Halford & Brough in the Morning - Brandon Astle With An Abby Canucks Update + What We Learned

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

In hour three, Mike & Jason talk the latest around the Abbotsford Canucks with commentator Brandon Astle (1:57), plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00).  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Rucker Mackey to the Ty Mueller in front Backheader, score! The patience and the setup to Mueller who's got his second and it's 4-0-0-0-Kinnucks to the third period. 802 on a Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brub's Sports 9-650. Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Got CRA debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut that debt by up to 80%

with no upfront fees. This is them today at Sands. trustee.com. We are now in our three of the program. Brandon Astell, the play-by-play voice of the Abbotsford Canucks. You heard him there in the intro. He's going to be joining us in just a moment here

to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Dash-Pound.com today. Hey, laddie, who's going to win the Vezna this year? Because there's a couple guys that I did Vasi have the shutout and Sorokin last night?

I was to say Sorokin would probably be leading the pack right now and if he can will the islanders into the playoffs somehow I think it has to go to Sorokin. It's like a helibuck situation Who's number three do you think could be Logan Thompson? Yeah, if he keeps it up. It's so tough at the halfway point because guys can just drop off. Archer's Silovs.

I don't know. We'll see. He has some work to do. I'm going to throw you on the spot again. What's the split been like between Artie and Stu Skins since Skinner got acquired? Pretty much 50-50 from what I've been seeing. Yeah. I think they eased Skinner into it, but now that he's there, it's been pretty much 50-50. All right, we got Brandon Assle on the show. All right.

Brandon, how are you doing, buddy? I'm doing well, boys. Did I win the Clayton Public House Gifts or never yet? Was that where you were talking to Andy for so long for? No, you didn't win. Okay, no, I got to say something here. Brandon's got a virtual call display thing. He's got some virtual, like, assistant where you call him and says,

please leave your name and the reason you're calling, and I'll see if my client's available. And I did that and said, Andy, let me reach him now and it connected me to Brandon. Wow. It's like a virtual AI secretary. It was really weird. I thought I gave her the day off, but she's still working. I guess it's like a scam protection or something, but I've never seen that before.

Yeah, I mean, who doesn't get hit with a lot of scam calls? And like I said, off the year aid, I had no idea I had that. So I'm glad I got that protection in my corner. Adog, you need that, buddy. Of all the guys who I worry about getting scammed, yeah. Hey, now. You're at the top of the list.

I just give them all your credit card numbers, and one of them will be lucky. Oh, my God, that does sound like an emergency. Here's my social insurance number. Okay, let's turn our attention to the Abbotsford Canucks here, Brandon. On a bit of a heater lately, closing up the four-game homestand with three consecutive victories. A little bit of an uptick lately, what's been the difference for Abbotsford over these last few games, especially those back-to-back wins over San Diego? Yeah, it just seems like the guys are more settled into the structure and game plan that the coaches have put in place.

and honestly, they're getting a lot more healthy compared to early in the year because the first half of the season boys did not go like anyone expected, especially after they won the first two games of the season. Henderson, he thought, okay, this team might have picked up right where they left off in the Calder Cup, but things went sideways in October, November, and they really struggled picking up wins. And I know it can be a bit of a loser-talk mentality to blame it on injuries, but call me a loser, I don't care.

You need your best players to be available every night to win. And the injuries have just been crazy that they've, had to deal with and the big club as well like adam foot and manny mahotra have both said this year that they've never seen anything like it with how many guys have gone down between and between those two coaches they played what over 40 years of pro hockey so that tells you just how bad it's been and just put it into context boys 15 of their players have already been hurt every single guy in the top 10 in team scoring has been hurt and going back to last year I thought there was a lot of moving within that roster both injuries and call-ups and by the end of the last

regular season. There were 39 players that played in at least one game. And fast forward to this current moment right now, they've used 45 different skaters, and there's still half a season to go. So they can really use some luck on the injury front. They're still without Kudriatsa, Labade, McKeckren, Wu, those are

40 guys. But yeah, like you mentioned, Alford, they're on a three-game winning streak. They've won six of the last nine. They look a lot different now compared to a couple months ago. Obviously, they're still a long way to climb to get back into the thick of the playoff race, but the good news is there's still a lot of games left and most of their schedules

against teams ahead of them in the division so they can make up some ground hopefully. You mentioned that your best players have to be your best players. Who is the best player in Abbotsford? I would say right now, I guess technically he's not their player is Jonathan Lecker-Mackie. He's just been tremendous before the call up yesterday. It's just been putting up the numbers that he has been over these last two years, lead the team in goals despite just playing in 16 games. And some of the ones that he scored last week are just, were just ridiculous. I mean, that shot is just such a weapon,

which we all know. But I can just continue to say that his playmaking and poise is underrated. And I look at a goal that he set up on Sunday against the San Diego goals. He stole the puck in the defensive zone, raced down the left wing into their end, stopped along the hash marks

on that left boards, and like kind of slowly took it back to the blue line, just waiting for the plate to develop. He sucked in like three San Diego players, which left Ty Mueller opened to the net and he scored. It was like it happened all in like slow motion and not only had the opposition mesmerized, but I like stop talking for a few seconds. I don't know what happened to my brain, but it's not good for a play-by-play guy to just

stop, but I was just like hypnotized with what he was doing. And it turned out to be an absolutely horrible goal call by me. But I was just impressed with how like he lets the game come to him. And it just completely like slowed time down for just a few seconds, which completely he threw me off. And like you just look at his numbers, boys. He's played a 58 career games. He has 30 goals.

And obviously it's about building his overall game in Abbotsford playing a lot of minutes. And I still see a lot of improvement that he's made his play away from the puck has gotten a lot better. I'm not sure if he put on a lot of size or strength in the off season just because it was so short. But he's not shying away from those puck battles. He's winning more 50-50s. That's what you want to see.

You'll hear Mani Mojouholtra mentioned the word consistency a lot in the HAL. when it comes to his guys. And Jonathan's play has been a lot of predictability with it over these last few weeks, and it's great to see him get a call up. And interesting to see where Adam Foots lost him? What do you think, boys? Does he put him with his old teammate Liam Ogre?

I guess we'll see it a few hours. Yeah, that's interesting. I just hope he plays. I think he will. Yeah. I think he will because it's an obvious switch for Brock Besser. But I think people are really looking forward to seeing him in the lineup, seeing if he can score at the NHL level,

see if his overall game has improved at all, see if he's more trustworthy. We've seen the composure with him, I would say especially on the power play with Lackermacki at the NHL level, but at 5 on 5, there are times when he just kind of gets lost out there. Now, a lot of the Canucks have been a little lost this season,

but maybe if you could tell us a little bit more about some of the improvements he's made to his overall game, his play away from the puck. Yeah, I just think like the way he's seeing the play develop when it's not on a stick has come a long way from last year. And obviously that's the area that he's worked on and having a coach like Mani Mahhotra, a great defensive forward to kind of lead him is obviously a big bonus. And then, yeah, when it just comes to like, he's obviously not the biggest guy, but he's like finding ways to use leverage to win 50-50s. I see him get more physical in the corners. And he's just someone that obviously can find that soft.

off the area of the ice, whether that's getting open for a defenseman for a breakout pass or finding some room in the slot for a one-timer. Just the way he thinks the game, I think, will allow him to find success at the NHL level. And obviously, it's one thing to do it in the HL. It's another thing to do it in the NHL. We've seen it in spurts with the big club. And like you mentioned, I just hope he played because he's kind of had some bad luck the last year and a half with injuries and sickness and the dental surgery last year in the

playoff. He just hasn't been available for several weeks in a row. And I just hope he kind of gets a break in that area and just can play because when he does and when he's on his game, he is very, very dangerous. You mentioned his skill on the power play, the one-timer that he's got. It's just an absolute weapon out there. But at the end of the day, it's just about building the overall game and Adam Foote has to trust you in your own zone. And I think that part of his game has come a long way. And I mentioned that goal that he said with Mueller on Sunday. him. It was one of fifth. He stole the puck because he knew where it was

going before that player even made the past. So that's what I've liked about his game. It's just like reading it before plays have actually been developing. Is there another guy in Abbotsford that you think of that has close to the level of Jonathan Leckermacky in terms

of NHL potential? I've been high on time. Yuler the last few years and it was a pretty tough start for him. I think he had like one point in the first 10 games, but he didn't have a training camp, and that really affected him. And I actually asked him about it last week, and he definitely said he's never going to take a training camp for granted anymore because he basically just had to jump in the first game, barely

practicing or getting up the speed, right? So I think he's probably been their best player these last few weeks. He has six points over his last four games. But with him, it's never about the points. It's about a 200-foot game plays in all situations, and it's taken on more of a leadership role, despite it just being his second year, as a professional, he's an assistant captain, can really skate. And obviously, he's good on the penalty kill, faceoff dot. Him and Chase Waters are the go-to guys to take draws in their own end. He's the guy that lined up on the left side.

I was doing that last year in his rookie season. I mean, he was out there to take the final face off with about six seconds ago in the Calder Cup. So that just shows you how much trust Maddie Mahhotra has in him. and so that's someone that I'm still high on with a solid NHL future but on the back end they've got some guys that I think can push your spots one rookie that I've really liked

has been Sawyer Minio he just got back in the lineup after missing three weeks so that kind of sucks but doesn't take away from what he did in the previous three months he had to play a ton just because of all the injuries and call-ups and just love how he didn't blink he's such a young guy

just 20 years old third-round pick of the Canock and really took that elevated role and played well. And sometimes when you have a young guy like him, especially at Blue Line, you want to kind of ease him in to his first year in the HL, maybe shelter his minutes a bit. But the coaching staff didn't have a lot of options. They just had to throw them out there in a top pair role and played in all situations. And I think pound per pound, he's probably been their best player all year.

He just got a great tool set that would say his best asset is probably that way he moves out there. So smooth. His skating can get him out of trouble. He's smart to move the puck. He's skilled. He got a sneaky can of a shot. And he was one of those black aces in the Holy Cup roster last year.

He admitted that, like, he learned a lot seeing the guys go through what they did, that type of grind to get to the mountaintop and provide a lot of motivation for him to come in this year and prove himself. And I just think he's been fantastic. How has Mancini's game been? It's been a lot like last year we saw in the Calder Cup playoffs.

He's down on avatar to play a lot of minutes, brough. And he's in the last few weeks with Kudriata, Mimeo out, he took on more of an offensive role. And I always thought he's kind of a sneaky, good offensive game. He was running the top power play, so I was good to see him get that type of opportunity. But it's all about just building on his overall game and still trying to find that balance between being aggressive and when to kind of play more safe. Victor, as I'm sure, Connucks fans know, is a high-energy guy that will take some chances.

And part of the reason why he does that is his skating can make up for some mistakes. And there were a lot of times last week I remember where he just had an ability to pull away in the opposition, whether he's chasing on a loose pock, he went end-to-end and overtime like it was nothing, he gave himself a breakaway. So I think that he's getting more confidence on the offensive side of the puck, but at the end of the day, it's coming

down to building his overall game in his own end to the neutral zone and just try to find different ways to kind of use his size and strength to make him an acid out there because obviously Vancouver likes what they see in his potential,

but it's just a matter of finding that consistency at the NHL level and hopefully he gets a good run of games here. So Brandon, I'm curious how it's been for Mani Mulhojah this season, complete opposite to last season in terms of team success. What has he been focusing on what have you seen from him? Because there's a lot of people wondering if he'll be an NHL coach next season, maybe with the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, you wouldn't know whether his team was in first place or last.

the same guy brings that intense mentality every single day in practice into games. Obviously, he's been thrown, there's been a lot thrown his way with the injury front and call-ups, but he got a good taste of what the HL is like last year and pass of flying colors, to say the least, but obviously this year has been a different beast,

and he's barely been able to ice the same lineup against the consecutive games. It's just been absolutely crazy and been dipping into this ECHL, their affiliate in Kalamazoo, signing guys at PTOs. I mean, they've had three e-bugs this year. One guy's had to play off the street. So it's just been that type of year, but at the end of day,

he's just trying to develop players for the Vancouver Canucks. Whether you're on an 11-game losing streak or he's won 10 in a row. He has an expectation to come to practice and perform because this is a team that doesn't get a lot of opportunity to practice just with the way how much travel that they have to do. and so whenever they get a chance to get on the ice like they're taking advantage of it they're working on stuff he's in the thick of things he's dropping pox between centermen

working on draws I saw him at the morning skate a couple Sundays ago putting guys through their paces like the scratches how often do see a head coach do that so he's staying involved in a lot of aspects and now like I mentioned the team's really settling to his structure

there's a lot of new faces guys didn't really know where to be the first few months of the year but now it seems like everyone's kind of dialed in and they're starting to get success from all that. So it's just great to see Mani being the same guy. And I know just talking a lot of players, especially the rookies. They've been really impressed with the type of guy that he is and someone that they can go to any type of for any type of situations, whether they're struggling on the ice, off the ice.

His office door is always open, which I really respect about him. In light of what you just said there, is there a sense of belief that they can claw their way back into a playoff spot? I think there's seven points out. or does it seem like too big of a gap to try and close? I think we got some belief. And when I interview these players, that's something I asked. I'm like, are you looking at the standings?

And a lot of guys are saying they're trying not to, just trying to take it one game at a time. I know that's kind of the generic stuff that you hear from athletes. But it's kind of the mentality they've got to take on. And like you mentioned, that helper, there's seven points back. At one point, they were 16 or 17. So they've been slowly chipping away.

And the good news in their situation is that 20, of the next 28 games or, sorry, yeah, 26 and the next 28 are against teams all ahead of them in the standing. So there's an opportunity to play teams that you're chasing down. But I guess the flip side of that is every

single team in front of them, they don't have a record below 500. The absolutely team below 500 in the Pacific Division. So it is a very tough division. But at the end of the day, they've kind of found their stride these last few weeks. And if they get more bodies back in the lineup, like I mentioned, Kudriats,

and Matechlin Labate, they're two big free agent signs. That's only going to add to their overall games. So I think they don't think they're out of it. And if they keep playing the way they are right now and can get on a healthy win streak, you never know. You just got to finish in the top seven to make the playoffs in the Pacific Division and just keep chipping away

and you never know what can happen. On the subject of the Calder Cup playoffs, tell us about the 2025 Calder Cup championship rings that were handed out last week. Yeah, I haven't got a chance to see them in person yet, but they look pretty snavy from what I've seen online. And talking to some of the players, they were pretty blown away when they opened up their box to see those rings. And, yeah, obviously something they'll be able to cherish for the rest of their lives.

And hopefully that there's some more coming down the pipe here. But I just know talking to some of the guys after that they were just thrilled to get back with the boys and see like Carlson and Max and Ato and the guys that they were in the fight with every day to to reach the top and they got the banner on opening night. They got the rings and it's just awesome to see them getting a chance to get that and look back on what they accomplished

and hopefully use it as motivation for the rest of the year to get back there. Brandon, this was great buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do it as always. We really appreciate it. We'll catch up later on down the road. No worries, boys. Always a pleasure. Take it easy. Yeah, have a good one. Brandon asked, the play-by-play voice of the Abbotsford Connects here on the Halford Inbrough show on Sportsnet, 650. Should we do some what we learns?

Let's get into it. Okay, I learned that the Pro Bowl, in being named to the Pro Bowl in the NFL, is officially worthless. It doesn't mean anything anymore. I think I know why. Shadura Sanders is being added to the pro, they call it the Pro Bowl games now.

Yes. Because they're not an actual game. It's, I don't know, like Sports Day as a kid or something. That's pretty close, actually. He is going to replace Drake May whose New England Patriots of course have advanced to the Super Bowl

How? In what world is Charduro Sanders worthy of being a pro bowler? Hey man, you're just a hater. You're just a hater. I just think it's insane.

Adog, if you want... Making the pro ball used to mean something. Adag, if you want traction online and you want to get a response, make today's video, Jason Brough, questions Shudor Sanders' Pro Bowl replacement candidacy

because... Tag D-on. There's... So there's... Yeah, tag. There's... He had seven touchdowns and ten interceptions.

I don't really... I don't really know why because for some reason or another, Trevor Lawrence isn't going. And apparently he's available to be named. Like, May is not going, obviously, because he's in the Super Bowl. I think a couple of the AFC candidates are injured.

I mean, does he actually get, I actually don't know this. Does he get to, you know, if you go to a Wikipedia page and they're like the years they made the pro bowl or whatever and you can say you're a five-time pro bowler or whatever, does he get that label now? He's a pro bowler. I believe, well, because it's really gone down. That's wild. Yeah, it's really gone down from where it was. Tyler Huntley made it one year, Snoop Huntley, the backup quarterback to, too. Lamar Jackson in Baltimore.

What's even the point of it? I don't know. They needed to abolish this altogether. Yeah. And just have the end of year awards, which they already have in pretty great detail. They have all pro awards. But that's all it should be, maybe.

Yeah, I know. Maybe because they've got all pro. I think what's happening here is they're slowly going, this is a slow, underline, slow phase out of the pro bowl entirely. And this might be one of the tipping points they're like, what are we doing here? Like, did they add him for the publicity? Sanders played eight games.

He had 1,400 passing yards. He had seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Like, he was a rookie, and he did run for 169 yards in a touchdown. And I guess if you want to talk about historically, he is the first fifth round pick to make the Pro Bowl as a rookie since L.A. Ram's wide receiver,

Pooka, Nakua did it. So there's that. that made the Pro Bowl. Right. I don't, when I saw it yesterday, honestly, I had to check what Twitter feed it was coming from because I thought I was a joke.

And it's like, it's hard to have this conversation and not come across. He's a Scher-Sanders hater. Like if you would put anyone with that stat line in the Pro Bowl as a quarterback. Is it just because he's willing to go? What are the games? I'm putting it on the spot here. What are the Pro Bowl games?

There's some dodge ball. Is there seriously? Yep, there was. So maybe he's willing to go do that and have fun. And he's a good sport about it. They phrase it as all-star festivities. And I think there's a lot of sort of meet and greet interviews, stuff that actually doesn't involve any physical activity.

And then there's a couple of fun games that they play. They have a water fight or something? Well, okay. Let's take this bigger picture. The all-star, the notion of an all-star game. The NHL gonged it entirely this year, correct? It gets gone. I don't even know when it's going to be back.

I don't know if it's going to be back. Yeah. The NBA is reaching like a crisis point with its All-Star game because NBA All-Star weekend used to kind of be awesome. You used to be amazing. And now it's terrible. Yeah. And they've absolutely ruined it.

I think we see what's going on with the Pro Bowl. The only one that's really been able to hold up any sort of nostalgia and sanctity is Major League Baseball. The New York Islanders are hosting the next All-Star game February 5th, 2027. Right, but they don't know what it is. They don't know what it is. They're supposed to be pushed back like 100 times. Are they actually?

They were supposed to do it this year, and then they're like, ah, we won't have an all-star game because the Olympics. Actually, we're going to have a big event. It's going to be a send-off event right before the Olympics. We're not going to. No one wants to do that. You know what? There should be a bigger, like, investigative story into that because they've changed that three times. And everyone just kind of shrugs their shoulders.

Maybe that's why no one's really dug into it because no one really cares. They should just do the four nations again. Just do it every year. They're doing the Olympics. I know. I'm saying next year. just every, roll it out every year. They have an Olympic calendar, right?

I know. There's an international. There's an international account. So I think it's going to go. No, Adog wants it every year. Yeah, I want it every year. He thinks that the intensity is going to be absolutely the same. Every year.

Oh, not these guys get. It's getting old. All right, we got to go to break. When we come back, it's what we learns from the humanoids. Get yours in, Denbar Lumber, text message in basket, 650, 650. Send me out with a moo cow. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet, 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and

Thomas Drance, we'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcast. Now for my favorite part of the show, what I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time on the show.

32 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brub in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Got credit card debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could get your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com.

We are an hour three of the program. It is what we learned. Time. Hour three is brought to by Campbell and Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Dash Pound.com today. All right. I'm going to do a what we learned real quick one here before we turn it over to the humanoids. This is a bit of a preamble for you to get your what we learns in, everybody. Dunbar number text line 650, 650, hashtag of WWL.

Tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. It's your chance to be on the radio. I learned that the Vancouver Whitecaps officially kicked off their season today. Their first match, albeit of the exhibition variety, was played in Rainy Spain. Rainy Spain, Jason. Did you know that there is a storm named Joseph? Storm Joseph, they call it. In Europe?

Spain and Portugal. Oh, okay. Yeah, apparently like 15 different townships, whatever they call them in Spain. I don't know the terminology were put on emergency alert because of the excessive rainfall. Anyway, saw pictures from the match. Everyone was completely drenched. Yeah. Completely drenched.

There was a picture of Thomas Muller. He looked like it. Did the parents watch from their cars? Yes. Every time I'm going on there. Yeah. Flash of lights a couple times. Anyway, not that the result matters because it was obviously a makeshift lineup

in an exhibition match against FC Policia. And that was one of the teams from the Ukrainian Premier League. Whitecaps lost 2-0 in their first match at the Marbea Football Center under Dauer conditions. Are they having a bit of a tournament there? Is that what they do?

Like, why is their Ukrainian team there? I think what they've done, if I understand it from last year, is they find a bunch of teams that have gaps in their schedule. They're reasonably close that can come in and play extra mystery matches. It's a lot of weird random teams that they play. It's mostly who's available. This football center that they've got in Spain, it's kind of marked for these types of like if teams want to come in and do their training camp or whatever, it's got a bunch of pitches. It's got a facility and everything. Like softball city, but for soccer in Spain?

Yes, yes, that's right. In the rain, in Spain. Anyway, I'm very excited for the White Caps season, so I'm very excited that they got there. Preseason underway, by the way, that match kicked off at 3 a.m. local time. So kudos to anybody that woke up and followed the live feed. Can't imagine there's many of you, but that's the final result, 2-0. The white caps does not win. Was the white caps off-season like six days?

Basically, yeah. I was talking to-thous, like physically. I was talking to someone who, Ali Ahmed, by speaking of the white caps. Keeps playing well. Unbelievable start to his career. in Norwich. They beat Coventry yesterday. Coventry is top of the table in the championship. Ali Ahmed now has two goals and two assists in his first three competitive matches with Coventry.

And one of them, he came off at halftime. So he's really only played two and a half matches. Someone told me that his off season lasted a grand total of like four days. Like they went to Miami, they lost, he came back to a couple days off. And then I think he knew obviously that this transfer might happen. So he got right back at it. So yeah, no time off for the White Cups. Very short off season this year. When you're young, it's fine. Just keep going.

Just keep playing. Anyway, Muko, all that? You got something, right? Yes. On the Vezina Award. Also known as the Vesna. So I was wondering about the odds to win the Vesna. And it's actually a pretty close race.

As far as this year's awards races go, Sorokin at one sports book, minus 110, which is basically even odds, to win the Vesna. and then Vasilevsky. Yes. Vasilevsky. What? Hold on.

Vasilevsky at plus 2.10. Logan Thompson plus 430. And then there's a couple of very much long shots. Swamen, Wedgwood, and John Gibson. That's the close one. The Calder, the rookie of the year, it's Matthew Schaefer by a mile. And I'm sure there might be some people in Montreal

that complain about Demandov. Some people in Anaheim with Beckett Seneca. Yeah, he's plus 1,000. Demadov is plus 550 and again, Schaefer. Shaffer's going to win it. Minus 600. You talked about Macklin-Selabrini for the heart. Yep, let's hear it.

Nate's got it. Nate is minus 310 for the Hart trophy. I think when the abs, I know if Celebrini can lead the sharks to the playoffs, that is a very big feather in his cap. Yeah. But the way that. McKinnon has played combined with how good and how dominant the a abs have been. Since we're kind of like a pointless show right now with the Canucks not doing anything,

do you think maybe we should more, sorry, more pointless. More pointless than usual. Yeah. Maybe we should make this our thing for the remainder of the year is see if we can just talk Macklin Celebrini's heart trophy candidacy. Even if the end result. The way they awarded is stupid. It shouldn't be to like necessarily the best player.

and the best team. It should be to the player that's had the most impact on a lesser good team and getting them... Like, if he drags them into the playoffs, Celebrini, I'm talking about. Like, he should have way more of a chance

of winning than... That's how Taylor Hall got it. That's crazy that Taylor Hall won the Hartrophy. But that's like the way to do it though. Don't just give it to McKinan. He might get some momentum. If I was Celebrating, it would be funny, it'd be like, if you got asked about it,

he was like, oh yeah, I see Kill McCar's going to win the Norris Trophy. That must help. Yeah. Point that. Must be nice. And then he has a sheet. I think I got Timothy Lildgren back here or something.

My highest scoring defenseman. I don't even know who it is. Is it one of the Ferraros? I don't even know who it is there. So it's not the best player in the league award. So here, this is a good conversation to have. The most valuable player. It even says it in the title.

So there's no award for the best player, just the points award that's on it. See, the CFL has the MOP, the most outstanding player. Right. And I think, see, if that's different, though, if they have a new award for just the best player, that's different than the most valuable player. It should be two different awards. I don't say this often, but I think you might be right. I am right.

Because if you were to do most outstanding player in the NHL right now, I'd probably say Nathan McKinnon. Yeah. Or McDavid. But... He's pretty outstanding. He might be the mop. The mop.

If I was to say which... The mop this year. The mopiest mop I've ever mop. Our branding continues to struggle at times. You actually give him a mop? We did. I would say... It's from Rona.

It's gold. That's quite heavy. It's got a detachable head. I would say... The Mop Award sponsored by Rona. They make a good mop. If we were going to do most valuable, I would say Celebrity.

I'd say Celebrity is more valuable to the sharks than McKinnon is to the house. I know it's a crazy thing to say. But you, I mean, do the simple... And we're not reinventing the argument here, but do the simple one. take McKinnon off the abs, where are they? Well, they're probably still a pretty good team because of everything else they've got.

Take Celebrini off the sharks, where are they? Yeah. They're right next to the Canucks, I think. Jared Bednar, by the way, he's also the favorite to win coach of the year. Plus 110. That's John Cooper's plus 360, Lindy Ruff somehow. Amazing story. Plus 500.

We need a sports book to show, have the odds of a coach to be fired, ever changed as dramatically as Lindy Ruff's. because he's gone as one of the guys most likely to be fired odds-wise to winning coach of the year odds-wise, which is quite remarkable. I think Coop should get coach of the year. I really do.

I sent a screen grab yesterday to the group of the Tampa Bay Lightning Blue Line as per daily face-off. I'll see if I can find out here. I don't even know who, I mean, I follow the NHL pretty closely, I would say. I know all 32 teams. I know the cities they play in. All the good stuff.

That blue line to me, I'm going to run through. J.J. Moser and Darren Radish are their top pair. What? J.J. Moser and Darren Radish are their top pair. And Coops never won it, right? Coups never won it. I mean, he should win it for that reason alone. Just just give it to him.

Their second pair is... His speech would be too long, though. The second pair defense in Tampa Bay is Maxim Groshev and Eric Chernak. Right. Churnack's a regular. Sure. The third pair is Declan Carlisle, who sounds like an extra from like, there will be blood or something like that. Yeah. And Maxwell Crozier. These are all real names. I made up none of these.

And that's because McDonough and Headman are heard. Yeah. They've got 15 wins in their last 17 games. Maxwell Crozier's from North Van. Okay. I'll take your word for it. I can't know every player. right? And a third pair of defensemen for the bolts right now is like a fourth pair of defenseman for another team because they're so besieged by injury. I'm always scared to make fun of a guy who I haven't heard of

because there will be some analytics persons online. That would be like, actually, if you look at his stat card. Yeah, that's true. What's his war? I don't even care. I'm old school. If I don't know him, I'm like, you can't be any good. Yeah, exactly. That's how I roll. If I don't know, how good kid you. I mean, I'm not even convinced Jackson Lecombe is good. Yeah. I'm still on the fence. I saw what he looked like for the first time when he got announced to the team.

What's going on there? He looks like he's 60. Yeah, he looks very old. He's 25 years old and he looks like he's 60. He's like... Is he from the Dominican? No, he's not. He's like the Islander's centerman that played in the Four Nations.

He looks like he's from like... Brock Nelson. Yeah, it looks like from the Civil War era. He plays for a different team now. I know. Yeah, okay. I'm just trying to remember his name. Yeah, Brock Nelson looks like he's like 90.

But that was more of a gray hair thing. Jackson Lecombe just has the features of an older man. He looks weathered. He looks weathered, yeah. What was it like Ryan Miller's brother? Drew Miller? Yeah. Yeah.

He was a silver fox at like 26. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. A guy walked in the room. I was like, oh, I bet he's got money. All right. That's old welfare. Give us some moo cow.

Fire. The Domitrix. Humanoid submissions for what we learned, Brought to he was always by AJ's pizza on East Broadway.

You got to try the bar pie 14 inches of cracker thin crust topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella mott's and cheddar

only at AJ's pizza order online at AJ's dot pizza. Does Ovi get silver fox recognition? He's still salt and pepper

Drew Miller was like silver. I feel like OV even if he went full gray or silver it's because he doesn't

exactly he's not like super sophisticated He wouldn't walk into a party and just be like, say something very smart. When Ovi was here, I saw the pictures of him going around on social media from a park, just playing some poker. Like, O'Bie was just like, oh, yeah, let's go. I think that was like three hours before the game.

It was playing black jacket park. It was during the second intermission. That's great. He is awesome. Kept his bottom year on. Jay with what we learned, watching Besser this year, he struggled with corraling a cross-ice pass, let alone being able to one-time it. He's been hesitant on the power.

power play and shying away from shooting. Lekker-O-Macky should be a massive upgrade in this spot, and I hope Foote gives him the opportunity. Yeah, I hope Foote gives us something interesting to watch from a Canucks perspective tonight, and Lecker-O-Macky would be that. I've noticed the same thing about Besser. I would add, how many times has he thrown an interception on the power play, or just thrown the puck away?

He's struggling with his confidence. Man, when you go watch some of the other power play, plays in this league. Go watch Edmonton. Go watch Montreal. It's night and day compared to the Canucks power play. Yeah. They're snapping it around.

So was that the term that he is? Was it snapping it or was it zipping it? I think foot was a big snapper or zipper? Snapper zip, I'm not sure. But I don't know what the Canucks do, but they're not snapping it. They're not zipping it. They're just kind of like... They mean more zips.

More snaps. Yeah, it's not very snappy at all. with what we learned. I didn't have high expectations for VanderKain, but I have to admit that he has been a terrible fit with the Canucks. I hope Danny Millions can facilitate a trade to get him out of Vancouver. The streets did the research on this one, by the way. Danny Millions also helped facilitate the trade for his client, Ilya McAyev.

That was one. So this isn't, he's not his first rodeo. Assistant GM, Dan Milstein? It's not his first facilitation. And then I want to say Kiefer Sherwood's agent also got involved at some stage of the game when it came to his trade.

But I think that had more to do not with facilitating a trade, but with trying to figure out if there was going to be an extension or not. Yeah, I think that was extension related. Yeah. I can't imagine Keynes and see if you can get them extension. It's like,

you're going to be lucky if you go there. As an individual that likes sloughing off work on others, I'm a big fan of letting other people facilitate hate the trades. I'm like, you go do it. That'd be funny if they traded them and people are like, that's all you got. And then Alvin was like, wow, Danny Millions was doing the deal, so you wouldn't want to talk to him?

You didn't have to do the work and you have a built-in skateco instead. Yeah, bring him up. I've always wanted to be a hockey manager. Maybe I should become an agent, you guys. I'm taking the wrong path here. There's been a lot. Does this actually count to anything, though? You're not greasy enough.

Bessor's agent try to facilitate a trade back. Don't get me wrong. That didn't happen. So like, does this actually mean anything? Yes. Yeah. I think there were enough offers on the table. Remember?

But Bester didn't get trained. I know. That was at the Canucks doing, though, remember? Because they found the offers to be a slap in the face. This is a funny text from Leaf. Silver Foxes don't wear cargo shorts. Yeah. I bet Ovi's got a huge closet full of cargo shorts.

Obey still does. Like that Flanders? Just cargo shorts, though, instead? Yeah. Ovi will still be the guy when it's cold outside. He'll be wearing a tuk while. shirtless with a huge chain. That's what he looks like.

He still eats Subway. Like that's his pregame meal still, Subway. Is it seriously? Yeah, he loves Subway. You can see it on the pictures and they walk in the drink. He loves Subway in his hand. And there's always the, he's got the subway. Do you think he has any veggies on it? Or is it just like a cold cut combo? No veggie.

Oh, it's all subs. Just the meatballs. He's like, sees like one shred of lettuce. He's like, p. Got out of here. Does he still have a one? Touch the salami. One of my best buddies growing up was one of those guys, he has never eaten a vegetable a day in his life, and it probably won't ever until the day he dies. Al Michaels. Al Michaels.

Yeah. Guy that never eats a vegetable, right? Blows my mind. Yeah. Does Obie still have the Coke in one of his water bottles? Is that still a thing on the bench? Yeah. Coca-Cola.

Dylan Strom was on the podcast that PFT does. Not part of my take, but the other one. And he was, because PFT's a big Washington Capitals fan. And he asked, he's like, does Ovi still? they'll have the reserved Ovi water bottle that has Coca-Cola. And he's like, yes, he does. And it's by his particular seat at the end of the bench. Apparently if you sit in it, Ovi just looks and waves you aside, you're like, I will move.

And he sits there. That is the Coke seat. Yeah. Seriously. Well, you remember. It's so padded here. You remember Zinano Chara. That was sort of a famous picture of him like chugging a very slim, one of the slim bottles of Coca-Cola.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it's a big deal. It gives you a little shot of energy. It's like there is sugar. It's more so adding the rum into it, I think. That's for the pain management. Damn, I'll be at least 50-50 in, man.

Unsigned text here. Actually, it is side. That's the punchline of this whole thing. Hashtag WW, what we learned. I watched the alumni game last night. I guess that was the Shorzy Classic last night. There's a lot of people at Rogers Arena. It looked like the lower bowl was almost full.

So this texter says many takeaways, but the biggest standout was Dave Tomlinson. He's silky smooth on the ice. Didn't know he had so much skill. P.S. This is not Dave Tomlinson. Did you see the video of the Sedin twins passing it around? I did not.

I'm going to read this one for Tic-Tacota Cortnell. Tatiana in Langley, what we learned, the Sedin still got it. I got to see them play in person for the first time last night at the Shorzie Classic, and the way they passed to each other was blowing my mind. I think if you put them on this year's Kinex team, they would improve the offense. And I don't even know if I'm joking. Yeah, they'd be on the second line. Well, I bet they're not out of shape.

The Sedines are 45. They turned 46 in September. So they would still be 45 at the back half of this year. That would be the oldest NHLer by a pretty good margin. Do you think they've ever contemplated it? It's hard to say. Do you think they've ever contemplated it? Watching this Canucks team be like, should we go down there, help them out?

No. Not even once? I remember thinking. I doubt it. Their last competitive, oh man, 2018. We're talking seven years away. Yeah, yeah. That's a long time.

I remember thinking the year after they retired. Even Philip Rivers is like, that's a bad idea. You know what? You got like two games in you, Max. I think there was probably a two or three year window after they retired where they could have come back and been an incredible fourth line for, I'd say like maybe a bottom half NHLT.

Well, like bangers and crashers getting pucked in deep and hammer them through the wall. We're a little more possession-based. We're going to keep the puck more than dump it in, but I bet they could have done it. between their fitness and their cerebral approach. Now feels like a little bit too much. By the way, sorry, I'm going to continue on this,

or unless you really want to do that one. The guy, the Shorzy guy, I forget it, is it? Jared Kiso. Jared Kiso. Yeah. I think he's got a great rant that he did. And I can't tell if he's in character or not, but talking about the downfall of the Canadian junior team

at the World Junior Hockey Championships, talking about how when they eradicated hitting, especially in the international game because it's so punitive the penalties about you lay a guy out and you think it's a big hit but lo and behold it's now five in the game Canada's kind of been forced to play

a more European style and he's like shocker the Europeans are actually better at playing because they've been doing it for longer and he gets really animated and is bemoaning the lack of physicality at that tournament and I remember when we came in after Canada got dumped yet again too early in this year's tournament

thinking like it wasn't that long ago that it was the bread and butter of you know boxing day you go and watch Canada and you watch like Jordan Tutor Steve Downey like just destroy some kid on international ice and part of it wasn't that they would just go out and hit it's that the opposition

hadn't played that style at all and they'd be scared they'd be intimidated never mind the big explosive hit that was potentially a headshot I'm not talking about that I'm talking about the threat of being hit And when that's eliminated, because guys are scared to make that play. There's still big hits out there, but the European teams also give those hits. I think they realize, like, we got a, we got to up our physicality a little bit. Anyway, I've kind of taken over.

I want to read this. There's a couple things I want to get to, but I'm a little, because A-Dog, can you just, don't interrupt. Let me get through this. I don't know what it is yet. Yeah, but you'll get it. This is from Berkey Boy. I learned that Sam Darnold's grandfather's name was Dick Hammer.

That's right. Okay. All right. You get your mic off? I'm with you. Okay. He played on the 1954 USC men's basketball team and made it to the final four. Then he played for the U.S. men's volleyball team in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.

He later got into acting. and became the actual Marlboro man that you used to see pictured in magazines. Yes, that's right. Dick Hammer. Dick Hammer. What a career. Yeah, I actually, I remember hearing that before in the past.

Dick Hammer was the Marlboro guy. The fact that he got into acting and didn't take the most obvious route is amazing. Is being the Marlboro guy, is that really considered acting? Let's be honest. No, the story actually, the story actually, yeah, as a model. The story, if you look at Dick Hammer, and you look at him as a young man when he was at USC and then on the Olympic team like chiseled jaw

smoking the entire time as you were wont to do at the time when he got into acting he was doing a show where his character was a fireman and he worked and was instilled in a fire hall for a year when did the show and then apparently was so adept at being a fireman they went back and was actually he got hired

as a fireman and then went on to be the Marlboro Man. Okay, a little birdie told me that there could be some Thatcher Demko news today. Oh. We'll leave you with that. He's retiring. He's the new Marble Man. That's a tough one to say.

Marlboro. The modern Marlborough, man. He just vapes the whole time. Anyway, we got to get out of here for today, but we will be back tomorrow. Signing off, I have been Mike Alford. He's been Jason Brough. He's been A-Dog and he's been Laddie. This has been the Halford-Abrough show on Sportsnet, 650.