Halford & Brough in the Morning - Long Breaks Equal Slow Starts

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

In hour two, Mike and guest host Jamie Dodd preview tomorrow's game one of the Stanley Cup Finals with The Hockey News Florida Panthers beat writer David Dwork (3:00) after a lengthy break, plus they talk a bit of Blue Jays with Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

7 o'clock on a Friday it's a Fiesta Friday here on the Halford and Brough Show featuring Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650. Yeah, I just about called him Damien Jodd. All right? I'm not doing well this morning. I got a lot going on. Two hours, buddy.

Two hours. You can do it. I had a very difficult night's sleep. My knee is killing me. Damien Jodd. I think I'm getting sick. I just called him Jamie Dodd, Damie Jodd. You know,

sometimes things happen here in the world of broadcasting. You know what I think would fix it? One more laptop. Now, you just need one more laptop in the mix. Some of them make fun of my dual laptop system. You need a tablet on your lap, too. To call this gigantic white behemoth

a laptop is actually not fair to the laptop industry. This is more of a diesel engine. This has just got reeds on it. It makes sparks when he turns it on. It does. It takes 16 hours to charge and the battery life is 12 minutes.

It's a beauty of a machine. It's Ask Us Anything Friday. It's What We Learned. AJ's going to join us in just a moment here from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. And it's Fiesta Friday. What was the name of that song again? You're Eating? Are you eating salsa on the beach?

Yeah, it was called. Sounds very unappealing, salsa on the beach. Yeah, it'd be very messy and annoying. This show is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly,

knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program. Hour 2 is brought to you

by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste. Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some, get some at a liquor store near you,

or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that is what you are waiting for. To the phone lines we go. It's AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

Try AJ's traditional New York pizza, or sink into their famous Detroit pizza. Only at AJ's Pizza. Order online at AJ's.pizza. AJ, what's up, my man? What is going on, Alfred? I see you got some real talent next to you today. Yeah. Jamie, love your work, my friend.

Oh, thank you, AJ. I love your work. Are you kidding me? AJ's Pizza? Hey, I do have Jimmy Aces. Yes. Call him Florida in five. Florida in five.

Wow. He's called him Florida in five. It's a bold one, but, you know, I mean, I, yeah, I mean, I got to give it to him. Let's see. Let's see. I'm not telling anybody to put their shekels on it. For those that are unaware, Jimmy Aces is the de facto gambling expert in this collaboration

between the Halford and Brough Sportsnet 650 show and AJ's Pizza. A third character got entered somewhere named Jimmy Aces. He gives a lot of inside information and betting advice, neither of which often hit, but that doesn't stop him from putting it out there. He does say Florida loses Saturday night.

Oh, wow. Okay. I'm very intrigued by this. You said you have two hot takes off the top. I assume that that's one of them. Is it Florida loses game one of the sweeps? The other hot take was, and it's not even a take, it's just I think in my contract,

there can't be 50% Blue Jay fans on the show when I'm on. Right. That's a problem because that, of course, is hard, man. It should be 75% Blue Jays fans. AJ, you're a Yankees guy, right? You should be thrilled. You guys are, like, dominating. You're a historic team, and we're stuck in the cellar.

I don't know. I didn't like the Juan Soto forearm thing, but yeah. Yeah. No. Okay. So this weekend at AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, the place to be as always Sunday, as we kind of turn AJ's that went from being a pizza place to a Rangers bar.

Now you're a soccer bar. You're going to be. We are a footy bar. You're a footy bar. Yeah. You're going to be doing all the Euro stuff. And on Sunday, which is all day happy hour, you guys are going to be showing Canada, France. You're going to be doing all the Euro stuff. And on Sunday, which is all-day happy hour, you guys are going to be showing Canada-France.

We will, absolutely. And that'll lead us into, we're turning that place into a beautiful soccer footy bar. It'll start Sunday and roll for the next month with the Euro Cup. So we're excited about that. Beauty. Everyone stop by this weekend. It's AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

AJ, thanks for doing this, bud. Yeah, thank you, guys. Everybody have a great weekend. Yeah, you too this weekend. It's AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. AJ, thanks for doing this, bud. Yeah, thank you guys. Everybody have a great weekend. Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Try AJ's traditional New York pizza or sink into the famous Detroit. Only at AJ's Pizza.

Order online at ajs.pizza. We are going to be speaking to David Dwork. He is a Florida Panthers writer for the Hockey News. So here's what's happening in the Stanley Cup Final. Today is media day. I believe it starts at 9 a.m. our time, noon Eastern. So that'll be the usual song and dance. They bring the players up like show ponies.

They answer a bunch of questions and they get out of there ahead of tomorrow's game. Game one, Florida, Edmonton. Finally, finally, the series gets underway because we saw we saw yesterday in the NBA finals a lengthy layoff followed by a sloppy kind of rust ridden game one I am curious to see what we get out of game one tomorrow night yeah hopefully it's better than what we saw in the NBA finals last night let's go to the phone lines now joining us from the hockey news Florida Panthers writer David Dwork here on the Halford & Brough Show featuring Jamie Dodd

on Sportsnet 650. Morning David how are you? I'm doing great gentlemen. How is everything on your side of the phone? Things are well. I think like you and quite frankly every hockey fan we are just waiting and waiting and waiting for this thing to finally get underway. It will tomorrow

and then today we sort of get the appetizer with NHL Stanley Cup Media Day. Set the scene for us in Florida, David. What's it been like, the anticipation waiting for this? How fans and media and players are reacting to how long it's taken and how excited everybody is to get this thing finally underway tomorrow? Yeah, it's definitely nice down here in South Florida, aside from the temperatures, which are ridiculous. But, no, it's definitely nice down here in South Florida, aside from the temperatures, which are ridiculous. But, no, it's cool.

There's a hockey buzz, which is obviously not always the case down here. But between the last couple of years, I mean, really, it's been building the last five years with the team going to the playoffs every year and kind of getting better year over year. And then the President's Trophy two years ago, then the final run last year, and now this amazing season that they put together this year playing Paul Maurice's hardcore playoff-style hockey

for checking tight gaps. And, yeah, now here we are waiting for the Stanley Cup final, waiting, waiting, waiting. Feels like it's been forever already. And as I heard you saying before bringing me in, like the NBA finals, we waited forever for that. And then, you know, the first half last night was really kind of a dud, so hopefully not the case tomorrow night.

I don't think it will because hockey is far better than basketball anyway uh but you know hopefully we just get to the game i'm literally standing here in the press box staring at the ice right now just wishing there were guys skating on it uh but you know we got one more sleep and then we'll be there yeah and thank goodness we are finally there and the thing is you know with all this uh anticipation like this should be a really good series there's there's plenty of star talent, obviously, on both sides. Teams were excellent throughout the regular season and now into the playoffs. And, you know, it's pretty easy to key in on one matchup at the top of the lineup here, right? You have the Selke winner, Sasha Barkov, going up against the best offensive player,

best player in the world in Connor McDavid. That's going to get a lot of hype, a lot of the focus. Is that what's going to decide the series or at least one of the main things that's going to get a lot of hype, a lot of the focus. Is that what's going to decide the series, or at least one of the main things that's going to decide the series in your view? Yeah, I mean, obviously, when you have arguably, maybe not arguably, the best player in the world in Connor McDavid, he's going to impact the series one way or another, whether it's positively or negatively for the Edmonton Oilers.

So, you know, the Panthers are going to be focusing on McDavid line. They're going to be focusing on the drive side of the line. But the good thing about the way the Panthers have played all season in terms of their five-man defensive unit is that Paul Maurice has been able to roll his four lines and not really play the matchup game much at all. He has the ultimate trust defensively in each of his top three lines in terms of minutes, in terms of going both ways. You've got Sasha Barkov on the top, Sam Bennett,

who's a tenacious two-way player, and Anton Lindell, the 22-year-old Finnish player that's just getting more and more confidence in the coaching staff and doing a lot more with it. So it's going to be... Hockey fans, we always want best on best, right? We got Four Nations coming up. It's going to be best on best.

It's going to be awesome. Now we're getting a best on best situation in the final because you've got arguably the best defensive team in the NHL in the Florida Panthers and the best offensive players in the NHL in the Florida Panthers and the best offensive players in the NHL in Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl. So this is really all that hockey fans had asked for. Ray Ferraro yesterday did a conference call where he was asked

what was the most intriguing part of this series for him. It was a great answer because he thought that it was the matchup of how physical Florida plays and their penchant for maybe stepping over that line, habitual line stepping when it came to taking penalties and head to the box. And then, of course, you've got an Oilers power play, which clicks at like 40%.

How do you see that dynamic playing out? Because Florida, especially starting at home, is going to want to set the tone physically early. Well, fortunately, Florida had a really big test in that department in the second round against Boston when the whole Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand hit happened. And there was a couple of games where Boston's players were really headhunting. You know, they wanted to fight.

They wanted to get into that physical element, perhaps more so than between the whistles. And Florida's discipline was, you know, all-encompassing at that point. They didn't get drawn into any penalties. They didn't get drawn into any penalties. They didn't get drawn into any after-the-whistle scrums. It was very frustrating for the Bruins. And then that continued into the Rangers series, where Florida, I believe, only took 12 penalties, if I'm not mistaken, in the six games. It may have been 14.

But either way, it was just around two a game, which you can live with that if you're the Florida Panthers. Ultimately, as Ray said yesterday on that conference call, the series could hinge on special teams. Edmontmonton it's been talked about ad nauseum at this point they've got a ridiculous power play 93 their penalty kill they went two rounds of the playoffs without giving up the power play goal which is incredibly impressive when you consider the teams that they had to face so uh special teams is going to come down to what i think a big part of this series but we've been saying that throughout the playoffs in regard to the

florida panthers when they faced a very tough power play against tampa boston's power play Special teams is going to come down to it, I think, a big part of this series. But we've been saying that throughout the playoffs in regard to the Florida Panthers when they faced a very tough power play against Tampa. Boston's power play was firing well. And then obviously the Rangers special teams was lights out up until that conference final. So while the Edmonton special teams is perhaps at another level than Florida's face, just kind of getting back to my last point, when you're going up against the best, it's a great opportunity to see if you're as good as you think you are. And I think Florida's up for the challenge.

Yeah, and to the point about discipline, I think it's going great opportunity to see if you're as good as you think you are and i think florida's up for the challenge yeah and to the point about discipline i think it's going to be fascinating for florida because you know they have players obviously like sam bennett but of course matthew kachuk who are so good at getting under the other team's skin and agitating and i think you know it's probably it's going to be really important for them to do that but just stay right on the edge of what's acceptable what doesn't get them into penalty trouble because Because if they are able to have that similar impact like they had on Boston and the Rangers and kind of throw them off their game a little bit, that could be a big kind of ace in the hole for Florida in this series. Yeah, and it's played a big part heading into it as well. And I think that's where the experience from

last year comes into play, right? Just going through the run last year, there was a lot of celebration. They weren't expected to win, so it was just kind of a different feel. This year, far different in terms of the expectation heading into the postseason and then how they've handled it going through it. I referenced the Boston series and the discipline they showed there. But again, it's kind of two-folded because it's the discipline in terms of staying out of the penalty box, but it's also in terms of not getting into any of the extracurricular stuff. And as you said, that can really frustrate the opposition when they want to engage you

in certain elements of the game that are normal to hockey players, right? But once you get to this point, Florida is very business-focused. They're very laser-focused right now on their one task, and that's winning a Stanley Cup. I think it's going to be challenging for Edmonton because I don't think they've faced the kind of physicality that Florida brings to the table on a nightly basis thus far in the playoffs. And, you know, it'll be it'll be fun to see like Edmonton. They're going to get popped in the mouth a little bit here. We're going to see how quickly they can get themselves off the mat.

We are speaking to David Dwork here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. David is the Florida Panthers beat writer for the hockey news. We mentioned that it's media day today. David is going to kick off in a few hours here. What's it been like for you covering the quote machine that is Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice? I feel like I should be paying to be around Paul Maurice as much as we are. He is a treat.

It's just, he gave this really good interview with Katie Ingleson from Valley Sports Florida during the conference final, or it may have been between series. And she was asking him, like, you know, you've been around forever. How did you get to this point where you're just so loose and fun with the media? And it's just for him a respect thing. And he referenced back to his son, Jake, who's now working in the broadcast industry. He's a play-by-play broadcaster for the ECHL's Fort of Everblades, and they're looking for their third straight title. So congrats to them.

But he just said, you know what, I know how my son is in this industry and how I would feel if he was asking questions and he was getting rude answers or short answers. I would hate it. And, you know, just kind of having that personal impact kind of ties into how Paul Maurice is with the media. He gives very thoughtful answers, even when he can't give an answer when we ask him a question, and obviously coaches have to be

a little bit deceiving and facetious in the way that they speak but paul he's very thoughtful he's funny he's fun um as you guys are now seeing on the national scene it's just uh it's great we're blessed uh to have him down here he's a great coach but in terms of media coverage it's been a lot of fun and it's just a matter of you know what's he gonna say next that's gonna keep us laughing yeah the vibes are absolutely off the charts with paul marie's he going to say next that's going to keep us laughing. Yeah, the vibes are absolutely off the charts with Paul Maurice. He has been a blast to watch and observe and listen to throughout these Stanley Cup playoffs. Gustav Forsling

has received just a ton of attention, deservedly so, for a real breakout performance here in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He's been a good player obviously for Florida, but he's taken it to another level. What's been the key for him to really get to this point and be such a key cog for Florida? but he's taken it to another level. What's been the key for him to really get to this point and be such a key cog for Florida?

I mean, I think the key in terms of how he's playing is just more cameras are on him because it's really been playing the same way all season. It's just now he's getting the attention. Forsling, it's been almost a product of the situation for Gus just because the more ice time he's getting, the bigger assignments he's getting, he's responded by doing very well and earning the trust of the coaching

staff to the point now where for the last two seasons, he's basically been a top pairing guy. He's a key element on their penalty kill. And honestly, he would get more power play time or in this case, any power play time this season. It's just, they're so deep that they can keep him off the ice,

keep him a little bit, keep his minutes down a little bit more just because he plays such crucial minutes at 5-on-5 and on the PK. But this is a guy who it's not going to surprise me if Florida ends up winning this series if Gus Forsling is going to get several votes for a consummate trophy. Anybody who's watched throughout the playoffs has seen how he's

impacted the game, shutting down odd man rushes with his stick work, diving plays, getting in passing lanes, and never to the detriment of his team, never getting caught out of position. Which, again, it's credit to the five-man defensive system that Florida plays. But Forsling has been spectacular for the Panthers, and now they've got him locked up for another eight years at, I think, $6.3 million per, which seems like a super bargain for the Panthers.

Credit to Bill Zito on that one. But, you know, Gus Forsling, it's been cool to watch because this is a guy who was picked up off the waiver wire two years ago, or three years ago, and now, you know, look at him. So, credit to Gus, and, you know, good for him. David, how much talk has there been? I know we already spoke about the lengthy layoff between the Eastern and Western Conference

Finals and the Stanley Cup Final. How much talk has there been about the scheduling within the series, and most specifically, how much travel these teams are going to have to do? Game 1 goes Saturday, Game 2 goes Monday, then they've got a few days off before they go to Edmonton on Thursday. So there are gaps in the schedule which allow for the travel, the most travel ever between two cities in the Stanley Cup Final. How much conversation has gone into that locally in Florida?

The guys have been asked a lot about it, but the answers have been pretty much the same, that both teams are going to be doing the same amount of travel, so it's hard to say if it's going to benefit one over the other. Guys are talking about how they're going to be binge-watching shows, playing cards, getting some sleep. The Panthers, they have a very, very vast recovery system. They've got a whole staff dedicated to it,

so the players are, you know, when it comes to after games and the way they travel, that there's very specific ways that they handle the way that they treat their bodies. For Florida, what they've been doing for basically much of this season, going back a little bit to last year, is they won't travel the night of a game if it's a road trip or if they're leaving town. They'll wait until the next day just to allow for that recovery to happen.

I think the extra day between travel games in the series will obviously help them to kind of stick with their routine. But I mean, overall, I don't think anybody's overly concerned. You know, it is what it is at this point. It's the Stanley Cup final. Nobody gives a bleep about any of your excuses. So, you know, it came on at this point, right? David, thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it.

Enjoy the start of the series. It's so close now we can almost taste it. Let's try and do this again as the series progresses. Yeah, man, anytime. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. That's David Dwork from the Hockey News,

Florida Panthers beat writer here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So a friendly reminder, rest of the show as we get closer and closer to the halfway point of a Friday. Ben Nicholson-Smith, Blue Jays writer from Sportsnet.ca is going to join us. On the other side, he's going to be our 7.30 guest. Dollywall will join us at 8 as we try and get to the bottom of exactly what's going on with Nikita Zdorov and his contract negotiations. And then at 8.30, we're going to do a bunch of Ask Us Anythings and What We Learns. We're going to give away the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza and tickets to see Snoop.

Friendly reminder, once again, because we're not getting a ton of entries so far. I know it's still early in the morning. If you want to win Snoop tickets, hashtag it WWL. Tell us what did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Put a ticket emoji into your text. If you want to win $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza, Ask Us Anything. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Put a ticket emoji into your text. If you want to win a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza,

ask us anything, hashtag AUA. Same text line, 650-650. Put a pizza emoji into your text. Jamie, what do we have currently in the Dunbar Lumber text message in basketball? So we're going to talk a little Blue Jays with Ben Nicholson-Smith in the next segment, but we'll get a bit of an early jump on it here. Alan Burnaby texts in, ask us anything. What one move would you make to the Blue Jays with Ben Nicholson Smith in the next segment, but we'll get a bit of an early jump on it here. Alan Burnaby texts in, uh, ask us anything. What one move would you make to

the Blue Jays to turn their season around, fire the manager, add a big bat, uh, two things jump to mind for me immediately here, immediately here. One would be, uh, go back in time and convince Shohei Otani to sign with the Blue Jays. That would be number one on my list. Number two would be like convince Vladdy to hit the ball in the air like he did yesterday. He had a three-run home run, and shockingly, they won the game. I cannot get over. Rarely have I been so frustrated so consistently watching a player from one of my favorite teams as i am watching vladi just hit

hit the absolute snot out of the ball directly into the infield grass time and time again hit it in the air so walk me through this like i'm a five-year-old laddie feel free to weigh in as well is this a strategic approach or is this just a guy that has issues with this so i understand not wanting to, okay, I'm going to be taking these big uppercut swings and all I'm going to be looking for is the long fly. Like I get you want to hit line drives too, but there's a happy medium to be found. And this is a guy who hit 48 home runs early in his career.

He has and hit for a high average that season as well. It's not like he sacrificed average for power that year. He's talented enough to do both. I don't know whether it's a team level approach of, hey, we don't want to chase launch angle. We don't want to chase homers, try to hit these line drives. I don't know if it's a mental thing, whatever it is, though. It's like, again, as I know you've said this to Laddie,

like it's not as if he's not hitting the ball hard. He hits rockets just into the dirt. It's long been a staple of the Blue Jays offensive coordinator, Don Mattingly, that he's been quoted while he was a player saying this, that it's about hitting the ball hard and putting it in play. That's what it's all about. He says, if you happen to hit it over the wall, great, but you want to make the other team work.

You don't want pop-ups. You don't want fly-outs. You want to just hit the ball as hard as you can on the ground, and you'll get results. And that's been his M.O. since he was a player, essentially. But it's not working. It's clearly not a fit for this group of players. They are much more productive when they hit the ball in the air,

and they've proven that in the past. So I don't know what's going to change, but it's sure nice to see Vlade hit one yesterday. And as Jamie pointed out, they won the game. Follow-up question for you both. Would firing John schneider make a difference or would it be putting lipstick on a pig yeah i think you might get a bump like a managerial bump but he's not the main issue he's not going to get to the root cause of what's

wrong with especially since like as we all know with the blue jays so many of the tactical managerial decisions are front office dictates right so it's not as if they're going to unless they feel so much pressure and they feel like their jobs are on the line which doesn't seem to be really the case at this point that they have to go out and hire someone with different ideas with an independent voice but i mean going from i'm blanking even on the last guy's name but going from him to john schneider it's not like there's a big tactical adjustment montoyo it's not like there was a big tactical adjustment or a you know a big change adjustment, Montoyo. It's not like there was a big tactical adjustment

or a big change in how they do business because the front office tells the manager, here's what we want from you. Here's the types of decisions we want to make. Even the Barrios decision in the playoffs, right? Like John Schneider gets a ton of heat for it, but that's a front office decision. That's something that they're dictating,

not the manager himself. Before we go to break break we just got one in this is lt in fc feel free to try and figure out what those acronyms mean you guys can work on that i'll work on this one hashtag aua that's an ask us anything with brough being away and the strong chemistry of how dodd well there we go which other host or producer at 650 that you have not worked with would be the most intriguing to work with? I'm going to answer this question, but in a little bit of a different way. I have floated the concept to the higher powers at Sportsnet 650

about our spin on a crossover week. I have suggested to the powers that be, because of the fact that several listeners have texted in and sent it to me on Twitter that they would like to see some sort of hybrid crossover. And I've thrown it out there, dear listeners, that we may try and entertain the idea. The worry is that we'd be ripping off a 1040 thing. Yeah. And my reply to that was you can't steal from a dead man. Is that is that a legal principle? I mean, you can't. from a dead man. Is that a legal principle?

I mean, you can. You just can't do anything back to defend a dead man. You're the law-talking guy. You tell me. You're the law-talking guy. You're in court for grave robbery. Like, judge, you can't steal from a dead man. He's got no soul.

Actually, you can. They got no souls. What are you going to do? So it is out there. It's floating in the ether. Now, the key would be trying to figure out who would do crossovers, because we've got, actually, it's a, back

in the 1040 days, it was a little bit of a smaller roster in terms of on-air guys, and then there were certain people that wouldn't work with certain people. Who haven't you worked with? I've worked with everyone. Literally everyone at the station. The trick is to find out who you want to work with the least, and then pair those two people together. Right.

That's how you got to do it. That's what makes the best radio. Yeah. I mean, that was part of the whole idea of crossover back at the old show. On the old station, any time I produced a Sakaris and Brough morning show was a highlight of mine. Just because they were so polar opposite. But they were friends. Like, they got along.

But it's just, like, in terms of their styles, it was so different from one another. It was very enjoyable. So I think that kind of environment where like, who's the one guy you think would be so different from you that there would almost be some comedy that you could mine from that? That's the kind of thing I would want to see. I don't know whether we have real beef like that to fuel that sort of thing.

Maybe we need to start a bunch of slay streamers or something. Maybe we need to start really slagging each other. Get it going here. The biggest rival right now is Dan Riccio versus Waterball. That's the one that's taken over the internet. Okay, we got a lot more to get into. It's just Riccio and a water bottle in the next chair over from him. We got a lot more to get into on the show.

Ben Nicholson-Smith, Sportsnet Blue Jays writer, is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. Glad he gets it in the air to right. Sons on the air. Back.

It's going to go. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with an opposite field home run in the Blue Jays lead 3-0. 7.31 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brough featuring Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda. Pacific Honda is North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff

that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program. Ben Nicholson-Smith, Blue Jays insider from SportsNight.ca is going to join us in just a moment here for hour two. Hour two is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste. Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some at a liquor store near you or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. The Jays are back in action today in Oakland.

First of a three-game set after a day off. Joining us now, as mentioned, Ben Nicholson-Smith here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Ben. How are you? Pretty good. How are you guys doing? We are well. I am currently sharing occupying studio space with Jamie Dodd, noted Blue Jays fan,

and our producer, Greg Ballack, noted Blue Jays fan. And the level of frustration between the two of them, fairly high for this Blue Jays team, despite the fact that they've won two in a row. Has that sort of been the sentiment of this season, Ben, that frustration has trumped all else when talking about this team? Yes. I think that is very fair to say.

I think that anyone who follows this team would agree with that. I mean, realistically, expectations were high going into the year, and rightfully so. This was a team that spent a lot of money and put a lot of resources into

being good for this window of years with flagro jr and boba shett but they just got off to such a bad start and really fell out of the race and now they're trying to get back into it uh it's a long season they have left so you know that's uh more than a full nba and nfl season combined like there's a lot of time remaining but at the same time yeah it's uh yeah they're they're not in a great spot uh frustration is definitely the word uh the word to use there so they salvage the split with baltimore winning the last two games of the series now they go out to oakland can they build like are they going to be able to kind of capture some of that momentum and as you said start those final hundred games off on the right

foot and try to dig out of the hole they created for themselves that's that's the goal yeah they they need to do that and playing oakland is a good chance because that team is just not very good so if there's ever a way to bank at least two, maybe even three wins, this is probably it. And realistically, you look at the schedule, after this they're playing a lot of good teams in June. So this is probably their best chance to be able to get a couple games, potentially get back to 500, really is what they should be doing.

At a certain point you have to gain in the standings. You can't just hold your own. And I know this week against Baltimore, that's a tough opponent. To go two and two against them, that's totally fine. You're not sad about that result. But you do, at a certain point, have to actually take those steps and make those gains. So this is it.

The Jays need to do that because they've probably got a month to decide whether they're going to be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline and really it would be you know you can't you can't force it if you're if you're under 500 you've got to really sell and adjust but this is a team that needs to be in win mode yeah and it's it's so tough now with the new format in the standings in the playoff format with the extra wildcard team, right? They're technically only three games out of a playoff spot. And, you know, to your point, there's 100 games left

and there is still a lot of talent on this team. It's pretty easy to see them hanging around in that race, you know, even claiming a wildcard spot. You can imagine it. But the thing for me that makes it hard to believe that there is this big decision to make ahead of the trade deadline is it's hard for me to see them looking like a team that can be competitive with the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles at the top of their division, right?

The wildcard is one thing, but to truly be in the class with the best teams in the league, that seems like it's much harder to see the path forward for the blue Jays towards that goal. Well, I agree because the goal is to win the World Series. You know, the goal isn't to, oh man, we snuck in as the third wild card. Like, this is so exciting. Like, they've seen that before.

That's already happened. And this is the time for the Blue Jays to take new steps forward, bigger steps, and to actually win in the playoffs, which is something they haven't done even for a single game since 2016. So this is, you're right, the measuring stick should be set alongside those really good teams, like the Yankees and the Orioles,

and creating a team that's capable of winning four playoff series, which this Blue Jays team, winning four regular season series looks hard enough right now, let alone winning four playoff series, which this Blue Jays team, winning four regular season series looks hard enough right now, let alone winning four playoff series. So at the same time, I would point to last year's Diamondbacks, an 84-win team that made it to the World Series, and clearly a worse team than the Dodgers in their own division.

So strange things can happen, and you've got to give yourself a shot if you are the Blue Jays. So this is where we're in this weird middle ground with this team at this point in the season. What's gone wrong with Bo Bichette this season? I mean, it's a question a lot of people are wondering. I don't think that there's a simple answer to that one. If there was, then someone would tap Bo on the the shoulder and tell him and he'd turn it around

and we'd be talking about someone who's hitting 300 and 800 OPS like we normally see from him. So, I don't know. I can tell you that the results haven't been good at all. But obviously you don't need me to tell you that. Anyone watching Blue Jays games

this season is well aware of Bichette's struggle. So the quality of contact for most of the season has not been as good. And lately it has been better. His numbers have been better recently and the contact has been better. But where that leads, I don't really know.

We're speaking to Blue Jays insider Ben Nicholson-Smith from Sportsnet here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Ben, how hot is John Schneider's seat right now? Well, I honestly don't think it is very hot. I don't think he's going to get fired. I don't think that it's really – he gets a lot of heat from fans. And so from that standpoint, you could say it's hot.

But I don't see Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro deciding to fire him. So especially the time that they've played better and they're getting a little bit closer to 500. Now they're two games below 500 a couple weeks ago with six games below 500 so as long as they're on that climb i really don't think he's getting fired and even if they go out and lose the next four in a row i still don't think he's getting fired like that obviously there would be a point that any team would contemplate a change um but i don't think i don't think he's even a bad week away from being at that place not a hot seat but maybe a heat check how much

heat is ross atkins feeling right now from fans and media like i mean that's uh that's ultimately a question for ross atkins but i can tell you that fans are not happy with Ross Atkins. I think that is almost universally true. And I think when you look at it objectively, this team has not played well, nor do they look like a powerhouse just ready to assert itself along with the Orioles and Yankees. The farm system is in the bottom third in Major League Baseball. They're spending a lot of money with results that aren't really there. So I think under those circumstances, any fan base would be frustrated. When you have high expectations and you've told your fans that this is a period of time where you expect to

contend for a world series which is the bar that mark shapiro and ross ackins have set then you go and and you have a team that's 30 and 32 a team that hasn't won a single game in the postseason like i said in the last eight years and their farm system isn't good again i think any fan base would be frustrated with that and ben you know you mentioned the farm system and it's not exactly flush with prospects not one of the strongest in the league but there are a couple of intriguing names uh in triple a with the buffalo bisons that i know have generated a lot of interest from fans in arelvis martinez and addison barger and you know i know it's always easy to look at the guys at triple a and your team's struggling to hit for power and hey or elvis martinez has 14 home runs but are they legitimate

options at some point in the near future here to come up and and maybe just try to add a different dynamic to the blue jays lineup yeah we're getting closer to that point it's uh it's pretty interesting their their triple a team actually has hit pretty well this year. So I think that the name I actually would keep the closest eye on would be Spencer Horwitz, who is hitting 330, his on-base percentage is over 450. More of a singles and doubles hitter, great eye at the plate. Not necessarily going to hit a ton of homers, but offense is offense.

And if you're trying to, you've got a bunch of guys with an OPS of 600 in the major leagues, you'll take doubles, you'll take singles. And if Horowitz can offer that, then he deserves to be in consideration. So in talking to Blue Jays coaches this week, he's definitely on their radar. Horowitz is a guy that they're asking questions about. They are looking at his numbers, trying to get a sense of how good of a defender he is. So to me, based on the conversations I've had, Spencer Horowitz is the closest to the major leagues,

and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he's playing for the Blue Jays at some point in the next week. Ben, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it. Enjoy this series against the A's. We'll check in later on this season. Okay, sounds good, guys.

Thanks. Thanks for coming on. That's Ben Nicholson-Smith, Sportsnet Blue Jays analyst for, sorry, Sportsnet Blue Jays analyst here on the Hufford and Piper Show. For Sportsnet. Also for Sportsnet. I wanted to circle back on some of the Canucks stuff. Someone earlier, Dunbar Lumber text message in Basket with an ask us anything,

was talking about who's that guy or your guy that you'd like to see the Canucks target in free agency. One of the names that has made the rounds, of course, is Jake Gensel. He ticks a lot of boxes for his team, as you alluded to earlier. The idea that the Canucks want to go and add some scoring punch possibly on the wings in their top six, that

works. There's also the connection to the Pittsburgh fellas, Rutherford and Alveen of course gansel came up through pittsburgh before this brief stopover in carolina now there's a couple things worth mentioning here from the most recent 32 thoughts podcast elliot friedman threw it out there that one sort of like byproduct of being a pending ufa is that gansel's negotiating rights are apparently out there because it sounds as though he's going to July 1. So if someone wants to jump the queue, they can absolutely do it.

Friedman also threw out that one team to keep an eye on as it pertains to Jay Gensel and free agency isn't the Vancouver Canucks, but the Chicago Blackhawks. He went on to say that someone said to me Chicago is starting to make noises like they'd like to move some things along a little bit here. We talked to Lazarus last week, and he said that there was a lot of talk at the end of this season in Chicago about, okay, enough losing.

We've had two years of this. It's been really bad. In fact, it was worse than a lot of people expected. They've got this generational talent in Conor Bedard and they'd like to take a step forward. That's interesting. I do wonder if the Canucks will be able to get in because, as you can kind of gauge from what

Friedman's saying, one, there's a lot of interest in Gensel, and two, the market will probably heat up as we get closer and closer to July 1. Well, and part of the conversation also I know from Friedman was that the Hurricanes might consider trading Gensel's negotiating rights ahead of July 1st. And you look at a team like the Chicago Blackhawks who are flush with draft picks, right? They can pretty easily afford to do even like a third round pick.

They have two third round picks this year, right? They've got two first, two seconds, two thirds. Now, obviously, you're not doing a first or second just for negotiating rights, but they have so many draft picks. They could easily part with one just to get that window to talk to Jake Gensel. And then, of course, they have the cap space, right? They have so much cap space. They don't have any big pending deals to do with guys. Obviously, Bedard's not for another couple years so they have so much flexibility

both in terms of getting the right to negotiate with gensel and then making him an offer that would be very very difficult to refuse now gensel still might want to compete for the stanley cup he's not going to do that in the next couple of years with chicago right i think he'll understand that so would the number have to be truly outrageous yes but i think the key point is it's so easy to look at okay hey jay kensel perfect fit for the canucks and that's true but he's the perfect fit for a lot of teams and it's going to be very difficult to even talk to him right potentially ahead of july 1st uh if carolina is in fact considering trading is negotiating right so i'm not saying it can't happen but it's a it's a tough uphill battle

for the Canucks to land Jake Edsel. Furthering this conversation, Austin and Langley resubmitted the Ask Us Anything, talking about the my guy and unrestricted free agency. He also asked, should they consider moving Jonathan Leckermacki or Tom Villander for a guy with terms? So I'd love to get your take on this, Jamie,

because Bruff and I have talked about it. I'm firmly on board with YOLO. You're in the moment. You're in your window. Going so long without a good regular season and moderate playoff success, I would consider winning a round and going to game seven of the second round

pretty good playoff success for a team that had been on the outside looking in for a while. This is purely coming from a live in the now moment but I want to see the good times roll I want to see this window be pursued and opened as much as possible and if it means mortgaging the future I understand the inherent risk of moving these guys given that you don't have a ton of draft picks and you don't have a lot of guys that are on ELCs that can contribute. But at the same time, it's a give-to-get league, and I am willing to give.

I think if it's the key there from the question from Austin Langley is for a guy with term, right? And it has to be a very specific player if you're going to move Volander or LaKara Mackie. It has to be somebody who's relatively young. I would say at most maybe 26, something like that, 25 in there. So they're still in their prime. You're still going to get

a bunch of good years before they turn 30. And it has to be somebody with who's not just a nice player, but who is going to be a core piece for you, right? I would say even maybe a touch above a Philip Ronick type, right? Because Ronick, we're debating, is he a core player?

Do they need to keep him? Should they pay him? Now, obviously, he didn't have term either when they acquired him. So you want that cost certainty. But it has to be somebody who you're looking at, okay, this is a, if they're not on the Hughes, Pettersson, Miller level, but they're right a notch below that, and they're going to be a core piece for that.

That's a lot easier said than done. Those players don't hit the market that often. But if that type of player is out there, then yeah, nothing should be off limits. First round pick, the Lander, LeKarimaki, all of it should be in play. Marcus and Gibsons with an Ask Us Anything. What does a Brock Besser extension look like next year?

Besser has become one of the most complex contractual situations that the Canucks have on board. The most pressing one in terms of complexities is Hronik, without question, because of all that it represents. But you've got to consider now, Besser, I'll even put the health situation aside and just talk about the player and his body of work this past year. You don't get a lot of players in the nhl going from being a contract that is onerous to being a value contract in the short span that brock besser did he went from

being borderline untradeable to wow you're getting 40 goals off a guy that's making uh 6.6 which is great return on that when you look at some of the other guys that are putting up that kind of goal totals you're spending a lot more money for them i don't know where this goes down the road there is something to be said for um appreciating and respecting and honoring what a player has done for you especially one investor that went through a lot of things health-wise personal trauma etc and has come out the other side with a tremendous campaign and you value players that are able to do that for you you value players that have those characteristics and you know we talked about players meeting challenges either set forth by the coach or challenges that have just arisen and the ones

that are able to get through them and thrive on the other side those are good characteristics to have those are good things for culture those are good things that the group wants to keep around at the same time it's a business at the end of the day and you can't pay for personnel and you can't pay for characteristics it's a bottom line business i don't know what brock besters contract situation would look like an extension moving forward and he's eligible for an extension in just a few weeks on july 1st right because he's going into the extension in just a few weeks on July 1st, right? Because he's going into the last year of his deal. And I think the numbers that are going to get thrown around for this one are going to

surprise a lot of Canucks fans. I was doing a show with Bic, speaking of crossover shows, a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about this, and he brought up a really interesting comp, which is Timo Meier. And Timo Meier, of course, signed big eight-year, 8.8 million AAV contract, full no move, the whole deal with New Jersey. Timo Meier's career-high goals, 35. Brock Besser, of course, scored 40 this year. Timo Meier's career points, 382 in 541 games. Brock Besser, 384 in 479 games. So more production in significantly fewer games,

higher goal total in a single season than Timo Meier has ever had. Same draft year, right? Similar age. Both 27 years old. So this is a really good comp. And Timo Meier got a monster deal. Eight years, 8.8. Brock Besser is in a position if he's negotiating this year where he's coming off his career year where he was also a beast in the playoffs right so yeah he declined a little bit in the second half but then he completely he was fantastic in the playoffs and we all know the salary cap is going to start going up in a hurry right Timo Meier signed that deal in still a flat cap environment so you put it all together and just that comp specifically for Brock Besser is super, super favorable for him.

Now, he obviously had the change of heart where he went from, hey, my agent's looking for other destinations for me to actually I want to stay. I want to be a part of this. How much does that factor into the decision? But if anyone thinks like, oh, yeah, we'll do like four by seven for a Brock Besser extension like that's not happening this guy this guy has put himself in a position

if they want to sign him long term this summer when he's eligible for an extension he's got some very very strong comparable contracts that he can that he can put out there to uh demand a pretty significant deal yes so Keith the water guy just texted. I can't wait for the outcry from fans when Brock Besser only hits 25 goals next season. It's going to be great. You mentioned Timo Meier. The early returns on that Timo Meier contract. Not great. Not great.

Not great. Not great. And part of it is people are looking at the high watermark of, what was it, 35 you said? 35, yeah. And they're saying we want this year over year over year if not more there's a very real case that Brock Besser's 40 goal campaign is going to be the high watermark for his entire NHL career you might have seen the best uh season that Brock Besser is going to put forth and that's the tricky situation with, I mean, this is a larger scale issue

than just the Vancouver Canucks. This is an NHL problem. We've seen it in the times past where you pay for past performances, where you pay guys based on what they've done because there's a loyalty factor, because you want to reward your good foot soldiers, and because you hold out the hope

that that's the beginning, not the end. But the reality of it is, is that 40 goal seasons aren't all that common. Nope. And for a guy that had never hit 30 before to get to that plateau, you are left wondering what's going to happen next season. A regression seems somewhat inevitable, but I'll say this. For a guy that had great regular season success as you alluded to his ability to perform as well as he did in the playoffs is a great sign moving forward if if Tarkett's doing

the laundry list of guys that showed up or didn't show up or guys that you can ride with and can't ride with in the playoffs in that ride category because he was fantastic in the postseason he was excellent and you know i will say the thing about besser and the 40 goals and can he do it again is the thing about scoring 40 goals you you've given yourself room to regress and still be a really good player right like he could he could decline his goal scoring could decline by 25 and he'd still be a 30 goal guy right and that's still really really good that's still really, really good. That's still really valuable. It's obviously not as good as 40, newsflash, but he's put himself in a position

where even if he dips from what could very likely go down as a career year, he can still be a really valuable player for you. Okay, we got a lot more to get to on the program here. Final hour of the Halford & Brough Show featuring Jamie Dodd is coming up. Rick Dollywall is going to join us on the other side. So we're going to recap all the zaniness online from yesterday,

varying reports as to where the Canucks and Nikita Zdorov are at with the contract extension, then Dan Milstein firing the shot heard around Twitter. So we'll talk to Rick about that. We can get into some other things as well with one of our preeminent Canucks insiders. Then after Rick, in the 8 o'clock hour, back half, we're going to give away the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza

for the best Ask Us Anything. We're going to give away a pair of tickets to see Snoop on June 25th at Rogers Arena for the best What We Learned. If you want the $100 gift card to AJ, send an Ask Us Anything in, put a pizza emoji in the text. If you want to win the Snoop tickets, put a what we learned in and put a ticket emoji into the text. I know it's confusing.

I know there's a lot of rules. It'll all make sense in the end. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. You have another half hour to get them all in. Final hour of this program is coming up. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.