Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 9/22/25

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, plus they break down the 'Nucks first preseason game of the year with Canucks Central's Satiar Shah. 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. Back to Mancini. Top of the circle. He scores. Victor Mancini rips at Gloveside on Joey DeCourt. It's a power play goal for the Cadux. Got some running. We're across the 30. 35. He may go 40.

What a block. Midfield, 40, 30, 20, 15, 10, 5. Mr. Horton. Touchdown. Seahawks. Good morning, Vancouver. 6 o'clock on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody.

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

Good morning. Laddy. to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford inbrough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick. No more interest, much lower payments, and financial peace of mind. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them in 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. Big show ahead on a Monday. We are so back, sports lovers. What a weekend. So many things to get into on the program. Almost too much back. Almost. Almost.

We're too back. Actually, you know what? There will be beyond almost because someone, we joked about this yesterday when Bruff and I do talk away from the show. We said we're going to come in on Monday. Got so many things to cover. Someone's getting screwed. Not Bruffer I. we're going to be fine.

But there is going to be a team that you follow out there in Listerland that's not going to get the appropriate amount of coverage today because it's too busy. Who will it be? You have to listen to find out. And then complain later.

You can do that as a what we learned, in fact. What we learned, my team got screwed out of attention today. Dunbar Lever-Tex-Sy-6-50. Get them in now. We do have a big show ahead, though. Three guests today on the program. It's not going to begin until 7 o'clock. So the first hour is all uninterrupted.

as we take you through what happened. Seven o'clock guest, Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the two deep zone. Jason, there are now just six. Count them six undefeated teams left in the NFL after the third Sunday of the regular season. It's the Eagles, it's the Bills, the Chargers, the Buccaneers, the 49ers,

and the Indianapolis Colts. That's your final six. We'll talk to Mike about that coming up at 7 o'clock. We can also look ahead to a tantalizing Monday night football affair tonight. The Ravens host the line. Lions in a matchup of high-powered offenses. Ravens are four and a half-point favorites on that one.

Mike Tan here for some NFL talk. It's 7 o'clock. 7.30. Andrew Ladd is going to join the program. Yeah, that Andrew Ladd. Longtime NHL or two-time Stanley Cup champion and Maple Ridge Native. He is joining us today to talk about one of the Ladd Foundation initiatives

called 1616. 16. It's numbers. It's a program created for players, parents, and coaches across hockey. It's real-life stories from NHL players, like Andrew. It helps young athletes build resilience, character, and the tools to face challenges, both on and off the ice. We talk about this a lot on the program

with youth sports and our involvement in them. Someone from the Ladd Foundation reached out, heard the program a couple weeks ago, wanted to get Andrew on to talk about this. So Andrew Ladd's going to join us at 7.30 this morning, very excited to talk to him. 8 o'clock Satyar Shah is going to join the program from Canucks Central

and the Canucks pre-and-post game host. The Canucks opened their preseason campaign last night with a loss to the Cracken in Seattle. No mind about the result, though, because a large majority of Vancouver's veterans didn't even dress last night. That meant plenty of opportunities for youngsters like Braden Coots, Tom Wallander, Victor Mancini, D. Petey, Jonathan Lekar Mackie, to name a few. Who took advantage of the opportunity? Who failed to impress? We'll get into all that with Sat at 8 o'clock this morning.

So at 8 o'clock, at Satyar Shah, 7.30, Andrew Lad. clock Mike Tanier. 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'm losing. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Miss that? You miss that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA. CA. It was Newman. Newman. Yanny Newman

scoring twice and Vince Dunn, superstar defenseman Vince Dunn, chipping in with three assists. The Seattle Crackin. Maybe Eddie O was on to something in there. Beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 in both teams preseason opener on Sunday night in Seattle. Okay. The story

in these games is always who was playing. Yes. And the answer to that was all the goalies. So the Seattle Cracken, depending on how their roster shakes out, probably had 9 to 10 NHL urs, regulars or otherwise,

in the lineup last night. I would say for the Canucks, generously you'd say it was 5 to 6, and Joey Dacour got a start in net as well. So it was a more NHL heavy lineup from the home to the Seattle Cracking, what you would expect. But there was a lot of young guys for the Canucks that did play. When I talk about the goal,

he's Tolopilo started, played pretty well. He did. The Canucks were pretty scrambly in front of him. They had a young defense. Maybe we can talk a little bit about that and then Ty Young comes in halfway through the game like it's like a house league game and they got two goalies and they're like everyone's got to play and they did and he played and it's a tough situation to be thrown into halfway through the game he didn't look great but he's not he's not ready for the NHL yet no and he was saying he was facing some NHL shooters out there didn't play particularly well but there were some standouts for the Canucks Adog You love Mancini My boy

First goal I actually want to talk a bit about him I also want to talk a bit about Braden Coots Yep He looked great Who played well

And actually Instead of us Talking about them right now Why don't we let Adam Foot The head coach Talk about The 5-3 loss

To the Seattle Cracken But there were Some positives to take for the Canucks. Yeah, let's start with Mancini. I'll do respect to Brayden Coots, but Mancini scored a goal on the power play, had a very eventful evening,

caught the eye of a lot of onlookers, including his head coach, Adam Foote, who had this to say about the young defensemen following the game. This is Adam Foote on Victor Mancini, following, as Jason mentioned, the 5-3 lost the Cracken in Seattle. Yeah, I mean, he's powerful. He came and came in really good shape,

and you saw the power, and, you know, he got excited once the one goal came, and then sometimes I wouldn't say do too much, but I like the way the juice is going, the energy. But a lot of good things, but we'll have to calm some of it down in the neutral zone. But the beauty is he's just got the power, and he's pushing hard.

Okay, so one thing I wanted to talk about with Mancini is what role do they want him to play? The Wild Stallion role? I don't think so. So that joke, by the way, in case you have no idea what I'm talking about, someone labeled the clip as foot calling Mancini a wild stallion. I'm like, that's great. It's like Bill and Ted's fictional land from back in the day.

Somehow that did not appear in the clip. I don't know who's working here that just dreamed up that he called him a wild stallion, but I get it based on that clip. But I'm asking the question, what role do they want from him? Because oftentimes for your third pair defense, you don't want a wild. stallion out there. You want a reliable stallion. Some sort of Clydesdale. Not a wild one. And, you know, he was talking about we owe you and we got to calm some of that stuff down in the neutral zone. When Mancini

is with Abbotsford, they want him to be, you know, not Quinn Hughes out there, but they want him to be active. And, and, I mean, listen, the answer to it might be like, yeah, we want that. Sure. Because we got, we got to try and score some goals. But typically, you want your third pair to just be like hold on guys you know like I think it's interesting I think it's a very interesting

situation that the Canucks are in right now because if you think about that third pair right side spot I don't think there's like an obvious answer to that right now assume everyone stays healthy on the Canucks defense and you've got

Hughes and Horonick Pedersen Marcus Pedersen and Myers I think Forbort is probably going to be in the lineup because he's a really good penalty killer

Yes So that's And he'll probably put the left side So you go one spot Right So who could be Mancini Could be

It could be Mancini They certainly gave every opportunity In training camp To Tom Willander And another one last night But you know I don't know if he's ready And I don't know

if we should be worried about that In fact, I know we shouldn't be worried about that yet. He's never played professional hockey. So, you know, he's got some learning to do. The other options, you know, like D.P.D. could, but it's not ideal because he's the left shot. Yeah. It's not ideal.

Like, I think D.P.D. is going to make the team where they're going to deploy him remains to be seen. So at any rate, it's just one of the decisions that will play out at camp. I really like the look of Mancini I like that he's got a bit of attitude and he wants to he wants to move the pocket so it's all just about roles and how they all play out

I think that and this might be a little bit more immediate thinking than anything else but right now they should be very pleased with the prospect of a guy that let's be honest I think is probably on the outside looking in for a playoffs or playoff spot for a roster spot

he's pushing he's showing attributes that would be beneficial at the NHL level. You could always, you know, he could be a piece moved in a trade, if that's what they have to do. Let's move on, though, because we've got a million things to get to. The other guy is Braiding Coots that we wanted to talk about. Here is Adam Foote on Braden Coots,

who was on a line with Sherwood and Baines. He's just smart. He's reliable for a young kid. His hockey IQ is very high, and he's able to adapt in these games. and, you know, he's, I like the way he hung in there when things probably weren't going our way. He played above pucks, made good decisions with the pucks, and it's nice to see his, he's calm at such as young age,

so there was good things from him. So this is another one where on Pate, and like, because he's a right shot, and because he has talent, obviously he's a first round pick, the Canucks, you know, it would be nice if you could take that role. Fourth line center, third line, or whatever you want and that is a line

that could exist in the NHL this season Coots between Sherwood and Baines you know the other thing you got to look at is waiver eligibility on some of these guys

that are fighting for spots the bubble guys just throwing it out there the bubble guys who require waivers are raw to Carlson, Linus Carlson, Nils Amon,

Baines, and Kravsoff. Yep. It's a lot, actually. And you could make an argument that I don't know of all of them,

but the majority of them probably would have some value around the National Hockey League. Maybe. I think Ratu would go. I think Ratu would go. I think there's a pretty

decent chance at Carlson would get an ad by somebody, especially after what he did in the Calder Cup playoffs last year for Apsford. Maybe. Whatever the case, you got to remember

that someone else also needs to tie up a roster spot and eventually subject the player to the potential same waivers that they pick them up. So watching last night, very interesting player, Coots, the line with him and Baines and Sherwood. If you squinted really hard, you could kind of see a line that had already early days in the preseason, but established a little bit of identity in terms of how they would play together conceivably. Sherwood's the banging crash guy. Baines actually does a nice little job of like retrieving pucks. And then Coots a playmaker. Well, Baines is a playmaker.

Yeah, and Coots is a playmaker too. And you saw it on the Mancini goal. He had a nice little give and go with Mancini. They set it up. They scored. So there's a lot to like there. He plays a pretty smart, composed, all the cliches he would have for a guy that goes out there and doesn't make any loud mistakes, despite being as young as he is. I still think

it's a long road and probably like a far cry for him to actually be in the NHL. But I could see them giving him that nine game audition and saying, let's get a taste of what you got here. One more thing from the Canucks game. Okay. Lecker Mackie.

Yeah. He was given an opportunity in this training camp on a line at camp with Heidel Evander Kane in essentially what could be a top sixth line. And Garland dropped to another line because of that. You know, there was three guys that the Canucks kind of give a big opportunity to do. All first round draft picks, Coutts, who we used. You've mentioned Tom Willender, who we've mentioned a little bit, and I don't think he's ready. I don't think Lechromackie did anything to help his case last night, either.

He started with Heedle and Hoaglander on what was the de facto first line. Yeah, so that's two NHLers he's with. And he finished with Oman and Joe the body Labate, Labate. Although Joe LeBade was doing stuff out there, man. I like his chances. The outside, if you want a sleeper. No chance. It's 32-year-old Joe the Body Labate.

Two massive hits a fight. No, I'm just kidding. But Lecromacki, if you're going to talk about someone that probably limited his chances of making the roster based on the opportunity presented last night, he got bumped down the line up. I think it was Stillman, who got the Halbero bump by scoring a penalty shot goal during the game. I mean, I think Lekromacki has rocketed to the top of who the Canucks would be willing to give up if they have a trade out there. Yeah, it's just not there yet. This isn't to say that this is a.

spoiled prospect or anything like that. But right now, again, you mentioned, here's the thing with opportunities. You get presented them, but at a certain point, they're clawed back in a hurry if you're not showing with them. Like, opportunities are meant to be a gift or a prize.

They're not meant to be, well, here's another one, and here's another one, try and figure it out. Like, eventually they're going to give it to a player that's either showing something in that game or it showed some hunger in the preseason and training. I always thought that the long run by Abbotsford in the playoffs did not do

Lecker Mackey any favors because he needed longer off season he needed to go back home get stronger maybe put on some weight just work on his strength and maybe that

went against him okay let's get to a couple of the other local teams the BC Lions and the Vancouver Whitecaps let's start with the lions because there was not only

an impressive win a very impressive win over Vernon Adams remember that guy in the Calgary Stampeders, VA. Small play VA, they call them. But maybe, well, certainly bigger news in the CFL. It could be an interesting announcement today by the commissioner.

Okay, let's parse through this. Nathan Roark rushed for not one, not two, but three touchdowns and through for two more. For you math majors out there, that's five touchdowns that he put on the board as the lions thrashed the stampeters in Calgary, 52 to 23 on Friday night at McMahon. Rourke went for 331 through the air. In doing so, he surpassed Russ Jackson's 1969, nice record for most passing yards by a Canadian QB in a single season. For good measure, Rourke also rushed for 43 yards on six carries and three touchdowns. Even the backup got in on the action.

Jeremiah M.S. only got a one-yard touchdown as well. It was a scoring frenzy for the Lions, and we have said this throughout the year while covering this team. The offense, not a problem. As a matter of fact, the offense putting up enough points on a weekly basis to win seemingly every week. And then this week, they even went past the 30 burger that they were putting up with regularity 52 in a win over the stampeters. Now, the interesting news that Jason brought up, major changes could be on the horizon for the Canadian Football League. Today, at 10 a.m. our time, 1 p.m. Eastern, CFL Commissioner Stuart Johnson is going to hold a press conference in which he is going to, quote, have a major

announcement regarding significant changes to the game. It remains unclear right now what these changes are when they will take effect or how sweeping they are going to be. But based on what people have sort of leaked through social media, it's going to be like gameplay, stylistic, rules, whatever, but it's going to be the on-field product. We're not talking. It wouldn't be like, we're going to four downs today. I honestly don't know. I asked you all in the group chat, you never responded to me. Because I don't know.

Could they do something that radical, though? There are some pundits out there. Dustin Nielsen who covers the Elks out of Edmonton said, this may be the talking point for sports in Canada today when this announcement gets paid. People are teasing this as being a big, big deal. So I don't know if any of you guys saw it. I don't know how much we talked about it,

But MLSC, which owns, you know, the Leafs and the Raptors and a lot, they also own the Argos. And they're like, oh, right. We own the Argos. They made, like, a partnership with the bills. And I don't know if that was just a partnership with the bills that they're going to have some marketing with or whatever. Maybe that was something that we should have been like, oh, is something coming here?

Is it like a prelude to a feeder league kind of thing? Relationships with the NFL teams? Here's what I know. I'll deal in facts, which is a rarity for the Halford Embroft Show. Bob and Dynamo. The CFL has purchased the NFL. They have taken out a lot of debt.

Nobody saw it coming. They went to the bank and the bank was like, this is risky, but you know what? We like your thoughts. I like your thoughts. We think this is a good bet. We're going to fund it. So Stuart Johnson's been on the job for 152 days today.

He was introduced in April. he hasn't really done much. He's been very quiet as a matter of fact. This isn't to say that he hasn't done anything, but he has been very quiet. And dare I say, working in the shadows over the first four or five months of his tenure. When he took the job,

there were two things that were important. One, he expressed that he needed to respect the tradition, but not at the expense of the pursuit of growth of the league. And in that statement, he also said he wasn't going to, a rule out. Rule changes just merely to respect tradition. He was brought aboard to give the league a different look, a different vision, and a different future. And I'm very curious to see what today holds because it could be a major, major change for how the game looks and how the game is played. Or maybe it's not. Maybe it's just like, uh, we would just like to back the rouge.

Yeah. This is a vote of confidence for the Rouge. Like guys, we finally got stats. And they're going to be in non-pd-f form. I'm feeling good about the Lions, though. That was a big win in Calgary. And this is classic CFL, by the way. Because it's a small league, it's just all about how you finish. Yep.

And the Lions had multiple clunkers this year. But that win in Calgary, the way that Nathan Roark played, which was incredible, maybe the NFL game of his career, frankly. and also the way the defense made VA look, right? That's great. I mean, some of it, I'm sure, is purely on VA,

but they got their confidence back, I think, with that win over Ottawa at home after losing to Ottawa, blowing that lead. And then they went into Calgary and got a win, a big win over Calgary's Stam Peters team. And all of a sudden, you're not really, while you are, you still got the possibility of being the crossover team

that has to go into the east but I don't know maybe they don't maybe they meet Calgary in the first round of the playoffs back at 500 okay it's possible but I want to talk about

the white caps too amazing amazing because we've only got a couple minutes left in the first segment but what happened is going to carry over into the second segment

so don't worry we'll get to all the other stuff that happened that you're probably going to complain about like ooh guys you see the Jay's clinched a playoff spot yeah I was like yeah

I thought they were going to blow it Like obviously they're going to a punch of playoff spot And we're going to talk about the Mariners Okay, we will We'll get to the women's rugby Just calm down The white caps Eddie Ocampo scored two minutes into the match

Kenji Cabrera scored his first goal As a white cap Yohei Takayoka His 13th clean sheet of the season White Caps win 2-0 At Sporting Casey on Saturday night When I saw who they were going to Sporting Casey without

The guys that didn't get on the plane And I was like, well, it's okay They've got a bunch of games coming up in the next week. I guess they're punting on the SKC game because it's away, it's travel, and you're just going to focus on this upcoming week where they've got Seattle, Portland, and the Canadian championship in the span of like seven days. Nope, the white caps did not do that.

They went down with an incredibly short-handed lineup and put forth the kind of first half that you wouldn't have noticed that any of their starters were missing. If you were to look at that team just as a neutral observer that never saw them play before, he'd be like, that's a pretty good team. scoring right off the hop and then adding the insurance marker. What Esper Sorensen is done with this side, I'm going to try and run through the injuries of guys they played with out. Thomas Muller did not go to this game.

It was weird because he posted on Instagram that he was excited about his first MLS trip. And then they decided the last second not to send him. So he didn't go. Ryan Gould still not fit. He said maybe got a bit of an injury. An adductor strain. I think personally that they're just saving him because they've got the three games coming up in seven days. But who knows.

Anyway. Those are important because if you don't have adductors, you're just, your legs just go crazy. Maybe. They just go way out there. I'm not even sure. They bring them back. They bring them back.

The abductors, the abductors. Push them out. Spread them. Okay. The adductors bring them back. You can't adduct anymore. I guess not. Yeah.

Can he abduct? I don't know. We're losing. He's just constantly walking around in the splits. It's like Homer when he got rickets. Okay. So they're without Mueller. They're without gold.

They're without white. They're without Blackman. They're without Bezalinovich. The two guys, the Belgian and the German that they signed to fill in on defense. They didn't go as well. They were missing almost an entire starting 11, including Sam Matakoubae, who's done for the year.

And they went down and got a result. Now, in classic Halbro form, Brough fired me a text on Saturday, a while the white caps were in the midst of this guy. Sporting Casey's bad. They're like 12th or 13th in the conference. But to go down with that kind of lineup and play as well as they did,

Brett sent me the text. He's like, do the white caps kind of have to worry about a bigger club coming after Yesper Sorensen this offseason? I was like, damn you. Yes, probably they do

And to your defense Someone else asked me the question on Twitter as well Yeah And I cannot Yesper you're doing too good a job buddy I put it out on Twitter I put it out on Twitter It is single season

Oh that go No no no I said I didn't put that part I put out that single season Halford has good Twitter responses And bruff's just like really you went well No this I mean this one went well Positively this one went well Because it was positive

I said this is right now I think almost Regardless of what they do in the post season. This is one of the greatest single season coaching performances in Vancouver sports history. What he's done because of the injuries. Well, just dial it back a little bit with your praise. You don't want to have some team. I think it's too late. I think he's going to win MLS manager of the year. Yeah. And I think a lot of, I watch those MLS shows all the time. And when they talk about the way, you're the guy that watches. Yeah. I was like, hey, we got a watcher.

When they talk about the white caps, they always talk about Sorensen because they got the pundits can't make sense of how they're doing it. They're like, how are they winning these games with all of their best players hurt? They're two centerbacks, their captain, their leading goal score, their prize signing from Byron. How are they doing this? And the answers always come back to Sorensen. And the system? And just the way that he gets the most out of anyone that comes into the lineup. He plays depth guys that are way down the roster. He plays young kids from the academy. He just has a way of figuring out how to move the pieces on the chess board and just gets results all the time. You're listening to the best of how

And Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. 8.02 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford and Brough, SportsNet, 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick.

No more interest, much lower payments, and financial peace of mind. Oh, that's the hat trick. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. You just figured that out? No, I put it together. Debt freedom hat trick. Seeing you figure that out in real time was something else, man. What's the debt freedom hat trick?

The first is no more interest. That's the first goal. The second is much lower payments. Mm-hmm, second goal. And then you put financial piece of mind into an empty net to finish it off. Oh, it's an empty netter? Yeah, that's how you do. I'm not throwing my hat then.

Every good hat trick involves an empty netter. You are listening to The Healthman Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We are an hour three of the program. Satyar Shah is going to join us in just the moment here to kick off Hour 3. Hour 3 is brought to my camera. Campbell and Pound, real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-dashpound.com today.

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. This show has flown by. Yeah, it has. We've had a lot to go over.

and we'll have more to go over in what we learn. So send in your what we learns into the Dunbar-Lumber text line, 650, 6-50. If you feel that the story that resonated most with you over the weekend hasn't gotten enough attention. Like the rugby guy or gal. Yeah. I'm going to bring, I know Sat's waiting on hold.

I'm going to bring this to everybody's attention. We said we were going to talk about Canada's women's rugby team advancing to the final of the World Cup. And we did. And then someone texted and they're like, what are you going to talk about the women's rugby? I'm like, hold on we're going to do it. We did it and we talked about it right before we left for the first hour of the program. Then that same person texted it and said, wow, only two

minutes. You ingrate. Unbelievable behavior. I do want to get a guest this week. We'll work on getting a guest because this is a big deal. Only one guest? Only one? Pathetic. Make me sick. All right.

To the phone lines we go, the Power West Industries hotline. Satyar Shah joins us now on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Sat? That much, boys, just hanging out, you know, a day after a game. We're really back into hockey season again. So it was a 5-3 loss for the Vancouver Connects last night in the preseason opener for both them and the Seattle Cracken in Seattle on Sunday night. Any sort of immediate takeaways from the game, either big picture.

You can boil it right down to individual performances as well, but you get to guess and choose where we want to start here. Sal, what was your big takeaway from yesterday? My biggest takeaway is actually somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but Danila Klimovich wearing number nine, it was the best I've seen him play ever at a Canucks uniform in the pre-season before. I don't know if he was conjuring J.T. steered or not.

And listen, I'm just kidding in terms of Klimovic, but this is the best I've seen him. I don't think he's going to make the team or whatever, but I just found myself looking at number nine and be like, what, this guy's playing really well. Maybe it's the fact that I miss watching J.T. another player or whatever it is, but that was my big takeaway. I just couldn't get over. Climb was wearing number nine and looking pretty good.

Okay. Let's turn our attention to some of the other guys on the Vancouver Canucks. You know what? I think we should start with Victor Mancini, not just because he scored a goal and he was very noticeable throughout the night, but Adam Foote, and we played the audio from Foot in the aftermath, had some very positive things to say about Mancini. I still think he's probably a long shot to make the roster and to play maybe significant NHL minutes this year. But as far as getting an opportunity and then making the most of the opportunity, he's probably at the top of the list of guys that did so from last night. Yeah, absolutely.

And, you know, the thing with Mancini is his skating and his aggressiveness has always been there for a guy his size. And he really picked up where he left off last year when we saw him in the HL playoffs. And watching him, even in the call of the cup, he was the most impactful defenseman offensively on the ice. Kudriyazov was the one that was most well-rounded, really. get defensively playing in all situations, but Mancini could really impact the game. And we have a guy with that type of size, moves fairly well, has a nice shot, has a decent offensive instincts. There's a lot to like about what he can do.

And in setting like last night, he really stood out. And the thing I would also be careful with, with him, as good as he does look with the poppy. You saw this a lot, even last year during the HL playoffs, Mancini was getting a lot of praise, and rightfully so. But he does take a lot of risk. He does those things. And even last night, he looked really good doing it. I mean, we heard Adam foot post game kind of talk about how in the neutral zone sometimes,

he has to make some better decisions. But he was full of praise for how he played. But I think for him, as good as he looked and as ready as he looks to be, there's still elements of his game that they want him to figure out. And I think that's the thing we always have to kind of keep in mind during the preseason. When you see somebody do some stuff with a puck that looks really exciting, especially a defenseman, is good to note that. It's good to like those things.

but in terms of them being everyday players or in terms of them getting reps and games right away, the stuff that we don't see as readily is what they're being judged on a lot more. So as good as Mancini was last night, I know the coaches are still looking at some of the off-puck stuff and some of the decision-making and saying, this has to get cleaned up in order for us to truly trust them.

And not to say that they don't like worrying that, but I would be careful assuming just because he's been really good so far that he's going to be a shoe in to make a team right away. But I thought last night he was their most impactful. And there's a lot to like about him. And if he does, you know, clean up some of that defensive side of his game, he can find an identity. Because the biggest thing for him, what I've heard with the team is, what type of defensemen is he going to be at the National Hockey League level? For him doing all the stuff during a preseason, can you do that regularly

during a regular season game, produce a lot and become an opposite defenseman? And if not, how's your defensive game looking? So I still think for him, he truly has to figure out what is my identity going to be in the National Hockey League. Yeah, it's an interesting question for, well, let's bring kutz into the conversation too because it's kind of like what role do you want them to play like let's say mancini makes the team is he going to be paired with foreboard well sometimes you just want your third pair to you know not get scored on essentially like that's that's what you want or you want your third pair to be a big rugged pair that dominates physically and to repeat doesn't get scored on.

You know, the conversation with Coots is interesting because it's great that Coots is a right shot and they need a right shot centerman, but are you really, let's say you've got a key face-off win or a key face-off in your own zone. It's a big part of the big point of the game. Are you really going to, even if it is better to have a right-shot sentiment, are you really going to go,

all right, rookie, go get them? and I think that's an excellent point and there's a lot to like about Brady Coots. I'm not trying to put anything that he's done down and he looked good last night again and training camp by all reports. He was fantastic. The organization is impressed by him. They liked what they've seen from him. But what you just mentioned is going to be the big question.

As much as you can see some upside to giving him a few games and perhaps giving an 18-year-old a bit of a chance, but consider how high stakes this season is for this team for not only some players, whether management as well coaches the entire organization when we look at what is it going to look like in a year's time if this team doesn't have success how much are you going to put on the plate of an 18 year old that still has to physically mature and to that point about winning a key face off you guys know how winning a face off in one part but then how are you getting out of that circle to your right spot fast enough whether it's reading the play right fast enough whether it's your ability to fight through contact to get to the spot you need to get to and we see obviously some markers that he's been able to pass training camp and the preseason, but you guys know as well as anybody. The preseason intensity ratchezes up every few games until the last one, and then the pre-regular season goes up a whole other level.

So you being able to fight through contact and make plays in physical, tough areas during a preseason may not mean the same when everybody's playing for keeps when the season begins. So there's a lot, there's a big difference in jump, I think, in physicality that he's going to have to figure out. And if you're looking to have a third or fourth line center that does some heavy lifting, and you're already looking at Philippeal and saying, He's going to be at least somewhat sheltered with his own starts and where he's going to start.

PD, are they going to use them as a matchup center or are they going to use him the way they have used them for the most part, which is in strategic moments, but he's not playing the matchup role. Can you afford to have a guy, you've got another center, you have to shelter and try to bring along and put a lot on Teddy Blugur's plate or even all to Ratu's plate. From a functional standpoint of you trying to compete right away, it doesn't really make sense to me. So for me, for Kut's to do all that, I think he has to be even better than he's been, which is, unfair. I mean, my last games would look like a 20-year-old to make this team, not because that's what's required for you to get eight or nine games in the National Hockey League, but it's what's required, in my opinion, to get on with this team, for this team to build a straight off to a good start and not add any extra layers of risk to have having a good

start to the season. So I like a lot of what Coots has done, but I'm still skeptical, ultimately, that we're going to see him in the opening night roster. We're speaking to SportsNet 650's very own Satyar Shah here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Where are we at on Jonathan Lekra-Mackie? Well, I think so last night, obviously he gets bumped down by Chase Stillman. Who had a game? I mean, he was working hard.

He drew a penalty shot, scored on a penalty shot, through hits. I mean, he was maybe the hardest working player on the ice last night. So you can look at it and say, hey, you know, they gave Chase Stillman a look. But Leckermacki looked off the pace for the most part. I will give him credit. When he got moved down to the fourth line, he played some of his best hockey last night. It's like it lit a fire in him. he shot a pothoff a post as well on the power play.

So he had a couple of moments. But he doesn't look like, especially in a game where you had players like Shane Wright, yeah, Berkeley can, Edward Chalais, and guys that were somewhat contemporary. He's been drafted, similar range,

the last few years. And a lot of them looked a lot better than he looks, not to mention some of the veteran players. And I don't know if that's a concern, but I think that shows that developmental-wise, he still needs to get stronger, needs to get faster, and he needs to find more ways to impact the game.

when he's not playing alongside of, you know, a higher-end player. We've seen him last year at times play with JT, at times play with Pee, and he looked okay at those times, but are you good enough that you can, you know, play down the lineup if need be at times and be able to win some battles and be able to impact the game. And I just think so far from what we've seen, I don't think he's close to making this hockey team.

And ultimately, given that he needs to get stronger, he needs to get quicker and had a pretty short offseason, maybe he still needs another year. but I'm not going to say you need to be you should be down on him because he was a later draft he was a younger draft in his draft plus one year with all the concussion issues and he had mono as well and then he did find his game again but developmental wise he might still be a year away to make in the impact we're hoping that he can make well developmentally like you mentioned the prospects he was the same draft class as Shane Wright I mean I know there was what was 10 spots between them right I think Wright was fourth and like her Mackey's

15, so 11 spots. So there's a different class and caliber of player that you're getting there. But it does seem like developmentally it's just behind, I think is the way to put it. Maybe not I wouldn't necessarily be down on the player, although it's got to be a tad concerning. But it feels like everything's kind of been stunted a little bit. Yeah, it does. And I think, you know, last year was a really positive step for him. And then he ended up getting hurt and I think he didn't have enough strength and stamina once the playoffs really got going.

And the fact that he had a shorter off. season. For him, I think it was a detriment because he's the type of guy that needs to get stronger, needs to get faster. And we don't have as much time for a player who already has a pretty slight frame. I think it just made it more challenging for him to make those developmental gains that it may have made if he had an extra month or so in the offseason. But I guess the tradeoff is you're playing actual games. How much does that actually help you when you get to the National Hockey League and you've gone through some of these experiences that, you know, for me as a player, make you better? So it could benefit him in a long run,

but for the time being, the physical development was always a question with lecromatic. He was very, you know, 5-11, but very frail in his draft year, and then in his draft plus one year, with all the illness and the model he had, he wasn't able to gain any development at all physically that year for the most part. So I think, you know, what that has done is put his development back slightly. The question just becomes, at what point do you get concerned that he's never going to catch up to that curve and you'll never see him, you know, figure out the physical and mental side of the game that can go alongside the skill that he has.

Because you see how it handles the puck, how he turns the puck and how he sees the game. There's a lot there to like about him. But when does that other part of his game come along? And that's still, you know, it's still leaving you wanting so far through training camp in the preseason. Okay, so we've got through Mancini,

took care of Lekromacki, got through Coots. We've got D.P.D. and Willander left. Is that correct? To check it on last night. Let's start with D.P.D. What did you see there? I mean, he's just a man. amongst boys for the most part. And even, you know, in a game where your hats of veteran players, he's so good at separating men from the puck along the boards.

He's really good at clearing the net. He makes really nice, subtle plays. Not only in the defensive zone or the offensive zone, he just looked by far as the most mature defenseman the Canucks had last night, and that includes having a guy like P.O. Joseph on the ice. And there weren't any, you know, crazy loud moments from him, but considering going back to the point you were making about what role are these players going to play in,

It's not really difficult to imagine what role DPD can play in pretty much right away. I don't know if you're going to put, you know, all the heavy listing on his plate because you have Myers and Marcus Patterson. That'll be kind of the go-to shutdown pair, and he was in Veronica and go out there and just, you know, dummy teams for 25 minutes a game or whatever they're going to do. So he is going to be in a more freewheeling role, but what I think it will be able to do, if he can keep playing the way he has. And let's say you start the season with Derek Foreboard, you take some pressure off your shutdown D pair because you're not going to worry too much about having Forward and, DPD out there taking a tough defensive zone face off against another team's top line or second line. You're not afraid of him going head to head against good players along the boards because

he is going to fight and he's going to be able to get the pocket at the very least stop the cycle. So I think all those things are very evident right away. And he looks like a player who has had one year of toe experience, which has done wonders for him. Willander? Willander, I thought he looked better than he looked through the scrimmage that we saw. And I thought you saw the traits.

again last night. My favorite play from him was a play that they actually want a lot of their forwards and defensemen to do. It's, I mean, it's pretty simple. If you get a lane, drive towards the net, if you can't get to net either stop at the goal line or sweep around and try to find the trailer coming down. They really want to create that low to high pass for the trailer at times. They want their first guy to get to the net if possible. If you can't, and Drew O'Connor spoke about this, pull up and look for the late man coming in. And if you go cross-size, do that as well. So there was a play you saw from him. He drove down. He wasn't able to get to a net and he circled around and he found a trailer coming down. They created a bit of an

opportunity. I thought he showed confidence with the puck. He was good along the boards. And I do think his physicality is going to come with time. He still needs to get stronger and a little bit bigger to this level to impact the game the way, say, DPD does. But, you know, he's not afraid of doing those things. Obviously, there was one moment on the power play. He tried to make a backhand pass in his own zone, which was deflected a bit of a dangerous play. of that. I thought he looked pretty steady. He looked as advertised for the most part. I thought he was moving the puck well. I thought he was supporting the puck well

defensively too. And even for him, I will say, I know there's been a lot of hype on Newlander, and listen, I was super high on him in his draft year as well, but I've been maintaining this for a few months now. I have a hard time seeing him making the team, unless he showed to be incredible, because you have DPD

who's developmentally wise, physically, ahead of him. Four birds there already. He needs to play an HL game. He needs to play pro games. I don't see the benefit of him coming in and being their seventh defenseman. And so far he hasn't blown the door off and not to say you expect him to do so right away, but that's, I think, what he has to do to be a no-brainer to be on the team. I think he needs games and it's very evident.

And I think he's going to play games at some point this season. I think we'll see him, you know, with the Vancouver Canucks. But I think the best move is for him to start an atmosphere and for him to get that experience. And I think organizationally, that's kind of going to be where he's going unless he really turns, you know, people's heads here over the next few games, but I wouldn't be concerned about Yelander, and I think the most important thing for him is he needs to play pro games.

Okay, big picture stuff. We've only had really one training camp scrimmage and one exhibition game with a bunch of American League players to see how the Canucks are going to play this year, but you did allude to a couple things there about stylistic changes, said Drew O'Connor kind of gave a peek behind the curtain as well. Again, limited viewing

and everything, but I want to ask you anyway. What do you foresee Adam foot hockey looking like based on what you've seen so far? Well, I think it's going to be very aggressive, high-pressure hockey a lot. I mean, I think it's not going to be a reckless press where they're going to send everybody on the four-check at all times. But I don't think they're going to be passive waiting for players to skate into their space.

And, you know, one thing you even heard B talked about is they don't want their defensemen to have too big a gaps with their own players and also the oppositions. And I think it was Dean was talking about a moment where they don't be afraid of skating up towards pressure and then turning around and skating back again. Keep staying movement. We don't want you to be static. So I think they want their guys moving a lot and close gaps quickly and be able to read off each other. If you play a tight five-man unit with a lot of pressure, you should be able to rotate quickly, get the pressure on the puck carriers and outman

players during spots and have the support behind to be able to cover for anybody, you know, making, getting out of position to cover for somebody. And I think if you play that style over time. It can be a really hard style in the play games. It's not quite like how the Carolina hurricanes play, but somewhat of a hybrid where the pressure points are really big at all times. I think what they also want to do is have creativity off the rush. I think what they're trying is, you know, it has a lot of courage from Adam Foote in his first year coming in trying to get this team to play a high pressure style that isn't reckless or isn't overly aggressive necessarily, but it's not going to rely on, hey, we're just going to be stout defensively, we're not going to

press too much or we're not going to force the issue too much. We'll take care of her own and then see whatever happens offensively when it happens. They really want to turn good defense to offense pretty quickly. So I think if all these things come together, we should see a pretty aggressive style of hockey where when they get the puck, the point is the idea is going to be to move it up ice as quickly as possible. And as soon as you move the puck up the ice as a defenseman, you're going to join up ice. It's not going to make a pass and then, you know, hang around. Once you move the puck up, you've got to skate up. And you've got to make sure you're always supporting your fellow defensemen, and you've got to make sure that if somebody

pushes over to pinch in, that you stay back for the rotation to happen before you also commit. So I think if all those things do happen, I can see them being pretty good with the style, but I think it's a bit of a risk for a team that's, you know, as young as well, yeah, fairly young, has been pretty poor at executing systems at a high level before, but I applaud that he's going for it right away because we all know this team needs an edge this season. And I'm not sure just doing the status quo or just being good enough that's good enough anyways. So I really hope it works out. Yeah, it could be good. It could be bad, but it could be good. You know, like that's how I'm looking at it. I'm looking at the

Connucks preseason schedule here Wednesday they play the Flames. That game is in Abbotsford and the Canucks have already advertised online that the likes of Tyler Myers, Thatcher Demko, Connor Garland, Philip Heedle, Nils Hoaglander, and Marcus Pedersen will be playing in that game. game. Now, that doesn't rule out the likes of Quinn Hughes or Elias Pedersen playing from that game, but are you with me that it's most likely that the first time we

will see Elias Pedersen and Quinn Hughes and maybe Evander Kane in the preseason is Friday against the Cracken at Rogers Arena. Yeah, it does kind of make sense for that, you know, like the way they're the way they've positioned at all, but

it wouldn't be shocked if one of those players does end up playing in Abbotsford, and they have those best play again. We'll see what happens, but I do think the Friday Rogers game is going to be their closest to a dress rehearsal until the final preseason game. I do think that is what's going to happen. And I think for if you also want to make sure that you get the chemistry right through your new group, do you want to have them played more than one game as a dress rehearsal? I think we saw this last year. Now, last year the issue was they had too many preseason games close to each other. I think they had like four and five days at one point

or whatever it was. And I know they kind of bemoaned the fact that they, you know, couldn't get the guys up to speed as much because they couldn't play them to all these games. So I do think if they have their way, maybe two or three, you know. There's two obvious games. Yeah, there's two obvious games where they could go with a fuller lineup because there's only two games at Rogers Arena.

So the Cracken game this Friday, and then they play at Edmonton and at Calgary. And then they finish October 3rd, third a Friday. So that would be a week away from the cracking game against the Oilers at home. And then they've got six days off or five days off before their first game. So it's not like they have to worry about anything. So those games to me seem like an obvious play a relatively full lineup. I think that that's a great point. I think we can see that too. And I do think that there is more fact-finding to be had here with the players they currently have, especially

at the center position. I know a lot of the focus has been on Brady and Coots and people like can he make the team? You know, we haven't seen Raw Too yet, and Bluger, we know what he's going to do. But if you look at this, if you think Kootz has to go down and you give him a chance in one of the dress rehearsals and raw two in a dress rehearsal,

and you're not liking exactly what you see, I think the connects are going to finish, you know, the training, the preseason portion, and once the rosters are set, with adding a center one way or another. Now, I think we're all waiting for them to go and make a big trade, and I think we're all hoping to see that. But I think something on a smaller,

scale is more likely at this stage, whether it's picking up a center that can do some things on waivers, whether it's making a trade from one of a guy that may have to be exposed to waivers. So I think they're still looking to see what do we need down the middle. And if that need shows to still be pretty acute in terms of what they're looking for, and especially if you have a dress rehearsal that doesn't go the way you want in terms of how you're deploying your lineup and you're not liking how it looks, I think the stocks are going to add a center one way or another.

So, you know, for all the stock coups and these guys, I think they're very much going to be active and trying to find a depth guy to hold or at least pass things over here depending on how things look. Sat, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it. Anytime, boys, chat soon.

Yeah, have a good one. Saty R Shaw, Canucks Central host, Canucks pre and post game host. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.