Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 10/23/25

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they set up tonight's 'Nucks matchup at Nashville with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance. 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. As it takes, Matheson, and Scores. Here we know what the set of, Balthuson wins it, and Montreal keeps their wall going. Backhand shot, Mark, and stop by Eelis. That's the second breakaway he has stopped. They're all-famers on the Yankees, too, and the Blue Jays just beat them.

There's a really good starting pitching on the Mariners, and they just beat them. There's a lot of crows pecking at our neck. But all you can do is spread your wings keep flying high until those crows fall off and suffocate from the inability to breathe. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halford and is Browford and SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios.

Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adaw, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Bradford 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 the Midd-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. We get a big show ahead on a Thursday here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I have a big lengthy rundown, that's right, rundown to go through here. So give me some time. I got a lot to get into here. Just in the rundown for today's show.

Guestless today begins at 630. Dax McCarty is going to join the program. MLS Legend, now a studio analyst for MLS. season pass on Apple TV. Hey, in case you missed it, the MLS playoffs are underway. Last night, Portland beat Salt Lake, Chicago beat Orlando. And then, of course, this Sunday, the White Caps, your white caps, are going to host Dallas at BC Place in game one of their first round series.

Dax is going to join us to preview that match and everything else that's going on at MLS at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Adna and Verk is going to join the program from MLB Network. We are now just one day away from the start of the World Series. thing is about to happen this weekend. The Blue Jays will host the Dodgers in game one tomorrow Friday, 5 p.m. from the Rogers Center in Toronto.

A reminder, you can hear the game, Game 1 of the World Series, right here on SportsNet 650, right after Canucks Central was Sat and Dan. Well, reading a lot of articles about how SportsNet gets to create its own broadcast for

the World Series as well. And you know, the last time the Blue Jays were in the World Series, it was CBS doing everything and there were a few complaints about that it was a long time ago and we had Dan Shalman on the show and he was pretty excited and he said you know when he took the job he knew that this was

a possibility but you know I think honestly the viewership in Canada is going to almost match what it is in the United States it's going to be crazy it's going to be crazy millions and millions we'll be watching and this is with a million things going on too because we will get into this on the program

on what we're looking at this weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. In terms of sports, it's a beauty weekend. So we're going to talk to Adnan at 7 o'clock about baseball. And then at 8 o'clock, we're going to talk to the Drancer from Canucks' talk and Athletic Vancouver, Thomas Drance, of course. Canucks are back in action tonight as they wrap up their five-game road swing. Speaking of this weekend, the Canucks got a very enticing back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday against the habs and the Oilers.

Tonight, though, 5 p.m. puck drop from Nashville to take on the Preds. Hey, check out. this lineup of Canucks coverage today and tonight on SportsNet 650. You ready for this? 11 a.m. Canucks brunch with Josh and Lena. From 12 to 2

Canucks Talk with Dranson Dodd. From 2 to 4 Canucks Central with Sat and Dan, 4 to 5 Canucks pregame show also with Sat and Dan. It's too much Canucks. Nope, but we're not even done yet. Oh, okay. Then we have the actual Canucks game.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. 5 o'clock with batch and ran deep on the call and then if you think it's over it's not it's not over it's not over post game show immediately following that's gonna run all the way until 10 o'clock that's 11 hours and then you tend as well you got Canucks after dark of course that's my favorite and still someone's gonna text in at 630 and be like oh mLS talk get to the Canucks I'm like I'm sorry we only have 11 hours of broadcasting dedicated to the Vancouver Canucks today okay now I'm not done yet with the rundown. This show loves you, the listeners, so

much. We got two awesome giveaways today on the program. The first is a pair of Canucks tickets. That's 7.30 this morning. Caller number 5 at 7.30 is going to get a pair of tickets to see the Oilers and the Canucks this Sunday at Rogers Arena.

That's a 7 p.m. start. 604 280, 0650. That number again, 604-280650. Don't worry. Not right now. Don't call now. Don't call now. Don't call now. I'll announce it before 7.30 so you can all line up. You get to talk to Adog, too. That's part of the prize.

That's one of the giveaways. Canucks tickets, pretty good, right? Well, we're also giving away a pair of concert tickets today and every day next week for a concert yet. Well, Monday to Wednesday next week, not every day next week. Monday to Wednesday next week. Close enough. We haven't even announced a concert yet, and we're not going to until 7 a.m. It's a special announcement live right here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

At seven we're going to announce the concert, then at eight, we're going to give away the tickets. And can I just say I'm very excited about this concert. You can say that. I won't say obviously what it is, but the lineup is awesome. There you go. What a show, eh, Jason? Two giveaways, three guests and a whole bunch of sports to get into. 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? Missed it?

You miss that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.com. Now, we had the first half hour of the show all planned out, but every now and again in the world of sports and sports news, we'll get something breaking very early in the morning. And boy, do we have a big one coming from our good friends in the U.S. and specifically the National Basketball Association.

Portland Trailblazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat Guard, Terry Rozier, were arrested Thursday as part of a pair of investigations related to illegal gambling, sources told ESPN. Rozier was arrested Thursday morning at a hotel in Orlando. The heat had lost their season opener to the Magic on Wednesday when Rozier did not play due to, to a coach's decision.

Billups arrest in Oregon was made as part of a separate but related illegal gambling case linked to an illegal poker operation tied to the mafia according to an ABC news report. Billups is expected to make an initial court appearance later Thursday.

Okay. The Eastern District of New York and FBI director, Cash Patel. That guy does everything. We'll hold a news conference Thursday morning to announce the arrest from the investigation.

How does he do all this stuff? It's incredible. So the Rosier investigation stems from now this is crazy because the game was in March of 2023 to give you an idea of how long this investigation has apparently

been going on for. Sports books, and I'm just going to read this directly from the Associated Press story. Sportsbooks in multiple states flagged suspicious betting interest on Rozier's stats ahead of a game on March 23, 2023, as I mentioned.

An unexpected surge of bets, including 30 wagers in 46 minutes, came in on the under on Rozier's points, rebounds, and assists to the point where sportsbooks had to halt betting on his player props. Now, we've seen this. a handful of times before

Jean-Tay Porter was another one where quite frankly at first blush and I know there's probably more research to go into this seems like wildly irresponsible illegal betting like if you're going to do it you have to do a better job of covering it up than placing 30 wagers in 46 minutes like that's obviously going to be flagged

that's a lot of bets on Terry Rozier's under and I know like if I don't I don't know how much you wager now. I know we kind of dabbled in it from time to time for fun. Like, neither of us are really heavy sports betters. I do it from time to time. I mean, but again, the stakes are so low on my bets. I'll throw like 10 or 20 bucks down on a game here and there.

I do know that the rise in, especially the prop bets, has taken, you know, sports betting in North America once it got legalized to unprecedented heights because people put together these crazy parlias, crazy parlays. Okay. So Rozier was kind of this sort of gambling scandal we're starting to see more and more of. I'm interested in that, but I'm also interested in Billups arrest. Yeah.

Part of a separate related illegal gambling case linked to an illegal poker operation tied to the mafia. So let's just recap what's been going on in the NBA for the last year. Yeah. We've got now, you know, these are two separate kind of, separate but related. I don't know how they're related, okay? But that's the way it is.

That's the way it's been stating. Separate but related. One of them's sports betting. One of them's an illegal poker operation. So this is all kind of a form of cheating. You've also got these allegations against the L.A. Clippers and Kauai Leonard for. cheating the salary cap.

Much cheaters, allegedly. But, I mean, that's kind of overshadowing what are some pretty incredible stories in the NBA. Did you watch Wemby last night? I did. That was a ridiculous performance by, well, speaking of illegal, it looks illegal what he's doing out there. It looks like, should they raise the hoops for him or something? Because that doesn't look fair. That doesn't really look like professional basketball.

It looks like an adult. playing basketball at like an elementary school gym he did a reverse dunk yesterday and he jumped but it was very obvious that he didn't need to jump yeah yeah he could have just reversed dunk just standing and reversing that was it you actually had a good line about it that it reminded

you when you used to play on your little mini Nerf hoop yeah yeah you could just in my bedroom I had it up on the door any sort of dunks man I would there were some big dunks so the NBA kicked off two nights ago last night was sort of it's really big night because the first night of course there was only the two games it was the oh Oklahoma City Thunder in their ring and banner ceremony,

having an amazing game with the Houston Rockets, which we didn't talk about at all yesterday. And then last night, there was a ton of games across the association, including the Raptors season opener, and this fantastic Wemby game. By the way, that Wemby game was also Cooper Flagg's NBA debut

because it was the Mavericks and the Spurs playing last night. But all of that is now about to be overshadowed because this story, again, which kind of broke about an hour ago, basically right when we were getting prepped to come in for the show, that is going to dominate headlines in part because it's another gambling scandal to hit the NBA

so it went Jonte Porter Malik Beasley and now Terry Rozier but having a coach involved and his prominent figures Johnson Phillips who had a very storied career worked in broadcasting and now is now a coach Now again that's not it's not sports betting it's an illegal poker operation

So I'm going to throw you on the spot What's going on here? Well I was going to throw you on the spot When it says it's separate but related I have no idea. Feels like those terms work against one another. If it's separate, it's not related. And if it's related, it's not separate. I don't get it.

It's very strange. It could be part of the bigger, larger. Did the FBI just be like, we're hitting the NBA? Could be. I know the Jonté Porter thing. Maybe there was like a tip given or something. Was it the 30 bets in 46 minutes? Was that the tip?

Who's to say? Who's to say? Anyway, we'll keep our eyes on that. Maybe we can get a guess either on Friday or Monday. Monday show. So the Canucks practice yesterday in Nashville, and we had kind of joked yesterday, but this was true. We did have a guy in Nashville, a media guy, who's going to ask Adam Foote some questions about the deployment. And there have been issues or questions about Foote's deployment pretty much all season, but I think they really peaked in the Pittsburgh loss where you had

Elias Pedersen, Jake DeBresque, near the bottom of the list in Even Strength Ice Time, and guys like Atu, Ratu, and Evander Kane, and Keefer Shire would play in Big Minutes Even Strength. So... Joe DeBate? Yeah, we were just like, hey, you know, what's going on there? Now, Foote did not do media, and I was told that he had something to do after practice. So they were going to make assistant coach Kevin Dean available instead. Okay.

But then the one, the only media member who was going to attend the availability, Our Man in Nashville. Your guy. Didn't even go to that availability because he wanted to talk to Adam Foote, not Kevin Dean. Sure. So not even Kevin Dean spoke to the media. What is happening? And, you know, it makes you want to.

wonder how do the Canucks handle all this crushing media scrutiny when zero people show up to talk to the assistant coach show up to talk to the coach or whatever anyway I kid a kid uh the only guy that did speak for public consumption yesterday was keever sherwood who chatted with team reporter olivia mcdonald and uh he said that it's been a next man up mentality that's good on this road trip before saying that the Canucks need to bring a defense first mentality into their game against the Preds. And you just won't get a better quote than from a hockey player.

Which mentality is it? He was then asked what his favorite color is, what movies he's seen lately, how the weather is down there right now. Yeah, actually, that is, that's a good question. Which mentality is going to be more important for the Canucks? Is it the next man up mentality? Or is it the defense first mentality tonight against the Preds? Also very important. There's two clashing

mental mental struggle one man's struggle keeper sure would anyway the Canucks

did practice and according to Murph who I don't know was watching from afar or something

no Besser or Bueger but it has since been reported that Besser is expected to play tonight

for the Canucks he's been away for a little bit on with a personal leave personal absence Hironic was absent as well

but apparently it was just a maintenance day for Hironick. Thank God for that. Thank God. Murph reported that and again Murph reported the club is hopeful Besser will be back to play against Nashville tonight. Kind of begs the question though on Besser like where does he slot back in if he does play? Because I'm not sure Garland is going to come off

the top line with Pedersen and DeBrask. Garland and Pedersen have been a good duo and we joked yesterday that I don't think Adam Foote even trusted Pedersen and DeBresco out there without Garland. Nope. And we all know how much Foot loves his trio of Kane, Ratu, and Sherwood based on how much they played against Pittsburgh.

Are you going to break up the AHL line? It's been one of their best lines. No. Imagine if they were like, Brock, welcome back. You're going to replace Joe LeBate on a line with Nils Oman and Drew O'Connor. I mean, I mean, here's the thing. So everything that he just...

He's like, I lost my plane ticket. I'm stuck somewhere else. Can't make it. I actually couldn't make it. Brock, you're standing right in front of me talking to me. The way you explained it, I'm like, maybe? Maybe that's what ends up happening? I don't know.

You can't. Why? What about Adam Foote's deployment so far? Here's the thing. You can't put Brock Peserwood Nils Oman and Drew O'Connor. What about his deployment so far would have you rule anything out? Anything. It's been very unprecedented.

predictable. That's a nice way of putting it so far. So I think it'll be Kane, Ratu, and Besser and Sherwood will drop to a line. But then you've got Sherwood, who's playing 21 minutes a night, either going to the AHL line, which you don't want to break up, or then he goes to play with. That's true. Amman and O'Connor. Like, I don't know.

Maybe there's no room for Brock Besser. Could you imagine? On this flag. Well, you did miss those two games. I don't know. I mean, we're going to wait and see. And that's kind of been the, that's been the phrase for, this, the majority of this road trip because so many things have happened, we've had no answers to anything. Like, what's going on with Heidel? Well, we're going to wait and see. Uh, we didn't know,

doesn't sound great for it. It doesn't sound great, but we've had no update. No. No official update. Just, just sort of around the edges reporting. Uh, the injuries that have be felt, take your pick, Lecormackie, Bluger, the absence from Besser, heronic missing practice yesterday again, reportedly just going to be a maintenance thing. But this road trip, and it does come to an end tonight, somewhat mercifully. despite the fact that the connects have thrived on it. There's a lot that's gone on. There's a lot that's happened.

And we haven't even got into the deployment and the minutes totals for guys yet. And we just haven't had a lot of answers to any of it. Okay. We started the segment with a betting story out of the NBA. Yeah. Let's do our own betting here. Yes.

What is the over-under for Pedersen Ice Time tonight? Okay. I think I'm the book. Okay. I think I'll set the last. line at 19 minutes and 59 seconds. Will he be over or under that? 1959. So he's only broken that twice this season. Yeah. And once was in an overtime game. Yes. Still, I'm going to take the over because I think foot is going to be well aware that he's getting ripped for not playing him

much. Okay. It'd be funny if he went way over. The old pendulum swing, hey? Yeah. Right. He played 28 minutes tonight. He looked a little tired by the end of it. 1959. 1959. You know what's crazy? Last game.

It's like, that's a pretty conservative line to set for a guy who's supposed to be a 1C paid like a 1C plays all special teams. Like he's been out there on the power play,

he's been out there on the PK. And the other Canucks centers are Atu-Ratoo Max Sasson and Nils Oman. If you just took it, if you're like, this is your one C, and then your other centers are all from the American League, how much would you play your one C?

And you're setting the over under at 1959. 1959. I mean, if he plays under 20 minutes in this situation, that is, that is, I don't know what that says exactly. I can't make the conclusion, but it says something extremely significant about this team. So now I'm doing an even deeper dive as I get ready to set my wager

with his illegal sports book, the Brough Book. He's had some really low ice times this year. And I know we're only, what, seven games in, but the opener against Calgary, he played 1539, then the next game against Edmonton, 1638, then the next game against St. Louis, 1536. So the first three games of the season,

Pedersen didn't eclipse 17 minutes. And then you go, yeah, he had a nice bump the first couple games of the road trip in Chicago and Dallas got over 20 there but then he was right back to 18 and just under 17 so yeah it's a good total that you put on that I think I'll go over as well in part because maybe there's been a little acknowledgement or recognition that he isn't playing enough but I don't know if he's going to go way over I'm only going to smash that total he goes under that's wild well it's going to have it's going to lead to a lot of questions when the connect come back this weekend because not only do they return home so they'll

face a larger media scrum than the zero people that showed up yesterday. They're also going to play two Canadian teams coming in that are going to have their own fairly significant media throng in the Montreal Canadians on Saturday and the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. Can we just talk about the upcoming sports weekend in Vancouver? I know it's Thursday, not Friday. Nah, do it, man. But we need to, because I think everyone needs to plan their weekends accordingly.

if you've got other things in your life this weekend you're either going to have to lie or you're going to have to miss some good sports stuff ignore your family okay the Canucks play twice at home as you mentioned Saturday versus Montreal that is a 4 p.m. start okay

Sunday versus the Oilers at 7 o'clock okay speaking of Sunday the white caps host Dallas in their first playoff game of the MLS Cup this season and I'll be there The upper bowl is open, so they're going to be expecting a pretty good crowd there. That game starts at 4.30.

So you've got white caps 4.30, Oilers 7 on Sunday. So you could actually do the double in that. Going to be busy. If you want to go to both those games, oh, you're so rich. But you could do that. The BC Lions, they're not local, but they play in Regina is what I mean. Saturday at 4 o'clock. So that's right up against the Canucks game

against the HABs. And if the Lions win that, they will host a playoff game the following weekend. And oh yeah, the World Series between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays starts Friday and continue Saturday.

You know the sports bars are going to be busy for those games, both of which start at 5 p.m. hour time. Yep. Thank God the Seahawks have a buy this week. I think I'm going to have an NFL by week myself. I don't have time. I don't have time to watch the NFL this weekend.

Halford, how are you going to plan this thing? So right now, I've got... You just completely ignore your family, right? Yeah, no family. No family. I'll be like, I don't know what you guys are doing. And I'll call them you guys. I'm like, I don't know what you guys are doing this weekend,

but it doesn't involve me. Sianar. I'm going to, yeah, going to go to the Whitecaps game. on Sunday. I already got tickets for that. Probably going to dart home after the game so I can watch the Canucks game in its entirety and then prep for work, which I love to do.

My favorite Sunday night activity. Nothing like that. Saturday is going to be interesting because Dodgers, Blue Jays at 5, pretty much, like, that's the number one priority focus on Friday and Saturday nights, right? That's going to be a huge viewing opportunity.

But Canucks at 4 on Saturday. So they're running up concurrently against one another, and it's the Montreal game. Do I dare, do I dare put the Canucks game in the background? Yeah, but the Canucks play Sunday. Here's the thing. For the purposes of this job, when we come in on Monday,

Saturday's game doesn't even matter. Like, it doesn't even count because there's a Sunday game. And don't text in about PVR and stuff. Just don't. I can't do it. I have two TVs in the same room so I can watch both at the same time. The question is which one gets the big screen and which one gets the sound. And it's the World Series, man.

The Js haven't been to the World Series in 32 years. I haven't been this interested in the World Series in a long time. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. We just have to call Thomas Dran's erotica. Thomas Dran's erotica. Of course. Thomas Grant's erotica

Expecting goals Thomas transerotica Todd model Thomas transerotica regression Thomas

transerotica PEDIO Thomas Transerotica 8.03 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, SportsNet, 6.50. Halford & 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. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in our three of the program. Thomas Drance is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 3. Hour 3 of this program is brought you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit the money. the internet at campbell dash pound.com today.

Hey, guess where we're coming from? Kintech Studios. You're right. Kintech, footwear and orthotics working together with you and step. So did we give, we gave away the Kinnucks tickets, correct? We gave away the Foo Fighters tickets. Is that correct? Foo Fighters.

Is that walking? That's Christopher Walking. Can you play it again? Foo Fighters. I love it. I like that. Fighters. His random pronunciations of words, one of my favorite things in wedding crash.

ship is fast enough for you. Oh, man. Wedding crashers when he says scallops. Scallops. Yeah, that's my favorite. Where did that come from? No one he talks like him.

Can you do it one more time? Foo Fighters. It's perfect. All right. To the phone lines we go. Thomas Drans from the Athletic Vancouver and Connect Stock joins us now in the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

What up, Drancer. Gentlemen, nice to be back with you. Dranser, welcome back. Condolences for your loss. Thank you, gentlemen. You know, I listened to your return to these airwaves and it was a very touching segment that you had with Dodd and I read your article about your dad and he seemed like a great guy and it seems like he, you know, the relationship that you had with him really helped form who you are, which is a pretty good guy. Oh, thanks, man. I appreciate it.

Yeah, been a rough few weeks, but happy to be back into the routine as we keep working through this. and you working diligently over at the athletic and you have addressed the short-term need for center help for the Vancouver Canucks and why the Canucks should be willing to overpay. I love a good overpay. I do it in a fantasy often. Tell me a little bit more about short-term center help for the Canucks

and why they should overpay in a trade. Yeah, and look, I mean, it's one thing to say, so really this was inspired by your show, to be honest with you, and Frank Saravali, his diligent work coming up with a deeply uninspiring list of centers. It was so grim. It was so grim. It was so grim.

I'll take you behind the scenes. He was reading out the list with every passing name. You could see Brough get a little bit more depressed. Well, I had actually texted Frank the night before and I said something along the lines of the connection are in big trouble with this center group. And he said, you think? So he knew that, he knew,

that he was going to be asked who is out there into his credit. He came up with a list that yikes. Yikes. So tell us, tell us your take on all this. Well, so it's one thing, I mean, the thing about overpaying, whether it's in fantasy or in hockey, right, is it's one thing to look at a trade that someone else has made, right, and be like, oh, man, they really overpaid there. and then in late November your team's hooped and their team's got the benefit of having at least another credible

NHL level center in the lineup you know there's no world in which you land a center period especially this early in the year where even seller teams are like well we like having credible NHL players in our lineup for as long as possible to work

with our young guys right I mean there's no world where you land a center that's not an overpay. So the fact that you should be comfortable overpaying is more just me saying, hey, it's worth doing a deal, right? Like, it's worth going out there and doing a deal. And I think it's worth doing a deal because there's a real chance that, you know, depending on which way the heatal news goes. But honestly, even if the news is positive, right? And we're talking about 10-day absence, even if that's the case. Like, there's going to be another stretch of this season where, you know, your center quality might fall sort of below that credible NHL level baseline, right, where you're going to need an extra body. Like,

you're going to need an extra body. The Canucks weren't able to do it this summer. They probably should have done it the summer. Now, granted, they've had a brutal run out here, right? Teddy Blugher's injury, Philip Edel's injury. Pedersen's been scoring, but it hasn't been the bounce back that I think some had hoped for, at least not right out of the gate. You know, Atu Ratu's skating is still a question mark. Max Sasson, still probably not a full-time center at the NHL level, right? Even though he's played really well. You know, you go down the list.

I mean, it's tough. They have both LeBate and Niels-Amon in the lineup, who are probably penciled in as, what, center five and six, right? Braden Coots looked closer already than we would have imagined. he looked like a very talented 18 year old player still looked like an 18 year old player right and that's totally fine but it does mean

that where the Canucks are at their options are limited and this is not to sort of suggest like well they can't hang with the national predators tonight or you know they're not going to be able to grind out some wins if that's your especially when Thatcher Demko is playing the way he has to start the season like they probably can right but

we're all watching this right like we all know the connects are struggling to generate shots, struggling to move the puck up ice. Even in games they're winning or blitzing teams off the rush, like they did against the Capitals, we're seeing them hang on for dear life, right?

We're seeing teams like Edmonton gently pat them on the head in some of these games. And as the season gets longer, right, as we get into a 17, 27, 37 games sample, like that's going to cost them. It's going to. And so, look, there's two main reasons that the Kinnucks in my mind should be willing to overpay.

You know, like, and I'm talking painful assets. I'm talking Victor Mancini caliber assets. I'm talking lottery protected firsts. Like I'm talking real assets that I think the Kinex are going to need to be willing to put on the table for two main reasons. One is the stakes of this year, the pitch that this organization is going to be making the Quinn Hughes in seven, eight months. like requires some level of success this season. And the leverage of that is massive. You need to protect your investment.

You need to protect the market. And that justifies, in my mind, a significant expense. The second part of this is if you get a deal done early at a huge, even if you're overpaying, even if we're talking like, and the hypothetical that I spat out in that column was something like Victor Mancini. and a second round pick for like Alexander Wenberg X depth defender on the sharks, like Gabriel Carlson or something, and like a sixth round pick coming back. The key, though, is you need to get them to retain 50%, right?

So you overpay to get them to retain. And because of the NHL's new 75 days between retained salary transactions on a single contract rule, right? The reason I think that this could make sense for the Canucks and justify an unusual level of aggression is if you're able to bring in a guy like a Wenberg, because it's $5 million, at 50% retain, that's $2.5 million, if it goes your way and like, hey, we got a credible middle six center into the lineup and we're a playoff team, fantastic, right? Then you've protected, you know, you've accomplished what you needed to accomplish. If it doesn't go your way, if it doesn't work, then you're really. going to be one of the only sellers in the league able to then shop this 2.5 and the 1.25 at the deadline. And you can probably recoup not the full cost, but a significant amount of the asset capital that you paid because you'll at least be buying a unique asset that has the opportunity to gain value while you also bolster your chances in the short term. And for me,

anyway, that sort of logic, the logic of this 75 day thing, I actually think, especially for a team in the middle, right, justifies early season aggression, or at least incentivizes early season aggression, because it gives you the opportunity effectively to like spend, purchase a hedge position, right, and have an out in which what you've acquired gains value over the course of the year. And so I actually think that this is a moment where, I mean, far be it for me to suggest the Canucks making aggressive deals designed to help in the short term, right? Like, that's not my usual MO. But I think this situation is unique enough to justify it. Well, your usual MO doesn't usually include, you know, anxiety at the beginning of a season

or overreacting to things. But, you know, Halford and I just went through the next week for the Canucks and some of the games they've got, especially at home. I mean, you go Montreal, Edmonton, and the Rangers, three games in four days. Plus, you've got this Hedal situation. Maybe there's going to be some updates there. You know, you've got them considering moves like you're throwing out there. I mean, if there was such a thing as a high leverage situation early in the season, does this next week for the Canucks qualify?

Yeah, I think so. And, you know, I don't think this is an overreaction. Like, this is not based off of their win-loss record. This is not because they lost 5-1 to the Penguins, you know, on Tuesday night. This is, you know, anyway, and I think a clear-eyed assessment. I mean, we're living in a situation where, you know, we're getting texts into the 650-Dumbar, 650-Dumbar-Lumbar text line where people are like, man, it'll be fine when Teddy Blugher gets back. It's like, what are we talking about, guys?

You know, like, what are we talking about? about. Like, this is a team, you know, that, I mean, we're, you know, we're seeing it in a lot of ways in terms of some of the high-end talent, right? Some of the bets that the connects have placed, like, you know, Demko being able to be a huge difference maker, like, look pretty good. It's early, but they look pretty good. But, I mean, I don't know that Adam Foote's playing with anything close to a full deck

down the middle of the ice. And I think it's impacting why this team's struggling to generate. And, you know, like one of the worst teams generating shot rate in the NHL right now at five on five. And you can feel it in every phase of the game. I think it's actually why the market's reactions have been such a roller coaster in the early part of the season. Not that Vancouver is not usually excitable, but usually in through seven games, we haven't had like, you know, the up of Calgary, the down of the St. Louis Edmonton, the up of the three games, the down of like usually the reaction. Actions in the market aren't this wild, and I think it's swinging that way because, like, fundamentally, Canucks fans are pretty smart, and they know what good hockey looks like. I don't think the Canucks are playing good hockey, and I think that's why fans in this market are additionally, like, you know, volatile in terms of the reactions to results right now, because it feels, even through seven games like this team's hanging on by their fingernails every night.

Hey, Drenz, are you like a good prop bet now and then, don't you? Oh, love it. Okay, I've set the over-under on Elias Pedersen's ice time tonight at 19 minutes and 59 seconds. Over or under? I mean, hard for me to bet the over. I went over. I didn't smash the over. Sometimes I'll smash the over.

I took the over. It was with trepidation that we took the over. Yeah. No, I take the under. I mean, he's what, he's averaging like 12 at 5 on 5 on a game-by-game basis. Now he plays in all phases. On a good night. But, no, I mean, I'd take the under on that.

So what's going on with the deployment then? Well, you know, certainly there's a lot of context that we need to talk about in that Pittsburgh game because of, you know, the fact that it got out of hand pretty early in the third period. And after that, lines were just rolled and that makes sense, right? Like none of us would criticize that. So, you know, I don't know exactly why Patterson was not getting. getting number one center usage, I would have, you know, love to be on this trip, which I would have been, if not for, you know, personal matters to sort of be picking at

it a bit. We'll certainly have more opportunity to hear from Adam Foote explaining how he's thinking about it once the club returns to the West Coast. But yeah, I mean, I don't know, I thought there were a couple things about that game that concerned me. And none of them more like the aggregate ice time because I think the aggregate ice time when you look through and it's like Pedersen played less than Joseph Lebate. It's like okay, but a lot of that was in the third period when the game was already out of hand. Like that, that, that top line number doesn't worry me. There's a couple numbers that do or a couple of decisions that we saw in game that do worry me. The first was Jake DeBresk only playing three shifts in the first period

at five on five, one minute, 30 seconds at five on five. You know, he was on the ice for the goal, the Canucks opening goal, which was the first shift for the Patterson line in the game. And then the next two. And then when the special teams started to muddy up the flow of that first period, it felt like he got lost. And, you know, that's something that just like, you know, we are talking about a first time NHL head coach, right?

Coaching in his seventh game, not a full deck that he's playing with. And, you know, I'd want to know, like, if I was Patrick Alvin or, I just want to know, like, did we lose them? Like, did we lose them on the bench in that moment? And what's our plan to make sure that we're not, that we're putting one of our best goal threats on the ice, even in a game where or a period where the flow gets messed up by a variety of different special teams things, right?

Like, that would be something that I'd want to know internally. The other thing that I concerned me a bit was late in the first period. Now, they're on the road, of course, so you don't have last change. but they come out of a TV timeout. It's a shift before the TV timeout, the Kineks have good pressure with the Pedersen line. It's 1-1 at this point. But yeah, I mean, so it's not like

Pittsburgh's already tied the score, but you have a good shift, and then TV timeout, the Kineks come back, and come back with their fourth line. And it's like, for me, especially late in the period that's been muddied up by special teams play, like that's a perfect opportunity to just stick with your top line.

Like, get Jake DeBrusk and company an extra ship. They come out with the fourth line, Joseph Labat and company. Penguins answer with Sidney Crosby. And, you know, it's an icing. It's, like, there's a couple of tough things that happen. Kinex end up taking it too many men on the ice penalty. And it's like, you know, even if you do want your fourth line out there, right? Even if you're just like, okay, we want our fourth line out there.

Like, that to me is a perfect opportunity where, like, maybe it's Debrusk instead of Niels them on, right? I mean, that to me, like coming back out of a TV timeout and not in that situation in that period and putting your fourth line out on the road. I don't love that. But that, that feels like something that, you know, a first time NHL head coach might iron out by the time they've coached 15, 25 games, right? So those were the two sort of moments that I was like, what is going on? Other than that, like after icings, after Penguins icings, it was often Pedersen jumping over the boards. So I thought the situational usage was fine.

I'm not too worried again about the top line usage, the actual minutes load. I think Pedersen getting tuned in the face-off circle also probably played a pretty huge role in shaping some of Foote's decision-making there. So I felt like in some ways it wasn't as bad as it looked on the box score at the end of the game. But there were certainly two things in the first

period, especially, that I looked at and thought, man, I don't know that that's how you want this team to be deployed. Drancer, good to have you back, buddy. It's going to be a crazy week for the Kinecks, I think. One way of the air. It could be good. It could be bad. But it could be good.

So we'll see. Hey, what are the Kinecks going to do for JT. Miller's return tribute video wise, if you had to guess? Well, I mean, you got to, I don't think it's hard to figure out. You'll get a tribute video and a thank you and I think fans will applaud. I think this is a player who had a pretty special resonance for fans in the city and obviously it's gotten it got complicated toward

the end there but I don't think that should diminish like the fact that JT Miller had I'd say two maybe three of them what top certainly top 15 maybe top 10 seasons by an individual skater in Canucks history um you know at probably 15 right and and that 20, 24, 25 seasons, probably in the top 10, and two others that belong top 15, top 20. I mean, played his absolute guts out for this team. You know, whatever you thought of him off the ice or whatever your opinion of how it ended or what have you, like, this is a guy who, you know, Bled Canucks Blue while he was here and committed to this franchise long term.

And for complicated reasons, it didn't work out. I think there's no question that he should get a vociferous round of applause. on his return and I expect him to. Trancer, I echo Brough's sentiments. It's great to have you back, buddy. Thanks, boys. Be well. Talk to later, buddy. See you by. Thomas Trance from the Athletic Vancouver and Kinnock's talk here on the Halford and Bruff Show on Sports Night 650.

So the FBI is holding a press conference right now? I saw. Detailing this I guess you could call it a sports gambling bust. Yep. And this is, I think this is a key one. because people often think, like, why did these guys get involved in this sports betting? Is it just greed?

Like, don't they make enough money? Why do they need to be, like, you know, tipping off people that they know? You know, and this is a part. The FBI says that former Raptors player, Jonte Porter, was threatened to participate in the sports gambling scheme because of his gambling debts. You know, so often, like, it's not just great. It's not like, you know, man, if I told you that I'm going to do, like, I'll come out of the game and then you can bet and then we can make money together. Like that might have been what happened with Terry Rozier. Like some people are just dumb, right?

And they're just greedy. But more often, if it's the mafia that's involved, and according to the FBI, the mafia is involved, it's them leaning on someone. It's not just being like, hey, I've got a great idea how we can both. We can make a win-win situation here, right? That's not how they operate. They get someone who's vulnerable. And you could be vulnerable with gambling debts. You could be vulnerable with, I don't know, a lot of things.

And then they'll lean on you. It's not always just a greed thing. Nobody ever watches Sopranos, Davy Skatino. Yeah. He had the sporting goods store. Then he got into trouble with Tony because he took too many boxes of Ziti. That was the code for getting cash for the... Yeah, T-1,000.

It's Robert Patrick. Yes. You're right. T1,000. Wow, very well done. Also, John Doggin on the Xbox. Deep cut. So how did they lean on him?

He got into too much gambling debt with him, so they busted out his sporting goods store. Right, yeah, yeah. And they, you know, started making a bunch of good fellows, too. Yeah, same idea. I noticed that all the Toronto Raptors, the Toronto Rangers, though. Yeah, the Toronto Rangers wasn't a good move, but kind of on brand. We've thoroughly investigated this. Yeah.

And you get the Rangers one. The Rangers one is a referendum on the J.T. Miller trade. And we can circle all the way back to the heat. thing. Like, one major part of that trade is out and facing a very uncertain future. The other part of that trade, Mancini is Mancini.

Like, there's nothing really, there's no, the referendum on it. What's the crowd going to be like in the Rangers game? I think they're going to be all over Miller, personally. I think they're going to, I think it's doing. The wing? Yeah. Oh. I think so. I think it'll be split. I don't think it's going to be split. I don't think it's going to be split. I think it's going to be split. Now, how much of it

depends how the game goes. You know, in those big games, like, let's say a New York crowd. Okay, let's, let's, if you're talking about a New York crowd, you're like, remember when the Blue Jays went to Yankee Stadium? And people were kind of like, I wonder what these Yankees crowd is going to be like. Because when things go well to start the game, like it's a good start, the Yankees fans are great, but they will quickly turn.

Yeah. I think that's, now let's talk about the Vancouver fans. I think that could be the crowd. I would say, based on my 46 years of experience in the city. Have you ever, you haven't, you haven't been to many, like, you, you don't go to many Canucks games personally, right? Have you heard all the J.T. Miller chants that were there before? Like, you mean when he was part of the team? Yeah, there's a lot of people that would still like him to be part of the team.

Right, but never underestimate the pettiness of a Vancouver crowd. They're going to want. Of course they're going to want that. Like, that's obvious. But the other part of it is, like, my, like the bit, and it was only half a bit, because part of it was serious, is like, with Tuckett, I like the guy, but when you're not with us, you're against us. That's how I look at it. Tocke was a coach, not a player. Doesn't matter. There were no Rick Tocke chance in Rogers Arena. Are you kidding me right now? Are you kidding me right now? This is a guy that got traded away from the team because he got in a fight with the guy who is still here. There's going to be a large section of people. Buddy, you know who they blamed? Not Miller. I think you're nuts if you think. that there's going to be people that aren't going to be loudly and vociferously booing. Yes, there will be, and there will be some people that cheer the hell out of J.T. Miller because they loved him. I think that's going to be. And a lot of it is going to depend

how the Canucks play. Well, if the Canucks get the doors blown off them, there's going to be booze. I'm not naive enough to think that. If the Canucks get the doors blown off them, there's going to be J.T. Miller chance. But we're talking about, and there are. This is pretty exciting, isn't it? That would actually be pretty exciting. Are we amping up the anticipation. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.