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

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:000, they chat the Canucks announcing their Young Stars roster (10:00) and what to expect, plus the boys discuss the latest stories around the NHL (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.

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-d They're eating the dogs. Mmm, needs more dogs. They're eating the pets. Shuffle on more dogs, won't you? Aye, aye. More dogs. More dogs! That's like my two-year-old throwing a fit because I take away his dessert before he's finished. You're a monster. They're eating the cats.

Good morning, Vancouver. 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday. That was really good. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Alfred. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios

in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Ada, good morning to you. I like how there's not a single sports clip in that intro. Good morning. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. And Laddie, good morning

to you as well. Doesn't get much better than that. Hello, hello. We have to protect our dogs. We love our dogs. Well, sometimes we love our dogs. Halford and Brougham of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything

you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, we got a big show ahead on a Wednesday. Lots to get into. Guest list actually doesn't begin until 7 o'clock. Ian Furness from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle is going to join us.

We're going to talk about the Mariners, the Seahawks, maybe some UW football, a little Kraken talk, and you want to ask Ian Furness about the NBA's return? Question mark. Yeah, well, the NBA said that they're going to look into expansion when they get their CBA figured out and when they get their rights deal figured out. Well, two for two.

Yeah. Where are the Sonics? Give me the Sonics. Where are my Sonics? Give me the Sonics. Where are my Sonics? I want the Sonics back. Where are they? Come on. So we'll talk to Ian Farnese about that at 7 o'clock.

7.30, Eric Francis from Sportsnet in Calgary is going to join the program. Flames made a couple moves yesterday on the back end. Jared Tenorti comes aboard. So, too, does Tyson Berry. What's going on in Calgary? What does this mean? When are they going to start moving guys out? Why would they go into the season with guys like Rasmus Anderson,

Mackenzie Weeger, maybe even Nazem Kadri? They're definitely going to the season with Jonathan Huberto because nobody's taking that contract. They're going into the next six seasons with Jonathan Huberto. But the rest of the guys might be able to be moved. So we'll talk to Eric Francis about that at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Mike Zeisberger, the Zeis from NHL.com. He's down in Vegas for the NHL player media availability.

Wrote a ton of things yesterday. There's a lot of stories coming out of Vegas, obviously, with all the players that are down there. So we'll talk to Mike at 8 o'clock about all the happenings down in Vegas as we tick another one of those preseason dates and markers off the list. The annual media tour for players. There's a representative from all 32

teams in Vegas. That's another one that you tick off the list. Other teams were doing their golf tournaments, right? Their version of the MILF. Saw those getting underway. So we're getting closer and closer to the start of NHL season. So again, working in reverse. 8 o'clock, it's Mike Zeisberger from NHL.com.

7.30, Eric Francis from Sportsnet Calgary. 7 o'clock, Ian Furness from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle. 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? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was...

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? 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, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. We're going to have a little test here on the Halford & Brough show in the morning.

We're going to do a little experiment. We're going to see how much content we can drive out of a sporting event in which nothing happened. And not many people were able to watch, probably. Last night in Texas, in Arlington, at Jerry World, AT&T Stadium, one of the new great spectacles in the sporting stadia world. Not a lot happened. Canada played Mexico in a friendly.

The two sides, CONCACAF rivals, ended nil-nil, but they did manage to put a lot of fouls on the board. There was 43 combined fouls. To give you an idea of what that looks like if you didn't watch the match, there are 90 minutes in a soccer match. If you do the math, that means there was a foul every two minutes in this match.

Who was fouling more? Mexico. Mexico. Yes, which was a very interesting thing. Okay, so Mexico nil, Canada nil. Entertainment value nil. Was there any team that deserved to win? No.

No? It was impossible. It was just impossible to get anything going. Did the teams have scoring chances? There were scoring chances on each side. Each keeper was called into action to make one very good stop each. So I'll say that. And then he was fouled.

Yeah. Promptly chopped to the ground. There was one good scoring chance. Kyle Lahren had a header off an Ali Ahmed cross, which was a great cross. And it looked like that was going to find the back of the ground. There was one good scoring chance. Kyle Lahren had a header off an Ali Ahmed cross, which was a great cross. And it looked like that was going to find the back of the net, but the Mexican keeper made a nice save. And then the second half, Mexico had a great chance to score.

But Dane St. Clair, starting over Max Crepeau in the Canadian net, made a great save. And that was it for action. So does that not tell you a lot about how Mexico looks at Canada now compared to maybe 5 10 certainly 15 or 20 years ago when canada if they were to play mexico regardless of whether it was in mexico at azteca or in somewhere in canada or at a neutral site location they would just be like it's canada we're winning this game let's's go. That's a very good point, friend, because that's actually the point that the Canadian manager,

Jesse Marsh, brought up after the match. Now make one thing very clear here. In a nil-nil draw, there was one team that was very determined to knock the other team off its game by using very physical tactics, some craphousery, as we like to call it. And that was the Mexican team. The Mexican team went out there. Is that what they call it?

Yeah, that's what they call it. They don't use the S word. We are all PG here. Oh, okay. Let's hear now from the Canadian manager, Jesse Marsh, about Mexico's approach to upsetting his team, not the other way around,

in last night's nil-nil draw from Arlington. On the night, you know, it's a fight and it says something about, I think, our team that Mexico almost approached the game from the beginning like they wanted to try to eliminate our ability to press them and find space and they didn't want to try to play through the middle and there was a lot of long balls and duels and second balls. And I think it's a compliment to the progress that we've made as a team that a team like Mexico comes into this match and and and that's their strategy it was a dour affair that's how I'd like to describe it we're not

going to spend a ton of time talking about it this morning because for all the stuff that you want to try and squeeze out of it like it was you know you might have matches like that at a big tournament if you're Canada and you know you got to figure out squeeze out of it. You might have matches like that at a big tournament if you're Canada, and you've got to figure out how to play them. If someone wants to play cynical football, it was really, really, really difficult to watch. And a lot of you weren't able to because it was on one soccer. And what's more... Did you hear any more about the news that Canadian soccer business

had made an offer to change that deal. I only know that there was- That is so handcuffing the Canadian program. There was an offer made? I only know that there was an offer made. I don't know the details of the offer. Okay. They got to figure that out.

They got to figure that out. We're less than two years to the World Cup. Yes. They got to figure that thing out. This team needs more exposure nationally. And they need more resources i i don't want to i don't want to go into a world cup where canada is the host and they can't afford the drones that they need that's right right you need you need that sort of stuff no but in all seriousness in all seriousness i

had to throw i had to throw a drone thing in there but in all seriousness like i don't want to hear about that yeah we're hosting the world cup i don't want to hear about that. We're hosting the World Cup. I don't want to hear that, oh, we got to kind of cut corners on some stuff. That would be really pathetic. So that's something to keep an eye on going forward, see if they can rejig that deal. Because if you're Canada soccer business, you're kind of like, that deal was great for us

yeah it was great for the cpl it was bad for the men's program though so there was a lot of pressure being put on that uh on on the guys that on canada soccer business it's all very confusing you know what though i do want to say just one thing before we move along um the state of conca calf right now is a very interesting thing because Mexico. Is anyone happy 100% with their program? Like Canadian fans are probably pretty happy with the men's team. With the on-field product. Certainly recently, but, you know,

we've still got that financial issues. The United States, you can talk about. Is a disaster. Well, yeah, but they're probably feeling pretty optimistic. Pocatino's coming in and maybe he'll fix some things. But what's going on with Mexico? So Mexico's in a very bad way right now in terms of its soccer team. They've had very poor results over the last five or six months.

They changed managers yet again. This is the current manager. It's actually his third stint. He's like Billy Martin. It's his third stint in charge of the team the really interesting thing is that the fans are staying away like this was always a kind of a layup for the program is they would do this american tour and they'd host the newer so for example they've played 14 games at at&t stadium jerry world right and yeah but most of them have been against the Americans, though.

Some of them have. There's a way bigger hook. Okay. Even if it's not American fans going out, there's a way bigger hook to Mexico playing the United States in Dallas compared to Mexico playing Canada in Dallas, even though. No question. Even though Canada, you know, like that's not.

No question. Okay. In those matches I'm talking about, you know what the average attendance was? 67,000. And they went from that to 20,000 against New Zealand, which I didn't even bring up. Why would anyone? Because it's the Mexican national team. Well, 20,000, that's pretty good.

Last night was 32. Okay. Yeah. It's not good. All right. Yeah. Let's move on. The Vancouver Canucks announced their Young Stars roster.

And before we get into the players that everyone will be interested to watch, in a tournament like this, for me, I really only care about the guys who haven't played much in the AHL or much pro hockey. I think once you've shown you can play in the AHL, you should simply be expected to be pretty solid at tournaments like this. Or maybe even you might say some of these guys might have an issue trying to like get up.

They're like, I'll wait until main training camp. Sure. To really. This is the training camp for training camp. Yeah, this is the training camp for training camp. Standing out for somebody like Atu Ratu, that shouldn't really help a stock too much because you're talking about a tournament

that's for, it's like a rookie showcase. You know, sure, if Ratu or Max Sasson scores five goals in a game, you know, maybe I'll get off my hands and clap a little bit. But with that in mind, my guys to watch here are certainly Jonathan Lekaromaki.

I know he played a game in the AHL last season, came over, but I really want to see something from that guy in this tournament. He should be one of the best players in this tournament in terms of talent. A guy like Riley Patterson, who was kind of like a late bloomer draft pick for the Canucks. Josh Bloom, DPD. I want to see something from him. And then there's a couple defensemen, Sawyer Mineo and Kudryavsev. I think that's how you pronounce it.

Look, I'm not a big prospects guy, and Halford isn't either, and we'll probably get some guys on to talk about this tournament that know a little bit more about these guys, but those are the ones who will be fighting for time in the preseason. You know, like a guy like – so guys like that have been invited. Baines, Ratu, Sasson, Akita Hirose. They're obviously going to go to training camp. And frankly, they're obviously going to get exhibition games.

But the younger guys, you're not so sure about. And you want to see them because they're fresher. Yeah. You know, like if Max Sasson plays well in the Young Stars tournament, that doesn't help him make the Canucks. No. He needs to play well in his training camp. But if, you know, Riley Patterson plays well in the Young Stars, maybe he gets an exhibition game, which is a big deal for him.

Yeah. I think for me, with those guys you mentioned, the aforementioned Baines, Ratu, Sasson, Hirose, I think it's going to be very interesting to see how much of an impact they are going or almost need to have right from the get-go because the competition is really fierce on this team for everything, right? I would suggest that the trickle-down effect would be if you're that

um if you're that competitive for minutes at the nhl level and spots and you know roster rotations that should push its way down to the american team where it's like this is not just going to be handed to you either like there's going to be guys here where you're going to have to compete on a nightly basis like that's the goal of every organization. But for those guys that played in the NHL last season, wouldn't you say it's safe to say you can't really make a good impression here, but you can make a bad impression? I think that's exactly what it is.

If you're invisible, it's like that's a problem. And again, we're not trying to voice too much importance on the tournament. Look, the tournament at the end of the day is a lot of fun for everybody involved. The young stars. Right. The young stars. Right. Yeah, the young stars. Right. Andy goes up there and says that repeatedly over and over again.

Most of them are the young stars. It's a kickstart to the season, right? It's an opportunity. I mean, I know for a fact that NHL executives love this thing because, you know, there's still like remnants of summer weather. They can go up to the Okanagan. They can drink wine. They can play some golf and they can watch a bunch of hockey. Like, it's a good time, right?

The prospects that are up there, they know what the deal is. They know exactly where they slot in right now. Some of them are probably thinking, this is my first opportunity to kick the door down. But the reality is, they need to get to the main training camp just to have a real opportunity to do that. The fans are going to love it. It's their chance to see some guys that, you know, in a year or two, although there's

always one guy that surprises, these guys will make an impact at the NHL level. And then finally, the players know that this is the appetizer that leads into main camp. And I think that's the big thing, right? Main camp is going to be at this same location. And everyone is very excited to get this season

going. You know, if you have listened to this show or you've seen the countless interviews that players and coaches and executives have done this offseason, this is a team that finished with more than 100 points and 50 wins last year, and to a man, they feel that they got better in the offseason. And then, of course, you've got the goaltending saga as well, so there's a lot of intrigue going into this next couple of weeks here. Laddie, what do you know about the goalies that are invited? Tolopia, so he's already been with the organization,

spent last season in Abbotsford. I don't know. He might be the starter for the start of the next season. He could be. Jonathan Lemieux, I believe, was an invite to this camp. And then there's Ty Young, the Prince George goalie, who was a fifth-round pick, I want to say. So who are you excited to see at this Young Stars tournament,

if any of them? Yeah, Lemieux's not officially with the organization. He's just the guy that they got there to fill out the rosters. But Young is pretty exciting. He's a guy who's played in Prince George the last few years and sort of steadily built his reputation. Like you said, a fifth-round pick, so there wasn't a ton of expectation on him going in this career that he has now.

But he's a 20-year-old now, so now is the time where he's got to kind of make or break and make a move. But, yeah, he's just another depth piece, but he's another guy that you're excited to see. So moving along, there's a lot going on around the National Hockey League right now. There's some smaller notes that we can get to a little bit later. But Mike Russo of The Athletic had a Q&A with Bill Daly yesterday, and we finally started to see a very loose blueprint of what international competition is going to look like beyond this year and next year.

Now, if you've listened to this show for any length of time, you know that Jason and I have bemoaned the lack of best on best international competition. We talk about it an awful lot. Now that it's arriving, we're getting greedy. We don't just want to know what's happening this year with the four nations face off. And in 2026 with the Olympics, we want to know everything. I want to know it all. So Daly actually had some pretty specific talking points about what the NHL's competition

and the World Cup of Hockey is going to look like moving forward. So there's a few points here. He told Russo, we are 100% committed to doing this in the February time period. So that's important because when I was growing up, a lot of the international hockey was played in August or September.

It would be playing right now or it had just finished up. I think about the Canada Cup. It was played before the season. And you would hear the famous stories about the 1972 Summit Series and all the guys were out of shape. They played their way into shape and they're like, oh my God, we're going to lose to the Russians. I should lose these 20 pounds that I've been playing. And maybe half a pack.

Down from a pack, I'll just smoke half a pack of cigarettes. I'm only going to drink in between the second and third periods. Yeah, exactly. Right? So I think that is pretty important to note that they're 100% committed to doing it in the February time period. And that, of course, is when the Olympics is on. Yep. And then he said, we're going to have the 2026 Olympics, the 2028 World Cup, the 2030 Olympics, and the 2032 World Cup. So it's going to be like international soccer

where in Europe, for example, if you follow one of the European teams, you've got every four years, you've got a World Cup, but also every four years, you've got a Euro. Yep. So every two years,

you've got a major tournament. Now, here's another big question that Bill Daly had. How many teams are you going to invite? And he said, historically, we've had eight teams. Okay. And they'll probably want to have eight teams at these tournaments, these World Cups. The Olympics isn't their thing. So we're tournaments, these World Cups.

The Olympics isn't their thing. So, you know, we're talking about the World Cups here. But they might have a qualifying tournament. Yeah. So six teams will be guaranteed and they'll just be invited. And then they'll have another four teams that will be playing for two spots. So 10 teams in total. Hanging over all of this is what's going to happen with Russia. Pretty hard to predict what's going to happen on the international stage.

If the Russians will be invited, we don't know if that war is going to end, if it's going to just carry on, if it's going to escalate at all, but that's hanging over everything. But it's especially, you know, we're talking about right now in terms of their actual plans, because we're going to have a four nations tournament that some people are kind of like, only four nations? Yeah, I mean. No Czech Republic, it's going to be, you know, obviously no Russia, but there's going to be Canada, US, Finland, and Sweden.

It has been one of the big detractions from this tournament. I've talked about it as well. At the same time, I think you have to understand that they needed to get their international calendar going. They needed to do something. They needed to have something here.

I think this is a reasonable solution. I'm glad that they've looked further down the road. Like we want to get back to a traditional World Cup model. Like the way that this is mapped out. It was actually I laughed. I'm like, this is almost like it makes too much sense for the NHL. It's like they did too good of a job of planning it out because this is exactly what you need.

And you know what else it does? It wipes out the All-Star game every second year, which is a good thing. I mean, and I don't know what they're going to do in the in-between years if they're going to bring back the All-Star game or do something else in that February window. So, Adog, you got to chase out for Bill Daly. And we've had him on the show a couple of times.

It's become a Halbro tradition. Season-starting tradition. So hopefully Bill Daly can come on our show in the next little while. Because I do have some follow-up questions. One question I would have is, has the attitude among the league and the owners changed at all with regards to international hockey? Because we heard so often about the fact that we didn't want to send our players to the Olympics because it breaks up our season. There's injury risk.

And now you've got Bill Daly saying we're 100% committed to doing this in February every second year starting in 2026. So is that just recognizing that the players really want this and the fans really want this, so fine, we'll do it? Or has there been something that's happened either at the league level or at the ownership level where they're going, maybe we should be doing this? You know what?

I mean, maybe we'll get an opportunity to ask Bill about this. I don't know what his relationship is like with the National Basketball Association, but I'd be very curious to know if what happened at this year's Summer Olympics maybe buoyed them to thinking like, yeah, we made the right decision here. Because that was an awesome advertisement for the NBA. What happened this summer? I mean, it was Steph Curry in that final. That was, and the numbers, I mean, I think you saw the television rating numbers.

They were off the charts. I think they've always pushed back on the whole advertisement part. I know. Even in 2010 when the Olympics were in North America and everyone was watching it and Canada was playing the United States in the gold medal game and hockey was everywhere, they were still hesitant to do it. And what I've always wondered is was this just, and this is the cynical side of me,

is this just a bargaining chip that they thought they could play against the players? I think that was a valid way of looking at it. The reason I bring up this year is because, and this would resonate with the NHL,

is that you had such competition in the basketball from all the internationals. Like France hosting and going to the final with Wemby being the face of it and being a star in the NBA. How much of it has to do with the Americans are a pretty good team now? Yeah, I mean, well, that was part of it, right?

For sure. No, no, no, I'm talking about the hockey. Yeah, that's it. I knew the Americans were going to be quite solid at basketball they've been very good traditionally basketball um no i think it's i think it might be a fairly big part of it is that you've got someone a legitimate challenger to the throne like if you were to go in and you were to look at sports books for the 2026 i don't know if they've even got lines up right now yeah but. But, I mean, the Americans, you would have to think, anyone that knows a lick about hockey would say that they're right on par with Canada as a gold medal favorite.

And that is something that is very enticing for an international audience. So we got an open segment on the other side. If there's anything that's at the top of your mind that you want to talk about, text into the Dunbar Lumber text line 650-650. The Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way and Tilbury's Industrial Park.

More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. Talk about Sidney Crosby. He's certainly been doing the media rounds in the next segment and what his plans are for the next few years. How long is he going to play until? And we've also got some audio about Jonathan Marcheseau's exit from Vegas, which was kind of overshadowed by Stephen Stamko's exit from Tampa Bay.

And yet both those guys ended up in Nashville, which I think was interesting. So you are listening to the Halford and Brough Show. from Tampa Bay, and yet both those guys ended up in Nashville, which I think was interesting. So you are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We're the sauce on your steak. We're the cheese in your cake. We put the spring in Springfield. They're eating the cats. They're eating the dogs.

They're eating the cats. They're eating the dogs. They're eating the pets in Springfield. 6.32 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program.

Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. No guests in the first hour of the program today. It's all hell, bro. We got a lot of hockey stories to get into.

Things are happening. We're getting closer and closer to the start of the regular season. There was a lot of news out of the annual NHL player media tour from Vegas. Actually, we'll talk to Mike Zeisberger at 8 o'clock. He's down in Vegas covering this for NHL.com. Do we know who the Canucks sent? Actually, I don't. Oh, okay.

You know what? I can find that out at the break. We'll figure that part out. But I do know that the Pittsburgh Penguins sent Sidney Crosby, and he's been making some waves down in Vegas. We had the story yesterday that we were talking about on the air that he's pretty optimistic that he will have a contract extension done before the season kicks off on October the 9th.

Sidney was also asked, how long exactly are you going to play hockey for? How old is Sid the Kid going to be? When you're like no longer Sid the Kid, you're Sid the Advanced Adult or Sid the Geriatric. How long are you going to play for? Sidney Crosby might play until he's 40 years old. And I think he suggested earlier that he didn't want to do that.

That seemed to be when I saw Freed chatting with him. It was almost like, have you changed your mind on that? And it's funny how age will do that because I don't know about you, but when I was younger, I used to think of players and I thought the coolest thing you could do was go out on top while you're still the best player, like for a superstar, you know? And it was almost like I didn't want to see a player decline and then go from one of the best players in the league to a supporting role or, you know, thinking that you're still great sure but you're

not i always thought that was sad and i actually remember thinking like barry sanders man that's that's how you do it yeah well and on top of the game not like emmett smith winning the rushing title with arizona like that kind of yeah well i mean as long as he's winning titles but no but no no he he got the rushing record because he was tacking on yards at the end, sort of like... Oh, overall. Overall. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You remember Emmitt Smith... I really don't remember that. Emmitt Smith became the all-time rushing leader as a member of the Arizona Cardinals. Right. But he wasn't great with them. No, he was just going for the record. So I have changed my opinion on that.

For me now, it's like like play as long as you want. Play as long, and that's the thing, right? Play as long as you want. Yeah. Because, you know, that's what you do. That's your purpose. And unless you have another purpose planned out. Yeah, right.

And if you don't, you're in trouble because you do need a purpose in life you need a reason to get up in the morning and hockey playing professional hockey or playing professional sports pretty good reason to do that and also good exercise yeah keeps you young keeps you fit keeps you healthy i will say there's two things what do you think about that though well i think there's two two very specific reasons why this conversation came up and why he's more likely to play until the age the ripe old age of 40 one was that right now he's 37 and at 37 he had 42 goals 94 points and he was top 10 in heart and selkie voting. Like he had an awesome year by a 27 year old standards by 20. Someone in their prime is putting up 42 and nearly a hundred points of

fishing top 10 and voting. Like that was the definition of a wasted season. Totally. And here's the other thing. And that was the saddest part about the Pittsburgh penguins last season. Sid was unbelievable they had a ton of star power and they couldn't figure out the power play yep now which is crazy okay so i'm glad you brought that up because some people say well like part of the issue of playing

until he's 40 is like if he's going to resign in pittsburgh and pittsburgh's not going to be very good what's going on here i think it's what we just talked about. I do think that the allure of representing Canada, and apparently he's going to have lots of opportunities to do it if he keeps playing, is a very, very significant thing. You know, he's got an opportunity now, a very unique one, I might add, to have scored one of the most iconic goals in Canadian international hockey history.

God, in hockey history, period. Never mind. And he could be the sort of the grandfatherly type, the veteran figure for the next generation. I'm sure playing with Bedard, for example, and McDavid would be something. Because you know what McDavid and Bedard remember? Sidney Crosby scoring the golden goal in 2010, right? Like, I'm sure that all of that plays into the longevity factor. Do you think he'll still deserve to make the team in two years?

I mean, right now. That's the question, right? Right now, Sidney Crosby is a stone cold mortal lock. Yeah. Here's the thing. I think he's got such a well-rounded diverse game you know when you talk about when you get older you have to sort of redefine your role and maybe you're not a frontline guy like sydney crosby coming in as being a 3c or a 4c on a dynamic team he's one

of the most underrated two-way players in the game. Top 10 in Selkie voting last year, right? He's not out there killing penalties or anything. But I bet he could be really good at it. Well, he's just going to win his matchup. Yeah. That's the thing. You go up against Sid, he's going to win his matchup. But we'll see where he is in two years

because the difference between, what is he, 37 and 39? Once you really start to approach 40. The more intriguing thing for me would be if he ever plays for another NHL team, ever. Now, it's probably not going to happen anytime soon because it sounds like the extension in Pittsburgh is about to happen. But let's say he signs a three-year extension. Let's say at the end of year three, Pittsburgh's out of the play.

Does he go somewhere? That would be fascinating to me. What about if it's two years into the deal and he's what's going on here sydney crosby's tubas is long since been fired yeah right he's not there anymore it's a new guy um yeah did that that to me would also be a very interesting chapter to this whole thing uh here's a good question who plays longer sydney crosby or lebron james i think probably sid i don't know how much lebron has left he'll get to play with brawny this year okay well one thing is lebron is older yeah that's what i'm saying yeah sid's 37 lebron's 39 um and i think it i do think it's you're probably right it's probably contingent on the Bronny experiment.

One minute with Bronny out there? Don't call me dad. Yeah, right? I do think it's such an unprecedented thing. Is Bronny going to be a player? It doesn't look very hopeful. Yeah. But, I mean, stranger things have happened.

And, you know, the Antetokounmpo brothers got gigs for a few years hanging out on the bench with Giannis. So maybe you could translate that over to someone's son. I think the question is going to be, if that's the sole motivator, playing with your kid, how long does that last before you're like, I've accomplished it? We got a text in here.

It's from Mike. It's a Mike urologist from Brockville. It says, athletes today can play at amazing levels until unprecedented late age because of nutrition and training. It wasn't that long ago most athletes were washed up in their early 30s other than like Matt Cullen. Yeah, Matt Cullen was incredible. He was going to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

Yeah, but he was never a superstar. But he just took care of his body. And some of it's genetics that you can play that long. And some of it's luck that you don't run into injury issues. And yes, you can play until you're older at a higher level. But you also have to recognize that the younger players are in better and better shape now, nutrition-wise, and they take care of themselves,

and they are more competition for you. Speaking of guys who are going to play to an advanced age, let's talk about Jonathan Marcheseau. At 33, he signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract with the Nashville Predators this summer. And that was almost the second part of the story, the lesser part of the story, because the big story was that Jonathan Marcheseau, despite being Vegas' best player last year, I would say, and the best player in franchise history because he was a day one guy, was

just allowed to walk to market. And, you know, the story of why and how he left kind of got overshadowed by who he went to, the Nashville Predators, and then the fact that Steve Stamkos, who is, let's be honest, a much more notorious Ballyhoo talked-about departure, also landed in Nashville.

Anyway, the reason I'm bringing all this up is because yesterday, Jonathan Marcheseau appeared on an episode of the Cam and Strick podcast. That's Cam Jansen and Andy Strickland out of St. Louis. And he had some very interesting things to say about his departure, actually shed light on how he left Vegas. And I'll let the audio speak for itself, but it got to the point where Marcheseau told

his agent agent he's like you know what i'm gonna call management i'm gonna call kelly mccrimmon and george mcfee to try and sort this thing out uh here's jonathan marsh so explaining what happened on those final days in vegas they didn't want to go anything long term they were always in the mortar ballpark of like three years i wanted four uh so that that's the first thing that we were so far you know we wouldn't but at first it was always the agent uh was calling them and after friday i said well i've seen those guys for so long like i've talked to them so much like i'm just gonna call them yeah so i called Kelly Friday. I told him, like, what's going on?

You know how big of a factor I am in your, not just on the ice, but in your locker room. I'm one of those five guys that makes the locker room, you know, that makes it enjoyable with the trainers and all that. We had an unbelievable chemistry and atmosphere over there. It was so much fun. So I'm like, what's going on and he's like well we we just can't can't go to terms with you guys i'm like okay well friday i'm like well i guess all good things come to an end you know so either way i called the next day i

called george i'm like george are you guys like really going through with this like you're not nothing's happening? And he's like, well, I'm going to call Kelly. He wasn't in town, and he didn't know what it was necessarily. It was more Kelly that was taking care of that contract. So either way, they called. They called each other, and after the next day, they were like, well, we just can't. So I was like, well, all good things come to an end, and that's it.

Jonathan Marcheseau had 42 goals for Vegas last season. He was awesome. He was really good, and he walked away for nothing. And I'm looking at this roster now and going, it's still pretty good. You've got some really good players. Jack Eichel, Thomas Hertel, William Carlson. Those are your centers. Mark Stone is there on the back end.

You've got Petrangelo, Sheathed, or Noah Hannafin. The team, I think, is still going to be a good team. I don't know if they're cup level, though. No, they're not. And I actually am very curious about Nashville, as I'm sure a lot of people are. Are they championship caliber? Because we saw them against the Canucks in the first round,

and I think they impressed me with their work rate and just how they played the game, how competitive they were. The Canucks were the favorites in that series, and the Canucks got by them. But there were a couple, you know, like, uh-oh moments, and the Canucks needed some, I don't know if anyone remembers the series after the Edmonton series. A couple miracles.

There were a couple miracle wins that the Canucks had. And now they've added some real top-end talent. The question that I have about Nashville, and sat brought this up when we had them on the show a few weeks ago. Are they legitimately good or with these additions? Are they like video game? Good. You know what I mean?

Like, do you put Marcia? So, and stamp goes in at like, it's a fantasy lineup. Do they actually translate to a fit on the ice? And you also have to remember that there's a reason why Tampa Bay and

Vegas drove a hard bargain with these guys and eventually let them walk. Stamkos is 34, Marcioso is 33. So how long is the window open in Nashville, if it's open at all? Yeah.

I mean, I like what Trotz did. If you're a fan of the team, you have to admire the gusto. And, I mean, those are bold moves. I think you've got to go for it. Those are bold moves. Roman Yossi's 34 years old. They recommitted to their goalie instead of going with the young guy. Yeah. And you don't get a lot of opportunities in free agency to add 240 goal scores.

So there's that. By the way, one final note. But the same thing was said in Calgary. Remember when they pulled off the deal to bring in Huberto? Right. You just, you never know. You never know how guys are going to fit

in a new organization. Sometimes it can be great. Sometimes it can be a complete nightmare. And then all of a sudden you're looking at their contract and going, when is this thing over? The only difference I'll say with Calgary is that there were guys walking out the door that you had to replace.

Oh, Ryan McDonough walked out of... Come on, man. That's a good defenseman. Yeah, I know. But they added 240 goal scores and they didn't lose any guys of consequence. Like the Flames lost. Don't shrug off Ryan McDonough like that.

I'm going to shrug off Ryan McDonough like that. I think you can probably replace. Yeah, when you lose Goudreau and Kachuk, that's a big deal. Yeah, right. By the way, the one thing I wanted to add on this one was, so they asked Marcia So about loyalty and being an original golden misfit and then just being told to walk. And George, George McPhee, by the way, I've worked for bosses before that give you the silver my head. You know, I got to call Toronto, that kind of thing.

So I know what McPhee was doing. I feel like it's a pretty lousy thing to do to Marcia. So just be straight up with them. But yeah, just be straight up. Don't. that's the worst part kelly's not returning my calls i think he's on a flight like come on just tell him that you're not going to resign him uh marcia so said and i quote there's definitely no loyalty but at the same time you're there to win i don't mind that mindset personally and you know what i respect

the hell out of marcia so for saying that because he could have had sour grapes and he could have been bitter about it but he realizes were they thinking that they were going to make space for him though no i think they knew it was just did they know all along everyone's got i mean at the time cap friendly was still up yeah you can go you can go to it and go how are they going to do it i think think they knew. Yeah. I think they knew it was the end of the road. I mean, he said, I don't mind that mindset. And the mindset there is if there's a better player out there, Vegas is going to be in on them,

right? That's just, that's the way they've done business. And they made no bones about it. I mean, I think it's a lousy way to do business because I think you end up what they've got this year. You think it's a lousy way to do business?

They want to Stanley Cup. I know they want to Stanley Cup. One of the most successful franchises in just, it seems to be working because I think you end up what they've got this year. You think it's a lousy way to do business? They want to Stanley Cup. I know they want to Stanley Cup. One of the most successful franchises in just, it seems to be working. I know. I mean, they got handed a pretty good card and they got a great start out of the gate. Seattle got handed the same card. Not the same. And they've bored us to death. Yeah, they have bored

us to death. I don't like how they've done business because this year now like all the bills are coming due. And I think the bigger issue here is at a certain point you're going to get burned by not respecting or paying or honoring the guys who

did the boots on the ground work when all your stars were hurt and set aside or put on fake LTIR. But don't you think there's a difference between Like when Eichel can't play for two months and Stone can't set aside or put on fake LTIR. But don't you think there's a difference between... Like when Eichel can't play for two months and Stone can't play for two months, it's the rank and file guys that have to get you to the playoffs.

Right? Yeah, but that doesn't mean you can overpay guys that are getting older. I know. You cannot give these contracts for what you've done already. You constantly have to be looking forward. Now, can you handle it in a better way?

For example, the Canucks example, when Tanev was let go by the organization and was left hanging. That was not honorable and it was wrong. Not necessarily to let him go into free agency because remember at the time, a lot of people here in Vancouver, most people here in Vancouver were of the opinion that Tanev was, you know, he was wearing down. He had a lot of injuries, couldn't stay healthy.

The fan bases wanted the roster churned. And when he went away in unrestricted free agency, I think a lot of people were like, not necessarily super broken up about that from a hockey roster perspective, but the way it was handled, where they just almost ignored him and didn't return his calls and he's sitting there

going well just tell me straight up but i think what was happening was the canucks were distracted with bringing in oliver eckman larson the deal ultimately didn't come together did a year later but there's a better way to deal with that. Yeah. You know, have yourself better organized. So Tanev isn't sitting there going like, I've blocked like a million shots for this organization. I have done all the heavy lifting. I've been great culture-wise. I have all the young kids over to my house for dinner.

Like I'm like the team dad and you're treating me like this? There's a way to handle it when you want to move off a player, and there's a way not to handle it. The Canucks handled it really badly, and I don't think Vegas handled it all that well either. Right, because this right now, like if you're saying importance to success, I think everyone's going to agree.

Like Mark Stone and Jack Eichel are better players, right? But who was the consmith winner's playoff MVP when Vegas won the cup? It was Marcioso. Who was the guy last year that dragged them into the playoffs when everyone was hurt and not performing very well? With 42 goals, it was Marcioso. So I don't think it is really about paying past performances or paying just based on loyalty.

If you go out and you prove that you can do the job and you do it, then it is a slap in the face when someone's like, thanks, but we're going in a different direction. You almost ask, like, what more could I have done? But isn't it comparable to when you hear a player talk about a coach and the coach can be hard on you, the coach can be critical, just let me know where I stand. There's nothing worse. the coach can be critical, just let me know where I stand. Yeah.

There's nothing worse. I'm sure a lot of you listening right now have jobs where you've wondered about a promotion or a new title or a new role with the company and you go to your boss and the boss hems and haws and you just, you go into a meeting and then you leave the meeting. And you're like, I still have no idea what's going to happen. And that's fair. Maybe they were more transparent with Marshall at some point. But the way he described it sure didn't sound like it.

It sounded like he had to pick up the phone to figure out exactly where he stood two days before free agency began. So anyway. We got a text in about Max Pacioretty in Toronto. So has he signed a PTO or has he actually signed a contract? He is going to become a Leaf. Yeah. I'm assuming that it's probably going to be one of those veteran minimums with a bunch of incentives.

And Robertson could still be traded. Yeah, that was kind of the... And maybe that's the expectation. They signed him to that league minimum deal, and maybe now he's more portable, that he's got a contract. I don't know. Patches, like he was such a good goal scorer and really such a good player.

He wasn't right for the captain's role in Montreal. It was just too hard for him. But he only had four goals in 47 games for Washington last season. So Max Petretti is... He's probably done. Max Petretti is a cautionary tale for anyone like me who has suffered a torn Achilles injury because he tore his Achilles, rehabbed,

got back to being able to play, and then tore his Achilles. Yeah. Right? back to being able to play, and then tore his Achilles. Yeah. Right? I mean, that's two years on the shelf. This is going to be a very low risk, probably low reward. Whatever you get out of Pacioretty at this point is a positive. Like you said, I know he managed to get back to playing with Washington last year.

I almost think this is more elaborate than coming back from a torn ACL because one, you've done it twice. And two, speaking from experience, the old Achilles tear. It's a tough one, right? It affects your mobility in such a profound way. There were some other quick news and notes from the National Hockey League yesterday before we go to break. Happy trails to former Vancouver Canucks

defenseman Jordy Ben. Jordy Ben announced his retirement from the NHL after 12 seasons. He was not here for a long time, and let's be honest, given how poor the team was, it wasn't a particularly good time either when Jordy Ben was here, but 12 years he forged out a career in the National Hockey League, so happy trails

to him. And before we go to break, I need to tell you about Tile Town. Mom, Dad, can we go to Tile Town? Sure we can. As BC's favorite hockey team kicks off a new season, receive 20% off any regularly priced in-stock tile. For more information, visit them at mytiltown.ca. Hour 2 is coming up.

Ian Furness, one of our favorites from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle, is next. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.