Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 10/08/25

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk yesterday's Blue Jays loss to the Yankees as the Jays were unable to pull off the sweep, plus the boys discuss the latest hockey news with NHL insider Frank Seravalli. 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. It's a drive down the line. If it's Ferris' moment, it is. It's time. It was best player in the game type performance. It was, you know, special. The Mariners won it tonight.

A final score of eight to four over the Tigers. They lead the best of five series. Two games to one. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough.

It is SportsNet 650. We are coming live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adah, good morning to you. Good morning. Lattie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brought for 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 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 them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintecher.

Tech Studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in step. Big show ahead on a Wednesday. Lots to get into on the program. Guest list today begins at 6.30, and one of our favorites is making his return to the Halbro Show. David Amber is going to join us at 630. Sportsnet Hockey Night in Canada. NHL host is going to join the program. He's going to join us ahead of a big, all-Canadian double header in the NHL tonight,

and you can see it all right here. on Sportsnet. At 4 o'clock, the Maple Leafs host the Habs in Toronto. 7 o'clock, the newly re-signed Connor McDavid and the Oilers host the Calgary Flames in Edmonton. Canucks fans are going to want to pay extra special attention to that second game, given that the Canucks face the flames tomorrow night at Rogers Arena in the season opener. Lots to discuss with David at 6.30 this morning. 7 o'clock, Frank Sarah Valley is going to join the program. NHL Insider, host of

Frankly Hockey on the Victory Plus Network. Yeah, that's his new gig. We'll talk to Frank about a lot of things going on around the league. Frankly, it's hockey today. We got frankly speaking. We got frankly hockey.

All kinds of Frank related puns and titles. It's great. Frankly, I can't wait to speak with Frank. That's going to happen at 7 o'clock this morning. A lot of games in the NHL last night that we can get through as well. Florida Beach Chicago and there's Stanley Cup defense. That was followed by a very interesting result from Madison Square Garden where the

visiting penguins scored three times. The home New York Rangers, captain by J.T. Miller scored zero times, meaning not only did J.T. Miller lose in his first game as captain, but Arter Silovs got the NHL's first shutout of the season. We'll talk to Frank about all that at 7 o'clock. 7.30. Randy Janda's going to join the program. Connecticut's color analyst right here on Sports 10. 650. Canucks practice today, 10.30 a.m. at Rogers Arena. That is all ahead of, as mentioned. Tomorrow's season opener, the home opener against the Calgary Flames. We'll talk to Randy about all that at 7.30. 8 o'clock hour is entirely Halbro. Yeah, final hour of the program is just Jason and I. We may do an entire hour of what we learned. It's not too sure yet.

Got to see what the user submissions, the listener submissions are like. Text in now if you've got a what we learned. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650. Hashtag it. W.WL. And tell us what did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports. Working in reverse on that guest list. 7.30, Randiip Jan to 7 o'clock. Frank Saravalli 630, David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Greg, to tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? 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. I remember yesterday, yesterday morning, when you were talking about the tremendous opportunity that the Blue Jays had last night at Yankee Stadium. Yep. What happened? It got even more tremendous.

As a matter of fact, it exceeded my. wildest expectations when the Jays were up 6-1, but alas, it all went south from there. Aaron Judge hit a monster towering, tying home run, and then drove in four runs total for good measure, a clutch performance for the ages and the best of his career, I would say. New York Yankee staved off elimination, rallying from, as I mentioned, five runs down to defeat the Jays 9 to 6 on Tuesday night in game three of the ALDS. Let's hear it now, Greg. the judge blast. This is the

Fox call, if I'm not mistaken. His moment. Aaron Judge goes yard off Louis Varlum. Two-strike pitch. It's a drive down the line. If it's fair, it's his moment. It is. It's kind. George has arrived.

That was a great call. If it's fair, it's his moment. Both things were true. Can we keep this to his moment? Can this just be his moment? And then that's it. Well, we're going to find out real soon, Maddie. The one singular moment.

We're going to find out in about 12 hours time. Can I, uh, go. Can I, uh, do you want to talk? You go first. Okay. And it's very polite of you. Okay. To cede the floor to me, but you go first.

Okay. We got a text in this morning. And, um, it was from Matt and Surrey. And he said, okay, I know the Jay lost. They were due to have one of these kind of games. No worries at all. And just saying, he adds, if a snapshot of Vladdy's Superman slide last night is in the cover of MLB 26, there's something wrong with this world. That was an awesome slide. And that was Big Man coming down the tracks, get out of the way. No one's slowing this train down. I've got a more, I've got a more prescient text

that I think will set up your little spiel here. It's one from Comox. Real simple. Texted in this morning at 5.51 a.m. And he asks, do you guys think the Jays blew it last night? Okay. I know the Jays are still up to one in the series. And I know that I have a reputation for being a bit of a jackal. Not you. It's well learned.

No. But we do, we all have to admit, we do have the makings of one of the great sports collapses in Canadian history. We have the makings of it. There he is. Remember that the Jays have a bullpen start today. And the Yankees have Cam Schlittler on the mound coming off that terrific performance in game three against the Red Sox. Now, panicky Jays fans will insist that the Jays hit Schlitler hard when they saw him.

True. But here's the thing. The Yankees can hit two. and they showed it last night and the Jays to me and I think to everyone else in the moment

maybe not after the game where I thought they looked pretty composed but in the moment I thought they looked big time rattled this Jays team does seem to run hot and cold more than others

remember it was literally two weeks ago that John Schneider, the manager, was doing his best to avoid a full-on panic as the Jay's stumbled down the stretch. Since then, to their credit, they've pulled themselves together to clinch the AAL East and the wildcard by. They watched the Yankees eliminate the Red Sox. They destroyed the Yankees in games one and two. And they took a 6-1 lead in game three and all but booked their

tickets to the ALCS. And yet, seemingly with one swing of Aaron Judge's bat, and I know there are other things, but that was the moment, we're back to trying to avoid a full-on panic. This team runs hot and cold. And can we also say that they came into this postseason with a bit of a reputation? they were a reputation of a young team well not a young team but like I would say like a you know what the best word to describe them was was like unproven and maybe a bit immature sure we all wanted to know how Vladdy would perform in this series and in this postseason and it looked amazing and when things were going well it looked even better so all I'm saying is that the ingredients are there for a collapse. And now we're going to find out what this team

and what this group is really made of. So in light of that... Is that fair? Yeah, in light of that, I think we should turn our attention back to the guy that you name check a couple times in that soliloquy. The manager, John Schneider, who when the team was floundering a couple weeks ago,

got to the point. Not only did he try and calm everyone down. He swore. He said, I swear. He said a swear. He said the sky is not effing falling. He dropped an F-bomb. Not yet.

He was like he might in two weeks, but. Schneider was asked about this notion of, is this the beginning of a collapse? In light of the fact that the Jays did have a 6-1 lead in an elimination game, and it was the Yankees' largest comeback ever in an elimination game in franchise history. Emulation game. I don't even know what that is. So Schneider was asked about all that.

is what the manager had to say in the aftermath of a 9 to 6 loss to the Yankees last night. Yeah, I mean, we had a spot in the ALCS in our hands when the series started. You know what I mean? I know it's 6 to 1 in the third inning, but we still have a spot like that tomorrow. You know what I mean? So these guys will be ready to go. You know, it's it's really comforting for me to see them do that all year. I know they're going to do it again tomorrow and you have to kind of take out the outside noise

that comes to playing here and all that kind of stuff. So I got all the confidence in the world and these guys showing up tomorrow ready to go and just doing their normal day and competing their asses off. Ooh, almost another swear there. Okay, so a very good, sort of typical manager speak in the aftermath of a loss.

It's like, this is a loss, not unlike any other loss. We just regroup, and all we got to do is win one more game and we move on to the ALCS. We could have won it yesterday, but instead we can win it today. And I'm like, that's good managing right there. You keep the troops calm. Nobody's freaking out.

Didn't even have to drop a swear. He's comforted. You heard him say that. I would not be comforted. That's not the word I would use. I wouldn't be comforted because when we were going through the game yesterday, and I was, a couple of people reached out to me on Twitter.

Like, you were pretty confident yesterday. I was like, yeah, you know when I was really confident, when they were up 6'1, and they, for the third straight game, did the thing that they did in the first two games, which was rough up a Yankee. starter and generate a ton of offense and go yard again, lest we forget that one of the big moments early in that game

was Vladdy going yard yet again. What I didn't have on my bingo card was the way in which they lost that game. I had yesterday, I did, you know, hold the option. They might lose that game yesterday, right? Even though I was like kind of talking pretty confident on the air.

I thought, if they're going to lose this game, it's going to be a super tight Yankees are fighting tooth and nail with their backs against the wall and it's a tight game that goes right down to the ninth or maybe extras. Or Beaver's going to get blown out.

They're going to lose by a massive margin. There's going to be like, let's just flush it and get to that bullpen game. Nowhere on the bingo card did I have the Jays kicking the ball around and handling it like it was a live grenade which is so atypical for this team.

Like it just doesn't really make sense. It doesn't? No, they're not a bad fielding team. They haven't been a bad fielding team all year. Look in the environment they're in, man. I understand. Look at, look around one time in your life and look in the environment and consider the situation that they're in.

All I'm saying is they're not a bad fielding team. Like there wasn't any pressure when IKF booted the ball in the beginning. Like it was just a routine grounder that he completely gacked on. The barger one, bad, bad. And by the way, I did not like it. And then the crowd starts to get. get into it and then and then things start rolling the other way it's sports this so what i'm saying so what i'm saying is so what i'm saying is of the the ways that i thought that they would lose

that game i didn't have that one but it happened and that gave me pause because when a team starts to do things that it doesn't normally does it's kind of what you're talking about it's is the momentum turning are the baseball god suddenly not in your favor are you feeling the pressure because, again, I think the biggest takeaway from yesterday's game for me was that they blew a five-run lead in an elimination game. And it doesn't matter when it was, because I know Schneider made a point. That's your biggest takeaway. Wow, that was everyone's takeaway.

It's not just they. You know, who I'm most disappointed in is Shane Bieber. That was probably his worst start as a Jay. And he didn't even have to be great. They spotted him six runs early. And all he had to do was get through four, maybe five innings. You can give up two, three runs. but no, they just...

Did they take him out too early at the same time? I don't think so. That's a tough one. I just wish he had a better performance because that would have quelled a lot of that early part of the comeback. That's a tough one because here's the other thing that I don't like about where this is sort of trending. At the beginning of the series,

it was very obvious that game four was going to be a bullpen game, right? That was, you know, when they didn't put Bassett on the roster and they didn't put the choice. Everyone was like, game four is a bullpen game. You've been talking about the bullpen game since the beginning of the series because that was the one that was going to line up with Schlitler. If that's the case,

it seemed awfully strange that Bieber got lifted with 53 pitches yesterday. I don't know if you saw it on Twitter yesterday, but Vernon Wells, all-time Jay's legend, took to Twitter to say, if you know that this bullpen game is coming, you know,

days almost a week in advance, you don't lift your... Because they wanted to put it away. They didn't want a game four. I mean, they gambled. They gambled and lost. They gambled and lost. It's not the end of the world,

but there was a gamble. and the people that defend the decision to take Bieber out will say, well, it was an aggressive move. You know what else was an aggressive move and a gamble that I really didn't like was that putting Barger in for the kill shot. That was another thing. They went 0 for two on aggressive moves

and then he struck out. Lucas was right there. They didn't make the bad error. Thanks for coming out. You want to talk about like the environment getting to them and the emotions of the close-out game getting them. I was like, when Barger came up for ICF, I remember thinking like this feels like a wildly aggressive move

and a manager looking for a kill shot for a team that the way they kill everyone isn't it's death by a thousand paper cuts it's never been it was like being at the blackjack table and be like I am on fire right now I'm going to make an even bigger bet kind of kind of like that and then he needed to come out of the game and then he needed to get out he needed to come out of the dealer's showing six and you're like oh that's a bust card and then it's like oh 16 five oh 21 I lose I'll be honest with you

I kind of hope we get a game 5 Laddie's gonna hate me for saying this but I personally exercised my demons with the Jays in 1992 and can you allow me like two minutes to be old man here I lived and died

with the Jays when I was a kid now I have to admit I'm more of a curious observer I hope they do well because I've got a lot of friends who are or Jays fans, but I'm more of a neutral observer. Yeah, I do. He hopes everyone has a good time and no one gets hurt.

Yeah, you know, I'm such a good guy. But here's the thing about the, and J, Laddie, you probably know this, but you didn't live it, right? You didn't live the 92 World Series, right? I was too young to remember. You were too young. Okay, here's the thing about the Jays before they won in 1992. There were some very painful losses before they finally got over the hump, and frankly, the Jays were labeled.

as chokers. They blew a 3-1 ALCS lead in 1985 to Kansas City. They had a brutal late-season collapse in 1987, so they didn't win the division that year. In 1989, they lost the ALCS to Oakland. In 1991, they lost the ALCS to Minnesota. In 1992, in 1992, Everyone will know that they won the World Series and they beat Atlanta and probably people remember the play that did it. But it was beating the A's in the ALC that got them over the hump.

And you kids out there go learn about game four against the athletics, the powerful athletics who I think had won like three World Series or something like that before that. And Alamar's home run been to three world series. Okay. Alamar's home run off of Dennis Eckersley.

At the risk of laying it on a bit thick, that's when they stopped being chokers and became champions. Yeah, no, you're right. This is the moment that the Jays need to find in one of these next two games. Otherwise, this is their, I don't know, where are they in the matching part of the, are they up to losing the AL? LCS in 91 or are they still collapsing in 1987 or is this their choke in

1985 I don't know I think they're a little closer to match they don't have to match up completely but teams need to you know some some teams they just like they hit and then they win and then it's like wow that's crazy where did they come from but the jays of you know there's a narrative here and I think you know although the team has has changed a lot around the likes of Vladdy like I I thought, I thought if you're looking for some symbolism, Laddie's play at first base was, yeah. Now, you said Laddie.

Okay, Vladdy, well, Laddie doesn't have made the play. Vladdy's play at first base was symbolic because everything had been going right for Vladdy until around that moment, right? He had made a great play in the field in game one. Yep. And then, like, that was a tough play to make, for sure. I didn't even put it in my list.

No, no, no, it was a tough one of them, but it wasn't good. No, it would have made the play. But he at least maybe should have gotten something on the ball. Should have knocked it down or whatever. Whatever. I thought that was symbolic. And now, you know, I'm not going to sit here and say, like, they're done or whatever. I have lots of friends texting and saying, they are losing this series now.

But I think it is yet another, let's spin it the right way, because I'm feeling in a good mood today, and say, like, this is the opportunity to feel. find the Alamar home run. Well, this is why I kept bringing up, and as you scoffed at my takeaway, that it wasn't just that they lost. It was that they had the game in their grasp. Yeah, but everyone knows that. I was just saying it was obvious. We're not talking.

My takeaway was that they blew a 6-1 lead in a clinching game. Yeah, because, again, I didn't realize the numbers were so skewed heavily in favor of a team that is leading by five in an elimination game. Yankees are the first team in MLB postseason history to be down by 5 plus. runs in a sweep situation and come back and win it. The first team in MLB history. I was talking to a couple of Yankees fans last night, including AJ, and they're like, we were cooked.

They had, because again, at that point, everything that J's did in the first two games had happened again. They ran through Rodon, was not good. Vladdy went yard again. Everyone was putting bats on balls. Varsha was staying hot. Ernie was like hit the ball. Right?

Like everything was going. I can't wait to see. Yankee Stadium today. Look, this is exciting. This is, this is, this is awesome. And, okay, we'll talk some more Blue Jays as we go along and we'll get into the start of the NHL season, which we really haven't talked about. Also, hold on, sorry, by the way, it is, it hasn't been announced, but it's been reported

that Louis Varlane, who gave up the home run to Aaron Judge yesterday, is going to start the bullpen game today for the Jays. And we had a couple texts coming. And one just came in, as a matter of fact. How are we feeling about Varland starting game four? I'd be like, did you see game three? Who else is? Who else would you put in there?

Lauer? Oh my God. Lauer. Now, Lauer? The disgrace broadcaster? No, I don't know. Who is it? Like, if it's not Varlane, who is it?

I don't get the application. If you're having a bullpen game, you should probably know the guys that are going to pitch out of the bullpen. I had audio. Some semblance of confidence. I had audio from yesterday. We didn't play it, but like, I think Schneider was just playing coy in the moment.

But after the game, he's like, I don't know, I'm going to start yet. But that wasn't a bad pitch to judge. Like, when you really break it down, a hundred miles an hour... He's a great player. Yeah, it's Barry Bond's 2.0 you're dealing with here. He's a great player, and he turned on that thing, and he barely kept it fair. Yeah. But he also hit it 9 million feet in the air. Yes.

So there's that. I mean, what a visual that was, too. It just, I was like, that ball's never coming down. It's gone now. We have to go get a new one. That's it. When it went off the foul pole, I was like, good night. Every time I watch the film, I'm expecting it to just to curve up.

little bit. It never does. I feel bad we haven't paid the Mariners much attention. Yeah, let's talk about a good baseball team. Okay. That's also up to one in their series. I feel bad that we have paid you attention. Yeah, now I've read it. Okay, the Seattle is just one win away from their

fourth trip to the ALCS where they'd be looking for their first ever trip to the World Series. The story on Tuesday in Detroit, probably the long ball for the Mariners. I know And the lack they're of of the tigers.

Right. I know Cal Raleigh, aka big dumper. Still don't like saying it. I know his two-run homer was late. Swares hit one. J.P. Crawford had a pretty good game. He had a home run.

Swares and Nailer have just one hit between them this postseason. Nailer's been brutal. Swaraz at least did one good thing, Yesterday. Nailer's mind might be elsewhere because he had to go be with his wife between games two and three because they're expecting a baby.

But I know he did hit one hard that didn't get out. His fielding at first base hasn't been ideal. Like he's to the point where you wonder if he's in the lineup. Yeah. Look, hey, and again, he's dealing with something on a personal level and I don't want to make light of it. When I just said he just hasn't played well in this series, thankfully for the Mariners, it has not cost them because the Tiger's offense has dried up in a major way. And if you go back and you look at this is sort of a trend that established itself in the wild card against Cleveland.

They only hit 218 against Cleveland. They only scored nine runs in the three games, but they managed to squeak their way through. And now that they've gotten up against a Mariners team in a best of five, after game one, they won in Seattle. Their offense is really dried up. And now, as you mentioned, Seattle's one win away from their first ALCS. in 24 years. Okay. It's being reported.

The one I see right now is Draggs from TSN. I expect the Winnipeg Jets will officially announce the Kyle Connor extension. Eight years, $12 million AAV. Selfish. Selfish Kyle Connor. Yeah. Why didn't he take a haircut? Why is he making 0.5 million less?

Not a leader. Not a leader, Halford. Not at all. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Frank! Sarah Valley. Syriveli.

Syriveli. Frank. Syriveli. Frank. Serriveli. Frank. Frank. Frank.

704 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford, Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Bray! Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick. One, no more interest. Two much lower payments in three.

Financial peace of mind. Visit them today at Sands dash trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program, as the music suggests. Frank Sarvalley is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason Homonock at Jason. Dow Mortgage. If you love paying the banks where your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason Dow Mortgage. We are coming to live from the Kintech studio, Kintech, Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in Step.

Our next guest is our regular NHL insider and the host of Frankly Hockey on Victory Plus. He's also a presentation of angry outer liquor. Frank Cerra Valley joins us now on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Frank. How are you? Pretty good. How are you guys? We're good. First, uh, Congrats on the new platform and new gig. Very cool, very exciting. And we start with this new platform and new gig with a bunch of new deals this week.

I thought we'd be talking about the Connor McDavid extension right away, but then the Winnipeg Jets and Kyle Conner swooped in to steal the news. Walk us through this deal, Frank, the most lucrative one in Jets franchise history and one that maybe kind of came out of nowhere because I seem to recall us talking about this last week

and there wasn't much of an update on talks between Connor and the Jets. yeah i wouldn't say came out of nowhere i think the jets have been extremely hungry to get this deal done it's in their you know fresh recent past that they kind of got slow played by nikolai eelers thinking that they'd be able to get a deal done to keep him and all the sudden he walks and goes to carolina so before the season starts try and get any of that last minute business done so that everyone can focus on hockey and that's why you see so many players dying in the days before it's a deadline teams agents players need deadlines in order to make stuff happen that's why the trade

deadline is so exciting in hockey there seems to be very little that gets accomplished without those and so you know you see Kyle Connor massive deal and and there were lots of rumblings I have to be honest to you know Michigan kid maybe he's the next guy that goes from Winnipeg to Detroit like an Andrew Copp did, one of his teammates, you know, who knows how that plays out if he makes it to market. He would have gotten much, much more than that had he decided to wait until July 1st, but the Jets are able to keep it under $100 million. It's still the biggest deal in franchise history by nearly $37 million.

And I put some added context in my tweet this morning to say, To think about how big of a deal this is for the Winnipeg Jets franchise, the entire franchise was purchased in Atlanta 14 years ago for a total of $110 million. So Kyle Connor signs for 96, 14 years later, it's a sizable transaction and for them a key, you know, cornerstone piece for the Jets to remain as competitive as possible. Well, there's another signing to add to it, and this one was hinted at by a number of insiders. The Edmonton Oilers announced this morning that they've signed defenseman Matthias Ekholm to a three-year contract extension. Cap hit $4 million for the 35-year-old. Maybe just your thoughts on or what you're hearing about the Oilers in the wake of Connor McDavid's very unusual.

to your extension? Well, I can tell you that after McDavid signed, any player that was eligible for an extension in Edmonton, his agent was calling Stan Bowman to try and get a deal done. Because anytime you've got the best player in the world locked up, even for a short period of time for these next three years, those players want to be part of it because they know they have an authentic chance to win.

And with Matthias Echholm, he's playing out his 35-year-old season this year, and he's in the sixes. I think it's $6.5 million a year with some money that's being withheld from Nashville. And so it seems like a really reasonable number, right? Four million a year as the cap continues to increase a negligible hit. And yes, Echholm has slowed down a little bit. as expected with age. And yes, his playoff run and end of last season was riddled with injury. But that remains one of the best deals of Ken Holland's tenure in Edmonton

was that trade deadline swing for Matthias Echholm because it totally changed the complexion of their blue line. And now with Jake Wallman there, Echholm, Darnel Nurse, you go through the group and this is the best defense corps that the Edmonton Oilers have had in the McDavid era. And that's one reason why, as they've continued to add depth around them, that I think the Oilers are right there in the mix to go and chase a third straight Stanley Cup final appearance, and this time try and get over the hump. The goaltending situation, it's still Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard.

I know they did pick up Connor Ingram in a trade, and I know they did change goalie coaches for whatever that's worth. But how do you think the Oilers are going to, approach that position is there is there anyone that you could think of that might become available for a trade or are they just going to

are they just going to roll with these these goalies again I think the results will dictate how they manage and approach that because look I'm part of the camp that says

that Stuart Skinner leaves a lot to be desired with his inconsistent play but then you go back and you look at it and say okay that might be true but they've still gone to the cup final two years in a row and the other part of it is that this year and the couple previous they've got real cap restrictions right so even if they wanted to go spend on a goalie they haven't been able to unless they really rejigged and and were to take out a few pieces from their lineup. So I think the door is open in the sense that now when you look at McDavid's

signed with the rising cap, they've got like $20 some million in cap space next summer. Stuart Skinner also needs a new deal. This is a moment in time where Skinner has a chance to play his way into an extension or play his way out of town. And in the meantime, to answer your question about the trade deserts, trade acquisitions, I don't necessarily see too many guys becoming available, but what I will say is the Oilers are going to be one of those teams keeping a very close eye on their goaltending play

and whether or not it makes sense to try and coax someone like Mark Andre Flurry out of retirement in January or February before the trade deadline, if they feel like that trio, and I'm going to include Ingram in there, because I do think that his feeling is higher than Cal Pickard that they aren't getting enough from their goaltending group. We're speaking to Victory Plus NHL insider Frank Saravalley here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. I was parsing through your timeline there, Frank,

and one of the bits that you did on yesterday's show was about how you've got the Vancouver Canucks in the playoff mix. For those that haven't seen the segment yet, not to spoil everything that's going on online, can you tell our listeners why you've got the Canucks back in the playoffs this season? Because I think there's been so much time spent focusing on what the Canucks don't have, a number two center, where are the goals going to come from?

Oh my God, our hair's on fire. That there hasn't been enough attention paid to and love given to the status of how this team is built from the back end out. As I said in yesterday's show, I'm going to bet on. on Quinn Hughes and this defense corps. I'm going to bet on a healthy faster Demko and this being the best tandem in the league. And I think that baseline for success,

it's a very high threshold and bar. They've got the ability, even on nights that they're not scoring, to be incredibly competitive. And then if you can find a way for Pedersen to get back to the level, he was at a couple years ago for Brock Besser to be a 35 goal scorer for Jake DeBrusk to provide that key important scoring that they're going to find a way I think the after you get past the first six teams in the west again the door's wide open for them to be a playoff team 90 points

last year in a year in which there was drama everything that could go wrong did Demco missed the first part of the season. Hughes had a heart trophy level start and then he's hurt. I mean, it couldn't really have gone worse. No, it couldn't have. And yet there's six points away, eight points away from being a playoff team.

You mean to tell me that that group with everyone healthy can't find a way with Pedersen finding confidence, new coaching staff to be four wins better than last year? Yeah, and they lost a bunch of games in overtime too. And, you know, maybe they've got a better plan for that as well. Yeah, I don't think anyone here in Vancouver is dismissing the idea that they've got the talent to make the playoffs.

But if they're going to... The rest of the league seems to be sleeping on them. Like, I don't hear anyone pounding the pavement from a national perspective saying the Vancouver Canucks are a playoff team. I really don't. Well, Greg Wysinski came on our show yesterday and said, I think the Canucks are going to make the playoffs. But he might have just been sucking up to us. Okay, well, I mean,

it was funny because I always, you know, I see the timeline and people are like, wait, is Frank saying something nice about Vancouver? I was the first guy two years ago to say, this team is going to be a playoff team nationally. Who do you think falls out? No one's willing to put a stake in the ground. Okay, you've planted your steak.

Now put your stake through the team that's going to fall out of the playoffs. The L.A. Kings did not look particularly good last night against Colorado, but that's a very good Colorado team. Candidates include the L.A. Kings, the Minnesota Wild, the St. Louis Blues. I know some people have been picking on Winnipeg, but that would be a big fall to fall all the way out of the playoffs for Winnipeg. Yeah, I don't see that. I think, again, think about the way I framed at minimum threshold.

Like, what is your B game? If on nights that you don't have it, the Jets have a really strong foundation. And I think, at the minimum, you're looking at like 98 points for that team. It's not going to be as easy as it was last year because everything went right. And I view Washington in a very same or similar threshold or level. So many good things happen for them. The team I have out is the Kings. And I said it also on yesterday's show well before their first game,

which obviously has no bearing, but I don't know what the King's. kings are. I don't know what their identity is. It felt like they went out this summer under a new general manager and Ken Holland and tried to put a big band-aid on this. Let's bring in a couple older defensemen to support and supplant a team that can't get over the hump in the first round of the playoffs. Losing in the first round, however many years in a row, eight years of Rob Blake as general manager and not one series win, I don't, I just don't, I don't know what the kings are and where they're going from here. And that part, do they have talent? Yes. Do they have support down the middle? Absolutely.

But I don't know that I've seen enough from their young players that were supposed to take big steps to say with any confidence that they're going to be able to carry the baton once guys like Kopitar and Dowdy end up moving on. Well, in bringing back Jim Hiller as the head coach after how badly last season ended. Mind-blowing. Right? Not only was it bringing him back. Not even just the structure, the structure with which they played, but then also the way that it went and the time out and all of it. And I was- Challenge, excuse me. No, I know. I know. And I was thinking like, as a new general manager, you come in, one of the first things you do is bring your own coach. And now maybe, maybe Holland is keeping that card in his pocket that if the season really starts sideways,

and they get off to a slow one, then he can then pull the head coaching change. But my first thought was- If you're going into the season with the thought process of if we don't get off to a good start, then I'll pull the trigger. Haven't you already made the decision in your head that this guy might not be the right guy?

That's a very good point. Totally. Yeah. Totally. And if you want, I don't even know, I mean, I know it's one game into the season, so it might be early to start talking about coaching candidates that are available.

My first time was like, oh, they would go out and hire Woodcroft, but Woodcroft's an assistant in Hannah? time now. Well, that also underlines the point for me, which is there are nine new head coaches this year. More than a quarter of the league, a third of the league changed over. Why wasn't last summer the time to go out and get a prime candidate and put this team on solid footing to start the year? And if you were going to make the change, give them a full training camp to get used to it as opposed to try and do it on the fly? I know it's only one game,

but the Rangers could not have come out of the gates worse, I don't think, getting shut out on home ice by Arter C-loves and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The most exciting moment, I think, at MSG was when everyone was watching on their phones and Aaron Judge went yard at Yankee Stadium. What did you think of their performance last night?

Sidney Crosby was watching, too. Yeah, he was into it. from the bench um i agree with you the rangers did not look good they looked sloppy disorganized at times even disinterested but what that looked and felt like to me was a team trying to figure out how to play under a new coach and new system so again i know for a team that struggled last year and and wants to make a statement as a bounce back team that you hit the ground running, but I'm willing to give them a couple weeks to figure this out. Frank, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We

really appreciate it. Enjoy the second night of the new season. Very excited for the game tonight. We'll do this again next week. Sounds good. Only 193 more to go. Let's go. Frank Sarvalley from Victory Plus here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. He is a presentation of Angry Otter Liquor Plus program members. save for game days at Angry Outer Lickers stock up on Canadian-made favorites ready to enjoy before puck drop. Visit them online at

angry otterlicker.courn.courn't C.R. I am actually curious to see what the Kings look like this season in the last year of Copatar's deal because replacing Anze Copatar when he leaves and he's already announced

that this is going to be his final season in the NHL has been a huge challenge. And I remember pre-McDavid signing with the Oilers, we kicked around the idea of maybe another Edmonton all-time player is going to

go to the Los Angeles Kings and leave Edmonton crying in the wake. But with McDavid signing, although it's just a short extension, you know, like the Kings need to find another plan. You know, I've seen conversations on the

TV about the Leafs after McDavid decided to sign because we talked about that as well you know like the leaf should probably keep their powder dry just in case McDavid wants to come home and well maybe he does in

three years now but in the meantime when we talked about the kings what about the Leafs? I know they're kind of getting overshadowed right now by the Blue Jays in Toronto but you know losing Marner

as much as he was criticized is massive. Yeah, I mean, if we talk in Vancouver about, like, how do the Canucks replace J.T. Miller's scoring? And I think it's perfectly fair to ask that question. How do the Leafs replace Mitch Marner scoring? I wonder, and I don't have a lot of faith in this, but I wonder if they're going to try and say that this might be an addition by subtraction thing. Not in the regular season.

Not in the regular season. because Marner in the regular season was a huge contributor and a big, big, underlying three times big reason why they had the regular season success that they did. But it was obvious by the end of his tenure in Toronto that there was a divide between regular season Marner and playoff Marner, and there was a vibe check that needed to be addressed between the fans and Marner at the end.

And that mattered. It mattered. You could tell that it was weighing on a lot of different. people in that organization. Everyone was done with each other. Right? Yeah. Everyone's been there. Everyone's been in a relationship where you just know that it's over and you're just playing out the string. I'm doing it right now. Yeah, but my

point is the Canucks had to do this with J.T. Miller too, right? I mean, they got to the point where they wanted to trade him and actually more to the point J.T. Miller himself wanted to be traded. That's how it went down. But you still got to replace the points.

And you still, and the Leafs... But I don't know if you do need to necessarily replace all the points. And that's they're saying in Toronto it's it's become more of a the style's going to change so we don't need to score as much without Martin here's where I don't buy in I'm not sure I necessarily believe that I think that they might be talking instead of having major surgery

you have cosmetic surgery you know like instead of addressing the actual problem you just touch up something because lipstick on a pig like I'm yeah kind of reading this preview and they're like well it's like we activate the defense now which might work I don't know maybe but like you need you need something I think every team needs something to latch on to. And we're going to play some Patrick Galvin audio later in the show where he talks about

the style and the aggressiveness that Adam Foote has brought to the Canucks. Because, you know, as much as some people thought when they replaced Talket with Foot, that it was just going to be, well, I mean, he was Talkett's guy, so we're probably going to see more Talk at Hockey. Well, Timu Tocket. Team Mootto. Yeah. This is, you know, Adam Foote is smart enough to know that, first of all, things needed to change because the Canucks weren't scoring.

And second of all, like, you need to have something that your players can get excited about. Sure. And you need to forge an identity. Tocket did have an identity. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Adam Foote, the identity seems to be more aggression, more hunting down pox, less, I don't want to say, no strike. but less rigid structure.

Right. You know what I mean? And more getting, I mean, guys, Derek Foreboard was up in the rush in the preseason. Didn't he score shorthanded? Short-handed. Like Derek Foreboard scored shorthanded. A shot too. And he made a nice player, right?

But I think that tells you a lot about how the Canucks want to play. And they do have better personnel this year to get up into the play because they've got some young defensemen and you know DPD can get up in the rush and obviously Hughes and Hironi, Tyler Myers can get up in the rush and if they bring in a guy like Mancini he can't too

but you know back to the Leafs are they going to is their identity now Craig Baroube? Because I got Austin Matthews there right? You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough

Thank you.