Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 7/23/25

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

Mike Halford & guest host Josh Elliotte-Wolfe look back at the previous day in sports, plus they wonder if the 'Nucks could land Mason McTavish, as Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance joins the show. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. All aboard! Ha ha ha ha ha! You're listening to Halford and Brough. I take accountability for where I put the ball. And I can be better. I know I can be better. And so, I will be better.

Here it comes from Repulso, low driving ball. and I can be better. I know I can be better. So I will be better. Here it comes from a post-hollow driving ball. And that's off the post. And it's for Veselinovich. Are you kidding me? What a marvel. Sohail Tani off Joanne Duran. For the first time in his career he's's gone eight full games in a row. We salute you, our half inflated dog, Lord. Good morning, Vancouver.

6.01 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is brough. No wait, it's Josh Elliott-Wolfe. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios of beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver Josh Good morning to you. Good morning. Hey dog. Good morning to you. Good morning. And basketball Ben. Good morning to you as well Good morning

Halvard and Brown for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates BC's first and trusted choice for dead help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. This is them online at Sands-trustee.com And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. What up, Joshua? I'm just chilling. It's so early.

It is so early. Every time I do this show, I'm like, ah. Yep. Ah, there's a 430 in the morning now. Yeah. It's dark outside, and I'm awake. And it is the middle of the summer. No big water bottle, though.

No big water bottle. I was telling you guys, I'm serious about my water consumption now. I'm a and it is the big water bottle though. No big no. I was telling you guys. I'm I'm yeah serious about my water consumption now I'm a grown man. Yeah, I have real people water bottles Yeah, I did consider I finished a four liter milk jug today, and I considered filling it up and bringing it I must say I'm a little disappointed. I'm just expecting the big water bottle. I'm sorry Ah the high jinx that are ahead for the remainder of the week it is a Wednesday Josh is in the chair with me until Friday. Guest list today, let's get to that right away.

Begins at 6.30, Dan Schulman's gonna join the program. Play by play voice of the Blue Jays, Toronto's franchise record home win streak came to an end last night with a 5-4 loss to the New York Yankees in dramatic fashion. Jays are right back at it tonight though in the series finale. The rubber match New York Yankees in dramatic fashion. Jay's are right back at it tonight though, in the series finale, the rubber match against the Yankees chance to win their second straight series out of the break. We'll talk to Dan about all that at six 30,

seven o'clock Jonathan Davis. No, not the lead singer of corn, but rather a hockey analyst, NHL analyst from Sirius XM NHL radio, West coast hockey analyst. as a matter of fact, covers the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks. This after we had Dan Rosen on the show yesterday to do a bunch of the East Coast recaps to the Rangers and the Devils and the Islanders. Gonna talk to Jonathan Davis about the Kings and those Anaheim Ducks. What's going on with Mason McTavish? Why is Mason McTavish in the middle of the rumor mill right now? We'll talk to Jonathan Davis at seven o'clock about all that. That's coming up in hour two

of the program. After Jonathan Davis at 7.30, Brady Henderson is going to join the program. Our ESPN Seahawks insider Seahawks training camp begins this afternoon from the Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton. It is my favorite athletic center in Renton. We'll talk to Brady at 730 about everything you need to know about the Seahawks as they break camp. New quarterback in Sam Darnold, your guy. My guy. Sam Darnold's gonna be there.

He comes over from the Vikings, Cooper Cup from the Rams. And of course, new offensive coordinator Clint Kubiak comes on board as well. So we'll talk to Brady about all that at 730. Eight o'clock, it's the Drancer Thomas Drance from the athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk right here at sports net six 50 Drance has a new piece up at the athletic the Canucks playoff roadmap. How does Vancouver get back to the postseason? We'll get answers to that question from Drance at eight o'clock.

So we've got a lot to get into on the show working in reverse on that guest list eight o'clock. It's Thomas Drance 730 Brady Henderson 7 o'clock Jonathan Davis 630 Dan Schoen That scared the hell out of me See that coming did not hear it coming. I should have known But I didn't 630 Dan Schoen was gonna join the program. That's what's happening today. Ben, 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 messy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Ben Rice, Ben Rice had a tie breaking home run in the top of the ninth yesterday. That after Jazz Chisholm and Cody Bellinger also went yard.

The Yankees beat the Blue Jays 5-4 on Tuesday, snapping Toronto's 11 game home win streak in the process. Because we sing when they're winning, we will play the audio when they're losing as well. Here's what it sounded like when Ben Rice broke the hearts of Blue Jays fans. High in the air, deep right field. And it is gone. into the Yankee pen. Ben Rice turns on one and gives the Yankees the lead here at the top of the nine. It was the first pitch he saw from Jeff Hoffman and he went boom and that was the game.

Jeff Hoffman pitching his fourth time in five games too and he had gotten three saves before that. He had been pretty good. And then, yeah, it was not as good last night. Such as the life of the MLB closer. I'm not going to hang it on Hoffman so much. Those do happen from time to time, especially as you mentioned, you were pitching four and five and he was basically out there every night

in the last two games against the Giants and then the first against the Yankees. The opportunities were there for the Jays to win this ballgame, despite the fact that Max Scherzer did not have a fantastic start. Four runs and five hits and five innings. Didn't love his pitch location. Where are you on Max Scherzer right now? I I think I like the Max Scherzer experience.

It's it's fun. Every time he pitches, I'm like, wow, Max Scherzer is pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays. This is neat. And then he starts pitching and I'm like, ah, he's he's fun every time he pitches. I'm like wow Max Scherzer is pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays This is neat and then he starts pitching and I'm like eyes. He's an old man Max Scherzer now Yeah, it's not the same the novelty of having him because of his Hall of Fame career is cool But he seems like the same issues that plagued him right from the start and really the last couple years They're not getting any better and he's complaining complaining is not the right word, but I don't have another one It's too early to come up with a better word. But complaining about the same sort of like pains and aches

that he's having and the inability to hit the spots that he wants to hit. I'm almost like, that might be your reality now as a 40 year old man. Like this is just kind of how you're like, you hurt all the time and your body can't do the things that it used to do. That being said, the Jays had enough opportunities to make up for Scherzer

sort of start. I think it was in the sixth when they made their rally. They could have had more runs out of that. Bichette leads off the seventh with a double. They weren't able to cash in on that. Schneider gets a walk in the eighth. They're not able to cash in on that. And then Vladdy got a lead off single in the ninth after they were down 5-4 following the Rice home run.

The opportunities were there, Josh, just couldn't capitalize on them. Yeah, and so there was also a bases loaded moment where Vladdy came up earlier in the game too, and he did not, he got out and the rally kind of ended there. So the, I think the focus when the Jays lose, and it's kind of been overshadowed by the Jays Not losing a lot. They've been winning a lot of games has been Vlad E jr. And I do think it's fair to be frustrated with Vlad E especially this month like month of July He has one home run. He has four RBI and I dug into the numbers. Look at this I know I came prepared he loves

doing the morning show on on on blinds taking into numbers so among 251 qualified batters okay across Major League Baseball okay Vlad E is the 26th lowest in average launch angle haha 7.5 degrees okay which is also the lowest on the blue J's Yeah for reference Cal Raleigh. He hits a lot of home runs he does he is the highest in the major leagues at twenty five point six and On top of this the annoying part about that is that Vlad? He hits the ball really hard He's he's top 20. I saw that stat in broadcast an exit Velo. Yeah, and so

He's top 20. I saw that stat on the broadcast last night. And exit Velo. And so theoretically, he should be able to like, hey, you fixed that launch angle a bit. You should be able to hit a lot of home runs. You should be able to hit for power more often. But this has kind of been a theme throughout his career when he's not hitting for power is his,

he can hit the ball really hard, but his launch angle is often the issue. And I don't know how to fix that. I'm not a hitting coach but that is the issue. Yeah because it's interesting right because we talked about this prior to the show and as I you know referenced someone else on a rival network Keegan Matheson from TSN last night threw it out there he's like you know we'll say the quiet part out loud they're doing this basically without Vladdy doing Vladdy things. And the numbers are really pedestrian.

And now look, it does feel like Cherry picking to bring this up after their one loss after 11 consecutive home wins. And even last night, a very scrappy performance to claw their way back from a couple of deficits and make that a game going into the ninth. I think the issue here is that and you know, this is one thing you can look at and you talk about exit velocity and you know, swing launch or whatever. I mean, the Yankees put up their runs yesterday on the strength of going yard three times and the Jays, which has kind of become their MO now, scratched and clawed

and did old school, good old fashioned baseball, moved runners along, drove in guys in scoring position. But it was absent of the long ball, right? It was a lot of what they've kind of been the bread and butter this year. And you just wonder that when you're paying a guy half a billion dollars, at what point he's gonna morph

into the guy who comes up in these moments, which they have now. Late July, huge series against the divisional rival. And it's the Yankees to boot. How great would it have been if he could have had one of those moments last night where he just kind of takes the game over with a singular swing of the bat. And it's not happening this year. But he went three for five. Yeah, I know. That's the thing.

Like it's like you're paying a guy half a billion dollars. He goes about 600 in a big game. It's like great. It's a hard conversation. Like, it's like, you're paying a guy half a billion dollars, he goes, he bats 600 in a big game. It's like, great. It's a hard conversation, sorry, not to K.O., but it's a hard conversation to have because the team's having a ton of success. They're three games up on the Yankees in the division. And you love the brand of baseball that they're playing.

In a way you could say, well, he's just doing what everyone else is doing, right? At the same time, I look further down the road, especially the postseason, it's like when you have these sort of singular moments, it's the who can do things that other guys can't kind of conversation. And that's where he that's why he's been paid so much money. Right. And, you know, rip him, you know, bloop singles and, you know,

knocking one to start an inning and getting on base. It's great. And he's playing the game and he's hitting. It's just those singular moments that have like. And again, we're going like, Otani judged those kind of guys with their power and their ability to take over games with one swing. That's what he won out of Vladdy. Yeah, and there are times where, like,

he could hit a bloop single and that's great. Again, when the bases were loaded, if he had, you know, just put one to right field, got a couple runs in, that would have been great. But in a moment like the ninth inning last night where he's leading off your down one, getting a single just isn't enough for where you're at. And obviously you can look at the guys behind him and be like, he got on base with nobody

out and you should figure out a way to get them home. But I do agree that, hey, if you're getting paid 500 mil, you should be more than just a guy that gets on base. You should be a guy that hits home runs, drives in runs, in clutch time And he hasn't really been doing that especially this month He's got time left to figure it out, but it has not been a thing. He's done well So he needs to be more like Ben Rice, right? Yeah step up in the top. What I've always said Okay, we got a bunch of things we want to bank through here in the intro segment There was some NHL news yesterday

and it happened just south of us in Seattle. Capo Caco, remember him? He avoided arbitration with the Seattle Kraken, agreeing to a three year extension with the Kraken. Average annual value of 4.525 million. For a guy that I'm going to be dead honest, I did not realize he had such an effective stretch with the Seattle Kraken after being acquired from the New York Rangers, uh, create,

now the numbers are going to jump off the page. It was a career high 44 points, but do consider that in his 49 games with the crack and he was a 30 point guy. And if you extrapolate that out over an 82 game season, uh, it was a notable uptick in offense for a guy that, let's be honest, being the second overall pick in his draft class has been a disappointment since he broke into the NHL. It always felt like there were roadblocks in New York.

It does not feel like those roadblocks are in Seattle, but it also feels like he went to an inferior team and was given more opportunities and thereby started scoring. Any big takeaways on Kako resigning? I'm not a, you know what, I'm not going to have any big Kako takes. I will say, like, I have an issue with the Kraken. And it's an elite talent issue.

And I don't know if like Kako, Kako might help, he's a good player. But my issue with Seattle has been that they just don't have anyone that's legitimately like a game breaker. And I do think the only way you can get that is if you commit to being bad and it kind of feels like since their inception, the Kraken have committed to being mid. And so I guess when my Kako extension takeaway is that like, hey, he's a fine signing, but outside of that, like I just, I'm not inspired by anything, the crack and do. I always wonder in an,

we're going to talk about like alternate universes and alternate realities, not in a general sense, but in the Canucks sense, we asked the listening audience yesterday for a bunch of, give us your Canucks, Mount Rushmore's and bar debates and alternate realities where things could have happened. I always did wonder if the timing had been different, if Kako ever could have been involved

in the eventual JT Miller trade that went down in January. Now Kako got traded earlier from the Rangers to the Seattle Kraken, which was sort of the second of the three major moves that they made last season, right? Trubal was one of them, then Kako, and then of course the JT Miller trade. Because the Rangers at one point were ripe for an overhaul

before they started moving pieces out. Now I'm not sure any of it would have ever fit. I think the Canucks did ultimately want a center coming back in return, and that's why Hedl came back. But I always wonder if that would have been an ideal buy low candidate in large part, because he's still relatively young and avoiding Arb with a deal that pays you $4.5 million annually. Not bad value for a guy that I do wonder if there's not just a little bit more there,

but a lot more there because he was so roadblocked in New York and it just wasn't working, right? No matter who the head coach was, no matter who his line mates were, it just felt like he needed a fresh start somewhere. And lo and behold, he gets it in Seattle. Okay. Continue to move on here. We played some Ranko Veselinovich audio in the intro. And you might be thinking, why? Why on earth would you do that? Terrible news for the Vancouver Whitecaps yesterday. Their captain, since Ryan Gould has been out with an injury, Ranko Veselinovic, is going to miss the remainder of the MLS regular season after the club announced yesterday that he tore his ACL in their last match in San Diego.

Now, after that match over the weekend, K-Man was working the show on Monday with Jamie Dodd, and we had no idea the severity of the injury. All I knew was it was enough to knock him out of that San Diego match really early. He kind of tried to walk it off and then run it off and go back in and he was unable to. And I remember saying at the time, if this injury is significant, it is not a borderline death blow, possibly an actual death blow for the Vancouver Whitecaps. To give you an idea of what this man means to that team,

he was filling in as the captain when Ryan Gould went out with his injury. No player has started more matches, played in more matches, played more minutes. He was part of the duo at center back with Tristan Blackman that many regarded as the best in MLS. They've been fantastic this year as a center back duo, and there's no easy replacement for him.

I feel awful for the Whitecaps in a year that has had so much up and down to it. The great play on the pitch, the numerous injuries, getting to the CONCACAF cup final, getting blown out in the CONCACAF cup final, the looming specter of the club's sale just feels like every day there's another major development with this team. On the injury front they have suffered a lot of them now Josh. Ryan Gauld hasn't played in months. Sam Adekube's lost for the year with the torn Achilles. Now Veselinovich is out for the year with a torn ACL. They're still missing Ali Ahmed. Very very tumultuous season despite all this. They're still second place in the

West but this is a hammer blow for them. And I don't know how they're gonna deal with this moving forward. Is there, so you know better than me, is there a world where they survive this? Like how, how much death do they have? This one hurts. This one hurts because Veselnilovic plays all the time.

Right. Right, if you just look at the, the only player that has been on the pitch more for the Vancouver Whitecaps in turn of minutes this year is their keeper, Yohei Takayoka. And that's because he never leaves the net. He plays all the time. Veselninovic is right there.

They can survive it in the sense that it won't crater them entirely, but it's a hammer blow, a death blow to any aspirations they had to be a title contender. And I'm fairly confident in saying that because one, they just don't have the depth behind them. They have Bjorn Utvik, who's been admirable filling in, but they got a great name.

He does have a great name. He wears a rugby. Oh yes, Utvik. He wears a rugby scrum cap, which is fun as well. But they've kind of resigned him to being the guy you put in in case of emergency. And now he's going to be thrust upon to be a full fledged starter.

Also, they were looking at adding center back depth when Veselinovich was healthy. They were tied to a young Canadian defender who appeared at the gold cup for Canada and is also with full of Luke Dufusier. All they were, you know, there were a

lot of rumblings out there that they were making a bid to try and bring them over to MLS. That didn't happen. Cup for Canada and is also with full of Luke Dufusier. All they were, you know, there were a lot of rumblings out there that they were making a bid to try and bring them over to MLS. That didn't happen. They might be able to find a stopgap signing because the transfer window opens on Thursday for MLS and it goes all the way through to the middle of August. But even with that, you'll be getting a plug and play guy. It'll be like, you know, someone that can come in and kind of fill the job, but won't have the chemistry

and the familiarity and like the role that he has on the team and in the room. He's been there for over 200 matches. He's one of the most longest serving whitecaps of all time. If you were to put together an all time whitecaps team, he would definitely be in the mix for a spot because he's been here for so long and he's so durable and so consistent.

But that's it for him for the year. Out with a torn ACL. Again, you want to talk about a season that's been filled with so many highs and so many lows. This news comes right before four white caps are going to play at the MLS all star game tonight, right? Blackman's there, whites, their tech, Ioka and Sebastian Bearhalter who we had on the show yesterday. So tough one for the white caps there as rank of as a little,

which has done for the year with a torn ACL. Now, moving on to a topic that will probably touch back on throughout the show today. Mason McTavish. You may have noticed if you were surfing the internet yesterday that Mason McTavish was all over the place as it pertained to the Vancouver Canucks and quite frankly, a few other NHL teams as well. Speaking of Frank Lee, let's play the audio now. This is last week from Frank Cera Valley talking about exactly what's going on with Mason McTavish and why he's been the subject of some trade rumors out of Anaheim. Any talk of Mason McTavish getting moved? He's one name to watch for me.

I think moving forward, I think it's been a tough go for McTavish in Anaheim I view McTavish just from a I don't know if mental standpoint but body language standpoint is the right way to say it I view him as as sort of a bit of a depressed asset in the sense that I think a really solid player that has been beaten down by a lot of losses in Anaheim that I view him as similar to Trevor Zegras. I think a change of scenery would be good for him.

I think there's a lot of teams that are interested. I think some teams have tried to work on what an offer sheet might look like for Mason McTavish as it seems like that's one of those situations that's going to be a struggle much in the same way that getting that Zegras contract was for Anaheim. But no one can really put together something on paper that they think is going to dissuade Anaheim from turning down their not matching that offer sheet just because the Ducks have so much cap space. It's really hard to offer sheet a team that has a ton of space. So keep an eye on Mason

McTavish though. I think he's going to be an interesting name to watch moving forward. So Josh, I don't know if you notice this or not, but yesterday in relation to this, Ben Kuzma, the province also had a fairly lengthy piece talking about the prospect of Vancouver acquiring Mason McTavish. We might be onto something here in these dog days of summer. I mean, I do think of all the names that have come up that are like realistic possibilities, not that it it might not be super realistic, but it does feel kind of realistic. Mason McTavish has been the most intriguing name to me.

Now, the the thing that Frank mentions that kind of makes it an issue is, A, the ducks have a lot of cap space and B, he is 22 years old and why would the ducks want to move him? And I get that. I mean, we talk about body language all the time here in Vancouver. And I get it can be frustrating if you're the ducks,

if someone is frustrated with losing and is showing it and maybe isn't helping enough, like Mason McTavish, you might expect him to, but that being said, I just don't see how trading him gets the ducks closer to their ultimate goal as opposed to keeping him and hoping he can be the answer, one of the answers in your top six. Do you have, or do you think there's any merit to continuing the conversation

based on the fact that Verbeek did not draft McTavish? It helps. Verbeek also didn't draft Trevor Zegras. And I do wonder, I just wanna, I just wonder if in the sort of rebuild of the franchise and trying to take the step forward, there's a bit of a clean slate mentality where perhaps he's not enamored with the guys that he inherited from the draft.

Maybe it's McTavish and Zegras. And he thinks if I can't win with these guys, if I firmly believe I'm not going to be able to win with these guys, maybe I can sell as high as humanly possible, especially on a guy like McTavish, because the return would be pretty massive, right? I think McTavish, the name, the identity, I'm gonna be dead honest,

what he did with the World Junior team, I think that still resonates big time with a lot of people, even though it was a few years ago. I wonder if there is something here that a team that's got enough assets can jump on? I also wonder, and you know, especially with regards to the Ducks, if they don't necessarily see this as a step back, but something along the lines of,

can we maximize value for this asset? Now, here's the thing, Verbeek has spoken regularly and openly about, you know, the confidence he has that he's gonna get a deal with McTavish down. This could end up being one of those conversations that you have in the summer where an RFA is gone unsigned for a while and twists in the wind. The thing I don't know and the piece that we'll try and get to later, especially when we talk to Jonathan Davis, is what McTavish feels about all

this. If he is maybe holding up the proceedings because he doesn't necessarily want to lock into Anaheim longterm. I mean, let's be honest, the first few years of his career in Anaheim haven't been spectacular. There's been more losing than winning. There's been some ugly hockey at times. It's hard to see the light at the tunnel.

And we have seen in the modern NHL, the player empowerment and the boldness of, hey, I'm a young guy. I kind of want to call the shots a little bit earlier in my career. I do wonder if that'll be a thing as well. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. And what we just have to call Thomas Thomas Grange Erotica Corsi Thomas Grange Erotica Expected Goals

Thomas Grange Erotica Dove Bottle Thomas Grange Er erotica. Regression. Thomas Grange, erotica. Petey. Thomas Grange, erotica. 802 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody, Halford Brough. Oh no wait, it's Josh Elliott-Wolf, SportsNet 650.

Halford and Bruff in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are now in hour three of the program. Thomas Drance is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Our three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics,

working together with you in step and guests on SportsNet 650. Calling on the hotline powered by Power West industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most. Visit them at powerwest.ca today. They keep the lights on. Okay. So before we get to Drance and I'm doing this as a precursor because we're going to ask Drance about this. So prior to break, we were talking NFL. We were discussing Russell Wilson officially being named the starter of the New York Giants. That happened about 30 minutes ago

Brian Dable just saying you know what I don't want to deal with any QB controversy Russ is our week one starter the over-under for wins for the Giants was five and a half I said they might go I said they'll go over Josh and Ben push back said they'll go under so then we started going down the road of betting on the NFL and I said or you you said that you have the Vikings winning the division? Yeah, they're either gonna win or lose. Or come forth, sorry.

I'm like, that a boy Josh, there's that high level NFL analysis we were looking for, analysis we were looking for, so then I was like, okay, yeah, I can live with that. Then I said, hey, can you bet JJ McCarthy to win rookie of the year? For those that don't remember, McCarthy out of the University of Michigan, the 10th overall pick by the Vikings in last year's draft

in that QB rich first round, made it through a grand total of one game of the preseason before tearing his meniscus and was out for the year. Not even the whole game. Right, he threw two touchdowns. It was a really good time. Yeah, so he missed his entire rookie campaign. So I'm like, that would be a great pick because with Sam Darnold having gone to Seattle,

J.J. McCarthy steps in. He had a year of like getting to learn even though he was injured. What did you come up with there? He he is not eligible to win rookie of the year, but but he can win win comeback player of the year now this is what I'm saying I love this this led to another interesting conversation though would he even be in the conversation for comeback player of the year the ultimate come what would he be coming back from an injury but what would he be coming back to he has no body of work and you know level 100 He got so much better. He's had his best season ever this year the the

Ethos and the essence of come back means you are returning to form he's coming back from an injury But he's returning to a healthy body. It's like me coming back from an injury One sorry if he's banned from one he has? If he's banned from one, he has to be eligible for the other. I think he exists in an NFL vortex where he can't win either of these awards. You know he had a guest on hold, right? Right, Thomas Jantz from The Athletic Vancouver joins us now on the Alfred and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650.

What up, Jantz-er? Boys, the Comeback Player of the Year award is, first of all, they redefined it last year so that you couldn't come back from sucking. Yeah. And, but like, I think who won it? Look, who won it last year, Josh? Will you look that up quickly?

Because I think the guy who won it, they like explicitly went about redefining the award so that you could win it by... Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow. Okay. So yeah, I mean, I don't know. I wouldn't bet on that one. It is a soft market, but it's, I still don't think we quite understand the ramifications. Like Joe Burrow came back from what?

The injury, the fan injury, I guess? He's won it twice, by the way. Good for Joe Burrow. Yeah, he just keeps coming back. So I wonder if it becomes sort of like the, we kind of think you're the MVP, but we can't give it to you and you had like a minor challenge along the way.

So in that respect, I could see JG McCarthy being a decent candidate if he's good, right? I have a little, I have a- Again, there's no, there's nothing to base the comeback on because he never played in the NFL before. Like I think inherent in the comeback of the player of the year, the inherent in the comeback player of the year

is you had to have done something to come back to, you know what I mean? Yeah. It's such a sick preseason game though. It's so much hope. It was, it was incredible. Uh, I have a, I'll, I'll tell you now. I have a, I have a few shares of JJ McCarthy, MVP. I have sprinkling shares on that. Okay. Um, no, I'm not as invested in that as I am in my Dylan Gabriel offensive rookie of the year bet though. God, are you serious? I am, yeah. Why?

I just figure he could be the starter week one. Like who knows what's gonna happen in Cleveland? And then my CLV will be through the roof. Like I'm literally, it's purely a CLV play. What did you think about New York Giants wins over under five and a half? Yeah, you know what? I kind of think that offense could be better

than people realize. That's kind of where I was at with it. Yeah, keep going. I don't hate it. Yeah. I just, I mean, it all comes down to Andrew Thomas being healthy. He started camp on Pup.

If he's healthy, I could see them having a functional offensive line. Their defensive line legitimately could be the best in the league. And Russell Wilson, you know, obviously I'm not a fan, but man, he's at least a functional quarterback, and I don't think they had functional quarterback play at any point last season.

So I don't see why they couldn't get to seven, seven, eight wins, but I think that's absolutely in the cards. They could be totally mid. Okay. Let's turn our attention to another potentially mid team, the Vancouver Canucks, their playoff roadmap. Oh, no. That was the best segue of all time.

How does Vancouver get back to the postseason? Drance, I know you wrote about this yesterday for the athletic. Yeah, you know, I don't know that they need that much to go their way beyond a few weighted coin flips in their favor. I think this team should be viewed as effectively a fringe playoff team. That's how the markets, the betting markets are viewing them to come back to gambling. They're plus 115 to make the playoffs. They have the 10th shortest odds. So there's nine teams in the West with, uh, the, the, the market C is more probable, uh, as playoff teams.

That's the eight teams that made the playoffs last year, plus the Utah hockey club. Um, I don't bet on hockey. I just want to know, I want everyone to know I'm not personally moving that market. Um, but he, uh, so, you know you know realistically I think they need their goaltending to be really good. They need their special teams to maintain some of their bite. Probably a good sign like I was looking into it and I was

thinking one of the keys was going to be maintaining your power play like effectiveness in the wake of JT Miller's departure. But looking at it, like their power play didn't fall off particularly after that trade. Now, maybe it's that their power play hadn't been as good as it should have been beforehand. But the truth is, is that they were still able to produce a fair bit on the power play after the Miller trade. And that was with a, you know, in and out of the lineup, Quinn Hughes, who wasn't at the same level that he'd been at in the first 50 games of the season.

So I sort of look at the power play as something I'm not that worried about, something that there's not that much uncertainty about. I'm more worried about the penalty kill. I know they were third in kill rate last season, but they were eight in terms of power play goal differential, which I think is really the more instructive number. I actually kind of think we need to start contextualizing power play and penalty kill percentage. I know it's a shorthand that we've used, but realistically it's more about how

much you get outscored on the, when you're shorthanded and how much you outscore when you're on the power play. So, you know, they were minus 35 on the penalty kill. That's top 10. That's good. Like that's a good place to be. And I think maintaining that is gonna be critical to their success.

And I don't know how easy that's gonna be given the departures of both Pew Souter and Dakota Joshua, especially Souter. You know, what Souter and Bluger had cooking in that sort of second half of the year, I think really juiced their penalty killing success. So I think that's a sneaky critical departure for the Canucks. So they need to maintain their penalty killing gains.

Adam Foote, he's got big shoes to fill, which is a line and a joke that I have to stop making. But the truth is, is that Rick Tauke, you know, in my estimation, and I know people don't want to hear it right now, given how his tenure ended, you know, when Tocket took over this team's five on five game, like immediately spiked. And then they maintained a pretty solid five on five profile, even, you know, down the stretch last season when they had Pugh suitor as a first line center and Atu Ratu in the top six. And, you know, when, when the lineup got really thin, they were still controlling play five on five, like their structural game was still there. Uh, so replacing talk it with a, with a head coach who's, you know, never

been a head coach at the NHL level. We don't really have a track record to point to, um, we don't have a professional track record to point to on Adam foot's impact as a head coach is as much as we might admire the work that he did as an assistant coach. And certainly from what I hear seems to be a pretty open-minded and thoughtful guy behind the scenes and certainly well liked by the players. There's uncertainty there at the very least in terms of what Vancouver's five-on-five game looks like. So I do think the foot factor here, right? Maintaining some of their five on five structural elements that, you know, stood them so well during the

talk at Era. I think that's another part of this. And then obviously it comes back to Elias Pedersen and they need a star version of Elias Pedersen, not the on pace for 60 point, sort of significantly lacking in attacking juice, non-threatening version of Elias Pettersson that we saw throughout last season. What does a star performance from Elias Pettersson look like for you? Yeah, I mean, I think it's honestly, I think look like is the key word there. It's got to look like he has a chance, that sort of kinetic energy that he has when he's on,

where he can make a difference and break a game open at any moment. Um, Pedersen didn't look like that last year, right? And so for me, it truly is looking like, you know, whether, whether it's because of the skating speed, whether it's because the shot, um, is being taken willingly and frequently and looks dangerous. Like it's because of the skating speed, whether it's because the shot, um, is being taken willingly and frequently and looks dangerous. Like it's, it's about that sort of attacking juice that we've seen Pedersen have for most of his career.

And which was just completely absent last season, right? Like it really is qualitative for me more than it's like putting a points number on it, right? I mean, uh, you know, or, or saying like he should, he needs to be able to drive play and out score the, you know, whatever. Like what I want to see is I want to see Patterson looking like a dangerous offensive player who has the juice to beat player, beat checkers inside and beat goaltenders with shots that, you know,

defy physics or at least seem physically perfect. Um, and you know, I want to see him be a threatening presence. I want to, I want to know when he's on the ice that he has a chance to make the difference in the game. And last year that was just absent. So it really is an experience that like, I just want to see him look the way that he did in previous years. We're speaking to Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver in Canuckstock here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Uh,

injuries and health two big things that plagued the team last season. And I think it's important to note as you kind of did this roadmap here that not all man games lost to injury are the same, right? There's a big difference between losing a fourth line of the plays eight to 10 minutes a night as opposed to losing a top end guy, obviously. But I bring that up because it wasn't just the number of injuries that Canucks suffered last year. It was the guys that suffered them

that really set them back. Yeah, and you know, Quinn Hughes, I mean, how many games did Quinn Hughes end up missing last season? It was like 10, 12, something like that. But you know, the latter 32 games of the season versus the first 50 in terms of what the connects received from Quinn Hughes was a stark difference. I mean, uh, Quinn Hughes was playing at an MVP level through the first 50 games. He was the most impactful individual defender in the league.

And I would say he put in, like, he hit as high a peak as an individual performer, as I think we've ever seen in Canucks history, to be totally honest with you from anybody. And I'm talking 60 goal version of Buray. I'm talking Art Ross version of the Sidians. I'm talking a heart trophy nominee version of Roberto Luongo. Like I'd put Quinn Hughes's 50 games last season up there on that Canucks individual performer Mount Rushmore.

That's how good he was. And then after the oblique injury and some of the compensation injuries he's sustained while trying to come back from it, um, you know, he was gutting it out and credit to him, but like the Canucks were outscored by a wide margin with Quinn Hughes on the ice from that point in the season on, and, and it just, he wasn't bending gravity and then the, or it just he wasn't bending gravity and then the or sorry he wasn't bending the game to his will the way he does when he's controlling everything when he's the puppet master out there and that's you

know that's that happens right so eat that's not a man game lost at any point but that was a significant sort of you know wrench in the wheel of the Canucks season. So I look through that sort of thing and then just think, man, like the Canucks, whether it was Demko, whether it was Ronek missing six weeks, Miller's 10 game absence, Patterson ends up missing the end of the season. You have obviously the Dakota Joshua absence to start the year. And then again, in January, they only get 30 games out of that your Demco. You know, the, the Canucks were by sort of like cap hit, adjusted men games,

lost a top 10 team in terms of injury impact, negative injury impact last season. And when you contrast that with what we saw the year before, where all of Garland, Horonic, Besser, Pedersen, Hughes, Miller, you know, were available to play all 82 games. Some of them skipped the last one in Winnipeg, but that was an elective thing. Right? I mean, that's a really significant factor that explains why the Canucks had one dream season and one, you know, cataclysmic season in which they only got 90 points despite high expectations entering the year.

They need to be at least run of the mill average healthy. They need to be healthier, I think, if they're going to be a playoff team this year. You just can't have everything go wrong the way they did last year. Yeah. And it feels like it's going to have to go the other way. And a lot of things are going to have to go right. And one of the things that could go right for the Canucks would be Ahtu Ratu emerging in some sort of role.

You mentioned the PK earlier. Do you see him as someone that kind of could fit into that role? Maybe, but mostly for his face-offs, right? I mean, I think the face-off angle is probably going to be key there. I wouldn't put him on a short list of guys I expect to fill the Pugh-Sutter role as the first man over the boards. For me, that is more likely to be a Kiefer Sherwood or a Leas Petterson. Those would be my first two picks, the first two guys that I'm watching most intently to see if the Canucks give them that role.

You know, Ratu's, you know, ending the season injured, right, and then it's a short summer turnaround for the guys who were with the Abbotsford Canucks and he wasn't cleared, you know, at the end of the playoffs. So I don't know exactly what sort of summer he's going to have. And that's a complicating factor here too. I look at Ratu and what he accomplished last season,

really adding a step to his skating stride and think, yeah, I mean, if he could have another summer like that, right, where you come back and he adds another half step, then you're really cooking. I still don't know if the speed is going to be a little bit too limiting in terms of his ability to play center full-time above the fourth line at the NHL level. And so I suppose I still have some questions in terms of that side of it. And the fact that certainly the injuries sustained in the playoffs playing for Abbotsford will limit his summer to some extent, based on my understanding of where he was at at the end of the year, that just sucks for him. It adds a little bit of,

again, uncertainty. It adds that element to where I, that element to where, you know, I'm not as confident betting on, or I wouldn't be as confident betting on Ratu having another level up summer as, as I think I might've been in a world in which he entered the summer fully healthy. And that's too bad because I think he needed it. I think he needed it. Like if he was going to establish himself full time as a plus top nine guy, and now you're talking about putting special teams responsibilities on his plate too, it could happen. But I don't know that I'd confidently look at that as something that I expect, given

where his game has been at, where his foot speed has been at, and then the injury context on top of it. If the connects are going to get, a team is gonna have to fall out. Who are some of the candidates that you've looked at to not make the playoffs next year that made it this year? Well, and this is good. This is one of the big factors, I think, because, you know, I look at Utah as an ascending team. I look at them as a team that has a chance to be really, really good. And so if that's correct, right, at them as a team that has a chance to be really, really good. Uh, and so if that's correct, right? If Utah takes a significant step year over year, having added JJ Paterka and, and nature, and, um, Brandon Tanev and, and short up their goaltending depth, which really hurt them down the stretch last season.

After Connor Ingram took a, took a personal leave and, you know, they had to play veg, Melco, like almost 30 games in a row. And the scenes showed significantly down the stretch. So if they have more stability in that and can manufacture a little bit more offense with us, you know, sniper like Paterka in the lineup, you know, to me, that's one of these complicating factors. I also look at St. Louis and sort of the run they

went in the second half last year and especially who carried them on that run. Like it was a host of younger guys. It wasn't like a last gasp for like a proud group of veterans. It wasn't you know Braden Shen who was the sort of driving force or the straw that stirred that drink. It was you know the very their younger dudes. It was all the way. It was Broberg. Um, so, you know, I look at that team and think, man, I, there's a lot of upside in terms of how that group is constructed, uh, and more in terms of some of the young guys that they were able to add over the course of the summer. So, you know, plus Pew suitor who I rate pretty highly, right? He, he's a guy who helps you win games. No question about it

So, you know the the I honestly I think the team to look at is LA LA is minus 300 to make the playoffs. They are heavily favored to be a playoff caliber team and That's probably right, you know as much as we might not like Some of the moves that Ken Holland made they also did add just like a lot of like high floor NHL contributors. But I do think that they're slower on the back end, right? I do think they've lost some of the speed, speed defensive game that was their bread and butter, and they could have some fragility there as a result. For me, LA is the team that we have to look for because I do think the quality of the West is a complicating factor here for the Canucks. I mean, you sort of look at, basically you've got this tier of four teams that we know with a high degree of confidence are high end, right? In Vegas, Colorado, Dallas, and obviously the Edmonton Oilers. And then you've got this Winnipeg team that we think is good, right?

Like we think Winnipeg is good. We think they're deep. And then you've got sort of a tier of, I mean, you can put the Canucks in this tier. I know Dom LeCision's net rating model would, but a tier of like five teams thereafter, the Canucks in this tier. I know Dom LeCision's net rating model would, but a tier of like five teams thereafter, the Canucks, the Blues, the Minnesota Wilds, right? You'd put the, yeah, you'd put the Utah Hawks, the Mammoth in there. And I think you put LA in there. And so that's sort of the five team tier and you need to be in the upper

half of it, right? You need to be third among those five if you're, if you're going to make it and you need to make sure that the team, well, you have to hope that a team like Anaheim doesn't figure it out and do that rocket ship young team thing that like Montreal pulled off last year. And then they definitely have the talent and the coaching upgrade and the goaltending to be a pretty interesting dark horse in this in this Western playoff mix. It's not going to be straightforward, but this team did have 90 points and they do have you know, one of the five or six like truly transcended individual contributors in the league on their team.

And that should matter enough in my view anyway, for us to be, you know, I don't know if we expect the Canucks to make the playoffs necessarily, but we should at least think that, yeah, this is a team that doesn't need everything to go right. Like this shouldn't be a team that needs everything to go their way to make the playoffs. This should be a team that, you know,

making the playoffs is a fat part of the bell curve outcome for them. I keep thinking that Minnesota could fall out and I, a multitude of reasons why, but that's the one that just keeps jumping to mind for them. I keep thinking that Minnesota could fall out and I have a multitude of reasons why but that's the one that just keeps jumping to mind for me. For last year's two teams I could say I could see LA and Minnesota potentially missing. Yeah the Minnesota pick's a good one the net rating model agrees with you the net rating model so Dom LeCigian's projection model and granted this is early summer runs of the model so it'll get tweaked but it would have Utah and Minnesota in a tier below Vancouver, St. Louis and LA. So

you know at the very least there's a there's an industry leading projection system that thinks the Utah picks a sharp one by you Mike. Thanks buddy appreciate that. This has been a great hit as always thank you very much for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again soon. Yeah. Thanks, boys. Be well. Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk right here on Sportsnet 650.

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