Halford & Brough in the Morning - That Was A Trade Deadline For The Canucks

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, including an interesting trade deadline for the Canucks (3:00), plus they talk some hockey and baseball with Amazon on NHL host & MLB Network's Adnan Virk (26:52), as the Canucks get set to face off against the Sens tonight on Amazon.  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.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. Josh Morrissey. Tonight on Rock Bottom, 3-2 and a flare back up the middle. Good morning, MacCover, 6-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halford, it is Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Hey, Daw, good morning to you. Good morning. I'm gladie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have CRA debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees.

Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintex Studio New York. year new opportunity for comfort with orthotics from Kintech.

Got a lot to get into on the program today. It's our morning guest list of Duke Morning Drive, brought to by the Duick Auto Group. Before Gester on a Monday, it begins at 6.30 this morning. Adnan Verk is going to join the program. MLB Network, Amazon Prime, NHL coverage. Adnan's in town. He's in Vancouver working at tonight's Kinnock's game. A reminder, one, it is an Amazon game, and two, it's a six o'clock start from Rogers Arena.

I also want to ask Adnan, of course, being MLB Network's very own, Adnan, Verk, about the World Baseball Classic, which I watched a lot of this weekend. And we're also watching it right now in studio. For the thousands of listeners that are hanging on the Korea-Australia score, I won't spoil it for everybody. But the game is in the bottom of the ninth. You know, I love my Korean baseball.

How you enjoy this? And now we've got it in the studio. I'm so happy. 7 o'clock Anthony Laplanta is going to join the program. Minnesota Wild TV play-by-playman on Fan duel. Trade deadline is come and gone and Quinn Hughes's team is locked and loaded for a postseason run. How high are expectations for the wild? What could their Achilles heel be in the playoffs?

Do you know why I wanted to book a wild guest? It was because last week we came to the conclusion that this is maybe the first time ever that we've been like, well, I can't wait to see what the wild look alike in the playoffs. For the first time ever, the Minnesota of the world. They're interesting. Yeah. I've called him yet again, Anthony Laplanta. I've done this before.

Come on, Albert. Damn it. That's not his name. It's Anthony La Panta. La Panta. Tony La Panta. It's better that I do this now than when he's on the air, and I butcher it. When he's gardening, he's Anthony LaPlanta.

Tony L is going to join us at 7.30. Sorry, 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30. I'm not going to mess up this name. Chris Pronger is going to join the program at 7. the Hockey Hall of Famer himself is also working with Adnan on the Amazon broadcast. And Pronger caught the attention of Canucks fans and Canucks Twitter yesterday, fielding questions from the fan base via Twitter.

Lots of talk about the rebuild, building culture, and what the Canucks need to do to get back to prominence. So we'll talk to Chris Pronger about all that at 730. Do you know on X now how they use maybe AI to write like a headline of what's going on? on social media. Yes. So the headline that they came up with was Canucks fans dream of Chris Pronger leading rebuild.

Oh, I did see some of that. I saw a lot of that. Well, your lead question should be. Would you be interested in the general manager job if it was presented to you? Should we start with that? You should. Oh, you'll have to stay tuned to see what question.

The first question. Don't say hi. Coming on a bit strong, guys. He's like, hi to you as well. You're wearing a bow tie to impress Chris Pronger. Chris Pronger is going to join us at 7.30. 8 o'clock Satyar Shah is going to join the program. Canucks Central, Canucks pre-imposed game host on SportsNet 650.

Canucks played a pair of games over the weekend. 6-3 win in Chicago on Friday, 3-2 loss in Winnipeg on Saturday. Tonight marks the first of an eight-game homestand for your Vancouver Canucks. Sat's going to join us at 8 to talk about that. Finally, we are doing giveaways every day this week, Golf Town. Mom, Dad, can we go to Golf Town? We sure can. With a $250 gift card as part of their Golf Town trade-in day.

event. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. every day this week, we'll get the gift card. As mentioned, Monday through Friday, we're doing it every day, so don't worry if you don't win today. 604-280-650 is the number. That number again, 604-280-0-650. Got a lot to get into, not going to run it in reverse without further ado. Laddie, to tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Miss that? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools,

resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. The NHL trade deadline came and went hours after we got off the air on Friday. There was a lot of reaction to it Friday and over the weekend, but we will begin now with the league at wide at large, but the Vancouver Canucks and what they didn't do at Friday's deadline. Well, the Canucks made a couple of trades on Friday and played. played a couple of games this weekend and things are pretty much the same.

Yeah. The rebuild is on and now we play the waiting game. It was boring. Yeah, the waiting game sucks. Let's play hungry, hungry hippos. Following the Connor Carlin drade to Columbus on Thursday, the Canucks on deadline day were only able to add a pair of sixth round picks for Lucas Reichel and David Kemp. Not surprisingly, there were no takers for Evander Cain.

somewhat surprisingly Teddy Blugher stayed put as well. Patrick Alvin said he didn't get any formal offers for either player, which I assumed to mean that a butler didn't show up with an offer. No. I would like to offer you. Fourth round pick. It was underneath the cloiche. He opened it up.

Silver platter. Although it's hard to believe they couldn't have got something for Bluger, given they got something for Reichel and Kemp. We'll see if the Canucks do indeed re-sign Teddy Bluger. That was the rumor. Heading into the trade deadline when it looked like the market. Maybe wouldn't develop the way the Canucks wanted. He's been a good soldier for the Canucks.

The kind of veteran player that rebuilding teams often sign in free agency anyway. I don't know. Maybe the Canucks felt that if they gave him away for Peanuts, that he would never come back to Vancouver. You know, once you send a Teddy Bluger away, you can't be sure that Teddy Blugher is going to come back to you. So on Friday, Sat and Bick on Canucks Central got Patrick Alvin on the program. And one of the things they pressed them on was this entire notion that they were able to move out guys like Reichel and Compe, but weren't able to move out a guy like Teddy Blugher.

It was an interesting back and forth. I'd like to play the audio now. Sure. Let's play the audio from Patrick Alvin from Friday on Canucks Central with Sat and Bick. We'll play the questions as well so you get the full scope of exactly how the conversation went. This was on Lucas Reichel, David Confident. Of course, Teddy Blugher. Here's Patrick Alvin from Friday.

And in terms of a couple of guys that weren't moved, you mentioned that there were no offers on Evander Cain and Teddy Bluger, but you got an offer on David Kamp. That's the one that I get kind of confused by because you were able to move Cam for a sixth round pick, but Bluger who, I mean, in my estimation, as the better hockey player, didn't get an offer. Why do you think that is?

And what does that kind of tell you about how weird the market was? And would you have been willing to move Bluger if you did have any formal offers on the table. Yeah, I think maybe they value different things and maybe they value guys higher. It's hard to really sense what teams were looking for and how much they were willing to pay for it. You know, a lot of teams out there's didn't do anything.

So it seems like it was just a few teams that were very, very active here today. Did you, were you willing to move Bluger for an offer? Or is he a guy that you looked at and said, if we don't get something we'd like, we'd rather hold on to him? No, I definitely would have taken a consideration, but the offer was. And definitely, if there was an offer, we definitely would definitely have talked about it. So, I'm going to steal your line here. but I feel the exact same way.

Just don't have it in me. I don't have that dog in me to argue about whether they could have something for Teddy Bluger or not. Okay. I just don't have it. Neither do I. I just don't have it. I can't go back and forth.

Sorry, boss. You know what? You just don't have it today. You know what? Sats on the show later. We'll just ask him. We can throw that softball up there. You want to take this one, bud?

Yeah. I can't do it. The Canucks actually picked up three of a possible four points in Friday and Saturday's games in Chicago and Winnipeg, respectively. Bluger had a goal in two assists in the two games. Good thing they kept him. Linus Carlson also continued his strong play with a goal and two assists of his own. On the other hand, Alias Pedersen's goalless streak reached 17 games while Evander Kane played

just over 12 minutes in each game offering very little to a team he no doubt wishes he had been traded by. So what's left to look forward to? I was laughing when Shorty started the broadcast. one of the broadcasts on the weekend. And he was like, you know, Connucks fans' eyes will focus from the trade guideline and now it goes to the draft or something like that. He said it way better than that. And then he said, but we've still got a quarter of the season left to go. 20 games to go, that's all.

So what's left to look forward to? Well, the Canucks kick off an eight-game homestand tonight against Ottawa. What a great time for an eight-game home. homestand to kick off. Maybe waiver pickup Curtis Douglas will suit up for the home team if you, if you like fights? Yep, I don't know. He can do that. The regular season ends April 16th in Edmonton, still over a month away. It's March 9th today. At which point on April 16th, there should be plenty of discussion about the future of the management team and the coaching staff. I'm sure we'll discuss it over the last few weeks of the season as well. The draft lottery

usually takes place in early May and then the actual draft is June 26th and 27th in Buffalo where there was one heck of a game yesterday. Yeah. Do you want to get into that right now? Maybe that, like that, that's my focus going forward. I mean, we'll still cover the Canucks games and talk about them, but, you know, they are what they are. At this point, we'll try and focus our best on

the young players in the lineup, the guys that could be part of the future for the Vancouver Canucks, but you know, there's some interesting storylines around the NHL and you know, we might as well get hyped up for the NHL postseason and Buffalo

man, they're so excited. Yeah. For this team and I'm very happy for the Sabres and their fans while also a teeny bit, well actually a lot of bit, jealous of the Buffalo Sabres and their fans, which is kind of a tough place to be, jealous of Buffalo.

I know. It's very rare to those words get uttered in that exact sequence. But that's where we're at. The Buffalo Sabers won an absolutely wild one on Sunday night. An eight seven victory over the Tampa Lightning bookended by goals from Josh Stone, who scored the opening goal, the first and the eighth goal in the game. But that really, and amazingly, for a game that had 15 goals and finished as close as it did, for the Sabres. The story really wasn't about the offensive explosion or the fact that the Sabres won this very important game. It was the fact that the teams combined for over 100 penalty minutes in a game that had five fights, a scrum post game. And some of the fights were real interesting, including the one between Darren Radish and Sabres Captain Rasmus Dahlene in which Radish was feeding Dahlene shots after Dahlene had gone to the ice. I got to say it was pretty dirty cheese from radish

Dirty cheese from radish hitting them on the ground like that There was also a fight later on I believe it was in the third period Where Corey Perry got knocked out by Beck Malenstein And that one got the Sabres faithful to their feet as well Delta Zone? Yeah, Delta Zone and Beck Malinstein

So it was... The Lightning is such a goon show It's so funny to see how they've developed Under John Cooper Yeah. You know, like, we knew that that time where they got knocked out by Columbus and they're like, wow, we got to play a little tougher. I mean, I don't think they'd take it to this extent.

They lead the, the, the, the, the, the NHL in penalty minutes by, by a large margin. They, so something, I don't know if it was like their Joker origin story, but after they kept getting trounce by Florida, and that rivalry took up, they brought in like Scott Sabrin who can fight, like, Hegel's always pretty tough. Yeah, yeah. he was in there. Like, everyone was fighting on the weekend. Paul and Byron got in a fight. Like, that's how, that's how, like, spicy this one was.

We got the audio from Rosmastolle. I want to play, I want to play this audio from Rosmastoleen, and it's not exactly like a WWE promo, but listen to the Sabres, great defenseman here, and how excited he is that the Sabres are finally on the right track. I mean, this is why I play hockey. This is the best part. It's just finally.

Finally, we're here, and we're doing good things. So I don't take this for granted at all. I'm so fired up. I'm so happy. I'm so happy for the Buffalo as a city for all the fans, too. And this means it's the world. So there was a video floating around on social media yesterday. I think Matthew Boewe from WKBV in Buffalo posted it.

And it's the energy and the fans spilling out onto the concourse in the atrium at Keebank after that game yesterday. And everyone's just buzzing, right? First time in 14 years that the Sabres, again, it's not done yet, but it looks like they're finally going to get back to the postseason. So there's a combination of the excitement of playoff hockey, but also the end of this important. Drowd. And you can't really understate what that means to a fan base. When you've been like kicked and, you know, punched like the Sabres fans have over the last two decades.

And they keep kind of getting kicked because Colton Perico was like, yeah, I don't want to go to Buffalo. That's a good point. So for them to be able to have this right now. And it was funny, the clip you were talking about was like, it's not a WWE promo. And it wasn't by any stretch. but there was a sense of like relief like finally. He said finally twice. Finally we get to do this.

And for Dahlene, who's already at 500 games played in the national hockey league, this is a long time coming. And I think we've sort of unofficially adopted Buffalo is the team that we're going to root for in the playoffs, given there are our sad club brethren and everything. Understanding the risk that we're taking. For sure. You know? But I think it's a great thing.

And I really, really hope that they get there and the building is electric. they make some noise when they get there. It might have a whole nice advantage in the first. They're first in the division right now in terms of points. It's a really cool story and I'm very much looking forward to it. Okay, some other stories from the National Hockey League over the weekend. You made this appointment viewing yesterday and the Edmonton Oilers delivered with a four to win over the now slumping Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.

Leon Drysiddle just continues to take this team on his big German back. Fifth goal in the last five games, McDavid to assist. The Oilers now quietly have won two of three. three. Here's an interesting thing to monitor Laddie is you're our goalie guru. I think Connor Ingram might end up being the guy in net for them. Wow. Which is insane to say. He's got like identical numbers to Stewart Skinner, which is the hilarious part.

Connor, Connor Ingram. It might be, he might be the guy. It may be a good story for Connor Ingram, but wow. If they had to announce their game one playoff starter right now, and I know there would be no reason to do that, but if they had to do it right now,

I think they would go with Connor Ingram. I really do. Paul Colson scored a nice goal in that game. So Pod Colson's got 15 goals this year. That's a career high for him. That's fine. Throw it on the pile. Throw it on the pile.

Why not? I don't want to do this. We're not going to relitigate, but I don't want to do this. We don't have to relitigate. But, no, he's found a spot there. He found a spot in Edmonton and on a good team. You know, sometimes everything looks better. You know, and when you've got the opportunity that Paul Colson had,

and he learned a few things in the NHL of the Vancouver Connects. He went to a team that has really good players and an opportunity for him, and he has made the best of it. I just want to add him one more thing on that game, though. We got to keep an eye on Vegas now. Something is not right with that team. I don't know what it is, but they just haven't looked right all season. You know, it's funny.

You said you made that appointment reviewing, and I did. I had a bit of a busy day yesterday, but I said, okay, I'm going to watch. I'm going to sit down. and watch and prep for the show and watch the Vegas Oilers game. And then I'm watching the game and I'm like, oh, I should have

like prep for during Buffalo and Tampa Bay. That looked way more fun. Both teams, I think, came into the Edmonton Vegas game thinking, like, we've got to play a little defense. And the message from Oilers head coach Chris Knoblock

after was, yeah, it was nice to see that sometimes we can sacrifice some of our offense to play a little better defense. And I think both teams came into that. Like the first period, I was like, oh, this is going to be fun. And it was like, that was really cagey. Yeah.

It was just. And it still gave us six goals of offense, which wasn't so bad. It still do. I mean, they are still who they are. But it wasn't necessarily the high event type of hockey that I thought it was going to be. You know, I'm not particularly bullish on either of these teams. in the postseason, given the strength of the teams in the central. But, you know, they're probably going to have, I mean, I don't see how they wouldn't have

very winnable first rounds. And chances are they're going to meet in the second round. There was another big game yesterday as well. It's hilarious that a Central Division rivalry is also a matchup of the number one and number four teams overall in the NHL, but that's what we had at Ball Arena on Sunday when the Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in the shootout. I watch bits and pieces of this one. Very entertaining game.

If you're looking ahead to two of the big dogs in the West in terms of the playoffs, these are the two. Tons of eyes on Colorado on this one because this was Nassum-Cadry's return to Colorado. He was met with a loud ovation. It seemed like... And they celebrated by Gabriel Landis God being heard again. No, he's week to week. Yeah, that's right.

They're like, this is great. This is not good. they announced the lower body injury right after that game as well here's the thing we got off the air on Friday and the cadre to Colorado trade happened about three hours after we were off the air that was probably the biggest final splash of trade deadline

that one came in really late really late I realized that one after my nap yeah to the point where I was like at what point do you close central registry and like no like you can't there's no more I the queue is too long We can't do this. But anyway, the aves went big, went big, and really addressed that center position with Nikwa and Nazim Kodry. And it is hilarious to see that arms race in the Central Division because all the teams there, like, they made moves at the deadline.

I don't think anyone was as aggressive as Colorado, but it's not like Minnesota sat on its hands and waited. Like they added some pieces. Nothing is big again as what Colorado did. And then Dallas went out and added Tyler Myers. So, like, they all loaded up. Is Cadre even going to play center for them? I don't know.

I don't know if you will because they got Brock Nelson who's having, like of a year, Nick Waugh, who they got from Toronto's the center. And then they got a guy like Jack Drury that can play center. I mean, you don't want, I thought they might go McKinnon, Nelson, Codry down the middle, and then have Nick Waugh on the fourth line where he was for Vegas. Yeah. When they won the Stanley Cup. Yeah, yeah.

But maybe they feel that they want. they want him as their 3C and Cadre up in the top six. Maybe they feel that at Cadry's age that he's better suited to play at the wing now, but they got an embarrassment of riches up front there. So Niqua and Nazim Kadri, the thing they have in common, of course, is both used to play for

the Toronto Maple Leafs. And we will end this opening segment with a little bit of Shaden Freuda because while we are adopting one team and cheering for them in the Buffalo Sabres, we will also relish the opportunity to laugh at some other Canadian teams. The Maple Leafs, Boodaw dood the ice this weekend after a seventh straight loss in which Craig Baroube had to address the

booing in his postgame media availability noting that the fans the ones that were there anyway pay good money to watch us play and come see us win and they are not doing that right now and there are tons of rumors right now about what's going to happen to Toronto in this off season did you see how Bradtree Living went up there and took a lot of bullets for his team and he said it starts with me accountability Jason it's a big thing yeah especially from your executives it is important isn't it? Now, Bradtree Living might not be long for that job. Although I couldn't really tell if he got like a pseudo vote of confidence or if he was so emboldened by the fact that he's going to be back that he was willing to go up there and say the things that he said. I just wonder if they're going to get real and look at their lineup. Look at their prospect group and realize, man, we got to go into a rebuild. Even if we've got Austin Matthews, we have to do it. And maybe that's, maybe that's by trading Austin Matthews. Certainly. no shortage of rumors out there. A lot of smoke around that right now.

Maybe that's trading William Nealander. Or maybe it's trading both of them. You know, look, read the tea leaves. Yeah. Like, it's not, it's not, it's, it's, it's not going to get better. Get real. Get real. Seriously.

I like it. Get real. So, Fridge addressed the Austin Matthews rumors during Saturday headlines on hockey night in Canada. We can play that later on the show because it certainly sounds like it's going to be a summer of change in Toronto. And if it's not, it's going to be a summer of change. of massive discontent from the people that follow this team because they are irate,

they booed them off the ice over the weekend. And not unlike the Vancouver Canucks, there's still a quarter of the season to go in what's been an absolutely lost season for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Okay, we got to go to break. We got a lot more to get into on the program. Adna and Verk is going to join us next. We're going to talk some hockey. We're going to talk some baseball.

The World Baseball Classic is well underway. And it's been very interesting thus far. I really think it has. And I think more of us should pay attention to it. we were this morning. We were the thriller between Australia and Korea. Adnan Burke is going to join us next. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's time to chat with Adnan. It's at night. Rednan and Burkey's on the show. We're going to talk some hockey.

And take a trip to the silver screen. That's right. It's time for RedNan. Yes, and Burkey joins us now. We'll head out to the... Ice rink. And talk about all the films he's seen. 632 on a Monday.

Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halford for the morning. to by Sands and Associates. Do you have credit card debt? If you do, Sands and Associates can cut your debt by up 80% with no upfront fees.

Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. Still an hour one of the program, Adnan Verk from MLB Network and Amazon Prime's NHL coverage. It's going to join us in just a moment here. Hour one of this program is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler

pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit the Middle 17-70 Pall Street in Vancouver. This is a huge game for the Ottawa senators tonight. Like this is this a must win. Playoff chances hanging by a threat. Yeah, you kind of come into Vancouver and get two points against the NHL's worst team.

They're five points out right now. They got a plus 14 goal differential, but, you know, the Eastern Conference is tougher than the West. And it's a huge game for the Vancouver Canucks, who are just 10 points back of the New York Rangers for 31st in the NHL. It is a big game. Big stakes for both teams. It's going to be electric in there tonight. Let's go. Amazon. I'm sure Amazon is thrilled.

This is great. Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline. Adnan Verk joins us here in the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What up, Adnan? Mike Jason, it's been too long. I said, I'm so excited. I get to come to the great city of Vancouver. My first time here in 16 years, it's such a gorgeous city. It's such a great place.

So I reached down to you guys, and I literally just want to come see you. I see you don't have to have me on the show. I just want to at least say hello. I've been a guest on it for a couple of years. and how about your guy Andy Cole? He said, listen, we'd love having the show, but we don't want you to come in person. I mean, that is, I mean, after an 11 week sabbatical,

hey, can I come see you guys? How about you just stay in your hotel? Okay, sure, whatever you say. He's quite standoffish, isn't he? He's not a morning person, even though he's on the morning show, so he just doesn't want to socialize. We have to get him out there sometimes.

You know? But I tell you, what an adventure. I left my home in New Jersey at 8.30 a.m. Eastern, a flight to Toronto, layover, and then out to Vancouver, and I checked into the hotel at 8.45 p.m. Eastern. A 12-hour trek to get here. And it's funny. I'm sure you guys have done long flights, and I love to read. People ask you on what movies do you watch. No, no, I don't like watching movies on play. I hate watching movies on play. You're kidding me? I like to watch movies on a nice big screen TV or in a movie theater. I don't want to watch it in this bastardized experience. So I sit on a play, and there's two things. I like to do. I like to sleep and I like to read. And only on this flight after like three hours of reading this great movie book. It's called The Last Kings of Hollywood. It's about Coppola Lucas Spielberg. New book came out late January of this year. Three hours, bruff. And I was like, I think I'm good. Like you can take off the plane now. Three hours. It was pretty good. And I took a two hour now. Still not there yet. I'm like, wow, this is a heck of an adventure, but a gorgeous city. I did some walking around last night.

I don't know where I ended up how I got there. But I was in Gastown. I don't know how I got into Gas Town. Yeah, and I'm seeing streets that look familiar. I've heard these names. Brandville, Robson, obviously, Ron Smith, here at the JW Marriott. So, very, very cool. So you made a very long track to watch one of the best teams in the National Hockey League, the Vancouver Canucks, host the start of an eight-game homestand. It begins against the Ottawa.

I imagine a lot of the focus is going to be on Ottawa, and we were alluding to this. They're flickering playoff chances, which are still alive and everything. But I'm always curious about when someone's got a prep. to do these kinds of games because the Canucks are so far out of it and they were sellers at the deadline. But this is still a national broadcast and it's a big game for Amazon. So how do you go about setting something up like this when you're not covering the Canucks

on a daily basis? You're going into Vancouver and you've got a team that's dead last 32nd in the National Hockey League. It's an excellent point, Mike. And it's funny because we were looking at the schedule the rest of the way. This is a terrible sell job by me. but we don't have like a really competitive matcher of two playoff teams, I believe the rest of the way on our schedule.

So last week it was Flyers Least, but you guys know my Flyers fans. It was my Super Bowl. I was so excited to go see Rick Talk and I got to go back to Toronto and see my parents, et cetera. So I was as invested as anybody and Biz Nasty or special guest to handle so huge lease homer. So that Flyers went on the shootout that to me was incredible. This week, a little different atmosphere. And generally what I have found is that people have been so nice and so receptive

because generally we've been favorable towards their home team. And John Fulson made the point to me as you said, we're just dipping in one week. We're being very kind and favorable. We're going to have, you know, scenics and outbumps of, you know, Grouse Mountain and Stanley Park and, oh, beautiful Vancouver.

So everything's very positive. But how can you put lipstick on a pig when the teams, you know, got 42 points where it is, three wins since January, whatever it is. So it's going to be a challenge. But as you said, we focus on the what's the story is, which is Otto is trying to make a push towards the playoffs here. So, and I think from Vancouver's perspective, you know, you don't, you don't hammer a nail in the coffin.

Everyone here knows what's happening with the situation. But you say, look toward the future. Hey, potentially you can get Gavin McKenna. What's gone wrong this season? How do you get to Lewis Patterson going? That kind of stuff. So I fear that it might be annoying to Vancouver Canucks fans because they'll say, oh, wow, these guys are sounding like they haven't done a Canucks game all year. But that is what happens when you haven't done a Connickick game all here.

You give these broad overviews rather than going to the details and say, you know, why isn't Kevin Lankin and playing? better this year. Right. I'm looking at the Amazon Prime schedule, and you've got a double header. Next week, you got Calgary and Detroit. I think Detroit's an interesting team. And Calgary's kind of in the same position as Vancouver,

but the second game should be a good one. Pittsburgh and Colorado. Is anyone going to beat the abs this season? Yeah, we are excited about that brought for the reason of just going to Denver and a middle to see that avalanche team. I'm with you. The problem is no Cid, and of course, now no Malkin. It's a suspension.

So that takes the wind of the sales of it. But you're right. Those are two playoff teams, and Colorado to me is such an exciting team. That division is unreal. And this happens to you guys know. As you go to a city, and again, you're trying to be positive and embrace that community. I went to Minnesota for the first time Groundhog Day. And again, we know what's happening there as far as social tensions, et cetera.

And I was like, what a beautiful city. I've never been to St. Paul before. Of course, after I came back, I watched Fargo again, one of my favorite movies. There wasn't enough accents for me, but I did go to this place called Mickey's Dining Car. And when I walked in, and I'm looking, I go, where's the Francis McDormon type accents? And that was the only woman. It was great. I walked in, hey, how are you?

Good to see you. I'm like, hey, you bet you. All right. Like, yeah, all right, we're in fire and all of a sudden. And so after I was there, and it's a beautiful rink, it's been in 25 years, but they love their hockey. They're so passionate. I said, you know what? I'm cheering for the wild this year.

This is going to be my team coming out of the Central. And then he watched the Avalanche, and he go, who in the world is going to be at the avalanche? Maybe Minnesota can beat Dallas. This is a star team that's won 10 straight games. They're unbelievable too. But Colorado, to me, just so balanced and so tight all the way around. I guess you can say in a playoff series anything can happen. But honestly, I'm with you, Jay.

I don't think it won't beat Colorado. And I love the move to go get Naz and Cashew, one of my favorites. You know, Nas is not having the same offensive production. But you know he's the kind of guy reinvigorated in a new environment. He's had such great success in Colorado before. and I think he's going to be I really got to quite say a catalyst because they've got so much talent.

But if you put a third line center, veteran guys won a cup, you're going to get the best of dollars now that he's there to play out front. Yeah, Nan, what was the talk in Toronto? We mentioned that the Leafs over the weekend got boot off the ice.

Yet another loss. They were outclassed by the Tampa Bay Lightning at home. And I think people around the league are wondering if they're going to do anything bold and really, really truly bold be trading one of Nealander or Matthews or even both of them.

Yeah, what's fascinating in Toronto, Jay, is it's gone from blaming the Corps for. And remember Marner was the whipping boy. He gets running out of town or he didn't want to be back, whatever, whatever angle you want to take. And then it became, well, it's Chief's fault, Coach Craig Barrowby, earlier this season, fire chief, that's a problem. And now it's shifted to management. Now it's general manager Bradshaw living. Clearly he hasn't a good job in terms of roster construction. How could you just let Marner go? the pieces you brought in haven't been successful.

You've got three goalies. You don't have one, et cetera. And even Trillivings sounds like a guy who doesn't know if he's going to be back, right? Like he spoke to the base of something to be effective. You know, we'll evaluate this season. Hopefully I'm not done. I'll go, wow, this doesn't sound great. But you're right.

To really be bold wouldn't be just to fire your general manager. Because teams will do that. I mean, if you have a run of nine straight playoff seasons. And for many seasons, feeling like you were a contender, until they remember the release and they're not going to go anywhere. And all of a sudden, you have a bottoming out like, this. You've got to be really careful and say, okay, is this the team that you believe in as far as your management? Or was this a flaw in mistake? Okay, true living's out, go get somebody else.

That means probably chief is going to be in trouble because GMs have their own head coach, etc. But to be truly bold, as you said, it went from just maintaining the sustainability for years of that core for every year. Brendan Shanahan, he's like Leslie Nielsen and a naked gun when the explosions are happening, the firework spot. Nothing to see here. Nothing to see here. That's what it was, right? Every single year. And then it became. came, no, no, we have some issues. Okay, we're going to try to tinker. As you said, maybe now is the time to be bold.

Maybe now you go, okay, Neil Linder Matthews, if we just keep running this thing back, ain't going to happen. So what if we actually entertain some moves? And the scuttle bit in Toronto is this. Again, I don't think it's happening. Those guys getting traded, but at least before there was zero conversation about it,

now I think they're open for business. Now I think if a GM call is, hey, what would it take to pride Matthews or Neil Ender away? They'll at least have that conversation. conversation. And previously that was not the case. We're speaking to Adnan-Anneverg from MLB Network in Amazon Prime's NHL coverage here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. And I do want to sneak in some baseball talk here because we were watching the World Baseball Classic this morning. And it was Korea in Australia.

And it was funny because it was a 7-2 win for Korea in this one. But it meant the world because run differential came into play in the group stage. So they needed to win by five, which they did. and there were huge celebrations. The likes you don't normally see at the end of a 7-2 game. What I wanted to ask you about was the vibes and the energy in this year's tournament. I don't know whether it's because it's an Olympic year or the World Cup is coming up in the summer. But it seems like there's been a real elevated sense of pride in representing your country and the emotion that some of these guys, you know, you're a good friend at MLB Network,

John Marosi's doing a walk-off interview in Italian with one of the Italian players. I think the way the last one ended. Maybe that's it too. I think the way the last one ended really gave a boost to this tournament. My first question is, am I accurate in the assessment? I'm just way off because I'm so desperate for sports that I'm ready to watch anything. No, you're bang on, Mike. I remember when the WBC started, it was kind of a lark, right?

Like, who cares? You can tell, like, oh, you guys are in the Olympics. It's your attempt at doing the Olympics. Yeah, but everybody can see a mile away. It's not the Olympics, so who cares. And then I think Brough has bang on. I think what happened last was you go, oh, my God. Are you kidding?

Trout versus Otani? USA versus Japan? Like that's always the knock against baseball is that, at least in basketball, you can see the best players in the world truly go one-on-one. You can see in football, you know, a great defensive end, go one-on-one, trying to take down whatever the quarterback might be. In baseball, rarely do you see the best facing the best, but this time it was.

It was like, yep, the best pitcher, the best hitter, and he went down and swinging. And you never saw that kind of emotion for O'Donnie. Excuse me, he never seen him go nuts like that before him throwing the glove. So I think that elevated things. And my other good friend, by the way, nobody loved the DVC more than Marosi. Excellent point. He might as well be a mascot for the tournament.

He's hysterical. Year around, he's thinking about it, talking about rosters. I'm like, John, who care? Again, it's an exhibition. No, no, it's incredible. You should see the way better as well as playing. I'm like, okay, whatever you say, John. But my other friend, Mark DeRosa, of course, is the manager.

And Diro's obsessed with it. We were at spring training in Arizona last year for a few days. And I'm not exaggerating, fellas. every break in conversation. We'd be sitting at Royals camp. He'd start talking to me, hey, you know, I know Pasquantino's Italian, but he's also Italian-American.

Maybe I could put him on the roster. I'm like, man, you're really thinking about this left and right. And D. Roseville, yeah, like, the way we lost, we've got to come back and be stronger. And as an aside, because I would tell him, hey, just take it easy on Canada. And he goes, you know, I've talked to Freddie Freeman about this. I'm like, man, I really appreciate what you're doing.

You're honoring your late mother and your father's Canadian as well. Like, you're in America. Like, what are you doing? Like, Canada's not going to win. Why don't you come with me and we're going to win? No, Freddie. Freddie was adamant, was staunch. Like, no, you understand.

You know, mom and dad from Peterborough and Windsor, respectively, Ontario. I just want to be that one guy. And you think, but dude, you're going to lose. You got no chance. So I think the way it ended last time, people want to be a party. And I won't say this. Even 20 years ago, when I thought it was kind of a joke and a farce and a lark, the Latin American countries always took it seriously.

No matter what, right? If you told me, hey, man, Dominican Republic's playing Puerto Rico. I'm like, oh, I'm in. Like, this is unbelievable passion. This, you know, the way that those countries are going, this is their Super Bowl. And that's been like that for years. Alex Cora, my good buddy, was the GM for Puerto Rico one time. And he was like, this is as big as winning a World Series.

And I'm like, there's no way. What are you talking about? It's a three-week tournament marchies. They try telling that to anybody from the DR or, you know, Puerto Rico or Columbia or Venezuela. They go nuts. And you see it in those crowds. So, and specifically, that DR lineup, are you kidding? inning? Like, it is, I don't think

in pitch, but when you see Soto, Machado, Vlad Jr., Perdomo, it's an embarrassment of riches when you look at their offense. It's a lot of fun to see. So, I'm with you, Mike. It also helps as far as the timing. You're coming off the Olympics. As you say, we've yet to get to regular season baseball.

A low right now in hockey, trade deadlines over, so hockey's not going to get great again until middle of April. So I think the timing of the OBC actually is pretty good. I know it's annoying because, you say, I think Terrick Scoble is pitching three innings and that's it. But I actually like it in terms of the sports calendar

because there's not much else on. Yeah, and college basketball stinks now. So, you know, I tried yesterday. I watched Michigan, Michigan State. It isn't great. Yeah, it doesn't hit the same way, does it? Canada was always going to be in tough to get out of their group with Puerto Rico and Cuba,

so losing to Panama didn't help. Now they're definitely going to have to win one of their final two games and maybe both their games. And that's going to be a problem. Puerto Rico tomorrow. in Puerto Rico and then Cuba in a couple of days. How tough is that task going to be at then?

Yeah, I think it's a wrap. You know, I was talking to Dan O'Dowd, a friend and colleague, and he was like, I like, I like, I like, trust me, that would be enormous. Canada's never advanced before in the ABC. And he was like, look at your roster. Like, I do really like your position players. We saw Owen Casey obviously go deep in that first game. And, you know, the Nailor brothers.

And it's a lot of guys that you've heard of. Like, there's not stud. It's like Eddie Gillian, trust me, had a terrible year with the twins a year ago. His OPS is like a sub-600. But I'm like, oh, but this guy is a major league baseball player. And in the past, that wasn't the case. Canada WBC, you go, oh, there's two or three guys I've heard of. It's Larry Walker and then a bunch of dudes.

The problem, as I texted Ryan Dempster, who was that guy for years, the one guy who would pitch for Canada, WBC, because we just don't have enough pitching. You know, it's a couple guys, again, you've heard of. There's a Jameson Tion's, a Cal Quantrol. He's like, but, again, these guys don't get stretched down. So they can't go six innings. they pitched three innings and then somebody else has to come in and that was a backbreaker yesterday you got to win the game against pan like now Puerto Rico you're losing like you're not going to be

Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico I mean again I can't see that happening and even Cuba is a tougher challenge and you might think so already to take the window of ourselves I can't see Canada advancing which is frustrating because it's kind of like the basketball for years you go oh wait Canada basketball that team's going to win a medal one year like oh my god with Shay and Jamal Moritz over I think of that medal this year we're okay for four more years has a little bit of that echo. It's funny. That's exactly, we had a text thread of all the guys

that were watching the game yesterday. That's the exact same thing that we said. There's such a bit Canada basketball vibes here where this is the game that they're supposed to get over because Panama was on two going into that game yesterday. Granted, the two games that they lost were close, but... You never know with baseball, though.

I mean, it's one game. Canada could pull an upset. Puerto Rico, they could. It's possible. I mean, they're not certainly not the favorites, but, I mean, it's not outlandish. I mean, a Panama can be Canada. Yeah, it's just like, they should have taken care of

That was a winnable game, yes. That should have been 2-0. Of course. It was a big disappointment, and there was like multiple rain delays, and Canada kind of peopal over itself. But I think an upset, for example, is more likely in baseball than basketball. Yeah, that's fair. Like, it's not over yet, but I'm kind of with you.

It felt like the vibes yesterday were like, ooh, they needed that one, and it might be a wrap. Anyway, Adnan, we are up against it for time here. We want to thank you very much for taking the time to do this this morning. We apologize again for not getting to meet up. But one day, friend, one day we will all connect, and it will be glorious. I was about say, first time in 16 years I've been to Vancouver. I hope it is not another 16.

I root for a Canucks win. And last thought, I know you see you're up against, I hopefully not a hard out. Whenever I am, I like to pretend like I'm one of the locals if somebody asks me. So I've done my homework. I just say, why I'm from Surrey. A lot of Verks from Surrey, right? A lot of South Asians. The one giveaway, though, but I'm not a local is this as I was walking around.

This is hoodie weather. You guys are hoodies all the time, in San Francisco, Seattle. And I've got a big overcoat a toque and gloves. True Vancouverites are not walking around with tukes and gloves. just a giveaway that I'm not a local. We don't even have big coats here. We have hoodies and rain jackets. Breff and I are both wearing hoodies right now.

Adnan, thanks for this, buddy. I love it. Have a good one, buddy. Thank you. Great a shout again. Adnan Verk on SportsNet 650 was brought to you by Angry Otter Licker. Plus program members save for game days at Angry Outer Licker. Score big on your favorite beer, wine, and whiskey.

It's like a country music song. Score big on your favorite beer, wine, and whiskey. stock up before puck drop. And of course, tonight... Put it in the back of your truck and then your wife will leave you. That's right. I think.

Your dog is in the passenger seat. I don't know how it goes. Stock up on all these things before puck drop. Visit them at angry otterlicker.cr.cr. Okay. There's a lot going on in the world of sports. And that's an interesting time because some would suggest this is a down period because there's nothing really

grabbing the spotlight. But I like to think of it is, you know, it's a buffet of sports. There's everything you could possibly have on Or a chance to catch your breath a little bit? Not me. I watched more sports than ever yesterday. What was your main focus? There was no main focus.

It was just all over that. I had like ADD yesterday. Sports ADD. Started out with Leads and Norch in the F.A. Cup final. Yeah. That was followed up by a little world baseball classic I sprinkled in there. Then I watched the Milan Derby. Darby. Sorry, Derby. Darby between Inter and AC Milam. Watch that.

Then watched a little bit of college basketball, Michigan, Michigan State. Then watched Canada blow it against Panama. And then I watched the Oilers' Golden Knights game. Caught a little bit of the Buffalo Tampa game. Then I finished it off a little college basketball. Well, I watched the golf for you. It was a very exciting finish. It was the first golf tournament I got into.

How was the golfie? It was excellent. Batia got it done. Had an incredible back nine. Poor, I know you're a big fan of Daniel Berger. I love Daniel Berger. You had to feel for him. Yeah.

But, you know, it was nice because I was like, I'm into a golf tournament, which means it's close to golf season. It's getting there. I mean, we are. It's the second week in March already. So we're getting closer and closer. By the way, second week in March also means the NFL new season begins. We got big news from the National Football League this morning. The Miami Dolphins have made it official.

They are releasing quarterback. Tua Tua. In doing so, they are going to set an NFL record. What's that record, you might ask? 99 million in dead money against the salary cap. That's what they are going to have to pay out in order to get rid of Tua. Tua Tua Tua Tua L'Tunga Viloa. NFL record cap hit. They're going to eat 99 million in cap space just to get rid of... Spent over two seasons? Yes. Yeah. This is, I mean, this is the big difference between the National Football League and quite frankly any other league is that teams are willing to do this to move forward because when you come to a decision where you're like we can't especially the quarterback position we're done here so with kailer murray in Arizona as well

you will take on the most poison of of pills and the biggest cap hits just to get a fresh start this is crazy though 99 million in dead cap money so a people texted in a few people texted in what you didn't watch the briar I was like yeah I did watch a bit of the briar I couldn't get the briar in there, I'm sorry. You can fit it in? You know, watch that. Brad Gushu there in St. Jazz, Newfoundland? I did not.

I did not. Do you know their rank is called the Mary Brown Center now? Really? Yeah, yeah. Nice. They're like, we're a fried chicken province now. It's a chicken place. It's good.

Yeah, yeah. Congratulations to Brad Gushu by the way on a, on a terrific career. Okay. All right. What do we got coming up next? Our one of the program is in the books. Hour two on the horizon. Anthony La Panta from Minnesota is going to join us.

is the Wild's play-by-playman on TV. Minnesota Wild had a big game yesterday against Colorado. We're going to talk to about expectations going into the playoffs for this team. They loaded up, not massive at the deadline, but obviously their big trade was earlier getting, of course, Quinn Hughes into the mix. So we'll talk to Anthony at 7 o'clock. And then at 7.30, hockey hall of famer Chris Pronger is going to join the program. He, along with Adnan, are working the Amazon broadcast, Canucks senators tonight. A reminder, it's a six o'clock start, not the usual.

7 o'clock for a home game. But a 6 o'clock start, it's on Amazon. Chris Pronger, the Hall of Famer himself, is going to join the program at 730. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.