Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 6/21/24

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including the latest around the Euro Championship & Canada falling at Copa America as well as a couple minor Canucks signings as well as hearing from team president Jim Rutherford, they get the latest 'Nucks news from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal, plus the boys tell us what they learned.  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 this historical society. You and your children and your children's children. For three months. We're not a serious journalistic show, right? Ladies and gentlemen, The Weeknd. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody.

Sweet, sweet Friday. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Hey, dog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well.

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Soar feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. We have a big show ahead of a very, very good sports evening on a Friday here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. The guest list gets underway at 630. Thunder Dan Rosen from NHL.com senior writer is going to join us to preview tonight's game six between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers from Edmonton.

Who thought we'd be here? Not me after the Panthers went up three nothing, but here we are. Edmonton has a chance to force this to a Game 7 that we need as a society. We as a people. I'm speaking on behalf of all of you now. Need this. Dan Rosen is going to join us at 6.30 to set up tonight's game.

7 o'clock. It's AJ's from AJ's Pizza. We were there yesterday to watch England's dour doer. Dour? Roads? Bad. It was bad. 1-1 draw with Denmark yesterday. Watch England's dour, doer, door, roads? Dour? Bad. Yeah, it was bad.

1-1 draw with Denmark. The atmosphere was great. Had a good time at the bar, right? Got some beers, got some pizza, got to hang out with AJ. AJ's is a great place to watch the game. If only the English could deliver, although they are still top of their group. AJ's going to join us at 7 because it's Ask Us Anything Friday. We're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway

for the best Ask Us Anything. 7.30, the Moj is going to join us. Speaking of that big sports night tonight, tonight the Lions are in action. 5.30 our time. They're going to take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Winnipeg. We'll talk to Moj about that. 8 o'clock, Rick.

The winless Bombers. 0-2. Bunch of losers. Could they go 0-3? Well, if they lose tonight to the BC Lions, they certainly will. 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. There's a lot of news coming out of the Vancouver Canucks camp this week. The Hronik deal, the Mark Friedman deal, new deals for Linus Carlson

and Cole McWard, Ward McCole. They're all under contract now. I saw Gansel on the SkyTrain this morning. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's been everywhere, man. He's an early riser, is he? Yeah.

He wasn't really going anywhere. I think he just likes riding the SkyTrain. So we didn't have one of these in Pittsburgh. Yeah. We'll talk to Rick Dollywell about that at 8. A reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Ask us about anything.

We are open vessels, not just to the world of sports, but to culture, food, entertainment, anything you want to ask us about, we'll do our best to answer it. It's Ask Us Anything Friday. Again, Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Quickly working in reverse on the guest list. 8 o'clock, Dollywall.

7.30, Marjanovic. 7, AJ. 6.30, Rosen. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened? What Happ that? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools,

resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Avert your ears, Andrew from Victoria. We're beginning with the football. Canada held top-ranked Argentina scoreless in the first half yesterday, but then conceded two goals in the second half, eventually falling 2-0 to the star-studded South Americans in the opening match of Copa America in Atlanta on Thursday night.

Okay, so this is going to be a little soccer-y. But try and stay interested. We have Canucks news to pass along as well. But yeah, okay. If you have any questions or comments or ask us anything, text into the Dunbar Lumber text line 650-650.

Dunbar Lumber with three stores to serve you in Ladner on Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber Express at Ladner Center or at Buda's in Vancouver, online at DunbarLumber.com. I want to read an unsigned text that just came in. And it said,

I think Canada could have easily beaten England. If you compare those two performances yesterday, it is actually interesting to see the analysis written about the Canada Argentina match. And then also about the England Denmark match, because England actually managed to draw Denmark, and Denmark's a pretty good team. Yes.

England scored, which Canada didn't. Canada lost 2-0 to Argentina, and yet all the praise is being directed towards Canada and all the criticism, and I've just read a few articles that are blistering about what England did against Denmark and there's all sorts of criticism for Gareth Southgate and a lot of it has to do with how the teams approached the games Canada went at it in and this is their words and we heard it time and time again during the broadcast, before the broadcast, probably after the broadcast.

It was a fearless approach from Canada. Meanwhile, you've got England opening the scoring early, which they often do. And then as Halford predicted at AJ's, he said to me, and he said to AJ, who doesn't know soccer quite as well, he said, that is the worst thing for this match, because now Englandland is just going to sit back and hope they win one nil and when denmark tied it up with a really nice strike

england seemed to be out of answers yes they're like i we don't know how to press we don't know how to be aggressive now you can have a pretty good debate on how to approach things because during the Canada-Argentina match, early on, I texted to Halford. I was like, is Canada out of their minds playing like this? You did text me that. How are they supposed to get a result against Argentina when they're basically trading chances?

And in the end, they did lose 2-0. And frankly, if not for Max Carpeaux, I think it could have been a big score. Argentina could have really lit them up. I mean, it was a very unusual soccer game. There were breakaways, and it was a bit of a weird one. And yet, you really did like the approach that Canada took against Argentina. Yeah, I mean, the other part you got to remember, too, is as we contrast the two performances, England's and Canada's,

is that Canada had far lower expectations going in than the English had going in, which means the results are going to be viewed differently. A 2-0 loss. Yeah, of course, of course. That's a big part of it. Canada is not up to England's class, and Argentina is better than Denmark. So with that said, let's focus first on the Canadians. A 2-0 loss to Argentina.

Let's just start with this. Overall, it was a positive experience for Canada. They fought hard. They had some very good moments. Entertainment value off the charts. Great match to watch. I think that even if you were a footballing novice and didn't even like the sport,

you would have watched last night and said, that was very entertaining through the 90 minutes. Ch both ways goals scored it was feisty there was a bit of uh what we call crap housery but you call it a worse word at the start there were they had it all really yeah messy messy didn't score but he was prominent he man of the match and he got an assist on the martinez school in theth minute. It had almost everything aside from a Canadian goal, which would have been nice. But so that was a positive. Crapo was unbelievable. Unbelievable.

There's nothing really more to say. But he played the keeper position like Canada played overall somewhat recklessly. Now, I want to put this out there. Don't you think, though? Yes. Just let me... He was forced into doing that because of the way that Canada was playing. Yeah, okay, fair enough, fair enough.

I don't think he went out there with the designs of, I'm going to play like a whirling dervish today. But he had to because of how Canada was playing. Canada lined up and tactically set themselves up in a way that was going to, oh God, I want to use all the cliches, but I'll use this one, put themselves on the front foot a little bit.

I don't think that they wanted to go into the opening match of a massive tournament against this kind of opponent and just sit there and park the bus and play caustic, negative, cynical football. I just think it's interesting that Canada's manager, Jesse Marsh, the new manager, is known for being aggressive. Yep. He's known for that high press that if it works, great. But if it doesn't, if they manage to get through you

or maybe you get tired out sometimes, can really cost you. Meanwhile, Gareth Southgate in England is also, is, is, is, is often criticized for having this really talented team and having them playing conservative soccer.

Yep. Right. But what often happens in England tournaments is that during the group stage, there'll be all sorts of criticisms of Gareth Southgate's approach. It's cynical, it's negative. And yet England in the last few tournaments has found itself with a pretty good chance of winning those tournaments. So what is the best approach to take? Because this is a big, this is basically a lead up

and great practice for Canada for hosting the World Cup. And we would like to see Canada, well, we would like to see Canada get a result at the World Cup. Yes. But we would like to see them advanced out of their group. Like to see them get a result at Copa America. And what is the best way to do that? Be caustic and cynical. But is it?

Is it? Yeah. What England is doing right now is tournament football at its most purest form. And by purest, I mean most boring. But they don't win. That's the problem. They don't win. They can get to it.

They won the first against Serbia and they drew against. Well, they don't win tournaments. But sometimes the goal is to just advance and find yourself in a position. Because that's where some teams will fall by the wayside. Some teams will fall out of the group. It's a very, very uninspired approach. It's very, I think it's taxing on the manager, who no doubt probably wants to throw a little more caution to the wind.

But it gets you where you want to go. They're like Cutwaters at GM Place, at Rogers Arena but it gets you where you want to go. They're like cutwaters at GM Place, at Rogers Arena. They get you where you want to go. I think it's GM Place after a few years. Yeah, that's true. I want to focus a little bit more on Canada, though, because England's going to do what they do, is they answer the group and everything.

I just think it's an interesting juxtaposition between the two games that were just played. And we love interesting juxtapositions on our show. We talk about them constantly, right? And I think for Canada, it was by no means a perfect performance and it was by no means something that they can just pat themselves on the back

and say, oh, it's another moral victory for us because in a lot of ways it wasn't. The most interesting thing that Marsh had to say in the aftermath was, and I'm paraphrasing big time here, but it was essentially, it's not the system that failed us today. It was the mistakes that the players made

within the system. And that's exactly what he's referring to here. Well, maybe his players aren't capable of playing that system. And it is still early days. He's only been the gaffer for three matches now. Right? Can you call him the manager?

No, he's the gaff. Three matches, early days. This isn't Burnley. They're still learning how to do things. And let's be honest, they still have players in the mix that just don't cut the mustard internationally. That being said, how about the maritime Messi, Nova Scotia's very own Jacob Schaffelberg,

coming on in the second half and making an impact the Nashville uh MLS Nashville star so I I think that there's some positives to be taken by the way speaking of the fantastic sports night for those of you out there that are kind of like oh I'm I'm into I think I'm becoming a soccer dude I think I might be a footy guy now tonight you have the opportunity because it's televised to watch peru versus chile both of whom will be the opponents for canada moving forward if you really want a lot of people are gonna be watching the hockey game yeah but if you really want to go deep if you really want to go deep on this folks just saying it's out there uh here i want to read a few texts into the dunbar lumber text line wasn't the worst showing i thought i don't think the blonde guy played very good.

Yeah, Liam Miller didn't play very well. Another text. Didn't mind Canada playing aggressive at all, but their attacking players are eventually going to have to put the ball in the net. How far down the road do you want me to go with the analysis here? Because I've got takes on this too. Not far. Not far.

Because here's another text. Long story short, Canada couldn't kick the ball better than the team from Argentina. Let's talk about hockey. Okay. Okay. Let's talk about hockey. Do you want to do Canucks or do you want to go do Stanley Cup Final? No, you know what? Let's leave the Stanley Cup Final stuff for Dan Rosen because he's going to be joining us at 630.

I think everyone knows what's at stake here, right? Listeners, you guys know what's going on. Edmonton Oilers still back up against the wall, down 3-2 in the series, but have been probably forced a game six at home. McDavid's got an opportunity to set a Stanley Cup final scoring record, breaking Wayne Gretzky's record in the process. So there's all that out there. Let's focus on the Vancouver Canucks stuff because they did make a couple

signings yesterday. More under the radar stuff. Linus Carlson and Cole McWard agreed to deals. But a big picture now we're talking about things are happening. Hronic deal earlier in the week, done. Then Friedman the day after, done. And then a couple more guys. And I do think Linus Carlsen could have an impact on this team next year

in a bottom six role. Sure. And I brought this up with you. I mean, in his limited role. I brought it up with Brough and you guys. I think it was about a week and a half ago. I think it was a – I hate using half ago. I think it was a, I hate using telling

on yourself because that's got negative connotations, but I think they kind of gave a nod to what they think of Carlson when they plugged him in in the

playoffs. In those two series because he played in the national series, if I'm not mistaken. He's reliable. Yeah, and I think that they said this

is a guy that if we perhaps lose some forwards off the active roster in a depth role or we're forced to bring a guy up, he perhaps lose some forwards off the active roster in a depth role or we're forced to bring a guy up, he will be number one on the list. Does he cut the mustard? He cuts some mustard.

He does? Yeah. So I think the most newsworthy stuff to come out of the Canucks yesterday was an interview that Jim Rutherford did with Ian McIntyre. And there were two players that I want to discuss based on the interview that he did. Ian asked Jim Rutherford, after a 40-goal season, Brock Besser is heading into the final year of his contract. Will you make a decision on his Canuck future this summer? Rutherford said, long story short, no, we won't make a decision on his Canuck future this summer.

But he said, I just couldn't be happier for a player for the year he had after what he's gone through. I think that this will be a case where we will watch this closely into the season. But we believe that Brock is back on track and he'll continue to do what he was doing. And once we get confirmation of that during the season, then we'll make a decision on him going forward. Now, there is the whole blood clotting issue that kept him out of game seven against the Edmonds and all others. So that's something that the Canucks are,

and obviously Brock Besser, are going to have to manage and monitor going forward. But basically, if I'm reading this correctly, Jim Rutherford is saying, yeah, Brock Besser keeps having a season like he did last season. We want to re-sign him. Yeah, and I mean, that makes sense, does it not? I mean, if you're going to be an organization

that is going to have a little bit of loyalty or reward guys for meeting challenges and overcoming them, then Brock Besser, I think the two guys from last year probably would have been Besser, Joshua, I'd maybe even throw Garland in there because he had some tough times last year as well. But, I mean, Besser scored 40 last year. And then I think there was a bit of a question mark whether or not that was going to carry itself over to the playoffs.

And he was a brilliant goal scorer in the playoffs. So at that point, if you're Brock Besser and his agent, Ben Hankinson, you're probably saying, please look at our resume. We ticked a lot of the boxes. We met a lot of the challenges that were put in front of us. But it's price dependent. It's price dependent on what he wants. No doubt.

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. So if Brock shows that he can be a consistent 30-goal scorer, I know he got 40, but if he can show he can be a consistent 30-goal scorer, I know he got 40, but if he can show he can be a consistent 30-goal scorer and he looks like the player he did last season and next season, then listen, the Canucks are in their window right now. They're not going to be in the business of trading away Brock Besser just because, you know, like, well, we can't get him signed.

Like, they're in their window. A lot of it will depend on how the Canucks come out next season and if there's any regression. So I think to be determined is the case with Brock Besser, but if Besser continues on, then it sounds like the Canucks want to keep him, which does make sense. So the other guy that I found it interesting

that Jim Rutherford brought up without being asked about was Jonathan Lekaromaki. And the question from IMAC was, how big could the job be this summer if most of your free agents leave? And Rutherford said, it's always a big job

to try and make the right decisions. We do feel comfortable in the fact that we have four or five guys now from Abbotsford that should be knocking on the door to be with the big team. We have Lekker Amaki coming, which based on his year, this year in Sweden, if he comes in and has a good camp, he'll make a case to be on the team right away.

We have a bigger pool of players now to turn to than we did a year or two years ago. I was surprised by that. LeKarimaki-Gensel-Pediline, I'm here for it. So two thoughts on this. Number one, pressure on some of those young guys from Abbotsford to come in and really impress in camp. Remember how Pod Colson came in this season? Did not impress.

Immediately down to Abbotsford. That can't happen again. Lekker Amaki, it's interesting because I think it was about a month ago, one of the videos that we posted on the show was me saying like, you don't want to rush a guy like Lekker Amaki. Don't make the same mistakes that the previous do you the previous regime did yeah with guys like uh you know uh vertanen and uh jerry mccann and even adam godette to a certain extent you can say wow those guys would have turned out the way they did regardless they just you know whatever but i i think that

it would be like i i want them to err on the side of conservatism with lecker amaki but it's a fine line that the canucks are walking right now they've given pd his money they've given heronic his money they're probably Hronik his money they're probably going to go out and try and sign a guy like Jake Gensel and he's going to get a lot of money yes I realize that they do have good value contracts in Demko and Quinn Hughes but they might be tight against the cap and they might they might be tempted to put these young guys into positions where they're fast-tracked a little bit. And sometimes you just need to do that because you feel like you're in a

window and you're like, all right, this is our best option here. But you also have to be cautious that you don't screw up a guy's development by doing it. But what if this time it works out? But what if for us it's different? Yeah. I mean, it's possible.

It is possible. It is. It is possible. My thought, my read on... But you were probably one of the guys early on in Jared McCann's career in Vancouver when he was scoring lots of goals in the preseason and he started scoring early in the year and meanwhile Willie Desjardins who ultimately turned out to be right,

was sitting there going, I've seen this play out before. The young guy comes up. He's way more motivated for his preseason and training camp than the veterans who kind of take it a little slower and know because they've been there before and they're not trying to make the team. And it's not a big surprise that a young guy comes in and scores goals because he's playing on adrenaline and then the league gets hard for him which is exactly what happened to jared mckinnon eventually he was traded it's a big ask totally okay first off look at his look at leckermack he's draft class and look at the guys that were around him at 15 like they are not NHL regulars

and they weren't last year the top half of that class there's a handful of guys that are playing with regularity Slavkovski and Cooley but I wouldn't put Lekaromaki in that conversation because those guys were elite talents at that draft so there's that part of it in terms of the age group. You gotta give him a few games though right I don't know he would have to come in

Lekaromaki? I'll give him a preseason game for sure he would have to come in and not just hold his own. He would probably have to blow the doors off people. Yes. Because what I, what I read from Rutherford's remarks was sure. There's an opportunity, but,

and the, but would be, he would have to, of course he would have to be so impressive that we cannot keep them here. But the, but here's the, here's the problem with that thinking is that that was always what the previous management group said.

It never worked. But, okay, can you let me finish? Yes. It would always happen that these young guys would come in and they'd be so motivated in training camp that they would play well. And it would be incredible. You'd be like, wow, these guys are great.

And then, you know, Jim Benning would say, well, they've made the team because they've proven that they should be on the team. But that stuff runs out when you're young. You're not used to playing in the NHL because you never have. You're not used to the long, hard season that you get in the NHL. So sometimes you have to take those early performances You're not used to the long, hard season that you get in the NHL. So sometimes you have to take those early performances by the young players and take them with a grain of salt. Right.

There's two ways that this can go, though. And the dangling carrot part of it is absolutely an element. But the other thing is that you can only prove yourself on the proving ground provided. You know what I mean? Like if you go out and you play really well in the exhibition campaign and the first couple of games of the season, you've earned based on what they've given you.

That's it. Right. Like I, you, every veteran NHL and hockey man can say, well, kid, it's going to get tougher for you along the way.

All the kid can say is, but I'm doing everything I can in this moment. I don't think this is going to be an issue anyway. I think based on this management group's previous experience, especially in Pittsburgh, they've seen the benefit of letting prospects matriculate and marinate down in the American League. Wilkes-Barre was that for them for a long time. But sometimes you're put in these positions where you have to.

You have to at least consider fast tracking because you don't have the cap space and you need goal scoring. Right. I just think that historically, and we've seen it here in Vancouver, they've done a good job of not rushing anyone. No, no, no, it's true. You know what I mean? If history is going to be the predictor of the future,

I would say, I'll give him a look, but I do not expect him to play. I would say Pod Colson, Baines, Carlson. Who's another one that you could see? But in the Rutherford-Alvine regime, has there been a player that has forced them to make a decision? Because Pod Colson, for example, came in last season. He forced them to make it the other way. And was like so bad, so bad that they were never tempted.

They were never tempted. There hasn't really been a young player that is, unless I'm mistaken here, I could be. It's early. I haven't had coffee. Has there been a young player that has tempted this Canucks management group with a good preseason training camp? No, the closest would have been.

Rutherford hasn't liked any of the training camps. No, no, no. He hated the Boudreaux training camp. No, the closest would have been... Rutherford hasn't liked any of the training camps. No, no, no. He hated the Boudreaux training camp. I think the closest thing that you're speaking of probably would have been Arshdeep Baines having the first half of the season he had last year for Abbotsford, going to the American... being named in AHL All-Star, going to the game.

But that was more of a reward. That was different. Right? Would you classify it as that? He didn't have great preseason or anything like that. But it was more of a reward for what he had done as opposed to knocking down the door,

kicking it down. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall Rick Dollywall It's time for Rick Dollywall

Rick Dollywall It's time for Rick Dollywall Rick Dollywall It's time for Rick Dollywall Rick Dollywall It's time for Dolly Rick Dollywall It's time for Rick Dollywall

Rick Dollywall It's time for Dolly Rick Dollywall It's time for Rick Dollywall Rick Dollywall. It's time for Dolly. Rick Dollywall. It's time for Rick Dollywall. Rick Dollywall. 8.01 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brothers, Sportsnet 650.

Halford and Brother of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour three of the program. Rick Dollywall is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour three of this program is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews.

What are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Orfi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. To the phone lines we go. Now, before we even introduce our next guest, I just want to replay the audio that we're going to ask him about. This is from Donnie and Dolly on Check TV. During the middle of the week, they're talking to their producer, Ryan Henderson, that he forgot to mention his wife's birthday.

Hilarity ensues. Here's what it sounded like. It's at 8 o'clock tonight. Sit down and let's put it in. And he'll stand. You're going to have a new segment called Out of Context Dollywall. We're just going to play clips like that. But then we bring him on.

He joins us now, Rick Dollywall, on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Rick, first question. What were you trying to say in that moment? I was trying to say. Or did you say exactly what you wanted to say? No. No.

I was trying to say you're going to go home and re-watch the show on the couch with the wifey, and you're going to put it on the show. You're going to watch it. And I accidentally said, you're going to put it in. We thought that you might have meant that you record all the shows on VHS still, and then you put the tape in. No, I miss those days. Don't you guys miss going to Tom's video or whatever it is?

Every Friday night, getting a video popping in the old VCR. I miss those days. Feels like a blockbuster night, Rick, or Tom's video in this instance. Dolly, you got to stop pining for the past. No. Ruff, you and I have been through this about our industry, and I don't like the way our industry is going. And you and I have been, we've had talks about this.

I'm an old-fashioned guy. I miss the old days. I don't like the computerized everything else. I miss being on the steps and the newspaper guy throwing the newspaper at 3.30. You know, I miss, you know, the TV, radio, newspapers. I'm an old, I hate this new technology world. Well, what are you going to do about it? Just hate it?

Well, but I can't do anything about it. That's what I'm telling you. Yeah, but I miss the old days. I really do. Okay, well, let's talk some hockey here. Quinn Hughes and Chris Tanev were at a concert earlier this week in Detroit, and that was on Quinn Hughes' Instagram stories. See, back in the days, they didn't have Instagram.

Wouldn't have been able to do this. What do you make of that? Just two guys who are friends meeting up, or do you think Quinn Hughes is doing some recruiting? Best friends. Best friends. I had a chuckle with Tanev's agent this morning. He's like, man, you guys in Vancouver, you don't miss much.

I said, wait, are you kidding me? You know, one of the superstars in Vancouver puts on Instagram a picture with your client, Chris Tanev, who, you know, and he's having a chuckle. He's like, you guys in Vancouver, man, you guys are something else. I said, no, no, no, no, no. Got to love Hughes, though, posting that picture. Look, I said earlier this season that Hughes went to management and said, go get Tanev at the deadline. He wasn't the only one in that dressing room.

Tanev's loved everywhere he goes. Dallas is trying to re-sign him, but at age 34, Tanev can sign with the team who's got a shot at the Cup, or he can sign closer to his home of Toronto or Vancouver, a city he still has a very soft spot for. He never wanted to leave. He's got really good friends here

in Vancouver on and off the ice. You know, when the Flames are trying to trade him, Tanev really, really wanted Vancouver to be the destination. He was telling close friends, boy, oh boy, if the Flames are trying to trade him, Tana really, really wanted Vancouver to be the destination. He was telling close friends, boy, oh boy, if the Canucks can get me, it'd be great. It never was meant to be, but it's going to be tough for the Canucks to sign Tana.

He could command four years and over $5 million, Jason. That's a lot. They just committed $7.2 million to Hronik. The Canucks like Chatfield a lot, and that tells you the range they were willing to spend on a right shot D because Chatfield got around 3 million, right? So that kind of tells

you something about their thinking on the right side. Canucks are going to have to open up a ton of cap space to go after Tanev. It's too bad because Tanev should have gone coast to coast in this city, playing in Vancouver his whole career. Now he looks like he won't finish

his career here. But look, Ottawa, keep an eye on Ottawa. They're trying to get Tanev's brother out of Seattle right now. You do that and the chances to land Chris go up because mom and dad are in Toronto. Chris has got a young family now.

So there's a lot of considerations. But I don't know, the people I talk to, it's just going to be really tough, Jason, to get Chris Tannen, really tough. Zdorov or Joshua, who do the Canucks have a better chance of retaining? Oh my goodness, that's a loaded question. Very loaded. I will say this, the good news for the Canucks is that Joshua and Zdorov are willing to wait. They have not announced that they're going to the market. They easily could have done that by now.

Milstein is willing to be patient and open-minded when it comes to Zdorov. Both agents are. Clearly, both players want to return, but there is a cap crunch causing headaches. There hasn't been talks with Zdorov. I don't think there's been any talks on both sides in a long time.

It's been quiet. Same as Joshua. Now, Jim Rutherford telling Ian McIntyre yesterday that we've been talking to these guys for a long time. It's their choice now. They've got to make a choice. That tells you, that's Jim saying, our offers aren't going to get better. We've been talking, and guess what, guys? The offers just are not going to get better.

And we are now, what, 10 days away from July 1st? Both players are going to have a ton of teams after them. Joshua's market is very strong. He'll get over $3 million. I wouldn't be surprised if his hometown Red Wings make a pitch for Joshua. That's something that's out there. But here's one for you. And nobody can tell me that Rick Tockett's going to be happy if Joshua and Zdorov leave.

Joshua is, Jason, are you ready for this? Joshua is still third in the NHL playoffs and hits with 74. He's only played 13 games. Only Dylan Holloway and Sam Bennett have more hits. That's impressive. And that's what you don't want to lose. In 13 games, he had 74 hits, and there's only two guys, Holloway and Bennett, and they played a hell of a lot more than 13.

But I will say this. The Canucks are well-prepared for July 1st, and you know they got plan Bs ready to go. If Joshua and Zdorov leave, retaining size obviously is going to be important on that market. Expect the Canucks to target players like Brendan Dillon and Joel Edmondson, 6'4", 6'5". Jordan Martinuk, another heavy body. So look, Jason, we're 10 days away. I can't report any progress.

I can't report hot and heavy contract talks with the two guys you asked about. But it's where we're at, and we've got to wait and see. But don't rule it out. The fact that Joshua and Zdorov still wait, don't ever rule anything out. One phone call can change a whole lot of things. I like Martinuk. That'd be a nice player for them to target. What about Mikheyev?

Things have changed in the NHL. We're no longer in this flat cap scenario, and you see a lot of teams with cap space. Theoretically, it should be easier to trade Ilya Mikheyev, but do you still think it's going to be one of those situations where the Canucks would have to sweeten the pot to trade Mikheyev or retain some salary? Yeah, well, first of all, let me tell you something. They didn't just wake up after the playoffs and start trying to move this guy.

They were trying to do it at the trade deadline, too. The fact that the Canucks gave Milstein permission to help with the trade says a lot. They need to free up that McKay of money to, you know, pitch in a little bit more on Joshua and Zdorov and others. Agents getting involved, they do help a little, but they don't close deals. What's going to close a McKay of deal is if the Canucks retain money or throw in a sweetener. So they don't have much draft capital, no first or second this year. They don't have much draft capital no first or second this year they don't have a deep prospect pool so that doesn't help either you you guys remember garland's agent got permission besser's agent got permission what what happened there nothing nothing it's it's the this what the agent does is he calls around some buddies gms some teams he's really tight with and says hey can you do something here and then okay well let me well, let me call the Canucks. And again, I don't think they want to retain.

I don't think they want to retain. $4.7 million is too much for a bottom six winger. You know, he scored 21 goals in his contract year, and the Canucks gave him big bucks, and now they're trying to rectify the mistake. And it's going to be tough. Let's put it this way, Jason. Probably when the playoffs started,

they probably started getting Mikheyev's name out there. We're now four weeks over, and just Milstein's getting involved. I mean, it's going to be very tough to do. So earlier in the show, we were talking about Jim Rutherford's interview with IMAC and how there were two things that caught my eye. One was Rutherford saying that, you know, if Lekker Amaki comes into camp and plays well,

he might be able to earn his way onto the team. But the other one that more and more people were talking about was the Brock Besser update, where he basically said, no, we're not going to talk extension this summer. We're going to wait on that. And if Brock Besser comes back next season and has a similar sort of season as he did this past season, then we'll talk about his future.

What did you make of that? Well, it doesn't sound like they're very committed or 100% sold on Brock. It's risky. You're going to make Brock prove it, but so let's say Brock proves it. If he scores 40 again, it's going to cost them way, way, way more than if they do something this summer. The number this summer and the number at Christmas time with him with 21 goals are going to be two totally different numbers. If he scores 40 again, that number is going to be very, very, very high. Like, I don't know, like, even this summer, the number would be a pretty good increase.

You're coming off 40 goals, any agent's going to be licking his chops, let's be honest. But it doesn't sound like they're committed. I wonder if you get Gensel, if it makes it tougher to get Besser, redo Besser. I mean, do you really want two wingers, both making $8 million, $9 million? I mean, you know, that's a lot of money, you know, to two wingers in the top six. But when I first saw that, I kind of said to myself,

it doesn't sound like they're very committed or sold on Brock. Are you hearing anything more on Jake Gensel? Well, Canucks, I'll tell you one thing. The Besser's agent is Ben Hankinson, right? They're not calling him on Besser on July 1st, but you can bet they'll be calling him on Gensel because he's got Gensel too. I know a lot of people are confident that he's going to end up in Vancouver, but I was told to park the brakes a little here.

First, the Hurricanes are still trying to re-sign, and I'll get into the benefits of him going to Carolina, but the Hurricanes are still trying to re-sign, and I'll get into the benefits of him going to Carolina, but the Hurricanes are still trying to re-sign him. Second, any team can obtain his negotiating rights before July 1st and blow Vancouver out of the water. I want you to think about the Chatfield contract in Carolina. He re-signed there because he loves Brindamore, but also because the state tax in North Carolina is a measly 5%,

and the cost of living is incredibly low. If Chatfield would have signed in Vancouver on July 1st and the Canucks had, they did have interest. I'm told it would have cost the Canucks $3.5 million. That's because of the high taxes, obviously, in Canada, and also the cost of living in Vancouver and Toronto is just incredibly high and just crazy right now. So I've been told the Hurricanes are not done trying to sign Gensel.

That tax situation really helps the Hurricanes retain players and the cost of living in Carolina. So I'm just told that, you know, there's a lot of teams involved. It's just not Vancouver. I know I get the hype in Vancouver for Gensel, but it's far from, like, nobody is standing up and saying that Vancouver and Gensel is going to get done. There's going to be a lot of things that happen before that happens. One thing I will say, the fact that Gensel is an American

willing to sign as a UFA in Vancouver is a very good sign for the Canucks. Not many Americans do that in free agency. If you look at all the Americans on the Canucks roster, and they have a ton of them, but most of them were acquired through the draft and free agency. No, sorry, trades. So trades and the draft, very few on the UFA status. I've just been told it's a good hockey fit for him in Vancouver, but I've also been told there's going to be a lot of competition for this guy.

Hey, of the guys, and the Canucks have done a lot of work this week, Philip Peronic aside. Oh, yeah, a lot of good deals this week, really good deals. So Mark Friedman, Linus Carlson, Cole McWard, I'll throw you on the spot. If you had to pick one of those guys that's going to make the biggest impact in the NHL or play the most games for the Canucks this year, who do you think it would be? Yeah, that's an interesting one.

Friedman, first I want to say one thing. I really appreciated Alvin saying he's a team player. You know, when you have that guy that is sitting on the fence, you know, he's kind of a tweener, goes between the American League and the NHL, it doesn't bitch and complain and whine. A lot of players, when they get sent to the minors, they call their agent and say, hey, you know what?

I'm pissed. I shouldn't be here. Call the Canucks GM. And Mark Friedman is a really, really, really good team player, and that's a character guy they kept in the fold. Do you guys remember when Friedman got sent to Abbotsford for four games? He went down there and had one goal, three assists, didn't complain. And absolutely, you've got to keep those guys that don't complain, but they're fringe players.

You know, the 6-7-8 defensemen, those guys that don't complain. But I really liked the Friedman signing. I really did. Also, another signing Mike didn't mention was Chase Waters, the captain. He's a very young captain. He was only 23 when he was named a captain. He would have had interest on July 1st,

but he signed a two-year American League deal. The only reason he signed an American League deal, because if he would have signed his entry-level deal, coming out of that, his qualifying offer would have been really, really, really low. So the agent decided to do another two-year American League deal. Look, they do have guys. I saw Rutherford say that there's four or five guys in Abbotsford that could push for spots. I really hope that's true. I really hope that's true. And you're putting a lot of pressure on LeKarimaki to say that he's going to come into camp and push for

a spot when he's coming out of Sweden and hasn't really played a full year of North American hockey as well. But to answer your question, Mike, I would like somebody, one of the problems that Canucks have, you always need two to three to four guys in Abbotsford pushing for spots. I hope that happens at this year's camp, but I mentioned the prospect pool after Willander and LeKarimaki. It's not known around the NHL as a deep prospect pool. It's not. I'm sorry. Didn't you guys see, weren't they

ranked 27th or 28th for prospects in the NHL not long ago? It takes time to build it. And you know what? When you trade eight first and second round picks in the last five years like they have, you don't have a deep prospect pool. And this year, no first or second again. That doesn't

help Abbotsford when you keep trading first and second round picks. Rick, I know it's a scary new world out there sometimes. Things are always changing. You know, we always had new technology and everything. I want to let you know that there is still a bit of old school out there. Tom's Video is still a fully functional business. It exists. It's open 24 hours every fully functional business. It exists. It's open 24 hours every day this weekend.

It's a 24-hour video store? What kind of video store is it? I don't know. You'll have to go check it out. It's right by Renfrew Station on Grandview Highway. You can go check it out this weekend. Tom's video still exists, and they're still renting whatever movies you can get there. Tom's video still exists.

I'm there. I'm there tonight. Oh, my God. Tom's video is definitely..., Tom's video still exists. I'm there. I'm there tonight. Oh, my God. Tom's video is definitely. Is Tom's video an adult? I don't know. Video store? It's 24 hours.

We've had listeners point that out to us, yes. That might be. The weird part is it's open 24 hours a day, but it's closed on Tuesdays. All days to be closed. The day of rest. Yeah, right. I'm so tired. Okay.

We got a lot more to get to on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What we learned, ask us anything. I've got a couple. I'll do one right now. I learned that veteran NHL forward and most recently a member of the Colorado Avalanche, Andrew Cogliano, is announced as retirement. And what's more, he's moving straight, straight into a front office role with the Colorado Avalanche.

The only reason I mention this is because I, the one thing, and it was a really understated crazy moment in NHL history. So back in 2018, Andrew Cogliano looked like he was going to become the NHL's new Ironman. You remember that? He had 830 games played in a row.

He played through all kinds of injuries. He was very proud of the fact that he was on his way to becoming the next NHL's Ironman, which has later been claimed by Keith Yandel and then Phil Kessel. There was just a hiccup in the 2018 season, though. He had a high hit on a game on Adrian Kempe. He got a penalty during the game for a two-minute minor check to the head,

and Kempe came back in the game and played. No one talked about it. It didn't even make the Gamer the report that night. No media members talked to him about it. Then he found out later that he was going to have a hearing for the illegal check to the head the hearing was with george peros who not only was a former anaheim duck which was who cogliano was playing for the time he was a former teammate of cogliano's and he suspended him two games

ruining his iron man streak so after the announcement was made i remember the ducks tv broadcast did a stand-up interview with cogliano and he broke down and started crying in the his Ironman streak. So after the announcement was made, I remember the Ducks TV broadcast did a standup interview with Cogliano and he broke down and started crying in the interview because he was so upset about losing his Ironman streak and the way that it happened. It was such a shock to him because no one thought supplemental discipline was coming.

George Peros heard about this for like weeks after it happened. There was a board of governors meeting and I can't remember who the board of governor was for the Anaheim Ducks at the time but apparently he like made Paros explain himself during the meeting oh really and then confronted him afterwards so it was a big thing so he was like George you made someone cry and you know what though they did he did he's Paros like I'm sorry but um the rest of the board of governors said that that was the moment where they knew that peros was the right guy for the job because he was able to put aside everything and just be like this has to be a suspendable hit if i'm going to

do my job correctly so happy trails to andrew cogliano i'm sorry you never got to be the nhl's iron man and i guess in a weird way congratsats on George Peros because he still got the job. I'm always tempted to say something mean about the Ironman streak because it was, you know, Kessel and who was the guy? Keith Yandel. Keith Yandel? Doug Jarvis.

Doug Jarvis earned it. Doug Jarvis earned it. You know. Keith Yandel and Kessel. Keith Yandel and Kessel. It's not the most rugged like you would never see you be like no you go into the corner with phil kessel you're not getting that puck right i know you go into the corner with phil kessel and

think about that iron man streak because he's already got the puck he's gone yeah i don't know i i get what you're saying there is some there is a nobility to just going to work every day no matter what but you're right like you think about the iron man streak and you think about the guy that's being held together by tape and he's got 11 different injuries and you know he probably shouldn't be playing who's really more of an iron man chris taniff or phil kessel so you know there's that's what i'm talking about right the idea the idea, the embodiment of being an Iron Man, and not the cartoon or whatever it is, the comic book. I don't know about that stuff.

I sound like Dollywall right now. Not the cartoon. It might be a cartoon. I don't know. There's a movie. A-Dog's just staring daggers into me right now. Are you talking about Iron Giant? Oh, great movie.

Anyway, now we're getting off track. I mean, talk about this. You think about those guys as like the Warriors, right? And Tanev's a perfect example of it. I assume that someone will inevitably break Phil Kessel's record, although we are going towards a league now where maintenance days are becoming more regular. Guys aren't playing through as many injuries as they used to for good reasons. Yeah.

Right. Totally valid concerns. So I mean, totally like concussions. Yeah. Right. Those, you know,

there's a lot of precautionary measures that are taken now. They weren't taken in previous years. Okay. Just a reminder to get your ask us anything's into the Dunbar Lumber text line, six 50, six 50. And if you wanted to be entered into the contest for best ask us anything,

and by the way, we have not decided on a winner yet. Nope. Be sure to include the pizza emoji. The prize is $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza, the best pizza in Vancouver, if not the world. Todd has bad takes, hasn't asked us anything, but no pizza emoji todd says i won snoop dog tickets from the legends at 650 and am giving them to my son

for his birthday can that be the entire gift or do i need to top it up if you didn't pay for it is it cheap not to also spend even if the gift is already awesome good question no question yeah but you don't need to top it up you don't that's an asset that you earned you earned it this isn't a draw that we do for tickets on this show it is he earned it it's it's a competition it's a competition you earned that you actually have to report that on your taxes the fruits of his labor yeah exactly this though the relationship dynamic comes into play father son okay if you give free tickets to say like a significant other that you're seeing or you use it as a day just don't mention it just don't mention it just don't certainly don't mention like i listen to a lot of sports talk radio. Yeah, I got these, hey babe, I got these tickets for free.

Highly embarrassing. Yeah, like on your first day, you're like, so one thing about me is that most of the day I'm listening to sports talk radio. Also texting in constantly. Yeah. What's up with that Pringles can in the back of your shoes? Don't worry about it. Okay.

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