Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 9/5/25

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they get a Canucks update from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal.  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. Number 98, people and new actions, has disqualified him from the game. Did he spit? Did he spit, Hogger? Spit on this for me, Smithers. One hucker coming up, sir. You're one of the richest men in America.

They con me. I need an investment in these guys thinking it was on the up and up, and they conned me. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford, it is brought in his Sportsnet, 650. We are coming here live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford, abrupt, 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 coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you and Step. We got a big show ahead on a Friday. We get to look back on one NFL game. We get to look forward to another one. And that's going to begin today. with our guest list at 6.30. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join the program.

Football is back, baby. So is spitting. The Eagles beat the Cowboys 24 to 20 last night in the first game of their title defense. And boy, it was in an eventful game. We'll get into all of that with Nick in about a half hour's time. We will also preview tonight's game.

Friday night football, the NFL version. Chargers, chiefs from Brazil. Lots to get into with Nick Shook at 630 this morning from NFL.com. 7 o'clock. AJ from AJ's Pizza on his Broadway is going to join the program live from New York. Going to join us from the Big Apple where he's taking into U.S. Open and Laddie the start of the Jay's Yankee series this weekend. Oh, he's going to see the part where the Jays really start to separate from the Yankees. Very nice. Very nice.

He's going to be in the house for it. Also, a reminder, it's Ask Us Anything Friday. A $100 gift card to A.J.'s Pizza on East Broadway goes to the best. Ask us anything. Start getting those in now. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650, hashtag it AUA and put a pizza emoji into your text to be entered into the contest.

7.30, it's the moge. Yes, it's the moge. BC Lions, play-by-playman, is going to join the program. The BC Lions are in action tonight in Ottawa. 4.30 start our time for more Friday night football. This is the Canadian variety. Against the Red Blacks! The Lions are 3.5 point road favorites in this one, which does make sense because Ottawa has the worst road record

in the entire CFL. We'll talk to Moge at 7.30 this morning about all that. And finally, 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. Intrepid Canucks reporter. Now, he doesn't get back to work until Monday. But I guess he thought he'd get a head start by doing a hit with Halford and Brough on Friday. What does Dolly have in store for us? We're going to have a Noah Juleson update.

Nice. Is he still in Philadelphia? We're actually going to talk to Dolly about the second line center spot. Sherwood changing agents which Dolly Wall was very excited about We were decidedly less excited and we haven't mentioned it until now

And you know how Dolly's really into like Who Makes the Olympic teams Like with all the American players He's going to talk about Besser and Demko Not making the USA Olympic camp Oh all right Well dolly well is going to join us at 8 o'clock this morning

Moge is going to join us at 730 A.J. at 7, Nick Shook at 6 30. It's a big show ahead, a big program ahead, but without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA. We begin with the National Football League and the Philadelphia Eagles title defense that kicked off last night, a 24 to 20 win over the Dallas Cowboys that had a lot of storylines and a lot of narratives emanating from it in the aftermath.

The game itself, pretty entertaining one, despite the fact that there was a very lengthy weather delay in this one, Jason, which kept the teams off the field for about 40 minutes in the second half. It really kind of altered the course of the game. We didn't finish until awfully late back east. 12, 18 a.m. That game ended local time in Philadelphia. But again, the on-field stuff and the box score stuff, which we're kind of parsing through because we need to get to the big story of the night. Eagles win a lot closer game than a lot expected.

As a matter of fact, I think the line ended up closing it at eight and a half in favor of the Eagles. But the Cowboys played reasonably well, especially on the defensive side of the football. The Cowboys had a chance to win that game if C.D. Lam could catch the ball. Old C.D. you know what CD stands for, continual drops. Ah, nice. It was a good opening night. I think the weather, the game really stunk after the weather delay.

There was no punts prior to it. There was five punts after it. I think it really threw both teams off. But whatever the case, it was a fairly decent opening salvo on the field when it came to the actual football. Now, the big story from last night, of course, is the Jalen Carter incident. And when it happened in the moment, I knew it was going to be a big story, but I didn't realize. that that was going to mushroom cloud and become the talking point.

If you watched any post-game coverage of this game yesterday, everything was focused on the spitting incident. So in case you missed it, a grand total of six seconds into the game yesterday, Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle, Jalen Carter was tossed, ejected from the game,

for spitting on Dak Prescott. Now, in the immediacy, when it happened, he was dead to rights. Clear as day. They got it on camera. The ref was right there. Right there. And it wasn't a sprayer.

Nope. That was a lugy. It was a lugy. Yeah, yeah. And it was like, we got a loogie. We got a loogie. And Prescott immediately signaled towards the referee

to one of those like, did you just see that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the referee was like I did. Flag goes up. Carter's gone. Mm-hmm. Now, we've got a whole bunch of our audio

that I want to parse through here. Let's start with Jalen Carter after the game. This is a guy, incredibly talented player. Remember the Seahawks were thudged to him in the draft during his draft here. Also an incredible. checkered history. A little undisciplined back at, was it Georgia? Yes.

Yeah. And now that discipline seemingly still a problem. Jalen Carter, very tight-lipped after the game, so there's not a ton here. For once. Hello. I set them up, you knock them down. Here's Jalen Carter after getting ejected from the 24 to 20 loss to, or sorry, the 24-20 win for him over the Dallas Cowboys last night.

When it happened, did you realize that you were going to get tossed in the game? I heard the rest talking, and then I heard him say, this is a tossable offense or something like that, and that's what I knew. Did you have a conversation with Nick, and if so, what kind of message did he relate to you? I didn't have a conversation yet. I never going to have that conversation. They had to focus on the game still. I don't want to distract them from the game. I came in, I talked to the D-line, told him what I was seeing while I was watching the game, and so that's all. What was it like watching the rest of the game? it was intense for me

I wanted to be out there with the guys so bad just to support and help even just standing on the sideline but things went hard win you know we just got to move on I've made a promise to them boys it won't happen again

so what was missing from that audio was a real definitive explanation as to why and Carter wasn't going there he basically said like I'm not you know I'm not talking I'm not answering those kind of questions he was talking about the aftermath

and how badly he felt and how he won't do it again hopefully not because spitting is pretty gross Dak Prescott was far more detailed in his explanation And he kind of needed to be Yes, because ESPN or sorry NBC put on a bit of an investigation At halftime they went through a bunch of videos And I guess

They suggested that Dak might have been part of it He was the first spitter The first spitter but not at Like not on Jalen Carter but maybe spat in his direction? Is that fair? The vicinity?

Like it was a symbolic spit. He was like, that's you. Right. And it didn't hit the individual. And he wasn't that close to Carter. Yeah, it wasn't that.

I would call it almost like a taunting or a trolling spit, if you will. It's very hard to describe, but if you've seen the video, there's clearly something that leads up to Carter spitting on Prescott. Now this doesn't take the onus off of Jalen Carter.

What he did was brutal and everything else, But I like that, a taunting spit. Yeah, a troll spit. That's what Dak called it. Exactly. He said it was trolling. Sponting. Or don't do it the other way.

Don't do it the other way. Don't do it the other way. I thought about it in my mind grapes. Don't do it. Because of the level of skill required for the spit, though, shouldn't he be rewarded for that because of how much work was involved? Who? The spitter.

He should be encouraged, but like, we were really, this was a level of athleticism. No, it wasn't. Have you seen it? Do you see it? He was like, he was like nine inches away from him. He just, it was like, it wasn't. wasn't like accurate. You know how athletes, you watch them sometimes.

You're like, I could do that. I could have done that. I could have spout on Dak Prescott with a good Lugie too. I wouldn't have because he'd kill me. In terms of handling the questions afterwards, I think Dak did a really good job and we'll play the audio here because he acknowledges his part in what happened. And when you hear him explain it, you don't really blame Prescott

and you're still pointing all the fingers of Jalen Carter. I did anyway. Let's hear what you have to think in. listener land. Here is Dak Prescott following the game in which he was the spitter. Spitter. What are you at that point? Spittee. You're the spittie? That's bad on. The spittee, Dak Prescott following the loss to the Eagles last night.

I probably spit a thousand times throughout the game. I mean, especially game day, maybe even in general. It's something I guess I'm not proud of. But in that case, he was trolling, I guess you can say, trying to mess with Tyler Booker. I was just looking at him. I was right here by the two linemen. And I guess I needed to spit, and I wasn't going to spin him. my lineman and I just spit ahead but I would say he was back there where jury was in that sense and he asked or he goes you're trying to spin on me and at that point I mean I felt like like he was

insulting me like I don't I wouldn't spin on somebody I'm damn sure not trying to spin on you like we're about to play a game I'm wondering why you're trying to mess with the rookie and so when I step through I actually say the words like what the hell would I excuse me but I'm probably even more colorful what would I need to spin on you for and he just spit on me in that moment and it was more of a surprise than anything uh refs obviously saw it through the flag I was like, hell yeah, we get 15 yards to start the game off. I love how... You should have been like, I had a bug in my mouth.

I love how we, you know, get really excited for NFL season, and these players are getting paid millions and millions of dollars, and they're all incredible athletes, and the NFL puts on this big spectacle, and they're, you know, almost 100,000 fans at these stadiums and so much money invested. And then after the game, we're like, Did you see that guy spit on him?

That was the main, that was the main talking. You all see the luky last night? That was the main talking point from all those millions of dollars and all that emotional investment into this game. One guy spat on the other guy and we're going to talk about it. That's what I'm saying. There was lots to talk about in the actual game yesterday. This isn't me being naive thinking that the only thing they were going to talk about was spitting. I knew it was going to be prominent.

But if you watched any post game show. Yeah. But any of the major, like, that's all. Spitting's gross, man, and it happened like so blatantly. Well, there's another ironic wrinkled all of this. Can we play the audio that the, this is the audio that the NFL rules committee sent out to all 32 teams prior to the start of the season. If you weren't aware of this, one of the initiatives from the NFL this season is to emphasize sportsmanship and crack down on violent and sexually suggestive gestures this season. So violent means they don't want guys.

doing like the shooting guns celebrate like yaha that one and i don't think they want any more like crotch chops right they're trying to eliminate rich texan is just furious about that they're trying to eliminate all this stuff like the dmx thing you mean right they can't do the dmx no no no dx oh dmx wait that's the rapper yes that's right rest in peace anyway what this is hilarious listen to the audio here this is what the NFL sent out prior to the first game of the season And then what they got in the first game of the season was chef's gift. Perfect. Here's the NFL rules committee prior to the start of the season.

Things that we've seen, there's just no place in the game for it. There's no place in the game to be standing over your opponent. There's no place in the game to have violent gestures. That's not the game of football. We just have to play by the rule. rules, respect your opponent, respect your teammates, and play the game in between the whistles. The best part of all of that is that they didn't mention spitting specifically, and I like to think that Jalen Carter saw right through their video. He's like, well, you didn't mention this at all.

Well, do you think in the video they were like, should we put something in and spitting? No, no one's going to spit, man. That's like so gross. We don't have a spitting problem here. I think they're going to suspend them a game. I think so too. Yeah. Here, I've got to ask us anything. first ask us anything of the day don't say that we're not we're not doing a whole season of that this one's coming from me okay what is worse spitting or biting great question this is this is in a sports context and i was thinking about this last night my head my brain limited brain says biting is worse because it's both gross

I mean it's like a very close up spit with teeth and it hurts and could cause physical harm yep my heart says spitting because it's just so damn

disrespectful to just spit on someone what I mean what a statement you're making with that and I guess at the end of the day if I'm putting myself in the victim's shoes and you might want to clip this A-dog I think I'd rather someone bites me

than spits on me Okay Okay Brian spit on me Oh that's nice Now tell me I'm scum I mean in that context It's different I was like a cool you off

Now okay I thought about this a lot last night I think the biting would be easier to deal with If it was a dry bite Like if there wasn't a lot of saliva involved the bite and the guy was respectfully clearing his throat first and made sure his mouse was nice and clean

then maybe with the fact that you're getting bitten in such a sterile environment I'm just saying like if you have your jersey on and stuff you got some padding in between you that is probably not so bad but I mean a spit is a spit that's gross okay now if it's a really like wet bite that's a bit different I didn't know that the moisture

was going to come into the conversation but it has more the disrespect that I'm talking about as opposed to the respectful bite well yeah aren't they both kind of Honestly, sometimes, if it comes to biting, sometimes you're just in a fight and one guy resorts to a fight. Now we're getting to the crux of the argument right here. Okay, let's pause for a sec here. Like, no one comes up to you with their like mouth open and they're like, this guy's going to bite me, right? Not today, anyway. Um, okay.

Are you wearing fangs? Let's put it this way. There may be, maybe a certain situation. I don't want to use the word acceptable, but there may be a situation where you could, understand why a bite would take place. Let's say, like you were suggesting a fight. Let's say someone is gouging your mouth with their fingers. This is all going to get clipped. But yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway.

Let's say it's Patrice Bergeron. Sure. And let's say it's a very important moment, like the 2011 Stanley Cup final. You spilled barbecue sauce all over you, maybe some salt and parmesan. Let's just focus on the, let's say someone inserts their fingers into your mouth without you inviting them in. right let's say they forced what are we talking about here

biting you know no I know but you're saying the bite would only occur if somebody was sticking their finger I thought you meant like the guy would just like chomping you no I don't think you're listening because there's different levels of bite right we're suggesting you stop talking please stop talking it's time to mute your microphone what we're suggesting is there may be some instances

where biting isn't acceptable but it happens and you understand it let's say someone you're in a fight and someone puts their fingers in your mouth and you bite them yeah you're allowed to do that Is there ever, ever a similar parallel for spitting where you're like, well, it was not great, but I could understand why you did it. I couldn't think of one. Maybe if you got spat on first.

But that's retaliatory. If somebody sticks their finger in your mouth, you could do whatever you want. Okay. Thank you. Now you're adding something useful to the conversation. In that, in, I think there's a clear device. Some of you are overthinking it, like Mike the urologist, a doctor texting in. If there's a bite and no skin puncture maybe, but if there's skin.

puncture than biting is definitely worse. You can't do that. No, no, no, you can do that, but you're overthinking it. You're like, well, I could get some sort of, you know, well, I can get rabies or whatever. You can't say you can't do what Mike did. There has to be a divide between, is it okay or not? There can't be levels to it, if you know what I'm saying.

Like one bites okay and one bites not. I just think like, I, why I said my brain says it's biting because like I'm going through all these reasons. but at the end of the day like to be spat on is just like so disrespectful and to have that happen in a game

where yeah like you know like say respect your opponent but like there might be some trash talking or whatever to have that it's like it's like it's a showstopper do you know what I mean like it's just an absolute showstopper for someone to do that and it is such a

statement of disrespect that my heart says that spitting is worse than biting at least with biting you're like well he's a battler you know like he'll go to any length but spitting is just like cowardly and disrespectful okay if you want to get your what we learns in and ask us anything's in dunbar lumber text line is 650 650 hashtag at a ua put a pizza emoji into the text best ask us anything will be announced at 830 the winner gets a 100 dollar gift card to a j's pizza on east broadway uh we We do need to pivot to the second consecutive day of Canucks News and Notes from their informal skates out at the University of British Columbia. Yesterday, things got ramped up a level because there was an informal scrimmage out at UBC. And one of the key takeaways was that Jake DeBrusk was in the house and in attendance and had already linked up with Elias Pedersen.

The two skated together and were seen Dishing and diving to one another throughout the course of the scrimmage. The interesting thing here off our conversation yesterday is we were trying to figure out early days, of course, because it's only September 5th, and these are informal skates, but who's going to play with who and who's going to be linked up with who? Yesterday it was, we're thinking Besser Pedersen to try and find that center for Besser that he's been looking for since J.T. Miller was traded away.

Yeah, and then we weren't really sure on Cain or DeBrusk for the other winger on that line. But I think we definitely kind of had Besser and Pedersen together because is Besser potentially their best goal score? Right now it would be Besser DeBrasch, right? What about Cain? I don't see it. Not at his advanced age.

He was a 30 goal guy early in his career. I mean, put it this way. Right now, if Cain gets to 20 this year, feels like a bit of a win. I know some people have some expectations that he might get back to 30. He's in a contract year. I get that, but he's also a little. little bit longer in the tooth. And I think

every time I talk to someone about they ask me like, what do you, what do you think about Ken? I'm like, I'm not sure because it is extremely difficult to do what he did last year. I know he came back in the playoffs and I know there were fits and starts in the playoffs where he looked very good and very effective. But by the end, he looked like a guy

that had missed the entirety of the regular season. Like it looked like things caught up to him, which is fair. Yeah, yeah. You can't miss an 82 game regular season, jump back into the postseason and expect to have that early energy and all the momentum that comes with it carry throughout. Like, you're going to hit a lull.

Not including last year, he's a pretty consistent 20 goal score. I think 20 is a reasonable total. Other than one season, he always hits 20. His last 30 goal season was 2018 and 19, though. I think a big wild card is how much he gets used on PP1 and how effective he is on PP1 because he didn't really play prime power play minutes in Edmonton. And part of that was because he's never safer,

for I think one season, been much of a power play score. But also, I mean, Edmonton just has so much offensive talent. Like, it's not, uh,

it's not like the biggest shame to be cut off BP1 in Edmonton. Um, but, you know, so much of this is going to depend on chemistry first, for so many of these guys,

you know, like we're talking about can Petterson and Besser rekindle some of the chemistry that they had, but then you say, well, a lot of the chemistry they had was when the lotto line was together and J.T. Miller was part of that. So, you know, when those guys were together at times last season, it didn't look quite as good. But a lot of stuff happened last season. So this is the fresh start this year. You know, Cain potentially have chemistry with

Pedersen. And then there are other guys, right? Like, who's going to be the ideal linemate for Hedel. I have no idea. I'm hoping a guy like Garland. I'm intrigued by Kane and Garland being the wingers on the second line and then Besser and DeBrest being the wingers on the first line. Yeah. I think that's maybe how it'll go. And I think Kane will end up being the guy that gets moved around to bring that presence. Although you can say the same thing about Garland because he was that guy last year. Right. Anytime you wanted to get a line going, throw Garley out. Well, kind of like I said yesterday though, I don't know if you can have Garland and Pedersen together because who's going to drive the line that they're not on.

It's fair. Fair question. I mean, someone might step up, hopefully. That would be nice if someone stepped up. But man, wildcard team. There's just so many question marks that we don't know about. And we'll talk to Dolly about, I mean, he wants to talk about the second line center. So maybe he's got some intel on a player that the Canucks could be chasing or what

they plan to do about it, you know, there's a lot of wild cards. Maybe Atu Ratu Ratu shows up and he's looking really good and he can play second line center. Like, having watched Heidel, I wonder if he's better as a winger, to be perfectly honest with you. Like he has more of a, he has a more of a winger, like, what are you good at? Sure. You're like, that's a winger. He's got attributes to a winger season. Well, I just said maybe if Atu Ratu or something. Yeah. Or, you know, like I, listen, that's a lot. It is. Well, so is Heidel being the 2C, right? You know, the other wild card that people might talk about is Coots, right?

People might, they're listening and these guys are like, you're grasping at straws guys. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, look at their center depth. It was a problem last season after they traded J.T. And then they lost Pew Souter, who was probably their most consistent center last season. So, yeah, of course we're going to be grasping at a few straws when we talk about this position.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Rick Dollywall is back, everybody. Ricky D joins us now on the Halford and Bruff show on SportsNet 650. What up, Slick, Rick? Hey, guys. How are you doing? Good.

Are you calling from a tunnel? No, I know. He said it's an echo. Are you getting an echo? Oh, it's better now. Okay, we're good. Take it away. It's okay.

You kind of sound like God, which is cool. Rick, we were talking earlier in the week about how, the Canucks, to us at least, are a tough team to predict because there are so many wild cards, whether it's the what's Pedersen going to look like to, can certain guys, a bunch of guys, can they stay healthy, new head coach in Adam Foote. Do you have any set in stone expectations for this team? Because I can't say I have expectations. I'm just curious to see what it looks like.

well Quinn Hughes gave you two days ago with Ian McIntyre a glimpse of something important he said he said that I don't think we're going to be the most skilled team but we're probably going to have to be the most hardest working team they got they might have problem scoring goals Jason that top six can be a whole lot better it can and when the captain says we're not the most skilled team what does that tell you and so this team got 90 points last year they added a van der kane they lost pia suitor and they traded dakota joshua that's it in terms of major changes last year this time they had nine to ten different changes this is a team that should have zero chemistry issues coming out of the gate right because it's essentially the same team you just added avander kane really running back the same crew is it a 90 point team again i i it very well could be um you mentioned something, the health is going to be huge because I don't think the depth is great. Staying healthy is going to be an opposite. The biggest change is going to be adjusting to obviously a new coach and Adam foot, but

he's not a stranger. He's not going to do things exactly the way that Rick talked did him, but there's going to have to be adjustments. Basically, look, we're sitting here today early September, training camp, we got to wait. who looks good, who doesn't, who's going to excel in preseason, then you're going to get the first 10 game segment, right? Then you're going to get the 15 game segment and the 20. That's when you're going to get a good feel, and management's going to get a good feel.

Is that 15 to 20 game segment, what are we doing here? What are we got? Like, is Philippeal cutting it as a second-line center? Yeah. And what are you hold it? What are you really getting in Evander Cain? he's 34 he missed the entire regular season last year in edmonton one of the biggest keys obviously to a lot of people is thatcher dempco and he by the way had a good summer of training unlike last year i did not hear of any setbacks he is healthy i've been told he's ready to go he's been in vancouver last couple of weeks the other thing that we have to keep in mind with dempco it's an olympic year.

It's going to be interesting to see the workload that Demko gets. It's going to be a condensed schedule because of the two weeks off at the Olympics. And you are paying Kevin Lankinen a ton of money to be the backup. There is no reason to overplay Dempco anymore. 45 to 50 games for Dempco for me. And you talk to goalie coaches, goalie people, 45 to 50 games for Demko would be ideal. He can't do 55, 60, 65 anymore. Like, you know, Tocke, Boudro, Green, all these guys overplayed him, right? And it wasn't their fault. Look at the backup. The Canucks were paying

800, 900, $900, $1.1 million for backups. Well, guess what? Now they're paying $4.5 million for the backup. You should have all the confidence in the world to give Demko the necessary rest he needs. Because I think Lankin is the highest paid backup in the history of the Canucks. I mean, this guy's getting a good buck to be there. The other one for you is going to be Tom O'Lander. Where is he on opening night? This is a high character kid.

This kid's great work ethic, loves to put in the time to get better. This kid never cheats when it comes to the off-season training. He's also very committed to the defensive side of the game. His dad is a top skills guy in Sweden. he had a good summer of training never satisfied this kid he's always trying to get better can he get a spot in that third pair or does he go to start the season in abbessburg but what happens to tom lander and and where he fits in the puzzle is going to be interesting to me because it's going to tell you a lot about the connect's blue line it's going to tell you a lot about the avisper blue line so all these questions answers to these questions we're going to find out in the next two to three, four weeks. Rick, I think it's fair to suggest last season that the Canucks waited too long to address their blue line issues.

Is there the potential for that with the second line center position, or let's just call it center depth? Yeah, well, okay, so I'm going to, Jason, think about this. Two years ago, the Canucks had Pedersen, Miller, and Horvatt up the middle of the ice. Opening night, it could be Pedersen, Heedel, and Ratto. They used Miller and Horvat to get two top four defensemen, right? They didn't get difference making centermen back. And that's why they're stuck

today at the center position. That's why they're stuck. Marco Rossi, resigning Minnesota, Mason McAvish. Do you know what the price for him is at Anaheim? It's out of this world. Exactly who can the Canucks get with training camp a couple of weeks away.

One source told me the Canucks never came close to getting Rossi. That whole Rossi thing was I think like one source told me overblown by the media. Teams are offering draft picks, wild wanted,

you know, good young players back. The Canucks never came close to Rossi. The Canucks didn't even have the assets to get Marco Rossi. How are they going to possibly get Mason McAvich? Like, think about it. Yeah, a second line center is one of the prime positions in the league.

Like, it's not, you know, I know people have thrown out Jack Roselvick. I mean, but then, Like you've added a body for sure, but I don't think you've added a guy there. You're like, for sure, he's our second line center. And one team told me last night, have fun getting a top center right now. Like exactly who and what team.

You know, after July 1st, right, after all the team's rookie camps, and teams are now focused on looking at their talent at training camp and going from there. The Canucks don't have a ton of cap space left, and they don't have a ton of draft capital. This last draft for the Canucks was the first time since 2019. The Canucks drafted in the first and second round. They have traded the first or second round pick in each of the last six years. Canucks don't have a third round pick this summer coming up, and they don't have a second rounder in two years. If you want a second line center, it's going to cost you dearly.

That's why they couldn't get anyone all summer. Patrick Alvin tried In mid-August I heard he was working the phone's heart But there was no dad's partners Like I think he was frustrated I think he wanted to do something But teams just weren't there And unless there's a miracle

In the next week or so Get ready for Philippa As your second line center on opening night And then you got to go from there Um Kiefer Shur would change to agents How significant is that And what do you think it means?

Very Sherwood changing agents in his UFA season, very interesting. Going to the agent who got Connor Garland six times six, very interesting. Judd Maldaver, Rich Evans, and Wasserman are now going to represent Sherwood. Maldaver is one of the most powerful agents in hockey. He's got Sherwood now. He's got Austin Matthews, Connor McDavid. You know what's going on with McDavid right now in Edmonton, right?

and he's dealing with that right now. Moldaver is. Before he changed agents, Sherwood and his old agent, contract talks with the Canucks of the summer were quiet. They were slow. There was not much engagement. That could change any minute.

This guy scored 19 goals last year. He led the National Hockey League hits. When will Sherwood sign? Before the season, mid-season, end of the year, or does he enter the UFA market next? summer. Garland had the same amount of goals last year as Sherwood, 10 more points. They're both hard workers, they're culture carriers. You can't have enough of these guys who never take the shift off. They can both play higher in the lineup when the injuries hit. Sherwood is not

going to get six times six, but I can see a five, six year deal like close to five million per if, and this is capital letters if he has another great season. Five million per? Guys, guys, I just classified it with capital letters, if, you got a guy that scored 19 last year. If he scores 20 this year and he leads to the National Hockey League and hits, is there not value there? With the cap going up significantly, he's at, what is he at right now, 1.9? Like, do you think he wants something to threes? It's going to cost. He's already 30.

Like, I don't know. That seems crazy to me. That seems crazy to me. Look, let it play out. Let it play out. But I think something in the fours. Look, if I'm the Canucks, I get this guy signed sooner than later. If you wait and he keeps racking up the goals and the hits,

the price is just going to go higher and higher. Go back to Dakota Joshua when he was in his UFA year. The Canucks and Joshua, the negotiations were not pleasant. They went up and down. They were pretty heated at times because the Canucks didn't want to go to $3 million. They wanted to get them in the twos and they ended up being 3.2. But the problem for the Canucks was Dakota Joshua was weeks away from UFA status and he was going to get high freeze anyways on the UFA market.

So I'm just telling you, like I see a lot of similarities between Sherwood and Joshua and the contract and type of player and yada, yada, yada. So look, Sherwood's in a good position. has to do is replicate his season from last year and he's going to be doing fine. But to go and get Judd Moldaber, who's one of the top agents in hockey, it tells me, you know, that's a significant move in my eyes. Like I don't blame Sherwood for being aggressive. I mean, he's 30 years old and this could be his only big payday. That's right. In the NHL. I don't, I'm not, I'm not blaming him on that. But if the Canucks

overpaid for him, I would blame the Canucks. Like that would be, you know, like you had a 13 and a half, 13.5% shooting percentage last season. That's a little higher than his average, you know. So, anyway, we'll move on

for people. You know what? I'm getting Dakota Joshua memories a little bit. Was it you that said that they, the Canucks always sort of like retroactively regretted giving Joshua the payday that they did after he had his big season? they didn't want to go to three, two. They didn't even want to go to three.

That negotiation came down to training camp in Vegas in a room, and the Connox didn't want to go there, and they went there. And because they knew he was a week or two away from hitting UFA status, he was going to get more money than the country. Actually, Dakota Joshua took less to stay in Vancouver. Dakota, one of the big reasons Dakota Joshua signed in Vancouver was Rick talking, if you want to know the truth. Yeah.

And a lot of his growth and progress. was under talking and he wanted to continue playing for him and now both are gone. Let's talk about the Abbotsford Canucks and the candidates to make the team. Does anyone have an inside track?

I know there's always waiver situations that you have to consider, but just your thoughts on the guys from Abbotsford. Okay, so everybody thinks the guys on opening night in Vancouver from Abbey are going to be Attoo, Raton and Linus Carlson.

But the problem with those two is they're not the fastest guys. You know, one pro scout told me that he absolutely loves Carlson's heaviness that he plays with, but he wonders about the NHL pace and him. So everybody thinks Ratto and Carlson are going to have really good opportunity to make opening night roster. Our Steve Baines has got to decide if he wants to be a very good American hockey league player, the call-up guy, or an NHL regular. He's not a fourth liner in the NHL. He's got to find a role in the top nine, and he's a set-up guy.

So he needs to play with skill guys to be successful. Jonathan La Karamaki, all the skill in the world, they're just waiting. Everybody's waiting for that physical maturity, especially upper body. Sadly for him, La Karamaki, he had a short summer because of the Calde Cup. He didn't get enough quality time to put on the needed strength and weight that he wanted. but he's going to continue to remember a Brock you ripped into me because I gave a Vitalik Kratsoff update late last year I want to see where this guy ends up as well

he got a big American hockey league salary to help compensate for his KHL salary it was Kratsov who called his agent Dan Milstein and said hey I'm ready I want to give the NHL another shot millstein turned around cut the deal with the conucks in five minutes let's see what he brings to the table if the conucks are not the most skilled team in the world

then maybe this guy figures it out and can help them in that area so I want to see what cratsoff does what's our milstein client list it's cane and craftsoff is that is that it right now with the connects? He's got what are you talking about he's got kudraetzaf he's got sas he's got uh oh there's lots one more guy Millsteen's back.

Milstein's back. He's got a ton of connects. Quickly on Abbotsford. The conucks are really high on goalie, Tai Young. I want to see how that plays out with Tolapilo and Patera. We almost see Lovs is gone.

Then there's the Mani Mahalter factor. Okay? This guy brings a high standard. He's a perfectionist. It is believed that Mahalter and his staff signed two-year deals after Jeremy Colleton left. So, you know, Mahaltra sat guys last year for disciplinary reasons.

He's a no-nonsense guy. You can't cheat on and off the ice with Manny. You can't. We already know that Mahaltra caught the attention of the hockey world with the Calder Cup winning it, the American Hockey League title. Can the Canucks sign him to another contract? That's a guy, ASAP, Manny. but we'll wait and see what happens there.

I know you want to talk about the U.S. Olympic camp who made it, obviously Hughes did, and Connor Garland got the invite as well, but Besser and Dempco did not get the invite. Okay, so Thatcher Dempco didn't get the invite for the USA trial camp simply because he didn't play a tonne last year. Four goalies got invited, but Dempco is on a long list,

list. Okay, the Americans have a list of seven goalies. Demko's on it. So no invite for Brock Besser, but again, he's on a longer list like Demko. Besser's on the list. The Americans, honestly, my source with the Americans, they could have invited 70, 75 players to that camp. They could have, right? Easily. Like American hockey is, is doing really well. And Connor Garland, really impressed the Americans at the World Hockey Championships. The Americans really rewarded all the players that went to the worlds.

They just absolutely, you know, for four nations, Connor Garland was not on the radar. Like he wasn't one of the Canucks for four nations. But for this, the U.S. camp, they're really impressed with what he did at the Worlds. But here's the key, what my source with the American said,

all players not invited, it doesn't matter. Even if you're not on the list, anybody that has a good start to next season, anybody that comes out of the blue, can make that American team, including Dempco and Besser. I think Dempco they're really going to keep an eye on and see how much he plays, see how he plays,

because technically, let's all be honest. A healthy Thatcher Dempco playing well absolutely should be on the U.S. Olympic roster. But he is one of seven goalies. They got a longer list. Besser is on the list as well. It's a longer list. So I just wanted to get that in.

Rick, you're the best, buddy. Oh, what's going on with money? Oh, hey, hey, hey. No, no, I'm not done. Oh, okay. Okay, I'm not done. Okay. I am, you guys, you know, this is for Henderson.

You know, the seats are going in at Rogers Arena. I've heard. I'm told that 85 to 9. 90% of the new black seats have been installed. Okay. I saw a picture the other day. It's beautiful. I didn't, you know, I grew up at the Pacific All-Seam, the blue seats.

So, you know, I didn't think much of black seats at a hockey arena. I've been told that 85 and 90% of the new black seats are in. They've been installed. I think there's one section upstairs, two or three downstairs. They could be installed by the first preseason game, the regular season opener for sure. there's a new ice plant going in as well so you can call the owner cheap for not having a practice facility

but I think the Canucks spent a good chunk of money on Rogers Rina this summer I think when people go there they're going to be pretty impressed on some of the additions made what did they do with all the mice that were living in the seats did they find them homes well yeah well I'm just telling you

that I've seen a picture of these new black seats with most of Rogers arena full and I'm impressed I really think it looks nice I just wasn't that guy that thought black seats at a hockey

rink would work but it does one more thing this is lines and white caps quickly don't count out the lions okay Nathan Wark is doing his job the offense is doing his job they're getting 30 points a game they need to fix the defense

specifically the D-line. You know, I remember the late great Bob Ackles telling me, yeah, everybody needs a quarterback. But if you don't have that stud on the D-line, you're in trouble. They don't have that. I don't care how good your secondary is. If the other quarterback has got all day, you're in trouble. Fix the D.

White Caps, love the signing at Thomas Mueller. You see the magic when he's got the ball, but watch him try and get the ball back. He cares about the defense. that's the side of the game. Donnie and I never got to talk about this, the Mueller signing, oh, it's the biggest signing in history. I think Pavel Burry was, that's just me.

But when it comes to the White Caps, 1981, Peter Beardsley from England, 29 goals, three years. First two goals at B.C. Place. That guy was, that's my favorite white cap of all time. And I know the Mueller signing is huge, but I'm taking you back to when Peter Beardsley came to Vancouver. It was such a big deal.

And he was so good. Number 13, that guy was absolutely great. And the Vancouver Giants has started training camp. Get out and see this 17-year-old defenseman, Ryan Lynn, probably going to go top 10 NHL draft. Okay, so keep an eye on him. BC Hockey League is started. The women's hockey club is going to get going.

Last plug. Me and Moge and all the new S guys. Salmon Bellies, Man Cup, Six Nations, Gets going, Queens Park. is there an arena in the lower mainland with more history than Queen's Park? I grew up there. That's my old stomping grounds. Punch McLean's Bruins, Salmon Bellies have played there 93 years.

That arena is still standing. Beautiful. You're walking. You smell the history. So get out there. The GM of the salmon bellies. Ray Porceladro, I went to school with them in the 80s and NWSS, the best high school in the lower mainland.

So there, got that in. you want to touch on crown royal you want to leave that for next week no let me get going here on crown royal because you got me going let me get hold on where's that okay so crown royals got a huge plant in uh gimley manitoba they got where do you think they get the rye in the maize and the barley to make that gimley spark arena just stop let me finish where do you think they get that they get that from the prairies you know this dug for guy what the hell is this guy doing? What a dummy he is. And listen, it's Canadian. I've been supporting Crown Royal for 38 years. I'm going to continue supporting Crown Royal. You know what? I'm going to continue.

And do you think if the plant was in British Columbia and it moved to the U.S. Do you think anybody in Ontario would care? No. It's all because the plant was in Ontario. Look, support Canadian, always support Canadian companies. And I don't care. People can rip me all they want. I'm going to continue to support Crown Royal because you know what it's Canadian and everybody should bottom line Rick great stuff as always thank thank you very oh yeah I got one more for you oh I got oh go I got one more quick one oh go ahead you're cooking bud keep going no I ran hold it a second I ran into your boss at Camp Scarra or Barra whatever his name is not Scarra not Scarra it's Barra it's Halloween

I thought it was scared. Okay, just listen. I ran into your boss at Save On Foods on Monday. Okay. Okay. I was pumping your guys tires. Thank you. I told them best show on the station by a country mile.

Thank you. I also told them some improvements to improve the station. I said you can put Thomas Strans midnight to 4 a.m. No, listen. Midnight to 4, no commercials. Let them go. Duran's after dark. Let him go.

Four hours. Everybody on great. everybody on Graveyard can listen to him is there anybody in this city that loves to hear their voice more than Thomas Stratt? I don't know, I'm thinking of one. You have not, stop. This is my...

Come on, you sent me up perfectly. Brough, Chris, I just told you I was pumping your tires to your boss on Monday. I know, it's because of our dynamic chemistry with you. That's true. Yes, so I told your buddy there, Camberra, at Savon, I ran into him. I was absolutely pumping your tires.

both of you. I told them it's the best show on the station by a country mile. Finally. Thank you, Rick. I appreciate that. Thank you, buddy. We appreciate that. Okay, not one, not two, not three, but four bulging eye emojis in your tweet last night. There will be a change to announce at Donnie and Dolly. Are you ready to share that with us, or do we have to wait until Monday? No, and Donnie's going to make that announcement on Monday, and it's all good. It's a really good thing, and it's not anything negative. It's not anything. we're going to make an adjustment to Donnie and Dolly this year

and it's positive. It's nothing bad, but it's it's Donnie's job to announce that. It's not my job, and I'm not going to step on toes, but it's all good. It's positive, and you're just going to have to wait until Monday. Well, brother, you're the best.

Thank you for pumping our tires. We need it more than ever, and thanks for doing this hit today too. Nobody pumps your tires more than I do. I appreciate it, buddy. Have a good one. Enjoy the weekend. See you, pal. Rick Dollywell with, I think, everything there on the Halford & Brough show.

It just kept going. I like how he was like, oh, no, I got some more stuff. Defense is important in football. Breaking. All right. I like the Drans 12 to 4 in the morning idea, though. Like, that's really good. That's not bad.

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