Halford & Brough in the Morning - Vancouver Has To Hit A Home Run At The Draft

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the latest baseball news & notes with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (1:38), plus the boys look ahead to the NHL Entry Draft and what the 'Nucks might do, as Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance (26:59) joins the show. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's time to chat with Adenan. It's Adnan Furkees on the show. We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for Adenan. Yes, Adnan Furke joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game. And talk about all the films he's seen. 7.03 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford, Brubb, Sportsnet, 650.

Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Are you drowning in tax debt if you are? Sands and Associates can often reduce your debt by 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. We are now in our two of the program. Adnan, Burt, from MLB Network. It's going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 2. Hour 2 is brought to by Jason Homunuck at Jason.org. If you love giving the banks more your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

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Our next guest is a presentation of Angry Otter Licker. Adnan Verk from MLV Network. us now on the Halford and Breff Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Adnan. How are you? Mike, Jason, I could use a virtual hug. We all know this as dads. We're all the dad's, listening. Nothing more painful than when you're coaching your kids' team and they lose. We had our rec league playoff game last night.

I knew we were the underdog. We're up one-nothing in the top of the first and led the entire game until they walked it off against us in the bottom of the fifth. We lose four-three. And my wife, after asking, so were the kids crying? I said, no, but I was on the verge of doing so. couldn't sleep until one of the morning. Tossing and turning. Should I put this guy in right field? Maybe I should have moved the line up around.

There's nothing better and also nothing worse. Yeah, let's dive deep into this because we were just criticizing Marty St. Louis for not having in-game adjustments yesterday, as the habs couldn't muster any offense. What changes could you have made at that kept you up to 1 o'clock in the morning? Well, the key, Mike and as you guys know, they call it Rec League Baseball Estates. I think back home we called House League, right? Meaning it's for fun. rotate guys through. So the rule is, at least one inning, a kid plays in the infield, and of course,

everyone bats. And I noticed on their team, Ozzie Smith was playing shortstop because they did not rotate any of their players. So I should have appealed and said, hey, man, you can't play your best players all the time in the infield. You're supposed to rotate. But I put my worst player in right field, and of course, as you guys know, the ball will find you. That is where the ball went. And I emphasize, Mike, I told these kids of the outfield, just keep the ball in. funny, it's okay if they get a hit. But of course, the ball bent it passed him, then he slipped, his throw is a wet noodle, and they get inside the park from underbeat it. It's absolutely. So this is funny.

This is amazing. In the Little League, I don't coach Little League anymore, but when I coached, one of the technical directors or whatever came up with this idea that every week you were going to have what he called a developmental game. And that was, flip your batting order, so the kids that are normally at the bottom go to the top and make sure that the kids don't pitch. I do that. Yeah. So, of course, there's the one coach who, like, decided to take issue with the notion of developmentally.

He's like, well, I am developing my best players. And that's why they're all pitching against you tonight. I'm like, come on, man. Like, the kid up there, I don't even know if he's right or left-handed. That's how poorly he throws. Like, you have to give me a break here. And I'm like, just don't embrace the spirit of developmental. Like, you should not be throwing your ace against us.

Anyway, we'll park the little league baseball stuff. We'll go to the majors now. I do want to start with the Jays because don't look now. The Jays have won six of their last eight. Not wildly impressive, but still six and eight is what it is. But I think it's impressive in the context of they are doing this with a rash of injuries that is across the pitching staff, starting rotation, bullpen, lineup, whatever. They are really banged up right now. And somehow the Jays are still managing to hang around this thing.

How much have you noticed what the Jays have done over this last little stretch ad, man? Well, one of the things that, to me, is so amusing, and it's indicative of just how awful the American League is. The Blue Jays, as presently constituted, are in a three-way tie for the third wildcard spot. Just let that sink in. This is a team that is below 500. And I've often said, by the way, if I was the commissioner of all pro sports, if you're sub-500, you're not allowed to make the playoffs. And I get particularly offended if you win a division. Like, you know, back in the day, the Chargers were seven and nine.

They'd win the West. Because this is a joke. You can't do that. So right now, I look at the American League West, the Mariners are right now in first place. If ever overtaking your A's, Mike, and I said, no, if you're some 500, you shouldn't be in the playoffs, you can't win the news or whatever. But point being, the Jays right now, despite what has been an injury marred first couple months of the season, generally underachieving from their stars like Vladimir Guerrera and George Springer,

they're still a wildcard team now. So imagine if they win a couple more games, June 1st. They're like, yeah, they feel like a wildcard team. It's a little laughable to me, but it's also undeniable. but they are playing better baseball. And to me, the strength of this team is their starting pitching. I was so concerned when Dylan sees from the aisle, I said, oh, my God. This one thing about this guy, he never gets hurt.

He is durable and he's a horse. So the fact that it's not a serious injury, it's just a hamstring discomfort. That's good news. Your Savage is obviously a stud. You know what you're getting with Gosman. And the offense is coming here a little bit. They still need to hit more. The fact that Vlad has three home runs is insane to me,

but they're playing better baseball. And as I said, they're very much in the wild card, Marys. is Otani real? Like, what he's doing right now is ridiculous. Yeah, brof, we have to go back and revisit the conversation I said to you guys, which is that, you know, when will he be deemed the greatest ever? Because, again, last night's game, you cannot take this for granted. He hit a home run and then shove for six innings.

Like, that just doesn't happen. Like, if you told me he pitched two winnings in relief and give him two runs, and all run I go, that's still remarkable. That is remarkable to do that. Instead, this guy hits a whole front, sets the tone. And there's six innings. He's virtually unhittable. No hits.

Like, it's remarkable what he's doing. This is what I'm saying. Like, how does that happen? Like, I was like, you know, my son said to this one, we're watching the hot one. He goes, well, he's not going to win the MVP this year. What are he talking about? He goes, when the offense isn't going to win the Sa Young.

If he wins the Sai Young, then he should win the MVP because he's doing both. He's still going to have an 8-H0.OPS. He's still above average hitter. He's not going to hit. 50 home runs, he could hit 35 home runs and be the best pitcher in the league. To me, that is another MVP. That would be a fifth MVP. And I said to you guys before, if he wins the Sall Young, then he's the greatest ever.

And games like that further burnish that legacy, which is still going as we watch him. As a pitcher, what is his best stuff? Like, we all know as a hitter, he's like, well, you know what? His best stuff is when he hits home runs, right? Like, he's really good at that. Yeah. But I sometimes feel like, and I'm probably just speaking. for me. I'm just like, and he's

a pitcher, but I don't, I don't know enough about what he is as a pitcher because oftentimes I'm so focused on his hitting. No, it's a great point, because there's certain pitchers, you know what their pitch is. Like, with Terek Scoble, you know, he throws a great change up. With Kevin Gossby, you know, he throws

a great slutter, like certain of the best pitchers have that signature pitch for Verlinter was always his sports team fastball. Khrusha, that great slider, and of course, that curveball. So with Otani, you're right, it's not like a signature pitch. case came in the gyro ball. It's kind of that everything is above average, but he throws smoke. I mean, his four-seamer can it in 99, so that's pretty good. I love his splitter.

Most Japanese pitchers are very good at throwing splitters, and he occasionally working that change-up. So the answer is, just as a hitter, it's all the above. He does everything above average, but particularly it's his fastball, when he blows it by, you forget about it, and I love his splitter. If someone said to him, show he can only throw two pitches rather than four or five, and he was just a fastball splitter guy, it'd be like Doc Gooden. Like, like, Doc Gooden. I couldn't you see. I was like, all right, on the fastball curve and that's it. If he said Otani, fastball splitter, he would still be an unbelievable pitcher, I think, if you only gave him those two pitches.

Yeah, to give you everyone an idea of how high the bar is that he's set right now, like yesterday, he wasn't thrilled with his performance because he walked four, even though it was still like a no-no going into the six. Then he, you know, at, don't forget, he also had a lead off home run. It's pretty remarkable. That's when you're like, okay, you're getting annoying. Yeah, seriously. And it's funny, though, Adnan.

I was talking to my kid the other day and we had on the basketball game. So Wemby's doing his thing. And then I was like, oh, you know, keep it down. There's an Otani at bat coming up. I tried to explain to him this golden era that we're in where we are witnessing. Wemby who's scratching the surface of what could be a transformative type player. And then Otani, because we keep bringing this up and Jason's brought this up a couple times, will we see a next wave of Otani inspired ball players?

Was your boy watching Wemby and watching O'Ton and did he then go to you is like, Dad, I have no chance do I? And you say, no, you don't. Yeah, I was like, no, yeah. Look at your dad. Yeah, yeah. This is what you're going to be. Zero point zero. I have no chance. The odds.

But it's funny because, okay, so Wembe strikes a physical presence because he's, when you look at him, so does O'Tani, though. He's like a perfect human. Yeah, when you start to break down O'Tani's physical attributes, because he's not like outrageously tall, but he's 6-4-220, but when you look, look at him and the fluidity of motion. Yes, that's what it is for me.

For a guy his size, it is, it's not quite when BS, but it's one of those things where you almost have to do a triple take at everything he does because it's so impressive and he makes it look so easy. Just watching him run is impressive just because it looks like everything is so easy. Okay, we've done a bunch of talking. Now your turn to talk, Edna. I love it this is going. Mike makes a point that Jay follows it up.

The mic makes it actually very entertaining. to the duality of the combo, but you guys are absolutely right. To me, it's his size. Like, when I interviewed Otani a couple of times, that's what struck out to me is just how big the guy was. And again, I'm short. I'm 5, 7 and a quarter. Everyone's big next to me.

But Otani, like, that's 6-4. Like, he looked like 6-5, and that 220 was like, maybe it was 2.30, and it was, like, chiseled. I'm like, oh, my God. But then he's not, like, big and bulky. As you guys said, he's smooth. He's graceful. Like, that's the big thing to me is, like, when I watch him play, you know,

one of my favorite words when you use it in regards to an athlete, because it really kind of conjures up an image is elegance. When I think of watching Roberto Clemente Halle, I'm like, that's the elegance of a great ballplay, that's certain fluidity you guys are describing. And that's what's like watching Otani. He's not like, you know, when Raphael Ladell plays tennis, he's like a bowl in a china shop, you know what I mean?

When you watch Otani, there's a gracefulness to it, there's an elegance to it. And that's, I think, part of what makes him so entrancing, because it's not like he's just brute strength. It's not like he's just super fast, like Ricky Henderson. It's just like, no, he's big and strong and fast and smooth. that's what makes him so entrancing because he's just so graceful out there. We're speaking to Adnan, Verk from MLB Network here on the

Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Adnan, one of the other things we like to joke about with Otani is that he's one of those guys that's always rewriting the record books from like 1901. But there's another guy that's doing it right now as well. I need to know more and the listeners need to more about what Christopher

Sanchez is doing in Philly. For those that don't know, he just broke a mark from 1893, 44 and two-thirds scoreless innings now for Sanchez, surpassing Hall of Famer Grover Alexander on the Phillies list. To give you an idea of how long this record is stood for, Alexander set the record the year the mound was moved to its current distance in Major League Baseball.

So this is a long, long historical mark that Sanchez has passed in the Phillies record books. Tell us a little bit more about Christopher Sanchez. Yeah, anytime you see the graphic, which we ran an MLB network, as long as you do it since, and the pictures are in black and white, you know, it's impressive. So whether it's Grover, Cleveland, Alexander, or the great Carl Hubbley goes, now it's black and white.

This guy, by the way, worked three jobs, because back then they didn't make much playing baseball, and he may have died of tuberculosis at 36. So that's how long ago we're going when it comes with this guy's doing. Sanchez has been unbelievable, and it's funny because this team, man, anybody who ever says, oh, managers don't matter or do managerial changes work. Again, I love Rob Thompson, fellow Canadian, Sarnia, Ontario, baseball, life.

Like, he's awesome. But it's undeniable that Rob Thompson got fired, and Don Marley showed up and I wasn't like, wow. Now these guys are world beaters. Like, they were never as bad as they looked under Rob Thompson, but they never looked this great under Don Madeline. So I don't know what the answer is, but they've got horses and they've got stars. And Santas is one of those guys. And he goes a little bit under the radar because Zach Wheeler is like a perennial a scyung contender, and Hazus Lozardo, they got a big contract signed in this offseason,

Ranger Suarez in a big year, he went to Boston. Sanchez, in some ways, is kind of the forgotten one. And then you look up and you go, hey, 44 scoreless innings from a lefty. This is ridiculous what he's doing. And he's one of those guys, like an Otani has, an extraordinary great pitches, but particularly a fastball that if you're throwing 97 from the left side, like that's just a scary, uncomfortable effect for everybody. So he's an absolute stud.

I'm glad he's getting some pub. and you're the first one ever, Mike, you just say Grover Alexander. Normally I felt like you have to say... Cleveland, I know, I thought about it. I thought about throwing in the Cleveland, but I know just wanted to shorten things up for brevity's sake. Okay, two more look-ahead questions. The first, in the not-too-distant future,

the second, it's more dire and it's in the future. The future of Terrick Scouble in Detroit, as we look ahead to the August 3rd trade deadline already, is there a likelihood and if so, how great is the likelihood that maybe the best pitcher in baseball could be on the move out of Detroit by the deadline?

Better than 50% now, which is surprising even to me, because I thought all along, think about how bad the American League is, as we've discussed, as long as you're, you know, within a few games of that third wild card, you're going to be there, and you thought, well, the Tigers last year, they were the best team in baseball until August 1st, and, okay, they fell apart, but they still made the playoffs.

They should be an 85 to 88 win team, particularly in that division. Well, now they're on pace to win 72 or 75 games. So why in the world are you keeping Terrick Scoble? And it was pretty clear since he's gone down, they've fallen apart. Like their entire pitching staff has been ravaged and has been guilty of poor performance. Casey Myers was good yesterday. And offensively, even Riley Green, who's their best dinner, he struggled.

Torkelson doesn't play good. Baez is an afterthought, et cetera. So I think it's better than a 50% chance. I mean, we're here almost June 1st. Okay, if they have a great June and July, they can get back in it, theoretically. But if this continues at this pace, I don't know how you wouldn't trade him. I mean, it's an absolute no doubt or at this point, because

you're not going to go anywhere. And clearly, if you're going to sign him, you would have. He's going to get $325, at least, probably $350,000, maybe $400 million. If you're going to re-sign it, you would have done it by now. They just thought, you know what? We can't resign him. Let's just...

I'm just... I'm just... I'm putting a World Series. He's back. He's back. Sorry, we lost you for about... Seven seconds, I would say. We had the world's longest drop, and I'm like wait, wait, it might come back. You're still on the line, correct, Dad, Dan? Just blink twice if you are. Yeah, he is. Okay, good.

Blink twice. It was seven seconds of nonsense. Yeah, we're good. Okay, final question before we let you go. I have one, sorry. Second final question before we're like, why don't you go because mine's a downer, okay? Oh, is your downer about the CBA?

Yeah, it is. Oh, okay. Well, you ask your question then because mine was about the CBA. So it's been a while since we've talked about baseball shooting itself in the foot, and we'll do that now. Major League Baseball's Players Association made their first formal proposal in CBA talks yesterday.

They opened with a bunch of, you know, very notable changes to the financial structure, but without the mention of a salary cap, is this a positive for baseball and keeping the season alive and not having a lockout at the, you know, whenever? Or is that the inevitable conclusion here that there will be some sort of work stoppage?

I know it's early. I know it's the beginning of the negotiation, but how did you see what happened yesterday, Adnan? So it's funny, Mike. When I first saw it, I thought it was a proposal from MLB. I said, oh my God,

this is incredible. No salary cap rates. I'm like, we're good. I'm like, if you don't say cap, we're good, the players are going to get this deal done tomorrow.

I'm like, yeah, a lockout averted. Then I saw with MLBPA, I go, oh, okay. Yeah, they're going to say every proposal,

but a cap. And the owner is going to say, no, no, no, every proposal has to have a cap, and then we're going to have this inevitable lockout. Most people within baseball feel like there's going to be a lockout. However, again, greater than a 50% chance. Right now, people feel like they'll get it done without missing games. There's too much at stake. The sport is way too popular right now, from Otani to judge, to big markets. The sport's doing great.

So most people feel like it'll be like what happened last time. 99-day lockouts during December 1st, but to get the deal done mid-March, and then all of a sudden we still play baseball. still play 162. Again, maybe a worst case near than that is the owners do not move off the cap and the players say, over our dead body, and we miss some games. Maybe it's 120 game season, which would be bad, but it wouldn't be

calamitous. I haven't heard one person fellow saying, we're going to lose the season. Nobody seems to think that will happen. Worst case, some games, not all because the sport's doing too well right now. Yeah, there's almost guaranteed to be a lockout because the CBA expires in December or in the winter, right?

So, like, that's not really a deadline. The deadline is the first games of the regular season. Yeah. And the big thing I've always seen, Brock, and I was going to say, talking to players, they don't start missing checks until the season starts. Don't forget that, right? Once you start missing checks, then push comes to shove. Adnan, I pity you that you have to

cover a lockout, even if there aren't missed games. It is it's brutal with the spin from both sides. And then, you know, I remember from hockey lockouts, there would just be so much nonsense thrown out there. And it's like, it's almost like a political campaign, right?

And then you have certain media members that are clearly, you know, I don't want to say in the pockets of one side, but definitely have their favorites in it. And you're like, okay. And you just end up rolling your eyes. So hopefully you can avoid all the nonsense and hopefully baseball can come to its sentence

there probably will be a lockout, but hopefully they won't miss any games. Ednan, thanks for joining us. This was a fun one. Thanks so much, boys. And I've got more Little League stories to tell for next time. I just want to point out the fact we did strand the bases loaded three times. We were playing with fire before we walked it off. And I have to mention, just because Mike mentioned the developmentally comment,

I have to tell you guys this, on one of our plays our guys catching and the guys bat made contact with it. So their coach yelled out obstruction. And the Empire's like, why? He goes, obstruction. Hit his glove. And my catcher tells the truth. He goes, yeah, I hit my glove. And then he goes, what do you want? The coach goes, I want first base. And they go, what's like an obstruction coach should be a ball? What are you doing giving a first base?

And what do you have a lot of listening to the guy for? These are people taking 9 and 10-year-old baseball way too seriously. Yeah, and I'm one of them. Thanks, Edna. Take care. Ednavirk from MLV Network here on the Halford & Breft Show on Sports Net 650. by the way, on the subject of, because I don't think a lot of people fully understand,

not even what's going on, but the backstory and the history here with the salary cap and baseball. Yeah. To give you an idea of how vehemently opposed baseball's players association is, MLB hasn't even tabled the idea. Never mind having a cap in the CBA.

They haven't even tabled the idea in 30 years. So today, and the reason I brought it up with Adnan, is it's largely expected that MLB is going to do their first formal proposal. And it is going to have a hard cap and floor system for the first time in three decades. The lockout of 94, the famous lockout of 94, was because that was the first time that Major League Baseball in three decades had tried to put it forward. And it caused this huge schism in the sport. And they just like, let's not do this again for another three decades. well, three decades is past and now they're going to try it again.

Are there any baseball teams that are losing millions and millions of dollars because they have such big meteor rights deals and they have this revenue sharing and isn't that part of the problem that teams that like the Pittsburgh Pirates, they won't be competitive on the field, but they're still making money. And I think that's probably, what saves this from an extended lockout.

Like right now, Manfred is saying that essentially the system isn't fair to certain teams because they can't afford to spend. But in the NHL, before they went to the hard cap, there were teams losing millions of dollars. So how are you classifying that, though?

Like just year over year operationally, like we're losing money? Okay, so like the Mets have a 300, $140 million payroll. Okay, but the Mets, the Mets, I'm talking so they're probably losing money. Yeah, they're losing, there's no way you can make $340 million annually. Like, you don't have the operating. I'm talking about the teams that don't spend.

Yeah. Because, you know, the Mets aren't the ones that are like, we need a salary cap, right? The Mets are spending a lot of money, right? I wonder if there are some teams that don't want a salary cap because they want to be able to bully teams with their spending. I mean, the Mets want to. That's what they've been doing.

The point that I was trying to make is that with the NHL, there were a lot of teams before the hard cap came in that were like, it doesn't matter if you want to, we'll sit up for two years. Like it doesn't matter because we're losing money. Yep. Like every time, this is actually better for us from a business perspective. And so is it worth the fight? Absolutely it's worth the fight.

And the hard cap, I mean, I don't love it in the NHL. I think it's annoying from, you know, a media perspective and that we just deal in everything as the salary cap related. But from a stability standpoint in the league, it's done its job. For sure. For sure. Okay. We've got to do a quick note about our good friends from the VGH Plus hometown heroes lottery.

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Buy a ticket. You can win really cool stuff. win with BC's bravest and help save lives. Millions and prizes, as Jason mentioned, are just waiting to be won. And tickets start at $4 for only $85. Don't wait, buy your tickets now at Heroes Lottery.com. Thomas Trance coming up on the other side. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. What we just have to call Thomas Drance Erotica Thomas Dranserotica Coorsy Thomas Dranerotica

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Thomas Drens 734 on a Thursday Happy Thursday everybody Halford Brough Sportsnet 650 Halford Brough in the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates

Got debt? If you do, reach out to Sands and Associates during regular business hours and they'll get back to you within 20 minutes visit them online at Sands that trustee.com. We're in hour two of the program.

Midway point of the show. Hour two is brought to by Jason Hamanuk at jason. Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.morgia. Really quick, I forgot to mention

that our previous guest, Adnan, Virk, was a presentation of Angry Outer Licker. Angry Outer Licker has the basis covered with a game day lineup of beer, wine, spirits, and a great selection of non-alcoholic favorites. Visit angryouterlicker.cr.S for more. Let's go now to the Aval Auctions hotline, our next guest. I thought he was going to talk.

Our next guest is a presentation. Of no one. He's just a presentation. Thomas Dr. Dr. Rance joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Drancer? Sponsors aren't beating down the door to get in on this analysis. Let's, uh, we can say you up with some. Let's see who we got. We got a hat guy.

We got a hat guy? Yeah. I'm a big hat guy myself. Yeah, exactly. Right? Yeah. Okay. Drancer, so you've got an article, you've got a couple articles up on the athletic,

and I want to start with the case for the Canucks drafting a defenseman, because we've had so much talk about Caleb Malhotra, and I know you wrote about him too, so I do want to talk about that, but I think my argument, and this is not a unique argument by any means, is that the third overall pick, you have to pick a guy that can be a game changer on the ice. If it's a forward, it needs to be a first line forward. An elite player, doesn't matter what position. Just a top line forward. If it's a D-Man, it has to be a guy that can carry his own top-four pair and do well.

And I think what some people are concerned about is that Caleb Malhotra is more of a, well, he's an all around middle six center, right? And with the third overall pick, you should be aiming for a game changer. Are there any game changers on the blue line available to be drafted? Yeah, and I think so. So the thing, like, just to come back to the idea of BPA,

best player available, or sort of what you should be looking to accomplish third overall, if you're optimizing, in my view anyway is, you know, like there, for example, I would say Keaton Bearhoff, the defender out of North Dakota, is probably the highest upside player outside of Gavin McKenna in this draft class, six but four. He scored 21 goals in the WHL at 16. He's the third 17-year-old to play NCAA hockey and record 20 points. at that age, which I mean, he's like the sixth guy in 20 years to play an NCAA season at 17.

He played it on a really good team that advanced to the Frozen Four. He played a major role. And he's the third defender at that age to be a 20-point guy in that league. And by the way, that league just got an influx of the top 60 to 70 CHL players this year and is harder than it's ever been. Like we saw that with Tyn and Lawrence. We saw that with McKenna. We saw that with Verhof. The other two guys who've done it, by the way, are Werensky.

and Noah Haniffin. So like from a pure raw upside perspective, I'd say after McKenna, the highest upside guy, six foot four, right-handed D, pedigree guy who has a completely clean and unique profile is probably Keaton Verhof.

But there's concerns about his hockey sense defensively and more importantly, his skating, his boots. Right. And so I think that's the sort of qualitative, you know, every scout I talk to,

Well, not every scope, but a lot of scouts I talk to have real concerns about the hockey sense, the processing, and the speed in particular. And for me, anyway, like, I'm not such a raw data guy that if you have concerns that are as material as like, we're worried about his skating. I'm going to say, well, he's still the guy who should go second or third overall. I'm willing to adjust and be like, okay, well, then he's got the highest ceiling. But there are reasonable concerns about whether or not he's got access to it. right and so my what I mean to say is for me what you're effectively what I go through in my own

process and is just trying to come up with the cleanest bet overall who's the cleanest overall to be a star level player in the NHL and that doesn't mean that doesn't mean the safest bet though does it no the cleanest bet and And so what I mean by Clean is I want a super high-end scoring profile. Like, I want the sort of scoring profile where the upside is extraordinary. But I also want someone who I think has, like, there's no significant, compelling reasons that I can come up with anyway. Because, again, this is just a subjective individual judgment-based process that I go through myself. can't come up with significant reasons that I find compelling

to suggest that this player can't access it, right? And by the way, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't still rate Verhoff as like a top five guy in this class because I think the upside matters so much. But we've seen six foot four defender, especially in the new NHL who struggles to skate, go high in the draft and not be a guy. Like we've seen the Griffin-Rinhart thing, right? We've seen, like, I'd even say the Aaron Eckblatt thing,

where it's like he's had a long career as a top pair defense. but I don't know that he was ever, you know, he certainly was never Drew Doughty. Right. And so, you know, I think you should factor that in to some extent the qualitative matters as well. And so when I look through this class generally, I won't even talk just about the defenders. When I look through this class generally, right, I see sort of McKenna in a different tier entirely. and I sort of see three really clear, really clean profile bets that I think are worthy of top five selections and have that mix that I'm talking about.

And I think Ivar Stenberg is one of them. Carson Carls is the defenseman that I think fits this mold. And then I think the third profile is a center, but it's not Caleb Malhotra, it's Vigo Bjork. Those are the three guys that I would be. be like, okay, I think those three guys. And by the way, I don't, I wouldn't really put Stenberg in a totally different tier. And so what, what I read about today in the piece that we ran at the athletic on defensemen, I break down Carl's age adjusted production. It's a little bit challenging because so many really good WHL players, including McKenna and Verhoff, went to chase NIL money

down south. And so the WHL brought in a lot of guys from the USHL. Like, it's a younger league this year. it's probably a little bit watered down. And so it's hard to adjust for what that means in terms of like, what do these scoring profiles I'm looking at even tell me versus most other years? Like this is literally the Wild West, analytically speaking. So we're doing our best. With Carl's, who I've seen play live a couple times this year, actually, fortunately, you're talking about like six foot two and a half.

he's the highest WHL 17 year old point producer since Scott Niedermeyer. So that's 1991. So that's 35 years. The highest scoring WHL defender in 35 years. He's like wide-bodied. He's mean.

He's a dynamic skater. And so for me it's like, okay, that's all the checkmarks I want. Premium position plays defense. High-end elite scoring profile. Like the sort of superhuman scoring profile that you can sum up a sentence, right? He's got the traits and attributes you want, and he's got the mentality that you want, right? Like, to me, that's a really, really clean bet, right? Stenberg, fourth highest

scoring 18-year-old SHL player ever. Everyone else on the list is basically a top line caliber NHL player. Speed, plays really hard through contact, defensively reliable, killing it, like point per game plus against NHL players at the world's right now was the best player at the U-20s, right? I mean, that to me, that's a clean profile. Yeah. And then I think Vigo Bjork's the guy that no one's talking about. And the more I looked through, like, the Vigo Bjork fossil record in Sweden this year, the more I thought to myself like, man, I knew that people were way too horned up about

listed heights in analyzing players. And there's been some like, oh, Viggo. go Bjork. He's like, this drafts Zach Benson. And it's like, no, no, no. This guy is totally different caliber of prospect than that. This guy's an elite, elite prospect. I was looking through it. He played his age 16 season with his brother, Wilson Bjork, who was a Kinnock's draft pick last year, in like the J20, which is sort of the Swedish equivalent of major junior, right? The under 20 players, they're all associated with their club teams. He played his age 16 season at that level, but got called up to the Jew Gardens pro team for one game at 16 and scored

in that one game against pros. That season, he had 74 points and 47 games. And that's the best season of all time in that league, in that J20 league, the best season we've ever seen ever from a 16-year-old player. And second place comes in 24 points back. Like he's at 74. points. Second place is 50. The only other guy that we've seen have more than a point and a half per game

is William Nealander. And William Nealander is well back. Like at 1.55. This guy's 1.75. Like he's the best 16 year old junior player in Swedish hockey history and it's like by a mile. Do you have to adjust to the last few years where scoring rates have gone up?

Well, I mean, you have to just do it mentally, for sure. But also a lot of the top seasons we've seen are like in the 80s and the 90s, right? So it's like, and there's so much that's changed, right? There's so much that's changing all the time. I think more than anything, you just have to like, I'm not building an algorithm out here or like all in one number that's like producing a prospects. I'm leaning on my own judgment. So for the most part, this is descriptive and there's some grain of salt. but if you're 24 points higher than anyone else in the history of the game.

Sure. And if you're, there's common sense to it. Yeah, like one thing I'd say is six of the, or three of the six best WHL seasons for defensemen scoring ever happened this year. Ryan Lynn, Daxon Rudolph,

and Carson Carl's all of all three of them. Okay. So that to me tells me that there's something going on. What's going on? Well, WHL has weaker competition. Also, defenders in the Kalmachar,

Quinn Hughes era are expected to do more offensively. And hey, look, it looks like they are. It looks like they very much are. And then scoring rights are up. And so it's like all three things contribute. But I also don't think we should ignore the factor that's like the way that players are being developed in Western Canada is better than the rest of the world has been for a little bit of time.

And so like I wouldn't ignore that like these three guys might all be pretty special. Right. And you're seeing it across the league. I mean, how many Western Canadian kids are just, like, killing it at like 21, right? And they, like, go in the second round. Teams doesn't even seem like teams have adjusted quickly enough to being like, oh, this Frasier Mitten kid, maybe he's really good, right? Yeah.

But then, you know, there's like second and third rounders out of the West, and they're immediately NHLers. It's crazy. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't ignore that factor either. Like, these guys might all be super legit. And in fact, having seen them play, I sort of think they are. Anyway, to come back to Bjork, again, you're looking at right-handed center. He's playing huge minutes, like 17 minutes a game against NHL players right now in the

worlds. He's basically been point per game for Sweden at that level right now. And he's the fourth best, he's the best 17-year-old center we've seen play in the SHL, and that includes guys like Hendrik Sidin and Mika Zanajad and on and on. in like 30 almost 35 years yeah like to me those are the profiles you want you want the elite scoring you want the projectable traits ideally you want a guy who's been a pedigree guy all the way up I tend to get a little bit concerned when it's you know the the Caleb Malhotra like well it's last six months I want to talk about that though I want to talk about that though like because

I understand the concern for sure and I didn't watch oh HL playoffs So I'm just asking questions here. Is it possible sometimes that when you're a young player, you start producing and something has clicked? And you're like, wow, I can do this. I didn't know I could do this. And I can do this now. Because when you think about it,

everything for a young player is a small sample size, right? because you're a much different player at 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18. You know, once you're in the NHL and you're, I don't know, 24, 25, for the most part, you are what you are. But development as a young player is not linear. I shouldn't say it's, it isn't always linear. It's never linear. And sometimes a player will be like, oh, wait a minute,

something just clicked for me. and those are oftentimes the players you want to jump on because you're like, wow, this guy just figured out what he can do. So you know the brick hockey tournament in Edmonton? It's for 10-year-olds. Yep. Go look at the list of MVPs. I know.

Macklin, Celibriene, Connor Bard. Like, there is. But was Kel McCar there? No, you're right. Kel McCar wasn't there. So my point, though, would be this. My point would be, and McCar's, a really good example, right? Because his,

he was not Kail Makar at 16, he was Kail McCar at 20. Right? And that is different. Right. I generally would say, though, like, there are exceptions. There are McCars and there are Beckett Seneca's. And so it's not necessarily a mistake

to jump on one of those players, right? If, you know, to rely on your scouting staff and and at least be thinking about how to identify the outlier. You should be, right? And that's the sort of thing, like, you know, give me a team of 10 area scouts and a $5 million budget,

and I'll be more concerned with that, right? Like, I can't do that. I don't have the time for that. I'm not even a draft analyst. Right. I'm a beat writer. I'm doing my best, right? So I'm more reliant on statistics.

So there's an obvious bias there, and I'm not trying to pretend that I'm right. Because I'm not. I'm just looking at probabilities and going, through my own process of betting on this stuff. And the conversation we're having right now is the conversation that happened across all sorts of NHL teams. For sure. The thing I would say is those are bets, but like hunting for outlier things, I think matters.

I think finding the story and finding the guy to really jump on and bet on to me matters. I just think you would, I personally am more comfortable with that sort of bet. when it's price adjusted. Like it's one thing if we're talking about the late bloomer that the Canucks are drafting 24th or 33rd, right? But when we're talking about 30, the third overall pick. Yep. And there are a lot of these like pedigree guys who've been, you know,

like playing U-18 hockey when they were 16 and you 17 hockey when they were 15 and have been the best player and the best team on the best teams in their leagues all the way up and are being up jumped by their federation to play for the senior men's national team, and they only turned 18 three months ago. Like when there's still those profiles on the board, my tolerance for that sort of risk, analytically, like as an analyst goes down.

That's not to say, like, if the Canucks had made the Beckett Seneca pick, I probably would have been like, wow, that's a wild role of the dice. So I know that, I know this is a massive exception.

I'm not trying to, trying to be an annoying debater here. But was Kail McCar a risky pick for the abs? Like would you have deemed it at the time as a risky pick for the abs? I think ahead of a scoring profile like Pedersen's, probably, yeah. I would have. Yeah. I would have.

I would have said, I would have said, given, you know, the scoring profile on Elias Pedersen to sort of reach on tools, you know, I mean, McCar was such an insane scorer, but he was an insane. such an like underfished league right like we just didn't have much you know and honestly even like his age 19 NCAA

production that first season at Loll now he wasn't playing on like a loaded team and you were already starting to hear the like whispers right the the like scouts being like you gotta go see the Skil McCarr kid like you were already starting to hear that so yeah well he remained loyal to his he remained loyal to the team that

gave him the scholarship at UMass right yeah so so I mean I mean, there's other contexts there. I would say McCar was in a slightly different bucket. Well, you know, McCar is a good example. McCar, Seneca, those are good examples of the outlier picks who work. And so, yeah, I mean, if you want to bet on that, and if you want to trust a Canucks scouting staff that has repeatedly made this exact bet,

but like, yeah, but man, did you see the U-18s, right? Like I guess my problem is that I've seen this specific staff make this bet and I've heard this specific fan base talk themselves into this specific thing. Well, premium position, size, athleticism, crushed it in a small sample eight million times across the last seven years while I've been like, I'd love to see them just like optimized for probability. Yeah. You know, and so I guess that's the thing is it's like I think there are times where a really savvy. scouting staff will make the right decision to deviate from the data. I think the connects have always been comfortable deviating from the data to their debtors. And so, and so that's, I guess, my issue.

Like people are like, well, I trust the, I trust the twins and Ryan Johnson. It's like, I want to. I want to. But I'd first like to see them operate this thing a little bit differently, right? Like, I'd like to see this team put it on the fairway with some clean bets informed by, you know, probability and data and, and, you know, you've got four picks in the top 41. Like, this is a new rebuild. This is a new era.

I'd love to see this team not talk themselves into, wow, this guy had a really sick three months. And he's big. It's like, okay, I know. Like, that's how you guys always make this mistake. So I'd just like to see this team make a different type of mistake, bruff. And if that's the, well, they ignored the small sample late season riser.

They didn't go fishing for the outlier. they were too data driven. If that's a mistake in this case, let it be a mistake that the Canucks make. Let this team just try something different for once. And then we can blame you for it somehow. Sounds great. I'd love to be wrong.

I'd love to be wrong in that manner as opposed to wrong in the manner where the Canucks make a mistake. And I'm like, oh, man, that sucks. That sounds good to me. Let's try something different. I should run. You guys have IMAQ.

You bump me, by the thing. the way for iMac so i got a dog despite bumping me for iMac asked me to help you manage the clock so i got go by thomas dranz from the athletic vancouver and connects talk here on the halford and bruff show on sports nine six fifty you asked drance to self-manage himself yes he went behind your back regulate i'm a good producer what can i say okay it's time now for the smart decision brought to you by crow that was actually pretty smart that decision that's why they're big bucks to self-mart decision to self-managed. Yeah.

Scotland, and we're going to do some World Cup managerial stuff, so this is a foreshadow as well. But Scotland, who have qualified for the World Cup, and will be here in North America in a World Cup for the first time in 28 years, have rewarded their gaffer, Steve Clark, with a new contract that could extend his tenure to a record 11 years in charge of the Scottish national team.

Clark and the Scottish FAA made the announcement today, so Clark will be managing the Scottish team. I only bring this up really as a foreshadow because we're going to talk about all the drama surrounding the U.S. men's national team, who, as you know, are one of the three hosts of this year's World Cup. That's going to come up on the other side, but there's a smart decision by the Scots coming into this year's World Cup. That is brought to by Crow. Your trusting accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. Crow's smart decisions lasting value. Learn more at cromachai.com. Final hour of the program coming up, Ian McIntyre is coming up. You're listening

to the Halford and Breff Show on Sports. 650.