Halford & Brough in the Morning - This Is A High Stakes Season For The Canucks

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with Seattle Kraken analyst Eddie Olczyk (1:30) about what to expect from the club this year, the boys discuss how high the stakes are for the Canucks this season, plus they chat with BC Lions Vice President of Football Operations Neil McEvoy (25:31) about what's next for the club ahead of Sunday's matchup at Ottawa. 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.

7.0.7.02 on a Tuesday on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. B.C.'s first and trusted choice for that help with over 3,000 5-star reviews. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. Adog working furiously to get Eddie Olchick on the line.

Former NHL are now a Seattle Crack and TV analyst. He'll be joining us, hopefully, in just a moment here to kick off Hour 2. Hour 2 of this program is brought to by Jason Hominock at Jason. 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 Dow Mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in step.

Let's go now to the Power West Industries hotline. Our next guest, as mentioned, former NHLer, now a TV analyst with Seattle Crack and the Canucks are going to be seeing and have already seen a lot of the crack in this year. Eddie Olchuk joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Eddie. How are you? Well, Mike Jason, nice to be with you guys. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on and taking the time. We appreciate it.

So it was a busy off-season for the Seattle Cracking, and it started predominantly behind the bench with the new head coach, Lane Lambert coming aboard, one of the first big hires from the new general manager, Jason Botterl. What do you know about Lambert and his work prior to taking this gig? And what are you expecting from him going into his inaugural season behind the Cracken bench? Well, you're right. A lot of changes, both off the ice and on the ice after obviously a disappointing season last year. I mean, I felt that the team assembled by then general manager Ron Francis was good enough to make a run and be a playoff team. And under Dan Bilesman, his staff, they just weren't able to get traction. And obviously, when that happened, you know, changes happen and, you know, people get moved up and moved out and that's just the nature of professional sports and having played as long as I did and coached in Pittsburgh

when I did. I mean, that's just the realm of everything. As far as Lane Lambert, I mean, he's obviously, I mean, he was attached to Barry Trots for a very, very long time and Trotsy is as successful and has the longevity and now, you know, the general manager in Nashville. So he had somebody that he was able to work with and take now to his second job as a head coach because obviously the first one in the island. But, you know, I think this is an unbelievable opportunity to come to a team that has a lot of pressure on them and expectations. And, you know, I think they want to play and you see. the moves that have been made, I mean, maybe a little bit different mindset and style,

but it still comes up to the players, it's up to the players to go out there and execute and play a certain way. So I think it's going to be an exciting opportunity for Lane. And, you know, obviously look at it. I mean, this is, you know, this is a big opportunity for him to get that, you know, get that strangled hold behind the bench as a head boss, right? I mean, the Islander gig didn't go well, and now, you know, this one here will, you know, I think this one will certainly determine, you know, the length that he stays a head coach in a national hockey league. So it'll be, it'll be interesting to see. But I think with all the changes, both on and off the ice, there comes great expectations like there were last year.

And obviously some players and the staff obviously underachieved. and that's what happens in a national hockey league. So, Eddie, one of our running jokes on this show is that relative to the Vancouver Canucks who are kind of like, there's a lot of drama in Vancouver constantly every year, but relative to the Canucks and they're just a couple hours down the road, the Cracken are kind of boring. Like, they're just not, like, you know, for an expansion team, obviously it was always going to be tough to match what Vegas did.

and those expectations, even if they were unfair, I think a lot of people did make them. So tell us, what is the most exciting thing about the Seattle Cracken heading into this season? Well, let's not forget. I mean, two years ago, they came within one goal of going to the conference finals. You know, Dallas took them out in the playoffs

in a game seven. So, you know, that year, their second year in existence, if I'm doing my math correctly because when you get old like me, you can't remember yesterday, let alone what the hell happened, you know, two years ago. But, you know, that year, after, you know, obviously the first year, and you're right, let's just call it what it was. I mean, no, I mean, never is a long time, but I will be, I will not be afraid to say never in lowercase letters that you're going to have an expansion

team come into any professional sport and do what the VGK did, what is it now, eight years ago, whatever the number is. And the expectations were, yeah, that, you know, Seattle was going to do the same thing and management throughout the National Hockey League was going to be careless like they were the first time around any expansion draft and just give, you know, give a Vegas, you know, a certain amount of players and all those types of things. So the league learned, managers learned, management learned. So there was no way they were going to do it.

And there was a lot of expectations. And I think, you know, you get it. You understand the comparison, but it wasn't going to happen. They happened to do it in the second year where you had the majority of the team have career years. I mean, you had third and fourth line guys getting, you know, 20 plus goals. So they did it by committee under head coach Dave Haxall. And like I said, Philip Grubauer beat the Colorado Avalanche in round one of the playoffs that year. And Oliver Bjorkstrand, who's no longer in Seattle, I mean, you know, he had a big two-goal game and a game seven against Colorado and got him into the second round.

So let me just get that out there. And obviously, you know, the last couple of years have been, you know, disappointments. There's no doubt about it. As far as the excitement level, I think that you do have some. players on this roster that I think that have the ability to go to another level. I think Vince Dunn still has another level to go on the back end. I think that he has the ability to be a star-type defenseman when it comes to the offensive part, the defensive part, and also, too, he's got the physical part of his game

where, you know, like, he could be the complete package on the back end. So when you have a defenseman like that, and obviously, Canuck fans know, you know, you got a pretty damn good defenseman on the back end there and Quentin Hughes. But, like, you need a star on the back end. And I think they have one. And I think for Vince Dunn, it's getting consistent. Up front, I mean, Maddie Baneers had an incredible start to his career.

In the last couple of years, it's been a battlefield. form. I mean, it's, it's, it's been a battle. So I think getting him to a level where he can be that, that two way player to be able to generate offense and then also to be that guy out there at the end of the game to be that, um, shut down guy if you need it to play in all situations. I was a little surprised. I'll be honest with you. I was very surprised that he was not used more in a penalty-killing role the last year when he was struggling offensively. I mean, he was struggling, I mean, a lot of guys struggled offensively, but since we're talking about Maddie Baneers, you know, he was struggling offensively and just kept getting

power play time after power play time after power play time. Well, at some point, you've got to take the power play time away and go, you're going to help us here. You're going to kill penalties. He killed penalties when he was in college. and, you know, he's a super smart, intelligent player, and he really only got sniffs at killing penalties when, you know, there was somebody in a penalty box.

It was a penalty killer or, you know, just, you know, in obscure time. So I think the more he plays, like I think he's a guy that needs to play more. And if he does that, I think he can be that type of player that came onto this scene his rookie year and do, you know, what he did. So for me, you know, I look at those two guys and go, you know, they've got the ability to go to another level. And if they're able to get that from those two guys who are really keys to their team,

then all of a sudden you get some excitement level and, you know, and everybody around them starts believing and you find a way to, you know, you find a way to win more hockey games. We're speaking to Seattle Cracken TV analyst, Eddie Olick, here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. So you mentioned the last year was a disappointment, Eddie, and there's no other way to put it because they went from 81 points two years

ago to 76 last year despite the fact that they went out and added Montour and Stevenson and free agency and it felt like they were going in one direction it kind of went another direction. This year, going into this year with Lane Lamber behind the bench, is there one particular area where they really need to improve

to get back to above in beyond 81 points or are there a lot of different power play? Their power play killed them last year. Their power play costs them 10. the 15 points. I mean, let's just call it what it was. Your power play can be an igniter.

It can win you hockey games, but it can also set you back. And I think, you know, I think teams with good power. And I'm saying, I'm not saying top two, top three. I'm not, you know, I'm not talking about Edmonton, okay?

I'm not talking about the Oilers. I'm talking about, you know, 10 top 10 top 12 if you can have a top 10 or 12 power play I think it's worth at least 15 points in a national hockey league so you do the math look at they were they were they were near the bottom of the national hockey league last year and again like I said excuse me for being 59 years of age and I can't remember a lot but I think going into the last game of the regular season last year they were 31st and I think they ended the year with three power play goals in the last game and I think they moved up two or three spots if I'm not mistaken. So that to me first and

foremost has to get corrected. And it's a combination. It's coaching. But at the end of the day, and having been a power play guy pretty much the majority of my career, the coach can show you all the video and all the analytical numbers and all the stuff. But at the end of the day, the players have to take what is given on the ice. And that goes for every power play in a national hockey league. I mean, you know, you have your set breakouts, you have your plays you're going to run. But what I saw a lot last year, and not only in Seattle, because I also do games nationally in the States on TNT,

is you keep going from the half wall to the middle of the ice, and you rotate up, and you try to get off the flank, and you look for the bumper, and, you know, you look for a show, pass in the slot and try to hit Brock Buster when he's not there. At some point, you got to go to another look. And that's what these guys are making, six, seven, ten, twelve, $15 million a year is when you're on the power play, okay, yeah, we know what the coach said,

but you're not a robot. You've got to take what is given. And if they're taken away the shot pass in the slot, well, why keep going to it? If it's not working, go down to the, that go down to the goal line, you know, whatever other plays that you have. And I thought in Seattle in particular, because we are talking about them, is that it just, it just became so predictable. You know, one of their best power play guys is Jared McCann, who can shoot the puck. I'm

telling you, as well as any guy on the power play that there is in a national hockey league. I mean, he can really get it. But for some reason, he wasn't in a shooting position the majority of last season. And like, and when I'm doing, you know, look at, I get paid to have an opinion, uh, whether it's nationally or locally. And like they, they, they miss an opportunity pretty much all season in how Jared McCann was used on the power play because he can be a threat. Now, if they're taking them away from where they want or he wants to be or where the team wants them to be, well, then it's up to the staff. to put him in a spot where he's going to become a threat.

Now, if you want him to become a decoy, well, then that's a whole other story, and then that means their other players are up, and you better have guys that are able to do that. So long-winded, if the power play does not improve, that's going to be a real issue for this team. And I know it is for a lot of teams in a national hockey league, but, like, in five on five, they got a, they got to really work, you know, they got to really work for their, for their offense.

And if you get opportunities on the power play, and you can get your power play up in that, you know, 20% range, you're going to win games. You're just going to win games. So last year, it was, it was awful. I mean, I said it during the local broadcast, and now it's a new year. you got new you know you got new voices you got some new play and we lost him he was just about wrapping it up anyway call him back let him know thank you very much jettie old chick seattle cracking tv analyst here on the health i love when we get the old school sound it happens sometimes here it's not supposed to come through so i don't know what he has to do to get

to that but it did uh so that was that was interesting because we had some people text we had a very polarizing reaction to what Eddie was talking about because as a Seattle Crack and TV analyst and, you know, a guy that covers the team and is a home broadcaster, he was talking up the likes of Vince Dunn. And some people were talking back and like, that's not a star level player. Like, what's he talking about? And then Eddie turned around and said that the power play was so awful last year that he was calling it horrific on the air last year. And he's like, I'm a home broadcaster and I called it like I saw it. And it's interesting because we're at a time here. where a lot of people are on edge about not just the current state of the Vancouver Canucks, but the way that they're being covered.

And I know talking about the media coverage of the team by the media is a bit of naval gazing. And I don't want to go too far down the road, but it's very interesting to see the level of angst on September 16th about the upcoming campaign. And there are, I think rightly so, nerves that are already frayed among the listenership and the fan base. Yeah, they didn't need J.T. Miller

being named Captain of the Rangers this morning. Didn't need it. Didn't need it at all. Didn't need it at all. You want to hear it. Didn't really want to process it. Just wanted to block it out. So I think it speaks to a few things. I think it speaks to

the understood notion whether you want to acknowledge or not. Everyone understands it that this is a pressure pack season. And that there are a few very polarizing individuals on the Vancouver Canucks team

who have a ton at stake this season, a ton. And there's no way around it. You can't sugarcoat it. You can't try and accentuate the positives or accentuate the negatives to skew your narrative. The narrative is the narrative. Hughes and Pedersen,

these are referendum seasons for the both of them because of what it means to the team, what it means for the futures of each player, and what it means to a fan base that goes into this year with super frayed nerves and there's an emotional height to all of this. People want it to really go well.

They don't want the noise of last season. They want everything to go well. And I get that. They want Pedersen to have a bounce back season and to reclaim his past glory. They want Hughes to have a good year and say, okay, I'm going to commit to this long term. So from the optimist standpoint,

there's a lot at stake, and I can understand why you want to try and stay positive. The negatives are cataclysmary, if it goes bad. Like the whole thing could go really bad and you don't want to hear it. I get that. But to ignore it,

it's foolhardy, I would say. Foolhardy, because it's out there. It's real. Very much real. We should rename our show, walking on eggshells. That's right. Every day in this chair.

Not necessarily walking. Sitting on eggshells. Sitting on eggshells, yeah. But it's, it's, and here's a thing. I think if you want to try and look at something that maybe will put everything

in a better perspective, perspective. It's that there's a lot of other NHL teams that are in the exact same boat. The New York Rangers, who just named J.T. Miller Captain, have an absolutely massive season coming up in terms of where their future lies. They had an equally dysfunctional season and they are now putting a lot of eggs in the basket of a very volatile leader who's on the wrong side of 30. There's stakes there. Go to Edmonton. The best player in hockey and their entire franchise, Connor McDavid,

could go into this season unsigned without a contract beyond this year. That's high stakes. That's pressure. That's where nerves are afraid. It happens in a lot of different markets. And I know here

because of the Fish Bowl and because the Canucks are the one and predominant team in town, it gets talked about a lot. There's a lot of different people offering their opinions and it can get overwhelming at times. But this does happen

in countless other markets where two things the team matters and the fans are passionate this is how this is how it goes right I don't think you're going to get

this same level of animosity and angst and fear and worry and concern in Seattle I don't think anyone's I don't think there's shows dedicated but that's part of the problem

in Seattle that's going to be a challenge going forward getting people to care about the team like we care about it in Vancouver Eddie might be more emotionally invested

in the successor failure of their 31st rank power play than a lot of other people in Seattle. A lot of other people might just be like, I'm going to go to the game, I'm going to have a good time. And if not, then we'll watch the Seahawks or watch you dub. People have to understand how many hundreds of millions of dollars in franchise value

this angst and worry is worth to the Vancouver Canucks. And if they lose that, they lose a lot in terms of money. So I'm sure they don't always appreciate the opinions of media people or some of the feedback from the fans about the team. But if they step back and understand the means people care about the team, you know, they might become more comfortable with it because it does mean a lot.

There is only one team in Vancouver that people care this much about. and it's not even close. And if you're a hardcore white cap supporter or hardcore Lions fan and you're offended by that, well, that's on you for not seeing the big picture. For the most part, we are a one-horse sports town. Try as we might to talk about other things.

And it is a horse that sometimes stumbles. But it is a horse that people really care about. You know? Yep. It's an odd horse. sometimes kicks, sometimes falls down, but we really care about it. And I think I think Halford's trying to make the point and I think he's made the point for a number of shows now. Like he's reading the inbox and going, this is a nervous fan base.

This is a this is a fan base that is feeling a lot of feels and almost it's too much. Like, it's over-stimulated. The fan base is over-stimulated. So when you add stuff to the pile, there's like an immediate pushback to even hearing it. Yeah. I think people after the Miller-Peterson Rift, the Miller Exodus,

the Hughes conversation and where it went, and then kicking off this season with a media tour where Hughes is asked about his playing future in Vancouver. That level of uncertainty is, I'll grant the listener. is an all-time high. There's a lot of uncertainty. With uncertainty comes speculation.

And with speculation, given our history, sometimes it can skew towards the doomsday. There is a possibility, and it is a possibility that things could go really badly. That's what to take this season. But things could go well. I know it's hard to believe. Things could go well.

Things really could. Everything could fall into place. Finally. Finally, this could be the year that everything falls into place. Quinn Hughes has started a new commercial with his brother, Jack. What does that mean for the club? We're not focusing on that right now.

We're pivoting. Is that good or is that bad? We're just talking about how the fan base is antsy and doesn't need anything more on its plate. I will tweet this commercial. Have the listeners give me their thoughts. They look like they really enjoy being together. We're not focusing on this. Instead, here I'll tell you what we're going to focus on.

One, training camp begins Thursday in Penticton, South Okinawomen events center, capped off with the blue-white scrimmage over the weekend. Training camp coverage on SportsNet 650 comes courtesy pastime sports and games. For the latest in hockey cards, sports memorabilia, and upcoming in-person autograph sessions, visit pastimesports.ca, where customer service is their top priority. I'll tell you what, we're going to pivot to another local sporting squadron coming up on the other side of the break.

the general manager of your BC Lions. Neil McAvoy is going to join the program. We'll talk to Neil about what happened last Friday against Ottawa. We'll talk to him what's coming up this Friday in Calgary against an eight and four stampeters team. Lions looking to get back to 500 with a win. Lots to get into on the other side. Neil McAvoy is going to join us from the BC Lions next

on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. 732 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody, Halford Brough, SportsNet 650. Halford in the morning is brought to my Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal. reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are in hour two of the program.

We're at the midway point of the show. Hour two is bradged by Jason hominick at Jason.com. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. Don't mortgage. Let's go to the Power West Industries hotline now. Our next guest is the VP of Football Ops for the BC Lions.

Neil McAvoy joins us here now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Neil. How are you? I'm doing well, guys. Morning. Thanks for having me on. It's always a good day to talk football. So there you go. Beautiful 10-tanker day in Vancouver, it looks like. So ready to go. It's always a good day to talk football when you're coming off a win as well. So 3827, over the Red Blacks on Friday at BC Place. Let's get your takeaways from the game, first and foremost, a much-needed victory for your guys to get back to six and seven on the season. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, after the tough loss in Ottawa, I felt our team really had to dig deep. You know, as emotionally draining as it is for the fans, it's emotionally draining for the team as well to lose like that. A game that we had in hand and, you know, unfortunately lost. But, you know, that's full credit to the football team coming back to BC Place and putting on a good offensive performance and a pretty good defensive performance in front of our own crowd

and getting to win. It was a much-needed victory and something that was proud of our guys for doing. What's it been like for you on the football ops side and others that are in the position of trying to find players to solve this problem on defense? Yeah, I mean, it's tough for everyone. I mean, at the end of the day,

we're in this to win football games and entertain fans and, you know, by and large, we've been entertaining the fans. We just haven't been winning as many games as we wanted to. We've had some, you know, games that we should have won, but won in Ottawa. I believe we should have beat Hamilton in Vancouver when we had a 10-point lead to the three-minute warning. But, you know, that's a credit to the offenses, just like our offense.

I mean, we're a potent offense that's really tough to deal with. And these other teams that, you know, at the right time, have been able to play their best. football against our defense. I don't mind our defense. There's a lot of times our defense plays really well. Like when we were in Ottawa, we had six, or I'm not sure how many sacks we had, but we had more sacks than they had, and their quarterback was running for his life all night. And, you know, unfortunately, they were able to put together a drive at the end of the game to win it. And, you know what, our, it's three-down football with the field as big as it is, it's tough to

control these offenses. And like I say, our offense is no different. So, you know, we're just, we're trying to get as many good players as we can to put this team together. But the 12 guys out there, you know, I like the 12 guys that we have out there now. So on the defensive side of the football, big story from the weekend on Friday was Matthew Betts. We've talked about a lot on the show, and the production hasn't been there. It was there in a major way against Ottawa for sacks. So he doubles his total on the year in one single game. And now he's at eight on the season.

is there hope among the organization right now that moving forward it was a slow start for bets and now he's starting to find his groove on the defensive side of things or is there still work to be done in terms of an overall pass rush and attacking the opposing quarterback well i think our defensive line we had a little bit of a strategy trying to keep them more fresh uh if you do the count on players matthew betts was having you know playing almost 90% of the snaps right which you know he's our top defensive player and I you know as a coach and as a manager I want him out there too but you know we felt that maybe giving him less snaps would make him more productive now I'm not saying that's the reason he had the the production he had the last game I think that was a

combination of the other defensive ends Levi Bell coming in and really putting a lot of pressure on their tackles which gave you're you know if you have two dominant pass rushes you can't just tee off on one. And that's, I believe, what they've been doing. They've been, you know, double teaming Mr. Betts, making him tough to get to the quarterback. And, you know, before he had the success of this past week, he did lead

the league in, you know, getting to the quarterback, just not getting sacks. And he was able to, you know, make that production into Sacks this past weekend and putting him in the lead of Sacks in the league. So it's tough to criticize him saying he's having an off year when he leads to the

league in Sacks now. And you know that was just after one game with four sacks so that's an amazing accomplishment for him and like I said a good a good defensive pass for us that led to a win for us you bring up some interesting points there about usage and keeping him fresh is there a sort of set number that you guys want to get him at in terms of snap count or percentages of snaps played or is it all situational yeah it's mostly situational and that's the only unfortunate reality it's not like baseball where you can just count his pitches and away you go I mean you know if you're the defensive coordinator of the head coach

and it's third or second and long, and you're like, well, we really need him on this play, but he's at that count. Well, you're going to keep him out there. But I think there are times in that, you know, we've talked to the staff about, you know, having the ability to play him at certain times and not, you know, maybe he doesn't need to be out there

the first series of the third quarter or, you know, there's things like that just to give him some wrestle so at the end of the game and throughout the game, he's more fresh because, you know, you can't change your offensive line. Those guys are out there for the whole game. the defensive line, if you have the ability to, you know, make those guys keep them fresh and rotate them in and now you can do it.

And we love our defensive line, all the players. And, you know, whenever they're out there, you know, they have production. Like the guy like Marcus Moore, who had 11 snaps the last game in Ottawa, had, you know, a sack. So that's 11 snap. That's a pretty good. So we have no problem rotating those guys and keeping them fresh. But as far as a snap count or a play count, no, it's just all situational. We're speaking to Neil McAvoy, BC Lions, VP of Football Ops here on the Hounford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Neil, let's keep it on the defensive side of the ball. T.J. Lee, one of the greatest defenders in franchise history in terms of the numbers and the accolades was brought back in last week. What are the expectations for T.J. moving forward. How big a role do you see him playing in this sort of second half of the season for the Lions? Well, there's two things there. I mean, one thing is that obviously his leadership is second to none. That's the main reason we brought them back. You know, we feel our DBs sense that they are young. We have two or three guys back there that have only a year experience, and some guys have no experience.

So we felt that having a guy like TJ just giving them a little bit of a voice, albeit from the practice roster now, or at least give them a little bit of confidence. And secondly, he's got to be up to speed at being able to play. So he was at practice last week for one practice. and he's practiced once this week. We have two more this week. So at the end of the week, we'll evaluate to see where his level is.

Because, you know, sitting on the sideline and then entering the game, regardless of how great you were, you have to be up to football athletic ability. And I'm hoping he's there. We're just, we're going to find out the next couple days if he is to see if he's a fit on the field as much as he is off, excuse me, off the field.

So you've got a pretty tough finish to the season in terms of the schedule. It starts when you go to Calgary to play your next game. But that can be an opportunity, too. And we all know in the CFL, it's not how you start. It's how you finish. And with Winnipeg struggles, suddenly third place in the West looks attainable. How are you guys approaching this game against the stamps and the rest of the season?

Yeah, you're right. It is a tough schedule. But, you know, it's a tough schedule for them too, because they have the VC lines coming into town. And you know what? This is what, you know, we play in the Western Division. This is the tough division. We need to play and compete against these guys.

It's no use just playing in the Eastern Division all the time and thinking, oh, we're just going to beat them and then think you're going to be able to beat the top dogs in the West. You're going to have to beat these guys now. And I believe our team's up for it. We're excited. We're, you know, this win has given us the confidence that hopefully we need to go and play these top teams like Calgary and Saskatchewan and even Winnipeg.

I mean, we need to be able to come into these stadiums and beat them just like they want to be able to defend their turf. So I'm excited about the opportunity, like you said, to go into Calgary and show the league and everyone else that this is a good football team. Our offense is going to be really tough to deal with, and our defense has the confidence to stop their offense. So, you know, everyone's excited about playing there. BC is back in action, as Jason mentioned, this Friday,

looking to get back to 500. Big task ahead in Calgary against the 8 and 4 stampeters. Neil, thanks a lot for doing this today. We appreciate it. Best of luck in Calgary on Friday. Go get a win and get back to 500. Appreciate it, guys. Have a great show. We'll talk to you soon.

You too, thanks. That's Neil McAvoy, VP of Football Ops for the BC Lions here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. A couple news and notes from around the National Hockey League. We're getting closer and closer to the start of the season where the news coming out of other markets isn't just, here are five thoughts of previews for the Seattle Crack. We're getting to some real stuff here. So a couple of interesting ones. From the New York Islanders, who, by the way, had their annual golf tournament.

A lot of beards. A lot of beards. Lou Lamarillo exits. So too do the razors. All the guys have grown beards. I don't know if that's just a sign. Do you think that's intentional? Maybe there was a lot of them.

I noticed there was a lot of beards from their annual golf tournament. The players hate those rules. I've talked to a few of them that have played under Lou. And it's like a controlling thing, right? They all hate it for that reason specifically. So this is 100% just throwing it back at them. So you should have all had something extremely different, though, in terms of facial hair? Yeah, so everyone had to ask the question about, what are you doing there?

What are you doing there? One of the guys that had a beard at the golf tournament was Anthony Duclair. And he was in the news recently because he relayed an anecdote from this offseason about how Patrick Waugh drove to his offseason home in Montreal to apologize for remarks that he made. about Duclair's play last season. Oh, it's apology season, too, because Dabor kind of apologized

to Onger? But didn't kind of? But he kind of did it through like a third party. Yeah. Waw went out of his way to go to Duclair's home. So in case you missed this story last year, in late April, with the Islander's season and their playoff hopes sort of spiraling down the tubes, Patrick Waugh laid into Anthony Duclair

saying that he was, quote, God awful, end quote, end quote, not playing up to what we expect from him, end quote. After that, in late April, Duclair was shut down and didn't play another game for the Islanders. And a lot of people

were wondering what his future had in store. Well, a couple things happened in the aftermath. One, Patrick Waugh was told of the severity of the injury that Anthony Duclair was playing through. He had torn the muscle, his groin

muscle completely off the bone in October, and it played on it throughout the entire year all the way up until April until the pain got too much. Did Wa just not know what's going on? He didn't know the severity of the injury. Oh, yeah. Of a player on his own team? He said, with seven goals in 44 games? Was he just like, quote, I think it was just a miscommunication by everybody, myself included. He, Waugh, obviously thought I was playing at 100%, which I wasn't. Anthony Duclair didn't want to make excuses for his play. Didn't want to tell him. that he was playing hurt. But here you go, important lesson.

Incoming Pedersen texts. If you don't tell your coach how you're feeling, how's the coach supposed to know. Yeah. That's why you have to let it slide through one of your teammates. Totally. Yeah. You get your buddy to be like,

that guy's dying out there right now. His groin is completely up. Or you walk by the coach and you were like, boy, my groin hurts. I'm going to tell you, I remember distinctly when Torts was in. New York he was a little bit more old

because this was over a decade ago so it was a little bit more old school and there was a guy by the name of Voitek Bolski everyone remember him Canadian Olympian Was he? Didn't know that

and Torts's complaint about him was that and he used to say it he said can't get him out of the tub and what that meant was he was always hurt but Torts his thing was like every time I see this guy I never see him on the ice.

I never see him at practice. I never see him getting changed. I only see him in the hot tub or the cold tub. Oh, can't get him out of the tub. It was a funny line at the time. He had two answers anytime he was asked about Witek Wilski's health. It was, I got to talk to Rammer, who was the trainer, Jim Ramsey.

And all he would ever, like, he didn't want to actually deal with the ailment. He would always just say, I got to talk to Rammer. And then when pushed further, said, can't get him out of the tub. I just imagine him in there in the hot tub with a couple of margaritas. He's like, this is a great hot tub. Is he wearing sunglasses? Anyway, there's a bigger point to this story rather than a clever anecdote about torts.

It's that sometimes there's a big divide between where coaches think players are at health-wise and where players are actually at. Incoming PD texts. Let's just not make this about Pedersen and talk it. Let's not. Because there is an element, and this is partly on the player,

where you don't want to sometimes admit that you're hurt. Now, I'm not even talking about publicly, but if your coach knows, there's a few ways it can go. One, the coach will take away some of your ice tummy. I can't push this guy because he's not at 100%. But there's another part of it. And it especially goes with, I don't know, either coaches that are super old school

or coaches that played in the NHL in an earlier iteration generation. And that is you're either, hurt or you're injured. Injured, you can't play. Hurt, you can play. And in the case of certain ex-players who turned into coaches,

they'll often fall back on the answer of when I played, we played through that. Yeah. And it's, and that is, that is an issue. It's a dynamic. And you can make arguments on both side who's right and who's wrong. But it exists. And so when I read this thing about Duclair,

and Waugh. What did I think of right away? I'm like, I bet Patrick Waugh played in a generation where guys played through anything and everything because they were, that's just the way they were built and the way they were wired. And now a lot of Waugh's teammates when he was a player have artificial knees and can barely walk. On the flip side, I can understand why DeClair was probably like, I'm not going to tell my very old school head coach about how hurt I am. Because I'm not sure. What's a sneaker, not sneaky, but what's a better way to let the coach know. That's a great question. I think part of it is you get your most trusted teammate to go. I think you should have your mom call them. Or your parents. Yeah. You always want to

make sure your parents get involved. It's what I teach you at the youth level, youth sports. Like, whenever you've got a problem, definitely get your parent to be the first one to talk to your coach. Coaches love that. What else you got from news and notes around the NHL? Sounds like the haves are in contract extension talks with their brain trust. According to T.V.A.A.A.R. LaV. They are talking to both President Jeff Gorton and General Manager Kent Hughes about contract extensions. Those guys need to cash in

right now because you never know how it's going to go. Gordon, it's believed that he's got a year left on his deal. He signed it on in 2021 and at the time Freed reported it was a five-year contract, which means he's going into the last year of his deal. Hughes has two more

years left on his contract, but both of them because the vibes are high right now, I agree with you. You're like, get locked in right? right now. The vibes, I'm not talking about expectations for the team, but I'm talking about the vibes in Canada are probably highest in Montreal right now. Because in Edmonton, you've got concern. You got excitement for sure for another season, maybe get to the Stanley Cup final again and

maybe win it this time, but there's concerns that McDavid hasn't resigned and there's concerns about the reason that McDavid hasn't resigned. because they're looking at their team. Calgary, I don't know. I don't think the vibes are particularly high because they're almost just at the start of this rebuild. They're not really there. They haven't even started it because they haven't gotten rid of Anderson

and Cadre and everyone else they need to get rid of. Winnipeg, I guess just another disappointing postseason, I would say. You know, they didn't, I don't know. I think the vibes are just fine there. They're fine. Ottawa, maybe higher than normal. I'd be excited if I was an Ottawa fan. Toronto, I think there's a lot of people

that expect the Leafs to take a step back after losing Marner. And I think that leaves Montreal. I think it's actually an easy call if we're power ranking vibes in Canada. Montreal's at the top. If I was to classify the vibes in Toronto, I'd say weird.

They're weird vibes. Because there's a sense of relief that they moved on from Marner, for sure. But also the trepidation that comes with that, because Marner was a very good player for them. And you don't just replace a guy that leaves it for agency. They didn't get anything in return for. Well, they got something in return for him.

But they didn't get nearly as much as they would have if they had traded him like at the deadline. Yeah, I'm reading a lot of like, can, uh, what's his name? Matias. McElly or whatever. Like, can he, can he solidify himself in the top sick? And like, probably with that group. I like Mitch Shelley.

Okay. He's fine. He's fine. But he's not Mitch Marner. You know what I'm, you know, But Montreal also has the Sid talk. Like there's excitement for just the position that they're in right now where you've got a relatively young roster with some serious young potential star power

and a guy like Demadov who, let's face it, I think struggled a little bit when he first came, when he came over to the NHL last season and, you know, was inserted into this role in the playoffs and all of a sudden he's like, wow, this is hard. but like the potential there is massive for him plus it's going to be talked about all season whether or not they can pull off something for Sidney Crosby. Well, the other part of this is like I don't know if everyone paid attention to this, but like Montreal was they had their prospects tournament over the weekend and by all accounts it was electric from their perspective.

Demidoff played, Reinbacher played the energy was super high. We had people texting into the show. I had a guy reach out to me on Twitter. I can't believe how much excitement there is going into this year. The vibes are absolutely high in Montreal. I did want to address one thing, by the way. When we were having that conversation about injured players playing through it and everything, a couple people texted in asking if it's on the medical staff and the training staff

to be the sort of conduit between players and coaches in terms of telling everybody who's healthy and who's not. There is a weird dynamic there too because there's a trust factor involved in both sides. You know what I mean? Please don't tell the coach. Right. And the coach is like, please tell me everything. Yeah. So it can be tricky.

It's not meant to, I guess maybe, you know, shed light on the entirety of the process and how it can be conflicting. But it's the reality of life in the NHL. Like those jobs aren't just given to people. They're earned. And when you earn one, you're doing everything, especially if you're a lower end guy, you're fighting tooth and nail to stay in the league, stay employed, keep your spot, keep your minutes, keep your role. And you want to be known as a good team guy that doesn't complain.

I mean, you want to, you want, that's why you hear the guys while everyone's playing through something. And I mean, you want to talk about where this is an extreme. It's the national football league. It's a billion times more cutthroat. But it's a billion times more cutthroat

because your best availability or best ability in the NFL is availability, that old cliche, right? And you can get cut. Right away. And there is a crop of young, hungry, determined collegiate graduates just waiting to take your job.

They're not always graduates. Collegiate students. Just waiting to take your job. Okay, we got to go to break. We got a lot more to get to on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Final hour of the program, we're going to dive back into the Canucks talk

with Landon Ferraro. He's going to join us in about 20 minutes time, scheduled for an 8-10 start this morning. We'll talk to Landon, look ahead to training camp, which begins on Thursday, all the Canucks positional battles and everything else that's going on into this season.

And then at 8.30, we're going to do what we learns, as per usual. Get them in. Dunbar-Lumber text line is 6-50, 6-50. Tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. Hashtag it, W.W.L. Again, Dunbar-Lumber text message in basket is 650, 650. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions. It's another season of hard hits.

Heated rivalries and non-stop entertainment for tickets. Visit BCLions.com and get ready to roar as one. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.