Halford & Brough in the Morning - Omissions of Team USA

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

In hour two, Jamie and Dan are joined by Shayna Goldman to talk about the USA Olympic roster, who she projects for team Canada and remaining UFA’s in the NHL. Jasmine Jasudavicius joins to talk about her journey through MMA and her upcoming fight against Manon Fiorot at Rogers Arena.  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.

Thank you. I feel like this is bringing you back to your days hanging out in Budapest. Oh, man. This was Dan Riccio every night. This is definitely it. Simplakert, the ruin bar? Absolutely. Welcome back to Halford & Brough here, SportsNet 650.

It's Jamie Dodd. Dan Riccio filling in for the fellas this week. Halfan Ambroth is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit Sands. dash trustee.com. This hour is brought to you by jason. dot mortgage. If you love giving the banks

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650 of course call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries and joining us now on the hotline from the athletic covering the N8 She is, Shana Goldman. Shana, thank you for doing this as always. How are you today? I'm great. Thanks for having me.

And that music was a vibe. Like, that's where you get things going in the morning. Absolutely. We need it. It's called, they call it Eurodance Wednesdays on the show. So the whole show is that music, basically, Shana. Iconic. It makes it feel like Night at the Roxbury in here.

I'm not going to lie. That's right. That's right. So we got a rare piece of interesting hockey news at this time of the calendar yesterday, Shana, USA Hockey releasing their Olympic orientation camp roster. The camp will be next week. And, you know, obviously a lot of obvious and unsurprising names on the list, some interesting selections as well.

What stood out to you about the kind of large group of players? And, you know, it's not as if you have to be at this camp to be selected to the team, but obviously these players are very much on the radar. What stood out to you about the invitation list? I guess we'll go with the obvious, right? The biggest discourse of all is going to be on the back end. It's not including Lane Hudson. And I get it in that you need different skill sets, right?

Like you need a variety. You need to have a versatile lineup. So maybe the thought is with Quinn Hughes and Fox and even Zach Warnski to an extent you have those offensive weapons on the back end, you can't have too many of them. And I think for Lane Hudson, in a long time, honesty, I don't think it's a bad thing to miss it this time. Nothing

feels a player like spite, and I also think just adjusting to the NHL in a full season and the playoffs like last year was a lot. Having the time off, is it the worst thing? But it is, you know, a notable exception there, especially when you think about just how good he was last year and really in the second half of the year

how much he improved. You know, looking just big picture at how USA is going to put this roster together. It's funny because we kind of come at it from the perspective of, okay, what do they need to do differently than at Four Nations. And I think we do have to remember, I mean, that was an overtime game, right? They were, if Jordan Bennington doesn't make a couple of crazy saves in overtime, we're talking about what does Canada have to change to overcome losing at the

four nations. But anyways, there's always things to improve. So just kind of big picture, what tweaks would you like to see to the approach from USA hockey going into the Olympics? I think just an emphasis on offense is huge here. Because I think last Four Nations we saw USA hockey take a very different approach from years past. Like you think of the World Cup of hockey and the Olympics before that and there was so much emphasis on like physicality and

grit and grind and, you know, work ethic and all of that's important, right? But you don't need a lineup of 10 Dustin Burns and Ryan Callaghan and Zach Porez and I felt like that was their direction for so long. So I think already like this is an improvement, right? You have the flash and the high end skill. You have

guys like Caulfield and Coolly on here. I think including more scores who were not involved in Four Nations, like someone like Jason Robertson, and I know his game can be hit or miss. And I think at the time the rosters were selected last year, his game was really overwhelming, but then he just took off in the second half. And, you know, that's worth including at this point. So you can really decide who should or shouldn't be on the team.

So I think that there's progress on that front. I just, I think it's always the same. I'm surprised, like, players like Frank Mazar are included. I think it's great. It's very different for USA hockey, but then you think of the other young guys, like, Dustin Wolf could have made this camp, and that would have been interesting. But I think everyone's so odd about how they evaluate goaltending and how much information they need, even though he has that pre-NHL record.

I think that should back him up enough here. I know at The Athletic, you wrote a little bit about Macklin Celebrini, potentially making team Canada. And it was a discussion Jamie and I had earlier in the week. It feels like, you know, with the depth that center that Canada has, it's a bit of a long, shot, but he was so good in his rookie year. Is it possible to see a 19-year-olds make Team Canada for the Olympics? It should be when you think about what a great player he is. And yes, they have a ton of centers.

But that's not really a problem on international rosters. It's the one time you're going to see lineups that they could be 80% centers up front. You know, it's something we wrote about it last year before Four Nations, me and Sean Gentile about how many centers shift to wing and the different mindset you have to have for it and how it's kind of a part of the process for this. But what it gives a team is all of this line of versatility, right? Like you can change your lines in any which way.

And sometimes when you're in that small sample of time you don't have an AHL team to grab from or anything like that, it gives you more options. So I think it's exciting to see the line of combinations you could potentially do if you just load up on center. So I think he should be a part of it. But I think, too, when you look at the forward groups, especially, you need to think about just having the best roster available and he could be a part of it.

Yes, his season started out a little funky last year because he was injured after that first game, but as the year went on, you saw him do a ton with a little support around him. And there's so many signs that this guy is going to be an absolute star. We're working on our player tiers project right now and the feedback we got around him and just how good he is and just how high his feeling is and how clear it is after year one. It's so encouraging to see. So I definitely think he should be in the conversation. I think inevitably, given that they're both from this area in Vancouver, Celebrini and Bedard being back-to-back first overall picks as well,

they're going to be forever tied into conversations. And for me, I feel like Celebrini has more of a chance at Team Canada than Connor Baderd does right now. Yeah, and he should. 100% he should. I think the Bidard-Celembriene comparison is tough, and I think we all naturally are going to go to it just because of their draft positions. Like, you've heard it for guys who are one and two for years.

You've heard it for guys that are, you know, one and one for years. The bar is so high. And in some cases, players take longer to develop, right? Jack Hughes had a bad first season, but you look at the start player he is now. Like, that's still there for Bard. But usually players are picked first overall because they have that elite feeling and they have a better chance of getting to that elite feeling sooner than others, right?

So Thelbrini's winning that battle. In year one, he looks so great. It'll be interesting to see how he looks over the next few years, right? Because the rebuilding process is so daunting. It's so long. It can weigh on players. Can he keep battling through it? It's going to be an interesting test, but I think just

head-to-head, the samples they have at this level so far, it isn't even a competition at this point. And I think Bajard has that really high feeling and skill sets still, but at a certain point, You need to see it come to fruition a little bit for him to be in that conversation with Celebrity right now. We're talking to NHL with Shana Goldman from the Athletic here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650.

And, you know, around this time of the summer, Shannon, we start to look ahead a little bit to training camp. And one of the things that always comes up is the high profile RFAs that remain unsigned by their teams. And one of them who's been the subject of a lot of trade discussion is Marco Rossi in Minnesota. And, you know, it's tough in this situation because he doesn't have arbitration rights. So there's no real leverage that he can bring to bear on the situation. Minnesota can kind of just wait him out. But I do find it bizarre given how they used him in the playoffs that they weren't more motivated to be proactive

and try to find a trade to send him out of town because they don't seem that high on the player. What's your read on the situation between Minnesota and Marco Rossi? And are you as surprised as I am that he is still technically a member of the Minnesota Wild? Yeah, I kind of feel like if they were going to trade. him it was going to happen way sooner than this because unless they're going center for center they'd be short-handed right like they didn't find another trade option early in the offseason they didn't acquire a center in free agency so their hands are kind of tied and it's just whoever

bucks first and i'm sure someone's going to at a certain point because i'm sure he wants to play and they need him to play and you don't want to completely sour relations but it's this like awkward standoff it's tough though i think i think the wilder undervaluing him because he isn't he isn't the center we typically think of right like he is not the play driver of his line it's caro caprice off but i think few centers would be in that situation and i think he was better than he gets credit for away from caprice off when he wasn't on that top loaded top line when erics next stepped up in his place still i don't blame minnesota for not wanting to jump on some massive contract now when you want to see what he can do I get it he's undersized

and not a play driver so you say okay bridge deal but it's I feel like that'll be the outcome at the end of the day at this point you know it doesn't feel like a big contract's coming and maybe it shouldn't just yet but I I can't see any other outcome besides an extension at this point right like it just feels like there's no path for the wild to fix a situation if they do anything else. Yeah, there's just, the team has so much leverage in the situation. And, you know, we saw the Knox offer reportedly the 15th overall pick, and Minnesota was like, well, we want something that helps our roster right now if we're trading Marco Rossi. And that hasn't been out there for him, at least not to Bill Guerrins' liking. We're also seeing it with Mason

McTavish, you know, a third overall pick from a few years ago. And he's had a good start to his career, but maybe not outstanding, not maybe what you hoped so far out of a top five selection with as much hype as there was around him. And I kind of understand Anaheim's, you know, hesitation to maybe offer him the big long-term deal. But I also understand Mason McTavish not wanting to lock into something that might be considered team friendly in a few years from now. It's it's kind of this push and pull that we're all seeing with the rapidly rising cap that players don't want to lock into a two team friendly of a deal and teams still being hesitant to maybe make a contract that they're unlikely to love?

Yeah, I think the easy answer is you look at the ducts cap space and say, just sign for whatever, it's no big deal. But it could be, right? Like, if you sign a long-term contract right now and your Anaheim management, what if it doesn't work out? Like, what position are you signing him to be? Because, like, in the grand scheme of things you have to think of the big picture. Sure, they have a ton of cap space right now.

But you don't want it that you're just getting to that playoff window, you're paying players the wrong amount for what they are to your team. Moving Ziegress in theory gives McTavish some leverage because now you're going, okay, you need another center for the season. Like, could you play Ryanstrom there for another couple of years? Sure. But realistically, do you want to do that and have him be the two C behind Leo Carson? But if not, you know, they have other players in their pipeline,

including McQueen who they just drafted. So I could see why they don't want to jump to a. a 3C contract that maybe ages poorly. But on the other hand, like, I am much higher on McTavish than his last couple of years showed. Like earlier this summer, I looked at it in an off-season vibe check and some of his comparables are names like Dylan Strom and Derek Broussard. And I think that's pretty encouraging. Even though it might not be that feeling they originally thought he had, I think

a Dylan Strom is that low-key 1C, very good 2C to have. so maybe under a different coaching staff they can get him to that level. It's going to be interesting because I think a lot of players development though past the last couple of years in Anaheim have been a little funky but I think he has the skill to be a very good player.

I don't think it's the same as what it was originally thought like here's your franchise cornerstone. Like up front, that's Leo Carlson. It's not McTavish. But you can be a very good supporting player and I would bet on it now and I think it's still a movable contract if it doesn't work out.

Like I think enough teams, would be willing to bet on, say, a 24, 25-year-old center with, you know, say a contract in that $7 million range. I still think that would be one that they could move if they needed to. Yeah, it's always fascinating to see the debate and the different approaches to how long you go of young players and when. And, you know, we've seen Carolina go super long term with some pretty young players this summer.

And I think most people really like those bets for them. But I also think of the Buffalo example, right, where they were very aggressive about handing out long-term contracts to young players. as a non-playoff team and some of those have aged well, some not so much. I wonder if maybe the Buffalo example of your team like Anaheim where it's okay, hey, he's got to play a lot and he's put up stats because of that, but we've also been a bad team so we don't really know how he looks on a good team. I wonder if the Buffalo example almost is a kind of a cautionary tale

as they approach handing out these deals. It totally should be, right? Because if you're rebuilding team, you have to look at what every team did right or wrong and try to build from that. the Sabres, you think of the Dillon Cousins contract and how it didn't work out. But I think if you're the ducks, you should also keep in mind, they were able to move that contract for Josh North.

Another guys that signed young and injuries and the inconsistencies, like, he didn't live up to the hype of the contract either. But I think another example you could use is a team like the Devils. No, they haven't done anything yet, and they do get that. But they made it back to the playoff picture from their rebuild, and

they did sign a lot of long-term contracts to their players. Do they have the most flexibility in the world now? No, but were they still able to go after a lot of big-name players and add the goal they needed in Markstrom who had term and, you know, bringing Tim O'Meyer and signed them to a massive deal? Like, there's a way to do it. And I think sometimes you can build up your cap

before you get to that level of contention as long as you maintain an element of flexibility. And I think no matter what McTadr signs for, I think they'll have that because there's so many other deals that are going to expire, right? Like the Toronto has three years, Strom has two years, Kreider has two years, that you're going to be opening up all that space. Goudis only has another year and Trubo only only has another year.

I almost wonder if that's the better investment versus in a year or two going, okay, they're below the cap floor. Now they need to sign all these contracts as like filler space. Shana, really appreciate the time. As always, thank you for doing this and enjoy the rest of your summer. Thanks for having me. That is Shana Goldman from the Athletic covering the NHL weighing in on Team USA, some of the RFA situations around the NHL.

as well. And just, you know, we haven't had a chance to chat about it from a Canucks perspective reach. But with the news yesterday that USA hockey inviting 44 players to their Olympic orientation camp next week. And of course, Quinn Hughes, as we know, is going to be a part of that team. So he's invited. Connor Garland gets the invitation, which is really interesting. However, no Brock Besser. And the big surprise for me, no Thatcher Dempco. And we know the three incumbent goalies, right, who were there. We knew they were going to be invited. We know they're going to going to be on the radar. But then you see the fourth goal he invited, not the youngster Dustin Wolf, Joey DeCord. That was a pretty big surprise. And I think if you go back, you know, 18 months

and tell people that Joey DeCord is higher on the Olympic pecking order for Team USA than Thatcher Dempco, that would come as a pretty big shock. And look, of course, he could still make the team, right? If Thatcher Dempco is lights out through the early part of December, he's got a chance to be on this team. I do think it's a pretty telling sign on just how much work he has to do to jump over one of the three incumbents. Like how big that gap is. And I always

thought there was a chance they would take Dempco if he was healthy and playing well just because of the upside, right? And you think in a short tournament setting, hey, okay, we know there's durability concerns, but if we can capture peak Dempco for a stretch, is it worth having him as our third goalie just in case

we need to go to him in an emergency? So I was pretty surprised to see that he's not involved in this and he's not included on the list. It is somewhat surprising given, you know, Demko not that long ago, was a runner up for the Vesna Trophy, but what's happened since then? He's barely been on the ice. And I know, like, the Canucks obviously haven't had their confidence shook too much in Thatcher Demko's ability and what his ceiling is.

They gave him the three year by $8.5 million contract. But around the league, he's viewed as a guy who's struggled to stay on the ice. and in the minutes he has played, showed flashes, but didn't show that he could or would be back at that same level he had in his Vezna runner-up season. Joey DeCard, to his credit, had a very strong season for the Seattle Cracken this past year. So I get why he's on the radar as well. And Demko just has to be on the ice.

He has to get more big games. And unfortunately for him, he's probably not going, well, he's definitely not going to get that before the Olympics. so he's going to have to have an incredible start to the season to really put himself on the radar given the options that the U.S. has in goal. Yeah, and you always knew it was going to be tough to make the team. But again, even not being one of the four invited

was a pretty significant surprise for me on Thatcher, Demko. I've seen the reaction from a lot of Canucks fans. Like, hey, great, motivation. Chip on his shoulder. Yes. Fair enough. You know, whiteboard material, baby. Whiteboard material.

That's right. Stick it to your national federation. That's what it's all about. Um, the other one that's really interesting, the two big high profile American wingers, Connor Garland gets the invite and Brock Bezzer doesn't. And when you consider the difference in draft pedigree, right? And we all know, I mean, I know they were drafted a long time ago now, 10 years ago. But when it comes to the, in the eyes of the people doing the selection, uh, for these teams,

draft pedigree matters a lot, right? It hangs around. It sticks in people's minds for a long time. I know this is partly a reflection of the fact that Connor Garland was on that team that won gold at the World Championships and obviously he really impressed people there and Conner Garland's a really good player

and I have like full credit to him I'm not saying he shouldn't be there or anything but again it's the kind of thing where it's a thought experiment if you go back even a year and you're telling people Brock Bessers not at this but Connor Garland is that's a major shock and for Brock I understand part of the reasoning but

you'd think he'd have a little bit more of a shot than this Garland has been, and any time has been called by U.S., he has always gone. Not to say that Bester has, and I don't know if he has or not, but he hasn't played in the world championships in the same way that Connor Garland has over the last couple of years. Some of that due to injury, some of that due to other reasoning. Garland, I think, is easy to like. He's one of the more well-like players around the league, especially in American circles, lunch pale blue collar kind of guy

and you know what you're going to get from Garland and he has this sort of very visible mindset and mentality that you can see every time he's on the ice but Bester just gets no love and I get it's that the injuries and his outward demeanor isn't that same rah-rah type of thing but if you look at over the last two seasons Besser, there's only six American forwards

that have scored more goals than Brock Besser. Six. That's pretty wild. You know, he's got more goals than Jason Robertson, then Dylan Larkin, Chris Kreider, Brian Rust, all guys that are on this list for Team USA. And I get that Besser isn't the flashiest player. I get that people focus more on what he's not

good at than what he is good at. And I think that's really unfortunate for Brock Besser because, I mean, he's been a really good player for a very long time. People underrate the amount of value he brings offensively. They underrate his two-way ability. They underrate his playmaking ability. And it's mostly because he isn't the rah-rah type mentality that is very visible, that emotional player that you see every time you watch them on the ice. And I think that takes away from what you actually get from Brock Bester on paper and what he actually puts onto the ice production-wise. And it shouldn't because I don't know why, but people just focus on the things that Bester isn't good at rather than what he is good at more often than not. And to that point

on the focus on the negatives, I mean, that's been a theme of Bessor's time here in Vancouver. Well, right? And you know what I'm going to bring up and it's the foot speed. It's the skating speed. And I do wonder from USA's perspective, one of the takeaways, I think, just big picture from the Four Nations was when you go up that level and it's truly only the best players in the game, the speed element becomes so important. And you think of even some of the players on Canada that weren't as effective, like a Mark Stone, you know, a slow skater. And so I do wonder if the part of it is, you know, we're choosing the guys for kind of the bottom like Frank Nazar, the one of the youngsters who makes it. He's a phenomenal skater. You know what I mean? I wonder how much of it is we can't afford to take a fringe guy who is not fleet of foot because we know the style of hockey is going to be so fast when we get into this best-on-best format. I agree with a lot of what you're saying, right? You'd love to see him just get the nod, get that love. Look, Connor, it's seven goals in the playoff. Connor Garland's not going to be on this team.

You know what I mean? Like, Brian Rust is not going to be on this team. So in some ways, it's more just about the recognition than anything else. But recognition matters. Recognition counts. And who knows, maybe it'll be a bulletin board white team. board material for Brock Besser as well. All right, $6.50, $6.50 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Send your what we learns. And that's coming up at 830. But up next, really looking

forward to this, we're going to have in studio, Jasmine Jazz DeVisius, who is a Canadian UFC fighter right now ranked fifth in the flyweight division. And she's fighting in Vancouver at Rogers Arena on October 18th, part of UFC Fight Night 262. So we will chat to Jasmine about her career, that fight coming up, fighting in front of her home country fans, all of that next here in studio on Halford & Brough SportsNet 650. Welcome back to Halford and Brough here on Sportsnet 650. Jamie Dodd and Dan Riccio filling in for the fellows this week. Alfred Embruff is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit sands-trustee.com. This hour is brought to you by Jason. Dot Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's jason.com. 650 is the Dunbar Lumber Text line. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years, visit them at one of their

three locations to serve you or online at Dumbar Lumber.com and you can send your what we learn submissions in hashtag WWL what you've learned in the last 24 hours in sports. But right now, very pleased, as we mentioned, to be joined in studio. She's a Canadian UFC fighter.

She's going to be fighting at Rogers Arena on October 18th as part of UFC Fight Night 262. She is Jasmine Jazz DeVisie and I was told I got that right. The pronunciation. How did I do? Yeah.

All right. I feel good about that. I feel good. He's been really worried about that. I was like, all right. I really want to make sure I nailed this. I respect my guest, everything. So I'm glad to hear that I did it all right.

First of all, thanks for doing this. How are you? I'm doing well. No, thank you so much for having me. Yeah, it's our pleasure. And as I mentioned, your next fight is in Vancouver. And I know you're out here doing some promotion for it. And what's it been like to kind of get a chance to see the city explore a little bit?

It's been awesome. No, we went up to Grouse Mountain yesterday and did like a little interview thing there, got to see the bears, got to see the whole city, went on the gondola, and it's been amazing, you know, really, really enjoying the city. Yeah, that's awesome. And I know fans here are going to be really excited to see you fight at Rogers Arena in October as well. How does it feel for you getting the chance to go out in front of Canadian fans and do your things? It's amazing. I truly feel like Canada is like on my back. When I'm going out there, like I feel the energy. I feel, I can like feel the support. I think that MMA has really grown in the past little while within Canada. And no, I have amazing fans here. Everyone is like just behind me, pushing me, motivating me and excited to get in there. Well, that's one thing about MMA too in UFC. I mean, I think obviously back to George C and Pierre,

but the support in Canada for Canadian fighters is always just off the charts. It's an amazing atmosphere every time. It's unreal. There was over 17,000 at Rogers Arena the last time UFC was here. It's been a while, but it is very well supported here in Vancouver. You're going to get the chance to fight. It's kind of a big match against Man in Fioreau.

How is camp going so far? How deep are you into preparations for the big fight? Camp's going well, you know, not. not too deep, so still doing okay. Still able to have some fun and relax a little bit. Exactly, exactly. How intense does it get? And like, you know, when does that ramp up

and how much preparation goes into each fight? I mean, it kind of doesn't stop. You know, after the last fight, then you take a little bit of downtime, you know, let your nervous system rest up. You know, let your soul rest a little bit. And then you're, like, you're back in the gym. The only thing that really changes is, like, the amount of session,

sometimes I'll take an evening session off out of camp, but, like, in camp, it's two a days, and it gets to a point where you're, I will, like, eat sleep train, or sleep, eat train, right? And then I'll do the morning session. Go home, eat, sleep, train. And then there'll be times where I'll wake up, is it morning or even

such as you eat sleep train repeat okay we get it yeah on a loop on a loop how much does the preparation what you're doing in camp

change or how much do you adjust based on the opponent that's coming up for you I don't really change my preparation that much I just kind of will strategically choose

partners that are more similar like I you know I I have my style So I'm not trying to change, you know, reinvent the wheel or anything like that. I'm just trying to like harness my style against her style. You know, you were a contract winner on the Contender Series in 2018. And, you know, you've been rising your ranks, rising through the ranks of the flyweight division.

How has that journey been for you over the last number of years to get to where you are now? It's been unreal. Like, I feel like I, okay, I started MMA late. And so just for me to put in the work and, like, get to the UFC and get a UFC contract, it was like, oh, my goodness, I did that. Wow. Okay. So pretty much, it's like seeing that be fulfilled, I'm like, okay, I can do anything. Like, let's just see how far we can take this.

And, you know, I truly believe after this fight, my next opportunity is going to be fighting for that belt. So, you know, just trying to reach my potential. Absolutely, yeah, I was going to say, right? You're fifth ranked in the division right now. You're going up against the number two ranked fighters. So do you think it is kind of the next stepping stone or one of the last stepping stones to a title shot? I believe so. The UFC always rewards activity.

I've been like the most active fighter. I'm literally like clawing my way to the top. So I believe that, you know, after this one, that truly is like, the next step that makes sense. I love it. We're in conversation with Jasmine Jazz DeVizzias here. Canadian UFC fighter who's going to be part of UFC Fight Night 262 coming to

Rogers Arena October 18th. You mentioned you got into MMA a little bit later than some other fighters. What was it that kind of was your introduction that got you into the sport? It was Chris like he's my coach and no fiance and everything but

at the time I just met him and then he was going out to a corner UFC fighter Jason Zago so he was going out to help him prepare for camp I had the opportunity to come and like that's kind of really where I saw martial arts and saw that there was a path to to making the UFC and you know I came back started training I was like my goal just take one fight see where we're at and then you know I once I had that first fight I caught the bug and then you know I just kept going with it I got to imagine imagine, especially for someone getting into it a little later, the first fight, like, what was the, what was your feeling going into it?

Because the nerves, I can imagine, we're pretty significant, like, oh, man, I'm doing this. This is real. I'm getting in the ring here of somebody. Yeah. No, it was, it was definitely nerve-wracking. Like, if you watch, like, my walk out at the first, like, I'm like, okay. But I, you can see that I'm, like, kind of about it. Like, I was like, okay, okay. Like, getting ready, getting ready. And then it's, like, the best. bell rings and then you just go and you don't there's no thought anymore you're just like okay well this is what I do all fun in games until you get punched in the mouth yeah what can you tell us about your opponent man in Fioreo I know she she lost in her title match against Valentina Svchenko but what what do you see in your opponent and how you go up against her in October obviously she's a skilled opponent she just had the the fight with the champ previously so

I think that a win over her obviously puts me right there she's a skilled fighter but you know I see holes in her game you want to share those holes don't want to spill anything too much here

you mentioned your activity though and how active you've been you're also on a win streak as well so I mean you must be feeling pretty confident going into this next one against a man in Fiore yeah I feel good I feel like kind of the the taller the the um like more great the the the challenge challenge yeah that's the word looking more great the challenge than i rise to that occasion you know each fight i'm getting

better in between each fight and i'm get i'm going against more skilled girls and um having more damage finishing them you know i'm not going decision with these girls i'm I'm actively trying to finish these girls, high-level girls. It's not like these are bums off the street, you know what I mean? So I just feel like the greater the challenge, like the greater the opportunity for me. Well, we love seeing a knockout and hopefully we'll see one in October. A lot of submission wins as well for you recently as well. So as you said, you're not letting it go to the decision.

You're finishing the fight. And hopefully we see a tap out from her. We don't like seeing left up to the judges. No, absolutely not. Leave no doubt. Jasmine, this was awesome. I know you got a busy day planned. You're out here promo in the fight and you're seeing the sites and everything.

So thank you so much for coming in and chatting with us and we'll let you get on with the rest of your day. But man, best of luck. I know we're going to be rooting for you in October. Thank you so much. Tickets go on sale this week. So make sure you guys are there. Absolutely. We will.

That is Jasmine Jazz DeVizzias, a Canadian UFC fighter. She's going to be part of UFC Fight Night 262 at Rogers Arena on October. October 18th. Again, as we said, fighting Manon Fioro on that card. As she said, tickets go on sale on Friday. Jazz Divisius, the fifth ranked flyweight fighter right now on a win streak. And as she said, UFC Awards activity, she's on a win streak. She's fighting the number two ranked fighter. This could certainly be a stepping stone to a championship opportunity for Jasmine. And you would never know. She's absolutely lethal. What a sunny, bright personality. She could She could break my arm within 10 seconds right now if she wanted to.

But enjoyed that chat with Jasmine Jazz DeVizzias here in studio. And as I said, tickets go on sale on Friday. Yeah, UFC 262 coming up fight night in October. Tickets going on sale Friday. Always a good time for any UFC event, any MMA event. Yeah, and I'm sure it will be a great crowd there in support of the Canadian fighter. I believe there's a couple of other Canadian fighters on the card. as well in Vancouver.

All right. Thank you to Jasmine for coming in studio and chatting with us. It is Halford and Brough here on SportsNet 650. Just a couple of other things we want to get to before we kind of dive back into the Canucks conversation at 8 o'clock. And of course, we'll do what we learn submissions at 830 as well. But we should mention we've referenced it a couple of times and we talked to Jesper Sorensen yesterday on the show, Whitecaps manager.

And of course, with the MLS transfer window closing to, Morrow. He said it's not a possibility. There are certainly plans in place to bring in some reinforcements and everyone was looking at the backline and the centerback position specifically. And a couple of reports out there now, a Sky Sport Germany reporting that the white caps are signing the captain of Hamburg SV, Sebastian Sean Lau, as a new centerback. And also, according to Manuel Vef, friend of the station, they're signing Jodrick. Pooh-pe? Pupé? We're not entirely sure. We're not entirely sure. I feel like. We'll just call them Jodric for now.

Jodrick P. Jodric P-U-P-E. I'm not, I've been looking everywhere for the proper pronunciation here, but poop-pe-poop, it's probably one of the two. And you add two centerbacks to the group. And I think it's really needed. They're also probably. We should say the corresponding move here kind of is Bjorn Utvick.

Yes. It looks to be leaving the club after a couple of tough recent performance. It's like, thanks, buddy. Back to Norway with you. Yeah, he's had a tough go. So he looks like he's headed out and they're bringing in a couple of a couple of reinforcements. It's absolutely needed for the white caps. We talked about it in the wake of Mueller's debut on Monday, just how the defense ever since they lost Veslinovich.

has not looked as strong. And while they don't give up a ton of opportunities when they are under duress, it does look and lack poise and has lacked some poise. And you really felt it against Houston in the late stages of that match when both Blackman and obviously Veslinovich were not in the lineup. But now you bring in Sean Lau, who's been a captain for Hamburg in the second division in Germany, that's going to be a steadying presence. He's a direct replacement probably for Vesilinovich. Yeah. And Poupe is more of a, you know, can be more of a left back or left, left footed center back as well. Yeah. And it is interesting, as you said, kind of a direct replacement for Veselinovich and also with Uptvich going out. And look, not that you were excited

about what Uptvick was giving you right now, but they're going to be relying on these guys to come in and slide right in to the starting 11, especially shown. out right like okay hey you're fit you're going to come in and you're going to integrate and that's always it's always interesting make for players making the transition to mLS because sometimes it takes a little bit of time for them just to get settled get comfortable with the league this needs to work given the injury situation the depth at center back right now like this needs to work quickly for the white caps especially given the position they're in and the standings well you know the the focus right now um is obviously how do you close out the

the season. You've got 12 games remaining in the MLS calendar. You've got the Canadian championship that's still up for grabs. But now that you've dropped some points here in these last couple of matches, you know, the supporter shield is, it's kind of a long shot. You know, to be the best team in MLS through the regular season is a long shot at this point for the white caps after dropping these points in recent matches. So the focus and the entire focus should be, locking down a home playoff date for the start of the playoffs and focusing on that and getting yourself as well prepared for the postseason more than anything else.

And that is getting these guys integrated, getting the matches, getting them chemistry together so that you can be as well positioned as possible for the start of the MLS Cup playoffs. Krez from Coquitlam says, Sean Lau is solid. I lived in Hamburg in 2022 and went to a dozen games.

He's been great for them. And an exciting signing, no doubt. There you go, reporting on the ground from Hamburg, at least three years ago from Hamburg, that Sean Laugh was really good for his team. He was the captain, so he must be doing something right there. And another German coming in to bolster the squad as well after the addition of Thomas Mueller.

So we'll see how these new signings and new additions, once they're made official, fit into the Whitecaps situation. As I mentioned, it is Halferno Bruffier, Sportsnet, 650, Jamie Dodd, Dan Ricci filling in. Keep sending your what we learn submissions in 650, 650, 650, a few minutes before the break here. And we've been trying to sprinkle in some NFL season preview, NFL's preseason conversations throughout the week. And right now, I mean, we've talked about the

chiefs. Are they due for a step back? How big is the gap between Kansas City or how big is the gap, I should say, between Patrick Mahomes and the other top quarterbacks in the league right now? it does feel like we should spend at least some time here talking about the team that crushed Kansas City in the Super Bowl last year, which is of course the Philadelphia Eagles. And as always, the question for the Super Bowl

champ going into the next season is can you do it again? Can you repeat? It's very difficult. We saw Kansas City do it, of course, but it's a very, very difficult feat to pull off. And almost by definition, when you had the type of season that the

Eagles had and you think about the incredible year for Sequin Barclay. You think about what the defense did, especially later on in the season and with some young players coming in on the back end, whenever you're talking about a dream season, it's almost inevitable that there's going to be some backsliding. There's going to be some regression the next year. I think the thing with the Eagles and the version we saw of them, especially in the Super Bowl against the Chiefs, is you've got some room for regression. You can still be really, really good, even if you regress a little bit. I also think about some of the pieces that were driving the bus,

especially in the secondary, like, those are rookies. Those are young players, right? So, yeah, they were really good last year. They have a chance to be even better or at least maintain that level of play. I don't think they're going to be as good as last year just because it's so hard to do that

two years in a row, but they've still got to be the favorite going into the season, right? Well, I think they're number one in everybody's power rankings going in here. There's just so much talent on this team. They did lose some key pieces on defense. And I guess that's where my biggest point of concern is for the Eagles. Their defense was just so good last year. And some of it to do with schedule, some of it to do with talent.

But it's likely, I wouldn't say impossible, but I wouldn't give it anywhere near a positive percentage chance that they are once again the number one defense. in the league. That's going to be too difficult with the schedule that they have on tap this year. Now, you think about the Eagles, sure, Super Bowl winners last year, lost in the wild card. The year prior got absolutely blasted at the Buccaneers and then lost in the Super Bowl to the Chiefs before that. So they've been to the Super Bowl, two of the last three years, but it's hard to maintain that same level year over year. And a lot of that is due to scheduling, and with the Eagles schedule this year, they go up against all the top offenses in the league. I don't think there's any way the defense is quite as good as it was

last year, and I think that is certainly going to play out as the season goes on. The benefit for them, NFC North is loaded, NFC West, as we've talked about with the Seahawks, is maybe there's no elite team, but there's also no bad team in that division. And then there's the NFC South. Less talked about the NFC South, the better. But in the NFC East, I think there's questions of mark around Washington right now, the Terry McLaurin hold out, some of the question marks they've got going on there. Can Jaden Daniels continue what he did in his rookie year? Can you avoid the sophomore slump for sure? Yep. The Giants, while they look like they'll be improved, they're not going to be great. And then there's the Cowboys.

we've still got the Micah Parsons thing going on. Yeah, your guess is as good as mine. Jerry Jones is just an absolute lunatic when it comes to these things, for lack of a better term. So while the Eagles have an easier pathway to a division title again, I'm not sure I'm as convinced as everybody else that they are far and away the best team in the NFC, that there won't be as big of a challenge as there was last year for them.

I think it's going to be a lot tougher road back to the Super Bowl for the Eagles and some people are making it out to be. Who do you see as the number one challenger to the Eagles in the NFC? I still think it's the Lions. Yeah, I think so too. I think they're going to break through one of these years. Like you look at there, they've been good, they have the pieces there, they've got the coach in place.

I know they lost Ben Johnson and that, you know, they'll have to recover from that and you'll see how they do, but it feels like a team that is knocking on the door and eventually is going to break through. They're on that cusp. And it's it's tough because, yeah, they lost Ben Johnson and you wonder if the offense is going to be able to click as well as it has the last couple of years now that they lost their big time offensive coordinator. But I'm not as worried about that as some others. They still have a lot of weapons on offense. They're loaded with Jemir Gibbs and Amina Ross St. Brown, all those guys.

Jared Gough is way better than people give him credit for more often than not. And the other team, you know, as the season gets closer, I'm getting more and more curious. about the 49ers, Jamie, and just what it's all going to look like. Kyle Shanahan is too good of a coach for them to be as bad as they were last year. They're not going to have, it's unlikely they have as much injury trouble as they did a year ago. So I still think San Francisco is maybe a little bit more off the radar, but a team that people should be focusing more on as a potential title contender in the NFC. Really, a title contender for the 49ers.

That's a big vote of confidence for Kyle Shanahan. Probably the best coaching staff in the league or one of the best coaching staffs in the league. You can't downplay that enough. Yeah, it's right up there. 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. You can send your thoughts in. As I mentioned, we'll get into the Vancouver Canucks situation in the next segment. We got an open segment before we do the what we learns.

And, you know, we relayed the report from, from Drance yesterday on the show. And he had a piece of the athletic. I know he was on the station with Batchen Randeep as well talking about it. And it sounds like the long rumored or speculated on Jack Roslovick signing is probably not going to happen. At least it doesn't look that way right now. You never know. Things could always change. And the word from Drance is very much, they're going to wait.

They're going to keep their bullets in the chamber. They're going to see what if there's something that materializes over the next few months that they can do to help themselves out at forward, at the center position. So with that information and that reporting from Drance, we basically know what the roster is going to look like going into training camp. How do you feel about it? How do you evaluate it? What are your concerns? Did management do enough this off season? Text in your thoughts. We can get into that conversation on the other side and we'll do what we learns coming up at 830 as well. It is Halford and Brough on Sportsnet, 650.