WEDNESDAY RUNDOWN: JULIEN ANALYSIS PLUS BLUE JAYS AND MORE!

Wednesday is the kind of day we live for and we had analysis of breaking news on Episode #427 of The RP Show – Canada’s Daytime Sports Talkshow! Here’s the rundown:

• RP and Dupes led off with The Warmup for Four Seasons Sports Palace covering these Quick Six show topics: 1) The Montreal Canadiens fire head coach Claude Julien, 2) Babcock interview fallout, 3) Tiger Woods, 4) Jennifer Jones becomes the Scotties career wins leader, 5) NHL leftovers, and 6) The CFL is close to submitting its Return To Play proposal to the government.
• Longtime Blue Jays first base coach Tim Leiper (2014-2018) joined the show from Toronto to breakdown the Jays heading into Sunday’s preseason opener against the Yankees. Leiper feels “it’s time” for the Blue Jays young stars to breakout and while he feels Bo Bichette’s goal of a World Series title is admirable, it’s likely not realistic. The California product feels Toronto’s biggest threat is the Yankees and Rays, but obviously they’ll be in contention. Leiper says the Jays’ lone weak spot is starting pitching – a big one – but feels they could pick up pieces as they go.
• The daily Capital Auto Mall/Universal Collision Centre poll question was: Who will be the next head coach of the Montreal Canadiens – Dominique Ducharme, Gerard Gallant, Mike Babcock or Other? At press time, Ducharme was leading. There were several write-in votes for Patrick Roy.
• In Hour 2 we re-upped the Quick Six and then were joined by NHL analyst Matthew Barnaby from Ottawa for on-the-spot coverage of the Julien firing. Barnie was initially surprised by the move but admitted the Habs were outplayed by the Senators Tuesday night and have lost three times to Ottawa, the league’s worst team. Matt thinks Ducharme would be the “easy” hiring for Montreal moving forward but would love to see Patrick Roy get a chance. Roy is Head Coach & GM of Barnaby’s former junior team – the Quebec Remparts – and feels the Canadiens and Roy would have to patch up their nasty split from 25 years ago. Regarding Mike Babcock, Barnaby admitted that he’s close friends with Babcock-hater Mike Commodore but said spats with coaches happen all the time. His is with Kevin Constantine. Barnie feels Babcock deserves a second chance and is eagerly watching how it all plays out.
• In Block 2 we were joined by Vancouver Canucks play-by-play man Brendan Batchelor to breakdown Tuesday’s implosion against the Edmonton Oilers. Brendan feels the Canucks’ problems are multifold but doesn’t believe they start in goal. He feels Thatcher Demko is the future in Vancouver’s crease and is comfortable with it. Batchelor related that we’re not even at the halfway point yet, but the Canucks are in danger of falling out of the race altogether which is particularly disappointing since there was so much optimism entering the year. Regarding the Scotia North division and its unique scheduling, Brendan feels it’s worked against the Canucks.
• Four full segments were devoted to Viewer Takeover and we had lively debates with viewers across Canada and the USA about NHL topics, the CFL’s Return To Play and more.
• Wednesday’s show is available for viewing now on our Facebook page, you can catch the replay at 4:00 pm ET on Game+, listen to the podcast by clicking on the CONTENT tab at the top of this page or listen anytime to our 24-hour live audio feed at RodPedersen.com/ListenLive.
• See you at 11 am CT/12 pm ET Thursday on Game+ and YouTube/Facebook Live!