Halford & Brough in the Morning - Offer Sheets Are The Best

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

In hour two, Halford & guest host Greg "Laddie" Balloch chat with Crash The Pond & McKeen's Hockey Anaheim Ducks reporter Felix Sicard (3:31) about all the offer sheet craziness around the team, plus the boys get a Blue Jays update from Sportsnet's Jays analyst Zach Worden (27:52). 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.

701 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford, Brough. SportsNet 650. No Brough, though. Greg Ballick. Most of you know him as Laddie. I just know him as a friend.

It's co-hosting today. Hi, Greg. Thank you. Yeah. How are you doing so far? I'm doing all right, actually. It's, like I said earlier. I think you're doing great.

Oh. Yeah. I just wanted to get that out there. You don't want to be this easy on me. You can go a little rough. It's okay. I am in Brough's chair. We're supposed to be adversarial a little bit, right?

You were supposed to get into it. We are lacking that simmering beef that often underscores the Halford and Brough show. We're too friendly. Shut up, Greg. You are in our two of the program now. You are listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates.

All their clients say, I wish I'd called them sooner. If you're ready to be debt-free, why wait, visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. As mentioned, we are in hour two of the program. Felix Sikard is going to join us for some Anaheim Ducks talk in just a second here. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason Hamanuk at jason.orgia. 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 them online at jason.morgia. We're broadcasting live from the Kintech studio.

Steps strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. And you can text in on the Dunbar Lumber text line 650, 650, trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver for generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber online. today. Okay, before we get to Felix, we do need to do the one to watch, brought to you by Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts.

It's an obvious one tonight. And I know Portugal and Spain are at noon, but 5 o'clock, Monday night football, they're calling it in America, USA, Belgium. So the latest on the Flo Balagan Red Card overturned, the Royal Belgian Football Association,

the RBFA, my favorite of the Royal. My favorite of the Royal Football Association. they have announced that they are officially appealing the suspension of the suspension. Baligan's red card was not overturned. His suspension has been suspended. And the Belgian F.A. have officially appealed that decision.

USA is appealing the suspension of the suspension of the suspension to the suspension. And it'll just keep going like this. So I don't know how this is going to play out because the match is now 10 hours away. So decisions are going to have to be made. made real quick. But regardless of whether Balagan plays or not, the one to watch tonight, absolutely USA, Belgium, 5 o'clock. That is brought to you by Limitless Avi. It is your one to watch. Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts, specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces, book your personalized tour of their

experience center today. Visit them online at limitlessavie.com. Let's go now to the able Auctions hotline. As mentioned, our next guest is from the Crash the Pond podcast and McKean's hockey. Felix Sikarh joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Felix. How are you? I'm doing well, gentlemen. Thank you so much

for having me. Thanks for coming on and taking the time to do this. So first question, kind of a big picture one. What the hell is going on in Anaheim right now? That is a great question. Chaos. Chaos is what's going on. The ducks, I think we're

It sounds like they were working away at a long-term extension for Leo Carlson, and for whatever reason, talks weren't progressing. The numbers weren't what Carlson's liking were. And by the reporting, it sounds like there were four, maybe five offer sheets out there for Carlson. He ends up taking an extremely player-friendly offer sheet with the Flyers five years, basically walks him into free agency, only buys one year. of UFA and the salary structure is extremely bonus-laden where I think he'll make approximately $40 million in the next 12 months.

And that's not something that the ducks have really liked to do in the past. So now they have four days to match this. So it's chaos. That's what it is. Then they also get the Minchikov news. Why is everyone picking on the ducks? What did Pat Verbeek do to make everyone else in the league? do all these moves that put them in the corner?

Yeah, what did Poverbeek do? Well, I'll tell you what he did. Just for the last few years, every restricted free agent negotiation that has occurred that hasn't involved arbitration, so I'm thinking of Trevor Zegris, I'm thinking of Jamie Driesdale, and Mason McTavish has ended up with the player

getting stuck in a negotiation that has dragged into training camp, with the player missing time. And all of those players have had some of their worst seasons right after that occurred. And all of those players are now no longer Anaheim Ducks. And the thought process was, oh, well, those guys weren't necessarily Patverbeak guys. And so that's just what happens. But over time, players in the league and agents take note of that.

Pabr Beek's been voted as one of the hardest GMs to work with. and Mason McTavish, I believe, was a popular guy with the Ducks on that team. He gets traded for picks, for draft picks. And I just think that the players have kind of taken it upon themselves that, hey, the only way around this Pat Verbeek nightmare is to get an offer sheet. And it worked. Pavel Michigov got a huge raise.

Leo Carlson got a huge raise. So the players have figured it out and have called Pat Verbeekyllis. Is it kind of weird that a former player, Pat Verbeek, as GM is this kind of a hardball GM with his players? And like you mentioned, McTavish was a well-like player. You think a former player would understand the importance of, you know, guys in the room that are well-liked being there for a long time. It just seems weird to me that Pat Verbeek, of all people, is the GM to be doing this. Yeah. I mean, I'm not sure exactly, you know, I didn't watch him a ton of the player a little before my time. But yeah, you would think that it's not just about winning the negotiation. It's also about

kind of setting up a culture where players feel like they're valued and that whatever happens with the number, whether it's the one that they want or not, it's done quickly so that they can focus on their summer of training and get to camp excited and just kind of build this domino effect where players want to be a part of that. Maybe they take a little less just because they know they're going to be taken care of quickly. I mean, the example that everyone is pointing to is the Montreal Canadians where guys get done early. They get signed to long-term deals. And, you know, it's not always necessarily big money, but one gets done. Then the next gets done. And then that kind of becomes the culture within the team almost. And so, for Beacon, the totally opposite direction.

And he created the situation. There's no other way around it. speaking with Felix Sikard of the Crash the Pod podcast talking about the Anaheim Ducks and the wild week that they have had with all of these offer sheets flying around. And there's another name I think of two Felix and that's Cutter Gochiay, who we know had a great season. He's a restricted free agent, not eligible for an offer sheet. Thankfully, I think, for the duck's sake, if I'm correct. But he's got to be looking at this whole situation going, man, am I next? Is this going to be a tough, tough negotiation for me now after seeing what's going on with everyone else in the Ducks organization?

Well, that's the thing is that at this point, you know, you've got Leo Carlson that's going to take up 18 million of cap space, assuming that they match, which I think they will. Now you've got Pavel Minchikov taken up 7 mil of cap space. So all of a sudden, the big cap space that the Ducks had going into this is practically gone. and there's just about, I believe, 10 mil left over for Cutter Gochier. The difference, though, is that, like you said, Cutter Gochia can't get an offer sheet.

And so Averbeak could really just look at Gochia and say, that's my get-out-of-jail-free card. I can just grind him all the way into the season, maybe get a bridge deal just to kind of save on the cap sheet, and we can try this again in a couple years. I think that would be a huge mistake, especially if you look at Cutter-Gote's track record, that's not a guy who's afraid to ruffle some feathers and get himself out of a situation if he doesn't think it's the best for him. So they're in a tough spot. And also the fact that Leo Carlson is getting 18 mil now, it throws everything out of whack because Cutter Goce, you know, say, well, if he's getting 18, I just scored 41 goals. You know, what the heck?

And then back at Seneca in a couple of years or whenever he's up, like, it's going to be the same thing. So the domino effect of this offer sheet by the flyers is massive. Not just the offer sheets, but what has this entire offseason done to the fan base? What's the fan base's reaction been? Because they lose Goudas, Truba, Carlson, Zellweger, lots a lot of defensemen out the door. And then the offer sheet situations, which we just talked about. It kind of puts a damper on the season that the Ducks had, does it not? What did the fans' reaction been like to all this?

Well, I'll say this. as someone who has covered this team for years and has been pretty critical with Pavarbeek, I usually get a lot of pushback on when I criticize something that Pavarbeek has done or, you know, even going back to those negotiations with Zegris and McTavish, it's always been, oh, well, you don't know what's going on. It takes two to tango. The player could be holding it up. This offseason, though, with these hopper sheets, this has been the most unanimous, nearly zero pushback, Pat Verbeek, just vitriol on Twitter that I've seen.

So I think the fans are pretty pissed off. And you're right that it really does stem from the fact that they just had a great season. They finally break the playoffless streak. Things are looking good. And it started early, if you think about it in the off season, they haven't made any additions. They haven't improved this roster now. I'll argue to some extent losing Gudis and Trubup is kind of addition. by subtractions, but still, there haven't been any major moves.

They traded McTavish, who even though he was a healthy scratch down the stretch, you still traded a kind of a core piece for future picks. That's not ideal. And now this. And they have no cap space left. So there's basically no, there's no path left in this offseason. You know, Pavrovich just has to kind of clean up this mess. tried, maybe there's a trade out there to be made,

but the kind of window to really strike the ironwall, it's hot and approve the roster, is totally passed at this point. So, yeah, people are pissed, and I don't blame them. What does ownership think about all this? That is a great question, because, you know, a few years, last summer, when the Ducks hired Joel Quenzel,

they had a, the ownership was there, just kind of due to the nature of the nature of, hiring and it was pretty rare. And Henry Samueli said, he was loud and clear. He said that Pavarbeek is going to have a blank check to kind of improve this team. There is no budget. There are no constraints. And so on one hand, you know, the ownership has a ton of money.

And outwardly, they say we're not going to put any restrictions in our GM. But when we found out over the last few days is that they don't necessarily like to do signing bonuses, all the Ducks' big contracts are just there's no signing bonus. It's just straight salary. And so despite the fact that they're mega wealthy, despite the fact that they said all this, I actually don't think they're thrilled that Pabababic is costing them money. I mean, Pavrvig is directly costing them money now, just the way that this is structured with the signing bonuses.

So that being said, the Samuoles tend to be the kind of ownership group that don't really, you know, they don't really mingle into the hockey ops. They don't really have a lot of that, from my understanding, at least they're not really present there all that much. So who knows? Who knows what they actually think.

But once those checks clear, I think that there will have to be conversations with Pavar Beek on that front. Well, it sounds like a tough, tough situation there. Is there any sort of light at the end of the tunnel for the ducks in terms of getting out of this? Or is it really just cross-reveeastern, your fingers and hope Lucas Tostal

becomes the best goalie in the league next year? Well, I think that at the end of the day, they're going to be fine. You know, they have these guys who are now going to be more expensive than they would have been. And if you really play it out, if you include Beckett Seneca's extension

down the line, they're going to be in a situation similar to the Leifes where they have four players, you know, Carlson Goce, Seneca, Lecombe, that take up a ton of cap space. And they're going to have to really work around that. The difference, though, is that the cap is going to keep rising, and you can still build a team around that. You know, you don't have to be like the Leafs and just utterly fail in that

regard. So I think that they, they're still long term, I think they're still in a fine spot. It's just the skill required by the GM in charge to kind of build around that. The skill required just went up. And so is Pepper be capable of that? I don't know. As far as this upcoming season, I think that this upcoming season is where it hurts the most because their ability to really improve the team has suffered. It's possible that they still do well. I think they'll still be competitive just because of how much young talent is on the team and Lucas Dostal probably will have a little bit of a bounce back season.

So I still think they're going to be competitive next year, but that's the season where it hurts long term. I think they're going to be fine. Okay, Felix, before we let you go, just to confirm, you're under the assumption they're going to match this offer sheet, right? I just think that they have to. I mean, I also think that you kind of like doing a little psychology. I think Pabr Bique, this was his first big draft pick, you know, second overall, Leo Carlson.

He took a stand. A lot of people thought he was going to take Adam Fantilli. This was his guy. This was the Pabre Bke kind of signature pick. And I just can't imagine him letting that guy go. like just from a pride, ego, whatever standpoint. Like, it just seems impossible. So I'll say they match, but crazier things have happened.

Well, we got five days left to figure it out. They have until Friday to match. Felix, thanks a lot for doing this today, bud. This was great. We will catch up with you later on in the summer. Thanks a lot, guys. Have a good one. Thanks, Felix.

That's Felix, Saccard, from the Crash the Pond podcast, an Anaheim Ducks podcast, and McKean's hockey here on the Halford & Brough show, featuring Greg Ballack. on SportsNet 650. So we're trying to get up to speed with everything that happened over the weekend. The Carlson offer sheet got signed

like hours after we got off the air on Friday. So we're going in the way back machine because much has happened since then. Five years, $90 million, an $18 million AAV for the 21-year-old Carlson. Now Anaheim gets the entire week to match. If they don't, they get four first round picks from Philly in exchange.

then as mentioned they also kind of got strong armed into signing Pavel Minchikov to a deal 7.5 million AAV for the young defenseman and that came yesterday while Frank Saravalli from Victory Plus

put out there on Twitter that he had been hearing that another team was circling and potentially going to sign Minchikov to an offer sheet as well so there's a lot of stuff going on in Anaheim as it pertains to two of their well one in Carlson a vitally important young building block. Another one of Minchikov, who

hasn't really found the same level as success he had as a rookie, but is still a pretty important defenseman for them. And now he's getting 7.5 sheets per year. So we'll see what happens there. The Verbeek stuff is still just wild to me. But he's such a tough GM. But you remember we went over that poll

from the athletic, the anonymous agent poll. And I remember being shocked that it was that definitive that Anaheim and Verbeek were the toughest team to deal with in the NHL. And part of it was because I never think about Anaheim and Pavar Beak. And, you know, not necessarily as like hardline negotiators by any stretch.

I had heard stories. But that was the first tell that something was up when they became that definitive of a leader on that poll. And then now hearing the stories in the aftermath about how thoroughly they grinded down Mason McTavish. And again, I remember covering the McTavish thing, the holdout and everything last year. And the way it was framed. was more about a disgruntled player or a guy that wanted his bag as opposed to how hard a negotiated

verbiq was but now you know i really wonder what the future has in store for ruby because as felix mentioned like he's now costing his owner's money because he's so so determined and focused on nickel and diamond guys when it comes to negotiations the fan support starting to change now according to what he's saying that that could be the big factor and for an organization like on the grow they just had this great year. They just got back to the playoffs after a lengthy postseason drought. You don't really want to have any, even minor roadblocks getting away. Never mind this major

one here where you're pressed up against the cap. You've lost, what, two-thirds of your blue line? That's kind of the surprising part of that it's happening to a team like this. Right? Because you'd think it would happen to a team that's kind of, their windows open, they need to add, and they have minimal cap space, and then they get kind of, bam, they get the

offer sheet, but it's not that. It's a team that's sort of just coming up. And yeah, they have a lot of young pieces, but they should be able to sign these guys, you'd think. Okay, we're going to turn our attention now to the 32 Thoughts podcast. Some audio came in overnight from Elliot Friedman connecting Elias Pedersen of the Vancouver Canucks to the Pittsburgh Penguins talking about a future home. Now, I'll preface the audio by saying it's a little vague,

little nebulous in terms of Freedged connecting the dots. I wonder what he's hearing or what he's heard that led him to speculate in such a fashion. But here's Elliot Friedman's what a minute. It's about a minute worth of audio from the 32 Thoughts podcast. Tying Elias Pedersen to Pittsburgh. I'll tell you this, Kyle. Here's another one I've wanted a boat. And that is Pedersen.

Elias Pedersen from the Canucks. And remember, he has control. But I, you know, look, all of a sudden, look, he's got to play better in that 11.6 is, everyone's been talking about that, I know. But again, the ground has shifted here in a huge way. I've sat there and I said, where could he go that could be good for him? I don't know. I wonder if the penguins with Crosby and Malkin might be good for him.

I do believe a fresh start somewhere is the best course of action. I think it has to happen. I do, but he's got saying this. So I think the important part of that audio isn't necessarily the landing spot. And hear me out here because you're right, what the hell are you talking about? Of course, it's Pittsburgh. No. Freed said there that he thinks everything has changed.

And if you go to sportsnet.com over the weekend, he had a blog talking about the Carlson offer sheet and what it symbolizes throughout the National Hockey League. And his theory was that everything is different now. And it's not just because Philly offers sheeded Carlson. The idea is that that is symbolic of a league that is changing dramatically in terms of how it's going to do his business. In terms of aggression.

The cap is rising. The cost of buying is rising. Teams want to succeed. Teams understand that free agency. this year. There was nothing in free agency. The big, bold moves are the ones that you have to make, and now you've got

the flexibility to make them. I'd also add another wrinkle to this. I think teams are more than willing than ever to part with first round picks. Ignore that in the context of Pedersen, but just in the context of the want and desire to make moves.

The offer sheets. We went years without having offer sheets, and now we're seeing them with more regularity. Don't forget, this is the second one, the Carlson one that we've seen this offseason. Previously, of course, it was the devil signing Barrett Hayton to one out of Utah. But I wonder

if this summer of massive moves and big, bold swings for the fences is what Friege is talking about when he's trying to connect the dots between Pittsburgh and Elias Pedersen. PD Reclamation Project kind of has dubus written all over it, doesn't it?

It's very smart, Greg. It just makes sense Because it's the disconnect between Pedersen's career numbers And what we've seen out of him The last year and a half, two years There couldn't be more of a disconnect And it would take an analytics numbers guy

To say hey Maybe we can get this guy fired up again Anyone who's watched him the last two years knows That is going to be a challenge For any team To get him back to where he was So I think if anyone's willing to do it though It would be a guy like Dubus

So it is worth considering Like on a smaller scale Dubis has done this before Where he's gone and found An asset that he thinks is under value Or underpreciated or maybe a distressed asset Chinikoff was one of them When he got him out of Columbus

I would also like to add That the Pittsburgh Penguins of course Are now the home of Andre Kuzmenko I'm not saying that there are teams Across the National Hockey League clamoring to reunite Kuzmanko

and Pedersenka. You got to do it. But they did have tremendous success together offensively. Can we all acknowledge that? For as many flaws as the two of them had in other parts of their game, they clicked offensively. And I, you know, someone texted it. Well, Freed sure, quote unquote, wonders a lot.

He does. He does without question. I would consider some of this informed speculation in what he does. And I think a lot of it is things that you're hearing are things that make sense. is it worth extrapoling it out on the podcast? And I think that's what's happening here. I'll say this. The other big takeaway,

and again, aside from the league is changing and everything, is when Friege is saying, they have to do this in Vancouver. Like, they have to move on. And I am, I think that might be the real crux of this,

is that when you've already made a pretty significant move for Marcus Pedersen to get them out, you feel like it's just a, matter of time before Debrusk moves on. Suddenly you start looking at the list and you're like, who's next? Is it Bessor? Is it Elias Pedersen?

Who else? Because the gutting is not quite complete. I think that goes without saying. But you can tell and the tells are out there now that the gutting is underway and they want to cut deep here. Just prepare yourself for Pedersen to Kuzmanko to the back of the net.

Artur Silov's MVP. He resigned. He resigned in Pittsburgh. they're all going to Pittsburgh, apparently, according to Elliott. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about our friends at VGH Plus, hometown heroes lottery. They need your support to help change lives and save lives. BC's bravest answer the call. Your ticket answers there.

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Greg, this is a very exciting segment coming up. We're talking Blue Jays. Zach Worden is going to join the program after a forgettable weekend. Do we have to? In Seattle, we're going to talk some Blue Jays. You're listening to 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. 3.33 on a Monday. He's bringing out all the favorites today. It's been a while. You're listening to the Halford and Breft Show on Sportsnet 650. Would it be a Monday without the crazy horns? I don't think so.

It's been ages since Crazy Horns. Has been a while. The listeners demanded. So a couple things here. One, yes, we are playing the Crazy Horns. Two, it is the Halford and Brough show, but Greg Ballick is co-hosting. Today and tomorrow in the co-host chair. Filling in quite admirably, I might add.

Not as tall as Brough. No. I think we'd adjust the cameras a little bit. You lack his height and his surly demeanor. We are at the midway point of the show. Alfred and Brub in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. don't spend summer sweating over your debt. Sands and Associates is ready to help you get debt free.

Visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. With the midway point of the show, Zach Worden, Blue Jays writer from Sportsnet is going to join us in just a moment here. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason Homunock at jason. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason. Dot mortgage.

While it might have been a forgettable weekend for the Jays in Seattle, We're going to talk about it anyway. Our next guest is going to help us do that. We go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline. Zach Worden from SportsNet joins us here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Zach. How are you? Good morning, guys, doing well here. Appreciate having me on as always.

And how are you guys doing? We're well, probably better than the Jays right now. How tough were the last two games of that series in Seattle? Oh, man. I tell you, you know, this offense is really going through it. And it's kind of been a year-long thing now. I think kind of when they go down early at this point in games, you kind of just, you're not expecting them to come back and win,

which is just such a drastic change from where they were at in 2025. Obviously, they led baseball and comeback wins. And now it feels like, you know, a two-run lead feels like five or six, really, at this point. So it's kind of getting to that time of the year where they're going to really have to turn things around. And it just doesn't seem like they have much positive momentum going. And then that was just kind of reinforced this weekend in Seattle. Zach, it feels like they've had a couple of times this year where you feel like that momentum is going to change where they get, you know, so close to getting over 500 and then they just throw it all the way.

And maybe it was Alejandro Kirk coming back from injury. And nope, that's not it because now they're back to this again. What's it going to take for this team to eventually get over the hump? Because it just feels like they can't get to that point. Yeah, yeah, you're 100% right. I think they get back to 500 on June 22nd there. And I think back to a couple moments this year, you know, the Dalton Varsho grant slam. I think that that last one over the Mets, you know, there's kind of all these little points during the season where you're kind of looking for this year's Bobachette home running against Texas

that kind of flips the season around. But I think for them to get going, it's just going to take more consistent at bat. It's going to take Vladimir Gruro Jr. turning into the hitter that we kind of know he can be. And for them to do that, you know, he kind of has to have to lead the way. So I think

you're kind of waiting for the stars to be stars and the at bat quality to kind of improve up and down the lineup. You mentioned Vladdy there. Obviously, he's a big, big point of talking for this Blue Jay's offense. And he's not going to go to the All-Star game. He says he has some back tightness, which we all know about.

But he says it's only been the last little while. So that doesn't explain the other two months that he was not swinging the bat the way we'd all expect. And I'm not going to ask you to diagnose everything that's wrong with Vladdy, because I don't think even Vladdy knows what the root problem is. But how much impact does he have, the fact that he's not producing? what does it do to this Blue Jay's offense? Obviously, it's had dramatic effect we just saw in the last two games

getting shut out two times. Yeah, 100%. I think when you kind of look at this lineup as a whole, obviously they're not hitting well as a team, but kind of when you look at the numbers, I mean, they do have a bunch of guys who are performing fairly well.

I think you look at kind of the supporting cast, you know, Nathan Lucas, Kaz Okamoto, Ernie Colmint, Brandon Valenzuela, you know, Bionjri, Pinyongo, or Dolan Varsher, kind of all these guys have had their moments in the year and have kind of put together, you know,

decent enough seasons to the point where it's kind of, you're just looking at the George Springer's and the Vladimir Grillo juniors. I think that those are the two guys that can kind of dictate the direction of this season from here. And when you kind of look into the numbers, you know, I think that it's quite shocking just to kind of see how far both these guys have fallen here in 2026 after what we saw from them, not only in the postseason, but of course last year on their way to an ALE's title.

So I think when a guy like Vladimir Grove Jr. struggles for the rest of their lineup, you know, it's kind of a downer. And I think they probably feel that in the clubhouse a little bit, that their $500 million first baseman isn't kind of putting up the numbers that they need. I think, you know, Ernie Clements quote last night after the game where he's talking about how they have to start playing better for each other. I think that's, you know, maybe the biggest quote that's come out from this team this season is in the fact that, you know, we see them play last year where they are. so connected on the field and they're kind of this one through nine attacks up and down the lineup and now this year it just kind of hasn't felt that way and I think you know kind of getting leading the charge from or getting the charge having Vladimir Groh Jr. leading the charge would really kind of be a great start for them to kind of get back to that where it can kind of spark

the rest of the lineup having having your best player be your best player talking with Zach Worden of sports nets and blue jays talk but it was a big weekend here in the West Coast, obviously the Jay's here playing in Seattle, but also a Max Scherzer citing. He came to Vancouver to make a rehab start. Not often you see anyone get assigned to Vancouver, but with the team on the West Coast, he decided to do it.

Is he actually going to be a factor in the Blue Jays turning this thing around when he gets back, or is it kind of a side show at this point? Because, you know, with the numbers that he's had this year, like a 10 plus ERA on the season, not a ton of playing time, but, you know, is him getting healthy? year and back on the Jay's active roster even going to be a factor in terms

of this team getting back on track? Yeah, it's such a tough conversation with him because I think when you kind of look at what he was last year when he was healthy, he was a pretty solid starter, I think. Obviously, he misses a big chunk of the year last year kind of working back from the thumb issue and then once he was on the field and healthy, he

was really good and then you kind of saw him fade a little bit towards the end of the year. I remember kind of around this time last year, maybe more, more kind of end of August. You know, we were talking about Max Scherzer as a lock in the Jay's playoff rotation. And then by the time the ALDS rolls around, he's a guy who's not even on the playoff roster to start. And then, of course, you know, that time away helped him come back and be effective

during the playoffs. And the guy who has shown up here in 2026 just hasn't been anything close to the version of the healthy version of Max that we saw in 2025. So I wonder how much the health has kind of been impacting his performance on the field and how much maybe he's rushed back, how much he's been, you know, trying to push himself to help this team that has just so desperately needed innings

from the starting pitching. And going forward, I think, you know, if the healthy version of Max Scherzer shows up, that there is a chance that he could kind of be that guy that gives you five innings. You know, I think for the Blue Jays right now, if he's able to give them five innings a start

and give up three runs, I think that would be a pretty good step forward for him and where he's been at this year. But I think when you kind of look at the results and how things have gone for him, like that's a pretty tall ask for what he's looked like. So I think that we'll kind of see what he looks like when he gets back. And, you know, I would imagine that if they do start to play better

and do kind of head towards the trade deadline with the momentum and are looking like they're going to be buyers that, you know, I would imagine that they're going to be in on one, if not two, starting pitchers to try and kind of fill the back of that rotation behind the Dillon Cases, the Kevin Gossman's and the Tray Savage's. Well, Scher certainly showed it the playoffs last year that he still had a little bit, at least, left in the tank.

And I really think that Cody Ponce injury at the start of the year, just put that rotation on its back foot right at the start of the season. So that wasn't a good start. But would you call this last little bit kind of the low point of the season so far? Because, you know, two of their last 10, they've dropped six games under 500. I think it's the lowest. I've seen them under 500 in a while.

The good news is they get to turn around quickly and face, you know, a Giants team that hasn't been all that good this season right away. They play today in San Francisco. So, you know, I don't want to say that it's the low point of the season and then they go out and have a terrible series against the Giants. But how important is this series against the Giants as well in terms of getting back on track? Yeah, really important. I think when you kind of look at, you know, kind of the down points of the season,

And I think that the end of the month of June was really important just because of the teams that they were playing. You know, the Astros, the Rangers. And the Mariners kind of fit into that as well as to, you know, these are teams that you kind of need needed to beat, right? I think when you're kind of looking earlier in the month, you know, you lose series to the Phillies and to the Braves. And ultimately, you know, those are really good National League teams who you're not going to be competing with kind of when the season comes to an end if you're going to be a wild card team at this point. but losing series to the Astros, to the Rangers and to the Mariners, like feels really significant. So I do think that that kind of fits into,

if you're looking at a down point in the season, it definitely is because you're losing two teams that now you don't hold the tiebreaker for them if you need that later in the year. Obviously it sends them you further down under 500. Two of those series were at home where they were so good last year. So I think all of that kind of plays into it being probably one of the worst stretches of the year. And of course, you know, coming out of that, gives you a really important series here against the Giants and the Padres,

both of whom have been really struggling kind of this year and kind of have been going through their own ups and downs with their own high expectations. So I think, you know, the San Francisco series a really good chance for them to kind of get back on track and try and turn things around heading into the break. I think the West Coast swings are always so interesting just to kind of see team dynamics and everything like that because it is a lot of travel, a lot of long flights and everything like that. I think back to last year as well when they had the West Coast trip and they swept the Mariners in Seattle. I kind of thought that was like an early turning point, an early sign of things to come for that Blue Jays team.

And obviously things didn't go as well in Seattle. So if they're going to find their way feeling good going into the break, taking four or four of these six or five of these six against the Giants and Padres, I think would be really, really big for them. Without making this an on-the-hot-seat question, how much pressure is John Schneider under right now? I think quite a bit. I think when you get quotes, like the one that Ernie Coleman comes out with, again, last night where he's talking about playing together and playing a lot better.

Like that's kind of the stuff that speaks to the urgency in the room. And I think kind of when you hear stuff like that, you kind of wonder what the messaging from up top is. So I'm not going to say he's, He's on the hot seat or anything like that just because of how meticulous this front office is and how, you know, we've seen them need to have a large sample of data before really making any of these drastic decisions. But I think if things continue to kind of spiral and go the wrong way here over the next month leading into the trade deadline, I wouldn't be surprised to kind of see, you know, some rumblings about what his future is with the Blue Jays going forward,

given just the high expectations that they had entering this year and just kind of everything that's going into where this team is right now. Would you consider this good or bad timing for the All-Star breaks? I know a couple days give Vladdy some time to get healthy, yeah, but they come out of this break and are just as dreadful as they are going into it. It's not going to be a positive feeling going towards the end of the season. Yeah, no, 100%. I think kind of when you look at the schedule,

like I think it's a pretty good time for them to, to maybe get off their feet a little bit as a team and kind of get a little bit of a mental reset. Obviously, you know, there's going to be the three of them going to Philadelphia, but I think like you mentioned, Vladdy, getting him some time away will be really important, especially as he's dealing with all this back stuff, and for him to be able to kind of have his own reset,

and I think coming off the West Coast swing will be good for them to just kind of go their separate ways and then come back and then hopefully be a little bit rejuvenated. I think you kind of look at the schedule after the All-Star break where you return home for 7, game home stand where you get the White Sox and the raise, the White Sox kind of fit into that conversation of teams

that you probably want to beat just in case of, just in case that's the team that you're going to be battling with by the end of the season. So I think it would be, it's a good time for the break just given how you know, they haven't been able to kind of gain any momentum.

So coming back from that, I think just kind of getting that reset will be, will be important and we'll kind of see what they look like when they come back. No rest the weary, the Jays leave Seattle. They're back in action tonight in San Francisco, three games set. Zach, thanks a lot for taking the time to do this today, man. We really appreciate it.

Enjoy the Giant Series. Hopefully it goes better than the Mariners series. We'll do this again soon. Sounds great. Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me on and have a great rest of the show. Yeah, thank you. That's Zach Worden, Sportsnet, Blue Jays writer here on the Halford & Breff Show featuring Greg Ballack on Sportsnet 650. Okay, I just want to recap

a couple things here. for those that are unaware of exactly what's going on because this is the story that's, I mean, it's really sort of taken the sporting world and the political world by storm. It's always great when those two worlds converge. I love it. I love when politics gets in sports

and I love it when sports gets in politics. Flo Belligan, the star striker for the U.S. As of right now, is still eligible to play tonight when the U.S. takes on Belgium in their round of 16 match, 5 p.m. kickoff from Seattle. Biggest match, I would say,

in U.S. soccer history. All these host countries in this World Cup have all had some of, if not the biggest matches in their history. Canada, obviously getting to the round of 16, bowing out to Morocco. The U.S. who have looked very good in this tournament,

with the potential to move on to the quarterfinals with the win tonight, while hosting, huge for them. That's a big, big match for them. I would say the biggest match in U.S. soccer history. Mexico last night, for those that watched it, very rarely do matches soccer or otherwise,

anything in sports, live up and maybe exceed the hype. But that one last night at Stadio Estega absolutely did. Didn't go the way the host wanted it to go. Mexico, a rare loss at Azteca, 3-2 to the English in a match that had. all the theater and drama you could possibly imagine. It feels weird. We barely scratched the surface of this game on the show so far. It's, yeah, there are the reasons for this.

One, there are two other massive stories, the Canadian soccer story, obviously. And then this balligan red card, which, now here's the thing. We are now nine hours and 15 minutes away from kickoff. So we're talking about very fine lines about making a decision. As of right now, FIFA has decided that through Article 27 of its bylaws,

the Balagan Red card that he got against Bosnia has not been rescinded. They've merely used this clause that they have in their rules, and they've used it in the past as well, to suspend the automatic suspension that you get when you get a red. It's unprecedented during a tournament. I think the last time that it's actually happened, any red card reversal.

You had to go all the way back to the 60s. Garencia, I believe. Doesn't it predate red? I remember predates red cards. It does. Well, it also predates this clause that's been thrown in. Now, this clause has been used in the past, but most recently, it was used for a Christiana,

Cristiano Ronaldo red card that happened outside of the competition. It happened in qualifying. It was a three-match ban. It got suspended. So, you know, Ronald didn't, have to miss the first two matches of the group stage. Very different circumstances, though. Very different circumstances. Different circumstances, yet similar mechanism.

As a matter of fact, the exact same mechanism. Just to follow along. And I'm trying to piece this together as best as I can because there are updates coming through every 10 or 15 minutes. The Belgian Football Association has issued two separate statements. The first in the aftermath of Belligan's suspension being suspended. And the second one was them saying that, and I, I'm going to paraphrase this and Coles note it. We asked FIFA for an explanation as to why they did not give us one.

Therefore, we're left with no other move here than to appeal the suspended suspension. I know it sounds confusing. But the Belgian FAA has been put in a very weird spot here because they don't really know the root cause for the, let's just call it the overturned decision. FIFA is under no obligation because they're not technically. going back and changing the referees call or the VAR on the red, they're just saying we are suspending the suspension. He may have to serve it at some point, but right now he does not have to.

What are the odds this happens? And most important World Cup game in United States history. So the timing of it is spectacular. I just want to make this also abundantly clear. Political interference and corruption in FIFA, this is not their first rodeo. It's happened before. host countries have gotten involved in the affairs of the governing body of international football before. I know.

It's shocking. Some have joked that America having their president flexes political might over FIFA means that they've only really become a real football country now. This is how you do it. It's not with winning. It's not with hosting. It's with getting down in the gutters and being corrupt. I mean, I joked on Twitter yesterday and I wasn't even joking that much.

When it comes to corruption, nobody does it like FIFA. Generational corruption doers. Without peer, S tier, the highest. They set the standard. Because it's not only the corruption, it's doing it in clear sight

so everyone can see it. Some will try and keep it in the shadows. Some will try and hide it from the public. A FIFA. Not my guys at FIFA. That's why you respect it, because they take them. Halford approach.

They just power through. Hope it goes away. When your voice is cracking and you've lost the read, you don't stop. You just keep going forward. It's, I mean, it's, I understand that there's a massive moral quandary and quite frankly, moral decay with this, but it's also hilarious. It is absolutely hilarious that this is happening. Crump content is okay when it's funny.

It's sport at the end of the day. So I can't take it that seriously. Well, like it throws the world. up into a bit of a weird situation, does it not? Hold on, though. Hold on. To suggest that this is somehow the bridge too far for FIFA is almost laughable, right? But it's such a high profile moment in a high profile game to just pull this kind of move. The IOC looks at FIFA and they're like, damn, they do the corruption's good.

They do it real good. They aspire to be a FIFA level one day. Okay. Time for the smart decision brought to you by Crow, your trusting accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. We didn't get to this story in the NHL. Of all the arbitration hearings and the guys that have filed, the smartest might have been

Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars, who has filed for arbitration. If it goes through and they get to the hearing and he gets it, it'll walk him to unrestrictive free agency. It'll also prevent anyone from signing him to an offer sheet, which I don't really think was in the cards anyway, although

there was one interested suitor less we forget what the Seattle crack and tried to do with the sign and trade for the eight year $15 million deal. I don't know how poison the well is between Robertson and Jim Nill and the stars. It doesn't sound good, but it definitely sounds like he's reached some kind of breaking point, and I don't think he loved the deal that was hatched to send him to Seattle. So a smart decision here, we'll see how it goes. It was Sunday yesterday, 5 o'clock Eastern, 2 o'clock our time.

where everyone had to file. I believe it was 15 guys total that filed, including Robertson. So we'll keep an eye on that one and a whole lot more. Anyway, the smart decision is brought to you by Crow. You're trusting accounting and tax advisors for 55 years. Crow, smart decisions lasting value. Learn more at chroma-kai.ca.com.

Two hours of the show in the books, one final hour to go. Kevin Woodley, nh.l.com, and Ingole magazine is going to join us on the other side. You're listening to the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet, 650.