Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 6/17/25

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the NHL Olympic roster announcements, they preview game six of the Stanley Cup final, they chat the Canucks' likelihood of acquiring Buffalo Sabres defenceman Bowen Byram in a trade, plus they also preview tonight's Canada vs. Honduras Gold Cup matchup at BC Place 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 Half it up left, and lays it home. The Oklahoma City Thunderbirds one win away from their first ever NBA championship. This is his challenge. I mean, he needs to go to work this summer and put himself in a spot where he's ready to compete at a high level from game one. It's been a growing year.

Sweet mercy. Grr. Good morning Vancouver! 6-0-1 on a Tuesday! Happy Tuesday everybody! It is Halford and his Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for net help. With over 3,000 five star reviews,

visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in 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 Kintec Studio.

Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. A lot to get into on a Tuesday show. It's a big night in the world of sports. Guest list today begins at 6.30. Greg Wyshinski is gonna join the program. Our NHL insider from ESPN, live from Florida, for game six of the Stanley Cup final.

It is the first potentially clinching game of this Stanley Cup final. Who's gonna start in goal for Edmonton? We'll answer that and a bunch of other questions about tonight's game with Wishing Live from Florida. That's at 6.30 this morning. 7.30, Buck Pierce is gonna join the program. New head coach.

Can we call him the new head coach? Yeah, he's still the new head coach. new sure the new head coach of the BC Lions two games into his tenure The Lions are back in action this Saturday, June 21st That's a 4 p.m. Home kickoff at BC place in a rematch against Winnipeg Hopefully we can get a health update on Nathan Rourke We'll also ask about the challenges of facing a team in back to back games, especially when that team just beat you the last time out. So Buck Pierce is going to join us at seven thirty eight o'clock at Nanverk.

MLB Network is going to join the program. We moved him from his Thursday slot to Tuesday to talk about two things. One show, hey, Ohtani, making his return to pitching last night. The Dodgers took care of the Padres. Wasn't bad. Wasn't bad. Just an inning for Shohei, but making his return to pitching last night. The Dodgers took care of the Padres. Wasn't bad, wasn't bad, just an inning for Shohei, but it was okay. We'll also talk to Adnan at eight o'clock about the Rafael Devers trade

and the fallout from that in Boston and then of course in San Francisco. Also, speaking of baseball, I have a question for the listeners here. Have you bought your tickets for the Sportsnet 650 Jays Care 50-50 challenger baseball? It is supported by Tile Town, proudly Canadian owned and operated since 1971. Our goal is to raise a hundred thousand dollars or more for the kids.

Of course the winner takes half. That's the entire premise of the 50 50. Buy your tickets now at jayscareg dot raffle nexus.com when we hit $15,000 we will give away a signed Quinn Hughes Jersey a Jersey again Jayscare golf at raffle nexus.com buy your 5050 tickets now. That's what's happening on the program today laddie Let's tell everybody what happened 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.

In terms of what happened yesterday, I know it was early yesterday, but we were off the air. We did get the Canadian and American announcements for the first six for their rosters for the 2026 Olympics in Italy. And as expected, Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks captain was indeed named to the USA first six for the Olympics, much like he was for the Four Nations faceoff, which ultimately he did not play in. Is he the biggest reason that the Americans

will go into the Olympics thinking it could be different from Four Nations? He would have been the biggest difference maker not there for the Americans at the Four Nations, for sure. And I mean, I think it was a big reason why he pushed so hard to get there. On a personal level, I think it was a big reason why he pushed so hard to get There on a personal level. I think it was a big reason why Mike Sullivan decided to announce that quit is on his way He's a huge difference maker. I didn't think their blue line was

Inferior or bad by any so bad, but he's the best American defenseman Yeah, I'm confident in saying that that he's the best American defenseman I was not aware the Quinn Hughes has not represented his country internationally, also since 2019. Right. It's a long time for him. And you know, with all due respect to the four nations, if you were gonna stack up the importance

of one over the other. When would he have? I just didn't even think about it. Maybe at the Worlds or something like that. Which was the last time that he went. I just never thought about it. Sometimes you forget how long they really were away from international competition, but good on Hughes.

For the rest of the American roster, it actually mirrored the Canadian in a way because five of the six original six from the four nations got named. The only difference here was that Brady Kachak replaced Adam Fox, one of the defensemen actually saw there was a big debate on social media about Adam Fox and where he was as a player. So. And I was like, I don't care. Yeah, I know. It's the thing.

Some people don't care. Some people do care. I understand why they do this. A lot of people are like, why are they announcing six people right now? Well, one, it's to drum up some interest a year out and to get people talking about it. If I'm the NHL, I'm thinking about doing this in August when there's a dearth of content and radio hosts, maybe like the two you're listening to right now are desperate for

things to talk about. They did not need to do this right now in the midst of the Stanley Cup final. I don't know if you saw the anecdote. That's a good point actually. Yeah. Why not? Give us something. Why wait until August? Yeah. Why now? Spent three weeks on it. Did you see the anecdote with Sam Reinhardt when he got the call yesterday?

No, he forgot that they were doing it. He's like, why is Doug Armstrong calling whoever it was from Team Canada? Stanley Cup final. He's a little little like preoccupied. Named the Olympic roster. Yeah. What? We're doing that right now. He was like well have you been watching me speaking of the five of six Sam Reinhardt is the only guy that wasn't a original six from the Four Nations group that is going to be for the 26 Olympics in Italy he replaces his Florida Panthers teammate Brad Marshawn

You know I don't know how much time we want to spend on Sam Reinhardt but no Sam Bennett in the top six no no no I didn't think he was going to either why I know it's recent recency bias yeah yeah I mean I think that look what Reinhardt's done and how he's raised his profile since going from Florida it only further just casts this dark shadow over the Buffalo Sabres organization. It's not like they didn't get anything in return for him. They got a lottery protected first round pick and Devon Levi. But at the same time when you talk about a franchise that is looking to get out of the darkness and you look at some of the deals that they've made and the guys that they've traded away and Reinhardt has turned into.

I mean, he's a premier forward in the National Hockey League right now. Yeah, the worst thing for Buffalo is that more guys want out now. If you're a pending RFA, or you're like, oh, this is my chance to go, This is my chance to leave. Maybe we'll talk about Bowen Byrom later on in the show and the connections to the Vancouver Canucks. It was reported yesterday by. Who reported? Adrian Dator.

Adrian Dator, who covers the Colorado Avalanche. Byrom's former team. No Bowen Byrom, that Byrom himself wants to be a Canuck. So we can talk about that later in the show. If you've got any questions or comments, text into the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650, 650 Metro Vancouver's Trusted Choice for Contractors and

Rental Warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. Is there some sort of deal that the Canucks could do with the Buffalo Sabres? Maybe they get JJ Peturka out of Buffalo as well. I don't know what the Canucks could possibly trade over there unless- All our first round picks.

Unless, well, Trevor Linden might have an idea of a guy that could go, but that was yesterday's show. All right. What else happened yesterday? We do have the audio on that. No, no, no, it's okay. So, I'm done with, I am in my, I am in my give him a chance phase.

Give him a chance. But it is good audio, I'm just saying. Don't toy with the man right now. It is, it is. I'm just saying, it's good. Well then you can have it free or what we learned if you want. That's true, I didn't even know

we had that long. You can have it free or what we learned. Okay's wasn't you can have it for your what we learned if you want. That's true I know you can have it you can have it for your what we learned because I then and then you can have ice cream for dessert Oh, it'll be a what we learned for me as well because I staunchly refused to listen to the station when I'm not on it So I don't even know what we're talking about right now other things that happened last night before we look ahead to what is a very Very good sports Tuesday evening My bet which again, I'm not upset about because it's all going to charity, but the Oklahoma City Thunder have now taken a firm grasp over the NBA finals. A 120 to 109 win on Monday night. It looked at times in the fourth quarter, thanks to the heroics of T.J.

McConnell that Indy might clots way back in. But eventually it was an 11 point loss. And perhaps the biggest dagger of them all wasn't even the loss But it was that Tyrese Halliburton Clearly got hurt at the beginning of that game tried to gut his way through it played 34 minutes finished with Four points all of them on free throws, and he did not look like he was anywhere close to 100% Yeah, do you know you you know the the website for the the Jays Care 50-50, right? Because- I've got it right here.

You're going to be making a $100 donation to that soon. J'sCareGolf.RaffleNexus. Well, it's not a donation. You're buying a 50-50. And by the way- I could win. I could win. Those tickets, when you buy them, are for me to win,

not for you to win. Oh, that was the catch. Yeah. J'sCareGolf.RaffleNexus.com buy your Jayscare Golf 50-50 tickets now and I will probably be doing so in a handful of days. I can't remember when game six of that series is. I'm assuming they're gonna go alternating nights.

But so anyway, that was what happened last night in the National Basketball Association. I mentioned the show, Hey Otani, returned to the mound. I won't spend a ton of time talking about this right now because Adnan Burke is going to join us at eight o'clock to talk all things baseball. But Otani gave up a run, a pair of two strike hits. Dodgers one.

Otani pitch a grand total of an inning. The the spectacle that was watching him take to the mound was hilarious. Like everyone, including his manager, Dave Roberts was just standing there and all of a guy that threw 28 pitches in the first inning Take your prices tripled. Yeah, it's crazy. They're one inning. It was funny. It's like first pitch. Ooh home run He's gonna need Tommy John Again, no, he did clock on the gun at a hundred point two miles an hour So the arm looks okay for show has he made his return to yesterday?

It was five me those series with the Dodgers and the Padres, I've always good energy to begin with anyway. Yes, Greg? I got a stat. He not only hit 100.2 on a pitch, the next time he went up to the plate as a hitter, he had an exit velocity of 105.2. He's a triple digger guy. Pretty amazing guy still, even though he gave up a run in his first appearance. Okay. So that was last night. I'm going to throw a question out to the listeners here. And again, 6.50, 6.50 Dunbar Lumber text line.

Which game are you going to be most focused on tonight? Because there's three decent options. Will it be the Stanley Cup final where the cup could be handed out? Uh, if the Florida Panthers win, will it be the Stanley Cup final where the cup could be handed out? If the Florida Panthers win, will it be the Calder Cup in Abbotsford, Calder Cup game three. You know, the, the series returns to Abbotsford or it's going to be mad house in Abbotsford tonight.

I mean, it's, it's really cool, especially for the city of Abbotsford that. I mean, it's really cool, especially for the city of Abbotsford, that you get to cheer on a Canucks team in the league final. Or this is the third option. Maybe some of you have tickets to Canada's gold cup game at BC Place against Honduras. On grass. On grass, yeah. they brought in the grass. Was it the same grass from the Wrexham match?

According to everyone that was there yesterday, including one of my big sources who took a picture and then sent it to me, it looks, smells, and feels different than the grass from Wrexham. They didn't get rave reviews for the Wrexham grass. I don't know if you remember that or not. No. So, I mean, it's still laid down,

sawed over top of whatever it is, the floor, right? So it's not going to be a replica of what they're gonna do for the FIFA World Cup where they're going to have a more elaborate grass installation system. But according to everyone that was there yesterday, it's better. And I don't know if this was just the excitement of seeing it in BC.

It does look really nice. The aerial shot that I got, it looks great. I mean, anything, especially on camera, looks better than the turf. I've watched so many MLS games where you look at the turf. You're like, what are they playing on? It's not great. So it's going to be great. And I mean, I'm going to hand up. I'm going to the game tonight.

For me, on a personal level, being such a football aficionado, the chance to see Canada in a competitive match a year out from the World Cup was just too good to pass up. And Honduras, it's a fun test. There'll be a good atmosphere tonight. Justin into Austin, Texas. I'll be flipping between the Stanley and Calder Cup games

on my phone while being at the soccer game in person. Me and you both, buddy. That, that's a sports fan right there. I love not being dialed in on any one particular game, but sort of paying attention to three at once. Tatiana in Langley, going to the Calder Cup game tonight, I'll check the score for Oilers versus Panthers and just hope they go to seven.

Yeah, I'm gonna be in the, I'm gonna be all over the Oilers tonight, unfortunately. I hate it, I hate it, but the reality is I need. It's an elimination game. I need to see, no, I want the Oilers to win tonight. I want them to, I want this thing to go to seven. The entertainment value of the Stanley Cup final has,

actually, to be honest, Saturday's game was the worst of the bunch, I thought. Even the 6-1 blowout, at least there was some fisticuffs and some antics at the end of it. And a blowout does make for a compelling narrative. Like that one, that was just a stifling, suffocating performance. So is it going to be, what's going to be different tonight?

Are the Oilers going to come out with their hair on fire? Stuart Skinner is going to start a net. That's going to be the difference tonight. Do you think he will? Yeah, I think he's going to. Really? I think you have to. I think you have to.

I think you have to, I mean, it's just it's a change-up If you have you don't want to go down with Calvin Pickard and goal. No, you may know you don't want to go down Let's turn skinner and go either. It's a tough situation though. I think though like in an elimination game. I think you got to go To the guy that's your number one I think the the change-up has worked for them in the past, right? Like they do get this weird sort of bump every time that they switch a goalie. I think eventually it'll run out

and tonight might be the night, but every time they've gone to Pickard, it's always felt like this is never gonna be the long-term solution. Like whether it's gonna be for a game or maybe two games or whatever, you're in until you lose. And you know, Stuart Skinner is their number one,

nominally or whatever, he is their guy. I don't love the situation either way. I think that what we talked about yesterday, that if they lose in the Stanley Cup final, they might need to actually address this in a meaningful way. I think that's what's gonna ultimately happen. What if I tell you it doesn't matter? That's what I was gonna say.

For me, for me, for me, the choice between Skinner and Pickard is kind of a wash. They both led in three goals. What I, what I want. He's got a 8.86, the other's got a 8.91. What I want to see is what the oilers do in the first period and whether or not they can summon the energy and the creativity and I don't know,

I'll throw a Rick Tocuck word out there, courage. To go into Florida and try and take it to them. I mean, Florida is going to have something to say about it, but the Oilers have the, I mean, the Oilers have the skill and the talent to be able to come out strong tonight. They should be, I mean, I hope they are. They're the desperate team in all this.

I think a lot of people expected the Oilers to get off to a better start in game five because they just kind of escaped game four after a bad start. But maybe the Oilers were like, well, we don't really have to, you know, like we won the last game and we got off to a bad start. We're resilient. We're super resilient. It doesn't matter if we fall behind. You know, you obviously wouldn't go out with that intention, but in the back of your mind, you know, I just, if the Oilers, you know, come out tonight and they don't have, if it's the same performance as game five, I think I'll be a

little bit surprised. They can't have, I mean, the problem here is that they've had a slow start in every single game in this series. The stats are so one-sided. I think I said yesterday on the show that the goals are 11 to four in favor of Florida, and they've scored two

in almost every single first period so far. It's just been a nightmare start repeatedly for the Oilers. That being said, they can be buoyed by a couple things here. One, if they want to look at recent history, Florida had an opportunity against, you'll remember the Toronto Maple Leafs to finish it out in game six in that series at home. And Toronto went down and did the business.

And very methodically too, you remember that game? Like it was just one of those very straightforward, forthright, we're gonna clamp it down, we're gonna take advantage of our opportunities, kind of win. I think Edmonton more than has that in its bag. It just hasn't really shown itself a lot in this series. The other thing I think we really have to consider is what a super desperate McDavid looks like, because he has been quiet

the last couple of games by McDavid standards and understanding that all the cliches back against the wall it's do or die your life is on the line staring in the face the possibility of losing a second consecutive Stanley Cup on I do wonder what a jacked up McDavid is gonna look like tonight there is a chance he could go nuke now the problem is is that if he expends everything in game six there still is that game seven on the horizon. So it's tough to kind of ratchet up that desperation two games in a row. Here's Matthew Kachuck talking about playing against Connor McDavid. Yeah, well, it's going to be a tough test. You know, he's desperate to win a cup.

So are we, you know, we've, it's, you know, we've worked so hard this year and, and, uh, gone through so many ups and downs and so much. It's been a grueling year. It's been tough, guys fighting through injuries, guys up and down years. For us to be in this position right now, we've worked so hard for this. So has he and the rest of the Oilers as well. We're all here for a reason, but you know, he's

obviously a talent like nobody else in the league. So it's so hard to to to shut him down. I don't even I don't think you can shut him down. You can just try to limit as much as as much as you can. So we've got guys in there that I hope are ready for the challenge because it's going to be it's going to be a big test for us. And we're all ready for it. So who knows what happens in tonight's game, but what strikes me is that there are two guys

on Edmonton who you're like, okay guys, you got to get it done. How many are on Florida? A bunch, right? Like so many guys have contributed. Think of, think of, you know, we're talking about Sam Reinhardt. We just played a clip from Matthew Kachak, but they haven't even been the heroes. It's been Sam Bennett and Brad Marshawn. Yep. And the guy that's been kind of quiet, offensively at least, is maybe their best forward overall, and that's Barkov. Yeah.

You know, it just, there's Florida, I think we're all coming to realize and have realized over the last couple of years, they're just loaded with players. Yeah, the work Bill Zito did this season was really, really strong. There's so many guys that could go out there and play the hero for Florida. And Edmonton you're like, all right, like David or dry settle and maybe Newt.

Yep. And other than that, I, I, I think that's, that's still the issue with Edmonton. Edmonton is obviously a very, very, very good team. They made the Stanley cup final two years in a row, but everyone's just looking at McDavid and Dreisle right now. And based on their ice time, their ice times are ridiculous.

Yeah. They're like playing 25, 26 minutes a game and these aren't overtime games. First pair of defensemen numbers for those games. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think that says a lot. Yeah. You know, and I think if think if the Oilers don't get it done

this year, they're going to have to have a real, think about the depth that they've got upfront. They miss Zach Hyman for sure. And that's unfortunate. Maybe they'll look back as, you know, as we do as Canuck fans and go, ah, if Dan Hamhus had survived game one against the Bruins, maybe things had gone differently.

And I think possibly maybe that's going to be their, their Dan Hamhus. But you know, the goaltending, obviously if the Oilers don't win, they're going to have to look at that and, uh, but more to that, I just, they just, and it's been the same story for a long time. Like they just, they just need more than McDavid and dry subtle there. So we mentioned that it's a pretty huge night in the world of sports.

I'll remind you that right here, your home of the Canucks sports net six 50, we're going to have a pair of games tonight on our airwaves. We're going to start right after Canucks central with the oilers and the Panthers game six Stanley cup final as Jason mentioned The cup could be handed out tonight in Florida. We're also going to be carrying game three Abbotsford Charlotte from the Calder Cup final in Abbotsford now for those of you that are unaware The Calder Cup finals a slightly different format than the Stanley Cup final. It's of the 2-3-2 variety, meaning that the next three games of this thing are going to be played out in Abbotsford. And that's why the Canucks getting a split in Charlotte to start this series was so important.

Theoretically speaking, the Abbotsford Canucks could win this Calder Cup on home ice if they take care of business in these next three games. And I'm bringing this up because the city of Abbotsford and the Abbotsford Canucks fans have turned that place into a very difficult rink to play in. The Abbotsford Canucks have an eight and two record at home in these playoffs. If you go all the way back to the regular season, they've won 14 of their last 18 on home ice. I have noticed throughout these Calder Cup playoffs, if you look at the teams that have to go on the road for these three games sets, it's very difficult to emerge with wins.

There's a travel component involved. There seems to be a big home ice advantage, especially if you look at what Charlotte was able to do in Charlotte. I know they only got a split, but they thoroughly outplayed and outshot the Canucks in those two games. Yeah. Is that home ice advantage though? Or is that just Charlotte being a pretty good team Charlotte's a good team Charlotte rolled through the playoffs Yeah, and they had a really good regular season as well

They were I mean there was only about five or six teams in the age Oh, they had 90 plus points and 40 plus wins and they were one of them So do you think Leckermack you gets in? No, I mean that's been one of here's the thing. When we're talking about going to make a change after those first two games. I can't see it. Yeah, I really can. Is it just too late for that now? Has he been on ice for too long? He's been a healthy scratch for five straight games. Yeah, yeah.

That's what I mean. It's just a lot not on the ice on ice. Yeah. He's only played in 12 of the 19 playoff games period. So it's not like this is just a recent run. He did have a nice goal scoring total and had a good run in the regular season and obviously got a look at the NHL level. But I think right now, if you're going to make a case for development, taking a backseat to winning, that could be one of the situations. Whereas, like, does it benefit the club more to have the 20 year old

youngster in the prize prospect even struggle his way through but learn his way through a cup final probably but you also There's a service to the guys that deserve to be out there Yeah And if the coach decides that a veteran skater deserves to be out there more than leckar Mackie Then you go with the veteran skater. I mean this is an opportunity for a lot of these guys It's gonna be the zenith of their career, right? This is the pinnacles winning a Calder Cup. So the, but the Laker Mackey story is definitely worth following.

It's weird because you're rooting for everything to be, you know, a positive story in this situation, right? You're rooting for the city of Abbotsford. You're rooting for the fans. You're rooting for the organization. You're rooting for a lot of guys that maybe aren't going to be significant contributors at the NHL level, but at the same time, everyone knows that an HL team, a farm team, its primary responsibility is to feed players up to the NHL level.

So when you talk about that, you say, well, who's their most prized prospect? Well, on that roster right now, it's probably Leckar Mackie. And what's going on right now? He's not a part of this, which is unfortunate because this would be a great learning opportunity if he was out there contributing on the ice. But again, he's been a healthy scratch for a while now. So we'll see what happens tonight. A reminder, the game is right here on Sportsnet 650.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. 701 on a Tuesday. Feels like Bref and I are gonna run a caper here. We case the joint. You're listening to the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford and Bref of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first entrusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominock at jason.mortgage.

If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. It was a stormy day in the studio. What is this song? I don't know. Get Me Sam Spade.

It's pretty good. It's called Cut to the Chase. It's all over the place. Get Pink Panther vibes. I'm thinking Inspector Gadget. A lot of people. Of Pink Panther vibes. I'm thinking Inspector Gadget. A lot of people. Of course you are. A lot of people in the Dunbar Lumber

text message in basket, when we asked, hey, what do you, the listeners, want us to talk about? They said, talk about Bowen Byram. Talk about the trade rumors. Talk about it. Okay. So we can.

A couple texts that I'll just read and then we'll, we'll get into this. If the Canucks trade for Bowen Byrom, which defender gets moved out? And Lucas texted and said, Frank, sorry, Valley says the Canucks don't have anything that Buffalo would want because they aren't looking for futures.

So unless it's a PD package, I don't see how they have a trading partner with them. What teams are looking for futures this off season? Okay. Well, you could always trade futures and have them flipped, but that does make it more complicated. But look, that's what the Canucks do. Yeah.

How many times did they've done it twice? They've done it twice. That's how they ended up with Philip Horonek and Marcus Canucks do. Yeah. How many times did. They've done it twice. They've done it twice. That's how they ended up with Philip Hronik and Marcus Pedersen. Yeah. That's how they addressed their blue line, by trading out guys for futures and then, or partial futures, and then flipping those

futures right away. The Bowen Byram thing is interesting because we've heard from reporters like Rick Dollywall that this current regime has always really loved Bowen Byram. And there has also been a very public admission that keeping Quinn Hughes isn't guaranteed. Sure. So to the question of which defender gets shipped out,

doesn't necessarily have to be a defenseman. No, it does not at all. Other people have, I've seen people say, well, if it's a bow and buy room deal, are you shipping out a guy like Philip Hronik? Not necessarily because your top pair in not too long, I hate to say this, but if you acquire Bowen Byrom, if your top pair could soon be Bowen Byrom with Philip Peronik.

It definitely seems like Byrom is going to be on the move from Buffalo. Oh yeah. That I can almost guarantee. Yeah. In May, Byrom went out and hired a new agent, Darren Farris. That was courtesy of our very own Rick Dollywell.

And then a little bit after that, agents which happened, Dolly and Kevin Weeks from ESPN and a handful of other people reported that Byron was very much on the trade block. So how did we get here? Well, the Canucks have an interest in Byron going all the way back to his draft year in 2019. You mentioned the Adrian Dator tweet from yesterday saying that he believes that Byron wants to be a Canuck. From a personal standpoint, I've been pushing for this.

Let's try and bring more local products back home. The ones that grew up, especially the ones that grew up following, I don't know why it feels like that 2011 team was so- It's a hedle on defense situation though. The guy's injury prone. He's like one concussion away from retirement. Well, Brandon texts in, he says,

"'Why is there so much interest in Byron? He is not that good of a player. I disagree. He's good. He's just, he's like, he's like, he's good and injury prone. I think his play, I think his play probably fell off in Buffalo, but a lot of players play falls

off in Buffalo. Right. To our text. I really think you have to consider the teams that you play with and how that it can affect just your stats because you're not playing on a good team, your motivation, how dialed in you are. Look at Seth Jones.

Like Seth Jones went from being like, oh my God, this guy's going to cripple Chicago's cap situation for years. Yep. To he's like the top minute defenseman on the Florida Panthers who are one win away from winning the Stanley Cup. He's been great. He's a good player. Um, I, I'm, I mean, I'm with a dog. I think there is a, there is a concussion concern

there with Bowen Byrom. But, you know, if you were to ask me if it's likely if the Canucks land Bowen Byrom, I guess I would have trouble saying it's likely. Just because of, you know, I know I've pushed back on some of the reasons, but it does make it more complicated if you have to trade, you know, acquire futures from one team and then ship those futures out. It would be easier for Buffalo if they could just go like, um, you know, here's the deal.

And we're getting our NHL players back for, for Bowen Byrom. But if Byrom does want to be a Canuck and he wants to be a Canuck badly, he does have an element of control in the situation depending on how aggressive he's willing to be in holding out or not playing this season. The Matthew Kachuck situation in Calgary, when he was in the same situation as Byrom in that he

was a restricted free agent and he essentially told the Flames, I don't want to be a Calgary Flame anymore. What happened with him was he gave the Flames a handful of teams where he'd be willing to trade, be traded to and sign a long-term contract. Florida ended up making a big push and then they would have had to convince Kichak because otherwise he would just do

the same thing in Calgary that he would have, you know, or, you know, he'd do the same thing in Florida that he would have done in Calgary, which is find your way to unrestricted free agent and then leave. And it's the same situation with Dubois in Winnipeg. So these RFAs do have an element of control,

but for the most part, I think what would happen is the Sabres would say, okay, give us a few teams that you'd like to go to. And Byron would probably say, okay, I'll, I'll play it that way because I'm not just going to limit myself to one team. Sure. And lots of guys have thrived after escaping Buffalo.

The most obvious ones are Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhardt. But it doesn't work for everybody. Rista Lyon and hasn't had like a career takeoff since moving to Philadelphia. There's been other guys as well. Right. I mean, you could. It's all about circumstance. I mean, the guy that Byron got traded for in Casey Middlestad hasn't taken off in Colorado. Yeah, because he's not good. Right. So what I'm saying is sometimes players are free and he's never really shown that

players and sometimes the players that underperform in Buffalo underperform because they're not good. That's just the reality of it. You don't know what you're getting exactly with Byron. You're getting high end skill that's injury prone. Guy that would be on his third NHL team at a relatively young age. If they acquire him, is it a tacit admission though

from the Canucks that- See, I don't think so. That Quinn Hughes is unlikely to stay. I know where you're going, I don't think so. I think it's- I think they would clearly see him as Hughes insurance. I think it's insurance, but I also think you could spin a pretty good yarn about we

are going to make this year about being the most competitive we can be. And if it means that we strengthen our area, you can't ever have too good of a blue line. If you strengthen an area of your perceived strength, which is your blue line. So is he going to be, what, is Marcus Peterson going to be a third pairing defenseman then well they're most

certainly trading a D right like that's like they're not potentially it has potentially or maybe you're not gonna trade DPD not why I hope not well or I mean you can't say that for certain or depends with the package okay Alfred you you get your oran or you build a blue line on the pretense that maybe we will have another injury laden season like the one prior in which Queen Hughes missed a ton of time. It wasn't really healthy for the second half of the season and Philip Peronik missed what almost two months. Yeah. Out of that. I mean that that stuff sinks fringe teams. And if they're, you know what else?

Sinks fringe teams? Like, yeah, like that's the thing, right? It's also, their priority has to be the fours. Look at their top six right now. It's like, yikes. Yeah, it is yikes. I mean, even if Petey comes back- I'm sorry, when did I say

that they should ignore the forward group entirely? I didn't say you did. Well, someone did. Someone was inferring it. I wasn't inferring it. Well, if you're spending assets to get bone byrum, then I would taking assets away that can fix the forward group I would look at him as One could strengthen a group

Two would be potentially insurance for Hughes and three You might be able to get them for less than market value because he does control the process somewhat. And he began reportedly wants to go to Vancouver. Now, if they don't do it, I'm not going to lose any sleep over. It's like, OK, go do something else. But there is that factor there that I would consider more than most because he is interested in joining the team again, reportedly. And I'm not sure how many guys you're going to get either via trade or infre agency that are dying to get to Vancouver

Okay, Scott and Surrey Texan Do you guys see any of the journeymen on the Abbotsford Canucks cracking the Vancouver Canucks roster next season? No Sammy Blay the Canucks are the only cup winner just like this Stanley Cup winner The Canucks are good in the bottom six. Could you always have more? Could you always strengthen it? It's just like the blue line. Could you have more journeymen? I think Linus Carlsen will be on the team next season and I think there's a very good

chance that Lekkeramaki is traded. Okay. And then who else are we talking about? Maybe Kudryatsev, but he's not a journeyman. He's a young player. No. He might be a seventh or eighth defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks.

Klimovich. Uh, Klimovich will not be in the NHL next season. No. The, the, the Klem Reaper. He's the Klem Reaper. That's his nickname, the Klem Reaper. If the Canucks are big goals. If the Canucks have a bad season, maybe he gets

a sniff at some point, but he's not cracking the roster next season. No chance. But Linus Carlsen could. Yeah. And outside of that, maybe Max Sassen. You know, I've heard, or I've read, I haven't heard it myself, but I've read that, you know,

Teddy Bluger could be traded by the Canucks if like in a deal for a center. I know that would. Why? He's part of the Latvian first six. I know. I know. But if he is, then maybe Max Sassen has a way

onto the team. Atu-Ratu? Yep. Atu-Ratu is a chance for sure. Yeah. But he's also not a journeyman. Neither really a sass. Yeah. Yeah. I don't see any of these guys. Christian Wall But he's also not a journeyman. Neither really assassin. Yeah.

I, yeah, I don't see any of these guys. Christian Willannon, that would be a journeyman. I don't see it. No. These guys are doing what they're supposed to do, which is killing it at the American league level. You know, maybe, maybe Sammy Blake gets a sniff somewhere else, but I don't know if it would be here.

Yeah. I just don't see it. Fish dancer texts in, Ty Mueller makes the team or I'll eat my shorts. Okay. You don't have to eat your shorts. You don't have to eat your shorts. You just, well, it would be nice, nice, not nice to see a baby. It'd be interesting to see.

It would not be nice. Yeah. I don't know where nice came from. But none of, none of these, uh, none of these guys are, well, it's fish dancer. He's always ripping me. So it would be nice for me to see. Sure. You know, I don't think any of the journeymen are going to play a role in the Canucks future.

Okay. So let's talk a little bit about the soccer game tonight. Yeah. Because it'll get you interested. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I not contribute to the previous conversation? It'll get you interested. I'm already interested. I love contribute to the previous conversation? No, it'll get you interested. I'm already interested.

I love our show. I love your show. What do you need to see from Canada tonight against Honduras? Because you're actually going to the game. I had tickets, but I don't like to watch games on my phone. Like I want the Stanley Cup final game.

Sorry, people in Abbotsford. The Stanley Cup final game to me is my priority tonight. So I've got that. I appreciate you. And you, you were in charge of the Canada soccer. We delegated. You're the hockey guy tonight and I'm the soccer guy. Laddie, you've got the Abbotsford story and Adog,

you just, you just have some cereal buddy. Okay. All right. Done and done. Okay. What. All right done and done. Okay What do we need to see from Canada tonight and overall tonight? Comprehensive victory it shouldn't be close It should Canada's going into this tournament as a pretty big one of the big three favorites And that's part of your as part of the audience where we like well, yeah, no kidding other

You know It's worth noting that this tournament isn't always a layup because teams don't often send their A squads. Canada is sending as close to their A squad as they can. Yeah. The only guys that aren't going to be there of note are the two injured guys, Moise Bombito and of course, Alfonso Davies, who is Casey missed it on Saturday front and center at the Edmonton Oilers games. So this is all systems go the way that Marsh and we had them on the show last week as talked about their focus, the way that they built out this roster

and the way that they have really put an emphasis behind getting fans out, putting on a show for the nation, understanding that this is the best warm up that they are going to get. And they're having some subliminal messages from Marsh and other people within the organization and covering the program that they're almost the anti-Americans in this regard, because I don't know if you're aware of this or not,

but the US team right now is kind of embroiled in a controversy where a lot of their big name players have opted out of this summer. And they're like almost feuding with the manager, aren't they? Christine Pulisic, Weston McKennie, some of the big name guys have opted out of this summer. And they're, they're like almost feuding with the manager. Aren't they? Christine Pulisic, Weston McKenney, some of the big name guys who were playing in the biggest leagues, those guys both playing in Italy.

Yeah. Are at, I would say mini loggerheads with Pacetino because he wants buy-in, obviously. Yeah. And they're saying you're away from the world cup. And they're saying we've played a long season and we need some time to rest and recuperate. Now the interesting foil to that is this Canadian team where Marsh has said on a number of occasions, not a single guy came to me asking to take the

gold cup off. That includes like Jonathan David, whose club future is still very much in the air. And is he the captain right now? Yeah. Stefan Eustacchio, who is with Porto in the Club World Cup. Also, while, you know, you know, trying to balance what he's got to do with Team Canada. So there's he's going to play for Canada and in the club. I mean, he was I saw him pictures of him training with Porto.

I don't know to what degree he's going to do with the Canada shorts on. He just gets changed in the bathroom and then runs out. I don't know what he's going to do. I don't know how it's going to work out. I know Marshall be like, I love your moxie, but maybe it's a lot. Has he been named to the? Yeah, he's there. I mean, he's they were talking about here.

They were talking about him doing double duty. I don't know if he's here at the moment, OK, but there was talk about him doing double duty. Maybe they'll try and do a workaround anyway. To the larger point, what you're going to want to see from Canada in this tournament is a lot of the things that Marsh has tried to implement Stylistically, so the high press the athleticism everything when you hear him talk though, and you know what he references a lot the four nations team

The candidate hockey team he was really struck by he was really struck by it because to him as an American coaching in Canada He's always trying to figure out like what the Canadian identity and reputation of personality and ethos is and he's kind of boiled it down to We can be great humans and really nice and really polite off the pitch and be leaders in our community But on the pitch I want these guys to be a holes. And I mean, you understand. I don't need to swear. I'm trying not. I'm trying to swear less on the air.

I'm a professional. Yeah. And he's really leaned into this. And what he said was, I looked at that Canadian team at the Four Nations. And when they presented themselves publicly, they were fiercely Canadian and they were, you know, very polite and professional in their approach. But when they got on the ice, they had that dog in them. They were ready to fight three times against the Americans and they understood what it meant to fight for that Canadian identity. And he wants that

to be a part of this team and not be the happy to be there program anymore. We're happy to be at the World Cup. We're happy we finished first in CONCACAF. Yeah, we're happy that we're at the Gold Cup. Let's try and win some games. He wants them to be a little more brash, a little more cocky and a little more confident. So I'll be very curious to see how that plays out in this tournament because

right now they're a huge favorite over Honduras. This is a team that's way below you in the world rankings coming into. And here's the important part, your backyard like you're playing in Canada. Can I just say that the ticket prices are ridiculous. Ticket prices are stupid. Like I think.

How much are they? Well. I think get in prices around 60, 65 bucks. There's some, there's a handful of cheap ones that are like 40 bucks plus all the service charges. This is CONCACAF. But there are gonna be a lot of empty seats in the prime seats that are like, I looked

on Ticketmaster yesterday, they're like 150 bucks or something like that. So they had to watch Canada and Honduras. And before you get mad at Canada soccer. It's on Canada soccer. It's CONCACAF. And the Americans played a game the other day. In San Jose. In San Jose. In San Jose and it was, it was actually a big

win for them, five nothing over Trinidad and Tobago. Announced attendance was 12,000. I watched it. And there were not 12,000 people there. I watched it, it was pathetic. Yeah. For a U.S. team that's a year out from playing in a World

Cup that they're hosting. To be in. But people were complaining about the ticket prices. Yeah, I know. I'm not, I just. It wasn't, it wasn't like. I wasn't blaming the fans. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it was just pathetic, the whole thing. I've watched a bunch of games in this tournament, and if you think that one's bad, when you get some of these minnows, like the other day it was Costa Rica against Suriname, there was like 20 people in the stadium. But are the ticket prices there uniform across the board? They're not doing really.

They're not doing variable pricing like the Club World Cup. Like, if you go look at the Club World Cup, which is another disaster, if you go look at the Club World Cup tickets right now, some of the games have been well attended. Yeah, but there's variable pricing and unfortunately, kind of based on where the team stack up. So if you want to go see like Chelsea yesterday because they played LAFC those tickets are expensive but if you want to go see and this has been as no disrespect with some of the lesser-known teams like

Botafogo from Brazil, which is a big club in Brazil, but doesn't have the global appeal I think there's one from Tunisia called Esperance playing there's a team from New Zealand Which quite famously now lost 10-nil to Bayern in the Oakland City if you want to see them play against each other Yeah, the ticket prices are significantly less Yeah, the Gold Cup tickets is just it should be about how many people can we get into our stadiums? While we're going up against another major competition. Cause they are kind of fighting for eyeballs and seats and everything else. Well, how many people in Vancouver are going to be like,

Hey, I'd love to go watch Canada play soccer, but I'm either going to be into the Abbotsford game or let's be honest, most people are like, I want to watch the hockey game tonight. I want to watch, I want to watch, I want to watch the Oilers and the Panthers in what's been one of the most entertaining Stanley Cup finals ever. There's a Canadian team and a lot of people are rooting for the Oilers. Although, you know. Like this game was not marketed well. The Canada Honduras gold cup match. No. Wasn't, I mean, I had people that I'm friends with who are fairly ardent followers of the national team and

soccer in general like they didn't know that BC Platy BC place was getting grass for this mattress. I think is like a pretty thing. Yeah, I don't know that we had the trophy We had the trophy No, well, that's a thing. We had the trophy in studio We were like at the forefront of promoting the trophy didn't even say anything interesting. No, it was very quiet Yeah, it's like buddy. You got to promote this. I think he knew that the ticket prices were expensive. Yeah, keep my mouth shut here But anyway, it is a great like I I'm very excited about what this team could do Because of the amount of talent Marsh has at his disposal,

the way that he's having them play, like the attacking, very aggressive play. Also, he knows that he wins equal confidence and the more trophies you win, the more swagger you have. And he, like, that's why they had that ridiculous Canadian shield, because it was something that they could win. And they want to win this. And they want, that's why they had that ridiculous Canadian shield, cause it was something that they could win and they want to win this and they

want to go into the world cup with the idea of we're not here to make up the numbers and we're not here to be a friendly host. We want to do something when these matches are on and mean like when it means something, we want it to mean something. We want to perform. You want a game seven of the Stanley cup final, right? Absolutely. So at my father's day dinner, I got into it with my mom because she was like, I can't believe you're cheering for Florida in the current state of geopolitics. I'm like, yeah, I cheer for Canada when it's Canada playing.

This is, this is a part of Canada. And so my mom, who is the most casual of sports fans, but then becomes like Aggressive once she gets into it She's like she couldn't wrap her head around Me cheering for Florida because the Oilers are a rival of the Canucks and I tried to make up examples But it was really difficult because she couldn't grasp the examples. So I was like, okay, imagine it's Manchester United

and they're eliminated from a competition that Manchester City is still in. Would all the fans for Manchester United support Manchester City? The answer is no. And she'd be like, what are you talking about? Like, what? Is this soccer or what?

Like it was very difficult to explain to her that this is club and that the Edmonton Oilers did not represent Canada. They represented the Edmonton Oilers. She just couldn't wrap her head around it. I mean, I've tried, like I've had similar conversations where I've tried to explain. I think it's all the corporate advertising

is getting to her. It's the Rogers advertising, it's the Boston pizza. I think it's a mom. Big advertising has taken control of my mom. I also think it's a mom thing, because my mom said the same thing. She also asked why we weren't cheering for the Leafs. I'm like, did you just wake up?

But why would I? Cause when they were playing Florida, they're like, but it's Canadian. I'm like, I thought you listened on occasion to the show. Yeah. Like I don't, I didn't even want the Leafs to get out of the first one. I mean, my mom doesn't.

She's like, I don't understand any of it. I'm like, clearly. It's very loud. It's very loud, your show. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.