Halford & Brough in the Morning - This Was Not The Plan

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, they discuss this past weekend's Canucks draft selections plus what they might do tomorrow in Free Agency (3:00), plus they chat the Mitch Marner Tampering situation with Fan 590 Toronto's Sam McKee (29:01). 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.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- proud to select from the Iriotters, Matthew Schaffer. Here's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. And the Blue Jays go back to back. Swung on, crushed, left field, this is destroyed. It's on its way, second deck, yes! Mitch Garver, ravaging his former team. Good, Barney Maker is 6-0 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. It is Halford, it is bruv. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello. Hello. Halford and bruv of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

There's no Sands and Associates read today. I'm gonna free base it and just try it anyway. He also skipped one of the members of the team today. Well, I was gonna introduce basketball, but it's seven o'clock when he takes over the microphone. But he spoiled it for me. Okay, Sands and Associates, one of our 3,000 five star reviews, visit them online at sands-trustee.com.

We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal North Star Metal Recycling they recycle you get paid visit them 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Did you say you're gonna free base that one? Yep, and that's not the right word. That's how you cook crack Did you mean to say freestyle? Yeah Yeah Yeah, free Free base is how you make crack cocaine.

How do you know that? Sorry? What we learned. What we learned, that's for later in the show. We'll show you later, Adolf. Yeah. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together

with you in step. Finally, and we will do it now, we welcome back one of our favorite interim producers. Basketball Ben is back in the studio. Well, well, well. They all come crawling back. Hello, Basketball Ben. How are you?

You couldn't keep me away for too long. I was gonna say, I thought you moved on to bigger and better things. You have returned. Michael Jordan statement, I'm back. How are you doing, buddy? I'm doing great. Awesome.

Yeah, really looking forward to being here for the next couple of weeks. Larry, looking forward to having you here buddy? I'm doing great awesome Yeah, I really looking forward to being here for the next couple weeks Larry looking forward to having here Laddy has taken off on vacation so basketball then will be filling in for the next couple weeks And you know that's how we're getting golf talk golf talk is so back That is how good of a worker basketball Ben is came in just to get refreshed on Everything that is Halford and breath lock going on in our show within five minutes. He's like it's all the same you guys do all the same Bits okay, I'm gonna do is gonna do a 20-minute golf report just for breath We got a big show ahead on a Monday guest list today begins at 630 Sam McKee is gonna join the program

Fan 590 leaf stock real kipper and born pretty eventful weekend for the maple leaves They resigned John Tavares they resigned Matthew Nyes And then they accused the Vegas Golden Knights of tampering in what might be an elaborate extortion scheme. It was all a very exciting weekend for the Toronto Maple Leafs. We'll talk to Sam about that at 6.30. Seven o'clock, Sam Cosentino, two Sams right off the bat, gonna join the program. Sam Cosentino, of course, NHL draft expert for Sportsnet. He was working at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles over the weekend we'll look back on everything that happened on Friday and

Saturday from the NHL draft that's at seven o'clock eight o'clock Kevin Woodley our goalie guru from nhl.com and in goal magazine we had a goalie trade at the draft John Gibson went to Detroit the Canucks also drafted a goalie in the second round Alexei Medvedev lad laddie's really high on him. I actually don't know that much about him. He was not the number one. Just free base a bit on him. Yeah, free base. I'll free base when we get to that.

Just get really excited about it. There's some bleach. I want to free base after you see the play. Medvedev, the fourth goalie off the board, second Russian goalie off the board. We'll talk to Kevin Woodley about all that at eight o'clock. Third actually.

Sorry? He was the third Russian goalie off the board. There was three Russian goalies. Yes, he was the fourth goalie taken over. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Ryan Johnson's gonna join us at 8.30.

General manager of the Calder Cup winning Abbotsford Canucks. We hope it'll work out this time. It didn't work out last week. We'll talk to Ryan about RDC loves, Linus Carlson, Manny Malhotra. Everything that happened over that magical run for the Abbotsford Canucks. That's that's going to be at eight 30 this morning. So we'll have to find a time,

probably be in the seven o'clock hour to do some, what we learned over what was a very, very busy weekend in the world of sports. Finally, before we go to break, or sorry, before we go on, I need to tell you, or ask you a question, have you bought your tickets for the sportsnet 650 Jayscare 50-50 for Challenger Baseball? This is the final week to buy tickets. The sales stop on Monday, July 7th, so a week today. Then the draw will be shortly thereafter, also on Monday. This whole endeavor is supported by Tiltown, proudly Canadian owned and operated since 1971. my tile town.ca buy your tickets

now jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com that URL again jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com buy your tickets support challenge your baseball it's your chance to win some cash working in reverse on the guest list 830 it's Ryan Johnson 8 o'clock it's Kevin Woodley 7 o'clock Sam Cosentino, and 6.30 Sam McKee. That's what's happening on the program today, laddie. Let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened?

What Happened is brought to you by the BC construction safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies, the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online to bccsa.ca. Let us begin with the NHL draft. It is now officially in the books and let us begin with the Vancouver Canucks. The Vancouver Canucks selected a six foot, 185 pound center, Braden Coots 15th overall out of WHL Seattle.

The Canucks did not flip their pick like many expected them to, and instead held onto it and took Coots with the 15th overall selection. So how do we feel about this? I would love to hear from the listeners on the fact that Canucks actually made the pick in the first round. Text in to the Dunbarbar lumber text line at 650, 650.

I want to hear what you guys think about the state of the Canucks one day ahead of July 1st. Now, when it comes to Braiding Coots and him being selected, I'm happy with that because I think the Canucks need every good young prospect they can get right now and Kutz does sound like a good one. His point totals don't jump off the page, but if you look behind the scenes a little bit Seattle didn't score much and Kutz actually led the team in points and the fact he was made captain at 17 years old, I think that's pretty promising as well.

Youngest captain in the dub. Here's a fun fact. Coots was originally named co-captain with fellow Canucks prospect Sawyer Mineo, the latter of whom was traded to Calgary in January, which left Coots as the only captain. He's like, I'm the captain. I am the captain.

I get major Bo Horvat vibes. I am no longer co-captain. Why do you get Bo Horvat vibes? I mean the leadership stuff, leadership captain, office, all that kind of, the way they described him, I was like, every time I heard a description of him, I was like, oh, it's like Horvat. If he turned into a Bo Horvat, that would be

great for your organization. Yeah, yeah. I'm not saying. How do you look in a golf shirt? I'm not saying the talent level. I'm just saying like in terms of the leadership. Well you can go out to UBC this week and ask Braden Coots himself. Are you going to be as good as Bo Hervat?

Are you Bo Hervat? My mind can only make comparisons to former Canucks. That's all I know. Explain this in Canucks terms. Yeah, the Canucks development camp is out at UBC, I'm starting today actually, it goes till July 7th. Okay. So Prading Kutz, we'll talk a little bit more

about him with Sam Cosentino, get a little report on him and I'm sure we'll find out a lot more about him as the week progresses. We'll see some interviews with him out at development camp and see what this kid is all about. But let us be honest here. This was not the plan. Not the plan.

The Canucks were hoping to use that first round pick to add a second line center in a trade. It always seemed like a tough task and right off the bat, we said, how are they going to do this? How are you going to add a young second line center that you really like for like the 15th overall pick and a draft that people aren't very excited about? Maybe you throw in a prospect in there too. How's that going to happen?

All the other teams out there, they don't want futures. They want players that can play now. You know who else wants players that play can play now? The Vancouver Canucks. Yep. It always seemed like a tough task and it's turned out to be exactly that. You really have to wonder at this point, if they

circle back on suitor, Brock Besser is almost certainly gone. I know we've heard that the Canucks have kept in touch with Besser's camp, but it sounds by all accounts, like the relationship between Besser and the Canucks isn't exactly a hundred percent. It might even be finished. Yeah. To the point where he's signing in Edmonton.

There's even talk out there that the. Imagine. Yeah, I could. You imagine. A good old fashioned spite signing. I respect it. Although Edmonton I think would have to get pretty creative to make that work and Besser might even have to take not a hometown discount

But I get to play with McDavid and dry side will discount Yeah Maybe he does a shorter term deal with the Edmonton Oilers and sets them up for yet another Contract because he would probably produce with one of those two But to bring it back to the Canucks, all they've done this off season is add Evander Kane with one year left on his contract and they're probably going to lose Besser and maybe Souter too. That's it.

Better get cracking. This was not how the Canucks envisioned things one day before July 1st. I clearly remember Jim Rutherford, end of season press conference, talking about free agency, talking about tomorrow and suggesting the Canucks might not even have the cap space to participate in the frenzy because they would have added enough players through trades. He even acknowledged that Vancouver isn't a hot destination for players these days in free agency, which is why you hear so much talk about drafting

players want to be Vancouver Canucks and training for players who want to be Vancouver Canucks. The Bow and Byron rumours still aren't going away because he reportedly wants to be a Canuck and a Vander Kane wanted to be a Canuck and a Vander Kane wanted to be a Canuck and they, and they got him and you know, they're probably going to extend a Dempco and Connor Garland because those guys actually want to be here.

Now there is still time to make trades. Marco Rossi is still on the wild, but here's the thing, that first round pick was a huge part of what they offered Minnesota and what they intended to offer to significantly upgrade the team this season. They absolutely cannot trade next year's first round pick, especially if it's unprotected. Which by the way, which by the way makes an offer sheet for Rossi risky.

Because if you offer sheet someone and they accept and you get the first round pick, you can't protect it. Imagine the Canucks sacrifice their first round pick next year and end up, and this is the year, stop laughing like that. It's first of all concerning, also somewhat annoying. Also creepy. Creepy.

I know what's gonna happen. That would be the year they would win the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes for sure. That's a big enough nightmare that I'm pretty sure it's gonna happen. Yep. So what do we think about this situation that the Canucks are in right now?

They got a pretty good idea of how, I'll say the word insignificant that first round pick had value wise prior to the draft when the New York Islanders, who probably had the most splashy draft night of the mall, had to send two first round picks and are sorry. I received two first round picks and a prospect forward all in exchange for Noah Dobson. Like that was the going rate for a roster player. Wasn't one first round pick. It wasn't two first round picks.

It was two first round picks and a prospect going the other way. And it just kind of underscored how far off Vancouver was with the one pick at its disposal. Now they could have packaged something along with, as you mentioned, the 2026 lottery ticket for Gavin McKenna, but no one wanted picks. Like there was no movement on Friday night at the draft. There was nothing going on. Right. I mean, the draft itself was everyone went up and everyone either had the

opportunity to trade back for additional picks or they made their pick. Like the Islanders were the only one that made a move of significance on the opening night ahead of the draft. And it costs the Montreal Canadians a lot to get to Aubson. And I think it really showed what the value of picks were this year, that it was never, ever going to be something that you were going to be on its own. It wasn't going to turn into something tangible packaged. It was going to have to be a pretty sweet package.

So what do we think now? Options are running out. Time is running out and it doesn't look super rosy or optimistic going into July one for the Vancouver Canucks. Chef Graham texted into the Dunbar Lumber text line. This was not the plan, but I'm sure glad it's the way things turned out. We can't compete in the free agent market or trade market. Vancouver is on a lot of no trade lists. We need to build through the draft. can't compete in the free agent market or trade market. Vancouver is on a lot of no trade lists.

We need to build through the draft. I agree with that, but what does it say that the Canucks have been so unable to make the moves that they want. I mean, I think it represents, no, they still could, but it represents a complete misreading of the market for management. Or they overestimated their ability to make moves in any climate, one of the two.

Like they could've just said, yeah, it's a misreading of the market. Yeah, it's a, or it's like, yeah, it's a tough market, but we'll be able to see our way through it, and it clearly wasn't the case. well, maybe they thought this would happen, but they still try it anyways No, no, maybe they're like well We know the pick is doesn't have super high value and that every other single team in the league is also a buyer So we'll try and make the move

But we heard pretty much went up there and promised that they'd be the be adding two to three Game changers up front not came game changers, like significant players. Or maybe they're trying to convince themselves. We heard last week, I remember you specifically highlighted that quote from Don Waddell, the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who said that in his many, many years of being an executive, he's never seen a market quite like this one.

But everyone should have seen it coming. Everyone should, we saw it coming. And we're the dumbest show in the world. We saw it as soon as he said, we want to add, I think he put the number at three forwards, right? And we're not talking about bottom six guys. They wanted a second line center. They wanted a top six winger, maybe another

winger, right? Like, and we were like, well, how are you going to do that? How's that possible? And there was skepticism right off the bat. And like, Adog, I know what you're saying, but I like about them, well, maybe they thought, well, yeah, clearly.

Because I remember, here's another quote that we can drag out from Jim Rutherford. He's going to say, listen, this trade is going to hurt in that we're going to give up something that we don't want to give up. Like the 2026 first round pick. But you know what else he said? He said, it'll hurt more if we don't add that player.

Well, you haven't added that player. So I guess it's hurting more. Are they going to go out and, so who, what are the options here? Are you going to up your, up your, uh, offer for Marco Rossi? Well, how are you going to do that? How are you going to, are you going to up your, up your, uh, offer for Marco Rossi? Well, how are you going to do that? How are you going to do that?

Because you've already traded away your first round pick and how Alfred's going to do that annoying evil laugh again. If we talk about bringing in 2026, you cannot, you cannot, you cannot trade that unprotected the way you want to bet. They won't trade it unprotected. They won't It would be what's gonna swing the mark what's gonna swing? So what's gonna swing a market? It's gotta have to it's gonna it's a big swing and that would be the biggest one that this club could take right now

I mean, I don't I don't like it any more than you do and I understand fully the risk involved in it, but I also know that right now they're striking out in their stated goals at the beginning of the off season. So what can they do in free agency? That's tomorrow. I really don't see them adding a game changer. First of all, there aren't many game changers available and there isn't much reason to believe any of the game changers are going to choose Vancouver. I think you're going to end up with like, can I interest you in a Jack Roslavik, a right shot

center who played for Carolina last season? Is he a credible second line center, Jack Roslavik? Um, I mean, he's played there in the past. Yeah. Incredible second line center, Jack Rosalvick. I mean, he's played there in the past. Yeah. On occasion. This is this is the the consolation prize, the consolation prizes that they end up getting guys that probably need to slot in lower in a good team's NHL lineup, and they try and talk themselves into them. The Grandlands, the Rosalvich's.

That's a weird one to say. The Carconi's, the Bugst, the Roslovich's. That's a weird one to say. The Karkoni's, the Bugstads, those kind of guys. And then it's some sort of weird spin from the front office that, you know, in an elevator role, these guys could give us more. But that's not even a consolation prize. That's a consolation prize is consolation prize. And I don't know.

Again, I mean, you tell me, do you really think that it's that far a field that they would entertain trading that pick unprotected? 2026? Yeah. Yes. They wouldn't do that. They would not do it unprotected.

If they did, if they did, it's the most reckless things that this franchise has ever done, if they did that. All right. The way things are trending with this team, the fact that, like, let's be honest, this team has train wreck potential next season. What are they, what are they counting on? They're counting on, it sounds like Demko to stay healthy.

Well, what if he doesn't? If Andrew Kane to produce and stay healthy, you know, we'll see. And they're counting on a huge Elias Pedersen bounce back. And they're counting on a huge Elias Pedersen bounce back. And they're going to do that with out Brock Besser, who's been one of their most dependable players over the last, what decade and maybe not. I, and then some second line center that isn't going to knock your socks off.

Right. It's it could be Pugh suitor. It could be Jack Roselvick. You know what? You don't think that that team has the potential to be pretty bad? Well, I think that potentially bad, which is why I wonder if they're going to take that one big cut still. Now, the other thing is, I'm not sure.

The Rossi thing feels like I've said it from last week and going on. It feels like the square peg round hole feels like the guy that's available now I don't know if there's something lurking in the weeds that they might be able to get in on but I was very very surprised and at times alarmed at the lack of Movement that we saw Interteam of it there were a lot of guys that re-upped with the teams that they were with I mean we talked about Tavara's nice Sam Bennett in Florida a lot of the big ticket guys re-upped and then we will eventually get to the Toronto that they were with. I mean, we talk about Tavarez, Nye, Sam Bennett in Florida. A lot of the big ticket guys re-upped.

And then we will eventually get to the Toronto Maple Leaf story with Mitch Marner, reportedly on the verge of going to Vegas with some light tampering involved, or maybe some heavy tampering. But there was a real lack of movement at the draft. That opening round of the draft was short on fireworks. Yet again, I can't remember how many years in a row it is now.

There not being a lot of trades on the floor of the NHL draft, even though a decentralized draft was supposed to bring us more of that. I know I was watching the broadcast right from the moment that it started. And, you know, Frege came on and said, it's going to be an exciting night. There's lots of talk and there's lots of chatter going on. But none of that translated into moves being made. The only real move is significance. And I mentioned it was the New York Islanders flipping

Dobson and after that it got really quiet, right? Some teams were able to move down, but there wasn't a lot that happened. And even the usual, in the past years we have seen some pretty decent action on day two of the draft. And there were some reasonably interesting trades, but nothing earth shattering, nothing huge, nothing that's going to swing the pendulum one way or the other. What are you talking about? The Canucks made a big deal.

Right. They traded Futures to Chicago for Ilya Safonov. Right. Is that how we pronounce his name? Yeah, it's a 24-year-old KHL forward who's- By the way, as soon as I heard that, I was like, that's Milstein. And it is.

You're right. He was a busy guy this week. Yeah. A lot of clients looking for spots. Yeah. Well, he's, he's Kane's agent too, right? So. He's everyone's agent.

No, he's not. But he's, he's Kane's agent. As soon as I heard that, that's like, that's for sure, Milstein getting the Canucks to do something. Do you think maybe the Canucks have some secret move in the work? Something behind the scenes? I hope so, buddy. I'm hoping so.

Remember the Horonic thing, which seemingly came out of nowhere? We're like, Horonic? Who's that? That was- So maybe they have something like that on the back burner? I'll point you back to my earlier lurking in the weeds, but that's what we're hoping for at this point, that there's something hiding out there that none of us have seen coming. I mean, they are on, I saw someone joking

on social media the other day. They're like, the Canucks must be on to like plan N. You know, there's plan A, B, C. Like as soon as Duchenne went off the board, I think they were like, scramble. I know that that was one of the guys. It's the Charlie from It's Sunny conspiracy meme. When Duchenne went off the board,

I don't think it was a coincidence that they pulled the trigger on the Evander Cain trade. Right. Um, and, uh, now Duchenne's a centre, but he's sometimes he plays the wing. But if you look at this forward group, I know we, we went on and on about, um, okay, there, there are three top goal scorers, they're going to lose two

of them, possibly through free agency because it was Debrecht, Suter and Besser. Those were their three top goal scorers. So they've brought in Kane and they're going to lose Besser. They might bring back Suter, but like, that's practically running it back Yeah, that's practically running the same team back with a Vander Kane with a Vander Kane and no Besser

Yeah, like can you imagine if that's the way they're just no I can't I go and they go into the season is like We were very disappointed about what happened last season. So we've brought in a Vander Kane and that's pretty much it Oh, we lost Brock Besser. Okay. Uh, we're, I know we're close to being up against it for time here, but I do want to play some of the audio from Elliot Freedman's 32 thoughts over the weekend. Cause we're going to get Sam McKee on the program next to talk about this. So there's a lot of rumblings out of Toronto and Vegas right now that Mitch Marner is on his way to Vegas. Now he could go there and free agency,

or the Toronto Maple Leafs could trade his negotiating rights in exchange for a player. Now, you might be asking, well, wait a minute, why would Vegas give up a player off their roster when they could just sign Mitch Marner on July 1? Well, there appears to be some tampering allegations afoot. We'll let Friedge's audio speak for itself and come back on the other side. Here's Elliot Friedman explaining more about the Vegas Toronto situation going in to July 1st free agency. There's been some talk that if Marner goes to Vegas

the Maple Leafs will go after Vegas for tampering. As a couple of GMs told me on Saturday they think the NHL is itching to try and make an example out of someone. Once again, I'm going to stress, I don't have any proof that Vegas is guilty of anything, but if they make a deal with Toronto and send a good player to Toronto, I'm betting any chance the Maple Leafs file for tampering goes away. So all those reasons, getting a Marner faster, clearing cap space, Toronto gets good players and eliminating any possibility of any tampering investigation which is being whispered everywhere around the league, all that goes away if this deal gets

done. We'll see. To which I said, is that extortion? It feels a little extortive. Is that a word? It's a very interesting scenario out of Toronto. We'll see what happens because of course, tomorrow is the start of free agency, July 1, and we'll see if any deal gets consummated. Vegas made a deal late last night,

by the way, in case you missed it. They flipped one of the guys that some thought might be on their way to Toronto, Four Marner's rights, Nick Hague. They sent him to Nashville in exchange for a couple of players that are coming back the other way. Jeremy Lozan and Colton Sizzens. So the guy that might be involved there is Nicholas Roy. We will talk to Sam McKee from Sportsnet Fan 590 in Toronto coming up next to talk about a very busy weekend out of Toronto. John Tavaro's is back, Matthew Nye's is back,

and then we'll try and figure out what's going on with this Marner situation. You are listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. The Canucks must be onto like plan N. Yeah. You know, there's plan A, B, C. Preparations A through G were a complete failure,

but now, ladies and gentlemen, we finally have a working tractor beam, which we shall call Preparation H. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.33 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody.

Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We were just talking at the break about the weekend that was. Wasn't the most exciting draft I've ever witnessed. Wasn't the best draft I've ever witnessed. And by the best you mean the worst ever?

It was a combination of factors, and I'm not just talking about the decentralization of it. I'm not talking about how it looked on the TV. Well, that was the worst part of it. It wasn't a super strong draft class to begin with. There wasn't a ton of movement and trades and excitement on the floor, which I think was supposed to be part of the decentralization. You were going to be in your strategy room and you're going to be able to make more deals. You wouldn't have to rely on that rotary phone at your desk on the floor.

None of it came to fruition. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. It wasn't a great sports weekend overall. No. I have to admit. Not really. And we'll talk about, maybe we'll talk later in the show about Canada, the gold cup, the BC Lions.

That throw by Mazzoli was one of the worst and dumbest passes I've seen. Now, are you referring to the pick six just before the half? In a long, long time. I turned the game off after that. I was like, that's over. And you were right. It was very much over. So the two teams that did make noise this weekend, one of them New York Islanders, the other one, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Let's go to the phone lines now. The Power West Industries hotline from fan 590 in Toronto. Sam McKee joins us now on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Sammy. How are you bud? I'm doing well boys. I heard you guys talking about the draft there and I honestly like, I watched the first pick and I'm like, I can't, I can't do that. I gotta watch the J's. I just watched the J's instead, but I was wondering like, cause I saw clips of it. Did like,

did Gary, you know, sewer it? Yeah. I think he tried. I think he tried to make it as bad as like, there's no way. Like if you sat down and you were coming up with ideas, you're like, how could we make this the most unconsumable product possible? How would we do it? And everything like, what was there standing in front of a zoom meeting standing? Like it was just so awkward. God, when he started,

when he started working and walking the stage, like a comedian on evening at the improv in the eighties, I was like, this is not going to go well for the listeners that don't know the backstory to that Gary, Betman told the NHL GMs, this is a bad idea. We should not be doing this. And Gary is a big told you so guy and, um, can be a little passive aggressive. He said, no, we're going to go through with this and then we'll see how we do.

And then, you know, we'll have another vote. And I think if that vote were to go again, the GM should get passive aggressive and they should vote to do it again. We liked everything. We loved it. We loved it, Gary. Uh, okay.

So, Sam, um, Toronto are, are the Toronto made police extorting Nick, Nick Waw out of, out of Vegas, uh, in a sign and trade with, with Mitch Barner, because it sounds like, um, if they're able to do a sign and trade with Mitch Marner because it sounds like if they're able to do a sign and trade, they won't accuse Vegas of tampering. It's so funny how this is like, how Vegas is involved in this. It's all of a sudden turned into like a hangover movie,

but I don't know, like I'm a dumb guy. So this may be dumb, but like, isn't everybody in trouble now that this is out? Feels like it. Like, now that the lease, now that there's been leaked, that the lease are trying to extort, like, isn't that a crime too? I don't know. Like, I just feel like as soon as that report came out, their leverage of

potentially getting Nicholas Waugh out of there in the Marner silent trade kind of went up in smoke, but I could be dumb. So maybe I'm wrong on that one, but I love it I love the fact that the Leafs management is getting a little bit greasy with Vegas who is like the greasiest place for hockey on earth in terms of what they do and what the way they use the cap and the chicanery and the LTR and all the different stuff that they've done so in theory I love it but at this point like I'm feeling that the reports got out there that it kind of made they might have kind of screwed the pooch a little bit on that one.

Am I crazy on that? I don't know. No, no. So when we played the 32 thoughts audio from Freage, we didn't play the first part, which was about a 32nd preamble where he tried to disavow himself from the report and said like, I have no proof of any of this. And there's going to be a lot of people that that are gonna be mad at me that I'm even bringing this up because I guess when he was done talking the revelation was both sides look really bad in this like Vegas looks bad because there's allegations of tampering and

The Toronto Maple Leafs look bad because they're trying to extort another NHL team. So I think you're right I think there could be like the NHL team. So I think you're right. I think there could be like the NHL who Freage also said in the clip was itching to make an example of someone might be making examples of both teams here because this seems like very nefarious dealings on both sides. Yeah, I mean, I would have a hard time believing that Gary would make an example of his beloved golden Knights. Like I really would be surprised if that's what he was going to do. But I saw some of the penalties and it was, you know, forfeiture of the contract, first round pick, million bucks to the player, the team, all this different stuff. So maybe, I don't know, like we're getting pretty close here, right? Like tomorrow's the day

and he's officially a free agent. But I will say that now that that report got out there, you know, there's been a lot of talk in Toronto about The the villainous stuff with Mitch Marner like I can guarantee if this doesn't get pushed over the line Everybody in Toronto is blaming Marner. Like I had is a 100% guarantee that people will find a way to be like, oh, well, he didn't want to go there right away He wanted to try other places He wanted to like Mitch Marner will be at the middle of the crosshairs.

Like he's been here for a long time, but if this trade doesn't go through and the Leafs end up losing it for nothing, I can promise you who they will blame and it's not Bradshaw Living, it's not the Vegas Golden Knights. It's Mitch Marner in his camp. That will be who everybody's looking at. Okay.

So Mitch Marner's gone, possibly for nothing, but possibly for a good center, not a top six guy, but a really good center. I really hope they get that. He's exactly what they need. Well, I was thinking like, I'd like to see him on the Vancouver Canucks and I wonder if the Canucks have made a call and it was like, I heard he's

available, we need centers. Everyone needs centers. Extortion. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the Leafs retained John Tavares and they got Matthew Nyes signed and both deals pretty good value. What are you waiting on for tomorrow? Obviously the Marner news, but is the other

big name tomorrow Brad Marchand? I think it is fellas. I think it is and boy am I excited and terrified all at the same time about that contract. Because it feels like Brad, everyone's talked about how he's been underpaid, holds career. I think he's probably made close to 70 million bucks in his career.

He's made lots of money, but like compared to a lot of his peers through that time, he hasn't been paid close to what some of them have been. So he's looking to get paid and it feels like they're Brad's living will not be kind of outdone on this. And maybe the state tax thing helps. And maybe he wants to stay in Florida. It looks like he's having the best time of his life, hanging out

down with all those guys. And he was a perfect fit there. But if he's just like looking for money, it feels like Brad's going to be the guy. It's like, yeah, or sort of Brad, he's going to be a guy like, Hey, Brad Marchand, we'll give you as much as you want. And that's a scary, scary outlook on July 1st. As you know, like just look at the, uh, the, uh, national predators last year. But I mean, would I be immediately convincing myself that it's the

most amazing thing ever? Yes, clearly. I love Brad Marsh and I used to hate him, but I grew up and I convinced myself that, you know, he's, he's just like, he's great for the game. He's an awesome personality, the playoff performer, he's Canadian guy. Like he's just played for our country and been great. I just, I would convince myself, but at the same time, knowing in the back of my mind that it's probably not a great idea, but I think there's

going to be a lot of people here disappointed that if it doesn't happen, like I, people here have really convinced themselves and you saw biz tweeting about it. Like he's got a DM from somebody and was like, I'm putting this out there. Boy, if I put out every DM that I got, it would be a really sketchy situation.

But I just, I think that people in Toronto really have their sights set on Brad Marchand. And if he signs back with Florida, or maybe they'll go back to Boston or Utah or pay, or somebody just gives him the massive bag that the least won't give them, people here are going to be very disappointed. So yeah, to answer your question, it's Marchand, 100%. What's plan B? Another, another Tanev. I don't know. Yeah. Manjiyapani. Like the free agent stank boys. There's not a lot of good ones.

And that's what was so terrifying about this free agent market and the Leafs having all this cap space is like the matchup of a newly, uh, a newly, I guess you could say promoted general manager with more power than he's ever had in Bradshaw living a team that has a lot of holes on forward with a lot of calf face and a not great free agent crop. That's how you end up with like Troy Brower. I don't know how much he signed him for. Like that's, that's how it gets, that's when it starts to get scary.

So I don't know. I'm really hoping that they don't go too crazy with this cap spike and they don't get too committed to these long-term contracts. But I think it's like Marchand, Manjia Pani, Brendan Tanev, like that's kind of what you're after Marchand, those are the kinds of guys you're looking at. But I don't know. I, you can have a hard time replacing a hundred points with Marner with those guys, but it's just, it's just a different look. So yeah,

I it's a, it's a grim list of you guys have looked over it a million times too. We're speaking to Sam McKee from fan five 90 in Toronto here on the Alfred and brush show on sports net six 50, uh, with Marner obviously leaving and his legacy still yet to be completely written. although I think the majority of it has, with like the final pen strokes on it, were they written by the fact that John Tavares took an absolutely massive, massive haircut to stay at home? Yeah, that was nice of him.

Honestly, like that was nice of him. Crazy deal. I think that's what the biggest sort of, you know, everybody talking with that DNA change or whatever, but that is what, what is the DNA of the Leafs been for 11 years? It's trying to win contract negotiations, not trying to win games. I'd say that's like one of the huge things of the DNA and having these two guys sign, you know, pretty unceremonious.

Like, I mean, there was a couple reports where I was a little scared with Tavares. I was like, oh, they don't want anything below five, blah, blah, blah. And then it comes in at that number. And then, you know, you saw a couple nice things with offer sheets and maybe it's going to come around nine or all these different things. And it just happens pretty unceremoniously before July 1st. Like having those two things happen and then kind of having Martyr walk out the door tells me

that there actually might be a little bit of a DNA change and that guys actually may be able to get it or that, you know, Kyle Dubas was an awful negotiator. Maybe that's part of it too. But like it just, it does feel that those two contracts sort of signaled the start of the DNA change and yeah, Marner's legacy here is bad boys. It's not going to be, it's not going to be a set. I don't think the first couple of two years of him coming back here is going to be very good, but like I always say to people when I talk about this

and believe me, like if he stretches this thing out to July 15th and I have to do two more weeks of random people coming up to me and ask me where Marner's going, I'm going to put out a fat law on him. It's not what I'm looking forward to, but I just, I don't, I can't believe that it's come to this and I can't believe that a homegrown guy was like this, but it's just, it's the way it is. All, you know, all the story about it. So it's just, it's, it's, it's tough for Marner, man. It's just not going to be good here, but they cheered Vince Carter.

They retired Vince Carter's number. So anything's possible. That's actually very true. Right? It's like. That's very true. That's yeah. If he can come back here and like, people can be

like, oh, it's, you know, it was a different time. Time heals all wounds. I'm like, okay, I guess like Marner's number could be retired here if Vince Carter's number was retired here, so who knows. Random question. Do you think that Carter's jersey would have been retired if the Raptors hadn't won a title?

Cause when you win a title, you're like, I love everyone. No, I think he would have, I think he would have, because I think the 30th anniversary stuff was that last year that happened, right? 30th anniversary. And I just think they were kind of looking to have these sort of like numbers and their afters and legends of the, of the team. I think it would have happened. You know, he's been on the PR tour saying it wasn't actually him, blah, blah, blah.

And like, yeah, I think it would have eventually. And I think it probably would have happened at the same time, but people made, maybe there's been more pushback than there was because I think a lot of people saw us adopt after the championship. Like you said, myself not included in that and boy like First ballot Hall of Famer of Sports Talk Radio Vince Carter Like is there ever been a guy that we're still have conversations about Vince Carter's Jersey retirement. It was like 30 years He's your Luongo he's

legacy of sports talk radio. He's your Luongo. He's your Luongo, yeah. That's perfectly said, yes. Sam, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy free agency tomorrow. It should be a lot of fun.

Can't wait, boys. Talk to you later, bye-bye. See you, buddy, thanks. That's Sam McKee from Fan 590 in Toronto here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Are we taking a brief sojourn from the hockey here? Finish off the hour one with the other stuff that happened over the weekend, non-hockey division?

You guys gonna free base for a bit? I think I'm gonna free base it. Gonna start with Canada. Start with Canada. I got a very, I was very disappointed. I have a very muted tone, as you can see. I'm very, very disappointing. Canada lost them.

Oh, your guy Jesse Marsh is, was a very bad tournament for Jesse Marsh. Yeah. Very poor. Very poor tournament for the Canadian men. Very poor ending for Jacob Schaffelberg in a very disappointing penalty kick loss to Guatemala on Sunday in the quarterfinals of the gold cup. You mentioned the manager, Jesse Marsh. He came on this program prior to the start of the gold cup and we asked him straight out what a success look for your group like at the

gold cup. And he said, winning it. They made no bones about the fact that they wanted to win it. They talked a lot, a lot in the lead up about how they had the buy in from all the players to show up and compete for this tournament. I don't like the Americans who left all of their star players at home because they were picking and choosing what tournaments, what games they wanted to play in. Jesse Marsh talked a lot about the incredible new depth that Canada had and how he wanted to show it all off at the tournament.

And then the tournament started better than anyone could have imagined. A six nil win over Honduras on Canadian soil at BC place on grass in what looked like it was going to be the perfect tune up for next year's World Cup. And then everything went south after that. And it was a combination of ineffective play, bizarre, bizarre roster and substitution management injuries and some, I would say, tactical naivete, both on the part of the manager yesterday. And let's be fair, the players,

what Jacob Schaffelberg did to get his red card just before the half was inexcusable. It was a good hit, but it's not hockey. Great open ice hit, except it was on turf and it was against the Guatemalan defender. So not in the sport of soccer. Right, so none of those things were good. And Jacob Schaffler, I'll put it, I'll say it straight out.

If Schaffler doesn't take that red and Canada has 11 men, they're winning that game and probably winning it with ease. Guatemala wasn't good. Guatemala is not good. You can't lose to Guatemala under any circumstances. That was gotta be one of the biggest wins in Guatemalan soccer history.

Canada is 70 spots ahead of Guatemala in the FIFA rankings. They never made the World Cup. They're 106th in the world, right? They fought hard and I'll give them a ton of credit, but their talent pool is super shallow and they don't have a lot of good players. But they were able to grind out a result yesterday

against a very, very average looking Canadian squad. I have no idea. I'll just one more. I have no idea. No idea why Jesse Marsh thought down to 10 men with Buchanan hurt and Jonathan David clearly running out of gas that the idea was to go with three strikers. I don't, I know what he was thinking. The mentality was mentality was we're always gonna be on the front foot This is our identity. We're gonna go and go and go But that's the antithesis of we want to win if you want to win you pull out all the stops to win you had a One-nil lead and your goal was to protect that one-nil lead not to go up to nil and it's crazy

I mean correct me if that was a counter-attack that that that there was a lot that happened I'm a Guatemala scored. I mean Cornelius went down trying to draw a foul and it stayed down which was a Cardinals in in that moment He did because he's a central defender and by the time he got up He was out of position and the cross got whipped and he was in no Position to deal with it and the header came in and it was really the only nice cross. It was. And it was really only the really good chance that Guatemala had in the half. I think they hit side netting one other time that they weren't producing a

ton of chances. It was very disappointing for Canada. All of the scorn and angst that the program and Marsha getting right now is deserved because it's not like they went out against the U.S. or Mexico. I'd even throw maybe like a went out against the US or Mexico. I'd even throw maybe like a Costa Rica in the mix because they played very well. They went out against Guatemala and you have to be able to beat that team. You just have to at this stage of your evolution. Yeah, because now they've blown.

I mean, winning the gold cup, I personally like whatever, but I wanted to see them get tested. And well, I mean, they got tested yesterday and they failed, but I wanted to see them play the Americans in the gold cup down in the United States. In front of a hostile environment. And then hopefully if you beat the Americans, you get to play Mexico because these are the types of tests that Canada needs heading to the world cup. Now they're just, they don't get any more games.

You don't get any more games out of this tournament. And it's friendlies from now on, right? That's their prep for the World Cup friendlies. Their next competitive match is going to be their opening match of the 2026 World Cup. Yeah. And that is probably the biggest failing of this whole tournament is that this was their opportunity to play games that mattered. And you saw it from the Central American countries that they played,

right? Like El Salvador was nasty as all ghetto. But they, I mean, they were in there, like they were in the fight. There was like a lit, an actual fight. I think there was a knife involved in one point, but, and then Guatemala was the same and to a lesser degree, like curse how was the same, like they were fighting because they took the competition seriously. So it was a good test and unfortunately Canada failed it miserably, miserably yesterday. It's a very disappointing exit.

Uh, one note on the BC Lions, it's not a good start to the season for the Lions. They began with a good win over Edmonton, but the Elks aren't very good. And the story of that game was probably more Snoop Dogg. Nathan Rourke did look good in that game, um, especially in the second half. But then he got hurt in Winnipeg and they

lost to the Bombers. And then Jeremiah Mazzoli made the start in their third game also against the Bombers, this time at BC Plays. It did not go well. And Jeremiah Mazzoli was looking okay over the weekend in Saskatchewan. And then he made this again, this, the lines were,

it was the end of the first half, the lines were in field goal position where if they had hit the field goal, they would have taken a one point lead into the half. Great. In Saskatchewan, that's awesome. That's a great first half. Instead, he throws it wide out and in the CFL it was like, I don't know, a 200 yard throw to the sidelines. It felt like it was in the air for an hour. And you know, he got tricked. He got tricked by the Saskatchewan player that made a really good play on the ball, but I mean,

you can't, it's such a reckless, dumb throw to make, pick six all the way back and all of a sudden you were thinking, oh, maybe we'll have a one point lead or some other lead going into the second half. And all of a sudden you're down like what was it? No, that made it 14, or sorry, that made it 16-7 because it would have been 10-7 if they kicked the field.

Yeah, exactly. Right, and then the game was over. That was it. Yeah, Saskatchewan came out on the other side of the half score, another touchdown, game's over. So I don't worry too much in the CFL early in the season. I mean, the Lions famously once started what, 0-6 or something and won the Grey Cup.

You just have to make the league and make the playoffs and be rolling well. But I don't think their only problem is that Nathan Rourke is hurt. There's more going on there. It's the main problem, but it's not the only problem. The problem is it puts so much pressure on every other unit to be nearly perfect when

you can't put up. No, I'm talking about when Rourke gets back. Cause I expect him to be back and I expect him to play well, but this Lions team just looks like it's got a lot of problems right now. I know. And I do feel bad for Mazzoli cause I think he's in a no win situation.

I don't think he's physically capable of playing. And this is maybe a failing on the general manager, this is their backup plan There needed to be something more than this because the falloff from work to miss only is too much and look there was I mean I was watching the coverage of the game on the weekend and people that love Jeremiah Missoli And he's a great character and apparently he's like one of the best people in the CFL They knew that they had to critique him because the play was that poor so they were trying to couch it like he's one of The greatest guys in this league and he's a warrior him because the play was that poor. So they were trying to couch it with like, he's one of the greatest guys in this league and he's a

warrior, but the play was that poor. Okay. Sam Cosentino is going to join us next. We'll talk about what the Canucks drafted, especially Braden Coots, who they took 15th overall. Yeah, they actually made the pick and we'll talk to Sam about the draft format because poor Sam had to work it and he might choose his words carefully,

but I imagine that was a long day for all the broadcasters working that event. You're listening to the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I need to remind you that tomorrow is the start of NHL Free Agency and coverage of NHL Free Agency 2025 is brought to you by Holmes,

by David L. Young of Dexter Realty. Here, there, everywhere, visit HolmesbyDavidLYoung.com.