Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Moj On Tocchet & The Coaching Search

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with SiriusXM NHL host Jonathan Davis (5:52), as the boys chat about the LA Kings' epic collapse versus the Edmonton Oilers that sees LA get bounced from the first round, plus they talk some Canucks as well as the NFL & CFL draft with analyst Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich (26:41). 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.

["Selena de la Vida"] I feel like I'm flying, I feel much I like stadiums. I started reading about the stadium. They hosted World Cup games in 1986 in Maradona. Argentina was at that stadium in the group stage. You did do a lot of research. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then France beat Italy in the round of 16 at that stadium. Platini. Is that his name?

Michel Platini. Yeah, his name? Michel Platini. Yeah, he scored for France. The legendary French player. Capacity at their stadium, 58,000, so it will be slightly larger than what BC Place could have offered up for the finals. Slightly larger. It is bare bones. Yep.

It is like, we got these seats, that's it. No bells, fewer whistles. Okay, we are in hour two of the program now. AJ waiting patiently on hold, so I'll get through our business here. Our two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominock 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 them online at jason.mortgage. The show is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help. With over 3,000 five star reviews,

visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you and Step. To the phone lines we go. He is the owner and proprietor of AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. It's AJ here on the Halford and Brough show

on Sportsnet 650. What up brother, how are you? What is going on? Seems like it's been a long time. It has. Thank you for not sleeping in this week. We appreciate that. Hey, you've got an Ask Us Anything Friday for us, right? I do. I do. Because one of my favorite sporting events is happening tomorrow, I want to know from the both of you, what's your Mount Rushmore? If money didn't matter, what do you want to go see? Oh, good. Because we were just talking about this. Because AJ, money does matter. Because money is want to go to? Oh, good, because we were just talking about this.

Because AJ, money does matter. Because money is going to matter for mine. So I'm going to pick one of them out, Rush. By the way, he's talking about the Kentucky Derby. Yeah, AJ is talking about the Kentucky Derby. I'm talking, okay, so I'm going to pick a single solitary head from the Mount, and that is I want to go and tick this off my bucket list, next year's World Cup final. It's at- That'll be cheap in New York.

Right, it's at MetLife Stadium. New York is not an expensive place, traditionally. It's very affordable. You know this. I got places for you to stay. Okay, so we've got that part of the equation settled. Now all I need to do is find the $6,000 million that it'll take to get tickets to the World Cup finals.

That would probably be mine too, although the Ryder Cup is That would probably be mine too, although the Ryder Cup is in Ireland in a few years. And I think that would be so much fun. That'd be good. So much fun. Okay. I've seen game seven of the Stanley Cup

final with the Canucks and you know what? Wasn't that great. Ryder Cup it is. It wasn't that great. And, and, and, uh, and you know, a lot of stuff happened outside too, that that wasn't as fun. Oh, are you serious? Okay, tell us about the Derby though.

Yeah, so hey, so I mean it is and somehow some way it got big at AJ's and I'm a huge horse guy and the Derby for me, I have to get there one day and yeah, and it's going to be, you know, it's an open wide race tomorrow. So that you are now officially, by just saying the words Kentucky and Derby together, you're our horse racing insider. So that's great, because we didn't do a lot of horse coverage

on the show this week again, much to Bref's chagrin. I will say- Yeah, I know that guy. Yeah, tomorrow, City TV, the Sportsnet broadcast network of families, it will be aired. So if anyone in Canada wants to watch, it's gonna be on City TV, the Sportsnet broadcast network of families, it will be aired. So if anyone in Canada wants to watch, it's going to be on City TV more.

If they want to come by AJ's, what's on tap for this weekend? Horse racing and beyond. Yeah, we got, you know, we got a typical happy hour all day Sunday, right? Which is great. And then tomorrow is going to be a fun day. And I'll give you my pick if you want. Yes. Is the favorite called journalism? Yes But I'll tell you this the real favorite the real favorite is Sandman

But he's in the 17th post that has never won the Derby. Oh, so we could have a first time I heard I heard for his walkout song. He does Metallica I heard for his walkout song he does Metallica. All right, everyone knows what to do. This weekend, go to AJ's. He's a mother. AJ's, go to his weekend. Saturday and Sunday, Derby on Saturday. Happy hour all day on Sunday.

AJ, thanks for doing this today, bud. We appreciate it. Have a good weekend. Enjoy your weekend. Yeah, you too, buddy. Thanks. That's AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway here on the Halpern and Brough Show. Journalism.

How awesome would it be if Sandman had a walkout song? Do horses have walkout songs? Are they trot out songs? No, he should have them. It should be Mr. Sandman by the Cordettes. Don't, you know how they play Enter Sandman? Is it? I know how it works.

It's Virginia, oh, okay, but it's Virginia Tech that's famous for it, right? Yeah, the Hokies. Can you imagine if they like turn the lights down at Churchill Downs and Sam and it comes up, I'd be like, that guy's gonna win for sure. I think it would spook the horses, if I'm not mistaken. That's why they have blinders on. Yeah, that's the idea. That's the idea. He'd be like, I'm gonna keep my composure.

But you know what? Now you've got my mind grapes going. That's not a bad idea to add to the event, the pomp and circumstances, every horse gets to choose his own walkout music. Yeah. Yeah. They all choose the same music. Okay. We got a lot more to get to on the program today. Do we have Jonathan Davis on the line?

He's got his own theme song. That's fantastic. Joining us now, not the lead singer of Korn, but rather our LA Kings insider from Sirius XM NHL Satellite Radio, Jonathan Davis now on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning JD, how are you? I'm doing great. You know the last time I was on, I said to you, Sarah Valley had his theme music.

I'm happy that I finally got mine. It's licensed music so we can only play, what is it, nine seconds or less? It's called the corn scat. We can only play two seconds of it. We can't afford more than that. That's all we can afford. That's it. Anyway, you've now got theme music. Okay, so last night, what an epic collapse by the Los Angeles Kings. You know, we talked about it in the framework of what a great comeback by the Edmonton Oilers, but it's hard not to look at that and think about what the Kings frittered away. There's a corn pun for youreddered away in that one. And did it all start with the Jim Hiller challenge in game three or was it more than that? Because I know a lot of people are talking about that and pointing to that as the beginning of the end for the Los Angeles Kings.

Yeah, it did start there. No question. And the thing is guys, like it could have been a race if they win game four and go on to win the series. But then game four, you know, you've got the epic collapse and not only you have an epic collapse, but you've got what I think was just coaching malpractice in the way that they use their bench

and how little, you know, guys were playing, you know, Jordan Spence or, you know, was playing less than three minutes and, you know, Grant Clark played, you know, nine minutes going into overtime. And Sammy Helanius played less than two minutes. So, you know, you killed your team. And then, you know, when you look at how they lost

that game in overtime, the goal that, the power play goal that led to the winner, Gavrikov took a penalty. He's out on the ice for 2.26. So then you have that collapse. Then you come back and play game five, you're on home ice, you're dominant on home ice, and you've got, they had no legs.

And then last night, you know, you score the first goal great, but when we saw the early track meet, I'm like, there's no way that LA is gonna keep up. They just don't have it. And the thing that has to really bug the Kings to me, another thing is that these last two victories for Edmonton, McDavid and Dreissel had both combined for an assist on the empty net goal by Nuge.

And then last night, Connor has just the one assist, Leon has nothing. The depth guys for Edmonton rose to the occasion. And this is where LA was supposed to have the advantage in depth. And they didn't. And it was just a monumental collapse for Los Angeles. Was this one worse than two years ago when they had the two one series lead and in game four at home, they went up three nothing and it looked like there was going to

be three one for the Kings. And then they blow that lead, lose in overtime. So the series is two, two, and then they lose game five and six. Can you, can you pick one as worse than the other? Did we lose Jonathan there? Did you just. Otherwise he's in real deep thought right now.

Yeah. Real deep thought. Jonathan Davis, SiriusXM, NHL, right? Oh, we'll try and get him back on the line here. You're listening to the Halpern and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Um, I'll be curious to hear his answer to the question because I know- You do, cause you've been thinking about it for so long. It better be good.

Still thinking. Uh, I think recency bias would lead at least me to believe that this one was the worst one. Yeah. Because it's in the ghost of the previous three collapses. Exactly, it's in the shadow of that. You had a two nothing lead in the series and a four three lead going into the third period

of the third game. We got Jonathan on the line, now we'll try this again. Jonathan Davis, SiriusXM, NHL Radio. Jonathan, how much of that last question did you catch? Well, I was trying to run through just this monumental collapse and then you may have asked me something else. No, start right back from the beginning again. He was just asking about which collapse was worse.

Which collapse was worse? The one in 2023 when they had the 2-1 series lead and then the 3-0 lead in game four, they blow that, lose in overtime and lose games fives and six. Was that one worse or is this one worse? I think this one is worse because I, yeah, this one looked at, they had it. They could have swept this series. No question. And they blew it.

I mean, I think this was worse. Although I think, yeah, I think right now this one sticks out to me as just a, it's a, because it was just, it was a collapse on so many different fronts. And, and I don't know where you go next. If you're the LA Kings. Mike and I were talking about how Doughty and Kopitar who've won so much, um, in the game

of hockey, they must be mortified by this. Uh, I think Drew is more mortified than, than Kopitar is. Why do you say that? To be honest with you. Yeah. Because look guys, I'm still bothered by an interview that Kopitar did a couple of years ago.

He's on after hours with Scotto and he's telling people that when he's done, he's going back to Slovenia. That was two years ago. To me, he already had one foot out the door. I don't think it hurts him the same way. Drew loves the game. He's a rink rat. That's all he does.

I don't think it affects Kopitar in the same way. And that's just my opinion. Oh, it's fair. And we were kind of framing it in who's this collapse going to hit the worst. And Jason brought up Kopitar and Doughty. And then I would circle back to Jim Hiller. And my question would be, is Jim Hiller Hiller's job in jeopardy or should the

question be how much jeopardy is Jim Hiller's job in? I think it's a very fair question. And I think here's the complicate. Here's why it becomes complicated. If you fired Jim Hiller, you know, because of this and, and it would be, it wouldn't be necessarily wrong to do so. You're going to, you're're gonna have to bring in a coach and any coach that you would bring in

starting next year to me, I'm asking for five years. When I look at this roster, there's a lot that needs to be done before any coach can have success. You have to decide who's the GM next year because Rob Blake doesn't have a contract. The belief is he's not going to be back. And I do wonder, you know, what is there going to be a major overhaul to the front office of this organization? So I think that if you're,

I think the first move is the GM and then I think the GM will will give Hiller the time for next year to figure it out. And if it doesn't work, then maybe he makes a move. But I don't think, I don't care who the coach is, they're not winning next year. So I think for that reason, I don't think there's a need to fire Jim Miller. What changes do you think need to be made to the active roster?

Well, look, the biggest question that they're facing is what happens with Vladislav Gavrkoff? I mean, I think that Gavrkoff you know, he's gonna get himself a really good deal He was making just under six this year. I don't know why if I'm Gavrikov I'd want to come back to this I think that you know, that's gonna be a big loss the problems that they have up front is I you know They don't have a lot of flexibility I would have thought you would have moved on from Kevin

Fiala, but the guy woke up in the second half of the year and turned into a much better hockey player. They don't have a lot of parts to move. So I think they're really kind of stuck. And they're going to need to, again, try to acquire guys through free agency. And look, if they lose Gavrikov, and then you've got Dowdy for about two years left, you know, you're going to have Mikey Anderson and you know, are you finally going to let Brant Clark be Brant Clark? There's still, there's more questions again than answers with this team. Byfield will be remembered for not being able to get the puck out in game four.

But overall, what did you think of his performance in the playoffs and how much hope should be placed on Quinton Byfield's shoulders that he can eventually replace Anzai Kopitar as the number one centre? Well, he'll replace Anzai Kopitar as the number one centre. I thought he had a good year. I think there was still some immaturity to his game that we saw throughout the year. Not being able to get the puck out.

Yeah, look, I wouldn't put that in the immaturity category. It just, it was a mistake and I feel bad for the kid. He made progress, but let's make no mistake. I don't, this is not gonna be Anze Kopitar. You know, Kopitar is a great, they're just different. Kopitar, you know, two-time selkie winner, ultimate 200-foot player, but guys, I will tell you, he never made players around him better.

I think Quentin Byfield, not the 200-foot player that Kopitar is, but I think his skill set can allow him to make players around him better. Rob Blake's been the general manager of this team for I think it's eight years now. I think he came in in 2017. So he's had a pretty long run at it here. One of the longer tenure GMs currently active as a matter of fact. What's sort of the referendum been on the work that he's done there going into what you're kind of suggesting here is going to be a very pivotal offseason for the Kings. Guys, it's 11 years since they've won a playoff series. It's the longest drought. Yeah. And Blake's been the GM for eight of them. I was surprised he

wasn't gone after last season. But so look, it's time for a change. There needs to be a change in philosophy. Look, when Jim Hiller was hired last, was given the head coaching job by Rob Blake, this was mostly because the LA Kings weren't going to go out and spend money for a coach because they were still paying Todd McClellan five million a year. Rob was in the final year of his deal so they're not gonna allow him to go out get a get a new coach I just think that you know this organization needs an overhaul and you know they pushed Dean Lombardi out and maybe it was a time it was the right time to move Dean out but they need someone more with that type of philosophy I think in this organization because I I, you know, Rob, I think traded better than he drafted at the end of the day.

Uh, one final thought, what did you think of Kuzmenko? You know, a revelation. Um, you know, I, I thought he, yeah, he, he was, he was much better than anybody thought here, I mean, this was a guy that the flyers were paying half of his salary, not to play for them. But you know, I had a chance to talk with Daniel Embare, who was an assistant in Calgary and coach Guzmanko. And he just said to me, look, you've got a really strong hockey IQ, really like the player. And we saw his skill set. It's just a matter of, you know, can he do that for a full season?

But there's no question that there's skill. But at the end of the day, guys, hey, game three, he was benched for the last 13 minutes. They still don't trust him defensively. JD, this was great today, man. Thank you for taking the time to do this. It promises to be a very interesting off season in Los Angeles. We'll give you a call back whenever everything happens this summer. All right, anytime. Have a great rest of your morning. Thanks for having me, guys.

You too, thanks. That's Jonathan Davis, Sirius XMNHL Radio here on the Health and Breast Show on Sportsnet 650. Boom. Nice. That's the team. That's the team. When I talk about those teams that

lose in the first round that are just either like, we can't keep going on like this, or this is a referendum, or this is a breaking point, or this is a moment. Los Angeles is the one. I'm circling like three times with a big red marker because Rob Blake is the fifth longest tenure general manager in hockey right now.

It's Doug Armstrong in St. Louis, Kevin Shovoldaev in Winnipeg, Jim Nill in Dallas, Don Sweeney in Boston, then there's Rob Blake. All those names ahead of him, I would say, are reasonably secure. Sweeney's undergoing some heat in Boston right now, but the reason that those are somewhat secure is because at least they've won something in the playoffs. Even if it wasn't necessarily a Stanley Cup, they've either gotten to where they wanted to go or had enough success.

The Los Angeles Kings feel like a team that, I mean, I didn't even realize it was 11 years since their last playoff victory. You can't lose four times in a row to the same opponent in the first round. And they've tried stuff. And they've tried stuff. I mean, they've tried, they brought in Dubois,

then they're like, no. Um, you know, they- Change goalies. They changed goalies. Yeah. There's a, you know, they, they brought in Dubois and they're like, no, um, you know, they. Change goalies. They change goalies. Yeah. There's a, you know, they, they brought in, um, Philip Deneau right at the start of all this. Um, Byfield has been developing, Brandt Clark

has been developing. Well, I'll tell you what the issue there and, you know, JD just spoke to it is there was a few years there where they went the bottom out draft and develop route and you just haven't hit with enough like high end, high profile superstar guys. You know, and they traded away Brock Faber and. Oh man.

You know. But he wasn't going to sign there. No, I know, but it's, it's all of that leads you back to that conversation about the right way to rebuild and the wrong way to rebuild. And drafting and developing is tough. Cause if you miss on one or two, especially at the high end of the draft, it can kill you. If those guys don't turn out to be high end elite superstar level players with consistency,

which is not an easy thing to do in the NHL, you're looking at, well, we bottomed out to get like a middle six forward, which is great. You want middle six forwards, but when you're at that end of the draft, that's where you're trying to hit home runs. When you're at the high end of the draft, you're trying to hit home runs. You need to get franchise players there.

And the bar is very high for a franchise player. And we talk about it here a lot in Vancouver, Quinn Hughes, the best defenseman in franchise history, that's a franchise player. And I sometimes hear people saying, well, it's unfair to hold this guy up and compare him to this guy. I know what people are saying when they say that, but then the conclusion should be, well,

then he's not the guy. Yep. You know? If it's unfair to compare him to the elite franchise players in the NHL, conclusion is he's not the guy you think he is then. Because you're going to have to beat one of those guys almost for sure.

You're going to have to beat along the way a future hall of famer or maybe multiple Hall of Famers. So how are you going to do that? By the way, you want to know who spent the 1994, 95 and 95, 96 campaign as a member of the Los Angeles Kings? Rick Tauke. I forgot about that.

Spent two years in LA. He was banged up. He was really injured. He didn't play more than 40 games, I think, in either of the seasons. But I wonder if that would be appealing to him. But he said he wants to go back East, right? Although he lives in Vegas, very confusing. Rick Takeda has a secret life we don't know about for sure.

What's going on? What's going on, Rick? By the way, I wanted to mention Kuzmenko. Yeah. He did enough to get another contract, right? In the NHL for sure. Yeah, yeah. I figured the- Maybe not with the Kings. I don't know what they're going to do, but he did enough to get another contract, right? In the NHL for sure. Yeah, yeah. I figured the next. Maybe not with the Kings.

I don't, I don't know what they're going to do, but he did enough. I assumed if Kuzmenko was going to a league next year with three letters, it was KHL. Yeah, yeah. And then maybe AHL. Um, I did, I mean, things were going pretty. He's very dynamic.

He was, he looked very good. He was on the puck defensively. Jonathan Davis made the point, you know, that he was benched when they were protecting a lead, although we made the joke earlier, well, maybe you should have been out there because they kept blowing these leads. Yeah. So, I just, I thought he looked energetic.

He was winning puck battles. He was, he was first to a lot of loose pucks on the power play, made a lot of great plays, finished with what, six points in the series, three goals and three assists. That's pretty good. And I bet he was very polite in the handshake line. Yes.

Do you think he was just like super, he was like, hello. Smiling the entire time. We shake hand. Um, I don't, I, I, we were joking about this on our text thread last night, introducing himself, pointing to his name tag, hi, I'm Andre. Yeah, no, I. That would be so funny because mega just going down the low hello hello hello I enjoy and in certain times respected I love chocolate

yeah just how happy you have any you know those people where they're like the guy behind me as that guy's just happy told me you might have chocolate the guys that guys just happy to be alive you know those people where they're like the guy behind me as that guy's just told me you might have chocolate The guys that guys just happy to be alive, you know those yeah from time to time They're just happy to be there unit like the bus meme and cuz man goes the guy looking out the bright side It's always happy right? It's like the Sun is shining. I got a smile on my face. I play hockey that sound drink Who's make okay? We are up against it for time yet again We got a lot more to get to on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650 as we hit the midway point of the show. Bob the Moj Marjanovic is gonna join us here

in just a moment. We're gonna talk to Moj about, I wanna talk to him about the NFL draft and his thoughts on Shajir Sanders. We can obviously talk about what happened with Rick Taukett earlier in the week. Eight o'clock, Dolly's gonna join us. Eight thirty, we are doing what we learned

in Ask Us Anythings and giving away the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on Broadway. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the one to watch brought to you by Delaney's OK Tire. Now the one to watch is quite appropriate tonight because there's only one playoff game tonight that you can watch. It is the Winnipeg Jets in St. Louis

looking to close it out against the Blues. Now, the one to watch, I went deep cut on this one. You ready for this one, Jason? The one to watch, Vlad Nemesnikov. What? So everyone knows, I think, at this point that Mark Shieffley is not going to play in game six. I see where you're going with this. He took a big hit from Braden Shen in game five, although according to Jim Montgomery,

he took an even bigger hit from Roddick Foxa, and that's what knocked him out. Anyway, no Shieffen Shen in game five. Although according to Jim Montgomery, he took an even bigger hit from Radik Foxa and that's what knocked him out. Anyway, no Shifeley tonight in the game. So why am I talking about Vlad Nemesnikov? Well, Jets head coach Scott Arneal bumped Nemesnikov up to the Shifeley spot between Kyle Connor and Gabe Velarty last game. And Nemesnikov recorded his first point of the series

and then managed to score a goal as well. Winnipeg took their first two goal lead of the game late thanks in large part to what that line was doing with Nemesnikov in the middle. So I thought, you know what, if he can do it again in a close out game, maybe he's the one to watch. And that's why you should watch Vlad Nemesnikov tonight when the Jets take on the Blues. It's time to put on your Toyo tires, whether you drive a car, light truck, or van.

Toyo tires are designed to perform in all kinds of conditions. Visit Delaney's OK Tire in Langley and Aldergrove. OK Tire Service Repair and tires you're listening to the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. I'm a huge horse guy. Mmm! Hey, it's Jamie Dodd. And Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays

from 12 to two on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's the Moch. I did not eat four burgers. Yes, it's the Moch. I don't wanna go to Winnipeg. Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food. It's the Moch. I went'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, Ross is just grumpy all the time. Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moch, Moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, moj, 7.33 on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody. You are listening to the Halferd and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halferd and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour two of the program. The Moge is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominock at jason.mortgage.

If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at jason.mortgage. Our next guest is a presentation of the Clayton Public House. It's Bob the Moge Marjanovic here on the Haliford and Breast Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Moge? I heard you guys talking about Ladnamesnikov prior to the break.

Little known fact. Did you know that his dad Evgeny slash John played for the Canucks in the early nineties? I do remember John Namesnikov. Do remember that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. He was the smallest defenseman, right?

I mean, what I remember he was like 5'9", 5'10". Very physical. And I think that physicality always kind of got him into trouble because he's always searching for the big hit. when he searched for the big hit he kind of fell out of position sometimes. So yeah, little known fact. Had a bit of the Juleson in him. Yeah. We were just talking to Jonathan Davis from Sirius XM NHL radio about the Los Angeles Kings and their collapse against the Edmonton Oilers. What we didn't ask him about Moj was that goal mouth scramble when it was 5-3 yesterday and Brant Clark and the Los Angeles Kings seemed to think that they

scored. What did you think about that sequence? Well the one scramble that I'm talking about is the one where Clark kind of goes you know where he tries to jam the puck in on the left side of the to his know, where he tries to jam the puck in on the left side of the, to his left, goaltenders right, the cards right. And if you look at the replay, the overhead shot shows the puck clearly going into the net. One of the defenders kind of uses his glove

and scoops it out. And I'm like, why are they not reviewing this? Why are they not talking about this? I mean, the commentating crew, DeBrusk and Phillips, didn't even talk about it. The only thing that I could assume was that the whistle had blown, right? But I was just like, why is this not being reviewed?

Why are they not looking at it? I was really shocked because you see the puck go in the net. I mean, you see it on the overhead. Clark was pointing at it. Like he was pointing as if to say like that went in that crossed the line. So I was kind of waiting for a longer review. Have you guys uncovered some sort of conspiracy there?

I'm pretty sure just the whistle went. They know I don't, I don't think he did. I just, I think that what Moj said, they just kind of moved on. They huddled briefly and then they just agreed that it didn't go in and they're like, okay, let's keep playing. It's only LA. No one cares. That's true. They

They had a few huddles last night. There was also I want to say the Arvidsson cross check on Gavrikov that they clearly missed but was also clearly a cross check to the face and They huddled for a bit and you could tell it was one of those huddles where they were like We missed this didn't we because they knew that they had missed something big, but they just couldn't, you can't manufacture a call if nobody saw it. Yeah. But they all acknowledged that something bad happened and they were like, oh crap. So it wasn't a great day. It's like drop the puck, drop the puck.

McDavid was like, okay. You could almost hear McDavid's being like, you didn't see it. And then they were ready to go after that. So yeah, it wasn't a great night for a fishing Los Angeles. I don't know what your thoughts on this Mojo, they were ready to go after that. So yeah, it wasn't a great night for officiating Los Angeles. That's it. I don't know what your thoughts on this Mojo. We were talking to, um, Jonathan Davis about this, just saying that's gotta be a gut punch, a knee buckler, and maybe like a franchise altering loss because this

one, you gotta say that was a King's collapse. Yeah. I mean, they, they had an opportunity to seal that series away. And you know, it's interesting how things can just shift, right? I mean, you look at the Kings, they look like they're in control. Look at Dallas and Colorado last night, Dallas with a third period lead and you know, they basically collapse and you wonder, does that come back and haunt Dallas? Does Colorado win game seven? You can look at what Dallas did in the third period.

So you know, when you get into the playoffs and you have an opportunity to put an opponent away, you have to do it. You can't allow them to get off the mat because well, if you do, we saw what happened to the Los Angeles Kings. Is that on the Mount Rushmore of own goals in NHL history? Obviously Steve Smith has the number one spot on Mount Rushmore, but I couldn't believe that when that puck bounced in. And was it Blackwell that put it in there?

Like he scored a goal early. He was like, oh my God. Yeah, that was just like a bizarre goal. I mean, you know, you talk about a flute goal. That was probably right at the top of the list. Um, but yeah, probably Mount Rushmore. You know, it's funny when you talk about own goals and Mount Rushmore, I don't know why,

maybe it's just cause we're talking about John Domestika. I go back to Lars Lindgren of the Connaughts who actually shot the puck in his own net. So that's many years ago, Swedish defensemen had played for him, but yeah, that, that one right there, if you saw that one, you would be flabbergasted.

Was that game on TV? I can't find any video. There's a highlight of it. I remember seeing a highlight of it and it was just, I don't think it was on TV, but there was a highlight of it and I was just like, that's just crazy. But.

Um, Moj, speaking of crazy, what did you think of the whole week with Rick Tauket walking away from the Vancouver Canucks? Well, you know, we talked about it last Friday. I wasn't surprised. My gut feeling said that he was going to be gone and obviously he decided to leave. It's interesting. Everyone's kind of trying to look at the situation and trying to scrutinize it and examine it and figure out why he left.

I mean, I think it and figure why he left. I mean, I think it was a variety of factors. I heard Kiprius on with you guys yesterday. He made a great point. I mean, you know, if you throw enough money, all those problems do go away. But if the money's equal with what you might get somewhere else and you know, you have to look at the best fit for you, right?

Um, you know, Alford gets paid a lot of money to work with you, right? If he got paid regular money, probably wouldn't be working with you. Yeah. So, and the same thing with pocket, the Canucks, right? But I mean, it's a whole bunch of factors, but I think one of the top ones is the fact that, you know, you look at this organization and as a coach, you want stability, you want stability with your players and understanding

that you do have a solid core. You have a star defenseman at Quinn Hughes who's probably going to walk in two years or maybe even less if they trade him. You have your number one paid forward who's basically an enigma in Elias Pettersson. You have a goaltender who when he plays, he's pretty damn good. The problem is he's injury-prone at Thatcher Demko. You don't have a practice facility. The organization itself, there is some stability with Rutherford and Alveen, but people talk

about ownership. I mean, there's so many different things that come into play, but I think they just all add it up. And here's the thing. I mean, people are talking about, well, who the connection gonna get? It's gonna be Laviolette. They're talking about all these candidates. But all of those things that conspired

to push Rick Tauke away from this job are gonna be factors for any candidate who wants to come here. If you were a very good coach and you have a whole, you know, say three or four options on the table, would you wanna come to Vancouver just given the factors that I just mentioned?

I mean, it's a, it's a tough question. And, and if I'm Manny Malhotra, um, and I'm looking for my first NHL head coaching job, it's also one of those things. And I, and I know Rutherford made the point, it was like, there's only so many of these jobs, like someone will want this job cause it's an NHL head coaching job, but there's also

something to be said for your first job or even if it's your second or third, put yourself in a position to succeed. And is that going to be possible in Vancouver? That's the point. And you know, there's an old saying, don't take a job where you know you can't win, right? Where you know you're not poised for success or

you just don't have the infrastructure to support whatever you're doing. And again, I think if you're looking at a coach who has three or four options on the table, I don't know if Vancouver is going to be option number one, considering what we just talked about. So who are you going to get? You might get a coach who's desperate to get back in the league.

You might get a coach who, um, like a Manny Mohoetra, it'll be his first job as a head coach in the national hockey league. I just believe that you're not going to get the best candidate available because of the factors in play. Moj, you mentioned a bunch of factors in Rick Tocque's decision to leave and I guess we could add money onto that. Ultimately, do you think there was one factor that tipped him over to making the decision that he did and maybe it was when Torz got fired in

Philly, he was like, well when Torz got fired in Philly, he was like, well, I'd rather be in Philly than Vancouver. Although he hasn't got that job yet. Possibly. I mean, you know, we talked about that earlier, just the fact that, you know, that, that team that you play for and have success as a player

is the one that you usually identify with. So Rick Tocque and I'm sure probably still identifies as a Philadelphia flyer. But for me, I think it's probably the future of Quinn Hughes. I mean, so much of this team's future hinges on what Quinn Hughes decides to do, right? I mean, if he decides that he's not going to sign a contract and he's going to move on and, you know, try to play with his brothers, this team is, it's looking at, you know, some sort of rebuild. And then, you know, you also look at Pederson as well, right? I mean, this guy's your top player and you have questions about his work ethic and his commitment during the course of the summer. Yeah. I mean, when I look at it, those are probably

the two big factors for me that pushed him out the door. Let's talk a little BC Lions. Yeah. Training camp starts next week. They just had the draft. Oh my God. Don't even talk to them about the draft. Okay.

Why? Shine number 598 that you're old, right? Lions drafted Jackson Finley in the second round of the CFL draft, right? Okay. Why? Shine number 598 that you're old, right? Lion's draft of Jackson Finley in the second round of the CFL draft, right? Okay. I coached his dad, Anthony at UBC. Not only you knew his dad, you coached his dad. No, no, no, not, not knowing him.

I coached his dad. Um, I coached him like 93, 94 and Anthony is one of our players. He actually basically played there at that time. Um, great, you know, great family, great kids. I mean, there was three brothers, Brooks Finley played in the CFL for a while. He played at Portland state and don't really know Brooks that well. Scott Finley, um, was the running back for our team at UBC and great guy was West Van Police Department. for our team at UBC and great guy was West Van Police Department, probably one of the best teammates I ever had and of course Anthony who I wound up coaching who was a little younger so and this is like you know they're there well Jackson's grandfather Greg played for the Lions in the 70s and 80s and the great-grandfather also played a little bit in the CFL so it's a fourth

generation player so yeah when I saw Jackson Finlay being drafted by the Lions I gave Anthony a call and we just started laughing. I'm just like, this is just, I'm old, right? It's done. It's over. I mean, how bad is it within a span of four weeks I got blown up by Finn at Roger's arena and the

kid gets drafted by the Lions whose dad I coached. Yeah. Things are not trending in the right direction for you, Mo. Sorry. You can, you can still laugh. Um, so, um, are the Lions in a better position to take advantage of Nathan Rourke's talents?

Well, number one, I mean, he's got a full off season, um, yeah, he's going to have a new system with Buck Pierce, but you know, Nathan, he's, he's a football junkie. So I'm sure he's going to be very comfortable with that offense in terms of the X's and O's as he heads in the camp, not only needs his on-field reps to get a little bit more comfortable. I mean, I just look at this team and I think to myself, there's, you know,

I'd probably put the Florida, maybe about eight wins and I probably put the ceiling at 12, I think they're going to be in that range. And it all depends on what happens with this organization in terms of how quickly Buck Pierce can mold them into what he wants. I think the really cool thing from the personnel standpoint is the fact that with Ryan Rigmaiden being the general manager, the former scouting director, of course, you're going to see guys who have been brought in that this is not only true with the Lions, but with any team in any sport, particularly

in football probably, because you're dealing with such volume. But you know, you bring in a guy, a personal guy has been kind of like, you know, following for three or four years, sometimes maybe even five or six years in the CFO, or you know, guys go down and they play college for four years and then two years in an NFL camp. So you have a scouting director that's got a book on this guy for five or six years and he comes to camp and you know, he has a bad four days and he's gone. Right. And you know, you, you look at a coach or a general manager who looks at the

situation and they'll give a guy four days and you know, you might lose some players that way. Um, whereas the personnel director would probably want to see them give an extended look and now with a former personnel director as your GM, I think you're going to see a lot of these guys get extended looks and it's going to be very interesting to see how many or if any of these guys pop. Um, what do you think about Curtis Rourke's chances of making a go of it in the NFL?

What do you think about Curtis Rourke's chances of making a go of it in the NFL? Man, you know, the good thing is he's gonna get drafted, right? He's gonna get an opportunity when you get drafted. There's such a huge difference between a player who gets drafted and a non-drafted player who signs as a free agent. You know, you heard the expression, Jag, just another guy, right? Um, NFL teams, when they invest a draft pick in you, you are going to get a very, very good opportunity to prove your worth, right? I mean, you basically have to come out and stink the joint out to be cut.

At worst, you're going to wind up on a practice run. So I like his opportunity. I just think the fact that he got drafted, to me, it's a big, big thing. And we'll see. It's funny because you look at Nathan and you look at Curtis, and Nathan's probably his biggest fan.

And he talks about his ability, like Curtis probably has more physical ability than Nathan will probably. He's taller than him. He got drafted, Nathan didn't. But when it comes to being a football junkie, I don't know if he matches Nathan in that department. And not to say that he's not, but just Nathan's

just off the charts when it comes to that. The injury last season was just so unfortunate. He played through a torn ACL. That's crazy. So he's showing up to the 49ers and he's immediately going to be handed over to the medical staff essentially. And that's, that's a tough way to start.

Yeah. I mean, you know, torn ACLs, I've known players that have played through them previously. I remember there was a guy named Michael Jackson used to pitch for the Mariners. He didn't have ACLs on either knees and he pitched. Right? So I mean, depending on how your body adapts and how you go through it, some people can go through those types of injuries and wind up playing and can still competing. But I mean, obviously if you want to be a hundred percent in the NFL, I think you need to get your ACL looked after.

Former NBA power forward, Duann Blair, also had no ACLs and he was able to, yeah, it was, I mean, you can, I guess, in theory do it, but it makes life pretty difficult as far as I've been told. I got both. So, hey, wanted to do an Ask Us Anything food related for you here. Moj Gunner from Kelowna wrote in earlier talking about the while he's not vegan or vegetarian, one of his favorite restaurants is a vegetarian spot. So he wants to know, does Moj have a favorite vegan or vegetarian restaurant? I'm laughing because I'm probably like Gunner. And by the way, I love that name Gunner. There's

a guy that's pitching for the East and I Gunner Hoglund. I mean the way, I love that name. Gunnar. There's a guy that's pitching for the eights and I Gunnar hog went, I mean, she's, I mean, that's a name Gunnar. Um, there was, oh, there's a restaurant on Kingsway and I want to say it's like Kingsway and Fraser. I was driving by it with my girlfriend one time and I was like, she mentioned that she'd eaten that, right? And she goes, no, it's really good.

Blah, blah, blah. blah and I decide you know whatever like like a month later two months later to check this place out and I walk in and I order my food and you know I look at it and all of a sudden I realize there's no meat involved here yeah and it was like a vegan vegetarian type place, right? I mean, no meat. And I'll say this, it was pretty damn good. I was really surprised at how good it was, right? Um, I think I was eating some sort of like chicken wings that weren't chicken, but were like mushroom wings or something. I can't remember, but I'm not into that. But I'll say this, I have tried it

and I was shocked how good it was. Braf, I'll turn it to you because you were a long time Kitsilano resident. Did you go to the NOM very often? No. Because the NOM- I went there a couple times. Yeah, because it was good.

Well, you know what it had going for it back in the day, which it no longer does, it was open 24 seven. It was always open. So it was one of those things. You can do a vegetarian breakfast at any hour of the day because that's the one meal where it's like, it's not like meat forward, meat dependent. I don't like the vegan restaurants though

that make you something and there's like, it tastes like a hamburger because like I get why they would do that, but I'm like, if I want a hamburger, I I get why they would do that but I'm like if I want a hamburger is the thing I'm gonna go get one now for people with that are that are eating vegan for for ethical reasons I understand it but that's kind of where it loses me is that where you're at Moj? Yeah I'm I don't know I'm just to me, give me some meat.

It's that simple. Like, man survives on me. Like, you know, that's some, that's just me. Hey, I've got a little healthy, healthy food tip for you. Yeah, buddy. So just in time. Here's a little healthy food tip for you. Like a lot of times people like, you know, talk

about having tacos and you want to have the tacos on lettuce instead of tortillas, like a healthier know, talk about having tacos and you want to have the tacos on lettuce instead of tortillas, like a healthier option, right? Sure. So I tried that a few times and I was like, no, that's not holding until last night. I finally figured it out. Bacon.

Ro- Wrap it up in bacon. No, get romaine lettuce. It's firmer. It's a firmer lettuce. Thank you. You get romaine lettuce. Lettuce tacos are so good. And I had them you you get romaine lettuce lettuce tacos are

so good and I had them last night on romaine lettuce awesome you can make them like little boats yeah yeah and then you make a little sound when you eat them moj gets it see moj gets it good lettuce here on the Haliford and Brough show on sportsnet 650 okay buddy thanks for doing this we appreciate it as always enjoy the weekend we'll do this again next Friday have a great weekend buddy you too thanks that's Bob the Moj Marjanovic here on the Haliford and Brough show on sportsnet 650 healthy food talk with mojo There was a really nice involved lettuce is green. It's got a high water content. There was a really good vegan place on In Mount Pleasant back in the day, and I would always eat their back in my band-aid

I just beat us and days because one of my band-mates was vegan. Was it Budgie's burritos? No, it was right like sort of the heart of Main Street, right where the very famous intersection is. The triangle. Yeah, I'm trying to remember the name of the place. I think it was just like one word, but I'm sorry, probably someone in the inbox will remember the name of it. It's not there anymore, but it was open for a number of years and it was awesome. And I'm not really into vegan food so much

But every time I would eat there and I ate there a bunch of times the meals were incredible Well, but these burritos they do this budgie's burritos, which is also right there. Yeah, it was in the same area Yeah, it was burritos though So yeah, bro overrated. So it did I understand what you're not this again. No, no He's got he's kind of got a point. No, don't encourage him. Back in the day, if you were looking for bang for your buck in value, the burrito was the industry leader. It was the size of your head. So was all you can eat sushi

and haven't been there for 25 years. No, all you can eat sushi I don't think ever was. I don't think you could ever fully get your bang for your buck because you'd fill up too fast. And they would ask you to leave. They're like, sir, please leave. Like Homer at the Fry and Dutchman. Okay, we gotta go to break.

We got a lot more to get to on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Final hour of the show. Rick Dollywall is gonna join the program for all the latest Kanax News. Foundation. That's what it was. It's called Foundation. Yeah, Corey just texted in. Foundation was awesome. and it's no longer

All right, I don't believe it's no okay anymore We will talk to Rick Dolly wall coming up next at 830 We're gonna give away a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway That's all coming up in the final hour of the Halferd and Bref show on sportsnet 650 I don't know. I'm just to me. Give me some meat