Halford & Brough in the Morning - Improving The Canucks Top 6 Is The Big Off-Season Challenge

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), including the final Canucks game of the season and what to expect from this off-season (6:00), plus they break down what could be the most interesting first round playoff series with Sportsnet NHL writer Luke Fox (29:01).  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.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun is over. The 82nd game of the season goes the way of the Golden Knights. Vancouver falls 4-1. Last game of the year. I thought the first part was pretty good. Such a disappointing year. I'm not even going to look ahead to anything. I'll just go home and enjoy myself and probably put my phone away and see what happens. Good morning, MacArthur. It's 6 o'clock on a Thursday. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

It is Halford and his breath. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning.

Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Breath of the Morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Well, that's it for the regular season folks, at least for the Vancouver Canucks. We got a lot to get into on the show today as the Canucks wrapped up their 82 game regular season campaign last night with a four one loss to the Vegas Golden

Knights. Luke Fox is going to join us at six 30 to kick off the guest list sports net NHL writer. All the playoff matchups are now set in the national hockey league. We'll talk to Luke about the looming battle of Ontario. Can also talk to him about the Habs clinching last night. Luke's going to join us at six 30 via a playoff preview as well with Luke, seven o'clock ad Nan Verk MLB network. What an outing from the Jays last night. Chris Bassett strikes out 10 Jays set a single game,

nine inning franchise record with 19 strikeouts. We'll talk to Adnan about that and everything else going on in baseball. Speaking of baseball, seven 30 Tyler's Zickel play by play voice of the Vancouver Canadians is going to join the program in case you missed it, the C's are back at home at NAP Bailey Stadium in the midst of their first home stand of the season, the rare six game home stand against Eugene. They live here now.

Eugene just lives here now. They're gonna be playing. All of them against Eugene? All of them. Six consecutive games at home against Eugene. They're gonna be so familiar with them that they're gonna just end up calling them Jean by the end of it.

That's right. Jean will be playing at the NAD three nooners on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to finish off the homestands. So we'll talk to Tyler about all that at 7.30. Eight o'clock, Thomas Drantz from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk, as I mentioned, Canucks season came to an end last night. I don't think we're gonna spend a ton of time talking about last night's game with Drantz from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk as I mentioned, Canucks season came to an end last night. I don't think we're gonna spend a ton of time

talking about last night's game with Drantz. Instead, we will dive into the laundry list of two do's for the Vancouver Canucks this off season. So working in reverse on the guest list, eight o'clock Drantz, 7.30 Zickel, seven o'clock Verk, 6.30 Fox. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm moving. We know how messy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened?

What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools resources and safety training visit them online at bccsa.ca Pavel Dorofiev noted sniper Pavel Dorofiev Broke a tie midway through the third period last night as the Vancouver Canucks Lost 4-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights in the regular season finale for both teams. However, the Vegas Golden Knights will be going

to the playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks will not. Pugh Souter scored for Vancouver. The Canucks were eliminated from playoff contention last week. They finished the year 38-30 and 14, but just 17 wins I believe on home ice. And another loss to the Vegas Golden Knights who swept the Vancouver Canucks this season.

17 wins on home ice. Is that good? The way the Canucks went out with a loss at home was emblematic of their season. 17 wins on home ice, 16 regulation losses and eight in either overtime or the shootout, probably overtime, most of them. the shootout, probably overtime. Most of them.

Most of them weren't overtime. Um, if you look at, um, you know, the standings and you see everyone's home record, only Chicago and San Jose, which were dreadful teams. Yeah. Had fewer home losses or fewer home wins than the Vancouver Canucks. Good company to keep. Like Buffalo had 22 home wins, Buffalo.

Yep. The Rangers had 19, or sorry, they had 18. The Islanders had 19. Mm-hmm. Long story short, everyone knows they were not good enough at home this season. They're actually decent on the road, 21, 14 and six. Yep.

They weren't that far off last year's road record when they, you know, beat the playoffs and won 50 games and had a hundred plus points. And I think the other stat that you want to look at in terms of the Canucks, in terms of goals for per game, 23rd out of 32 teams. You know what's crazy about that stat? They actually jumped up significantly at the

end of the year with all the goals that they scored over the last three weeks. Yeah, the suitor effect. Yeah. The huge suitor was like, I'm dragging this team to 23rd overall in scoring, like single-handedly. If, honestly, if not for him and a sort of late season scoring binge, they would have finished

much lower in that category. Yeah, but it was, you know, five on five offense and we're going to get into a lot of that in this segment, which was the problem for the Canucks. The power play was fine. Adequate. 22.5%. I feel like it was worse than those numbers suggest. Like it could have been a lot better.

The PK was one of the best stories of the season, 82.6%. So special teams, special teams were fine. Goals against kind of middle of the pack, not great, but not horrible either. And it's why when we get into this off season, it's going to be a lot about how to fix the Caddocks offense at five on five.

And I know that Rick Tuckett for those people that are going to blame the head coach, I know that Rick Tuckett said, if he's going to be back, that after the season, when you miss the play, when you miss the playoffs, everyone's got to look in the mirror and think like, what could I have done better? And I feel like the Canucks even kind of got off to a bit of an odd start with all the focus on

trying to create rush chances in the pre-season, which wasn't a bad idea. It really wasn't. I mean, you know, I think even we were talking about it. We're like, you can't just come back with the same stuff. Like you have to, the team has to evolve. Yeah. Because the way the team was playing last season was encouraging in that

their defensive play really came together. But you know, in the playoffs, it was quite tough to score goals. Now, some of that had to do with some players not playing up to their level of play. But you know, I think Tuckett said, well, you know, what, what am I responsible for as well? Well, you know, maybe we need to create more scoring chances on the rush.

And that plan, whatever it was, it kind of frittered away because the Canucks had to dial it back a bit because it was either not working or frittered away because the Canucks had to dial it back a bit because it was either not working or they were just off. Right? And frankly, they were never on this season. Like there was never, was there ever a stretch? Was there ever a stretch when you're like,

man, this is a well-loaded machine. Okay. I don't think it ever happened. I wanna jump in right now with the audio from last night. So this is Rick Tauke from the TNT broadcast. The TNT guys were all dressed in tuxedos, I guess, cause it was the final regular season game that they were doing and they were handing out awards.

They gave Ovi the Mr. TNT award. They also reconnected with their good old buddy and former castmate, Rick Tauket. And I like playing the interviews and audios when Tauket does the TNT because he likes them. Yeah, right, he seems to be a little bit more, I don't know, what's the word, friendly with them? So he was, you know, and sometimes that can translate

to a little bit more of a loquacious and a little bit more in-depth interview. Here's what Rick Taukett had to say about what he was proud of from this team, not necessarily just down the stretch, but throughout the year trying to take the silver lining from this season. And I think it might tie into what you were talking about in an inverse way. Here's Rick Taukett speaking with the TNT guys before last night's 401 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. Well, you know, diversity hits, right? Yeah. You know,

you got to deal with that sort of stuff. So we've, we've learned how to deal with it. I mean, could we've different things maybe. Um, but the one thing I probably this group, you know, we didn't go through these long losing streaks. I think the most we've lost is three in a row. I mean, not just to put the pause of light. Um, we've kind of stayed in the fight with all the stuff that has happened. So I've got to give them credit. Even though we got eliminated last week, I mean the last three, four games,

guys are still playing hard. We've got some young guys that I think were the fifth youngest team in the league right now. You know, the Myers, the Hughes, the Huronics, I mean they're trying hard. You know, Dempko is going to have a great summer. So there's a lot of pauses from kind of an adversity year year and that's how you learn. That's how you win. Anybody that wins a Stanley cup has gone through stuff before. So you got to, you got to take the adversity and go with it. So in that clip he mentions like,

we never really had a prolonged elongated losing streak. And the unspoken part of that is that, but you also never had an elongated, prolonged winning streak. They never, and you kind of put it perfectly there before we played the audio, like they never turned it on at all, all season. It was just a series of fits and starts all season long. And they ended up missing the playoffs by what, six points?

And you know why? St. Louis found a time to turn it on and get hot. St. Louis won 12 in a row. That was the difference. Many of those wins were at home. St. Louis won 12 in a row. Many of them were at home. The Canucks never won anything close to that many games

in a row and didn't win enough games at home. Sometimes it is that simple. It's not in reality because there's so many more layers and complexities to it all, but if I look back on this season, I think one of the, I mean, there's a multitude of reasons why it was so frustrating, but one of them was it just never felt like

they ever found a groove. It felt like they were pretty adept at making sure they never had one of those cratering losing streaks, the six, seven, eight gamers, but it just seemed that every time that they rolled a snap out of it, they would snap right back into it in a negative way. Like they never ever had a stretch where I was like, oh, this team looks like it's finally figured it out.

And I don't know if that's because they never figured out from the beginning of the year, how to be more rushed dangerous without giving up on their principles. It just weren't good enough. Maybe it just weren't good enough. I don't know if they just didn't have the confidence playing in front of whatever goalie it was at whatever time throughout the year. And also, yeah, I just, at the end of the day, they weren't, especially offensively in a five on five, they just weren't good enough.

Well, there was also the rift that was tearing the team apart. There was also the rift. Don't forget the rift that was tearing the team apart. There was also the rift. So that might have been. Don't forget the rift. That might have been. Always remember that probably did help. All right, the rift. All right, the rift.

Okay, so what now for the Vancouver Canucks? Well, first things first is Rick Tauke. Do we know when the end of season pressers are yet? Have they announced those yet? Sad and Bick were suggesting on the post-game show that it's gonna be Friday. Friday, but. But we don't have any confirmation.

But sometimes they split them up, right? Sometimes they do players. Give them the old two day. Yeah, who knows? Uh, so I imagine that the reason I asked that is I imagine the Canucks would love to get something done, um, before those end of season pressers. And I'd heard that Thursday and that's today is

kind of like the target. They'd like to get it done by Thursday because those end of season pressers could be Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday. I don't know, but these next two days or these three days, like if they go to this end of season presser and there isn't a deal done, you kind of start going like, what's going on there?

Why not? Why hasn't there been a deal done? You know, they have been talking in the last little while, they've been exchanging offers, but you know, maybe Tauket feels like he needs to really have his sit down with management and be like, okay guys, what's the plan? Because we're going to go through all the things

that they have to do in order to have a better season next season, whether Rick Tauket is there or not. Let's assume they get the Tauket is there or not. Let's assume they get the Tauket thing done. Okay. The next order of business is making an off season plan for Elias Pettersson and making sure that everyone is on the same page and everyone agrees to the plan.

And you finish that meeting and you go, okay, are we good here? You're happy with this Canucks? Yep. Talk, coach, whoever it is. Okay. You're happy with this Canucks? Yep. Talk, coach, whoever it is. Okay. You're happy with it, Pedersen. And we're going to go out and probably communicate to the media and to the fan

base, like this is the plan. Um, whether he stays in Vancouver, goes back to Sweden, maybe it's a bit of both. I don't know, but get a plan together because something has to be fixed with a plan together because something has to be fixed with Elias Pedersen. Then I think you start the huge task of remaking your forward group. Alvin has already said he's happy with the gold ending and the defense. So he said, our focus here is to see if we can improve our forward group by either trades or free agents. And in my opinion, this is a top six problem. Their bottom two lines aren't a problem, but that assumes that guys like Garland and Dakota Joshua are actually in the bottom six.

Sure. I'm a big Garland fan. You've heard me talking about how I love the way that, you know, I love his motor. I love the way his legs are always churning. I love the fact that he's a guy that can bring the puck from one end of the ice to the other. But the Canucks were a better team when he

wasn't relied upon so much. Agreed. His average ice time this season jumped by four minutes, four minutes. His production about the same. And I think that says a lot. He was in a real good spot last season with Dakota Joshua on that third line with Teddy

Blugger or Lindholm, whoever the center was. It was their most consistent line, but because they've had so many issues in the top six, they've often had to go to him and be like, all right, we're going to try and get you this line going or that line going. He's been on the power play too much for Connor Garland. Um, so here's a fun question.

Cat. Who is a lock to be in the top six next season? An absolute lock to be in the top six next season. Because I think there's only one surefire lock. Jake DeBrasque? Jake DeBrasque. OK. And that is honestly the only one

we can be totally certain about. Now, before you start yelling into the Dunbar number text line. Do you want to throw some tags at you and then you can explain them to me? Not quite yet. Okay. If they keep Elias Pedersen.

What about Elias Pedersen? He'll be in the top six. Okay. But it doesn't sound like Brock Besser will be back. JT Miller is already gone. Those guys were sure fire top six guys and they're a big part of their success last season. Yep.

Who does that leave? Okay. Um, Phillip Heidel. Health is a wild card with him. Now it's good to hear, um, some positive updates about Phillip Heidel. I know he's been skating with the team and, you know, talk it was saying like things are looking better. Um, maybe some of his, um, you know, not feeling so

good was related to having a virus, but things are looking good there. But even if Heedle is healthy and he can stay healthy, plays all 82 games, is he a top six center? I think there's a wild card there. So I don't think you can, you can say he is a lock to play the top six. Who else you got?

Okay. So this is sorry, this is on the pretense that we're keeping Joshua, Blugger, Garland back to returning life as the third line. Okay. Let's go with Nils Hoaglander. How can you make him a obvious top six? Like how can you make, we're talking about locks, locks for the top six. How can you make it, like how many goals do you score this season? Eight. Eight? Maybe.

Okay. Let's move on. Like I, we still don't know what. Yeah, 24 two years ago. I know. We still don't know what Holglunder is. Next. Jonathan Leckermackie.

Uh, it's, I don't know. He's still got, I think he's still got a ways to go. He's got to get a lot stronger. He's got to learn the NHL game. I think it would be way too much to put on his shoulders to be like, Leckermack, he's going to be in the top six next season. Who else you got? 19 goal scorer, Kiefer Sherwood.

He's a bottom guy. Come on. Like you don't want them in the top six. We're trying to, we're trying to put together a playoff team, a contender here. You can have him up as a complimentary piece if you want in the top six, but you better have a really solid duo. You can't expect him to drive play. The Canucks need play drivers in their top six.

That's how they're going to score more five on five goals. Play drivers, guys, you know, and guys who can finish as well, right? Because Connor Garland for all of his play driving that he does. Sometimes you wonder about the finish. Uh, the second leading goal scorer on the team.

Pugh Suter. Well, he may not even be back. He's a pending unrestricted free agent. Like, okay. Okay. I'm out of guys. Okay. So, Bill's Oman.

No, okay. Sue, Suter, get a load of this. Okay. This might, this might, might, you probably know this, but me actually saying it might illustrate the issue here. Suter scored 25 goals this season. He got his 25th last season or last night. Besser also had 25.

You're gonna lose both those guys for nothing 50 goals of offense only to brusk Had more goals than those two players So to put it another way The Canucks had three guys who scored more than 20 goals and two of them may not be back That's a problem. Yeah. I mean, it's already a problem that the Connex only had three guys who scored more than 20 goals. It was a problem. Their offense wasn't very good. Now Garland and Sherwood had 19 each,

but I don't think it takes away from the idea that the Connex need to add at least two impact forwards, one a center, the other a winger. I would like, I, I would like to hear from anyone who disagrees with this statement. Like does anyone think I'm being too unfair or, you know, I'm not giving enough credit to this guy or he has potential. Like you can't count on, you can't lock in a guy

with potential. You can't lock in a Leclerc McHugh, he's barely played in the NHL. You cannot trust that Nils Hoeglender can be a top six guy. I'm talking about putting together duos. So we came into this season, we were like, all right, Besser and Miller, you guys have

worked together well. Uh, you're a duo and maybe we can fill you in with a complimentary player, um, whoever it's going to be. We got you Petey, Petey, we got you Debrecht, you're going to be a duo and then you're maybe, I don't know, maybe Holglinder is going to play with you or maybe it's going to be Suter or whoever. You know, Pedersen, we all know the season he had Debrecht, you know, Tauke had said the other day, he's got great hands around the net, but we need to see more out of them without the puck and maybe

a little more play driving out of him. Like I, I'm looking at this and I'm going, this is, this is a big task that management has gone. If you've got, including Pedersen, only two locks to play in your top six for next season. Yeah. You need to do a dramatic overhaul of your top six. And it's funny because when you talk about the cumulative offense and how many

goals they scored last year, I think there's an argument to be made that you'd say, well, there's optimism that Joshua and Hoaglander can at least return to the mean in terms of scoring because they were way off, right? Like Joshua's year was way off and Hoaglander's year was way off. But you don't bank on it. But you also have to say, well, if that's the case, then you should probably expect some kind of regression from Kiefer Sherwood. Like is Kiefer Sherwood a 19-20 goal scorer with regularity in the NHL? That's a tough ask, right. That was a great year for him this year but maybe in an ideal world he's playing less and scoring less. And you can use the same logic with suitor and whomever else. The solution is you're going guns blazing

into free agency in the trade market and free agency is probably where you pick up your wingers and the trade market is probably where you pick up your center. I don't know if it's that easy. I don't think it's easy. And I think you're gonna pay through the nose. The two teams that I would, and I've seen these names featured. How many wingers are out there,

quality wingers that you're like, this guy's a lock for the top six. Not top six, just wingers. But that's what you need. Yeah, like. That's what you need. You need sure fire top six wingers here. But you're not gonna get them.

Well you could with Heedleers. Yeah. If you get, if you target them. The issue with Heedleers is the issue with Healers. Yeah. If you target them. The issue with Healers is the issue with Heedle. He's not healthy enough. The issue with Sam Bennett, if they're going to go target him, is that Sam Bennett is much more valuable in the playoffs than he is during the regular season.

You need to get to the playoffs where Sam Bennett can be effective. Well, and the other issue with Healers and Sam Bennett is you may not get them. Right. There's other teams that are going to be bidding for them. I actually wonder if we'll see a bunch of UFA rights traded before July 1st, this off season just because there's going to be so much competition for the few good ones. I wonder if the Canucks could get something for the negotiating rights for Besser. I really do.

Yeah. Actually even throw suitors out there if you don't want to resign him. Imagine you're a team and you're like, we like the Canucks, right? Like we badly need a winger and you target Elers. Do you really want to wait until July 1st to get that done? Or if you could be proactive and you could have a special audience with Elers, you know, it doesn't always work.

Sometimes the player is like, and you have to have good intel that it might work, tampering. Yeah. But you know, there's a reason teams do this. There's a reason teams do go out there and say, all right, we'll give you something not very big for these UFA rights because we want to get ahead of this and we won't.

The problem with July 1st, remember, it comes after the draft and a lot of the training gets problem with July 1st, remember, it comes after the draft. Yeah. And a lot of the training gets done before July 1st. So you really don't want to be in a position where you're like, okay, well, we've explored all the trade options. We don't really have a full team here. We really need July 1st to go well.

And then you're like, ah, we didn't get our guy. This is gonna be hard. So I was watching some old Mike and the Mad Dog clips because Mad Dog was making the rounds yesterday for something funny that he said on the air. And I went back and remembered their 30 for 30. And one of their crowning achievements of their career was that they had such influence

that they convinced. Remember they got to bring Mike Piazza to New York? Do you remember that part where they had like a very open campaign? They're like, this is the guy. We got to get the guy. This is the guy they got to bring back. And they, you know, as the urban legend went, that the front office was so overwhelmed by Mike and the mad dog leading the charge that they eventually went out and acquired Mike Piazza. I think that I'm ready to bring Matt Barzell home. I think that, I think that that might be the play. I think that it might be the perfect time with an Islanders team that is,

I don't know what direction they're going in, but if you're going to make a play for and to get a center and to get a hometown kid and to bring them back and to resuscitate a career that quite frankly is flatlined on a boring team. I think that might be the play. I think that might be end up like the direction maybe not necessarily that particular player but that profile of player. I don't know how many there are but Barzell would be the one for me like I'd be willing to be like yell it from the mountaintops all summer like bring the kid home, bring the boy home. Maybe we can have that kind of influence over the organization.

Okay. You can do the Barzell thing. I'm looking for a little more size up front. I know. You know, like I- Barzell's so streaky, like he's just, he's not always good. I'm willing to put it all on his- He's sort of like, he has flashes of greatness in them. I think that he would be so invigorated and energized by- I'm not saying you're not wrong.

Like you might be right. Like coming home might be what does it for, but- I'm watching clips of him on- I don't know. Yeah, we're for Zanten Heinen. Yeah. Yeah. Like the Dan Heinen thing.

Like, take that box. Hometown kid. Won an award this year, right? That was- Oh yeah. Yeah, he can put that on his mantle. That's right. So any ideas, text them into the Dunbar Lumber text line.

I've got a little more, uh, stuff prepped. So we'll, we'll go into some, you know, we've identified now that we've identified that the cadux, it's a top six thing and it's going to be tough to fix. The question becomes, how are they going to do it? So any ideas, feel free to text into the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650-650.

Met your Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them or one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. Luke Fox is going to join us next from Sportsnet. And we'll talk about the teams that are actually in the playoffs. Five Canadian teams in the playoffs?

Five. How many missed? Two? playoffs. Five Canadian teams in the playoffs, five. How many missed? Two? Two. Who finished last in Canada? Who's to say? It doesn't matter. Do Canadian standings even exist?

It doesn't matter. It doesn't even matter. It doesn't even matter. It doesn't even matter. It doesn't even matter. I'm not gonna tie with such minutiae. The only thing that matters is for whatever reason in your life right now, things are so low

that you're listening to the Alfred and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Rachel and Satya Arshah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post-game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 634 on a Thursday, thrras Thursday here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. I forgot it was Thras Thursday. Brough loves Thras Thursday. You are listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler, pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid, visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are in hour one of the program. Luke Fox, NHL writer from Sportsnet, is gonna join us in just a moment here.

Hour one of this program was brought to you by Sands and Associates. We got introduced to Blair from Sands yesterday, had a very lovely meeting with him. What a great guy he is. Yep. And then Shorty tied it all together on the broadcast last night. Him and Ray were talking about Adogs jingles.

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They are the title sponsor of this show Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest visit them online at sands-trusty.com To the phone lines we go Luke Fox NHL writer for sports net joins us now on the Halford and Bref show on sports net 650 good morning Luke. How are you? I'm doing pretty good final Final. Finally, we're at game 82. So happy to get this one over with and get to what we all care about this weekend. Yeah, some of us, some of us get to do it. Well, you can watch. You can watch. You got TV.

Some of us are looking forward to Friday's press conference. Look, I'm with you because we're both pretty fired up about 20 year gap for the Battle of Ontario now that it's back. I love that Anthony Stoller has wasted no time in saying that it's going to be a blood bath. Like, I'm hopeful that both sides will just lean entirely into this thing. I know you've been writing about it for sports net dot C.A. already. What sort of vibes are you getting from the Leaf side of things going into the first round battle of Ontario against the Sens?

Yeah, excitement. And it's, it is kind of funny that a goalie says it's going to be a blood bath, right? He's not out there. He's not allowed to get hit. He's probably shouldn't be hitting anyone, but he's already the first to put it out there, which was, which was kind of ironic. But yeah, I think definitely in Toronto, well, for sure Ottawa, because they haven't even made the playoffs in a while, but in Toronto, I think there's a sense of how refreshing this is, even though it is a callback to something that happened

fairly frequently two decades ago. There's a whole generation of fans that don't really know how how feisty and intense the Battle of Ontario can get and Amongst the players, I think it's refreshing that they're not facing the Bruins. They're not facing the Panthers or Lightning that they're getting a Different opponent that they won the Atlantic for the first time. So it feels a little bit fresher They got a new coach for the first time so it feels a little bit fresher. They got a new coach for the first time they have really strong goal tending that they believe in. So as much as it's the same old cast of characters in terms of the Maple Leaf Stars that we're now seeing going into their ninth consecutive postseason, it feels a little fresher this time because it is the Battle of Ontario and it has that historic weight to it. Stephen Lawrence is a local guy and

he was great on the topic after the Leafs clinched in Buffalo. So anyhow, that's kind of where his love for hockey as a fan was born was hanging out in front of the TV, watching the Toronto Ottawa series with a mini stick in hand. Every time they'd go to a commercial break, he'd be pretending to be a leaf, shooting the ball into the mini stick net. And now he actually gets to live that series. So Toronto has a few guys with local ties, like Mitch Marner, who's going to be a focal point of the series.

And then you toss in the fact that Brady Kichuck is going to come out like a house on fire, getting his first taste of the playoffs. I think it's going to be a phenomenal series in terms of storylines and intensity. Um, so we were talking with David Amber about this, uh, yesterday and from a Vancouver perspective,

we really didn't talk much about Toronto this year. You know, the Mitch Marner, I know Mitch Marner kind of shut down all the contract talk in the media early on. So we've all known that Mitch Marner is a pending UFA and Tavares is a pending UFA, but there hasn't really been any drama around that. There hasn't seemed to be much drama in Toronto.

I know every season has the debate topics, but like, does it feel like now it's going to ramp up for the Leafs because they're playing Ottawa in a lot of ways? Yeah, for sure. Especially if they get down a game or two, I think it will, but you make a great point in that I've been covering this whole, this team for this whole era plus, and this was the most drama free season they've had.

Like, you know, the losing streaks weren't that long. Like, you know, we tried to make a big deal if they lost three or four in a row, but that barely happened. They basically were in first place of the division for the bulk of the season, and then they didn't choke. They finished the job down the stretch. All their big guys had relatively good years. Awesome Matthew debt, a bit of a down year in terms of goal scoring for sure, but they've tightened up defensively. They played a, a bit of a more boring playoff like style of hockey and they've fought for each other. Like there hasn't been any controversy.

It's really strange considering how important the year is. Uh, and I credit that to Craig Barube. He is just steady, whether things are going well or things are going poor, he's not riding the roller coaster. And it's almost as if the players have taken the cues from the coach. Sheldon Keefe was much more of an emotional guy, whether they were losing or winning. You could tell in his, in his press conferences, you know, he lost it on the ref sometimes.

This has been just kind of steady on the rudder. It's, it's really remarkable to see. Now, if things start going sideways in the playoffs and they actually get a big boat of adversity, then you know, the circus is, is going to go crazy for sure. Is Brady Kachak healthy and ready to go? He's ready to go.

Healthy. He's probably not a hundred percent, but he'll play through it as we know the Kachuks are going to do. You know, he's getting better from, from what I understand. Some of it was a bit of load management like he would have played more recently had those been playoff games but once the Senators secured their spot why not use the opportunity to rest up but to me he's gonna be the biggest X Factor in the series not only with his health but also

with his temperament. You could see him getting so emotionally involved that he drives the senators charged towards an upset. Or you could see him doing something ill-advised and all this pent up energy of never making the playoffs and going and following his brother on his cup runs and being in the stands in Calgary way back when with, you know, 40 Bud lights in his pockets. And it's just like, he

finally gets his taste, right? Like he, he might snap and do something dumb. That that would be my concern. Or, you know, he's the biggest driver of the bus and everyone grabs on and follows his lead and he scores a couple big overtime goals or something. I think he's gonna be a major, major character in the series. Okay, let's work on the latter theory there that Kachuck is this driving force

and an emotional heartbeat for the sense, in a good way. Does Toronto have a solution for the Kachuk problem in terms of roster, like makeup? They don't have anyone quite like him. I'm kind of looking at Matthew Nyes in terms of where is he going to go? Because he already showed flashes of it a year ago last spring in the Bruins series. He got right up in the face of David Pasternak, one of the best players in the world and pushed him around and said,

you want to fight someone, fight me. And this is a guy kind of built in the Kachuk like mold in terms of greasy goals, has good hands, but is also willing to fight. He's not as big of a fighter as Brady, but he's willing to on occasion, doesn't back down from everyone. For sure he's much younger. He's only 22, but he made tremendous strides this season. His style of play is built for Borube, it's built for the playoffs. He's a bit of an intriguing character in the series as well in terms of pushback, in terms of getting in the blue paint, making life hard on Linus Almark uh... i don't know if anyone has is it and it if there's an exact

to chuck oil but matthew nises you could be the speed of of him going into someone like that we're still a little fox for that age all right here on the health of russia on sports net six fifty i want to turn our attention to mt ralph canadians they clenched finally clenched her playoff spot yesterday. They now got a first round date against the Washington capital. So are the capitals getting a dangerous playoff opponent here or just a team that's happy to be there?

Uh, if I had to pick, I might go a little bit more towards happy to be there. Uh, you know, you never want to take a team, uh, like the Montreal Canadians that have a really strong final push and get in and they're playing with house money, free of expectations, probably the most rocked home barn when the series shifts there for games three and four and hopefully six. But I just look at their goal differential. I look at their inexperience. I look at how things trail off once you get beyond their first pairing D,

once you get beyond Nick Suzuki up the middle. I don't think they have, they can match Washington's center depth. I don't think they can match their experience and consistency. So I don't think they have as many weapons. So I kind of feel like this, you know, Washington should take care of business. I know Montreal has kind of been a bit of a trendy pick because they did have such a strong second half and there's questions about say Logan Thompson's health, but I really

like what they got going on in Washington this year and I think their experience will prove to be the difference and no one will fault Montreal if they go out even if it's in say five or six. I think people will just say what a run you weren't even supposed to be here. You had the pressure of Columbus nipping on your heels and you got the job done and then you know next year, Marty St. Louis Bunch will have a bit higher expectations. Okay so we've talked about Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The next two, Winnipeg and Edmonton.

Here's how I'm going to frame it. Who has a better chance of advancing to the Stanley Cup final Winnipeg and Edmonton. Here's how I'm going to frame it. Who has a better chance of advancing to the Stanley Cup final, Winnipeg or Edmonton? I'd say Winnipeg. It's probably not smart to be on live radio and betting against Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl. They can make me eat my words pretty quickly. I just think the absence of Matthias at home for round one and possibly beyond is a killer. I just think defense is so important. And then you toss in the fact that LA is the best home team in the NHL and they do have home ice advantage. I think LA has better goal tending.

These are going to be tight games and I can, I can perceive some defensive breakdowns on the Edmonton side without their rock back there. And I don't know, I know Skinner took them all the way to within a couple of goals of winning the Stanley cup, you know, less than a year ago, but I just don't have faith in the, in the Pickard skinner tandem right now. And, uh, I think LA is catching Empton at the right time for them and Winnipeg. I just think, uh, we can't say enough good things about them. I know that, you know, Nikolai Ehlers is probably doubtful to make an appearance in round one, but I think they have a relatively easy first round opponent.

Colorado and Dallas will probably beat up on each other and they might be able to take advantage of a tired or wounded opponent in round two. And I know there's question marks about can Hellebuck get it done in the playoffs, but he was absolutely phenomenal under the pressure for team USA. I know they lost the gold medal to Canada, of course, but I don't put that on him. I thought he was phenomenal and showed like he's got it for big games. And I like Winnipeg's depth.

So I think the Jets will go a bit farther than Edmonton this year. What's at stake for the Oilers if they go out in the first round to the LA Kings? Now I wouldn't go so far as to say that McDavid's going to leave the team, but I do think it's interesting that this summer he can sign an extension and Dry Cytles already signed an extension and most

people expect McDavid to sign an extension, but let's say McDavid does sign that extension. So they've got those two locked up. There's even more pressure on Stan Bowman then to surround those two with what they need. And it looked like they had that last season and they came very, very close to winning the Stanley Cup.

Um, doesn't seem like that this season, does it? No, and, um, it is going to be fascinating. I wonder, you know, at the trade deadline, there were some murmurs like should Edmonton go get a goalie. And then it, you know, the reports came out well before March 7th that they weren't going to, that they were happy with, with their tandem.

So I think it depends how depends if they do go out, how it looks, if it does fall on the goaltending or the defense, I think that's what the consequences will be. I think that there'll be extreme pressure to go make a trade. I mean, there's hardly, I don't know if you guys have looked, but there's hardly any goalies coming up in free agency. Like to get anyone of note, you pretty much have to go make a trade. So that might be the consequence. I mean, they already

changed the GM. So I don't think, you know, a GM is going to get fired. I don't know if I would put it on Knoblock, just considering that they seem to be coming into the playoffs pretty wounded. I don't know if you can pin that on the coach. So I think, you know, if there are changes, I think it's probably personnel. But the McDavid thing is fascinating. Like I haven't heard anything about him wanting to leave. I think all signs point to him resigning. But if it's not done by July 2nd, July 3rd, that's going to be the story of the summer. It's just going to build and build and build.

Why isn't this done yet? Could he possibly go somewhere else? It'll take over the summer, I think. Luke, always good to catch up with you. Let's make this a regular thing over the playoffs. We'll certainly be watching the Battle of Ontario pretty closely, and enjoy covering that series. All right. Thanks for having me on. Thanks Luke.

Luke Fox SportsNet NHL writer here on the health and rough show on SportsNet 650. Little bit of news from the Vancouver Canucks this morning. They have announced just a few minutes ago that the following players have been assigned to Abbotsford for their run through the Calder Cup playoffs. The following players, Krill Kudriatsa, Victor Mancini, Atu Ratu, Linus Carlsen, Max Sassen, Ty Mueller, and Nikita Tolopilo. So Abbotsford getting some major reinforcements for their Calder Cup playoff run.

And we're still wondering if Tom Willander will be part of Abbotsford for their Calder Cup playoffs, but no news on that yet. Okay. So we're going to talk to Adnan coming up, uh, in the next segment, we'll do a little baseball, maybe a little hockey with Adnan as well. Um, but then I want to dive back into, um, how the Canucks could possibly fix their issues up front.

Right. Um, I'll throw it out for the listeners. Is there anyone besides Quinn Hughes who you see as untouchable in the organization that you would not consider trading? First blush, no. And I know some of you will be like, I'd consider trading Quinn Hughes. Think about it, there's two years left. If he's not going to stay, think of the haul you could get from Quinn Hughes. We don't have the bandwidth for that today. Let's not go down that.

We don't have the bandwidth for that today. That's not gonna happen anyway. Then they're not gonna do that. So anyone besides Quinn Hughes that you see as untouchable on this roster, text in to the Dunbar Lumber Text Line, 650-650. AdNav's coming up next. Uh, then we'll talk to Tyler Zickel and then

Drantz at eight o'clock. So, you know, Drantz has probably thought about this and he'll give, I'll go like Drantz, how do they fix the forwards? And then I'll turn my mic off and I'll, uh, let him go. Go get a coffee or something and just let them go and you guys can listen to Drantz.

Uh, you are listening to the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. We do want to hear from you. So text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. I should mention before we go to break that the Canucks did hand out their year end team awards last night, Jason. We got to bury the lead here.

We got a couple of minutes left till we go to break. So I will say that, um, we gotta bury the lead here. We got a couple minutes left till we go to break. So I will say that the Canucks got a head start on the Quinn, please don't leave us campaign by giving the captain an unprecedented six team awards last night. Did you see this? Six.

I did. The Canucks have seven team awards. I actually think he got screwed in the unsung hero award because I think he should have got that too. Quinn got best goalie too for some reason. Yeah. Not sure how but. They gave the Fred J. Hume award for unsung hero

to Kiefer Sherwood and then they gave another one to retired trainer Pat O'Neil, right? Oh, awesome. How funny would it be if they had an overrated player award? Like, which guy do we talk about way too much? But he low-key kind of sucks. If Quinn Hughes eventually leaves, either demanding a trade or-

Why are you trying to set me up in the morning? Yeah, yeah, why? Why are you trying to do that? Why are you doing that? Why are you trying to do that? It would just be really funny. Have you noticed- And our unsung hero award goes to,

and our two-sung hero award goes to- Our oversung hero award. Have you noticed how I've kind of dialed back the you know what on you know what yeah yeah cuz even I got tired of it I know I got like the listeners need a boost this they don't they don't what a freaking boost so Hughes one let's go through this the Daniel and Henriksteading award for community leadership ding the babe Pratt Award for Best Defenseman. Ding.

The Three Stars Award. That goes for the most three star selections. The Pat Valbury Award for Most Exciting Player. The Sirius McLean Award for Leading Score. And the Cyclone Taylor Award for Most Valuable Player. The only one he didn't win was the Fred J. Hume Award for Unsung Hero. And I say, if one day,

Quinn Hughes either leaves via free agency or requests a trade and he says it's because he didn't win the unsung hero award that one year. Yeah. Preventing him from. I felt disrespected. If you're going to go the full nine go the full like don't just stop short. Give all the awards. Do you think the connector a little embarrassed with all those announcements? If they weren't they should have been I Know what you're trying to do in a couple ways. I get it right. Maybe some guys are like you can never come on too strong Sometimes you can but there are people out there. I think that you can't there have never There is never in my memory been a season where a skater

Has been heads and tails the best caduck. Like there is Queen Hughes and then like everyone else. And that is why he won six of the seven team awards. Like it's not unjust what happened. No. It's totally viable. But at the same time, I did get like you're coming on a little strong vibes

Like I and again everything that connects do from here on out Is about or I'm gonna be under the umbrella or backdrop of are we pleasing our captain, right? Are we making him happy? Are we appeasing Quinn Hughes? And you know, this is maybe a little bit of a nod to that Maybe that's a little bit on a big whiteboard and Patrick Alveen's office is Quinn Hughes and you know, this is maybe a little bit of a nod to that Maybe that's on a big whiteboard and Patrick Alveen's office is Quinn Hughes Happy underlined five times why or am I won million percent? Disagree with you because if you go through those awards he is a lock. No, I know all of I know there would have been no other Choice possible. But like okay, so he's the M go through them again go through them again The Daniel and Henrikhsadine award for community. Okay. Well, not that one. I mean you could have given yeah

Okay, the babe Pratt award for best defenseman. No, I thought that one was a tight race Okay, go quickly the three stars award that you won that that's just a winner. Have a very award for most exciting player yeah, is the like imagine trying to give it to someone else. The McLean Award is for the leading scorer and the Cyclone Taylor Award is for MVP. Yeah, no, I know. I know. Can you imagine, the only one you could maybe try

and force would be like most exciting player. And you'd be like, but Kiefer sure would. Yeah, very exciting. Like there wasn't an exciting team to watch except for Hughes. Did you guys hear that he's set the hits record this year? I don't know if you heard about it. They only mentioned it about 9,000 times. That was exciting.

You can't disagree with what I'm saying though, is that it is quite hilarious the timing of. It's hilarious, but it's not intentional. It's not like we gotta give all these awards to Quinn Hughes. They gave him all the awards because it was an obvious winner in each category. Okay, we gotta go to break. You're listening to the Howe from the Bruxelles