Halford & Brough in the Morning - Dhaliwal With A Canucks Update + What We Learned

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason get the latest Canucks news from Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal (1:09), the boys tell us what they learned (27:00), plus it's Ask Us Anything Friday! (40:00) 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.

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802 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by a Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for,

sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour three of the program. Rick Dollywall is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star google reviews sore feet what are you waiting for kintec our next guest is a regular contributor to fan 590 in toronto they call him toronto rick rick dolly joins us now on the halford and breath show on sportsnet 650 what up rick yeah this kipper guy called yesterday and i was uh i was like, wow, wow. I've never done Toronto radio before in my life. I know you guys have, but I was like, okay, let's give it a shot.

It was okay. I felt like you were kind of sucking up to the Toronto guys a little bit. I heard the start of it. I was like, oh, Kipper, I read your book, and I'm born. You played in the BCHL, didn't you? Greatest league in the world. You got to loosen these guys up, Ruff. You got to loosen them up. You know, you got to read his book.

I will say one thing. I've been hanging around hockey players since 1990, and I love hockey players, but the ones I like the most are the ones that are undrafted but make the league two, three, four years later. And, like, for me, I just love undrafted players because you know what? They just never give up perseverance

and they make it despite not getting drafted. I just have a lot of respect for those guys. And I do. I have to be honest with you. I just love long shot undrafted stories. I could read them all day. I read a lot of books mostly on guys that weren't drafted just to get in their brain on why they didn't quit

when they didn't get drafted, you know, all that stuff. So I'm a big believer in that. I really am. I just hope your love for Toronto doesn't come between you and Donnie. Well, I went to the Hockey Night Canada studios last Saturday and met Ron McLean, who's obviously us in the broadcast industry. I know there's people in Vancouver that don't like Ron McLean. I get it. I get it. But as a broadcaster, I've been watching him since the 80s. It was a pleasure to meet him. And he's obviously a guy that I look up to. And I just I think he's one of the best in the business.

I think he's one of the best Canada's ever produced. And take away your hate for him because he might have said something bad for the Canucks. But when I put my broadcasting hat on, that is a guy who has had the longevity. You cannot have longevity in our industry if you are not good. And Ron McLean's what in his fourth, fifth decade. He keeps going and he keeps going and he keeps going because he's really, not good. And Ron McLean's what in his fourth, fifth decade, he keeps going and he keeps going and he keeps going because he's really, really good. So I don't care whether somebody likes somebody or not,

but always respect the job. And I will always respect Ron McLean. And meeting him last Saturday was absolutely a treat for me. Okay, Rick, let's get into what happened last night during the Canucks game. Thatcher Demko had to leave the game. The Canucks are saying it's back spasms. Are you hearing the same or are you hearing anything different? No, I heard last night it's not super serious story and he should be okay. So that was the story of the game for me, guys. Look, 749 left

second period, a collision with Julsen. And please, those people ripping Julsen for getting Demko Hurt, stop. He was getting his man. It was actually Demko that skated into Julsen. I mean, like, really? He was just getting his man in front of the net. By the way, that was Demko's sixth game since returning from that nine-month injury. So it could be a game or two.

You already are missing Hughes, Pettersson, and Aronik. The last thing in this world this team needs is Demko. But Lankanen, to the rescue again, comes in cold in Seattle. So I'm going to ask you guys, because this is going to get interesting here in the next few weeks. So where is this Canucks team without Lankanen? They can officially sign him now. It's getting to the point where they may have to go out of their comfort zone

to re-sign this guy. Find a way, because I don't think there's anybody in Abbotsford ready to be a full-time backup next year. Sure, they can go out and get a cheap backup, but with the uncertainty of Demko's health, how can the Canucks let this guy go? Because he can go to July 1st, Lankanen might want an opportunity where he's the starter if he continues to play like this for the rest of the season.

What kind of deal do you think he could get? Let's cut to the chase here. Throw out, if you can, a ballpark contract for what he would be reasonably asking for. Okay. So because we're only halfway through the year, Jason, it could be tough. But here's what I'll tell you. I believe my heart. His camp, he was looking for close to $2 million or $2 million on the market. Didn't get it, right? And then I heard the number one five. So that's something they were already looking for. Let's start with a base of two.

Now he's had this incredible year. Everybody around the league notices him. Look, he's going to get a big raise, and he's going to get term. He didn't get those two things from the Canucks. And the Canucks got one hell of a deal when they signed him. They're not getting a hell of a deal again. I can see him up in the three, five range, maybe three, four years. I'm just guessing. But here's the other thing, Jason, how about if he keeps playing like this? What's his worth at the end of the season if he keeps on this hot streak that he's

hot? Maybe it's higher higher but it's really hard to come up with a number when the guy um is essentially uh you know only played a half season there's other factors here i want to get into as well when it comes to lankan you got to throw in the fact that demko can be re-signed on july 1st would lankan and want to re-sign here knowing demko could get a long-term deal. Teams in the NHL now are investing more in goaltending. They're scared if they don't. What happens when your starter goes down for a lengthy period? Florida spent $13 million in goalies when they won the cup. I know $10 million was tied up with one guy, but you get what I'm getting at. Very interesting to see what happens

with Lankanen. To sign Lankanen, the Canucks are going to have to go to a number they're uncomfortable with because this regime in the past has not liked paying for backup goalies. If they re-sign Lankanen, they're going to have to go to a number that they're not happy with. That's just the bottom line. And I'm going to tell you something else. It would be a whole lot easier to sign Lankanen if OEL wasn't making over $4 million to not play here next year. Yeah, it's going to be a big decision for them to make. And so is the Besser contract. What are you hearing about that, if anything?

Yeah, there is some stuff there. We're in January, guys. No deal. I checked in earlier this week. I was told there's a lot of work to do before a new deal is done with Besser. Besser turns 28 next month, right, guys? Term's going to be an issue. Do the Canucks want to go past five years? Besser's not the fastest guy in the world,

but he compensates for his lack of speed with hockey sense and a great shot. He's always in the right spot for rebound goals, tip-in goals. He's always giving the guy with the puck a good option for a pass. I wonder if the Canucks worry about his foot speed when he's 34, 35, 36. Guys who score goals always do well on July 1st. They just do. I've talked to agents who have had guys with assists and points, but I've been told over and over again,

the guy that does the best on July 1st is always the guy that can score. With the NHL trading deadline March 7th, the Canucks probably have their date as to when they need to get a deal done with Besser. If no deal by then, they have no choice. They got to move them. Like you can't let this guy, keep this guy, not get anything for him. And I guess they could, if he does go to July 1st,

I guess you could always take a staff at him on July 1st, but I don't know, but I just know that there's work to do. He's turning 28 next month. And if, if they had, if they, if both sides, Jason, like the term and the money, it would have been done by now. Yeah, when you say there's work to be done, are you saying they're pretty far apart right now? I wouldn't say pretty far. I just said the way it was described to me, there's work to do before it's done. Hey, look, we're January 2nd, 3rd, or whatever it is today.

Look, they essentially could have talked last July 1st. Yeah. Like, it's not like... There's been time. Yeah. It's not like they don't know what the other side wants. But I certainly, and my gut tells me that term is an issue. Like, I would be very surprised if the Canucks went to eight years with Besser.

Yeah. Rick, is part of it the Canucks not really knowing what they've got in their team right now? What do you mean? Well, I mean, look, the Canucks are a bit of a mess right now. I don't know if you've noticed. So, you know, the decision to extend Besser, it might be one of these things where like, do we need to change course here? And if we commit to Besser, then that's another player that we've committed to, which makes it tougher to change course. Absolutely. That's a great point.

And I'll tell you something else. Up to this date, the Canucks have had a very easy schedule. I know after tonight, they are going to feel it. The rest of January is tough. What this team looks like at the end of January is going to be very interesting to me because the NHL trading deadline is going to be a month away. Like what they come out of this month after the Capitals twice, the Oilers twice, the Jets, the Stars, they got some tough games coming up.

And you know what? The days of the easy schedule are over for these guys what do they look like at the end of january like that's what's going to be telling for me because the trade deadline is going to be effectively five weeks away at the end of the trade deadline look last year everything went right for them right and last year nothing went wrong the opposite is happening this year you know people ask me why they haven't traded their first round pick well Rutherford traded his first and second last year because he thought he had a shot at the Stanley Cup can you tell me

they have a shot at the Stanley Cup right now because you you really only cough up those types of picks because you think you got a shot at the cup like i mean i mean they're right now uh fighting for that second wild card spot and the way vegas is going and the way the la kings are going like i don't see them catching either one of those two teams like the owners are kind of up and down uh one week but i'll tell you the way the kings are playing and the and the vegas is playing i i don't see them catching him. Look, Besser's very simple. If you lose him, how do you replace the goals? He got 40 last year, seven in the playoffs,

and four of those were with a broken finger. He's scoring at a good clip again. It looks like his clip could be over 30. Bottom line is you got to pay for goal scores. They got a decision to make on Besser. Either do it or move him. Rick, I saw some pictures on your Toronto trip. I saw some pictures of you with, you know, the likes of Ron McLean.

And then you were wearing your best button-down hoodie, I see. And there's a picture of you with Elliot Friedman in the Sportsnet studio. So I imagine you might have had quite a bit to talk to about Elliot, about the Miller and Pedtersson situation in Vancouver. And I know you wanted to talk about that today. I do, because there's a lot of points to make here. Because, you know, the media, we get it, right? You know, there's so many lunatics on Twitter. We get it.

But I want to say this. This may be impossible, but the canucks need to simmer down the noise there literally are the talk of the nhl for the wrong reasons thanks to the gm ripping his highest paid player three months into an eight-year deal and threatening a trade i'm glad that ex canuck brad richardson came out and talked about those issues in a podcast and for those who say the media makes stuff up there's a guy in the dressing room that told you that there were issues the funniest thing about brad richardson he only played 17 games for the canucks that year and he had some pretty detailed stuff on petterson and miller elvin accomplished

two things with that interview a message to petterson to get going or else and a message to the rest of the league to see if more teams will call on him so vancouver has some options in case they move them now teams will keep calling canucks will keep listening in case they decide to move one of them down the road but right now the goal may be to keep both the rangers and the canucks are talking about a lot of things not just miller there's pieces on both rosters both teams are interested in. I've said for two years, the Canucks have liked Alex Lafreniere and Braden Snyder. This regime likes those two players. I also wonder if teams would back off on Miller due to his ongoing

situation with Pedersen. Are some teams kind of, you know, do we get this guy? You know, he's got these issues, you know, with another player in guy? You know, he's got these issues, you know, with another player in a dressing room. I wonder about that situation as well. I want to get to Miller. I was told last night, cool the Jets on the Miller stop. A, he hasn't asked for a trade. I've been saying for weeks, if the Canucks move Miller,

it'll be Vancouver being proactive, not the other way around. B, there's a report that he's got a favorite city he would waive his no-trade clause to. I was told last night he does not have a favorite city where he would waive his no-trade clause to. And C, he is just focused on playing for the Vancouver Canucks. When you talk to people around the league, not many think the Canucks will have the you-know-what to move Pedersen.

A 26-year-old top six center who's got 440 career points in 441 games. They just need him to be a difference maker, and he's not one. He's not one right now. I'll say this. The agents for some of the biggest names on the Canucks

are getting a kick out of some of the reporting these days. Some pretty wild stuff being reported. But thanks to Alvin ripping Pedersen, these rumors won't go away and the Canucks can thank themselves. That's the bottom line. Like if this, if the Petey Miller thing had died down

and now it's exploded again because the GM ripped Pedersen. One other thing I was going to ask you guys about, I was thinking about this yesterday. If Chris Tan had never left Vancouver, let's say he never went to Calgary, a guy like him would never let this Miller-Pedersen thing fester as long as it has.

But I think the club is really surprised that it's a thing again this year. And I think that, you know, it is. But they've got to find, now that the national media is all over it, you know, where's Miller going, where's Pedersen going, this thing ain't going to stop. It's like a runaway train right now. I'm going to put you on the spot here, Rick.

You might hate me for this, but who is more likely to get moved, Pedersen or Miller? You always keep the younger guy. And you always keep the younger guy. And you always keep the younger guy. And he's younger, by the way, by five years. And the other thing is Pedersen can still be. But we're in this position today because he's not a difference maker. The GM had to go and blast him.

Exactly. That's why. We're in this position today, and his name's out there because the club is not happy. He signed for 11-6, and he signed for eight years, and he's not a difference maker, and they need him to be a difference maker. And that's why we're here.

But the bet and the hedge would be that he's going to return to being a difference maker, the 100-point guy we know, and he's got many years to figure it out. Can you imagine the pressure on him, though, if they trade Miller? And they're like, okay, well, you had a problem with him? Fine. We got rid of a fan favorite for you. Heart and soul guy.

And I'll tell you, it's just like Brad Richardson said. I love Miller. Everybody loves Miller. Hey, I told you guys, when I talked to the American team of the Four Nations, they gush about Miller. They said to me, we need guys like him when we play Canada, the Four Nations. They love him.

Everybody loves the heart and soul Miller guy, but he's also six years, five years older. And if the Canucks do decide one day to move one, obviously you've got to take the young guy who's a top six center, but you've got to have, like Pedersen's got to show them, hearing that when he comes back from an injury, that he can return to his old form. But the other thing I want to know is like, Pedersen's got to show them, hearing that when he comes back from an injury, that he can return to his old form. But the other thing I want to know is,

what does Pedersen think of Alvin's comments? It would really, really be nice to know what he thought about the GM, you know, tuning fine, you know, blasting on him. You know? Like, I mean, okay, so, you know, we know he shut his social media down this year, right? We know that there's been a million rumors, right? He was going to go to Buffalo for Cousins and Byram, right?

He is seeing all this stuff, and now he sees the GM blast him. What's his thoughts? What's he thinking about the GM blasting him? Yeah, we'd like to see some sort of reaction. Let's finish this on hopefully a positive. Yes, it is. Or at the very least, maybe a funny moment because you were texting with who?

What's his name? No, no. Oh, you weren't. Wrong name. Oh, you weren't texting with Sam Alam? Sam Alam is the Swedish Four Nations coach. Oh, darn it. Okay, you were.

You guys had Black Betty ready? Oh, I screwed it up. Okay, but you were texting. Who is the Swedish World Juniors coach that you were texting with about Tom Willander? Hold on. Magnus. Oh, boy. Havlid.

Oh, that's kind of boring. Okay. Can you do me a favor? Sure. Just have, going out with me today, just give me some Black Betty. Give me some Black Betty. Okay, well, we got regular Zach in. So, all right, regular Zach, you might have to find that.

Tell us about what the guy without the funny name says about Tom Willander. First of all, Willander's had a very good world junior for Sweden. Patrick Alvijn is there to watch him today in the semis. It's, you know, it's the medal games. The GMs want to see their draft picks to sell, not the preliminary games, okay? Anybody can excel in the preliminary games. The one knock on Willander is he doesn't provide

as much offense you would like from a high pick. One scout in Ottawa told me his stick's been very active at the Worlds. He's been impressed with that part of his game. There is room for growth, but he's still very young. I was texting with Swedish coach Magnus Havlitt this morning. Havlitt said to me

he is very happy with Will Lander. He's given him a ton of ice, power play, PK. He's a leader on and off the ice. One of his captains, smart two-way player, competes hard on every ship. Here's what I wanted to tell you. When it comes to Will Lander's future, I will be very surprised if Willander does not sign with the Canucks after a season is over

with Boston University. Most people you talk with say he is pro-ready. I don't think the plan was to play three years at a university, but time will tell. We're a few months away from that decision. The Canucks are looking for a top four defenseman, and you know teams are asking for Willander in return Canucks won't do it there's a real good reason Willander can patrol that he can patrol that right side in Vancouver for a lot

of years to come after Hughes the Canucks don't have a drafted defenseman on this roster and that's it it's Hughes and the rest were acquired uh by either waiver wire free agency july 1st trade whatever that's not good you need more than one drafted defenseman on your roster it's time to change that but i think the future looks bright for tom o'lander i think this kid's going to be a good one uh this wasn't on your list but uh what did you think of uh canada losing at the world juniors another defenseman that's been drafted by the Canucks Sawyer Minio was on uh that Canadian team uh didn't play a huge role in it although I'm not sure anyone on the Canadian team outside of the goalie played a huge role in

it yeah I'm just not happy with the whole week uh I just thought you know picking the selection of the team caused, when you have so many people that are pissed off with your selections, there were some kids in the Western Hockey League, there's one in Kelowna, that Crystal, that was just ignored.

And I think at the time, he was leading the entire CHL in scoring. Like, look, politics will forever run in the game of hockey. And, you know, minor hockey, and you're in minor hockey, I put two kids through minor hockey, I could write a book on the game of hockey. And, you know, minor hockey, and you're in minor hockey. I put two kids through minor hockey. I could write a book on politics in minor hockey.

But the politics don't end in minor hockey. They continue in junior and they continue in pro. But some of the selections this team made and the amount of uproar in those selections, right off the bat, like people were saying, the wrong team was picked. And then the head coach, okay, who's to blame for all the penalties? Okay, the coach's job is to have a good disciplined team. They took way too many penalties. And sometimes you can blame the ref,

but sometimes you just got to flat out say too many dumb penalties. And I thought they just put themselves in. The coach took one of the dumb penalties yesterday with that stupid challenge. Exactly, exactly. And the coach, I don't think he's going to be coaching. I don't think Dave Cameron's going to be back. Might be it for Dave Cameron. Yeah. I don't think he's going to be coaching again.

But on home soil, it's tougher. If you're in Czechoslovakia or Finland, you're anywhere. The Czech Republic and Canada does this, and you're okay with buying, you know, come home. But when you do it on does this, and you're okay, fine, come home. But when you do it on home ice in a big crowd in Ottawa, the anticipation is gold medal, the expectation is gold medal,

and just to lay an egg like that, you're just sitting back going, is it time for a summit? Is it time for a summit? Yeah. I don't know. They can have one if they want. Yeah, go ahead. Sure.

Rick, always fun to chat with you on a Friday. Don't leave us for Toronto. I know you love it there. I know. I got some good friends there. I'm starting to love the city of Toronto. I love the highways, the roads. I love the quietness. I'm starting to love the city. I'm I love the highways, the roads. I love the quietness. I'm starting to

love the city. I'm starting, I'm not going to lie to you. I don't like the suits in Toronto, but I like, you know, and what they've done to Radio Vancouver. You know, we got 3am radio stations that are dead because of idiotic moves back east. I don't like that part of it, but I'm starting to, I'm going back in the summer. I'm starting to like the city. I'm not going to lie to you. Rick, we've got one final thing before we let you go. Take it away, Zach.

Oh! Oh! I'm moving my feet. See you, buddy. Rick Dollywell, everyone. Another powerhouse hit on the Halford and Brough show. No phone slam? Nothing?

No. Nothing? He's on his cell today. He's on his cell. Yeah, he can't really slam his cell phone. He just throws it across the street. Yeah. Rick's like, I broke my cell phone.

That's why you always get those texts from Dollywall. It's like, I have a new phone. It's because he tried to slam his cell. Okay. I hope the Toronto part gets, you know, like that creates a bit of a rift. Donnie gets really mad at him. Can you imagine? It's just like, oh, like that creates a bit of a rift. Donnie gets really mad at me. Can you imagine? It's just like, oh, now there's a rift in the media.

Oh, the fans would love that. Yeah, started by Petey and Miller. Started the whole thing. Petey calls a press conference. Yeah, yeah. Hey, you guys checking this out? To see this rift? Yeah.

Okay. Pretty cool rift, eh? We're up against it for time. When we come back, we're going to do what we learned and ask us anything. We're going to give away the $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on his Broadway. We have not anointed the winner yet. If you want to get in hashtag it, WWL for what we learned and AUA for ask us anything.

Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Finally, before we go to break, I need to tell you a little bit more about Rogers Xfinity TV. HGTV has a new address and all the latest HGTV shows are now available on channel 409. You can find them on Rogers Xfinity TV. One final half hour coming up.

You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Big Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets. Weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Kelownafarnia.

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Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, 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 in Hour 3 of the program. It is what we learn time. Hour 3 is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound.

Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. It's time for us to do our What We Learns. I have two, so I'm actually going to start and I will finish. I'm going to start with I did not realize this, but Curtis Rourke,

University of Indiana quarterback, good Canadian kid, brother of Nathan Rourke. Did you know, Jason, that he played this entire past season at Indiana on a torn ACL? I did hear that. Yeah. His agent, Casey Muir, confirmed this this week, and then Three Down Nation confirmed that he re-tore it in August.

He had torn it two years ago when he was playing at Ohio. Played the entire season on a torn ACL wearing a knee brace. He's like Mikheyev. Threw for, yeah, except he performed pretty well. Threw for 3,000 yards, 29 touchdowns, just five interceptions. I guess it makes sense why he missed some time down the stretch. Yeah, is he going to get drafted? Yes.

You think so? For sure? Even with that injury? According to the reported three-down nation, this isn't actually going to hurt his draft stock. It might actually help his draft stock because he's going in for ACL revision surgery, not repair.

Is that when they change the history of the ACL? That's right. They just rewrite everything. I guess things have been good the whole time. And they were saying that this might actually endear him more to NFL teams because they will see and respect him for proving his toughness playing through a torn ACL. All right.

Give us a mookow on that. What is your other one? Well, I was going to go last. Zach, you've got one, right? I do, yes. Regular Zach. The Team Canada World Junior loss. I was going to go last. Zach, you've got one, right? I do, yes. Regular Zach. The Team Canada World Junior loss.

The last time Canada finished outside the top four in the World Juniors in back-to-back years, they lost to West Germany. Wow. Which really says something about how long it's been since this kind of performance. When was that? 1980 and 1981 is the last years they went back-to-back outside the top four. This is like Rick still referring to it as Czechoslovakia. Yes, exactly like that. It's not even close.

He's had two name changes since then. Yeah, so 1980 and 81. I was wondering, so it's back-to-back fifth-place finishes for the Canadians, right? Last year and this year. And, you know, Rick— They lost to Czechoslovakia in both years, too. Right. I was like, it's so many different names since then, Rick. But, you know, he lost to Czechoslovakia in both years. Right. I was like, it's so many different names since then, Rick.

But, you know, just press on. He said, oh, you know, is it time for a summit? And I know earlier in the show you said they're still turning out high end talent and first round picks and first overall picks at a pretty rapid pace. These individual tournament performances, you know, I went over this yesterday. I think there's a lot of different reasons why the tournament and Canada is in the state that they're in. You can't point to one particular thing. There are a lot of different reasons why. Yeah.

All I know is that traditionally, Hockey Canada has hit the panic button and done the summit thing. I think if they were to do that this time, they'd be like, there's a lot of issues at play. There's a lot of different reasons why this isn't going well. I just think they need to reflect on the type of team they chose. I don't think you need, I mean, there are existential issues

with hockey and its affordability. That's what I'm saying. You go down that road. I mean, you go down that road, that's a whole thing that expands to not just hockey, but other sports, the monetization of youth sports. That's a whole thing.

How about you just pick the best players available? Like, it's that simple. You have your best players, you bring them to your tournament, and you hope it works out. It's a short tournament. It ain't the Stanley Cup. Get together, bring your best guys, and maybe you'll win. It's not complicated.

Like, that's all you got to do. All the other teams do it. It's just Team Canada that does this. You should leave the summit and just be like, hey, dog, what do you think about Andrew Cristal? I always call him Cristal. Well, it's just because they've done this before

and it doesn't always work. So just pick your best players. If you're sitting at home and they're not in the tournament. They've also won a lot of gold medals. Yeah, but it doesn't matter. Having role players. It doesn't matter, man.

If your best players are sitting at home, you got to bring them. That's all it is. Listen, I'm not going to push back too hard on this particular year. It's like they're overthinking it or something. It's like it's not that complicated. I'm not going to push back.

I'll put the team together next year. All right. You put together the team. You go do all this kind of... I'm not going to push back too hard on this year in particular in terms of some of the guys that were left off. They clearly lacked firepower,

and they clearly lacked creativity out there. They weren't creating scoring chances, and that's a problem. It was both the forwards and the back end. Yeah, they had an injury on the back end, but you should have more than one competent puck mover among all those great Canadian defensemen in in junior hockey but I think there's a balance there you don't just pick all the top scorers and go like there you go guys you do need to fill out roles on a team but I think they probably went not even probably definitely went with too many of the kind of high motor high energy type of

guys that are frankly probably going to be at best like third liners in the nhl they needed some more high-end talent i did i did have a working theory last night that the reason that canada kept taking all these penalties and were so undisciplined is because the motors were too high they were running around trying to hit people but because there's no hitting in junior hockey anymore, they didn't know how. So they knew that they wanted to run around and make a difference physically, but they didn't have enough practice hitting people.

And then when they tried to execute it, they were terrible at it. Well, they didn't have any practice. Yeah. They arrested Dave. I mean, the latter had one full hitting practice where it's like,

just hit. I mean, the last, the last penalty that they took was a penalty. And I i was i was laughing because some people were like yeah but the czechia guy tried to get out of the way and that's it was like yeah because he had the puck he was trying to get around him that's right like that's what you do what are you supposed to skate right into him and and he got neat and he got tripped and guess what that's a penalty it's a reckless play but it was sloppy like their hits were sloppy.

I think that hit adds credence to my theory because there was no need or reason to chase that hit at that moment. And it was almost like a guy that was trying to do the right thing by playing to the energy and we're going to beat

these guys up and we're going to make them pay. But he just didn't have enough experience doing it. It jordan tutu back in the day all right give us a yeah give us a moocow there uh okay one final one you got to get going here yeah the winter classic had the smallest television audience in the history of the winter classic yeah conor bernard was like good good. Yeah, please. And still almost a million people watched it. He's like, that's a lot. But 920,000 viewers across TNT and TruTV.

It was on Christmas Eve, wasn't it? It was on New Year's Eve. Sorry, New Year's Eve. But usually it's New Year's Day, right? Yep. So that probably didn't help. Two o'clock. It was basically, for us in Vancouver, it was two o'clock on a Tuesday.

As far as I'm concerned, it's dead as a TV thing. It sucks. People have seen it before. It's not a novelty anymore. I have no interest in watching it for the spectacle. Not even if it's Canucks cracking? Yeah, because it's a Canucks game.

I'd watch it. But I don't sit there and go, wow. Yeah, I know. It's losses, losses game. I'd watch it, but I don't sit there and go, wow. Yeah, I know. It's losses, losses. 60,000 people are, wow, they're playing in a place where normally there's a baseball game. You know, like, wow, like that's gone.

For everyone, it's gone. I think you and I, now hindsight and everything, and given that this event is kind of petering out, we might have gone to the best ever Winter Classic. We 100% did at the Big House. Yeah. That was the high watermark. Yeah. That was awesome. That was the high water mark.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not only the attendance, which was 100,000. That was a spectacle. The teams, it was Toronto and Detroit. And spectacle-wise, the colors looked good because of the fans in the crowd. It was blue and red in the crowd. And there was just a sprinkling of snow, too. Yeah, it was awesome.

It was perfect and and uh yeah i i don't really you know like i i get why they are gonna continue to do these things because they make money i mean think of the gate revenue for um the winter classic uh at wrigley i mean there's a conor mardard after the game said a lot of people paid a lot of money to watch us do that against the St. Louis Blues, and I feel bad about that. So they're not going to stop that, but I don't think we have to worry too much about whether or not it's a TV spectacle anymore.

It's just not. Yeah, well, we don't have to worry about it, because as you said, 100% isn't lowest ever in winter classic history. Moo, count me, Zach. Fire up that dot matrix. Print out some humanoid submissions for what we learned uh what we learned as always brought to you by aj's pizza on east broadway sink into their traditional new york pizza or their famous detroit style any day of the week go by on sunday happy hour all day visit them aj's pizza or aj's dot

pizza on the internet okay we'll do a couple quick what we learns here and then get to our ask us anything that won the hundred dollar gift card rob and suri with what we learned what i've learned after going to plant climate pledge for the canucks game last night is that owner canucks ownership needs to find a way to give us some more breathing room in both the upper and lower concourses at Rogers Arena. I still haven't been to Climb Up Pledge Arena. I went to the original Seattle Center Coliseum or whatever it was called. And I think it's changed a little bit.

Yeah, but that's going to be tough at Rogers Arena. It's tight. It's tight. Very tight. It's tight physically. You know, like it's crammed in between, you know, roads and buildings and, you know, very tight. It's tight physically. It's crammed in between roads and buildings. Let's bring in a reno.

I've never. They might have to do a renovation on it at some point. Rogers. Yeah, Rogers Arena. It's getting a little tired. I've never been good with the name. Not that I don't like Climate Pledge, but I've either called it Climate Change Arena. Let's call it Lemon Pledge Arena.

Or Lemon Pledge Arena. We need more Lemon Pledge. Have you been to it yet? Nope. Yeah, it's actually crazy we haven't been down to. You know what? I'm going down to Seattle next weekend. Maybe I'll take a tour.

I'm waiting for you guys to take Laddie and I to a game. Sorry. In Seattle? Yeah. Where is this? You're not our children, you know? We take you on for one Christmas dinner. I have a family.

Yeah. It's just like, we do it. It's just like, oh, can a laddie and a dog come? Hey guys. Sitting in the back seat. Do you guys need boosters? Are we there yet? Uh, what we learned from basketball, Phil, and I knew he was going to text in about this.

What we learned that Jimmy Butler officially wants out of Miami and I expect it to happen soon. So I was kind of asking Halford about this yesterday. I was like, what is going on with Jimmy Butler and Jimmy Butler's agent and Pat Riley and shams from ESPN? Like this whole thing seems like a real soap opera. And, and most importantly, what is going on with Jimmy Butler's hair? It's green now.

But it's great. It looks like he's created some sort of, I don't know. He's got like a green braid among the other. Yeah. It's certainly a look, which is weird because they don't have any green. It looks like he's got like the model

of a future city on his head or something like that. Are you going to do one? Are you going to do that? Brough's going to do it. He's going to have a green racing stripe. Yeah, he should do it. So what's going on with Jimmy Butler and is you going to do one? Are you going to do that? Brough's going to do it. He's going to have a green racing stripe. So what's going on with Jimmy Butler and is he going to be traded? Yeah, well he's said it now. There's no going back.

This is Jimmy's playbook. Jimmy likes to move on when it's time for an... Okay, here's how it's working. About three weeks ago at the beginning of December, Shams put out a report that Jimmy Butler wanted out of Miami. Jimmy Butler's agent took to Twitter and called Shams a liar repeatedly.

It was actually a very big social media thing because he really went after Shams saying it was inaccurate reporting and he was doing a poor job. Three weeks later, Jimmy Butler has this press conference last night afterwards, which he says he's lost a joy for playing basketball in Miami. When asked if he'll be able to get that joy back while playing for the Heat, he said probably not.

Translation, I want out. The sub story here is that in last year's playoffs when he was sitting out with a knee injury, he kind of suggested to reporters afterwards

that the Heat would have won if he was in the lineup and playing. Yeah, Pat Riley didn't like that. Pat Riley said, if you're not playing, shut your mouth. And their relationship

got fractured at that point. Then Jimmy went into this year wanting a contract extension. The Heat don't do those. They don't pay people for past accomplishments. They never did it with Dwayne Wade. They kind of had a weird breakup at the end because of it. So Butler was like, okay, you're not going to give me the extension. You're not going to pay me.

I'm going to do the same thing I've done everywhere else. I'm going to force a trade to another team where he'll do the exact same thing. He'll go somewhere. He'll play awesome basketball. He'll play with his hair on fire, possibly in the playoffs because he wants to go to a contender. And then when he does that,

he'll sign another big money extension. It's the Jimmy Butler playbook. He's 35 now, though. He can still do it when he needs to. So Phoenix is the team that is most rumored? Warriors are in the mix. The Rockets, I guess. Jimmy Butler on the Warriors would be hilarious. Joven with an Ask Us Anything.

And Joven is the winner of the $100 gift card because he's trying to find a best-case scenario. He asked, what is the best-case scenario with this Petey-Miller saga if they don't figure it out? The best-case scenario we all know is both of them find their games. They don't have to be best friends, but both of them find their games

and play to their potential, and the Canucks have a one-two punch down the middle that is the envy of most teams around the league. But if they don't figure it out, Jovan writes, you lose the fans trading one of them, and clearly the locker room isn't the same with what's going on. Too hard for grown men to grow up. So the best case scenario, I think, would be you trade one of them,

probably Miller, and then Petey finds his game again, possibly related to Miller no longer being there, or possibly because he puts in the work that's needed, and he finds his game, and he plays to his potential. And with the cap space or the return that you get from JT Miller, you fix the issues on the blue line. Now, would that still leave the loss of JT Miller, who not only fills a very important positional need, which is a top six center, but also provides some emotional leadership at times although that could be a negative sometimes but he's he's he's a loud room in that loud voice in that locker

room and you need those types of voices but maybe someone else steps up or maybe they find someone else who can provide that that's the best case scenario but i think the best case scenario does involve keeping petterson and petterson finding his game yeah that's the best case scenario now is that likely to happen i don't know as i've said so many times before this petterson thing has been the number one thing i'd describe it as is weird the toughest part of this whole thing is trying to pinpoint if there's any validity to the claim that the petterson miller relationship or lack thereof is directly responsible for what's gone on this year and what's gone on this year is what the general manager said on new year's eve that the top players on the team are underperforming. And two of those top players are Pedersen and Miller.

Personally, sometimes we sit here and we're talking about it. I'm like, this seems crazy to me that anything could be so toxic and so negative that it dramatically alters the course of the careers of two players. Not one, but two players. That's what drives me like bananas because at a certain point you're like we all and i know this has been said a million times but we all deal with people that we don't like work on a regular basis every day every day every day every day

well laddie's not here today so not today but friday's been great um and it it boggles the mind that one could cause the other there's got to be more i'm gonna i'm gonna read uh and ask us anything okay um because it's kind of related to it and colin atawasin actually hasn't asked us anything he says mostly for halford because it's about a sports documentary which sports documentary was your favorite over the past year that I should try to watch before the holiday school break is over? Okay, Colin, I'm actually going to take this one because I watched a great 30 for 30 on the New York SAC Exchange.

Yeah, that's a good one. I didn't know anything about this. And it's about the early 1980s New York Jets and the four defensive linemen that they had and they were the New York sack exchange because guess what they sacked a lot of guys yes well quarterbacks they didn't they weren't right anyway just knocking guys in the nuts so one of those guys was Mark Gastineau who played a season with the BC Lions. I don't know if anyone remembers that. I think he like his, his career with the Lions ended. Cause he just like walked away when they were like, we can't find him. I think he's cut. Um, but Gastineau

was a damaged person. That's a good way to put it. I would say. And his relationship with his teammates and especially some of the guys that are on that defensive line with him was very problematic. But despite the dysfunction of the relationship and there was a lot of jealousy, there was a lot of, you know, there was one guy on the left side of the defensive line,

another on the right side, and, you know, they would get jealous, basically. When the other guy would, and Gastineau had a way of celebrating that some of the other guys didn't like. And it actually pushed them. The jealousy pushed them in a positive way for a bit. Yep. But then eventually it did break up, but I just thought it was a really interesting documentary and I'm not going

to be able to do a justice talking about it because I don't have the knowledge of that situation, but I thought it was interesting watching it when I was watching it at the time. I was like, hmm, you know, the Canucks have a couple of star players who don't seem to get along and this team had some star players that really didn't get along and Mark Gastineau I think was if we're gonna put the blame game on anyone it was him like yeah you watch him you watch him even being interviewed now like he is you could see why he would be a disruption and I think he had some he had a lot of issues a lot in his life and that went back to his childhood that causes him to act the way that he did um but that is one that i would recommend the new york sack exchange it's a 30 for 30

documentary yeah no that that's a very good one actually i don't want to add too much more into what you said because you captured it pretty perfectly but i did have very similar thoughts when you looked at four guys and you know what? A common theme of it was like the personalities were so different. It was a clash of personalities. Right. And it was like,

we just, they never got along because they just couldn't find any commonalities. Couldn't find common ground in personality and how to, how to, how to carry yourself. They tried. Right. They try. They tried, right? They brought them all back together, too.

Yeah, and it was still awkward. It was still very awkward, yeah. God, Gaston, I was just yelling at the TV. Because he had that victim mentality that really bothered me. He's a damaged guy. I think that's a very... Do you ever watch My 600-lb Life? I try not to.

It's fascinating because you feel sorry for these people, but you're also yelling at the TV because they have such a victim mentality all the time. Right. I'm like, I can't do this. And I'm like, come on. You're like cheering for them. Eat those chia seeds.

More barley. Only on the Halifax and Brough show are you going to get a pivot from the New York Sac Exchange to 600 Pound Life. No other radio show is going to do that. Do you never watch it? I don't watch that type of programming much, but I find that stuff fascinating. I know what it is. They're going down to Houston.

What kind of van are they going to drive? I believe it's on TLC, which I believe is not a channel on Rogers Xfinity TV. But I don't watch it with any regularity. Oh, I think it is. Speaking on Rogers Xfinity TV. But I don't watch it with any regularity. Oh, I think it is. Speaking of Rogers Xfinity TV, mystery solved. Watch all new seasons of your favorite true crime shows on Investigation Discovery,

available on Channel 413 on Rogers Xfinity TV. It's been a fun week. It's been a fun show. Congrats to Joven. Enjoy that $100 gift card day, AJ's Pizza. Thank you all for contributing, and we'll talk to you again on Monday. For now, though, we gotta say goodbye. Signing off, I have been Mike Alford.

He's been Jason Brough. He's been A-Dog, and he's been regular Zach. This has been the Alford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.