Halford & Brough in the Morning - JT Miller With The Dagger

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports (3:00), they talk a soul-crushing Saturday Canucks road loss to the Rangers (6:00), plus the boys look elsewhere around the NHL and do some out-of-town scoreboard watching in regards to how it has affected the 'Nucks playoff chances (27:00). 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.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun Dying goal in the McGinn. Here's Hughes down the right wing, behind the range, a goal! Tried a center, he passed. Blocked at the side of the net. Cleared all the way down the ice and into the empty net. It is stressful every game, but I'm also proud of the team that were playing hard here. I said, who wants the ball? And he said, give me the MF ball. And I said, all right! It's been a real battle.

We've battled and just love him. I mean, just love him. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. It is Alfred, it is Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason good morning. Good morning. Adog good morning to you. Good morning. Gladdy good morning to you as well. Hello hello. Alfred and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler, pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are

in hour one of the program. Hour one 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 coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics, we're working together with you and staff. Kintec. Hi everybody, welcome back to me. It's great to be here.

You've got a lot of energy. This is what a week off does. I slept a lot. I slept a lot. Yeah, you've got a ton of energy and I like it because we're going to need that energy today to talk about the Vancouver Canucks. I don't know. I find it kind of annoying. I watched so much sports over the last 96 hours, so much sports.

I'm excited to talk about them all except maybe the Vancouver Canucks. We will get to that though. Seven o'clock. Our first guest is going to join the program today. Ian McIntyre from the road. The Canucks are on the road. This Eastern swing. They're in New Jersey. The game is tonight 4 30 puck drop from the road, the Canucks are on the road, this Eastern swing, they're in New Jersey. The game is tonight, 430 puck drop from the Prudential Center. It's an Amazon game tonight. We'll talk to iMac about everything that went on Saturday

at MSG against the New York Rangers, although we're gonna cover the majority of that in what happened. We'll also look ahead to tonight's game. Ian McIntyre is gonna join us from the road seven o'clock this morning on the Haliford and Brough shows. 730, we're gonna preview tonight's game from the New Jersey side of things with James Nichols. He is the beat reporter for New Jersey Hockey Now. We'll get a look at tonight's

opponent, the Devils, sputtering a little bit having lost last two and three of their last four. Also Sheldon Keefe got angry over the weekend and he went viral with some remarks about a depth defenseman, a depth defenseman for the New Jersey Devils. So we'll talk to James Nichols about all that at 730 preview tonight's game and then at 8 o'clock yeah we're going Canucks and hockey heavy with the guest list today. Kevin Woodley at 8 o'clock NHL.com and Ingoll Magazine. So last night Elliott Friedman reports that he's hearing Thatcher Demko could get the start tonight for your Vancouver Canucks.

That is noteworthy of course, because as you're aware, Demko hasn't played since February the 8th. So we'll talk to Woodley about that. That's not the important goalie news. There's other important goalie news. Greg, Greg has stolen the energy right out of the building this morning with- That's me.

Why, you know what? You know what? You know, because we're back and it's a Monday and you're excited, why don't you tell everyone what you're so irate about? Well, there was that play where Kemper and Swamen were gonna fight. They were lined up, ready to go and the officials-

That play. Yeah, that play that everyone's talking about. That moment that was stolen from us. They were about to fight and the linesman stepped in and didn't even let them get together at center ice it was bizarre I hated it and I want to rant about it for an entire segment all right so working in reverse on the guest list before we let Laddie talk about that play again eight o'clock Kevin Woodley 730 James Nichols seven o'clock Ian McIntyre we got a lot to get into on the program so so without further ado, 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? 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. We will go all the way back to Saturday for this one. Johnny Brodzinski scored twice in the third period,

including the go ahead goal with just over four minutes remaining. I won't even say who scored the empty net or the New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 at MSG. Maybe the most frustrating loss, not of the season, but of the last few seasons. Who scored the empty net. Some guy, don't know who he is. Uh, so let's, let's count the ways that this one hurt.

Okay. Uh, first, you can put your fingers up. Number one, first you got the playoff race. The Connex have fallen behind both the blues and the flames in the race for the final wild card spot, she's looking at the blues right now. They've fallen way behind the blues. Way behind.

In the race for the final wild card spot. Second was the way the Canucks lost. They dominated the game. Yep. They outshot the Rangers 39 to 12. That's good. And they lost five to 12. That's good. And they lost five to three. That's bad.

Third was the injuries to Elias Pedersen and Nils Hoeglinder. And this is a team that was already extremely thin down the middle. And last but not least, so this is number four, reason number four. Adog, it was JT Miller who put the final nail in the Canucks coffin. Ooh.

With an empty net goal. Um, what was the most frustrating part of the game of the four for me, it was the loss combined with the rest of the day of scoreboard watching where nothing went right for the Canucks. Calgary that day beat the Islanders in overtime to finish a very tough four game road trip, three and one.

A lot of us thought that was the road trip that would finish the Flames. Instead, it seemed to have invigorated them. Um, St. Louis pumped the Blackhawks, thanks Chicago, uh, and Utah took out the Lightning. So you're looking at, uh, looking at the standings right now and the Canucks, man, it does, it does not look good for them.

Um, I don't know how much we want to get into the actual game. The Canucks did play well and Rick Tuckett said, you know, they probably deserve better, but they did make some key defensive mistakes that allowed the Rangers to get to the guts of the ice, the interior of the ice and beat Lincolnen four times on just 11 shots. Dakota Joshua and Kiefer Sherwood each made some costly, let's call them coverage mistakes

in front of Lankenen and Lankenen himself clearly wasn't on his game. Was he sick? Was he tired? Was he sick and tired as we are of this season of Canucks hockey? Yeah, that was a tough Saturday if you still have any hope of the Canucks making the playoffs. So there's going to be a multitude of reasons why this team will miss if they eventually do miss. And you won't be able to point to one singular moment as to like, that's the reason that they missed. But Saturday in New York might be the one where you're like,

that was the one that pushed them over the cliff. That might be the one that just finally gave them that nudge where it's like, all right, this is the one where it's too much to overcome because that was a masterclass in not being able to keep things together. So just consider this. You know that points are at a premium

and you've done a remarkable job this year as a team of collecting loser points. If we just get getting games over time, getting points out of games. You needed points out of that game. You go into the third period tied at one, 90 seconds into that very pivotal and important period, you give up a goal, right?

That's the first Brodsinski goal. Okay, you know, slow start to the period. We've seen that before. This team's playing well. They can rally. They fight back. O'Connor scores, ties it at two-two. 78 seconds after O'Connor scored.

78 seconds. The Rangers go back up three-two. Okay, no problem. We've been in this spot before. Was that the nice pass by JT Miller, that one? Yeah. We've been in this spot before. Was that the nice pass by JT Miller, that one? Yeah.

Besser scores another big time late clutch goal in the third period. This one came with under five minutes to go to even it back up at 3-3. 37 seconds after Besser scores, Brodzinski scores again. So it's almost like every time that the Canucks found a way to fight back and scratch and claw and draw the game even and maybe get a point out of this very important game. They found an equally impressive way to blow it. It's remarkable. This season has had a lot of issues without question. It's been, as you said, like it's been really trying. People have been tired and sick of it, but that game on the weekend

where you look at it and you're like, they did the majority of things right. But as Rick Tauke has pointed out on so many occasions, when those big moments happen, when those big moments happen where you just need to show up and make something happen, it's always the other team that's doing it. And that's what the Rangers did. Yeah.

The JT Miller pass was actually on Brad Zinski's first of the night. Oh, on the 2-1 goal. Yes. What I found remarkable about that game was just how badly the Canucks dominated the Rangers. And I actually, okay, so this is proof that the, the Jason Bruff tweeting jinx doesn't exist because I

was going to tweet out something during the first part of that game saying something like, God, the Rangers suck or like this team is terrible because the Rangers. We're good. Did suck in this game. They were good. Right.

And, and like, this was, do you remember how we looked at the, uh, at the shots on goal in the Calgary game that the Rangers played earlier in the week? And we were like, how did the flames so badly dominate the Rangers on home? Right. It's like, this is crazy.

Like Calgary must've played so well. Well, yes, it was a bit of that Calgary playing well, but the Rangers, man, like they were terrible. They were terrible. And they were saying that between the second and the third periods in the intermission, there was a lot of yelling going on in the Rangers room. Like they were freaking out. They were losing their minds.

Rangers fans were giving Bronx cheers for every shot on goal that the Rangers got. Even ones, even the ones that the Rangers got, even ones, even the ones that didn't count, like just long, essentially clearances that Lanken untouched. There was a Bronx cheer to the Rangers. That MSG fan, like that great crowd that was there to celebrate Sam Rosen's retirement. Like it was, it was, they were so mad at the end.

I'm like, the Canucks lost this game? Yep. The Canucks found a way to lose this game. So look, they've still got 12 games left. Um, down the middle is looking real thin. And we've talked a lot about how this team has gone from Elias Pedersen, Bo Horvat and JT Miller down the middle to, well, if Pedersen is hurt

for tonight in New Jersey, they're looking like Suter, Bluger, Nils Amann and Atu Ratu as their four senders. Pretty good. Now, Tauket was asked after practice about Pedersen and Hoeglinder and the Hoaglinder injury is annoying too, frustrating too, just because he had started to play a little bit better and he was

adding something to align with Pedersen and Besser. Sure. And he said that they were pretty sore and banged up. He didn't rule them out for Monday's game against the Devils, but again, Autu Ratu has been called up and there's a reason for that. Um, Thatcher Demko, he's probably their last hope. If you're looking for any hail Marys, um, maybe Thatcher Demko can come in and just provide them incredible goaltending down the stretch and they can do what

Shusterkin did to the Canucks on Saturday. But I mean, come on, like, you know, I know talk had said after practice that Demko was starting to feel pretty good. I know Elliott Freeman tweeted out that it's probably likely if not, like Demko wants to play. He wants to try and make a difference. Of course, of course he does, but it's a big ask.

It's a big ask for him to come in after yet another lengthy absence and just like have his game to the point where a very undermanned Canucks team is going to face this very tough schedule in their final 12 games and win what, eight or nine of them? He's got to play sometime, I think. So I understand it, but I'm kind of with you. It almost feels like there's Hail Marys and then there's like Hail Marys that might have too much risk involved. Like the wide receiver might break his neck going for the said Hail Mary. Like this one to me, I know he wants to go.

And I know that they don't really have a lot of wiggle room left. I mean, with the 12 games, you figure they've got to win what? Eight to probably get into the playoffs. And as you said, it might even need to be more given how well St. Louis is playing right now. But at this stage of the game, if he wants to go, and the answer to the question is, well, he's gonna

have to play anyway, I guess you give him a shot tonight. Maybe it gives you that last second spark. Maybe there's something that can salvage a season. Personally, I have a hard time seeing it. I just have a hard time seeing him being able to like, play incredible down the stretch. I mean, it's a big ask of a guy who hasn't played much hockey this year. Here's the crazy part. It might not even be if he plays incredible.

I don't know if the guys in front of him can get it done. Even with, I mean, unless he pitches eight or nine. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Cause right now, right now, Quinn Hughes is playing on fumes. Heedle's not coming back anytime soon. Pedersen and Hoaglander are banged up. And this was to a team that didn't have a lot

of offensive punch prior to those guys getting hurt. It's every, I will say some things have conspired against the Canucks down the stretch. But if you go back and you look at the results that they have posted post four nations break There have been a lot of losses where you're just shaking your head You're like that was a missed opportunity and that was a missed opportunity It had nothing to do with the depleted lineup or who was in it or who is not there were games that could have been Won there that they didn't win and there were points that they could have scratched and clawed that they didn't.

Again, when this whole thing's said and done, we're not going to be able to point to one or two individual games that Rangers game will stand out only because of the frustration. But there's a lot of reasons why this team isn't going to make it. Health is a big part of it. Uh, speaking of Quinn Hughes, uh, just watching them on TV, you can feel how hard he's pushing out there. And I know Taked was saying afterwards, like, you

know, he wants to win so, so bad and you can, you can feel that just watching him play. Uh, here's, here's Rick Taked on, on, on Quinn Hughes. Yeah. Well, he wants to win so bad. Uh, he works at his game. Um, obviously the puck's on a stick a lot.

He wants those moments. He wants to win so bad and he's a guy in the room too. When he's playing, we're a different team, right? And he's got that common influence. Saying that sometimes he wants to win so bad that he wants to try to do it himself sometimes and he's so much better at that over the last couple years where he's starting to realize okay I can't go too I can't be one-on-one too much because you know it's almost impossible to every game kind of put the team on your shoulder so I think he's starting to learn that a lot right now the only thing that I'm still laughing about from that Canucks Rangers game, cause it was not funny.

The way that it ended was, um, Quinn Hughes versus Matt Rempe at the left point, um, was one of the funniest and hilarious mismatches of basically ever in sports. And I'm, and I'm sitting there watching the game and I'm like, is Lafayette even trying? Is he even trying to coach? Why is Matt Rempe in that lineup?

It's ridiculous. Like he, and then he, and then Connor Garland, like he took a penalty on Connor Garland just cause he couldn't keep up to Connor Garland. But you know, I mean, Quinn Hughes actually almost did break Matt Rempe's ankles at the point. And, you know, I'm sitting there, I'm like, in the back of my mind, I was like, they're dominating this Rangers team. Yes, they're embarrassing this Rangers team.

They really were embarrassing the Rangers. And again, I keep mentioning the crowd because the crowd was just all over the Rangers. Like they you could tell, like they hated this Rangers team. They're just like, like they were, they were, they were almost wishing the worst for this Rangers team and the Cox found a way to lose the game. And I'm just, I don't know. How does that happen? How does, how does that happen?

Well, like, I mean, I, again, part of this is when, you know, when it rains, it pours. And if you didn't have bad luck, you wouldn't have any luck at all. There was some things that conspired against the Canucks. But here's the flip side of that argument is that if you've watched this team over the course of 70 games this year, you've come to expect letdowns like this. You've come to it. like that though. You there had there's something in this group's DNA. I think where They have an inability to like for lack of a better phrase. Let the good times roll, right? We've seen period to period they'll have a very solid first period go into the room come out in the second period We'll be dead flat. You'll see a game the game. It's the monkey paw theory

I don't know last season a Canucks fan got a hold of an enchanted Monkey Paw at the start of the year and wished for one really spectacular Canucks season. The Monkey Paw curled. Whatever, it wasn't even that spectacular. They got to the second round of the playoffs. Well, nevertheless, it was in comparison to the previous decade. And now look where we are. But the in-game peaks and valleys that this particular group has had,

I mean, Saturday was kind of special in that regard. Because I'm watching the third period, I mean, even my texts started with my buddies, I'm like, this is terrible, these guys suck, then five seconds later, we're so bad, let's go. Dude, this season could be a 30 for 30. If you, I mean, look at it. This season on its own could be its own 30 for 30.

Look at the peaks and valleys of Brock Besser. Like, Besser was having a miserable time prior to the St. Louis game. Scores a huge third period goal against the Blues, scratches out a point almost single-handedly, comes back against the Rangers, nearly does the exact same thing, scores another big third period goal.

You talk about guys that need to step up and score goals when you're bereft of offense, you need it in the clutch. He does it in back-to-back games. What happens? They get one point out of those two games. Has there ever been a case to blow up a roster just because you just can't do it anymore? The frustration level this year has been so high. So high. And a lot of it has to do with what Andy was just talking about, the expectations were very heightened after last year.

But I get so emotional when I'm talking about what I want them to do to the Canucks this off season. It's like asset management, the whole asset management just goes right out the door for me. I'm like, sure. I don't care. I just want to see something different. I can't do it with this group anymore. Yeah.

I just can't. Yeah. I can't. No, I can't. And I know it's a rational way to look at it. And it's not, it's not, it's not, but like last season is the new bubble. Do you know what I mean? Do you remember, do you remember back in the day, uh, Benning would be like, well,

we showed in the bubble that we can do it right now. We're like, well, last season they played well, you know, it doesn't quite hold as much because JT Miller's gone and everything, but like, I don't want to try and get back to last season. I want to try and get back to something completely different. Yeah. And so you're not getting back to it. I just want to move on. And that's, and that's fair.

And that's just, and I know, and I know there are some people that are like, Hey, Brock Besser scores goals. Let's, let's sign them. Like that's, that's the value play to make. Like that's, if you can get Brock Besser for a bit of a hometown discount, then sign him because then you've got to sign someone else or you might not get the hometown discount.

And you're thinking like a drancer, right? Like you're thinking like a robot and a calculator and you're thinking, okay, not that drances saying that they should bring back Besser. What I'm just saying, like, you, you, like, I can't think like that about this team anymore. I just want different. Sure.

Because the idea of coming back next season and doing this again, I think I'll go crazy. Well, a big part of what you're speaking on is, and maybe Jim Rutherford's words were more foretelling or dare I say foreboding when he said, if everything goes right last year with the team, we're a playoff team. And our, I mean, I think he was very, very accurate

in that sense. God, it was my fault because I got that quote. And then if everything doesn't go right. Yeah, that's right, he did. The follow-up question really should have been what happens if everything doesn't go right? And the, that's right, he did. The follow-up question really should have been what happens if everything doesn't go right. And the answer is this year, the year that just happened. Because I guarantee you,

when they do their end of year media availability, they are gonna trot out the fact that Demko, Hronic, Hughes, and take your pick, I guess maybe Pedersen as well, they'll point to the number of man games missed, for sure, they will. And they'll point to a lot of different things that will lead you believe that it's probably gonna look

a lot more similar to the group coming back than a lot of people want, especially in that knee jerk style. And I get the knee jerk reaction to it. This year has been crazy frustrating. And this isn't just you and I projecting. Dunbar Lumber, text message in basket, filled with people.

And it's like frustration for a bunch of different levels. It's not for the lack of try or want. It's not because they haven't played well at times. Saturday was frustrating, even though the team played really well. They just emerged from a sort of must-win game with zero points despite the fact they outshot their opponent damn near two to one

on the night. And that's kind of sums up the entire year. Like I've even gotten to the point where, much to the chagrin of many listeners, we have defended Rick Tauke in a lot this year. I'm even at the point of if they want to move on to a different coach, fine. Like I just want different.

Sure. You know, and, and, and I guarantee Rick Taukett wants different. I guarantee he, he, he's, you know, if he comes back, I mean, you missed this a little bit last week, but, um, you know, we're, we're talking a lot about Rick Taukett and what he wants to do, you know, where he wants this to go.

And he clearly doesn't want to sign a contract extension right now because he wants to see what this team does in this off season. And he can see, he can use the excuse of, I just don't have time to talk about my contract. Come on. Yeah. You got time to talk about a contract.

If you want to be here, you'd make time, talk about a contract. Come on. You got time to talk about a contract. If you want to be here, you'd make time to talk about a contract that might pay you, I don't know, 20 million bucks. You'd have time to talk about that contract. You'd be like, hey Rick, do you have time to talk about your next five years and maybe making a lot of money in the next five years? Do you have time for that? I was like, yeah, I can squeeze five

minutes into that. But like, he's probably thinking like, wow, do I, he's probably thinking the exact same thing as I'm talking about right now. Like, if I'm gonna come back and keep doing this, I can't keep doing it with the same group. There needs to be like a DNA change to this group. There's no way that he's gonna sign up

for another year of this, especially when there's other NHL jobs out there. You know there's going to be other NHL jobs out there. So here's the thing. Scott texts in, making big decisions based on emotion usually works out. Scott, I'm not making the decisions. Okay? Yeah, I'm just reacting.

I'm just telling you as a fan of the team what I want. And that's why I intentionally said, that's why I intentionally said I throw asset management out the window. I'm not saying that the Canucks have to do that, but I'm telling you as a fan that I am done with this group. Like I can't do it anymore. And obviously management still has to keep asset management in the equation. But for me as a fan, like, you know, it's funny because before last season I was saying,

hey, you got to blow this group up. You got to, and then they came back and this is the frustration that makes it, last season almost makes it worse. Cause I was like, Oh, I guess I was, I guess I was wrong. And in the back of my mind, I'm kind of like, I'm not wrong. Not wrong about this group. I'm not wrong. And then, you know, this season happens and it's not about being right or wrong. It's about being tired.

Yeah. And I just, I don't believe in this core and I want them to do something else. And if you want to text in and say, well, that's how you're going to lose Quinn Hughes, dude, we're probably losing Quinn Hughes. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro from the boardroom to the break room and everywhere in between Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean, and disinfected. For a free quote, visit them online at JanPro.ca. We're going to go to break on the other side. Let's answer this question.

What happens if the Vancouver Canucks are the only Canadian team to miss the playoffs? Think about it. We'll discuss on the other side. You're listening to the Haliford and Brev Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canuck Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshah, your destination for everything Canucks.

Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Happy Monday to Brad and Langley. He writes in 6.33 on a dreary Monday morning. I quickly remembered why I do not tune in to 6.50 after Canuck's losses. The House of Negativity is the last thing I need on a dark, rainy Monday morning. Brad, I hope I have brought some sunshine to your day,

just by mentioning you on the air. And this song, that helps. Sorry I was so frustrated after that devastating loss, Brad. This is the, we are losing Quinn Hughes theme song. This is so great. He's going to the Devils. Man, he's just like, I actually am struggling to come up with a player who I've been watching play for the Canucks over my whole life, who's trying as hard as Quinn Hughes right now.

He's trying very hard. Sometimes to the point of Quinn, you're trying to do a little too much here. You got to pass the puck a little bit. No. He's just, but in some ways I'm kind of like, yeah, you know what, just do whatever you think is right. I would say, it'd be like the opposite Dave. You're like, do it more. As a matter of like, yeah, you know what, just do whatever you think is right. I would be like the opposite Dave,

be like, do it more. As a matter of fact, pass the puck less. Just keep doing your thing. Of course they're not winning games. You are listening to the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Breff of 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 at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. One of the questions that we posed going to break was, what if, what happens if the Vancouver Canucks

are the only Canadian team not to make the playoffs this year? It is a very real possibility. I think it might ultimately end up being them and Calgary that misses, but still, as of today, March 24th, 2025, the possibility still very much exists that Vancouver will be the only team that misses and all the other Canadian teams.

Yeah. Winnipeg, Edmonton and Toronto are definitely going to make it. Ottawa is close to definitely making it. Montreal, I would say is a coin toss and Calgary is maybe, I don't know, one in three. 33%. Something like that.

But St. Louis just keeps on winning. I guess it's good for a show that if the Canucks don't make it, at least we'll be able to follow in route against some Canadian teams in the playoffs. But again, that would be one final football in the groin in a season full of footballs in the groin. Doink.

Like how many, how many more footballs do you have? A lot. If the Canucks were the only, the only Canadian team to miss and you know, even if Calgary does miss, at least like the Flames fans will be like proud of their team. Sure. They fought hard. They fought hard, they're good, nobody expected them. And this is probably best for the team anyway to get into the draft lottery. Dustin Wolf is amazing. He's young moving forward. They got a lot of reasons to be happy there. Yeah.

You know, if the Canucks, if the Canucks, if the Canucks in Calgary are the only Canadian teams to miss, it'll be just, I guess for me, I'm happy that there are a lot of Canadian teams in the mix right now. I don't want any of them to win the Stanley Cup. Obviously we all know my views on that, but I do like it when there are Canadian teams in the playoffs because, you know, most of them have

to lose, right? All of them usually lose. Just so I know. And that's, and that's fun, but it's like, it's, it's, it's entertaining. And, and frankly, I, I'm the only team that I'm really cheering for to make the playoffs is Montreal.

I think that would be awesome if they do it. And by the way, like Montreal and Toronto, it's still a possibility. I know. Because nobody can seem to take the reins of that Atlantic division. It's, I mean, it bounces back and forth with regularity. I do want to circle back on one thing though,

because when people are texting in like the house of negativity and it's dark times. Most people are on our side. No, no, no, no, no. I'm just saying. Don't worry too much about it. But no, no, no, no, I'm not talking about that. I just wanna pivot off it just to reiterate to everyone

that understand one thing. I'll speak about this individually, but I think you kind of feel the same way. The Canucks being in the playoffs, regardless of what you think about that, even if they go and they're out in four or five or six games, missing the playoffs isn't just bad for the business part of the Vancouver Canucks.

As you pointed out here in the notes, I like how you phrased this, it's bad for the business of Canucks talk. Like it's not a good thing if they miss, even if it increases their miniscule draft percentages of getting in by like a tenth or a hundredth of a percentage. None of it is good for the business of what you like to listen to in Listerland and what we like to do, which is talk about the team being an active participant

in the National Hockey League. When the season's done, it's done. Yeah, you get it. When you, if the Canucks miss the playoffs, which it's looking like they probably will, we'll get a week of great content after the regular season because we'll have the press conferences, we might have some reports that this is what the Canucks are thinking, and then everyone will just be like,

all right, see you at the draft. Essentially to the Canucks, like the rest of the hockey world moves on. Yes. Because they're watching the playoffs and they don't really care about the Canucks anymore. And we're sitting here going like, all right, I guess we're gonna have to get

the draft guys on. You know, like you guys gotta understand. And then we're just like, oh God, are they gonna trade that first? Didn't we just added a new Canucks brunch show? Didn't we? Like, there's going to be a real dearth of content for brunch. If you make the playoffs, that's at least the first round, that's at least worth two

weeks of content, right? And even if you lose in the first round, you get the buildup. Let's say the Canucks were to get matched with the Jets. You know how it would go. You'd be like, all right, this team is severely overmatched. Winnipeg is the heavy favorite, but what if, you know, and you, and you try and talk yourself into the Canucks having a chance and maybe in one of the first two games in Winnipeg, the Canucks steal one.

Yeah. Right. And then you're like, okay, you know, you've got, you've got some belief now. At the very least it's two weeks of content. If they lose and then you have your press conference and you have all that stuff that you'd have normally. But, you know, the off seasons get real long when the Canucks miss the playoffs.

And that's a frustrating thing for our show. And it's why I always like kind of chuckle and laugh at the people. They're like, you guys love it when the Canucks are bad. You guys can just tee off like, mm-mm, mm-mm. Last season was amazing for business. It was really good for business. We had two individual watch parties

at the Hollywood theater to watch Canucks playoffs games and both were exceptionally well attended. It was a super great time. It was a lot of fun. And it was thrilling and it was all consuming and it was a great ride. And you want that ride to dial itself back up every spring. And this isn't just about a content creation plan

for the span of two weeks to a month. You just have to understand when the team is active and playing and doing stuff, that's when you're engaged. When the team is out of the mix, you're not engaged. God bless all the people that'll stick with it and it's just a totally different feeling. I watch hockey because I love hockey.

Well, good for you. Most people in this city watch hockey because I love hockey. Well, good for you. Most people in this city watch hockey because they love the Canucks. Yeah. Now I don't know, I'm gonna be very curious to see what happens if they're, and I don't think they'll be the only Canadian team to miss.

I think them and Calgary will eventually miss. I know that you, just to circle back on the Montreal thing, I know that you briefly hitched your wagon to the Columbus blue jackets. And then that coincided with the blue jacket season completely coming off the rails. Montreal really sort of became the main

character this past weekend. If you go around the national hockey league for some of the big stories that emanated, they had that crazy, crazy four goal comeback against the Avs on Saturday. They erased, they erased a a four one third period deficit. Even the score at four, they lost eventually five four, but managed to get a point out of it.

But I think the bigger point, then that actual point was that everyone sort of said like, hey hockey's kind of back in Montreal. Like playing meaningful games in March kind of became a punchline for some markets, ours included, but in Montreal because they haven't been in the playoffs for a long time and because there's been a really slow build with this young group of guys that they've invested in, the market's been waiting

for some kind of payoff and they're getting it right now. It's a young team, it's probably a little bit ahead of schedule, but they've been great since the four nations break. They're playing a really exciting brand of hockey. They have, I think it's like 10 third period goals in their last three games. Like they're just finding a way to, you know, snatch victories from the jaws of defeat, which

obviously doing that and playing games at home really revs up what's already a great. They've got that youthful exuberance when you can start to see something building. Yeah. And that's a really exciting time to be a fan when you've got, when you've got hope for the future and there aren't huge expectations, right?

Everything's kind of gravy and you're starting to see, you know, I was laughing a little bit, you're starting to see the fan base stick up for its players too. Like I saw some people, um, you know, we're talking about, okay, where I think it was Kipper and Bourne actually. We're talking about where Nick Suzuki would rank as a number one center in the NHL.

And they were kind of like, wow, he's probably not, you know, I think one of them threw out, there's like the 25th best number one center or something like that. And Habs fans were all outraged by that because they're sticking up for their team because they like their team, you know, and they're looking at not only the players that are currently the young

players that are currently contributing to them, but some of the players that are, that are also coming as well that they've already drafted them, they're excited to add to the mix. And it's just a really exciting time to be a Habs fan right now. And I really hope that they can sneak into the playoffs. So 13 games left for the Habs. We'll keep tabs on that as we move further and further along

into the remainder of this season. I want to circle back again to something else that I briefly mentioned, I think, in the intro and kind of got mentioned over the weekend and dovetailed off into an interesting subplot. So for those that missed it over the weekend, Connects Forward, Kiefer Sherwood had 12 hits against the Rangers on Saturday. That gave him 395 for the season. He now has the single season NHL hits record since the NHL started tracking the statistic in 2005-06. Now, the thing with this, Mark,

is I feel like it's just gonna keep getting surpassed because Kiefer Sherwood broke a record that stood for all of one season, because last year, Jeremy Lozon of the Bruins set the record with 383. Was that after the big audit that the league did? Yeah. I think it was, right? So are they giving out more hits? I mean, the-

They might be. The hit that put it over the top, Sherwood on Susie was like, that's not a hit. He had- Hit? He had 12 against the- he was credited with 12. And I was like, I hate to, it felt like a lot. It felt like a lot. It felt like a lot for what he was doing on the ice.

It was kind of like, I didn't notice Key for sure with throwing hits. I noticed a bad defensive coverage. Okay, so there's that. So there's that. With that in mind, let's play the audio from Rick Tocket. I believe this is from Sunday's practice. So he had already been asked about Sherwood

setting the record following Saturday's game. And he wasn't really in the mood to talk about it then. It was like very short. We've just suffered a devastating loss. I don't really love having this as the second question in the scrum. I believe he said we have been, he has been fine for us and then he moved on.

So like there's okay, we're gonna leave that. He's been good for us. Apparently not content with just Saturday's line of questioning on the Keith for Sherwood hits record. Rick Tauke was asked about it again on Sunday. A little bit of a longer answer. Have a listen, see what you think.

Here's Rick Tauke on Keith for Sherwood from Sunday's practice. I mean, it's really hard. I mean, it's, you know, you're hitting a lot of people, right, and you're putting a lot of bruises on your body. But saying that, you know, he, now the next level for him is when to hit and to play structured hockey. So that's his next level. I think there's another level for Kiefer.

I think he's got another level of being a really two-way smart hockey player. Now I'm never going to take the hitting away, but I think he's going to have to choose certain times when to go and not to go. And sometimes you're in a better position when you're you know, you're not running around so that that's that's that's that's that'll be experience and stuff Like he'll get better at that Clearly the connects are trying to hype up The key for sure would hit record and talk is like is just not running around so much, you know, I I don't again again, this is,

I got a lot of time for what Rick Tauke has to say. I think he's accurately diagnosed a lot of the issues with this team this year. I know there's a lot of pushback. He likes to play doubles advocates sometimes. He does. In that instance, maybe he's not entirely wrong. I think that part of the public's perception

of Sherwood this year has been almost a hundred percent positive. Oh yeah. He's over achieved and over delivered on that contract. He was great in the first half of the season when he was scoring a lot of goals. I think what, when Rick Tuckett talks about predictability and knowing where guys are going to be on the ice and you know and do your job and stay in your lane, there's a very specific way his teams need to play in order to have success. And- Everyone's gotta be in the right spots.

Any slight deviation or freelancing can cause the whole thing to collapse. I understand why there's pushback on that from a large majority, a large percentage of the listenership because the line of thinking would be like, well, if you have to play this structure and this tailored to get a result, maybe there's something wrong with the process.

And I don't wanna make too much of this Sherwood remark, but there is something to it because you wouldn't argue with a lot of the stuff that Sherwood's done this year for the team, it's been a great signing. But Tuckett pointed out, when asked about his player setting an NHL record, that sometimes he's chasing the hits. Yeah. And that's the, I mean, part of it's the reality of it.

Like you don't get 380 in a season unless you're going out and actively looking for it. But one wonders, would his style of play be more tailored to the system if he was around 280 hits on the, like how many times are you going around? And again, this isn't a guy chasing a record. Let's be very clear of this.

This is a player. He's doing what he does. Who, when he sees the opportunity to be physical with someone, a hundred percent of the time he's in on it. Yeah. Not 90, not 80. Every time there's an opportunity to bump

someone, he goes and does it. I feel like it's way more dangerous to be a defenseman in chasing hits as opposed to a forward. But maybe Tauke is seeing, I think, here's the thing. I think Tauke is seeing Sherwood as a potential, not solution, but maybe he can help the Canucks with their offensive issues. And he wants them to be more part of the play as opposed to chasing the hits.

Now, when you're F1 in the playoffs and you go in there and you rattle the bones of some defensemen, that's awesome. You want that every time. But you know, sometimes when you hit a guy, you kind of take yourself out of the play. Yeah. And there are times when, you know, you, you

just don't need to lay the body. You want to get the puck. That's the most important thing. Yeah. Right. So I don't know. I, I, I was laughing a little bit at this just because like, you know, the Canucks wanted to

hype this up as a hundred percent positive thing. Like keep for sure with, there's a guy that'll lay his body on the line for the team. Nobody hits more than that guy. And then talk is like, yep for sure, there's a guy that'll lay his body on the line for the team. Nobody hits more than that guy. And then Tuck is like, yep, yep, it's good. I don't want to take away the hits, but then actually says, like, but we see him as more than that. Okay, I'm going to shoehorn in about five minutes of soccer talk here before we get to the seven o'clock hour. A lot more Canucks talk to come. We're going to talk to Ian McIntyre at seven,

from New Jersey, also from New Jersey at 730. James Nichols is going to join the program beat writer for New Jersey hockey now, as we look ahead to tonight's opponent, the devils, but I don't know how much you and Dodd talked about the Canada, Mexico game on Friday and the aftermath of that loss. Not much. Uh, so today I do want to talk a little bit about, and partly because it is a Canadian victory over the Americans, but what Canada did yesterday in the third place match at the CONCACAF Nations League tournament, a 2-1 victory over the US filled

with drama, filled with storylines but at the end of the day, Jesse Marsh and the Canadian team, I think the most important thing was they ended the tournament on a very good note and this gives them something positive to take from a tournament that after the Mexico match, I was a little worried that it might be a negative experience. It was a good thing what happened yesterday. And there was a lot that happened,

including Marsh getting sent off. And I would say quite demonstratively, maybe even to the point where he was doing the old Billy Martin, like I'm gonna get thrown out. Intentionally getting tossed. And hopefully it fires up the boys. They was doing the old Billy Martin, like I'm going to get thrown out. Intentionally getting tossed. And hopefully it fires up the boys. They did score the Jonathan David goal shortly thereafter. Marsh got sent off.

Marsh got sent off for complaining about what he perceived to be a non-penalty call on Jonathan David. When Jonathan David clearly slipped in the area, I don't necessarily think that the reaction was about that play in particular. It was a culmination of the non-call penalty against Mexico earlier in that half against the US, there was another penalty shout that they didn't go to VAR.

Marsh just blew his top and finally it said enough. In the aftermath, he talked about how his players felt like they had been disrespected throughout the tournament from the officials. He wanted to stand up and make a statement for Canada. He's tapped into that Canadian ethos right now of the moment, which is very much like, we're not gonna take this crap,

we're not gonna stand there and be a punching bag. I don't know if you heard this anecdote or not, but prior to the US game, he actually played and alluded to all the fights that Canada had against the US in the Four Nations Tournament and talked about how, you know, part of the Canadian identity now is you don't back down, you stand up and you fight,

you get your own punches. Yeah, yeah. I thought it was a very good tournament for Canada in that regard. Sounds like Jesse Marshall is really into that Four Nations, by the way. Like he watched it closely. I think he was taken aback because he's not Canadian.

Yeah. How much it meant. Yeah. How much that. And he's probably thinking like, I can use this. How much, and it was, it was, I mean, if you remove soccer and hockey, but just the sporting landscape, he saw the profound effect that the

sport meant to the country, that nationalistic pride, that people get behind it. And I know that he's seeing that with an eye to the world cup in 2026. He's like, can we galvanize? Can we use this? By the way, what's that world cup going to the world cup in 2026. He's like, can we galvanize? Can we use this? By the way, what's that world cup going to be like? Dude, I have no idea.

Cause when it was first announced, I was so excited because, you know, not only the thought of Vancouver hosting games, which we're going to do, but also the idea of traveling to parts of the States to go see, like I'm, I, again, my bucket list, I've never seen England play, um, live and I want to go see them. And, you know, let's say they end up in New York or Chicago or LA or whatever.

I was like, Oh, I'll go just go travel down there and watch them. Now I'm kind of like, eh, I don't want to help the Americans in the world cup. I don't want, I don't want to, I don't want to contribute to their economy. I don't, I don't want to help the Americans in the World Cup. I don't want to contribute to their economy. I don't want to do anything. And it's still going to be the same White House next summer when this whole thing is hosted.

And the only thing that kind of makes me laugh a little bit, chuckle a little bit is FIFA thinking that this was going to be a safe World Cup. You know how they took so much heat for having World Cups in Russia or Qatar. And now they're like, okay, we just need a safe option. Let's go to North America. We'll have the Americans, the Canadians and the Mexicans co-host it. It'll be easy.

The stadiums are all built. Finally, it will be somewhere politically stable. Yeah, yeah. The United States. It'll be stable. And then, and then you get here. Oh no. And not only are the United States. It'll be stable. And then you get here, and not only are the United States

completely changing themselves geopolitically, they're also actively engaging and trying to bully and fight Canada and Mexico. So you've got this whole thing where it's like, the three best friends are no longer friends. I mean, it is one of it's one of the things where you got to understand having the multi nation hosts like co hosting is still a relatively new thing for FIFA for the World Cup. It's only they only know once, but this will be the last one.

Yeah. Well, I mean, they've got a bunch on the books moving forward. But ah, finally, we'll just they've got a bunch on the books moving forward. But in- Ah, finally we'll just be able to go to Saudi Arabia. Right. Nothing controversial about that. In 2002, they went to, they did Japan and South Korea. Yeah. And then after that, it was single country, you know what, a single nation host.

And I mean, who could have predicted that what has happened over the last few months was going to happen? But the- They did that, every country in Europe posting right after Brexit. I know. This does speak to why sometimes it's like, maybe it's just easier if one place hosts it. Maybe we shouldn't share this thing.

So like next time we're going somewhere politically neutral like Greenland, nothing ever happens to them. Yeah. Uh-oh. I don't know. What are those helicopters? Yeah. So honestly-

That's it. We're taking it to Panama. Well, this World Cup has so many different layers to it. And so, and if you talk about things that are happening on the pitch, nevermind the geopolitical stuff off the pitch, but on the pitch right now, you have a Mexican team that just kind of had this Renaissance because they won the CONCACAF Nations League and they were very, very happy about what they had accomplished cause they felt like they got knocked off the perch in CONCACAF. You have a Canadian team that's still kind of emerging as a power in the region. You have a US team, which is about as low as it can get right now. They are furious and disappointed. They are horrible.

Dare I say, some people are disgusted with the way that that team is performing on the international stage. With one year to go before the world cup, the three hosts both on the pitch and off it. There's a lot going on. It's going to make for a very, I would just say chaotic 2026 world cup. Okay. We're up against it for time. Uh, we gotta go to break. We got a lot more to get into on the program. Seven o'clock hour, as I mentioned, we're going to be joined by Ian McIntyre coming up on the other side of the

break. We'll talk to him from New Jersey about tonight's game. And then at seven 30, James Nichols is going to join us from New Jersey hockey. Now we'll talk to him about the devil's tonight's opponent. A reminder, it's a four 30 puck drop from the Prudential Center television. It's on Amazon tonight. It's an Amazon prime game. So if you want to listen to it, you can hear it all right here on sports net six 50, you're listening to the Halford and Bref show on sports net six 50.