Halford & Brough in the Morning - What Are The Canucks Schedule Highlights For Next Season?

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

In hour two, Mike Halford & guest host Jamie Dodd talk the latest baseball news with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (1:26), plus they chat with Canucks radio commentator Brendan Batchelor (25:28) about the highlights of next season's newly-released Canucks schedule. 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 Adnan It's Adnan Ferkey's on the show We're gonna talk some baseball And take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Red Nen. Yes, and then Ferg, he joins us now. We'll head out to the ballgame and talk about all the filthy scene. 701 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

Halford, Bruff. Oh, no, wait. It's Jamie Dodd. Sportsnet 650. Halford and Bruff. Oh no wait, it's Jamie Dodd, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Bruff in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help. With over 3,000 five star reviews, visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program.

Adnan Virk from MLB Network is gonna join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at Jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at jason.mortgage. And we are broadcasting live from the Kintec studio, Kintec Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in step. Let's go to the Power West Industries hotline right now. Adnan Virk, MLB Network, joins us here on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. What up Adnan?

Hey Jamie, how you guys doing? Alfred, I know you asked me last week about Superman. I saw it. I know Andy loved it. So it's your guys choice. We can talk baseball and hockey whatever else you like or we can do Superman first. Your call. You know what we did yesterday is we let A-Dog do his review which was very positive and then we played the Mike Francesa. I don't know if you saw it or not. Mike and the Mad Dog, he went Mad Dog.

He hated it. So you're almost the tiebreaker here. We had one love, one hate. What did you think of Superman? Well, it's funny. So he had sent me the Francesa and I go, listen, I like Mike. I have great respect for both of those guys,

especially Mad Dog. I'm not gonna watch an eight and a half minute review. When I saw the movie, I didn't like it. So it's okay. I have to watch princess and it was hysterical. I, I was surprised how much I agree to this review and with respect to a dog. Cause listen, most of you are going to like the movie. I believe it has a positive rating on Rotten tomatoes.

It's going to make to our. But two major issues, one, which again, Mike, how both of them was way too much of the dog. I go, why didn't Superman have a dog and why is super dog in like virtually every scene? I mean, I couldn't care less. Now I'm on record as not being a dog guy and had a dog, but anti dog, but he means, of course you will love their dogs. It's just not my jam. So I really couldn't care less about a dog in a superhero movie over and over again,

up for the dog. And the other major issue again might mention it was the are extra superheroes like i just want to read and lex lucer if you want an extra bill ok fine but i don't need mister terrific flying around with lowest toward the end of like there's a bunch of robots feel that the three p l i mean it was really i really thought it was a mess to be honest with you i have but what i would do they like one i think it was very allegorical to what's happening, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Israel invasion

of Gaza, and what's happened to Palestinians. So I thought that was topical. And of course, I love Rachel Brosnahan, who was so great in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She's always great so I loved her as Lois Lane, but that's it. It's not a movie I can recommend. I haven't been to a movie, Mike, in seven weeks. My reputation precedes me, right? People are going to see the movies all the time. Big deal. I'm going to go to a movie and spend a hundred bucks on the iMac 3D. I was not pleased. So it's times like this where we need a producer cam because you could see the exact moment where Andy's heart broke.

Well, no, no. I respect Adnan's opinion. And honestly, I agree with him on the extra superheroes things. Like that didn't make the movie any better for me seeing all those other heroes. They were fine and had some funny lines. I will disagree with you on the dog and then I thought crypto was hysterical And he wasn't in every scene yet Maybe 10 course a dog had maybe 10 minutes of screen time like he wasn't in that many scenes But I could understand how somebody may think they overuse the dog for me the dog was hilarious But I can't agree with you on the extra superheroes. Like they didn't need to be in the movie. It could have focused more on Superman and Lois Lane, which was in my opinion the best part of the film, but yeah, disagree, agree to disagree on some of it.

It definitely feels shameless to me including the dog, a dog, because to me it's definitely for the kids. Like my kids loved it and their favorite part was crypto. So to me I'm like well, it's so shamelessly manipulative adding a dog because I just know every kid's gonna love it. And I am a child, so. I love it. I love it. I love it.

I will say, well, the few bright spots to Andy, that last song is great. Yes. I came up with a band name, but Iggy Pop is the song. So I really went out and I put that song on my kids. Like, oh, do you know this song? And I go, no, but I just thought it was a good use of that song. James got of course is in a great

job with music, Guardians of the Galaxy, a lot of good Motown music, Soul music so I did like that last song over the end credits. It came up in the name of it right now, we'll find it. Okay so let's turn our attention we'll go back to the stuff of the All-Star game and then we'll look forward to the second half of the season. First question for you is this really just Cal Raleigh's world now and we're just living in it? It's an amazing story, Mike. I mean, I looked at the home run derby. I was doing the post-game at MLB tonight from the studio and I looked at the list. I didn't even know who was in the derby. I'm ashamed of it. And I started laughing to a producer. I go, this isn't too much for me. He goes, what? I go, listen, unless it's Aaron Judge, Joey O'Tonny, Bryce Harper, Ronald Acuna, Fernando Tetis, like I could, Mookie Betts, I mean I'm not, you know, who are these guys?

Again, I'm an avid baseball fan, I wanna watch no matter what, I know who they are, but the average fan is seeing Jazz Chisholm hit three home runs, like that is atrocious. And I said the only thing that can save this is I'm looking at all eight of these names, and his biggest name is Raleigh. If Raleigh wins, it'll be a hit.

And what happens, ratings run up by 5%, Cal Raleigh ends up beating Roker by.08 inches. We truly, as Al Pacino said in any given Sunday, inch by inch, that's gonna make the difference between winning and losing. He goes on and just puts on an absolute show and a real family affair. The little dumper is his brother behind the plate,

his dad is the one pitching to him. Perfect scene to have. And by the way, Junior Kim and Arrow is a stud. You don't always have to have a stab at stars. They will admit that. It's nice to have a guy who kind of bursts into the scene. And more people are going to know the name Junior Kim and Arrow and what a great young star he is with the Rays.

But for Cal Riley to perform like that, absolutely awesome. 38 home runs at the All-Star break and then he wins the home run derby. And we can touch more on the All-Star game and the swing off and some other things from that. But on Cal Riley specifically at and I mean normally you'd think in a normal year right a catcher putting up this kind of offensive numbers 38 home runs already he would be the heavy heavy favorite to

be the MVP unfortunately for the Big Dumber Aaron Judge exists and is having just another phenomenal season at the plate what doesigh have to do to put his claim or stake his claim to the American League MVP? Is it going to take, you know, 60 home runs, the American League record, something like that for him to beat out Aaron Judge this year? Well, I do think historical precedence is really important with these things, Jamie. And if he gets 63 home runs and he breaks Aaron Judge's American League record at 62, then I do think he wins the MVP. Having said that, judges numbers are video game like 1194 OPS at the break.

No one's doing that in baseball. It's happened like five times in the history of baseball ever at the All-Star break. I looked at his numbers specifically, you know, he's saying 355, which is better than anybody else in baseball. Nobody's ever thought of Aaron Judge being a guy who hits for average 355. The on base percentage is great. His slugugging is 100 points better than anybody else. Think about that. Raleigh's got 38 home runs, yet Judge is the guy slugging 734. So OPS is the shiny number. When people look at MVPs, nearly 1200 is bananas. And Raleigh's, by

the way, is a little over a thousand, but it's still a difference of 200 points. Now, in fairness to Raleigh, he playser more important more demanding position than judge if you take Raleigh away from that team the Mariners are not a playoff team if you take judge away the Yankees still would be so the most valuable to his team you can make the case for Raleigh but I still think if it holds it does judges the MVP for the third time unless Raleigh can do something historical i.e. hit 60 plus home runs. We're speaking to Adnan Virk from MLB Network here on the the third time unless Raleigh can do something historical, i.e. hit 60-plus all-brus. We're speaking to Adnan Virk from MLB Network here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. How much time have you and your MLB Network cohorts talked about this potentially being the

greatest MLB All-Star game ever? Yeah, it's so funny. You guys are so fortunate, man. The West Coast, I get tired after, you know, 10-30 Eastern Eastern so I'm watching it we get in the first five days couldn't move quicker 810 815 first pitchers around 930 ish like okay we're halfway home I've seen half the all pretty much good I started getting ready for bed and I see Alonzo went deep at 6 nothing so like an idiot I went to bed thanks I did DVR I wake up like oh my god the swing up I missed the swing-off. The Deltas, it took place at 1130 Eastern, 830 for you locals, which is a huge win. But yes, in retrospect, looking back,

and I go, this was awesome, I just wish it had been earlier. I kept joking at first, they should have started with the swing-off, let's get the party started that way, or even halfway through the game do it, it'd be so much fun to see. But even watching it back, it was absolutely thrilling.

Again, some criticism, as I said with the Derby, you want the biggest names. If you had Judges O'Tonny, that's cool. Sure. But Aaron Boone's not going to waste Aaron Judges in a moment like that. And by the way, some of these guys, as you guys know, when they leave the game, they shower and they're gone. They're not hanging around like they're going to the bar. So at least Dave Roberts and Aaron Boone had made it clear which guys it would be. Kyle Stowers, by the way, didn't know he was in the swing off until they told him after the game, wait what? He's like, yep, Dr. Dura up first, here we go.

So we still did get star power, Schwaber who's an unbelievable hitter and a great guy. The three home run he hit was awesome. But yeah, my only slight quibble is Jonathan Aranda isn't exactly here to judge, but I get it. I love Booty, I wouldn't have put Aaron Judge in that situation either, still really cool to see. The ABS challenge system, that was one that I came away from the game very impressed with

because of the speed in which the challenges are processed. I think one of the things that every sports league that's gone to replay to decide calls is that a problem with is making it done in a timely fashion. And baseball seems to have really nailed it with balls and strikes anyway as it goes to the ABS system. How much longer do you think it's going to be before we see this in regular season play? I wouldn't be surprised Mike, it's opening day next season. I think everyone, excuse me, kind of wanted to watch it this year and I think it was a

hit. Like, you know, the fun thing, and I'll admit, even I was ignorant to this, I thought there was no home plate umpire. I just thought it would, like, you know, I wasn't quite picturing a robot behind the plate, but I just thought there would be nothing, and there would just be a screen, and the screen would tell it. So, thank God there still is an umpire actually gesturing balls and strikes. That to me is a fundamental aspect of the game. I was highly amused by the challenges.

Scoobled it early on, the pitch clearly looked like a strike, he won the challenge, that was great. I think that's important to have. Because in the past, you could argue that an umpire, he's not gonna change his mind, but human error does enter into it. An umpire knows, okay, I blew a call. I owe you one later, right?

The old makeup call. There is no such makeup call with the AVS system. This is not a human being doing it. But I like the fact you can still challenge. If there's a blown call, you can still get it right. And I know it's kinda cool. We're speaking to Adverk from MLB Network here on the Health and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

OK, let's turn our attention to the second half of the season here. We'll focus on the Jays, because that's kind of what we do around here. Your thoughts on what the second half of the season looks like, stacks up like for the Blue Jays, after a very impressive end to the first half of the season. Well, a remarkable story. I mean, the fact that we were able to rip off that kind of 10 game winning streak,

and then at the same time, you know, what the Red Sox just did as well is remarkable. I mean, to have both those teams get back in the race, and now, I would have thought before the Yankees win the division, the Rays are the biggest threat. No, now it's a four horse race. And you can very easily see all four of those teams making the playoffs.

So I think it's going to be a real dogfight. The Jays benefited greatly by having that winning streak. They're in first place for the first time at the All-Star break since 1993. We all know they won the World Series and now the challenge is going to be to stay consistent and stay off of those teams because the Yankees are in some trouble now. Max Reed suffered a blister issue in his final start before the All-Star game a blister issue in the final start before the all-star game didn't pick the alter it was going to be two ways to know how long he's got his in the rmbp but judges judge red sox run stoppable almost the folks brought to me

albino account for the worst possible time for the alter it the red sox now this one ten straight i don't know and they've got a tough six-game stretch coming out of this so i would be surprised they go from ten u a shit all of a sudden i wouldn't say six a losing treatment tough six game stretch coming out of this so I wouldn't be surprised they go from 10-game winning streak to all of a sudden I wouldn't say six game losing streak but like two and four coming out of it so it's gonna be tricky I think for the Blue Jays just hope that pitching holds up hope that Scherzer stays healthy obviously we like the top three of Gosman, Brios, and Bassett and Alec Manoa comes back in August I think they should

be active in the trade market because other teams will be as well but what kind of shot in the arm can Manoa give him? Can he be a legit starter down the stretch? That remains to be seen. Yeah post all-star break really attention starts to turn to the trade deadline now Adnan and you mentioned you know pitching depth for the Jays. What does the dream trade deadline acquisition, the perfect trade deadline acquisition look like for the Blue Jays?

Well it's funny a lot of them have the al-qaqa i'd mention it uh... to mike as well jimmy but it's funny is your is seven like i was talking to john hayden built ready go i know he's one of five or but he didn't pitch last year this is an year of seven select would you really go to talk about the sky like of course you're not like in the marlins they're not going to give them away they can wait to be off season like a dr andy's contracts up this year so i get a rental so

we kept a little car for a but i don't think you can get much of a demand out at cabrera is a really good picture the marlins have he's going to be available if you think you get a pretty good some your address is great we still really only twenty two years of age and again marlin's club control next couple years you gotta cut ticket shot a guy that gal in the area five and a half, but he's a former All-Stars pitch in the World Series, but he's having a bad year. But then I looked at his last three starts as an area of two. So like,

I think the Arizona Diamondbacks should sell, and I believe they're turning towards that. I think they can try to sell it to him and look at, all right, Galen hasn't been great this year, but in the past he's been really good. So I'd love to see the Jays go to Zach Galen. And I do think it there's a sales the biggest bad available to that guy a line of swaras who's throwing home runs for the norbi i think you've got twenty seventy one you're talking about a guy who's on page for a proper thirties and almost a hundred reviews

that could be a big bad to get so i think it is often just pretty good myself that that great contributions obviously from barger clement is always stepped up along with the bladdies the bows and springer hopefully something there comes back at some point what a disaster that contracts been so far I want to see the jays get an arm go get gallon go get Cabrera go get all contour something like that and then this was great buddy thanks taking the time to do this today we appreciate it enjoy the rest of the week we'll do this again next week all right Mike Jamie thank you so much I'm

sorry I heard aog's feelings. Everybody else, go enjoy Superman. Thanks, buddy. It's OK, buddy. Ed Nanverk from MLB Network here on the Haliford and Bref Show featuring Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650. It's OK. And also, you're dead to me.

Slamming the dog specifically. It's hard not to read that as a direct shot at Adog. How do you not like a dog? The worst part was the dog. It cut right to his little dog heart. And men's more of a cat guy. I get it. It's fine.

Yeah, OK. I wanted to go back to something that we were talking about off the top of the show. Now, maybe not necessarily just the Canucks schedule, which dropped yesterday. It was, of course, schedule release day for all 32 NHL teams. And there are a bunch of dates, non-Canucks division, that are going to draw the interest of teams

and fan bases across the league. There's a couple that I kind of cherry picked here. One in particular, the Mitch Marner return to Toronto. Now, I know a lot of people locally are talking about how polarizing the JT Miller return could be when him and the New York Rangers come back to Vancouver in October. I am very, very curious to see what it's going to

be like when Mitch Marner and the Vegas Golden Knights go back to Toronto on January 23rd. Now the interesting wrinkle here is that a week prior, the Leafs are going to play against Marner in Vegas. So that part of the reunion will be done. He'll get to face off against his former mates for the first time but January 23rd a Friday night Vegas goes to Toronto Mitch Marner returns to Scotiabank Arena are you

outraged like so many people are but it's not a marquee Saturday night hockey night in Canada game I I don't I don't like agreeing with some of these people you know who you are you're listening right now, but It was a very bizarre Decision by whoever made it and I suppose it's almost entirely the NHL schedule makers to not have a game of that significance Given it's the Leafs You'd also think like to put it on a Saturday night usually even without the Marner factor probably Vegas rolling through Toronto is worthy of a Saturday night like a big- time marquee contending team. But they got every other Saturday night game. Why not give them this one?

But I mean, I don't really care because I think that appointment viewing is something that we've kind of lost as a society with everything being on demand and everyone being able to access content and stuff whenever they want seemingly at their fingertips. The fact that this one kind of goes a bit of field is fine for me. It means people have to tune in on a Friday. Yeah. I wonder if there's almost an element from the NHL's perspective of this game is going to be big no matter when we schedule it. We could schedule it at, uh, you know, three 30 in the afternoon on a Monday. And guess what? People are going to be tuning in and we're going to be talking about it. And the shows in Toronto are going to be talking about it.

So it's almost, we don't need to give it the prime real estate because it's just going to be a big deal no matter what. And, you know, especially Canadian markets players legacies are such an interesting topic to dive into. I mean, you look at some of the players that have come through Vancouver and the way that their legacies either run up against one another in terms of like a positive trajectory, like they started, they finished, and it was great.

Like they're beloved. And then you have more complex ones. You have ones, like, I mean, you look at a guy who theoretically should be beloved universally, like Roberto Luongo, and how his is a confusing legacy still because of everything that went on. I think that those, you know, that historical rule or rules, plural, can be applied to Marner because there's a lot of people in Toronto that

just soured on him throughout the course of time to the point where I don't want to go as far as to call him a villain, but he's going to be received in a way that is maybe unfair and is often unfair because fans don't really think rationally. But I mean, I don't think it's gonna be pretty It's gonna be nasty. I mean he was getting booed off the ice at the end of that series against Florida They were all react. He was still wearing the maple if it hadn't even officially happened yet and beer was getting thrown on the ice He was getting booed. It was already an ugly scene He's the fifth all-time leading scorer for the Maple Leafs franchise

I mean he's the fifth all time leading scorer for the Maple Leafs franchise. I like when you look at when you think about it from that perspective it's pretty wild because I think it's going to be unanimous ugly and I think the closest situation is probably the Tavaris return to the Islanders are and then I wonder if you know Vegas will have to have a Mitch Marner day after like Toronto did for John Tavaris to kind of move things over a little bit for make him feel better I forgot about John Tavares day. How could you forget? I forgot that happened It's a real thing that happened that did happen in the course of history

We're gonna remember the day that they put aside to soothe some jangled nerves Unbelievable. Yeah, you know what the Tavares the Tavares return I Unbelievable. Yeah, you know what the Tavares the Tavares return I the vitriol was off the charts and part of that was that particular fan base and They did not want him to go there was a cross-section of that leaves fan base that wanted Marner Yeah, but even good with you, but the people that want him to leave are also going to be ones that are booing him the hardest You know what? I mean? You're right. You would think it's like wait. Didn't you want him to leave are also going to be ones that are booing him the hardest. You know what I mean? You're right. You would think it's like, wait, didn't you want him to go? Why are you booing him? No, there's, they want him to go because they had completely soured on the player and they're going to use their chance to let

him hear all about it. I do wonder cause they're going to have to do like tribute videos are so that's just the rule now. Like every player of any significance gets a tribute video. When you're the fifth all time leading score in your franchise history, you're going to get something pretty significant. It's going to be awkward. Like I made the Bo Horvat comparison for the JT Miller one, right? And Horvat got the big ovation after his tribute video. I wonder if Marner will even get that or if it'll just be kind of tepid applause for the tribute video. Another one that I circled because it is very early in the season.

And it's something you can start looking forward to now looking forward to. Might not be the right terminology for this particular market, but Brad Marshawn going back to Boston on October 21st. Yeah, I think that one's going to be that one's going to be an outpouring of emotion. Yes. On both sides, because you always got the feeling that Marshawn wanted to retire and be like a one. They call him a football one helmet team. But yeah, like a one Jersey guy, right? Like that was what he was going to be.

And now not only did he leave, did he win a cup elsewhere, he signed that pretty lengthy extension. So there's going to be another chapter to the Marshawn story with Florida. And I don't know how it ends. It could end up with multiple cups the way the team is formed. Well, it's interesting, too, because when he was traded, I think there was a lot of thought that he might just sign right back in Boston. Like, this might be the classic, OK, I'll go there for three months, chase a cup.

But then I'm going back to where I'm familiar with. And instead, he's just had such a good time. Like they win a cup and he's beloved instantly and he fits in perfectly. And he's like the spokesman for the team almost to a certain degree That's kind of a weird dynamic to this because he's like, oh actually I do like these guys more than Boston the sweet Pete Blackburn out of Boston the what chaos show with Pete Blackburn in DJ beam we had on the show a couple times talking about this because he's a die-hard Bruins Yeah, and he's covered the team for a long time the rift here

Which is interesting, is that the fans are irate with Sweeney and Neely for the way that they handled it. They don't put this at the feet of Marshawn. Even though Marshawn was like, yep, you can move me, however, there's only one team that I'm going to, which kind of hamstrung the general manager and the president of Hockey Ops,

but fans don't think of it that way. they still got didn't it turn into a first or did it go from a third to a second but they whatever it is they got upgraded to a first yeah the kicker whatever the kicker is that the first round 32nd pick yeah the first round pick is diminished as an asset yeah you know like it's no longer the big hammer that you're wielding in negotiations as it used to be like a first round pickings Good capital and good currency overall. You can't move it if you try and try and try they will But I think the thing with because you hear this sometimes like oh he would only wave for one team

We couldn't get a good deal I mean that was the Ryan Kessler talking point way back when right but when you've won a cup with the team and you you're the captain and you've played as But when you've won a cup with the team and you you're the captain and you've played as long as you have in that city is Brad Marshawn. And it's not like he asked for a trade but was like I'll only go one place. They were like hey we would like to trade you. Yeah. And that is why he flexed his muscles and use the no movement clause.

I think fans are pretty understanding especially as you said when they're already predisposed to be mad at the front office for the way they've handled things. So if there's anything that you're looking forward to, you can even do the Canucks division. We did the non Canucks division, but the schedule is out 82 games, lots of ones to circle on the calendar way in now. Dunbar number text line is 650, 650. You can also start getting your what we learned in as well as we hit the midway point of the show.

What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know. Despite it being a very slow night on the sports calendar, there's still a lot that went on. Hashtag it WWL Dunbar Lumbertex line is 650, 650, get them in. We're gonna do those at 8.30. But coming up on the other side of the break, it's 7.30. Brendan Batchelor, the play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks right here on Sportsnet 650

is gonna join the program. We'll look at what he's looking forward to. We'll ask him the question, what are you most excited about for the upcoming Canucks schedule? What are you most concerned about as well? Brendan Batchelor coming up next on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. It's your friend Brendan bachelor, bachelor, bachelor. Life from Rogers Arena, Carlinka, Knox games. It's his friend and bachelor, bachelor, bachelor.

731 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford Brough with Jamie Dodd, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour two of the program. We're at the midway point of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Homonuck 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 him online at Jason.mortgage. So before we get to batch, I'll set them up here. We spent a lot of time in the first hour of the program talking about what we were excited or what we were anticipating in the announcement

of the Connex full 82 game regular season schedule. And then what we were concerned or worried or had a little bit of trepidation about. You can download the Hour One podcast now, Apple, Google, PetCetera, wherever you get your podcasts. It's available now. Hour Two will be available shortly thereafter as well. But let's go to the Power West Industries hotline right now. Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks joins us here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

What up, Batch, how are ya? Good morning, how are you guys? And we're good, thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. I'm gonna throw you right into the fire here, Batch. The schedule came out yesterday. I believe Sportsnet 650 dedicated about eight hours of original programming to it.

And a couple more this morning. What are you most looking forward to or most anticipating having gone through the entire 82 game Canucks regular season schedule? Well, you know, when the schedule comes out, my first thought is to look at like when the breaks are, how long they are. So I was like, oh, four days of Christmas, that's good.

Oh, nearly three weeks for the Olympics. That's awesome too. And then you sort of start getting into the minutia of the schedule. So the two eight game home stands in the back half of the season stood out to me for a couple of reasons. One, because that's a lot of time with the team at home and that's a good opportunity in the second half of the season. Either if you haven't had a good start to make up ground or to build on a strong start, but it does mean that the first half of the season is more road heavy. And so, you know, I circle back to something that we talked a lot about two years ago, which is the start is going to be really important. And even though they're on the road a lot early in the season and a lot right off the bat, what I think it's only two of the first counting here,

one, two, three, four, six, seven, two of the first eight games are at home. Four of those first eight games are against teams that missed the playoffs last year. And there's another one against St. Louis who snuck in by, you know, tying with Calgary for that last wild card spot. So in spite of the road heavy schedule early, there is an opportunity with games against teams like Calgary, like St. Louis, like Chicago, like Pittsburgh, like Nashville, in the first eight games of the year to get off to a strong start and feel good about yourselves when you come back from that, uh, first lengthy five game road trip in mid October. And then the other thing that stood out to me is more four o'clock starts on Saturdays than I think we've seen in a Canucks schedule in a long time,

which I love. I'm a big fan of four o'clock home starts, and I don't know why more people don't like them. I know it's, you know, the old, the Leafs come to town and so we change for them. And that's kind of the mentality there, but four o'clock home starts and I don't know why more people don't like them. I know it's, you know, all the Leafs come to town and so we change for them. And that's kind of the mentality there, but four o'clock start, you can go out for dinner after the game. You've still got the whole night ahead of you. If you want to get up to some trouble downtown. So, you know, I, I like that we're seeing a couple of extra four o'clock Saturday starts.

I think that's a good change. Okay. I'm glad you mentioned the two big home stands right off the hop because when we did our thought exercise earlier about what we're excited about and what we're worried about, my answer to both was the long home stands. And part of that has to do with the fact that obviously everyone's excited about,

especially that first home stand, the teams that are coming in, right? You're going to get to see McDavid, Ovechkin, you get the Hughes-Palooza game in there, Crosby, Leafs to cap it off. I mean, that's great. The reason that I'm worried about it is that given how difficult the first half of the season is, and if this team doesn't get off to a great start, and I don't even want to

think about this, but possibly plays its way out of contention, having two big lengthy home stands in the second half of the season when they may be not playing out the string, but maybe playing from a position where the playoffs are looking less than us. Likely I am a tad concerned and I got to also acknowledge like their home record last year and some of the performances at home were so concerning that I did throw it in there is why I'm a little bit worried about those two big home stands as well. Yeah. And they have to be, they have to be a lot better at home. If they're not, then you're right.

Those home stands, you know, may be a negative rather than a positive in terms of, you know, having to play that many games at home with a team that, that isn't in the situation that you want them to be. But I think ultimately that the Canucks will be aware of that. They've got to find a way to be better at home. They've got to find a way to be more consistent on Rogers Arena ice. And it's kind of funny that this season will begin the same way last season did with the Calgary Flames on opening night. And that game kind of set the tone for the way everything went last year in terms of having the lead and then coughing it up and you know some of the some of the issues with the team I think began right there on opening night it's easy to forget Arthur Shilovs was the opening night starter last year they hopefully

won't have that issue with a healthy Demko and Langton this time around, but the home ice record is crucial. And even though it may not be stress tested to a great degree until the second half of the season, although there are, as I'm scrolling through here, what? Six home games in November. They've got six more in December. So they'll have played, you know, 15 ish of their home schedule before they get to that big road trip in the second half of January. But yeah, absolutely. You know, for, for those home stands and, and I think it's a lot less likely that we're talking about them playing themselves out of contention by the January home stand.

They should still be in the mix and be battling for something even in a worst case scenario at that time. And there are some winnable games on that home stand as much as there are marquee opponents like you alluded to. They've also got San Jose, Anaheim, the Islanders, the Penguins all coming in on that home stand. So you know, again, it's about opportunity and this time of the year as well. And this is something, you know, kind of a spoiler alert. I'm hosting this afternoon with Izzy on the People Show.

And one thing I wanted to get into is, are you glass half full or glass half empty on this team? And if you're glass half full, you can say, wow, the schedule sets up well for them. If they have a good start, you know, they've got a big opportunity to make hay at home in the second half. And if you're glass half empty, you say, wow, the schedule sets up well for them. If they have a good start, you know, they've got a big opportunity to make hay at home in the second half. And if your glass half empty, you say, well, they need to have a good start because if they don't, then that's a lot of home games that, you

know, may not be as significant as you would like them to be. Yeah. And I almost feel like I would rather be have the, the quote unquote easier portion of the schedule early and try to build up maybe a bit of a cushion and then hold on for dear life down the stretch rather than try to maybe make up some ground down the stretch. But we'll see there's there's pros and cons for both. And one of the highlights of the early part of the home schedule is going to be the October 28th game JT Miller returning with the New York Rangers to Rogers Arena. Of course, they played in New York against JT Miller

post trade at towards the end of last season, but his first return to Vancouver. What are you anticipating from that game? From crowd reaction, fireworks on the ice, all of it. What are you expecting from that night? Yeah, I think in terms of fireworks on the ice, probably not a whole lot. You know, as much as, you know, it's JT Miller coming back to Vancouver and I'm sure he'll get a tribute video and fans will give him a really good reaction like they always did when he was here. I think, you know, at the same time, that's an October 28th game and that's the Rangers, you know, coming through on a road trip. You know, I guess a lot of it will depend on context, right?

Like there might be more of an edge to that game in the rink if the Canucks have struggled out of the gate. Whereas if they have a really good start, then maybe it's more of like a celebratory atmosphere and an opportunity to get one over on a guy that used to play here, but not necessarily have an edge to it. And it'll also depend on how the Rangers start too. I mean, if you look at two teams that took two of the biggest steps back in the NHL last year in terms of results from the year prior to where they ended up last year, the Canucks and the Rangers are both those teams and they're probably both talking about,

we need to be more consistent this year, we need more things to go right, we need to find a way to have stronger starts. So, a couple of weeks into the season in late October, we'll kind of have an idea at least early on of where both of those teams are trending and if one or both of them are trending in the wrong direction, then maybe it takes on higher stakes than than just a regular season game.

But in terms of the fan base, I'm sure they'll welcome Miller back. We heard the chants whenever he played here for the Canucks. And I'm sure that that won't be any different when he comes back wearing the New York Rangers jersey. Now, I said the same thing about not expecting on ice fireworks yesterday and then a bunch of people texted in bringing up the fact that a Vander Kane plays for the Canucks now. And I said, you know what, that's a good point. Does that change your opinion about what could happen on the ice?

Not really. I mean, a Vander Kane does play for the Canucks, but I don't think he's going to cause chaos in 82 of 82 games this year. So, you know, maybe if he says, I want to make a statement to my new teammates, I'm going to take a run at the guy that left here and, and you know, under some circumstances that weren't ideal, then, you know, maybe I could see that happening. But you know, ultimately, I think oftentimes we get the schedule and we spend so much time, you know, picking the games that we're going to build up and talk about.

And oftentimes those games don't deliver in terms of what you're expecting. Like I saw someone on Twitter yesterday had a list of games, but it's like, this is the day they get revenge on Tanner Janow. This is the day they get revenge on Jason Dickinson. This is the day they face JT Miller. And ultimately oftentimes we don't get the fireworks we're expecting from games like that. You forgot the Yakov Trennan revenge game as well,

by the way. Oh yeah, there you go. We're speaking of Brandon Batchelor. I can't even remember what Yakov Trennan did. He's like, why are we mad at him again? He fractured Foreboard's oral bone, remember? Oh yeah, of course. Punch him when he was on the ice. So we need to give him a venture.

We need our pound of Yakov Trenin's flesh. We're speaking to Brendan Batchelor, play by play voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. You know, anytime that you get one of these benchmark moments in the off season, it always circles back to the challenges that are gonna face the new members of the team maybe not the existing guys but the new guys and then you've got the head coach Adam Foote who's in a pretty

unique position because he was there for everything that went wrong last season and actually you know in the aftermath of his hire Jim Rutherford and Patrick Elvin said like part of the reason that he was brought on board is that he saw firsthand some of the things that he's going to need To address and fix moving forward now I don't know and I still haven't really come to the exact answer as to what a head coach can do To alter the team's performances at home But I've got to imagine that at the very least

It's got to be somewhere near the top of the priority chart for the organization and obviously foot by extension To get better performances on home ice this year, get more wins, but I think even equally importantly, not have so many awful egg laying performances at Rogers Arena. Yeah, and I think the key to that is starting games better, right? That was something that we talked about a lot last season

in terms of, you know, the Canucks struggling out of the gates and, you know, as a result, when you chase the game, much like we talk about when you chase a season, it's that much more difficult for you. So I don't have the exact numbers in front of me right now, but, you know, I don't think they were, they were nowhere near as good as they were two years ago

at getting a lead and building on it and holding on to it last year as opposed to the year before. So you know that's where success on home ice or on the road begins for me is be ready to go at the drop of the pocket. I think that is something that Adam Foote and the coaching staff can help with because that's about preparedness of your players and ultimately a lot of that onus falls on the individuals to have themselves ready to go at the drop of the puck. But that's something that the coaches can highlight and focus on because at times it was an issue last year.

And then I think especially with the way this team is constructed and the way we expect them to play to a certain extent. If you get off to a good start, you get the lead, you feel, you know, that you've showed up on time, you have a good first period, however you want to characterize it, then the strength of your team is your defensive core and your goaltending, assuming that Demko stays healthy and Lankinen comes back and builds on what was a good year for him last year. So, you know, you can feel comfortable protecting a lead with the way your team is constructed and, you know, the strength you have in terms of defense. And, you know, as we saw with the Caddocks last year, when a team's trailing, it forces them to open up, it forces them to take more risks, and that's where you can take advantage.

So I would imagine that, you know, yeah, the home ice record specifically has to be better and they'll be talking about ways to make sure that they're better on home ice. But to me, it all begins with the beginning and it begins with the start, not just to games but of the season. And if they can have a couple of good results on home ice to defuse any tension that might be created in the building if they don't, then it's easier to come to work, I imagine,

when you know that the home fans are just gonna be behind you and cheering you on rather than waiting for you to give up the first goal or waiting for you to make a mistake that costs you the game. And I wouldn't surprise me if that played into it a little bit last year as well. So I think all of this starts on opening night, right? As I alluded to last year, they blow a lead on opening night, lose it over time.

And not that one game can dictate the way your season is going to go, but it kind of was an early marker of some of the issues that the Caddocks were going to have going forward last year. So, you know, get off on the right foot on October 9th against those Calgary Flames, have a good confidence building win, have a good start to the game, have a good start to the season, get the fans onside early. And then, you know, ultimately, as we've seen many times in this market, and I think it was most evidenced by the year, two years ago when the Canucks were really good and

went to game seven of the second round. If you take care of business on the ice, then the off ice noise is quieted, right? Like the years the Canucks have struggled or the years we're talking about, oh, JT Miller and Elias Pedersen don't like each other or, Oh, JT Miller didn't back check on hockey night in Canada And now he's arguing with Luke Shannon. They like, you know Those were the storylines that got so much focus and have the Canucks in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons so ultimately it comes down to just win and All of that stuff will go away and I think that's you know, still true for this team heading into this season

So I've got a glass half full schedule take for you here, batch. It's an Olympic year, three weeks off for the Olympic break for the NHL, which means more condensed schedule on either side of that more back to backs, three and four, that type of thing. My glass half full take is the Canucks are very well situated to deal with that because of investing in the goalie tandem of, of, uh, Kevin Lankin and, and Thatcher Demko, a better situated than a lot of teams to deal with the condensed schedule. Are you buying that glass half full take?

I am. Yeah. Just cause of all the back to backs they have where, you know, you're going to need your backup to play. And in a scenario where you didn't have full faith in your backup or, um, you know, you're, you're debating. And we've had this talk in Vancouver quite a lot, like, oh, do you need to play your starter in both games or the back to back if you're in a tight playoff race? The fact that you should be, at least as we sit right now, comfortable with both of your goaltenders in a lot of those situations means that that doesn't become a talking point, doesn't become something you have to worry about where you trust Kevin Lanken into play,

you trust Thatcher Demko to play, you don't need to overwork either one of them because as you allude to, with how condensed the schedule is, especially in the second half of the season, if you're chasing in a playoff position, there would be a temptation to run your starter to try and get into the playoffs. And ultimately, that's where the Canucks have run into trouble with that your Demko in terms of some of the injuries he suffered when they've overplayed him. So, you know, there's no excuse for that this year, they can't overplay him, they've got to manage his starts, especially

with how condensed the schedule is. And the fact that they've got a guy in Kevin Lankin, and who is more than capable of carrying the ball if he has to, sets them up well. And I agree, it does set them up better than most other teams in that situation. Now the small glass half empty caveat that I will provide to that is as long as Demko stays healthy because if Demko doesn't stay healthy then Archer Shilovs isn't here anymore and we're talking about needing to use Nikita Tolopilo who is untested at the NHL level in a lot of those games but you know assuming full health for Demko and it sounds like he's had a good summer to this point so that's something that we can all certainly hope for then yeah

absolutely with the number of back-to-backs they have and how condensed the schedule is in the back half having both of those guys and hopefully being able to get them both off to strong starts and having them feeling confident about their games in the first half of the season is something that would set them up well down the stretch for sure. Patch this was great buddy thanks for taking the time to do it we appreciate it enjoy the rest of the season is something that would set them up well down the stretch for sure. Patch, this was great buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week in the summer. We'll do this again later on in the fall. Sounds good. Thanks guys. Have a good one. Yeah. Thank you. Brandon Batchelor, play by play voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on

the Haliford and Breft show with Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650. I want to set the stage for the final hour of the program. We're going to talk to Tim Booth out of Seattle, Seattle Times Sports Reporter. We're going to ask about NBA expansion. We'll talk about Cal Raleigh as well. And then at 8.30, we're going to do what we learn. Hashtag them, WWL. Get them into the Dunbar Lumbertex line at 650-650.

Here's one from Mike. And this was in the wake of an interview that we did earlier in the program with Adam Stanley talking about the remarks made by Scottty Scheffler ahead of the currently ongoing open championship from Royal Port Rush in Northern Ireland. Scheffler, and I will paraphrase to move this conversation along, essentially said that his validation in life isn't from being the best golfer on the planet, winning all these tournaments and winning majors and making lots of money. Said it's more about like being a great

father or doing something a little bit more whole than just the sporting achievements and accomplishments. So Mike writes in what we learned slash ask us anything one day ahead of ask us anything Friday. Scheffler talked about how family is more important to him than golf. Current day top tier athletes like Jokic and Scheffler seem to be focusing on a work life balance in contrast to past athletes like Kobe, Peyton Manning who live and breathe their sport. So it begs the question,

do today's athletes lack commitment because they're just lazy Gen Z kids? Very well played. Okay, there's a couple things here. In the case of Jokich and Scheffler, I'm not sure that they focus on Making a work-life balance. I think it just comes naturally because of their personality I think anyone that has to work at it Doesn't actually have the balance if If did you, does everyone understand?

If you're trying to like enforce it and you're like, oh no, I've got to leave practice or I've got to get out of the gym because I got to go spend time with my family. Right, if you're scheduling time with your children, I'm not sure you have work life balance. What's interesting, and you know what, if you go look on X right now and you, you know,

everyone's saying, Jokic is the Scheffler of golf and Scheffler is the Jokic or whatever, however it works. I think I'm screwing that up. But regardless, there is a commonality there where they understand that their personalities just don't derive joy from what they do in their jobs. Cause that's what it is at the end of the day for them.

Jokic's passion is going back to Serbia every summer and being with his horses, because that's what he loves doing. And Scheffler's is being with his family, because unlike some of us, he genuinely loves his family and wants to spend time with them. Whereas some people use golf to get away from their families,

but that's a different conversation. With guys like, and I know we all look at, I think the ones, you know, he mentioned Kobe and Peyton Manning Tiger Woods is another one where they're hyper focus on the sport and the craft and blocking everything else out. That's also a personality thing. Yeah. It's just type A. It's that this is what I do.

And there is a sense of the most enjoyment the most fulfillment I'm gonna get is through doing this one particular task and that's fine I don't think there's a pretty and I know this might be a cop-out answer But I don't think there's a really right or wrong way I just think that what we're seeing right now and another good example from the footballing realm is Ben White who's Defender for Arsenal and the English realm is Ben White, who's a defender for Arsenal and the English national team. And he quite famously has told people a lot and he's not afraid to say, he's like, this is a job for me.

Yeah. This is not something that I love doing. Yeah. This is something that I understood at a very young age that I was good at. And I could be very good at, but he doesn't watch football in his off days. And he's got a lot of other interests. There is an inherent sense of jealousy that goes along with that because some people stare at it and they're like,

how can you be so good at something yet not be totally consumed by it? I think like Matt Stairs was like that. I think he liked hockey more than baseball. He was like, you know what? I'm really good at hitting dingers. I like Jeff Kenton baseball as well. I do and you know, Mike kind of tongue in cheek

makes the generational question, but I think back even famously now, I don't know about his training habits or anything, but like Joe Montana, famously incredibly chill, right? Like the story about him pointing out John Candy in the stands or in either the Superbowl or the championship game. And I think it's just, again, it's just, that was just his personality. Like he, he obviously worked hard at football. He, he, I'm sure he liked it and he was incredibly successful,

but it wasn't this kind of domineering. I'm so intense all the time way of going about it. I think there's always been those types of athletes and those types of differences. The interesting thing, especially with Scheffler is that right now you could make the argument that he's the most dominant golfer since Tiger Woods, which is a very rare air and like highest of the high elite level Pantheon that you can be at, but their approaches

couldn't be different. And the other interesting thing is that, Woods became a much more intriguing figure in terms of personality because of his relentless desire and that sort of cutthroat nature that to be the best golfer you have to be willing to sacrifice anything and now you have almost the antithesis of that where you don't have to do all those things to be the best golfer. And it's fascinating to watch it play out. I don't know how it will end for Sheffler. We didn't kind of know how it ended for Tiger. So the story is yet to be written there. The story is written on this hour of the Haliford and Breff show though.

We're done. We got to go to break. On the other side, we got a lot more to get into. We're going to talk to Tim Booth, Seattle Times Sports Reporter. That's coming up next. And then at eight 30, it's what we learn time. You're listening to the Haliford and Breff show

on Sportsnet 650.