Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 7/31/25

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they get a 'Nucks update from Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Alfred and Brough is the danger of growing stale. I'm taking it to strange new places. Miles Straw hits it out. And Bichette delivers with a huge two-run single. Again, the three-two. Got him!

And the Blue Jays find a way to win this game here in Baltimore. I'm fired, aren't I? Oh, yes. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halpert and his breath. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. A dog, good morning to you. Good morning. And who else could it be producing this show today? Good morning, Arash. Good morning. Alfred and Brough in the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates,

BC's first and trusted choice for that help with over 3,000 5 star reviews. Visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are coming live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. So we got a big show ahead on a Thursday, lots to get into on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. The guest list today begins at 630. Mike Corrine, senior editor at SportsNet

covering the NBO. That's the tennis tournament that's going on in Montreal and Toronto. It was a busy Wednesday at the NBO. Jeannie Bouchard lost and then retired from the sport. That was planned, by the way. It's not like she did at spur of the moment. Felix Oje, Aliasim.

Yeah. Bad loss. That's it. I'm out of here. Well, it's been a slice. Felix lost. Gabriel Diallo won. He's the hot new thing. in men's tennis in Canada. And then today, Victoria Mboko is going to play at 4 o'clock our time.

She's the hot new thing in women's Canadian tennis. And I want to discuss today possibly with the listeners, but definitely with Mike Corrine. Has Canada's golden era of tennis delivered? Good question.

Like has it given, has it lived up to the promise? Lived up to the potential. There was one grand slam. Yeah. Thanks to Bianca. There was the now-famous Davis Cup victory. We talked about that when you're on vacation with Vashik Pospicil, who we had on the show.

Okay. Because he was part of that team. There have been four Grand Slam finals appearances, I want to say. If I'm doing this, I'm just doing it on the top of my head. The women won the version of the Davis Cup, too. Yes, they did. You used to be called the Fed Cup. Yes, that's right.

I was trying to remember the new name. The Billy Jean King Cup. Thank you. So there has been some success, but that's a good question for Mike Corrine when he joins the show at 6.30 this morning. 7 o'clock, Adnan Verk is going to join the program. MLB Network, our MLB Insider. The MLB trade deadline is today.

3 o'clock our time, 6 o'clock Eastern, super busy already. The Mariners made a huge splash late last night for those that may have missed it. Re-acquiring Eugenio Suarez from Arizona. That's the second trade that they've made with the debacks, having already picked up Josh Naylor. Eugenio Suarez obviously used to play for the Mariners. So that was a big move. Philly's got a stud closer in Juan Duran.

And the J-snap their losing streak yesterday. So we got a lot to get into with Adnan Verk at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30 Brady Henderson. Our Seahawks insider from ESPN is going to join us busy times at Seahawks training camp as well. Big news from yesterday, the Seahawks agreed to an extension with general manager John Schneider. That's going to take him all the way through the 2031 season. Should he survive until 2031, it will be two decades on the job in Seattle, having first come aboard in 2010 with Pete Carroll.

So we'll be joined by Brady Henderson at 7.30 to talk about all that. 8 o'clock, Thomas Drans from the Athletic Vancouver in Canucks Talk. We'll join us for your daily dose of Canucks Talk. Lots to get into with Thomas in a relatively slow hockey period, but he's always got spicy mui caliente takes to share with us. So that'll be coming up at 8 o'clock. working in reverse on the guest list. 8 o'clock, it's Drancer, 7.30, Brady Henderson, 7 o'clock Adnan Verk,

and then 6.30, Mike Corrine, for some Canadian tennis talk. That's what's happening on the program today. A rash, 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? Missed it? 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.ca.

Before we get into anything, I think we have to go with the most recent. It's not quite breaking news because it happened over an hour ago, but it's still big news. Nonetheless, Summer McIntosh, our Canadian swimming sensation, is now halfway to her goal of winning, as many golds as humanly possible at the world championships. What do you mean she's halfway? Does she have two and a half gold medals?

Two and a half, make it three. What do you say when she has three? And she's on her way to five. More than halfway. More than halfway. No, one of the golds got snapped into it. Actually, that's what she did with it because she was choked that she didn't set the world record today in the 200 meter butterfly.

Third gold for Summer McIntosh at the World Aquatic Championships in Singapore. So she set the world championships record. she missed setting the world record in the 200 meter butterfly by 0.18 of a second. And according to everyone in attendance, including CBC's Devin Haru, who's live at the championships, she was pretty, pretty angry. She was fuming in her post-swim interview because she really wanted that gold medal and the world record. But she'll have to settle for a world championships record and, of course, her third gold.

Yeah, it's pretty exciting what she's doing over there. It sounds like it. And we're going to talk to her swim coach from U of T tomorrow, correct, Adok? One of the craziest gets in show history. That was courtesy of basketball, Ben, who's no longer with the program. It's just because he's got the day off. He didn't pass away or anything. But Ben, U of T, managed to set us up.

So this is a pretty cool thing. We're going to get to talk to her swim coach from the collegiate. Byron McDonald. There you go. Yeah, he's going to join us at 6.30 tomorrow morning. So we'll get some more on Summer Macintosh. Let's talk about the trade deadline, though. Yeah, we got to talk about the J's first and foremost

because they managed to avoid what would have been a season high five game losing streak yesterday. And that was courtesy, a 9-8 win, a very narrow 9-A win over the Orioles in the series finale in Baltimore yesterday. And it was Nathan Lucas, who's at a very eventful series, adding another chapter to it

with a three-run jack in the seventh. Here's what it sounded like, the eventual game winning runs, courtesy, Nathan Lucas. Lucas hits one to deep right field, a three-run Homer. What a moment for the Blue Jays. What a moment for Nathan Lucas. What a much-needed hit right there as he comes off the bench and hits his fourth home run of the road trip and gives the Blue Jays a 9 to 5. It was a very important hit for the Blue Jays because Toronto's A.L. East lead was down to a mere four games after dropping the first three games of the series in Baltimore.

What's more? The Jays fell behind three nothing yesterday. It looked like it was going to be a sweep for the O's. But the Jays managed to avoid it. They come away with a win, 9-8 in Baltimore. And now they've got the day off today. So they can spend the entire day fixated on the 3 p.m. Pacific trade deadline. They don't. Don't get back into action until tomorrow when they go back home and host Kansas City. Are they, are the Jays and the Jays fans? Is there a little fomo going on right there? I didn't even let you get the question out. Because there's a lot of other teams doing some stuff and adding some big names,

even a team down the road, the Seattle Mariners that haven't exactly been known for, you know, going for it or, you know, spending money. making important trades at the deadline. Having, you know, some semblance of courage, you know. Well, they did last night because in the midst of a very disappointing loss to the athletics and shout out to the A's. I'm wearing their hat today. The Mariners swung their second significant trade of the deadline,

but this is the biggest one. No disrespect to Josh Naylor because the Ms have reacquired third baseman, Eugenio Suarez, from the D-backs. It's going to cost them a long. including one of their prize prospects whose name I don't have in front of me at the moment. But Suarez sits fifth in all of Major League Baseball with 36 home runs. As a matter of fact, at the time. At the time of the trade, he trailed Shohei by just two for the NL lead.

He was an all-star this year for the debacks. According to MLB.com, this is the most home runs by a player traded in a mid-season deal. The previous one was Mark McGuire who had 34 jacks. when he was dealt in 1997. So this is a major move of significance. I mentioned it was the second deal that the M's and Dback swung. The Mariners obviously previous acquired Josh Naylor. So if you go through this lineup right now and you look at their one through seven,

you've got guys like, obviously it starts with Cal Raleigh. And then you've got Eugenio Suarez joining with his 36 home runs. You've got Randy a Roserani. You've got Julio Rodriguez. You've got Josh Naylor now. So it becomes a pretty formidable lineup for a team that has often been, you know, chastised for its lack of bats and lack of power and lack of run scoring ability. Now, whether or not this will be able to get the M's across the line remains to be seen.

Naylor and Suarez are going to have to come in and keep the form that they had in Arizona. It's a weird year in Arizona because those two guys played exceptionally well, especially Suarez who made the All-Star game, but Arizona did not. They wildly underachieved this year and they started selling off pieces at the deadline. So this is going to be interesting. I mentioned that this was a reacquire for the Mariners. I'm sure, you know, most of you don't remember, but some fans will remember that Suarez came in there

in a trade from Cincinnati and really was kind of a non-factor. He really revived his career in Arizona. And, you know, I think a lot of Mariners fans, although happy about this deal, we're thinking, if only we had held on to this guy. But alas, he's there now with his 36 homers. He hit 31 home runs in a year with Seattle and had 96 RBIs. The next, like, he wasn't.

It wasn't terrible by any means. Maybe they just expected more. His slugging percentage dropped under 400 in that last year before they eventually traded him away to Arizona. And then like I said, he kind of had a revival at the plate to a certain degree. And then this year was fantastic. So the Mariners did what they needed to do

in acquiring some bats. Blue Jays need pitching, man. How many runs did they give up to Baltimore? I think it was 40, all told. It might have been more. I don't know the exact number in front of me. It was 27 in the first two games of the series. I think it was 38 runs over four games.

And they won one of them. Yeah, it was a lot. And the back end, the relief has been an issue. Guys are getting extended. Hoffman's pitching an awful lot. And then if you look around Major League Baseball right now, there are a lot of contenders loading up with arms in their bullpen, including the Philadelphia Phillies,

who probably made the second biggest deal of the day yesterday. If you're going to say that the Mariners getting Eugenio Suarez in was the biggest deal, then the Phillies getting Yohan Dorez in. man from Minnesota was a pretty big one. One of the more higher profile closers in baseball, although the save total wasn't as high, is some of the highest end guys this year, like Josh Hader or Suarez in San Diego,

still 16 saves. And this is a guy that can routinely top 100 miles an hour. And he's going to join a Phillies team that, like a lot of the contenders in the NL, have aspirations of getting to the World Series this year. He's converted like 89% of his career save opportunities. He's a pretty elite closer, and he's got good postseason success. I think he had five scoreless innings in 2023 the last time that he went in as a closer.

So that's a big one for the Phillies as well. So we'll kind of sit around and wait to see what happens today. You've got to think as we circle back to the Js here that if they don't make a move of significance, it's going to leave a lot of fans wanting, not just because their pen needs arms, but as you mentioned, the FOMO side of things, where you see all these other contenders loading up. And if you're left kind of holding the bag, it's going to be disappointing for Jays fans. Who's the favorite in the AAL? That's a great question.

We were talking about this on our baseball chat last night. Yes, I belong to a baseball chat. You know, if you're a Blue Jays fan, obviously you see this opportunity, and we've talked a lot about the Jays for obvious reasons. Kenney and Rogers tells us every day. Talk about the Jays. No, they don't know. Every day.

Every second day. Seriously. But we haven't talked. as much about the Mariners and if you're a Mariners fan fan of a team that's never even been to a world series you got to be thinking right now

well why not this year why not I know you've you get a decent team and you're loading up with some pretty big names so especially one big name yesterday why why not the Mariners

is there is there really any like I know I know the Js have the lead on the Yankees in the division, a four-game lead. So it's a pretty sizable lead, and the Mariners are probably going to be a wildcard team because they're five games back of Houston in their division. But I honestly don't see a huge difference between the Mariners and the Jays. You know, like I think probably like the Jays actually, you know what? I would probably take the Mariners unless the Jays significantly improved their pitching. Right. I mean, the thing

with the Mariners now is that they're giving themselves a shot in the arm offensively in a division where they're still chasing Houston Astros teams that I would consider somewhat flawed because if you look at those elite teams in the AAL Houston's offense

doesn't really stack up. They're a 473 run score. The run differential is pretty good because their starting pitching has been so elite but they need bats in a fairly major way and they don't score a lot of runs. You take pitching right overhitting? If you're If you were going to go into the playoffs,

would you rather be a great hitting team with kind of questionable pitching? Or would you rather be a great pitching team with a questionable hitting? I think the pitching. Yeah, I mean, I think the majority of people would. Although, if anything, like the past, the most recent post seasons have shown us,

like you've seen some teams that have just dried up offensively, right? Where, and a lot of it has to do with... Because of the great pitching. And the ability, the single swing offense, right? That's kind of what you need in the playoffs sometimes, where it's low-scoring tight games is that's where the Jays could fall short in the playoffs

is they manufacture runs they grind out runs and a lot of that has to do sometimes especially when you're playing the Yankees and Anthony Volpe you know putting the opposing defense under pressure by just putting balls in play

do you kind of blame Vladdy for that what's that the lack of home runs I mean he's as a guy who can be the guy like well how many home runs does he have 15? Yeah he's

third on the team. He might have passed that as a barger now. It's wild that he's only got 15 home runs. Yeah. I mean, there's a guy that... It's a $500 million player. Right. And there's a guy. I mean, when we had Dan Shulman on the show when you were away, I mean, he just flat out said, like, Vladdy's not right. This isn't to say that statistically he's having a very good year because his batting average is flirting with 300. And he's got a lot of walks. But he said, you don't pay Vladdy Guerrero Jr. to go up and take walks and to hit a home run. He's like, okay, boss. Sure can, Chief. You got it, skill. And he has been swinging the bat better. Now, the thing with Vlad is he's always been a sort of July and August, guys, that when the season and the temperatures heat up and get further into the stretch, he gets better. But his numbers aren't going to come anywhere close to some of his elite hitting seasons this year,

especially when it comes to balls leaving the yard. Well, he's only had one crazy home run season. Right. 2011 when he had 48. And this one's like, I mean, this one's not going to, wait, what is he going to finish with this year? I would like, if he gets to, what was he a 15? For like 22 home runs or something. he gets to 25 he's going to be extending himself at this point because right now he's on pace for probably closer to 20 or as you said 22 yeah it would be interesting to see what happens there okay uh we got to run through some other things here in what happened i do want to recap the tennis very quickly so we can set the table for mike koreen he's a senior editor from sports net and he's doing all the coverage from the majority of the coverage anyway from the nbo in both montreal and toronto and it was a very busy wednesday for the canadians at

the NBO. I mentioned the biggest story of yesterday was that Jeannie Bouchard waved goodbye to professional tennis yesterday. The 31-year-old, one of the faces and the signature people of the golden era of Canadian tennis, bowed out yesterday to the 17th seat in this tournament. It was a valiant effort by Jeannie, actually. She fought back after going and losing the first set, 6 to push it to three sets. I don't think many people expect her to win her first match. No. And she pushed just one to two hours and 16 minutes before eventually bowing out and then bidding farewell at the age of 31 to, you know, she's from Quebec, so that was a nice homecoming for her. So she bid farewell. But that sort of was the theme of the day for Canadian tennis is that there were more disappointments

than they were successes because the biggest disappointment on Wednesday was that Felix Oje aliasim had his run for a national title and real quick, real quick. He lasted just one hour in 41 minutes losing six, uh, six four, six four to the 56 seed in the world, Fabian Marizan. So that was Canada's top ranked male going into this tournament. It was him and Chapo were the two highest ranked males. And they both about out very early. So they've only got one, one Canadian on each, like on the men's side. Diallo's left.

Yeah. Is he 23 or 24 or something like that? I think he's, he's still, he's still pretty young. And then Victoria and Boko, who's only 18. years old and she's kind of the talk of the tournament in Montreal. Yeah, and she's going to play today at 4 o'clock and she's going to have the center court. I believe Cocoa Goff's got it this morning and then Mboko's got it this afternoon. So it's funny because when you talk about the golden era of Canadian tennis, I distinctly remember a large part of it being, oh, there's

always someone waiting in the wings, right? When Milo was doing it, it was kind of a chappo and then Shapo and then Felix. And now you've got Gabriel Diallo, who's going to to be the next one. And on the women's side, it's been very similar, right? It was after Jeannie, there was Bianca, and then there was Leila Fernandez, and now you've got Mbocco. So they're well positioned to continue this run of the golden air of Canadian tennis. But it'd be interesting to see if they can rack up some more higher profile victories. Not to say that Canada tennis hasn't had any, but we'll see. Well, have they delivered enough in the turn, in the way of victories and big victories to

kind of earn that title of the golden era of tennis. I mean, I think I would give them the nod when Bianca won the U.S. Open. That was just such a big deal because we'd never seen a Canadian win a

grand slam event. Winning the Davis Cup and the Billy Jean King Cup on the women's side. And having what was it, four finals? Four finals to watch with a Canadian in it. Three on the women's side, Jeannie, Bianca, and Leila.

Bianca also beating Serena Williams, which was, I mean, that was part of the lower as well, right? It wasn't just that she won the U.S. Open. It was that she beat Serena as the eight seats. So it was still pretty much not at her like the height of her game, but still playing some very good tennis. And then what was six years ago? What was the Canadian men's Grand Slam final? That was Milosh. Milosh at Wimbledon, right?

Yes, that's right. okay so you know that that's that it's it's pretty good it's not it's not it's by by no means dominance there hasn't been any canadian dominance um but you know when bianca won it kind of reminded me of when mike weir won the masters it actually really reminded me of that because it was such a big moment that a male had won the masters, right? And we've got kind of inferiority complex in certain sports.

And in men's golf right now, we're still waiting for another guy to really break through and become that consistent majors contender that Weir was. Like there's a lot of guys, not a lot of guys, but like a guy like Cory Connor's

It's the same names that we keep saying over and over and over again. I feel like it's like wrote at this point to just mention them before a major and be like, well, what happens with one of these guys? Well, none of them have, none of the current crop, if you want to talk about Corp Connors or Nick Taylor or Adam Hadwin. They've never really been right in the mix on a Sunday at a major. Corcorner's has had a few backdoor top tens. Yep. But, and that's great. but it just shows the difference between very good and the elite.

And maybe that's where the Canadian tennis says, if you want to put it this way, the golden era has fallen short. They've never had a player that has been consistently elite. I think now this is different on the women's side because I think there was a touch more parody, although the William sisters did dominate. On the men's side,

part of the issue was the big three. Yep. Was that breaking through was damn near impossible for anyone, not named Federer Nadal or Jokovic. And it's interesting because moving forward, you're already seeing a couple heirs to the throne in Alcoraz and Sinner,

who have kind of emerged as the guys to beat. Yeah, they might be the big two. Right? And so, you know, it'll be interesting to see, because at this point, you're not calling Shapo or Aliasim young,

young in terms of like overall collective age but they've been around for a long time now they've been on tour for a while tennis is a young person's game and we see a lot of tennis players whether it's injuries or the stress of it all and a lot of them get grinded down

because you can start pretty young and you can be a pretty good especially on the women's side you can be a really good player in your teens and you know I like has has Bianca ever stayed healthy

I mean, that's the biggest issue. She got hurt again at the NBO. She turned her ankle. Yeah. And I think it's just, I think the sport is, not other sports aren't, but that one seems to be a particular grind. Oh, yeah. Mentally and physically, where you might reach a point where you're 25 or 26 years old and you're like, man, I'm just like, I can't get any better. Like this radio show.

I don't know if I, I don't know if I can break through anymore. Do you know what I mean? No, it's true, though. I know what you're saying. I know what you're saying. You get to a certain point, you're like, all right, let me introduce someone else. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

Adnan, Verk, MLB Network, joins us now on the Halford & Brough show on Sports Night 650. More on Adnan. How are you? Mike, Jason, it's a great day, fellas. It is not only trade deadline, but I cannot wait to go and take one of my kids to go see the naked gun tonight. People ask you, what movie you're excited to go see, what six summer movies, Superman, Fantastic 4, Elio, no, naked gun

reboot. And by the way, there's a lot of riding on this movie. That's just the fact that we rarely get summer comedies coming on the summer, but like, if this is a gigantic hit, maybe it'd go back the days you'd get, there's something about Mary or the hangover, all these great comedies. So, I can't wait, boys.

Seven o'clock showing tonight, I'm locked in. Don't you think Liam Neeson took on a pretty big risk taking this role and, you know, hoping to live up to what Leslie Nilsson did. Without question, Jay. Listen, we love Leslie Nielsen, fellow Canadian, and the fact

that that first movie is so iconic, and it's hysterical for people of our age. I mean, 89, it came out, I was 11 years old. I must have watched it so many times on BHS, giggling inappropriately at, like, parts I really don't understand, but there was like innuendo and stuff. Like that, it took whatever. This kid's laughing at the heart. It's all good.

But, like, Leslie Nielsen and then dead pain, no one's better at that. So for Liam Neeson, they're like, strapped on the boots, and I think I can do this. I'm like, it's amazing. Now, I do think, Lane Neeson underrated comedic Chops. Like, he's in a remarkable career. You're thinking like the high points of the dramatic side of Schindler's list. Obviously he becomes

an action star with Taken. But like there's comedic moments within Lain Nathan. Like, I think he does a great deadpan. So I look forward to seeing it. Apparently, him and Pamelae Anderson now canoodling off-off set. So hopefully on-set chemistry as well, speaking opinions. Good to see Pam back on the big screen. Naked Gun is getting 91% early on Rotten Tomatoes

after 155 reviews. That's insanely high for a comedy. Were you a big fan of those types of movies like airplane and... Yeah, they're good. Hot shots. Hot shots. Yeah, I like the Mel Brooks one's the most, probably. Although his are a little more, you know, intelligent.

When I saw... Higher brow, which is what A-Dog is always looking forward as comics. History of the World Part 2, that sort of thing? Well, like, I always think, like, Robin Hood Men Tights, obviously, space balls. Like loaded weapon was a huge thing in our family. We really love a load weapon. Yeah, those kinds of comedies were always really enjoyable to watch. and obviously they kind of just disappeared.

So it's nice that they're back. When I saw, I don't even know what, it might have been the first naked gun that I saw or maybe airplane. I was like, this is amazing. Yeah. That you can just do the stuff. Yeah.

It is incredible. And it just, and you're right. It went away because. Well, they started to get really bad in the early 2000s. There were a lot of them that were like that, but just weren't good. And it sort of killed the genre. You need to be, well, I mean, any movie.

Like, it needs to be good. Yeah. Right? And, I mean, Liam Neeson, if you've ever watched his skit with Ricky Jervais, like Stephen Merchant. It's like, honestly, man, he is so funny. He's perfect for it. I'd like to work on some improvisational comedy. Please don't quote.

Yeah, yeah. I can't really quote any of the highlights because it's not suitable for you. But it's such a good, if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. Just YouTube, Liam Neeson, Ricky Chavez, and you'll understand. Hey, since we're on the subject of movies, and I was reading about this last night, Are you familiar or aware of this upcoming horror film is coming out in? Weapons? Yeah, we were just talking about it.

I'm not a big horror guy, but honestly, it looks really cool. Again, you need to enunciate horror better. Horror. I'm not a big horror guy, but. So my take on all this is that horror movies are too cheap. Horror movies. You still know where to go. Horror movies have gotten too scary.

They become too real and they're too disturbing and they're too jarring. Comedy movies have gotten too funny. No, no, no, no, that's okay. Too many explosions in this action film. Comedy doesn't stick with you in a negative way. You're just a wuss. I don't think that's it. I think they're too psychologically terrifying.

They're supposed to be! I haven't heard someone call someone a wuss in a really long time. That's pretty good. I'm bringing it back. Don't sensitive shame me, okay? I have my limit. He's an empath. Look, I feel.

He feels everything. This movie, except love. Right, that one doesn't exist. This one is done by the guy that did Barbarian, which I haven't seen, but Arashis, is really good. But this one is supposed to be excellent. Like Josh Brolin, it's got a great cast. But in limited screening so far, it's got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. And

the thing, the other thing with the genre is it feels like every new director sets out to make a more disturbing film than the one prior. That's fair. What's this guy's name? Cleggar, I think, is the... Yeah. Yeah, anyway. I'm looking at the poster for weapons. It's terrifying. Terrify. It's a scary

child that's kind of made up like a clown. That's scary child and a clown. They combine them. really cool. It honestly sounds like an episode of the X-Files, so it's right up my alley. It's all the kids in one class disappear one night, except for one time at night. Yeah. Yeah. Ooh, I bet he did it.

Don't spoil it, man. Got him. Got him. One more read before we get to Thomas Drans. I need to tell you about the BC Lions. Saturday, August 16th, your Lions face the aloets for the show and shine game, featuring over 200 classic and exotic cars.

Get your tickets now at BCLions.com. Are you going to go? Yeah, I'm going to be showed and shined. He's going to bring the regal. Hi, I'm here for the show and shine. Sir, where are your pants? Shine it up to the Power West Industries hotline. We go.

Thomas Dr. Dr. Rance, Athletic Vancouver, Connect Stock, joins us here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Dranser? Gentlemen, hope you're enjoying near summer, late July. Yep, we're almost on vacation. We're four hours from, our vacation that includes

I love that for you guys one hour left in this show three hours tomorrow not that anyone's counting oh you know what before we do that before we do the coaching talk these guys brought it up we were talking about the bubble

earlier the NBA bubble because Joe Varden had a big piece in the athletic we should ask Drance about his memories of the bubble Andy said just too Andy said chicken wings yeah the famous chicken wings

did you get busted eating wings in the bubble the one thing I remember about Drance from the bubble was just him tweeting out every swear word that the players were saying. That's what I remember. Chirps per 60 was off the charts.

Yeah, the experience was just so weird in terms of, the audio experience honestly sticks out to me more than anything else or stuck out to me when I first went and watched, right? I was just like, this is so strange to be able to hear what's being said during the run of play. And I remember writing a piece about it and then the demand for it was so high that I did like a weekly thing. And, yeah, I mean, to my knowledge, like, the league's still really mad at me about it. So it goes.

But, yeah, no, so, I mean, more than anything, like, I watched three games a day, every day for months. I think by the end of it, I watched 79 games across, like, seven weeks, 79 NHL games. So it's like I basically got a full season of games watched in. in, you know, a very compressed span of time. It wasn't wings, by the way. I mean, it was a chicken wing, but it wasn't like a plate of wings. It was like half of a frozen chicken

or like not have a rotisserie chicken. I was packing my own lunches because, you know, like I was packing multiple meals and going to the rink, right, and going through the security protocol. And then it was like me and nobody else for like Nashville, Arizona. And there'd be a 9 a.m. game, a 12 noon game, and a 3 p.m. game or whatever.

And I'd stay at the rink the entire day and, like, crush my pre-made salads and half rotisserie chicken. And, yeah, you know, Jeff Vinnick was the photographer assigned to the bubble. And obviously, he's the Canucks team photographer. Yeah. So I think he was just, like, you know, making a joke and made sure to send me that photo. And I thought it was so funny that I put it on Twitter. But, yeah, I mean, my main memory is just what a slog it was, right? I was like just spending 12 hours a day at the rink every day for months or for certainly two

months. It was, uh, it was pretty incredible. Doesn't it seem like it was a hundred years ago? It seems like it was a hundred years ago. Yeah. And, and you know what? Sorry, I have one other memory, which is that I had this old Jeep that I bought for myself. It was like a used Jeep that I bought for myself, um, in the, you know, my summer of third year of university, uh, that I needed for work. And so it's, you know, I'm talking like the most basic car you could have. No automatic, like, lock, you know what I mean? Roll down windows, no air conditioning. Like, just like, I have a new car now, but at the time it was, you know, rustic.

And we drive up to, we drive up to Edmonton because, again, pandemic, right? I didn't, we didn't fly. And my wife came with me. And I remember driving up to Prince George on the highway and we're, bombing it, but it's like 30 degrees out, and we're losing our minds in my matte black Jeep Wrangler. And so we like have to roll down the windows and there's like bugs flying into the car at like a million miles per hour.

And my wife's contacts are drying out. You know what I mean? She's like, oh, it burns. And it was just like straight up torture for like four hours. One of the worst experiences, like one of the worst prolonged experiences I've ever had. But then we got to Jasper and it was beautiful. So that was good. All right.

Let's talk about the coaching staff. Yeah. This is what we agreed to talk about in, it's a July 31st Canucks talk. You know, it's, except for Adam Foote, it's a completely new coaching staff. Yeah. And, you know, what are,

I think there are some advantages to being a new coaching staff, but also some challenges. so why don't you take us through those if you I mean my advantage would be that it's fresh it's a fresh message that gets to be delivered to a team and a team that probably wants to hear a message after what happened last season yeah and you've got the freshness but you've got the continuity too with foot being Rick Talkett's guy right being Rick Talkett's assistant and his most trusted one is one with the most responsibility and so you know that there's a decent mix there where you've got a new voice.

And there's their own challenges that'll come from that, right? For Adam Foote, who obviously doesn't have a ton of experience and also, you know, got to be good cop as assistant coaches typically get to be. And now is going to have to, you know, be the metronome setter, which is sort of the role of the head coach, like, dictating the day-to-day schedule and overall culture, pace, ethos, right? Like, that's really what the head coach does, probably one of their most important responsibilities that we don't see, right? And I don't just mean fans. I mean, us too, media, right?

Like, we're not there day to day to see, like, how those decisions get made, what sort of pace to every day, what goes into it, how much leeway the players have, how much of it is a negotiation, what they prioritize. I mean, that stuff's sight unseen, but it's such an important part of a head coach's job. You know, the composition of the staff is interesting to me. I mean, Kevin Dean was highly regarded, highly recruited as sort of the defensive coach. He'll take over from Foote's responsibilities effectively handling the defense and having some input on the PK.

You know, I don't know of a like close preexisting relationship between Foote and Dean. I do know of one, though, between Rutherford and Dean. So, you know, one thing that I'm sort of interested to see in terms of the dynamics on this coaching staff is like, whose foot sky? Because I don't know the answer to that, right? Scott Young's a penguin's guy, right? So like Scott Young's longstanding Alveen and Rutherford Lieutenant moving into a coaching role where, you know, he's got some experience on the bench with top NCAA programs, really smart hockey guy. Brett McLean obviously comes through the wild.

organization. That's Bill Garon's shop. That's another guy with, you know, deep penguins ties or at least ties to that family, that tree. And then, and then Dean, who again, I just don't know of a really close preexisting relationship with foot, which isn't to say that there isn't one, right? It's just to say that that's not something I know of, whereas I do know that there's some ties to Canucks management. This is, this is an interesting thing because I do think that every head coach needs a guy on their staff. Like one of the most important roles for an assistant on the coaching staff is like, who's the guy who's loyal above all else to the head coach?

When things go badly, when you have a bad day, when you have a bad loss, when you need to vent and stare at a whiteboard and come up with some solutions and have a really frank conversation about what you're doing and what you're navigating. Like who is with you behind closed doors? you know because again foot was that for for talk it right

and I don't know but I don't know who is who that is for foot on this staff and I think that's going to be an interesting dynamic to monitor beyond that what makes a good coaching staff yeah

and I mean I think it can be like a little bit more art in science as it were, right? I mean, I do think you have to have a staff that you can lean on as a head coach. I think the job's just too significant. And so I think what you do ultimately need is like a really dynamic group where everyone's able to have sort of a voice, collaborate, you know, contribute, right? I think there's a lot of work that needs to happen and you need to be able to delegate and sort of trust that you've got some smart folks.

That said, you also need to be able to keep it light, right? I think if you have a really serious head coach and a really serious set of assistant coaches, like sometimes it helps to have a coach who can come and enlighten the mood. Much like think about the composition of a locker room, right? You need the guy who can keep things light and relief pressure. You also need the demonstrative emotional leader. the guy who's going to push guys in practice. Like you need different personality types

that bring different things. You can't all be like dower and far too serious. I think you need an energy guy. Like an energy guy, man. Like every time you come to the rink, you know that guy is ready to go, ready to work, has a positive mindset because,

I mean, maybe it's just because I'm a moody guy. That like I, the job of head coach when, like you can't really have bad days publicly, right? You can't just be like, I'm tired today. Guys, like, you know, like, I don't really feel like doing this.

I mean, but how many people who are going to work right now have days like that? And it's just like, yeah, everybody has days like that. Maybe you didn't get a good sleep or something or something else is going on in your life or you're just not feeling it. I mean, every day you got to be able to show up and be energized and bring your best. Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of coaching, I mean, that was that was like Newell Brown on Allie and Vigno's coaching staff, right? Newell Brown's the guy who's like, no matter what rain or shine, bad loss, big win, you know, is like at the gym at 530 and is nine coffees deep before the second person comes to the office. And it's just like, hey, what's going on? Right. Like that's, you know, that is an important thing to have on a coaching staff for sure. The energy guy. I like that. So yeah, I mean, I think you need, I think you need a lot of different roles. I guess sort of when I think about this connects coaching staff, right? I've got two big questions.

And question number one is who's foot sky, right? Who emerges is Adam Foote's guy? Because he's going to need one. And the second is, do they have enough experience collectively? Right. Do they have enough experience collectively? You know, the NHL is not a rookie league, right? And Adam Foote, for all that he's accomplished as a player and as a coach, right?

I mean, it's not like he's a rookie to the idea of, like, like hockey leadership by any means. But when you're doing a job in the NHL, no matter what it is, head equipment guy, even though you've been a longstanding equipment guy, right? Or medical staff or PR guy, whatever, player. Like, you don't know what you don't know. And until you've been through a full cycle, there's just like small little things that you can anticipate.

And once you've been through a full cycle, you're able to anticipate like, okay, in this situation, this is the play. You don't know what you don't know is such a great phrase. Yeah, it just is what it is. And the one thing that I do think is promising his foot sort of navigates this based on some of what I'm hearing is I do think he's at least curious and aware of what he doesn't know, right? Like I've heard some stories about him like seeking out some opinions from coaches around the league on like how to roll forward lines. because he's going to be rolling forward lines this year,

and he didn't do that last season, right? Like that's an error. So, you know, I appreciate that there's an understanding of like, okay, this is a new challenge. What is some of the best in the game think about optimal tactics, right? Like, what do you mean by rolling forward lines? Just like, I mean, so what are you talking about there? Well, last season, for example,

Adam Foote would have been responsible for which defenders are on the ice at which moment. Okay. Right? while talk it would do the forward lines. And that's a very classic situation. Head coach rolls forwards, usually has a defensive assistant who rolls defense. Obviously, those two people are usually on the same page.

And regularly, that's your guy, right? Like Travis Green, Newell Brown would be, or sorry, Travis Green, Nolan Baumgartner would be another example, right? And so, you know, Adam Foote's now going to be managing the forwards as opposed to the defense, which he's been familiar with and from what I understand he's like spent some time thinking about that picking brain stuff like that it's pretty crazy though

that he's an NHL head coach and he's like not like how do you make line changes no but how do I what are some of the what are some of the best ways to optimize it because I mean he's rolled forward lines

at the WHL level right it's not you know I'm sure there's been moments where he's like I would have done that you know what I mean even while watching like talk at work or watching any NHL game, right? I mean, but, you know, I think spending some time really thinking about, you know, how do I get great at this as quickly as possible? I think that's good evidence of someone who's open-minded about exploring the areas that they don't know. At least that would be sort of my

interpretation of that specific thing that I'd heard earlier in the summer. So yeah, I mean, that's the good news. But, you know, there is still the drawback of this is, no matter how long you've been around the league, no matter, you know, how intelligent you are, there's going to be some things that you can't anticipate because you've never sat in the chair. And that's going to be fascinating, especially given, you know, the importance of the start, hashtag the start for any NHL team, but especially for this Canucks team. And I'd add this, like how compressed the schedule is right off the bat. I know you look through the schedule and it looks pretty soft for the Canucks for the first six weeks. You know, you get Nashville twice, you get Chicago twice, stuff like that. But when

you look at the travel, it's pretty brutal that first month. And it's pretty brutal where it's like you fly back from Nashville, but you have a four and three, including a flight back from Nashville. And the second leg of the back to back is against Edmonton. And it's just like, poof. You know, like the, or the game, you're playing Chicago, but it's a back to back off of a game against Dallas. And it's like suddenly that Chicago game made. isn't a free two points because the schedule, in fact, both Chicago games, you play Chicago second leg of a back-to-back against Dallas. That's not a loss of rookie head coach can afford to sustain, but schedule-wise, that's like a really tough game. You know, that's a, that's a difficult

game, but that's a game early in the season where if you, things haven't started well, if you don't look good in that game, or even if, like, you take it to overtime and find a way to pull it out, like that can make fans in this market nervous, right? And then if it happens again two weeks later, because you play Nashville, you fly back from Nashville, that's a long flight, and then you play the next day against Chicago, and with Edmonton coming into town on the second leg of a back to back thereafter, like, you know, I look at those games and I'm like, that's not easy. That's dangerous. Like, that's really dangerous. So, you know, the experience side of this, I think is super relevant on a number of fronts, but certainly, you know, at the outset, in terms of getting off to a good start, too. I think that dynamic is one that we should be mindful of and watching for. Who's got the bigger responsibility among the...

Okay, so Scott Young, Scott Young is kind of an everything type coach. Brett McLean has the power play. Kevin Dean has the P.K. Yeah, and defense. And the defense. So...

Yeah, that's the biggest job. You think so? The P.K. and the defense? Yeah, because you're handling a matchup at five on five and you're handling a really key portfolio. And I'd add this like when I was doing my sort of offseason analysis and sort of looking through changes, one thing that I found pretty fascinating is Vancouver's power play results. Like in my head, I was like, okay, how do the connects adjust to a world without J.T. Miller on the power play, right? And you'll remember the day they traded J.T. Miller was also the day that Quinn Hughes heard is oblique in Dallas. So like really,

was a big turning point moment for the Canucks in the season because Hughes no longer, you know, thereafter he missed time. And when he got back, he wasn't at an MVP level, right? Like, he wasn't like, oh, wow, this is clearly one of the three most impactful skaters in the league and the other two are McDavid and McKinnon. Right. Yeah. Like this is, for sure. That was, he was still, Quinn Hughes, who's still their best player, but it wasn't at, at that insane level. And obviously also, they lost J.T. Miller, who was vital to what this team wanted to do. And I figured, okay, well, if Quinn Hughes was in and out of the lineup and banged up and they lost Miller, like surely their power play fell off results-wise in the second

half, and the truth is it kind of didn't. Like, the truth is that they were still generating shots and goals at a pretty consistent rate after the trade, which sort of brings me to the PK, which I actually think is a, like, is more destabilized, which was not what I would have assumed. I would have assumed the power play is, you know, replacing J.T. Miller on the power play is going to be more difficult than replacing Pew Souter on the PK. And when you really look at it and you look at sort of how significant Souter's impact has been short-handed relative to team performance across the last two years as Vancouver has found a way to make the PK. I mean, first, something that wasn't an Achilles heel and then a legitimate strength of the team down this latter half of last

season. It was a two-step process. First of all, stop killing the team, second of all. Actually, be good at it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they got there, right? They got there in the second half of the season. Although I will say also, like, I don't, I do think this is like a classic killing time in late July aside here. But I do think we need to back off of PP percentage and PK percentage as just like, it's fine to look at quickly.

but you know the connects were the third best penalty killed by pk percentage but they were minus 35 by actual goal differential right by how much they were outscored short-handed which is more like top 10 than top three and i do think that that's like i do think ultimately like why do we care about a pk percentage why we should only care about how much your pk is outscored and how much your power play outscores right like pk percentage for example doesn't factor in short-handed goals You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.