Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 10/06/25

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at a fantastic weekend of sports as the Blue Jays go up 2 games to none in their best of five series versus the Yankees, plus they talk latest around the 'Nucks,  who get set to start the regular season on Thursday, as Canucks Central host Satiar Shah joins the show. 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. Whoa. Wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose a fucking Canucks?

Da-na-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Philip Heron to Garland, high slot, making a move to the goal to the forehead, he scores. Guerrero, that addition of 2-1 count. He's looking on load right here. 2-1. He did. He drive left field.

It was a Grand Slam! That was the most obvious Grand Slam I've ever seen him. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Alfred and his brough. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie. Good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halpert and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. This is them online at Sands-Trustee.com.

We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest price. is on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit the Middle 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. Oh man, what a weekend. An absolutely fantastic weekend in sports. We have so much to get into on the show today. I don't think I've ever been more excited to come in on a Monday. It continues to be a

challenge to lay out the first half hour or first hour of the show to avoid angering people who are like, why don't you talk about this or how did that go first? Etc, et cetera, et cetera, like the baseball, like NFL is getting knocked down. A peg or two. Take that NFL. Take that in it. Yeah, is it right? A little warning for the people.

It's going to be a lot of baseball, especially right off the hop today. And that is awesome. Bruff in studio for those that aren't watching via the stream wearing the Blue Jays white panel cap they switch to those during that losing streak and now they're on fire there's a lot to get into on the program today but we are going to spend almost the first half hour of the program talking about the baseball guest list today begins at 7 o'clock Mike Tanier our NFL insider from the two deep zone

probably be the first time that we talk NFL is in the 7 o'clock hour crazy weekend though in the national football league some big blowouts one major upset and the Seahawks and the Bucket is putting on a show in Seattle yesterday. And despite the ending, an outstanding game, we can also look ahead to tonight's Monday night or between the Chiefs and the Jags. NFL talk coming up at 7.

No more undefeated teams. That's it. They're gone. That's got to be one of the earliest in NFL history. The Seahawks at 3 and 2 are just one game back of first place overall. Sitting pretty at 3 and 2. 7 o'clock Mike Tan here for some NFL talk. 7.30, Zach Word and Associate Editor, Blue Jays, writer for Sports,

that's going to join us. If you remember Friday's show, we also. spoke with Zach Worden, associate editor, Blue Jays writer for SportsNand. We previewed the series on Friday. So in a fun little experiment, want to see what it's like because my, oh my, have a lot of things changed since Friday.

Jays are up to nothing after one of the most memorable weekends in franchise postseason history. It was incredible what the Jays did this weekend. So many stories, we'll get into all of them with Zach Wharton from SportsNet at 7.30 for some Jays talk. 8 o'clock, Satyar Shah is going to join the program. We have not forgotten about your Vancouver Canucks. This is still SportsNet 650. This is still the home of the Canucks. Well, you kind of forgot. No, we just put it at the end. Well, when I told

you this morning that I had to put the fan blogger the intro, you were like, oh yeah. That's not true. I didn't forget. It was just a distant memory. That was a pretty good game on Friday between the Canucks and the Oilers. The intensity was there. We're all excited about Lekar Mackey right now. He's looking good. I'm like, put him up on the top line. Put him on the first unit power play. Anything to just ride this wave of enthusiasm around Lecker or Mackey. So we'll talk to Sad about that and the roster decisions that the Canucks have already made pretty much. Technically, rosters are due at 2 o'clock today.

Yeah. But the Canucks made a flurry moves over the weekend. Following that game, what Greg is alluding to, by the way, is I came in here and I was like, the Garland O'T Eagle against Edmonton, was that Friday? Yeah. He's like, yes. I'm like, that feels like it was a year. It feels like it was a year ago.

Like, that's how much happened this weekend. So working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock at Satyar Shah, 7.30, Zach Worden, 7 o'clock, Mike Tanier. We have a lot to get into on the program. So without further ado, Laddie, 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? Miss that? You miss that? What happened?

What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies investing tools, resources, and safety training, visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. As mentioned, we begin with the baseball. For an organization with two World Series to its credit and plenty of unforgettable postseason moments, the Toronto Blue Jays put forth a truly memorable 48 hours of baseball over the weekend in front of their home fans in Toronto. On Sunday, it was the rookie, Trey Yassavage, setting a Blue Jays postseason record by striking out 11. Not a typo, not Halford speaking incorrectly, 11 strikeouts in 5 and a third no-hit innings.

Flattie Guerrero, the first post-season grand slam in franchise history. The Jays beat the Yankees 13-7 to take a 2-0 series lead in the ALDS. I don't think I have ever seen a series, certainly not a baseball series, maybe any season. series that's dominated to this level by one side over the first two games. I just, I cannot remember it. Maybe back in the day in the NHL where 16 of 21 teams would make it, I mean, the Cucks played the Oilers one year and like it was a best of five and they got, if they could have been swept in two, they would have been.

But this is, it's not, this isn't the same as that. This is a series where one, the Yankees were the favorites. to win this series and I mean if we go back to game one I got worried that game one started too well for the Jays like I've been fooled a few times like I think about Pavel Burrey

scoring in game three in 1994 in the Stanley Cup final Canucks came home after playing the Rangers in New York Burray scores the Pacific Coliseum is going crazy but it was too good too early too good and then Burray

ends up getting kicked out of the game and they lose game three you know put five one or something like that but it just it just kept going i mean the vladdie home run to start game one was electric then he makes that play at first and then kirk homers and then you know i started thinking like oh this is this is too good this is too good because the jays hadn't really put the yankees away. And then Judge comes up with the bases loaded, none out, and I thought

ooh, this is where the too good to be true start is going to fall apart. Gossman is starting to run out of steam a little bit. And he struck him out. He struck him out. And he struck him out on what

clearly was ball four, which would have walked or run home, Gossman actually walked the next guy on four straight pitches before taking him out, but the Jays got through that. They survived it, end up winning the game. And as for Game 2, I actually don't know what's going to stick with me longer. Trey Savage's performance, which was incredible.

Like Schlittler's performance, that was nothing. I know it was a clinching game. But you savage, he was so good, love seeing his parents in the crowd. Yeah. I don't know if it's going to be that, though, or the Grand Slam by Vladdy, because that was perfection. That swing, the moment. I mean, this series, like, I don't know what more to say to it, say about the Jays,

because everything that Jays fans wanted, they've received. they've gotten great pitching performances. They've gotten Vladdy stepping up and saying, yeah, I am a superstar. I can play in the big moments and I can deliver in the big moments. And they've also carried on their identity that made them so successful during the regular season

where people were like, oh, I don't know if this is going to translate to the playoffs. It is translated. it. Like this team, you know, you compare them to what the Yankees were doing, especially against the Savage, this team does not strike out. They put balls in play and they make it very difficult to beat them. So the one, in a weekend where there was like a million stats that came through and a bunch of records set, the one that I loved the most, is that the Blue Jays through two games in this series have more home runs, eight than they do strikeouts, seven through two games.

that is an unbelievable stat for the postseason. They did it two games in a row, which I don't believe it's ever happened in Major League Baseball. I'd have to double check that stat, but yeah, it doesn't happen often if it does. Two games in a row, 23 runs scored the most, the New York Yankees in their 100 plus year history have ever given up in back-to-back postseason games. You have to understand the historical context of what happened over 48 hours on the weekend. Because again, you go through the Jay's history. You've got the Joe Carter home run. You've got the two world series.

You've got the Joey Bats home run and the bat flip him. You've got all those things. And this series, incredibly, still very early in the playoffs, they haven't won the DS yet. But that 48 hours that happened over the weekend is right up there with some of the greatest moments in Blue Jays franchise history. So I want to parse through a few things here.

One, let's start with Vladdy. I want to play the audio. And this will give you a great, look, or more like a great sound, as to the difference in excitement on the Blue Jays side of things and the complete dejection in the Yankee side of things. We're going to play Vladie's Grand Slam from Sunday. Here's what it sounded like, courtesy Dan Shulman on Sportsnet. Deep left field, it is a grand slam for Vladimir Jr.

And here's what it sounded like, courtesy of Dave Sims, who calls Yankees games for WFAN in New York. So you got Jimenez at third, straw at second, Springer at first, went out. Guerrero at the addition of two-one count. He's looking on load right here. Two-one. He did. He drive left field, Grand Slam. You could just hear the contempt.

He was just, they were flatlined. Flatline. Dave Sims should have stuck with the Mariners, it sounds like. Stuck with the Mariners after last night. So you mentioned this already, and I won't go through it too much work because there's a couple of the things we want to get into. But when we talk, as you want to tie it back to the Canucks, like we talk about this season being this huge referendum season for the Canucks and the future of Quinn Hughes and what it all means. This is a referendum playoff for Vladig Guerrero Jr. After the very, very good but not great regular season that he had, the last.

lack of power and home runs that he hit during the regular season. And the price tag going into the playoffs. Like they were like, do you think Bradley finally was like, what if I aimed up a little bit? What if I had more of like, is launch point count? Is it a good thing? Oh, that's what everyone was talking about. Oh, this is easy. This is easy.

You got a loft it to go over the wall. Yeah, it's way easier to hit it over the wall. They don't have to run. Everybody was waiting for this moment. You brought up the stats going into Friday when we talked about like the woeful batting average, the lack of. of wins, the lack of power, for him to step up and right away. First half bat in the postseason, boom, yard.

Then making plays in the outfields, or in the infield as well, right? Making the double play at first base in game one. All of a sudden, you start looking at the series and you're like, the most dangerous guy at the plate in the series is Guerrero. It's not judge, and it's not anybody else, is Vladdy. And that really tilted things. And you play the John Boy clip. I want to play another one in a second here.

when Vladdy got to the plate with the bases loaded on Sunday and John Boy who's a content creator in MLB if you haven't heard of them go check out a Sunday Yankees fan Yankees guy but also a very good stuff he's sitting there in his like quote unquote electric chair and they're all dead because they're already down in this game all the Yankees fans and he's like I've never seen

a more obvious Grand Slam going to play and I know Bruff sent it in our text thread a couple times he's like that swing was so pure so powerful. I watched it maybe a hundred times. The bat flip perfection. Vladi shows up. It's fantastic.

Okay, I also want to get to Trey Yassavage here. What's cool about this part of it is that we can illustrate how incredible this story is while also staying true to our local sports and our roots

and our content here in Vancouver. I got to point out that five months ago Trey Yosavage was pitching in that Bailey Stadium. That's great. Can I list some of the teams he's played this year?

Yes, please. The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. Yes. The Clearwater Threshers. Love them. They hit him hard. The Hartford Yard goats. I love the Yard goats.

And, of course, in the Northwest League, the Tri-City Dust Devils. Oh, and he also took down the Yankees in the playoffs. So on May 31st, Trayy Savage was pitching against the Hillsborough hops at Nat Bailey. That's five months ago. And you mentioned the Schlittler thing. Like, Schlittler's two years older than Yassavage, had two years of pro baseball behind him, before coming in to this season being a rookie and then pitching in the MLV postseason.

Prior to this year, 2025, Trey Savage had never thrown a professional pitch, never thrown a professional baseball pitch before he made his jump from Dunedin to Vancouver, however the path went. And he just kept excelling and excelling, and they throw him out there yesterday. And he breaks a record that was held by the likes of Dave,

Steve and Juan Guzman for most strikeouts in a game by a Blue Jays pitcher. And he only lasted five in a third. Do you think, obviously he had great stuff out there, but do you think that release point was messing with the Yankees? He's got a funky arm angle, and his splitter is ridiculous. Yeah. The bottom just falls out from under it.

Part of the reason they kept him in Toronto for this start is because they were talking on the Fox broadcast about how the Yankees have this cool new, called the project system, where it actually has a hologram of the pitcher in their batting case. Crazy. And it has the right release point and everything. but they can't bring it on the road with them.

So this is really the first look at Trey is Savage and that's why they made him start in Toronto rather than in New York. Okay. And then I will, I want to just want, do you have something you want to add in? Because there was a third point I wanted to make. And it was about the Yankees.

Okay. Yeah. Because I have a, I have a question about the Yankees. Yes. Is there any way that, because right now I feel like there's a, there's a 1% chance that we're getting big time trapped

by being, I mean, all that stuff did happen. But they haven't put them away yet. No. And if the Yankees win game three, okay, just if, like they somehow find a way to win game three, right? Let's say Rodon goes out in game three and throws a jam. Or whatever. They just win it, right?

Maybe Bieber gets hit hard or something like that. I mean, the Yankees did put a few runs up late in game two. Then all of a sudden you're like, oh, Slittler gets a start in game four. Maybe he's going to repeat that performance that he had against the Red Sox. And that'll be a bullpen game for the Jays. So is there any way the Yankees can get off the mat here and find some life? And I would also throw out there, if they don't, is Boone gone? Okay, a couple questions.

First, can the Yankees come back in this series? So this was the question of the MLB Network guys were kicking around yesterday. And, you know, Arod tried to put it out there, kind of how you said. Well, if you win game three, then, it's like well now what we need to do is beat their bullpen in game four and then it's a one gamer and it was funny david artis was like you can call it in jesus they are there it's over so that but i mean that was a yankee and a red sock going toe to toe i'll say this right now well jesus won't win them game three and then all of a sudden you start to think i don't think he's

hitting that splitter though let's just put that out there well what he pitches oh yeah that's true you might have his own splitter um okay there's nothing right now that would suggest that the yankees pitching is capable of dealing with what the Jays can do up and down the lineup. Which is crazy to say, considering the Jays are missing Bo Bichette. Because they beat up their starters. I had a buddy who was talking about

the Jays and he's like, well, you know, they can bring in Bichette when he's healthy, right? He's like, no man, he's out for the series. He is not allowed to come back. He was like, what? Yeah, he can't just pop in. Like, that's why they make rules at the beginning of the series. Like, he is out. Anyway, they've wrapped up. What if he wears like a mustache?

He could, I don't know. David Schneider? Yeah, he could be David Schneider. Okay, here's a couple things. One, they've roughed up the starters, right? Heal wasn't terrible on Saturday, but he got lifted early and he did give up a couple of runs. Their bullpen stunk.

Sunday was supposed to be the game, and every Yankees fan that I knew, including AJ, was like, we're not worried, we're rolling out Freed on Tuesday, or sorry, on Sunday. That's a win, right? And in their defense, Freed has pretty much been on lock,

especially after they, when they were coming off losses this year, He was 11 and 1 with like a sub 2ERA. So anytime they needed a win, they'd go to Freed and he would deliver. And against the Red Sox he was phenomenal. He got caved in yesterday. Caved in. You guys see the shot of Vladis Homer and then immediate zoom in on his face on the bench?

He did not look happy. I think it was, you know, evident early that he didn't have his stuff. And at that point, the Yankees were like, well, we're cooked now. you can't give up 23 runs in two games and expect to be at all competitive. And they weren't. And I want to turn to some more audio here. This is John Boy, again. Great sort of cross-section between being an analyst and being a fan here

and giving you a sense of how it feels to be on the losing end of this and just how one-sided it's been. This is John Boy talking about how Yankees fans are feeling after two games down O2 in the ALDS. It almost stings. No, not almost. It stings way less because the Yanx were never. ever even in it. The Yanks aren't in the series right now. They're not even in it at all.

There's Blue Jays all the way. If they were close games and I'm bitching about pitching changes, lineup decisions, this singular play, that singular play, it would sting a lot. We got none of that. We got nothing. The Yanks are just

getting crushed. Okay, that's the Yankee side of things and the Blue Jays side of things. Yeah. So I don't friend that took his son down to Seattle for a big sports weekend and it was the Mariners game on Saturday, the Seahawks game yesterday and then they were going to walk over to the Mariners game. Wow. So they're going to go three games. That's a lot of money. Yeah. It's a nice dad. I told him I was like, you've got to remind your son that you're a pretty good dad. That's pretty awesome.

They were looking at 0 and 3 after the Mariners dropped game one and then the Seahawks in what was an incredible game and very entertaining and Halford's favorite player, Baker Mayfield absolutely tore apart a very depleted Seahawks secondary and then... Great game. And then, you know, Sam Darnold made a mistake. Slash got

unlucky on the interception. But, you know, it was an entertaining game, but the Seahawks lost it. So game three, Mariners, under pressure to avoid honestly, a real nightmare weekend.

in Seattle sports and people will be like but the Sounders won and the Huskies had a great comeback against Maryland which would have made it worse right because we don't care about that right now. It's true. It shouldn't have been down 20 nothing to Maryland anyway. So you want to talk about some of the biggest moments that

franchises have had. I don't know where Julio Rodriguez has hit on Sunday night is going to stand but in terms of how desperately they needed that win and how big a hit it was it was Rodriguez a tie-breaking RBI double in the 8th after Cal Raleigh had hit a double of his own and turned around to score. Let's hear what it sounded like because it was a huge hit.

Julio with a game-winning run coming across on a double, as the Mariners beat the Tigers 3-2 in a desperately needed winning game two of their ALDS on Sunday night, here's what it sounded like. Line drive, down the line, that's a football, and the Mariners take the lead. Julio Rodriguez has come up clutch yet again. Munoz came on on the 9th, got the saves. So the Mariners get a split in Seattle, which was desperately, desperately needed

after that disappointing loss on Saturday. I can't imagine how flat Mariners fans would be feeling if they lost the first two games to the Tigers. It would have been a huge, huge disappointment. And to get a win in a game where Scoobel started, like that is massive. I always like, if you go back to the Yankees Blue Jays series, I was always pretty confident

that the Jays were going to take game one and when they did it was kind of like good for them and they did it in fine form and fine fashion but that was probably one that they were going to win considering the pitching matchup game two was the one and I actually said I was like I think game two is the series

game two was you know game two was lurking there for the Mariners because they knew they had to face scoobling game two so game one it almost felt like if you lost game one you were going to lose game too. That's what it felt like, right? And we're looking at it and they had their opportunities on Saturday night. It went extras. It was tight and it was deflating. And you know, I got a bunch of buddies that are Mariners fans and you saw it all throughout social media as well. They're like, well, we're cooked. They haven't had a home postseason victory since 2001. And that street continued on Saturday. So to get that win

yesterday, the series is still very much up for grabs. And if you're Detroit, you still feel like you're in the driver's seat because you got the split. Yeah, you're disappointed. You didn't get a win with Scoobble on the bump on Sunday, but still, they got to be happy with it, but the Mariners fans, I don't think I've probably ever seen a home crowd more happy with getting a split in the first two games than what the Mariners fans were last night. They were beside themselves. They were so happy. And good for Cal Raleigh. You mentioned the double that he hit and he ended up scoring that run. Raleigh's been all right. He had that weak foul out in game one that was like super deflating.

You know who they don't like right now? Josh Naler. Josh Nailer's been a problem, big time, which is crazy because he was so clutch for them down the stretch. He kind of disappears, though. That's kind of been his... Well, he also gacked one at first base in the eighth inning when they got the two runs off Brass.

His shoes don't disappear. They're out there. That's a whole different conversation. They're very loud. And Ejani Oswarez has been a nightmare, too. So that's two of the guys that they picked up for this playoff. That have not played... But rally's been good.

Obviously, Julio had a huge hit yesterday. Okay, we're going to park the baseball talk for a little bit. It's amazing that we just spent an entire opening segment of what happened on baseball when the Canucks start their regular season this week. But that's how exciting the baseball has been. And only Randy from Little Mountain tuned out. Only Randy. Little Mountain, too, he tuned out?

You should be a baseball guy. A little Mountain. Come on. You guys are a wagon. Think about it, Randy. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough

Philip Aronick to Garland My slot making a move to the goal to the forehead He scores A beautiful deed by Connor Garland As he outweighed the outstretched pad of Calvin Pickard And the Canucks wrap up the preseason With a thrilling 3-2 overtime win on home ice over the Edmonton Oilers.

8.03 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brub, Sportsnet, 650. Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks.

Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in our three of the program. Satyar Shah from Kinnock Central is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 3. Hour 3 is brought to by Campbell and Pound Real Estate Apprae Measers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at

Campbell-dashbound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech, footwear, and orthotics, working together with you in step. Let's go now to our phone lines. Our next guest is the host of Kinnuck Central right here on SportsNet 650. Satyar Shah joins us here now live on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Sat, how are you? What's going on, boys? Now, just chilling. It's still basking the globe. an incredible sports weekend.

So good. The last couple days. Amazing. I was, Jay, well, you know what? The one of the best games that's not going to get any attention? Sorry, I jumped in on there. Chelsea, beating Liverpool in one of the most entertaining soccer games I've seen in a while,

the weekend started out great for you. Oh, it was fantastic. I mean, you know, but as always, the Browns made sure to let me down on Sunday morning, which was great early morning on Sunday, too. But, yeah, that football match between Liverpool and Chelsea was incredible. I mean, like Peter Drury said at the end of it, I mean, that was a perfect,

perfect, I'd say, like, I'm like half asleep. It was like a perfect advertisement for the Premier League. If you never watch Premier League soccer, watch that match, if you're not into it afterwards, then soccer's probably just not for you. But it was incredible match, great intensity. And I don't know if the better team won,

but they won, so I was happy. Okay, let's turn our attention to the Vancouver Canucks, who kind of took a back to. seat this weekend. They played on Friday night and then everything happened Saturday and Sunday. And then with everything that was going on, they made a bunch of roster decisions ahead of today's deadline. So for those that are unaware, officially, rosters need to be in to the NHL by 2 p.m. our time today. It seems as though the Canucks have taken care of all their business. What was the big takeaway for you, Sal? Was it the guys that got cast away or was it

the guys that made, at least as far as we know it right now, the opening night roster. Yeah, I think it was just, are they actually going to hold on to Coots? And I suppose, you know, until we get the roster come in in the next couple hours here, unless they make some sort of a trade, we don't know for sure. But that was the thing I was wondering about it. For all this talk about how impressed they are with Coots, would they actually hold on to them and say, let's start the season, give them a couple of games. And I do think the injury to Hoaglander did open that up.

But I don't think we had any big surprises. the biggest question I had was really about the back end. Not so much that I thought, you know, Villander or Mancini would start here, but if P.O. Joseph is more than just a little banged up and if Derek Forbert, you know, needs a little bit more time, would that allow one of those young

D to make the team? And I even checked in on both those guys and the team feels like they're going to be fine and they're going to be back here this week. And that's the reason why they didn't send Mancini and they didn't hold on to Mancini and we'll see what happens here the next day or so. But I don't know if we had

any surprises based on how things unfolded. Maybe the biggest one being seeing at practice that they kept Baines with Hedel and Garland and that they feel like they want to give him a shot and that's like a roll right away. I thought his preseason for the most part was pretty good. The last game was all right, but it wasn't a standout preseason like we saw from Lekromacki, for instance, and like we saw from Brain and Coutts, obviously. That's pretty true for even guys like Carlson and Rotsie. They had good moments, but it wasn't, you know, start to finish being impressive

throughout the preseason. But outside of that, I think it was pretty standard. I don't think we had any moves at a left field we didn't expect. I think it was pretty much expected to be this way when they finished the last pre-season game against the Oilers on Friday. Well, to the people that are complaining about Baines on a line with Hedel and Garland, I completely understand where you're coming from. But then I would suggest, what's the alternative?

Because I think you want to keep Kane with Kutz and Lekormacki they looked pretty good so Holglander's out what is the alternative to Baines with Hedel and Garland is it

Ratu up there is it like is it is it Carlson because I don't think Carlson acquitted himself

very well and I don't think he's got the wheels to be on the second line in the NHL so who else would go there I think the only

player you could make an argument for would be Drew O'Connor to play in that spot instead, has size, has speed. But if you do that, then all of a sudden, do you even have a checking line? For instance, with Blue Gerd, Drew O'Connor, and Sherwood, I think you want to have some veterans that can take some, you know, tough face off from time to time, or not to be the match-up line, but on line they can do some dirty work.

And I'm not sure you want to put a young player on that type of a line. So I'm with you. I don't think it's perfect looking at it, but it was either Carlson, and to your point, he wasn't any better. And I think Baines is quicker than he is, and I think he's faster getting in on the forecheck. I think that's what they want. They want a guy on the left wing to be a bit of a dirty work player. And we know this coaching staff, well, I mean, foot going back to talk it as well,

they like having the handedness, you know, having a left shot with a right shot, having, you know, the center in the middle. Like they want to have guys that complement each other skill set-wise and have a guy that's a bit of a checker. So the only player I can make an argument for is Drew O'Connor, but then all of a sudden, you know, are you putting a lot of pressure then on the line that has to be some dirty work and have been in some disadvantageous situations? and do you want to put that on a young player?

So I don't know if they had, to your point, any better choices? Any other choice would have been a young, more unproven player or playing a guy on the left side as a right shot. And I guess Ratu could, but even so, I think Ratu's preseason wasn't miles better than Bames. I think he had that one game. He was really good on the road, of course. He had a decent game at home. But I thought Baines had pretty much the same type of showing.

And he fits in, I think, skill set-wise, because he's a little bit quicker for what they want on that line, I think it just makes more sense. But for all this talk about lines, guys, we sit here, we do this every single year. We're like, this guy with this guy, and, like, all these lines, and then literally 15 minutes into the first game, it all blows up, and it's different.

So, we need games to start, because right now we're just talking hypotheticals, and there's always this assumption that the lines are going to stay intact all year, and they seldom make it out of the first game. Okay, here's where I do have time for the people that are hoping for different things. I have time for people saying that Lecker-O-Macki should be on the first game. student of power play. Yes. Yes. I mean, that shot is, I mean, it's, it's off his stick so quickly. It's incredible. And it's, there's no wind up necessary. And he just looks like he's more

confident as well. I know it's preseason, but he's more assertive. He's on his spot. He's, his shot radius is impressive for a player who's not really big either. And he just picks shots off really well. I love to have that threat on the first unit. And, you know, I understand because Kane's the veteran and Debruss, you know, scored all those goals last year and they paid Brock Besser that you want to start with this. But all three of those players, their best spots are either playing the bumper spot or playing a front of the net, all three of them. Kane, I think is probably the one that's most adept with his shot to perhaps play the half wall, but even so, that's not his natural spot. Lechromackie's spot is, that's his

spot. That's what he should be playing. So I think in terms of complimenting your skill sets, I'd much rather have Lechromackie there. I'm not sure it happens right away. Maybe it's the whole veteran thing, you want to massage it a little bit, give those guys a chance, and then you bring the kid in. But to me, you have three forwards that have essentially the same skill set, except for Brock being the right-hand shot, as opposed to those two being lefties. And I just think Lekromacki is far more natural picking shots and playing on that, playing on the half wall. And I just think his quickness as well, just not he's not super fast, but he's shifting he plays quick. I think having that does give him a different element as well.

So sad, I think the vibes are pretty good around the Canucks right now. They're excited about some of the young players they've got on the team. They're excited that Demko is healthy and looks like his game is back. But I have to say, lingering in the back of my mind throughout the preseason was that top line at five on five didn't do much. No, not at all. And also, the question I have about that line, too, is we know we were just talking about Baines, Heedle and Garland, and Baines isn't perfect, but he can be the digger on that

line? Who's a digger on that line? Is DeBrusk the guy that has to be that guy? And he can do it to some extent. He's the fastest player on that line when he's going, but he's not a natural, consistent shift in and shift out, worker along the walls that's going to dig pucks out and play with speed consistently. Like he can do those things. He does them at times. He has elements of his game that are really good in those parts. He can be good along the walls, but that's not the shift in his shift out consistency in doing so. that's not his game. So I get you want to start the season here.

Maybe he can do it and you put these guys together. Again, it's early parts and you're trying to make things work. And perhaps you cast lightning in a bottle and you get hot for a couple weeks or even four or five games. You score a bunch of goals before it dries off. Like I get the thinking behind it. But I just don't see the skill sets complementing each other all that well either. And I get it is preseason. So we have to give it a chance when the regular season begins, perhaps the intensity goes up a bit.

But I really do think you need to have some. that does a lot of dirty work. And, you know, when we go back to the lot of line before, you know, it all kind of blew up, the reason it worked so well is because JT was an absolute dog on the forecheck, especially his first year playing the wing. Like he was on top of things, skating fast, getting in there, knocking guys over, winning pucks and constantly making things happen. And his game evolved, obviously, to play center a bit more.

And then any time those guys got together, then we're never able to recreate that. But unless you have a guy that's going to be digging pucks out, getting on the forecheck, throwing bodies around and going out there and creating a little bit of havoc, I just don't know if you have consistent time and space because you see you're not going to be able to glide through the neutral zone and create rush chances all the time. So when the puck gets in,

how often you outnumber guys and win a lot of puck? And I just don't see that with that line. Having that type of player can do that consistently shift in and shift out. I know the team likes having Evander Cain with the young kids, Coots and Leckermackie, and I get that too. He's a bit of a bodyguard out there. and he can compliment them as well. What have you thought about Evander Cain so far in the preseason?

Well, the preseason is over. So what did you think about him in the preseason? Because there might be some people that suggest putting him up on the top line with Pedersen and Bessor. That's actually what I was thinking. That's the line I would have liked to see was Gokane, Pedersen, and Besser. But I understand, again, especially with Coots and Lachromacki. what I know that there's this thought that he's a slow player

he's actually deceptively quick and fast and I know during the preseason he doesn't really get after it but there are times when he decides to push off he can get there pretty quickly the thing I like the most about his game with those young guys especially he's played with star players before so you understand where to be

and how to support the play and you saw him oftentimes just make those small little subtle placards being in the right spot and then supporting both Coots and Lechromacki especially when they entered the zone and through the neutral zone There are a number of times he just got to a spot, received a pass.

I'd have moved it along to another player or just got it into the zone and allowed somebody else to skate onto it. So he's got the IQ to play with really talented hockey players, of course. And when it comes to those young guys, the thing I do like, too, is he does draw lines really quickly. As soon as somebody starts throwing bodies at, you know, those guys, we sell a Lekromackie,

he pulls a guy aside, he'll say something to him. He'll, you know, it doesn't happen. It's not always a fight, obviously. He'll be always smiling. But I do think having that type of edge, when you have those two young guys out there, not that it's going to stop somebody from necessarily taking a run, but maybe one out of five times you think twice

instead of running the guy through. And I think the young guys, that helps out. But I do think if he stays healthy and he's, you know, focused, he's a player that can complement star players. He can forecheck. He's good along the walls. Like, he does a lot of dirty work well. It's just a matter of him doing that consistently.

And obviously, being in a position where you are getting the best out of him, you know, game in and game out. But I do think his skill set is something. this team does lack. We're speaking to Satyar Shah from Connecticut Central right here on SportsNet 650 on the Halford & Brough Show, also on SportsNet 650. Sadd, if you're in charge of the messaging

to both the player and the fan base in explaining the move, what are you saying? How is your messaging going to go about Victim Ancini not making the opening night roster? I just, I mean, I would say it's a non-factor. I'd say you shouldn't be worried about this at all because if they didn't have P.O. Joseph, for instance, and if they didn't need, if they didn't have the waiver ineligibility

where they could pass through waivers, then he would be here, no questions asked, and they wouldn't worry about it. But they have the luxury to not rush any of these guys up. And with the way DPD has played going back to last season, and with their need to get off to a good start this year, I totally understand why you start with DPD and you start with forward. He's been around there.

And that's your top six. and if those guys aren't playing right away and training camp's still going on with Abby the guy games coming up and Delander still needs time Mancini can still work on stuff why not keep skating and playing and working on your games another couple weeks and then these guys come back up again

like I think Mancini clearly is more talented than the P.O. Joseph. Belander I think obviously has more upside but he needs time and work to work on his game but Mancini especially he can be on this team but why have him here be the eighth defenseman? You can call them up whenever that need arises. So it's just temporary. I bet you Mancini's going to play a bunch of games to this

team. And as soon as somebody gets hurt, he'll be the first guy up. And also, when you look at Derek Forward and you look at guys like Myers over the years and even Marcus Pedersen, a guy's going to get hurt. They're a bit older as well. I mean, he's going to get his chance. And I see this as a non-story because they have the luxury to do this. If they didn't have the luxury to do this and they still did it, I'd be like, okay, what the hell is going on? What are you guys, you know, what is this type of decision making. But I don't see the rush to bring these guys up. There's 82 games on the season.

They'll play plenty of games. And you're in a position where you can kind of have the best of both worlds, where you bring guys along slowly and still field, you know, six of your best defensemen capable of playing night in and night out. And I bet you, I mean, what I would like to see, though, is if, say, Forber is now ready or something happens to one of the defensemen, I don't want to see Keog at the first game. That's where I want to see somebody get called up and play.

Sure. He's kind of there as the extra body. I mean, I like to see that. But, you know, I don't see it as an issue. I know fans love Mancini and want to see him play. And the other part of it is, too, if you're looking at it as you have Hughes and Hronick out there doing their thing. And then you have Myers and Marcus Pedersen being your shutdown pair, especially to start the season. You probably want to be as safe as possible with your third pair.

You want to have the roles for PK. You want to make sure that they take some tough defensive zone faceoffs. You're trying to get off to a good start. I totally understand going this way. And I don't think it should be viewed. as a negative on Mancini or a negative on the decision making, I think it's a situation born at a luxury.

Sad, are you awake yet? Did you wake up during this hit? Is your brain good now? I'm good now, yeah. Okay. Here's a question for you. Where would you rank Quinn Hughes when it comes to all the players in the NHL? Because we're seeing various rankings

coming out right now, you know? Like, here are the top 100 players in the NHL. And I've seen some rankings that have him number 10 I think that was NHL networks and I was like that's ridiculous like below guys like vasselowski and hellabuck and you know those guys are good goalies obviously and I know laddie would probably have them one too but I'm honestly I watch this guy play more and more and besides McDavid I mean I love McKinnon I think he's a terrific player I think McCar is a great player

and I can't wait to cheer for him in the Olympics. Drysidle is an amazing player. But besides McKinnon, I don't know personally if there's another guy I'd want on the Canucks other than Quinn Hughes. Honestly, guys, I have him number three. That's where the list.

I have McDavid McKinnon and I have Quinn Hughes number three. And you can make the argument to Keel McCarr because I got Keel right behind him. I don't care. I mean, do you want to have Macar 4 and Quinn 5 or McCar 3, Quinn, 4, whatever. Like, do it.

I don't care. I don't have no time arguing who's better McCar and Quinn. Like, it's Spider-Man meme, right? But I'm with you. I don't think there's another forward in the league or a defenseman or a goalie. I'd rather have on my team than Quinn Hughes or Kill McCar. Without a doubt. Like, with a bullback, no doubt.

I mean, the other part of it is, we used to say back in the day, well, the forwards can impact the game more because ultimately they score more points. And yes, that's still true. But who plays 27 minutes a game? Yeah, I never agreed with that argument with the points. like the defenseman and maybe that was just because I'd watch this Canucks team go for five decades without having that type of defenseman and losing the Stanley Cup final to all these Hall of Fame defensemen

like your argument about the point about how much they play is massive like Quinn can control a game when he's out there versus when he's not it's like two different games are being played well yeah and the other part of it is like I think you know people it's funny when people talk about for instance going back to Mancene. They're like, well, make him into a forward. Watch him, lug to puck up the ice and play a wing and he'll be a superstar.

Well, if he's playing forward, he's going to be up the ice half the time. He's not going to be able to have the puck in his own end and carried up all the way up the ice. I mean, Quinn is essentially quarterback in this team all the time. And when he's on the ice and we saw the staff. I know Duran has talked about this quite a bit last year. There aren't many players, if any players, who tilt the ice in their team's favor and produce more points per minute played than an impact the game than Quinn used it last year. It's incredible what he does.

And I know people want to talk about, well, one defensively along the walls. I'm like, I don't care, dude. Like, this guy is just dominating the puck every time he's out there. And when he plays, this Canucks team is not only a playoff team. Like, they're a team that's a hard team to play a game. The only sad part is he can't play 16 minutes. And if he did, I mean, this team might win a Stanley Cup, right?

I mean, that's how good they might be. But I don't think people understand how much he controls a game. And I think on TV, you don't really see it because you don't see half the ice. But when you get to see him in. in person and you see him, you know, live, the way he impacts the game, you're right, but the only other guy that I see consistently is Nathan, is Connor McDavid. And I, when I put Nathan McKinnon number two, because he just terrifies me every time to see him, like the way he gallops up the ice, he's just, he's just such a force of nature

that it's just, it blows my mind every time watching Nathan McKinna play hockey. But there aren't players that impact the game more than Quinn Hughes does. And when we talk about paying Quinn Hughes, I don't think there's a money that's, I don't think there's a dollar a month, that's too much to pay Quinn Hughes. You give him 20% of the cap, it'll look like a bargain three years from now. Like, it doesn't matter what you pay guys like that. And, you know, I think as far as the league is concerned, yeah, keep putting him 9s, 10th, 11s, whatever, and say he's overrated. It's the dumbest thing I've seen in my life.

I mean, the guy's an incredible hockey player. And he's completely unique. Like, he's completely, there hasn't been a single player which team that plays the way Quinn used plays. And you can talk about Phil Howells League and bring up guys in the past. Nobody plays the way Quinn played. so the list by the way the one that you guys are both referring to is the most recent one from NHL.com

which has Hughes at 10 so it goes like understandably McDavid 1 McKinnon 2 dry siddle 3 fine McCar comes in at 4 so it's the number one defenseman which I think you can be here Sid's ahead of Quinn on that list

which I love Sid I love Sid Quinn is a better player than Sid right now right now yeah Kutroff's ahead of him I wouldn't take Kutrov I might have time to consider talking about Barkoff, even though he's hurt now. Crosby, no. The goalie's, that's almost a

separate conversation for me, but Hallibuck and Vazelowski are not bad choices, and then Hughes comes in at 10, so. Regardless, it's awesome that the Canucks have one of the players on in the top 10, the very least. I'm with sad, like you could easily make an argument that he's three or four, because I think him and... I think him and... I think him and McCarer would be

interchangeable on that list. Hey, I had another, we're casting you in all these different roles here on the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. if you were the gambling type, would you be able to put an over-under on how many games you think Braden Coots would play in the NHL this year? Like it would be enticing to betters.

Oh, okay. You know what? Nine and a half. Yeah, okay. I was going to try and throw something exciting out there like 41 because that's half of an 82 game season. But I feel like everyone would hit the under on that. Nine and a half would be a good one to tantalize people for sure.

Yeah, because, I mean, And the 41 is, that one's actually super cool because we're not just talking about burning the ELC year. We're like, has he playing well enough where you can let him accrue a season and he's going to be here full time? Like that, to me, is a big pressure point that you have to make a decision by. And that's like, that would be super sexy though. If he, you're actually, he goes that far and you're like, you know what? We're just going to burn the ear because he's this good. Like, he's going to stay here all year.

To me, that would be super exciting. We'll see if it comes to pass. But nine and a half to me is the number because I do think the ELC year is somewhat overrearing. generally speaking, you can see the benefits on both sides to burn the year regardless whether you send him down or not. So I think we get so caught up in the nine games thing, and it's not like we're living in the

flat cap world like we did before where it's like well, I don't care about not signing him a long term, they'll just have a cheap player for three years and you know where we can stay under the cap. Like I don't see those pressures for the Canucks. So for me it's nine and a half where if he's play well enough and even if you don't think he's going to stay here long enough, but you don't

think he's going to stay here all year and burn the entire year, but you look at it and say, he's been so good for us that let's just have him for 25 games like who cares he's going to help us with 20, 30 games that to me will be very interesting It's funny, I was actually thinking the other day like we don't get much burn the ELC

talk anymore. Burn the first year remember that used to dominate the conversation He can't burn is like he played 10 games and the house falls down or something like that The glory days of Connects Talk Radio about burning an ELC Sam we're way up against it for time buddy thanks for doing this as always we genuinely appreciate it

Hey just a few more days before we can finally start watching some regular season Canucks hockey. I know, can we always love it, boys. Looking forward to chatting again soon. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. That's Satyar Shah, Canucks Central host here on the Halford Inbrough show on Sportsnet, 650. Hey, Alfred, you know how your aunts has

gone into this year with the idea that he's going to try and not like crow about things that he's right about anymore? No more, I told you so. No more, I told you so. I'm going to try my best to stop cutting you off.

I don't think it's going to work. I got so excited because I was texting Sat about the Chelsea match because it was an unbelievable match. And I know he's a big Chelsea supporter. I know that was a big win for him. So I cut you off because I was happy for Sat. You were just excited about Estavaux's late winter, the 18-year-old Brazilian.

Chelsea just keeps buying him, man. Just keeps ringing them in. Liverpool has spent some money too. I know. But Chelsea's been doing this for over the course of like, four years without any of the success that Liverpool has had. Jamie Carriger had a great analogy about why Liverpool is very exciting to watch, but ultimately won't win.

He said they play football like it's basketball, like it's just up down, up down, up down, up down. He said you can't keep that pace and play that pace and be a winning team because you're just at some point you're essentially trading chances, right? There's no sort of defensive structure to it. See, I let you finish that entire thought. That's good, thank you. You were thinking about cutting him off the whole time.

For sure, I was like, we've got to go to break. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.