Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Look To Make It 4 Wins In A Row

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with DLLS Sports Dallas Stars podcast host Owen Newkirk (7:46) ahead of their home matchup tonight versus the Canucks, plus they talk a little 'Nucks and football with commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich (25:38). 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.

Music 7.02 on a Friday. It's a Fiesta Friday here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford and Bruff in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier Fiesta Friday here on the Haliford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford and Bruff of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Homonuck from Jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage. So yesterday we went and filmed a couple of commercials that are going to be on Sportsnet Plus streaming with Jason Hominuk. And you know what we had in studio? AJ's Pizza. Perfect symmetry of all of our favorite people.

It was perfect because I was going to the gym right after that shoot and there's nothing like having three pieces of AJ's pizza and then going to the gym. Brother, I inhaled those pieces of pizza. Speaking of AJ to the phone lines we go. AJ from AJ's Pizza on E's Broadway joins us now on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, AJ? Huh. Did What up AJ? Huh. Did we lose AJ? Okay.

Hard turn, hard turn. The dogs are looking very confused. Is he on mute? Okay. Well, we'll try him again. We'll try him again. We need some more Ask Us Anythings into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650.

We got a hundred dollar gift certificate to AJ's on the line. It's Friday. Be sure to include the pizza emoji if you want to be entered into the contest for best Ask Us Anything. We need more of them. We've only got a few. I'm a little surprised by that. You can now.

Cause the Dunbar Lumber text inbox has seen record volume over the last few weeks. You can also send in a little surprised by that. You can. Cause the Dunbar Lumbertex inbox has seen record volume over the last few weeks. You can also send in what we learned. We'll accept those as well. As long as the pizza emoji is in your text, send it in Dunbar Lumbertex line 650, 650. Tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports.

There were a lot of things that happened last night in the national hockey league. We mentioned the trade that the Calgary Flames pulled off. We didn't mention that the Calgary Flames also off. We didn't mention that the Calgary Flames also won another hockey game. They beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1. I mention that because that now puts Calgary back ahead

of your Vancouver Canucks in the standings. They now hold the second and final wild card spot in the West. Now, it may be temporary because with a single point tonight, or two hopefully, in Dallas, the Canucks can retake that second and final wild card spot. I also gotta mention, as we keep an eye on the standings in the Western Conference,

the Los Angeles Kings are slip, slip, sliding away. They fell last night 3-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Los Angeles Kings are now 2-7-1 in their last 10 games. They were shut out for the second consecutive game. And guess what, everybody? The same issues that plagued the LA Kings for the second consecutive game. And guess what everybody, the same issues that plagued the LA Kings in the second half of last year's season are plaguing Los Angeles Kings in

the second half of the season. They cannot score goals. Okay. We're going to. Drew Downey back to the lineup, shut out twice. Brent Clark, healthy scratch, shut out twice. Brent Clark was a good offensive contributor from the blue line.

Just throwing it out there. Okay. Let's try this again now. AJ from AJ's Pizza on the Line on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, AJ, how are you? Good morning, I'm here. I don't know what happened, but that's all right.

That's all right. That's okay. Hey, I do have an Ask Us Anything, which is a theory of mine, and I wanna see if you guys believe it. So given the last four months of what this city, you guys, the Canucks, everybody's had to deal with, do you think like me, it's a

detriment and a handicap to success to be the only like core four franchise in the city? Like the pressure, like nobody else is taking it like no, no basketball team blew a 25 point lead last night. Right. In Vancouver to take the pressure off. So we've talked about this. That's a really good question. That is a really good question.

I think it is a detriment. Yeah. I think it is. I think it is. Although on the other hand, I think it's mostly a detriment, but it also in some ways, like I'm thinking about Seattle right now. Right.

And sometimes I feel like the Mariners can just kind of hide. You know what I mean? Like, and the Kraken, they can kind of, they can kind of, yeah, but so, but that doesn't help you win because that, that makes you kind of like, yeah, you're not aggressive then. Right. I just think for me, like, you know, when the Yankees lost the World Series, like I was mad for a week and I was like,

all right, the Rangers. Right. And the Rangers stink and I'm like, okay, the Knicks. And then I'm like, I'm not really a basketball fan, but I'm like, all right, it's spring training in two weeks. Because we've talked about this dynamic before and it's like, if the Lions or Whitecaps do something of significance significance good or bad,

that story exists in its own little world. Like it doesn't take away from the sadness of the Canucks or whatever else is going on. It's just they're not even close to being on the same plane. But yeah, we've gone to numerous American cities before and seen the sports landscape. I've traveled the world. Yeah, well America anyway.

And you very much get that sense of what you're talking about. It's like, oh, man, my favorite basketball team lost. But it's OK, because my favorite football team placed. And it does sort of balance everything out. It's an interesting ecosystem. Yeah. I don't know. And as I said, I mean, pressure on ownership and management

and coaches and players as we're seeing it, right? And players. I don't know. That's just a theory of mine okay I like the theory that pizza and pizza we're gonna throw it out to listeners too if you guys want to weigh in Dunbar lower text line is 650 650 the winner of the $100 gift card as well will be a tax that's coming in and this weekend is a good time to go to AJ's because Sunday is not just all day happy hour but there's also a Canucks

game at five o'clock so that means six dollar pints as well AJ right and and it's supposed to be snowy great time for pizza, Detroit's Ronnie Detroit's right right. Right. He's there he's nodding along right now. He loves Ronnie. And he ate six dollar pints tonight right? Yep Friday and Sunday. Anyway thanks for doing this today bud we really appreciate it.

Absolutely take care guys have a great weekend. Yeah you too thanks that's AJ from AJ's Pizza Ony's Broadway here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. We are working on getting Owen Newkirk on the line. Owen of course is the host of the Dallas Stars Podcast for DLL Sports in Dallas. We will set up tonight's game. Stars interesting team, Red Hot right now,

winners of three straight and four of their last five, but also dealing with some pretty significant injuries, including the most recent one, Miro Heiskenen. So here's what I know on the Heiskenen injury. He is classified as week to week, but they've already ruled them out of the four nations face off for Finland. Finland made that. Have they officially ruled them out?

Finland made that announcement yesterday. So, which leads some to look at the calendar and be like, it could be longer than week to week for Heiskenen. It certainly didn't look good when it happened. It was against Vegas on Tuesday night. Mark Stone kind of got tripped and kind of fell accidentally, but some were suggesting on purpose into high skin.

I don't think that was on purpose. I'm not casting aspersions on Mark Stone. You know me, I would never do that to somebody. Like I don't think he's out there playing the linebacker role. I'm just saying. He dropped him in the backfield. There's a lot of sentiments online.

A lot of them coming from Dallas that weren't happy with the history. Did he get a penalty on that play? He didn't. And a lot of people were saying that they thought he should have got a clipping penalty. I don't know if I agree with that either, but again, I'm just relaying.

Well, that would be the penalty if it was intentional. Right. But again, I didn't think it was intentional. There are a lot of people that thought it was intentional though. To the phone lines we go, Owen Newkirk joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning, Owen, how are you? Morning, gents, how are you today? We're well. Do you feel like weighing in on the Mark Stone clip or not clip on Miro Heiskenen from the other night? What's your thoughts on the incident that led to Heiskenen's injury? Well, I agree with you guys that there are a lot of fans

that follow or cover the Dallas Stars that are absolutely clamoring for March Stone's head, but I don't think that there was any intent there. I think it was incredibly awkward play. I think it was reckless, but I don't think he meant to hurt Miro Heiskenen. In fact, Pete DeBoer has said it a couple of times. He said after the game in Vegas, he said it again after practice yesterday.

You know, he coached Mark Stone. He was the captain of Vegas when, when DeBoer was the head coach there. They know each other very, very well. They're going to have more relationship with hockey Canada coming up in a couple of weeks and that he adamantly said, this is not the kind of player that Mark Stone is now. I'm not here to defend Mark Stone, but I think that he's just a very, very intense player and he did something dumb because he's trying

like he always does to Jack a puck, which he's really good at causing disruptions. You know, he, uh, he did it to St. Louis last week against the blues. I think he scored 21 seconds into the game because he stripped the clock, walked in and buried it. It was, it was just a terrible play from the blue side of it. But I don't think there was anything malicious. It, but that being said, from a Dallas Stars perspective, it's awful to lose a player, any player, let alone of Miro Haskinen's caliber for an extended period of time because the guy comes diving across his knees. I look, I don't know. I honestly,

the one thing that if there's anything to stoke the fire on Dallas Stars fans, dislike of Mark Stone, it's probably that telecast shot of him on the bench after the play looking at an iPad with a smile on his face. And I think that really got under some Stars fans' skin. So how's the season gone for Dallas? If you can just recap it, because this is the first time that the Canucks and the Stars have met. Well, yeah, the easy part is the Stars are playing very well.

The funny thing is that because we have here in Dallas, Well, yeah, the easy part is the Stars are playing very well. The funny thing is that because we have here in Dallas, an expectation of you have to make the Stanley Cup final or it's a down season, it's an extremely high bar. And so for a team that was a couple of wins away from beating Edmonton and making it to the Cup final, they talked incessantly at the beginning of training camp how they have to start over again, how they can't just go right to game seven of the Western Conference final. They have to start with the preseason and then go into regular season and go through the grind and

embrace it. I believe there is a saying that they've put up on the wall in the dressing room that says something like one rung at a time. And that's the whole point is that the Stars are a very good team that have kind of gone through some interesting things during the course of the season. They had a decent start, but were not very good on the road to start. In fact, I think they were a couple of games under 500 for the first two months of the year away from home, which was a big departure from last year where they had the best road record in the NHL. Now they flipped it a bit because last year their home record was fine, but not as good as you'd like when you have a record that gives you

home ice advantage. And in the playoffs, they were actually sub 500 on the, on home ice advantage and in the playoffs they were actually sub 500 on the on home ice playing very very meaningful games. This year their home ice record has been fantastic. The road record wasn't great but now they've won eight of their last ten road games so they've gotten that in order. Really what it is guys is that they've had some injuries up front. Tyler Sagan of course is the most notable one. Mason Marchman is getting close. He could play tonight. We'll see. I don't know if he'll play tonight.

He's definitely gonna play in a game or two before the Four Nations break. But the big thing for the Stars is their goal tending has been elite. But Jake Ottinger and Casey De Smith has been a very, very good tandem. They have defended extremely well. The one thing that's dropped a little bit this year compared to last season has

been the offense. It's, it's picking up a lot of the marquee offensive players for the stars did not start the season. Well, Jason Robertson was, was cold to start and he's completely flipped that. So Rope Hintz wasn't really productive at the beginning of the season. He's doing fine. Wyatt Johnson had a slow start, Thomas Harley. And so you can kind of rattle off a whole bunch of names.

And I think that's sort of where some of that offense went away. They also lost the, I think, potential Hall of Famer and Joe Pavelski, where even though he was in decline, especially in the second half of last season and into the playoffs compared to his usual extremely high bar, he's almost like another coach on that team. And so losing the experience, the leadership and everything that Joe Pavelski brought to that team was something that you definitely noticed. I don't know if this is going to be a tough question or not, but who is Dallas's best forward?

Hmm. That's a very interesting question. I don't know if it's tough, but that's just it. Dallas is built differently. You know, if you look at a team like Edmonton or Colorado, it's pretty clear who their best players are. Dallas, I mean, look right now, early in the season, Matt Duchenne was playing extremely well. He was having one of maybe the best starts he's ever had. And then both of his line mates got hurt.

First it was Sagan who had to be shut down for hip surgery. And then Marchman took that deflected puck right into the nose and he's been out for about a month. So, excuse me. And so, it's kind of unfair because Duchenne was off to the best start on the team, had to reinvent his line and has been doing very well since. Jason Robertson has been on a tear lately. I say all that, it might be Roepa Hintz. He's there. And then I turn around and argue it might be Wyatt Johnston because of his skillset.

And therein lies your question, which is they have a lot of balance pieces and they, they usually win games because of their depth and ability to roll lines as opposed to necessarily one group like a McKinnon and a McCarr. I can't say Rancid and anymore in Colorado, as they would sort of roll over you because their top line is just better than anything you can put on the ice. So is that a strength or a weakness or a bit of both? Boy, that's been the debate we've been having since last year's playoff run came to an end. And why I say that is, in one sense, it's a massive strength.

In the regular season when games come fast and furious and even in the playoffs the ability to win up and down the lineup having talent on all four lines being able to balance your minutes so you're not overtaxing one group I think is a real strength and it's a a cornerstone of what Pete DeBoer likes to do in his systems. The only part that maybe causes that to be a weakness is in those big games, deep into a playoff run, sometimes the best guy on the ice has to win you a hockey game. Who's going to step up and be the man. Right. Who's going to be the Connor McDavid that's going to win you that night?

Who's the Mike Madono that's going to win you there? You know, is Roberto Luongo going to stand on his head and just carry you passed around? Well, guys, the answer might be Jake Oettinger. Tell us about the season he's having then. Yeah, this is different for Otter. This year, he, last year going into the season, he had had an off season surgery and didn't have the normal summer training that he was used to having. And part of that affected the way he came into the 23-24 season. He actually started really well, but then he aggravated and had more of an injury problem and missing time and just wasn't

quite the same. I think he got better as the season went on last year, really good early in the playoffs. But to be fair, he was out-dueled by Stuart Skinner in the conference final. So now you fast forward to this year, he had the full summer, he started the year extremely well, and he has just been getting better and better. And he has very big competition in the USA net with Connor Hellebuck. And frankly, it's not really a competition. Connor Hellebuck is going to be the starter, right? He's just, he looks like he's going to be the Viz in a trophy winner again and he deserves

it. So we shouldn't get, it's not, I don't know if I'm comparing, uh, make Hellebuck to Patrick Mahomes because maybe that's not fair, but we shouldn if I'm comparing, uh, make, uh, Hellebuck to Patrick Mahomes, cause maybe that's not fair, but we shouldn't just turn on a guy because he's so good. We're getting bored with the narrative, right? Hellebuck has been amazing, but Jake Ottinger is right there. And he is a guy that if for some reason, Hellebuck wasn't available, the United States would not be upset having him start games in the four nations, the Olympics or whatever.

And obviously, Ottinger is a competitive guy. He wants to be there. But what he has done, and it's funny, I was digesting some numbers last week, and I mentioned earlier how the Stars record through this many games has been better. Their road record wasn't great, but improved. The home record has been better. Their road record wasn't great, but improved. And the home record has been pretty good. The two things that have been down are their goals for per game. So their, their scoring average has been a little down compared to last year

where they just papered over any problems by just outscoring teams constantly and their power play. Now the power play has been much better this month. It was a real source of a problem for much of the early part of the season. And yet they're winning games. And the more and more you looked at the numbers, all signs pointed to your defense is better, but it's because you're getting great goal-tenning. And Otter's your second in the league and wins for a reason.

He's keeping the team in games and he's, especially for some slow starts, he'll, he'll have a great first period where the team comes out a little sleepy and then they wake up and it's because he's, you know, been heroic. I'm sure you guys saw the save he made actually two saves he made at the end of the game against Vegas last week in Dallas, because the one he stopped on Dora Fee of was unbelievable. And then he did it again against Barbashev with about a 10th of a second left and that was a game where Dallas seemed to be in full control, but they was unbelievable. And then he did it again against Barbyshev with about a tenth of a second left.

And that was a game where Dallas seemed to be in full control, but they were, you know, a couple of inches away from tying that one. And who knows what happens in overtime. He, I can't give enough credit to the season that Audinger is having so far. Owen, great answers, great insight on the Dallas Stars. One final guy I want to talk to talk about is, uh, Logan Stankovic. Has it been, has it been tough for him this season? I would be completely lying if I said it wasn't tough for him, but because no

player who's used to putting up points at a regular basis that goes through an extended drought, like he did, he did not score a goal in 20 games, or 25 actually, excuse me. And I believe he had about four or five assists during that span. And for a player of his pedigree, yes, that is very, very hard. What is a real credit to Logan Stancovin, the player and the person is that he wasn't getting any drop in minutes and he was still creating scoring chances constantly. Well, what does that mean? Well, it means that the coaching staff sees his value 200 feet every single night, even

if it's not going in the back of the net. Now, some guys that are going on a drought and sometimes you have to change sticks, you've got to sleep on the wrong side of the bed, you know, whatever it is to try to change your juju because it's affecting your entire game. Logan Stankovian plays an incredibly effective and valuable style every single shift. And it's just he was the ultimate of being snake bit and it just wasn't going in. And it's funny because at the beginning of his drought, which we wouldn't have known at the time that it was going to be that he was playing, it was, it was after Sagan got hurt and they moved Stan Kovan with Duchenne and Marchman and

Matt Duchenne said they would, one of the things they'd really like to do is help him win the Calder Trophy. Well, I'm not saying that Logan Stan Kovan can't do something miraculous and win it, but that long goal drought really hurt any chances he had competing with the Lane Huttsons, the Celebrinis. For my money right now, it's still Dustin Wolf. If Calgary makes the playoffs, which I'm sure Canucks fans are hoping they don't because

you guys are battling for position, I think Dustin Wolf should be the Calder Trophy winner because that's an incredible thing for a goalie to do as their number one. But Stan Kovan never let it really get to him. Obviously, it affected him and he was upset about it, but it never translated into, look, he's not trying on the ice. He's not defensively responsible. He's cheating in certain areas to try to get that. And that's the crazy thing is that last year when he got called up, he scored a bunch of goals right away when he made his NHL debut. Then he went on a moderate dry spell. And I remember we asked Pete DeBoer about it one day and he said, you know, to be honest with you, I didn't even notice that he was on a gold drought,

which I'm not sure if that's actually true because coaches look at everything. Oh, he was on a heater too. Oh, a new Kirk Dallas stars reporter from a Dallas stars podcast, a D LLS sports on the Haliford and brush on sports net six 50, a dog just call on back and thank them. Cause we're right up against it for time. Anyway, that wasn't the greatest way to end that.

Alas. Um, you know what I want to do is that's how I, that's how I leave parties. Just that was the Irish. That actually Irish could goodbye a phone call. Pass out? Yeah, there's that sound actually when I leave parties. Where's Jason go?

That's as low key of an exit as I wanted. No noise would be better. Anyway, thanks to Owen Newkirk from Dallas for giving a very, very thorough preview of tonight's game. It's the Canucks and it's the Stars 5 o'clock from Dallas. You can hear it all right here on Sportsnet 650. You know what I want to do? I want to throw out an Ask Us Anything. We can address it during the show. We can get the dog's answers as well. People can text in as well. Robin Suri sent an Ask Us Anything in there and I think he might be right. He said, guys, I don't think I've heard either of you say who you'd trade out of this debacle.

So with that being said, would you trade JT Miller, Elias Pedersen, both or neither? I said the day of the JR article, I think they got to trade both these guys and I stand by that. But who would you trade? Both. I would trade both. That's, said I'm so I so tired of this group Yeah, I'm so disappointed in the players in this instance And I know I've spoken about this earlier in the week about there's a lot of different people to blame and there's a lot of

Blame to go around and it starts at the top and it trickles all the way down to the room. But at its core, this is one of the things in a team sport that you just can't do. Can't let a personal relationship rip apart what is going on with the 21 other guys who are all trying to accomplish a singular goal together. And I realize the risk in this. A hundred percent. I mean, I'm not, I'm not blind to the fact that

the Canucks could lose Quinn Hughes because of this, but they might lose them anyway. And I think I'd want to get Quinn Hughes' opinion on all of this. And I wonder, I really do wonder how much they've been consulting with Quinn Hughes along the way as this has been going on. Moj is coming up next on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Reserve your spot for the big football party at the Clayton Public House hosted by Sportsnet 650. Visit theclaytonpub.com for more.

The Clayton Public House, good food, good people, good times. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd. And Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks Talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Good people, good times. I don't want to go to Winnipeg, nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food. It's the Moch. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. Jamalani. Yes, it's the Moch. Halper's fine, but you know,

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I'm joking, of course. Let him do that. Visit him on the Internet at Jason.Mortgage. To the phone lines we go a presentation of the Clayton Public House. It's the Moge Bob Marjanovic here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Moge? It's Friday, baby. You know, sooner or later when we start doing these hits, it's actually gonna be light outside,

which will be a fall. It'll just feel a lot nicer doing them. That's true. It's always dark when you wake up. I know it's for you guys, well, dark for you guys when you wake up in April, but. It's, I don't know, it's something about waking up and it's dark.

It's just, it doesn't get you jacked for the day, you know what I mean? But it is Friday, Moj. And that's a good thing. Yeah, it is Friday, baby. And it puts the end, a cap on the end of a very, very crazy week for the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah. I mean, you know, we were talking about this in

the press box the other day, and I think you have to go back to the Mike Keenan era to see this type of chaos with the Canucks. Dysfunction is the word, right? Like it's a totally dysfunctional group. Lyndon, Messier, the divided room, Keenan, trading out the core of that 94 team, the Babiches, the Leclanes, the Lindens. To me, to be honest, it's a failure of the leadership group. to me it's a failure of the leadership group and I say that from management and to the leadership group within the team because clearly you don't have a strong enough leadership group in the room to hold a guy like JT

Miller in check right you kind of let him go do his own thing almost to the point well never mind to the point, well, never mind to the point where it's a detriment to the team. And it's a failure of the management leadership group to recognize this issue that they had and not deal with it appropriately. I mean, it's gone on for a couple of years now. So, you know, the other thing too, fellas, I kind of think about, you know, I think probably the biggest reason why we're

hearing a lot more about it this year than last year. I remember talking to JP last year at one point and compared to the year before where there had been a couple of occasions, remember the situation where we were slamming the stick behind, one of the viewers behind the net, trying to get the goalie to get pulled for the attacker. And he said winning solves a lot of things. Well, guess what? They're not winning as much this year. So a lot more of this has come to the forefront. Um, so I look at that as being one of the problems.

I think too, I just wonder about this, the dynamic of the room and how it's changed. Maybe they missed a guy like Ian Cole. Maybe he was the type of guy that, you know, could say certain things and kind of enforce the law, so to speak. And if you lose a the type of guy that you know could say certain things and kind of enforce the law so to speak and if you lose a couple of those guys you know it makes a difference because who on this Kinect team is going to call out JT Miller and say hey JT that's enough right who would it be maybe Tyler Myers right I mean maybe he has enough currency but you know you can't be that guy just by yourself you have to have other people join in so I don't know it's it's a it's a schmazz was Brad May would say. What would you do we had we had a question from Rob in Surrey and he

said like one thing we haven't heard is what you guys would do and I and I said well actually I've already said like, I would trade them both. I would trade Miller and Pedersen and as much as a risk it would be, as much as it would, you know, make the team worse in the short term, as a fan, I've just kind of had enough. I'm with you and part of me that wants to trade them both is that they put themselves before the team with the way they've conducted themselves during this situation. So that's the biggest thing for me. It's been a me first mentality. Neither of them, I guess, could have checked their egos and said, okay, I'm just going

to let the other guy exist or whatever. Instead, from what we're hearing, it's this friction. Um, so I would trade them both just because of the fact that, you know, they weren't selfless players, so to speak. And you know, the, the other thing too, is I don't think you trade them right now. I don't, maybe you trade them at the deadline, but you don't trade them. Um, when you're in a position where you might be getting 60 or 70 cents on the dollar. I'd wait until the off season. Maybe you get 80 or 90 cents on

the dollar then and you have much more runway in terms of redrawing up your team. And the other thing too that comes into play there is, and you've touched on it as well, it's Quinn Hughes, right? I mean, you can't just blow this thing up because if you do, you might as well say goodbye to Quinn Hughes. So do what you have to do. Um, maybe write it out for this year. And then when the off season rolls around, maybe get more value for those two players, but

I would trade them both and restructure the team and see how it goes from there. In my mind, I'm already preparing for Hughes to leave because right now it's so dysfunctional here that I'm trying to put myself in Quinn Hughes's shoes. And I'm like, stay here or go play with my brothers in New Jersey and potentially make

history, like three brothers on the team and win a Stanley Cup. Oh, it's like, I know there's an obligation and I'm sure Quinn feels some loyalty to the organization that made him a an obligation and I'm sure Quinn feels some loyalty to the organization that made him a captain. And I'm sure he feels some loyalty to the, to the fans that love him here so much. But like, you know, you only have so many years in the NHL to go win a Stanley Cup. I'm with you.

I think that, you know, when that time comes, you probably does both. Here's the other thing, I don't know if you guys saw, there was a feature on Quinn Hughes in between periods, where they showed him going out, and one of the things was he went down to Granville Island and he would stop like three or four times. Do you think that happens when he plays in New Jersey? Right, I mean, he can go to New Jersey, play with his brothers, make a boatload of money,

and live in relative anonymity, right? So, you look at certain boxes that are checked. I think there's going to be more boxes that will be checked with Quinn Hughes, um, by playing with the New Jersey Devils and the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah. I, I, I may be kind of like protecting myself

emotionally too, by just like saying like, okay, prepare yourself for that eventuality because he is so good. And it's really sad because this organization has been waiting. Mo, do you know this? Been watching them since the very start. This organization has been waiting for a defenseman like Quinn Hughes, its entire tenure. And you could even make the argument that the reason they haven't won a Stanley

cup is they've never had a player like Quinn Hughes. Now they've got one and their top two centers can't get along. You've never had a defenseman like Quinn Hughes, not even remotely close. You haven't had a Norris trophy candidate for the Vancouver Canucks in their whatever 52 year history or 53, 54, whatever, not counting COVID years, I guess. But you know, the thing is, it's like, you didn't have anybody that you even, I don't think they had a Norris trophy finalist. You have Ed Jovanovski, Yorke Lume, you had Paul Reinhardt for one year where he was, you know, a very good defenseman until his bat gave out.

They never, I mean, you know, Alex Edler, God bless him, Matthias Olin, solid, rock solid defenseman, but not Norris Trophy candidate. It's not guys that can do the magical things that Quinn Hughes can do. And never mind being a perennial Norris Trophy candidate. I think when it's all said and done, you're looking at probably one of the top defensemen all time, right? It's just, it's amazing what this guy does. His edge work, I tweeted about it the other night when he scored that backhanded goal off the rush, where he kind of darted in the middle and roofed it. I'm like, the guy's not from this planet. And you know, it's one thing having the skill that he has and the edge work, but you know what blows me away about Quinn Hughes?

And it's much like Conor McDavid. He can do everything at speed, right? Like he can be flying around and he can hit a tape path going a million miles an hour. Like it's, that's what the amazing part about Quinn Hughes is like he can do everything at speed, much like Conor McDavid. We're speaking to Bob the Moj Marjanovic here on the Haliford and Breast Show on Sportsnet 650. Moj is a presentation of the Clayton Public House pre-game and post-game. The Clayton is your home for football. The Clayton Public House, good food, good people, good times. Moj, let's turn our attention to Super Bowl week.

First, when are you on your way to New Orleans? And second, where do you put New Orleans on the pantheon of great Super Bowl host cities? Well, we leave tomorrow and it's awesome because Mike Wadingham is in charge of this trip. You guys might remember Mike from our previous stage. Mike is so awesome on the road.

It's I told him if I ever win the lottery, I go I'm hiring you as my traveling secretary. We just show up at the airport and everything else is handled right. It's just it's tremendous. We don't have to worry about checking in.

We don't have to worry about getting a cab once we land in New Orleans or transportation. We don't have to worry about checking in. We don't have to worry about getting a cab once we land in New Orleans or transportation. We walk into the hotel, we just watch over heads of surtees. It's like being, it's like honestly, it's almost like being on a team with a traveling secretary. Mike's awesome, so yeah, we leave tomorrow.

Looking forward to it. And when it comes to Super Bowls, I'll be honest for me, and I think for a lot of people as well, New Orleans is at the top of the list. It's, it's the best place to host a Superbowl. And I say that because number one, everything is nice and tight anywhere you need to go. It's like 10 or 15 minutes max. It's not like you have to drive an hour somewhere. Um, and the other thing too, it's just, it's, it's tight in the sense that,

you know, you walk down Bourbon street and you're usually bumping into people all the time, right? Because you know that it is the, you know, the French quarter is the place to be. So, um, yeah, to me it's at the top of the list. I know a lot of people were excited about Vegas last year, but I'm not really interested in paying $35 short Pepsi. Yeah. Yeah.

Vegas has gotten too expensive. I missed the old days when you could find a $5 blackjack table and find a cheap buffet. Well, I remember when we said those junkets were our previous station. Rick went on one of those, didn't he? You can't play that tape, seriously. An old dolly wall will probably lose it for a while, but trust me, he'll come back. Yeah, it's just like, you know, you could go down and you can find a table you could pay with 10 bucks or five bucks or whatever.

And there's like two decks in the boot. Now you go down there. It's like everywhere you go, it's like six decks in a boot. If you're playing blackjack, well, good luck with that. Right. Um, no, but I mean, to me, New Orleans, it's such a cool city. I don't know if you guys have ever been there. I've never been.

No. Oh dude, you you gotta go. It's just, it's the architecture, the history. I love the music. The music, all of it, right? I mean, it's so funny, I've been there like two or three times before, and the last time I went, I went with my girlfriend, and we went down to New Orleans,

and an old friend of mine from UBC played a little bit in the CFL, Terry Cockman. Terry goes, Mojikoo, you gotta go to Frenchman a little bit in the CFL, Terry Cockman. Terry goes, Mojikoo, you gotta go to Frenchman Street, get off Bourbon and go to Frenchman. And we went down to this area called Frenchman Street and there was like four or five blues bars, there was like a little market. It wasn't as crazy, not even as close to crazy as Bourbon Street, it's where the locals go. And it was just, it was amazing.

I looked forward to going there. There's so many other little nooks and crannies to go to. There's a place called Lafitte. It's a cavern that's been around since the late 1700s and yeah, it was built by that guy, Lafitte the pirate. So there's so many fun places in New Orleans and obviously the food. We've already made reservations to Emeralds and Commander's Palace, so the food's amazing as well.

Hey Moj, how late can you stay out now? Oh, that's a very good question. It's different, right? It's, we were talking about this the other day. I don't know what it was like when you guys, because we're a few years apart, but when we were younger, we would meet somewhere, we'd congregate and we'd drink at a buddy's place or whatever, like maybe nine or 10 o'clock, right? Nine, 10, sometimes even 11. And you'd do it because you'd save money. You wouldn't have to pay all that money

for drinks going into a bar or a tavern or club or whatever, right? Now we're going to bed at 11. Yeah. Like 10 o'clock is when you're just like, I am running out of gas. I'll be honest, I was thinking about that the other day, like when I was a young pup, I mean, you know, been doing this for a while now.

I mean, there were nights where I'd get home at like two or three in the morning. Later than that. Later than that because the bar would close at two and then you go out for something to eat and then you'd eventually find your way home. There's, well, you're talking about Super Bowl or you're just talking about overall? Oh, I just meant overall, sorry. something to eat and then you'd eventually find your way home. There's, well, you're talking about Superbowl or you're just talking about overall? Oh, I just meant overall, sorry. Okay.

There's a great story here. So I'm not going to name any names, but we went to Courtney's one night after a Canucks game and we started, you know, we had a really good time. Um, and Jeff and Russ kept it open because obviously Russ was with the Connucks at the time and Jeff was with the Blues and the entire Blues team showed up and they kept this thing open like we left it like 4 or 4.30 and it was still open so my buddy got home and he got it from his wife and he's like what are you

talking about? I didn't get home at 4.30. I left Cardinals and it was his wife and he's like, what are you talking about? He goes, I didn't get home at 430. I left, Cordnoles was still open. And I told him, I said, dude, I go, it was 430 when we left. They, they kept that place open till he knows when. And the crazy thing is they had a practice at the agronome at like 10 o'clock. Right. And I, I had to go to the practice because I had to get some work done, but it was crazy because I was thinking to myself, I'm barely like walking and these guys who stayed, who knows how much longer a court was?

And they had a practice like, you know, a few hours later, but there they were out in the ice going through the drills. See if hell forgets us right away. Who's the best media guy after a huge night? Pierre Lebrun. Yeah? Pierre Lebrun. Yeah. Pierre Lebrun is incredible. There could be like a three hour time span

where you see him like hanging off the jukebox barely versus like the next morning he's like, he's like wearing like a Hartford Whalers jacket, like typing away on his laptop, like, good morning everyone. He's like, how did this happen? Like jacket, typing away on his laptop. Good morning, everyone. He's like, how did this happen? He had slept 13 hours. Just amazing.

It's absolutely incredible seeing how he does that on the road. Because Halford and I would usually do, we would go to the Cup final, so that would be like 10 days. But then we'd go to the draft right after that. So we'd be on the road for two weeks. And at the end of that, we would be done. Like we'd need to get checked into like a wellness retreat in order to pull ourselves together.

But those guys would have been grinding for the entire playoffs, plus sometimes there were years where they'd also have an Olympics to go to right before the playoffs and they just be able to get through it all. And it was honestly quite impressive. You know, it's interesting you mention that because every year it's almost like clockwork. I don't see if it happens this year, but every year I get sick at a certain time and it's the week after the Super Bowl.

Your body says that's enough. Yeah. Tap, tap. Cause like, you know, the entire week you, I'll tell you one time I came back from Houston and I'll never forget this. I went to bed and like, you know, how your body just normally wakes up and it's like, okay, time to go to bed. Like we came back from Houston.

I literally went to bed that night. I think at like eight o'clock, like eight or nine o'clock. It was so early. I was so tired from the entire week. I wake up and like my body's going, okay, it's time to get up, let's go, right? And I look over at my alarm clock and it was like 12.30 at night.

I'm like, are you kidding me? I slept like four and a half hours. I'm like, I'm gonna get up. I'm like, dude, you still have like another eight hours, go back to bed. And it was just, but yeah, your body almost becomes, well, what happens is you're running on adrenaline the entire week.

And then once, you know, like even with you guys going to the finals or whatever in the draft, you're on adrenaline. And once you get off that adrenaline rush, that's when you get sick. Uh, adrenaline, potato skins and Bud lights from what I recall for a first time. Okay.

Since we've done so much non-sport stuff, let's flip the script and end with an ask us anything about sports, because we got a great one here from Chaitin and Surrey, and it's NFL, it's quarterback specific, okay, so listen closely here. If you put Patrick Mahomes aside, if you had to choose between Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, or Joe Burrow to win one or more Super Bowls in their career,

who would you choose? Allen? Allen? Right away, you didn't even blink on that one. No, I mean, just as a quarterback, I think he's just, I mean, Jackson and Allen, it might be a toss up, and you know, it might be tempted to say Lamar Jackson, but I think when I

look at their failures in the playoffs against mainly Kansas City, I don't think Josh Allen has played poorly, whereas I think Lamar Jackson has made mistakes in big games. So that's what, that's why I'd probably go with Josh Allen in that regard. Um, Burrow to me, what holds him back compared to those two is the mobility factor. I just think that Allen and Jackson are much more mobile, obviously. And like I said, for me, I think Allen has played well

in the big games. I think Jackson has it. That's something that you need from a quarterback if you want to win big games. Who would you like to see win it? I would like to see Josh Allen for Buffalo because I think that would be- That's kind of part of the party.

The most incredible, no? No. No, I've got too many Buffalo friends that are Buffalo fans. And it's like, no. Like, I don't know if you know a guy named Franco Roberto. He's a local guy who's involved. He's an official.

He's a principal in Langley, XSF, you played way back when. Every time Buffalo even starts getting close to winning like Anything he starts sending me texts. I gotta block them Like, you know, I lost my first playoff that with him then of course he was Smart enough to double down on me. I said sure and like, you know, it's just no Buffalo fans to me. They're obnoxious. They're like leaf fans. What? It's just no Buffalo fans to me. They're obnoxious. They're like we found what

Sorry club business either it's not the sorry club The sad clubs it's now the sorry club whatever it's like they're like we fan like they just know sorry What a take to go to Super Bowl with Moe No, sorry. What a take to go to Super Bowl with Moj. Hey, you know what? We got to let you go. Travel safe. Have a good time in New Orleans.

A reminder to everybody, Moj's shows from Super Bowl Meteoro begin on Tuesday night right here on Sportsnet. Wednesday night. Wednesday night, sorry. Be sure to visit him on Twitter and all your social media channels for clips and for a full schedule. And again, it's all right here on Sportsnet 650. Have fun in New Orleans, Moj.

We'll do this again next week. Thanks, fellas. We'll talk to you next Friday. Yep, sounds good. Thanks, buddy. Bob, the Moj Marjanovic here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Bruff's now the sorry club commish.

Sorry club. Here's a, I looked this up so I know the answer, but how old do you think Josh Allen is? 28. He's 28. How old do you think Lamar Jackson is? 29. 28. How old do you think Joe Burrow is? Based on the protection the Bengals give him, 48.

28. Yeah. It's crazy because if you were to ask me offhand, I'd be like, well, no, Burrow's the younger quarterback, but because he was so old when he graduated, they're all in the same window. And it's a really great question from Chaitin because all of them are tasked with the same monumental thing, which is getting past Patrick Holmes and the cheese to get out of the AFC. Don't you think the challenge for Josh Allen is somehow greater just because, well, I guess the Bengals have never won a Super Bowl, but the Bills have, I don't know how to explain this, have more never won a Super Bowl than the Bengals.

Does that make sense? He shoulders a more disappointed, dysfunctional, sad fan base. There's none in the NFL sadder than the Bills. Whatever Moe just said is sad. Other teams definitely have, like the Vikings have been pretty sad. But NFL Saturn, the Bills. I know Mo, whatever Mo just had to decide. Like other, other teams definitely have, like the Vikings have been pretty sad. But it's not the Bills. But it's not the Bills. Nothing's the Bills. There's nothing in sports like the Bills. And it's also Buffalo.

Yeah. Like there's something, you know, the city gets made fun of. The Sabres stink. They've never won a Stanley Cup. Buffalo actually did win an AFL title. Yes, but I'm sure that was Pat, you know good times for Buffalo. I know l2 it would Did that go live on the air did you say that near ears I don't know I said that live oh We can't feel too bad for the Buffalo fans. It's not like they've had nothing right That's almost worse, man.

It's, it's almost worse is like when you're like, Hey, at least we won the LaCrosse title. They draw more fans than the Sabres do. How can you say something so controversial yet so brave? So I know, but it's almost worse. It's, it's like, Hey, did you have fun during the LaCrosse title? Not really. But when was the parade? I was actually miserable.

It actually made me feel worse. Okay. Yes, we've got a lot more to get to on the program. Final hour of the show is coming up. Rick Dollywell is going to join us on the other side. We're going to give away in the final hour of this program, a pair of tickets and a $50 gift card to the Clayton public house for the big football party on Sunday, February the 9th. We're also going to give away a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway for the best ask us anything or what we learned.

If you want to win, put a pizza emoji into your text. You'll be entered into the contest. Best one wins the gift card coming up on the other side though. Uh, it is Rick Dollywall. And before we go to break, I do need to tell you that if you don't win the tickets and the $100 gift card to the Clayton, you can still go to the big football party on Sunday, February the 9th. You can reserve your spot by visiting the ClaytonPub.com, the Clayton Public House, good food, good people, good times. You're listening to the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650.