a lot for doing this today.

We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the summer. Hey, you guys do the same. I love Vancouver, man. I just got back there. I was there for a little over a week. My son had a hockey tournament at the North Shore Winter Club. Great facility up

there in North Vancouver. Loved it up there. I love to see the board of all the NHL legends who have played there over the years. Korea Hall, Bedard, Celebrini. I mean, the list goes on and on. But we had a great time and spent some time up in Whistler, man. So beautiful part of North America. Loved it.

You guys have a great summer as well. How much longer are you going to have to tie his skates for? Well, he just turned eight. So I'm thinking we're probably in that 18-month period, if not 12-month period. We're not far away. He gets himself dressed now. That's good.

But he's still got to tie his skates. And any hockey parents out there, you guys know. I don't know what that is. Hopefully soon. Thanks, Andy. Appreciate this, bud. All right, guys. Take care.

Andy Strickland, Blues ringside reporter. So I'm doing the math here. He's eight, and he's going on international trips from St. Louis to play in a tournament. He might be a player. North fan. It was funny, because when you were gone. We lost 38 to nothing. When you were gone, I guess there was video of the most recent brick tournament making the rounds on Twitter and social media.

I didn't realize the lengths that this tournament goes to like. How old are those kids? Nine and ten. Nine and ten. They have so that the entire. I mean, don't get me wrong. I understand that the ease of technology nowadays has made it pretty simple to live stream and everything. But I guess they have like walk-off interviews for the Brick tournament.

That is hilarious. Talk about that turnover. Yeah. The evolution of streaming, broadcasting your own games has come a long way in the last 10 years. And I get it. If you've got relatives and stuff that can't make it to the tournament want to watch great option right but this is obviously a nod to we're trying to make these nine and ten year olds act look and feel like professional hockey players when i was a boy it was the peewee tournament in quebec city that was the big deal that you'd see players they're

too old yeah you don't even pay to peewee and no chance this guy's aged out of our prospect group I mean it was it's weird it's weird they're 9 and 10 I'll just leave it at that as much as you want to joke that oh they're just kids they're having fun they take it very

very seriously and not in a sort of like waiting what's the the movie that we're the dog show comedy that we always allude to here oh best best and show yeah there's no like wink wink nudge nudge that we're having a we're having fun at everyone this is like dead serious right like they don't think that it's strange that a nine-year-old is getting a walk-off interview right at the brick tournament they should do that for youth sports, by the way. Is it Christopher Guest?

Is that his name? Yes. Yeah, yeah. That'd be hilarious. We could be onto something here. We could have just hatched another movie. AI, write us a script. Right.

This could be interesting. Don't encourage AI to do that, please. Okay. Okay, we got a lot more to get to. That was the funniest movie I've ever seen. We got a lot more to get to. I am glad you liked it. We got a lot more to get to on the program. you liked it. We got a lot more to get to

on the program. We'll do our What We Learns. We'll, excuse me, dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket and do your What We Learns as well. And anything, I know we got a lot of

Ask Us Anythings and Mount Rushmores and What Ifs and all that stuff. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions. The Roar is back at BC Place

for the BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at bclions.com. You are listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Vic Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts.

Now for my favorite part of the show. What'd I say? 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. It's what we learn time. On the show.

8.32 on a Wednesday. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for the morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda, North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn 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. Not bad. Okay, let's do some what we learned here.

Eight out of ten. Yeah, it was okay. I usually get it before that part of the song, but that's okay. Can I start? Yeah, yeah, yeah, start. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I learned that you're, what did you call it about the soccer? Hot summer for soccer or something like that?

Oh, hot footy summer. I got it bold. Hot footy summer. Hot footy summer is over. It's over. But now I'm back in the chair. Yeah. And we get to talk about golf again.

Hot golf summer. Yeah. Well, the British Open or the Open, as they call it, is on, starts tomorrow. It's at Troon in Scotland, Troon. And I guess the major stories are going to be, for us especially, it's going to be, can one of these droughts end?

Either Rory winning a major after coming pretty close at the US Open. Pretty close. Pretty close. And the other would be, and this one doesn't get a lot of attention internationally, but is a Canadian male golfer going to break through? And you know what?

I don't even want, I don't even need this golfer to win a major. I just want one of them to be in contention on a Sunday. And I've said this a few times before. Corey Connors has had some top tens at majors. I think he was ninth at the U.S. Open, but never really in contention, never really in that moment where you're like, oh, God, there's three holes left.

He could win this thing. Can he win this thing? And Corey Connors is playing some pretty good golf. So he's a name to watch at the Open in Troon. I'm looking forward to this tournament because there's not much else going on in sports. We just had the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which means it's dead in sports. That is the official. Yeah, it's the deadest time of the year.

Yeah, I mean, thank God the All-Star game was half interesting. It was a pretty good game. But the Open starts tomorrow, and I'm sure we'll have Adam Stanley on to preview that Open. He has written a story up on Sportsnet.ca, and he talks about all the different storylines at Troon, including the Canadians like Corey Connors, Roy McIlroy, Tiger Woods, who's going to give it another go,

despite what Colin Montgomery wants. That was a pretty good comeback that Tiger had. Jamie did that yesterday for our What We Learned. That was a pretty good comeback. You know what? I'm excited. Poor Monty. He hasn't been ripped like that in a long time.

He's probably, it feels good to be back. You know what? Nobody likes me. You know what I'm most excited for this weekend? I have a new favorite golfer. Who's that? Robert McIntyre. Oh, the leftott the most scottish guy on the planet yeah yeah he's no there's groundskeeper willie and robert mcintyre are the two more scottish people

i i i love like very rarely do my does my cold dead heart get warmed. But I like everything about the story. I looked up the town that he's from, Oban. Oh, yeah. They make scotch. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's real small. It's real remote.

He's real working class. And then he was the one that had his dad come caddy for him when he won the Canadian Open, right? Right. Yeah. It's cool. I like the story. I mean, he's not as long of a shot as I thought he'd be at most sports books. He's like a plus 29.

No, he's a good player. Yeah, and he just won the Scottish Open. Like, Scott's winning the Scottish Open. Can you imagine that back-to-back? That would be amazing. That would be incredible. So that's my guy this week. That'd be the greatest accomplishment in Scotland sports.

That's true. It's a low bar. How about Spain's weekend? It's a low bar. How about Spain's weekend? It was a good weekend. We totally forgot that Wimbledon existed over the last couple of weeks. We didn't talk about it once. Didn't get a cursory guest. We didn't do anything.

Nobody's even texting about it. And then Alcaraz wins on Sunday morning. We're like, ah, they're kicking off in two hours in Berlin. So no one pays attention. Sergio won his live event, too. I saw that. We're like, ah, they're kicking off in two hours in Berlin. So no one pays. Sergio won his live event, too. I saw that. I was like, he's wearing. Did you see Kepke showed up wearing the England jersey because he was playing with Sergio?

That was pretty funny. They're all wearing shorts, too. That's still jarring to me. I don't like it. It's still jarring to me. I don't like it. Maybe I'm an old man. I like my golfers in long pants.

Yeah, they should have to suffer. Yeah. So it's funny because there's the Little League Provincials going on right now. And Little League baseball rules are very rigid, and they are very, very old school, and you can't bend them at all. Right. And one of them is that you have to wear pants when you're coaching. Oh, really?

You have to. There's no shorts in baseball oh but regular season i thought you were somewhere else regular season no i think it varies from um association to association but when we went into tournament play i remember they were like the coquitlam guys have to wear pants you wore pants i wore pants the coquillam guys all show up wearing black shorts against us and i was like i'm bringing that up to the tournament organizer i didn't have to. I think that's a default.

Yeah, because we got smoked. So I see you guys are in. No pants, no pants. They are three inches above the knee. No, no, no. It's like the first pitch happens and Alfred goes out there and is like,

well, the game is underway. These guys are wearing shorts. We've won. Pack up the stuff, kids. We're out of here. I don't know how you find it. Now we're all going for ice cream. All right, give us a mook out of that.

I'm still working on Brough saying he likes his golfers in long pants. Kulots, if you will. You can wear some kulots. I don't want to see them in shorts. It's weird, man. I don't know why. It's just weird. They're wearing shorts. If I just weird. They're wearing shorts.

If I ever golf, I'm wearing shorts. If they're golfing, they've got to wear pants. It seems like they'll be far more comfortable, especially in the summer. What other sport do we see the players' legs? That's a good point. Tennis? Lacrosse. Yeah, tennis.

Tennis, they should wear pants. Get back to pants. Imagine that. Basketball, soccer, all of them. But anyway. Okay. Yeah. He names a multitude of sports. Yeah. Take your pick. Get back to pants. Imagine that. Basketball, soccer, all of them. But anyway. Okay. Yeah. Like he names like two sports.

A multitude of sports. Yeah. Take your pick. So most of them. They should all be wearing pants. What other sport do we see them in shorts? Several as a matter of fact. Quite a few actually.

Some of which we talked about in length on this radio show that we have. I don't look down there. Speaking of sports, hard turn. Hard turn. Hard turn. Hardest of turns. So Steve Stamkos finally got introduced to the Nashville media and did his photo op where everyone was very jarred by the fact that he's now a Nashville predator ensconced in mustard yesterday.

It's a very, very weird look for a guy that spent so many years in Tampa Bay. And he did his media availability yesterday as well. And one of the things that I was unaware of. Still the weirdest story of the offseason, right? Yeah. We talked about it at length. It just doesn't, it seems weird, looks weird, feels weird. Kind of saw it coming though, right?

During the season when he didn't get the. Yeah, before the season when he didn't get the off track. But everyone, every time. The team that he signed with. Every time that we brought it up to anybody, Wyshynski or anyone from Tampa Bay, they'd always kind of say, yeah, but he'll probably just figure it out. Or, yeah, they'll probably just come to an agreement. Or he'll acquiesce.

And he'll be like, fine, I'll sign for this. My stuff's all there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got two water skis. I don't want to move. He was like, uh-uh. I'm taking those water skis to Nashville. And so yesterday he met with the media.

One thing I did not know about Steve Stamkos is he has remarkable memory and recall when it comes to all the goals that he scored. Now, this is no small feat because he scored, what, 555 of them? And he can remember in detail, I want to say, the majority of them. This is great audio. I'm just going to let it play for itself. This is during his presser yesterday when a reporter starts by asking him about his incredible memory recall

when it comes to scoring his goals and then it takes a very interesting turn let's hear it you had an interview a number of years ago where you demonstrated your ability to remember your goals in great detail and i wondered if you still had that ability you scored quite a few goals since then but i wondered if you still had that ability yeah for, I mean, for the most part, if I can kind of remember the game or which kind of goal it was, I have a pretty keen sense of who made the play or who passed it, who had the assist, things like that. I mean, I think it's just like anything.

If you have a really big passion for something and something you really love and you get to experience it and you have those feelings of joy and rush and those moments stick with you. And obviously goal scoring for me has been something I really enjoy doing and for the most part can remember a lot of them, yeah. Do you remember the goal from November 19, 2022 here in Bridgestone? That overtime winner, one-timer? Yep.

I remember that. Yep, that was it. Yeah. Good screen by Corey Perry in front. Okay, so it was an overtime winner. So maybe it jumps out a little bit more than others, but it was like a mid, like early season game, November 19th against a team in the other conference

that they don't see that often. Doesn't that, this says something about professional athletes though. This says something that they have that recall. And I think it comes down to their ability to maintain their focus. I'm always amazed. And I'm going to bring it back to golf again.

When the golfers come off the course and they ask them to recall their rounds, right? And they would say, okay, on 12, what were you thinking on this shot? And he was like, well, you know, the wind was coming out a little left to right. I knew I had to get, you know, to that part of the green, you know, et cetera, et cetera.

And they go on and they can recall exactly what happens. I hit it maybe a little bit, a little bit heavy, you know, so things like that. And they can do that for, for every shot. I often wonder, and it'd be kind of funny to do this for like a beer league team to, to, um, ask them questions about the game, like at the NHL level, like what happened on that play in the second period, you know, when there was the turnover and you'd be like, I don't know. I don't know about it all.

Like in golf, can you imagine interviewing weekend hackers after a round of golf? He's like, what did you hit on number seven into the green? You'd be like, is that the par three? Like I was looking for the drink cart girl at the time. You're talking about negative things. Stammer was saying that he remembers because of the joy around it, right? He remembers those moments because of the excitement. It would actually be funny if you're like,

do you remember any of your teammates' goals? No. I hate all those guys. Block them all out. I was jealous. Especially the ones in Tampa Bay. I hate everything about that place now. No, it's funny because I think you got the right idea

correlating it to the good times, right? I think that's part of it, but I also think these players are so dialed in during their games that they just remember things. I'm more intrigued by the randomness of it all because you bring up a good point. If you were just to ask some weekend hack about a shot that he made during just an average regular round that had nothing that stood out about it you didn't post like a career low you didn't like smash your cart into a ditch like nothing stood out about the round nothing unique you asked a particular moment about that round

if you could bring it up because i, all due respect to this goal, it's a nothing goal for Stamkos. It didn't signify anything. But you think when these guys are in the NHL, the adrenaline is so high, and they're playing at the highest level possible. Totally. And you think about how the brain works.

Like, your brain is going to remember those things because it would happen in such a... It's just a lot to... Because he scored 550. It's a lot of goals to remember. Yeah. It's not like three. And he probably remembers goals he scored as a kid.

Yeah, probably. All right. Give us a mook on that. A-Dog? Lad Dog? You guys got anything for us? Sorry? I think we're good to move on.

I think we're good. Okay, let's fire up. We're running low on time already. I know we are. Let's fire up the dot matrix. So here's something I started doing while you were away. The get fire plan read is on hiatus, but we love the drop so much. I just say fire plan me.

Oh, my God. We're having a fire plan. That's good business, folks. Justin in East Van, what we learned, free arcade games is how to get a dog interested in the vancouver white cups donkey kong frogger galaga marvel versus capcom i don't remember that pac-man tetris and wonder boy no pitfall sorry we'll be available to play tonight during 80s night at bc place very exciting we had john calif on the show mond Monday to set up 80s Night because he was probably one of, if not the most prolific Vancouver 86ers. There's going to be a bunch of 86ers in attendance tonight,

including two of my favorite goalies of all time, Rob Merkel and Sven Haberman, two of my personal favorites. Is Dollyball going to be at 80s Night? He should be. He should be out there playing Frogger. If it's truly 80s Night, the line to the bathroom is going to be quite long. Are you going to embrace all the 80s or just part of it? We've got a very energetic crowd here tonight.

A little bit of a surprise on 80s night. They got about, I'd say, 25, 30 minutes energy before they got to re-up. What? A lot of business plans. What is... I don't remember Wonder Boy. That one I don't remember. Yeah.

So they... I don't... I'm going out on a limb here. I talked to a couple people from the Whitecaps. They were trying to orchestrate something where, like, the people that got

the highest score on the arcade games would win some sort of prizes. Well, where's the pole position then? I know. I dominated that in the 80s. Pole position? I'm wondering how many...

It's not there. We didn't ask Axel about this either. We should have. Could you imagine? He personally picked all the games. Very deeply into Galaga for some reason. Anyway, so yeah, that's tonight. Go 730 kickoff against Sporting KC.

The Whitecaps are scoring tons of goals right now. Corey the Carpenter has an ask us anything, but he's sent it in as a what we learned. This is more of an ask us anything, he says, but why is the baseball draft mid-season? Are drafted players eligible to play the same year in the second half of the season? My understanding is it's two main reasons.

Number one, it lines up with the end of the high school and college seasons, like the College World Series, I guess, just ended. Congratulations to Tennessee. I don't know. I think they won. But also the high school season obviously seasons. Like the college world series, I guess just ended. Congratulations to Tennessee. I don't know. I think they won. And, but also the high school season obviously comes to an end,

but, and yes, once they're drafted, they can go down to the minor leagues and play the rest. I mentioned that yesterday, the Canadians drafted in the draft. And there was a few people texting in that were shocked. They didn't even know the MLB did their draft the day before.

No, I noticed that as well. And it does also add a little bit of extra juice to the all star weekend because it makes it it's like you know the nhl jammed 18 things into that final week of taking a page out of the nhl's book it's like what else can we cram in here so you get the home run derby the draft and then the all-star game and then everyone gets a couple days off uh peter and cloverdale what we learned even listening to the way the hurricanes play hockey put me asleep i almost fell off the treadmill, LOL.

Yeah, the Hurricanes. I don't know. Well, they're just – I at some point thought they were going to get over the hump, but I don't know. I don't know how they're going to look next season. Are they going to take a step back? Who cares? The Hurricanes?

Yeah. I did compile – what were we talking about? There was some reason that the Hurricanes came up last week, and I went through it and compiled a list of how many departures they had. They took a lot of body blows this season. And you know what they are? They're the Eastern Conference version of the Vegas Golden Knights because we did the Vegas Golden Knights yesterday

when we were power ranking the Pacific Division. I said, they're going to finish, at best, fourth in the Pacific division. I'm like, I don't think that I said they're going to finish at best fourth in the Pacific division. And I said, really? Yeah. And I said, I bet there'll be fighting for a playoff spot if they weren't the Vegas

golden Knights and they were just team X without the moniker, you'd say team X barely made the playoffs last season and got bounced in the first round. And then they lost their leading scorer, their fourth leading scorer, two depth forwards and a depth defenseman and didn't bring anything back of note you'd be like yeah that team's in trouble and i'm like i just described the vegas golden knights to you yeah well the big wild card too is like what is mark stone as a player right now going forward can he stay healthy season because i play a full season? I bet he's going to need to. Because the guys that they lost, Amadio, Carrier, Marcheseau, and Stevenson,

were the guys that did the heavy lifting when Stone and Eichel were hurt or weren't producing, and now those guys are gone. That'll be the test of their culture and their system as well. Tambo and Ysvan, what we learned, I've learned that somehow, someway, you guys filled a show today. But with the Major League Baseball All-Star game out of the way now and nothing, I mean nothing on the slate tonight, I've also learned that filling

tomorrow's show will be a monumental task. Good luck with that. Any ideas for the intro tomorrow? I mean, the entire show will be us telling Bruff about basketball again, Ben's golf game and having him respond to it. I'm just going to do Simpsons clips all in the intro tomorrow. Tambo could

have stepped up and offered something to talk about instead of pointing out the lack of things to talk about. What a jerk. Chris on LTI LTIR in Duncan Chris get well. What we learned I learned that Brough had worked on that England Canucks analogy rant on the entire flight from Europe. Well done.

It wasn't really a rant. It was just a comparison to Southgate and Tockett and seeing how the Tockett evolution might go in Vancouver. Hopefully Tockett can get the Canucks over the top. Although we might settle for a couple of finals. A couple of finals seems pretty nice right about now. Speaking of your flight, this is something that Josh Elliott Wolf brought up last week. Christian asks,

ask us anything. Did Jason Brough raw dog his flight to or from vacation? Do you know what that is? I do know what it is. And I tried to, I tried to do it a couple of times because I thought it might be somewhat. It's the putty, the putty from Seinfeld.

I thought it might be somewhat meditative just to, the putty from Seinfeld I thought it might be somewhat meditative just to and I was like screw this this is a bad idea like we're still over Greenland

so been over Greenland for like eight hours you want a book? when is this flight over? A-Dog do you recall

the particulars of putty doing it? yeah he was just sitting there squinting but do you remember where they were going or how long the flight was or anything? I think they were actually going to Denmark.

Yeah. Anyway. Yeah, they were. One kroner, two kroner. That was rough. I'm talking to vegetable lasagna here. I got a name. Vegetable lasagna.

I forgot about that. Josh brought it up. You didn't know what it was? No, because I had done it. I knew what it was. You'd done it? Yeah, I did it on a 90-minute flight one time. Oh, okay.

Yeah, a short one just to test it out. And I went in and I said like after- Where were you flying? Sorry? Where were you flying? I did it when we were on one of those tiny little flights when we were at NBC. I think I did it from Atlanta to Charlotte. We had like-

Yeah, I had the worst flights. I had to go- There was one time I had to do like three connections to get back to san jose and i remember sitting there and then about 30 minutes into the 90 minute flight i'm like is it weird if i ask someone if i can just borrow an earbud and watch what they're watching it was it's tough it's nothing it's not meditative at all because you can't zone out because there's too many things happening around you. Yeah. There's people, there's the stewards going up and down the aisle. You got to listen for like announcements, you know, that kind of thing. I thought you were going to say you had a nice conversation with an old lady or something.

But that's how raw dogging the flight. Oh, you can't even talk to anyone. No, you have to be just like literally staring at the back of your seat. Or the map. Sure. That's what, I think that's what they they look so you just watch the plane yep inch across the screen and it's very i mean if you can get into a meditative state with all those things and you're probably at a certain level of zen that i

only one day hope to achieve but it's tough i will not be raw dog na flights in the distant in the not too distant future ben and langley texted in earlier and I wanted to read this text it's not what we learned but it was texted into the Dunbar Lumber text line and you were we were talking about we were doing the Mount Rushmore of the Canucks saddest moments it was a moment and you brought up when Naslin broke his leg Ben and Langley said Naslin broke his leg when I was at Red Robin with my family for my 16th birthday, which is also on the Mount Rushmore of sad, but that's another story. They came and sang that stupid birthday song as I watched Nazlin being helped off the ice. I'm still triggered every time I walk into a Red Robin. I replied to Ben and Langley, do you still do that a lot?

Because there's not a lot of left to walk into. Just imagine you sitting there like, happy birthday. It's like, oh God, my life is over. 16th birthday at Red Robin. I can think of this. You know what? What did you do for your 16th birthday, bruv?

Probably Red Robin. Yeah, I also went to Red Robin. Enough Red Robin slander here. Okay, the music means we've got to get out of here for today, but we will be back tomorrow. If you want to weigh in with any Ask Us Anything, Mount Rushmore's What Ifs, text them into the Dunbar Lumber text line.

Three-hour recap of the Whitecaps tomorrow. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Text them in. We'll get to them tomorrow. But for today, we've got to go. Signing off, I have been Mike Alford. He's been Jason Brough. He's been A-Dog.

And he's been Laddie. This has been a Halford. He's been Jason Brough. He's been A-Dog. And he's been Laddie. This has been a Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.