Halford & Brough in the Morning - Would You Take Prime Tocchet Or Prime Foote?

Episode Date: July 9, 2024

In hour two, Mike and the dogs debate if they'd take prime Rick Tocchet or prime Adam Foote in today's Canucks lineup (3:00), they look ahead to tonight's Canada Argentina Copa semis matchup with OneSoccer's Oliver Platt (15:00), plus they wonder who the next Canuck deserves to go in the Ring of Honour (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

🎵 7.03. A lot going on there. Hey. Tuesday. I respect it. What a way to start a segment. Hour two kicks off with a bang. You're listening to the Halliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

No Jason Brough for a good while here. He's on a European vacation. It's just me and Mike Halford with you. Though that's not entirely true because Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week, young buck by the name of Josh Elliott-Wolfe is going to be in the chair with me. What do we call him this show this week, Andy? Zoomer and Boomer. I hate that.

I hate it all. You are the Boomer. Thank you, Andy? Zoomer and Boomer. I hate that. I hate it all. You are the Boomer. Thank you. You're not actually a Boomer. That's probably the reason why. For the purposes of the show title, the clever rhyming show title, I will embrace Boomer status.

We are in hour two of the program. We got about 10 minutes here of dead air. No, we got 10 minutes until we have Oliver Platt on from East Rutherford, New Jersey. Just a stone's throw outside of New York City. That'll be the site for tonight's Copa America semifinal between Canada and Argentina.

Before we get to that, though, I got a bunch of stuff we need to do. I need to tell you that we are in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste. Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some, get some, at a liquor store near you.

Or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. This entire show, the entire shebang, is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec outfitted Andy with a pair of hokas earlier,

so he gets to do the kicker on this one. Kintec is Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-store Google reviews. Soar feet. A-Dog, what are you waiting for? Kintec is Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-store Google reviews. Soar feet. A-Dog, what are you waiting for? Kintec. Very well done. Okay.

Before we get to Oli Platt, who will be joining us to preview the Copa America, I kind of wanted to reset a thing we're going to be doing this week throughout the shows, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, probably next week as well, if we can squeeze the free content out of you guys. I threw something out of there,

out there on Twitter yesterday, asking, hey, we're mapping out the rest of the week. You know, Wednesday to Friday show, Sportsnet 650, your home of the Canucks. I'm going to have Josh Elliott-Wolf in here. I want you to send us your best Canucks-related barroom debates, your Mount Rushmores, your what-ifs, your superlatives.

We'll slurkle the ones we like. Yes. There it is. I was waiting for the first slurkle reference. Took you to 7.06 in the morning. Well done. Power rankings, hypotheticals, wall charts, I don't care. We'll tackle as many as we can over the coming weeks.

Just fire away. So kudos to our boy Justin in East Van. One of our favorite listeners named Justin. This is a great one. Who would make the biggest impact if added to the current Canuck roster? You have two coaches to choose from currently behind the Canucks bench. Prime Rick Talkett joining the top six forward group or Prime Adam Foote joining the top four defense group.

That is a really hard question to answer. So a couple parameters here. You can't add anybody else into the mix. You can't say, well, what about Sergey Gonchar? I thought about it because Gonchar would be a very legit candidate. This conversation works better as an either-or, right? I mean, let's just be honest. Yeah, you can only pick one.

Yeah, you can't add a third into the mix. You either go forward or you go defense. And in this case, we're going to go with foot over Gonchar. That's just the rules. They are unflinchingly rigid. Deal with it. So I thought about this for a good long while

and I'm like, okay, I'm going to make the case for both here. So Talkett, I think it obviously goes without saying that Coach Rick Talkett would probably be a big player

Rick Talkett fan. Rick Talkett's a big Rick Talkett guy. Right? I think that goes without saying. We don't know that. Rick Talkett likes the way this Talkett kid probably be a big player. Rick Talkett fan. Rick Talkett's a big Rick Talkett guy, right? I think that goes without saying. We don't know that. Rick Talkett likes the way this Talkett kid plays. Right.

Scored 40 goals in the NHL, three plus times, including a career high 48. So you know that the finishing is there. The offensive prowess is there. Well, he wouldn't have had to sign DeBrusque. I was going to get to that.

Oh, okay. He's going to slot right in there, I think, with 40 goals. He's got him beat. Noted playoff performer as well when they won the Cup in 92

with Pittsburgh. He had 19 points in just 14 games. So here's what I'm thinking. Let's say that they keep... Let's say they sign DeBrusque anyway. Right? Let's say you put Petey on a line

with prime Rick Tockett and Jake DeBrusque. Oh Oh man, that'd be so sick. Then you keep Besser, Miller and Hoaglander together as a unit, right? So now you've got, that's your top six. Your third line is the third line with Garland, Bluger and Joshua.

Then your fourth line is Dan Heinen with Pugh Suter and Kiefer Sherwood. Isn't it crazy how one really good winger can make the team so much better? It's not even a hot take. It's just that would be the case for Talk It. That would be a hell of a four group. So that's the case for Talk It.

His primary Talk It in this group would be you would just make that group so dynamic. I was going to say Foot, but I think you might have convinced me Tuckett. Hold on. I got to make the case for Adam Foote now. All right. Okay. So first and foremost, Tuckett has a Stanley Cup, right?

But in terms of winning pedigree, there's not a lot of guys that have the hardware that Adam Foote has, the championship pedigree. So we're talking two Stanley Cups, Olympic gold medal with Team Canada, and a World Cup in 2004 with Team Canada. I always look at those and say, when you get selected to Team Canada with the wealth of defensemen that they had at those times, it means something.

It means that you're regarded by your peers and by the coaching staff in a way that goes beyond counting stats and Norris's and everything else. They were like, yeah, Adam Foote makes this blue line better, completes it. He does the things that other guys don't do. I think in his era, if you're putting him among defensive defense, a lot of people I was doing diligent, diligent research last night. And they're like in that era of really grindy, super physical hockey, you're putting foot in that sphere with like Darian Hatcher and Scott Stevens. Like that's where you're putting him.

So that's what prime Adam foot looks like. If you put him on this team, you're getting, I mean, I think the biggest thing is you're getting a defensive partner for Quinn Hughes, right? That's your righty lefty right there. Cause foot was a Quinn Hughes, right? That's your righty lefty right there because Foote was a righty, right? So all of a sudden you go Quinn Hughes, Adam Foote, prime Adam Foote.

And for someone that's just tuning into the conversation right now, they're probably like, what the hell is this guy talking about? He's going out of retirement. Yep. Isn't he like 55? Then you let Hronik play on his own pairing, probably with Susie. You find out if he can carry his own pairing finally.

Then your third pair is Tyler Myers with like Forbort. My son is also named Forbort. A traveling variety of different. Sure. And then you're deploying Tyler Myers in a third pair, which I think a lot of people want to see anyway. So that to me is pretty enticing. That blue line all of a sudden. deploying Tyler Myers in a third pair, which I think a lot of people want to see anyway. So that to me is pretty enticing. That blue line

all of a sudden looks... It is, but I mean, I was going to, for the record, I was going to pick Foote initially, but after seeing the four group with Prime Tocket slotted into the top six, it makes the four group so much more dynamic that I think I would probably pick Tocket, even though

I would admit our D core needs more work than our four group at the moment, like Canucks currently constructed. Our. You know what I'm saying. I know what you're saying. So even though I would say the D core needs more work than the four group as far as the team's currently constructed, based on how good prime talk would make the four group

in terms of how you laid it out there, slotting them together that way i would probably pick target can you do both yeah that's the great that would be perfect oh no the great part of the debate is why i actually didn't put gonchar in there is that you have to go forward defense and i think the understand i'm gonna just speak for justin and he's fan here i think the understanding is like they're both sort of big tough rugged physical guys like you'd get one at forward or you'd get one on the blue line. I think I'm tempted to go foot on the blue line because I think he would be the perfect, perfect complement for Hughes. Not that he doesn't have one right now with Hronik.

It might have been the best pairing. Yeah, but you don't know if Hronik can carry his own pair. But you get to find out. Yeah, but what if it doesn't work? Then you just put Adam foot down and you put Hronik back up with Hughes. Back to the bench, Adam. He doesn't have to take his skates off. He just climb up back behind there and keep coaching. Someone

just texted in, talk it with Miller and Besser would be so annoying to play against. I did think about that, that instead of putting him on Petey's wing, you put Besser. Yeah, and Hoagie and Petey have had chemistry and success. Sure, and Dabrowski is going to be the guy there. I mean, I think Alvin's already kind of stated that.

Yeah, so Hoagie, Petey, and Dabrowski would be a six-second line. Having Tocantin and JT Miller out there together as a duo, right? That would just be pure chaos. It would be very physical. It'd be very fun to watch. Very intimidating. It would be very physical. I don't know. Speaking as a goalie, you know, there's nothing more

impactful to a game than a defensive defenseman, and I say that sarcastically because I think the 40 goals that Tuckett brings, as good as Adam Foote was defensively, there's no replacing that, and I think for that reason I would choose Tuckett over Adam Foote.

Do we need to take into consideration how their games would fit? And now we're going in like, I think they're going universes versus universes here. Well, yeah, Prime Taka would have an easier time playing in today's league than Prime Foote would. Correct. I think that's the right assessment.

Because Prime Foote wasn't super fast and he definitely was tailor-made for that style of game in the era that he played in. Not to say he wouldn't be successful today. He was a very good defensive defenseman. He'd still be good. He had more offense than I think a lot of people understand. Yeah, no, he was good.

He had a year in Colorado where he scored 11 goals and had, like, 31 points. Like, he could, I mean, but that was on a really great Colorado team. Sure. But he was definitely tailor-made for that era. Here you go, Joe Sekic. Yeah, right? Here you go, Joe Sekic. Yeah, right? Here you go, Peter Forsberg. I do wonder if a lot of the physicality that made Adam Foote such an imposing figure

and such a valuable defenseman isn't necessarily in the game anymore. I mean, you always need a guy that clears the net front. I get that part of it and everything, but the rest of it, there was a lot of physicality that just isn't in the game anymore. So I get that part of it and everything, but the rest of it, there was a lot of physicality that just isn't in the game anymore. So I'll be very curious on that one.

Anyway, if you want to weigh in on this, the Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. You can text in to 650-650 at any time during the show with your thoughts on any particular conversation or if you want to give us

a what we learned. We're going to do those in the eight o'clock hour. Hashtag it WW want to give us a what we learned. We're going to do those in the 8 o'clock hour. Hashtag it WWL. Let us know what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports or if you want to weigh in on the Canada-Argentina match tonight.

Oliver Platt is going to join us in just a moment here. We're going to talk to him live from East Rutherford, New Jersey, the site MetLife Stadium of tonight's game. Dunbar Lumber, the Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park.

More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. So, Wayne, a bunch of you are already. We're going to continue to do these throughout the week. Get me on Twitter as well. Mike Halford 604 is the at. I'll repost the question that we're asking,

which is basically like, give us your best Canucks anything. Barroom debates, Mount Rushmore's, power rankings, any hypothetical questions, any of these weird,

like who would you take in your primetime questions? It's July, man. Like it's July 9th. We are going into the abyss of the summer. We're going to try and come up with some fun, new, creative conversations to have around the Vancouver Canucks that aren't relitigating what's happened in free agency and whatever else has you. So, again, if you want to weigh in, Dunbar-Lemmer text line is 650-650.

We're going to dive back into the footy talk now. We've done a lot of it today. Very happy to have our next guest on the program from One Soccer. Oliver Platt joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Oliver. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing well, thanks.

How are you? I'm great. I'm excited for tonight. I'm very excited for tonight. I imagine you must be as well, being live on location in East Rutherford. For our listeners that don't have the benefit of being there, can you set the stage, the mood, the vibe, the anticipation?

It's MetLife Stadium. The center of the... This is the center of the sporting world tonight, given where we are in the sports calendar and how big this match is with Argentina and Messi in a Copa America semifinal and Canada participating in it. Can you set the stage ahead of tonight's kickoff from East Rutherford, New Jersey?

Yeah, it's pretty remarkable, right? Like, you've got four semifinals, two of the Euros and two of the Copa America happening over the next couple of days. And you look at the list of teams involved and to see Canada on that list is something I don't think anyone would have expected coming into this tournament. You know, new head coach who had very little time with the team, you know, a team that has had a rough go of it over the past 12 months, really. You know, the momentum had kind of disappeared a bit since the Qatar World Cup. And now to be here and there's going to be 82,000 people in that stadium tonight, the vast majority of them obviously cheering for Argentina and Messi. But to get the opportunity on that stage is something that doesn't happen very often.

And it's, you know, difficult to achieve even for the best teams in the world to get to a semi-final of a tournament like this. And we saw it with Brazil knocked out before Canada at this tournament. So it's something really special. And I hope it lives up to expectations tonight. I'm sure it will. What has the messaging been from Jesse Marsh when asked about what needs to go differently from the first time that Canada and Argentina played?

It was a 2-0 loss for Canada in the opening match of the Copa. What needs to happen this time around in the semifinal? Well, I think taking care of Lionel Messi a little bit better is a big part of it. Obviously, that's probably the most difficult thing to do in soccer is to just keep this guy in check. And that was where I think it got away from Canada a little bit in the second half. It's so difficult. It's always a calculation of, you know, how much attention do you pay to Messi? How much do you try and tailor your game plan to stop him,

knowing that Argentina do have a lot of other good players who can hurt you as well? So Canada, I think, took quite a high-risk approach with Argentina in the first game. They tried to squeeze them, stay very compact, and had a very high defensive line, which created a bit of threat behind. But I think for 45 minutes, it works pretty well. It was just after halftime when Argentina was able to maybe get to grips with things a bit and make some adjustments that it started to come apart a little bit for Canada and the game got very stretched. So doing it for the full 90 is the real challenge. There is at least the advantage

of no extra time in this tournament. So if you can get through 90 minutes, at least level, you'll get that penalty shootout. But yeah, it's just a mammoth task. And you speak to some of the players about Messi and they tell you you can have the perfect game plan and you can do everything right, and he still finds a way to win a match.

It's an enormous ask of the Canadians, but I'm sure they'll be prepared for it. You mentioned penalties there, and Marsh did say, we played the clip earlier in the show, that we're not playing for penalties. Now I'm sure if it gets there, he'll be like, okay, great, that's fantastic. But I think I understand what he's trying to say is that they have a way

that they want to play and a way that they want to attack in particular that they've worked on and they've honed. And, you know, he talks about the maturation and the process here. In terms of trying to mount an attack with possession and then the quick strike, what would it look like ideally for Canada tonight if they are going to try and quote unquote play the way they want to play well i think that is what has got canada through this tournament and see this stage is they have certain qualities that so far teams have really struggled

to deal with and obviously we're particularly talking about peru and chile and venezuela and it has to come with the caveat that Canada hasn't always taken those chances and put the ball in the back of their net, which obviously has to change tonight. But even in that first game against Argentina, they did have moments. They did create danger. And it's just the pace and directness they have that I think a lot of teams really do struggle to deal with. You know, the way Jacob Schaffelberg has come into this team,

he's just direct, full of running, never stops. The front two of Jonathan David and Kyle Lahren, again, I think have a real kind of athletic presence to them and never stop running, never stop threatening in behind. Plus Davies, plus Larea. You know, Jesse Marsh, I think, has done a really good job very quickly at bringing out the best qualities in those players. And there certainly have been teams at this tournament, again, certainly in the past three

games, that just haven't really looked like they've had much of an answer to that. So Argentina are obviously a level above in terms of the quality of the opponents they've faced. But I do think that there are some characteristics in this kind of a team that can give them a bit of a headache. How much is Schaffelberg's stock rose at this tournament? Yeah, it's been amazing to watch, you know, from someone who was probably kind of on the periphery of will he make the 23 or not, you know, over the past year or so to what he

started to do for this team. I think he's someone who's kind of been underestimated a lot of his career. You know. Toronto FC didn't really give him an extended opportunity. They decided to trade him in the end. He went to Nashville and did very well, but there's still, you know, is he a starter, is he a sub, and then coming into

this tournament, I think that debate was, okay, he's doing great off the bench, but can he do it in the starting lineup, or is he better later on in games when defenses are a bit more tired and it's a bit more stretched? And, you know, he just keeps running with every opportunity he's given. So you have to give him all the credit in the world. And, you know, Jesse Marsh said it himself a couple of days ago to me

that he wasn't going to make the same mistake again of not starting Jacob Schaffelberg and giving him that opportunity because he keeps taking it. We are speaking to Oliver Platt from OneSoccer live from East Rutherford, New Jersey, which is the site, of course, of the Copa America semifinal tonight. 5 o'clock our time between Canada and Argentina.

You mentioned Jesse Marsh there, Oliver. Full disclosure, Leeds United supporter, so I was very familiar with Jesse prior to getting this job. And while it didn't go great at Leeds, I was optimistic about him and this hire for Canada because I did respect what he brought tactically and his clarity of vision.

He always seemed to know what he wanted to do even if it didn't necessarily get executed perfectly. He always understood exactly what he wanted to do and what he wanted his players to do. How much has his stock risen over this tournament? Not just because of what he's done with Canada, but what his native country,

the U.S., has floundered so badly and now they're looking and saying, look what one of our guys that was in contention for our national team job is doing with our neighbors to the north. Yeah, it's really interesting because I think Jesse Marsh probably had opportunities before this to go back into club

soccer at a pretty high level. But he said no to. And I don't think many people would have described Canada soccer in recent years as somewhere that you go, that's more settled, that's calmer, that you don't have to. He said it was not having to deal with the BS at his press conference. I think you kind of feel like this is a place where there's been a lot of that recently. But for whatever reason, he seems to have found something that works, something that's kind of clicking with him and is stuck.

And yeah, I think it's been a perfect fit so far. And there is obviously that contrast with how it's going in the U.S. right now. We're speaking to Oliver Platt from One Soccer here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. OK, Oliver, we're right up against it for time, but I did want to ask you, I know I think where your heart and your feelings might be on this one, but realistically, how do you see the outcome of tonight's match, Canada-Argentina-Cope America

semifinal? Well, what I would say is that Argentina aren't the team that necessarily blows teams out. They tend to be more of a 2-0 type of team. So I think Canada will be in this game and it will be close. What you have to say,

and you have to give them the respect that they deserve, is that when they get to this stage of the tournament, Argentina, they tend to turn it on. And you saw that at the World Cup in 2022. It'd be Croatia 3-0 in the semifinal. It was pretty much a stroll for them. And then even in the final, I know that game ended up

going the distance to the shootout but Argentina went 2-0 up and were totally dominant in that game and it was really just Kylian Mbappe you know producing something pretty incredible that took that game to extra time so I think there is the potential absolutely for a pretty dominant Argentina performance tonight but you know you wouldn't have imagined feeling as good about Canada's chances, I think, as people will justifiably feel going into a game like this against an opponent like this. However it goes tonight, it's going to be a lot of fun. And I'm insanely jealous that you're there to experience it all.

Enjoy it all tonight. Enjoy the match. And thank you very much for doing this today, Oliver. Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it. Thanks. That's Oliver Platt from One Soccer. Live from the Meadowlands, East Rutherford, New Jersey. That'll be the site. He said 82,000 in attendance tonight. I understand, courtesy of the Dunbar-Lumber text message in Basket,

a couple people texted in. And I did read a couple different tweets that there's still some tickets available at a fairly reasonable price. It's like $300 get-in price for tonight. Part of that probably has to do with inventory. There's a lot of seats at MetLife Stadium. And it is a midweek match. It's a Tuesday night. But, I mean, you talk about the biggest stage, like one of the biggest stadiums in the U.S.

It's going to host World Cup matches when the World Cup comes in 2026. You know, the home of... And I think... I don't know who's using the New York Jets change room tonight. I think it might be Argentina, actually. But it's just such a huge event. And I'm not just putting this on because I love the sport and I've been a follower and supporter of the national team for as long as I have.

I think if I was just a neutral that had no investment in the sport or the team whatsoever, I'd be very, very intrigued by tonight because it's just such an unprecedented feat and such an unprecedented moment for the sport in this country. And I do innately get behind all of these national teams when they get to these moments. It'll be the same for the Canadian basketball team when they begin their Olympic quest later in July and then throughout August. And in part because they're not just there to make up the numbers, right?

They're not just there to fill out a quota sheet or, you know, you qualified because a bunch of other teams from your region didn't. Like they've earned every bit of this. The Canadian men's basketball team earned every tough stripe that they had to get along the way to get to the olympics and so too you can say with the canadian men's national soccer team going up against argentina tonight like they fought tooth and nail through a very difficult group and then a very difficult match against venezuela to get here do you think those words would ever come out of your mouth like nope canada versus Argentina. Nope. Like a knockout game in any tournament. Canada versus Argentina in a major tournament.

And then for basketball, it could be Canada-US for a gold medal. The dream team against Canada. Yeah. It's an amazing time. It really is. Coming up on the Halverd and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, we're going to go down to Seattle.

Our good buddy, the energy factory that is Dave Softy-Mahler from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle is going to join us that's coming up next on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650 Canucks Talk

with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance 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 ¶¶ ¶¶ 7.33 on a Tuesday. Music is electric today. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. No Jason Brough, just Mike Halford. That's me. I got the dogs with me, though. Where my dogs at?

They're there behind the glass. With Brough. The most unenthusiastic bark I've ever heard in my life. There we go. Mike, the urologist from Brockville, he texts in. I got to admit, it's jarring watching the live stream wide angle of nothing but Halford. I don't love the single cam shot. Very lonely looking.

It is. It's too wide. There's not enough taking up the shot. Do you need me to get in there and just sit next to you for a bit? Well, we've got this other great background. The one I normally sit behind has got bobbleheads and tchotchkes and old skates. Road hockey helmets. Hats.

Edgar Martinez Drive. Speaking of Seattle Mariners, we're going to have Softie on the line soon. Softie on the line? Not yet. Okay. They're still working on it. Yeah, but this is just what we have to do. This is the life that we've chosen at Sportsnet 650,

that when it's a solo host, we have to use this camera angle. You need something to fill out the shot a bit more. I don't know what we could do. I can put my Minions mug in the shot. There it is, for all the listeners and viewers at home. You have a Best Dad mug? It's in the dishwasher. That was a Monday mug.

The Minions, the second in line. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste. Primetime is full of flavor without compromise. You can get some at a liquor store near you, or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. Is Softy on the line? Softy's giving us trouble, Halford. Your boy.

It's okay. I need to tell you that the entirety of this show, all of it, all three hours, are brought to you by Pacific Honda. Pacific Honda is North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service,

or parts. Okay, while we wait on Dave Softy Muller from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle, I'll reset what we've been doing throughout the show and then what we're going to be doing throughout the week. So, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday this week, back half of this week, I'm not going to be solo anymore on the show.

Josh Elliott-Wolf, young Josh Elliott-Wolf, I think he's the youngest guy in the rotation here in terms of on-air hosts. We're going to bump him up to the old man, Halford and Brough show. He's going to do the Brough roll alongside me for the rest of this week, and then later in the month when I'm on vacation, he's going to do the Halford thing.

The Brough roll. Sounds like a move. He's going to do the Brough roll. He's going to be grumpy and somehow he's going to be older. Anyway, I was like, you know what what let's get some canucks related stuff for the rest of the week out there and not necessarily just the sort of tired old like oh where's jake de brusque gonna play and how much can we expect from vincent de harney like all due respect to those conversations but they've been had they've been done send us your your best Canucks-related bar debates. Like, literally, if you're at the bar with your buddies

or some virtual bar on Zoom or whatever. Mount Rushmores, what-ifs, superlatives, power rankings, hypotheticals. We'll tackle as many as we can, right? So already in this show alone, on the heels of Barrett Hayton getting signed yesterday by Utah, re-signed, we went back and I was like, you know, locally for Canucks fans, Barrett Hayton's only really known for one thing. And that was one of the picks that facilitated Quinn Hughes going to the Canucks at seven in the 2018 draft. Hayton was taken fifth. That one was off the board.

That allowed Zedina to slip to sixth. Detroit took him. And all of a sudden, Jim Benning and the Vancouver Canucks are on the draft floor looking and saying, oh my God, we just got Quinn Hughes. Forever altering the course of this franchise. Best defenseman the franchise has ever had. First Norris Trophy winner the franchise has ever had.

All because, really, those picks. You can make the argument that Kok ever had, all because really those picks, you can make the argument that Kokini Amy moving into where he did had a role as well. But after I was going through this, a buddy texted me and he was like, hey, if you were going to redo the 2018 draft, where would Hughes be? And right away I text back.

I'm like, number one, 100% overall. Like I know some people might have an argument for Darlene to stick at number one. Not me. I am not one of those people. Or if you're Adog over here, drop in number four. Right. So go back and listen to the Hour One podcast.

You can go through all that. Anyway, the reason I'm bringing this up is this tweet that I threw out there, it spawned some pretty good conversations, including this 2018 redrafting. The other one, and this came from Justin on East Van. If you go to our Twitter feed at SportsNet 650 right now, we've got the video up so you can get it even before the Hour 2 podcast is available for download.

Justin asked, who would make the biggest impact if added to the current Canucks roster? Now we're working in alternate realities and universes here, but bear with us. Rick Talkett in his prime, so we're working in like alternate realities and universes here, but bear with us. Rick talk it in his prime. So we're talking like prime early nineties power forward.

I'm going to say penguins Rick talk, because that's where he had his most, most success. Are you going to add him to the top six forward group? Or are you going to add another Vancouver Canucks coach prime Adam foot, two times Stanley cup champion, gold medal at the Olympics gold at the world cup. Best top three defensive defenseman in his era,

add him to the top four. So if you want to check that conversation out, you can do it right now. That's the kind of stuff we're going to try and do throughout the week. Right? Like I made pretty, I think I made pretty compelling cases for both guys. Did you guys ever come to a decision on that one, by the way?

I chose Tuckett. Yeah. And I believe A-Dog chose Foote. I don't know. He's still debating. He wasn't sure. He's still going over it. As you know, A-Dog does.

The next one that I want to do, and this is one that we've had a few times here but it's important because there's a chance that next season without a real prominent jersey retirement guy or number on the horizon there could be another ring of honor

entrant next season so someone reached out on Twitter as I asked for submissions and they said, who is your next choice for the ring of honor? And let's just, again, let's set the parameters here. I think we can all agree that there's not going to be a Jersey going to the

rafters anytime soon, right? The connects have filled the rafters quite adequately with, with numbers. And of the guys that are left to be honored, I don't think any of them are going to rise to the level of we're going to put that number in the rafters. Greg, you agree with me on this one?

I agree with you on that. Adog, yeah, nodding along there in the background. Frenetically trying to chase down Dave Softy Mahler. We're just going to slag Softy for the rest of the hour. Okay, this is the ring of honor debate right now in a nutshell for me. There's probably room for one at minimum or another member of the 2011 guys. That's how we're going to classify them right now. Right?

You've got Luongo up there. You've got Burroughs up there. Everyone's kind of understood that that era, and not just the 2011 team, but that era of the teams that lost to Chicago a couple times. The Sedin era. The Sedin era, let's call it that, sure. That they would be the next ones, right?

Luongo's in there, and Burroughs is in there right now. So, the three guys that I think everyone is pretty much in unison on, for eligibility's sake, are Kevin Bieksa, Ryan Kessler, and Alex Edler. They were pretty prominent members of those teams. They were all very central figures in the 2011 Stanley Cup final run. I would say that if you're going to identify that group, and it's a large group, don't get me wrong. The Sedins, obviously, and they're in Shrine.

Their numbers are hanging in the rafters. So there's two guys. There's Burroughs. There's Luongo. That's four. So now we're getting into the region of you're going to start honoring, what, five, six, seven guys from the same era? Okay.

I have time for it right now. If you think about it, I do wonder, I really do wonder if, now don't kill me here because there's very polarizing in Canuckland. I do wonder if Edler's got the strongest case. You might be onto something. Longevity does matter. I think when you're talking about the Ring of Honor

and what it stands for is it's to celebrate the sort of individual moments, not necessarily the full body of work or the resume, but the individual moments. Players that have made a lasting impact on the franchise, but just not in that sort of traditional. We're going to put their number in the rafters way. I guess Hall of Fame type stuff up there, right? Not always, but often. So, I mean, for example, the case for Burroughs is he's the Dragon Slayer, right? How do we cement that? Well, I think there's also not just the moments, but there's an element of the fan favoritism.

Sure, 100%. If you're just a well-liked player, you don't need a specific moment to point at. There's a folklore and folk hero part of it for sure that goes into it. Burroughs has that for sure. Yeah. Now, there's also like, if you are Alex Edler, say what you will about him as a player,

whether you liked him or loved him, hated him, loathed him, whatever. It's hard to argue the fact that- I'm not even loathed Edler. What? Yeah. I mean, there's the Canucks fans that we're talking about right yeah right there's people that are irate that why was he always trying to play a net if you want to play a net strap on pads and play I forgot about that

the case for Edler is this and it's just plain and simple he played 15 years and almost a thousand games all in a Canucks uniform that That should matter. That should count. If you look at the games played in franchise history, the only guys that have played more games and more years in a Canucks uniform are Daniel Henrik Sedin and Trevor Linden. And they're

all, their numbers are retired, right? I mean. Legends of the team. To play that amount, I think it does matter. I think in the context of well, what impact did you have on the franchise? Well, you were here for like seemingly forever, right? It was a long time. Now BX and

Kessler had lengthy stints too, but they were 10 years compared to 15. I mean, there is a difference there to be made, but I will make the case for the other guys. BX is super interesting to me. He makes a really strong case because of what he did as a player. He ticks a lot of the boxes.

And what he's done after being a player. See, now that's interesting. In his post-playing career, he's emerged as a really important media figure that doesn't just go to bat for the Vancouver Canucks. He's identified nationally as a Vancouver Canuck. And that's something that in the annals of Hockey Night in Canada and the lore of national broadcasters,

we've had but not to this degree. Not to an outspoken, beloved, very, very influential commentator. He'll always be an Anaheim duck to me. God, I hate you. I hate you so much. He still lives there. Come on. I know.

But that is interesting because it adds a whole different chapter onto this thing. If you retire and you go away and you play golf and you coach minor hockey and you're not prominent, you're a different figure. You're remembered for what you did, not what you're doing. And I think BXA is profoundly important, right? I mean, we saw this past spring, and it played out on our show, the inverse of that, right? Like when how savage and at times outright disrespectful

and mean-spirited Canucks fans can be when they feel that their team is being slighted on a national level, right? And that's sort of, that's baked into the history of the organization, the franchise, from the guys that have covered the team. And I point to guys like, you know, Botch, Tony Gallagherher Don Taylor uh East versus us

Vancouver against the world we'll never get the recognition something dumped as an East East Coast person I had to really learn when I moved out here that I didn't realize the sentiment even really existed and you better understand it yeah because if you don't you're gonna have a hard time resonating with fans doesn't mean you have to lean into it or amplify it, but if you don't understand it, you're cooked. And part of what BXA gets is exactly that.

Oftentimes it's Vancouver versus the world, and you need to lean into it a little bit. You need to understand it. The key thing is you need to understand it. And to have BXA be that amplification of that on a national stage, i think it's important and i think it's very unique because there's never really been anybody like that before all the ex-players all the ex-management all the ex-coaches that have gone and tried to do that

um oftentimes they're either one not as successful not as good at it but too often don't have that vancouver lean so bx to me it makes a very, very, very strong case. Yeah. Then we get to Kessler. Oh, I didn't think you were going to touch that one. You have to make the argument. And I'm making the argument for all three. Kessler is...

So we had him on the show last season during the playoff run right before he cranked the siren i forget which game it was uh in the open it was in the opening run against nashville and sorry he cranked what now he cranked the horn excuse me the canucks horn oh the siren yes yes i don I know what you mean. So he was on the, how would we classify? If he was a musician and this was his tour, his latest tour, it would be the what? The retrospective tour?

The introspective tour? It wasn't quite an apology tour. The retribution tour? No, he wasn't getting retribution. You remember how he was. He was open and honest and forthright and he specifically said on the show I got

regrets about how it went in Vancouver. And he was kind of like, I wish I hadn't gone out the way that I went out. First time I've really heard him say that. The I Regret Everything tour? It's a tough marketing campaign. Following up his I Regret Nothing Tour that didn't go very well at all. Yeah, the tour tickets are not selling as we thought they would be.

Fresh off the heels of the FU Tour. Cassie wants you to go up on stage, crank that horn. He brought his kid. He talked about how his kid grew up here. It was very much a sign of a guy that was looking at, not getting too whimsy here, but he's looking in the rear view of what's gone past, right? And how important Vancouver was to him over the decade that he played here.

Well, he said when he was on the air with us, he wished he could have done things differently. For sure, right? Right. So there's that to take into consideration. You have to take it into consideration, right? Because on the ice, while he was a Vancouver Canuck, Kessler did things that other guys weren't doing.

Right? He has a series named after him. How many guys have that? If we talk about how important it was that Quinn Hughes was the first ever and only Norris winner in Canucks history, then I think we need to forge out some conversation for Kessler being the first and only Selkie winner in franchise history. Does the Selkie have the same gravitas as the Norris?

No, it doesn't. It just doesn't. But it's a fundamentally important award. And if Ruff was here, he'd be scratching and clawing to chime in with his take that there's a direct correlation between having that Selkie winner. And in the more recent years,

it has gone to more high profile guys, like offensively inclined guys that also have a strong defensive game. But there's a correlation between having that guy and winning a Stanley Cup, right? The elite dominant two way center, which Kessler was in that. And it really, it was the 2011 season that was his pinnacle and

there's not a lot of guys that can boast what he did in 2011 over the 50 plus years of Canucks hockey because like the series being named after him the Nashville series was pretty iconic the Selke win was pretty iconic scoring 40 while being that good of a defensive center. He was... He did some things. He did some things. Now, where it, I mean, obviously gets confusing is the legacy left behind, right? Forcing his way out.

And you can read, look, for the listeners out there, if you want to weigh in on any of this, Dunbar-Lummer text line is 650-650. If you want to, you know, re-litigate or re-address the trade request and the demands and why he wanted to go and where he wanted to go and how that hamstrung a new general manager in Jim Benning that had just taken the job, that's fine. At the end of the day, it was an ask out of town and i you know i said on a number of occasions like when the going got tough kessler got going other guys did bexa for example hung around longer and then when it came time to trade it was like let me see what i can do to help you guys out right still can you please trade me to California, please?

There's a handshake deal there. I don't know. I mean, I just wonder if enough time will pass. And I don't think it'll be this season. But those are the three guys right now. Those are the three guys that I think will be in consideration for it. Now, the interesting wrinkle with the Ring of Honor stuff is that oftentimes, oftentimes they come out of nowhere and sort of like the Hockey Hall of Fame where a guy gets in after waiting for decades and he's kind of.

Well, someone on the committee pushes for them for whatever reason. He's falling out of the collective conscience. And then all of a sudden it's like, okay, time to get him in. midi pushes for them for whatever reason he's falling out of the collective conscience and then all of a sudden it's like okay time to get him in right have you have you been taking look to the inbox while you were doing this whole conversation no why how many people are screaming gino ojic so there's the one yeah right there's the one that i was going to get to in the final sort of the denouement of the segment is the ring of honor is made i think for what gino represented and that was fan favorite folk hero um not going to get league recognition but very much deserves

recognition from the team loved being in vancouver loved being a vancouver canuck and had a certain tie with the fans. When we talk about only understanding Vancouver and understanding what the market means, that's one of the guys I'm talking about. Like, Gino Ogier doesn't... He doesn't have the same feeling in other markets that he would in Vancouver for a multitude of reasons.

And it's almost one of those reasons... Montreal, I think, liked him a lot. But just not like this. Not to the level... Not like this. Montreal, I think, liked him a lot. But just not like this. Not to the level. Not like this. Like adopted son, beloved player, the guy that, you know, he loved putting on the jersey.

And there is the element of being a tough guy that he would stand up for his teammates like they were his brothers. And that would go a long way as well in this conversation. And I do wonder if the organization next season will do right by him by making him the next entrant. Because it just seems right.

The other guys, here's the thing. The other guys that I mentioned, I made the cases for them, and I feel like I had to make the case for them. With Gino, I don't even think I need to explain why. I think that anyone would know that if you were like, we're putting Gino in the ring of honor, it would be the right decision.

Everyone would be like, yeah, that's the right move to make. So that's where we'll leave it for now. If you want to weigh in, Dunbar-Lumber text line is 650-650. We can continue this conversation more throughout the rest of the week. But in the final hour of the program, we can circle back at around 830. Because coming up, we've got a pair of guests that we need to get to. On the other side, we're going to talk to Rick Campbell, head coach of the BC Lions.

They had a big win yesterday. Sorry, I'm losing track of my days here. Sunday. It's Tuesday today. Big win Sunday against the Hamilton Tiger Cats in Hamilton. Fourth consecutive win pushes them to 4-1 on the season, driving a stake through the heart of former Hamilton resident Laddy. They got a big game ahead on the weekend. We're already looking forward to Saturday.

It's a clash of the two top teams in the West. It's the undefeated Saskatchewan Rough Riders coming to BC Place to take on the Lions. The 4-0 Rough Riders against the 4-1 Lions. Rick Campbell is going to join us in 8. And then at 8.15, Tariq El-Bashir, Caps insider from Monumental Sports Network. We're going to talk to him 8. And then at 8.15, Tariq El-Bashir, Caps Insider from Monumental Sports Network. We're going to talk to him about the new general manager in Washington,

the seven new additions to this roster they've added around Alex Ovechkin and Alex Ovechkin himself. We're going to talk about all next coming up on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. But before we go to break, I do need to tell you about the aforementioned BC Lions. The roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at bclions.com.

Rick Campbell coming up next. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.