Halford & Brough in the Morning - BC Lions GM Ryan Rigmaiden + What We Learned

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat a successful Week One and what's to come for the Leos, as BC Lions General Manager Ryan Rigmaiden (2:23) joins the show, plus the boys tell us what they learned (30:00). 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.

Music 802 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are now in hour three of the program. BC Lions GM Ryan Rigg-Maden is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour

three. Hour three of this program is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. We're coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Guests on Sportsnet 650, call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most. Visit them at PowerWest.ca.

Today they keep the lights on. Before we go to Ryan Rigmaiden to talk a little Canadian football, we have to do a little other Canadian football talk here. We're giving away tickets to the gold cup match between Canada and Honduras Tuesday, June 17th, right here in Vancouver at BC place. We're giving away two, four packs of tickets to go see the gold cup match between Canada and Honduras. We're going to do it at 805 and 815. So if you don't get in at 805, don't fret. You can do it 10 minutes later at 815.

The phone number here is 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650. Call in, be caller number five, talk to a dog, it's part of the prize, you get to talk to the dog himself, at 805 and 815. Let's turn our attention to the Canadian Football League now. Joining us on the program, very excited to have him on, the GM of your BC Lions, Ryan Rigmaiden here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning Ryan, how are you? Good morning, feeling good fellas, how are you guys? We're well. Thanks for taking the time to do this. So busy first couple of weeks for you guys. Before we talk about the game on Thursday in Winnipeg, let's look back on what was a terrific kickoff weekend, the Snoop concert, the 31 to 14 win over the Elks. Your thoughts on what was a great Saturday afternoon and evening for the Lions at BC Place? Yeah I thought it was a tremendous you know our owner Amar Doman has been very very consistent with bringing in tremendous acts to bring more fans in so it was awesome to see Snoop. I thought the first first half is your typical week one jitters and and I thought we couldn't get out of our own way.

And then in the second half, you saw the guys really dig in. Nathan Rourke went on fire and you saw the team execute. So happy to get the win on week one and starting to prepare now for Winnipeg on Thursday. I was at the game and really enjoyed the Snoop concert and I could tell that most of the people in attendance really enjoyed the Snoop concert. And I could tell that most of the people in attendance really enjoyed the Snoop concert, but he

was full Snoop Dogg out there. Do you, as an organization, as an organization, this might not fall under your responsibilities, but I'm just curious what the reaction is. I mean, you had 50 cent last year and he was uncensored and you had Snoop this year and he was really uncensored. Do you get complaints about it?

You know, that's probably a better question for Dwayne Vanneau, our president, but like at the end of the day, guys, I think he can't please everybody. You know, Snoop is Snoop and I, guys, I think you can't please everybody. Snoop is Snoop, and I think we all knew kind of what we were getting. I think most of the reaction was very positive, but yeah, I'm sure there's some fans there

that maybe weren't as excited as they could have been, but all in all, what a tremendous event, and again, just judging by the fan reaction and the attendance, I thought it was absolutely awesome. Yeah, it was. It was a great day. Let's talk about that first half first, because like you said, you couldn't get out of your own way. Is there any concern about the short yardage and the personnel on short yardage?

Yeah, I think there's always a concern when you don't have the success that you feel like you should. When you look back at some of those plays, there's a lot of things that went wrong. And again, this is more of a reflection of week one, you know, uh, week one and, you know, kind of the first live bullets, so to speak, despite the fact we've had two preseason games, but you know, this is really the first, uh, the first time that everybody's working together at any kind of length of time. And so, you know, frankly, we, we didn't block it as well as we should. And, you know, I think chase, if you're talking to him and he's being totally honest, he's, he's going to say, Hey, I should have attacked that in a different

way, but what I was most impressed about is, you know, for the last, the last couple of years, we've been talking about mental toughness, physical toughness and being resilient and, and, uh, you know, last year's team, as good as it was, I don't know if we get out, I don't know if we go into the second half and turn things around. So, you know, when we had the, I don't know if we go into the second half and turn things around. So, you know, when we had the, the two short yardage failures and you drop the touchdown and, and, uh, you know, frankly, I felt that should have been probably 14 to one going into half and in our favor and it wasn't, but the guys dug deep,

the coaches were fantastic. Um, you saw them start to execute that second half and then the ability for us to be ourselves was shown. I was so happy for Buck to get his first win. You're really happy for young players like Stanley Barahill that are in their second year and usually that year one to year two jump is a big thing for these guys. And the execution, the second half was the exact opposite. We were able to get a good win. What is different about Nathan Rorick this season compared to when

he joined the team last season? You know, it's his team this year. You know, I think when Nathan came in last year, VA was on the roster and it was VA's team. And giving Nathan full credit, he came in and he understood that last year. He didn't come in and try to be a raw, raw guy and be somebody he's not. But I think he's comfortable in Buck's system. I think they collaborate extremely well. And just looking at his execution of the offense, the way he was able to extend plays with his feet, his accuracy, his poise. I think he's playing a little bit looser this year. I think he's having fun playing football again. And so very, very proud of him.

You mentioned making plays with his feet. We had JC Abbott on the show yesterday talking about the differences in approach and maybe, you know, you alluded to him having more fun and maybe being a little bit looser and how that translates to the way that he plays the game. Was there a sense that, uh, in past iterations that maybe Nathan was too focused on just being a pocket passer and showing off that he didn't have to run because he could make all the throws. And now maybe there's a different mentality where whatever it takes to win, if that does mean making plays with my feet, I'm going to go do it.

And also it is kind of fun to run around and scramble and make things happen on a big field. I think this is just him getting more comfortable as a, as a quarterback in the CFL. And you know, there was, you know, we never had restrictions on Nathan of, Hey, you know, Hey, don't run or, or anything like that. We always want our players to be themselves. And so, you know, in this offense, as you can see on, on Stanley's first, uh, first touchdown, you know, we rolled him out to the left and he made a really nice throw rolling out to the

left. And so, um, I think Nathan is, is grasping in this offense. I think he feels comfortable is one heck of an athlete we've seen before i think you have that you know seventy yard short yardage touchdown uh... run at pc place first thought it was two years ago so we know he's capable of doing all of these things but um... i think he's just get more comfortable and uh... and be themselves so

uh... again extremely proud of him. The way he's he stepped up in a leadership role this year. He's he's becoming that quarterback that we all saw in 2022. We're speaking to BC Lions general manager Ryan Rigg-Maden here on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. How excited is Buck to return to Winnipeg on Thursday night? And how excited are you and the rest of the guys on the team about trying to get Buck a win in his return to Winnipeg on Thursday night and how excited are you and the rest of the guys on the team about trying to get Buck a win in his return to Winnipeg on Thursday? Yeah, I think he's, I think he's excited. We're all excited for him. You know, this is going to be very, a very interesting game in the sense that

obviously they know Buck's offense and they're still running versions of Bucks offense, but Bucks certainly knows that defense and what they want to do. And so it's kind of the game within the game and the chess match of, you know, head coach and offensive coordinator versus defensive coordinator. And we're very, very excited.

We've got only one day of practice on the short week here. And so we're hoping to carry that momentum of last week's victory into Winnipeg this week. I remember last year you guys went into Winnipeg and played really well early on in the season. Might have been week two actually and you know just just played a terrific game and beat the Blue Bombers and everyone was feeling good about the team. What do you think happened last season where you kind of lost some momentum? Um, and how do you avoid it this season?

Yeah, I think it was a combination of things. Um, number one, from a, uh, personnel standpoint, you know, at one point we were five in one and, you know, Neil McEvoy and I had, had frankly wanted to make some changes and wanted to bring in some new personnel and keep building because this roster, as we say, it's never finished. You're always trying to get better. I don't care how good you are.

And we weren't able to do that. And so you started seeing some of the weaknesses show up and the momentum just started getting away from us. And then obviously, Vernon Adams got hurt. And anytime you lose a starting quarterback, I don't care who your number two is, it's going to be devastating. So I think the key is to stay ahead of things personnel wise. You've got to be honest with yourself on your evaluations. You have to have the attitude of next man up football.

And with his coaching staff and some of the changes that we've made this offseason. I think we're gonna be able to do that Ryan this was great. Thanks for taking the time to do it today. We really appreciate it. Good luck in Winnipeg on Thursday Thanks guys, take care of yourselves. Yeah, you too. Thanks That's BC Lions general manager Ryan Rick Maiden here on the Haliford and Buff show on Sportsnet 650 short week and a road trip. And I will add, it is the Bombers home and season opener on Thursday night because they didn't play and they got the rare week one by Canadian Football League. So they kick off the CFL. It's nine teams.

One of you is not going to play opening week. Did you enjoy your preseason? Good, because it lasts an extra week this year. But they go Thursday night. So it should be. And then, of course, the Buck Pierce story and everything, too. And Nathan Rohr getting off to a great start and then going in to play against Buck's old team, going up against Buck's old offense. So it should be a lot of fun on Thursday night.

Let's do some What We Learns. Laddie, are you ready to kick us off with What We Learns? Yeah, I was, I got a couple of ones. I can start with the baseball. Laddie was putting in work. Yeah, I was watching a lot of sports yesterday. Good. It was a great day for Canadian baseball.

I don't know if you guys saw the potential catch of the year, Denzel Clark from the, just athletics. No hometown. Just the athletics, yeah. He's made three brilliant catches. He's been up for like a month from the minors and he's made three amazing catches. He won play of the week two weeks in a row

Prior to this week and he's probably gonna win it again this week with this it might be the best Home-run robbery I've seen in many years Tori Hunter actually tweeted about it And he's a guy who's known for stealing home runs over the course of his career And he said it might be the best one He's ever seen the amount of height he gets on the jump is just incredible You have to see the highlight good Toronto kid good You're gonna look in the flag on his belt and everything. It's just great to see and that wasn't it for Canada baseball Josh Nailer He's got his brother Bo plays for Cleveland

He got traded to Arizona this offseason hit a walk-off Grand Slam Against the Seattle Mariners who battled back to tie the Dbacks. And he came up in extras with the bases loaded and hit a grand slam to win the game. When you make those catches and you go over the wall, I wonder how concerning it is because you kind of got to dig your spikes into the wall. What if they dig in too much

and then you're kind of left hanging there? You tear your Achilles. Well, it's the main then you're kind of left hanging there? Tear your Achilles. Well it's the main way you see guys get injured, right? Running into the wall or not timing their jump correctly and hitting the wall in a weird spot and it's not fun. And the way Clark makes this catch, he uses his hips as a swivel point.

Like a torque. Yeah. Torques his body up there. It was insane, you just have to see it. These professional athletes know how to use their bodies Don't bury the lead here. Of course, you know who Denzel Clark's cousins are. No Josh and Bo Nailer Really? I didn't know they were related. I got one over on the laddie. There you go Yeah, the obviously all three of them from Ontario and then they grew up playing as one

There's a bit of an age gap. Although not a huge one Clark's 25. He's been an older prospect Yeah, but it's a been exciting since coming up as a big up playing as one of those a bit of an age gap, although not a huge one. Clark's twenty five. He's been an older prospect. Yeah, but it's been exciting since coming up as a big athletics. Parts unknown fan. I was paying close attention last night. There's a lot of good games on last night. The Dodgers Padres series is on and that was a good one. That went 10. The Dodgers won their Jays, blew the game and then came back to win it.

The Mariners and then you mentioned the home run there. The Mariners rallied from four down on the top of the ninth to get that thing to extras, and then yeah, Nailers, Heroics, and the N's. Those were the best for baseball. Feeling better about the J's these days? They're in a wild card spot? Slightly better, yeah.

They still are kind of running on three pitchers, so that's not super, you know, a great feeling if you're watching them, but they're getting wins somehow, and they're still finding ways to come back in games, which they're the second best team, I think, in the major leagues to do that. Okay, so I'm gonna moocow you. Ah!

I want you to take a deep breath and collect your thoughts because we're gonna circle back for your PWHL and what we learned, okay? And then, yeah, do you wanna go now or do you want me to go? You go. Okay, I learned that Lane Hudson of the Montreal Canadiens is your 2025 Calder Trophy winner for the most outstanding rookie

in the National Hockey League. Snubbed. Dustin Wolfe. Dustin Wolfe and Celebrini. Dustin Wolfe finished second in voting, so there you go. Celebrini was third? Celebrini was third. Wow. Dustin Wolfe.

Hudson was really good. He was a big reason Montreal was able to make the playoffs. So the betting odds. Don't make that laddie face at me. Don't make that flatty face at me. Don't make the laddy face. That was the laddy anti-goal. You're being an anti-goalie guy. Dustin Wolf finishes second. Macklin Celebrini finishes third. Lane Hudson wins it by an overwhelming amount. 165 first place votes. Put that in perspective.

Wolf got 15. Celebrini got 11. If you followed the betting markets down the final three weeks of the season, it became pretty apparent that Hudson was going to win this. It went from being a somewhat close race to him ending up being like mine because he was playing well in Montreal

was in the playoff race. So kudos to him for winning it. Mitch got finished fourth. And at the end of the day, it didn't end up really being that close. I am a bit surprised that Celebrini ended up finishing third. I thought it would be a little bit closer, but Wolf did have a tremendous season for Calgary, fully deserving of the honor.

So shout out to Lane Hudson for winning the Calder Trophy. Do you think Celebrini makes the Olympic team? I'm having a hard time. Who has a better chance right now? Because. Marshawn or Celebr you to make the Olympic team honestly Marshawn yeah, yeah because I know that's a crazy question to ask now But if you'd asked after four nations, I think we might have said celebrating

You know why cuz celebrate is gonna have more kicks of the can if you're hockey Canada This is it for Marshawn. He's never gone to the only not building a team for the future You're building it for right now, right? Who cares what their ages are? And, well, some of them, but the thing is, sometimes you can get really good performances out of the young players. But now I'm gonna count. Sometimes you can make a mistake by letting,

like saying, oh, you're too young or whatever. But now I'm gonna counter my own argument. I agree. Marshawn, on that Four Nations team, looked at a place. I thought. It's fast, fast hockey. fast hockey right that I know fit his style great he's a third liner behind a lot of guys that play a big robust physical style so when he's going out against opposing third lines like

Edmonton for example it's a different scenario all together that oh man I'm torn on this it's gonna be really fun putting this roster together. I mean Celebrini I think Celebrini probably gets more out of it like he'll remember that moment where he played with these guys in this big competition And moving forward for Canada if he's gonna be a frontline guy for you You want to make that investment one of those rosters have to be submitted because like it'll come down to how they're playing at The time right they're gonna do our Sean looks old and tired and celebrities. Yeah, you're tearing it then Yeah, you'll probably pick celebrating

But if the other case is reversed and so it's not having a good year and March on looks really good Then maybe they take him instead. Well, I mean the roster doesn't have to be announced. I Imagine until the new year, right? Yeah They're gonna do that they're gonna do that thing again where they announce like the core six or whatever remember they did it for the four nations Yeah in Sweden was like actually we don't really want Carlson Sweet was remember PD didn't make the the course. Yeah. Yeah, that was a good call by Sweden. Yeah, you know what? They're pretty accurate. That's a question Pedersen make the roster. Yeah, he will The Olympic roster? Will he be on the team?

Yes. At all, you think? Yes. Yes. Come on. Well, if he doesn't, then we got real problems. Right. I'm not ready to go there in June.

I think we also have to wonder about Bedard. What's Bedard going to show up? Yeah. I don't see him making it unless he just has an absolutely incredible comeback, but he could of course he could Yeah, he has a potential to get incredible skill. Absolutely. Well a lot has changed over the last calendar year Right there's I mean that's why I'm saying I'll come down how they're playing at the time But between watching what happened at the four nations which I think was I mean invaluable insight There was guys there where I was like,

are they really, the two guys that I was not necessarily surprised, but I didn't have huge expectations for that exceeded my expectations on an international stage were Brandon Hagel and Sam Bennett, right? I thought Bennett would be like a nice complementary player and then by the end it's like, he's a driver, get him out there every chance he can, right?

And Hagel I loved, right? And then Laddy hated Anthony Cerelli for example like you I didn't hate Anthony Cerelli I hated his usage. He was out there every second shift deployment. That was coop right? That was coop Yeah, coop learned remember earlier in McDavid sit down I know this guy. Yeah, I know this guy It's really the fine players. I know this guy. Yeah, I know this guy I was like no really I'm good. I could go out. Sure in Tampa Bay

Okay, anyway moocow all that that started with lane Hudson. Do you have one or do you want to go back to laddie? What about to laddie you think we don't make the team do that? He who make David make team? I think he's got a good shot. Yeah, I like his odds his chances overall. Okay, I Wh yeah, okay, let's just set the table here Vancouver rounded out its roster yesterday as a dog astutely pointed out in our text thread Yeah, they want a draft lottery. I want a draft lottery. Thank you. We're wanna draft lottery The Vancouver's PWH all squad got to go first took 50 50 odds and they did it and they did it in the expansion draft So they stockpiled the roster.

Now you've got a critique of the critique. Yes, the backlash to the backlash, if you will. I know I'm gonna be preaching to the choir, to a lot of people listening right now, because they're all gonna be Vancouver fans, of course. There are no Seattle fans listening to this. But just listen to some of the comments after this draft. And it's just ridiculous, the hyperbole and the,

oh, it's so disastrous for the league. Here's one tweet I saw. This expansion was a complete train wreck. What disrespect for the original six teams and their GMs, coaching staff and players. Been around a year. Beyond awful. It's a new league.

You're adding two new teams with an expansion draft. You're gonna lose a lot of players It's what happens. Everyone is just so up in arms on the the Eastern teams about this another person I watched the Ottawa charge playoff run I was very proud of the team and I thought I'd buy tickets to a few games next year. That's not happening now The amount of talent I've been an Ottawa charge fan my whole life. I do love the charge. It is ridiculous. Yes, the Vancouver and Seattle teams are gonna be good. They got some good players,

but they needed them to do that. It's for the sake of the league. They want these teams to do well in their first year. The amount of talent that was available though, it was above and beyond. If you didn't want those players available, you could have protected them. But then you would have had to give up other

highly talented players. That's the tough decisions you have to make when you're adding two expansion teams to your league. I think the league sees Vancouver as a potential shining star of this league. Right. When the PWL Tour came through Vancouver and Rogers Arena was packed to the rafters, I think the league thought like we need to really lean into Vancouver as a potential moneymaker for this team. Cause I sense the excitement in this city.

And even if like people will text me and like, I'm not excited. I was like, okay, well good for you. There are a lot of people that are really excited about this. I just understand like after Vancouver went and signed all of the players prior to the expansion draft, the first overall pick, Ashton Bell, is still like a multiple gold winner with Team Canada, a former eighth overall pick, like an integral member of the team that she was on.

Then that's after they've already plucked through a lot of the unprotected players. Like, I'm not saying there was a team that lost their first, second and third round picks from the previous year. I'm not saying that it's wrong. Let's just make that abundantly clear. We talked about this in the context of Vancouver teams. They got completely screwed over by the expansion process with the NBA and the Grizzlies many years ago. So we know the pain of having an awful team

out of the shoot. And we also saw the NHL in a rare moment of the NHL being ahead of the curve saying, what if, what if we didn't handicap our expansion teams anymore? What if we made them semi-competitive? Made a lot of people angry though when Vegas went on that run.

And that's the rub, is that you can't have it both ways. You either have to prop up these expansion teams and Make them competitive right away, or you put them behind the A-Bone You say you're gonna suck for an awfully long time best of luck retaining fans and interest right if the PGHL PWHL did anything wrong in this scenario? I think it was just they didn't explain exactly how painful it was going to be for these other teams Off the bat because it feels like the fan bases were not prepared for this level of decimation. But this conversation is good for the league.

Sure. Like this sort of talk is good for the league. Got me fired up. And when women's sports goes beyond the, Hey, isn't it great that women are playing professional sports talk to actual conversations about the players. In the league. In narratives and storylines.

Again, like, you know, when the American women's soccer team is being discussed in like, I don't like these players. People would, you know, we would get text in like, I don't like these players. People would, you know, I, I, I, we would get text messages like you wouldn't say that about the men. I'm like, we do every day in fact, right? Like we criticize them. Sometimes you're on your own team you like.

And there are some players that we don't like and we'll say like this player is selfish or has a huge ego. When you can get on that level with women's sports, that's good for the league. Look at the WNBA right now. I mean, I think some of that is nonsense talk that is just driven by the culture wars,

but you know, in order for the leagues to be successful, you have to get past the good for them stage of the talk. And I think- Well, it's where the WNBA is right now. That's where the WNBA is right now. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And it's funny watching everyone try and figure it out in real time, right? With the heroes and the villains and the white hat and the black hat and everything else is that this is how, and it took a quarter of a century for the WNBA to get there. But this is how the traditional sports industry and the massive

media markets, this is how they churn out narratives is they stick to tropes and the tried and true stuff. And this one, I mean, because that's the thing. What we're talking about with the expansion process here is what we've seen the NHL do recently and then specifically with Vancouver, what we saw happen with the Grizzlies. There's ghosts still remaining from how awful that expansion process was. I think this is a smart move.

I understand that people's livelihoods have been thrown into arrears and there's teams that are gonna be left in the dust being like, good on us for building a really solid franchise over the last two seasons. Now we get kneecapped at the expansion draft, but that's what you have to do to make a competitive league right now. I think the days of having awful expansion teams try and survive for a few years

are gone. I don't think you'll ever see it again. You think the league was acutely aware of Vancouver specifically and their expansion? I guarantee you that conversation came up at least once. Like, you know, we used to have an NBA team and then it was like, what happened? It's like, well, let me tell you about the prohibitive and restrictive expansion rules of 1998 or whatever. So anyway, moocow, all that we're way up against it for time. We're going to go to break when we come back humanoid, what we learn is get yours

in Dunbar Lumbertex line is six 50, six 50 hashtag at WWL and tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. You're listening to the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post game show. Listen four to six PM weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show. 8.35 on a Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt. Buy up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound

real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. Campbell-pound.com today. Since we've done our What We Learns, and Laddie, great job bookending it, starting with baseball, finishing with PWHL, very well done. Covering all the hot topics, that's me. Then there's Andy.

What has he done? Just sitting there. I added What We Learned, you guys just didn't wanna use it. No, I think we're gonna do it right now, before we fire up the dot matrix and everything you've got to see a dog came Through with an audio component today. Yeah, which is pretty impressive. Yeah. Yeah, I sure did This is from yesterday's broadcast on TNT if I'm not mistaken Yeah, things got a bit spicy a little tete-a-tete between Gary Bittman and Paul Bissonnette. Yeah

Yeah, but a biz nasty asked about the, you know, the tax story in Florida, how that's a big talking point right now. And he just pretty much asked Batman what he's going to do about it, if anything. Any plans maybe in the future to implement a balance as far as the no state tax? No, you know, we just thought... I'm just asking, Gary. It's a ridiculous issue. When the Florida teams weren't good, which was for about 17 years, nobody said anything about it.

And for those of you who played, were you sitting there with a tax table? No, you wanted to go to a good organization in a place where you wanted to live, where you wanted to raise your kids and send them to school, you wanted to play in a first class arena with a first class training facility with an owner, an organization, a GM and a coach that you are comfortable with and you want them to have good teammates so you'd have a shot at winning. That's what motivates it. Could it be a little bit of a factor if everything else were equal?

I suppose, but that's not it. And by the way, state taxes high in Los Angeles, high in New York. What are we going to do? Subsidize those teams? Can we take tax away from the province of Ontario at least, just for the sake of the leaf? We just, we need something, Gary. You know, I was watching you during the prior rounds. Your attire was a little suspect in terms of your journalistic objectivity. Yeah, they're not going to do anything about this tax issue.

And it would be super complicated if they tried to do anything with all the ways that players can avoid taxes in certain situations. To try and equalize it, it's going to be really tough. I noticed that Betman said, one of the keys is a first-class training facility. The Canucks every time I was just like, so I've been, you know, obviously watching sports for a long time in Vancouver and doing this professionally for a while now. And I cannot tell you how little in the past I've ever talked about a practice facility. But now, people come up on the street and they're like,

normally they'd ask about players, and now it's like, do you think they're gonna get a practice facility built? I'm like, are we overstating some of this stuff? It's practice, right? I don't wanna go iris in here, but I'm, like it's practice, right? I don't want to go Irish in here, but I'm not saying it's unimportant. I think it actually is quite important to have a good facility. And it's one of the things that, you know, you want to retain and attract players.

And it's one of the ways that you can do that because you can say, this is where you're going to be hanging out a lot. This is where you're going to work. Isn't it cool? As opposed to Vancouver, it's like, um. We have a mobile workstation. I hope you like it. Yeah, it's just one less thing that you can trump it.

But it is funny. There's this whole saying of, it's taken on a life of its own. The practice facility has. I think it's partly about the actual facility itself. I think the reason that it needs to be taken, not seriously, because we don't really take anything seriously, but it needs to be taken into more consideration.

Just be like, oh, it's not that big of a deal is because they're one of one that doesn't have one. Yeah, it's glaring in that regard. Is it symbolic to like if you were really interested in doing everything you could to help the Canucks win the Stanley Cup, we would have a first class practice. It's a deal to the players. Like, honestly, the people I've seen report it have been reporting it because players have gone to them and said this sucks. Again. Please get the word out that this

sucks. When every other place has it it doesn't matter if it's a practice facility or a really cool skate sharpening machine or the best chef, like a good chef. If you're the only one that doesn't have one, that raises it to another level because it then becomes the expectation. It's the norm. It's what everybody else just is accustomed to. It's not a perk for the other places.

It's just something that everybody else has. You're now seeing it's cheap if you don't have one. Right. Which is a bad look. Or whatever the case is. And it's, like I said, it would be like this if you were the only team that didn't have something that everybody else had.

There would be questions, it's like, well, what's going on? Could you picture a league where 31 teams have a practice facility, but the Leafs don't? Yeah. Like, no, what in the world would that happen? But it's happening to the connects. Well, it's like we were talking about, I mean, a different level,

but when Arizona was playing at Mullet Arena. Right, yeah. You're the one of, what are you guys doing? Yeah. You know? You're the only place that makes their guys get changed in a public washroom. You know, like they're, no one else is doing that, but you guys are.

People are gonna talk about it. Yeah. Okay, let's move cow. Hey dogs. Hey dogs. Let's fire up the dot matrix. Let's tell everybody that what we learned, humanoid editions brought to you by AJ's Pizza

on East Broadway, AJ's original signature pies or a must try like the Detroit inch thick crust, crispy cheese topped with Parmesan and basil ordered online at AJ's, that pizza. Derek and Ysvan with the What We Learn. What I learned is that lots of Oilers fans are crashing out online after last night's game,

writing open letters to NHL refs and complaining about their terrible experience at Amarant Arena amongst drunk Panthers fans. I'm going to read a couple more that are related to this. Okay. Uh, Omar, what we learned. amongst drunk Panthers fans. I'm going to read a couple more that are related to this. Okay. Omar, what we learned.

I learned it's becoming really hard as a Canucks fan to not compare the Florida Edmonton series to 2011. Game three had 2011 vibes all over it and Marshawn scored a goal in both of those games. I wonder what Roberto Longo was thinking up in the press box. Yeah, he was probably thinking, it's nice to be on the right side of this. As opposed to the wrong side.

But I remember the complaints from Canucks fans going to Boston about how it was not a fun experience in Boston for them, to which my retort was, what did you think was going to happen? When you went to a city like Boston and you were going to cheer on the Canucks, it's going to be tough. But yeah, I think a lot of us have probably been comparing 2011 to now because there's also that, I think underlying all of it is this desperation to win. It's reached that level in Edmonton that it reached in Vancouver. Edmonton, historically, a little less so because they've actually won a cup, but since they lost last year and since this is the McDavid era now, there is this,

it's kind of inexplicable to a lot of the American markets. It doesn't exist in a place like LA and even before places like Washington and St. Louis won the cup, sad club brethren they used to be. It didn't exist that, I don't wanna win the cup, I need to win a cup and it's actually gonna affect my day to day life if we don't win a cup. If the Oilers lose this series, it's gonna smart, man. It is going to hurt. And I think Canucks fans know how much it hurts to lose a Stanley Cup final.

And the Panthers have become hated rivals over the two years. And I think this series is boiling over way more than it did last season because I think there's that desperation, there's that familiarity and there's villains on the other side. There's villains. Sam Bennett is a villain. You know, Brad Marshawn is a villain and even, you know, Anton Lundell getting into the act

with his flopping around yesterday and Bobrowski flopping, like you don't want to lose to a team like that. Uh, Tyler sent in, it's an Ask Us Anything, and I know it's only Tuesday, but I plucked it out because I was intrigued by the question and it got my, my brain thing. It was something I wanted to talk about when we were talking about the Canadian roster for the upcoming Olympics next year off the heels of the four nations

face-off. Tyler asked, does Connor Garland have a chance to make team USA? The quick answer is no, he doesn't. But it's interesting because one of the failings of Team USA, and this is hindsight being 2020 with what's played out in the aftermath, one of the failings was that they hitched their wagon to guys like Kreider and Troucek and Brock Nelson for those depth positions. And when they needed secondary scoring, they didn't have it. And then when you look at the guys that they left home,

like if you were to do it all over again, you'd say, I probably would have taken Jason Robertson on that team. I probably would have taken Cole Caulfield on that team. Seeing what we saw in the playoffs, would you have taken Matthew Nyes on that team? Like I think I might have taken Matthew Nyes on that team. Kyle Conner was kind of marginalized too, wasn't he?

So was Jack Hughes? Yeah, yeah. Jack Hughes? Hughes was played on the wing when he's used to playing center. And he was upset because his brother wasn't there. Yeah. Make your own jokes.

I just think that if you look at- Don't worry, they'll be together soon. There's the joke. If you look at it, and the Four Nations wasn't that long ago, but everything that's transpired since you could make the argument that there would be some pretty significant roster overhauls for some of those teams.

And I think Team USA would be one that would look back on it. Be like, yeah, we got some of these wrong. Now, I don't know if Canada would as much. Do you think they're going to change? They're going to have to change their strategy at all because they played NHL rules at the four nations, which is why you can have a fight or three fights and the guys stay in the game. It's different in international hockey. My understanding is it's going to be NHL ice in Italy, but the rules will be international

hockey. Yeah, those goofy international rules. I doubt that would make a huge, like I I think the Americans are still gonna try and put together a big and Tough team. Okay. So here for example, I don't know if having the International rules would like bolster Tom Wilson's chances of making it like I don't think it helps but at the same time I would be like Maybe you want to bring him along like he's you know

But aren't the international rules so it's harder. Yeah, I'd be doing it up. Yeah I bet I mean our national rules are like head contact like Mostly like what can I do the rules wouldn't benefit him no need to make the team however Are you really gonna rule a guy out because of that he's effective effective. I don't know. It's a tough one, right? I mean, I think I don't think Wilson's going to be on the team anyway. I don't think I think it's kind of past that. I think there's more guys that are going to jump the queue and everything. But if you I was more talking about looking back at again,

four nations wasn't that long ago, but a lot has changed since then. If Canada lost that, there'd be a lot of, where was Tom Wilson? Yeah, 100%. Should have been on that team. But we won, so it's like it's fine, we don't need to take him. We're perfect. Greg with What We Learned,

the straw that stirs the drink for a great Stanley Cup finals is Brad Marshawn. As much as it pains me to say it, he's the key ingredient in arguably the three best finals in recent memory. This year, Boston versus st. Louis and 2011 I don't remember as him as much in the blues series although for me that was more about the blues and in Bennington and it was about

Boston kind of choking. I remember the end of it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's true Yeah, yeah, Marshawn's hit list That's true, yeah, yeah, yeah. Marshall's hit list of Canadian teams right now, obviously Vancouver, Toronto. Toronto. And you could throw Edmonton into the mix if he, I did see some groundswell movement for Marshall on consideration for the Kahn Smythe if they win now.

I did see it. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. It makes sense, he scored two pretty big goals the other night. I think I know who Laddie would pick if Florida won for Conn Smythe. Barcov.

That's something we actually haven't talked about. Because I'm a dog, get it? Yeah, I get it. Okay, but Barcov has been mostly MIA in this series. Yeah, definitely. Well, the comment about Maurice made after he's gonna trade him. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

In the off season. That was pretty funny I would probably lean Bennett because he's been such a singular force in terms of goal scoring and also I would to destroying the net front I think he's made he's made everybody's life, but Marshawn's been really good in the final and It might be one of those ones where Pittsburgh had this issue actually Where there were so many guys that were going when they wanted those two years was tough to pick a cons might win

Mm-hmm. I want it Sid Sid one one and Gina one one. Okay, I'm not mistaken What's it didn't Kessel have a big this the first one? He was their leading goal scorer and he finished a point game guy and everyone's like can we really give Phil Kessel? It's almost like when you win this it'd be funny for Toronto I just hope I just hope if the oilers lose they give it to big David Well, that would be the ultimate I just want It's almost like when you win the Stanley Cup. It would be funny for Toronto. I just hope if the Oilers lose, they give it to McPavid. Well that would be the ultimate. I just want to see that again. When you win the Cup, you have a lot of good players on your team.

Yeah, but there have been times where it's a layup. Like everyone knows who the Connest might think is going to be. There's like a far away leader, yeah. And then there's times where it's pretty razor thin between the candidates, right? What we learned from Mike, Florida successfully dragged Edmonton into the mud last night and Edmonton looked like Homer trying to get out of a tar pit. Yeah. That's when he's, uh, in the, anyway, you have to know the

same thing with my hands and now I'll use my face. Yeah. My hands. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see what kind of game plan Edmonton has going forward. Do they try and match what Florida brings or do they say that's not our game, we're going to play our game? You know what I don't-

First I'll just reach in and pull my legs out. Now I'll pull my arms out with my feet. Now that was a Vander Can to try to play that role. So here's the thing. Earlier in the show, I likened the entire third period of the Edmonton Oilers to it, like a temper tantrum, like it just going on and on and on. But I don't I'm not aligned with Wyshinski, where he thought that that was the mental ungluing of the team

and that there was a profound like breaking point. I think that they'll just come back and be like, okay, let's just get McDavid and Dry-Subtle going, which isn't inevitability. I know you can't flip the switch, but then I would add in brackets, unless you're McDavid. Because you can do it.

They have to find a way to create speed through the neutral zone. I thought they overdid it yesterday with the end of, I was like, okay, we get it. You're pissed off, and it's done, but they just kept going and going and going. I'm like, now Kiss Barry Kaepernick's get now Kaepernick's scoring off me. Like everyone was trying to get their pound of flesh. We all agree that Jake Wallman is super annoying.

I don't like Jake Wallman. I'll say it. If he ever comes to Vancouver, I'll have to stand by it. And, you know, but I don't like it. What do where did he get the balls to be this guy? If he ever comes to Vancouver, I'll have to stand by it and you know, but I I don't like it what do Where did he? Get the balls to be this guy. Yeah, where he everyone he was gritty And then yesterday he had a quote. He's like, well, you know, it's the Stanley Cup final. It's a grown-ups game I'm like you dance when you score. Yeah, you're it's a grown-ups game

You're sporting water bottle in a water bottle at Seth Jones repeatedly I might add even after Brian Boucher was like, please stop you're here's a grownups game. You're squirting water bottles. And you're squirting a water bottle at Seth Jones repeatedly, I might add. Even after Brian Boucher was like, please stop. And he was like, so I have to learn that it's the Stanley Cup final, so cameras are going to be on it. Brother, if it was the preseason, the cameras would be on that. And you're also three games into the Stanley Cup final, like the cameras have been there. They're there. I don't, yeah, he's a...

Now, Edmonton has a very unlikable like lean to the team. I'd say Perry, Kane, Wallman lead the charge. Well, so does Florida. Yeah, and so don't get me wrong, like it's not like Florida's a bunch of angels or anything like that. This is 2011 again, isn't it? Except, except not all of Canada has turned on the oilers.

Not even close. Not even close. Not even close. Not even close. Yeah. Now, the lineage of unsavory Canucks from a national perspective in that series went far longer. I mean, right now, the three big ones for me are Perry, Kane, and I put Wallman right up there.

I actually don't hate Perry. I just, I respect him. He plays his, he doesn't pretend to be anyone He's not that's the thing with Jake Wallman. I'm like, who do you think you are? I know, you know, Cory Perry's her first ballot Hall of Famer Cory Perry's and this is what he does He scores goals. It was a beautiful goal. I know he scored he's scoring goals. Like he's in his 20s again Yeah, it's hilarious. He's like 40 years old. He's like I'm gonna go muck it up at the end of the game That's old man. Awesome. I'm jealous of that. He can still do it, old. He's like I'm gonna go muck it up at the end of the game. That's old man. Awesome

I'm jealous of that. He can still do it, right? He's still going good for him. Okay, still hope you lose Yeah, like in five games. We gotta get out of here for today, but it's been fun and we will be back tomorrow Thank you all for listening. Thank you all for contributing your congrats to Whoever won all the tickets to the gold cup match A week today between Canada and Honduras to BC Place. We gotta say goodbye though. Signing off, I have been Mike Helford. He's been Jason Brough. He's been A-Dog and he's been Laddy.

This has been the Helford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.