Halford & Brough in the Morning - Bains Is An Easy Guy To Cheer For

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they preview tonight's Canucks vs. Lightning matchup and discuss the possiblity of Arshdeep Bains playing on the top line tonight (6:00), plus they talk the latest hockey news with ESPN's Greg Wyshynski (26:18).  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.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- well hit right center by his back at the track near the wall it is gone a grand slam for mark vientos the best pedersen that there is is an assertive in your face aggressive pedersen he's edgy he's in your face you've heard the expression let's get busy well this is a dog who gets busy good morning makeover 601 on a tuesday happy tuesday everybody that is a dog who gets biz-ay. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. That is a deep cut. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Petey, more like Poochie. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Laddie, good morning to you. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda,

Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. Petey went back to his own planet. They have a friendly knowledge... Yeah, he was quoted as saying, I must go. My planet needs me. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. That's it.

No more references from that episode. We're going to focus because we have much to get into. He's the original dog from hell. Cerberus. 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, we are in hour one

of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle. You recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Ah, the hijinks of the Halbro Show. We have a lot to get into on the program

today. It's a five-guester today, everybody. We knew that you were getting back to work and going back to school after the long weekend, so we wanted to up the entertainment value. Only one guest yesterday on a holiday Monday. Five of them. Five of them today.

It's going to begin at 630. We're going to go to Greg Wyshynski of ESPN. So Greg is right in the epicenter of sports nirvana right now because he's in New York. And he's like, his Mets played last night and they won. And his Jets played. They didn't win. It's close, but they didn't win. You also had the Rangers played last night and they won. And his Jets played. They didn't win. It's close, but they didn't win.

You also had the Rangers playing last night. The Islanders, who have thrown the Colorado Avalanche into further chaos. And his New Jersey Devils. How about them? 4-1 to start the year. They took down the Utah team that couldn't lose. Which I can't get used to saying. Just say hockey club.

The previously undefeated hockey club. So we got a lot to get into with Greg Wyshynski. He's can't get used to saying. Just say hockey club. The previously undefeated hockey club. So we got a lot to get into with Craig Wyshynski. He's going to join us at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Ray Ferraro is going to join the program. Canucks analyst, NHL color man. We're going to talk to Ray about the Canucks, but we're also going to talk to him about

being the new guy that joins a team. Because Ray did that several times during his playing career. He's the new guy on the scene. And the Canucks have a bunch of new guys and I think team. Because Ray did that several times during his playing career. He was the new guy on the scene. And the Canucks have a bunch of new guys, and I think it's safe to say that they're all kind of waiting to find their fit. That's fair. And we'll talk about the...

It's a nice way of putting it. Maybe some of the changes that are going to be made to the Canucks lineup tonight in Tampa. 730, Neil McAvoy, general manager of the under-s under siege BC Lions. We'll talk to Neil about what to be, what's to be expected from their final regular season game. That's coming up this weekend.

Don't forget the Lions then go on a bye. Ah, yes. The classic final week of the season by week in the CFL. And then they go to the playoffs. So we'll talk to Neil at 730, 740. We're going to go to Tampa Bay ahead of tonight's game. Canucks lightning. Dave Randolph, Dorf is going to join the show. Play-by're going to go to Tampa Bay ahead of tonight's game. Canucks Lightning. Dave Randorf, Dorf, is going to join the show.

Play-by-play voice of the Tampa Bay Lightning. So we'll talk to him about the team itself, obviously. I do want to ask him what it's been like over the last 96 hours or so with the cleanup efforts from Hurricane Milton. I was texting Murph last night, and I asked him what it was like in Tampa, and he said, around the hotel, it's like fine. It's business as usual? It's fine, but he said that as they were flying in,

you could see there were washed out roads and everything like that, so I'm sure it's a bit of an unusual trip for the Canucks. So Dave Randolph will talk to us at 740 about that, and then at 8 o'clock, finally, guest number five, Landon Ferraro. Yeah, it's a Ferraro Tuesday here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Landon, of course, was working the panel on Friday night's game against the Flyers, so we'll get his thoughts from that. Look ahead to tonight's game as well.

I'm not even going to work in reverse on the guest list because we've got so much stuff we need to get into. So without further ado, Laddy, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Did you miss that? What happened?

What happened is brought to you 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. The Vancouver Canucks reassembled as a group on Tampa Bay in Monday. They got back to practice, and it was a noteworthy practice because they juggled the lines yet again.

Yeah, you just said on Tampa Bay in Monday, so that's a good start for you. I heard that, too. On Tampa Bay in Monday. They're an island good start for you. I heard that too. On Tampa Bay in Monday. They're an island now. Just on the bay. In Monday. In the Monday. We've all been in Monday before.

We know what it feels like. Yeah. Murph. So I was texting Murph. The reason I was texting Murph, I asked him because there's so few media that are actually in Tampa on this trip. He was the one that was tweeting out the lines at practice.

Yeah. And he took over for, you know, whoever, it's normally Batch and then sometimes Drancer and then sometimes IMAC. None of those guys, JPAT, they weren't there. And I said, is Baines really going to play with Besser and Miller on Tuesday night? And he said, that's the way they looked in practice.

I'll find out more today. But Arsh Deep Baines, I always have trouble with the name, was practicing on a line with Miller and Besser. He replaces Heinen, who's now with Pedersen and DeBrusque Sprong was skating as an extra which means that he could be a healthy scratch and then you got the bottom six which I think overall has been pretty darn good uh Holglinder, Ratu and Garland are together Sherwood, Bluger and Suter were together the Bluger line was arguably the Canucks' best line against the Flyers, and Rick Tockett said after the game,

yeah, they deserve to play a lot. They deserve to play more than Petey's line at five on five. But Baines on the top line and Daniel Sprong in the press box I don't think is the way anyone would have predicted the third game of the season would go if it indeed does go that way. I have a feeling that Talkett might have wanted Baines to make the team out of camp. I think so too. But there was waivers and salary cap stuff to consider. I just remember Talkett really talking Baines up after the preseason,

and he was saying how his performance got better and better as things went along. Baines can create things offensively. He's done that at every level he's played, and I personally think he deserves to show that he learned from his NHL experience last season. It didn't go great all the time. He didn't play amazing, but he got the experience,

and he probably learns, like, you know, don't go out there and take penalties right away. But for me, this is the kind of guy you want to cheer for. Undrafted, kept the dream alive, worked his butt off, kept taking advantage of his opportunities i don't typically like to bet against guys like that guys that find a way this is if it happens tonight this is a massive opportunity for him because we went into this season going all right we're gonna have miller, all right, we're going to have Miller and Besser together and we're going to have Pedersen and DeBrasstether.

We knew that. But we didn't really know who was going to play with them. Yeah. Heinen was kind of like, yeah, I guess he'll go with them. But, you know, I haven't really noticed him a lot, which is, I guess, part of his game. Like, he's fast, but he's n, which is, I guess, part of his game. He's fast, but he's nondescript, I would say, or at least he has been so far.

It's probably going to take a while for us to really get a read on him, if you haven't been watching him before in his other stops in the NHL. Maybe he can help Petey's line with his speed, but I think the reason he's there, well, they had to put someone there. But also, I think he's going to be a lot more defensively responsible than Sprong was. Yeah, I think the Sprong, I mean, not to make this all about Sprong, but that was probably the most noteworthy development there

with him coming out and Baines going in. I think it goes back to what I was talking about, and we were both talking about it yesterday, was Rick Talkett and this coaching group, and I'm assuming the management group as well, patience isn't on the table. Like, it's not in their vocabulary right now. They're not going to wait around if a guy is making mistakes.

Now, I think there's a difference in terms of patience with the new guys, with Heinen and Sherwood specifically, because they're probably, while you said they haven't exactly stood out um they're not I think Sherwood's been good yeah he's been okay yeah he's been fine right like there's not many problems with either of them with Sprong uh there's been problems yeah and it just doesn't seem like and and I think you could apply this logic to what happened on the blue line as well after the first game when Deharnais came out after that first game is guys especially veteran guys aren't going to be granted a huge leash at this level i think part of it has to do one there's a few things but one part of it um

patience isn't a virtue with this club like they want things to happen they want them to happen right away two i think you can afford to be impatient when you've got guys knocking on the door like baines right like you can say hey competition internally is a legitimate thing and we're going to show you yeah sprung went from being the first goal scorer of the season this year he opened the canucks campaign great goal first goal of the year everything was looking real rosy for daniel sprung that was less than a week ago, and he's already skating on the outside looking in at a practice on their first road trip in Tampa Bay. That is saying, hey, we're not going to sit around

and watch you make mistakes to try and figure it out. Bill from Buffalo texts in to the Dunbar-Lumber text line, 650-650 says, you guys are going to find out how skilled Baines really is given a chance. I hope so. Yeah. And I remember when he was called up, I think JT Miller went to Rick Talken and said, this guy

can play with me if he wants. So JT is obviously on board with this. You know, I just always look at stories like this and first of all, I think they're really good for the team when you can have a guy like Baines crack the lineup and just keep knocking on doors and opening those doors, kicking those doors down.

I'm really rooting for him tonight because I think this is a great opportunity for him. You know, he's created at every level he's played. He was undrafted, but he put up in his final junior year in the dub, he put up, didn't he lead the dub in scoring? Like he was up. 112 points in 68 games. And then he goes to Abbotsford and he puts up points as well. So the guy can create offensively.

It's, you know, whether or not he's at the level of playing on a line with JT Miller and Brock Besser. That's a high level. Playing with those guys, there is a lot that's going to be expected of him. But I think he's going to bring more, potentially, offensively than a guy like Heinen did. Yeah, and again, you look at the sample size from last year, and I remember a few things stuck out.

There were penalty issues for sure. There were some puck management issues. In the eight games, he didn't register a point, and he was minus five. And I remember thinking, might have been a bit too much too soon. Like, yeah, it's the dangling carrot for a guy that's checked all the boxes

and answered every question on the test you've given him. It's just that first experience in the NHL was a learning one yeah 100 yeah he didn't he kicked the door down and got in and then the door was left open and he walked back out it yeah it was there was and it's hard it's hard to play at that level it's hard to be dropped into the middle of a season but you like to give someone an opportunity to go okay i saw it i experienced it it didn't go great but he should be given an opportunity to try again. Well, you mentioned it earlier with training camp and the preseason.

And it's funny because for the majority of training camp in the preseason, a lot of people, the Cucks themselves included, were kind of fixated on the shiny new toys. Atu Ratu might make the team. Jonathan Leckermack, he's hanging around. And Baines was there. I think he had a bit of a slow start. He did.

And Taka pointed out, as the preseason went on, and maybe he realized that, hey, there's a lot of competition here, he raised his game. The coaches and management notice these things. When there's only a handful of either spots or minutes, and it's staring these guys in the face, how do they respond, right? Because Baze probably could have said, I'm going to be in Abbotsford to start the year, probably.

It's a numbers game with waivers and everything else. I'm probably going to be there, but he continued to scratch and claw and make a case for himself. Now you look at it, and three games into the season, he's a top-line winger in the NHL. It's a wild thing, folks. It's a wild thing. And one of the reasons he is being given this opportunity if it happens i should keep saying that but

um just go with it is that sprung is probably going to be a healthy scratch and this will be his first big learning lesson as talk likes to say under rick talkett um i know talkett is a good coach and i know he's worked with players like Phil Kessel before, if you want to make that comparison to Daniel Sprong, maybe a guy that drives a few of his coaches nuts. But Tockett isn't the first to try and turn Sprong into a trustworthy NHLer. In fact, that was the narrative on Daniel Sprong. And that was part of the conversation that Sprong had with Rick Taka. It was that Sprong had so many coaches. It was something like seven different head coaches in the NHL.

You know, I know the way that was originally spun as, you know, he's heard so many different messages. His head's probably spinning. But, you know, defensively, he made a big, big mistake against the Philadelphia Flyers. We talked about this yesterday. He left his man at the point, and he got sucked into something that wasn't his responsibility. He left his man at the point, and the puck found his way to the point man and the point man scored.

And that's the type of mistake that you can't make. And frankly, that's the type of mistake that the Pedersen line as a whole can't make, especially if it's not going to produce offensively. We had Rick talking on the show just last week and he said, I'm going to try and create offensive opportunities, matchups for the Pedersen line with DeBrusque and Sprong, and they need to take advantage. And if they take advantage, maybe I can, you know, close my eyes to a few defensive miscues, but if they don't, and I think we're seeing what happens if they don't right now. And Heinen is a guy who, again, he's not the flashiest player,

but he's going to be more reliable than Daniel Sprong, and the Canucks are now on the road. They won't have the control of the matchups as much as they did at home, and so Heinen's going to take that spot and we'll see how he does. You know, maybe one of the things we can talk about with the Ferraro boys today is what do they think the right fit is? What have they seen from, what have, I'd like to hear it from the listeners. What have you seen from DeBrusque so far? Text in to the Dunbar-Lumber text line 650-650 on really

anything lineup related for the Canucks because it still feels like we're in the stage of like, alright, Miller and Besser, they're together. You know, as for who's going to play best with Pedersen, I know they're going to give DeBrusque a long time

with Petey, but you know, I think they're going to give DeBrusque a long time with Petey, but, you know, I think we're all hoping that they click a little bit more. I think the bottom six has been really good. I think it's been terrific

as much as we've talked them up. The Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber, and Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at dunbarLumber.com.

Laddy already chimed in with the brusque is a good little dancer. You got that one out there, which is nice. Can you get the talk at audio ready from yesterday's practice? Just to further on what to look for tonight is the Canucks play their third game of the season. And then on the other side of the talk at audio, we can discuss tonight's opponent, the Tampa Bay Lightning, a very interesting opponent who haven't played a lot of hockey. They're only one of two teams in the NHL that have played just a single game thus far. So as for what the Canucks worked on in practice yesterday,

line changes were at the top of it. He talked about that quite a bit. There were some other things as well. Rick Talkett from practice yesterday in or on Tampa Bay. Yeah, I think just a couple of things, just details of our game, changes, you know, when think there's a couple things. Just details of our game, changes, you know, when to change and how to change. I think that can really help.

A little bit on the offensive side, you know, we're getting a lot of possession time, which is good, but we're not translating into a lot of chances or shots. So I think we worked on a few things on offensively. You know, when you beat pressure, we need to start attacking the net more. I think that's another thing. But as a coach, you can't overload too much stuff.

I think that's important that you give them a few things and then you work at it and then you find something else the next day to work on. So when you practice line changes, does he just go, okay, here's the door, gentlemen. You can go through it or you can go over the boards. Those are your two options. Yeah. Well, he talked about that a lot last year. I think he's going back to basics in a lot of ways and maybe this is for the sake of some of the new guys but also a refresher for some of the guys

that were on the team last year you know it does make a difference he wasn't happy with the shift length against the flyers he mentioned it in his post-game remarks yeah guys are out there too long if you got a chance to get off the to get off the ice, get off the ice and get off the ice quickly so the next guy can go on. He's back to cool with sack training. Yeah, pretty much. Tonight's opponents from Tampa Bay, the Lightning, the Bolts have only played once, a 4-1 win in Carolina a few days ago.

They were supposed to play the Canes again on Saturday, but that game was postponed due to the hurricane. The big offseason story is obviously that Stamkos left and Gensel arrived. Now Gensel is on a line with Kucherov and Braden Point. That's a good line. So that's a pretty good line. Kucherov had a hat trick in that 4-1 win over Carolina. I think that was on Friday.

I think two of them were empty netters. Still a hat trick. Gensel assisted on were empty netters. Still a hat trick. Gantz will assist it on both empty netters. He's like, yeah, piling up the points here. This race is awesome. I imagine that Rick Tockett will just put the JT Miller line out against that line and see how they do. Well, will he?

I don't know. We'll talk about that. If he does, Baines, buddy. Big test. Good luck. That's a pretty loaded top line. Yeah. And they like, oh, so, so, yeah, Kutras Hattrick, which you mentioned.

Maybe Bluger's line gets a bit of that too. Yeah. They can share it. That line is, that's a lot to deal with, right? That's a good line. They're going to score a lot of points. They're going to get a lot of ice time. You have to account for all three of those guys at all times,

because they're all such dynamic scorers. And then after that, it's sort of the same top six with the addition against like Hagel still there, Sorelli and Nick Paul, the blue lines, the interesting one for the lightning, because it has been whittled away over time.

You'll remember, you'll see Ryan McDonough back for the Tampa Bay lightning. He had a brief two-year vacation in Nashville and then rejoined the guys for this season. But McDonough and Hedman, they each get their own pair in Tampa Bay. We'll talk to Dave Randolph about all this

as well, but it's not as stacked or as loaded a defense as they've had in previous years. It's not as stacked or as loaded a roster as they've had in previous years because they just get whittled away due to salary cap restraints and having to retain some of the higher end guys. They were able to go out and maneuver and do the Jake Gensel move. Right.

And I know it's one game and it's really early, but he had two points in the game. I think there are, I always say, Oh, they're a fascinating, interesting, intriguing team.

But I actually do think this one is because it almost feels like Julian Brisebois and John Cooper are fighting back against the aging curve and the window closing. Well, yeah, that's why Gensel replaced Stamkos. Yeah. Gensel's younger. Yeah, and it's an interesting dynamic that's at play because there's too many good pieces on this team to not be competitive. It's very difficult to just say.

They've still got some guys that are, I mean, they're not old. Like, a lot of their key guys, Braden Point's not old. Sorelli's not old. Those guys are right in their primes. Yeah, their blue line's getting a little old. Hedman and McDonough are your top two defensemen. They're old. Yeah.

And, of course, they traded Sergachev to Utah. Yeah. Jeff and Sun Peaks text in, I think Baines will be a regular on Miller's line and Petey and Dabruska's search for a winger will end with Hoaglander going there when Dakota Joshua is back. Sprong will be a healthy scratch

more than he is playing. I think that's a good shout on Hoaglander joining Petey and DBrusque. Yeah. When Joshua is back. I mean, Joshua is an option to go up there, but I think they'll probably reunite Joshua with Garland on that line, whoever is going to be the center, whether it's, you know, Bluger or Ratu or Suter or whoever.

I think Suter could also end up back with Miller and Besser Suter so it's I don't mean to say this in a mean way but like

people always forget about him yep they're like oh yeah Suter because he's a versatile guy he can play anywhere in the lineup he can play

up the lineup down the lineup center wing wherever a true Swiss army knife you know he wasn't he wasn't like an amazing fit with Miller and Besser,

but I thought he was a decent fit with Miller and Besser. The issue is Suter. And Tocantin said this, he is a center. He's better at playing center. Tocantin said it several times. We think he's a center. Yeah. But he masquerades as a winger and he does a good enough job.

He's a smart player. Yeah, and you're just kind of like, well, it's not the ideal fit, but it's good enough. Here's one thing that's going to be, you know, we've talked at length, at length over the last couple years, about the wing positions on the Canucks, is how they have so many guys that play the position, but it just never feels like the exact perfect mix or fit has been there.

Right? Yeah. You end up talking yourself into certain guys. You elevate certain guys up the lineup and they either. Well, I wonder if we might see Suter with Miller and Besser tonight if it doesn't go all that well with Baines or maybe even they start the game that way. Yeah.

Because Suter was just on a line. He was playing the wing with Bluger and Sherwood. So that's an easy switch that they can make. Just go Suter for Baines or Baines or suitor you know like it's just it's easy to make that switch it does feel like the early days of this season for talking are a real fertile ground for just trying stuff like let's just move things around yeah it doesn't matter if it looks janky or he's got a he's got a bias for action yeah which is a good thing yeah it's early you know and you've got to get this stuff figured out because as i said earlier patience is not a thing

that these guys want they want to get into it they want to get wins and they want to get going and get their identity and rediscover it. They didn't play as a full team and very much in the preseason either. No. And Talkett was saying that they were kind of at the mercy of the schedule. They played a bunch of games at seven days and, you know, they were trying to give guys opportunities as well.

And they were trying to whittle the numbers down. And ultimately they only played that one final regular season game with everyone. And it wasn't even like, I can't even remember what the lineup was. I guess it was a fairly full lineup. But they're still experimenting, as you said. Okay, so our crazy guest list kicks off next with Greg Wyshynski, so we'll go around the NHL with Wysh, and then Ray Ferraro's at 7 o'clock at the top of the second hour.

You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.32 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford and Brough for the morning are brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid.

Visit them, 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Greg. How are you? I'm pretty good overall, I guess. You know, it was a rollercoaster day. Devils shut out the best scoring team in hockey, Mets, get the 1-1 split at LA, and the Jets played too.

So it was an interesting day day to say the least. We were talking about you just basking in the glow of being in the sports epicenter. What a day for New York sports. I know as much as I want to talk about the Jets and the Mets on this hit, I do want to focus mostly on the hockey teams. You know, it's funny.

We should have thrown the Islanders in there as well. They got a big win over Colorado yesterday. Did you see all the remarks coming out of Colorado yesterday, by the way? It seems like this team, even though it's just three games in, I believe this is their first 0-3 start in over a decade, including that awful year when Jared Bednar first started as their head coach. But between Georgiev's woes and Cale McCarr is not playing very well and the coach seems flummoxed.

Tough start for Colorado's 6-2 losers to the Islanders last night. Yeah, I saw the McCarr comments about how the team would have been better off if he didn't play. Then I look up his stats, he's got like, he had like four points in the first two games of the season. I'm like, alright, you're a little bit harder yourself.

You know, when I was hearing all that coming out of their room last night one obviously is a a sense of of real discontent with the way that they've started and and frankly like i think everything within context they are pretty shorthanded still at this point and i think the the modus operandi there was to play well enough until you get your reinforcements back, hopefully within the next two months, in Landis Cog and, you know, Nikushkin and Lekanen. So, you know, there's that part of it, but I also, when I was listening to Makar,

I was like, oh, this guy went to the Nathan McKinnon School of Leadership. It is like a three-game stumble is apocalyptic. We must lash ourselves on the back 50 times for our malfeasance and our role in such a disastrous start. It was seriously, I was like, you know, he was one comment about somebody eating a Snickers bar away from sounding exactly like Nathan McKinnon, I felt. What about the other very noteworthy winless team, the Evan Trotters? I appreciated your tweet.

Two words, very simple. Fire Woodcroft. That was a good one. I had a good chuckle at that one. Yeah, I mean, like, you like you know is it gonna be like three nine and one again i mean are we off to another uh spiraling schneid you know you look at so far the the biggest takeaway from the start for the oilers is that goal differential i think they're at like minus 12 right now in goal differential and a lot of that is offensive is offensive struggles i mean

zach hyman doesn't have a point yet i don't think nugent hopkins is a point yet um you got you've got a lot going on there as far as their struggles offensively which honestly was kind of the issue at the beginning of last season that cost woodcroft his job um we saw the fly Flyers the other day in Vancouver, and they looked pretty good, and Mitch Goff has some potential. What are your thoughts on the Flyers this season? My thoughts

were they were going to probably go as far as their goaltending takes them, and the more I've talked to people about Fedotov, the more I'm left wondering if maybe, you know, there was a little bit of hype in him coming over and thinking, okay, well, now they've solidified the position. And in actuality, he's not that great.

Like, most of the goaltending experts I've spoken to, and I've got some goalie rankings coming out later this week on ESPN.com, have talked to me about he doesn't have a lot of agility. I've got some goalie rankings coming out later this week on ESPN.com, have talked to me about he doesn't have a lot of agility. One said he doesn't read the play very well. And so I'm interested to see, with a larger sample size, what he actualizes as. Because there's some of that stuff you can fix, you can coach out of him.

And then there's just some of that stuff that you can't because he's just a big, hulking guy. So I thought they'd go as far as the goaltending takes them. And again, the Mitchkoff part was really interesting. I wrote about him before the season and the idea that, you know, they're going to kind of let him go. They're going to kind of let him be the young offensive star that he is. And John Tortorella has sort of said that he's not going to try to coach that out of him. You know, if they lose a bunch of games, maybe that changes. Maybe he's a healthy scratch 15 games into the season. But at the start, you have to at least go with what

they said. And what they said is that they're going to let Mitchkoff be Mitchkoff. The Red Wings lost to the Rangers yesterday. Ville Jusso cleared waivers, so not the best start for the Red Wings. Three games, just one win. I know this is a common question these days, but what is the patience level in Detroit with the Iser plan? Well, let me answer a question with a question. What is the Iser plan? I don't know.

It's Steve Iserman looking handsome and making good hockey moves. He's handsome. I think we talked about this last week when I wrote my standings predictions. What is the Iser plan? I don't know. It's Steve Iserman looking handsome and making good hockey moves. I think we talked about this last week when I wrote my standings prediction. I have no idea what the direction of this team is, and I don't know what success looks like for this team. Is it challenging for a cup? Not with this roster. Is it making the playoffs?

Maybe. I'm not quite sure what the Iser plan is Like they've got a handful of pretty good young players, a couple of guys that have a pretty high ceiling, but I mean, like, is most seed are going to be all that much better than what he is now? Probably not. Like, you know, is, is what's the ceiling on Raymond? Edmondson, I think has a really intriguing package of skills and some size. What is he going to look like? But none of these guys are Stamkos, Kucherov, Vasilevsky, Hedman,

you know, or Braden Point, which is what, you know, Iserman was kind of building with when he was running Tampa. So I don't know what the Iser plan is. Now, some of this is obviously like, you know, they didn't get the lottery luck that that you maybe have wanted when you were in the tank for well not in the tank but outside the playoffs let's call it for multiple seasons um but they they just i don't quite know what the path forward is for this team and that's why i think ultimately the the eiser plan is take what you've got as far

as young players and augment them with a a bushel of veterans every offseason. We're speaking to Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, we've got two teams I want to get to here because you've seen both recently. As a matter of fact, Utah, first off, you had them in the playoffs, if I'm not mistaken. What did you see now that they have fallen from the ranks of the undefeated? I think you got to see them play Madison Square Garden against the Rangers, which was a very entertaining game a couple of nights ago. Yeah, I saw a playoff team.

Yeah. I mean, they play with pace. They're offensively creative. I think Bill Armstrong did a really, really good job this summer. The first summer, really, when he had a chance to go and acquire whatever talent he wanted to because a he had the financial backing of of ownership uh that actually had money and then b you had a destination players wanted to play in instead of you know mullet arena

and and i think that you know the circuit chip thing is already paying dividends you know that the the ian cole being a veteran presence on that blue line, which was their greatest area of need, I think has helped. Low-key, one of the better signings of the offseason was Kevin Stenland, who, if you don't know the name, was a big, tall, face-off winning, penalty-killing center for the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers last year, who I think really does some good work for them. I was really impressed with Utah. I like the way they play. They defend well. They make some lapses occasionally as a young team. But, you know, if the goaltending

is as good as I think it could be and they continue to have wind in their sails being a new team in an exciting new market, I definitely think they're going to be at least a wild card in the West. Speaking of goaltending, the dynamic duo of Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen in New Jersey has certainly paid off. So Allen gets, I think it was his first shoutout as a Devil, a 3-0 win over Utah. And it's funny because, you know, you could have argued that goaltending really sunk this team, especially last year. But it certainly looks like an entirely different team with more competent goalies, not just in the number one spot,

but in the backup spot as well for New Jersey. Well, what's funny about the Devils is, like, you know, they're what now, 4-1? 4-1, yeah. Yeah, 4-1, right. But if you marinate in Devils fan culture like I do, you'd think they're 0-5. Like, the power play's not working.

Jack Hughes doesn't have enough points. What's happening? We needed to score, like, five goals to beat the Capitals. Like, there's this level of dissatisfaction with this team when, in actuality, like, I thought, you know, they played really well when they were overseas. And I think yesterday was probably their best game in completely shutting down and taking away the offense of a team that was scoring five goals a game.

And again, you know, the thing about this team is the reliance on Mark Sherman-Allen is not to get shutouts like they did yesterday. The reliance on Mark Sherman-Allen is to maybe allow the Devils to get a lead once in a while and not be down 1-0 like they were in 75% of their games last year, but then also not let games get out of hand when they do get down, and I think they've done a really good job at that. So the Canucks are in Tampa Bay tonight to play the Lightning, who it still seems weird.

Stephen Stamkos is not on that team. Jake Gensel is. At the end of the day, was this just about age? And, you know, Julian Breezebaugh, the GM there, wanting to bring in a guy like Jake Gensel because he's a few years younger than Stephen Stamkos and wanting to stay in that window for as long as possible? Yeah, probably. I mean, I think that he knew that he could get a younger model in there and a guy that does not miss much time to injury at all and probably have that line be as effective or more effective than it was with Sam Coates. I'd love to know the behind the scenes of exactly how things went.

It's not just about the money. It's about some bad feelings about the way that things were handled. You know, when you have your captain go out and speak publicly about the lack of negotiations and feeling personally insulted by it, there's a lot more going on there than simply just like, you didn't meet my price. So I'm intrigued to see how that all shakes out maybe down the line if we learn a little bit more. I'm going to be going to that Stamkos return game in Tampa.

I'm excited about that. That should be a pretty interesting environment. But, you know, they clearly made their choice, and we'll see if it's the right one at the end of the day. I mean, up front, you wouldn't look at that lineup and say they're old. I mean, Kucherov's 31. That's not super, super old. Braden Point's 28.

Sorelli's 27. And then Gensel's 30. So up front, they're right in their primes, let's put it that way. But on the back end, do you think the loss of Sergeyev will be felt or do you think the addition of Ryan McDonough or the return of Ryan McDonough is enough to stem that loss of Sergeyev well it's a good question because I I mean if they're willing to move Sergeyev like they did then they clearly see him differently than we all do, right? I guess they think that they can maintain okay with McDonough back there and with what they have on the blue line

because they made a hell of a financial commitment to Sergeyev to ultimately and theoretically be one of the pillars of this franchise and then decided to kind of cut bait very early in the contract. Some of that is financial. It's a cap league, and you've got to make tough decisions sometimes. franchise and then decided to kind of cut date very early in the contract. Some of that is financial. It's a cap league and you've got to make tough decisions sometimes. But some of that is obviously feeling as though that they could accept that loss from their defense core. And again, it'd be intriguing to find out what the thought process ultimately was there.

So I think they'll be okay. I think they'll be okay if Vasilevsky becomes Vasilevsky again this year, which to me was the entire ballgame for the Lightning. Like, you know what you're getting from the top two lines. You know you're not getting much down in the bottom six. The blue line's going to be what it is. Hedman's going to play as much as Hedman can play. But the whole ballgame is basically,

is Vasilevsky going to be like he was two years ago, or is there like a law of diminishing returns for a guy that we all thought at one point was the best goalie in the world? Speaking to Greg

Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Greg, how close attention are you paying to the Buffalo Sabres right now?

I know your colleague at ESPN, Kristen Shilton, had a big article up about how they still believe that they're a playoff team, even though they currently sit dead last in our division. A familiar place for the Sabres. They've got a big game tomorrow night, actually.

They're going to take on Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. I know it's early, but it feels like we say this every year. There's always one or two teams that just can't afford a bad start. Buffalo's got one, and they certainly can't afford it. Yeah, I'm looking at them a lot, because I picked them to be a playoff team, and I'm not looking very smart right now. I picked them to be a playoff team because I really thought they could

score their way out of problems, and they still might have that ability. But I also think, to your point, it's funny to talk about anything being a big game this early in the season, but that's a team that not only has to kind of get it going and, and, and start, you know, progressing in a positive way up the standings, but it's also a team that really needs a bedrock of confidence that,

you know, a new coach and, and, and healthier players, you know, all, and some maturity all adds up to this being a turning point season for this roster. And they certainly don't have that confidence to build on yet,

and that's sort of a concern. When Lindy Ruff was reintroduced as the head coach in Buffalo, what was your initial thought? And has that thought changed at all since he's had a whopping four games behind the bench in his latest stint? Well, my thought when he was hired was that Terry Pagula knows who he is and remembers him from Terry's time as a fan and says, oh, hey, the last time he made the playoffs under my ownership, this guy was the coach.

Maybe we should bring him back. And then my other thought was that Lindy's job in jersey was was sort of from a skill set perspective kind of a decent fit for this roster one to get their offense going uh two to try to teach some players who whose lack of defensive fundamentals i think has has impacted this team in a pretty negative way in particular a guy guy like T.H. Thompson, who at times seems disinterested in the other end of the ice. I mean, you know, you talk to Jack Hughes, Lindy Ruff had a big impact on Jack in becoming a 200-foot player. So I thought from that perspective he was a pretty good fit

for what Buffalo needed, but it just hasn't actualized yet in a lot of ways. Wish, this was awesome, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy all the games tonight. Nine games tonight in the National Hockey League

and in the rest of the week as well. We'll do this again next Tuesday. Anytime, boys. Thanks. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halpern and Brough Show

on Sportsnet 650. It's been 48 minutes into the show. We haven't mentioned that. You know when Rick Tockett was talking about, hey, we're still playing summer hockey, and guys were saying, you know, it's still early in the season, and we're still working out the kinks. Maybe there's not as much defensive lockdown,

or it's not as tight as we'd like it to be. The Ottawa Senators and the LA Kings proved that point last night. That was a wild one. 8-7. The Ottawa Senators and the LA Kings proved that point last night. That was a wild one. 8-7. The Ottawa Senators win in overtime. Josh Norris with the winner 56 seconds into overtime. Zach McEwen, our guy, former Vancouver Canucks Zach McEwen scored twice. We were talking about it at the break.

It was just a nightmare of a game. There was bad goaltending, sloppy defense all the way around. Sounds like an amazing game. I mean, it's fun. Not like just as an outsider. If the Canucks played a game like that, I probably wouldn't be too impressed. Laddie's buddy, Mad Sogard, got into the game shortly

after being recalled because Linus Allmark got hurt. It's just a friendly reminder that we are very early in the season and there's still some pretty wacky things happening across the league. I'm really curious about the avalanche yeah well that's another one right you talk about summer hockey i don't even know if they're playing summer hockey what's below summer so here's jared bednar the head coach after the avs lost to the islanders last night still winless on the season i didn't like her game tonight. Top to bottom. It's terrible.

Is that surprising? Yeah, it is surprising because I would have bet money that we were going to be really good tonight. Just based on yesterday, this morning, my conversations around the room. So I can't really explain it at this point. So here's the thing. Go and look at this Colorado lineup right now. Beyond McKinnon, Rantanen, and Makar,

and I know those are three incredible players. Look at what they got there. They don't have Landeskog. They don't have Natchushkin. They've been thinned out. They don't have Lekkonen right now. They're hoping to get all those guys back. We'll see if they do, but you got some guys like Parker Kelly.

He's their 3C. They got a guy. What was this guy named? Ivan Ivan? Ivan Ivan. Ivan Ivan? Man, so nice they named him twice. Why is his name Ivan Ivan?

That's his name. Really? Ivan Ivan? They've got a guy? Ivan Ivan? Ivan Ivan that's his name really Ivan Ivan they've got a guy Ivan Ivan his middle name is also Ivan okay well he's Czech

he's on the fourth line with Chris Wagner and Joel Kiviranta one of my favorite names in the NHL like the team is

more top heavy I'd argue than the Edmonton Oilers there are some real similarities to Edmonton. The slow start, right? When you look at the, well, first, these two teams, not too long ago, were going up against one another in the Western Conference Final to go to the Stanley Cup.

Now they're both 0-3. They're the only 0-3 teams in the NHL right now. They're 31st and 32nd in the standings right now. And you could also say, well, you want to talk about some commonalities. Like bad goaltending on behalf of both. Now, I think Skinner's been better than Fourgiev, but Fourgiev's been a problem. And he was again last night.

He's turning into Fivegiev is the problem. He came out on a poke check last night. I think, was it you, Laddy, that sent the video to the group? It was. You called it a beer league move. I think, was it you laddie that sent the video to the group? It was the beginning that you called it a beer league move. I thought it was like a road hockey. Like it was out of no gold ending textbook. You could not have shown your hand earlier than your, you did on that.

It was, it was a sliding flying poke check that was nowhere near the puck. And you're looking at it and you're saying, this is the same guy that's struggling to find his game. And that's the way he's finding it is by blowing out of the crease and you're looking at it and you're saying this is the same guy that's struggling to find his game and that's the way he's finding it is by blowing out of the crease and trying to i think it was just a yard sale he was just trying to make contact with anything well goaltending is definitely a factor in colorado i i just wonder how much the top guys are trying to do too much too as kale mccarr uh here's a quote three of their six goals maybe three of their six goals, maybe four of their six goals were directly my fault.

So that's just how it goes. Some really stupid, childish mistakes and those things you got to learn from. But I got to be better for the guys. A lot of that last night, that loss is on me. That's their top defenseman, one of the best defensemen in the NHL. And he's probably looking at that lineup and going,

I got to make some things happen. Someone, Dan the Paper Man, answered the question. The rung below summer hockey is public skate. So that's what it is. The Beauty League. Stick and puck. Stick and puck. Right.

Yeah, don't. We made it through the entire summer without talking about Da Beauty League. And now you bring it up again when the season started? Well, it looks like Da Beauty League hockey out there. It actually does kind of look like Da Beauty League. Okay, we got a lot more to get to on the program today. A reminder, if you want to weigh in on anything, Dunbar-Lumber text line is 650-650.

We got a huge guest list ahead. We're one down, four to go. Ray Ferraro is going to join us on the other side. Neil McEvoy is going to join us at 730. Dave Randolph from Tampa Bay at 740. And then Ferraro Tuesdays here on the Halford & Brough

Show on Sportsnet 650. Landon Ferraro is going to join us at 8 o'clock. We've got a ton to get into. The schedule for today, a reminder, because it's a 4 o'clock puck drop in Tampa Bay, Central is going to start at 2 o'clock today, and that's going to act as the sort of de facto pregame show

as well. After the broadcast with Batch and Randeep, you're going to have the postgame show as well, so keep it tuned right here to Sportsnet 650 all afternoon for everything you want for the Vancouver Canucks. Before I go to break, I need to do the Canadian football report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official

life insurance partner of the CFL. While it is not the final week of the CFL season this week, it sure is for your BC Lions. They will play their final game of the regular season on Saturday in Montreal. The Lions,

as we've spoken about this week repeatedly, are coming off a really, really ugly loss in Saskatchewan that puts them at 8-9, and that means that the only chance that they're going to have of hosting a playoff game this CFL postseason would be in the Grey Cup. They're going to start the postseason on the road. They're going to finish the regular season against Montreal, a team that has nothing to play for.

So the Lions conceivably could get back to 500 with a win, which would put them at nine and nine. And we'll talk to Neil McEvoy later. One of the questions I want to ask is if they're anticipating or planning to get Vernon Adams Jr. Some reps this week. And I think I want to ask if they're ready to commit to Nathan Rourke as the starting quarterback for the playoffs,

regardless of whatever happens in the final week of the regular season. I think I know the answers, but I want to ask anyway. Other games this weekend. I think he's going to say that's a decision for Rick Campbell, the coach, not me. Damn it, that's the answer. Okay, so other games real quick before we finish the report. Hamilton takes on Calgary in a meaningless game for both. The Battle of Ontario, the Red Blacks of Ottawa

take on the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday as well. That's a noon Pacific affair. Okay, we got a lot more to get to on the show. That was the CFL report brought to you by Securian Canada,

the official life insurance partner of the CFL. Hour one in the books, Ray Ferraro coming up next. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.