Halford & Brough in the Morning - What A Weekend For The Jays

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a fantastic weekend of sports as the Blue Jays go up 2 games to none in their best of five series versus the Yankees, plus the boys chat some Canucks, who won their final preseason game on Friday over the Oilers (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.

Whoa. Wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose a fucking Canucks? Da-na-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Philip Heron to Garland, my slot, making a move to the goal to the forehead. He scores. Guerrero, that addition of 2-1 count. He's looking on load right here. 2-1.

He did. He thrived left field. It was a grand slam. That was the most obvious grand slam I've ever seen him. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halford and his Brough. It is Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Gladdy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

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Oh man, what a weekend. An absolutely fantastic weekend in sports. We have so much to get into on the show today. I don't think I've ever been more excited to come in on a Monday. It continues to be a challenge. to lay out the first half hour or first hour of the show to avoid, like, angering people who are like, why don't you talk about this or how did that go first? Et cetera, et cetera, like the baseball.

Like, NFL is getting knocked down. A peg or two. Take that NFL. Take that in it. Yeah, is it right? A little warning for the people. It's going to be a lot of baseball, especially right off the hop today.

And that is awesome. Brough, in studio. for those that aren't watching via the stream, wearing the Blue Jays white panel cap, they switch to those during that losing streak, and now they're on fire. There's a lot to get into on the program today, but we are going to spend almost the first half hour

of the program talking about the baseball. Guest list today begins at 7 o'clock. Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the two deep zone. Probably be the first time that we talk NFL is in the 7 o'clock hour. Crazy weekend, though, in the National Football League, some big blowouts, one major upset, and the Seahawks and the Buccaneers putting on a show in Seattle yesterday.

And despite the ending, an outstanding game, we can also look ahead to tonight's Monday night or between the Chiefs and the Jags. NFL talk coming up at 7. No more undefeated teams. That's it. They're gone. That's got to be one of the earliest in NFL history.

The Seahawks at 3 and 2 are just one game back of first place overall. Sitting pretty at 3 and 2. 7 o'clock Mike Tan here for some NFL talk. 7.30, Zach Word and Associate Editor, Blue Jays writer for Sports, that's going to join us. If you remember Friday's show, we also spoke with

Zach Worden, associate editor Blue Jays writer for SportsNent. We previewed the series on Friday. So in a fun little experiment, want to see what it's like because my, oh my,

have a lot of things changed since Friday. Jays are up to nothing after one of the most memorable weekends in franchise postseason history. It was incredible what the Jays did this weekend. So many stories, we'll get into all of them

with Zach Wharton from SportsNet at 7.30 for some Jays talk. 8 o'clock. Satiare, is going to join the program. We have not forgotten about your Vancouver Canucks. This is still SportsNet 650. This is still the home of the Canucks.

Well, you kind of forgot. No, we just put it at the end. Well, when I told you this morning that I had to put the fan blogger the intro, you were like, oh, yeah. That's not true. The Canucks happened. I didn't forget. It was just a distant memory.

That was a pretty good game on Friday between the Canucks and the Oilers. The intensity was there. We're all excited about Lecker-Macki right now. He's looking good. I'm like, put him up on the top line. Put him on the first unit power play. anything to just ride this wave of enthusiasm around Lecker or Mackey. So we'll talk to Sad about that and the roster decisions that the Canucks have already made pretty much.

Technically, rosters are due at 2 o'clock today. But the Canucks made a flurry moves over the weekend. Following that game, what Greg is alluding to, by the way, is I came in here and I was like, the Garland O'Tagle against Edmonton, was that Friday? He's like, yes. I'm like, that feels like it was a year. Feels like it was a year ago. Like, that's how much happened this weekend.

So working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock at Satyar Shah, 7.30, Zach Wharton, 7 o'clock, Mike Tanier. We have a lot to get into on the program. So without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing.

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Miss that? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC. Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies of besting tools, resources, and safety training, visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. As mentioned, we begin with the baseball. For an organization with two World Series to its credit and

plenty of unforgettable postseason moments, the Toronto Blue Jays put forth a truly memorable 48 hours of baseball over the weekend in front of their home fans in Toronto. On Sunday, it was the rookie, Trey Yassavage, setting a Blue Jays postseason record by striking out 11. Not a typo, not Halford speaking incorrectly, 11 strikeouts in 5 and a third no hit endings. Flattie Guerrero, the first postseason grand slam in franchise history. The Jays beat the Yankees 13-7 to take a 2-0 series lead in the ALDS. I don't think I have ever seen a series, certainly not a baseball series, maybe anything. series that's dominated to this level by one side over the first two games.

I just, I cannot remember it. Maybe back in the day in the NHL where 16 of 21 teams would make it, I mean, the Cucks played the Oilers one year and like it was a best of five and they got, if they could have been swept in two, they would have been. But this is, it's not, this isn't the same as that. This is a series where one, the Yankees were the favorites. to win this series and I mean if we go back to game one

I got worried that game one started too well for the Jays like I've been fooled a few times like I think about Pavel Burray scoring in game three in 1994 in the Stanley Cup final Canucks came home after playing the Rangers in New York Burray scores the Pacific Coliseum is going crazy

but it was too good too early too good and then Burray ends up getting kicked out of the game and they lose game three you know put five one or something like that but it just it just kept going i mean the vladdie home run to start game one was electric then he makes that play at first and then kirk homers and then you know i started thinking like oh this is this is too good this is too good because the jays hadn't really put the yankees away. And then Judge comes up

with the bases loaded, none out, and I thought ooh, this is where the too good to be true start is going to fall apart. Gossman is starting to run out of steam a little bit. And

he struck him out. He struck him out. And he struck him out on what clearly was ball four, which would have walked or run home, Gossman actually walked the next guy on four straight pitches before taking him out, but the Jays got through that. They survived it, end up winning the game.

And as for Game 2, I actually don't know what's going to stick with me longer. Trey Savage's performance, which was incredible. Like Schlittler's performance, that was nothing. I know it was a clinching game. But you savage, he was so good. Love seeing his parents in the crowd. Yeah. I don't know if it's going to be that, though.

Or the Grand Slam by Vladdy, because that was perfection. That swing, the moment. I mean, this series, like, I don't know what more to say to say about the Jays, because everything that Jays fans wanted, they've received. they've gotten great pitching performances they've gotten Vladdy stepping up and saying yeah I am a superstar I can play in the big moments and I can deliver

in the big moments and they've also carried on their identity that made them so successful during the regular season where people were like oh I don't know if this is going to translate to the playoffs it is translated it. Like this team, you know, you compare them to what the Yankees were doing, especially against the Savage, this team does not strike out. They put balls in play and they make it very difficult to beat them. So the one, in a weekend where there was like a million stats that came

through and a bunch of records set, the one that I loved the most, is that the Blue Jays through two games in this series have more home runs, eight than they do strikeouts, seven, through two games. That is an unbelievable stat for the postseason. They did it two games in a row which I don't believe it's ever happened in Major League Baseball. I'd have to double check that stat, but yeah it doesn't happen often if it does.

Two games in a row, 23 runs scored the most, the New York Yankees in their 100 plus year history have ever given up in back to back postseason games. You have to understand the historical context of what happened over 48 hours

on the weekend. Because again, You go through the Jay's history. You've got the Joe Carter home run. You've got the Two World Series. You've got the Joey Bats home run and the bat flip him. You've got all those things. And this series, incredibly, still very early in the playoffs, they haven't won the DS yet.

But that 48 hours that happened over the weekend is right up there with some of the greatest moments in Blue Jay's franchise history. So I want to parse through a few things here. One, let's start with Vladdy. I want to play the audio. And this will give you a great look. or more like a great sound as to the difference in excitement on the Blue Jays side of things and the complete dejection in the Yankee side of things.

We're going to play Vladie's Grand Slam from Sunday. Here's what it sounded like, courtesy Dan Shulman on Sportsnet. Deep left field, it is a grand slam for Vladimir Giro Jr. And here's what it sounded like, courtesy of Dave Sims, who calls Yankees games for WFAN in New York. So you got Jimenez at third, straw at second, Springer at first, went out. Carrero at the addition of 2-1 count. He's looking on load right here. 2-1.

He did. Deep drive, left field, Grand Slam. You could just hear the contempt. He was just, they were flatlined. Flatlined. James Simps should have stuck with the Mariners, it sounds like. Stubbs should have stuck with the Mariners after last night. So you mentioned this already, and I won't go through it too much work because there's a couple of the things we want to get into.

But when we talk, as you want to tie it back to the Canucks, like we talk about this season being this huge referendum season for the Canucks and the future of Quinn Hughes and what it all means, this is a referendum playoff for Vladig Guerrero Jr. After the very, very good but not great regular season that he had, the lack of power and, home runs that he hit during the regular season and the price tag going into the playoffs. Like they were like, do you think Bradley finally was like, what if I aimed up a little bit? What if I had more of like his launch point count? Is it a good thing?

Oh, that's what everyone was talking about. Oh, this is easy. This is easy. You got a loft it to go over the wall. Yeah, it's way easier to hit it over the wall. They don't have to run. Everybody was waiting for this moment. You brought up the stats going into Friday when we talked about like the woeful

batting average, the lack of wins, the lack of power for him to step up and right away first at bat in the postseason boom yard then making plays in the outfield is or in the infield as well right making the double play at first base in game one all of a sudden you start looking at the series and you're like the most dangerous guy at the plate in the series is guerrero it's not judge and it's not anybody else is vladdie and that really tilted things and you play the the john boy clip i want to play another one in a second when Vladdy got to the plate with the bases loaded on Sunday and John Boy who's a content creator in MLB if you haven't heard of them

go check out a side Yankees fan Yankees guy but also an very good stuff he's sitting there in his like quote unquote electric chair and they're all dead because they're already down in this game all the Yankees fans and he's like I've never seen a more obvious Grand Slam going to play and I know Brough sent it in our text thread a couple times he's like that swing was so pure, so powerful. I watched it maybe a hundred times. The bat flip perfection.

Vladi shows up. It's fantastic. Okay, I also want to get to Trey Yassavage here. What's cool about this part of it is that we can illustrate how incredible this story is while also staying true to our local sports

and our roots and our content here in Vancouver. I got to point out that five months ago Trey Yavage was pitching in that Bailey Stadium. That's great. Can I list some of the teams? he's played this year. Yes, please. The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels.

Yes. The Clearwater Threshers. Love them. They hit him hard. The Hartford Yard Goats. I love the Yard Goats. And, of course, in the Northwest League, the Tri-City Dust Devils.

Oh, and he also took down the Yankees in the playoffs. So on May 31st, Trey Savage was pitching against the Hillsborough hops at Nat Bailey. That's five months ago. And you mentioned the Schlittler thing. Like, Schlittler's two years older than Yassavage, had two years of pro baseball behind him.

before coming in to this season being a rookie and then pitching in the MLV postseason. Prior to this year, 2025, Trey Savage had never thrown a professional pitch, never thrown a professional baseball pitch before he made his jump from Dunedin to Vancouver, however the path went. And he just kept excelling and excelling,

and they throw him out there yesterday. And he breaks a record that was held by the likes of Dave, Steve and Juan Guzman for most strikeouts in a game by a Blue Jays pitcher. And he only lasted five in a third. Do you think, obviously he had great stuff out there, but do you think that release point was messing with the Yankees? He's got a funky arm angle, and his splitter is ridiculous.

Yeah. The bottom just falls out from under it. Part of the reason they kept him in Toronto for this start is because they were talking on the Fox broadcast about how the Yankees have this cool new, called the project system, where it actually has a hologram of the pitcher in their batting case. Crazy.

And it has the right release point and everything. but they can't bring it on the road with them. So this is really the first look at Trey is Savage and that's why they made him start in Toronto rather than in New York. Okay. And then I will, I want to just want, do you have something you want to add in?

Because there was a third point I wanted to make. And it was about the Yankees. Okay, yeah. Because I have a, I have a question about the Yankees. Yes. Is there any way that, because right now I feel like there's a, there's a 1% chance that we're getting big time trapped by being, I mean, all that stuff did happen.

But they haven't put them away yet. No. And if the Yankees win game three, okay, just if, like they somehow find a way to win game three, right? Let's say Rodon goes out in game three and throws a jam. Or whatever. They just win it, right? Maybe Bieber gets hit hard or something like that. I mean, the Yankees did put a few runs up late in game two.

Then all of a sudden you're like, oh, Slittler gets a start in game four. Maybe he's going to repeat that performance that he had against the Red Sox. And that'll be a bullpen game for the Jays. So is there any way the Yankees can get off the mat here and find some life? And I would also throw out there, if they don't, is Boone gone? Okay, a couple questions. First, can the Yankees come back in this series? So this was the question of the MLB Network guys were kicking around yesterday.

And, you know, Arod tried to put it out there, kind of how you said. Well, if you win game three, then, it's like well now what we need to do is beat their bullpen in game four and then it's a one gamer and it was funny david artis was like you can call it in jesus they are there it's over so that but i mean that was a yankee and a red sock going toe to toe i'll say this right now well jesus won't win them game three and then all of a sudden you start to think i don't think he's hitting that splitter though let's just put that out there well what he pitches oh yeah that's true you might have his own splitter um okay there's nothing right now that would suggest that the yankees

pitching is capable of dealing with what the Jays can do up and down the lineup. Which is crazy to say, considering the Jays are missing Bo Bichette. Because they beat up their starters. I had a buddy who was talking about the Jays and he's like, well, you know, they can bring in Bichette when he's healthy, right? He's like,

no man, he's out for the series. He is not allowed to come back. He was like, what? Yeah, he can't just pop in. Like, that's why they make rules at the beginning of the series. Like, he is out. Anyway, they've wrapped up. What if he wears like a mustache? He could, I don't know. David Schneider?

Yeah, he could be David Schneider. Okay, here's a couple things. One, they've roughed up the starters, right? Heel wasn't terrible on Saturday, but he got lifted early and he did give up a couple of runs. Their bullpen stunk. Sunday was supposed to be the game, and every Yankees fan that I knew, including AJ,

was like, we're not worried, we're rolling out Freed on Tuesday, or sorry, on Sunday. That's a win, right? And in their defense, Freed has pretty much been on lock, especially after they, when they were coming off losses this year,

He was 11 and 1 with like a sub 2ERA. So anytime they needed a win, they'd go to Freed and he would deliver. And against the Red Sox he was phenomenal. He got caved in yesterday. Caved in. You guys see the shot of Vladis Homer and then immediate zoom in on his face on the bench? He did not look happy. I think it was, you know, evident early that he didn't have his stuff.

And at that point, the Yankees were like, well, we're cooked now. You can't give up to. 23 runs in two games and expect to be at all competitive. And they weren't. And I want to turn to attention to some more audio here. This is John Boy again. Great sort of cross-section between being an analyst and being a fan here and giving you a sense of how it feels to be on the losing end of this and just how one-sided it's been. This is John Boy talking about how Yankees fans are feeling after two games down O2 in the ALDS.

It almost stings. No, not almost. It stings way less because the yanks were never even in it. the yanks aren't in the series right now they're not even in it at all there's blue jays all the way if they were close games and I'm bitching about

pitching changes lineup decisions this singular play that singular play it would sting a lot we got none of that we got nothing the yanks are just getting crushed okay that's the yankee side of things

or sorry the blue jay side of things so I had a friend that took his son down to Seattle for a big sports weekend. And it was the Mariners game on Saturday, the Seahawks game yesterday, and then they were going to walk over to the Mariners game. So they're going to go three games. That's a lot of money. Yeah.

It's a nice dad. I told him, I was like, you've got to remind your son that you're a pretty good dad. That's pretty awesome. They were looking at 0 and 3 after the Mariners dropped game one. And then the Seahawks in what was an incredible game and very entertaining. and Halford's favorite player, Baker Mayfield, absolutely tore apart a very depleted Seahawks secondary. Great game. Great game.

And then, you know, Sam Darnold made a mistake. Slash got unlucky on the interception. But, you know, it was an entertaining game, but the Seahawks lost it. So game three, Mariners, under pressure to avoid, honestly, a real nightmare weekend in Seattle sports. And people will be like, but the Sounders won. And the Huskies had a great comeback against Maryland, which would have made it worse, right? Because we don't care about that right now.

It's true. It shouldn't have been down 20-0 to Maryland anyway. So you want to talk about some of the biggest moments that franchises have had. I don't know where Julio Rodriguez's hit on Sunday night is going to stand. But in terms of how desperately they needed that win and how big a hit it was, it was Rodriguez, a tie-breaking RBI double in the 8th after Cal Raleigh had hit a double. of his own and turn around to score. Let's hear what it sounded like because it was a huge hit.

Julio with a game-winning run coming across on a double as the Mariners beat the Tigers 3-2 in a desperately needed winning game two of their ALDS on Sunday night. Here's what it sounded like. Line drive, down the run,

that's a football, and the Mariners take the lead. Julio Rodriguez has come up clutch yet again. Munoz came on on the 9th. got the saves. So the Mariners get a split in Seattle, which was desperately,

desperately needed after that disappointing loss on Saturday. I can't imagine how flat Mariners fans would be feeling if they lost the first two games to the Tigers. It would have been a huge, huge disappointment. And to get a win in a game where Scoobled started, that is massive. I always like, if you go back to the Yankees Blue Jays series,

I was always pretty confident that the Jays were going to take game one. and when they did it was kind of like good for them and they did it in fine form and fine fashion but that was probably one that they were going to win considering the pitching matchup sure game two was the one and I actually said I was like I think game two is the series game two was you know game two was lurking there

for the Mariners because they knew they had to face scoobling game two yes so game one it almost felt like if you lost game one you were going to lose game two that's what it felt like right and we're looking at it and they had their opportunity on Saturday night, it went extras, it was tight, and it was deflating. And, you know, I got a bunch of buddies that are Mariners fans, and you saw it all throughout social media

as well, they're like, well, we're cooked. They haven't had a home postseason victory since 2001, and that street continued on Saturday. So to get that win yesterday, the series is still very much up for grabs. And if you're Detroit, you still feel like you're in the driver's seat because you got the split. Yeah, you're disappointed

you didn't get a win with Scoobble on the bump on Sunday, but still, they got to be happy with it, but the Mariners fans I don't think I've probably ever seen a home crowd more happy with getting a split in the first two games than what the Mariners fans were last night. They were beside themselves. They were so happy. And good for Cal Raleigh. You mentioned the double that he hit and he ended up scoring that run.

Raleigh's been all right. He had that weak foul out in game one that was like super deflating. You know who they don't like right now? Josh Naler. Josh Nailer's been a problem. big time, which is crazy because he was so clutch for them down the stretch. He kind of disappears, though.

That's kind of been his... Well, he also gacked one at first base in the eighth inning when they got the two runs off brass. His shoes don't disappear. They're out there. That's a whole different conversation. They're very loud. And Eughenio Suarez has been a nightmare too.

So that's two of the guys that they picked up for this playoff that have not played. But rally's been good, and obviously, Julio had a huge hit yesterday. Okay, we're going to park the baseball talk for a little bit. it's amazing that we just spent an entire opening segment of what happened on baseball when the Canucks start their regular season this week.

But that's how exciting the baseball has been. And only Randy from Little Mountain tuned out. Only Randy. Little Mountain, too, he tuned out? You should be a baseball guy. Little Mountain, come on. You guys are a wagon. Think about it, Randy.

We'll get into the Canucks talk on the other side. We'd love to get your thoughts on any of this. We are going to be talking Canucks. Canucks roster. Any thoughts? Text them into the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650, 650. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice

for contractors and renter warriors for over 50 years. Visit them in one of their three locations to serve you are online at Dunbarlumber.com. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro from waiting rooms to exam rooms and everything in between Janpro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected for a free quote.

Visit them online at Janpro.com. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Richo and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.32 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. See, this is a hundred times better than thrash Thursday.

Like, I think I just listened to this in the car. Just driving down to work. Yeah. Can you imagine this? Windows open. we've got a few sunny days just blaring away people would be like

people would be like you know what I thought Brough would listen to different music but I get it What the hell's that guy doing in his car Yeah Just live in life man

Can you play in the air trumpet? You are listening to the Halperin and Brough show On Sportsnet 650 Whoa Halpin and Brub in the morning Is brought to you by Sands and Associates Get out of the penalty box of debt And back into the game

With a financial fresh start This is the Monloaf line at sands dash trustee.com. Still an hour one of the program. Still chugging along here on the Halford and Breath Show on SportsNet 650. Halford & Breath of the morning is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler

pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Should we do some Canucks talk on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650 or home of the Vancouver Canucks? Sure. Yeah, the NHL season starts Tuesday. The Canucks kick off their regular season.

season on Thursday at home. So we probably should. Yeah. You know, it is the home of the Canucks here. So rosters are due today at 2 o'clock Pacific. The Canucks have made the majority

of their decisions already and shout out to Jason Brough who last week throughout his predictions for the Canucks opening night roster and by George Jason, you nailed it. I think so. I don't want to jinx it because it still

It's still not official, but to start the season, it does look like they're going to start with 14 forwards, so two extras there, seven defensemen, so one extra there, and then of course, Demko and Lankton in goal. Yes, Baines has made the team, and so has Carlson and Leckermackie and Coots. No, Mancini did not make the team. Sorry, A. Doug. And neither did Veele Lander, but D.P.D. did. And I had a bunch of people text me over the weekend and say, I don't know if it was like A-Dog getting a burner phone or something. Like, why didn't Mancini make the team? And my response to them was, it was a numbers game. They've got five veteran guys in Hughes, Horonick, Marcus Pedersen, Tyler Myers, and Derek Foreboard, who is a

popular player on the team and kills penalties very well so in terms of playing the games they only had one spot for a young guy and I think DPD always had the advantage over Mancini and

VLander because they really like Elias Pedersen in the organization and he played a lot for them last season they played a fair amount for them last season and they like his progress now people will be like well how How do P.O. Joseph make the team over Mancini? Do they think Joseph is better than Mancini?

No, they don't. He'll be in the press box. They've got injuries down in Abbotsford to a couple of their veteran defensemen, Jet Wu, and Guillaume Breezebois. That's going to be an opportunity to play big minutes for Mancini and for Vellander and Kudra Atsov and all the young guys that they got down in Abbotsford. they can also call these guys up really quickly.

Believe Abbott's first starts the season on October 10th, so that's in a few days. So as soon as either Mancini and Vellander play a game, they can call them right back up to the Canucks. And they might take eight defensemen out on the road for them. I think they have a road trip that starts October 16th or something like that. Yes. They can take them out there.

Now they would have to make a decision up front then, let's cross that bridge when we come to it. On the Mancini discourse, I think several things can be true at the same time. I think he absolutely deserves to be on the opening eye roster based on his play and his performance, but it also doesn't make sense and it doesn't make a lick of logic with regards to numbers.

It just doesn't fit. I think this is one of those unfortunate things. You know when you tell your kids, like if you work hard and you do everything the coach tells you, You'll make it, there should be an asterisk. It's like, unless there's a 23-man roster. Yeah, and for the team, it's a good problem to have. It's a great problem.

It's a great problem to have. Hey, it sucks for Mancini, and it's not fair. Because I think the kid did everything that was asked of him in the preseason. Yeah. And, you know, when they put these challenges in front of you, you answer them. When they present an opportunity to you, you take it. That's all you can do as a player. He's no doubt disappointed.

I kind of feel disappointed for him as well. but when you look at it and you can always fall back on that answer but it's a business. There's a business part of this where you just can't keep everyone even if they've earned it. Okay, so that's the defenseman side of things. The Canucks are probably going to start the season with

Hughes with Horonick, Marcus Pederson with Myers, and DPD with Derek Forbort. Now, Forbort is a little banged up, so I think he's going to be ready to go for the season opener, but

continue to monitor that situation. There might still be some changes. As for the forwards, Sunday they practiced like this. It was the top line. Pedersen between Debrusk and Besser. Heidel between Baines, who we'll talk about, and Garland.

Coots is the 3C between Cain and Lechromacki. And then the fourth line was Ratu centering Drew O'Connor and Kiefer Sherwood. it should be noted that Teddy Blugher was absent from practice. He's dealing with maybe a minor injury as well. And then Carlson was the extra.

Now, if Bluger's ready to go, I could see him replacing Ratu between O'Connor and Sherwood. But let's talk about a couple of the players that are getting discussed a lot. We'll start with Baines because outside of texts about Mancini, The other texts I got were, why is Baines on this team? Yeah. And Thomas Dran says come on our show, and he did last week, and he kind of went to bat for Baines, who, I mean, I think he's played well in this preseason. But I think people are like, yeah, but like, where's the bottom line with this guy?

You know, yeah, he picked up a couple assists in Calgary. Who didn't? You know, like. Yeah, Brough got an apple. Yeah. And, you know, he hasn't scored a, he. He hasn't scored a goal, I don't think. Not to my own knowledge.

He's got three assists and five free season games without a goal. He's got one goal in 21 NHL. And now he's a top six, he's a top six player with Heidel and Garland. So I know we've got, who, which coach did they roll out this time to talk? Okay, so Scott Young, here, I'll set this up. Oh, Scott Young spoke with the media on Sunday following practice at UVC. He talked about Baines, among other things. Get the audio ready there, Lattie.

The interesting thing, and I'm not sure if we've got this, so I just want to highlight it before the audio. is this quote Young set of Baines He's doing things on the wall That's good controlling pucks That's good And making smarter plays

Less high risk plays Which is something we wanted to address From his past When I saw that I was like That was the thing that you wanted to correct Was it he was too risky Yeah I thought like when he got up

To the NHL level he was He was like a municipal bond He was just like 3% return on this I like I like my chances, right? Low risk, low reward. And when he did turn the puck over at the NHL level,

I never once thought it was because he was being too risky or taking, you know, poorly calculated gambles. I just thought it was just unfortunate plays. Like he always seemed like he was going to make not the right play, but the safe play. There's a difference there. We've got the audio here. Scott Young on ArchD. Baines,

who made the opening night roster for the Vancouver Canucks. His game's matured. I think he's, you know, shown a lot of a jam. He's doing things on the walls. He's, he's controlling pucks, making smarter plays,

you know, less high-risk plays, which was something that we wanted to address from his past. And he certainly got the skill and the smart type of. Okay, so the Baines discourse is going to continue

and the connections are going to practice a few more times. I got the day off today, but they'll practice a few more times before they open the regular season. So maybe the last. line shift a little bit, but I think that's how they're going to start them. Let's talk about Leckermackie because he unloaded two beautiful, perfect shots in the game against the Oilers

on Friday, which was a really competitive game. Yeah, it was. The hockey through the first two periods, I enjoyed it, but I saw a few people say it wasn't the best hockey. I thought both sides were competing really hard. There was a little bit of nastiness in the game. Guys were blocking shots. There was one moment where Pedersen laid out to block a shot. And, you know, the guy shooting it didn't end up shooting it. He passed it off because he's like, oh, Pedersen's blocking that shot.

And I was like, what are you doing, PD? Like, it was a tip. It was one of those things where you're like, tip of the cap to Pedersen for, you know, laying out to block the shot. But it's also preseason, don't get hurt out there. both teams really wanted to win that game. I mean, David and Drysadle were in the lineup for the Edmonton Oilers. It was a good game, but the star of that game was Jonathan Lackermacky with his two goals.

And I think his performance, along with Coots' performance in the preseason, kind of offset this lingering worry about the top line, because the top line of Pedersen Bessor and Dubrusk, they haven't done much at 5 on 5. Yeah, Pedersen had that great goal, great shot on the power play, but at 5 on 5, they've just kind of been out there. And I know they had a tough assignment with McDavid

and dry saddle in the game on Friday, but they're going to need to create more at 5 on 5. There's a lot of money tied up in that top line, and they're all good players. But, you know, we're already here. like get Leckermacki up on that top line and definitely get Leckermackie out on PowerPlay 1 because you can imagine how PowerPlay 1 would look. You've got Hughes on the top with doing his thing. You got PD available for the one-timer to Hughes's right and Leckermackie available for the one-timer to Hughes's left.

and then you've got Besser and DeBrusk down low and in the bumper spot doing their thing and maybe Cain off that unit because it was always a bit of an awkward fit. Him on that left, like he isn't J.T. Miller in terms of playmaking. So I actually have a different, like I think that first line probably sticks

and it just is what it is, which is not anywhere close to an elite first line in the NHL. Like it's fine, but it's not going to put you in the upper, on by a long stretch. I really like Debrusk and Besser are like parts of their games. But if you're to tell a lot of NHL teams that those guys are going to be your first line wingers, you're like, well, we're not like a top 15 team in the NHL with those guys.

I think Besser's been really quiet. Right. I mean, the pre-season, again, you know my feelings on the preseason. Like, I think I don't consider it. Talk to me when the regular season starts. But look, even going back to last year, like Besser had a tough year. DeBeser had a fine year, but still couldn't crack 30 goals. and I think you would probably want more from your first line winger

if you're going to be a contending team in the National Hockey League. As we've said countless times on this show, the entire thing might hinge on Pedersen. So you're hoping on a huge bounceback. But remove the first line from the equation. I think it is what it is. It's a fine unit. If it overachieves that, that's great.

If it plays up to its potential, you'll have a middling first line in the NHL. If they can get something like tangible and significant out of Lechromacky, who has shown that is showing that he's showing, shot is of a NHL caliber in a good way like single shot score that's huge great release right good power great accuracy because remember

you're going to need lecromacky and cane in the composite of the cumulative to make up for the goals that suitor took with him to St. Louis and add a second layer of scoring and this is where the lack of that

forward really starts to show because if your first line you're just going to be a sort of like an adequate it run-of-the-mill first line in the NHL, you would think, well, at least they're going to be insulated and blanketed by some good secondary and tertiary scoring. But right now, it's a lot of hoping and wishing.

Like, you hope that Lekromacki can perform. And maybe, like, if Lekromacki gave you 20 this year, I think you'd be pretty stoked. And I hate putting numbers on everything, but if Kane can get back to giving you a 20 or 25, because remember, he had a grand total of zero regular season goals last year. Yeah, it was hard for him because he didn't play a game. Right. But that's what I'm saying.

Like, you're going from nothing. nothing to something here. And then there's coots. So I've kind of run out of superlives to throw at the kid. I think it's gone beyond, you know, he keeps showing us every day that he can play this. He's obviously got the IQ and the ability to play at this level now. Yeah.

The real question is going to be how long does this last for? Every time that a test is put in front of him, he passes it, he aces it. He had another good game on Friday night against Edmonton. It's very exciting. Because when you look at the team, it's like, well, he had a 20-year-old defenseman in DPD who's ready to play full-time conceivably. You've got a first-run pick in Lekromack who's made this huge jump, and now he's ready to step in. When it comes to Coots, could they almost do like a young guy load management with Atu-Ratu? You know, switch them out for each other, right?

is we'll be like, you guys will never play a game together. You know what I mean? Like, you are interchangeable. You will never be on the ice at the same time. With Coots, the big thing for me is obviously not his hockey IQ or his maturity or anything like that. It seems like he is a very, you know, smart and mature young player. Smart and mature, he said. Smart and mature, yeah.

Guy. It's the physical rigors of an 82 game schedule playing center in the NHL as an 18-year-old. That is very tough. And with young players, it's all about consistency. And sometimes even if your head is there and you're doing all the right things and you're getting rest and you're not going crazy on the road and you're doing, you're just, you're a mature person. even then it's like the difference between

a full schedule in the NHL and a full schedule in the dub is huge can we hear from Kootz now after practice on Sunday

Brendan Batchelor relayed some of the audio but Kootch just talking about the situation at hand just trying to take things day by day now looking ahead to Thursday's opener

just trying to stay in the moment the young 18 year old here's Braden Kutz following Saturday Sunday's practice, EBC. Not sure if I'm playing out or just trying to take a day by day, but yeah, it would be pretty cool. In light of that, how nervous are the next couple days here

as you wait for that decision that sort of may define your season, or do you try to not worry about it if it's out of your control at this point? I try not to worry about it. Like you said, it's not really in my control, just control what I can control and take everything day by day, just trying to earn another day. Are you pleased with the effort you put forth and the camp you put together with the preseason as well

to this point regardless of what happens? Yeah, it's been solid. I think I could still be even better. I think I got, you know, I could play even better than I have been. But I think it's been pretty solid. So it's interesting. I'll tie the white caps into this because they actually had a great win yesterday at BC Place.

Lions had a fantastic win on Saturday as well. We'll try and get into some of those stories as well, but we got a ton of stuff we need to get into. But one of the things that the caps have done this year, they've never done in their history is they've played young guys a lot. And they've had to because they've had such injury problems. And there's been two parts of the mentality. One is the next man up philosophy.

Like, you're a player. You're not a young player. You're a guy like everyone else that has to step in and perform and we're going to hold you to that level. The other thing is that they go out of their way to really, really coach these players when they're putting them in these positions. Like go over the top with like, here are the details you need to pay attention to.

Here are the specific positional things. that you're going to be able to step in and thrive. And they've done a really great job of it because they're a good team. Yeah. And they're playing really well. If they're able to do that with Coots. And I do think there's, it probably take, it's going to be a very difficult coaching job because you're going to need to part in a pun with being a kid.

But you're going to have to handle him with kid gloves at some point. Yeah. And understand that everything he's doing in the NHL, he's doing it for the first time. It's his first road trip, right? First time he gets to go on a six gamer. Yeah. You know, he gets to fly on the charter. These are all new things.

Is this food free? Do you have to, like, pay for this? I can't even drink on the plane, right? I mean, he's 18. Do we fly to Subway to get food? And you're like, you're not in the dub anymore, bud. Please don't eat Subway before or after games. But they're all things that he's going to have to learn along the way.

The reasons for optimism is that they have, like, trotted them out there consistently during the preseason. And even though the preseason sucks and the level is lousy, it does get more difficult every single game. Like that game on Friday. That game on Friday was, had the same intensity of a regular season game. You know why? Because they're ready to play.

They've been ready to play for like a week and a half. They're ready for the regular season. You see all these teams going nuts in the preseason? Do you see Florida and Tampa Bay? It's wild. You know why they're going crazy?

Because the preseason's too long. It's driven them to madness. Same thing with Ottawa and Montreal. They're like, can we just play some games that matters? We have to kill each other because all we want to do is play a game that matters. Is John Cooper?

Is he just gone full? on like, we're a goon squad now. You know what that's from is when they knocked Hague a lot of the playoffs last year. Yeah. And Cooper. Didn't they hurt him again, though, this year? Yeah, I know.

But Cooper is like a, like one of those silent assassins. You know, the little guy that sits in the corner, like he's going to do something cool. He's like a, he's like a Bond villain. His, he's going to deliver a line like to his players. Kill him. Yeah. Coop's like, if they die, they die. He doesn't say that.

You heard me. Yeah. He's very like, he's very composed. And he's got the, like, sort of, like, little boyish look to him. Like, he doesn't look like a madman, but he was very clearly telling the goal. But he is a madman. He's looking at world domination. Really?

John, we notice you have a cat in your lap, then you're stroking its chin right now. Is this a sign of anything? He's going to start by taking over Florida. Then he's going to take over the world. But he, that was a hundred. He's working on a weather machine in his garage. Well, they called up guys from the American. I can show it to you.

They called up guys from the American League that had nothing to do with that rivalry. Yeah, yeah. It's like, Gage Gonzalez. is like, get out there and go hurt a guy. And he's like, yes, sir, I will do that. Anyway, now we're talking about the Battle of Florida. It's been a very interesting first hour on the program on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNs.

Okay, just to cap off what happened, the Lions, it was a huge win over the Calgary Stampeders. And I know Nathan Mark threw a couple of late picks, but that was in garbage time. He had already destroyed the Calgary Stampeaters. 414 yards and four touchdowns. Yeah. So the Lions are the hottest team in the CFL.

Punch your tickets to the playoffs. And now the job to be finished is getting a home playoff game. And maybe even I haven't looked at the standings this morning. But do they have a chance to get the buy? Because they've still got a game against the Rough Riders. Yeah, but they don't have the tiebreaker against the Rough Riders, right? I think that's. But I think they might be able to get it.

Anyway, we don't know, but one thing for sure. is like the lions are playing really good football oh by the way on the lion's front the defense which was much maligned for most of the year six sacks and three interceptions

against Calgary on the weekend and they're finding ways to get to the quarterback the defensive line is much improved they're starting to make plays in the secondary and like rack up the interception total so much maligned yeah have you never heard that much no much maligned

oh much maligned oh I was like what's he doing right much maligned What's he doing right now? Oh, okay. That's a good one. No, that's a good one. You know what?

I give Adon credit. Okay, so Halford yesterday was texting me from the white caps. Yeah. And he was like, I have barely watched this game because I've been looking at my phone. There was a lot going on. Following all the other sports that were going on. Did you happen to look up and see who won the game yesterday? Because the white caps, like the lions, they're not thinking about making their playoffs.

They're thinking about the positioning that, they can get for the playoffs. And they could finish atop the Western Conference. They got a great chance of finishing atop the Western Conference. They beat San Jose, who were desperate for points yesterday, because they're fighting to get into the playoffs. 4-1. Sebastian Barhalter, what a show by Bearhalter yesterday. Two long-range strikes.

Thomas Mueller scored as well. It was a very emphatic performance from the White Caps. So here's how it sits for the Caps. They are tied with San Diego right now for first place in the West on 60 points. The white caps have two games left. San Diego has one game left. So San Diego drew yesterday?

Yeah. So the white caps right now control their own fate. They're two points ahead of Minnesota. If they go, they got Orlando next weekend in Orlando, which is a long road trip. And then they finish off on MLS Decision Day against Dallas. So if they win those two games, they are going to have first place in the Western Conference,

and they will have home field advantage all the way through. to the MLS Cup final if they get there. Now, Philadelphia won the Supporters Shield, so they would have if they get through, they would host MLS Cup. So Philadelphia won the supporter shield and lost to the White Caps 7-0? 7-0.

Remember that game where they absolutely tore apart the best team in MLS? Like the White Caps, at times, it's hilarious watching because they toy with their opponents. Like he toyed with San Jose yesterday. The young kids scored, didn't he? Illumi scored what, well, it wasn't the match winner because they conceded late, but

he was 18 years old. He scored early. And then Mueller scored and then Bearhulter scored twice from distance. And it was just, they just knocked the ball around like carefree.

They play with so much confidence. And I'll say this again, and I know we're up against it for time, the level of enthusiasm and energy and earnestness that Thomas Mueller plays with, it blows my mind every time I see it. It's like a guy that's won

World Cups and Champions League titles is so excited to beat San Jose four one on a Sunday matinee at BC place. Well, he was excited after meeting Leon Drysidal led the game on Friday. That's true, actually. That was a big moment for him. Drysada has to hang a White Kep's jersey in his house now. Right, they exchange jerseys.

Yes, switch jerseys, which is great. Okay, we're up against every time. Does that mean he has an oiler's jersey in his house now? I don't know. Ooh. I mean, for Moly... I won't endear him to the connox. No, that's true. That's where he lost the fan base. Yeah, this is the moment. It was a breaking point. Okay. We got to go to break. When we come back, NFL talk. Oh, yeah, the National Football League. We've got to get into

that. Mike Tanier from the Two Deep Zone is going to join us next on the Halford and Refere on Sportsnet, 650.