Halford & Brough in the Morning - Demko Has Been The Canucks MVP

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason look back at all the wild Week 8 NFL action with Too Deep Zone's Mike Tanier (1:14), plus they discuss the latest Canucks news with NHL.com & In Goal Magazine's Kevin Woodley (26:03). 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.

7-1 on a Monday, 7-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody, Halford Bruff, Sportsnet 650. Halford in the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Scory Debt Freedom Hat Trick. One, no more interest. Two, much lower payments and three, financial peace of mind. Visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com.

We are now in hour two of the program. Mike Taney, are our NFL insider from the two deep zone is going to join us in just the moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two is brats by Jason hominock at Jason dot mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. Don't mortgage.

We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. tech footwear and orthotics working together with you in step our next guest is a presentation of the clayton public house he is our monday morning quarterback from the two deep zone it's mike tannier here now live on the halford and breath show on sports net 650 good morning michael how are you i feel like i'm losing 31 to 10 right now i have that in common with like most of the teams in the NFL though or half of them anyway 10 of sundays 11 games were two score wins it was blowout Sunday in the National Football League. Okay, so I'm going to let you in a little secret here, Mike. Jason and I did not pay a lot of attention to the National Football League this week.

And there was a lot going on elsewhere in the world of sports, and we were diligently trying to look after all of it. So you are going to be our guide to everything that happened, every blowout score that happened on Sunday. I do want to begin with probably the most anticipated and non-blow-outy game of the weekend. That was the Sunday nighter between the Steelers and the Packers. What did you glean from this one the first time that Aaron Rogers had ever faced? the Green Bay Packers? You know, Rogers and the Steelers are Rogers and the Steelers.

Like, he dinks and dunks. He doesn't want to take a hit. He throws these short passes. Every once in a while, he takes a shot down field. They kick 59-yard field goals all the time, and they kind of lure their opponents down into these games. And that's what they did to the Packers, because the Packers are a team that has,

even though they've been winning a lot of games, played down to, you know, the Bengals, played down to the Cardinals in the past. That was happening for a half, about two and a half quarters and then it like it's like the steelers ran out of gas and it was time for the the packers their stars for jordan love for micha parsons for guys like tucker craft we don't think of stars but have been playing good football for a couple years they said enough enough and like late in the third quarter into the fourth quarter this turned into a blowout so it's like a stealth blowout

if you want the bed at like 1015 eastern time like 815 or 715 your time you thought oh well you know this is this this this is a close game it was not the same by the end and Packers fans have to be looking at that fourth quarter and saying, this is the team. This is the team we were promised. It's a team we saw in the opener against the Lions. And if they can continue to do this or just do this more often, the Packers are that Super Bowl team

that they claim to be entering the season. It's always interesting and storyline filled when the Eagles and Giants, NFC, East rivals, meet up. And even though this one was a pretty one-sided win for the Eagles, 38 to 20, a lot of takeaways from both teams on multiple sides of the football here. Let's walk you through it. Start us with the Eagles and then work into the Giants. Your takeaways from this one.

Okay, well, midway through the week, A.J. Brown popped up on the injury report with a mystery injury, which sounds like, I'm kind of mad at everybody, injury. And he wound up being inactive for this game. This has been a drama for weeks and weeks in Philly. Like, why is A.J. mad? Why is he mad at Jailen Hertz? Who else is he mad at, et cetera? Eagles went out there.

They put an extra offensive linemen on the field. They went with two tight ends, three tight ends. They just taekwonded. the first time this year, Sequin Barclay had a big game. Then he got hurt. He suffered a hamstring injury. Tank Biggsby came off the bench and ran for 100 yards late in the game. And the Eagles, entering the by, you know, coming off of a two-game losing streak earlier in the season,

suddenly both, on one hand, they're more confident that they can do the things that they expect to do on offense, coming around on defense. On the other hand, as the trade deadline looms, there's this question. Like, is A.J. Brown really going to be in this team's future or are they irreconciled? Kyleable differences. Okay, Mike, I'm going to name four teams that had blowout wins to improve their record to a good record. And you're going to tell me, this is a way to cover a bunch of games at the same time, you're going to tell me who has the best chance to win a Super Bowl.

Or you can just say none of them have a chance to win the Super Bowl. Okay? So the Patriots with Drake May beat the Browns 32 to 13. They improved to 6 and 2. Pretty good. The Buccaneers with Baker Mayfield. beat the Saints 23 to 3. They improved to 6 and 2.

The Broncos beat the Cowboys. The Cowboys. 44 to 24. The Broncos improved to 6 and 2. And finally, the Colts. Daniel Jones and the Colts. They beat the Titans, the Titans, 38 to 14. And the Colts improved to 7 and 1.

Which team of those four has the best chance to win Super Bowl. Okay, well, let's see. The Broncos beat the best team of the four, but they're stuck in a division with the Chiefs. Okay? Patriots have the easiest schedule on Earth. There's the easiest schedule since UNLV basketball in 1988, but they're not very good,

and they're going to, I mean, they're good, but they're not great. They're going to stumble when they face real opponents. I have to go with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who did not look very good yesterday, But if you look at their overall roster and say, do these guys have a playoff pedigree? Yeah, there's still a bunch of guys in that Buccaneers roster with Super Bowl rings. Granted, Tom Brady assisted Super Bowl rings, but they've been going to the playoffs every year. They've been winning playoff games. You start looking at Mike Evans when he's healthy.

Levante, David, Chris Godwin, when he's healthy, guys on the line, guys in the secondary, Vita Vaya, they have the actual experience and veteran leadership they need to not just be like this hot, team in the middle of the season, but be the team that's there in January, scoring upsets if they have to against the powerhouses of the conference. What about the Colts? Improved to 7-1 are you still waiting, are you still

waiting for them to like have a big tester game? Like, I know they have their by-week in week 11, and then they go to Kansas City in week 12. Is that the one to watch with them? Yeah, to a degree, because it's like it's from that point on, it's chiefs, then Texans, Jaguars, those are not easy opponents.

Seahawks, very strong team this year. Nineers might be healthy back then. They've got this bunch of tests late. Now, Colts are going to be a playoff team, but it's not so much a tester game is I need to see them against a non-absute bottom feeder. The bottom feeders in the NFL this year, and I'm talking about the

Titans. I'm talking about the Raiders who they beat 40 to 6. I'm talking about the Titans who they beat 41 to 20. These teams are so bad that they give you almost a false read on the teams that clobber them. I put the Patriots in that category too. These are non competitive opponents,

So you beat them, that's good, that's in your playoff portfolio, it matters as the NFL. You know, there's no Middle Tennessee State in the NFL, really. But it's hard to even say, well, I'm impressed by that because these teams just go out there and get clobbered week after week. And a couple of teams have been the beneficiary of that a couple of the times, and that includes the Colts. Hey, Mike, I know the Seahawks are on a buy week, but I'm curious if their solid start and the defense and just the way they've been playing under, Mike McDonald, has it got the attention of NFL wide? Well, there's two elements to that. One is that the Seahawks are never going to attract a lot of attention in the American

United States national media because they're up in the West Coast in the corner of the country. It's a little bit of a smaller market. The Cowboys are always going to get more attention even when they stink. You know, the Seahawks could win by 30, the Cowboys could lose by 30, and we'd be talking about the Cowboys. I'll say this, coming out of the buy, using the DVOA statistics, the advanced metrics at FPN network, Seahawks are ranked second in the NFL in DVOA behind the Colts.

They are third in defense. They are six in offense. They are first in special teams. If you're following the NFL analytically and looking for winners and looking for trends, the Seahawks are a hot team, a team to watch. If you're out there, you know, trying to get attention and then trying to, like, you know, get people to click your article, the Seahawks don't have like those famous guys. They don't have Ross and Richard Sermon anymore

and Beast Mode and these people that get the attention of the national media down here. So they're still kind of under the radar, so to speak. We're speaking to Mike Tan here, our NFL Insider from the Two Deep Zone here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We are now without a winless team in the National Football League.

The last team to win a game has finally done it. The New York Jets, in the most improbable of fashions. I had that game on in the background. I think it was 31 to 16 going, into the fourth quarter in favor of the Bengals, but somehow the Jets managed to get it done. I know it's a nice thing to actually win a game for Aaron Glenn and the rest of the team, but big picture, long term,

where do you see this thing going? Because it was mostly, mostly a week of dysfunction for the Jets with Woody Johnson's comments and Fields getting benched and then going back in. There's Brees Hall trade rumors. So I know that it was nice for the Jets to finally get a win, but where does the rest of the season have them stacking up? It's funny because you're right.

by the fourth quarter, it's like this is over, over, over. And they were without Garrett Wilson. They were without Sauce Gardner. It was almost like the smart guys are taking a couple weeks off. They don't even want to be involved with what's going on here. And yet that happens. You can't read that much into it. I think, you know, Justin Field saved his job for a week or two.

I think Aaron Glenn took the heat from boil to simmer for a week or two. You could, if you're trying to convince me that they turn things around, because in the fourth quarter against the Trey Hendrickson Les Bengals defense Breece Hall ran for like 150 yards or whatever we did in the fourth quarter alone.

I'm not buying that. But, you know, let's give them the reprieve they earned. And then one thing about this, Justin Fields is better than Tyrod Taylor. Yeah. Fields is not the answer. He's not the future.

Tyrod Taylor is like 36 years old and gets hurt if he tries to play three games in a row. That part of it needs to sort of simmer down a little bit. And let's let Fields and Glenn go out there and try to live or die by their own merits. What did you make of the Texans getting a much-needed victory over the 49ers, despite missing a whole slew of guys at the receiver position

and coming off a pretty ugly loss to Seattle the week prior? It's funny because I was rewatching this morning to get a closer look at that. I'm like, Nico Collins has heard, who are these guys? Who are these guys? And I think everybody was from Iowa State, like the entire receiving corps. Their defense is so good that if they can get like that, 9-0 or 13-0, even a 6-0 lead on you. They can play kind of hockey dump and chase against you.

Defense will get a stop. CJ Stroud will get the ball back. They'll fritter around a little bit. Maybe they'll get another field goal, and they will keep you at arm's length. That's what they did against the 49ers. I know there's been a lot of talk with the 49ers. Mack Jones has been playing well. He's been gutting it out through his own injuries.

He's not a long-term answer. A quarterback, they need Brock Purdy back. When the chips were down against a tough pass rush against tough cornerback, he wasn't really able to get it done he had like two or three good throws and that was it for him Texans are a tough team even at three and four they're a tough team but they've got to win a certain way

and that way it's got to be hey they got a little bit of the lead now their defense can tee off what on you a lot of people wondering if the Ravens saved their season on Sundays is that true or false they did in that if they had lost that would have been the end of the end of the

end and now you can see you talk about upcoming schedules their upcoming schedule is easier Lamar Jackson should be back he looks like he's 95% back they got to win with Snoop Huntley against a pretty good opponent that's a sign that they could turn things around

and you saw the Steelers last night Steelers are vulnerable the division is still kind of out for grabs so I mentioned I was paying attention to the National Football League stories at an arm's length this weekend can you explain to me and maybe to our listener exactly what the hell happened

with Lamar Jackson over the last 72 hours with practicing and then not being available and then being limited and then being ruled out? Okay, so what happened was he returned to practice, but they gave him backup reps. So he was out there with backup reps. Now, backup reps are usually a lot shorter during the week.

It's not like starters backup, starters, backups. It's like starters, starters, starters, backups. So he was taking those reps. The Ravens claimed he was a full participant in practice because he didn't miss any of the sessions that they assigned him. But since they assigned him backup sessions, those weren't the normal number of sessions. so they were they miss uh they lied on the injury report about his status that got all of us

who think lamar was playing it probably was trying to get the ravens uh should be the bears to worry about the fact that lamar was playing so the NFL is going to look at this um and then people will talk about this in terms of gambling and fair enough folks like me count on that injury report we can't be in raven's camp every day we need to know who the quarterback is so we can do content we can talk on podcasts on radio shows we can write our articles and like that kind of like misappropriation of the truth so to speak is bad they're going to get told about it but i think lamarie is back next week and i'm sure jim harbill will be a little more forthcoming about that in the days ahead it's also important so we can wager

responsibly but also accurately on the games yeah yeah i was trying to downplay that but yeah mike this was great buddy thanks for taking the time to do this today as always we appreciate it enjoy monday night football tonight we'll do this again next week you got it take care enjoy a week. Thanks, buddy. That's Mike Taney, our NFL insider from the two deep zone here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. He is a presentation of the Clayton Public House. Yeah, I've got some trivia for you. You know, every once in a while, I put you on the spot with a piece of trivia that you can't possibly be expected to get cracked. Who is leading the NHL in scoring right now? Jack Hughes. No, wrong. I don't know, who is it? Nick Schmoltz.

Schmoltz. Well, the Utah mammoth are on fire. They are, you know, we're talking about the contract here that Kiefer Sherwood was having. Nick Schmaltz is in one, too. I've watched a few of their games this year. They're good, man. Yeah, they're a good team. Have they won't like seven in a row or something? Yep, I want to say they...

The NHL keeps, like, posting a picture of their mascot every time they win. Yeah, because they're perfect since they announced... Tusky. Him, Tusky. Not to be confused with Eric Tusky. Tolskiy. Oh! Right, right, right. So, yeah, the mammoth and the Devils, that's why I said Jack Hughes,

because he's got something like eight goals in his last six or four games or something like that. Those are the two of the hottest teams in the National Hockey League right now. Here's another hot player. Hot, hot, hot. So hot right now. Macklin Celebrini, 15 points in nine games. By the way, Schmaltz has 16 points in 10 games. So Jack Eichol has 16 points too, but Schmultz gets the nod because he's got seven goals to Eichol's six.

McHen Celebrini is 19 years old. Yeah. He's got 15 points in nine games. I realize the sharks are still bad. He has 10 points in his last four games. Is he going to make the Olympic team? I don't know. I wonder if they need to put them on it.

You got the audio ready here? Okay, so they played Minnesota on Sunday night. And as I understand it, it was another classic sharks game. Six-five final sharks win. And they're getting caved in in overtime. I think they touched the puck twice in overtime. It was all Minnesota. They were peppering the San Jose net with shots.

But we're going to play the audio to give you an idea of just how improbable this victory was, led by none other than Macklin Celebrini. So here's Celebrini, 347 overtime as the sharks win 6'5 against the Wild. The Wild, by the way, really struggling right now. This is what it sounded like from yesterday. Eklund is going to gamble and go off. Here come the Wild. Three on two.

Favor saved by Ascaroff. And a chance now for Maxlin. Celebrity! Celebrity in! Scores! What a goal! What a win! Sharks! Win! Sharks! Winning in overtime! Ten points. Ten points in four games. Did he score? Yeah. So I watched about a minute prior of the overtime, and it was just the wild firing pucks at Skaroff. And Faber was the one, not Chris, Brock, who shot the puck that he kicked out, went right to celebrate, and he goes in his course. So you mentioned the Olympic team. It's interesting because Biddard is having a sort of like a rejuvenated season this year.

He's playing very well. Yeah, yeah. There is some sort, and I don't know if it's an actual, I wouldn't classify it as a rivalry. That's not right. But there's definitely some one upsmanship that I think is going on between the two where they kind of, I think they're using each other as measuring sticks in a very distant sort of way. but the year that Celebrini had last year and because both are North Van kids that both got high end, much Ballyhooed prize draft picks

Celebrini comes in and suddenly he's the hot shot, the new hot shot on the block and they have this great year and I think that when it came to the national team be it four nations or Olympic or anything for some reason we've just kind of slotted those guys and it's like well which one will make it or who's ahead of the other. The reality is the way they're playing this year,

both could be in the mix, but it's been great to see, it's been great to see Bidar sort of have this rebound season and get a good running made in Nazar because now it's the equivalent to what Celebrini has in San Jose was Smith, but Celebrini,

I think that he fully deserves a look because I know his defensive game needs to work, but man alive, he is so talented, so talented offensively. So the Canucks just traded for a guy that at one point it looked like he'd be Connor Bedard's running mate in Lucas Reikol. So I reached out to a few Chicago reporters over the weekend and I was like, hey, what's to deal with this guy?

And the first thing they all mentioned is they said he is an unbelievable skater. And I think we've seen that already. And I think maybe that's why, I don't know if this can work long term, but I think Lucas Reichel with Brock Besser and Evander Cain makes a lot of sense. Because, I know, Bessor's never skated that well. Kane's getting a little bit older. His skating isn't what it used to be.

But if you add him down the middle, then he can make up a lot of ground. It's interesting. It sounds like Reichel has been, like he's kind of been just run through the ringer in that Chicago organization. And, you know, they were just. trying to find a spot for him. And you mentioned this earlier, right? Like, couldn't find a spot for him in the top six. It didn't really fit in the bottom six. And I think what happened in Chicago was his confidence got shaken pretty badly. And he started playing too conservatively. Like, he started

going like, okay, well, I guess I'll just take care of things defensively. And I was like, I was like, oh, we got another one of those? Yeah. Well, that's what I mean. I was reading something from Lazarus who said like there was a brief time where Reichel tried to reinvent himself as a defensive player yeah yeah like exclusively and I'm like don't like that's the wrong thing to do and then I was reading some other things

where they were like it almost feels like he's a guy that's too talented to not not succeed between the skating ability and between his offensive skills well I don't know about that because he didn't succeed in Chicago and you know you have to have the other thing you know I started out with some positives

The other thing was like, here's a quote. He's an elite, elite skater. If he can just figure out what to do with it, he could be effective. And I think that's where, you know, you hear a lot of stories about him, like skating into the offensive zone, and then, you know, he skates into the corner or whatever, you know. And it's just, you got to know what to do with the puck when you got it. So, I don't know, I like the move from the Canucks.

I mean, for a fourth round pick. absolutely that's a move that they should be considering they need speed like we've seen what the addition of speed like when max sassen comes in and he looks like the fastest kid alive yeah you know i think that that shows first of all max sasson is a really good skater but also that the connects weren't very fast up front they weren't okay it's time now for one to watch brought to by limitless a v Vancouver's most trusted audio visual integration experts uh there's This is an easy pick. This is an absolute layup.

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Specializing in seamless video conferencing Solutions and Hybrid Workspaces Book your personalized tour of their experience center today At limitlessav.c.c.c. We're not done yet Before we go to break, I need to tell you that in five minutes time at 7.30, you can call in to win a $250 gift card to Golf Town, Jason. Golf Town. This is part of Canada's largest demo club sale, which is going to start online on October 30th and then in store on November 1st.

40% off Taylor Made, Calloway, Cobra, Titleist, Ping, and more. If you want a $250 gift card to Golf Town, Be caller number five at 730. 604-280-0-650 is the number. That number again, 604-280-0-6-50. Caller number five at 730 will win a $250 gift card to Golf Town. You're listening to the Halford & 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 2 on SportsNet 650.

Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 733 on a 733 on a Monday, sports net 6.50. I saved a pressing question. for Woodley. It's something we haven't even gotten into. But normally, if Woodley wasn't on the show,

it would have been like the third or fourth thing we would have said after the Canucks game. I know what question it is. I will admit, I didn't even think about it earlier, but you're right to have held it. It's the right question to hold. Kevin Woodley is going to join us momentarily here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Only a license insolvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees to learn how. Visit sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour two of the program with the midway point of the show. Hour two is brought to by Jason hominock at Jason dot mortgage.

If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around and find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason. Dot mortgage. To the phone lines we go. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingole magazine, a presentation of White Rock Hyundai joins us here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Kev.

How are you? I'm good, I'm good, how are you? I'm waiting with bated breath to hear exactly. I'm going to throw to breath because it's his question. Should Demko start tomorrow against the Rangers? Oh, yeah, of course, why not? Well, I mean, I know we're just like so terrified of overplaying him and like he'd only get one day off to recover.

Is it an obvious decision to start Thatcher Dempco against the Rangers? The biggest question here is, as the performances sort of grow apart between Demko and Lincoln early in the season is do you abandon what has sort of been a two of every three for Demko and start stretching more towards three of every four but at the end of the day going anything beyond that like there's a reason they're starting at roughly two out of every three that's okay we'll give you a chance to pull it together there after my phone decided it didn't like your first question and hung up on you. I, you know, I popped the zinc lozenges, which is what you do when

you're old. And that was evidently a mistake as you're about to go on air. We're talking to Elaine Vigno this morning on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Demko's been their MVP, right? Like, it's clear, correct? I mean, his keeper Sherwood giving him an early run, but he doesn't play in early as much. Yeah, I know he's been good. Like, he's top eight in the league, and he's eight to league and goal save above expected like he's been really good i actually don't know this is like at his absolute best peak performance you know whatever he hates it but the um you know Vegas um series you know we talk about the bubble bubble demko i know he doesn't like that term but like i don't know if we're seeing that yet but it's been really good especially when you

consider all the time he's missed like i said top eight in the league um not giving up a lot of bad ones. I mean, the one to Rosavik last night, it's kind of a mid-danger goal, beaten clean, off a turnover. It's one that, you know, honestly, at his best, he probably gets a piece of, doesn't seal on the Leon Drysidal. One-timer coming across it again, I know they're taught to sort of push along the ice through the hips, not reach with the toes, which keeps the pat on the ice. That's getting super nitpicky. At the end of the day, you're getting a top 10 performance at your number one goal tenor and given everything he's been through over the last couple of years, injury-wise. That's about the best you could have expected. I actually think, you know,

much like that first game against Edmondson, there's going to be nights where, you know, he's even better. And so all of this bodes well. It's just a matter of what do you do to mitigate what is a ridiculous schedule and make sure that a guy who's never made it to the finish line makes it to the finish line. And they're obviously going to be careful with that. That's why they paid Lankin and as much as they did. And so far, like I said, it's been about a, you know, two out of every three gets you to just over 50 games. So that's kind of the pace. I know, I'd be honest with you.

Like when he didn't play, you know, on the road, I put my eyebrow up at the Pittsburgh game. But then you looked at it and you're like, well, Lincoln hasn't had a ton of success against his old team in Nashville. So that made sense. Giving him the second end of the back-to-back rather than the first one.

I mean, you're going to split them anyways. Give them the extra day off in the first one. Like a lot of what they're doing makes sense. and I think you really have to resist the temptation to chase wins at the expense of decreasing the chance you have them at the end of the season. I'm over at Moneypuck right now and it suggests that at 5 on 5

Kevin Lankin isn't playing well, but he's not playing badly either. That, you know, goals saved above expected is like minus point one. We all know the Canucks PKK has been a bit problematic so far this season. What have you thought of Lankan's play so far? Well, when you factor in the PKK situations, it's closer to minus four, and it's 61st of the 68 goalies in the National Hockey League right now.

But I'm kind of with you. The penalty kills expose him, and we talked about this going into the season. Like, if there's one part of his game and the way he plays that's exposable, it's off to the flanks. And I still don't think you can blame them for the goals like the Montreal goals, like the fake and no look that Demidoff gives on the first one to Suzuki off a broken

play. And this is what teams are doing better than ever. The Oilers actually sort of patented this and other teams are picking up on it. It's like, when a loose puck battle, don't reset. It's attack while the other team is out of structure. And so, you know, you get that shot block in front of the net,

Slavkowski, like the way they attacked him in that game, I don't think you blame him. You know, broken play at the front of the net off, Demitoff, and he shoveled it versus Lefkowski, and he still almost got a piece of it. So that is one part of his game that's sort of on the pre-scout for other teams is sort of attack him off the flanks a little bit, especially, you know, off traffic and broken plays, and you can expose him for initial depth in the middle of the ice.

But I'm with you. Like, he's given up, he's basically given up two mid-danger goals and not a single low-danger goal all season. Almost everything he's given up has been high danger. So are you allowed to stop more of those? yes. Has he traditionally? Yes, absolutely. He's getting killed on broken plays right now. In broken plays are when pucks go off legs and bodies in front, there's an element of luck involved in that. There's also an element of you need the guys in front of you to win the battles for those

loose pucks in a lot of those situations. So I still think there's a lot of good things in his game right now and I think some of those bounces will turn and you'll start to see better results. I don't think he's that far off. Like you said, you know, you're back up and not give up bad ones. and he's done that really well this season. It's just need a few more tough six. Jeff from Mission astutely points out that Woodley said himself, Babies eat, save percentage. Is that partly what might be going on here?

I, it's, it's sort of, that's a tough one. It's an ongoing theory. It's a woodleyism. No, it's one of those things. Balak knows he's over there grinning behind the glass. He knows this was a phrase coined. I'm not even, I'm not even going to. I don't know who's coined it first.

Maybe it was Greg. Maybe it was one of my writers, Paul Campbell. Ballick is actually home with his baby today. So it's a ration. There you go. They eat work percentage too. It was one of those things that we sort of notice the trend, like, you know, especially your first.

Like, it's just such a life-changing moment. And so much of bull-tending is about rhythm and routine. And so, no, I don't think that's necessarily it because his game actually looks fine. But, yeah, I mean, he wouldn't be the first guy to sort of have a dip after a newborn. We're speaking to Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingle magazine here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What do you make of all the wheeling and dealing

the Canucks have already done acquiring Lucas Reichel on Friday and then might be doing, there's a lot of rumblings out there that Pavel Zaka could be next, although it sounds like it's not quite close to being done, but the conversations which have been going on all summer

according to Fridge of maybe heated up in the last little bit. Yeah, you have to do something. You have to sort of, you know, it kind of feel. feels like they're sticking the finger in the dam a little bit here and there, and it's understandable given the injuries. Now, you know, injuries to Philip Heedle and Derek Forbert,

and I think Forbert's absence is earning him on the PK. And obviously, we saw what Heidel did in terms of transporting the puck and with pace up the ice and the way he was able to break down teams with his speed. Unfortunately, you know, I remember in the, actually the first preseason game, they barely broke in camp and they were in Seattle for that first preseason. season game and texting a NHL skills coach that was that one being like he could have got killed

three times tonight and the response in the text was you're low with that estimate this is this is part of the experience and same with Derek Forbert like he gives you great minutes when he's there but the reality is over the past couple of seasons like he you know he's being sort of held together

with duct tape and bailing wire and so you can't you're just not going to get a full season and so this is where they're at Um, Reichel, I think we can see the speed, uh, handled himself okay. And I'm obviously better than okay on the draws last night, which is an area that's been a struggle. So they, they filled an obvious and glaring need, at least from a speed element in the middle, even if he's not a center long term. They fill in in the short term at a time when they desperately needed it. And they did it for a future fourth round pick. I, you know, nothing but applause on that one.

At the end of the day, it'll be really, you know, everyone talked about this. I remember saying it sort of in the moment that Brock Besser resigned here, geez, you wonder if the Amanda Cain money would have been better spent with Pew Sitter. And that's the one that's

talking about off-season moves. They made a lot of good ones, but that's the one that seems to be stinging them the most right now, both on the penalty kill and just not having that center depth. But hey, like applause for filling it, for finding a solution at a time when there aren't a lot of solutions available.

It's early. I don't know that he's a top six center long term, but obviously there was a skill there that made him a first round pick. We've seen the speed. We've seen a lot of positive elements. And, you know, credit to this organization and staff, they've done a nice job with, I wouldn't say he's even a project, but they don't just bring guys in and say,

hey, he were once a first round pick, go play like one. Like there's an active process here to helping them, you know, access tools to get better and it starts in the minor leagues and you see it with all the guys that were on the call to cup team that are now contributing at the nchl level and you know you got to tip your hat to that um what do you expect the atmosphere to be like inside rogers arena Tuesday when j t miller and the new york rangers return yeah i really don't know like i hadn't actually thought of that until now um and we won't have to think about it from a writing perspective until Tuesday because the rangers aren't practice here and J.T. won't speak to it until morning skate on Tuesday. I think we might hear a lot of J.T. Miller chance. I mean, he was incredibly popular here.

And it's interesting, like, as much as it had to happen, and Jim Rutherford has talked about that, and as much as you can, you know, question in retrospect the way it all went. At the end of the day, to me, it just feels like, wow, like these two guys,

for whatever reasons, contributed to a real, wasted opportunity because we saw what they were capable of together. We saw what that power play looked like. We saw what that group looked like chasing Edmondson to seven games with their third string goalie in the second round. And you just thought it was the start of something special. And, you know, I know one of the questions that he'll get on Tuesday is like, like, is there any sort of, as much as I'm sure he's moved on and he's a captain of the Rangers now, like, is there any sense of, you know, what could have been here if these two had just been able to make it work?

here's my prediction I've thought about this over the weekend I think we're going to get competing chance You know like when Are we going to have a Let's Go Petey versus a J.T. Miller? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like over the weekend there are a ton of Habs fans in the building That's the most Habs fans I've seen in Vancouver

In a long, long time I mean, when I first started going to Canucks games Back in the 80s, it was like It was mostly Habs fans at the Pacific Coliseum A ton of Euler fans there last night But Saturday was, but, you know, I'm just talking about like competing chance. Like I know that we're competing Go Habs Go versus Go Canucks Go. I think we might see that because, to his credit over the weekend,

I think Patterson might have had his most encouraging back-to-back performance in a long, long time. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, they kind of told us that it wouldn't be a snap of the fingers thing with him. and it looks like it's coming along like one and two on Saturday night that's the first three point game he's had in what like 10 months he had won all of last season

I think I heard Batch saying in the pregame show yesterday as I was stuck on Canby Street trying to get to the rig great job with the White Caps game getting out at the same time the Cadoc started by the way excellent planning the it was

it was and it's been turning that way for a while and so that's a real positive for this day there were actually a lot of positive on the weekend for this team, despite all the injuries, you know, a little bit in terms of process. They're, I will say this, like, they're still near the very bottom of the NHL when it comes to creating high danger chances, but they're higher up this list when it comes to creating mids. And they got a lot of guys on this team that are good at finishing mid danger chances.

Like, Keeper Sherwood off the rush, the first one that doesn't count. Those types of things, like, not a lot of guys score from there. And they've got guys that do. And so it comes to the point where they get punished sort of in the analytics. It's like, ah, they're not creating high danger chances. But they do have guys, including Pedersen, who have shots that can finish. And I know they're on a PDO heater. And, hey, part of that's going to be your goaltending.

Like, say percentage is in that. And Demko's a part of it. And so that will always be high. And so you look at some of their finishers, like they're, you know, in addition to Patterson, you're right. He had to hit a really good weekend. And I thought there were some process, better signs, especially when you consider where they are with the injuries.

Outside of the penalty kill, really, there was a lot to love for the Vancouver Canucks on a weekend that could have very easily coming off the road trip and with the injuries and the nature of it in the back-to-back and all they've played gone the other way. Dustin Wolfe, is he starting to find his game a little bit? Yeah, two of the last three have been really good. Man, that's tough. tough way to live when you know that one or two is one or two too many right like we talked about

that with john gives it in an Anaheim for years i remember ryan miller going down there and talking to him about like just how hard it is when every time you go out there you know your team might not score more than one like knowing that you have to be perfect maybe to win is a really tough thing mentally and it's up to wolf to not think about it but certainly that's uh the environment he finds himself in it was a tough tough start for him statistically we talk about those open looks You think back to that first game against the Caducs and starting him in the second half of back to back to start the season and, you know,

Besser from the top of the circles, that's a great shot. That's not a high danger chance. Even Lickramackery from the dots on a sweeping one time, sort of sweeping one T. That's not really a high danger chance. It was the same side pass from below the net. And those are the kind that you look at it. You're like, oh, like that hurts him statistically.

He's underwater, like, from an expected, say, percentage standpoint. But the way he plays for a small goal, like, he does not take a lot of ice. And so those are areas of the ice that they have to protect better. Middle, high slot. And when I looked up the numbers last week

for my weekly hit in Calgary, they were worst in the league. So that's the one area of exposure in his game, and it happens to be an area that they are defending extremely poorly. I think him finding his game and them starting to tighten up in that area are not a coincidence.

Hey, this happened over a week ago now, but I wanted to get your thoughts on Anthony Stolars in Toronto because I remember watching that game against the Cracken and he gets run over I think it was Matheson that ran him over and Stolars went nuts like he was pushing the goal off and then who was it was a was a Carlo

that was the Leafs defenseman just standing there and he was like doing nothing and then after the game Stolars kind of criticized the team and said we need to be better. I'm just wondering your thoughts on that situation. And, I mean, while we're out, Dustin Wolf kind of said something the other day

where he was like, well, I can't, yeah. Goleys are getting emboldened? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What's over with these goalies calling out their, calling out their team? And who do you guys think you are? To about time we found their voice, I'll tell you, most of them just tell me off the record,

defensemen are all idiots. So, you know, maybe they'll get, no, I'm kidding. I'm kidding, folks. Um, that Dustin Wolf thing is a prime example of being taken out of context. It was literally what I just talked about. He's basically like, like, I can't score goals so I can't think about it. Like, and he can't.

Like, he can't go into every game being like, we're not going to score. And that was sort of the way he said it. Like it's, it wasn't a, not my fault thing, but that's how it got portrayed. I saw it all over social media and, you know, clipped to the point there was no context left. It was big, you know, so that one, I'll give him a pass on Stollers. It's funny because I thought he was critical of the way the team played. And a lot of it came out as him being critical of them not defending him. And when I went back and listened to it and looked at what he said,

it was more to me about the way the team was playing overall, which hasn't been good enough. But that's the risk, right? Like, that's why when the Canucks named Luongo Captain, their goalie coach at the time thought it was a really bad idea because it's really tough for goalies to speak to team performance and shine a brighter spotlight on a position that's always in the spotlight. Like, it's just a really tough thing to do.

teams don't tend to like it or react well to it. And so it was interesting to see him take that risk as a guy who, you know, just re-signed, but, you know, has only been there short term compared to some of the, you know, longstanding, much higher paid veterans on the Leafs. And I didn't hate it in terms of what he said because I've been looking at their process and you talk about something that's starting to head the wrong direction. And that would be the Toronto Maple Leafs at the start of this season. But so he wasn't wrong, but at the same time,

I just feel like there's enough of a spotlight on the position and creating headlines and adding to it yourself, just probably not the best way to go. I mean, again, we live through it here, right? Like the sea on the mask, that was a mistake. That was a mistake because it put Roberto Luongo in a position to have to answer questions about how his teammates were playing in front of him.

And goaltending never exists in a vacuum. It is always a function of how your teammates, play in front of you. And goalies know it. They know on nights when it's not their fault, they can't say that. They know on nights where they saved everyone, they can't say that. It's always about crediting the teammates. This is how you handle it.

You credit the teammates when they do good things and you win and you accept the blame when you lose. Not everybody subscribes to it, but that's the easiest way to keep your head down out of the headlines and that's the way most of them go about it. Actually, frankly, to be honest with you, we're four teams that have yet to talk to a goalie. So mostly they just don't talk. Kev this is great buddy thanks for taking the time to do it as always we appreciate it enjoy the game tomorrow night it will be a lot of fun we'll do this again not next week but the week following perfect thanks guys thank you Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingole magazine on sports net 650 is a presentation of white rock hunday visit the showroom on king george in white rock or white rock hundy dot com okay uh we are going to go into the final hour of the show before we do so we got another giveaway

on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet. Another one? Another giveaway. We just gave away a $250 gift card to Golf Town. Now we're giving away tickets to see the foo fighters with Queens of the Stone Age and gouge away. It's crazy all the giveaways. Food fighters. Like Eric Carlson.

September 20th, 206. It's like a year away. The concert is at BC Place. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, this Friday, October 31st of 10 a.m. That's Halloween, but you can win tickets right now. Be caller number 5 at 8 a.m. That's in five minutes time. The number, 604, 280, 0650.

That number again, 604, 280, 0650. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. We'll win a pair of tickets to see the food fighters with Queens of the Stone Age and gouge away next September, September 20th, 206 at BC Place. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.