Halford & Brough in the Morning - Can Canada Do Some Damage At The Copa?

Episode Date: June 17, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the Euro 2024 as well as Canada at the COPA America with soccer analyst James Sharman (3:00), plus they speak with PuckPedia founder & CEO Hart Levine (27:00), as his site gets set to take the reigns from CapFriendly. 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.

7 o'clock on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We're in hour two of the program. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by White Rock Honda. They are proud to be Siri's premier Honda destination.

Visit them online at whiterockhonda.com. James Sharman, soccer analyst In the midst of the Euros, as a matter of fact Romania and Ukraine are now at the half Romania on an absolute belter of a goal 25th minute, up 1-0 on the Ukrainians The early match this morning, we'll talk to James in just a moment Hour 2 of this program is brought to you by

Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime is full flavor. Without compromise, you can get some at a liquor store near you or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. So as mentioned, I did a little bit of a recap earlier in the show.

Ran through some of the big storylines from the weekend. To continue the conversation on Euros, James Sharman joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, James. How are you? I'm doing great, thanks. Thoroughly enjoying being immersed

in all things soccer for a few weeks. Oh, it's fantastic. We were saying that, you know, we've gone through some rough summers doing sports talk radio where you're trying to convince yourself that, you know, the Major League Base baseball season is interesting.

And this is such a great summer because not only do we have the euros going on right now, but in a few days time, we're going to have Canada playing at the Copa America and opening up against Argentina. But I do want to start with the euro. So my three big takeaways from the weekend that was, we were obviously Germany getting a fantastic

start and belting Scotland 5-1 in their opener in front of their home fans. And then England getting the job done against Serbia. Maybe not a fantastic performance, but a good result nonetheless. And Italy, storming back after an early gaffe against Albania to win 2-1, the defending champions

doing the business there. Did I miss anything, James? Because a lot of people are telling me that I'm overlooking what Spain did to Croatia in their opener. Yeah, I'd say that one for sure. I mean, that might be the most eye-opening result from the early weekend. Spain, we know, would be a good team in this tournament, and we assume Croatia would be good because they're always good. But, of course, the concern with that team was, you know,

are they too old in midfield and in defence? Is that the issue there? And in fairness, you know, they weren't great against Spain, but the scoreline is probably a little bit unfair in Croatia. They could have scored goals.

They didn't score goals. They had opportunities. But I think the main takeaway from that match is this young Spanish team and this kid, Yamina Lamar, who is, let me know, Yamar, sorry, who is, you know, going to take the World Baseball at 16 years of age, like 16.

And he bossed that game. He was wonderful and he could become the face and the name of this year's tournament and perhaps for the next, I don't know, four, five, six, seven tournaments as well. He's that good, he's that young and Spain are in very good hands. Did Spain look to you like they were playing a different style

from what we've gotten used to over the last few years? To a certain point. I mean, they were still playing their tiki-taka to a certain degree. In recent years, they haven't used their wide players quite as well. But now you have these kids, Nico Williams on the other side, Lamal on the other side, on the right-hand side, and it just gives them more width and more flexibility, I think. Listen, this isn't Spain of the Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, Torres years, obviously.

But you're seeing some potential for a team that could win this thing. You know, they could do it in perhaps a different way than the old Spain team, who, of course, won two Europeans back-to-back. They won the World Cup in between. One of the greatest international sides we've ever seen. So if you're a Spanish fan, maybe this tournament comes

a little bit too early. But if they ended up winning it, honestly, it wouldn't be a huge surprise at this point. Albeit, you know, listen, one game in, it's tough to judge, right? Germany smashed Scotland, right? And that's great for the tournament, seeing the hosts, you know, listen, one game in, it's tough to judge, right? Germany smashed Scotland, right? And that's great for the tournament,

seeing the hosts, you know, elevate the energy in that country, but Scotland were awful. So it's tough to judge teams by the group plays. It's when knockouts begin and how they play in those matches that we can really begin

to determine how they might fare. Yeah, what were your expectations for the hosts coming into this tournament? Because it's not like they've been playing incredible soccer over the last few years. No, they haven't. I mean, if you look at 2014 when they won the World Cup,

the thought was that could be a springboard for future success, but they were very poor in big tournaments since then, generally speaking, bowing out in the early stages. 2023 was one of the worst seasons in German national team history. But in fairness, they really bounced back the last six months or so. Got some big results. They beat France, for example. They beat Spain, I

believe. So they're a team with some good youth, a nice blend of talent in there with some veterans as well. So as hosts, you think they do well. Now, that being said, host nations don't generally win this thing, the last one being France back in 1984. But I thought they were a good team.

I didn't think they would win it. I don't think they're going to win it. I think we can't read too much into that performance because Scotland was that bad. Disappointingly bad, actually, given how they qualified. So, you know, don't rule out the Germans. You never do. You're a fool to rule them out.

They're the hosts, but will they win this thing? My opinion hasn't really changed from pre-tournament where I thought, no, maybe a quarterfinal, maybe a semifinal, but not anything more than that. We're speaking to a James Sharman footy analyst here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Jude Bellingham. I was trying to describe to our listeners exactly where he's at,

and it's not even really an ascension to stardom anymore because he's there. He's made it. Just coming off a Champions League victory with Real. One of the top footballers in the world right now. Still at the age of 21. But this is now his third major international tournament already. He's already established himself as a linchpin of one of the best domestic sides in the world in Real.

He's won a Champions League. So I was trying to explain to people that it's something that England at European or at international tournaments maybe hasn't had in an awfully long time, possibly ever, because it's not as if he's a guy that is ascending or growing into it like Lamin Yamal with the Spanish team. Like now might be his time. Is that a fair assessment? Yeah.

I mean, he can get better though, right? Like I said, he's 20, 21 years of age. He can still get better, but he just led Real Madrid to a Champions League title and a La Liga title. He was the player of the year in Spain. He was that good at this age. So yeah, he's already, I'd say that the finished product, but there's still more to come from him. He's not even close to his prime.

It's absolutely frightening as an England fan and someone that has seen the English football nation build up players and then crash them down. But this kid, not just his ability on the pitch, and he was fantastic yesterday, at least for 45 minutes. I thought he was brilliant. But off the

pitch, his feet on the ground, he's so intelligent. His comments post-match were interesting, mature. He said, listen, there's always a negative theme around England games. He urged people to use the positives. He said the first half showed that they can score goals against any team.

The second half showed they can clean sheets against any time. This is a kid they can clean sheets against any time. This is a kid, right? He's barely out of his teens. And he's saying words that are, you know, more mature than the captain, Harry Kane said, or any other player. So I think the world is, you know, he can do what he wants in this game. I think he's going to be one of the greats.

I really believe that in English football. And listen, I understand. I've seen the Roonies emerge at 17 years of age and take the world by storm and do some wonderful things, but then fall back a little bit. Michael Owen, remember him back in 1998? Did he really reach the heights we thought he would? I'm not sure.

Paul Gascoigne, we know that story. But Jude Bellingham has it all, all the components, in a new position this year. He's playing number 10 for England and for Real Madrid. He came to Real from Dortmund in Germany, where he's playing a much deeper role. He can play any position. Put that guy in goal with a pair of gloves,

he'd be great, I'm sure of it. So you can probably tell I'm a little bit excited about him, boys. I hope I'm not going to regret this, but I think he is the full package. He's a wonderful footballer. Talented, smart, intelligent, and yeah, he's going to lead this team as far as he can. How important do you think it is that the last four years

have been spent not playing in the fishbowl of England and the Premier League that he's played at Borussia Dortmund and then Real? It's a different path than some of the guys you mentioned, specifically the younger phases of Wayne Rooney's career and Michael Owen's career that they were in, I guess for lack of a better phrase, the spotlight. But he's been playing abroad, big clubs, no doubt,

but just a different experience than some of the other young English phenoms that have come along. Yeah, I think it's really important. I think it's also really strategic from his people to get him out of England at a young age, get him overseas to Dortmund, a team that's renowned for developing great young talent,

playing at a top level, away from the glare and the spotlight of the English media, which can be so difficult. That being said, he better get ready because it's coming. I don't care where he's playing now. If he's successful for England and playing at Real Madrid, arguably the biggest club of all football, the Spanish media are pretty brutal

as well, but I think he can handle it. But I think it was a strategic move. It's interesting. We saw his teammate at Dortmund, Jadon Sancho, again made the move earlier, what was brilliant at Dortmund, go back to England a couple of years ago now at Manchester United and it all fell apart.

And the media targeted him. He asked him, his manager targeted him. It didn't work out. He went back to Germany on loan, looked really good once again for Dortmund. So, you know, Bellingham's gone a different path. He's staying well away from the Prem. Even though, you know, any team in that league

would have just paid whatever it took to get him, he chose Real Madrid, and it's so far been a great, great choice. But I think it's a smart question you asked there because I think you see more and more young English players doing that, getting out of that fishbowl, getting to Europe, big leagues, and establishing themselves there. We're speaking to a footy analyst, James Sharman,

here on the Health and Breath Show on Sportsnet 650. One more about the Euros, James, before Ukraine has just scored. It's now 1-1 there. Before we move to Canada playing at Copa America. Romania scored. Oh, sorry, just scored. It's now 1-1 there. Before we move to Canada playing at Copa America. Romania scored. Oh, sorry, Romania scored. It's yellow. They both have the same color.

Yeah, it's not my fault. What's the score there, by the way, guys? I'm not by a TV right now. What's the score? It's 2-0 Romania now. 2-0 Romania. Wow, good result so far. Yes.

Okay, one more. The French play today at noon. I mean, if you talk to the majority of pundits and people that were doing predictions on this tournament, they're picking the French and Riley. So can you give our listeners a sense of just how stacked and loaded this French national side is? Yeah, you know, it's funny.

We talk about Bellingham. You look at, in France, a wealth of young talent there as well. Kylian Mbappe, of course, being the one that everyone knows, maybe the best player in world football, but also a young player with his feet on the ground to a certain degree. He was asked about

French politics yesterday in his press conference and he answered in English and he basically asked the youth of France to come out and vote and keep the far right away from running that country.

This is a kid, basically, at an international tournament taking a political stand. Again, just wonderful. But beyond him, you have the front three, Teram, Dembele, as good as there is in the tournament. You have the old schema, the veteran in Griezmann just behind them in a midfield role once again,

who was maybe the best player in the Qatar World Cup. He was absolutely fantastic. And then defensively, there's no hold on this team, right? You can look at every other team, including England, who have, you know, great, great talent, but there's flaws in every other team. I don't really see a flaw in this team. There were question marks about the defense, the right back, Koundé.

That's ridiculous. It looks like Saliba might get the start in central defense, which is probably the right move because Uwe Mugambo has not been playing well at all for his club this season. So there's been some questions for sure. But not only are they talented and the deepest team by a mile in this tournament, but they're well battle-hardened, right? They've played tournament football together.

They got to the final of the World Cup. They almost won the World Cup. People forget just losing out on penalties. When you saw Mbappe turn on late in that final and how great he was. So, you know, even though England are the favorites, and I have picked England just because I have to, France are legitimately the smart choice to win this thing because there's no deeper team, there's no better XI,

and they've got the best player. So that, to me, adds up as the team that should be the favorite. Okay, let's turn our attention now to Canada at the Copa America. It is a tall order on Thursday when they will open the tournament against the defending World Cup champions Argentina and Lionel Messi, who I believe will appear in this match, unlike some certain other matches. You feel better, don't you? Yeah, it's going to be a great experience

and I think Canada's going to be better for it in the long run, but getting a result out of Argentina in front of 70 plus thousand at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta could be a tall order. My question for you is this. Is it a realistic expectation that Canada can still get out of this group?

I'd say it's definitely realistic. I think you're right. This first game isn't about the result, quite honestly. Put in a good performance. Don't get embarrassed. You're playing the world champions with Lionel Messi. I mean, what do you want? It's going to be a great occasion as opposed to perhaps a great match. But then you have Peru and you have Chile, two teams that compete in South American World Cup qualifying, which is the toughest qualifying in the world. Traditionally, Chile is the toughest qualifying in the world. Traditionally, Chile is a wonderful team.

And there's still components on this current team that have been there when they were great, but they're aging. They're really kind of trying to hold on for the last hurrah with this group. So they're a good team. They might well beat Canada, but they're not infallible, that's for sure. And Peru hasn't done much since making the final in 2019. Not a team with too many names or stars. So Canada can definitely, if they defend well, and that's a big question,

they can definitely cause these teams trouble. Do I think they'll advance in the group? I'd say no. But it's not the toughest group in the world. It really isn't. That being said, if they get out of this one, they're going to play probably a Venezuela or an Ecuador who are really, really solid teams. Maybe the run ends there. But listen, if they get out of this one, they're going to play probably a Venezuela or an Ecuador who are really, really solid teams.

Maybe the run ends there. But listen, if they get out of this group, I mean, what a moment that would be for Canadian football. But like I said, it doesn't really matter to me. I just want to see performances. You've got a new coach. You've got some new blood in there. This is all about building towards 2026.

And if you look at Jesse Marsh, you know, the new coach, he comes in with his style of football. He's getting to know this team, and his first games are against the Netherlands, France, and Argentina. I mean, come on. It's great, don't get me wrong, and it's wonderful for us as fans, and for him, he's going to take a lot from these games, but, I mean, it's not ideal, is it? Let's be honest.

If you take a step back from the Copa America and you look at the big picture, like you were talking about in these games, this whole process is about preparing for 2026. What does Jesse Marsh need to accomplish? Like you can talk about philosophical stuff with the team, or you can talk about certain areas of the team that need to improve.

What needs to happen so that Canada can deliver a better World Cup performance than we saw in Qatar? And that's important because we are hosting this thing. I still think defense is going to be key. That's still the question mark. We saw Milan Boyan no longer in goal. You have a Steven Vittoria, who was a warrior for Canada, no longer an option at centre-back.

So you've got a new-look centre-back partnership in Bambino. And it seems like Derek Canelius, who have done really well so far, and fans are like both those players, and they play the kind of style that Jesse Marsh teaches, a very aggressive style of football. You know, they're going to be sitting deep against these teams probably, but on transition, they're going to be explosive and dynamic, and that's what he does.

Teams that run hard, don't stop. I think Canada has those players. We know up front what they are. How does he see, for example, Alphonso Davies? Is he his left back? It seems he's going to be his left back because there isn't really any other options there right now. But is he better served playing him further up the pitch? There's a few questions there.

Can Ismail Kona continue his development under Jesse Marsh? He looked fantastic against Netherlands and against France. A really exciting young player at Watford who's on the verge of a big move. Liam Miller got a chance to start the last two games out wide on the left and looked really good. We've been waiting for these performances from Liam Miller and under Jesse

Marsh so far he's given them. So there's a lot to like about this team. I like the hire of Jesse Marsh as well. Yeah, he's American but who cares? There aren't that many options right now, Sally and Canada. I think that this team can be a major player. They be a major player.

They are a major player. Beyond there, I still don't know. Like I said, I want to see progress in this tournament. I don't care if they win a game. I really don't. Obviously, I want to see it. Don't get me wrong. But I want to see progress.

I want to see a team that understands who they are, what they are, and will cause and ask some questions for these big teams. Are there enough exciting young players that we haven't talked about? I'm not talking about Alphonso Davies and Jonathan Davis. Are there enough to fill in the gaps so that we don't look at Canada's team in 2026 and go, well, they just don't have the depth that other teams around the world have? Yeah, well, they just don't have the depth that other teams around the world have. Yeah, well, we don't, right?

That's the simple matter of fact right now is Canada, as good as they can be, they haven't got the depth of other teams. You saw that in the last two games. When you get outside the first 11, 12 players, the players coming on aren't quite at this point at that standard. Now, they're young. They're good players.

Can they improve? Theo Baer, prime example up top, hasn't played under Jesse Maas just yet, but has done very well in Scotland, a youngish player. Can he keep evolving? Let's hope so. Luke de Fusarol plays in English football and is well-renowned at his club, Fulham. Will he get an opportunity at some point?

There's good talent there. Are they good enough? I just don't know. We haven't seen enough of them just yet. But depth is definitely a problem. When you see these teams, like, for example, against Argentina, you'll see some, you know, main players coming off around the 60, 65-minute mark,

in all likelihood. You know, the players coming on, are they at their standard? Probably not. And we saw against Netherlands in particular, that being a real problem for Canada and Jesse Marsh. So that's part of the journey, right? Even 2026 is coming pretty soon. We're still young. We're still doing

the right things, but there's still much to do in Canadian football, Canadian soccer. We're seeing it grow with CPL, with League Ones across Canada now as well. 10 years time will be a different story, I'm sure of it, now as well. 10 years' time will be a different story. I'm sure of it. I'm confident. But even 2026 might be a little bit too soon. While we were

speaking, I think the first major surprise result of the tournament, I know Spain winning the degree, which they did over Croatia, was a surprise, but Romania was a big betting underdog on this. They were plus 3.30 coming in. They're now up 3-0, James. So this one looks like,

yeah, it was a big result for them in this game. Anyway, I want to thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the summer of footy. It's going to be a great month.

Let's do this again. Maybe when Canada gets underway at the Copa America. I'd love to. Absolutely. Thanks, boys. Enjoyed it. Yeah, thank you.

Appreciate it, James. That's James Sharman, host of the Footy Prime podcast, our footy analyst here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I am very excited for Thursday. I don't have great expectations going into the match. I think I understand what is probably going to happen, but it's the matches afterwards that I'm not most curious for.

I'm most curious to see what they'll look like against a team of this quality. Yeah. But I think that there's an opportunity to get a result because Marsh even said at the end of the- Get a result against Argentina or Peru and Chile? No, no, no. I guess Peru and Chile. Okay.

Because what Marsh said after the draw against France was he was almost like, let's just tap the brakes. Like it was a goalless draw in a friendly. Yeah. A match in which France might not have put the proverbial foot to the pedal and the pedal to the metal. They were just kind of going for a run. They had their chances and they brought on Mbappe late to try and win it. But it didn't have the feel of a cutthroat,

this match matters type match. They'll get that against Peru and Chile. Those are huge matches for those countries. It's going to be played with intensity. There's going to be big crowds. That's the big thing, right? I mean, all due respect to a lot of the qualifiers that Canada played during CONCACAF,

but even that one that they played against Trinidad and Tobago to get into the Copa America, there was like 15 people there. It was basically a closed door match. And you just, it's a lot different when you can feel that you're playing a game and a match of significance that the opposition is fully invested in.

Yeah, there's a fervor there that affects your line of thinking. Look at some of the scenes that are coming out of the Euro. The non-arrest ones, the ones where the English aren't getting arrested for bashing people with plastic chairs. No, that wasn't the English getting arrested.

It was the Serbs. It was. I know, but there were English people getting taken away. But I just always feel bad for those plastic chairs. What do the plastic chairs do? The plastic chairs get thrown around like they're, you know, they have no feelings. The sound of a skirmish in the streets at those Euros

is like you hear, first of all, a smash. Yep. Which is always like a pint glass getting thrown on the ground or something like that and then it's the plastic chairs ah the sounds of football and here's an englishman bleeding on the ground yeah there there's the it's funny because i actually didn't mention that in the rundown when we were going through the three big stories because there were some clashes with police in the obviously german authorities trying to temper a lot of the bad vibes between like clashing supporters groups

and everything but it's pretty standard at this stage of the game that that's what happens at these international tournaments can't wait for 2026 bud yeah i think i mean that's going to be really interesting to see um does fifa just take control of all the security? Does FIFA just come in there? Because I can't imagine the BC Play security and the BC Play services as currently comprised getting the job done in the World Cup. Okay. So there's an interesting dynamic here because. And they need to improve the quality of the hot dogs.

They're going to be bringing in a bunch of plastic chairs in preparation we saw you guys love everybody gets one yeah um where the tournament is held dictates this a lot because people were pointing out like in qatar in december in 2022 they didn't have as much of an issue because it was a lot more difficult for people to get there there was a lot more travel involved uh a north american world cup is going to be interesting because you won't have as pronounced a european contingent the flip side of it is you will have a south american contingent right especially in the games that are in the u.s and in mexico i think there's gonna be a lot of europeans traveling there will be but Europeans traveling. There will be, but it won't be like what

we're seeing right now. I think it might be. I think it might be. People will take advantage of this being in North America and they'll be like, we're going, we're going. There will be English families and German families and French families that say, we've

never been to Disneyland before. So let's go to the World Cup and we'll go to Disneyland as well. Like it, I think there's going to be, I think that's, that's actually one of the things I'm really looking forward to is all the people. It'll be like the winter Olympics, but maybe even bigger in terms of the people traveling to

the matches and the atmosphere around the matches. I just hope it all goes well. I hope that everything is planned well. There's going to be a skirmish here and there. Uh, but if you can. skirmish here and there. But if you can... The Fan Fest here at the PNE. That's going to be a major focal point.

There's going to be a lot of people there. There's going to be a lot of FIFA delegates and representatives there. It's going to be a hub. And it's cool that it's here. And I'm with you. I hope that it all goes off. Okay.

Okay, you're going to do the CFL report. Yeah, so going in... Give me one sec here. The CFL report is brought to you by Securian Canada. We're going to discuss, all due respect to the rest of the league, our British Columbia Lions, who are now 1-1 on the season after defeating the Calgary Stampeders. A lot of people were there on Saturday night at BC Place.

Now you look ahead to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who are not off to a good start. As a matter of fact, it's one of the worst starts in recent memory. They're 0-2 after dropping a pair of games at home. Their opener, 27-17 against Montreal, then going on the road in Game 2 and losing 23-19 to the Red Hawks. To Ottawa. Look at the headlines at this Winnipeg newspaper.

Plenty to be concerned about as Bombers fall to 0-2 in Ottawa. Alarm bell heard all the way from Nation's capital. Can you imagine if that was just an alarm bell? What is that thing? Turn that thing on. It's not the blue one.

And then injuries continue to mount for Bombers' defensive line, which is probably good news for the BC Lions offensive line, and says starting the season 0-2 for the first time in eight years wasn't enough for the football gods, apparently. So you can look at this in either two ways for

the BC Lions. First of all, good. Winnipeg doesn't seem as good this year. Or, uh-oh, they're going to be really motivated for their game against the BC Lions. When we had Moj on the show last week, I asked him, I said,

has the strength of the CFL migrated to the Eastern division, which for years, it was kind of like, and the winner of the East division finishes at, you know, like nine and eight or something like that. It was, it was,

you know, it was, it wasn't great. The Thai cats could never get there. Ticats could never get there. Yeah, they could never get there. So speaking of the Ticats, they are one of the three 0-2 teams in the CFL right now. Two of them, of course, are in the West Division.

It's the Bombers and the Elks. And you mentioned the issues that the Bombers are having on the defensive line. They're also having issues on offense. They haven't eclipsed 20 points in either of their two games this year. And at 31 points collectively, they're the lowest scoring team in the CFL right now. I don't know who the best team

in the West is. I don't think... By the record, it's Saskatchewan. Okay, but I... By the record. By the record, but I don't know if they are. The Lions, some good in their opening week loss to Toronto,

but more bad than good, and they ended up losing that game to the Argos. Then they came home against Calgary, got off to a sputtering start, but got the job done in the end. But it's Calgary. I don't think Calgary's that good. I honestly don't think Calgary's that good I honestly don't know I I don't it's if Winnipeg is no longer a force in the west that's obviously good for BC but at the same time I'm looking at the west I'm going like I don't know if any of these teams are all that good so it is the BC Lions at Winnipeg

on Friday this Friday June 21st a 5 30 our time kickoff. That was the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. Coming up on the Halford & Brough Show, a very cool guest coming up on the show. He is the founder of Puckpedia. Hart Levine is going to join us as we look for the next iteration of CapFriendly. It's already out there. Some say it's Puckpedia, And it could be a very trafficked website as we get closer and closer to CapFriendly

going dark in early July. Hart Levine is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. You're listening to the Easy Listening Alfred Ab and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Laddie just got in my ear and said, here's a little dad rock for you. That rhythm guitar, oh, so good. Often interchangeable with yacht rock, dad rock. One of my favorites here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Greg is also wearing a sweatshirt that just says dad across the front of it. Three letters.

All of them silver. Did Rosie go out and buy that for you? For Father's Day? Just so you guys would know that I'm a dad. Happy Father's Day. Happy belated Father's Day to all the dads out there. Yeah. That's why we mentioned it at 735 halfway through the show,

because that's very befitting of a dad. I hope there were lots of naps on the couch yesterday watching the final round of the U.S. Open, and you wake up and you're like, hey, how'd you miss that, Rory? What happened? What's up, Rory? You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Halford & Brough in the morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda, North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. Visit them online at pacifichonda.ca. Hart Levine is going to join us in just a moment here, the founder of Puckpedia. Before we get to him, I need to tell you that hour two of this program is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer, meticulously brewed for quality and taste.

Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some at a liquor store near you, or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. So the news we've been talking about over the last couple weeks, the Washington Capitals have reached a deal to buy Cap Friendly, the lifeblood of many a sports talk radio show in Canada. You're on there constantly. It's going to go dark in early July.

So what are we going to do without CapFriendly? Well, why not Puckpedia? Joining us now, the founder of said website, Hart Levine joins us now on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Hart. How are you? I'm doing great and nice and relaxed after that music.

Thanks for that. No problem. Yeah, we like to soothe our guests before we get them on the air. I just got to start with the most obvious question. How did you get into this whole thing about salary cap tracking and running a website like this in the first place? Well, I was really interested in that and the salary cap and the rules and everything. And, you know, just like most people, I was wasting time at work looking at sites and daydreaming about making trades and thinking I'm smarter than my team's GM.

And I didn't like how the existing sites back in those days, they seemed a little intimidating for casual fans. I thought there should be something that's a little bit easier for someone to get into that wasn't already up to speed on it. I wanted something that had most info I needed in all one place. So, you know, both the salary cap information, but also injury news and transaction news, agent information, things like basic and advanced stats. And I wanted it to be something a little more interactive. So I basically, I thought, well, I want to do something in hockey. I love this stuff. I'm going to just build a website that I want to use and hopefully other people will want to use it. And that's kind of how the site started. So when was that that the site started?

It launched in June 2018. So we're just about to hit six-year anniversary. So I know for some people they're just discovering it, but it's been working on it basically for seven years, a seven-year grind to get here. So not overnight, that's for sure. So what was your reaction when you heard that CapFriendly had been purchased by the Washington Capitals and that you were now going to be in the pole position

um well first of all very happy for them i mean they should be really proud of their accomplishment and it's exciting to go work for a team so you know really happy for them and um first reaction was wow i'm really just glad that literally three days before we did a bunch of work to upgrade the server and the capacity and the speed. I felt like because by first, you know, you think, oh, my God, are we going to handle the influx of traffic? But we literally just solved that three days before without knowing this was coming. So that was some relief. And then I'm just really excited for more fans and people to check it out and see the work that we've been doing on the site. I mean, obviously, with more attention,

there's more work to add features and do things like that. But the work of keeping the site updated and entering everything and showing the salary cap results, that's really no different, whether we have five people on the site or millions. So just excited for that work that's been a lot of hard work for all these years, but, five people on the site or millions. So just excited for like that work. That's been a lot of hard work for all these years, but now more people are going to see it. So one of the things that we were talking about cap friendly when we were,

you know, lavishing our praises for the site and saying like, we're going to miss this site is that number one, it was always updated really quickly. Like you could tell there was always someone looking at the site and updating it as soon as possible. And number two, and this is, I guess, a question for you, is like it always felt at CapFriendly that they had more than just, they were relying on more than just the reports of reporters to put in the no-move clauses or the information about the structure of contracts. It felt like they had contacts within the league,

direct contacts that could tell them, yes, that's right, or no, that's wrong. Is that something that you already have? Do you need to work on those contacts? Do you have to develop those contacts? Is that something that's kind of on your plate now? I always can develop more contacts, but I feel really confident that especially over the last couple of years, we've had the contract details and breakdowns faster, more frequently than any other resource out there. I think we've done, again, just maybe not as much attention and following, but I think we've been

first on the contract details and breakdowns on a, on a big chunk of contracts over the last few years. We've even had some to just the news about the contracts first before any of the other reporters. Um, so I think that network has been built up and I feel really comfortable and confident where that's been. And I think that, uh, like I said, always can add more resources and contacts. I think obviously, uh obviously I just had, you know, since this news came out, I've had more people reaching out or people that I've connected with before.

It just seems like they're going to be a little more open now. Maybe they were closer with other people. So I think that's only going to get better. But that's, yeah, that's something that I feel we could put up against any other site or reporters over the last few years. Do teams want all the information out there? Do they want all the correct details on, for example, a player's no-move clause or a no-trade clause?

Is that something they want publicly out there? It varies by the team and by the situation. Some just are, whether they want it or not, a lot of people you meet in hockey in the world, they're just friendly and helpful. And if I've reached out to them asking questions, they're happy to help and they can tell that I'm passionate about having the sites really updated and accurate,

so they're just helpful. Other people, other teams, whether it's them or at the top, they just don't share anything, like good luck getting anything out of the Islanders ever. You know, some teams are like that. And other teams, it kind of comes and goes. Like if all of a sudden there's a lot of media attention about what they can or cannot do at a trade deadline,

all of a sudden I might hear from them just if they want me to adjust the number by a couple thousand because a player actually went up or went down on a Monday versus a Tuesday. You know, like if there's some heat around them and a lot of attention or, you know, people want them to do something and they have less space than you might think, that's when I sometimes hear from them more. They want to just make sure I have the numbers exactly right. And so they're getting the proper amount of criticism or praise. We are speaking to Hart Levine here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hart is the

founder and CEO of Puckpedia, which is going to be a very useful tool for a lot of NHL fans moving forward. Hart, how would you classify your relationship with the actual NHL? I've never heard from anyone with the league office, ever.

I saw the media reports about Kaepernly's relationship, so maybe I will hear from him at some point, but never heard from them. Like I said, I have relationships with people in most front offices and generally quite friendly and helpful, but no one from the league office.

Because Gary Bettman's been pretty vocal on a number of occasions suggesting that fans don't necessarily want this level of information and that it's more of a niche product. I'm paraphrasing a little bit here, but I always found that line of explanation interesting from the commissioner. And I know that there's a risk that's run with having too much information

or whatever they consider proprietary out there. But at the same time, you look at every other league and the amount of salary cap information and individual player salary information that is out there for a lot of teams is even more expansive. So I was always curious what the NHL thinks of this, but I imagine that you guys just kind of go about

your business with your sources. And if you do hear from the league one day, you'll hear from them? Yeah, I think so. I agree that you guys just kind of go about your business with your sources. If you do hear from the league one day, you'll hear from them? Yeah, I think so. I agree with you. It is a big, like the trade signing, the player movement, speculation fuels a lot of interest in the league. Like the NBA is basically a soap opera, right, especially in the summer

or during the season, what players are demanding trades. Like that fuels a lot of interest. There's a lot of people that are fans of the NBA that don't even watch games. They just consume all that other speculation and content. And it's just almost impossible to think about those things, talk about those things without taking into account the salary cap situation. And just to use the NBA for an example, they have a way more complicated salary cap system than the NHL. And, you know, sometimes in those discussions, it is a little hard for fans to understand, you know,

how it all works and fits because there's really complicated rules. And so I do see in some of that commentary, they talk about the salary cap, you know, a team has space for this, but they do have to kind of simplify it. Well, I know there's some intricacies of the NHL salary cap that seems complicated complicated but for the most part it's a pretty simple system there's a hard cap this year's 88 million the cap it is calculated as the average amount over the contract but yeah that's really it like so you know five

million guy a guy with five million dollar cap space the team has six million of cap space like you know you can really use that information to fuel the speculation discussion then there's again there's some intricacies like ltr is a whole different thing, but for, for, you know, the majority of what a fan needs to know about the salary cap to have those debates and discussions and speculation, it's pretty simple to consume. And again, I think a lot of fandom comes from thinking you're either smarter than your team's GM, or you just want to be your team's GM. And you can't really do that anymore without factoring in the salary cap

ramifications. What is the business model for Puckpedia? You know, it's probably what you'd expect. People go on the site, there's some advertising, and then we have our own big database that we built out. So we work with some people on accessing that. Yeah, so that's basically the business model. So a few people have texted in and said,

ask him if he plans to get bought by an NHL team, and then we're going to look for a new Puckpedia. No, no plans. I think that it's important. Again, the reason why I made the site was that I wanted it as a fan. I wanted it out there. I thought that there was a need, it was filling. So it's important that there's a site like this out there, that there's a resource.

And I'm super biased, but I think that our site, I think Puckpedia, you know, is a really good place for people to go. It should have everything that they need and want. I think there's a lot of interesting tools and information on there, like agent information that maybe they didn't know that they were interested in, but when they get there and see it, they realize that that's something that they're interested in. So, yeah, I would love for it to be, you know, a public available website for many years and really be the go-to place for people, for hockey fans to stop most days.

Well, Hart, I can tell you this. You got one new visitor to the site because Joe and Smithers, a longtime listener to the station, just texted in to say that he's checking out Puckpedia right now. So if nothing else, we accomplished something today on this hit, which is great. Thanks a lot for doing this today. We really appreciate it.

Best of luck with Puckpedia moving forward. I'm sure Jason and I will be on it a bunch. And again, thanks for doing this. Thanks. Really appreciate it. Appreciate the support. Puckpedia moving forward. I'm sure Jason and I will be on it a bunch and again, thanks for doing this. Thanks, really appreciate it. Appreciate the support. Thanks. That's Hart Levine, the founder and CEO of Puckpedia here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650 and as I mentioned, Joe and Smith are

checking it out right now. Yeah, there must be a lot of pressure on Puckpedia because as soon as CapFriendly goes dark, like I have CapFriendly in my bookmarks and I look at it probably, I don't know, on an average show 10 times. Yep.

I mean, I know the Canucks cap picture pretty well, but if we talk about another team, as soon as we start talking about that team, I just click the bookmark and okay, now I can talk a little bit more intelligently, like 5% more intelligently. Marginally. About that team because you can quickly see the

challenges that they're going to have in any off season. You can quickly see, okay, what is their window? If you look at the contract situations of players, like take the Edmonton Oilers, right? Yeah. Everyone now knows that whether the Oilers win the Stanley Cup or not, the question this offseason becomes, okay, what's going on with Dreisaitl?

Because I know he's got one year left on his contract. Then he becomes unrestricted. And then so on July 1st, he can sign an extension if he wants to. Same in Pittsburgh with Sidney Crosby. Yep. I think he brought up a really good point Hart did during that hit was that it's actually a very simple salary cap system that the NHL currently uses.

It's not all that complex. There's a ceiling, and you have to spend below that. There's a certain level that you can hit, and you can't go above it. It's a hard cap. It's a certain level that you can hit and you can't go above it it's it's a hard cap it's a hard ceiling so when you hear from people within the the nhl in the league front office suggesting that there's not an appetite for this i would actually push back and suggest that hockey perhaps among all of the big four sports probably lends itself to the most intrigue and interest because it's not that difficult to figure out. There's no Supermax contract.

There's no Larry Bird rights. There's no guaranteed money and non-guaranteed money in a lot of the other leagues. It's very simple and straightforward, and that's why sites like CapFriendly became so big and so popular and why NHL teams were using them. You know, I wanted to ask this question, but for whatever reason, I didn't.

And Tyler texts in, does he ever have a fear of the NHL putting their money behind a site similar to his that would compete but also have information extremely fast? I do wonder, but I should have asked the question. I didn't. I dropped the ball there. But you know how the NHL did the complete about face on sports betting?

Uh, yep. Like before sports betting. Oh, that has done a few about faces before. Complete about face. It was just like, we do not want betting on our games. And sometimes I wonder if Batman is being, you know, people are like, what is he talking about when he says like maybe some fans have interest in this but we don't think it's a we don't think it's a particularly big deal are they just positioning themselves to build their own site and have all the information publicly available

some people might say probably not because those franchises still do have the right to, you know, say, no, this is, this is private. You know,

um, it's like Hart said, good luck getting any, any information out of the Islanders. While the reason for that is Lou Lamorello is super secretive, but I suppose the NHL could just draft new rules and be like, you have to disclose this stuff because this is part of the business model now. We're going to create a website that has all this stuff, and we're going to be the ones that capture the website traffic and the revenue that goes with it.

Couldn't you see them going the other way, though, where they put their money into maybe muddying the waters even more, making it more difficult for these websites to get this information? Because they don't want that info out there, I think, a lot of the time. So Bettman said, but do they or don't they? I don't think they do. But why not? Give a good reason why they don't want the information out there. Because it makes the agents more aware of other contracts and what

other players are getting and what they could possibly get for their clients, which is bad for the team. I'm not sure there's a real concrete reason why they don't. I think Laddie just gave a pretty good theory there. Yeah, it's a good theory, but I don't think there's one particular concrete reason why they don't. I also think part of it is it's very much the league's reputation

and that they like having things not publicly available. You don't get a real look behind the curtain on a lot of things. No. With the National Hockey League, be it player safety, be it officials, right? Officials,

yeah. That's a big one. How are officials graded and moved along to the subsequent rounds? Or even stat keeping. It's like pulling teeth to get the league to do something about it. Bettman said back in 2015 that there was, there doesn't seem to be, quote, driving fan interest in having these numbers available.

And that was almost 10 years ago. But that's almost him being like, I feel like, no, intentionally disingenuous. Yeah. Lawyerly, if you will. Bettman being lawyerly? No. See, Bettman's not afraid to say things that people are like,

what are you talking about? Are you crazy? Of course there's fan interest in there. And whenever he says something like that, I'm kind of like, what do you got up your sleeve? Yeah, because the kicker was this. He said, GMs have access to our information. The tools that we have for internal business are different,

but everything we do internally for business purposes doesn't necessarily need to be made public. So to me, that's just the sort of NHL's MO. It's like we do things and we keep it behind closed doors. And that's just the way that we do business. And that's why I asked heart,

what are your relationship with the teams? Like, can you call up or text the assistant general manager or the capologist, whoever the capologist and say like, Hey, do we have the information right on this contract? Some teams will be like, no, actually, it's a 10-team no-trade clause, not a 12-team no-trade clause. Right.

And other teams will be like, I'm not, why would I give you that information? I wonder how much information he gets from agents. Small and anecdotally, I bet the NHL, like for example, if everything was to be made available, like let's say every player's 10-team no-trade list was publicly available, I bet the NHL would be like, we don't want it out there that everyone has Winnipeg on their no-trade list. Yeah, I don't think it would ever get to the point where it would have their actual no-trade list, but whether or not it is a 10-team no-trade list

or what are the limits of their trade protection, et whether or not it is a 10 team, no trade list, or, uh, you know, what, what are the, are the limits of their trade protection, et cetera, et cetera. I just wonder, because it could be a money-making venture for them. That's all. Well, you know, like it's, it's, it's revenue, but I don't know if that's enough revenue for, for them to build their own website. And, you know, the thing is, too, if the NHL built its own website, you know there'd be something lame about it.

That's true. Like, it wouldn't be all the information that we need. So it would kind of be like, you know, there are advanced stats. Nobody goes to the NHL website for their actual edge. Is that what it's called? Well, that's a little, it's a little different. That's, that's like the motion track, the motion tracking. This is a little different,

but I think most people who want their advanced stats from a game or from a season, they're still going to natural stat trick, right? They're going to someone that has a little bit more experience tracking it and all that. I mean, cause the NHL, they just care about it. They care about it. You can tell that those

sites, those individual sites care about it. Coming up on the Halverd and Brough show on Sportsnet 650, we're going to go back to the Stanley Cup final. Randy Janda is going

to join us on your home of the Canucks Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions. The roar is back at BC Place for the

BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at bclions.com. One final hour of the program coming up. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.