Halford & Brough in the Morning - Canada Needs To Figure Out How To Score

Episode Date: June 8, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason look at Canada Soccer ahead of the World Cup with OneSoccer reporter Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (1:24), plus the boys discuss the latest Canucks news with NHL.com & In Goal Magazine's Kevin Woodley (30:49). 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.

Happy Monday, everybody. Halford, Robb, Sportsnet, 650. Halverdorf of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. They're open seven days a week and open late to help you get debt-free. With no judgment or upfront fees, visit them today at sands-trustee.com. We are now in our two of the program. Alex Gungay Ruzik from One Soccer is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour two of this program is brats by Jason Homanock at Jason.

If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around. to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. Dow Mortgage. We're coming to live from the Kintech Studio. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. Guests on SportsNet 650. Call in on the ABLE Auctions hotline.

Email sales at ABLEeauctions.ca to get your business assets sold and your building cleared. Let's go now to the Able Auctions hotline. Our next guest from one soccer, Alex Gungay-Ruzik, joins us now in the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Alex. How are you? I'm doing well. Good morning, guys. Hope you well. We are well. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

We're very excited about World Cup Week getting underway. We're now just four days away from Canada, Bosnia, in Toronto. Noon on Friday. I'm reminded to all of our listeners, we've got a pre-match show right here on Sportsnet 650, beginning at 11 o'clock in the morning. So as we look ahead to Friday's match, Alex, there's some issues with this Canadian team, to put it mildly. Let's start on the health front.

was a weekend of mixed messages as it pertains to moist Bombito at centerback. What do you know about Bombito's availability as it stands right now for Friday's match against Bosnia? Yeah, well, that's the million dollar question. The thing is now since it's World Cup time, there's obviously a lot of mind games, a lot of mixed messaging, a lot of, you know, it's the World Cup. You don't want to go in here and completely reveal your hand. let's just say. So for Mouzbomito, we know obviously he's not 100%. I think that's the one

saying he didn't look 100% against Uzbekistan and the friendly on Monday. The fact that he didn't play against Ireland was a huge red flag. It sounded like on Saturday they played a bit of a, you know, intra-squad sort of game against Vermont Green or scrimmage, I guess, would probably be the more appropriate word. He played. It sounded like he didn't look good. So we know he's not 100%. But from Jesse Marsh's perspective, obviously he wants to keep things open because even if Bombito is too injured to be in this squad, they have until Thursday, 12 Pacific, 3 Eastern to name a replacement, obviously 24 hours before their first game. By the way, a disadvantage for the host team since they all play so early, less time to make these sorts of last minute

replacement. So he wants to take as much data available to him, but it doesn't look good, is what I would say. So obviously, I imagine there's a lot of conversations. Someone like Ralph Preso, the Vancouver Whitecaps will be on standby. I think the fact that Bumboito isn't 100% kind of puts Presol on the edge anyways to replace Marcelo. Flores is something we're still waiting to find out, but it's clear that something's up with Bumboito. Now we'll see over the next days what Marsh really was kind of hinting at what he kind of. joked yesterday. I still haven't made that replacement yet.

How concerning is all this, Flores, Bombito? Those are pretty important players. Well, Bombito really is the biggest one so far. Because he's kind of in that core group, I'd say, of, well, five, six best players on this Canadian team straight up. Like, he's there in terms of the Alfonso Davies, the Jonathan Davids, you know, Isamalkone, Tejohn-Buch, he's in that group.

And arguably, of them, he's, Canada's most important player. You could probably have a convincing argument to make because of how quick he is, how strong of a defender with how Canada's going to play, which is high-pressing, aggressive. He's a sort of guy that can make a system like that kick

and not having him on the field makes Canada worse defensively. So absolutely it's a concern with Bombito, and it's just a concern in general because now you're looking at the core of this team being affected by these injuries. Ali Ahmed, is another one that, you know, he doesn't look like

it'll be 100% for the World Cup opener. And Canada's missed him in these past few games, not having that presence on the left wing. Marcelo Flores, like mentioned earlier, we hadn't seen a lot of them. So it's not as if you're talking about a huge, huge loss of someone who's central list team, but he was a wild card.

He was an X factor. I got a kind of guy that could break open World Cup games. We don't have to talk about Davies how important he is with just, you know, he's Canada's best player. It's full stop. He is at Canada's most talented player and just not having him on the field will make Canada less dynamic.

So it definitely hurts because the way I see it is Canada's losing a lot of ceiling raisers with all these injuries. Their floor is still strong. They still got a solid squad, but they're missing a lot of guys now that could help them win World Cup games that could help them tip over the top when it comes to getting decisive results.

Let's say, it seems likely, that Bombito does not play, at least in the opener against Bosnia. is it a given that Luke Dufuserole steps in at centerback? And if so, how much can we realistically expect from a very talented guy, but also a guy that just turned 20 in October? Yeah, well, I think Luke Dufussela has done enough to earn that opportunity. I mean, the credit to him, like he said 20,

he only has one full professional season under his belly's mostly played, you know, academy football to this point, and had a cup of coffee with Fulham a couple of seasons ago. But to his credit, whenever Jesse Marsh was called upon him, he's been excellent. Like Gold Cup, he really put in some good performances last summer throughout the fall while Bombito has been hurt for a while. We saw a lot of good from the food drill this week. You know, we're two weeks out from World Cup.

He's arguably been Canada's best player across these friendly. So as for the second question, we don't know, because obviously playing Uzbekistan and Ireland and these sorts of tune up friendly there's a big difference between playing Bosnia in front of a sold-out home crowd, hopefully for a home world cup is just such different stakes.

And you don't know how you're going to react from it, but what I will say, given what he's shown, he seemed to have this strong mental makeup. Like he seems to be someone who's kind of unafraid of these sorts of big occasions. So I feel relatively confident that it'll do well. But like you mentioned, he's 20. you just don't know how that first showing is going to go on a big stage.

So it's obviously a bit maybe at least from an outside perspective. You're looking at him and then a centerback and Derek Cornelius who hadn't played a whole lot at the end of this season. You think, okay, that's maybe not fully ideal, but we're going to have to bank on it because that's kind of where things are at for Canada. It's going to be the bigger challenge for Canada. Scoring goals or defending? I'd say scoring them because scoring them has been,

It's been an issue for a while now. Somehow, defensively, for all these injuries they've had, like I mentioned earlier, Bombito, Misty, Err, Derek Cornelius, you know, he had some injuries. And, of course, it hasn't been informed. Despite all that, Canada's been good defensively. They've continued to get results. It's just they can't score.

I think it's something in their last, you know, since last fall, they ended up playing six friendlies in the fall, and then they played four games. So 10, half of them have been draws because they just simply can't score. They can't break open games against Ireland. That was one where they should have scored the goals to break it open. You look in the March window where they drew Tunisia and Issa.

Both games just left there thinking off. Only they could have created a bit more chances and broken open those games. Ditto in the fall. So I absolutely think that goals are the problem with this team. Because you date back to the end of Copp America, which is almost two years now. they've only outright lost two games that spent. Obviously, Guatemala, they lost some penalty, so that doesn't outright count as a loss

because, you know, what wasn't regulation, it counts as a draw. But that shows that heading into this tournament, I'm not worried about Canada's ability to get draws. I'm worried about their ability to turn some of those draws into win. So absolutely, it's the goal scoring for me. Who are they going to rely on to create these chances? Against Ireland, the guy I noticed the most was Liam Miller,

but that might have just been his hair. Hard to miss him with this. No, absolutely. Liam Miller's going to have to be won. Obviously, with Ali Ahmed not being 100%, although it sounds like he'll be able to play in some form because Ahmed does a lot of important lifting when he's on the field for Canada.

So obviously that's him missing these last few games has been felt. But Liam Miller is going to have to be one with his dribbling, with his energy. He gets into good, positions just sometimes for him. It's always been about the decision making. Are you shooting instead of passing?

Right. Instead of shooting. We saw that a few times against Island where, again, you can't approach the guy because he had confidence, he had energy, but there's a few shots where he was thinking, okay, if you're shooting from there, you have to hit the target or you have to make that that right pass. You can't put it into the upper deck? No, especially not on a four on three where he got three players around.

You would very much love to shoot the ball. Yeah. So that's obviously one, Tejanon Buchanan as well in the other wing. he's getting in a lot of good spots, but it's a bit tougher for him at times because he's a bit of a shoot first player. Sometimes he wants to take the ball and just drive, but as a winner in this sort of Canadian system,

you need to find these crossing opportunities for your strikers. So I want to see a bit more from Tejohn Bucannon. And I think a lot of onus is going to have to go on the midfielders, too, is Smok-Kone in particular. He has the tools to be extremely creative to break open games because up front, obviously the way the system to design Jonathan David is being asked to create a lot of chances. And to his credit, he's doing a good job at that side of his game. But as we know, he's a good finisher.

We want to see him in the box. We want to see him pushed up. And the midfielers and wingers can help with that. I think then maybe we'll see less of Jonathan David, you know, dropping down and feeling like he has to do it all. So obviously, Jonathan David as well is going to be key to this. But I'd like to see some of the other guys around kind of help that load so he can get in the box. do what he does best. Do you think Jonathan David is doing a good job of creating?

Well, he's creating, but he's not getting, it's a bit of a mixed bag because you lose what he can do in terms of creating for himself. He's creating for others. Most games, he's creating two, three chances, statistically, he's making opportunities for others, but he's not shooting the ball enough. Like, in the last 10 games,

you've gotten more than two or three shots in a game, maybe only twice. Iceland was one of them. like he's just straight up not creating enough for himself. So that's the tradeoff right. I'd say where again, yeah, you would want Jonathan David to be getting on the end of some of these chances he creates for others. And that's just kind of the tradeoff that you get in this system,

which is why I think a lot of people aren't necessarily happy with it playing with these two strikers because it just feels like you're getting less out of Jonathan David. And he's good enough that he can play the role, but you just know what he can do when he's leading the line, when he's up front, when he's informal. We just haven't seen it for a while now because of that. Yeah, that's what was kind of leading into my next question.

I wanted to get your thoughts on the Kyle Lairn, Jonathan David, pairing up front, and if Marsh needs to reimagine it, having used it both against Uzbekistan and Ireland. I think you have to consider it, right? Because heading into the World Cup, the reality is the pair just hasn't worked together under Jesse Marsh. They had some moments, you know, in the last World Cup cycle, like Thailand was automatic in 2021.

We know how good Jonathan David was, but the reality is, since Marsh has taken over, the numbers have been pretty stark. Kyle Aaron has just one goal, right? And in 24 appearances, I think it is now under Jesse Marsh, considering a lot of them were starts leaving the line with Jonathan David, you know, that's just not at the level you'd want from him, especially if, you know, him playing their takes away from some, some of what Jonathan David does best.

So for me personally, I think you have to absolutely rethink it. The one issue I've always had with the two is that they're very similar. They both run in the same areas. They both want the ball in a certain area. Cutbacks, they're both running into the same spaces. And for strikers, that's hard because when you're playing off each other as a pair, you have to be able to have dynamic movements that, you know, confuse his defense.

You need to have one guy going behind and one guy. guy drop in the feet and you see it many times both want to drop the feet both want to receive the ball sometimes almost run into each other and that's why i think someone like tany louis she could be a good option look you're running into some of the same problems with tany of louis she he only has two goals since jesse marsh has taken over but he creates a lot more chances a lot more shots when he's on the field and i think the big reason is he's just in different positions when he's there you know he's going to constantly be running in behind he's going to he's never going to be running into Jonathan David. I'll tell you that. So that's the

trade-off you get with Tanya Lois Shea that he's going to get more chances and he's probably going to miss more of them just because that's what it's been like for him. But I think considering that when Jonathan David and Kyle Lanner on the field, a lot doesn't happen, I think you have to bank on the one who creates chances versus

versus the ones who don't. Boys, boys, I'm getting a bit worried here. Well, okay, hold on. Are we even going to beat Qatar here? I was just going on. I was just about to bring a positivity. We're speaking to Alex Gangay-Ruzig from one soccer. on the Halford and Brough show on SportsEd 650. Glass half full, some positivity from this hit.

What have you thought of Max Crapos play since being named the starter for Canada? Oh, he was unreal against Ireland, right? That's huge for me because, like we mentioned earlier, you asked about the defense and I chose to talk about the attack because I am worried, but the defense has been pretty good. The system is, you play a high line, the reality is mistakes look bad.

Yeah. If you make a missed assignment and your centerback below the opposing, you know, the circle, yeah, okay, it's going to end up in a breakway. Exactly. He falls over and runs into a teammate. You're going to have breakways. So it's nice to know that Maxime Cripo, he relishes these big moments. He's willing to make a big game. He's one of those goalkeepers.

And we saw that at L.AFC a few years ago. Obviously, that will hurt Whitecaps fans to have seen it because he went on one in an MLS Cup. I'm a less cup and we know how things ended here in Vancouver, but he can go 30 minutes, no sweat, right? Because you're not doing anything, and all of a sudden it's breakaway, and he's ready. And that's always such a tough skill for goalkeepers playing in top, or systems like this where you're going long periods

without seeing action, but then you step up against Ireland. He faced three shots. One obviously was the penalty. This is the one that he saved. The other one was the rebound to the penalty, which went in. Not much you can do about. that and the other one was a breakway in the 83rd minute where

guys right in front you with the game on its foot and you react and make such a good save. To me, that's super encouraging that. If Krepo is making eight saves or if he's making two, he seems dialed in and locked in to what he's going to do because that might be a reality for Canada. You can see something where against Bosnia, against Qatar, against Switzerland where they have a good defense performance, but maybe there's some breakdowns for whatever reason.

It's nice to know that your goalkeeper will be there to clean up those messes and that just makes Canada stronger defense. They can take more risks. They can play even more aggressive knowing that the guy behind them. They have full confidence in what he can do. So I want to end this hit by talking big picture about what success would look like and how we would classify it for Canada at this World Cup. Because the country has such a limited history at the World Cup,

a lot of first would be seen as a success, right? Getting a point out of a match, that would be a first. Getting a win, that would be a first. Getting out of the group, that would be a first. I also look at it in the scope of, let's say they draw with Bosnia and they beat Qatar. And let's say that's the, they get four points and they squeak out of the group. Is success those results and getting to the round of 32 in a 48 team world cup? It's a very likely hypothetical that that's what happens or that's the minimum.

Would that be considered a success for Canada or would we still feel like there was something left on the team? see for me I would say that's a bare minimum I know that might sound you know a lot for like you mentioned a country that hasn't won a World Cup game that doesn't even have a World Cup point they only have two World Cup goals

but I think you have to be realistic your host right you're playing on home soil that's always going to be an advantage in football and soccer the sport you have an easy draw not to say

you know but I'll be clear with Bosnia, Qatar, and Switzerland, that's not easy teams, but relative to what you could have gotten, it's an easy drop. It could have been a lot worse. Yeah, absolutely I have to look at this as an opportunity. And the reality is on paper. Canada has every tool imaginable to beat Bosnia, Qatar, same thing, and even Switzerland.

Like, Canada can compete with Switzerland. This isn't four years ago, eight years ago. You're thinking, wow, they were always going to get a good pot two team. One is one not on paper. You can see it maybe it's not going to be a true 50-50, but a 30-70, right? You take those odds if you're Canada. So yeah, absolutely getting out the group should be a minimum because with how this 48 team is, if you win one game, you have something like a 60% chance of getting out.

If you get four points, it's something like 99% someone ran these simulations. So that's a bare minimum. For me, I'm looking at, okay, you get out the group, you get to around a 32, For example, you finish second. Some of your likely opponents or whoever finishes second in Mexico's group. So Mexico, Czechia, South Korea, South Africa in a round of 32 game. Those are games, again, like with Bosnia and Qatar. Canada's capable of winning.

So for me, I think a good tournament would be round to 16, because then there you'd start to get some of the big boys. You get something serious there. Okay, if you're playing Portugal or some other massive team, it's not going to be a 30-7. and like I mentioned, a 40-60, it's going to be a completely different equation. So I'm looking at that round of 16 is a good line. I think if Canada gets there, that means they'll have tick off the important boxes that they still need to tick off,

such as win that first game, and, you know, get out to the knockouts for a first time. And I think we'll have had, you know, that means love won a knockout game, which would have been a massive achievement. So I think that's fair to say, given the way things have turned out for them with the drone and everything. The tournament for Canada gets underway on Friday. We're so close to the start of it now. Alex, thanks a lot for doing this today, man. Great insight. We're really appreciated it. Enjoy this week. It's going to be a lot of fun. We'll do this again soon.

Awesome. Same with you guys. It's going to be a lot of fun. So looking for it. Thanks, Alex. Appreciate it. That's Alex Gunga Ruzik from One Soccer here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What are your expectations? I've said mine already and they are play Switzerland for a chance to win the group. Yep. And if you're doing that, you're probably advancing out of the group. Regardless. Right. But here's the thing.

You could go into play Switzerland for the group, having not really played terrific football prior. Like I said, if you get a draw against Bosnia and the opener, which would be a disappointment, but would still keep you very much alive. And then you beat up on guitar like everyone in the group is expecting to. Have you accomplished that much?

For me, yes. Because of the first. I think the first time Canada would get any points at World Cup. they've just won a game. Yeah, right. That's awesome. And that's great. And one game at the World Cup.

But see, here's, this has always been the tricky part with this tournament is that 2020 was house money. Getting there was great. For sure. This was always about the added benefit of being a home host country. There's such a decided advantage. And there's such a history before, especially of neophytes in the game that have gone in and hosted and done great things with it.

really embraced it. The one that hasn't, in recent memory, was Qatar. They were way in over their heads. But they're Qatar, right? Like, they don't have a ton of players to draw from. You know what a lot of people are saying. We're Canada. It's Canada.

Yeah. What is Canada done on the global stage outside of a really impressive Copa America performance two years ago? Yeah. That would suggest that they're ready to do this. Furthermore, who's suggesting it with the health concerns that this team has? Now, I don't think the Bosnia, like, they could lose that game. They could lose their first game.

They could. I'm more concerned with what it's going to look like as opposed to how the results are going to go in the first match. Because I think that there's points on the table through all three games, even Switzerland. I think they need to get points. They do for sure. But if it doesn't look like they, here's the thing with it. they're not in control of the match. Let me dial this back.

Okay. They put together a good second half against Uzbekistan after a very bad first half. And they put together a nice 35 minutes against Ireland and then it kind of fell apart. Yeah. So you saw glimpses of what it could be with the caveat of Marsh saying, if this was the real thing, we'd be full throttle, pedal to the metal, all the starters in, no subs, no turning over the roster. We'd take this legit. Right. If I don't see signs of that right from the get,

you're worried, then you're worried. It could go, like, you need to have a fast start against Bosnia. You need to show them that you're going to be all the cliches on the front foot, high pressing, you know, showing the kind of personality that Marsh has, and here's the thing, Mars has said this team has had, but it hasn't really manifested itself in practice a lot, especially over the last year. And part of it has always been what? well, we're not at full strength.

Well, this was a friendly. Well, this was a tune up. Gold Cup. Well, we're trying to build the depth of the program. We're trying to add guys to the mix. We're not playing with our true starting 11. It'll come closer when we play in the 2026 World Cup. Well, now the 26 World Cup is here.

And I would say they're going to be without two of their top five players in Davies and Bombito. Yeah. But we're still going to allow ourselves the dream of Canada playing at B.C. place in a knockout stage game. I think it's the minimum expectation is to be in the round of 32. But I'm talking about winning the group and playing in a knockout stage game at BC place. Which they would.

They would have to win the group. Otherwise, they're going somewhere else. And you would have to win the group. And it's a tall order. Yeah. It's a tall order to win that group. I'll just say it. It is, I don't know if they are going to be able to fully execute what Marsh wants

them to do. And here's the important thing. And Alex brought this up. They're going to be able to score the goals. that they need to. Jonathan David is a curious player to me. I don't notice him and I'm not a soccer expert, but I know sports. And when I watch him on the, like, I know he scores goals,

but I don't see him creating all that much. He does a really nice, you know when he's at his most effective for Canada? Is when he drops deep and starts doing the nice little layoffs to midfielders and they can play through him, the old Jamie Tart from Ted Lassow. Don't play to me, play through me. That's when he's at his best. The problem is that Canada needs him to be a guy that does so much more than that. Right.

You can't just be a link up player and you can't just be a facilitator. You are our best striker. You play in one of the finest leagues in the world. You've scored goals in the French league at a rate with some of the best strikers in the world. He had a tough year. How was he a youth? He scored six goals. Right?

It wasn't enough. Yeah. You wouldn't say he's in form right now. Nope. But he's healthy. and he's the best option that they have. So they play with two strikers. Yep. Correct? Him and Kyle Laren?

Yes. Okay. What is the alternative to playing with two strikers? Just one? I don't think they're going to entertain it. I think what it'll be is will we play two different strikers? Meaning, do we put Kyle Laren on the bench and do we put Tanny Leroy with Shea there? Okay. Because as Alex said, one of the issues with Laren and David, and this is so spot on, this is why Alex is a good soccer journalist.

They run into the same spaces. they want the same type of service. It's hard for them to play off one another because both of them want to do almost the exact same things of all the time. Stylistically, I'm shocked that Marsh hasn't changed it up, but I think, here's the thing.

I think he wants it to work. Remember how I said he wants Dane St. Clair to be the starting net minder, but eventually he came to his realization that Max Pitpole was that guy. I think he wants Laren and David to work because they are the two best pure strikers, but he may have to come to the realization

that it just doesn't work together. Doesn't this happen a lot or not a lot? Sometimes that in international football when you bring in good players from various clubs and you think these guys are going to be great together and they're not? No, lots of times. They just don't click.

Was it England with Gerard and Lampard? Was that? Yeah, they had the three of them. It was the golden era of Gerard and Terry and Lampard. But then it just became this thing of like in the spine and in the middle of the park, you need to be able to have a chemistry and a connection. And all those guys were alphas for their teams.

So it's hard to suddenly go to, well, I'm not ball dominant or I'm not the guy that we're running through or I'm not the guy that's on set pieces or doing the service and doing the delivery. You need to be able to read off one another. And international football a lot of the times, you just don't have the reps with each other to. I know where this guy wants the ball. I know where this guy's going to be where I need to lay off. All those sorts of things. Because it's very complicated. And this guy wants the ball all the time and that doesn't leave the ball much for me.

Well, compare it to Canada when they go. to international play in hockey with the Olympics is you try and bring guys that have some chemistry together and you know, Kup often did it with some of the Tampa Bay guys. But also, when you find something that clicks, you milk it for all it's worth.

When he realized what Celebrini could bring in a role, suddenly it was like, well, we're just going to use this as much as humanly possible, right? Celebrini, remember when the tournament started, he wasn't expected to be a 25 minute a night forward,

but by the time the gold medal game ran around, he was the guy. And so you have to be able to be cognizant of those things in a short tournament that your ideas and your preconceived notions might not be right. You have to be selfless enough to say, I'm just going to go with what works. Critics to be damned, this is what's happening.

And even I might not think it's the way that we're going to be successful. The proof is in the pudding in front of it. Right. Okay. Kevin Woodley is going to join us next and the Carolina Hurricanes have a big decision to make in goal. Do you stick with Brandon Buyer? or do you go back to Frederick Anderson? We'll talk about that and more with Kevin Woodley coming up next on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650.

But before we go to break, I do need to tell you about our friends VGH Plus hometown heroes lottery. They need your support to help change lives. BC's bravest answer the call. Your ticket answers theirs. Support BC's best value hospital home lottery and get your tickets now for your chance to win big and to help big. A reminder tickets are on sale now.

you can get them at London drugs. You can also get them at Hometownheroeslottery.com. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance. 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. 737 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford, brough, SportsNet, 650.

737, yikes. Halpert and Brub of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. They're ready to give you the financial fresh start you deserve. With no judgment or upfront fees, visiting today at Sands dash trustee.com. Once we get you going on soccer, it's tough to stop you. I looked up and I was like, it's 7.30. Haven't even done the hometown heroes lottery. You guys just straight of don't respect Woodley, eh?

No, not really. Saying the quiet part out loud now. I saw Kev on Sunday morning. You guys did a little fun run together. Well, I don't know if Kev did the run. I did. The RBC race for the kids. You know me, selfless. First word that comes to mind when I think of Jason.

I was out there on Sunday morning. I was like, it's cold. Unpleasant weather this weekend. Weird. Junuary, they call it. They call it junuary. Nation's Cup was this weekend in Richmond. Oh, yeah.

Tough scene for the beer garden on a rainy wet Sunday morning. Although things cleared up. Apparently things cleared up for the finals. Okay. We are in hour two of the program. Hour 2 is Braddivet Jason Hominoch at Jason.morg. If you love paying too much for your mortgage,

then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. mortgage to the ABLE Auctions hotline. We go. Our next guest is a presentation of White Rock Hyundai. Kevin Woodley here on the Halford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What up, Kev? Well, to answer Jason's query, I did not run. It was a brisk walk.

That is part of the thing with, you know, the whole White Rock Hyundai and shifting this morning show segment from, you know, the morning wood, the ED to EVs. It's all about efficiency now, boys, at my age. So it was a brisk pace. no injuries were sustained funds were raised for a good cause I will say it's actually probably the only sort of positive negative of having back surgery

about 10 years ago they're like you really shouldn't run anymore no more jogging and I was like you know what that sounds like a great idea yeah I broke the course record did you yeah people were like are you Kenyan I'm like no no I'm not um so long strides bruff those long strides Yeah, I did not break the course record.

I nearly need an ambulance, though. Okay, Kev, what do the Carolina Hurricanes do in goal? I don't know, but I think the right choice might be a hard choice. There's no time for sentiment here. And this is no disrespect, obviously, to Frederick Anderson, who's been sensational right up to the Cup final. But the truth is, neither goal in the Cup final has been great. Frankly, neither has the defense in front of them.

I'm like, I don't know. Last I checked, giving a breakaway, so it's not a good thing. And the Carolina hurricanes in particular seems to just panning them out like Halloween candy. So it's not all on him where they're at, but at the end of the day, you're allowed to stop the tough ones too. Neither him no heart have. And the difference between Carolina and Vegas is they got a guy on their bench. See, the biggest question with Bussie was I thought he would play in the playoffs. but I thought a lot sooner.

But they got through every round so fast. I thought we were going to see, I'm actually willing to bet, if the gap between game two and game three in round one against Ottawa wasn't a two-day break that you might have seen Busty in game three because game two went to double overtime and you could see fatigue in Anderson's game. Like you could see it plain as day. You can see the movement patterns get sloppy. and I thought maybe are we seeing that a little bit right now

when part of this is what Vegas does they're working the canes behind the net off the cycle they're forcing you know in that in that man defense they're forcing him to turn around and find guys and they're forcing Freddie Anderson to go in and out of his post and you look at the I think it was the first goal was on a low high pass out into the slot and hey like that's a high danger play

it crosses the middle of the ice it's from behind the net but if you look at how he loads, he misses his spot. So when you're popping into your post, your preference is to sort of get the bottom edge of the pad and the toe of the skate up against the post, what we call the toe box, and he misses it.

And he ends up with the shin of his pad on the post, which is sort of an old too-carast thing. It takes a little wear and tear off the body, but it leaves you with less coverage and it leaves you less mobile. And so as that pass comes out, his chances of making that save off that pop pass in in the middle decreased significantly because he missed a lot.

his spot and it's just the kind of thing that's like to me that's a fatigue thing and when you see the question coming into this was like can you put Bussy in after two months off and if you see the way you responded like Rust does not seem to be an issue now the caveat is

that double O T winner that's lived by the sword die by the sword Bussy is totally opposite from Freddie Anderson and he will screw Vegas's scouting report which they seem to have dialed in quite nicely on how to beat Frederick Anderson everything is different.

The aggression, he pushes out at guys, he cuts off pucks, cuts off lanes once he makes that read. You saw him on a similar low, high pass in that game. Same post, explode out well past the crease to make that safe. But then on the second chance, the rebound, like he's not nowhere near position,

so he needs guys to bail him out. Stuff like off the end boards, that can happen when you're that aggressive. So it's a tough decision, but when you're starting goal, he's minus four and a half goals through the first three games of the Stanley Cup final and he didn't even make it through game three.

And the guy at the other end, minus almost four, 3.75 for Carter Hart. And you got somebody like Bussieus had a year like he had. I'd lean that way, to be honest. It's a fascinating decision at hand here because through the three games, there hasn't been much to choose from between the two teams. They've been dead even, essentially. So you can't say that one needs a real decided advantage.

like Carolina could make the case that they could be up to win in this series, right? Especially with the two overtime games. Yep. That being said, what a time for Brindamore to potentially throw a curveball into this series. Because as you mentioned, it wouldn't just be a change of goalies. It would be a dramatic different style and probably mess up Vegas's pre-scout, as you've been suggesting. Yeah, like it is really night and day. I actually, part of me was kind of hoping I reached out to my bosses yesterday.

I'm like, hey, are we doing a pre-scout on Brandon Bussy? Because let's make it 18 for these playoffs, right? And the problem was they hadn't declared he was going to start. They didn't want to necessarily invest the time and energy and resources or my resources in time if there's a good chance he didn't and they won't declare it. But, you know, just even going in the playoffs was looking at some of the things they do differently. It's, I mean, for starters, he catches it at the other hand, which seemed to catch Mitch Marner by surprise.

the third year on both of shocking that was what's your glove doing here oh I thought your blocker was going to be here yeah a little bit of a shocking admission but he's just he's so much more dynamic east west but again it's not like he's hyper aggressive

early so if you watch him as the puck's moving around the zone like he plays a pretty conservative depth but then when plays get pushed east west and once he sort of read shots he will explode out at guys to cut down like it's almost a little old school.

He doesn't choose angle over depth, which is like a goal tending fundamental. Get to the middle and net, find your angle, and then take depth. He goes right out to the spot. And if you've got a good pre-scount, you're prepared for it,

you can hold pucks, you can go around him, he doesn't default to his post, you can stretch him out and sort of get him between, you know, outside of his posts and funnel pucks behind him. He's so long, he competes, he battles,

he will scramble. But it's opposite of Freddie, who's very technical and everything is conservative depth. And if you get to your spots and you make your shots, there's going to be space there. Bussie's a completely different animal. He doesn't handle the puck quite as, although he didn't. I was surprised that how assertive he was at the puck coming in cold like that. But I guess you're playing with house money at down 4-0. Not quite as efficient overall with it as Freddie Anderson.

And I think that's important in terms of negating the Vegas-4 check and allowing Carolina to get the other way and in transition. But from a puck-stopping perspective, there's just, like, the pre-scout would be totally opposite, and not just because I've got to put the hand on a different guy. Like his aggression and the way he plays East-West and the way he plays low-high, Vegas would probably, listen, if Carolina is just going to keep in hand of them five breakaways a game, they don't have to change a damn thing, right? Just one little part of this pre-scout.

but a lot of the other things they're doing that Anderson has struggled with a little bit, I think Bussie's better suited for and you have to attack him differently. Yeah, Alfred Carolina's got that high press going. It's going against them sometimes. Okay, I want to talk a little bit of Canucks with you, Kev. Things have obviously changed dramatically within the organization when it comes to the philosophy and the strategy going forward. They say that they are going to rebuild this thing patiently.

and they say that the practices are more important than the games for the next little while. So with all that in mind and with everything that we've heard out of the Cedines and Ryan Johnson and Manei Mahotra, does it make sense to have $13 million in cap space tied up in goalies for the next three years? Well, I mean, there's no way to answer yes, especially when, you know, you run the risk or you're facing a situation with Nikita Tolopila where he has the clear waivers this year. And the way things finished at the end of the year, I don't think we should get too carried away with the pot.

Like, that could happen, right? But Bussie's actually the perfect example. I think the team with a tougher decision is probably Toronto and Dennis Hill to be. Like, teams are going to be looking for their brand and Bussie. Their big, long athletic goaltender that they think can take a step off waivers. For a good chunk of the season, Nikita Tolopilo had some underlying numbers. that had eyes open around the league.

And I know there are goalie coaches and goalie departments around the league that even as things got off the rails down the stretch for him and for the team, you know, they still see a goalie there. So there's a chance you could lose them. So that's not ideal either. I will say this. As much as like Thatcher Demko at the top of his game. And I know that's a big assumption that he's going to get there based on the injuries

and how long can he stay there based on the inability to stay healthy. Like those are all fair points. But he is such a difference maker. It's not that they're trying to lose, but if you would like to lose for another year and get into the land in DuPont sweepstakes, him at his best makes that harder to do. Also, him at his best, even if it's just in 35 or 40 games,

puts Lankan into a tier where you have a better chance of getting the best out of him as well. And so now goaltending is something that could win you games. And you can ask fairly, given where they are and where they probably want to finish next year, even if that's not the stated goal, and it won't be the coach's goal, whether that's a wise thing, especially at the end of the day, the cost is the cost. Were they good contracts? No.

But at least on the Dempco one, I always say avoid term with goaltenders at the risk of my goal to the union card. At least they did there. There's also something to be said, though. for having a little faith and trust of what's going on behind you when you're a young team trying to learn how to survive in the NHL. It's not like you want them to feel like, oh, man, like, ooh, yeah, no problem. I can make mistakes all over the place because the bully's going to bail me out. But you don't want young defensemen out there thinking, man, any mistake and it ends up in the back of my net.

Like there's a positive for a rebuilding team to have, having goaltending that they trust him, right? and a little bit of confidence that they can go out there and play a little freer, not play tight. Still, obviously, structure. We heard Manny talk about structure. It's funny how that was a bugaboo for the organization right up until last year. And we didn't hear from the outgoing upper management about structure last year at all. You know, so I see it both ways.

Is it ideal to have their team? I don't think the salary cap, it's not ideal, but I don't think the salary cap really matters to the team right now. that probably don't mind spending a little extra, help them make sure they get to the floor. So to me it's more about the potential to sort of wreck your chances of finishing in the bottom three, but also the caveat that, like,

it's important for building culture and, like, you can't just go out there and, like, put me in that and lose every game. No, I realize that. Right? But I also look at Demko as a potential asset. Because, I mean, look, I think the Kinex is more. I think he needs to play a season to become one.

Right. And that was going to be my next question. How long do you have to see that Factor Demko can stay healthy and play at a high level before he becomes tradable? And then you deal with his no move clause. I mean, it might be a non-factor, but who knows at that point. But at first you need to, like no team's taking him now. No. Not unless you're eating money.

And just no. like part of me there are going to be teams that are going to be like especially with two more years left after this that we'll look at it like I need to see him get to the finish line like the end of the season because the truth is he hasn't yet right is the number one he's never made it through a full season healthy

but I'm telling you like there are very few like it's a pretty short list with the upside that high when he's right like we talk about like there's we've entered a league where there's know the guys. Yeah. Like the amount of the guys in goal is such a short list.

And when he's right, he's one of them. And if you were to get to the trade deadline and he's at 35 games and he's playing like the guy and looks healthy, I think there will be teams that will be willing to take that risk that feel like they have a chance, but the only thing missing is goal pending. So, you know, I mean, it's not going to be early, but by the trade deadline, if there haven't been any side effects if everything looks great. Yeah, that's, I would, I would imagine there would be interest in him. Would there be interest from Demko in moving?

He seems to really like it in Vancouver. I mean, I don't know. We'd have to ask him. And if you're asking him at a podium, he's going to tell you that he's, he's in this for long haul and that he loves it here and all those things. Sometimes, sometimes you hear different things from other people around. in terms of where this organization is at and where it's felt like they've always been

when he's been here. But if you take him out his word at the podium, then maybe it is a tougher decision. That said, contracts are guaranteed. He's got his here. And I would imagine if that scenario plays out, actually I should be careful here

because I don't want to put words in it as well. But I would imagine it would be very tempting if the scenario I just described played out. You feel healthy. You feel great. This team is clearly rebuilding and not going to be challenging within your window here. Not just your window of your contract, but your window of your prime. And a team that you think could win a cup is interested in your services.

Like the chance to go out and actually win a cup, I would imagine that would be very tempting. Kev, thanks for taking the time to join us. It was nice seeing you over the weekend. We both looked rather surprised that we saw each other. But I ran. There's no shock on my face. I know that you are a man of the people who likes to get out there. and, you know, sweat with them

over 5K runs for good causes. So the surprise on me, that was just my fatigue setting and not any shock to see you, Jason. Don't take it that way. All right, buddy. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. Take care, guys. Kevin Woodley on SportsNet 650,

was brought to you by White Rock Hyundai. Visit the showroom on King George in White Rock or White Rockhunday.com. Okay, we have to do the smart decision. Brought to you by Crow. You know what? This is a first, I think, for smart decision.

I'm going to use this to give Plotids to the Toronto Maple Leafs. What? I know. What do they do? According to Elliot Friedman, the Toronto Maple Leaf's head coaching search has included a pretty interesting, and I think intriguing, dare I say, smart decision in its names, Joe Pavelski. The Toronto Maple Leafs are. They're trying to find their Marty St. Louis.

Yeah. Yeah, which I kind of don't hate. Toppy cats. Joe. Copy cats. We need a Marty San Luis. The same Joe Pavelsky who, I mean, he carved out a really unbelievable NHL career given where you. Has you been coaching high school hockey or something somewhere?

Then they're like, you know, he's not the tallest. Pavelsky, who retired at the end of the 2024 season, has coached his son Nate at the youth level in Madison, Wisconsin. He's ready. He's ready. He's ready to go. He's ready to go. He's actually coached less. minor hockey than Marty St. Louis coach

before getting the job in Montreal. How old is his son, Nate? I don't know. You should see the system they play. It's tight. Can you do a French accent? Actually, you know what? I think he's 15. Okay. Yeah. I think he's got the opportunity to jump to the, what's it? The GTHL. Is that it? Sure. Yeah. And I think I might be part of the whole thing. Anyway. Are they going to make Joe speak with a French accent to really get the Toronto? Yeah, make the Martin-St. Louis thing? I don't know. Because they got it replicated

to a T, right? It's their version of Marty St. Yeah. Joe, what do your quads look like? Yeah. How much can you squat? So, okay, here's the thing. Pavelsky, apparently, is already regarded amongst current NHL players as a guy that they can lean on for advice. Thomas Hurdle quite famously, after breaking out of that lengthy goal scoring slump with the Vegas Golden Knights, and he's gone on to be great since then, said that part of the reason he was able to snap out of it was he called his former San Jose Sharks teammate, Joe Pavelski, and he offered a couple different tips and pieces of advice.

And, you know, Pavelsky wasn't blessed with a lot physically as a player. He was kind of undersized and wasn't a terrific skater and was a low, late round draft pick. But a great career and one of the best net front guys. You know, what he would do in the off season is go to goalie schools. Yeah. He would actually be a shooter at goalie schools and learn what the goalies are learning. He's a smart guy. That's why he was so good right in front of the net.

So cool on them for identifying him as potentially being the next great coach of the future without having you go through the rigors of becoming a coach. So we'll see how that goes. But that is your smart decision brought to you by Crow, your trusting accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. Crow, smart decisions lasting value. Learn more at chroma-kai.cai.orgia. That was a good plot it.

I love a good plot it. Not bad, right? It was okay. Thank you for ploditing my plot it. You're welcome. Coming up on the other side of the break, we're going to talk to Eric Francis. He's going to join us live from Vegas. Stanley Cup Final.

He's covering it for Sportsnet.com. CA. We will go through the drama and the cinema of game three. We'll look ahead to game four. That's coming up next on the Halford-imbrough show on Sportsnet, 650.