Halford & Brough in the Morning - HalBro Answer Listener Questions About Canucks Expectations

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason go to the text message inbox to answer listener questions about expectations for the Canucks this season (3:00), 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.

8.0.8.4 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford, Brough, Sportsnet 650. Horns, much like sports, are going crazy right now. I love the first day of the NHL season. There's 10 players tied for the NHL scoring league with two points each. Nice. I'm betting on Mackie Samiskevich. Florida Panthers? I didn't watch a lot of that game yesterday.

partly because this started at 2 o'clock Pacific They did raise their banner though The Florida Panthers did win that game by the way 3-2 comeback victory over the Chicago Blackhawks They outshot Chicago 17 to 3 in the first period Yeah Chicago kept the score tight But the Panthers dominated

I think Chicago is going to be bad forever I feel awful for Connor Needs to get out of there Get out of Chicago Connor It's more of a Frank Nazar team now. Frank Nazar. He scored yesterday. He's a top of the, he's tied. He's up there too.

Does he got two points? He's got two points. So does Tara Vinen. They're probably going to hold on. All the big scorers are doing it early. You are listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt free in just two weeks.

Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour three of the program. A full hour of what we learns here. on the Halford and Brough Show. Our three of this program is bred to by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Dashpound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech, footwear and orthotics,

working together with you in step. So a couple things that I wanted to point out from last night's NHL action since we were talking about the Panthers in their Stanley Cup defense, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. We did touch on the Los Angeles Kings. Colorado Avalanche game in which the Aves went in and won 4-1. Did everyone see what the L.A. Kings did

with their jersey reveal yesterday? Was it a surprise? It was a surprise, not just jersey, but entire uniform reveal. So the Kings came out in their regular garb, then went back to the dressing room, and then came out with new-look jerseys

and silver helmets. They even went beyond that. They aired a fake time. tunnel live shot on the Jumbotron wearing the original uniforms. So what they've got, and I know the... I hate the silver helmets. Oh, okay. So for those, I know this is not a visual medium, and I'm going to try my best to

explain what they look like. You know the old purple and gold crown uniforms that the L.A. Kings once had? Imagine all of that, including the logo, but in silver and black. Not bad. Not bad. But they came out with the chrome domes. again the silver helmets they look brutal yeah it doesn't look like a hockey uniform no it looks like we're trying to be from the future yeah like you're kind of going to space but if it was in the 1960s what were those like back to the future jerseys the MLB wore for a little bit back in like

the 90s yeah you remember those like the cut off arms the cut off sleeves yeah that's the vibe I get from the silver helmet kind of reminds me of trying too hard what they tried to make God, I'm going to sound really old now. What they tried to make the hockey players in Strange Brew look like. You know, Bob and Doug McKenzie? Yeah, but I don't remember what the hockey players look like. Well, they had that, like, weird hockey scene where they were, they almost looked like stormtroopers. Yeah, they did.

Wow, I don't remember this at all. Yeah, it was a weird movie. It was a while ago. Yeah. I'm looking at a still image from the film. Does I have something on it? It looks like a bunch of Darth Vader's against. a bunch of stormtroopers.

Yeah, yeah. Wow. I don't remember this at all. You blew my mind. Well, that's a movie reference from 1983. Right on brand. Anyway, we're going to do what we learns now. Get yours in.

Dunbar number text line 650, 650, an entire hour of what we learned. This is to compensate for all those shows where we don't get to enough listener submissions. Now, I've got one. I flagged this one from Omar, or Budis Omar, who texts him pretty regularly.

And I will say, to preface this, he's a very good texter. I like a lot of his takes. Omar and I are good, but Omar and I had a back and forth about this particular take. What we learned from Omar, hashtag WWL, it's only one game,

but maybe the Canucks should have taken a chance on a player they drafted and developed, just won a championship with, and can sell Hugo Boss Party shirts for. Would a Thatcher Demco, Arthur C-Lov's tandem, with four millions in extra cap space really have been that bad. Omar, yes, it would have really been that bad.

If the Canucks had come back this season with a tandem in goal of Thatcher Demko with his injury history and Archer Seelovs, I would have sued for malpractice. I would have said this is gross and negligent behavior. This is, I don't like throwing dirt on Seelovs now that he's gone, but he was unplayable last year. The proof of concept was every time he was in net. Yeah, every time.

That would have been a massive gamble to say like, well, he played well in the HL playoffs. And so you can give him this role for the Canucks in a year where they're trying their best to be really good and keep the best player in franchise history. You know who the top goal he was, the previous playoffs? Hunter Shepard. We should get him.

What's he doing these days, guys? He won the Vesnel last year, right? Again, I appreciate what you're trying to do here, and I get it. Like, maybe they could have saved some money in net and allocated those funds elsewhere, but you couldn't do it with CLAW. I know he got a shut out last night. Great for him. Did you watch the game?

There wasn't. Maybe he played well. Obviously, he played well. He had 25 saves on the road at Madison Square Garden against a Rangers team. How did J.T. Miller play? Not great Not great Rangers fans

Do not seem enthralled with his No he didn't do anything offensively He did have the Crosby assignment But Did he back check at all? A couple times Oh nice I think so

Yeah Yeah So Laddie I just want to throw it out to you Can you Can you handicap the chances of Archer C-Lops Becoming a legitimate

starting goalie in the NHL One where you're like This guy's good Like legitimate starting goaltender? I'd say under 10%. Under 10%. I'd say he said... Prove us wrong.

Maybe a 25% chance of, you know, be a contributing gold tender. Someone that's there and plays 20, 30 games. But to be an actual starter, competitive, on a competitive team, 10%. I've talked to enough people that I just don't think he has the level to get to. When the Kinex managed to actually get a draft pick for Archer C-Lovs, I thought they did a good job. A fourth round pick. I actually thought they did a good job. And I know some people will be like, what?

They should have got way more than that. Don't forget Chase Stilman. How many teams in the NHL were willing to give up something for a guy that they would need to keep on their roster and have him play meaningful games for them? Because every goalie that's on the NHL roster needs to play meaningful games. Right? Like there's no backups anymore that play.

like seven games. You know, you have to play, you know, I have to, but, you know, if you want to keep your regular starter healthy, you got to play your backup quite a lot, like 20 games or at least, at least, right? The Pittsburgh Penguins were the perfect team for seal-offs to go to because they don't care about winning. They are not in their, we've got to make the playoffs mode, or we're trying to win a Stanley Cup mode. They are in the, okay, we're turning this thing over eventually when Sid and Gino and LaTang. Yeah. And by the way, those three, someone said into what we learned.

I apologize. I missed it. Those three yesterday played together as teammates for, they're entering the 20th year together. Yep. The 20th year together. They're the first trio in big four North American modern sports history. to spend 20 years together as teammates. It's quite nice.

Have you guys even been teammates for 20 years? Yeah. They've been in the LHL as long as you guys. Yeah, but we're a duo. We don't have, there's no third. We tried. It never works. And they're clicking at a high level still.

Yeah. And you guys. Malkin got an assist on one of the Brazzo goals yesterday. Justin Brazo and Archer C-loves. The Braz show. The Bras show is pretty good. Let's briefly, and I mean briefly, leave the what we learned. It's because we got the entire hour.

ever, no one freak out. We also wanted to play some audio yesterday as we make sure that we get our Kinnock-centric content here. I wanted to play some audio from Kinnock's general manager, Patrick Alveen. He did some media availability yesterday, and there was a lot of different topics of conversation. We still have a little bit to figure out about what tomorrow night's lineup is going to look like.

We'll get some answers today because the Kinnocks are going to practice at Rogers Arena at 10.30. We know that Pierre Olivier Joseph's gone on IR retroactively, I believe this September 30th. Foreboard was back on the ice yesterday, but he was skating as the seventh. So still some things to figure out. But Alvin met with the media yesterday

and addressed a bunch of things, including on whether or not the Canucks would be a playoff team this year. We'll play the audio now. Here's what the Connucks general manager had to say about his team's playoff chances. I believe in the team we have here. We all know the parody of the league

and the Condens scheduled and health. but I'd be very excited about the group we have here and more so how they come together and how they bought into the coaches and how we want to play and they seem to have enjoyed coming to the rink and there has been a lot of laughs and coming together as a team has been important for Adam

and I give the players a lot of credit for them. I remember one time I went on another sports radio station I think it was in Toronto And it was during the Luongo Schneider debate. Yeah. You know, and they asked me something like, should the Canucks trade Luongo or something like that? Okay.

And I filibustered for five minutes and did not answer the question. Some classic tap dancing. That was some tap dancing. That's it. By. When you don't want to answer the question, but you want to talk, it is a gift. And you don't know. Yeah.

When it's such a black and white question, are you a playoff team and you don't get an answer from the guy doesn't that say more than getting an answer? Yeah, you don't even have to say like yes. You can say I think we can make the playoffs. I like our chances. Yeah, yeah. I like our chances. I do think...

You should just kind of like, maybe. That doesn't exactly inspire confidence. No, maybe doesn't. Maybe. He'll be like the Quinn Hughes scores like, well, we're not going to score a lot of goals, but with paraphrase, not going to be the most entertaining I think one of the most encouraging things

about the Connucks chances of making the playoffs has actually nothing to do with the Canucks and it's look at the Western Conference do you see eight obvious playoff teams? I don't see like

locks to make the playoffs. My thought on this is that in the Pacific if you're going to get two regression teams and right now I would circle Calgary and Los Angeles as the potential regression teams. And the key part to all of this is that Anaheim, San Jose,

they still have to stay bad. Anaheim's going to be better. Anaheim's going to be better. They're not much better. The Canucks should be better than Anaheim, San Jose, Calgary, and L.A. Like, they should be better than those teams. Oh, don't throw L.A. just right out of the... Yeah, no, I am.

Hold on. That's crazy. They were... Everyone stopped talking. They were a good team last year. Again, just to rephrase, what we're talking. about here. If you're going to say you need regression candidates, I would put L.A. and Calgary is the two most likely to regress in the division. But Calgary didn't make the playoffs.

I know they didn't. I know, but we're looking for teams that are in the playoff position. No, I'm not. Okay. I'm talking about the Pacific Division. And if you're going to get points in your division, you have to say, hmm, this could be intriguing for the Vancouver Canox. Because Anaheim, San Jose, and I guess I'll throw Seattle in there as well. Not good. They would need significant improvements to be in that mix. So that is a bit of optimism for the Canucks. Okay, okay, I'll throw L.A. up there,

then I'll replace them with the Cracken. The Connachton should be better than Anaheim, San Jose, the Cracken, and Calgary. L.A. will see. The Connox better be ahead of the Sharks, Cracken, Ducks, and Flames. But that puts them in a playoff spot. No one doesn't, not necessarily.

Well, you got to think about the Central. See, so here's the thing. The Central Division right now, I'd say Colorado elite, Dallas, very good, Winnipeg, very good. Yeah. St. Louis and Minnesota playoff teams a year ago. Now, the wild card there is that if you talk to enough pundits, they're saying that Utah is probably the team that made the biggest moves in the offseason to take that next step.

So that division is a hell of a lot more difficult. Could Nashville bounce back at all? I can't see it. They were so bad last year. I could see them being better because it would be hard to be worse, but I can't see them. Andrew Munette is the clear, heavy favorite in the sports book to become the first NHL head coach fired. Yeah. I started thinking about that last night when I saw Jim Hiller with his 10,000-yard stare behind the bench in L.A.

I think Hillers should be in that conversation as well. The Canucks DECOR and their goal team should be enough to put them into the last wildcard spot to make the playoffs. Like I'd be surprised if they couldn't do that. You got to score goals, oh man. They can score enough. And the D is hopefully going to help them score goals. And that brings us to the second bit of Patrick Alveen audio that we wanted to play. And I think it's important for everyone to know what the team is hoping will be different.

And when they bring in Rick Talk, well, what's going to be the difference? We're going to have structure. And then we heard that word forever. well maybe the new word is aggression because Patrick Alvin was asked a question about it was actually a question about the youth on the team and whether or not the energy and the speed from the young players has helped change the identity of the Vancouver Canucks

and this is how Patrick Alvin responded definitely part of it but also part of how Adam wants to play a little bit more aggressive more puck hunting pursuing pucks and being quicker out of our own

and activate her or be a little bit more by the way on this I'm going to pivot but still on the subject of defense I've been paying attention to what's going on in Philadelphia with talk it and there's this this simmering panic

and concern from Rick that he's realized he's gone into the season with a lousy blue line and lousy goaltending. You can have one or the other but he's now coming to the realization

that his blue line stinks and he doesn't have any goaltending. I don't think lousy is a strong enough word to sum up the goaltending. The expectations there are not high. Internally from the organization, they're not high. I don't even think they want to be good.

But I think what's happening now is sort of hindsight being 2020, he's now realizing how good he had it with the defenseman that he worked with in Vancouver. Of course. Right? So Friedman had it on 32 thoughts, the podcast, not the written version.

And the quote was, you could tell the talk it, he thought there was a lot of guys who didn't have great pre-seasons, especially on the blue line. And he said it. You can tell by the look on his face, he was like, quote,

what is going on here with certain guys? So I'm going to be, so we spent a lot of time talking about Miller and the Rangers today. I, you know, and being a extremely petty and generational hater, I like Rick Tockeet. I've said it many times. I think he's a very good coach. I'm going to, like, I want, 0 and 82 would be hilarious, right?

Because at the end of the day, he left. He quit and he left. Like, I don't care how you want to frame it. He took off. But it's such different expectations between the Rangers and the Flyers. If the Rangers are bad this year, that is a disaster of epic, proportions. If the flyers are bad this year, they get more draft picks. Right. But Rick Tocket isn't there to take them to the bottom. Rick Tockett's there to build the new

generation of orange or whatever the hell. That doesn't have to happen this year. But imagine, okay, let's say, let's put it this way. Let's say, what did they finish with last year? They finished with 33 wins and 76 points. What happens if they have like a calamity season? Then they're in the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes. I know. They need to, they need to, Star Power. But they need but they need game changers there. I'm aware of this. Who's their game? Mitch Koff could be one for sure.

That's it. They need a bad season. I'm not saying that they're going to be good. As a matter of fact, I think they're going to be horrible. But we've talked about... I just wouldn't compare the Miller like if you're, I respect your pettiness. I love it and I'm on board with it. The comparison is I want to see bad things happen everyone

that left. So Miller in New York. But a bad season. in Philly might actually be a good thing for talking long term long term

he's got term there coaches don't like losing I agree and simple I bet he would eat away at him

eat away at him you know what he was getting into he's going to Philly he also but he also he knows

and he thinks that he's a good coach that's a big part of it doesn't think he's a savior though

you know he's not not a savior but if you do worse than Torts if you have a worse year

than Torts had in his final year and Torts his final year was like they got dog walking to the end there to the point where they were like you got to get out of here i will give you one thing

if they're a losing team there has to be some semblance of control you know like it can't be like this thing is spinning out of control like i want to see one of those ones where it's like you're losing like seven one eight one five games in a row you can't i would way rather see that happen to the rangers though i think that would be a way big oh don't get me wrong i got a special i got a special salt save for the rangers as well like i think that one um that rangers fan base was salty last night. I think that, I think a lot of them were like, they're probably also Yankees fans. So they were like, okay, well, I'm in a good mood because of the Yankees and I'm able to watch it on my phone. You know, otherwise, what a stinker to go to. First game

of the season. And you're probably like, oh, I wanted to stay home and watch the Yankees game, but I've got these Rangers tickets. So I'll spend a lot of money on them. So I'll go watch them. At least they'll, at least they'll pump the penguins. They don't score a goal. Before we go to break, I want to make sure I'm holding myself accountable. Robin and Imo texted in it of what we learned. I learned that Halford predicted the Canucks to overtake Calgary for the last playoff spot. Unbeknownst to him, the flames didn't even make it.

Did I say that earlier? Did I infer that earlier? I'm well aware that Calgary did not make the playoffs last year. I think there was just a little bit of a confusion on, you know, I asked you to, you know, I said essentially like there are teams in the top eight that made the playoffs last year that I'm not confident we'll be back in the playoffs and you kind of included Calgary in that

but maybe we're having different conversations because I was just looking at the division just the Pacific Jersey you just said Calgary's gonna be worse you didn't say they were in a spot they're a regression candidate not to regrets out of a playoff spot although if they were in the east

they would have been in the playoffs last year I will point that way we'll read some of you what we learns on the other side of the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650 Before we go to break I need to tell you again about JanPro, from warehouses to washrooms and everywhere in between.

JanPro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected for a free quote. Visit them online at Janpro.ca. Hey, it's Big Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets, weekdays three to four on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcast. Now for my favorite part of the next. show what i say talk to the audience oh god this is always dead is 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 833 on a Wednesday Happy Wednesday everybody Halford Brough Sportsnet 650 Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Jan Pro

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It's gone It's gone It's gone Just let the song play You want us to start the whole thing over? It's gone. I was reading the Jan Pro one. There's a lot of reads in the show now.

More so than usual. That's good. We are in our... We're carrying the station somehow. We are somehow. Despite everything I just did, this is the best show. What we aspire to be. Like, this is the standard?

A gold standard. We are an hour three of the program. It is what we learned. Turned time hour three is breathed by Campbell and Pound, real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-dash pound.com today. Are we going to do any more of what we learns? We should have fired up the dot matrix earlier.

We're kind of remiss on that one. Can I just say how crazy it is, how excited the inbox gets for Crazy Horns? I guess it was, it's been a while since we played it. But we got like 30 texting about it. And a few angry ones that didn't, had never heard it before and were like, what the hell is this? But generally speaking, people love that song. I take Crazy Horns over. thrash Thursday.

I don't think you would. Oh, you're going to get all crazy horns one day. Yeah, you'd be not enjoying that. Okay, let's print off the submissions into the Dunbar Lumber. Text line. What we learned, human rights emissions, Brat to you is always by AJ's Pizza

on East Broadway. AJ's original signature pies or a must try like the Detroit, inch thick crust, crispy cheese topped with Parmesan and Basil order online at AJ's that pizza. AJ, much like Randeep earlier. texted me yesterday when it was 6-1

and he's like, it's over. Right. But lo and behold, it's not. You can go to AJ's today for the bullpen game with the Js. Cam Schlittler for the Yankees. Reminder, it's a 408 first pitch. You can also hear that game right here

on Sportsnet, 650. Okay. Let's read some what we learns. Okay. I was actually looking for, wasn't there a couple tweets from media members yesterday on like,

it's over. The Js are going to the ALCS. Sorry, I missed that. Weren't there a couple tweets from media members where it's like, it's over, the Jays are going to the ALCS. Yeah, there was a couple.

There was one in particular that got a lot of buzz. How could people do that? There's always one in every group, I gotta say. Especially media people. Like, why would you do that? I mean, don't throw it out there.

Because the worst case scenario could happen. Do you believe that that has any impact on the game, though? See, no. Probably not, but you still shouldn't do it. But why? Because it's just... What if it's if... Well, if anything, it just makes you look awful in case they bomb and get knocking at... No, but people... People get

genuinely upset when you say, well, that's the game, it's game over. Like, they get... Yeah, the superstition angle of it. They get... Actually, so... No, I'm curious. Like, what's behind that genuine anger? like when someone says shut out during a game and someone's got a shut out what is behind the actual

like I can understand like you know like oh man what are you doing right that's friendly right sure but there are some people that get legitimately like that's a childish way to look at a situation that is that's the childish way of like

something I do because I'm so important or something one person does can influence what's actually happening. So it's interesting, since we're in the throws of the most exciting time of the year for baseball, there's a long-standing baseball tradition that when the guy's throwing a no-hitter,

the superstition is you avoid them. You don't talk about it. You draw all attention to it. You point at it on the scoreboard. You're not playing the game. Okay, but that's what I'm saying. So that's with the guys in the dugout and the coaches and the manager and the players, right?

Then I have talked to enough broadcasters to know that they consider it a very real thing. that when they talk about it, it's a jinks. That's because there are they childish people that think the world revolves around them? I think they actually have an impact. It starts with the players, right? Because the players are superstitious.

But it's the blowback. So that carries on from there. It's the blowback that they get from predominantly social media. I understand the blowback. So then the blowback is something that you might want to avoid. But I'm talking about the people that respond and think it's a genuine thing.

I know. So now I'm going. So now I'm going down the slope where it starts with, like, people that take the superstition seriously and legitimate because they're right next to it. And then the broadcasters who are kind of game adjacent, but are presenting the product to you. Yeah, yeah. Then there's just people who either you work in the industry or following the game. And the only thing I can really come up with, and it's funny because Jamie and Richmond just texted and he's like, at any level, you're just messing with the baseball gods of the sports gods, I assume. and I'm like, okay, maybe there's some validity to it.

I made a point of making sure when I was, you know, very ardently and passionately following the game yesterday, when it got to 6-1, I'm like, it's too early. Because, you know, it was funny, Buck and Dan on the call, they kept saying in the early stages, there's a lot that's happened already. And it's only the third inning. Yes.

They made a point of saying it's like, it's only the third inning. Translation, there's still two-thirds of the ball game left. And Jay's fans should know this. The Jays were the team that came back the most this year. So they've seen it 49 times or whatever it was. I kept holding out hope for that yesterday. Especially after the Yankees went up 9, 6. Well, they've got two or three more at bats here.

There's one fan base that should know a lead is not safe late in the game in baseball. That's the other thing that wasn't even late. I'm going to whisper this part. That's the other part that bothered me about that loss yesterday. I know we talked about blowing the lead and all the errors, very uncharacteristic things. Yesterday was the first time in this series where the Yan... Yankees pitchers looked adept. The bullpen was very good yesterday.

They brought Williams in and I was like, okay, maybe. And then he just shut everything down. Williams is a guy who's been booed off the mound at Yankee Stadium. And they mentioned that during the broadcast yesterday. So I was looking at, I'm like, ooh, if you want to talk. Because I know we've talked about, like, are there the signs, the signs? Do you see the signs of a potential collapse? And I'm like, I didn't love that they blew a five-run lead.

I didn't love that they started handling the baseball like it was a live grenade. and started making errors uncharacteristically. And I really, really didn't like that the Yankees bullpen found something. There's no pushback. No. So those things. Vladie's play at first,

which wasn't an error, but you should have done better on, that to me, and I've already said this on the show, but if you're just joining, that to me was symbolic because everything that Vladia had done up to that point was so heroic.

Was that a weird bounce for him? Yeah, it was a tough bounce. He kind of looked at it weird. It might have had some top spin on. Or something like that. It's beside the point, right? They need to collect themselves and compose themselves because I know a lot of people are like,

it's a bullpen game for the Jays, we're going to game five. They still have this opportunity to win. Sure. They still have this opportunity to win today. And, you know, they need to put a lid on this stuff. Right? Right away.

And, you know, every team, goes through adversity on their way to a championship it's how you handle that adversity that's that speaks about your team and ultimately how people will remember your team by the way okay go ahead no no go so this is what we learn has been sent in from a few different people so it'll just be a group collective this happened shortly after we got off the air yesterday and the the Bengals acquired Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns and it's funny because when you watch that trade unfold in real time on social media yesterday.

Everyone was making it out to be like a pretty big deal. They're like, wow, Cincinnati's ready to save its season by going out and trading a fifth and sixth round pick for old man Flacco. Wow, this really opens things up in Cleveland because now it's just Dylan Gabriel and Shudor Sanders. Because remember, they traded Kenny Pickett earlier in the year. Yeah. I don't think everyone really watched Joe Flacco this year.

and understood how bad he was before he got benched. He threw six interceptions in four games, and he just looked like he was trying anything to make a completion. He's a bad run. He's a bad run. He's just, he's 40 years old. He's old, man. His best before date was like maybe, I don't know,

2019, 2018. I'm actually kind of worried about him going to the Bengals. So am I. Like his family should be a little bit worried. Like the first question should be like, Joe, what do you think about being behind a worse offensive line than you were in Cleveland? Because Cincinnati's is horrible. Did you read that, what we learned from Chaiton and Surrey? No, I just took a bunch of people's...

Chaitin and Surrey, what we learned, thoughts and prayers to Joe Flacco behind the Bengals' offensive line. I don't see how any NFL pundit could look at this and think, oh, this is going to work. He's also joining a team mid-season in the national football league is far more complex. What's your playbook? You get sacked. Yeah. Just throw it up in the air. We got Jumar Chase and we got T. Higgins.

They're very good. But I don't know. I mean, I feel like if your season is done, your season is done. His first season, I was still in high school, man. Joe Flacco's been around for a long time. Adam with what we learned, the Yankees last night were that call an ambulance, but not for me, meme. I do love that.

Call an ambulance, call an ambulance, but not for me. It's true. It's true. I was Judge. Aaron Judge going foul pose, that old man calling out the knife right there. He's like, wait a minute. Charlie from Mount Pleasant. Uh-oh.

I got it here. This is praise for me. What we learned. Brough made too many good points about the J's and this feeling like it's going to turn. And now I'm even more nervous and scared than I already was. Thanks, Jason. Yeah, Brough does that. Okay.

So I will be the first to admit that I project my sports trauma on. on others and other teams. It's a lot of anxiety. It's a lot of anxiety. It is. It's anxiety inducing the way that you look at it sometimes. Mm-hmm.

Because it's like, it's almost like you can't enjoy the good times because you have to be preparing for the bad times. It is called, waiting for something to go horribly wrong. It is called waiting for the other shoe to drop. Yes. And I have a massive collection of shoes that have dropped. Got mad shoes, yo.

I got mad shoes that have dropped in my collective. You know, You know Scrooge McDuck's giant bank of coins that he swims through? Yes. That's bruff, but it's just a bunch of shoes. That's my shoe jar. 2011. Yeah.

Games one and two. Canucks win them in Vancouver. We're going to win the cup. You go to Boston. And actually, like, things didn't look so bad in the first period of game three against the Bruins. And then the other shoe dropped. And then Nathan Horton dropped. Yeah, big time.

And this is the thing about going to another stadium. Like Yankee Stadium to me reminded me of what TD Garden was like in Boston. They went in there and they were like, I'm mad at the, but they were mad at the Bruins. And the Yankees fans were mad at the Yankees. But then things turned and the crowd becomes a factor. Like you can't tell me that the crowd, Last night at Yankee Stadium didn't at least contribute a little bit to the fielding errors that the Jays made. Crowd in the wind, according to Addison Barger.

It was a windy crowd. It was all the yelling that created that win. So what are the Jays made of? Because, you know, I went old man mode again, and I talked about Roberto Alamar's home run back in 1992 in the ALCS. against Oakland. I think it's worth noting that that game was on the road in Oakland.

It was. I remember it distinctly. You know? And it was a moment by a great player, maybe not a great guy. Yeah. In hindsight. Yeah. But a great player who clutched up at the right time

and delivered. Justin and East Van has a Would You Drather, going back in the archives when we used to do, would you drather Wednesday? And it is Wednesday, so this is be fitting.

Would you just, rather watch sports in April or October. Brough prefers to watch sports in April, but October sports are making a strong case for best sports month. I actually think March is better than April. I know you like April.

You don't get the first round of the playoffs. I know. The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is true. Like it's, yeah, the Masters is there, but it's the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs that I really, really enjoy it. I love March because I'll have March Madness. October for me October is the best. In March Madness has lost a lot of luster for me. I don't really like

college basketball anymore. I still love it. I still love it. But anyway, the answer is October. October is the best. Yeah, October is the goat month. Andy, this isn't a weather thing. It's the goat month. You can't bring up October in front of Andy. Adog's always just like... It's the best month, man. It's cozy season. Yeah, start a hockey.

Cozy season? As soon as you bring up October, he starts making a cup of hot cocoa. It's true. Instantly. Yeah, it's a reflex. How many times do you go to those, you know, those... I don't want to call them. Are they pop up Halloween? They're not pop-ups. Spirit Halloween? Yeah, they're there for like two months or whatever.

They take over the, you know, abandoned Sears. You're asking me how many times a day I go? No, no, no. Just scrolls through a couple times a day. You're in there and it's like, wasn't this future shop? You know, like that sort of place, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you go to those?

Like, do you enjoy that stuff? Do you enjoy that stuff? Actually, it's been a while. I should probably go this year. Do you have, okay, here's another question. I don't care for Halloween. Yeah, I've noticed. There's too much.

child greediness Too much fun Too much enjoyment What is it you don't like about it? Yeah You know what People are too happy Is that what it is?

It's the happiness of children That's just Grates at my soul Grates on my nerves You know Can we go do this? Oh I guess I gotta go too Follow up question

On the subject of childlike endeavors Do you have your Halloween costume Picked out already? No He's not a costume guy He's not a costume guy. It's true, actually, I'm not, which is my surprise. I got the kids picked out already.

Oh, yeah? What are they? She wanted to be a hot dog. Nice. You know what? A good hot dog costume. He's a hot dog. It's awesome.

Yeah, that's your bloodline right there. It's a great pick. Children are falling in my footsteps. Do they know about your hot dog heritage yet? Rosie's probably too young to understand, but she'll fight out one day. She was like, wow, a hot dog factory. Her grandfather worked at the hot dog factory. It runs in the family

His grandfather before him His grandfather actually died In the hot dog factory The best is Daddy used to make these What, the costumes? Nope His grandfather fell in the machine

And he was a hot dog They kept the batch They had no difference It's Uterfest Do you like taking your kids Trick or treating at the very least Do you like that aspect of it? What do you think the answer is to that?

Because a lot of parents like it I'm the one that stays home and turns out the lights. So nobody's home. Puts the candy bowl outside and says, take as many as you want, and then we turn the lights off. Okay. Yeah. That's fair.

You have one, sorry? Mark and White Rock. It's not of what we learned, but I want to read it. Why has Garland not been put with Petey? He has as much offensive talent as Debrusk and is the Canucks best forechecking and puck retrieval forward. I will go back to my original analysis of the Canucks' top six they got two play drivers one is garland and the other one should be peterson i don't think

you can put them together and hope that the other line is going to have success you know what what okay so then you're going to have um so let's say you put you switch garland and de brusk yeah right yeah so then you have a line of heidel baines and de brusk yeah like i I would like to see, I think Heedle has a potential to be a play driver, but he has to prove it. Yeah, he has to stay healthy, but he also has to prove that he can drive play.

So much of the way, like, I look at teams as just like, okay, do you have guys that can make things happen? And we all know that Quinn Hughes can. We all know that Garland can, and then who else? I wonder, and I know there's like the handedness factor and everything that goes into it, but let's say hypothetically that that first line gets off to a little bit of a slow start,

the DeBresque Piedy Besser. I wonder if Garland goes up. I think Kane should be the first guy to go up. Okay, but I think Garland goes up and I think then you reimagine the second line and you go Kane, Heedle, and DeBresk. Maybe. Yeah, that's what I think ends up happening. And then your third line is then Coots, Lechromachian, Baines. that's if that first line You know it's going to be something completely different

We're gonna roll into like November I'll be like well Coots and Lechromache are on the top line with Baines Yeah That's kind of like everyone talks about line combo so much And I'm like a goalie guy obviously And I just never understand Because a period into the game Lines are in a blender

Like who cares what the lines are Going into the game Like I never got that obsession with who the lines Who's on what lines Yeah it's like maybe Daniel Sprong Isn't all we We made him to be Spoiler, he wasn't.

What coach keeps the same lines throughout an entire game? But I think the overarching concern about the connection, regardless of the line combinations, is the question who's going to be the playmaker up front. Sure. Also. And that's why they're trying to get playmakers in from the back end. Right? Like, why do you activate the defense?

Well, it's because it's another guy that you can pass it to. No one else can do it. And also, you guys might as well. Yeah. she come to you think you're so great then you want and she come out and help out. So also the notion, especially with this team and the ongoing saga that has been

who's playing with PD, I do think that given the stakes of this season and the need for him to bounce back that if the Debrusk and Bessler duo on his wings isn't necessarily working, I don't think they're going to have a super long leash. Like, let's just give it some time. Like, I think they'll move. Robin DeNimo with the what we learned,

I learned that Brough would be the leading candidate to star in a Grinch, Halloween sequel film. Is it bad than when I watch the Grinch movies and he's alone in his cave or whatever with his dog? This looks awesome.

I'm like, that guy's got a maid. Wait, the Grinch is the bad guy? Yeah, what? He's got his dog. Yeah, I relate. For not to be up to be honest with you, I understand. I don't hear a bunch of singing outside my house 11 at night.

And when he steals all their presents, I'm like, good for him. Yeah, he's got a business. You got to go out and make plays. an entrepreneur. Yeah, exactly. All right. Crazy sports day. Again, sports are going crazy.

Bro Jake, miss you, buddy. We'll be back tomorrow to discuss it all. I cannot wait for what we're going to be discussing tomorrow when it comes to the Toronto Blue Jays. Did they clutch up at Yankee Stadium in a bullpen game? Or are they going back to Toronto for game five and the Vibe? have completely changed from this is an amazing team to

oh my god another Toronto team is going to collapse and this one has the potential to be the most spectacular of all time oh it's also the connect season open tomorrow oh yeah that too and the better baseball team the Mariners might have a chance

moving on there you go a dog we got a lot to get into but we got to save it for tomorrow Today, we got to say goodbye. Signing off, I have been Mike Halford. He's been Jason Brough. He's been A. Doug. He's been Laddie. This has been the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650.