Halford & Brough in the Morning - Do The Canucks Need A Trade Shake-Up?

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the World Series with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (1:24), they wonder if the Canucks might be considering a trade pretty soon (13:46), they chat with Whitecaps liaison Tosaint Ricketts (25:15) ahead of Sunday's playoff matchup versus LAFC as the Caps look to keep their season alive, plus the boys wonder if the struggles of some of the Canucks' star players are wearing on the team (31:15). 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.

It's time to chat with Adnan, it's Adnan Berkey's on the show We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Redman. Yes, and then Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the films he's seen.

7.04 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Happy Halloween, everybody. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & 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 2 of the program. Adnan Virk from MLB Network is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 2. Hour 2 is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.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 him at Jason.Mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Orfit, what are you waiting for? Kintec. To the phone lines we go. Adnan Virk from MLB Network joins us now

on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Adnan. How are you? I'm doing great, Mike, Jason. It's balmy weather here in New Jersey. Not sure about Vancouver. Plus 18 right now could break a record of a plus 27 on Halloween today.

So it doesn't feel like Halloween, but good to chat with you boys as always. How does it feel now that the MLB season is over? Los Angeles Dodgers are crowned World Series champions, so it's an exciting time. There's a bunch of stuff to get into, but it's also the end of the baseball season. I imagine it must be a touch sad for you, Adnan.

A hundred percent, Mike. I have the World Series hangover today. I'm just at the gym trying to shake off the blues of no more baseball. It's so nice, I find, at least in life, to say get the job done, put the kids to bed, and just watch baseball every night. It's been a ritual throughout the month of October, and I think it was an outstanding postseason. There were surprises along the way.

I have many, many thoughts on the World Series itself. But just I think collectively postseason, what I find fascinating is that we were worrisome that we were going to have another all wildcard matchup, you know, a year ago, the Rangers D-backs, which I was at that World Series again. I enjoyed it, but I know for most people are like, really? Texas, Arizona, you know, 8 million viewers, second lowest ever. To be able to bounce back this year and say, no, we had the two best teams in the regular season square off.

And yes, it would have been nicer if it had gone six or seven, but to get the first World Series Dodgers Yankees since since 81 a compelling five game series it wasn't particularly um new york's to win after they went down three oh but generally close top games obviously game one was an instant classic last night had great drama as well and it kind of feels fitting like you know at the start of the year i think when the three of us spoke we said well the dodgers are the favorite to win and they did win so i'm all for opposites here and there, but I do think for the Dodgers, it was important they won. This was their first true World Series victory since 1988. Although they won in 2020, but that was the Fugazi COVID season. They lost three years ago to the Braves. They lost two years ago to the Padres.

They lost last year to the D-backs, for God's sakes, in three games. So they needed this one, and good for them. They were a close to the best team start to finish. Will this just be remembered as the Freddie Freeman World Series? It really should be, Jay, because I know it's too facile to say one game ends a series, but in some ways it felt that way because it was all Freddie all the time. I mean, that game one was epic, that Grand Slam moment, which will never be forgotten. And to be able to just homer in six straight games, World Series record,

the first four games, even yesterday, doesn't hit the home run, Judge robs him, but still hits that key two-out single which made it from 5-1 to 5-3 and helped engineer that Dodgers rally. It was a series for the ages for Freeman, one of the all-time great World Series performances. He hit 300 of the World Series,

four home runs, 12 RBI, the 12 RBI tying a record. And what makes it even more impressive is the fact that he was one for 16 coming into the World Series. He had not driven an RBI all postseason. He had missed games four and six, nursing an ankle. So, again, if you'd said to me a month ago, Freddie Freeman's going to be the MVP, I'm like, yeah, he's a great player, former MVP himself. He's won a World Series. But to do it in those circumstances

and then, of course, the human interest angle of the fact that his son was very sick this year. He had to take time off to deal with that. He's a first-class human, I should say. We all know the relationship he has with his parents. His mom passed away when he was 10. Great clip shared by James Myrtle of The Athletic, which I retweeted

last night. I was talking about his mom and basically when he first signed with the Dodgers, why he still wears sleeves, because his mom passed away from skin cancer when he was 10, and how much he still misses her and loves her to this day. And, of course, both parents from Ontario, so he's always played for Canada. He said in that interview, which I watched this morning,

he said, yeah, I don't know if my mom would care, but I always play for Canada for her and my dad, and that's why I do it at dawn with my parents. So he is just an extraordinary human, and he's a hell of a hitter. And so it's a great moment for Canada baseball, I think, with Freddie Freeman coming through big time. Future Hall of Famer, too, right? I mean, the Freddie Freeman story, it was great.

And Bruff's right. This series will be known as the Freddie Freeman series, except to a few Yankees fans who are probably going to remember this World Series as the one where the New York Yankees shot themselves in the foot in nearly every facet of baseball, like right from the managerial stuff to the fielding to the base running to the hitting.

Is it fair to say that it was a lot of self-inflicted wounds for the Yankees over these five games? Without question. You know, the Dodgers won the World Series, Mike, but specifically that game last night. The Yankees lost that game. The Dodgers didn't win that game. Like, that's borderline inexplicable to blow a five-run lead with Garrett Coleman

who's arguably the best pitcher in baseball. And he's always been a terrific big-game pitcher. Like, it felt so straightforward that the Yankees would win that game. Going into it, you just felt like, oh, it's Dodgers in six. I don't think any person in their right mind thought the Yankees could come back from 0-3. But I would say 90% of people are like, oh, the Yankees are definitely going to win this game. They've got momentum after that game-four performance. The offense finally woke up.

Judges looked better. I was at that game, took a couple of my kids. We had a blast. It was amazing. When Freddie hit that home run, the entire air was sucked out of the Yankee Stadium, but it was energized by the Volpe Grand Slam. And, again, I don't think anyone there felt like the Yankees were going to come back, but it's just a nice, heavy World Series game at Yankee Stadium,

first time since 2009, blah, blah, blah. But last night, to be up 5-0. And, again, you know how Stella got her groove back. Judge goes deep, Stanton deep, like all the big boys are showing up. Soto was on base four times, a base hit and three walks. And you gag a lead like that because, as you said, self-inflicted errors, Mike, that is just unacceptable. And, again, does it feel palatable if you lose in six?

Absolutely. I think the more games, the better. They win last night, and they lose in L.A. game six 10-3. They just get bludgeoned. You go, okay, well, whatever. We were down 0-3. The Dodgers are clearly the better team. I myself picked Dodgers in six.

It happens. But to lose that game on your home field like that, with Aaron Judge dropping a clearly catchable ball in the center, with Fulton making a poor throw to the third, with Cole not covering first, Rizzo not running hard to the bag, with, I mean, how about this? Otani had a very quiet World Series. It was an absolute disappointment, and in fairness,

was probably playing very hurt after the dislocated shoulder. But the most notable Otani moment of the World Series was a catcher's interference called austin wells like key part of a comeback and austin wells can't help himself like just a brutal catcher's interference um the disengagement and the bach as well off a weaver like it was a calamity of errors and borderline catastrophic which resulted in the dodgers winning and that's ultimately what is going to be remembered i think think, from this World Series. You're right. Freeman stepped up, but the Yankees were outclassed in every which way possible.

Does the World Series loss make it more likely or less likely that the Yankees keep Juan Soto? That's a great question, Joe. I'm going to say more likely because I think if they win it, they go, wow, first World Series since 2009. Actually, no. I'm going to say more likely, because I think if they win it, they go, wow, first World Series since 2009. Actually, no, I'm going to change my answer. I was about to say, because if you win, you go, no, they have to race them. Of course you do.

You just won the World Series, and he was a key cog by all means to sign him. But I think if you lose the World Series, it's even more imperative because you say, God, imagine where we'd be without Juan Soto. He clearly was their best player start to finish. Stanton may have won the LCS MVP and had some monster home runs, no question about it. But without Soto, you couldn't imagine what this Yankees team would be. So I'm going to say it's actually, you know,

it's more imperative because you lost, because you couldn't imagine without Soto being back next season. Like, just for a second, think. Soto goes to the Mets. He signs a, you know a 14-year, $600 million deal. Does anyone think this Yankees team will be back in the World Series? When you look at the totality of it, Jay,

you say, were the Yankees the best team in the American League? Yeah, they won 94 games. But look at this route to the playoffs. You beat two AL Central teams. The Royals went from 106 losses a year ago to 86 wins this year. They're good. They're not great. The Guardians, again, the Yankees should beat them.

The Yankees were not a classic, dominant Yankees team. And that was kind of the theme of this year's baseball season. No 100-win teams, no Goliaths. But if you lose Soto, that feels like you'd go back to being an 89-win team. Last year, they missed the playoffs. I'm not saying they missed the playoffs without Soto, but it feels more imperative than ever, considering how good he was in this postseason. And he will always injure himself for the Yankees fans if indeed he walks away by that home run which catapulted them back in the

World Series. He was awesome. Is the consensus though among the writers and media people that Soto will resign with the Yankees or do people have no idea? I think the biggest thing, the biggest mistake I've heard some Yankees fans whispering who we know can be a little delusional is that, Oh, shuttle wants to stay in New York. Like he just, he's a Yankee for life. Like he'll take a bit of a discount. I'm like, stop yourself right there. Like there's no way my man has taken a discount. Like I'm not saying he's greedy.

I'm just saying Juan Soto knows his worth, and he's represented by Scott Boris, who makes sure his client gets every single dollar. And if you know one thing about Juan Soto, he wants to get taken care of, period. Do I think he loves playing in New York? Absolutely. Do I think he's a great player for the Yankees? Yeah. Do I think he's generally a below-average outfielder who's helped by playing in right field? Absolutely. Like, it's great. Like, everything fits, right?

41 home runs. The guy had the best, you know, power of his career. But I'm telling you right now, if the Yankees offer 10, so he turned down 15 for 440 from the Nationals. Again, John Heyman, to reiterate, my colleague from Emily Network in the New York Post, prior to the World Series, pulled 14 executives.

The collective argument was for 14 years, 560. I asked John before the World Series because that number has now gone up to 600. So I'm telling you right now, if the Yankees go, you're 26 years old, Juan, 14 years, 560. And C.D. Cohen goes 14, 610. It's not

even a conversation. That's $50 million. Yeah, he's playing for them. So I think he's going to go to the highest bidder. Now, there's only so many teams that can afford him. I don't think the Dodgers, for example, can go give him $500 million. The Cubs, I always think, are a big market team, but I don't think they are. Texas seems like they're always willing to spend even after half a billion dollars a Seager and Simic. It really feels like at the end of the day,

Soto's either going to be Mets or Yankees. And I'm telling you, I don't want to go toe-to-toe with a hedge fund guy who will spend no matter what and couldn't care less about whatever luxury tax penalties he has to pay. The Yankees better take care of him who are the other hitters that teams could target I'm thinking about a team like the Mariners that could use some bats well Pete Alonso is the one guy and I looked at the story the other day saying apparently the Mets are going to try to lock him up for the range of 200 million dollars which is interesting because if you look at like Freddie Freeman contract or Paul Goldschmidt, like first baseman generally get like around six for 150, 180. I know Pete was looking for at one point, at least his camp was saying,

which is against Scott Forrest, you know, Aaron Judge type mind. Like, hey, I'm the face of this team. I'm the guy in New York. And it's like, you're not going to get $360 million for nine years with Aaron Judge. So a $200 million contract would be much more palatable over, let's say, eight years, nine years, ten years, whatever. $20 to $25 million for Pete. And by the way, that home run he hit, which people will never

forget, against the Brewers, that certainly burnished his image as a Met and a guy who wants to be there long-term. The difference I should mention, as I'm pointing out Freeman and Golishka's numbers, is those guys are older than Pete, but they're also do a lot of different things. Obviously, Freddie can do everything, and Golishka, prior to this season, has been a really excellent player

and a former MVP. So, Alonzo's a one-trick pony, but the one trick he does is hit a ton of home runs, no matter what. Even in a so-called down year, Pete's going to get 35 home runs, and more than likely, we'll hit 40. So, for the Mariners specifically, Jay, if ever there was a guy that you need power, specifically, you'd

go get Pete Alonzo $200 million and just get it done. Okay, Adnan, we're in full-blown crisis mode here in Vancouver because the Canucks lost 6-0 last night. So that's really taking precedence in our Dunbar Lumber Technicolor Gin Basket. And I'm going to cut this a bit short, but the reason I'm okay doing it is because this won't be our last hit moving forward. You've been gracious enough to stick with us.

We'll do a lot of hockey stuff, given that you're going to be on the Amazon broadcast weekly. So I do want to thank you for all of the MLB coverage this year, especially in the postseason, which has been a ton of fun and you were great. And I look forward to keeping this rolling as we get into more and more hockey season.

Thanks so much, man. Thanks, Chase. It's been a ton of fun talking baseball to you guys. I totally accept the fact hysteria takes precedence in Vancouver. Hopefully the connection comes back. And like I said, I'll be on Amazon Prime. Just got back my first trip to Winni. I totally accept the fact hysteria takes precedence in Vancouver. Hopefully the connection comes back. And like I said, I'll be on Amazon Prime. Just got back from my first trip to Winnipeg, by the way. Being in Manitoba felt like it was in Ohio, except I wasn't going to

a Columbus Blue Jackets game or going to a Buckeyes game. I was going to a Jets game. But great rink. It was a ton of fun. And yes, we'll talk hockey soon, boys. Thank you. Beauty. Thanks, Adnan. That's Adnan Virk from MLB Network and Amazon Prime here on the Halford & Brough Show on sportsnet 650 so elliot friedman has just published another 32 thoughts this is the written form on sportsnet.ca nothing specific about the canucks but the theme could be related to the canucks and the theme is that trade talks are starting to pick up around the league and I'll just

read a bit of it verbatim talk has picked up and will continue to do so some of the teams who preached patience are starting to run out of it and you can see and feel the pressure ramping up on the coaches too god what are we 10 games into the season that's it one of the more active early season general managers is Buffalo's Kevin Adams but he's made it clear he does not wish to subtract. He's trying to add, you will not be surprised to hear Colorado is looking for forwards. Need to get through a miserable stretch where five of their top nine are out. And as mentioned Saturday, Montreal is looking for edge up front, but not at the expense of any young players or prospects it wishes to insert over the next two seasons.

I love the reports about like, it's like this team wants to have its cake and eat it too. Everyone wants to add, but not at the expense of anything good, but we want to add. Okay, so Freed just got a really great ability to gauge the temperature of the NHL because he's so well connected and he's got the ability to figure out where teams are at individually and then what it means in the collective and he's mentioned this a handful of times and it seems more and more prevalent in recent days there is I don't want to say unusual but there is a a more noticeable spike in impatience and angst across the league earlier than usual if you want to look at some particular flashpoint moments um like jim montgomery in boston flipping out on brad marchand on the bench uh craig berube giving it to the leafs early and the

least and the least finally traded timothy lildrigan yesterday to San Jose for, it was a third-round draft pick, sixth-round pick, and then defenseman Matt Benning. So Timothy Lildrigan, the right shot D-man, goes from Toronto to San Jose. So I guess the Canucks will see him on Saturday. We mentioned the Colorado Avalanche yesterday. That is a team that is in awful shape right now, health-wise,

and they are too good and too much in their competitive window to not do something to salvage it. They're not going to sit there with six of their top nine forwards out of the lineup and just try and get through it. They would be a motivated buyer, I would say, because you can't roll with Oliver Shillington and Ivan Ivan for an extended period of time at forward even though Ivan Ivan scored last night I think you saw early with the move that Utah made where they lost two defensemen

Sean Dursey and John Marino for months and made a quick move to get Ole Mata in the door all I'm saying is there feels like if you take a gauge of the temperature around the league, and I would include the Canucks in this department, that there's a impetus to make moves or to not sit on your hands and wait for things to sort themselves out, go sort themselves out. The reason I throw the Canucks in there isn't just because of the current

play to the team, but also because of the guys that are upstairs, the president of hockey ops and the general manager who are very active, who have a history in Vancouver, nevermind what they did in Pittsburgh, but in Vancouver of making moves and making moves early in the season and addressing problems before the problems become too big to fix. You know,

I know a lot of people were focused on the Canucks last night and rightly so, especially since they lost 6-0 at home to the New Jersey Devils, one of their worst performances in years. But there were some notable scorelines last night in the NHL. Columbus has improved to 5-3-1. They shut

out the New York Islanders 2-0. The Isles with Bo Horvat are 3-5-2. I really wonder if this season will mark the end of Lou Lamorello's stint just in hockey because the Islanders are just, they just, I don't see the upside with this team. They have a few good players signed, but they've

got all these guys signed to long-term contracts. And, you know, you look at the team and at best, maybe they're a playoff team, but they don't scream Stanley Cup contender. And if I was the owner there, I'd be like, we've committed how many millions of dollars to this, you know, like how many years of term to whatever we're watching. The Winnipeg J went into detroit last night

and blasted the red wings it was three nothing after the first period and the boo birds were out in detroit detroit falls to four five and one while the jets improve to nine one and oh the iserman is trending on twitter this morning by the way i'd like to throw that out there yeah like when's this whole wiser plan going to come to fruition? Tampa Bay improved to 7-3 with a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche. They're 5-6-0, and as mentioned in the 32 Thoughts, like they're missing a bunch of guys. There's like five top nine forwards that are out right now,

so I don't know what they're going to be looking for, I guess, kind of stop gaps for the time being, just so they don't, I imagine just so they don't miss the playoffs this year. Yep. The problem is, is there's no real,

unless I haven't heard about it, I don't think there's a real hard timeline for when Nachushkin is going to be back or when Landeskog's going to be back. You know, I don't know. Is it possible that they never come back? I mean, Nachushkin's a wild card, and Landeskog's been injured for so long. You know, if we think we spent a lot of time on when is Thatcher Demko going to be back, they've been doing that even longer with Landeskog in Colorado.

Utah, they're back baby they got back on the the winning side of things uh 5-1 over the calgary flames whose hot start is now old news because the flames are coming back to earth in a big way and they are now five four and one that was the one that jumped out for me uh in recapping the scores from last night. It was Calgary getting skunked 5-0 by Vegas and then coming back and losing 5-1 in Utah. And I do wonder how much they're cratering right now. You knew they weren't going to be good.

The start to the season was, I mean, it was cute and it was relatively inspiring given what they were throwing out there. And I know that Rasmus Anderson and Mackenzie Weeger were really leading the charge from the blue line and Jonathan Huberto had a little bit of a bounce back. But long term between the relatively untested goaltending and the lack of talent on the roster, you knew that it was going to catch up with them eventually. Yeah, of course.

The question for the Flames is, is Craig Conroy going to kind of, I hate saying it like this, but get back on track with the teardown? Because that's what the entire offseason was about. And that's what the entire last 12 to 16 months have been about for this team, is moving out tradable assets

and getting things in the door. I mean, do we need to go through this list again? We can start with the guys that came to Vancouver in Zdorov and Lindholm. You know, Hannafin was moved out the door. Markstrom was moved out the door. They moved some big, important pieces off that roster to the point where you look at the rest of them and say, well, when's it your turn? And I do wonder if Calgary hits the skids and continues to hit as aggressively as they have if that timeline gets sped up, if

they start entertaining trade talks because whatever sort of good vibes they had from that 4-0-1 start to the season have come crashing because they're not losing these games with hard-fought battles. They're getting spanked. They've been outscored 10-1 in their last two losses, and now they've lost four in a row.

Okay, we've got a lot more to get to on the Halverd and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. We're going to dive back out of the hockey talk for a little bit. The Whitecaps have a big game on Sunday at home, BC Place against LAFC. It's must-win territory for the Caps. Tosin Ricketts is going to join us to talk about that. And then at 8 o'clock, Thomas Drance from The Athletic in Vancouver

and Canucks talk right here on Sportsnet 650. We'll talk to Drance about the debacle last night, a 6-0 loss for the Canucks to the New Jersey Devils at Rogers Arena. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 7.32 on a Thursday.

Not just any Thursday. It's Halloween. Happy Halloween, everybody. You're listening to the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Breff of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's spookiest destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, reports, parts. I went by Vancouver Honda yesterday. I got a new ride.

Did you see it this morning when you pulled in? It looks pretty sharp. Yeah. 2025 Honda Pilot. I got a new ride. Did you see it this morning when you pulled in? It looks pretty sharp. Yeah. 2025 Honda Pilot. Very cool. Does it have seated heats? Yeah, I captain. Seated heats. Nice.

So here I got... Black on black. Yeah. It's pretty rad. So I jumped in yesterday. I got out of the car. Good buddy Dustin set me up. Thank you again, Dustin. I jump in and it took me a while while driving. This is not to say I'm not an alert and attentive motorist, but I looked in the rearview mirror, and it actually had three rows of seating.

I didn't realize this getting into the car because it didn't look like a big vehicle. So I'm looking back. I did a double take. I'm like, what? You should probably know how long your car is. I do now, Greg. It has three rows of seating. We can all get in it together after the show if you guys want. Nice. There's lots of room for

everybody. Is it spooktacular? Yes. So, A-Dog, what is your plan tonight for Halloween? I know you don't trick-or-treat because you're in your 40s. In my tradition, man, you know, the wife and I sit down and watch the Simpsons Halloween Special Marathon and eat tons of candy.

And that's it. I've been doing this tradition forever. I've been doing this for years. Ever, forever, really. Sitting on the couch eating candy, and you don't dress up. There's no dressing up or anything? Well, no, I mean, back in the day, the Halloween party, obviously, you would. But, I mean, no, it's been a while since I've dressed up.

Here's a little teaser for you, too. Andy's tradition of sitting around eating candy. He's going to address this later in what we learn because he's got a gripe. I do have a gripe. Okay, so we'll talk about that. I do have a gripe. Later on in the show. Tosin Ricketts is going to join us in just a sec here to talk a little whitecaps ahead of Sunday's match.

Before we do that, I need to tell you about Hour 2 of this program because it is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. I am kidding, of course. Please let him do that. Visit him at Jason.Mortgage on the internet. To the phone lines we go. From the Vancouver Whitecaps, Tosin Ricketts,

here on the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Tosin, how are you? Good morning, good morning, guys. How's it going? We are well. I hope you are well as well. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Let's get right into the task at hand here.

It's do or die for the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday against LAFC. After a good effort down in LA in the first leg where the Whitecaps lost 2-1, and we should mention to all the listeners there, aggregate goals for, goals against, it doesn't matter. This is all win or lose, and for the case of the Whitecaps here, it's now win or the season is done. But that game in LA, Tos, I know you were there. What was your big takeaway from a Whitecaps perspective?

Because even though they lost, I thought they showed well, and they showed some things that they might be able to do in this return leg in Vancouver. Yeah, just from a starter, it's not an easy place to play. BMO Stadium, you know, LAFC fans, they're hostile. They sing all game. They keep a tempo with their rhythm. So it's an enjoyable environment, but definitely a hostile environment.

So that being said, the boys did show up. They did play well. We got the early chance with Brian White, who was slipped through by Stuart Armstrong, a great ball by him. And we hit the post. So that was disappointing to not go up early. But the boys fought all game. They were in the game. You know, they created chances.

They were pretty solid defensively. But the ball just didn't quite go our way. So overall, an optimistic performance. Would have liked to get the result. But, you know um all positivity going into sunday now what was something that confidence wise they can take away because even though it was only the one goal you did mention the chance creation was there like ryan gold also hit the crossbar on a free kick is there a sense of we figured something out or we've got

something that we can do that can get them that win on Sunday? Yeah, well, we slightly adjusted our formation to having a back, like a flat back four, which helped a lot with their key players like Boanga, who likes to get down the wings fast in transition. So our change in formation did help. And, you know, in previous games back in L.A., you know, they've got the best of us, you know, we've, we've lost a few games there. So it was a more positive result in that environment. So we're looking to build on that, you know, obviously potentially keep the same formation and you know, in our home, it's a different story, you know, our fans, the turf, you know, that's when we have to take advantage. The exploits of Ryan Gold in a very short playoff run so far. It's only two matches, but he's got four goals.

Yeah, so, I mean, I heard you say the sigh there. You played with him, and now you've had the opportunity to watch him from a different role with the club. I mean, what can you say about how he's played over these first two matches of the playoffs? Just a special player. You know, this year he got the captain's ban, and he really embraced it

you know he stepped up his leadership off the field obviously on the field he's been spectacular but you just can't ignore his work rate you know if you look at dps and you know your high value players players across the league i don't think any of them match the work rate of this guy then when you add the production you know the leadership on the field the passing the goals uh he's just a special player so he's going to be key going into sunday to get the result how is the turf at bc place an advantage for you guys um well with teams that have home pitches that have grass it's always going to be an adjustment you know the ball bounces differently the ball rolls differently sometimes The ball rolls differently.

Sometimes when you're taking touches, it gets bogged up in your feet. So it definitely takes a bit of getting used to. But that being said, LAFC has been here a lot over the last couple of years. So it's nothing new to them, but it's definitely an advantage for us because it's just, they're not used to it. The best of three, I mean, it's fairly unique in like football like there's not a lot

of competitions that have it and it creates some interesting dynamics where lafc is not do or die this weekend like they've got the the benefit of having to go back home for the third match if they need to and i know that some of this kind of played out last year when these two teams met in the postseason and lafc went on the road and played a very prototypical road match. What does the mindset need to be from the Whitecaps to go into this match? Does it need to be like, we need to push the tempo and push the pace and get on the sheet

early so we don't allow them to either go nil-nil and try and play for penalties or is it going to be more of a cagey we need to hang in this for as long as possible type approach? Well, I mean you guys said it's do or die. These guys need to come out Sunday and give everything or their season's over, you know?

So I expect the boys to be intense from minute one, be on the front foot, press at times when, you know, we get them into the areas where we see our little targets and our triggers, but there's no holding back. You know, if you. There's nothing to, you shouldn't leave anything in the tank because this could be your potentially your final game and if the result does not go our way,

it's vacation. As Toss mentioned, it is Sunday, November 3rd, BC Place 545 kickoff. For tickets, go to whitecapsfc.com forward slash tickets. It may be the last match of the season, but I sure as heck hope not. Toss, thanks for doing this today.

We really appreciate it. Best of luck on Sunday. Hopefully we can get a win. Hopefully this season can keep rolling. Thank you very much, guys, and thanks for having me. I just want to say one last thing. Go for it. Please come out, support the boys.

You know, it does matter. I know when you hear the cliche, the 12th man, but I've been a player for many years, and that support really does matter. I know when you hear the cliche, the 12th man, but I've been a player for many years, and that support really does matter. In those key moments when the boys need to be pushed, those tense moments, it's the fans that really matter there. So we really need people to show up and support these boys in this playoff match.

Very well said. Thanks for doing this today, man. Thanks for having me, guys. Toe St. Ricketts from the Vancouver Whitecaps here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Again, that match, Sunday, 545 kickoff. Do or die for the Vancouver Whitecaps in their MLS season in the first round of the playoffs against LAFC.

Okay, the Canucks. 6-0 loss to New Jersey last night. And I was suggesting earlier in the show that it wasn't like I predicted this, but it felt like the result of a trend that had been kind of building, and in the Pittsburgh game, they fell behind 2-0, so they got off to a bit of a flat start there, and they were able to fire back into that game and actually win that game outright.

Pittsburgh's not a very good team. Okay, but credit to the Canucks. It was a very exciting one minute on Saturday night at Rogers Arena where they scored three times. Greg Tockett said it was the best eight to ten minutes he's seen in transition play from his team. All four lines scored that game. That was great.

And we came in on Monday and we were talking about how it's great that you have four lines that can all score. It was all roses. Then the Carolina game happened. And I know a lot of people were happy that the Canucks managed to battle back in that and get a point. I mean, I wasn't disappointed that they were able to battle back and get a point, but I thought it was concerning how badly Carolina outplayed them, especially early in the game and when the Canucks are the home team after they'd had the tough start against Pittsburgh as well. But they got the win against Pittsburgh. So sometimes when you get a win, you're kind of like, well, whatever.

There's no urgency in your next game. And maybe there wasn't enough urgency last night because the Canucks managed to battle back against Carolina, despite getting outplayed for most of the start of the game. And I'm talking badly outplayed. Like the Carolina was all over them. Credit the Canucks for finding their way back,

but they also needed a big mistake from the Carolina goalie in order to get that point. And then yesterday against New Jersey, it started really badly and it got worse. It was a mistake by Tyler Myers, dove in, and then got caught in no man's land and it was an odd man rushed the other way and the Devils scored and frankly, the Devils scored rather easily.

Then a very sloppy mistake from JT Miller on the Canucks power play, which continues to be a problem and didn't score at all. It did was give up goals last night. Uh, and it was two nothing Devils in the Canucks after that really like they showed really outside of Connor Garland dropping the gloves and credit to him for doing that.

There was no pushback, like at all. I was driving home from the game and I'm like, did they have a really good chance to score? Like they had a few chances here and there but it wasn't like oh man if only he could have done that or that like it was it was it was a pretty dreadful performance all of which all of which leads me to my point in all this okay you know was last night going is that going to be enough of a wake-up call for this team? And is a wake-up call all they need, or are there fundamental issues with this team right now that lead to a loss like that last night?

Well, the schedule is certainly going to play in their favor for that, because their next two games are against San Jose and Anaheim. I mean, that's the beauty of the NHL sometimes. Sometimes you lay an egg and you're at a crisis point and all of a sudden they throw you a lifeline by playing the two worst teams in your division. And if they put up two wins on the table, it changes the narrative to a certain degree. Here's my thought on what you're talking about here.

They played like trash last night. Everybody across the board. The only guy that probably didn't was Garland, and that was largely because he got in some fisticuffs and tried to raise the temperature. Yeah, I don't think he did much of anything else. Right, but I would say, I'm willing to not put him in the garbage territory.

Is that fair? Totally. I'm willing to put him in the recycling bin. Maybe compost. I don't know. Point being, everyone was bad across the board. And I get and I empathize with all of the listeners here who are like freaking out because in a two-game set

against the two best teams that the Canucks have played this season, I'm willing to say that, the New Jersey and Carolina are the two best teams they played. They lost both, got one point out of it, and were outscored 10-3. There's some red flags that go up when that happens, for sure. I would say, if we want to look at it

in terms of any factual evidence or historical evidence, this group did a really nice job last year of rebounding from poor performances and not allowing stretches of poor play. And you can equate that with losing to extend into multi-game. Part of that is the NHL schedule for sure. Sometimes you get thrown a lifeline like they're going to get thrown.

I would say it's better to be going to play San Jose and Anaheim coming up rather than having to go to like, who's the hottest team in the NHL? Winnipeg, right? Like it's a nice reprieve on the schedule. There are some glaring issues. Some of them, I think, are easily fixed. For example, and I'll say this again for the third time this show,

Lankanen in over Seelovs is a big upgrade in that. I'm not saying it's winning that game for last night. I'm not sure it keeps it close last night because they were bad. But Seelov's right now, you can't throw him in the net and have a lot of confidence

that you're going to get a result. That's fair, right? Yeah, I'm starting to think about, you know, we heard Rick Dollywall throw out two to three week timeframe for Thatcher Demko. And I apologize to Rick. I don't know if he had heard something

or if he was maybe speculating a little bit, but now I'm really starting to think about it because I don't trust Seelovs at all when he's in there. And it's not to suggest that we've given up on Seelovs. This is a young goalie. He should be in the AHL this season. That's where he should be. Yep.

He shouldn't have even been the backup. He's still got a long way to go. What he should be doing is playing almost every game down in Abbotsford for the Abbotsford Canucks and the Canucks should have had a backup like Lankanen or whether it was going to be Patera or whatever, you know, he's in a really tough spot right now because he's

not feeling his game and he's in the NHL. Yep. And that is a really tough situation for him. You know, do the Canucks just ride Lankanen until Thatcher Demko is back? Yes. Let him finish.

Let him finish. No, he's not he's asking the question okay he asked the question it was a question i answered it that's the end of that conversation i mean you have to i mean they can play them in all three games in california there's no back-to-backs the beautiful part of the early stages of the connect schedule this season is that there's no back-to-backs to when november mid-november no mid-november they go Saturday, November 16th and 17th, both at home, Chicago and Nashville. And that's three games in four nights. So you just play Lankanen.

Okay, so we've solved that problem here, the problem-solving show, Halford and Brough. Power play. But that lines up even with possibly Demko's return? Possibly? Whatever the case, just play Lankanen. Okay. Just play Lankanen.

Don't overthink it. You want to say something there, Greg? No. I could think of another situation. Maybe a goalie comes across the waiver wire. There could be some other name that pops up. Power play. This is where we haven't talked, quite frankly frankly at all about Yogi Sveikovsky.

It's largely fallen to Rick Tockett, but Tockett has often said in explaining the power play that Yogi's front and center in the way that they're drawing this up and the formations and the stylistic approach and the tactical. It falls under his video sessions. the formations and the stylistic approach and the tactical it's, it falls under his video sessions. Something's going to have to change because it's not even the, the power play last night was unproductive. I felt like the way that they fritter away a four minute power play at the start of the game where they had a chance to answer falling behind early sucked, whatever energy was left out of the building completely out of it.

It was very deflating to allow a goal to Heischer 63 seconds into the game or whatever it was. That hurt because it's Seelov's first game back after a lengthy layoff. First shot. First shot goes in. You're like... Cleanly. So there's the big early goal.

It's always going to hurt you. Then they get a lifeline. Hughes takes a stick to the face. He bleeds his own blood. You got a four minute and it just didn't do anything. Anything. There was one shot from Connor Garland, a bit of a wrister muffin and there was nothing to it.

And then all the things that Talkett spoke about in the negative played themselves out. Bad puck retrievals, not winning battles in the corner, shots that were directed on net, there was no follow-up on any of it. The four minutes of nothingness.

So that's something else that they're going to need, and I'm not sure what the answer is. Not changing things from the Carolina game to the New Jersey game personnel-wise caught me off guard. When Tuckett said, we're having changes to the power play,

and the power play was largely the same. I'm like, do you know what changes means? Did they have formation changes, though, out there? The question is, is that enough of a change? That feels more like an alteration. You can change an outfit, or you can alter the one that you're wearing carlin why don't you go over there and jg you go over there pd maybe you go there changing the outfit is like you look different it's a different outfit you didn't just like sew on some buttons i felt like they sewed on some buttons yesterday so it wasn't good so there's that that they need to address and that's going to be something that's a little

more difficult than the lankan in for silov's thing which is pretty simple um the bigger picture stuff is petterson and i don't know what the answer is there but it's a mystery that they're going to have to unlock do you think that's weighing on the team at all? Do you think they notice it? And do you think they feel the tension? I don't know if you've ever played on a team with a guy that's really been struggling. You just kind of, I mean, you got empathy, right? If you look around the room

and you can't find the guy that's struggling. Am I the guy? No, to this degree, no, because he's a star i mean he's paid like a star he has been a star he's in he's responsible as one of the big three on the team to well there was a miller and pd thing at practice right i mean we what do you mean you know whether miller's like let's go get going what you talking about? What are you talking about? It was just a friendly exchange of words and ideas. Did we make a thing of that? What I'm saying is...

I've got a short memory. Was this covered by the media? What I'm saying is there probably maybe is something behind the scenes, but obviously we're not privy to it, but I'm sure the players are aware of it. No, it's not just... It's not like a... It's not nothing catastrophic.

No, it's more just like, like you get a, you get a, is he, is he kind of, his struggle is bringing everyone down a little bit, you know?

But I don't think it's like, but that could be a bit of a frustration. I don't think it's like cloak and dagger behind the scenes or in the room. I think it's fairly obvious

that there are three guys on the team that are responsible for leading the way. It's Pedersen, it's Hughes, and it's Miller. I've said it so many times, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills over here. Miller is the emotional heartbeat of the team. Hughes is the captain and the best defenseman and leader.

And Petey's their number one center, and he's the highest paid guy on the team. It's real paint-by-numbers stuff when you build a team who's leading the charge. You don't need to go around and identify them. It's not like the first day at school where you got name tags and you're trying to figure out who's going to be who. When one of your leaders is struggling, your other players are going to notice that. Right.

Everyone knows. Everyone knows. He has one goal in nine games. He has four points. He's minus three. It's not even close. He's being outscored and outplayed at the center position by Teddy Bluger. It's great for Teddy, though.

In terms of centers that have made more of an impact this season, Bluger, who's making a fraction of the money, has had a more impactful first nine games. So that part of it is a very difficult one to solve because then you go down the road of who's responsible for it. And the answers are one, primarily the player. But, you know, it's his teammates are going to have to do some jostling. Talk.

It is obviously being very. And let me repeat this and underline it three times. Very cautious when it comes to the handling of Elias Patterson. Why do you think that is? Because he makes $11.6 million a year. Besides that. He's just... He can't alienate

his star player. That's just a survival tactic as a coach. Petey looks so sad right now. Getting mad at him would almost be cruel. He says they have a plan. Do you think management's spoken to him? Just a friendly chat like, hey, how are things going? Hey, how are things going?

Nothing like threatening and ominous. I think the last time we chatted, Elias, we were signing off on a $100 million contract for you. And I was just wondering if everything was okay because I've been noticing you have four points in nine games and

you look like a shell of yourself. Is everything okay? Just check it in, you know. Trying to be a cool GM. Lumber. Turn the chair around. Yeah. Did you get the TPS report, Petey? I got four copies, yes.

A little extra work on the weekends. No, like, it's... I'm just wondering. I'm just wondering if they've been like, hey, let's have a chat, friendly chat. How are things going? How are you doing? How are you doing?

Scrapping them by the lapels. Are you awake? Hello? But as we... Kind of need to get going here, bud. As we pivot back to trying to solve the problem, that's why the conversation goes in this direction is because it does need, everyone needs,

and I think the fans more than anyone else because they're on tilt right now, especially the ones texting in. They need to have some idea of a resolution. Well, that's the frustrating part. It's funny because if you want to talk about like crises within the club, like the Thatcher Demko thing should be a crisis, but it's been mitigated by the fact that Lankanen's the frustrating part. It's funny because if you want to talk about crises within the club, the Thatcher-Demko thing should be a crisis,

but it's been mitigated by the fact that Lankanen's been so good. So everyone can kind of take a deep sigh and be like, okay. And to be honest, if the Canucks were winning games and not having clunkers like last night and Pedersen was failing, it would still be a talking point. But less so. But it wouldn't be a boiling over point. And last night especially.

Because when we're talking about everyone having a clunker, it's like you'd like someone to pull them out of the mud and try and get them by the bootstraps and get them going. And the one guy that did it last night was Garland via the fight. He tried to do it. Tried to do it. And it didn't work, right? At one point, you want Petey to be the guy that either has the big moments, scores a big goal, makes a big play, and does the thing that drags the rest of the team up.

As opposed to the vice versa, where the rest of the guys are trying to pull him up. Doesn't he seem like he's 600 miles away from doing that, though? That is the concerning thing. Right. And I know people were hoping maybe he scores a goal the other night and he takes off from there. He has not taken off from there. Thomas Strats is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.