Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 9/4/25

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

Mike & Jason chat about yesterday's first informal Canucks skate of the season out at UBC, plus they speak with Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre about the latest 'Nucks news. 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. 633 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford and Brough, SportsNet 650. Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. B.C.'s first of trusted choice for dead help with over 3,000 5-star reviews. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. Good time for thrash Thursday.

It's an exciting day. The NFL starts tonight. We have. the first time in months. Canucks quote unquote practice audio. Haven't had that in a while. The Canucks were out at UBC yesterday for an informal skate. And Evander Kane met with the assembled media following the skate yesterday out at UBC.

Yeah, and we'll get to his audio in just a sec. But along with Kane, we're a couple of other very key forwards, Elias Pedersen and Brock Besser. Remember, we went into the off-season. not knowing if either of those guys would be back and a lot of us expected Besser for sure to be gone and Elias Pedersen maybe the Canucks would explore a trade because they had in the past but ultimately Pedersen not traded

Besser resigns and then Evander Cain is added in a trade from Edmonton now if you're looking at the Canucks depth chart I think there are six obvious fords to play in the top six this season. Okay. They are two centers, Elias Pedersen and Philip Heedle. Okay. And the Canucks weren't able to upgrade at center. So Heedle is in there and Souter is no longer with the team.

And then there are four wingers, Debrusk, Besser, Garland, and Kane. I would also agree with that. And it all does, Jason, seem very, very obvious. Mm-hmm. Who will Besser play with? He's mostly been with J.T. Miller for the last couple of seasons. And as we noted before we went to break, we all know he didn't look very good after Miller was traded. Now, some of that may have been the uncertainty of his situation, and maybe he felt a little disrespected by the Canucks, or he wasn't feeling the love.

And he went, well, I'm not going to show you much love then. Who knows? Right. Let's just be fair there. It was a very stressful season last year. Besser had no longer had the guy that he'd been playing with for a long time and playing quite well with. Things were very much up in the air. Now, I look at those six players, and I think you've got two potential play drivers.

Okay. Also known as guys who can make. things happen by themselves got it that is garland who we saw last season do that and we've seen them do it frankly for the last couple of seasons and elias peterson if he bounces back hopefully some others show they can do it too but for now i think you have to have peterson on one lined and garland on the other and then it's just a matter of how do you make it all fit so let's make it all fit so let's make some duos. I got to think we'll see if Bessor and Pedersen can be a duo. Seems logical. You could start Kane on their other wing or you could put Debrusk there.

So let's imagine a line of the three guys that were skating together yesterday of Evander Kane, Elyas Pedersen, and Brock Besser. And I think that leads us into the audio. We got from Evander Cain. Yeah, so he was the one that met with the media following the informal skate out at UBC yesterday. Touched on a variety of things in his scrum, but I think the most interesting one was his remark and remarks plural about Olius Pedersen playing with him, what PD's bringing into his table, and interestingly, what PD looks like having returned and now skating

out at UBC. This is about a minute of audio here, including a question and a follow-up. This is Evander Cain, one of the newest members of the Vancouver Connects at the informal skate at UBC, talking about who he might be playing with this season and what those players or player brings to the table. What do you like about the forward people? Well, I think we're a team that's going to, you know, work really hard.

I think, you know, we have some great skill at front. Obviously, you got Petey, you know, running down the middle there, and he looks like he's come into this season, you know, with a bit of a new look and probably a slightly different attitude, which is obviously going to bode well for us and it's going to start with him and it's going to be on everybody to help him out and

you know, produce offensively at a high level with our entire forward group. You've played with great guys. Yeah. What does 40 do for you in your mind? What is he what do you like about his game? Well, I think he's he's a guy that obviously skates really well. He's able to handle the puck through the Neutral Zone.

He has great speed and, you know, I've played with a couple of guys like that in my career and I think it's imperative to kind of help them create space through the neutral zone off the rush and at the same time kind of letting their attributes make yours even better, you know, getting open, finding the right spot to beat so they can get you the puck

and kind of reading off them. So I'm excited to play with him and we'll see what happens. Sounds like he used some shooting accuracy at practice there yesterday. He did note that. Yeah, that was funny. Um, it sounds early days and brief audio, but it certainly sounds as though Kane is anticipating maybe being, if the duo of Besser and Pedersen is going to be a thing. And I think it makes sense. It's logical, like I said earlier.

That certainly seems that Kane has put his hand up and be like, I'm more than willing to volunteer to play on that line as well. Although I kind of would like to see, uh, a line with Kane and Garland on it. I, to see if they could, uh, push. the other team to the point of insanity with being annoying to play with and you know three putt Shane texts in I'd like to see Kane with Sherwood

potentially align with some sandpaper and we should note that we're throwing out these six players as kind of like obvious top six guys but we all know the lines are going to change and some guys are going to get injured some guys are going to get dropped down to another line and maybe Adam Foote will be like

I want to put Sherwood into the top six or I want to give Nils Hoaglander a try in the top six So that sort of stuff is going to happen. Now, Tatiana in Langley, Texan, I think it's important for Bessor and Pedersen to solidify themselves as a duo because they're both going to be here for a long time and it would be good for both of them to have a consistent partner to build chemistry with. And then I'd rather have Cain with Heedle as a deterrent for guys throwing dirty hits as much as possible. I don't know why Heedle's in there as a deterrent, but... I think she means he would be the deterrent for people hitting Heedle.

Oh, Kane with Heedle. Yeah, because everyone's taking liberties with Heedle given his injury history. I don't know so much about the deterrent part, Tatiana, but thank you for writing regardless. I do think that the intrigue of having a second line where it would be Heedle between Kane and Garland. For the reasons that you pointed out, that I think that it would be a maddening. line to play against. And I also think it gives you a pretty unique look. There's not a lot of teams in the National Hockey League

that can throw that out there. Here's the thing. The one thing about Kane is that he is, even though he's in an advanced stage, he's not the player they want to. He's still a bit of a unicorn in terms of what he brings to the table. There's only a handful of guys that can do it. So whenever you put him on a line,

it gives that line an identity that it probably otherwise wouldn't have. Now, to pair him with Garland, I think it would be a super infuriating line to play against. if you were to put him out there with Sherwood for fits and starts, I think that you could also get a very maddening group to play against. And I do think, I do think that that's going to be something that the Canucks might want to lean into this year, is being more difficult to play against and having more of that being on the front foot

when it comes to physically engaging instead of being the one that kind of gets punched in the mouth, which we have seen on a number of occasions. and then is forced to respond. Like, we talked about that a lot last year. There was a lot of times and moments where the connects would either be on the receiving end of a dirty hit or someone trying to engage them physically,

and it was always, how are they responding? You can eliminate a lot of that conversation by not being the one that responds, but being the one that instigates and makes it happen in the first place. And then puts the pressure and puts the other team under the caution and says, what are you going to do about it, right?

It's a great question to ask someone when you see a fight on the horizon, what are you going to do about it? Because then you make them decide. And they're either going to say, well, now I'm going to kill you or they're going to say, no, not right now.

And then it's the other team's media and fan base that has to discuss like, why was there no reaction or why did they react too much and get themselves into penalty trouble? That's a lack of discipline. It is, but we joke, but that's how it works, right? And a good way to eliminate it entirely

is to be the aggressor, as opposed to the one that constantly has to respond to having your toughness challenged and having your pushback challenge and asking the question, who's the guy that's going to fight? Who's the guy that's going to stand up? You don't always want to be the team

that's looking at the calendar. Well, we'll get them next time. Next time that we play the Kings or whoever else, that kind of thing. Keith, the Water Guy, Texan, I'd like to see DeBrusk, Pedersen, and Besser, Sherwood, Heidel, Kane,

Garland, Blugher, Carlson, Hoglander, Sasson, O'Connor. I don't think he to play Garland. on that low. I don't, yeah. I mean, ideally you would, but I think when the connects re-signed him and given all they've seen from him in the last few years and his growing role as a leader on this team, he's a top six guy. I think you have, again, like, you're talking about play drivers. If you've got Sherwood, Heedle, and Kane as your second line, who's driving the play there? Like, who's making things happen out there?

And you can make things happen in different ways. You can have crazy speed. You can have crazy playmaking ability. But I don't really see an obvious one there. He'd, like, that's also like a line of not great passers. Like, he'll, I think he has some good attributes as a center, but I don't think puck distribution is necessarily it, which is why I think you have to have Garland in the mix on one line

and Pedersen in the mix on another line in your top six. I would love another player. Maybe it's Heel to show that he can be a play driver and make things happen and get the puck from one end of the ice to the other. But I think if there's been a knock on him, he's more a guy that just takes guys on one-on-one. He almost, he's like a center that plays like a winger. I think Garland, just, I mean, focus on Garland here for a second.

I think Garland is a guy that it's going to be really interesting to watch this year. Okay, so consider where he's at in the evolution of his career. Well established as an NHL or at this point. He's played close to 500 games. He's been in the league for seven years. And he's 29 years old. So you're, you're saying at this, this is his, these are his peak years right now. Maybe he's had his peak.

I don't know. He had 50 points. last year. That's only the second time in his career. He's gone over 50. But he's got a very lucrative extension in his back. He's making six mill a year. He's now gone, I think he's being counted on to, especially with the ice time, do what he did last year. I know he got some pretty high totals last year and he finished averaging about 18 and a half. And we thought maybe he was overextended. Well, I don't want to see him on PP1. No, but I think it. If he's on PB1, there's something's gone wrong.

I think that you could probably take maybe some of the power play ice time away and still have him playing like 17 and a half, 18 a night. Well, I think he's got a PK. But I think, yeah. But I think the bigger point is it's no longer him being overextended. I think that's what he is as a player. The production probably needs to go up. He probably needs to be closer to 25 goals.

It depends how much power play time you get. You really have to separate that. You can't just look at totals. He did score seven times on the power play. last year, right? That was a quarter of his goals. More than that, actually, because he only scored 19, it was almost half his goals, right?

So there's that. The other interesting thing with Garland, though, is that his profile as a player, I think it's elevated. I thought, and I know it was just a sort of nominal thing, but being one of the forwards invited to that U.S. Olympic camp, I think, was a, it was a statement that, like,

he's in that category, he's in that tier. high-end talented guys going and I know there was like Shane Pinto and Brian Rust and guys that were just invited to go they're not going to make the team and you could put Garland in that category

it was a feather in his cap for sure but it also I think gives credence to where he stands in the league like they understand that this guy is a driver of the Canucks and he's a guy that makes things happen for that team

like he's not a complimentary guy anymore the length of contract the amount of money being paid I also think that the way that he's endeared himself to the fan base like that kind of stuff does matter you know he's because of his size and Connor Garland chants at Rogers Arena last year

and he's because of the size and the style that he plays and also his name lends itself to the chant it's true you know right he's perfect syllabic like it works but you know I think that he's a guy that's like firmly in that six at the top of the lineup and will be counted upon a ton in a good way now where it's like one of those

well if you're playing there was always that caveat Yeah, well, if you're playing countergarland here, you're playing Conner Garland that much, it means you're not that great of a team. I think that narrative might be gone. I think he might just be a straight-up driver for this team. What did you think of Kane, a new player to the team, talking about how Pedersen maybe has a different attitude this season?

He's not dumb. He knows what happened last year. Everyone on the planet knows what happened last year. It was so publicized. I doubt there's any player in the NHL, maybe one that's like really in the dark, that didn't know in pretty good detail about, He should have been like, he should have been like now that PDs passed the tendinitis.

Right. He worked out in the summer, all this stuff, right? And, you know, the other part about the Pedersen Miller narrative that I think made it such a juicy and salacious story across the league was that you had guys that clearly fit like the archetypes of enemies. You had J.T. Miller who was the big, loud, grumpy, brash American. and then you had the bully yeah and then you have the skinnier younger quieter withdrawn Scandinavian kid who was like on the receiving end of that yeah so it may do you think that affected that dynamic i'm i'm being serious here do you think that affected how some people looked at that situation like maybe there was someone that has been bullied maybe when they were

kid at school or bullied at work. And they were like, I know what that looks like and I know how it feels. Or maybe there's there's a, there's a bully out there that's like, I know how it feels to really want to bully someone. And then they would have been on the J.T. Miller's side. Right. The only, the only thing I'll say, though, is an important part of the context. Because I'm sure that.

Because you got to stick up for the bullies too, right? You know, they have opinions as well. They need it too. Yeah. The only thing that I'll say that adds a wrinkle that I don't think enough people picked up on was that a lot of, not a lot, but some of what Miller did last year

was dictated and mandated by the organization. Endorsed. Endorsed. And it was because, and look, it wasn't like, it wasn't Talkett and Rutherford now being like, go bully a guy. It was them saying,

this messaging will resonate and mean more when it comes from the peer group and the leaders as opposed to the coaches and the executives. Do you remember, Frege reported early on in the season that the Canucks felt that Pedersen needed to be toughened up. Sure. I remember it.

And then Miller was like, I would like to volunteer for that job. We haven't even put it out there yet. Haven't put it up on the job board. You've already taken it. Yeah. But that was part of it. Like, for example,

coaching in youth sports, I've often told the players when they come, like when I've coached and they come and try and tell me some, something. I'm like, don't tell me, go tell your teammates. Because what happens is you tell me and then I relay that message to the kids and they've already tuned me out, right? They've only got so much time for this old band talking. So there is something about the message coming from your peers and your teammates. It hits different. It resonates. They have a way to talk to their peers that adults don't.

Right. And I think that logic absolutely applies to a national hockey league team. There's only so many meetings you can have with the coach, right? There's only so many times the talk, it can tell you to move your feet before, like, I get it. You want me to move my feet. Yeah. Can we move on to something else? And eventually you tune it out.

So the, you know, logical step is, well, let's get the players to try and push and prod and motivate one another. Well, we always hear there's a, it's like it cuts both ways because we always hear about a dressing room, like we want the Canucks to have a dressing room with leaders that hold each other accountable. Sure. And we've had people come on the show, former players, and we've asked them, like, what does that look like?

Well, sometimes you have to have some hard conversations with your teammates. Okay. But I think it's very possible that J.T. went too far with it. And more than that, I think it's possible that that is just the wrong way to motivate Pedersen. he's not the type of guy that's going to be like okay well i'm going to show you how tough i am he's a guy that's like i'm going to get more withdrawn then yeah and you have to recognize that especially when you give him hundreds of millions of dollars and that comes with yeah that comes with knowing knowing knowing the player knowing who he is and knowing how to motivate these players

how many times do we hear coaches talk about um every you know the the modern coach has to know that everyone is different and you have to coach players individually now that presents problems too and I think this probably from what I've heard probably bubbled up last season as well because if one guy gets motivated by you I don't know yelling at him he's like well I'll show you coach and another guy shrinks from that then you got a situation where the guy who who's always getting yelled at is like, well, why don't you yell at that guy? It's a very difficult situation, and we've asked former coaches about that, and they admit, yeah, it's tough. And I think what happened last season is you just had two very different personalities,

and ultimately the Canucks decided that they could not coexist. So we go into this season, hopefully with a bit of a fresh start, hopefully with everyone on the same page, and hopefully knowing how to motivate each other. And what's Adam Foot been doing ad nauseum this offseason? Building relationships. Fostering relationships. Building camaraderie. Trying to sew it back together after

it was torn apart last year. Did you want to mention one little thing about the NBA commencing an investigation into the report on Kauai and salary cap shenanigans? Right. So yesterday, a spokesman for the National

Basketball Association, Mike Bass, one of my favorites, said in a statement that the league was, quote, aware of this morning's media report regarding the L.A. Clippers and is commencing an investigation. This all came from the Pablo Tori finds out podcast, which we mentioned on the show yesterday, in which Clippers owner, Steve Ballmer, has been accused of circumventing the NBA salary cap by giving $28 million to Kauai Leonard for what Pablo Torre and one of his sources classified as a no-show job. Now, this is going to be really interesting because a lot of, there's been a lot of analysis and pushback in the aftermath of Torres report. One of the more prevalent ones was on social media yesterday where Maverick's owner, Mark Cuban, said that there's no way, no way that Steve Ballmer would have done this because I guess when the company, and I forget the name of the company, aspiration, aspiration went bankrupt. I guess all of their documents became public and available to, you know, I guess Freedom of Information Act or whatever the equivalent would be. Well, it just goes to court, bankruptcy court. Okay.

So the information would have been available and it would have been very easy for Balmer to be caught as he was by Pablo Tori's podcast. There was a back and forth between Tori and Mark Cuban on Twitter, which ended with, I think they took it to the DMs eventually. No one who's a billionaire could be a bad man. No, surely he wouldn't be scaring the rules. also I know that there's some talk out there that now he's going to start Pablo Torre that is going to start looking at all of the NBA extensions

that have been signed recently for under the Supermax or the max value to see if any of these other shenanigans were going on I don't know I didn't know what to make of this when the story broke I'll be very curious to see what the NBA investigation will unfurled

because one of the things that Tori pointed out was that he didn't do this on a lark he had I I think it was seven different sources on the record talking about this deal. Countless documents. I think he's in the thousands of pages of documents. So it's a well-researched and well-reported story from his end. I mean, Ed, I mean, he is a trained journalist.

This isn't like your typical podcaster, like the numerous ones. Like us, for example. If we were to do some investigative journalism, it'd be poor. I think, put it mildly. I think what, um, what Cuban was getting at, though, is did this company, aspiration do this by itself. Right. Or did Balmer, the owner of the Clippers, directed to do this?

And was he in on it? Were the Clippers in on this? Or did that company, because it had this big investment from Balmer, kind of just like, okay, we'll help you out a little bit here, but we won't tell you. Like, that's kind of, I mean, the whole thing boils down to, What did Clippers ownership know about this? So that'll be, I mean, that's, that is a massive lead in story to the start of the NBA regular season, though, because I was trying to remember, and I think the last time that something of this nature happened, now, we'll have to fact check me on this one, but I think it was former Minnesota Timberwolf Joe Smith, the former number one overall pick, who signed a regular deal with the T-Wolves and then had one of these off the books. steals as well and the punishment there was five first round picks that they were docked so there is a

precedent here for salary cap circumvention especially in this nature where you're paying somebody off the books whether this will rise to the ranks of that remains to be seen okay we're going to have a conucks conversation on the other side um a bunch of players were skating out at ubc yesterday including three of their most vital forwards ofander kane alias peterson and brock best sir. And I would say wild cards, too. We really don't know what to expect from all three of these guys. Also, Vilmer Arlickson. Yeah, he's a big boy. He's a big boy. But we know what to expect from him, and that he won't be on the Canucks. So I want to hear from you guys about, you know, who do you want Kane, for example, to play with? What kind of line would you like to see him on? Are there any other

duos. Who does Besser play with? Because he's essentially been paired with J.T. Miller for the last few seasons. But Miller, I don't know if you guys got the news last season, he was traded. What? He was traded. Yeah. And Besser, you know, after Miller was traded, Besser looked a little lost out there. So how do the Canucks, after making such a big investment in Brock Besser, how do they get him going again? Who's he going

to play with? I'd love to Hear your thoughts into the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650, 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. 801 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford, Brough.

650. Alfred and wrap of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. V.C.'s first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 5-star reviews. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are now in our three of the program. Ian McIntyre, IMAQ from Sportsnet, is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off our three. Hour three is brought to by Campbell and Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound.

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Let's go now to the aforementioned Power West Industries hotline. Ian McIntyre. IMAQ joins us here now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Good morning, Ian. How are you? I'm doing well, fellas. I'm doing my best to extend one of my longest summers since I was a kid. I am walking out on the beach at Rath Trevor on Vancouver Island near Parksville.

And I'm looking across the sea and imagining you guys in the Kintech studio back in Vancouver. So I'm jealous. I'm glad that you're embracing the last gasps of it. We came back too early. We acknowledged that the day we came back, right? We should have waited a little longer because summer is fleeting. You only get a handful of weeks of it. So I'm glad that you're taking the extra time.

I'm also glad that you took the time to do this today. We do really appreciate it. I know you're on vacation, but we wanted to talk to you. Having both of us read your piece on Quinn Hughes yesterday, great interview, great article, great read. Did you have one key particular takeaway after speaking about and then writing about, or speaking with and then writing about Hughes? or was it just sort of a lot of different takeaways

from your interview with the captain? Well, of course, I have been talking to Quinn for a long time. I remember the night, you know, he was drafted and doing his story that night. He's a remarkably mature for his age. And that was when, you know, he was 19, 20, 21, and now he's 25. So not a lot of what he does surprises me,

but it continues constantly to impress me and it impresses me on the ice because we see what a special player he is and that when he's healthy and on his game he literally is one of the most influential, impactful players in the National Hockey League. He's got the puck and every time he's on the ice, it seems some games he dictates,

he's able to dictate play, but off the ice. Very impressive as well. And I guess to answer your question, what my takeaway was, I was impressed especially by his attitude that he's not worried about this question of his future lingering over him in that he can quote unquote handle the noise and that's why he's the captain because he can handle the noise and he can play at an elite level regardless of what's going on around them. And the reason I think that that stuck with me

is because there was more noise than anybody could have possibly wanted last season around this team. And I think if you talk to most of the guys when they come back, and I know some are back now, there's going to be a lot more pouring into town next week, including Quinn, who's got obligations for the NHL,

their annual pre-season media car wash in Las Vegas. But if you ask most of the guys, I think what they'll say is, and maybe for Elias Pedersen especially, there's one of the things they're looking forward to is a lot less noise this season and a lot, you know, easier to focus,

easier to prepare, easier to play. There isn't going to be the side show. There isn't going to be the drama. yet for Quinn, and understandably so, there is going to be this story that hovers over him until next summer. And I was really impressed by how he seems poised to handle it. He's not in denial. He understands the story. He understands what we do as reporters.

And he's not afraid of it. And he's determined to have a great season. He wants to play for Team USA. There was a lot of Olympic Team USA component that I didn't get into my story just because of space. But he really is, he really is driven to be a great player and a great leader again this year. When it comes to his future in Vancouver, one of the quotes that you got that stood out for me was when he said, who knows what we can do and who knows how I'll be feeling. time next year. What did you make of that?

Yeah, I thought it was honest. Like he's not making any false promises. But I also think he's genuinely open to a lot of options. Here's the thing for guys, for really good players who can see unrestricted free agency either at their doorstep or at least on the horizon, as is the case with Quinn. It means they've been in the league a few years. They've served the team that drafted them to the best of their ability, and for the first time they're going to have this option.

Well, it's, do you have a chance to win? Do you like your city? Do you like your teammates? Is your family, if you have a family, is it happy there? And is the game fun? Are you enjoying what you're doing? Well, I think he likes Vancouver. I know he likes his teammates.

But as he said, it wasn't fun last year, and they didn't win. A failure is how he regarded the season. So, you know, all those guys resigning in Florida, I mean, yeah, they like each other. It's Florida. But they have a chance to win. So I think when he says,

who knows what will happen is, year, literally, we don't know what's going to happen with the Canucks this year. And I think we all, if you try to take a step back and look at the situation, I think you should, with some degree of confidence, somebody could say the team is going to be better, how much better we don't know. But with some degree of confidence, you can say that, because what are the chances you're going to have all of the injuries that you had last year? You know you're not going to have the soap opera that you had last year. And, you know, even with all the problems they had, you know, they weren't that far off

for making the playoffs a year ago. So it's easy to say, well, yeah, they should be better. But on the other hand, well, how good is Ilias Pedersen really going to be? Is he going to bounce back? What about Adam Foote as coach? what about the center depth? What if, you know, Heedl gets hurt again? What do they do there for a second-line center?

So there's a whole lot of questions going into the season. And, you know, for people who want Quinn Hughes to stay and why wouldn't you? There's a lot more chance of that happening. If this is a season, something like it was two years ago, and I don't think they're going to get 109 points. but if they're a hundred point team and they're not in the wild card mosh pit

into the final week of the season and they're a playoff team and then especially if you know as Quinn says who knows what might happen if they do make the playoffs well there's a lot greater likelihood of Quinn Hughes wanting to stay

and be part of that than certainly if there's anything like there was last year but there's there's a lot there's a lot right on this season, and there's a lot of questions that go with it. Do you think scoring goals is going to be their toughest

challenge? Yeah, I do. I do, because you know, there is that uncomfortable reality about what their team looks like up front, and especially at the top of the lineup. I mean, three years ago, you had Horvatt, Miller, and

Pedersen, and now you have Petterson, and Atu Ratu or Teddy Bluger. So yes, yeah, that is the problem. But I would say this as well. I think they understand that. And I think they're constructed somewhat to counteract that because they should be a very good team offensively. They should be a team if you think that, you know,

Thatcher Dempkel played 23 games last year. If he plays 53 games this year. and is healthy and those you know the big centers that they've lost well they haven't lost them for nothing because they have Marcus Pedersen

and Philip Roneck on a defense which should be one of the better defenses in the NHL like it it's a really solid group and especially if EP2 takes another step this season you've got other guys VLander and Mancini who could who could

be good NHL players, or at least NHL players this year. They should have a really good defense and they should have great goal tending.

And so they won't need to be a top 10 offensive team to have success. But it is going to be a challenge. And again,

because of the lack of top end depth, that challenge becomes critical if they have an injury or two to the guys at the top of their lineup. There is a new head coach, Adam Foote, but he's a guy that Quinn Hughes is very familiar with because he was the defenseman's coach under Rick Tocket.

And he calls him every day. Yeah, yeah, and he's had to block his calls, apparently. Tell us about that conversation about Adam Foote that you had with Quinn Hughes, because it was kind of funny, actually. It was and it was nice of, you know, Quinn, he's so, you know, comfortable now in his place that he can tell a story like that, knowing that some people probably will try to spin it like this is a bad thing that Adam Foote is so engaged and so eager and so determined to build relationships and stay in touch with his players that Quinn had to tell him, you know, I'm probably going to turn my phone off. a couple of weeks so you won't be able to get hold of me but but don't worry i'll get back to you after um so i thought i did think that was funny it i know that quinn literally uh does that he uh and i don't know i don't know exactly when it's not i don't think it's august right because by

august he's he's back in the rink his dad is running a really high performance uh camp for NHL players in the Michigan area. But early in the offseason, I know he does this. He just has to mentally decompress, so he turns his, I don't know if he literally turns it off or he just doesn't look at it or he looks at it and doesn't get back to people, but he does give himself a holiday. I also know, and part of the reason I found the story funny, because talking to Adam Foot, I think it was like July 2nd or 3rd.

I talked to Adam and did a story, and he told me that one of his main objectives in this offseason is to empower the leadership group and let them know that this is their team. But with that responsibility, you know, they've got to look after each other. Like he says, if I, this was Adam, a couple months ago, if I have to look after them, they're not going to be happy about it. So they have to look after each other. that's a paraphrase. And so I know that Adam has been reaching out a lot to guys just to check in,

but he's also had these Zoom meetings with his leadership group. He did have that extraordinary gathering, extraordinary for the Angel, just because it doesn't happen very often. About two weeks after he was hired in May, Adam went to the Detroit area where Quinn lives, and he got Quinn and Fatcher Demko and Ilius. Pedersen together. Pedersen flew over from Sweden on short notice to sit. And Adam would not divulge what they talked about, but given what he's talked about, you know, in leadership group and

empowerment, I'm sure it had to do with the team and culture. And it apparently was really good. They had dinner. They played golf. So his calls to Quinn have been a continuation of that. And I did wonder at some point, is it going to reach a critical mass? And I guess it did for a couple of weeks. But Quinn genuinely, as all the defensemen do, like the defense guys, I remember talking to Tyler Myers, who was elated that it was going to be Adam Foote. I think everybody was disappointed, but not angry,

that Tuckett left because they understood there was a possibility of this happening. He was essentially a pre-agent. And that was a really tough blow for the Canucksism, organization at the end of everything that had happened that the reigning coach of the year who brought in everything you wanted him to bring into this team in terms of identity and and work ethic and standards and expectations and then obviously a very good team on the ice two years ago that was maybe the toughest blow of all but the players and especially the defensemen

were really happy when it was announced that Adam Foote would be the guy replacing him. So we'll see how that goes. That's another huge, that's going to be another question or a storyline to follow because it's not just a new head coach. It's essentially a new coaching staff, you know, that Sergei Gonchar's not back either. And Yogi said Kovsky has gone to Philadelphia with, with Rick. So, you know, that's going to be an ongoing story

and actually a really interesting one to follow, especially early on when we see the dynamics of training camp of this new coaching staff with these players. Yeah, you're spot on with how intriguing the entirety of coaching is going to be because we had foot on the show a couple months ago now, and he stressed at the time the value and importance he put on team building and camaraderie

and building chemistry and dinners and getting to know one another. And, I mean, when you hear Alvin and Rutherford talk about the reason why Foote got the job, part of it was that he was boots on the ground last year to see the lack of harmony and how toxic things got and how divided the room and the team became. So it's not really surprising that number one priority for Foote is to sort of mend some of those fences and really build the group back together. It certainly seems to that's extended beyond, you know, the introductory phase. of being the coach.

And I wonder how much that's going to continue to be a priority for him and this staff because, one, they are all new and they need to build those relationships. And two, it seems like something he really, really values going back to his playing days in Colorado where he said they were really a tight-knit grip. Yeah, well, I was just going to say that. I mean, he won Stanley Cup in, or was it Stanley Cups? Was he there for both? Anyways, he won Cups in Colorado.

And Mark Crawford was coach. for the first one and they had a really talented team of course Sackick and Forsberg as your one of the greatest one of the greatest one two punches ever at center but

you know Foote says it was Patrick Waugh was the guy who set the culture and kind of was the gatekeeper for how you had to be

on that team and it was the players who, you know, air quotes, ran the team. Like they, and Foote said Patrick Waugh probably learned it from Bob Ganey and Larry Robinson. And those guys on those from the, who were still around after those fantastic Montreal Canadian teams. So, you know, is it, is it, is it, is it, is it, is it. a wild idea that somehow you need to empower the players. No, it's not. This is how great teams are.

I'm sure if you talk to Paul Maurice, he doesn't have to say a whole lot to his guys in Florida. Because they won two cups. Same thing in Tampa. It's the players who set the standard and ultimately decide is whether the team will be successful or not. And that's, I think, I think Rick made some headway in that. But obviously there was this exceptional dynamic between Pedersen and Miller that it existed for a few years.

And then finally got to a boiling point with everything else going on with the team, that it wasn't survivable, that dynamic. But I know that Rick was trying to talk to players about what Adam is now, about this is your team and you've got to look after. And you've got to set the standards for how hard you practice. And if guys aren't practicing hard, it's the peer group that has to get to that guy. As Adam told me, you know, it's every now and then somebody goes rogue, but it's up to the group to bring that guy back and bring him back up.

to the standard. Now, that's, it's, I think it's essential if you're going to be a championship team to have that, but it's hard to build, and it's especially hard to build when you've had a year where the team seemed to be almost coming apart. And I know that, you know, Tyler Myers, for instance, really vehemently objects to this idea that there was a culture problem or a room problem, with the Canucks last year. He said there was this dynamic

where yeah, there were a couple of guys who didn't get along, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't a close room. Well, I think this season, you know, that dynamic has been solved. That has been dealt with for better or worse. It's been dealt with.

So now we'll see, is this, is this a group that is as close as they say they are? And is it a group that can do what Adamfoot wants to set this, set a lot of these standards and through peer pressure and expectations and just plain old professionalism can they can they operate on practice days on non-game days and during games can and in training camp and in even this week you know the early stages of the group getting back

together can can they set a standard that's high and maintain it themselves without uh this new coaching staff having to badger them about it. I'm, Mack, great chatting with you today. Great catching up as we prepare for this season. I know that nature tried to interrupt you a few times while you were talking to us. And sometimes you have to tell nature to be quiet while you're doing full interviews. Well, it's crows, right? Yeah.

They're always yacking. Wow, they heard you talking about Mark Crawford. By the way. That would have been so good. Yeah, yeah. cod right when I mentioned Mark Crawford. Adam Foote was there for both Stanley Cups, and

yeah, sometimes I forget what a one-two-punch Sackick-Forseburg was down the middle for Colorado. IMAQ, thanks for joining us, and we'll chat again soon. Enjoy your morning walk. Enjoy whatever's left of your vacation,

because another Kinnock season is coming for you. Yeah, well, it's kind of late to be on vacation, I know, with the season around the corner, but my parents are in their 90s and they can't just get out on their own so we had planned a while ago that I was bringing them over to the island for a few days and and it's it's beautiful I'm sorry I rambled I'm still doing it I guess but it's nice to being back on with you guys it's great having you I'm Mack thanks for doing this we appreciate it see you guys uh Ian McIntyre

SportsNets very own here on the Halford & Bruff show on SportsNet 650 you're listening to the best of Halford and Brough Thank you.