Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Injury Bug Has Hit The Canucks Early

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, including reaction to a lengthy Nils Hoglander injury as well as comments from Canucks president Jim Rutherford (3:00), plus they discuss the latest NHL news and notes from ESPN Hockey's Greg Wyshynski (27:09).  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 Halford and Brough You're listening to Halford and Brough. Vicks wants it on the ground. Touchdown, Denver. We watch as teams shoot themselves in the foot, then we come back and shoot ourselves in the head. who doesn't have a lot of experience right now. And he's not, hasn't filled out to become a man.

Come after me. I'm a man. I'm 40. I'm not a kid. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halford and his broth.

It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adah, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics. together with you and step. Lots to get into on the show today. Guestless today begins at 6.30. Greg Wasinski, our NHL insider from ESPN, is going to join the program. We'll do a tour around the league with Wish. Check in on some of the biggest stories as the preseason rolls on.

Can also talk about his feature piece up now on ESPN.com about Trevor Zegris and life under his new head coach, Rick Taco Talket. I think we should also ask Wish about the Mets and the Jets. He stole my thunder. My next line was, also got to check in on how miserable his sports fandom is right now. Sorry for stealing your thing. Nah, you know what, it's fine.

Greg Wischinsky's going to join us at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Shai Davidi's going to join the program. Sportsnet baseball columnist. The MLB Wild Card Round gets underway today with a quadruple header at 10 a.m. It's the Tigers and the Guardians. At noon, it's the Padres of the Cubs. 3 o'clock, Red Sox, Yankees, and then in the nightcap at 6. it's those plucky Cincinnati Reds

and the L.A. Dodgers. I slept so well last night. How excited are you? Not knowing that I didn't have to worry about a stupid wildcard game. But how excited are you? Yeah, the loser teams have to play today. How excited are you though?

Quadruple has a baseball enthusiast. All day. It's going to be baseball. Hey, uh, high stakes baseball. I'm going to ask you a question here. Okay. Do you want the Red Sox or the Yankees? Ooh.

Red Sox? Answers Red Sox. there's really no way both can lose I got to explore that avenue first Red Sox with both teams can't lose One team has to advance Yeah you want the Red Sox I think Red Sox yeah

Without Gialito in that Why? Because you're scared of the Yankees It's honestly the stadium I don't like Yankee Stadium I think it's a bandbox And it's more open to randomness I think Fenway is where I'd want to play Okay all right

So we'll talk to Shideavity about all that In case you're wondering The Js do get underway on Saturday, October 4th. That'll be game one of the ALDS. Their roster, their playoff roster, which was a bunch of news yesterday for all the teams submitting their playoff rosters.

It needs to be in by 10 a.m. on Saturday. We'll talk to Shai about all that at 7 o'clock. 7.30. Ooh, Nathan Rourke is going to join the program. BC Lions quarterback. Lions are riding a three-game win streak, heading into a huge game this weekend against the stamps. 4 o'clock kickoff on Saturday at BC Place.

We are going to ask Nathan about his remarks regarding the new CFL rule change. changes. His comments directed specifically towards the commissioner, Stuart Johnson, and the conversation he had with big stew in the aftermath of what he had to say. You think he definitely, did they definitely have a conversation? Yes, it has been, it has been reported. Steve Ewan wrote about it for the province, yes. So we'll talk to Nathan Rourke about all that at 7.30. 8.10 this morning, Landon Ferraro is going to join the program. Sportsnet Canucks analysts will be on the show. Busy Canucks Newsday yesterday. Headlined by

The Niels Hoaglander injury. He's going to be out of the lineup for the next eight to ten weeks after undergoing surgery. Canucks also made a bunch of roster subtractions. They waived Joe LaBate, which I vehemently am opposed to, but I'll get over it. All of this ahead of their penultimate exhibition game. Tomorrow, Wednesday, 6 o'clock from the Saddle Dome against the flames. So there's lots to get into with Landon this morning at 8.10 a.m. Working in reverse on the guest list.

8.10. Landon Ferraro. 7.30. Nathan Rourke. 7 o'clock, Shia Devi, 630, Greg Wachinsky. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No.

What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You miss that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance.

Making safety simpler by giving construction companies best in tools or resources and safety training. Visit them online at BC, C, a dot see a reminder. If you are listening today on a statutory holiday, Dunbar Lever Text Line is 650, 6.50, 6.50, let us know. Are you up early on a non-workday and non-school day? He tuned in to 650 bright and early to hear us talk about sports.

If so, shoot us a line. Dunbar Lember Text Line is 650, 650. We will begin what happened with the tough news of the day. Vancouver Connects forward, Nils Hoaglander. It was announced that he underwent successful surgery yesterday, a lower body variety for an injury he sustained in a preseason game against Seattle earlier in the preseason. That was announced on Monday,

and the Canucks also announced that the 24-year-old is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks while he recovers from surgery. Yeah, some pretty tough news for the 24-year-old winger who was hoping to bounce back after a rough season. It's always been tough to project where Hoaglander fits into the lineup. But at the end of the day, he's probably a middle six winger on the Canucks.

This injury is bad news for Hoaglander, obviously, but it's also more opportunity for a youngster to step up and replace Hoaglander's minutes. Guys who need to step up and seize the opportunity include Lekaramaki, Carlson, Baines, Kravsoff, and I would say among those four wingers, only Lekaromacki. has shown well in the preseason. Yep. And there's only two preseason games to go. Wednesday and Calgary, Friday at home.

Could a young center like Ratu or Coots bump to the wing? Maybe. Possibly. The Canucks are going to practice today at Rogers Arena. So we'll see what the lines are like today. They made a bunch of cuts yesterday. So it's a much smaller group now. You know, I think we went into this season

Having questions about everything When it comes to the Canucks forwards, the top six And the bottom six And the Hoaglander injury You know I know people were texting into the show yesterday You know, like the Panthers can lose Barkoff And they can lose Kachuk for half the season

And they're like, we'll probably still make the playoffs And the Canucks are like, oh, Hoaglander's out for a few months and it's like, oh, how much does that affect things? Like the forward depth is a concern. Yeah, and this doesn't help in the slightest. Are the Connors crippled? Not crippled.

That's a lot. But they are not a team. They're not one of the NHL teams that can readily and easily deal with the absence of a middle six forward, which is a damning indictment, I would say, to a certain degree. I'm not saying that this is going to hamstring the team entirely, but it probably opens up a spot for a guy that quite honestly either the organization

didn't think was ready or didn't think was going to play the role he was going to play at the beginning of the season your forward depth is just not that great. Yeah. And I don't think there's any way to get around it. Jim Rutherford said it himself. We got a ton of Jim Rutherford audio by the way. He was on the 100% hockey podcast a podcast that talks

100% hockey and he I know. It's tough to maintain that percentage. Imagine if you talk for like a second about non-hockey. You can't call yourself that anymore. That would change the name. 99% Okay, we're now 93% hockey podcast. The entire podcast, ethos, goes out the window.

Anyway, Rutherford had a ton to say about the team, but one of the things he talked about was this is not the greatest collection of forwards, and they are still actively searching, never mind for a winger to possibly replace what Hoaglander's going to be out for the next eight to ten weeks, but they need a center. And, well, I just, I want some of these guys

that played so well in the Memorial Cup, or sorry, the Calder Cup playoffs to show up. And, you know, I'm not putting a lot of stock in the preseason stuff, though. The preseason is when the young players should step up and show the coaching staff. They should put stock in the preseason. The preseason is also junk. Let's just get that. It's not.

It's not for young. It's not for players that are looking to make the team. This is tryouts. This is tryouts for them. If you want to put it that way, this is, this is, you know, like a lot of minor hockey going through tryouts right now. This is a tryouts for a guy like Linus Carlson. This is tryouts for Baines. Baines needs to show up

and look to replace a guy like Hold on her now. That should be a doable, attainable goal. Otherwise, guess what? You're not an NHLer. Well, this pretty much solidifies a spot for Lekker Mackey now, I'd assume. I would think so. Like, he's by far the standout of those wingers. Like, it's his spot to lose, I'd say, at this point.

There was probably a thought organizationally that they would like to have him in the opening night lineup anyway. And this just maybe makes that a little bit. So Lekar Mack hates it. So Lekromackie's in the top six, do you think? And then Garland can be on the third line. Garland, it looks like they want to have them on the third line, and I agree with that. I mean, Leckermackie is the kind of player, like, you wouldn't want to put him in the bottom six.

Like, that's not the kind of player that he is. Like, you want to utilize his abilities. As a guy that's a one-shot score and who has played with Heidel, a fair bit in the preseason. Sure, give it a shot. It's a big ask for someone that, you know, you mentioned the Calder Cup run at Abbotsford. He was a bit player in that thing for a large stretches. Didn't play a lot of the games. which isn't great for his,

I would say probably not great for his development and probably not a great indicator of where he's at, but you do get afforded some luxuries when you're as high of a draft pick as he is and you are atop the prospect bin, you get chances like that. And you want to have your high-end prospects play in positions in the lineup where they're going to succeed.

And that could be a top six role for Lekra-Macky. Okay. What did Jim Rutherford say? A lot. Jim Rutherford had a lot to say about a lot of different topics yesterday. I've tried to call some of the audio highlights from the Canucks President of Hockey Ops from yesterday. So this is a podcast with John Shannon, who's in the podcast game quite thoroughly right now. Where do we begin? Well, let's start with the biggest story going on, as confirmed by the president of Hockey Ops himself, Jim Rutherford.

There was a lot of talk about Quinn Hughes and his future in Vancouver on the 100% hockey podcast yesterday. I thought it was interesting that Rutherford talked about the sort of small microcosm, which is like, we need this team, like just the hockey part. We need this team to win in order to make Hughes happy. And he also talked about the sort of bigger picture landscape stuff where he said, I'm not afraid to talk about this huge situation at large. And I'm not afraid to talk about future contract negotiations, how important it is for him to stay here.

He even went so far as to say, I'm not afraid to talk about this in the context of it's a huge media story. So Jim Rutherford is very much front and center at the Quinn Hughes discourse. Remember this throughout the year. Whenever anyone wants to clap back at certain media outlets for quote unquote making the Hughes thing a story, the president of hockey ops is very, very, very candid in saying that this is a huge story. But I do want to start with what Rutherford had to say about making this team attractive for Quinn Hughes. Hughes to resign.

He wants to make it the best team that the Canucks can be. And that's what he told the 100% hockey podcast yesterday. Take it away, Alady. Well, no, his decision is not going to come until next off season. But at the same time, you know, we're like all teams. We want to have the best team we can. We want to be a playoff team. We want to contend.

We do think our team's improved. We like our coaching staff. We like the direction they're taking the team. We're coming out of having a very good camp, and I believe that the players are well prepared. The question is, do we have enough players to compete and to contend? And so that's something that all players look at. You look at other players that are talking about signing extensions

and staying with their teams, and it's important for any player to know that the organization's going to the right direction. And that's what we have to deal with. Pretty straight forward stuff from the president of hockey ops. They need to win. They need to compete. They need to try and be a playoff team. But that's only going to be part of the equation.

Yeah. Okay. What's the other part? The other part is how much do we have moving forward? So it's not just about this season. But like any player, and I think we're seeing this with Connor McDameyman and Evanton right now and a few other places, players are keenly aware of who's got what in the cupboard and what's coming through the prospect pipeline. And, you know, do you have, say, one or two of my brothers playing for the Vancouver Cucks?

I don't think it's that. And it's not that. But, I mean, look, Rutherford is a lot of things and very candid is one of them. And sometimes it's to his detriment. And he said that publicly. And sometimes I think it's very advantageous for him and for the people that cover the team. Because there's not a conversation about his team that I don't think he's willing. to have. I am watching the Cowboys documentary finally on Netflix. How is it? It's very good,

first of all, but Jerry Jones is Jim Rutherford with a Texas accent. Sure. Or an Arkansas accent, whatever he's got going. He's from Arkansas. Yeah. He, I mean, their stories are different, but like, the, Jerry Jones has slightly more money, but the way, the way he talks is very similar. Old school direct, straightforward, no nonsense approach. Yeah. And no topic is off limits. Yeah. And the way he comes across. Even the way he like smiles sometimes the way

when he's talking, you know, you're like, is that Jim Rutherford? Anyway, I'm really enjoying the documentary. But every time he talks, I'm like, he's going to start talking about the second line center in Dallas soon. Yeah. And now they need one. And now Patrick has to go out in there and get one. Have the Cowboys had any issue?

who's retaining star players recently? I can't think of it. No, I don't think so. I do want to play this audio where Rutherford is talking about talking about Hughes, because I think it's important and I think it's interesting that he's not going to shy away. Here's Rutherford on no reason to shy away from the Hughes discourse. Well, I usually do. It doesn't matter what situations they are.

Sometimes they get in trouble for being too honest, but I don't think there's any reason to shy away from it. Everybody's going to talk about it, rightfully so. It's a huge story. It's a huge story for the Canucks and for their future. And I think as much as I can say about it is important. Whether people want to agree with me or not, that's the way things work. But I'm just given my honest opinion of Quinn Hughes and where he goes forward.

Like that's a very Jerry Jones thing to do. I think as much as I can say. about it is important, whether people want to agree with me or not, yeah, just keep talking about it, you know? Keep the full court press on. Remind everyone, including Quinn Hughes, nearly every day that this massive decision hangs in the balance. Yeah. I mean, I don't think it's useful to shy away from it either. Now, it might get to a point where the players are sick and tired of their own president talking about it. Well, you know what? I did think about that. I do wonder if part of, if Rutherford talks about it,

then maybe it does alleviate some of the concern of having the players needing to talk about it. Because they're like, well, just Jim's doing all the coverage here. Yeah, right? Like, you don't need to ask us any questions. Our president of hockey ops has got a little bit. Yeah. Hey, they, I think they are setting.

They can just be like, well, Jim set in on the 100% hockey podcast. Talk to Jim. Download it. Download it today. Apple, Google. I do think that there's something here about setting an expectation without specifically saying where they want to go this year. They are fully, fully cognizant of the fact that Canucks are that this is,

I've called it a referendum season several times. Everyone top to bottom is aware of this, that there is a lot of pressure and a lot of expectation. I know Rutherford kind of stopped short of saying like we need to make the playoffs or I expect us to be a playoff team, but they know. They know what's at stake. And why bother shying away from it when everyone in the room knows anyway? Okay, we've only got a few minutes to go in this segment

and then we're going to talk to Wish on the other side. So I do want to talk about what Jim Rutherford had to say about Adam Foote and the system the Canucks are playing. And we've had a few hints at what this system is. You know, Drance has come on and suggested maybe they're playing more of like a swarm defensively or they're trying to overload situations on the ice, which can work but it can also be risky

it's I don't know if you if you want to you want to boil it down to a word maybe it's more aggressive aggressive in the defensive zone try and get the puck back quicker by overloading you know you might leave a guy open but hopefully the puck never gets to him

maybe it's the same in the offensive zone I don't know maybe maybe the players went to Adam Foote because they had that meeting. Remember the golf course meeting that Pedersen flew back for? And Hughes was there and Demko was there. And apparently there were also lots of times where Adam Foote was having Zoom sessions with the players. Remember Quinn Hughes was like,

this guy calls me every day. I got to turn my phone off. Sometimes twice. Don't you think some of that was about the style of play? And don't you think some of that was the coaching staff or Adam Foote himself saying like, how do you want to play? If you were the coach If you were the coach If you were Adam Foote And you had a conversation with say I don't know

Elias Pedersen When you would be like How do you how would you like to play hockey Well especially like the fact that foot was there last year Watching them play that's like he got a front row view To see how they played under Rick Talka last year So I think if anyone knows that some things needed to change with certain players It would be the guy that saw it closer than anybody

Now we're going to play some audio here From Rutherford talking about his coaching staff and that'll dovetail into what we want to talk about, about simplifying the style. Here's Jim Rutherford from yesterday on the coaching staff and what they're doing to prepare the players for this season. I believe it's always a coaching staff that has to work together, but when you look at the situation we found ourselves in,

when Rick Tocke decided to go back east and go to Philadelphia, I think that we are very fortunate that we were able to, to hire the people that we did. These guys are very, very good. I've watched them here now over the last month and so prepared, simplify things, explain things very quickly, in a simple way that the players get it real quick.

We have great drills in practice. We have very good practices, high-temple practices, and I really believe a lot in our coaching staff. So twice in that clip, Brotherford, talked about how they were simplifying things for the players. He then went on to say, I like what foot's done to prepare this team. He simplified our system for our

players and they bought into it. Now, there has been some stuff anecdotally over the summer where certain players and I think there was a Philippeal throwaway line where he was talking about how after his first four games in Vancouver in which he felt really energized like he was playing his best hockey, suddenly he got into think about it mode, which means every time he had to go out on the ice he wasn't playing with a lot of freedom he was always consciously trying to decide

what he had to do next based on his coaches you know like ideas and thoughts and philosophies and strategies so and it looked like a team overthinking it last year at times yes maybe sometimes why when they were deferring to each other all the time they were like get the puck

I forget what I'm supposed to have to do here I'll just give it to Quinn and he'll do some stuff so is it a simplification of the process maybe that is it at the end of the day maybe foot came in and thought we're too bogged down by too many rules and decisions and, you know, credos that we live by. And they had to go back to that, I think, where they felt they had to after the Boudreau.

Bruce, there it is, era. Sure. And then Tocke came in. And I thought he simplified things in a way. Like he was just like, hey, remember how to play hockey? There's positions involved. Yeah. But, but remember also what people have always said about.

playing for Bruce Boudreau, he lets you play. He gives you freedom. So maybe Adam Foote, maybe, these are all maybes, by the way, because we need to actually see how it plays out. And you're going to hear some probably conflicting analysis on this as we see what the system actually is. But maybe that's another word that we can throw out there, freedom. Are the players going to have more freedom to do

what they want to do out there. And with that, they take on more responsibility because, you know, with freedom comes that responsibility. Where you're not just having someone tell you what to do in all situation. Tocke did say, remember he came in? He was like, we're going to have some non-negotiables

on this team. Like there are certain rules that we are going to follow. I'm sure there's still more rules. I'm sure they're not like, they're like if you want to like throw the puck up the middle of the ice when you're behind your net just do it just like yolo bro just be yourself you know but maybe there's just fewer non-negotiables

or maybe there's something completely different but like if you're adam foot you have to do something different and if you're the leadership group I hope or the whole team I hope they can latch on to something that is different from what it was under Tocke. You know, because you need to latch on to something. Yeah.

Right? Like, there has to be something like, why do you think you guys are going to have success? What, we're going to do something differently. Yeah. And you know what? The other part of that, too, is also the identity of the team. Like, leaning into, hey, we don't hate each other anymore

is a super good identity to have going into this season. And they've talked a lot about that, right? I know Rutherford didn't talk as much about it in the podcast, but Adam Foote's talked to time. about the chemistry and the camaraderie and the fact that they don't have this room that's been torn apart by a saga that went on all of last year

until J.T. Miller was traded and by then it was too late to try and rectify it. Now begins the rectification process and we'll see how it goes. Okay, we got to, we're up against it for time. We got to go to break. On the other side, the hockey talk continues, but we'll take a wider lens look at the national hockey league with Greg Wischinski from ESPN. He's going to join us at 630. A reminder, fully loaded guest list. Today we're going to do some baseball talk with Shai Davidi at 7.

BC Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke's going to join us at 7.30. And then in the 8 o'clock hour, we're going to circle back on all this Canucks talk with Canucks SportsNet analyst Landon Ferraro. You are listening to the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 6.31 on a Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday, everybody, Halford Brough, SportsNet 6.50. Halvard and Breb of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates Get out of the penalty box of debt And back into the game with a financial fresh start Visit them online at sands Dash trustee.com We should come up with other clever hockey bits for that

You get a five-minute major for debt Right I don't think the idea is to punish them though The idea is to figure it out But then when the penalty expires You get a financial fresh start They're like the PK unit

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, Greg. Okay. I like that then. We are an hour one of the program. He's just staring daggers at me.

He's like, please don't freestyle the ads. Just read them as written. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. He laughs nervously. We're going to Goldie Interference Review on debt. That doesn't make any sense. North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices.

on scrap metal. North Star Metal recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the Power West Industries hotline we go. Greg Woshenki from ESPN joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What up, Wish? Well, it's not exactly

been the best 48 hours for your boy. The Mets squandering their season against the Marlins, the Jets, doing what they did against Miami last night. Maybe Maybe we should stop playing teams in Miami is probably the lesson learned in the last two days.

Was that the worst, when I'm talking about the Mets, because the Jets had already, like, they've been collapsed for a while? Sure. Was that the worst collapse you've ever experienced as a sports fan? No, no, no, no. They actually, that very franchise had worse collapses maybe like 15 years ago. I think the problem with this one was that we sort of knew that they were rotten going back to like July. but we were just kind of hoping against hope they could just, you know, win a game

and at least make the postseason with this payroll. But there's been better versions of the Mets that have, you know, gone like over September and not made the playoffs. This was just one that we were sort of hoping against hope to get their act together at the right time. Okay, well, we won't make you focus any further

on your sad-sac sports teams. The Jets thing was terrible last night, too. They're really bad. but let's turn our attention to the Philadelphia Flyers and Trevor Zegris. You've got a piece up on ESPN.com right now about him under his new head coach, Rick Taco

Talket. We played that audio from the other day where I guess Trevor Zegris now calls Rick Tocket Taco. So that's one of the takeaways that we had. What did you learn or what did you discover? I guess about the not just Zegris, but the Flyers as they embark on this new beginning under Rick Talkett. Yeah.

By the way, he tells me that the Taco thing actually comes from the Hughes Brothers. oh who who would ask him hey how's taco doing which then made me think is it possible it comes from Quinn or or did Jack and Luke then ask Quinn how Taco was doing or that'd be funny if Quinn's like like don't say that to his face like that is that is what we use on the text chat right exactly exactly no he's an interesting kid I had a really really great interview with him um it and and most of it's in the story just as far as, you know, he's such an interesting player because if you had said after his third year in the league that this guy would be on another team trying to mend his reputation

and not even in the conversation for Team USA, like you'd probably be shocked by that, the trajectory of his career. So we got into what went wrong in Anaheim with the injuries, the battles with his coach and management, playing out of position. And then the mental anxiety of having your name all of a sudden be on everybody's trade board and then finally kind of like what his expectations are for his first year in Philadelphia and he said something really profound

for a kid that young. He said that he doesn't want to be known anymore as a guy that plays hockey. He wants to be known as a hockey player which I think kind of puts into sharp relief the reputation he had forged in his first few seasons and where he kind of wants to go as an NHL player now. Don't you think his coach, the coaches that he had in Anaheim probably wanted the exact same thing though where was the disconnect the disconnect was that they didn't want to they didn't give a chance to do it at center like for being honest like you know

I think there's two major things that happened during his time in Anaheim that really impacted him the first was that in Greg Cronin's first season as head coach Zikris was a late signing RFA who missed most of camp and then you know missed all the systems work and all the get-to-know-you-coaching and everything else. And I think that Cronin held that against him a little bit. And it kind of got off on the wrong foot between those two. And the second thing was that they pretty much decided. And I don't think this is necessarily the wrong decision to have Leo Carlson and Nathan McTavish be their top two centers, which meant that, you know, they weren't going to put Zegris in the third line. So he was going to have to move to the wing and figure that out. And he's,

A, not happy on the wing. And B, I don't think that's necessarily the best use. of his skill set. And so, you know, the Ducks, partially because of the positional log jam and also because he just hadn't really played all that well in the last two seasons, moved him to a Flyers team that was desperate for that level of talent in the middle. And so I think he gets a fresh start there. And again, he's got to prove that he could play a 200-foot game. Everybody I've talked to says that his defense is a little bit underrated and underappreciated,

but he's going to have to prove that to hold down that spot in Philly. has he said anything or did he say anything about working with tocket and what's that what that has been like so far um you know he i mean i wouldn't expect there to be any other indication from the player at this point in camp but but tocket said you know he's been impressed with how open-minded vigorous has been to coaching how much time he's putting in on the ice and also in the coach's room breaking down film and things like that like he's really kind of putting in the work in the preseason to show a level of commitment to growing as a player. And we'll see where it goes. I mean, look, I mean, he's played in practice and maybe in some, at least in one of these games on a line with Matt Bain-Mitchcock. So that could be a ton of fun if you put those two together. I think the Flyers just overall are a team that really wanted to increase the, the, the,

the talent level on their roster and continue to build a collection of good young players. And, you know, he's got the opportunity to, to be a really important, foundational piece for what they're building out there. Speaking to Greg Wischinski from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. So last week, Greg, you published your bold predictions for all 32 teams in the National Hockey League. I can't go through all of them. There's 32 of them. But there was a chef's kiss moment where you went with Edmonton, where you said Connor

McDavid is going to sign a team-friendly three-year extension, followed by the L.A. King's prediction, which is the L.A. Kings, eliminate the Oilers in the first round of the playoffs. I love agent of chaos, Greg Wyshinsky. Let's start with the McDavid thing. You said that you don't want this prediction to come true, but do you think it will ultimately come true? I mean, I think so. Again, this has gone, even as a McDavid skeptic,

as somebody who doesn't think that he's going to be in Edmonton, you know, four years from now, I am really shocked that this thing has gone on as long as it has. I really thought that he'd end up resigning around, in the same time that Dryside will resign last year. And like, I'm really surprised that we are this close to the season without any level of certainty. Now, that doesn't mean that we're not going to get it at some point.

Like, again, every, every sense I get is that he is not contemplating whether to stay in Edmonton necessarily, but like for how long. Yeah. I mean, that's the sense I get. It doesn't mean that that's what's happening. But, you know, in my conversations with people that know him a little bit, like, It's kind of what I've been led to believe. Now, has that changed?

Has his thinking changed? Has he not seen enough from, you know, the Sand Bowman regime to really make him want to stay beyond the season? I don't know. But, I mean, the smart money has always been on him to sign a short-term deal that's going to keep the window with him and Leon open. And if you count out the years, I mean, I think a three-year deal brings him to the same free agent year as New Jean Hopkins.

And I think Bouchard. and so it kind of makes sense that that might be like the window that he's looking at but you know it's lingered long enough where speculation about whether he's he's going to not be in Edmonton beyond this season I think is not necessarily too outlandish did you write your Florida Panthers prediction

before or after the Barkoff injury well but well before much like everybody else did their predictions well before you know I think I think So, like, Florida should be all right. If you look at the Eastern Conference right now, the top three in the Atlantic is maybe a top four, depending on how much you believe in Ottawa.

I'm a big believer. My podcasting husband, Jeff Merrick, is not. He's not a Linus Allmark guy. So he doesn't necessarily think Ottawa is going to be, like, right in the mix as much as I do. But if, you know, either way, like, Tampa probably wins the division. Toronto figures out what life without Marner looks like.

and then you have the three seed between Ottawa and Florida. And I think Florida is probably good enough at least, you know, if they can play like 500 without Kachuk before he comes back to maintain that. But they can't win a cup without Barkoff. Like if for whatever reason that they decide to spend his salary cap space on something else or if they're convinced that he's not going to be able to come back at all in the postseason, as much as I want this to be a dynastic run for this team, you know, and win three straight cups for the first time since the early 80s Islanders,

you know, they can't win without him. I think his contributions to those championship teams is underrated, even if we all know how important he was. It's funny how we don't really talk much about the Tampa Bay Lightning, but in just now you're just like, yeah, they'll probably win the division. Yeah, they will. I think so. I think that they are better than the Leafs.

I think without Barkoff and Kachuk in particular in the first few months of the season, they'll be better than the Panthers. I mean, their top six is unimpeachable as far as the amount of offense it can create. And if Kuturoff is healthy, how many points he generates on his own. Vasilesky is still Vasilesky. I think they've done a decent job of building out their depths. I still don't think that they have a championship roster, but everything that they have on the team right now would indicate that they're going to probably win the division

with 105 plus points in that neighborhood. and they haven't done that, I think, since 2019 or 20. So it's been a minute, and I think that they've got themselves a nice little group there right now. Your prediction for the Canucks, and this is going to make a lot of people happy. Elias Pedersen cracks 30 goals again, and I like the way you put it. Now he's healthy. Now he's happy, not only because his tormentor is in New York

and his former coach is in Philadelphia, but because he got married in the off season. There you go. You've always been such a romantic wish. Well, you know, just the warming bliss of newlywed love. We all watched Nick Lechay and Jessica Simpson and how a wonderful day were for at least a season. That's hard on great.

In reading more about him and going back and revisiting what happened to PD last year, there was so much attention on the J.T. Miller stuff and him feeling probably unsupported by the team and everything else, that it was sort of overlooked how janky his season was overall in so far as not having a proper preseason and being kind of out of sorts. His start wasn't very good. So I just think that like, you know,

I think it's a bold prediction in the sense that there are probably some people that are still sort of fading him at this point in his career. And I just think if it's ever going to come back together for him, it'll be at this point where, you know, again, Miller's gone, Tocke's gone, his personal life is thriving. Hopefully they put him

the bestor together for a good stretch of the season and he gets back to being the guy that he was a couple of years ago where he was mentioned amongst the elite of the elite in centers in his league. It took a lot of courage not to put Queen Hughes or something Hughes related in that prediction. So good on you for doing it. You went the right

route there. I think I was just like, I'm going to get so much crap from all these other fan bases. Like I'll I'll poke the bear another time on Queen Hughes. I don't need to do it on this one. I love how you're like you're preparing to write the Canucks thing and you're like, oh, what kind of garbage am I going to hear online about this?

Why don't want? I'll just get, I'll just compete. He's going to score 30 goals again. Well, I mean, it's part of it too, though, is that I want to be right. Like, I got half of the predictions right last year, which is pretty damn good for throwing a bunch of crap of the wall and seeing what sticks.

What was the best? Can you remember the best prediction you had? Oh, shoot. I don't remember the best prediction I have, but I do remember the one that I want to come through the most this year, besides the McDavid thing, because it would be hilarious, is the Flyers draft Gavin McKenna? Yeah.

Like, imagine your Pittsburgh and your franchises and the toilet, and you're trying to do the same dumb thing you've done twice already, which is to get a generational player in your darkest moment, and then it's the other team in Philadelphia, the other team in Pennsylvania rather than ends up drafting him. I think that would be hilarious. Well, your Pittsburgh prediction is quite interesting because it says Sidney Crosby plays somewhere in the playoffs this season. Well, the penguins are unlikely to make the playoffs themselves.

I know you wrote this before the Barkov injury, but I know that a lot of people as soon as Barkov went down, Sid to Florida. I mean, he's got palpable chemistry with Marshand from the Canadian national teams. that's something that I heard from some people that know him a little bit. That was their prediction. And again, I'm not the first to say this. The dynamic right now is Sid is that everyone around Sid wants him to not be in Pittsburgh and Sid doesn't know if that's going to happen or not. And so whether it's for the betterment of him, the betterment of the NHL, whatever,

a lot of people just want this to be his last year in Pittsburgh. And so I actually asked Sid at the player media tour in Vegas. I said, listen, man, I got a bunch of people telling me that, you're going to be playing in the playoffs somewhere this season. Like it's either going to be, you know, somehow the Penguins miraculously coales to do a playoff team or this is

just it and you'll move on. And his answer was not, it was to kind of dispel that idea, but also to just put his full faith into whether, you know, a young penguin's team can contend. I think he's being delusional on that. And I'll stick with the prediction.

I mean, I know there's some thought that it could be an off-season move. But like, if you're Sidney Crosby, the reason you leave Pittsburgh is to play for a cup contender. When will you know there's a cup contender, more so? Will it be at the trade deadline or will it be in July? I mean, it'll be at the trade deadline. You pick your spot, right? So I think he's going to move.

I believe he's not going to be a penguin after the trade deadline. I might be wrong on that. It might be misjudging his ultimate desire of his career, which might just be to play out the string with an awful team. But I think that, you know, there's going to be places for him to land. they'd be very interesting in places that if they had Sidney Crosby could put another ring on his finger. Yeah, I wish, and I read this line that you wrote, and I 100% agree, and it says the smart money remains on Crosby making this kind of decision in the off season, but why wait? I mean, it's also like, you know, you can see which teams are good teams at the trade deadline, so there's less risk that way. but also I know we all like to think of Sid as this ageless wonder

who's going to be good for the rest of his life, but he doesn't have that many years left. Probably as two at most, I think maybe, but the interesting thing too is that there are a number of places where he could end up where he could make a huge difference on a team that's already pretty good. And you could maybe draw the familial lines that we often do in hockey as to why would this person go there?

Well, you know what? Maybe he wants to reunite with Jordan Stahl. And you know what? Carolina could certainly use another center. You know, maybe he wants to play with Gensel again. And you know what? The Tad Bay Lightning are a pretty damn good hockey team. And then you got the Cole Harbor thing in Colorado.

I mean, and then obviously everybody's like Montreal, Montreal, and that's great, except if you're Sidney Crosby, you're leaving Pittsburgh to win, and I'm not guaranteeing that Montreal is winning this year, anything. So we'll see where it goes. I mean, again, maybe this is just a wish my heart is. making to finally see the most, you know, arguably the second most important player in hockey to McDavid get back into the playoffs and have the spotlight on him somewhere and also would make for a pretty exciting trade deadline to have Sidney Crosby available. But we'll see how it

shakes out. I meant to ask this one when we were talking about Pedersen, as you put it, his former tormentor now with the New York Rangers. You've got the Rangers back in the playoffs, eh? Yeah, I do. I don't like their bottom six and I don't like their third. pairing, but I love their goalie. I love them a lot. He's real good. And I think that, you know, Miller with the bandage out on the wing solves a lot of problems to the Rangers because I think that Mika wasn't very good in the middle last year, but really thrived when they moved them over there.

And, you know, when you elevate a player like Will Cooley into basically all of the things that Chris Crieder did, I think you've done pretty well for yourself. I think Cooley is incredibly good, and he's going to be able to fit right into that role. So, you know, you still love Panarin. You still have Trochec. I think Adam Fox is going to have a nice bounce back season. But more to the point, boys, like, look at the, look at the Metro. I mean, I think Carolina's a lock. Pretty sure the devils are in. Although I'm still waiting to see why they didn't really do much to improve

themselves in the offseason. And then you've got, you know, who's the third spot there, Washington? Probably, but could be the Rangers. And then the wild card is, you know, they're going to be relegated to the fourth team in the Atlantic and probably the fourth team in the Metro and I don't think there's any reason why that can't be the Rangers. Wish, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. We are so close to the start of the regular season. We're not quite there yet. We'll do this again next week.

You got it, boys. It's very, very exciting times for someone who is ready to put both baseball and the National Football League behind him as quickly as possible. See you, buddy. See you, pal. Bye. Greg Wischinski from ESPN here on the Halford and Breft Show on Sports Net, 650. we didn't have time to get into this, but his prediction for the New Jersey Devils is Jack Hughes plays 82 games.

Yep. And I'm going to read this last paragraph because this is still very amazing to me. So, Wish writes, we're winking the boldest of the bold predictions here with Hughes playing all 82 games. And if he does, he's certain to become the first player

in Devil's history to crack 100 points. Yeah. Still no player with 100 points. points in New Jersey Devil's history. And I always say this takes me back to being a kid. And it was the Devils and the Canucks that had no 50 goal score and no 100 point guy. And in the 80s, I was like, what? Like every guy, every team has a 50 goal player and a 100 point guy.

You know, it would be like, we were like, you know, Winnipeg's not very good. But they got Dale Howard Chuck. You know, L.A. is not very good. but they got Marcel Dion. Yep. That was me as a kid. And it was always until Pavel Burry arrived. It was Tony Tanti had 45 goals one year.

That's pretty good. And Patrick Sunstrom had 91 points one year. That's pretty good. It's close to 100. And then Burry just blew it all out of the water. Patrick Elish had 96, by the way. Pardon me? Patrick Elish had 96.

Hughes had 99. Has anyone had 50 goals yet for New Jersey? I don't know if anyone's had. I don't know if anyone's had 50. goals for New Jersey either, which is crazy. I mean, you go through, I know they were mostly known for their defensive prowess. You'll never guess who has their goal record for most goals in a single season. Stefan Rieshay?

Nope. You'll never get it. Bobby Haleek. Nope. And I knew this because I remember the year specifically. I grew up in this era and I still wouldn't have gotten it. The answer is. Alex McGilley?

With 48 goals in the 2005-2006 season, the devil's single-season highest goal score is Brian Gianta. Okay. You had that great season. That was out of the lockout when I think everyone... Three more goals than Tony Tanty did. It's Brian, yeah, right. Brian Gianta, Pat Verbeek, and John McLean

are the three highest single goal scores in that franchise's history. Zach Preeze is in there as well. And McGill only had 43 for them one year. But it is... I mean, when your organization for so long was predicated on the trap, Marty Bader, and not letting team score,

it's understandable they won but it is wild that they've never had a hundred point guy or a 50 goal score it's crazy it's crazy okay we're way up against it for time I do want to shout out a bunch of our listeners that are listening on a day where a lot of people aren't going to school

a lot of people aren't going to work so shout out to Bill from loss prevention fasteners okay one from Comox Greg and Pitt Meadows Adam the former bath guy Brian and Richmond who forgot to turn off his alarm Dave the Beer League plug just another Dave in East Van, Mike in Oceanside, Patch at YVR, and of course, J-Dog, the Carhug.

Thank you all, just a smattering of those listening who have texted in this morning. An unsigned text. Morning, boys, listening as always and we'll be sitting to wipe soon. Yeah, I don't know who that is. It might be plop. Thanks for the info.

No, it's unsigned. But I like that this is continuing to go on. That was a big conversation on Friday. No, it's never going to die. You started it. I had a lot of discourse after the show on Friday about this. It was a real and you know what It wasn't just toilet humor

I'm not like people had debates This is going to be a Halbro reference for years There was a lot It was an eye opening conversation for a lot There was it a lot of people who were like I can't believe the other side does that There was a lot can't believe there's so many of us They do that

The majority of the conversations directed my way Where I can't believe that there's such a large Cross section of society who stands Yeah Like the standards And the standards were probably like I can't believe there's more of me.

They're like the never nudes. Are the standards like, we are the silent majority? Yeah, yeah. There are dozens of us. No longer will we stand in shame. All right, we got to get going to break. We got a whole.

Stand and salute, boys. We got a whole big show of sports ahead of us. Coming up on the other side, Shy Daviti, Sportsnet, Baseball, calmness is going to join us. What a day for Major League Baseball. It's wild card opener day. A quadruple header across Major League Baseball.

but we'll talk to shy about that. And, of course, look ahead to the Blue Jays in the ALDS, which begins on Saturday. 7.30, Nathan Rourke is going to join the program. BC Lions quarterback ahead of their game this weekend. Big game against the stamps at BC Play Saturday, 4 o'clock kickoff. We're also going to ask Nathan about the comments that he made about the CFL rule changes. 8 o'clock, or sorry, 810, Landon Ferraro is going to join the program.

So there's a lot to get into. We're here for another two hours. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.