Halford & Brough in the Morning - Don't Blame JR, Blame The Players Involved

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk all things Nashville Predators with 102.5 The Game Preds reporter Adam Vingan (1:30), the boys play devil's advocate regarding the Miller Petey rift (13:45), they get a Vancouver Giants update from Manny Viveiros (22:40), plus they preview tonight's 'Nucks vs. Predators matchup with analyst Randip Janda (30:25). 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.

Music 7.04 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough of Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for 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 now in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Homonuk 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 on the internet at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. They get to work together with you in step. They don't have to. They get to, it's a privilege. Every day is a gift.

I've responded to at least 10 jerk texters with that this morning. Some guy named Mike who's just been sending in saying the media's to blame for everything, I'm like, Mike, it is a blessing that we get to deal with your passion this morning. Granted it's early, but it's a gift. Block.

Block. Block block reported no more text for you okay to the phone lines we go we got Adam on the line now Adam Vingen 102.5 the game in Nashville and Sportsnet joins us now on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650 good morning Adam how are you? I'm good I heard you broke rate broke late I am a radio radio host now guys guys have to hit those out time Yeah, we've never been good at it and I can't promise that we ever will be good at it So I apologize for keeping you on old for six minutes before we get into the national side of things I have to ask you how much has this Vancouver Canucks drama been on your radar lately? Oh

It's been on my radar quite a bit and And shameless plug here, I have a Quinn Hughes story publishing on Sportsnet.ca sometime, I think, this morning, maybe around lunchtime, at least my time, and maybe mid-morning your time when it hits the website. I was just digging into some numbers about Quinn Hughes and how terrible the Vancouver Canucks are when he's not on the ice. Some eye-popping numbers that I was able to dig up for this story. Not that Canucks fans don't already know how bad the Canucks are when

Quinn Hughes is getting a breather, but to see the actual data, it was jarring to see. So that's my shameless plug. But I'm just like every hockey fan, hockey reporter, hockey media personality, you know, this stuff is incredibly fascinating. And I'll be at the game tonight. So I'm interested to see it firsthand but I read Jim Rutherford's comments in the Globe and Mail yesterday. I saw Ian McIntyre's follow-up interview with Jim Rutherford on Sportsnet.ca. It's incredibly, I know I just used this word, it's incredibly fascinating. We all deal with people at work that you don't vibe with. The two of you, that certainly doesn't apply.

You guys are like two peas in a pod, I think. But, if you're not, you're doing an excellent job of hiding it. Elias Pedersen and JT Miller would learn a lot by watching you two, if you guys detested each other. But it's just, you know, you deal with people at work that you don't like and you find a way to put that aside, but for whatever reason from afar, these two just can't seem to stand the side of each other. And it'll be interesting to see what ultimately unfolds. What was the most amazing stat that you dug

up about Quinn Hughes? So I wanted to know how the Canucks performed during his ice time versus when he was off the ice. And there are a lot of fancy numbers, but I'll just leave it to as simple as I can say it. When Quinn Hughes is on the ice at five on five, the Canucks expected goal percentage is 56.4% which is good, solid. When he's off the ice it's 44.4%. There is a 12-point drop in expected goal

percentage when Quinn Hughes is on the ice versus when he is off, which is, I recall off the top of my head, the eighth largest difference in the NHL and there's some interesting players who are ahead of him on that list, but they go from, you know, a solid team in terms of controlling the play at five on five when he's on the ice to, you know, one of the worst teams in the league I would imagine when he's off the ice. Doesn't that tell two stories though? One is how incredible Quinn Hughes is, but also there's kind of a dark side to that. And that is the fact that this management group hasn't been able to find much in the way of other

defensemen. Yeah, I certainly think that's an element of it. I remember a couple of weeks ago for Sportsnet, I just did a mid-season look at some of the front runners for the Hard Trophy. And when I write stories, when I have numbers, like I like to keep it to either 3, 5 or 10. So I've never been someone to write a story that says, here are seven players. I just think that seven is a strange number, so I either go three, five, or ten. So I included Quinn Hughes in my five. I did not include Connor Hellebuck, and that was not because I don't think Connor Hellebuck is a deserving MVP candidate. He absolutely is. But I decided to go with Quinn Hughes, and there were a lot of

people in the comment section that were like, this is an illegitimate list because Quinn Hughes is on it. And Connor Hellebuck is not. I don't know if you if you if you don't watch the Canucks on a nightly basis. And Quinn Hughes ran away with the Norris trophy last season, and he's playing better this season than he did last season. And if not for Quinn Hughes Hughes this team would be nowhere close to the playoff picture. I know that Kevin Lincoln has played incredibly well in

relief of an injured Thatcher Demko but without Hughes this team would be nowhere close to the playoff picture. So I absolutely think that if the, I subscribe to the Greg Wyszynski, you have to be in it to win it when it comes to voting for the MVP. If Quinn Hughes gets this Knuts team considering everything they've gone through, all of the infighting, all of that, if he gets this team into the postseason, he should absolutely be a hard trophy finalist. I mean, would he win it? I don't know, but he should absolutely be a finalist if he plays this well and this team gets to the

playoffs. Well, like you said, I don't think Connex fans, this isn't going to be news to Connex fans, but I hope people around the league read this article that you're writing because, you know, I, I've never seen a player, maybe a goalie, maybe Roberto Luongo when he first came to Vancouver in terms of like the importance of him to the team.

But I, I've never seen a Canuck carry a team like Quinn Hughes has this season. It's been remarkable, but at the same time, a little bit frustrating that the other guys aren't holding up their end of the bargain. Tell us about Nashville and where the predators are at this point in the season with the trade deadline in mind.

Yeah, it's a fascinating situation. So tell you about Nashville. Well, I was reading an article on the athletic today that was about Steven Stamkos and he referred It's a fascinating situation. So tell you about Nashville. Well, I was reading an article on the F-U, that was about Stephen Stamkos, and he referred to Nashville as the Midwest, which, but come on, Nashville is not the Midwest.

Absolutely. It doesn't even know where he is. Yeah, I know you've been in the Southeast for a long time, my friend. Nashville is not the Midwest. I was like, I've never said bless your heart, but in my mind I was like bless your heart, Steven Stamkos for thinking that Nashville is the Midwest,

but I digress. So the Predators, they recently went on a five game winning streak, and even after going on that five game winning streak, I think they gained like five points in the playoff race. They were, they went through, I think this is a, I think they are seven and three in their past ten games, if I'm not mistaken. The first of those seven wins was the road win at Vancouver at the start of the month. I

think they were 16 points out of the playoffs when this, when this seven, three, and oh stretch started. I think they're like 12 now or 10. So like even after playing so well, they've barely made a dent in the huge hole that they dug themselves at the beginning of the season. So when it comes to the trade deadline, you know, I imagine that they will be sellers. You know, if I was Gus Nyquist, I would have a getaway bag packed in my closet because there is, in my opinion, absolutely no way that Gus Nyquist is on this team past the trade deadline. He's an unrestricted free agent and he's moved around at the deadline a couple of times in

his career. Outside of that, there aren't any like, this guy is absolutely going to be out the door because they don't have a lot of, you know, pending veteran unrestricted free agents. I've heard a lot of noise around Ryan O'Reilly, which I find to be interesting. Elliot Freeman had a report on headlines a couple of weeks ago saying that the Predators were treating Ryan O'Reilly as if though he had trade protection, although he does not have trade protection in his contract. And Barry Trox and Ryan O'Reilly have sort of talked around it. They've confirmed it without actually confirming it. Trotz has said that he has such immense respect for Ryan O'Reilly that if something were to come up in a trade discussion, he would bring it to O'Reilly's attention before making any

sort of deal. But I really don't know what the market is for Ryan O'Reilly. I've seen a lot of people connecting him back to Toronto. There's the Craig Barube factor in that now, of course, no pun intended with O'Reilly in fact, they're there by the way. I've seen that connection there because of course, O'Reilly won the Stanley Cup with Barube and St. Louis. But I can't think, and maybe you guys can help me with this,

I've had a hard time thinking of, he's gonna be 34, I wanna say, at the trade deadline. He turns 34 in February, if I'm not mistaken. I can't think of many 34-year-olds with two years left on their contracts that are traded at the trade deadline. I'm having a hard time finding a comparable trade. I don't remember one off the top of my head.

It's a tricky one, cuz and this is kind of a Dovetails into what I wanted to ask you like are the Preds prepared to just say look this season didn't go the way that we Wanted maybe there was too many changes. Maybe we Overestimated how hard it was gonna be for everyone to fit and that you just run it back with the same cast of characters next Year and hope that it all works out? Is that the thinking on this thing? Yeah, Barry Trotz has used the New Jersey Devils as an example in multiple interviews.

I don't think it's a perfect comparison, but his point is that the Devils a couple of seasons ago had a fabulous season. Last season, they dealt with injuries, they had bad goaltending, they missed the playoffs and they seem to be back to where everybody thought the Devils would be this season. So I think the hope from the Predators is that this is their version of the Devils season from last season, which is as you said, things just haven't clicked, they got off to a terrible start, they're

playing better as of late but it's too late. Let's hope that the good vibes through the rest of this season bleed into the start of next season. I think that's where they are. I wonder if they could be like a buyer and seller at the deadline, if they think that there's a move out there that could help them next season. They've made a couple of moves like that this season. For example, earlier this season, they traded Scott Wedgwood, who they signed in free agency to Colorado for Eustace Onanen. He's much younger than Wedgwood, you know, cost controlled, team controlled. Like that was a move that was made more so I think for future years than this specific

season. They made another deal with the Canadian they traded Alex Carrier to the Canadians for Justin Barron like that's another like forward-thinking move like is Justin Barron gonna help this team this year probably not but maybe he can help in future years so if there is a deal out there that's like that I could see them making that sort of deal. But not one that's like trying to buy now to try to make this team push into the postseason. It is the Canucks and the Predators. The Predators will try and continue their mastery of the Vancouver Canucks tonight in Nashville. Six o'clock puck drop tonight. Adam, thanks a lot for doing this

today, bud. We really appreciate it. And everyone go read six o'clock puck drop tonight. Adam, thanks a lot for doing this today, bud. We really appreciate it. All right. And everyone go read his article at Sportsnet.ca. Thanks Adam. My pleasure, guys. Thanks. Adam Vingen from 102.5 The Game and Sportsnet

here on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. A reminder, puck drop tonight at six o'clock. Pre-game, post-game, actual game. You can hear it all right here on Sportsnet 650. Spence and Maple Ridge texting in Steve Kerr had a great quote, similar to the attitude on the Celtics. And he's paraphrasing here. You don't earn millions playing basketball.

We would all play this game for free. Talking to the press, getting interrupted during dinner, signing autographs and being nice to fans. That's what you get paid millions for. Yeah. So he's alluding to a clip we played earlier in case someone just is tuning in now and didn't

listen. Um, the Boston Celtics and their head coach, Joe Mazzullo, were featured on a Netflix documentary series called Starting Five. It was Jason Tatum actually, uh, one of the five players that they focused on. And we kind of dove deep about the Celtics mentality and perspective.

And, you know, again, it's kind of schmaltzy, but the kicker is when you change the phrase, got to, or gotta to get to. So instead of saying I gotta do something, I get to do something. And it's all about gratitude and appreciation and changing your perspective from either you're obliged to do something to it's all about gratitude and appreciation and changing your perspective from either you're obliged to do something to it's an opportunity and a rewarding one to get the chance to do that thing. And obviously it ties in very deeply to what's going on with the Vancouver Canucks

right now with Pederson and Miller. Okay. Let's play a little devil's advocate here. Okay. Okay. Little devil's advocate here. advocate here. Do you have anyone in your life that really triggers you? Like really triggers you? Like you come up to them and you have a conversation with them and maybe you have, like they're in your life somehow and you're just like, you're just like, God, it's just like, we're so different and we see life so differently and we have just like, and you can tell yourself, all right, I have to go see this person today. I'm not going to freak out. And then three minutes into seeing that person, you freak out.

Do you have anyone in your life like that? You don't have to name them. So without identifying the person publicly... Listening to them right now. Yeah. Without identifying the coworker publicly, the person publicly. Listening to them right now. Yeah. Without identifying the co-worker publicly. The person publicly. What?

Yes. Yeah, I do. I think most people do, right? What's the devil's advocate part? The devil's advocate part is what if you had to work with them? Right. I have not had that dynamic in my life. Yeah. I've had annoying co-workers and had, I have, current tense.

But someone that's like your, your kryptonite. You know, and, and listen, there are some people in the Vancouver sports media that, you know, if someone said, you've got to do a show with them and you got to, you got to go to work every day with them and work, you know, work every day with them and work intimately with them on a shared goal. I'd be like, I don't know how well I'd respond to that.

That's fair and that's fair. I might start acting a little petulantly myself, but I just want everyone listening right now. I think most people have someone in their lives. Adog, do you have someone in your life that just like, don't say it's me. Oh, do I everybody? Oh, do I. No, being serious like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, well, not presently, but I would also say, and credit to Ryan for making the good point, but I would also say if somebody was paying me $11.6 million to work with that person, I would figure it out. I would figure it out 100%. For sure. It's a valid argument.

Find a way to, I mean, for that amount of money, man, if they're saying we're gonna give you this amount of money, $11.6 million to work with that person, I'd be like, I can deal with that. Here's the thing though, you get paid that regardless. If you get traded or if that person gets traded, you're still getting that money. It's not like that money goes away.

Yeah. You know, like you've got that money. They should have put that in PD's contract. This money goes away if you can't work with this guy. I don't know if the CBF covers that. Yeah, I don't think I know how to do that. They should be though. Seems like a bit of a loophole.

Yeah. The issue with, the only issue with, the only issue with the money argument is that people will, and rightly counter, that no amount of money is worth the strain that I'm going through. And I'm not talking about Pedersen and Mill, I'm just talking in general, right?

Because it's the same argument when you throw money at any problem. It's not the necessary Fundamental solution right it kind of glosses over or it suggests that we're paying you the amount of money to deal with The pain and strife and toxicity and some people are like well It's not worth it for me like my mental health or my physical health if it takes a toll is not worth whatever amount Of money you're gonna give to me some Some people will say, yes, absolutely. I don't think there's a right or wrong there, but there's always a counter to the money

part of it. With this particular instance, I go back to the fact that there's something inherent in a team sport, in a team sport where you have to develop at at the very least, an understanding or agreement that your personal beef isn't going to ruin everybody else. Is it gonna ruin the fundamental dynamic, the whole, right? Like, yeah, we got a problem. But there's so many other guys that are counting on us here.

That's the sort of like emotional bond, the band of brothers stuff. You know what that's called? Leadership. Right. That's called leadership. Yeah, you don't sink a room. You don't torpedo 46, 47 games of a regular season. Well, especially after last year, like if you're those two guys, after the season they

had last year, how close necessarily, but the light at the end of the tunnel looks like there's progress. It looks like we can be a cup contender. If I was either of those two guys, I'd be like, that's figured out for the good of this team to win a Stanley Cup. Because we have a team that could do that potentially now, which we've been waiting as fans a decade for this. We finally have a core, theoretically, that could win a cup.

We have all the pieces in place. And now all that is holding us back is personal issues. I would say if I was one of those players, let's try and put this aside so we can at the very least win a Stanley Cup. And after that, go your own way, whatever, but let's win this cup. So I wanted to play devil's advocate there for a second

and I think the conclusion that we all made is like, yeah, some people in life are annoying, but like this is unacceptable, right? Like I think it was worthwhile going through that exercise and you're still like yeah but you got to find a way to make it happen I don't know now I'm angry though yeah yeah like and in the and again like worse I talked about leadership like these are two guys in your leadership group yeah that's a good point that have torn the team apart should take the A's off their jerseys as punishment. No that should trade them. Well, yeah

Well, I mean some of them might not even see it as punishment, right? Yeah The pokey redic posse one of my favorite texters of all time texted in bro I've successfully tuned out every co-worker boss spouse and child I have ever had coworker boss spouse and child I have ever had I love all the people texting and it's like for Jason It's definitely this guy, but it's like a different person every time It's like does everyone think that I don't get along with everyone. I have five Versions of kryptonite in my life. Okay, we gotta go to break and you didn't even get the right one Yeah

We got a lot more to get to on the hell for number of show on sports net 650 Coming up to guests in the next segment And you didn't even get the right one. Yeah, we got a lot more to get to on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Coming up, two guests in the next segment, Manny Vivaro's head coach to the Vancouver Giants is going to join us. Giants are in action doubleheader this weekend. And then it's 740. Randy Jan is going to join us. He's on the call tonight. Six o'clock. The game's in Nashville. It's the Canucks and the Predators on your home of the Canucks Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 Canucks, Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd. And Thomas Drance.

Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of 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 now in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominick from Jason Doubt 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. Why would you love giving the banks more of your money?

Don't do that. Visit him at Jason Doubt Mortgage. To the phone lines we go. Head coach of your Vancouver Giants, Manny Vivoros here on the Halford and Brush show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Manny, how are you? I'm fine guys, how are you guys doing? We are well. Your club is doing well as of late. You guys are 10-4-2 over your last 16. You were then spitting place, a fourth place in your division. Six points back in the division lead to what do you owe this recent run of good form Manny? I just think the way our players are continuing to develop as the season goes on and that's certainly that's what you want. Especially the young group that we have is that we continue to

build and get better as the season goes on too. And also I think a big part of our goal-tending has been outstanding over this stretch also too. So that's been a huge part of our success lately. Tell us a little bit more about the play of defenseman Mazdan Leslie lately. Well, Maz has been outstanding him all season long here. He's been our captain, which for us was a real easy choice.

Maz has been with our organization for four years now and he embodies everything that we want as far as the culture and the identity of a Vancouver giant and he's really taken off in that role as far as a leader. He's really mentoring one of our bright young players in Ryan Lin this year too. Those two have been dynamic and they're even up a lot of minutes for us, but certainly not surprised as Maz's progression developed, but he certainly has put in the work. And we really challenged him after the end of the last season to come back and

get himself into what we like to use the term pro shape. And he certainly did. He came back in excellent shape and you can see it throughout the year, especially about the amount of minutes that he plays for us every single night. Manny, what do you want from the leaders on your team? You know what? To lead by example, it's not necessarily have to be vocal. It's not so much what you say is what you do, especially with a real young team. Our young players are watching, our veteran players players more importantly,

not just in practice, but what they're doing off ice. You know, how they prepare for a game, how they're managing their time off ice. Just being there for these young guys, they've been all through that, you know, either as a 16 year old or a 17 year old first time in the league. But you know, these young players, they're absorbing and just watching what these guys are doing and they're needed by example. Like I said before, it's not so much with the same verbal, it's more important what they're

doing with their actions. It's modeling good behavior basically, isn't it? 100%. Um, okay. Uh, I'm sure you've been following at least a little bit of the drama in, uh, Canucks land. Um, have you ever had to deal with a rift between two players on the team that don't really get along

and you've had to step in and say, we got to figure this out and we got to find a way to figure this out. Yeah. You know, and again, it's unfair for me to comment on something that I don't know, uh, really, uh, anything about, but you know, as far as, um, you know, when I looked at our, my

teams that I've had, and you're always going to have, um, you're always going to have issues. And I always say we use with our players is, you know, we, we, um, you know, you compare it to a family, you're not always going to get along with your family. You're going to have some issues at times, but you got to know that, you know, you're going to be there for your brother and your family at the end of the day. That's a type of, you know, mindset we have as a group all the time

is that you're not always going to get along. You're going to have your differences, but at the end of the day, you got to be there for them. And that's something that we, we try to go by and it's been, it's worked for us, but you know, you're always going to have the differences, but at the end of the day, you got to be there for them. And that's something that we, we try to go by and it's been, uh, it's work for us, but, um, you know, you're always going to have, uh, uh, a rift here and there. And that, uh, I get it. The biggest thing for us is that we, we, we try to, you know, make sure that we're communicating. If there is a problem, we try to, you know, get ahead of it.

And so instead of it, it's formatting and becoming, you know, a big initiative, a bigger issue. Yeah. You know, I, I don't think you, you know, a big issue, a bigger issue. Yeah. You know, I don't think you, I mean, this is interesting, even if this connect stuff wasn't happening, I don't think you're commenting on the situation or anything, but you know, there must be teams that you have had that are closer than other

teams and I'm just wondering what the, is it luck? Is it something that you've, um, you know, created as a, as a coaching staff? Is it, is it the leadership group? Like what, what are the common commonalities between the teams that get along with each other as opposed to the ones that don't, and maybe some of it is winning and losing.

Well, it certainly does. And I think, you know, winning certainly solves a lot of issues, but it doesn't mask it either. You know, when times aren't going well, that's usually when you see a lot of the problems arise. But the biggest thing that you try as a staff and organization, this is trying to create a culture where, you know, everybody's comfortable and

everybody has an equal say in a lot of areas. But that's also just kind of a progression from management to your coaching staff to your leadership group and making sure that everybody is, like I said, comfortable in their own shoes in the dressing room. If there is an issue, you have the freedom to speak your opinion without any type of repercussions. And again, in a perfect world, that's what would happen. And it doesn't always happen that way. But I think for the teams that

I've been on, where I've seen we've had success and stuff like that, it certainly leads in that direction as far as everybody on the same page and everybody having a voice. We're speaking to Vancouver giants head coach, Manny Viveros here on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Manny, before we let you go set up the weekend for the listeners Saturday, you host Kamloops seven o'clock puck drop at the Langley event center. And then Sunday in the second of a back to back, you host Spokane. That's a four o'clock puck drop at the LEC.

Set up the weekends games for the listeners. Well, first of all, we're in Seattle on Friday, which is always a tough building. As we found out the last time we were there, we went in there and they pretty well gave it to us, that whole game here. But we certainly won't be surprised by that by any means. And like anything else, there's this parody within our league and our division that if you're not at your best, you're not going to win. It's a bit of a marked on our calendar as a team, our team for a little bit of revenge. We got Kalmoops on Saturday who's always tough. They give you no matter where they're playing, they're at

home here, you're going to be in for a full game for 60 minutes there. Then we got new up and coming, uh, Spokane chiefs on Sunday, who in my opinion, one of the top teams in our division here, uh, some of the moves they made at the deadline. And plus that team, how it's built this year, uh, in my opinion, they're one of the top teams and favorites in our division,

uh, this year. Busy weekend ahead, Manny, best of luck with all of it. And thanks for doing this today. Appreciate it Thanks guys. Always a pleasure. Manny Viveros head coach of the Vancouver Giants here on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650 Download the hour two podcast to hear an all-time legendary stammer from me. I could not say the word lately I tried that was a tough one. You know what you don't actually choke on words except in that instance I choked on it If you watch the cave you watch the stream later, you can see me grab my throat visibly. Choking on my own rage.

Choking on my own rage. Yeah. It's okay. Don't screw up. You get to choke on your own rage. Repeated. Yeah, you don't have to choke on your own rage. You're not getting paid 11.6 million dollars.

No. You get to choke on your own rage. It's a blessing. Every day is a gift. To the phone lines we go again, Randy Janda joins us now in the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Randy. How are you? Good, boys. Choking on my own rage could be the story of the Vancouver Canucks for the last 24 hours as well. Very well done. What did you make of everything that happened yesterday?

All of it, both Jim Rutherford interviews. Yeah, the sequel, the best sequel since Godfather, part one and part two came out. Listen guys, this is, I think overall, and I think, you know, hearing from a lot of fans, anywhere you go in the city, that's the first question. I'm sure you guys are getting the questions, whether you're at like the coffee shop or picking up some takeout or whatever it may be.

I think overall, it's beyond disappointing that it's gotten to this point for this organization. From a player's perspective, you're playing for millions of dollars, a combined 20 million bucks a season, more than anything, you know, get it together, right? This is a situation where, of course, you know, it feels like it's a situation where you just have to demand professionalism and it feels like the organization has gotten to a point where they're saying, hey, it's not happening right now. The situation hasn't improved.

So maybe we got to do an interview to put it out there. Also, I would say from the management perspective as well, this was kind of throwing kerosene on a fire with this interview. Maybe you're trying to get a response from the players. maybe you're trying to embarrass them into action a little bit, but to a certain degree you still have to ask the question, how did it get here from a management perspective as well? So I think any way you look at it guys, it's a far from ideal scenario, it's disappointing. And I think when you're talking about the players specifically, the greater good for the team is always supposed to be the number one thing. Any team dynamic, whatever it may be, you get it done.

People don't like each other in every industry. People don't get along. It hasn't been a secret here in Vancouver over the last couple of years, but you got it done last year, guys. And this year, the fact that it's gotten to this point, the word I can look at is, is disappointing and I can understand why fans are not happy because, uh, the fans pay their hard earned money, uh, for professionalism. And I don't know if, uh, this, the star players have brought it this year.

And as we're seeing it, it's having a huge impact on this team. How curious are you to know specifically how far this Canucks organization did to solve this rift? Like what, you know, it said there was efforts, Jim Rutherford said there were efforts from both parties to solve this, but then it keeps cropping up again. I want to know what the efforts involved. Yeah, what this, you know, scenario is really lacking as detailed across the board guys and you know, we're at practice and there's certain things that we can pick up in interaction. But the story of what the root cause of even the rift going back maybe a couple of years, nobody knows that.

And to your point, Jason, the efforts made, maybe they'll come out later on, maybe Elliott or somebody else will drop those details whenever this story comes to a conclusion at some point in time. But it seems like from Jim Rutherford's interview that this has been something that's been weighing on the organization for a little bit. They've made efforts. It seems like they've had pretty sunny moments as well where it feels like they maybe have figured it out, but in the short term, but in the in the long term excuse me it just kind of continues to pop up

so I yeah I'd love to know as well because I think it's comparing the situation the last year and I'm sure behind the scenes we're not there I'm not hanging in the locker room after the media availability is done I'm sure there are many things that are going on that the media doesn't see but the vibe all around has extremely different and you know more than anything I think I Feel for a couple of people Rick talk at being one of them. This is an individual That's had to deal with a lot in this team. He's had managed bodies going in and out

It's obviously a number of situations with including this one So it's not easy for a coach to manage and get W's from this team. And the other person is Quinn Hughes. You know, you're still talking to a young captain guys that is trying to navigate the world of leadership and you know, having this grenade thrown at you basically, and having to deal with

two franchise players, arguably franchise players, not seeing eye to eye as a young captain. I, you know, I feel for both of those guys. Is the goal right now with this team, do whatever you have to do to keep Quinn Hughes? Absolutely. And that was kind of the underlying, that one line from the Gary Mason interview where you

can't fully rebuild, otherwise Quinn is gone. I'm paraphrasing here, but that was, I had friends call me yesterday yesterday like focusing on that line diehard vancouver canucks phantom and you know that's the one that i think most people are latching on to say hey if you're not going to figure your bleep out you know make sure that arguably the best player in the history of this organization already is going to be here long term and i think that has to be the focus here where he's shown his leadership. He's shown his ability ability to play at the highest level possible.

Quinn Hughes has with all this stuff going on. So priority number one has to be, of course, you know, get those good vibes, go on to help, you know, wins generally help. Obviously that's, that was my school of thought after the St. Louis game. And then this interview came out and then the vibes went awry pretty quickly. But yeah, generally, keeping Queen Hughes happy

and winning has to do with that, right? Winning has to be front and center for this organization. So that whether that's a future with JT Miller or without him, whether that's a solution of, a future with Elias Pedersen or without him, Quinn Hughes is no doubt the priority because he's the most important piece, arguably, this franchise has ever had. Can you pick a priority between keeping Miller or Pedersen?

Yeah, that's a tricky one just based on the fact that nobody really knows the underlying issue, but Jason, the stats speak for themselves in a lot of ways too, right? Like on one side, you have an individual who is older, who's had a lot of conversation about him in the trade rounds and this goes for JT Miller. And I'm not talking about even the last couple of weeks. You know, ever since JT Miller signed a long- term deal, his name has been out in the trade conversation almost immediately after he signed that deal. So it feels like based on age and overall,

the way that he's, you know, this kind of story is trended that he would be the individual that you're if you're going to probably take a bit of a haircut on a deal if you're if you're going to be you know looking at an addition by subtraction situation that's the player you're looking at based on those factors I mentioned but with Alias Pedersen even though he's younger his price tag is high it's the fifth highest in the NHL and the lack of production is startling. I think the priority is still for me is if you're going to move, you know, obviously you have to move somebody at this point by the sounds of it. And J.T. Miller would be that individual

based on the fact that his age, based on the fact that his name has been out there. And it seems like a team is aggressively looking to move him. And I think the dynamic dictates you have to do that as well. But Elias Pedersen, far from the type of ability you want to see. I'll be honest, I think if you look at his numbers going back about 80 to 90 games, he's at a Jonathan Hubertou level of production when Hubertou was getting ripped across the NHL for being a 50-point guy on a $10.5M salary. So if you know, if JT Miller does get moved, Alias Pedersen is definitely going to have to step his game up here. And that's me being very, very kind because his

production has not been there. Does it bother you at all that both players essentially lied to the fans when they said there's nothing to it? And they didn't lie in like a kind of like small way, they like, they put it on others. They said people are making stuff up. And then, you know, like they essentially like use the media. We blame the media, right? Like, and, I mean, I don't expect him to come out and say like, yeah, I hate that guy, right? It's a problem, but does it bother you at all

that they, that they did it in the way that they did? Yeah, I wasn't a fan of that. I'll be honest with you. I think, you know, anytime, um, anytime you're going to, you're going to kind of blame it on the media and not, and listen, we are know, anytime, anytime you're gonna, you're gonna kind of blame it on the media. And listen, we are not fault free in any way. But like, in this case, there was clearly there's clearly something that was up. And the biggest evidence of that, Jason, was the fact that Rick Tauke and Quinn Hughes addressed it, like they said, Like two hours before. and Quinn Hughes addressed it. Like they said, yes. Like two hours before.

Exactly. So the factor is that when your coach says it and your captain says it, obviously there's a little bit of the story is not, the players might be agreeing and Hughes and, excuse me, Pedersen and Miller might be agreeing on that side of at least, you know, their story, you know, whether they're saying,

hey, this is nothing and you guys are making up, they're consistent in their story. But when your teammate, when your leader on the team says it, when your coach says it, yeah, it's essentially saying, hey, we're gonna kick this can down the road and hopefully nobody will notice that we can deal with it later. Well, when you do that, eventually it comes back to you

and eventually you have to answer to it. And now the question is, okay, you didn't address it at that point. But when they come back for that Detroit game on Sunday, whether that's an availability on Sunday postgame or game day availability, if either of them are available, you have to answer to a media that's gonna have a lot more questions after this Jim Rutherford series of interviews with Gary Mason and Ian McIntyre. So you didn't answer it straight up previously and now you can't hide from it. So if you don't answer it, it's only going to delay the inevitable at some point in time here.

So yeah, I think taking it head on a little bit might have been the better choice there. It might have brought some drama, but at some point, if this is the situation, if this is the dynamic, the drama is coming anyway. And I guess those, those answers will have to be given on Sunday or Monday. We're speaking to Randy Jen and Randy will be on the call tonight. Canucks predators six o'clock from Nashville. You can hear it all right here on sports net six 50. This is a pretty good reminder that yeah, there's a hockey game tonight. I know we've been

talking about everything but the actual game so far. So let's get to a couple before we get to break here. One, the Canucks are on a winning streak. Yes it's an abbreviated one. It's only two games but it's the first time they've done this in nearly two months. And I know last game was against the St. Louis Blues team that was clearly disheartened by losing to Vancouver. They both placed Brandon Sod on waivers and had a bag skate after losing to the Canucks. But I do think the Canucks played well in that game.

It had a good road formula. What did you like from the St. Louis game that you're hoping to see the team carry over tonight in Nashville? Yeah, I think a couple of things. One was the quick start, right? The fact that Jake DeBrus, Quinn Hughes, and Connorland combine A in their own zone to make smart plays, attack off the rush, get started early. And in that game, three of the goals were off the rush. They were

playing faster, they were playing quicker, whether it was the power play goal from JT Miller, the stretch pass from Quinn Hughes, the first goal I mentioned, and then Pugh Suter, the shorty as well, where this is a team that was playing aggressively. And more importantly, I think their ability to get inside a little bit more was something that lacked over the last number of weeks. So making it difficult for the opposition, you're at least having some middle drives,

that was more evident in that game. So I think generally those are the two things where you brought the effort, right? And guys, over the last couple of weeks, we've talked about games where they have a good one against Toronto or they have a good one against Edmonton and there's a dud right after it, maybe lacking effort, maybe really lacking chemistry, cohesion, and not playing connected. I thought the St. Louis game, there was more effort and there was more effort in the right places. A part of that also is what I'm liking about, you know, this team in the last couple of games is the new defensive pairs are looking kind of balanced right now.

And I know this is only a couple of stretch of games, but you've got Hughes and Myers and Myers probably played his best game of the season strong defensively composed on the puck and Hronik and Forward look you know pretty decent if you look at the the stats if you look at the underlying metrics they look solid they're in the positive so is this potentially a thing where you're getting some balance by Filip Hronik carrying his own you know defensive pair he's not dominating but is he breaking even? Is he in the positive?

Yes, and that's a big upgrade for this team. Lanken again tonight? I would say so. I think when he's rolling, it's either this game, I think he gives to Demko or the Sunday Detroit game, but I think it's important for this team to keep that positive momentum going. And Lanken played solid against the St. Louis Blues.

They made a couple of big saves when they needed it on Justin Falk and Matthew Joseph. So I would roll with the guy that's feeling it right now. You probably give Demko a game maybe on the weekend against Detroit. I would expect Dallas to be Lankton as well, but I'd roll with the hot hand right now. I don't see a, I think the one a right now is Lankton and based on this form and he's, he's been looking good. You just got to be careful that you don't play him too much, but with no back to backs coming up here,

you have a bit of a comfortable schedule. And before we let you go, all your hits here, of course, the presentation of bells and whistles, your new favorite place to catch all the action hockey, football, soccer, and more on Fraser right in the Fraser hood. Tell us a little bit more about your buddies at bells and whistles.

Great food, big screens to watch all the sports on with sound on it. It's a great place. It's the place for real sports fans in the Fraser hood. And today 18 champions league games on at bells and whistles, your choice of the 18 they'll, they'll make it work at noon today.

So if you're wondering where I am pregame, come down to 3296 Frazier Street, catch some Champions League over lunch. Right. Enjoy the Champions League today. Enjoy the game tonight, Randee. Thanks for doing this. Cheers, boys. Have a good one. Randeeb Janda, Sportsnet 650 is very own on the call tonight on the Hellford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650.