Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 7/5/24

Episode Date: July 5, 2024

Mike & guest host Jamie Dodd look at the previous day in sports, they preview Canada's huge quarterfinal matchup at Copa this evening versus Venezuela, they rank Canada and USA's projected rosters at the NHL's 4 Nations Faceoff this season, they wonder if Jim Benning ever speak to the Vancouver media again, they preview Sunday's BC Lions game in Hamilton with radio PxP man The Moj, plus the boys do some Ask Us Anythings. 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 Halford and Brough. There you go. High drive. To the pen. Goodbye. Julio with a home run. No members on the board.

It's hard to get bought out. That was my first time pretty much getting fired. So that's it after 20 years. So long, good luck. I don't recall saying good luck. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. 601 on a Friday. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halpert. It is Don. It is Sportsnet 650. The Weekend. Good morning. Hey, dog. Good morning to you. Good morning. And Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Bruff in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle. You getcler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are

of course coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet. What are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Before we do anything today, shout out to everyone that submitted

Ask Us Anything Fridays via Twitter last night. You made our job infinitely easier this morning, and for that we thank you. You were taking solicitations on X, were you? Even that one guy I called a jerk in the inbox yesterday, who may or may not have anything to do with this. You listeners are the best. You people are the

best. If you want to weigh in now, Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. We're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, the best pizza place in the world. If you want to win a $100 gift card, all you got to do is send in and ask us anything and hashtag it AUA. Make it good. You could win a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

Okay. As for what's happening on the program today, 6.30, Sam McKee is going to join us from the Fan 590 in Toronto. You've heard him on Leafs Talk post-game following Leafs games. He's the producer of Kipper and Bourne, and he's doing this despite being on vacation. Wow. What a guy.

Sam McKee is going to join us to talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs offseason. Did they do enough? Is it as radically different enough of a team from last year? Is Mitch Marner going to be the new captain? We will ask all these questions and more of Sam McKee at 630. 7 o'clock, it's AJ705. Peter Baugh is going

to join us from the athletic New York hockey writer, but we're going to ask him specifically about the New York Rangers and the Jacob Truba situation. Very complex. Sounds like they kind of want him to entertain a trade, but he's got a no trade clause. He's also got a wife who's a medical practitioner. She's got her doctorate. She's

working in the New York area. We're going to talk to Peter Baugh from The Athletic about all that and what's next for the New York Rangers captain. 7.30, James Sharman, Footy Prime podcast. He's going to join us. Argentina is through to the semifinals of the Copa

America. They will face the winner of Canada and Venezuela. Tonight, 6 o'clock, the winner will go. And if it's Canada, it's a rematch against the Argentinians from the group stage. We will also look ahead to the Euro quarterfinals. They kick off at 9 a.m. this morning. Two great

matchups this morning. Spain takes on Germany. France takes on Portugal. We'll talk to James Sharman about that at 7.30. 8 o'clock, it's the Moj. Yes, it's the Moj. Bob the Moj Marjanovic will be joining us. Lions are in action this weekend in Laddie's hometown of Hamilton. They will be

facing off. My apologies. Kicking off at 4.30, sorry, on Sunday in Canadian Football League action. As mentioned, $100 gift card to AJ's. It's Ask Us Anything Friday. I'm so excited to get to the show. I'm not even going to do the lineup in reverse. Wow.

I know. Laddie, let's just tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? What happened? Did 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 them online at bccsa.ca. Kind of a light night on Thursday night in the world of Sprott. So we don't have a ton to get into here.

I do want to start with Canadian soccer because I'm allowed to. It's my show. My name's on it. I can do what I want. I can drive it into the ground if I want. Lionel Messi and the Argentinians advance to the semifinal with a shootout victory over Ecuador. I won't go too far down the road on that one

because this is all about Canadian soccer. Canada, yesterday got an emotional lift yesterday. Jamie, I don't know if you saw it or not. No. Tayshaun Buchanan arrived back at the team hotel Canadian soccer. Canada. Yesterday got an emotional lift yesterday, Jamie. I don't know if you saw it or not. No. Tayshaun Buchanan arrived back at the team hotel after undergoing surgery on his broken tibia. The team gave him a standing ovation, lots of hugs as he crutched his way from the bus to the hotel.

And then they lined up for an aerial photo shoot where the players lined up, forming the number 17 with their bodies in memory of tejon buchanan so they've got some motivation going into this match tonight so from your perspective where what are your expectations for this match against venezuela is this a should win is this a big disappointment if they lose and i think in some ways you look at it and say they're already here in the quarters of copa that's pretty pretty impressive. But Venezuela is a nice draw for them as well.

So Venezuela, historically and traditionally, has been one of, if not the weakest, of the South American teams in CONMEBOL. That's their conference. CONMEBOL. It's comprised of 10 countries, and they are the only one that's never qualified for a World Cup. This is actually sort of like a golden generation for them, the way that they played over the last year,

because traditionally they don't do anything at Copa. They do even less in World Cup qualifying. So on that, with that context, you would say, this is a great draw for Canada. This is amazing. I don't get the sense that this team is like fat and happy and full having just qualified for the knockout stages of copa i think that they understand that they've gotten a good drawn there's more to get from this that being

said it is going to be another exceptionally difficult match against a south american opponent who understands the tournament and understands how to play cynical and how to foul constantly and how to grind and work and the dark arts of South American football. I would be, I would be over the moon. If Canada got a result, I would not be bitterly disappointed if they didn't, because this,

the goal was to qualify for this stage. So the goal has been met, but much like the world cup, I left the world cup in 2022 in Qatar. Not that I went, but I went, I left it disappointed because i felt like something was left on the table like not getting a point not getting a result not getting something against belgium not getting something against morocco i would feel the same way there would be a sense of disappointment because the road right now

and i couldn't even if i if you had ever told me that there was a possibility for Canada to play Argentina in the Copa America semifinal in New York in East Rutherford where there would be, it's in New Jersey, but you get the point. There would be 80,000 people

in attendance. It would be the biggest match. Honestly, I think it would be bigger than any of the matches that they played at the World Cup

in terms of importance, in terms of how seriously the opponent would be taking it, as opposed to a group stage match or a chance to go to the final. It would involve Messi, and it would be the biggest profile game, I think, because this tournament is being hosted by the Americans. So the eyes of a lot of people are glued to this one. So I am very excited for tonight's match.

I think you're right that it will feel like something has been left on the table if they don't advance past Venezuela. And look, as you said, there's no easy games against these South American teams, right? Because they know how to take the beautiful game of football and absolutely destroy it and strip it of its beauty and turn it hideously ugly. And that can be tough. But Canada's had that experience in this tournament now, and they've shown they can play that game as well right and i i am uh i'm buoyed by the fact

that they dealt with it really well in the group stage where a team like i don't know the americans lost their heads in a very pivotal moment in the group stage and found themselves on the outside looking in for the knockout stage. Okay, really quick with the Jays. They still suck. I'm shaking my head vigorously. Blue Jays lost 5-3 to the Astros last night. The Blue Jays have now lost 12 of their last 16. It's getting to the point where talking about the futility of this team has become futile

because no changes appear imminent. You were talking, Laddie, prior to the show about the last days of the John Schneider era. team has become futile because no changes appear imminent. You were talking, Laddie, prior to the show about the last days of the John Schneider era. Well, there was a clip that I was playing, and even Adog commented before the show there. He listed off a string of about 12 different cliches in his postgame answers because that's basically all he has left. He even said they got to get the pucks in deep.

Yeah. He grabbed a hockey script, I think, by accident. So the reason I bring up this futility is because it leads into, Jamie, the annual series for the Blue Jays in Seattle, which in past years has been a celebration of the Blue Jays and Canadian baseball and fans invading Seattle, proud of their baseball squadron. I'm not sure the same vibes are going on this weekend.

Well, and especially in recent years, both teams have been playoff contenders, playoff hopefuls. Of course, they met in the playoffs with the Mariners winning, right? So then the one after that has a little bit more bite to it as well. This year, I'm sure there will still be lots of Jays fans there, right? Because you've already bought your tickets, you know, before this year had a chance to go off the rails. You've made your hotel reservations and all that.

But I think it's going to have a much different vibe like this is the most widely despised blue jays team i can remember in a long time right because there have been bad teams obviously but those are teams you kind of didn't expect anything from this this team is unique in that they are wildly underperforming relative to their expectations and we haven't really seen a team like that from the jays for a while so look again as i said there's gonna be lots of fans there but i don't know are like are we gonna hear instead of jays cheering drowning out the mariners are we gonna hear like jays booing oh take over some of these games if they get ugly for toronto i do wonder what the vibes are gonna be like because there's already um there's already a sense of angst with that series from the Mariners perspective.

Like, we've talked to numerous Mariners fans, and then the hosts on KJR, Softie Mallers come on the show a few times. They hate the annual invasion, right? So there's that level of hatred. Stop giving us all your money. Right. We hate this. Yeah. And boosting our economy with all of your monies and then they've got the added now this is a new wrinkle jay's fans going

down there and many of them as you mentioned probably angst ridden with how the season is gone so it's i do wonder how negative and toxic it's going to be down there because there's not a lot of celebration going on no and. And even the Mariners, I mean, they won last night, but they're sliding in a big way, right? And the Jays didn't do them any favors because they just dropped three or four to the Astros who were trying to chase the Mariners. Yeah, I don't love that the Astros are now on fire.

No. The Jays are like, nice lead in the division you got there, Mariners. It'd be a shame if somebody ruined that. Yeah. So the Astros have now won 12 of their last 14 as well and are hot on the heels of the Mariners in the AL West. Okay, I told you I was excited to get into the show today because we did plan a bunch of different stuff

in anticipation of this being a very slow week and, of course, coinciding with everyone taking vacation around Canada Day and then Independence Day in the U.S. So I've come to notice over the last week that people have picked up on that thing that the NHL decided to cram into last week, their busiest week on the calendar. The announcement of the first six for the four nations face off. So Canada, U.S., Sweden and Finland. We kind of glossed over it last week because there was so much stuff on the go.

It's almost like they shouldn't have announced it during all that stuff. Do you remember how much stuff they crammed into that week? Like, why don't we do the Hockey Hall of Fame announcement? much stuff on the go. It's almost like they shouldn't have announced it during all that stuff. Do you remember how much stuff they crammed into that week? Like, why don't we do the Hockey Hall of Fame announcement? Let's do the schedule. Yeah. Can we do the awards? Can we get the awards in there? We'll do the awards as well. What else can we do? So, in the aftermath now, a lot of outlets have

picked up on roster projections for the Four Nations face-off. So, this started at NHL.com. They kicked it off yesterday with their U.S. projected roster. Sirius XM followed it up by doing a Canada roster projection as well. There was a couple different accounts, including that JFreshHockey guy who actually did a vote, got about 1,500, 2,000 people weighing in on who they wanted to see on this Canadian team.

Team Canada is in trouble. So that was your takeaway. Yes, they are. Not in trouble. Okay, Andy. I would see on this Canadian team. Team Canada is in trouble. So that was your takeaway. Yes, they are. They're not in trouble. Okay, Andy. I would bet on the States winning. Okay, how come? They're better.

Okay, good. They're more well-rounded. And Laddy, why do you push back on this? I don't think the gap in the areas that people think the American team is better is as big or as wide as people think it is. Is the biggest edge for the Americans solely in net? Well, that's the big one. That's the biggest edge.

And even then, in a small-sized tournament like that, I think any of these NHL-caliber goalies can do it, especially if Binnington's your starter, which I think is going to be the case. He got voted third in the JFresh poll by the fans, but Hockey Canada loves them some Jordan Binnington, and I think he's going to be the guy, and I think he'll be fine.

He plays on a bad St. Louis team. He had, what, a 9-15 save. And I think he'll be fine. He plays on a bad St. Louis team. He had like a, what, a 9-15 save percentage. So, like, I think he can handle it. He can handle it, guys. I know he's not Connor Hellebuck. USA's D is just as good or better. Their four group is more well-rounded, although I would give Canada the edge in the game breakers by far.

High-end talent, I think. Yeah, okay. Because Canada has McDavid and McKinnon, and maybe that's enough. Like, they have the better high-end talent. Something McDavid just did for the Oilers. But, oh, man, you look at that USAinnon, and maybe that's enough. They have the better high-end talent. That's what McDavid just did for the Oilers. Oh, man, you look at that USA 4 group, it's stacked, too. It's really, really, really good. USA's top four on the blue line is nasty, too.

It's like Quinn Hughes, Adam Fox, Charlie McAvoy, Jacob Slavin. Yeah, their D core is awesome. There's a lot of versatility. I'm not saying Canada's D and 4 group isn't good. It is excellent as all, obviously, but if I was betting, I'd probably pick the States. Okay, so let's start in that then. The candidates, as we kind of came up with here,

are going to be Jordan Binnington, and then it's like Aiden Hill. What do you got? Well, hold on. Jordan Binnington is also... Let's not put him on a pedestal here. But it sounds like he's going to be the guy unless something really dramatic happens over the next six or eight months.

Make of that what you will, but right now I think we can all definitively state that he would be the leader, the leading candidate going into February's Four Nations face-off. So after that, you go Aiden Hill, Connor Ingram, Stuart Skinner. Laddy, is there anyone that we're missing on that list? Levi, maybe if he steps up in the next couple of years. So I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that they're probably going to

take three like most teams do. They'll identify one, and then it'll just be, we're going to sink or swim with you. It won't be this sort of open audition. I got a feeling that even in the tournament, the starter would have to fail quite miserably because there's just be this sort of open audition. I got a feeling that even in the tournament, the starter would have to fail quite miserably because there's just not the depth of talent. Well, even when Canada had goaltending

depth, they still started Cujo in the Olympics the one year, then they went to Brodeur. It's going to be an open competition, obviously. Yeah, I don't know if it will be. I think that they really could benefit from naming a guy and making him the alpha and just making him understand like, you're our guy, Jordan Bennington, with your winning personality and charm i do wonder if the number two guy would be skinner

i do because just because the reputation and yeah experience i do respect what he did in the playoffs this year he was he was in one against the canucks in that second he was in a malaise he was in a he was in a funk and i know that they had to sit him down to reset him. But once he came back, I thought he had a very good Stanley Cup final. I was pretty impressed with how he was able to deal with some failure in a critical moment and come back in that same moment.

You could just do that without the failure part. That'd be great. Yeah. Now, failing, obviously, is not an option at the Four Nations Faceoff. That's just how Stuart Skinner works, though. He's got to fail first. Now, Gurjeet texted in.

This is a good point. Didn't Binnington poop the bed in the World Championships? Yeah, he wasn't great. In front of Team Canada. Is that way against him at all? Or Team Canada is willing to overlook that performance? I think they're willing to overlook it. And Hockey Canada historically has been very kind to players

who have been willing to go to the World Championships and do things for Hockey Canada. So that's why I think they're going to at who have been willing to go to the world championships and do things for hockey Canada. So that's why I think they're going to at least have him as the front. Thanks for going over there and letting in eight goals. Pretty much. I have a question for everyone with the forward group. One guy in particular, does Zach Hyman get a golden ticket because of Connor McDavid?

Chris Kunitz. Does he get to go? Yes. He was voted in on the, uh, Jay fresh one. And he was to go? Yes. He does. He was voted in on the JFresh one, and he was on, specifically put there on McDavid's line. It's really tough to leave a 50-goal scorer off the roster.

Really, really tough. Like, I think even if you're not totally sold on the chemistry thing, I think just in terms of production, he's going to be there. I do wonder if someone of superior talent gets left off because of a quote-unquote chemistry solution. When the... It was like Ladi said. Kunitz with Crosby.

And wasn't it Stamkos that got left behind because of that chemistry thing? Right, and it could be Stamkos this time around too. Which would be kind of hilarious. It's been a tough week for you. Stamkos is like, oh, come on! A friendly reminder to those listening that the first six have already been selected. Sidney Crosby, Nathan McKinnon, Kael McCarr, Brad Marchand, Connor McDavid, and Braden Point. So five forwards and a goalie.

So you're talking about a forward group. We kind of put it to 15 guys. The list of candidates with five spots already taken. So at that point, you're saying Mitch Marner, I would say he's probably... He's a lock. He's as close to a lock as you can get. I think Sam Reinhardt... I think Sam Reinhardt's played his way. Sam Reinhardt's a lock, I think. And

winning the cup, 57 goals. The Jay Fresh poll had him on the fourth line. Imagine fourth line Sam Reinhardt. Oh, but Canada's not very good. They're going to get smoked by the States. Oh, Andy just shot you daggers of death there. They're not going to get smoked, but I bet the U.S. wins. Conor Bedard.

What do you do with Conor Bedard? You take him. You think so? Absolutely. Now, this is one where it could change if he struggles, if he's on pace for like 50 points next year, right? I think that could change. Everyone remembers what happened at the World Hockey Championships, right?

Is that he basically got drummed out at times of a prominent role on the team i think there's two cases to be made here's one you pick your best let's go 13 7 and 3 you pick your best 13 forwards regardless of context and circumstance right what are they going to do in this moment in this tournament? Don't look ahead to 2026. That being said, you might want to have a situation where Bedard gets to hang around and be with Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid at a major international tournament. I don't know if you have the luxury of doing a mentorship program in the middle of it, but you got what I'm saying, right?

I just think he's going to be on pace. By the time, whenever they select the teams, he's going to be on pace for like 40 plus goals and 80 plus points, and he's got that aura about him in that pedigree, and it's just going to be too hard to leave him off. I don't think they're going to take him. Look at the four groups, like just line by line, like comparing them. Like Canada

line one is Hyman, McDavid, Bedard versus Jason Robertson, Austin Matthews, Matthew Kuchuk. Line two is Brad Marchand, Sidney Crosby, Nathan McKinnon versus Jake Gensel, Jack Hughes, Jack Eichel. Line three is Steve Stamkos, Braden Point, Mitch Marner versus JT Miller, Tage Thompson, Clayton Keller. Line four, Barzell, Reinhardt, Stone versus Brady Kachuk, Dylan Larkin,

Kyle Connor. Yes. So, like, it's very close. That's how we're trying to figure out who's on the Canadian team right now. Yeah. And they have the extras as being Wyatt Johnson and Carter Verhage. I heard a case for Wyatt Johnson this morning,

and I think I have time for it, but... Chris Kreider and Brock Besser are the extras. The extras, yeah, okay. Like, it's super close. Right, and then if you go down the list for Canada, the guys probably on the outside looking in, amazingly, are going to be like Stamkos,ggie robert thomas bull horvath one interesting thing about team canada when i was putting this together last night is this and this is very atypical for canada these events they're actually a little short on like no doubt about it

centers yep right now you've got obviously crosby mckinnonon, McDavid, Brayden Point, who's a really good center. So it's not like they're going to struggle to find guys. But typically, you're like taking all these really good centers and moving them to the wings. They got a lot of guys who are like listed at center. Matt Barzell, Sam Reinhart, Stephen Stamkos, but mostly play on the wing at this point in their career. So I do wonder, like somebody like Wyatt Johnston, who's a center, Robert Thomas, who's a center, who takes a ton of face-offs and wins a ton of face-offs, Bo Horvat, who takes a ton of face-offs, wins a ton of face-offs. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody like that beats out maybe a more high-profile name just because they need that extra fifth center or sixth center on the roster. Blue line. So as we mentioned earlier, there's only one lock right now,

and that's Kael McCarr. I think everyone can rightly assume that his D partner in Colorado, Devon Taves, will be on the team. There's another interesting one with Shea Theodore and Alex Petrangelo, right? If you want to get a pairing. Are we keeping the pairings together? Is that what we're going for here? I mean, it's not the worst strategy I've ever seen.

You know, you've got built-in chemistry there, and it is a little bit different than forward lines because those guys are obviously tasked to do more and play more together. It's more about creativity for those guys than the defense. Yeah, and then I go down the list and it's kind of like, I just don't see a ton of stone-cold locks.

Or Bouchard. See, I don't know. I don't know. Bouchard's going to be on the team, for sure. I do wonder what his role ends up being because he's not going to be. Well, he might have a chance to be our play merchant, but you have to kill my car, I guess. Yeah, but I like because oftentimes you end up dressing 13 forwards and seven defensemen at these.

So I could see him being kind of the seventh defenseman power play specialist, but not necessarily taking a regular shift you know i think i don't want to say a lock but like this guy had i think the quietest 70 point season for a defenseman in a long time noah dobson has 70 points yeah and it's like six foot three and right-handed he got some he's gonna be on this team yeah he'll be on yeah i think that your top six now we haven't gone down the road of handedness yet because i don't know exactly how if they'll go right left right you know what i mean like the babcock style but taves mccarr morrissey dobson theodore petrangelo would be a very good top six and that would leave

a guy like bouchard as your seven which is where you're set you're right like he's coming over the boards for special teams and stuff like that um Does Drew Doughty get the honorary, hey, come along for the ride? You've been so great internationally, or is it too long in the tube now? He's so weird to judge because he looked washed, and now he's back suddenly. Yes. So how do you judge a guy like that? I think you can only take one of Petrangelo or Doughty. Give one the honorary Hockey Canada Lifetime Achievement Award. They're both still really

good. Yeah, that's true. But you know what I mean? I don't think you can take both of them because the right side is really strong for Canada. Kale McCarran, Noah Dobson, Alex Petrangelo, Evan Bouchard. I would have all four of them ahead of Doughty. If Doughty was left-handed, I think he'd be a lock, but I think the right side is just really, really

stacked for Canada. Other guys, Adam Pellick, Morgan Riley, who I thought about. I don't think he's going to make it. I don't think he's going to make it. I think it would be, it's almost like his window maybe passed if they had been doing international competition a few years ago where he would have been in the mix, okay. But that's where I'm at with his career trajectory.

I think he said, I just made a case for Drew Doughty, who's like, you know, he's got, he's kind of, he's a tad wash. He's got a little bit of a fork sticking out of his back. But Vince Dunn, Owen Power are the other guys. Owen Power is an interesting one.

Owen Power is the Conor Bedard of the blue line, right? Where it's like you bring him along with the anticipation of hair, soak this all in, understand what it's like to be in a high pressure international situation,

then be ready for the Olympics. And I do wonder about Adam Pellick. I threw his name there and again not the offensive profile that sure other guys were talking about but again to just kind of fill that role as the eighth defenseman physical defensive that type of thing are they allowed shock me to see are they allowed to change their rosters up like right up until the tournament or do they have to lock it in like before the season i think they select kind of like early january i think they name them i mean the only reason i ask is like what if some guy goes on a tear that we don't sure well i think like if i be late add that we're not thinking about only power at like six foot six and the former first overall pick is on pace for you know 70 points in december like he's got a really good shot so

teams can't do that then like they can up until okay so that may change the tournament so again i think it's like early january the nhl it's the nhl's event they can make up they can do that then? Yeah. They can up and tell. Okay. So that may change. Because the tournament's in February. So again, I think it's like early January. It's the NHL's event. They can make up. They can do it. That's true, I guess. Right. They make up rules.

Bring a guy on the day of the tournament. I have all the Canadian forward players here in the points from last season. We want more fringe guys that could make the team. Nick Suzuki had 77 points last year. He's way up there. Center. Nazem Khadri had 75 points. Khadri. Shifley's up there with over 70 points. The issue with

guys like Shifley and Suzuki is that, as Jamie mentioned, there's so many centers, right? So it's like, who are you going to overtake? You can shift a guy over though. No, I know, but there's guys even ahead of them that are going to play that center position. They're going to be bouncing the wing anyway. Shifley, I don't know. He's a center, but is

he like, he's not a defensive center. No. And he's not offensively better than the guys we're talking about. He's more of a playmaker, though. He's a guy that could play his way. If he blew the doors off the competition last year and had an unbelievable start, and you're like, let's strike when the iron's hot here, you could see. And those are the type of players that you have to leave the door open for.

There could also be, like in the case of Wyatt Johnson, that's what they're saying there is like, look at his trajectory. Like he could come out of the gates next year and be one of the top players in the West. And at that point you're saying, well, do we need to reconsider this? Right? God, the stank oven could do it the way that he plays. Right?

I think it's a little bit of a longer gap. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Okay. It is Ask Us Anything Friday on the show. So I threw this out to the listeners via Twitter last night. I believe it's pronounced Scarbacon, but it could be Scarbacon. You'll have to tell me.

Scarbacon slash Scarbacon. But it's a great, great question. Scarbacon. Scarbacon. It's like an event. Yeah. Scarbacon. Scarbacon.

Sounds like a transformer. Yeah, that's what I Going to Scarbacon. Scarbacon. Sounds like a transformer. Yeah, that's what I thought. Scarbacon. He asks via Twitter, when are we as a society or a hockey market going to get the Jim Benning interview? That's a really great question. We've tried.

I checked back and tried to find as many public remarks or appearances or just comments that Jim Benning has made since being dismissed as the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks in December of 2021. So we're coming up on year three of his dismissal here. I do know that two media individuals locally got him to speak on record. It was Sikaris and it was our very own Raja Shergill right from here, right? That was in response to the Trevor Linden interviews and the bit of a media tour that he did that sort of re-litigated the 2017 draft, the Elias Pettersson draft. And there were some remarks made about who wanted to pick who

and who was in what camp and who was in the other camp. And both individuals reached out to Benning and Benning responded. I think it was in the other camp and uh both individuals reached out to benning and benning responded i think it was via text if i had to guess i'm not sure but it was a sort of short cursory here's what i thought i'm glad the team is doing well that was it and then i looked and i looked at different media outlets and maybe even like smaller like local newspapers that might have caught a local man, his grocery shopping. Local man gets fired. Yeah, right?

He just hasn't done any media since. And it's starting to become almost the white whale of Vancouver media in terms of interviews. The person or outlet that lands it, when he's finally ready to talk, it's going to be one of the most anticipated interviews in the market. Do you think he would come on the station if Elias Pedersen, Quinn Hughes, Brock Besser, Thatcher Demko, and JT Miller, all acquisitions of his, lead the Canucks to a Stanley Cup?

I honestly think that might be what it would take. I. I honestly think that's what it would take. That might be what it would take. I don't even think that would do it. I don't see enough. Come on and just be like, well, well, well. But at least there's a hook there where it's not, hey, Jim, do you want to come on our radio station so everyone can yell at you?

Because until something like that happens, that's what it is. And I'm not saying that's wrong. It's just you can understand from his perspective why he wouldn't want to participate in that. That's a it is. And I'm not saying that's wrong. It's just you can understand from his perspective why he wouldn't want to participate in that. That's a very interesting approach. My thought was that it was going to be the time heals all wounds. It'll just be a matter of time before he's ready.

I mean, isn't that sort of what Gillis had as well? It took time before he was ready to re-engage the media. At least with Gillis, it was, okay, time heals all wounds, and then we can remember the good times, right? With Benning, it's like, okay, time transpires, but there's no good times to remember. What are we looking back at here? It's like 404, file not found. You try to look back at the good times.

Second follow-up question to this. If you could only ask one question of Jim Benning, and he was here being candid and forthright and truthful and all that. What would the question be? Why? It's got to be more direct than that. Do you still live day to day? Mine would be... Can you finally share

that information we didn't have? I don't know if he would go down this road. That's the problem you guys have because you don't have all the information. You'd be hooked up to the lie detector. You'd take the truth serum, whatever sort the information you'd be hooked up to the lie detector you'd take the truth serum whatever sort of mechanism you'd use but i would ask if there's one move that you regret above all else what is the one singular move that you regret the most during your time as general manager the one that either was the pivot point from where you think

thought things were going to go well out of the the many, many choices, Jim. Right. What is your worst move? Well, what would you ask? And we're like, why hasn't he done an interview? And it's like, I wouldn't want to do this interview. Yeah. Like, Andy, I appreciate your philosophical approach. You'd just be like, why?

Right? I think I would. I don't know. That's the logical one. It's just, okay, like, move, almost move by move, or just pick one. Like what was the thought process? Why?

Which one are you most frustrated by? I think another tactic I would try is like, what would you change about your approach if you had to do it again? Because there's a lot of things you could point to, right? In terms of player acquisitions, in terms of the small front office and really just relying on him and Wise. But I'd be curious to hear just, okay, what do you think went wrong? What would you change broadly about your approach? If you could do it over,

I don't think you divulge too much, but I would want to know what his relationship with ownership was. I think that kind of steered a lot of the direction of what he did. Right. So I think we, we see the result of what he did, but I'd like to know a little bit more about how the sausage was made. We're talking truth serum as well,

like asking about the Linden situation would be interesting too. That's the, I had three and the third one would be like, what happened between you and Trevor Linden? Like, are you guys on speaking terms? I'd love to, you know,

that would be fascinating because the more that I started thinking about this and kudos to Scarbacon for the question, I was like, man, whoever gets to land that interview that's going to be that's a big one that's a huge one that's a big that that is something that i think every media member that covers this team in this sport in this market would be dying to get because it has been a lengthy radio silence from benning since his dismissal. How's Hamilton, Moj? Not a... We leave

for Hamilton tomorrow. Oh, okay, nice. Looking forward to it. You know, one of my favorite stops in the CFL, little Hess Village, the place we went to last time, I think we're going to go to again. It's called The Mule, great Mexican place. So, yeah, Hamilton, plenty of character, love the hammer.

It's an 0-4 football team, but the Lions have gone up against a couple of winless teams in the last couple of weeks, and they've been difficult challenges. What kind of challenge do the Ticats present on Sunday? Well, I mean, here's a team that's much like Edmonton, played a lot of close games. I think they've only, the four losses, three of them have been by eight points or less.

So a single score every time. I think the big thing with Hamilton is just getting on them and getting on them early. Don't allow them to get any confidence. So if you can jump on them early and, you know, take a 14-0 lead or something like that, they'll probably kind of start thinking here we go again. But, you know, when you have a team that's struggling, you just don't want to give them any life. So I think that's one of the big keys for the lions is dominating the line of scrimmage and as rick campbell says no negative plays don't turn the ball over don't get sacked don't take penalties until being in good shape when lions do that they play some pretty good

football lions with a couple of close wins in their last two games just overall how would you say this team is performing right now on a scale of 10 i probably say maybe a six and a half or a seven i still think there's plenty of room for improvement and if you talk to anybody with the organization there is uh defensively um i still i'm still thinking they're trying to figure out what to do against the run and certain situations with the past they're not really passing towards gary peters and manny ragumba side but the other side still a work in progress that features well jordan perryman ronald kent and fionte evans so they've got to get that cleaned up but offensively i think they've they still want to establish the running game a little bit more they've improved the

running game but i don't think they have the running game where they want it to be. With regards to the injury suffered by linebacker Josh Woods, so he's out for the year with a knee injury. How big a loss is this going to be? I know any time you lose a guy, the heart and soul of the linebacking crew, the middle linebacker, it's tough. But what was Woods bringing to this team to replace? Well, I mean, they were expecting a big year from Josh Wood.

They moved him inside. He gained 10 pounds in the offseason. And talking to Josh, he preferred playing inside because you're a little bit more active inside than when you're on the outside. And, of course, he tore his ACL. And we talked to him the other day. He was in good spirits. He knows what's ahead of him.

He tore the ACL in his other knee. So he knows what he has to do. He feels toward the ACL and his other names, so he knows what he has to do. He feels very confident that he'll be back, but you got Ben Holodik, the UBC product moving back into the middle where he started last year, and you have a veteran like Bola Combo now playing on the outside, and the other thing, too, is that Ryder

Varga's working his way into the mix, and Ryder has a lot of potential. They really like what Ryder Varga brings, the kid from Saskatchewan. So he'll probably be getting more reps. And the thing is with Ryder, too, he missed a lot of training camp. He had mono, so he was basically out of commission for a couple of weeks. But he's starting to get more reps and feel 100%.

And the other thing, too, is they have a kid named Ace Ealy who can play the middle as well. And Ace is a bit of a specimen, although he still probably has to get a little better at some of his reads. We had defensive coordinator and assistant head coach Ryan Phillips on the show last week, and he was talking about, I asked about Christian Covington, right? Sort of a high-profile, big-name acquisition on the defense.

He said it was coming along. Curious to get your thoughts on what you've seen from Covington so far. Yeah, I think probably the same. Number one, he hasn't played in a year, so he's getting up to speed. He was on a practice roster last year in the NFL. And it's a different game, right? It really is. It's kind of funny.

I was talking to Christian the other day about getting after the quarterback. And a lot of times when you play that position, basically you've kind of got a couple of responsibilities. But he said there's only a couple times in games where he felt like he could just go after the quarterback. The other times he had to kind of got a couple of responsibilities, but, you know, he said there's only a couple of times in games where he felt like he could just go after the quarterback. The other times, you know, he had to kind of play run first. But it's a transition, right? I mean, people forget it's a different game.

That yard off the line of scrimmage is different. The 22nd clock is different, right? The downs and distances, for the most part, are kind of different in a way, right? So it's a transition, and I agree with Ryan. He's coming along, and that's when I look at this team, and I say it's like playing at a 6.5 or a 7. This team has the potential to get up to a 9 or a 9.5, right? And like I said, there's still a lot of work left to be done to get there,

but this team can play. And Christian Covington being one of them, there's a lot of players in this team that can play at a higher potential, probably a higher level. Yeah. How much of a higher level can Vernon Adams Jr. get to? Because he's playing at a pretty high level right now. He just won Offensive Player of the Month.

He's on pace for 6,000 yards. But I got to ask, is there more there? No. I don't know if there is more. He's been really good. As they say in football slang he's a dude there's right now and wait till he gets keon hatcher back that's the good news for the lions as well even though they lose woods keon hatcher and tj lee are probably going to suit up for the calgary game in a couple of weeks so um they're already practicing with the team and it's amazing

the the recovery these guys have had from the achilles injuries they both suffered in the uh the playoff game against winnipeg but once you get Keon Hatcher back um man it's just gonna get scary but yeah I mean in terms of VA I mean he's just he's just unconscious sometimes sometimes like things that really impress me and things to look for in his game are not necessarily like you know hitting or Holland streaking down the sidelines or whatever, but a lot of times teams are bringing, you know, numbers, you know, sometimes you're bringing eight guys to the lines, might only have six or seven a block.

And he is hitting that hot receiver. And, you know, they haven't been sacked in three games. A lot of that's on Vernon too, because of the fact that he's getting rid of the ball extremely quickly and finding that hot receiver and also his mobility. I mean, there's a couple of times where he's pulled a little bit of a Houdini stunt and gotten out of trouble.

So again, when you look at what he's doing, man, I don't know if there's much more you can ask for. And Mojo, I know you'll be taking stock of the Canucks as well now, but the dust has settled a little bit on what they did in free agency. So what do you think of the moves they made?

Have they improved based on where they were last season? Well, it's kind of funny. I put that out on Twitter and, you know, is this a better Canuck team than the one that ended the season? And it came down to, I don't know, something like 534 votes and it finished 50-50, right? Literally 50-50. So I wrote my column and I guess the gist of the

column was I'm Kevin Costner and Swigwalt so I kind of thought to myself how am I going to go about this so looked at the team and talked to a couple of scouts and I guess when you look at DeBrusque up front he does so many good things and like I everybody loved the addition of DeBrusque talked to a couple of scouts they loved Sherwood and what he brings to the team and the energy they say if he can take his hockey IQ to the next level he's going to be a really good player and the the one thing that was defensively I mean losing Zdorov you lost him in tangible losing Cole as well I don't think Cole as much and I'll get to that in a sec but with Z the Doroff, you really lost that main streak, right?

A big body. They got a couple of big bodies back in Forbert and DeJarne, but they just don't have that main streak that the Doroff plays with. And they're not capable of playing maybe second-pairing minutes. So now I think you're putting a little more pressure on Tyler Myers to play second minutes. And I think the other thing, too, when you look at Cole, he's a guy that really brought influence to this team last year because he'd been with teams. And I remember the one line that I was told, it was like this team, you know, when he first got there, the Canucks would have some issues and they'd lose the game.

It was like a trauma unit in here some nights, right? I mean, guys that didn't know how to react to losses. But as the season progressed, you know, Rick Talkett and his earn-the-day mentality and that reset mentality that they had really kind of took over, and I think they'll be fine without Cole in the sense that now they've got guys that

have been through a couple of playoff rounds, that have been playing under Talkett for a year and know the routine, so I don't think that one hurts as much, but I think losing Zdorov hurts. Moj, before we let you go, it's sort of an ask us anything, but I just need to follow up.

You just texted Andy about the, Andy, reset this for me. What Moj texted you on our conversations of the biggest dad moves. Yeah, he just said kids in shopping carts. Explain. Well, it's not really a dad move the more I think about it, but it's something that my dad did with me.

So when I was a kid, right, and we went out to whatever. We always used to shop at the Safeway in New West. Okay. Like, anytime I was with my dad, it was always I had to walk, right? I could never, like, like you know ride in a cart or this or that excuse me and like now when i go to a superstore or wherever especially the superstore i see these kids in shopping carts that are like freaking 12 yeah like they can barely squeeze into the cart their parents are wheeling them around i'm like somewhere my dad

is rolling over in his grave i'm like i'm just like it's just it's it's him around i'm like somewhere my dad is rolling over in his grave i'm like i'm just like it's just it's it's insane like i'm like the kid's 12 he can barely fit in the cart hey okay let's put you in the cart like a little toddler i'm just like that blows me away i don't know if it's a dad moment but there's a part of me that almost feels like yelling at these kids and saying walk right get out of the cart so So you're saying I shouldn't get in shopping carts? Is that a faux pas? Put you in the shopping cart when you go? Yeah.

It's like these kids in shopping carts, like the kids like eight, nine, ten years old. Sometimes, like I said, they can barely fit into a shopping cart. And I'm just like, oh, man, give me a break. When they become too large for the pre-existing seat by the handlebars and they're actually sitting in the physical cart where you put the groceries, which I have seen, that's when you know that you're too big to ride in a cart anymore. That's what I'm talking about. It's not the kids that are like in the little where the handlebars are. I'm talking kids literally riding in the body of the cart.

Right. It's just it's just too much. Mo, Hamilton, fly safe there, fly safe back, and we'll do this again next week. Okay. Have a good one, fellas. Yeah, you too.

Thanks. That's Bob the Moj Marjanovic here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650 featuring, yes, featuring Jamie Dodd for the last time

this week. Obviously, it's Friday, so there's no more shows, but next week. The last time until like a couple weeks from now. Yeah. When we're doing it again together.

You're back with him not next week but the following Monday and Tuesday, I think. You get a reprieve before you come back to feature on the show again. So next week,

I'm going to be doing the show. Now, sometimes I say I'm doing it solo, but I'm not. I'm doing it with the dogs. Of course. And actually, we hadn't asked us anything.

Will the dogs ever serve as co-hosts? So Monday and Tuesday of next week, Andy and Greg and I are going to do the show as a triumvirate. We're going to be the three legs of the tripod together. We're going to do the show. Three stooges. Yeah, right? And we're going to do it together.

That's how I want this to be. Monday and Tuesday. Monday shows are always fun. That sounds like a lot of work. It does sound like a lot of work. Andy. Every time we talk about hosting the show or co-hosting, that's the first thing that Andy always does. I don it sounds like a lot of work it does sound like a lot of work handy every time we talk about hosting the show or coasting that's the first thing that andy always does i don't know a lot of work man i'd like to see one of you do the kintec read

i'd like to discuss the hosting pay scale please and then wednesday thursday friday next week we are about to embark on a new challenge a beginning, a new initiative for the Halford & Brough Show is that Josh Elliott-Wolf, young up-and-comer, I believe he's the youngest on-air host here at Sportsnet 650. Sure. We're changing the name of the show to Zoomer and Boomer. We're not going to do that.

Yes, we are. Well, you don't have any choice. I don't even know how to change it back because I'm a boomer. Zooming and they're booming. It's on the computer. Anyway, Josh is going to host a few shows with me. And then he's also going to host a few shows with Brough.

That's going to be later on in the month when I go on vacation. And then at the end of the week, he's going to tell us who he likes working with more. It's actually the end of the month. It's going to be an interesting dynamic because with me, he'll play more of the bruff role where he's not necessarily doing all of the steering of the bus. But when he hosts with bruff, he is going to be tasked with that. So he gets to be the Halford and the bruff. I got to say, I'm a little concerned. I thought I was like the de facto younger. Could work with either of you.

Come in, have some fun for a few days. Josh is going to be featured on the Health and Brough show soon. Once you acknowledge that you did the rotisserie chicken dad dinner, you were out of the running for being the young up and coming host. That was it. We ordered you a pair of Air Monarchs. Younger relative to you two. Not relative to you two not

not relative to society at large we thought about it we're like what if what if we had a young up-and-comer sub 30 category inject some youth yeah step into the role we can offer him a contract he's in the age of 30 anyway so that's all happening uh next week on the halford and brett show on sportsnet 650 we got a little bit of time before we go to break here. Let's dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. Do some Ask Us Anything. Sorry, before you go, I'll reset everything. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. We're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway

for the best Ask Us Anything. Hashtag it AUA. Text line is 650-650. We will award that in the final half hour of the show. Capitol Hill, Ron, Texas. Good morning, gentlemen. In honor of the Rolling Stones in town tonight, they're playing at BC Place.

Are you going? First of all, he says, have you ever been to a Stones concert? What band, current band, would you want to see most? I'm not going tonight. I saw the Stones. I want to say it was in 2005 in Montreal. Great show. Awesome.

In terms of what band I most want to see, speaking of me being an old dad, I'm a massive, massive Bruce Springsteen fan. Wow, you are old. Are you also a journalist by chance? I did not hear that coming. Are you Alan Walsh? I love Springsteen. He's coming in November, I believe. you're also a journalist by chance not hear that coming are you alan walsh um okay i love i love

springsteen he's coming in november i believe tickets are through the roof expensive yeah i've been like hemming and hawing over it i tried to convince my i floated to my wife i was like we get tickets it could be like our joint anniversary present she was like i'm not that interesting this feels more like a jb anniversary present what are you talking about it's like yeah okay never mind how are you try though how old are you i'm 38 you're very you skew young for a springsteen fan yes but i'm old at heart that's true and old of ear apparently um i don't yeah i'm not gonna go i i'm the stones for me are like i understand the cultural significance and i would like to go to a show without having any sort of diehard affinity for them.

I always tell this story, but when I was in Pittsburgh for the Stanley cup final, Sean Gentile, who had on the show yesterday told me and Wyshynski, he's like, I got dirt cheap. You two tickets at Heinz field. I'm like,

I don't even like you two. Yeah. I went, it was like 25 bucks. It was stupid cheap. It was awesome. I had an amazing time. I think I spent like three times the amount of money on beers than I did on tickets.

They were a belt. Now I'm like, I know a good show. I know most of the songs because they've been like, sort of, I've been inundated with them over the last year. Like it was great, but I have no affinity for them whatsoever.

That's the same level that I would put the stones and Springsteen at right now. You know, one of the best concerts that I ever went to that I would love to see again, I don't even care how old this is, I saw the Foo Fighters open for the Red Hot Chili Peppers

at, it was then GM Place. This is about at least 20 years ago. And for some reason, Cool Keith opened up for both of them. I don't know how he fit in. I don't know how he fit in. One of the best concerts I ever saw

was SummerSlam in, I think it was 2000. The wrestling? Yeah. Or summer something. Mick Foley beat The Rock. It was a great concert. It was at BC Place. And Foo Fighters played Deftones.

It was Smashing Pumpkins' last concert ever with their original lineup. Who else was there? Sum 41. And they weren't even a known band then. I think it was one of their first shows. Dude, that was... Oh, Our Lady Peace played.

Such a sick concert. Foo Fighters, so good live. Yeah, the one that I really regret, actually, and it came through, it was when I first started at 650, and I took my job more seriously, so I didn't go out on school nights. So there was a Sunday night show,

and it was the Pixies and Weezer. And actually, the guy had tickets for me and I'm like I can't go, I can't do a concert the night before a show, my how that conversation has changed now I'm there, wait a second I can phone it in, yeah yeah right repeatedly and with aplomb

I had a bucket list concert ripped away from me recently, I had tickets to go see Neil Young and he had cancelled the rest of his summer tour because he's got sick ripped away is a harsh way of putting that but i get well i had the tickets they were in my possession and now they're gone a part of me also is kind of curious like bob dylan still tours and i don't think like he plays like casinos and stuff he doesn't do like big he's doing the gordon lightfoot towards the end of his career and obviously like he plays like casinos and stuff he doesn't do like big he's doing the gordon life foot towards the end yeah and obviously like he's pretty old i don't you know he's never much of a singer to

begin with so i don't know how but like i saw someone posted one of his set lists the other day and it was like he covered multiple sublime songs like he covered santa ria yeah and uh what was the other one it was like i want to say it wasn't great big c but it was something like that it might have been great oh no it was real big world. Is that it? Real big fish. Real big fish. Real big fish. Covered real big fish. I was like, what?

So I kind of just like morbidly curious about what Bob Dylan is up to. I've heard people that went to Dylan shows be like, I didn't recognize even the normal songs that he played. He's just so out there now compared to what it used to be. Since it is what we learned and it's, we can correct what we might've learned. Andy, the concert that you went to, did you call it Summer Slam? Summer something. Summer Salt?

Yeah, that's what it was. Yeah, there you go. Summer Slam. Summer Slam is wrestling. Someone just texted me Summer Salt. Hulk Hogan was there for some reason. Summer Slam. Got up on stage with the foos.

Really weird. What is happening on that stage? What a concert. This is so innovative. Ray Mysterio Jr. just doing a bunch of flips all the time. They don't even have instruments up there. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.