Halford & Brough in the Morning - Will The Canucks Coaching Staff Continue To Exceed Expectations?

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

In hour two, guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Josh Elliott-Wolfe talk some pre-season football with NFL.com's Nick Shook, they speak with Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs coach Pat Coyle about the upcoming Minto Cup lacrosse tournament (26:13), plus the boys wonder if the Canucks coaching staff will alter their approach for this upcoming season (32:16). 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.

welcome back to half of the rough it's sports net 650 jamie dodd josh elliott wolf filling in halford and brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. This hour of Halford & Brough is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime Craft Beer is full flavor without compromise at a liquor store near you or visit the brewery to see how it's made we are coming to you live from the kintec studio studio kintec canada's

favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star google reviews sore feet what are you waiting for kintec that's what you're waiting for 650 650 the dumb bar lumber text line send your what we learned submissions in now hashtag Hashtag WWL. What you learned over the last 24 hours in sports and we will read those coming up at 8.30. Before we do that, we're going to talk a little NFL with our next guest from

NFL.com. He is Nick Shook. Nick, thank you for doing this as always. How are you? I'm great, guys. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, our pleasure. One of the big stories this week vikings lose rookie qb jj mccarthy for the season meniscus injury uh undergoing surgery and there'd been a lot of you know it's it's early it's week one so there's only so much you can really take it take away but there had been a lot of optimism about how he looked and maybe what he

was going to do in his rookie campaign i mean mean, just how devastating is this for, I mean, McCarthy, of course, but also the Vikings as a franchise? You know, I think they're in a better spot than some teams are, not because, you know, that they're in the best situation at the position, but they did have another option that they were already kind of planning on starting the season with in Sam Darnold. It's unfortunate because, you know, this is a franchise that is looking for the next guy following Kirk Cousins. And they felt really excited about JJ, especially the way he, you know,

performed in his preseason opener against the Raiders. And he threw an early pick and then he got together and threw two really nice touchdown passes and just looked very sharp and looked better than I personally, you know, anticipated he would look. And then you've come to find out a couple of days later that he's hurt. And then he's going to have, you know, a repair of his meniscus, which knocks him out for the whole season. It's, it's just unfortunate, but he's a rookie and you just hope that he comes back at full strength and, and is able to pick up where he left off. And now I guess he has a year to sit,

you know, technically sit behind a veteran quarterback and truly learn even if you know he's behind him because he's recovering and not just because he's you know second on the death chart What do you think of the outlook for the Vikings this year? Do you believe in Sam Darnold as a starting quarterback? Uh

Yeah that's the answer I'd like to be nice and say yes, but no. You know, he had one nice game last year as a backup for the 49ers. And every once in a while, some of this happens in sports. Somebody has, you know, one nice one-off performance and it gets him a job somewhere else. I am curious to see if he finally figures it out and puts it together because I think Sam's been in a couple of unwinnable positions

or at least very unwinnable positions, or at least very unfavorable positions, where he was thrown into in New York when he was drafted in 2018, and then where he ended up in Carolina. But I also think that as far as I've seen him play with considerable length, he hasn't really shaken a lot of his attributes, the negatives that have held him back. So I'm very curious to see if he is, you know, better than that,

if he has moved on. But if I had to, you know, put my life on it, no, I wouldn't say that Sam Donaldson will lead them to a Super Bowl. And folks might look back and be like, hey, you know, the Vikings made the playoffs one year with Case Keenum at quarterback, and the Browns did it last year with Joe Flacco. Well, the good thing about them was mostly, most of the time Case Keenum and Joe Flacco didn't turn the ball over that much. That was always a big issue with Sam.

So we'll see. But I wouldn't put all my stock in the world and have no. Well, I think the other issue for the Vikings, too, is a fairly formidable division, at least as we sit here on August 15th looking at it. We'll see what Caleb Williams and the Bears can do, but I think high expectations for both the Lions and the Packers in the NFC North.

How do you kind of see that division shaking out? Yeah, you know, I kind of went back and forth in trying to decide which division is the toughest in the NFL right now, and it's both Norths. I think it's the AFC North slightly ahead of the NFC North, solely because we don't know what the Vikings are, and the Bears, too, whereas the AFC North, you know, all four teams are good or should be good.

But how do I see the NFC North shaking out? I think that the Lions remain the kings. Every time I try to poke a hole in a team or poke holes in their roster for the season, I did that process with the Lions and just had a pretty hard time doing it. Not to say that they're not going to regress or take a step back after

falling through on the expectations that they had set for them last year, but I just think that they're a strong team with a good, with a coach that has built this program in his image and a GM that has done the same thing with the roster. And they have every reason to feel good about this season. And the Packers are going to be right there too. I think it's going to be a neck and neck race between the Lions and the

Packers for the NFC North title. Very curious to see how the Bears factor in with Caleb Williams and all the, you know, good vibes and positive momentum that this team has supposedly built up. They're even on hard knocks. All of that is great for them, but they still have to deliver on the field when it comes time to kick it off and decide it on the gridiron. And then the Vikings, it's a bummer. This is a bummer what happened with McCarthy.

I don't think McCarthy alone would have made them into a contender. They're still kind of a team in transition but they do have some sneaky talent so if I had to look at the those standings in the way that I would shake it all out it goes Lions Packers Bears Vikings and we'll just see how wide the margin is between those teams when you look at the the AFC North then you got the Ravens who I mean they were great last year but lost some pieces the Bengals obviously Joe Burrow healthy they want to be better this year the Browns want to take a step the Steelers are always there how do you see that division kind of shaking out as the season goes on um that's a tough one to sort out I mean I give the Ravens the benefit of the fact that they you know were the AFC's number one seed not just the winners the AFC North but also the top seed

in the conference last year and really came on down the stretch um on both sides of the fact that they were the AFC's number one seed. Not just the winners of the AFC North, but also the top seed in the conference last year. Really came on down the stretch on both sides of the football. They did lose a lot. They actually lost a lot on their defensive staff. Mike McDonald's gone. Anthony Weaver's gone. They were kind of pillaged when it comes to assistant coaches, which happens when you're good.

Now it's up to them to prove that the guys they replaced them with, like Zach Orr, the defensive coordinator now, can do the job. Talent-wise, they got, you know, most of that team is still intact. You know, they added Nate Wiggins in the draft. He had a nice preseason debut last weekend. And if he can stay healthy, I think he'd be a very key piece in that secondary. But then again, secondary injuries have always been an issue for them

in the last few years. So I still look at them as the favorite, but I think that the Bengals will be right there. I think the Browns will be right there. And the big question mark is the Steelers because it all revolves around quarterback. It revolves around quarterback with the Browns too, to be completely frank.

We don't know what Deshaun Watson is still, and it's year three now. But we also don't know what Russell Wilson and or Justin Fields are in Pittsburgh. And, you know, two options is not necessarily better than one in that situation when you're comparing the two situations. But I do think this is Mike Tomlin's most talented team since probably the 2020 season, since basically the end of the Ben Roethlisberger era.

So it's going to be another tough division to sort out. I got the Ravens, you know, winning since they are the reigning champs, and I don't have a big reason to believe that they won't be again. And then it's just a dogfight between the Browns, Bengals, and Steelers. You can go any way from there. You know, and of course with the Steelers as well, we've got to talk about the Brandon Ayuk saga here, which a couple weeks ago it was, okay, they have trades in place

with the Pats and the Browns, and the kind of ball is in Ayuk's court. Maybe he didn't want to go to either of those teams or they didn't meet his contractual demands. Then it was, all right, the Niners and him are talking. They want to keep him. He's going to stay in San Francisco. Now the latest reporting, if I'm following it correctly, is there's a trade in place with the Steelers.

Ayuk's on board, but the Niners now are saying, ah, maybe we don't actually want to trade him. What is going on here? Why has it dragged out for so long? And what's the most likely scenario to finish this one out? You know, it's been going on for a while, and I'm tired of it to a degree. But at the same time, it's changed so, like, just incremental changes have gone on so often in this process, especially in the last couple of weeks, that, like, just incremental changes have gone on so often in this process, especially in the last couple weeks,

that, like, it is kind of fascinating because now it's like, after all this, are they really going to stick together? Like, you got multiple teams involved in trade talks, and, you know, at one point the Browns supposedly threw Amari Cooper's name into the talks. It's been very complicated. It's been messy, and I personally would just find it all hilarious. If Brandon, I,

you ends up signing with the 49ers. It seems like that's the, you know, the momentum is kind of shifted in that direction, but we'll, we'll see because it, you know, I,

we had the reporting a couple of days ago that, or we at least had seen some reporting from out there, which again, who knows that the, the, there was supposedly a deal in place between the 49ers and the Steelers. But it seems like the momentum has shifted in the last

two days toward, I think he might stay. I just think that would be hilarious if all of us now sit back after going through this for a month and we just see, oh, well, Brandon Ayoub's still a 49er. I guess we all wasted our time. But that's the beauty of the NFL. This is not the first time that something like this would have happened.

You know, they have a lot of air time to fill in June and in July, and a lot of digital space to fill. And we certainly went to the Brandon Ayuk well a few times. So we'll see. But I have a feeling he's going to stay in San Francisco. The other part of a trade with Ayuk that never really made sense to me was like, man, you're just going to try to get a – like you need a receiver

to fill in iuk spot if you trade him and i get there's like the contract issues and all of that but it did it does kind of feel like the most logical outcome would be just for him to stay too well the funny thing too is you know they drafted ricky pierce all from florida in this draft you know his first round pick and when that happened everybody's like well they're getting rid of debo and they didn't realize that iuk was the one that was upset. And so I think that's actually a big reason why they haven't done this deal, or at least somewhat of a reason, because Pearsall hasn't been healthy. He was hurt in the offseason in OTAs.

He was hurt. He's basically hurt in camp now. He's in and out of camp right now. So if he can't be healthy enough to fill that roster spot, I mean, you do still have other guys. You've got Juwan Jennings and you've got Devo Samuel. But from a numbers perspective, yeah, that would be kind of a big blow for a team that expects to contend

for a Super Bowl and get back to a Super Bowl and knows how close it was to winning a Super Bowl last year. So you don't just give away a talent that fits into your system like Brandon Ayuk so easily, a talent that has such a rapport with your quarterback too. With Brock Purdy, like Brandon Ayuk does, you just don't do that willy-nilly. And it is funny, though, because I also thought, if you're going to get a Steelers trade done, wouldn't you have to, like you said, get a receiver back?

And I looked at the Steelers roster, and the only guy that's worth taking in a trade that has any real trade value is George Pickens, and I don't think the Steelers are going to move George Pickens. So, rocking a hard place for all these teams involved. Yeah, it's been a bizarre one for sure. Now, one trade that is actually going to happen is Matthew Judon, edge rusher from the Pats, going to the Atlanta Falcons.

I know that's been an area of need pretty perennially for the Falcons. How much does he help the defense in Atlanta? They were desperate for an edge rusher. They were desperate for an edge rusher, and then they lost one of the guys that was playing with the starters over the last week or so in preseason action. So they really needed an edge rusher. And this solves it.

And this also solves the whole Judon contract issue. It's not perfect, but it's, you know, this is not the first time that something like this would happen. It was Braylon Trice who they lost in the preseason action against Miami on a terrible field at Hard Rock Stadium last weekend. It was kind of actually really unfortunate to watch that game and see the state of the field and how it affected a number of guys and a number of players did get hurt,

Braylon Trice being one of the most significant ones. But Judon was not happy with his contract in New England. Him and Gerard Mayo had a bit of a tiff publicly on the field during camp when he was sitting out. He returned to practice and everything else, but it just seemed like they couldn't get their – two sides couldn't come to an agreement. It was just getting more and more toxic.

So when the Falcons suddenly looked at the roster and said, we don't have anybody in edge rusher of significance. Let's go make this deal. They spent a lot this offseason, as we all know, about Kirk Cousins and everything else, but it seems like it's a better situation for all parties. You get Judon out of New England, where he'd probably gotten tired of being there,

no longer playing for Belichick, no longer playing for playoff appearances and everything else. It was probably for the best for him. And the Falcons get an immediate answer in an edge rusher who already likes to wear red sleeves, and that's part of their color scheme. And he also tends to put up a solid number of sacks every year, which is what the Desk really needs.

So it all works out. And from the New England perspective, as you said, it makes sense with the contractual demands and all of that. What are the Pats going to look like on the field this year? You know, I wrestled with this because I think it's easy for people to sit back and go, they're going to be awful. We have no confidence in the quarterback. They're just going to be terrible.

And I'm not necessarily saying that they're not going to be awful, but I don't think they're going to be one of the worst teams in the NFL because they have too much talent on each side of the ball. They still have a number of key players like Romandre Stevenson, who they just paid. On the defensive side, they have Christian Barmore. He had a bit of a health scare, so we'll see what goes on with him. But, you know, he's a stud on that side of the ball.

And, you know, they've got Jonathan Jones, Kyle Duggar, Christian Gonzalez is coming back from injury. Their secondary is like kind of sneaky, fun to watch. Their biggest issue in the last few years was they just became a sloppy football team in every phase of the game. And, of course, quarterback. They did not have a reliable option of quarterback. Jacoby Brissett's there. You don't have to need

Drake May to be good right now. You can play Jacoby Brissett for a full year and he can avoid losing you games. You still have a couple of talented tight ends in Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper. The offensive line's kind of a question mark, but I think it's in a decent spot. And the receiving core is even better than it was over the last two years.

It's a lot of risk. I mean, you're looking at Jalen Polk, who's a rookie, Kayshaun Booty, who I actually think has got a potential to make a difference in this team. You've got K.J. Osborne, who was one of my favorite under-the-radar receivers when he played for the Vikings. Their receiving situation could be a lot worse. Javon Baker from UCF is a stud that I think people are not paying attention to.

It could be a lot worse, but I also think that they're in a division that they're not going to contend in. They have a rookie head coach, and they ultimately will be held back by the lack of potential at quarterback right now. So I don't think they're going to be as bad as we think they are. They don't look like the best operation right now, but I also don't think that they're going to be in contention for the playoffs. Nick, always really appreciate it.

I hope that by the time we have you on next, that something has happened meaningfully in the Brandon Ayuk thing. Like I hope it's resolved one way or another. Let's all hope for that. We are almost there. I feel it. I feel it deep in my heart we are almost at a resolution that would be fantastic thanks for doing this nick appreciate it yeah

thanks for having me that is nick shook from nfl.com joining us here on halford and brough and we were talking falcons they make the addition of matthew judon uh to supplement their edge rush trading uh trading form from the pats, we've been doing quick divisional NFL previews this week, so let's turn our attention to the South divisions, and we can start with the NFC, Josh. The NFC, yeah, the Falcons. So they just traded for Matthew Judon and added Kirk Cousins in the offseason,

also Michael Penix Jr. They're doing the two-quarterback just like the bc lions um they're trendsetters yeah lions are like surely we can do this too right um so i i've always been higher on kirk cousins than most people i think and now i think he's starting to get the recognition that he's never going to be amazing but he's he's a get the recognition that he's never going to be amazing but he's he's a very passable quarterback you're never going to be upset when you have Kirk Cousins unless it's the playoffs um so if if you're Atlanta I think your goal is just to get to the postseason realistically like are you going to do any damage when you get there probably not

so I think they're in a good spot to be a playoff team, mainly because you look at the rest of the division and it kind of sucks. The Panthers, Bryce Young, can he take a step? The Saints, I just think they're bad. And then the Buccaneers, I kind of put them in the same boat. Yeah. Well, I mean, man, the Panthers are going to be fascinating to watch.

But on the Falcons, the Falcons just always seem so kind of mediocre to me. Right? Now they're just like slightly better mediocre. Yeah. I think the big question is, and this is not a new or novel criticism for me, right? But just like the way they have used, they've spent so much draft capital on skill players, right? Skill position guys, B. John Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts. And then they just have not structured their team to get the most out of them.

And then they use another high pick on Michael Penix, who they're not going to get the most out of because he's going to be backing up Kirk Cousins. So it's frustrating that way. But I do just wonder with like a new offensive philosophy in place, can they actually rely on their playmakers? And now with Kirk Cousins there as well, this should be a good offense. Kirk Cousins, as you said, you're probably a little higher on him, but he's at least functional. He's a fine quarterback. He's better than, who was it, Desmond Ritter?

Yeah, you're not excited about his ceiling, but you can put up points with Kirk Cousins. You can have a totally fine, well-above-average offense, and you should with Kirk Cousins and the collection of skill talent they have. It just always seems like it's been coaching getting in the way from them. Their defense is still probably not going to be great, even with the Judon acquisition, but I at least just think they should be more watchable and a little bit more fun this year than they have been in recent recent years and yeah the rest of the division not particularly inspiring it's dog

the carolina panthers man that was a tough watch uh that was a tough tough watch for a while there i have no idea what to expect from them so i my question is do we talk enough how about how bad the bryce young trade could be, in a world where Caleb Williams... I think so. Well, maybe not, though. You might be right. Like, I feel like we still underrate how, like, it's a bad trade, but I feel like it could end up being one of the worst trades ever.

Like, if Caleb Williams ends up being what Caleb Williams could be, Bryce Young, like, I still have hope for him, but there's a world where he doesn't pan out. And then even, like, you look at DJ Moore. He's been good in Chicago even with Justin Fields. He might end up being – well, he probably will be better with Williams there. And then they also added the ninth overall pick last year who I think the Bears kind of missed with the pick

or they traded down from that pick or whatever it was. But regardless, it's just the further we get away from it, the worse that trade looks. It looks really, really bad. And the thing for Bryce Young is there's obviously major question marks with him and his size, right? And can you be a high-level, really high-level quarterback, or at least it's so difficult to be a really high-level NFL quarterback

at that size. And then it's not as if they're putting this incredible collection of talent around him either, right? Like Adam Thielen's there. He's pretty old at this point. You know, shout out to Chuba Hubbard. But again, like not necessarily an elite back in the NFL. Their tight end listed first is Tommy Tremble.

Get pumped. The depth charts are like not, you know, you want to surround your young quarterback with pieces that can help him succeed. And there's questions about him, but then there's also just, I think, massive questions about what's surrounding him on the depth chart as well. Okay, AFC South. AFC South. Oh, by the way, I only have the Falcons make the playoffs out of that division. So they win the division, whatever about the other three.

AFC, Jaguars, Texans, Colts, Titans. I feel like for the Jags, this is the year Trevor Lawrence needs to show who he is. Yeah. Because there's been all this hype, and he's shown plenty of flashes of it, but we need a consistent, like, hey, Trevor Lawrence is in the Joe Burrow category now of quarterback. And we haven't seen that yet. I think we get it this year. I think he's fully capable of it. Would not surprise me one bit. In fact, I'd be kind of expecting that he does finally put it all

together uh texans they add stefan diggs their diff or their schedule is going to be more difficult this year because they did so well last year i actually have them like sneaky maybe missing the playoffs this season because i just think it might be a little bit too much for them schedule wise barely missing the playoffs like i think they'll be a little bit too much for them schedule wise barely missing the playoffs like i think they'll be in the the wild card conversation i think the jags win the division um the colts i'm not really sold on anthony richardson yet people hype him up and it's mainly for fantasy yeah he was a wicked fantasy player yes until he got injured um so i get i get that completely but also i'm just not super high on what the Colts are doing.

And then the Titans, Will Levis, cool mayonnaise, dude. Mayonnaise, man. Yeah, the Titans. Kind of about it. The Texans, I see some parallels there with the Canucks, where it's like surprise team from last year. And now everyone's seeing you coming, right? And now you're getting the hype.

And it's like, no, you're supposed to be really good now how much does that change things for you versus being the team that nobody expected to be as good as they ended up being and being able to catch teams a little bit off guard i think that's a big jump for teams to make just psychologically going in with those expectations especially a really young team or at least a team with a young quarterback like C.J. Stroud in Houston. Okay, 6.50, 6.50 is the Dunbar-Lumber text line. Keep your thoughts coming in. But right now it is time for the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL.

And, of course, the big news in the CFL as we have been covering all week, the return of standout quarterback, Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke, who is back with the BC Lions. He practiced with the team. It appears he is all set to start on Sunday when the BC Lions host the Winnebago Blue Bombers. Before that, the rest of the action in Week 11 gets going tonight. Calgary hosting Ottawa.

Calgary looking to get back to.500. Ottawa at.52 and.1 right now. On Friday, Saskatchewan Roughriders host the Montreal Alouettes. And on Saturday, the Edmonton Elks visit the Hamilton Tiger Cats. And then, of course, the slate wraps up on Sunday with what is not just here but across the league going to be the most anticipated matchup of the week as we'll get to see Nathan Rourke back

taking snaps for the Lions when they host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday. Quick reminder of where things stand in the standings going into week 11 in the West Division Saskatchewan narrowly ahead of the Lions. They're 5-3-1 so they have 11 points. Lions are 5-4 after that three game the Lions. They're 5-3-1, so they have 11 points.

Lions are 5-4 after that three-game losing streak. They're at 10 points. Calgary 4-5, Winnipeg 3-6. Edmonton bringing up the rear in the west. Montreal continues to thrive in the East Division. They are 8-1. Ottawa at 5-2-1. Toronto at 5-4.

And then Hamilton well back in fourth place. That was the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. Also, the Roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at bclions.com. We're going to talk a little lacrosse next. Pat Coyle, he's the head coach of the Junior A Coquitlam Adenex. They are hosting the Minto Cup beginning this weekend in Coquitlam.

So you'll have a chance to watch some great lacrosse here, right here in the Lower Mainland. We'll talk to Pat Coyle about his team, about that tournament, next here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650. net six 50. Welcome back to how for the rough here on sports net six 50. It is Jamie Dodd and Josh Elliott-Wolfe filling in. Howl for the Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today.

Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. This hour of Howl for the Brough is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste. Primetime Craft Beer is full flavor without compromise. At a liquor store near you or visit the brewery to see how it's made. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park.

More room, more product, more awesome details at DunbarLumber.com. You can send your What We Learned submissions in to the 650-650 DunbarLumber.com. You can send your What We Learn submissions in to the 650-650 Dunbar Lumber text line, hashtag WWL. What you learned in the last 24 hours in the world of sports. We'll read those at 830. And remember, sign your name. Maybe think up a funny name. Maybe include your

job. Increase your chances. The occupation goes a long way. Including the occupation has been a good show. Especially if it's kind of in a funny way you describe your job. So include your occupation, increase your chances of getting red during what we learned. We'll do that at 8.30, but right now, very excited to talk a little bit about the Minto Cup, which is in the Lower Mainland, in Coquitlam. It gets going on Saturday.

And joining us to talk a little bit more about that, he is the head coach of the Junior A Coquitlam Adanax. He is Pat Coyle. Pat, thanks very much for doing this today. How are you? I'm good. How are you? We're doing very well. So your team, the Coquitlam Adanax, hosting the Minto Cup this year. How special is it to be the host team for this event? I think it's for a lot of the kids that grew up in Coquitlam and myself, who's been around that arena for a long time. It's like an ideal sort of situation to be able to have the opportunity to play for a Minto Cup in our home rink.

Any additional pressure with that, or is it just like is it's great that it's here? I don't know there's probably a bit of pressure but I think that's far outweighed by the benefits that comes from that that the arena is going to be packed with our fans and we're just really comfortable with that space I think that goes a long way. Instead of going, you know, you're usually traveling somewhere and playing in a different rink, and we won't have to get used to anything that way. So I think it's a big advantage for us. Now, the Adanax were runners-up last year at the Minto Cup. I believe it was in Ontario last year.

How does that – or Edmonton, excuse me, it was last year. They were runners-up. How does that experience help your team excuse me it was last year uh they were runners up uh how does that experience help your team going into this year's edition well i think for a lot of the guys uh that's still even though it's a year, I think, to really, you know, not have that happen again. But it's also, I think what's really priceless is the experience. The tournament's such an intense, short sort of competition that you can, like, talk about it, you can go over it what to expect but until

you're actually in it i don't think you really understand what it's like and uh you know about 80 of our team got that experience last year so they're not there shouldn't be the adjustment period that this year so i think it's huge you know, based on recent results for your team, it feels like they're pretty locked in right now. I know you guys had an undefeated playoff run in the BC Junior League. What's going right? What's clicking for you guys right now? Just I think, you know, sort of what we started at the beginning of the year,

we sort of wanted to be laying our foundation for where we wanted to get to at the end, which was the Minto. And it just feels like that's coming to fruition that, you know, maybe things didn't seem like they were clicking earlier on, but we just trusted that, you know, we sort of had a vision that if we just kept on, excuse me, moving in the right direction, that we would get to where we want to be. And it feels like that's what's, you know, that we're sort of peaking going into this tournament. Now, one of the other teams at the Minto Cup this year, the Orangeville Northmen.

You're originally from Orangeville, Ontario. Is that going to be a little surreal, taking on your hometown team at the Minto Cup in Coquitlam this year, the Orangeville Northmen. You're originally from Orangeville, Ontario. Is that going to be a little surreal, taking on your hometown team at the Minto Cup in Coquitlam this year? No, no. It's sort of – I haven't been – I moved like 30 years ago, so I don't really feel – I still feel like a bit of affinity towards them, but I've been lucky enough to play against them a couple times in the Minto. The first time maybe it was a little weird, but now I'm just sick of them.

As you mentioned, you've got a long history with the Adenaks. As a player at the senior level, you've been a long time coach with the club as well you know i can hear your excitement to to host this event what makes the the adanax uh such a special club i would say the culture um just uh you know that if you if you just look at the history of the last 20 years, last 25 years, it's got this winning culture, and it's a great city. The people are fantastic, the families. That's one thing that I really get to see in coaching the young guys. I get to sort of see the families that they come from

and the kind of young men that they are, and all of that, I think, combined just makes it a great place to be. Pat, really appreciate you taking some time to chat with us today. Enjoy the event and best of luck at the Minto Cup. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it. That is Pat Coyle. He's the head coach of the Junior A Coquitlam Adinax. As mentioned, they are hosting the Minto Cup this year. It gets going on the weekend on Saturday.

You can go to themintocup.com to see the schedule, get tickets. It's in Coquitlam, and as he said, his team really fired up to be playing in front of their home fans. Runners up last year looking to take home the Minto Cup this year in Coquitlam. It's Alfred and Brough here on Sportsnet 650. Jamie Dodd, Josh Elliott will fill in for the guys. Of course, you can get your What We Learn submissions in. I would say we need a few more to populate the inbox.

Some great occupation names here we have. It's true. We got one from Juan the Hot Toss and Pepto Bismol Quality Control Agent. That might be my favorite. That's a good one. That's a very good one. Yeah. We've got Kevin, the traffic guider.

So people are rising to the occasion. I appreciate that. But yeah, we got some room left in what we learned. So send yours in before we do that. We'll talk a little Canucks here. We've been doing this throughout the week, kind of picking one aspect of the team, doing a little deep dive, kind of summarizing what's changed from last year looking ahead to what we expect to see going into this new season for the Canucks we've done the

forwards the blue line the goalies so we're moving off the ice now we're going to talk a little bit about the coaching staff and it's an interesting topic on the Canucks right of course the coaching staff just blowing expectations out of the water right I mean Rick Talk is the Jack Adams like to me clearly they've done a lot of things well hiring Rick Talk it the best move bar none that Patrick Albion and Jim Rutherford have made since they've been here I think you look at like Adam Foote and his the the role he was able to play uh helping the defense you know we all know what Ian Clark can do, like really up and down a huge success story for the coaching staff last year.

But there's been some changes. Mike Yo's out. Yogi Shefkoski gets elevated from skills coach to be an assistant coach. He's going to take over at least partial responsibilities for the power play. So they have this really impressive kind of foundation of success to build on. But I also think there's some really interesting questions about how the coaching staff is going to function going into next season. And one nice thing about Rick Tockett has been that he seems to, like he talks about it a lot, and he seems to continue to want to get better, not only as a coach, but like, hey, improving this team and what they're doing as well.

It's interesting when you kind of like step back and look at it and you're like, wow, what a great hire Rick Talkett was, like stroke of genius, like this is maybe the best thing they did, when at the time it was like, why are they doing all this to bring in Rick Talkett? Well, and I still think the way it was handled was weird. Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure. Like you can separate the two things.

The decision to hire Talkett specifically was amazing. Yes. The preceding specifically was amazing. Yes. The preceding stuff was weird. Yes. I think when we think back to it, people kind of conflated the two, and they kind of blamed Rick Talkett. 100%. And now, obviously, we're at a point where it's like,

okay, we can all agree that Rick Talkett was the right coach for this. And that would have been unfair. That was unfair at the time before we even knew what a good job he was going to do. You know what I mean? You always had to separate Talkett from the Boudreaux stuff and just judge Tuckett on his merits. And now, obviously, everyone's been able to do that. We've all seen what he's capable of, seen how he communicates with us, with the players, gets buy-in, all of that. He's been just absolutely phenomenal.

I mean, you've got to think even better than they were hoping for. Oh, yeah. I don't think they were like, we're going to hire the Jack Adams winner next year. This is so easy. Why aren't more teams doing this? Definitely. But when you look at this upcoming season and we talk about the biggest storylines

with the coaching staff, I think one of the biggest things that Rick Tockett has talked about has been trying to create more offensively because yes they scored a lot of goals last year but it was also to an extent some some fluky numbers and maybe a little inflated and we saw as the season went on as the playoffs went on especially they struggled to create a little bit and i think specifically they struggled to create off the rush. And when you have someone like your forward group is so talented,

you have Elias Pettersson, you have JT Miller, you have all these pieces, you should be able to create more offensively while still being responsible defensively. So I think the biggest thing this year is finding maybe a bit more of the balance. And I don't really blame the Canucks for, like, look, it worked out offensively last year, so you don't really have any complaints. But I don't blame the Canucks and Rick Tockett for going so hard on the defensive end last year because they were horrible before that.

There was no structure. You had to focus on that. But I think you can continue to take steps and you can continue to kind of mesh things in and now that the players have fully bought into what you're doing defensively now you can start to maybe be a bit more creative offensively and i think that's mainly what i'm looking for this year yeah i think you make a really important point that is not as if it was a bad decision by rick tockett to employ the system and the tactics he did last year right like he got basically everything he could have out of that

team and one of the reasons it's not as if he is inherently opposed to teams you know being creatively offensive and and scoring off the rush it's just like did he have the personnel necessarily to to consistently do that i think that's a fair question to ask. And it is going to be interesting this year. And he's mentioned this repeatedly, right? Whether it's interviews with Drance or end-of-season media availabilities, the idea that, okay, now we've established our defensive identity. Now we can maybe loosen things up just a little bit, right? And there's a very fine balance to be had there.

You don't want to throw out what worked, but you can kind of introduce some additional things it almost had to start with the defensive side of things like as you said they've been so bad we have to clean that up now they have that foundation the question is what can you add on top of that without completely sacrificing and i think the some of the additions offensively will help right i think jake debrusk will help i think daniel sprung who's a really talented scorer off the rush, will help. So the personnel may be a little bit better, but how much can you tweak things while maintaining that really reliable defensive game on the back end? And the other thing about most of the additions, at least, is that they are guys that you can clearly see fitting into a Rick Tockett system, especially Jake DeBrusque.

It's like, man, this guy might be one of the most perfect Rick Tockett players you can find in the league, especially of players that were available. And you look at it and you can see the potential of all of this working. You just got to figure out a way to loosen the reins a bit to allow guys, especially I think about Elias Pettersson, allow guys like him to create a bit more offensively. And I don't think Rick Tockett was stifling him at all, but just make sure that he has the tools at least to be able to do that stuff. And that kind of leads into the next storyline is ensuring that elias petterson has help throughout the season and obviously this is a big talking point for a lot of people on the

650 650 dumb bar lumber text line too they're gonna be like why does he need help he's elias petterson he gets paid a lot of money he should be good and i get it sure that's fine that's such a weird attitude to me it's like do you want to win or do you want to punish Elias Pettersson? Exactly. You know what I mean? Why are you against the idea of him playing with good players? The other thing is all these other players around the league, Nathan McKinnon has Mikko Rantanen.

Yes. Connor McDavid has Zach Hyman, who's a very good player. Every elite player has an elite player that they play with, or at the very least a very good player that they play with, or at the very least, a very good player that they play with. Exactly. And if Jake DeBrusque can be that guy, and again, we're all looking at DeBrusque as the guy who is going to get the majority of the opportunities

to try to fit with Elias Pettersson before they go to other pieces to try to figure it out. But I think the biggest thing from Rick Tockett's point of view is making sure that there is a consistent winger that can have a higher ceiling or a higher floor even than Ilya Mikheyev and Nils Hoaglander.

And I do think from a coaching perspective that should be pretty straightforward, right? You got the option in Jake DeBrus. You almost have too many pieces now for it not to be easy. It's like, okay, we're going to put Jake DeBrusk there. And something really either bad with that duo or a hole elsewhere in the lineup, something pretty significant would have to happen for that not to be the solution. And if it's not the solution, if those guys don't fit well together,

then the coaches have to go back to the drawing board. But at a certain point also, that's a little bit on the players themselves at that point like that's where i do agree okay if you're playing with jake debrusk you not that he's you know elite like some of those other sidekicks you mentioned but he's good enough and we've seen elias petterson have success with players not as good as jake debrusk like you should be able to be very productive with jake debrusk alongside you so i like to me that's not so much a conundrum for the coaching staff as it is. It's up to the players to make that fit, make that work. One thing I'm really curious to see from the coaching staff this year is

if you look at the blue line for the Canucks, we all said it right when they made the moves. Okay, hey, you lose the door off, but you get DeJarne, you get Forbort, you've retained that size element on the back end. Is there enough puck moving? And you read some of the reporting coming out about their decision making in free agency. It does feel like Rick Talkett and Adam Foote really, really pushed

and said, we need to have this big physical style back, right? That was such a part of our identity. We need to have these types of players. Don't worry about the puck moving. We'll make it work, right? Whether it's systems, whether it's, you know, coaching Vinny Deharnais up a little bit, we will find a way to move the puck well enough to justify going so big on size and toughness on the back end. with the how much more offensive creativity can they allow the players to have is kind of the biggest coaching-related question for me. Can they make, especially the bottom four, right, beyond Quinn Hughes and Filip Ronic. Now maybe Filip Ronic is in on the second pair.

That's another question to talk about. But can they make their team move the puck well enough with Soucy, Myers, Forbort, and Desjardins? If they are able to, that's a masterstroke from the coaching staff. I don't even know how you do that, to be honest. Because you look at the track record of these guys, and not that they're bad players, but generally you don't look at them and you're like, oh yeah, these guys are excellent puck movers.

It's not going to be a concern whatsoever. It's a big bet for not only the coaching staff but management to make to be like hey we believe so much in the system and so much in a certain player's identity that we're just going to commit to like for the Canucks on the back end it's finding size and to surround Quinn Hughes and Phillip Peronic who aren't huge dudes um and just making it work and we'll see if they can do it with less talented players because again we we talked about the defense a couple days ago and obviously the loss of nikita zadorov is a big one but i i think ian cole the loss of him is going to be a bit underrated as well because realistically i think even at this point

in his career he's more talented than vinnie day harney and derrick forbert have been in the past in their career but there is a world where forbert and day harney come into the system in mancouver maybe they get coached up a little bit and they can unlock a little bit more in their game day harney specifically is the the most intriguing one to me just because Edmonton fans seem to be kind of high on him. And it was a little divisive, but at least some of their fans liked what he brought to the team. And I wonder, getting a closer look at it here in Vancouver,

what parts of his game are going to stand out? And if this connect coaching staff can get more out of him like they got more out of guys like Zdorov when they came to Vancouver so yeah that is a that's a that's a big storyline going into the season as well and I mean part of that storyline is do they split up Quinn Hughes and Philip Roenick right and that might be the most interesting lineup decision the coaching staff has to make, right? As much as we're curious about, you know, who's going to play alongside Miller and Besser, will Jake DeBrusque and Elias Patterson work, right?

There's lineup questions up and down the roster, as there always are. But I think the most interesting one is, do they find a way to successfully split up Quinn Hughes and Philip Roenick? Because if you're able to do that, the puck moving question becomes so much less significant, right? Like all of a sudden you're like, okay, at least we have one of those two guys out there for, you know, 45 minutes plus in the game and we can make the remaining 15 or whatever work. We can get through it.

And it's like, to me, what it probably looks like is they still play a lot together, but then at different points in the game, you find the situations where you can split them up. And you do more, because remember going back to last training camp, it was, well, we're going to, Quinn Hughes' partner is going to be by committee, right? That was what they were saying at training camp.

It didn't work out that way, of course, but I wonder if they kind of go back to that idea a little bit and say, you're not going to be stapled together. You're still going to get the time, but we're also going to rotate guys next to Quinn Hughes and move Philip Pronick around the lineup a little bit too yeah uh other storylines so we talked a bit about it yesterday but balancing Thatcher Demko's workload is going to be important you got you got to resist the urge to look I know Thatcher Demko

he's a very good goalie and if I was a coach I'd be like you know what I want to do play Thatcher Demko every game yes because he is very, and he can help you win games. But you've got to find a way, and hey, maybe this falls more on Archer Shelovs and what he's doing, or Yuri Patera and what he's doing, but you've got to find a way to get some of these backups into more games. And again, I think just having a level of trust in your backup is going to go a long way, and I think we all assume Rick Tockett does trust Archer Shelovs based on the postseason and what he was able to do.

So that's going to be a big storyline as well. And then also the big thing, the power play getting better. Yep. And Yogi Sveikovsky, we'll see what he can bring. It has to be better than it was last year. And that's a huge coaching story, right? Because, of course, Rick Tockett was the head coach and also running the power play, which is very, very rare, unusual.

And so they're changing that up, although it does sound like Rick Tockett still wants to be really involved with the power play. Now, I don't know. It's as simple as, like, well, Rick Tockett wasn't doing a good enough job because he had too much on his plate. There's lots of other things you can point to. I think Elias Pettersson needs to be a lot better, but they haven't really found a way to consistently click.

There's been moments where they've run really hot, but to consistently click and look dangerous since Bo Horvat left. And I think what's happened is I know Rick Tockett is not a plays guy. He has said that over and over again. I understand that. He's a lot of blank guy, but he's not a plays guy right he has said that over and over again i understand that he's a lot of blank guy but not a place guy but i think you need to have a bread and butter look like something that's like okay it's not all we're going to do but this is kind of our key play that's going to keep defenses honest and let us to look for other things and they haven't really had that they had it with

bo horvat from the bumper it's been missing since left. So whether it's replacing him in the bumper, whether it's figuring out a different look on the power play, I think that's going to be a key thing for Yogi Shikoski in his new role, elevated from skills coach to figure out a way to get the power play clicking because they're going to need it. I mean, we're talking about the goal scoring. Even strength is part of it. Power play is a big part of it.

And you look at all the pieces on the power play too, the theoretical pieces they could put out there. Man, it should be like a top five power play. They have all the talent they need to make it a really good, a really intimidating power play. 650-650 is the Dunbar-Lumber text line. You can get your text in now for

what we learned at 830. Play on is the official Canadian street hockey tournament, a chance for all to belong while playing Canada's favorite game together. Featuring divisions for girls, boys, women, and men of all ages and experience levels. Play On comes to Surrey August 17th and 18th. For details, visit www.playon.ca. Jerry D, comedian, he's coming to the P&E this year. He joins us next here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650.