Halford & Brough in the Morning - Drancer's Notes From The Canucks Prospects Showcase

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with Too Deep Zone NFL insider Mike Tanier (2:00) about the weekend's exciting Week 2 action, plus they hear from Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance (23:59), who was in Everett to take in the 2025 Prospects Showcase. 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.

704 on a Monday, happy 704 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody, Halford, Prof, SportsNet, 650. This is Top Gunnish. Yep. Just because it has the guitar. No, this is Top Gunnish, for sure. A little soft.

Very 80s. No, no, there's the, well, there's the, well, It wasn't all action. It's true. There's love. There's love and emotion. Loss. There was some romance.

There was some grief. We're talking about the beach volleyball scene, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There was all those emotions in one plus playing in jeans, which to this day. RFK approved. Yeah.

Who plays volleyball in jeans? Yeah. Very strange. Burn his underwear after that. Strange directorial choice there. You are listening to the Halford & Brough show. You know what? I think you should wear some jeans for the scene.

How about it shorts? No, no, no, do the jeans. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates, B.C.'s first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 5-star reviews. This is them online at sands-trustee.com. We're an hour two of the program. Mike Tanny, our Monday morning quarterback, is going to join us in just a moment here.

Hour two of this program is backed by Jason hominock at Jason. If you love, give me the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. We're coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you and step. Let's go now to the Power West Industries hotline, our NFL insider from the two deep zone. Mike Taney are here now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Good morning, Michael. How are you? I'm doing great. That music made me feel like I'm a private investigator from a 1980s television show. It was amazing. It was pretty good. I want to start here with the Eagles and the Chiefs because we were talking about it prior to going a break

and getting you on here. We address this from a bunch of different angles. I like how you started the walkthrough, though, asking the question, are the Eagles and the Chiefs rivals? What conclusions did you come to, Mike? They're not really. I'm based in Philadelphia. Even when I went to my local tavern,

it's not like people were storming in there like two hours early to tailgate because the Super Bowl rematch was on. It was nothing like facing the Cowboys or even facing a team like the commanders when they're tough. There's not a lot of juice. There's not a lot of animosity there. And if you looked

across yesterday's schedule and you looked at rivalry games, you saw things like Giants Cowboys, which was banana pants. You know, you saw things like the Lions Bears, which you could tell was really like emotional for both teams. The Chiefs and Eagles, it was an important game, but like it's kind of like it is what it is.

And I think the quality of play in that game reflected that to a degree. Jason and I are split on the Chiefs right now. Jason seems to think that they're in trouble. I seem to think down on them. I'm down on them. I think that you have to take into consideration who they lost to and the way that

they lost that maybe pushing the panic butt would be a bit premature. Not enough weapons. Where are you on this, Mike? I'm on the not enough weapons, in fact, zero weapons. Like nothing. And that'll be different when Worthy's healthy and Rice returns.

But that's, you know, weeks down the road. And there are big opponents like the Ravens and the Lions, I think, on the schedule beforehand. They have no one to get the ball to. They're trying to use Kelsey as their go-to guys still. And, you know, what you get is like a clutch catch here and a dropped touchdown that becomes an interception at the goal line there. That's not good.

Hollywood Brown cannot be the guy you funnel your offense through. So, you know, they're playing well on defense. You talk about who they face. Well, the charges are a team that they beat regularly. That's the team that they would sweep and once it was like week 18 or whatever over the last couple of seasons. It's unusual to get that win, excuse me, to get that loss.

And you look at the final scores, that's one thing. You look at how the games played out. It never really looked like in these games the chiefs were ready to mount a threat. They were playing from behind for much of these games. You were just kind of waiting for the Mahomes, magic for much of these games. They didn't look like they were out there

saying, oh, we're serious Super Bowl contenders. And I think right now, they're in a tier below the Bills and Ravens. And I think we're going to see that when they face those teams in the weeks to come. The big news of the morning, we've mentioned it a couple times here, courtesy of ESP bands Adam Schaefter, that it is confirmed that Joe Burrow is going to have to undergo

surgery on his toe that's going to keep him out for a minimum of three months. Now, the Bengals are 2-0, and they got a wild victory yesterday. against Jacksonville who couldn't take advantage of Burrow being knocked out of that game and Jake Browning coming in cold. One, what did you think of that game yesterday and two? What's the out look now for Cincinnati? Well, I'll say this about Jake Browning. He was four and three as a starter for the Bengals two years ago. He knows what his job is is get the ball to chase,

get the ball to Higgins, throw screens to chase if you have to, throw into coverage to Higgins if you have to. That's what he did yesterday. He got a, he got a break from a lot of very typical Jaguars unforced errors where they went out there and were sloppy when they needed to execute on like third downs and the red zone and Browning comes away with a very Jason Higgins aided win. Now, so yeah, he's led them

to victories. He led the league in completion percentage back in 2023, which might surprise some people. Here's the problem for the Bengals of not a read off their schedule right now. At Vikings, at Broncos, Lions, at Packers. So you're going out there in those four games

against a Vikings team that has a very good defense and is probably looking to make a statement. A Broncos team coming off a really weird loss yesterday that really does have a strong defense, the Lions who are the Lions, and the Packers who may be the best team, definitely the best team in the NFC right now. There's a big risk that they're just going to go maybe one in three or even O and four with Browning, and that's going to be like the knockout punch that puts the Bengals where they always are, which is far beyond the eight ball when Barrow comes rushing back and tries to lead them back.

I know a lot of the focus from the Steelers game, Steelers Seahawks game was on the mistake by the rookie and the kickoff rules, et cetera, et cetera. I'd love to hear your thoughts on those, but also just the Steelers in general, because we're trying to figure out how good the Seahawks are. And I was happy with the win for the Seahawks. I thought they deserved to win, even if they didn't get that lucky break, they deserve to win. but I was not at all impressed with the Steelers. Me either. And there's a couple things there. First of all, okay, the rookie like touches the ball

and it rolls into the end zone. And everybody starts talking about the new kickoff rules and the new kickoff rolls. That's been a fumble since the beginning of time, hasn't it? I don't think he touched it. I don't think he touched it. I still don't. Oh, okay.

I don't. The point was it might have, but it was live regardless. Right. The point was at the touch or not, it was moot. Because when it lands in that zone and it goes into the end zone, It's a live football. Yeah. It's a live football, right.

So, I mean, anybody should be going back there and scrambling for that ball. Okay, fine. So that's a lucky break, and the Seahawks get a touchdown. Hey, the Steelers got a touchdown on a lucky break on a kickoff fumble the previous week. Okay, so what do you do if you're the Steelers? If you're a gut-check team with a 41-year-old Hall of Fame or quarterback, you lead a comeback. If you're a team with a great defense, you prevent the Seahawks from doing anything else from that point on. that is not what the Steelers did.

That's not what the Seahawks did. The Steelers could not stop the Seahawks, including on that Kenneth Walker run on third and goal from the 20 or whatever it was. Cannot make that stop there. Cannot get the ball back. They get a field goal drive, but the Seahawks front four is doing a good job getting to Rogers, causing him to make mistakes and pressure,

you know, hurting him late in the game. I don't know what the Seahawks are. I can see what they're trying to be with this ball control and defense team. It's put themselves in position. to win both games, and they win one of them. It's a very station-to-station offense overall. It looks to me like a good, not great defense. That's fine.

That might be enough in the NFC West as like injuries take their toll on other teams. Steelers, it looks like smoking mirrors, and it looks like when that ball bounced into the end zone, like the magical spell that they're just going to keep finding ways to win. It looks like it poofed when that happens. And I think the Steelers are going to be in big trouble as the weeks go on. We're speaking to Mike Tanier, our Monday morning quarterback, presentation of the Clayton Public House

here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Pre-game to post-game, the Clayton Public House is your home with football. Catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors. Visit them online at the Clayton Pub.com. I do want to circle back to Eagles chiefs again, Mike,

because the other narrative and storyline that we haven't addressed yet, and Joe the Sparky just text in about this, the tush push and whether or not it is going to survive. I know it's survived. You know, people trying to break it down this off season and trying to vote it out of the lead,

but I did notice yesterday there seemed to be more and more consternation, maybe more than ever, about the false start element of it and the way that the Eagles have been able to use it so much more effectively than everybody else. Do you have any thoughts or do you want to weigh in on the tush push

discourse? I'd rather not because the play is legal. It's effective. It survived a round of like very hostile interrogation by the rules committee. It's legal for the rest of the year.

And if you don't like it, stop it. And if your quarterback doesn't want to run it, that's on you. I guess, I don't know, it seems like Tom Brady seems to not be a fan of it. No. Yeah, there was a play where there was a false start and it wasn't called. Hey, you know what doesn't get called in Chiefs games? Pretty much anything, including anything the Chiefs do. So it's becoming this ridiculous sour grapes type of thing.

And, yeah, I mean, again, I saw the Seahawks team. The Seahawks kind of ran like a slight version of a burner. Yeah. So they've got a little version of it. I think I saw another play where somebody got a little shove in on the quarterback and won it. Stop complaining and running. I'm still waiting for that critical injury now after three seasons that proves this is an unhealthy play. It's a lot of sour grapes.

It's a lot of coaches grumbling that they didn't think of it first. And it's a lot of fans who, if their team started doing it, would be very, very happy to see it. I'm on the Daniel Jones bandwagon. Are you? Oh, no. I'm on it. I'm on it. Two and oh, baby.

It's too much fun. Too and oh, baby. They haven't punted yet this season. You know that? I know. That's amazing. Yeah, I just, I refuse. I know you do.

I read the walk through. I know where this is going. I stand fast. They faced a Dolphins team that didn't want to be there in week one. And then just kind of, and again, this was a good game by Daniel Jones. the flukiest, most bizarre way to end the game where, you know, I don't think Shane Stuykema is on the Daniel Jones bandwagon because he's handing off the setup like a 97-yard field roll or whatever it was at the end of the game. So that should be telling you something. If there wasn't this

unusual call, we wouldn't be talking about Daniel Jones. Daniel Jones has told us what he is for the last six years. I absolutely refuse to get on the board with this. Oh, two-game Hot Street. This guy has fixed himself. Nope. Nope. Nope, nope. Let's focus on a couple coaches here who are off to 0-and-2 starts. The first, I like that. Nope, nope, nope, nope. The first is Mike McDaniel.

He says he's not worried about Miami's O&2 start. How worried should he be, though, and how much longer do you think he has in charge? He's not worried because I think in his mind he's already fired. Yeah. I think he kind of threw in the tail sometime in August when Tyreek Hill decided he was injured for a couple of weeks or whatever it was. So he's not, he's not where he's going to be fired. The bills are 12.5 point favorites next week. I think that's conservative.

I think I would be nailing the bills. If they're still 12 and a half, I'm going to be betting on the bills by like Wednesday or Thursday. And it's all over but the shouting for McDaniel. They play pretty well, honestly, against the Patriots. But when you go out there in the fourth quarter and you're committing delay of game penalties, and you can't dial up anything to get the ball to Hill and Waddle when you're only trailing by three or trailing by six, and you've got like a two timeouts left, it's a real problem. And I think McDaniel's done.

How much luster is off Ben Johnson in Chicago? And how much of a statement was that from his former team putting up 52 points in the win yesterday? Well, you know, the luster is off. And again, I'm glad we're not talking about Ben Johnson like he has magical superpowers anymore. The reality is he had a lot of culture change to do. Part of it was Caleb Williams. Part of it was getting this guy on track. But I think that there's, it's up and down the roster.

You know, it's not like Matt Eber Flutes was really running a tight ship. It's not like that defense was loaded with talent. They had some great players in the secondary, but they don't have a lot of players in the front seven. That's what you saw. You saw a team that can just get out-muscled on the defensive front in the run and the play-action passing game. And then we're still in a place with Caleb Williams and Johnson where the initial script is very good. You can script out 10-12 plays where Williams is comfortable, knows what he's doing, doing exactly what Johnson wants him to do getting the ball out there quickly to different guys.

And then once that script is over, you see the Caleb Williams who's like, oh, my first read isn't open, let me stand here, now let me run around, now let me try to do something like ill-advised with the football. And the Lions can take advantage of that. And I think a lot of opponents are going to take advantage of that in the weeks to come. Do you have a prediction about Caleb Williams' career? Like, is he salvage? I mean, this is the guy that bears, the bears and their fans have invested a lot of

financially and emotionally. yeah i mean i think he's salvageable i think there have been signs of development this year it's a patient situation the good news i would say is this is year two and it's week two and it's not year three and week two or like having these who is this guy type of conversations let's see what happens i think it has to start with him getting playing like a complete half forget a complete game a complete half where you don't have like any like mystery throws or weird lapses and then the bear's getting a win under their balance J.J. McCarthy. So two games now, both in prime time, eight quarters of action. I think it's fair to say that seven of the eight quarters have been real bad. There was one really good one, but seven of the eight quarters have been real bad.

Imagine the Vikings fans that Sunday night football, this is going to be awesome. They're like, can we go soon? Let's leave. And I think the scariest part for Vikings fans is that it wasn't just one particular thing that you say, oh, he could clean up and he'll be better. It feels like there's a lot that needs to be cleaned up there. Am I off? Am I off? on this, or am I right? You are right. The week one win was a lot of roughing the passer penalties after you already got the ball at midfield, and now you're in scoring positions, so you make a play. He wasn't given those opportunities yesterday. Vikings fans are now focusing on the left tackle.

Hey, the left tackle, Darryso's hurt. The left tackle is a real problem. Well, yeah, everybody's got problems. You also have Justin Jefferson. Come on. You should be able to find a way. Folks have noticed that McCarthy never three. throws to his left. He's got Mitch Chubisky disease. He never throws to his left. I saw

that. I saw the heat map of his passes and I was blown away. Like he's like the Zoolander of quarterbacks. He doesn't go left. It's wild. Right. And that was a big Chubisky thing. Now again, that was Trubisky like year three of his career. Like what's going on? This is start number two and it's coming off

of a short week. Let's wait and see. It's kind of sustained things I was saying. I think after Monday and I think I was entering the season. The Vikings are very good at scaffolding their quarterback. They can get a lot of pass rush and blitzing and force errors and give him good field position. And Addison will come back and Darrisal will come back. And McCarthy will have all of these sort of guardrails where he can do play action passes and all.

It's just a little comforting to not be in this winner-sauce conversation because we were ready to annoy him Tom Brady on Tuesday morning. Some of the things that were said about him were wacky. and this is very much a work in progress and it's going to take time. Mike, this was great, buddy, as always. Thank you very much for doing it. We appreciate it.

Enjoy both Monday night, football games tonight. We'll do this again next Monday. Absolutely. Take care and enjoy your week. Yeah, you too, ma'am. Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the two deep zone here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. How about the NFC West being 7 and 1 combined? Amazing.

How about the 2-0-0 Arizona Cardinals who, by like, every metric have not even played that well, And it'd be two lousy teams in New Orleans. And yesterday they got off to a pretty comfortable lead in Carolina and then let them back in the game late. But they're right there atop the division. They're in San Francisco for week three. That'll actually be kind of interesting.

And then they host the Seahawks. Yeah. Like the Seahawks should be two and O right now. I know. Seahawks should be too in a year. I got even more upset about week one. I mean, I know it was a different team this week than to beat them last people. I watched a bunch of that Saints Niners game.

Like the Niners who last week, yes, they had Purdy. but they still only had killed for one drive and again they had a kicker that they had to get rid of it was so awful it should have been a win they should be a two and O team I have no idea what to make

of that home record watch Spencer Rattler come in to Lumen and just pick the Seahawks apart I don't think that's gonna happen I don't know I really don't bad teams that have come into Seattle

and beat them I have very few concerns about the Seahawks defense right now through two weeks despite the fact that Rieke Wullen is a part of it I will give him some credence to what he said about

like I played 98% of the game very well and then 2% and it was allowed 2% he does remember when I could do is my okay I know it's a hockey comparison is it a Canucks comparison no no no he's like he's like that offensive defenseman

you know who he is he's Jake Gardner like there's my comp for him I got time for that a lot of things he does well but his mistakes are loud they're big and loud they're big and loud and kind of soft yeah no I can get down with that

We haven't had the Jake Gardner-Rick-Wollen comp pulled out. It's the first ever. It's a score. It's a scorer gamy. I didn't have it on my bingo card for a lot of reasons. Okay. Before we go to break, I think it was Dalvir texted in or maybe Chaiton. I can't remember who.

But they wanted, they said, did you guys talk about the white caps? We did a couple minutes on the white caps in the first half hour. One thing we didn't mention is that they also clinched a playoff spot yesterday. They were obviously going to make it. But there is something really interesting going on with the Mueller. acquisition beyond his playing ability. If you watch him, he dictates where everyone's going on the pitch. Now, I remember talking to a couple of people that said, part of the reason that he did want

to come here is that him and Sorensen had this massive sit down. I think they did about Zoom or whatever sort of like technology they were using, but they went really deep in the weeds of how they saw the game. And they kind of came to the realization that they both liked doing the same. things in terms of how they wanted to press and how they wanted to attack. And so I think the lightball moment for Sorensen was like, this guy can actually be a coach on the field because he's got that leadership and the vision and his ability to use space is what's always been his calling card.

If you watch him right now, he is orchestrating where the cap should be on the pitch, constantly he's pointing, he's talking. He is like an extension of the manager on the pitch. He also just happens to be an extremely talented player as well. Yeah. Now, it's funny, like, you hear about this where, like, in hockey parlons, often, it's like, well, when that guy's out there, he makes everyone play 20 pounds heavier or a foot taller.

Mm-hmm. When-hmm. Not like J. Gardner. No. When Mueller is out there, he makes guys play, like, way better, like, way more talented than they are. Yeah, yeah. Like, the goals that they were scoring on the weekend.

Mm-hmm. And I, like, Ali Ahmed, for example, was just destroying the, you know, the, you know, like, the poor Philadelphia right back, Badoia, who's a long time U.S. international. Like, Ali Ahmed was playing

with the confidence of a guy that was on his way to sign with the biggest club in Europe. Emmanuel Sabi was just scoring goals for fun, but taking them with the kind of confidence where it's like, I don't need to worry about what's going to happen here because I know this is going to end well.

Yeah. Like hitting shots on the first time, you know, doing everything imaginable. That presence that Mueller is brought is so, so dramatic that that's part of the reason why they had that win against Philadelphia.

They also didn't stop going forward. Like there was no like, oh, we're kicking these guys' ass. We should probably call the dogs. They were going for it. They wanted to score eight or nine if they could. It's a really fun thing to watch. They've got the Canadian championship on Tuesday, by the way, against Forge. Not the Forge.

The Forge. Just Forge. Thomas Trance is going to join us next. Tom was down in Everett to watch the Canucks prospects against the Cracken prospects. So we'll talk about what he saw down there besides Everett. Before we go to rig, I need to tell you about pastime sports and games

for the latest in hockey cards, sports memorabilia, and upcoming in-person autograph sessions. Visit them online at pastimesports.ca. Where customer service is their top priority. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. What we just have to call Thomas Dran's erotica. Thomas Brands Erotica Coorsy

Thomas Transerotica Expect the goals Thomas Transerotica Todd model Thomas Transerotica Thomas Dranderonica PEDYO Thomas Drens

Deronica 733 on a Monday Happy Monday everybody Halford Brough of Sportsnet 650 Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates Learn how a consumer proposal

reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest Visit them online at Sands dash trustee You don't get the Drans's music on a Monday very often. Special times, though. We are in our two of the program, by the way. We're at the midway point of the show.

Drance is going to join us in just a moment here, as the music suggests. Hour two of this program is brought to by Jason hominock at jason. 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. To the Power West Industries hotline we go, Thomas Drans from the Athletic Vancouver and Kucks Talk. joins us here on the Halford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

What up, Drancer? Good morning, gentlemen. Let's start with the guy that lit up Mani Malhotra's face over the two games against these crack and prospects in Everett. Was it you? Was it you? No, it was it was. It was absolutely not. Spoiler alert, it was D.P.D.

Tell us about the other Elias Pedersen, Dranser? Yeah, I thought he was the most impressive Canucks skater on the weekend. man, he was throwing big hits in that environment. He took a stinger on one shift and, you know, kept competing, kept communicating with his teammates working on a defensive zone sequence. He didn't leave the game, which honestly, I mean, but you're probably making an NHL lineup in the next three weeks. Like, it's okay.

You can take the rest of the third period of a prospects game off. He didn't, right? There is not wired that way. As Malho said, he only has one speed, right? Like, he mashes guys in practice. I mean, you could see the heavy cross checks in front of the net. Like, he's not just boxing guys out. He's punishing in front of the net.

And he plays that way while also being pretty savvy about jumping into the play. It's all stationary in zone stuff. He doesn't lead the rush. He's not going to be aggressive seizing fourth man's ice. But, man, this guy is, you know, he's not a prospect. He's a young NHL player. And he's going to be a young NHL player for this team. and he looked like it.

He looked the part of a guy who, you know, at this level anyway, was able to dictate the game, was too good for this level. And that's what you want to see in these sort of scrambly prospect camp, competitive environments. And yeah, he passed that test. I think ConnectS fans should be excited. This is a really good young defenseman with a pretty rare, like a throwback skill set, right? The sort of player we don't see come into the league all that off.

often these days, but a hugely valuable one potentially for this team. So I was really impressed. I thought he was, yeah, Vancouver's best skater and a guy that, you know, I'll be, I'll be very surprised at this point if he's not on this team and in this lineup, this Canucks lineup, game one of the season. Do you see him pairing with a guy like Derek Foreboard, third pair, or do you think he could play even further up? I mean, I think he's going to play third pair one way or another just because they've got Marcus Pedersen who's a bona fide top pair caliber guy

and they've got Quinn Hughes who's an all-universe guy so you know that that's third pair leftee you know they played them on the right a bit last season so I could see them opening the year with Forbert and Elias Pedersen sort of as their third pair I could also see Vlander like I think they really want Vlander to make the team

we will talk about that in a bit I'm a little bit skeptical that he's ready but yeah I mean so if Vlander's on the team you know you could see something like he starts with Tyler Myers maybe right and then at the end of the night

Tyler Myers Marcus Patterson Hieronic and Quinn Hughes are top four in Kinex Ice Time but that's not how they take line rushes right like one of Myers or or Marcus Patterson looks like they're on the third pair when they take line rushes but in fact they're playing top four minutes

So I can see in alignment like that as well, but yeah, I mean, he might start the year on the right side. He might start the year with Derek Forbert, but man, I really struggle to imagine that this guy is not, not just an NHL player now, but potentially a pretty impactful one. Let's talk about Tom Willander. Yeah. I mean, I mean, so he struggled in the first game, but a lot of the Canucks struggled in the first game. He was better in the second game, looked to be a little bit more aggressive trying to jump into the rush, but no real dynamic plays came of it. Like, that's not the strength of his game.

You know, he used to speed pretty well defensively, especially in the zone, those wall plays. Like if the puck rings around the end boards, right? If the puck's put down low, he's really good at using his quick acceleration to sort of get in guys' way, beat them to pucks. He stopped a lot of cycle plays that way, and that's really good to see. You like that a lot. Offensively, very much a work in progress. You know, I don't think he, like, I think he has to still look down to make plays, which is really tough once you're sort of working on retrievals and trying to feel pressure against NHL forwards. You know, I think that can get you lit up in the NHL, to be totally

honest, and we'll see if sort of that plays out in preseason and stuff. But just, he's got the tools, but I don't know that he's a really natural puck mover. The sort of way that I think about it is like feel for pressure. And it goes beyond speed, right? It's because he's an incredibly good skater, but there's a difference between skating fast, which he can do and playing fast, which I think is a a different toolkit and not something that he's, you know, arrived fully developed with. Yeah. And you see this in two different ways with him.

The first is that, you know, and you'll see this like, Jordy Ben was really good on retrievals, even though he wasn't the fastest mover, where there was like this collection of sort of like head fakes. You know, I almost think about it like a quarterback in the pocket, right? It's exactly like that. Yeah, and you see guys like Justin Fields versus Patrick Mahomes. like field is faster than Patrick Mahomes, but Patrick Holmes has feel for pressure, right?

He sort of has a sense of where it's coming from. He has answers for it. He has a way of dealing with it, you know, whether it's with deception or weird side angles, whatever. And so you'll see defenders like, Jordy Ben had that. Honestly, Jordy Ben had that.

Ian Cole had that. Those guys aren't fast, right? By any means. But whether it's head fakes, whether it's just a little bit of deception with how they come out of the corner, they've got it when they go back and pick up a puck with, you know, defenders bearing down on them.

And I think that's something that, you know, is going to be a work in progress for a player like Vlander, even though he's going to get back to the puck, you know, maybe even a full 90 seconds faster than a more stationary defensive defensive defense and like that. And then the other one, and there was a play where, again, he's trying to be aggressive, seizing that fourth man's ice and leading the rush. But it's a partial change. so his teammates are changing up in front of him and he's skating fast through the neutral zone but he's not playing fast because all the forwards have to stop

and so by the time he gains the line with the puck no one else is moving right the momentum of the team has slowed in terms of getting into the zone right and there's just a few moments like that where there's going to need to be sort of some work I just think the puck control is a little bit of a limiting factor here and we'll see how it plays out when we get into main camp

and when we get into the preseason. But I sort of, I think the team is very optimistic that he can play in the NHL right away. I think they're hopeful that he'll come in and win a job. I sort of come out of this weekend's game skeptical that he's ready. Okay, we've talked about a couple of Swedish defensemen. Let's talk about a couple of Swedish forwards. now. You choose where

to start with Lecker-Macki and Vilmer-Alrickson. Well, what? Do you have a song for Wilmer-Alrichs already? It's like the Wilma from the Flintstone the Wilma, like if Wilmer you know, uses the credit cards too much. I don't think anyone's making a Wilma

joke to this guy on the ice though, right? He is a giant. And he's mean, right? Like he's not one of those big guys that you have to poke and prod and cajole to sort of play that way, right? Like, he uses his size. He doesn't need to be told.

He does it consistently. He does it in all three zones. Yeah, I'm in. I'm buying stock on Bill Morales-Ricksson, maybe belatedly, but I can see it. Yeah, I mean, the first game, right? So the first game they played in Ebert, they had a 3-0 lead that was one of those hockey leads you see sometimes

where you're like, how do they have the lead? They haven't had the puck. Berkeley Caton just absolutely fed the Canucks in that first game like he had a goal and an assist he hit a post on a breakaway and it was one of those games

where you walk out of the rank being like that guy could have five points I mean he was every shift he was dictating and he was doing it mostly against the sort of Coots Le Caramackie Alrickson line and I think because that line never had the puck

Allrickson was Vancouver's standout skater in that Saturday game, which is one of those like good for him, not great for the team things. But nonetheless, I think it gave him an opportunity anyway to show like he's pretty conscientious defensively. He uses his size really well to sort of like bull rush defenders trying to pinch and maintain possession. And they don't often do it because he's so big.

You know, he protects the. puck, his putt protection thing is where things are a little bit interesting for me because you can see it on his goal highlight. I don't know if people saw he scored the opening goal in the Friday game and, you know, he's just got a defender in his back pocket. And it's like a building having a defender in their back pocket, right? Like there's just no chance that the defender's reaching in to disrupt what he wants to do. And so in those moments, his puck control looks dynamic. But then there's a lot of other ones, especially off the rush, where the puck is very easily poked away from him, right?

And that's like a puck management issue that, you know, he's going to have to improve on. So there's still some inconsistency there. I still think this is very much a project. Maybe he gets an NHL game in like a fourth line role down, you know, at some point this season. But I think this guy is still a project still has some work or some distance to travel in terms of honing some of his skills. But he uses his size well and all three zones.

he's pretty diligent defensively. He works hard to make an impact with his size physically. Like he's a presence. All three zones naturally. Looks like a worker. I mean, has some dog in him. I'm in. Like, this is a lot of fun.

And I'm really curious to see where this goes now that he's on the precipice of turning pro. The major junior production still wasn't there. So I don't think we're talking about like an Alexi Protis type profile. here, but maybe like an Alexei Torpchenko, but meaner, like an Alexi Torpchenko who drops the gloves sometimes, like, yeah, that sounds awesome. I think that's the sort of thing that the Canucks might have on their hands and on a project basis with Allerickson, and that's pretty fun. Okay, very different type of player, we'll discuss now. I had a few concerns about Lechromacki, just not, it's not his fault, but his offseason was short.

because the Abbotsford team went all the way and won it. And I was kind of like, ah, that's less time to get bigger and stronger over the offseason. You know, you don't have to talk about that angle, but how did he look at the Prospects tournament? Because to me, like, this is the guy that's, but this is a guy that should be at this Prospects tournament. I mean, you mentioned Berkeley Caton,

who, you know, the Cracken need this guy to be a star because they need some sort of buzzer, about their team. But, like, Lechromacki should be, yeah, Lechromacki should be dominating a tournament like this or really showing up. Yeah. And so I, I, he's still 21, right? And it's not like he was a top 10 draft pick the way Caton was, right? So I get what you're saying. I don't think it's a concern that he was like somewhat quieter or didn't, you know, like absolutely pick his teeth with the competition the way Caton did.

in the one game he played. Pretty bullish, too, when you dominate to that extent and then your team pulls you from the second game of the series. I think that speaks volumes in terms of his short-term NHL outlook, talking Katten. Yeah, I mean, you talk about the strength, and for me, that's the ball game, because I do think it applies to his speed too, right? This is a guy whose core strength just needs to develop a bit

because he's fast, he's a good technical skater, but he's just not NHL fast, right? And at his size, he's going to need to be NHL fast. And that's a different thing. Additionally, and you can see it, again, I'm grateful that we get to watch Garland and Hoaglander all the time because this makes what I'm about to say really easy to explain to fans, right? The core strength required to cut back and protect the puck as a smaller, a shorter player or a smaller player at the NHL level,

like it's really significant. Like those guys are absolute fire hydrants, even though in Garland's case, you know, you're talking about a guy who's, what, five foot eight and five foot seven maybe and then a buck 70 soaking wet,

you know, he's impossible to get the puck off of in the corner. And it's because of how he uses those edges and uses those cutbacks to protect the puck against larger defenders. Like that's something that Le Caramacky doesn't yet have in his game. and I think he's going to need if he's going to be playing big minutes. And I think his skill set dictates that he's probably going to have to play big minutes, right?

He's not going to be a guy you're going to have on your third line. So, yeah, I sort of look at that and think, yeah, you know, the speed, like it didn't look to me like he was materially faster. It didn't look to me like, you know, he'd had that transformative sort of offseason where he comes in and looks like a totally different guy, which isn't to say he had a bad off season by any means. It's just the sort of quantum leap forward. You know, I didn't see that in evidence across those two games. I still really like the player. He scored obviously a lovely goal.

You know, he had his, like, the thing I like about Le Caramackie's game and that stands out to me, and it especially stood out to me on Saturday when they went down, sort of coughed up that 3-0 lead, and we're trailing with, you know, four or five minutes to play in the third period. You can just see the hunger. Like, he's not a guy who's like, oh, no, right? Like, he wants the puck. He wants to make the difference.

He believes he can make the difference. He has that, you know, you call it killer instinct, call it natural self-confidence. But I think you can see that on the power play in Vancouver last year. Like, he wanted the puck and felt very comfortable, but you're not on the power play all the time in the NHL. And to your point, he's going to need to learn how to fight for pucks, win pucks, and protect pucks. Yeah, his power play work, and then that's another thing is we didn't get to see it, right? Like not a lot anyway and not with the sorts of players that he'll be playing with if he makes it. I mean, the way that he operates in a stationary attacking situation on the 5 on 4 at the age 20 last year.

I mean, he turned 21 this summer. man that's like legitimately precocious he's incredibly nuanced and good in that so you know look I still think there's a lot of attributes here especially the shooters shoot confidence that he has that gives him an opportunity to be special but I do think there's still some a work in progress physical package right that he's still going to have to be adding to here before he's you know and Again, the bar he has to jump over is he's not going to be an energy line winger, right? Like, he has to be a top of the lineup guy. I buy that he has the upside and the talent level to get there.

I'm not, you know, picking him to break camp with this team over the course of the next three weeks, though. The goaltending, finally. I was watching the media that Malhotra did after the Sunday game, and he was asked about both the duo of Medvedev and Koskenvo. I think I'm getting that one, right? Koskenvo, yeah. Koskenvo, yeah. Hoskinvo. Not just about those two, but I guess collectively, the goaltending

depth that they've got in the organization. Now, what were your thoughts on the guys between the pipes? Yeah, I mean, this team has a lot of good goalies, a lot of interesting young goalies. Mevedev looked great. I mean, that game could have been that game could have had a crooked score line, right? That game could have been

8-2, even more off-sided than that. And instead, the Canucks really had a chance to win it with seven minutes to go despite, you know, what Katten was doing on a shift-to-shift basis. And even the goals that beat him, right? It was like he stops both rebounds and the third one gets by him, right? It was like a constant flow of that.

And a lot of the times he, you know, the Canucks were able to earn the clear with him just having stood on his head and caught bullets in his teeth. It was a wildly impressive showing. And then Koskenboe, yeah, especially in that third period, and on the Elias Patterson took a late power penalty. So they were short-handed holding this one-goal lead. Yeah, he was excellent. I mean, really, really good rebound control in that third period.

There was very little that didn't stick to him. Seemed just seemed to be seen through traffic ably, looked really big in the net. I mean, I'm not a Kevin Woodley goalie expert or whatever, but, you know, I'd say he looked like he was tracking pucks really comfortably and looked really good. Now, I don't know that there's going to be a spot in the American League for him this year, right? He's probably going down to the ECHL. They're going to go with Tolapilo and Ty Young. At least that's Plan A at the American League level. And Yuri Patera is still in the mix here and is probably the third goalie on the depth chart

in terms of giving them NHL games if required, given his level of experience. So it's pretty crowded for a player like Koskenbo. But, I mean, you know, he didn't have standout, save percentage stats at Harvard the last couple years. but looked pretty interesting to me, honestly, with a stellar performance on the Saturday. And yeah, sorry, on the Sunday. And then Medvedev, you know, I think people were surprised. Canucks fans were surprised.

I think the public scouting lists were a little bit lower on him. He was the backup for a stacked London Knights team didn't get into a playoff game. So his profile was a little bit low, but, you know, there was no way he was lasting to the third round. Like no chance. There were team teams were in. on him for a variety of reasons

and I think some teams were considering him earlier like in the top 40 at the NHL draft the industry was way higher on him than your average sort of public scout and I mean

looked apart like looked athletic looked calm technically I mean you really liked what you saw from both of those goalies so yeah I mean two guys signed long term at the NHL level two guys that I'd still consider real prospects likely to be your platoon at the American League level

and then Medvedev and Koskenvo behind that. Yeah, this is an area of real surplus now for the prospect pipeline. Sorry about Justin Fields. Oh, yeah. I mean, it is what it is. I know what the Justin Fields experience is going to look like, you know? He's in the protocol. I wonder how long will be in there for.

That's tough. Yeah, I'd imagine, I'd imagine I'm not getting a start from him next. week, Mike. Yeah, I would imagine. Yeah, okay. Thanks for doing this, buddy. We appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week.

We'll do this again. Are we going to do this again later this week as well? We're going to double up on the drans? A double drance this week? Wow, a double drance. So excited. The next one from Connect's training camp. I guess one last thing.

I'm excited to go to Penticton because I missed the Young Stars tournament this weekend, right? Yeah. This used to be the Young Stars tournament. But I will say a two-game tournament, get to go down to Seattle. Yeah, pretty good. pretty good. I grabbed some dicks on the way back. It was awesome. I mean, love to be in Seattle. It's a fast food joint, everybody. It's quite good, too, I might add. Yeah. It's one of those old school. Yeah. There's no other way you can say it. It's called Dix. That's it.

I know, but you don't have to say I grabbed some. Well, he did. Well, I was going to say I grabbed a bag. I grabbed a bag of dick on my way home. You just did. That was way better. Thanks, Renser, sir. I thought it was a sporting goods store. That's Dick's sporting goods. Isn't there a lumber store too. Dix lumber. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Dix is like... It'd be funny if it was the same guy that owned all of them. He's like, I'm just going to keep doing this. It's like an old school car hop place. You have to go up to the counter. The guys are wearing like the white, it's like white paper hats.

Not the pointy ones. You know what I'm talking about. I know. What? Yeah. I just, I can't believe Durant said that. What? Did he grab some dicks? A bag of them. Yeah, well, yeah. Okay, we got a lot more to get you on the program. Drans mentioned he's not a goalie expert like Kevin Woodley. No worries because Kevin Woodley is coming up next on the show. We'll talk to him about the Canucks stuff,

but also around the National Hockey League. We actually want to ask him what Rick Tocott is going to have in net for the Philadelphia Flyers this year because one of the things that Tocket had during his time in Vancouver was pretty good goaltending. I wonder how good of a coach Rick Tuckett's going to be possibly without pretty good goaltending because I've seen that make some coaching debuts and their first year on the job incredibly more difficult.

There's a saying about that, isn't there? There is a saying about that. We'll ask Kevin Woodley about that. On the other side, you're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet, 650. I grabbed some dicks on the way back.