Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 7/19/24

Episode Date: July 19, 2024

Mike and Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus the boys chat with Sportsnet 650’s Satiar Shah about the latest Canucks news. 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 halford and brough six o'clock on a friday happy friday everybody's halford it is brough it is sportsnet 650 we sound a little different today before we get into all that i'm going to do our usual rigmarole uh jason good morning to youmarole. Jason, good morning to you. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. This is our blue screen of death intro. Do you like it? And Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford and Brougham of the Morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda. Their friendly, knowledgeable staff are here to help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, parts or service. Pacific Honda does it all. 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 canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star google reviews sore feet what are you waiting for kintec that's what you're waiting for so what's happening right now there is a massive it outage globally that has affected businesses airlines banks middling sports talk radio stations hospitals if you've got a flight today good luck yeah the outage which happened overnight and is destroying the world on Friday morning, is believed to be related to Microsoft and global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. So if you want to point fingers at anyone, CrowdStrike, this is on you.

No CrowdStrike. I'm no information technology specialist, but I did wonder, is this Y2K? Finally? Is this what happened? Did we not pay enough attention to it? This might have been worse than what happened on Y2K? Finally? Is this what happened? Did we not pay enough attention? This might have been worse than what happened on Y2K. Should we have taken it more seriously? Is it getting caught up with us now?

Are we too reliant on technology? I want to know. Is this the message? I have many questions. We are going to put together a quote-unquote competent show today, despite the fact that we're not going to have a podcast. We're not going to have any audio. What else are we missing today? The intro. Competent workers. We might have a podcast like way're not going to have any audio. What else are we missing today?

Competent workers. We might have a podcast way later in the day, but it's not going to be popping up at the normal time. So is anyone actually recording this? I think for legal reasons, they have to have a hard copy recording. It's recorded into the system right now.

Just in case you guys go on one of your political rants again. Is the system running then? I mean, well, I don't know. We'll find out. It's into the system right now. Just in case you guys go on one of your political rants again. Well, is the system running then? I mean, well, I don't know. We'll find out, I guess. It's accessing the system. Maybe there won't be a podcast. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that.

We'll see. We'll have to see. Are we going to have to send a Terminator anywhere? Yeah. I have many questions. Again, back to the Y2K. What we could do is we could tape the show onto a VHS and mail out a podcast to the stream to all our listeners.

I've got a ghetto blaster at home if we want to do that. You just press the record button and the play button at the same time. And we're good. You can make your own podcast. So, live stream looks like it's held up. Oh, we got some semblance of a live stream.

Look, folks, we we're gonna try our best here to go along with about a third of the technological advances that we normally had at our disposal i know the phone line still works so we'll be able to get our guests today our guest list begins at 6 30 nabil kareem is going to join us on the program uh cbc olympic basketball reporter canada plays france this afternoon assuming that the blue screen of death doesn't take over the game. So we'll talk to Nabil about that. We'll talk to him about Canadian basketball as we inch closer and closer to the start of the Olympics.

Do you think Nabil will know anything about the three-on-three? I don't know anything about that. What would you like to know? How many players are on the court? There's six. There's six. But, like, who are these players? On the American team, there's a former NBA player player remember jimmer fredette yeah yeah no i remember

i know but like what what's going on here what are they what are they doing three on three and why why are you asking to explain the concept of three no but it's like five on five basketball but what's it gonna prove it's not gonna have the best players in the world it's gonna have the best three on three players no it's not it could be no it's not going to have the best players in the world. It's going to have the best three-on-three players in the world. No, it's not. It could be. No, it's not. Anyone in the NBA is among the best three-on-three players. Also, I don't know if he's covering... The three-on-three is like an entirely different circuit.

They have different play-by-play guys, different analysts. Like Dan Shulman and Nabil aren't working the three-on-three tournament. We're going to have someone on from the three-on-three. But he must know something about it. Can I ask him? You can. You can also wait until Monday when we have the three-on-three guys. Oh, we have the three-on-three guys on the show? Yeah, we have the three-on-three guys on the tournament. We're going to have someone on from the three on three. But he must know something about it. Can I ask him? You can. You can also wait until Monday when we have the three on three guy. Oh, we have the three on three guy on the show? Yeah, we have the three on three on the show.

We don't even know if the world will still be with us on Monday. Yeah, right. Does the technology allow us to play three on three? That's a real question. Will cybersecurity keep us from doing that? Nabil's going to join us at 6.37. AJ from AJ's Pizza. Reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday.

The text message in basket still works. Dunbar Lumber is still up and thriving in this crazy world we live in. So you can get your text in 650-650. Best Ask Us Anything today, hashtag it AUA. Gets a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, the best little pizza place in the world. So AJ's going to join us at 7705. Jeff Wilson is going to join us. This 705 jeff wilson is going to join us uh this weekend it's the nation's cup for my money the best amateur sporting event in the

province regardless of sport regardless of length of tournament it is the best it's going to be in richmond at three different parks we'll talk to jeff about it uh amazing beer garden after parties they got shuttle service between fields this year so we'll talk to jeff about that for the players and fans oh really shuttles you can shuttle around oh that's a good idea yeah it's pretty impressive actually they've really built it out to a very cool tournament the 43rd nations cup so we'll talk to jeff at 705 about that 7 30 and eight couple big gets here satyar shah and bob marjanovic i don't know how we were able to track him down but we were sat's going to join us at 7 30 to talk some canucks moj is going to join us at 8 to talk

about the lions they of course play this weekend against the calgary stampeters in calgary so that's what's happening on the program moj at 8 sat at 7 30 jeff wilson at 705 aj at 7 and then kareem at 6 30 again that's what's happening on the program. Laddie, let's tell everybody 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.

When we compiled the show yesterday, we were going to lead with an open championship update where Tiger woods was at eight over following an opening around 79 at royal troon and jason it's only gotten worse from there this morning yeah i don't know what he's up to now 13 over he's gonna miss the he's gonna miss the cut again um and he's gonna miss it by a mile um so maybe colin montgomery was on to something uh it's hard to watch tiger it's not enjoyable to watch a guy like tiger woods who's been arguably the greatest golfer some people might still say jack um but to go out there in these tournaments and say he's healthy and still

not even come close to contending but hopefully it's a good weekend still to watch golf because a canadian cory connors is hanging around he's already finished his round today and he is tied for ninth one under now i don't know what the scoring conditions are going to be like today they seem to be very difficult in the morning yesterday and maybe got a little bit easier as the day went on because shane lowry came in uh with a good score an englishman by the name of daniel brown uh not to be confused with the author of the da vinci code right that's what that's what i thought i was like man he is he is multi-talented another englishman uh justin rose um he's in the mix too the leaderboard isn't what you would call like star-studded.

No. I mean, Scotty Scheffler is there. He is hanging around for sure. He's tied for fourth right now. He's two under, 14 holes. He's through 14 holes today. So he should be around and in the mix on the weekend. But, you know i i'm looking at

the scoreboard right now trying to find where rory is i don't know if rory's gonna make the cut um so it could be uh a different sort of weekend at royal troon yeah as for the other canadians mackenzie hughes had a good opening round he finished 200 but he's three over through 12 today. And it was real tough, real tough for Nick Taylor yesterday. So I'm assuming this is bad. This is a golf stat, and I don't exactly know what golf stats mean. But apparently Nick Taylor had nine birdie looks from inside 21 feet and made just one. He looked at nine different birds?

Wrong. That's what that means. You could not be more wrong. It's like bird watching. I even know that's wrong. And then I know this is bad because after his round, he said, quote, I might throw my putter in the ocean. So that leads me to believe that he left a lot of strokes

up there on the ice. Which was crazy because remember his putting at Phoenix? It was just like everything he was looking at was going in. I seem to recall that he hit a pretty big putt at the Canadian Open. Oh, that was a pretty big putt at the Canadian Open. Oh, that was a pretty big putt. You know, like I figured the flat stick, they call it the flat stick.

I figured that he was pretty good with that. But you know what? Connor is, I think he's currently sitting ninth on the leaderboard. And you've talked about it enough on our show, about a Canadian breaking through to make a real push at one of the majors and not necessarily having one of those like Sunday backdoor top 10 finishes you know like being in or going in he's

he's gone into a few tournaments on on the Sunday like with the chance to make a run and then he just kind of does nothing on the Sunday that's another thing that he does so I I really want to wake up on Sunday morning and be able to cheer Corey Connors to try and win something, you know, not just hang around in the top 10. And he's got some work to do. Like, you can't just par your way around the course. Right. If you look at what Shane Lowry's done, and he's won an Open before. He's at five under.

I doubt Daniel Brown's going to stick around, but who knows. So that is the golf story. What else we got? Well, there was a pretty big trade in the National Basketball Association yesterday. Russell Westbrook is gone from the LA Clippers. His time in Utah will be brief because he's going to be bought out and he's going to be joining, not this year's, but the previous year's NBAba champions denver nuggets joining jamal murray and nicola yokich in denver

in the process what's what what happened to him russ um well when he signed with la that was before that they got james harden in the door so he was their starting point guard then james harden came aboard and when you looked at the start of the roster it was kind of crazy they had kawaii leonard paul george james harden russell westbrook and you're thinking like man if this was 2014 this team would be killing it but it's not it's 2024 um he kind of turned into a really good defensive player in la in large part because there just wasn't enough ball to go around he scored like a career low 11 points per game last year but he actually really improved his defensive prowess and then funny thing happened in la they kind of realized that they couldn't have all these big high profile big personality guys

uh that went on the air technology this that was an evil laugh by the way that was pretty good this uh this could be an interesting show because all the engineers are trying to fix what's going on right now where were you on russell westbrook so the clippers had this very like big powerful star-studded team and they actually had a good run last year at a certain point they went 26 and 5 and during one stretch when all the guys were there and available and healthy but then you know kawaii got injured and didn't play in the playoffs and it looked like they were just kind of limping along so paul george leaves he signs in philadelphia uh they trade russell westbrook they bring in some more defensive-minded guys including chris dunn now it just looks like they've gone in a different

way the weird part is is that and i don know, you probably missed this because you were in Italy and not really paying attention to the inner workings of the Los Angeles Clippers. Kawhi bowed out. I didn't have to be in Italy for that. That's right. You could have been right here. You could have been in Los Angeles. Kawhi bowed out of the Olympics.

He was on the Olympic team, and then he said no. Now, things got weird because Lawrence Frank, who's one of the executives for the Clippers, said that, well, we had nothing to do with this. We didn't tell Kawhi to leave. In fact, we think Kawhi should be playing to get back into shape in order to have it. So there's this real weird part where they're like, well, what really happened? Kawhi's whole playing career has been like, should he play? Should he not play?

Does he want to play? Does he not want to play? It has absolutely been a recurring theme right and so this was weird because some people were saying well maybe this is like he knew he wasn't going to play a lot because he would have been a low rotation guy given the fact that they're putting over like the second coming of the dream team in paris that's why lindholm didn't want to sign in vancouver he didn't want to be a three c he wants to go to boston be a one c that's right i mean you go, you go somewhere else, there's greener pastures. Maybe Kawhi could have played for South Sudan. Possibly.

He could have played against the Americans. I don't think it works like that, but you probably could have done it. Anyway, so that was the NBA trade yesterday in the midst of all this international basketball going on. And we mentioned that the Canadians are going to get a real big test today going up against Rudy Gobert and Victor Wimbanyama today when they play France. We are

going to talk to Nabil Karim at 6.30 about all that. On the Canadian soccer front, and it's something that you and I didn't get to experience together because you were on vacation, but after a scintillating run through Copa America, Canada moved up eight spots in the latest FIFA men's rankings all the way up to 40th, which, to be honest, is still kind of weird because Panama still ranks ahead of them and they're still like fourth in CONCACAF despite their highest ever was

33rd and they got to that possibly right after qualifying for the World Cup February 10th 2022 I'll remember the day forever I won't I just read it off my notes um that was the highest that they achieved and like you said that was on the strength of not just qualifying for the World Cup, but winning CONCACAF along the way. Do you remember when they were at like 120th? Yes. They were at countries that weren't actually, below countries that weren't actually countries. Yeah.

You know what I mean? They were like confederations or I don't even know. Some of them didn't belong to a particular, like, well, you're not in CONCACAF. You're not uncomfortable. They're like, we're our own thing. We're doing our own thing. We are designed specifically for money laundering. Right.

And they're like, also, we're beating you 2-0. Like that kind of thing. So it's great that Canada is up there now. Weirdly enough, though, despite showing out and being the best CONCACAF country at Copa America, they still remain fourth in the CONCACAF country at Copa America, they still remain fourth in the CONCACAF Federation. So behind the Americans, behind Mexico

and Panama? Panama jumped eight spots to 35th, despite the fact that they only made it to the quarterfinals of Copa America. How far did Spain jump? Spain is... I think they jumped five spots, didn't they? Yeah, they did.

That's a big jump in the top ten. It's no Panama. No, so France is two. Argentina is one because they retained that because they won everything. France is two. Spain is three. England is four. Brazil is five.

And Brazil really should have dropped because they had a horrible Copa America. They didn't look good at all. They're in a bit of a funk right now, aren't they? Yeah, they were very disappointing at Copa. Didn't Ronaldinho call them out? Yeah, for the squad that they assembled, it didn't strike fear into the hearts of all the opposing countries, which it normally does. Because usually you see the Brazilian lineup and it's like, whoa. Okay, so to give you an idea of how slow it is in the sports world right now, we started with golf, which is fine.

It's the British Open. But there wasn't, like, a big story there. People like golf. We just, it was on. Our second story was about the LA Clippers. And the Denvernuggets and our third story was uh canada's ranking like they didn't even play a game they just went up in the rankings so for all the hockey guys out there this was the number one story this was like the profile story at sportsnet.ca here's the headline identifying the top 25 ufas in 2025 nice so

this was the one that got the prime real estate on sportsnet.ca yesterday far away it was a list of players who might become free agents next summer uh it led with a couple of Leafs, Mitch Marner and John Tavares. But there was a Vancouver Canuck on the list and fairly prominently on the list, Brock Besser of the Vancouver Canucks. And maybe one of the things we can talk about with that is what the Canucks are going to do with Brock Besser, who, of course, just had an unbelievable season, an unexpected season. You know, we all wondered when Brock was going to hit 30 goals and he ended up hitting, what, 40?

And Jim Rutherford was asked by Ian McIntyre back in June, right before the draft, what the plans were with Brock Besser. And IMAC asked him, will you make a decision on his Canucks future this summer? And Jim Rutherford said, you know, I couldn't be happier for a player after what he's gone through to have that year but I think that this will be a case where we will watch this closely into the season we believe that Brock is back on track and that 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 so the onus is still on Brock Besser to go out and do something but then the Canucks have a decision to make this wasn't Jim

Rutherford saying we'll definitely sign him because the Canucks might not be able to afford this guy because if he goes out and has another you know if he's on pace for another 40-goal season and it's, I don't know, Christmas time heading into the new year, when are you going to start making these decisions? Because you're looking at the trade deadline and going, okay, well, this is very interesting. It will also depend on how the Canucks are doing as a team. Then they've got a decision to make on him.

And if he puts up back-to-back back let's say he even goes 30 goals sure next season and he's a really still a really good fit with JT Miller and he's a really important part of the team he's got a lot of money well he's gonna want he's gonna want term he's gonna want more than 6.65 and he's gonna want term and I think that's gonna be a really frankly I think that's gonna be a really tough decision for the Canucks. And one of the factors that we always talk about with Brock Besser is his speed and lack thereof. And one of the things that Patrick Alvin said heading into the offseason is we've got to get faster. Now, we'll see if they've managed to do that with the addition of DeBrusque and Heinen sure I yeah and sure would but they're he's more of a he's you know he

probably just replaces Lafferty right hopefully a little bit better than Lafferty hopefully with a little better performance down the stretch and in the important games but I think you look at the the Canucks and one of the issues that they have in creating rush chances is frankly their lack of burners so I don't I haven't watched Jake Dabrowski and Danton Heinen enough to know whether they're really good skaters do you remember we had Pete Blackburn on and we asked him like are these guys good skaters and he's like yeah they're okay yeah they're fine yeah they're fine right like they're not burners so anyway I don't want to I don't want to focus on too much of the negatives with Brock Besser

because he's a really good player and that could be a tough decision that they have to make. But I'd be curious to get some of the listeners' feedback on what you think will happen with Brock Besser, what should happen with Brock Besser. Maybe the assumption we make is that he's still a pretty good player next season. Like he doesn't regress in a bad way. He's still an important part of the team. He's still scoring big goals. He's still a pretty good player next season like he doesn't he doesn't regress in a bad way uh he's still an important part of the team he's still scoring big goals he's still a match with JT Miller what do you do then if he's got a really good uh negotiation case to make with the Vancouver Canucks I would imagine that once they get clarity on the health they're probably going to try and move forward with a contract before letting him play it out and you

know it's it is a risky, as you've just suggested, to let him play out the season and potentially blow up again. I mean, have another... Well, play out the season and lose him for nothing. Yeah, and then you're kind of painted yourself into a corner where you've got to pay based on two years. He's like, not only did I score 40 a season ago, but I followed it up with another solid campaign.

Also, and this goes against every fiber of my cold, callous being, if there's a guy that you want to maybe just maybe a smidge reward for past performance as opposed to future performance. Never do that. Never do that. Never do that. He? Never.

Look, what he did last year was super impressive. Super impressive. And I think that there's something to be said, something to be said for a guy that has the fortitude to rebound from a few off years, goes through whatever he went through off the ice, and quite frankly on the ice, because his performance was down on the ice at times,

remained healthy for an entire year, proved that he could score at a clip that exceeded everybody's expectations. Let's remember that. 40 from Besser was not in anybody's wheelhouse prior to the start of the year. Everyone thought it would be amazing if he could hit 30. And then they could trade him. Right.

And that's serious. That's a legitimate way that we all looked at it. He seems to be incredibly liked in the room. Yes, that's important. I think that he is the kind of individual that you want to keep around now you don't want to do it at the expense of hamstringing your cap and i think hopefully everyone understands what i'm talking about here you should not go and pay him retro actively will lecker or mackie be a factor in all this if lecker mackie looks like he's a player i

have a real hard time he needs top six i have a real hard time seeing that well not next season but the year after right if he looks like if he comes into the ahl and starts ripping it up in the ahl or even looks good in the preseason and you can you can't always act like 100 project but you can maybe make a calculated gamble that he's going to be in your top six in the next couple of years. Is that a factor? Yes. In the scenario that you're laying out, 100% yes. In the scenario that I'm thinking of, it's an organization that has maybe in the past fallen victim to rushing players along. And a management group coming from Pittsburgh where they let guys.

Like, he hasn't played nearly enough North American hockey, I would say, that they would be like, let's go. Well, the other factor, too, is what if the Canucks are in a playoff position and they haven't been able to get a contract done with Brock Besser? Would they trade him? That would be. Would they do that? Well, I mean, it's. Seems crazy, right? We've seen other teams go the distance with it. would they trade him that would be that was that would they do that well i mean it seems crazy right we've seen other teams go the distance with it i mean maybe not necessarily to the case i

guess tampa bay did it with steve stamkos they just let it twist in the wind and then they lost them and then they lost them right and that was not necessarily a great look for tampa bay although it was compensated by the fact they got jake genel. Yeah. Back to Lekker Mackey for a sec. I think that he would have to come in and play at a level that it's where you just couldn't deny him. You know what I mean? Like, it would be like, well, we can't hold him back. He's more than ready for this.

And that's going to be tough because he hasn't played a lot in North America. I'm not necessarily sure that his game is going to be one where he's going to blow you away. Like, he would have to blow somebody away in every facet. Two-way game, speed skating, forechecking ability, all of it. He'd have to have the details down. I'm hoping that he is going to be one day a real fixture on the power play because his shot is a big thing. His shot might be his calling card. Yeah, and that's kind of what I'm saying about like this scenario that we're dreaming of like he'd

have to come in that you'd have to be like wow every part of his game is nhl ready yeah and he's forced his way onto the roster as opposed to one day we might see this guy be an important fixture of our power play it's not right now but we're going to give him a look anyway uh nabil kareem is going to join us next we We'll talk a little Canada basketball. But just a reminder, it's Ask Us Anything Friday. So text here, askusanythings into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park.

More room, more product, more awesome. Details at dunbarLumber.com. You're listening to the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. The Roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at BCLions.com. 7.32 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Thank you all for working with us this morning. Technical difficulties across the globe have affected AM Sports Talk radio stations as well. We were not exempt, not exempt from the tech crash, but we press on like a pair of Lee press-on nails. We press on. Do you wear those? On occasion. My cuticles are terrible. I was going to comment on them, but I didn't want to say

anything. We're going to talk to Satyar Shah, a little Canucks talk in a moment here. Sat graciously joining us mid-vacation. Before we get to Sat, I need to tell you a couple things. One, Halford and Brother of the Morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda, North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. Visit them online at pacifichonda.ca. We are in Hour 2 of the program.

Hour 2 is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some at a liquor store near you, or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. The phone lines we go. Sportsnet 650's very own Satyar Shah here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

What up, Sat? What's happening, boys? How's summer treating y'all? Can't complain. Today hasn't been great. Yeah, we can complain a bit today. on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Sat? What's happening, boys? How's summer treating y'all? Can't complain. Today hasn't been great. Yeah, we can complain a bit today. Yeah, well, there's a global IT outage that's kind of made things difficult.

You know what's going on, right? Are you checking? So, I mean, I woke up about 20 minutes. I saw something about IT outage in the States. Is it affecting us as well? Oh, yeah. It's Microsoft and their global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

I don't exactly know what happened. I thought earlier it might just be leftovers from Y2K, even though it was 24 years ago. So it's a mass IT outage. Businesses, airlines, banks, and hospitals have all been affected by this. And, sad, I know this is shocking, but it also affected Sportsnet 650.

We were not exempt from the tech crash. I thought we were actually running the station on Tandy 3000. I thought we'd be okay. It was a dude with an Etch-A-Sketch in the back just making everything happen. So, Sad, we were joking earlier in the show that it's such a slow time in sports that if you went to Sportsnet.ca yesterday, the top story was the top 25 UFAs of next summer. It was just like a list of UFAs. There was nothing that was like breaking news that you actually had to.

So they just put this list of the top 25 UFAs of next summer. And one of them was Brock Besser. And Halford and I had a bit of a discussion about how the Canucks approached this this season and it's all complicated now by the fact that the Canucks would expect to be in a playoff position by the trade deadline they've also got to be careful with their spending they've got a kid kid in Jonathan Lecker-Mackie in the system that could, in theory, provide some of the things that Brock Besser provides. So what do you think is going to happen there? How are the Canucks going to play this?

How is Brock Besser going to play this? Well, you know, this is something that has kind of been one of my off-season projects a little bit, trying to dig into this a bit more and trying to find out, okay, what's going to happen with Brock Besser? I know Jim Rutherford did tell Ian McIntyre, I believe, about a month and a half ago that

everything goes well next season. They'll maybe contract with him and see where it goes. I don't think that was lip service. I know we look at the numbers and we look at, okay, the Tents will sign all these guys, but the fact that they weren't able to land that big player like a G against all type that would take up about anywhere from nine and a half to ten million of salary cap space it gives them

an opportunity here to still make that type of commitment to somebody whether that's a better or somebody else and i i i haven't ruled out yet even though i keep hearing it's not likely that they talk even this offseason like it wouldn't shock me that if we hear closer to training camp, like Canucks and Brock Besser's camp at some point talk contract, like that wouldn't shock me. But I do think the Canucks want to see where he's at. And I think that if they feel confident he can score 30 goals, guys,

I wouldn't be surprised if they try to get him signed to a relatively team-friendly deal. He's a guy that hasn't signed a long-term contract yet. It's been like three-year deals for him. Now he's banged closer to like 36-37 million, so it's not like he hasn't made money. But he's in a position with what he's gone through, with where he's at mentally now, and him being happy

here and wanting to stay in Vancouver, that there could be an avenue to a relatively team-friendly deal. By that, I mean, can you get a guy who scored 40 goals signed to a contract under $8 million per term? That actually isn't a bad number, especially with the cap going up. And I know it's been a bit awkward with Besser over time, and many wonder how he's going to age out.

But it's hard to find top six scorers that can score 30 goals. If this team feels confident he can score 30, my biggest question is going to be, is Brock Besser willing to stay here for maybe slightly less than he did elsewhere? So I was having this conversation with some guys on the golf course the other day and um they were just asking me about what i thought about the canucks and i kind of came to the conclusion that there are two wild cards for me next season uh number one is how pd looks and how he plays um you know hopefully it's better than how he finished the season and the other one is if the Canucks are going to be able to move the puck on the back end. First of all, what do you think of those two wild cards?

And do you have an additional wild card to add? So I don't disagree. I think with Pedersen, that's the one I would hope we should be confident he can find his game, right? Like he's so talented, he's shown he can do it. He's going to pay that kind of money. You'd hope that he's able can find his game, right? Like, he's so talented. He's shown he can do it. He's getting paid a ton of money. You'd hope that he's able to find his game again. You know, and if he doesn't, I think then we

have a lot bigger existential problems about where the Canucks are headed at some point next season. So I'm choosing to be optimistic on the Pedersen front. On the defense front, I totally get what you're saying. You're not wrong. And I think the Canucks themselves acknowledge this. Even Al Bean, when he met with the media after free agency,

acknowledged that they could still use a puck movement. The question I have is, is this something they're acutely looking to address today, or are they willing to let it play out a little bit? And when you look at the rest of the Western Conference, and this is the thing that an exercise I've gone through the last couple of years, trying to figure out how good are the Canucks really. And one thing you kind of have to also grade it on it's not just looking at a team and saying hey you hope they have you know these top six defensemen that are fantastic you have three

forward groups and a good fourth line and you want to build this ideal team but it's also relative to the strength of the rest of the Western Conference and when you go through the rest of the defenses in the West I'm not sure there are, say, four, five, six teams you say are comfortably better defensively than the Vancouver Canucks, even with their puck movement. So the question isn't so much about, yes, I agree they need to improve, but I don't think there's a need for them to improve

right now, today, before the season begins. I would imagine by the deadline, the add of defensemen, I would imagine even by the deadline, the add of forward. So I think those are things that are issues, especially the defense, but I think you can survive, especially for the first half of the deadline, they add a forward. So I think those are things that are issues, especially the defense. But I think you can survive, especially for the first half of the season, up until the trade deadline. It's more of the playoffs.

You want to get somebody else. The other question I have, guys, is are they still short of top six forward? Because as good as, you know, Dan Van Heinen showed to be, can he stay in that spot for a full year? Can Jake DeBrus take that step? And if he can, that's great. But jake the bros take that step and if he can that's great but can hogan or take that step too and i wonder that at some point next season we'll still be here talking about this team needing to add another top six forward i don't

think it's a huge need today i think this team is in a real good position to start the season but by the trade deadline i think they still need one more forward in addition to maybe shoring up the defense how much wiggle room room do they have to address that midseason? Well, it really depends on how much they can accrue, too. Now, I think that's going to be more challenging than people think, especially with it only being about 160,000 in cap space, unless they want to go with a 22-man roster. And that also gets eaten up if players get injured,

even if they don't go on LTI or IR, you're going to call guys up. I think they're going to have anywhere between three and a half, 3.7 million to add to the roster with not having to make a big, not having to make a big subtraction. Now, you can make that number a bit bigger if you're trading a roster player off the team. Now, I don't expect we're going to see, you know, anybody like a best or a big name player get moved. But do we get those stages of season where guys like Putkoz and Hoaglander are more trade ships than players are going to be here? Are they going to be part of something that's a trade or are they guys that stay here?

But they're going to have about three and a half to almost three, seven, five million in terms of additions they can make. And that's not a bad amount of money to have. I mean, that could be a $ million dollar player if you can retain half the salary so i think they're in a position that they can add a pretty significant player at some point this season the question is going to be are they willing to move somebody off the roster that's making a little bit of money um is it worthwhile when you talk about accruing cap space is it worthwhile to try and move tucker poolman's final final year? I mean, I think it is. The question is, are teams holding you over a barrel on it, though, right?

I think we've seen teams look at this in the past, and at the cost of a six or seven-round draft pick, I don't see there being an issue. But considering where the Canucks are need-wise, considering how teams are getting assets for retaining money, and even a team like say San Jose is trying to be a bit better,

or even a team like Chicago is trying to be slightly better. better so for them they're going to look at it and say well why are we paying this money like what are you giving us i think teams right now would want like a mid-round pick and i think if you look at it even though insurance covers most of the money it's about a for every two and a half three million the cost is usually a second or third round drafting that's kind of been this cost that's been established so if teams are trying to tell vancouver we need a third to get them to take tucker pullman off their hands i just don't see them doing that now did it get to a position closer to the say we get to training camp and there are teams that you know all of a sudden looking at and say hey listen we can maybe get a draft they can get a player would vancouver be

willing to maybe not only move Pullman, but take back somebody they can bury down in the Myers? Could they find a player making about a million, million and a half? They can bury all the money in the Myers and take the money back in some regard. So I think there could be some pressure points as we get closer to training camp because it could be a creative way for the Canucks to make that deal and a team acquires Pullman and actually saves money, actual cash. And I think that's something I wouldn't be surprised to explore closer to

trading camp. We're speaking to Sportsnet 650's very own Satyar Shah here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Last week when I was hosting with Jamie Sat, we came in after the Byfield deal got done in Los Angeles and it had a jumping off point for us. We were talking about now that we've had a bunch of movement and free agency and the dust has settled quite a bit uh looking back and

like re-ranking or looking at the power rankings just looking at the Pacific division and where it's at right now and both Jamie and I kind of agreed that we would seed top spot to Edmonton not many teams that go as far in the playoffs and get as deep as Edmonton did are able to retain as many players as they had, especially when you compare how many body blows Florida took in terms of departures. Edmonton kept it together pretty good. Look at Carolina.

Yeah, and they didn't even get to the Stanley Cup final. We had Vancouver at number two, and in part because we were so underwhelmed with the off seasons that Los Angeles and Vegas, I don't think everyone really truly understands how many body blows Vegas took. Where do you have, let's just do it. The top four in the Pacific right now,

based on everything that's happening in free agency. So I would go down. I mean, Edmonton one, Vancouver two, I probably still put Vegas three and then put LA number four. Okay. That's kind of where I would go with.

I mean, and I think LA is like, I don't know what LA is. Like I, I know what know what they were last year. They said they're not going to want, they don't want to be that trap team again or playing a 1-3-1 or whatever again. But every move they've made this offseason

is doubling down on being that team. So it's like, I don't know exactly what they're trying to do and what they're trying to be. Vegas, their season hinges on players like Alexander Boltz, who's so far shown to be pretty soft and a guy that hasn't been able to play to the staples, so to speak, as we hear about from other players. And I think if he had trouble doing that in New Jersey, is he going to figure that out in Vegas?

We'll see. Maybe he does. Victor Olsen, another soft player that can score. I can see these guys maybe scoring 15, 20 in the regular season. I just don't see that team being as scary again. And then is Mark Stone going to be healthy? Are their older guys maybe going to take a slightly step back? I don't look at Vegas outside their defense as being quite as formidable

as they were before. But I think Vancouver and Edmonton, the thing I'm trying to figure out too, guys, is is Vancouver in the same tier as Edmonton, or is Edmonton just in a different tier from everybody else? I think they're in a different tier. Great else? I think they're in a different tier. Great question. Right. I think they're in a different tier.

But I think they're the only team in that tier in the Western Conference, because I don't think Dallas is anywhere near the team that we were last year. So I think when you look at it that way, it's like, it's Edmonton, and then there's like five teams, Vancouver included, that's in that next tier. You just kind of rank where they fall. But I think there's a clear, to me, separation even in the tier

between Vancouver, Vegas, and L.A. right now. I was just talking about the division. What do you think about Dallas and also maybe Colorado and Winnipeg? Why do you think those three teams are not in the same tier as the Edmonton Oilers? Well, I think the biggest issue Colorado has is the injuries, right? If they get a land of sawgony touskin back, it's a different story. But there's a lot of cap space not being used.

You look at their defense. They went from having three stud defensemen, right? They had Caves, they had McCarr, and they had Bull and Byram. Now their defense looks like, well, they got Caves and Byram, they got Gerrard and Manson, and then like a third pair that's like, whatever. If you look at their team, like their third pair is not very good. Even their second pair is pretty comparable to what Vancouver has with Susie and Myers right but then you look at their forward group they relax a little bit of

depth look at Dallas their defense to me is not nearly as good as they were last year as much as you're banking on young guys taking this stuff taking Pavelski out for out of that roster I think it's a tough loss and I think it's going to take some time for the younger guys to find their game and their defense to me is not nearly as good as it was last season so I think it's a tough loss, and I think it's going to take some time for the younger guys to find their game. And their defense, to me, is not nearly as good as it was last season. So I think if you look at where Vancouver is at compared to those teams, I think Vancouver and Dallas are pretty similar. I think Colorado and Dallas, I mean Vancouver and Colorado, fairly similar. And all of it kind of comes down to them not having as much depth.

So if you have issues with the Canucks third pair, look at those other teams' third pair. If you have issues with the Canucks lacking in top six forward, look at those teams. You see where they're lacking top six four so I think the Canucks are not a perfect team but the reality of a 32 team league a 32 team league nowadays guys is there aren't going to be a lot of complete hockey teams what do you expect from Seattle we haven't really talked about them in terms of the division because you know I think you look at the bottom of the division you know until further notice San jose and anaheim aren't really gonna enter the conversation calgary is clearly on the downswing they're gonna need a

miracle season to even sniff the playoffs but seattle is one of those teams where you could see it going either way oh i can see seattle being maybe having a similar season to a couple years ago where they have complete buy-in they play fast or hard out they get close to like mid 90 point team if they get a wild card spot like it wouldn't shock me at all if seattle pulls that off it's just they don't have a lot of ceiling so i just don't view them as a threat as a threat to you know going deep in the playoffs being a threat to win the division but if the canucks they found and find themselves in a position where they're regressing they could be fighting for a wild card spot with the Seattle Kraken. Right now, I think LA is a better team than Seattle,

but by the time the season starts, I might pick Seattle to make the playoffs over LA. That's kind of how I view it, Kraken. Yeah. I wanted to ask about another Western Conference team that hasn't come up yet, Nashville. I know that the Stamkos and Marchessault signings were big and glitzy and everything, but I actually think there's substance to this because I just look at it from a straight numbers.

Nobody added like 75, 80 goals of offense, which is what they brought last year. I know they're on the wrong side of 30, but I just think that in the case of Stamkos, you get a guy that's probably going to be pretty motivated in marsh so you get a guy that although he's on the wrong side of 30 his career started later so he doesn't have as much tread on the tires as you'd think i also think that watching them last year in the playoffs if there was one thing that they didn't have it was finishers quite honestly i was like the one thing that probably kept them from winning that series which was razor thin margins was they didn't have enough high level offense i really gained a new appreciation for them in the first round they were better than i thought they were going to be in

sorrows was unbelievably good i actually think nashville could be a problem this year yeah i think nashville obviously is i think you put them in that similar tier as vancouver because of the additions they've made. The only question I have about that is, are they a team that's actually better or video game better? And by video game better, I mean it's like, right? Because you just add all these guys. Right. And so how does Marchessault was a right-hand shot?

Stamkos was a right-hand shot. If LeForsberg was a right-hand shot, how are they going to coexist in the same power play? When Forsberg and Stamkos play the same spot the same power play when Forsberg and Sam Coles play the same spot uh on the power play to begin with so you're gonna take one of those players out of their natural spot as good as Sam Coles is guys like and I went through a lot of tape watching him too because I was you know wondering is he really a fit for Dan Cooper he doesn't skate the way he used to he doesn't play center anymore he's a winger that yeah he doesn't four check like he four checks fine but he he's not the same like people he's people see the 40 goals 80 points they think stamkos when he's 28 like he's not

that guy anymore so as much as the preds are better they're got significantly older as well with the additions they made on their team i think the brady shea edition might be their best edition so to speak but he's also replacing ryan mcdonough so how much better are they defensively maybe slightly better with their puck movement, right? But my biggest question with them is, can those players play to the style that they built as being a super aggressive, forward-checking team that takes a lot of chances, uses their speed

when a couple guys they added may not be quite as fast as they were before? So I'm not sure if the Preds are as dangerous as people think they're going to be. I see them being a team that's going to compete obviously to make the playoffs, but I don't see

them being a surefire top three team. It wouldn't shock me if that Winnipeg plays a more complete, consistent style for most of the season, even if they don't have the same amount of talent as Nashville does. I'm really curious to see how they're going to work that power play. They have three guys who do the exact same thing.

Yeah. You mentioned Stamko's skating ability. That was something that Patrick Alvin wanted to address when it comes to the Canucks, is their overall team speed. Do you think he's done it? I think he has. I still think they could stand to get a little bit quicker, too, because the way I looked at it was, I mean, they lost Mikheyev, right? But, you know, he's supposedly fast, but he's not, you know, obviously too because the way i looked at it was i mean they lost mckea right

but you know he's supposedly fast but he's not you know obviously not playing the way he did before so him and de brusque are pretty similar right lafferty was a fast skater didn't always use his sport checking and the skating for his sport checking the second half of the season because he's a fast skater so him and sherwood they kind of wash off so so the improvement you made skating wise on the team to me is really dan van hynen coming in for a guy that's either like Pew Suter or PDG playing alongside Miller and Besser. So I think the Canucks are quicker. I think guys play to identity more.

But I'm not sure the team is significantly faster than they were before. I still think they need one more forward and one more D-man that has a bit of pace. Tell us about Elevate, Sat, because this sounds like a pretty cool experience in support of Canucks Autism Network.

Yeah, man. So the Canucks Autism Network, obviously, is something that's very near and dear to my heart. I have a brother who's autistic, so anytime I get a chance to help out our friends at Canucks Autism Network, I do. We have a fundraising event coming up at Sky Helicopters in Pitt Me up. It is an August 29 Elevate.

They have incredible helicopters and they are doing this event to raise money for the network. There are different packages you can get if you want to get on board for the event which is on August 29. If you join by today, there are certain discounts and extra things you can get. Make sure to check out sky

helicopters.ca. And if you want to get, there's certain discounts and certain extra things you can get. So make sure to check out skyholloconkers.ca slash events slash elevate. And if you have time later on this month, definitely come by and help out a great cause. I know people have done what they can throughout the course of the year for the Canucks Office Network and Canucks for Kids. And this is just another aspect of doing that in the summer. And I'm going to be out there on the 29th. And hopefully some of our listeners can join us as well. Will Airwolf be there? I've made a special request. So hopefully.

And it also says dress in aviation casual. What does that look like? Do you have some sunglasses, like some of those shiny sunglasses? I don't have the shiny ones, but I do have some old aviators. Do I need to get the silver ones, do you think? Yeah. The real shiny ones? For sure, you do.

Yeah, absolutely. I think you could make it work, too. You're the best-looking guy on the station, so if someone's going to do it, it's not going to be Richie. We'll do our best. Maybe a low bar. I'll see what happens. Thanks for doing this today, Sat.

Appreciate it, bud. Have a good one. You got it, boy. Yeah, man. You got it. Later. Satyar Shah, Sportsnet 650's very own here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet

650. Have you been in a helicopter? Yeah. Have you? Yeah, once. How was it? Didn't love it. Didn't love it. No, but go to this event. Yeah. Well, I don't like heights to begin with. Right. Me neither. So,

helicopter and float plane, how do I describe it? It was too too real you were too close to the outside you know like i feel i know when you're on a i was on a huge does that make sense yeah yeah okay absolutely okay i was on a huge jet flying back and i and you're like i'm not even in 20 i'm not 30 000 feet feet in the sky here. I'm just in this big room. I get in an airplane. I'm like, I got people with me. There's food. Like, I'm in a living room.

It was just too real. I could look, when you could look down, I think it's the looking down that gets you. You can look down and see how far down it is. Did you see the cockpit? Like, into the cockpit? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can see, yeah, that's the other thing.

You can see everything happening, right? Did I tell you where I had a major freakout recently? The Peak to Peak gondola. Oh. Have you been on that? Nope. Yeah, I got three minutes into that, and I was like, we shouldn't be out here.

It's too far down. I wasn't bouncing off the walls or anything, but I was definitely not looking around. Gripping the sides? I was. I was just like, I was looking straight down at my feet and I was like,

how long is this ride? Because it felt like it was about seven hours. You start reciting old Canucks rosters and trying to take your mind off them? Some people would be like, oh, you're such a wimp.

And like, yes. You know, like there's kids bouncing around and they're like, this is so fun. I just get this feeling like we shouldn't be out here. Humans were not meant to do this.

Yeah, we're too high. We're way too high out here. It was the fear of heights that got you. Was it acrophobia? Where was that? The peak to peak gondola, which goes between Whistler and Blackcomb. Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I got on there. I actually... I mean, it is that high. Yeah, the funny thing is I hiked up the mountain, and then I was like, oh, this will be fun to go across, and it was like not fun. So last week, or was it on Monday or Tuesday, whatever the case, Justin in East Van pointed out a new art installation in East Van,

and it might be right up your alley if you want to be terrified by heights again. Oh, okay. So at Empire Field in East Vancouver Hastings Park, the city of Vancouver has erected a 17-meter high, they're calling it a stairway to nothing. Oh, like in The Simpsons. Whoa. It's a grandstand.

Are you saying nothing? So you can't sit in it or on it. But I've been watching it because you're going to live right by there. And I've been watching this thing be erected over the last few months. It is terrifyingly high. Yeah. And for the longest. So you just walk up it?

You can sit there. It's meant to be like an homage to the big wooden roller coaster that's in the background. Oh, I see. And the old grandstand at Empire Field. So it's a combination of the two. It's like a slice of it, though. Also, a 1950 ski run. I don't know why that was an inspiration,

but it's in the press release. Okay. Anyway, so for the longest time, it didn't have railings, proper railings. And I'm like, who's going up this thing? Yuck. You just climb as high as you can in the sky. Yeah, yeah, yeah. With no protection whatsoever.

And I'm like, it feels very dangerous. I'd be on all fours. I don't, it's got 16 rows of seating. It can seat 49 people. It just goes, and it is like a stairway to nowhere. Now, a lot of people are, a lot of people are bucking at the price of it. I was going to say, do you see what it ran the city?

And I don't even care about that. It's more like, who was asking for this? In terms of like, what can we have that'll maybe take people's greatest fear and accentuate it and highlight it on a regular basis? Free to the soccer field. I guarantee you there's going to be people that are going to climb to the top and they're going to be like, I am now frozen and paralyzed in fear. Someone's going to have to come get me down. For sure. For sure.

100%. For sure. Right? Because it is, it's 17 meters in the. 100%. For sure. Right? Because it is 17 meters in the air. High in the air. It is up there. I wonder how many freakouts are on the grouse gondola every day. Right. Every day.

I was wondering about that because you were having a freakout. You got through it. No, the grouse one's fine because it's not that high. Yeah. But the peak to peak. Anyway, you're listening to a couple cowards. The Halford and brough show on sportsnet 650 moge is coming up next