Halford & Brough in the Morning - Will Braeden Cootes Make Canada's World Juniors Roster?

Episode Date: July 28, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, they talk last night's loss for the BC Lions as well as big win for the Whitecaps (3:00), plus they look at Canucks prosepct Braeden Cootes at the World Junior Summer Showcase, as FloNation content manager Chris Peters (26:41) joins the show.    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.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. You know the guys are going to take this week and this is going to stay for a while, right? You know, but they have to move past the past the emotion of it you know to grow. Up the zone. Got him! Strike three cold at 95 right at the knees for strikeout number 11. It's easy to lose perspective sometimes that know, this is truly a dream come true for me. Good morning, Baker! It's 6.01 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halford and his brother at Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning to you. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And basketball Ben, good morning to you as well. Good morning. Halford and brother in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for Dead Help

with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. We're so close to getting the band back together. No disrespect to you, basketball band, but the only thing to sing right now is laddie.

But then we're all on vacation after this week. Yeah. You say goodbye, I say goodbye. I don't know what Adog's doing. I'm here for another week, then I'm gone too. Tough draw. So long, Stinktown. We got a big show ahead for Stinktown ahead of the week.

Monday we're gonna kick it off. It's a four guest, we got a lot to get into on the program. Guest list today begins at 6.30. Chris Peters, he is the senior content editor and prospects expert for Flow Hockey. He's gonna join us live from Minneapolis for the World Junior Showcase. Lots of big names in attendance for this one.

Gavin McKenna is there, Matthew Schaefer is there, Canucks first round pick, Braden Kutz is there. Kooter, Kooter as they call him. I don't know if they call him that. Players from the US, Canada, Finland, and Sweden ahead of the 2026 World Juniors, which appropriately are gonna be played in St. Paul and Minneapolis later this year.

So we'll talk to Chris about all that at 6.30. Seven o'clock, Shai Davi is going to join the program. Sportsnet baseball columnist after winning three of four against the tigers on the weekend, the Jays woke up this morning to find them still still, still with the best record in baseball. She has talked a lot of Jays last week, every single day, led every single show with the Jays. You know, I was every show. I was on a BC ferry a couple of times when I was off and they had the Jays? You know, I was on a BC Ferry a couple times when I was off

and they had the Jays game on, people were crowded around it. People loved the Jays. What is going on here? People loved the Jays. Did I have to have a disclaimer at the beginning of every show that it was genuine enthusiasm, not just because it was the summer or that there's a strong Rogers tie into the Jays?

No, it's a good baseball team They get the best best record in baseball Tonight they're gonna start a strong Rogers tie-in as in they own them minor I like to call it a tie-in other people call it really complain though to be fair. I said it Well a few some did mostly people were understanding though. They were excited by understanding you mean understanding though. And excited. By understanding you mean didn't understand it. Understanding.

Yeah, they understood. Very understanding that we were talking about sports on our sports show. Turn this show off. The Jays have a four game road swing through Baltimore beginning tonight. Baltimore the last place team in the AAL East. By the way, according to fan graphs, did you know sports club stats? I think it's done. Yeah, I think so.

It's cooked. Anyway, fan graphs has the Blue Jays at a 97% chance of making the playoffs. That's pretty good. At 730, we're going to talk to Alex Silverman, sports business reporter appropriately at the Sports Business Journal. Going to talk a little business of MLS. Man, the Whitecaps are all over the news right now. They had a big win on the weekend.

Last week, we played a bunch of audio from MLS Commissioner Don Garber about the stadium situation. Oh, I missed that one. I want to talk about it a little bit. Buddy, don't worry. We got plenty of time to talk about it today. Okay. And tomorrow. Oh, good. And the rest of the week.

Okay. Chapter one today. The Thomas Muller rumors, we won't get into those with Alex Silverman, but we'll ask him, where is MLS going from a growth perspective and what impact is that gonna have on Vancouver if the Whitecaps do stay in Vancouver salad? Can you believe that they suspended Messi for missing that All-Star game? They had to. Someone unearthed the audio and the video

of when they suspended Ibrahimovic when he skipped the All-Star game. Well, they shouldn't have done that either. President kills you. It's like, it's on the books. You have to do it now. Now we had to suspend Jordy Alba too. Um, Miami got a draw in that match though,

for those that care, nobody cares. Uh, eight o'clock JC Abbott is going to join the program, BC Lions reporter for Three Down Nation. Uh, the Lions dropped their second straight at home last night, yesterday afternoon in an exciting, but ultimately disappointing 33 to 37 loss to the Red Hot Tiger Cats.

The Lions have been gouged for 70 points over the last two weeks, both of them at home. So we'll ask JC what needs to change on the defensive side of the football for the Lions. He's gonna join us at eight o'clock. Working in reverse on that guest list, it's eight o'clock, JC Abbott, 730 Alex Silverman, seven o'clock working in reverse on that guest list. It's eight o'clock JC Abbott, seven 30 Alex Silverman, seven o'clock shy DVD six 30 Chris Peters.

That's what's happening on the program today. Ben, 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'm missing your life. 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 work chronologically here from the most recent result to the most distant. We begin Sunday afternoon as we mentioned at BC Place. Bo Levi Mitchell hit Keandre Smith for a touchdown with 16 seconds to play as the Thai Cats won their fifth straight. This one on the road at BC Place, stunning the BC Place crowd. They beat the Lions 33 or 37 to 33 on Sunday in Vancouver.

So it was a fun game. Yep. Kind of an old school CFL game in that it went right down to the wire and unfortunately for the Lions it was the CFL style game. It was like, wait a minute, they had a 10 point lead in the last three minutes and they lost? Great CFL game, but not for the Lions there is some spectacular plays including a spectacular interception that Milt Stiegel afterwards was saying like that is the greatest play in the history of football and I was like yeah

it's pretty good it's good pretty good play it was a good play. But ultimately the Lions blew it. And some people might say, well, the refs blew it too. They missed some calls. And I think Nathan Rorke had something to say about that too. The pretty blatant offsides. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there's no telling that the Lions would have converted on that and done anything with it, because I think they were maybe a little bit rattled and the defense was, I think rattled

all game, except for again, like the occasional good play that, that got them a turnover in a good way. But man, like that, like I'm looking at the standings right now. And is there any chance of hosting a playoff game? I know it's the CFL and it's, they're not even halfway through the season, but like you look at Saskatchewan, you look at Calgary, you know, and then you look at BC and you're kind of like,

well, third place in the West or maybe getting a crossover. Yep. The road to the playoffs is there, but it's the road is the key part of it. So they've already lost the season series to the rough riders. Uh, you want to look at the, I mean, you could make the argument that what two or three of the best teams in the CFL reside in the West, although Hamilton looked pretty good yesterday. Um, okay. A few takeaways from the game yesterday. You mentioned it off the top and you know,

shout out Farhan does a great job of covering the Canadian football. Like I know he works for a competitor, but we're all friends here in the media. So one of the things that he talked about at length in his sort of defacto post game show, which I thought was important to bring up is like, that's the kind of game that the CFL

really, really needs right now. Right. There are 70 points of combined offense. There was the highlight real play by Robert Carter, Jr., which like made it south of the board. It's like, you saw all, it's a slow time in sports. So CFL highlights are going to make it pretty much everywhere. Well, he also did something similar in college too. So they're like, check this out. Right. You're still doing it in Canada. And I think the interesting thing about this is it came

on a weekend where the scores and the excitement level across the league. It wasn't great. You know, like that Ryder's Elks game that was like 4-1 at half. It was 11-4 at half. It was 4-1 at the end of the first quarter. Someone sent me a screen grab of it. I was like, 4-1 is not a football score.

But it was at the end of the first quarter and then 11 for the half, which is even less. So there were two teams on the weekend in the Canadian football league that didn't break the 20 point threshold. And there were a couple of games that quite frankly were dark. So to have that kind of game on Sunday,

again, it didn't go great for the Lions in terms of the result and they've now lost two straight at home, but it was a good entertaining football game. When you said it ticked a lot of the CFL boxes, it had a lot of scoring. God, the Hamilton put up nearly 500 yards of net offense.

Like. And it, uh, it looked too easy. Yep. And I know, uh. And now we get to that part of the equation. Basketball Ben's got some thoughts about the, uh, the defensive coordinator and, uh, what exactly the Lions are doing on defense because, uh, the defensive coordinator and, uh, what exactly the lions are doing on defense because, uh, I'm not sure what they were doing. They certainly weren't getting after the quarterback.

And even though they seem to me, maybe taking a conservative approach there, they also left some receivers wide open. So what, what would you say? What are you doing then? What would you say the defense is doing? Again, they, they did create some turnovers. Right. And I think that looks great in that category, the one number, and yes, it gives the offense some opportunities,

but when you actually look at the structure of the defense, I was at the gaming in Saskatchewan the week before, they couldn't stop the run consistently. Ouellette was getting four or five yards, I forgot how to pronounce his name correctly. Yeah. Ouellette, sure. Just yell it out.

And then it was just pass after pass, slant after slant, because they didn't know what to do. They were so off balance. And the secondary is just being completely left out to dry. Is that personnel or coaching though? So this is what I was just saying to Andy right before. It's like, I'm- Oh, Adog was into it.

He was like, do you think it's personnel or coaching? I need you to give me a breakdown, Ben. What is going on with these BC Lions? Actually, I saw the Fantastic Four. Yeah. I'm seeing it tomorrow. Is that a personnel issue? I am.

There's four of them. Got my ticket. I don't doubt it. Got my ticket. Is Mr. Terrific in it? Yeah, yeah. The rock hard guy is though. Oh yeah, right. Oh, yeah, right.

OK, anyway, keep going, basketball. Why weren't they getting pressure on the quarterback? Like, I just don't understand. Why aren't you sending more blitz packages? Two weeks in a row. Or do you not believe in your secondary enough that you think you need to drop back all the time? I think it might be that.

Two weeks in a row. Two weeks in a row, zero sacks, right? Against? Just not good enough. Let's be fair to Trevor Harris and Bo Levi Mitchell, but not exactly two of the most fleet of foot quarterbacks in the Canadian football league, right? Both guys, veterans, which is code for slow,

but there was no pressure whatsoever. And like Matthew Betts, again, is this a personnel or is this a schematic thing? You know, some people pointed out like at least against Saskatchewan, there was pressure without the results, but against Hamilton, there wasn't even really the pressure part of it. Quarterbacks going for 350 yards against you in back to back weeks. It's very good for the CFL, though.

It's very, you know what? It's very rare that you win the turnover battle, give up nearly 500 yards of net offense and lose. Like, it's very rare. So like the turnover battle, give up nearly 500 yards of net offense and lose. Like it's very rare. So like the turnover, you, you created some turnovers. Absolutely. Without question.

Right. But at the end of the day, it still doesn't equate to a good defensive performance because you got gouged everywhere else. Okay. So we'll continue that conversation on with a J.C. Abbott of Three Down Nation and he's got his thoughts up on the game at threedownnation.com right now,

if you wanna read that. And the headline's pretty funny. BC Lions, Stifle, Kenny Lawler, stop nobody else in loss to Thai Cats. Let's talk about the Whitecaps because it was a busy weekend at BC Place. Lions played there yesterday, the Whitecaps played there on Saturday.

Yeah, Saturday night a three nil victory, continuing the three game on beaten streak for your Vancouver white caps. Uh, Emmanuel Sabi, JC Nagando and Matias Laborda all scored in a relatively easy victory over sporting Casey. How easy was it? Here this call from Apple TV of the two nil goal for JC and Gondo as the Whitecaps went on to beat Sporting down! 2-0! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O in the MLS campaign. So after a wobble two weeks ago, which kind of coincided with a bunch of injuries, all the international absences, you had Jesper Sorensen on the show when I was away, right in the middle of that slump that they were on during that five game stretch away from BC

Place. That turned things around. The interview with you. He talked to Dodd and I and he was like, you know what? I feel better. Things got to change for the better. We were like, hang in there, Jesper. Well, it was a roller coaster because at first it was very depressing and then you slowly built them up over the course of the interview. Built them up, exactly.

And now the Whitecaps are back right behind Western Conference leading San Diego in the standings. There's not much to be said about this game other than Sporting KC is awful. They have six wins on the year in I believe it's 25 matches, which is not good. This is a nice thing for the Whitecaps. Their next few games are all against teams on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. So they've got a chance to rack up some more points.

And now we kind of have to turn our attention almost immediately to the even bigger news of the weekend for the Vancouver Whitecaps. And that has nothing to do with what they did over sporting KC. But according to multiple MLS and European footballing insiders, the Vancouver Whitecaps are close to signing iconic, iconic German international member and Bayern Munich legend Thomas Müller to an MLS deal. And this is, I'm gonna try and put this in context

for people that might not know much about the international game or who the hell Thomas Mueller is. Try and put it in hockey terms. I was trying. I was trying. It's hard because, okay, first off, you'd have to compare it.

It's a free agent signing. So it wouldn't be a trade. It would be a free agent signing. I'm not joking. This would be the biggest sporting free agent to sign sign in Vancouver since messier Yeah, it would be mmm. Mueller is regarded as one of the premier players of his generation He is on the pantheon of the greatest German footballers of all time Like he's not right there with like Beckenbauer, but.

Where does he play? What position does he play for people that don't? Oh, good, I'm glad you asked, Jason. So he's a striker and he actually sits kind of in behind as like a, he's almost like a playmaking striker, but scores a lot of goals as well. He's a very talented guy. Okay, I'm gonna try and pronounce this properly, right?

Don't laugh at my German. They actually kind of created a role slash position for the style that he plays called. Is it a long German word? It's called Rammdite. Rammdite. Oh, he's a Rammdite. He's a Rammdite.

Yeah, that is roughly translated. It means a space interpreter or someone that, the strength of their game is the ability to find space and the ability to utilize that space to their advantage on the pitch. He's an incredibly cerebral player. I wanted to go down like a road where I was comparing him to the Sadines, but I can't go that far. But he's made a living off utilizing space, finding small pockets in the box to score goals, being able to drop into midfield spaces to play passes. And you want to look at some of the numbers. In the last 10 seasons, the leaders for assists in the big European leagues, he's right up there with Kevin De Bruyne, Lionel Messi, Mo Salah. So he also creates as well as scores.

Okay. Maybe this is my insecurity. Just go ahead and ask it. Okay, maybe this is my insecurity. Just go ahead and ask it. It's fine, it's fine. Why is he choosing the whitecaps? I have no idea, no idea. I thought he had been linked to LAFC. He had, and he turned it down. Okay.

But why? Yeah, why Michael? I don't have an answer. I am just as shocked as everyone else. I mean, this would be by far the biggest star to ever play for the whitecaps. Not, there's not. In their current form. It would be Thomas on the list it would be Miller first yeah and then there'd be a big gap. Not counting Alfonso Davies because he

wasn't what he was. This is someone choosing to join the team Davies was part of the youth academy and grew into it. This is yeah it's so much larger than anything they could possibly imagine. So he's not like super past his prime, like he's still really good? He's old. He's 35. I mean, he's not in his prime. He's not in his prime. But he's still good. Put it this way, he was banging goals with regulatory, like the 2014 World Cup, which is like if you do the math, that's going to be 11 years.

It's a decade ago. Right. But a couple of things. He's got that German efficiency that we all love, so he's never really fallen off in terms of health or fitness. Yeah, the interview to get him to Vancouver between Axel was like, would you like to come here? He said, yes, okay, good. It was very elaborate, that was the extent of it.

But I don't know why he's choosing Vancouver over, so you mentioned LAFC. Also, Cincinnati has his discovery rights, which is hilarious because discovery makes it kind of sound like you found him somewhere in a glass bottle that washed up on the beach, but everyone knows who Thomas Muller is. They basically got first dibs should he come to MLS.

He's not interested in going to Cincinnati either. So it would be a funny way for a team to get him. Like he comes to America or North America and he hides somewhere and the first team that can find him gets to sign him. That's not quite how it works. That would be fun. Yeah, exactly.

Honestly, that would be better. They just do that. That would be way better. Yeah, they can make a whole thing out of it. He's got a red and white striped hat on. Yeah. Glasses. Anyway, it's gotta be because of,

it's the city of Vancouver. I don't know. It's Cincinnati. But here's the thing. Is it possible he doesn't want to play in the states? Possibly. I would. Everything's on the table as to why. Here's the thing. Even if it's the city of Vancouver, I think the pushback would be like, yeah,

but they might not be long for Vancouver. Like Thomas, in case you haven't noticed, the team is up for sale and they've got a bad stadium situation right now. That's what makes this all the more compelling. I don't know if current form has that much to do with it. I mean, they are one of the best teams in the league and you wouldn't be joining a team that can contend. Well, maybe he wants to live in a city like Vancouver. Maybe Alfonso Davies, his Bayern Munich teammate, spoke up the city and the franchise. I don't know. Does he have any connection to Schuster?

Possibly right Axel is German. Yeah, and I assume all Germans know each other. Yeah, right. It's a very small country So Mike is not a thousand tens of people like he's not a huge football fan Yes, the type of guy that puts butts in seats. I guess he gonna be in I don't know if it's so much the attention I feel like Emma's has moved past that we need to bring these guys in to sell tickets. Hmm. I don't know about that.

I don't know how much of a boost it'll give. I don't know. That's up to the fans of the team. Like it'll be a huge clue for the league and for the Whitecaps. And I'm assuming more people would come out. Well, they're a good team right now. And he's in theory gonna make them better.

That's kind of where I wanted to go with it. Like this is a move. Where does this, by the way, does this mean anything for Ryan Gould? No, I don't think so. They're depleted right now. Yeah, okay. I mean, they lost Vite. They've suffered a lot of key injuries.

This is just like, and they tried to have a second striker to play with white this year. They've had Daniel Rios, the Mexican that came over from Atlanta. He hasn't been great. They got rid of Demir Krylak. So they've always, they've been looking for a second striker. Two strikers?

I know. And I think Mueller would be a good fit. I know Mueller would be a good fit. A lot of people brought up the Ibrahimović thing because legitimately there are comparisons here. Sure. They're both big rangy strikers. Ibra in 56 appearances in MLS had 66 goal contributions.

Ibra doesn't have really many comparables though. He was such a unique player. Right, so is Muller. Yeah. I mean, they don't play the same. So it's not fair to compare them like that, but it is a super interesting dynamic. I don't know if this is going to get across the line,

but if you followed- It's better. If you followed social media over the weekend, more and more people of note, either insiders or people that were working in Europe said, this is real. Like, White Island is real. It's got to be a big story in Germany. Huge story.

Yeah. So, Moller posted something to his personal, I think it was his Instagram, talking about how he was going to make a big jump over the pond. Wasn't he wearing a cowboy hat and everything too? Yeah. I don't, I mean, he's kind of a funny guy. He's got that classic German sense of humor

that we all love. Um. Famous. Famous German sense of humor. And he kind of made. He had a knock knock joke. He made this video about, you know, this new experience. Knock knock, hello, it's me.

That's not how you do it. Please let me in. No, no, no, that's the joke. That is how we do it in Germany. Anyway, we'll see what happens there. We'll try and get Axel Schuster on the show at some point this week, yes? Nothing.

Oh, okay. I'm assuming there's a text that you wanted to read, but you're like, I can't read that. No. Okay, so real quick, before we go to break, we've got Chris Peters joining us from the World Junior Showcase in Minnesota coming up on the other side.

I do want to mention the Jays. We are going to talk to Shai Davidi coming up at seven. Max Scherzer, you played some of his audio, Ben, in the intro. The end result, not great. Jays lose the finale of the series in Detroit 10-4. Scherzer did strike out 11 and was only on the hook for three runs, so that's another positive. And you're allowed to start looking at positives in a loss because the J's are playing that well right now. Even my run differential thing doesn't really hold as much water anymore. It's on the uptick.

Well, also, when was the last time they actually won a one-run game? In the second half, I think all their wins, and they've had eight of them, all of them have been by more than one run and some of them by quite a bit more than one. Well, you look at their eight and two since the all star break. And that includes series against two pretty good teams in the Yankees and the Tigers. And there was a good, I mean, they lost some

of it with the 10-4 loss, but there was a good chunk of run differential. That game on Saturday where they got a win when Scubal was on the Hill was, I thought that was the crowning achievement of the weekend for the Jays, but we can talk about all that with Shai Davidi coming up at seven. He's gonna be joining us unless something huge breaks cause we are getting closer and closer

to the MLB trade deadline. Coming up on the other side though, we are gonna dive in to some hockey talk. Chris Peters is gonna join us from the World Junior Showcase in Minneapolis. Gavin McKenna is there, Matthew Schaeffer is there and Canucks first round pick, Braden Coots is there as well. And I want to talk to Chris about the type of team

that Canada has invited there because last world juniors didn't go so well and they focused a lot on character and are you a good person? And that was understandable considering all the things that Hockey Canada has been through. But I'm not saying that that was their only determination though, but I think they've acknowledged like, hey, we got to also focus on

skill. Sure. You know? Yeah. Hey, we got to also focus on skill. Sure. You know? Yeah. And they left a lot of really good scorers behind and they were terrible. Like Canada, for what they are and we are still very much a hockey powerhouse, they were

terrible at that tournament. They were really bad. They really were. I mean, do you remember at times we came in and it was like, they were terrible at that tournament. They were really bad. They really were. I mean, do you remember at times we came in and was like, they can't score. No. Like this is Canada and they look like the Canucks trying to create scoring opportunities.

Between that going on and the Canucks going on at the same time, it was like the least offensive hockey we were subjected to. They lost to Latvia. Yeah, it was bad. The whole thing was bad. It wasn't very good. So we'll talk to Chris Peters.

And they deserved to lose. It wasn't, seriously, they were like, wow, Latvia is really taking over this game. Yeah. So Chris Peters is going to join us next live from the World Junior Showcase in Minneapolis. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info info and even the postgame show listen 4 to 6 p.m. Weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app 6.32 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Halford, Bruff Sportsnet 650. Halford and Bruff in 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 interest visit them online at sands-trustee.com

We're gonna go now to Minneapolis courtesy the power West Industries hotline Chris Peters from flow hockey joins us here on the health and brush on sports net 650 morning Chris. How are you? Morning fellas. I'm doing alright. How are you guys? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. So it's the World Junior Showcase from Minneapolis. There was games starting yesterday. I'm following along on your Twitter timeline. You're getting all sort of information on the remainder of the teams still yet to perform at the World Junior. We're going to start with the Canadian team or should I say teams, I guess Team Red and Team White.

I know there's a lot of players coming, so it might be hard to get a real profile of the type of team that they're bringing here. But is there anything that stands out about maybe this Canadian group as opposed to the team that do they have guys that know how to score? There's the question. They should. They should have a few. Yeah, so this Canadian team and I think, you know, really every year kind of goes in cycles and when Canada's not been in the metal round or,

you know, playing for a medal for each of the last two years, it definitely stands out. But I think I think that's going to change this year. You know, when you look at the rest of the field and then this Canadian roster, there's quite a difference. I mean, I think the biggest thing that Canada is going to have to be concerned about at this point is how many of these guys make NHL rosters, Sam Dickinson, Zane Parek. If you start losing those guys and they end up making their NHL teams, it does start sending out the crop of it. But upfront, they have plenty of firepower. Gavin McKenna will be back and will be a year older and better.

I think this time around, they have 22 first round draft picks in this class of players. And that doesn't even include the eight guys who are out for entry that can't participate in this event. So they're really loaded in terms of the depth of talent and there are guys that they can score just a matter of who's gonna be available come this time in December. And I think, really you look at the steps

that have been taken by Hockey Canada, putting in Dale Hunter, also adding Gardner McDougal who's won pretty much everything everywhere at all times. And then obviously Dale Hunter is, you know, is one of gold medal as a head coach of Team Canada on top of the Memorial Cup. So, you know, do I think that they're going to have a much better time this time around? Yes. But again, it always you never know until the game starts.

Is it an oversimplification to say that last World Junior's Hockey Canada focused a lot on character and they used phrases like, we're a high character team and that sort of thing and maybe overlooked some talent that was, I don't know, medium character? Yeah, I mean, it may be an oversimplification, but I think, you know, I think there were a combination of, of factors last year that, uh, that really, uh, sunk Canada. And I think really it started kind of with some of the decisions made by the coaching staff and,

and by the management team and who they picked and who they brought in. It wasn't necessarily a character situation. I think it was more, you know, yeah, they left some scoring on the table with guys. They took, I think Zane Perrec was probably the most egregious omission, especially once we saw how their D was set up on the power play and how, you know, basically disjointed the special teams was throughout that. And I think that comes back to coaching. And, you know, a lot was made out of the fact that they didn't practice very much. They, you know, they, they,

I think they overthought the entire process. And then as a result, you know, they, they, they struggled. Um, the good news for Canada this year is that, you know, last year, goaltending wasn't their problem. And both of their goalies from last year's team are still eligible for this year. So you have Carter George and Jack Ivan Kovac and you add Joshua Ravensberg into the mix and Devin Gardner as well. And they've got a team that has, you know, they probably will actually have the depth of goaltending this time around, which they have really never had. You know, I'm watching Team USA today and I'm trying to figure out who, if they have

a number one goalie at all and Canada probably has four. So that's a pretty good place to be right now. But yeah, I mean, I think a lot of the issues last year was, was kind of the, the pressure got to the team. The coaching didn't match that moment. And then on top of it, you know, they just kind of had a collection of errors at the worst possible time against Czechia that just kind of sunk them.

And in a single elimination tournament, it always can happen. And now we've seen it happen two years in a row. I don't think that'll be the case next time around. I know you mentioned that one of the factors as it almost always is with Canada is which players will actually be available to the team because some of them might be in the NHL.

What do people think about Schaeffer, the first overall pick that went to the Islanders? He suffered the injury in the last World Juniors. That was another not good thing for Canada. What are his chances of playing at this tournament? Yeah, it's a really, really good question. I think even the Islanders are trying to figure that out at the moment. The situation with Matthew Schaefer being that he missed so much time last year, asking him to jump into an NHL lineup, I think is a tall order, even

as talented as he is. I think that that's going to be the real debate is what is the best path for him. And he said last night that his goal is to make it to the NHL this year. He's going to probably take those opportunities as they come and go to training camp, get that chance. But I do think the Islanders have to be exceedingly careful about what to do with him because he has missed so much time. And, you know, I think back to the New York Rangers and Alexi Lafreniere, who came in after the pandemic pause and the delayed season, and it just wasn't the right move. It wasn't the right move for him.

It wasn't the right move for them. And with all that time off and missed time, it really didn't help anybody. And I think that the Islanders have to be that careful with, with Matthew Schaefer and say, Hey, if this isn't working out within that, whatever nine games, we got to send them back to junior, let them get, get his rhythm back and things like that. So I do think, you know, it's probably 50 50 at this point that he is available for this team, maybe a little bit even better than that. But if he is available, what we saw at last year's World Juniors as the underage or he was their

best defenseman. He was there, you know, he was the guy that was going to be a real important player. And that was one of the bad breaks that Canada had was that he gets hurt for periods in the tournament. So I think that that's, you know, that changed the dynamic of their blue line. So I do think that he's going to be a player that, you know, has the chance to make the NHL. But I also think that, you know, for me, and if I'm the New York Islanders, I'm not messing around with that pick. And there's really nothing that I've never seen a player get hurt by getting sent back for more junior time. Braiding Coots, do you see a spot for him on this team? I think, yeah, if he can carve out a role, I think it's gonna be really hard

just because they have so many older players that are solid, but I definitely think, I mean, he capped in the under 18 team at the World Under 18 Championship. They won gold. He played kind of more of a top six role on that team, whereas on this team, his best chance of making it is probably in the bottom six as more of a guy that can play a role for them.

So, and I think that's a good thing. If he does get in there and that's kind of the opportunity that presents itself, it's a really good opportunity for him to kind of show that versatility that was a main, a big reason that Vancouver drafted him when they did and you know I think that the center position is going to be very difficult. It's gonna also depend on those NHL departures. I mean Michael Misa is the guy that you know is he gonna be available or not really you know unclear at this point. So you know I think there's a lot that you can you can do to kind of establish yourself and I think that Braden Co So, you know, I think there's a lot that you can, you can do to kind of establish

yourself. And I think that Braden Coots is, you know, he's got hockey Canada on his side from the experience that they had with them at the under 18 world championship. If he doesn't make it, you know, I think Canada is definitely going to lean more heavily on the 19 year old players. They only invited two guys. It'll be 18 among their defensemen. They do have more of those players two guys that'll be 18 among their defensemen, they do have more of those players that are coming in, but the depth of the talent of this team, especially upfront is such that it's gonna be really difficult to make it,

but his advantage is that he has the versatility, that he can play a lot of different roles. And that if he does make this team as an 18 year old, I do think that that's gonna be a huge feather in his cap because of how deep this group is. Well, the last two drafts have been very Canada heavy. And now some of them, like Macklin Celebrani, like he's not a factor because he went right to the NHL and he's, I imagine, going to be in the NHL next season. Um, but that has to bode well for Canada with all the, the talent that's been drafted in, in the first round in the, in the last two years,

considering we often talk about this tournament as a 19 year olds tournament. Yeah, it absolutely does because in the, in the, in the same time that it's been so strong for Canada, um, it's been weaker for the U S and it's been so strong for Canada, it's been weaker for the US and it's been really weak for Finland. And you know I think Sweden is probably gonna end up being one of the teams to beat in this tournament because of the pace they play at, the depth that they have, the

number of first-round options they have, they've got good size on the blue line. There's a lot of different things that that they have the number of first round options they have, they've got good size on the blue line. There's a lot of different things that, that they have that, that could potentially help them, uh, you know, in the tournament, but I think for Canada, yes, the absolutely the draft classes of last two years have definitely been very Canada heavy. I think next year's will be as well. So, you know, it's, it's, it's kind of these things do come in cycles. Canada has the deepest player pools. Traditionally, they should be the highest, you know, they have the most

draft picks and all those things they often do. But I do think that the quality has gone back up after a couple of down years where it seemed like the Europeans and the Americans collectively were putting forth a bit of a better product. And so, you know, it's still going to be a battle because I think that those teams, while they have fallen off a little bit, it's not so much that they don't have a team, you know, they can't, we're just talking about putting together 25 players from two different birth years or three, in some cases, three different birth years, you know, so that you can, you can still put together a pretty competitive team. But I think Canada, especially when you look up and down

their roster for just the world junior summer showcase, and you kind of start wondering, how do they put a team together with this many? This is one of those years where you could say, hey, the B team would be pretty good too. Is there anything that Americans are talking about? Why they haven't been so prevalent in the draft in the last couple of years.

There was only, I think one in the top 20 in this last, there's quite a few in the, in the bottom half or the bottom part of the first, first round. But Hagens was the only guy that won the top 20. James Hagens? Yep. Yeah.

Um. Yeah. What are, what are people saying? Is it just a cyclical thing or, I mean, in Canada we'd be panicking. Yeah. I mean, I don't we'd be panicking. Yeah. I mean, I don't think there's a ton of panic at this point. Um, you know, it's definitely a concern because I think the next, the next two

classes, like the class that just graduated from the NTP and the one that's going in there under 18th season are definitely below par for, for what they are used to, um, in that group. I think what they're, what they've also talked about is that, yes, the top end has thinned out a little bit, but the depth has improved because there's still a ton of players being drafted. I always think that there's a focus

on trying to get the most amount of players in the top range of the draft because that's kind of proof of concept that your development system is working. I don't sense any panic. I do think that they feel like the 2009 birth year that's coming into the under-17 season is going to be a very strong one.

They'll have a chance to compete with the best of the best. There's a lot of really intriguing young players in that group that I think, you know, they feel like could help them come turn the tide back. If it's a two year dip, I don't think there's going to be panic. If it's a third and fourth year, then if you're not panicking, then you're not doing enough because there is definitely something going on there, but we're about to enter a very new development, the developmental landscape with the situation where the players can go any which way. We'll see kind of how that shakes out and how that changed the American

development system. But that's, uh, that still remains to be seen. We're speaking to Chris Peters from flow hockey here on the hell for number of show on sports net six 50. Chris is live from the world junior showcase in Minneapolis on the show right now. Um, okay. Let's say hypothetically that Schaeffer doesn't make the Islanders or doesn't get a chance to play games this year, Chris. Are we gonna see any other player from this year's draft class in the NHL this fall?

It's tough to say. It's really, you know, I think, I do think that Michael Misa is gonna have a chance. Yeah. You know, Porter Martone had a, you know, he's decided to go to the college route. He's gonna go to Michigan State, you know, so he didn't sign.

You know, we don't know exactly what's gonna happen with Caleb De Noa. He's out injured. You know, he played through injury throughout most of the season, so he's recovering from that. Will he have a chance to make Utah out of camp? You know, those are some of the guys that you can kind of think of. Anton Frondell is another guy I know, he wants to go back to Sweden and play for for Jew Garden in

the SHL, because they just gained promotion. But I think Chicago would very much like to have him in their training camp at CFC. He has a chance to make their team. Um, I think they're going to probably end up respecting his wishes and letting him go play in Sweden, just, you know, he did all the work to get them promoted. And now he's got a chance to play in his hometown team. Um, you know, it probably wouldn't hurt to play in the FHL. So I think those are the guys that were that we're looking at most the other ones

You know, there's always the chance for surprises. I think like a guy like Justin Carboneau who just decided to go back to the queue You know if he goes to camp and has a good camp with the Blues do they give him a look? so there's a lot of Possibilities, but I don't think any likely Outside of you know Schaefer and Misa being the two guys that I think have the best chance. You mentioned that Marton's going to Michigan State and like we've spent a lot of time this summer discussing the ramifications of all these players going the collegiate route and what it might

look like this year. From a viewing perspective is that the next great hurdle to overcome for college hockey is getting a more robust TV deal and making it a more prevalent TV product? It's certainly something that they want and they're talking about. I think that that is the challenge. They do have a very fractured media environment because the media situation is typically controlled by the conferences, which there are like seven so you know so that's part of it you know they I think one of the things that they're really hoping to do is getting the frozen 4 on linear television on outside of the cable system like on ABC in the US

they're trying to get it you know on make it more available within Canada as well. And I think that that's something that they're actively working on. You know, some of the, some of the streaming platforms are global. Some of them are not, you know, so that does create challenges like, you know, the teams that are, are partnered with ESPN, but they can't get their games in Canada unless it's on an outside system. So there is a lot of work being done behind the scenes but I think the thing that college hockey has to do is the conferences are gonna have to come together a little bit more

and find a way to you know put a little bit more towards ESPN and others that could potentially distribute their games. The thing is now is that we're just kind of running out of room so you have to get creative. You have to get creative, especially as we go more towards streaming. And certainly, you know, I work for a streaming platform and, you know, I think that that's probably where a lot of things are going. But yeah, I mean, just making sure the games are available and more, you know, more prevalent in whichever way that is, is definitely something that's being talked about within that system.

And when you have stars like McKenna, Marton, Caden Lindstrom coming into the system, absolutely, I think there should be an interest and I do think there will be. Cause I was gonna say like the McKenna debut game at Penn State, like that would be something that a lot of people would wanna watch. I heard they're playing it at the football stadium.

Right. 100,000 tickets. It's gonna be a whiteout. Yeah, it tickets. It's going to be a whiteout. Yeah. It's the world's quickest turnaround for an outdoor game. No, but seriously, like I'm looking at it. I'm saying like if ESPN is televising his decision to go to Penn State, the next logical thing would be like, let's make sure we get his first game on campus and let's make sure

we get his first big 10 game or whatever it is. And then obviously the big one is if they get to the frozen four, I mean, that's going to be must watch TV for a lot of hockey fans, both in the U S and in Canada. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that that's, that's something that, that, you know, they're hoping that they can use some of these names to attract more of that interest and more of that talent. I mean, really, you know, in the U S ESPN is pretty much the end all be all of, of, of sports TV get on there and you can get your games in front of you know, the vast majority of the audience so Yeah, I mean I I haven't heard anything yet in terms of what's gonna what Penn State's broadcast is gonna look like but yeah I mean it's one of those things where you know, if it if every single Penn State game was on

National TV or whatever, I wouldn't bat an eye. It's just, unfortunately, that's not how it works. I think if it was the, if the roles were reversed and Penn State was located in Ontario, we would probably see every single game on TV somewhere. But unfortunately, that is not the case. Is McKenna prepared for all this attention? I think he is. I think he is. I mean, I think, you know, with he's been in the spotlight a little bit longer than most players,

you know, similar Connor Bedard and Michael Misa and others. And I just, you know, I don't think he's overwhelmed by it. I don't think that he really even thinks about it that much. Um, I think he kind of is, uh, you know, more of an unassuming player. Um, and you know, based on every interaction, I, I just don't think he cares that much. I think he just wants to play, you know? And so, you know, for that, I think he'll be fine. Um, you'll be interesting thing for him going forward is, you know, for that, I think he'll be fine. You know, the interesting thing for him going forward

is obviously he's gonna be playing, you know, the thing that he really has to be prepared for, I think is less of the spotlight and more of what college hockey is versus junior. He's going to be playing against players that are, you know, 20, some teams will have guys that are 23 and 24 years old relative to playing. That is a huge shock. There is much less time and space in college hockey.

It can be a more physical game. The structure is definitely much more, uh, common in college hockey. I think the teams have greater discipline and structure. And so it will be more difficult. So he's going to have to manage that transition as will all of those players and on top of that you have to stay eligible. You still got to go to class. Yes, you're majoring in hockey but you still got to go to class because there is a second half of the season and so you do have to get eligible for that other half of the season. So those are the things that you kind of have to manage during a hockey season

that maybe some guys will, will handle great. Maybe others won't. Um, but I do think for him, the biggest thing is to just kind of, you know, make sure that he's, he's doing everything he needs to do, uh, to, to stay focused on the task at hand and, you know, based on everything he said, he says the right things, I think he does a lot of the right things. He's still very much a kid, but at the same time, he knows what's in front of him.

And I think he's very motivated to make sure that he achieves that at that high level. And real quick here, Chris, how do you think it's gonna go for Connor Bedard this season? I don't think the Blackhawks are dramatically improved or anything. And you mentioned that Frontell, who Blackhawks picked third overall, is probably

going back to Sweden. So where does he go from here? Cause it was tough at times to watch him last season. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I definitely think that he's, last season was more of the product of the environment than it was anything that he did or didn't do. And that is a concern. I mean, I think that the frustration is palpable in him and in where things are. I mean, I

don't have any concern about where Connor Bedard is as a player. I think that he's going to be in the right direction. I think that he's gonna do all the things necessary to make him better. But for me, I do have concern about the lack of improvement in the NHL roster. That's a team that does look like it'll probably get its head kicked in a little bit more again this year without some dramatic improvements,

but there's also the potential that he has his best season. I do think we'll see the best Connor Bedard that we've seen so far. He's got two years in. I think he's now, this is more his team. There are fewer of the veterans that maybe were kind of taking charge. I think he's going to be a guy that really kind of starts to set the tone and takes a little bit more ownership. And for me, that's going to make a huge difference for him. It's going to be frustrating, but I think that, you know, they're starting to turn the corner that a lot of those young guys are coming in, Frank needs our head a really strong season.

He's going to break out on the other guys that have come in and signed. I think that they'll, they'll have that new young core will kind of start taking ownership of the team. And as a result, there will be some improvement, but I do think next year is going to be a struggle. Chris we appreciate this bud thanks for taking the time to do it. Enjoy the rest of the World Junior Showcase. Will do boys love hockey in the summer. Great. That's the best. Thanks dude appreciate it. Chris Peters from Flow Hockey here on the Haliford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break I need to tell you about the BC Lions. Saturday, August 16th,

your Lions face the Alouettes for the show and shine game featuring over 200 classic and exotic cars. Get your tickets now at bclions.com. Our one is in the books on the other side of the break. Shia Davidi is going to join the program. Baseball Blue Jays reporter for Sportsnet after the Jays took three of four against the Tigers on the weekend and they start a series against Baltimore today. You're listening to the Hal Ferdinand Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.