Halford & Brough in the Morning - Nebulous Origins of the Pettersson and Miller Drama

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

In Hour 1, Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Thomas Drance chat about what happened over the weekend in sports. Then it's a breakdown of the Pettersson-Miller situation, before discussing what the Canucks need to do to move on. In the second half, Adnan Virk joins to talk about the Canucks season, the Canucks-Sharks game happening tonight, and a look around the NHL and MLB. 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-d the net he scores the senators win their sixth in a row as jake sanderson ends it you know maybe the connect could have got it done if they'd come really hot really fast i don't care you guys want to talk about it you want to ask i don't care oh my god next question steps up sam throws left good morning vancouver it is Halford and Brough. No Halford, no Brough. It's Josh Elliott-Wolfe, Thomas Trance here with you. Coming to you live from the Kintec studio. We also got producers Laddie. Hello.

Hello, hello. We got Zach covering for Andy. Hello, hello. Hello. Zach doesn't get a bark? Usually we do one, but he's an honorary dog today. You know what? You need like a puppy drop for the like dogs in training.

For the dogs in training. Hey, that clip, by the way, is unbelievable, Balak. Holy cow. We have an entire folder of just drance. Do you? Just drance. Wow, that is horrifying. I need you to utilize. We have an entire folder of just Drance. Do you? Just Drance. Wow, that is horrifying. I need you to utilize that over the next six hours of show time.

Let's bookmark that. We have seven, six hours together? Six hours together. So we're here today. I suspect we can do a Drance Drops laddie segment at some point. It is the week of Christmas, and that is why Halford and Brough are not here. We are. Slackers.

Us four, the Christmas boys, some people would call us. The boys of Christmas? The boys of Christmas. Sounds like the worst. We spell Christmas with a Z because we're cool. Sounds like the worst boy band ever. It's like so much jingle. So, it is Half Alfred and Brotho.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet. What are you waiting for? You could text in on the 650-650 Dunbar Lumber text line, Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and reno warriors. For over 50 years, visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com.

I got to figure out what reads I need to do and when on this show. So I think I'm doing this one right now. Give Halford a call right now. Hey, Mike, I'm confused. Hour One of Halford and brough 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 1170 powell street and halford and brough is brought to you by the delari family of honda dealers experience the delari difference today visit your nearest delari honda dealer today i think that's it i think i did it okay here's what's

happening on the show today before we get to what happened 6 30 adnan verck it's an amazon game tonight for the vancouver canucks let's go Taking on the San Jose Sharks, their first Amazon game of the year. You will see Adnan Virk on the broadcast. So we'll talk to him about that and what he expects from the Canucks and Sharks. Macklin Celebrini's debut. That's fun. 7 o'clock, Mike Tenier. We'll talk to him about everything going on around the NFL.

Ryder, too deep zone um seahawks finally finally i get to talk football on the radio let's go you've been waiting for this moment i've been waiting for this moment they saddled me with a show called canucks talk where i can only bring up the nfl when i relate it back to the canucks directly so this is gonna be great the the seahawks took on the Minnesota Vikings yesterday. I was in attendance as a noted Minnesota Vikings fan. It was a wonderful

game. It was a good game. Seahawks lose 27-24. Their playoff hopes on the brink of extinction. They need to win out. And then 8 o'clock, Satyar Shah. Don't they need help too? They need help. They could win win out. And then 8 o'clock, Satyar Shah. Don't they need help, too? They need help.

Yeah, the Rams got it. Like, they could win out and still not make it. Yeah. How many Vikings fans were there? There was a decent amount, actually. So, walking in, it was like... Are they Vikings fans or Darnold fans? They're just like, die in the wool, Sam Darnold fans.

They're like, we hate JJ. We hate JJ. It was really upsetting, actually. Forever. As a noted JJ guy, I was like was really upsetting, actually. Darned forever. As a noted JJ guy, I was like, oh, I can't do this. No. There was a lot of Vikings fans. Not in my section, unfortunately.

I was walking in and I was like, oh, this is going to be a fun game. I'll get that high five with Vikings fans after touchdowns. That did not happen. It was a lot of Seahawks fans around me. They were very upset with me. It's fine. Anyway, 8 o'clock. o'clock Satyar Shah did you wear horns no I didn't go that all out okay and it was really wet yesterday it was I was not in a covered part of the stadium too anyway yeah yeah except Satyar Shah eight o'clock Canucks Central I know him uh he will join the show we'll talk Canucks at 8 o'clock.

That's what's happening on the show. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit bccsa.ca. I think those are all the reads I had to do for the first segment. There's so many reads on this show, but good for them.

It's 90% of Alfred's job. We kind of let him talk, but it's mostly just he delivers the ad he says ads and then goes brough go sorry that's not true he also puts up with brough yeah i guess that's there's two things that alfred does at an elite rate put up with brough and read ads and read ads and honestly and be a good hang alfred's a lovely guy uh so over the weekend we will start with the Vancouver Canucks. They lose to the Ottawa Senators 5-4 in overtime. Zach Clark's Ottawa Senators, by the way. How are you feeling about the...

Yeah, it's crazy. Why are you working here? How are you feeling about the Sens this year, by the way, Zach? Well, like any year for the Senators, amazing until it's terrible. Well, that's fair. Well, except it was terrible, and now it seems to be pretty good again. And I'm waiting until the cycle comes right back around. The Travis Green effect.

Linus Allmark, I mean, do we know? Do we know anything about Linus Allmark yet? Because he left yesterday's game against the Edmonton Oilers. Don't scare me. So, I don't know. We saw Ottawa's goaltending help the Canucks get back in the game in Allmark's absence on Saturday night. Mm-hmm. But we also saw, I thought, the Senators outplay the Canucks, frankly.

I thought the Canucks found their game last 13 minutes of regulation. But I also liked how the Senators tried to hold that lead. I thought they played really mature, disciplined hockey. Look, I've taken a lot of bullets for continuing to insist that Travis Green is a good coach in this market over the last five years, and I'm going to wait until they make the playoffs, which I think is going to happen given their space over the Rangers and the fact that the Boston Bruins can't generate a lick. But then I'm going to ask for some apologies.

I'm going to ask for handwritten apology notes. Way to hold on to that. Oh, obviously. What do you mean? Yeah, my bad. Have you met me? Yeah. I should have thought before I spoke. I'm just saying I had almost given up on my Travis Green stock, but

it looks like... Alas, it all comes back. Very much like the Minnesota Vikings and Sam Darnold. There you go. So, the Canucks lose 5-4 in overtime. They're 4-3 and 4 in the month of December. But, the

sideshow, I guess we can call it. Which overshadowed the loss. Which overshadows everything right now. Yeah, it does. Has been the Pedersen-Miller saga. Are they friends? Are they beefing? Is it a saga?

Are we at saga levels? It's been like multiple weeks. It is now. It is now. I just made it a saga. God, I hate this. And so the key pieces involved. It's a saga like Twilight in that it should only be interesting to people in high school.

Anyway. I don't know. Anyway. Hot take corn at 6.09. We're nine minutes into the show. Okay. So over the weekend, though, four main parties involved in the saga spoke to media as they returned home from the road trip. The first of which we will play now is from Quinn Hughes.

He was speaking to media. He's the captain of the team. Surely he knows what's going on in his room. He's got to keep things on track limit the limit the damage handle personalities all of that here's Quinn Hughes speaking to media before the game after morning skate on Saturday I think that it's been a lot of learning for everyone in here and um you know obviously not to beat around the bush you know everyone knows what the reports are out there but I think that um you know everyone expects a lot from each other.

There's times where I get upset with Millsy. There's times I get upset with Petey. There's times I get upset with Hronik. That doesn't mean that I don't love those guys and vice versa. I'm going to make some bad plays. They're going to make a play where I wish they saw me here or saw me there and over the course of playing together for six years I think that those things are normal and they're gonna happen and um as far as my leadership I think just continue to keep everyone on the yellow brick road and what our ultimate goal is which is

um short term you know having a good game tonight And long term, being a successful team and getting in the playoffs. Quinn Hughes, Wizard of Oz reference. He recently watched Wicked. It was in his head. I completely forgive him. He wants to keep everybody on the yellow brick road. In reference to JT Miller and Elias Pettersson. So essentially, it's Quinn Hughes going, hey, I know they have

their differences. They have to come together for the good of the team. Yeah, otherwise. So he acknowledges essentially that there are some issues. Otherwise, they'll never get out of Munchkinland. And it's dangerous in Munchkinland. Tornadoes and stuff. Yeah. Falling houses.

Yeah. That's the real danger in Munchkinland. Why do people live there? Okay, so that's Quinn Hughes. And then moments later, Rick Tockett, also before the game on Saturday, also after morning to Kate,

speaking to media as well. It's all about the crest. It's all about, you know, as long as I coach, it's always about the crest. It's not about the aim on the back. And you're going to have arguments.

You're going to have fights. I've been fortunate to be a Stanley Cup three times, two as a coach and one as a player. And there's always been something that has galvanized the team or something like that. So whether people are bickering and complaining, it happens all the time. And it's my job to make sure that, you know, guys have a voice and you move on from sort of stuff. But you also got to be mature too. It's not about, you know, you don't have to play PlayStation together.

You don't have to go to dinner with the other, but if it's your turn to go to the net, go to the net. I mean, that's really what it comes down to. Is it impacting their play though? I mean, they've both gone remarkably quiet along with both like Brock and Connor. Your top forwards right now have all gone quiet at the same time. Well, Millsy just got back, so he's three or four games.

So it's a matter of, for me, if you're struggling, make sure your other parts of the game are struggling. You've got to clean up certain things. Some guys are struggling, and they're not moving their feet. They're really not doing much of anything in the sense that they want to score so bad they forget they man i gotta go somewhere you know i gotta do something else or i gotta be a good four checker so you know as a coach you gotta remind them but uh there's been pockets of those guys playing well and there's some practice where you're struggling i guys gonna go through an eight game slump or

10 game slump becomes a story if the team is not doing the right things. There is Rick Tockett speaking to media, also mentioning EDE doesn't deny that there's anything going on between Pedersen and Miller, but also says, hey, they don't have to play PlayStation together. They do have to play Xbox together, one would assume. Switch on the plane.

Mario Kart? That's a non-starter. You've got to be in there. Non-negotiable! One of them wouldn't spring for the expansion pack. That's really the source of all of this. Got the Vancouver track in it. You've got to spring for the expansion pack. They both play Mario. That's the issue.

The track change. They're both like can't agree on a character. Let's be real, though. Yeah. Well, yeah, but you can select the same character in Mario Kart 8. We're not talking old school SNES or N64. That's all JT Miller plays. What? Metal Mario? 8. We're not talking old school SNES or N64. That's all JT Miller plays. What? Metal Mario?

Yeah. He's a big Metal Mario guy on Mr. Scooty with the slicked wheels. And then he's just pissed at Pedersen. Hey, JT Miller, man of taste. Man of taste. That's a good combo. Heavy character on Mr. Scooty. I love it.

So, I think it's important because we don't have the original questions. I don't know why my voice just squeaked. I think it's important because so Talk It and Hughes were asked directly about Miller and Pettersson. It wasn't general questions that sort of got them to that point. It was specifically Miller-Peterson sort of following up on, you know, and this is weird because everyone's saying, all this media reports. What reports? I'm still trying to figure out what the source of why we're all talking

about this is. Do you have an answer for me? There's been, so there was jason brough is the answer yeah it's always there's no there's like elliot friedman has talked about elliot friedman has talked about frank ceravalli has talked about it frank ceravalli has talked about it yes paul bissonnette paul bissonnette andy strickland yes okay i would say bissonnette might be the might be the the first domino that fell in this whole thing. Something of a theme between those four reporters.

What is it? They're all dudes. They're all pretty plus. There's that. None of them have a 604 area code in front of their telephone numbers. None of them are local. But I would say for most of them, I kind of trust the reporting. Oh, I'm absolutely not saying anything about that.

I'm just saying, like, the, you know. So, anyway, pivoting off of what those two gentlemen were being asked, right? And they're being asked because it's become a pretty significant league-wide talking point, like, in real league circles. I think it has been a concern for management, right? And it has been reported by a variety of credible national people.

For the first time since, I think there was an exit day three years ago where Pedersen was asked. And I think IMAC wrote a column last year about how their relationship has improved. So for the, I guess, the second or third time in their Canucks careers, Miller and Pedersen were then asked directly about it. Let's run the audio. Okay, so this was the first one. Elias Pedersen after the game on Saturday. Speaking to media.

Post game. That's still going on? Yeah, it has been. Well, same answer. It's good. I don't know why people still try and make shit up. Excuse my language, but yeah, that's my

response. So it hasn't been distracting you? Oh my my god next question so there's patterson post game i i love so much about that clip specifically the excuse my language oh man it's so good i'm not even gonna say the uh rob the hockey guy lounge suit at the end of the club right yeah that's pretty good hey rob rob's honestly upped his uh upped his dress attire at these events significantly over the time that i've known him so well done credit to you know that the daily hive wardrobe team um are they daily hive i always call them van city buzz anyway, the yeah, I mean, I don't know. I have no problem with a player going out there and just being like, I hate this question.

I'm not going to talk about it. It's ridiculous. And it's unfounded. Right. I have no problem with that. Whether it's founded or not. I have no problem with just being like, this is nothing. That's great.

I love it. All right. Let's play Miller. Okay. So Miller yesterday yesterday i also loved miller's response miller did not speak post game saturday but he did speak yesterday after practice here's jt miller talking about what's going on i'm not listen you guys in a sense that the outer world have created this thing like this isn't a thing so am i bothered no but you guys are just wasting your time

about hearing of it i don't care you guys want to talk about it you want to ask me ask me all you want i can bring up pd we can do the interview together if that would make you guys happy i wish that so i i wasn't there it was a little bit under the weather this weekend i wish that someone had been like Please, can we please do that? Go get Feddersen right now Like never say no to a good offer That was a great offer Extraordinarily generous, right?

JT Miller with his vision and playmaking skill Like sent up an apple I would have loved if someone had been like Can we? Please, please That sounds like great video and audio content for all of us. We will fill notebooks for days. Yeah.

Imagine what we would have done today had they spoken together. So, by the way, the only thing that I would have disagreed with JT Miller, but even he qualified it. He was like, you know, you people. By you, I mean the outside world. Yeah. Because, again, there's no... So I think understanding this story, I think understanding what's happened here

is to recognize just how nebulous it's been. Okay? So the conversation starts because there's a practice mini fracas that's reported on by media watching in which Miller and Peder and and peterson exchange cross checks and some words are exchanged totally normal thing right not a sign of dysfunction not a sign of ill health within a team dynamic in fact you know lots of times you have guys who fight and

then build closer relationships stemming from the work you put in to just be like hey man my bad you know we saw it last year with Dakota Joshua and Connor Ireland, right? Like, it's not a big deal. And that went really well after. It was good. They're like besties. So, you know, that happens. Following that, you have the Elliott Friedman 32 thoughts theory

slash report, right? I wouldn't call it like as firm a report because he qualified it pretty carefully talking about sort of the Canucks wanting Hughes and Miller and tasking Hughes and Miller to toughen Pettersson up, which sort of got this conversation rolling

before it really became a conversation. I think things got amplified after Miller's leave, right? Which of course was unexplained. Fine. Yeah. And then you had the Strickland report and the Bissonette report sort of in the same timeframe. And then it really got rolling, right? And then what you had was the team wins a bunch of games and Pedersen puts up a bunch

of points in Miller's absence. And then when Miller comes back, the team has this run of inconsistent form. And, and I don't think there's direct links, but from, from a media perspective, right? Like I promise you,

I did not become a hockey reporter because I wanted to talk about whether grown men like each other. You know what I mean? Like if I want to do that, I can just like participate in any 15 group chats that I'm in. No, but seriously, like that's not what I'm interested in personally.

The only time it matters is if it impacts the team's play on the ice, right? Like if, if it actually, or for example, if Pedersen was six months away from unrestricted free agency and these reports were out there, you can bet that I'd

be working on it because that's a huge hockey story. Look, if these guys have had a tough relationship in the past, and they have, I don't know what's happened recently, but in the past there's been issues.

If it was such a big issue, both of them have locked up and signed and committed to a team long term to play with one another. So it can't have been a big enough issue that they were not willing to stay and be part of this team and be part of each other's lives as teammates for years and years and years. If you're unhappy at work, do you sign an eight-year contract? Come on. It wasn't enough for this team to not win last year. And I think this has exploded despite sort of nebulous origins because there's a lot of unanswered questions around Miller's leave. Fair, but also something that sort of creates a vacuum and drives speculation. And then when you have this sort of suggestion in there, there's like another vacuum created.

And so you've got like speculation built on speculation. Fans are talking about it. I do think it's a concern or at least something that canucks management looks at as like the canucks internally look at is something that they have to work through you know i think quinn hughes and rick tockets answers speak to there being something there even if it's not something that's like pressing or that makes miller and petterson's answers necessarily untrue by any means. Yeah. And so that's sort of why we came to a head

here. Fans have been talking about it almost more than we want to talk about it on air. Yeah. I promise you that from reading the inbox day to day. Yeah. People around the league have been talking about it. These gentlemen got asked once about it by media. And by the way, media now locally

will move on. Because we should. Principles have addressed it. It's not a story. The story, though, that I think we still have to track here is the performance of this core group or leadership group, which has been uneven, and has been uneven in the environment in which this team has had an inconsistent work rate game to game.

Patrick Alveen gave an interview to Patrick Johnson on Friday, sort of effectively calling out the core group, the leadership group, and calling on them to bring more individually and bring more out of their team. So that part of this, which isn't about Miller and Pettersson being friends or not, that part of it, this core group needing to play better, but also needing to lead better. I think that's a valid tangentially related part of this story that we should take seriously and do need to talk about. I think that he said, she said stuff. We got to be able to move past it now that peterson and miller have addressed it and denied it and then making this into like a vancouver media toxic story is a complete misread

of the facts on the ground and how we got here and it's just like completely bogus lastly if this is truly a figment of the outside noise, right? I don't love that the organization couldn't figure out how to deny it convincingly. Yeah. That to me is sort of a bigger signal in terms of just being on the same page from a, from a, just like communications and having each other's back publicly perspective that, that actually does cause me to be like, what happened here, guys? What happened, right? So that's my recap of it.

I'm sick of this story. I want to move on. I think the players want to move on. The takeaway here, though, needs to be core group needs to play better and lead better, and that's a fair takeaway to have. Yeah. Yeah. That's my two cents. Sounds good. We'll talk more Canucks later as the show goes on by the way also uh in what happened Seahawks

lose to the Vikings 27-24 the Rams won now heavy favorites to win the NFC West Seahawks they need to win out and they also need the Rams to lose this week to Arizona and then final uh in in the final week of the season week 18 Seahawks play the Rams so they they don't control their own destiny but if they get through this week with a Rams loss Seahawks win on Thursday against the Bears then they do control their own destiny that's what's going on with the Seahawks we'll talk more about that later as well it is Josh Elliott-Wolf, Thomas Strance, Sportsnet 650. It's time to chat with Adnan.

It's Adnan Berkey's on the show. We're gonna talk some hockey. And take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for Adnan. Yes, Adnan Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ice rink. And talk about all the films he's seen. Welcome back to Alfred and Brough.

I had not heard that. That was all a surprise to me. Was that a hockey version of that? The hockey version of it. That was wonderful. Yeah, that's all A-Dog. Way to go, Andy. Sometimes the B-roll is the A-roll, you know?

That's one of those times. Alfred and Brough. Alfred and Brough. Brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. Just call it Brough and Ruff. You know you want to.

Brough and Ruff. Like Dollywall. And also, hour one of Halford and Brough. Brough. Man, I can't say Brough today. What's going on? Brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. I think it's the North that was throwing me off now that i think about it vancouver's premier metal recycler

pays the highest prices on scrap metal north star metal recycling they recycle you get paid 1170 powell street no halford no brough it's josh elliott wolf and thomas trance and in a moment we're going to be joined by Adnan Virk. NHL Network, he's also host of Amazon Prime Monday Night Hockey. The Vancouver Canucks. Playing. Yeah, yeah. The Vancouver Canucks playing on Amazon tonight.

They're taking on the San Jose Sharks. The first Amazon game of the season, by the way. So adjust accordingly. Six o'clock puck drop uh it will not be on Sportsnet it will be on Amazon so get ready for that uh we will talk to Adnan once we get him on the line about uh I want to just we'll we'll give you a rundown of who's on the broadcast all of that because I'm gonna go ahead and assume that some Canucks fans are are unaware and have not watched the game on Amazon yet this year this will be your first taste we go to the phone line now it is Adnan Virk uh MLB Network NHL Network host of Amazon Prime Monday Night Hockey appreciate

you take the time Adnan how are you Josh Thomas my pleasure fellas great to be with you guys as always and yes kudos to Andy and that opening. I think this is the first time I noticed the Pink Panther is the first riff, like that first beat. I feel like the Pink Panther is welcoming on here. Unlicensed Pink Panther. Yeah, unlicensed. If you just take a couple notes, it's okay.

It's funny you mention it. Years ago, I worked nine years at ESPN. One of the biggest things they warned us about, they're gonna never sing happy birthday on air like there's always some anchor who has a birthday some player they go to know because it's like incredibly expensive right see to pay for it so uh you're right you can't mess with those things gotta be careful with the licensing and such yeah it's a it's really a homage to the rose panther adnan the rose there we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's a big one. The Rose was, but that's what it's all about. I love it, boys. Great to be with you. Great to be with you too, bud. How excited are you for tonight? Macklin Celebrini. So for the Canucks who've lost three in a row coming into tonight's game, right? You fall, and I actually have seen fan base after fan base fall into this trap over the last four weeks

where you look at the schedule, see the san jose sharks you say this is an easy one free two points night because you remember last year when teams were speed bagging them 10-1 8-2 whatever and then macklin celebrini and tyler toffoli and even guys like yan ruda and cody cc provide like a real nhl baseline and they come in and they actually like Jan Ruda and Cody Cece provide like a real NHL baseline and they come in and they actually play pretty fun hockey and they're not an easy team to beat right now and then if you lose or if you struggle the fan base overreacts how funny or how interested are you to see this one tonight well I think this and the whole climate around your team is fascinating I wish I was at the game play.

Andy Petrillo is in for me as I'm here in Maple right now with my family. But yeah, I think it's going to be fascinating for all the reasons that you mentioned. I was with Sam Cosentino, our buddy at Sportsnet the other day at NHL Network. He kind of visited us in Secaucus

and we were going to the Western Conference and I said, do you think the playoff field is set as it is, right? We're only 30 games, we have 50 games left in the NHL regular season. But is it pretty much set? And we're looking at it, and you're like, all right, three, three, uh-huh. And the only one that gets tricky is you go, maybe the Flames can make a run.

And the team they get concerned about is Vancouver. Because at that point in Colorado, it was a wild card. I believe now they've jumped to third. But regardless, there's a lot of talk around Vancouver. And that's what caused my sense of it. There's just a lot of chatter. You know, what's going on with the JT and the Eli chatter, you know, what's all the JT and the, uh,

Elias, you know, what's, what's the vibe with this team? Why aren't they where they were a year ago? Health of goalies, blah, blah,

blah. And you're absolutely right. When a team of the Sharks comes in, who on paper is a terrible team. I mean, this is absolutely easy to win for Vancouver. You go into the holiday break, you feel great,

but I always feel like it goes the other way. Maybe it's a half a glass empty approach, but you lose a game like this. And then stew about it goes the other way. Maybe it's the half-glass-empty approach, but you lose a game like this and then stew about it for a few days. God, I can't imagine how miserable Rick Tockett would be. So, Celebrini has been unbelievable. I looked at the Calderons the other day. I love Mishka. I picked him

at the start of the year. He's still the favorite to win the Calderons. Celebrini has come on strong. The kid's 18 years old, and I interviewed him on NHL Network a month ago. God, he looks like he's got pimples, so it's unbelievable. unbelievable as fresh faced as you can get um ask robson much better for them as well so yeah the sharks is always capable of stealing a win and i'm curious what happens tonight at vancouver uh adnan you mentioned the uh the miller petterson stuff and i i always find it interesting to see how how much this is registering outside of uh. Because here, stuff like this is just going to catch on

and it's going to be extremely popular. People are going to be talking about it. Fans are going to be talking about it. But from the outside looking in, is this a major storyline with this team right now? Or is this maybe not as big as we're making it seem in Vancouver? No, I think, listen, again, when you're in America, you're covering

obviously hockey as a national sport, but there's going to be a greater focus. I could tell you everything about the Rangers right now, and Bruins have been much better since Joe Sacco took over and all the rest of it. But whenever Canadian teams get talked about non-leafs or non-halves, it has to be a major story. And the fact that

on NHL Network in the States, we're talking about this Miller-Pettersson non-haves, it has to be a major story. And the fact that on NHL Network in the States, we're talking about this Miller-Pettersson thing. Whatever viability it has, whatever legs it has, whatever nonsense it has, it's certainly gotten more people's attention, I think, than they would like. Obviously, if any team has any sort of dissension, then you want to keep that in-house as much as possible. And whether it's completely overblown or whether there's absolute fact to it i mean i obviously can't speak to that you guys know much better than me but the fact that i even

know about it to me is that is something which is not something that you want if you're a canucks fan so just in general what's your what's your read on the canucks so far this season like they've been kind of up and down it's been maybe not the best month of December, but they're still finding a way to get points and all that. Is this a team that you look at as a team that just kind of hasn't found who they are yet, or do you have legitimate concerns about what the Canucks might be this season? I have legitimate concerns because at the start of the season, I said, listen, they could be in the Cup.

I never thought, wow, you're really big on the Canucks. You're really playing to your audience. No, I think, listen, a year ago with Seeloff as a third goalie able to make a run, so if Dr. Demko's healthy, you know, why not? And you've seen... I just always look at fellas' talent. Like, if you

can just tell me, hey, I've got top end talent with Hughes, Pedersen, Miller, etc cetera, that I'm buying. And after that, I feel like you always supplement. I think talking to a really good coach for them and giving them an identity. But you're right. It just, again, from my bird's-eye view, it just hasn't coalesced so far this year. And yet, if I look at most of the National Hockey League,

if I looked at teams that I feel confident about, they haven't had the seasons that we thought they'd have. Again, back to the Rangers. Precious trophy a season ago. This year, they're on the odds of looking at a playoff spot. Avalanche, again, been in the bubble much of the year, and yet I'm not counting on a team that's got that kind of, again,

top-end talent. If you're telling me McKinnon, McCarr, McKinnon could be up for the Art Ross or the Hart. You know, Ransom's on pace with 116 points. Forget about it. So, although I think Vancouver's Art Ross or the hard, you know, Ransom's on pace for 116 points. They don't forget about it. So, although I think Vancouver's been inconsistent, and although I'm surprised that they haven't really taken the bull by the horns, to me, I'm like, it hasn't been a horrible start. It's just been a herky-jerky, you know, win three, lose two kind of thing.

So, to me, I'm like, as long as you make the dance, you'll be okay. It's still relatively early. But I do think, much like in baseball, fellas, I look at the season and say, okay, Memorial Day is the first third, and then trade deadline is the second third, and that's obviously the final third. And hockey, I do really take stock of that Christmas break where your team is. Like, I do think, because you

just physically get a pause, and you can kind of assess the situation. And everyone goes home with their families and celebrates Christmas and whatnot. But you kind of go, okay, let's get this thing going. Because that second third can be really problematic. Just think about it. January, we're only going to play, what, five weeks before Four Nations shuts things down.

So then that's going to be an awkward two- or three-week break. And then we kick things up again. So I do think that if you're the Canucks and the brass specifically of talking, you're saying to yourself, okay, hey, next five weeks, let's figure this out. Let's play at a 60% winning percentage over the next six weeks so that when we get that break, we can feel better about ourselves for what will be the final third of the season. And then you mentioned the Western Conference playoff race

and whether or not it's settled. For me, it's Utah. For me, Utah squandering a third-period lead 4-2 against the Ducks yesterday, ultimately losing in overtime. To me, that's, or shootout, the shootout, they lost in the shootout. Right. To me, that's like a local story. Because if there's an eighth team, right, if we assume that Colorado is going to get, you know, their house in order, that I think is, you know, a possibility of being really hot down the stretch,

running really hot down the stretch, and being a problem for a team, whether it's in the Canucks or the Kings tier here, and the Kings might be leaving that tier despite their loss yesterday too. It's kind of that Utah Hockey Club, given the speed, the youth, the way they've played so far. Are you taking that upstart club seriously as a playoff threat? Well, here's the thing. If you underestimate them, then that's always the most dangerous team.

And I think Kaz actually said to me, Utah was the one team that when he looked at it, he was like, yeah, I think they could still crash the party. To me, I mean, certainly their start was eye-opening. You're like, oh my God, they're a different team now. They've got Arizona. Obviously, all that uncertainty around a team, that can't affect players. Where are we going? Where are we playing?

What's this arena, et cetera? So maybe the fact that they're feeling better about things. I still don't necessarily think they're a threat, but you're absolutely right that those are the teams that can be incredibly frustrating because they're not quite good enough because they're giving away those points instead of an extra point at the shootout, and yet they're still getting a point by getting to the shootout, so they're still in the mix. Like, it's crazy.

When you look at the league, if you just look at point total, you can almost make a case for, like, virtually every team. And I know that happens, like, in basketball now. It's pretty nuts because the play-in, every team feels it get in. But, like, in hockey, literally every game really does matter. Like, it's really kind of an essence of why the regular season is so critical because you get those three-point swings where you're like, man, if we get that shootout win, especially if it's a second, out of a back-to-back, if it's a tough situation,

it gives you just a little bit of breathing room. Ultimately, every single playoff race, those wild cards are going to go right down the wire, right? It can be 82, 83, 84 points, 87, whatever it is. But Utah's a team that I say to myself i don't feel if you just say gut check are they a playoff team no but could they be incredibly frustrating and upset the apple cart absolutely if they were to like because every year it kind of feels like there's going to be the there ends up being a random elite player that becomes available

uh usually by the trade deadline maybe it doesn't happen this year, but maybe it does. If Utah felt like a team that was close, could you see an addition like that, an elite addition, being the thing that kind of puts some legitimacy to what they're doing? Because it does feel like Ryan Smith and Utah, they would be much more willing to make a move like that than in previous years. It is true. Listen, the good news for the franchise is this. They would be much more willing to make a move like that than in previous years. It is true.

Listen, the good news for the franchise is this. You went from incredible uncertainty and frustration for years to clearly having a home and a young, bullish owner who wants to spend and feels like he's got a real breath of fresh air. Maybe it's too much to call Ryan Smith Mark Cuban, but he's got a backwards hat, he's young, and he's got money. So why not? He can be the NHL's guy. He seems to be thrilled there.

And I'll ask you guys, it actually makes a lot of sense. When you tell me, of course, Utah, yeah, they would support hockey. Salt Lake City has got a great infrastructure for winter sports, etc. I just don't like the nickname, by the way, the hockey club. Come on. How is the Yeti not being used? Utah Yeti would have been phenomenal. But yes, could they be in a position to add,

or is the pass always subtracting? Absolutely. And I think where it gets tricky is that almost every team thinks they're going to add. Like, I was looking at the story with the Predators, who have been awful this season. Right? It's just a huge disappointment. And yet, almost all their contracts, they've got no trades, except for, I think, Ryan O'Reilly, who I don't think they want to part with.

And the story was that Barry Trotz might be looking to add. And I'm like, add? Again, there's very few teams that are legitimately bad. Look at the standards right now. But the Predators are bad. There's no question about it. And yet, I think because they're saddled with these long-term contracts and a veteran-laden core, you give $32 million to Stancoast, et cetera,

you can't just punt in the season. So they're looking to add. I'm like, God, I don't know how you can add. It's going to be very difficult to do. So in a situation like that, Barry Trotz may end up coaching. Pull a little Lou Lamorello or Harry Sinden. Like when the team's not working, Glenn Sather. The team's not working out until the GM becomes the coach again.

Barry doesn't. Probably structure wouldn't necessarily fit that team. But I think that almost every team, my point is almost every team is looking to add, especially at this point of the season. There's very few teams that are, I think, honest enough to be assessment and say we're not a good enough team. Where can we get some assets? So, yeah, could Utah be adding at this point in time?

No question, especially with that ownership, which would want to make an impact. Are you kidding me? If you're on the outs and looking in, but you're battling for a playoff spot, you have to feel like, no, we're going to push you to a playoff spot in our first season here, get some fans. Look at the Vegas model. So quickly, they built

up a great fan base because they won. They were winners out of the gate. Utah would love to emulate that. It is Halford & Brough, Josh Elliott, Wolf Thomas, Stranz filling in for Halford & Brough, joined by Adnan Virk, MLB Network, NHL Network, and host of Monday Night Hockey on Amazon Prime.

Did want to throw a baseball question by you before we brought you on. The Red Sox reportedly signing Walker Bueller to a one-year contract, just over $21 million. First question, what do you think of that for the Red Sox? And second question, why aren't the Blue Jays doing anything? Well, the second one I feel like will take a lot longer to answer, so I'll start there. It's got to be incredibly frustrating to be a Blue Jays doing anything? Well, the second one I feel like will take a lot longer to answer,

so I'll start there. It's got to be incredibly frustrating to be a Blue Jays fan because every single one of their contenders is making moves. Like the Yankees, I've been so impressed by. And to be clear, I still, I don't care what you want to tell me about all the moves they've made. I just praise them. I still want to have Juan Soto.

He's a transcendent player. He's an incredible hitter. He's going to be one of the best hitters in baseball for the next 10, 15 years, whatever the duration of his contract is. But if you don't get your boy, you've got to go make some moves. Devin Williams is an awesome closer and should translate well. Cody Bellinger has been up and down and is a little bit overpaid, but he'll hit you 260 in 25 home runs, and if that park will play,

defensively he's excellent to run the bases. That's a good move for them to pick him up, and then he can move Aaron Judge to right field. And of course, the Freed contract. Again, is it a bit of an overpay? Sure. Six for 160 makes more sense. But Rodonga, six for 162.

And that's an overpay. So eight for 218, fine. I'll get a great lefty guy who's legit, offers me protection with Cole. Awesome. So then you look at the Red Sox. Let's go get Garrett Crochet, who's arguably, he's not Freed,

because Freed has a better track record. But Crochet's season last year was amazing. Like, strikeout to walk ratio was awesome. Legit ace to anchor your rotation. And they've got their young guys

like Brian Bale and Tanner Houck and those young pitchers that they believe in. Now, if you had Bueller, I'm like, you tell me that number

and I go, that's it? Like, a part of me goes, wait, $21 million for one year for a guy who had the worst regular season of his career. He had one win in the

regular season, and he's battled injuries in two-time time with John. Okay. Did you watch the playoffs? That was awesome. It was absolute money. Like, he was nailed when he was expecting it to be. That was the classic Walker Buehler of old. So I would have been worried. I'm like, oh, I've got to pay three years, $60 million for this guy. One year for $21 million. I'll take a flyer on Walker Buehler

for a year. Absolutely. Especially if the Red Sox, as I believe, are giving. One year for $21 million. I'll take a flyer on Walker if we look for a year. Absolutely. Especially if the Red Sox, as I believe, are going to be the mix for wild card spots. If you tell me inevitably he gets hurt a little bit, okay, fine. He's a little bit ineffective. But if you tell me to come down the stretch, he's going to be the Walker, be able to pass. He's somebody I can count on. Absolutely.

So I love the move for the Red Sox and my old buddy Alex Cora. I mystified from the Blue Jays because, again, if I look around, the Orioles got Tyler O'Neal. He gives me some power. They moved in the fences. They moved down the wall. That's good news. He's a right-handed power hitter who's going to slug for them. Canadian, by the way. Red Sox, they made their moves. Crochet and Buehler added to that pitching staff. They're not done yet, and the

Yankees, they make their moves. And the Jays go, all right, Jimenez, cool. I mean, outstanding defensively. Had a down year offensively. Hopefully can get back to being a good bat. He offers protection in case Bo leaves after the season. But if you're telling me those other teams are making those moves and you're just looking at Andres Jimenez and you think that's enough to compete,

we've got another thing coming. Yeah, it just feels like with all these moves that other teams are making, it's like, okay, now you have to make you got to do even more if you're the jays and and and try to just to try to be competitive like that's not even to to make you a clear you know world series candidate whatever it is that's just to to get to to relevancy in the division but it's uh yeah it's been frustrating for for blue jays fans did one who uh we'll throw a movie question by you before you go.

It is the week of Christmas. Do you have any, like, are you a Christmas movie guy? Do you have any underrated Christmas movies that you can recommend to the masses here? Well, it's great because I've got to tape my podcast with our buddy Jason DeBerge shortly, and it's all unscripted, and we were laughing. I said, you know, there's this very convoluted story

that at one point, it's like the, I don't know, 23-meter hill, it's called your lineage, ancestry. He thought he was Jewish. So for three or four years, he was Jewish.

He thought he was out on Christmas. And myself being Muslim, I've never celebrated Christmas. So for me, Christmas has always been go to the movies and eat Chinese food. Like, it's great.

So I enjoy the day and I get none of the stress having to buy presents and all this, like this anxiety people have. No, man, it's all good. I go see whatever big new movie's out. And since I'm so fortunate, because I had my podcast in a file for so many years, I was able to get into the Critics' Choice Association,

the CCA, I still get all the screeners sent to me. So it really is the best of both worlds in that I've seen everything, which is amazing. Like, I'm so lucky. Go ahead, name me a movie. Like, Wicked, I just watched it last night. It's great. A couple of good songs.

Cynthia Erivo, mature. The Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, I watched that last week. But now I feel like on Christmas, I can go watch whatever I want to see, like actually in a big screen. Like, The Brutalist is an incredible film. You guys haven't heard of it yet,

because I'm sure it's just opening up in Vancouver, December 21st, it opened nationwide. More theaters in January. Adrian Brody film, Guy Pearce, Shades of There Will Be Blood. I'm like, oh, my God. It was so good on my laptop. Now I can't wait to actually go watch it on an IMAX. So normally my Christmas ritual is seeing a movie,

and I'll be even more fortunate this year because I've seen them all. So if I get stuck having to watch Sonic 3 with the boys, I'll just enjoy Nota K and Jim Carrey and enjoy the popcorn and Milk Duds. Yeah, I only watch Timothee Chalamet movies first release on Christmas now, Adnan. Sorry. That's my new rule. It's not a Bob Dylan biopic.

It's the new Timothee Chalamet movie. And the new Timothee Chalamet Christmas film in particular. Like, guy is owning Christmas. It's like the NFL is trying to steal it from the NBA, right? But like... That could be the poll question. Netflix to watch NFL and Mahomes

or Chalamet matinee Christmas Day? Chalamet. Come on, we all want Chalamet on Christmas. It's an international phenomenon. He's a fascinating guy because he's got movies that obviously resonate with the critics, like Lady Bird and obviously a complete and no, he's going to get nominated. For the record, I thought he was amazing in the movie.

He's transformed it. And the fact that his own singing is incredible. But I thought it was a fairly conventional biopic. And Dylan himself is such an enigmatic guy. The movie was enigmatic as well. It basically plays as a concert film. And my buddy Mad Dog Rooster was so mad at me. He said, how could you be dumped on the movie? I said, I didn't dump.

I said, it's a good movie. And I said, his performance is great. And he'll get nominated for an Oscar. He might even win an Oscar. But don't go to that movie and say, oh, so this is why Bob Dylan's a big deal. You're not going to get that. You're just going to see this 19-year-old guy who's mumbling from Minnesota, and then he makes a bunch of big folk songs, and it's cool. And Ed Norton's fun and all the rest of it. But it's not. I didn't

feel like it was, at least walk the line, which is James Mangold's previous musical biopic, The Great Johnny Cash Movie. But back to Chalamet, dude, he's made Lady Bird, but he'll be in Dune too. Like he makes these massive movies, which, you know, science fiction people will love, our host audiences love. He's owning Christmas the way Jolly

Saint Nick inspired him to be. Owning Christmas, killing it with his bowl game picks. I mean, he's unstoppable. Guy's legit impressive. And by the way, I'm stoked to see The Brutalist. What was it? Was it filmed on iPhones or something?

No, it's crazy. So the movie looks gorgeous. Like if I told you the budget, I would think it's like $100 million. It's like $10 million. Yeah. And it's three hours and 15 minutes. And I'll do it real quick. Laszlo Toth is the main character.

He's played by Adrian Brody, who's this Hungarian immigrant who comes to America, escaping fascism, the Nazis, et cetera, and then tries to cover a better life for himself. Guy Pearce, who I've adored since Memento, has this incredible role as this really rich, tough guy, very gruff, who he hires him basically to build him this incredible dreamlike home, and then chaos ensues. Again, The Only Blood is one of my favorite movies. Clearly, while watching it, I said, Brady Corbett, the writer-director, is inspired by that movie.

It's clearly paying homage to Daniel Day-Lewis in that movie. It's essentially an indictment of capitalism, but it's dark, it's towering, and you've got to see it on the big screen. Again, on my 12-inch laptop, it didn't do it justice, but The Burlap is a hell of a movie. Looking forward to it. Adnan, really appreciate you takinginch laptop, it didn't do it justice, but The Burmese is a hell of a movie. Looking forward to it.

Adnan, really appreciate you taking the time, and thanks for this. Josh, Thomas, thank you so much, boys. Happy holidays. We'll talk to you soon. Happy holidays to you, man. Sounds good. There is Adnan Virk, MLB Network, NHL Network, and host of Amazon Prime, Monday Night Hockey. And Chalamet correspondent for the Rough and Brough Morning Show.

Yes. And I got to say, you're asking for his Christmas recommendations. There's one that I want to recommend. If you haven't seen it, called Klaus. Dude! With a K. I was just recommending this game the other day. It came out about five years ago. Not a lot of people know about it. It's got a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. If you're just looking for like an alternative to watch with your family, it's

got a great cast. Norm MacDonald's in it. Yeah. So I highly recommend it. I had not watched it until two weeks ago, and then the next day I came in and I was like, God, you have to watch it. He was singing the praises of Klaus. I re-watched Die Hard yesterday because I hadn't done it this holiday season, and it rules.

It does. Just a great, great movie. You can watch it anytime, though. No, but I don't. I only watch it around the holidays. We're not doing this, though. No, no, we're not doing this. On the other side, Mike Tenier, writer, Too Deep Zone, NFL.

We'll get into the Seahawks and much more around the league. It is Halpern and Brough on Sportsnet 650.