Halford & Brough in the Morning - Which Canucks Made The Hockey News Top 100?

Episode Date: July 24, 2025

In hour three, Mike Halford & guest host Josh Elliott-Wolfe chat with The Hockey News editor-in-chief Ryan Kennedy (1:24) about their Top 100 NHL Players list, and which Canucks made it this year, plus the boys tell us what they learned (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.

Music In a one on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. 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-Trustee.com. We are now in hour three of the program. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers.

Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step and also guests on SportsNet 650. Call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most. Visit them at powerwest.ca today. They keep the lights on. Let's go to that Power West Industries hotline right now.

Our next guest is the editor in chief of the hockey news. Ryan Kennedy joins us here now on the Haliford and Bref show on SportsNet 650. Ryan, how are you? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate you taking the time. So the hockey news recently released its top 100 players issue. We waited until this very moment to dive into it and didn't even reveal who is number one on the list. Josh may have done it earlier in the show, but we're not going to tell anyone about that right now. Who is the number one player on the hockey news top 100 players issue?

Well, this year we went with Nathan McKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche. Why McKinnon over other players, particularly number 97? Yeah, I mean, it was a very interesting process. And, you know, we've done sort of top 50 player lists before in the yearbook and we decided this year to do a top 100 and to do it at its own issue. And this is in April. So obviously it didn't count the postseason because the postseason hadn't happened yet. But you know, you look at Nathan McKinnon and the game he plays and you know, he lost Miko Rantinen early in the year to trade and you know Martin

Etch-Esch has obviously become a very good player in his own right but you know you just look at the numbers McKinnon puts up you look at the power in his game he's a Stanley Cup winner you know he's kind of done it all at this point in his career and like I say we could totally flip-flop with McDavid who was obviously number two. But at that moment in time, sort of based on the season and recent events, McKinnon was our guy. Okay. So in Vancouver, we are very Canucks centric and often, very often, we only focus on what's going on with Vancouver Canucks. How many Canucks made the list?

Well, Quinn Hughes was number six. All right. So we were, we were very fond of a Quinn Hughes and the season he had for obvious reasons. Um, I believe Elias Pedersen was there. I'm just, I'm scanning the list as we look at it. Pettersson was definitely there. Not as high as he might have been early on in his career, as I'm sure Canucks fans will probably attest to. I think we had him sort of in the 80s. there he is, number 87 for Elias Pettersson. That might have been the only two Canucks at the time because JT Miller had already

been traded when the issue came out. Obviously JT Miller was on the list as well. And then obviously, you know, That your Demco being hurt a lot, didn't help him. So yeah, at that time, I believe it's two Canucks. Uh, so with regards to Patterson, like coming in, in the top 100 is great. Given how, let's be honest, frankly, a struggle it was last season, even dating back to the season prior, but it's a, it's a fall from grace from a guy who at one point his career probably would have been an

awfully lot higher on a top 100 list from that sort of like 3,000 foot view given that you're in Toronto and you don't necessarily cover this team on a regular basis what do you make of the the peaks and valleys and most recently the valleys that Pederson has gone through and what he's primed to do or not do this season coming back from, again, what was a very disappointing 2024-2025 campaign? Yeah, I mean, I really think he's kind of on the precipice right now and it could go either way. Obviously, there was nothing but drama in Vancouver last season and it clearly had an impact on him. That main impediment, at least from what most people are saying, in J.D. Miller, is now gone.

Things are different in Vancouver. So can he get back to that 102-point player that we have seen him to be? There's no structural reason why he can't. He still has talents surrounding him in Vancouver. Obviously, you know, the Canucks resigning Brock Besser means that, you know, there are weapons, you know, for him to play with. I think it's just a matter of him proving that he wants to be the guy and he wants to take those reins. And like I said, we know he has the skill. It's just a matter of, I think, getting the mental aspect of the game refocused and going out and being the Elias Pedersen that we all know he can be. We're speaking to Ryan Kennedy from the hockey news here on the Halford and Brough Show on

SportsNet 650, breaking down the hockey news top 100 players list here. So with regards to it, like criteria to maybe a top 10 player in the national hockey league, I know we already touched on a little bit, a lot goes into it. What are some of the criteria and factors? How much does championships and Stanley cups and multiple Stanley cups play a factor in being one of the top 10 players in the national hockey league? I think it's a factor, but it wasn't the overwhelming factor. If you look at the top 10, McKinnon's got a cup.

Obviously, Kael McCarr has a cup with Colorado Nikita Kuturov, Andrei Vasilevsky. But they were the only ones in the top 10 that had actually won a championship. Like McDavid and Dreissel have obviously come close but haven't done it yet. And then you got Connor Halebach, Austin Matthews, where their teams have gone a couple of rounds but obviously haven't broken through yet. And then Kareel Kaprizov, who, you know, Minnesota hasn't really had any playoff success, but, you know, you look

at him as a burgeoning superstar in the NHL, albeit in a market that doesn't get a lot of love, and it's hard to ignore what Kaprizov has done on a team that doesn't have a ton of depth. We had this thought exercise, and we're going to probably do this tomorrow on the show, a little tease for what we're doing tomorrow tomorrow is if there was a young guns version team going all the way back to the 2016 World Cup of hockey, if you were to reprise the idea for the 2026 Olympics, what would it look like? And that got us talking about all of these great young players in the NHL currently that are either in their first or second years that could ascend to that level of being superstars. And

as it pertains to that list, are there any rookies or prospects on the horizon who you've really got your eye on that are going to be making that jump to being one of those top 100 players in the National Hockey League? Well, first of all, that's a fantastic idea. Thanks. Love what you guys are coming up with. You want to come back tomorrow on the show? You're more than welcome. Let's do it.

For me, Max Celebrini would be the focal point. And it's interesting because he was kind of overshadowed in his own draft year by Connor Bedard. And I remember talking to scouts about it. And they were like, it's kind of unfair. People are still talking about Bedard, where Celebrini is doing incredible things. And then I think what we saw this year in San Jose,

to me, like right now, if I could only have one of them, I would take Celebrini. You know, like not only does he have that amazing skill, but we saw his battle level and his compete and the ability to win those 50-50 battles as a teenager was just incredible. And I think that, you know, again, a player who, we know the Sharks are probably gonna be terrible

again this year, but at least he has some guys to play with where you can say, all right, well, once they get some depth, like Celebrini, you know, with Will Smith and some of the other young guys that they're bringing along, they can really, you know really lead the charge there. So, I mean, obviously, you know, Celebrini, Bedard, it's very interesting. I was actually at Canada's U-17 camp the other day,

learning about a lot of those players that we're gonna see in the 2027 NHL draft. And I'll just throw this name out there for your viewers to keep in mind in the future. Alexey Joseph, who's the number one pick in the Quebec League draft this year. This kid is six foot four, 200 pounds already, and he kind of plays that McKinnon power style game. So that might be a guy where if you did it in a few more years, he would be there. But yeah, I mean, lots of great young talent.

Zeve Bouyam is a rookie we'll probably see a lot of in Minnesota this year. He'd be another one to keep an eye on. Just in terms of your under 23 or whatever the criterion was team. Yeah, how quickly, still a year away from being drafted obviously, but how quickly do you think Evan McKenna

could work his way onto lists like these? Oh, very quickly. Yeah. And I do think that with him going to Penn State, it gives us a nice comparable list, right? Like you can see what Max L. Labrini did at Boston University, the numbers he put up. And now we can say like, okay, well Gavin McKenna, he's gonna be playing in the big 10, so he's gonna get great competition as well. If he puts up like 60, 70 points in the NCAA, that's wild. Right, like that's really impressive.

And that could very much foretell what we should expect for him in short order. Yeah, I mean, McKenna is going to be number one, he's going to go straight to the NHL, and he's going to have an impact, and frankly, I'm excited to see what he's going to do this season. We're speaking to Ryan Kennedy, editor-in-chief of the hockey news here on the Haliford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. On the subject of McKenna and more so recently, Porter Martone, who's gonna be going to Michigan State. The rise of high and high level top talents applying their trade in collegiate hockey

rather than the traditional route that we've known through the CHL. It's become one of the major talking points of this off season. We've spent a lot of time talking about the fact that Penn State games now for the first time ever have become must watch television for a lot of people. Covering prospects in junior hockey

and collegiate hockey as closely as you do, what have you made of this sea change that's undergone where NCAA hockey is just having like, as Bill Simmons would say, a moment right now, unlike any other? Yeah, certainly. And it was interesting when the NCAA first made their ruling that NHL players could join college teams, it was like when the NCAA first made their ruling that CHL

players could join college teams, it was like, okay, so what are going to be the ramifications here? Like we really didn't know. And at first we saw players from the BCHL or the USHL or other junior A leagues in Canada go to the CHL because now they didn't have to worry about eligibility. So that was a huge boon for the CHL. But then you start getting those players, you know, like McKenna, Marton, Cole Reschne, the Calgary Flames pick, the first rounder going to North Dakota, Keegan Verhoff, who might go number two behind McKenna in next year's draft. He's certainly top three at this point. He's gonna be going to North Dakota. I think what you're seeing is those players that

are so high level, the big thing that almost all of them say when you ask them what do you need to improve on, they say well I need to get bigger and stronger. Well if you go to a top NCAA program, you're playing two games a week, the rest of your week can be in a weight room that is NHL caliber in some cases. You can practice basically every day. You're not traveling anywhere. It really lends itself to building up your body. And in terms of the competition, older, it's stronger. Some of the guys you're playing against are 23, 24 years old. And just the lifestyle itself too, right? You're going to be on a college campus. Everybody else around you is your age. That's fun. You know, I mean, it's great. Billet

families are amazing. But they're basically like living with another set of parents. are amazing, but they're basically like living with another set of parents. For a player that's going to be in the NHL very soon, I can see that being very enticing to be on a college campus, particularly if you're at a school like a North Dakota or a Michigan State where they love hockey. How do you think this will impact the higher end talent level, I guess, in the CHL though? Yeah, I mean, it's obviously going to take a bit of a hit. I think the CHL is probably going to get younger. I wouldn't be surprised in the coming years if we see more players get granted exceptional status. It'll also be interesting to see, you know, just in general, do players with late birthdays,

do they get drafted more or less by CHL teams because they say to themselves, okay, well, if he's not draft eligible yet, we get another year of him. But on the other hand, you know, like Porter Martone's a late birthday and Branton lost him after he got drafted because he wanted, you know, bigger, stronger competition to play against and, you know, that weight room in Michigan State. So I think it's one of those things where we're still waiting to see how everything shakes out and it might be a fluid thing, right? The CHL might benefit at times and the NCAA might benefit at times. I will say, you know, my one other thought on this is it is very interesting how many players in the first round and even beyond have already signed their NHL entry level

contract, which means they have to go back to junior. And I did notice a lot of them have been from the Western League. What do you think of the overall development path now? Because so there's the new NCAA rules and then reportedly it seems like NHL teams are going to be allowed to have one younger player from the CHL play in the AHL as well. Overall, do you think all these changes are good for the development of higher end talent in the NHL? I do and you know the AHL idea will help major junior teams because you know you have to

be signed by your NHL team if you're going to go to the AHL which means that the CHL team can say like okay well play for us and then you know next're going to go to the AHL, which means that the CHL team could say like, okay, well, play for us and then next year you can go to the AHL and play against men, get that pro lifestyle under your belt. The important thing I think is what's best for the young player themselves. And I think having these options is the best thing. They can decide, maybe they need another year of major, junior, and maybe they like where they're at. Maybe they don't want to go to college, you know. You have to at least pretend to go to classes if you're in the NCAA. Maybe they're not all into that. Some of them just want to play hockey and that's totally fine. And, you know,

major-junior is still going to get great competition. And I do think we could start seeing sort of a almost a two tiered major junior where, you know, certain programs, London, Kitchener, I would put Kelowna in there, Quebec, Gramparts, Halifax, Moosehead, they never have trouble drawing talent. It's the other teams that are maybe more small town, maybe more community based that may have trouble getting top end talent now, or at least holding onto it. We're speaking to Ryan Kennedy from the hockey news here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, we've done a look ahead to what the junior and collegiate landscapes

look like. Let's circle back to the National Hockey League and do a look ahead. Yes, everybody, I realize it's July 24th and this is far too early to be doing such things, but there is a lot that has happened in free agency and team rosters have sort of taken shape and there's always an anticipation for next year. With that being said, Ryan, which team are you most excited to watch given what's happened through July going into next season? watch given what's happened through July going into next season. I am very interested in Carolina. Uh, I, I I've not quite sold on them as a Stanley cup contender because their assistance team and teams have obviously figured out the

system in the playoffs, but adding Nikolai Ehlers, adding Keandre Miller, having Alexander Nikisha come in as a rookie, I think they're gonna be very fun to watch. And if they can make that breakthrough, that'll be very exciting. It's just a matter of, if they need goals, who's gonna get them?

Is Ehlers the answer answer we shall see. My issue with the Hurricanes is it always kind of feels like they're missing the the top end talent I think Ayler's is really good but he's still not the the game-breaking piece I think they need is that like when you look at how they're building their team and and maybe taking a patient approach they have a lot of good talent. Do you think that's the right approach for them? Well, and that's the huge X factor, right? We've kind of seen this game before with the Hurricanes

where they were great in the regular season and then it kind of falls apart once they have to play a really good team in the playoff. And that's why I'm saying like I'm not a hundred percent sold on them but I am very interested to see what happens because they've been building to this point and you're right you know like Ayler is not you know Kirill Kaprizov for example he's not you know a Mitch Marner or whatever but they have a pretty good base to go with and it'll be interesting to see how good they can be. I think there's a lot at stake in Carolina which makes them exciting to watch. Well, yeah, and part of the reason there's so much at stake is because they've been unable to get past that Eastern Conference final hump. In the last couple times that's come at the hands of the Florida Panthers. With regards to the Panthers,

is there any reason to think that they shouldn't still be considered the Stanley Cup favorites? Not really. Yeah. You know, we were kind of in a dynasty moment here. And, you know, I mean, they could lose to Tampa Bay in the playoffs.

You know, the Bolts were really banged up last year and probably didn't have their their full compliment throughout that series they could lose to Toronto you know I mean the Leafs had Florida on the ropes going in I mean during game three and they just couldn't close it out yeah they lost Marner but with Nick Wah and Dakota Joshua like their bottom six just makes a lot more sense now. I was kind of joking last year with the Leafs, their bottom six, it was kind of like office space.

It was like, what would you say you do here? It was just kind of random dudes. But it's like, you know what Dakota Joshua brings. You know what Nick Wah brings. So losing Marner, obviously a huge blow. But when you get into a playoff series maybe it doesn't matter. I mean Nick Waa has beaten the Florida Panthers before when he was with Vegas so he knows at least hypothetically how

to do it. With regards to the Lightning who you mentioned there were you surprised that they had such a quiet free agent period? In a sense but I also think they believe in their guys. And I think that they looked at their roster and said like, okay, well, if we had all of our Bjork Strand, if half a dozen of our important players weren't completely banged up and had broken hands or feet or whatever, we could do this.

We have Kutroff, we have Hegel, we have Point, we have Vasileski, we have Headman, you know, we have Anthony Cirelli. Like a healthy Tampa Bay Lightning squad is still pretty scary. It's just a matter of, I think, I think they need to look to their Florida cousins and say like, what kind of load management do we need to do to make sure that we're in the best position possible heading into the playoffs? Ryan, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it when we get through that thought exercise with the Young Guns team for the 2026 Olympics. We'll shoot you a copy and we can break it all down together.

That sounds perfect. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Thanks for coming on, Bud. We appreciate it. That's Ryan Kennedy, Editor-in-Chief from the Hockey News here on the Haliford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. As we are live on air and conducting guest interviews and everything else, we are keeping an eye on the Hockey Canada trial verdict. As many of you know, the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial

is going to come to its conclusion today as the judge will deliver her ruling this morning in London, Ontario. As everybody knows, the five players in question, Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Dylan Dubay, Alex Formanton, and Cal Foote have all been charged with sexual assault after an alleged incident in June of 2018. All five players pleaded not guilty. To open today's proceedings, the judge said, quote, having found that I cannot rely upon the evidence of EM, and then considering the evidence in this trial as a whole, I conclude that the crown cannot meet its onus on any of the counts before me. The judge has not given an official verdict yet. We are following along as are those in the courtroom and we will try and provide as many updates as we can in real time.

But as of right now, that quote and the fact that the judge has not yet given an official verdict is all we have news-wise. I wanted to do this before we got into the jingles and everything else of what we learned because this should be taken with a level of seriousness that maybe what we learned doesn't necessarily provide.

That is going to be coming up on the other side of the break. Um, this is going to, it feels like this is going to be an extrapolated process in terms of getting to the actual verdict being read. But again, we are keeping tabs on it. I know that a lot of people are texting into the Dunbar lumber text message in basket, uh, with their own updates and what they're inferring from what's going on. But again, in the interest of making sure that we're providing the proper and concrete developments as they come out of the courtroom, we're going to wait until the verdict has

been read, but we are going to try and give you as many updates as we can from the reporters that we trust that are there boots on the ground. So with that, we're going to go to break. We'll come back on the other side. You are listening to the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650 It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show.

8.31 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn in time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. You're so good at that. Love hitting the post. One time I was filling in with batch. I tried to do the the Colonna Fornia thing that I didn't have the confidence. Didn't pull it off.

the Clonifornia thing, that I didn't have the confidence. Didn't pull it off, maybe a seven and a half out of 10. It's what gifted broadcasters do. I know. What can I say? You're born with it. It's brought me to this point in my career where we're doing updates on Justin Fields' dislocated toe.

That was my well-we-learned, by the way. I just spoiled it for everybody. That is a really quick, I felt bad for the, because we got Nick Shook from NFL.com on the show and we're on Twitter, parsing through all the latest news. And all of a sudden you hear that Justin Fields has carted off, carted off from New York Jets training camp

with a lower leg injury. And you're thinking, oh my God, ACL, did he tear his Achilles? He dislocated his toe. Yeah. That's a walk it off situation or walk off the field. Cart it off then walk off the cart. Yeah. Under your own power. So anyway, that's my what we learned very quickly is that I think he's gonna be

okay. We've got some, now this is great, taking you behind the curtain here at the Halferd and Brough show. I asked everyone if they have what we learned today. It's a bit of a slow time in the year. I can understand if people don't. It's better when they do, but they're not all that enthused about them. So I asked Zach and he said, I've got one that's kind of meh.

And then there was silence. And then Josh said, mine's not that great either. Yeah. Then I looked at Adog and Adog said, I can do one on airbud 2 or airbud the redux A new air bud a new air, but I think it's called what's it called air bud returns Yeah, wow comes comes out next summer like Superman. Yeah, they just launched the poster for it and I'll be curious to see if they use a real dog or for its computer animated Yeah, you should not be serious about anything about airbud

But is a staple who's filmed here no less. Yes, Ford is he gonna play it's a basketball movie of course Are we sure yes, don't say of course like there's not other other air buds No, he's balancing on a basketball in the poster. It's not like MVP most valuable primate who played all the sports Yeah, that one was strangely rated R to so quite graphic It's one of those movies that really surprised me. That was when he joined UFC. Actually, that's when I got ready. Yeah Yeah, really had a mouth on him I but actually even more excitingly and this was tweeted from the spinal tap Twitter account like the official account Okay tonight at San Diego San Diego Comic-Con spinal tap to

The trailer is dropping tonight It reunites director Rob Reiner with Christopher Guest Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as they reprise their iconic roles The legendary heavy metal band spinal tap and the long-awaited sequel So we're getting a new spinal tap movie after all these years I'm glad you're on staff because I can't keep track of all the happenings in movies that I quite frankly would never watch now I'd probably watch spinal tap to well smile to have worth alone for the Simpsons references, right? I mean you could finally see what the Simpsons thing was all about and of course Harry Shearer being a Simpsons Alarm he does many of the voices probably could have done without the airbud update, but alas Oh, come on. You gotta take sports related. Yeah

Exactly okay, moocow the dog And we haven't even mentioned happy Gilmore to which is almost on its way out comes out tomorrow Yeah, Scotty Scheffler's in it. Oh man. I can't wait. I mean I'm not expecting it to be you know didn't we we got We got an offer to have like Adam Sandler's brother-in-law Shot down immediately Beat up in the first happy go the son of the guy that played huggy bear we had an opportunity interview more we got Yeah, we see every now and again we get these pitches to interview people and then they often come with the asterisk It's like well, it's slow. I'm like not that slow anyway

Josh you've got a what we learn okay, so there's a this is also an entertainment I'm sorry Wow so there's a there's a confirmed second season of the show stick have you seen this on the Owen Wilson golf the Owen Wilson golf on Apple TV I have now watched it I watched it and the the nice thing the thing I enjoy about it is That it is filmed locally and so a lot of the golf courses featured. I'm like, oh I golf there This is a lot of fun and that's kind of the fun of the show for me. It's it's not a Follow-up question. Is there anything else interesting about the show? I wouldn't say it's a great show It feels like they were trying to do a Ted Lasso thing

and maybe failed a little bit. I will say I watched the whole thing and it wasn't bad. It just wasn't great. But yeah, second season, a lot of local courses in it. So we'll see which ones are featured next season with Owen Wilson. Saw him on the street the other day. Wow.

Yeah, that's why I said as I walked by. He punched me. Never do that again. I wonder if that bothers him, the wow. Probably, given that he punched Josh. Yeah. Wow. So my understanding of the show, having not watched it,

is that they were basically trying to recreate some of, as you mentioned, the Ted Lasso magic without, and I do think that Ted Lasso, when we look back on the history of Apple TV and all of its successes is that, that might end up being a snippet in time, because it was during the pandemic as well, right? Yeah.

And a lot of people were looking for something feel good. And then Ted Lasso really tapped into that, right? Oh, aggressively. To the point where it might've gone overboard near the end. It's like, now we feel too good. Right. So I do wonder if that. And the formula ended up being, what

if we just do something with Owen Wilson, who people like, not only Jason Sudeikis, and golf, another thing people like. And then that was the script. They were like, go. Let's see if we can make something happen. The issue, in my opinion, so if you casually watch or play golf, any of the golf sequences, you're like, ah, that's not super realistic.

And also some of the characters at times, the, the nice thing about Ted Vaso is like essentially everyone in there is likeable and in some fashion, not the same in this show. So, but not like an endearing way in a way where you're like, ah, you're kind of annoying and I don't want to watch this show. Oh. But not like an endearing way, in a way where you're like, ah, you're kind of annoying and I don't want to watch this show. Now you're selling me on stick. Yeah, there you go.

OK, moocow that. Ah. Zach, with your meh. Is it a sports one? Kind of. If you have a really loose definition of what a sport is. OK. It was another successful scythe competition in Europe this year. Didn't know that was a thing. The videos are

enthralling. Just basically people trying to cut grass with a medieval tool as quickly as possible. Had no idea this was a thing but it's got a commentary. It's a big event apparently. So does everyone know what a scythe is? Yes, what death carries around. Yes, I've seen scary movies Yeah, come on man. Yes. Oh, I don't know who doesn't know what a sight is I'm gonna guarantee you there's someone listening right now that has no idea what a sight is how many different spellings of sight Do you think we get a sight right now gonna go with scythe? Let's go scythe sigh I think it's scythe scythe we were saying scythe

It's an agricultural hand tool for mowing or harvesting crops or in the case of death, death. Yeah. For those that don't know what we're talking about, it's a long staff with a huge like sword, a curved sword hanging off the end of it. Curved blade. Blade, thank you.

Maybe we could ask the savvy Scythe Association of Britain and Ireland how how to pronounce side. Get them on the show tomorrow. Yeah. We're too late, we're fully booked for tomorrow. All right, I have nothing to add to that, what we learned, other than I saw a guy go viral the other day in the US for being,

he's very artisanal, he was like a craftsman, just did it, he did like a lot of sewing and a lot of fabric stuff. And then he decided that the next step, logical step for him was he was gonna build his own scythe and mow his lawn with it. And let me tell you, it is a painstaking process with no upside whatsoever. It doesn't seem good.

It doesn't cut your lawn any better. It takes way more time. You look ridiculous. And I would imagine that if any sort of- I would argue time you look ridiculous and I would imagine that if any sort of argue that you look pretty cool no don't you don't cuz you have I'm gonna now I'm gonna do the motion on the stream so like the countless people that are listening can't see what I'm doing but you have to have this metronome like back and forth to make sure that you get an even cut you can't just do a big-ass swing, you're not doing any sort of like kill bill

bad ass moves, like you're fighting an opponent. The opponent is grass. The grass continually wins. And you just try and like keep it real. I suppose if you've got a ton of time on your hands and you've got like OCD, it's probably fun. Cause you can just keep doing the same thing over and over and over again. And you can say it is true manual labor, but given the advances we've made in lawn mowing,

I don't know why anyone would go backwards and want to make it a more difficult task, but that's what the scythe brings. I think the benefit is, like, it's just that you can talk about how you scythed your lawn. Right. You right you know yeah You could say you have a side. Yeah in and of itself is amazing. Let's let's move this before we go any further What text in and says I know a sider which I guess is the word for someone who sides we got it also Rocking in Langley, I not only own one side. I own two sides Rocket that's too too many. Is there a big scythe market we're not aware of here? Like, is this bigger than maybe we're making it out to be? All joking aside, I can understand collecting them

as like ornate pieces that you display. If Rocket is using them like recreationally, I don't, like I don't, what do you do besides harvesting crops and or grass? That's probably good exercise. Yes. Exercise? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha The UK scythe competition. What we learned here. There's no such thing as Scotch-Toberfest. What we learned, humanoid edition is brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

You gotta try the bar pie. 14 inches of cracker thin crust topped with tomato sauce, matzah, and cheddar. Only at AJ's Pizza. Order online at AJ's. Dap Pizza. Let's begin with John and Colewood, hashtag WWL. What we learned, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Should just start every at bat down, oh, one in the count to save us all watching the pitcher groove one down the middle and Vladdy never swinging at it. Good text because we had Dan Schulman on the show yesterday and when he was talking about Vladdy sort of apprehensive at bats lately, he talked about the fact that he would always let that first pitch go. It's almost, and I get it. There is some statistical merit to seeing more pitches and trying to work

counts and not swinging at that first pitch, but an aggressive at bat and maybe that mentality would have the first pitch I see that I like, regardless of what it looks like, I'm going to get after it and try and jump on it. Vlad, he hasn't been doing that. Although he did have a good game at the plate last night. I also just think in major league baseball, they have like all their iPads and they have so many videos of how, how a pitcher pit, they had that like thing in the, in the dugout in the clubhouse that they were showing pregame the other day where it like delivers the pitch

from the, the same arm trajectory that whatever pitcher you're about to face pitches from. You should have a very solid idea of the pitches that will be coming in and obviously sequence and what's actually going to be thrown is up to the pitcher and the catcher. But that being said, usually I do get the, hey, take the first pitch and, and give yourself a look at something. But I don't know. I also think for the most part now you should be ready to go first pitch.

Robert in S R. So that's either shorthand for Surrey or there's something I don't know about hashtag WWO. What we learned, what I've learned is that Bob Stauffer is not only going to tell Connor McDavid to boycott Team Canada again, but he's also gonna tell every Oilers fan to never read a physical copy or the online version of the hockey news again. Yes, this is obviously in response to the fact

that the hockey news in their top 100 player list put Nathan McKinnon atop the list as opposed to, oh my, okay. list as opposed to, oh my, okay. We have some breaking news from the sporting world. TMZ reporting that wrestling legend Hulk Hogan has died at the age of 71. This is just coming across right now. This is just coming across right now. Yeah, I think there are multiple publications reporting on it too. So it does.

And TMZ is usually pretty accurate about this stuff. So it's been a very eventful show here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Again, TMZ Sports reporting that wrestling legend, Hulk Hogan has died at 71 years old. This is happening right now and this story is in its infancy and we are delivering it with immediacy. No cause of death reported other than there are multiple outlets now reporting that Hulk Hogan has passed away at the age of 71.

We will try and press on with what we learn as best we can. Obviously a difficult transition going from one to the next, but unfortunately we don't have a ton of information other than the news in and of itself. So we will continue to move along and I will try and get back into whatever news we can find on this.

And of course the Hockey Canada case is going on. There's a lot happening right now on the health and brush show on Sportsnet 650. Let's get to another what we learned from Dalvier. This actually pertains to something that happened during the MLS broadcast last night. Dalvier hashtag WWL. What we learned. I learned that the white caps are rumored to be in on former Bayern Munich star Thomas Mueller was mentioned on the MLS All-Star Game broadcast last night. Yeah, this was another thing that happened last night.

So earlier in the show, by the way, if you want to download the Hour One podcast, Apple, Google, wherever you get your podcast, we spent a lot of time talking about MLS commissioner Don Garber and his remarks regarding the Vancouver Whitecaps and their future, specifically with regards to their stadium situation. Some other things that happened last night were a handful of Vancouver Whitecaps players appeared in the MLS All-Star game. And during the broadcast, I saw this a few different places mentioned. The Whitecaps obviously with their ties to the German League with their sporting director Axel Schuster. Thomas Müller who's been a long time star for Bayern Munich and the German national team.

There is rumors that his time now done at Bayern might be looking for a new venture. Vancouver would be a remarkable turn of events. He'd be the biggest star that they've ever landed. But right now it's still very much in the rumor, the exploratory phase. He's a soccer player that I've heard of yeah, and that is generally my bar for like whoa The white caps can get that guy that would be awesome. What's generally also means that they won't get the guy, right? But I very much believe It would be fun. Where will they play if he does come over I?

where will they play if he does come over? I don't know what the future has in store for the team right now. The reason that we have mentioned Commissioner Don Garber's remarks so much this morning is I felt like it was an announcement of situation critical from the highest reaches of the league. Garber also mentioned specifically the issues that the Whitecaps are

having at BC Place and how the current stadium situation is untenable. The fact that he was able to discuss it and as candidly as he did led me to believe that okay we've now reached a point where something's gonna have to give and the real conversations are gonna have to happen about where the Whitecaps are going to be playing in the future. Garber said that they are not going to move the Vancouver Whitecaps. In fact, he opened his remarks by saying that. But in the subsequent remarks, you got the sense that it was very much a situation that was fluid with no real solid endpoint in mind. When asked about an update where things were at between the city and a potential stadium

build in the Whitecaps, Garber did not offer an update and just reiterated that they needed to find a new stadium situation. My thing with that is, is like how many times do we hear Gary Betman talk about the Arizona Coyotes and be like, yeah, they're not going to move. But also the stadiums or the arena situation for them is, is not great and they got to find a place to play and he was obviously always more confident in the Arizona market and it just didn't pan out but my fear is that this is you know like these relocation or you know difficulty with an organization within a league conversations always kind of go the same way where it trends in a certain direction and and certain people start to weigh in and

Things get more and more serious until eventually it's like hey, it's it just can't happen anymore rich Hashtag WW what we learned a CFL version if the Lions lose on Sunday to the Thai cats It is gonna make me think or start to think about Nathan Rourke as a quarterback who went to the NFL Never made it came back to the CFL and never was quite the same again Just saying very interesting text rich because we spent a fair amount of time earlier in the week Talking CFL and the BC Lions Monday We talked to JC Abbott from three down nation about a disappointing loss to Saskatchewan over the weekend

And then on Tuesday we talked to Nathan's head coach, Buck Pierce. And right now the Lions are a three and four football team kind of stuck in the mushy middle of the Canadian football league where they can beat inferior opponents. But when they come up against some of the better teams, they aren't able to get the job done. And Rourke, the stat line from the weekends loss to Saskatchewan on paper, it looked all right. He went for over 300 yards. He went for three touchdowns, but in hearing his remarks and hearing other people's analysis of his play, missed a lot of throws high. JC Abbott was wondering if he was still dealing with an injury and the offense just hasn't looked right over the

stretch of an entire CFL game. Slow starts have been prevalent. The offense hasn't got on track in the first half a lot. And here's the thing about the Lions that we kind of came to the conclusion Dodd and I, when we were working earlier in the week, they're kind of an average to above average team. And Nathan Rourke kind of needs to be the Nathan Rourke of 2022 where he was the CFL's MOP. If this team has a chance of being good this year, if he's just going to be an above average quarterback, they're not going to be able to get into punching matches with some of the elites. He's going to need to perform at an incredibly high level, the level that he hasn't reached yet.

So I do think going up against a Hamilton team on the weekend, that's foreign to and it's one four games in a row and his tops in the East. It's a good opportunity for him to maybe showcase that he's still got that in his bag. Cause through seven games this year, we haven't seen it. I got a bonus what we learned, which I don't think you've mentioned on the show yet. Yes. Derek Forebort got a goal into Beauty League yesterday.

I cannot stand you. I thought we were gonna get through a show without mentioning the DBL. We had two more minutes. We almost did it. The the connects are retweeting That's what reminded me we not move past this is a society no we have been there Scored a goal we should not be taking the beauty league with any any anything It should be the connect highlights should not be dispersed on social media

We should not be talking about it as an entity and we still continued I love how angry it makes you the Canucks have the Quinn Hughes replacement already in the building I'm surprised they don't have a play-by-play guy I was looking at the highlights there's no play-by-play guy they should just do it properly you should apply no no okay anyways I thought I wouldn't let you know I hate the beauty like I hate saying it I hate that its existence makes well We were talking about her in break They should make it sound more professional and call it the beautiful the beautiful

Yeah, as opposed to dub beauty because then we take it seriously the beautiful league this beer league skate Go on I didn't realize how long it goes on for it's like two months Yeah, you know how long it goes on for too long Yeah, it goes on for a couple weeks. No, it's a serious league Josh. Come on. Yeah. Sorry my bad the beautiful league It's like the beautiful game but better Do we have any other what we learns from the humanoid flag? I got one here from Chris and Duncan. Okay. I learned that John Schneider could not walk judge last night because Bruhl had to face three batters as he had just came in. I was shocked as well.

But Schulman said that Bruhl has to pitch to judge. So just to add clarification to that. Okay. He doesn't have to pitch to, like they could intentionally walk Aaron Judge. Yeah. And that would count as the batter. Okay. Because intentional walk is just to avoid the like four pitches outside. This is one of the stories that we didn't really get into

this morning when we were talking about the Jays because they ended up winning the game and the judge home run ended up being kind of a moot point. But there was a great 25 minute debate online yesterday about the merits of pitching to judge in that scenario or intentionally walking him. Someone did bring up the fact that they thought Schneider didn't do it, like, you know, offer the intentional walk

because he didn't want to piss off Chris Bassett, which I thought was really, because Bassett was pitching well, despite the fact he got taken yard a couple of times. It was one of his best, if not his best outing of the year, seven and a third's inning pitch and eight strikeouts. I do wonder about the mental makeup of a pitcher when your manager tells you to walk a guy. Because when you're on and you're dealing and you're chucking you want to go up against anyone

You're like I can strike anybody out Aaron judge or otherwise So I do wonder when you've gotten him out earlier in the game, too You know, I do wonder about it like strategically I get it and especially with hindsight being 2020 you issue the intentional walk there because The alternative is he goes yard for a two run bomb which is kind of could be costly in the moment. Was his only hit of the series though. So good to RJ's. That's right.

Okay, the music means we got to get out of here for today. Apologies for the disjointed nature of what we learned but there's an awful lot going on. I'm sure it'll all be covered in length throughout the remainder of the shows on Sportsnet 650 today. And a reminder, we will be back tomorrow for the Friday show, our final show of the shows on Sportsnet 650 today. And a reminder, we will be back tomorrow for the Friday show, our final show of the week, to wrap it all up. For now though, we gotta say goodbye. Signing off, I have been Mike Halford, he's been Josh

Elliott-Wolf, he's been A-Doug, and he's been regular Zach. This has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.