Halford & Brough in the Morning - Will The Canucks Shut Down The Quinn Hughes Trade Talk?

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss if the Canucks might trade Quinn Hughes this season or if the club might try and shut the talk down (3:00), plus they preview Saturday's MLS Cup final matchup with Inter Miami radio commentator Ken LaVicka (29:34), who get set to host the Whitecaps. 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 Bruff. I don't think there's going to be a Quinn Hughes for Dylan Larkin deal out there. I think that's actually crazy talk. Maybe it's a clean house time. Maybe it is. Maybe it's time. And I like Coach Tom. The only history of when we're making is being the worst Pittsburgh Steelers team, statistically, almost in the history of the organization.

Good morning, Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halford and his brow, fitness sports net 650. We are coming here live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Are we a Steelers show now? Good morning. Adon, good morning to you.

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I got a big show ahead on a Thursday. It's another four guester here on the Halford and Breft Show on Sportsnet 650. It's time now for the Doick Morning Drive. Our daily guest list brought to you by the Duick Auto Group, it begins at 630. Ken Levick is going to join the program. He is the radio voice of Inter Miami. Boo! White Caps flew to Miami yesterday in advance of Saturday's MLS Cup final.

We wanted to do a deeper dive on the opponent. We've done a lot of white caps heavy stuff throughout the first few days of the week. So, Ken Levicka, the radio voice of Inter Miami, I will not boo him prior to coming on the air. He's just doing his job. He's going to join us at 6.30 to talk about Lionel Messi and company what they've done lately. He's going to join us at 6.30. 7 o'clock. Luke Fox, NHL writer from Sportsnet.

He's going to join the program. Five games in the NHL last night. 10 tonight, we'll go around the league with Luke at 7 o'clock. 7.30, Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN. Seahawks back in action this Sunday, a 10 a.m. kickoff against the Falcons in Atlanta. Hawks are 7.5 point road favorites heading into this one. Brady will break it all down for us at 7.30. 8 o'clock, it's the Drancer, Thomas Drans from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk right here on SportsNet 650. Canucks back in action tomorrow, Friday, when they host the U.S.

Utah Mammoth, lots to get into on and off the ice with Drancer. We'll do that at 8 a.m. Okay, this is going to take a while. We have three giveaways today on the show. Three. At 7.30, we're giving away a $50 gift card to White Spot. At 8 o'clock, we're doing Halford and Breff's 12 days of Christmas. And at 8.30, we're giving away a pair of tickets to see the Vancouver Giants in

Portland Winter Hawks Friday, December 5th at the Langley Events Center. 730 8 and 830 I'll try and remind you as many times as I can during the show the phone number here is 604-280650 you have to be lucky calling number caller number five every time caller number five we'll go through that throughout the show but lots of giveaways in the holiday season from halford and brough I'm not even going to go in reverse on the guest list we got so much to get into without further ado laddie let's tell everybody what happened hey did you guys see the game last night no what happened I missed all the action because I don't know how busy your life can be.

What happened? You miss that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies, the best of tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. If you listen to yesterday's show,

you'll know that a large chunk of the final hour of the program was dedicated to an interesting bit of trade news. rumblings, rumors from Elliot Friedman about the possibility of the Vancouver Canucks and the Detroit Red Wings, potentially connecting on another trade, having previously consummated the Philipperonic deal from a couple years ago.

We played the audio. We went through Fridge's clues live on the air. It was an interesting radio experience. Some say poor. Shortly after, Frege went on this very station to clarify his remarks.

So I feel like we have to take this step by step In case anyone's not up to speed, maybe we do need to get him to speed. Unfortunately, I have to throw you on the spot here. I think we need the audio from yesterday. They actually original Fridge clip, right? Because before we do any of this, we need to tell him what he was on the air, sort of clarifying, not necessarily apologizing, but clarifying for. Well, I think long story short is we thought that Fridge was suggesting that there could be a, if Quinn Hughes was traded to Detroit, we thought that Fridge was told. talking about potentially Dylan Larkin coming back.

Right. We won't play the audio. That's a pretty good synopsis. That's the long and the short of it. And then we were like, well, wait a minute. We started thinking and our brain started grinding. And we were like, is he, because we were like, that doesn't make sense for anyone. Sure.

Because Dylan Larkin is almost 30. That's not the type of player that the Kinex have said they want, they said they want to get younger. And also he's got a full no trade clause. And it just, it doesn't. It didn't seem like it made a lot of sense. It didn't make a sense. But then we were like, well, Fridge made it sound like it was super obvious, the guy that they were talking about. It was super obvious the center that would come back from Detroit.

And then we were like, I mean, I guess they have, you know, had discussions about whether or not Dylan Larkin is the right guy for them to lead the team, et cetera, et cetera. And then we came back and it's like, it still doesn't make sense, though. So we were like, okay, well, who is, because he made it sound like there was. one obvious candidate. Correct. Correct. One obvious candidate. And they were like, well, we got a couple, we don't need to play the audio, Laddie, but we were like, well, they've got

a couple of young centers like Marco Casper and Nate Danielson, who we were like, he sounds like a quarterback, but he's actually a young center who the Canucks had had interest in, in drafting. So Fridge was like, I have made a mistake.

I made a huge mistake, and I'm going to go clean it up. Central with Sat and Bick. Here's the audio from yesterday as we try and navigate the waters of a possible Quinn Hughes trade. Here's Fridge cleaning things up on the situation with Detroit. Well, you know

what? Like, that's the thing. Like it was like I walked into a problem today. It was my own fault. I don't blame anybody but myself. And I figured I'd better go on and calm this down because it was a crazy zone this morning

with all the tax I was getting. So I did an appearance today with Colby and John, and they were talking about, like, you know, guys who could be available for Quinn Hughes. And they were saying, you know, could Matt Vey Michkov or Lucas Raymond be available for Quinn Hughes? And I was like, I think that's a little much, guys. Like, I don't think they're going to see anything like this.

And then I talked about, like, first of all, let me just say, I don't think anything's going on with Quinn Hughes right now. Like, I don't think there's anything. yet. Like I've said many times, eventually I think there will be a conversation about it, but I don't think there's anything there right now. Anyway, you know, I started talking about how I do think Detroit will be a potential match if the time ever comes. And I really do believe that if the time ever comes. And, you know, I started talking about centers and the Red Wings fans are like, he's talking about Larkin. I was not talking about Larkin.

Like I don't think there's going to be a Quinn Hughes for Dylan Larkin deal out there. I think that's actually crazy talk. But you know what? I just figured I better come on and say where I think things are all right now and I can kind of calm everything down. When the time comes or if the time comes, yes, I do believe that Detroit will be a player. But I don't think it's going to be for like Raymond or Larkin. And we'll see.

but Detroit does have centers that I think could interest Vancouver. So that's kind of where it is. And I was like, I better just calm it down a little bit here. So the purpose of this exercise isn't to further analyze the Detroit situation. We did that yesterday in the air, as mentioned, kind of a failed experiment. But we move on. There's a bigger picture here. And there's a larger narrative at play.

And it's December 4th. That's a very good point to make. We can't do this every day. But now we're not doing it anymore. It's the other markets. Collective NHL media. All 31 other markets, maybe excluding like Florida and Utah. They probably got other things to focus on.

But let's say 20 plus are probably all looking at this and saying the team is bottom three in the NHL. The president of hockey ops sent out a memo league wide saying that the Reddit is shaking. things up and this huge story which was already out there could further be intensified by the players perceived frustrations body language on the ice that clip went viral across the league and everyone knows this contract situation so you put it all together and you are looking unless we forget that the connect season is kind of cooked already so a lot of the off ice stories become far more intriguing than the on ice ones and you're looking at a i don't know two and a half three month odyssey journey of trade speculation potential packages things like that where a report is put out there

and it has to be refuted this is this kind of is i don't want to say staring into the abyss because that sounds too dark but it feels like we're going to be doing a lot of this it feels like the rest of the league is going to be doing a lot of this yeah there's a couple of things to say here number number one um it's not the media's fault because it's it's it's what fans want to talk about and I'm not talking about Canucks fans because they're probably like I can't do this but you know I was thinking you know those mailbags that all the writers want to do they're like I it's it's mailbag Monday get your question in right yeah what do you think a lot of those um fans are asking their particular beat writers Could we get Quinn Hughes?

Could we get Quinn Hughes? And what's it going to take? What would it take for whoever to get Quinn Hughes out of Vancouver? And then, like, that's what they were doing with Fridge, right? What would it take to get them out of there? Sure. I mean, and that's, and Fridge was just like, you know what? It might make a little bit of sense because the Red Wings have some centers.

Sure. You know, so that's what you need if you want to talk to the Vancouver Canucks about anything pretty much. need centers. So that's what's driving this in a lot of cases. It's just people want to know. And the media are like, well, this will get eyeballs. So I'm going to write about it. The other one is, the other thought I had is, do the Canucks and Quinn Hughes come

together and say, like, we're not going to deal with this during the regular season? or will the Canucks push him to provide some sort of clarity before the trade deadline? I want to take you back a couple of years to when Elias Pedersen was a pending RFA and Elias Pedersen said, I don't want to deal with this during the regular season. And he openly said, I do not plan to make a decision on this or anything. I don't even want to talk about this during. the regular season, and people are like, okay, but that does give you a window to leave like Matthew Kachukleft out of Calgary. So what happened then? The Kinnock said, we're not letting it

get to that. We're not letting it get to the offseason where you could potentially do that. You could potentially force your way out of town. Now, this is a different situation because Hughes is a pending UFA, he's the captain of the team, and Pedersen was a pending RFA. But the Canucks pushed very hard to get Elias Pedersen to the table to discuss his future. They are slightly different situations, but there is an argument to be made that the Canucks could get a bigger return. It's an argument, some people disagree, could get a bigger return if they trade Quinn Hughes before this trade deadline as opposed to waiting until the off season. So if they feel that, if they agree with that, do they force him in a way, lean on him in a way to say, listen, like, you got to give us some clarity? Because we want to keep you, but we feel that we could probably get more value out of a trade before the deadline as opposed to waiting as with the off season.

I don't know, I'm not making an argument on either side of what's going to happen. It worked out really well for Peterson, right? Terrific, you know, like every party was happening. with how it turned out and everything's been great ever since all I'm wondering is will there be some sort of statement from hues on I'm not talking about this and I prefer to wait onto the off season to make a decision and I'm not going to tell the Canucks anything yeah and will the Canucks say something like we're okay with that because man this isn't this isn't this isn't good but it's also like we have to talk about it because you know like DPD wasn't

sent down to the HL. He was. Yesterday and... Played last night. So he played last night. Now he could be called up again. Most likely will.

For Friday's game against Utah. But in a normal season, we'd be like, hmm, that's interesting. They've got this young defenseman that they're pretty excited about. I wonder what they were thinking,

sending him down to the H.L. And we would have been watching closer. How is Elias Pedersen playing anyway? Like, is he, is he doing well? Yeah. Well, let's go into his numbers. Let's talk about it. What will be the best, uh, what are the best pairings right now for the Canucks on defense?

Things normal teams do, right? He played with Victor Mancini last night. That, that news was just like, yeah, yeah. Anyway. Because, because it's tough to focus on stuff that seems when there's just big, big picture issue going on, focusing on the little stuff does seem like you know like oh okay

you're going to focus on the rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic you mean that's what it is so Rick from Colonna texts in Dunbar Lumber text line 650 650 do you think Rutherford regrets that PD Convo I'm glad you brought up the idea of Rutherford and regret because I'll go

to a more immediate potential regret and that was sending out this memo what a week and a half ago across the NHL and then having nothing nothing to come of it. And I know trades don't just get consummated like that, although in some cases they do. And with a guy with this much experience and as a trade history as Jim Rutherford, maybe

you would have expected more. It's going to be hard to unring the bell now, I think. Like you're talking about maybe they'll go to Hughes and they'll say, do you just want to shut this down entirely and no more talk about it? My answer to that would be like, how much talk has there been about it? Hughes has barely addressed it. And the Canucks haven't really addressed it. But everyone knows the situation.

They are coming home now. though, right? They're going to have to have some home media. Sure, but the genie's out of the bottle and the cat's out of the bag and the bell's been rung. I don't know if you can undo any of those. The president of hockey ops has acknowledged that the current plight of the team is dire and they're looking to make moves to change

it up. Now, every insider that we've had on the show has said, most teams have responded and said, well, let's not talk about your pending UFAs, let's talk about Hughes. And they're like, we're not ready to do that yet. That's the conversation. though well if not now when and you know saying you're not going to talk about publicly

is great and it's probably a nice deflection for I don't know a handful of months but we've done this long enough we've worked in the industry and the business long enough if something's out there and the fire is burning and there's interest between fans clamoring and reporters digging it's going to be a story so do you try and do the old ostrich head in the sand or hide under a pile of coats to ignore it? I don't think it's possible. The inbox is as scattered as the Canucks seem to be. And I think that's another issue going on right now.

People actually don't know what to talk about. They don't know what, there is no consensus on what to discuss and how to discuss it. Because some people are texting in with trade proposals for Detroit. And we're like, yeah, we kind of said, like, we don't want to go down that road right now because, you know, if there isn't a trade to do with Detroit, then there's a bunch of other teams where you can do it, right? Like, don't get hung up on Detroit. You know, if they're not willing to put in a good return, then fine, they don't get them. But then there's this whole, and then you bounce around to, well, wait a minute, why are they going to trade them anyway? You know, some people are still like, is there any way we can keep them?

And then we get this text from Graham from Hardy, and I'm not, I'm not blaming you for this Graham. But like, this is how scattered Canucks fans' brains are right now. He's like, morning guys, maybe I've missed it because I've become apathetic towards the Canucks. But why are we not talking about trading Petey more than trading Hughes? And you're kind of like, Graham, we can't, I can't, I can't, I don't have the bandwidth for this right now. But the texts are just all over the map. There's texts that come in and they're like, well, you know, instead of trading Hughes, why don't they look at management and maybe new management would create a better atmosphere for Quinn Hughes here?

And then other people are like, sell the team, you know? Like it's just, it's all over the map. And we can't provide clarity because we don't know what's going on. which brings me to the idea of could the Canucks call a press conference and make a statement or something? Do they, are we at that point where they need to do that? Where, you know, they've sent a memo to the rest of the, the NHL, and we're kind of like, well, we don't even know specifically what that memo said. You know, everyone says, oh, it was about the pending UFAs. From my understanding, it was just about we're willing to talk about our veterans.

Yeah. And they weren't specific. Like, I don't even think there are any names in that memo. They were just like, give us a ring. Which is why people called back and said, what are you doing with Quinn Hughes? Yeah. The banner at the press conference, Operation Keep Quinn Happy is crossed out. It says, operation.

We're not trading Quinn Hughes. This is how far we've gone. The shirts. Mike Theorologist from, I will turn my attention to we're not trading Quinn Hughes shirt. Yeah. Mike Theorologist from Brockville texts in and he starts his text out perfectly, says Brough is right. I don't even know what to text in at this point and I usually have an endless stream of thoughts

about the Canucks that I text in. I mean, if you want to look at a big picture, this is the result of an organization that maybe, maybe makes it up as they go along. That when you don't have a firm and resolute plan and you kind of act on instinct or you're reactive instead of proactive, this is what you get. I've worked at places before

where you're constantly, constantly changing the direction, the narrative, the idea, because you don't really know what you want to be or what you're doing. And so you're talking about this. Now there's an idea out there of maybe we should hold a press conference

to silence this whole thing. And I understand that you have to be reactive in the moment because, you know, Frege has this line he always utters. He's like, you plan God laughs. Yeah. And I get that. You can't dictate.

and plan and map out every single instance. But there is something to be said for having a little bit more of a roadmap instead of just kind of winging it and seeing what might happen. And understanding that all of your actions, big, small or otherwise, are going to have consequences, right? Unintended sometimes. So when you send out a memo saying we're open for business, call us about our veterans, the unintended consequence is probably going to be

people might not call about the guys that you're thinking and might just go directly to the one prize that everybody really wants, right? The other thought I had about that memo, by the way, too, is like, you know, and the guys were talking about it on the station yesterday and made a good point. The Canucks always seem to not

give any consideration to what other teams may want. And I know they're in charge, of the Canucks, right? Like, follow me through on this. With Kiefer Sherwood, there's a lot of teams that are like, yeah, we like Kiefer Sherwood, but I don't know if we want them now. Right.

You know, because what, there's a reason a lot of people like to wait to the trade deadline is because injuries happen. Yeah. You know? And maybe you have to address something else where you don't want to, you know, come out of your boots to land Kiefer

Sherwood in December when your needs might be different around the trade deadline, but the Canucks are like, well, we're ready to talk. But here's the thing. Is that what there, was that the idea behind it? Because the more that I think about it, the more than I wonder if this is an old school motivational tactic from Rutherford. I think it might have been a little bit of both,

but what I think it might have been was them trying to go like, you know, here's Kiefer Sherwood in thinking you might get this like big hall. Sure. And I think, you know, and Dollywall has, has hinted this as well, you know, making guys like, they're veterans. And it wasn't just the pending UFAs, putting a guy like Connor Garland out there might have been them thinking, maybe that's how we can get a center? Yeah, and that's fine.

But the unintended consequences of it now are you had Sherwood on the road trip getting asked by a reporter, Ian McIntyre, who was embedded. If this is going to be your final game as a Kentucky, low on behold, guess what's happened in the aftermath? Sherwood's gone seven straight games without a goal he had a rather noticeable low ice time against Colorado

played just over 15 minutes and I think the inevitable was that his shooting percentage was going to regress back to the mean and it has. Now, did one cause the other? Who's to say? Is Sherwood distracted by the fact

that his name got dangled out there at the beginning of December when he was, you know, previously in negotiations to stay of Vancouver Canock? I don't know. But it's all part of of the consequences of your actions.

Derek and the Ridge will move on after this because this is a good text. The one consensus from the fan base is that the fan base is not talking about the day-to-day operations of the team. Fans don't care who they play tomorrow or any

team in the next coming weeks. They want to know the organizational plan going forward. Trade signing, etc. Are the focus of the fan base. Yeah, I mean, I was going to mention like Utah is coming into town on Friday and last night Utah absolutely blew the doors off Anaheim. Wasn't a good night for the California team. That California trip we we overstated

how difficult it is to go down there. Utah beat Anaheim in Anaheim 7-0 and the Washington Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks 7-1. I was watching a bit of that game of I think it was 4-0 Washington in the first period. It was 7-0. They got a um San Jose got a Not in the first period. No, no, no. That's what I meant. But it was almost on track to be two seven-nothing wins for the visitors in California. But then Pavel Regenda, I don't even know if that's how you pronounce his name,

but he scored Power Play goal late in the third period to make it 7-1. I watched that Habs Jets game. That was a really good game. The Habs end up winning at 3-2 in a shootout. Another loss for the Jets, but a much better performance from the Jets. Compared to that loss in Buffalo that they had. You know how we talk about Will Bedard and Celebrini

Make Team Canada Who is more likely to make Team Canada Badard or Celebrini? I was having that thought during the Habs Jets game Will Suzuki and Shifley Make Team Canada Who is more likely to make Team Canada Suzuki or Shifley

Because neither of them were on the Four Nations team And they both responded After the Four Nations that got hot and they've kind of stayed hot. Shifley scored again last night. I think Suzuki goes over Shifley. I think Suzuki is the perfect 3-4C for that team. And I think part of it is-

Couldn't Shifley be though? Like I'm with you. I would probably take Suzuki over Shifley. But it would feel really unfair to Shifley. Because he still having a great year, you know? No, if he gets snubbed, Again. You're kind of left asking, like, what more could I possibly do?

I think Suzuki's a little more positioned to be a guy that if he's going to play 12 minutes and in a more defensive role, I think he's a little better suited for it. Not to say that sheafely isn't, but. Like, is Seth Jarvis going to make the team, you know? Like, it's guys like that. They love Jarvis, though. Yeah, I think we all know that Travis Kineckney is not going to make the team, right? Like, he's the one guy that's like pretty sure Kinekney's not going to make the team.

Tom Wilson feels like a lock now. everyone's acting like the ice that they're going to play on over in Italy is going to be like five by five or something like that. It's just a little smaller. It's still cool. It's just a little smaller, that's all. Okay, we're up against it for time.

A dog's yelling at me. Real quick, before we go to break, I need to remind you, first segment of the show brought to you by the Doick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Doick deal since 1926. Visit Doick Jam on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown. Visit them in Richmond and visit them online at the Doick Auto Group.com.

Coming up, we are going to turn our attention back to the Vancouver. Whitecaps, but we're going to talk to the enemy of sorts. Radio voice of Inter-M Miami. Ken Levick is going to join the program. We will talk about the hosts and the opponent for Saturday's MLS Cup final in Miami. That's coming up next. You're listening to The Halford In Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drans. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 634 on a Thursday, Bradford Brough, SportsNet 650. Halford Brub of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Only a licensed insolvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no up front on fees. To learn more, visit them online at sands dash trustee.com.

We are still in hour one of the program. Ken Levicka, the radio voice of Interm Miami, is going to join us in just a moment here to preview Saturday's MLS Cup final between your Vancouver Whitecaps and Intermiami. Hour one of this program is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Pyle Street in Vancouver. As we go, as mentioned, our next guest is the radio play-by-play voice of Inter Miami. Ken Levica joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Good morning. Ken, how are you? Good morning, boys. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Looking forward to Saturday. I can only imagine. I want to start this, though, by going all the way back to April. It's when the White Caps at Interm Miami met for both of the first and second times this season. The White Caps won those two legs of the Conca Calf Champions Cup. And I wanted to ask you, how different is Inter Miami as a team since then, specifically on this unbelievable playoff run they've gone through, especially these last couple rounds?

Yeah, 17 to 3 is the goal deficit for Inter Miami in this postseason. And, yeah, it's significantly different, much like Vancouver. I mean, any time you had Thomas Mueller at the transfer market, I mean, and at the deadline, that's pretty significant, but Luis Suarez is no longer a starter on this side, and that's been the case now from the final match of the first round against Nashville to this point. And a big reason why this club looks so different is because of that. You've got a 19-year-old Mateo Silvetti coming off of a wing who is from Rosario, Argentina, hometown of Leonel Messi. and then you've had Baltasa Rodriguez

and other youngster in Argentine that comes off of the other wing and today Ooyende who was really really criticized down here for much of the year heavy first touches unable to finish he's on a prodigious scoring tear he's tied for the MLS playoff record in goals with eight and

with Suarez on the bench that's allowed Leonel Messi to fall back into a false nine and Eyende is absolutely blown up So what I would say is that this is a more athletic and younger Inter-Miamis side, including Rodrigo to Paul, world champion now in the 11 compared to what the 11 was when the Vancouver two legs occurred in that Cockat Calf Champions Cup. How bold a move was it from Mascherano to drop Suarez from the 11? When that happened, I mean, I'm telling you guys,

The 11 came out in that final match against Nashville after Suarez served that one-game suspension, and I almost passed out. I did not think that Javier Maasurano was going to go that route, and sure enough, it is paid off, but it was a shock. It really truly was. I mean, Messi and Suarez are attached by the hip, and I don't know how true this is. I'm not privy to this information, but it is. Obviously, and I'm sure you guys have heard it, widely believe that Leonel Messi helps make the personnel decisions.

But that really suggested that maybe that wasn't the case. And I think that's the biggest evidence to the contrary, but Javier Mauryano making the decision that in the matchup against Cincinnati, it would be best to go with the athletic young wings, and then it paid off. And Luis Suarez was talking about it yesterday. that was more a tactical decision against Cincinnati and then what was put out there against New York was basically just sort of a decision that the team had been playing well and he has owned it.

He has admitted it and he has handled it fairly well all things considered and it's a big reason why this team is already the best goal-scoring team in MLS this season but have been on this prodigious tear here through the postseason. I want to ask a little bit more about the messy influence maybe as it pertains to like off-the-pitch stuff when it comes to strategies and formations and deployments because I think it goes without saying

when you bring in a player of that caliber, he's going to have some say and he's going to have some clout. And we have noticed that there are several Argentinian players on the squad that have joined. I don't think that's coincidence. But being around the team as often as you are, how big is that influence and how much does it extend to off the pitch? You know, I honestly, and this is going to sound really,

lame of me, but I honestly do not know. I mean, obviously from a branding standpoint and from just influence on the organization, I mean, Leonel Messi is the face. He is the brand. He is the main attraction. As you said, I mean, I think that several Argentinian players is underselling it. I mean, this is really jam-packed with Argentines on this roster. So I don't quite know. I don't know the dynamic of Messi and Machirano and the decisions, tactically, the decisions, personnel, what's going out on the pitch. What I do know is that with what we've seen with Suarez heading to the bench,

it does suggest that there is, at least outside perspective, more than just Messi draws up the 11, and you go from there. Mascherano has an awful lot of influence. And maybe it's always been that way. But I just, listen, the organization revolves largely around Leonel Messi. I don't think there's any secret about that. But in terms of what is happening now on the pitch, I mean, this playoff and that decision with Suarez has been a major eye-opener, I think, to a lot of people.

We're speaking to Ken Levica, inter- Miami radio play-by-playman here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Reminder, your Vancouver white caps are in the MLS Cup final.

This Saturday, it's 11.30 a.m. kickoff our time from Miami. Speaking again of this Miami squad in its current form, Ken, I've read a lot and I've seen a lot about the determination

and the focus to win this MLS Cup because it's, Messi joined late in the 2023 campaign. So he's going on two and a half, years and the titles haven't exactly been flowing like I think a lot of people thought upset by Atlanta last year right and then there there was the and the thing was it was like when he first came

on board I remember they went on that unbelievable leagues cup run where it was like well messy's just going to win everything in MLS now and you know sports don't always play out that way and it hasn't and it seems as though there's a real drive and determination for a lot of guys that have accomplished a lot internationally in the game to win this title has that why they've been so dominant in these last few playoff rounds? I just, I was talking with, I don't mean to name drop, Eric Winolda about this a couple of weeks ago. And he said it felt like the big names have finally embraced the MLS format, which is so vastly

different to any other league on the planet. And I think there is something to that. I don't know if it's a greater determination. Obviously, this is a very inspired group. I mean, let's be honest, guys, in the Cocky Camp Champions Cup, in that semifinal, they were humbled. Vancouver for basically 180 minutes combined, outclassed Inter Miami, and it wasn't particularly close.

So I think that was a humbling experience. I think after that, though, finding success at the FIFA Club World Cup suggested to them, hey, we can put it together. And we can find a way to play with the best clubs in the world, at least to an extent, outside of PSG. That got a little bit ugly. And then you get to the league's cup final against Seattle, and the bottom falls out.

That's the Suarez spitting incident. And that was a huge letdown. There is this sense of urgency, I think. That might be a better way to put it. There's a sense of urgency now. And keep in mind, guys, this is going to be the last ever mess. for Jordi Olba and for Sergio Bousquet. And so that clock is about to hit midnight,

and that's where I think this sense of urgency comes in. Ir Miami's still going to be competitive. Intermiami's going to add pieces in the offseason. They have the money. They have the ability. But as far as this core group of all-time grates is concerned, this is the last go-around on Saturday, and that's where that urgency comes from.

We're speaking to Ken Levica, Inter-Miamy Radio Play-by-Playman here on the Halfford. in Bref Show on SportsNet 650. Ken, if there is a weakness on this Miami squad that Vancouver can exploit, what's that weakness? I think it's what we saw in the Cocky Cap Champions Cup. It is that back line. It was leaky last year.

You referenced the loss to Atlanta in the opening round. That was the major, major weak part of the armor for Inter Miami. It has been sort of a work in progress back there, and Vancouver exploited it early and all. often in that semi-final. But I mentioned the 17-3 goal-scoring differential in this postseason. I think for Javier Montserrano and for Inter-Maiami, the number they're most proud of is the three in goals conceded. Now, they have not faced a goal-scoring team like Vancouver so far in this postseason. I would say that the Eastern Conference top to bottom was probably the Superior

your league this year, but I think from a purely attacking standpoint, the Western Conference was much more well-rounded. And so Inter-Miamy's going to have to deal with that. The centerbacks have been better for Inter-Miamy. Noah Allen, Maxie Falcone, they have been physical, they have been stubborn, they have looked better than they have really together at any point this season. But again, Vancouver and the speed and the connectivity and the, well, Brian White, that is an issue for Interimian. and that's where Brian White is is playing well. If you can find influence between the outside backs,

that's where Vancouver is going to be able to ding Inter Miami on Saturday. One more for you before we let you go, and it's sort of a bigger picture one, because there's always a lot going on in Miami. It's a very crowded market, sports and otherwise in terms of entertainment. And I know that you do a lot of different things aside from just the Inter Miami stuff. I'm curious what the lead up to this MLS Cup final has been, what the excitement level or the vibe is like

because it's crowded sports market. There's a lot going on. But this is Messi versus Mueller in a cup final in Miami. So there's got to be some excitement going into this one locally. Oh, there's a ton. There's a ton. And I know what the outside perception of South Florida is. I'm cognizant of it.

I am a native Chicago in. And so I hear it a lot about, oh, lack of passion. for South Florida sports from all my family and friends back in the Chicago area. But yes, there are a lot of distractions here that said it is significant, palpable excitement. It is potentially the culmination of this great, messy experiment. And at the very least, there is such a heavy Latin American population down here that there is a sense of absolute history. historic potential with this match.

It's like you saw last summer with the Copa America Final at Hard Rock Stadium, where the Dolphins play. It's jam-packed. It's 75, 76, 77,000. So the place is going to be jammed, all 28,000 seats. It's certainly going to be a party affair there in Fort Lauderdale. And keep in mind, too, this is the last match that's going to be played on this, in this venue for or Miami before they move south and go to actual Miami proper.

So everybody has found the time complaining about the University of Miami football team right now being on the outside of the college football playoff rankings. They found time in between whining and complaining about that to get ready for this cup final on Saturday. Ken, this was awesome, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. Have a good call on Saturday.

Enjoy the match. It should be a lot of fun. Thanks, boys. Appreciate you. Thank you. That's Ken Lovica, Inter-Miamy Radio, Play-by-Playman here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. So a brief note about him. He does a ton of play-by-play.

He does Inter-Miamy soccer. He does Florida Atlantic basketball. He does dolphin stuff. Like, he's very, it's interesting. There's a lot of teams down there, man. Yeah. A lot of teams. Yeah, and he's not even from Miami.

He's from Chicago. They're getting a new stadium. Yeah. They're moving to Freedom Park. Freedom Park. There's so much freedom. A lot of teams and apparently a lack of broadcasters in South Florida. Well, there's a lot of opportunities.

How about we look at it that way? If you want to do any of these play-by-play gigs, you just got to step. I mean, you can hear them very like play-by-play voice, right? Yeah. Yeah, but that was a very informative call against the opponent for the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday. The World Cup draws tomorrow. I know. Are you excited for it?

Do you think it's going to be, do you think some stuff's going to happen there? Did you see all the celebrities that they're trotting out for? for it. Aaron Judge is going to be there. They got a lot of American celebrities. Is Trump going to do something? I don't know what he's going to. What did you think about the pardon?

I'm using the word pardon. By the way, Tim Liewicky, formerly of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he got pardoned by Trump. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. So good for him. It's almost like if you have money,

you can sometimes almost like buy a pardon for crimes that you have committed. And it's what you want to see, right? Oh, I'm doing it wrong. Yeah, you're not rich. Yeah. So, like, that's why if you were to do a crime, you would go to jail. What we want to see from our best and brightest and our finest, really, is money making sure all problems go away.

What did you think of the decision by FIFA to suspend his suspension, essentially, because I don't know if you know this, but Ronaldo and Trump are kind of buddies. They're buddies. I saw that, yeah. This guy I like him is good at soccer. Plays in Saudi now. I don't love the Saudis. I'm very curious to see how the next month is going to go because now, so this one right here. And the reason I brought up, I should mention all of it, it's Aaron Judge, Wayne Gretzky, Shaquille O'Neal.

It's very Americanized, I guess, this draw. Wayne Gretzky has begun. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, come on. Come on. Heidi Kloom, Kevin Hart, it's very Americanized this draw. Kevin Hart is doing the draw? Yeah, he's a co-host with Heidi Kloom. He's going to be like, coat de voir.

Yeah, I mean, that's what he gets to do. He gets to open up one of those little plastic eggs. It's almost the same size as him. And then anyway, over the next few months, you're going to sort of get slapped in the face with the Americanization of FIFA and this World Cup. I know it's a tri-host bid, and I know there's three hosts,

but what you're going to see with this draw and with Infantino's incessant pandering to the White House is it's going to be an American production. America's hosting games, Canada's hosting games, Mexico's hosting games, but those three hosts are not created equal in the eyes. It's at the Kennedy Center, which Trump is remade, right?

Yeah. And he's going to have like a special edition of cats. The village people are going to, I'm not joking. The village people are performing YMCA at the World Cup draw. Okay? Like it's going to be as big and as gaudy. If they could dip everything in gold, they would.

Like it's going to have that ornate feel that you often get from the states right now. And it's a global event. There's so many countries that are going to be glued to this draw. because they're very curious about the futures of their teams at the group stage and who they're going to be squaring off against. Do you want to do the World Cup Draws Simulator? You got it ready? Yeah.

Okay, do one right now. Okay. Three, two, one, go. Boop-be-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-po-po-bo. Okay. Let's just go straight to Canada's group. Canada is in, well, Canada will be in group B. Yes.

And we've drawn the Kiwis from New Zealand. Okay. Uzbekistan. Okay. They travel well. Yep. And Croatia. So a rematch of the 2022 World Cup with group stage foes Croatia, which didn't go well for Canada.

Did we end up effing Croatia? Not so much. No. 30 seconds in, it felt like we might. Right. First ever goal. But then the 89 minutes it followed. There was a lot of effing.

I'll tell you that. Anyway. So that's, like hypothetically speaking. that's a group where Canada not should, but has to qualify from. They have to get through that group. You have to be able to get results

against Uzbekistan and New Zealand. Full stop. There's no question about it. Okay. It's not the real draw, though. No, I know, but I'm saying that's going to be unless there's some sort of group of death and I don't really think there's going to be because it's such a different format, you're not going to have a stack deck

like previous ones. I mean, you could have the argument in 2020, Canada was in the group of death because of how far Croatia, Morocco got eventually in the tournament. Morocco was underrated, I think. Wildly underrated. You know, first African semi-finalist in a World Cup.

And then you got Belgium who, you know, we're within a whisker of getting out of there and making some noise in the term as well. Anyway, they're not going to be a group like that. There's not going to be a group like that anymore because there's so many debutantes. And let's be honest, minnows that are going to this tournament.

You talk about a lot of the qualifiers from Concaf, like Cape Verde, which is incredibly tiny and like kudos on them for having this fantastic draw and run but they're not going to be considered like a legitimate opponent in the group stage. That's someone that everyone's going to want to take points off. Canada's the top 30 country in the world.

Like the aspirations are significantly higher than they weren't. Not only is Canada top 30 country in a world and the World Cup has 48 teams this year. They're also going to get an easier group because they're a top seed. And they're not trapped.

So you're going to avoid. They're at home. Like normally. Yeah. Like normally Canada would have to go to a tournament where they wouldn't be a top seed so they would get drawn in with a top 10 team. Well, they're standing in

for that top 10 team. So the expectations for them to advance out of the group are not unrealistic. All right. Luke Fox is going to join us next. We'll talk a little NHL with Luke on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Before we go to break, I need to remind you that the last segment of the show was brought to by the good folks at the Duick Auto Group.

The people that hooked us up with the Hellbrook car, you'll see it around town. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal since 1926. Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown. Visit them in Richmond and visit them online at duikautogroop.com.