Halford & Brough in the Morning - Ed Willes On His New Canucks Book + What We Learned

Episode Date: September 16, 2024

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat with retired long-time Canucks reporter Ed Willes (1:35) about his new book on the team titled "Never Boring", plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). 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.

🎵 I like this track. This is good. This is an 80s song. I knew he was going to say that. I'm like, oh, this is rough written all over it. This is an 80s song. Yeah.

I typed in yacht rock. Yes. Well, when you say you knew I was going to say that, is it because this is consummate 80s stuff? Yes. What did you think it was like? This sounds like grunge era. No, I knew you would love this. Yeah, this is awesome. 80s stuff? Yes. What did you think it was like? This sounds like grunge era. No, I knew you would love this.

Yeah, this is awesome. This is a rough track. Yeah. Yeah. I can listen to this during the day like doing my errands. This is the music

that plays in your head most of the day. Yeah, yeah. Everything is a montage. My life is one big montage. Yeah, this is a real montage. Yeah. A bunch of dissolves

and fadeaways. Yeah. Oh, look. The nerd montage. Yeah. A bunch of dissolves and fadeaways. Yeah. Oh, look. The nerds are cleaning up their house. For your life, though. You guys are like, I'm doing errands. Now I'm mowing the lawn. Now I'm napping.

You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & 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 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. Our next guest

is the author of a new book coming out in October, Never Boring, the Up and Down History of the Vancouver Canucks. Also a longtime scribe, very well known to this audience. Ed Willis joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Good morning, Ed. How are you? Good morning, Boris. How are you? We're well. Tell us about your book, Ed, Never Boring, The Up and Down History of the Vancouver Canucks. Well, Never Boring could also describe the writing of the book. It was originally, I originally wrote it for a fall of 2023 release. And if you're familiar with the events of the 23-24 season, that kind of ran counter to the four or five years which preceded it. This occasioned a massive amount of rewriting

and I had to remove a lot of the snark from it. But in the end, I think it's a much better book because I think it represents the totality of the history of the Canucks. They haven't always been like a joke, a laughingstock of a franchise. There's been these, you know, bright shining moments, which has kept the faithful interested. So I think everything turned out the best, even though it created a lot more work. What was the most interesting era to dive into oh that's an interesting one because like like i lived through virtually all of it from 2000 on

um it's it's hard to pick out i i'm gonna go with the west coast express just because all three guys were so good and so forthcoming and And then Crowe and Burke were, you know, were what they usually are. I just think that might be the richest chapter in terms of going behind the scene and what was happening. You know, both the good and the bad. I also uncovered this story. I had no idea it existed that Stafford Smythe screwed the Canucks before the puck ever dropped on their all the Canucks history starts long before the puck drops for their first game and I'll spare you the details but it's it's an amazing story which I didn't know existed so there was a lot

you know yeah I thought I knew it pretty well but I kept uncovering these little things that, oh, I didn't know that. I didn't know that. How much of it does delve into the, I'll go ahead and call it, victim mentality that the Canucks have developed in that everyone's out to get them? Did you talk about that much? I try to steer away from that because I think the story tells itself. I don't think it really needs excuse me, I don't think it really needs me to, you know, point out what is the obvious

but I do open, I always thought there was a parallel between the Red Sox pre-2004 and the Canucks and the same sort of mentality that was developed so I actually opened it by talking to Don Shaughnessy who is the author of The Curse of the Bambino. And he talked about, you know,

just the way things change for Red Sox fans post-2004. And I think there's a real parallel there with Canucks fans, minus the championship, of course. We're speaking to Ed Willis here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I was reading an article, an interview that you did with your former co-worker, Patrick Johnson of the province. You said, I don't think there was a better place to watch hockey in the NHL

than GM Place from 01 to 04. So it is interesting that a team that fell short, largely short of expectations, especially in the playoffs, was still playing a brand of hockey that was so endearing to the fans. And also, you alluded to this as well, sort of set the stage for how the game is being played now. Yeah, I think so. And you have to view that against the backdrop of the hockey

that was being played. I mean, that was the height of the dead puck era, right? And teams would come in. I actually used to cover the New Jersey Devils a lot when I was back east, when they were at the height of their power. And it was virtually unwatchable a lot of nights. It was terrible. But here the Canucks were playing this speed-up tempo game,

keyed by this marvelous line, you know, these three disparate talents that, you know, came together and formed probably the best line in hockey in the NHL for a year and a half anyways. And also it was what came before. Because, you know, you think of the crazy Keenan years and you think of like Crawford's first year when they were absolutely terrible. And then all of a sudden this team seemed to spring from out of nowhere and really were a legitimate Stanley Cup threat.

And boy, 2003 could have turned out so differently had they had a goalie but uh but it didn't but there was still i remember going to regular season games thinking boy this is this really is a lot of fun like the atmosphere the hockey that was being played and the team that we were watching. Did you find when you're writing a book like this and you are interviewing people about things that happened now, 15, 20 years ago, or even longer than that, are people more open? Will you, are there some quotes in this book that people will be like, boy, you didn't say it then, but you're saying it now.

Yeah. There's a stat. There's definitely a statute of limitations involved. I think probably the best example of that is Todd Bertuzzi. He's a changed guy. He's reflective. He's insightful. He's honest. I understand everything that went into his story.

It was just really interesting talking to him and just kind of running through my... It was really odd. Like, I probably did somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 interviews for this. Well, there isn't a ton. But when you add in all the things you can get from databases and all the things you can get from going over old articles,

content wasn't a problem. But the only guy that stiffed me was Ryan Kessler, which I thought was weird because I was one of the few reporters that had a decent relationship with him, and he just wouldn't return a call, which was fine. I mean, there's so much resource material out there. I just thought he was the one guy who didn't call back. How much went into the section on 2011? A lot. It starts with kind of the Sedins morphing from, you know, these high-profile rookies and all these expectations on them to their early struggles and them finding themselves through a training program uh through this swedish coach who would actually coach them on the swedish i think under

16 team who designed the program that allows them to build their body up and their speed up and and it goes right from there to 2011 and then you know of course revisiting that whole season and uh and all the crazy events that are so well known to Canucks fans in the Stanley Cup final. I didn't really delve into the riot afterwards. It's not really part of the Canucks story. It's part of the story of the city. So I really didn't get into that because 2011 was depressing enough. I will say I had a couple of conversations with Mike Gillis,

and I had a fractious relationship with him over the years, and we kind of talk off the record, and in the end I didn't use his voice because he was concerned about how it would play out and he was concerned about a lot of things, as a matter of fact. But I kind of did a rethink of my whole approach to Gillis and what he brought to the franchise. And I think, you know, in the end, he might be underappreciated both for what he accomplished

and then the way he was so unceremoniously let go. What made you do that rethink was it conversations with him was it just time or was it conversations with others? Yeah conversations with others who kind of revealed what was going on behind the scenes. I mean, Gillis never wanted Tortorella as a coach. He wanted to trade Kessler at the 2014 trade deadline. And he had a deal cooked with Anaheim that would have brought, you know, a lot more back to the Canucks than what they eventually did when they traded Kessler to Anaheim the next offseason. lot more back to the Canucks than what they eventually did when they traded Kessler to

Anaheim the next offseason. You know, and I just think of how ahead of the curve he was in, you know, areas like, you know, performance and sports science and analytics. And I think that for a while there, the Canucks were really positioned to be like a leading franchise. And then as inevitably as it does with this franchise, not only do things go wrong, they go so irretrievably wrong, it sets everything back five years. The book is Never Boring, The Up and Down History of the Vancouver Canucks. It is available for purchase from bookstores and online retailers on October the 5th.

Ed, thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Congrats on the book. I hope the sales go well and enjoy this upcoming season. Cheers. Thanks a lot, guys. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on.

We appreciate it. Ed Willis here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Shall we do some What We Learns? Let's do some What We Learns. I'll start. Okay. I learned start. Okay. I learned that Nathan Rourke didn't have a very good week. He didn't.

His brother, Curtis, did have a good week. My man, Curtis. Curtis with a K. Curtis Rourke now plays for Indiana University. Noted football power. Yeah, they're known for basketball a little bit, but it's mostly their football. Anyway, he spent a number of years at Ohio,

not Ohio State as A-Dog learned, and we can tell that story later. Not in Indiana State either, but just Indiana. Just Indiana. IU. Miami of Ohio. Indiana University. They call them the Hoosiers.

Both of you stop. Please tell your story. So Rourke is now a senior and he transferred to Indiana out of Ohio. So he is playing a big time schedule now. Yep. It's so weird. Like he's in the same conference as the Huskies. It's all the one big conference.

And so UCLA made its Big Ten debut over the weekend, and they hosted Curtis Rourke in Indiana, and Curtis Rourke threw four touchdowns. Smashed him. No interceptions, 307 yards for a 42-13 win over UCLA. Yep. So Curtis Rourke had a better week than his brother so um this is IU's third win of the season they had a nail biter the week before they beat Western Illinois 77 to 3 that one could have gone

either way the only reason I mentioned this is that um people are talking him up for the NFL draft because aside from this UCLA game are they talking about for the nfl job yeah yeah yeah yeah i mean he's the number one prospect in the cfl draft not surprisingly um but they've got games against michigan yeah that's why he went to iu ohio state and purdue michigan like they've got oh in nebraska so they got three games against top 25 schools where they're saying like if he can go out and kind of show out the way they did against UCLA against top 25 schools, his draft stock might improve to the point where he's a lock for the NFL.

So IU also plays the Huskies who've lost the Apple cup to Wazoo over the weekend. Who cares? Whatever. Um, but, but I, um,

we have a dog on the case trying to book Curtis Rourke for the show. And we're, we're thinking, well, maybe around the time of that Huskies game, which is late next month. Now, again, a dog. So for the people that don't know this story, um, we told a dog last year, try and get Curtis Rourke on the show. That would be when he was at his the show. When he was old school. And he was at Ohio then. So Adog, being the college football fan that he is, sends an email to Ohio State University.

So close. Good day, gentle people. I was wondering if I could procure one Curtis Rourke for our show. And what was their response? Who the hell are you talking about? No, no, they were very polite. They were like, oh, thanks for the email, Andy. We appreciate it.

You have the wrong school, though. Curtis Rourke plays for another Ohio University, not ours. Ah. Do you have a Curtis Rourke? The much lesser program in the state as opposed to Ohio State, one of the most storied programs in college football. This time I was very, very careful. I Googled it like 19 times.

Do I have the right Indiana University? Is it the right one? So have you reached out to them? Yes, I have. And they said, well, we'll see what happens. But if we get them on, yeah, it'll probably be towards the end of October. Okay.

The dream here is that the did get the right school this time. The dream here is that the BC Lions somehow are able to draft and land Curtis Rourke. Yeah. So that the next then Rick Campbell, the next quarterback

controversy is also a sibling rivalry. So we have a three goalie, three quarterback controversies now. That would be amazing. All right.

Give us a mook on that. So real quick for you fantasy footballers out there, I do want to pass along the news that it seems as though that Kansas City Chiefs running back, starting running back, Isaiah Pacheco is going to be out for an extended period of time with a broken leg. He's not going to go on the full IR yet because I think it's a fractured tibia, I want to say.

So they're going to put, you know, the good old-fashioned Chris Tan have walking boot and see if you can immobilize that bad boy and get him back later in the season. But it does allow me to speak on yesterday's game in which, now, I don't know if there's a conspiracy out there. I don't know if they're rigging the game or the system,

but it sure seems like... It was P.I., though. He got there early. He got there early. Well, that's P.I., then. If that's the standard for P.I., I just want to say... The rules? Yeah, that's usually the standard for me. Their interpretation of the rules.

I love how you want this... Taylor Swift was in the building, so they had to let the Chiefs win. Too strong? Too strong? Anyway, this joel taylor swift was in the building so they had to let the chiefs win did you too strong too strong anyway um she called down she was like find a way did you see when they i'm not coming here for a loss travis kelsey made his one play of the game and then they cut to her booth and she was celebrating wildly and then like that's coming back for holding so he ended up with yeah by the way his number he nearly squared touchdown, but his offensive lineman tackled him right at the line.

Yeah, there's, he's done nothing through two games. Yeah. I don't know if you pointed out on our text thread. He's a little bit old. He's old. He's 34. Father time might've finally caught up. I don't know if the distractions of everything

that he's doing, non-football related, have caught up. Maybe he's just a slow start, but they were not great yesterday, and they still emerged with a victory. I don't know what to make of the Bengals right now, because they've done this before. They've started winless. You could say – They need to start meeting pressure with pressure at the beginning of the season.

They do, actually. They absolutely do, because they always seem to put themselves in these holes. They've got to dig up stupid, right? And I don't know after a while. Sometimes you just won't be able to dig your way out of it, but I thought they should have won that game yesterday. I thought they were the better of the two teams. I didn't think Kansas City

played especially well. They got a very fortuitous break on the fumble return for a touchdown. And then one on the, I'll call it soft P.I., but the Chiefs are 2-0, the Bengals are 0-2, and Isaiah Pacheco is now out with a broken leg. Moo, Calmy. Okay, so friendly reminder, we don't have any giveaways, but we're getting to that point of the year

where what we learned on a Monday, this should be like coming into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket, fast and furious there was a lot that went on over the weekend right almost all of our local sporting squadrons were in action the white caps won that was really good the lions lost that was really bad the vancouver canucks the at the young stars are oh are two and oh after a shadow victory over the oilers and then a 4-2 win over the jetsets. By the way, I mentioned this earlier, just to clarify. Today at 2.30, we are going to have the final game

of the Young Stars for the Canucks live right here on Sportsnet 650. Coverage begins at 2. Batch is going to be on the call from Penticton at 2.30. It is the Canucks and the Flames. And then Canucks Central will follow that at 5 o'clock. So that's the programming for today. So if you want to catch a final game of Young Stars,

you can hear it all right here on Sportsnet 650. I've got a quick what we learned. Okay. And it is because Elliot Friedman just published his most recent 32 Thoughts at sportsnet.ca. And there is a note about the Vancouver Canucks signing Dylan Ferguson while giving him a PTO, bringing in a goalie. And Fried writes, Dylan Ferguson's PTO in Vancouver ensures the Canucks

have enough goalies for the preseason. There's still a dance with Kevin Lankanen. But the two sides are not in agreement on compensation. What do you know about Ferguson, Laddie? He was last year in the KHL, D-MOM, I want to say. He's a body, right? Yeah. We're not.

Well, he had a good year in the KHL, and those guys usually get a look by NHL teams. But if he has a good camp, maybe somebody scoops him up. But I don't think he's coming in, you know, they're thinking he's going to be big time in their play. He's best remembered as the guy, he played a period for the Vegas Golden Knights. He was like 19 or something like that. Yeah, they were way down on goalies, and they needed to bring him up on an emergency basis. He got into a game.

I think it was one goal on two shots or something. But, hey, he got into a game, and he was still wearing all his Kamloops Blazers gear. Now he's back trying to make the NHL again. And the delicate dance with Kevin Lankanen continues. And, of course, there was that little tidbit that they tried to throw an offer at Antti Ranta, but he said no. He's going back

to Finland, and that's where he's going to be. So happy trails to Antti Ranta. He can't stay healthy anyway. Yeah, that was always a knock on him, right? Good goalie, couldn't stay healthy. He's like 37 now. Yeah. Good luck with that. Okay. Maybe he's healthy or no. Once you're in your late 30s, it's all over.

I found one that when I got into my late 30s, I was like, I think I'm an amazing athlete. I'm better than I ever was. Get out in the net. Let's strap the pads on and see how you feel the next day. Okay, start getting your what we learns in. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports?

Let us know. It's your chance to be on the radio. And before we go to break, I need to tell you about Tile Town. Mom, Dad, can we go to Tile Town? Sure, why not? As BC's favorite hockey team kicks off a new season, receive 20% off any regular in-stock price tile. That's a tough one.

Visit mytiltown.ca for details. You're listening to the Alfred and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Now for my favorite part of the show. What'd I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God. This is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what

we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show. 8.31 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeablenet 650. Halford Brough for 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 3 of the program. It is what we learn time. Hour 3 is brought to you by Campbell & Pound, real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet

at campbell-pound.com today. Ooh, that was a nice one. Smooth. So in addition to hosting a radio show, I'm also fielding fantasy football trade offers

from Thomas Drance. Right in the middle of the show. Drance, now a full-time resident of Penticton. Doesn't he know you're working right now? He doesn't care. And to be fair, I'm entertaining the trade more thoroughly than I'm doing the radio show. What's the trade? Why did I ask that?

Nice. I don't care. This is what we learned. I learned that I'm done with Trevor Lawrence. I think Trevor, I'm done. Is Drance trying to get him from you? So we have this, he really with Trevor Lawrence. I think Trevor, I'm done. Is Drance trying to get him from you? So that we have this, he really likes Trevor Lawrence

and I'm like, and I have him. Drance is like, I've read some underlying numbers that suggest he's poised for a breakout. I'm like, I've got some overlying numbers. He sucks. He's not good at football. I think the whole thing's a mirage.

I think he's a fugazi. I think he's a fake. I don't think he's very good. If he was good, you know what he would do? Win? And be good at football. All right. But he's a fugazi. I think he's a fake. I don't think he's very good. If he was good, you know what he would do? Win? And be good at football. Oh, right.

But he's not. He's not good at the quarterbacking. I don't. And he's frustrating to watch. Jackson, one of those teams that are 0-2. So I learned that I may be trading Trevor Lawrence in about 28 minutes. I'm going to make you wait, Drance. I'm going to make you wait.

Okay. Let's do oh do you guys have any more we did run through all our what we learned I did mine Bruf did his Laddie do you have some

sort of Korean baseball bunting that you want to get out of there anything they do it a lot there okay good that's what I learned

hey dog you got any no move no it's not even gonna talk no you guys are so useless let's fire up the dot matrix give me some of that sweet sweet fire plan oh my god

we're having a fire plan now when they say that you know the halford and brough show is more than just a radio show we influencing the public no one says this um it's true because i got a text on the weekend from someone who said i saw saw the results of the Everton match, and I cared about this. And the only reason I cared about this was because of your radio show. So Aaron, the assistant cruise director, texted in with a What We Learned.

Another one. And it started out with, It happened again. Everton blew a 2-0 lead, losing 3-2 to Aston Villa on Saturday. This Everton reminds me of the Canucks a couple of seasons ago, except they're about to get a much, much nicer venue. So we went through this the other day and some people were like, who cares? And I'm sure a lot of people are still like, who cares?

The voices are still prominent. This is one of the, I wouldn't call them a storied team in England, but they've been in the premiership forever. They're in Liverpool. They've just been consistently there at the top of the table. It's a big big prominent historical club. They started out losing, I think it was 3-0, then 4-0, and then against AFC Bournemouth, they had a 2-0 lead at home in Goodison Park.

Yes, that's right. I like that name. And they blew that lead really late. Yep. And they lost that game 3-2. And then they went on their international break. Like the Lions, they had a bye week. They had time to think about it.

So game four. Now this is a little bit different, but again, they're not dominating, but they're up 2-0 against Aston Villa. Villa scores once. Villa scores twice. Both by Ollie Watkins. And then Laddie, this happens.

And Duran from a distance that seemed unlikely has scored a stunner. Everton have walked onto a right hook for the second week running and are in danger of becoming only the second team ever in the Premier League to lose consecutive goals from two down. Mr. Wembley, it happened again. It's perfect that his name is Mr. Wembley, too. He meant to say consecutive games. Yeah, yeah.

He meant to say consecutive goals, but that's fine. It was a hell of a shot, though. Yeah. So the knock on... Pickford was in goal. So Pickford is also the England keeper's so the the knock on pickford was in goal so pickford is also the england keeper yeah the knock on pickford is that he's too tiny is that he's short he's got little t-rex arms right the shot john duran by the way uh former mls standout he played with chicago for a while at any rate i think we might have just adopted

everton for the season lovable losers not really lovable but they definitely lose calling into awesome with what we learned. Halford finally figured out how to get a hot take right. Just have a hot take the opposite of the first hot take. So is this Baker Mayfield related? Yeah, but my first take was right. The Bucs stunk last year. They got hot at the end of the year.

And now the Bucs are awesome. Baker, now, you know what the crazy part is is is this all started with a guy named bill from buffalo who was just like he was so upset so upset with all my tampa bay buccaneers and baker mayfield slander so i kind of went the other direction now he thinks i'm laying it on too thick right he thinks i'm being disingenuous yeah and i'm not like he's, you can't call Baker Mayfield an MVP candidate. I'm like, sure I can. You just did. You just did.

I'll do it again. He's through two weeks of the season. Now, don't get me wrong. Can't please this guy. Can't please this guy. Can't do anything with Bill from Buffalo. They're good. That offense is good.

They score points. They can spread the ball around. They're a good, solid team. This is funny that this is coming from Scott. Okay. What we learned. Bring in all the Scots. Hashtag Dundee Whitecaps.

Ryan Galt, Stuart Armstrong, former teammates at Dundee United. And Ryan Galt set, Stuart Armstrong, former teammates at Dundee United. And Ryan Gauld set up Stuart Armstrong for the second goal of the Whitecaps 2-0 win over San Jose over the weekend. San Jose's bad. This was a game that the Whitecaps should win and they did win.

What I'm finding interesting is actually when I'm prepping for the show, the 30 seconds that I take to do it. Good for you. There's a lot of news articles being written out of Scotland about the Vancouver Whitecaps. Yeah. They're interested in this story. Oh, they are Scotland's abroad team.

Celtic and Rangers probably still dominate the headlines. Probably. Yeah, probably. It's the big three. It's Celtic, Rangers, Whitecaps. But in terms of abroad, it is. Folks, I believe we have some breaking news. Sportsnet 650, breaking news.

How befitting for what we learn. We learn a big bit of news out of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed Sidney Crosby to a two-year contract extension. The deal will run through the 2026-2027 season, and of course, it carries an average annual value

of $8.7 million. First glance, first thought, that is an absolute steal. What? How long is it? Give me the details again. The Penguins have re-signed Sidney Crosby. Oh, I know that. What are the numbers?

To a two-year contract extension running through 2026, 2027. An average annual value of, wait for it, of course, 8.7 million. So, Freed wrote in the 32 thoughts that just got published that his prediction to get the 87 in it was going to be 10.875 million. He is wrong. He said, that's a personal guess. Sid is leaving money on the table. Wait till you hear the details of the details. I want details, laddie.

Year one of the contract, 780,000 base salary. Nice. $9 million signing bonus. Well, that makes sense. Year two, $1.09 base salary and a $6.53 million signing bonus. It includes a no movement clock. I love numerology as much as the next person, but, I mean, you could have got eight, like, for each set. Yeah, just get an 8.7 in there somewhere.

I want $14.87 million. $87 million, and that's my final offer. I mean, 8.7 is a crazy deal. Am I wrong here? That's a great value. Super low. That's great value for a guy that had 90-plus points last year. Isn't this classic Sid, though?

He doesn't really – he's not an ego-driven guy when it comes to money. He just isn't. He's probably comfortable. He's made a fair amount of cash playing hockey. He's doing alright. But there's an NMC. Does that mean if he decides to move at the deadline, he could still go to the Canucks on a tradable contract?

Could this still be a thing? There we go. I remember just saying. Hey, dog, sometimes I hate when you talk. I love this. You know what I'm saying? Because it's an affordable deal. It's an affordable deal. And hey, maybe he's thinking, you know what? I want to go play with my boy, Tom.

The penguins are mine. They're straight trash. Yeah, exactly. He's like, I don't want to be here anymore. Well, so he's now under contract to the penguins for the next three years, right? That's correct. He had a year left. He's through 2027.

It's a two-year extension on top of that. Through the end of 2027. How old is he now? 37. 37. Okay. So this is taking this is taking some people are like only two years it was like that's taking him up to his you know he's 40 years old then um by the way uh if you want to go read this at sportsnet.ca frege did have a sit down with sid um where he got that prediction wrong but he he frege also wrote that crosby also poo-pooed my suggestion that he was concerned about the Penguins not being a Stanley Cup contender. And Sid said, I really enjoy the expectation to win.

I think that's something that pushes all of us for the guys who have been there for a number of years, Gino and Letang. That's something that we're proud of. We want to go into a season with that expectation regardless of what moves are made, what the team looks like. There's going to be different moves, going to be turnover and that's okay but we're coming into the season to try to win and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Hopefully

that gets the best out of us. I just keep coming back to the fact that if they had a power play they would have made the playoffs last season. Yep. They weren't a horrible team. They were maybe an okay team with a terrible power play, which is crazy considering all the talent that they had on. On this 8.7 million, sorry, I'm just going to focus on this.

Sidney Crosby, if he plays out the duration of this deal, nothing unforeseen or unfortunate happens, will end up playing 19 of his NHL seasons on a cap hit of 8.7 million. You can be, the number's great. It's super fun. Everyone likes it. Not everyone's greedy like you.

It's not just like, I've got 100 million. I want 10 more. I do respect the fact that he's just wanting to hit that number though he makes no matter what a mill a day in endorsements and stuff i'm sure so he's doing a lot better than most i'm not talking about the money he's leaving on the table i'm just talking about being that transfixed on look it's gotta be 8.7 make it happen i don't care how you do it i got a crazy question for you sure three years left possibly for that for his career. He's 108 goals away from

being the ninth member of the 700 goal club. Does he get there? Oh yeah. 108 in three years is not an easy task for a soon to be 40 year old. I bet he plays beyond his contract at this point. He said he's more open to it now. I think back in the day he was like, I'm not playing when I'm 40 and now

he's 37 and I might play when I'm 40. To me a two year extension is really good. I never would have thought day, he was like, I'm not playing when I'm 40 and now he's 37 and I might play when I'm 40. To me, a two-year extension is really good. I never would have thought he would have played to 40. If you asked me, you know,

10 years ago, if you played to 40. You know what this does? It serves a bunch of different masters, including the numerology gods. It also says, I'm not going to just

leave Pittsburgh like high and dry right now. We're going to give it another go. I'm going to give them a big time hometown discount so they can try and make some moves. And if it doesn't work out, when this contract expires, I can go somewhere.

Hey, I'll one-up you. How about if it doesn't work out this season, this is a contract that could really kick off the rebuild if it's required. Yep. No, that's a good point.

That's a good point. You think he wants to go anywhere, though? No, he doesn't. He's so committed to the 8.7 number. I think he's fairly committed to the Pittsburgh Penguins. But he also doesn't want to lose. And if he misses the playoffs for the third straight season and all of a sudden the bad situation in Pittsburgh looks worse because they've got a lot

of commitments to these older guys. What if Geno continues to, he looked pretty bad last year at times, watching him. You know, there's questions about Carlson and Letang, and they've got a bunch of other contracts that are not ideal contracts.

They also don't have much quality youth coming. Text in from Rager to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket at 650-650. Rager writes, okay, it's confirmed. Sidney Crosby is the greatest captain and teammate of all time. I will agree with that. This is a huge, huge statement to make

that if you are that determined and committed and focused on winning, you're willing to say, I mean, can you imagine the clout that you have in the room now? You're like, we're going to be able to bring in other players because I'm taking less and I'm the best guy here. Like Crosby walks in the room, he's like, I'm the best player here. There's no question about that.

Hey, Carlson, why are you making so much? Right. Everyone should look at this. Maybe that's, maybe behind the scenes, he's just shaking those guys down. They should all be looking in the mirror in shame. Like, what am I doing to make this team better? I get some money back?

Okay, so there's going to be a lot of discussion about Sid, I'm sure, on the airwaves and national hockey media. But that is the breaking news. Jamie, the Armstrong Fisherman, what we learned. I think I was blocked from Sportsnet 650 Halford and Brough show because I constantly write in amazing, amazing topics and what we learned. Nope. But I never get read anymore.

No, I guess they just weren't as amazing as you thought. I haven't seen that name before. But I'm going to read one from Jamie the Armstrong Fisherman. Good. What I learned, the New York Giants scored three touchdowns and the Commanders had none, yet the Commanders still won the game with seven field goals. Never happened before in the NFL.

Tank, Giants, Tank. Austin Seibert, baby. 21-18 was the final score. So I think what happened was the first Giants touchdown, they missed the extra point. Then they went for two in their next touchdowns, and they failed on both of them. So they didn't convert a single touchdown.

So the guy that hit the seven field goals, a Commander's franchise record, and that goes back. It's not just Commander's version, right? The entirety of the franchise. Seven, Austin Seibert. He was a guy that they picked off the street. He was unemployed. He's just a sort of journeyman kicker.

He was keeping fit for an NFL job by kicking footballs at a pine tree. As one does. Yeah. At a pine tree? Yep. Not beside the pine tree. It's more narrow. You want to hit

the pine tree. Oh, so you're trying to hit the pine tree. Yeah, accuracy, yeah. How'd it work out for him? Good. He hit seven field goals on the weekend. That's awesome. Yeah, it's amazing. Also, note of that game, if the last score was a touchdown instead of another field goal and made it 25-18, it would have been score-gummy.

Basketball Phil, what we learned, Arch Manning has the speed that neither one of his uncles had. 67-yard TD run. I would take him on the Seahawks one day, unlike the Colorado quarterback who drops F-bombs on the Colorado State quarterback instead of shaking hands after their game. There's a lot of people that don't follow college football in this city, and they are constantly confused by basketball fills, what we learned. So Arch Manning is the latest heir.

Now he's Cooper Manning's son. Just so we're clear. It's not Peyton Manning's son. It's not Eli Manning's son. It's the other brother. They have a third brother. I don't know if you knew this or not. Coop.

Coop. He's at Texas. He's at Texas. He went berserk on the weekend. Texas, again, another nail-biter in college football. 56-7 over UTSA, which is University of Texas. But he's only 19 years old. He's a freshman.

I think he redshirted his first year. Yeah, so what the Seahawks have to do is just keep Geno doing the thing until it's time, and there's your franchise quarterback on the horizon. Now do the Shadurah Sanders part. Shadurah Sanders. So they had their quote-unquote rivalry game against colorado state the in-state rivalry right um they won and then i guess colorado state's quarterback was talking smack at colorado going into this game and then shadura

sanders refused to shake the colorado state quarterback hand after the game. Sort of like, you were talking junk about us. I cannot wait. And also, by the way, Deion Sanders and the whole Colorado team, Shadurah Sanders was still in the game late. Yeah. And they were going for the end zone late in a blowout. They took it personal. But the broadcasters were very confused by this.

Yep. Because, and it was less about the sportsmanship aspect as it was keeping Sanders healthy and having him in, you know, like they had him throwing and he was getting hit out there and they're kind of like, what are they doing? Are they padding stats here for the draft? He sure did.

He is going to be a fascinating topic once the draft comes up. Just remember this name. And if you want to sound smart with some of your NFL buddies that don't follow college football, just be like, this Shadoura Sanders is going to be an interesting proposition. Sure is going to be an interesting one to follow. This guy clearly talented.

And he comes from good – his dad was unbelievably talented. But do you want him on the team? How much of his attitude comes from his dad was unbelievably talented, but do you want him on the team? How much of his attitude comes from his dad? And is that a good thing or a bad thing? People will have different opinions on it. Yeah. I like his swagger for some people is this guy is cocky and arrogant to others. So there's some people that are like,

he's a mortal lock to be a first round pick. There's other people, the Coloradoan. I think I'm pronouncing that right, they've got an anonymous scout report from 24-7 Sports and NFL Scout that says it's possible that he could slip out of the first round because of the character issues. But you're right, Jason. It is going to be a fascinating one to watch because it's also a wide-open quarterback class this year.

It's not like last year's where there was a multitude of guys that you thought could go in the top 10. It's not as rich and as deep. So who knows where Scherzer Sanders is. Would you want him on the Seahawks? Nope. Nope. Arch Manning.

You put all your eggs in the Arch Manning basket. You just wait. You just wait. You just wait. I don't even want to talk about other quarterbacks for the Seahawks right now after that game that Geno had. I feel it would be disrespectful to Geno Smith. Talk about guys that take a while to get there.

12 years into his NFL career, Geno Smith just had the best passing day of his life on the weekend. 33 completions. He's never done that in his 12 NFL seasons. And he was a first-round pick way back. Hey, dog. I got a what we learned from Joey Jojo Jr. Shabadoo from North Van that made me laugh.

Worst name I've ever heard. Joey Jojo. Listening to the first hour of the podcast, and I learned the Canucks slogan should be, sustain the hard. Everyone is another year older, and sustaining the hard gets more difficult. We don't want an impotent offense,

nor do we want any kind of PP dysfunction. And so, if we sustain the hard, there's a chance we'll be erecting a new statue outside Rogers Arena. Okay. I'm going to jump in here arena okay i'm gonna jump in here it's not i we we talked about this earlier to show you download that enough i didn't love the segment it was okay it wasn't good you're not embracing our best it's not our fault i know

it's not our fault like you just need to embrace it. No, stop. Adog, do we need to muzzle you? Firmly grasp it, will you? Adog had to get a text halfway through the segment that said, knock it off, Adog. I don't want to be the one. I will not knock it off. I don't want to be the ones responsible for this. Taka knows what he's doing. I mean, when you hear this, I challenge anyone.

And it's not us being like sophomoric idiots i mean we are but when you hear something when you hear someone say embrace the hard what's the first thing first thing i do is i chuckle i mean i don't know what to tell you i'm human so if you put it on shirts and hats and coffee mugs and you have it up in the room like there's gonna be someone's gonna be like you're not buying an embrace the hard coffee mug is that you're telling me that's how they're gonna weed out who's immature and it's also just so awkward okay it's comedy gold so we've been gifted this i don't the hockey gods but we finished but we finished the segment i was like i wasn't great i don't think we really hit i think what we're trying to hit well i got bad news for you buddy because we're bringing this up a whole lot more this year i think if

anything good can come from this it's that maybe someone in the organization hears our show and they're like, you know what? Those guys might have a point. Maybe we shouldn't embrace the hard this year. Right. And like you said, with alliteration, like you can't like handle the hard is not better. Harness the hard. Harness the hard. Harness the hard. I like that.

Harness it. I'm not even lying, and I won't say it because it's a competitor, but I just got a notification on my phone. The hard is so hard that it needs to be harnessed. Yes? A notification on my phone from a competitor. Talk at Hopeful for Growth. Canucks coach.

It's going to be harder to meet expectations this season. So other networks are also running with this. Hopeful for Growth. I am just saying this isn't going away, and you can make it try and go away if you want, Mike, but I don't think it's going to work. Doug, the intern cross-stitcher. Hashtag WWL, what we learned. I learned now that with free access to MLS games on Apple TV

for the remainder of the season, I am now following the Whitecaps and watching their games. Free TV, what a novel concept. Yes, go check it out. Apparently the Apple TV deal is now like, hey, just please watch the games. I beg of you, please come watch the games. So Whitecaps games will be available

and you'll get to see Scotland's favorite squad, the Vancouver Whitecaps, playing on Apple TV for free. A-Dog, anything else you want to add to this? Someone texted in, just let A-Dog finish. So go for it. The floor is yours. All the hard jokes you want to make. I am just all aboard with Taka's slogan,

and I'm going to be embracing the heart along with him this year. And I think the team is going to as well. It's going to be a great season. You're all aboard. All aboard. All aboard. Okay, we got to get out of here for today, but we will be back tomorrow. Thank you all for listening, and thank you all for submitting.

Signing off, I have been Mike Halford. He's been Jason Brough. He's been A-Dog. He's been Laddy. This has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.