Halford & Brough in the Morning - Canada's Goaltending Conundrum

Episode Date: August 21, 2024

In hour two, Jason Brough and guest host Josh Elliott-Wolfe chat with St. Louis Blues rinkside reporter Andy Strickland (1:15) about the Blues' active offseason along with Jordan Binnington currently being Canada's best goalie, things get heated when the boys compare the intensity levels of the  World Cup of Hockey and The Olympics (19:35), plus they look ahead to the 2028 LA Olympics and all that's going into what could be one of the most special tournaments yet, as The Athletic's Matthew Futterman joins the show (26:23). 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.

Welcome back to Alfred and Brough, Josh Elliott Wolfe, Jason Brough here with you. You're nailing the music today, buddy. Well, it's Eurodance Wednesday. Ben was covering for you last week, and he was trying, but you just didn't have it in your bag. You know, you got to take some risks sometimes. You got to... Threw up a shot.

Threw up some shot. Laddie grew up in, like, the European clubs. Oh, yeah. You know? Of Hamilton. I was chain-smoking when I was 12. Really. You take the boy out of the clubs,

you can't take the clubs out of the boy. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider Powered by thousands of 5 star Google reviews Sofie what are you waiting for? Kintec that's what you're waiting for Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Delari family of Honda dealers Experience the Delari difference today

Visit your nearest Delari Honda dealer today And you can text in get your what we learned in On the 650-650 Dunbar Lumber text line The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. We go to the phone lines now. Andy Strickland, Blues rinkside reporter for Valley Sports Midwest joins us.

I appreciate you taking the time, Andy. How are you? Doing great, fellas. Thanks for having me. No worries. I appreciate you taking the time, Andy. How are you? Doing great, fellas. Thanks for having me. No worries. I appreciate you taking the time. And what's kind of been, are you surprised that the offer sheets that we've been talking about for a week now went through without being matched? I wouldn't say surprised because the Blues made it very difficult on Edmonton. They were in a tough position, which is why you identify Edmonton as a team

that you would want to assign their players to offer sheets to begin with. I mean, this is not a situation where... And people say, hey, how come we don't see this very often? Well, most teams protect themselves. They sign their RFAs. They don't have a Leon Dreisaitl or a Conor McDavid or an Evan Bouchard looming in terms of their negotiations

and what type of money they're going to be able to command. And you don't have two notable RFAs that are left unsigned with no cap space. I mean, you look at Detroit, for example. They've got some RFAs unsigned, but they've got legitimate cap space. You're not going to sign their players to an offer sheet because it's an easy match. The idea is to get the players, not to screw the team over. I think that's the difference.

And you knew Edmonton was going to be in a tough spot, and they were going to have to move a player, maybe that they didn't want to move in order to create the cap space, but also that the player, speaking of the defenseman, you know, they had had some disagreements there. And the player had asked for a trade on more than one occasion. They were far off on their negotiations. And it was great work by the agents to, you know, get out in front of this and let teams know where things were at, you know, with their client.

And then, you know, one thing led to another, and then they loop in the second player. And it just so happened that the agents for Holloway and Broberg had already been working together on separate things in terms of Broberg's agent kind of mentoring and helping the younger agent who represents Dylan Holloway. So there's so much that goes into it.

I thought the Blues would get one. I thought it would be a possibility that they could get two, but you thought for sure they would get one, but they ended up getting both. So, again, the Blues were hoping to get both, even though it's a lot of money, and people say, hey, you're going to pay Philip Broberg $4. So again, the Blues are hoping to get both, even though it's a lot of money and people say, Hey, you're going to pay Phillip Roper, you know, 4.5 million. And it's a lot based on his service time. You know,

he's played 81 career games. He played 12 regular season games this past year, but based on the role that he's going to be able to fill here in St. Louis, being a top four guy, his minutes are probably going to approach 20 minutes per game, maybe even north of 20 minutes, be the number one power play guy, which is going to give you the opportunity to produce some offense. You know, his actual game and his production

will probably value somewhere in that $4 million range. So I'll be curious to see how we look at his salary once the season's completed. Tell us more about what the Blues' blue line looks like now with the broberg edition well you got pareko obviously as your number one d-man on the left side uh colton pareko and you know last year he showed great chemistry with nick letty and they played a lot together and you know letty obviously his game is predicated around his skating he's elite an elite nhl skater even to this

day and then they got great chemistry together. And they showed that they could defend against the other team's top players consistently. And that'll be interesting if they stay together. If they do stay together, then you've got Justin Falk as your number two right shot defenseman on the right side. And so maybe Broberg can slide in next to Falk. And so maybe Broberg can slide in next to, next to Falk. And, you know,

Matt Kessel is a guy who was a rookie last season coming out of UMass, won a national championship at UMass right after Kale McCarr left there and, you know, really made great strides last season. And so right now he's probably on your third pair on the left side with Ryan Suter, who they just brought on board, you know, who they signed as a free agent,

who's 39 years old. But now you can slot him all the way down to your third pair, which is probably where he should be at this stage of his career because he can give you some real quality and some real depth on the back end. They've got Scotty Perunovich, too, former Hobie Baker winner, who, you know, is going to be in the mix because of his ability to make plays and obviously run a power play as well. So I think Broberg's going to get that opportunity to run the number one power play and we'll see how that goes. But, you know, that's probably your top six, seven defensemen right now when you include Scottie

Perunovic. And Torrey Krug is out indefinitely. What do people think about the future for Torrey Krug? Could this be it for him? I think it's fair to say that it could be. I mean, it's very confusing for a lot of people just in terms of, you know, he's dealt with some injuries and probably hasn't gone

as planned, you know, when the Blues signed him out of Boston. He's had some good moments, though. I want to point that out. This guy hasn't been a planned, you know, when the Blues signed him out of Boston. He's had some good moments, though. I want to point that out. This guy hasn't been a terrible player here. But defensively, it can be a little bit of a struggle sometimes. But, you know, he is dynamic with the puck, and he can make plays very good on the power play, even to this day. Listen, when he came here to St. Louis, I think he was, like, top two or three in power play production

over the course of the previous five years combined of all defensemen in the entire league. This guy was a hell of a player for a long time. Injuries sometimes can catch up with you. But yeah, that's the big question mark. I mean, they're calling it like pre-arthritic, like the injury, a pre-arthritic ankle injury, which I've never even heard of. Aren't we all pre-arthritic? I guess.

And so they're going to reevaluate him as we get closer to training camp. And if he needs surgery, then he's going to miss the entire season. But I don't think there's any plan for him to play with the St. Louis Blues this season. And I think the addition of Robert points towards that. Hey, Andy, we were just actually having a conversation about how Craig Berube is going to mesh with the Toronto Maple Leafs and their veteran players that have been there for a while. And, you know, now we're bringing you on to talk about the Blues.

Have you got a handle on like what kind of coach Drew Bannister is and what kind of team he wants the Blues to be? Because we always knew what kind of team Craig Berube wanted the Blues to be, and they had success playing that style, winning the Stanley Cup. And then when they started to evolve a little bit, the fit didn't seem quite so good. Well, you've got to have the personnel to go with it. Craig Berube took over that season too and and it's felt like he just completely changed the system for the blues in terms of how they went out and

played i just think he got these guys to play more determined they had more energy um they played a harder game but they didn't change the overall systems. He was on the coaching staff. And they got incredible goaltending from January on from Jordan Binnington. And they don't win the Stanley Cup without Jordan Binnington. This guy was light out. I mean, look at it. He had over a 93 save percentage, you know, the rest of the regular season. And they had a number one defenseman in Alex Petrangelo.

I mean, it was a completely different team. But in terms of Drew Bannister, I think a lot of it still applies. I think he wants them to play a hard-fought chicken game, a good structure game, a team that hangs on to pucks and that makes plays and, you know, uses their creativity but also plays a sound, structured game defensively, you know, that gets in the way, blocks shots. You know, I mean, same old stuff that you hear from a lot of coaches.

I don't think he's trying to reinvent the wheel. But I think it's more about the defensive structure. He probably made a couple of tweaks. I mean, you look at the goals against average from when he took over, it went down. The power play percentage went up. I think guys played a little more free under Drew Bannister. And he's a different voice, a completely different tone, a completely different vibe than you get with Craig Berube. And so now we're going to get an opportunity to really get a feel or a handle for what he wants to do,

because he's going to have a full season a full training camp to implement exactly what he wants from his hockey team i don't think it's that easy to do when you take over around christmas time what are fair expectations for this team because i look at the roster and i i have a lot of questions about it i feel like there's still kind of a couple big pieces away from being like a stanley cup cont. But even just in regards to the playoffs, there's like the Stars in your division, the Jets, Avalanche, and then the Predators, obviously. They added a lot this offseason.

So what are the expectations for the Blues this year? I think the expectations for me are to never fall out of the race and to be competitive and truly contend for one of those final wildcard spots. I mean, last season they were closer than people realized, and to be competitive and truly contend for one of those final wild card spots. I mean, last season they were closer than people realized, and I think they're going to be a better team heading into this season than they were last year. If they were in the Eastern Conference last year, they would have made the playoffs.

So they weren't that far off. They got great goaltending last year. The team really picked up after the coaching change. You know, I mentioned some of those key, you know, important statistics that you look at. PK, power play, goals against, everything really changed in the favor of the Blues after the coaching change.

So if they can get goaltending once again this year, have a little more scoring depth, if their power play can get off to a better start than it did a year ago where, you know, it was terrible under Craig Ruby the first half of the season, and then it picked up, you know, then they're going to have a chance. But I think the expectations, they certainly are not a Stanley Cup contender. I don't think anybody would pretend that they are.

They're a young team. They're building their youth. I think they have nine or ten former first-round picks, not all drafted by the Blues, but former first-round picks under the age of, you know, 25 or under on this roster right now. So they've got a ton of youth, and they all won't be here, obviously. Some of these guys were drafted over the course of the last year or two, but still, I'm just talking about organizational depth.

But they're building this thing towards the next two, three years where they think they can contend again in short order. But I think the idea this year is to is to play good hockey and give themselves a legit chance to get into the playoffs much like they did last year but they had a few more dips than you know you would want and uh listen they did a pretty good job last year stopping the bleeding when they would lose a couple of games in a row they didn't have any real long extended losing streaks which cost them the year year before, which led to the Blues trading away Tarasenko and O'Reilly and some of these other guys and not bringing back David Perron

the year before that and all that. So, I mean, if they can play a little more consistent, listen, they should be right there at least to compete for a wild card spot, and I think that's the expectation. Tell us a bit more about the season that Jordan Binnington had because we've got the Four Nations Tournament coming up. We've got the Olympics coming up in a couple of years now. And I don't know if you've heard this, but Canadian goaltending does not have the depth that American goaltending has. Yeah, I have heard that. And, you know, Jordan Binnington is a guy that's

going to want to, you know, take the reins there and be the guy. He's a competitive guy. I think last season may have been his best season that he's put together in the NHL, certainly since his rookie year. And that wasn't even a full season. He came on board in January. And, you know, last year he had his most consistent year. He played lights out. And he was the reason why they were in contention to be a playoff team late in the season and joel hofer is an unbelievable goaltender too a young goaltender

who played for canada and the world juniors a few years back who truly has not just number one potential in the nhl but i think elite number one potential in the nhl and the combination of both of them you know obviously proved to be you know know, really, really strong. So, listen, Jordan Binnington had an unbelievable season last year. Didn't get a ton of offensive support. The group of defense in front of him on some nights was less than, you know, what you would desire, you know. So if they can be better in front of him, it's only going to help Jordan Binnington. But he's the reason why they ended up where they were and were able to get some points when they probably didn't deserve it. He had a fantastic

season last year. Did he make any significant changes to his approach that resulted in that season? I think he made some changes. Listen, he's more mature. He got married. He got to 30. I talked to him a lot about this last year, i i think he felt like his mindset changed a little bit he got away from it a little bit the year before that you know with some of the extracurricular stuff that everyone talks about after the whistle getting involved with uh you know players and scrums and and you know showing some of the fireworks and and just kind of getting off his game and and listen opposing teams see that too and they they know they could knock getting off his game. And listen, opposing teams see that too. And they know they can knock him off his game.

And they felt like they could rattle his cage a little bit. And he knew that. And he had a talk with a lot of people about that. I think he made a concerted effort, you know, last season to come in, wipe the slate clean. And, again, like he said, he goes, listen, I'm 30 now. I'm married. It's almost like a new Jordan Bennington.

And if you look at how calm and composed he was a year ago, I think the team fed off of that energy, calmed down a little bit. And he was great, man. I think he had one moment where he got fined once. He butt-ended somebody in the face. But it's okay. We'll take the one fine a year. You're okay with that.

You can do that once a year. Just to keep people off on their toes a little bit. You've got to remind people that you're still Jordan Bennington. Yes, but he kept it together for the most part. There's no question. Hey, Andy, really appreciate you taking the time, and have a good one. Okay, you guys do the same. Talk soon.

Take care. Thanks, Andy. Andy Strickland, Blues ringside reporter for Valley Sports Midwest. We're going to bring Laddie into the conversation again, Andy. Andy Strickland, Blues ringside reporter for Valley Sports Midwest. We're going to bring Laddie into the conversation again, too. Is Jordan Binnington the favorite to be the goalie for Canada? Let's talk about the Four Nations before we get to the Olympics because a lot can happen in a couple of years, but the Four Nations is coming up this season.

The candidates, I suppose, would be Binnington, Aiden Hill, and Stuart Skinner for the Edmonton Oilers. Tristan Jari. He's a bit of an outside chance. I'm just sorry. I don't think, like, Conor Ingram needs to be thrown into the picture as well if he has another good year with Utah. So it's up in the air.

I don't think Canadian goaltending is as bad as people are making it out to be. I think four out of the top ten adjusted safe percentage goaltenders were Canadian. So you don't get the big names. It's not the carry prices that we're seeing anymore. But I think Canada will do just fine in an international competition, regardless of who they are.

But just fine isn't good enough, right? They need to win, right? And I look at the goaltending, and obviously I think there's a concern there too. I don't love the blue line as much as I used to. With Canada's blue line, you're always like, man, that thing is stacked, at least compared to the Americans. And I remember in Sochi, which was the last time we had true best on best, people were all talking

about the Russian team because you were playing in Russia and you had all that star talent up front. And you're like, you got KHL players on the defense. Like you're not winning. Canada's got prime down. They're not winning. Prime Pietrangelo. Like Subban was in his prime and he couldn't get in. Right.

Because Babcock didn't trust him. Right. And now you're looking at the group and going, you love Kale McCarr. Like, you know, people call him a generational defenseman. Right. And when he's on, you know, I don't generational defenseman right and and when he's on you know i don't think you're wrong to do that and you're probably going to take his d partner uh devon taves um but like after that what what are we talking about josh morrissey noah dobson, Evan Bouchard. But like Evan Bouchard, what kind of role does he play

if you've got Kael McCarr on the team? Are you – who's running the power play there? It's got to be McCarr because you're not – Well, maybe it's – but my point is, you know, like I look at that blue line and I go, I don't – I like it. Like it's really good. There's a lot of countries who feel be like, I'd love to have that. But like, we're, we're Canada and we should be stacked in every position. And we're going to be stacked up front when, you know, you got, you got McDavid and you,

and you, and you got Sid and like, you forget about, you know, you can put Braden Point in like a bottom six role if you, if you want. Right. I mean, it's going to be stacked up front and Nathan McKinnon. but Braden Point in like a bottom six role if you want, right? I mean, it's going to be stacked up front. And Nathan McKinnon, I'm not worried whatsoever about the forward group, but the defense group and the goaltending, I'm kind of like, oh, the bar's pretty high, right? That's why L.A. might be the favorite. I mean, actually, I think they are the favorite.

L.A. or the Americans? L.A., sorry. Specifically L.A. Yeah, L.A., sorry. The Americans. On paper, I look at that American team and I, yeah, I wonder if they are the favorites. I think they are. I mean, Canada has...

The only thing is they haven't done it. Correct. Right? And Canada does have, I guess, Canada's deeper offensively, but I mean, the Americans still have incredible offense too. So, I mean, Canada might have more like... And they have centers now, right? Back in the day, they had great wingers, but their centermen were not good.

And Canada was always the team that had like, you know, there's 12 forwards. We've got 10 of them are actual centers, but they've got to kick them to the wing. And Hirschhorn is like on the fourth line. I mean, we've talked about it before, but I think that Canada has the game breakers. Like that's still their weapon. Like they got McDavid, they got McKinnon, and I mean, maybe Bedard. I mean, like, so they got those guys that, I yeah the americans have like matthews and stuff but i think canada's got the edge in the game breakers category so they have the guys up front i don't

maybe steal the game up front but i would still pick the americans personally yeah i don't i don't even know if they have like a like they they probably have the edge in the game breakers category but you but not by much not yeah not by much like awesome matthews jack hughes jack eichel uh like matthew kachuk and then like you they have a lot of really good wingers too like i can't wait for the first candidate us can like i know there's a lot of people that are kind of down on this and and the players are definitely going to have to step up and provide not only the play when it happens, but I would like to see them hyping it up and getting excited themselves and, you know, wanting to be, wanting to be part of this because, um, I think it's going to be really cool. And I actually think having the, the finals

is in Boston, right? I think that's a really good idea because I think if you have this Canadian team that let's say the finals is Canada and the United States which you know everyone organizing this tournament is praying it is but if you have that in it is in Boston I think that will be an awesome atmosphere and you know there's just something about games in Boston where you're like this could get nasty yeah it's always in Toronto too but like Boston hey I would say that I was waiting for you to There's just something about games in Boston where you're like, this could get nasty. Don't start Luongo. Boston. Hey, I would say that. I was waiting for you to say it, but I had to jump in.

Here comes the text from that one guy. From that one guy who is crazy. But Boston, yeah, it will be fun. And I think people right now, some people look at it and they're like, this is dumb, only four countries playing it and they're like this is dumb only four countries playing and it's like in the middle of the season but once it starts i feel like it might be like the last world cup hockey and what was it 2016 yeah when it started and people were like this is kind of dumb and then by the end people were fully invested in everything that was going on the last world cup of hockey yeah were. Were you not? Not at all.

Final against Team Europe? Come on. I think a bunch of people were invested. Invested how? What did it prove? What did that World Cup prove? How can you be invested if it didn't prove anything? It was an exhibition.

That was an exhibition. I get with what Josh is saying, and I've argued with these guys before, too, because Halford and Brough were both very against that tournament. But I agree with Josh. How were you invested emotionally? Were you like, oh boy, I hope Canada wins. I don't know if emotionally is the right word, but it was entertaining. How do you get invested? Did you have money on it or something like that?

It was entertaining to watch. The games by the end, you were entertaining. I do think people were. Not to the level of an Olympics. Tell me, what was the finals like? I don't remember. It was too long now. But it was so entertaining though. Yeah, it was. You must remember it. Yeah. I do think people were. Not to the level of like an Olympics. Tell me what was the finals like. Tell me what happened. I can't remember. It was too long now.

Oh, but it was so entertaining, though. Yeah, it was. You must remember it. No, I don't. I don't remember what happened last week. But it was entertaining. I remember I enjoyed it. I had a good time watching it.

It was fun. Ultimately, it was fun. I think that's all that matters. We're not looking for fun, buddy. We're looking for. Well, I think you just have a different. I think we are. You have a different.

No. No. No. Bar for what it should be. When hockey, when the stakes are high, it ain't fun. It's nerve-wracking and you feel like you're going to throw up. That's the way it was in 2010 and that's the way it was

in 2011 and that's the way it should be when something matters to you. The Olympics are a different thing. You're trying to compare them. They're not the same thing. What are you talking about? The Olympics, it's a different feeling. That World Cup wasn't like, I didn't go into it being like,

oh man, this is going to be like the Olympics. I was going to be like, no, this is going to be a fun tournament. I don't even know if I expect the Four Nations to be nerve-wracking. I mean, I expect it will be fun. Well, I don't think it will be. I think it will be a fun, enjoyable. But I think it's a warm-up for the Olympics. Yeah, it will be a fun, enjoyable time, but I just don't compare it to the Olympics. The Olympics is its own thing. I just don't. it will be. I think it'll be a fun, enjoyable... But I think it's a warm-up for the Olympics. Yeah, it'll be a fun, enjoyable time,

but I just don't compare it to the Olympics. The Olympics is its own thing. I just don't... It's its own thing. I was triggered... The Olympics is the Olympics. I was triggered by you saying you were invested in it. What part of your ego was invested in that?

That's what we mean when we're invested in it. I just had a good time watching it. It was fun. I just more mean that I expected the players... Well, you have a good time watching cartoons, right? Yeah, they're fun too. Okay. I'm not necessarily invested in it. It was fun. I just more mean that I expected the players... You have a good time watching cartoons, right? Yeah, they're fun too. I'm not necessarily invested in it. Yes, you are.

Adog, you're invested in the Marvel Universe. This whole show revolves around a cartoon. But I understand, Josh. We're getting the youth perspective here, which we seldom have on this show. As my peers. With your vapid interests.

The youths. See, Josh hasn't hit the old and bitter phase of his life yet. Did you see my little bitter aside on Twitter the other day when I read that article about how young kids are now on TikTok showing off how they are using old stuff that they have like their camera what is it called under consumption under consumption under consumption like core right i'm just like it's like the article said something like young people are on tiktok showing off that they have a 12 year old waterold water bottle. I'm like, congratulations on saving money. Yeah, I know.

Congratulations on not having to go out and get the latest water bottle. Ruff, I'm with you. That's my old man yells at cloud thing. I think TikTok is one of the worst things to ever happen to humanity. It is so, so bad. That's aggressive. There's some entertainment. No, no, no. It's not entertaining.

Vine was entertaining. TikTok is horrendous. That's the entertaining. Vine was entertaining. TikTok is... Vine was entertaining? TikTok is horrendous. That's the oldest you've ever sounded. Congratulations. Vine was awesome. We have meetings every Sunday. Vine was awesome.

No, Vine. Go back and watch Vine. Yeah, when we lost Vine, I got so sad. No. Go back and watch Vines, and you're going to be like, oh, this is bad. This is really bad. No, there's some funny stuff that happened. TikTok is all about the culture and trying to get people's eyes on your page so you can

sell products now. And that's all it is. TikTok sucks. And yeah, everyone's sold out. The whole world's sold out now, bro. I hate it. It's the worst thing to happen. We got as a society-

You end up celebrating authors like Colleen Hoover? As a society, we got- Do you even know who that is? No. No. As a society- Because of TikTok. It's rotted my brain.

As a society, we got progressively stupider once TikTok came around. Okay. That's my old man take. On the other side. I don't think it's a hot take. I'm right. Welcome to the club, A-Dog. Why are you booing me?

I'm right. You're not going to be able to eat sugar cereals anymore. Oh, no. You know what's already happened, I'm afraid to say. A lot of fiber. Yep. Matt Futterman, sports journalist for The Athletic, is going to join us. Josh is like trying to get out of this segment.

Halford and Ruff, Sportsnet 650. Welcome back to Halford and Ruff. No Mike Halford. It's Josh Elliott-Wolfe with Jason Brough here. Coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Get your what we learns in, please, on the 650-650 Dunbar-Lumber text line. I know it's hard right now. I know there's not a lot to learn, but we can do it together. And you can get it in on the text line.

Right now, get them in early. Halford & Brough. You just need to have the same attitude as a dog where every day is what we learned. Yeah, exactly. That's my life. Every day is an experience. Yeah. Halford and Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers.

Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. And we go to the phone lines where we bring in matt futterman sports journalist for the athletic uh really appreciate you taking the time matt how are you you have me yes how are you we are doing well i appreciate you taking the time we we wanted to speak to you about your recent article up on the athletic about la 2028 um tell us tell us about that article and and what you learned about the people in charge of organizing those games. Well, they are working hard and still, you know, sort of searching for a big idea,

I think is how I would sum it up. I think they're very focused on the logistics of the Los Angeles Olympics. And they spent, you know, three weeks in Paris during the Paris Olympics. They're going to be there during the Paralympics, which are coming up shortly. So they're back there to see how those things run. sort of, you know, focusing on really nerdy stuff like, you know, traffic, you know, traffic flow and people flow and ushers and back of the house stuff that, you know, hopefully none of us will ever have to pay attention to. And, you know, but at the same time, it's funny because as all of us were experiencing these games, we were experiencing them in a very sort of big way and sort of big, you know, sort of big ideas and beach volleyball, what it meant to have beach volleyball into the

Eiffel Tower and fencing in the Grand Palais and to sort of bring the games out from behind the fences and back to the people and really sort of to bring a kind of new idea to an Olympic brand that I think everyone would agree was sort of desperately in need of a reboot, especially after COVID. So I think, you know, they are, you know, fired up to put on a great games and, you know, they got four years and some of the most creative minds in sports and entertainment in LA, uh,

working hard to how to bring along everybody for the ride. Who is Casey Wasserman? Casey Wasserman is, um, you know, a, I think you would call him like at this point, like a sports and entertainment impresario. He's one of these people in the sports industry who kind of has his hands in everything. He's really good friends with Roger Goodell and does work with the NFL. He represents lots of top athletes, and he puts on sports events.

His company was originally called Wasserman Media Group. Now it's just called Wasserman because they do so many different things, selling naming rights for stadiums and negotiating media deals. And he has sort of grown up in the entertainment industry. His grandfather was Lou Wasserman, who was sort of the iconic film, excuse me, film producer. And he, you know, the best way I would explain Casey

is that he is kind of a sort of heir apparent to Mark McCormick, who was kind of the creator of the sports business and the founder of what is now IMG and was sort of the first sports agent. And he is sort of a next-generation Mark McCormick figure. And, you know, McCormick had his hands in really every part of the sports business and representing players and working with events and tournaments and Wimbledon and companies and just really putting on everything.

And now you have Casey Wasserman, who is sort of building off his, that sort of legacy and bringing it into the 21st century. And just, sorry, just to confirm for the listeners that Casey Wasserman is in charge of the LA games and he... Oh, yes, yes. And Casey Wasserman. Yes. I should, I should add it was, you know, he was sort of the, um, one of the people who 15 years ago, you know, said, okay, it's time to bring the games back to America and there's no better place to do

it than LA. Um, which, you know, hosted the games in 1984 brought the Olympics into the modern era, made it profitable again, and is sort of a foundational place in the Olympic movement. Are people from LA, what do you call them, Angelenos? Is that people from LA? Sure. Yeah, okay. Are they excited about the Olympics?

Because I think one of the stories from Paris was that a lot of Parisians weren't excited for the games and then they left. And it was kind of dead in a lot of places from what I heard from various reports. Like business for restaurants was actually not as good as expected. But then the people that did stay had a really good time. So how are people from L.A. looking at these games? Are they excited to have them? So let me just say this about my experience in Paris, which was that the first week was pretty quiet,

and I did experience those sort of dead zones in funny ways. And I think what happened the second week is a lot of the Parisians who left turned on their televisions and saw that something really cool was going on in their city, and a lot of them came back, and the city was much more alive and crowded and full of restaurants and things like that the second week than it was the first week. So it was a funny dichotomy that I think you saw. In terms of Los Angeles, when they were bidding for the games and as they've been working for it,

I think the idea of hosting the games has had something like an 86%, 87% approval rating. And there is a small, loud, vocal minority that was trying to block this from happening. I don't know how politics are around Vancouver, but in America, you don't really often get 87% of people agreeing on anything. That's incredible, actually. That is incredible.

Yeah. So that's a pretty high number. I think there's a few things at work one is you know there is just a lot of lingering good feeling from 1984 and then obviously a lot of people who experience that are a good bit old or you know on the older side of things um you know having said, you know, there's been this LA 84 Foundation, which has funded everything from, you know, building tennis courts to athlete careers to just a lot of sports in the Los Angeles area. So I think there is just sort of a, you know, like I said, a patina of good feeling for the idea of the Olympics.

There are also a tremendous amount of Olympians who live and train in Los Angeles. You know, people that you would, you know, you go down to the local track to work out, you know, if you're running in the morning at USC or UCLA, you know, there's a decent chance that an Olympian might be training on the same track at that point. You know, you go play beach volleyball, you know, on the beach in Redondo Beach or Huntington Beach or wherever. That's where the Olympic volleyball players live and play and practice. So, you know, Olympic sport is really embedded into the culture of LA and, you know, it is an active athletic place that loves big events and has lots of great big stadiums. So

I think there is a lot of good feeling about hosting these events there's concerns about traffic and all things and things like that that they're gonna have to address um you know but i think the idea of of bringing the olympics back to london angeles was largely pretty popular um while they were bidding for it and since they were named the host in 2017. So, Matt, you know, for people in Vancouver that have seen the games occur in Asia and Europe in the last little while, those games have been like, hey, if I could get to those, that would be incredible. But that sounds like a really long and expensive trip. But for people in Vancouver, you know, going down to L.A LA is not a big trip and I think after so

many people enjoyed the the Olympics in Paris and with the success of the Canadian athletes especially someone like Summer McIntosh in the pool but going down to LA for the Olympics it's not you know it's not like a pipe dream for a lot of people in Vancouver so tell us about some of the venues that are going to be used um down in la because most of them correct me if i'm wrong are already built they might have to be updated a little bit but um the pool especially uh is interesting where they're going to have the swimming for summer macintosh right yeah i think, I think the only venue they have to build for LA is the Velodrome. They have to put a lot of money into the one they have and update it for cycling.

But that's it. Everything else is going into an existing venue. As for the pool, I think the original thought was to do the swimming at USC where it happened in 1984. But, you know, swimming has gotten so popular, especially in the Olympics. And they've developed in the last, you know, let's say 20 years, you know, essentially a portable pool, a portable Olympic pool that they can put anywhere in any kind of stadium. So what they're going to do is they are going to put the pool in SoFi Stadium, which is, you know, where the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers play football. And they're going to sell right now at least 38,000 tickets to watch swimming.

To give you an idea, swimming took place in a rugby stadium in Paris, and there were about 20,000 people there. It took place in Indianapolis. It took place where the Indianapolis Colts play. And I think there was, yeah, I think there was probably about in the, in the Olympic trials that took place there for, for the U S. Um, but you know, this is a hugely popular thing, uh, and they feel like they can really blow it out and create an incredible environment. And, um, you know, so they are putting it in the football stadium. What that is going to do is it's going to flip the swimming and track schedules. Generally, the way Olympic schedule works, swimming is the first week and track is the second week.

So they're going to flip that because SoFi Stadium right now is the location for the opening ceremony. You've got to, you know, the opening ceremony takes some doing to put on and then you've got to get all the stuff out of there. And then you're going to have to build a pool, you know, put the pool in. Although I would suspect there's going to be a pool might be in and there'll be a platform over it. And that's going to take a few days. So they're going to do the track,

which is going to take place at the LA Coliseum where, you know, which is, to take place at the LA Coliseum, which is the iconic track stadium in America, where the 84 games took place. They're going to do that the first week. That's not really a suitable venue for opening ceremonies because it doesn't have the sort of modern technology to have all the bells and whistles that will be there. So yeah, Summer McIntosh should be winning lots of gold medals in front of the largest crowd pretty much ever to watch an Olympics swing race. And one thing I really liked about the Paris Olympics that I think

a lot of people appreciated, too, were how integrated the games themselves were into the city, like most notably would have been beach volleyball right in front of the Eiffel Tower. Is that something that LA is kind of taking inspiration from and how they're going to approach their games? I mean, they are not doing that because, you know, part of the reason Paris did that was out of necessity. They don't have great, you know, they don't have great sports stadiums in Paris. So they were going to have to do one of two things. They were going to have to build great sports stadiums in Paris. So they were going to have to do one of two things.

They were going to have to build great sports stadiums, which would be really expensive and run the risk that they would turn into white elephants, or they were going to have to build a lot of temporary venues. And they opted to do the temporary venues. And when they thought of where we do these temporary venues, instead of doing them in, you know, an Olympic park, which is often sort of somewhat outside the city, um, or on, uh, you know, on its borders or something like that, instead of doing that, they said, well, why don't we just put everything in the center of the

city? We have these big closets. And it was, it was actually, you know, a master stroke, uh, I would say, cause it's, it's the thing that everybody I think will, will really remember from Paris. So L.A. is not doing that because, you know, if you need to play beach volleyball, where are you going to play it? Well, you're going to play it where beach volleyball started, you know, on the beaches in Santa Monica. You're going to build something there, which will be, you know, not under the Eiffel Tower, but it's going to be pretty nice to watch beach volleyball as the sun is

setting over the Pacific. I think that'll be, I think that'll be, it'll be different, but it'd be pretty cool. You know, as I said, swimming is going to be in SoFi Stadium. The track is going to be in the LA Coliseum. They'll have a great velodrome. You know, the tennis will be at the USDA training center in Carson. They have great stadiums for, you know, for soccer there already. They have, you know, they'll have other. LA also just doesn't have the sort of centralized downtown areas that Paris has.

And it doesn't have a lot of the iconic landmarks. So, you know, there'll be some stuff up in the, you know, up in the Valley. It'll be a little bit spread out, but what they do have is at these venues, you know, the basketball arena that's being built in Englewood, you know, that's going to be the, that's being built by Steve Ballmer, the, you know, co-founder of, who, you know, has some extra money to spend on a really nice basketball stadium. It's going to be the greatest thing, you know, I mean, it's where you would want to play basketball. It's where you would want to attend a basketball game. So why not do it there?

And I think they're still figuring out exactly where they're swimming. It won't be in a polluted where they're swimming for the long distance swims and the triathlon. My guess is it'll be, you know, in a Cove of the Pacific rather than in a polluted river in the middle of the city. Um, Matt, one final question. I know you're a big running guy. So are the American men even going to bother putting together a four by one team or are they just going to give up on that event now?

I don't think they're going to bother putting together a four by one team or are they just going to give up on that event now i don't think they're going to give up i think you know it you know it's one of these great quirks of sport um you know sports is about talent but you know it's it's a lot about psychology too and you know the american men they can they can win world championships and take care of the baton. But when it comes to the Olympics, they freak out a little bit. And they just can't get it right. There's a lot of pressure on them. They know they're the fastest four people in the world. They know that they should win this thing hands down. And in some ways, that seems to make it harder for them

will that be the team that's under the most pressure do you think in la i mean there are going to be so many but like that one in particular feels like a big one yeah there'll be a lot of pressure on their relay team and every year that they go i mean mean, I think it was since 2004 that they, that they, you know, haven't won the race, which is crazy. Cause they've had, you know, other than, you know, the Usain Bolt years of Jamaica, you know, they've had a critical mass of the, of the best, of the best sprinters, you know, and it's, and it really is just the American men. I mean, the women went, you mean, the women won going away.

The 400 teams win. Like, it's the 4x100 team. They just can't, you know, it gets in their heads. You know, you know on the starting line when they're waiting for the gun to go off, you know, that thought goes through every runner's head. Like, take care of the baton take care of the baton you know get this technically right yeah um one little mistake and it's over about yeah matt thanks so much for taking the time to join us today i know it's uh

it's a long way away it seems like a long way away but uh you know for people that are looking to plan to go on a sports trip, I think people in Vancouver, LA, it's a doable Olympics if you want to go travel to it. It'll be here before we know it. We just need those American spinners to get some lessons from the Canadians.

We're not going to give you any. Matt, thanks for taking the time to join us and enjoy your day. Okay, you too. Thanks a lot. So I know it's four years away, and we got one text from someone

who's like, what are we doing talking about the LA Games? I like to think about trips that I could possibly go on, and I don't know if you live in the same city that I do, but you need to save up for some of these trips. Especially like LA during the Olympics is going

to be more expensive. Well, just going to the Olympics is expensive. Right. But I think this one is doable. It's affordable. And when was the last one that you really could, if I'm talking about the summer games. Summer.

That you could have really gone to, you know? Yeah. Like where have they, like Atlanta was in 96. That might be the last one. You know? 2000, because there was Sydney in there. Athens. Athens, and then.

Couple in Asia. Beijing, London. So yeah, it would be 96. Yeah, this is a doable trip. But, you know, I always feel feel I always have to hesitate here and say like I realize not everyone can afford to take these trips, but the World Cup is coming in 2026 and I know we're going to be hosting games in Vancouver and that's going to be cool. But I think one of the most exciting things about the World Cup coming to North America is the

potential to be like I'm gonna hop on a flight and go to LA or San Francisco or I'm gonna drive down to Seattle at the very least and see some games or I'm gonna you know a flight to Chicago is really easy it all depends which teams you want to see and where they end up in North America, but that potential to go and visit these very relatively close cities and see some really cool stuff is there. We got some breaking news from Rick Dollywell. Do we want to? Well, yeah, hit it. Hit it for me.

Sportsnet 650, breaking news. The latest from Rick Dolly While he tweets Rumblings that Ian Clark Is stepping aside As Canucks goalie coach To take another role

With the team Still with the team though Abbotsford goalie coach Marco Terenas Is expected To replace Clark That's big news

We got Woodley coming up We got Woodley coming up But 8 o'clock Yeah Wow Good job team Ian Clark is now Going to run the power play Clark. That's big news. We got Woodley coming up. We got Woodley coming up at 8 o'clock. Look at the timing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. Good job, team. Ian Clark is now going to run the power play. He fixed one thing.

He can do it again. So another role with the team. Yeah. I don't know. Are they going to put together just like a goaltending department? Well, the Rangers just announced some changes, too, and it seems like more teams are going in that direction where this could be a precursor to beefing up the the goaltending uh so on the

coaching side this could be good news i guess um because if he's still with the team i assume he would still have the capability of working directly with dacha demko or archer she loves whoever it is maybe this even frees him up more to, you know, travel to Abbotsford and coach. It's also not a grind anymore. I don't know if, like people don't realize that the day-to-day goalie coach, the guy who was on the ice with the goalies, you're almost like a

personal trainer in a way. Like you're out there, you're grinding these guys. I mean, I've seen Demko training out at UBC. Some people that listen to the show might have seen you're out playing beer league or whatever you'd be saying dr dump go yeah and and you see him on the ice and it is just one-on-one work intensive stuff and this is appealing to a guy like ian clark who'd you know maybe want to get in the management side of things you can still focus on the goalies and

do your work but you're not grinding out day-to-day on the ice with the goalies, which I think is what this move is all about. JD and Coquitlam text in, it worked for the Panthers. Yeah, isn't that what the Panthers have? Goaltending excellence. They have the Department of Goaltending Excellence in the field of goaltending excellence. It's the Department of Goaltending Excellence.

Josh doesn't get it. Oh, Josh. This was fun, though. I enjoyed what we just did. He's along for the ride. Okay, well, this is very interesting. So for the second straight day, Rick Dollywell is providing us some good content. Kevin Woodley is coming up next, and we'll put Kev on the spot,

although I'm sure he's dialed in on this sort of stuff. Again, Rick Dollywell reporting. There are rumblings that Ian Clark is stepping aside as Canucks goalie coach to take another role with the team. So he's not leaving the organization, but there might be a new goalie coach for the Canucks, but Ian Clark. He's the Canucks new goalie.

After that goes replacement. Yeah. This is the best way to do it. He's like, you're really good. I've got all this knowledge. I should try this myself. Yeah. He's like, you're really good. I've got all this knowledge. I should try this myself. Yeah. Okay.

Kevin Woodley coming up next on the Alfred and Brock show on Sportsnet 650.