Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 8/27/25

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk with Utah Mammoth General Manager Bill Armstrong, plus they chat with recently retired NHLer Tyson Barrie.  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. First pitch from Hoffman, and Walner gets underneath it, sends it on a pretty good ride out to right field. On the track, looking up and watching it go. What did I just say? Comes to play. It's swing on high-fly ball, deep left field. Big Chiefs, done it again, everybody.

Two-run home are into the bleachers, deep left field. The theme song. For what? Pokemon. Good morning, MacCher, 6.1.9 Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough.

It is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adaw. Good morning to you. Good morning. All righty.

Good morning to you. as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. This is them online at Sands-trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. We got a lot to get into on the show today. Guest list begins at 6.30 today.

I'm excited for it. We got a four-guester today and a guest at 8.30. I know you love those. And a special guest for you, Jason, Rob. I'm a stadium geek. We'll get to that in a sec. Guess list today begins at 6. 30. Dan Shulman, play-by-play voice of the Blue Jays is going to join the program.

Tough night in Toronto last night. Jays blew a 4-3 lead in the ninth. Four runs, two home runs, eventually losing 7-5 to the twins. A lot of concern, a lot of concern about closer Jeff Hoffman right now, so we'll talk to Dan about all that at 6.30. 7.30, Dan Meese is going to join the program. Dan Meese, the plural of moose. Yeah, he's not a moose, though.

He is an American architect who has designed numerous sports and entertainment facilities, including the Staples Center, which is now, of course, crypto, Saveco Field, which is now, of course, T-Mobile. And most recently, Everton F.C.'s Hill Dickinson Stadium. Yeah, and it's a beautiful stadium on the docks of Liverpool. This is a Jason Brough special, but I, too, am excited to talk to Dan Meese because obviously, Stadia talk, that's how we like to say it around here, Stadia talk. That's very prevalent right now. It's important in Vancouver. Our first question is going to be, if you were to design a practice facility.

Right. Now, how about you took an existing racetrack? He's like, I've never designed a practice facility because I've never seen a professional sports franchise not have one. They all have one. Nobody's ever asked me. Because who would need to build one, you should already have one. So Dan Meese is going to join the program at 730. Very excited to talk to him.

8 o'clock hour, it's already fully booked. I don't know when we're going to do what we learns. I don't know how we're going to do them. But 8 o'clock, Bill Armstrong is going to join us. General manager of the Utah mammoth. Big offseason for the mammoth. First, they were named the mammoth. That was a big deal.

Then they traded for J.J. Baturka. They also signed Nate Schmidt and Brandon Tanniv. So a big off season. We'll talk to Bill about what year one was like in Utah. We should ask Bill what a mammoth is. Sure. And compare his answer to Addox. He's like, I believe it's a retired Lado.

Yes. You know, people keep saying that. Indication! And we'll talk to you, Bill of O what year two has in store for The Mammoth. That's coming up at 8 o'clock. You could do what we learned at 7, by the way. We have an open segment. That's too early for what we learned.

It's way too early. We're not going to get any submissions in. We could do ours. The 6 a.m. listeners are not what we learn people. Tyson Barry's going to join us at 8.30 in the usual what we learned spot. I like the fact that we apparently have 6 a.m. listeners and those dastardly 8.30 a.m.m.m. List. Call the 6-8 listeners the stupid listeners. No, they're the tired listeners.

They're not texting in. They're going to work. Are they tired because they're stupid or are they stupid because they're tired? It's hard to say. But anyway, Tyson Barry's going to join us at 830. Victoria Native 14-year NHL defenseman no longer called it a career on Monday after 822 games in the NHL. Colorado, Toronto, Edmonton, Nashville, and Calgary also represented Canada internationally a few times.

So we'll talk to Tyson about a very lengthy and very decorated NHL career. Hey. Hi. We were coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech, footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. I thought something felt off. I just jumped right into the guest list. I guess I was so excited about Dan Meese and Tyson Barry and Bill Armstrong. Lest we forget, Dan Shalman.

You just really wanted to say four-guester. I love a four-guester. I don't love a three-guester, especially in August. Working in reverse on the four-guessed guest list. Tyson-Berry at 830, Bill Armstrong at 8. Dan Mies at 730 and Dan Shulman at 6.30. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

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

You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies of best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online. B-C-C-S-A.C-S-A. Not a good night for the Toronto Blue Jays and their pen. In particular, Jeff Hoffman,

Mickey Gasper, one of my favorite names, game-tying home run to start off the 9th, and then Matt Walner with this bomb, which will play the audio for, as the go-ahead Jack. Twins rally on the 9th, beat the Jays by an eventual 7-5 scoreline on Tuesday night in Toronto.

Here is the Minnesota Twins call of the Walner Jack that gave them the win on Tuesday night. With the go-ahead run at third base, and Walder with a blast, high and deep to right center field, back it goes to the wall, and that is gone. Matt Walder, puts the twins on top as he homers for the third straight game. It's number 20, and the boo-birds are out here in Toronto as the twins, surge in front seven-four.

Let's go. Yes, yes. Let's go. You drop the let's go in there. That's great. the boo birds were out in a major way for Jeff Hoffman yesterday and that was about as bad of a ninth that you're going to get from a closer because he just looked off right from the start.

Gasper and I think that was his first home run of the year like a light hitting Mickey Gasper got up there and in what's been a problem for Hoffman oftentimes it's that first batter that he faces in the ninth or the early batters in a closing situation. and then it just got worse from there. They uncorked a wild pitch to actually hit a guy. And then the first pitch that Walner saw a 96 mile an hour

right down the pipe, there it is right there. Out of the yard, Jays lose, and there's some consternation about the closer. So is this how we're going to, assuming the Jays make the playoffs,

is this how we're going to live watching this team? Yes. Like, just terrified of what's going to happen in later innings? God forbid the Jays have a lead. So there's a few stats. floating around right now that would suggest

yeah that's how we're going to live. The first one and the most distressing one is the amount of home runs that Hoffman gives up. He's allowed 12 in the 8th inning or later this year. It's a whole team problem but it's also a Hoffman thing because of he gives up

like we gave up two jacks last night so that bumped him from 10 to 12 but the next closest reliever in baseball to give up that many home runs in the 8th inning or later is sitting at 8. So he's got the lead by a considerable margin. Also in Jason passed along this stat in our text thread yesterday. The Js have the worst bullpen ERA.

It's almost at 6. It's 597 in Major League Baseball since July 27th. So as... What an odd day to start that... As the calendar almost turned to August. It's the last month. The last month. Yeah, you start to see a bullpen that's gotten more and more shaky as the month is progressing.

We get closer to the playoffs because now we're only 29 games away from the playoffs. Yeah. and then watching the Mariners game last night and the Padres who really and the Padres who really invested in their bullpen bring in two guys they call them high leverage arms they call them yeah

and so these guys were throwing absolute gas and then they bring in their big time closer and it's not like they mowed down the Mariners one two three one two three one two three one two three but they did protect a one-run lead and those guys had to go through the best Mariners hitters twice and they got it done.

Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see what the Jays do with this moving forward because yesterday, we had the conversation we're like, what a well-rounded baseball team. They're healthy, they get contributions from everyone. They're having arguments about what the rotation's going to look like because they have too many guys. Let's play some audio now.

This is Tim McAuliffe and Ben Nicholson-Smith. On the bullpen, McCallough asking the questions, Nicholson Smith, answering them specifically about what to do next with the bullpen and specifically Jeff Hoffman. What's happening with Jeff Hoffman in the month of August? Three blown saves, three saves. What's the level of concern surrounding the Jays closing? It's real.

I think it has to be real just when you look at how frustrating this outing was. I mean, this is a game the Blue Jays really had right in front of them. It was right there for them to win even after Louis Varlane struggled and allowed one run in and the sixth. But Jeff Hoffman, two home runs, like you said, Tim. I mean, this was rough. So the concern level, it has to be real. Now, we did hear from John Schneider,

and he was really backing his guy, not a surprise to see that from the Blue Jays manager. He was saying that they have a lot of trust in Jeff Hoffman, a lot of trust in all of those relievers. So I'm not expecting a drastic change by any stretch. But, yeah, they need to turn this around. He's allowed 12 home runs this year, and that's a lot of home runs for a closer to allow.

that clip was playing, Laddie got my ear and he said, I got something to say, Laddie? Well, the next question, obviously, is if you're replacing Jeff Hoffman in the bullpen, who are you replacing him with? That's a great question. There is nobody. The second half numbers in particular, because you look at a guy

like, hey, maybe Aral Rodriguez, he has a 6.59 ERA in the second half. Brendan Little, he's been terrible. Louis Varland, he's got closing potential. He's been terrible since coming over from the twins. Braden Fisher, he's been up and down. Who are you going to put in there over Hoffman?

Should they have flat? But I don't think this is about Hoffman in particular. This is about the bullpen and just like, I mean, Hoffman obviously might be the main character in this. But is it maybe something that should have been addressed more aggressively at the deadline? So they did get Sir Anthony, one of my favorite names on the planet, Sir Anthony Dominguez, and he worked the eighth. Did you think that there was a possibility of leaving him in for the ninth?

But if you do that, do you further erode the confidence of Hoffman? because that is a spot where your number one closer is supposed to come in for. I do love all of the ideas that are being throwing out where at the point where it's like, there's no bad ideas right now. A lot of people saying like, let's convert one of these excess starters into a closer. Sure's her. Great time to do that. Sure'ser.

Get them in there. How about some of these starters start throwing some complete games out there? See, now there's another thought. Jack, you wouldn't have this problem with Jack Morris. No, you wouldn't at all. He would have gone the distance and then some. He would have pitched into the 13th inning if you would have allowed him. I don't know what's going to happen here,

but the other really concerning thing for me is if you go back and you look at Jeff Hoffman's brief playoff history in his two years with the Phillies, also not good. In matter of fact, last year with the Phillies, his ERA was a whopping 40, which is tough to do.

It's tough to get an ERA of 40, but he managed to get it. If there's going to be an Achilles heel for probably every team going into the playoffs, right? No, there's not a perfect team in baseball. everyone's going to have their weakness. Maybe the good thing is that the Jays have identified theirs now and they can try and go well fixing it.

But as you pointed out, do you have an answer on hand? And as Jason pointed out, did you miss the opportunity to address it at the deadline when a lot of other teams went out and got those arms? And a lot of Jays fans are saying, oh, you're Savage, bring them up, bring out. He's averaging four walks per game still in the minors. I don't think he's a legit option, especially for closer position. They're kind of between a rock and a heart place right now. They have to figure it out with Hoffman.

So Jason alluded to this earlier. The other game last night that a lot of people were paying attention to was the Padres and the Mariners' second game of that series. Padres got back thanks to a 5-0 lead, which was whittled away, but then they came back and beat the M's 7 to 6 on Tuesday night. You did mention that Padres bullpen, and it is pretty lethal. Like all of the guys that can come in and throw pretty much close to 100,

almost every single pitch is remarkable. Like you were talking about Mason Miller yesterday. my guy, the former Oakland Athletic, who... He had 103. He has the fastest recorded pitch in MLB All-Star history. He throw... I mean, the problem with him, unfortunately, is that sometimes he relies on the gas a little too much.

Well, the Mariners nearly did get to him. Yeah. Like, he just likes to try and overpower guys. I would, if I threw 103 miles an hour, I would also try and throw every fastball imaginable. Like, it's pretty cool, right? But Suarez also... Of course a pretty hard slider, too.

Yeah, it's all coming in pretty quick. But it's, yeah, so that series wraps the next. It's an afternoon affair. We'll keep our eyes on that one as well. I'm trying to get through all of this because we do need to get to two of the biggest stories of yesterday. Canada announcing its roster

for a pair of upcoming friendlies and of course Taylor Swift getting engaged to Travis Kelsey. Yeah. I broke the news to my family. There was a lot of excitement. And I was like, my first thought was,

how is this going to affect the Chiefs? Yeah. as a Travis Kelsey fantasy owner I'm not loving it he seemed like he was really focused going into this season Travis Kelsey He's got to plan a wedding Yeah there's a lot that goes into it

Right you got to get a DJ Is he going to do that? Is she going to do that She's probably busier than he is When he was going into this season Travis Kelsey spoke a lot About how disappointed he was With last year

I don't know if you're all that familiar With what he did last year But it wasn't a lot on the football field and a lot of people were very critical of his lack of production and a lot of people projected that perhaps he was too distracted with things outside of football like his podcast, his world famous girlfriend,

now fiancé. So he was very pointed in his remarks in the offseason that he wanted to get back to the player that means the future Hall of Famer, right? Wanted to get back to that level where he was one of the best tight ends in football, one of those productive tight ends in football, and he was going to help the Kansas City Chiefs

win another Super Bowl. And now he's engaged to Taylor Swift, and I feel like that might be a distraction. I don't know. I feel like this might be a distraction because everybody, and I mean everyone, was asked for their opinion yesterday,

including the president, who had some very nice things to say, weirdly enough. What do you have to say? He said that he wishes them. He's not a big Taylor Swift guy, right? He said she was a very nice person. You know what?

Sometimes he contradicts himself a little bit. I don't know if anyone's noticed that. The big Cheeto, God bless him. He changed his much. mind yesterday for a brief moment. Also to Cracker Barrel. It just shows that you can do it. You can change your mind.

You can. You can go one way and then, bang. You're back to, what's the guy's name? The Cracker Barrel, uh, you know it. I don't because you told me this morning. Uncle, Uncle Herschel?

Hurtes. No, Uncle Herschel, yeah. Uncle Herschel is back. He's a good guy. You say Uncle Cletus? Cletus, yeah. That's my first thought. Get off the dang roof.

Well, I can understand why they would cancel him if his name was Cletus. But anyway, okay, we got a couple minutes here. I didn't want to talk about the Canadian men's national team. Yesterday, they announced their squad for upcoming friendlies against Romania and Wales. Now, for those of you being like, why are you focusing on this? Well, this is a couple things. One, all these friendlies do really matter for this team because they don't have any more competitive matches before the 2026 World Cup.

And by the way, the World Cup was in Vancouver yesterday. Did you see that? It made an appearance at the Italian Cultural Center yesterday. Yeah, if there was one place it was going to go is the Italian Culture. So Vic Montagnan, he pulled some strings. He's like, you know where this thing's going? It's not going to the Croatian center. It's going to the Italian center.

Did you go? Did you see it? No, my kid went, though. Oh, okay. I got some pictures with it. So that was cool. Yeah, yeah. So Trump was holding it recently.

He was. Yeah, and he still got the FIFA Club World Cup in his, in the Oval Office. I think. I don't get, Chelsea was like, whatever. Just can keep it. They're like, we need that back. You'd whip back. No one really want for no one.

Oh, damn it. It was one. those. Was it when Robert Kraft let Putin have his Super Bowl ring to try on? And then it like mysteriously disappeared. That's what the same conversation

was like. That's good power. That's just like, you know what? You gave that to me to look at it? But I'm going to keep it. What are you going to do about it? That's like Omar on the wire. That's what he used to do. Like the Simpson's like, if we can't trust the president of Cuba, who can we try? Anyway, back to getting focused here. There were a lot

of interviews with Jesse Marsh about the release of the roster. I don't really want to pay attention to the roster release so much because it's kind of the standard fair. Although no Alfonso Davies, no Moist Bombito, and no Alistair Johnston, who tore his hamstring playing for Celtic recently, which is a tough development. But Jesse Marsh, it's a small clip, but I think it's very important about the future of this team and the direction of this team. Talking about leadership, Jason, talking about that less than a year out from the start of the World Cup, they're still looking for the guys that are going to be identified as leaders on this team.

So it's a short clip, but I want to play it. This is Jesse Marsh yesterday talking about Canada's search for leadership and leaders going into the 2026 World Cup. We have a lot of really good, talented, established players in the national team now, but we need more big leaders that understand what the best games are about and how to manage moments and how to make sure that next summer we know as a group on the pitch, how to handle how to handle things so those are i think the areas of of focus moving forward here in this window and you know when he was um saying that i was kind of nodding along because i know exactly what he's talking about well james sherman wrote wrote up that article for sports net and

you can go read it at sportsnet dot ca and he kind of theorized like maybe the game plan against canada is to try and get under their skin because you got some guys that run a little hot, and I include the manager, Matt. Yep, that's a big part of it. And he needs to also lead by example and not get kicked out of games and maybe not bring so much attention to his team in a way that other opponents would be like, let's needle these guys, because they seem like they're running a little bit hot. That's totally fair and totally valid.

I think that Marsh, for all of his enthusiasm and exuberance, at times, the squad too often mimics him. I think what he's trying to say is, like, I want to coach and manage and, you know, run sessions and run games the way I run them because I want to be, like, authentic and true to myself, I need someone on the pitch to, and that is the thing. It's like you're a manager. There's only so much you can do from the touchline. You need someone on the pitch to sort of keep things calm. And the most the guy that keep things calms while, well, well, maintain. that intensity and bring that intensity up, but not so much intensity that you lose your composure, but not so much composure that you don't have the intensity either. It's a very tough balance.

You're joking, but that's actually what he's looking for. That's why it's been hard to find that guy because it's a hard balance to strike. Here's the thing. Davies, I'm not sure, will ever be that guy. So you've got to consider like where he's. But he's going to wear the captain's armband or he has so far. As he has so far. Yeah. But here's the thing. They're going to strip them up and right for the World Cup. He's not that guy anymore. Like, it used to be de facto Davies because he was the guy that was playing for the best club of all of us. Now it's like, Jonathan David's at Juventus, Tejohn Buchanan's at Villa Real.

Like, he's one of the, right now, one of the best scorers in the Spanish League. Like, there are guys that can say, hey, Fonzie's not a cut above everybody else anymore. Like, we're doing the same things that he's doing. And the tough thing with Davies, for a lot of the early stages with the national team, especially at the World Cup, was he was kind of forced into that role without it really being his personality. And you remember when he played with the White Caps, he was a kid. He was a kid. He was 16 years old.

And I remember interviewing him for an article when I actually used to write back at the Athletic. And, you know, he said, when I go to training or when I go to games, like, I'm just trying to stay in the background. Like, I'm a kid and I know I'm around adults. So I'm basically just trying to soak all that information in and not make a big scene of myself. Where is he now? Well, it's kind of the same thing at Byron. Yeah, because there's so many established stars of Byron.

There's a lot bigger stars at Byron. And domestic guys, too. Like, for example, his former teammate, Namaickeur, White Cap, Thomas Mueller. Like, if you go into the- Speak the language and be able to do that sort of thing. And if you go into the room, he's been with the club for 25 years.

He's going to instantly have 10 times more clout than the Canadian guy. Now, this isn't to say Davies isn't a fantastic talent, but he's never had that. I wonder who the next guy is going to be because this is one of the things. And I would honestly say maybe the biggest challenge that Canada is going to have in this upcoming World Cup is how do you keep your composure and maintain both expectations and keep a lid on the energy level, especially when you're playing at home? There's going to be a lot of pressure. Like, there's going to be a couple opponents, especially I think in the group stages, where Canada will, at the very least, be, you know, there'll be a draw will be the most likely outcome.

Or they might be favored going in. Like, there will be that opportunity. They won't be like they were in 22, an underdog in every match. Yeah. Like, that's gone. And it's going to be a decidedly pro-Canadian crowd in at least one of these matches. Which is overall good. Which is good.

It's overall a good thing, but it does come with challenges. And it's also unique. Like it's never happened before. So how do you plan for something that's never happened before? Well, you start to look for leaders. And I'll be very curious to, for me, honestly, I think Jonathan David's the guy. I think his personality, he's very stoic. He's very quiet.

He's calm. He doesn't lose his head. And now he's playing for one of the best clubs in the world. I wonder if he's the guy that Marshall looks to and is like, you're our leader. You're the guy. And I'm not worried about them having enough guys that, bring up the intensity because first of all Jesse Marsh will and then you've got guys like

assuming he's healthy by then which he should be Alistair Johnston and Shaffelberg and even Davies right like those guys aren't like I mean they they play pretty intensely sure and I also think the style that Canada plays under Jesse Marsh like it's the you know correct me if I'm wrong here high press lots of pressure you got to have energy just to play that game. Absolutely. But sometimes

when you're running a little hot the other team can needle you and you get a guy, let's say in a veteran like Modrich, what he did to them over in Qatar. They were kind of like you know, they were like, all right, we'll take care of Canada here

because I've been through these games and you guys have not. Yeah, I mean he sliced them into ribbons and they kind of lost their composure right and that's, that is a concern. You're listening to the best. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

The general manager of the Utah Mammoth. Bill Armstrong joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Bill. How are you? Good morning, Mike, and Jason. How are you guys doing today?

We're great. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. So we got lots of questions about what happened in the offseason and what's to come for the future of the Utah Mammoth. But before we get into all that,

what was it like going through that experience of the inaugural first season in Utah? it was exciting it kind of didn't know what to expect when you got in there and it was just like the fans embraced it right away there's a special thing about Utah they're super proud people and

they were so excited about having an NHL team in their city and they just ran with it if you looked inside our building in a game you'd think we'd been around for 25 years just with the way the fans wore the jersey and how they embraced it and cheered at the games. It was probably one of the loudest buildings in the NHL last year. Did anything catch you by surprise?

I know it's always difficult moving. And also as quickly as you guys did from Arizona to Utah, was there anything that maybe you didn't expect it did happen or caught you by surprise with moving and then playing in Utah that first season? I think just how quickly, you know, Ryan Smith and his group, the SEG there, his company, got things done. from the dressing room to creating a temporary practice facility to now completely renovating the bowl in the Delta Center

and also September 1st we move into our new practice facility that they've created. So they get things done there. Like it's been impressive. You know, we had a hard time, you know, in Arizona trying to get rinks and setups properly. And, you know, within a year these guys have come in. and it just crushed it. And I was amazed at how Utah embraced the NHL. It's a bit of a sensitive issue, the practice facility here in Vancouver,

because the Kineks don't have one. I don't even know if you, I'm sure you know about this, but it seems like everyone comes on from out of market. It's like, you should see this new practice facility we've got. But what is it going to be like your new facility and how important is that to the team? Well, listen, a couple things. It's going to, the greatest thing it's going to do, it's added two rinks to the state of Utah, the city of Salt Lake.

It's going to help grow hockey in Utah right away. That's the first thing. For us, as an organization, we've never really had a good practice rinks, so we really value it. It's state-of-the-art, Ryan Smith and his group brought an entire mall. They took the one end of the mall, which was a Macy's, and they gutted it, and they stacked up two rinks. And beside it, it's a massive space.

It's over 100,000 square feet for the hockey side, and that contains all hockey ops. And then below is the dressing rooms, the weight rooms, the pool. There's a pool in there. It's the size of what YMCA has in there. It's incredible. I'm sure when the pictures come out in a couple weeks, you guys are, oh, my God.

I do believe it's the nicest facility in the National Hockey League. And it's just a great spot because the players all kind of around that area. So for just quality of life, it's 10 minutes out, 10 minutes back to their houses. So it's, uh, we're going to operate out of there. And I do believe in the NHO with the speed of the players, the size of the players. When you practice, your ice is only good for about 10 to 15 minutes because you don't have people shoveling it, you know. So if you want to be at a high level during practice, you've got to change ice surfaces and you need two to do that. Uh, and I'm a big believer in that you go back and forth

between the two ice sheets and that way you can keep your practices at an elite level and there's no excuses about the snow on the ice. You can't make the rookie shovel? You could. You could. I like that idea. I'm going to put that in the improvement box.

How much does the team feel the responsibility to get kids in Utah playing hockey? It is a big It is a big priority of the organization. They've actually hired Rick Bonas' daughter, Kristen Bonas, to come in there. And she's just crushed it in getting the mammoth name, you know, out there to the kids

and getting everybody flying hockey. And she's been a big part of the youth hockey in Utah and growing it. So that is a huge thing for not only us, you know, as an organization, but the coaching staff and myself, I'm a big believer in the promotion of hockey. and I think we have a huge obligation to this community to grow hockey. And hopefully one day you'll see BYU and the U, you know, the two universities that battle it out in football, which is a really cool thing.

They call it the Holy War when they play. It's a huge thing in Utah. I'm hoping one day that that's a hockey game too. So we have a huge responsibility to the community to grow hockey. Okay. Tell us about your off-send. season because you were actually able to add some talent as opposed to

a bunch of GMs who tried and failed to do that. You can brag about that now. You know, we've had you know, just to go back a little bit, we got at our team it probably started when we traded OEL and kind of

drafted Dylan Gunther and what we try to do is accumulate as many picks as we could and then try to draft. But the problem with that is that then you have so many young kids coming in at the same time. And what we've tried to do is make some trades, you know, to kind of, you know, put us a little bit farther ahead and a little bit more competitive as we kind of moved through the bills here.

So we were able to last year get surrogitia done. And that kind of inspired us this year to kind of go out there and add the Turcha. And we had the right pieces with Josh Stone and Kesselring to go out there and acquire him. So that helps us out. you know, now we've got really a good top two lines on our team, and there's a lot of youth there. I mean, you've got Butyrka at 23, Cooley at 21, and Gunther at 22, and they're all 60 points in above.

You know, so there's some good young talent in there. I think Butterker can put the puck in the net, and so that's going to help us. And we were able to sign two of our guys from Russia that played in the KHL, that won the KHL championship, Dimishav and Boots. So they're big men, and they're coming in to make our team. So it's going to be a very competitive camp for us. What's the focus for this season? Oaks this season to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, in our conference and division, everybody else is trying to do that, too.

That's the thing about pro sports. Other teams try, too. We're all trying. Yeah, the other teams are trying, too. So, I mean, it's a battle. I mean, it's really for this team, we've got to take a step. We've got to take, you know, we've got to push the boundaries and try and get in.

You know, this is the, you know, the fifth year of kind of the build that we're going through. And, you know, we're coming out of it. Now it's time to make a little bit of hay and get competitive and push the envelope to get into the playoffs. And there's incredible teams around us from the Vancouver, Calories, the St. Louis and Minnesota's that are all pushing into those wild card spots and trying to play with the big boys and the color. Colorado's and the Dallas is too. So it's a battle. It's a battle every night.

But that's a good thing. That's going to make us a better organization, a tougher organization, and we've got to find a way in. In terms of style and identity and attitude, how would you describe the way you want your team to play to make the postseason? Yeah, it's a great question because we're not a finished product. We're not a perfect team. One of the things you have to remember about our team is that we have six first rounders that haven't entered our organization. And so there's a lot of talent from the Aginlez and the Boots and the Simasheves and the Lamaroos and, you know, Caleb Danoia, who we drafted this year. We got a lot of talent coming through the door.

And so we're not a finished product. We're going to be a lot bigger team than we are today. What we are today is a fast team, a scrappy team and with really good skill on that. the top two lines and a little bit of bang on a third or fourth lines. So we're pretty good in that department. We're going to beat you by playing at a faster pace for 60 minutes. You know, Logan Coolie is a fast kid. You know, Petrka's a fast kid.

Michael Carcone is fast. So we've got definitely some speed. I think for us to have success and push into the playoffs, we've obviously got to score a few more goals and eliminate a lot more goals. We can trim up those two areas for us. we're going to have a chance to get in. It seemed like there was a real trend towards undersized fast

players for a while and it was great that a lot of those guys got the opportunity and a lot of them continue to thrive. I mean, we got one of them here in Vancouver and Quinn Hughes, who was one of the best players in the league, but you also do need

size and strength and nastiness as we've seen from the Florida Panthers. So how do you balance those needs? a great question you know in st louis when i was a part of that organization drafting we had a big d

and we were nasty to play against you know and i think that's important i think he got to have big defense men um you know that that can put a world to hurt you know on the other team's forwards and making an uncomfortable game um size does count i mean they're not making the ranks any bigger

and nowadays, you know, the D can move. So I'm a big believer in having some size in the backside that can cover some ground. And at the same time, you get a filter and some guys to move the puck because that's important too. So there's a fine line between, you know, having all guys that are 6-5-6, and you've got to have a few guys in the mix

that can move the puck. But also up front, you've got to have a little bit of bang off your forecheck. And that's your third and fourth lines that are bringing it. And if you can have a couple big guys up front that are skilled, the Jamie Ben's of the world,

that can bring the skill on at the same time, you know, play with the top two lines. You've got a chance to win after that. The last thing is you've got to have a goalie that can stop the puck. How are you feeling about your goaltending going into this season? I know you've had some challenge,

off-ice challenges. Yeah, I like our goaltender. But Jamalc was taking a step for us. He had a great year last year. He's just gotten better every season. single year. He really kind of solidified, you know, is our number one coming through the door. And we got

Van Decheck out of Florida that won a cup last year, and he's going to add into the mix. He had a monster season a couple years ago. We're hoping to get him back. And then Ingram's coming back, obviously, he was in the program. So we've got some depth. We've got some quality goaltenders in there. It'll be a fight

to see who comes out and, you know, takes the net. But I think we've got some depths in. We've got Michael Rabel. We drafted a few years. He's had some great college seasons at UMass, and he's crushed it. So we've got some depth in the organization. Obviously, you never know with goaltending, you know, the injuries and all the other stuff that can occur during the course of the year.

And they really control your team for the most part. So I like the fact that we've got some depth going into the year. What is the hardest thing to find in the NHL these days? Is it a center or a defenseman? if you want like a top six center or a top four defensemen. I mean, I think centers are the hardest thing right now. I think the NHL doesn't have a lot of them. They're very valuable.

I've always felt like you win down the middle. When you put good centermen in their proper rules, it makes everybody better around you. And you look at the parkoffs in the world. Those guys are impossible to get. You know, they're just, you draft them. They're going to be in your organization for a long time and hopefully help you win a cup.

But I think centermen right now are the hardest thing to find. I think there's just not a lot of, you know, high, high end number one centers in the National Hockey League. So if you get your hands on them, I think you've got to hold on to them and pay them accordingly. Why do you think that is? Like with defensemen, I think we ask so much of defensemen now. I mean, you kind of touched on it.

you're like, you've got to be able to move the puck, but also break up the cycle and be big and nasty, you know. And there are very few guys that fit the bill that can do both of those things, so you just have to find the right mix and find the right pairings. But why is there, maybe there always has been, why is there a dearth of centers? Centers just make the world go around. You know, they're going to be out there,

and they're going to take the draw for the, you know, last minute of the game, whether you're up or down, and kind of run your half wall, P-P, they're just, they're hard to develop. Nobody has the patience at times. We always move them to the wing and sometimes they end up staying there. It's just easier to go with the older guy in the middle

because he has the experience. You know, they don't get good at taking draws until they're almost in their fourth or fifth year. And so there's a patient game when you're going through with your sentiment. It takes a while for them to be good. We're fortunate we were able to draft Logan Cooley And, you know, Kool's is very competitive. He's an elite skater, but he works on both sides of the park.

But when you're going through the rebuild, as we were going through, we had a little bit of patience because we weren't trying to push to get into the playoffs. At that particular time, we're looking to accumulate assets and trying to improve as a club. Now we're trying to push to get in. So you lose your patience at times to develop the centerman. That's a hard thing. and that's probably why there's not as many. Most teams just end up moving them to the wing,

and sometimes they stay there. We're speaking to Utah Mammoth, General Manager, Bill Armstrong, here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Bill, I did want to ask you about your head coach, Andre Turney, and, you know, it's funny that although he hasn't been on the job that long, I believe he's in the top half of longest tenured head coaches. Oh, usually, usually, yeah. He's right next to Coupe right now.

Two years you're on the job. You're like, it's me and Coop, that's it. We're the longest tenure coaches. Yeah. You know, he's been tasked with a lot. It's a young group. You know, you moved midway through his tenure and there's all the things that go into that. Can you speak about the job that he's done?

And then I guess the job that he's got to do now, taking this young group, giving him the identity, then trying to get them over that hump and getting him into the postseason. Yeah. He's done a lot of things in the organization in the sense of that it's changed around him. He came in, you know, and the team was pretty much gutted with not a very good roster. You know, and he was kind of put in charge to kind of develop some of the prospects coming through the door at the time, the Gunther's and the Coolies and the Mosers and trying to get them to be players.

And, you know, what I liked about when we hired, Andre, was the fact that I felt like he had patience to do that. He had patience to come in and help build our culture, but at the same time that he could come out of that with the group. And I felt like there was some coaches that were close in the running when we were trying to hire coach. And I felt like he was the guy that could make it through the rebuild and kind of get into that next portion of it where now it's the build and you're finishing it off to

trying to get into the playoffs. And I think he's mastered his craft in a lot of areas and the simple fact of his communication. He knows what you want. You know, he learned a lot of his lessons when he was coaching junior. your hockey and he did a great job working with young players and you know getting them in into the into the junior level and getting them to succeed rather quickly and he's done that with our group here and now he's got to help that group take the next step and and push the group but I love the fact of what he's done with our players the development that we've

had and at the same time you know getting our culture to be a work a worker's culture a culture that is pushing the pace, persistence. So he's done a nice job. Bill, thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. We genuinely appreciate it. I want to wish you the best of luck in the upcoming season, except when you play the Vancouver Canucks. But every other game, feel free to go and win it.

That's fine. But thanks a lot for doing this day. We do really appreciate it. Mike and Jason, thanks for having me on. I'm going to send you full mammoth gear to wear. You know, so and wear as much as you want in Vancouver, They're going to love that, all right? Can I ask you one more question?

Tell us a bit about what do you know about the mammoth? Like the mammoth as a species because we had a little bit of a fun with our producer about a month ago, a month or two ago, I don't even remember. And he called it, he couldn't find the right word, so he called it a retired elephant. He was looking for extinct. He opted for retired.

He called it a retired elephant. Let the games begin, hey? Let the games begin. All right. The mammoth is a big fella, and he moves quick. He's got some speed. He's not, he's an elephant on steroids. All right, that's what he is.

Just so you can, you know, relate to tell your boss that it's more of an elephant on steroids. It was a little bit meaner, competitive nature. I like it. He can move the puck and break up the cycle. For sure, the mammoth can. Yes, yes, yes. He's basically an elite big man defenseman in the national hockey. Beautiful, Bill.

That was great. Thanks for doing this. We appreciate it. Thanks, gentlemen. Take care. Have a great day. Bill Armstrong, general manager of the Utah mammoth. So no longer a retired elephant, now an elephant on steroids.

That's the official designation for the mammoth moving forward. That's a good interview. Got that practice facility in there pretty quick. Yeah, I think he's. He's my new favorite GM. He was very funny. He's very funny. Yeah.

He got that practice facility talk. Really excited to be moving into our new practice facility. Did I mention that? So, okay. Do you think they all know? Do you think they all know that Vancouver's? I'm sure. Yeah, it was like the first thing he said.

We had a temporary one. That one came together real cool. We just moved in. We got to check out this new and we got it in a mall. It's 100,000 square feet. Took out the Macy's. Now we got two rings. Got a pool in there.

I did find. Didn't we just have a mall that... Yeah, just sit in there now. The Hudson Bay is gone. Yeah, got it that. Put it in there. How expensive can that be? $10.

Harder downtown practice facility? Put three rings. The way Bill said practice facility, he knew. Oh, yeah. Like, let me play the clip again. Like, he knew what he was touching on here. September 1st, we move into our new practice facility. Just the way he says it.

It's like, you know. I respect that. Bill knows. Our next guest. Called it a career on Monday, Victoria's very own Tyson Barry here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Tyson. How are you? I'm good, man. How are you doing? Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Congrats on a terrific career.

14 years in the NHL, over 800 games played. I don't necessarily want to ask you why you decided to call it a career now. But more, given the – it's been 48 hours since you made the announcement on social media. How are you feeling? How does it feel to be? officially retired now, Tyson? It feels good. Yeah, I think it's a decision that I was, you know, fighting with a little bit the last few months and, you know,

kind of came to the decision not too long ago, but yeah, you know, I feel so grateful for the career I've had and the kind of life I've got to lead because of the game, so I'm really, really grateful for the amount of time I got to spend in the National Hockey League and yeah it was uh it is it's a bit emotional though when it you know i was at terms with it and then you announce it and then you get everyone reaching out and um you kind of go through uh some emotions that i didn't really see coming so it was uh just means it was worth uh you know

it was worth it what were some of those emotions well i just got sad i don't know if it was sad i got um you know i was proud i was uh it was it was interesting you know trying to talk to my parents and kind of thank them for all the opportunity and all the support over the years, you know, you get emotional and then, you know, just talking to some teammates and some of your good buddies and, you know, they're still playing and not, you know, probably just, you know, realizing, you know, you're not going to be meeting them for dinner on the road night before a game or seeing guys come through town and that sort of thing. So, yeah, it's just a lot of emotions that come with it and it's such a great way to make a career and such a great

league and have met so many good people. So just lots of, lots of different emotions. Are those some of your fondest memories, just the time you had together with your teammates? Oh, absolutely. I think the on-ice stuff is awesome. You know, it's

a lot of fun. There's some goosebumps moments for sure out on the ice, but, you know, the thing that you know, that I'll remember most is the friendships and the people and the and the camaraderie that comes with playing in a high-level sport. I mean, you spend so much time every day with these guys and there's a lot of a lot of downtime on the road a lot of time

for beers, a lot of time for laughs and good food. So that's definitely the stuff that I think I'll be missing the most. Is there any anxiety about how you replace that? No, not really. I think I've had enough, you know, teammates and friends who have passed through and I'm a pretty social guy. I'm a pretty busy guy. I actually started a beer company with about 20, 20 old teammates. So, you know, we're in contact a lot. And my wife is probably happy. I'll maybe slow down a little bit.

So I've never had an issue making dinners or getting out with friends. Can we jump into that right? I had that on the list of things I wanted to ask you about. So chilly ones, the beer company. How many people are involved with us and tell us a little bit more about it? Yeah, I think there's 18 NHL guys,

former end playing and just kind of, you know, it was something that was pretty whimsical. I put it in my notes and my phone about three years ago. I just put, do a beer called chili ones because that's what we called beers instead of cold ones. We'd laugh and be yelling at each other. Oh, grab a couple of chili ones, throw me a chili one, that sort of thing. So I just put in my notes and then I had a guy reach out and about a year later randomly and ask if me and my hockey buddies would want to do something.

And I was like, yeah, I actually would want to do a beer. And that was the beginning of it. I called like five of my hockey pals, Mike Smith, Ryan O'Reilly, Braden Shen, Tyler Ennis.

And I was like, guys, am I not for should I start a beer called Chili Ones? And they're like, you absolutely should. What do you need? And that was kind of the origins of it.

And it's taken on a life of its own and it's a lot of fun. And yeah, it's fun. You know, it's our own business and we kind of get to do what we want with it.

And a lot of camaraderie coming through that. Mike Smith seems like the type of guy who would be up anything. Oh, he's all time. And he literally is up for anything. His retirement's going to look a little different than mine. He's been crawling around mountains, hunting, shooting things, and I'm going to be a little more laid back, I think. Does it strike you how many first ballot Hall of Famers that you've been able to play with, like truly some of the greats of the game? Yeah. Yeah, I know it's been just honestly by happenstance, right? I don't, I haven't been able to pick where I get traded and that sort of thing, but I've been super lucky to be surrounded by incredible players and incredible people. And, you know, you look at, you know, the way I finish my career with those 822 games and 500 and something points, I'd be a lot less points if I didn't get to play with a lot of these guys. So I'm super grateful for the opportunity.

and they've all extended my career, I think, by years. So really, really grateful for that. Are those guys, are there a lot of similarities between those guys? I mean, I'm thinking, you know, like Nathan McKinnon in Colorado, Austin, Matthews, in Toronto, McDavid and Drysiddle and Edmonton. Are they similar in their personalities, or are they all quite different? Yeah, their personalities are all quite different. But the one thing I will say is the thing that kind of,

you know, unites them all, is just their drive to be as good as they can. Those are guys that they're doing everything in their power on, obviously on the ice, but off the ice in the summer, they're training, they're eating, their lifestyle, everything. They're doing everything they can to give themselves the chance to be the best player in the world on an avion of the night. So the personalities are all different. They're all really unique individuals, but the work ethic and the commitment is, what I think is similar about them all.

We're speaking to former NHL, I recently retired defenseman Tyson-Berry, 14-year NHL vet here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Tyson, when we set off the top of the show that we were going to have you on in the final segment here, more than a few people texted in

and wanted to know, how close were you ever to joining the Vancouver Canucks? I know around 2019, there were a lot of trade rumors. I know it had been mentioned that you were possibly going to join the team in free agency. Now that you're retired,

all the cats can be let out of every bag. How close were you to ever joining the Vancouver Canucks? It felt like it was really close. Before I got traded to Toronto, I was actually in New York on a bachelor party at a Yankees game, and I got a call from my agent and said, hey, I don't want to bother you, but it's close. You might be going to the Canucks.

It was the draft, and they're like, we're going to find out, I think, with the pick. So I was, I think, you know, on the edge of my seat, like literally on the edge of my seat at the Yankees game waiting for the draft, and it didn't end. that happened and I guess Joe said it was never that close but yeah that was probably the closest I've been to become in a Canuck and I'm not going to lie it was exciting I was I kind of knew the writing was on the wall I was going to be sent out of Colorado so it would have been

cool to land in Vancouver but obviously there was other other things at play and I landed in Toronto on the last year of my deal and that went a little sideways so but yeah that was probably the closest to everyone that connects. You mentioned some goose bump moments in your career. I don't know if they all kind of mesh together in your head, but are there any specific ones that stand out?

Yeah, there's a few. I think early on with the aves, we were just kind of finding our footing. We played St. Louis in game 82, and the winner of that game got into the playoffs. So it was a, you know, unique and then I just remember I scored a goal on that one and the place went crazy and that was

you know I think it was like to make it 3-1 with not a ton of time left so um that was that was a cool one and then obviously I think the intro you guys played when I scored against uh LA to you know take the lead late in the game to force a game seven um yeah I mean we yeah there's so many uh there's so many great moments and um you know my first NHL goal and just coming out with the Oilers in playoffs and the conference finals and that arena just going insane was, you know, those are feelings you don't forget. So, yeah, I've had some really cool moments and super grateful for a lot of the success and a lot of the moments I've got to have.

So this is an opportunity where you get to brag about yourself a little bit, but what made you such a popular teammate? Because that's something that we hear about a lot, and it sounds like you're a pretty social guy. I mean, you're at a bachelor party. at Yankee Stadium, like, what made you so popular? Well, I think first and foremost, I'm hilarious. So that's, uh, that usually goes a long way with guys.

That's good. Humble, too. Humble. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. No, I think, uh, I just never taken myself too seriously. I've never really taken anything too seriously. So I think in a realm where, you know, it can be pretty intense and, um, you know,

there's a lot of pressures externally, internally from yourself, from your coaches and everything. I was always kind of a guy you could rely on to make light of the, the situation and have a laugh about it and, you know, also didn't mind a beer along the way. So, yeah, I think that's probably, I think that's probably the crux of it. And then, you know, I'm also, you know, I'm an emotional guy, so I don't mind getting a little deeper with teammates and helping guys through things if they need it. So I think just a mix of all that.

What are some of the biggest challenges that the players face today that maybe you've had to help guys get through? Oh, I don't know about, I think it's probably nothing different today. I mean, the only thing different today is probably all the social media stuff, but that's, that is what it is. I think, you know, just human beings in general are always going to be going through stuff. And when you're an athlete, you know, you've got family stuff, money stuff, all that sort of thing. And it's, it's not like there's a handbook for it.

So you just try to help each other through whatever you're going through. And I think it's, you know, it's no different. than, you know, people who are an athlete to everyone's going through stuff. So I don't know if there's anything in particular that's like, you know, guys are going through that's like an epidemic or anything. I think it's just normal human stuff. Comrateries change, though, in the league. Like, it's funny that, you know, you got a beer company.

You mentioned, like, going out for chilly ones with the boys. Yeah, what's with these young people are not drinking anymore. Yeah, why aren't they like us? That dynamics change for sure. Like that, and I think that's maybe a big difference. And I mean, guys still hang out, but it's just a, I guess, maybe a different sort of hangout. Yeah, I think there's a lot of phones. I think there's a lot of awareness around drinking.

And, you know, it's not to say that it's for the worst. I'll always enjoy a beer. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's probably as healthier not to. So I don't have any judgment on that. But, yeah, there certainly is a bit of a different way to hang. But, I mean, there's still good young guys in the league who like going out with the older guys and kind of showing on the ropes and seeing what it's all about. So I think you're definitely right.

It's not as much, but, you know, there's still some good young lads out there. So you do have your entrepreneurial ventures, but do you want to stay connected to the game? Yeah, yeah, I think so. I don't know what that looks like at this point, but I think, you know, I've got a lot of time on my hands. I've got two kids and not much else going on. So I'll be fully into chilly ones and I'll be doing, you know, probably some stuff within the game. And I don't know what that looks like exactly yet,

but I've been talking to some folks and we'll kind of see where it lands. Well, Tyson, a couple things here. One, we want to thank you for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Two, offer congrats again on an outstanding career. And three, wish you best of luck for everything moving forward. Hey, thank you guys so much for having me. I appreciate it.

And look forward to chatting again soon. Yeah, let's do it. Sounds great. That's Tyson Barry, recently retired NHL, or 14-year NHL Victoria's very own here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet, 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.