Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 8/12/24

Episode Date: August 12, 2024

Guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Josh Elliott-Wolfe look back at a busy weekend in sports, they talk a memorable Olympics for Canada, plus the boys try and predict what the Canucks opening night roster will be from a forwards perspective. 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 Half in and another one. Cal Wally, three-run shot, second of the night. Here's George Alani bouncing to the outside. And it's a touchdown Seahawks. When you're in the midst of a 22-game hit streak, you usually see days like yesterday that kind of with a soft single were right, and that's it.

But he was doing damage and having multiple hits every single night, it seemed like. Good morning. It is another week of Halford and Brough here on Sportsnet 650. Still no Halford here. Still no Brough. I'm Jamie Dodd. Back for another week with me. This week, he's become a bit of a fixture on the morning show this summer.

Already done a few weeks. Got some more coming up, I believe. He is Josh Elliott-Wolfe. What's going on, Josh? Good morning. Happy to be here. It's still very early. So early. Every Monday I work this show, I'm like, wow, it's early. It never gets later. No. It's always 6 a.m. that we go on the air. Adog, good morning.

Good morning. Had to remember what your keyword there was. Didn't want to throw you off with a what's up or what's going on. Good job. Just stick to good morning. We fear change. Stick to the script. No laddie, however, it is Basketball Ben in Basketball Ben.

Good morning to you as well And this is very special The last four shifts of Basketball Ben's Sportsnet 650 career Coming up with us here on the morning show Monday through Thursday So it's going to be a big Basketball Ben send-off Are you getting emotional? The last dance The last dance, That's exactly right.

I was driving to work and I was like, this is kind of sad. This feels a bit weird. I think of the four of us as, you know, Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc. Rodman. Yeah, Rodman. Exactly. So it's very fitting. The last dance. The last dance for basketball Ben here

at Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. And we're coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider. I asked to do this for you and I immediately messed it up. And you know what? I didn't let Izzy do it. I let you do it and you have not rewarded my confidence in I immediately messed it up. And you know what? I didn't let Izzy do it. I let you do it and you have not rewarded my confidence in you. Try it again. Coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

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I know. I got goosebumps. Wow. Wow, okay. Wow. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Never too early to send your What We Learned submissions. And, of course, we'll do those at 8.30, and you've got a full 72 hours since Friday to work with, so

hit us up. Hasht hashtag WWL in the inbox. Big show today, 6.30, Mike Tenier, NFL analyst. He writes the Too Deep Zone newsletter on Substack, and of course a regular here on the show. He's going to join us, talk a little preseason NFL action, look ahead to the regular season getting going as well. At 7.30, our very own Marcus Fitzgerald of Sportsnet 650. He'll join us.

Of course, Fitzy hosts the Basketball Central show weekly here on the station. So we'll look back at the Olympic basketball tournament, maybe look ahead a little bit to the 2028 addition to the NBA season as well with Fitzy. And at 8 o'clock, a little bit more basketball content. Brian Slusarchuk, he's the co-owner of the Vancouver Bandits, who played in the CEBL, the Canadian Elite Basketball League, championship game yesterday in Montreal. They fall just short.

Really good game, though. So we'll talk to Brian Slusarchuk about that game and his team's season and really where the league is headed as well. Josh, you know I got to do it working in reverse. 8 o'clock, Brian Slusarchuk, the co-owner of the Vancouver Bandits, 7.30, Marcus Fitzgerald from right here on Sportsnet 650, and at 6.30, Mike Tenier, NFL analyst, writes the 2 Deep Zone newsletter on Substack. Before we do any of that, let's talk about what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened?

What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit bccsa.ca. And of course, we've got to stop with the biggest what's happened, which is the Olympics are over. It's all done.

The party is over. Turn the lights off. Everyone's going home. Now, the Paralympics get going in a couple of weeks here, but the Olympics are over and we can talk a little bit big picture about the Olympics, but quick roundup of some of the major events

that happened since we went off the air on Friday morning. First of all, this one was really cool. One of the best moments from a Canadian perspective of the games. Canada wins a surprise gold in the 4x100 men's relay. Very cool, especially in what could be Andre de Grasse's final Olympic race. For him to go out with a gold, I believe he tied Penny Alexia,

because the most decorated Canadian Olympian ever with that medal. Very, very cool moment for him. In breaking, Vancouver's Phil Wizard wins the first and possibly last ever gold. It was not well-precepted. I did not realize coming into the games that it was only on the schedule for this one. LA has already said, no, we're not interested. It's possible it could get back, but we can talk a little bit more. Based on how it went overall, I'm not sure I like its prospects.

I got to apologize to the listeners because I've been building up breakdancing for weeks. It was the most anticipated event for me personally for these Olympics, and they sucked so bad. They were so bad. I was like, this is the lowest bar to win an Olympic gold medal, except our Phil Wizard.

He was awesome. The gold medal winner like deserved it. He was so much better than everyone else. The bulk of the competitors though, I'm like, I think I could have done that. There was a lot to laugh about when it came to breaking it was not we're not we're not talking about our guy no he was because he was so good he did well deserved like he was our cut above the rest the one thing he did that i was like oh my goodness was when he

like matched the one guy's move before yeah as he was doing it i don't i don't like mirrored it i was insane. I did enjoy that it was like dance battles where the other guy was right there watching you. It was like a dance-off. Yeah, it was. I challenged you to a dance-off. And they were kind of staring at each other and like, I'm sending it back to you

in your face with that move. You gotta do like a cool thing at the end. Yeah, exactly. No, no, it's your turn. But then like Phil Wizard could like pause in mid-air in really impressive ways and stuff so he was incredible though the part of it that probably drew the most attention though and i feel kind of bad for like somebody like phil wizard who did an incredible job but it was the uh the woman's competitor from australia ray gun oh my god yes memed for life she leaned into it though you gotta respect For all of the jokes About like Can you imagine If a regular person

Got in the Olympics And tried to do One of these sports Like we basically Saw it on display Yeah we can She was I believe she is

Like a PhD In like dance And I love how the judge Was like I award you No points Cultural dance Yeah All the judges

In each round It was like the Billy Madison judge Was like you have Zero points And we have God and mercy On your soul

Did her thing People laughed about it Long and hard I feel bad She had a good time With it though It was like the Billy Madison judge is like, you have zero points. And you have God and mercy on your soul. So she got up there, did her thing. People laughed about it long and hard. I feel bad. She had a good time with it, though. She had a good time. She leaned into it. It's tough because it is just objectively funny watching her routine. Like, what are you going to do?

It's funny. I do feel a little bad for the other competitors. And I saw somebody point out on Twitter that, okay, so it was here for Paris. It's already out for 2028. The next games following that are in Australia. I believe they're in Brisbane. There would be a chance for them to bring breaking back. But now it's like a national embarrassment for Australia,

the sport of breaking. So I don't know if they're going to want. Because I didn't realize that the IOC has started to give the host city a lot more control over adding new sports. So that's why, for example, baseball is probably going to be back in L.A. because they're like, well, we're in America. We have baseball stadiums. Let's do baseball.

So if Brisbane really pushed for breaking to come back, they could do it. But now they're like, no, everyone associates breaking with us being idiots. We don't want that back at the sport. I will say if you're Phil Wizard, winning the first and only gold in a competition is pretty cool. It's like, all right, I did so well. I was so much better than everyone else. They retired it from the Olympics. That's the only reason.

Phil Wizard. Absolutely nothing else. So, you know, breaking, it was certainly part of the Olympics. We can all say that. It definitely happened. That's going to be something we look back on in 10 years and be like, oh, right. What? Break dancing?

Was that? What? Why did they do that? Was that the Olympic Games? Remember Ray Gunn? Yeah. Oh, man. Oh, Ray Gunn.

In basketball, double gold again for the U.S. Steph Curry hitting four threes in the final few minutes against France to clinch gold for the U.S. in men's basketball. The U.S. women also survive a major, major scare to beat France 67-66. They win their eighth straight gold. And I got to say, my only take, well, not my only takeaway. We'll talk more to Fitzy about it. But one of my big takeaways watching the men's basketball gold medal game was I am even more excited than I already was for NHL players to be back at the Olympics because you look at the kind of that was an iconic moment for basketball fans. put on that type of performance to clinch gold on the court with LeBron James, on the court with Kevin Durant, right?

Kind of the three standard bears in the NBA of their generation. That was a special moment for basketball fans. And it's just been way too long since we've got to see anything like that for hockey in international hockey. And you think about the catalog of iconic moments in the sport of hockey that have come from international best on best play, right? Going all the way back to the Summit Series, the Canada Cup, the Golden Goal, the Miracle on Ice from a non-Canadian perspective. We need to get back to that.

And I was just thinking, you know, looking ahead to the 2026, it's not the same as Steph, LeBron, Curry. But like, could we get, you know get Crosby, McDavid, Bedard on the ice together? Something like that, right? Kind of almost like three different generations of elite Canadian players. And I think the hockey tournament has even more potential to be special

than the basketball tournament does because in the basketball tournament, you have one team loaded with all-stars and then a bunch of other teams with all-stars, like individual all-stars, but not roster spot one through 12 all-stars. In hockey, you've got the American team is going to be loaded. The Swedish team is loaded.

Canada is always loaded. You have multiple star-studded teams going up against each other. So, man, I'm always a huge fan of the NHL players going at the Olympics. I'm always stoked for it. Watching that gold medal game just got me even more stoked for them to be back there. Yeah, the last part there is I think for me the most exciting part is because I can get into basketball at the Olympics and it's a lot of fun. But then in the end, I'm like, well, the U.S. You know the U.S. is going to win.

Almost certainly. It's going to be fun watching them, but they're going to win. Whereas in hockey, there's at least going to be, you mentioned it, there's a few teams. And there's also teams where you can realistically make the case like, hey, you win a one-off game and Finland could win the tournament or whatever team it is. So that's what's going to be exciting.

I don't know. I wonder how this Four Nations thing is going to work and if it's going to be a sufficient enough teaser or if it's going to be like, hey, we've got to wait for the Olympics to really get a taste of how good these players can be when they're playing together and how fun it can be when they're playing together. But, yeah, it's really exciting and it's been too long,

especially like, man, McDavid's going to be almost 30 when the Olympics happen. That's wild. And he has not played in an Olympics. Yep. And that's what I'm looking forward to and seeing who he can play with and actually being able to cheer for Conor McDavid would be fun. Yeah, and that's another good point, right, is that I think it's been so long since we've had NHL players at the Olympics that some fans have started to forget how easy it is to switch your allegiance to the Canadian players. Right. I think you saw that with the NBA.

People who normally are like, oh, I'm a huge LeBron fan, but I hate Steph. It's like, no, I love Steph now because he's playing for the U.S. or vice versa. Right. And I think that's exactly the process that's going to happen for Canadian hockey fans as well. As much as I know, Vancouver fans are furious at Connor McDavid in general after that playoff loss to the Oilers, trust me, once he puts on the Team Canada sweater, you're going to be just fine with Connor McDavid. And it works the other way.

Like when Canadian fans in Vancouver are going to be watching Miller and Hughes, Besser, maybe Demko. I don't want you to succeed. I hate those dudes. Exactly. It completely those dudes. Exactly. It completely goes the opposite way. We all remember the Ryan Kessler experience, right? That got a little hairy in 2010 when he was playing for the Americans.

So quickly doing a bit of, we did a bit of a look back already, maybe a little preemptively on Friday, but I'll throw it past you as well, Josh. I know you were really into these Paris Olympics. Dialed in. What is going to stand out as the kind of big memory or big moment for you um from a canadian perspective i feel like a lot of it for me was in the first week with the like summer back caution swimming was was huge um canada

like the canadian women's soccer team team and everything that went on with that. And especially in the first week in the group stage, they overcame it. The super inspirational story. Obviously, it didn't work out in the long run. No. But that was a big story. And then a sneaky underrated one for me, the rugby sevens. Okay. Women's rugby sevens getting second.

I thought that was a really good story, too. And then the 4x 100 is probably up there. So that would be like my top four, I guess, with most notable things that stick out to me that I'll remember from these Olympics. And breakdancing, of course. Breakdance, Ray Gunn, of course. That's right there at number five.

So yeah, those are the things i think i i tend to lean more towards the the swimming i don't know why well i think summer macintosh just that performance from a canadian at 17 that has to be number one if you're a canadian who was dialed into these olympics that's got to be one of the things you're going to remember most because i think we're going to look back on this hopefully as a debut a coming out party for summer right where she goes on at in LA at 2028 right possibly in Brisbane the next time continuing to do historic performances continuing to rack up medals and this will be kind of the moment she really established herself as as an up-and-coming star not even an up-and-coming star just a even an up-and-coming star, just a star at 17 in the world

of the Olympics. So I think that's got to be up there. You know, if we're just talking memorable and not necessarily good, the basketball disappointment is going to stick with me for a long time. That was a really, really disappointing way to go out. And I know France gets to the gold medal game, puts up a good fight. Maybe they were a little better

than people were giving them credit for coming into that. They're playing in front of their home crowd, but Canada still just completely came out and laid an egg in the first half of that game. Did not really give themselves a chance to be properly competitive in the game. That's very, very disappointing considering the talent on the roster.

I'm going to remember Hammer Throw too. BC, Hammer Throw Powerhouse, stand up. Absolutely. I'm going to remember that from these Olympics too. You can text in, let us know what you're going to remember from the Paris Olympics 650. 650

is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Moving on to some non-Olympic action that happened over the weekend in the CFL. BC Lions lose 33-16 in Edmonton. It's now a three-game losing streak. They're five and four now. Of course, they were five and one after a five-game win streak. They were on top of the West Division. They're now just behind

Saskatchewan in the West Division. Now look, they were without starting quarterback Vernon Adams, but I'll also say the Elks lost their starting QB to injury. Trey Ford in the first half still outperformed the Lions in the second half. So, yes, okay, hey, you're without Vernon Adams. You've got to go to your backup. That's a little concerning, but it's not as if you were completely then outclassed in terms of talent by the Edmonton Elks. So I think – I don't want to say it's panic time if you're a Lions fan here, but three

losses in a row. And we've talked to a bunch of people from the team, guys who cover the team like Moj, and they've been beating the drum for a while that even when they were winning, there's things they need to clean up. I was kind of looking at it, especially that shutout loss to Winnipeg. Maybe that's the wake up call the team needs to really get back to business and start tightening up their game. It hasn't happened yet, but it's

got to happen pretty soon here if they want to keep the dream of hosting the Western Conference Final, giving themselves the best shot possible at going to the Grey Cup if BC plays alive. They've got to turn this around pretty quickly. The other thing is when you're looking for a wake-up call, the Edmonton Elks are not a very good team.

And so when you lose to them, especially when they lose their quarterback early in the game as well, that should be another wake-up call, but we'll see if they do respond to it. Another part of what happened, and this might play into everything going on with the BC Lions, Nathan Rourke was released by the atlanta falcons yesterday so in the last year he's gone from the jaguars to the patriots to the giants

to the falcons obviously has not secured a long-term home south of the border hasn't really found a spot to um find a like find an opportunity hasn't really got that opportunity and at a certain point you kind of start to wonder like hey is that opportunity going to come because when he went to the falcons it was like hey this is a team that had put in a waiver request for you the patriots were ahead of them so they got him instead and it was like hey maybe this is a team that believes in what nathan roar can be though they did have a log jam at quarterback so it was like hey maybe this is a team that believes in what nathan roar can be though they did have a log jam at quarterback so it was hard to see the fit but then when they release you too it's kind of like man is uh is the is the nfl dream coming to an end and look all credit to

him he's probably going to keep trying to pursue a spot somewhere down there if he can land as a third stringer somewhere but if you're a BC Lions fan you're looking at the struggles lately and you're like well you know what would be nice be nice to have him back could it be to his benefit to maybe put together a half season or some time up here to kind of rebuild his stock back he's been a part of I believe four teams in the last year he's not getting the reps in games if he can come back here to a league maybe that helps him i don't know though because he's already put like incredible cfl play on tape so they they know what he can do in the cfl i almost

wonder if there's some downside to him right like if he jumps in mid-season cfl you know like new teammates all of those things if he doesn't have a stellar campaign then is there more downside to him coming back i wonder i think you're right that he's going to give it every opportunity and you never know what shakes out in terms of injuries in terms of practice roster spots between now and the beginning of the season after that point as you start to get into september into mid-september then i think it becomes a more realistic conversation but i also say you know vernon adams not necessarily expected to be out long-term. And before he was injured, and really, you know, before his injury,

his play had started to drop off a little bit. But for a large part of the season, he's playing at a most outstanding player level for the Lions. So it's not as if their big flaw necessarily going forward is going to be quarterback play. I think if there's any chance that Rourke comes back, obviously the Lions are going to be monitoring the situation. You have to work through the scenarios, what it would look like, how much you can help your team. But it's a really fascinating position that I think Rourke finds himself in and the Lions find themselves in regards to a reunion. It could make sense. I don't know if it's the most straightforward path to it happening uh earlier here either um okay over in uh in major league baseball mariners big big win

12-1 over the mets they've turned that mitch hanager walk-off uh double base clearing double into a four-game winning streak now and man i'm sure for Mariners fans to see a 12 up on the board for the runs feels really, really good, given how much that offense has struggled. The only problem, though, is they've turned it into a four-game winning streak, but Houston is on a five-game win streak, so no separation, dead heat

atop the AL West right now between the Mariners and the Astros. And I do also wonder, as good as it must feel to see that 12 uh on the scoreboard if you're a mariners fan there's also got to be a sensation of like guys can we save some of these runs these are so hard for us to come by you don't use them all now we only needed two save the other 10 for other games coming up this is a little worrying here the the other part of this this whole race too is they, is they're two and a half games back of the wild card and chasing Kansas City.

The Twins are there, too. It's going to be interesting to see how that pans out because I still don't, maybe it's just because it's the Royals, I don't fully believe in Kansas City. But also, hey, I don't fully believe in the Mariners, but one of these teams is going to have to make it the Twins, too. You could probably throw in there as well um i i feel like and look they're tied right now but i feel like houston is going to find a way to pull away because they're the astros and that's what they do um but the mariners do have a series coming up against the tigers that starts tomorrow and that's a place where if you're on this winning streak right now, hopefully you can keep it going because that's an opponent you should be beating, and things can happen.

I'm kind of turning my attention to the wild card, though. It's a good point because for a long time it's looked like it's the division or bust for both the Mariners and the Astros, but now for the first time in a while, they've actually climbed ahead of the Red Sox in the wildcard standing. So they're the first team not chasing the Royals for that last wildcard spot, which hasn't been the case for a while thanks to that four-game win streak. So they might have – now they're still two and a half back, but with a long time to play, they might actually have a bit of a backup option to make the playoffs.

Although I will say, as we've seen with the Blue Jays over the years, you want to do everything you can to avoid those wildcard spots. You do not want the random best out of three series to start off your playoffs pursuit. So still lots to play for in the division between the Mariners and the Astros. Should mention as well, Jays lose 8-4 to Oakland. Vladdy's 22-game hit streak ends. So one of the only positive fun things going for Jays fans is no more as Vladdy's 22-game hit streak is history. Finally, I did want to mention, we're going to talk to the co-owner of the team coming up at 8 o'clock. The Vancouver Bandits lose in the Canadian Elite Basketball League Championship game, 97-95 to the Niagara River Lions. This is actually a really good game.

So I don't know if you know, they use, they call it like the Elam ending. In the CEBL, they call it target time. You get down below four minutes in the fourth quarter, and you turn the game clock off. And instead of, you know, finishing it on a timed basis, they add 11 points to the team that's leading, their score, and that becomes the target. And the first team to get to that number wins the game.

Yesterday, it was 96. The Bandits were down 10 plus going into target time and early in target time. They claw all the way back to tie it up 95-95. Unfortunately, Niagara scores on the last possession, but really good game and really good performance from the Bandits. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. welcome back to how to rough on sportsnet 650 it's jamie dodd and josh elliott wolf filling in here how for the rough is brought to you

by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. This hour of Half an Abrupt is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime Craft Beer is full flavor without compromise. Add a liquor store near you

or visit the brewery to see how it's made. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet. What are you waiting for? Kintec. That is what you're waiting for. So 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line.

You can send your What We Learned submissions in. We'll do those at 830. Hashtag WWL. No prize, but again, just do it for the love of the game. The true texters, they don't need a prize. They just do it because they love What We Learned. They get their shots in. That can be you, too.

They're in the practice gym. That's right. A lot of them get in early. So, hey, I'm just saying. Send your What We Learned submission in for your chance to have yours read on the radio. practice gym that's right they get a lot of them get in early so i am just saying send your what we learned submission in for your chance to have yours read on the radio uh we'll do that coming up at 8 30 but right now you know it was funny josh i was talking in the last segment we haven't really done any canucks talk uh over the last week that i've been on the show but we're gonna do it next

as i was saying that somebody texted in hey guys can, can you give us an agenda for when you're going to talk to Canucks? So well-timed. This one's for you, texter in the inbox, unsigned texter. And look, we're still what? We're a month plus out from training camp here. So this is very early, obviously. But at the same time, we're not expecting any big moves here. We have a pretty good idea of what this roster is going to look like pending some training camp battles. You know, we know what the coaching staff

is going to look like all of that. So we can kind of start to walk through just kind of step by step expectations, what to look for areas improvement areas where they can perhaps regress a little bit and kind of start to wrap our heads around what we're looking for from the

Canucks and we can go kind of group by group step by step and we of start to wrap our heads around what we're looking for from the Canucks. And we can go kind of group by group, step by step. And we can start with the forwards today, Josh. Yes. So starting with the forwards, let's just do like an offseason recap, and then we can get fully into expectations and all that. So in terms of what they added to the roster, we all know it's Jake DeBrusque, Danton Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood, and Daniel Sprung. And then they lost Elias Lindholm, Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty.

When I was putting this list together, it felt like I was forgetting someone. But I think that's it. I'm pretty sure that's it. So they gained a few pieces. And the big piece they lost that obviously played a big part in the playoffs was elias lindholm well mckay have played a big role in the playoffs not in a positive sense but he was out there a lot he was in some big positions he had some chances um but yeah so you add the four pieces and the big one obviously being jake debrusque. You hope he can fill in for Lindholm,

but maybe fits in a little bit better being a natural winger and all that. So when you look at it, the biggest storylines, when we're specifically just talking about the forward group, I have a few, and if you have one or two that I'm missing, you can add it. This one, Pedersen, obviously. I mean, look, if you had to draft players were going to spend the most time talking about this season number one obviously with a bullet is elias petterson he is in that regard he is generational like he is going to be under the

microscope coming into this season in a way he hasn't been in his career so far right and that's pretty remarkable when you think about how much attention and how much focus he has been under, right? Going back to his rookie year where there was so much hype, even as recently as last season before he signed his contract and after he signed his contract for that matter. But the conversation and the kind of, I think, reaction, at least from the really plugged-in Canucks fans toward Elias Pettersson,

has gotten much more negative than it's ever been. And there's just I think this is also something that just happens with once your team is good, right? Once your team has real expectations, there is so much pressure for the best players on the team to perform up to their own individual expectations, right? Because now there's real stakes. If Elias Pedersen is not something close to as good as he can be, that's going to prevent the Canucks from accomplishing what they want to accomplish, right? And it's different than, you know, in his first couple of years in the league where it was like, hey, maybe they'll take a step forward. Maybe they'll play some meaningful games. Then there were some years where their team was just really,

really bad and disorganized. Now it matters. And I think it's going to be fascinating to see how Elias Pettersson deals with that extra level of scrutiny. For me, I'm not concerned at all about the regular season. I know we'll probably have people text in like, oh, what we saw, you know, after the All-Star break, that's the real Elias Pettersson. That's what he's going to do.

You know, he's going to put up 70 points or whatever. Elias Pettersson is going to rack up points. He's going to probably be a really good two-way player. He's going to make his line mates better, which I know some people have forgotten that he has the ability to do. But trust me, he absolutely does. I think the conversation only really becomes interesting once they reach the playoffs.

And I'm assuming they will reach the playoffs, but then it's where it's, okay, let's really see where this is going with Elias Pettersson. In the regular season, I have no doubts whatsoever that he's going to be good. Canucks won't win a cup if he's not in this game. Absolutely not. They need him to be exceptional. If they are truly cup contenders now, which I would say they probably are,

at least for the next several years, he has to be their best player, or at least in their top three. If he's not playing to the best of his abilities, especially in the playoffs, they won't win a cup. It's that basic. Yeah, and I do think the conversation of his abilities, especially in the playoffs, they won't win a cup. It's that basic. Yeah, and I do think the conversation with him, it might almost get exhausting to a point during the season. No, impossible.

Because even if he's good, and I agree, I expect him to be good during the regular season, and I have no questions about him, but it's going to be like, well, he's good now, but wait for the playoffs. 100%. And honestly, that is's going to be like, well, he's good now, but wait for the playoffs. We'll see. And honestly, that is kind of a fair response. But the only problem is, like, we're going to spend the whole regular season

debating him, even though nothing he does in the regular season is going to change anyone's opinion. Yes. What I will say is if he starts the season how he ended last season, then there's a big cause for concern. I agree with that. Oh, no. And then that's a big cause for concern yes i agree with that oh no and then that's when you do worry about the regular season he's almost in a no win situation though in the regular season because if he's good or if he's elite people are like well

yeah he's gonna roll their eyes he's getting paid 11.6 million where was this in the playoffs and and all that so it's it going to be something we obviously monitor, but it's going to be hard to have a final say on who's right or what Elias Pettersson is during the regular season. It's up to him to shut his detractors up, right? Yes. He's like, I'll show these guys what I'm made of in the season and in the playoffs.

And if he doesn't do that, then oh my goodness. I think the thing is he's at a position where he can only do that in the playoffs and in the playoffs. And if he doesn't do that, then oh my goodness. I think the thing is he's at a position where he can only do that in the playoffs. Right? Like if he has 115 points and plays near Selke level as a center next year, there's still going to be people saying, I don't care, do it in the playoffs.

And I get it. Elias Pedersen is in Toronto Maple Leafs territory. That's right. What happens between October and the beginning of April does not matter. Does not matter. Nearly as much as that. It's about what happens

game one playoffs. Yeah, absolutely. Next storyline. Oh, and I just want to mention one thing in the inbox. A bunch of people texting in, oh, you guys forgot about Zdorov. You forgot about Big Z.

We're talking forwards here. That's why he was not on the list of departures. So don't worry. We'll get to the defense tomorrow, but we did not forget about nikita zadorov it's just he's not a forward he's a defenseman so that's why he wasn't on the list

played net front a few times he did uh other storyline i i think this is maybe more interesting and we'll get a better answer during the regular season is jake debrusk's fit on the team his role on the team who he's going to play with basically everything involving jake to brusque i think is going to be really really interesting this year and that plays into the petterson conversation because obviously he was brought in to be the winger with elias petterson or is at least going to be given a very long and good opportunity to be Elias Pedersen's winger and if he can fill that role if he can be the guy with Pedersen that's like a huge answer that helps Pedersen that makes the DeBrusque signing look even better there's so many things that could go right with Jake DeBrusque but also the the thing

we've talked about at times over the summer that I do find interesting is there's going to be a temptation to maybe play him with JT Miller because it feels like that would work really well too so it's going to be interesting to see where his fit is and overall like the role on the team too like if he's going to play on the top power play unit which he should and on the penalty kill like how how big is is his role going to be with the Canucks, and how much is Rick Tockett going to trust him to be kind of a go-to guy on this team? You would think he's going to play the fourth most minutes for Canucks forwards, right? After Miller, Pettersson, probably Besser also, although he might eclipse Besser

if he's playing on the penalty kill, right? So third or fourth most minutes for forwards is what you would expect from Jake DeBrusque. And that's a really important role. That is a key guy at forward that they're expecting Jake DeBrusque to be. And I think a big thing with DeBrusque is it ties into the Elias

Pettersson conversation. Obviously, a huge part of the Pettersson conversation was, okay, he's not performing up to his standards, but also you have to look at the environment around him jake debrusk was brought in to improve that environment to fix that environment around line mates for mccabe and lafferty there's only so much he could do i mean that's i will defend him there a little bit that doesn't excuse his play but it does definitely doesn't help either when those are your line mates and i think that if elias petterson as i expect him plays the regular season like he did from you know october through the end of january last year where he was exceptional jake debrask is going to

have a huge year right i referenced this whole idea that elias petterson doesn't make his line mates better which cropped up you know going into the playoffs and after the playoffs but you look at even ilya Mikheyev last year. Through his first 28 games of the season, he had 10 goals and 7 assists. Like, really good second-line numbers playing alongside Elias Pettersson. Look what Ilya Mikheyev did before that, right? Before in his first season as a Canuck. Scored lots of goals playing next to Elias Pettersson.

Andre Kuzmenko scored 39 goals playing next to Elias Pettersson. When Pettersson is on, his line mates do very, very well. And Jake DeBrusque, clearly a cut above offensively, certainly what Ilya Mikheyev and obviously what Sam Lafferty can do. So again, I think Jake DeBrusque has all of the qualities needed to be a really good fit next to Elias Pettersson. And if Pettersson is sharp, if Pettersson is on his game, DeBrusque could have like career high type numbers playing next to him.

That's an incredible opportunity for Jake DeBrusque. Yeah, DeBrusque still has career-high in goals so far, 27. That feels like an easily eclipsable. Yeah, I don't want to say easily. But if he's playing with Pettersson all year. It's in the realm of possibility, for sure. Yeah, if he's on the top power play unit, it's definitely like – I could see him easily being a 30-goal scorer. In my eyes, if that's the role he's on the top power play unit, it's definitely like I could see him easily being a 30 goal

scorer in my eyes if that's the role he's playing all year. And we get a tech 650, 650. I think that a great straight line player like DeBrusque will end up fitting better on the JT Miller line. I think that Pedersen will end up with another rotation of line mates that might eventually end up being Brock Besser. That's the other thing as well that I think people forget is a few years ago, after the lotto line had its good year, we penciled it in the next year.

It was like, oh, look, the lotto line. You don't even have to worry about it. And then it struggled. Things change. And so I do wonder if, like, hey, maybe you get into training camp and Jake DeBrusque, what if he fits better with JT Miller? And what if there's a little bit of chemistry loss between Miller and Besser?

Not that you want that, but it might happen. And maybe Besser ends up fitting better with Pettersson. But the big part of all of that is that you have options now. And that's one thing Patrick Alvin mentioned a lot when he was talking about the free agent signings. It's like, hey, I didn't give Rick Tockett enough options to play with in the forward unit, and that's something he's going to have this season,

is like, hey, if DeBrusque isn't going, or if Nils Hoaglander isn't going, name a player, if they're not going, you're going to have someone who can potentially fill in a spot, or go on a run in the top six, even if it's just temporarily. But I think everything we've heard, you're right. Obviously, we can't pencil in, okay, JT Miller and Brock Besser

are going to spend the whole year together right now because things happen. Having said that, everything we've heard from Rick Tockett on this issue is that he wants to have the duos that in place, at least three duos in place in your top three lines, and then move the other pieces in and around those duos right so he i don't think he wants to be moving brock besser in and around like up and down the lineup he wants to be moving whoever the third guy is next to jt miller and brock besser and it's pretty clear that he that rick talkett views it as jt miller and brock besser which

makes sense it's not just last year you go back to when they were playing with tanner pearson they were really effective they've been really effective not just scoring but as defensive players as well together you're going to give that pairing all the opportunity in the world to continue to show uh how good they can be i think it's pretty clear he views joshua and garland as a duo now maybe not quite as locked in together but as a third line duo we saw what they can do next year so you look at that. Okay. I think he is going to do absolutely everything in his power to make sure that

DeBrusque and Pedersen fit. Like, I don't see a scenario game one where they're not together, where they're not taking, you know, pregame line rushes together, because I don't think you can go away from it just based on what you see in training camp in the preseason you have to give it real games a real opportunity to thrive because you've already got the other duos kind of locked in that you know you like they would have to be it would it would actually

actually be like worst case outcome because they would have to be so bad together in training camp and preseason that you're like okay we can't even like do this exactly and it's like how can you even get that much information out of it in preseason? It would have to be so catastrophic to go away from it. And then if you do play DeBrusque up with JT Miller and Brock Besser,

unless you're moving Besser down to Petey, then there's no one of adequate caliber to be a duo with Pettersson. There are other line mates that could work with him, but not that you're going to lock together as a duo. So it almost has to be DeBrusque, at least to start the year. Yeah. The next storyline I had, can the third line be the third line again? And so one question I have going into this season is who is going to be centering that?

Because you mentioned the duo that we'll probably see of Dakota Joshua and Connor Garland the interesting thing to me about all the winger additions that Canucks made this offseason is it gives you the opportunity to move Pew Suter to center and especially because you didn't add a center you kind of need him to play down the middle can he be the guy on the third line and as much as I like Teddy Bluger i think his fit is much better as a fourth line center and suitor has more of an offensive touch he's still good defensively he can handle himself in his own zone so i wonder if there's maybe even more upside with a joshua suitor garland third line than there would be joshua bluger garland but that being said whoever the

center is i think the storyline going into the season surrounding the bottom six is you spent a decent amount of money on dakota joshua can they be what they were last year in terms of controlling play and honestly you might even need someone like joshua to be even better than he was last season that is also so first of all on the pew suitor question i mean i think people kind of forget that line really started controlling play not racking up numbers but controlling play at a really impressive clip while pew suitor was centering it right and then pew suitor got injured teddy blucher comes in uh and then the shots started going from they started to get the bounces they got really hot they started to produce

but we've seen them control play we've seen them be a really good two-way line with Pugh-Suter in the middle. So I don't think there's any reason to worry that they can't do it again necessarily. I think the bigger conversation is can they afford the luxury of keeping Connor Garland and Dakota Joshua on the third line for the whole year, right? Because we're talking about spots open in the top six. And, okay, you know, can it be Daniel Sprong? Can it be Niels Hoaglander? Do you move Pew Suter back up there? At a certain point, you might have to try guys that you're paying to be,

you know, better than all those other players in the top six, whether it's Garland next to Pedersen, whether it's Dakota Joshua alongside JT Miller and Brock Besser up front, right? Like, if you're just interested in getting the Canucks' six best forwards in the top six, you're probably going Joshua with Miller and Besser and then DeBrusque, Pettersson, and Garland. Yeah. Is that the perfect lineup? Not necessarily.

You know, I know Garland and Petey haven't always clicked next to each other. They haven't got a lot of time next to each other. But that, to me, is, you you know obviously it's such a luxury to have those players on the third line can you find the other pieces in the top six to justify keeping them on the third line because i think if they are in that role again they're going to produce now joshua big new contract there's always comes with some pressure you know he scored at a very impressive rate last year is he going to be able to sustain that all fair questions i i also just wonder how

long can you keep them on the third line how long before their play demands a bigger role on the team yeah for sure and like it does feel like that might be your least preferred outcome because if you can keep them in the bottom six and and have them control the play that would be ideal uh in terms of numbers and and just kind of looking at their overall play uh i did want to throw out like who can take a step next season in the forward group and who are you most worried about regress regression in the forward group and regression i think is going to be maybe a big key word going into this season for the Canucks obviously a lot of guys had career years last year they had high shooting percentages all of that JT Miller, Dakota Joshua, Brock Besser,

Nils Hoaglander are kind of the guys that come to mind to me for regression but in terms of who can take a step the new guys obviously Jake Dabruska I think is the most intriguing but also you could throw Kiefer Sherwood in there and maybe to an extent Danton Heinen as well. Elias Pettersson, a very obvious option. But again, I don't think many people are going to put too much stock into what he does in the regular season. In terms of regression and taking a step,

I kind of think Dakota Joshua fits in both, almost. Okay, so explain. How are you expecting to see him take a step? So if he can find a spot in the top six like hey maybe the the joshua garland duo is split up and for a stretch of time he is trusted playing with jt miller and brock passer or something like that he takes on more of a role in the top six that's how i can see him taking a step maybe even getting time on power play one yeah that power play one's the really interesting thing yeah right because there's there's going to be an open competition for that fifth spot on power play right i think

jake debrus probably gets first shot at it as the big new free agent signing left shot there's a lot of reasons he might work there but dakota joshua if you're looking for a net front guy he showed how good his hands are in tight last year you're paying him now right so if jake de brus doesn't work or if you need to go with different looks at certain points in the year i think kind of the next logical guy up is dakota joshua with how the canucks power play sets up and i i would honestly be really excited to see what he could do if he was top power play unit net front and just being a big body in front of the net. But maybe there's also a reason he hasn't been given that opportunity yet.

But when we talk about like, Hey, how do you make the most out of Dakota Joshua and his contract and get more value out of it? That could be a really interesting route. But then you look at the regression side of it. And, and to me that would be like,

Hey, he hasn't put up numbers like this at any time in his career almost ever and even going back to when he was playing in university like he never put up this many points never put up this many goals is that was last year just kind of a blip and i hope not i don't think it is because everything i've seen from him i'm like there are really encouraging signs in his play. But at the same time, it can be a legitimate question that you're worried about. And when you look at it, did you maybe pay him based on his career year?

And especially for a guy that there was questions about his fitness going into training camp last season, does he get paid and maybe take a step back? So I think the thing with Joshua, we're talking about regression, right? For Joshua, for Besser, for Hoaglander, you know, Miller, you could throw in this category. A lot of guys with like really high percentages, right? Joshua shot over 21%. He's not going to shoot 21% again, right? I get it.

He took a lot of enclosed shots. He could have a high shooting percentage, but it's probably not going to be 21% again. So you have to factor in regression, and I almost think you have to mentally get ahead of it and not be super disappointed when it happens because it is going to happen, and it doesn't mean all of a sudden it was a mistake to sign him. It doesn't mean all of a sudden he's not a good player or he's not a useful player. The key for me is, okay, your shooting percentage might regress, but are you still controlling play right are you still helping to tilt the ice in the Canucks favor and if he's still doing that and he's still contributing on the penalty kill in the case of Joshua maybe you

get some looks on the power play then you can live with a little bit of your regression in in shooting percentage and again like Brock Besser scores 40 goals if he has a 32 goal season to me that's not a disappointment like yeah it'sressing, but it's still a really good productive season for a player in his role. I think the key for the Canucks is going to be to offset some of that very expected, very understandable regression from those guys is getting more from DeBrusque, right? Getting more, getting something from Sprong, from Danton Hy highwind from getting the depth to kind of compensate for the regression from some of the key players from last year i think that's a fair bet they were such a high scoring team early last season it was never going to last we already saw the regression kick in down the stretch and into the playoffs can they find the kind of middle

ground between the two poles of last year and i think the depth gives them an opportunity to do so. Definitely. And just overall confidence level for me, like hard to find any holes in the forward group when we're just talking about the forward group. I still think you can add more as the season goes on, especially another center. But I'm definitely not worried about the Canucks forward group

going into this season. It is Halford and Brough on Sportsnet 650. By the way, 650, 650, you can get your text in, get your what we learned in. Someone texting in, they'd like the idea of Joshua at the net front and potentially DeBrusque on PP2 gives more equal time and a more balanced unit. All right. On the power play. As mentioned, Marcus Fitzgerald from Sportsnet 650 coming up next here.

But right now it is time for the Canadian football report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. Looking back at week 10 and now in the books, kicked off with the rare tie, the Rough Riders and the Red Blacks, 22-22 deadlock in Ottawa on Thursday. The Argonauts took care of the Stampeders. That was a 39-25 win for Toronto, and I'm starting to see a lot of discontent from Calgary Stampeders observers over the state of that franchise.

They fall below 500, 4-5 on the season. Montreal just keeps cruising with a 33-23 win over Hamilton. And as we talked about earlier on in the show, the Elks with their second straight win, giving the Lions their third straight loss, their 33-16 winners, although Elks quarterback Trey Ford did leave the game in the first half of that one. So after week 11, here's how the standings stack up in the CFL. In the West Division, Saskatchewan still on top, 5-3-1 now with that tie in the books for 11 points. BC one point back

at 5-4. So still very, very close at the West Division. That's followed by Calgary, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Montreal continues to be the class of the CFL. They lead the West Division. That's followed by Calgary, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Montreal continues to be the class of the CFL. They lead the East Division with an 8-1 record. Ottawa at 5-2-1 with that tie now, followed by Toronto and Hamilton. That was the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada,

the official life insurance partner of the CFL. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough.