Halford & Brough in the Morning - Updates On Quinn Hughes' Future With The Canucks

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the latest Canada Soccer news with Footy Prime Podcast's James Sharman (2:02), plus the boys discuss Quinn Hughes' future with the Canucks (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

704 on a Wednesday. 704 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Alfred Brough, Sportsnet 650. This is Kraftwerk Life as a Stoogat. Halver de Brough of the Morning is brought you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com.

We are in hour two of the program now. You hit that nicely. Thank you. That was well done. Totally by accident. I have no idea where this song is going. Play cool. Play cool. Hour two of this program is bradette.

at Jason Hominock at Jason. Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. Dot mortgage. Here we go. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio. Kintech, footwear and orthotics.

Working together with you at Step. Just hang up on Sharman. No, don't do that. This weekend. Actually, I should be clear. It's Friday and then Tuesday. Oh, book-ending the weekend. Canada's going to play in a pair of friendlies

in preparation for the 2026 World Cup. They're in Romania on Friday. They're in Wales on Tuesday. There's a lot going on with Canadian soccer and the Canadian men's national team. So who better to get on, courtesy the Power West Industries hotline. Footie Prime podcast Sportsnet Soccer contributor,

James Sharman here. on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, James. How are you? Good morning, boys. Doing great thanks. And yeah, you're right. Exciting times. Finally, there's some more matches to talk about. And a lot of transfers to talk about as well.

Your most recent piece up on Sportsnet.com running through the flurry of transfers involving Canadian players going from either MLS to a European club or one European club or one European club. My first question, the big picture one, how integral a role is the Canadian gaffer Jesse Marsh playing in all of these transfers with an eye on making sure these guys get the requisite playing time and experience

ahead of the 2026 World Cup? Massive. There's no doubt. We were talking to Jesse Marsh last week and he was saying that maybe he should become an agent. He spends much of his days the last few weeks sourcing out clubs. He's so connected, right?

He played obviously for a long time and then coached in Europe. with the Red Bull organization leads. He knows a lot of people in world football. And especially at clubs where, you know, obviously he knows names at big clubs, but maybe that second echelon level of club where these players really fit.

So the way it transfers work nowadays too. It's not even about just calling the club up. It's about what agent you know, who the club's dealing with. Will they talk to the players agent? It's very convoluted. It's a dirty business, let's put it that way. But yeah, Jesse Marsh knows a lot of,

people and he knows the best fits for his players and as I wrote in the column it's all about playing time for these guys. The World Cup is left a year away there's no point getting that dream move to a club and then sitting on the bench not playing, right? You need minutes and that's I think part of the reason why

he's become so involved in finding homes for these players. And we've seen a couple of the early ones pay off already, Jonathan David, Yvese scoring early within his debut. Tejohn Buchanan, you can't say enough of what he's done at Villa Rail. So we'll park those for a sec because they've

a little bit more established in terms of the transfers and getting into the squads of the recent ones, and I'm thinking of guys like Laren and Olo O'Shea and maybe a couple other ones, what's going to be the most profound transfer in terms of impacting the national team at the World Cup if you had to guess right now? Yeah, it's a good question.

I mean, where are the question marks for this team? Well, there's several who plays beside Jonathan David up front. Who's going to partner Stefan Yostakio in the midfield? who's playing perhaps right back or left back depending on the health of Alison Johnston and the front of Davis.

So, you know, you can pick any of those positions so stung up front. But Kyle Laron move to Fire Nord is really interesting. He's established as one of Canada's top players, one of the big leaders in this group. Jesse Marsh loves Carl Laren, knows what he can do, but he fully admits he hasn't been on top form

for a year or so. Last year at Mallorca, it didn't really pan out under a new manager. So he's engineered a move to Feyenoid in the Dutch Eridavizi, a really, really good team, a big club. I think there's three-no to start the campaign. Can he get in there? You know, playing time. Carl Aaron's backing on himself here.

He's shown in the past that he can play at that level. So to me, that's a really big one because I think in a perfect world, you know, Jesse Marsh knows that Laren does work pretty well with Jonathan David. But then you have the promised Davids of the world just waiting for their chance and promise, although he's not. starting at the moment for the Union San Geloas in Belgium, he's scoring goals. So there's competition there. You then go to that midfield someone like Natanz Saliba

who's just gone to Andalette played really well so far. I've got a red card, mind you last week. Is he going to be the air apparent for the long term for Atiba Hutchinson? Can he's Melconi get in there who moved this summer as well? Just to swallow in the series. There's so much

movement. It's tough to say where you begin, but let's begin up top. And with that Carl Laran I think. What about Olo O'Shea? Because he's going to Villarreal and the added tweak there, which is really intriguing, is that he gets to play

with another fellow Canadian in Teja on Buchanan. Now it's going to be a tough squad to break into. They're off to a good start. And La League is a very difficult league. But I feel like that one might be the one

that could pay the highest dividends because not only could he get some really big minutes and moments playing in a top flight European League, but he also gets to play with a Canadian and build some more chemistry that way. Yeah, it's a really fascinating chance for that one.

VREL has mentioned is a big club and they're playing Champions League football this year. Tanny just experienced in MLS where he's

a starter for Minnesota scored lots of goals a really strong big center forward and the manager at VREO Marcelino loves

those types of players they lost three attackers big name attackers this passed off season so it made sense for him to move there but then at the deadline they spent $35 million

on another striker so you know you wonder he'll be in a battle there for minutes I think it's fair to say but has he got the ability absolutely right he's not an old guy

he's not super young I think he's 24 so that's a fascinating one but again he's I'm sure he's spoken to Tays and Buchanan about this and where the opportunity lies at VRER but maybe he's the next star

for Canada within European football I think he's got all the tools for that but it doesn't mean that will happen right will he become Carl Aaron right a guy that's a good player who plays for several leagues, several teams over his career, but never becomes perhaps that man. I don't know.

We're going to wait and see, but that is an interesting one. We're speaking to James Sharman from the Footy Prime podcast and SportsNet Soccer contributor here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. James, if you had to guess right now, it's September 3rd, 2025. World Cup is still a few months away, but it's getting closer and closer.

Who would Canada's starting keeper be at the World Cup? I thought this one might come. Thanks. This is again, semi-fascinating questions, right? I think it's Danes Sinclair. I really do. If you look at the bigger games in the last year or so,

he's been given the gloves by Jesse Marsh. He loves his profile. He's a big guy, typical modern goalkeeper. Although he's at his moments, you know, where he hasn't been that great

in recent games. He plays every week in MLS, whereas his competition, Max Kropo, who, ago, we'd say he's the guy, right? And he had a great copo America. He's so brave. Everyone loves Max. But he can't keep his

gloves, keep his team, keep the starting spot at Portland. For some reason, Phil Neville keeps going for James Pentemis, another Canadian who can't even make this squad right now for Canada. So I think playing time has mentioned is key. So I think it's going to be

Dan St. Clair. You know, there's some interesting names there. Jaden Hibbert's being called up for the first time. He's a young guy playing for Atlanta, really well as he gets the gloves the first time the last few weeks. I think it's too early for him, mind you. So I think it's going to be Dane. I think it's a nice problem to have. You've got a tough, perhaps a goalkeeper controversy brewing there, which isn't always the worst thing in the world. But I think it's going to be Dane Sinclair.

This is something that Halfer and I have talked about a few times on this show. And I'm wondering how much you've wondered how Canada will face the pressure of the World Cup. and whether or not they'll be able to keep their composure in the key situations. That is a big question, and it's something that Jesse Marsh is well aware of. He's mentioned it privately to his players and publicly how vocal leadership is key for this group. And we saw, I think we spoke about this at the Gold Cup. It seemed to me that some of these teams had Canada's number. They went at them physically.

They knew they could get under Canada's skin and really upset that, composure. And we saw against Guatemala where Jesse Marsh said we beat ourselves. There was a match earlier in the tournament. Was it, which game was that? Was it the, I forget the one. My brain stopped working as early in the morning, even here. Where they were just

you know, it was a terrible game. Curacao? I think it was. Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's the one. They went from them physically and Canada kind of lost composure in that one. So World Cup at home, even though they're playing just one game potentially at home, right? You know, with Vancouver

mainly, but once you get past a knockout phase, fingers crossed, it gets better from there. It's a problem, and that's why I think you've seen someone like junior hoilett get called up to this squad. He's 35 years old. He's been around the block, hasn't been in recent squads. Now, yes, he's based in Europe, and maybe that's why this European camp, they picked him. But he's someone that has that composure, has that voice in the room. You know, it's a team. I spoke to Joe Waterman yesterday about this, and asked him, you know, is there a lack of leadership on this team? He said, no, there isn't.

There's some vocal members of this squad, but they're not that vocal, and most of the strong leaders are the strong silent type. Jonathan Bable was brought up. He said, you know, John doesn't say very much, but when he speaks, we listen. But you might need someone to really kind of grab that team by the scuff their neck

in those tough, tough, high-pressure situations at a World Cup and really calm them down. Man, would Jesse Marsh love to have a team Hutchinson in this squad? I just don't think he's there right now. Well, I sometimes wonder about Jesse Marsh as well because he's a guy that brings heat on his team with some of the things he says sometimes.

Yep, and he's been suspended because of it. I do wonder the same thing sometimes. Does that, you know, we're Canadian boys, we have grit, you know, we won't back down to anyone. Does he go too far? Does that come from the top? Has he got to take a breath now and say, okay, I've established my philosophy.

My players know what I expect of them, but I've got to now be that, that voice of reason and that composure on the sidelines because you don't want to get the wrong sort of officials and in Concord Calfe, you're going to get the wrong set of officials at a World Cup maybe less so, but I think it's a really good point that Jesse Marsh, and he knows

this. I think he's very strategic as Jesse Marsh. He started out being that big voice, questioning the officiating in Concordcaf, saying why are we treated so badly, that big old chip in their shoulder, I think I'm going to see a new Jesse Marsh now as you're playing less teams in Concordcaf, more teams from Europe and from South

America. I think you'll see a new manager there. You know, it's a bit of a tricky dynamic for Marshall. I know we touched on this already, but I just wanted to reiterate. Sometimes you get handed a gift where your best player is also your leader in terms of the qualities and the personality.

But if you look at the two guys that I would probably put at the forefront right now in terms of being the best players, you'd say it's Davies when he's healthy. And Jonathan David, neither of whom have the real profile of the classic arm band wearing captain slash leader. It's probably other guys.

I look at a guy like maybe Eustacio, but the problem with Eustacio is he's not the team's best player, and he's having a hard time getting minutes at Porto. And sometimes when you try and foist leadership upon someone, it doesn't work because the pressure's too much or they just don't have the shoulders to bear it. I do wonder if Marsh calling on leaders will have someone step to the forefront, or if he's going to be forced to kind of push that leadership onto someone

who's maybe not a natural leader. Yeah, it's interesting with Alfonso Davis, obviously given that arm band before Copa, and there were some people that said, man, he's not really that kind of leader. No. They had that great performance at Copa, so that kind of went away.

But you're right. I think it's modern sports, though, guys, isn't it? Where the best player gets to see or gets the armband to hell whether they can actually lead or not. If you're a leader, you're going to lead regardless. But I agree with you. Yastakio is the voice in that pitch.

He's the general. You see him. He's the one talking to the referee. most matches. But like you said, he's flying for minutes. There was talking about him leaving Porto this transfer window. Alison Johnson is another guy. He's won the armband for Celtic in Scotland. You tell me he couldn't wear it for Canada? I mean, come on. He's a leader. So those players are there. I think the armband is irrelevant. I think you're going to lead regardless of, you know, whether you have that, you know, black armband on your shoulder or not. So those players are

in the team, but there aren't that many. I think for a date, David, for example. I mean, I'd rather he just worried about scoring goals, quite honestly. Sure. Often, you know, it's not often you get strikers, well, you know, world-class strikers who also are that backbone of the team. They just worry about, they're selfish, right? They worry about scoring goals. Just keep it that way. And let the other guys worry about leading this team. So we'll see. Richie Luray is a player, you know, who's been around a block a few times. He provides a voice. I was surprised that Jonathan Azario didn't get the call up this time around.

And that could just be because it's a European base camp. I see he's past his best but he's an older player in his 30s, captain's TFC he's always a composed figure out there so there are those players available but we'll see what Jesse Marsh does but I wouldn't worry too much about

who's got the armband listen, Ophonson Davis, as good as he is and the injury is really concerning he's got some bridges to mend I think with this club from the injury where his club went after Canada soccer publicly and he still doesn't say anything about it himself

and you wonder how he sits, you know, within that room. So there's a lot of question marks regarding that for sure, but I think with the Estacios and the Johnstons, when he's healthy, of course, they should be in decent shape. James, I always try and force in a question about England. And England, as always, in such a tough qualifying group for the World Cup, they've got Andorra on Saturday. Our House.

How are you feeling about them? Because I'm not, I'm not feeling the vibe. yet and Thomas Tuchel kind of put his foot in his own mouth with some comments about Jude Bellingham and there have been some kind of like weird call-ups and I just I don't know what to expect from this England team at the World Cup and for me this is really exciting because I'm hoping to actually go see England for the for the first time lives if I can afford it I don't know what ticket prices are going to be for for that sort of thing but I think you know a lot of people have their own, you know, countries besides Canada that they root for internationally

that they're hoping to maybe see with the World Cup being in North America. And so I'm especially curious about England this year. You know, I think the lack of vibes is a good thing. You know, maybe it be one of those World Cups where the expectations are a little bit more under control. And maybe that helps the team. That being said, we know how the British media operates. So it has to build up to the World Cup starts. And I'm sure they'll be elevated to an unfair platform.

You know, I saw the squad announced as well, and I thought, man, it's just not quite the same as previous editions, right? It does lack that superpower, I think, to a certain degree. When Jude Bellingham's having some issues there, who's probably their most important player, that raises him some concerns. Thomas Tugle's got to get this thing right. He's come off a couple of not so great results as well. The targets are on his bat because he's not English. He's a German, you know, God forbid. But he's a pretty small guy.

I think you'll put the best team on the pitch as opposed to the best individuals, which is what, you know, previous managers seem to have done over and over again. So can they build on the finals, the Euros and decent World Cup performance under Garras Southgate, where they were still criticised? I don't know, but I think this lack of expectation compared to usual is probably a good thing. It's still a very good team that's not kidding ourselves. And there's a lot of young players there looking to prove themselves. Some players have moved to big clubs.

Look at EBS, for example. could be key for this team. He's gone to Arsenal. That's a big step up from Crystal Palace. So, you know, I'm cautiously optimistic about England's hopes at this World Cup, assuming they'll get there, which they will. But, yeah, it hasn't got that star value. I still think of this, Stephen Gerard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney teams.

And what do they do? Not much. So, hey, just be happy. James, this was great. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. enjoy the next little bit. Lots of footy on the horizon,

including two games for Canada on Friday and Sunday. We'll do this again soon. Or Tuesday, sorry. Sounds good, guys. Looking forward to it. Yep, thank you. James Sharman, Canadian soccer, analyst on the Footy Prime podcast

and a SportsNet Soccer contributor here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. I'm just sorry. It's Romania Friday. It's Wales on Tuesday. Those are the next two Canadian national team games. Okay, so let's wet our whistle a little bit

for the next segment. Because there is an interview posted on Sportsnet.ca, the article and the interview done by Ian McIntyre and the subject, Quinn Hughes. And the article starts with IMAC writing after the summer to process a winter of upheaval with the Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes said Tuesday he hasn't made any decisions about his long-term future with the team. and Hughes very smartly, I think, says one thing I'm really good at is I'm very present. I can't even sign for another year, so there's nothing I can do. As far as the noise about his future, I can handle the noise. That's why I'm the captain of the team, because I can handle these things and I can play in an elite level, and it doesn't matter what's going on around me.

uh he said uh as far as the noise around my teammates i'm going to try to help everyone else to and be as good a leader as i can be noise doesn't bother me it's a long year and i'm just going to be day to day and focus on the short term that's the truth honestly so when you finish a sentence and a big kind of monologue with that's the truth honestly it's definitely the truth he's never he's not going to think about his future with the team at all because He's going to be so present, and that's the truth, honestly. That's what someone who is telling the truth would say. I think he is pretty good at staying present.

I think really good hockey players are, but I think it's going to be a huge challenge for, I don't care if you're like a Zen master. You meditate every day for six hours. Well, there's going to be a lot of noise. There's going to be a lot of noise. There's going to be a lot of questions, and whether he wants to think about it or not.

it's going to be a challenge because people are going to be asking about it. And it's a huge decision in his life. So to think that it won't enter his thoughts is kind of ridiculous. We'll talk more about Quinn Hughes on the other side. He's also got some comments on Elias Pedersen and his new head coach, Adam Foote, as well as the departure of Rick Tocket. We can get into some other stuff around the NHL if we want to talk about an article that

Mark Specter wrote about Connor McDavid where he acknowledges like hey there are some things for Connor maybe to think about about whether or not he wants to resign with the Edmonton Oilers and also if we have time

we can wait into some comments that Mitch Marner made about feeling safe in Toronto and what the Leafs and other teams can do about that sort of thing I'm not sure if there really is anything to do about idiots on social media, but we can talk about it.

You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Crosby. Rust. And that's broken up by Patterson. Back comes Quinn Hughes. Into the Pittsburgh zone. Hughes drags left.

Nice move. Shoots. He scores. Forty seconds in the third. A solo dash by Quinn Hughes. 732 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford, Brough, Sportsnet, 650.

Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We're an hour two of the program. What's more?

We're at the midway point of the show. Hour two of this program is brought to by Jason Homonock at Jason. dot mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. I am joking, of course. Let him do exactly that. Visit him online at jason

dot mortgage. So, loving the tunes is more. Should we go through a few more Quinn Hughes quotes and try and parse his words? Oh, sure. Why not? Let's twist his words to fit our narrative. Wait, what? So we already talked about

Hughes basically saying like I haven't decided on my future and I'm just going to stay present. He did talk about last year being a challenge and he said every year brings its different challenges to my best buddies and he's talking about Garland and Besser just signed in Vancouver long term. I will say last year was not fun. It just wasn't, but I'm a really competitive guy. Last year was a failure, so I'm trying to bring my best, try to be a great leader and help my team get in the playoffs. Who knows what we can do and who knows how I'll be feeling this time next year. It's still a year away. Maybe that's the key quote. Who knows how I'll be feeling this time next year? Lots to be decided. I think we've, uh,

I think we've laid it out fairly thoroughly over the course of this summer in the dearth of actual news that was presented to us that this season is profoundly important for the future of this organization. Yes, this year is profoundly important to get back into the playoffs, but that's more of an immediacy thing. This year, you do have, thanks to the contract and the length of it, you do have an opportunity to write the wrongs from last year.

you do especially when it comes to Hughes and let's be honest priorities this season priority one it's making the playoffs and then 1A is probably making sure that Quinn Hughes is happy that he's having a better time than he did last year where he admitted on the record

it was not fun that's the big takeaway for me well look I just think if that you know PD can have a bounce back and the team can stay healthy That's all it needs. I did give Lattie a bit of a heads up. I was ready.

I was ready. You didn't need the heads up. Don't tell him how the sausage is made. It's a secret. Worst case scenario if he misses it, I can just go, bam, bomb, I got a backup right here. Yeah.

I can test you guys, though. I'll be like, oh, we're listening. You're going to, like, whisper it into the microphone. I didn't hear it. That's a little thing we were doing yesterday in case you have no idea what just happened. but, you know, everyone pointing out the fact that if Elias Pedersen can bounce back and the team can stay healthy,

they've got a chance at making the playoffs. Speaking of Elias Pedersen, yes. He said, you know, I've been PD's biggest supporter throughout everything. When I was a rookie and he was a sophomore, we were kind of similar guys in that we were both on the quiet side reserved, but we both loved hockey. And we were both smaller guys growing up and we had to find a way to be good. And I think that was through our hockey sense in the way we saw the game. As far as Petey, I mean we need him. You don't get to the level PD was at without having extreme dedication and focus and some things inside you.

I've seen it from him and I think he's going to be great I think he's happy think he's had a great summer and I'm looking forward to seeing him do I think he's going to have a better year yeah because he's a really good player but it's going to be up to him

about how good a year he has so there is some real positivity sure and some and a show of support from Quinn Hughes but also an acknowledgement that we can't do it for him.

Yeah. It's just the approach. And the approach is fundamentally different than the, oh, I don't know, J.T. Miller approach. And part of this has to do with the fact that Hughes and Pedersen are friends. They like each other on a personal level where I don't, I mean, straight on, I don't think Miller and Patterson liked each other. Yeah. And I think that's pretty obvious. They didn't vibe. We weren't best friends. Yeah.

Weren't even friends. Never mind best. This is also another. big part of Hughes's future though because he knows that whatever happens in Vancouver is going to be immediately tied to the Pedersen trajectory and there is a common

theme throughout this interview with IMAQ where he talks about the guys that he has in Vancouver not just being his teammates but being his friends Garland, Besser Pedersen everyone understands what the draw of another market specifically

his brothers in New Jersey holds. But there is something to be said for what Vancouver presents him in terms of guys that he's come up with in the National Hockey League, guys that he's familiar with, guys that he knows what they can do, how they play, how he plays with them. And there's some value to that. But the biggest issue is what they're going to be able to do this year to prove if last year was a blip or last year was the first in a cascade downward.

And no one has a really great predictor on that right now. We talked about it a lot yesterday. We have ideas of what we think might happen with the dramatic chipmunk music and everything. There's two big issues hanging in the balance. One is Pedersen and one is the health of the team. People are going to get real sick of that real quick. Starting to feel it myself.

Mission accomplished. But the added thing now is that the stakes aren't, just getting back to the postseason. It's setting the table so that your captain and best player doesn't want to further entertain the idea of leaving. Now, the big question, people have texted this in as well to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket at 650, 650 is if you were to put Hughes' feet to the fire right now

and maybe in an off camera, off the record, quiet moment, ask them, what are you going to do? Has he already made his mind up? Great question. don't know I love in the article how he kept being like oh man last year

was so stressful it's so obvious I just completely wore him out like I have to expect him to be like yeah I took up smoking at one point pack a day pretty much like it just seems like if it's like traumatized those 14 games that I didn't play last year

I was doing other things there's a lot that's riding on that there's a lot that's riding on that and he's gonna here's the other one prediction I can I think I can safely have, is that the can is going to be kicked down the road the entire season. When he says,

I can handle the noise, that's the interesting one to me, because this is a very important year. In terms of dealing with questions, the natural ones from the local media, when you go out on the road, you've got the road questions. You've also got an Olympic year,

and you've got a hugely important, this isn't just your regular run-of-the-mill Olympic team. NHLers haven't been back in a long time. There's going to be a ton of focus. on this. The amount of think pieces and articles that came out of the summer camps where they basically just kind of met and, you know, shot the

breeze. There's a lot there as well. Is Quinn the American's best player? He's in the running, man. Yep. He's in the running. And he missed four nations. And you didn't get to play in four nations. And you know that all those guys are holding that. The guys that didn't get to play, have a special yearning to get into it.

And the guys that did, they already have the yearning because they lost in the final. There's, I mean, so that is going to be a big driving force of this season. If things aren't going great with Vancouver, is that going to impact things? If it is going to go into the Olympics on high? Could this be a year where he has great success?

I'm selling like a soccer punt in here, but with both club and country. And he's like, all right. Like I'm at a good place. I'm in a happy place in my career. I want to keep it together. All these things are on the table. I think on the other hand,

if the Canucks aren't in a playoff position by the trade down, that's when the talk can start. Mm-hmm. Because that way you could offer a team two years guaranteed of Hughes in the postseason, which could juice the return pretty significantly if you have to get to the point where you have to trade them.

But let's cross that bridge when we get to it. If we get to it, hopefully we don't. The quote that stood out to me was, who knows what we can do and how, who knows what we can do can do, and who knows how I'll be feeling this time next year. Yeah. It's still a year away. I think that's still a year a while because it's just pretty much going to be like,

look, if we miss the playoffs and we're off and we have another year like we did last year, yeah, I might want to try a different team. And we'd all be like, yeah. We understand. We would too. Yeah, but if we can't. But if the team makes the playoffs and they have a decent run, then he might be like, you know what, I believe in this squad.

I want to stay. So, like, obviously, it totally makes sense that he would like punt on that because it's like, I just want to see how this year goes because, like, last year was so traumatizing clearly for him and I don't want another one of those years so it's up to the team collectively to come together and help me decide that I want to stay well it's not dissimilar to what Connor McDavid is looking at sure in Edmonton totally you know except the Conn McDavid doesn't have two brothers playing on another NHL team and he's had a lot more success his brother's just the guy works at a paving company somewhere I think I don't know no no but you know I think I think

you're looking at, okay, well, what am I signing up for not just staying this season or the next season, you're looking at a commitment through your prime years. And even if that's a, in McDavid's case, or I guess in Quinn Hughes case, even if you're not going for the full eight years, even if it's just three or four, oh, we've seen that, and I'm talking about Edmonton here, when a team gets old and they can't replace those players, it gets real hard, real quick. Sure. You need a,

if you're appealing to a superstar player, I think you do need to show the entire arsenal of what you've got as an organization, not just at the NHL level, but even below. But what could the Oilers say to McDavid that would convince them that they've, we got it. We're good here because they haven't been able to solve the goaltending thing for two years. and they still haven't solved it. I don't think that they can,

and I think that's why they're in the situation that they're in where this thing continues. It's now September, and he's not signed. You know what the Canucks could do for Hughes, though? Speaking of young players in the pipeline, maybe, just maybe, they could get Braden Coots in the mix this year. Yeah, that's a, that's a,

I was reading Drance's piece in the athletic where he's talking about the 23 men roster for the Canucks and who's a lock, who might challenge, and the final category was the dark horse and braiding coots was that because he's got pedigree he's a first round draft pick

and he skates well he's a center and he's a right shot center they don't have a right shot center so I I do think that Coots is going to be a story at training camp I think he's a long shot

to make the team but I could see maybe if the roster allows it like waivers doesn't put anyone at risk do they give him a bit of a run because you could play nine games and then get sent back

to the dub I really do wonder about that the right shot center thing is interesting because even though he's right shot like how is he going to be it at faceoffs at the NHL level do you know what I mean?

Yep and like a lot of the times if you're putting out a guy and you're like okay well we really need a faceoff win here you know it's a defensive zone faceoff usually it's an important one are you going to put brain and coots out for that

probably not probably not unless he shows an affinity or an adeptness for he ticks all the boxes except for he's except for like age and experience he's incredibly young and it would be asking a lot I've had this conversation before

with the big picture NHL stuff with the league expanding and the need for more players and high end players will there be a slow acknowledgement across the league that you are going to have to fast track more of these first round picks

we'll never get to the point of the National Football League where you're getting a first round pick is a day one starter throughout the first round. I don't think we'll ever get there. You think the NHL players are drafted too young and there's just the maturing physically that needs to happen.

What won't happen? That being said, if you're in the situation that the connects around, I do think you have to at least explore it, in part because you've got such a lack of depth at the center. And you may as well see what you've got. I know that people are going to say, Vertan and McCann,

they're going to throw it out there. and there's validity to it because it was a bad decision and history has suggested that it was not the right move but it was also almost a decade ago and a few things have changed I think the league has changed this is not those prospects it's a different player entirely

everyone's got a different maturity level at that age too we don't really know much about Braden Coots but everything suggests that he is a leader someone texted and said if Coots makes the team they have a problem well they already do have a problem. Yeah. Like,

their problem is their depth down the middle. If Coots makes the team, it accentuates the problem or highlights it for

the rest of the league. But maybe he's part of, maybe he's part of the solution. Well, you would know. Maybe,

maybe, like, it, okay, um, Max Sasson, Ty Mueller, Brayden Coots,

Nils Amon. Mm-hmm. Like, is, isn't it, isn't it not crazy to suggest that Coots might be able to,

beat out Max Sasson, Nils Amon, or Ty Mueller? The only thing, the only thing that's holding it back. I don't think that's insane to suggest that. There is an element of the industry's collective think on this, which is

you don't rush these guys. And I know Philadelphia tried it with Jet Lechenko and gave a handful of games. And I think that's a very different circumstance because Philadelphia was not a good team and they were bad all last year. And you couldn't really properly insulate the guy. Desperate times do call for desperate measures, and I don't know if this would qualify as capital

D desperate, but it would certainly be outside the norm, because the general school of thought is with a first round pick, a mid-round pick, we're not talking one, two, or three overall. You send that player back for more seasoning and more time at whatever level. That being said, it is intriguing because, well, part of this has to do with the fact that I don't think anyone anticipated the connection. We're going to make that pick at 15, right? Going into the draft, we'd all just naturally assume that that pick was going to be packaged with something

to address the roster problems. I want to talk a little bit about what Quinn Hughes had to say about Adam Foote because it's actually kind of funny. And IMAQ notes, and we all know this, soon after Adam Foote was hired, he met with Hughes, Pedersen and Demcoe in Detroit. The golf trip. to have dinner and play golf and talk about the team and leadership.

And by the way, when that happened, I think everyone should have known that, like, Dempco was staying. He wasn't getting traded. And then quite famously, I suppose, Pedersen flew over from Sweden for that talk. And the organization was really happy that Pedersen was willing to do that. IMAQ notes that there were subsequent Zoom meetings. Love Zoom meetings. Love a good Zoom. between Foote and the Canucks larger leadership group.

And he said, he wrote, Foot has been so eager to grow relationships with players that Hughes, needing to decompress, had to tell his new head coach at one point that he wouldn't be answering the phone for a couple of weeks. And then Hughes is quoted as saying, if I didn't tell him that, he'd have been on the phone with me every four or five days.

He's been really great at communicating and no one's more excited for the season than him. You're coming on a little strong. You have 96 missed voice bills from Adam Foote. I was one of the takeaways. When we had foot on the show, when we had foot on the show, that was one of the big takeaways.

How many times did he mention the importance that he felt? Team building, camaraderie, dinners, family gatherings, all this stuff really mattered to him. So it's not surprising that he, you know, and it's his first job. You know, first head coaching job. Everyone, you know, you all remember when you got your first big job. Mm-hmm.

Right? Maybe you go a little overboard. maybe you start asking people to go for lunch that don't want to go for lunch with you, but you ask, you're trying to be a good guy around the office? This is quite a quote too. This is from Quinn Hughes and he's talking about how Adam Foote

is trying to make the Canucks a better team, which is good because he's the coach and that's the main job. But Hughes said, let's be honest, we're not going to be the most skilled team. But we can have the hardest working team. We can have a team I mean you look at Florida

and they have a ton of talent but they're a team and that's something we can be that is actually somewhat reminiscent of... We could definitely be a hockey team Who's the who's the senator's guy? It's like what is one... Dorian.

Yeah I know what is one thing that you can say that gives the fans some hope he's like we're a team well we will definitely be a hockey team this year Touche Pierre but look we all know what he's saying and we all know what happened last season when they weren't a team they they weren't all getting along I I keep I keep coming back to the power play last season

and uh I just wonder what some of those power play meetings were like and what it was like there were times I was watching the power play and I'm like I don't think that guy wants to pass the puck to that guy what guys are you? possibly talking about it was just it was so weird and then at one point talk it split them up p.d and jt and he said these guys need a break from each other and like if you have those sorts of situations playing out in your team like that's that's you're not a team and and and you're you're right to bring up what what adam foot said in our in our talk with him when he was like so excited about doing some team building activities, even if that is just

having dinner and making sure that everyone's invited to dinner and making sure that there aren't any, as he put it, any young guys having dinner alone on the road. Right. Right. And a lot of that comes back to leadership. And it is a tough job for a guy like Quinn Hughes to be like, is everyone happy? Like I know I've got to do a lot of things too, but when you are the captain of the team, you were also responsible for the players on it. That's why you're the captain, the captain. Well, Foot got this job in part.

And Rutherford explained this, you know, quite thoroughly. He got this job because he was on site and on scene to see everything that went wrong last year. And if you're able to experience what went wrong, theoretically, you're going to have an upper hand on making it right, as opposed to maybe, I don't know, Mani Malhotra, who wasn't there to see everything exactly as it deteriorated last year. You probably heard about it, but he wasn't there in the room. Foot was there. So for him to put that at the forefront of his, you know, early days in coaching isn't a huge surprise. He's going to have other things that he's going to need to do that aren't about the rah-rah and the camaraderie and the chemistry, where it's actual X's and O's and

everything else. But right now, it certainly seems, and again, this is. is an organizational narrative and mandate from last year that so much of what went wrong last year had to do with chemistry or a lack thereof, that that seems to be priority number one. And I think the the ricochet here is that that's going to help Hughes as well in terms of where his mentals are at and where he believes in this group, because you're going to need to turn the season around in terms of getting more wins and getting more points, but you also need to turn this season around in terms of being a cohesive unit, where everyone likes each other again. And they actually feel like they want to play for each other. They did not have

that at times last year. And I think that goes a long way with the fans. For sure. Even if you fail, as long as you know that the guys are getting along and they're trying hard and they're trying to sacrifice for each other. And they're doing, it sounds so silly. Like, are you doing your best? Are you doing your best? Are you all, do you all care as much about the Vancouver Canucks as we, for whatever reason, do? Okay, we got to go to break. We're up. For time. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions. It's another season of hard hits. Heeded rivalries and nonstop entertainment for tickets. Visit them online at BCLions.com and get ready to roar as one. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingle Magazine is going to join us on the other side. Don't forget to get your what we learns in. Dunbar Lumber Tech's line is 650. 650. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.