Halford & Brough in the Morning - EP40 Is Starting To Put It Together

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason look ahead to the remainder of the Canucks schedule and what should be expected of Elias Pettersson in order for the Canucks to make the playoffs (3:00), plus they get an Abbotsford Canucks update from commentator Brandon Astle (26:20). 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.

7.03 on a Thursday, trash Thursday here on the Haliford & Brev show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford & Brev for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, the thrashiest Honda dealer in British Columbia. You're almost going into the death metal guttural, like, Vancouver, Honda. It's hard to do the rest of this read with a real guttural lean. Yeah. 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. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Homonuck and Jason.mortgage, the most metal of all the mortgage brokers. If you love giving the bags for your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Just kidding.

Visit him on the internet at JasonDotMortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio, Kintec Footwear and Orthotics working together with you in Stapp. The Kintec Studio. A huge win for the Vancouver Canucks last night. 4-3 shootout victory over the Calgary Flames in Calgary in the second of a back-to-back. Kevin Lankenin goes back-to-back, gets the win.

Elias Pettersson, big goal with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation to tie it. He scores in the shootout. Connor Garland with the shootout winner. So many takeaways from the game last night. It was a good gut check victory for a team that by my count now, I had it going into last night's game, they needed 12 wins.

It doesn't matter what fashion they needed 12 wins out of their final, however, were remaining. I think it was 18. So now they're down to 11 by my count. So that's what I'm doing. I'm crossing them off the board. Your count, which is also Jay Pat's count, he did the math.

Yeah. And you stole the math. Well, I mean, it's not that hard to figure out. You figure they need 93 points, right? So how, so I did, you can do it via wins or maybe you can get some of them, them loser points that you had earlier in the year, which were a lot of fun, but whatever the case, I'm

going with 11 wins that they need to get now, going down the stretch. Utah won last night as well. They did. So I think they beat Anaheim. So they're up to 69 points. Nice. Tied with St.

Louis, which also has 69 points. Super nice. So, oh God, both those teams are trailing Calgary and Vancouver who each have 71 points. So it really is a four horse race for one spot. The Canucks, again, we mentioned this in the first segment, they host Chicago Saturday and then they host Utah Sunday. Huge game. So does Lankton get the back to backs again?

By the way, no one's done the research for me. I asked all of you listeners yesterday. No one did it. I asked Laddie, noted goalie guru. I thought someone in your goalie nerd chat would at least try to broach the subject. When's the last time that an NHL goalie has played consecutive back to backs? Because that's theoretically what we're

asking in Blanken is play the Tuesday, Wednesday, back to back against Montreal and Calgary. That's an aggressive search. Yeah. That's a tough assignment. Come on. Like any of our listeners have things going on. You guys have the time.

And then Saturday, Sunday, the back to back. Now I don't think that they'll do it. I think that they're gonna play She Loves on Saturday against Chicago. Yeah, I might be tempted to do that too because. That was a deep sigh. Because the Canucks then host Winnipeg on Tuesday. So this is actually not just a mirror back to back.

This is three games in four days and then they hit the road for six starting Thursday in St. Louis. So it's going to be tough, man. They could really use another goalie. Let's just put it that way. I don't know what the latest is on Thatcher Demko. And part of me wonders if Thatcher is kind of like, oh, I saw that Lankton and got that five-year deal. We'll let him play all the games then. Yeah.

Can you imagine? How many back-to-backs do you have coming up? Ooh, that's going to be tough. That's tough. Peak pettiness. I rushed back for the playoffs last year. I'm not going to really do it this time. If he could put his personal pettiness aside though, alleged pettiness, hypothetical, facetious

pettiness, they do desperately need them. It stinks that they're in this situation with the goalies. It really does because I mean, could you imagine what Silavs is going through mentally right now? Unless he's blocked out all, every single bit of outside noise. He knows that the franchise considers him borderline unplayable right now.

Right? I mean, there's no other way to look at it if you're she loves. You're the last, last option. I'm trying to emphasize how little they want to play him right now because there's so much at stake with every game. Well, his last start was- And Chicago's playing better lately. Give Tullapiello a look.

See, his last start was that one in Anaheim where they had the two nothing lead and they eventually lost five to two. You mean the five unanswered goals? That's the one I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah. Which I'm, and you're not putting She Loves

on the Hook for all of them, but if you look at his body of work this season, the moments where you could say, oh, we rely on him to get us any sort of performance. It's too spotty. Well, there's just a lot of goals in that game where, you know, laddie, you've talked about it, just clean beats, you know. I love a clean beat.

My DJ days. Those are the concerning ones for my DJ. We got beats. I think they're neat. A lot of people want to shout out Victor Mancini for his game last night. I don't mean to interrupt you, but I'm going with Vic Mancini now.

He owns a deli on 24th, Vic Mancini. That's how we're calling him from now on, okay? I'm calling him that. I'm calling him Mancini. It should be Mancini. Okay, why? Because everybody knows that that name is pronounced Mancini.

What does- Vick Mancini, heart C on both. Vick Manccini. What does- Vic Mancini, hard to see on both. Vic Mancini. Go. What does Riccio do? I don't know. Who cares? I can't listen.

It's not Riccio, it's Riccio. He played- Sorry, exactly. Thank you. All right. He was great. He played well. Vic Mancini was awesome.

And hopefully this guy is a keeper for the Canucks. And look, the blue line is looking good. Yeah, I know. Not only right now, but for the future. Now, that assumes Quinn Hughes is still with the team in a few years. But a lot of people have texted in saying, Hronik, like tip of the cap to Hronik.

And they're also saying, like, look, this guy can carry his own pair. Yeah. And I agree. And also it's, it's a little easier when you can put Hughes with some better defensemen. Like before, you remember it was like, I mean, this, the top four last season was Hughes and Hronik and then Susie and Meyers were together, right?

And Susie and Meyers played well, but then Susie took such a big step back this season to the point that he's no longer with the organization. They bring in guys like Marcus Pedersen and just adding a top four caliber defenseman changes so much because you're basically saying like, you know, like you've really only got to fill four.

Yep. So when you've got two defencemen, you're kind of like, oh, that's, we don't have enough top four defencemen. You add one more, you're like, we almost have enough. Yeah. Right. And if Quinn Hughes can play 30 minutes, you've

kind of got it covered. Well, I mean, look, look what they did last night without Tyler Myers. Yep. You, you don't have Tyler Myers in the lineup. You lose DPD four minutes into the game. Forebort missed, I think he missed a few shifts at least when he blocked that shot with his hand.

Do you remember when Adog would so unfairly lump Derek Forebboard in with? What was his name? I've already forgotten it. Oh day hard a day or nay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. You did No, I did. Yes. Yes, you did you were a gaslight thousand percent. Don't gaslight us No, you were like you can't gaslight or the day or nay It's like for well for birds been in the league for a while and he's like a great penalty killer. He's hard on the puck and he doesn't look completely lost like Day or Nay.

I think people are more appreciative of what Four Bort has brought. Day or Nay was such a project. Like, he was tall and that's about it. There were times when he just could not figure out what the Canucks were trying to do in their defensive zone. We need more port license plates. Can you play that again?

What? I didn't know we had that in the road. We need more port license plates. I didn't know we had that in the road. Yeah, that's a man. I made that because I loved Eric Fourmore. And I always wanted to celebrate him. You have gas lit the gas lighters.

Well done, Andy. Okay. So at any rate, the blue line is looking good. And don't forget that Tom Willender is going to play into that and hopefully he looks good once he signs out of college. I don't know what the Canucks plan will be for him right away, but we'll have to wait and see on

that. It's a forward group that everyone's been worried about and rightly so, you know, Pedersen, progress, encouraging progress. And I think you kind of nailed it. Like if he can just, he doesn't necessarily have to play like a superstar for the rest of the season, but point a game? Would that be too much to ask for? I mean, that's not superstar level at the NHL anymore. Well, I don't wanna put some sort of very specific

statistic or metric on it, because if he falls one point short of being a point a game player, that's not the point of this. The point is that he's got an opportunity to drag his team into the post season and be a leader doing it, not being a peripheral guy. And he's been that too many times this year, perimeter PD, passive PD, all that stuff.

He can't be deferring, and he still did it a couple times on this day. Did you hear Abs on the call? Someone zipped the seam pass to him, Pedersen I'm talking about, and I think it was in the third period. And instead of driving the middle and going to the net, he passed it off, and Abs had this sort of like,

inflection in his voice that he was surprised that he did it, and then he was like, Pedersen passes it off, he's like, I thought he had a seam there, and it was one of those things where it's like, shut up Abs, yeah, stop it, but in a, like a superstar level player would take that puck and would drive the middle.

And it's like, you know, if I'm not getting a shot on net, I'm drawing a penalty. I mean, I'm engaging physically. So there's still those hesitations there for sure. But what I'm saying is instead of doing the, is he back, is he not, is he good, is he bad on a game to game basis, Tockett said it, a handful of other people have said it,

and I think right now it's, yeah, the challenge for Pedersen is, ignore what happened the first 60, 65 games of the season, if you can put it together, if you can collect points and score goals and drive play and make things happen and drag, this team dragging and kicking into the playoffs. Then there's reason for optimism that you're like

John Wick, you are truly back. It was very important that Pettersson not only scored a goal last night, but that it was a big goal and an important goal. And Rick Tuckett has said time and time again, like hockey is a game of moments. And it's not like he's saying, I don't have no time for analytics or possession stats or anything like that.

Like, I think he believes in them because, you know, for the most part, if you control possession and you get more shots than the other team does, you got a good chance of winning the game. But that goal, I mean, even if it was just a tying goal against, I don't know, Anaheim, it would have been a big goal.

But the fact that it was a tying goal against Calgary in what had been a really competitive game, um, I think that meant even more. And I think you saw from not only his reaction, but his teammates reactions, reaction after that goal, but also the shootout win. How that could be confidence building. A galvanizer.

But galvanizing is one thing. I'm talking about Pedersen himself. Sure. That's a confidence builder. Like who was the hero tonight? I was the hero tonight. And Conor Garland. And he also scored in the shootout.

Yeah. You know, and his captain after the game was saying a bunch of nice stuff about him and saying he's going to be just fine. Like that is the type of game, especially coming on the heels of, like it didn't come out of nowhere. Right? He had been making progress for three or four games.

Yeah, he had three goals in his last four games. He had a bit of a step back against Dallas, which is a good team, but that didn't crush him. Right? And I think that's important as well. Now there are still issues in this Canucks forward group. I don't know where Brock Besser is at right now another tough game but he's not on a line with Pettersson and

He's essentially for me like he's a third-line guy right now because I wouldn't have him with the guys that well He's with Heidel right now, so I don't even know what he is. Yeah right now Heidel is probably the right center for him because Besser, as we all know, isn't the fastest skater and Heedle is a good skater and he can maybe take some of the puck carrying duties from Besser. The issue with Heedle is like, I don't think anyone's describing this guy as like a playmaker. He's not like, he's not a puck distributing center. He's more like a center that plays like a winger. He likes to drive the annex and he likes to shoot the puck. He had four

shots last night. That's pretty par for the course for him. But if you're a guy like Brock Besser, where he'd been for two years used to playing or however long it was, playing with JT Miller, who is a very creative player. Yeah, good table setter. Yeah. And he's a gunslinger out there, right? Right. And he's looking for his teammates. Then I don't think you could say Philip Heidel is that.

Ideally, frankly, it would be a line of DeBrusque, Pedersen and Besser or even Holglunder. I think Holglunder. Pedersen and Besser. I like Holglunder with Pedersen and he's really improved his game. Holglunder was great last night. The numbers might not be there quite yet, but his game has progressed a lot from the beginning of

the season. But I do think it says something that even though Pedersen has been improving and Hoaglander is playing well, he still doesn't really want to put Besser up there with him. Yeah. Okay. So on Hoaglander, I do think that if I had a... I've had some criticisms of Rick Tauke, maybe not as much as our listeners would like us to. But he has been, he's been tough on

Hoaglander throughout his tenure as the Canucks head coach. And there's been a lot of tough love dished out to the players. Some people would say maybe not necessarily unjustly, but maybe there was like an almost an overcorrection with Hoaglander where there wasn't, you can say accountability wasn't equal or maybe the treatment wasn't equal. But even last night, I thought Hoaglander was one of the best forwards and he still only ended up with 13.28 time on ice. There was other guys that were getting more.

And I do wonder that if you, because right now you're down to like brass tacks, we gotta pull out all the stops, all the cliches, whatever we gotta do to win. For me, if Hoaglander's given you six shots on goal and he set up one of the three goals, you need to find a way to get him more ice time in those games if he's going.

Because you're in desperation time. It doesn't necessarily matter who it is. You need to be able to identify in a game in real time. If we got a guy that's going and he's gonna give us a chance to win, especially at forward on a team that's so bereft of offense, you need to. And bereft at times of energy.

You need to milk that guy for as much as you can get. And it doesn't matter where he fits in your scheme or what you think of him or if he does all the things right or not. Those are the game to game management things. Well, it kind of does matter if he does all the things right. Okay.

You know, like if a defensive breakdown happens in some of the games that the Canucks play, that can be the difference between winning and losing. See, but there's where I would push back is that if your weakness as a team is offense, sometimes you need to break out of the mold and say, are we willing to give up a bit of our sound defensive structure to try and chase more offense. Because right now you do have to get outside of your comfort zone if you're Rick talking a little bit.

You're not scoring enough. And you're not. Which means you have to defend better. There's no. I know we can go around and we can go around in circles. There's no players coming on their heads, but you can't keep coming up with the same answers

post game and not change any of your approaches. Right. Right. And we're talking like maybe an extra minute or with the same answers post game and not change any of your approaches. Right. Right, and we're talking like maybe an extra minute or two of ice time for a guy that was cooking last night. But Hoegländer was driving things last night. He was making it go.

What can you do here? You've been listening to the kids cooking. I hear they were cooking. I don't think kids say as many things as you think they say. I think sometimes you hear like a- Yeah, cooking's like, that's old. I think-

I was cooking out there. Yeah. There's like that's old. I was cooking out there. Yeah. There's a lot in the 1930s. Okay. Um, let's look on me. They say it a lot. The rock says it. Okay.

Uh, out of town scoreboard last night. Yeah. Um, Detroit smoked Buffalo. So Detroit ends its losing streak and Buffalo is just, they're just a disaster. That one got nasty at the end, bunch of fights. There was like 160 minutes of penalties at the end. The Sabres should be fighting themselves at this point. I'm sure they are, behind the scenes. I don't know what's going to go on in Buffalo this offseason.

Every year I'm like, look at all the talent. Like I still watch the Sabres, I mean like, they got some good players. They do. They got some talent, they just can't get it together. That game was 4-3 going into the third period by the way and it ended 7-3 for the Red Wings. Kane had five points last night.

Utah got the win over Anaheim 3-2 and we already mentioned that. The Canucks beat the Flames 4-3 in a shootout but the final game to end last night was an absolute wild one in Seattle between the Kraken and the Montreal Canadiens. Yep. And it looked like the Habs were going to get another

win and they had a 4-2 lead until halfway through the third and the Kraken got one, 4- three, and then with just over two minutes left, Matty Beniers tied it. So the Habs were like, oh, come on. All right, let's go, let's go win it in overtime. Well, they didn't get long in overtime. Latty, we've got the audio here. Here's what happened.

You got to listen quick. Here's what happened in You got to listen quick. Here's what happened in overtime. Off the draw. Here it is. Montor right in. He scores! Hey, hey! What do you say?

Five seconds in. Brandon Montor wins it in overtime! So it was a set play. Shenandler Stevenson was the center for Seattle. And he went forward. Yeah. And Brandon Montour went forward as well and immediately had a breakaway.

He jumped the draw. It was good. I heard that new Seahawks offensive coordinator, Clint Kubiak drew that one up. He liked it. It's good. You caught him off guard, keep him sleeping. That's what Clint does in his new run scheme.

By the way, the announcer said it was five seconds into overtime. It was actually four seconds into overtime, setting a record for the fastest overtime goal in NHL history. It's actually, if you can check the video out, go watch, it's a pretty cool set play drawn up by the Coup yesterday. Montreal is gonna, if they miss the playoffs by a single point, they are going to like, rue the day. Not only did they give up two goals

in the final nine minutes of regulation, both were on the power play, so they took two ill-advised penalties. Who's the guy that scored, what's his name? Yanni Niemann, is's his name? Yanni Niemann? Is that the guy? Yanni Niemann? Yanni Niemann scored the 4-3 goal for the crack,

and I never heard of him before. I gotta say it. Yanni Niemann. You think it's a funny name. It's a funny name. Yanni Niemann scored to make it 4-3, Benir scored to make it 4-4, both on the power play though. So Montreal's got that game.

I don't wanna say in hand, because it's a two goal lead in the third period, but giving up penalty, like, you know, taking penalties and then giving up two power play goals and then losing the way that they did in overtime. That was a crushing way to end what was for the most part, a pretty decent Western road swing for

the Habs. So if you're looking at the Eastern playoff race, Ottawa, believe it or not, has a slight cushion on the first wild card spot, three points up on Columbus. Uh, the Columbus currently has that second wild card spot and then look at the teams chasing Columbus.

So Columbus has 70 points. Montreal has 69. The Rangers, Redwings and Bruins, yeah, don't, don't count the Bruins out yet. They all have 68 points. So it's actually great to see two great playoff races in both conferences. I don't know the last time we've seen that.

Not the one in the East, no way. Like I don't remember the last time that there's been a six, because there's six teams basically challenging for two spots right now. Um, and it's mid March. I don't remember the last time that we've had. And it's, and it's compelling teams too. You know, Ottawa and Detroit haven't made the playoffs for a long time.

Four original six teams on the outlook, outside looking in, Montreal, New York, Detroit, Boston. I think Columbus is everyone's Cinderella team. Montreal, nobody expected them to be fighting for a playoff spot. Everyone expected the Rangers to have pretty much already clinched a playoff spot and then you've got the Boston Bruins Can you imagine like I don't think it's gonna happen? But can you imagine if they do this massive sell-off and then make the playoffs?

They have one too straight. So I don't want to start getting too far ahead of ourselves Did you see Zdorov go mental last game? No. Yeah. He fought Sam Bennett and then just was like raging as they were taking him off the ice and it was at the end of a very emotional game against Florida, obviously. And it was, it was the kind of like very big emotional outburst that we kind of became familiar with was Zdorov here, right? Like he, he wore his heart on his sleeve and he was very demonstrative when he played. big emotional outburst that we kind of became familiar with was Zdorov here, right?

Like he wore his heart on his sleeve and he was very demonstrative when he played. And I don't mean, again, I think it's asking a lot to have that kind of spark last to get the Bruins back into this thing. But despite the fact they got a leapfrog three teams, they are only two points back. Okay, before we go to break, Ladi, you've got an answer to the question. If Kevin Lankin is to play, and he played back to backs Tuesday, Wednesday against Montreal and Calgary, this weekend the Canucks have another set of back to backs.

So consecutive back to backs. The upcoming one will be against Chicago on Saturday and Utah on Sunday. Apparently there is a goalie in recent history that has played consecutive back to backs for his team. Yeah, it happened last year. Wow. And we thank Jim the Energy Guy for looking this up.

I double checked it and he's correct. Akira Schmid. Oh my. Who was on New Jersey at the time. He's now with the Vegas Golden Knights AHL team. He played back to back November 30th, December 1st. And then he played again later, December 16th and December 17th.

How'd it go for him? Not good. Both back ends. He had a 700 safe percentage on the first attempt and on the second attempt he had an 850 safe percentage. Not great. Speaking of the American Hockey League, we're going to take a trip out to Abbotsford next. The Abbotsford Canucks got a big win last night as well.

What great times for the Canucks organization. Their third win in a row. This one was against Bakerfield. Play by play man Brandon Astle is going to join us next on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Mick Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets weekdays three to four on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcast.

Meanwhile, Blay throws it towards the crease. Zimabitch finds a loose putt. He'll shoot and he scores! Six goals over his last six games! You can fry an egg off the end of this stick right now. 734 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsman 650. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda,

Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service or parts. We are in our two of the program. Brandon Astle, who you just heard on the call there, play by play voice, the Abbotsford Canucks is gonna join us in just a moment here for hour two. Hour two of this program is brought to you

by Jason Hominuk 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. So last night, the Vancouver Canucks won, the Vancouver Whitecaps won, and the Abbotsford Canucks won.

What a night in sports. Joining us now, the play-by-play voice of those Abbotsford Canucks, Brandon Astle, here on the Halford and Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Brandon, how are ya? Wow, Halford, you took the words right out of my mouth. The positivity in the Ruff and Ruff studios right now must be absolutely flowing. Big Vancouver Canucks win.

The whitecaps, you mentioned, huge upset win. And how about this, you guys broke the jinx yesterday because A-Dog texted me to come on the show yesterday morning. I said, sure. As soon as I put my phone down, I was like, oh no, Abbie Canucks just lost. And sure enough, they didn't. So you guys are off the hook. Nice.

Okay. Who was in goal last night for Abbotsford? It was 20 year old prospect, Ty Young, up from the ECHL and he put on a performance, 41 saves in the win against Bakersfield. Looked like a 10 year vet out there. So poised, so calm, confident, made some huge stops to keep the Canucks in the game, especially when they were down 1-0.

And just super impressed to see what he did. It's just his eighth American Hockey League start. So hopefully they found another good prospect. The fifth round in 2022. So obviously a guy that's still very young into his career and learning, but yesterday was a huge step, very exciting. Yeah, too bad he's young. Can he play on Saturday against the Blackhawks? After last night's performance, maybe, but no, probably not.

But I'm wondering if he learned back to back starts. I mean, we got Tolopilo down in Abbotsford who got the win on Tuesday. So I think Coach Malhotra might be in a bit of a pickle here. Seeloff's did play the other day, right? How did he look? Uh, he looked pretty good. Um, just his body of

work. Like he got, he got the win. Uh, that, that's, that's all that matters. How many goals did he allow? That doesn't matter, but he played well and his body of work has been solid since the last couple of months. He's won nine of his last 10 starts and going into his last start in the previous one in Abbotsford, he only allowed four goals total over his last three. So hopefully that he's feeling confident about his game.

I know that he's someone that that doesn't get rattled and is it going to get back in the net in Vancouver. And I feel like he is a big game goaltender, man. We saw last year in the playoffs with with Nashville and Edmonton and obviously a gonna get back in the net in Vancouver. And I feel like he is a big game goal-tender, man. We saw last year in the playoffs with Nashville and Edmonton and obviously a few years back in Latvia. Like this is a kid that rises to the occasion. So I know he chomping a bit, now I'd love to see him get another opportunity. One more on the goalie front

before we turn our attention to others. Tolopilo, how has his game been collectively throughout the year? Because he's obviously intriguing intriguing given how gigantic he is and bit of an unknown prior to joining Abbotsford. And I guess at some point he may get a look at the NHL level. So how has Tolopilo's season been? Yeah, it's been, it's overall been pretty good.

And going into his last start, he lost his last six in a row. And I asked kind of Manny Malhotra, I was wondering his thoughts on how his play has been and Manny and the team has been happy with him and one loss he had three nothing shut out didn't get any run support and played awesome and then was able to get the win yesterday to kind of get off the schneid but like you said he's got so much talent to the big guys he's kind of raw and really rounding into form. He's got some solid technique and great

rebound control, calming presence back there. I get definitely just one of those guys that I'm sure a lot of people look at around the league and just kind of circle his name because he's got a lot of tools to be a great goaltender we see in the past and hopefully starting to find his confidence and gets cooking here down the stretch.

So the Canucks signed Loco- Jujar-Kara to an AHL deal. He's played a couple of games. First of all, what was the reasoning behind the signing? He's not eligible to be called up to the Canucks for those of you who are wondering, but what was the reasoning behind it and how has he looked in

those couple of games? Yeah. So he hasn't played a lot this year in Syracuse for whatever reason. His first game wasn't until early January. So this is a guy that maybe is still kind of working his way through the season and needed to change the scenery.

And the AHL trade deadline is a week after the NHL trade deadline. So Ryan Johnson can still make moves for another day if he wants and an opportunity to bring a local guy home and obviously he's someone that has a lot of NHL experience and when you bring those types of guys into a locker room that Aventured has right now with a lot of young prospects they can learn a lot from from a guy like him because he goes about his business well he seems like a consummate pro a big body body that loves to battle and doesn't back down.

I just think that it's a great opportunity for him. Obviously, bringing another surrey guy back is great. We've got two of them now in Arshdeep and in Jujar. Two games in, he's got a goal on the fifth. He's playing on the second line. He's got a great set of wheels for a big man. I didn't know he could move this well. He's such a great skater, one of his best assets and uses his size as well. So I think he's going to be a nice signing here going towards the playoffs. We're speaking to Abbotsford Canucks play-by-play man Brandon Astle here on the Halferd and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Let's talk about the guy who was highlighted in the clip coming back from break here, Danila Klimovic. As the clip mentioned, six goals in his last six, seven goals in his last 10, 21 goals

now on the year. What can you say about the way Klimovic is playing lately? Yeah, he's just, he's been an intriguing prospect for years, right? Just keep in mind, he's been with Abbotsford since day one when he was 18 years old, and that's very rare for an 18 year old to play in the AHL. So he's a veteran on the Roth right now, that's for sure, but he's still young, just 22 years of age, turned to January. And his development throughout his career has been up and down. I think that's pretty well known. His rookie season was a huge learning curve. There was talk of sending him back to junior, but he

stayed with Abbotsford, had some issues cracking the lineup. And then his sophomore year, we saw some big progress, 17 goals, led a team plus minus and year three last year was a bit of a write-off. He was hurt a lot and only had two goals all season. Like that was a tough one to go through for sure. And you look at him now, he's got six over his last six. So that has definitely been put in the rear view and looks as confident as I've ever seen him in a Kinnock uniform. And I know he's lighting up the box score lately, but it's his all around game that I've mentioned many times on broadcast that has really stuck out. And I look at a goal that he scored on Tuesday night,

it was all him, like he should have gotten the second and fifth on his goal because he rushed it up ice from his own end, didn't panic, got across center, dumped it in, out battled the opposing player along the boards, fed it back to a line of the left point. And as soon as he did that, beeline it to some open space inside the right circle, got it right back on a stick and it was in the back of the net. It was just a thing of beauty and maybe I'm thinking like the Klimovich of old tried to decode a defender at the opposition blue line and it doesn't work out.

So it's really encouraging to see the type of growth in his game. But as Coach Malhotra says, consistency is the biggest thing for a young player. And at the end of the day, he's down in his fourth year in Abbotsford, a second round pick and has had some expectations on his shoulder. So it's great to see him come through this adversity that he's battled. And it's just great to see like the growth in his game in the defensive zone, blocking shots, right? Winning battles, foot races, all that stuff.

He's, he's had so many great assets, like his speed, his size, his shot is ridiculous. So it really seems like things are coming together and let's just let him keep cooking in Abbotsford. Has he been the best story in Abbotsford this season of the guys who haven't been called up already? So I'm not talking about Lekker Mackey. I'm not talking about Elias Pettersson, the defenceman.

Has Klomovic been the guy that he's been the most encouraging when you see his development? Yeah, I would say that's definitely the case. And like I mentioned, all the adversity that he's faced. And I remember a few years ago, his agency and Canucks management tried to put together a development plan when things weren't going well. And obviously when you're fighting it a little bit, and Canucks managing, tried to put together a development plan when things were going well. Obviously, when you're fighting it a little bit and not getting a lineup, it can be tough mentally to go through. Even this season as well, he's been in the press box a couple of times, which is kind

of a wake-up call. Manny Mojota is not afraid to sit down anybody. You could be a rookie or a veteran. If he thinks he needs a reset, you'll be in the press box and got to work hard and practice to get in the lineup and Jamil has always known what he needed to work on it's a stuff away from the puck which obviously I've talked about on the station you guys do as well you got to play in your own end under Rick Tauke or else you're not going to get a lot of ice time and he's really taking it to heart and still a young guy like I I mentioned, at 22 years of age. And hopefully he can continue going into the playoffs. Who else stands out among the among the younger players? Like I'm talking about guys that are maybe 21 or 22.

I know there are a few guys that are that are 24. I don't mean to like disclude them, but, you know, a lot of people listen to these hits from you and they're like, like, you know, good for him in Abbotsford. But my main thoughts are the Vancouver Canucks and who might be able to play at the NHL level for us one day. Yeah. I keep going back to the same guy and it's the rookie Ty Mueller. And I looked at a scenario last night's game, Brock, the Canucks are winning two to one.

There's less than a minute to go. They just took a penalty. So Bakersfield already had their goalie pulled. So they're about to make it a six on four. And who jumps on the ice to go to the faceoff? He didn't take the draw. Chase Waters did, the captain who was on a strong side. So it was on the left side.

I think Mueller probably would have taken it, but Mueller was out there. And preserving a lead in his rookie season, and just to see what he's done this year, it kind of reminds me of what Max Appen did in his rookie year where he just adapted to the pro game out of college very quickly and earned the trust of the coaching staff as well like from game one it seems like and he brings so much versatility to the lineup now Hohtra's plugged and played them in every single

position it seems like fourth line wing first line center and he just brings the approach. He plays the same way every single game which must be so nice for a coach you just know what to expect and he's still in his first year in the American Hockey League and he's someone who's not worried about putting up points like he's very responsible, takes so much pride in his own end away from the puck, very high hockey IQ, he's got a great set of hands, he can make plays, he's in the power plays on the penalty kill. He takes big face offs and he blocks a ton of shots. I would say he's blocked at least six or seven shots

in the last two games. He's just one of those Swiss army knives. Like I mentioned, Coach Malhotra is not afraid to put him in any situation. And he's earned the respect of his teammates rather quickly. He's an AHL All-Star. He filled in for Elias Pedersen who couldn't make it. And a fourth round pick usually doesn't look this confident

in the first year of pro hockey. Usually these types of guys are in the press box a lot or even in the ECHL sometimes for that matter. So huge credit for him to come in. And I think he's got a really translatable game to the NHL level. Do you get the feeling at all that the organization is trying to fast track them?

Because I don't know if you're familiar with the Canucks roster, but there are some questions down the middle for them. Their Swiss Army knife, Pugh's suitor is a pending unrestricted free agent and they might not be able to afford to keep them. I don't know if it would be rushing him to wonder if he might be able to compete for a spot with the Canucks next season, but you know, they are, it's a tough position to be in when you're looking for centers in the NHL. Yeah, exactly. You nailed it, Bruff. And you look at his age, he's 22. It's not like he's terribly young, but he is in his first year in pro hockey. And you look at what Elias

Pedersen has just done on defense, like he's a couple of years ahead of his development curve. Like, I don't know how many people expected him to be in the NHL lineup in March when he started the NHL season as a 20 year old rookie. So has that changed the course in thinking from Canucks management? And has that maybe even changed some of the expectations

for some of these young players? Like I talked to Kriokou Draptsov on Tuesday night and said like, you're the same age as Elias Pedersen. What are you thinking when you see him do what he's doing? Does that give you like confidence to think like, hey, I can maybe step in quicker than I think? And he loves what he's seeing from Elias and tries to not get too ahead of himself. He's worried about the amateur Canucks and controlling what he can control. But I wonder the same thing with Ty Mueller because what he's doing in his rookie season,

although you look at his numbers, they're not like eye popping, but it's the stuff that doesn't show up on the score sheet that every coach is kind of looking for. And you look at the Vancouver roster right now, some pretty big UFAs that need a contract and Suter who's the center and and brock bester and ty has proven he can play the wing or the middle so i wouldn't be shocked if he if he pushed for a

spot next season this is a guy that's been name checked by patrick alveen a couple of times and obviously he's he talking to manny mahoutra and and ryan johnson a lot and he gets some of the most minutes up front in abtford so i I wouldn't be shocked if we were calling Ty, if Shorty or Boucher calling Ty Mueller's name in the National Hockey League next season. Whether it's full-time or a few call-ups, I think he's earned it. Brandon, this was great, man.

As always, thank you very much for taking the time to do this. Enjoy the rest of the week and everything. We'll circle back as we get closer to the Calder Cup playoffs. Sounds good, boys. Thanks for having me on. Have a good day. Yeah. Thanks for coming on in, Brandon. We appreciate it.

Brandon Astle play by play voice to the Abbotsford connects here on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Someone texted in during that hit. Do we have any update from the Department of Player Safety regarding last night's hit very cheap, dirty hit from Connor Zeri on DPD? And you've got an update here, Bref. Well, Rick Dollywall just tweeted out the Department of Player Safety is reviewing Connor Zary for his

headshot on Elias Pettersson last night. And the expectation is that it may result in discipline. Now we've got a text asking, did Tuckett say anything about DPD after the game? He said that he hadn't talked to the trainers yet. So there was no update specifically on DPD after the game. But Chet in Burnaby texted in and said, if that cheap shot by Zary.

Zary. Zary gave, I was like Zara. Zary gave DPD a concussion, maybe it would explain him losing the middle of the ice on the Khajri goal. Possibly. I mean, I was pretty shocked at how that goal unfolded because DPD was kind of wandering. I mean, I don't think we should, you know, he might've just made a mistake. He might've just got caught out of position.

You know, he wasn't the only one that, that, that missed Kaudry there. I mean, sure. It was right beside him and then, and then he wasn't right beside him. It was a nice play by Kaudry. He recognized he's a Wiley vet and he recognized it and he scored a nice goal. But yeah, DP was way out of position there.

And I, and I do wonder if maybe he wasn't feeling great at the time. When I watched the, um, scenario unfold, the sequence of events, I'm talking about the hit on Kadri and then the response from Zary. I didn't realize that it was such a dirty shot in real time. No, no, no.

It took it to- I thought he just shoved him over. Yeah. I was like, oh, you just, you just jumped him. Like, you know, you've seen it a million times on a big hit. The immediate response is usually wrap a guy up, try and throw a punch you just jumped him like, you know You've seen it a million times on a big hit the immediate response is usually Wrap a guy up try and throw a punch and then take him to the ice

It was it was a pretty cross check him in the body. Yeah, it was I mean it was and I don't know how much Intentionality there was because you're doing it in the moment, but he intentional but whatever it doesn't even just jumped him It doesn't even yeah, but sometimes you you know, sometimes when you just but we jumped him with his elbow Yeah, I mean getting was sticking up for his teammate, but come on like that. Yeah, but sometimes you, you know. It's brutal. Sometimes when you just. But we jumped him with his elbow. Yeah. I mean, I get he was sticking up for his teammate, but come on, like that and like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like it was, at the very least, if you want to be generous to the guy, it was wildly reckless.

I don't want to be generous to Zari. No. Well, I don't know if the Department of Player Safety is going to be either. No, he needs to be suspended. He needs to be suspended. He needs to be suspended, clear as day, right? I think the Canucks will definitely be, and the fans would have a right to be very upset if it's just like, and he's been fined what, like $3,000 or whatever the fines in the NHL

are. Calgary should lose one of its better young players for at least a game in my opinion. Well, you see they lost one of their better players last night. Michael Backlund went on early with an injury and only played two minutes and 58 seconds, so even less than DPD. They had no update on Backlund after the game. I wonder how frustrated Calgary fans were with that performance in the third period by the Flames.

They got the Canucks playing on the second of a back-to-back. They're protecting a one goal lead and they kind of stop playing. They just go into a shell and it costs them a point in the standings. I get that that happens sometimes to teams. You're like, all right, we got a one goal lead, let's protect this thing. Let's let our goaltender be the best player for us because he is our best player. But man, like they really stopped playing.

Four shots in the third period. And it's the second of a back to back for the Canucks. It wasn't good. I mean, it was great for. It's good for the Canucks. A high-handed bash Canucks fan, like myself, but it was one of the talking points. And again, you know, post Canucks game, we're focused almost exclusively on our team. This is your home of the talking points. And again, you know, post Canucks game were focused almost exclusively on our team. This is your home of the Canucks sports net 650.

But yes, Sparrow moment for Calgary fans who and apparently now I didn't watch the game against Montreal on the weekend. But in his post game remarks, Ryan Husky said last night's game was too familiar to the script that they had against Montreal on Saturday, where they played really well for two periods. And then in the third period, they just went to a shell. But more than going into a shell, they just stopped playing last night. Like there was no offensive foray at all,

other than get the puck across center and flip it in and go for a change. And it is odd for a team that has defied expectations and is punched out of its weight class and is playing over its head all year. It is odd for a team that has defied expectations and is punched out of its weight class and is playing over its head all year. You know, part of me would be like, this is the kind of team that you think would play with a little bit more reckless abandon,

like playing with house money, like get after it and go and be aggressive and lean into the characteristics that have made you the Calgary Flames this year. You've been this way because you've been very aggressive and you've gotten after it and you haven't sat back. You've been a very physically robust team. Have they not sat back though? I mean, Dustin Wolf has been their MVP, right?

But they've, they've had a very aggressive mindset all year. And what you saw last year. Like a nothing to lose mindset. I'd say the physicality was the big part of it. Like the physicality you saw in the first and second periods yesterday, even the cheap stuff with like Lomburg, that all went away.

Like they weren't being physically aggressive in the third period last night. I think part of last night was they kind of started to believe that they needed to like manufacture points. Like, well, we're in this now. You know, it's like, oh, well, we're here. We can't screw this up. We're in the chase. to like manufacture points. Like, well, we're in this now, you know, it's like, oh, well we're here. We can't screw this up. We're in the chase.

We need these points and they're not built to do what they did last night. They're really not. They, they need to stay aggressive. Um, they seem very disappointed in the aftermath. Like they had a scrum with Hubert O and he was just kind of saying, he was like, yeah, we got a point, but against a team like this, you have to

have two. Thomas Trance is going to join us next on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650.