Halford & Brough in the Morning - Hockey Hall Of Famer Chris Pronger

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the excitement around the Quinn Hughes-led Minnesota Wild with television commentator Anthony LaPanta (1:31), plus the boys are joined by Hockey Hall of Famer and NHL on Amazon Prime analyst Chris Pronger (27:36) ahead of tonight's 'Nucks matchup versus the Sens on Amazon.  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.

Seven o'clock on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. You are listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford in Brough for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have payday loan debt? If you do, Sands and Associates can cut that debt by 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands. dash trustee.com.

We are now in our two of the program. Anthony Lapanta, the TV play-by-play voice of the Minnesota Wild. It's going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 2. Hour 2 is brought to by Jason hominock at Jason. 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 them online at jason.com. We are coming to live from the Kintech studio. New Year, New Opportunity for Comfort with Orthotics from Kintech. Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions Hotline. Our next guest is the Minnesota Wild Television Play-by-Playman on Fanduel. Anthony Lapanta joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Anthony. How are you? Everything's pretty good. Thanks for having me.

Yeah, thanks for coming on and taking the time. We appreciate it. So it's got to be exciting times in Minnesota right now for Wild fans. They made the big Quinn Hughes trade earlier in the season, stocked up a little bit at the deadline. Had a big game against Colorado yesterday. It didn't end well for the Wild, a 3-2 loss in the shoot-up. But where's the excitement level right? right now in Minnesota for this version of the Minnesota Wild? Well, it's as high as it's been maybe in the history of the franchise.

And the team that was playing well had high expectations and certainly thought of themselves as a playoff team and a contender. And then in mid-December, when they made the big splash with that and Quinn Hughes, everything changed. And all of a sudden, this became one of the elite teams in the NHL, but also just the excitement. level and the fan base reached a level. I haven't seen, and I really don't believe it's ever been this high. It's a talented club. It's an exciting club. It's a club with more star

power than the wild I've ever had before when you look at a core that starts with Caprisaw and Boldie and now Quinn Hughes and then you throw in really good elite supporting cast people like Faber and Ericksonac and great goaltending. It is. Right now it's the excitement is high and and the team is playing really well and playing really well against elite teams which has everybody fired up. How have you enjoyed watching and calling Quinn Hughes games? Well, I guess you guys would have the same kind of experience that we've had. I mean, there just aren't players like it. And when you watch them every night, you realize that it's just different. I've told the story a couple times, but the wild world,

in Vancouver shortly before the trade happened. And it wasn't even on the radar. I hadn't heard his name mentioned. I hadn't heard the Wilde mentioned as a potential trade partner for Vancouver in any way. But we had an off-up night, and I went to watch the Canucks play. Because we were out there for, I think we had three days there. And I went to watch. And as I was just watching the game, I found myself watching him.

and thinking every chance the Canucks get starts somehow with Quinn Hughes in the middle of it. And I hadn't really, you know, when you watch them, you call a game three times a year, you certainly are aware of how the player he is, but when you just kind of watched without working the game. And then a few days later,

we made the trade for him. And now when you watch him every shift of every night, it really is incredible. The little things that he does in a number of times that he'll make a, play a night. I'd say there's four or five, six plays a night where you find yourself in slightly in awe of just the way he's able to create space out of nothing, the way that he protects the puck like really no other defensemen in the NHL, maintains the puck on

his stick, and the possession numbers support that. It's just a, it's a talent that I don't think you appreciate until you watch it every single night. And Vancouver fans, are probably the only others that can relate to what I'm saying when I say that. But it's fun to watch him play. And the impact he's had on this Wilde team is really incredible. The highest-scoring team in the NHL since the Hughes trade in mid-December. How much talk about resigning Quinn Hughes is there right now? Or are people just enjoying him for now and wait until the off-season to talk about that?

Well, I think that's what the Wild are doing or at least saying. that they're doing. I think it hasn't been front and center for the last, I'd say maybe month or so in terms of just what you hear from the fans. But as soon as the trade was made, that was immediately what everybody would say. And really for two reasons. One is because they see that he's a great player and would love to get him locked in long term and know that he's a part of the future of the wild. But also because of what Minnesota gave up, to get him. I know that fans in Vancouver haven't really

had a chance to see I'd say some of the pieces at their best just because I know there's been some injury issues for Marco Rossi and for Zeebouyeh, but those are two really good players. And so Wild fans immediately were saying, look, if we give up those

players plus Liam Morgan, plus a draft pick, we better resign this guy or else that's way too much to give up for a year and a half of Quinn Hughes. So I think there were there was a lot of chatter about it right away. It's dissipated a little bit right now just because I think the excitement of the team is so high. But it's, it isn't, you don't have too many discussions and get too deep into discussions before

it drifts back to that. And, you know, all the Olympic excitement certainly added to that as well. So I know that wild fans are excited and anxious to get to that point this summer where those discussions could become real. and it's an important piece for Minnesota because of what they gave up for him. This is a guy that I think they are really hoping they can get locked in and join that core of players. I mentioned earlier, all of whom are locked up for at least the next three or four years, where this team's got a window open where I think they'd be one of the top teams in the NHL.

Well, if the Minnesota Wild win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history, it's weird to say but the first two rounds might be their toughest. What do you think about the challenge that awaits them? I mean, they're probably going to get Dallas in the first round, and then if they get by Dallas, which is no easy task, they get Colorado in the second. I know Minnesota fans are excited, but they might also be a little apprehensive about the challenge ahead of them.

well they know the challenge is very real and head of them might know that and it's yeah it's a little unfortunate that their team is at this point right now at a time where the central division is maybe as low as any division in recent history and and all three teams got better at the trade deadline in different ways Colorado maybe the biggest splash with the wah and cadre additions down the middle, but Minnesota and Dallas both made moves at the bottom part of their lineup that will make them even more challenging. And that's one of the tough things to explain to fans is that they might, this team could be a top five team in the NHL and still get beaten the first round.

You know, that's been the problem for the wild here lately is, you know, they have an advance past the first round since 2015. And in most cases, the team. they've played in the first round has been the best team and exactly what was supposed to have happened happened and you know they ran into Chicago

when they were at the peak of their dynasty they got beat by the Hawks three years in the playoffs in two of those years the Hawks won the Cup and ran into really good teams in Winnipeg and St. Louis and Dallas it's just

most seasons the team they've bumped into in the playoffs has been better than them This year, it might be the case again, although I think you could throw a Minnesota, Dallas, and a ring. I mean, I don't know that there's a huge difference between the clubs, but one of them is going to be out in the first round, and one of them is going to have to beat the best team in the NHL in the second round to stay alive. So the challenge is real, and I know the wild that Bill Guerin will say all the right things, like we're just focused on our team, we're building our team, we're not looking at this, but I know in the back of their mind

they're looking at what are we going to need to add to our roster to beat the two teams that we know we're going to have to beat to get anywhere, not just this year, but really when you look at the core of these teams, there isn't much changing on the horizon. I think we're looking at three teams that are going to be

right there in the mix to win the whole thing for the next two, three, four seasons. What do you think about the wild down the middle? They're centermen. Well, they're lacking. There's no doubt. And that was that was what they were trying to find at the deadline. And I know that around here there was a lot of talk,

the same names that we were hearing all around the league. Everybody was hearing the rumors about Vincent Trocheck, maybe the bigger swing at guys like Robert Thomas. And that might happen during the summer. I think the wild, I'd be surprised if the wild didn't make a move for a sentiment at that time. But the price was so high at this deadline that Billy, Aaron decided to try to address that need by adding depth to the bottom part of the lineup down the middle,

by adding Michael McCarran, by adding Nick Folino, just some veteran guys that could help. And this club's 31st in the league and face off one percentage. And you can't, you're going to have a hard time going into playoff series against the teams like the ones we're mentioning when the other team starts with the puck every time. And, you know, you start to compare yourself to those teams. and look at what Colorado has down the middle. And they didn't even play cadre at center. And yesterday's game against Minnesota, he was playing on the wing. You look at McKinnon and Nelson-Dois to start.

You look at Dallas with Hintz and Johnson and Ben. And Minnesota's going in with Danilla Yorov as a rookie who's been a really good player, but he's 38% on face-offs, and he's a rookie. And he's going to be one of your top three probably heading into the postseason. So that is going to be one of their big challenges in the playoffs. But when it comes to driving offense, the wild have found ways to drive their offense from other spots. Hughes is a part of that. And then their lines are largely driven by winners.

When you look at Caprisov is the driver on his line. Boldie is the driver of offense on his line. And the days are different a little bit in the NHL where not all the scores, is driven by a center that's the carry the puck in distribute type guy. Now I think a lot of teams and a lot of centers are built more on the, we need a guy who plays from goal line to goal line. And the wild have that maybe as good as anybody in the league in Jewel Eric's Neck, but they don't have the true playmaking center,

the prototypical number one center. And I think that'll be their challenge in the playoffs, is can you match up against Nathan McKinnon, Wyatt Johnson, Rope Hints, can you match up with those guys with Ryan Hartman and Daniel You're off because Erickson, I can't play every shift, and that's, those guys are going to have to be able to elevate their game. Hartman's done it in the past in the playoffs, but that for sure is the biggest question facing this team heading to the playoffs. You know, this is just my opinion, but I feel like Matt Boldie is one of the most underappreciated players in the

NHL. And when Quinn Hughes was traded to Minnesota, I was like, I bet those two are going to have nice chemistry on the power play. Is Boldie starting to get the recognition that he deserves? Or maybe you felt he got it already? Well, I think he got it from wild fans. I don't know that he got it from the rest of the National Hockey League. And I think he's had some success in international tournaments. He was really good in the world championship. And by the time that tournament was over, he brought up leading the tournament scoring. And that, it seemed to almost trigger something in his own

game where he just became a more confident player. And he flies a little bit under the radar, I think, just because of the fact that he's on the same team as Carrillo Caprisov and plays on a different line most of the time. So when people think the wild, or at least have thought the wild over the last four or five years, it started with Kareil Caprisa. And rightfully so. But I think Boldie has shown, and when you look at what happened in this year's Olympics,

and by the time the Four Nations tournament was over, Boldie was playing out of the top line and wound up playing more minutes than any forward for Team USA in that tournament. And then he was terrific in the Olympics this year, had the big goal against Canada and the gold medal game. and it's a guy who has, he just continues to get stronger with the puck and in all phases, like maintaining the puck, controlling the puck,

holding the puck, but winning puck battles. And now the wild have been using him on the penalty kill. He's been one of the best in the league when it comes to disrupting zone entries. He's got just such amazing hand-eye coordination where he's knocking pucks out of the air with his stick and he's wound up scoring four times short-handed. He's a well-rounded,

better and better. And I think by the time he's done with this contract, it's going to be looked at as one of the best bang for the buck contract deals in the NHL. And he's making $7 million a year and certainly could be making double that based on what he's producing. Was Bobby Brink excited to be traded to the Minnesota Wild, do you think? I mean, I've seen him a few times in Philly and, like, he's got talent, but I don't know about the completeness of his game.

I'm just going to be really curious to see how he does with the Wild because they're going to be probably playing him in the top six there. I love Bill Guerrins' warning shot. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not a party time. How many Minnesota guys are there? Is Brock Faber? Bobby Brink.

Yeah, is it? Okay, so what do you think about Bobby Brink and the opportunity that he's got? Yeah, I think it's a great opportunity for him. And Billy had said the same thing when they brought Brock Faber, interestingly, and just said, you know, this isn't family reunion time. This isn't party time. This is we're here to go to work.

And I think Bobby was excited. I had a chance to chat with him a little bit after his first game with the Wild in Vegas. And, yeah, I mean, for any Minnesota-born kid to grow up dreaming and playing for the Minnesota Wild and now you get that opportunity, it's exciting. but I think for him it's also exciting to potentially get a role and get an opportunity to play in a role on a really good team that might be a little bit of a higher visibility role than he's had with any consistency in Philadelphia.

And he'll get a chance at times in the top six. Right now as a perfect example, he started out playing with Boldie and Ericksonac because Marcus Johansson is still hurt. I think when Johansson comes back, it's most likely that Brink would start out. out in a third line role, but he has shown that he has that ability to, on a given night or a given week or whatever the spot might be where he is one guy who can move up in the

lineup. And he has a little chemistry. He played on a world junior team with Matt Boldie and Brock Faber, so he's got a little bit of connection with those guys, played on a couple teams with Boldie over the year. So I know that was at least part of John Heinz's decision was to right away, try to help get him comfortable with this team and throw him right in with Erickson Ack and Boldie these first two games.

You know, he's got some skill. He was a really highly thought of prospect in his draft year and wound up being a second round pick and I think we'll find out if he's got a little bit more in his game than what he's been able to show and limited time in Philadelphia. Anthony, this was great. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

We appreciate it. Let's do this again. as we get closer to the start of the playoffs. Sure, anytime. Appreciate it. That's Anthony LePanta, the Minnesota Wilde, Play-by-Playman, on Fandul TV here on the Halpert & Brough Show

on Sportsnet, 650. So I would ask the listeners if you want to participate in the show, Dunbar-Lumber Text Line, 650, 650, were there any big winners or big losers? You're a loser! That stood out from the NHL trade deadline. In terms of winners, I think the abs did well as buyers

getting the likes of Nassum cadre back into the fold there. Yep. I thought the flames and the blues did well as sellers, and the blues sold off some pieces, but they still haven't traded their big pieces, and we'll see if they do this offseason and two youngish guys in Robert Thomas and Jordan Kairu, so those guys' names will remain in the rumor mill.

And the flames are going to be, you know, rebuild competitors with the Vancouver. for Canucks and I think the flames might be slightly ahead at this point, slightly ahead at this point, although the Canucks are kind of ahead in the draft lottery for... Flames have a lot more draft capital than the yeah, for sure. They do. I thought

the losers from the trade deadline I mean Buffalo is on a crazy run right now but you know getting rejected by Perako that's... That sucked for them. That sucked for them for sure. The Rangers didn't move Trocheque and I know they're their fans were upset that, you know, apparently the Rangers couldn't find the return that they wanted for Trocheque.

And then kind of in the not sure category, Carolina didn't do anything to address their 2C position. I guess Montreal didn't either. But maybe Carolina is going to be okay with Stan Coven as their 2C. It's going to be one more postseason where the Carolina hurricanes are going to have, you know, go in after a really strong regular season and see if they can get to a, Stanley Cup final. And then one of the more interesting teams I thought from the deadline, just a monitor, was Detroit because their fans were going ballistic. And then they traded for Justin Falk and people were like, it's a name.

It's a right shot defenseman and he can play big minutes. But then everyone was like, well, they gave up, was the first and a third. They gave up for him. And they're like, is this guy like good? Because inconsistent was the word. out of St. Louis when it came to Justin Falk. When I saw that deal go down, and I know this isn't how it happened, but it's how it felt, it felt like when you forget somebody's birthday and you rush out at the last minute to buy

something for them. That's what Falk to Detroit felt like. Yeah. But they were looking for a right shot, D. Yeah. But it happened, but just all of it, like it happened so late in the proceedings. It was after all these other big names had come off the board. And then it was like, do we just settle for Justin Falk, like 40% off that robe? your mother will like that, right?

Like that kind of thing. I do wonder if that's, and I know that's not what happened, but it was underwhelming, very underwhelming in terms of teams that I thought would do something at the deadline was Montreal, who were dead silent.

Now, if you listen to Saturday headlines on Hockey Night Canada with Fridge, he was very, very underscore, very careful not to let any of this leak, but he was alluding to something that Montreal had in the hopper. There was a big deal. apparently that was being discussed.

But he was super coy about it. What is the, what is the speculation said? You don't have to be coy. He was, but he was so, nobody cares what you say. He was so vague. Right. I couldn't even parse through the vagueness to figure out what he was talking about.

Was it, was it, was it, was it a center? I don't know. I have no idea, but they went, it's interesting because they are, I wouldn't say firmly in a playoff mix, but the percentages are in their favor that they're going to be in. They're five points up on. Columbus and they've got the first of the two wild cards right now. So they're going to the dance, I would say, for a second consecutive season. Hughes has been very, he's been aggressive at times, but I think he's been pretty

patient and methodical. But pretty consistent about that too. Yeah. You know, like there are some teams right now that are making the big splash, for example. Can we also acknowledge that Kent Hughes might feel that. Okay, I don't want to, I don't want to spend all this. capital that I've got because I don't trust my goalies. Fair?

Very fair. And they're still in the infancy of their like being a playoff team. I think they're toddlers now. Yeah. I wouldn't say their infancy. They're like, they're toddlers. Yeah, yeah, okay.

Yeah. Now, an interesting thing is that the New York Islanders who. They're starting to say like no and grab onto things and throw their food across the table when they don't want it. Yeah, yeah. Like that's that sort of stage. Now the New York Islanders who are basically an identical. record to the habs, same sort of points position, et cetera, they made a fairly significant splash

in acquiring Braden Shen. And I actually really kind of like that move from their perspective, because if you look at it, the two, three in the metro, like the metropolitan is kind of sewn up at this point, right? So you got Pittsburgh in the first round. And I guess the thinking there is, we'll take our chances here. If we get through, suddenly we're in the final eight of the national hockey league. And then you're maybe not considering yourself a cup contender, but You're in the dance, and it's sort of becomes like, why not go for it? Like, I like Shen a lot. Yeah.

And I think that he's much better suited for a team that's got stakes and something on the table, not meat stakes, like the actual stakes. And like when games matter. For sure. He's a gamer, right? And all of a sudden, you look at them and like, Horvett is your 1C, who's having a really good year. Shen is your 2C.

You got Schaefer on the back end. That's not bad, right? I know they're old by the metric because of the day. But I was kind of intrigued by what they. did. I would kind of lump them in as a winner maybe in light of the fact that the blue sold Shenoff and they're in that winter category as a seller. So, um, okay. I guess Columbus is the only, well, Ottawa is, it's a must win tonight for the Sends in Vancouver. They got to take care of business. Yep.

Against the, against the Canucks because they're five points out of a playoff spot right now. But the only team in front of them of the non-playoff teams is Columbus, who of course have been playing so well under Rick Bonas and Connor Garland. He screwed everything up. Now a member of the Columbus Blue Jack is there are three points back of the Boston Bruins. So we'll see. Realistically, probably only Columbus is going to make this interesting. But I do think that Ottawa is a good team.

They're good, but there are going to be some, quote unquote, good teams that miss in the Eastern Conference this year. Okay, time now for the one to watch, brought to you by Limitless AV, Vancouver's, most trusted audio visual integration experts. You threw this out there in one of our text threads, and I kind of was curious about it. There's not a lot to watch with Canucks games right now, but I am going to be curious to see what happens with Evander Cain's deployment and ice time in what's been a lost season

and a forgotten season for him, for the organization, and now actually kind of an intriguing dynamic and that it's so odd. Yeah. I think everyone thought he'd be moved at the deadline, and he wasn't. and he's very clearly not part of the future, but he's still playing. He played 12 minutes tonight, essentially,

and in both those games, I think only more than Atu-Ratu. Pre-deadline was playing 16-17 minutes tonight. Yeah, they're showcasing them, right? Post-deadline, 12. Yeah. It's one of the things from a sort of like car crash perspective, where you're just looking at it and seeing like,

what happens next? Well, he's going to play a thousandth game, too. What's that ceremony going to be like? I don't know. So all these things are on the horizon, but for tonight I'm going to see what kind of rolly plays? Because it's clear now that whatever showcasing was going on pre-deadline is no longer needed.

So there's your one to watch brought you by Limitless A.V. Specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today at LimitlessAv.C.A.com. Coming up on the other side of the break, he doesn't need much of an introduction. Hockey Hall of Fame or Chris Pronger is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Grants. Get your daily dose of Canucks Talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on SportsNet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app.

Freshly. 32 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Are you getting collection calls? If you are, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% and stop those calls. Visit them today at Sands-trustee.com. We are still in Hour 2 of the program with the midway point of the show.

Chris Pronger is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour 2 of this program is brats to by Jason Homonock at Jason.orgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason.orgia. Our next guest is an Olympic gold medalist, a Stanley Cup champion, a hockey hall of famer. And now working tonight's broadcast between the Canucks and the Senators for Amazon. Chris Pronger joins us. now on the Halford and Breff Show on SportsNet 650.

Morning, Chris. How are you? Morning. Doing fantastic. Thank you. How about you guys? We're well. The first question is, of course, the most important. Well, what did you think of Dan Murphy's palatial estate last night? Well, it's not my first trek up to Northman, but it's always nice to get a home-cooked meal. How did the Pronger brothers become friends with Murf? Murph, way back in the day, went to University in Ottawa

with a number of local Trident friends and one of which turned out to be my brother's wife. Okay, I see that's the connection there. So Murph helped out with your brother's book. You didn't want him involved in your book? Which is called... By the way, Chris Pronger's book, which comes out in April, it's called Earned, the True Cost of Greatness from one of hockey's

fiercest competitors. So I'll ask you, what was the writing experience like when you, did you work with anyone or did you just sit down and type out the words? Yeah, no, I worked with a company that actually an AI company, funny enough, that I'd been asked over the last probably 10 or so years to, you know, if I wanted to write a book and whatnot and it just wasn't the right time. And as I kind of started to digest my career and, you know, life clarity and things of that nature, you know, I felt like the timing was right for a book. And, you know, I wanted to be able to impart some of the lessons I learned over the course of my career. And then, you know, I think more importantly, my post-playing career and, you know,

try to, whether it be former athletes, you know, people that are going through career changes, people that are just looking to, you know, be difference makers and looking to level up and what have you. So, you know, part of the book is, you know, it's part memoir, part walking through my journey and my past. And we all have our own unique journeys that people really, you know, try to act like we're all on the same path, but ultimately we're all on our own unique journeys. And so walk through. my minor hockey experience and then junior all the way through pro and then obviously through my pro career and then post playing and whatnot and then a lot of life lessons gleaned from from those

experiences and you know we go we go into a lot of detail about about all of it for those that are thinking in their head geez I wonder if this is in there it probably is so so the word that comes up a lot in the description of the book is adversity. When was the first, what was the first real bit of adversity that you faced in your hockey career? Did it come in minor hockey? Or was it after you were drafted second overall in 1993? You go to Hartford and maybe people there expected a little bit more and maybe you were like, oh, this is not going to be easy. I don't know. Yeah, no, I think like most, most athletes, you know, we're kind of unique in that path and that we fail a lot. And I'm no different. You know, early in my hockey career, you know,

post-dryden days trying to map out what that might look like. I got caught from a, you know, a regional team Ontario training camp, you know, and by good fortune, a scout had two wild cards available to bring people down, and he had seen me play in the, I played high school, you know, for those that don't know, I didn't play, I didn't ever play AAA, I played high school hockey, and then I went and played junior B, obviously major junior and then, and then started playing pro. So I didn't take the typical path, and, you know, I think those people that have kind of heard Connor Hellebuck's journey and, you know, very similar to that, where I didn't play AAA and

just kind of did my own thing and for my own reasons. But I got caught from that team and really kind of had to take a look in the mirror and figure out if this is something that I wanted to do and how invested did I want to be and what was I willing to do to fix the apparent issues in their eyes, whether it be holes in my game or my character or my character or my character or my inability to prepare properly and things of that nature. So, you know, adversity started at a young age, and you mentioned one of the bigger moments of my life, getting drafted into the Hartford Whalers

and then struggling mightily for a couple years there and getting booed on home ice relentlessly. And feeling like it was going to all be over once I got traded and got a new start and it actually got worse. In St. Louis, not realizing that Brandon Chanahan was a 50-goal score and was becoming the face of the first.

franchise in St. Louis. And that was a much bigger deal than maybe I thought it was going to be. And Bill had to fight through a lot of adversity in that city in that market my first year to turn the fans, you know, attention away from booing me into cheering me and ultimately we're able to do that. So the Cedines here in Vancouver also had a pretty tough start when they were drafted by the Vancouver Canucks, second and third overall. And, you know, they've said a few times that they talk to each other and they're like, should we just go back to Sweden? And I don't know how seriously they considered, quote unquote, quitting.

But was there ever, I mean, there must have been like a fork in the road where, and you kind of already mentioned this, where you're like, okay, I can either quit or, or, you know, go to work and make this happen. What were some of the moments in your life and your career where you had to make that decision? I think, you know, I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason and all these moments in time were put there to help build my character, strengthen my resolve, you know, provide the grit and resilience that's going to be necessary later on in life, later on in my hockey career. And having gone through those moments in Hartford, feeling like you were kind of turning the corner, getting traded again. And, you know, there were moments where you certainly want to quit, where you're not, you're not. confident, you're not proud of, you know, whether it be how you're playing and your world's

caving in around you and, you know, fans are coming at you, media's coming at you, everybody around you, ownership, management, coaches, everybody's coming down on top, you teammates, you know, looking at you, questioning you, you know, why are you playing better? Why are you better than expectations and things of that nature? So there was a lot of life lessons learn from those moments for sure, but very similar to the Cidine's. There's moments all the time where you feel like you want to take the easy road and quit

or you want to take the easy path and find an easier solution. And ultimately at the end of the day, for those of us that stick in there and kind of battle through it all, we come out the other side that much stronger and more capable to find success.

With all of these things that you went through during your playing career, would your advice to younger players be to try and block out the noise and silence it as much as possible or use it as fuel for the fire and that adversity that everybody needs in their career? Yeah, I think it's a combination of both. I don't think you can be immune to it and completely block it out because, as you said, it is. I use it as fuel, you know, but the ability and the wherewithal to figure out a way of using it without having it come down on top of you and, you know, cave in your foundation, so to speak, so that you're not.

not able to really utilize it in the manner that maybe you're trying to. You know, and that's part of the journey and our own unique path is how we, how we use it, when we use it, how we figure all this out. You know, it is very challenging at times and not easy in those moments. You know, they're very difficult in trying times. And those moments are what really kind of make our medal and provide us. with the character we're going to need later on in life.

You know, if we can, you know, I think that's why I'm so adamant about you sports and not putting these super teams together and challenging, you know, you want to play against the best. You want to, you know, have that competitive drive and compete against the best to challenge yourself to see where you're at,

to see where your game's at. And then, oh, by the way, let's go play baseball or golf or football or basketball or whatever sport you're interested in and not just be solely focused on that one sport that, you know, you may or may not, you know, fall in love with again or have a passion for you may just be good at. And something else might really, really get your motor going

and your juices going because you just love doing it. You love the challenge, what have you. So, you know, I think, you know, over the last year or so, as people kind of ask me, my thoughts on you sports, I think we need to just kind of take a step back. And, you know, as kids 8, 9, 10 years old, they should be multi-sport athletes, learning all kinds of new movements.

And, you know, the body's kinetic chain is not meant to play hockey 24-7, 365. Yeah, I just wonder if the horse is already out of the barn with that. I don't know. Or can you put the genie back in the bottle or some other cliche, you know? Like, use sports is just out of control right now. Chris, was it you that had the line where it's like

it feels like some of these kids, they're not going to play sports, they're going to work? Well, that's what it, you know, that's what it feels like. Yeah. You know, I think you see them. It's like they're clocking in. And, oh, I got to go do my workout now.

I got to go do this. And they're, I mean, at 10 years old, I mean, I get different generation, but 10 years old, that's the last thing I was focused on. You know, I love to play the game. You know, we all had our buddies and, you know, we're playing road hockey. We're playing on the outdoor rink. We're going down to practice, what have you, playing in your basement, your driveway. You know, but over that winter months,

the hockey season, if you will, and then it was, okay, we're going to go play baseball, we're going to go to the beach, we're going to go be a kid, we're going to go ride our bike, we're going to go do all these different things. And, you know, I feel like today our children's youth is kind of being taken from because it has become like a job. Well, you're going to, there's so much FOMO out there that, you know, this kid's going to miss out because of, you know, a little Johnny over here is, you know, he's 24-7, he's got a trainer, and he's got a stick-handling coach and a shooting coach and a skating coach and all these other things.

it just becomes relentless and it should be more about, A, the passion and enjoyment for the sport. And then as you, because of the Internet and all the things that we have access to now, there's no way that any kid, if they're good, are going to fall out, you know, people aren't going to be able to find them and see them. Sure. You know, playing the game at the highest level and giving them an opportunity. They're going to find them.

We're speaking to Chris Pranger, hockey Hall of Fame, here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Speaking of young athletes, Chris, I noticed on Twitter, you wrote that Macklin Celebrini should be on every kid's must watch list. Why Macklin Celebrini, Chris? Well, just his motor and his engine. You know, you just see him out there, the passion with which he plays for the game and the energy that he's like a shark.

He's constantly moving, you know, picking, you know, changing pace, picking up speed, slowing down, finding holes. You know, dog and ness on pucks, his compete level. You know, we always hear people talk about, oh, he's tough. Well, what is tough me? A tough isn't fighting. It's how hard do you compete for loose pucks? How hard do you compete to get the puck back?

And I think there's no better example than watching that kid play. Yes, he's extremely talented and he's got a, you know, a super high hockey sense and IQ, but his relentless nature with which he attacks the puck. And then when he gets it, you know, the pace with which he plays at and, you know, coming at you and creativity and all that, all the rest of that, you know, that part of it, that motor and that engine can be trained. You know, that's the part that can be trained. And, you know, much like skills that relentless nature with which you attack things, you know, can be trained just like anything else. And it's just, you know, a mindset that you have to instill in yourself and just, you know, you don't, you don't, you don't, you don't, you don't, you don't. have failure, but you don't accept failure.

You're just constantly, you know, we can call, what do we look at as failure? Oh, I lost the puck. We don't roll our head and roll our eyes and go, no, you turn around, you go get it back. And I think that's, you know, Kutrov has the same thing in Tampa. You look at how he plays. He's the same exact way. He's on the puck. He's in the fight. He's in the battle.

He's, you know, he's not fighting per se or he's not drilling guys into the boards, but he's competing incredibly hard. on every puck because they want the puck, they want to play offense. But you have to play defense before you can play offense and get the puck back and compete and things of that nature. Yeah, Celebrini's second and third efforts. Like he can, it looks like he's losing a puck battle or he's lost a puck battle and then he just has that one extra surge and it's like that second effort.

And it's like, oh, he won the puck battle. Yeah, I think he's, well, I think when you look at that, I think he's no, a lot of times guys are trying to conserve energy. You know, when you watch him, you watch these guys, they realize that if they exert that little bit more energy, they're going to get the puck back, and they're going to force and provide pressure on the defense, on the opposition.

And so actually, they're conserving energy. Okay, you had an interaction or a few interactions with Vancouver Canucks fans on social media when you flew out to Vancouver for the game tonight. you talked about rebuilding a winning culture. How do you do that in Vancouver? Yeah, I talk about that a lot in the book too. It really, it's just how do you, especially with a young team,

and we're seeing a lot of teams throughout the National Hockey League in retool, rebuild mode. How do you create a winning culture? It's how you show up every single day. It's when nobody's watching, what are you doing? All those little intangibles, and we see it all the time. But how do we instill that in the younger kids coming in? You need key veterans to help provide leadership and teach them how to be true pros,

much like I had in Hartford with Brad McCrimmon. And then I get to St. Louis and I've got Al McKinnis. And you have to have those senior guys around to help show you the way and provide valuable insight and direction. But also as a core, you have to show up to work every single day trying to improve, you know, 1%, whatever the number is. Every single day is daily improvement. And just creating that culture of excellence, not perfection, but excellence.

We can strive for perfection. We're never going to attain it. But showing up every day and, you know, when we come to the rink, it's about getting better. When we come into the gym, it's about getting better. And just that infectious attitude needs to take over. And then a lot of times early,

you've got to block out, as you talked about, you've got to block out the noise. There's going to be a lot of nasters. There's going to be a lot of people, a lot of negativity around it. You know, these guys aren't good enough. These guys don't have a talent.

You have to overcome a lot of that negativity with respect to your mindset and how you show up every day. And it's, you know, rebuilding a team and rebuilding a culture is not easy. There's a lot of negativity involved. There's a lot of things that there's a lot of scar tissue from whether it's past regimes, past players, past failures,

losses, all the rest of it. And, you know, having watched it in St. Louis in 2019 and just, you know, that franchise went 52 years, though, win the Stanley Cup. And, you know, there was a lot. With every loss, there's always that name. negativity of, oh, here we go again. This team is going to find a way.

And it's kind of, you know, breaking up that scar tissue and removing the negativity from it. And it takes time. It's not a slow process. It's not an overnight fix. But it's with your daily actions and how you show up every day. And ultimately block out the noise and trusting the process and understanding and setting certain goals that you're able to meet so that you know you're on the right path.

And once you know you're on the right path, you're doubling down, tripling down, you're constantly trying to move the needle. And ultimately, then you become a good team and you become a great team. And then ultimately you hope to become a championship team. So one of the questions you got yesterday was, how do you fix Petey? And you say, that is the $92 million question, isn't it? I noticed you didn't answer it. Do you have any ideas because the Canucks are heading into the rebuild?

and Elias Pedersen is there and he's underperforming on a big contract and a lot of people are wondering what that's going to look like on a rebuild when your highest paid player isn't performing. Yeah, I think you think back I remember when he came on the scene

I was in Florida and I remember interviewing him for the draft and then seeing him come over and how highly skilled he was, how talented he was, and you just you look at that player I think everybody

immediately always goes back to that player and you see the player now and you're like this is not the same player and I think I guess the question you're asking is how do you get back to the other player how do you get back to the second year guy the third year guy

fourth year guy because to me just watching him he does not look like the same player He does not look like he's got the same jump. He does not look like he's got the same creativity and will to, you know, we just talked about MacLis Celebrini. That compete on Hawks and the ability to, you know, hold off defenders and make plays and things of that nature.

At times, he looks a little disengaged. And I think for me that's the most concerning part. It's not necessarily that he's obviously talented. It's that engagement part of how do we get, whether he's, he's got a mental block, whether he was dealing with injury. I don't know. You know, I'm not on the inside. I don't know what he's dealing with.

But to me, just, like, something looks blocked. And I don't, I don't really know what that is. But, you know, it's not a talent thing. It's, you know, I don't know if it's the will, if it's the engagement, if it's the, you know, I really don't know. You know, there's been a lot of turnover here, you know, since a couple years ago. and I don't know if it's all the noise that's kind of taken place over the last 22, 23 months, but something has happened and I can't put my finger on it because I'm not in this market,

I'm not on this team. So it's hard to digest it and then explain it from afar. But to me, he just doesn't look like, number one, he doesn't look like he's enjoying it. And number two, he doesn't look like he's playing with the same passion that he once did. that, I guess, is the, to me, that's the $92 million question. What is the disconnect? What is the issue? And how do we fix it? Well, don't worry, Chris. He has a highly talented player. We've been trying to figure it out for a like a year and a half and we haven't been able to do it either.

We still don't know. We're out of ideas. We're looking for some fresh perspectives. Hey, Chris, this was great, man. This was really fun getting caught up with you here. Enjoy the game tonight. It is Vancouver. It is Ottawa. A reminder for everybody. It's on Amazon, and it's a 6 o'clock start, not the usual 7 o'clock start. Chris, thanks for doing this today. We really appreciate it.

You bet. Thanks for having me, guys. Take care. Thanks for coming on. That's Chris Brunger. Hockey Hall of Famer, Olympic gold medalist, Stanley Cup champion, Hart trophy winner, James Norris trophy winner. He's done it all in his career.

Future Canucks General Manager. And now he gets to call a Senators Canucks game. Yeah, we should have asked him. We ran out of time. We should have asked him what he wants to do. in his, you know, hockey career, is he happy to be broadcasting or does... Published author now.

Yeah. Or does it go into the book game? Yeah, with AI. It was like, AI's better than MRF. Yeah, it's true. Yeah, no, okay, so yesterday, for those that have no idea what we're talking about here, Pronger did a sort of Q&A on Twitter,

and a lot of people were asking, what would you do if you were the general manager of the Canucks? What would you do if you were the president of hockey office? And he had very nuanced and detailed answers. Yeah, it started with Fixa Culture. Right. Which then led everyone to be like, why don't you become president of hockey ops for the Vancouver Canucks? Why don't you consider being general manager of the Vancouver Canucks?

So he doesn't have any management experience. But hey, everyone's got to start somewhere, right? Yeah. You can only, you know, you got to start with your first job and whenever that happens now. I know from his playing days and the way he's sort of. of transition to, you know, he does like a lot of like motivational and educational speaking. He's written a book. He's in the broadcast. He has his hands in a lot of different avenues and places in terms of where his career could go. But I do wonder at the end of the day

if it might be something about being an executive in hockey. As we've seen numerous former players do it to varied success across the board, right? There's no slam dunk anywhere with any of these guys. But I don't know for the listeners that just listen to him to speak for the last 20 minutes, sounds like a guy that's got a pretty clear idea about what it takes to succeed. And a lot of it is born from an amazing career. Yeah. Where he overcame adversity and saw a lot of teams get built on the foundations of good culture and leadership and not taking shortcuts, like going through the hard times and going through

the adversity, learning from it and getting better. And then eventually winning a Stanley Cup like he did in 2007. And he played with so many great players too. And he saw how they operated, including on incredible team Canada teams that won the gold medal. at the Olympics. Sats going to join us next. We'll look back on the Canucks trade deadline and look ahead to the rest of the season. Join us next on the Halford-Abrook show on SportsNet 650.