Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 9/27/25

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at a wild and busy weekend in sports, plus they chat a pair of preseason Canucks matchups with NHL.com & In Goal Magazine's Kevin Woodley. 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. Kick to the uprights, and it is God! And the game ends in a tie to the ball game. They're trying to be aggressive at the end of the half, and that really bit us in the butt. It should piss us off. Even though it's week four, this should piss us off. I mean, we're keeping the buck right now.

We have, so we owe it forward. The Tjays are American League East Division champions for the first time in 10 years. Good morning, Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. This Halford and is Brough at Is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Good morning. Adaw, good morning to you.

Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brought of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We're coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics. We're getting together with you in step. What a weekend.

Outstanding weekend in the world of sports. So much to get into. So much to talk about. We're going to go through the guest list very quickly here. First hour, all uninterrupted Halbro, because we have so many things to get into. Guests don't start rolling in until 7 o'clock. Mike Tanya, our NFL insider from the 2 Deep Zone, is going to join us. Crazy Sunday in the National Football.

while he capped off with, wait for it, the second highest scoring tie in professional football history. 40 to 40. I'm sorry. Not a real league. Not even close. A tie? Come on.

A little too soccer from the NFL over the weekend. That was between the Cowboys and Packers last night. There's also a lot of major injury concerns out there. It's going on with Malik neighbors. Most concerningly, it's going on with Lamar Jackson and the one and three Baltimore Ravens. Lamar could be hurt for a while as well. Of course, we've got a Monday Night Don't.

doubleheader, dolphins, Jets, followed by Bengals and Broncos. Tanner is going to join us at seven to talk about all that. 7.30. James Myrtle's going to join the program, senior NHL writer from The Athletic. Lots of big stories going around the National Hockey League this weekend. On Friday, we had Alexander Barkoff's season-endie injury in Florida. Got a Mason-McTavish extension in Anaheim. But the reason I want James on, and the reason we invited James on, is because he wrote an article for the athletic, which suggested, you know, everyone on

thought, oh, the LTIR loophole is closed. But wait. But wait. Like, if you know, he used the example of, let's say the Vancouver Cadux make the playoffs, what they could do in theory

is say, all right, Lankinen, you're not playing because Demko is playing. And then that, does that open up cap space that the Canucks could use ahead of the playoffs? Salary cap chicanery. Yeah, every time a loophole is closed, another loophole open.

So we'll talk to James about that and what he expects certain teams to do. And what are some new ways that NHL teams could take advantage of the salary cap? 8 o'clock, Kevin Woodley, NHL.com, and Ingoal magazine's going to join the program. Busy week for your Vancouver Canucks, busy weekend, I should say, who split a pair of exhibition games. There was the good. A 4-2 win on Friday at Rogers Arena, what saw Evander Kane score his. first Canucks goal and a Canucks uniform. Then there was the less good, but still encouraging

last night, a 4-3 loss in Edmonton that saw a bunch of youngsters fight valiantly to score three times in the third period, including young Braden Coots, really making an impression. We'll talk to Kev about all that and more. Has he actually shot a puck into the net, though? Doesn't matter. Goals are goals.

Right, okay. They don't ask how. They just ask how many. Did one go out, one one off his leg or his body or something like that, and the other was like a bank? One was thought to have gone off Drew O'Connor. but that actually went up, Matthias Atcombe. The important thing is they were heads-up plays. Heads up plays.

I mean, those were goal scores. And he called bank, I believe, on the second one. It's true. It was really weird. He just kept going, bank, bank. 8 o'clock, Kevin Woodley, 7.30, James Myrtle, 7 o'clock, Mike Tanya. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, to tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened is brought to you by at 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.ca.com.

Okay, we don't normally do this, but this is one of those days where it was really hard to choose which story to lead with. And sometimes we get in trouble with listeners in the inbox with, the story that we decide to lead with. So I'm going to start with a bit of a disclaimer. We didn't forget the Canucks had a preseason game. We didn't forget the Lions had a big win over the Argos. We didn't forget the white caps drew in Seattle. We didn't forget Canada's tough loss to England in the women's rugby World Cup.

That was a tremendous run for the Canadian women. we didn't forget about a wild finish to the Ryder Cup wild weekend really and we didn't forget about the NFL there are a bunch of NFL games yesterday and we'll get to those eventually

in fact we'll try to get to all those stories at some point today but we got to start with something and we're going to start with the baseball let's go because even though Halford just said that and he sounds like a member of the American Rider Cup team.

You sound like Bryson Deschambeau when you say that. One of my favorites. One of the best ever do it. For the first time ever, the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays will head into the postseason as the top two seeds in the American League on a collision course for the ALCS. And I need this to happen. The Mariners did it before the Blue Jays.

the Blue Jays waited until their final game of the season and we all know in baseball there are 748 games in a season and the hero was their catcher Alejandro Kirk the Blue Jays did it as Jason mentioned on the final day of the regular season capturing the first AL East Crown and over a decade and it was Alejandro Kirk two home runs six RBIs he started the day with the Grand Slam but let's play his second

and most pivotal home run Greg, I know. We're going right to the second one. This is Kirk's second home run of the day to help the J's beat the race 13 to 4 and capture not just the ALE East, but the best number one seed in the American League.

Alejandro Kirk, the Hero. Here's what it sounded like. Driven to center field. He's hit it well. It's gone. Alejandro Kirk is back and the Blue Jays lead eight to four. Stay on, Kirkie. I mean, it is swinging it.

Kirk now has 15 home runs a season, a career high. First grand slam of his career. Second multi-homer game of the season. He finished three for five with six RBIs. He also homered in Saturday's game as well. What a performance. I got to admit, the final day of the MLB season,

on a sports weekend where there was a million things going on there. Everyone had to make some tough decisions yesterday when it came to their viewing. Everyone had to make their tough decisions. Very difficult. It was a phenomenal day. Can we just hear the final call as well? Look, we've been following the Js. Is this the closest we've followed the Jays since we've been at our time at SportsNet for sure?

For sure. This is the most we've been dialed. And Lattie, to you, we say, congratulations. You have been a beacon of positivity and consistency and calm and cool throughout the season. Why, was it in jeopardy or something? Even when we rage baited you to say something crazy about the Blue Jays, you're like, no, we're going to stay the course. And then all he sent yesterday when the Blue Jays clinched a three-word text, never in doubt. So congratulations to you, Laddie.

It was in doubt, though, at times, many times during the regular season. In hindsight, I will admit, yeah, there was some doubt, but I will confirm. test, even if they lost it, it wasn't a collapse. The Yankees were just insane the last month of the year. I figured what their record was, but they went off. So it wasn't like the Tigers collapse. No, it wasn't like the Tigers collapse.

No, no, no, there was a better collapse than the Tigers. But there were concerning things. I guess one of the things I wonder now going forward, the Js are going to have some days off, which will be much needed for the rotation and just maybe their mental health. And both.

Although I, yeah, well, that's what I was going to talk about. what's the story? Have there been any updates on Bobeshet? Because they need him. I know they got it done. They got a hundred of Kirk's bat now. They are a much better team when he's in the lineup, obviously. Yeah, I mean, as you mentioned,

they're going to have some time here. So the wild cards, by the way, get underway on Tuesday. We'll get into all that as we parse through the rest of the MLB story because there were some big stories from around the league, not involving the Toronto Blue Jays. Let's play the Shulman call because at the end of 162 games, having the last call of the regular season be this call it is pretty monumental it's not very often the jays do this

it's not very often that we walk into a postseason where as you have pointed out for the first time ever the jays and the mariners of the top two seats in the american league so it was poetic that dan got to send it off into the playoffs like this final call yesterday jays beat the raise 13 to 4 on a pretty memorable day for the blue jays organization And a ground ball fair, Guerrero to Lauer, and they've done it. The Toronto Lujays are American League East Division champions for the first time in 10 years.

Okay. We now need to turn our attention to the remainder of the story. here. Before we take a look ahead to the playoffs, I do want to take about a minute and a half to two minutes to talk about what happened to the New York Mets this season. The New York Mets fell apart during the second half of the season, specifically in August and September, but all they had to do yesterday was beat the Miami Marlins. Why? Because the Cincinnati Reds went out and lost to the Brewers. So for that final wild card spot in the NL, all the Mets had to do was win one single game and avoid one of the biggest collapses in MLB in sports history.

They did not do that. At one point this year, the Mets were 45 and 24. They were 21 games above 500. They had the best record in baseball. They had a playoff position this year. There's 186 days in the regular season. They were in the playoffs for 174 of them. It's remarkable how badly they collapsed.

This is Mike Francesa from Mike in the Magic. Doug. Now, you want to think that Vancouver Media is negative and toxic and can really come down on the players. This is 63 seconds of eviscerating a team. This is Francesca went live on his podcast right after the Mets got eliminated. This is wild, but this gives you an idea of how big and how bad this collapse was. One of the biggest collapses in sports history, the New York Mets. Here's Francesa in the aftermath yesterday. This is such a colossal failure. This is one of the great colossal gutless collapses that we have seen from a team with talent

in a very long time. There are bad teams. That's not them. They aren't a bad team. They're a gutless bunch of underachievers. That's what they are. Gutless to the core as a group. This should be ashamed of themselves.

I never thought they would be this gutless. I never thought that they would not figure it out to this extent. I never thought their pitching would dissolve as badly as it did, but not just their pitching. They were a top heavy lineup all year. They became a bad defensive team. They became a bad situational team. And they became a bunch of gutless bums.

That's what they were down the stretch. There's no other way to categorize it. You know what's really difficult sometimes for me is when baseball teams are described in this sort of way, like a gutless baseball team. Now, I can understand a gutless hockey team. Sure. Right? Like a gutless hockey team would be a team that while, you know, they never went into the corners to win battles. No fight, no jam.

There's no fight. They didn't take the puck to the front of the net. Didn't stand up for teammates. They didn't stand up for teammates, like that sort of thing. baseball is just and maybe it's I just I don't know I never played it at a high level like I know I don't I don't maybe understand that where it's coming from but it's like with baseball it's kind of like well were the hitters not going up and trying to hit the ball or were the pitchers not going up and pitching like like how how what are some examples what are some examples of

being a gutless baseball team. The New York Mets did not win a single game this season in which they were trailing in the eighth inning or later. They were 0 in 67, I want to say. So they could not. Do they have a defeatist attitude? But like how does that play itself out? Does it guys going up and being like,

I'm not even going to try to swing the bat? You had nobody step up in the big moment. You had. But what is, but people, people, I'm sure people tried. Yes, I'm sure they tried. Yeah. But they lacked the guts to do it. you know what I'm saying right

you know what I'm saying I think if you watch a team collapse in baseball especially because it's plays out so slowly like the Mets collapsed over the course of two months and you can just see it and you're waiting for someone

I think to step up and make a big player someone have an outstanding outing or someone came in a logger like did the nerves get to them that would be that I guess you could say that was that was gut listen maybe you I mean we watched a lot of golf

in the Ryder Cup and I think you know maybe the exam would be like guys were trying to make puts but the pressure of the moment got to them I think we've all seen at bats where you can tell the hitters have just given up or they just have no confidence no confidence yeah no confidence yeah but does that mean gutless well I think when it comes down to what Alford's about the record eighth inning or later like yeah that's gutless because you have zero fight in you how many right right how many late inning comebacks to the jays had

this year I think I think they led the American league in them so yeah there is a big divide there And it's also for a team that was winning games so easily, that they're very talented. Anyway, let's move on to the rest of this. It gets into semantics anyway, but I might just find that interesting, the different dynamics between the sports. Okay, here's the playoff bracket. The Toronto Blue Jays are going to meet the winner of the Yankees and the Red Sox, which is delicious. Seattle is going to meet the winner of Cleveland and Detroit. and that's interesting because Cleveland

with their terrific finish and Detroit's gutless but still gutty enough to get into the playoffs finish fell from getting a buy like Toronto and Seattle to all the way to the sixth seed. Yeah, wild card was doing. So all those games will be played in Cleveland.

Over in the National League, Milwaukee, we've got an unbelievable season they're the top seat and they'll play the winner of the Cubs and the Padres and then Philadelphia one of the great places for postseason baseball

although I think Toronto and Seattle are going to be pretty great atmospheres as well they will play the winner of the Dodgers in the Cincinnati Reds who snuck into the playoffs because of the gutless men Yeah. It's going to be amazing.

We'll pivot up. We'll get, you know, let's circle back on to the baseball stuff, maybe in the second half hour of what happened, because we do want to get to the Canucks stuff as well. But an amazing weekend of theater. We didn't even get to how the Guardians got in on a walk-off home run on the final day of the season. But there's a lot more to get to, and I know we got a lot to get into, period. So we will now turn our attention to your Vancouver Canucks. I mentioned this briefly in the intro, but we'll go into more detail here. Busy weekend for the Vancouver Canucks, a few hours after we got off the air on Friday. the Connucks played their first preseason game at Rogers Arena,

a rematch against the Seattle Cracken, and they won. 4-2 over the Cracken. Braden Coots, Philip Ronick, Jake DeBrusk scored with a goalie in net. Evander Cain scored an empty netter to make it 4-2 in his first period of action. It was Lankton and Total Appeal and Net for that one, so that was good. By the way, just before you get to the second game, I had a very funny text conversation with Sat about the Pedersen discourse after that game on Friday.

What was that like? Well, I mean, you know, there are people that are just looking to see what they kind of want to see, and a lot of it's based on their opinions on what's going to happen this season. So anyone who is super pessimistic about Pedersen saw all the bad, and there was a couple of times where he fell, and he didn't have any points. Like, he didn't, you know, like yesterday's game, McDavid and Drys Idol finished their chances. They had a bunch of points. They were the reasons that the Edmonton Oilers won.

but on the other hand you know I thought I personally thought that Pedersen looked better like he was I thought that was encouraging you were positive discourse guy no I'm just the truth I'm just the truth I wasn't any I wasn't optimistic or positive

I've always said like honestly honestly I've always said I just call it like I see it right and I thought he looked better was he to the level he's been at before God no but it was it was a start and I thought it was encouraging I thought maybe there was some chemistry there with Evander Cain, we'll have to see.

But it was just so hilarious how, and, you know, Sat was saying, like, people desperately want certainty and, like, you're not going to get it. Right. You're not going to get it, especially in a preseason game with Patterson. But for me, that was the story. I know the story yesterday was Brandon Coots because this guy keeps on doing everything that he needs to in order to make the team. but I think the connects need to have an honest discussion about themselves, with themselves, and be like, hey, do we want Braden Coots to make this team because we honestly feel he's ready and he's able to last an entire NHL season

with being a good player at his age, at his physical stature, or do we just need them? You know, like, is our center position so dire and so thin that, like, we need this kid to make it and we're going to roll the dice a little bit with his development and see what he can do. So the notes and details from last night

where the Vancouver Canucks went to Edmonton and lost 4-3 to an Edmonton team that featured both Leon Drysidal and Connor McDavid. Those two combined for Czech's notes seven points in the 4-3 win but a lot of the discourse in the aftermath was how well

a very young and inexperienced Vancouver Canucks preseason lineup handled itself, especially in the third period, when they scored three times. The goals were scored by a bunch of youngsters. Atu-Ratoo, you mentioned Braden Kootz. Jonathan Lekromacki on a nice goal as well, and a pass from Philip Heedl,

all scored in the third period for the Canucks. Thatcher Demko stopped 20 of 24 shots, made an unreal save in that game as well. But the biggest story right now is Braden Kutz. He played the third most minutes among all forwards in that game against Edmonton last night. He was out there for big boy shifts

against Drysidal and McDavid. I know Randeep came on the post-game show afterwards and was talking about the board battles and the battle level that Cooch showed against two of the best players in the National Hockey League. He skated on a line centering Drew O'Connor and Jonathan Lekaromackie. I think it was like 6 of 11 from the dot. So he is getting a very extended look

as close to as what regular season hockey can look like in the preseason. I don't know how else you can get it other than going up in Edmonton playing against McDavid and Drysettle for a full game. And the kid acquitted himself well. are they going to give him a real look it always has felt and it continues to feel like a bridge too far yeah I'm still in that position

I think he's going to get some games though I think he's gonna they're gonna use the if I had to guess right now he's gonna make the opening day roster and get sent back to junior that's where I am that's where I'm at right now things can change I think he's earned that that's what I think is I think he's earned the opportunity to play the nine

if you can continue to perform them. All you really do is force the coaching staff and the executive to make a very difficult decision. One, quite frankly, I assume they weren't very, they weren't predicting that they were going to have to make. But what Coots has done is thoroughly impressive. I just, I just, I just remember 2015-16. Willie Dejardin was the head coach and the Canucks had Jared McCann and Jake Frattano. And let's focus on McCann here. because he was actually like he was older than Coots

it was his deep draft plus two season sorry it was draft plus one season I guess Coots is in his draft plus zero season and he was scoring a ton of goals and they kept him and he ended up playing 69 games in the NHL and nine goals and nine assists not so nice right like

He didn't thrive And then foolishly they traded him Because he wasn't mature enough to make the team And maybe that's where Braden Coots You can say that You can differentiate between McCann and Vertan Who I don't think ever matured

Because everything that has been said about Braden Coots is that He does everything the right way And the veterans that are talking about him Are saying how impressed they are with his preparation, et cetera, but I don't know, I just still worry

about whether or not he's going to be able to thrive like this on a physical level. Like, it's a long, long, hard season in the NHL. Yeah, I will say this, though. But I'm glad we got them. Once every decade or so,

you do get one of these anomalies. And, you know, it's for a lot of luck is involved that they either fall to you in the draft or they're just ready something just clicks we have seen the past look there's been lots of guys elite level guys who have played in the nchel at 18 like in their draft year it's it has happened it just doesn't happen all that often and very rarely do they last the entire season if you want to go to them probably the most recent example it's the closest to this is last year with lichenko

in uh philadelphia where he got a cameo and you know that he performed incredibly well during the preseason they gave him a look and then there's been other guys i think ryan Hopkins did it as an 18 year old Barkoff did it an 18 year old Jordan Stahl did as an 18 year old so it has happened it's just it's rare and I think part of it is Nuge was the first overall pick

Yep you know but I mean Barkoff's gone on to be one of the greatest two-way players But what I'm saying is these guys it happens Like Coutes could be And I'm just throwing it out there For like the hypothetical of it all He could end up being an unbelievable steal of a pick at 15 Like it's possible

Yeah yeah for sure I'm not saying it will happen Hopefully it does saying it could happen and what you could be seeing right now is that you could also just be seeing a guy that's on a heater in the preseason and then it goes it crashes back to earth or something like that there's certain things that we always need to be careful of and cautious of knowing that there are exceptions to the rule but typically in the beginning of the season it's the young guys that are going to go all out empty the tank and it's the veterans who are like you know I'm

I'm not going to go 100% in the first few games because I know through experience that it's a long season. And they still scored seven points. And also, I made the team. I don't need to do this. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. 8.01 on a Monday.

Happy Monday, everybody, Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. So you know how I'm always looking for those things in sports that I can shake my fist out, like old man yelling at clouds? I've got a new one now. Trey Turner won the NL batting title at 307. A batting average of 307 winning the batting? title? Games gone, man.

All the best hitters are just in the American League. That's what it comes down to. What did Judge finish at, though? 331. I think Manny Lee hit 307 one here. Nelson Liriano. Same guy. Same guy.

Let's go now to the Power West Industries hotline. Our next guest is a presentation of White Rock Hyundai. It's Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Engel magazine here now, live on the Halford and Brough show on Sports Night 650. What up, Kev? My heart breaks at that stat, to be honest with you.

as a guy who grew up playing and, you know, sort of learning the Gary Ward hitting system, old Robin Ventura style out of Oklahoma State. Like, it's all about contact and going with the pitch. And, oh, that's,

yeah, that's a little sad. I would, I would, I'd probably be an early cut out of a little league these days. Boy's cancel yard. Wade Boggs, Wade Boggs weeps at a 307,

winning the batting time. Tony Quinn, I, like, Tony Gwyn, sorry, no place for you. Okay, let's turn our attention to the Vancouver Canucks.

Two games to parse through from the weekend. Friday, a win, 4-2 over the Seattle crack. And then Sunday, a difficult one yesterday given that the Oilers had dry solid and McDavid in the lineup. But a valiant effort from some young Canucks and Thatcher Demko in goal, a 4-3 loss, but some positive signs. Your takeaways from the weekend that was, Kev, for the Vancouver Canucks. Well, just as everyone in Vancouver rightfully recognizes that that lineup was sort of fed to the wolves, given what the Oilers dressed, I think you have to also take a look at the Seattle lineup that came up here

in the same vein, right? Like, this is, this is just the reality of preseason hockey. You're not looking at results, right? You're looking at individual performances. I think the Canucks, and you heard this from Adam Putter, are looking for sort of how they want to play and guys that are making adjustments and getting comfortable with it. I think there were a lot of positives.

I don't know that any questions got answered. but guys that were maybe considered bubble seemed to keep themselves on the mix. And from a goal-tending standpoint, like, there's a lot of positives. I looked at Lankin and Start much the same way I looked at Demko's in Abbotsford, and I was at that one. It wasn't, again, about results. It was about process, and the process looked good. The process looked fine.

Demko's process looks a little different to me, and that's encouraging. there's a there's a little less I'm trying to think of how to put this I'll just put it the way I used to put it sure violent okay his movement before was explosive to the point of almost being violent and that was a term I'd used in the past

like it was so fast but it was like just so harsh on the starts and the stops and I guess the best anecdote like this includes his post entries and it was a big part of his game and you appreciated that it got him there early and ahead of everything and that was a big part of what fueled his results

but remember when the posts were coming off all the time and people that didn't really understand goaltending were yelling at the goaltenders that they were doing it on purpose the people in the media that were doing so we'll go on nameless but there were people in the NHL office

that were doing the same. And so a goalie person in the NHHL office asked me for footage. Like, have you got anything that I can use to show these people that this is just how they're taught? And I'm like, yeah, no problem because I have tons of that you're nothernetical footage.

And I showed him. And he would go into his post and his reverse with such force, such violence that every time he hit it, even in practice, the post would pop off its moorings like an inch and a half. And so it was a case, and it was something that I helped them use

to sort of help the league understand that if the pegs aren't set properly, the net's coming off because that's how these guys play. Well, look now, it's not with the same degree of force. He's going into his posts a little more downhill

and a little more subtle sort of step in, whereas the sort of fully in Clark system was inside out with the inside leg swinging and sort of a lot of force inside the post. And the only thing I can think of, having watched it. I mean, it's pretty subtle and you've got to be looking for it, but it popped

to me in Abbottesford. The only thing I can think of is like, there is a little less force. There's a little less strain. This is one of the givebacks to understanding, hey, like, let's get through a season healthy as opposed to explode into every movement and put that much more pressure on our body. And again, subtle, but like I think this, that bodes well. The other thing I really liked and it was more noticeable in Abbotsford than it was in Edmonton in part because I don't think the Oilers had to dump the puck in very much but

an assertiveness and Adam Fitt sort of touched on it post game in Abbotsford but an assertiveness handling the puck getting out early, getting up ice and making quick plays with the puck that like I think his puck handling has improved over the past couple of years

to the point where I think it might be a little overlooked and underrated but the way they want to play if they can force teams like they did an underman flame squad, admittedly, but like they did to them to dump in, then your goaltender's retrievals are going to become very important, and I love the way he

handled the puck. I think he actually, at one point created either a three on two or a two on one with a really good early handle and quick read and up, and so that's something that I think with the changes they're trying to make could be important for the goaltending to.

Not something we look at often, but something that jumped out to me, especially in that Calgary game. You have random question here. Do goalies have to get their skate sharpened all the time because they're like pressing their blade up against the post? Depends on the guy for sure, yeah. I mean, you will see, so two parts to that, Jason. You will see like in a lot of practice and warmups

they'll put like a plastic post protector over top of the post and that's basically to save their blades. Like it's a little thin rubber sleeve that fits over the base of the post, the bottom six inches. But then two, once you hit a certain level, and certainly the NHL is that level for most guys, they're not trying to hit the post with the blade of their skate. They're trying to hit the post with a gap between the toe of their skate and the bottom of their pad. Okay.

What we call, yeah, there's basically you tie the laces of your skate to the bottom of your pad with a gap. And Demko actually has a formula. It's like two-thirds the diameter of the post so that when you drop into the post, if you hit it properly, that gap is what seals the bottom of the post. If you think about it, if you go in with your skate blade,

you've now got a gap between, you bottom of your pad and the post, that's like basically the height of your skate-blade, your skate holder, and the boot of your skate, and we've seen goals go in on dead angles that way. It also, he said, it damages the blade.

And if you're, going into your post of your skate blade you've got those extra three inches between you and the post you have to lean over that leg that much more those extra three inches to seal that post which again add stress to the body how what are what are the muscles that are really affected when you're trying to seal off that post and you got your leg up against it and underneath you're in a reverse yeah yeah and guys are like just kind of like jamming away at the puck i'm always but it's your leg muscles. Yeah, yeah, no, Halford, Alford, but like, is it your

adductors, your abductors? Like, what kind of, like, it just seems insane. It seems like, it seems crazy that there aren't more injuries in that situation. Like, different guys, different things. And I, it's basically a chain, its ankles, knees, hips

that goes right up. Because you're leaning over top of a leg that's in an awkward position, which is, again, why the preference is to not go in with the skate blade on the post, but also you're basically internally, like, it's basically a really compacted, compressed, twisted butterfly on that side, on your lead leg side. And so it's not the, the inside leg, the leg that's back above, preferably above the goal line. Some goalies are sloppy and they get

it below, but preferably above the goal line with the skate blade in the ice driving you into that post to provide that coverage and that stability. I mean, that's, you know, like that leg, that leg doesn't bother me when I'm doing it. It's the other leg. It's when you're twisted in there. The amount of pressure on the ankle, most guys feel it in the ankle, but again, it's a chain and your hip is internally rotated like a really sort of forced into butterfly, and the body wasn't designed for the hip to internally rotate. Have you too old to still be doing this stuff?

I don't do it well. Let's make no mistake. I don't do it well. It doesn't look pretty. After the game, I mean, I'm waiting on a knee replacement. on my left side so that that's probably part of it. After the game, I require hot tabs and beers to survive. Like, that's

just the reality of it. But for these guys, there is a lot of stress. Like, Robin Lainer used to tell me all the time, like, he hated the reverse VH. He thought it was killing goalies and, like, it was killing his ankles, and there's just, there's a ton of pressure on the body. And, and again, so this subtle little adjustment

that he appears to have made, and it really is subtle. Like, is that the difference between, you know, like, and think about it, in terms of the way they play. This isn't just when the puck gets close to the net, at least for them. Like some goalies want to hold edges. Dustin Wolf had to spend an hour doing video with him a couple weeks ago.

And like his whole goal is to not be on his knees, even in those situations, unless the puck is so close to the net, he's in a peer block scenario. But the Kanox goalies typically will stay with that reverse VH with that leg down on the lead post when the puck's in the corner, when the puck's behind the net, sometimes all the way up to the hash marks on the wall. And so if you're going to be in it that much, when the puck goes around behind the net, they used to drop in a one post, move side to side on their knees from one post to the other, into reverse on the other side, and then up.

Like that's no longer, you know, 15 times a game, save situation execution. That's every rep when the puck goes behind the net. And that's a lot of pressure. And so if you can find a way to get into it entry-wise that takes a little bit of stress off your body, and then you multiply it by how many times they do it in practice and in a game. These are small little things that might lead to a lot of savings in terms of wear and tear

as subtle and as small as they appear on the surface. Are you more optimistic that Demko can stay healthy now? Well, I mean, I'm optimistic for this season, for sure. Because if you look at the pattern, when he's had healthy off seasons, that's when he played 64 games. That's when he played 51 games. games. And in the two years where the numbers are like, I think, 31 and 23, that's coming

off surgery in the offseason and uncertainty and not his regular training, right? So, yeah, I am optimistic for this season. The question is, fair or not? And I think after four years, it's, it's hard to argue that it's totally unfair because even in the 51 and the 64 game seasons, wasn't able to get to the finish line completely healthy. Right? Like, if you remember or four years ago, basically stopped him down the stretch once they were eliminated from the playoffs. He was playing through it, but ultimately it required surgery. And then obviously, obviously, you know, we know what happened two years ago, you know, got to mid-March before sustained an injury. But at that point, he was playing at a, you know, to probably run a 60-game pace.

So every second season, when he has a healthy off-season, and that's what this is shaping up to be, absolutely the question now is how do you get him to the finish line they're better equipped with kevin lincoln in there to limit the games played and i think just he's talked about this and and you know the and maybe and maybe i'm wrong but or maybe but but maybe this the way he's going in those entries that subtle tweak maybe that's another thing that he's learned along the way about how do i stay healthy how do i how do i get through this because there's no question it's funny i was talking to talking to another uh i won't say which team but a person on a goalie team from the east and they're like yeah like they were asking because in their minds they're like

yeah like when he's right like he's one of the best in the league like he's a top three top four guy like like he's a guy who's on that Olympic team if he's right if if if he's right physically in the eyes of most goalie analysts and we'll see if USA hockey shares this disbelief but but like his numbers his adjusted numbers in not even the healthy season just overall compared to Jay Gautinger, like, there's no comparison. Like, they're better. We're speaking to Kevin. Guess what?

So are Anthony Stollars. Anthony Stollars are the best in the freaking league. Stollars got paid. Goalys are getting paid left and right. Stollers got paid. Stolars has the highest adjusted say percentage in the last season. I thought you'd get more. He's got four years at 3.75.

That was a bargain, man. Totally. I thought you'd get more. Well, I don't mean he got overpaid. It has been he got paid. Like, it's the most money he's ever made on a contract. It's a good thing. But yeah, it's not like a...

But honestly, like, like, his numbers are insane. It's just that he was stuck behind Bob as a backup in Florida. Like, he outperformed Bob in the regular season by like a, like a three times margin. Even that was Demko's a trophy finalist season. Stoller's adjusted, and hey, listen, it's a backup. He's not playing as much. It's easier. But his adjusted save percentage that season was twice as good.

Like he is a better adjusted save percentage. And when people hear adjusted save percentage, that's basically everybody likes goals saved above expected. well, if you don't play as much, you're not going to be as high in that chart. Sort of taking that stat and making it a per-save stat, like his is better than Connor Hellebuck over the past three seasons. That's how good he's been. But his game's played, I think the highest one, it's not even half a season. Like, that's the difference.

But, like, to me, if you believe that he's solved some things in his game and staying healthy and we'll just have to wait and see, that could be one of the best deals in hockey for the next two or three years. We're speaking to Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingold magazine here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Let's pivot off the goalie talk for a moment here. Let's do some Braden Coots talk. Been the story, I would say, of the weekend.

There were a lot, but definitely his ability to continually impress at the ripe old age of 18. Would you like to weigh in on the Coots' discourse and where he might be at with either a nine-game cameo to start the year or return to junior or maybe even something more? in the National Hockey League. Actually, I wish I'd check the shift charts before we came on to sort of see what the matchups were last night. Because obviously that was the Oilers. It was like when McDavid and Dry Sidel were out

and then without. Sorry, not to cut you off. He got a handful of shifts against him. I know like Randeep and Bick and Sat were talking about the times that he was out there. Now, I had a hard time figuring out if it was, they were just spotlighting the few times he was out there. I didn't get the exact matchups,

but they talked about there was a play where McDavid was jabbing him in the stomach, trying to get under his skin. There was another one where he won a board battle against dry sidle. So he was out there, I would say, enough times that it made an impression with the guys that were working the game.

But again, I don't have the raw numbers in front of how many matchups he got head-to-head with them. See, so if you're out there in those minutes, like that's, like, what happens in preseason is it just keeps getting harder, right? Because, and let's not forget, we're just halfway through. But that was a pissed off Oilers team

because you're not supposed to lose on home ice and they had. You know, they'd lost their last preseason game on home ice and so the Canucks got them focused and that's as tough as it comes. Like McDavid and Drysidal were feasting and so those are tough matchups and that's typically what happens in the preseason. It's not just about home in a way but it's like as you get down in the last few games the lineups get deeper and more like an NHL roster and that's where quite often young players start to fall off and the fact that he hasn't the way he takes care

of the puck down low and you know this is something that younger players are better at they've just grown up the small area stuff yeah like you know it's i'm not going to say sidine s because what they did was on another level and went in many ways pioneered it the way they he sort of interplays off other guys moves the puck around in small areas in cycles and creates opportunities that can be dangerous for his team like there's a lot to like there um The one goal goes off him, but he's in a dangerous area, you know, on the Friday night. I'm having little trouble with a goal last night. Like, hey, good, awesome.

Like, you scored. I'm still trying to figure out what Seward Skitter was doing with the back-to-the-shooter pirouette through the crease after feeling contact on his right skate, like rather than sort of pulling off that contact and sliding across the... It's one of my favorite techniques, Kev. Yeah, there's a freeze frame that Craig Ballack has said. because it may have gone out to our goalie group where essentially like Coots has the puck at the circle and Skinner is looking straight into his net as he does a full 360 spin through his crease.

So the other thing that happens with the preseason is you tend to run more and more often into NHL goalies that make saves that might not go in in the preseason, but that wasn't the case there. Like, you know, the presence to just get it to the dangerous area rather than holding it, rather than trying to make a perfect short side shot because Skinner was just defaulting to get to his short side post after his 360 spin.

So there's just a lot to like there. And yet you always have to throw the caveat because it just, it'll keep getting harder. Like schedule everything. But how can you not be impressed with what he's doing so far? And, you know, I know the mantra from management and coaching has earned another day. Well, he continues to do it as the test gets harder.

he keeps passing it and so fascinated to see what this decision is obviously the huglander injury and saw him in the walking boot leaving leaving the rink in abbotsford um you know that'll affect how that what this mix looks like up front and and what the numbers look like up front so it's uh man it's it's a positive right like like we're talking about villander and and peterson on the back end and that bad and P.O. Joe, like, how much better is it to be talking about those two young defensemen and P.O. Joseph looking positive as a, as a free agent pickup, versus where we were last year with De Harnay and some of the things that didn't look like they were going to work out

the way the organization maybe foresaw. There's a lot of, there are still a ton of question marks around this team, but there's a lot of really positive stories, and Braden Coots is one them. All right, Kev. So two preseason games to go. We'll see what the lineup is Wednesday, and Friday. Wednesday's on the road in Calgary? Friday's at home to Edmonton. You are correct. Do you think Friday

will be close to a full team? Like, have you heard anything about how they might do it? I know the Canucks have the day off today, so we're not going to see them practice. Have you heard anything We probably see some cuts today. Okay. All right. I think, like, I don't know if it's going to be the full team, Jason. I would think you're getting pretty close to it.

Just because they are asking these guys to make changes in how they play. And you can accomplish a lot of that in practice. But it's so read-based. I'm actually impressed with, like, the first game in Seattle was hard to tell how much of it was personnel. and how much of it was the changes. But, like, you know, you saw a lot of, like, Nikita Tolapilo, who's another positive story in the preseason so far, you saw how many sort of in tight odd man rushes

where multiple canucks go to the wall, the puck ends up coming off the wall, and there's a two-on-one down low, or an odd man rush or a breakaway. Like those types of mistakes, it was hard to tell how much was personnel and how much was wrong read over aggression. I think we saw,

saw it last night with the 2-1-1 as the Canucks pressed back into the game. Derek Forbert pinches down. Nobody covers them and the two best players in the world are off on an odd man, right? Like those reads in real time because you're asking guys to make more reads in this system and they haven't, this is new and different, I would think you'd want them all out there at least once or as close as you can get at least once heading into the regular situation. Because that's the question mark to me is what does it look like as the opponents get tougher? again, I was impressed last, like, we didn't see as many of those mistakes

when they talk going into the season about the way they were going to play, about this level of aggression through the neutral zone and defending and, you know, I know Thomas has used the word swarm, but like that sort of aggressive, all that pops in in my head and this isn't fair to the current group. It really isn't. But a lot of them were part of this was, you know, under Boudreau, like they must have led the league in memes in terms of, of pictures where there'd be like five Canucks

going to the puck in one spot. Yeah, yeah. Someone should cover that guy in front of the net. Yeah, right in front of the goalie, right? Like, I'm sorry, we're damaged as as Connux observers. But that's what I remember from, you know, pre-talking. And a lot of the personnel

was the same. Now, I think this system, I think that system was just pretty much was, I don't know if there was one. Was it a system? Talking to people that were around. This one's been a little better, explain a bit of better thought through, but you're still asking guys who thrived under Talkett's simple system to make active reads and read and react more than they did in the past. So I had nervousness about it. I've been impressed with how

they've implemented it so far. That's something to keep an eye out and something I think to your point about roster. You're going to need to get them all out there together and as close as you hope for it to look on opening night. Now they get a break. The flames are in, their opening night is the flames on the second end of back to back. So, you know, but having everybody on the same page, having depth is going to matter. The schedule's crazy. That's another example of it from a flames perspective.

So more reps with everybody on the same page to me as a positive. And I'd expect we'll see that, if not in Calgary. I doubt that, but certainly in the last preseason game. Kev, this was great,

bud. Enjoy the rest of the week. I will, you guys too. We'll talk to you soon. See you, buddy. Thanks. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingle magazine here

on the Halford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Thank you.