Halford & Brough in the Morning - Summer's Olympic Games

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

In hour two, Josh & Jason chat with CBC Olympics Reporter Devin Heroux on the fantastic gold medal performance of Summer McIntosh and the lofty expectations and potential she has moving forward with her just being 17 right now (1:00). The guys then get into some Canucks conversation on the likelihood of the team to make the playoffs along with what the ceiling and floor are for this team (32:00).   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.

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Powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. We now go live to paris where devin haru is joining us poolside cbc olympics reporter on the ground in paris poolside but if i heard correctly not the not the pool you've been beside for most of the olympics well it's a scorcher here to get uh here today guys and it feels feels fitting that there's a heat wave stretching across France in the wake of Summer McIntosh's gold medal. Summer has arrived, but yes, I'm outside.

There's an outdoor pool right by La Défense Arena, so I figured I'd do that here and then head back into the pool where the competition will heat up tonight. Awesome. Well, we appreciate you taking the time and you mentioned Summer McIntosh. What have you made of the, what's been deemed the summer of summer so far? Yeah, you know, to me, it's not very surprising because I've basically been at every one of her meets for the last three years since she made her Olympic debut when she was 14 years old. She was the youngest swimmer on the Canadian team at that point. Three years later in her second Olympics, she's still the youngest swimmer. And anybody who was sort of paying attention to what she was doing, and I know for a lot of Canadians,

they only tune in every four years for the Summer Olympics, so they would see Summer McIntosh and go, who is she? Well, the reality of it is, is she is a once-in-a-generation talent. She's going to be, in my opinion, the best Olympian this country has ever seen, and it really started last night, of course, in the 400-meter individual medley. It was a dominating victory. She went out in the first 200 meters,

put the Americans to bed behind her. They didn't even have a chance, and I did some math, which isn't my strong suit, but I have been able to confirm that her victory, the gap between her and the second place finisher was 5.69 seconds. And just for context, Leon Marchand, who's a French young swimming star here, at night earlier won his 400 meter individual medley by 5.67 seconds. So Summer did it a little better than him. Her first gold medal, her second medal at the Games, and I'm telling you right now,

there's a lot more to come from Summer McIntosh. Well, I'm getting greedy because she's already got two medals. How many more could she possibly win at these Olympics? Going into this, I said she could win five, and I'm sticking with that. I think Summer McIntosh can break Penny Alexiak's record from 2016 in Rio, when, of course, Penny was 16 years old and won four medals there, one gold. I think Summer has a very realistic shot at winning three gold medals. She already has a silver. And I think the Canadian women can find a way

to get on the medley relay podium in bronze. That would mean she would finish with three gold, one silver, and one bronze. And listen, anybody out there, I know it sounds like pressure, but I have asked Summer McIntosh about pressure for three years. She doesn't feel it. It's crazy. She looks at it

as almost like praise that people believe she's good enough of doing things like this. So she doesn't feel pressure. She loves the support. She's been dreaming of this her entire short life because she's just getting started. but I really think she can win five medals here and break the Canadian record for the most at a single summer games how important is it for her that her mom was also an Olympic swimmer that's a fantastic question it really is and I think it's a huge part of her success. You know, I was with Jill McIntosh last night, and funny enough, I flew to Sarasota where they're living and training about a month ago. And we sat on the beach, Jill and I, and I said, what is this like to have gone on your own Olympic

journey, to know exactly what it takes to be at this level, and 40 years later, be back at an Olympics watching your superstar daughter. And she says, I'm learning from my daughter because I was not chill. I was a nervous Nelly is what she said. And she says, and I still get nervous for summer, but she is as cool and as poised. She says, I don't know where she gets it from because it's not from me. But the reality of it is, and guys, listen, we can look at examples of young women who rise to stardom really, really quick. And in some cases, I don't think have the right support system around them. And they fade out or they lose their way a little bit.

I really get the sense that isn't going to happen with Summer McIntosh directly because of the question you just asked. Her mom knows what this is all about. And it's always been rooted in having fun, finding friends and enjoying the journey. Like go figure, you can have fun, you can love this sport and you can win. And I think they're sort of changing that model of success in swimming. So I don't want this question necessarily related to what you just said, but a lot of people have texted in to our show and said, is Penny Oleksiak at these games? What happened to her?

Because it's not like she's 38 years old. I think she's like 24 years old. But she has had some struggles in the last few years. Can you talk about those and what the expectations for her are at these games? Yeah, I, I don't think it's a completely out of the blue segue or connection. I mean, I have covered Penny for years. She told me, she looked me right in the eye and she said, I've been through hell and back, um, in swimming. She fell out of love with it. And that's the case for a lot of swimmers i've talked

to them here about it like what is going on in this sport that so many people fall out of love and almost hate getting into the pool so many swimmers don't even get in the pool leisurely after they finish because it is such a grind and i think for penny you know when you when you're you're 16 i don't know what you were doing at 16 but but I was not winning four Olympic medals and becoming an Olympic champion. And you just sort of overnight become the success. And I think it was even more shocking for Penny because we knew less about her. And then she's there and she's in the spotlight and she's getting sponsors and she's the toast to the town everywhere she goes.

And, you know, I think Penny now is more in love with the sport, but more in love with herself. I don't think she had the chance to grow up and do things that teenagers do and make mistakes and have fun and go to parties and have life experiences. She didn't really get to do that. And now I think Penny's doing it. She didn't qualify for any individual events, but I will say this on the record, that I think she will go down as one of the most athletically, naturally gifted athletes in our country's history. She's the most decorated Olympian. And I'll tell you right now,

Penny Oleksiak in Paris is the most positive, loving, caring person I've ever seen. It's beautiful to watch. Do you think this could be her last Olympics? Or is there a possibility that she could fall back in love with swimming and be back in four years? She has been unequivocal in that she wants to go to LA 2028. And I pushed her on that because I'm like, really?

I saw how disappointed you were about not qualifying for any individual events in a way i think it lit a fire under her and she was so close to qualifying for the 100 meter freestyle event of course that she won gold in rio um but she says she's going another four years and you you know what? Why not? If you think you can do this, they're finding better ways to swim longer and later into their careers. And if Penny thinks she can do it, I say go for it. And I think she left it a little long this time. I think she thought she could put in a solid year of work and qualify in those individual events. And I know because I I'm getting older too,

it gets a little harder to rebound after a training session or whatnot. And so I think Penny can do whatever she wants. And I, and at the heart of it, I just hope she's loving it. Like she says she is. It must be such a grind on a day-to-day basis. And you can understand how someone just, I don't know if it happens gradually or one day you just like, I've already had a lot of glory in the pool. I've already been on top of the world. And I don't know if I want to do this anymore. How do you think it goes down? I'm sure you've spoken with Penny about it.

Yeah. I think there is something to that i mean listen maggie mcneil of course who won olympic gold in the butterfly in tokyo i can tell you this is some breaking news right now she has scratched the 100 meter freestyle semi-final tonight and the reason she's doing that is because she looked me in the in the post-race interview this morning she said i have nothing left to prove. She probably wasn't going to advance out of the semifinal, but she said, I've won everything.

I'm the Olympic champ. Nobody can ever take that away from me. And I'm going to focus on the relay, and I'm going to have fun in Paris. And then I watched Katie Ledecky this morning in the 1,500 meter, which is 30 laps. And she's as good as she's ever been. I mean, she was half a pool ahead of everybody else. And I just go, I marvel at these athletes who have a desire to be great, despite the fact that they've been at the pinnacle of their sport,

like what drives them. And I think that's what Penny is going to have to figure out is what is my why in the pool. And if I can figure that out and if I can really lean into that over these next four years, who knows? I think Penny's going to play a big role in helping some of these younger women on the team just sort of evolve in the sport. And I already see that happening here. And like I said, it went from sort of the Penny show to Penny Oleksiak being the ultimate team player. And I think it's just a really nice evolution of self and swimmer. I'm sure you've chatted with Katie Ledecky before.

What does drive her? Because correct me if I'm wrong here. I'm not a swimming expert, but she is considered the greatest female swimmer ever? She is. And that's unequivocal. Absolutely. She has 11 Olympic medals now. Seven of them are gold. Three of them are bronze. And if you can believe it, when McIntosh out touched her for silver in the 400 meter freestyle the other night, it was Katie Ledecky's first bronze medal in her career and she wasn't happy and and I'm you know putting that lightly uh I've gotten to know Katie Ledecky's mom really well Mary Jen

Ledecky she actually has ties to Canada I always ask Mary Jen you know like you could have chose Canada for Katie to swim in right um the family incredible. So it gets back to that support group for Katie. She always talks about her family. And I think this is going to be something we hear a lot more of from Olympic athletes, high performance athlete is sort of the support system around them. We've, you know, exhausted sort of the conversation, an important one for sure about safe sport, mental health, the framework of sport. And I think I've heard it more than any other time in my career in the lead up to Paris and here in Paris, that you just need good people, good coaches, good family, good friends around you. And that's going to keep you wanting to get up every morning when you don't

want to get up and be reminded of what you're trying to do. And Katie Ledecky loves training more than anybody I've ever known. In fact, she actually goes for a swim at the pool, a leisurely swim on her days off because they just think she doesn't know what else to do with her life. And quite honestly, that's why she is the greatest female swimmer. However, Summer McIntosh is coming for that really fast. I think LA 2028, if she's healthy and everything goes as planned, I think Summer McIntosh could win seven or eight. Like we're talking Michael Phelps territory in LA. That would be incredible. Any other stories in the pool from a Canadian perspective

or non-Canadian perspective that we should be keeping our eyes on in the next few days? Yeah, I think we should quickly just touch base on the Canadian men because for so long they've sort of been in the women's shadow for good reason. They haven't really produced at the games. Rio, the women won six medals. Tokyo, the women won six medals. But pay attention. It'll be, I guess, early in Vancouver when you guys will be watching out in British Columbia, 11.30 a.m. Pacific time. Ilya Harun is a 19-year-old fearless guy with swagger, born in Montreal to parents of Cirque du Soleil.

He's a showstopper, just like them. He's 19 years old. He could probably reach the podium in the 200 fly. He actually told me at trials, I want to beat Leon Marchand, who's a great French hope here. The guy's fearless. He had the second fastest qualifying time this morning, so watch out for him. And Josh Leendo is one of the great hopes for Canada on the men's side. He'll swim in the 100-meter freestyle semifinal.

Both those guys are fearless. They have sort of this Canadian bravado and swagger and politeness about them that's so incredible. So those guys kick off. They're back-to-back to start tonight's session at the pool. Pay attention to them. I think they're going to end a 12-year drought in the pool at the Olympics on the podium for Canada.

Devin, this was great. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us. Really appreciated your insight and your energy and your enthusiasm about the Canadian story in the pool. Maybe we can catch up and do this again soon. Hey, I'll talk to you guys anytime about our Canadians. They're exceptional and great ambassadors. Appreciate you guys. That's awesome.

Thanks, Devin. Thank you. Devin Heroux joins us from Paris to talk about Summer McIntosh and he sure put the expectations on Summer McIntosh, but at the same time he said that's good and she doesn't feel the pressure. You know, life has a way of throwing curveballs at us and, you know, I'm sure we were talking

about Penny Alexiak being maybe the greatest swimmer ever. And when she was 16 years old and now we're talking about her eight years later and wondering, you know, like, has she fallen out of love with the sport? Is she indifferent to it? Does she want to do other things?

And when you're talking about Summer McIntosh, who is only 17 years old, things can happen. But currently she is having a terrific Olympics. I think having the Olympics in LA in 2028 is going to be a massive motivational thing or whatever for North American athletes. I think having the Olympics in Paris, frankly, was a massive motivation for a lot of people just because it's Paris. It's cool. I know on the men's basketball side, it was like the Americans were like, yeah, we want to go to Paris.

That sounds awesome. Like, you know, especially with the influx of, of French players into the NBA, there was an enthusiasm about Paris. Now I should mention that throughout, and by the way, spoiler alert, spoiler alert. If you want to, if you're, if you're recording the rugby sevens, I should mention that throughout that interview with Devin,

we were watching the Canadian women rugby sevens against Australia. And I mentioned before this match that the Australians were heavy favorites, just like the Kiwis were over the Americans in the first semifinal and New Zealand took care of the Americans fairly easily.

And it looked early on like the Aussies were going to take care of Canada. They were up 12-0 early. Spoiler alert, there are 29 seconds left in this game now. 21-12 for Canada. Big comeback. So Canada is about to pull a massive upset in the rugby sevens. And if they can hold on and they should be able to hold on with a nine point lead on the Aussies, they will meet the Kiwis later today for gold in the women's rugby sevens.

And this is an incredible scene from the Stade de France. Australians are distraught. The Australians are in tears on the bench. And we got to be a little careful here. We can't exactly do play-by-play on this, but Canada has won. They have won. They have won. They have won. They're going to kick the ball out here, and that'll be the game.

And here comes the celebration. And what an incredible victory for the Canadian women in rugby sevens in front of almost 70,000 fans at the Stade de France. This is a Canadian team that went into the Stade de France yesterday and beat the French, booking the semifinal against the Aussies. The Aussies, obviously a rugby nation, both men's and women's. It looked like it was going to be an Aussie-Kiwi final, but instead it is going to be Canada versus New Zealand for a gold medal later today. Again, the Kiwis are going to be heavily favored, but Canada is guaranteed at least a silver.

And if they can beat the Aussies, you never know. Maybe they can pull the upset against the Kiwis. This is just a terrific story. And you're talking about, let's talk about the Canadian women in the team sports that we've got here in soccer and rugby. Soccer, obviously not a good start for the Canadian women, but it's turning into a potentially great story.

They will be playing Columbia tomorrow. Yeah. And if they win that, they're through to the quarterfinals. They beat France on French soil. The French must be sitting there going like these Canadians, like we do not care for these Canadians.

So this is a really terrific story for the women's rugby team. And the final, I believe if I'm reading the schedule correctly, should be going at 10.30 for the gold medal match, maybe 11. Yeah, it's a quick turnaround in Rugby 7. They're like, are you tired? Because you're playing in five minutes. Yeah.

So they have all the seeding games for all the 10 through bronze before then. Oh, it's showing it now. It should be at 10.45. So if you want to watch the gold medal match between New Zealand and Canada, it'll be at 10.45 our time. So we'll see what they can do. But, yeah. I honestly think that's the biggest moment to see at the Olympics so far for me.

And just being in here, being able to watch it, I'm kind of glad that Halford's not here because he would be so distracted by these TVs that I don't think he'd pay attention to a single word that I said. Well, good thing I don't understand the full scope of rugby because I have not been to Rugby Sevens. But I do understand that this is a huge upset and beating France to, again, like two upsets in a row,

to then move on to, like, everyone knows that New Zealand excels at rugby. So this is going to be a big challenge. But just to get to that point, too, is a huge accomplishment in and of itself. By the way, what also was happening during that, Canada competing for a bronze medal in judo, and they lost. So fourth for Canada in men's judo. So not another medal there, but again, there are a few medal chances today in the pool,

and now a guaranteed medal. And we'll just have to see what it is, if it's gold or silver in women's rugby sevens. Again, the final goes at 1045. Okay, I thought we were going to have some time to discuss the Canucks odds to make the playoffs that I brought up in the previous segment. I thought we were going to have some time in that segment

after we spoke to Devin, but Devin was such a good interview and the women's rugby game was on. So maybe we'll have to have this conversation after we speak with Brady Henderson coming up next, talking a little Seahawks training camp. I just wanted to chat with Brady to see what the storylines were at Seahawks training camp. They have a whole new coaching staff. Mike McDonald is the new head coach. The Pete Carroll era is over. So I want to ask Brady about like, what are the big storylines?

You know, we all know that Gino Smith is going to be the starting quarterback. They didn't end up drafting a quarterback. So we'll talk to Brady about the storylines at Seahawks training camp. Maybe then we can have the conversation about the Canucks and their playoff odds. At 8 a.m.

TJ Lee is going to join us, BC Lions defensive player, and we'll talk to him about recovering from his, I believe he had an Achilles injury. And I think that's the second time he's done his Achilles. So he's done different legs. Yeah. He's got two of them.

So we'll talk to him about the rehab there. We'll talk to him about the BC Lions, uh, and how he's feeling about the season, the opportunity to play a home gray cup. Uh, TJ Lee went to Eastern Washington University and there's a lot of CFL talent that T.J. Lee went to Eastern Washington University, and there's a lot of CFL talent that has come out of Eastern Washington, including Vernon Adams.

A lot of people think, oh, didn't he play for Oregon? Yeah, he played the first few years for Eastern Washington and then transferred to Oregon to play one season for the Ducks. Bo Levi Mitchell went there, and Cooper Cupp and Kendrick Bourne went there as well. So there's some NFL talent. So we'll talk to him about going to a school like Eastern Washington. TJ Lee has spent 10 years with the BC Lions.

So we should have a good conversation with him. So there's some football talk coming up, maybe some hockey talk if we have some time. And of course, we're going to continue on the Olympic talk on the Halford and brough show on sportsnet 650 731 it is halford it is brough it is not halford it is josh elliott elliott wolf and brough does not really roll off the tongue, if I'm being honest. No, no. And that's okay.

What would you call a show if you were doing a show with me? And I had to do the last name thing? Yeah, we wouldn't do that. Like Brough and Elliott Wolfe. Yeah. I'd probably just have to cut a last name. That sounds like a fairy tale. I know. Right? It's so whimsical. Josh and Jason? That's not bad. Yeah. elliot wolf yeah i'd probably had to have to cut a last name it sounds like a fairy tale i know

right so whimsical josh and jason that's not bad yeah there's alliteration there double j yeah wow look at us okay uh how for the bra brought to you by the delari family of honda dealers experience the delari difference today visit your nearest delari honda dealer today also this hour of how for the broth is brought to you by bridge brewing meticulously brewed for quality and taste primetime craft beer is full flavor without compromise at a liquor store near you or visit the brewery to see how it is made you can text in as well on the 650 650 dumb bar lumber text line we are efforting to get Brady Henderson on the line right now. spot when you go from the old coach to the new coach, but it's not like the old coach was horrible.

Right, yeah. He wasn't let go for, well. I mean, he was a legend. Yeah, exactly. He was a legend. And he wasn't let go for extremely poor performance. It was just time to move on. And so there's an interesting kind of dynamic there,

and it's a weird spot maybe for Mike McDonald to go into, but because they also weren't a horrible team, there should be a lot of pieces for him to work with. So while we're trying to get Brady Henderson on the line, having a little bit of trouble right now, I just wanted to mention that Nathan Rourke cleared waivers yesterday, but there is news that he will work out with the Atlanta Falcons. And when I heard that news, I was like, uh, the same Atlanta Falcons that signed Kirk Cousins

and then drafted Michael Penix Jr. That's them. And they have Taylor Heineke. Right. As their third stringer too. Right. So I don't know if there's like a deeper quarterback group than that in the NFL. And I actually don't know when Nathan Rourke would finally make his decision on whether or not to return to the CFL. But if Nathan Rourke does find himself in a position to return to the CFL,

that would be real interesting. Yeah. Because he has said that he'd love to go back to the BC Lions. Mm-hmm. But would the BC Lions do that? I mean, is his talent so undeniable that you kind of have to? And look, like...

I mean, I would. But it could also go badly, right? What if he's a little bit rusty in the CFL game? Vernon Adams is playing pretty well. But I would probably choose to go with Nathan Rourke,

but you never know how that would go over in the room with his teammates. And the thing with the CFL too is that let's say there's a team out there that's just missing a quarterback. They could add a Nathan Rourke and be like, we're going to the Grey Cup. There's not many teams in the CFL. You can have a bad start. You can not look very good. I'm not saying that Nathan Rourke could go to the Edmonton Elks

and take them to the Grey Cup. He could maybe get them a win. But he could get me that. And you know what? That's a first start for the Edmonton Elks. That's progress. That is progress. But I do wonder how long he will be chasing this NFL dream.

And to be fair, it's worthy to follow that chase. But at a certain point, you're like, man, I just need to get playing time and I want to be playing football. And I only have so many years to do it. Let's go back to the CFL and maybe get another shot somewhere south of the border down the line. Okay. Brady might be asleep.

There's a chance that Brady Henderson is still asleep. Understandable. We're calling him and it's going straight to the voicemail. So let's have this conversation about the Vancouver Canucks. So just to reset things, I got an email yesterday from a gambling company and they were promoting their odds to make the playoffs. And the Canucks were at minus 240 to make the playoffs next season versus plus 190 to miss.

There were similar odds over at playnow.com, so this wasn't some one-off sports book. There were six teams in the West with better odds to make the playoffs than Vancouver, Edmonton, Colorado, Dallas, Nashville, Vegas, and L.A. And two teams that are close to Vancouver in Winnipeg and Minnesota. And then seven unlikely qualifiers in Seattle, St. Louis, Utah, Calgary, Anaheim, Chicago, and San Jose. And not trying to be negative here, but I guess the question that I would have, because I think Josh and I earlier on the show,

we both agreed that that's fair, right? The Canucks should be expected to make the playoffs. They made the playoffs last season by a fairly wide margin. They won their division. And while they did have good shooting luck and for the most part stayed pretty healthy, they were deservedly in that playoff spot. I don't think they fluked their way into the

playoffs. They won a round in the playoffs, they beat Nashville and they nearly took out the Edmonton Oilers who went on to nearly win the Stanley Cup. So I guess the question would be, what would have to happen for them to miss the playoffs? The obvious one would be injuries.

They stayed pretty healthy. I know they had some injuries too, especially down the stretch. Thatcher Demko got hurt. But at that point when he did get hurt, they were fairly comfortable in a playoff spot. I suppose there could be the bad luck factor. And that would be like a major shooting regression

where they went from, wow, all the pucks are going into that too. Like what is going on here? Yeah. Everyone goes Elia Mikheyev? Pretty much. Yeah. Maybe if they don't fix the power play,

because the power play was pretty good early on, and then it eventually ended on, I would say, dreadful in the playoffs. It was horrible, yeah. But some credit, some credit is due to the Edmonton Oilers, whose PK was really good throughout the playoffs. They just found something on that PK. I know it was weird, but like, because the Oilers, you really think about their power play as opposed to their penalty kill,

but their penalty kill was incredible. And just because I'm Jason Brough, I will throw this out here. If Elias Pedersson doesn't come back and look a lot better, then that's a problem because part of what helped the Canucks make the playoffs was Elias Pettersson early in the season.

And not so much early in the season, for most of the season. He was a very good player and really after the all-star break, he started to go downhill and, you know, it's a question of why that was. Was it injury? Was it the contract situation?

Did he just go into another one of his funks? Who knows? But if he comes back and he doesn't look significantly improved on how he looked in the playoffs and at the end of the season, then that could be a factor in the Canucks missing. What do you think is the most likely thing that could theoretically keep them out of the playoffs? I would say, I mean, injuries is probably the most likely. The Pettersson being bad again thing,

for me, I'm just, and maybe I'm too bot committed at this point. I've been defending Noli's Pettersson all year. Did you defend him all throughout into the playoffs? Like were you the guy that was blaming his line mates more than him? No. No. Like I acknowledged that he was bad on an individual level. But at the same time, like there were some wild claims being made about

like at least Pettersson and his future and the contract. That stuff for me is kind of where I drew the line. What kind of wild claims were being made? Just that. Were they on our show? I made some claims. I mean, you made some claims. But I don't think you were at least realistic in your claims.

Some people were just like, ah, Pedersen's never going to be above a point per game player again. Right. It's going to be horrible. Right. That's ridiculous. I mean, to say that so certainly. Yeah. I did find it quite peculiar, though.

I found it more than a slump. Like, I've seen players go through slumps. Not for that long. And not that... It was bizarre, man. It was bizarre. I got to the point where i was like i'm not frustrated anymore i'm confused as to what's going on here and that's why i'm like okay there's no way this is just him now like there has to be there's so much more of a career

sample size of him being way better than what he was in the last 30 games and into the playoffs that that's why when i'm kind of ranking the things of um what might keep the canucks out of the playoffs elise petterson being bad is near the bottom um injuries it's near the bottom really near the bottom like your confidence is that high that he's going to come back and be what an elite player an elite player? An elite player. At least... So what makes you think that? Just the career sample size again.

The fact that, hey, potentially he was dealing with an injury. And I think maybe it was overblown a little bit. If you're playing, you still need to be producing at a certain level relative to your talent. Sure. But just based on what we've seen from him in the past and what i believe he can be as a player he just wasn't that at all and i don't think he just turned into he just needed a vacation maybe seriously i'm serious like a reset a couple months physically

and mentally get away from things and also hey playing with Jake Dabrowski might help. Having a legitimate line mate that can score that isn't Ilya Mikheyev might help. God, I hope there's chemistry there. I hope so. What do you guys see as the ceiling and floor for this team then next year? We're talking about what has to go wrong for it to be like floor. Well, I see the floor as missing the playoffs. But barely missing the playoffs, right?

But yeah, yeah. I don't see them being bottom feeders, but I see them missing – I see the floor being missing the playoffs just because you've got, again, six teams where the odds makers say there's a better chance of making the playoffs than the Canucks in Edmonton, Colorado, Dallas, Nashville, Vegas, and L.A. Now you can quibble with L.A., but then there's Winnipeg, and there's Minnesota. I think Seattle has a chance to be a playoff team.

We've seen them do it before. I think the Canucks are better on paper than Seattle. I think they're better on paper than Winnipeg and Minnesota and maybe LA. But injuries do happen, and very good teams have missed the playoffs before. So there is always that chance. We've seen defending Stanley Cup champs miss the playoffs. So you can't tell me that – you know, I'm talking about the floor here. The floor for me would be to miss the playoffs by like four or five points.

The ceiling is the interesting one because maybe it's because I'm old and jaded, but I still don't look at this Canucks team and think Stanley Cup, you know, like that is a legitimate hope. And I never did last season. Like there was never a point, even during that Euler series where I was like, man, maybe the Canucks could win the Stanley Cup.

Like I just, I don't think I ever got to that point, even though they were one game away from being in that final four. And I think a lot of that probably had to do with the way that Petey was playing. If Petey was playing a lot better, first of all, I think they would have had a better chance to beat the Edmonton Oilers

and maybe you get Thatcher Demko back and maybe then you'd be like, okay, well, there's a chance here. They could do it. So I think I need to watch them a little bit in the first part of the season to make that decision. But right now, I don't know how much better I

can expect them to be next season. I just think so many things went right for them last season that for them to make progression next season would be like, oh my God. But hey, listen, I was dead wrong about them last season. So take that into account. Maybe I just don't have a feel for this team. So let me ask this question. Is there a world where they on paper like their their results their point total at the end of the year is lower but you feel more confident about them heading into the playoffs in terms of like how they're playing where their talent level

is at and especially if petterson is back to petterson level that you could see them going further in the postseason because i i agree and i'm generally pretty optimistic about most teams um but i agree there wasn't really a point going into the playoffs in the playoffs where i looked at it and i was like yes this is a team that can beat edmonton and then dallas and then florida like win a stanley cup and go through the the trials and tribulations that come with it because i just didn't think they were at that point yet and i still look at the roster and it's not an undeniable team that's even going to win their division it's it's still a question mark but i i do see a world where at the end of the season, we look at it and we're like, okay, this team as a whole is playing at a more sustainable level

that might be able to get them further in the playoffs. Yeah. Listen, for me, I think it all comes back to Petey. It really does. Because if you can have... Shocker. Well, Greg, when your highest paid player doesn't perform in the playoffs, that's a factor, right? And so in theory, let's say Petey comes back and he is an elite player and he's an elite player into the playoffs.

Then I don't think you can look at this team and say they have no chance of winning the Stanley Cup. Think of what they'd have. And that would probably add, too. Petey has their 1C. JT Miller has their 2. Or if you want to switch them around, feel free to do that. Norris trophy winner on the back end. Thatcher Demko, if he can stay healthy and the Canucks manage his workload to the point where he's healthy for the playoffs.

It still feels a bit precarious though, doesn't it? That a lot of those things need to hit. Yeah, it feels precarious in a lot of ways because it's the Canucks. It's also like. And for me, I'm not going to speak for anyone else, but for me, the turnaround was so quick. Like they went from losers. Like the definition of, like they had talent before, but they were just losers. The definition of they had talent before

but they were just losers. They didn't play the game the right way and in one year they just decided to do it. They brought in the right coach. They brought in some good players and they brought respect back to the jersey. They were Jimmy Vesey as a team.

They went from absolutely nothing to this. No, they just went from a team that wasn't a serious hockey team, the way they played. No. You know, they didn't take care of things in their own end. They weren't tough enough.

But, you know, I guess like maybe it's just been hard for me, you know, as you get older, you get stubborn, right? So maybe I'm still holding onto some of those old feelings and I find it hard in my brain to think that they've just turned the corner so quickly.

But if they start out the season and they're like a machine like that again, so I usually make a 2011 reference like every show. You do that? Yeah. Yeah. So 2011, that team learned how to be clinical winners.

Like they just knew how to win games. And that came over a few years. They developed that. And it started out with them getting Roberto Luongo in goal, but even then they needed him to be the guy. And his first year they make the playoffs, and then his second year they miss the playoffs. And then they started to grow, right?

And there was this progression of getting better and the progression of the leadership group to the point where the coaching staff was able to just leave it up to the players you know and av would say like i didn't even need to go into the room i know the players will take care of it you had the siddines you had burrows you had bx you had these leaders on the team that held everyone accountable and it felt like that happened all last year like you know for the for the canucks that that that culminated in 2011 it took you know four or five years for that to happen and last year it took a year know, for the, for the Canucks that, that, that, that culminated in 2011, it took, you know, four or five years for that to happen.

And last year it took a year. So I'm still in this position where I was like, it was too fast. It was too fast. You didn't do this right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Like, so, so for me, maybe I'm being stubborn. Now we've got a text into the Dunbar Lumber text line and it says, Jason, please voice why you believe that Petey won't get back to that elite level. First of all, I didn't say that. I think it's easier to see him getting back to that level than him staying as a bad player.

I would tend to agree with that if he's happy. And I think that's a big question mark if he's happy with the situation that he's in. Because as much as people will say, well, he said he had tendinitis and that's why he went downhill. I'm not 100% buying that. Okay.

I don't know Pedersen. I don't have a spy camera in the Canucks organization. I haven't hacked into their emails. I don't know yet. I've tried. Yes. There's some very tricky passwords. Yes.

But for me, there's too much of a coincidence between the Canucks putting pressure on him to sign and then signing that contract and his bad play. Like for me, it all started at the All-Star game. And that's when the contract stuff really picked up. When the contract stuff really started picking up and, you know, they were going to Toronto,

so they were going to have this meeting. And then we started hearing reports that the Canucks really wanted to sit down with Elias Pedersen. He wanted to wait until the off season. They said, listen, Elias, we need to make a decision here because we need to know whether or not you're committing to this team because we need to plan for the future. And we don't want you to pull a Matthew

Kachuk. The Matthew Kachuk situation, the Matthew Kachuk, what Matthew Kachuk did to Calgary very much hung over the Canucks. So they wanted him to sit down and he didn't want to, as was his right. But my whole point was like, hey, you know, at least if you want to wait until the offseason and talk about that, that's your right. But your team wants you to do something different. And they very much put the pressure on him. We heard about the reports about them going,

well, listen, if you're not going to make the decision, then we might have to trade you. We might have to send you to Carolina because all we've got right now is your word that you'll talk with us. And we don't even really have your word that you want to trade you. We might have to send you to Carolina because all we've got right now is your word that you'll talk with us and we don't even really have your word that you want to stay here. And, you know, I heard all sorts of things like there were players on the Canucks that were

prepared for Petey to leave because they didn't know what was going on with him. So it comes back to whether or not he's going to be happy in his situation in Vancouver. Now, if he's playing better and he's got some line mates that he can gel with, perhaps that will help. But I don't think that I'm like, I'm not intentionally doing this for the clicks or for the listens.

I'm genuinely very curious to see which Pedersen comes back. And I think it's very important for the Canucks that the right Pedersen does come back. And I'm not going to, I'm not, I'm not, and I'm not going to like stop talking about this just because people are uncomfortable with it because, or they're so, you know, positive that

PD is going to come back and be this elite player. I'm not going to be surprised if Petey comes back as an elite player. The reason why it was so surprising that he played so badly is because we'd seen him at such a high level, and we were all sitting there going, what happened? The thing that comes back, it comes back to for me when we talk about how happy he is, is that I just don't think he would have signed the contract if he wasn't content enough with coming back. What if the threat to being traded to Carolina was the point where he was like...

I still think he goes, okay, you want to do that? I'm going to sign a one-year deal, go to arbitration, and I'm going to figure out where I want to go next year. That's a lot of money they put on the table. Sure sure that's a lot of money where you're kind of like and if you've got an agent saying hey lathes you should take this deal this is a really good deal for you the agents have a lot of influence on your decision making sure but i still think like on a personal level you get to the point where you you can figure out ways to still make a similar amount of money, maybe a little less,

but a team would be willing to pay him close to that much on the open market, I think. Even if he had this bad end to the season that he just had, and even let's say next year he had a semi-decent year but not up to his standards. Like 85 points or something like that. A team is still going to look at it and be like, hey, we've seen what you've done in the past.

You're still enough of a contributor. We're giving you 11 plus million per season. I think there were roads to him finding a way out on his own if he wanted to be out. And that's why I think he's at least content with the way things are in Vancouver. And maybe he's not super pumped yet. We don't know because I also don't have the spy cams on Pedersen.

But that's why I'm not concerned at at least, about where his headspace is at. What I am worried about, and what I do think is worth talking about, is his start to the season as well. And even as someone who thinks that he's going to come back from it, he's going to be good this year, I think he's going to be back in the conversation of like, hey, is this one of the best all-around players in the NHL I still worry that hey if he has a slow start to the season does that snowball and get worse and because I think it snowballed last year exactly once it was like a month he was like oh man it feels like Pedersen is a guy who can get in his head pretty quickly and it seems to unravel pretty

quickly. Uh, Jay and Poco says the real question is what does this team do if PD doesn't return to form? Let's deal with that at another time. That's a, that's a future problem. That's a future problem, but, uh, let's hope we don't have to cross that bridge. Okay. So hopefully we can, uh, hook up with Brady Henderson maybe tomorrow, um, or later in the week. Um, we weren't able to reach him,

but TJ Lee from the BC Lions is going to join us next. We'll talk about his, uh, rehab and return from an Achilles injury. Uh, he's now rehabbed from an Achilles injury on both legs.

So this is a guy that's been with the BC Lions for 10 years. So looking forward to our conversation with TJ Lee. Also, don't forget to get your, what we learns into the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650-650. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.