Halford & Brough in the Morning - Ranking The Winners & Losers Of NHL Free Agency

Episode Date: July 4, 2024

In hour two, Mike & guest host Jamie Dodd talk the latest baseball & movie news with MLB Network & Cinephile Pod's Adnan Virk (3:00), plus they get a hockey update from The Athletic NHL's Sean McIndoe, who ranks the winners and losers of Free Agency (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's time to chat with Adnan, it's Adnan Berkey's on the show We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Redman. Yes, and then Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ballgame and talk about all the films he's seen. 7 o'clock on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Jamie Dodds in for the vacationing. Jasonord Brough, Sportsnet 650. Jamie Dodson for the vacationing. Jason Brough yesterday, today, and for the remainder of the week. We are in Hour 2

of this program. Hour 2 is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste. Primetime is full flavor without compromise. Get some.

Get some at a liquor store near you or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. What better way to show solidarity to our American counterparts on Independence Day today by cracking an ice-cold beer?

Have a prime time. I didn't even write that. That was just right off the head. That's really great. We are, this entire show, all of it is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing,

service, or parts. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet? What are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Let's go to the phone lines now. Adnan Virk, MLB Network,

Cinephile Podcast joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Adnan. How are you? I'm doing great, Mike. Jamie, good to be back with you guys. And I was actually back in Canada last week. Excuse me. Wasn't able to stay for Canada Day, but I was there all week, and it was fabulous. I've just

been loaded up right now on President's Choice Cookies and Smarties and Coffee Crisps. Eat more. Even when we went way back for to eat more. Wow. I know, Henry. It's been loaded up right now on President's Choice Cookies and Smarties and Coffee Crisp. Eat more. We went way back for to eat more. Wow. And no, Henry. It's been – and the French vanilla from Tim Hortons, which, again, I'm not a coffee drinker, but I love a good small French vanilla.

It's like 99% sugar, 1% coffee. So it was a heck of a week, boys. A lot of honey dip Timbits consumed as well. Well, happy Canada Day in the past and happy Independence Day today. A big day for all Americans in Major League Baseball as we kind of hit the halfway point here. First half MVPs, we got those lists going around.

If you had to pick an American League and National League MVP at the halfway point right now, who would you be picking? It's great news for the sport, Mike, when the best players are the MVPs. And it's, like, unanimous. Aaron Judge is the MVP in the American League, and Shohei Otani is the MVP in the National League. Otani is having the best offensive season of his career,

and he's had some massive years where he's hit 45 home runs. You know, on a really bad Angels team, he's still put up great numbers. Now on a good Dodgers team, he's showing how talented he can be and proving when he doesn't have to pitch how much better he can be, right? For all the talk, we've always wondered, hey, how much better would he be if he just focused on one discipline? Well, now you know. He's the best hitter on the planet right now.

And where would the Dodgers be without him? You know, Mookie Betts is out for a significant amount of time. Their pitching's been up and down. Like, they're a first-place team in the West, and they're going to coast to a division title. But they haven't been the 120-win team that some may have forecast. And, you know, Tani's been – everything is advertised from all levels. He's been tremendous.

Judge, meantime, has the most sluggish three weeks of his career. Like, the first three, he's like, oh, man, Judge striking a ton. And since then, he's been absolutely bananas. Like, it's ridiculous absolutely bananas. Like it's, it's ridiculous how teams even pitched him 32 home runs. And we're here in independence in America. Like that's, he's not far off his pace when he hits 62 home runs, American league record.

He's around 50, 59 right now, uh, hitting for a high average slugging percentage is ridiculous. Plays a great center field. Like he's been awesome. You know, other guys,

as they say, other, uh, other people were serving boats. You can give awesome. Other guys, as they say, other people receiving votes, you can give some love to Marcelo Zuna. What he's meant to the Braves, he's obviously been very good for them. Alec Boehm has been awesome for the Phillies, as is always Bryce Harper. Certainly in the American League,

won Soto, deserves recognition. Jose Ramirez is always a top five guy. The Guardians are first place right now in their division. Honestly, for me, Mike, it's Judge and Otani, and I think that's great for the sport. Here's one for you. I'm going to throw you on the spot a little bit. What the heck?

I bet you can do this. Who's been the Toronto Blue Jays MVP this season? No, it's a great one, Mike, because the other day, actually it was today, I was looking at ESPN, and they had something along those lines. It was like, first half team MVPs, and it says Judge, Otani, dot, dot, dot, and Kyner Falefa? And I was like, there's no way i haven't read the article yet he's not the mbb for blue jays it's vlad jr now i get it vlad jr is

used a certain way because people expect so much of him because of the year he had in 2021 but even with accepting the fact his power numbers are what they once were he's still a top 10 hitter in terms of average he's still playing above average defense and he's also just got voted into the All-Star game. So with respect to Isaac Conner-Falefa, and I get how you could make the argument because he's versatile and plays different positions, and in a season in which offense is down and a 700 OPS is average, I believe Conner-Falefa is maybe 750. He's been an above average hitter.

But honestly, I couldn't sell it enough because Varshow at some point said to me, I looked the other day, he's hitting 198. Like, I can't give Dalton Varshow first FFAP. Again, his OPS is under 700. I know he's the best defensive outfielder in baseball according to the metrics. Springer's obviously been terrible. Schneider has some good moments. Bichette's been bad.

Springer, except for the last weekend, has been bad. So I think it's cute and people kind of try to be funny about it, but it's still blood for me yeah and vlad's power has come on in the in the last couple weeks as well although it hasn't really made a big difference in terms of wins and losses for the jays and man they dropped a rough one last night to the houston astros is that the kind of win and i know this isn't necessarily how the jays uh front office operates but is that the kind of loss i should say that can kind of just clarify things like where this team really is and maybe expedite the process of of selling before the trade deadline for the jays

yeah it's amazing jamie because i kept saying to myself all right if they're not above 500 by memorial day that john schneider's gone they have to improve. And now it's Independence Day, and John Schneider's still there. And to be clear, I'm not blaming John Schneider for this team's problems. It's on the players themselves and on the roster construction, which is primarily Ross Atkins to put the team together. But the point is, when you have higher expectations, normally someone has to pay the piper, and that would normally be the manager, especially after what happened last year.

He gave Barrios that premature hook. Atkins basically threw one of the bus because not much shiders decision so i thought there was already some measure of rancor and once there's something that would go wrong he'd be gone so i'm already amazed by the way he's still the manager but let's look at the team overall excuse me they're 39 and 47 like eight games under 500 on july 4th to me it's stunning i never would have expected that at the beginning of the season so I think that yeah you look at a loss like last night you know you have to try to say to yourself what are we as a team and I know that you can kind of argue well you have this many games no wild card spot blah blah blah schedules like this after the

all-star break we'll do this you know you can talk yourself into any permutation you want. But ultimately, to me, it's kind of like in basketball. If you're down by 15 points, you're down by 15 points. You've got to get to where the score is tied. And for the Jays right now, you're eight games under.500. So I don't believe you can realistically discuss the playoffs until you get back to.500. That means you have to rip off an eight-game winning streak, which is not going to happen in the next three weeks.

So I think that Lou Jay's management knows this is a lost season. Like, think about that. We're three months into the year. We're halfway through the year, and it is a lost season. It is not going to turn around, and we should accept that. And on every level, you can see it, Jamie. You know, it's one game fine, but you can, like I said, the underwhelming offense, even the pitching, okay, Barrios has been great.

Kikuchi's good. Bassett's good. But Goss has taken a step back. And Manoa got hurt. So you have three-fifths of a rotation. Bullpen, a real disappointment from a year ago, right? Romano's one of the best closers in baseball. Hasn't pitched much.

Now he's hurt. Swanson's been bad. Peterson's been bad. Pearson's been bad. Mays has been bad. So, like, this team is not going to contend. So one loss or one month or three months, the Jays know they're not going anywhere. They better be

sellers the big question is this do you trade vlad who now he's been hot now he's the player of the week right like hey if you you want to trade high my man has got some high leverage right now or do you wait till the off season entertain offers for both you dare trade bow right now and nobody wants to get him he looks terrible like this this is where it gets very very tricky for management yeah that's really the backdrop of this whole thing right is the the futures of when nobody wants to get him because he looks terrible. This is where it gets very, very tricky for management. Yeah, that's really the backdrop of this whole thing, right, is the futures of Vladdy and Bo Bichette, who have just the one year left before their free agents next year.

And as you kind of laid out there, I mean, it's like, okay, if you trade Bo, he's had such a miserable year at the plate, what are you really getting? The question is so often framed around, at least in Toronto, I know, what an extension look like. But at this point, point i mean how much of an appetite should there be for the jays to even extend either of these guys given how up and down their careers have been yeah it's a fair point like my general thought is that superstars are so hard to get in the sport that when you have one you should get one now i know the answer that would be is vlad junior actually a superstar is he more of a star, not a superstar, right?

Perennial all-star, he's going to hit you 300, but maybe the home runs aren't going to be 35, 40, 45. It's going to be more like 22 home runs. And you go, okay. And he'll drive in 90. He's not exactly 120 RBI. But to me, I'm like, if you have a great player, have a great player. I do think Vlad Jr. in most cases

is that guy. But if you do trade him, you could fetch quite a haul. And to your point, Jimmy, the argument against signing either would be this. While having both in the lineup, you've had no modicum of success. Like, you never won a division. You never won a playoff series. You never won a playoff game. So, like, who cares?

It didn't work out. So go ahead. Bo, you're not going to get a ton for right now. You have to pray he has a better second half and trade him in the offseason and hope that the other team goes, 2024 is an aberration this guy is perennially top five and hits could be a batting champion will play defense at a premium position he's still very young yes we will still give up a lot to go get boba shed if we are whatever team we are and for vlad you have to hope that the team says hey he's still really young you know for 25 million a

year but there's not a lot of guys like this that can give us that kind of production. Vlad's going to age well for the next 10 years, blah, blah, blah. But I'm with you. But I think if you have different arguments and say, all right, sign both, I think nobody is saying that. No one in the world is saying right now they should re-sign both, however valued it is.

Do you re-sign one? Yeah. I think right now a lot of people would say sign Vlad, trade both. And then the idea of trading both, I don't think that's out of question. Or at least keep them both for one more year and see what happens. That argument I like the least because my fear is that if you don't do anything this offseason, you're going to have the exact thing which is happening this year, which is a potential 75 and 87 season.

Who the hell wants to watch that? So I think you've got to do something. I know it's hard to pull off blockbusters midseason, but maybe this offseason things get done. We are speaking to Adnan Virk from MLB Network and the Cinephile podcast here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Given that we're getting in on that halfway point here, Adnan,

if you had to look down the road, look into your crystal ball, which I called a fortune ball yesterday, that's not a thing. Baltimore or New York as we keep it in the ALEs. Who do you see winning the division when this thing is all said and done? Orioles or Yankees?

I'm pulling for the Yankees for my buddy Aaron Boone. Of course, we worked together five years at ESPN. He's a wonderful human. He's so funny. He was just on my friend Tim Kirchner's podcast

and we're telling some great ESPN stories which are maybe very nostalgic. All of which is to say we've got some problems right now in the Bronx, man, that this team is slumping right now. I was not expecting that because they have been so good all year long.

And now, you know, there's still 20 games above 500, to be clear. But, like, you're losing the Reds? Like, what's going on here? You know, they've lost now their last 11 games. So, listen, the good news for them is they do have Garrett Cole back, and he's the best pitcher in baseball. But some of their stories, which were were so good have kind of fallen off a little bit. Heal was unbelievable.

He struggled his last few starts. Rodon's been beaten up a couple of starts. Last year was pretty good. It wasn't his fault they lost, but he's been better. Bullpen not as strong. So their pitching really got roughed up this last month after being pretty much lights out. And offensively, I went to the Jays game on Friday. The Yankees won it 16-5,

but it's amazing. When I looked up and I looked at their numbers, and Volpe is a good leadoff hitter. Solo and Judge are out of their minds, right? Top two MVP candidates. But there's a lot of holes. Now that Stanton's gone for a couple months, what a surprise. Guy was having a good year. Now he's hurt once again.

After that, your Verdugo, he's kind of like your kind of falafel. He's a good player, but he's not an MVP. What are we talking about here? And then you've got some Austin Wells, and Torres has been really down this year. The Yankees' line gets kind of like you're kind of left. He's a good player, but he's not an MVP. What are we talking about here? And then you've got some Austin Wells, and Torres has been really down this year. The Yankees' line gets kind of a ride. So long answer to your question, Mike, I think it's the Orioles because their offense is pretty stacked,

and they've got a lot of young talent and more on the way, and their pitching is good. I think their pitching will add someone. That's the big thing. I think Michael Loss will go and add a name because of the fact they've had some injuries. I don't see the Yankees adding. Their addition was, hey, we've got Garrett Kohl back. This guy's the big thing. I think Michael will go and add a name because of the fact they've had some injuries. I don't see the Yankees adding. Their addition was, hey, we've got Garrett Cole back.

This guy's the best. I think the Orioles will make a move and go out and get a starter or go out and get another premium player and add to what they have. I think the Orioles win the division, but the Yankees are right there. I think it'll be like see-saw fair for much of the year. Right now, it's a two-game lead. It probably feels like it'll be

about a two-game lead when it ends. Same question. We'll keep in the AL, but we'll go to the West. Right now, it's a two-game lead. It probably feels like it'll be about a two-game lead when it ends. Same question. We'll keep in the AL, but we'll go to the West. So it's the Mariners, much like the O's have a two-game lead in the division, except instead of the Yankees chasing them, it's the Astros now. The Astros are 8-2 in their last 10. The M's have hit the skids a little bit. I think they just got three wins

in their last 10. Yeah. Same thing with the trade deadline on the horizon and looking further down the road. Who do you see winning the West? Will it be Seattle or Houston? I hate this answer, Mike, but it's the Astros. God, we all hate the Astros, right? We're all united in that.

It's the right answer. Yeah, but this is Seattle's fault, right? Like, hey, the Astros were slumping so terribly. Like, you've got to put those guys away. You need to put up a big winning streak and put them away because they've had, you know, multiple injuries. Like, you know, Rikini's done for the season. Javier's done for the season.

McCullers is not back. Verlander, Al, the neck issue. Like, they're missing their entire rotation. Bregman was having a horrible start to the year. Like, you've got to go out there and put up some wins and, like, get this done. Instead, the Mariners' offense was way too sluggish. They left them in the race.

All of a sudden, Houston got healthy. Now, Jordan Alvarez is on a tear. Kyle Tucker's going to be back soon. And also, there we go, the Astros again. Like, God, we're going to have them in the LCS. It's going to be Astros-Yankees or Astros-Orioles. I'm like, yep, here we go. So I think ultimately they are the better team.

They're only two games back right now. They made up a lot of ground in a hurry. Like, as of June 19th, they were 10 games out. Like, it's crazy. In a couple weeks, you close your eyes and go, alright, well, two games out. I think Houston's going to catch them. Seattle's got to make a move to improve that more abundant offense. They're wasting all of that

sensational starting pitching, but even if they make some moves, Houston's a better team. I think it's going to be Houston winning that division, and hopefully the Mariners do get a wild card spot. How concerned are you about Julio Rodriguez going forward? It's kind of the flip side of the Jays situation, right, where they haven't extended their young star players,

and now they're having these questions. Of course, the Mariners did go sign Rodriguez to the big extension, and now he's really struggling this year. And in particular, the power has just fallen off a cliff. What do you make of his season? It's really disappointing. I love Julio. He's an awesome guy. Always has a big smile on his face.

He's great with the media. He's a great team leader. He's awesome. I remember asking him years ago, he's got like an 8-pack. I said, give me your cheat meal. He said, I Chick-fil-A once a year. And I started laughing. I said, I thought a cheat meal was once a week. He gets it once a year. That's it. He's a very dedicated guy. He's a good dude. But yeah, he's

had a terrible year, let's be honest. It's not even close. And last year, what happened was he had a horrible first half, but then he was bananas in the second half, and he was top 10 MVP. And I was going, oh my God, like in a down season,

Julio Rodriguez can still be a top 10 MVP, and that's how good he can be. But 244 average, okay. 293 average. The 323 slug is appalling. Like, you nailed it. Like, that's real. Oh, no, no, no.

We need a 4-4-50, et cetera. And the fact he only has seven home runs right now, like, you can't have a team expected to go deep, and he's, like, seventh on the team in home runs. Like, it's Cal Raleigh with 50, Mitch Garber 10, and after that, eventually, you get to Julio. So I don't know what it is. He hasn't played a lot of baseball as far as being in the majors,

but traditionally has been a slow first-step it's got to change i mean they they won't make the playoffs if he continues like this period he's too critical that offense okay adnan it's time to flip to the movie talk here we actually got a question in to the dunbar lumber text message in basket from scott scott has a question for adnan. Inside Out 2 is the first movie this year to make $1 billion. Does Deadpool or any other movie this year also make $1 billion? Well, first off, my thoughts on Inside Out 2, which I really did enjoy, although it's very unnerving because, like most sequels, the whole template is just always add more.

So it doesn't matter if it's The Naked Gun or Back to the Future or Terminator. The sequel always just has more. So more action, more laughs, more characters. And as everyone knows, you know, these four characters inside Riley's head, they just add more. And the big one is anxiety. And there's one scene, there's this anxiety attack where Riley playing a hockey player who was trying

to make this team in San Francisco. Fabulous scene. A little bit upsetting, I think, and disturbing for young children, but anxiety gets going. It's crazy. You also have embarrassment on We, etc. So I'm not surprised the film has done well, because the original one was really good. I loved it. I don't think the second one's as good, but again, there's not a whole lot

else out there. It's now summertime. Good to see it's making a lot of money. Deadpool, I think, will do huge. I don't know about a billion, because again, those films kind of lose their steam after a while. Like, people love going to see sequels opening weekend. But if it's not a good movie, it'll fall off. And I don't know how good it's going to be.

I saw the trailer again yesterday. I went to go see the new Yorgos Lanthimos movie, Kindness with Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. It's very weird and strange, which I tend to enjoy. But I saw the trailer, and I didn't think it was great. Like, it's fine. I'm like, all right, we're going to play this again here. I mean, I like those guys a lot, especially Reynolds, because he's Canadian,

and he's funny and quick with a quip and all the rest of it. But he's basically just doing his Ryan Reynolds thing, which is what Downey was doing with Iron Man for years, and Wolverine's Wolverine. So I don't even know if that one makes a billion dollars. I don't think there's another film out there that will do that. You know, the rest of the slate that I've seen, there should be some good movies and movies that will make

some money, but nothing like the Barbenheimer effect that we had a year ago where you had a movie like Barbie and Oppenheimer both. I don't think Oppenheimer quite got to a point. I believe it was 940 unfortunately for Chris Nolan, but long answer, I don't think so. I don't even know if Deadpool Wolverine will get there.

A few months ago on this show, we had David Foster on the program and we were we were trying to do that that intersection between entertainment and sports and asking him about uh how he judges success in music and i was like you know is it about and dating like some of his earlier work is it record sales is the easiest way is that equivalent to wins or is it the critical acclaim and And I'm curious because you're so into movies and from a critical sense, how much do you stack up

like what a movie does in terms of the money part of it, which is a big part of it, the box office sales and ticket sales as opposed to the critical success, maybe something that doesn't have the huge numbers behind it

but is played to critical acclaim? How does that work for you? Yeah, you know, for me, Mike, I always hope it's both and I think it's both. And I think it's a great synchronicity when they both happen. My brother just went to a couple of his kids to go see Back to the Future in a movie theater. And I said, that's one of those great movies that made a ton of money. It was the number one most popular film of 1985. And it's a great film. Quentin Tarantino, I said, he thinks it's a perfect movie. And I love it. It's one of my

all-time favorites. I miss the days when The Godfather was not only the best picture of the year in terms of the Oscars, but also the film that made the most money. Now, unfortunately, there appears to be a separation between what I generally think are the best movies and the movies that make the most money. So I generally love to see movies that can do both, but sometimes if it's only one or only the other, then I'll just accept it as it is.

So there's some indie movies that I'll see that don't make a ton of money, and I say, well, it's unfortunate it wasn't able to find an audience, but I still think it's great. To me, it doesn't diminish its impact. And there are movies sometimes that critics don't like, but I do, that do make a lot of money. And I go, you know what? Okay. I enjoy it for what it was. I understand why the critics may not like it for its, you know,

critical achievement, but I still thought it was funny or entertaining and got the job done. And I do want to see movies be successful. Like, anyone who says, well, who cares if films don't make movies? Well, the problem is, well, eventually they'll make less movies. And guess what? They'll make less challenging movies. They'll make more of what we've seen. And Sam Morrell, I just had on my podcast, he's really funny. He loves film noir like me, loves old movies. And he said, you know, I miss the middle range movies. You know, now you either get a hundred million dollar Marvel movie, the big blockbuster,

or you get a $1 million movie that some kid made on his iPhone. Like, you miss the era of, like, movies made in the mid-'90s, like Quiz Show or Simple Plan or films made like that. So I generally hope for both, honestly, man. I hope the movies that critics love, and I hope they make a lot of money, but it's unfortunately rare to get that right now. And I'll give you another example. Kevin Costner, big bet on himself, right? Horizon, this big Western. I said, I can't wait to go see it because he put $38 million of his own movie into it.

Think how insane this guy is. It's a four-part Western. He shot the first two, and they're working on the third. But he needs a little bit more money to finish the third, and he doesn't have the money yet for the fourth. So if these movies don't do well at the box office, he's not going to be able to finish the movie he wants to make. And the first movie just opened, and I regret to say it wasn't particularly good. I gave it too many beliefs in my podcast. It's a $100 million budget. It grossed $11 million at the box office. It's going to struggle to get to, let's say, 35. That's a two-thirds loss, and he's still got the second one coming out like August

10th. So I like to see people take risks and take challenges and go see movies in the theaters, but it's not looking good right now for Kevin Costner. Adnan, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We always appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. Happy Independence Day. We'll do this again next week. Yeah, we'll fire

off some fireworks here for our Canadian American friends. Thank you so much, boys. Talk to you soon. Be safe. Adnan Virk, MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show. Thank you so much, boys. Talk to you soon. Be safe. Adnan Virk, MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show. I love that Simple Plan shout. That's a great movie. I haven't thought about it in a long time. Billy Bob Thornton and Bill...

No, I can't remember the other guy. I was reading a... It's a really good movie. I was reading a... Sam Raimi, the director. Reading a GQ article about Kevin Costner's big gamble on himself. Sounds like he's going crazy. GQ reader over here. I was going to say, la-di-da.

Yeah. Pretty fit. Flipping through my GQ. Get a load of this guy. It's a magazine. I don't know if you've heard of it. It's big gamble on himself. Sounds like he's going great. GQ reader over here. I was going to say, la-di-da. Yeah. Flipping through my GQ. Get a load of this guy. It's a magazine. I don't know if you've heard of it. It's not a big deal. I have a subscription.

Gentleman's Quarterly. Yeah. Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe you hadn't. It's kind of besides the point. Bill Paxton. That was who it was. What are you doing?

Sorry, I was borrowing. You were the only person still wondering about that. We'd moved on. Three hours later. Bill Paxton. Congratulations to solving your own on. Three hours later, Bill Paxton. Congratulations to solving your own question there, pal. Delight great, Bill Paxton. Yeah. Okay.

We got a lot more to get to on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. But right now, it is time for the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. I mentioned earlier that the British Columbia Lions are back in action this weekend. It's a Sunday afternoon affair from Hamilton. Well, they will take on the winless tiger cats at Tim Hortons field. So the story for the lions so far,

they lost their first game of the season in Toronto and they've been pretty good since then winning their last three games. The last one against Edmonton, a little tight. We had Sean white who kicked the game winning field goal on the show a couple of days ago. They will look to carry that momentum into Hamilton. As mentioned,

the Tiger Cats are struggling. Four straight losses to start the season. They have been down to the wire and made it close, including their last game against Ottawa, which they lost on a last second field goal, oddly enough, the same way that the Lions beat the Elks. They're going to need some better play from Bo Levi Mitchell. He did look better against

Ottawa last game, but has just a 62.4 quarterback rating over his last two games combined. So that's your story going into the weekend. Keon Hatcher, the all-star wide receiver for the BC Lions. It looks as though he's right on the cusp of returning. It's unclear, unlikely that he'll return against Hamilton, but that means that Vernon Adams Jr. will be getting one of his big receiving weapons back in the not-too-distant future.

So the game again, Sunday, 4.30 from Tim Hortons Field, the 3-1 BC Lions, winners of three straight, taking on the 0-4 Hamilton Tiger Cats. That was the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. Coming up on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, we're going to dive back into the National Hockey League. Sean McIndoe, better known as Down Goes Brown, is going to join us as we will recap what happened at the draft

in the first few days of free agency. Sean has been writing a lot about the winners and losers and grades and trends from the first few days of NHL free agency. So that's all coming up next on the Halford & Brough Show featuring Jamie Dodd right here on Sportsnet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. oh total stranger things major stranger things vibes

digging it let it play Major Stranger Things vibes Digging it Let it play, Andy Haunting It is, this is literally like a rip-off of the Stranger Things intro I've never seen Stranger Things. Really? What's it about? Stranger Things, I presume.

It's sort of like The X-Files meets The Goonies, I guess, is the best way to describe it. It's a really good show. There's a reason it's so popular. The last season especially was fantastic. It's a very good descriptor, Andy. Yeah, it's really good. It's a really good show. You are listening to the Halford and Brough Show featuring A-Dog, Jamie Dodd, and Greg Ballack, better known as Laddie.

We are in Hour 2 of the program. Hour 2 is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime is full flavor. Without compromise, you can get some at a liquor store near you, or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. This whole show, all of it, all the wackiness, is brought to you by Pacific Honda, North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff

that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service, or parts. Let's go to the phone lines now. Our second in a run of Sean's, from the athletic, no less. This time it's Sean McIndoe, better known as Down Goes Brown. He joins us on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning, Sean. How are you? I'm tired, but otherwise pretty good. Oh, you sound like a guy that just got back from Vegas recently and had to write a lot for the Athletic. I was in Vegas. I took a red-eye back, and it's like three days later, and it's not fully adjusted yet. How was the sphere? We talked to Gentile earlier and he said even from a guy that,

I think he said he was going in designed to be a hater. My words, not his. But he said he was pretty wowed with the whole thing. You? Yeah. First of all, I don't appreciate having to follow Gentile. It's just the timing. That was not part of the deal that I agreed to.

I felt very similar to him. Not in the sense that I wanted to not like it, but it's just that cynic in you going, okay, it's the NHL. They're going to do it the easy way. They're going to do it the conservative way. They will find a way to, you know, not to screw it up in some big comical over the top way. They'll screw it up by not going hard enough.

And I don't know if Sean told you about it, but when you first went in, they were using like 20% of the screen. And they had this little rectangle. It just looked like a big scoreboard. It looked like you were in a big IMAX theater. And that's where they were putting the stats in the interviews and all that stuff. And it was like, yeah, okay, that looks about right for the NHL.

And then it was just as the show started that they unleashed the full thing. Floor to ceiling. And it was like, oh, okay, here we go. It was very cool. It looked great. It sounded great. It really seemed to bother Gary Bettman when they would blare the trade alert goal horn. That's all you could ask for. It was cool. Are you going to miss a centralized draft?

You know what? I will miss the specific three hours of being in the sphere for round one. Okay. I will not miss all the other stuff that goes around it, including getting to Vegas, including being in Vegas, including being surrounded by the sort of people who like to be in Vegas. But, yeah, it's going to be a tough act to follow if we go back to the uh you know this style of draft uh especially uh lord help the next team that has to like host it in the arena and put their their little dinky scoreboard uh graphics to work that's that's going to be a tough act to follow okay let's jump straight into free agency here we're a few days in so the dust has settled a little bit we can

take a look back at some of the things that we've learned so you have a piece up at the athletic actually your nhl free agency lessons. One of them leading right off was being heartless is the new market inefficiency. Can you please explain? This is this approach that we have seen some teams take where there is just no loyalty, there is no nostalgia, there is only what moves the needle on us getting closer to being a winner. And if it moves the needle just a little tiny bit in the right direction,

but it's going to break a bunch of hearts, we do it anyways. And we had seen that approach from Vegas for years now. We really saw it from Tampa. I mean, I think that's the perfect scenario there over the weekend, where on Saturday morning when they made the Serge Sheff trade and some other deals, those of us down in the media section kind of looked at each other and went, okay, well, there's the Stamkos money right there.

This is, you know, they walked right up to the line, but of course they were going to get it done. Of course you can't have Stephen Stamkos money right there. This is, you know, they walked right up to the line, but of course they were going to get it done. Of course you can't have Stephen Stamkos not play for the Lightning. Well, it turned out that wasn't the Stephen Stamkos money, it was the Jake Gensel money, because they figured Jake Gensel was a little bit better than Stephen Stamkos right now. And so they made the move. And, I mean, it sounds obvious to say, hey, I mean, you're a GM,

it's your job to push the team towards winning a championship, and you do anything you can to do that. But it is tough. I mean, there is a sense of loyalty. There is a sense where it just feels wrong to see Stephen Stamkos in a different jersey. And, you know, I think a lot of GMs would not do that. But the reality is the GMs doing it are having success. Vegas, as a model, has been extraordinarily successful,

and obviously with them letting Jonathan Marshall walk. How can you possibly do that? A guy who has been there the entire history of the franchise, the heart and soul, the conspite winner, and you let him go because you feel like the contract's not quite there. There's got to be a lot of fans out there right now who are saying, I wish my team's GM was like this. I wish my team's GM was heartless and did whatever it took.

And you will say that right up until maybe they do it, and then you're sitting there going, oh, man, not that guy. You can't do that guy. It's tough, but so far over the last few years we're sitting there going, oh, man, not that guy. You can't do that guy. It's tough. But so far, over the last few years, we're seeing what wins, and it's being heartless. Yeah, and it does feel like Tampa maybe has even pushed the envelope farther on that than Vegas even has.

And, you know, obviously they go out and get Gensel, right? So that's another veteran player that they're giving money to instead of Stamkos. They signed the Hedman extension, kind of similar thing. But even going back a little bit, like, they almost chose Ryan McDonough veteran player that they're giving money to instead of Stamkos. They signed the Hedman extension, kind of similar thing. But even going back a little bit, they almost chose Ryan McDonough over Stephen Stamkos by trading for him back and taking on that salary from National. It just feels like they may,

it's not like they prioritized one guy over Stephen Stamkos. They made a whole series of moves that showed they were more of uncomfortable with him leaving the organization. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, you say get Brian McDonough back. They got him back because they dumped him a couple of years ago and they just needed some cap space. So it was like, thanks for the two Stanley Cups, and, you know, we'll see you later.

And, yeah, and, you know, let's not forget, years ago, they let Stephen Stamkos walk the free agency, different management and what have you, but they let him get right to that negotiating window and hear the pitches from Toronto and Montreal and whoever else it was. So, you know, when you hear other teams say, oh, we can't possibly let this guy walk to free agency, we'd lose him for nothing. We can't lose a guy for nothing. And that means we've got to re-sign him or we've got to do this or that. You look at Tampa, they were comfortable doing it.

And part of that is that you feel like you've got a franchise and a program that players want to stay in and other players want to come to. So if the guy leaves, then you'll have the replacement. And that's what happened. And I guess, you know, credit Stephen Stamkos, too. He took less money the last time around, and I guess this time he just drew his line in the sand and said, I'm not doing it again.

I'm not being the good soldier each and every time. I want to get what I'm worth, and he gets it. He just doesn't get it in Tampa, and it's going to be very strange seeing him put on another uniform. So the benefactor of the ruthlessness in Tampa and Vegas are the National Predators, who signed Stamkos, they signed Jonathan Marcheseau, they also got Brady Shea from Carolina. Are the National Predators legitimate Stanley Cup contenders now, in your view?

I think they're at the very least legitimate contenders in the Central, because they make those three big additions. And also, maybe what we could look back on is their biggest move of the summer, decision of the summer, they keep UC Cerros. They decide to pay to keep the established goaltender rather than roll the dice on the up-and-coming prospect who may have an even higher ceiling, certainly would be much, much cheaper to let you spend in other areas

of the roster, but a bit of an unknown. So, yeah, I think I moved them close to the Colorados, maybe neck and neck with Dallas and Winnipeg, who neither of which have really had great off-seasons,

have really moved forward all that much. So, yeah, you put them there. Now, I've seen other people say, yeah, I'm not as sure about this Nashville team. This was a pretty average team that ultimately just added two older guys who, you know, you look on the aging curve, it starts to look a little bit like a roller coaster sometimes, and they may not get the value that they're hoping for.

But I do think that, you know, personally, I'm a little more optimistic. I would put them a notch below Colorado, but right there with Dallas and Winnipeg right now, which means in the mix for a division, in the mix for home ice, and certainly once you get into the playoffs with the UC Cerros, who knows what can happen. Although, you know, as you guys know well, that doesn't necessarily guarantee anything once you get in the playoffs if you run into a good team.

We're speaking to Sean McIndoe, down goes Brown, from the athletic NHL writer here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Speaking of those Nashville Predators, it's probably worth noting that they operate in Tennessee, which is a zero-tax state. And I know that you've written a lot about this. It's actually one of the lessons that you learned on the opening day of free agency, that there might be something to this whole tax thing. So are you starting to reevaluate your thoughts on the advantages that zero-tax states have in the NHL?

I'm starting to turn the dial a little bit. Now, the history here is, for years now, I've been pushing back on this idea that taxes are a huge piece of the puzzle. We all acknowledge that it can certainly be part of the equation. And certainly, in that sense, some markets have the advantage over others because when you factor in the tax rate, there's more dollars going into your pocket on a deal you can sign. That said, I and others, including NHL agents, have said, when you see these charts go around that just say, well, the tax rate here is zero and the tax rate here is whatever percent, and so therefore, here's what the same contracts look like. Those are nonsense because there's all sorts of things that players can do to mitigate that.

Plus, there's all sorts of other things that, if we're going to talk about tax rates, okay, let's talk about endorsement opportunities. Let's talk about post-career earnings. Let's talk about the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar, and then all of these other things. So I have kind of pushed back in the past and said, we're making way too big a deal of this. A lot of this is just sour grapes coming from Canadian fans and fans in higher tax markets in the States, trying to explain why they're not landing the players that they want to land.

That having been said, it was awfully tough to sit there on Monday and not go, okay, let's see. Stamkos and Marsh still go to Nashville. That's a zero-tax state. Jay Gunsel goes to Tampa, which is in Florida. It's zero-tax. Sam Reinhart stays with the Panthers on a deal that comes in significantly lower, I think, than most of us would think. Maybe there is something to this. Maybe there is something there. Now, the counterpoint would be Boston Bruins signed a couple of guys.

You know, that taxes didn't keep Elias Lindholm away from there. The Edmonton Oilers got a couple of guys real cheap. And, you know, because obviously they're contenders. Guys are going there to try to win a championship. The Seattle Kraken, which is a no-tax state, got a couple of guys, and everyone looked at it and went, whoa, you paid way too much for those guys. Maybe they had to pay a premium.

So I think we have to look at taxes and say that's maybe part of the equation. I still don't think taxes are as big a deal as just being able to walk around in the winter, in the sunshine, in flip-flops. You know, the story is that the guys on the Panthers, they drive golf carts to the practice facility when it's time for a skate. I think that is a much tougher benefit to overcome for teams up in Canada or elsewhere. But I have moved the needle from taxes being almost a non-story to, you know what, maybe there is something here. Yeah, it's hard to kind of disentangle the taxes from the weather thing, right? Because the no-tax places tend to be also the warm weather places. And I think you're right that that is actually

a much bigger deal. I don't think if Manitoba became a no-tax province, that all of a sudden Winnipeg would be getting all these sweetheart deals with high-profile free agents, right? I think the taxes might help, but the location and the oh, we're walking around in flip-flops

and you're anonymous relative to other NHL markets. I think that plays a huge role, too. Yeah, and keep in mind, especially when you're talking free agents, by the time you get to free agency in the NHL, you're a little bit older. You're at least into your late 20s. Some of these guys are in their 30s. Much better chance that you've got the wife, maybe you've got the kids.

At some point, maybe the wife is saying, hey, all things being equal, while you're off playing hockey, I'd rather be living someplace where I'm not stuck shoveling the driveway after you leave for practice in the morning. That maybe sounds a little bit more fun to me. So yeah, I mean, there's all sorts of things. Plus, ultimately, you know, being the winning organization,

you know, really does help. You know, Sam Reinhart, I'm sure, did think about taxes and did think about the weather and all that. But ultimately, he's going, man, I just finished partying with the Stanley Cup with these guys. I got a chance to do it again next year. Why would I go somewhere else? What, am I going to go to Columbus and miss the playoffs for three years? I don't want to do that. So there's a whole bunch of moving targets, and that's sort of where I get to when you get to the tax thing. Oh, it's not fair.

Okay, you know what? Maybe it's not fair, so what do we do? Because you hear sometimes people say, well, we've got to adjust the salary cap. There needs to be a sliding cap that factors this in. You can't do that. I mean, then what do you do? In Toronto, the taxes are high, but as soon as you land on the ground,

somebody's throwing a national ad campaign your way, and plus you play six games for the Leafs and you're hosting golf tournaments for the rest of your life and doing the banquet circuit and all of that stuff that's just not going to happen to you in other markets. There's a million different factors. At the end of the day, build a good organization, win something, and the rest of it probably figures itself out unless you're Winnipeg. On the subject of the Seattle Kraken, you actually wrote that one of the lessons you learned was that Seattle seems tired of being an afterthought.

And that obviously was the big deals for Chandler Stevenson and Brandon Montour. It's interesting because Brough, who's not here, he's on vacation. But when he saw the Seattle signings, he actually said that he didn't think it even moved the needle enough, that they were still an afterthought. So I'm curious to get your thoughts on what the Kraken did and where they are right now in the hierarchy, because you make a good point. They're not even the new kids on the block right now. That's Utah. Yeah, exactly. You know, there was, for the last few years, there was sort of this big brother, little brother dynamic with Vegas and Seattle, the two expansion teams were. Obviously, Vegas is the big brother who went to law school, became a doctor, all that sort of stuff. And Seattle, sort of the somewhat less successful younger brother, did make the playoffs one year,

even won a round, knocked out Colorado. That's not nothing, but had had nowhere near the level of success, and in fact had seemed to have had the deck stacked against them a little bit more because of all the success Vegas had had. They're not even the younger brother anymore. That younger brother syndrome is now gone because that's Utah now. Utah, according to the NHL, is a brand-new team. So they're now the new kid.

They're now the little brother, which means Seattle's now the dreaded middle child, which means you've got to get some attention somehow. So they get some attention by signing a couple of guys to big, long contracts. And it seems like the general feeling around the hockey world is, you know, Montour, okay, not bad, maybe a little much, but sometimes that's for agency, whereas the Chandler-Stevenson deal is getting maybe some more sneers from the balcony where it's kind of like, man, you gave that guy how much for how long?

I certainly don't think it puts Seattle back into a playoff mix where I'd give them one of my eight spots if I was filling it out in the West right now. But at the very least, it maybe shows that this kind of slow and patient approach that Ron Francis has been taking on, which we've got to say, until Vegas came around, was the standard operating procedure for expansion teams, that you set it out as a five-year plan and you took baby steps each and every year. Maybe the patience is starting to wear out there.

You know, we know the NBA might be coming back to Seattle, so the pressure might be on to earn some of that attention. It's tough. I don't know if these two guys are the answers, but I definitely know that just sitting back and not doing much at all was definitely not the answer. So we'll see how it works out. Sean, this was great.

Thanks for taking the time to do it today. We appreciate it. Thank you guys for having me. Sean McIndoe, Down Goes Brown from the Athletic NHL writer here on the Halford & Brough Show featuring Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650. Let's continue on that vein because Jason and I have this conversation often about the Seattle launch and how flat it's been specifically as it

pertains to the Canucks, because I've told this anecdote a couple of times. I'll retell it again. I'm an old man. I tell stories sometimes and I tell them again. Then I tell them again. Sometimes they don't go anywhere. Right.

Like this one. What was I talking about? No. When we started here, I remember the line when we were booking things long term, things that we wanted to do and sink our teeth into and be on the front foot about, one of them was the burgeoning Seattle crack in Vancouver Canucks rivalry, the I-5 rivalry that we just all assumed was going to happen.

It was going to be a geographic rival, something that the Canucks had never had. They were going to be in the division together. They were going to be a geographic rival, something that the Canucks had never had. They were going to be in the division together. They were going to hate each other. Their fans were going to invade Vancouver. Vancouver fans were going to invade Seattle. We were ready to book a weekly Seattle Kraken guest in anticipation of this.

None of that has materialized. None of it. First off, I don't know if the Kraken have a rivalry with anybody at this point. Certainly of it. They don't have, I mean, first off, I don't know if the Kraken have a rivalry with anybody at this point. Certainly not Vancouver. And the inverse is that I don't think Canucks fans think about the Kraken much at all. No more than any other team.

And especially now with the renewed rivalry with Edmonton, it's created a very weird dynamic. And I think that that's kind of been one of the reasons. There's many reasons why the Kraken have sort of failed to launch as a thing. When Vegas came in, their rival was everybody. Everyone hated Vegas. There was jealousy involved.

There were conspiracy theories that they had been propped up by a bunch of advantageous rules from the NHL. And everyone was kind of angry and jealous and did not like Vegas. And then Vegas had some good rivals, the Sharks and what have you. Seattle's been a, I mean, it's been a flop, I would say. Curious to get your thoughts on it. Yeah, no, I think it has.

And, you know, as Sean was saying, they're tired of being an afterthought. But if you look at the Pacific Division, they kind of are still an afterthought, right? Like, I think you would have them as a fairly long shot at this point in the calendar to finish top three in the Pacific Edmonton, the Canucks and Vegas still solidly the top three teams. Sure. I'm not that high in LA after what they have done, but even like it might be Seattle and LA scrapping for fourth place in the

division. That's still being an afterthought. If that's kind of your ceiling as a team. And I just just think it's been because you remember back when they did the expansion draft and i think the immediate reaction was that was deeply underwhelming especially compared to what vegas did and maybe part of that was other general managers kind of smartening up and saying okay we're not going to get taken advantage of again like we did last time but you look at ron francis's track record since then you wonder was he just way too conservative with how he approached the expansion of did he not learn the lesson of vegas that actually we have an opportunity

to be really aggressive here and instead he just oh no we'll take our time and now you're in this position where you're getting desperate to make an impact and you're you're handing out some unwise deals as a result i really do wonder if he misread the market in general, if he was a good hockey guy, but maybe not a good sports guy, if that makes sense. Like you have to understand that that is a very, very competitive and crowded market. And we mentioned this on this show. In addition to everything else, you know, the Seahawks being a major power player in the market, the Mariners having their foothold in what they do. UW football had this season that they hadn't had in the better part of two to three decades being a national title contender.

And I don't think a lot of Canadian audiences understand how significant that is, that a college football program can become the leading like sports driver in your market is that. And for a few months there, you dub football trumped everything. And that just takes further eyeballs and interest away from the crack. And I also thought that it was very interesting to see that there was very minimal traction gain from that playoff run, which was a good one. And a huge part of that though,

is that they didn't follow it up with anything. If they had followed it up with another playoff run, which was a good one. And a huge part of that, though, is that they didn't follow it up with anything. If they had followed it up with another playoff appearance, even just making the playoffs a successful season in any capacity, I think it would have meant something. But the fact that it just came out and immediately flopped

and weren't in the playoff race really all year, it's very hard to build on that playoff run when you don't follow it up with anything the next year. Lots more to get to on the Half and breath show on sports net six 50, a career highlight for Jamie Dodd. As he gets to talk next to Thomas trance from the athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk,

Drancer is going to join us as we will look at what's left in free agency, get his thoughts on what the Canucks have done, what they still need to do, how they'll do it. And in what way, shape or form they'll do it. Will it be through free agency will it be through trades or will they just sit and wait for the next little bit drancer is going to

join us next uh and then and i should put out a call for these because we don't have enough what we learned in the dunbar lumber text message in basket yet 650 650 is the number hashtag it wwl let us know what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. It is an opportunity to go further afield than the traditional sports that we do. I'm watching Wimbledon highlights on the television. If you have some thoughts on tennis or Wimbledon, now is the time to weigh them in. If you have some thoughts on our earlier conversations about movies

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