Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Abbotsford Canucks Are On Fire Right Now

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk Opening Day with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (2:17), plus they discuss the red-hot Abbotsford Canucks with commentator Brandon Astle (24:31). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's time to chat with Adnan It's Adnan Ferkey's on the show We're gonna talk some baseball And take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Redman. Yesen and Ferg, he joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the filthy scene. 704 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Happy opening day for 28 of 30 MLB teams, everybody. You're listening to the Hal Ferdinand Brough show

on Sportsnet 650. Hal Ferdinand Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are now in hour two of the program.

Adnan Virk is gonna join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two and to kick off MLB opening day. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Homonuck at jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him on the internet at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in step. So technically speaking, as Laddy pointed out in classic Laddy fashion in the intro,

it's not exactly the start of the MLB season. It did begin last week with the Tokyo series. Dodgers got a two game sweep over the Cubs to kick things off, but now it's the main attraction. 14 games today, quick programming announcement. We will have the Mariners and just the Athletics from Parts Unknown. The Athletics will be on Sportsnet 650 tonight at 7 o'clock. That game is from Seattle.

If you want to hear the Jays game today, go to the online stream. 1207 first pitch, it's the Jays and it's the Orioles. We won't have it here on Sportsnet 650, but it will be across the Sportsnet family of networks. Joining us now for MLB opening day from MLB Network. Very happy to have them back on the program. Adnan Virk here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning Adnan. How are you? Mike, Jason, great to be back with you guys. I feel like it was only yesterday that Andy Cole was telling me while I was in Montreal

that we'd be off for a few months. So I'm glad that we're back and ready to go for another full season. We'll get to the baseball in just a second. But just had your Canucks facing the Devils on Amazon Prime. So home game for me, didn't have to fly anywhere. Got to hang out with the great Rick Tocque, 87 of Flyers. Brock knows how much I love that team. It was amazing.

Tocque had told us, you know, must win game. This is it. Here we go. And to Tellis, you know, must win game. This is it. Here we go. And I got to admit, the Canucks surprised me. They showed some fight in that game and every time Quinn Hughes is on the ice, obviously, 43 is electrifying, so elusive and so much fun to watch. But Canucks pull it off in overtime.

Demko's return. Good to see Vance and he picked up the W in the rock. Did you see the news out of Philly this morning that Torz has been fired? I did. John Tortorella, who it was funny right after his comments, Bruce Boudreaux, our colleague at NHL Network, former coach obviously, said that, yeah, it looks like Torz is going to put on the team. And it was the one line, I mean, Jay had really killed him recently.

I have no interest in coaching this type of team. I'm like, oh, okay, so you're not going to help a team that stinks. You want to be coaching winners. Well, this is classic Torz. Year one, they Oh, okay. So you're not going to help a team that stinks. You want to be coaching winners. Well, this is classic torts year one. They got a bump year two. Most of last season the flyers of the playoffs, but only faded late the year. And this year it's been a disappointment start to finish. So that's, that's, that's purely the way Torch goes, right? Three years and you're done.

I kind of thought, you know, I was talking to some of the prime guys earlier in the week in Jersey. And I said, especially at that seven four game I watched, I don't know how the hell I watched it that lost against the block on Sunday. Well, he's going to be out of his job, but maybe I'll have like some sort of advisory role, but to actually fire him now with only games left in the season feels like this is clearly a part of the ways of towards.

Okay. Let's turn our attention to opening day of major league baseball. As we know, the Dodgers and the Cubs already got things underway in Japan and the Dodgers got off to a great start. The defending champs are now a perfect 2-0 to start the year. I do want to start right there with the Dodgers because they are one of the, if not the, biggest stories in baseball going into this season given that they're the reigning champs. They loaded up in the offseason. I know that they're the favorites. How big a favorite are they right now going into this MLB campaign? So they're obviously the favorite, Mike,

to your point of how big a favorite, here's where it gets tricky. A lot of people are focusing on the all-time wins record, and I said there's no way they're gonna do that. I mean, if you look at their pitching staff, it's an embarrassment of riches, yet none of these guys are durable. And I could posit a worst-case scenario

in which they win 95 games. Now I don't think that's the case. I think they'll win my predictions 103, 105, somewhere in that range and they're the favorite to win the World Series. There's no doubt about it but Blake Stiles is the only guy who's actually like a dependable starter. Herschel's not going to be back till midseason. Ohtani's in the pitch in May. Sasaki's never pitched in the major. That's 120 innings. Yamamoto's coming off a major injury., that's 100 innings. And so when Glashnell always gets hurt, that's another 130 innings. So they don't have like all these horses that are going to go start to finish and dominate. To that end, health is such an important factor with all of this.

Milky Betts just lost almost 20 pounds because of an illness which couldn't keep anything down. Like he didn't have 20 pounds to lose, he went from like 176 to 157. Freddie Freeman didn't play that Tokyo series because of injury. So are they a keep anything down with the people who don't want to lose what what what what what what uh... pretty good in play that took a serious of injury so are they a great people paper absolutely they're loaded top to bottom expect them to be the paper to read about this overwhelming consensus there were a hundred twenty games or the that

the twenty seven yankees even amidst all this talent injuries happen there's other good things like arizona's a personal but that division about love the Arizona rotation they led the league and run scored a year ago it now added Josh Nailer Mississauga Ontario zone so listen they're gonna be a ton of fun to watch other the Beatles absolutely every night must win must watch but no I don't have them necessarily going wire to wire winning the whole thing not to make this all about the Dodgers but the bets bets thing, this is very bizarre.

For those that don't know, he got sick before they went on the flight to Japan. And then that really sort of exacerbated the illness. But do you have any idea, does anybody have any idea what's going on here? Because as you mentioned, he's lost 20 pounds and it seems like he's in really rough shape. Yeah, all I heard is they just couldn't keep anything down.

He's just constantly throwing up. So I don't know what kind of viruses that would have that kind of impact on him. He's always been a guy that keeps himself in great shape. I mean, he's not big. He's my height. He's a 5'8", 5'9". So like I said, he didn't have any weight to lose in the first place. He's 1'7", which is amazing to me.

He can hit as many home runs as he does. He's a smallish guy. But yeah, to lose that much weight in that short amount of time, and still be like, no, I can still play like, wait, no, dude, like, I play bookie, take a week, it's okay. We don't need you come regular season. Everyone knows this Dodgers team is built for the postseason. Who cares if they get 95 wins?

And even if the Divacs win the division and the Dodgers squeak it as a wild card, like it's not gonna be a problem. They're gonna be good come October. So I certainly wouldn't rush him back though, with the severity of it, but you know, he's a two time MVP for good reason, World Series champion, and he's great for the game.

So hopefully we'll keep him back sooner or later. Just warm up with some light bowling, you know? That was one of the first things, Jay. We're like, hey, how's this gonna impact his bowling? Hey, he's a very proficient bowler. That will be the way to ease in, big Lebowski style. Okay. Let's talk about some other teams.

Who has a better chance of making the playoffs this year, the Mariners or the Blue Jays? I'll go Mariners only because that pitching staff is so electric, but God, it's uninspiring just how bad that offense was. And they didn't make any major moves. like it is clearly are hamstrung by payroll considerations or whatever it is but jury deported i like to make moves there's no question about it'll build up to make moves but they didn't do it so

they're essentially except for a period of the chair essentially they're just hoping that who ever we get the members of season starts march twenty seven but doesn't wait till July to get going. They're just hoping that Cal Raleigh can have another strong season. They're hoping that some of these younger players, Crawford, et cetera, can take next steps. But that's kind of a hope for it. So it's all internal development.

There's no big bopper. At least the Jays recognize their offense was dormant and they signed Anthony Santander, who was one of the best power hitters in baseball last year. Five-year deal with the deferred money to like 14 million a season. I like that contract a lot. So I'll still say Seattle Jay only cause the starting pitching is so amazing. Logan Gilbert is going to start opening days. You guys know, you know, I love Kirby love Castillo Miller, obviously in Louisville.

Those guys are amazing with those five are going to contend. And the Astros a little weaker now because the fact that boss Kyle Tucker, he goes to Cubs. Um, he's shocked raised now with the third the third baseman placing pregnant who's now a member of the Red Sox. So Houston could be a little bit more vulnerable and so Seattle could capture them with regards to Jays. Again, their strength is they're starting pitching and damn please.

Zach former blue Jason to me, he actually has a Jays winning the division, which surprised me a little bit. What I find fascinating is you look at the gambling odds, AL East right now, they got all five teams. It's just the Dakota projections maybe it's Fandor I can't remember now but it was between 80 and 88 wins so there's not one team anyone thinks like yeah they're favorite like once Eric Cole had the Tommy John news it was like oh man yeah he's looked like the favorite and now could be an 88 win team so the best news for the Blue Jays is this I don't think anyone has a 91

team but I don't think anyone expects it to be a 75 win team or a last place team like a season ago. They're going to be around 85 wins and maybe that's enough to get a wild card spot. Maybe they push to 90 and somehow steal the AL East away from the Yankees, Sox, Orioles and Rays. Who's the cheapest ownership in major league baseball since you brought it up about the Mariners?

I don't think it's the Mariners. There's a couple other ones. I know Mariners fans are very frustrated that they've got the structure of a good ball team, but they need to add more on offense and they really didn't. But if you had to pick one ownership group, what would it be?

That's a good question. You know, it's tricky because then what ends up happening is that, you know, you is that you save yourself, these owners are all making money because of revenue sharing. For years the TV money was flowing. But this RSNJ has been crazy because in the past, anybody who would ever decry the popularity of baseball, I would point out that you looked at the art sense, regional sports networks, those that have no, that means in those areas, one of the most popular things was the games. Like if you're watching tiger's games, that was one of the highest rated things in the summer in Detroit, similarly for Pittsburgh or Cleveland, et cetera.

But now that's reshaped everything. So like, if you're used to this cash cow, the RS sense for years, and now it's not coming in. It's a different ballgame. And so, you know, you still have the Fox money, the national money is still there. Okay. But even ESPN is opting out. They're starting a baseball bill after this

year. So who knows how that's going to go. So it's tricky. I think a lot of these teams, you know, they're no fault of their own. The world changes. Obviously we're going streaming and hope it all be another avenue to get the money. They've just kind of realized that they can't, they can't have that opportunity to get. I'll say I was being, I was in Pittsburgh last year. I went to PN Park and I told you guys. I was waiting for Pittsburgh to come up. And that park is incredible. Pittsburgh's the answer. Yeah.

Yeah, I was going to say, that probably, if you just sit okay, because at least in Seattle you could argue that, you know, you'll recent some of these guys, what you're going to do with Pittsburgh. It's like, no, dude, you have schemes right now. Like press go, go sign some guys and win because he's, I don't think you're going to afford this guy in five years, right? I want to talk about, kind of related to the subject of ownership, but we've got some new, very interesting ball yards this year.

So the A's by the way, for those that don't know, they're no longer the Oakland athletics. They are just the athletics. They're like Prince. They're a one name team. Now they're a one name band. That's it. Uh, they are going to be playing out of Sutter health park.

One of my favorites in Sacramento. What can you tell us? I call it the SUT. Yeah. What do you know about the SUT, Adnan? So I get to work with Rick Sutcliffe for years. He's been his nickname is SUT. So I'm going to have a SUT with a big red bear on the mound. So it's funny, in the past you could have said the A's ownership, right? It's one that could be criticized. Honestly, the big space but the latest off season right in front of

real to a sixty seven million dollar contract logistical ever signed to a great worker who's a great power here five years sixty million dollar contract Lance Lawrence Butler she's made he just signed a contract almost sixty million dollars so the age in the past did not spend all the base bed go to Sacramento so of the three teams I was able to see for spring training I went down to Arizona for MLB Network got to the Cubs in Mesa got to the A's in Mesa and I also saw the Royals. So the A's it's an interesting vibe around that team they all seem to be excited obviously to go in Sacramento only because you know it's going to be a

robust family so only there for a few years and the park the site because mentioning I think seats 14,500 so every game is going to be robust family. So we're there for a few years and the park, the suck, you guys are mentioning that it seats 14,500. So every game is going to be a sellout. I mean, I can't imagine there's empty seats and the boys have a real problem because they're only selling out whenever 11, 12,000 at the O.co. But the big thing is the weather gets pretty hot

with some of them in Sacramento in the mid nineties. And so they feel like the ball's going to travel a little better. That's good news for a team that's got offense. I mentioned Rooker, Butler, Langley, Liers is a catcher who hits 30 home runs. But I do, I'm a little better. That's good news for a team that's got offense. I mentioned Booker, Butler, Langley, Liers is a catcher who hits 30 home runs but I do I'm a little worried about their pitching after Luis Serena. Well I do think it's excellent. A great bounce back here at the Met. So I couldn't quite say that

A's will be contenders to me. That would be a reach but I don't think they're gonna be awful. I think they could be 75 wins. Maybe push to 80 perhaps 500. So the fans at Sacramento will be excited and I I love Mason Miller, of course, they're a closer. He'll be the biggest Miller in Sacramento since Brad Miller and Chris Weber and Mike Bibby and the Kings were doing their thing in the early 2000s. Good pull, that was a good team. Stojakovic, Dvach, Weber, Miller, Bobby Jackson, Mike Bibby.

Mike Bibby just got a job at Sacramento State by the way. Anyway, I'm rambling now. I did want to ask you about where there's gonna be another alternate temporary ballpark as well. That's gonna be Steinbrenner Field in Tampa because obviously the trop, one of the great, great venues in all of sports. Got a funny-

It's currently being used to film a zombie movie. Yeah, they're still trying to fix it up from Hurricane Milton, so that's an issue there. What is it going to be like? This is basically two sort of non-MLB yards that are going to be used throughout the year. Actually, they had to delay the start at Steinbrenner Field to tomorrow because they're still doing renovations today to get it ready for the raise in Rockies tomorrow. A very interesting dynamic there. But yeah, the Rays are going to be playing in a temporary field in Tampa Bay. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's clearly not an ideal situation,

although if you've been to the TROP, you know, you could say, well, what's worse than that place? I've been to Georgia's temporary field. Yeah, it's a beautiful park, I'll be honest. Now it only seats 10,500, but it's in Tampa, it's a nice park, so, you know, it should be seriously selling out that park all the time. It's surely gracious to the Yankees to help out the race. I hope

they get it solved at some point fellas. I mean, they had that crazy idea about half the games, half the home games of Montreal, half of Tampa. I still can't believe that got past the whole, like the whole, like, should we even talk about this? Like, I just, I still can't believe that got discussion and people took it seriously. No, I couldn't, I'm with you Jay. Like. I was like, these guys, I've been around ball players for

decades. And one thing I know about these guys, they love to mention the no state tax. They're big on the, hey, I like to live in Texas, Florida. I'm like, yep, got it, understood. And I just picture these guys, I just picture the accounts and be like, okay, wait, 40 days in Montreal, how can we get around this financial loophole to not pay Canadian taxes? This has to worry about like just for families and such right? Be it for wife and kids. Where are we going to be? Is there a whole Montreal Hall? Tampa? How is this going to go? So I always thought of the harebrained scheme as much as I'd love to see baseball back in Montreal at some point. But I hope they get it figured out man. There was this story about a month ago they were saying that they're trying to

build this new stadium, a great new ballpark in a better area. For those who tell me, they go the real issue with Tampa is the location. If you know where St. Pete is, nobody wants to go across the bridge to go to a game at seven o'clock because of traffic, which I get it. Again, I was there in Arizona. I was talking to our friend Sean McDonough and Sean was telling me that the reason the carries didn't work was because they're in Glendale. If they're in this area where all the people are, um,

it's a different story in Scottsdale. So, uh, that plan of course is not going to go through. They said they were going to build a new ballpark., it's a different story in Scottsville. So that plan unfortunately is not going to go through. They said they were going to build a new ballpark in a few years. It's not happening. So temporarily here at George M. Steinbrenner Field, they're going to fix the trough, which is a park that nobody likes. And I hope at some point, fellas, they get a viable solution. I mean, I think sooner rather later, there's going to be a team in Nashville.

I don't know if the Braves are going to relocate there necessarily, but we'll see how it goes. Hey, Adnan, Buster Olney just tweeted out, the Blue Jays have made another offer in their negotiations with Vladimir Guerrero per sources. A gap still remains between the two sides. Do you think this will get done? I don't think so. Although I was surprised today that Shapiro came out so strongly a week ago and said, we're going to get this done.

For me, if a front office guy goes, we're going to get done, that means they're close enough that he feels incredibly confident. The rumors were apparently it was 450 that James were offering. Ladskamp wants five. So I obviously like and trust Foster, a former colleague and friend. I'm sure he knows what he's talking about. I'm sure that James are making a push to say, let's sign this before first pitch at three o'clock today. But everything I'm hearing is Ladsk campus is hell bent on that five. So, um, if there's a gulf of a believed to be $50 million,

I think he's the type to go no four 75 not going to do it. I want the five. So unless that last offers a five, I personally don't think it gets done until after the season. That's why I think he's probably going to go. Okay. I got a couple of quick hitters for you before we let you go on guys that I'm interested in when one Soto is is gonna make his Mets debut with his $200 billion contract today

against the Astros in Houston, what can we realistically expect from Soto this year for the Mets? Soto's an amazing player, Mike. There's no doubt about that. That contract is still ludicrous to me. Everybody knows that he's gonna get 550, maybe six, and then he gets 200 million more than most projections. What Steve Cohen, Steve Cohen's going to get may end up being a good

thing for the Yankees because they would have been twitch way to commit to one guy. Having said that the Yankees were clearly a better team with Soto and the Mets are a better team with him. I love the two, three, four, five. I got it. They're Lindor, Soto, the enters Peter Lanzo. That's about as good a court that the hitters you'll have worried about their pitching though. Manaya is out until I think early in the season and one of the other pitchers is us, well, Peterson. So Met's pitching stuff's a little shaky. Tough Division II, Phillies are loaded as are the Braves, but Soto is going to be magnificent, at least for a few more years, until he becomes a DH.

The Angels have moved Mike Trout to right field in an effort to try and keep him healthy. Will it work? move Mike Trout to right field in an effort to try and keep him healthy. Will it work? I hope so, man. This guy's a three time MVP. He's been one of the best players in baseball. It's not that it'll stay healthy for several years now. I think at this point by will it work? That just means a triple digits. So I'll say, does he play 110 games? Fingers crossed he does. So that's, that's, I still think he's going to miss at least a third of the year.

That's just where we are now with Mike Trout. but yes, also 110 games. He's there for the angels He'll be productive who has the best pitching staff and baseball and why is Detroit not the Dodgers? So pitching staff is interesting, you know, I get I would look at that Seattle rotation. They're so impressive I would honestly go with the Dodgers even though I poo pooed of the gate by saying their lack of Durability, there's no question their talent. I mean, Otani is amazing. Iwamoto is amazing. Sasaki's got this unreal splitter. Snell is a two-time signing award with a glass now. Should win a sign on one day. And then you've got your Landon Nacks, Bobby Miller's, Tony Gonsolin's. Like it's the Dodgers pitching staff. And by the way, their bullpen, it stills to be stuffed as well.

That's where I'm like, no, you don't need to do this. You need to sign Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates. Those are two of the best closers in baseball, actually. They locked up both those guys from the other year. So I'll say Dodgers pitching staff. There's a ton of guys. They'll get hurt, but nobody can match their depth. No one. Adnan, this has been awesome.

As always, we're very excited to get you back in the rotation. Thanks for doing this today. Enjoy opening day. We'll do this again next week. Thanks so much, boys. It was nice to hear the theme song again. We'll talk soon.

Thanks, buddy. That's Adnan Virk from MLB Network here on the Haliford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. You guys going to the SUT tonight? SUT, yeah. Sutter Health Park. I gotta check out the SUT. I love the SUT.

The SUT and the Stein. Gonna go to the Stein down in Tampa Bay. Do you guys miss, like, good arena names? I miss good arenas Well, there's good arenas now. It's okay. Not really actually I would push back on that. They're all too cookie cutter, right? They're too nice. They're too nice. Not a personality. Have you watched? Have you watched any of the Celtics documentary? I just started watching it. Yeah the Boston Garden. Mm-hmm. I mean a dump Yeah, but that's part of its charm.

A character. Yep. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the only thing I remember... I never got to any of the old arenas. I'm kind of mad. Like, I never got to the Forum. I never got to Maple Leaf Gardens,

nothing down in the States. I liked that I knew growing up watching the Canucks, every time that they would go to Detroit, that I knew that the end boards and the dashers at Joe Lewis were very bouncy. Or in Chicago, you could fall down the stairs, right? There's just certain things that you knew and it was quaint and you know It's funny. They it's still prevalent in the UK Especially England and the Premier League like they talk about how terrible the visitors dressing rooms are This is the Saddle Dome the last one so the Saddle D yeah the saddle dome doesn't really sad almost bad for everybody though

Yeah There's not a decided home ice advantage because it goes past bad equals charm to just bad eventually like it Just I don't know if it ever got charming. That's what I'm saying the saddle dome Yeah, I think it ever got charming can't be too bad otherwise it loses its charm Is there some kind of like arena architecture where you could like make a modern building? But with the old crappy amenities in a sort of clever way. You know, baseball stadiums are kind of the old style look to them, right? Right. But they're modern. But they don't have the inherent

help. Once the day. Yeah, yeah. You want the day. The day. There's not a better way to say that. By the way, Jacob Chitron's honest. I think it's the LED lighting. They got to cut it out. All candles. Cut it out. All the time. Okay, we're going to go to break. We got a lot more to get to on the program. You are listening to the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Coming up on the other side of the break, we're going to do more hockey talk. We're going to do more Canucks talk, but Abbotsford Canucks talk.

Play-by-play man Brandon Astle is going to join the program. They are on a seven game win streak in Abbotsford. They have vaulted up the playoff, jockeying in their division, and you've seen a lot of the playoff games. They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players.

They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players. They've got a lot of good players. They are on a seven game win streak in Abbotsford. They have vaulted up the playoff, jockeying in their division and you've seen a lot of Abbotsford guys contribute

and contribute importantly to the big club, the Vancouver Canucks. So we'll talk to Brandon Astle about all that coming up next on the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey it's Mick Nazar, have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets Weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts Sammy Blake! And the Calgary zone looking to win the game right here! Takes a shot, takes the game over! Let's go home! Sammy Blaine, let's go home!

7.33 on a Thursday, happy Thursday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. I'm kind of into this. It's awesome. Maybe it's the Canucks with those. Brough is getting into the thrash. Two gutsy wins. It worked well with that call from Brandon. Yeah, it did.

The thrash is seeping into your life, and you're welcoming it now. I think I've overused the phrase gutsy. But it is. Yeah. You guys gotta keep using it. This is gutsy music. How about a lunch pail win?

Gutsy music at 7.34 in the morning. Yeah. A lunch pail win? I like gutsy. Let's keep using it. Sure. Those gutsy Canucks. Hashtag finish.

A lot of guts. No, it's not just the Vancouver Canucks that are putting forth a lot of gutsy wins lately. The Abbotsford Canucks are doing it as well. Seven consecutive victories for the Abbotsford Canucks. Their play-by-play man Brandon Astle is gonna join us in just a second here on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650.

Halford and Bruff, the morning I mentioned, is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominock at Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at Jason.Mortgage. To the phone lines we go. Play by play man for the Abbotsford Canucks, Brandon Astle here

on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Brandon. How are you? Boys, I know you don't do this till later in the show, but before we begin, can I get a quick what we learned in? Absolutely. So last night I'm watching the

Canucks game and I hear Shorty mentioned that there is an Autu-Ratu drinking game out there. Did you guys catch this? I did. It was courtesy of him and I think it was Landon Ferraro and his buddies would always point out. So what was the specifics of it?

Was it how Ratu takes face-offs off-handed? Yeah, so our buddy Landon Ferraro, I guess, has a drinking game with his buddies, where as Shorty mentions that Ratu turned to stick over at the dot to become right-handed shot, I guess Landon and his buddies take a drink. And all I can think of is I hope they don't listen to my broadcasts and habits for it,

because they'd be absolutely black out because it's almost like a twitch I have. I say it to myself in my head and before he takes a face off, don't bring it up because it's religious. He does it every single time, but it just always blow it out. Rock two, tend to still go, stick over to come

right handed shot and just something I always say, just like I guess Shorty does from time to time. Well, I often drink during Canucks games, so maybe I'll play that game too. What did you think of Ratu last night? He's impressed me a lot to the point where I'm like, is he just a Canuck now? Yeah, I mean he's had a great couple of games, especially last night, a little revenge tour against the team that drafted and traded him. And honestly, Bruff, not too surprised because he's been building and building towards this

down in Abbotsford ever since he was sent down from Vancouver in early February. He's really worked on his overall game. And I actually had a long one-on-one chat with him just over the last home stand before he got called up. And he shed light on a lot of things. He's got to be one of the best interviews I've ever done. He told me that he brought in a skating coach from Finland to Abbotsford a little while ago to work on his stride and all that. And Bruff, you asked me last time I was on, I think about rock to skating and like how much can he actually improve at it.

And that's something I literally just asked him flat out, like you're at this age, can you improve your skating? And he did admit that it can be difficult at times to focus on changes he's made, especially when he's like playing a game because he said like in the heat of a moment, when you're chasing it on a loose puck. Yeah. You aren't really thinking about your stride length or like center of gravity or

anything like that. You just have like one goal in mind and that's to retrieve that puck as fast as you can. And you kind of fall back to your old ways. Whereas in his one on one sessions and in practice, it's easier to think about like your actual technique, right? So it's a consistency factor he's been working out

when it comes to his skating, where he wants to get it to a point where these breakthroughs that he's having in the summer with his coach is eventually becoming second nature to him. Just like me mentioning that he's turning a stick over to come right-handed shot. And he said his coach found like a blueprint that works for him.

And we've seen some improvement over the last year in his skating and has been building a base to fall back on. And he said a big help has been like focusing on one part of the skating at a time where as in previous years, he was trying to fix three or four things with his stride at once or even like body positioning

and stuff like that. And it just became too much. So it's an approach he's taking right now of taking little bites at the apple, staying the course. And I was just fascinated to hear him break this all down. He even said like Jason Krog, their skills coach, suggested he change the angle on escape blades to a certain degree, which would help his body lean on crossovers because he thought he was standing a little too straight up. And when it comes to straight line speed, he said he picked up a new thing with like his weight transfer that's got him an extra gear.

He's worked on his stops and starts where he's brought his feet a little closer together when trying to accelerate. I'm telling you, Matt, we got into the weeds and it was just awesome to hear all this improvement that he's made on his skating. And like I said before, and I asked him, how do you make up for the lack of explosiveness

when it comes to skating? And he said, he's got to put himself in spots where he's not getting into these foot races. And obviously, he talked about his hockey IQ that can kind of help him get past that. And he models Anton Landell as someone he tries to model his game after, who's a really reliable bottom six centre with the Florida Panthers. He obviously was a huge part in their Stanley Cup Championship last year, a fellow Finn, and Ratu is just marvelling about the way he positioned himself on the ice where he finds success, and not necessarily the burner as well. So I hope he can keep it going here in the next few games in Vancouver. I'm curious, does he work with the Sedin's much out there? Because they were masters of body positioning and they weren't the fastest skaters, but

they found a way. Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, those are two guys that made a living off of just making plays and using their brain compared to their legs, right? So the Sedin's, at least one of them there is there at practice on a daily basis, even after games, like sometimes I'll walk down after after games and they're pulling a couple guys over and going over like different sequences that happened throughout the game.

I remember one year or earlier this year, like he had one of the Syrians, can't tell difference yet, but I had like Sasson and Carlson pulled over and like was talking about a two on one that they had and were just kind of picking their brains on what they saw and what he saw. So those are two guys that Ratu had told me himself that he leans upon a lot. And I mean, talk about a couple of great

resources, right? You know, another guy I've been pretty impressed with is Linus Carlson. He's had some chances to score and it'd be nice if he could actually score on some of those opportunities, but you know, the one thing that I don't think people talk enough about with Ratu and Carlson is they're pretty big, strong dudes.

Yeah. So especially Carlson, right? He has a bigger body. He's not the heaviest guy. I had to double take when I saw his weight. He's only like 178 pounds. I don't know how true that is, but he's got a big body and that's what he uses when he's out there

and has led to him all the success he's had in Abbotsford. He's got such a translatable game to the NHL because he only knows how to play one way and that's a grinding style, but also has a nice set of hands that can score. Obviously he's had some chances in Vancouver. He's scored a ton in his Abbotsford career and where he gets most of his goals is in

standing in front of the net. And that's just one of his three offices out there. The other two are the corners where he likes to muck it up and have a great work ethic. You mentioned that his body position allows him to come out with a puck more often than not. And I know one thing Nanny Mahotra is very impressed with all of them is how strong he's on his stick. Like when he's got his back turned to the opposition in the corner or like behind the net with the puck, good luck getting it from him because he has a knack

of keeping it on his stick as he makes his way either to the net or up one of the walls. And this is a guy that's honestly one of the greatest amateur cadets of all time and only the team's only been around for four years, but nobody scored more and nobody has put up more points than Linus Carlsen. And he's earned the one year extension that he just got from Vancouver just because of the way he plays. And it's not just in spurts, right? I talk about it all the time. You hear from Manny Mahotra as well.

It's all about consistency and every single night, you know what you're going to get from Linus Carlsen and it can see him starting to get more and more comfortable in his own skin, in the NHL. And when he gets hot, I'm looking forward to seeing that and it could come very soon. I don't think Jonathan Leckermacky is ever going to be called a power forward, but how much

stronger and bigger do you think he can get? Because he still does look like a very young player out there. Yeah, there's always improvement in that area. And I know he got a little stronger after last year. He had a cup of coffee in Abbotsford after coming over from Sweden before going back to prepare to try to make the world championship team.

And he said coming over here, obviously was huge for his development because he kind of knew what he had to do in the off season and where he needed to be in order to not only have success in Abbotsford, but potentially get a call up to the NHL. And obviously he's not the biggest guy in the world. And when he went up to Vancouver

for the first time this year earlier, um, I was curious to see how he had hold up and like winning battles and like how he do, because, um, being a smaller guy, obviously there's, uh, some disadvantages to that, but he's someone that I hate, I think who's really handled himself well, um, up in, up in the big leagues. He's not scared to get to the front of the net or in the corners. He'll take some punishment. Um, he makes smart plays and he just kind of has a knack to like spin off a checks and he's got a good stick and obviously like winning battles, you got

to be able to do that on a consistent basis in the National Hockey League. And I thought he's, he's done a good job of that so far and he's done a great job of that in Abbotsford as well, but there's always room for improvement and that goes hand in hand in hand with getting a little stronger in the offseason, right? So hopefully he goes back to the suite in the summer and works on that. And if he can put on a couple more LBs, all the power to him. But I've just been super impressed, which especially like his poise of the pocket at national level. We're speaking to Abbotsford Canucks play by play man Brandon Astle here on the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. That Abbey line that they've been using recently with Carlson,

Oman, and Leckermackie, how much did they actually play together when they were in Abbotsford? So that's a great question. I wanted to double check because I thought there were some instances this year where they played, but I got all the way to I think December and they never played a single game with each other. Wow. I got all the way to I think December and they never played a single game with each other There's been some a mishmash where like Oman played Leckar Mackie or Carlson and Leckar Mackie played together But I have not seen at least in the last few months where all three played together I could be wrong. I still got to go back and double check my notes

But it sure seems like they have a bunch and obviously they got the rapport, the Swedish Hall of Smofia boys, and doing a great job in Vancouver, and hopefully they can keep it going here. One of the guys that's played quite a bit for the Vancouver Canucks this year is Max Sasson. He was up for a large chunk. He's back in Abbotsford now. Another guy that's been a very important contributor,

when he was with the Vancouver Canucks, and he's been on fire right now at the Abbotsford Canucks, what is it, 10 points in the last seven games? Yeah, he's 10 points over his last seven, had the OT winner in their last game in Manitoba and his speed is just unfair in three on three, boys. I mean, he took the puck from his own goal line from a stationary position,

did a little quick loopy loop inside the left circle and one of the Moose forwards tried to strip him when Max had his back turned to him for a second and Max just said, see you later,. Pulled away to the neutral zone like it was effortless where a move defends and it was skating quicksand and before he could pivot Max was already by him, put him in the back of the net and the rest of history and the win streak continued. So he's just been awesome not only these last few weeks but this entire season and obviously getting a taste of the National

Hockey League has just kind of fueled this fire even more. And I was thinking like recently, like he's probably a top three skater in the organization. Obviously Quinn Hughes is number one, Phillip Heidel can move, same with Myers and O'Connor, but I think Max is definitely in that discussion. And when, when Pedersen and Hoeglander went down, I thought like it could be a toss-up between Ratu or Sassen. Both definitely deserved another look and obviously eventually picked Ahtu Ratu, which was a great choice. And Max isn't even really worrying about that. And if he goes up or stays down, I heard that directly from the source and just focusing on his game in Abbotsford. And if he doesn't get another chance to go to Vancouver,

he'll be more ready this time around. Cause he knows to expect since he was up with the big club for, for several weeks on his last recall and, and learned a lot. And he actually told me like every game he got into, he treated it like it was a game seven. Cause he didn't know what was going to happen with him the next day. And you have to think like, man, carrying that kind of mentality around, around your shoulders for like a month, that's gotta be pretty stressful.

It can weigh on you, right? So I thought he did really well in the 24 games he got into with Vancouver and hopefully gets another look here. One of the stories of the season, I think when we finished writing that entire chapter is gonna be how many guys have come up from Abbotsford and have played pretty significant roles.

Like you go down the list right now, it's Ratu, Lekromacky, Oman, Sassen, Baines, Carlson, DP, Mancini. That's eight right there. That's a lot of guys to call on and to bring up at different stages of the season. I know this is part of life in the American League. You get guys coming and going with pretty great frequency, but what can you say about the job that Manny Malhortz has done over the course of the year to have the kind of success

that he's had, especially late in the year, to get this team where when we were talking to you two weeks ago, like they were just above the playoff bar, and now they're challenging for second in the division. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, Hal Ferb, because like you said, they were fighting tooth and nail just recently to get into the playoffs, and now all of a sudden their mentality's changed where they're looking

to host the first round playoff series and in a battle for right now three teams including themselves are tied for third place in the division and the top four at the end of the year will host that first round playoff series. First place gets it by but two three and four will host the first round and the Canucks are definitely in that discussion right now. But Manny's come in and has done such a great job of laying down kind of like a new foundation and principles that is built off of outworking the opposition and playing on the front foot. That's one thing he mentioned a lot when I speak to him in our pregame interviews, it's

playing with pace. He said the best defense is playing in their end and that's something he has been religious about and the team has bought in. And like you said said like coaching the AHL is a hard thing man. There's so much turnover it's not a day-to-day thing it's actually hour to hour like one morning you could be practicing with a full lineup have your your lines and deep pairs set but after lunch a player or two can get called up and then you have to adjust on the fly which we've seen a lot throughout the regular season every team has in the AHL and Manny's come in. I'm sure there's been some eye-opening moments he's not going to make any excuses. There's a reason why they carry a lot of guys

on the roster. There's 28 right now and with signing season starting here, with college season coming to an end and Canucks Prospect and Junior as well, there's going to be a lot of bodies in the building. The dressing room is going to be tight, but I have no questions whatsoever that Manny is going to handle it well because he's someone that these players really trust. And he's made some hard choices throughout this year. Like he has sat down some veterans

that weren't playing well. He sat down some rookies that needed a reset. Like he's someone that will make that tough call. And when he does that, he, he, he won't like, leave you in the dark. He's going to communicate and tell you why you're sitting out and what you got to do to get back in the lineup. Right. And it starts with having some great practices.

And another thing I like about Manny as well as he'll throw a young guy out there in a tough spot and see how to handle it. Uh, he's done that a bunch of this year with like the likes of a Lekker Mackey Pederson when he was here, Ty Mueller. And like you said, Halper, you look at the guys that have been called up, 13 players, 13 have played in both Abbotsford and Vancouver this season. That is a massive number. And when these guys go up, they have not looked out of place at all. And that's just a credit to Manny and his staff and the development that's going on in Abbotsford. And just to quickly finish on Manny here,

I think he's the perfect guy to lead these young prospects because he has a teenager playing at a high level right now. His son Caleb is just down the road playing junior with the Chilliwack Chiefs, an outstanding organization by the way. Shout out Brian Maloney, Brad Rihela, Brad Berry Douglas, great crew over there. But Caleb isn't much younger than Lekar Maki, Pedersen, Kudratsev, Ty Young, Tom Willander, if he comes into Abbotsford. So, Nanny kind of knows what life is like for

these young men nowadays, playing hockey at a high level, the distractions that come along with it. So I think that he's coming in and he's done an outstanding job and obviously has a bright future as a head coach. Is next year going to be the year we start talking a little bit more about Ty Mueller possibly playing some NHL games?

I mean, I guess it's possible he could play later in the season, especially if the Canucks have some meaningless games down the stretch. But you know, he's 22 years old, which is about the time you might want to be like, all right, well, let's see if you can cut it at the NHL level. Yeah, exactly. I think that's a great point's a great point, Brough. I would not be shocked at all if he finds himself getting some NHL games with Vancouver next year.

He's been outstanding since, since day one, very consistent. Uh, like I've come on here before and mentioned he plays everywhere in the lineup. If he left wing, right wing, fourth line, first line, penalty kill. He's someone that has gained the trust from Manny Malhotra and plays a ton. And he's just got such a transferable game to the NHL. I think that if Rick talk it, hopefully he's back next year, gets his hands on him.

I think he's gonna like what Ty brings to the table. I mean, he's someone that has earned a trust from his teammates already. It's hard to believe that he's a rookie, but like you said, it's not like he's super young, but he's not super old as well at 22, but still learning the ins and outs of the pro style game. And if he goes into the off season and has a great summer, maybe he has an outstanding camp. Who knows what happens from there. I know management has name checked them early on this season. And I know they're high on

his ceiling and when he can maybe contribute to the organization and obviously going to the HL All-Star game with a big feather in his cap and being one of their most reliable centers and even wingers I'd say on a nightly basis is something that is great to see so far and obviously getting some playoff experience here in the next few weeks is going to be huge for development. The Abbotsford Canucks are back in action tomorrow. I love this. This is the classic American hockey league back to back. They play at 730 at night against the San Jose Barracuda in San Jose on Friday. Then they play at three o'clock Saturday afternoon. Oh yeah boys. There's like eight hours of games. You got gotta love it. Sleep at the rink. That's pretty great. Brandon, thanks for doing this today bud.

We appreciate it. Enjoy the trip down to San Jose. We'll do this again soon. Always a pleasure. Thanks boys. Thank you. Brandon Asselt, Abbotsford Canucks play-by-play man here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

So I was, yesterday when we were talking about Rick Tauket, the future of the head coaching position of the Vancouver Canucks. And then this morning, in case you missed it, we were talking about John Taukett, the future of the head coaching position of the Vancouver Canucks. And then this morning, in case you missed it, we were talking about John Tortorella being dismissed as the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, biggest news of the day, big story. We were talking about the ties that Taukett had to Philadelphia.

Manny Malhotra would be right atop the list of potential next head coaches for the Vancouver Canucks. I know he's only had the one year. He's only got one year of experience as a head coach. right atop the list of potential next head coaches for the Vancouver Canucks. I know he's only had the one year. He's only got one year of experience as a head coach. He's got tons of experiences as an assistant. He was an assistant coach here. He was an assistant coach in Toronto. It's not like he doesn't have that experience. Does he have a lot of head coaching experience? No. Would he be a very logical guy to be the next in

line? At this stage of the game you'd have to say yes. Can I throw out a hot take? Yeah. Next season, Mal Holtro will be coaching the Canucks and Taka will be in Philly. Well, that's what we've been leaning up to. I know. That's the one to get a horn. Delayed horn. Kind of just stole Alfred's thunder there.

Yeah, it's worthy of a delayed horn. That's about it. Who's your favorite AHL guy on the Canucks right now? So he's spent time in Abbotsford this season. I'll give you the list. Yeah, I got the list. Ratu Carlson, Nils Amon, Jonathan Leckermackie, DPD. I love DPD by the way.

That's my guy. I love the way that he plays. He near- Oh yeah, he's not going back down to Abbey next week. Who is that that he... It's not funny because it would look pretty serious, but who is that that he hit with a puck? Was that- Oh my God, I don't know. Was that Pajow? I think it was.

Yes it was. Was that puck heading into the second deck? It took off at a trajectory I've not seen. It was like someone kicking a field goal. It went from ground to height in record time. Oh, that was bad. He felt so bad too, you could tell. Yeah. That felt like a young guy just winding up and not really knowing his... He didn't wind up, it was a wrist shot. Okay, whatever, but flinging it, just sort of...

I think it just got away from him. Recklessness, yeah. I mean, it wasn't... I don't think it was a young guy moment. I mean, he's. He's been playing hockey for a while. It was a young guy moment. But that was. It was a young boy moment. Young boy, it was. Hey, you duck. That snippet of play aside, I really like DP,

this game, I like how physically robust he is. But of all the guys, for me, it's Leckromachy. He's got such upside, he's got such swagger. Yeah, yeah. And the offensive abilities are, I mean, he's in a different class really. I actually really like Ratu and Carlson. And so remember last year when I questioned

Dakota Joshua's hands and then he went on like a crazy scoring run and it turned out that he'd worked a lot with Yogi on his hands and then he went on like a crazy scoring run. And it turned out that he'd worked a lot with Yogi on, on, on his hands and, and his skills. And he showed some really nice soft hands around the net. Um, I'm going to do the same reverse jinks with Nils Amman because man, that guy, if he had

some hands, he could be a player, but there are lots of times where, like, he, he can't pick up the puck for some reason. He's a big body. He can skate pretty well. Every time... Hands, man.

How many times has he passed through waivers? Twice? Every time he passes through, I'm always curious as to why someone just doesn't take a flyer on him, because he can obviously play at that level. Yeah. By the way... He's only got seven goals in 36 games at the Abbotsford level, right?

No, I know. Okay, speaking of- And I'm not surprised. Speaking of random former AHL players from that career, did you see that Mark Gatcombe is playing for the Highlanders? Mark Gatcombe? He was on the air, he was playing for the

Highlanders last night. He's a regular contributor to that team. And he was a guy that was strictly an Abbotsford Canuck. He was not getting a look at the NHL. Well, now look at him. He's playing for the Islanders. Stop talking because we got a rambler coming up. We need all the time we can for Thomas Drantz coming up next

on the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650.