Halford & Brough in the Morning - Is A Canucks Management Change On The Horizon?

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the latest Blue Jays news with Sportsnet TV Jays commentator Joe Siddall (1:39), plus the boys discuss the latest Canucks rumours with Sportsnet NHL insider Nick Kypreos (23:55). 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.

to again. Weekly hit to the right side and Potts can't make the play and now he's limping and down. So the Rockies get a run, but much more significant potentially is the look of pain on the face of Cody Potts. 7.04 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody, Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Breb 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 upfront fees. Visit today at Sands dash trustee.com. We are now in our two of the program.

Joe Siddell, Blue Jays reported for Sportsnet. Blue Jays broadcast for Sportsnet. It's going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason hominock at jason. At jason. If you love giving the banks more your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason, Dow Mortgage. We're coming to you live from the Kintech Studios. Step Strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech.

I'm going to try this again. I tried it at the start of the show and I screwed it all up. The Blue Jays first series of the season went great. They swept the A's. The J's second series of the season. Well, it's not off to as great of a start. As you heard in the intro, Cuddy Ponce was injured yesterday in a blowout loss to the Rockies. joining us to talk about all that and a whole lot more. As mentioned, Blue Jay's broadcaster for SportsNet, Joe Sittal, here on the Halford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Joe. How are you?

Good morning, guys. All is well here. I hope so with regards to Cody Ponce. It didn't look good when he crumbled to the turf with his injury yesterday. What did you see while calling the game and what have you heard in the aftermath of the Ponce injury? Well, I remember just before that he had that little stumble down the mound where he fell down kind of caught his cleat. And you'll see that from pictures on occasion. I can't imagine that had anything to do with his fall around first base. It looked like he just kind of got caught,

maybe with his foot in the turf, and the way it turned, and the leg just didn't move, right? The way he hyper-extended it, you can only hope for the best. Anytime you're working from the ankle up to the knee, you're just crossing your fingers and hoping it's just a sprain or a strain of some sort. I'm sure everybody's waiting to hear the news today, but to look on his face. It just felt so bad for the guy. I mean, yes, he landed his big contract coming back from Korea, but boys, he ever worked his tail off to earn that? And then he finally gets the start. And he looked good. It looked like what we're seeing in spring training. I was very anxious to watch him, not just his first start, but for, you know,

I like to give guys four or five starts, get their feet wet, see what they look like. But he looked good. And then probably the most unfortunate part of it is it's a ball he didn't really need to handle it if you watch the replay. Ernie was coming right there, and he could have had it. But you know, in the heat of the moment. Again, this is a guy that hasn't pitched in big leagues a long time and just that awareness around you. But just a very unfortunate and we can just hope for the best today with the results. So it's a really weird dynamic for the pitching staff now because they've been great. They had 50 strikeouts across three games to start against the A set a bunch of records in the process. But now you look at if Ponce is injured and he's out

for a long time with the Savage out and Beber out, it gets pretty thin for the rotation and some guys are going to be pressed on. So how would you classify the current? state of the starting rotation for the Blue Jays. Well, if you saw any of the looks of John Schneider and Pete Walker in that dugout after Ponce went down, I'm sure the wheels were spinning already not just how they're going to navigate that game last night, which they had to navigate and it's not a lot of fun. And you probably have to ask a little bit more from some guys than you really want to. Miles did a really good job, actually, by going out there and getting five outs, but he gave up

a few runs and Brendan Little's struggles kind of continue. They're spilling over a bit from last season. But I'm sure, you know, the wheels are spinning in terms of today what they're going to do and now moving forward. The results will tell everything, but I think anytime somebody goes off on a cart

like that, there's a good chance we're not going to see Cody Ponce for a bit. So we'll see, right? You have to fill that spot. Could it be a bullpen spot? But when it's a bullpen spot, if you use the bullpen like a bullpen day, now you're using relievers even more. I think the spotlight's on Mac Scherzer tonight. He needs to give the Blue Jays a really good out and get that

bullpen back in order. Yeah, I was going to ask you about Scherzer slated to go today. What are your expectations for him this season at 41 years old? You know, to be honest with, they're almost more so than they were last year, because if you remember that first start when he went down with that thinger issue, that it was some issue that had been given him problems in the past, the one thing when he signed and came to the Blue Jays camp this year in early March, it was like, you know, he was ready to go. He was pitching and ready. And that was the first thing I thought when I saw him pitch his first spring game. I saw him after and I said, Max, you came ready, didn't you? And he

kind of looked at me like I was an idiot. He's like, of course they came ready. Like, what do you think I'm doing? You know, Max, I mean, he looks at you with those evil eyes and he gets right in your face and he's just such an intense competitor. But he knew somebody would come calling and I think he was hoping it was the Blue Jays. And it worked out. It's perfect. I mean, if you think about when he signed too. You've got all these starting pitchers, but that's good, that's a good problem to have. And now you're seeing why it's a good problem to have because you just don't know. And I think he's into this spot. Like if he can, he looks healthy. He looks strong. Like that was a big deal last year when he went down early because now you're fighting uphill

the whole season to try to get back and ready. And then you look at what he can provide you in the postseason, like three pretty good postseason starts. So now he's starting from a healthy slate. That's a great thing. You mentioned the age 41. who knows when something else flares up. But I think he's in a really good spot right now, strength-wise, health-wise. And, I mean, a 41-year-old Max Scherzer, to me, is every bit as good as a lot of other guys

when they're 25. We are speaking to Blue J. Sportsnet broadcaster, Joe Siddell here on the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Early days, obviously across Major League Baseball and specifically with the Jays. But I'm curious to get your thoughts on what you've seen in a limited sample size from the Big Oak,

Kazuma Okamoto, who's now played in four games to the Toronto Blue Jays. Well, he looks like a season pro doesn't, and he is coming from overseas, but he looks like he's fit right in. It looks like he's played in the big leagues for a while. Very comfortable. And I think, you know, it doesn't matter who you are. I don't think most human beings, it's emotion. It's what we are as human beings.

You want to do well when you go somewhere new. And I thought that was probably the story of the weekend. But I think the first story of the opening weekend was how the Blue Jays looked like a continuation of last season. And it looked like it was November 3rd, 4th, and 5th. You know, it was just like they were just continuing on the way they went about it. And the second one was the contributions from a lot of the new guys. You know, Tyler Rogers out of the bullpen. Cesar was outstanding.

And then you look at what Okamoto did, getting his first home run. And Sanchez chipped in as well. So all of those pieces, I mean, I don't think that opening weekend could have gone much better. But Okamoto was really good on defense, too. And we didn't see tons of them in spring because of the World Baseball Classic. But what we did, he looked very comfortable. and now what we've seen so far here already, again, not just looking very comfortable,

and he's an outstanding play last night, but we know where his value is going to come, and it's going to be at the plate, and it looks like a legit power bat early on here. Do you think Bo Bichette was happy to get to St. Louis for the fourth game of his Mets tenure? Did not go well for the first three games? What have you thought about his?

I guess he got a hit in a couple RBIs yesterday, but still 105 average. I didn't watch the game. I would not evaluate Boba Bichette after a handful of games. I'll tell you that much. We know how he can hit and we know the bat that he provides. He is such a good hitter and we all knew that you're losing a key piece out of your lineup. But it's interesting the way the Blue Jays navigated that.

You bring in an Okamoto to hopefully provide some of that offense. He might be more of a power type guy. But then you've got full time now, Jimenez at short and Ernie at second. And that is going to be Ernie made an error last night, unfortunately. That was pretty rare. but those two, I think, are going to be highlight reels most of the season, and that provides tremendous defense for the Blue Jays in the infield. Mark Shapiro was on Blair and Barker on Monday.

He was talking about Vladdi Guerrero, and he said the quote, I think he's capable. He'll be the greatest position player in Blue Jay history and an all-time great player period. Now, the Blue Jays have a very rich history and some fantastic position players. What did you think about what Shapiro had to say on Blair and Barker? Well, I've analyzed Vladdy for several years now and his ups and his downs and I keep finishing it with. He's going to win an MVP one day.

I really believe that. That's what he has in him. We saw it on display, of course, in the postseason. We saw it at times. It wasn't his best offensive season last year, the regular season. But when the curtain goes up on the postseason, then it's like the bigger the moment, the better he might be. And we saw that in the WBC as well. I know what we all know what he's capable of.

And even talk to his teammates, guys in the lineup. They're like he's just, he's not human. He can do things that other guys can't in terms of the way he hits the baseball. And also the way that he can, the knowledge of the strike zone and the ability to make contact. I mean, it's such a rare, rare thing to have such a knowledge of the strike zone, take your walks and not strike out and do the damage that he can offensively. I think we'd all love to see home runs.

I think he's very capable of being a 900 plus OPS guy with 30 and 100 for like for fun. I think he can do that, no problem. but we just haven't seen the six months of it. And early on, he's gotten some hits. He's taking some watch. That's always a good sign. But I think he'll get rolling. I don't doubt that one bit.

And he's, you know, the face of the franchise for a reason. I think he'll be a staple for a long time here coming, but also as one of the top offensive performers. You mentioned the strike zone a couple times there. What have you thought of ABS so far? It's good. I think it's good.

You know, I was when at first, they're first coming out a couple years ago when they were talking about it and, you know, pilot project in the minor. leagues. I just, I'm always a little reluctant for that stuff. I like the game the way it's played, but I'll be the first to admit to, and over the last number of years, when you're broadcasting, you're watching every pitch of every game, watching a lot of baseball. And, you know, the egregious mistakes are really frustrating at times that I was a catcher. So I, that was my job, was to steal

strikes. But, you know, sometimes when pitches are like six and eight and ten inches out play and you're getting calls. And so I like the way they handled it with, with the challenge system. So you've got your two challenges. I just, I hope it may get tweaked as we move forward, but I hope that a game doesn't end, like the World Baseball Classic did, where it was an egregious mistake and the game ends and you can't do anything about it because you don't have any challenges left. But at the same time, you've got two challenges. Don't blow them, right? You have to use them. The strategy of this is turning into something crazy. And we start opening weekend. You know, one of the better catchers in the game in terms of receiving pitches is Alejandro Kirk. And the Oakland or the athletics hardly challenged.

there were so many times they could have. And my strategy going into a series against the Blue Jays with Kirk catching, I would think he's the kind of guy you do want to challenge because you know he's stealing strikes. He's deceiving umpires. He's been doing it for a few years now. So that's probably the guy you actually want to be a little more aggressive with. But you have to pick your spots.

Like Floddy lost one early in the game the other day. And you don't really want to whether, I forget their count, but it wasn't an integral count. It wasn't like the ball four or a strike three or anything. So you've got to be careful of those. you have to have to find a way to keep a challenge for late in the game so that what we saw on the WBC doesn't happen. And who knows, maybe by next year,

maybe they tweak it a bit where something is adjusted late in the game. You know, I talked about it the other night. Maybe the ninth inning, it's treated like an extra inning where each team gets one. And just so a game doesn't end that way, you know. But we'll see as we move forward. The major league baseball has been pretty good at tweaking things along the way. I'm reluctant to get into too many changes.

and, you know, it goes back to, say, the three-batter rule with the pitchers or the slide rule at second base or the collision play at home play, all of these things. I get where they're going with those. I just don't like when you start getting into the strategy of the game. I'd rather, I don't like that. I know that's speeding up the game and it helps, but I don't like that I can't use pitchers the way I want to. You know, I should be able to deploy my pictures the way I want to. That's just my personal opinion if I was a manager. But the rules are what they are, and then you have to manage and navigate accordingly.

Okay, so as a catcher, you've got a unique perspective on this. And like, what's considered an egregious miss by an... Because I watch like a... I watch a 10-minute Johnboy breakdown of the Reds just absolutely annihilating C.B. Buckner behind the plate with all of their challenges. Like, there were ones that were 0.1 of an inch off the zone. And I'm like, there's no human that can accurately gauge if something's 0.1 inches outside the zone. So what's considered like a legit miss and what's considered something that's almost a...

judgment call. Yeah, I think you made a fair point right there. You know, umpires take a lot of slack, obviously, because officials in any sport, right, you notice them when they're making mistakes. And when you have a good baseball game that's nice and clean, you never talk about the umpire, that's an outstanding job, right? And as a catcher, I mean, you create those relationships early. I mean, you go out for the first inning.

Hey, Jim, how are you doing today? Good, Joe, how you've been? Good. Where are you guys staying in town? You know, where are you going for dinner? You got a spot for dinner? You're trying to create that relationship early because I'm not being a nice guy. I'm trying to buy myself some pitches.

So when you do get that pitch that's just off the outside corner by a bit and you don't get the call, then it's a, Jim, where you got that? Just missing? Yep, Joe just got it off the edge. And I'll say, hey, stay with me now. His sinker's got a little movement. He likes to hit that edge. So you're always trying to talk him into calls and you're trying to do that.

So what's egregious, I would say when it starts to get more than a baseball off the edge, say, on the outside corner, whatever the case, maybe two baseballs. Those are egregious. I've had CB Buckner a lot. I had them in the minor leagues a lot. nicest human in the world, nice guy. Desi struggled at his job at times? Absolutely. I had a run in.

He tossed me one time in the minor lease because there was a bunch going up the third baseline and as a catcher. I came out to grab it and went to pick it up. It was right on the chalk line. In those days, it was a chalk line. They weren't painted. And I grabbed the ball, fired to first, got the guy, and he put his both arms up saying foul ball.

And I said, funnel ball. I showed him the back of my fingers. They're full of chalk. I said, look at my hand. The ball was right on the line, CB. No, Joe, it was in fellow territory. So that didn't go well. But so as much as I've had those run-ins with CB years and years ago, he's still having some of those issues.

That's unfortunate. But yeah, it's really, when you're trying to, a human eye trying to catch, especially with the velocities and movements in the game today, how much they've risen to try to catch things at 10th and 10th and minutes and 2-10s of minutes. That to me, those are kind of like washes for me. But again, I don't like seeing a ball, like a two baseballs off the outside corner called a strike. It just makes it unfair to hit. What kind of philosophy will teams have on challenges? Because some teams will be like, you know, if you feel like you want to challenge, challenge it. But other teams, the players will probably be told, listen, if you challenge us, you better be right because we don't want to run out of challenges.

Yeah, I think the first strategy is to make sure you have one late in the game as we speak right now, the way the rule is. That's number one. Number two is who you are. I hate to say it that way, but, you know, if you're a guy hitting down on the bottom of it, I'll, I'll, bet that Ernie Clement's going to be a little reluctant to challenge and lose the challenge. He might not have to worry because he goes up hacking anyway. Nathan Lucas, it depends on who you are. If you're one of those guys, you're probably thinking I want to save it for the big boys. I want George to be able to. I want Vladdy to be able to, especially in key situations.

But I think the count is important. And if it's a 1-1 pitch, for example, and we talked to John Schneider about this the other day and they've got numbers and data you can dig up. But the 1-1 pitch, and I was new as a catcher, too. The 1-1 pitch is a critical pitch. an account because from 2 and 1 as opposed to 1 and 2, huge favor goes to the hitter. If it goes to 2 and 1, huge favor goes to the pitcher in terms of the result of the at-bat if it goes to 1-2. So 1-1 pitch is a critical pitch. First pitch of an at-bat, is it worth challenging?

Sure, every hitter wants to be 1-0 rather than 0-1, but you just got to, I think the situation is going to dictate everything. And that's the inning. That's the runners on base, the number of outs. and then again, ultimately, who you are. Is it going to favor you? If you can get Vladimir Jr. in a more advantageous count, that's a huge win, right? So I think it depends who you are.

And in a lot of those situations, I'm sure they've talked at length about this stuff, but they're still navigating some things like Vlad had a challenge early the other day, and it was just a silly one I thought, shouldn't have, and he lost it. And that's not when you want to lose that. Okamoto had one that he didn't challenge, that we're on the broadcast saying, wow, you've got to challenge that. And I think Kevin Pilar talked about the last night of Blue J. Central, even culturally, like, it's such a culture of respect that Okamoto comes from, right? It's almost like, are you respecting the young person?

Right. You don't want to challenge. Right. And it sounds silly, but you get it. He's the nicest soft-spoken guy I've ever met, you know. So you've got to get over through that barrier. I'm sure they're going to have a talk with him on that because that's a dangerous bat that you want to have the ability to challenge if it can give you an advantageous count. There's going to be a formal apology.

before every challenge. I want to get back to Vladdy because I want to get your theory on how you can kind of struggle to hit home runs last year, 23 home runs and 156 games. And then literally, as soon as the playoff starts,

he starts crushing balls and ends up eight home runs in 18 games. You know, I've heard the theory. He loves playing the Yankees. Like, it has, It has to be more than that.

I find it fascinating. I think he's more of a line drive type hitter. His moves, and he's got a lot of moves to the baseball. We won't get too technical here, but he's got more of a, not working down to the baseball, but it doesn't have quite the upper cut lift to his swing as a lot of hitters do that hit a lot of home runs. He's got more, we'll call it flat, even though it's not flat,

flatter than most. that might create more line drives. And that's why sometimes with all of his moves, when he's not in sync, we've had conversations over the years about how many times he's pounding the ball into the ground, a lot of ground balls. Well, it's because he's already kind of got that move. And then now, if your timing's not right, you rush and your hands take over. So a lot's happening there. But when he's in sync, and when the curtain goes up, as you mentioned in the postseason, I think he consciously said, I've got to make an adjustment here. And I'm not saying, like, drop the back side and hit the ball to the moon, but trying to create a little bit more tilt with your body to work.

I always say the baseball swings more like a swing at the park, right? It's a, it's a, it's like that Nike swoosh almost as opposed to down to it. And for a guy that's so good, he just hits the ball so darn hard when he miss hits balls. That's why he's so special, right? Like, he can hit a ground ball through the hole on the left side. And I'll say sometimes it's not a great swing the way he came down and around the ball, but he hits it like 110, 115.

Most people don't do that. And because he hits it so hard, you can get a lot of hits. So he can get away with a lot of that. But I think that's what explains when he gets the ball in the air a little bit more. He's got more of that line drive type approach normally with his swing path. And if he can create a little bit more tilt, stay behind the ball a little bit more because now you catch that ball just to hear more out front. And when you're catching it out front, you're catching it more on that up swing of that U-shape or of that Nike swoosh.

And that's the one that gets in the air a little bit more. So he might have to just be a little bit more. conscious of trying to do that more. But as you can imagine, like, that can get you in trouble too. So there's delicate balance there. Real quick, do you know if he likes to get technical with his swing analysis or, because some guys are just like, yeah, I'm a pretty good natural athlete. I'm just going to try and figure this out myself.

Well, I can tell you, I share something with you. I saw the other day. I was around the cage during batting practice. And Okamoto and Vladdy were in the same group. And Okamoto with his interpreter, pulled Vladie off to the side by the end deck circle and started talking mechanics and Vlad he was all into it. He was, oh yeah, he was all into it. They were talking about his front shoulder, how his hands move and then this move and the sequencing of his move. So I think most hitters are into that. I say most hitters, Ernie Clements,

the kind of guy that just goes to the plate and I don't want to say he just goes to the plate and hacks, but he's the kind of guy the freer the mind is the better. And I say that because I just had a conversation about his postseason with him the other day. But I think glad he would probably be able to break things down. a lot. And again, I think the challenge he can have more is there's a lot of movement in Vladis' approach, right? He's got that little check step.

The hands come down, stride, there's a lot happening. I've always said when everything's working right, it's great, but it's easy for something to break down, and then you're playing catch-up and you're rushing, and those aren't good words for hitters. Jay's back in action today, 407 first pitch. Mack Scherzer's on the bump. Joe,

this was awesome, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Okay, guys. Have a great day. Enjoy and hopefully they can turn things around today. I'm pretty confident in that. Sounds good. Thanks, Joe. Appreciate it. That's Joe Sittle. Blue Jays Broadcaster on the call tonight here on the Halford and Breft Show on SportsNet 650. We got to go to break.

Coming up, Nick Kiprios is going to join the program. Host, of Real Kippren Born on SportsNets fan 590, all over the general manager, comings and goings in the National Hockey League. Obviously, the big news out of Toronto yesterday. Is it Bradtree Living is out as the general manager? Kipper also had some reporting yesterday. that Patrick Alvin could be out in Vancouver. We'll talk to Kippur about that next.

You're listening to the Halford-in-Breth show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central on Sportsnet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on-demand through your favorite podcast app. 731. It's actually 733 on a Tuesday. We don't have a clock in the studio.

We're going to need one of those. We're just guessing. constantly. Yeah. When to go to break, what time it is. We've got a sundial in here. Many of you have noticed

that we're not reading that sundial very accurately. But it is 733 on a Tuesday. You are listening to the Halford and Brough show. Halford in Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Are you getting collection calls? If you are,

Sands and Associates can cut your debt by up to 80% and stop those calls. Visit them today at Sands. That's trustee.com. We're in our two of the program with the midway part of the show. I believe we've got Nick Kip on hold perfect he's going to join us in just a moment here our two of this program is brought to

jason hominock at jason dot mortgage 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 able auctions hotline we go as mentioned our next guest from real kipper and boron on a fan 590 sports net radio nick kiprios here on the halford and bruff show on sports net 650 morning kipper how are you good guys good morning thanks for taking the time to do this you're a busy busy man breaking all kinds of news. Before we get to what... He was up watching the game last night, too.

All kinds of stuff. This is very... A lot of work being put forth here. Before we get to the Toronto story, which is big, we're going to start with Vancouver. So yesterday you reported that Connects GM, Patrick Alvin, maybe doesn't expect to be employed beyond this season. What do you know? Do you have anything further?

Tell us about Alvin's future in Vancouver. Well, it's... I think it's just up in the open right now. No different than, you know, we talked just prior to the news in Toronto. The three teams that I kind of focused on my article for Sportsnet.com. Is just the feeling amongst these particular three clubs. And I included Vancouver. And that is the uncertainty of where their management team is and the decisions that ownership ultimately has to make.

we did see a firing in Vegas that probably forced a few teams and maybe even the Toronto Maple Leafs guys to sit there and say, okay, if they're holding people accountable for the season, maybe we should too. So I'm not saying that there was a direct link between Vegas and Toronto, but it does force teams to kind of reassess their own situation. And I don't think that's any different in Vancouver. we do know that it was a major disappointment this season. Nobody knows that more than both Jimmy Rutherford and Patrick Alvin. But there is a sense around these particular teams that they believe that changes are coming, but to what degree we don't know just yet.

What are you hearing on Jim Rutherford? Because he has been the big decision maker. in all the all the Canucks main moves Patrick Alvin has been the general manager but he was kind of a lieutenant of Jim Rutherford's Jim is 77 years old and this rebuild is going to take a few years and I think there's a big question mark

around whether Rutherford would be here through all that rebuild and if he's not should he be the one to start the rebuild I think it's an absolutely fascinating question and one that I think is getting sorted out as we speak if it already hasn't been decided. But guys, let's just go back when Jimmy Rutherford was hired, I think, in December of 2001. And, you know, he came in with the reputation that he's got the magic formula to kind of speed up the process to win now. and certainly that was the feeling coming from the Pittsburgh Penguins

that this guy can move the needle quickly and he doesn't like to sit and he likes to get ahead of things. And here we are, you know, almost five years later and we're talking about a guy that whoever's in that chair moving forward has to sit there and say, I really need to be patient here. So to your point for a 77-year-old man who was brought in because he could fast track a few things. How does that make him feel?

How does it make the Aquilini family and Francesco feel leaving now a major rebuild, guys? That's what it is. And let's just face it, you know, since the cap era, we've seen some teams really struggle on getting themselves back into respectability, you know, let alone a playoff position here. So where is Jimmy on that? Where's the confidence of the Aquilini family to have in Jimmy moving forward? That, you know, nobody knows whether this is going to be two years, four years.

Again, take a look at, you know, post-salary cap error in the teams that have struggled over a long haul here to get themselves back. Edmonton, Toronto, Buffalo. Detroit, Columbus. Where was Jimmy's appetite to hang around and see this thing through? Just looking at the, at how long it's going to take, like it's not going to take two years. It's impossible for it to turn around because free agency isn't really a thing anymore. You look at the list right now. Yeah.

And even though the flat cap was really frustrating, what it did do was free up players. Because there were teams that were just in a position of like, I can't afford this guy. You know, that's how the Canucks ended up with J.T. Miller, the Lightning had to make a decision. So they traded J.T. Miller. Well, that doesn't happen anymore. And I think it's one of the things that this management group really misread this offseason because they kind of went into the off season like, well, people are always available. Well, they weren't because teams had the cap space to keep their players.

They didn't have to make those tough decisions. Would you say that right now is maybe the toughest time in NHL history to improve your team with anything other than a rebuild? Because this is something that the Leafs are maybe going to have to face as well. Yeah. The one different skies between the Leafs and Vancouver is they have assets, real assets. And they've got plenty going into the draft here with Minnesota's pick and San Francisco. Jose's picked in the second and you know those are the most valuable commodity you can have for any franchise here even above you know thinking that you have one of the top players in the world

on your roster so you know they they they they can come in Vancouver can come in as bad as Vancouver fans feel like after the draft with a couple of new fresh faces and maybe one at the very top of a first pick overall. The change in the vibe can change dramatically or in a short period of time. But that does not mean that this team will contend, like, to your point, in the next two or three years, it just doesn't work that way. So, you know, again, even with a positive feel coming out of the draft this June, that's where again ownership has to look at and say isn't this the perfect time to transition

into a new management group and a new vision and make people believe that you know we're all going to go through this build together and when when we're ready to compete it's going to be fantastic that's that's the decisions that have to be weighed out and I think they are and I do believe we're going to see changes in Vancouver but we just again, to what degree we'll just have to wait and see. Okay, tell us about the Leafs now. They fired Bradshaw Living yesterday.

What is the next big decision that they have to make? Yeah, the next biggest decision I think again, unlike, you know, in Vancouver right now is okay, is right now basically what you have is Keith Pelly as a CEO who's still, you know, fairly fresh on the job, you know, a little over two years. And they have a decision on, you know, where is Keith Pelly, you know, short term and long term moving forward. Now he's going to have a press conference at 2 p.m.

to discuss, obviously, the release of and the firing and Brad Tree Living. and I think he's going to get hit with some tough questions here. Just in terms of, again, are you the guy to lead this forward? Do you have complete control over who you're going to hire to come in and make those key decisions? That, to me, is the biggest question here is, you know, where's the pecking order from ownership right down to, you know, Craig Breed. Ruby's fate, who still is obviously employed by the Toronto Maple Leaf. So once we have a better understanding of what, you know, what Keith Pelley intends to do,

and we should find out more about it this afternoon, it remains as open-ended as Vancouver. What do you think would be a smart decision? Like Bradshaw Living reported to Keith Pelley, correct? And he's the CEO of MLSC. So it's not just the Leafs. on his plate. Yes. Do you think they should do that

where you have a GM reporting to Keith Pelly or should there be a buffer between Keith Pelly and the GM? Because sometimes you get into too many cooks in the kitchen, right? And then you get people that have, I mean, just the history of the lease with Shanahan, Lamarillo, and Dubas. I don't know how many of them were talking to each other

at the end of their 10 years. It can get complicated. but there is also something to be said for having that buffer between corporate and the general manager. Yeah, and I totally expect guys that Keith will be asked a similar question today in terms of the philosophy a year ago was to get rid of those type of jobs. And we saw it in hockey with Shanahan. We saw it in the basketball. we saw the soccer guy disappear too. And now the question is,

do you bring someone back in that realm? And the feeling is that they will bring in some hockey guy. And we've already heard the rumors all over the place, including what's the future of Doug Armstrong in St. Louis. And, you know, maybe that's for another day on whether or not St. Louis really will let him out of his contract to pursue something else. or not.

But that's the feeling now is that they've got to go back to that kind of position. And it needs to be no question, someone with some experience and some knowledge and can certainly understand the culture of the day-to-day operations of the National Hockey League. Hey, Kipper, in your opinion, can the Leafs with Matthews, Nylander, Tavares, three of the remaining core for, can this group be salvaged or do they need to do something bold and turn Austin Matthews

and William Neelander or maybe even both of them into futures and think about the future because I look at this team and I look at they got some bad money they don't have many prospects they traded their first round pick this year I don't see how they can improve with this current group if they don't do something bold it feels like the writing's on the

wall yes now the best way i can address you that question is it's it's a complicated one no one will no one will ever question the talent levels of a matthews a willie nilander a peterson in vancouver So you can win with all three of those guys. You can have a fantastic program with all three of those guys. But they need to be in an environment where they can thrive. And the room has to be strong enough for all three of those guys to be at the best. And I don't think that's the case in Vancouver with Pedersen. And it certainly hasn't been the case for both those guys in Toronto.

So do you have to get rid of both of them? No, but maybe one of them. And then put another guy in a position where, you know, teammates can hold more of each other accountable because I think at times really need, Nylander needed to be held more accountable in that dressing room. And I don't think the dressing room was strong enough to do it. They're incredibly talented people.

They sell tickets. There's so many positives around. all three of those guys, they're special talents. And I'm just not ready to kick them to the curb, you know, and say you can never win with those guys. You can, but like I told you, the organization and especially the room has to be strong enough for all three of those guys to thrive. Is Morgan Riley in his last season in Toronto?

You know what, guys, when you get a new guy in charge, all bets are off. that we're talking about those type of guys again, whether it's Morgan Riley or Matthews, it's really hard for a new guy. And I'll even include Doug Armstrong with all his experience coming into an environment to sit there and go, yeah, he's done. Let's get rid of them. That's not typically what happens here. And I don't know whether or not a new face, a new set of eyes will give these guys another opportunity at training camp or in October.

but you have to come in and feel like there's value in there, and it's your job to assess the value, both keeping someone or moving them, and that just doesn't come overnight. So, you know, I'll tell you one thing. I think Morgan Riley's future as a leaf got a little longer, at least the leash got a little longer with maybe a new set of eyes coming in. Okay, Kipper, you're the,

most experienced in this topic, certainly between the three of us. Did Radco Gudis try in his fight against Max Domi? Because it looked to me like Domi was, Domi looked like his old man in that, but maybe that was because Goudis was like, hit me, I deserve this. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

That's exactly what I saw. Like, I'm not running and hiding, but I'm not going to fuel the fire here. So he, you know, he made the decision that he wanted to play and ripped the band-aid off. I don't want to spend the whole summer thinking about facing these guys and them wanting to get me. So let's just do it now and get it over with. And that's basically what he did. But, you know, it's just one less thing that we will look forward to or talk about it, whether it was right for him.

And that's the most important thing. You know, there was a couple of other key injuries. that went on last night in Anaheim too. So, you know, it's not like they walked away Scott Free here and we'll know where more injuries are on that front. But, you know, the Leafs did what they thought they needed to do to at least safe face. And appease, I think, a certain hunger from a fan base. And they did it for at least one night. How's that?

Yep, no, that's kind of how I saw it too. Imagine if Goudis are just beating the wheels off of Domain? That's the thing. But if he did, he's like, now I've got to fight again. I'll beat all you guys up tonight. And then possibly again. Like, you know, it was a very, I'll call it, is a unique situation. I think he handled it about as well as he could.

I'm still not 100% sure that it's been put to bed. But for now, anyway, it has. Anyway, Kipper, we got to go. Thanks for doing this day, man. We appreciate it. Okay, guys, have a great day. I really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you.

That's Nick Kiprios from Real. Kippenborn on Fan 590 Sports Night Radio here on the Halford and Brough show on Sports Night 650. I enjoyed how offended you were when Kipper called him the soccer guy. They got rid of him. Bill Manning, right? You know, the soccer guy. Soccer guy. Yeah, they get rid of him. They mean, they did get rid of him. So he's right there. Okay. You know what? I just spent a little bit of time on this one. This is kind of an interesting story that we're also going to dovetail into the smart decision brought to you by Crow. So I'm going to introduce this by saying the smart

decision also has to do with the fact that the world's tallest college basketball player is on the move. The Canadian? Yeah, Olivier Rieu. Everyone knows Olivier Rieu. If you don't know college basketball, you've probably seen them on one of your social media platforms.

The 7 foot 9 center from Quebec has decided to leave the University of Florida. He made the announcement this morning, announcing that he will enter the NCAA's transfer portal. It does not open up for a week. It opens up on April the 7th.

But Ryu, who has a lot of notoriety and fanfare, made the decision now, I think in part, to kind of drum up more interest in his services. Now, it's an interesting one. At 7 foot 9, everyone's having a hard time trying to figure out if he's a novelty act or a legitimate basketball prospect. Because in his two years at Florida,

he really never played at all. He spent his first year as a red shirt freshman, so he didn't step on the floor. This year, in his first year of eligibility, he played a grand total of 15 minutes. Not in a, not per game, not in a game, 15 minutes all year. Right.

Can he, can he rebound? Can he, can he, can he, can he get to the free throw line and hit his free throws? Yeah. The problem was he didn't get an opportunity to do it this year because Florida returned a lot of upper classmen, especially front court guys. Now, there was a weird part in the season where the head coach said they kind of expected him to compete for a spot in the rotation and that never materialized.

And I think part of it I do with the fact like Florida had bigger fish to fry. They were looking for a second consecutive national title. They were a number one seat all season. This is going to be really interesting because I, you know, there's casual people that know nothing about college basketball that have asked me, who's this seven, what, nine Canadian kid. Well, he's the tallest player on Earth. And right now, he's going to go take on a new opportunity.

Now, some people have kind of painted a straight line to Purdue. Because Purdue, of course, famously had Zach Edy another seven, I think he's seven four Canadian kid who really, he was very raw. And he really flourished to Purdue and became the player of the year in college basketball. They're tall Canadians there apparently. Well, they have the style of basketball that they play, it's a little bit more. conducive to having a big man flourish. And, you know, Zach Edy turned into an NBA player at produce.

So I'm not saying that Ryu's going to go there. But, you know, stranger things have happened. Maybe in a few years we can send him our 8 foot one player. How much taller could people get? That's a real question. Can he stop a puck? And why isn't he in goal? He's from Quebec.

Someone asked that during March Madness. They're like, should this guy or should he not be in that for the Canadian men's national soccer team? like is Jesse Marsh onto this guy? Have you guys, speaking of height, have you guys noticed how awkward Curtis Douglas skating is? Yeah, he's too tall.

He's too tall. Try skating on stilts. I know, come on. That's the thing. He's like, this is not natural. Yeah, he's like, my first few steps are,

well, they're pretty far. It really makes you admire Zedano Char on what he was able to do because, I mean, it wasn't like he was graceful by any stretch, but he was able to get around and a lot,

which, because he's the same height, six foot nine. Any of the big defense, like headman, like any of those tall defensemen, how they can move. Unbelievable. It's impressive.

Unbelievable. So anyway, to put a bow on this one, Olivier Rieu, the 7 foot nine center from Quebec, is on the move. And that's a smart decision brought to you by Crow. Your trusting accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. Crow, smart decisions lasting value. Learn more at cromachai.com. Okay, we are going into the final hour of the program.

On the other side, Landon Ferraro is going to join the program. Canucks analyst here on SportsNet. We'll talk about last night's game in Vegas. Talk about everything pertaining to the Vancouver Canucks. That's coming up at 810. So don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.