Halford & Brough in the Morning - "With That Being Said..."

Episode Date: June 20, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with Daily Faceoff Edmonton's Tyler Yaremchuk (5:02) about Connor McDavid's comments yesterday, and the likelihood of him re-signing with the Oilers, plus they preview tomorrow's BC Lions home matchup versus Winnipeg with commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich (27:34). 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.

We're all in this together trying to get it over that finish line. With that being said, ultimately, we still need to do what's best for me and my family. 7.02 on FBS Friday here on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Bruff of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are now in hour two of the program. AJ from AJ's Peat's on Broadway is gonna join us

in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks too much of your mortgage money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.mortgage. I don't, they don too much of your mortgage money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at jason.org. They don't give them your mortgage.

Nice save. You don't do it. Mortgage money. He card read good. Mortgage money. You didn't even say like pardon me. No. Maybe they won't catch it.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and footwear orthotics. They caught it. Working together with you in step to the phone lines we go. The Power West Industries hotline, AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway joins us here on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. What up, AJ? What's going on? How's everybody Friday? It's great.

I understand that you have an ask us anything here that also might manifest itself into a what we learn, because I actually don't know any of this. It's, I don't even know exactly what we're going to talk about here other than you've got a story about the Stanley cup handler. So go ahead, AJ, tell us, well, right. I mean, does everybody know what year it started? No. Is it to be a cup keeper? No. Well, so it, it, it started, like started in 1988, but that was just more like bringing a cup onto the ice.

Yeah. He had Glenn Sather's haircut and he kept it the whole time. So obviously it happened after the infamous famous 1994. New Rangers. Stanley Cup. Yeah. With Kipper and Healy. But there's more to that story. So it my understanding

it was not left at McSorley's. It might have been left at a place called Scores. Okay. Which so since that incident it has become a very like it just it doesn't leave everybody's sight and we all know that that Stanley Cup was a prop Right at the parade Yeah, that's not the real one right there's a couple In the one and I'm saying the one in 94 that was a prop cup Because what is all my understanding what happened recently was that the Florida Panthers have already dinged up? Yeah, because what happened is all my understanding. What happened recently was that the Florida Panthers have already dinged up. Yeah, it's pretty good thing. Yeah, it's got a gigantic dent in the side of it.

It looks like my car. I'm like, well, it's fine. Like, it'll get around, but it still doesn't look great. And the guy that's been doing. Yeah. So Phil Pritchard started in 88. And then, yeah, after the sort of infamy of the 94 New York Rangers, like, we're going to need a guy to look after this thing full time. And lo and behold.

I'm going to take care of it like a baby. His job was done. Hey, how's everything going with the new spot both in Florida and then next door? Because this weekend, while it's not a huge sports weekend, we do have a game seven of the NBA finals coming up. So there's lots going on in the chase. Everything's great. You know what? Um, next door has been a big hit. It's exactly kind of what we needed and, and Florida's Florida's doing really well. I mean, I know I sent you that text. I think realistically I have a better shot of getting the Stanley Cup there with the Cup keeper

in Winter Garden than maybe Vancouver, but we'll see. Beautiful. Okay. Well, I'll tell you what, if you are able to arrange it in Florida, we can maybe get him on the phone and we can do like a three-person hit and he can tell us stories about the Stanley Cup. If not, we'll just settle for pictures. Anyway, everyone a reminder, get by AJ's this weekend. Go watch some sports, drink some beer, eat some pizza. AJ, thanks for doing this, buddy. We appreciate it. Yeah. Everybody enjoy the weekend. Take care. Have a good one, man. That's AJ from AJ's Pizza on Eat Broadway here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We got Tyler, your M-Chuck coming up out of the Copium den

that is Edmonton here in just a minute. So if you missed it yesterday, Conor McDavid did his end of year media availability. Where the questions were obviously asked about his playing future, given that on July 1st, he can officially sign a contract extension. Twice in his press conference yesterday, and we played the audio earlier,

he made it clear that when it comes to signing a new deal, he's gonna do what's best for him and his family. And it left a little bit of unease in Edmonton, although I thought that they coped with it well. Do we have Tyler on the line now? Let's go now to Tyler Uremchuk from Oilers Nation and Daily Faceoff here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning Tyler, how are you? I'm doing good guys, how are you? We're good. We were thinking of making some sort of, audio clip where it's like that being said, that being said, that being said. When McDavid said that being said, did anyone in Edmonton go, Oh, here's the part we don't like. Uh, no. Um, I mean we don't like. Uh, uh, no.

Um, I mean, this is like exactly what we all did with Leon Dreissel last year. And everyone outside of Edmonton went, oh, look, Leon Dreissel saying he's going to do what's best for him. And he's going to put himself first and oh, that means he's not going to sign. And then we got to August and he signed. Like Connor McDavid's going to sign.

If you want to talk about him saying, I'm going to do what's best for my family, what's probably best for his wife is to stay in Edmonton where she just bought a couple million dollars worth of real estate downtown, opened up her third, fourth business there. I mean, third for sure. I think the fourth is coming right away.

Like he's staying in Edmonton. I really think the only people who are overreacting to what Connor McDavid said are people outside of Edmonton who want to see him leave Edmonton. Do you think he's going to sign the eight-year extension though? That's an interesting one to me. That's a more, I think, realistic conversation because I do think there's a chance he maybe just says, you know what, I've made a ton of money.

I can sign for four or five years and it's not like if things go poorly, I'm going to be sitting there going, oh, no, I'm not going to get a big next contract. Like if he truly wants to maximize his earnings, then yeah, he probably does do a four or five year deal. And then he opens himself up for one more six, seven year deal to end off his career. So I could definitely see it being a four or five year deal. But if it was that, again, I'm looking at it more through the lens of he's going to try and maximize his earnings. You know, Oilers win a Stanley Cup maybe in those first four or five years and it changes things and maybe on the last deal he decided, yeah, I'm going to go seven years by 18, 19 million because the cap shot up so much and he's going to be less concerned or face less

pressure to take less to help the team win, which is probably all this negotiation right now is going to come down to it. It's going to be like, okay, you want a four or five year deal. We know Conor McDavid can walk into this negotiation. And if he says, pay me $20 million or I leave, the oilers go, okay, here's $20 million. The conversation is more Conor, how little are you willing to take? Are you willing to do deferred money? What are you willing to do to help us build a better contender around you?

But I could see him doing a four or five year deal for sure. I think even the most ardent Oilers fan can admit that there's a bit of concern that the team is getting old. I know that Corey Perry being on the team probably brought up the average age a little bit. And average age can be a misleading figure. But when you look at a guy like Matias Ekholm, when you look at players like Hyman, Nuge, I don't know if you want to throw a Vander Kean into there, but like they've got a few good years left, but do you think there will be a plan in Edmonton to kind of reload?

Um, because you know, I, I, I understand McDavid wanting to stay in Edmonton. Like I, I'm with you. Like, I think he's going to resign. I think he might go a little more short term, if only to give himself, I don't want to say an out, but just options down the line. What do you think about the general state of the

oilers roster and does it need to be reloaded at some point? Yeah. So first I've on the McDavid thing, giving himself an out. I agree with you in a sense that that could be why, but also I kind of laughed because like if Conor McDavid signs an eight year deal and by year four, he goes, I'm unhappy.

And he goes into the oiler's front office and it's like, trade me. Then the oilers go, oh, okay. Then I guess we have to trade you, right? Like he's the kind of player who, if he says he wants out, you kind of just have to listen to him. Um, but in terms of getting younger, I think that's a great point. And I think it's something Stan Bowman in this front office have kind of already observed and been trying to do. Obviously, the Ryan McLeod for Matt Savoy trade was made before Stan Bowman was hired.

But that's something that you look at and go, they took a piece off their active roster and added a prospect who they hope, you know, after one year of development now, can step in and give them a few good seasons on his entry-level deal. And even look at the moves they made at the deadline, right? This wasn't a deadline where they went and got another Adam Henrique or whatever. They got two guys who were under the age of 30 and Jake Wallman and Trent Frederick. And they signed Trent Frederick and the expectation is that this summer they're going to have some sort of extension talks with Jake Wallman as well. I think that right there, a 27-year-old, and I think Wallman's 28, if I'm correct, like

Evan Bouchard's 25, 26-years-old, they'll get him done to an extension. I do think they've recognized that they need to start mixing in some younger pieces who in three years as Nuge and Hyman, your point maybe age out or their production starts to decline Maybe you see a Trent Frederick's come into his own a little bit and not as a top six piece But more is like a really good bonafide third liner. Maybe Matt Savoy comes into his own We even saw them trade their 2026 first rounder for the last pick in the 2025 first round draft So they could take Sam O'Reilly again I think doing that being like, you know what?

Let's try to get someone in our system now who we can start developing 2025 first round drafts so they could take Sam O'Reilly. Again, I think doing that being like, you know what, let's try to get someone in our system now who we can start developing, who's going to help us in two years versus three years. That's the 2026 first rounder would have been able to do. So they do need to get younger. They need to start trying to establish some idea of a new core around Connor McDavid and Leal Dryasettle. And to their credit, I think they recognize that. We're speaking to Talieremczak from Oilers Nation

and Daily Face Off here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Two-parter here, Tyler. One, what do you know about the latest in the Evander Kane investigation for LTIR? And then two, what percentage chance would you give of Evander Kane being on this roster to start next season? I know very little about the Evander Kane thing.

Like we kind of heard some, I kind of heard some rumblings when I was down in Florida that like, Hey, the league is going to do something here, but they're trying to keep it hush, hush cause they don't want it to be a storyline and stay on the finals, which you can obviously understand why

they would, why they would want that. And then, you know, when it came out, wasn't overly shocked. It's a Vander Kane. Is there a chance he ran his mouth to someone and said, you know, I could have played the Oilers told me not to and someone at the league heard like the fact that this is happening is just not very surprising considering who's involved in this.

I also wonder a little bit, you know, the new CBA is apparently going to fix this whole thing. Maybe the Oilers or sorry, maybe the NHL looked at this as a chance to just go, Hey, we're going to send a message to the rest of the league for next year so no one gets real stupid in the final year of being able to do this. Like, hey, look, we will investigate you. We will ask for receipts if you go this route because, I mean, let's be honest, I'm not trying to be like an oiler's homer here, but like, Vegas does it every year. Florida does it. Nikita Kuturov went on stage with a shirt that said 19 and a half million million over the cap

after he intentionally delayed when he was getting his surgery. And the NHL just kind of shrugged in like, oh, nothing we can do about it. So I wonder if this maybe isn't just the NHL sending a message going, hey, everyone in the league, like you do need to do some sort of due diligence here when you do this. In terms of the chances of Kane being on the Oilers next year, I think it's well below 50%, especially if there's a market for him. I've always been of the belief that they would either just have to dump him for nothing or potentially attach an asset to it. Hearing guys like Elliot Friedman talk and hearing some people even say after the Mason-Marksman deal yesterday, which was a third and a fourth round pick going to Dallas for Marchment in Seattle.

If the oilers can get picks for him, they need to not think twice and get him off their roster as much as I'm intrigued by what a contract year of Anderkane could do, because we know he is motivated by one thing and that is money and his next contract, if you can find a way to get him off the books and get a second or a third round pick back in exchange for that, you do it every day of the week. And to your earlier point, you try to get younger with this team.

So I think they're absolutely going to try and move them. My expectation is don't move them. And I guess I'll flip this back to you guys with the Vancouver Canucks, want them? I hope not. I hope not. They don't have the, I don't know if you

heard last year, but they had a few issues in the room and they're trying to rebuild their leadership group under the captain Quinn Hughes. And I just don't know if that's the right guy to add to the room. You don't think that's a personality fit, hey? No, he seems to have relationship issues with his teams.

I don't know. Yeah, a little bit. I too wonder if he ran his mouth, because the whole thing to me and correct me if I'm wrong on any of this stuff, because I might be missing a few details here, but to me, it was weird that he had his original surgery in September at the end of the summer.

And you know, he was golfing here in Vancouver before that. And then he's, he's what? He's going to surgery? Okay. That's weird. Um, and then, um, you know, talking to various insiders around the trade deadline, they're like,

you know, I, we, we don't know what the others are going to do with Kane's LTI space because he might insist on coming back. And I was like, what, aren't most teams on the same page with their players in that situation? Like what is going on there? Um, the whole thing just seemed off to me this season. And I just, I just love to get your thoughts on that. Maybe I'm, maybe I've missed something in this.

No, I think you're hitting the nail on the head. Like I think the oilers way out of getting punished for this is they can point to a lot of different times and examples where they had no clue what Evander Cain was doing. All the talk in the summer was that he wants to rehab his injury and he wants to try, give it a go in training camp.

That obviously never happened and he waited till September to get surgery. And if the Oilers had given that direction to him and been like, you're waiting till September to get surgery so we can LTIR you and keep you out the entire season, they would have matched one of the Philip Broberger, Dylan Holloway offer sheets. The reasons they didn't do that. And the reason they then went and traded Cody Cece for Ty Emberson is because they knew they, Evander Kane could come back at any moment. Like they needed to be under the cap even with Evander Kane on their roster. They weren't operating in LTIR space. They were accruing cap space for a good, good chunk of this season.

So you can point to the offer sheets, you can point to the Cody Cece trade. And then when you get to the deadline, if the NHL wants to say, well, at that point, you wanted to intentionally keep them out until the playoffs. They paid to get Trent Frederick twice retained. They didn't need to do that if Vandercain was going to sit on LTIR and then they acquired Jake Wallman. But Jake Wallman was acquired, Matthias Ekholm gets hurt. In the last week of the regular season they could have LTIR'd Matthias Ekholm and activated a Vandercaine and been totally cap compliant for the final week. So there's four or five different instances where you can point to the

Oilers operating in a fashion where it's more, they're not colluding with a Vandercaine saying we're intentionally keeping you out of the lineup and you're okay with this. They're operating in the dark going, this dude's a wild card. We don't know when he's coming back. I think he might've thrown them a curve ball maybe in February, March and said, like, get ready. Cause when I'm ready to play, I'm coming and playing like, I think this was more the oil is going. We don't really know what he's doing more than

the oil is saying, look at us. We got all this free cap base. Tyler, this was a great hit. Thank you very much for taking the time to do it today. It's going to be a busy next couple of weeks. So we may call you again. I just want to put you on a retainer here for a while because cuz feels like there's a lot still to be done in Edmonton this off Season. Oh, yeah, I think it's gonna be a busy sort of 10 14 days in oiler land, but that's good. Thanks guys Thank you, Tyler. Appreciate that's tally Remtruck from daily face off and oilers nation See how I'm setting the table for everybody here. Just we may need to do that all the time We may need to call you on an emergency. You're like Chandler. You can't break up with people

I just maybe we need to call you back. You should have been like we need to call you on an emergency. You're like Chandler. You can't break up with people. Maybe we need to call you back. You should have been like, we need to call you back once McDavid asks for that trade. I like doing it with book authors, especially when you know you're only gonna talk to them that one time and that only time to talk about their book. I'm like, man, we can do this again. When you write another book.

It was a friend's reference I made there. I know. You're like Chandler. You're ready to break up. Can't break up. All right. Well, maybe I'll call you. Yep. Oh yeah. I'm gonna go. Yeah. Ready to break up. Can't break up. All right. Well, maybe I'll call you. Yep. Oh yeah. Okay. We got an Ask Us Anything here. And it was actually something that I

was thinking about as well. It's from, I got to find it. Darn it. I lost it. But it was basically about. Do you remember the gist of it? The gist was that is this exercise by the Canucks, this off season, is it a futile effort? Is this summer an exercise in futility? And by that, I think you mean the efforts to try and get as much as they can and overpay to be competitive this year. The futility being that Quinn Hughes is going to leave anyway? No, not that. I don't want to jump to that point right away,

but just, it's going to be really difficult here to do what the Canucks originally wanted to do, and that was to add two to three game changers up front. And from what we've heard, they really had their sights set on Matt Duchenne. So you take that off the equation, is there anything like Matt Duchenne in free agency? I don't think you're getting Mitch Barner, I don't think you're getting John Tavares. The last thing I want the Canucks to do is throw good money after bad. And if they feel the prices to improve this

off season are too high and their odds of those improvements materially changing the team's chances, if those chances are too low, I really hope they think twice before they start sending first round picks and prospects out the door. I think they're probably locked into the strategy. You think. Because, you know.

Brother, you know they're locked into the strategy. Come on. And who knows, maybe they pull it off, but you can't just snap your fingers and turn water into wine. And I thought, maybe I'll be. One guy could. Maybe one guy could. Gretzky.

Maybe I'll be proven wrong over these next few weeks and they'll pull some rabbits out of their hats and they'll get really creative. I hope they do. But I do wonder if they underestimated how difficult it would be to make significant additions to the forward group given all the aggressive teams out there, given their prospect group isn't exactly the most highly touted in the league. And don't tell me their Calder Cup team is one win away from, or

their AHL team is one win away from the Calder Cup, like that it's good for the team, but it doesn't mean that they've got the best prospect group in the NHL. Cause the blue chippers often just go right to the NHL. Like would getting Marco Rossi materially change the chances of the Canucks next season? If the answer is yes and you love this guy and you

think you know, Pedersen is going to bounce back as well and then you got Pedersen Rossi down the middle, Hedl, then by all means make the trade and give him the contract he wants. You're going to have to give him a contract though. That's the issue in Minnesota. But if you're just locking into more mediocrity, then really think twice. Because Quinn Hughes doesn't want mediocrity. At the end of the day, I think this is something I'm just tired of being as a Canucks fan. I hate being in this position of desperation. It's so hard to negotiate when you're desperate. You make mistakes, you start talking yourself into bad ideas. And you could say that's unfair. Well, I would point to the last decade.

What's that saying? When you're thirsty, every puddle looks like a well. How many puddles have the Canucks been drinking out of the last few years? Lapping them up. The big OEL puddle. Which begs the question, is Rossi a guy they really like or anyone they're thinking of acquiring? Or do they like him because he's available and they went out and said they'd get some of the answer is obviously the latter This is we've talked this to death about you don't necessarily

Get the great shopping deals when you only give yourself a narrow window in which to shop One store over the course of one week put in that context It's not like they're going to one of those great outlet malls with 70 different retailers and they're gonna give you a month to peruse, try everything on. You could return anything you like. It's not like that. They are painted into a corner.

But there is zero chance, zero chance that they're not gonna go down swinging. Maybe some crazy moves. Right. Here's a couple of things we should also remember. Rutherford has built a Hall of Fame career on trading his way out of certain situations and making moves. Been a dealmaker, especially over the last decade and a half of his career.

Now. Has the landscape changed? Yes, fundamentally, it's a lot different. It's a lot different from his last Stanley Cup teams in Pittsburgh. That was basically 10 years ago. A lot has changed since then. You could argue that a lot has changed. It would prevent him from making the kind of moves that he made then. But if you look at the hierarchy of the organization, everybody is in win now mode.

Rutherford, where he's at in his career, yeah, ownership, where they're at, with where they want to go and what they want to do. Everybody. So you go back to is Rossi a guy they really like? I think all of these come with the asterisk. Yeah, we really like them given the circumstances. Yeah. And that's what we don't even know if they're all that interested in him. We don't. I mean, I think they've made an offer for him. Sure. I would not be surprised if this summer is about offering a bunch of different deals to a bunch of different guys that they really like asterisk

given the circumstances. And then you just sort of pivot off plan A to plan B to plan C to plan D. And yeah, it's not in any way following the model or blueprint of other successful NHL franchises, and I'm freely admit it's fraught with risk and a lack of long term sight. This is an I'm freely admit it's fraught with risk and a lack of longterm site. And if you were to look at it today,

even being somewhat optimistic, you could say the chances of it working are probably less than 50%. If you, I wouldn't even give it a 50 50 because just logic suggests that it's a buyer's market. There's not a lot of sellers. Everyone's looking to upgrade. And the trends already.

It's a seller's market. Sorry, the trends already over the last five days have leaned towards targets coming off the board, either via trades that aren't you and guys that you thought might hit free agency. Like for example, a Matt Duchene, probably a guy that they really like brackets asterisk given the circumstances. Yeah, there's no point in liking him anymore because he's gone.

He's not available anymore. And it's, it is a very frustrating and tiresome or repetitive conversation about the direction of the team. Like I get it. It's frustrating for us because there's an idea of where you wanna go. And there will be a sense of opportunity missed if they go through this summer, sorry, it is a seller's market, where they don't jump in

as being a seller. Say, let's take advantage of this. Let's make a snap decision to sell when teams are looking to buy. Let's. They didn't even sell at the deadline. Yeah, like let's go all in. Should we try it? Should we Let's even sell of the deadline. Yeah. Like let's go. Should we try it?

Should we try and get ahead of the curve or jump in on a trend here? But it's not going to happen. We got to go to break. We got a lot more to get to in the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. We got Moj at 730. We got Dolly Wall at 8. We got Ask Us Anythings and What We

Learns at 830. And we're going to give away the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza, Ony's Broadway at.30 as well. You are listening to the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to two on Sportsnet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. I did not eat four burgers. Yes, it's the moach. I don't want to go to Winnipeg.

Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food. It's the moach. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. Jamalaya. Yes, it's the moach. Halper's fine, but you know, brussels is grumpy all the time. Moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach,

moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach, moach Moj Moj Moj Moj Moj Moj It's the Moj 734 on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at Sands-trustee.com. We are now in our two of the program. We're at the midway point of the show. Bob the Mojmarjanovic, a presentation of the Clayton Public Host, is going to join us in just a moment here. Our two of this program is brought to you by Jason Omnik at jason.mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around

to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.mortgage. To the phone lines we go. The Power West Industries hotline, Bob the Mojmarjanovic, joins us here on the Haliford & Breff show on Sportsnet 650. What up Moj? It's Friday baby, it's Friday. The weekend is here. Everybody should be excited. Tomorrow is Saturday. 4pm kickoff, BC Place, Lions, Bombers, give us a status update first

on the quarterback, Nathan Rourke. Well, Jeremiah Bezoli took all the reps in practice this week. Nathan Rourke did not participate in the practice. I would say there's a better chance of Halford being the keeper for Real Madrid in their next match than Nathan Rourke starting for the BC Lions tomorrow. Very fair. of Halford being the keeper for Real Madrid in their next match, then Nathan Roark starting for the BC Lions tomorrow. Very fair.

Is this just out of caution? Um, is the tell Lions fans if you can, that there's no reason for like long-term worry here. Well, I mean, we don't know the, the extent of the injury. I mean, they haven't, you know, it's not full disclosure in terms of what's going on. You got to remember Buck Pierce comes from Winnipeg and Winnipeg under Michael Shea and Miller and all those guys, they just have this policy of basically saying nothing and

Buck is kind of the same old, so they're not going to reveal too much. I'll say this though. I mean, he is throwing every day. Um, it's a tennis ball against the wall at the facility while everyone else practices, but at least he's throwing, right? So there's that. Um, but you know, obviously playing in a game and throwing a football and running around and doing all those things, you don't want to aggravate it because as we know with the bleaks, all you have to do is take a look at any

baseball player. I mean, uh, I can tell you from just being in a baseball pool, you look at a guy like Noel Marte with the red, he's been out for like six weeks. Every time you hear an oblique in baseball, it's not a good thing. Guys are out for like three, four, five, six weeks.

Um, obviously a different sport, but you know, something that I think the lines have to keep tabs on because they don't want this to be a long-term injury. And especially if you look at the schedule coming up here, guys, after this game against Winnipeg, it's off to Saskatchewan, Montreal and Edmonton on the road. Right? So three road games in a row and you're playing Saskatchewan and Montreal, probably one of the two of the better teams in the league.

Um, the Lions could find themselves in a whole, you know, a whole, in a whole real quick, uh, if they don't pick things up. We, uh, by the way, Moj, we call the oblique muscles are love handle muscles. Pulled, I pulled a love handle. Quinn Hughes had an oblique injury too, didn't he, down the stretch?

Like that was one of the things that he was dealing with. Well, I mean, obviously it's a core muscle. So the big thing is it's like, it's basically involved in everything you do, right? So that's the concern in terms of aggravating it down the road, especially if you're throwing a football or as we talked

about earlier, you're swinging a bat or even throwing a baseball, right? So there's the concern there especially if you're throwing a football or as we talked about earlier, you're swinging a bat or even throwing a baseball. Right. So, um, there's the concern there is that you just got to maintain this thing and take care of it before it gets out of hand. What's a core. That's Calpher.

The best is when you're like, obviously it's a core muscle. And I'm like, yes, I knew that. So Jeremiah Mussoli, um, he's not young. No. I mean, and they're playing Winnipeg again. How's this going to go? Well, it's going to be interesting.

You know, when you talk about athletes, Chris Chileau told me something a long time ago and he took his left hand and his right hand and his left hand he put pretty high and his right hand he put like this holding low and he was discussing the fact that your career as an athlete you have like two facets to it. You have what you know in terms of your knowledge of the game and you have what you know in terms of your athleticism, where you are in terms of an athlete, what you can do.

And as he was talking he said, you know, when you're young, your athleticism is up here. And he was kind of using an analogy of two elevators, right? And he says, as you get older, that one elevator is coming down, which is your athleticism. Meanwhile, the other elevator is going up, which is your knowledge of the game, right?

And he says, you know, when're not, when you're young, you're basically relying a lot in terms of your athleticism. And as you get older, you rely a lot more on your knowledge. And, you know, when you look at a guy like Mazzoli, he's been around for so long, you can still move around a little, right? I mean, don't kid yourself, he's, he could still move around a little bit, but at the same time, it's more about what he knows, his experiences, Guile and his composure. So I think the lines are going to be okay with Mausoleum. I say that because in the game of football, it's like hockey guys or even soccer. If you've got belief in your leader, and I know I talked about this before, you know, in football it's a quarterback,

in hockey it's a goalie. If you believe that that guy can get it done, you believe that you can win even if you're not gonna be at the top of your game. Conversely, when you don't have that type of confidence, you feel like you have to go above and beyond to win a contest. So I think the Lions have that belief in Jeremiah Mazzoli.

So, um, I think they're going to be all right. Well, tell us about the receiver group that he's going to be throwing to. Yeah. Um, no Stanley Berryhill, he's out with the thigh injury. One guy that I'm really kind of curious about with the Lions moving forward.

And I'm not just talking about this game against Winnipeg. I don't think this guy's going to pop tomorrow, curious about with the lines moving forward. And I'm not just talking about this game against Winnipeg. I don't think this guy's going to pop tomorrow, but Seven McGee draws into the lineup and he's a great story. Um, he gets the name Seven, no, not from the Seinfeld episode, but for the fact that he was the

seventh child, uh, and he's got six older sisters, believe it or not. Oh boy, what a nightmare. Um, but a great story, great dude. And you know, the, the one thing about him, he's got six older sisters, believe it or not. Oh boy, what a nightmare. Um, but a great story, great dude. And you know, the, the one thing about him, he's got a really good skillset. He's still learning the Canadian game. You know, he, um, he won a really heated, uh, receiver competition, a training camp. There lines had about four or five guys that could have wound up, you know, making

the team even on the practice roster. And, um, seven is the guy that kind of surface to the top. I'll say this, the BC Lions, if you look at Buck Pierce's offense, they don't have that Dick Dempski type on the roster right now with the receivers that they have, but down the road, it wouldn't surprise me if seven McGee becomes that Dick Dempski type, because that's the type of player he is and that's the type of skill set he has. So just a guy to watch for. Like I said, I don't know if he pops tomorrow, but you know as the season progresses just a guy to watch for and see what he does. Well with no Nathan Rorick at quarterback, the Lions might be hoping to win a low scoring affair against the Bombers. How

does the defense look? Well defense gets a big big boost. Sione Tuihema comes back who was a co-leader in Sax last year with the Lions with eight. The thing is with Sione, Sione plays the run really well. So getting Sione Tuihema is a good sign. Adam O'Clair draws back into the lineup. He was a free agent signing from the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a linebacker. So he should help out.

And he's not going to play tomorrow, but he will probably suit up next week. And that is linebacker Josh Woods is very close to returning. Of course, he tore his ACL last year in the season opener against Calgary and big things were expected from Josh Woods last year. And I think big things are expected from Josh Woods moving forward. So, lines are going to get some reinforcements

on defense. Moj, I understand you have a to get some reinforcements on defense. Moj, I, I understand you have a story to tell, a Super Bowl story, but it's about the Florida Panthers. You know, you talk about hockey and how far it's come in Florida, right? And obviously with the Panthers winning and all that. I remember we were there for a Superbowl.

It was about 15 years ago. I want to say it might've been the Bears, Saints, probably the Colts-Saints Superbowl. And I remember being in the media center and walking to a table and there must've been 50 tickets to the Panthers flames game that night. They were just sitting on the table. Like they weren't even like, you know, in envelopes, there wasn't a little booth where somebody was saying, Hey, do you want to go to the Panthers game? On Friday night, there was just like 50 tickets just sitting on a table, you

know, for anybody to come by, pick up, go to the Panthers game against the flames of the weekend. Yeah. So to see it come from that point where, you know, they're basically giving tickets away to seeing back to back Stanley Cup championships, three appearances in the Stanley Cup finals. Man, and you know what the job is, here's something else about the finals that kind of resonated with me guys. Dave Tomlinson always talked about this, right? He always talked about playing from behind and

how much more energy it takes to play from behind. And, you know, I look at that series and what did Edmonton lead that series for like 23 minutes or something like that? Well, the first periods, especially in the last few games were dominated by Florida. And you know, people were talking about McDavid and Dry Saddle kind of running out of juice at

the end a little bit. Well, you know, people were talking about McDavid and Dry Saddle kind of running out of juice at the end a little bit. Well, you know, when you're exerting that type of energy, fighting uphill, you know, climbing uphill, the entire series, I think it kind of really showed by the end of the series. And like I said, something that Tomlinson said a long time ago, and just for whatever reason, resonated with me in this series.

Hey, you remember, I'm not even gonna do an Ask Us Anything food related, but this is sort of a spawn from last week's conversation. Maybe we did the sandwich conversation last week We did some real work for a lot of different places moja. So boy with a knife, which is in Richmond I believe it's like Bridgeport and Viking Anyway, they tried to stop by yesterday because they heard on the Haliford and Bref show that they got a show done I believe they're coming back today. Yeah, they're bringing the boys got a knife they Alfred and brush show that they got a show done. I believe they're coming back today. Yeah, they're bringing the boys got a knife.

They gotta be careful. It could get ugly. However, if they bring sandwiches, we'll allow it. We really did some good work last week. Apparently a lot of different sandwich places got a lot of different love. So this is it. This segment is important Moj.

We are doing things for local businesses that no one else is out there. So in other words, you guys are eating like kings for the entire week, right? As well as the sandwich shops come and try this. There there is a perk for for sure, but I'm very much. I know. I know. No kidding.

I know. I think advantage of those first you talk to the master at that. We're talking to the living legend right here. Anyway, I just wanted to say that this ask us anything is not just an exercise. Sometimes we do some real good out there. So good on you. Let me ask you this. While the sand did you have a lot come in, did you have a lot of samples, people, stuff?

I mean, is there anything that stood out for you? No. Well, this is going to be the first one that we actually get from. I went to Max's, you went to Max's. Yeah, it was a good sandwich. Yeah. And I actually went back. I know. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what I did is I went to Columbus, very famous, old school Italian meat market in Delhi,

and I got a porchetta sandwich. And all it is is just bread and porchetta, nothing else, and it's so good, it's delicious, I loved it. You know what, I totally like, maybe I take it for granted. But you know we can get awesome sandwiches, and I had the veal sandwich here the other day Choffies. Yeah, that's great to go blocks away from my house. It's great This is Norris Burnaby. Yeah, Hastings basically Hastings and Gilmore. Yeah, they've got a new they've got a new shop in the kuchina

Yeah, so the veal sandwich has kind of been revamped a little bit. Oh my god It's so good. And you know the good thing about choffies and I always talk about this. There's so much that goes into the bun and the choffies bun, they're like light on air. It's not like you're, you know, it's not that filling so you actually get to taste the veal or the meat or whatever. Oh, so good. Simplicity just a sausage and a bun. That's all you need. It's so, they're so good. How about this one? Yeah. That's how this, the Lions had this on their Instagram account. Of course, they do such a great job talking

about Nick Kowalski and the crew. Yeah. Is a hot dog a sandwich? Oh God, are we doing this? Is it, it is summer, I guess. It's the age-old debate. I've never considered it a sandwich. I've considered it, it's like, you know how

Notre Dame doesn't play in a conference? Yeah. That's the hot dog. It doesn't make sense, but it totally makes sense. I'm like, I don't know what he's talking about. That might have been the smartest thing you've ever said on radio. Yeah, that's exactly it. That's probably like the best analogy ever. I just came up with it right now.

It's just like, you know, they're just unique. It's on its own entity. It's independent. I totally agree with that. That's probably one of the smartest things you've ever said on air. It's a non-conference sandwich. It belongs to nobody.

It combined hot dog and sports. Emoj, I noticed that I want you to visit this and take some video if you can, if you have time. Apparently, before the lions game, Grouse Mountain is bringing owls to the plaza. And you can go learn about these amazing birds and all the fun summer activities Grouse Mountain offers, but more specifically, you can

hang out with some owls. Okay. I will be sure to check that out. Moj, enjoy the game tomorrow. Have a good call. Thanks for doing this as always. We really appreciate it, buddy. Notre Dame and hot dogs.

Talk about a segment. Like I said, probably the smartest thing Bruffs ever said. Have a good weekend, guys. See you, buddy. That's Bob the Mojmar. Jonovic here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, here's some breaking news. Uh, Jonathan Taves is signing with Winnipeg.

Yep. It is just been announced. That's pretty cool. That's cool. I, uh, I hope, I hope he does well there. I don't know what kind of deal he's going to sign. I don't know what the expectations are for Jonathan Taves, but, um, nobody wanted to see his

career end the way it looked like it might've. And he's going to go, he's going home. He's going home to Winnipeg. And hopefully that adds a lot to the Winnipeg room, not too much, not Stanley Cup much, but you know, good for Jonathan Taves hanging in there and coming back and getting to play.

Definitely going to be one of the most fascinating stories going into next season because Jonathan Taves has not played in three years. And I don't know what he's got left in the tank. We don't have time to parse through the entire story, but go check it out. He kind of gave an exclusive to GQ about the health journey and recovery journey they underwent in India and you an exclusive to GQ about the health journey

and recovery journey they underwent in India. And you know, the, the GQ story is great because I think he gets into really good detail there. Whereas with maybe another publication, he necessarily wouldn't go down that road. It's interesting to put it mildly, but go check it out. The fact that he's been able to try this again is great, regardless of what you think of the player, his history, his continual torment of the Vancouver Canucks through so many years. The fact that any individual could be, I mean, quite frankly, sick as he was. When he describes how bad the symptoms were and how debilitated he was, the fact that

he's able to come back and give this a shot is very cool. The fact that he's doing it in Winnipeg, where he was born and raised is very cool. And who knows how it turns out, maybe three years will be too long and too far away from the game, but the fact that he's got a shot at this is a very good story. Ask us anything, let's do a quick one.

Rick Dollywell is waiting on the other side to deliver us our weekly Newell Jewelson update. Can't wait. Ask us anything, if you had to change this unsigned, if you had to change the schedule of one sport to move it into the summer to give your show content, which sport would you choose? The NBA. Yeah. Yeah. Right?

It runs right up against hockey season. Basketball's already in the summer Olympics. Well, you could take a little hiatus mid season to go to the Olympics. Guys would be in shape and be informed. Why has basketball been played in the winter historically? It's indoor. Just to avoid football or? Oh, it's it's I know it's indoor, but it's a summer sport, is it not? Yeah, but people go on vacation in the summer.

Like, we don't know. Sports still exist in the summer, you know? They don't shut down sports. I know. Exclusively basketball families go on vacation in the summer, so they can't play in the... I don't know, I've never found a reason why it went head to head. See, because I think people don't want to go indoors in the summer.

So here's the thing. They're busy, they're on vacation, they're out of town. Of all the sports, you know, basketball does have that uniqueness of you know being able to be played outside, right? Yeah, all three on three that stuff like fundamentally exists. They play in the Summer Olympics more basketballs played outdoors than indoors If you take all the bad in the world right now, I don't know. That's a bad question I'm not throwing I'm not slamming you on that one. I don't know. I wouldn't know I mean, I don't think I don't know about that. I think it's totally ludicrous to, well, I mean. There's thousands of outdoor courts.

Suggesting, I don't know the landscape of outdoor basketball across the world. I'm not talking about leagues. I'm just saying the sport in general. I know, I know exactly what you're saying. Yeah, I don't think it's that crazy a question to ask. I don't think it's that crazy. But it would be NBA, that would be the answer

because I actually think it's kind of unfortunate because we've got so much hockey talk that we've got a game seven of the NBA finals. And it's like we have mentioned yesterday, which we have like, we have a, not a huge money wager, but we have a, what's the, what's the dollar figure on it again? Is it a hundred?

Yeah. A hundred dollars to charity buying 50, 50 tickets for the J's care, a challenger baseball 50, 50. But, um, we haven't talked about it at all. And I actually feel kind of neglectful in not talking about it because the Indiana Pacers have been. They're a great story.

They have been one of the most mentally resilient teams I think I've seen in the last, I don't know, 10, 20 years. And because of that, you gotta give them a punctuous chance in Oklahoma City. What they did yesterday, considering they were down 3-2, their star player is hobbling through the end of this series. They didn't just win yesterday. They punched Oklahoma City in the mouth so thoroughly and so emphatically that they were

up 30 going into the fourth quarter yesterday. This is a team, and I got a little bit of time here, we can go through this like they started the season losing 15 of their first 25 games Like they looked not good at all. They didn't look average. They look below average in these playoffs They've had five different comebacks where they were down 15 points or more. Yeah, they got tibetot fired They just don't seem to get fazed They just don't seem to get fazed by any of the setbacks and there's been plenty And that's a really impressive thing for the DNA of a team because a lot of teams They'll fold real quick like Oklahoma City last night They even sent out the starter all the fourth quarter Halliburton grinded through yeah

And and it's they're not a superstar laden team granted. They have Halliburton. He's close, but they outcomes playing like one they have our laden team. Granted, they have Halliburton. He's close, but they not comes playing like one. They have such a great grind element to them. But more importantly, like we talk about teams that go through tough times or teams that have setbacks or teams that go through really rough patches where you're like, fundamentally, are we any good? A lot of teams ask it like, are we any good? Do we believe that we can actually win?

And they have plenty of reasons in the regular season the players would be like, no, we're not that good. We're not a championship contender. Now they're playing in game seven. By the way, first game seven in the NBA Finals since 2016. We've gone almost a full decade without a game seven. In the Finals. And if the Pacers win game seven,

it will be one of the biggest NBA finals upsets of all time. And we haven't really talked about it. Might get a little bit of that. So move into the summer. All right. Dolly was going to join us next. Um, you'll obviously have a new Jewelson update. We'll, we'll obviously start with that. Can't wait.

Uh, it'll also talk about Matt Duchenne staying with the Dallas stars and what that means for the Vancouver Canucks off season plants. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the Vancouver Giants. It's never too early to get your Vancouver Giants season's tickets. Tickets start at under $19 at

vancouvergiants.com forward slash season tickets.