Halford & Brough in the Morning - Embrace The Debate

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the fallout of the US men's hockey team winning gold at the Olympics with Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli (1:25), plus the boys chat with Vancouver Giants head coach Parker Burgess (24:17). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Sarah Valley. Sarah Valley. Syra Valley. Frank. Sarah Valley. Frank. Sarah Valley. Frank.

Frank. 702 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have payday loan debt? If you do, Sands and Associates can cut your debt by up to 80% with no up, friend, fees, visiting today at Sands dash trustee.com. We are

an hour two of the program. Frank Sarvalley from Victory Plus is going to join us in just a moment here. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason Homanock at Jason. Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason. com. We are coming to you live

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Frank Sarvelli from Victory Plus joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Frank. How are you? Pretty good. How are you guys doing? We're good, Frank, and interested to talk to you. You were quite popular on social media yesterday. What have you thought about the online discourse after the American men won gold? Because you became a big part of that discourse with your tweet yesterday. And I'm just going to read it out for people that haven't read the tweet.

But it currently has 2.7 million views. And it reads like this. If you can't celebrate an Olympic accomplishment for and by the USA, you are on the wrong side. period, we truly reached the theater of the absurd when it became news last week that hockey players are proud of their country. So what led you to tweet that out? How much time do we have? We got time. I mean, look, I guess the first place for me to start would be in Milan at the Olympics, standing in the mix zone,

And it was after one of the preliminary round games, and Quinn Hughes had mentioned, and Brady Kichuk had mentioned, like, I'm just so proud to be an American, so proud to represent this country. And, I mean, I'm standing there, and I'm listening to it. I'm recording it, and I didn't really think anything of it. like hey these are hockey players that are proud to be Americans and I got back to my hotel room later that night and I saw some clips on social media and it became like a huge thing back in the U.S. Like it was like played on loop on multiple stations like this exact interview

that I was sitting there for. I'm like why is it news that like if a Canadian said I'm proud of my country like you just say yeah of course you are like it's amazing you get to be a Canadian Olympian. And we've reached this like flashed point here in this country and by the way like a caveat to add into my tweet was like that that was for americans like i wasn't saying like if you're a canadian you should be thinking that way of course not um but we've reached this flashpoint where because of the nature of politics and how so many things in this world are viewed through that lens that it became this thing where you know there's some people that are ashamed to be americans or the fact that you vocalize it, you know, that you should be ashamed to be American. And I just, it's such a foreign idea and notion to me that I just think this idea and nature of

where we are, regardless of who's in office, regardless of whatever your view on anything is, is that, like, you should have a ton of pride in where you come from and where you call it. home and all the ideals that it stands for. And I just couldn't, I'm still struggling to wrap my brain around it. And because these players have accomplished something so incredible, something that hasn't been done in this country in 46 years, that because of who's in office and because of a million and other things, these players taking a call

from the President of the United States, regardless of who it is, are being vilified 1,400 ways from Sunday and raked over the coals. To the point where Ellen Hughes is essentially having to go on national television and is basically being asked, like, aren't you so disappointed in your sons?

that's like really the point that we've arrived at the place where Jack Hughes says after his after he scores the gold medal golden goal he's asked what's the first thing you've thought of when you scored and he said Megan Keller and his mom is one of the coaches

of Team USA's women's team and now all of a sudden these guys are being told that they're misogynist they hate women and everything else because of what someone else said that they have no control over. They laughed, though, Frank, and I think that's what, you know, what did you think when you first heard Trump's comments about having to invite the women's team to the White

House and the guys kind of chuckling along? I thought it was gross and stupid and insane and a dumb thing to say. So for the millions of Americans who strongly dislike this current administration and feel that the country that they belong to. is changing and in a bad way, everything that it stands for. What are those millions of Americans supposed to say when certain members of the administration become such a visible part of the celebration? Well, let me flip this around and ask you this question.

If someone else was elected president two years ago, let's just say for hypothetical because it's the person that ran against Donald Trump and it's Kamala Harris. Let's say that the sitting FBI director for Kamala Harris's administration was in that dressing room and partying with the gold medal winning team. And let's just follow this up and assume that Kamala Harris, for lack of a better hypothetical, invites these people. players to the state of the union address. They would be celebrated throughout the country as conquering heroes. No, they wouldn't. First of all, the FBI director probably wouldn't be in that dressing room.

And I think a lot of people would have an issue with the FBI director. Because when does it ever happen? Like, you're kind of, Frank, like, you're kind of acting like this is just like some president, like it's any president. and like your comment earlier where you said, where you said, well, you realize that 72 million people voted for him? And do you realize that he's a very unusual president? Sure.

I don't like everything that he says. We're not monoliths. Yeah, yeah, but like, but Frank, I didn't like some of what George Bush said. You know, but like, it's so, different. And I think it's naive to act like this is just like some president in there. And if a Canadian had said he's he's proud of his country, it would be the same thing as an American saying he's proud of his country. There were no Canadian athletes over there talking about how

they were ashamed about some of the things that were going on in their country. But there were American athletes over there talking about how they were ashamed of going, of, of some of the things going on in, for example, places like Minnesota. That was happening with American athletes and your president, in fact, in something that rarely happens because it's always like, wow, this is new, actually went on to social media and lambasted and ridiculed and called an American athlete at the Olympics a loser. This is not typical politics. this guy is changing the world

and millions of people don't agree with it so I don't agree with it but why are you asking me to defend what he's saying that's not what the point of this conversation is what is the point of the conversation then because you're acting like some of your arguments

that you're making are like well it's just the president and you're supposing these hypotheticals that like just wouldn't happen if there was a more typical president. That's an insane leap to make in my view. How do you know what the reaction is going to be like? How do you know what that person's going to do or say?

Well, I think that one thing that needs to be firmly established here is that trying to suggest that the accomplishments of the athletes are like apolitical is kind of out the window when the current administration puts themselves front and center, both good and bad, because you brought up the Hunter Hesting as well, Jason just did with regards to the Olympic skier who found himself on the other side of this, right? There was no sense of parading him around

and proclaiming the great things that he did for his country and how proud it was to have an American gold medalist in skiing when he didn't agree with the current administration, right? We're talking about very polar opposites in terms of how he was embraced by government officials despite the fact that he, accomplished the same thing as the men's Olympic hockey team, which is capturing gold and representing his country internationally.

Now, I mean, the other thing, too, is that the players got thrown into a position, but they've also got autonomy and need to take ownership to a certain degree. And sloughing everything off and saying that everything is too political nowadays, it's ignoring the obvious and almost trying to detach yourself from reality. Yeah, things are incredibly political. you also went to the State of the Union address and were paraded out and your goalie received the Presidential Medal of Freedom

while there was a lot of rhetoric going on the floor. So you can't separate one from the other. That's probably where when you say things like Frank, you're on the wrong side, period. The divisiveness and either you're with us or against us part of this really comes to the forefront. So let me, again, let me ask the question. if a different president was elected and if the same thing played out, would you not say the same thing?

If someone... You would think that it's inappropriate for those players to be at the state of the union? No, I would say that... Or it's only because you would agree with that person's politics or whatever that person's saying. I would say an environment where someone is celebrated for going along with it and someone from chastised from going in. You're saying because it's a different person or because they wouldn't have the... same rhetoric that therefore it's okay. If it was, therefore it's then apolitical, but now because you don't like the politics,

now it's political. Right, do you think this is like politics as usual? What's going on? This isn't conservative versus liberal. This isn't like, I'm actually fiscally conservative. Like, this is just so, this is just so different. And like, I just, I don't understand how you can act like if this was a different president. It's like, it's not.

It's not the same president. Everything is different now. And the whole game has changed. According to you. That's your belief. That's your statement. So you think Trump is just another president? You think this administration is just another administration?

I truly believe that there's millions of things that are said and done that all of us or many of us disagree with. There's a lot of things that are done and said that they do agree with. And no one can be put into a box one way or the other and say, because you're there, because you're wearing a metal, because you have a USA sweater on and you're at the state of the union, that therefore these players and these people accept 100% of what happens. That's not how life works. and I think it's wrong to try and put someone in a box.

That was the point of my tweet. Okay. I think we've probably gone to vote as far down the road as we can with this one. Regardless of how either of us feel about what's gone on, I do want to thank you for taking the time to do this today. It's not easy coming on. And I know that you've received a lot of feedback over the last 24 hours in light of what you had to say.

and our text message in basket here is full of all of it. And don't worry, Frank, I'm getting some too. Yeah. So I think this is probably illustrative of the fact that we're in a pretty polarized moment. And all of our feedback suggests that at a sudden. Yeah, we're in a pretty polarized moment. And I, and fully, full-throated, disagreed with a lot of the things that you mentioned, including the notion that Donald Trump called another Olympian a loser.

That's an abhorrent behavior. Like, I do call it out. And instead, you want to try and put me in a box, as if someone or anyone believes in 100% of this stuff that's happening. And that's not fair. And not to mention, this is a 20-minute segment that's booked every Wednesday to talk hockey. Yeah. And I do that.

But I'm also willing to come on here and gauge in thoughtful conversation. That includes the viewpoint of everyone. And that's why we have. had you on. That's why we had you on and I think we've given you, I think we've given you the floor to give your opinions and there's a lot of people. Even me the floor to tell me why I'm wrong.

I mean, that's essentially what it was. We gave you the floor to explain your position, Frank. And then I had an opinion. And then after I explained it, then you come back and say, yeah, I disagreed with it. We're having, this is what's called a debate, Frank. Okay. That's what we signed up for. Okay.

What do you want me to just be like, all right, onto the trade deadline then? Like, are we not allowed to have a debate here? No, we are. We're allowed to engage in. What are you complaining about? What are you complaining about? If I'm the one who's wrong or on the other end of it.

Well, you said I was wrong. I didn't have a hisy fit. I stated my view. And I stated mine. And then you followed back up with but this. Okay. Yeah, that's part of what's called a debate when you say, but this.

Okay. Okay. Gotcha. Okay, Frank. We'll park it for this week. Thanks for doing this today. I guess we're going to just part on these terms. Thanks.

Frank Cerr Valley from Victory Plus here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. The Dumber Lumber text line, you can text in at 650, 650, and a lot of people already are. I don't have a problem debating people and I'll vehemently put my opinion forth. And there's a lot of people texting in that disagree with me. And guess what? I'm okay with that. It's okay. We don't all have to agree with each other. And it's okay to have a segment like that, even if it's uncomfortable to have a discussion like that. And you can disagree with that sort of stuff. That's fine.

I mean, I don't know what Frank expected from that segment, but we gave him the floor and he spoke for a number of minutes without any interruption. We asked him some questions, some follow-ups. And then I pushed back and I allowed him to push him. back. Yeah, I don't think you need to go down the road of like, well, apparently we do. I'm trying to figure out what just happened here. No, no, no, it's okay. I'm here. As, as someone that

only intermittently waited into the conversation and watched a lot of it unfold. Um, I think that was about as open and allowing a dialogue. You didn't cut the man off. You didn't, you know, we didn't resort to like petty name calling or juvenile tack as you just debate. You embrace debate. if you will. Now, here's the thing. There is an element of all of this.

And what I was trying to get at, probably missed the point during the conversation that there's a real sort of polyana naivete to all of this that's like, well, we can remove the politics from it all. And as observers from Canada looking at the U.S. and trying to take as much of an objective view as I can, It is impossible because politics have interjected themselves into every facet of American life right now.

And Canadian life. Yeah. And Canadian life. Yeah. And there is no longer, no longer an element of I bring my ideas to the table and you bring your ideas to the table. That seems like the most polliana of them all because everything now is designed to have the argument reach a fever pitch. And distressingly reach a fever pitch as quickly as possible. And then when it burns strong and it burns bright and it burns hard, it goes away and another one is started.

And that's like the sad thing about all of this is that in two days time, there will be another fire that's a debate that's raging, raging that's going to pit A versus B, right versus left, whatever you want to say it. and this one that we're having now will just be something a very brief sliver in time because we've moved on to the next argument. Yeah. And that's a real indication of where we're at in terms of discourse,

the ability to have conversations, the ability to understand what a debate is, the ability to try and exchange ideas that are diametrically opposed that doesn't end up with a fight or an argument. And it seems like it's impossible. like I just thought we were having a passionate debate there. I enjoy it.

I enjoy it. And I think it's a really important part of a democracy to be able to have, like you said, debates without it ending in like I'm never listening to you again or, you know, cook this guy or whatever. Like I've had debates with my friends. I've had debates with my family members and they're still my friends and they're still my family members. I mean, we just... I don't know.

I need to... We'll take a quick break. We've got a lot more to get to on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Just about in the midway point of the show. Thomas Trance is going to join us in the 8 o'clock hour. Talk a little Canucks there.

7.30, Parker Burgess, following up on that hit. I'm sure he's thrilled to do that. He'll be joining us. Head coach of the Vancouver Giants. We've also got what we learns. If you want to text in to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket, follow that one on Parker.

650, 650 is the number. Hashtag him, WWL. Tell us, what did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know. We're going to be here until 9 o'clock this morning. We're going to take a quick break. You're listening to the Halford-in-buff show on SportsNet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Grants.

Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on SportsNet 650. Or catch up on Demit. through your favorite podcast app. Wednesday, happy Wednesday, everybody, Halford, Braves, SportsNet 650. I forgot to mention that Frank Serra Valley on Sportsnet 650 was brought to by Angry Outer Licker. Plus program members,

save for game days at Angry Outer Licker. Score big on your favorite beer, wine, and whiskey. Stock up before puck drop. Visit them online atangryodderlicker.cr.c.cr. I don't think we've ever had that much feedback to a segment before. Marty McSorley interview was Child's Play, narratively speaking.

See folks, you can have a laugh afterwards, even though countless people say they will never listen to our program again. And one guy said he's going to call the CRTC for bullying, which I'm not sure is a drop-down menu on the CRTC website. Bullying. If your host bullied, your guest, press three. Yeah. To which I replied, is this woke or not woke?

I have a hard time. figuring out which is... If the host were she woke, press four. That's actually a good point. Is that like a safe space argument or... Or the opposite? I don't know. Just the simple radio host.

Talking about anger out or liquor and also other presenting sponsors of this program. Parker Burgess from the Giants is going to join us in a moment here. Before we get to Parker, I need to tell you that the Halford & Brough Show is brought you by Sands and Associates. Are you getting collection calls? If you are, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up 80%

and stop those calls. Visit them today. sands dash trustee.com. Still in hour two of the program at the midway point of the show. Hour two is brought to by Jason Hominoch at Jason.orgia. If you love paying too much for your mortgage,

then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason. Dot mortgage. To the phone lines we go, our next guest is the head coach of the Vancouver Giants. Parker Burgess joins us now

on the Halford and Breff Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Parker. How are you? I'm good, guys. How are you today? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

We appreciate it. Before we get into the business at hand later this, week. I did want to ask you about being behind the bench for the WHL prospects game last week. Fun game. East beats West 5-4 in O.T. Tell us about the experience. What you saw, who stood out for you? Yeah, I thought it was an awesome experience for me personally getting an opportunity to be on the bench with Mark Lamb, James Patrick. You know, obviously for me, first year in the league. And so getting to know some of the

other coaches, but also just getting to see a lot of the players that we coach against. We We had three giants in the game as well. So getting to coach those guys and kind of see them up close. And, you know, when you pre-scout a guy or, you know, you're playing against them, obviously you notice different things, but you don't necessarily get to know the player's personality or, you know, kind of really ISO camp on them and see, you know, what their strengths are. So I thought it was just all in all an incredible experience. I thought the league, our organization, did a terrific job collaborating and putting it on.

And I think the cool thing for everybody was, you know, kind of going into the game. They hadn't done it in a long time. There was a lot of buzz around it. But you're not quite sure if it's going to be a quote-unquote glorified All-Star game or if it's going to be a really, you know, like a real hockey game. And, you know, they're ramped up 17-year-old. They know every NHL team's in the building. So you knew that the excitement and the passion was there.

And then, you know, I think the first five, ten minutes really kind of set the tone for the game. There was a few scrums. Uh, there was a fight. There ended up being two fights. Uh, Joe, again, one of our players got into one, two. Uh, we got down three nothing. We were able to claw our way back, kind of tie the game. And I thought all, like, it was actually, you know, obviously the talent on the ice, the buzz around the arena, the scouts, but, uh, I thought the game itself was extremely competitive, extremely entertaining, had a little bit of everything. So, uh, yeah, just a terrific experience. I think the players loved it. Uh, it was really, for me to see, you know, Carson Carroll's up close,

JP Hurlbert, you know, I've gotten the opportunity you see, you know, Ryan Lynn all season long and, you know, outside of the injury. But to see some of these other really high-end guys was a terrific experience to compete. And I thought our guys, Brett Olson, Tobias Tomic and Joe, they handled themselves very well. I thought they were very competitive.

They stood out. So I was proud, you know, as a giant coach as well. But it was an awesome experience. You are also on the bench with Michael Bublay, which, given the context of this show, is quite amazing, to be honest. He was the celebrity guest coach for the West. What's Bubla like? Is he like a role for guy?

Does he load up the top line? How did he work out behind the bench? He was more of an energy guy. You know, he was getting a boy pumped up. I've heard that. Yeah, big energy guy. Big energy guy. A lot of passion.

You know, I've gotten to spend a little time with him this season. We're doing kind of a behind-the-scenes documentary of the team. and you can see his passion for hockey is very genuine. Like he loves the game, he loves Canada, loves the Western hockey league, he's very supportive. And so when we were kind of pushing for the comeback there, we were down 3-0, he got a little bit quiet, but he kept things pretty positive.

And then when we went on a bit of a run there and tied the game up, he was definitely bringing the juice and the energy and having a lot of fun, and he was able to keep things light for the players for the kids. I was right beside him for, I think it was the same. second or third period. And, you know, the fans and the kids were coming down and they were throwing like jerseys and puck's and pens. So I got a hit in the head a few times of stuff coming over the glass for Michael the

signs. But it was fun to have them on the bench and I think he enjoyed too. Hey, I know there was a ton of like high-end talent on the ice and we won't go through all of them, but there's two in particular I want to ask you about because I keep hearing about them more and more and it's the Ruck Twins. Obviously, anytime there's a set of hockey playing twin brothers, In Vancouver, it raises our eyebrows and puts the antennas up because obvious reasons. Tell us a little bit more about them.

I honestly don't know a ton about their game, but I know that they stood out in the WHL Prospects game last Wednesday. Yeah, and we've only seen them. We only saw Medicine Hat once, and it was earlier in the season, and we actually played quite well. We beat him 3-1. And then so this was really my only second viewing, seeing those guys play.

You know, and I was a little bit more focused on the Team West guys. and kind of rolling things there. But I think what stands out to me with the twins that I've seen is they're both like high, high-end compete guys, very competitive, tenacious on the puck. They both seem to have a high hockey IQ. So I think you combine the IQ with the high compete and you got two terrific players. And, you know, I was kind of looking and, you know, sometimes you think one may be kind of separated from the other. but I think going into top prospects, one had 80 points, one had 79 points.

So yeah, terrific players, very competitive, and obviously going to be future NHLers. Do they have that special something that the Siddins had? Like, do they have that kind of, I don't know, I mean, people would just call it like, what was it like ESP? What chemistry? Yeah, yeah. Like, did they have that? Just do they know where each other they are on the ice at all? times, etc?

I would have to think so. You know, again, I've only, I got such a small sample size, it's hard to say, but I was talking to a few people in the Western League and when they did that game that Ryan was in or those two games against the development program where it was the best of the CHL, they only took one of the twins. I don't know which one it was that they took, but they took one and then they kept one off the team. And I heard from multiple people within the league just kind of saying that, you know, the one twin that was on the team kind of missed his brother. And if maybe they could

have a do-over, they would have kept them together just to have that instant chemistry. And, I mean, how can you not? If you grow up playing with, you know, street hockey, outdoor rink, PlayStation, and then you've been on the same team your whole time growing up, I'm sure you develop a chemistry that's far deeper than anything that's like, you know, you're playing with a guy for a year or two. So I would assume that they have a terrific chemistry and understanding of each other's game and compliment each other very well.

And, you know, Willie over in Medicine, that's a great coach. And, you know, there's a reason they're playing together. So I would think that would have something to do with it, yeah. We're speaking of Parker Burgess head coach of the Vancouver Giants here on the Halford & Brush Show on SportsNet 650. Coming off a win in your most recent contest, Parker.

You now turn our attention to Friday, this Friday, February 27th. Home date against Seattle. set this one up for us. What are you guys expecting on Friday the Langley Events Center against the visiting Seattle Squadron? Yeah, I mean, hopefully we're able to kind of build off the momentum that we kind of created on Saturday. We had a good 2-1 win.

It's kind of been, you know, we've really had to work to manufacture offense. And so it's just kind of emphasized the importance for us of keeping the puck out of our net being disciplined. Saturday, you know, we didn't give up a 5-on-5 goal. So, you know, I'm doing that against the team like Portland is very impressive because they have some pretty, you know, high-octane offensive guys. Gold tendings been really strong lately. We're starting to trend in the right direction from the health perspective.

You know, Ryan's kind of in the day-to-day mode where, you know, this weekend is still a question mark. But I'm starting to think, you know, it's more and more encouraging that we'll be getting them back, which is a huge, huge injection of just life and energy and offense. And, you know, he's our captain. so when that happens, we're going to be very excited. But Seattle's a, you know, a team who's also fighting for a playoff spot. You know, we've got some familiarity with Cameron Schmidt. He's over there, a very dynamic, offensive player. So, yeah, we expect a tough game.

The last time we played him, it was really tight. They ended up beating us, I think, 3-1 or, you know, 2-1, 3-1 with an empty netter. They're, you know, pretty defensively structured. They got, you know, Merca on the back end who kind of shuts you down. So it should be a tough-off battle, but I'm looking forward to it. and I think the kids are too. Parker, thanks for doing this today, man. We really appreciate it.

Best of luck on Friday. And then, of course, Saturday as well when you guys head up to Cam Loops. We'll do this again soon. I appreciate it anytime, guys. Yeah, thank you. That's Parker Burgess head coach of the Vancouver Giants here

on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Speaking of that Friday, February 27th game, we're going to be giving away tickets tomorrow, A dog, if I'm not mistaken, a pair of tickets to go see the Giants on Friday. So be sure to tune in to the Halford and Brough show tomorrow, and really every day

from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Yeah, you never want to know what's going to happen. It's a crazy show that we run here. Yeah. My phone's blowing up a little bit right now. Believe it or not. I don't think I've ever seen the inbox is active. It's crazy.

I can't even catch up. Yeah. Didn't know that many people listened. I mean, it's very flattering. Some of them aren't anymore. Oh, they're not going to listen. Some of them aren't anymore. We've lost a few.

But to be honest, I would say probably 90% is good. Good feedback. People enjoyed the interview and enjoy... 90 feels high. 90 feels high. Here's a thing. It shouldn't be 90% of the people agreeing with it. Because that wouldn't be very accurately representative of the way people think. Yeah.

You know? We got a sports show and we try not to delve into politics too much. But I wasn't going to have Frank on and be like, what do you think the oilers are going to do at the trade deadline, right? By the way, Sidney Crosby's over for four weeks. We haven't even got to that yet. That came out right now. Sidney Crosby's injury in the Olympics. We shouldn't have asked Frank about that.

I think we were a little distracted. Do you want to get him back? Yeah. Can you call him? Can you imagine if we had just flipped? Well, let's turn to the trade deadline now, Frank. Sorry, we've completely forgot to ask you about Sydney Crosby. I did it.

Please, an update on a Vander Cain. Anyway, I will say that the one thing that does bother me, and not necessarily the wrong. right or the left of politics, but the notion, and I saw Jack Hughes said this, and I, part of me doesn't blame Jack Hughes because I think he's at some point just wide-eyed and toothless in all this, literally, but he's like, everything is so political nowadays. And I'm like, yeah, it is, pal. Welcome to it. Like, I don't know what to tell you. I know, and, you know, for a large, large segment, and I'm guilty of this as well. I love living in my nice, tiny curated little bubble.

and I can keep myself away from all of the big, bad stuff that the world is throwing at me. I get that, though. Like, he's a kid. Like, when I was Jack Hughes's age, I had no idea what was going on in the world around me. I had no idea politically. Like, it was completely foreign to me. But sometimes you... So I do get that sentiment.

But sometimes you get thrown into a position like this. And you're... And you are forced to be in the mix or be in the fold. And you can say it's not fair, and I didn't ask for this. And guess what? there's a lot of situations across a lot of different lives and spectrums where people are thrown into situations that they didn't ask for and didn't want to be in, but they deal with it and they address it. And it's uncomfortable and it can be very stressful at times and it can be damaging and hurtful, but you got to deal with it. We didn't want to talk about anything political on the show. And you know what would have been a lot easier this morning and probably wouldn't have stressed us out and wouldn't have had 300 messages into the imbasket is if we just canceled, Frank. hit altogether. And we didn't want to do that. And didn't do it. But I'm just saying. Like, I think it was a huge mistake when Twitter deplatformed, you know, Trump. Like, I, I think that just

plays into the narrative that the right has that the left just wants to just like cancel everyone. You know, Frank, Frank, I don't think I put, I didn't mean to put Frank in a box. Like, I don't think Frank is Frankie in a box I don't think Frank agrees with everything politically that's going on right now I don't think that

I think he was trying to trying to make a point in his point I just I just disagreed with because he was basically saying like everyone should just shut up and celebrate the Americans that's essentially what he was saying

right like and it's more complicated than that far more complicated and I thought it was kind of like either disingenuous or naive. And I've said disingenuous things before and people have called me out for him. I'm like, yeah, okay, I'll take the hell on that. I mean, it's just, it's a debate.

And did it get heated? Yep. Sometimes debates get heated. And, and, and, and, you know, and I, and I had an issue with, with his hypotheticals. I'm like, that's not, that's not. So, you know. So here's the other thing, though. But, but, but, but like, people will now try and put me in a box, right?

And if you actually did hear some of my political opinions, they're not tribal. They're not, they're not, they're not, like, they're, I'm not repeating slogans out there. You know, like, people texting in TDS, Trump derangement syndrome. Like, don't you have, like, Trump delusion syndrome? That's what that stands for. Whatever. That was the dealy show. Don't you have just like, don't you just have like anything beyond slogans to yell?

Okay. And people on the left do it too. Like it bothers me, right? Like if you had, you know, like, please don't try and hack our private texts. But like, it's all over the map in terms of things. So don't, you know, hopefully you won't put this show in a box either. A lot of boxing going on today. A lot of boxing.

I will say. And I hate. My shows. The box. A box. It's got its red hat on. I will say this. And I hate being this reductive and trying to brush it away.

But there will be something else in, I would say, 24 to 48 hours. And this conversation, while engaging and for some of you enthralling and enraging, and this isn't even a political climate. This is just the world that we live in now. And by that, I mean. Look at what constitutes entertainment, especially on social media platforms right now, is these viral meme individuals that pop up and become the talk of everything for 48 hours. And then as quickly as they rise to prominence, they are forgotten.

Right? Remember the, like, and I know I'm taking into a pop culture route. Remember the skateboarding dude that was drinking the ocean spray while Fleetwood Mac played? the chain by Fleetwood Mac. Remember that? Yeah, yeah. Remember he was the most popular

guy in the internet for 48 hours and now he's irrelevant. Or the little kid that was on the racing boats and where was that? Laos, Cambodia, Thailand. Anyway, the point being, all of these things raised the prominence really quickly and everyone becomes fascinated

and wants to win and then it just dissipates. And it sucks for discourse because you often wonder like, is this really worth the amount of effort that I'm putting into any of this? Because is it going to matter in the long run? I throw it out to you all the time, the notion of yelling into the void.

Yeah. And I feel distressingly more and more like that's what we're doing is yelling into the void. But for us, it's a little different because we have a radio show that we need to try and steer and navigate and do everything else with. So we will try and get it back on track

for the remainder of the show. I think that's probably the right thing to do. Okay, well, let's go to something less controversial. And I know people don't really have many opinions on this, the Elias Pedersen rumors are back. I saw this. So yesterday,

there's a number of insiders. They really are. Yeah. There's a number of different insiders that are suggesting there's a lot of talk going around the Vancouver Canucks. I've seen a couple different ones

regarding a Vanderkane and his looming trade, which I would suggest will go down by next Friday. And then the Elias Pedersen conversations, in part because there are a lot of teams that are

coming out of the Olympic break facing two realities. Some of them have lost significant players to injury where they need to replace them and they have postseason aspirations. And the other one is that there's teams looking around that want to be buyers and are motivated buyers that have once again come to the realization, the Stark realization, that this is a thin market,

especially at the center position, to try and notably upgrade your team. And I guess the other part of it is that if you can talk yourself into it, an $11.6 million cap hit over the next few years, if the cap rises and the player can retain some of his previous form, is not

the poison pill it once was. So Drager is one of the insiders saying that it's picked up the Pedersen conversation and he was saying that Pedersen's agents are well aware of the trade discussions that are happening but they're not going to include

Pedersen, who has a new move clause, until it gets to a point where there is a potential deal. Like at some point, it can't, it can't, you know how we always make fun of the St. Louis Blues about like the Jordan Kairu trade speculation or the Robert Thomas trade speculation? And Doug Armstrong always seems like he wants to make a move, but he hasn't yet. Yeah. Like I would say the same thing about St. Louis. At some point, don't you just have to just be like either make the move or come?

come out and say, this is our guy. Well, I thought, and we're going to keep him. Well, on the subject to Doug Armstrong, we talked about this yesterday, I thought that's what his, the last sort of public statements he made while serving as the manager of the blues before positioning over to Canada was that was the symbol like, this is not working. Like we're disappointed in our standings. Yeah. In our standings.

We're embarrassed with where we are in the standings. And look, if you're that young core right now, and by that I basically mean Thomas and Kairu, you're talking about. about a group that had an opportunity to play under a Stanley Cup winning head coach in Craig Barubei. And then had an entirely new coach brought in to try and resuscitate whatever had flatlined under Barubay and forge your own identity under a new head coach. Yeah. And the results have actually been worse. So we got a text into the Dunbar Lumber text line.

Is there any information on Elias Pedersen's feelings on waiving his no movement? clause. No, there's no information on that because it hasn't gotten to that point yet. Now, Pedersen himself has said all the right things that he wants to be in Vancouver, always wants to be in Vancouver. Remember the comments that he made before heading off to the Olympics that, look, I'm not running away from anything here. He said, you know, I'm a Canuck and these are my guys. And when I come back, I'm going to be right back in the fight. So it hasn't gotten to that point yet, but I guess what I'm saying, man, maybe I said this last season too, but like it can't keep going like this.

You can't just have ongoing speculation. But maybe the Canucks are also in a position where they're like, even if we did want to trade them, we don't know if we can't. There's a few roadblocks. The no trade clause is one of them. The player's reputation is another one. I think they're going to be very, very hesitant to retain salary on a contract that they just signed that has many years left. Yep, that's a third one as well.

J.P. Barry did go on with Donnie and Dolly about a week and a half, two weeks ago. It was actually prior to the Olympics, so it was longer than that. And the conversation was presented right to him about the possibility of waiving the no movement clause. And that conversation hasn't happened yet. It's a tricky one when you talk, if you've been around the league, long enough and you've talked to enough agents, you'll know that part of waving the no trade,

it's a slow play. You want to wait until the very end before you sort of relinquish that or play that card because you want to use the no trade to your advantage. You want to say, well, before we even entertain the idea, maybe we'll talk

to some of the other teams that are potentially interested in my client. And let's see a fit first before you guys try and find one. all these things have to happen. And the end game is it usually takes a lot of time. Is those conversations get started up sometimes in January or February and they don't get readressed until, I don't know, June or July or closer to the draft.

I mean, how many times have we seen the Vancouver Canucks orchestrated trade months after it was either originally reported or there's, you know, the two teams are talking. Yeah. Those kind of conversations happen where you lay the groundwork and you plant the seeds early and then you're able to circle back on it because you've given the player enough time to really think and sit and consider. Does he want to uproot his life not long after signing a massive long-term extension? And is he going to work with you to try and find a new home? Is he going to work on his own?

Yeah. To say, I mean, look at the Artemi-Penarind Deal. Apples and oranges because he was a pending UFA, but he dictated that process almost entirely to the point where afterwards, Chris Drury had to leak to all of the media members in New York that his hands were tied. There was only one place he was going to go. And what are you going to do at that point? That's the power of the no trade clause.

That's the power of the no movement clause right there. You can handcuff your general manager into making a move where you're going to want to go. And quite frankly, it's why a lot of these guys negotiate them, right? It ends up being whatever you're going to shave off the top in salary in a hard cap league, you can make up for by dictating the process of where you're going to go next. We are up against it for time where we're going to go next to Thomas Drance. He's going to join us on the other side, Athletic Vancouver, Connecticut, The Canucks are back in action tonight.

7 o'clock Rogers Arena. Their return from the Olympic break where they will take on not Connor Hallibuck, busy polishing his presidential medal of freedom, apparently, assuming he gets it. That'll be at 8 o'clock. The Canucks are taking on the jets tonight. 7 o'clock Rogers Arena.

Drans is going to join us on the other side. And then after Drance, we're going to dive into the abyss, also known as the Dunbar Lumber text message in the basket. A lot of people suffering from PDS, Pedersen Darrangement Syndrome, based on the text that I've got to be. I probably got that too. To be fair, have you been watching the last few years?

If you want to weigh in, the Dunbar Lumber TechSline is 650-650, hashtag it WWL and tell us what did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports. You're listening to the Halford and Breff Show on SportsNet 650. Hopefully you won't put this show in a box either. There's a lot of boxing going on today. A lot of boxing. I will say, and I hate... My show's a box.

A box. Oh my God, this is Lucky Red Hat. He's a box. My boy's a box. Damn you. A box!