Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 7/23/24

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they chat with Olympics rowing insider Elliotte Friedman. 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 & Brough. You're listening to Halford & Brough. High drive, left field, time again! Teoscar Hernandez halfway up the pavilion. High drive, left field, time again! Teoscar Hernandez halfway up the pavilion. Running shot, it's good! And Miami wins it. Ella Larson gets it done for the Heat. I talked to Vancouver and I spoke to Coach Talk

and we had a really good talk. How much does training camp suck? It's a different suck. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. This is Alfred and his bruv. It is Sportsnet 650, and we are coming to you live

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Siri's premier multilingual dealership destination visit them online at whiterockhonda.com we are in hour one of the program hour one is brought to you by north star metal recycling vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal north star metal recycling they recycle you get paid visit them at 1170 powell street in 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. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that is what you're waiting for.

We got a big show today, big guest list ahead. It begins at 6.30. Michael Linklater is going to join the program. A former Canadian three-on-three basketball star will now be calling three-on-three from Paris for the upcoming Summer Olympics. No men's team for Canada in the three-on-three. The women's team, very much involved, very much a medal favorite as well.

So we'll talk to Michael about that at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Elliot Friedman, former former nhl insider now just a rowing guy just really into rowing he's gonna be calling row at rowing uh canoe and kayak from the olympics oh he's got canoeing and kayak too so i did not all the paddling sports i did more i did talking elliot friedman you better believe that's a paddling um i we i did so much research last night i know more about rowing and the plight of canadian rowing more than i ever thought i would there's a plight we may need to have like legitimate discourse we may need a summit i thought we got some rowing gold at the last olympics well jason we did for the longest time rowing was one

of if not canada's strengths at the summer olympics they've meddled at every single summer olympics i think dating all the way back to 1904 my favorite games from st louis are we not are we not sending rowers this year or something no men's representatives wow yeah just uh two teams going to represent the women including do you think the women's eights who meddled in Tokyo. Do you think a lot of people went just like, rowing is too hard and you have to wake up early in the morning and I don't want to do it. Yeah.

Rowing Canada released a statement. They're like, people find this too difficult. They're not going to go. It's too early. There's too much water. Anyway. Sometimes it's pretty cold out there. So I want to know how much Elliot...

Get blisters on your hands. It's no fun. We're going to talk to Elliot at 7 o'clock because he will be calling the rowing and the canoeing and the kayaking from Paris coming up at the... just a handful of days away or it starts on Friday. Are we allowed to ask Elliot anything else?

Like Dean Everson is the new coach. So I wondered about that. I was like, can we just try and slide some hockey stuff in? Please only discuss rowing questions. Are we allowed to ask Elliot anything else? Like Dean Everson is the new coach. So I wondered about that. I was like, can we just try and slide some hockey stuff in? Please only discuss rowing questions. Well, I mean, it's a big deal for Elliot. I'm sure he's worked very hard at this. It would be funny if he's like, hold on, I'm getting a big text. Back to rowing.

Yeah. I'm not going to talk about that at NHL News. On the subject of Olympic sports, Hayley McGoldrick is going to join us at 7.30. Canadian women's soccer reporter will talk to her about the Canadian women looking to defend gold at this year's Olympics. It will be difficult. Some are considering this the deepest and most talented Olympic field they've ever had in the history of women's soccer. There is the defending champs from Spain.

There's the oddsmakers favorites in the U.S. There's about five or six teams ranked in the FIFA. Some of the best women's teams didn't even make it. I mean, I know England doesn't go by itself to the Olympics. It's the United Kingdom. They carry on the rest of the U.K. with them. They won the Euros, the Lionesses, and they didn't make it. Yeah, so it's a very good field.

We'll talk to Hayley McGoldrick about the Canadian team that's looking to defend gold. And then at 8 o'clock, Roger Bennett from Men in Blazers, one of the most popular footballing podcasts in the world, is going to join us here. So in addition to hosting their own Men in Blazers thing, for those that don't know, very popular North American-based soccer podcast

from two guys across the pond who came over and really found a ton of success with the explosion in popularity that soccer's had in North America. They started up their own media empire, and among the other things that they started was a Wrexham podcast. It's This Week in Wrexham. It goes weekly, and then they've got a monthly one where they bring in some big guests. We bring that up because, of course, Wrexham is going to be playing the Whitecaps

at BC Place this weekend. So we'll talk to Roger Bennett about all that, the Americanization of the English game, right? Now that you've got all these. So I guess Wrexham is trying to... We should ask him, is Ryan Reynolds actually like a tyrant behind the scenes? Just a ruthless dictator for this club.

They're going to set up a match against Birmingham, which is Tom Brady's team. So it's going to be Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhinney versus Tom Brady in the not too distant future. So we'll talk to Roger Bennett from Men in Blazers about all that. Haley McGoldrick at 730. Elliot Friedman, rowing expert at seven. And then Michael Linklater to talk a little three on three hoops at 630.

Very diverse show today. So without any further ado, 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? 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. With all due respect to three-on-three hoops and women's soccer and rowing and canoeing and kayaking and all the Olympic sports we're going to preview today, I did want to start with Daniel Sprong.

I heard we did not get enough Daniel Sprong talk on Sportsnet 650 yesterday across all the shows. He did meet with the media shortly after you and Jamie were on the air discussing the signing. I don't know exactly what roads you and Jamie went down. Oh, we went down them all. It was amazing. Then we had Dolly Wall on. It was a very professional show. And A-Dog asked Dolly Wall what his favorite 80s band was.

And he said Dick Clark. And he just fil Yeah. He just... What a choice. He just filibustered, basically, in that Dolly Wallian way. Good for him. I'm glad. I'm really upset that I missed that, but also glad that I did. So Sprague met with the media yesterday.

I guess there's two big pivot points now after he did his media rounds and he met with the assembled reporters on Zoom and then went on with Reach and Randip. In the afternoon right here on Sportsnet 650. One is why it took so long for him. And why he didn't land a deal earlier in free agency. And then two, what the runoff and the ramifications are going to be. For the Canucks forwards. Not named Daniel Sprung.

But are in that same sort of earning capacity. I will play some audio now. Sprung freely admitting that the lack of interest, the lack of bites on July 1 came as a bit of a shock, a bit of a surprise to him. It actually added some fuel to the fire. Here now, one of the newest Vancouver Connects, the newest Vancouver Connect,

Daniel Sprung, talking yesterday about the shock of not landing a deal early in free agency. I would say a little bit. I think with the two years I had back-to-back, I felt pretty confident going into free agency. We spoke with a lot bit. I think, you know, with the two years I had back-to-back, I felt pretty confident going into free agency and we spoke with a lot of guys around the league

about it with other guys and, you know, it's something that, you know, kind of caught me by surprise and kind of fueled me to make things easier. Like, I'll be honest,

it fueled me. And yeah, it says, you know, I know I can play offensive-wise. My numbers are, I think, for the minutes I played,

they were really good and I can show I can put up numbers, but there's other parts of the game that I got to improve on. And maybe that's why teams shied off or didn't give me what I wanted. And, you know, it's kind of a wake up call, but I think also at the same time,

it's a really good motivation and kind of add some fuel to the fire. And I think after that, I kind of just took a seat back and wanted to put myself in a situation where I'm happy where there's an opportunity to not just be there for one year and then hopefully be there long term and there are other teams but I felt the most comfortable and happiest with Vancouver when I talked on the phone and that made my decision very easy at the end. So it's interesting I asked around and did a bunch of reading on Daniel Sprong. And one of the things that readily became obvious is that Mike Sullivan,

the head coach in Pittsburgh, had his frustrations with Daniel Sprong. Oh, yeah. Okay. So I think everyone knew that. It's probably not a surprise. He was a younger player. He was a draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins. And he was trying to crack a pretty good team in Pittsburgh.

It just didn't happen for him there. And, of course, Jim Rutherford would have overseen the drafting of Daniel Sprung in Pittsburgh. Patrick Alveen would have known him well. And Rick Tockett would have known about Daniel Sprung because he was on the coaching staff there. So when I first saw this signing, I went, Hmm, that's, that's interesting. That's not all surprising. You know, a lot of general managers who like a player once keep liking that

player, even if they're with a different team. But I did wonder about how Rick To Talkett would feel about all of this, because Rick Talkett has had to deal with some players that don't buy into what he preaches, and there's a lot of defensive effort that you have to give when you're in any position. Winger, center, defenseman, but especially the wingers are asked to do a lot, uh, defensively by Rick Talkin. And of course we all know that, uh, Rick Talkin

wants, uh, F1, the first forward in, you got a forecheck, you got to skate. And that's why Andrea Kuzmenko is skating in Calgary and not Vancouver. It's one of the reasons. So I was interested to hear that it was actually a phone call from Rick Tockett that might have sealed the deal for Daniel Sprung on choosing Vancouver.

Yeah, I mean, he gets thrown into this bottom six pile, right? And I think that was sort of the interesting thing for me was that there's going to, so it's basically him, Pod Colson, Sherwood, D Giuseppe, Nils Hoaglander. If you want to throw Nils Amon in there, Linus Carlson,

there's going to be this collection of guys that are all bottom six contenders. They're all making in around a million bucks a year that I think it creates an interesting dynamic for talk it, but don't they also, some of them want to be top six contenders like Daniel Sprung, ideally probably hoping and looking at the lineup and going, okay, well,

I'm probably not going to beat out Brock Besser to be a top winger. I'm probably not going to beat out Jake DeBress to be a top winger. Those are their big money guys. And Brock Besser is coming off a good year and Jake DeBress was a good player in Boston, especially the last couple of seasons.

But look at these other spots he has so he yeah I got a chance to be a top six guy if I if I buy into what Rick Tockett's selling and I keep keep shooting and scoring like I've got a chance this isn't this isn't there there might be a lot of numbers there in terms of bottom six guys but it's not exactly a murderer's row of wingers in the top six. So it's really interesting because this is almost exactly what Sprung went through in Pittsburgh when he first started his career is that they saw the offensive talent and Rutherford really pushed for him to play as an 18-year-old on the team immediately when he got drafted. And then as they sort of recalibrated what they wanted to do

and sent him back, then it was, well, he's got the offensive ability to play in our top nine. But there was three right-wingers ahead of him. It was Kessel, Hornquist, and Brian Rust. Well, Rusty. Rusty, Horny, and Phil. The three, you're not going to crack that three, right? I mean, come on.

Three amigos. Horny, Rusty, Phil. That's tough. But now you look at it and it's you know so many years later and sprongs an nhl veteran and he's kind of going through the exact same thing where he's like yeah the opportunity might be there but you're gonna need to go earn it now the biggest question is at 27 or however old he is right now i forget his age off the top of my head is he more mature and that one's come up a lot is he more responsible

that word's come up a lot he's actually you know what despite and i know part of the reason he's been talked about so much is that it's a dead time of the year and there's not a whole hell of a lot going on but i'm not gonna lie i think if this deal had actually happened even earlier when there was other stuff going on it would still be pretty compelling because he's a for a guy that's bounced around as much as he has, he does have a pretty compelling story. It's an interesting story. Don't you feel like there's potential for sprung wars?

A little bit, a little bit. He's a, he can be, he would be a polarizing guy because of the amount that he scores in the little amount of ice time that he gets. And people are always going to be enamored by that. Yeah.

Rightly so. I mean, it's hard to score goals, but it's always the question of whether or not he can gain his coach's trust. And it's the same thing we saw with a guy like Kuzmenko and there was a lot of debate about Kuzmenko, but the Canucks are in a spot where

they need the scoring and we saw that in the playoffs, but they also need to maintain that buy-in that everyone has that they play the same way because that is the number one reason why they did have success last season now the number one reason probably why they didn't win the stanley cup last season was well there was a few things, including injuries, but they couldn't score. They couldn't create enough chances to score goals. So Rick Tockett and the whole organization is in this position now where they're like, okay, we want to maintain our defensive culture and we want to maintain the fact that we're a responsible defensive team,

but we also got to score some goals so Patrick Johnson of the province very good Canucks scribe had a very lengthy piece up the other day talking about one of the ramifications in the runoffs of the Sprong deal and that was sort of what becomes with Vasily Podkolzin I don't think a lot of people were looking at it as Sprong versus Hoaglander and that's fair fair. But Pod Coleson now, I think even more so, is fighting tooth and nail for whatever spot he's going to have in this organization. Because if you want to look at it now, it's three NHL seasons on the job. It's over 100 games, but a precipitous fall off in games played since year one.

It's three different coaches in those three NHL seasons. And if we're going to be dead on it, you know, Peach did a good job of sort of crystallizing exactly what the problem is. He doesn't score. He doesn't score. He doesn't score goals. And what does Daniel Sprong do? He scores.

Yeah. So, I mean, there's your – Clark Colson's played 19 regular season games last season for the Canucks, didn't score a single goal, had two assists, and then he was in the playoffs. I think he only played a couple of games in the playoffs, and he didn't score. And it, had two assists, and then he was in the playoffs. I think he only played a couple of games in the playoffs and he didn't, you know, he didn't score. And he, and it was kind of like, yeah, he looks

fine out there. But the Canucks aren't looking for water treaders. They don't need fine. They need better than fine. Yeah. The bar has been raised and, you know, if anyone out there is kind of like, well, that's unfair to pot Coles and that they bring in with sprung.

First of all, I don't, I don't think anyone really is like that. And if they, and if they are, they're like, well, pot Colson, you know, he is a, what is he's 23 now. Um, and this is about the team. This is about projecting, um, you know, what he's going to do next season.

And if you're projecting honestly, if you're projecting honestly, and you're not projecting just with hope, blind faith, you're kind of like probably a bit of a long shot that he comes in there and starts filling the net because filling the net is something. And I hate to say this. He's never done. That was the big question about him when he was drafted 10th overall. People were like, yeah, this guy's got all the tools. You kind of look at his production, though, and you're like,

does he score enough? Well, it was that first year where there was optimism, right? The 14 goals as a rookie in 79 games. I was like, oh, okay. Maybe the counter to a lot of the stuff that they said about his lack of offense was like, well, don't worry. Once he gets in the NHL and he has quality level guys providing him scoring opportunities, the goals will come.

And then that kind of manifested itself in the first year. And then it just dropped off a cliff in the second and third years. And it's disappointing because of the draft capital spent on the guy. And it's disappointing now because you don't even really need to read the tea leaves on this. Like the Canucks are basically stockpiling a bunch of different options and a bunch of different looks for talk it in the bottom. And they're creating competition. They're basically creating desperation.

They're saying to pod calls and list, man, your career's on the line here. You better show up and do something. Yeah. And the same with Sprong, right? Like, so Sprong signed this contract and he said it was a bit of a wake-up call. I imagine this is not his first wake-up call in the NHL. But the wake-up call is that, hey, I might score goals, but clearly I'm not trusted by my coaches. And that's one of the reasons why I've been bounced around the NHL a lot, despite the fact that I can do what's considered the hardest thing in the NHL to do, and that is score goals.

So this is a wake-up call, the fact that he signed on July 22nd or whatever it was, and it's for a contract that could easily just be buried in the minors. If he doesn't, you know, if he doesn't work for the Canucks and he's not even worth a roster spot, I'll put him on waivers. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'll put him on waivers and he'll be gone. And it'll be like, oh, remember Daniel Sprong? Oh, yeah, that guy. Like that's the type of player he's,

that's the type of position he's in right now. So in an annual rite of passage for the summer as we move along here with the rest of the news on Sportsnet 650, you are listening to the Halford & Brough show. The Columbus Blue Jackets annual rite of passage, which is a summer coaching search, finally came to a close yesterday as they hired former Minnesota Wild

coach Dean Everson after a lengthy search from the new general manager, Don Waddell. You may remember Dean Everson as the former head coach in Minnesota. Also looks a lot like Creed Bratton from The Office. Good regular season coach like so many Minnesota coaches, though. Zero success in the postseason.

Not like that matters in Columbus, though. He comes in on the heels of Brad Larson and Pascal Vincent, who will not be remembered by really anybody for what they did at the NHL level. And, of course, there was the whole Mike Babcock thing. So it was three of the last four summers, the Blue Jackets went in with a coaching search. And this time they're like, you know what? This might not be a super inspiring pick.

You might not get too excited about it, but Dean Everson has coached in the NHL before. He's had some success. He knows where the bathroom key is maybe, even though he's new, like he knows where the bathroom key is maybe even though he's new like he knows what he's doing and they decided to roll with him dean evison kind of kind of scares me he's got a very very intense stare he didn't play for this guy i was like i'm scared of you dean we he was great in the office though great great in the office yeah he uh if you google

dean evison temper you get some pictures yeah no he is very intimidating looking yeah i wouldn't want to get him angry so to recap the off-season coaching carousel columbus finally locks it up the 32nd team to get a coach in the door uh he's he's there ryan warsawski with San Jose. Dan Bilesman with Seattle. Scott O'Neill with Winnipeg. Sheldon Keefe with New Jersey. Is the first guy fired going to be replaced by Q? What vibe did you get when we talked to Strickland about it?

I meant to ask you that after the show. Oh, that Q's going to be in the league soon. It sounds like there was a lot of teams. Yeah, it wasn't going to be Columbus, though, because they weren't going to do the Babcock-Quinville double. No. That just wasn't going to be Columbus though, because they weren't going to do the Babcock Quenville double. No. That was just, wasn't going to be something that they were ever going to consider. They,

I mean, they might, if you, if you were to ask them, they might want Quenville as a coach, but they would not want everything that comes with Quenville. And, you know,

people would be like, you, you went with Mike Babcock and whether it's fair or not, you know, Babcock and Quenville are just considered almost the same. So they're be like, you went with Mike Babcock? And whether it's fair or not, Babcock and Quenville are just considered almost the same. They're just like these guys with baggage. My pick right now for first coach fired next season will be John Tortorella in Philadelphia. And I could absolutely see Quenville being there. Why do you say Torts? Well, largely because I don't have another –

I'd say torts – Isn't he going to the front office there? I thought he was going to the front office. That was the thing. Right, but that's what I'm saying. He's still behind the bat. Well, whatever. Who cares?

Replacing Tortorella, all right? If he's removed from his job, that's a firing, right? I know they want to try and dress him up. That would be really awkward mid-season to essentially say, you're not going to coach for us anymore, but you're going up to... Well, I mean, put it this way. Let's say they get off to like a 3-13-1 start or whatever, and they're miserable, and they're like, okay, we've got to make the change now.

That could be one. The only other one that I could really see... I think Sullivan's a candidate. Yeah. But here's the thing with Sullivan, though, is that you very clearly love him a lot. I was thinking all, I mean, last year would have been the year that you do it because they were in the

doldrums for so long. Lalonde in Detroit, I could see that if they spotted four coaches that have been around for a while, and that's John Cooper, Mike Sullivan, Jared Bednar, and Rod Brindamore. All the other ones have been hired 2022. February 9th, 2022 was Marty St. Louis in Montreal. And that was like, he's like the fifth longest tenured coach.

Tockets in the top half of the league in terms of longest tenured coaches. So it's hard to pick out coaches. Torrance Lalonde, those are the two that jumped out to me right away. Like, you know, I mean, at some point, John Cooper is going to move on from the Tampa Bay Lightning. He's been in there over a decade, but I don't know if he's a mid-season firing.

You know, I don't think Jared Bednar is going to get fired in Colorado. Rod Brindamore just re-signed with the Carolina Hurricanes. So of those four, I kind of think Mike Sullivan is a candidate. Sullivan is on the list for sure. Yeah, because if the Penguins go into this season and things aren't going well, and you're looking at three straight playoff misses for Sidney Crosby, then maybe they try something desperate there.

If Pittsburgh goes into the season and their power play is as egregiously bad as it was last season, I could definitely see that happening. But we know it was funny, going back to the Quenville part, when we talked to Andy Strickland last week, who's obviously got a connection to Quenville, it definitely sounded like a lot of teams had inquired to the NHL about, you know, are we allowed to hire Quenville? Like, what's going on here?

I mean, I would not be surprised if every general manager has a short list of coaches in case something goes pear-shaped with the one they currently have, right? It's like it's in a drawer somewhere, and you just have that list, and you call them up, and you kind of get the ball rolling on it. I would not be surprised now that he's been reinstated quenville's on a lot of those lists yeah of course right because now i mean again the optics of it aside i think we're focusing solely on what we think might be happening in front offices it would be a no-brainer

for a lot of these guys once they've gotten the green light to do it, right? Well, no-brainer is, I wouldn't agree exactly with that phrase, because there's going to be stuff you've got to go through. Yeah, but I'm not saying that I would, if I was a general manager, I'd probably have a pause and it wouldn't be a no-brainer for me, but knowing

what I know about the NHL's coaching recycling program, and it's very tight-knit, small... But I don't think you should, but I think that's unfair to put Joel Quenville in the coaching recycling program, and it's very tight-knit. But I don't think you should, but I think that's unfair to put Joel Quenville in the coaching recycling program. He is a very, very successful head coach, and the only reason he's not coaching right now, I mean, it's a big one.

Yes. Because of what happened in Chicago. Right. I mean, I guess what I'm trying to say is, like, what they did in Columbus, to a certain degree, was we're not going to. He Don Waddell consciously said we're not going to give a first time head coach an opportunity here. We want someone with experience. Right. I mean, hey, look, I've been critical of the recycling program sometimes.

And sometimes it's absolutely worked. Peter LaViolette in New York. I thought that was a crazy, uninspired hire when they were like Peter LaViolette like after Gerard Gallant like I don't even know what what exactly are you trying to accomplish here it was great for them right he's an experienced coach yeah these guys like know what they know what they're doing they know what they're doing right and that's the big thing like uh San Jose this year I think it's going to be kind of interesting because they've got this crazy young team with all this high-end talent and they got a head coach who's like 38 years old. Everyone wants the young, talented head coaches, and I get it because you might get the next John Cooper.

Sure. But you might also get the long list of guys that we don't even remember their names because they didn't work out. Because they didn't have the presence in the room. They didn't gain the respect of the players. For whatever reason, their methods that worked in junior or in the college ranks didn't work in the NHL. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. 702 on a Tuesday. Big band Tuesday.

This is more like marching band Tuesday, but it works. Is this Platinum Blonde? Yes. It's their new stuff. This is their new Marching Band Tuesday, but it works. Is this Platinum Blonde? Yes, it's their new stuff. This is their new stuff. They've taken a hard turn. Going for a very specific demo now. The Marching Band demo. Now Brass Blonde.

Just a reminder that we're giving away Billy Idol tickets featuring Platinum Blonde. For the best what we learned, so include the ticket emoji. When's that concert, Adog? July 30th at Rogers. July 30th at Rogers Arena. Rick Dollywell, obviously excited for Billy Idol and Platinum Blonde. That was the funniest moment of yesterday's show when you asked Rick Dollywell. What his favorite 80s band was, and then he said Dick Clark.

And then he filibustered. How? He just filibustered. I just assumed it's Rick. Like he would know. There would be a band on the top of his head that he liked. He always has this answer. He's like, oh, oh, oh, the 80s.

You know, Dick Clark. Dick Clark. Like I get it. He's just like his brain is just like, it's like a car on a cold morning. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Trying to come up with names. To be fair, he is on vacation right now. I know. I know. I shouldn't have asked him on a cold morning. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Trying to come up with names. To be fair, he is on vacation right now. I know, I know.

I shouldn't have asked him such a tough question. What? What his favorite band was? You say tough question. I'm being polite. Forward to the phone lines we go. Former NHL insider, now a paddling expert. Elliot Friedman joins us on the Halford & Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning, Friedge. How are you? I'm good. As a matter of fact, I will be attending Billy Idol and Platinum Blonde in Toronto. I can't remember if it's August 8th or 9th, but I'm going to that one. Nice.

What are you more excited for, Billy Idol or Canadian band Platinum Blonde? I like them both. I was a big Platinum Blonde guy in high school. I didn't have Platinum Blonde hair. Oh, they had amazing hair. I did that when I was older, like an idiot. platinum blonde guy in high school i didn't have platinum blonde hair oh they had amazing i did i did that when i was older like an idiot but um uh but i did love their music they had a couple of

great songs like i still have not in love on my playlist and i i listened to it from time to time i really love the song with billy idol i mean the guy's a god, man. I love Billy Idol. Which winter classic was he at? Oh, the one in Washington. It was the one in Washington. The funniest thing about that one, I didn't actually go to that one, but the funniest thing about it was when Murph interviewed him this year during the playoffs when he announced his tour,

he actually said it was the first hockey game he'd ever been to, so I was kind of laughing. You know, I'm sure Billy's taken a lot of substances over the years where his memory is kind of fried. I'll never forget, he went to the Winter Classic and then he thought that the Winter Classic anointed who won the NHL that year.

I'll never forget that. He did a celebratory speech afterwards. He's like, congratulations on winning hockey. Didn't they also have that guy that sings that song that's like, and I'm proud to be an American. Oh, yeah. They had that guy in Washington. So that was an interesting mix,

him with Billy Idol. And anyway, Lee Greenwood. Lee Greenwood, right. Freed, rowing. How much did you have to learn about this? A lot. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I'm still doing it.

The event regatta, I guess it's the Olympic Games, but the rowing, obviously, if you know rowing, the rowing tournament is called a regatta. It starts on Saturday. So I've been doing a lot of work. And there's a couple things. You have to learn the rules. I'm going to wow you with my knowledge.

Every race in rowing is 2K, no matter what size the boat is or how many people are in the boat uh every race is 2k um uh canada has only two uh boats entered in this year's uh regatta but they're both like they're both good boats like the women's eights of course they're the defending olympic champions um they don't have the full group back as a matter of fact andrea prosky won gold medal she's the commentator this time um they they uh and their best result this year was they won a world cup race in may and the other boat they have is the lightweight double skulls jill moffitt and and jennifer casson and uh they were 12th in tokyo they've had a really good year.

They just had the World Championships actually last year. They had their best race together. They finished fourth. So they'll have a shot at a medal, but those are the only two boats in rowing. And I'm also doing the canoe kayak sprints, which will be held after the rowing regatta is over.

And there's one boat there. I'm still going through my research of the Canadians there. But, you know, there's one boat there in particular. It's Katie Vincent and Sloane McKenzie. And Katie Vincent's actually a returning medalist. She won a bronze in Tokyo with a different partner. So, you know, I'm going through the rules. I'm learning the key Canadians.

I'm going through it right now. And, you know, the one thing you realize in canoe and kayaking, like the world power is Hungary. Hungary is not the world power in a lot of sports, but they're really up there in this one. What's the reason for that? I just, you know, every country, I guess, has things that they're good at, right? And Hungary has won the most medals ever in Olympic canoe kayak, although they haven't won the most golds. I think Soviet Union and there's another country that has won more.

I think it's Germany have actually won more golds than Hungary, but nobody's won more medals than they have. So we all know the catchphrases that you use in hockey, like he shoots and scores and all that sort of stuff. What are they for the paddling sports? It's like their future paddling art out there that looks tiring. You know, I think, Jason, it's going to be a lot of like, what's the old acronym I used?

I learned as a camp counselor, KISS, Keep It Simple, Stupid. Like, you know, I've learned over the years that when you're doing a sport that's kind of not yours, quote unquote, just, you know, don't be cute. Like, you know, everybody remembers the big mistake I made back in Rio. And, you know, when I look back at it and I looked at, you know, the reasons for that happening

is that there were two really. Number one is I'd gotten off to a great start and I kind of got a little bit of a big head. And I think that really affected me there. And I think the other thing too, is I was very consistent about something I did. Like they had a special computer that always told you when every, when the swimmer swang each lane a lane how much like who was in first what order they touched in and I always checked that except for

once and the once was when I screwed up the Phelps Lockton thing so like you know you go back and you look and say okay this is why mistakes happen and how do you correct it and i really do think the thing is like be consistent and uh also just um um you know don't like like you know like if you try to get caught up in the catch phrases or the shtick i think you put yourself in a in a better position to make mistakes so i'm going to keep it simple is is this you wanting to challenge yourself as a broadcaster are they coming to you yeah yeah because it's i mean i god bless you for doing like i was doing research last time like i think we need a canadian rowing summit because we're not as good as we used to be that was my extent of knowledge

on the whole thing but i mean i it's got to be overwhelming at a certain level because like you're fairly inundated with you know hockey most of the time and now it's like i'm gonna go completely far afield for and it's not just a minor event for these athletes. This is the, this is the Olympics, right? This is the hard work and dedication and everything. Every four years, this is their chance to be on that stage. And you're responsible for calling it. You know, and it's a great question, Mike.

And it's partially that like, like I told, you know, so for example, after Rio, I called the World Swimming Championships the next year. And then things just started developing between COVID and other responsibilities that I just couldn't, you know, CBC, they were so good. They kept asking me to do stuff and I couldn't. And as a matter of fact, they asked me to go to the 2018 Olympics to do hockey. And at that time, like, you know, the pros weren't there, and I would have been the only person on the panel who would have left during the season to go to the Olympics. I didn't think it was the right thing to do.

It was a really agonizing decision, but I just didn't – I thought it was the wrong message to my teammates at sportsnet to leave them during the season to go do the olympics when i would be the only one and you know it was it was i i know that internally in cbc they kind of said well you know we can't count on elliot uh anymore and uh necessarily and you know that's that's their right like i was not a full-time cbc employee and they asked me and i said no and it was an agonizing decision and um you know like uh and so you know rob schnook took over the swimming and he's done an unbelievable job and but now like this year um you know i said to them look i understand if the answer is no but if you need anyone i'd love to do something and i was considered for the sideline role in basketball.

They gave it to Nabil Karim again, who was an excellent choice. And then, so I wasn't considering doing anything. And I guess they must have been stuck or something because they came to me during the playoffs. And they said, look, we need somebody to do rowing. Oh, my God. And, you know, initially I wasn't, like, I'm not going. I'm doing it from Toronto. Right.

But, you know, I wasn't so sure, but I mentioned it to my wife, and she said, why wouldn't you do it? You know you like the challenge of it. I think the other thing, too, is, Mike, is that, you know, I'm about to turn 54. You know, who knows how many of these opportunities are left? That's fair, yeah. So you're like, you know, so it about to turn 54, you know, who knows how many of these opportunities are left? So you're like, you know, so it's A, the challenge of it and B, like, it's nice to be wanted. And you never know, like, I'm getting to an age where eventually they're going to throw me

out. So I might as well do it while I still can. And your wife wants you out of the house. It's quite clear. I said to this, I just was gone for two months because of the playoffs. Is this another opportunity for your boyfriend to move in? I just see how proud about this. Yeah, things are getting serious between those two.

Elliot, so is hockey just out of mind for you? No. No? Can we ask you a hockey question? Yeah, you could. For example, I've been tweeting

the arbitration stuff, like Mallinson signed with Buffalo this morning. I've been putting that out there. I was at Adam Gray's golf tournament yesterday, the Smile Zone tournament, and someone sent me a note

about a scar of apparently Nashville's really looking to see what's out there for him and he's kind of indicated he doesn't want to play in the American Hockey League anymore so Nashville's kind of got him out there and they're testing the market and I had some people say it could happen soon I had some other people saying no Nashville's just they just want to know what the market is but I know they have a player who doesn't want to play in the American Hockey League anymore so I'm still like I'm not working it as hard as I normally would, but I know they have a player who doesn't want to play in the American Hockey League anymore. So I'm still, like, I'm not working it as hard as I normally would, Jason, but I'm keeping

an eye on things. What did you think about the Daniel Sprong signing in Vancouver? Well, you know what, I think it's a really good signing. I mean, it's below a million. You know, the guy can get points um you know uh you know like and plus you guys had a hole there like he's a good enough offensive player to play with your good players so i like that you know i know like i had a few people asking me like how come this guy is is bounced around so much and uh i think number one i think there's two reasons number one i think that he was hurt by the flat cap like he's a guy if you look at his totals um you you can see that he should be making more than he is uh like there are players who cannot produce at the same level who are making more money than he is and i think that because sprung can't always play

up higher in your lineup or in key situations because his defense hasn't been great he gets squeezed out i i think that happens and i did ask someone like uh you know is there a personality thing here and you know one guy said to me a player paused and said, he is a bit of a unique personality. I think those two things are kind of what's hurting there. Maybe talk it can now be the Daniel Sprong whisperer or something. I don't know. Put it this way, it's pretty obvious that the guys in Vancouver really like being coached by him for a lot of different reasons.

So, you know what, it can't hurt. I want to ask you one more hockey question. Dean Evason in Columbus, Mike and I were joking around that Columbus might have considered Joel Quenville for one second and then been like, no, we're not going to do this again. So I guess this is a two-parter. Number one, what do you think the fit is like, Dean Everson in Columbus?

But the conversation we were having is, do you think we'll see Joel Quenville back in the NHL sooner rather than later? I don't think they consider Quenville at all because they went through what they went through with Babcock, and I think there's only a limited number of times you can go through things like that. And Don Waddell, especially the local reporters,

was pretty transparent about the fact that Quenville was not a candidate for that job, and probably for that reason. You know, I think Everson got as much as he could get out of the wild. I think that he's, you know, like I always think people are supposed to be better the second time around than the first. Like he's a hard driving guy. He's an intense, hard driving guy. And I know Columbus was looking for that. Like that's why they went to Babcock in the first place.

They wanted somebody who's intense and hard-driving. Like, I don't think Everson would be in Babcock's camp in that. Like, I don't know as many people who were like that as Babcock was. But Everson, I think, is the kind of personality they were looking for. Now, I think they really wanted Todd McClellan. And to be honest, I really haven't gotten to the bottom yet of why that didn't happen. But McClellan was their first choice. But Everson, I think, was their second choice.

When McClellan didn't get the job, someone said to me, and this is a person who generally gets all these things right, said he would bet that Everson will be the guy. And he turned out to be correct. You know, when it comes to Joel Quenville, I wouldn't be surprised. And, you know, I think actually Quenville, I've heard, is actually very sensitive to this, that I wouldn't be surprised if a team hires him as like a consultant first. And I've heard that Quenville, and again, I've heard this secondhand, I've heard that Quenville, and again, I've heard this secondhand, I've heard that Quenville has been leery about that

because he doesn't want to be perceived as coming in and vulturing someone out of a job. He's sort of like the coach-in-waiting somewhere. He doesn't really like that idea. But unless he wants to sit and wait until somebody wants to hire him, I've heard that there have been teams, I've heard that they've gone to him and saying, do you want to join our organization

as kind of like a coaching consultant? And while I think he's at least considered the idea, I've heard that his preference was not to do that. Although, you know, sometimes circumstances change. Frej, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Enjoy the rowing and the canoeing and the kayaking. Enjoy Billy Idol.

Enjoy Platinum Blonde. Have a good couple of weeks, bud. Canoeing. They kneel one-sided oar and kayaking sit two-sided oar. Keep it simple, buddy. It's a piece of research, yes. Keep it simple. Keep it simple.

Keep it simple. Thanks, Frej. All right, guys. Take care. You too. Thanks. That's Elliot Freeman. sided or keep it simple buddy piece of research yes keep it simple keep it simple thanks for each all right guys take care you too thanks that's Elliot Freeman paddling expert also NHL insider here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650 so I have a random ask us anything for the group okay okay so a dog I know you're working

on something but I'm gonna need your participation no in this. Put your headset on. So for the first time in Vancouver, when I was walking around downtown the other day, two days ago on Sunday, I saw a Cybertruck. Nice. A Tesla Cybertruck. You tweeted it out. Was it as ridiculous as you would have possibly imagined? Yes. I was driving behind one on Oakruck. Nice. A Tesla Cybertruck. You tweeted it out. Was it as ridiculous as you would have possibly imagined?

Yes. And I was driving behind one on Oak Street. Okay. So was that the first one you've seen? First one I've ever seen in Vancouver. I've yet to see one. Vancouver, you see all sorts of cars, right? And I mean, we are one of the supercar capitals of the world.

That's true. A Cybertruck has to be one of the stupidest looking vehicles I've ever seen in my entire life. Hold on a sec. Before you start editorializing. Well, it's true. A Cybertruck has to be one of the stupidest looking vehicles I've ever seen in my entire life. Hold on a sec. Before you start editorializing. Well, it's true. I have the ask us anything. Okay.

And this is it. If you were given the choice between having a Cybertruck or having to walk everywhere, what would you choose? As soon as the word Cybert truck came out of your mouth. So you have, so you have, you have, so you actually like, you would have to walk. You would have to take transit. Yeah.

You would have to walk to work or, or you have to be seen driving a cyber truck. I mean, I reluctantly have to choose the cyber truck. Of course, walking everywhere would suck. Are you kidding me? It's not worth it. What about the red fuel? Cybertruck. I mean, what would you take? Well, I mean, I reluctantly have to choose the Cybertruck, of course. Walking everywhere would suck. Are you kidding me? It's not worth it. You? What about the red fuel?

No, no, no. You're being ridiculous, Greg. Yeah, you wouldn't walk miles and miles. You couldn't work. You couldn't walk from Ladner every morning. You'd have to leave the night before. There's no way. Can I get a bike or something? Is it?

No. No other form of transportation the rules are unflinchingly rigid okay you have to either walk everywhere yeah or drive the dumpster on wheels still not doing a toaster on wheels yeah well that was the report that was out there it's like a toaster oven well i saw one guy complaining that raccoons were trying to get into it because they thought it was a dumpster no no that's a story that's a story yeah yeah there's like claw marks on a bunch of Cybertrucks because raccoons think they're dumpsters. Yeah, I mean, it's a stupid looking thing.

So what's really funny about when I tweeted out... One guy driving around in a Cybertruck listening to this right now. Just crying uncontrollably. Those guys were my heroes, man. I thought the raccoons were just being friendly. When I tweeted it out, there was, of course, most people were like, it's so ugly or whatever, just having a good laugh and not taking it too seriously.

But they're all there. I don't know if you've noticed this on social media. There are a lot of Elon Musk fanboys. There's always a couple weirdos. And they replied, one guy replied to me, admit it it you're jealous yeah and i'm like i'm not jealous if it was a ferrari or a lamborghini maybe there's a touch of jealousy there that i wouldn't mind having that car in particular but the cyber truck is like the the people walking by it,

they were taking pictures, but also like kind of chuckling at the same time. Oh, everyone, yeah. Everyone looking at it is making fun of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's nobody looking at that thing going, wow, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At any rate, Elon Musk fanboys,

they're kind of tough to convince otherwise. They're not very bright, so who cares? I bet even Elon's like, I don't know. Did you see the Kim Kardashian Cybertruck story? No. She lopped off the tip of her finger.

What? And people are, the rumors are flying that it was the trunk of her Cybertruck that is the culprit. What? The comparisons between it

and she a raccoon? Was she trying to get out? Did she just claw it away? It's the real life Homer car. It's the real life Homer car. It's the real life Homer car. It is the real life Homer car. Two bubble domes? Yeah.

And the horn plays La Cucaracha? Yeah. All of it, yeah. I'm shocked that, like, I know that we're a mega supercar capital and there's all kinds of crazy vehicles on the road. Yeah, yeah. I just didn't think that anyone actually had one. I thought they just existed in a realm.

Like it was purely online. Amazingly, people do spend money on them. Yeah, it's crazy. They're not obviously selling the clip that Tessa's are, but people are buying them. So Liam in Calgary texted in about our Daniel Sprong conversation in the first segment, and he said, so I'm curious what you guys think of my Sprong take.

It sounds like strong take, but it's a SPRONG TAKE. My understanding is that, yes, he's a defensive liability. However, in all caps from Liam McCalgary, I think Petey may just need a trigger man. With DeBrus likely on that line too, the defensive end could be covered by those two mostly. Could he be the puzzle piece that finally works for Petey? Well, first of all, most of what's going to happen with Petey is dependent on one person

and that is Elias Pettersson. But if we're talking about what could work for Petey, I would wager that in that conversation with Rick Tockett or the conversation with management, they probably said, listen, there's a chance that you might be playing with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrasque

because look at what we got here. You know, Brock Besser usually plays with JT Miller and you might even end up on that line. Who knows? I mean, there's no obvious answer to who's going to be playing with Besser and Miller. I mean, most people are kind of like, man, I guess Pew Suter, right? Isn't that what most people are thinking?

But I don't think Pew Suter is just like the lock that's going to be on that line. I think if you're a player like Daniel Sprung who actually has scored in the NHL and scored at a pretty good rate considering the ice time he usually gets, you're probably thinking like maybe that could be me up in the top six with a player like Elias Pettersson banging in goals. Well, I mean the Canucks went down this road. When the Canucks brought in Phil Kessel last year and brought him to Abbotsford,

it was very much a nod to if we need an injection of offense or some goal-scoring punch or a guy that can put the puck in the back of the net in a pinch where either injuries or ineffectiveness have hampered our top six. Maybe Kessel could be the guy. And it ended up being way too long of a shot. It was a flyer that never... I forgot about that. Right?

And it was another tie to Pittsburgh, like Sprong was as well. But I think that the one... If there was one lasting thing that Tuckett and this management group is going to have hanging over them from the postseason. It was countless chances in pivotal moments falling onto the sticks of, and I hate burying these guys because they tried their best and they were probably miscast, but Ilya Mikheyev and Phil DiGiuseppe and Sam Lafferty,

and guys who just couldn't put the puck in the back of the net at the level that you need. Now remember, this isn't puck in the back of the net at the level that you need. Now remember, this isn't like regular season scoring. This is at the level that you need when you're down to the final eight and you're in the playoffs and it's the best of the best, the best teams in the NHL. You don't have the margins where Mikheyev gets sent in on six clear-cut chances and converts zero.

That can be the difference. And what this allows Talk it to do is you brought it up earlier there's a lot of internal competition now which i think is a good thing and it can know but no obvious answers no and there's not going to be i don't think they're going to be able to build the perfect team you're listening to the best of halford and brough