Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 9/12/25

Episode Date: September 12, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk the latest Canucks news with Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal, plus the boys tell us what they learned. 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. Swung-on popped up. Lugo backs up. He makes the catch. Polako tagging. Here comes to throw. Polico's steaming home. He slides. He's Safe! As a winner's win! On the ground of first, picked by Gladity, he goes to the back, and Kevin Gosman has pitched

a shutout. I mean, I'm gas, but look at this crowd, you know, look at like the city, you know, everybody's fired up. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody, sweet, sweet Friday.

It is Halford, it is brough. It is Sportsnet 650, and we are coming you live. from the Kintech Studios, a beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Lattie, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. Halford and Bradford of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they receive.

you get paid, visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Much like Kevin Gossman in that clip, we're gassed, we're tired, but we're energized by the crowd. The tens of listeners out there right now on a Friday, ready to get set for the weekend. There's a lot to get into on the show today. We've got a big Friday show here.

The guest list today begins at 6.30. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join the program. How about those Green Bay Packers? They continued their terrific start to the season. Last night, big win, Thursday night football. With a more than comfortable than the score indicates, 27 to 18 win over Jaden Daniels and the commanders. We'll look back on that with Nick.

We'll look ahead to week two with Nick. That's all coming up at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Luke Fox is going to join the program. Sportsnet NHL writer. He recently returned from the NHL's media tour in Las Vegas, where he wrote on a ton of different topics. He's got articles up on Sportsnet right now about Quinn Hughes, Jack Hughes,

Sidney Crosby, Charlie McAvoy, Linus Allmark, Matthew Nyes, Dustin Wolf. So we'll get into all things NHL with Luke at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30, it's the Moge. Yes, it's the Moge. BC Lions play-by-play, man. Lions are back in action tonight.

Hosting the Red Blacks of Ottawa in a rematch of last weekend's loss in the Canadian Capitol. Huge game for playoff implications. with the Lions at 5 and 7, and the Red Blacks at 4 and 8, classic playoff battle with classic playoff records. Kickoff at 7 o'clock tonight from BC Place. We'll set it all up with the Moge at 7.30.

8 o'clock, Rick Dollywell is going to join the program. Canucks reporter from Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV. As per usual, I have no idea what to expect from Rick today. It's a thing he and his handler, Jason Brough, they keep to themselves. And I only get to find out at 6 o'clock in the morning on a Friday. kind of makes it sound like he's in the zoo. Yeah, which is, you know,

yep, yep, yep, yep. We're going to talk about Quinn Hughes and Ryan Johnson, the future of Ryan Johnson. I think there's some buzz around the NHL about Ryan Johnson. People have been real impressed with the job he's done there. Okay, so 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall, 730, Bob Marjanovich, 7 o'clock, Luke Fox, 630, Nick Shook. A friendly reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday.

AJ will not be joining us today. the contest still lives on a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway for the best ask us anything and those listeners I was praising earlier in the show they've come through already there's a lot of competition right off the bat and they're all doing it the right way that's the important thing they're doing it the right way

they're hashtagging it AUA they're putting a pizza emoji into their text they're also putting their name on the text which is an underrated but important part of this whole thing so get them in ask us literally anything Best one wins a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Dunbar Lumber's text line is $650, $6.50. Okay, that's enough of me rambling.

Laddie, without further ado, 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?

Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies of and tools, resources, and safety training, visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. The biggest news from the hockey world yesterday

was that the National Hockey League issued a ruling regarding the status of what's now known as the Hockey Canada 5, Dylan Dubay, Calfoot, Alex Formanton, Carter Hart, and Michael McLeod, who are each members of, of course, hockey Canada's 2018 national junior team. I will read the crux of the statement

from the National Hockey League now. given their conduct, we carefully evaluated the players acquittal in court and the time spent away from the game. Taking into account that the players have been away from the game for 20 months, including since their acquittals in July, we have determined that the players will be eligible to sign an NHL contract no sooner than October 15th of 2025 this year. What's more, they are eligible to play in NHL games no sooner

than December 1st, 2025, bringing their total time out of the league to nearly two years. So they can sign a contract October 15th, but they can't play until December 1st. Is that an added suspension? Yes. I think of the idea was to make it as close to a two-year ban from the game as possible while also finding a sort of logical start point for these players to resume their national So Carter Hart is going to be the most intriguing guy, right? Just because he's a goalie, but also would you say he played at the highest level of the hockey Canada 5?

I know Dylan Dubay had some good seasons, although his final season in Calgary was not good. Maybe he was distracted. I don't know. We spoke with Don Waddell, the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and posed the question about Carter Hart to him, because the Columbus Blue Jackets are one of, I'd say, a handful of teams actively looking to improve. Right, there would be another one.

We just didn't talk to anywhere from the... Oh, he's just hanging out in Edmonton now. Yeah. He's doing. Who's that? Carter Hart. Just to... But just to answer...

So he's just hanging out in Edmonton. I don't think these guys... Okay, go on. Just to answer his question, though. So, I mean, on the record from an NHL executive, we did confirm that they had had the conversations about Carter Hart. So I don't think that this is speculative.

at all that Hart of the 5 would probably be the most likely to sign an NHL deal when he's eligible to on October 15th. The other guys might do it as well, but Hart is probably the most in demand of those players right now. Is it fair to say that this story was a much bigger story in Canada than it

was in the United States? Yes. It's also fair and important to point out that according to multiple sources of Elliot Freemans who first put this story on Sportsnet.com, part of this agreement is that the players have given up their right to appeal. I only mentioned this because

the NHLPA released a statement as well. And the end kicker of their statement was that we now consider the matter closed and look forward to the players return. I mentioned this because it seems like the PA and the league are both looking to

close the investigative chapter and the punitive part of this. They want to move on from it. They want to move on. But the reason I asked that question about was it a bigger story in Canada than the United States, if he goes to a team in Canada that's a major media story

and as always I know the Oilers have done things in the past that people are kind of like I don't know about that bringing in players bringing in executives this is this would be in a different category Jason I think that's very fair to say

and I think your original question is valid because this was a very very very prominent story in Canada. If you sign with an American team, there are going to be members of the fan base that don't like it, but I don't know if it's quite the PR risk. You would absolutely not face the media scrutiny

that you would in a Canadian market. I think I can say that pretty confidently. Yeah. And that might be the path. I know what you're saying, Greg, about where Hart is from and where he's currently residing and training. And Andy, you bring up a good point.

The oil... One's just assuming that's where he's going to go. The Oilers need goaltending help. possibly more than any other team in the National Hockey League, given what's at stake, not just for this season, but with the future of Connor McDavid. But I'm with you on that. It's going to be a huge, and rightfully so.

Like, I'm not trying to pin this on like the jackals in the media looking to drama of the story. This will be a huge story in any Canadian market, given how this rise to the ranks in the Canadian legal system in with the Canadian hockey Canada. Scott Texan, Edmonton hired Stan Bowman. They 1,000% would stoop low enough to sign Carter Hart, but would Carter Hart sign there?

It's less about what the Oilers would do and it's more about you know, Alex Formanton just decided to go to Europe. He's playing in Switzerland right now. Like he, I don't know if he, I don't know if he, I think he just wants to move on from this. And he was a decent player for the senators, was he not?

So, yeah, I think it's, remember, These guys are unrestricted free agents, except for Foremanton, whose rights are still with the Ottawa senators. That's correct. He's an RFA. These guys can go anywhere they want. If you were Carter Hart, I mean, yeah, you'd have a chance to for some success with the Edmonton Oilers, but man, the scrutiny on that as a goaltender would be off the charts, not only because you'd be a goalie for the Edmonton Oilers,

there'd be a lot of people cheering against you. Regardless of what happened in the courts, there is still a sense among many that these guys did something wrong. Maybe not illegal, but did something wrong. The NHL feels that they did something wrong. Maybe not illegal, but something wrong. It's a good point to bring up that there's almost like three layers or tranches or whatever of this. There's the legal system in Canada, which the five have already gone through. There's the NHL, which made it very clear in its statement.

and that's why I didn't read the entire statement because it was very lengthy. They did it a thorough, thorough investigation and had different conclusions about the behavior in terms of a, like, there's a moral code that the NHL wants to try and uphold the behavior of their players that doesn't always follow a legal precedent. And then there's the third part of it. And that is the ticket buying public and the fans response to this. And that matters, right? They does matter. That's something that each team is going to have to investigate on its own and see, if they're willing to take the risk of bringing a player aboard.

Okay. There's also, in the case of Carter Hart, he hasn't played an NHL hockey for a while. That too. Throw them into a situation where you're expected to win a cup? Yeah. I don't know. I thought, as we move on to baseball,

I thought that pitchers were not allowed to throw complete games anymore. Well, you're wrong, Jason Brough. Because Kevin Gosman did it yesterday, pitching a two-hitter and little asterist that needs to be mentioned. The hits were both singles, which I think should count for more. His fourth career complete game, 100 pitches on the nose, 6-0-0-0-1 over the Astros last night.

Let's hear the final call, the final pitch, the 100th pitch of the night, as Gossman, through a beauty, a gem, if you will, a Gossman gem, and a 6-0-1 over the Astros. The 0-1. Down to first, Guerrero's got it, and Kevin Gossman just threw a two-hit shutdown Here this afternoon, his second career shutout, his fourth career complete game, and as good a performance as this team has had all season.

So in case you're wondering, because Jason is kind of right, it's a rarity in baseball that someone goes the distance. First one in the major league since, August 1st. We went over an entire month of Major League baseball. That is crazy. They were talking about some of the career complete games during the broadcast yesterday, and they were like, you know, Scherzer has, I don't know, 18 or something like that. And then they were like, Dave Steep has 134 or something like that.

Yeah. He used to go complete games and lose. The complete game. Yeah, the complete game under 100 pitches, though, is not something that's done even throughout the course of the Blue Jay's history. I think 10 times it's been done. So, yeah, he did it in 100 pitches, so he was so close. The game took two hours and seven minutes. That's a Burley.

That's my- I'm calling that a Mark Burley. Yeah. That's my kind of baseball game. He retired the final 17 batters that he faced in the game, Gossman did. Six of them by strikeout. Again, both hits. He allowed were singles, like a fantastic, fantastic performance from Gossman and the Blue Jays.

I consumed a lot of baseball last night, watch that game. I also stayed up till the wee hours of the evening watching the Seattle Mariners do it yet again in extras. They only win extra ending games and they only win games that go past 11th. There was the 13th, two nights ago. It was the 12th last night. I'm going to forget the guy's name in Realtz. Was it Harry Douglas?

Harrison Ford. How did you forget that name? Harry Ford. Harrison Ford, you forgot that name? It's Harry Ford. But he's actually Harrison. That's his legal given name. Never had an MLB hit in just four MLB played appearances.

And it wasn't quite a hit, but it was enough to get the winning run across. We have the audio. Here's what it sounds like. Mariners win in the bottom of the 12th last night. another big win for the M's as they move into a tie atop the AL West. Harry Ford with the Heroics. Swung on popped up.

Lugo backs up. He makes the catch. Polanco tagging. Here comes the throw. Polanco steaming home. He slides. He's safe. And the Mariners win.

Sir Harry Ford walks it off with a sacrifice fly. Mariners win. 7 to 6. They are in first place with the Houston Astros. I think the broadcaster really dropped the ball there. He could have had a Harrison Ford line that he could have used. Do I any, okay, can you get the TV call up? I want to, because this one is also missing the Harris, any Harrison Ford reference.

Nothing? Like, get off my plane. I do like this. He doesn't belong in a museum. Can you imagine? I call it has nothing to do with baseball or heroics whatsoever, just a Harrison Ford line. This one is, this is the TV call to you. I actually like this one

because it's a little bit more simplistic and it really hit the heartstrings but no Harrison Ford reference but Mariner's win last night. A base hit, he doesn't need one. You're right, he does not. Give me a sack, Harry. What did you ask for?

Is it deep enough? Polanco is on his way home. Here it comes. He's safe. Harry Ford. Harry Ford. Welcome to the big leagues. The Mariters are in first place.

So as a play by, by play guy. He did the castle run in 12 parsecs. As a play by... Allegedly. As a play by play. And I'm out texting, why does it have to be snakes? Yeah, that's a good one too.

As a play by play guy, this isn't ask us anything for you. Where are you on the simplicity of just saying the player's name over and over again when they do something big? I am a sucker for it, but I also realize it's maybe lowest common denominator stuff. Like, it's the easiest thing. I like it because it's pure. It's emotional, right? I find the canned lines to be a little cheesy to me.

Yeah, it depends how you deliver it. If you deliver it well, then it can work. But, yeah, I like the repeating name. I honestly think my favorite, well, Shorty's, they've slayed the dragon is my favorite overall. But Bob Cole's Desjardin. Yeah, it's great. It's great. It's an incredible call.

You can do a lot with the enunciation and like where you emphasize the syllables and everything. in a name. But there's something about it, you're right, that's very pure. It's always like, I've run out of things. Yo, Sackick. I've run out of things to say, I'm just going to say the guy's name. And it works in certain instances. Anyway, it was a very exciting day in the world of baseball yesterday. And it was a very exciting. Yes. I'm just laughing. People are texting in a lot of Harrison Ford lines. And then someone texted in, is Harrison Ford the give me back my son guy? I'm like, no, that's, that's Mel Gibson. And it reminded me, I was watching.

watching a golf tournament recently, and you know how they yell out mashed potatoes or something like that? There was a time when people were yelling out, give me back my son. I heard a guy screw it up. Like on TV, someone hit a shot, and he goes, give me back my child. And like, you can't. If you're going to yell something like mashed potatoes or. Something stupid on a golf course. Bababooey.

That's a big one. Get the line right, man. Give me back my child. Give me back my child's brutal, by the way. That's a brutal mistake. Didn't you gack a line yesterday from, what was the line? It was right at the beginning of the show. Oh, it was a Buffalo Bill line.

Oh, yeah, yeah. I screwed that line out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It happens sometimes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But give me back my child is brutal. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

puts the lotion in the closet. I want to move on to, before we go to break, I do want to talk about the football game last night, and this will tie in nicely to our next guest, Nick Shook from NFL.com. Another, another very impressive victory from the Green Bay Packers yesterday to push them to 2 and 0.

Jordan Love, 292 yards and two touchdowns. Pack beat the commanders 27 to 18 on Thursday night football. If you couple that with their win in week one, a 27 to 13 win over the Detroit Lions. The Packers already have two wins over playoff teams

from a year ago. They held both of them to under 20 points, and the Packers are off to their first two and oh start since 2020. Let's hear the game winning score, Jordan Love to one of the stars of the night, tied in Tucker Kraft, who set a record of his own. Packers

beat the commanders 27 to 18 on Thursday night football. Jacobs to the right side of love in the shotgun slot left. And faking the handoff. Love rolls, right, throws, ends up. Tucker Craft, touchdown, and a Lambo leap on a beautiful playfake by Jordan Love. Tucker Craft, eight-yard, touchdown reception. It is 23 to 10, Green Bay. Okay, so it is Ask Us Anything Friday, and the Canaver texts in.

After last night's performance, do you guys think the Packers are the Super Bowl favorite? it's too early two games in is too early but if you were to talk about could you have a better start to the season and I'll even I'll dial this back to before the season started when they made the Mikea Parsons trade you know what the Parsons trade felt like you know those teams at the NHL trade deadline who make the big splash and then it invigorates the rest of the team yeah you remember Dylan Larkin last year with the Red Wings talking about how disappointed he was that the Red Wings didn't do anything it was validated the fact that that trade can really like give you give me the boost Greg yeah it's kind of like oh we got what a freaking boost we got this guy now like we're

already a good team and we got this guy now that's the Packers with Micah Parsons right now so I'm going to play this audio too after the game yesterday now remember the Packers defense has held two playoff teams to under 20 points to start the year and they've done it with Parsons basically playing part time he's still on a snap count He only played 44 snaps last night. He played even less in the opener. He still has one and a half sacks. And he leads the team with eight QB pressures.

Here's the audio of what the Packers fans had to say last night. And when Michael Parsons was doing his postgame media availability. Layout for a second because this crowd has something to say. Thank you, Terry. Thank you, Jerry. Thank you, Larry. I know you guys know what they're saying. They're saying, thank you, Jerry.

Thank you, Krista Thompson. I will say this. If you're looking for early season Super Bowl favorites, as the Canaver is, Green Bay is in the top five, without question. That is a team that does not have a lot of weaknesses. Watch that whole game last night. They made the commanders look super ordinary through three quarters. Like the commanders put up their only touchdowns in the fourth quarter when the game was

kind of already dusted. that's a very good football team there. We'll talk to Nick Shook more about this as well. Okay. What else we got? I will reset what's going on on the show today because we got a lot to get into. Friendly reminder, get your text in, specifically your ask a set of things.

You, like the can of our, could be in the mix to win a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650. Hashtag it, AUA. Put a pizza emoji into the test. and you will get a chance to win a $100 gift card. There are a lot of Quinn Hughes, ask us anythings. Nate and Richmond, ask us anything.

If Quinn Hughes forces a trade and leaves the team, wins a cup, and has major success elsewhere, do the Canucks still retire his jersey? Oh, my. Isn't that like taking a girl out to dinner, dropping her off at another guy's house, and then picking her up again in the morning? Well, the answer is no, he is dead to me. That's the answer. If he forces a trade?

Yes. Or if he says, let's say it doesn't force a trade. Let's say he tells the Canucks, my intention is not to resign here. And then they're like, okay, we'll trade you that. Then you're just ostensibly forcing a trade. Yeah, yeah. Which is different, but also kind of the same. Well, you could keep them for a year.

Like if McDavid were to say to the Oilers, I'm not resigning. So I don't. They would keep them for this year. I don't like this particular A year. No, neither do I. I'll tell you why. Yesterday, we had the audio that was fresh to the show and quite frankly, fresh to everyone because 32 thoughts dropped maybe like an hour before we got on the air.

And it was hot, new, sexy, relevant audio about Quinn Hughes's contractual future. It was newsworthy in any way you slice it. It was. And we played it and we dissected it. And a lot of people were very, very. irate about that choice that we made and I remember sitting at the break I'm like why is everyone so like up in arms about this why are we getting so much pushback and why don't people not want to hear this and then I you know stupid Halford clued in it's like because they don't

want to acknowledge the possibility of Hughes leaving alford is like is this called empathy what is this thing I'm trying to put myself in empathy other people's shoes and then I did it And they were like, I don't like this. Didn't care for it in the slightest. But I get it. People are very sensitive. This might be the most sensitive fan base heading into a season in Kinnock's history. Should we call this the sensitive season?

Honestly, it is. Yeah, walking on eggshells. This is the sensitive season. Fragile Frankie Merman, just digging a hole. Like, I got to go to the woods. No, Frankie. But here's the thing, I get it. The other thing, too, I.

And it's maybe something, like, I do understand that people are irate about him potentially living and talking about it ad nauseum might bother people. Someone texted in way too much Quinn coverage, just my opinion. See, there it is. Oh, it's, you know, it's only the, like there's two massive stories. Only the possibility of your franchise player leaving. What are you going to do? I'm trying to acknowledge these people.

What are we expecting out of Nils Hoglender this season? That's the fourth line looking. There is something to be said about this happening at a time where people are starting to get excited about a new season and the possibility of rebounding from last year's bad season. reason. And there are other things out there. But again, I find it hard to believe that anyone in their heart of hearts, even if they don't like the conversation, can't acknowledge that it's massive news. It's the first time since the comments made by his president of hockey ops in June that Hughes has actually addressed this and given a very specific timeline on when

the decision making process is going to happen. It's a big thing. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Rick Dolly Wall Rick Dolly Wall It's time for Rick Dolly Wall Rick Dolly Wall. It's time for Rick Dolly Wall It's time for Rick Dolly Wall It's time for Rick Dolly Wall

It's time for Rick Dolly Wall Rick Dolly Wall It's time for Dolly Rick Dolly Wall It's time for Rick Dolly Wall 8.04 on a Friday Happy Friday everybody Halford Brubbs Sportsnet

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We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Guests on SportsNet 650 call in on the hotline powered by PowerWest Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most. Visit them at powerwest.ca. Today, they keep the lights on. Our next guest comes courtesy the PowerWest Industries hotline. He loves working on Friday, so much so he does our show on Fridays.

It's Rick Dollywall from the Donnie and Dolly Show on Check TV. What up, Ricky D. Boy, guys, it is weird. There's no Donnie here this morning, so I'm sitting here by myself in the dark. We both get here early. The young guy, Henderson, he's still not here, shock. But he deserves Fridays off. And, you know, back in the mid-90s in your building, down your hallway, make a right in the left.

I worked with the great Vancouver DJ Fred Latrimo. He had a show on Kiss FM with his wife, Kathy. He used to have four-day work weeks as well. The great ones earn it. They deserve it, but it is really weird being here this morning in O'Donnie. Well, you've got us, Rick. And the next time I see your boss at Savon Foods, Chad Barra, I'm going to tell them. Cam, Cam, Bearer.

Camberra. Chad's his brother. No, Camberra, I'm going to tell him. You guys deserve four-day work weeks as well. Now you're talking. No, we like to work. It's us. Fred Latrimo's a good poll, by the way.

I haven't thought about Fred and Kathy. Fred and Kathy, haven't thought about them in a while. Can they go to Hawaii with the Premier once? Yes, yes. We used to go to Hawaii all the time. Yes. Something happened there. Something happened there.

Something happened there. Something happened there. Yeah, yeah. It's all important. And I love Hawaii. Hawaii, and I wear Hawaiian shirts. I got a new one today. Just check it out. It's really, really good. But Fred, you nailed it, Mike. He used to do the Hawaiian thing more than anybody in Vancouver. He was so talented, one of the best ever in Vancouver.

Rick, when did you start wearing Hawaiian shirts? I'm wondering if this is something that happens. Like, at what point in your life are you like, I'm a Hawaiian shirt guy? As soon as, I never did it at 1040. I did it in TV. I used to go to, I love Hawaii. Kiki Beach. I've been there a few times and I just fell in love with that place. And then I, you know, this is why I started buying Hawaii church there. And then when we started here at Czech and then I thought, you know what, it'd be a good idea to wear it on Friday. Check out today's, it's, it's, it's, what do the kids call it? What do the kids say when something's hot? It's lit? Yeah, it's lit. There you go. Well, it's polyester too. So careful if it actually

it does catch on fire. All right. Rick, you sent along your prep for me and the first subject is just Hughes. I don't do talk about very much but talk about Quinn Hughes. You can't blame

the noise around Quinn Hughes this week on the Canucks. Jack Hughes Tuesday said he wants to play with his brother. A day later, Quinn says you know what, I have no issues with that comment. To think that the Hughes family sitting around the fire place at home, haven't talked about the three brothers playing together in New Jersey

is naive. Of course they have. It's sitting right there in front of everyone's face. He's a UFA in two years. Players work hard. I say this all the time to become a UFA. They're club controlled for so many years after being drafted. The reality is the huge story is not going to end until these signs or leaves. There's no middle ground here, no middle. Canucks can't even talk contract with him July 1st. And we're already are heavy into this Hughes talk. And he's got two years left on his deal. Special player, Scotty Bowman came on our show yesterday, compared Quinn to Nicholas Littstrom. How cool is that? Because of how good he is, he's got all the leverage in this situation. Most people

you talk to around the league don't think he's going to resign in Vancouver, but everybody's guessing, you're guessing, they are, we are, Quinn doesn't even know right now. Yeah, I think that's the point. I think that's the point. People say, like, what do you think's going to happen? I'm like, I don't, like, I don't think Quinn has a 100% answer either. The Canucks just signed three American-born players, Demko Garland Besser, who instructed their agents to sign of Vancouver. Do you understand these guys went to their agents and said, we love Vancouver, get us back to Vancouver? So who would have predicted that, those three, right? So we sit here and some people write with such confidence that Quinn's not coming back, but they don't

know. I will say this, you cannot convince me that Hughes Future wasn't a huge factor of Rick Talkett leaving. Why would Target sign of your five years and watch Hughes leaving too? That was a big, big deal, I think, for Target. And he had to make a bet one way or the other, even if he didn't know for sure, he had to make a bet. He had to make a bet. Why would he want to coach in Vancouver for three years without Hughes. He wants to coach for five years with Hughes. It's a very important season for the Canucks. Make the playoffs just as important. Don't be a soap opera like last year. That's going to help keeping Hughes. It won't guarantee keeping him, but it's not going to hurt. In six years

in Vancouver, he's had two playoff runs. That's it. Four years, no playoff. He wants to win. like every single other elite player he wants to win and he wants to play for a well-run organization no more tire fires that would help too if he leaves he's not going to be the first big name to leave the city

via a trade or wanting out we've had Cam Neely gone Pavel Burry, Castler Luongo the city's had some fabulous players leave Neely and Burry really really hurt Hughes would be right there with Burry in my eyes, and Neely, in terms of importance, guys leaving. Superstar defensemen who play close to 26, 28 minutes tonight,

they don't grow on trees, and Vancouver has finally got one. You don't want them to leave. But look at the Maple Leafs. Who did they just lose? Local kid Mitch Martyr. Connor McDavid's got the whole city in Evanton shaking in their boots because he's not signing yet. Karel Kappersop, he could be leaving Minnesota.

Get used to it. Big name players leave. It happens in every city. but the Canucks can't let this story linger for two more years. If they don't get a commitment from Quinn heading in a July 1st, I think they've got to move them sooner than later. You don't want the Mitch Marner thing all year, you know, was a gone show at times. You don't want that in Quinn's final year in Vancouver if he's not going to commit.

From the devil's side, I had someone say to me, if you're the devils, why would you give up a boatload for Quinn in a trade when you know the guy, is going to sign with you July 1st, and you don't have to give up any assets. Not only that the devil's not want to give up a ton to get them, if that's the situation, they'd have to sign this guy. That's going to be a massive number, 16, 17, 18 million.

All three Hughes Brothers could cost the devils over 30 million if it ends up going down that road. And I'll tell you something else. You know the Players Association? They're right now making sure that Caprosoff and McDavid hit grand slams, not home runs. Grand slams in their next contracts. The PA is going to want to use to do the same.

The story's not going to go away. This is the best defenseman of franchise history. His future matters. It's just we're all in wait and see mode. And anybody that thinks they know if he's gone for sure, nonsense. Nonsense. Let this year play out and see how it goes and then we'll have a better indication. Okay, this is a somewhat related story, I think.

But the other, you've just added one name in your point. prep notes to me, and that is Pedersen. Yes. I'm going to ask you first. Have you recovered from Monday? Connect's Twitter was all over you about Pedersen. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't even, I forgot

where you were even talking. Yeah, yeah. You know what? It's my own fault for tweeting. It's my own fault. You know what? Every month, I need a reminder. Don't tweet. We live, if you sit on Twitter all day, you would think

we live in an awful world, an awful country, an awful problem. There's so much negativity, so many bad people on Twitter. You're right. But we sit there, and we go on this thing called social media, which is 90% negative, and this is what happens. I mean, some guy, you know, and look, why is his weight such a big story? You know, yesterday in Calgary? You remember former Vancouver Giant, a former first-round pick for the flame, Samuel Hansik?

he told the media that he added 15 pounds over the summer Seattle's first rounder, Berkeley Caton, 8 pounds, Ottawa's first rounder, 10 pounds. I saw a ton of this yesterday. All these prospects gaining weight. Halford gained 22. Easy. I was on a sea cruise, and that buffet table,

Mojo would have loved it. I mean, it was incredible. Yep. Incredible. I've never seen such food. And I gained a few pounds. but that's okay for median prospects. But here's the thing.

When you're talking about weight, it's okay for prospects. Pedersen's entering his eighth year. Gaining 13 pounds shouldn't be a big story. Not when he's already made the NHL All-Star game. It makes 11.6. And Quinn, you said yesterday, his weight's not a big story. What is a big story is, will Patterson get back to playing hockey the way he's capable of? There's no more excuses.

He's healthy. J.T. Miller's gone. He looks to be in a good frame of mind. Everyone I've talked to about Pedersen over the summer has said nothing but good things. He's motivated. He had no issues holding him back.

This should be a really, really motivated, Ellis Pedersen, having a great year. I'm waiting for him and Kane and Besser if that's going to be the line. I think that's a great first line. Peterson playing

well is going to take heat off of pressure off a heel. Who's clearly going to have a ton of eyes on him, being the second line center. Everyone's predicting the Kane's going to score 20 plus goals in Vancouver. Well, he better get a centerman of feeding the puck because he had some good sentiment in

Edmonton who were doing that. That's why he was scoring in Evanston, especially in the playoffs. His Canes' playoff numbers are really good last four years. The key is going to be able to see if the Canucks panic. Are they going to panic? if Hedel doesn't give them what they want.

So far, they've been reluctant to give away La Cair, Mackey, and Willander. But what's going to happen if that center-ice position's a problem at the 2025 game mark? Can I just jump in and say as, I mean, I've been critical of Pedersen on this show a few times. But I think, you know, in terms of the weight, I took that as a positive just because I think it shows hopefully, unless he gained the weight on a carnival cruise, which I don't think he did. I think it's a good sign that he put on weight because if it's muscle, it shows he put the work in.

So like I don't know how big a difference. Like I'm kind of on the side, like most of this is mental anyway. So he needs, like he played great hockey, won battles, outworked guys when he was super skinny, you know, and we've seen him do that. So like I've never been of the opinion. And like I thought maybe he needs to work on his skating a little bit, get a little stronger on his feet. But overall, we've seen him play very well.

And, you know, the weight for me hasn't been a big deal. But I think if we're looking for positive signs, it means that he puts some work in this offseason. And I'm choosing to take that as a positive. Yeah, it is a positive because he was healthy, right? And unlike last summer. And I think everybody in the city, including the Canucks, just want the guy to be the guy that got over 100 points. and then he got 89 or 90 and then he went last year

down to 45. Look, the year, go back to the year, the Canucks went to game 7 against Evanton, Pedersen and Miller had close to 200 points total. Your top two centers in Vancouver didn't even have 100 last year. You got to have your centermen

not under top two centermen, not under 100 points combined. They got to be well over 100. And the Connucks, when they had their good year, went up against game 7, Edmonton, those two guys were flying and they can't afford to have two centers having 80 or 90 points combined. And that's what was the case last year. Okay. Let's talk about

Ryan Johnson. He must be getting some positive reviews himself around the league. He is. You know, Mani Mulholtra got all the headlines last year. They're justifiably so when Abbisford won the Cald the Cup. I would say the same thing for GM Ryan Johnson. I'm hearing NHL teams were just as impressed with Johnson as they were with Mulholtra. He's going to be an NHL GM someday.

Some think the Canucks are worried long-term about losing this guy someday. They like them a lot. There's a lot to like. But I talk to a lot of people about the Canucks on a weekly basis. Johnson is one guy. I very rarely hear a bad word about.

He just keeps his head down, quietly goes about his business, treats his players with respect, works with them through their ups and downs. Abbisford has become a destination for free agents because of the culture that Johnson has set. The Sedeen twins don't hurt. They help as well. When an organization can offer two Hall of Famers giving direction of young players, that's very attractive. Johnson has been with the Canucks in some management capacity since 2013.

he had his contract extended in 2024. It is not a surprise to me that Johnson is looked at as one of the top up-and-comers for a GM job someday in the National Hockey League. I think people have taken notice of the job he's done in Abbey. It's not that he was doing a bad job in Utica. He actually really liked Utica, Ryan Johnson, because the travel was less, the guy slept in their own beds most of the time

it was a hockey town there wasn't much to do for young prospects to get in trouble there was a lot of good things about Utica but it was also very far away but Abisford is a perfect setup and I'm just like people have noticed the job he's done for sure I think around the league for sure okay there are a couple of Canucks games

sort of this weekend it's the prospect showcase between the Cracken and the Canucks down at Everett. The Canucks prospects are going to, they practice yesterday in Abbottesford. They're going to practice today this morning in Abbottford. Then they're going to head down to Everett, Washington. Some names headed down there, among the forwards at least, Jonathan Lekker-O-Macky, and their first round pick, Braden Coots.

Any thoughts on this prospect showcase? We're really looking forward to seeing the prospects in Seattle. this weekend. If you look at the prospects going to Seattle, the strength is on defense and goal. The forward group in my eyes is weak after La Caira Mackey and Coutts, who you mentioned, the remaining 11 forwards, the Cucn don't have a second rounder in that group.

Dervin is the third rounder. The rest are fourth, fifth, six rounders. Three are not even drafted. Two are Vancouver Giants who never went in last year's draft. One of the reasons for the lack of forward picks is that the Cinnucks traded the first three picks in the

20-24 draft. There is a good chance they won't have a player from 2024 that will play for them, just like the 2020 draft. It hurts the pipeline so much when you trade the first three picks of any draft. The odds of a drafted player making it drop considerably by obviously each round. The blue line looks solid. Wollander, Patterson, Kudrayatsov, and Minio are there. I'm hearing a ton of good things about the Russian goalie Medvedev. Really a lot of good things about them. I think a lot of other teams thought the Knox did really good getting them there. I heard there was another team

that was trying to take him in the first round a lot higher in where he went to the Canucks. I am also hearing the Canucks and the Giants are working together more, more open dialogue. That's why you're seeing two undrafted giants going to Seattle with the Canucks prospects. The Canucks have never drafted a player directly from the Vancouver Giants.

Kevin Conotton was a Giants listed player when he was drafted by the Canucks. Mario Blisnack was a Canuck pick who was then, a Giants' Euro pick. The Giants have produced Milan Lu Cheech, Evander Cain, Brandon Gallagher, Bowen, Byron, and Gilles and many others, but no Canucks.

Think about that for a second. Owner Ron Toigel and the Vancouver Giants are celebrating their 25th anniversary this season, and the Vancouver Canucks have never drafted a player for the Vancouver Giants. I think both sides recognize that. I think it's a good thing

if the two work together. I think that there have been other regimes. The Canucks are at, I mean, Connox are at every Giants game. I'm pretty sure Ron DeLorms are every game. But just to think about the lack of draft picks by the Canucks from the Giants is absolutely astonishing. And they've been here now,

it's their 25th anniversary season. Think about that for a second. You know, the only one that really frustrates me is Brendan Gallagher. Because they could have had him late. Yeah, because you went in the fifth round. Yeah. Otherwise, I mean, they might not have liked some of the guys or been in position to draft someone like an Avandahe.

I get that, but also, I mean, the Giants have been here 24 years for the Canucks not to draft a player from that organization. When they are down the highway in a car, it takes you 20 minutes to go see them. And in traffic, though, sometimes an hour. Well, look at the traffic now. Listen, it is, I do believe the two sides recognize that. And I think they're going to be working closer. But the Vancouver Giants are in your backyard.

And it is unacceptable not to have a giant strap pick with the Canucks over 24 years. Like, I mean, and the Canucks go to every game. Like, it's just, I think they're going to try and work on that, make it better. Hey, Rick, how about that man cup? Hey. Were you in the fight in the crowd? Was that you? I didn't see a Hawaiian shirt.

Hey, Queens Park, let me get going here. Salmon Valley's looking for the 25th Man Cup. First and 34 years tonight. Again, six nations. Up three games to two, Queens Park. Beautiful Queens Park. Oh, there's nothing like Queens Park. Game six tonight, if needed, game seven tomorrow.

Here's an interesting fact about this is seven games in nine nights. I mean, and lacrosse is not an easy sport to play. physicality, all that stuff, seven games, seven nights if it goes the distance to game seven. But salmon bellies, what a beautiful tradition. New West Bruins, Ernie Punch McLean, Queens Park, it's going to be

full tonight. It would be awesome if the salmon bellies win the Man Cup in front of the hometown fans, one of the nicest, most beautiful rinks in the lower mainland Queens Park. Let's hope the salmon bellies and the GM Ray Porcelado.

I went to, look at Ryan laughing. me. When I was in grade 12 at NWSS, Ray was in grade 11 he was one year younger than me. Go get it, Ray Porcelado and the salmon bellies tonight. Add a boy, Rick. Great stuff, as always. Enjoy

working on a Friday. We'll do this again next Friday. Adios. Yep. Rick Dollywall everybody. I saw I didn't see the fight video until this morning as a matter of fact. You? You're on top of all the fight videos. Yeah. Wow. You know what? Usually the 4U tab on Twitter

curates them for. I watch more fight videos than any regular human shit. Like I don't, I'd, they never get boring. Hockey fight videos or just fights? Just fights. You just like fights? Just fights. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Crazy fights. Insane fight leaks is a good one. Yeah, there's a lot of them. What's your favorite clip? Like waffle house fights? There's a lot of, yeah, good, a lot of waffle house fights. Was it the one? The brawl in the Italian street, wherever was throwing chairs at each other? I did like that's a good one. That was a good one as well. Yeah. Plastic chairs?

No, no. Oh, okay. You sit out there and you drink your espresso and you sit on the English supporters are really good at flinging the plastic chairs and cafes. Yes. It's an art. Yeah. It's a gift. You get taught. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.