Halford & Brough in the Morning - Is The Criticism Of Rick Tocchet Warranted?

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they look ahead to tomorrow' Canucks matchup versus the Blackhawks (6:00), they discuss the other top stories from around the NHL (27:00), plus the boys answer some listener questions about Rick Tocchet's performance as Canucks head coach this year, and they hear from Quinn Hughes on his experience playing for Rick. (40:00). 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.

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It is Halford, it is Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Gladdy, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in 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. It is a Friday, we got a lot to get into on a Friday show, although the first hour of this program is going to be all 100% uninterrupted Halbro. That's right, Halford and Brough from 6 till 7. Our first guest joins us at 7 o'clock. AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. A reminder, it is a Friday. That means it's Ask Us Anything Friday and that also means we are giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, the best pizza place in the world. All you gotta do, send in an Ask Us Anything or What We Learned, Dunbar number text line is 650-650.

Do not forget to put a pizza emoji into your text. That will enter you into the contest to win a $100 gift card to AJ's. It's a big giveaway day on the Halford and Brough show as well, by the way. 705, Jesper Sorensen is gonna join the program. The new manager of your Vancouver Whitecaps is gonna join us.

The Whitecaps are back in action yet again on Saturday in Dallas. It will be their fifth match in 13 days. So the new gaffer for the Whitecaps has been very busy to the start of his tenure in Vancouver. We'll talk to him about how much success they've had to start the year. And we'll look ahead to Saturday's match in Dallas as well. 7.30 it's the Moge. Yes, it's the Moge.

Bob the Moge Marjanovic is going to join the program. We's the Moage. Yes, it's the Moage. Bob the Moage Marjanovic is going to join the program. We'll talk Canucks. We'll talk a busy opening week, a free agency in the NFL. You see Sam Darnold did his introductory press conference in Seattle yesterday. And they were like, what happened in the last two games of your season last year? He's like, I sure took a lot of sacks, didn't I? I hope I don't do that in Seattle. And they were like, I sure took a lot of sacks, didn't I? And I hope I don't do that in Seattle. And we were like, yeah, I hope so. Yeah, follow up question. How do you not do that anymore, Sam?

Eight o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. I don't know what we're going to talk to Dolly about. Jason Brough is of course, the resident Dolly handler on the program. What are we going to talk to Rick about today? Stuff. Stuff, nice. Rick is going to join us to talk about stuff

at eight o'clock. This week and its importance, according to Rick is going to join us to talk about stuff at eight o'clock this week and its importance, according to Rick. Yeah. Um, and Besser's struggles and a couple of other updates. Nice. Uh, we've got two giveaways on the show today as well. We're going to be giving away our final four pack

of Monster Truck and Auto Show tickets. So if you want to go see the Monster Trucks, Gravedigger, El Toro Loco, Greg's favorite, Sparkle Smash, Truckasaurus, Truckasaurus, love Sparkle Smash, they're all going to be here on Friday, March 21st. Be caller number seven at eight o'clock this morning, the number 604-280-0650, that number again, 604-280-0650. Caller number seven at eight o'clock this morning will win a four pack of tickets to the Monster Jam on Friday, March 21st.

Now, at 8.15 this morning, we are giving away our final four pack of auto show tickets. That's right, the Vancouver International Auto Show, March 19th to 23rd, so the same weekend as the Monster Trucks last four pack of tickets. That's being given away at 8.15 this morning. Again, be caller number seven at 8.15, the number again 604-280-650. It is our final giveaways of the week, so if you haven't had a chance to call in or you've called in, you haven't won. It's your final opportunity at 8 and 8.15 this

morning. That is 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? Missed it? 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. A reasonably quiet day yesterday in terms of Canucks news. Canucks had a full day off. They did not practice. They'll return to practice today, by the way, 1130 at UBC ahead of tomorrow and Sunday's game, a very busy weekend for the Vancouver Canucks. So not a lot of news, not a lot of things happening with the Vancouver Canucks, but there

was some sort of Canucks adjacent news and that is because Calgary Flames forward Conor Zary was suspended two games yesterday after his illegal hit to the head of Canucks defenseman, DPD. Yeah. So Zary's going to miss for Calgary tonight's game against Colorado and Monday's

game in Toronto. Good. Yeah, good. Which marks the start of Calgary's four game road trip back East against the Rangers, Devils and Islanders. Now, stuff to look for at practice today. We still don't know if DPPD will be ready to play this weekend. Uh, the Canucks were also missing Tyler Myers on Wednesday. And of course, Quinn Hughes isn't a hundred percent. So the blue line is a bit banged up right now. Um, if DPD and Myers aren't ready to go Saturday against Chicago, I guess the Canucks may have to give Abbotsford

a call, but let's wait and see what we see at practice today. Myers and Lekermacky were listed as the scratches against Calgary. So Myers isn't on IR or anything like that. So we'll see if he's back at practice today. Let's talk about some of the scores from last night because the Canucks did get some good news with the St. Louis Blues losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins. So that's good from a standings perspective. The Oilers, man, they continue to sputter The Oilers, man, they continue to sputter with their loss to New Jersey and that might not necessarily be good news for the Canucks but it might be good news for the LA Kings. If the Kings get the Oilers again this year, they might actually, they might actually beat them this year the way the Oilers are going.

And if you go to Sportsnet.ca, Mark Spector has written an article with the headline, McDavid and Dry-Cidal can't save the Oilers alone. So the Oilers are back to being like, we got no depth there, right? Like, and, you know, they, they lost a few players in those offer sheets to St. Louis and they tried to replace them. And I think people thought, well, I'm sure Arvidsson and Skinner are going to be okay for the Oilers and nope, they really haven't been. They added Trent Frederick upfront from the Bruins

ahead of the deadline, but I think Frederick is hurt right now and the team just does not look that great. Dry-Sidle's having a great season from goal scoring and points perspective. I mean, he'sles having a great season from goal scoring and points perspective I mean, he's just having a great season, but McDavid although I think he had to assist last night against New Jersey like he's For McDavid for McDavid. He's not having an a-plus season. Yep And then you're looking at the rest of the lineup and you're like, okay Who who's gonna step up here?

And I'm not sure what the answer is. So the takeaway from spec in that article you mentioned was Chris Knobloch has gone where all Oilers coaches go, eventually, playing 97 to 29, that of course is McDavid and Dreisle all night while everyone else sits and watches. It hasn't worked, it won't work, and it isn't working. And it's funny after the run that the Oilers made last year, getting as close as you can to winning the Stanley Cup without winning the Stanley Cup, although I suppose game seven could have gone to overtime. The moves that they made have definitely seen them take a step back, which has to be incredibly

frustrating. I think this is all compounded by the fact that the moves going into the deadline, at least as far as the reception that I'm getting from a lot of like Oilers fans and social media and their actual media that covers the team, is that it wasn't nearly enough to make up for the gaffs that Bowman and Jackson had in the off season. And that was, as you mentioned,

letting those guys go to St. Louis, Holloway and Bro Broberg and then replacing them with Jeff Skinner who's been a miss Victor Robertson who's been a miss here's the other thing they've had regressions from guys on the roster that they counted on big time last year I think the two guys in particular that have really cost them that they expected a little bit more from this year Evan Bouchard and Stuart Skinner. Bouchard is gonna tear Oilers Twitter apart. Bouchard and Stuart Skinner. Bouchard is gonna tear Euler's Twitter apart. Bouchard's had it, I mean. He's a polarizing player.

But he was relied upon so much last year, like at times last year, he was in the conversation with McDavid and Dreisel as being one of the most important guys on this team. I mean, he was terrific against the Canucks. We don't, it's like, it's okay to admit that. When that narrative came up that he outplayed Quinn Hughes in that series, I was like, it's okay to admit that. When that narrative came up that, uh, that he outplayed Quinn Hughes in that series, it was,

I was like, yeah, he did. Yeah. I mean, he's not a better player than Quinn Hughes, but he was terrific in that series. Stuart Skinner last night, 18 saves, but again, in the third period, uh, stopped just four of the six shots that he faced and he's once again coming under fire.

Here's the interesting thing about Skinner. I watched bits and pieces of that game last night. He makes really high end difficult saves. He had a save on Holla on a two on one that was brilliant, like super great athleticism getting across his crease. But then some of the goals that he lets in, and we saw this in the Vancouver series last year, they just seem to deflate the team in front of him

and they happen with way too much regularity. I feel bad for Skinner at times because he seems like a genuinely good dude. And it's not like I want anything good to happen to any of the Edmonton Oilers, but it just feels like the weight, there's so much weight on his shoulders because there's so many high expectations for this team.

And laddies, you're nodding along here. Is my goalie analysis okay? Yeah, well, it's the finer details of his game where he struggles, right? And that's kind of the difference. Is that important in goaltending? It is. Well, it's the finer It's the finer details of his game where he struggles right and that's kind of the different goal tending it is well It's kind of the difference between him and a guy like that's your Demko where you know on his post even for a bigger goalie You don't see those squeakers that go through all the time But with Skinner you're getting them constantly and it just totally ruins his consistency and you at least to the frustration you're seeing from Vegas this season has been clearly the class of the Pacific Division.

And if you look at the standings, you might be like, what are you talking about? There's six points difference between Vegas and LA and seven point difference between Vegas and Edmonton. Look at the goal differential, Vegas plus 42, the Kings are plus 15 and the Oilers are plus 17. The Oilers really not had a very good season. No, I-

Based on expectations that they came in with. Yeah, like they're gonna get in, they're gonna be a playoff team. It's not that, it's that what's gonna happen come playoff time, because they don't look like a better version of the team that went to the Stanley Cup final last year. By the way, on the-

I mean, they still could, they're still, when you've got McDavid and Dreisaitl and you're hoping for something from the rest of the guys, I mean, you've got a chance, but right now, and you know, it's getting down to it, right? There's not many games and we're in March, the playoffs start in April, so it's not like they've got forever to get going So it's not like they've got forever to get going.

And it's not like they have the trade deadline to help them out because that's already done. Okay. So a quick note on the St. Louis Blues, who as Jason mentioned, suffered a really damaging loss last night in regulation to Pittsburgh. So that leaves them on 69 points, which yes, is

incredibly nice, but they basically played two more games than all the other teams that they're conceivably chasing. One or two more games. It's not looking good for the Blues. Here's something to keep an eye on. In that game yesterday, Jordan Bennington was pulled, non-injury related, because I checked,

in the third period of a 4-2 game. So with the game still hanging in the balance and late in the game, Bennington gets pulled with 7-15 left in the third period because the goals that he were letting in, and I went back and watched a bunch of them, not exactly high caliber goals. And there wasn't a lot of post-game reaction

from either Jim Montgomery or Bennington himself, but keep an eye on that moving forward, because the Blues are teetering right now on falling out of this thing. I got a feeling like a couple more losses like the one they had last night. Do you ever follow the Deserve to Win-O-Meter? Have you ever seen that one that goes around?

Yeah, so yesterday, the Blues badly outshot and badly outplayed Pittsburgh. Their Deserve to Win-O-Meter was 91.9% and they lost that game badly out played Pittsburgh. Their deserve to win-o meter was 91.9% and they lost that game in regulation to Pittsburgh. So you might see them fall out. By the way, speaking of the other- That's usually a sign of bad goal-tuning. Yeah, it was not a good night for Bennington

and he got yanked in a game that was still very much hanging in the balance. So there's something to keep an eye on moving forward. Eight-Ugs are gonna be like, I knew it. Well, well, well. It all comes back, eh? Oh, it comes back to Roost for Jordan Bennington. He had that, he did have.

All these jokes and the big moments. Except the biggest moment. Where he actually came up with the- Except the biggest moments in hockey. So tonight, of course, you've got a lot of scoreboard watching to do, Canucks fans. It is actually a relatively busy Friday in the National Hockey League.

Six games on tap, and you're gonna need to pay attention to the Flames. Six o'clock start as they host the Avalanche and then an hour later in Seattle, Utah is playing the Krakens. So you've got two games tonight, very pivotal ahead of this weekend double header back, excuse me, back to back for the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, I've got an early Ask Us Anything. Okay. And this one's for the listeners as well. Okay. The listeners that listen to the station. The listeners that listen. The whole day. Okay.

Okay. We all know how much Drantz talks about Utah. Yep. This is a tough Ask Us Anything actually, very tough. Okay, hold on, let me sell it in. And I think a lot of people based on the Dunbar Lumber Text Line are getting a little tired of hearing how much Drantz loves this Utah hockey club, how he raves about them. Here's my ask is anything.

If the Canucks miss the playoffs, they're missing. So it's down to two teams because St. Louis is, as we just discussed, maybe not part of this. Who would you rather see make it? Would you rather see Utah make it and Drantz gets to crow about it and say I told you so with Utah or the Calgary Flames make it and then the Flames have made it? Okay so that's a tough one isn't it? I would you rather see Drantz be right or the Calgary Flames make the playoffs over the Canucks right away My first thought was Utah because regardless of Drance and his comeuppance or non comeuppance it's

You're trained as a Canucks fan to inherently cheer against Calgary. You don't want anything good to happen to Calgary, especially when you're missing I Here's the thing whoever gets that second and final wild card spot is probably taking on the Winnipeg Jets in the first round, right? So my mind automatically went to which of the two has a better chance of upsetting the Jets? I don't think either of them have a great chance at it, but I think Utah might be a little bit better suited to it.

I'm gonna lie, watching Calgary the other night, I saw some real inherent flaws in that team that makes me think like they are a plucky, feel-good regular season team, but if they got to the playoffs, they would have a real tough time like running UGG. I'd love to see a Calgary Winnipeg series though. I'd rather see,

do you think it would be for nostalgia's sake? Yeah, for nostalgia's sake. I don't think it would be especially close. Yeah, Calgary matches up terrible with them. Old school Prairie battle, and we wouldn't have to say Drance being right. Yeah. I mean, I understand the Drance part.

Yeah, and I don't think Calgary would have any chance against Winnipeg. It'd be hilarious if they upset the Jets, but I don't think it would happen. It would be an amazing story if Dustin Wolf got it. But I don't really want to see Utah in the playoffs. Can Andrantz be right? Having watched Utah a few times this year,

I don't mind the way that they play. They play with a lot of energy. They've got some good young players, right? Keller's been very good this year. Gunther, obviously, and Cooley. But I have no personal affinity for Utah. Like they're just the zombie coyote still to me. There's a lot of people really struggling here.

Blake the sometimes welder is like, oh geez, that's a tough one. Yeah. Three put Shane. I'd love Utah to make it, but I can't remember what, I don't always see it here. He doesn't. But Drancer isn't allowed to brag about it. That's impossible. That's impossible. That would be like me not being able to brag something about something that I was right about.

Well, I mean, when we look ahead to the weekend, the Canucks obviously have two games back to back, Saturday, Sunday, and Utah is going to be the second of those two. That's the big game of the weekend. Like all due respect to the return of Connor Bedard and Chicago on Saturday. That game on Sunday against Utah is going to be probably played at a similar fever pitch to the one on Wednesday in Calgary.

Um, Tatiana in Langley, I think this is, this is the best one. Okay. If Utah makes it, I don't think I can listen to the station anymore with all the gloating that will go on. If Calgary makes it, at least I can tell myself it was all Dustin Wolf. I kind of like that. Yep.

Because you're not totally unhappy for Dustin Wolf. That would be a terrific season for a rookie and going forward, if the flames turn into a contender, we can all start hating Dustin Wolf. I feel like it's a pretty dark day for Canucks fandom when we're in any way, shape or form rooting for Calgary to make the playoffs. Let's be clear. It would be a dark day for the world if we were cheering for Drance to be right. That seems bigger picture to me.

How, where in your- I mean, I mean transfers put himself out there, right? Like he's like he's like he's he said like you toss this great team and he goes on and on about it I'm like dude, they're not even in the playoffs yet. So 500 record at home, you know, like How great can they be? How can you make the playoffs with a 500 record at home turns his attention to the Vancouver Canucks? Oh record the Canucks home record. By the way, where's your confidence index right now? March 14th, 2025, 65 games played, 17 left in the regular season that the Canucks are going to scratch and claw and get in to this thing. I think they're more than likely to miss. But if Elias Pedersen can continue on his play and continue on his improvement, then I think they've got a pretty good chance of making it.

So who do you- He's kind of the lynchman for me. Because I still think that my gut- Yes, I'm going to put it all on Petey, believe it or not. Yeah, no, that's fine. Well, I would put it on Quinn Hughes too, but- Yes, and him being healthy. My gut tells me that of the three teams that are left, Calgary, Vancouver, and Utah, Vancouver still has the best team, lowercase whispering,

because they've got Quinn Hughes and the other two teams don't. And I think he's the best player collectively of the three. I still think that they are probably, by the smallest percentage chances in my mind, the most likely of the three to get that second wild card spot, I'm just having a hard time trying to convince myself why it would be Calgary or Utah if that makes any sense. And I don't know if this is like my partisanship.

Calgary for goaltending and Utah because they're playing better hockey. Utah's playing better hockey I think in a visual sense, but there's not a lot of statistical stuff that makes you. How else do you judge a hockey team by an audio sense, or how they sound, or smell? Wins, wins usually, wins. Well, it's not like the Canucks are knocking it out of the park in the wings department. But Utah has less wins than Calgary and Vancouver.

And a very important part of playing hockey and winning games is scoring goals, and Utah does that better than Vancouver and Calgary, especially lately. How many goals do you think Utah has this year? I don't know. 185. The Canucks have 178. Yeah, but it's more about how they are recently.

When was the last time the Canucks scored four goals in a game? I know they were credited with a 4-3 win over Calgary, but that's the shootout, right? Those count. No, they don't. No, they don't. No, they don't. That was an offensive explosion on Wednesday night, just so we're clear. And the other thing I would take,

I would put Calgary clearly in the has the best goaltending department, because right now we don't know what's gonna happen. We hadn't asked us anything in the text inbox, and let me just bring it up here. It was, um, the Canucks, this is from Tyler, the Pepper guy, the Canucks have 17 games left. Do you think Lankan and plays all 17 remaining? No, I don't.

No, but. I don't think that's going to happen, but I think it's going to be close. I actually started thinking about it. I was like, you know, Drantz might be right about one thing that we had him on. And he was like, you know, Drantz might be right about one thing that we had him on. He's like, he kind of correct me if I'm wrong here, but he kind of leaned towards, I think Seelove's is going to get the start on Saturday, tomorrow against Chicago.

I also think that. And I think he might be right just because of what's coming up after that. There is, of course, I'm not just talking about in the vacuum of the back to backs because we've seen that the Conuxt are willing to play Lankton in back to backs, but I think they'll want him fresh as possible for the game Sunday against Utah and then it gets harder after that. Arthur Silov is one six and one this year, but do

you know who his one win came against? Was it Chicago? On a Saturday night in Vancouver. Chicago is in such a bad way. They lost to San Jose last night and I think Bedard got a penalty for chirping at the refs. He got a 10 minute misconduct for abusive officials. Although it seems super weak.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I watched the replay of them. But I'm sure the refs were like, shut up rookie. He's like, well, actually my room was a rookie last year. But like just things are not going well for that team. And you know, if, if the Canucks give C-Labs a start and like I just, there's a massive jinx, but. Oh God.

If like, I don't see how they would play well against Chicago, and even if Sealovs isn't very good, still beat the Blackhawks. Chicago scored four goals in their last three games. I think what you're hoping is that you throw Sealovs in, you go up against a team that's on a Western road swing that doesn't have a lot of punch, you go with the fact that his one really good performance this year did come against Chicago and you hope for the best and then you load up and try and keep something in the tank for Sunday.

Look at the Chicago team. Well, they're not very good. Who is Landon Slaggart? He's one of those young stars that we were talking about earlier. Andy's favorite player, Landon Slaggart. Yeah, he was the focal point of the giveaway. He's what everyone's going to see. I Yeah, he was the focal point of the giveaway.

He's what everyone's going to see. I mean, they had, they had a very slight uptick at the beginning of March where I think it went three-oh-one in their first four games in March. And it looked like after the Seth Jones trade, that maybe some good vibes had returned to the room. Cause we talked about that yesterday, Nick Fully, you know, and a couple other players talking about how the big distraction had finally

been moved along, but they've kind of gone right back to being the Chicago Blackhawks that we've seen throughout this season. And you know, we've talked about this a lot on this show, especially yesterday. How little buzz there is about them coming into town on Saturday. A Saturday night game in March as we get down to the final few weeks of the NHL regular season, you get Connor Bedard's return. And there's just been, it's been very un-buzz-worthy. down to the final few weeks of the NHL regular season, you get Connor Bedard's return and there's just been, it's been very un-buzz-worthy and that's got a lot to do with the fact that the Chicago Blackhawks are a very, very bad hockey team. Who is your favorite Blackhawk guys?

Is it Landon Slaggard? Mm-hmm, he's one of them. Is it Wyatt Kaiser? I love Wyatt Kaiser. Or is it Ethan Del Mastro? I do like Ethan Del Mastro as well. Is that his name? Like Ethan Del Maestro Mastro? I do like Ethan Del Mastro as well. Is that his name? Like Ethan Del Maestro?

Mastro? Del Maestro. Del Maestro. Del Mastro. I'll tell you what, we can continue to go through the Chicago Blackhawks roster on the other side of the break. Also, get your What We Learns and Ask Us Anything in Dunbar Number text line at 650-650.

It's a pretty busy show for the final two hours of the program, so we might not have the time to get to a bunch of them. So if you want to be on the radio, get them in now and we can do some on the other side. Before we go to break, I do need to tell you about CIBC. Smart Everyday Banking helps you get, helps you easily track your spending with confidence. Get $450 when you make the switch to CIBC.

Visit cibc.com forward slash smart for more. You are listening to the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post game show. Listen four to 6 PM weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6 33 on a Friday. Happy Friday everybody. It's a Fiesta Friday here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by

Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are still 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 1170 Palo St in Vancouver, so I'm just looking at the box score from Chicago and San Jose last night. Yeah, I watched it. Okay. I've scored again. That's 15 So he is back ahead of

Mikheyev scored again. That's 15. So he is back ahead of Ilyas Pettersson in the goal scoring race. PDS 14. He's getting hot. So man, it's coming down the stretch between Mikheyev and Pettersson. You can't stop Ilya Mikheyev. You can only hope to slow him down. It's actually not a bad year for him. Yeah, it's a good year for him. That was another guy. I know that it didn't work out in Vancouver, but you got to remember, he did play like half a season on a torn ACL, then had surgery and then had a hard time coming back from that. Then he was dumped off to Chicago.

So I felt, I mean, I did feel bad for him at times. I don't think it was ever for like a lack of want or try. Although that. Or care, like he did care. That being said. He played on that, he played on that injury. Maybe he shouldn't have,

and maybe the connection have said, hey, don't do this, but he wanted to do it. And that being said, the lack of finish was borderline alarming. It was shocking. It's actually crazy that he's able to come back in the net 15 times. But that was the scouting report on him when he came in.

Yep. Right? I remember when. I don't think it was that dire though. It was. Maybe not a finisher. No, it was. It was because I remember when- I don't think it was that dire though. It was. Maybe not a finisher. No, it was. It was because I remember talking to some Toronto guys, cause I was watching Mikheyev

pre-injury obviously when he was in Toronto. I was like, this guy's a rocket ship out there. This is one of the greatest skaters I've ever seen in my life. And why is he, and I remember thinking, why is he in the top six in Toronto? And a few people in Toronto said, watch him on a breakaway. It's the hands of the stone.

I was like, ah, okay. So speaking of teams based in Ontario, pivoting from Toronto to Ottawa, one of the hottest teams in the National Hockey League, the Ottawa Senators won their fifth straight game last night, 6-3 over the Boston Bruins. That gives them a pretty comfortable edge now for the first wild card in the East. Ottawa, of course, the owners of the dubious distinction

of having Canada's longest playoff drought. I don't wanna say that they're gonna get there, but the odds are looking overwhelmingly like they will. And you know what? I know we've been at times critical of Brady and Matthew Kachuck for their robust personalities and the fact that they've never met a television camera that they don't love and all that stuff.

But I'll say this, as far as leaders go, and as far as pacing the teams that they play for and being the emotional heartbeat of their teams, it's hard to find two guys that do it better than those two guys. What Brady Kachek is doing for the senators right now is dragging them into the playoffs. He has been, and I know other guys are doing the business in Ottawa right now. I know Almark had an unbelievable save against the Bruins last night. Almark's been fantastic.

They're getting good performances across the board. I think you're selling that save short, bro. The one against, that was the save of the year candidate. If you haven't seen it yet, you need to see the save. And it was like a soccer goalie. Yeah, honestly. Diving across the goal. And he only had to make 22 saves last night.

I think the win prior, he had to make 48. So he's been on top of his game. And there's a lot of guys, but let's be real here. There's the narrative in Ottawa is we haven't been to the playoffs in damn near a decade. We wanna get back desperately. And the guy that wants to get there, Brady Kachuk, our captain, also has this personal angle

where he's watched his brother win a Stanley Cup and carry a team that hasn't had a lot of postseason success to the heights of, you know, hoisting the mug and all that. So. What do you think Josh Norris is thinking right now? Why did you send me to Buffalo? Why?

I could have stayed here and had fun with my friends. Could have gone to Calgary with, or Vancouver with my buddy, with my buddy, Quinn Hughes. That trade gave him a spark. That did, that trade gave them a spark, Ottawa I'm talking about, gave them a spark for sure. Cause cousins has come in and been invigorated for sure, yes.

For Norris, the spark has died. Yeah, it's gone. It was snuffed out. Now you saw a little spark in his eyes and they just went. What happened to that twinkle Josh? It died. It's not a good, it's not a good situation

in Buffalo. Great situation for Ottawa though. So Ottawa, I'm not saying they're a sure thing, but they've got a five point playoff cushion right now. Columbus had a tough game against Vegas last night. They got shut out four nothing. So that was a bad result for them combined with the New York Rangers.

Wheels are kind of starting to fall off Columbus a little bit. That's two losses in a row. Look at their goals again. They've allowed 21 goals in their last five games. Like they've gotten really leaky at a really bad time. So Ottawa is pretty much, again, they haven't clinched anything yet.

They got 17 games left, five point cushion. Let's just put it this way. If they don't make the playoffs, yikes. That final spot, wide open though. Yep. Columbus at 70 points, New York Rangers at 70 points. Columbus does have a game in hand. So only 16 games left in the season for the Rangers, 17 for Columbus, also 17 for

Montreal. They have 69 points. One point back of the Rangers and the Blue Jackets. And then I guess you could say that Detroit with 68 points, 17 games left is still in it. Boston, it's going to be real tough. Boston's played too many games. Yeah, they've only got 15 games left in their season, and they're two points out of a playoff spot.

Everyone else is pretty much out of it. So that race is going to be really interesting. It does look like Ottawa's got it, but then it's between the Blue Jackets, Rangers, Habs and Red Wings, maybe the Bruins. Here's the thing. Probably not though. Of that group of teams, would everyone agree with me,

Columbus, New York, Montreal, Detroit, Boston, the Rangers are, I don't wanna say significantly, but like they're definitely the best team of the bunch. I think Columbus has played overall good hockey this year. But you would take the Rangers roster over the Columbus roster, probably in a heartbeat with the goal attending to the defensemen, to the

forwards. Like. I think so, but although I think that the Rangers roster is more like they've done it before. Yeah. So you give them that benefit of the doubt, but they're also, they're also, maybe some of them are starting to age out a little bit.

Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like Columbus, Columbus has that youth. But I don't know if you, I don't know if that youth is an advantage at this point in the season or a disadvantage. You, you might be able to say, well, the Rangers have the experience to get in.

Um, you know, I think if I were to bet on a team making, make it in between Columbus, New York and Montreal, I'd probably put my money on the Rangers just because they have been there before and they have battled back from a pretty serious deficit in the standings. So I'd probably put my money on the Rangers, but you know, I wouldn't be shocked if Columbus makes it in the way they've been playing this year.

I think I'd be shocked if Montreal made it. I would too. It would feel like it was a little early for that group. Although that being said, I mean, I remember watching them against Vancouver the Tuesday night game, which was a 4-2 win for Montreal. They do have really great counter punching ability. One of the better counter punching teams that I've seen come through this year where because they've got such high end talent, unless we were like, when you have a guy

like Caulfield, he needs like a half chance to put the puck in the back of the net. To have, when you have those guys, you can hang around in games where you're either getting out shot or territorially, you don't have a lot of great A's because Suzuki and Caulfield and Slavkovsky too, they really can make things happen with not a ton of shots.

I'll be interested on that one. Okay, I do wanna dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket here. 650, 650 is the number. It's Ask Us Anything Friday. If you wanna get your Xan, don't forget to put a pizza emoji into the text, hashtag it A-U-A or W-W-L, but the pizza emoji into the text hashtag at AUA or WWL,

but the pizza emoji will put you in the contest for the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Unsigned text, so it must be from Gary, and Gary, I don't know if it was intentional or if you had a glitch on your phone, but he texted this in about 60 times. Asks the question, ask us anything. Can you guys make an argument against the quote unquote,

Tauket is a dinosaur coach, end quote narrative? I personally don't believe he is, but I'd like to hear it from someone smarter than me. How about we hear it from someone smarter in a hockey sense than all of us? I wanna play some audio from Quinn Hughes. Now, to be fair, Quinn Hughes is talking about Rick Tauket and Adam Foote in this clip.

But this was Quinn Hughes from a couple weeks ago talking to the TNT broadcast, Biz, Ace, hey Quinn, it's Ace, he was talking to all of them after the game. And they asked him a follow-up question what he said about Adam Foote being the best defensive coach he's ever had. And then he kind of extrapolated it.

Talking about this coaching staff. So here is the most important player on the Vancouver Canucks, their best player and their captain, Quinn Hughes, talking about the Canucks coaching staff. There's a lot of coaches out there that, you know, scream and yell and they want to, you know, bully their players, intimidate their players. And this is a guy that I would say coaches his defenseman,

coaches his players like he'd want his kids coached. And then on top of that with all the experience he has and, you know, Rick said it before, he doesn't think of himself as a coach. He thinks of himself as a teacher and he's teaching us and footy and Rick's job is to win games, but also it's to make everyone a better player. And, you know, you want to be a better player in March than you were September and then hopefully a better team as well and I think it's not just process you know results based wins and losses it's trying to make you know people better people better players and you know over the course of my three

years with these guys my games kind of taken off here and that's a big part of big part to them, so yeah. So I understand that I'm cherry picking a little bit here because we're talking more about the technique of actual coaching, like motivation and teaching and not being an old school. But that's a new school approach. Right, so there's-

Like no one was saying that about Mike Keenan. So that very much pushes back against the dinosaur label. I know a lot of people are referring to talking as a dinosaur coach in terms of X's and O's, deployment, strategy, the way that the connects play the game. I've long pushed back against that. I don't think we need to reiterate that. I think that that clip,

and the reason that I keep bringing it up, is very important because one of the things that Hughes, and that's not the reason that I keep bringing it up is very important because one of the things that Hughes, and that's not the first time he's mentioned it, Hughes has talked about his game elevating to a new level in the National Hockey League, under-talk it, and then to a lesser degree foot because foot's relatively new. But he's talking about jumping from being a good young defenseman to a good defenseman to being the best defenseman in the NHL, which is what he was last year. Having individual player progress and growth and improvement in the National Hockey League is tough.

It is really tough because you're not quite a finished product, but you fall into a role and you discover what you are and you play your particular game. And sometimes coaches either need to poke or prod or be innovative to find new wrinkles, new ways to attack the game, all those sorts of things. For the Canucks captain and their best player, one of the best players in the NHL to speak so glowingly about not just the coach, but the progressive way

that the coach handles his business, I think that should put to bed the dinosaur narrative. That's just me speaking though, dear Texter. That's just me. Tim, I agree with you. I was really frustrated with some people who were pushing back when Toc said that you got to earn your ice time. I'm like, how can you push back on that? You got to earn your ice time. Just this whole thing of just like, well, just throw them out there Just throw them out there in the game like it's that wasn't a one game thing either that was that was building up So I was building up like they like they had shown loyalty to those those players and then Eventually, you just get to a point where you're like

Well, I'm not gonna just keep throwing you out over the boards because you're the highest paid players or the highest paid forwards. Like you have to go do something with that. There was a loyalty to the best players up front and they weren't doing anything with that loyalty. They didn't deserve that loyalty. So Talk said, okay, well, we're going to play some other guys that are going to buy in. And it's not like he did it in the last game of the regular season. He did it ahead of a very important stretch drive. And hasn't worked for Brock Besser so far, but maybe it's worked a

little bit for Pedersen. And Pedersen himself, according to Talk, it said, you know, came up to him after a game once and said, sometimes I need a kick in the butt. All players do. So in terms of the deployment thing and there, there were, I saw some pushback, especially from the advanced metric crowd about the Montreal game in particular, we're talking, went up to the podium afterwards and said, you know, their best line, their top line, they dominated. We didn't have an answer for them. And some people did break down the hard matching

and how the Pedersen line didn't get that Suzuki line match up, even though in a small sample size, the metrics bore out that they were doing pretty well and had a pretty decent shot advantage in a territory. Yeah, it sounds like talk had got them some great advantages and they didn't take advantage of them. Right, and I've got time, look, I've got time for deployment conversations

and when guys are being used and how guys are in their ice. And I think that was kind of on the heels of what you were talking about, is that there's definitely- It's what you do at home. You try and get the matchups. Yeah. What they were saying is that he had a good matchup with the Pedersen line and didn't utilize it as much

as he should have. That I think it only ended up being like six minutes against the Suzuki Cardinals. No, no, no. But like they had, the advanced metrics showed that the Pedersen line had more chances than the other, right? Yeah. Okay.

So Takeda did his job of getting that matchup and that line didn't score. Right. It was that the line wasn't out there enough against them, that there was other lines that played against that Montreal. No, I really, you know what I'm saying though. Right?

Yeah, no, I know. I'm saying that at home, you try and find the matchups and the Suzuki line was out against the Pedersen line right from the start and they scored like 20 seconds into the game when, when Besser gave it up. So are you surprised that he went away from that? Right.

And that was the goal that he was talking about. Yeah. He's like, yeah, oh, we'll go back to that. Works so well in the first shift. Yeah. And so, no, but I, so anyway, there's a long, long, long way of answering a singular ask us anything, but I mean, again, the only reason I

push back on it as aggressively as I do is I genuinely believe this. Like this isn't me stumping for a head coach because I have some sort of personal affinity for him or connection to him. I think he's done a really good job. I think he's a really good head coach. I think that roster construction and individual players

on this team have let them down more than coaching has this year. End of conversation. Let's move on to another Ask Us Anything or What We Learned or What Have You. Reminder Dunbar Lumbertex line is 650, 650. Tim in South Surrey asked us everything. Do you think the Canucks will address team toughness

or get a bodyguard for Quinn Hughes next season? Because after seeing what he went through against Calgary, why would he want to stay here? I don't think it's a bad idea. Okay. I want to differentiate between address team toughness or get a bodyguard. Sure. No to the bodyguard.

Now I will say that Jim Rutherford was the guy that gave up quite a bit to get Ryan Reeves into Pittsburgh, gave up a first round pick, right? Yep. I mean it was a while ago, but he did do it. It was a while ago. Yeah. Okay. Address team toughness is something that I would absolutely do

in the off season, especially up front. Now, that's going to be easier said than done because I actually think most of the team toughness that needs to be addressed is actually in the top six. And yes, you're allowed to have team toughness in the top six. You know what I'm really curious about? What's that? Would they make a play for Sam Bennett?

Yeah, they should. I think there's going to be teams lined up to get them though. Well, that's an, and, and, and is he going to get wildly overpaid? Yes. And once he's out of that Florida wagon, is he going to be deserving of the contract that he gets? You run that risk, but you have to just go on

his body of work. I would, here's the thing. This is, this is. Maybe not necessarily, maybe not necessarily Sam Bennett, but maybe the next Sam Bennett, which we always talk about. Yeah. You know, don't sign Jay Beagle,

sign the next Jay Beagle. Well, maybe they were hoping that Drew O'Connor was going to be that guy, right? Like that, that sort of thing. The problem with Drew O'Connor, and you can see it based on his, on his stats, I mean, he doesn't have an extensive NHL career, but this guy's not a goal scorer, and you can see it. What the Canucks need, and again, this is really easier said than done, is to have that

type of big strong guy that can play. I don't know how you get that because teams typically hold on to that. Yeah. Oh, Connor, it's been a rough last couple of games and his ice time has reflected that. I'm not exactly sure. Um, if the, if they needed to rush to sign him to an extension after two games as a Vancouver connect, I think it was, I don't think it's going to end up being a big piece of business either way. Speaking of a big piece of business though, Laddie, our noted goalie guru here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650,

always got his ear to the ground when it comes to goalie news. You've got some pretty interesting goalie news out of Las Vegas. Well yeah, the Golden Knights just went out and tweeted it. They extended Aiden Hill. Six year extension, 6.25 per year. And they're doing this on the heels

of a 27 save shutout last night. That put it over the top, eh? I wonder if they wait, like a PR opportunity to put out these extensions. They probably had it agreed to for a while, and then we'll wait till you get a shutout, Aidan, and then we'll announce the rest of it. So Aidan Hill's gonna be 29 this year.

Or they hung it over his head for it to be signed. Yeah. The six year contract. Yeah. We're gonna need a shutout. Aidan Hill's gonna be 29 in year. Or they hung it over his head for it to be signed. The six year contract. We're gonna need a shout out. Aidan Hill's gonna be 29 in May. Was unable to usurp Jordan Binnington as a member of team Canada at the Four Nations face off.

His numbers this year are fine by the current metrics of the day. Usually a 906 safe percentage. Started a bit slow and he's gotten slowly better. But I guess this kind of, cause they've been doing the sort of rotating, they had Thompson there for a while, like Samsonoff's played a bit this year.

I know Hill's been their guy, but I mean, one of the stories in Vegas, really since their inception, has been drama in that, right? I remember when they replaced Flurry with Robin Laner and then all the Robin Laner situations. Drama that they created themselves. Yes, this kind of solidifies things for Vegas. And six years of term for a 29-year-old guy,

that's a lot for a goalie. That's the trend these days, though, give goalies term. That's probably the exact opposite advice that I would give to general managers, but hey, it seems to be the trend. Yeah, back to the whole team toughness thing. Sorry, laddie, that's the aid and help.

No, I wanted to get that in there. Greg and Ladd Wass Watson texted in and said, do we even have a chance to sign a free agent if Sam Bennett, of Sam Bennett quality, not being in a tax-free state? That seems to be a pretty big factor these days. I think we are stuck in the next category down, the DeBrusk category.

Yeah, I mean, the tax-free thing is a big deal and playing in warmer climates for some people is a big deal. Sam Bennett may want to stay down in the States where his career has taken off. He's already had the Canada experience and it did not go particularly well for him in Calgary. So maybe he wants, you know, maybe Florida finds a way to keep this guy.

I don't know how I've looked at their cap situation, but the cap is going up. Maybe they find a way to keep him. Yeah, see that's the problem with kind of like pinning your hopes to free agency. It's like, you might not get the guy. You know, I was watching John Schneider, the GM of

the Seahawks yesterday, and they were basically asking him like, what happened with Gino Smith? And he was like, well, we want to talk contract with him and it became clear quite quickly that we weren't going to be able to agree on a number. So we traded him and then we had a list of guys and fortunately for us, we were able to get number one on our list and it was Sam Darnold and we'll see how that goes.

Now the Seahawks got their guy, but there are some teams in the NFL right now that have not got their guy, right? And the Seahawks with their offensive line did not get their guy in Wilfries. And now they're looking at their offensive line and going like, oh, we actually haven't, we haven't addressed this and John Schneider said like, this is a problem. You know, this is why relying on free agency in

any sport, but let's keep it to the NHL is really a tough way to do business. Yeah. You can't rely on it. A lot of times you have to overpay. A lot of the time you don't get your guys, so sometimes you have to go to a secondary guy. And John Schneider said, the answer is definitely

not to throw around a bunch of money on guys that are not Wilfries, but are kind of like, they're offensive linemen, but just because we have this money allocated to offensive linemen, doesn't mean we just give it to anyone. And I think about that time when the Canucks went after Luchic, which they shouldn't have done anyway. But then we were like, well, we got all this money, here you go, Louis Erickson. Right? Like Luchic was the guy they wanted and they ended up giving it to Erickson, who was a

good player at the time, but we all know how that worked out. At the end of the day, the teams that do well in the NHL are, you have to do well in all facets. Sure. Yes, you have to make some good free agency pickups, but you look at the Florida Panthers, like getting Sam Bennett, getting Gustav Forsling. These guys did not have a lot of value when they got them. And that was the important part. And yeah, drafting Barkov was important,

and drafting Ekblad was important, and making a good trade to get Matthew Kachuk. You have to do it all. You just cannot rely on simply free agency. And unfortunately, for the Canucks, you're looking at it and you're going, okay, well, how are they going to trade their way out of this? And we all know that they don't have a ton coming in terms of the draft and they have traded away a lot of draft picks over the last few years. Trade more draft picks, baby. Right? So you just end up kicking the can down the road on a problem. And eventually, you're robbing Peter to pay Paul,

which we saw to address the defense. They did that. And now you're looking at a forward group and going, oh, how are we going to fix this? So it's tough. But in my opinion, it all starts with focusing on being the best drafting team you can be. We got a lot more to get to on the Haliford and Bref show

on Sportsnet 650. Hour one in the books coming up. We're going to talk to AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Get your Ask Us Anythings in for a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Also first time on the program, very excited to talk to him, Jesper Sorensen, manager of the Vancouver Whitecaps. Whitecaps are off to a great start this season. They've got a game on Saturday in Dallas to keep the good times rolling.

You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.