Halford & Brough in the Morning - Is Höglander In Tocchet's Dog House?

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they hear from Canucks coach Rick Tocchet (6:00) and wonder if Nils Höglander might be on the hot seat, plus they chat the latest hockey news with NHL anlayst Ray Ferraro (26:14). 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.

Da-na-na, da-na-na, da-na-na, da-na-na, da-na-na, da-na-na. You're listening to Halford & Brough. Kareem Hunt, right side, powdery, he is! Give it to him, Touchdown, Kansas City. He might have the loosest ankles in America. I mean, it's ridiculous how he can come back from those things. We were saying every single game, just let them throw the ball to infield. They can't make a play.

I mean, you saw. I can't imagine what it would feel like to wear pants after not having worn them for some length of time. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. It is Halford and his brother at Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live

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So, Orfite, what are you waiting for? Kintec, big show ahead. Big hockey show ahead. Tons of hockey guests on the Halford & Brough Show on a Tuesday. It begins at 6.30 with Ray Ferraro, our Tuesday regular. He's going to be joining us from where, Jason? He's on a golf trip right now. In Arizona.

Is that correct? Well, I don't know if he wants that out there. Too late. It's out there. 6.30, Ray Ferraro is going to join the program. 7 o'clock, Greg Wyshynski, ESPN NHL Insider. 7.30, Jonathan Davis from Sirius XM. We do a two-for-one with

Jonathan Davis, not the lead singer of Korn. He's a hockey analyst because we've got the Ducks and the Kings Tuesday and Thursday. He covers both for SiriusXM, so we'll talk to him about that. 8 o'clock, Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks is going to join us ahead of tonight's game.

7 o'clock from the Honda Center in Anaheim. It's the Ducks and the Canucks. Batch will be on the call for that one. We are giving away a $100 gift card to Mucho Burrito for the second consecutive day. We will give it to caller Numero Ocho. It's number 8. Do you want to do it at 8.15 again?

Yep, that's it. It's out there. 8.15. Caller number 8 gets a 100 gift card to mucho burrito so if you're listening on delay podcast you're streaming whatever you now know calling at 8 15 caller number eight phone number again should i try and do it uh in spanish no i'm Absolutely not. 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650. Speaking of Sportsnet 650,

we are giving you seven and a half live uninterrupted hours of Canucks coverage tonight. It begins at four o'clock with Canucks Central. That goes until six o'clock, at which time we pivot over to the Canucks pregame show. From seven to 10 o'clock, it's the Canucks and the Ducks. Unfortunately, it's mislabeled on the website, so don't pay any attention to that. And then finally, late 10 till who knows when, probably 1130, it's the Canucks postgame show.

So keep it right here all day, Sportsnet 650 for Canucks and Ducks coverage and all your Canucks coverage. 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 was... We know how busy 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. The Vancouver Canucks practiced yesterday at the Honda Center. The location of tonight's game against the Ducks also at the Honda Center.

And it was a Pew Suter love-in yesterday at practice. Everyone loves the diminutive, not fast, we'll get to that in a moment, Swiss forward, who has three of the last four Canucks goals dating all the way back to the Carolina game. Well, we talked yesterday about whether or not the Canucks would be able to keep that Suter-Pettersson-Garland line together because after they sent Nils Amon down and he cleared waivers and he went to Abbotsford,

they only had four centers on the roster. But lo and behold, Suter, Garland, and Pettersson were together at practice and they had Baines as the center on the fourth line. And Tockett was asked afterwards, do you see Baines as a center? And he said, no, no, no, I don't. And then he said, I'm going to talk to Patrick, being Patrick Alveen, the general manager, about a possible call-up.

Now, fortunately, the Abbotsford Canucks are down in California as well. So it would be an easy call-up. And Atu Ratu's name came up. Rick Toggett brought it up and he said, you know, I heard Ratu's playing well down there but I gotta talk to Patrick so we'll see if there is

an Atu-Ratu call up today and then Ratu would be in the lineup as the fourth line center allowing Suter who everyone was talking about is a really smart player, not the fastest guy everyone seemed to mention.

Like everyone was like, he's not the fastest guy. Talk it. Maybe not the fastest guy. Garland was talking about him. You know, he's not the fastest guy, and even he'll admit that. And Suter's probably sitting there going like, guys, I'm not that slow. I'm right here behind you. Why is everyone pointing that part out?

Next time they ask Suter about what he brings to the team, he should be like my speed. Anyway, we've got some audio that Halford and Laddie clipped so why don't you guys run us through the Suter passive aggressive loving. Well, aside from diminishing

his foot speed and ability to skate, Tuckett was complimentary of the player and there's a good back and forth here with IMAC because IMAC astutely points out diminishing his foot speed and ability to skate. Tuckett was complimentary of the player. And there's a good back and forth here with IMAC because IMAC astutely points out, hey, you guys went out and loaded up on wingers in the offseason. And that was presumably so that Suter could play the center position, which Tuckett has said on a number of occasions, they see him as a center.

So what exactly is going on here? And you can hear the answer now. Rick Tuckett after practice yesterday ahead of tonight's game. Canucks, Ducks, 7 o'clock from the Honda Center. Yeah, I would say hockey IQ. I think that's one thing that he's really good at. Like he, you know, what he makes up for,

you know, whatever. He knows that he's not the fastest player out there, but when you have a brain like that, you can make up for that. And I think that's where he's not the fastest player out there, but when you have a brain like that, you can make up for that, and I think that's where he's really good at. It seemed like the idea when the organization signed all these wingers is that Puce would go back to playing center because you'd have upgrades on the wing. Has he trumped those upgrades? Is he sort of proving hard to replace up there?

Well, that's a good question. I think it's still early in the season, so I think, you know, we've got to get some guys going, some wingers going, obviously. But I just, you know, think he's, especially the last week or so, you know, 10 days, I think he deserves more ice time. And, you know, putting him on that line, obviously he comes up big for us.

It's something I'm going to have to do more often. So probably going to keep him on that line. obviously, he comes up big for us. It's something I'm going to have to do more often. So probably going to keep him on that line. I think he deserves it. But he's still a valuable guy as a centerman, too, for us. So when Talkett says... You can hear it at the end there. It's just here at the end there. He's like, but he's still probably more valuable to us as a centerman.

Yeah, yeah. He knows this isn't the ideal situation. Well, when Talkett says, we got to get some wingers going here, who do you think he's talking about? Because the first name that come to mind for me was Hoaglander. Hey, me too. I think you could maybe throw Sprong in the mix as well.

DeBrus got his goal, but I think if you were to ask Talkett collectively over the first 10 games, he said we probably need a little bit more out of Jake DeBrus than one goal in the 10 games. Again, you could either look at this glass half full or glass half empty, right? You could say the glass half full is that Pugh Suter,

reminder on a very affordable contract, is playing so well and has the kind of chemistry that you just can't take him out of that top six forward role. It's a good thing. The negative is that you need Pugh Suter to be in a top six forward role because you've tried other guys and you've tried all these other wingers that you brought in and it's not clicking as effectively

as a guy that has 75% of your goals over the last three games. So I know it's pretty early to bring this up. Nah, never too early. Sometimes I wonder how much longer Hoaglander has with the organization. I'll be honest with you. That's okay. That's fine bringing that up. Because they signed him to the extension

and that provides cost certainty. Yes. And they're going to have to give to get something if they're going to go get a defenseman. And frankly, you know, it doesn't seem like, it doesn't seem like Talkett is a massive Hoaglander fan. He only played, Hoaglander only played 10 minutes against the San Jose Sharks.

He really likes Baines. And I know, listen, this isn't me. Don't yell at me. But you can tell that Talkett really has a soft spot for Baines. Every time he talks about him, he has good things to say, as if he expects there's going to be more from the player. Now, I know a lot of people have texted into the show and said that Yogi has worked with Baines throughout,

I don't know, his career or something like that. I don't know the story there, so there's maybe a relationship there, but I don't think that's Talkett just like, oh, Yogi likes him, so I like him. Talkett has his own opinions and he really likes Baines. And then you also have to consider that there are some guys down on the farm that might get the call, one of them being Lekker Mackey. And then where does that leave Hoaglander when if you're talking about making a trade i think there would be teams very much interested in hoaglander as opposed to like well why don't they trade sprung well because sprung doesn't have the value the modern whipping boy doesn't really exist anymore it's not a whipping boy just listen to me the modern whipping boy doesn't really exist it's not like back in the

day where you had some guy that you could take out all your frustrations on or have perennially in the doghouse if there's anything remotely close to it on this team with this dynamic with this head coach and this player it's hoaglander for sure hoaglander is the only one that gets the uh verbal call outs that talk it will check himself when it comes to criticizing other guys, right? He'll come out and say, you know, I didn't like Hoagie's game at all. And Petey. Well, I'm not going to pick on the whole lot. Then he'll check himself, right? You've got to remember who was deemed healthy scratch worthy in the playoffs last year.

Up front, it was Hoaglander. Yeah. So you're saying if the Canucks trade for defensemen, it's Hoaglander going the other way. Is that really what you're getting at? Well, you know what, Andy? I don't even mind that one. That's not so bad. I mean, realistically, if there was one guy that they would move... I thought you would have it in a package including Elias

Pettersson, but I like what you did there. I just wonder so much because again, it's more a numbers game than anything in a way um you know joshua is going to be back and i realize there will be other injuries but what lecker mackie is doing in the ahl to start the season is pretty impressive not just his goal totals but his i think his shot totals as well um you I, I've just been wondering about it.

That's all. So I'd love to hear your thoughts into the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650, 650, uh, the bridge street, Dunbar Lumber and Ladner has moved to progress way in Tilbury's industrial park,

more room, more product, more awesome details at Dunbar lumber.com. This was supposed to be a pew suitor loving. And I guess my stupid comment has probably caused people to wonder about Nils Hoeglander. But when Hoeglander, he can't seem to take advantage of that spot, which I think a lot of people said, oh, that would be perfect for him. He can play with DeBrusque and Petey at the beginning of the season. That's a great spot for him, and he hasn't really been able to latch onto it.

But you do also have to look back to last year where he scored a lot of goals, all of them even strength. So that's pretty impressive. But right now, would that more be the selling point in a trade for a team that needs goal scoring? What are you worried about bringing this up? I'm confused because it doesn't seem that illogical a leap. Are you just tired?

No, I'm just a super nice person. That's true. And I don't want anyone to think that I'm picking on Hoaglander. Okay, let's put it this way then. Because I actually quite like Hoaglander. I'm a little disappointed that he hasn't been able to take advantage of the opportunities that were presented to him this year, because I think when he's on his game, he adds a lot of

energy. I think he can even play with an edge, but I don't think we've seen enough. And when I heard Talkett say, we got to get some wingers going, I obviously thought of, you know, well, Jake DeBrus got his first goal, so that's good. And he would have been the first guy to leap to mind, frankly, if he hadn't scored against San Jose. But I also thought about Nils Hoeglander. Then I looked at his ice time in the San Jose game. I saw he only played 10 minutes. I'm like, ooh, you know, Joshua's coming back.

Lekker Mackey's pushing. The Canucks are going to have to give up something if they want to add a defenseman. Maybe that's the obvious piece. I think you can look at this situation and say, I really the player i think he's a very good player and i think for what he is which is a diminutive forward and for what he's paid which is not a ton of money he produces fairly well 24 goals and 36 points last year he's got five points through 10 games this year for what he's making in the role that he's playing you'd say the production is fine a point every second game guy not a problem

in that you know context of i like the player i think it's also very fair to point out that he's probably not rick talk it's favorite player i also felt i don't think that's a bad thing i also felt and i didn't necessarily say it on the radio because i didn't want to be a jerk but when the canucks signed Hoaglander to that contract extension at the beginning of the year, remember everyone was like, where'd that come from? And maybe it was because Hoaglander showed up in really good shape in training camp

and that's why they rewarded him. But I also felt like, that might make it easier to trade him because you've got cost certainty yeah it's not because because a lot of it's not no landish contract or anything no because a lot of teams you know in hoaglander situation where he would have been rfa are kind of like oh well those things can get complicated sometimes it's not complicated anymore yeah i mean that was part of the reason it was uh maybe easier to move kuzmenko's contract now i know apples to oranges apples to bowling balls with kuzmenko

and hoaglander but i do think there's some similarities there i mean they signed kuzmenko to that extension four days after rick talk it came aboard and then it became quickly apparent that that wasn't going to be a marriage that was designed to last much past that season, and he was gone shortly thereafter. But Kuzmenko had positive attributes. You knew what he was going to bring, but you also knew that he wasn't going to be able to consistently play the style that Tuckett wanted from him. I think that's a big thing.

You can admire someone's game. I don't know if it's a style thing so much as details. Whatever the case. Whatever the case is. Tuckett has very clear ideas about what he what he wants individual players to do sometimes i think it might even border on unfair because i keep looking at what he wants out of hoaglander i'm like okay but are you really putting realistic expectations on the player i want to read a quote from Conor Garland on Pew Suter.

And it's not him saying, well, he does say he's not the fastest guy, but he says he's exceptionally smart. I want to attack all the time, roll out of the corner and make quick plays. And he's usually there for me. He's always in the right spot for you. He's an easy, easy player to play with. Ask anyone. Predictability doesn't sound like it's a good thing, but you know, it sounds like,

that's easy to stop. You're predictable. But the way, you know, Rick Tockett is coaching the Canucks, you hear a lot of things like landmarks like places where you're going to be on the ice sometimes i wonder if hoaglander is not necessarily hitting those landmarks the way that talk it wants to unpredictable yeah and that makes sense i mean there's a reason that suitor started that game against san jose as a fourth line center then was eventually elevated to play with Petey and Garland. Yeah, I mean, that was Baines. I mean, Baines was on that line.

But talking about Suter in the positive way. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, Suter got to go there because he needed a spark. And I think Tocantin understands that he's a plug-and-play guy that you can put with a variety of different line mates, although right now it sounds like it's going to be Petey and Garland in the short term. And he's going to be in the spots that are going to make his teammates better.

That's predictability. Some other questions ahead of tonight's game against the Ducks. Will we see Kevin Lankanen in net again tonight? The answer, I hope, will be yes. If you look at the schedule, and we have stressed this time and time again, looking at the month of November it's very very fortuitous for the Canucks in terms of no back-to-backs and once this road trip ends in California you get a lot of a lot of breaks between games over a what is a six game stretch at home you could ride out Lankanen for the majority of it and I don't know which one you

would cherry pick to get Seelovs in net if you need to get them in net, but there's no shortage of candidates. There are a couple teams that don't score an awful lot of goals, including tonight's opponent, the Anaheim Ducks, who are the lowest scoring team in the National Hockey League, both in terms of collective goals scored and goals per game.

So part of me thinks tonight, I mean, I don't think, I think Lincoln will get the start tonight, but part of me would, looking at the schedule, would be like, this might not be a terrible game if you want to try and get Seelov's season back on track because the Ducks just don't score a lot of goals and don't have a very potent offense. Yeah, I think the narrative with the Ducks

is that their head coach, Greg Cronin, is trying to make the play responsibly. Yes. And they might have lost some offensive pop. Because think about how excited people were about some of the Ducks prospects a year or two ago or three years ago. You know, guys like Troy Terry and Trevor

Zegers. Trevor Zegers. I know we talked about this a bit yesterday, but has anyone's stock fallen faster than his? And I think the, he just gets labeled with maybe the not a player you win with type of player, not a serious player. I don't know. I'm picking on a lot of guys today.

He's a YouTube player. Yeah, yeah. He's about skills and tricks. But they have six guys under the age of 23 that people were at one point either still hyped about or really hyped about, like Zegres, McTavish, Cutter-Goche. I'm still excited about Mason McTavish. I think he's going to be a good player.

Minchikov, Zellweger, and Leo Carlson, who was the number two overall pick. They've got guys. Carlson will be a player. Yeah, they've got good young players. But you brought up a good point. You can't just let them loose and say, go play hockey. You have to be super diligent and responsible if you don't want to get blown out on a nightly basis.

Now, they don't. Or if you just want to teach them the right way to play in the NHL. The problem with that is you become the lowest scoring team in the National Hockey League. They've scored 24 goals, and I went back and looked, eight of the 24 goals, so a third of their goals came in two consecutive games in mid-October. They basically, if they score two, they're on par. If they score three, that's a big offensive night for this team.

And the only reason that they're not even further down in the standings than they are is, we talked about this yesterday and we talked about it with Kevin Woodley as well, is because of the goalie, Lucas Dostal, who's been phenomenal. One, with a ton of work, he's faced more shots and made more saves than any goalie in the NHL. And despite that, he's still got a save percentage that's like 936. Now, that's not sustainable. I don't think you can be the busiest goalie in the National Hockey League

and be pitching a 940 save percentage. Eventually, that'll cave in. So I think it's a bit of a flawed team. I'm interested to see it tonight because at least on paper, the Ducks are young. They've got a lot of guys that you're curious about because of their draft pedigree.

But then you look at the numbers play out and you're like, they don't really do much of anything offensively. Okay, we're going to have a lot of hockey talk on this show, so there's a few things we can get into with the likes of Batch and Wish and Ray Ferraro and Jonathan Davis, who's going to talk to us about the Ducks and the Kings.

I do want to spend just three minutes on Buccaneers coach and coward Todd Bowles who had an opportunity to make a call to go for two last night and beat the Kansas City Chiefs with 30 seconds left in Kansas City, and he decided to kick the extra point and gamble on overtime. And the most predictable thing happened.

Kansas City won the toss. Never touched the ball again. And Kansas City went down and scored a touchdown. And the headline on ESPN was, Todd Bowles defends not going for two in loss. And here's the quote. We wanted to get into overtime with the wet conditions on the field. We thought we had to go into overtime instead of going for two.

We had our shots. We lost the game. We took our shots. We had our chances all game. We just lost the game. It didn't come down to that. Yes, it did. It did come down to it. It 1,000't come down to that uh yes it did it did come down to it it it 1000

came down to that and i was just thinking watching that game man you got a chance to make one play and you'll win now yeah there were 30 seconds left which was his own fault by the way yeah for calling a timeout there were 30 30 seconds left, and it would have given Mahomes the opportunity to drive the team 30, 40 yards and try and kick a field goal. But they had that anyway. They had that anyway, and they failed. And they couldn't do it.

The decision to not go for two, I was just like, man, your team must have been so disappointed after that game. You had the opportunity to call a play that would beat the Chiefs. Like, I don't even care about percentages. I don't even care about probabilities. You're in that spot. Take the shot to try and do it. You just had a great drive.

The Chiefs were on their heels. Were you thinking that too? I was thinking that your best player on the night was Baker Mayfield, who, by the way, love Baker Mayfield now. I've totally changed my tune. My favorite quarterback in the NFL now. Love Baker Mayfield, right?

Okay to that one bucks guy. No Chris Godwin, no Mike Evans throwing the ball to his third and fourth receivers and a bunch of tight ends and running backs out of the backfield still manages to march a team down the field in Kansas City as a 10-point underdog

and they get a score with 27 seconds left. Why would you want to extend the game? You got a chance for a smash and grab. You had no business being in that game. Yeah. You should have lost. Nine point dog,

10 point dog, whatever. Yeah, they lost the game. Ray Farrar is going to join us next on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio

and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. Ferraro, Ferraro, let's chat with Ray Ferraro. It's time for Ferraro, let's talk to Ray Ferraro.

Ferraro winds up with a shot Score! Ray Ferraro Breakaway on his side Score! Three-bound score! Ray Ferraro Ferraro, Ferraro It's time for Ray Ferraro

Let's chat with Ferraro It's time for Ray Ferraro 6.31 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff

that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 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. To the phone lines we go, as the music suggests.

It's time now for Ray Ferraro here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Ray. How are you? I'm doing great great how are you guys we are well uh ray i think you're in the next game that you're doing for espn is washington pittsburgh on friday is that correct yeah that's that's right yeah are the capitals for real because they look pretty good i i can't i can't really believe that they are. This will be the second time I've done them live. I've seen them a couple other times, you know,

because I'm paying attention with the game that I have coming up. And, like, last year they scored 216 goals and somehow made the playoffs. They were the most curious team that made it. Like, every game you're like, oh they they can't stay in the game and then somehow they won and they may have cut to 91 points and made the playoffs they had a really good offseason and um like really good they they added some offense they you know they took a big swing with Pierre-Luc Dubois who's actually played quite well for them. You know, I mean, that's always a question mark. What percentage of Dubois do you really get? And he seems like he's in a place where he's really comfortable

and really, like, he gives them a top-line center. McMichael is, he's really a player. I mean, he's come along here the last couple of years, but I think he had 16 goals last year, but he looks like a guy that's going a player. I mean, he's come along here the last couple of years, but I think he had 16 goals last year, but he looks like a guy that's going to score. He's fast and, you know, he's played on teams where he's, I think, been asked to do too much, and now they just, like, but he's a guy

you wouldn't really think about, except he's got, I think, eight goals. Alexi Protis, he's another guy um it's had a they've got these young guys that have kind of quietly taken steps so my answer is i think they're going to be right in the mix for a playoff spot i don't think they're this good um i wonder about their goaltending a little bit with thompson and and lindgren but here's the other thing they don't give up any shots. They give up like 24 shots a game. So if you're average goaltending,

then you're probably okay at 24. 36 shots, you're probably not. What's it like being around the energy of the Gretzky chase with Ovechkin? Because, I mean, if you go to NHL.com every time the Caps play, there are all these other contributors you mentioned, but the number one primary focus, quite obviously, is Ovechvechkin well I left him because I figured we'd get there

um is so last year the energy was like running uphill with 30 pounds on your back like there was none right and and quite frankly like he looked like he was out of shape in the first half of the year um he had nine goals And then he had a really good second half. I was down there. They were playing the Rangers. And he scored, like, in the first five minutes. And not only did the building completely, like, I guess energize is the word, but, like, it lit up.

Like, everybody was so excited. But the bench did too. And Ovi played great. He skated really well. He skated more than I remember him skating last year. So what they do with him, he plays five on five and two minutes on the power play. He doesn't play any four on four.

On the power play he i mean he skates eight strides in two minutes right he's just in that one circle so he stays the whole time but i i'd say that it's it's like it's um you know like they're just shoving him out there but it's not it doesn't look like that yet like he i would last year at the beginning of the year i'm like you know what he's gonna have to play four years like that yet like he i would last year at the beginning of the year i'm like you know what he's gonna have to play four years like that's what that's what it looked like sure like he's not gonna score enough and now he's you're starting to look and go no he's not gonna score at a 55 goal pace but could he could he get within a handful of them in the last month

wouldn't that be something if he does like just think of how the entire hockey world would be focused on something that was thought to be uncatchable well yeah you bring up one more thing on the caps before we move to the connect super you bring up something that i wanted to kind of dive into that we've never really had a team at its progression or as it goes along in this stage where he's chasing a record that's never been chased before. It's fueling the team. So it's not even necessarily that they're a cup contender, but they've got the juice from this chase of an individual entity

that is fueling the entire team. And it kind of seems to be working. And I tried to go back and look, has there ever been an example in the NHL like this before? Really, it's obvious to say that no, there hasn't really been. But I'm fascinated to see how it'll play out because right now, a small sample size to start the season, it looks really cool, and it looks really intriguing

seeing everyone pulling the rope in the same direction for one guy and then seeing that team success also comes from that. You know, pretty interesting look, actually. As you're talking, I'm thinking about last year, it felt like they really have to keep playing him. They have to play him more. They have to keep him on the power play. And he never scored.

I mean, I think of the nine goals, I think three of them were empty netters in the first half of the year. Like, he just couldn't play. And you're like, well, what are they going to do for two years here? I'll tell you, guys, I don't know if you've spent any time or listened to Spencer Carberry, but I am a huge fan. He is smart and articulate and honest and also very straightforward like like he he had meetings with Ovechkin and said oh if you don't you know I can't keep playing you 20 minutes a

night I can't do it and so last year there were games he was 12 and a half minutes and just think how hard that would be it's your first crack at coaching an nhl team and you got to step on this guy's toes yet ovi ovi speaks very very highly of him i watch them interact on the bench i watch him you know the energy that he's playing with and and it's easier now for everybody to be on board mainly because i think the way Carberry dealt with Ovechkin, but the way that Ovi is playing and is engaged. It's not like you're not dragging around a 50-pound anchor here. He's actually the guy you think of when you think of the Cavs.

Ray, bringing it back to the Canucks, Rick Tockett said yesterday that there are a few wingers that we got to get going here. And it was all around, you know, Pugh Suter bumping up to play with Garland and Pedersen. And it's not Baines and it's not DeBrusque and it's not Hoaglander. And one of the guys we got started talking about was Nils Hoaglander. What have you seen from Hoaglander this year? Because he only played 10 minutes in his last game against the San Jose Sharks.

Well, he certainly fights the length of the rope that he gets. He'll go from 15, 16 minutes, and he'll drop to 10 minutes. In a game with a bunch of power plays, his minutes are going to go down because he doesn't get much power play time. When he's at his best, and I think he's been like a lot of the team for most of the year, it's been fine, and the record's fine, and yet I think we can all see that there's at least another couple of gears here for the team.

I would say the same for him. He's at his best when he's like playing with the highest of energy, when he's relentless to check, when he gets in on a four check and it reverses to the other side and then he reverses to the other side and he's contains with his legs

and he creates with his legs. And for me he hasn't done enough of it yet um but there's lots of factors to it and you know like if if you if you get stuck on that you know that the up and down escalator um it's hard to get off it's hard to get off like you you can't play one game and then everybody says oh yeah there he is the consistency's back and that's what we need from him because consistency means two three four five games and the wingers have to go but the centers have to go too i mean if if he's if he was playing i don't know how many games he played with with with Pettersson but pretty clear he's not had a very good start to

the season and so you're tied to him and if if Pettersson has a bad game his rope is longer than it would be for Hoaglander that's just the way it is do you think he's looking at the roster right now and thinking okay Dakota Joshua's gonna be back soon maybe he takes a peek down at Abbotsford and sees that Jonathan Lekarimacki is off to a pretty good start with four goals in six games and what did you say he had like 31 shots or something like that firing the puck like crazy in six games down there and do you think he goes like oh am I gonna have a spot here soon? Well, he better not.

What he should look at is he's got a three-year extension, and he scored 24 goals last year, and they were all at five on five. And when I think of a player like Hoaglander, I see a little bit of myself, right, undersized a bit, and you've got to fight your way for everything. And what served me well was was to put an fu chip on my shoulder and i fought everybody for 18 years they didn't know they were in the fight but i fought everybody and like honestly it's it it took me a long time after i retired to realize like that's the only way to do it you can can't look around. I wish I would have known it earlier. You can't look around.

You can't worry about everybody else. You can't think, oh, there is Lekomaki, and oh, boy, and Joshua's coming back. We're all aware of that stuff, but you can't. You just can't. And so I, I found it really, um, uh, really interesting when, when it, you know, as I looked back at my career, I could see moments where I did that and it, it's a mental fight, but it is, um, it's, it's not helpful and it will never help you. If, if, if you're worried about other people's presence.

Like, you have to put that block on your shoulder and say, like I said, you got to say, F you, man, and this is my job and my spot, and I love it more than anybody else, and I'm going to fight for my minutes because clearly he can play. I mean, you don't just by accident score 24 goals. Like, you got to do it. And he's done it once, and I don't see any reason why he can't do it again. So, Ray, we were texting last night,

and I sent you a link to an athletic article which had some projections for the four nations rosters. And I feel like we're going to do a lot of this over the next month. 100 days, man. Yeah, it's fun. I love doing this. It's been a long time since we've been able to do this. And, uh, at the athletic, I did notice that Connor Bedard was not on Canada's

roster. Now this is Chris Johnston doing this. This is not hockey Canada doing this. Do you think Bedard will make the team? Do you think he should? I think he's going to be in really tough this time around. And the spot I kind of see him in is near the bottom of the lineup or the 13th forward, like somewhere there. There's no power play time with that. So the things that he would excel at, he's probably not going to find his way onto the ice, I don't think. Now, he might, in this, you know, when they pick the team,

between now and then, he might, if he gets on a heater, then maybe you go, oh, you know what, I'm going to flip him over top of a couple other guys. But you're looking at guys like, you you know like is he in that role would he be better than carter verhage i don't know i'm not saying who's a better player i'm just saying would he be better than like what about seth jarvis or wyatt johnston wyatt johnston's a star like he's a fantastic player and he can play in the wing. He can play in the middle, kills penalties. He's on, you know, like he's a more versatile guy.

So it gets really tricky because, you know, like Bedard's name brings scrutiny, right? Brings, makes you take note that he's not there. So I think you probably also have to throw into the mix. He had a really difficult world championship last year too and there's probably lots of reasons for it but I just think he's in a little

he's going to be in tight here I would be I guess I wouldn't be surprised either way but I wouldn't I wouldn't be too surprised if he's not selected in this go-around. But that's November 5th, right? He's still got 30 days or so to try and get yourself in a position where they go, you know what, and the guy's so hot right now, we can't leave him.

All right, Ray. Well, enjoy Capitals Penguins on Friday and we'll talk again. I'm sure nothing will be going on in Washington in the next few days. So just kind of wander around there. Yeah, just wander around just like a tourist.

Just be like, hey, you should keep asking people like, hey, I'm from Canada. What is going on here? Why are there people everywhere? What is going on? Asking for the sightseeing brochure. Is there anything I should see while I'm here?

And then maybe like, ah, democracy. It's so pure, isn't it? You know what I think I'm going to try to do is get on one of those hop-on, hop-off bus tours. I think that would be really great. Enjoy the bus tour, Ray. We'll talk to you next week. I hope so. See ya. Yeah, see ya, buddy. Ray Ferraro here on the Halford & Brough Show.

Ray's like, why is everybody so tense right now? Is hockey game that important? DC, ah, so good to be here. Hey, I've got a question for you guys. Okay. Why is Bowen Byron's name out there right now? Buffalo's gonna shake it up, bro.

They just got him. Yeah, now they're going to shake it up again. They shook it up when they got him. Hoaglander for Byron, who says no. He's yet to play a full season. They're just the goal. No, no, no. Hoaglander scored what?

24 goals? I wonder if it has anything to do with Bowen Byron's contract situation because he is a pending RFA with Arbright's. And in that situation, that's like, get me out of here situation if he wants. They've also committed big money and a lot of term to Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power, two former first overall picks that happen to be playing defense for the Buffalo Sabres. Well, they paid Samuelson too, right? Like I know it's only a $4.2 million cap it,

but the contract goes until the end of time. Like they've invested in three guys for a substantial amount of money. I wonder if they're feeling the squeeze with Byram. I mean, I also think that, and I've said this countless times on the show, I think Buffalo is just a broken franchise. I think that you can't stink for that long. You can't alienate your fan base for that long. You can't be that bad for that long

without there being any residual effects. I don't think you just snap your fingers and you get out of it. I think some franchises, look across sports, look how long it took for the Detroit lions to get where they are right now. You're talking the better part of 20 or 30 years from everyone, how low that they sunk when they didn't win a single football game. The stink is it stays with you.

I, and this is not anything based in numbers or science or factual data i understand what i'm talking about here that there's some sort of very loose allusion to like the sports gods and you know the vibes around the team but i do think there's something that when you have players come up in a culture of stink and losing they don't know what winning looks like. What would it cost the Canucks to get a guy like Bowen Byram? Is it possible for them to do that, knowing that they would have to give him a big contract?

First of all, let's talk about the price to get Byram out of Buffalo. Do you think that's a good player, a first-round pick, and a good prospect? Probably, given his age. The contract thing is difficult to navigate, for sure, if you're acquiring him. Well, here's how the Canucks could do it.

Okay? You got Byram. Yep. You give him a contract extension. You don't re-sign Bram. Yep. You give him a contract extension. You don't re-sign Besser. Okay. And Lekker Mackey fills Besser's spot. Okay.

I'm not saying that's for sure. I'm not saying that's for sure. But if you're asking for ways to do it. But you almost have to take, you have to, you skipped over a key part of the chronology. It's just whatever you're giving up to acquire Byram. If the Sabres are looking to get good now and want to turn this thing

around, would they not want to get a little bit older? They are the youngest team. Maybe they want some players. They are the youngest team in the NHL by average age. 24.9 years old is the average age on the Sabres. Would they not want to get a little bit more experienced? Maybe they don't want a prospect. Maybe they want somebody who's established

and ready to go. An active that to me would make more sense in terms of turning that franchise like the Canucks have said they want to deal with the Besser situation before the trade deadline what if they can't come together on a on a contract for him the problem with that is that you would be removing a guy that is one of your key contributor offensively i don't say this by his teammates i honestly don't say this lightly and i don't think it's i don't think it's likely yeah i don't think it's next to nil but people are people are gonna wonder you know like if bowen byram's name is out there and teams are calling on him and the Canucks have been making calls, I'd be surprised if they weren't at least in touch,

you know, have a conversation. It doesn't mean anything if you have a conversation. People are going to wonder how might the Canucks do this. I think I like the idea as a concept more than I like it as something they could actually pull off in reality. I would love for the local kid who has been up and down over the course of his NHL career. I know he's playing a lot in Buffalo, but also Buffalo stinks. So most of the injuries that have caused him to

go up and down, whatever the case, right? He's, I think there's still maybe not necessarily a finished product there, which is enticing for the team that would be acquiring him, but would also be, you'd be worried a little bit about exactly what you're getting. But the numbers and the contract and the age and where the Canucks are at and their progression, I'm not sure it works. I'm not sure it links up. Again, I think it would be something that would be a little bit more intriguing as a concept or an idea as opposed to actually something based on reality.

Yeah, Brandon in Vancouver, Texas. And Byram has really struggled since that cup run with the abs. Yeah. I, I, I couldn't tell you what his game looks like right now. I didn't find it. But like Ladi said,

injuries plays a huge part in that. Well, there's a risk. There's a risk. For sure. Like they're having struggles for sure, which is part of the erratic nature, but he's also had high points as well.

Um, when he first landed in Buffalo, I know it was a short sample size, but they were, it was a great trade because Middlestat looked like he was going to be a good fit and Byram clicked almost instantly. Now it hasn't had the long-term

larger sample size of success that you'd want, but I'm intrigued by it. And mostly, I'm intrigued by the fact that we've got another name on the available defenseman market because I think we talked Rasmus Anderson to death and it's only November 5th.

There's just not a lot out there right now. Now that could also drive the price up on Byram if he is to be available. The lack of options on the market is going to drive everybody's price up. So a few people texting in, well, Byram's a left shot, they need a right shot. Well, you might

not necessarily want to think about it that restrictively. And I know Sat was saying, if they go out and get a top four defenseman, they want a defenseman that can drive his own pair. And that's essentially what you want, right? The Canucks right now, and I say this all the time, you love your defense when you got two pairs that you like. They don't have two pairs that they like right now. They have one pair that they really like, and that's Hughes and Hronik. Now, it has been bandied about. Maybe Hronik goes on to the second pair

and tries to drive a pair by himself, but they haven't gone down that road. And Quinn Hughes wants to play with Hronik. So what if there isn't a right shot defenseman out there and there might not be. So what if they go out and get a left shot defenseman who can drive his own pair? So that means on the right side,

you don't necessarily, like you could have Bowen Byram and Tyler Myers together, Soucy down to the third pair with whoever. Sometimes in these situations, you've got to be a little creative and you're not necessarily going to get lefty-righty, lefty-righty, lefty-righty like you want it. Yeah, I mean, actually a lot of teams don't have it now. Yeah, right?

I mean, so at any rate, listen, I mean, actually a lot of teams don't have it now. Yeah, right? I mean, so at any rate, listen, I think this is a long shot, but Bowen Byram, just because of his ties to Vancouver, having played for the Giants, I think is going to be someone that we're going to watch pretty closely.

Maybe Greg Wyshynski has more on Bowen Byram. Maybe he's put some thought into this. He knows a lot of stuff about hockey. He's going to join us next on the Alfred and Brough Show

on Sportsnet 650.