Halford & Brough in the Morning - Canucks Pre-Season Hockey Is Back!

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they chat tonight's Canucks pre-season debut as they host the Kraken (14:00), plus they discuss the latest NHL news with ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (27:17).  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.

da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da Now over the middle. Complete to Shakir. Races away from the defender. 10, 5, spins into the end zone for the touchdown. What a race to the end zone by Khalil Shakir. The final. Big 10. Right now. We can't have anyone freak out out there, okay? We've got to keep our composure. We've come too far.

There's too much to lose. We've got to keep keep up the closure. My top is here. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Alfred. It is Bruv. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Hey, dog. Good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Prep in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda,

Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Well, they'll pay the highest prices on scrap you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Well, they'll pay the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle,

you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec. Can they help my popliteus? Who knows?

That was funny yesterday, by the way. I'm not going to lie. When Kevin Woodley came on and delivered some good, solid breaking news on our show, I just kind of was like, alright. Cool. Thanks, Kev. I did

not realize that every media outlet in the city was going to become familiar with the Popliteus shortly thereafter. Were you listening? Yeah. Were you actually listening? Remember, I looked it up, and I was like, the key to the knee. I thought that was a clever little bit. I just didn't, I mean, maybe I underestimated.

How long have you been working here? I guess I underestimated Vancouver. Again? Good job, Vancouver. I was very happy that the Popliteus is now on the tongues and keyboards of everyone in the Lower Mainland. Do you think any city in the world

knows more now about the Popliteus than Vancouver? There's no chance. No chance? There's no chance. Yeah. There is no chance. That could go on our sign. Ask us about our Popliteuses. Actually, what's the plural?

There's a Popliteus Plaza opening up downtown. Poplitei. Poplitei. Poplitei? Popliteusai? We can work that into the city name. Vancouver. The Popliteus to the north.

Big guest list today on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Greg Wyshynski, our good buddy from ESPN. NHL coverage for ESPN is going to join us. His first hit of the new season. And it's a game day, of course. The Vancouver Canucks are in action tonight. 7 o'clock from Rogers Arena. First preseason game against their hated I-5 rivals, the Seattle Kraken.

So we'll talk to Wish at 6.30. We'll kick off our NHL coverage with him. 7.30, quarterback of your BC Lions, Nathan Rourke is going to join the program. We'll talk to Nathan about Nathan. We'll also talk to him about his very famous brother, Curtis Rourke, who's tearing it up in NCAA football.

Best quarterback in the Big Ten, maybe. And NFL draft eligible this year. Could be going in the upcoming NFL drafts. We'll talk to Nathan about all that. We'll also look ahead to this weekend's game for the lions. We got to ask him, right?

We got to ask him if he's been told if he's the starter this weekend. He has been. He has been already. Yeah. Okay. Uh, eight o'clock. Don't need to ask him.

We can confirm. You want to confirm? Still ask him. We can ask him anyway. He's like, it was all, all, all over the news.

Second story after the popliteus, whatever the hell that is. Eight o'clock. Brandon Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks. He'll be on the call tonight. Canucks cracking a reminder. It's all right here on Sportsnet 650. We are giving away another four pack of Monster Jam tickets.

Monster Jam. That is a monster truck rally. It'll be this Saturday at the Pacific Coliseum. If you want to go, you have to give us a good what we learned. Hashtag it, WWL. Let us know what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. Send it to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket at 650-650. Monster Jam, a four-pack of tickets this Saturday.

Your chance to win today on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock, it's Brendan Batchelor, 7.30, Nathan Rourke, 6.30, Greg Wyshynski. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that the action because our... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the B.C. Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at bccsa.ca. It was a Monday night football doubleheader last night. Some very interesting developments at the quarterback position in the National Football League. We will begin with the rookie, Jaden Daniels, the second overall pick in this year's draft, threw for a mere two touchdowns, ran for another one. An elite performance from Jaden Daniels.

They win 38-33 over the Bengals on Monday Night Football. The other one from the quarterback position, now all due respect to what Josh Allen did, he was great, but I think the big talking point from last night's 47-10 loss for Jacksonville was the ineffective play of Trevor Lawrence and the major, major red flags that are going up in Jacksonville now. If they weren't already raised,

they are now at full mast in Jacksonville. Did you ever unload Trevor Lawrence onto Drance? I did. Nice. I got Matthew Stafford and Derek Henry in return. I love it. It's called a good old-fashioned fleecing. It's been a lot of fun for me.

It was good. Not so good for Drance. Let's start with the Bengals-Commanders game. The Bengals are now 0-3. Yeah, that's another big storyline. And I know since he kind of makes a habit out of these slow starts, but, man, they are digging themselves a hole. And you know what's kind of funny is their next game is against the Carolina Panthers,

who you would be like, oh, that should be easy. No, no, no, no. They changed their quarterback to Andy Dalton, who was really good in week three in the Carolina Panthers, got a win. And of course, Andy Dalton, who did most of his years come with, the Cincinnati Bengals. He was pretty good with them. Bengals legend, Andy Dalton. So I'm sure Sports Talk Radio, I don't know if it exists.

I'm sure it does. And Cincinnati is going to be very interesting this week. But yeah, Jaden Daniels, the second overall pick out of LSU, Heisman Trophy winner. Just like a clutch, composed, accurate performance on the road. Late in the game, they had a fourth and four, and now it eventually did lead to a touchdown, but the fact that they went for it and didn't punt,

trusted Jaden Daniels in that situation, went for it. This was a series that was originally second and 20, and it was a one score game. I think the Bengals were down five. So it looked like the Bengals would get the ball back with time to score a winning touchdown. And I think in a lot of people's minds, they were thinking, okay, well, you know, the

Bengals have Joe Burrow and I know they're 0-2, they've had a tough start, but that's, that's the commanders we're talking about here. It's the Washington commanders we're talking about. These guys always lose. Nope. Jaden Daniels makes a pass, converts that,

makes an even better pass on a touchdown pass. They make it a two-score game, and it was over. The game was over, and we're now looking at back-to-back seasons where it's the second overall pick, not the first overall pick. CJ Stroud last season, Jaden Daniels this season, that they've impressed the most, while the first overall pick was Bryce Young last year and Caleb Williams this year.

They're kind of like, well, Bryce Young is in big trouble, but Caleb Williams will give him more than three games. But it hasn't looked terrific. So that's the real talking point today. I know you don't love saying the word takes, but sometimes you got to go in the lab and you got to cook up. Let's call it a hot opinion, okay? You could make the argument right now.

A hot opinion, just say take. I'll have three hot opinions, please. You can have them. I'll give you one right now. I think you can make the argument that for two years in a row, the team with the number one overall pick got it wrong. Now, you can definitely say it in the case of Bryce Young or CJ Stroud, right? I think it's fair to say at this point.

It's been a year. Yeah. I don't think anyone's going to argue that. Most people would take CJ Stroud on their team over Bryce Young. I'm not ready to make that same. All teams. All teams. How many? ready to make that same. All teams. All teams. How many?

All of them. I'm not ready to make the same argument yet. However. However. That was pretty damn impressive last night. I watched that game tip to tail. And Jaden Daniels. I got to give him one of these.

The Shaq meme. I was not that familiar with your game. I didn't watch him a ton at LSU. And when I did, I got to give him one of these, the Shaq meme. I was not that familiar with your game. I didn't watch him a ton at LSU, and when I did, I saw one thing. A guy that could run the ball a lot. He was a very mobile, very fast, very effective quarterback. He's pretty skinny. He is. I saw him in the post-game interview, and I'm like,

are you a wide receiver? He's not as physically underwhelming as Bryce Young, who looks like, why is that little kid on the field? But he's not like Anthony Richardson or anything like that. So I'm watching him, and the first couple weeks in Washington, he's running around, he's scoring running touchdowns. He wasn't throwing the ball all that much. Last night, my God, it was unbelievable.

He had a 55-yard ping downfield. I think it was Terry McLaurin on the end of it that should have gone for a touchdown. The throw that you're talking about on fourth down was unbelievable. He had a 55-yard ping downfield. I think it was Terry McLaurin on the end of it that should have gone for a touchdown. The throw that you're talking about on fourth down was huge. The throw into the end zone where he dropped it in the bucket to give him the 38 points was amazing. He went 21 for 23. He completed 91% of his passes for a rookie in his third game. Now, Caleb Williams with the Bears like I'm not ready to it's too early it's too early to say way too early but I'll say this right now Jaden Daniels

looks like the best quarterback in that class which is something um okay so the Jaguars want to real quick before we don't start yelling at us we will talk about hockey but it was Monday night football come on and there's good talking points out of this. So Jacksonville stinks. I don't know what's going on with Trevor Lawrence, but for a guy that was supposed to be a generational talent, and let's make no mistake, that's what he was tagged when he came out of the draft. He was the best draft prospect at quarterback since Andrew Luck.

Can't miss guy. Right? He had everything. The size, the pedigree, the winning pedigree as well at Clemson. It's a disaster. I'm not even going to bother playing the audio because we can just go over it. Doug Peterson, after the game yesterday, the head coach said, everything's on the table.

We might have to make a change at every position, and that included the quarterback. They should go to Nathan Rourke at quarterback. They should go to Nathan Rourke at quarterback. We'll ask him at 730. He's not there anymore. We'll ask him at 730. He's not there anymore. We should ask him about I mean, I doubt he's going to be super candid about

what he learned during his time in Jacksonville. Anyway, our good buddy Mike Martinago threw this question out there to us via our text thread yesterday and it got me thinking, right? Let's go down the road. Let's think about this

if you're the seahawks and things don't turn out well for trevor lawrence in jacksonville in a hypothetical world would you go after him as a reclamation project or are you scared off by what you've seen over the last by the contract he's got well anything yeah let's say that in some weird world he gets axed or they do i mean that wouldn't happen they'd probably be a trade but would you be interested in him as a reclamation project because it's to the point how many reclamation projects actually work like you've got baker mayfield but baker mayfield went other places yeah yeah like he went to the rams and he went to the Panthers before he figured it out with Tampa Bay. I mean, is Derek Carr a reclamation project in New Orleans?

Yeah, but I think the jury's still out as to whether it's actually a reclamation project. It's early this year. Last year was sort of mad. And he had some good years with the Raiders. He did, but never anything like in terms of winning, right? I mean, I don't know. I'm not prepared to answer that question yet. I would prefer it if the Seahawks just went the traditional route,

found their quarterback in the draft. Right now, I'm reasonably happy with Geno Smith, but I realize at some point they're going to have to have a quarterback of the future. I don't know if I would go the reclamation route, especially with the contract that Trevor Lawrence has. And there you have it. Let's go to the Canucks now, okay? Shall we?

Canucks play tonight. It is going to be the first exhibition game in a week of them. A reminder, it's on television. It's also going to be right here on Sportsnet 650. It is the Canucks and the Kraken tonight. You can expect to see JT Miller, Brock Besser, and Danton Heinen in the lineup tonight.

I will make note of the fact that the Kraken have already played an exhibition game. A bunch of teams have already played a few. Buffalo's playing their third tonight. I saw that on Twitter. So I guess some teams are already well in their third. Their third exhibition game already tonight. Have they had a split squad or something?

I didn't look at it. I just said, we're gearing up for our third exhibition game tonight. I'm like, how many games are you guys going to play? So the Kraken did play one. They got thumped 6-1 by Calgary. By the way, Calgary's running it in this preseason. They beat the Oilers 6-3 last night. Well, they played them twice, didn't they?

Yeah. Calgary played. One of the squads that they had yesterday was like almost a full oiler squad. Like Bouchard played 28 minutes. McDavid played and they still lost because Calgary is determined to win this preseason. But anyway, the Canucks host the Kraken tonight. And I am glad that we have hit this stage of the season.

I was ready for training camp to be over. I think a lot of the players were as well. And I want to start to see some of these line combinations and a lot of these new guys, including all the guys that they picked up in free agency as they get into the lineup tonight, including hopefully Heinen playing with Besser and Miller. I wonder how long it will be before we see Lankanen in goal.

He didn't get any training camp, right? Nope. Not all. They signed him during training camp. And most of the time you want a guy to be able to practice with your team and I'm sure he's been working out off ice but comes into the team because they're going to have to get him some games during the preseason because he's probably going to be you know the backup

goalie during the season so that'll be interesting to watch. The Canucks play tonight against Seattle at Rogers Arena. They play Calgary, the Red Hot Flames, tomorrow in Abbotsford. And that game will have Petey, it'll have DeBrusque, it'll have Lekker-Mackey because we expect to see those three on the same line. It's also going to have Quinn Hughes. I think there were some complaints about a game they played in Abbotsford. It was either last year or the year before that didn't have enough star power. And a lot of people that went there, they were like, ah, I was told that, or this guy was on the

poster and then he didn't show up. So I think the Canucks to their credit actually are being quite open about who's going to be playing in these preseason games. So tonight you've got the Miller line and tomorrow you've got the Petey line, essentially, and Quinn Hughes. So I expect tonight we're going to see Philip Hronik play.

Yeah, and look, here's my thought on the preseason is too long. There are too many games and there's way too big of a gap between the last preseason game and the start of the regular season. And I can understand that there might be a bit of angst and anxiety with Canucks fans because, well, one, there's a ton riding on the regular season. And I can understand that there might be a bit of angst and anxiety with Canucks fans because, well, one, there's a ton riding on the regular season, like without question, right? They want to make sure with all the slogans

and everything else that Rick Talkett has put out there that they want to, one, not waste any time, two, embrace the hard, but three, sort of reestablish themselves right away that last year wasn't a fluke it was didn't exist in a vacuum like this is the team that is going to be a playoff caliber team and competing in those playoffs moving forward we haven't talked much about dandan heinen have we we haven't at all like he's uh i think in theory a really good fit

for that millerBesser line. He's a very versatile player. He brings speed, defensive awareness. You know, it's not the penalty kill, but he's considered a very good penalty killer, so he's going to be important in that regard. But on that line, the one thing that I hope is evident is his speed because sometimes, you know, they would have a little bit of trouble getting going

just because, and if the Canucks want to create more rush chances, you know, Besser isn't the fastest skater. JT Miller's a good skater. He's more of a, I would describe him more as a powerful skater than super fast. But if Heinen can help with that regards and also be good defensively,

that'd be a really, really tough line, both offensively, but also in a matchup role. Yeah. And what the other thing that it does is it keeps them from having to play Pew Suter there, because that was actually one of the things that I had notes on from talk

it on the opening day of camp was that he sees Suter as a center and wants to play Suter as a center. And I think putting Suter as the winger on that line was never an ideal fit. There were a lot of not ideal fits last year, to be honest, if you're looking at it lineup-wise, right? That there were a lot of makeshift, Band-Aid sort of fixes. I think we talked about Pedersen's rotating wingers ad nauseum, so we don't need to go down that road again. I didn't mind Suter on that line though but it wasn't like it wasn't perfect you i not just to jump in i never got the feeling that it was like

something that anyone was sold on like the coat like talk it maybe even suitor because i don't think he's a winger he's not a finisher for sure i think he's a winger i think he's a very versatile player i think that's i mean i think he's a center and a winger. If he's a center all season, do you see him centering the fourth line when Bluger's back, or do you see him centering a third line potentially? Both. I think there could be some pivoting between the two. And what happens to our friend Nils Oman? He's a good penalty killer. That's the thing that'll keep him in the lineup, if anything. Nils Oman right now is gun good penalty killer. That's the thing that'll keep him in the lineup, if anything. Nils Oman right now has got him for that 13th forward spot, I would say.

And that's probably a good thing. That's probably where he is in terms of where his career is at. And if Nils Oman is higher in the lineup, you're probably not a playoff caliber team. This is meant as no disrespect for the guy. Well, he's not going to be higher in the lineup. He's either going to be the 4C or he's probably not going to be playing. I mean, he's got very limited offense from that spot, right?

In a league where you kind of want to have more scoring from all of your lines, including the 4th line. I wonder if there's a temptation to put... Yeah. It depends where Holglinder is. I wouldn't mind seeing Suter on a line with Holglinder. So, I don't know. The nice thing is we can

go through all these different combinations and be like, yeah, that's possible because the Canucks have a lot of players. And we'll see if injuries, and I will say continue to whittle them down because they're already missing some regulars in Teddy Bluger and Dakota Joshua. Now, those guys will probably be back sooner

rather than later. But right now, there's a lot of opportunities for guys to impress. I don't know if the Ratu-Hoglinder-Garland line will play tonight or tomorrow, but apparently they were very impressive in training camp. So that is very much a makeshift line with Bluger out out and dakota joshua out but you know it does seem like any line that connor garland goes on to has some jump and maybe that's something that can be revisited during the season you never know like you don't absolutely have to take dakota joshua and connor garland and staple them together and keep them together all season

you know they were so good last season that you'd be crazy not to break them up. But maybe it happens that Dakota Joshua gets bumped up into the top six at some point. Now, you mentioned the health factor. And let's be clear, as we boil this down to what's the most important thing for this team going into the season.

And it's crazy that we don't even have to focus on hashtag the start anymore because there's a sense of confidence. Maybe we should. Well, it's going to sneak up on us. I wanted to. They forgot to meet pressure with pressure. They were embracing the hard and they forgot to meet pressure with pressure.

Why are you not embracing the start? The start is very important. The start this year might actually be more complex than last year's because of what's happening in net. So we're all assuming that artisty loves is going to enter the season as the nominal starter and then depending on how long it takes lankanen to get up to speed that'll kind of pivot to how many games does he get to play early so it's a different little bit of a different beast beyond what um beyond what see love saw and did in the postseason.

I mean, I don't need to explain to you the differences between carrying the load as a starter during the regular season as opposed to doing it in the playoffs. There's different opponents on every night. There's much more travel involved, all those sorts of things. This is going to be a really interesting case study in a couple things. One, how good the team structure is because structure is going to be fundamentally important when you don't have Demko back there, right?

You're going to have to be a little bit more airtight. I would say, then you were not having your Vesna caliber goalie. But what about the attacking mindset? Well, I wonder if that's going to get parked a little bit at the start of the season. Doesn't seem like it's going to get parked based on what they were doing

at training camp. I just wonder if you're going to get parked a little bit at the start of the season. It doesn't seem like it's going to get parked based on what they were doing at training camp. I just wonder if you're going to... Insulate's a tough word because Seeloff's did prove last year in the playoffs that you can play at this level. I don't think there's any question about that. There are going to be some questions because it's unproven and untested how long you can do it for, what it's going to look like. Can you have a conservative attacking mentality? I don't think so like i i don't think we

should first of all i don't think we should start acting like it's one or the other like you either have structure or an attacking mentality the best teams find a way to have both good teams can do it all and you you know what helps in that speed and i think that's one of the reasons why they targeted speed in the offseason patrick alvin at the end of last season said we need more speed you know you can go from structure to attacking a lot quicker when you have speed now a lot of that is playing fast um so it's a mentality of once you get the puck on your stick, let's do something as opposed to just dumping it out. Sometimes you got to make a play. But also, you know, the speed allows you to get back into your structure faster

in case maybe that breakout goes the wrong way. Yeah. And I also think, just to add on to this conversation, is that being with an aggressive mindset and being on the attack is made easier when you have the security blanket in the back when you when you're like okay maybe i can take an extra chance here maybe i can take an extra risk here because you've got demko like a vesna caliber gold yeah now i'm not saying that now i'm not saying that's going to change fundamentally but i don't think they really did

that last year i don't think they played a style well where it was like well don't worry we got demko back there bruce did yeah but but the inverse might have been true i don't think talk it did but the inverse might have been true in the playoffs it might have been we're going to be a little bit more cautious and a little bit less risky i don't know when he loves isn't that yes yeah possibly but but for me, in the playoffs, against Nashville especially, maybe that was the case against Edmonton, but against Nashville, my feeling is where they really struggled offensively was just in zone.

Yeah. So they weren't really worried about their own end because they weren't in it at the time. They just couldn't get shots through. So at any rate, you know, like preseason kicks off tonight. So we're going to start to see a few things. Be careful not to draw too many conclusions from these games. No, we're drawing all our conclusions tonight.

But I'm really looking forward to finally seeing Canucks hockey back. The NHL conversation continues on the other side. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN will join us. We can talk about a myriad of things, including Utah's first ever game in Utah. How many season tickets did they sell, Jason? I can't, LeBron tweeted out, it was something like,

they've got like 8,000. I'm like, oh, that's, it's not that. I know they had a quick turnaround time here, but is that, are we, is that impressive? Is that good? I kept waiting for the follow-up tweet.

I'm like, is that all the seats? Yeah. Did they sell them all? 8,000. Like, it's fine. Not only anyone's doing cartwheels over the fact that you sold 8,000 season tickets. I don't know. Maybe I'm missing something here.

I'm not too sure. But we'll talk to Greg Wyshynski about Utah's first foray into the National Hockey League. Unofficially, it was a preseason after all. And everything else that's going on around the NHL. Nathan Rourke at 7.30, Brendan Batchelor at 8. And a reminder, get your What We Learns in. Dunbar-Lemmer text line is 650-650. Best What We Learned today gets a four-pack of Monster Jam tickets

for Saturday at Pacific Coliseum. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.32 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. ESPN's Greg Wyshynski is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of Hour 1.

Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal, North star metal recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell street in Vancouver. Very,

very comforting and warming to hear the music again, because it means that Greg Wyshynski is back. He joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on sports net six 50. Good morning, Gregory. How are you? Yes. Like,

like mom's meatloaf. Just a big old comforting slab of beef with that music coming on. It's very exciting. How are you? It's been a while. It has. I was on paternity leave for most of the summer, so I am now spending a lot of my days looking at rosters and being like,

he's there? How did he get there? Who was your biggest he's there guy? It was oddly Nick Cousins, I guess, who is, I believe, on Ottawa now. He's there? Yeah, that was the first one I looked at, and I'm just like, oh, man, I've got some studying to do. It's not as if i spend most of my days wondering about the whereabouts of nick cousins uh but it was one of those deals where i'm like oh i don't even remember that

happening uh and it probably happened on like july 2nd so i don't know it's it's it's actually cool because sometimes i think we all could use a primer before the season really dive in and figure out what the hell's happened in the last few months. So I'm kind of experiencing that myself right now. Did you know there's a hockey team in Utah? Now that I knew because I wrote about it before the whole paternity leave thing. I knew that happened. You know, it's funny. So I'm doing a bold predictions thing on ESPN.com later this week,

so I'm sure Vancouver fans will want to tune in for that. But on the Utah one, I'll spoil it. I think the bold prediction for Utah is not that they'll make the playoffs or not that, like, Logan Cooley's going to pop off. I think the bold prediction is that by the end of the season, we'll just start calling them the Yetis. Like, even if they don't announce it. I like it.

I like it. Force them. We'll just default. Force their hand. Yeah, there's going to be so much stuff that leaks about trademarks and this, that, jersey concepts and what have you. I mean, it's going to be the name. I actually heard it's going to be Yetis and not Yeti,

which kind of ticks me off. But, you know, I think that probably has something to do with not confusing people with the company that makes coolers. Right. But I think by the end of it, by the end of the season, by the end of the season, we might even hear let's go Yeti's chance at Utah games. That's how far I think it'll go. So I was looking at the Delta Center and the configuration for hockey, and I was laughing because I was like, that looks like the old, what was it called? America West Arena.

Oh, good pull. In Phoenix, which kind of started this whole thing, right? It's a basketball specific arena. The end zone seats are pulled up. There's a bunch of seats in the upper deck where you can't see the goal that's closest to you. LeBron tweeted out that according to the Utah Hockey Club, 8,400 seasons tickets and full season equivalents have been sold. A lot of work has been done in a

short amount of time since April. I don't doubt that work, but I also look at 8,400 season tickets and go, are we supposed to be impressed by this or what's going on here? Well, I wonder if that's full or partial or what that is. Because I got to imagine that it's a larger number than that if you include all ticket packages. But I'm curious. He says 8,400 season tickets and full season equivalents. I mean, who knows?

It's not a very impressive number, certainly when we think about Seattle and Vegas. But at the same time, like you said just previously, I think you do have to kind of like give them an out for the next 10 years. I understand that. In the U.S., you've got to put a little bit of legwork. You've got to do a little marketing. You've got to do a little bit of enticement. You've got to reach out to the business community. You've got to do all these things that come with having a new hockey team all of a sudden plop in the middle of your town. I know that there's a perception of Salt Lake City. It's winter sports

heaven, and it is, but it's still spending your hard-earned money in a weird economic time on a new product, and they probably needed a little bit more time to lay groundwork and do the work necessary to sell season tickets. So if the number's a little weird this year, I might give them a mulligan just because of how insanely quick this all happened. But I agree with you. It's a little bit lower than you'd expect, and certainly not something that you'd expect them to crow about. We're speaking to Greg Wyshynski

from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. I knew I was in Canada this morning, Greg, when I woke up and I was checking sportsnet.ca a very fine website, by the way, and there were not one, but two! Two different stories written off the Amazon Prime face-off

inside the NHL trailer that dropped yesterday. Headline, McDavid not a robot. Everyone was all excited about the nine seconds of McDavid freaking out. We can't lose our composure in the locker room. So that was one part of it. And then in Toronto, everyone was all excited about that they caught William Nylander saying, stop crying, bro, on the bench.

Like, oh, good. He was mic'd up for that. So this is where we're at in Canada right now is the trailer that really sparked interest across the country. What are you hearing about this series, about what's to come? Obviously, they've got some pretty good footage because two of the clips, I think, took a lot of people by surprise already. Well, McDavid's stuff's going to be great.

The last two episodes of this six-episode season are focused solely on the Oilers and the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Finals. So I think we're going to have a lot of access to him and see him acting as the leader behind the scenes that we don't always get to see. And I think we'll also probably get some real Oilers devastation at the end of the finale for this season

because they were in the room and around the team when they lost. Good, good. I know, right? Everybody's kind of licking their lips and rubbing their hands together. I've seen the first episode. I did a tweet-length review of it yesterday. So two things about it. First of all, I say this in all sincerity that my bar is set extremely high,

not only because of the production company behind the show, but because the apex for me of any of this stuff was the first couple of seasons of HBO 24-7. And I've been chasing that dragon my entire life, it feels like now, you know, to see something that good again. And I don't quite think it gets there. I think there's a little bit too much talking head type thing instead of the big booming voice narrator, which is how I prefer to consume this stuff. And again, that's just me.

And also the pitch of it can be a little casual at times. Like, here are the Bruins, and here is why they're big and bad. But I know that, and I know that they're going for a more casual you know drive to survive audience so i understand why you have to do that work i will say this about the first episode uh as much as the neilander thing is getting a lot of play uh i i cared so much less about william neilander than i did about david pasternak who i is, the episode's great on the Pasternak stuff. I mean, personal tragedy, showing his personality, showing him what life is like for him in Boston. And then also like his friendship with Nylander,

like the most interesting things about William Nylander in that first episode are through the prism of Pasternak. So that's my, that's my thumbnail letterbox review of the first episode of this show, and it should be good. I mean, it's not bad, but it's just not, you know, Ilya Brzgalov talking about the universe. I did notice when they were talking to Nylander and McDavid specifically, they were very open in acknowledging that it was almost like the league

and the players sort of needed this, and they were leaning into it, understanding that as a marketing tool, they had to play along. They had to grant the access and be candid and everything else, which is a bit of a stretch from 24-7, because I remember after the first season of 24-7 came out, it suddenly got super guarded, and the players were like, we don't like this.

There was a lot of, good morning. Yeah, you know? All of a sudden, the candidness of Briz Gallop was gone from the series and it kind of petered out after that. So I do think, I mean, I'm curious to see the first episode and the ones beyond, but did you get a sense that the players were maybe more engaged than previous iterations of this kind of documentary? By the way, it all fell apart in season three because in the first two seasons you had,

you know, the complete newness of the whole thing. And then I think in season two two seasons you had you know the complete newness of the whole thing and then i think in season two is when you had the brish gollum part of it and then by season three it's like they all it's the same thing as mtv's the real world like the first few seasons were incredible because no one knew what the hell they were doing and then by the time you get to the fourth season people are just trying to get on the challenge at that point so it's just like they all they all just i think enough. I think Randy Carlisle ruined it. Like, that was the year. Because the first season, wasn't it Bilesman versus Boudreaux? That was, yeah, yeah, okay.

All right. A long time ago now. Like, it's Boudreaux dropping more F-bombs than, like, a Chris Rock concert. And then, you know, like, by the time you get to the third or fourth season, it's Randy Carlisle talking about a toaster. Like, that's what we sell so far. Toaster, right. I forgot about that. Yeah. So, so I, I would say again, I only saw one episode.

The candor that they have is this awareness that the modern athlete has about their own image. Like Willie, Willie Nylander, for as much as he has sort of a devil may care attitude sometimes, you know, clearly understands there's a camera in his apartment and clearly understands that when he's playing with his dog and talking about how wonderful it is that your dog doesn't judge you like the media or whatever, like it's,

it's clear that he understands that is on tape and that will be in the show. And so there's this, I guess what I'm trying to say is like, there's a, there's a certain self-awareness of their playing along with the show and promoting themselves and promoting the game, I guess. But you're certainly not getting a cinema verite.

You don't feel like the cameras are there type feel, which is how you got, I think, in early 24-7. I wish the Canucks kick off their preseason, at least, tonight at Rogers Arena against the Seattle Kraken. I'm going to ask you about the Canucks after this, but their opponent, the Kraken, I don't know how to put this, so I'm just going to ask it rudely. Do you find them as boring as we do?

Well, no, I definitely find them as boring as we do? Well, no, I definitely find them as boring as you do because there's no discernible personality to the way they play, and maybe that changes now that Haxtell's gone because I think if you believe that the team takes on the personality of its coach well, we don't have to look too far to see why the team... We had Dave Haxtell on the show earlier this week. He was a terrific guest. We loved his personality.

I'm not joking. We had him on yesterday. I know. I actually remember seeing that on Twitter now. I get what you're saying, though. So Boswell's got a little bit more swagger to him, I think, and we'll see what happens now that he's taken over the team. You know, I think. And we'll see what happens now that he's taken over the team. I'm with you.

And this has been a problem since they came into the league, to be honest with you. If you ask me what Kraken hockey is, I've never been able to really describe it. It's certainly not playing from the goaltender out. It's certainly not building around a young star player, as good as Beniers is.

I don't really know what it is. They're kind of in that post-expansion draft purgatory of still having so many names on that roster that you know and that they play okay, but by no means is the sum total a championship team. Your thoughts on the Canucks as they enter another season after a very surprising and positive season. Turnaround under Rick Tockett,

pushed the Edmonton Oilers to seven games in the second round of the playoffs, and now they're back. The bar has been raised. They've got issues with Thatcher Demko in goal, and as always, you know, the Canucks, it's funny, we've got a longtime columnist here by the name of Ed Willis, and he's written a book on the Canucks,

and the title of the book is called Never Boring, which I think is a pretty good title because whether the Canucks are good or bad, there's always drama to be found on this team. I liked his book, The Rebel League, a lot. That was Ed, right? Yeah, yeah, on the WHA. No, they're never boring. As I go through the league and try to figure out exactly where these pieces fit,

I'm struggling to figure out exactly how far I'm expecting them to advance. They're obviously a playoff team, right? And they have a pretty high ceiling if things break the right way and and i like their fundamentals and and what rick tockett's kind of it's instilled in this team there's some parts of it that i don't love and and ultimately you know if we're really going to look at this team as a stanley cup contender it all falls on the health of one of the best goaltenders in the game. So I'm intrigued by them. I don't think they're as good as the Oilers right now,

but I do think that they're a team whose upside is to win the Cup, if that makes sense. Do you think the Oilers are better than last year, about the same as last year worse than last year because they came pretty darn close last year to winning the cup they're they're better they're for that the the Arvidsson acquisition Skinner like they're they're to have the Edmonton Oilers be better offensively than they were last year it's kind of scary and then on top of that I mean they played so well under Knobloch. Like,

he really unlocked something in this team to get them to recommit defensively, to play better in front of their goaltender. They were clearly the best team in hockey, you know, during his run as head coach. So the pieces are all there and they've got the right guy behind the bench and Skinner kind of, you know, tested his mettle medal and proved himself last season so as long as it's not a you know they hit the exhaustion wall because they advanced so far last year like they're going to be a real contender but I don't know if I have them coming out of the west though to be honest with you there's another team I have my eye on in the west who's that team I'll give you I'll give you a guess. Let's see if you can guess it. Another team coming out of this. Dallas?

Yeah. You think it's time? It's funny how we all look at the Oilers as the bridesmaid when you have a team that made the conference final twice in a row out of the Central Division. And the thing I love about Dallas is they are completely in that sweet spot. They're like a parfait, right? They've got old veteran guys that are still very, very good in Ben and Sagan and Duchesne. Then you have this incredible collection of guys in their prime.

You have Robertson and Hintz and Ottinger and Heskinen and all those guys. And now you've got this next generation pushing up with Wyatt Johnston and Bavard Bork and those guys. It's a really loaded team. I don't know if the sum total is the cup, but I do think that they're going to break through this year. I think this is a really, really good team. I'm not totally in love with them on the back end, but with the tan of trade last year,

you can remedy that at the trade deadline because there's a ton of defensive defense and blue liners that'll be available. But the sum total of those parts is pretty impressive. And if you're looking to fade the Oilers, I think Dallas is the logical choice. So, I mean, the Oilers took care of them in the playoffs last year.

They did? Didn't they? Yeah, he said they did. Yeah, yeah. They did. In the conference final, yeah. Yeah. Confirming.

Do you think that was just they didn't have a very good series? I remember thinking, so I'll put you in the fans of Canucks shoes. Try not to go crazy. Yeah. I'll put you in the fans of Canucks shoes. You try not to go crazy. When the Canucks were on the, had the potential to beat the Oilers, a lot of us were like, well, I don't know how well we do against Dallas anyway. But I think it was almost like really disappointing

to see the Oilers take care of Dallas. I thought, I know they were down 2-1 at that series at that one point, but then I thought Edmonton really took over that series. Yeah. And a lot of people in Vancouver were like, well, wait a minute, we could have beaten Dallas. What do you think happened in that series? I know I'm asking you to go back a lot, but can you remember specifically what happened

to Dallas? Like, what will be the narrative for the stars heading into this season well it won't be the narrative for the stars like they won't admit to it but part of the problem was that they I mean they basically had a Joe Biden problem with Joe Pavelski like they had to try to guy out there based on based on reputation and based on position in the lineup and he he was cooked. He was cooked. They were waiting around for him to do a heroic playoff thing, and he was absolutely cooked. So just by virtue of that lineup change,

where now all of a sudden instead of Kowalski on that top line, it's going to be Wyatt Johnson, for God's sakes. Just that change alone is going to make this team a better team than it was last year in the playoffs. But I mean, you know, like, Otten Jr. didn't have a great series of memory serves. And yeah, I mean, the Oilers,

I mean, there's something to be said for the Oilers just being, like, completely locked in at that point, too. I mean, I don't think that necessarily teams play extraordinarily well

all the time in back-to-back seasons. But the Oilers were on such a roll that maybe it was just hard to overcome that no matter how well Dallas was going to play. But again, the maturation of the young players, maybe a better Ottinger, hopefully some augmentation of the blue line, although Matt Dumba being there is pretty good.

I think they're set up pretty well in a manageable decision too with some teams that have deep flaws, I think, behind them in the central. Do you remember how insane the Oilers' PK was in the playoffs? We were like, where the hell did this come from? I thought it was the power play. I mean, the power play wasn't terrible, but the PK, I thought, was probably their main strength of their entire run. It was, and the goaltending was part of that, too, with Skinner playing as well as he did.

Which I didn't like as an American. He might be your guy which is not fun to think that you've found a goalie. I particularly love that as a Canadian. I'll tell you also. Touche. Hey Greg, I got one more for you before we let you go. Okay, so

speaking of veteran guys that take up a lot of oxygen on the team and the defending president's trophy winners the new york rangers and jacob truba can you explain to me and to the listeners what the hell is going on with truba and the rangers yeah so basically jacob truba um they they he had he had a full no move clause that became a partial no move clause on july 1st and what the rangers wanted to do was get that list from him early to kind of like facilitate maybe a deal. But Trouba basically said, I'll give you the list.

I'm supposed to give it to you. And so that kind of short circuited something. So the Rangers as obviously like, you know, teams move on, you know, they go and do different options if they don't know that one thing is going to be solid. So that, that kind of monkey with the process, there were reports that he put the kibosh on a trade to Detroit by using his trade protection. Basically it's the end of the road with, with him and this team, you know,

his contract is almost up and you know, his trade protections changed and I think they're ready to kind of like transition away from, from having him taking up that much salary space on their blue line. But, you know, he's got trade protection in his contract. And the other part of this that became pretty wild actually on the first day of Rangers camp, I was there for it is, is him kind of lashing out at local media for including his wife in this, in this story. And, you know, for those who don't know,

his wife has a residency at a New York hospital and you know, the status of that residency has been reported on in local media here in New York. And he was, he was pretty, pretty adamant about, you know, not appreciating that being part of it to which i'd say honestly like i i'm a big like let's leave the wife and kids out of it type guy when it comes to reporting on players but her her her her you know wants and needs in her profession and her education uh in in in medicine was a big part was the reason maybe he left Winnipeg. Yeah, yeah. And so I felt like in this case, he may be,

no one really wants to see their wife's name used in a newspaper, you know, like about a hockey contract. But to me, it was fair game because it was a previously stated reason, even by Jacob Trouba himself, as to why he wanted to come to the Rangers. So now if it's a reason he doesn't want to leave the Rangers, I think that's fair game. How much more complex is this situation because he's the captain? Oh, I don't think they care about that.

They don't care about that? Okay. I mean, there's leadership in that room. You got guys like Kreider, for example, and others. And I mean, that's not to diminish the impact that he has as captain or his efficiency as captain. But I think, you know, we're not talking about Mark Messier here. You know what I mean? Like, if they need to trade Jacob Truby,

they'll just slap the C on Adam Fox or someone else. I don't think that's going to be a huge deal. Greg, you're the best, man. Thanks for doing this, as always. We genuinely appreciate it. Enjoy another week of preseason action. We'll do this again next Tuesday. Thanks, buddy. All right, boys. Thank you. See you, pal. Greg it. Enjoy another week of preseason action. We'll do this again next Tuesday.

Thanks, buddy. All right, boys. Thank you. See you, pal. Greg Wyshynski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's good to chat

with Wish again. Yeah, it's great. He knows everything. Why was Crider never made the captain? I don't know. That's a good question. Was he too young at the time?

I don't think he was. I mean, he's the longest tenured guy, too. He's been there forever. It's not especially close. Yeah. He's been there for 12 years. He's such a good player. I mean, he's the longest tenured guy, too. He's been there forever. It's not especially close. Yeah. He's been there for 12 years. He's such a good player.

I know. Do they think maybe when they made Trouba the captain, was there a risk at the time that Kreider might leave? Sure. Might leave? Yeah, sure. Because he did have to re-sign that contract. Yeah, that's fair.

I mean. Maybe. I mean, who cares? But I'm just curious. No, no. It's an interesting point because i'm always very impressed by chris crider because he's carried on being a really good player into his he's i don't know 33 or 34 now it is quite remarkable that like chris there's some people

that'll say chris crider could end up on the rangers mount rushmore like that's the status that he's got yeah now he's never won a cup short of that, there's going to be very few guys that are going to have the career totals that he had as a Ranger. And for him, maybe he's the next guy. I don't know. He's in New York for a little while. And obviously, Trouba's time. I mean, Trouba even called it his last dance this year.

He knows that he's not long for New York. Kreider had 39 goals last year. He's unbelievable. 48 career playoff goals. Yeah, he's great. That's a considerable amount. I really like Chris Kreider as 39 goals last year. He's been great. 48 career playoff goals. Yeah, he's great. That's a considerable amount. I really like Chris Kreider as a player. I think that's a guy that is the prototypical modern power forward.

He used to lay off the goalies a little bit. He likes to injure them a little bit. That was earlier in his career. He's sort of come around on it now. It was really just Keir. He shouldn't just stand there. Yeah, that's true. Okay.

We've got a lot more to get into. It's a breakaway. I always yell that out in Beer League, by the way. When there's a goalie, I'm like, hit him. I just want one person to actually listen, to actually lay out a goalie in Beer League. That would be funny. Not to Laddie, though. Not to Laddie.

Laddie finds it somewhat less funny. That is outrageous. This isn't lacrosse, bro. Coming up on the Halverd and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, we've got an open segment so we can dive into any topic you want to dive into. We've got some stuff to get to as well. We can go around the NHL. We can do anything from the world of sport.

7.30, Nathan Rourke's going to join the program. Signal caller for the BC Lions. And then at 8 o'clock, Brandon Batchelor, who will be on the call tonight for the Canucks and Kraken, 7 o'clock from Rogers Arena. A reminder, you can hear that game right here on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the Alfred and Brough Show on

Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions. Speaking of Nathan Roark, the Roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at