Halford & Brough in the Morning - What To Expect From The Canucks Rookies

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, including the Canucks Prospects Showcase, big Whitecaps, Lions and Seahawks wins (3:00), plus the boys look ahead to what's next for the Jays and the Mariners, and dive deeper in what to expect from the Canucks rookies this season (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.

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. The stretch of the pitch of the cow, swing in a drive, deep into the gap in the left-center field, and goodbye baseball. There it is. Mickey Mantle, you got some company. Walker's going to get the toss. going left side. He's got some blocking. He turns up,

Bill, he's down inside the five. Touchdown! Cheahawks! And then the Cush comes back in the box. And he's got into a hot streak for Somersfield up. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Alfred. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adon, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and 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 dash trustee.com.

We are in hour one. Hour uno of the program. Hour one is brought to 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 the middle of 170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to live from the Kintech Studio, Kintech, Footwear, and, orthotics working together with you in step.

We have so much to get into on a Monday show. The entire first hour will be all what happened and all Halford and Brough. The guest list today begins at 7 o'clock. Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the Two Deep Zone, is going to join us. Check this, Jason. Breaking news inside of what's happening. ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting this morning that Bengals QB Joe Burrow will indeed need toe surgery that's going to sideline

him for a minimum of three months. He's got turf toe. He's got turf toe. I saw this podcast yesterday saying that we need to come up with a new diagnosis and phrase and medical terminology for turf toe. It sounds soft. It does sound soft. I think it's the toe part because it's not really a hyper extended big toe. It's basically a broken foot is what it is. That's how that's how painful it is for Joe Perth toe. Right. So Joe Burrow, with a severed foot, is going to miss three months for the Bengals. So we'll talk to Mike Tanier about that when he comes on the show at 7 o'clock. Also, all the big news from yesterday. Also, looking ahead to a Monday night football double header, Texans bucks at four, followed by Raiders Chargers at 7. Lots of NFL talk with Mike Tanier at 7 o'clock this morning.

7.30, Thomas Drance from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk right here on Sportsnet 650 is going to join the program. Drancer took in the Canucks Crack and Prospects games Plural from Everett What's the name of the rank down there? Is it Angel of the Winds? It's so harmonious. It's just a beautiful... There it is.

That's what plays when you walk into the rink. There was no play-by-play, so it was just Andy and Jason doing that the entire game. It's like Gregorian chant going the entire time. It was very distracting. We'll get Drans's thoughts on what went down in the prospect games, plural, who stood out, and an injury update on first round pick,

Braden Coots doesn't sound that serious for the Cooter. We'll also preview Training Camp, which begins later this week. Thursday, training camp begins, and then your first taste of preseason hockey just six days away. It's going to be next Sunday against the Cracken. My favorite day is the medicals. I think they do that Wednesday, actually.

So really, training camp starts Wednesday. I just imagine one guy with one of those, you know, like the doctor hammers that you just kind of like poke the knee at. And you're like, you're good. And then the knee kick, and the foot kicks out. Yeah. That's the one. That's a good one.

I don't know what else they really do. Because you assume that everyone's probably fine coming in a train. They're like, are you smoking? Yeah. No. I have bad news. You have mono. No, like I don't.

Anyway, I also want to point out that Wednesday, in addition to medicals, is also the day that they have to do all of the green screens. And they have to do the media car wash and do all of their reeds for the upcoming season. Oh, yeah. They love that. Right. So it's like, I'm Tyler. Myers and you're listening to Sportsnet 650 for some reason or another. So Drance is going to join us at 730 to talk about

all of that. 8 o'clock Kevin Woodley, NHL.com, and Ingoal magazine is going to join the program. Lots of hockey talk with Kev Canucks and otherwise goalie talk with Kev as well. There was a goalie trade. There was. So that was Columbus acquires Ivan Fedatoff. He's like six foot seven, is he not? Big dude. Big, slow dude. Talk it must be looking at his goalies and like, because he used to have 6'7

Ivan Fedatov now he's gone. Has a trade of a gold tender, a Russian goaltender specifically from the Flyers to the Blue Jack has ever worked out before?

Never worked out. As soon as I saw that it's never happened. I remember thinking of that trade too. I was like, oh like that's going to solve things. Bovroski

who's been terrible in Philly. Well, they throw Ian Clark into the mix and that changes everything. I haven't heard that name for a little while. So we'll talk to Kev about that. Talk to him about the Dustin Wolf story in Calgary, it's a few days old, but Kev was all over that for NHL.com and Ingole magazine as well.

Working in reverse on that guest list, 8 o'clock Kevin Woodley, 7.30 Thomas Durant, 7 o'clock Mike Tanier. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was.

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Miss that? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools or resources and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.com.

We're going to go rapid fire here for the first hour of the program since we are now fully back in the swing of sports and we have a lot of things to get into. We will begin with the aforementioned Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Crack and Prospects games in Everett, Washington. The Canucks kicked off the little mini two game tournament with a loss, 5-3 on Saturday night. After that initial disappointment, the prospect canucks bounce back

with a 3-2 win in the second game on Sunday afternoon. Both of them played in Everett. The biggest news of the weekend probably had nothing to do with goals and assists and wins and losses. However, the big news was the injury status of first-round pick, Braden Coots, who left Saturday's prospect's game

against the Cracken with an undisclosed ailment. It sounds as though it's not going to be too serious. He was held out of Sunday's game for precautionary measures. And according to Thomas Drance, who we'll have on the show later, he is expected to join the team at training camp this week. One of the discussions I want to have on the other side, so we'll give people time to wake up a little bit

and text in to the Dunbar Lumber. Text line at 650-650 is, how do you expect the Canucks defense to look in terms of personnel to start the season? Because down at the prospect's tourney, there are two defensemen playing that the Canucks and the fans are hopeful debut with the Canucks this season but they could also start down in Abbotsford

and that is D.P.D. Elias Pedersen and Tom Willander, the first round pick who just left college. Yep. And look, we're not going to sit here and make a big deal out of a prospect tournament but I did. Well, I am. Rick, yeah, we did read a couple of reviews that Tom Willander struggled a little bit.

And I've always felt like it's going to be a big ask for him to jump right into the NHL out of college. But I'd like to hear people's thoughts on just their expectations for the Canucks defense. Do you expect a guy like Tom Willander to start in the NHL or do you think he would be better off down in the HL, play a few games down there, maybe half a season, and then be in position to get called up. Because right now, you would say, I don't know, like the odds on favorites to be the six comprising the defense.

If everybody stays healthy and everything goes according to plan, would be obviously Hughes and Heronick on a pair, assuming that sticks together. And who knows, we can have that conversation when we talk about the defense as well. Pedersen and Myers is the three, four. And then forbort and I would say, based on his body of work last year,

DPD has a shot at that number six job, which means Willander right now at least from my opinion anyway and feel free to share like Jason said Dunbar Limer's text line is 650 650

that Willander probably the right thing too would be starting on the outside looking in and go get some professional games at the American League level Yeah it's a good program down there Your white caps buddy

Let's go there right now and let's start with the elongated audio our belated happy birthday to Thomas Mueller who scored a hat trick on his birthday in a, that's right, 7-0 victory over MLS leading Philadelphia on Saturday night at BC Place. Here's what it sounded like as Mueller completed the Hattie. And then the cross comes back in the box.

And then there's Mueller. And it's a hatching for Thomas Muller. What a night. 7th heaven for the Whitecaps. And the birthday boy has his sixth career club Hatcher. Whitecaps were up 4-0 after the 41st minute. It was remarkable. It'd be funny if every time he scored they played happy birthday.

But like in full. In the German version? It was one of the most remarkable matches. MLS, white caps are otherwise, that I've ever seen. Because as I mentioned, almost as a footnote there, Philadelphia is the leading team in all of MLS. They are the number They are the number one

So they've got this show on Apple On Saturday it's when MLS has like 14 plus games Called MLS 360 It's their version of a whip around show Where they go to all the different places Yeah yeah you're the only guy that watches it There's not a huge viewership I can guarantee you that

They were almost in like pinch me territory They were looking at each other And the producer to double check To make sure that what they were receiving The information was correct out of Vancouver Like, are we getting the right score? Is it not 7-0 for Philadelphia? How is it running?

How are they running away like this? And also, Mueller had a pair of penalties within a 15-minute span. Yeah. Neither of which he earned. Right. But now it is funny. As soon as they get a penalty, there's no conversation anymore about who takes them. There used to be a debate.

It's like, well, let's try and get Daniel Rios off the Schneider. Maybe Brian White can take them. And Ryan Gold's pretty good. No, that's all done. They're all Mueller's now. And he scores them all. He's three for three so far. He's earned those.

He's earned, maybe not in the game, but he's earned them with his career. So the other thing I want to point out here is that the white caps also did this on the weekend without their former captain and possibly best player not named Thomas Mueller and Ryan Gould, who's been gone for forever. Brian White also, their leading goal score, did not play. This was a short-handed team that went out and beat the best team in MLS and beat the wheels off them, 7-0. in front of the third straight sellout crowd at BC Place, do I'll add. White Caps only have six games left in the regular season for MLS, and then we'll start their most important playoffs ever in franchise history, just with the expectations and the season that they've had.

And, you know, this 7-0-0 win, I'm sure is going to be referenced as they start the postseason. But they've also got the Canadian championship, which they're trying to win again. Boring. But, you know, we win that. That's what we do here. We win Canadian titles. And it could be a local derby in the championship, but they got to get past the forge.

Just forge. Not the forge. They got to get past forge. Just for forge. Get it right. Are they from Hamilton? They are from Hamilton. They are from Hamilton.

They are the pride of Hamilton. They're very good. And the white caps are, they're tied, two, two, right? That's correct. So they've got to win this one. There's all to play for this week at BC Place. Thomas Mueller was asked about it. because he's obviously quite familiar with the Canadian Professional League.

He's like, we're playing the Ford. Premier League, sorry. Just Forge, Thomas. It's just Forge. It is going to be interesting. I would imagine that Forge probably saw that 7-0 victory against the best team in MLS on the weekend. Again, at a place, now, BC place where the crowd has a new level of energy and a new level of attendance, which they haven't really achieved, which is great. Speaking of that, the crowd for.

The other game at BC Place was not good for the BC Lions, but the BC Lions got the win. And that's the most important thing over the Ottawa Red Blacks. I know the crowd was announced at around 20,000, watching it on TV. A bunch of them were sick, I guess. But who can blame? Who can blame? First of all, Ottawa is not much of a draw.

Nope. A draw, but also the Lions haven't played well. on the other hand the offense has been pretty unbelievable in terms of point production which is the job of the offense put points on the board and I guess the defense

all you can say about the defense is they didn't blow a massive lead this time so that's good and they got a key they made a key play when they needed to 27 points, you're happy with that? We kind of set this out over the previous five weeks saying that if you can hold your opponent to under 30,

you're going to win a football game because the lion's offense with regularity now, and this is another game on the weekend, a 38 to 27 win over Ottawa, where the offense went out and put 30 plus points on the board. In a regular football season, if you're scoring 30 in six straight weeks, you should have a much better record

than the Lions do right now at 6 and 7, but the defense has been that poor. It was fine on Friday night, But the story, and I think you're right, is that another terrific game by Nathan Rourke. And if you want to talk about something else, the BC Lions defense has hurt this year. It's the exposure and the attention that Rourke should be getting from what's been a terrific, terrific year. 300 plus yards on Friday night, 308 and a touchdown. James Butler, you know, not a huge game on the ground, but more than enough to get the 38 points on the board.

I think Sean White, who would five for five on field goals as well. But they had another really solid offensive performance. begs a question, can you get the defense to a point where they can keep you in games and not play you out of them? Because that's really what's happened during this stretch where they were, I mean, another reason you're talking about the poor attendance on Friday. You're talking about a team that was looking to avoid a three-game losing streak and not against the powerhouses in the CFL either. You know, one of the losses was back last weekend in Ottawa, a very disappointing loss. So, you know, the shine is off the team a little bit, despite the fact that it's crazy

because their marquee player and best player, Nathan Rourke, is having a very, very good season. I was reading J.C. Abbott's column at Three Down Nation after the win. And get a load of this. Friday marked the six straight game that the Lions were able to surpass the 30-point threshold as a team, a feat that they achieved

just four minutes into the third quarter. For context. So six straight games with 30 points. the last time that happened was an eight-game run with Doug Flutie at the helm. Don't do that. In 1991, 6 years, J.C. noted that was six years before I was born and Rourke was asked about it afterwards. He was like, it's pretty cool. Obviously, Doug Flutie's a pretty good player. Yeah, he was young too.

But J.C. notes that the difference between that stretch with Doug Flutie and this one with Nathan Rourke, is that the Lions went 6 and 2 during that run in 91 and the win against the red blacks brought BC back to 500 for their current rank

because they've blown three double digit leads on three occasions so like what the offense is doing is remarkable but the defense is kind of blowing it. Yeah we talked to Moj about this on Friday as well and they've got to get this right because you can't waste opportunities

like this. We played audio from Mike Awwe early last week where he said like we're in a league where it's tough to make the playoffs despite the fact that a lot of teams get in and you can't just throw away wins at the end of games and we've done it three or four times this year and the defense just hasn't done a good enough job and when it does start to take away from the offensive exploits that haven't been done since the flutie era you know that the defense isn't doing a good job okay speaking of throwing away wins sam darnald couldn't do it he couldn't throw away a win despite two interceptions, and that's

credit to a lot of things on the Seahawks. And Sam Darnold made some plays, for sure. But the Steelers aren't good. No. And the biggest play of yesterday, for those that missed it, was little-known special teamer, George Holani. A heads-up recovery of a kickoff by his

teammate, Seattle's Jason Meyer, for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, really swung the gates on. on this one, gave the Seahawks a 10-point lead that they never relinquished in a 31 to 17 win over Pittsburgh on Sunday. I want to play the TV call of this because nobody had any idea what was going on with this bizarre kickoff play that resulted in a touchdown for the Seahawks. Let's roll it now. Seahawks win 31 to 17 over the Steelers on a very weird play on special teams. Oh, bad balance goes through the hands of Caleb Johnson. He may have touched that ball.

That would be a live ball. Let's see what the ruling is here. It is a touchdown. It's a touchdown. Oh, Seattle gets to score. Ruling on the field. The ball hit in the landing zone on a kickoff. Somebody's got to cover it for the receiving team.

It was recovered by the kicking team. So Caleb Johnson, the rookie kick returner for the Steelers, who got absolutely eviscerated by Mike Tallinn. after the game. If you missed it. Jason and I were debating it because we were out at AJ's yesterday after the game having some celebratory pizza and beers. I initially thought that it hit his hands and that's why it was live. But the announcer mentioned it during the clip there that with the new rules, if you kick it into that zone and it lands, no matter where the ball rolls to, it's a live football. And George... It's actually a moot point whether he touched

or not. That's right. Yeah. Touch or no. It's a live ball. And apparently, Holani was asked about it after the game and he said that they practice that on Friday that you know get your you know what down the field because anything that drops in that zone and is live there's a chance that you might be able to recover it it kind of reminded me of watching a CFL game where an American comes up to the league and doesn't really understand the rules or you know some some sort whatever the rule is that because there are been these massive changes to the kickoffs I've still watched that I'm like what what's what's going on here?

a bit of empathy for Caleb Johnson because I sometimes don't know the rules either and I was watching them and I'm like Well the broadcasters didn't When the broadcasters in that one And the one on TV They weren't like Oh every ball is alive

They know they weren't like that Yeah they thought did he touch it And at any rate Despite that I still felt even if the Seahawks hadn't gotten that break They were the better team Yeah. They controlled the ball.

They just looked like the better team, frankly, on both sides of the ball. And Aaron Rogers, you know, yeah, he made a few throws, but he old. He old. Okay, let's get into this a little bit because I got a few things that I wanted to touch on here. I know we were going to go rapid fire. We can push some of this stuff after the break. You mentioned the Darnold turnovers, not good in the slightest, especially the one on fourth and one where, you know,

they decided that they were going to get cute with it and run play action and run a boot out of the backfield. And, of course, it ends in an interception. Outside of that, I thought there were some pretty positive developments in the passing game. They discovered that they had other receivers than Jackson Smith and Jigba. They got other guys involved, including Horton and Cup. And he threw for $2.95.

So at the very least, you can say from game one to game two, there was improvements in the passing game, which you needed to see. Other big improvement, Kenneth Walker, 305 yards on the ground including a 19 yard touchdown you saw yesterday why he's got the higher ceiling than Charbonnet

like it's just it's Charbonnet's a very he's a hardworking runner he's a straightforward runner yep and he's a no nonsense guy he's a meat and potatoes runner but you know Kenneth Walker the third gives you the breakaway explosive stuff and he can bust it to the outside 19 yard touchdown was a nice little run he finishes with 105

the Steelers had a tough time figuring out the Seahawks defense and that's the second week in a row where I've walked away being fairly impressed with the collective of the Seahawks defense. There's still those flashpoint moments

and we saw it a couple times Rieck Wullen had another tough one although Wollin did make that tackle on Jalen Warren on the 65-yard catch and scamper kept them short of the end zone. How many missed tackles were on that play? Rick made a tackle at the end

that mattered though, right? But there were like five or six of his tackles. Because he kept him out of the end zone, it forced the Steelers to try and get it in, and that's when Rogers threw that very costly interception, right? Very good point. So Woolen did a good job there. The defense for two weeks now,

I've been pretty impressed. Outside of that one big run from Warren, where they missed a bunch of tackles, they've done a good job limiting the run, and they did a decent job against McCaffrey last week. There's still a couple of issues in the secondary, but the fact that they played without Witherspooh and Emin Worry in that secondary and got the job done,

17 points holding that offense to at home is nothing to sneeze at. Like the good performance from the Seahawks. Can we talk about the weird home road record? Yeah. That was the Seahawks' seventh straight road victory. I don't know what to say about it. And yet they can't win at home. They better win at home next week because they've got New Orleans.

Yeah, New Orleans pushed the Niners a little bit yesterday. But of course, for those that missed it. So depleted. No George Kittle, no Brock Purdy. Mack Jones went in and got the win for the Niners in New Orleans. But, yeah, New Orleans goes on the road. I'd be curious to see if the line's already on that one, how much the Seahawks are going to be favored by.

We can keep it in Seattle here. We can play the audio again. Big day for Seattle sports. Not only did the Seahawks get the win, but Cal Raleigh, the big dumper, put himself in baseball immortality, alongside one of the biggest names in the history of the sport with his 54th home run yesterday.

as the Mariners swept another series and have now won nine straight to take over sole possession of first place in the ALW. Mariners and the Jay's out 11 runs yesterday. Yeah, it was pretty good day. I mean, it was not that long ago, like just about 10 days ago where you and I were really worried

about where the Mariners were at because they were flounder. Well, nine in a row. Can we play the break or his call before we go to break or did you want to say something here? Let's go out with that. Just a couple of notes. The Seahawks, seven and a half point favorites

over the Saints that's right now and they play Sunday Lumenfield in Seattle that's the line right now 7.5. 7 and a half so they better win that game a few people suggested that we kind of glossed over

Braden Coots' injury we're going to talk about it more with Thomas Drance he was there in Everett at Angel of the Wins Arena so we'll talk to him about that. It's also not expected to

keep them out of... I think I did a decent job of covering it. He got hurt. They held him out of Sunday's game for precautionary reasons and he's going to participate in training camp. Yeah. Don't be scared. There's lots to be scared about this Kinnock season, but not that. Don't be scared about that. We want to hear from you. Dunbar Lumber

text line. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and renter warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at Dunbar Lumber dot com. The text line is 650, 650. You're listening to Halford &

Brough on SportsNet 650. And before we go to break, why not one more little read for the listeners? Pastime Sports and Games for the latest in hockey cards, sports memorabilia and upcoming in-person autograph sessions, visit pastimesports.ca where customer service is their

top priority. Take it away. Rick Riz. Number 54, when he hits that, will tie the great Mickey Mantle for a switch hitter and a season. The stretch of the pitch of Cal, swinging to drive, deep into the gap in left center field, and goodbye baseball. There it is. Mickey Mantle, you got some company at the top of the list. Cal Raleigh with number 54. Left center field into the meritor bullpen. He has just tied the great Mickey Mantle with his 54th home run of the season. Holy smokes for

a switch hitter. This is a good song. This sounds like the intro to a sports highlight show from like 1986. Yes. You're listening to Sportsline with Mike and Jason. Alford and Brough You are listening to the Halpert & Brough show on Sports 9-650 Halpert and Brub the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates

Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com Still an hour one of the program Still got a lot to get into from the weekend. I am so glad, so glad that the sports are back. As I mentioned, we were at AJ's Pizza on East Broadway yesterday getting caught up with AJ, hadn't seen him in a while, He said, how was summer?

He said it was good. We came back too early. That first week we were back, there was nothing going on. We were leading off with Cincinnati Reds scores. It was not good. Now it's great. Training camp, September 18th. That's a month away.

A little peek behind the curtain at the Halford & Brough Show. You know when we're desperate for content, when we do the, let's look ahead at some stuff. That just gives us an opportunity to talk about stuff that we want to happen. Yeah. That hasn't happened yet. Arbitration eligibility. eligibility. Let's look into that.

We are still an hour one of the program, of course. Hour 1 is brought to a North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid, visit them 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Now, having said all that, I do

want to let everybody know that as a look ahead, we are now just 15 days away from the start of the Major League Baseball postseason. Postseason play begins on September 30th. Today, of course, September 15th. And the Blue Jays, the Red Haunt, Toronto Blue Jays, finished a sweep of the Orioles yesterday. It was a George Springer show for the most part, but I want to play this audio. This one really

broke the doors open yesterday. A three-run double from the kid, Addison Barger, as the Jays put up 11. 112 win over the Orioles to sweep the three-game series on Sunday. Here's what it sounded like. This is well hit, slicing down the left field line, and it drops. in fair. Springer into score. Lucas right behind him. Guerrero on his way to the play, and it's a three-run double for Addison Barger.

Barger knocked in three, Springer went three for four. Alejandro Kirk had three hits and an RBI. So the Blue Jays are now an American League best 50 and 25 at home. And by the way, I'm just going to call it Skydome from now on. If we're going to do this thing where we're going back to 93,

and we're remembering the, those glory. days of the Jays. We're just calling it Skydome. Okay? It's got a retractable roof. Truly an engineering marvel. Look, there's a hotel room in Centerfield. What are those people doing? Close the blinds. God.

Hey, that's only happened a couple of times. Okay. Okay, 50 and 25 in front of the sultry fans in Center Field. So they started the day with... It's not a hotel anymore, is it? I don't even know what it does. Oh, yeah. Is it? I think you still is. They made so many changes there. I thought it might be like a brew pub or something. Yeah, right. My wife Katie's stayed there and she recommends don't stay on the side

of the stadium because they stay up all night leaf blowing and getting the garbage out of the stadium. And you can hear it through your window. I see. Which is connected to the stadium. Good tip, Katie. A little Yelp review for everybody there. Book it for the game maybe, but not an overnight. Okay. So the Js now have

a healthy lead in the ALE East. Nice starting from the Bebes as well. He's now 3 and 1. So things are looking good for the Jays moving forward. Well, they got They got the youngster on the hill tonight, right? How do we pronounce his surname? Yesavage.

Yeah, you're savage. It says how it looks. I know, I had a terrible pronunciation yesterday at the bar. Yes, Savage. Yeah, yeah. Yes, Avage. Yes, Savage. They're really excited about yesavage.

Yeah, it was. So anyway, the Js are now going to begin a set against the Rays, who after getting above 500 have now dropped back, they're 73 and 76 on the season. The Mariners, we mentioned them going a break. They've won nine in a row. They've swept two series in a row, and they've got an awfully big series coming up with Houston

in the not too distant future. They got a three game set in KC first, but then in what we'll probably decide the division. It's beginning this Friday, so Friday, Saturday, Sunday set in Houston. The M's got three games where the ALS could pretty much be decided. So correct me if I'm wrong. Right now it looks like no jinx here,

but the Jays and the Tigers will get the buy. If the season ended today, that's correct. Jay's would be the one, Tigers would be the two. And then Seattle would play Houston? The three, six. And then the series that everyone would want to see, the Red Sox would play the Yankees. The Red Sox and Yankees played last night, as a matter of fact.

We watched a nightcap at AJ's. Yeah. And then with the bracket, the winner of the Sox and Yankees would then face the Jays. Okay. In the following round in Detroit would get the winner. They don't. I believe it's a straight bracket, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah.

Could be wrong on that. If he is, text in to the Dunbar-Lumber text line. I'm looking at the bracket. But anyway, there's still so much to be decided. And the Mariners theoretically could work their way into it as well. Into the buy? Yeah. By way.

There are a couple of games back of the Tigers, I think. Right. But I mean, they've won nine straight. They've got a lousy team in the Royals coming up. So there's that. Okay. I wanted to kind of dive into a couple of the NFL stories from yesterday, but we've got Tannier coming up at 7 o'clock.

We've got a lot of people clamoring to talk Canucks. Now, I know that we quote unquote glossed over the Braden Kootz thing. But really, it was glossed. So we'll park the NFL stuff for now. We can dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket as well because, look, we should be getting excited for the start of the Canucks season. And the first part, the mini prospects tournament, is already in the rear view now. The Canucks played two games against the Cracken prospects down in Everett over the weekend.

Cole's Notes version, they lost the first one. They won the second one. I'll watch some audio of the coach, Manny Malhotra, who took charge of the troops, and he seemed relatively pleased with how they were able to take. a game plan which they didn't have a ton of time to practice and work on and implemented over the course of those two games but everyone now has their eyes

fixated on training camp and then of course we're not even a week away, we're only six days away from the first preseason game where the Canucks will take on of course like the Prospects did the Seattle Cracken next Sunday so I threw out the question earlier in the show what is the Connux

defense like going to look like for game one of the regular season and There's a couple of wild cards in the young guys, DPD and Tom Willander. DPD has already played in the NHL, and we like what we see from DPD. And Tom Willander, we don't really know what to expect of him at the pro level. Brad and Colstream texts in. I watched the prospect games.

DPD was a man against boys. May have been the best player for both teams. He is ready and even showed some good offense on. On the other hand, Will Ander showed good skills and great skating, but needs time in Abbey. Don't expect him until later this season at the earliest. No issue as the Canucks have the depth. Yeah, they do because assuming no injuries, which actually is kind of dangerous to do. But there are five, I would say, essential locks as long as they stay healthy to be in the lineup for the Canucks defense.

and that is Hughes Hironic, Marcus Peders, Tyler Myers, and Derek Foreboard, who, of course, the Canucks brought back. Yep. So let's say there are two more spots on the roster I'm talking about. Let's say they carry seven defensemen. Sure. DPD probably has the inside edge.

He played in the NHL last season. The organization really, really likes him. And there's also P.O. Joseph. Pierre Olivier Joseph, the veteran of nearly 200 NHL games. They call him the post office. That's right. I don't think anyone calls him that. I don't think they do, though. You know what? As a former first round pick that's only 26 years old,

with nearly 200 games of NHL experience, maybe we should be talking about, I mean, in the context of the defense, maybe we should be talking about him a little bit more as a guy that might see more time than we expect. Yeah, I think if there's going to be a quote-unquote issue with the Canucks defense, is that there's a dearth of right shots, which is why some people wondered if Willander could just make the team out of camp because DPD is a left shot but he can play the right side

and he's been forced into that before. So can Joseph. He's a left shot who can play the right side. I tend to think we're making too much of this left shot, right shot stuff. I've always said, I've long said that, but no one listens to me. But, you know, it feels like ever since it's almost like battle. Babcock at the Olympics. 2014 Olympics.

You remember he was just like, it was a non-negotiable. Yeah, it had to have a regularity. And the Canucks have often felt that way. But I also, I sometimes felt also that it became a thing for Babcock in Detroit. Because remember they had all the left shot defense men?

Yep. And he's just, he's getting so frustrated. We're going, we're going lefty righty. And anyway, it's, yeah,

it seemed a bit much, but it did seem like it took over the NHL for a while where you, like it was like you had to have it. It was Sancrescent. And then slowly we've seen it now where, you know, you can kind of mix it up a little bit. And guys have, there have been a handful of guys that have made a point of being like he's very good at playing on his offhand. Or he's a righty playing the left or lefty playing the right, whatever. But guys have made it almost part of their resume or like a calling card for their versatility, which, you know, I think is an important thing.

But back to the Canucks defense. I don't think there's any huge surprises. on the horizon. I don't think anyone's going to, you know, jump up and, you know, knock the socks off anybody. I think the thing will be, do they want to rush Tom the Lander

to see what they've got and is the intrigue going to exceed where he's at in terms of his ceiling? Or are they going to take a more pragmatic approach and be like, hey, we have had other young defense who come through Abbotsford, you know, Kudriatz has a good example of a guy and we've seen their game mature matriculate.

You're going to be the same. You won't be any different. Evan and Olegrove Texan, I wonder if Mancini missing youngsters is any indication that he might have the inside edge of that bottom pairing right D spot? No, I don't think so. I think he missed the prospects because he's 23 years old. Right. He's not prospect technically anymore.

Yeah. I've liked the bits and pieces that I've seen. I do like a lot of the things that he brings to the table. My question is how high are they on him organizationally? And also, what's his role? Yeah, that's a good point. What role do they want to have that, let's call it a bottom pairing? Do they want to have some puck moving on that?

Or do they just want to have that solidly, defensively, maybe physicality? You have Forbort and DPD together, and you have those guys out there and they're pretty rock-solid, physically guys. You know, when Talkett was the head coach, and don't forget, Adam Foote was part of that because he ran the defense. You know the way they like to play the defense. They like to have big, long guys out there. Pretty much in the bottom four, if you want to put it that way.

Now, one of the problems with that is that they talked themselves into day or and A who couldn't play, right? And it costs them a lot. Maybe Adam Foote or the organization has slightly different. Opinion heading into this season. Maybe we want to have some more puck moving. But correct me, if I'm wrong here, a lot of what people were impressed with Mancini in the H.L.

was like some of his puck carrying abilities. He could transport the puck in a singular fashion. Yeah. But they might also just be like, hey, just play a simple game. Yeah. All right? Because we've got that Quinn Hughes guy to do all that stuff. We don't want turnovers, focus on your defensive play.

It feels like the organization hasn't been quite as high on Mancini as a lot of the fans. That's my question. You know, like he was the guy that was going to be available in any trades. And then other teams were like, I don't know. And don't forget, like the Rangers already gave him up in a trade. Yep. Someone, oh, Mike, text in, Mike the urologist from Brockville talking about the description that I had of Pierre Olivier Joseph. He said, quote, you could also be describing Derek Puglia with that description when he arrived to Vancouver.

Yeah. And you know what happened then, Mike? Eric Pugliott played 133 games over the course of two years for the band. He shouldn't have, but he did. If you go back and look, that was the most fruitful stop of his NHL career. He played more games here than he did in any other NHL market. Now, wasn't a good team, and he got exposed, especially in the second season of that stint. But he played these guys that have hung around and have experience and have the pedigree do tend to get a chance when injury strike or when you need something.

changed up. I don't know an awful. I know Pierre Lavee Joseph's profile as a player. I will readily admit that I don't have, I've devoured a ton of tape on the way that he plays. But I've seen his profile, like eating, eating Pierre Lave Joseph tape.

Let's also throw it out there. Like, there can be surprises at camp. There can be surprises in, in, in the preseason. Who knows? But that's why there are surprises. But that's what I'm saying. Like Mancini could show up and play unbelievable. The one we're not talking enough about is

Kudriatz of. Yeah, because he's so solid. Right. That's the one where I think his profile might fit better in terms of you're going to get a five, six bottom pair guy that plug and play that's not going to play every night. Maybe you want someone that's a little bit more defensively oriented or on the, you know, the safer side of things where if you're going to put them in a game for 13 minutes, you want those 13 minutes to be as low event as possible. Yeah. Right. So there's an option. So why don't we table this discussion for when Drance is on? Because Drance, uh, has written articles for the athletic where he's got depth charts and everything. And he was down in Everett for the two prospects game.

So he might have some thoughts of his own about the defense. NFL. Let's go back to the NFL. Let's go back to the big news of the morning. And this is the biggest news of the morning in case you missed this. Breaking news from ESPN's Adam Schaefter. Joe Burrow, star quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals, is going to undergo toe surgery for an injury suffered

in a dramatic win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday in which Burrow exited. Burrow is going to be sidelined for a minimum, underline minimum of three months, which is going to keep him out for at least 12 games, which is a wild total, and would seemingly derail the Bengals season. You know, they got Jake Browning, a quarterback.

the ex-husky. And you know what? He threw three picks. But he was very loose with the football and they're going to need to tighten that up. But they weren't awful offensively with him. They still managed to put up some points. He can make plays, but he's not Joe Burrow.

He's definitely not Joe Burrow. Now, Schaefter reported this morning also that the Bengals are already on the phone trying to pick up a veteran quarterback because their QB room just got a heck of a lot thinner. Especially in terms of, like if something happened to Browning now, and it's within the rumble. possibility. Their season would be completely done. There has been some talk. The Ravens are going

to walk to that division. Yeah. I mean, the Ravens just beat the living snot out of Joe Flacco and the Browns in the weekend. Well, just one more thing on the Bengals, though, because they are off to a two and oh start. I do wonder if they're going to pick up the phone and they're going to call the New York Giants. Not about Russell Wilson, who will get to his game in a second, which was remarkable, except for the end. I do wonder if they're going to call James Winston, who's the third QB for the New York Giants right now and get him and it seems like the most logical fit right now but we'll see what happens there

this is all happening this morning by the way what did you make of Russell Wilson throwing for three touchdowns in over 450 yards in the game of the day yesterday an absolutely cinematic wild affair between the giants and the Cowboys that the Cowboys won with a pair

of amazing kicks from Brandon Aubrey I think he thought when he threw that bomb that tied the game late he's like I am back Mr. Unlimited remains. And everything I throw is going to be magic. And then he tried it again in overtime. He was like, oh, I am not back.

That was, I've never actually wanted to describe a play as a sacrifice fly, but that's what Russ threw on that interception in overtime. He went from 168 yards passing in the opener to over 450 in the second. So he was feeling it. Yeah. And do we have the clip at the ready, the Russell Wilson audio?

But the past, so I think what happened at the end of the game, there's about three minutes left in overtime. And actually, both of us thought that it was going to go to a tie at that point. Russ, who had been connecting with Malik neighbors all afternoon, I don't even know if he saw neighbors. I think he just knew that neighbors was going to be in the vicinity, and he just did one of those moonshots that he throws up. Wasn't even remotely close.

Yes, Greg? Do you want his post game or do you want the actual? No, I want the post game clip. he was talking about it. Yeah, that's what I thought you wanted. So it was kind of this game where Russ, it's a career high for him too in terms of passing yard.

This is remarkable given how long he's been in the National Football League and what he's accomplished. But it ends on a sour note. The Giants fall to 0 and 2. Jackson Dart made a cameo appearance in this one as well. Came in, apropos of nothing in the game

and did three handoffs, fell down on one of them and then exited. Russ was Russ after the game, though. Another all-timer clip from Russ after a terrific performance that ends in disappointment. Here's what Rest had to say at the podium after a loss to the Cowboys. I think that somebody once told me, the greater you're great, the more they're going to hate. The greater you're great, the more they're going to hate.

And I never forget, my dad was on his deathbed. I was playing college football. I had a pastor in North Carolina at NC State telling me that one day. And I was going through a lot of tough stuff, you know, my dad on his deathbed. And I was playing well, and I was going this and that, and everything was going at some of the highest moments. but also some of the toughest moments personally I never forget he told me that the great of you are great the more they're going to hate

you know it is to a degree true but just because something rhymes doesn't mean it's 100% true it was pretty good though I'm going to use it from now on anytime we get the haters coming through it rhymes it's true yeah sometimes you can just be bad and people will hate

like think about some of the Canucks players have come through that haven't panned out and we hated them wasn't because they were great it wasn't because of that I know what he's saying yeah I know what he's saying

I know he's talking so hate away he talks about the haters a lot he's done it more did you not hear my rhyme just now it rhymes so it must be true

but you know where this all started in Seattle when he felt he wasn't getting you know you always talk about you always talk about how Russ talked about his legacy yeah well Russ always talked about part of the reason

he wasn't getting the credit that he was due was because he had all these haters because they hated his personality and they hated the way that he conducted himself off the field and he was putting up the numbers that other quarterbacks were putting up but he wasn't even getting MVP votes. Now those voices, and especially after last week,

have turned into, you're just not good at football anymore. Yeah. So he went out, and I'll give the guy a ton of credit. That was a great performance. The pick-in, and it was a very reckless throw, but the pick-in overtime aside, not a lot of guys at that advanced age can go out and throw for 450 and three touchdown.

He deserves a lot. Do you think the Cowboys were like, maybe if we had more of a pass rush? It got brought up on the broadcast a couple of times. They're like, do you think Russell Wilson would have this kind of time in the pocket if Micah Parsons was here? And very quietly, they were like, yes,

yes, that's a very good point, a very valid one. If the Chiefs come back to get to another Super Bowl or win another Super Bowl, and they start saying like, people didn't believe in us, and you know how they sometimes do that, They'll be right because I don't believe in them. Can you turn off?

What's going on with your laptop? Just mute your audio. So my computer got reset entirely. So all the settings that I had previously are now gone. So I had muted all my tabs, but now they're not muted. But just there's a, there's, yeah. I blame ESPN personally. You mute ESPN.

I have to mute my computer now. Because they've got the auto starts, which is shocking. Shocking. I might just mute Mike, you know. Yeah, yeah. Just turn his mic off. So the Chiefs lost to the Eagles 20 to 17. and I know the Eagles are the defending champ

so there's no shame in losing to them but I don't know the Chiefs just don't look dangerous and for Travis Kelsey to make the key mistake in the game and the ball could have been delivered better by Patrick Mahomes but you know Travis Kelsey or a Hall of Fame receiver tight end where you're you know like you're sure hands Travis Kelsey we can you can freely have this conversation right now

because there is, like, statistical evidence to back it up. It's the first 0-2 start in the Mahomes era. Like, they have never done this. It's just eye test, too. They don't look as dangerous as they used to. Those are two tough games. Yep, for sure. You're going to Brazil to play a divisional game

against a good Chargers team and a good defense, and then you've got a Super Bowl rematch in the second game. It's tough. I wouldn't necessarily be hitting the panic button. However, there are signs that the offense has not come anywhere close to the rebound that people were expecting. Now, a lot of it has to do with the injuries, right? Rishie Rice is out, not with injury, but with suspension.

Xavier Worthy is out. Kelsey was talking quite a bit in the offseason about how he wanted to rebound from a subpar year. And right now, you know, I think Father Time has caught up more than everyone anticipated. Yeah. And it's not just that he was distracted, is that he's old. I still am not ready to doubt Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, though, even though they are around too.

So I'm going to throw that out there. I'm doubting them. I don't think they're really as close to elite as they were in the past. Chargers win tonight. All of a sudden you're looking at a two-game lead in the division, which is no small thing two weeks into the season. Bill from Buffalo noted that the throw by Russell Wilson actually put them ahead. Yeah, how could I forget the 80-yard field goal that tied the game going into overtime?

Brandon Aubrey's kicking was phenomenal. That would have been good for 80, I think. It was unbelievable. It's funny because this year at the start of the, The year, kicking in the NFL has been really poor. There's been a lot of misses, and it was funny. I don't know if you watched the Niners game yesterday, but after they cut their kicker, they brought in the new guy, Eddie Pinero,

and he promptly missed his first extra point attempt. But anyway, Moody was like, I could have done that. The kicking's been bad. Aubrey has kind of redefined what good kicking looks like, what great kicking looks like, because he made a 46-yarder in overtime. And, I mean, 46 isn't a gimmie. Yeah, yeah. Okay, we've got to continue this on the other side with Mike Tany.

here. Thomas Trance, join us at 730 and Kevin Woodley for some goalie talk at 8. You're listening to the Halford Embrough show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I once again need to tell you about pastime, sports and games. For the latest in hockey cards, sports memorabilia, and upcoming in-person autograph sessions,

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