Halford & Brough in the Morning - NHL Legend & Olympic Gold Medallist Scott Niedermayer

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason look ahead to tonight's 4 Nations finale between Canada and USA with NHL hall of famer and Olympic gold medallist Scott Niedermayer (1:39), plus the boys discuss the Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero Jr. saga with Sportsnet Jays reporter Shi Davidi (24:07). 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.

And it's 1-0 New Jersey. It'll be Niedermeyer, a sure-who, a broke-in behind the other two. And it's one to nothing, New Jersey. 7.04 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, 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 now in hour two of the program. Scott Niedermeyer is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason

Hominec from Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you and Step. Our next guest has represented Canada and won at every level of international play. It began with the World Juniors, continued on to the Olympics, there was a World Championship and the World Cup of Hockey. He participated in them all, he wore the maple leaf for them all, and he won them all. We are very happy to bring our next guest onto the program, Scott

Niedermeyer here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning Scott, how are you? Morning, I'm well. How are you guys doing? We're well, we're excited. This is pretty cool. It's been a long time since there's been a game like this. But for you, you've played in a few of these. You've been there on the eve of a game where you're playing for international glory. So my first question, Scott, is what is going through the minds of these Canadian players right now?

Is there a few hours away from puck drop? Yeah, well, before any big game, obviously there's a lot. You know, you know what's about to take place, you know, a little bit of nerves, anticipation, excitement, I mean all those emotions for sure. It's different than a regular game. You know, I can remember before some big games where maybe, you know, you're not able to have your nap even the night before. Sometimes it's, it's a little bit hard to sleep because there is so much anticipation. So, um, it's just as exciting for them, maybe

more so than it is for us to be able to watch. Um, but I'm looking forward to watching the game tonight. It should be great. You know, we were just describing as fans, how these games are not necessarily enjoyable to watch because you've kind of got that sick feeling in your stomach. It's like, oh God, we better not lose this game.

And I think every sports fan has been through that. Is it similar for players or is there more confidence and is there more excitement? Do you allow yourself to wonder, oh God, what happens if we lose? I think, I think you try and fight that. I think if that's your overriding feeling, you're probably in trouble. And I think that's something that you do learn as you've maybe been through those situations before is, you know, to kind of have positive thoughts, believe in the work and the things that you've done as an individual, as a team, leading up to get there. And trusting that and then having beliefs that

you're going to go out and win. At least that was what I found for myself, that if you were worried about losing when the puck dropped, you were probably going to lose. And does that start early in a hockey career? I'm reading an old quote from Ken Hitchcock, who you knew well, who said of you, he was always the best player in the biggest environment.

Whenever the game mattered the most, he was always the best player on the ice on either team. You know, he went on the biggest stage. He was always the best player. But that was his, his message. Did, did that start for you early, maybe playing with the Blazers and playing in some big games for them and then you get that experience and you know a big game as a junior might feel

the same way as a big game as an NHLer? Yeah, I definitely was fortunate during my career to play in some of those games. That experience for sure helped. You know, and I think just that was my personality. I enjoyed those games more than any other games. You know, when you're playing a tough opponent or on a, you know, in a big moment, for some reason, that just helped me focus and just get ready for the game and want to go out and compete as hard as I could to try and help the team. My challenge was sort of on the other nights where, you know, I was like, you got to be a pro and come out and be ready to play and be at your best every single night. But for whatever reason, my personality led me to enjoy those moments a little more.

So in some sense, maybe it was easier to have a positive mindset. And, you know, so I was fortunate with that, but I, I did have to learn that for sure. There were some times where, you know, those, those feelings of what happens if I make a mistake or we lose when those feelings kind of crept in and then probably wasn't at my desk. So it's a process, takes time to, to sort of learn that. And I think that's what may help Canada tonight is that they've got players that have been in those moments before,

probably succeeded, maybe failed the odd time, and have probably learned how to handle them as best they can. So I'm banking on that helping them tonight. We're speaking to hockey hall of famer Scott Niedemeier here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. I'm glad that we've got you on in particular today because you do have a fair bit of experience

with the Canada-US rivalry and a fair bit of experience in beating the Americans. So it was 2002 and 2010. How would you classify the Canada-US rivalry from when you played in 2002 and 2010 to where it's at now? Well, I think because of those games, you know, it's like any situation, any rivalry in the NHL, when you start to meet a bit in the playoffs and there's some history and emotion attached to the games, it adds to it. That's what's happened with Canada-US probably since maybe 96 actually when they beat us in the World Cup, and then being able to beat them in a couple Olympic finals and then the other

games that have been played since I've retired have just added to it. There's obviously a lot of great players from the US these days. If I'm not mistaken, I think there's more youth players in the US than there is in Canada now. So I think that just is going to create a situation where it's going to be really competitive between the two countries, which to me I think is great. When Canada goes out and wins tonight, you've accomplished something. It wasn't a foregone conclusion that you're playing a real tough opponent that is a very

good hockey team, and I think that's the way you want it. In 2002 and 2010, the stage was set from the previous Olympics for both in which Canada failed to win gold. You know, obviously 2002 came on the heels of 98, which was a disappointment. 2010 came on the heels of 06, which was a disappointment. I've always wanted to ask you, in which Olympic final did you feel more pressure,

2002 in Salt Lake or 2010 in Vancouver? That's a good question. I've never really compared the two there. There was a lot of pressure in both situations. Um, you know, the one in 02, I think it had been 50 years at that point since Canada won a gold medal. Um, obviously the disappointment four years earlier just added to that.

So you felt that as a Canadian hockey player for sure. And then, you know, maybe probably Vancouver though, just because you're surrounded by it. Um, you know, sure. And then, you know, maybe probably Vancouver though, just because you're surrounded by it. You know, in Salt Lake City, you know, it was kind of just, you heard about it, you knew the situation whereas in Vancouver, you're kind of living in the atmosphere of what the whole Olympic experience was like, the Canadian, the red and white, the jerseys, the flags

everywhere around town. So you know, there was a lot of pressure. I was fortunate that at that point, I was well into my career and had a lot of experiences that kind of helped me, you know, try and be at my best through those games and help our team. So there was pressure and you really do have to learn

to deal with it. And like I said, I think these guys, that they're some of the guys, the leaders on the Canadian team have been there before and understand how to handle it. Were you able to enjoy the post-game atmosphere in Vancouver after that win over the Americans? Because I, I mean, I watched the game from my house that wasn't particularly close to the arena, but we all, a bunch of my buddies and I, we all actually walked downtown

from Kitsilano to downtown just to be part of the festivities. And I'm wondering if you were able to see that or were you kind of cordoned off with the players at the arena celebrating that win? Yeah, I mean, I think we kind of saw some of that all the whole time we were there. The atmosphere downtown Vancouver was amazing almost every day he went down there. The different bars and places were filled with red and white and flags and jerseys. Whether it was hockey or the other sports, just people supporting them and celebrating the great sort of efforts and, and you know, things they did as athletes, you know, Canada performed well overall in those Olympics.

So you're kind of aware of that. We, we hung out in the dressing room for quite a while after that. Um, I think just maybe because there was so much going on there maybe wasn't. Yeah. Two places to go. No, um, we had a little place over where the families

were, so eventually we made our way over there to kind of enjoy it with them. And I actually snuck over to the closing ceremonies just to, you know, kind of be part of that. I'd never done an opening or closing before in the Olympics, so I thought, you know, that'd be kind of cool. Um, when I got over there, it was real neat where

all the other athletes, the Canadian athletes were pretty excited about the game as well and wanted to congratulate the team and what we did. So that was a neat experience personally for me, but we enjoyed it in the dressing room just amongst the players, probably mainly, and then the families as well. We are speaking to Scott Niedermeyer here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Ahead of tonight's game, it's Canada, it's US, the four nations faceoff final,

five o'clock from Boston. Scott, back in 2010, what did it mean to you when you served as Canada's captain for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver? I know we've talked a lot about dealing with pressure and leaders and experience and everything, but what did it mean to you to wear the seat for Canada at those particular Olympics?

Well, first it was quite an honor. It's an honor just to be able to be part of the team and then play for Team Canada with the Maple Leaf on in any situation and then ask to be captain, kind of was just an added bonus on top. And there definitely was some pressure, but again, I played long enough, I'd been in enough situations where I kind of knew that I wasn't supposed to change anything with that. Just because I had the sea on, my job was to go out there, do what I do as a player, contribute the best way I could, and then lead the team in things I've learned and developed

through my career in those big games and really not change a thing. So easy to say, a little harder to do at certain times, the pressure was real. But I'm thankful that I had a lot of water under the bridge at that point in my career, a lot of experiences that definitely helped me sort of handle that, as being the captain and just being focused on doing the things I knew were necessary to help our team have success. Because in these kind of competitions, it's such an interesting dynamic because I would gather that half your teammates in 2010 were probably captains of their teams, right? It's all guys that are, I mean, when you're talking about

the best of the best and the elite of the elite, it's all guys that are wearing letters on their jerseys. But do the eyes still dart to you or do people still look to you? Did they look to you in 2010 because you had that added responsibility among this collection of captains? Yeah, I mean, I think you're right. I think in any situation, there's, you know, it's never just one or two or three people, you know, doing the leading at different moments and different times and different situations. Everybody's stepping up in the leadership role. You're right, that team was full of captains. It really wasn't a difficult job.

A lot of those guys had the experiences I had that we're going to use them to help our team, help themselves perform well. That would be a question maybe for other players. I didn't feel I was doing a whole lot of work. I was just trying to go out there first and foremost and, you know, be prepared doing my job as well as I could and handling the situations correctly. And, you know, hopefully that would just, you know,

some of the young guys maybe would look towards the captains in a situation like that. I'm sure everybody did, but maybe the younger guys a little bit more, but yeah, it's an interesting question for sure. So, Kale McCarr did not play for Canada in Montreal and the Americans won that game and Canada had quite a bit of trouble creating

scoring chances, despite all the talent they've got up front. You got to certainly credit the Americans for their game plan and their checking ability. They played very well defensively. Um, what does Canada need to do tonight and how much will the addition of Kale McCarr to the lineup help them?

Yeah, I mean, McCarr is an amazing player. So I think he, he, he will absolutely help. Um, you know, both ends of the r, he's won the Stanley Cup, he understands the style of hockey that it takes to play in those must-win games. I think that will be a real advantage. Watching that game, I think sometimes the tendency or just what happens is when you have a lot of skill, you want to use it. I think sometimes in those hard-checking, hard-fought games, it kind of gets a little bit ugly. Who's in front of the net?

Who's going to score an ugly goal? Who's going to get inside? I think last game on McDavid's goal, Mark Stone was in front taking a cross check that screened the goalie. You know, McDavid got a lot of the credit, rightly so, but the way I see that is I look at Mark Stone as doing the dirty work to help that play have success. I think that's what is going to take this on both sides. In any hard-fought game, it's often those type of little plays and sacrifices that players make to be in front of the net to get pucks into the middle.

A lot of times they're not the highlight real goals that makes a difference. I guess even if we think back to 2010, the winning goal by Crosby, it was kind of an ugly sort of work by Jerome in the corner, you know, for checking and then making just a subtle little play and Sid making a quick shot on that. So I, from my experience, those tend to be the way goals are scored in those games. And I think that's something Canada is going to have to focus on a little bit more.

They have the guys to do it. I think they may be in that game, you know, got a little bit away from it in the last two US in the round, Robin. On a day where we're eagerly anticipating one of the biggest international hockey games in the last decade or so, it was very cool to get to talk to you, Scott, with all of the experiences that you had and all the great memories that you've given all of us as Canadian hockey fans. So one, I wanted to thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it.

Sorry we sounded so mentally weak and fragile with our questions. as Canadian hockey fans. So one, I want to thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Sorry we sounded so mentally weak and fragile with our questions. Two, we're freaking out a little bit. So thanks for calming us down. You're a very calming presence, much like you were on the ice. Can you play tonight? Yeah.

And finally, before we let you go, enjoy the game tonight. It should be a lot of fun. I hope. No, I obviously enjoy talking about these things. I had a lot of, you know, it's fortunate to be part of some fun experiences, a few disappointments, but that's what makes, you know, the wins that much sweeter. So yeah, glad to be with you guys. Thanks.

Thank you for doing this. We appreciate it. That's Scott Niedermeyer, NHL legend, multiple Olympic gold medalist for Canada, one of the most decorated Canadian hockey players of all time internationally. He's done it at every level and he's one of Laddie's favorites as well. Yeah, I grew up a Devils fan. From Marnie Brodeur, but you can't love the Devils and not love- You just love the high flying Devils.

Well, I like low scoring games. That's kind of my MO. It's all right. I love when we talk to athletes and we ask them like, are you scared of losing? And they're like, no. You know, like, yeah, that creeps in a little bit, but I'm pretty confident in what I do. Yeah.

He was one of the, yeah. And I, and I do wonder how much that helps. Um, I would say Canada, especially if you're in that room and you're looking around and you're going, Sydney Crosby, he's won some big games. Even in like the addition of a guy like Drew Doughty, probably isn't walking around the room going, Oh my God, like, what if we lose this game? Right?

There's that quiet confidence that those guys have. And sometimes I wonder if the Americans, um, are trying to like kind of artificially generate that confidence. Well, I think you have to because if you don't have it, it has to come from somewhere. That's why I thought what happened on Saturday night was such a profound moment for them. Again, I'm not saying it gave them any psychological edge or it helped them win the game, but I think if you want to look at this objectively and take off the candidate hat and jacket and just look at it as an analyst,

what the US did on Saturday was more about proving a point and announcing where they were at than winning, like they won the game, which was at the end of the day, the most important thing. But there was a symbolic start to that game. And there was a symbolic moment for the, that the US almost felt like they needed to be. They were gonna be the aggressors. Right. Because the US is in the history

and in the context of international competition, still Canada number one and still US number two. That's, and that's where you look at gold medals, you look at Olympics, you look at, and I know the US has had a recent run at the World Juniors lately, but it pales in comparison to all this other stuff. Now, I'll just say this, the opportunity,

the serve volley, the opportunity to return serve for Canada right now is one of the biggest ones in memory because I'll say this, and that's why I asked Niedermeyer about 2002 and 2010. Canada was supposed to win those those and they did win those. They were the better hockey nation. They were a better team, they had more talent, they were comprised of more all-stars and hall of famers,

and I doubt you could have picked a position in which the US had an advantage in 2002 and 2010. That is no longer the case. I think if, and I mean, you noticed Scott threw it in there talking about just the sheer volume of players in the US now at the minor level compared to Canada. They probably have a larger bounty to choose from because of population in the way

the game has grown in the US. This US team is stacked. It's stacked. And it doesn't have maybe its best player in Quinn Hughes. It's stacked. And the difference between previous American teams, and we're not saying the Canadian team isn't stacked. They're both stacked, but that's what I'm saying.

It's equal ground now almost. But you used to be able to look at an American team and go, yeah, they got some good wingers. This guy's okay. And usually they'd have a good goalie, but you would always look at down the middle and on defense where, my opinion at least, Canada would have a clear advantage.

I mean. And that advantage I think still holds up front, but the margin is slimmer. Jack Eichel, Austin Matthews, those are world-class centers and while Canada also has world-class centers, my whole point is that the Americans haven't always had that. They haven't always had, and you know, they will miss Quinn Hughes. Yeah. They absolutely will miss Quinn Hughes.

And I wonder if the difference could be that the Americans don't have Quinn Hughes and Canada has Kale Makara. I really hope that's the difference. Cause 2010 was great. And you know, the team, Canada went through some down times to win the gold and beating the U S in the final was great. I always run this exercise with people though and I'm like, just to give you an idea

of exactly where the US was at in terms of international competition, try and name the seven defensemen on the US team in 2010. God bless you if you can try and do it because you will be shocked at how, and this has meant there's no disrespect to the guys that were there, but how average the group was.

Just go ask one of your buddies today, casually. Be like, can you name, how many defensemen from the 2010 U.S. Olympic team can you name? For the record, they are Tim Gleason. I was gonna say Gleason was gonna be my first one. Eric Johnson and Jack Johnson. Brooks Orpik, Brian Rafalski, Ryan Suter, and the current host of Spit and Chicklets, Ryan Whitney.

Raphalski was the one that let Sid get free, right? Raphalski was also their best defenseman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? So just to give you an idea of how things have changed, like the US defense in 2010 had a bunch of NHL guys and the American and the Canadian blue line had Hall of Famers on it. Well, it was the same and the American and the Canadian blue line had hall of famers on it.

Well, it was the same with the Russians in Sochi. Everyone's like, oh, they're gonna, they're even gonna have a great chance. Look at all this talent they've got up front. I was like, half their defense is in the KHL. Yep. It just, it matters a lot. And that's why, again, you know, I am hoping that

Kale McCarr can be one of the difference makers tonight in a positive way for Canada. John and the fort. John and the fort. I'm just desperate for it to happen. John and the fort went through the exercise of then posting the Canadian blue line in that tournament and it was Scott Nidermeyer, Shay

Weber, Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Brent Seabrook, Chris Pronger. That might be the best blue line. That might be the best international blue line ever assembled. Okay, we got a lot more to get to on the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. We've gone hockey heavy and four nations heavy

throughout the first hour and a half of the show. We're gonna turn the page ever so slightly. We're gonna talk a little Blue Jays with Shia Davidi and get the latest on what's going on with Vladie Guerrero and then what comes next for the Blue Jays and Vladie Guerrero. That's coming up next on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Vic Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and

even bigger bets, weekdays three to four on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. ["Bad Guy's Theme Song"] Obviously very disappointed. We worked very hard, the motivation is still there. Did you feel that you guys were closer to it? It just depends on how you define close. Just such a, that's too big of a word to talk specifically about and not comfortable talking about numbers.

732 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, 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 two of the program. Shai Davidi, who you just heard coming back from break along with Ross Atkins, is going to be joining us here in just a moment for hour two. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at Jason.mortgage. To the phone lines we go. Sportsnet Blue Jays reporter Shai Davidi here

on the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Shai, how are you? All right, how you guys doing? We're well. We're nervous, we're nervous for tonight's game. We're nervous for tonight's game, let's be honest here. We will get into the Vlad E. Guerrero stuff in a second here,

but I actually wanted to start with the hockey because you actually spoke to some of the Jays players about the foreign nations face off and what it might look like in baseball terms. Also just talking about how this event has sort of transcended hockey and gone way beyond just the hardcore hockey or even the casual hockey fans. You know, other sports have been talking about,

I think you mentioned that JJ Watts been tweeting about it. Even people from the non-sporting realm have been caught up in this. So I guess a two-parter for you. What did the Jays players have to say about the Four Nations face-off and what do they think about potentially implementing

a similar style of tournament in baseball? Well, they've got a few pretty hardcore puckheads in that clubhouse. And so I was trying to get a sense from that. I knew they were super riled up. And obviously the first nine seconds of that Canada-US game is something that everybody is still talking about.

I think that it really, for a lot of guys, even some casual fans, they were just captured by the passion and intensity of it. And I think it steers the competitor in them to be in an environment like that with the patriotic element and all that goes into it. But in baseball, it's just, it's so uh, largely because of pitching usage, but a lot of other factors and look, baseball has the world baseball classic now, which is a great, but flawed event.

And it's great in spite of its flaws. Um, and that happens every four years during spring training and they, you know, there's all these limits on pitching usage and there are guys who can't go for a number of different reasons. Guys would love to do something that would be at a better time of the year. Interesting, both Chris Bassett and Max Scherzer who both have some or have had some involvement with the union in the past. You know, they, they pointed to, you know, doing something in the last week of spring training and then pushing back the first week of the regular season at a time where guys are more built up, but they would love the opportunity to do

something like this, something like the four nations more often, and at a time where you're getting a more real form of baseball. Who are the big hockey fans in the Jays clubhouse? Uh, I mean, George Springer, he's always walking around in, uh, uh, Hartford whalers gear. He's a, he's a Connecticut guy. Uh, and you know, that was, that's, that's from his childhood and from his area. Uh, Ernie Clement was actually a pretty good high

school hockey player, is a two-time Brighton Award winner for high school hockey players in the Rochester Buffalo area, leading scorer on his team as well. Chris Bassett, Eric Swanson is a big Winnipeg Jets guy. He, he lives in, in Minnesota across, just across the border there. So he goes down to some Jets games. Chris Bassett likes hockey, Max Ferser likes hockey. So there are, there are a number of guys in that clubhouse who, who definitely follow along.

Uh, okay. Let's get to the baseball talk, Shai. Um, Vladdy Guerrero says he wants to be a Blue J for life. The Toronto Blue J's say they want to sign him. Money should not be, um, a problem for the J's to come up with. Why no deal? Yeah, great question.

And you know, I, I've thought about this and talked to people about this from as many angles as you can imagine. And ultimately where I list Lansu, this is just really sad for the franchise because you have a player who wants to stay, as you guys mentioned, a team that definitely needs him to continue its trajectory forward. And the gaps should have, you would think, should have been bridgeable. Now, the only thing that I can land on, and this is the best that I can gather based on the conversations that I've had, is the valuation. The two sides just see the market way too differently. And I think that's been a common thread throughout his time with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Going back to when these things started after the 21 season and the Fernandes to T-Steel had happened and changed the market and the sides didn't even come remotely close then and they haven't come remotely close since. So I think that's the best I can give you right now. And the fact that there was no bridge, no way to bridge this is just a terrible thing for the franchise and something that you would think that there should have been a way to figure this out. I guess this might be an opinion question for you, but maybe also I'm sure you're hearing

things from both sides behind the scenes. Who is being more unreasonable in this, in the valuations? Look, I think that's certainly going to be eye on the beholder, right? And I would think based on what I know, like the, over the course of these negotiations, there were two contracts that have been very significant to the outlook of both sides. Fernando Tatis' extension with the San Diego Padres in 2021,

when he signed for $340 million over 14 years as a pre-arbitration eligible player. To some degree, that changed the expectations and the way people looked at extensions for pre-R players. And then this offseason, you have the Juan Soto contract. And I don't think Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is counting himself as Juan Soto, but I don't think you can ignore that when an elite mid-20s free agent hits the market and whether it's Juan Soto or Yoshinobi Yamamoto last year with the Dodgers, teams pursue those players very aggressively and spend quite significant amounts of money on them and If the two sides can't agree on how The impact of those of those contract or what the impact of those contracts on the market is

that's a pretty that can be a pretty big obstacle to overcome and Maybe maybe that's a key factor. I think the Blue Jays would certainly look at some other extensions, maybe like a Mookie Betts and say, use that as more of a framework, even Aaron Judge. But I mean, it's a different market now. And I think that evolution in the way that contracts have happened and, you know, you can also factor in, you can look down the road and say, Hey, there isn't going to be another sort of mid twenties free agent coming up on the market unless, you know, or until Gunnar Henderson makes it in sort of 28. Like there's a big gap between

now between Vlad and the next guy. I think for those reasons, you might be more aggressive looking at it from the player perspective and from the team perspective, you might be a bit more reluctant to go down that road for someone who's had a couple of years where he wasn't as consistent or as good as he's been in a couple of the other years. So I want to ask one more question, Shai. And, um, this isn't an opinion that I hold. I'm not sure what to make of this whole situation, but I have heard it before that, uh, Vlad is just

saying all the right things, but actually has his eye on an exit from the Toronto Blue Jays. Um, he knows that, uh, it's pretty easy to, to, to make the Blue Jays. He knows that it's pretty easy to make the Blue Jays owned by a big corporate company into the bad guy here. And he's going to say that I want to be here. I want to be a Blue Jay for life, but actually he's eyeing the exits.

Yeah. I mean, that's somebody who clearly doesn't know Vladimir Guerrero Jr. I mean, you know, if he was represented by Scott Boris, he wouldn't have even had the conversation with the Blue Jays at this point, a year away from free agency, right? And I think for, and if you want to be even more cynical about it, if you just look at it from a branding perspective, that his place in the Canadian market would afford him a lot of offseason

opportunities in a way that he might not have in other markets or maybe not to the extent that he would have with other teams in other markets. So you know for a number of reasons he wants to stay with the Blue Jays. I do believe there is a legacy motivation for him. He was born in Montreal, his dad played for the Expos, he's got a lot of familiarity and a lot of name recognition in the Canadian market. He can establish something with the Blue Jays. I think he likes the idea of going wire to wire with one club in his career, but he also understands that, you know, or he said he's got his number, he knows what he's worth and, you know, it's good on a player who has,

who wants to max out, you know, that I don't think many of us would be very different. And you want to be paid a number relative to the value that you create for your employer. And athletes very rarely get that opportunity and good for him in pursuing it. Shai, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight, and I'm sure we'll be doing this a lot more as we get closer and closer to the start of the Blue to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight and I'm sure we'll be doing

this a lot more as we get closer and closer to the start of the Blue Jays regular season. Yeah, you got it guys. Do well. Thanks, that's Shai Davidi, Sportsnet Blue Jays reporter here on the Haliford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. So when we talk about these games tonight, like

Canada, US, a lot of the time our show focuses on the stakes, like what's at stake here. Sure. Um, and a common question is who has the most to gain, who has the most to lose? And I just want to add some context from an American perspective, cause we've talked a lot about the Canadian perspective and you know,

Donald Trump, uh, being part of, you know, this whole tournament. And in case you missed it, he's had a message. Um, I got an update there. Okay. Do the update quick. USA hockey as just like formally announced and tweeted out a photo of the team receiving a call

from president Donald Trump this morning to wish them luck ahead of the Four Nations Championship game. It's a picture of the players seated in their stalls around an unidentified individual who appears to be holding up a phone and a speaker. There's you go. There. So it happened.

Trump did wish a congratulatory message and call to Team USA ahead of the four nations championship. And in one of his truth social posts, he went on and on about Canada being the 51st state. So as Canadians, obviously we feel like we have a lot to lose here. If we lose this game tonight, man, it is going to be uncomfortable.

But from an American's perspective, and you mentioned JJ watt and JJ watt just tweeted out, it's just incredible how much of a home run four nations has been for the NHL and hockey in general. Friends who never watched a hockey game in their lives, reaching out, asking what the plan is for tonight's game, what food we're ordering, et cetera, definition of growing the game. Steven Burnaby texted in this morning and he said, this tournament turned out to be such a hit

that the panel on the golf channel yesterday said they're gonna watch tonight's game with one of them saying, I'm not even a hockey fan. They then asked, can we do something like this in golf? And I replied to Steve, I was like, I was watching that panel.

I'm like, wait a minute, did Rex Hoggard just say that he's going to be watching the hockey game tonight? Because they were talking about, well, they've been talking about live golf and PGA tour and the PGA tour is, is trying to reimagine itself a little bit. And you know, they were saying, is there some sort

of all star game that we could do, you know, maybe have a long drive competition or maybe, you know, there has been this discussed, like, could we do a PGA tour versus live golf kind of event? I don't know if that would happen, but you know, the golf does have the rider cup, but I think they're talking about more of a PGA tour sanctioned tournament that they could do maybe in the middle of the season.

But the fact is, I mean, forget about that. The fact is the golf channel was looking at hockey and going, man, this is good. We should try and do this. And at the same time, they were also saying like, oh, anyone see the NBA All-Star game? Like that was the argument against doing something like a long drive competition or like, you know, like,

and here comes the flop shot competition, right? Like because the thing that sells the most in sports is passion, intensity, and stakes. Yeah. Like I hate talking about this. Not the stakes, stakes, but like stakes. Right. S-T-A-K-E-S. Yep, you got it. I got it. I hate sounding like a human version of a brand exercise like Darren Ravel,

but all these leagues are looking for the next great engagement. I hate God. I hate talking like this, but it's true. And I think what's happened here is the NHL has accidentally stumbled upon it at a time. And I think it's going to be a flashpoint in time that you're never going to be able to recreate. I don't think you're ever gonna be recreate what happened over the last seven to 10 days. The timing of the political fire storm, the players involved, where they're at in their careers,

how starved they've been of international competition. The next international competition won't have the same passion and fever because the itch has been scratched to a certain degree here. You take it away for a decade, the first one back is always going to be the first one back. And then it's going to be different next time. It might be entertaining and it might be engaging and it might be passionate, but it won't be the same.

I think a lot of the people that are looking at this with envy might end up, that is all they're going to get out of it, is envy. Because I don't really think you can replicate what's gone on here. A lot of it was beyond the control of the NHL and the NHLPA. 100%. And if you look at what's happened, when something exceeds everybody's expectations to this degree, that in itself is a rarity. You and I were two of the more ardent supporters of this.

And even we have been blown away at how great this has turned out and how passionate it's been and how it's transcended hockey. Now, the other thing you got to consider too, if you want to talk about just the sort of nuts and bolts of why this has risen to the level that it has, they hit an absolute home run for timing of it. The timing of this tournament could not have been better. The NFL season and the Super Bowl are a distant memory now. The NBA had nothing going up against it except for a terrible All-Star weekend.

There was no baseball, there was nothing else. The NHL, again, scheduled this at a time which was like chef's kiss perfect. And that's again why I say there's moments in time that just happen and you just kind of have to embrace them and say, hey, this worked, it's great. And don't you think, I mean, I guess you give credit to the NHL, but having one Canada-US game in Canada, the next Canada- US game in the United States in great hockey markets like Montreal and Boston. Think about what happens if Jordan Bennington doesn't make that save in overtime against the Swedes and the Swedes win that game. That one save.

You're talking about a tournament that does not have Canada in the final against the US. Right. I mean, that's, and that stuff, you can't orchestrate or organize. There's nothing, there's nothing that the planners of this tournament could do to make sure you got Canada, US in the final. Again, you could try as much as you wanted, but as we saw, the tournament was fairly unpredictable, right? Finland beat Sweden, Sweden beat the US. I know the final game was meaningless, but it was razor thin to get to the final. We got a text in here.

Hockey works because it's a physical sport. In any of these non-physical sports, you're not going to have the animosity and the competitiveness. That's not true. That's not true. The Ryder Cup is the perfect example. There's a lot of animosity there. There is a lot of animosity. There's a lot of competitiveness there.

It's the least physical sport you can imagine. I mean, soccer is a physical sport, but not like hockey. You know what? I feel like there's some animosity sometimes in soccer. There is. There is. Among the fan bases sometimes. And why do you think those international tournaments are such, like they're so hotly contested, and why the governing body's like,

we need more of this international competition. Yeah. We need more of this than they do. Because they understand, it's just something primal and unique, and when you put aside the money that you're playing for at your club to go and represent your country,

it's unparalleled, that part of it. You can't replicate that kind of passion. And look, there's gonna be reverberations from the amount that these guys put on the line in this tournament. Look at the Bruins and McEvoy. By the way, can you pull the audio on this, that we've got the fridge audio talking about

how pissed off the Bruins are? Like Charlie McEvoy goes to this tournament. I'll give the Coles notes version of what happened. He got hurt in the first game against Finland, got cross-checked into the post. I believe it was by Yoel Armia. So he's hurt, right? Probably in an exhibition tournament shouldn't play after that. Right? He's like, I got a responsibility to the Boston Bruins. They're paying me tens of millions of dollars. By the way, did you know Charlie McAvoy

is Mike Sullivan's son-in-law? I learned that a few days ago. Just found that out. Anyway, neither here nor there. So McAvoy probably shouldn't play, but instead, I mean, you know what happened. He got shot up in his shoulder, like a physical injection, a shot into his shoulder so that he could play

against the Canadians and then goes out and starts trucking guys left and right, you know? Knocks McDavid on his butt twice, goes out and he's giving her as hard as he can. And then what happens? Gets an infection in his shoulder, has a pretty significant shoulder injury, is out for the rest of the tournament.

Now the Bruins are like, this is not what we signed up for. We now lost our best defenseman while we're in the heat of a playoff chase for weeks after this tournament is done. Anyway, let's play the audio real quick cuz uh Freage was talking about just how irate the Bruins are uh with the Team USA medical staff which by the way happens to be the Minnesota Wilds medical staff. Uh here's Freage on the Charlie McAvoy situation uh yesterday. Well, I I think the people who

are the angriest, Nick, are the is the team, the Bruins. Well, I think that people who are the angriest knicker is the team, the Bruins. Like if you read their statement today, they make it very clear that they are unhappy with how this all went down, that they don't feel that their player was given the proper treatment. It seems now that McAvoy was originally injured in the opener against Finland. There's a play where Joel Armia takes him hard into the post. And it sounds like, I don't know if he got a shot or something. I don't know exactly what happened, but he played Saturday, it looks like here, with much more severe an injury than he was initially led to believe. And everybody was initially led to believe, which makes his performance, as

you mentioned, all that more impressive. And so from what I understand on Monday, um, he got, was in a bit more pain and he was admitted to the hospital and they realized the injury was more severe than believed or initially diagnosed. And number two, there was an infection there that had to be operated on and removed. So I don't know if he was given a needle or something like that or a shot or something like that. And it got infected, but it was something along these lines that the one thing is I remember yesterday when it was the Bruins and not team USA that announced that McAvoy was out. There were people saying how come the Bruins whose GM is the GM of team Canada are announcing

that Charlie McAvoy wouldn't play. And then it became pretty clear it's because the Bruins were extremely unhappy with the way this had been handled and that they felt that you know that in this particular case McAvoy didn't get the proper care and We'll see how this plays out over time and we'll see if anybody disputes this But it seems to me right now that And we'll see if anybody disputes this, but it seems to me right now that Boston's very upset at the care that McAvoy got under team USA. Wow.

Now I do think, I do think one of the things that's going on here guys is that team USA doctors, I think are Minnesota doctors. And I do think what the teams, the NHL teams have kind of indicated, I don't know if to the to the league or anything like that, but privately, is from now on they want someone independent there. So those are the risks and those are the heights that guys have to be able to go to to make this tournament what it is. And you know we're talking to Shai Davidi and it's like you can't have guys going in and being like I'm all in to represent my country on a 25 pitch count. You can't. You're either all in or you're not. I can't throw the splitter though.

Right. You know what I mean? Like, I'm going to play the first three innings and then I'm going to sit here. It's my best pitch, but I can't use it. So that's the thing. It's a give and take. And they've captured this moment in time

where the players were willing to give everything. And now we'll see what the ramifications are afterwards. We gotta go to break. We're way up against it for time. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro. From waiting rooms to exam rooms and everything in between, Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean, and disinfected. For a free quote, visit JanPro.ca. Thomas Drantz is coming up on the other side. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.