Halford & Brough in the Morning - It's Practice Facility Wednesday

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including a race to the playoffs for the Jays and Mariners (3:00), plus they look to the upcoming Utah Mammoth season with The Athletic NHL's Joe Smith (27:46). 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.

You're listening to Haldon-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. The two-nepidty pitch, swinging and drive, deep into the gap in the up, center field, down for active bases. Rayleigh will score, Crawford will score. He's waving in Julio. Here comes Julio, Routing third. He'll score.

Swung on line to third. Caught by Ramirez. Bull game. The Guardians take over the Central Division lead. Jose Camayero. With the victory for the New York Yankees as they clinch a playoff spot. Good morning, Vancouver.

Six o'clock on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming live from the Kintech Studios. A beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick. No more interest, much lower payments, and financial peace of mind.

Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street. in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and

orthotics working together with you in step. We're really emphasizing the sports in sports net 650 today on this show. We have a very eclectic, very diverse sports show. And we've also got a Canucks game tonight. 7 o'clock from the Abbotsford Center. It's going to be the Canucks and the flame. So we're going to try and do as much as we can across the world of sports. A lot of baseball and the intro, very well done. Laddie. The guest list today begins at 630. Joe Smith is going to join us. He, of course, covers the Minnesota Wild and the NHL for the athletic,

but he's got a new feature piece up at the athletic on Utah Jazz and Mammoth owner, Ryan Smith. The title, what Ryan Smith's building in Utah is much bigger than the Mammoth and the jazz. Part of this movement, of course,

is the new 146,000 square foot practice facility in Sandy, Utah for the Mammoth. There's a lot of references. The Canucks just love it when we talk about this stuff, they just, they just love it. Joe Smith has a lot of details on this practice facility and everything else. They're like, well, get this guy up here to build some rinks.

There's a lot of quotes from the players about how much they love the practice. Is it state of the art? It is a state of the art practice facility. We should have an entire practice facility show where every guest has a different angle of practice facilities. Yeah, practice facility. Like four different architects or something? Uh, practice facility Friday. Anyone?

There's some alliteration there. Anyway, we're going to talk to Joe Smith at 630. about not just the practice facility, but everything that's going on in Utah. Very exciting times for a very otherwise boring state. 7 o'clock Frank Sarah Valley is going to join the program. NHL insider Frank Sarah Valley. There's lots of Canucks adjacent stuff going on

around the National Hockey League. News out of Edmonton yesterday, former Canuck, Vasilipod Sloven, also known as Vasilipod Kohlzen, signed a three-year extension with the oil. Apparently another... The city of Potslovak. Another Canuck favorite Jake Wallman

could soon be next for a contract extension. How about some updates on some unsigned RFAs with ties to the Canucks, Mason McTavish out of Anaheim, Luke Hughes, out of New Jersey, and Frank also has a bit on teams who could sell if they get off to a slow start. Can I just start with a little bit of trivia?

Yeah. Okay? Yeah. Todd Colson has played 219 games in the NHL. Okay. How many goals does he have? 219 games. How many goals does he have?

I get eight last year. I saw that floating around. I'm going to say in 219 games, I'm going to say 39 goals. He's 26 goals. I was way off. 26 goals. I was ambitious. Unlike Pod Colson at times.

Okay. Yeah, that's not a lot. It's not many, is it? Like, that's always been, that's always been the issue with Pod Colson. Like, everyone loves his work rate and that sort of thing. And he seems like a good kid. he cannot finish. He cannot score.

Like he does not. He's a bit, like in that sense, he's a bit like McKayev, where you liked a lot of things about McKayev, his speed, but he couldn't finish. We can talk to Frank about that and a whole lot more at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30, this is kind of cool.

Will Owen is going to join the program. Last minute add to the show. If you don't know Will, he is the co-host of the Squidge. Rugby YouTube channel, Squidge Rugby, which apparently his brother, that's his nickname. So that's where the YouTube channel's got about 250,000 subscribers. It's one of the biggest rugby content creating channels on the market. We're going to talk to him about the Canadian women's rugby team taking on host

England in the World Cup final on Saturday at 8 a.m. our time. Okay. And Adog, how did we come across this guest? I mean, I know you spent a lot of time on YouTube watching. Rugby highlights, but it wasn't you, was it? No, it was a listener that recommended it, they DM'd me, and it was like, hey, this guy's like the go-to, if you're looking for a rugby guest, because I guess we mentioned it on air that we were, and he's like, this guy is like the go-to rugby content creator online right now. So he's like, if you want a goat rugby, rugby.

Go-to. Oh, so if you want a rugby guy, I recommend him, and so I followed up on the recommendation, and there we are. So, yeah, we tried to get him on later in the week, because obviously with the game being on Saturday, we thought let's do this Thursday or Friday, but, Only availability was today, so we're going to give it a whirl at 7.30 some rugby talk with Will Owen from Squidge Rugby. That's at 7.30 at 8 o'clock to Drancer, Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk is going to join the program. I already mentioned it, but I will reiterate tonight.

7 p.m. from Abbotsford, it's the Canucks and the Flames in the second iteration of the preseason for both. We will talk to the Dranser about what to expect from tonight's lineup a little bit more NHL heavy. We're going to go over that in what happened as well because the Canucks did practice in two groups. at UBC yesterday. So working in reverse on that guest list 8 o'clock Thomas Drance 7.30 Will Owen

from Squidge Rugby 7 o'clock Frank Sarvalley and then 630 Joe Smith from the athletic That's what's happening on the program today Laddie Lett let's tell everybody what happened

Hey did you guys see the game last night? No What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing We know how busy your life can be What happened? You missed that?

What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies invest in tools, resources, and safety training, visit them online at BCCSA.C.C.A. As mentioned, the Vancouver Canucks did return to practice on Tuesday at UBC, split into two groups with the first group, the group that we'll be suiting up in Abbotsford tonight when the Canucks take on Calgary out in Abbey.

Yeah, so a couple of notes about that, because the Canucks already advertised that the following players would be in the lineup. And who were some of the guys that they said, who were the vets out there yesterday? The first line featured Nils Hoaglander once again, skitting alongside Philip Heedle

and what would be the de facto first line. Their winger, 31-year-old H.L veteran, Mackenzie McKeckern. Okay, but Tyler Myers is expected to play, I believe, and Thatcher Dempco maybe is expected to start. One of the guys that was mentioned is Connor Garland,

but he will not play because he's dealing with a minor injury and he didn't skate yesterday. Adam Foote said that Garland, who was slated to play in the exhibition game

tonight, was battling through something minor, but if it was the season opener as opposed to the second game in the exhibition season, Garland would be good to go. So I think tonight in Abbotsford is going to be,

yes, an NHL exhibition game. But I also think it's going to be kind of like a salute to the star players on the Absford Canucks that won the Memorial Cup last season because Calder Cup last season because you've got that line of Sasson, Carlson, and Baines together. You know, you've got guys like Kudriyatsev playing. So I'll be curious to see how they play tonight, but I've got to be honest. like I'm kind of looking ahead to Friday

because that exhibition game at Rogers Arena I believe it's against Seattle the rematch is when the Canucks stars will be out there and obviously we're all waiting in anticipation for the first preseason game that Elias Pedersen plays and you know I don't know what to expect I think what we've heard from camp

is that yeah he's been fine fine, like hasn't stood out in a bad way, hasn't particularly stood out in a good way, but everything that the Canucks are saying and that, you know, what's been said is ultra-positive, right? Like they, you know, it's, it's operation positivity right now when it comes to Elias Pedersen. And, you know, if Pedersen doesn't play well Friday, you know, it's not the end of the world, but it would be nice. It would be nice if he showed.

something when he does make his preseason appearance. So the preseason is all about the dress rehearsal for the regular season. So not to gloss over what's going on in Abbotsford tonight. I'm kind of with you. I feel like this is all an exercise

and just waiting for the next thing to happen. And then when the next thing happens, start waiting for the next thing to happen. For example, as excited as I am about seeing the Abbotsford line of Archdee Baines, Max Sasson, and Linus Carlson playing tonight.

I'm more looking ahead to what we got a glimpse of yesterday with the power play because Adam Foot kind of unveiled what the power play might look like when the Canucks drop puck for game one of 82 this season. The coach had Quinn Hughes, Elias Pedersen, Brock Besser,

Jake DeBrusk, and Evander Cain working as what many were rightly to assume as the first power play unit yesterday. PD was set up on the right boards, Besser in the bumper, Debrusk, net front, Cain on the left, and then of course, Hughes manning the point. So Cain on the left side will be interesting.

You know, I think a lot of people probably thought, oh, he's going to go, he's going to go net front. But DeBrest's net front has the hands, right? I mean, we saw that a lot. And maybe some people thought, oh, maybe they'll try cane in the bumper and Besser on the left flank. Now, it should be noted. And some of you may not want to hear this. Adam Foote mentioned yesterday he's like hey

Garland is still part of the equation when it comes to the power play so you know Evander Kane is a good goal scorer but he's only had one season in his career where he scored a lot of power play goals and that was one season he played in San Jose

and they had a pretty lethal power play given the veteran guys they had on it yeah he didn't do do much on the power play with Edmonton and you can say well i mean they had a pretty full power play full of talent there but i mean for you didn't he didn't find a spot yeah on the number one unit there and now he's i think being expected to play a rather big part of special teams the power play in vancouver and i'll be curious to see what it looks like because you know not just because you're like a good goal score doesn't necessarily mean that you find a place on the power play like Alex burroughs scored quite a few goals for

the Canucks. Not really a power play guy, though. So I think the big thing for me is going to the Hughes-Peterson connection, which we've talked a lot about on this show, about them needing to carry this team in a lot of different ways. I think if you want to boil it down

to its individual parts of the game, them being a dynamic, effective duo on the power play. Obviously, I don't think anyone's going to ascend to the heights of what we've seen with McDavid and Drysaddle on the power play in Edmonton, but to become a de facto version of that, maybe what you see in Colorado alongside of

Kail McCar and Nathan McKinnon. They're going to need that this year. With all due respect. And they need it from Hughes and Petey. And Petey's the guy, right? Like, you know what? Yeah, that's what, like, they need the duo. Yeah.

Like, that's what, like, it's not going to be Hughes and Besser. It's not going to be Hughes and Kane. It's not going to be Hughes in DeBresk. It's the two best players, the two most skilled guys on the Man Advantage. And also just the way they're set up. Yeah. Right? I mean, you got Hughes.

They got to figure out a. They got to figure out a play. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Like all these guys have that one. Have a play. And you can be like, well, it'll get too predictable. I was like, well, you know what?

It still works if you use it effectively. And you do have other options. But they got to figure out something. And I think the play is most likely to be some sort of one-timer for Pedersen. But it's got to be dynamic. You know, feet have got to be moving out there. Shooting lanes have got to be changing. Passing lanes have got to be changing.

got to be changing. There's got to be, there's got to be, you know, other options that you can at least fake to. Yeah. Because the blueprint for the team this year, I think, is going to be, like we said 100 times on this show, relatively low event, defense first, built on the strength of the blue line and the goal tent. Despite the fact that Adam Foote is putting in and implementing some things in practice where they might be a little bit more aggressive.

I don't think they're going to be a high scoring team, especially at evens this year. Prove me wrong, children. prove me wrong, but that means you're going to rely heavily on a few things. One, good defense, two, good goal tending. And then the usual math on this is that you have to have really good special teams. And we've seen bad

power play sync teams. I mean, God, we had Eddie Olcich on the show last year or last week talking about how bad Seattle's power play last year to the point where he thought it cost them the season. Well, Pittsburgh missed the playoffs a couple of years ago because their power play was terrible. Like you can't, what it does, not reinventing

the wheel here with our analysis, but it does two things. One, keeps you from scoring goals, which is a very important part of winning hockey games. It is very important. I think the mental part of it, the failure and the continued struggles, I think sometimes that bleeds over to other parts of the game where all of a sudden you start chasing offense and chasing goals in other facets because your power play is not getting it done. The worst is when there's a sense of dread when you get a penalty. And we've all felt it before, especially with certain Kanax team, where you're like, no one's excited about the prospect of sending that group up.

Here comes a momentum killer. Right. Here is like the least effective power plan. Now I'm not saying the Canucks have this, but it's just something to monitor. What about the P.K? The PK is going to be interesting to look at as well just because they've lost some key guys on that, including Pew Souter. I kind of wish we would have got to look at that yesterday as opposed to the power play. Because that, look, when I saw the power play guys that were rolled out yesterday, there were no huge surprises. Kane, maybe, but you could have argued that Kane was just merely filling a

spot that Conner Garland might fill, right? And that spot was kind of the one that was up for grabs anyway. The PK is a lot more interesting in terms of deployment because you either have to have guys that have done it before and they've lost a few of those guys or you have to have internal candidates that either foot trusts or have been recommended to him because he's like is the person going to kill penalties? I don't know. That's a great question. Like he's got he's got the instincts for it for sure. And it is a way. But do you want him in that situation? Might be a a way to get him out there, get him more involved. And a way to get hurt, right? That's the flip

side of it. I never subscribed to that theory. I think he blocks a lot of shots, though. I think one of his skills. He, like, he is positionally very sound, so the puck ends up hitting him. I'm sort of an all ice time is good guy. Like, the more that you're out there, the more you have an opportunity to do things. And for a guy that maybe last year, and not maybe, but maybe last year, struggled to make an impact on the game on a regular basis.

I didn't notice that. Giving him different, venues and avenues and opportunities to do it might be the way to go. Let's get into the baseball here. I have a question. It's for Laddie. Laddie, what is your concernometer right now when it comes to the Jays?

You're so cool. Zero. I didn't go into the season expecting them to win the division, you guys. Yeah, but expectations change, Laddie. You're always too cool to be worried about the Jays. I'm not too cool. You're always too cool to be worried about the Jays. at every scenario when it comes to baseball, because you have to.

Well, how about the picture right now in that they looked very, very certain to be getting this first round by that we can all acknowledge, I think, is pretty important, or at the very least, a good advantage. Oh, you just shook your head. It doesn't matter to be, I'm too cool for the first round by. I don't even want it. You're not worried at all right now. So if they, if they, if they get in, long as they get in.

If the Yankees pass them and they go into the post. season, having blown the division, you're going to be like, still equally excited. Yeah. Still equally optimistic. No. Okay, well, then that's two different words. But that's two different things. But that's something.

Isn't that? Doesn't your optimism affect your excitement? A little bit, but I've had so many years of Blue Jays fandom where they didn't even come close to making the playoffs or they had no. It's not one of those years, man. This is one of those years where it's pretty wide open. I still can't believe what they're doing this. season. The fact that they have 90 wins is

incredible to me. It still hasn't hit yet. Maybe Lattie just doesn't want to jinx it. You don't want to think of the possibility that they could win the World Series when you get to the playoffs, it becomes a whole different game, it becomes all about your rotation. The Blue Jays have a very fine rotation. I'm happy with their chances even if they get in without winning the division. Follow-up question. That's what it comes down to. A follow-up question on the Concernometer. How concerned are you about the grand

conspiracy for the umpires to continually screw the Blue Jays on a near nightly basis. My dad is all in on this conspiracy theory. Yeah, he's after the foul ball yesterday. Like the umpire yesterday was like he was watching that ball come down the line super fast, very tough and he's like, and his brain went,

don't forget the directive for Major League Baseball to screw the Jays. Fowball! It was amazing that he did it in time. For those of you, they have no idea what we're talking about. Blue Jays lost yesterday. 4-1 to the Red Sox. The slumping Blue Jays. had just three hits and lost for the fifth time in six games.

However, they were robbed of a hit, a what would have been bases clearing at least double. I don't know, George Springer's old. He probably wouldn't like that into a triple. But whatever, here's what happened. Springer thought he had hit at least the two-run double in the second inning. But third-based umpire, Scott Barry, all part of the conspiracy, called Springer's ground ball foul, despite the fact that the ball bounced in fair play before the third base. Yeah, and so if it goes over the third base,

and I'll say this he was in perfect position to call it you could not have probably overturned it on a replay even if it was reviewable which it's not Laddie you pointed out what's the rule with replays on foul balls if it's in front of the umpire you are not allowed to review it that's all

on the umpire but if it's behind you are you are okay they have to turn around I guess then they can we can you're like I gotta turn around it's always been tough for an umpire I want to play the sequence because not only did Springer get robbed of a double, which, again, if you're certain angles to look fair, I'm not robbed as I'm just throwing it out there to amplify the conspiracy

theory. But right after that, he then struck out looking on a strike that looked like it was a ball. That was worse. So here's the entire sequence from Dan Shulman on the sports net call yesterday. Jay's lose 4-1 to the Red Sox. Certainly done that a lot this year. Hits it foul, says third base. umpire, Scott Barry, not a reviewable play. John Schneider doesn't like it, and he's coming out to talk to the home plate umpire and the crew chief, Doug Eddings, to say, can you guys talk about this? Are you sure?

Here's a look at it from George Springer's perspective. One bounce in front of the bag, and then it looks like it goes over the bag. And then the third baseman dives, and Barry was very good. confident the way he called it he had a pretty good look at it it's it's tough to know for sure but i'm with you it looked like when it went over the bag it was over the bag but it's a strike and again not reviewable oh boy and then that call goes against them and the blue jays are not getting the brakes springer incensed and had a right that ball a good three inches off the outside corner not to pick on Laddie because I know he's trying not to be stressed and he's trying to remain

excited but I wanted to read this from Eastwood and New West. Laddie drank a nice warm cup of cope this morning. Every Jay's fan's concern meter is redlining right now. Okay, I'm gonna let you off the hook Laddie because I know one team's fan base that is for sure freaking out right now and that is the Detroit Tigers and this is something that we haven't really focused on too much because we've had the Blue Jays to focus on we've had the Mariners to focus on and on this show it's like that's enough baseball yeah but what's going on in the AL Central is incredible because you've got one incredible collapse of the Detroit Tigers and at the same time which is a problem for the Tigers, the Cleveland Guardians,

still sounds weird to say that. Cleveland Guardians are surging. It was a crazy night last night between the Guardians and the Tigers. So Jose Ramirez drove in a run with a swinging bunt. Cleveland rallied in a very weird sixth inning yesterday against Detroit and their ace, Terrick Scuba, which we'll get to in a second. So the Guardians beat the Tigers 5-2. That moved them into a tie for first place in the Central. That's important because on July 8th, Detroit,

Troy was leading the Central by 15 and a half games. That is insane! The collapse over the last two and a half months has been crazy. As a matter of fact, the Guardians trailed by 12.5 on August 25th. They sold at the deadline. They gave Bieber to the Blue Jays. They have since 1.11 of 12. They're 17 and 5 in September.

The Tigers, who I think their fans are having an even bigger cup of copium than you, if they're somehow not freaking out right now, have dropped. seven straight and they're actually they're drinking bleach so what happened yesterday and this isn't funny because this was actually a fairly serious moment in the game but in that six inning that i mentioned terrick scubel threw a 99 mile an hour fastball to cleveland's david fry fry had squared around a bun and the 99 mile an hour fastball hit fry smack in the middle of the face there was no deflection nothing that slowed it down it was awful it didn't hit the bad look it might have it may be glanced but that thing came

in about as fast as it could. Fry went down obviously immediately. Scoobel, his reaction was almost worse because he realized what had happened and he was beside himself on the mound and it was tough to watch him and he was clearly right. He was rattled before. Then he was having a tough inning and he was absolutely rattled after that. So to add to this Detroit Tigers misery, their ace and Cy Young candidate in a game where if Scoobel goes out, you're pretty much expecting to win that game.

they lose again. That's now a full-blown race in the Central. If you look at that race and then the race for the NL wildcard, these final few days of the regular season are going to be amazing. The Diamondbacks are hanging around in that wild card chase. The Reds are still very much in that wild card chase in the NL and the Mets who have been another collapse, not quite to the Tigers variety,

but in a way their own version of the Tigers collapse. It's going to be a really exciting final few days of the MLB season. Okay, we've got a guest. coming up, Joe Smith from the Athletic to talk what's going on with the Utah Mammoth, the Utah Jazz with their owner, Ryan Smith, but we will talk about the Mariners who clinched postseason spot,

which is a pretty big deal down in Seattle after we speak with Joe. Anything else you want to chat about. Text into the Dunbar Lumber Text line, 650, 650 Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and runner warriors for over 50 years. Visit them whether there are three locations to serve you

or online at Dunbarlumber.com. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650. One quick note before we go to break. We got Giants tickets to give away. You got a pair of tickets to go see the Vancouver Giants today. Be caller number 5 at 8 a.m. this morning, 604-280-650. That number again, 604-280-650. Don't worry.

If you forget, I'll remind you later in the show. But we are giving away a pair of Giants tickets at 8 a.m. This morning, caller number 5, 604-280-650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Richo and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 632 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody, Halford Brough, Sportsnet, 650.

Halford and Brub in the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Only a licensed insolvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no up front these. To learn how, visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Always forget about Euro Wednesdays. Then it kicks. It's a great day. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Joe Smith from the Athletic is going to join us in just a moment here.

The highlight of Hour 1. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170. Street in Vancouver. We go now to the Power West Industries hotline. Our next guest covers the Minnesota Wild and the NHL at large for the athletic. Joe Smith here now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Joe.

How are you? Doing well. How are you guys doing? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. So lots to get into today. We've got a bunch of questions about the Wild, but we did want to start with a feature piece

that you have up at the athletic right now on Utah Jazz and Mammoth owner, Ryan Smith titled What Ryan Smith's building in Utah is much bigger than the mammoth in the jazz. Now for the purposes of this audience because this is a Vancouver Canucks crowd and everyone pays attention to what the mammoth they're doing. The new

latest part of this movement is the massive 146,000 square foot practice facility that Smith is built. So why don't you start there and how that has become sort of maybe the latest and most key part of what they're building in Utah? Yeah, I guess. It's pretty

incredible he gave me a personal tour a couple of weeks ago before it was unveiled and they're still under construction and parts of it it's like a 120 acre mall that they're still kind of building out of and into but you know the space just overall is bigger than than anything i've seen as far as from a practice facility perspective they have that space you know the gym uh the recovery pool like the dining room has a long dining table the kitchen like um you know i think you know when they bought the team, like, I don't think they were thinking about a facility in general. I think they were just, it happened so fast. They were like, what do you guys need in the interim?

But it became clear that this was a big part of not just for the team, but they wanted to be able to involve the community and get them involved, you know, youth hockey, other things that could be done on those two sheets of ice, a big part of their youth mammoth program to get more youth hockey involvement, like their junior jazz program. But just taking the tour, and I saw the guys, the players get the tour that same morning that I was there, and they were just, they couldn't believe it. Like, Mikhail Sergertep turned to me, I covered him in Tampa. I'm like, what do you think? He goes, this is the best.

So, you know, facility won't make a team, but I think it shows the commitment that they have to building something, not just, I guess, for the mammoth, but overall for the state of Utah as a whole. So, Joe, you spent some time with Ryan Smith. What's he like? It's definitely interesting, not like a usual, like, typical owner that you would talk to. Like, he feels, like, very much comfortable in his own skin, very confident, of course. Like, obviously, I covered, like, Jeff Binnock, other owners, and he's, you know, this guy's wearing, like, you know, a hoodie and a backwards cap and jeans, and, like, just very casual. But you can tell how much passion he has for the team, like, how much he goes into the jazz in general. you see he has a kind of a fan's mindset with things.

But clearly, he's not afraid to be bold and try new things. And clearly, when you buy two sports teams, then you have a downtown area you want to rebuild a little bit and have grand goals, you know, clearly there's a lot of confidence behind that. And he has a lot of people in his group as helps delegate to as well. But where does this come from, this, this, this, this, pride for Utah, this, this pride for his, his home state, you know, I think people are always skeptical when it comes to just generally billionaires. Is it, is it, is it all a genuine

enthusiasm for the company? Or sorry, for the, for the, for the state, but also, I guess, his company. You know, it feels like it. Like, I know it could sound, you know, like, obviously he's a billionaire and a very rich man. And anytime you get into, involved in business Ventures, like, you know, the idea I'm sure, too, is to make money, so I don't think that that's not a part of it. But he grew up there, like, went to VYU, like, clearly he grew up in the Junior Jazz Program. Like, he has a lot of pride, and, like, it feels like it's a unique place, and people

who are from there feel that way, too, and so he wants to kind of elevate it and use the sports teams as kind of a vehicle or something to kind of, to bring more notoriety, to bring more of a standard there and bring people into Utah, which is a growing from young population. So I feel that is genuine, in a sense. Like, I'm not saying they're not going to make money off of these things, and this is not like businessmen don't get rich by making bad investments, but they did put $3 billion into the downtown project on their own

and doing a lot individually to make the practice facility to make it what they feel they hope is a world-class organization. But now they have to win, right? All the stuff is great and all the window dressing and everything else, but now they feel the pressure to actually win and reward the faith of the fan base that has come out and supported them. You wrote about a, you called it a summer project, and it was a pledge to help build up to 20 local rinks,

and he offered $500,000 each to get them started. Why is that important? Oh, I think that's kind of the bigger picture part of it as far as growing the game, from a youth perspective and he started with the junior jazz which had 70,000 members of kids in it and he wanted to get hockey into that realm and the only way to get hockey into that realm is to kind of grow at local municipalities and have a chance to get sticks in hands of kids in the area and hockey's been there before the mammoth obviously they've had other approach of other teams there in the state not a new sport to them but this is a way to kind of accelerate the growth

yeah like i know it's one thing to say you want to build 20 rings you just have that done you need the other other cities to be on board and in you know helping build it in the other part of the cost but um you know they have five municipalities that are in different stages of development that they said and they feel like having the practice of a body built could be kind of a model home so to speak at a very larger scale but to show what it could do for the little communities there so i think the whole big idea is to have more rinks to kind of grow the game on the youth level and that also grows more fans, which grows your business, but also becomes a big kind of momentum building

towards the 2034 Olympics, of course, which are in Salt Lake City as well. Tell us about the arena because it wasn't ideal for hockey for the first season. What's it going to be like when all the renovations are done? Yeah, I was in there a couple weeks ago, and it's completely gutted on the inside of the lower bowl. they raised the floor, the bottom floor by two feet.

Part of the way to get it to be more friendly to watch from a hockey perspective. If you've been there for hockey games, you can tell it's not. A lot of seats are not a full view of both goals. So they had to raise the level. They also had these risers customly built that were different. The button can be different for hockey and for basketball. That could create a better sight line for the lower bowl, especially this year.

So they'll have about 12,000 decadacity this year, 17,000, two years, and it'll be fully able to have better views for hockey and for basketball. So all the rooms are being redone, like some of the suite. So by the time,

three years from now, the Delta Center that you know before, on the inside at least, will be pretty much brand new. We're speaking to Joe Smith of the Athletic, who wrote about Ryan Smith of Utah. Joe, I thought this was an interesting part of your piece.

How did Ryan Smith get convinced to buy a hockey team? Yeah, I mean, it's funny because you think about how I'm all on board he is now, but he said it never really crossed his mind to get involved in hockey or be involved in buying a team until actually has a vacation home in Cordoline, Idaho, which, I'm sure a lot of you guys know, a lot of former famous hockey players lived there, the Gretzky, John Cooper, you know, Brendan Mora, Sheldon Soray, like, and so he's neighbors with John Cooper, plays golf with him and Gretzky and these other guys a lot through

summer's back, and he really got a feel for like these guys are, about the game, about the hockey culture, but just about about the divide that they have, and he thought this could work in Utah, and obviously it's one thing to think it could work and all thing to have an opportunity, and so he was in the Bahamas a couple years ago on a trip with Chris Armstrong, and I want to talkie ops, some GMs and Danny Ainge and they were watching basketball, I switched to hockey, and they had this

brainstorming stuff about could it work there, and Danny Age went out the time in Boston with the Celtics and the Bruins hockey there, and they really, three months later they met with Gary Bettman and discussed what they can do with Utah, could they play a game there, like exhibition

game, like what there's expansion on the mind could you keep us informed and then we all know what happened with Arizona and how fast that transpired, but it wasn't something He's been growing up his entire life wanting to be involved in hockey or even as a five years ago. I thought this was a big deal to do. And it kind of happened by happenstance and people you know and got connected through guys like John Cooper and Wayne Gretzky and those guys. That's where most of my good ideas come from when I'm vacationing in the Bahamas or in my golf resort in Kordelaan.

I mean, you know, it's just nice to have. Joe, it's a different life. It is, it is a different life. It really is. I want it. I want it now. we loved your piece and we thought it was really interesting but while we got you on the line what's going on with Caprizov yeah there hasn't really been much you know recently like

honestly as we all know well know Caprizov and his camp declined the $60 million per year deal over eight years out I think it was a couple years a couple weeks ago um he spoke probably for the first time last Thursday at camp and said he likes many and he wants to, you know, indicated he wants to stay and he said there's a lot of a time as he put it to get something done, which I think for wild fans

don't think that way because they know season starts soon and a lot of kind of angst on the fan base for it but his agent Paul Theophano showed up kind of unexpectedly at that first day of camp and talked to their assistant GM for a while, but we're told nothing new

on that end or nothing, you know, progress guess wise on that end. So I think it's, is where it is at this point. And things can change with a phone call, of course, or somebody moving forward with a different angle on it. But as of right now, he's just playing the preseason and status quo. And while they're still hopeful to sign their franchise player and want to and believe they can. And so they're going to keep on, keep on staying at it. And obviously, this is a very, very, very important move and moment for the franchise long term. So we know we'll be covering it a lot. And it'll be a big topic point, but unfortunately

there's not a lot of news at this particular point. Joe, wanted to thank you for taking the time to do this. It was a great story in the athletic, and it's going to be a really interesting story to follow how Ryan Smith does down in Utah, because you mentioned it earlier, this is all great that he's got the facilities,

and he seems very enthusiastic. Now he's going to start winning some hockey games and winning over the market that way. Thanks for joining us today, and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you. Sounds good. Thank you. Take care, guys. Thanks, Joe. That's Joe Smith from The Athletic here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet. 650.

Do you know what Ryan Smith's business is? Qualtricks. Do you know what they do? No. It's experience management. Do you know what that is? Experience. Experience management.

Managing your experience? Yeah. It's like, so it's like doing, I'll tell you. I don't have to Google it up. I'm looking at it. It's like surveys, essentially, but like better than the ones you can get for free. And so they'll like, they'll say, they'll put together, you know, I guess a survey on either it's like an employee experience with the company or a customer experience with the company. And then they not only like collect the data, I think they analyze the data.

Yeah. Right. Very interesting. Yeah. So he basically just puts together like the sports radio sports polls every. mornings. The subway fresh take poll question?

Yeah, like, who's the Canucks best player? Is tonight a must win? That's the best. Boom, billionaire. Yeah. Are the Canucks

to make the playoffs? Those are the two best poll questions you can do on a near daily basis. Yeah. We did them almost every day at our old station.

Um, or that's closed. Are the, uh, are the Seattle Mariners going to make the playoffs? Seattle Mariners are in the playoffs, buddy. Yeah.

Yesterday. 100%. 100% in yesterday as we turn our attention back to the baseball. the Seattle Mariners punched their ticket to the playoffs for the first time since 2022 and just the second time since they won 116 games all the way back in 2001

and they did it, courtesy a Josh Naylor 2-0 basis clearing double in the 8th. Here's what it sounded like. Josh Naylor, the hero, as the Mariners go to the playoffs with a 4-3 win over the Rockies on Tuesday night. Mariners looking for a win to get a post-season birth. Here's the set and the 2-0 pitch. Swigging a drive, deep into the gap in left center field, down for active bases.

Rayleigh will score, Crawford will score. He's waving in Julio. Here comes Julio rounding third. He'll score. A basis clearing, three-run double by Josh Naylor. Holy smokes the Mariners have the lead. Four to three here in the bottom of the eighth inning. Naylor comes through in the clutch with two outs.

A double in the gap in left center field, scoring Rayleigh. Crawford and Julio Rodriguez. It's a brand new ball game and the fans are on their feet here at Team Mobile Park. Here's a question for you. Can you guess how many hits the Mariners

had against the lowly Colorado Rockies prior to Nailer? Three? Two. That was the third hit of the game. They looked for the most part in that game like they were going to blow it against a really bad Rockies team, but shout out. Josh Nailer's

rat. I love Josh Nailer. I love the physique. It's very familiar to me. I love the way that he plays. I love the way that he matches. And he's also, he's been very, very clutch for them, including yesterday. Now, if you look at that Mariners team, they won for the 15th time in 16 games yesterday. They, as mentioned, secured their second postseason birth since 2001. They can wrap up the AL West title as soon as Wednesday. And that's got a lot of to do with the fact that the Houston Astros are puking all over themselves, including losing last night at the Sut to the A's. So two teams that we follow very closely here,

having very different experiences down the stretch. I know Laddie, and I... Laddie's not worried at all. I think there's some validity to your point about I don't know how much the end of year momentum carries over to the playoffs. Because, like you said, are you winning games right now if you're the Mariners? Yes. Are you going to get to face the Colorado Rockies in the playoffs?

No, right? Like, I get that part of it. It becomes this single series. It's all matchups. based and they can change on a dime especially if you fall behind early in a series. The Mariners are probably going to go into these

playoffs. I think they're going to win the West now. I mean, the numbers bear it out that they're probably going to win the West. The Mariners now, according to fan graphs, have a 99.2% chance of clinching a buy. And that's got to do it. And that's the Tigers falling apart. So

the Mariners, I guess the question is, with this momentum, is it going to halt entirely if they get a first round by and then they're just sitting around waiting for ball to be played? I mean, there's that to be taken into consideration as well. I don't think they're going to care because they're super fired up to, you know, they're going to keep going here. And you know who they finish the season, of course. We talked about this earlier. Yeah, the Dodgers.

Right. And I don't know what that series is going to look like. I know the Mariners fans had it circled on the calendar in big red ink for a variety of reasons. It's not often that the Dodgers and Shohay come rolling through town. I don't know who's going to play in that series. Because if the Mariners can wrap this thing up either tonight or prior to the start of that Dodgers series and the Dodgers have already clinched,

it could be just a series of bench players like running out the string there. So that'll be a really... The Dodgers aren't going to get a buy. No. That's pretty much already decided. So if they've won their division, yeah, you're right.

Like there might be nothing to play for either of those teams. Now there's still a bunch of good races out there. We went over the AL Central race between the Guardians and the Tigers, probably going to go down, maybe to the final game of the regular season. The National League, another race that we haven't really paid a lot of attention to is what's going on in the wild card right now. If the Mets drop out, if the, put it this way, if the Tigers and the Mets both stumble

and somehow miss the postseason, we are going to have incredible debates about what was the greater choke. This could, there could be two of the biggest chokes happening at the same time simultaneously in the AL and the NL that we've seen in baseball in a long time. You got to remember the first half of the season the Mets looked like they were good to go for the postseason. They've really fallen on hard times. This won by the Tigers

because it's been so dramatic over the last month, a reminder, they had a 12-and-a-half game lead in the Central on August 25th. They have gone completely in the tubes. Can you guess Cleveland's run differential? Is it meager? Is it small?

It's more than small. It's negative. Wow, good for them. It's minus six. Well, they're not supposed to be in this position. Like, Lattie pointed it out. They sold at the deadline. Did not look like a team that was going to make any sort of charge for two reasons.

One, the gap was huge. And two, the guys that they thought would get them back into it were traded away. Fans were angry. Yeah. The fans were livid after the deadline. But that's why you play the games. That's why Terry Francona was, I just watched a video of him. He was in full uniform at like 9.45 this morning because he's so excited just to get out there

manage some baseball. It's a great time of year for that as a matter of fact. This is a great time of year. I would rather Cleveland be in the playoffs than Detroit just for the story.

It would be great. If they made the playoffs, every team that would be involved in the playoffs would be fascinating. I mean, in some cases just

because like the Yankees are the Yankees and the Dodgers are the Dodgers and the Red Sox are the Red Sox but like the Js obviously we're going to be interested in them. The Mariners, obviously, we're going to be interested in them, but also

like Philly. You've got like this amazing atmosphere in Philly. I love watching postseason games in Philly. You've got the Cubs, who are the Cubs, the Brewers and the Padres who are along with the Mariners, famous sad club members that have, you know, never won a World Series. The Mariners have never even been to a World Series. So every team, especially if Cleveland makes it over to Detroit. Not that Detroit doesn't have anything special about it, but that would be quite a story to follow. One more before we go to break.

I know we're up against it for time, but I do want to mention this, and we forgot earlier when we were talking about the Jays. Alec Manoa Lattie. Alec Manoa was DFA designated for assignment before that loss to the Red Sox yesterday. This clears a spot for Santander to get back in the lineup. But it also means that the Jays must now place Manoa on waivers

over the course of the next seven days. That means any of the other teams in Major League Baseball can claim him. And even if he goes unclaimed, because of the years that he's played in Major League Baseball, he could become a minor league free agent this offseason. So that's a long way of saying, like, Manoa's time as a Blue Jay might be over, which was a crazy fall from Grace for a guy

that not long ago was a Cy Young finalist. What were your thoughts? And what do you think about why they made this move? I know we were talking about it earlier. Yeah, short runway for a guy coming back from Tommy John. And so they obviously didn't like what they saw from his recovery. His fastball was averaging 90.5, not really close to it. I think he was in his peak, topping out at 92.

So they obviously didn't think he could get MLB hitters out. And I don't think they hate Alec Manoa, but the fact that if he did come back, it would be a $2.2 million price tag in arbitration. So they save that. So they figure, hey, we'll let him go. We're open to him coming back, but not at the $2.2 million price tag.

But now Alec Manoa has the freedom to say, you know what, I want a fresh start somewhere else, somewhere that's going to play me in the big league level, not in AAA anymore. Okay, before we go to break, thank you for that, Laddie. We do need to tell you that the new hockey season is here, and you know what that means. It's time to level up with sports excellence. Find the perfect fit for success on the ice with Bauer. Score exclusive gear like the Bauer 2025 Vapor LTX Pro, skates, sticks, and protective equipment. Pick yours up and so much more at Big League Sports. Excellence, your one-stop shop in Vancouver for everything, Bauer.

Visit them at 2151 Burrard in Kitzelano or shop online at sportsexcellance.com. Sports excellence here to grow your game. We've got to go to break. Frank Sarvalley's going to join us on the other side. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.