Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 10/03/25

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they set up tonight's final Canucks preseason game with Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal, as the Edmonton Oilers come to town.  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 the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. He turns, he gives to Carmen Williams. He gets packed. I think he's short, Tim. I think he's short. And the 49ers stormed the field. It is all over.

I'm sick right now because I put our players in a spot, and I've got to live with that. Keller Deals, Bogart's takes. Oh, it was low and he got rung up. I knew it wasn't going to be too big to work. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Friday, sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford and his brow at his sports net 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adaw, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford, and Brought for the morning, is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick.

One, no more interest, two, much lower payments, and three, financial peace of mind. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you 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 Mid-1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in Step. Can you feel it? Can you feel it? It's sports season, everybody. This weekend is going to be amazing. I am very much looking forward to this weekend. We got a lot to get into on the program today,

both looking back at what happened last night, but also setting up what is going to be an epic sports weekend. Guest list today begins at 630. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join the program. 49ers and Rams, they delivered, gave us some pretty good theater last night on Thursday night football, a very controversial decision by Rams head coach Sean McVeigh and OT, gave a very depleted Niners team a win, moving into 4 and 1 on the year.

We'll talk to Nick about that. We will look ahead to Sunday's NFL action, not going to lie, not the greatest slate of games on Sundays. As a matter of fact, I think the Seahawks' Bucks game is the best game of the week by a long shot, but we'll talk to Nick about all things NFL at 630. 7 o'clock, Laddie, your new arch nemesis, AJ is going to join the program. Yeah, that AJ.

You're going to go tete-t-tat-tete. AJ from AJ's pizza on his product. Amazing, amazing. It's great theater, honestly. You couldn't ask. I know I kind of wanted the Red Sox to get through, but Jay's Yankees for the first time ever in playoff history. It's going to be great. Hey, Vladdy likes playing at Yankee Stadium.

Loves the Yankees. He loves the Yankees. Second favorite baseball team. He loves the Yankees. AJ's Pizza on his Broadway, a reminder, a $100 gift card to AJ's today because it is Friday. The best ask us anything

gets the $100 gift card. Text in now. Start getting them in. Dunbar Lumber text line is $6.50, $6.50. Ask us anything. Literally anything. Just hashtag it, AUA, and put a pizza emoji into your text.

After AJ at 7 o'clock, Zach Worden's going to join the program. Sportsnet, Associate Editor, and Blue Jays writer. It's the Jays and the Yankees after the Yankees took care of the socks. Obviously, first ever playoff meeting between the two games get underway Saturday and Sunday at 1 o'clock our time before the series shifts to New York. We'll set it all up with Zach at 7 o'clock. I'm really worried or

not worried. Well, the Jays might be worried about Slittler. That a boy. After they saw him yesterday. But I'm really curious to see what the pitching matchups will be because the Jays have been waiting around so they can put Gossman out there right away and maybe twice in this series. if it goes to five games, what do the Yankees have right now? Like when is Max Fried ready to go and when can Slittler go again? He's two for two folks.

Slittler. Three for three. Someone's going to mess that up today. We will ask all those questions of Zach Wharton at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30, it's the Moge. Yes, it's the Moge. Bob the Moge Marjanovitch is going to join the program.

Play-by-play voice of the BC Lions. Oh, yeah, the BC Lions are also in action this weekend. Huge game for them on Saturday. 4 o'clock from B.C. plays as they host Vernon Adam Juniors and the Stamps. Biggest game of the year for the Lions. Massive. Massive. And they're playing well going for four straight, as you said. Chance for the Lions to leapfrog. Calgary and the West Division standings as well. Busy matinees on Saturday and Sunday at BC Place because the white caps are on Sunday at 3 o'clock. So we'll talk to Moj about that at 7.30. 8 o'clock. It's Rick

Dollywall from the Donnie and Dolly Show on Czech TV. As per usual, I turn it over to the Dolly handler. Well, Dollywall is going to try and say Schlittler. as well. Can you make him say it like a bunch of times? No. Playing with fire. He said he's going to give it a go. Dolly Wall is also going to talk about the Canucks final preseason game,

which is tonight against the Oilers. And we might have some fun with Dolly Wall on this. He says, and I think he's already reported on his show, the Canucks are trying to trade crafts off. Wow. Can we, do you think we'll get them fired up about, can I use the nickname Danny Millions? How upset will he get if I call Milstein Danny Millions?

Danny Millions is a great nickname. They're great nicknames. He gets so upset. So befitting. He gets so upset when I make fun of his relationship with agents. I used to call. It's actually it's a big times for Danny Millions because he's got Craves off. He's got Max Sasson who could get.

sent down and he's got Evander Cain I think that's a very flattering nickname Danny. It's not like you're calling him like Danny hundreds. Yeah, right. Danny thousands. How's Danny Millions doing? Millions is great. That's like a nickname of love. Yeah. He has millions.

All right. Working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock it's Rick Dollywall, 730. Bob Marjohnovich. 7 o'clock, Zach Worden, 7 AJ 630. Nick Shook. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddy, let's 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? Missed it? You missed that? What happened?

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. We begin with the baseball. The New York Yankees advanced to face the Toronto Blue Jays in the next round of the playoffs. With a win over their arch rivals, the Boston Red Sox. And it was rookie right-hander, Kim Schlittler, striking out 12 over eight dominant innings. Yankees beat the Sox 4-0, rather emphatically at the end, to punch their ticket to the next round of the playoffs.

Let's go now to WFAN. Dave Sims on the call. Here it is, sending the Yankees on to face the Blue Jays. deal one swing and a pop down the left field line looking for it McMahon he's got room

he's there and the Yankees have won it they win this wild card round and eliminate the Boston Red Sox the final score for nothing New York it's on to Toronto so we'll set up

Blue Jays and Yankees but just to pour one out for the Red Sox who should have got it done in game two they had a couple of mistakes that dropped ball in left field looms large

but they're done now I mean you might have a discussion about whether Alex Cora left his rookie starter in there too long but at the end of the day it didn't matter they didn't score any runs

and Schlittler was amazing that was incredible the Jays will be hoping that he can't repeat that performance against them but man this series is

is going to be fun for numerous reasons. The Blue Jays and the Yankees have never met in the postseason, which is, I don't know, not all that incredible, I suppose, because... Well, the Yankees have faced the majority of MLB teams in the playoffs at some point over their story. You'd think they would have ran into the Jays at least once. Yeah, the Jays really haven't been...

To the late 90s. Yeah, and the early 2000s. Well, the Jays haven't been in the playoffs all that often, and when they have been, especially recently, haven't been there for all that long. Yep. And I think, you know, we can talk about the pitching for sure. That is going to be interesting to see how it plays out. But I think the most interesting thing is going to be Vladig Guerrero versus Aaron Judge.

And, you know, I know it's a team sport, but people are very much going to be watching that. And Vladie's going to be motivated, I imagine, to play the Yankees who he said something. some things about and might have, you know, like a family history with that dates all the way back to maybe the Yankees pulling an offer from the table for his dad. I mean, this goes way back and I'm sure we'll explore that topic during this series, but also like Vladie has to play better. He has to be the big star in this, especially, man, especially if Bowie. If Bowie, Bichette is not ready to go for the start of this series, it's a best of five. And if the Yankees go in there and steal a game in Toronto, then all of a sudden you're like,

oh, we might not be back to Toronto. I was joking with... Especially if Schlittler gets another start of Yankee Stadium. I was joking with a buddy via text yesterday that the winner of the Vladi Guerrero Jr. Aaron Judge head-to-head matchup is who's going to hit more singles over the course of the series, because that's pretty much all they've been doing. Now, obviously, Judge went yard 50 plus times. this year. But in that first round, every time he hit a single, you would get like a litany of complaints that he was jamming up the bases and not doing what he's paid to do, even though he

ended up with a pretty good batting average in that series. And Vladdy, of course, his lack of power this year has been well documented. The series is going to be great. I'm, you know, I will say this though, yesterday. A little disappointing. Little disappointing in the three game threes. I expected a little bit more theater and a little bit more drama late. I want to put Can't you just appreciate the Schlittler performance? Were there any lead changes? Were there any lead changes? No.

Yeah, it didn't go down to the wire, but man, what a, like, what a, what a, what a performance by a young kid goes out there? And like, that's a, that's a, that's a legendary Yankees performance. 75 of his 107 pitches were strikes. Like, he was, he was dialed in, right? But there seemed like a complete inability from that Red Sox lineup to, like, work any counts to try and get extended at bats, not a single walk. Do the Jays do any of that stuff? Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Like go up there and like at the very least, try and put this kid on tilt so he's not going into the 8th. But I will give credit, though. Credit to Aaron Boone because he did not lift his starter in game 3 like he did in game one. There's a great shot of Boone whispering to his pitching coach in between the 7th and the 8th. And you can see him mouth the words.

He's like, he's only throwing strikes right now. And then he turns to Schlittler and says, you're going back out for the 8th. Like, good on him, right? You don't make the same mistake twice. He did it with Freed in game 1. He didn't do it in game 3. So you were wondering about the rotation.

It's going to be reigning rookie of the year, Luis Heel, not Jill. Luis Heel, who's going to get game 1, presumably, and then they'll get back to the rotation. It'll be like freed in game 2. Okay. And that's going to be tough. Like that, you know, Freed, Rodon, and then Schlittler. I don't know if you can expect,

Littler, we're on fire this morning. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know if you can expect him to go and do what he did in game three. Who knows? Well, I mean, that's the pitching performance of a lifetime. Twelve strikeouts, no walks. Scattered five. But it is a crazy story because I was looking back on news stories when Garrett Cole was announced that he was going to miss the season and that was in March. And it was like, you know, the news story would be like, okay, so now the rotation is this. And like,

He wasn't even part of that equation. That's a great point. You know, it's an amazing thing. And I know that here's another thing because they were talking about the potential Yankees rotation for next season. And you're like, oh, God, with Garrett Colback and Fried and Schlittler and some other guys, like, this is maybe like, Jay's better get it done right now, right? I have some numbers. The Yankees rotation next season is going to be ridiculous. I have some numbers to give Jay's fans hope, though, about this Yankees rotation.

Carlos Rodan, career numbers against the Jays, a 4.72 ERA. Schlittler, 8.1 career ERA against the Js. He's pitched a lot of time. Not a lot of games, not a lot of games, but hey, good sample size, good success. Now do how many games. And then, heel, a 540 career ERA at Rogers Center, and freed a 6.35 career ERA. There's a reason that the Js won the regular season series, which, by the way, it was super vital. Can I throw out some numbers for you?

and this is via a Jeff Blair Sportsnet article. The Blue Jays have made the playoffs three times in Vladie Guerrero's tenure. They are 0 and 6, and Guerrero is 3 for 22 with one run batted in and yes, one pickoff at second base. The unforgettable pickoff. The storylines on this are really quite incredible.

All of those problems came in the wildcard round. The Jays have a six-game winning streak in the ALDS, Jason Ruff. That's right. true, actually. Six-game winning streak, baby. They got the buy. All those teams are connected. They got the buy barely, but you know how they got

the buy. They won the season series with the Yankees, 8 to 5. Okay. Good job on the baseball, good job on the baseball. G-Maz, that's for you, buddy. Stole three strikes for a strikeout, right? Still doing nine innings? You guys still doing that? Great pronunciation, too, I have to say. Oh, one more, a couple people have texted in. They said,

talk about the Padres. So, okay, again, you want to talking about a team that did not show up at the plate in a decisive and pivotal game three. Padres got their one and only run in the ninth inning yesterday. It was the Xander Bogart's strike three call, which is looming large over the series, which the umpire

blew. Next year, that's a challenge, right? You tap your helmet twice in top of the head and you get a challenge of the ABS, the balls, and strikes. They didn't have it yesterday. Now, what I think Buffalo Bill and a couple of other people are texting in is someone grabbed video of a very heated confrontation

between the umpires leaving the field, who for some reason decided, let's go down the Padre's tunnel. I guess that's how they have to go to get to their... You could have gone out any other way at that point. You could have walked through the centerfield bullpen to avoid the Padres at that point. Do you think any of the Omps went just like, just going to scoge on past you here?

Well, the Omps were... Sorry, baby, sir. The Omps were yelling. Crazy series. So the Padres... She's blown call. Yikes. The Padres doggot went nuts and got very confrontational with the Omps in the aftermath. The Omps kind of gave it back to them as well. You could see it on the video. Which was bizarre.

I assume there's going to be an investigation because you don't see that very often. I know that emotions were high. The Padre season just ended and they got eliminated. I don't know if you saw it, but Manny Machado had a super, super awkward and intense standoff with a reporter in the aftermath as well.

So the Padres were obviously livid. They had sold the farm. There was some audio also from that little scrum after. Good fault. All right, let's turn our attention to the hockey. It'll be old to get that one. Good segue to the hockey, by the way. way too. Let's talk about the Vancouver Canucks

who returned to practice yesterday out at UBC in advance of tonight. Finally, folks, it is over. The final preseason game of the exhibition campaign goes tonight at Rogers Arena. The Canucks take on the Oilers and there was a bunch of news from Canucks practice yesterday

including the return of Thatcher Demko who got back in the pipes. Foreboard missed. He got a maintenance day due to that possible injury that he suffered the other night. P.O. Joseph was out. Nils Oman decided to in on defense because of the guy's missing on the blue line. I don't think he decided to do that.

I think that was decided for him. He's just a team guy. He's like, I'll go back there. Yeah, as you mentioned, Forberg got the day off. But with a week to go before the opener, there's plenty of time for him to get right. I have a number of questions that I cannot answer right now. Will the Canucks dress a full lineup tonight against the Oilers? Adam Foote spoke and said probably a foolish lineup.

but, you know, he said he was going to play a bunch of veterans in Calgary and the top line played, but it wasn't a full lineup in Calgary. So we'll see what it is against the Oilers tonight. I think it's important for the Canucks to keep their vibes high. Everyone's talking about the vibes. I heard that word on the station a lot yesterday. And, you know, the vibes are going to be high after an 8-1 win over the Calgary Flames. I'll be curious to see if McDavid and Drysidal play tonight.

I think they've played twice for the Oilers already. They, of course, played one game against the Vancouver Canucks. I do wonder if Vancouver's top line could use just another game. Sure. Like, I don't think they've been terrific by any means at five on five. They've only played two games. The power play was encouraging, especially Pedersen's goal. But, hey, why not some more time with the power play?

Especially, by the way, if Van der Kaine's going to be on that power play, put the power play out there with a van der kane on it um it's largely expected although i don't think it works all that well that cane is going to be on that left flank where garland was in the calgary game garland i think is going to be like captain of the pk out there because he's been getting a lot of that um le bait and crafsoff were cut not surprisingly stay strong joe man uh i don't know if anyone's going to pick up cravsoff on waivers he did not look good in his opportunity with the Canucks in the preseason

We spent more time talking about the most irrelevant guy on the roster I'm almost ready to put the Tramkin ban The Triam ban on Craftsautau I feel a disdain for Craftsoff I remember I felt a disdain when he was traded to the Canucks or like because he was one of those like the Canucks are one of those teams that gets

you know like they're like okay we'll try this guy we're struggling pretty hard and then he like wasn't a player and then he goes over to the KHL does well. Danny Millions convinces the Canucks to give them another chance in the NHL and it's like I you know look

I know it's not it's not a ton of money when it comes to NHL salaries but if Cravsov clears waivers and then goes to Abbotsford and is going to be making half a million bucks to be playing in Abbotsford and then you're also kind of

like yeah but you know like are you developing them down there? No. Is it He's making 500. Yeah, like, I don't know. I'm sure the Canucks. Anyway, enough crafts. That's a lot of, not my money.

A lot of craft talk. Unless there's an injury or in addition to the Canucks, I don't see them exposing anyone to waivers who they might worry about. I wonder if the biggest decision is whether D.P.D. or Mancini starts in Abbotsford. I'm almost a positive V-Lander will get sent. down. But there's also the question of whether the Canucks want to keep a defenseman for the five-game road trip. They start October 16th. Abbotsford does have a couple of games before that trip starts so they could, in theory, send somebody down and then call them back up. Remember,

if you send someone down, they've got to play a game down in the HL. A couple questions that I would throw out to the listeners. What do we think about Leckermacki potentially starting on a fourth line with Ratu and Bluger. That's at least how they were practicing yesterday. What about Coots being the 3C with O'Connor and Sherwood? I don't think many people saw that happening. Well, maybe they did. I don't know.

Coots 3C, I could see Lackermackie on the fourth line. It seems like a waste of me. I want to play some audio from Adam foot. But not before I throw this question out there. Which center is going to get the toughest minutes when it comes to matchups? Is that Elias Pedersen's burden to shoulder now? Not only were he expecting him to bounce back offensively, but J.T. Miller got the tough matchup minutes for the most part when he was here.

Pew Souter was relied upon defensively. And one of the things where I asked, like, what do we think about Leckermacki potentially being on a line with Ratu and Bluger is that are you less willing then to use Bluger in a potential matchup because you've got Leckermacky on that line? Here's Adam Foote on Elias Pedersen and we're trying to keep the vibes high with Petty. And Adam Foote has been very impressed with Pedersen taking. taking on a leadership role and showing more maturity. Well, I think it's just gross. I mean, when you have such a start that he had here, and surely I wasn't here, but, you know, it's, it's amazing.

And you've caught more maybe, and it feels good, and the sophomore, it's saying, I'm not going to go back to the past because I wasn't here, but it seems to me that he's, what I've seen right now is he's taken a real hard leadership role, which is very noticeable recognition. You can recognize it, and his teammates noticed it. And his teammates are with them on it, too.

Like, Demers with them. And they're, you know, you look at the great players that continue to be great. They keep getting better. Crosby, for example, he's always working on his game, no matter if he's in year 15. And, you know, Ryan O'Reilly's that type of guy. And that's why they can keep staying in the game and keep improving every year on some of the things they've got to get better at. And I think I just seen him just a different mindset. And you know what?

That's not necessarily me or the change. It might be just maturity himself in general. But I don't want to have to really pinpoint it. But the nice thing is that we can see it happening. Now I just want to see him sustaining. They've got to find a new spot to conduct those interviews. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's brutal.

Get used to it, Mike. Come on. It's the sound of hockey, baby. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's also the sound of drowning out the coach. So all those questions as I ask, like I have no answer. answers to them. I imagine that Pedersen

is going to be a matchup. I have an answer to it. The matchup center now because the answer is yes. Like who else are you going to put out there? Nobody. You know, unless you load up a Bluer line with defensively reliable players. I think part of the reason that... But then you're

just going to be like, we got Blugger out against the McDavid line. I think a big part of the reason why Jim Rutherford went on the pre-trade speaking tour before getting rid of J.T. Miller is he understood at a macro and micro level how difficult it was going to be to replace what J.T. Miller brought to the table. Because when you had Miller and Pedersen, you had your center position taking care of. You had no questions asked about it because the two of them gave you such

versatility. Because you could say like, well, give the hard matchups to JT. You can disperse the minutes if one's going and one's not. You've got two elite, elite offensive performers. And if you're worried about the defensive side of things or you got a matchup you don't like, I mean, who was often the McDavid draw? That was J.T. Miller, right? Like that, that, it made it. Well, and Pedersen, when he's on,

he's very good defensively. But now you don't have that one-two punch anymore. This is with all due respect to Philippeal. You just don't have it. So all of the toughest minutes and the toughest matchups, by default, go to your one C. It's not like they had it in the past. And it's unfortunate one of the many reasons why it's unfortunate

that that duo ultimately had to end up in divorce, But that is one of the big things here is you had a great situation at center. And not only did you downgrade the one to punch, whoever was going to come try and fill the shoes was never going to be able to do it. But now you're trying to trust a guy in Heedel who not only has no resume that he's capable of filling a 2C role on a full-time basis. He's also a major health concern. Yeah.

And that's a problem moving forward. Chris Knoblock in Edmonton got an extension today. Did they do that because Calgary, up with Huska yesterday and they're like we got to match our provincial rivals. It looks like idiots here. It looks like idiots here. Chris Knoblock done a little bit more than Ryan Huska. Different teams though.

But that's the team that's coming in to face the Canucks tonight at Rogers Arena. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Our next guest is from the Donnie and Dolly Show on Czech TV. Intrepid Canucks reporter Rick Dollywall here. joins us courtesy the Power West Industries Hotline. What up, Ricky D. Gentlemen, how's it going?

Good. First things first. I need you to tell us the name of the Yankees pitcher who took the world by storm last night. Eight innings, 12 strikeouts, no walks, first pitcher in MLB postseason history to do. So what was the name of that young Yankees hurler, Rick? The name of that pitcher was Cam Schlittler. I know what you guys want

Hey I know what you guys want You want me to say Schittler I'm not going to say it Well you did it Okay anyways It's Cam Schlittler

You did very well Aside from that one gaff Which was intentional Weirdly enough But hey I know what you guys wanted I'm not going to give you what you want Well you did

Job well done though Rick It was very well done Let's turn our attention To the Vancouver Canucks Jason's got a bunch of questions And maybe A joke What? Oh, no. Okay. Well, maybe. We'll see. I don't know.

What are you going to be watching for tonight as the Canucks mercifully, for Halford's sake, because he hates the preseason, finish off the preseason against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Arena. Well, I'm in the same boat, and you guys know in the future, preseason games are going down, as they should. Look, some tough roster decisions are on the horizon. It's a good thing. It means the youth is pushing, and it means you have more depth. So the Canucks have three first rounders, Lecaramaki Coots and Willander, and they got six Abbey guys, right? Very interesting to see where these nine guys are going to end up this weekend. I see three openings up front, including replacing Hoaglander,

one on D that needs to be filled. Now, you guys know from previous Canuck cut down days, the waiver wire plays a factor. Baines, Carlson, Aratu require waivers to go to Abbisper. The waiver wire always factors into these final day decisions. had someone tell me last night he doesn't think baines would clear waivers i don't know about that like he's a really good american hockey league player he's not there yet at the n hl level but these are the things that the connects have to wear you know they have it wears on their mind keep an eye on

sassan keep an eye on le caramacki they don't have to go to the miners without clearing waivers now adam foot says expect a fairly full roster tonight n hl roster 90% of the team is picked. I heard you guys talking about Patterson all week, and the vets were good in Calgary. Had someone in the league say to me that if Quinn Hughes is healthy this year, like plays all 82, he'll get 100 points. Hughes has only played 82 games once in his career in Vancouver. That's the year he got 92 points.

I don't know about you, but Besser looks lighter and quicker. He's getting up the ice quicker. I don't know. like he had a good, he had a good summer. Well, he got a good contract. And he looks good. Foot says Pedersen's taking a leadership role, which is music to the years of the coaching staff

and also the management. I know everyone's, you know, going Goo Goo Goo Goo Gaga over the goal in Calgary. I want to wait 10, 15 games before you make the assumption that Pedersen's back. You know, the old Pedersen's back. He's going to get 100 points. I think everybody wants to, including Canucks management.

They got to wait 10, 15, 20 games, and then adjust accordingly to see, like, I'm not willing to, are you guys willing to save Pedersen's back? Because he scored a great one-timer in Calgary? No. No. I mean, it was a great shot, and it was a step, and I'm happy it wasn't a stumble. Yeah, but I want to see where he is at the 10-15 mark. So it is a very big and a very important game for Coots tonight. He has to have a trustable game with a coach.

coaching staff. He doesn't have to get points. He held his own against two the best players in the league in Evanton. Everybody you talk to about Coots thinks you'll end up back in Seattle at some point. But let the kid dictate when he goes back. He wants to stay and play. You have to admire that. He's making it very tough for the Canucks to cut him. Now go back to when Trevor Lyndon was 18 with the Canucks. Coach Bob McCavan raved first about his defensive play. And then he surprised everybody with 30 goals in his rookie campaign. Harold Snaps raved about Lyndon's maturity. There were roommates that year.

Those are the two things that maturity in the defensive game. That's what Coots has got. He's got those intangibles that Lyndon had. Let's see how he does tonight, Coots. Let's see what the Canucks do with them. Like people in Seattle are obviously waiting with bated breath. You know, they just got their ass kicked in Camloops last week, 6-0. I'm sure they'd like to have their captain and franchise player back.

Most people around the league think that connects with their goaltending and their blue line will be competitive this year. But it's the forward group. How are they going to shake out? Can the second line generate offense? That's the big one, right? What happens when injuries hit? Are you comfortable right now if Pedersen or Heidel gets hurt?

and Blugher's in the top six of the centerman. Are you comfortable with that? I don't think anybody is. I'm not comfortable right now, Rick. Well, and that's why they've been trying all summer, right? We know Elvine was active in the summer. We know nobody wanted to make a trade with them. But in defense of the other teams, who the hell is giving you a second-line center?

Yeah. Like, you know, if you've got a second-line center on another team and he's got term and everything's hunky-dory, that guy's not going anywhere. It's like the fifth most important player on the roster, you could argue. Exactly. I mean, it's a big deal. I mean, that's Ryan Kessler. That's it, and they're looking for something that teams don't want to cough up. And if you teams are going to cough up a second-line center,

it's going to cost you an Armour to Lake. And are you ready and willing to cough up a Wollander or Le Caramackie right now? You know, they keep saying that they're going to do everything to be competitive for Quinn Hughes this year. and that may or may not be, you know, offering up a young stud, like one of these first-round picks. But you could offer up a first-round pick, get better, and Quinn still might leave. There's no assurance he's going to stay just because you had a good year or you did everything in your power to be competitive this year. There's, you know, there's no guarantee that guy's going to stay if you're better. Rick, what is Danny Millions telling you about Kravsoff situation?

You mean Dan Milstein? Right, right, right, Dan Milstein. What did you call him? Millions. Danny Millions. That's a good nickname. He definitely has that. Okay, Kratsoff went on waivers yesterday, but his name's out there.

Connox are trying to see if another team will take him. This is not a fit in Vancouver right now. He won't be claimed today. Denny's going to go to Abbispert where he's going to get paid $450,000. That, guys, is a huge American hockey league salary. So people ask me, why did the Canucks give him $450? They gave him $450 to help compensate for his loss of his Russian salary. That's why he got $4.50.

That's why he's going to be the highest big guy in Abbotsford. It was Kratsoff in the summer, who told his agent, Dan Millions, that he wanted to give the NHL another chance. Milstein said he then turned around to cut the deal with the Canucks quickly. His margin for air at camp was not good. He had to go into camp and wow the Connox. Knox. He did not do that. He just became another face in a sea of faces. Well, when you didn't tie up that stick on, there was a tip, and he was like standing right

beside him. Well, there was a couple of goals you could, you could pin on him in that game. But what I'm saying is, I don't care if you're in Bantam tryouts or junior tryouts or pro, stand out, stick out. When the coaches go out in a meeting, you want the coaches say, hey, that guy was good. Number 16, he stood out. and he didn't do that. So when he gets to Abisford, you probably don't want him taking a young guy's ice time,

but you're also paying him a huge salary, so you need production. Sure, you're kind of stuck. Those veterans in the American League, they're like 19, 20-year-olds and junior. They've got to be the right ones. Yeah, they've got to be leaders. They've got to be good pros on and off the ice.

They've got to guide the young kids. Interesting to see where this ends up, Kratsoff in Abbisford. I'm going to be watching this. because does this have one of those, you know, the termination of a contract? Yeah, I'm going back to Russia. I'm going to go back. Yeah.

And, like, because, you know, like, he, the connects could send him down there and be like, we don't even want you in the lineup here. Yeah. So, does this got, you know, termination going back? Yeah. And so I'm not saying that's going to happen. He's got to go down there and produce. Because Abbisford lost, you know, they changed over a lot of events.

veterans last year, Abbottesford, from that Calder Cup team. And you know what, Jason? They're going to need him to produce down there, be a good loyal soldier, you know, and be good of those kids down there. So, you know, it's just not a fit. It's not a fit in Vancouver, and I'm sorry, but, you know, a lot of people said, why are the Canucks doing this? And here they are, you know, a couple of weeks in, and they're trying to move the guy. Okay. So the cap has gone up, and it's expected to go up a lot more in the next few years and I feel like everyone is just trying to get a handle on where contracts big or small

should land. We had the Caprizov monster contract. We had Luke Hughes getting paid in New Jersey and then the Jackson Lecombe one was funny because like half the people that follow hockey even pretty closer are like, who's Jackson Lecombe? And he gets this massive deal. What are your many contacts saying about the crazy contract? tracks later will be given out in the NHL right now. I'll tell you. So the NHL team spent $313 million on four players in the past week. Still to come, Jason. Monster deals for Connor McDavid, Alex Tuck, Jack Eichel, Adrian Kempi, and Kyle, Kyle Connor in Winnipeg. Talk to a lot of agents this week. None of them are surprised at where the contracts are going.

Get ready for some more wild ones coming. Teams are trying to get ahead of the fact that the cap is going up, next year 104, I think, and then maybe one 13 the year after. Agents think the cap is going to be higher than those numbers I just announced to you. Agents think it's going to be higher. Teams want long-term deals, believing that by year 4-5 of those deals, say a player signed for 9 million, they think that player is going to be a $13 million player in year 4 or 5.

Teams are buying free agency, and they're buying R.B. So let's go to the two defensemen, Jackson, Lecombe, and Luke Hughes. These guys went from entry-level deals. to 9 million. Those guys are honestly, like people were shocked, those are six, seven million dollars. So the one agent is sitting back right now and loving Lecommon Hughes contracts, Lane Hudson's agent. Yeah. Sixty-six points is a rookie last year in Montreal. He is going to blow past Lecommon Hughes. And that agent is sitting in a real good spot because all Lane Hudson has to do is equal what he did last year. And that is to change.

change. So top end players are going to do really well. We know that. Smart agents want lower-term deals. I'll tell you why. Look at Nathan McKinnon and Jack Hughes. They're underpaid right now. They've got term left. If Caprisov gets 100 points and Jack Hughes gets 100 points, one's making 17 million, ones making 8. How does that make sense? So it's all about timing. When are you signing? What is the cap when you signed? Canucks are in a good spot. Most of their best players are locked up with term. Patterson, Dempco, Besser, and DeBrusk.

They got the one huge contract coming up with Quinn Hughes. But they don't know right now, Jason. Hopefully. And they don't know if they'll ever even get a chance to negotiate that. Do you get the feeling that Quinn Hughes is driven mostly by winning and an opportunity to win? Like the same as McDavid in Edmonton. He's deciding.

You know, he could tell the Oilers, give me eight years and the most money I'm legally allowed to make under the CBA and they'd probably give it. And frankly, Quinn Hughes could probably do the same thing to the Vancouver Canucks. But I get the sense that both guys are being like, I'm going to be rich regardless. And if you have $100 million, like your life is pretty much the same as whether you have $150 million or whatever the number is. and then I want an opportunity to win. I want an opportunity to play in big games because the money is going to be there.

We're talking about my life here. We're talking about the enjoyment of the thing that I do really well that I'm passionate about. I want to win. I know I'm going to be rich already. Two things, Canucks have to do this year. They have to win and they have to stop the outside noise. All the soap opera stuff, that stuff wears on players.

win, show him a path and a guide, show him a pathway to being successful for the next four to six years. Okay, show them, just show them. But then there's this, Luke Hughes saying yesterday, of course, I think the three of us would love to play together someday. These brothers in New Jersey are not shy of publicly stating their desire to play with Quinn. They keep fueling the story. The story's not going to die until Quinn signs or leaves town.

But it's amazing to me that Jack and Luke are so public about, you know, yeah, we'd love to play together all three of us. Oh, Rutherford talks about it all the time too. Yeah, I know, but I just, they keep bringing it up and adding fuel to the fire and, but the Canucks have to do two things. They have to show Hughes

a pathway to being a successful franchise that can do it every year. And they cut the outside noise. Last year was a soap opera. It was ridiculous. That's the stuff that turns superstar players off. And that bugs these guys, you know, all this

you know, in the news all the time. Canucks have been, you know, they've got to stop that. Quit being the soap opera for everyone in the NHL. And, but I just, it's going to be fascinating to see where this goes with Quinn Hughes. But it would really help if you cut the outside noise out and just show the kid. He's been to the playoffs twice in Vancouver, right? And if they miss this year, it's going to be five out of six. That's not fun, right?

And there is a, and there's the pathway and guideway to playing with his two brothers, families back east. It is just the perfect scenario, but only time will tell where it ends up. Okay, let's, let's bring the noise down a little bit here in this segment and finish off with a couple of notes from Abbotsford. Remember the Kinnock's announced an extension for Manny Mahalachau a couple of weeks ago? Yeah, they did they pick up his option or something like that? Yeah, they picked up their option, but they did the same for the entire staff.

So I think that was good for the Canucks. They all got extensions, and that's a reward for winning the Calder Cup. And I think those guys put in the time. It wasn't just Manny. It's never one coach. You know, it's always the assistants put in just as many hours. You know, they get to the rink just as early as Multer does. You know, and the Sedeen twins do, you know, Olman's work in Abbisford.

It's a really good setup. It's a really good, really good setup for kids. development, all that. So I think the Canucks extended everybody down there, and I think that's good. Boy, oh boy, tough luck with injuries. That Abby first shutdown pair of Breezebaw

and JetWoo, they're out for a long time. Breeze, while I'm hearing is not just a few months, we're talking this could go into the new year. Sounds like a hip injury, hip issue. That's a very dependable pair from a whole trip. That's a pair that he leans on.

Breeze Bonw, and they're not going to be there for a long time. So let's see what defensemen the Canucks send Mahaltra's way. It looks like they're going to be young on the blue line. Like I don't know guys. I don't know, like I expect Wollander to play tonight. I don't know what the thinking is with him, right? Mancini, we talked about Kratsov, not showing his best and not, you know, sticking out for, well, guess who has stuck out for very positive reasons, Mancini.

Yeah. But it feels like there's only one spot in the lineup for Mancini or. DPD. Okay, but do you keep seven or eight defensemen? That's a good question going into the road trip that begins but you could send one of them down and then they could play I think Abbotsford starts October 10th or

11th. They have a couple of games back to back so they could play one of those and then bring them back up for the road trip. But you also don't want a Wander to sit in the press box. He needs to get, if you're not going to play out. Wellander's going down. There's no question in my mind. Don't you think? Don't you think the

decision is between Mancini and D.P. and they could in theory keep both of those guys, but then maybe there's a decision to make on putting a guy on waivers or even Lechromackie. Where do you think Lechromack? He was on the fourth line at practice yesterday, and I'm kind of like, oh, do you want him on the fourth line? Especially if you're going to be handing some matchup minutes to Blugher.

And here's another one for you, Jason. Let's say they're 20 games in and Hedel's not working at second line center, and they got to go get a second. in the second line center and they got to put in a pick. If Lakeramaki's up high in Vancouver, getting eight minutes a game, that's not attractive at other teams. But if he's down getting 20 minutes tonight in Abbisford, you know, and he's had the 15 goal mark, that's more attractive to teams.

And you might have to put into Lakeramaki. I think Sassan and Lakeramacki are in trouble. I could see them to go on. Sassan, I think almost for sure is going down. Because he's waversed exempt. Yeah, the waiver thing, they're easy to send down. don't have to clear. And so, but I just don't think it's,

La Caramacki being up here playing eight minutes and I, and he's not a fourth-line guy. He's a skill guy. I'd like to see him on, and he's not going to correct the first unit power play, and at the first unit power play is going to take a minute and a half of the two minutes on a typical power play, is he going to get much of an opportunity on a power play either? Absolutely. I want to end on a couple of notes.

You ready? Let's go. Alford. Alford. Hey. Holford. Are you there? Yeah, I'm here.

Or are you looking at English premier soccer scores on your laptop? Doing both. Let's go. Okay. Listen, where the hell do I find the White Caps game on TV on Sunday? I believe all the remainder of their games are going to be on linear cable, Rick, if I'm not mistaken. Let me double check real quick. You talk about stuff.

I've got the Mariner's Blue J. Seahawks Sunday, okay? Mm-hmm. So if the White Caps want my attention, they better be on freaking TSN. What? Don't say Apple. Don't say Apple. Well, please don't say TSN. Okay.

Hey. You said it last week, bro. What are you talking about? For how long does it take? Christmas is coming. I may have bad news for you. I think Sundays may be an Apple TV again. See, this is what I mean.

This pisses me off. Okay. So, you know what? You're going into the playoffs and people in Vancouver. So what do you got to pay for Apple? Or do you got to find it? I think the harder thing would be for you to find it. I can't find it. I spent

40 minutes last Wednesday trying to find it. I can't find it. Okay. You have to, I can't believe, like, we work for Rogers. I want to put this out there. Now I'm watching, I'm navigating someone through Apple TV live on a Rogers. Okay. You have to go to Apple TV. Apparently, MLS. How do you go to Apple TV? You need to, do you have a, this is a dumb question, do you have a fire stick or do you have an Apple TV box? I can't do this. Firestick. What are you talking about? Fireplaces? What the the fire stick. Why am I responsible for this? Okay, anyways, listen. Yeah, let's put it to something else.

Yeah. Okay, but it's on Apple. Ridiculous. White caps, be better. I'm not going to watch. I got I know you're not going to watch. That is, I love the idea of Dolly Wall typing in his email address using one of those TV remote controls and getting very frustrated. I can't do it. That does take a long time. I don't even know how to hook up a podcast. I'm in 1980s and stuck in the 80s and I'll never leave the 80s. Okay, last thing. Brough, Lions, Calgary tomorrow. Lions, stampeters, blue bombers, 16 points.

This is a big one. Huge, this is a big one. Massive. Massive game. And they're looking at 30,000. It's going to be a big crowd. They're opening up the upper bowl. And where's all those Benavitti haters?

Where's all those guys saying, Benevite's, my good pal, fire them. The defense has been great the last two weeks. And last week, the only reason the Lions won is because of the defense, So anyways, that's a big one. The Lions tomorrow, get out there. It's going to be a big crowd. They open up the upper bowl and get out there.

Rick, I can't let you go yet, okay? We have one more question for you. So, again, work for Rogers, telecommunications giant. We finally figured out the riddle that is voice messaging. We can get voice messages now on the show. A listener sent in a question specifically for you, Rick, and he did it via voice to text. going to play it now and you can answer it on the other side take it away laddie here's the

voice to text morning guys love the show uh this is raj and maple rich i love the topic of the upper or lower body injury and where the border is i tend to think anything hips and below is lower body and obviously above the hips and stuff would be upper but you guys should ask dolly when you get them on the phone because he had a conversation with donnie on their show about that And he said that the hand was a lower body injury because it hangs lower than his hips. So maybe you should talk to him about that and get his opinion. I hope you all have a great day, love the show. Now, I just want to say, you've come on the air before, and I've disagreed with countless things you've said.

But this one, I'm like, I can't believe I'm saying this. Rick Dalton will maybe on to something here. If you're standing, if you're standing up, and your hands are by your knees, It's a frickin' lara body. If we're going to go north and south of the equator, your hands do hang south of the equator. It's lower body the hands. Come on, man.

Rick may be on to something. It's amazing. Dr. Rick, everybody. Okay, now we're really got to go. We're up against the for time. Adios. Have a good weekend, buddy. Thank you.

I've never been yelled at more on my life. Rick Goliwal here on the Halford & Brough show. We're getting a bunch of, I've had texts coming into my phone, text in the inbox, people adding me on Twitter. Did he say Oman's work? Yeah, Olman's work. Nils Olman's work. Nils Omond's work.

It's very boring work. He meant to say Yomins? Yomens work. He's going to go looking for the White Caps game on Sunday and end up on the Cosmic Crisp website. I couldn't believe. Halfway through him, like, I'm explaining. I feel like I'm just explaining the internet to Frank Costanza.

Pretty much, right? And it's like this doing nobody any favors. Apple is even like, just don't bother. Just skip this one. We don't want you. Yeah, we're good. We got a lot of customers. Oh, did sticks, fire sticks.

None of them work. Yeah. I shouldn't have brought up the fire stick was my mistake. He's going to go and get one of those logs that you You know Your log

Pointing it at his TV Nothing's happening here All right We need to pull ourselves together a little bit You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough