Halford & Brough in the Morning - Did The Pacific Division Get Significantly Tougher For The Canucks?

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports including a wild BC Lions win as well as a poor showing for the Whitecaps (3:00), they discuss the NHL's Pacific Division and if it'll be harder competition for the Canucks next season (19:00), plus the boys talk the latest around Canada Soccer with Sportsnet's John Molinaro (28:36).   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- And another diving play by Addison Barger and it's another win for the Blue Jays. Let's say Pedersen, Kane and Hoaglander and then you go with Keedle and Besser and then you have Garland with whoever the youth center is and at least with Joshua. The Hurricanes made it very clear that they had a lot of cap room as everybody knew and they were going to use it. They were going to be a threat. Good morning Vancouver! 6 o'clock on a Monday! Happy Monday everybody! It is Halford and it is Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming in live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Basketball Ben, good morning to you as well. Good morning. Half of the broth of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for net help. With over 3,000 five star reviews, visit them online at sands-trustee.com.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Got a lot to get into on a Monday show, guest list today begins at six thirty. John Molinaro is going to join a sports net soccer insider. Busy weekend in the world of the footy. Jonathan David signs in Italy with Juventus.

The gold cup wrapped up last night. No, Canada was not in the final. It didn't even get close to it. We can get into some MLS stuff as well with John Molinaro. That's all up at six thirty this morning. Our sports net soccer insider 7 o'clock You heard his call in the intro Dan Shulman's gonna join the program play-by-play voice of the Blue Jays Get this seven game home stand sweep capped off yesterday as Dan said in the intro

Three to win over the Angels Blue Jays extend their season-high win streak to eight games Pushing their record to 52 and 38 We'll talk to Dan about all things blue Jays the red hot first place blue Jays at 7 o'clock right here on the Haliford and Brough show on sports net 630 730 Jim totes gonna join the program Just call it sports net 630 I Pretty sure, yeah, that's close. May have happened. Yeah, we've changed the call.

So I guess it'll work. It's still early. Almost 630. That'll be at 7 o'clock, 730. Jim Toath's going to join the program. Co-host of Jets at noon on CJOB Winnipeg. Tough weekend for the Jets this past weekend. They officially lost the services of Nikolai Ehlers to Carolina. Uh, jets did make a bunch of signings though.

We can get into all that with Jim Toath coming up at seven 30 on sports net six 50. That's the call that we're looking for eight o'clock. Uh, JC Abbott's going to join the program. BC lions reporter for three down nation. Uh, the lions look like they might be on their way to another loss on the weekend in Montreal, but a Sean white walk off field goal, 21 20 win for the lions in Montreal. There was also a big fight after the game. Let's talk about the big fight. We'll move on to the big fight now that happened in Montreal. Yeah, it was a very, very eventful weekend for the BC lions.

We'll talk to JC Abbott from three down nation about that at eight o'clock finally, before we're done with the rundown, today, Monday, July 7th, it's your last chance to buy your tickets for the Sportsnet 650 Jayscare 5050 for Challenger Baseball supported by Tile Town. The deadline to buy tickets is tonight, 6.30 p.m. sharp. Buy your tickets now, jayscaregolf.RaffleNexus.com.

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Today is your last chance to buy tickets for the sports net six 50 J's care 50 50 for challenge your baseball. Uh, working in reverse on that guest list. Eight o'clock it's JC Abbott seven 30 it's Jim Toeth. Seven o'clock it's Dan Shulman six 30 it's John Molinaro. That's what's happening on the program today. Ben, 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 missing your life can be. What happened? Missed that? You missed that? What happened?

What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Because we are local and we are on Sportsnet 630 here in Vancouver, I am going to begin with all of our local teams before we get to the rest of them. We're going to start with the BC Lions. As I mentioned in the introductory segment, Sean White, 43 yard field goal on the final play of the game.

The Lions out of nowhere come back victory 21 to 20 over the Owls in front of just over 20,000 people in Montreal on Saturday night. Yeah, so we'll get into this more with our guest, JC Abbott, because there's a lot to a lot to get to in what happened. But, you know know, obviously this was a big win for the BC Lions because the way things started, they had a pretty tough schedule and then Nathan Rourke got hurt and they were looking at the possibility of starting the season one and four and that's not great.

And the CFL is not about how you start and it's about how you finish. But you know, we've also had some, um, lions executives on, on the show and they were, they sounded pretty disappointed in how things have gone and, uh, you know, they're also in the business of football and they want to sell tickets and they want to make sure, they're also in the business of football and they want to sell tickets and

they want to make sure that they're not having to promote a one and four team. Now they get to promote a two and three team, which, uh, listen, Montreal is a good team. So for the BC lions to have Nathan work back, go in and get the win in Montreal. After you were right, it looked like, you know, they might've found a way to lose this one. Um, walk off field goal by Sean White. Um, it was a good win for the Lions and then they had a big fight. So I'm, I'm glad.

I, I, I want to, I kind of want to save the fight conversation to, to JC because he'll, he'll tell us what actually happened there. All, all I saw was was just just lots of fighting. Well, you also put together one of the great cliches of football in our intro here, where you said, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. And it's almost like you listen to this audio from Mike Ahwe because he had the same thing to say along with. And I don't know if this was clever on his part, talking about the team's

fighting spirit coming back in a 21 to 20 victory over the Isles. Here is linebacker Mike Ahwe, led the team with 11 tackles on Saturday following the Lions big win in Montreal. I mean at the end of the day, with all the mistakes you have, with all, with everything you do, football is so crazy because it'll still come down to how you finish. It's not how you start, it's how you finish. So we had penalties, we had some things gash us, but at the end of the day, man,

we have a team that's, we're fighters, you know? On offense, defense, special teams, we're fighters. We're fast and physical, and at the end of the day, when it comes down to the last play, it might be of the season, it just comes down to being fast and physical, because that's what football is. We're fighters, Mike Alway said,

to which we replied, yes, you sure are. So what happened in the aftermath? Uh, and we will talk to JC have a more about this because the had three down nation had boots on the ground on the field. So too did the TSN affiliate in Montreal and they were able to, uh, get a lot of footage actually of what went down. The apparent incident happened. Now this is again, everything that was caught on camera lions, defensive defensive lineman, Kamoko Ture.

Some said that he was trying to go over to talk to a former teammate of his, uh, on the Montreal sideline, possibly in the tunnel. Some of the Montreal players were like, well, wait a minute, there's an opposing player in our tunnel. So you could see them. You can see how there were two different sides of the coin. Like I'm just trying to say hello. Apparently he was. The hello is not greeted especially well with an alouettes team that might have been a little like you know Ra in the emotional sense was it was he trying to stay say hello with with a punch to the face

Well, see, I don't know that's just how I say hi We don't know who threw the first blow. All we know is that it ended up being At least I'd say 15 or 20 players from each team running over to mostly try and break it apart, but an overall, an ugly look, right? There was a lot of this professional football. We can't be having sideline brawls at the end of the game. And because it was the end of the game, there weren't a lot of officials trying to intervene, say that the same thing you'd get in an on field brawl.

So both teams are expected to receive supplemental discipline from the league this week. We'll get more from J.C. Abbott on that later on in the show when he joins us at eight o'clock and also run through. It's funny, I listen to a bit of the audio from the head coach, Buck Pierce, and the winning quarterback, Nathan Rourke. And he was like, I loved it. I loved it. Showed spirit.

Oh, this was no way. Don't say that. They're like, you know, fighting spirit. We're fighters. He's smiling the entire time. It was. I don't know if this was just football speak and them trying not to like let the highs get too high, but they did not seem overly thrilled with the way that they played in Montreal.

They seemed happy with the fact that they got out of there with a one point win, but all they talked about and Nathan especially was the amount that they left on the field, the amount of mistakes that they've made. And I guess if you go back and you look at over the three game losing streak, penalties have been an issue and they were an issue again against Montreal, especially on the defensive side of the ball. They still haven't really found a full game offensively.

It's another game where and Buck Pierce, especially, was lamenting the slow start again. Yeah. For the this is the fifth game of the season is the fifth slow start that they've had. Even in their other win. Do you remember the, the BC place was still recovering from Snoop Dogg. Right. But they had Edmonton and there were a bunch of

chances they had to put points on the board. And like yesterday or yes, like over the weekend, they didn't get them done. And they ended up with what what three points or something in the first half against Edmonton and then they figured out against an Alks team that they should have beaten. I guess the difference in the wins is that Montreal is a pretty good team. Okay, we will turn our attention now to another local team that was in action.

Didn't fare as well as the BC Lions. The Vancouver Whitecaps had a night to forget in California over the weekend. Three nil loss to the worst team in MLS, the LA Galaxy. And if you're thinking, wow, it feels bad, seems bad that the Whitecaps would lose 3-0 to the worst team in MLS, you're right. It was another disastrous performance. The kinds of which have been creeping into the side more and more over the last little

bit. They are. It hasn't been good since the Cruz Azul loss. Five now they have. Is it one win? Yeah, they have lost three of their last four. Even in the one victory that they had, the one victory over L.A. FC, it was a very dour affair. They only managed one shot at.

They've only seen how long before or after Cruz Azul. I think it might have been after. Remember that game was after. OK, so they have two wins since Cruz Azul. Yeah. And they've lost three of their last four in MLS play, including this one over the weekend. And bad to worse for the Whitecaps already without deep breath here. Sam Adekube, Ali Ahmed, Sebastian Berhalter, Andre Kubas, new injury there, Ralph Preso and Brian White. They also lost the services of Canadian International

Jane Nelson on the weekend, who took a very stupid red card. He took a second yellow for booting the ball away in frustration in the 90th minute. You know who else was frustrated was his manager. Yes, for Sorenson, who used the word stupid about five times of this following clip when discussing Jane Nelson's red card. Here is a very frustrated. Yes, for Sorensonsen after the Whitecaps three nil loss to the Galaxy over the weekend. Jayden's red card was stupid and it's yeah, you have to keep cool.

And if you're not good enough, you have to train. That's how it is. If we are not good enough, we have to work on the training ground and not take stupid red cards because now he'll get suspended and it doesn't help anybody. So yeah, let's just shoot it and we have to learn from that. And you know, if you're warned, please don't kick the ball up to the stands. I think that's a bad idea. And yeah, now he gets a suspension and we don't need that. If you are warned, please do not kick the ball up into the stands

is the most soccer explanation you could possibly get. Yeah. From I'm Jesper Sorensen, manager of Stupid Player. Three times they got it in that clip. So it was a rough weekend. The Whitecaps are going through. There was going to be an inevitable wobble with their season at some point. Yeah.

You know, they weren't going to keep it that clip that they were playing at the beginning of the year. All the guys that are missing through either injury or international duty, because the Americans played in the gold cup final yesterday and bear halter had a nice ball on the Chris Richards. Cool. Yeah. On the Americans only goal of the game because they lost to Mexico two, one.

So that was the best thing to come from the gold cup is that the Americans didn't win it the more things changed more They stay the same conca cap is changing yet. Mexico wins the gold cup yet again Yeah, playing through this International break was a disaster someone pointed out on X yesterday that Brian White who? Could be in consideration for white caps MVP and possibly who could be in consideration for Whitecaps MVP and possibly MLS MVP given the amount of goals that he scored in the first half of the season, goes and misses so many games for the Caps,

plays, sorry, dresses for eight matches over the window for the US. Over those eight matches, he plays a grand total of 70 minutes. Yeah, thanks for having him. This is why you don't play during international windows. This is the exact reason why. MLS has to figure this out.

Yes. I mean, I don't know how they do it. I guess it's just go to the soccer schedule that everyone else in the world is playing. You would extend your season way too long if you took breaks when the international breaks were on. Right? Like the MLS season is already a marathon to begin with.

They would basically never stop. They would just roll right into the next one because you'd have to take, I'd say at least the seasons would start to lap each other to it was like, Oh, we're still, we're playing three seasons right now. MLS cup of the next day's training camp. Or for some that aren't in MLS cup, they're already in their training camp, but it's, it, they're going to have to figure it out because what the caps have gone through in the last, I'd say month is kind of unacceptable.

They've had seven different players from their second team make their debuts this season. Yeah. All on an emergency relief basis, right? It's not like, yes, they've earned the opportunity, but it's all because they've just been so withered away by injuries and international absences. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about these Blue Jays. Although again, we have a guest, one of the best guests to talk about the Blue Jays, Dan Schallmann coming up on the show. Eight wins in a row, I'm starting to have questions like, wait a minute, what are they going to do with Boba Shed anyway?

Because he played a pretty big role in their last win. Boba Shed, homeward, scurred the decisive run in the Toronto Blue Jays season high, as Jason mentioned, eighth straight victory, three, two over the angels on Sunday. So the ALE is the leading Blue Jays, not the Yankees, but the Blue Jays go to 52 and 38. They swept a home stand of more than seven games for the first time since 94, only the second time in franchise history that they've done it. So back to back sweeps at home. This one, an impressive one over the angels,

just finding ways to win despite a meager run differential, which was a course of an action of conversation over the weekend. Uh, the J's continue to roll. They're now at 52 and 38, and they are looking like a team that despite, despite the run differential suggesting that they should have a record closer to 500, uh, they've leapfrogged the Yankees and they should have a record closer to 500, they've leapfrogged the Yankees and they are playing a brand of baseball

that I mean, involves a lot of timely hitting. They're making a lot of good defensive plays. Sustainability is always like a buzzword in baseball. How much longer can we keep doing this for? I don't think they're gonna win the rest of their games this year. That's just me being a baseball pundit. They've won 10 of their last 11.

And we talk about this run differential thing. Their only loss, 15 to one to Boston. That hurts the old run differential that one. I also want to point out that their next two series are against the 30 and 60 White Sox. Yeah. And the Oakland Athletics, Vegas Athletics, whatever they are now.

Just the athletics. Just the athletics. They're like Prince. And I think their record is horrible too. So this, this win streak could continue. That's such a jinx buddy. Yeah. Like they just swept the Yankees before the Angels.

We'll see what happens. The White Sox and the A's. If they lose to them, it's like, okay, well, you know, you deserve to lose. What do you think they are? Like the J's. I'd still think the Yankees are gonna win the division. Right.

If I was betting on it. Yeah. But at this point now, it's a disaster if they fall out of a postseason spot. Completely agree. Yeah. They should be at least a wild card team, but the Yankees on paper are a more talented roster.

They have a bit better pitching. So. And they have better hitting. Now is the trade deadline, are you already thinking about it? I think that Addison Barger kind of checked the box for a left-handed hitter. Like Saetandair was such a bust for them, but

Barger was such a bright spot. Surprise, dare I say. I can't necessarily pinpoint what they need and I'm maybe not willing to give up what would be required to get anything. Right. So I think that the big question is, do you believe in this team enough to get it done? And so far that answer has got to be yes.

Right. So they've got the kind of first half of a season, they've only had a handful of them in franchise history, which is wild to think about, but that's how good this first half has been on the strength of what they've done over the last three weeks. 52 wins with six games left until the All-Star break. Club record for wins before the All-Star break is 53.

So despite the fact that Ben just jinxed it, still a pretty good shot that they'll be able to break it. And then they did that in 85 and they did that again in 92. A couple of good years historically for the Jays, 85 and 92. So this team, at least historically speaking, is on that kind of wind pace. I was I was reading some Jays stuff over the weekend and Ben Nicholson Smith, who I think was on the show on Friday. Yeah, we had him on Friday.

Was there even a show if we weren't here? Yeah. It doesn't even matter. It was. A tree falls in a wood. I like this headline. 68 players for the Blue Jays to watch ahead of trade deadline. Is that it? I just feel like I won't be watching all 68 of those players.

How do you land on 68 as a number? I mean. Well, he didn't want to get, you know, he's like, I can't do that. I don't want to leave this guy out. Yeah, yeah. He can his own, how can we con? Okay, we got a couple other things we gotta hit

before we get to break here. We also mentioned this in the intro segment. We're gonna talk to Jim Toth about this coming up in just over an hour's time, but there was a pretty significant free agency signing in the national hockey league over the weekend. Nikolai Ehlers, who had spent over a decade in the entirety of his career in Winnipeg,

is out of Winnipeg. He signs a six year, $51 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes, AAV of 8.5 million. This actually happened while we left. So it's a little bit of old news, but Ehlers met with the media over the weekend and expressed his love and admiration for Winnipeg, while also saying goodbye,

because I want to try new things in my career. So Ehlers, 29 years old, on his way to the Carolina Hurricanes. So how much does this hurt the Jets? Because I know they brought in Jonathan Taves, but we have no idea what Taves is gonna look like. I don't know, like, can you pencil Taves in as a second line center?

I don't know, man. I know they, I think they got, did they get Gustav Nyquist or something like that? They went and got, they got older in free agency. They got Taves, they got Tanner Pearson, they got Gustav Nyquist. They went out and got old in free agency. They got Taves, they got Tanner Pearson, they got Gustav Nyquist. They went out and got old in free agency. That's what you wanna do.

I don't know, man. I think it might be another. They lost Brandon Tanev. Yeah, I'm not digging. Lost Mason Appleton. I'm not digging the forward depth. All these teams are like, for the Olympic Jets right now.

All these teams getting younger, we gotta get older. That was their thought process behind all all of the exact opposite did anyone get significantly better in the NHL like maybe Carolina I Carolina yes Marginally, I don't know if they got significantly better because there were some departures there as well now They compensated for the losses on the blue line with Keandre Miller. Yeah. Right, so they also lost,

like say what you will about Burns and Orloff, they played a ton for them. Yeah, but those guys were weak links. Though I honestly, I think getting Keandre Miller, like I know there's a lot of unknowns with Miller, but like who else got significantly better? I thought Utah had a good, I thought Utah had a good summer. They picked up Paterka, they picked up Nate Schmidt.

I mean there's a Stanley Cup pedigree guy right there. Brandon Tanev, so they got better. Bit of an annoying answer, but I think Florida retaining as many of the guys as they did. Yeah. It's hard to say they got better. Well they didn't get better, but they did get better. They had a good summer.

That's a good summer though. That's a successful summer. That's a good summer. Yeah, that's a successful summer. I would have said Vegas if the Patrangelo thing didn't happen, because I think that made a Marner is that's good. That's a borderline game changer for the division. Like, that's how good Marner is. But it's during the regular season. Yeah. And I might think up better. And I got a lot better.

Would have been hard to be worse. I watched Anaheim twice last year. It felt like too much twice. So I was like, there's a lot of Anaheim, but they were not good at hockey last year. No, they weren't No, they were not good at hockey. Although all the losing suggested that but they will be better I one day this week what we should do is we should parse through what the Pacific Division looks like as Right like right now cuz there's two things one

The division is gonna be a lot different next year. I think Anaheim is going to be significantly better and much tougher to play against. And I also think that Vegas with, you know, having Marner in the division is an interesting thing. Like we haven't talked a ton about it because there's been a million other things going on. But I'll be very curious to try and handicap the division

to say like, how is this going to look in a year where the Canucks took such a step and handicap the division to say like, how is this going to look in a year where the Canucks took such a step back within the division and needing to climb back into the upper reaches of it? You know, a team that the Canucks should have their sights set on and hope that this team doesn't do well is the LA Kings. They had a really weird off season.

They had a weird off season and I just wonder about how the team is psychologically after, is it four straight years of losing to the Oilers? That's correct. If it's four straight years of losing to the Oilers and this past one might've been the most frustrating just because they had them. They had them, you know, Jim Hiller calls or

challenges and loses the challenges. And then Byfield not getting the puck out. They could have swept the Oilers. They also could have swept the Oilers. Instead they lose in six because they lose momentum in the series. And then yeah, they got Ken Holland now as a new general manager. I don't know if that's going to work out all that well. Ken Holland targeting a bunch of the guys that he

used to have in Edmonton was hilarious. And like did he owe the money or something like that? Because the contracts that were given out were crazy. Perry's wasn't terrible. No, I'm talking about the two defense. CC1 was, I was like, okay, that's a move. But the guy, I know we all know, like, Dumalin is done and he still gave him term.

Yep. He gave him the old three by four. That was great. That was pretty wild too. And I just wonder, you know, one more year of Kopitar and Doughty getting a little bit older. Are the younger guys ready to take more of the responsibility from them?

I don't know. I don't know. Like I think they have some, they obviously have some very good young players in terms of talent and guys like Byfield and Brant Clark. But if you're asking them to do kind of like the handover to the next generation, I don't know, man. The Kopitar and Dowdy were great players.

They're still pretty good players, but I don't know if they're quite at the level that they used to be. So if there was one team that I'm targeting to say, okay, well, if we're going to make the playoff, someone's going to have to fall out, it's probably LA. And that's gonna be a tough task for Vancouver. So we're gonna continue this conversation in fits and starts and bits and pieces throughout the show.

We're gonna look at the Stanley Cup contender tiers, weigh in now, who had a good off season so far? Who still has work to be done? Who moved themselves up into contender status or who moved themselves out of playoff status? The Dunbar Lumbertex line is 650 650. If there's anything you want us to weigh in on and start debating or discussing here on the Halford and Brough Show, feel free to shoot a text. Dunbar Lumbertex line is 650 650. Before we go to break,

I need to tell you about Jan Pro from conference rooms to kitchenettes and everything in between. Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected for a free quote. Visit them online at JanPro.ca. Coming up next, Sportsnet soccer analyst, John Molinaro. You're listening to the Halford and 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. 632 on a Monday.

Happy Monday, everybody. He typed in 80s music and this is what happened. This is what happened. I don't know, Ben is too young to fully draft 80s music. It sounds like it's from Tron. That had a really good... Has anybody seen Tron? I wasn't around in the 80s. No, I know you're too young for the 80s. That's why I said it's not your fault. That had a pretty good drop though for like an 80s track. Yeah, but I don't think we were talking about drops in the 80ies. We weren't, we didn't know what it was. Music hadn't evolved to that point.

I knew it was a good segue for you. Wait for it. Wait for it. You are listening to the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford and Bruff of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for net help with over 3000 five star reviews. This is them online at S sans-trusty.com John Molinaro soccer insider for sports that is going to join us in just a moment here before we get to John I do need to remind everybody and I'm gonna be doing this all

morning, so if you don't buy your 50-50 tickets I'm gonna be like a threat. Yeah, you should see I'm gesticulating towards the camera. I'm pointing angrily at the camera. We highly recommend you buy your 50-50 tickets. But it's for a good cause. Monday. There's just a lot of things that can happen if you don't. Yeah, if you don't buy, you never know what'll happen.

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To the Power West Industries hotline we go. Soccer insider from Sportsnet, John Molinaro joins us now on the Halferd and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning John, how are you? I'm good, how are you guys doing? We're good, thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. So I do want to start with the Jonathan David

signing over the weekend. Signs in Italy with Juventus and you've got to piece up at Sportsnet.ca right now talking about how this is a defining moment for the Canadian striker. In a lot of ways it's another defining moment for Canadian footballers. I know we've had a player in Stereo before but never with the club as big and as historic as Juventus. So what does this mean both for David and for Canadian football in terms of historical accomplishments?

Oh, it's massive. I mean, for people who don't know, Juventus is one of the biggest clubs in all of the world. The most successful Italian soccer team of all time. They've never had a Canadian international from the men's side play on their side. And there's only been one other Canadian men's international has ever played in Syria and that's Tejani Buchanan who played for Inter Milan.

So the fact that he was able to break through at such a prestigious club, you know, says a lot because it's, this is really uncharted territory in a lot of ways. And it's, you know, I would, I would argue that this is probably a bigger move than even when Alfonso Davies moved to Byron because when he made that move, you know, Davies was still young and he was adjoining a team where, you know, littered with stars and he wasn't necessarily a starter at that time. He has sort of had to sort of make his reputation a nerd. And he's certainly done that during his time there, but he went there, there was still something for Davies to prove. This is different. I mean, Jonathan David is going to Juventus as a proven commodity in international football, as one of the top strikers in the world. And he's going there as a guaranteed starter, someone who, you know, I think a lot of the attack is going to be built around and he has the potential to become the face of that sort of club for many years to come. So it's, you know,

as I said, it's uncharted territory for a Canadian footballer playing in Europe. So it's a massive moment for him personally. It's a massive moment for Canadian football too. Do you know if there's any skepticism among the UVA media or supporters that they've brought in a Canadian to do such an important job? And let's face it, the job of Jonathan David is to score goals. Yeah, I haven't heard any of that, to be honest. I mean, when he arrived at, you know, Juventus' training ground and medical center on the weekend, I mean, there was like, you know, hundreds of people, fans out there waiting for him, you know, wanting to catch a glimpse of him.

So I think, you know, generally speaking, the fan base is pretty happy to see him there. And, you know, why not? I mean, he's been incredibly prolific when you look at, you know, the start of his career at Ghent, which is a modest club in Belgium. You know, he did quite well there. And then his career really took off the previous five seasons at Lille, where, you know, he was just was one of the top scorers in the French league and helped Lille win a league championship, play in the Champions League, really sort of reach legendary status there. He was just a prolific, consistent goal scorer.

And that's what the event just means right now. They're really sort of lacking a go-to number nine, someone who can confidently lead the attack and really stretch defenses and just, you know, be an all around attacking sort of player who can supply a steady stream of goals. And that's something that he can do. So yeah, I haven't noticed any sort of skepticism from that front. And it's, you know, it's a club that has like Americans on it already, right?

I mean, uh, Weston McKinney and Timothy way, uh, or us internationals are already played with Diaviglia Ventis so I'm not sure that there's necessarily that sort of bias against CONCACAF players in this regard. I got one for you. What did you think of David's performance at the Gold Cup? I know Canada in general it was a disappointment across the board but David was tasked with a lot, captaining the side, played a lot, in fact, maybe too much. And the results for the team that he was the face of over this tournament with Davies and Bombito being out, it was disappointing.

So I'm curious to get your thoughts on how David performed at the gold cup for Canada. Um, you know, give him a passing grade. Um, I don't think it was his best tournament. Um, but I don't think a lot of Canadian players necessarily had great tournaments. He only had one goal and that was from the penalty. I do like the fact that he sort of stood up as captain in the absence of Alfonso Davies and Stephanie Stacchio and really sort of wore the armband and you know provided some valuable leadership. I mean if you know Jonathan David he's not the

most vocal guy. He's very soft spoken. He doesn't say a lot. He's not very talkative. And I get the sense that, you know, when he was tasked with serving as captain, this was a little bit out of his comfort zone, but you know, he handled it quite nicely. And so I think that was sort of like a major development

for him and something that, you know, I think Canada will look more towards from him, you know, in preparation for the world cup next year. Yeah, cause I mean, everything that we're doing now is with an eye for the 2026 world cup. We are speaking to John Molinaro here on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650, Sportsnet soccer analyst here.

And it's interesting now because I almost think that the form that David's going to be in and the importance of his role going into the 26 World Cup, it might supersede every player on that Canadian roster, including Davies, because for the longest time it's been Alfonso has been the shining star of the program and he's been the number one guy. But now given the importance of scoring goals, given where David's going to apply his trade for the next year, I do wonder if the 2026 World Cup, he might be the primary focus in terms of how much success Canada is going to have at the tournament.

I think that's right. I think, you know, he's, when you look at sort of Canada and Qatar, you know, they really struggled to score. I mean, they only had the one goal. And so I think if Canada is going to have any kind of success next summer when it co-hosts the World Cup, they're going to have to score goals. They just can't rely on midfield organization and defensive prowess. They're going to have to provide some offense. I think Jonathan David will be the main catalyst.

The fact that he's playing in Syria, which I would suggest is a pretty big step up from the French league, no disrespect to France's top division, but it is a step up and he's, he's a very smart and intelligent player, Jonathan David. I mean, I think he's got a really high football IQ, very clever, and I think Serie A is going to be a good fit for him because it's a much more tactical league than say, you know, the Premier League where, you know, I think the emphasis is more on sort of athleticism and speed and power. He's really going to be tested against some of the top defenders in the world and teams who are going to be designed to try to shut him down. And so I think the fact that he's going to have a year of doing that, of testing his sort of wits against some of

the best defenders in the world and then against teams that are going to have a year of doing that, of testing his sort of wits against some of the best defenders in the world and then against teams that were going to be out to stop them. I think that's going to just hone his skills and that'll bode well for Canada going to the World Cup next summer. Halford, why don't you go through all the white caps that have been missing for their games?

Uh, recently, and maybe we can get into a conversation with John about the MLS schedule and how this is crazy because the white caps have played a lot again. They had an unbelievable start and they have run into some injury issues, but they've also run into their best players just aren't available because they're playing international duty and the MLS just keeps rolling along.

So in that loss to the galaxy over the weekend, Sam Atacube and Ali Ahmed were both out with injuries that happened while they were on international duty with Canada, which is a good point. Yeah, that's a good point. Sebastian Bearhalter and Brian White were out until yesterday where they were part of the US team, lost to Mexico. And then there was the usual course of injuries that happened during an MLS campaign that are sidelined the likes of Andres Kubas and Ryan Gould. And yeah, John, we've been talking about this a lot over the last month with our white caps coverage and then every game, it seems it's the same lead.

It's like the white caps did their best, but they're missing two thirds of their team practically. And it does call into question, you know, especially for the fans that maybe don't pay that much attention is why are they playing during all these international windows? I wonder if this is the summer that really changes things for MLS because there has been conversation about moving to a winter season or at the very least, I'm a skeptic. I don't think, I don't buy this whole, they're going to go with the sort of more traditional European schedule so that it's aligned with that. I think that would be a disaster when you look at sort of cold weather cities like Chicago

and Toronto and Montreal. You know, I just don't see how it's sort of feasible to do that. Yeah, look, I mean, injuries and sort of international absences, you know, specifically what you're asking, it's a really tricky one sort of international absences, you know, specifically what you're asking, it's a really tricky one with MLS because of, you know, just sort of how the windows shape up and they don't want to sort of shut down for those international windows because then it's going to lead to more midweek games and the owners don't necessarily want

that because that's sort of less money in their pocket. So you know, I don't know what the solution is. I think it's, but I can't see them sort of making any sort of substantive changes anytime soon. I think it just, it is what it is and it's just teams sort of have to deal with it. And it has to be said too. I mean, I'm not sort of downplaying what's happening

in Vancouver, but this is like every team in MLS, right? I mean, Toronto FC, like Jonathan Osorio was away with the national team at the gold cup and he got injured while there too. And now he had to go back and he's out injured and Toronto FC was already sort of missing, you know, a boatload of players through injuries. And they were also missing Debbie Flores who was away with Honduras at the gold cup. So it's not a problem that is unique to Vancouver. This is just sort of something that most teams

have to deal with. So it's, as I said, I shrug my shoulders as to what can be done. I really don't know what the solution is. The only difference is that Toronto stunk prior to losing those guys. Sure, absolutely. Yeah, whereas the issue with us is that Vancouver's had

such a tough time gaining a foothold in this market. The sale that's been looming over the team is obviously a big thing. They had this great on-pitch story through the first two months of the season where they were tops in MLS and seemingly unbeatable and then it was, well, there's the Gould injury or there's the Atacube injury and then everyone knew that this was gonna happen because the, you know, international window was set. Everyone knew this was a possibility. As the Whitecaps kept playing better it was almost to their detriment because Bearhalter and White just played their way in to the U.S. squad. And now you're looking at it and they've managed to survive it. I'll say that, but it's been a really

tough go over the last little bit. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. I mean, the law, maybe the results haven't necessarily been there, but I don't think it's derailed Vancouver's season by any stretch of the imagination. And I think there's still plenty of soccer to play, and now that they're getting Bearholtter and those guys back, I suspect the regular service is gonna resume and they're going to go back to what it was before, which was one of the best teams

in the Western Conference, one of the best teams in MLS, and a team that can sort of contend for a supporter show and hopefully go on a lefty play, a lefty player from this year. John, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. My pleasure. Anytime.

Thanks. John Molinaro, sucker insider from sports net here on the Haliford and Bref show on sports net six 50. Uh, okay. Um, we've been through, uh, the draft and we've been through the NHL draft free agency, NH draft free agency. NHL free agency. What are the leftover stories? What are the big stories that we have yet to resolve? For example,

the Oilers still have the same goalies. Is that an issue for Edmonton? Is that, are they going to solve that or are they just going to go into next season with Skinner and Pickard again and just be like, well, I don't know, you know, they got us to two straight Stanley Cup finals, so it's probably not an issue. What's going on with Bowen Byrom in Buffalo? I was looking through the remaining free agents. Now that Pugh Suitor is off the board,

I guess it's the Jack Roslovick show. It is the Jack Roslovick sweepstakes. The Roslo Stakes, as they call them. Nobody calls them that. Yeah, which story interests you the most here? The Bowen Byrom story in Buffalo, for sure. Byrom, obviously, because of the local ties being a Vancouver kid, and then the Buffalo Sabres

being our SAG club brethren. So over the weekend, the Sabres filed for team-elected arbitration with Bow and Byron. So what does that mean, you may be asking? Well, I guess the big one is that you can't offer-sheet Bow and Byron anymore. Once the team team lacks arbitration No more offer sheets there now It wouldn't have even necessarily mattered because Sabres GM Kevin Adams had said that whatever

Offer sheet he accepts and signs the Sabres were gonna match anyway That's why if you go over to old puckpedia you can see that the Sabres have about 12 million in salary cap space It's actually allotted for him. So What happens now is if they don't get a deal done before Arb and sometimes electing arbitration fast tracks the talks where it's like, do we really want to do this? Like go into the room where we got to trash you in front of a neutral third party. Yeah.

They try and get a deal done. Now it doesn't sound like a deal is gonna be anywhere close because it hasn't been the entire time. And Byrom doesn't want to sign with them. Byron has specific things that he wants that he's not going to get in Buffalo. Plain and simple. He's not going to get the opportunities. He's not going to get the minutes. He's not going to get the power play time because they have too many good defensemen.

Especially not going to get to the playoffs. No, that's another part. Not going to get to play any meaningful games ever possibly. So, uh, they can sign either a one or two year deal based on what happens in arbitration. If he takes a two year deal, that's pretty significant because that would walk him right up to unrestricted free agency, at which part he can just say goodbye, Buffalo. It's been nice, but now I'm going to go sign wherever I want. And Buffalo would then get nothing in return for Bowen. I don't think he wants that either.

He doesn't want to play another two years in Buffalo. And I don't think the Sabres would want a guy that doesn't really want to be there. I think in, uh, on teams like Buffalo and frankly, on teams like Vancouver that have dealt with culture issues, you really want to make sure that everyone on the team wants to be there, is happy to be there because if you're in a group of guys that you're all trying to accomplish the same thing and one or two of them are like, yeah, let's do it.

But like, you know, they don't want to be there. I think that can have a corrosive effect on the comradery of the group. And Byron has signaled either through reports or just how he's gone about this contract negotiation. Changed agents. And just common sense too.

Like he's a good, he's a good, still pretty young defenceman and he sees that he's not going to be a number one or maybe even number two on this team. So like, why wouldn't you, honestly, why wouldn't he try and go to another team? So what are the reasons, honestly, what are the reasons for him to stay?

Well, there's not. Well, here's the issue and herein lies the rub. The general manager, Kevin Adams, has said on a number of occasions, hey, we are willing to trade Bowen Byram. The issue is the right deal has to be available because Adams has also said on a number of occasions, he's not interested in futures.

He wants players that's gonna help the team win right now, like the Paterka trade, which got them back, two guys that are gonna be plugged right into the active roster in Doan and Kesselring. So that limits the amount of teams that he can trade with because there's certain teams that don't have the right kind of assets. Maybe their futures rich, but current's poor.

And they don't necessarily wanna give up active roster players for Bowen Byrum. Well Sandy texts in to the Dunbar Lumber text line and he says, at what point did the Byrum and Canucks remember just disappear? Just seems like they were in every discussion until a couple of weeks ago. Canucks didn't get any more D or was it when they signed all the lifers to deals? Sandy, I could never figure out how they were going to do this deal anyway.

If the Sabres insisted on getting useful players, the Canucks clearly didn't want to delete anyone off the roster. The only guy they've lost is Pugh Suter and they brought in a Vander Kane. Now that's not, that's a bit of an apples and oranges situation there because they're two very different players, but that was the only guy, and he was a free agent too. It's not like they, they, they could have traded him anyway. He didn't have any value. They kept Garland.

You know, they, they kept Besser. Um, and who are, who are other guys that Buffalo could be like, oh, we'll, we'll take that guy off the roster and the Canucks would be okay with it. Also, why do the Canucks want, want him? They have defensemen, they need Fords. Uh, they want a lot of defensemen.

If you listen to Dolly Wall, it's Quinn Hughes insurance. That's not a Quinn, come on. He's an okay defenseman, but. I like Byron Millon. That seems a little silly. I also think like Adog to get back to the point of getting players that want to be Canucks. I think they're looking at the future and going,

okay, if Quinn leaves, a guy like Byron might not be available at that point. So they really like the player. So they're like, well, even if it's a bit of an awkward fit, if we can find them a way to get get them to Vancouver now, this is a guy that wants to be a Canuck. But he's not that good. I mean, he's fine.

He's not terrible. Yeah, you know why. And he's like, heedle on defense. You get yet another guy that's one bad hit away from his current. However, Byron played all 82 games last year. That's true. It was the first time in his young career that he stayed healthy for an entire year.

He put him on. And he wants to be a Canuck. And he wants to be a Canuck. So that's good enough. It's like, you want to be here. That's the criteria. He's ticked multiple boxes at, you want to be here? That's the criteria. He's ticked multiple boxes at that point. Not anything else, that's the criteria.

Wow, you want to play for us? Okay, sweet. Really? Yeah. Are you sure? Us? Have you watched last year? Think of it like this.

It ticks more boxes. Another trait, you know what the rumor reminded me of actually was the Bessert of Minnesota one where it was like, well, he's from Minnesota and he wants to be there. And the Minnesota was always like, yeah, but it doesn't really fit what we need. Probably be nice, but it would almost be a luxury. That's how I view Byram here now. If Hughes was to leave, it'd be more than a luxury because it'd be an insurance

clause, as you put it, though, like sort of like some T. Mu insurance, like I don't know if this is going to work. But at this point, I almost wonder if acquiring guys that want to be a part of this moves up in terms of like things we're looking for. And I mean, I always go back to it. They were even seeing it after the draft. They're like, they're like, we, you know, we for drafting players that want to want to be here.

I'm like, well, as opposed to what? Guys that don't want to be here? They're just drafted. Yeah. They're 18 years old. They don't know what they want. They have a choice, right? This is drafting.

Very few of them are going to be like, I'm not going to. Yeah, a bunch of the guys did the grouse grind and said, I don't really want to be here anymore. I actually don't want to be a Canuck. How often do we have to do this? We have to do this every day now? Yeah. So I don't know.

I'll be very curious to see. There's two things here. One, I think there's gonna be a trade market opening up and we'll run through this on the other side. There are so many teams right now that want to do things that can and are also hamstrung by their cap situations. Toronto is one of them. Florida still needs to clear up their cap

if they're gonna try and start the regular season, although they may stash Matthew Kachuck on LTIR to begin the year. We don't know what's happening there yet, but there does seem as though there's an opportunity for a secondary market to open up, four trades for all these teams that left free agency disappointed.

I wonder if Byron will eventually just get moved then, because looping back to how we started this with the Buffalo perspective, it doesn't seem like arm wrestling him in Arb into a one or two year deal to bring him back to Scrantle is a good idea. It doesn't seem like a good idea for either party. So I feel like a trade will get done eventually. The question is where. Dan Shulman is going to join us next, talk about these red hot Toronto Blue Jays.

You're listening to the Alfred and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650.