Halford & Brough in the Morning - Forward Thinking: Are There Any Untouchables Up Front?

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

In Hour Two, Mike Halford and Jason Brough talk to Adnan Virk about the Blue Jays solid start to the MLB season, and Vladdy Guerrero signing a big new contract for Toronto. They review Quinn Hughes' comments to media about Rick Tocchet and the team's direction for next season. Then they look at how the Canucks can keep their captain long term, what went wrong this year, and what it will take to be a contender next year. Who are the forwards that should be back for Vancouver? This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's time to chat with Adnan. It's Adnan Ferkey's on the show. We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for Red Nen. Yesan and Ferg he joins us now we'll head out to the ballgame and talk about all the films he's seen. 7 0 2 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford Brough Sportsnet 650. Alfred and brother the morning is brought to you by Sansan Associates BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3000 five star reviews. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com.

We're now in hour two of the program. I don't know. Do we have Adnan on the line? We do not have Adnan yet. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason Hominick adjacent dot mortgage If you love giving the banks more of your money Then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you visit him on the internet at Jason dot mortgage We are coming to you live from the kintex studio kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step It's too bad that we don't have add-in because I wanted to ask about this Cody Bellinger story. Did you see this? The Yankees, the new Yankees outfielder,

of course, Cody Bellinger. They were playing in Detroit and he ordered room service chicken wings in Detroit. I did see that. Did not go so well. What happened? He got food poisoning. Food poisoning, oh.

And subsequently, he said he will not eat chicken wings for five years. I don't know why five. I don't know why he chose that length of time. Out of, like, because he was throwing up so much or something, or like? I can say. How can he set that timeline right now?

Cody Ballinger, this is a direct quote, I can say I will not eat wings for five years I swear because the thought of it right now makes me sick He's already posted that he had wings since getting poisoned Cody Bellinger said round two and there's a picture of him with a plate of wings I don't know where he's getting that story. I'm curious how he came up with the five-year timeline A lot of people just be like I will never have those again in my life Like me with a Long Island iced tea. Or me with a Wonder Bar.

Well, chicken wing technology might improve in five years, you know? You want to try some out. And he said they were just old school, bone in, no sauces, no spices, no rubs. They weren't nuggets. Right. It was just a good old fashioned wing that got him good old fashioned sick. And he good old fashioned vomited everywhere. I feel like I should boot-cow this.

You should. Well, it's actually a good, it's a good jumping off point. If we don't have Adnan yet, I don't think he's picking up his phone. Maybe he had the wings last night at the hotel. Oh, is he calling right now? Okay. You can filibuster for a moment.

Well, we're gonna talk about Quinn Hughes later. Yeah. And I told the story about the first time that Quinn Hughes ever played for the Canucks, right? No. I was in Mexico at the end of a trip. And I was on the bathroom floor with food poisoning. So I don't remember watching Quinn Hughes' first game, but I remember listening to it because I had hooked it up

so I could listen to Shorty down in Mexico. I think it was in Cabo. And I was like, this kid sounds like he's going to be something. Shivering on the cold tile floor. Shorty seems pretty impressed with him. I admire your dedication to listening, even though you're writhing in pain. Oh, the flight home the next day, bottom 10 day of my life.

So bueno, eh, bud? But I was pretty excited about that young kid that Canucks have. How much were you dreading it, knowing you had a flight coming up? You know what was the worst part? Your flight has been delayed two hours. Oh, man.

People at the airport were looking at me like, I'm going to go sit over here. This guy's not going to make it. Do we have Adnan now? Let's do this. Let's go to the phone lines now. Adnan Virk, MLB Network joins us on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650.

Good morning Adnan, how are you? I'm doing great Mike, doing great job. I see many of you guys are talking about the Cody Bellinger story about the food poisoning of the chicken wings. I must admit I've never had food poisoning. My heart goes out to Brough. I've heard it's just horrific.

Like I've tongue in cheeks and I'd like to drop a few pounds. I wish I could get some food poisoning, but then I ask people who've done it and they go, no, it's awful. So I feel for you, man. That's brutal. Don't go that way.

Just eat better and get some exercise. Better way to go. And then obviously the big news in baseball up in Canada is that the Jays did it. They had $500 million to Vladdy Guerrero Jr. And we were talking yesterday about, okay, well, that's half a billion dollars to one player. Now how much more money is it going to cost the Jays to become a World Series contender or maybe they're a World Series contender now? What do you think? Well, the good news is they're a first place team right now, Jaya. They've been pitching really well.

Kevin Goss from Pitch Lots tonight, he did not have a strikeout in his first throw. They were crazy. And last day was outstanding. Eight innings, 10 strikeouts. He was fabulous against the Red Sox. They won the first three games of the series against Boston, which has been rather eye-opening. Springer's been amazing. George Springer's hit.458. I'm like, wow. You thought about a guy you thought was in the last legs of his baseball career. He's still got a year left after this, but he's been tremendous for them. Jimenez is really good to begin the season, he's quieted out a little bit. Bobas Chet's hitting. Vlad Quiett's start, which gets us to that contract. And you know, what's interesting here, Jay, is that the player won.

You know, all along I'd said in October and November they should have offered him 10 for 325. It was about Raphael Devers type money. Now maybe that wouldn't have got to die. I don't know what they offered him. But the point is, once Juan Soto signed his deal, then it just threw everything out of whack. He said, okay, Vlad may have been pushing 400 and I wants five.

And that's a story that we heard, which I do think is correct, is that the J's in their offering, it was 14 or 15 years for 465, but Vlad wouldn't budge off the 500 million nor the non-deferrals. Those are the two things he wanted. And I think what's fascinating is that

when Mark Schiparro came out just a few days before the season started and said, we're gonna get it done, he wouldn't publicly say that unless he really felt that way. Right? Most people would couch it and say, we've made a competitive offer. We'll see how things go. Vlad's camp doesn't want to speak until the end of the season. We'll keep the lines of communication open, blah, blah, blah.

And just as you hear players say, well, I don't want to negotiate once the season starts. We all know that's laughable because if you give me the offer that I want, I eat $500 million that I'll sign the deal. So I think what happened is, Vlad started slow. I think he started panicking a little bit like, eh, maybe let's just go ahead and take this deal. Because if I have a bad season, I could cost myself millions of dollars, and I do want to play in Toronto. And I said, Canadian, I like the Francis, I like the team, I like the city, etc.

And I do think, I don't have any, you know, obviously internal word on this, but I do think Mark Schreiber probably got a little pressure off top boys and was told, hey, listen, you can't let this guy walk over $35 million. Like we're offering 465, he wants five, just get the deal done. Because is he worth that much? Of course not. As I said, I think 10 for 325 would have been good.

This is at least $100 million overpay. But if you let the one homegrown star leave who actually wants to play for the team, you might as well close up shop. You whiffed on Otani, you whiffed on Soto, it's a massive challenge bringing star players to Toronto when there's other competitive teams out there, period. So go ahead and overpay the one guy who wants to stay here. So good for Vlad and good for the J's.

Again, to your point, how much closer they go to World Series title, here becomes the problem. Bo Bichette now wants $300 dollars and you can't pay two players 800 million dollars I would think always as good as gone once the season is over unless he takes a massive hometown discount But the team's good right now. Let's see where it goes. You mentioned one Soto in there Look, I've been trying to keep up with everything that's going on in baseball But it's been a busy start to the season the Jays and the Guerrero extension

We get torpedo bats everywhere the Dodgers suddenly lost three games in a row, so now everything's gone haywire there. But Juan Soto, how is the start to his tenure with the New York Mets been? He's been great so far. He especially is on base percentage. As usual, he's got more walks than strikeouts. Hasn't hit a ton of power yet,

but I looked at his numbers so far as the Mets. He was in 340 on base, over 400, and the Sluggy will get to five at some point in time. And clearly they love him in New York. It's funny, you know when a guy puts on a certain jersey, like when he put on the Yankees, you know for a reason, wow, Juan sort of looks born to be Yankee. But I gotta be honest, now he's even in the Met Uniform, like, ah, looks pretty good in the Met Uniform as well.

Like a star player like that will acclimate nicely wherever he goes. And that's a good battle right now in the NLE. So the Braves are awful to start the season. They lost again last night. Philly's the best team in that division, maybe in the league. But the Mets are right there with them. And their offense has been good. They've been pitching well so far.

Edwin Diaz gave a home run yesterday. But Lindor was really quiet the first four games. Then went and had a baby and he's been unbelievable since then. So call it dad strength. And Pete Alonzo looks like a much better player this year. I think last year guys, the pressure got to him walk season, et cetera. Now he's got a two year, $54 million contract, better plate

discipline, still has the power and subtle obviously is the straw that serves the drink. You know, there's pressures on players to get the contract and talk about contract years and showing up to that one. I think there's just as much, if not more pressure on players once they have signed the big deals. And we've seen that here in hockey circles in Vancouver with a player like Elias Pedersen who signed a big deal and you know, it seems like the

weight of the deal sometimes is hanging over him. Does Vladi have the personality and like the discipline to make good on this deal? Because we all know in sports that one day everyone can be celebrating the fact that you signed that contract and then the next day that contract is a weight on that player and a weight on the franchise and something that the fan base brings up over and over and over again. Yeah I think he's mentally strong Jay but I do think your point is well taken because as I said he got to a quiet start so far if he slumps let's say through the whole first half of the year he's hitting like 250 only has like eight home runs or something does it make the All-Star team like I do think that can weigh on you. I don't think necessarily the fans

will turn them right away, but your point, if it's next year and he's still having a bad time at the play, you go, oh my God, this is going to be an absolute albatross of a contract. And this is particularly lucrative given that it's a first baseman. First baseman don't get paid like this.

Freddie Freeman signed 27.5 million a year, 180 million, six years, whatever it was, to the Dodgers. Poole's very famously bad contract, I love Albert, but 10 years, 240, didn't work out for the Angels, Cabrera's 10 year deal, the Tigers did not work out. In Vlad's favor, he's younger, right, he's 26, he's gonna have this contract till he's 40.

You have to hope with a 14 year deal, he's gonna be great for seven of them. And then the other three, he'll be good. And then the last four, you go, well, let's just hope, okay, he doesn't embarrass himself when it's ages 37 through 40. But that's obviously thinking far well in advance to your point right now, just focus on the task at hand. The deal is done. So there's no pressure now. Don't let it weigh on you. Just focus on

baseball and hopefully Vlad's able to do so. We're speaking to Adnan Burke from MLB Network here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Adnan, what have the reviews been? Early days still, but from the SUT, Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, the temporary home of the A's. I love the SUT nickname, Mike. So far the power's been there. I mean, that ball's going to fly. And that's the biggest thing people have noticed so far. You know, the A's, they've been a beneficiary, but they've also been victimized by the fact that the long ball is going to be there and just wait until it gets hot and humid in Sacramento in the summer, I think that ball is going to travel even more. So I think the A's could be a decent story because they've got Brett Rooker, we can hit home runs, Lawrence Butler is a good player.

As well, the Beto pitched well last night as well. They've got a couple good, a three good arms, there's Springs, they acquired from the Rays. Obviously, Severino is their ace and they had Beto as well. So they've got a decent rotation and they got some power hitters. I think the Rangers are the clash of that division and they've proven that so far. They're the best team in the American League. But so far, the Sun has shown a few like home runs and offense.

That's the place to be for the next few seasons. Nice. We're going to make the set happen. I like this. Thanks for doing this today, bud. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next week.

All right. Thanks so much. Thanks, Mike. And stay away from those wings. doing this today, bud. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next week. All right. Thanks so much. Thanks Mike and stay away from those wings. Thanks buddy. That's Adnan Berg from MLB network here on the Hellford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Okay. I will never stay away from the wings.

No, I won't either. Even if I get food poisoning. Anything I'm getting closer to the wings. Yeah. How can I stay mad at you? Let's talk about Quinn Hughes and his comments to Ian McIntyre. Sure. The big ones, the ones that a lot of people were talking about was his comments about Rick

Tauket, the head coach who we still don't know if Rick Tauket is going to be back next season as a head coach, but Hughes sure hopes so. They're going to have to bring him back now. Yeah. I mean, he said he's an amazing coach. You look at me individually in my game, he's been amazing for me. Amazing for a lot of guys. He's just a great person.

First of all, that's a guy you want to compete for, you want to play for. And he's a terrific coach. Um, you know, he said, ended with, obviously I'd like to have him back. And I think he knows that. I've made it clear. But whatever he does, it's his decision. So I think Quinn knows there's some uncertainty

there and that, um, Rick obviously needs to be sold on probably two accounts. One being the money and number two being the direction of the team. And you know, I think his comments, Quinn's comments on, you know, he said basically like, listen, if we add a few more guys and we, and a few of the guys play better than they did last season, I wonder who he's talking

about, but it could be anyone. Who's to say. Could be anyone. Uh, but he said, but with the way that we're coached and the way we structure ourselves on the ice, I think we can be really, really successful. So there's a challenge in just those words to the organization to get Rick Tocket, the

organization to go out and get a few more players and to some of his teammates to come back and be better than you were. And, you know, I just wonder how Hughes is approaching this. Like I wonder if he's being proactive or is this his message? And then he's gonna go, okay, my hands are off. You know what I think we need? It's out there.

You can read IMAX column. Or does he take a more proactive role like finding out what's going on in the Rick Tock negotiations, talking to Patrick Alveen and Jim Rutherford about who they might acquire. You know, he put the good word out to go get Keith for sure when they went and got him. And does he talk with some of his teammates and be like, Hey man, you need to train harder

this off season because I'm training hard, the best players in the world. And there's some'm training hard, the best players in the world. And there's some comments about that. The best players in the world. You know, I look at Sidney Crosby and Nathan McKinnon, those guys work their butts off in the off season. They're always trying to get better.

Like, uh, you have to do that too. Not, I'm not putting any names out there. It could be anyone. Who's to say? It could be Nils Amon. Maybe, maybe he needs more from Nils. Could be. Could be Nils Hoaglander.

Here's the quote that caught me from my next piece. By the way, go to sportsnet.ca and check it out. It starts out with, the theme of the piece is Hughes feeling the weight of this past season. I think that's both got to do with the team's lack of success, his health issues, all of it. Here was the money quote for me from Quinn Hughes. This is Quinn Hughes speaking, of course. This team named me captain, and I feel obligated

to have a successful team here. That weighs heavily on me. I want to do something here. So in this article, Hughes addresses that he wants to be successful and be a winner. He wants to do it in Vancouver and he also wants to do it in Vancouver with Rick Tocket and Adam Foot behind the bench. Like that is crystal clear. Unless he's posturing for public appearance

or is, what do the kids call it? Glazing? Whatever the case, it's very obvious that he wants to be a Canuck, he takes the responsibility of being a captain of this franchise very seriously. Yeah. And he really loves the coaching staff. I would love,

love to see what some of the chair moisteners on Twitter have to say. The ones that keep calling Rick talk at a terrible head coach and a dinosaur and everything else. You adult bed wetters, what you would say in the face of the fact that the teams, the team's best player and captain is very much saying, I love this coaching staff and I want the back. How do you rectify that? How?

Is Quinn Hughes a young dinosaur? Yeah. A baby dinosaur? Is that what we are to take from this? The quote that was kind of an add on to the quote that you said, I, that really spoke to me. And he said, I appreciate the fans and the fact that there's never been a cup in Vancouver. I definitely think about that quite a bit as well.

I got to keep this guy. They got to keep this guy. They got to find a way because how often have we said on this show that you got to have the players that want to embrace the challenge of playing in Canada and want to embrace the challenge of playing for a team that has never won a Stanley Cup. And of course there's a long Canadian drought when it comes

to the Stanley Cup all the way back to 1993. We've seen some guys leave Canada and go, I'm going to go down to a no state, no tax state and I'm going to wear flip flops to the rink every day. A lot of those guys, you're kind of like, I don't blame you, man. Like it's, it's hard up in Canada. A lot of pressure. A lot of pressure. Um, it can probably be annoying and frustrating sometimes.

Uh, I think we've seen the market get to Rick Taukett a little bit lately. Um, and I wonder if that's part of his consideration, if he's really willing to prepare himself for more of this, jackals like you and me, parsing every word, talking to the media every day and knowing the narratives that are going on. But it seems like Quinn is embracing this. Like he's not looking out, he's not looking for the easy out and he's not going to be like, oh, I'll just go down to Florida and win a cup. Or I'm just going to go down to, like, I know

it's not exactly like no one pays attention to teams like the New Jersey Devils, but fewer people pay attention to teams like the New Jersey Devils compared to the Vancouver Canucks. And he could go play with his brothers. That option is there for him in a couple of years. I know Devils fans are already talking about that. But right now, Quinn seems like he is all in with the Canucks. So what are you going to do to keep him there? The massive, massive, massive challenge for the Canucks. So what are you going to do to keep them there? The massive, massive, massive challenge for the Canucks.

How massive? Massive. All caps massive. Is their kind of asset poor? Like they don't, you know, like they don't have a lot to work with. You got a couple of first round picks burning a hole in your pocket. And then that creates problems down the road.

If you trade those guys, you trade your first round picks, then you don't have anything to support the team. You can just trade your way out of that problem later. And then you trade your way out of that problem too. You know, it's a difficult, difficult way to go about year to year life as a hockey team. And, you know, there's no time for I told you so's,

but you know, if the Canucks had taken their medicine a decade ago, you're in a different position. Of course you might not have Quinn Hughes then. Yeah. So the way things have gone, have at least led the Canucks to having Quinn Hughes. I was listening to the crossover yesterday with Dodd, Drantz, Donny and Dolly.

You should put more people in there. And Dodd and Dolly were kind of going back and forth and Dolly is making the argument that, you know, you got to sign Brock Besser. How else are you going to find a goal scorer? You got a guy that wants to stay in Vancouver. There's no one else in the unrestricted free agent market that wants to be in Vancouver for sure, has played here, has had success. I'm kind of like, yeah, I get it.

If you can get Brock Besser on a kind of like a hometown discount, you've got to replace the goals somehow or someone's got to score it, right? You can go after Ehlers, but there's no guarantee that he'll play here. And Leckar Mackey's probably not ready to replace Brock Besser. And Jamie kind of retorts with, yeah, but like you got to change things. We know what it's been like with Brock Besser here. And I'm sitting there going like, I kind of agree with both of you right now. But it all depends on whether you're going to take the short-term approach or the long-term approach. And the

Canucks have almost always taken the short-term approach. Yeah. We live in the day to day. Every year is the same, regardless of who is the GM or the president of hockey ops. In fact, it's forced some president of hockey ops out. That philosophy of like, you know, like where Dolly's coming from is thinking about entirely about next season. Yeah.

And I get that, especially with the Queen Hughes conundrum that they're in, but long term wise, there's an argument to just be like, hey, not going to bring back Barack, we're not going to bring back Puce, we're not going to put so much pressure on ourselves to make the playoffs next season. We're going to build something with like a five-year plan. Five years.

If you sign Brock Besser to a long-term contract, then you have the risk of what happens in three or four years when his play might start ticking down a little bit. The Connects constantly seem to have those issues. They've got some sort of bad contract on the books. You can say, well, they don't right now. It's like, well, yeah, they do because they bought out Oliver Ekman Larson and they're still paying for that.

Right? So it's a really tough situation, but I don't see any other option for the Canucks given the fact that, you know, Quinn Hughes is the guy. They have to show some real positive momentum over the next few years. And you know, maybe that's not the right way to do it, to try and appeal to just this one player. But I think they're gonna do it.

I agree. They are gonna do it. I mean, it's an approach and you can debate it till the cows come home. We probably will, not just on this show, but on the rest of the shows on Sportsnet 650 as well. But for now, we do have to go to break. We have an open segment on the show but on the rest of the shows on Sportsnet 650 as well but for now we do have to go to break. We have an open segment on the other side so

we can continue this conversation. We can also dive into the Dunbar Lumber Text message in basket. Read some of your text. Answer some of your questions. Dunbar Lumber Text line is 650 650. Get them in. We're right at the midway point of the show. We still got 90 minutes to go. We're here till 9 o'clock in the morning. You're listening to the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. 733 on a Thursday! Happy Thursday everybody.

You forget this regular Zach over here. It's a metalhead. Yeah. I'm loving this. Thrasht Thursday is my favorite day of the week. You're wearing your bear tooth? Yeah. Yeah.

You got it this time. What did I call him last time? You called it meat tooth last time. Same thing. We've got the Masters on TV in this plane. There is a disconnect here. I like it. Did you hear the story about Max Homa getting dumped by his caddy

What the homie Max Homa? Yeah, they're dating his daddy They had a breakup and he had to come out you had to go out and say like this wasn't my choice The caddy dumped the PGA golfer. Yeah, and he's with he's with another guy now Wow Yeah, is that uncommon? I think we should see other golfers. Yeah, that's why. I mean, Max has had a tough year. And I don't know what happened, but that is the golf version of, like, that's reality TV.

He's like, you're dumping me right before the Masters? You know how much I love this tournament. Poor Max. Yeah. I mean, I understand dumping your caddy, because it's easy to blame your shortcomings as a player on the idiot that is giving you the bad advice Poor Max. Yeah. I mean, I understand dumping your caddy because it's easy to blame your shortcomings as a player on the idiot that is giving you

the bad advice and is on your back. What did he do? Max? I think it's just been lousy. I think he's just been a bad year from. Yeah. So the caddy's like, I'm out. No, no, no.

I actually have a lot of respect for the caddy. I think they're really good friends. And well, that was the line maybe that the caddy gave, it's like I'd just like to remain friends with you. Our friendship is what- I've heard that line before. Our friendship is what matters most. Anyway, it's a little master's gossip for you.

Okay, you are listening to the Haliford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, there's Colin Morikawa on TV. It's the only time you're gonna see him. He won't talk to you. Haliford and Breff of He won't talk to you. Halford and Brough in the Morning is brought to you... Where am I going with this again?

Oh, right, the sponsors. Sorry. My bad. Halford and Brough in the Morning Hour 2 is brought to you by Jason Hominick at Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at Jason.Mortgage. Also, this show 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 sans-trustee.com. Now, I kind of got distracted there. No kidding. Because I was anticipating someone would clap back when I called a cross-section of people,

chair moisteners and adult bed wetters earlier. Oh, you're doing it again. Yep. So Unsigned Texter wrote in, fear mongering, propaganda pandering, deceitful, you guys should be ashamed, ha ha. Tough to feel shame without a spine, I guess. What?

That was in response to us twisting the words of Quinn Hughes to make it sound like he really liked Rick Tawkins. Oh, what? Yeah. It was propaganda pandering because now the texter, I will give this unsigned texter credit. He is suggesting that as a captain, Quinn Hughes would speak favorably of any head coach

that he had, right? He would have said the same thing about Bruce Boudreau or Travis Green. Would he go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about it? Now you're- Constantly anytime asked about it, you would just like,

you know, like. I am ashamed by your propaganda pandering. Jason. If you're so down, like if you, if you're so married to your opinion, like that Rick Tauket is the wrong coach for the Canucks, that you're going to convince yourself that Quinn Hughes is lying about this, then I don't know, man, you gotta check yourself.

No, no, no, no, hold on. No, no, no, but that's what that person is doing. Yeah, but I want, like my response to this is as far, if you don't like Tauke as a head coach, and that's your opinion, that's fine. Yeah, totally. My opinion, Mike Halford, mediocre radio host, is I think he's a good head coach.

I can understand why some people don't like him, but there is no propaganda or lying. I'm not doing this with ulterior motives. I'm not getting a directive from my boss. There's no 650 man, like it's crazy. You people are insane. Continue listening, do it on a less insane level. Like I don't, I just think he's a good coach.

And I was validated by the fact that the team's best player also said it. I felt validated by it. I'm like me and Quinn, together. It's not just talk it either. I'm gonna read more of Quinn Hughes' propaganda. I mean, quotes to Ian McIntyre at Propaganda.ca, I mean, Sportsnet.ca. He says-

That's the website wing of our propaganda division. Go ahead. I believe that with Rick and Foody, see, he even says his name, it's like just, he could sound like he likes him. So clever. He's talking about Adam Foote and the way that they coach and structuring how we are defensively.

If we add another player or two and have some guys within our group play better next year than they did this past season, I think we can be a really, really successful team. We're very structured. We don't give up much. We have maybe the best goalie tandem in the league and we have a great D-Core and others that

are coming that will help us. The point is, if we get Rick back and add a piece or two, we can be very successful. If we get Rick back and add a piece or two, we can be very successful. There's your blueprint to success right there. Add a player or two, bring Tauke back,

right back on that train to the playoffs. Now here's the problem. Yeah. Had a player or two, bring Tauke back, right back on that train to the playoffs. Now here's the problem. Okay. Okay, we're gonna we're gonna spin off any criticism of Tauke and we're not gonna make it about ourselves. Okay. The Canucks are gonna miss the playoffs now for the eighth time in the last decade and this season might be their most disappointing miss of said decade. Given what happened last season when they piled up 109 points and everything seemed to be going

their way. Vibes were high. Until it stopped going their way. Remember how hopeful we were over the off season when it came to the forward depth? Yep. We were worried about the blue line a little bit, but the forward depth, man, we were hopeful.

In the top six, you had Miller and Besser as one duo, then Pedersen and the new guy, Debrusque, potentially as the other. You know, you liked the third line with Joshua and Garland as the wingers, maybe Teddy Bluger as the centre. Sure. And you liked the third line with Joshua and Garland as the wingers, maybe Teddy Blugher as a center. Sure.

And you like the addition of a guy like Sherwood for the fourth line, right? These guys are going to get in on the four check and hit, hit, hit. There were still some question marks around forwards like Hoeglinder, Danton Heinen and Sprung. Remember the Sprung debates. But the depth looked promising and you also

had the guys down on the farm, you know, Leckar Mackie, maybe halfway through the season, he's ready to come up. Never came together. Nope. It never, ever, ever, ever came together. And you know, it started in the off season really with Dakota Joshua's really unfortunate cancer

diagnosis and, um, you know and Miller and Pedersen, that whole thing, the fact that they often had to bring up Garland into the top six because he was the only guy that seemed to be driving play. So the Garland and Joshua combo really never came back together. And then they traded JT Miller.

So that kind of hurts the chemistry that he had with Brock Betzer because he's not there anymore. It's very tough for two players to have chemistry when they're on different teams. Some would say impossible. Is there even one forward duo that we like on the Canucks? And I said this yesterday, I'll admit it, as this season has progressed,

it's been difficult to keep up with who's on which line. Who's this guy playing with? How many guys this season have played on the fourth line and the first line? Lots. And now we're kind of getting a look at some of the young guys, guys were being impressed by players like Autu Ratu and, uh, Linus Carlson and, you know, Max Sassen has shown some speed and of course there's

the pew suitor story, but I look at this forward group right now and I'm like, everything is on the table. everything is on the table. Everything is on the table. It's just like, there's no, there's no starting point for me. There's no, there's no line where you're like, okay, well, I like what we got there. Yeah. Like last heading into last off season, it was actually pretty easy. You know, it was like, got to find a winger for Petey.

Yep. And Petey's got to hop his game. Yeah. Right? Like that was, wasn't that the narrative? Like that was, it was pretty simple, right? Maybe a few other things, right? Here and there.

Add a little more depth. Bring in a guy that plays more physical. I don't know. But it was a pretty simple solution. You knew you had Miller and Besser. You knew you had Garland and Joshua. Petey was there with Mikheyev. Everyone blamed Mikheyev. Mikheyev's got more goals than Petey this year,

but not going to talk about that. Move past it. You know, the answer was just find someone for Peterson. And Debrecht has, you know, he signed, and I don't know if you can say he's had terrific chemistry with Ilias Pedersen, but he's done his job. He's scored goals. That's what he's there for. I think Debrecht is probably like the least of the concerns for the Canucks this season. Debrecht is fine. He's had a fine year.

He's fine. But I look at that forward group now and if your management, honestly, if your management you're looking at that you're like, okay, what are we next season? What is Pedersen going to be like? Is Heedle going to be healthy enough to even play? Do we bring back Souter? And if we do, is he a center or is he a winger? What are we doing with him? Where is Lekarmacki's game right now? What can we count on him for next season? It's just, everything is in flux. So I challenged someone to text in through the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650-650, and tell me something you are 100% like, or

even 70% confident about with the Vancouver Canucks forward group for next season. Like you can be like, Oh, I think Buster's going to score this many goals. It's like, Oh yeah, is he going to be on the Canucks? I think you can pencil the Debrecen for a similar season, barring an injury. Um, I think.

And? Uh, I would say that you might get a regression from Kiefer Sherwood in terms of production, but who knows, maybe he's found another gear. Maybe this is what you get in the next year of the deal. So there was a couple things there to parse through. I think that their off-season additions in the forward group in a weird way worked, but didn't work. Now hear me out. Like, Debriskin-Sherwood on the surface were, like, Debriskin was a fine signing.

I think Sherwood was, you could classify as a great signing for what he's given the team, right? Yeah. Is that fair to say? Yeah. But it seems like they almost had to go back and correct the profile of player that they needed at forward mid-season when they went and started adding guys

like O'Connor and Heedle. It's like they realized that they needed at forward midseason when they went and started adding guys like O'Connor and Hedl. It's like they realized that they didn't address the areas that were lacking well enough in free agency and now kind of have to recalibrate that. On that note, I also think if you want to add something to the pile about an incomplete and imperfect forward group, I still don't think that they have enough like robust, physical, mean, tough, that profile of player in the group.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Like they don't, it's like they've got good forwards, but it's not the kind of forwards that they need to have the right mix. I mean. You need it in the top six too. Like you need those, that nastiness. And that's why trading JT Miller.

When JT was on his game, and the problem is there were some nights where he quite clearly wasn't. When JT was on his game, he brought like, I'm going to make things happen ability. And you know, we'll go back to some of the conversations we were having weeks ago or whatever about this team's top six. And it's like, who's the guy that

makes things happen? I was watching Toronto and Tampa Bay last night. There's like three or four guys on each team that make things happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know exactly what you're saying. Difference makers, game makers. Kuturov, Braden Point on the Lightning.

I think Braden Point is one of the most underrated players in the NHL. He is really an incredible player. You're talking about guys that you're not like, oh, he needs this type of player to play with them. Sure. He's just a good player. He makes things happen. You know, and the problem is from a play driving perspective, and that means, you know,

getting the puck from one end of the ice to the, to the other, the good part. The good part of the ice. The part where he score goals. The fun part. The only guy that has done it consistently well this season is Conor Garland. Yeah.

And Garland, as much as I love the guy, and I love watching him play, and if you're teaching kids how to play, you're like, watch that guy. See how his feet never stop moving? See how he's like, his legs never stop moving. He's constantly churning the legs, constantly working. Great example of it, the overtime goal that the Canucks scored the other day against Dallas. A lot of it was due to Connor Garland's hard work below the goal line, wins a puck battle, gets it

out in front, key for sure with the Canucks win that miracle game. Yep. They need more guys like that. But the problem with Garland is that like, he doesn't have the greatest shot, you know, and he's not super big. He's not going to, like, he's going to win

puck battles with you, but he's not going to bowl you over. So who are the guys, who are the guys on this team? And I'm talking about in the top six that make things happen out there. Hedl has that potential because he's a good skater, not a good puck distributor, I think gets a little bit,

a tunnel vision from what I've seen. He wants to take guys on one-on-one. Well, you're a center. You got to use your wingers. You got to use your teammates. Besser doesn't have like the burst in his skating to make a lot of things happen. Like if Besser gets the puck and he's standing still, he's in big trouble.

Yep. If Besser gets the puck and he's standing still, he's in big trouble. Yep. Now, the elephant in the room here is the guy that, well, he's not an elephant to our show because we talk about him all the time. I'm not sure you understand that phrase. Well, I do.

The elephant in the room. The elephant in the room is Pedersen. He has the potential to make things happen out there, but he didn't this season. And they got to figure out why. And if they bring them back, hopefully you can do it next season, but they need so much more in their forward group.

And I just, I, I, you know, again, I really want to compare the challenges heading into this season compared to the challenges heading into next season because last season, relatively simple. Find a winger for Pedersen. This season, it's like everything. So you asked the question of the listeners, like, what can you expect or what are you expecting?

And a myriad of answers coming through in the Dunbar Lumber, text message in basket at 650-650. Evan in New West, Garland will work hard, Sherwood will hit people, that's all we know for sure. Fairly accurate. I would suggest that at this stage of his career, given what he's done over the last four seasons, split over two teams that you could pencil in

to brusque for 25 goals pretty safely, again, barring an injury. He's gone 25, 27, 19, and this year back to 25. I think Nebraska is probably as close to, came as advertised as you're gonna get in the National Hockey League. They said he was a streaky scorer, check. They said that, you know, you're paying,

what is it, five and a half? For a guy that's probably gonna get you around 25 goals, he's got 25 on the nose. He's given you the same production that he's pretty much given the Bruins over the last four years. So there's that. I think you can count on that. There are a lot of questions to be answered elsewhere. I think there's a lot of hope. I see a lot of hope in the Dunbar Lumber Tech message in Basquet right now. I hope that Hoaglander can find something that led him to score 24 goals and even strength. I think there's a lot of hope that Dakota Joshua's

very difficult, very difficult season is a thing of the past. And then there's hope for the young guys, but that's all a roll of the dice and optimism too. Like you're hoping, you can't bank on it, you can't count on it. And this is a league where you like to have more things you can count on as opposed to the less

things that you're gambling on. Uh, we got a text into the Dunbar Lumber text line, management should have known about PDN Miller's issues and rectified way before it manifested on the ice. I mean, from the outside looking in, I can't disagree with that text. And you know, what happened was not a good

look for the organization. Frankly, if you want to be, you know, um, I don't know what happened behind the scenes, but if you want to be critical of Rick Tocket, and you're like, that happened on your watch as a head coach? I can talk about dump and chase hockey in the system all you want. Like, how did that happen?

How did it get to that point where that sort of thing was happening? But I mostly put it on the players and then I put it on management for making the bet that they could get along. You know, the whole idea was like, oh, I thought we were behind that. Like, well, I thought that we were over this. Yeah. You know, I know there were some issues in the past, but like that tore the team apart this year. And it has presented you with this massive,

massive challenge going forward, where you've got one player you've been forced to trade and another who might've been really affected by this. I don't know how much the Miller thing affected Pedersen's play. Everyone's got their theories, right? I don't think it helped though. I don't think it helped. So, you know, there are honest questions to be asked of management. Like, how did you, how did you let it get to this point? And how was it that those were the two players locked

up to massive contracts and they couldn't coexist. You tried to get these guys and you know Quinn has said like I feel guilty that it got to this point on my watch. God bless that guy. And most of us are like it's not your fault Quinn. Right? It's not your fault buddy. It's not your fault. You tried. But like Jim Rutherford is an experienced hockey man. He's seen it all. How did he let that happen? How did it get to that point? By the way, did you see JT Miller last night? Season on the line, playing the lowly Philadelphia Flyers.

New York Rangers lose 8-5 to Philly, and JT Miller's a dash three. Yeah, that's cool. Sure did. All right, we got to. The Rangers, that Rangers team is a disaster. I am willing to say that I think they might be a bigger mess than the Canucks.

Oh yeah, I think they are. I'm willing to go there. I think they are, and that's crazy. And that's crazy to say. High bar, high mess bar. But it's crazy how dysfunctional that team is. And again, if you want to talk about local media piling on, I think the New York Post had one of those

clever back pages where they were talking about the Rangers power play and they had one of those snappy headlines and it was PP in the toilet. Cause it's so bad. And it's funny, it made me laugh, I liked it. Every once in a while I'll read the New York post. They always get it. They always come through.

It's like I read it, I laugh, I'm outraged. Does it all. Okay. We got to go to break when we come back. Speaking of outrage, Thomas Drance is going to join the program. Uh, we'll talk to him. Of course, in case you missed it last night,

the Canucks season officially came to an end. They still have games to play, but the playoffs died last night with Minnesota's 8-7 overtime victory over the San Jose Sharks. We'll talk to Drancer about that and a whole lot more. You're listening to the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet at 6.50.