Halford & Brough in the Morning - The NHL Might Be Going Back To 84 Games

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the latest baseball news with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (1:28), the boys discuss the rumoured details of the new CBA (18:30), plus they tell us what they learned (29:00). 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.

It's time to chat with Adnan It's Adnan Ferkey's on the show We're gonna talk some baseball And take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Rednan. Yes, Sadnan Ferg he joins us now we'll head out to the ballgame and talk about all the filthy scene. 702 on a Thursday happy Thursday everybody Halford Brough sportsnet 650 Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates BC's on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford, Bruv, Sportsnet 650.

Halford and Bruv of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for dad help with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. Adnan Burke from MLB Network is gonna join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk

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 dot mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear, and orthotics working together with you in step. Let's go to the phone lines. Now the power West industries hotline ad network from MLB network joins us here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Adnan, how are you? Mike, Jason, a pleasure with you guys as always.

A problem you don't have to face being in the wonderful city of Vancouver, the stifling humidity which has engulfed so many of us here in the United States. We're talking plus 36, plus 37 the last few days. Thank God. Heatwave almost over. I can go play some tennis today. How are we doing? What is your, uh, what is your, like, do you

have any tips for people about how to stay cool in the hot weather? Well, it gets funny, bro, cause I can't be endorsed for too long, which is not surprised either of you, I'm kind of an antsy guy. I mean, there's only so much of crank crank up the air conditioning, watch a movie, read a book, we're going to get upset at some point.

So, uh, my son, I went to the back a book. I got to get upset at some point. So, uh, my son, I went to the back to the football baseball yesterday and I, it's 20 minutes, you know, when your back is soaked, that's a disgusting situation, like I can think of things. Jarrod, this is awful. So no tips to be honest with you. I go outside for a little bit, but don't go outside for too long. Cause you're, you're a sweaty mess.

The only good thing about, sorry, the only good thing about that weather is when you go play golf and you take one swing and you're like, okay, I'm warmed up. My body's all ready to go now. Like I bet when you were throwing with your son, it was just like, there was no stiffness or anything, you were just ready to go. That's true.

We were limber immediately. I hear people of a certain age who will say that. They'll go, oh God, I love the heat cause Cause you don't stretch. I'm like, yeah. But then it's like, you know, uh, 42 degrees, a little much, but yeah, it is true. No stretching necessary. Hey, speaking of old dudes throwing baseballs, Max Scherzer yesterday for the Toronto blue Jays making his first start since March 29th. I will say a surefire Hall of Famer right max is Coming back into the lineup June 26 finally even the Jays a five-man rotation John Schneider talked about it

What's a realistic expectation here because you know sure there's got health issues He's gonna be 41 next month But it is kind of intriguing to see Mad Max get back out there for a Jays team that, you know, it's been up and down, but they played some good baseball as of late. Uh, your thoughts on this whole dynamic. I know Scherzer was okay yesterday in a five, four walk off loss to Cleveland, but just him being back out there was intriguing to me anyway. Mike, it'd be like an injury prone player to hockey or what's the expectation?

Just games played. That's it. Just don't get hurt. Just please be an effective contributor. You know, for sure there's a $15 million. And you're telling me prior to last night, he had thrown exactly, if he had debuted March 29th, three innings, two earned two a month.

$15 million almost into July. So at this point it's like, bro, just please do something of consequence, okay? Don't get hurt again, even though you're almost 41 years of age, as you say, the future hall of famers always been an engaging guy. But I look at this contract and it's such an eyesore. I got $16 million. Didn't you know this was going to happen? So at this point, again, inflammation in a thumb for free inflammation,

their employees to go down. But sure as it was out of it. So listen, this is impacting my grip strength. I've had painless stomp while we've got to get this right. So I hope this is indeed getting it right. And last, he said, last night was fine. Five innings, three runs. If you get five innings and three runs, we'll take that every time out for Max Scherzer.

Just eat two innings and throw 83 pitches. One thing I was astonished by fellas, I looked at the numbers last night, the J's rotation ranks 26th in Major League Baseball 461 ELA. The reason why I was aghast is I would have thought this was the strength of the team. I mean you've got Gostin, Bassett, Barrios, they're really good pitchers.

How on earth could you be a top bottom five rotation yet potentially battling for a playoff spot? You're three and a half games out of the division. The answer is those three are good to really good. It just shows how bad the four and five have been. Shurs are a non-factor, Manoah is languishing in the minors, Bowden Francis is sensational a year ago, Awful this year, now placed in the IL.

So to your point, just give me something, and all of a sudden that rotation will be lifted up by the fact it won't just be three guys carrying the mail, so to speak. Let's pivot now from the Jays to the Mariners. Has Calrally entered that Aaron Judge territory at MLB Network of must watch at bats? Yeah, it finally got to the point,

Anthony Refferee, one of our analysts, who is a former catcher, maybe slight biased, but he said this week, he goes, hey, let's get Cal Raleigh in the MVP conversation. Yeah. Okay, he's in the conversation, but Judge is the guy. He goes, no, no, Raleigh's the guy. I was like, wow. I mean, he had with judges. The guy, no, no, no. Raleigh's the guy's like, wow.

I mean, he had a rare homeless night on Tuesday, which ends up being, you know, odd at this point. His last seven games going to last night, guys hit 483 545 on base, 1207 slug. He's just hitting the tower of the ball. Six home runs his last seven games going in 15 RBIs. And where you start to make the case is that look at how valuable he is to the Seattle team, right? As it is, they're not going to make the playoffs. It could be a wild card team, but but well, it really keeps them afloat. He carries that offense.

Whereas without judging, he's about the good hitters, you know, just Chisholm has been great recently. Goldsmiths are former MVP, Bellinger, et cetera. So if you just look at in terms of value to a team, where would the Mariners be? Well, he probably a sub 500 team. Bellinger, et cetera. So if you just look at it in terms of value to a team, where would the Mariners be without Raleigh, probably a sub-500 team? Add to that the historic significance, Mike, on what he's doing.

He's gonna set the record for most home runs by a catcher. Sal Price has a record of 48. Raleigh might obliterate that and get over 50. Out of that, Judge has a record of 62 home runs. Right now, Raleigh's on pace for 65 home runs. Now, do I think it'll cool down at some point? Yeah, but we're seeing now an uptick in home runs. Why? Because the weather's getting warmer. It's been a pretty brutal first couple of months, rain, cold, etc. So maybe he won't slow down. And

defensively, I was stunned by this. I don't think he just want to go a glove last year. I believe he wanted a platinum glove. Like he's unbelievable behind the plate. So he's got a good throwing arm, the pitch player we've talked about before, a buff man I was joking, but still he calls a good game, he blocks the ball well, and he's invaluable to this offense. And here's the big thing too. In the past, he was a 220 hitter who hit your 35 home runs. Now he's hitting 276, 280. Like here, you've increased your batting hours by 60 points.

Imagine a 280 hitter hitting 340. That's been the biggest difference to me. He's actually hitting for average in addition to all these bombs Can we also and maybe for the listeners that don't quite understand the nuances of this Just express how rare this isn't how impressive it is for a catcher be doing this because you know I think everyone understands that there's some you know physical demands Crouching for nine innings behind the play But when you look at the numbers that he's putting up and the way that he's doing it

You have to go all the way back to like Johnny bench in the seventies to get the kind of performance in terms of games played at bats that he's on pace for the amount of homers that he's hitting. I know Perez has the record, but we're going back nearly 50 years to look at a comp. And this is all having to do with the fact that he's playing a position that's so demanding

on a lot of different fronts. No question, man. I mean, listen, I was just joking about going in the back yard when it's hot. Imagine just squatting up and down, God forbid any of my kids become pitchers because it's just, it's such a wear and tear on the knees. And Johnny Bench is the greatest catcher of all time for me. If not, it's Yogi Berra, one, two, one, A, whatever you wanna

say, but bottom line is this, Raleigh already has set the record by more home runs, which was Bench's record before the All-Star break. And he's still got two more able to go outside. But bottom line is this Raleigh already has set the record by more home runs which was Bench's record before the All-Star break. And he's still got two more weeks to go. Like he could get 35-37 months is not another realm of possibility. And that's where I do think the significance helps. Maybe judges hurt by the fact he's in other judging seasons and he's come back down to earth right. A month ago he was 40 with 400. Judges now hitting 360. So Raleigh's spike coincides with judges slide again OPS wise judge still hasn't beat the numbers are still

eye popping for Eric Judge no doubt about it but if you want to say well right field that how's he really impacted a game catcher is impacting every pitch of the game and look at his values this team and what other catchers have done in baseball history you know it's not a global possibility he might end up as the greatest home running hitting catcher of all time. But we still got some time here to match Piazza. Um, but the pace that he's on right now and the extraordinary improvement he has shown this season, it's remarkable.

And then did you hear, uh, Jacob, uh, Wilson's secret to hitting for average? No, I love the fact is back to ballscales are amazing. He doesn't strike, he doesn't walk much. He's hitting 380 I read the other day since like May 28th, give me the secret. Fortnite in an article in ESPN.com, Jeff Passon. Here's the quote from Jacob Wilson. Kids are going to love this one.

Parents are going to hate me. I am a big believer in video games. It's fast decision-making strategy. I think that gets me ready for the game because when you're in the box, you have to process a lot. So there's some days where I'll wake up and I'll play video games and then I'll go to the field and I'll have a good day. Some days I won't play and I don't see the ball well.

I think it really helps me train the decision making that I have to make six or seven hours later at the baseball field. So video games for everyone. And we're going to have guys consistently hitting above 300 again. It'll be like old times. Maybe we'll even, we'll even have those moments

when we're like, could someone approach 400? It just needs more video games. If only the six or seven hours I spent playing RBI baseball in the late 80s, early 90s, and translated to my own stroke at the plate. I love it. And we're down the throes of summer vacation and there's nothing more nauseating to me than the amount of screen time my children want. But specifically when it's just YouTube, because I have no idea. It's just the rabbit hole of YouTube figures. It's just nonsense. I would much idea. It's just the rabbit hole of YouTube videos. It's just nonsense Yeah, I would much rather and now I have more evidence

Thanks to Jacob Wilson play video games because to me like there's a goal here. We're trying to win the game You're trying to solve the really trying to get to the quest I just read a great book about Robin Williams biography of Robin by David Scott the New York Times writer And he said with his second child him and his son Zach was playing video games and they made a deal He goes all right if it's a boy, it's Mario. If it's a girl, it's Zelda. It was a girl. So Zelda, the legend of Zelda, the name of one of his children. So it doesn't matter what age you can be, we can all love good video games. And I've heard it before. I don't think it was Tony Quay,

but somebody else has been once. Hey, hand-eye coordination. It does help these guys. It was working for Jay. I'm in favor. He's a runaway favorite right now for looking at the year. Ton of fun to watch. We're speaking to Adnan Burke from MLB Network here on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Adnan, I got two more for you before we let you go. One MLB trade deadline. We're still a ways away from the July 31st deadline,

but we've already had one major trade. Of course, the Devers trade between the Giants and the Red Sox. I don't anticipate there'll be another one of that magnitude, although who knows? But what are you looking at as we get closer and closer to the MLB trade deadline? Well the biggest one, as I've said to you guys before,

is Sandy Alcantara. I mean that would be amazing to see him get traded. And he's been much better in the month of June, which is a great, great sign. So whatever gets him is gonna get an absolute horse. And just as I mentioned the fact that Jay's rotation could use a boost, they have to start looking right now at starting pitchers. Who's somebody available, even if it's the pirates and a guy like Bailey Fault, to go ahead and make that move. Patrick Corbin,

by the way, was terrible for the Nationals the last couple of years in that contract. And it's been a really good group of the Rangers. So the J's right now better get on it. Cause in terms of the great starting pitcher, it's going to be Alcontra, it'll be a Raphael Devers type, but there's going to be other guys who are going to be on the move. And just to further the point about how starting pitching is so important, how about yesterday? Skeens versus Mizorowski. Mizorowski is now just in his third start with the Brewers has been Skeens-esque. Six foot seven, bean pole of a guy, goes out there and throws 95, 97.

Actually out-dueled Paul Skeens, which is not something you're often used to hearing. And how about this Paul Skeens nugget for you? 25 earned runs in 106 innings, 12 of those runs have come in four innings total. That means he has a one to one five ERA. If you excluded those four innings overall, a two Oh three ERA. So even in today's game with such a focus on bullpen, a great starting picture like that is unbelievable.

Before we let you go, I'm a big look ahead guys. So I'm already looking at the playoffs standings and what might happen in the fall. If the season ended today, Tampa Bay Rays would be in as the first wild card in the American league. Should they go to the playoffs? What is Major League Baseball gonna do about the field that they play at?

Because George Steinrenner Field holds a grand total of 11,026 people. They're going to pack that thing, man. Are they going to have to talk to the fire marshal about like, we're going to have to bend some rules here. Like, what are they going to do? That's a great question, Mike. I haven't heard anybody mention it yet, but you're right. The way they're playing, they're the best team in baseball but you're right the way they're playing they're the best team in baseball since May 18th offense has been unbelievable Junior Kim and Eryandi Diaz Jonathan Arana those three guys specifically have been awesome and then they're pitching Rasmussen and others. They're really really good. So you're right I don't see them not making the pledge at this point. They're only a game back of the Yankees They get one last set the Yankees lost would had a share of first place the first instance is April 14

So I will do some digging and find out, but yeah, like from step 11, like it's 20,000. When we talk next week, we will have some answers on this. I know it's been a good topic of conversation going around the last little bit. So with that, we'll bid you farewell. Adnan. Thanks a lot for doing this. As always, we appreciate it. Enjoy the weekend and all the games. We'll do this again next Thursday. Thanks boys, my pleasure.

Talk soon. Yeah, talk soon. That's Ed Nanverk from MLB Network here on the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. We gotta pivot back to the National Hockey League. Should we go over the CBA stuff? Cause it sounds like this is big and it's happening soon. We can in just a second though.

Okay. It's being reported by multiple outlets that Jamie Ben is going to resign with the Dallas Stars. Huh. Now. Thank you. Because.

That's a little intriguing to me. It's, well, that was largely expected. I think the most interesting stuff is because the Dallas Stars actually are in a bit of a cap crunch, that's another team. Um, it's a $1 million base salary with 3 million in potential bonuses. That's what I was wondering about.

So those bonuses can carry over to the following season. It was a similar, although I'm sure these bonuses are different, but remember when Jonathan Tave signed with Winnipeg, it was a bonus laden contract. And some of those bonuses I think can carry over to the following season. So here's an interesting one, and I know that

they wrote about this in the Dallas Morning News. I want to see Tim Kalashauer wrote about it. I wonder if Jamie Vann will be back as the captain of the team. Yeah. Cause he's been the captain for over a decade, but. I think he will be.

I think he will be. I think he will be. I think if it's a one year deal, it'll be his swan song. Yeah. But if you're talking about changing the trajectory of the team, and you've already removed the head coach,

maybe it's time for a different leadership voice to step forward to get them over the hump? Possibly. I don't know. Possibly. I don't know, it's hard to do. But it also sometimes just creates a problem that wasn't there.

You know what I mean? We had Blake Wheeler on the show and we asked him point blank about when he got the captaincy removed in Winnipeg and he said he actually thought it was one of his best years in terms of a leadership role, having the C removed. Now I think the duties of being a captain in Dallas are a lot different than in Winnipeg,

just because of one of the media obligations. I think it's the big ones. You have to talk all the time. But I know that it's been a question in Dallas because, I mean, let's be honest, the returns from Jamie Ben in terms of production have been diminished year over year. They're getting less and less and his ice time's getting lower and lower.

It's hard sometimes for a guy like that to be the leader when you're not the guy who's leading in terms of goals. Well, listen, Mike. It's an ice time. It's a really tough decision and I trust that Manny Malholtra will make the right call. Why do you have to do that?

I don't want to lose Manny. There were reports that, was it Rick Dallywell who reported that he expected the Dallas Stars to ask permission to chat with Manny Malhoutra? I don't have the report in front of me. But did you, I heard that someone expected the Dallas Stars to reach out and ask for permission to speak with Manny Mahotra.

And yeah, that would be a loss for the Canucks organization. And they would have to pivot yet again to find an AHL coach for the Abbotsford Canucks. It feels like they're always in this situation where they're like, the season starts in a month, we don't have a coach for the team. Uh, so the report was, yes, you are correct from Rick Dollywall yesterday on the Donnie and Dolly They're always in this situation where they're like, the season starts in a month. We don't have a coach for the team.

So the report was, yes, you are correct from Rick Dollywall yesterday on the Donnie and Dolly show. Quote, I had a couple of people reach out this morning. It would not surprise me if the Dallas Stars asked for permission to talk with Manny O'Holtra. We're gonna talk to Ryan Johnson, by the way, the general manager of the Calder Cup winning Abbotsford Canucks this morning at 8.30.

The eight o'clock hour is going to be Canucks intensive. We're going to talk to Thomas Drance at eight and then Ryan Johnson at eight 30. We'll get the Vancouver Canucks side of things. Obviously big news yesterday with the Evander Kane acquisition. And then we'll talk about the American hockey league team. And there's a lot of questions around a lot of guys right now. Archer, sea loves Manny Malhotra. We'll ask both them. And then we'll talk about other key contributors down on the farm,

like Linus Carlson and Archie Baines, who had a tremendous second half of his playoff as well. But there's a lot going on in the National Hockey League right now. Some would say, finally, it's been slow going this entire week and we're already at Thursday, ahead of Friday's draft. And there's been a slow trickle of things coming out,

but I anticipate, or at least I hope, that we'll see more and more deals as the days keep moving along here. Well, we might see a big deal and that is a CBA extension between the NHL and the NHLPA. Frank Saravalli reporting that it could be announced as early as Friday. Tomorrow. Tomorrow ahead of the NHL draft.

Um, and the one detail I think that a lot of people are focusing on is the NHL could be returning to an 84 game schedule. Now they did have that for a couple of years, was it back in the 90s? Yeah. And. The Neutral Zone game. There were two extra games at a Neutral Zone,

what's Neutral Zone? Neutral location. Neutral location. Hamilton baby, Hamilton. Oh maybe they're gonna have Neutral locations again, Hamilton's got a new arena. They have a refurbished one, yeah. Renovated arena.

So I don't know how that's going to play out. I imagine and pray that the NHL is going to do this a bit like the NFL in that they will add games to the regular season and take away games from the preseason. The preseason is just, how many games did the Canucks play last? There was like eight.

So I've got the details. I've got the details, by the way. The preseason will be shortened. Thank God. To an expected four games. Perfect. For a team. What's more, players with 100 plus career games played

can play in a maximum of two preseason games. So that's great. I mean, I would gladly take, I still think the regular season is too long and they play too many games. So that's a great, I mean, I would gladly take, I still think the regular season is too long and they play too many games. I would have loved to have seen them gone the other direction and get closer to 70 for the health of the players,

for if they were able to start the season at the same time and start the playoffs earlier. I mean, I know this is all pie in the sky stuff and they'll never do it, but a 70 game regular season where you, you're going to have the interruption with the Olympics, but you could, you know, move everything so that you're starting the playoffs earlier and not playing hockey into June, I think would be great. I don't think it's going to happen. Sounds like they're going to go to 84 though. Um, it'll be physically taxing.

I do wonder with the increase in regular season games, if we do start to see load management seep a little bit more into the National Hockey League, I hope it doesn't go to the lengths that the NBA went where they had to come in with a set of rules to prevent from aggressive and egregious, resting and guys taking days off. And yet when Halliburton gets hurt in the playoffs,

people are like, this is why we have load management. I mean, take your pick. You go Halliburton, you could go Damian Lillard, you could go either a number of guys. Jason Tatum, there's a number of guys where you look at the severe injuries suffered, all three of them Achilles tears, and ask, is there a correlation

between the amount of games that we're playing? Ask, are these guys too tall? Yeah, are their tendons too tight because of all this playing? Other details, Halford, you're gonna like this one. Apparently, and we've heard this before, player contracts will be limited to a maximum of seven years for players resigning with their current team.

It's currently at eight years. And then a maximum of six years on the free agent market, it is currently seven. Now, both you and I would like to see it all the way down to five years, just in general, but it's progress, baby. I, one day I hope everyone will be playing on a year to year contract. I think it's the way to go. Short term commitments. They work in every facet of life.

Why do you hate the workers? Sorry. Why do you hate the workers? Sorry, I do you hate the workers. This is for the workers yearly contracts. Yeah renewal. Yeah Oh, I don't want to work for you. Why not? I want the 10-year contract, baby Why do you why do you want that? Why why don't you want the opportunity to move around see new places? I want security. I have two kids Some people want security I have two kids. I don't want to move around anywhere. Some people want security Which you can get you can disagree in pocket to I'm gonna sign the post office I'm gonna say you can say to it. Oh, that's not security these days. Yeah. Yeah

I would say that With the amount of money that the majority of these players are making the opportunity to move around and see different places and move your stuff It'd be great. Moving sucks. Yeah, I don't know where you're getting this from. Why do you wanna move your stuff? You're crazy. Just get into five years. People love moving their stuff.

People love moving around. You rent a storage locker in one town, right? And you can be like a drifter. You just go from town place to place. Like Jack Reacher. Yeah, and you just, and then when you're done with the place, you just leave it behind. You just drop the keys.

Grab your Bindle and. Jack Reacher has a toothbrush. That's it. That's all you need. Right? And it just gets new clothes in every town. I don't know what the, all joking aside, I don't know what the happy medium is.

NBA is at four, which even I. I thought it was five. Yeah, that's if you re-sign with the team, I think. I gotta double check on that one. You're just making stuff up. No, I think it is. But they've got, the NBA by the way, because I dug into what the Boston Celtics are doing currently.

Yeah. That is a convoluted salary cap. They got to get below the second apron. I don't know what the aprons are. Like, why are you going under aprons? I don't get it. I don't know what's happening. It's very confusing with lecture tax,

thresholds and everything else. Speaking of aprons, one other detail that's kind of fun to report according to Frank Saravalli, teams will no longer be able to mandate player dress code for arriving, departing games. I mean, you'd love that. You'd show up in your green sweatpants every day. Every day.

Or your tracksuit. Okay, hold on. Was there a mandated NHL dress code? They were allowed to mandate it. Right. Some teams chose to, some teams did. Yeah. And now they're just removing that clause altogether.

Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. That's fine. I mean, at this point it's like. They just needed to get Lou Lamarello out to pass this thing. Most of the dress code rules were just like, you gotta have a tie in there somewhere. No one wore ties though.

No, yeah, some teams took that out. Yeah. I have, I mean, again, this is all very, very first world. I want one. But you hear these guys complaining when they go on road trips and everything. They're like, they're just wearing a suit only because they have to.

And it's like for the walk from the rink to the bus and then the bus to the airport, right? I mean, let's be real now. The dress code and the suits, it's like, it's more right? I mean, let's be real now the the dress code in the suits It's like it's more applicable for the 10 year old kids of the brick tournament like they're they're the ones that are doing it It's not applicable really anywhere anymore at the brick tournament Talking about just like the suits people don't wear. No, I don't know. I know You know once they started wearing running shoes with their suits. It was over

They better start having the most elaborate get ups. I want to see some crazy I want okay, I want at least one player to be known as showing up like a college kid Yeah, total slob pajamas. Yeah hair everywhere is like Rules are rules and there are no rules here. What would have enter Keynes gonna wear this first connect Every single game. It's gonna be a new adventure. Evander Cain aside, I think Patrick Elvin doesn't care. Doesn't care what people wear or what kind of car they drive. As long as they produce.

Seemed like a shot at me. There's a... He listens. Yeah, he just listened to the podcast. There is a very clear, again as we're drawing straight lines between things all morning, between the relaxation of the dress code and I know that the NHLPA has really tried to grow

the individual players brand building and business side of things. I think this is a nod to go use the walk in as a fashion runway and like work with whatever brands. It's a chance to go viral too, right? PD's gonna come to the league. That's exactly what it's for. PD's gonna come to the first game wearing the goldfish shoes.

That'd be awesome. Show some confidence. Okay, we gotta go to break. PD, I don't think those fish are alive anymore, but... I'm kind of wobbling on them a little bit. What we learned is coming up on the other side, get them into the Dunbar Lumbertex Alliance 650-650. You're listening to the Alfred and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions.

It's the biggest rivalry party of the year. Lions, ref riders, Saturday, July 19th at 4pm with the watermelon smash on Terry Fox Plaza. Get your tickets to bclions.com. Hey, it's Mick Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets. Weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. Now for my favorite part of the show. What does that say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time.

It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show. on the show. 7.35 on a Thursday. Don't freak out. We're just doing it early. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning 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 Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour two of the program, don't worry it's hour two, hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk

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. You missed the post. It's too hard to do with the new reads. In case you're wondering what the hell

is going on right now, it is 7.35 in the morning, but we are doing what we learned now. For those of you freaking out, thinking you're an hour late for work, you're not. Chill out. Gotcha. Have a coffee. We're going to work early, you know?

Don't do that. Get ahead of things. They're not paying you for that. Show some gumption for once in your life. Stay at home, eat a crumpet. Mm-hmm. It is 7.36 now. We're going to do our What We Learns because

at 8.30 this morning, the general manager of the Calder Cup winning Abbotsford Connects, Ryan Johnson, is going to join the program. So we thought, you know, why not? Let's throw a curve ball on Thursday. Let's do some What We Learns at 7.30. Jason, are you going to start? Yeah. Okay. So we are you going to start? Yeah.

Okay. So we already talked about the Dallas Stars and Jamie Ben reportedly having agreed on a one year bonus laden extension. According to Darren Drager, it also sounds like the Stars are finalizing their head coaching decision. According to Draggs, no Manny Mulholtra.

Glenn Gullitzen and Neil Graham, Neil Graham is their AHL head coach, are believed to be favored. Forgot about Glenn Gullitzen there for a minute. Was he on their bench? Was he an assistant there? Yep. Yeah. Good hair.

Gully was here. I like Gully. I like him. He's a nice guy. He's been around. He's a? Yep. Yeah. Good hair. Gully was here. I like Gully. I like him. He's a nice guy. He's a nice guy. Power play specialist. He's paid his dues.

He's a detail arms coach for sure. I'm gonna say it. If it's Gullitzen, it's a little underwhelming. What about Neil Graham? I mean, at least that's someone new. Gullitzen is a firmly part of the recycling program. As a matter of fact, he used to be the head coach of the Dallas Stars. He's still not barely 50.

I know. I know. He's been a head coach two different places. He missed the playoffs three out of the four years that he was a head coach. He's been around like I get it. You know, he's he knows where the bathroom key is in Dallas. So all that stuff. But the recycling program is one thing. When you've recycled a head coach, you've already had.

That's another one. I know some teams have done it. And again, it's not finalized yet as mentioned. Derek Graham could get the job as well. But yeah, that's it. Dallas is just trying to get everything done here, right? Yeah. They've re-upped with Matthew Shane.

64, 57 and nine was his record with Dallas previously. So not sparkling numbers in his first tour. And he missed the playoffs in both years. Yeah, okay. Okay, give us a moocall on that. Ah! I guess I should mention to everybody, as of what we learned,

that the Vancouver white caps suffered another pretty brutal defeat last night. Five three, a high scoring affair on the turf. No more grass at BC place to expansion outfit. And now first place in the West San Diego FC, San Diego, with that five three win in Vancouver yesterday, jumped over the white caps for first place in the conference, a spot that the Whitecaps have held

pretty much all season long. The Whitecaps biggest problem yesterday was Milan Aloski, who scored four goals, four goals for San Diego FC. Half-trick in the first half. That third goal was really nice, the header. A few of the goals he scored yesterday were really nice, but the header was a rocket. Yeah.

That was pretty good. And nice, as they say, nice service. Good service. Good service. Class finish. Good ball. Yep. That was a good ball.

It does work. Great ball. It was a shockingly inept defensive performance for a Vancouver team that has been incredibly staunch in defense this year. I did not know this until reading the postgame notes yesterday, prior to yesterday, where the Whitecaps were picked apart.

They had conceded a league low 152 shots on goal. And yesterday they had both a defender and their goalkeeper named to the MLS All-Star team. Yohei Takayoka and Tristan Blackman got named, along with Sebastian Baerhalter and Brian White. Four white caps named to the MLS All-Star team, the most among any MLS teams, and then the white caps celebrated

by allowing five goals at home in a loss. Little worried right now. Little worried about the caps. Okay, well, park that worry because this is a week to be worried about the Canucks, okay? Just park the worry for later in the summer. It was my what we learned, okay? I know, I know. I don't like how dismissive this is a week to be worried about the Canucks. Okay. That's just, just, just park the worry for later in the summer. It was my, what we learned. Okay.

I know. I don't like how dismissive this is going, but alas, we shall moocow. Yep. They lost, they lost San Diego last night. There's the cow's not dismissive. Is it? It feels a little dismissive today.

No one is engaging Alfred in his MLS talk. Let's just move along. Bigger fish to fry. Let's just move along. Maybe the Dallas stars will name a head coach. Adol, you have a surprise one? Well, it was big news in the movie world yesterday. Let's go.

Got me kind of excited. Denis Villeneuve. Stop saying let's go. Denis Villeneuve. Denis Villeneuve, Canada's own, great director. He did the Dune movies. He's doing The Next Dune, Sicario, Blade Runner 2049. He's a fantastic director, one of the best working today.

He's been tapped to direct. Canadian. Canadian. He's Canadian, that's what I said. You mentioned that. Yeah, he's from Quebec. Canada's own. I'm just adding more emphasis to it.

We put it all together after the Quebec part. He's been tapped to direct the next James Bond movie. Yeah. And I'm not even a huge Bond guy. You're not? No, of the spy thrillers, the Bourne trilogy is by far my favorite By far over James Bond yes, and then I was slot mission impossible is number two I love that series but Bond has always been a bit goofy for me like I like some of them

I love casino royale. It's here right now. You know riles one of my favorite just movies period So I love some of the bonds I've really enjoyed, but it's never been one of my favorite so they did get goofy That's the thing ladies with I like the Bourne movies but it's never been one of my favorite series. Oh, they did get goofy in the 80s with the- I like the Bourne movies because it's like a real take on the- Okay. So, Bond has always been a bit silly. However, based on the director, it changes. You know, Royale was super real.

Sam Mendes did a great job with Skyfall. So I mean, you can do it really well. Who's the new Bond? Who's the new Bond? Who is it? I believe it's been announced yet. I was looking and hasn't been announced my pick is Timothy Chalamet Okay, I mean that would be a choice. You know whose name I've heard not rumored, but thrown out there is Jared Kiso Really with the Canadian director come on like really that would be perfect. You hear that on the side

It's not actually happening. I'm just saying it would be a good fit. Oh, okay. Can you not see him being bond? No, not Bond? Come on. I could not see Shorzy. Oh God. What about Idris Elba? He was the one that was, I think he's a little old though. Was denied anything. Ten years ago he was linked to it. Didn't someone say something like he's a little urban. I'm serious. Someone said something very controversial. I'm sure someone said lots of things. Yikes. I'm sure it was out there, but I mean. Yikes. Yeah, I don't know who the next Bond will be.

I mean, there was a rumor at one point they were going to have a female Bond. So I don't know. I have no idea what they're going to do or who the next Bond will be. I love Daniel Craig in the role. Brosnan's probably my, well, Sean Connery is probably my favorite But Brosnan is the bond I grew up watching so he's the first guy I think of when I think of bond, but I did love Daniel Craig in the role So I don't know it'll be a big shoes. I know yeah the

007 author says Idris Elba is to Street God Double seven author like Like a family member I Believe I read the same story that you read not yours that you read and The best part of the entire story is when they were talking about How there was speculation about the future of the Bond franchise because the previous producers had stepped down and one of the producers name was Barbara broccoli All yeah, they did all 28 bought 27 28 bond movies. Yeah, and then now it's owned by Amazon So, I mean, we'll see what happens the bond universe is about to expand

All I can think of is how big broccoli was running this entire thing. Yeah, big was in charge of bond You know, she was dating Kevin lasagna Make a nice healthy meal together That is a healthy meal. Well lasagna not so much but the broccoli part. Yes. Okay. Good job. I was entertaining Luke how it Like this text Jason Bourne should be James Bond. Okay, Jason Bourne Text Jason Bourne should be James Bond. Okay, Jason born Fictional character in the role of a fictional now to Matt Damon as bond would be hilarious. Yeah, okay I think we're good on our what we learns right? You don't have anything No, laddie. No nothing. Nothing on the broccoli front. I

Can't add to that fire up the dot matrix the broccoli front. I can't add to that. Fire up the dot matrix. Humanoid submissions from what we learned brought to you by AJ's Pizza, Honey's Broadway. Nary a piece of broccoli to be found. AJ's original signature pies are a must try. Like the Detroit, an inch thick crust, crispy cheese topped with Parmesan and basil. Order online at AJ's. That pizza. You can put broccoli on pizza.

Broccolini, a little charred broccolini. Yeah. I mean, no one does it. You can try it. You can try it. Anything works on pizza, really. That's true. You guys done?

No. Sorry. OK. Unsigned what we learned. Not only was the Evander Cain trade a little jarring for Canucks fans, but it totally derailed Bruff's Duncan Keith tribute show yesterday.

Sorry for your loss. Yeah. You had already gone, you had already exercised the Duncan Keith narrative. That's true. You were pretty much done at that point. But I will say this, it caught us off guard. That was all pure unbridled response and emotion

and whatever enthusiasm we had yesterday, it was all genuine because we did not see that coming. Rocket and Langley, what I learned was we asked for more toughness and we got it and nobody likes it. See, I find these types of arguments disingenuous because with any decision, you weigh the pros and cons. Yes. You don't just be like, you wanted more toughness,

then you go get it and then you have the gall to complain about it. I'm like, yeah, because there's other factors at play. You know in front of the courthouse how they have the scale of justice? Scales. There's a reason they have that because you weigh it, you weigh this side against the other side. No, I know. But Rocket and Langley does have a point.

If we're going to go to the beggars can't be choosers side of the argument here. Well, that's the other Canucks slogan for the year. Yeah. The Vancouver Canucks, beggars can't be choosers. This is the best we can do. It's so crazy, it might just work. Beggars can't be choosers. All of the best we can do. It's so crazy, it might just work. Beggars can't be choosers.

All of the ballers. That's what we said yesterday. Like if you remove all the off-eye stuff and you just take the player, I mean, yeah, it might be a good move, but you can't separate those things. Were you guys upset? Doesn't work like that. Were you guys upset that the Canucks essentially gave the Oilers the salary cap relief that they were looking for.

Someone was going to do it. If you talk to Dolly Wall, he said there was multiple teams involved. But they might've said, well, we're going to get a better sweetener or we're going to ask you to retain. I saw Reach put this out there and then say later, I mean, and I don't want to disagree with the guy that can't stand up for his own point here, but I

like vehemently disagree with that take that it's like they should have been paying to get Kane off the books. There was teams that wanted Kane. It was pretty obvious. The it sounded like the Oilers did Kane a bit of a favor because he wanted to go to Vancouver. And I suppose and numerous people pointed this out that in a market where there's not a ton of guys clamoring to go to Vancouver, finding one that does is a bit of a rarity, so I acknowledge that, but I don't, put it this way,

I don't think that there was going to be a scenario where Edmonton was paying any team to take Kane off of its hands. Loud Titans fan, I'm not gonna read all of this what we learned, but. It's loud. What we learned, teams used to get a first round pick to take on a $5 million cap dump,

we gave our rivals a fourth. I also think you have to acknowledge that it's a different situation now. You're, I mean, so a lot of people were bringing up. There's way more cap space at play now. Teams aren't as desperate. I know people don't get it though.

To dump the space. People are like this happened in the past, so it's got to happen again. It doesn't always work like that. I know I'm a big proponent of like, look at past history. A lot of people were pointing out when the Toronto Maple Leafs dumped Patrick Marlowe's cap hit and they had to pay a pretty big premium for it.

And to that, I say like, hey, it was a different time. More teams were way more cap strapped. You were working under way more finite restrictions when it came to the cap ceiling. And there it was, it was different. It was a different time and it was a different era. And here's the thing. This is a player that can still play, or at least in the imaginations of a lot of general managers that were interested, feel like he can still play.

Uh, that Gary, it's not what we learned, but I'm going to read it anyway. It could be a, what we learned. I'm not too upset at the Kane acquisition. I see more potential upside than issues, but it shows how tough the market is and how desperate the Canucks are in it. And that's disappointing. That's fair.

Patrick Alveen wouldn't push back on that notion of the market being tough. The market is tough. He didn't say the desperate part, but it's inferred. It's just understood. They had to make moves and this was the move that, one of the moves that they decided on, there's probably going to be another move and I don't know, are they going to be able to pull a rabbit out of their hat?

I mean, the one thing I will say is like, it is like, it's like signing a fourth round pick, it's not much. So it's like they signed a Vander Kane to a one-year contract at a cap hit of $5 million. I'm not upset about the player, the hockey player they got for the price they got for the cap hit they got. I'm not. I'm mostly upset at the fact that this is a team that needs to turn around its culture. And I think this just adds to the challenge of that. Oh, I would push back on the first part of that, not being concerned about the player.

I'd be very much concerned about a player that's turning 34 that missed an entire regular season after undergoing three surgeries. I think it's a big ask. When you talk about distressed acid, it was distressed in many ways. There was a reason that Edmonton wanted to get him off the books. It was because the cap hit was too high, but it was also because I think that they knew that there were some diminished returns for what he was giving them and what they needed to allot those cap

dollars to just a big, it's a big ask. It's a big ask. That's the thing. Okay. I got one here from Steve and Burnaby hashtag WWO what we learned. I learned that I need an update and maybe a wellness check of Dwayne in Buffalo. I got his numbering. Call him up. Steve is alluding to the trade yesterday, which saw the Buffalo Sabres finally ship out J.J. Paturka to the Utah Mammoth in exchange for

Michael Kessel Ring. I'm going to have to get that right. Michael Kessel Ring, the defenseman and the forward Josh Don't. Now, I don't know if Sabres fans should be at all depressed about the return. I think initially the sticker shock was we got that for him. But upon some further digging, and I think it just has a lot to do with the fact that Don and Kesselring were playing for the Zombie Coyotes last year, now in Utah.

So a lot of people weren't familiar with their games. Don will top out to be a third line forward, whatever. Son of Shane Don, by the way, for those that don't know. I think the real value here is in Kesselring, who's 25, six foot five defenseman. When they had injuries on the blue line in Utah last year, he got thrust into an elevator roll and thrived bigger picture. Now here's something interesting. This is the Buffalo defense. The handedness. I'm not going to go through it,

but Rasmus Dallin, Owen Power, Matias Samuelson, Connor Clifton, Michael Kesselring, Jacob Bryson, Jacob Bernard, Docker, and the Vancouver kid, Bowen Byram. That's eight defensemen, six currently under contract because Bernard Dockert and Bowen Byram are RFAs. That is a very crowded blue line in Buffalo now, having added Kesselring.

Byram's gone. You gotta think. He's gone, for sure. I wonder if there might be another move on the horizon. I know that Samuelson has been a massive disappointment since they signed with that wild deal, which goes through 2030. Do you think at this draft,

there's gonna be so many teams that are just gonna shuffle the deck? Because they can't really make a major move, major headway. They might just say, you know what, we're just gonna shuffle it up, see if this mix is better, and we might see a lot of movement, hopefully. I mean, it'd be great if we had just a flurry of hockey trades, which is like, let're just gonna shuffle it up, see if this mix is better, and we might see a lot of movement, hopefully.

I mean, it'd be great if we had just a flurry of hockey trades, which is like, let's just see what this looks like. It'd be nice. Right, the old change for changes sake. I'm a big proponent of it. Rutherford likes that. Yeah, I think Buffalo's still one to watch for sure,

because I think they're gonna have to move something out on defense. Justin, with what we learned, Hamilton's renovated arena will be named TD Coliseum, but it will always be Cop's Coliseum. Yeah. So it sounds like they're going to get an AHL team too.

Yeah. It's been in the works for a long time. I've been involved in so many Hamilton hockey, you know, hopeful stories over the years. It's hard to get excited when they make announcements like that, but the rink looks really nice. I saw some pictures of the renovation and. You got Brad Paisley playing there?

Yeah. Well, the OHL team was kicked out and went to Brantford and now there's just an empty space there with this nice rink sitting there. And it sounds like, yeah, I don't know if there's rumors the Marlies were going to move. Yeah. That would be slam dunk.

I think that was rebuffed, those rumors. Okay, if they can get the Leafs farm team in there somehow, it would be easy sell for the Hamiltonians. Calling into awesome what we learned, Lionel Messi's salary once again tops MLS this year and is greater than the entire payroll of 21 teams. Yeah, the salaries came out yesterday. What is his salary?

$700 billion, I don't know. Cause he's got all those other, he's got a chunk of the Adidas money and a chunk of the Apple DV. Oh right, yeah, yeah. It's funny because the white caps have so many, my buddies and I on our MLS chat, yes I have and belong to an MLS chat.

Yeah, it's cute. The value that the white caps are getting on some of their contracts right now is incredible, incredible. Bearhalter's contract is, I think, under 400 grand annually, and he's an MLS All-Star. Ali Ahmed, who is a Canadian national team member and a regular starter for them. And now hurt. Yeah, and now hurt for six to eight weeks.

By the way, the injuries are killing the Whitecaps right now, just absolutely decim for them. And now hurt. Yeah. And now hurt for six to eight weeks, by the way, though, the injuries are killing the white caps right now, just absolutely decimating them. The white caps have great value contracts. It's a big reason why there were prior to last night, first place in the Western Conference in MLS. Okay. Thomas Trance is going to join us on the other side. And then, Ryan Johnson, the general manager of the, wait for this, Calder Cup champion

Abbotsford Canucks is going to join us at 8.30, the second half of the third hour of the Hal Fren and Bruff show, which is why we just did what we learned. Now, you are listening to the Hal Fren and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the Vancouver Giants. It's never too early to get your Vancouver Giants season's tickets. Tickets start at under $19 at vancouvergiants.com forward slash seasons tickets.