Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 7/4/25
Episode Date: July 4, 2025Guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Israel Fehr look back at the previous day in sports, they preview Saturday's BC Lions matchup at Montreal, which also sees the return of starting quarterback Nathan Rourke, as... Leos commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich joins the show, plus they get a Canucks update from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal. 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.
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You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da And it's lined to center field and the Blue Jays have just swept a four game series from
the Yankees and are now alone in top spot in the American League East.
Take control and you guys set the pace.
It's not the coaches that set the pace.
It's the players who do that.
It's Belcebo in the 8.11.
It's back and it is gone!
Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend has come.
Good morning! Welcome to Halford and Brough here on Sportsnet six fifty no how for no brough
either today they're both on vacation. I'm Jamie Dodd filling in for the day
with me. My guy is real fair. What's going on. It's good to be here Jamie. Yeah.
Good morning. Yeah. I was saying to you on the way in we do a lot of morning
shows together this time of year when the sun is actually up when we're coming
in when you leave home and it's light out it makes such a difference. So this is
gonna be a high energy show for me. I'm feeling good. Good. Yeah. No the last one
we did was December. December it was really it's barely like when we leave
the studio dark. Yeah today I made sure to pack my sunglasses for the drive.
Absolutely you had to do it. So it's myself Jamie. Israel fair in today. We
also of course have a good morning a dog. Good morning. Basketball. Ben is here as well.
What's going on Ben. Good morning. How are we. We're doing very very well. We are coming
to you live from the Kintex studio. Kintex Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered
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And this hour of Haliford & Brough, it's brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's
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1170 Powell Street got a lot of business to get through before we get into the meat of the show
So first off I'll say of course it is an ask us anything Friday
We're gonna give away a hundred dollar gift card for the best what we learn submission as well
So get your get your entries in now either hashtag WWL what you learned
in the last 24 hours in sports or hashtag AUA for an Ask Us Anything. We'll
read a bunch of those in the 830 segment. We'll announce the winner then as well.
We'll try to sprinkle some Ask Us Anythings in throughout the course of
the show too. So hundred dollar gift card to AJ's Pizza for the Best What We Learn submission.
Start sending those in now.
$6.50, $6.50 is the Dumbar Lumber text line.
And I want to remind everyone again, and this is getting really close to the draw date here,
about the Sportsnet $6.50, Jayscare $50, $50, which is live.
You can win half the jackpot.
The other half supports Challenger Baseball, which again is just a fantastic program that helps kids of all abilities across BC thrive through
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don't wait and really don't wait because we only have until July 7th the draw is
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or you can text money to 650 650 now to get the link sent directly to you again jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com
must be 19 or older and live in bc to play let's make a big impact together all right
that's all the business now let's talk about the guest list today.
Six thirty from Sportsnet. Yeah. It's summer man. And it's time to talk Jay's is he. And
it's really time to talk Jay's after they complete a four game sweep of the Yankees
yesterday which we'll get to more and what happened in a second here. So Ben Nicholson
Smith from Sportsnet will talk about the sweep of the Yankees look ahead to the trade deadline
and the rest of the season for the Blue Jays as well.
At 7 o'clock, looking forward to this, Shanri Bassey, who was drafted by the PWHL Vancouver team, and a couple of firsts in that draft pick.
First South Asian woman to be selected in the PWHL draft, and the first player from UBC as well. So a local product being selected by the local team and very
curious to be here to hear a little bit about the experience of being drafted by
an expansion team right and what's the process been like you know you're
checking off a lot of firsts so looking forward to that conversation with
Shan Reid at 7. At 7.30 we'll talk to the Moge big BC Lions game this weekend
we'll get his thoughts on the Canucks free agency as well
And then of course eight o'clock from Donnie and Dolly
The man himself Rick Dollywell, and I understand he does have a Noah Jewelson update for us, which is shocking
This is also his final hit of the summer. There you go to go out strong. Okay, so expect some true fireworks
Yeah
What I'm curious about is who's gonna be the new Noah Jewelson because I cuz I know he's gonna give us a Noah Juleson update cuz it's tradition
But I think we have to find a new I don't want to say irrelevant
That's maybe a little harsh to know it's Wilson, but like not very significant. It's like either. They just signed
Maybe I'm already forgetting his name, but he played on
another NHL hockey team last year
Olivia Joseph Impact he's had on me so far
I mean, I'm sure he's okay. He sounds like a good candidate then for yeah
They were talking about him yesterday being like maybe he's the replacement. Okay, because he might be like, you know, you're 78
Yeah, yeah during injury. We'll run that past all you all who thinks the new Noah
Juleson is gonna be so that's at 8 o'clock
So in reverse Rick Dolly wall at 8 the Moj at 730 Shanri Bassey from the PWHL Vancouver at 8 o'clock. So in reverse, Rick Dollywall at 8, The Moge at 7.30, Shanry Bassi from the PWHL Vancouver at 7 o'clock, Ben Nicholson Smith at 6.30.
But first, of course, let's tell everyone what happened.
Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action
because I was... We know how busy your life can be. You miss 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 bccsa.ca and we will start in the world of the NHL really more than anything just to kind of put a bow
On free agency because the last significant free agent with all due respect to Jack Rossovic assigned yesterday
Nikolai Ehlers no big surprise here
I'm not really sure what took a couple of days in the process because it always looked like it was gonna be Carolina and indeed
It is Carolina signs a six-year deal eight point five million AAV
Indeed it is Carolina, signs a six year deal, 8.5 million AAV, really the last big piece remaining in a weak free agent class this year.
And I think the question is, you know, the Hurricanes have become notorious for being
an exceptional regular season team, winning playoff rounds, sometimes frequently multiple
playoff rounds in a season, but then failing
to measure up when it gets to the conference finals, whether that's against the Lightning
or the Panthers, it's been a struggle for them.
Does this move the needle for you?
The Ehlers edition, and I guess really the sum of their moves this off season, is this
going to allow us to view the Hurricanes in a different light come that time of year May in the playoffs?
I don't think it's quite enough and I like Ehlers
I'll also say part of the reason Jamie that I think it took this long is I bet the Hurricane stat pack
You know, we know they're analytics. Yes. He had two days of reading to the supercomputer was
Spitting out the report. Yeah
He needed because that was the report that he needed time to digest
and he wanted to talk to teams and front offices
and their coaching staffs about how they would use him.
He's obviously a pretty cerebral player
and he's a high skill player.
So he fits, as you said, Jamie,
he was linked to Carolina for a while.
It seemed like if they were going to be able to nab a player
at the top of the market, a marquee name,
he's not a superstar, but he's obviously a very good player.
I just think that they don't have the benefit
of the doubt anymore.
And I don't care how many of the analytics
year after year point to them being
this amazing, amazing team.
They might be the exception to,
hey, a lot of these numbers, for example, do tend to predict future
success.
They do super well on the shot clock.
They have evolved their team.
You look at their defensemen, right?
They're not a team that by and large has smaller mobile defensemen.
They have bigger guys who can defend but play that modern style
it's just that the issue that they have run into is in the playoffs can they
manufacture enough offense and they score enough and Elers is a very
talented player but is he a frontline guy for an NHL team I don't know he
seems to fit in the Ajo Spetsnikov range
where they already they're at.
I think he's a first line player, but is he an elite first line player?
Is the question I think he'll help.
And I think especially, you know, I think one of the things
the Hurricanes are trying to do is transition more to being being able
to score off the rush rather than just dump and chase all the time.
They at least have that element of rush offense in their game.
And I think Ehlers will help with that.
It's it's too much to put on his shoulders to be like, you're the guy who's going to
get us over the hump of the Panthers, right?
It's going to have to come from improvement elsewhere.
I like the fit.
But again, you're right.
It does kind of fit in that Ajo's fetching a cough mold mold more than the next year.
Really good players, really, really good players.
But is it enough to be is it enough for those guys to be your three best forwards on a potential
Stanley cup winning team? And they like, they've had depth, right?
It's not like we've,
they have some interesting young players at the top of the lineup and well,
the rest of the team's not very good.
No part of their strength is that they have depth that they can roll four lines
that they have a line or two that take on tough defensive matchups and, and, and own them, right?
Like the career resurgence of Jordan stall over the last couple of years and
just the, the workload that that guy has taken on they've been, you know,
hitting the wall in the playoffs over and over and over again and look on paper.
Yeah, absolutely.
Adding EELers to this group is a good look. It looks great on paper. Yeah, absolutely adding elers to this group is a good look. It
looks great on paper but there there are some flaws that we have seen with this
team over and over and over again. And the Hurricanes are very much in like
we'll believe it when we see it mode right which maybe is unfair but that's
they have not earned the benefit of the doubt going into the playoffs. If there
was any year that they were gonna break through was this year. Yeah. Because looking back at the way that the the East in particular was being framed heading
into the season, we weren't saying that Florida was going to be this incredible team. The numbers,
the analytics didn't say that either. They had some ups and downs this year. And then once we
got closer to the playoffs, it was like, well well I don't think anybody wants to face a Florida team in the playoffs but talk about
teams with no benefit of the doubt. Toronto was another team near the top of
the standings in the East. It really should have been Carolina's year and they
they went out with maybe their biggest whimper all things considered. They won
the game but it was like such a false consolation prize, right?
And then especially in the first two games of that series, they got absolutely embarrassed.
Um, all right.
I w we'll talk a little bit more free agency later.
We can do some winners and some losers.
I mean, it really is just Jack Rossovich out there in terms of significant names.
And I mean, I'm maybe stretching significant a little bit there anyways with Jack Rossovich,
but do you want to talk a little baseball because man the Toronto Blue Jays complete a four game sweep of the
New York Yankees with an 8-5 win last night they are in sole possession of
first place in the AL East George Springer going absolutely nuclear on the
New York Yankees by my count 8 for 17 with four home runs in the series
35 year old George Springer turning back the clock for the Blue Jays and there's some some pretty impressive stats coming out of this one
First four game sweep of the Yankees at home in franchise history for the Blue Jays
They've played a lot of series now
I know four games isn't always the most common right but wow for the
a lot of series. Now I know four games isn't always the most common, right? But wow, for the never have swept the Yankees and four games at home. 50 years. That's incredible.
First time they've been leading the division this late in the season since 2016. And of
course they've had playoff appearances that have not gone well. So it's not as if they've
never sniffed the postseason, this group of Jays, but to be not just like in
the mix.
Oh yeah.
Wild card team legitimately leading the division at this point in the season hasn't happened
in almost 10 years and to do it by sweeping the big bad Yankees.
You could tell watching the games on TV, the buzz that was in the building.
Oh yeah.
And we'll talk to Ben Nicholson Smith about how the trade deadline
might contribute to that.
But this is the best I think the Jay's fans have been feeling about the team
probably since 2015, 2016 and those playoff appearances.
Yeah, the buzz watching the games over the last few days was was incredibly high.
There's always a bit of energy when the Yankees come to town.
There's always a bit of energy when the Yankees come to town there's always a bit of extra energy over Canada Day and that that being a big game a big game on the calendar for for Blue Jays fans and
for for sports fans in Toronto, but look
That's that shocked me last night
But they hadn't been in place in the mix. As you said Jamie and they've had
Some really good seasons and we're talking about the Hurricanes not getting things done in the playoffs.
The Jays are not even close to what the Hurricanes have done
in the playoffs with this group.
You have to you have to feel a lot better about about where the Jays are at.
And look, I don't know what you can expect from George Springer.
Last year, he was among the worst regulars in the big leagues at the plate.
Prior to that, he'd been very good, very consistent,
carrying over from his Houston days,
his first couple years with the Blue Jays.
He was a really impactful player.
And then the idea that they were gonna lose his production
was one that was, I think, tough to see
how they were gonna overcome,
but he's turned back the clock this year.
He looks fantastic.
Yeah, and I mean, I think like Springer finding the fountain of youth here and finding a way to turn back
the clock has been huge. And then Addison Barger, man, how long,
like since you were covering the Jays, they've been desperate for a middle of
the order lefty bat. Like really, they've been looking at it.
It's always the off season checklist. Can they find one?
To have one kind of like, barger's been a prospect,
but it's almost like a post hype prospect. You know what I mean? Where it's like, ah,
what are we really going to get out of this guy? And then all of a sudden you're going
to play. You always got the positional questions. Yeah. And then he's fulfilling that potential
and he looks amazing at the plate. And those two developments have just been huge for the
J's. We'll talk more about it with Ben Nicholson Smith. I do have a, I have a message though
for some of our listeners and Canucks fans in particular which are most of our listeners because I know and you know Izzy
there's a the Jays are sometimes a controversial subject here on the station. We're getting into
summer and if the Jays are good I want to prepare everyone if they're in first place in the AL East
if they're making moves we're going to be talking about the Jays. I think generally speaking people
are fine with it when they're good. Sure. It's a struggle when they're not.
But when they're good, it is mostly inboxes on board.
Usually this time of year, Izzy and I were saying we've definitely been done
some morning shows in the past together in like August and the Jays are like,
oh, yeah, six games out. And we're like, all right.
It's really like, hey, shy, what's going on?
And it's like, we love it.
It's like, oh, boy, what are we doing here?
Brutal in the summer when they're good.
So thank God
But you know people get they get a little they get their backup
Mariners Mariners are local team. Why are you talking about the Jays, right?
So I have a message if you're a Canucks fan, even if you don't care about the Jays
You should actually be thrilled that the Jays are competitive this year
Even if you hate the Jays you should be thrilled that they're having a good season because the Jays are
basically putting the Canucks plan into motion right now.
We are seeing it play out before our eyes. There's been a lot of this.
This is, I'm not the first person to plan this to mention the similarities here.
I will, because going back, I would say to like 2019,
there's been a lot of similarities I think between the Canucks and the Blue Jays,
2019 Bo Bichette's rookie year, right and Vlad is there too
And then you even had guys like, you know that people were excited about like Cavon Bishio and Lourdes Coriel
And it's like oh man. We got all these young players. We got this young core Bichette and Guerrero their studs
They're gonna carry us. This is incredible
They don't want to play off game. They've been there. They don't want to play off game since then that's 2019
You go back and you tell Jay's fans
in the middle of Bo Bichette's rookie season,
we're gonna be sitting here in 2025,
they won't have won a single playoff game.
I think they'd be shocked and they'd be like,
oh my God, what's gone wrong?
Canucks, similar, think back to the overtime shift, right?
Besser, Hughes, Pedersen, that's end of the 2019 season.
They've been to the playoffs twice since then and same thing like you're sitting
there in that moment.
Oh my gosh, there's all the potential in the world.
We've got Demp go to this is a horror that and then they go out and trade for
JT Miller.
This is this we're going to be a playoff team for years to come and the core just
never was able to live up to that promise and it's the exact same thing with
the Jays and you know going into this, Jays fans were pretty fed up.
There was like, really? We're like, this is what we're doing.
We're running it back. But we're adding Anthony Santander here.
Like, come on, is that really going to get it done?
Is the Blue Jays best player leaving for the New Jersey Devils?
Well, we'll see. No, that's not that.
No, because they want to let you know.
One hole in Jamie's. They locked bloody up.
So that is a difference.
That's a difference for 400 years.
But I think the fan level of optimism on the
cores is like was bottom of the barrel going into this season for the Jays.
It was like, no, come on. This isn't going to work. We've seen this. What are
we doing here? Why are we running it back? We're banging our head against the
wall and credit to Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins who have taken a ton of heat as you
know in the Toronto market. They said no we got talent here we're going to stick with
it we're going to make some additions around the edges but we're going to bet on these
guys we're going to double down on the talent specifically of Vlad and Boba Shat and we're
going to see what they can do. Now they got a long way to go right. As Randi helpfully
pointed out on Twitter they did not know about the series they did not they did not win the World Series last night but
at least they're having the type of season that fans have been crying out
for from this core and it's really it really is the same bet that Canucks
management is making on this version of the Canucks which is okay yeah we know
it hasn't worked it's been, but we see the talent here
and we're going to bet on the talent double or maybe triple down.
So if you're a Canucks fan, even if you're Jay's hater,
you should be absolutely thrilled that this Jay season is playing out the way it is.
I love the take. I love the cross sport comparison.
There is a team that just popped into mind.
It is not the Vancouver Canucks that shares some similarities. Maybe
you'll argue that these core players are a little older. I could point that a lot of
the stuff you outlined is very similar to the Winnipeg Jets. Okay. And that the Winnipeg
Jets have doubled down and doubled down and they've had these great regular seasons and
what's happened in the playoffs. Yeah. At least the Jets though are a consistent
playoff team. You know what I mean? So I, least the Jets though are a consistent playoff team.
You know what I mean? So I...
But the Jays have been a consistent playoff team.
That's true.
With this group, they just...
You just get the benefit of fewer playoff games.
Are you saying the Jets are more...
Like the Jets should be more heartened by the Jays?
I can see that, where it's like...
I think I'm saying that Canucks fans should feel like they're gonna...
If the upside is the Jets maybe
Can win the president's trophy and lose and lose the first round see I almost see more the opposite with the Knox where it's
Like they have more potential to have like 96 points in the regular season, but then be dangerous in the playoffs
You know what I mean? I felt that way throughout this awful season where it's like man if they get in
They'll be they'll be a tough out And obviously they ultimately didn't get all that close
to getting in, if we're being honest,
as much as there were those games where it was like,
well, they're still technically in it,
but we'd given up that race.
But they do have the pieces, Jamie.
I mean, it is the argument
of bringing some of these guys back.
You might, I look at this team, the Canucks team,
and I think it makes me really nostalgic
for the teams of 2020, 2025 years ago
when they were interesting and pretty good,
but also inherently flawed.
Now these teams don't share the same flaws
that those teams did, the West Coast Express era teams,
but they will be, at least in the games
where they're not losing
by like six goals on home ice,
which happened many times last season,
interesting to follow.
And look, if the Jays, if fans wanna buy into your theory
that they should be, not necessarily Jays fans,
Jays fans and Canucks fans, if they share that fandom,
then they'll be able to enjoy the ride. But like you said, if you're a Canucks fans, if they share that fandom, then they'll be able to enjoy the ride.
But like you said, if you're a Canucks fan
who doesn't follow the Jays,
hey, maybe this is something for you
to get a little excited if the Jays
go on a run this summer,
get excited about the Canucks as well.
And Scott texted in,
yeah, I'm not cheering on a Toronto team.
I'm not saying you have to cheer them on,
but as you're gritting your teeth,
listening to us talk about the Blue Jays,
you can at least take solace in the fact, Hey, they made the same bet. The
Canucks are betting and it's working out for them. Maybe it'll work out for the Canucks.
I mean, we're going to get a Bo Bichette trade deadline kind of Brock Bester. Both guys know
for their flow. Are they going to hold on to Bo Bichette at the deadline? Cause maybe
we're going to get a Ross Atkins avail where he said you didn't like the value out there for Bo we're going to keep them.
All right. Speaking of the Canucks another thing that did happen yesterday
really interesting interview with our colleague Ian McIntyre at Sportsnet.ca
with the head coach Adam Foot and you know a lot of it is about the idea of
accountability and the room policing itself, the leadership group
taking that step and and what Adam foot is trying to do or wants to do to kind of facilitate that.
But also, I think very clearly and very smartly, Adam foot drawing the line that it's not his job,
it has to come from the players. And that's a familiar refrain. It's something we've heard
before. And I think that is probably the biggest reason for skepticism
with this Canucks plan is why is it going to be different for this group,
specifically in terms of the accountability, the habits, the work ethic, all of that.
Why is it going to be different for this group
when we've seen it not live up to the standard a bunch of times in the past. So
I encourage everyone to go check that out and I was thinking and we can kind
of throw this out to the listeners maybe we can tackle it a little bit later but
Adam Foote this is gonna be a really tricky coaching job I think it's fair
to say as a rookie head coach for Adam Foote. What will Adam Foote's biggest
challenge as the Canucks head coach be next season?
And the interview with IMAC is talking a lot about the cultural side of things and how he's handling the room and the personalities.
I almost think it's unfair to put that on foot because if you're asking a rookie head coach to come in and take these guys who've been in the league five, six, seven, eight years and all of a sudden snap his fingers and now they're going to learn
how to hold each other accountable. Like that's not that's not Adam foot's job.
He can create the environment. He can help nudge them along the path,
but as he says, it does have to come from them. So I like if the,
if the locker room falls apart again, people are going to point at Adam foot.
I don't think that's entirely fair, but could have that still that could be a possible answer
what will Adam Foote's biggest challenge as Canucks head coach be next season?
some other possible answers managing the center position coaching offense
remember that whole conversation oh yeah dinosaurs dinosaurs behind the bench
integrating young players balancing the goalie tandem so hit us up 650 650
you're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.
You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.
It is Bob the Moj Marjanovic. Moj, what's going on, man?
Good morning, fellas. Absolutely beautiful morning here at YVR South Terminal.
Team is getting ready to depart for Montreal in about half an hour.
So, yeah, it's a beautiful day here.
And tell you what, you never get sick of this view when it's a day like today.
Well, and congratulations also for getting to go to Montreal to cut,
to be with the lines. That's always a pleasure, huh?
That is, Montreal is the best city in the league by far. I mean, you know,
people talk about Toronto, but I don't know, Montreal for me,
just does a field port section with the restaurants,
the history of the city.
If you're a foodie Montreal is just amazing.
Yeah, there's so many things to do,
so many restaurants to hit.
It's a shame that we're only there for one night,
but we try to squeeze in as much as we can.
And when you have a seven o'clock game,
that's even better than a one o'clock game.
Absolutely.
You got more time to get all that food in.
And we usually save the food stuff for the end of the hip mode, but I mean we're here now. So like what's the go-to?
Must have
food item
Restaurant, whatever it is the dish or two Schwartz's. All right. That's a good answer
Are you guys short to those guys are done guys? I would probably be more duns. But I think I'm not picky moach
I would probably be more Duns, but I'm like, I'm not picky moach.
I'll happily eat either.
Yeah.
There's a lot of meat.
Well, someone help her in rough.
We were here last year.
We were here last year and we went over for dinner
and the guy, the fellows, like a bunch of the guys
of their social media content team
and Matt Baker from media relations,
like we're gonna get a hot dog.
We're gonna get a hot dog.
So we stopped by at some hot dog joint at like 12, 31 o'clock.
And then we walked by Duns. Smoked, maybe we want to go for a smoke beef. Oh, yeah, why not? So then we walk
But the time we got those like two o'clock in the morning, but yeah, I mean Montreal you could just gouge on the food
It's amazing what I really miss is
Do you remember Ben's it's it's been gone for a while now bad. Do you remember Ben's it was downtown?
It was it closed like a while ago, but. Bad. You remember Ben's it was downtown. It was,
it closed like a while ago, but that place was amazing. That's the one I miss.
There's a place in Montreal that David Menard recommended and it's a French
name and it's got Pollo in it because obviously it's a chicken place,
but you walk in and they actually have the chickens on a road history, like,
like on a charcoal barbecue grill in the restaurant, right?
It's like, it's almost like a fast food place, but it's like grilled chicken. charcoal barbecue grill in the restaurant, right?
It's like, it's almost like a fast food place, and it's like grilled chicken all by itself.
We had that last year, it was tremendous.
So yeah, anyway, tons of food talk
when you talk about Montreal.
You can't go wrong.
You absolutely cannot go wrong in Montreal.
All right, let's talk about the matchup though
the Lions have with the Montreal Alouettes.
So what's top of mind for you going into this one tomorrow?
Well I think the big thing is getting Nathan Rourke back in the lineup.
Obviously the offense has been this far in the last couple of weeks to get Nathan back and he's going to get this thing hopefully going.
The other thing too with the Lions I think their defense has played pretty well to certain points
but it hasn't been complimentary football. When you get your offense going, clearly it helps your defense.
And there was a situation last game
where the Lions gave up a touchdown drive.
The offense got the ball back against Saskatchewan.
And it was just basically a two and out.
And Saskatchewan got the ball back and marks it again.
So to me, that's just like the best example of it
in the sense that you have to have complimentary football.
When your offense is playing well,
it helps the defense and vice versa.
I mean, it's been a story this season, Moge,
where even in the opener where they come back,
they have a really great second half on offense,
it has been disjointed.
And obviously losing your quarterback
for a couple of games is going to amplify those concerns.
But where is that key for them to find what you're talking about where they have a little
bit more rhythm in the game?
They're getting from the defense what they need to help the offense and vice versa.
Yeah, I just got the tail end of that question.
There's some private jet that had a sentence on here just walking by it.
But if you could just condense that in a one sentence, I think I'll be able to answer it. question there's some private jet that had its engines on here just walking by it but
if you could just condense that in a one sentence i think i'll be able to answer it
what do they need to fix what do they need to fix on defense yeah well i think one of the big things on defense is just playing a lot um better in in terms of their gap integrity and they've
done a pretty good job of that but the problem is sometimes if you just if you just have one misalignment or one guy
missing assignment, the greatest example of that was the what if that game where they
had two guys in one gap and Brady Oliver ripped off that 40 yard run. If the players had executed
their assignments correctly and had been in their gaps, Brady Oliver would have bounced
it outside right into the arms of a player. Instead, he bounced it outside, there was nobody there because two players had the
inside gap and he was off to the races. So the problem with this team right now is
these little things are adding up to big things. Wally Boyne always used to have this
expression, five plays really determine a football game. Right now with the Lions,
they're on the short end of those five players. They're one and four or 0 and 5 in those big
plays. They got to get back on the winning ledger when it comes to those big plays on the defensive side of things Josh Woods
Of course missed most of last season with the ACL injury
Is he close to returning how much of a difference is that going to make for the defense?
Well, he is he will make his season debut tonight
of course injured is towards ACL in the fourth game
last year against Edmonton and he was really looked at as a guy who was going to be a breakout
player for this football team last year and obviously got hurt in the fourth game. He
rehabbed that ACL so he will make his debut against Vaughn Charles. From what I understand
he's going to be limited. I mean of course he missed all of training camp and all that
so they're going to bring him along slowly.
He'll be on special teams and in certain defensive packages.
But I think, much like this team, and I've talked about this,
there's a lot of people that are down on this team.
I really believe that this team will get better as the season progresses.
I think it's going to be a complete polar opposite of what we've seen in years gone by
where the Lions get off to these great starts and then fade at the end.
I mean, last year there were five and one one that finished four and eight, nine and nine overall and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
I see the reverse this year.
I see this team learning what they have to do under new head coach Buck Pierce.
Buck Pierce and the staff learning what these players can and can't do.
And I just think that this team is going to get stronger as the season progresses.
Yeah, I was going to ask you, I mean they're one and three going into this game and obviously,
you know, they've lost three in a row. What's the desperation level? I know it's still early,
but one and four, you don't want to dig yourself that hole even early in the year.
No, no. And I don't think, you know, clearly they want to win every game they play. And
yeah, there's an urgency going into Montreal. The Lions have had some success in Montreal. I think, well, they won their
last two, I want to say five of their last six against the Alouettes in Montreal.
So they feel confident heading into this one. And you know, I don't know if it's
desperation, probably urgency is a better way to describe it. But at the same time,
you know, Nathan Rourke talked about this this week. He says, there's no panic
in the building, yet at the same time, they know, Nathan Rourke talked about this this week. He says there's no panic in the building.
Yet at the same time, they realize what they got to do.
But he also said there's no panic. This is a process.
And, you know, much of what I talked about previously is that they're still kind of
trying to figure out what this team can and can't do from a coaching perspective.
And they're still trying to, you know, figure out what
but Pearson, his staff want from the players.
Rourke comes off as a guy that is is very confident a guy that's very in control
He doesn't have at least on the field super highs and super lows
I know toward the end of last year
He expressed some frustration with how he was playing and how that that went but it's not something that you know
He's not a hothead. He's a guy that that seems to be really locked in
He's dealt with a couple of injuries now since coming back to BC.
Is there the runway here, if he can stay healthy,
that he can be the guy,
which we saw a little bit in the second half
and the opener, that can light up the league
and be that dynamic quarterback for this team?
I think so, I really believe that.
Here's the big difference.
Last year when Nathan Roark came here,
he had a ton of pressure on him,
whether it was the fact that he was looking
to replace Herd and Adams.
Plus it was an awkward situation.
I mean, there was no real animosity or hostility
between the two quarterbacks or anyone on the team,
but it was still an awkward situation.
It was Vernon's team and Nathan was, quote, the quarterback.
And it's interesting, if you just see it
from the start of this year when they had like the very first press conference before
training camp he just seemed loose he just seemed like at ease and you know in
talking to Nathan he said when he was down south there was so much pressure
every time he got into a practice or a game you know one bad throw or one
misread or whatever the case may be. And he was, you
know, he was worried about losing reps or falling down the depth chart or whatever.
And he's come back here and football is kind of funny again. You know what I mean? And
you can see it. He's having a fun time. Now, granted, they're losing. So there's not much
fun in losing. But in terms of how he's handling this pressure and handling, you know, the
being the quarterback of the Lions, I think he's going to be fine.
Moge, let's talk a little Canucks here, and I mean, what's your biggest reaction, biggest takeaway to what they've done,
and I guess maybe more importantly, what they haven't done so far in this summer?
One of the things that I really got in talking to people within the organization last year is that they had to get stronger in their room.
That their room wasn't strong enough, and you kind of saw that when they lost guys like Cole
of the Dorop. They lost a lot of guys that would keep players in check. I don't know maybe like
JT Miller. And we saw the end result was the fact that that locker room dynamic, that dressing room
dynamic was changed and you know you had complete chaos for the most part.
So, and in terms of that relationship I'm talking about,
but I think what they need to do,
and this is from people in your organization,
they've told me they've got to get stronger in that room.
They've got to get to the point where they have
a bunch of veterans that are going to police themselves
rather than having a coaching staff come down on them
for certain situations.
So, I'm looking at these off-season moves fine and dandy,
but I haven't really seen anything to address that issue.
And I think that's something that even Jim Rutherford kind
of hinted at during one of his press media availability
sessions when I asked him the question about bringing
in a new coach and where this locker room was at.
And he admitted it was a great question.
He said it was just the fact that we're
going to have to take a look at that in terms of the
leadership aspect of your coach.
So to me, that's something that it's still kind of the
elephant in the room, so to speak.
Yeah, okay.
You've got a Vander Kane, you've got the exciting,
Deptl and Garland and Bester,
but what have you done to really address one of the bigger
issues with your team and that's getting a stronger
leadership group?
He is Rick Dollywall. Rick what's going on man? How's
it going Jamie Israel? How you guys doing? We're doing very well here. Your last hit
of the year. I know you guys wrapped up the show yesterday on Czech TV so we're
excited to chat with you lots to get into and I mean first like we're sitting
here on July 4th the Canucks have not added a center of any description since the season ended what's going on how are they gonna do it?
Well that's Jamie got to be priority number one right they're going to have
to move somebody out we've heard Dakota Joshua's name we've heard Teddy
Blugger's name do you got to throw in a whole glider to get that done right now
this might be the team that you see day one at training camp.
Looks like Pettersen, Heedle, Ratu, Blugart could be your centers. Do you
guys remember when Vancouver had Pettersen, Miller and Horvat up the middle?
You know and look look look well they they turned Miller and Horvat into top
four defensemen.
That's why they have these glaring holes at centre because they didn't get centres back
to replace Miller and Horvat and that's why they are where they are.
But one team told me last night, Jamie, there's not many centres available.
Where are they going to get them from?
There's too many teams looking for centres.
That's an issue right now for the Canucks.
Now the Canucks called Jack Razlovich a few days ago,
obviously when free agency opened,
but quiet on that front when I checked in this morning.
To get Razlovich, you got to, same thing,
and whether it's a trade or free agency,
you got to move money out.
The center position,
it is without a doubt the number one need for so many teams in the National Hockey League the past
few weeks. The Canucks found that out. The competition for players was just fierce up
the middle of the ice. Canucks have not replaced JT Miller. They just haven't. The Panthers can
easily put Matthew Kachak on LTIR to keep
Evan Rodriguez around, right? Everybody thinks Evan Rodriguez is going to be moved to Florida,
but they could put Kachak on LTIR. Canuck fans now, of course, I love them for this,
they want Mason McTavish. Well, the Canucks couldn't even land Marco Rossi.
Yeah.
And McTavish is 10 times better.
The price on McTavish would be insane out of Anaheim.
Um, I mean, like I, I get it. I understand how fandom works, but if you can't even land Marco Rossi, how the
heck in the world are you going to land?
Mason McTavish, right?
Second line centers, they just don't grow on trees and teams have got them. They don't
want to lose them. And if they do, well, guess what? It's going to cost you a king's ransom. So
look, I don't, I don't, I don't sit here and have a plan on how they're going to get a sentiment.
Like I said to you, this might be the roster as you see it right now, might have to be the roster on day one of trading camp.
Is the Marco Rossi conversation dead with Minnesota? I mean he's still unsigned.
It's not as if they've got a deal done with him. I know it's weird because we're past the draft so they can't use the 15th overall pick anymore in that deal.
But is there, do you think, I mean we always talk about circle back season right with free agents.
Is there a chance that Minnesota and Vancouver circle back with each other? Well, hold on a second the Canucks just
used their first and second round picks right they just used them so okay so are
you gonna use next year's first? I agree right it's a weird time to do a trade for
that reason. They've lost their leverage in terms of giving Minnesota what they
want I mean they just use them by the way. The Connach's
first two picks in the draft were excellent. Tuts and Medvedev really liked those picks
but what I'm trying to tell you is how are you going to use next year's first Jamie on
that and clearly they've already tried the two sides can't come to terms. So I don't know, I think that and also Jamie, how do you fit his
Michael Rossi, seven times seven, how do you fit that on the roster? I don't even
know how to start to begin to, how would you do that? You've been reporting over
the last few days some of the potential negotiations, negotiations that the
Canucks were looking to have on July 1. I think the name that that's been out
there the most is Christian
Dvorak.
And as you mentioned, not able to land the center might be a
long-term project at this point, not something that they can
address this summer.
But do you think that the Canucks look back at the way that
July 1 played out for them and you throw in the extensions for
Garland and Demko in there as well and are happy with the
way that the process played out
over the last few days?
I think so, I think so, but listen,
I still believe getting a center was priority number one
for the Canucks with free agency open.
They were really hoping to land Michael Graham,
that, but they knew he was gonna be expensive.
The Canucks knew his number started with a seven,
they just couldn't get there.
Then they turned their attention to Christian Dvorak.
The agent for Dvorak was very smart.
He had two desperate teams looking for center,
Vancouver and Philly, both going hard at him.
The Canucks offered term three years and 4 million.
Flyers offered the big one year salary over 5 million.
He took the money.
The Canucks weren't the only team
that offered term for Dvorak.
He literally had a good bunch of teams after him.
Canucks recruited Dvorak hard.
Garland played with him in Arizona,
but Rick Pocket coached him in Arizona.
People, they only had seven million to play with when
free agency open and oh my god, why are they after Dvorak? Well, he's really good in the face-off
circle. They like his size, his compete level and his consistency. You know, you only had seven,
you didn't have 17 billion, you didn't have 27 billion, you had seven. So guess what? You identify players and go after them.
The Canucks were looking at Dvorak,
I think as a third line center, not second.
But you know what?
Taked got him.
Taked won his first battle with the Canucks,
the pursuit of Radik Dvorak.
It's very interesting that the Canucks were willing
to spend on Grandland and Dvorak, but not Pia Suter. Suter got his four million a year, two-year deal in St. Louis. Canucks never made him a
serious offer. There was just nothing down the stretch that would just even say that they made
a serious offer to him. The player was willing to give Vancouver a discount. He really liked it.
He didn't want to leave. And you know, his agent was in town in February the Canucks could have you know
He wanted to spark talks and the Canucks said no at that time
They could have got him in the threes at that point. That was a few months ago
So look the PSU da thing is over with they moved on
the other thing about
free agency
before Rick talk it left he talked about adding more
leadership this summer.
He really felt that the leadership on this team, you know, just some older guys.
And the Canucks did something really smart a couple of years ago.
They added Ian Cole on a one-year deal for that exact same reason, leadership.
After giving best for what he wanted, the Canucks had no money left.
If Dvorak would have accepted the Canucks offer, the Canucks could have added one or two more guys and possibly with leadership.
Tauke really missed Zdorov and Cole when it came to the leadership. They just couldn't add that element of leadership in pre-agency because they ran out of money because Besser ate up all what was left.
But I find it interesting that they might've poked around
on a veteran guy if they had money left.
They also, Canucks checked in on Tanner Genole,
but the term in the money was too high.
But that would have been a very popular pick in Vancouver because that's a
guy, 200-plus hits a year, top five fighter in the National Hockey League. He did score 24 goals in
Nashville, I think three or four or five years ago. But anyways, that's a guy that could have
helped solve a lot of issues. We always talk about the Canucks need to be harder to play against,
but it was just the market was crazy for Tanner Janowen. All you got to do is look at what
he got in Boston and you can understand why the Canucks when they made the initial call
were basically, yep, no, we can't do that.
No, that was a wild deal.
That was a wild deal. And he's coming really you know subpar years in terms of being bouncing around
You know team to team and everything and I think in LA he was stuck in the fourth line, but I think there's
People that think he should be playing higher up in the lineup
So anyways look they poked around on a lot of things and a lot of things made sense and a lot of things
Didn't make sense so what they ended up getting done
Of course the the surprise contract for Brock Besser to stay.
And then also we'd heard this kind of coming,
but Connor Garland and Thatcher Demko
signed extensions to stick around as well.
What does it say to you when you see three American players
choose to stay in Vancouver and sign,
in the case of Garland and Besser,
long-term extensions to remain with the Canucks?
Three Americans signed in Vancouver on Canada Day for over 110 million. How about that?
UFA players may not want to play in Vancouver, but don't tell Besser, Demko and Garland. These
guys wanted to stay despite not winning much here. They instructed their agents, all three of them,
to get deals done in Vancouver. People don't realize how close Besser was to leaving. If Dvorak would
have accepted the Canucks offer, Besser would not be in Vancouver. He had Besser at five
serious offers on the table. He was on the pathway to picking a team that morning when
the Canucks called with about an hour left in free agency.
Agent Ben Hankinson waited the Canucks out. He always knew they'd come back at the very
end and they did. He told me that for weeks and weeks and weeks that, you know, I expect
them to take one final stab and I really didn't bingo exactly what happened. Some say the
Islanders, Leafs, Sh sharks, some of the strong offers
for Besser. You can bet that Bo Horvat would have vouched for his good friend
Besser on the island, right? But some of just some of the stuff you hear out
there. Demko and Garland, they did tell their agents, get the deals down in
Vancouver. You know, Demko's agent, excuse me, Jordan Newman discussed with him the
possibility of leaving Vancouver
and signing as a UFA closer to Vancouver, playing it out.
You know, he's from San Diego, right?
There's three teams right there near close to San Diego and California in the NHL, but
Dempco said no.
He said no.
He said, I want nothing to do with that.
He told his agent, get the deal done.
Contract talks started slow,
but then Newman and Jim Rutherford realized both sides
cannot hit a grand slam here.
There's going to have to be some give and take.
The Canucks won on term.
They did a really good job to keep that term low,
but Demko won on the money, right?
He won on the money and boy,
did he do well on the no trade stuff,
no move in all three years of the deal.
Another important thing I wanna mention here,
Newman said the reports of the Canucks trading dam
of no deal was done by July 1st, not true.
He did not get that feeling during negotiations
with the Canucks that if he didn't sign by July 1st,
and there was a bunch of reports that,
oh, they gotta sign it by July 1st, he's gone.
Newman said not true, he did not get that feeling he did not feel that was the
case he still felt that if they didn't sign July 1st but you knew they were
gonna sign because in the meantime they got C-lobs available right the days
before July 1st C-lobs was. And then they drafted Medvedev.
Those two things told you right there
that they were close with Demko, right?
What a week for Garland.
He signs his massive six-year deal,
six years, six million per year,
and then he starts recruiting Besser right away.
The thing the Canucks should do right now
is get Garland working on Quinn Hughes right away.
No kidding.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on it. Yeah, get is get Garland working on Quinn Hughes right away. No kidding. Yeah, get him going.
Get working on Quinn, Quinn, because that's the next big one.
Right guys?
You would have to wonder that Hughes was pleased with the Canucks keeping
three important players.
The easiest way to keep Quinn Hughes is just win, show them a pathway
to being a successful team.
You know, Nikolai Ehlers told his agent, I will take less to play on a winning
team. And he did that.
That guy could have got over 9 million a year if he went for the money.
He didn't go for the money.
He went for the fit, the win, the winning team, the winning culture.
And you know what?
Players do tell agents, I don't want to go for the money.
I want to, I want wanna go to a winning program.
Just players wanna win,
and that's what Quinn Hughes wants to do.
Marshawn Bennett, neck black,
they didn't return to Florida because they lose,
they win, they have a great owner,
they got a winning culture,
they got a great practice facility,
there's no drama.
If Hughes sees those things in Vancouver over the next year,
maybe he stays. But I will say one thing about Adam Foote. He's doing some really good stuff,
meeting with the leadership group, getting them ready for next season. It's really good to see
Elias Pettersson engaged in those leadership meetings. You know, he's a massive key to the
Canucks getting back into the playoffs.
But you know, I think with Besser, Garland and Demko, what a huge statement for those
guys to say, hey, look, we want to come back to Vancouver.
We don't want to leave.
And despite the fact they haven't won a time in Vancouver, usually guys when they don't
win in one place, they want to both and get out of Dodge.
These guys are saying we haven't won much in Vancouver, but we want to stay and I think that's a really really good thing for the Canucks
a big part of the Besser storyline Rick was that
He's he's a very honest guy
He was very open to share that he was hurt by some of the comments by Patrick Alveen and how sort of his value was being framed publicly.
Now, obviously some of that is negotiating.
You talk about his agent saying that,
look, this is a back and forth.
The Canucks will probably come back to us with an offer,
but we've learned in the past few days
that Besser again acknowledged that he was hurt
while understanding the business side of it.
And Patrick Alveen said that he
would say it differently if he were to do it over again.
I know it's something that fans really jumped on and thought that they crossed the line
in the way that they were describing Besser, a guy who's a huge fan favorite.
Obviously now they've been able to come together on a contract, but do you think that the way
that they handled that part of it, the way that Patrick Alvin
and the Canucks handled the part where they were dealing with a guy who definitely wanted
to be here, but also had, you know, his feelings hurt to a certain degree, did they handle
that well enough?
Look, things happen in negotiations.
And this goes for everybody in society.
I don't care if you're buying a house or a car or you're buying a business.
Negotiations go up and down.
There's things that are said,
there's good times in negotiation, there's bad times.
You know, this organization did not treat Bruce Boudreau
well and they apologize for it, right?
And so they, you know, and Besser told Ian McIntyre
that yeah, the Canucks apologized to him for, you know,
that really bothered
Bessier and it really bothered his agent on what was said at the trade deadline. Absolutely it did
but to the Canucks credit they softened that up and you know the Brock said he got an apology for
it. Negotiations go up and down like I mean there's good times there's bad times I don't know what
else to say to you they fixed that they got it done at the end of the day.
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