Halford & Brough in the Morning - Dakota Joshua Is A Warrior

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00) including some serious health news for Canucks forward Dakota Joshua (6:00), plus they discuss the latest hockey news with NHL.com's Shawn Roarke (29:39). 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-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- Deep right field. How far will it go? Into the second deck. It's his 48th home run. It is home for 50-50. That one's driven out to left center field and deep. Going back, Jayron. Turning, looking, see ya. He checked the box. He's now homered in every ballpark in baseball. Altuve showing where it hit his foot.

And now he's ejected. Oh, man, that's amazing. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Ruff. 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. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you. Hello, hello. And Arash, good morning to you. Morning. Halford and Ruff in the morning is brought to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you. Hello, hello. And Arash, good morning to you.

Morning. Halford and Brough 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 one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's 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. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet. What are you waiting for?

Kintec. I got a lot to get into on the program today. Training camp doesn't officially begin until tomorrow for your Vancouver Canucks. But let's be real. It basically starts today. Everyone will be descending on the South Okanagan Events Center in Penticton today. There's going to be media availabilities. They're going to do their media car wash.

There's a bunch of media people that are going up today and settling into their accommodations for the next five days. So we will be talking quite a bit. We're going to go Canucks heavy today, Thursday and Friday for the remainder of the week here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Guest list today, it's going to kick off at 6.30. Sean Rourke from NHL.com. So the Canucks rookie tournament up in Penticton just wrapped.

Sean was in El Segundo, California for the 2024 NHL rookie faceoff, which had seven teams in it, including a bunch of the Canucks. Did Celebrini play? He did. One game. He played one. Is that it? That's it.

Oh, really? Shut him down. And they were like, yep, he's pretty good. Did you know they have a guy on San Jose named Quentin Musty? Did you know that? Quentin Musty? Must you know that? Quentin Musty? Musty? Musty, yeah.

So you're shutting down my Celebrini talk for... For Musty talk. For Musty talk. A little Musty talk. Fair enough. There was a bunch of the Pacific Division opponents in that tournament. Lots of good stories coming from there as we start to look ahead at the start of the season.

Sean Rourke from NHL.com is going to join us at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Nick Shook from NFL.com. You know, I went back and you know how I always diligently listen to every single minute of every single show. No, I don't know that. Anyway, I've never done that once. But yesterday, I realized we spent three hours on the show and did not mention a single time that Bryce Young got benched.

Didn't mention it. just glossed over it entirely like the biggest story in the nfl we didn't talk about it so we're gonna write that wrong today with nick shook from nfl.com for andy bloody dalton that's low it is a low point the best was when on on sunday after they lost i saw a stephen a smith clip where he is like ladies and gentlemen this is worse than Jamarcus Russell. I was like, damn. That's bad. That was bad.

The head coach, Dave Canales, when they lost 26-3 to the Chargers on Sunday, after the game, he said, you know, Bryce is our guy and we're sticking with him. And then he went and watched the tape and he's like, what I said on Sunday was wrong. We are not sticking with Bryce Young. We're going with Andy bloody Dalton. And that's how he said it And he's like, what I said on Sunday was wrong. We are not sticking with Bryce Young. We're going with Andy bloody Dalton. And that's how he said it. He's like, can you believe it? Andy Dalton. The guy's still in the league.

And he's on our team. And we're starting him at quarterback. It's been that bad. So we're going to talk to Nick Shook from anoffal.com at 7 o'clock about that. We'll also look ahead to Thursday Night Football. A classic AFC East battle between the Patriots and the Jets. Nick Shook, 7 o'clock, 8 o'clock. So the BC Lions don't play this week, but we always have a BC Lions guest on the weekly.

This week, it's the owner, Omar Dolman, is going to join the program. So we will talk to him about Grey Cup plans, but also the current state of his team because there was a pretty controversial decision by his head coach in Friday's loss to the Toronto Argonauts at quarterback. So lots to get into with the BC Lions owner. We should talk to him about meeting Rick Tockett too because I think Tockett was hanging out with him

a bit during that game. That's right. And Moj, I'm sure, we'll talk to him about that on Friday as well because Tockett was hanging out in the booth with Moj. I thought you were going to say that to Amar Doman. Thought that that was Moj. Yeah, are you?

No, you're not. Kind of look similar. Amar's like, so we got this new slogan, embrace the heart. We're making t-shirts for the players. It's really picking up steam. Amar Doman's going to join us at 8. Nick Shook at 7. Sean Rourke at 6.30.

That's the guest. Only three guests today after a five guest yesterday. But that's because we have a lot to get into. So without further ado, 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? 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. We will begin with some very serious news and the biggest news of yesterday, which Bic and Jamie broke on the air on Sportsnet 650 yesterday afternoon.

Canucks forward Dakota Joshua announced on Tuesday that he is recovering from testicular cancer. In a statement shared by the team on Tuesday afternoon, Joshua wrote that doctors discovered a lump earlier this summer and were able to successfully remove the tumor. The 28-year-old obviously won't be attending training camp. He is in the process of recovery. He said he plans on returning to play, quote, as soon as possible and is working hard every day to rejoin his teammates.

Obviously a jarring piece of news for Joshua, his family, the Canucks, and the fan base to receive whenever you hear the word cancer. It deserves your attention. The good news here is that testicular cancer has a very high survival rate as long as it's caught early. It's a young man's disease typically affecting males in their late teens through their early 30s. Sometimes it does require radiation or chemotherapy. Other times, surgery and just monitoring it is good enough. Now, a lot of athletes have been through this, uh, Lance Armstrong famously dismissed his initial symptoms of testicular cancer.

Cause he kind of thought, well, you know, it's in the groin region and I ride a bike for a living. That's probably, you know, something going on there. And the cancer unfortunately spread to, I believe it was like his abdomen ad abdomen i can't say it lungs and brain uh and i think you know and he survived that um and this doesn't mean this is going to happen for dakota joshua it it really doesn't um it the whole thing is really just a good reminder that if you feel, for you guys out there, you feel something in your balls, whether it's a lump or pain, go see your doctor. Don't be embarrassed. Don't just assume it's nothing. Don't ignore it. Don't

put it to the back of your mind. Don't think, hey, I'm super healthy and I have a really good diet. Uh, the cause of testicular cancer isn't fully understood. Again, it's not related to not taking care of yourself physically or a poor diet. It's not nothing to do with smoking or anything like that. For all we know, it's just the luck of the draw. And unfortunately, Dakota Joshua is going to have to go through this. Uh, we'll find out more about, well, a lot of things today when the Canucks hold their season opening. Media avails this afternoon in Penticton ahead of training camp.

I don't know how much more. I don't know if we're going to get a timeline on Dakota Joshua. I don't know if we're going to get a timeline on Thatcher Demko, but health is certainly at the top of everyone's mind as the Canucks head into this season. Yeah, training camp is going to be, it's always interesting, right? And part of that has to do with the long, slow burn and build of waiting for things to get underway.

And it's another one of those benchmarks in the offseason. Guys, you know, arriving wherever training camp is held this year, it's in Penticton. Today it'll be a lot of talk and there'll be a lot of audio to parse through and there'll probably be a lot of information passed along as you mentioned. There's going to be the health updates on Joshua and Demko.

There's going to be some introductions as well. It's going to be our first look at a lot of guys, specifically the guys that are here on PTOs and Ferguson and Sammy Blay, the new guys that are going to be here, even though they've spoken with the media on a number of occasions, all the free agent signings. This is still going to be their first chance to don, going through the drills, going through the skates, getting things back with a bunch of veterans that are going to be returning to the team.

So there are topics that might come up today, perhaps more on the contract status for Rick Tockett, the head coach. Alvin sort of addressed that with IMAC. You tell me if this is addressing the situation. Sportsnet, is it still the organization's plan to wait until after this season to re-sign your coach? Alvin, we have a club option for next year. I think with the relationship we have with Talkit

and the trust we have in the communication, I think when the time is right for both of us and then obviously the ownership, we'll look into that. Nice. Patrick Alvin is still very good at saying a lot without saying anything oh so when the time is right you know could you tell us when that time might be i like no all right you know what you know what he's very good at he's very good at extrapolating the details

that everybody already knows like when he says when the time is right we'll look at it and obviously ownership will look at it as well yeah like ownership wasn't going to like it's just like whatever i was thinking that you would do it when the time is wrong yeah cloak and dagger and you you convinced me that i was wrong on that uh any other questions that you would have for canucks brass or the players uh text into the dunbar Lumber text line 650-650. 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. If I sound a little sped up right now, it's because I got off the ice about four hours ago, I think. Oh, you had a late late game.

Yeah, a late hockey game last night. I knew you had a late game. I didn't know you had a late late game. Yeah, so I just kind of like went to sleep for a bit, and then I was like, all right, I'm up. Am I on? You're up. Am I on? You're on. Am I on the power play? How did your game go?

Terrible. We shouldn't have lost, but we did. Oh, nice. This will also be the first time we will hear from Elias Pettersson. He's been in town. He's hadn't spoken to the media. So we'll see if we get a more upbeat version of the player after a summer of reflection

And hopefully some hard work But the reflection is probably the Biggest part of all this Not my words, Rick Tockett Rick Tockett said he spoke to Pedersen a couple weeks ago Sounded a little more Upbeat on the phone And he said last year when I spoke to him

He sounded a little subdued And most of the fan base that had watched him And seen his press conferences were like on the phone and he said last year when I spoke to him, he sounded a little subdued. And most of the fan base that had watched him and seen his press conferences were like, yep. He looks subdued. He looks subdued. He looks sad. A little birdie told me we might get an update on the Rogers Arena

seats saga. We're going with saga. It's a saga. I know other shows have been more into this than we have. Like all of them with Saga. It's a Saga. Yeah. Yeah, I know other shows have been more into this than we have. Like all of them? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Saga. Okay, you're fired.

Just get out. Seat Saga. Sounds better. Wait, so you're saying Saga over Saga? No, he's saying Saga over Saga. We do have an extra body back here, so if you wanted to fire one of us, today is the day. Yeah, she's just like, I'm here, boys. And he's like uh uh so we might have an announcement on that do you have any other details to share now i'm intrigued i don't even care about the seats and i'm intrigued

or i don't think all the seats are gonna get replaced no they're not gonna get time for october they might be able to do the the lower. I think they ran into some issues with their supplier. Their seat supplier? Yeah. Seat, seat, seats was the company. They didn't have enough seats. It turns out they only had two seats, not three. Sorry, we're sold out, guys. Yeah, they were like, you want 18,000 seats?

What? We could do one a day. By October? We should replace them. These are handmade. We have one worker. Some guy named Tibor stitching them in the bag. This is going to take a lot longer than that. People doing. These are handmade. Yeah. We have one worker. Some guy named Tibor stitching them in the bag.

Like, this is going to take a lot longer. People doing it during the game. Yeah. Okay, the seats. Yeah. All right. I did, you know, so kudos to IMAC, who has a very comprehensive training camp preview piece up on sportsnet.ca right now.

So let's dive into a couple of these things here. There is a very, when you look at the numbers, there is a very interesting battle on the wings and in terms of the 12 forward spots on this team going into camp. If you want to do the math, I would say that you can kind of pencil in your centers one through four right away. You know who those guys are going to be. It's really the eight spots on the wings that aren't necessarily up for grabs but that's where the pieces of the puzzle you know who the four

centers are going to be i think so who are they i think you'll go um jt miller yeah i think you go peterson uh-huh you go bluger not for sure you don't think so well i think so but i think suitor's a candidate suitor's also a candidate to move onto the wing, of course. And he could fit into this as well. And then Nils Amon 4C, but maybe I don't know, maybe Atu Ratu goes in there and... Well, he could, you know, force his way into the action here. So let's focus on the wings. Sorry, I cut you off. I apologize. No, no, that was good.

Let's say the eight spots on the wings. It's interesting because you've got four returnees. That would be Garland and then Joshua, who now with an asterisk, because we're not sure when he'll return to the lineup. Nils Hoaglander and Brock Besser, joined by the four newbies, Jake DeBruyck, Stanton Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood, and Daniel Sprong.

Now, if you're going to go on the assumption that Dakota Joshua is going to be out in the interim, that means that a spot, at least for now, is open. So you're looking at DiGiuseppe, Nils Amon, Jonathan Leckermacki, Linus Carlson, Arch, Steve Baines. I forgot about Sammy Blay, the PTO signing. And someone texted in and suggested maybe they

found out about Dakota Joshua and brought in Sammy Blay. I have no idea. The timing could work on that. But who knows about that? Well, you do know the one stat that jumps out when people were talking about Sammy Blay during the last couple of years in St. Louis, right?

He led the team in hits. Yeah, hits a lot. Yeah. You know what? Not to go too deep on Sammy Blay, because I'm not sure he's going to be a huge factor on this team this year. The reviews were very middling from St. Louis Blues fans,

because he had a couple of stints there. And if you'll remember, he won a Stanley Cup and actually was a pretty useful contributor to that team. He got to play with Ryan O'Reilly quite often because Berube really liked how physical he was. Well, there's a reason he's on a PTO and not a contract. Yeah, I'm just saying it's almost a guy that he was really hit hard by injuries.

I forgot he had his ACL torn on a dirty hit from P.K. Subban a couple years ago. Subban's last year in the league. The Canucks also announced yesterday that they're going to honor Alex Edler on October 11th. It's a Friday night against the Flyers. Alex Edler hated the Flyers. Yep. He just hated them. There was one team he couldn't stand.

It was Philadelphia. So they're going to honor Alex Heather. I think it's the Canucks' second home game of the season. I thought I heard that. I didn't double check it, so I might be wrong. The press release was a little lacking in details on what exactly will happen that night. I always assumed that Alex Heather would go into the Ring of Honor one day.

But you didn't think he should. Yes, I did. No, we talked about this. Yes, I did. There's no way I said Alex Edler doesn't deserve to be in the ring of honor. We had an argument about this on the air. No, we didn't. Yes, we did.

Okay. Well, then I changed my mind. He should be in the ring of honor. Yeah, he should be in the ring of honor, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay. I think there was a lot of pushback when I brought it up. There's no way I would have said that.

Yes. There's no way. Yes. Find the audio because. I don't have the capabilities in front of me. Does anyone else remember that? I think it's, I'm glad that we're on the same page now because I distinctly remember not being on the same page with this.

With Alex Edler? Yeah. I've always been Alex Edler's biggest supporter. I've always thought like he's, so I heard the underrated, overrated segment yesterday on the station and they were like alex edler i never understand the game i don't understand how it works you're an idiot uh and i always thought he was underrated i thought he was underappreciated by the fan base um he did make the occasional mistake um he maybe never became the number one defenseman that some people expected him to be,

and I think rather unfairly, considering he was a third-round draft pick. It's not like he was highly touted when he was drafted, but he did have a lot of potential, right? He was a big boy. He was strong. And sometimes he would make a loud mistake or just do something that kind of leaves you

shaking your head. That guy was tough as nails. That guy was an absolute workhorse. Like that was the perfect way to describe him. He was a workhorse. And I think, you know, when Adler and Tanev were still on the team and the Canucks started to turn the wrong way, I think those guys took a lot of heat and I

think it was really unfair, but we saw what happened when you don't have enough of those guys. You don't have enough of the guys that can go into the corner and win a puck battle, which Alex Edler was very good at. That guy played a heavy game and when he was on, you weren't winning a puck battle with him in

the corner he would go in there and body you and come out with the puck both of those guys blocked a ton of shots and you know it just turned into like oh they're blocking so many shots yeah because the team stunk right and they were doing their job but they were doing their job and then you see what happens when you don't have those guys in and you bring in a guy like oel who let's face it was essentially the replacement for alex edler and he's not willing to do those things he doesn't do those things you saw what happened you know the the team got even worse the the p PK was an absolute disaster. Alex Edler, Ring of Honor, again, I just cannot believe that I would have argued against that. I will trust your memory and say that I did, maybe for, I don't know,

just because I wanted to annoy you, but that guy deserves to be in the Ring of Honor. I think there's no question. You're absolutely right that the second game of the season uh is indeed the home game against the flyers so i guess you're not gonna you know uh your opening night is your opening night you're not gonna jam in the alex edler honor that night as well so second home game of the year alex edler signing the one day contract we got a text in brough always supported edler i know and then we got another one that said it's true so i don't know what that means i don't hopefully that's hopefully that's maybe

we're just split on this in memory only in memory only maybe you were i don't know but i'm glad that we're aligned on this i'm also uh it gives me an opportunity to kind of re-litigate the fact that edler is going to have this very weird place in vancouver canucks lower where he was probably their best defenseman and held almost every significant defenseman record and they're all going to be obliterated in short order by quinn hughes do you know what i do remember you suggesting that his number be retired and me going like quickly no okay i probably would have had the conversation yeah yeah yeah and i mean it was like no like not even not even i think i went yeah you know what i think you're i think we're slowly starting to read yeah we drink too much uh we're slowly starting to

rediscover we're getting a little bit older i'm gonna vote yeah alfred suggested the canucks changed the arena name to alex edler arena and i was like i think that's a little much much i liked alex edler as a player, but I don't think we should rename any plaza for him. We're going to go back and we're going to be like, also the conversation was about Chris Tanev. It wasn't even about Alex Edler. But anyway, so Edler is going to have a very strange history

because like I said, all of everything that he at one point held which I mean if you're the best defenseman and you hold all the defenseman records for a franchise that is 50 plus years old you're one of the elite players in that franchise's history now you could put the asterisk aside and be like yeah but it's because they've never had an elite defenseman

or it's been you know issues on the blue line from day one that's fine but this is an organization that has honored other players within the context of where they're at as a franchise right that's why Stan Smeal's number is retired that's why Trevor Linden's number is retired that's sometimes why when visiting fans and media come to Rogers Arena they're trying to figure out why those numbers are there that's maybe why I brought that to the table with Edler. That being said, if you look at the fact that he played 15 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks and as I mentioned, is the defenseman leader in all those categories, it's very impressive.

It's very important and it means something. It's also going to be obliterated by Quinn Hughes. I don't mean those numbers aren't going to stand long. I mean, they're not going to stand long, and Hughes is going to surpass them by a lot. Adler was never about the numbers, though. No, no. He was never like, oh, look at his numbers.

He just kind of got there because he played 15 years. The guy was an all-situations player. Yep. Again, he killed penalties, he blocked shots, but he also got the puck moving in the right direction. And Djitjipin on offense. Now, was he the ideal guy to run your power play? No, he wasn't.

And the Canucks, during 2011, had a better guy to run the power play, and that was Christian Erihoff, who happened to be his defensive partner. So I don't know what the future holds for the ring of honor and alex edler again the press release didn't have many details it was kind of like we're doing this he's going to sign a one-day contract with us there was a quote from edler there was a very nice quote from edler which i guarantee wasn't all him right no alex ed Adler was like, it was a bad interview. Let's put it that way. Remember?

Yeah. Right before he did the horn. Yeah. Yeah. He's, he really hyped us up, but he like the thing with him is like, he just didn't want to do that sort of thing.

And I always respected that. I'm like, if you're, if you don't want to talk to the media, don't say I'm not going to talk to the media. Just make it so vanilla. Yeah. Boring that the media doesn't want to talk to the media just make it so vanilla and boring that the media doesn't want to talk to you he's like i'll show you super nice guy but not exactly the

best hype man the night the night which i thought it was weird that they brought him in for the sole purpose of being a hype man that day the nightmare for other was always you know when he was uh center of attention for whatever reason you you know, will you trade his, will he waive his no trade clause or whatever? We, I think we asked that for a few years and he just like, he just feel like, I don't want to talk about this. And he'd be like, I don't want to talk about

anything. The other defenseman, by the way, if you're wondering currently in the Canucks ring of honor, Harold snaps, uh, Matias Ohland, and if you want to count Pat Quinn as a defenseman, I mean, he was, but he was also the head coach, general manager, and president. But those are the three defensemen. I expect BX will be in there one day.

Yeah, and then I think they might close the book on 2011 guys. On that era. Although, I don't know what they're going to. I mean. Kess. Yeah. There's a lot. Some of them with Kess, don't they?

I don't know. Okay. So he was another one that we had on the show during the playoff run last year. Much more verbose than Adler. Although most are. That cactus was. I think they might have made peace with one another. the fans, the organization, and Kessler collectively. And I think that might be enough.

Does that make sense? Like, on merit, he probably should. Right? Just for that one year, even, where he was a 40-goal scorer and a Selkie winner and a driving force to the Stanley Cup. And won, I mean, I'll say it, he won the National Series. goal scorer and a selkie winner and a driving force yeah to the stanley cup and one i mean i'll say it he won the the national series i that to me those are the kind of performances that you're supposed to honor right it was elite elite elite and you just don't see them very often over the 50 plus years of caducks hockey that being said there was so much um additional noise and drama

and you know, the exit. I think he'll get in there one day. Maybe. Time heals all wounds. Well, not all of them. Some of them. Most of them. Most of them.

Most of them. Yeah. Wounds over, you know, trade requests. You know what? I've been as big of a Kessler critic as ever, and I'll give him credit. He came on here, and I said, like, hey, your time here didn't end well. Like, it was not pretty. And he, you know, stood in there and said yeah like he

had regrets and he wished it had gone a different way right so there's something to be said for that but i don't know the other part of this whole thing is the how many 2011 guys do you immortalize at a certain point you have to stop right it's like visco victor rescovich come on down like it's got it he's getting in you never know lee sweat he was in a thing. There we go. That's what I'm talking about. Lee Sweat in the Ring of Honor. Just keep going down the list. Keith Ballard, his one shift in Boston. How could we forget?

Well, they're going to have to fix their error. There's a dog on the highway. There's a dog on the highway. They're going to have to get Luongo's number up in the rafters after they fix their error. They can't. They're going to go back. We should have brought that up with Bones, by the way.

Rick Bones, when we had him on. I was like, talk about Keith Ballard's one shift in Boston. He's like, I don't want to. When he went out there, he's like, oh my God, it's just too much out there. It's crazy. Sean Rourke is going to join us next. We'll talk a little bit about Celebrini and his debut in the Sharks rookie tournament and a few other things NHL-related.

Nick Schuch, 7 o'clock, talk a little NFL. And then 8 o'clock, we've got the owner of the BC Lions, Amar Doman. We'll join the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. 634 on a Wednesday. There's a number of reasons why it's hard to take this show seriously. Eurotrash Wednesday right at the top of the list.

This is the music I listen to when I go to Tile Town. This is my Tile Town travel music. You are listening to the Halford and Brough show On Sportsnet Fixed Issue We should pick a different European city Like where are we this year Or today

Belgrade or something I don't know Could do that Yeah It's got real Belgrade Or Belgrad Vibes It's got neat for speed vibes

Who's the team that Bayern lit up? Dinamo Zagreb. Croatia. The Croatian League. 9-2. Four goals for Harry Kane. This is the music that plays when the young boys come out. This is their intro song. Young boys lost

yesterday. See that? They lost to Aston Villa. Bunch of old men. Young boys lost to old men. Does it sound when Harry Kane scores four goals? Yes. People are like, wow, that's amazing. I love Harry Kane.

He's an England guy. Three of them were PKs, right? Many of them were from the penalty spot. Yeah. The whole game was kind of... He was laughing the third one. He was like, I was out of ideas, so I just hit it somewhere. Jess hit it as hard as he could.

Jess powered it in. To say the match was one-sided doesn't really do the term one-sided justice. It was an obliteration. Anyway, Sean Rourke is waiting patiently on the line real quick. Halford and Brother 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. 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 recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. He is the director of editorial for NHL.com. He is Sean Rourke. He joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Sean. How are you?

I'm good. Are we going to talk young boys or what? I think we've... Andy, our producer Andy has a big grin on his face. It's his favorite footballing team now. And he just loves watching young boys. He actually only recently found out they were from Switzerland. He always thought they were German.

Yeah. They torment Manchester United when Manchester United used to make it to Europe. This is true. They do. Okay. We are going to put the young boys conversation on a shelf. There's a sentence I never thought I'd say. We're going to talk El Segundo,

specifically the site of the 2024 rookie faceoff. You were there, Sean. Let's start with a guy local to here and now doing the business in San Jose. Macklin Celebrini didn't play a bunch in this tournament but did get a twirl. What did you see from Macklin Celebrini and I guess the rest

of the San Jose Sharks prospects? Well, I don't think he needed to play a bunch. He played in the first game and scored a goal he looked really good he looks ready for camp he looks ready to to play in the nhl i think you know and look he has everything you need and what struck me was he was a little bit bigger than when i saw him at draft he had put on a little bit of weight. And just the maturity, the way he's grown and his ability to deal with the media and with teammates

and with everybody else since we saw him in June. You know, I was really impressed. I was really impressed with that San Jose team. They have a lot of good young talent. I mean, Will Smith's there. They had a defenseman there, Cagnoni, who was really good. Musty had a hat trick in their second game. I think by the end, they had outscored their opponent 17-6.

So they may not be good in the NHL this year. They're still building, but the pieces are there, and they're coming pretty quick. Have you had any conversations with them or the team about how they're going to build a culture there? Because we've seen some teams that have bottomed out, and I'm thinking about a team like the Buffalo Sabres, and they've acquired all sorts of good talent,

but they never built a true team, and Jack Eichel didn't even end up staying with the Buffalo Sabres. So I'm just wondering about their plan going forward just to make sure that they take all this talent and then make sure that they turn it into a good team. Yeah, and look, that's a huge concern. You think about some of these teams that have kind of wandered in the wilderness for a while.

Buffalo's a great example. Ottawa's another one with some young pieces that haven't really been able to put it together. You know, it's going to be difficult. I think they brought in some veterans that are going to help. You know, I talked a little bit with Ryan Worsofsky, their coach, and he's trying to, you know, put those pieces in place and put the mentality in place where there's an understanding that there's expectations, right?

Just because you're young, it's not like you could just throw your hands up and say we're going to get fed into the meat grinder for the year and we're not accountable. There's going to be an accountability there. There's going to be an emphasis on not taking shortcuts, an emphasis on playing the game that they want to play, playing an aggressive attacking type game. I think the thing, and you kind of hit on it,

to watch is going to be how it affects Celebrini because when you think about some of those young players that went through Buffalo, it really affected them. Like Jack Eichel needed to leave. He wanted to leave. I mean, in the end, it came down to his back, but I think the losing just becomes grating after a while. And that was the concern with Darlene.

And, you know, they finally seemed to be able to or be ready to turn the corner. I think I'm going to jump on that bandwagon one more time and then that'll be it. But, you know, it appeared to affect him for a while early in his career. So I think that is a concern with players like Macklin and Will Smith, that they don't become discouraged. Who are some of the other notable standouts from the tournament, maybe possibly guys that we'll see in the NHL this season? Well, the one guy that struck me was Cutter Gauthier from Anaheim, right?

You know, kind of celebrated it for all the wrong reasons with the trade from Philadelphia and how poorly that was received in Philadelphia, his unwillingness to play there and some of the stuff he went through. He put on 20 pounds this summer, he told me. And, you know, I asked him if it was ice cream and pizza because that's how I put on 20 pounds. But it was not. He's like, I did it. I did it right.

I did it slowly. You know, it was tight is how he described it. And it was a struggle. It was a lot of, you know, a lot of extra protein, a lot of working out, a lot of recovery. But he looked like a man out there. Really strong in the game. And they played against San Jose, as expected, was pretty chippy.

They don't like each other. The guy's California rivals, and there's two young teams that are looking to kind of exert themselves. So that game was a little bit in a tournament that wasn't very ugly, and rookie tournaments have gone from being kind of ugly as guys try and make the team that way to being much more skilled, just like the NHL. This one kind of reverted back to old school rookie games a little bit. And he was able to handle himself pretty well.

I was really impressed. And I was really impressed with the way he dealt with everything, right? The ugliness that resulted from that trade. And, you know, he said nobody should have to go through that, but it's made me mentally stronger. I don't care, you know, he said, nobody should have to go through that, but it's made me mentally stronger. I don't care, you know, what other people think it's important, what I think and what my family thinks. And, you know, he's kind of moved on and become mentally stronger.

And then I think when you combine that with the physical tools he's put together and the fact that he just dominated college hockey last year, had more goals than any player in college hockey. I think that's a boon for Anaheim. And they're kind of in the same boat as San Jose, but their young talent is a step ahead, right? Having already played in the NHL, guys like Carlson and McTavish and those kind of players, and he's going to jump right in and play with them.

So, you know, I thought he was fantastic. Brent, the defenseman from the Kings, was really good. They didn't have a huge prospect pool. Some of their guys are already in the NHL, and there weren't a ton of guys to get excited about, but they had Brant play, and he was fantastic, I thought. So, you know, those were some of the guys that jumped out for me. We're speaking to Sean Rourke from NHL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Sean, Utah was at this tournament,

and the story might not have necessarily been who was playing for Utah, but the fact that they were playing at all. We had Zyze on the show last week, and he was recollecting his conversation with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley, Daley saying that it's kind of like nothing short of a miracle that they were able to get this up and running

and have a functional team 19 weeks after being granted the franchise. I know you spoke with the GM Bill Armstrong in El Segundo. What did he have to say about Utah just getting this thing off the ground and getting to the rookie tournament? Well, it's a feather in their cap. You know, I was telling somebody a story the other day when the Devils opened the Prudential Center and they played their first game like the rink and everything was fine but underneath they were still like literally building as they played that first game guys were

down there painting and everything but you didn't know anything was wrong because the front facing product was fantastic and i and i think that's what utah has done they still face some huge hurdles you know staff staff-wise. They're still hiring people in Utah to fill some positions that weren't, that, you know, people didn't come from Arizona. For people who relocated are still, you know, struggling with a new life, right? Like Bill told me that half his time is spent counseling people, you know, as they try and adjust to this new existence that they have.

So it's unbelievable, right? You think about Winnipeg and what they did. But, you know, Mark Chipman had the pieces in place with the Moose to be able to do that. And Utah had that a little bit with the basketball team, with the Jazz, but it's not quite the same thing. So it was a celebration, right, for them to play. And this is the first time you've seen the uniforms on the ice.

And as Bill told me, they look smooth. And they did. And Utah looked smooth. You know, they looked like they were ready. They looked like a team that had been around. And as a hockey team, they have been around. But I don't think anybody understands the scope of what's gone on behind the scenes over the last four or five months. Before we let you go, Sean, I did want to ask about your chat with Seattle

general manager Ron Francis. We've been waiting for the Seattle-Vancouver rivalry to pop off, and it really hasn't yet. We blame Seattle. It's not our fault, but Seattle's just kind of been boring. They made a couple big splashes in free agency this year with Brandon Montour and Chandler Stevenson but even those like those aren't superstar level players they're good not great um what did Francis have to say about this team and is the possibility of excitement coming on the horizon with all of these young guys that they have in the system that might be ready to make the jump. Yeah, I think so. You know, and one thing he told me that really struck with me, he's like, you know, the way that we've developed

is obviously different than Vegas because the rules, while they were the same, were different because everybody was on to Seattle when they tried to do the same things that Vegas did and took advantage of everybody. So they had to build in a different way, and it's much more patient. And, you know, all the excitement of making the playoffs two years ago, he's like, you know, you almost wish you were able to develop year one, year three, year two, instead of one, two, three,

because it kind of set the franchise back a little bit and expectations not to make the playoffs last year. But he has addressed some needs. There's some good kids, you know, that are down on the farm. This kid, Logan Morrison, who played for them, I thought was excellent. 100-point scorer in the OHL, passed over in the draft three times, but everybody that's bet against him

has been proven wrong, and I think that's going to be the case again. Look, he's not a kid that's going to change the dynamic of that rivalry with Vancouver, but he's another piece, and then you think about Shane Wright and Riker Evans, those are guys that they're ready to have pop off and, you know, add to what they have.

And I just think when you look at Ron Francis' team, it was the same thing in Carolina. They were just built really patiently and, you know, piece upon piece and to the point where they became a self-sustaining situation, right? And it still exists that way in Carolina years after with the Francis space. So I think that's what you're looking at in Seattle. And I'm really interested to see what Dan Biles and Jessica Campbell are going to do.

I think Dan's been humbled. He goes to the Stanley Cup final in his first year and wins it and has a lot of success in Pittsburgh. And then he goes to Buffalo and not so good, like a lot of coaches have gone through Buffalo and not been so good. And then really humbled himself after being an NHL assistant for a while. The first year he was in the Seattle system, he was an assistant coach on a shared AHL team.

Like that's as low as you can get as a coach right like that's that is a recipe for disaster it's not even your own prospects they were sharing i think with carolina or florida uh i forget which one and then he got the job full-time in coachella valley and went to the ahl championship two years in a row so if they're going to build with all those young players all those young players know him from Coachella Valley and know Jessica Campbell, who, you know, I talked to Logan Morrison and he worked with her every day for a half hour before practice to build up his foot speed through power skating drills, because that was always the one knockout. And that's why he was passed over the draft. And he's a completely different skater. She's

good with the power play. You know, Ron said he sat in with some meetings with her, and he's really impressed with the way that she approaches hockey. You know, so this isn't just a historical thing for them. As a first female, this was a straight hockey hire, and they're really excited about, you know, what Biles and his staff are going to bring to this. And, you know, there's a hope that they're going to be in the playoffs. He said, the playoffs are our goal. It's a hope that they're going to be in the playoffs. He said, the playoffs are

our goal. It's our goal every year. It's a long climb back because they weren't close last year. I don't think the West has gotten significantly worse. I think it's going to be hard to break into that top eight, but they're going to be better than they were last year. Sean, you're the best, buddy. Thanks a lot

for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Great talking to you again. Enjoy all the preseason stuff and training camps. We'll do this again. Enjoy the ice cream, too. And enjoy the ice cream. Yeah. I'm not the best because I'm never the hyper at 6.30 in the morning. You guys are the best.

See you, buddy. Thanks, Sean. Thanks, Sean. See you. Sean Roark from NHL.com here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. So the Canucks are going to do their media car wash later today in Penticton, I think at 4.30. Why don't you tell the people what the media car wash is? Because we always throw it out there as this sort of understood term.

But what's because we're in the media. When the Canucks bring their cars out and Drance has to wash their cars. It's a great fundraiser. Yeah. I tell you, every year it raises a ton of money. You know what? It's a sexy car wash too. It's followed up by Drance. Drance wears to wash their cars. It's a great fundraiser. Yeah. I tell you, every year it raises a ton of money. You know what? It's a sexy car wash too. It's followed up by-

Drance wears his jorts. Yeah. It's like, oh, the soap is getting everywhere. It's the worst visual I've ever had. This show's ever had. And it's followed up by a bake sale. Okay, it's just all the players and the coach and management go out there and answer questions and the leafs are doing it right now um you know talking they're talking about

mitch marner and they're talking about uh adding chris tan of um i don't know if any of the players address this but there is some big uh sports business news And it involves our company Rogers because Rogers announced today that it has signed an agreement to buy Bell's ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. So that is the company that owns the Leafs, the Raptors, TFC, the Argos. And it bought them for quite a lot of money. $4.7 billion. So Rogers is now the majority owner of MLSC. This is a pretty significant sports business news story. It will be talked about what this means

down the road for, for example, broadcast rights. The NHL's Canadian broadcast rights deal is up not after this season, but the season after that. Rodgers, of course, owns the Toronto Blue Jays as well. And Rodgers also has partnerships with the Vancouver Canucks, the Edmonton Oilers,

and the Calgary Flames. When this transaction closes, Rodgers will, again, have a controlling interest in MLSC, 75%. Larry Tannenbaum's got the other 25%. So significant news. We're not going to be ones answering questions about this.

Right. It's not our deal. Halford wasn't working with the investment bankers all night on this one. I went to bed. Yeah, he went to bed instead. Yeah. I'm like, I got to focus on Tile Town. Yeah.

Tile Town put this deal over the place. It's like, you got Tile Town? Done. And they're like, you almost ruined it yesterday with that read. And I'm like, I know, I got to make amends. Don't worry, I'll hold up my end of the bargain. I will see this deal across the finish line. I guess it will mean something different regionally in Toronto with regards to Maple Leafs regional games

and Raptors regional games. But everything else is, Jason, very astutely laid out uh in the basically there's the press release going around right now that the deal hasn't been finalized but agreed to in principle so like you said we're not going to be the ones to answer questions on this i would also like to apologize for putting the image of thomas drance in jorts at a sexy car wash and didn't need that everyone's minds. That was unfair. I have not had a lot of sleep. I played hockey late last night.

I'm a little loopy this morning. Don't blame hockey for this. Hockey's done nothing wrong. Patrick Johnson is also there, and he's got a hose, and he's swirling it around like a lasso. Now I'm doing the visuals. Rash is shaking his head. What are we doing? First, they said that they weren't going to keep doing this, and Rash is shaking his head. What are we doing?

First, they said that they weren't going to keep doing this, and then they made another joke. Why? Why did they do this? Kuz has a very long question about the car wash. That's right. Longer than the hose. All right.

All right. We've got a lot more to get to on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We will turn our attention to the National Football League coming up. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us. After Nick, we're going to leave about the second half of the first segment, then the entire second segment for Canucks Talk.

Jason threw it out there earlier. I'll reset right now. Text into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket at 650-650. What questions would you have for Canucks brass and players today? Media availability, media car wash. What do you want to know?

What do you want to see? Who do you want to hear from? And what do you want to hear from them? Text it in. Dunbar Lumber text message in basket at 650-650. Also, if you want us to dive into any Canucks related topics as they descend on Penticton for training camp, camp battles,

who's going to make the team, who's going to play where they're, who is Yuri Patera? What do we know about this guy? We're going to find out a lot more in the coming days. Again, Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650.

Nick Shook is coming up next. And then a whole bunch of Canucks talk after Nick Shook. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Oh, wait, before we go to break, I need to tell you about Janpro, the leaders in commercial cleaning and janitorial. If your workplace demands a clean environment, contact Janpro for a free, no-obligation quote.

Visit them online at janpro.ca. I'm good. Are we going to talk young boys or what?