Halford & Brough in the Morning - Drancer On How EP40 Handles The Media

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the major stories from around the NHL over the weekend (3:00), plus they discuss the latest 'Nucks news with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance (27:29). 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.

So I gotta apologize if my voice is a little hoarse. Uh... Yeah, hoarse! Yeah. I was at an 80s party on Saturday night. Nice. And, uh... Your wheelhouse. Man, I was in my element. I quickly took over the tunes. Quickly.

And was singing along aggressively. Did they have any 80s movies in the background on TV? No. Oh. It was like a house party. And then Sunday I had to go coach hockey. So I had already lost my voice. And then I'm yelling at children, as I like to do.

I don't like to point out the physical shortcomings of people, but you look like hell. That's not nice. He does. He looks and sounds like hell. That's not nice. He does. He looks and sounds like hell. My voice is shot too. First thing you said to me today was dear Lord. Well, no, it just, I- Should've seen me yesterday, man.

Yeah, I was going to say, you must have been a husk of a man. I woke up and I was like, oh God, I got to coach hockey. Shaking on the bench. All the kids just crying looking at him. Yeah. He liked it. No, I'm just not saying a word actually.

Coach smells funny. Next line out. You are listening to that. Next line out. You are listening to the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford and Bref of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination

for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are now in hour two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominock at 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. Visit him on the internet at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. We are coming to you barely alive from the Kintec Studio. Kintec, Footwear and orthotics working together with you and step. I do just want to say one more thing about the

white caps game yesterday while it was a great result for the Vancouver white caps. 30 seconds of full white cap stock last hour. Yeah, it was good. And then I got abruptly cut off. Well, he started going into like how they got them. And I'm like, just how far, just say that they've got some catalysts.

I show enthusiasm. It's a curse. Not a great day for Canadian men's national team members on the Portland Timbers. So Kamal Miller, who's the center back for Canada, got red carded in the 11th minute. That was a bit of a blow. And then Max Cray-Po, who, even though he forced

the trade out of Vancouver many years ago, I still have a fond spot for him in my heart, he was really not good. He had a gigantic blunder on the first goal. He got singed for four. And he is not going to be Canada's starting netminder anymore, unfortunately. That ship has sailed for Max, I'm pretty sure. So when the 2026 World Cup comes around, he will not be the number one. Do you think he'll be on the team?

I think he'll be on the team? I think it'd be on the team. So who's going to be the starter? Dane St. Claire. Right. Yeah. Um, Marsh is kind of,

he sounds like a fancy dog. Yeah. I actually got myself a Dane St. Claire. Don't you think? I guess I'm new to those Dane St. Claire's here. I've never thought of him.

We have one. Yeah. He sounds like a fancy dog. One of the other dogs that, uh, it's a Dane St. Claire. Yeah. It's one of fancy dog. What kind of dog is that? It's a Dane St. Clair. Yeah, it's one of those bougie dogs that they invented out of nowhere. Barking, it just clears its throat.

It's like, brr, brr, brr. Brr, brr, brr. Do I have a pipe? Anyway, beloved pooch, Dane St. Clair will probably be there. Just got a leather chair. This dog's got class. Why are you wearing slippers? Let me tell you.

Anyway, so there's your soccer recap from the weekend. Kudos on the whitecaps for a big start to their MLS campaign. Let's go around some of these stories from the weekend in the national hockey league scoreboard watching. I'm going to still do this until the season is over, until the Canucks are in or out. We're going to do out of town scoreboard watching last night. Not a great night for the Vancouver Canucks.

Obviously, they were beat in regulation by a team that's chasing them. That's the Utah Hockey Club. They also saw the Calgary Flames eke out a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks. So that means that after this weekend in which the Canucks failed to pick up a single point on the road in Vegas and Utah,

Calgary is now one point back of the Canucks and perhaps of equal importance, they have a game in hand on the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah. If the Canucks, if the Canucks don't make the playoffs, yikes. Like considering the teams that are chasing them. I know Drance is all over Utah is like, He has like this disdain for the Calgary flame

So I'm actually cheering for this it sounds weird if the Canucks can't make the playoffs I actually want Calgary to make the playoffs just so I can make fun of Drance sure does that make sense? Yeah Appropriate it's even well it seems like a lot to cheer for a Canadian team to make the playoffs just so you can but they won't That's crazy coming from you because you hate the flames. Yeah, you can. But they won't make it. That's crazy coming from you, because you hate the Flames. Yeah, I know. But they won't do anything. I'm not worried about that. He hates Ransom.

He hates Ransom. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's a very sad playoff race in the West compared to how engaging the East has been, with one, the volume of teams, and then two, the constant shifting up and down of who's

in those final two wild card spots in the East. I mean, Calgary just won't go away. You know who's had a very good year for the Calgary Flames? Nazem Kadri. Yeah. He's been really, again, he's on pace for, I think, 30 goals and 60 points. And very weird stat, but ever since signing in Calgary,

he's been very consistent in his goalscoring. It's his third consecutive 20 goal season. He hit 20 last night against San Jose, fourth player in the last 30 years. To do that after signing in Calgary or joining the Calgary Flames. So good on him. I mean, you thought that with Hubert O and Kadri,

they were gonna go in the wrong direction. Like it was gonna be trending downward until both were either bought out of their contracts or moved. I give the team a lot of credit. I'm with you. I don't think they'll do anything if they make the playoffs. I don't think they're talented enough, but I

mean, if you want to look at an exercise in polar opposites, how disappointing the Canucks season has been given expectations compared to how enjoyable the Calgary flame season has been given the low expectations going in, it's almost befitting that those two teams are battling out for the final wild cards. So, so here's a pretty big question.

How important is just making the playoffs for the Canucks? Will ownership push management to at least make the playoffs so they can get two or three games of home playoff revenue, which is considerable. Because think about what is facing them as the trade deadline approaches. Okay. They've got a pending UFA in Brock Besser.

They've got a pending UFA in Pugh Souter. Um, I suppose they'd still listen on calls for Elias Pedersen, although it's been reported that he's off the trading block. I read that and I've come to understand that really as like, they're not going to push it as much anymore, but even just Besser, let's take Pettersson out of it.

Even just Besser and Souter, if they trade those guys and they get futures and maybe in the off season, they turn those futures into something else, they trade those guys and they get futures and maybe in the off season, they turn those futures into something else. They trade those guys, but their team is, we're talking about the top six and how toothless it is right now. You trade Brock Besser, who is, who's replacing him?

Just Garland and then, and then what have you got on the bottom six, right? Like Brock Besser has what, 19 goals? You know, he's on pace for, I don't know, late high twenties in goals. That's still a significant amount on a team that has trouble scoring. So if they do trade Besser or maybe they remove

some other veteran players, like all of a sudden, I think you're kind of like, well, I think the Canucks should make the playoffs as they're currently constructed. But after the trade down, like you might be like, I don't know, maybe they shouldn't make the playoffs given how they're constructed. You remember when Brock Besser scored 40 goals last season?

Remember that? Yeah. And then you remember in the off season when asked about that 40 goal campaign, general manager Patrick Alve and said, yeah, now the goal is to score 50. Remember that? Yeah.

Yeah. Maybe we should have seen the writing on the wall a little earlier about what they thought about Besser and putting really unrealistic and heightened expectations on him because I think it was. I don't think they like his lack of speed. Yeah. I don't think.

That's pretty clear. I don't think they like his lack of speed. Yeah, I don't think. I think that's pretty clear. I don't think that he's the kind of player that they see as working in this system, whatever the system is right now, by the way, because I think there's a little bit of a crisis of identity. Some would say a big crisis of identity, but what they actually are. And part of that is because things are changing.

I mean, you could have made the case last year with the six all stars and one of them was gone, obviously, in Elias Lindholm, but you had your identity. It was gonna be based around those guys. Well, that foundation has gotten a little shaky. Now, I'm glad that you asked me about, do you think the Canucks will make a push for the playoffs and the home revenue and everything?

Because there's a team right now that's currently in the midst of making that decision that I think you can draw some commonalities to with the Canucks that apparently have made that decision. The decision is we're not gonna go in, and that's the Boston Bruins. So over the weekend, the Boston Globe had a big article up talking about how the Bruins have maybe internally

waved the white flag on the season already, and now the messaging is starting to be put out there so the Bruins right now are One point back of the final wild card spot in the East Ottawa holds it at 62 points Boston has 61 points yet over the weekend Don Sweeney said that and I'm gonna paraphrase it while we have historically been really aggressive going into the deadline, I think we'll take a much more cautious approach this year. And part of that is after years of bleeding the cupboard dry

of prospects and picks. And you know what, it's funny, that same Boston Globe article, it just had a short list of all the guys that they have acquired over the last seven or eight years at the deadline. Like I forgot, Rick Nash was a Boston Bruin. Yeah. Yeah. I forgot Marcus Johansson was a Boston Bruin. You know that they've gone out and they got guys like Taylor Hall and Charlie

Coyle and Hampus Lindholm historically year over year. The Bruins have gone in and they've been like, we're buying it the deadline. And now finally they've said no. And I think part of that obviously has to do with the fact that this year has not gone the way that they wanted Lindholm's they ruled him out for the year with a.

Hampus. Hampus Lindholm has ruled that. Well, I'll get to the other Lindholm in a sec. Hampus Lindholm has been ruled out for the year with a patella. Hampus. Hampus Lindholm is ruled, well, I'll get to the other Lindholm in a sec. Hampus Lindholm has been ruled out for the year with a patella injury. Um, obviously the situation with McAvoy at the four nations faceoff is going to sideline him for a while.

The Elias Lindholm contract, I think I'm going to start calling it the reverse Louis because I actually think it has that potential to be that bad for Boston because he has woefully underperformed. Now you could have said, well, the Bruins didn't pick him up so much for his regular season prowess.

They picked him up because they saw what he did with Vancouver last year in the playoffs where he was very effective. Well, they're probably not going to the playoffs. So you've got a guy that's got an awfully long time and a lot of term left on that contract at a really high cap number, even if the cap's going up. He's a 3C masquerading as a 1C in Boston.

I think so too. And that could be a real problem for them. So you want to look around. So are they going to add, the big question for me with them is what's going to happen with Brad Marshawn? Do you dare? He's a pending. Do you dare?

Trade him at the deadline? Yeah. Well, do you think they need to come together going to happen with Brad Marchand? Do you dare? He's a pending. Do you dare? Trade them? Yeah. At the deadline? Yeah. Well, do you think they need to come together on a contract before the deadline with Brad Marchand? I did a podcast a couple of days ago with our friend Joe Haggerty from Boston and he was mainly,

you know, like I was on his podcast, he was asking about Zdorov. You did a podcast without me? Yeah, you weren't invited. Um, and, uh, so he was asking about Zdorov and Lindholm, so I told him my thoughts and I was like, good luck with that. And then I asked him, I said, do you think

Brad Marshawn is going to retire a Bruin? And he said, he eventually came to the answer. Yes. Like he thinks that Brad Marshawn. Yeah. Okay. It did. Um, but he thinks that Brad Marshawn probably wants to, um, retire a Bruin and

only wear one Jersey and that'll be his legacy. The catch is management may not feel the same way. Right. Cause right. Like sometimes not because they don't like Brad Marchand, because they look at their team and they're like, well, here's a guy that we could get something for at the deadline.

And so Haggs thinks that if they went to him and said, you know, sorry, but we have to change direction here and you're 36 years old and even though you're still a good player, you know, I think we saw it in the four nations, like Marshawn was having a little bit of trouble keeping up. And that's, that's pretty rare for him because he's always been such a great skater and Freage

came on our show and he said, yeah, the difference now is like people are catching him. You know, when he used to break. Yeah, that's two get up and goes you've used today. So you remember when you go down the wing and you'd be on an off wing and he, and he'd rip one home, like, I mean, there was a goal he scored against the Canucks that I think

essentially buried them like in game six in Boston. I was like, that's it. Um, you know, that he doesn't have that as much anymore. And I just wonder if there's a team out there that would be like, Ooh, add Brad Marshawn at the deadline.

That could be pretty killer. Cause Boston still has. Postonok, McEvoy and Swamen, which isn't like a dream core group, but still enough guys that if you were to say, how do we retool on the fly quickly? A lot of people would say you trade Marshawn, you get a bounty. And I think they're hooped buddy. Why? I don't think.

I think they're screwed because like they, they don't have, I mean, they're, they're in the same, um, they're in a similar position to the Canucks with their centers. Right now we're talking about, I mean, they used to be, everyone was like, man, you got Bergeron and Creechy down the middle, like that one two punch, you know, they should've won, everyone was like, man, you got Bergeron and Creechie down the middle, like that one two punch, you know, they should

have won more Stanley Cups, frankly. They only won one, I can't remember the year they did it, can't remember who they beat, but they did win one. And a lot of it was because they had those great centres, now they had some great defencemen and a great goalie as well, but what are they going to do at centre?

They've got. They too need to find one. What are they going to do at centre? They've got laid home under contract. They do need to find one. Yeah. You can't win a Stanley Cup without a number one centre. It just, I mean, it's impossible. You don't do it. And that's the major issue facing the Canucks

right now with Pedersen struggles and Miller's not there anymore and Horvats not there anymore. So what are they going to do? Um, okay. So there's the Boston story as we whip around the NHL, can we get the, uh, fridge audio on Miko Rand and this happened over the weekend and pay close attention to what fridge is saying

here about Miko Rand and the situation in Carolina while we're not ready to start sounding the alarm bells yet, they're not in Carolina. It's certainly getting more interesting as we get closer to the March 7th trade deadline. From Saturday headlines over the weekend, here's Elliott Friedman on the situation involving the Carolina Hurricanes and their contract offer to Miko Rantanen. This is the best update I can give everybody on Rantanen who is potentially the biggest name heading into the trade deadline.

So I understand that during the Four Nations break, the Hurricanes met with his representatives face to face. They had a face to face conversation about where things were and where they were going, and the Hurricanes made an offer. And I believe that offer is into the nine digits. So it's a big, big offer. And Rantzenen at this point in time has said, not yes, not no. He's just said, I still need to process

everything that's happened, the whirlwind, the emotion. So at this point in time, there's no answer from Rantanen. But I stress, everybody's telling me you shouldn't necessarily take that one way or the other. What has happened is teams are kind of waiting. There's a lot of talk out there, Ron. But Rantanen is available at some point you want to make sure you have your best assets to make a trade. And the other thing that someone said to me I should have spelled out but didn't is that if the Hurricanes are

confident that they can still sign Rantanen after March the 7th, will they keep him and make a Stanley Cup run with them? So all of that is there, but they have made a big offer to Rantanen and he has just said, look, I still need to process everything. So Kevin Weeks of ESPN then followed up afterwards and said that he's hearing that the deal is believed to be worth 13 to 14 million annually. So when Freage says the nine figures, I guess that means it's total, it would be something along the lines of eight years, 108 million. And that is a monster contract. The similarities between the pressure points that Carolina is facing with Rand and aren't all that unfamiliar from what the Canucks had with Pedersen last year where they were like,

we need an answer and the trade deadline is coming up. Now, I don't know if- I would say it's more of a big deal with Rantinim because he's a pending UFF. Sure, but just the similarities, right? You've got these deadlines in place and- If you don't sign, we're gonna trade you to Carolina. Wait, that doesn't work. Now you're already here, but now here's the interesting

thing, Eric Tulski, the general manager in Carolina, could make a bigger gamble, even bigger, if he goes past March 7th with Rantin unsigned and hopes that this is gonna be a Stanley Cup run and that this will somehow, will eventually coax him into signing a deal here. That would be a major, major risk, but also one that I could kind of see them making because

they do throw caution to the wind there. Like they did it with Gensel last year, right? They loaded up, they brought them in. They thought that a playoff run and showing them, you know, the greater Raleigh area would convince them to sign and he went elsewhere. Now they said the big difference there was that, and this is interesting because Corey Lavallette

from The Athletic wrote about this over the weekend, indirect tampering tends to come into these situations. We like to call it light tampering here in the Alfred and Ruff show, where you're able to get a message across to a guy that you might be interested in, should he get to free agency without actually meeting with the player.

By the way, how good a decision is that looking for Tampa Bay? That they went with Gensel over Stamkos. And Gensel looked, Gensel's a damn good player. He is a very good player. Yeah. And, and, and when, when people were, you know, when the Canucks were clearly after him and

people were like, Jay Gensel, like, I don't know about him. I'm like, you don't understand how good this guy is. I don't think anybody did. I didn't. I, I think. I didn't. I, you know, I actually thought when they

traded Gensel, I actually thought that might be the thing that convinces Sid to not resign. Ultimately, I was wrong on that and he did resign. Although he was wrong to resign. But yeah, Gensel's a very good player and he's younger than Stamkos and right now he's just better than Stamkos. Also over the weekend, Alex Ovechkin and we've got a montage here of his 880th, 881st and 882nd career goals. Yes, it was a hat trick yesterday in a 7-3 win over Conor McDavid

and the Edmonton Oilers. Here's what it sounded like, Ovi with the hat trick against the Oilers. Ahead was Strull, leaving it for O'Batskin, down the middle, he scores! 880 for Alex O'Batskin! He lights it up from the slots! His 27th goal of the year! Look at O'Batskin, one-timer, he scores! He does it again! Two goals on the day for Alex O'Batchkin. Connor McDavid

still without a shot on goal today with 2.42 to go in the third period. And a puck that comes to old Batskin. He scores. He did it. He did it. It's a hat trick for old Batskin. It's a hat truck for old Batskin. The guy is unbelievable. Everyone realizes, like three months ago, he broke his leg and missed 16 games, and he's 39 years old. He comes back, he's on pace to score 42 goals this year, 39.

So that's his pace? Yeah. So that's not, that'll be one short then, right? Yeah, like when he broke his leg, everyone's like, well, we're going to have to wait until next year for him to do this. Like it was a great, he got off to that great start, but you know, cause everyone assumed and I think rightly so, 39 year old guy comes back from a broken leg. He might not just jump right back into this toward goal scoring pace.

It might take him a while, not even like close to slumping it out. Here's the question I got for you. Do you consider Washington a legitimate Stanley Cup contender this year? Like would you put them atop your list or in the top three? I wouldn't put them in the top three, but yeah, I mean, they've got the most points in the Eastern

conference, but. They have the most points in the NHL. By like a considerable margin, their goal differential is plus 65. It's a remarkable story, what they've done. And I certainly didn't see it coming. I had no idea this would happen. It's funny, like I don't think in the games that we've seen the Canucks play, I've been all that impressed with the Capitals, but like overall, how can you not be?

There are 38, 11 and eight with a plus 65 gold differential. Yes, I consider them a Stanley Cup contender. Cause they don't. But they don't, yeah, I, it's funny cause that's the question going around right now. Cause if you look at them on paper, they don't fit the profile of a lot of teams that, you know, we

always have that blueprint of what a Stanley Cup contender looks like. They don't have an elite one C, they don't have a Norris caliber defenseman. And with all due respect. Well, John Carlson is a pretty good defenseman. Yeah, but he's not in the top what? 10?

15? I don't know where he is, but I think he's, I think he's a pretty good defenseman. It's a, it's, it's an interesting makeup for a team. It really is. And then you look at their goaltending and like Logan Thompson has been great this year for sure. But their tandem is still Logan Thompson and

Charlie Lindgren. Like not exactly two perennial Vezna winners, but you look at the standings and you're like, well, you would have to consider them a Stanley Cup contender. But if I was to put together a list, like here's the thing. I still think the team that they whipped on Sunday, the Edmonton Oilers,

might be a more legitimate Stanley Cup contender. If I was doing odds, I might put the Oilers ahead of the Capitals. Right? And that's the McDavid factor. And of course they got to game seven last year. But the Oilers are in a bit of a. They're not playing great.

They're not playing all that well right now. They lost third in the, that's their third loss in a row. That's seven to three loss. The skunking was their third row dating back to prior to the four nations break. And do keep an eye on Edmonton over the next week because they're going through that Eastern gauntlet, which is very difficult. Their next three games are against Tampa Bay, Florida and Carolina.

And that's the three very difficult opponents, especially when you're tagged with a three game losing streak coming into the road trip. You know what is really difficult? The question of who's the best team in the NHL. Right, part of the conversation. Yeah, in terms of points, it's Washington or Winnipeg. Yep.

And you're kind of like, yeah, is it though? If you were to ask me who I would say, like pick a handful of favorites, I'd say, I think Vegas is right there, I think Edmonton's right there. I don't know what to think of Florida, by the way, because another one of the major stories over the weekend is that Matthew Kachuck,

that injury that he suffered at the Four Nations face-off could be incredibly serious, meaning it might sideline him for the rest of the year. There's been- They said that there was an update this morning and someone said they expect them to play for us this year. Right.

The question is, what did they do with this cap space ahead of the deadline LTIR? If you're the Panthers, obviously you're going to try and load up. 100%. It just makes sense to do that. Yeah. So there's some really interesting teams out there.

But right now, the number one and number two teams in the NHL by points and by a considerable margin are the Winnipeg Jets and the Washington Capitals. I mean, there's your, I mean, if you want to just go, Hey, there's the best team in the East and the best team in the West. There's your Stanley Cup final. I don't know if I'm ready to go there yet mentally with either of them, especially, especially after I watched Washington in the playoffs last year, like Washington barely got into the playoffs.

And then when they got there, they're like, we're very tired. We'll just go home. All right. Thomas Drantz is going to join us next. He's been following the Canucks in Vegas and in Utah, both losses for the Vancouver Canucks this weekend.

We'll talk to Drantz coming up next on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Denny's True North Taste Awaits with Denny's 100% Canadian Beef Burgers made with new shredded iceberg lettuce on a brioche bun and all the classic ingredients you love. 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 through your favorite podcast app. And what we just have to call Thomas Drance erotica. test app. Trance erotica Expect goals Thomas trance erotica top model Thomas trance erotica

regression Thomas trance erotica PTO Thomas trance erotica P.D.O. Thomas, Drans, Deronica 7.33 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford 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 in hour two of the program. Thomas Drantz from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of hour two, our first guest of the day, no less. Hour two of this program 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. Visit them online at 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. Visit him online at Jason.mortgage.

To the phone lines we go, Thomas Drance joins us now on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Thomas, how are ya? Gentlemen, I'm doing well, yourself? Good, are you still in Utah? I'm in Salt Lake City for another couple hours and then I'm flying to California. Before we get to the Canucks stuff, what was it like?

I'm assuming this is your first experience at a Utah hockey club game, at the Delta Center. How was it? It was pretty sick, actually. Crowd was loud. Building is not large, but it was packed. I was pretty worried. It was a late arriving crowd.

When warmups began, I was like, oh no, you know, I wonder, uh, I wonder what the support's going to be like. And then it was absolutely jam packed. Crowd was into it, had some USA chants going late in the game. And, uh, and you know, like, so the setup is like, you can see the seams that very clearly, um, the coyotes picked up sticks and landed in Utah rather suddenly, right? So you know this is not an NHL building. The press box itself, like I'm sitting next to a water heater that's kind of like the shape of an elephant. You know that like I'm

leaning, I was standing for most of the game because you're sort of at the 100 level, you're not up in the press box. There was like segments of the ice that I didn't have coverage for. So it was like a difficult view. You know, there's not like a media room. It's a little bit bare bones from a media coverage experience standpoint. They sort of do their best to make it work. And you know, I'm sure in time it'll, it'll have a different feel to it, but, um, you

know, you, you can sort of feel that NHL hockey is new there, which is fine. Like it's fun to sort of get a different experience. The fact is, is that it felt like an NHL environment from a fan support perspective, from a noise perspective. And you know, I'm sharing the bathroom like with the crowd, right? Like there's like lineups at intermission to go to the bathroom is media. You're sharing it with the riff raff? Oh my gosh. No, I'm just not used to waiting in line at a game. You know what I mean? Like I'm used to there being like a bathroom for seven people or whatever. So, yeah, no, I know I'm.

Although a lot of the old guys take a while to get started in there with the media. Anyway, I go in and you could like hear fans sort of chatting about it, right? And there's these like two guys Midwestern accents or whatever. And you know, these guys are so big, it's like a bunch of tight ends on the ice, right? Like the football frame of reference. Tell that to Mike Martinago, he'll pretend I made it up. But yeah, I mean, you know, I thought the crowd was into it. I thought the environment was great.

It felt meaningfully NHL level in a way that, you know, I never went to a game at the at Arizona State, but, you know, in a way that I thought was elevated even beyond what I used to experience in Glendale. And great, great for the league. Fun team too, right? I thought Dylan Gunther, I thought Logan Cooley, I thought Clayton Keller all played really well through Utah there now as a result of that win far more realistically in the playoff race than they would have been otherwise.

And I think that's going to be pretty interesting to watch down the stretches. If they get close, if they stick around in this race, can they sort of catch fire as it were in the NHL's newest marketplace? Jrancer, we've been talking a lot about the top six on the Canucks this morning and just wondering who the catalyst is to create

opportunities in this group right now. Is there one? Well, I mean, I think it was Pedersen last night. I think it's fair to say, I actually thought he had jump last night, but not, not the sort of jump where we need to like squint too hard to give him credit. You know what I mean? Like the, the truth is, is that Pedersen at his not the sort of jump where we need to like squint too hard to give him credit.

You know what I mean? Like the truth is, is that Pedersen at his best doesn't require us to pretend that he's playing well, right? Like it'll hit us over the head when he's at his best, when he's playing the way he has for much of his career, but not the last 12 months. And certainly he wasn't at that level. I mean, I thought it was notable that in that game last night without Hughes on the ice, it felt like the three best skaters played for the Coyotes, right?

Keller, Kouli, Guthard. And I thought that made a pretty significant difference in where the game was played, how the game was played and how dangerous both teams looked. Right? Where, where, yeah sure, it's 1-1 late when the Connex defense takes another penalty, their seventh consecutive, and obviously Gunther finally sort of breaks through at the net front, but you know that game could have been over long ago if Utah's rush attack, like if they'd scored on one of those breakaways or what have you, right?

If Shelovs frankly hadn't had an exceptional game. I mean, he had an exceptional performance last night. I thought really, really strong and. You know, Canucks couldn't get anything out of it. And I think, you know, their lack of offensive juice relative to Utah's was pronounced the decisive element in that game. Um, what's the challenge for the Canucks ahead of the March 7th trade deadline? That's less than two weeks now. Yeah, I mean, I literally seconds before I came on, I ran a piece at the athletic titles basically just like four reasons the Canucks should be patient at the NHL trade deadline. And my question basically is if, if not now, when, right?

Like if not now, if, if this is not the moment for the organization to look ahead beyond, you know, uh, a probable first round playoff date against Winnipeg, Vegas or Edmonton, which, you know, good luck to you gentlemen, right? You've only been, so I think, I think they played six games, six games this season against Winnipeg, Vegas and Edmonton. And they've been outscored 27 to 11 in those games and have gone five, one and zero, right? So it's just like, okay, so this is breaking down

for you to have a beast of a first round matchup against three teams that have trounced you in the meetings that you've played so far this year. You've got Quinn Hughes, who's obviously missed now, like, he's missed three and a half weeks. I know it's only six games, which doesn't feel as bad, but three and a half weeks, including games that he would have played hurt through given the stakes and how much he wanted to be at the four nations. Right? Like, so that's not, that's not like there's no maintenance there. That's like missing a playoff game. It means you're really hurt. Right? Like it means there's something actually wrong.

Right? Three and a half week injury for, you know, reportedly an oblique core injury, plus the brace that he's been wearing on his hand. You've got that, your Demko missing time. It's his third extended absence of this season. He's finished 18 of his last 21 games and in one of those 18 he tore the popliteus. So it's like, I mean, we know that Demko at his best, so first of all, we know that Quinn Hughes at his best can carry this team. We know that that Demko at his best. So first of all, we know that Quinn Hughes at his best can carry this team. We know that at Demko at his best is the caliber of goaltender that can help

an eight seed overachieve in the playoffs, right? And then you've got the Pedersen thing, which who knows, right? Like who knows what's going on there? Again, I think he's actually played decently in the first two games back off the four nations break, but he's not close to his standard. He's not even on the map relative to what his standard has been prior to the past 12 months. So you've got three players who you think can break

games open for you who don't feel like they're especially good bets to turn in the sort of nuke playoff performance that you that gives any credence whatsoever to the anything can happen in the postseason camp, just get in and anything can happen camp. Sometimes it's just not your year, right? Then you've got the fact that realistically this team can, if they do sell, still make the playoffs. There's only seven good teams in the West. And the mid teams is Vancouver, it's Calgary who have a brutal six game road trip coming coming up that takes them through Washington,

Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina, Dallas. Like man that is a gauntlet. Their playoff, their playoff fate will be determined in the next 10 to 12 days. You've got this Utah team that yeah, looking pretty good, but also there's distance between Vancouver and Utah still, even, even with last night's regulation win, like Vancouver can sell and still make it. And so you sort of just like look at where their best players are at. Look at how the matchup isup is likely to shape out, shake out, excuse me, look at the fact that they could probably sell and still

make it and then consider sort of what they have coming, the the the lander factor, what we've seen from Elias Pedersen, you know, Jonathan Le Caramacchi lighting up the American League and it's, they've even got players coming players who might benefit from NHL reps down the stretch here. Right. And players who are probably good enough internally to at least keep you competitive if you were to sort of chart a longer way through, right. To, to actually grab futures of the deadline, to behave like a team that

recognizes, Hey, we're in the midst of one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history, and this is finally a time to exercise a little bit of patience and conduct ourselves for the first time in 15 years like an organization that can take a longer view. I mean, if not now, when gentlemen? Brock Besser pending UFA and also we'll throw in Pugh Souter there pending UFA. Are those guys still with the Canucks after the deadline or do you think they'll be traded? Well, look, what I was hearing was that the seven games coming out of the All-Star break was going to determine a lot about how the organization weighed these

factors, right? How confident they were that they were a playoff team was going to play a role in whether or not they were comfortable keeping vets like those two. You know, I guess you could throw in Derek Forbert. Most of the other guys have now been extended. Beyond the deadline. Well, they've come out and they've lost two in a row in regulation against, you know, a divisional opponent and a Utah team that for me is their most credible threat in the chase pack to knock them out of that second wild card spot. And so look, they've got three games left on this trip. They're easier games after the LA game anyway, on Wednesday. But you know, they're running out of time to make that case to Canucks management, right?

Like this team is running out of time to make that case. I mean, they generated nothing this weekend. I thought they played really poorly. Both games end up being one goal losses, but could have easily been worse if Lankenen and Shilovs hadn't stood on their heads. I thought the Canucks got two really strong goal-tending performances and still lost in regulation in both games. That to me is always a bad sign because you can't count on your goalies to stop four breakaways the way Shilovs did last night orankin and just you know put up a force field against all the down low pressure and all the deflection sort of pressure that Vegas was able

to put on them so you know we'll see like I think this California back to back and then that Seattle game this week in this upcoming weekend I think are going to speak volumes you know at this point if if I were to handicap it I you know Pugh suitor is a little bit different because I think you're going to speak volumes. You know, at this point, if I were to handicap it, Pugh suitor's a little bit different because I think you can credibly make the case that he has more actual hockey value than he does exchange value. But I mean, you're either getting a best or extension done

before March 7th in my mind, or be pretty reckless not to monetize a guy who's a reliable goal scorer with a history of scoring big playoff goals for a team that's in the state that the Canucks find themselves in at this point in the year. We're speaking to Thomas Drantz from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk here on the Halford and Brough show

on Sportsnet 650. Okay, so for those listening, because Drantz is in Utah traveling with the team, something kind of happened post game and then overnight that's drawn a lot of attention online. And if you want to check out Ian McIntyre's piece, it's up on sportsnet.ca right now. So after Rick Docket did his media availability

following the loss to Utah, he then had a separate scrum with the cameras off with a variety of reporters in which he spoke specifically about the struggles and some criticisms of Alias Petterson's game. I can paraphrase it. Tauke said that Petterson is waiting for something. He doesn't know if it's a lack of confidence, but right now he just needs to rip a puck and move his feet.

Then he alluded to the play at the end of regulation where it was six on five, and he said, quote, it's just the same thing waiting. If he just takes three or four strides, I don't know if it's a mental block right now all year, but he's got to move his feet. IMAC then asked Pettersson about if his confidence was a factor in struggling to score and Elias Pedersen replied, it's more annoying dealing with the media. So like on my Twitter, I screen grabbed that part of the article. I threw it up on Twitter so everyone could see it. Like what we're dealing with here.

I was with Petey there. I look at the media guys and I'm like, yeah, I get that. So Drance, so this lengthy preamble of ours is mostly just so I could set the table for you to address this in any way that you want. Go ahead. Look, I think it takes a lot for Canucks fans to side with the media in a situation like this. And yet if you go check the reaction online, you'll see a fair bit of it.

Look, I just think the idea of Pedersen having had a rough ride or being unfairly treated by the media is preposterous. I mean, he was at the center of one of the biggest national media stories of the year, in terms of the whole Pettersson Miller thing, right? He was asked about it once, like in a scrum setting, once, all season, you know? We all know what the cap hit number is, right? And we all know how he's performed over the course of this year. number is, right? And we all know how he's performed over the course of this year. Given that discrepancy, and it's a significant discrepancy, you know, I don't know that he's had to take all that many bullets about it, at least in terms of actually facing cameras and facing the media and answering

pointed questions about why he's struggling, right? I mean, think about it. One of the, one of the reasons that the Pedersen story, I think has legs is that it's mysterious. We don't really have a good explanation for what's happened, right? Like that's part of what's driven is, is a, is like a vacuum of information that's kind of been filled in by speculation and sort of online wondering about what exactly is going on. This is a different media environment than what most people have been used to in terms of commenting on the terrible, mean, overwhelming Vancouver media. There were two of us last night, two of us who are independent at the game last night.

Patterson did a quick interview with the Canucks, which you know they posted online but not on social media. I was actually finishing up my buzzer story, ran a little bit late with it. So partly because I couldn't see. So I didn't get to the room on time. But my understanding is IMAQ actually waited for the cameras to move, right? Which you sometimes do to be friendly to the player if you're asking a tougher question, right? To allow them to elaborate on it in a setting in which they don't have to be mindful

of how it appears on camera, right? And, you know, I mean, I think it's an appalling answer, to be totally honest with you, right? And, you know, I mean, I think it's a, I think it's an appalling answer, to be totally honest with you, right? Given that context, given how significant the struggles have been, you know, given how normal it is to just be like, hey, like, you know, you're you've got what, is it four points or two points since the JT Miller trade, you struggled at the four nations, you had pointless there. Um, you know, you, you sort of have a good game and yet you missed the

net on the breakaway and you're indecisive six on five and we've seen how good you are, man, like what's going on here? Well, it's just annoying dealing with the media. It's like, well, it's pretty annoying covering a team with no offensive juice. You know, a problem that's exacerbated by the fact that their best forward, their highest paid forward, one of the five highest paid forwards in the game, was no better than the fourth best forward on the ice against a non-playoff team last night. Right? Like, I don't know, like, I just think there's so there's sort of two things here. One is, I think fans deserve better than that.

I think fans deserve to have some understanding when they're supporting a team with their wallets, with their time, with their emotional investment. And that team's best forward has struggled to this extent all year. I don't know. I think fans deserve to have at least some sense of why. I don't think it's unreasonable for a player to be asked to provide some explanation for where their game is at. You know, that's just my view. The second part of this is that while you know, I think contemporary hockey players can sometimes struggle to understand this. You know, this is a meaningful part of the job, right?

Like hockey players view it, generally speaking, not all of them, but most of them, as like I'm paid to win games. And that's true to an extent, right? But fundamentally, you're paid because you're worth paying to watch play, right? You're worth investing money and time from fans to appreciate your talent to watch you play and that bond is deepened by connection, right? And for what it's worth, the best actual hockey players, right? Guys like Connor McDavid, like it's not just that Connor McDavid has improved as a player over the years, although he has tremendously, he's also improved in terms of how he deals with

the media, in terms of how quotable he is, in terms of how seriously he takes it. You watch Matthew Kachak or Sidney Crosby at the Foreignations day after day after day with much larger media hordes and how they conducted themselves. I mean, it's night and day with what you're seeing from players like Pettersson and frankly most Canucks players on a day-to-day basis in this market. Championship habits include the way you deal with the media in my view and when you deal with them like this what you're really doing is handing a weapon like what Pettersson really did was hand Ian McIntyre a weapon right

which is the ability to write the piece that he wrote in the way that he wrote it, right? Here's the truth, right? Like, it sucks. It's not a perfect system in that players don't always have great options, but the truth is, is that you either are going to provide us with the ability to tell your story, right? Or if you're going to answer a question the way Pedersen did, you're going to give us an opportunity to say what we think. Right? Like that's it. And generally speaking, players are best served by just being as honest and polite as possible. It's a five-minute interview. It's not a huge part of your day, right?

And putting media in a position to tell your story as best they can. And Pedersen refused to do that last night, and he's refused to do it on multiple instances this season. And as a result, we don't have any idea what's actually going on in terms of his game. You know I just don't get it. I don't get being churlish like that in that circumstance and you know I just don't think that's the way the champions carry themselves in the media. That's the truth. So I don't love it. I thought it was sharp of iMac to actually just publish it, you know, cause I've had interactions like that with that player.

I've had interactions like that over the years with lots of Canucks players and, um, tend tended not to run it tended to, you know, sort of. The beer toward managing the relationship and not wanting to embarrass a guy. Yeah, give them a break. You had a bad game, you're in a bad mood. Fine. You know? Yeah, exactly.

But you know what? Yeah. It's been a lot of this, right? It's been a lot of this and, and to, uh, you know, I think skate on it too much. Like at some point it's enabling, right? Like at some point you're enabling a group of players, um, you know, who, who I don't think have taken media obligations very seriously. And frankly, I think you've seen that reflected on the ice,

right? Like this is team I don't think has taken this season seriously enough. It's been overwhelmed by petty squabbles and inconsistent efforts and on and on, you know, and it's like, then you see that same lack of, I don't wanna say lack of professionalism, but it kind of is, in terms of how this organization or how some of the players in this organization interact with the media and represent this franchise publicly. And it's just like, guys, what are we doing here?

This can't possibly be acceptable or tolerable to anybody. Drancer, very well said. Thanks for doing this. We really appreciate you taking the time on a Monday. Travel safe and we'll do this again. I think we're going to try and do this again one more time this week, but travel safe and enjoy the rest of the day. Thanks again.

Cheers guys. Bye. Right. Thomas Drantz from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Okay. Kevin Woodley is going to join us next. We'll talk about the goaltending situation.

Lots of things to discuss, some positive, including Archer Silov's performance last night in Utah, some concerning, Thatcher Demko's ongoing injury concerns and some, I'm really getting, I'm just curious to hear Woodley's thoughts on the term that Kevin Lankinen got from the Vancouver Canucks. You're listening to the Halford and Bruff

Show on Sportsnet 650.