Halford & Brough in the Morning - No More Passengers

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports (3:00), they talk a disappointing Canucks home effort versus the Bruins which resulted in a 5-1 loss (6:00), plus they hear from Elliotte Friedman via the 32 Thoughts Podcast regarding if Vancouver might try to shake things up with a trade involving Elias Pettersson (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.

da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da behind the net. Got a wrap around. He scores. David Pasternak beats Thatcher Demko by outweighing him around the net. This is my nightmare. Let's face facts. For four or five guys, they're struggling. They're struggling to get emotionally invested in the game. It's not like you can go to Costco

and just pick up one or two of these players that you think can help you. No, no, no, no. Good morning Vancouver. 6-0-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halford and his bruv. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec

studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough 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 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.

And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec. Who doggie do we have a lot to get into on the show today? Sports weekend. Socked, man.

Socked. The Canucks sucked. The Seahawks sucked. Whitecaps might be moving. Sucky as much as sucks that it sucked. The Canucks sucked. The Seahawks sucked. Whitecaps might be moving. Sucking as much as sucks that ever sucked. We are going to still have fun, bring energy, all of it today because we've got a huge show, massive stuff, and the Canucks are back in action tonight.

Guest list begins at 7 o'clock. Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the Too Deep Zone, is going to join us. We'll talk about an MVP caliber performance from Josh Allen, an injury to Patrick Mahomes, 10th straight win for the Eagles and the Seahawks clunkers. Jason mentioned on Sunday night football, uh,

seven 30. Arif Dean is going to join the program from Colorado hockey now and mile high sports. Uh, it is the Canucks. It is the avalanche tonight. Note the start time, seven 30 late one puck drop tonight at Rogers arena start time, 7.30, late one.

Puck drop tonight at Rogers Arena. In case you're wondering about the scheduling, Canucks Central from 4 to 6.30, pregame show from 6.30 to 7.30, game starts at 7.30, and then the postgame show all right here on Sportsnet 650. So Arif Dean will join us to talk about the Avs at 7.30 this morning, 8 o'clock,

Kevin Woodley, NHL.com, InGoal Magazine. We'll do a preview of tonight's game from the Canucks side of things, talk about what he's seen from Thatcher Demko through his first couple of starts, and what we can expect from new Avs goalie Mackenzie Blackwood. He'll probably play tonight against the Vancouver Canucks. It is a very good sports night, I'll tell you that. Not one, but two Monday night football games.

Not great matchups. You get Bears and Vikings and Falcons and Raiders. You also get a Stanley Cup Finals rematch tonight between the Oilers and the Panthers. That's on Amazon Prime at 5.30 and then of course the Canucks game at 7.30. So that's it. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

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

What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. While there are many contenders for worst home game of the year for the Vancouver Canucks through Czech's calendar, December 16th, Saturday was certainly one of them. David Pasternak, a goal and three assists. The Boston Bruins whipped on the Vancouver Canucks. 5-1 at Rogers Arena on Saturday night.

Not a good night for the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, that at Rogers Arena on Saturday night. Not a good night for the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, that was a concerning effort and an especially frustrating one. Following their performance Thursday against Florida, the Bruins dominated the game from the very start, and you never like to see Brad Marchand happy, and he was laughing. He was laughing.

The crowd was booing him him and he scores the first goal, puts his hand up to his ear like Hulk Hogan, sarcastic Hulk Hogan. And let me tell you that night, that night was worrying for a number of reasons. And it even got me thinking back to the Florida game and going, you know what? Like it was good, the Florida game. Don't get me wrong.

But think of who led the charge in the Florida game. Max Sasson led the charge in the Florida game. It was him in the first period, right? That helped the Canucks get off to the 2-0 lead. It was the fourth line. It scored the first two goals. And then, you know, it was a lot of Lankan in. And yeah, Besser scored, but it wasn't, you know,

it wasn't necessarily the top dogs that got it done against the Florida Panthers. And can we all admit that it's some of the top dogs that we're worried about right now and curious about right now. Brother, I'm worried about all the dogs. Top dogs, bottom dogs, middle dogs, A dogs, fatty dogs. Let's start playing some audio because there was some interesting audio

from both Rick Tockett and Jim Rutherford. Let's start with the head coach because the you know, the Florida game, it just felt like a bit of a reprieve, but it was a short-lived reprieve because that Boston game, man, Rick Taka was not happy. And, you know, he had the kind of infamous quote, even by now, about the guys who weren't invested in the game um and do we have

that quote let's start with that audio right now because that was what took a lot of people by surprise i think are you getting enough emotional pushback from your team for some guys yeah we we have let's face facts, four or five guys that are struggling. They're struggling to get emotionally invested in the game and that's my job to get these guys. Still certain guys we've got to find another gear from

them. They've got to understand that it's the NHL and you can't play one good game and then two bad. This is a game, a sport, the NHL, where you have to be jacked up to play the game. You have to be emotionally in the game. Sometimes the guys take like 30 minutes to get in the game for whatever reason.

So Rick Tuckett himself has received a lot of criticism that I've noticed online. And I threw out a tweet during the game and I said, I notice a lot of people are blaming Rick Talkett for all this. You tell me specifically what he's doing wrong. And a lot of people pushed back and they said it was the system. It was the system. It's a dump and chase system.

It's not a creative system. And look, I'm not sitting here and saying that the coaching staff doesn't deserve questioning, doesn't deserve criticism even. When the team isn't prepared to play, even Rick Talkett admitted, I guess I've got to do a better job of getting these guys prepared. But I do want to play this one piece of audio because Rick Tockett is not telling his guys to dump it in and dump it out all the time. That's not what he wants them to do. He wants them to make more plays than they're

making. He wants them to hold on to more pucks. He wants them to, you know what he wants them to want? He wants them to want the puck. He wants them to look up and make some passes. So Laddie, can we play the audio? It was the part that starts with the weak side was open. Like he was really frustrated with, I think, mostly his defenseman because, you know, he did put some of it on his forwards, but there were plays to be made in the Boston game, and there was a very interesting tidbit in this audio, and we'll talk about it after we play it. The weak side was open a

bunch of times tonight we just couldn't find it we just we didn't see it tonight the skate four or five more feet hit the weak side it's open instead of we're jamming it up the strong side um that happened and then we had some you know spurts like i said i think we had 54 60 attempts at the net getting our shots blocked we talked about a certain play we want to do against Boston we didn't do it till maybe in the third so that's a little I think that pisses the staff off because we had a good game plan but somehow when when you chase the game or you're a little bit when you got the puck it's like a hot potato all of a sudden I don't want it so what do you do you just get rid of it so I think we got to calm the waters and even when you're down to nothing you still can

make plays you know we don't have to dump the puck in we don't have to just throw you know throw it off the glass there's plays to be made you know we were just watching the video after the game there's there's 10 to 12 foot passes available and we're flipping pucks not not just the defense it's it's a group so there's so many issues right now there's so many issues right now like that that's an indictment when a head coach comes up after the game and says my guys weren't weren't playing the game plan i mean it's an indictment of the players but i guess it's also an indictment of the coaching staff that's why you rarely hear that that the guys weren't following the game plan. I mean, it's an indictment of the players, but I guess it's also an indictment of the coaching staff. It's why you rarely hear that, that the guys weren't following the game plan. Oh yeah, why weren't they following it? Doesn't look great on the coach's communication.

Doesn't look great on the team's buy-in around the coach. And then there's also the matter of, well, maybe you just don't have good enough players, right? And that's going to lead us into this next bit of audio we're throwing a bunch of audio out there just now just to get everyone thinking about it texting into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650 650 we want to hear your thoughts we've got a whole hour of just Halford and I and the dogs talking about this so we want to hear your thoughts as well because Jim Rutherford the president of hockey ops came on after the game and we all wondered if he would be breathing hot fire at the Canucks after that performance but he wasn't

really he was actually quite reserved but he did say that the team needs a few more players. Well I think that's a fair point that person's making, but it's not like you can go to Costco and just pick up one or two of these players that you think can help you. You know, we're living in a cap world. It's hard to make deals. But yes, the point that this person's making,

we need to add a couple of players to really give ourselves a chance to contend. Now if you're wondering, why are Halford and Brough going so audio heavy this morning? It'll all make sense. Because late last night... Because you're tired and it's a Monday. I don't want to talk about that. I'm sad because

they've got four or five emotionless players on the team. Last night, we got word that 32 Thoughts was coming out this morning. Elliot Friedman, Kyle Bukoskis, and there was going to be something that Freedj threw out with regards to a purely speculative trade involving two middling, slumping, struggling teams right now, the Vancouver Canucks,

and their expansion brethren, the Buffalo Sabres. Without further ado, I will now let the audio speak for itself. Elliot Friedman, again, purely speculative, throwing out a trade scenario between the Vancouver Canucks and the Buffalo Sabres. All right, so Kyle, with all of that said, I want to stress,

this is in my head. I sit down. I am a danger, Kyle, when I have too much time to think. and say we're teetering here is bad for me yes thinking is but i had some time on sunday to think and i was thinking about the sabers and i was thinking about rick tocket okay and what he had to say on Saturday and then reiterated on Sunday. So I want to stress this is purely in my head. Who says no?

Cousins and Bowen for Patterson. Whoa. He's got his microphone muted, but I just heard Dom's head explode. 32 Thoughts, the podcast. We'll be looking for a new producer come Tuesday. Who says no? So really interesting clip, not just because of the trade, but also no longer Dom is with us.

That's it. So there's a lot to get into there. Obviously, it's been a very tumultuous weekend in Canucks land when we start with all of the good vibes emanating from the win over Florida. And we come in on Monday and Rick talking is not once but twice gone to the media and criticized his players because he did. You know, Ellie was talking about I heard Rick talking on Sunday. Canucks practice on Sunday. Rick talking.

Yeah, basically double down on what he said Saturday. Yeah, he used the words passengers. There's too many passengers. And then, you know, apropos of nothing, you've got one of the biggest newsbreakers in the league and one of the more in-tune media members throwing, just again, purely hypothetically, this big trade scenario.

So there's a lot going on with the Vancouver Canucks right now. We'll try and unpack it over the next 45 minutes. So Dylan Cousins, right shot center, is about 23 years old. And he's already had like a 31 goal season. You might remember him from the world junior team and, uh, for Canada, where he was really good. Um, and then Bowen Byram, who we all know, and we've talked about even in this market, left shot defenseman, uh, pending RFA for the Sabres. So they've,

they've got to figure something out. The Sabres have lost 10 games in a row. They are an absolute disaster. You already knew that, but there have been a couple of seasons now where the Sabres are supposed to take that next step. And they keep having these massive losing streaks. And these massive losing streaks are really affecting their ability to make the playoffs. So they're in buffalo right now going we we gotta do something kevin adams you're the general manager if you don't do something you're getting fired but i i

you know i it's to the point of buffalo now where you expect kevin adams to be fired at any point now um terry bagula i don't know if he even remembers he owns the sabers because he's so excited about the buffalo bills who might win the Super Bowl this year. You know, that Bills-Lions game was going on at the same time as the Sabres were losing. And I would even question how many people were even watching the Sabres game in Buffalo. I know they were responding to the social media account with anger. Yes. But, you know, Buffalo needs to make a big move,

and I think Buffalo is going to make a big move. The question is whether, you know, look, if you throw out that question, who says no, I think Canucks fans, there would be a lot of upset Canucks fans, I think, because Elias Pettersson has reached levels that Dylan Cousins and Bowen Byram have not. And listen, we all know my thoughts on Pettersson and how he's been playing for essentially the last year.

But I don't know the information that the Canucks know. And I've always said that the most important thing for, there needs to be a diagnosis. And I'm not in a position to make an accurate diagnosis, and neither are you, neither is Halford, neither are the dogs. We need to know health-wise where is Pedersen? What the hell is going on in that room?

Is it something or is it just a red herring in all this? You know, I think back to some teams where people said, it's a culture problem, there's no leadership there. And I'm kind of like, yeah, but you don't have very good centers and your defense stinks, right? Like, you know, I think that was Edmonton

pre-McDavis. Like, we've got a culture problem. I'm like, no, you've got a personnel problem. You've got a massive personnel problem. So how much of this is just like the defense stinks?

Right? Like they're just, we can go around and around and there's just so much to chew on this morning okay well the two biggest takeaways for me from the weekend if we want to try and parse this down and really focus in on what the issues are at hand is your head coach and what he had to say on saturday and what he had to say on sunday after sitting on it for 12 hours and having time to let it marinate and to see what the backlash may or may not have been

or if he even cared about it. So said what he said on Saturday and then doubled down and reiterated what he said on Sunday. And that was that he's got too many passengers and too many guys on this team that are emotionally uninvested or unemotionally invested. I don't know which one it is. It doesn't matter. So that's one thing that's a big glaring issue coming out of the weekend.

Unemotionally uninvested. Thank you, Greg. Second one is when the president of hockey ops goes on after hours and tells a national audience that the team is two players away from being a real contender. That's about as cut and dry as you can get it. If you add what Talkett said.

And then what do you know? Two candidates pop up. If you add what Talkett said. Purely hypothetical candidates. If you add what Talkett said to what Rutherford said, and this isn't us inferring or speculating or parsing. If you add up what those two guys said, you come to one conclusion that the decision makers in this organization and

on this team don't believe right now that the roster is capable of being a contender in the NHL, plain and simple. Taka thinks there's too many passengers. Rutherford thinks they're two impact players away from being a legit contender. And the standings would play that out right now. They're the second wildcard team.

Are they good enough to make the playoffs? Yeah, probably. Probably. I just wish everyone could see the inbox, the Dunbar Lumber text line. A Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and renter warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you

or online at dunbarlumber.com. There is no middle ground to any of these texts. It is, first, I'll drive Pedersen to the airport, get this guy out of here. We're never going to win a cup with this guy. And number two is, are you crazy? Are you crazy to think about that trade? No chance would I do that.

I'll stop being a Canucks fan if this trade is made. This classic red meat sports talk radio right here. Hate it or love it. Poll question. Poll question. Poll question. Poll question. And then some people are saying, like, Friedman's just speculating.

He said it himself. Come on. Okay. Come on. Think that way. The Canucks can get a better return. Be that way. There we go.

Adog hates Cousins. I don't, like, hate the trade, but I think it's a little weak for the Canucks. Looking back to last year, remember the Nets just thing that never happened? That's the kind of guy that if he came back, I'd be like, hey. Let me push back on this. Dylan Cousins is a right. Can you let me finish pushing back? Dylan Cousins, 23 years old, already had a 31-goal season

in a bad situation in Buffalo, shot center. Good Canadian kid! They need a right shot center. Plus you get a top four defenseman in Boehm Byram. Yes, who has injury issues. Yeah, I know. And hasn't been great for a couple years. Pedersen doesn't? Well, yeah. He's playing through.

I totally understand what you're saying, Bruff. I see the upsides. If you're going to make a trade, you worry about when you trade Pedersen, if we're talking purely positionally here, you're like, well, okay, then who's our second line center? It's Puce Suter? Like, that doesn't work. Okay, well, you get a center back.

Yeah. And, yeah, Cousins hasn't been very good. It's concerning what's going on with Dylan Cousins. You also address another major error. How many times do I have to come in here and listen to you whine about the defense? I know. I get that they address two issues with the trade. I just think that Pedersen at his peak, assuming he ever gets there,

which is a question mark, of course, Pedersen at his peak is better than Cousins. Granted, yes, Cousins is younger. You're going to be able to sell that to any potential trade? I understand why the return for Pedersen might be low because of that. Are you even okay with them thinking about trading Pedersen? Yes, I am. But again, it would have to be for Netsch's.

That's the kind of guy I'd want to see coming back. A guy I know who could reach the points. We didn't even know who the hell Martin Netsch was last year, man. He's gone off this year. He's gone off this year. He's gone off this year. Yeah, he's a very, very talented player. But that's not available anymore. I know, but I'm just saying that's the kind of guy I'd feel comfortable coming back.

What if Dylan Cousins goes off? He's only 23 years old. He's a terrific potential. Two years younger than Natchez. I see the upside. I'm just saying my gut is like, my initial reaction is like, I don't know. I think it's a little weak. I love everyone's enthusiasm, and it's great, but

I think what we need to do is kind of recalibrate our thinking here, because this conversation shouldn't be about Dylan Cousins and Bowen Byram. What it should be about is that the Canucks are in enough of a funk, enough of a tailspin, or enough of an

area of concern where they don't get to pick and choose who their trade partners are going to be or who you're going to dance with. I think that's what everyone's missing here. There have been countless trades through NHL history where it's not about exacting the right return or finding the ideal trade mate. It's oftentimes who's in as much of the mud as we are,

who isn't as deep a crap as we are. And in this unfortunate instance, like it has been many times, it is yet again the Buffalo Sabres, right? The Buffalo Sabres were in it when they traded Ryan O'Reilly. The Buffalo Sabres were in it when they traded Jack Eichel. Those two trades alone might make it seem like Buffalo shouldn't engage

in this kind of thing, but they are. And there's clearly something rotten in the Canucks room if Taka's saying there's five or six passengers. So maybe do the trade. If nothing else, just to shake things up. The biggest takeaway would be this, that after a year in which everything went right and they were one win away from going to the Western Conference Finals,

not even 35 games into the following season, this has come up. Things have taken a fairly decided U-turn. And again, not necessarily in terms of points and wins and losses in the standings, but in terms of vibes. And, Bruff, you summed it up really well a couple of weeks ago when you said it felt like there was a lot of little fires burning everywhere. And that's not a good thing for a hockey team. It's not a good thing for anything.

Not a good thing for any professional organization. If you have one big fire, at least you can try and stamp it out. But when you've got all these little fires burning, it becomes a real problem because it's distractions left and right. Would you guys make that trade? Like, Bruff, would you make that trade? You know what, man? I know it's a tough question because it's not like there's a lot of variables.

We're just reading Tim in Vancouver's text. We it Brough hates Petey's guts how many times do we have to turn into the show to hear him whine and complain about him I've listened every day for like 10 years and it's literally ruining your show I've kind of nailed it though haven't I that's that's ruining the show I I've kind of nailed that there's a there's an issue going on right like i i don't i don't know how you can listen to the head coach talk about not having his players emotionally invested and then all of us are like pd's definitely one of those guys he's talking about and then be be like, why is Brough always complaining about Petey? He might get traded, guys. He's got an eight-year contract extension,

and he doesn't have a no move or any no trade clause. It doesn't kick in until this offseason. This is when they're going to have to make the decision. I'm complaining about him because I'm watching him play and he doesn't look like the same player as he used to. Someone tweeted out his first NHL goal the other day and the hop in Petey's step was not the same step that he's got going right now. Noticeably smaller hop.

Noticeably smaller. So I'm sorry, Tim in Vancouver, if I'm ruining the show with my very on-the-nail talk about one of the key players on the Canucks that is now in trade speculation. Okay, we got a lot more to get into on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. As Jason mentioned, first hour of this program is going to be entirely us talking entirely Canucks. We've got a whole other half hour to go.

We will dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket 650, 650. Get your thoughts in. We will carve out a little bit of time to talk some NFL, including that Seahawks clunker last night on Sunday Night Football. 7 o'clock with Mike Tanier. 7.30, Arif Dean is going to join us from Colorado to talk about the Avalanche, tonight's opponent,

against the Vancouver Canucks. And then at 8 o'clock, Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and InGoal Magazine is going to join us to preview things from the Canucks side of things. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app.

Some guys didn't execute the game plan for whatever reason. So I think sometimes as a coach you take it, not personal, but you get pissed about it, right? But, you know, like I said, this group bounces back. Got to give them a lot of credit there, obviously. But, you know, I just think there were some plays out there to be made, and for whatever reason we were a little tense tonight. 633 on a Monday.

Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Grubb, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Grubb of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service. Four parts.

We are in hour one of the program. It's a hot hour one here. I appreciate all the texts and comments, even from Tim in Vancouver. Tim in Vancouver is a long-time listener. You're appreciated, Tim in Vancouver. We can agree to disagree on things. Never leave us, Tim in Vancouver.

Stay, keep it right here. Keep it on the dial. Halford & Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Well, just, why don't you just listen to the podcast? And Laddie, especially for you, will cut out all the times I talk about Pedersen on the show. And it'll be, welcome to the show. Well, that's it for the show.

It's a special Timcast. It is 32 seconds long. 32 thoughts. This is 32 seconds. We are in Hour 1 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. I want to start off with a little bit more audio. This is from Sunday's practice where I think it's important to note that Rick Talkett, who is about as well schooled in media as any head coach in the NHL,

decided to not walk back any of his criticisms of his team from Saturday night's debacle, 5-1 loss to Boston at home. If you missed the comments on Saturday, talk it said, and I will paraphrase just because we can shorten this up too many passengers, too many guys that aren't emotionally invested sort of had like the four to five. He said,

you need to be jacked up to play in the NHL. And there were four to five unjacked guys. So we spent, you know, Saturday night and Sunday morning seeing like, who might he be talking about. Who are some of these unjacked individuals on the Vancouver Canucks?

Candidates include Elias Pettersson, Dan Heinen. Lack of Jack is concerning. Lack of Jack. They're jackless. I repeat, jackless. The top three that came to mind for me were Tim in Vancouver, the guy he loves.

I won't even say his name Nils Hoeglunder and Dakota Joshua those are three I think Danton Hindens who's got one point in his last 12 games could be in there he had a good game the other day but yeah one good game doesn't do it

here's a problem there's multiple candidates there are a lot of guys that could fit that bill Sunday fast forward to Sunday there's multiple candidates. There are a lot of guys that could fit that bill. Sunday, fast forward to Sunday. Rick Talkett's had a night to sleep on it, to think about what he had to say, to think about the ramifications,

and make this clear. Rick Talkett knows about ramifications. Remember a couple games ago, midweek, when he was accusing the media of trying to trick him into saying something about Petey? You guys just want me to talk about Petey. That's a smart head coach. That's why we asked you the question about Petey. Rick Talkett knows the game.

So this guy, who understands all of this, goes to practice on Sunday, has a chance to say whatever he wants to say about his group after practice on Sunday. Rick Talkett doubles down. Here's what he had to say following Sunday's practice after the loss to Boston. Yeah, you get frustrated, but my job is to keep pounding away the right stuff. Like I said to you guys yesterday, we ice a couple of pucks when we shouldn't. It's just not the guy with the puck. It's the guy without the puck. You want the puck.

A couple of guys are straight-legged. They don't want the puck, so we shouldn't. It's just not the guy with the puck. It's the guy without the puck. You know, you want the puck. We got guys, a couple guys are straight-legged. They don't want the puck, so we ice it. I think if they get a penalty, we get a penalty, or they end up scoring a goal because you just got to, you know, I just feel like those plays, is it focus? Is it not one? I don't know what it is, but, you know,

but when our team does it, we're a pretty good team. So standing straight-legged in hockey is not very good. You've got to bend your knees, children. You've got to bend your knees. Show that you're ready for the puck. Show that you want the puck. And the Canucks' practice lines on Sunday, I think, showed a lot of what Taka thought of certain players

because Joshua and Hoaglander were on the fourth line with Bluger. So Joshua and Garland have been split up. Garland, and I guess they, did they do this partway through the game? I kind of blanked out through that game, I'll be honest with you. But Garland is with Miller and Besser. And a very interesting development here is Max Sasson is up with Pedersen and DeBrusque in the top six.

And remember how we were talking earlier in the show about how it was actually Max Sasson who led the charge against the Florida Panthers. He was terrific in that first period. His line scores twice. They get off to a 2-0 lead, and eventually they win that they win that game and everyone's like ah that was the performance they needed a lot of it was because of max sasson so now he's up with debraus competitors but i think that also says a lot about the team that there's a there's a rookie that wasn't even really expected to be

i don't know if a lot of people expected him to be on the team this season, maybe get a look here and there now, but now he's on a line with Pedersen and DeBrusque. The third line is Heinen, Suter, and Sherwood. And Heinen and Sherwood did have some success together on a line with, was it Bluger earlier in the year? And then on defense, there were other big changes because Quinn Hughes has been playing a lot with Tyler Myers. Well, Myers was dropped from that pair. He's back with Soucy now, together again.

Hughes is with Juleson, and Forbort was with Friedman. Forbort missed the game Saturday with a flu bug. He's expected to play tonight against Colorado, but Lankanen, who also missed the game Saturday with the flu bug and was asked to stay away from the team, he was not at practice on Sunday, so it's probably going to be a Demko start tonight against the Colorado Avalanche, who I'll remind you have three of the most dangerous players

in the NHL in Nathan McKinnon, Rantanen, and Kel McCarr. Oh, yeah, that guy. I was like, anti-Rantanen? That's not right. No, yeah, that guy. Oh, yeah. I was like, anti-rantonant? That's not right. No, that's not a person. Anti-rantonant. Okay, the Max Sasson thing.

Now, let's just understand where we're at. Again, it's December 16th, and with a forward group that has no major injuries anymore because everyone's back. Joshua's back. Besser's back. Miller's back.

They're all back, right? This is the full complement of forwards. Max Asset is a top six forward now, as of Sunday. Now, that's not because, for any other reason, than Rick Talkett sending a message to the group. And that message is, here's a guy that is playing like we need everybody in the NHL to play, that it's not a right to be here, that it's a privilege, and he's going to work his tail

off to be here because he's terrified of being sent back to the American League move your feet and want the puck you understand how low in the depth chart he Max Sasson was a couple months ago when the Canucks made a huge swath of cuts in the preseason after an a game against Edmonton he was one of 13 guys absolutely forgotten right At that stage of the game, we were talking about Phil DiGiuseppe and Linus Carlsen and Lekker Amaki. Everyone else ahead of this guy. Baines, Ratu, take your pick. There were so many guys ahead of him in terms of who's going to go.

And I thought, okay, if this guy gets a chance, he'll come up, he'll play moderate fourth-line minutes. Because this team, in addition to having a bunch of sort of tweener AHL, NHL depth, also signed Kiefer Sherwood, Jake DeBrusque, Dan Heinen this offseason. They had a ton of forwards. So what does it say that this guy is now on Sunday a top six forward on the group?

Well, one of two things. He's earned it. Yeah, he's earned it. I would start with that. But the only way you can earn that opportunity is if that opportunity is available. And the reason that opportunity is available is because what the head coach said on Saturday and what he reiterated on Sunday is there's a bunch of passengers on the team right now. So someone texted in here, unsigned text.

I get the feeling the team is about to implode. Do you? I thought it was, I thought before the Florida game, I was like, this team is on the precipice of something. And then they came out with that performance and played well. And I was like, God, I can't, I don't have a handle on this team. But then that game against Saturday, a game against the Bruins on Saturday happened, right? And honestly, I get the feeling this team is about to implode. Do you? I will be dead honest here.

Yes. See, the only reason I say no is because it doesn't have the tempest in a teapot or the angst or the anger from the players to cause an implosion. It seems too laid back, too lackadaisical, too checked out. Not jacked up. I mean, I've said this countless times this year. I have marveled at the amount of times that there has been a big hit delivered during a game with minimal pushback whatsoever I've been shocked

with the amount of lopsided games that this team has been in that there hasn't been any scratching and clawing and kicking and fighting on the way out. Like, yeah, you kicked our ass tonight, but we're going to try and do a little actual physical ass kicking on our way out. There have been none of it, not even once. Like when you talk about an implosion, you're like, where have the singular instances of the team being pissed off and boiling over, where have those been? That's what's concerning to a lot of people.

I saw that screenshot. Now I know we're really cherry picking here, but work with me. There was a screen grab from the broadcast on Saturday night where there was a skirmish on the ice against the Boston Bruins, and they had a really interesting angle behind the Canucks bench. And everyone was saying, watch the Canucks bench react when there's a skirmish on the ice. Not a single guy leaves a seat.

They all stay sitting. One guy maybe pops up, and he might be going for a change. Was that when Miller stuck up for Hughes? I believe it was. Yeah, there's a couple guys that popped up, but I had to admit my eyes were scanning. Like, who's standing? My eyes were scanning.

Like, all right, who's standing? You can stay. Were the Unjacked Five sitting? Were they sitting? The Unjacked Five. That's it. That's their official name now? The Unjacked Five. That's it. That's their official name now? The Unjacked Five.

I'm going to spend the entire day trying to figure out the identities of the Unjacked Five. Here's a text, Dan. What happens if the Canucks are another no-show tonight? Feels like tonight could be a turning point

if they are a no-show. Yeah, I mean, these next three games, or the, before the Florida game, we were saying, these next three games have the potential to be very loud. And I think each of the first two have been loud, just in completely different ways. The first one was encouraging against Florida. The second one was very discouraging.

And maybe this one is the winner of the best of three series. Is it going to be encouraging or discouraging? The Colorado Avalanche come into town in pretty good form. Yes. They've won, what, is it 5-6 or 4-5? Four of their last five, five of their last seven, including a 5-2 win over Nashville on Saturday, which also was Mackenzie Blackwood's team debut after being acquired from the San Jose Sharks.

And he made 38 saves on 40 shots and a 5-2 win over the National Predators. So I don't know. I mean, one game, very, very small sample size. Smallest of sample sizes. What's the deal with Mackenzie Blackwood? He's good. You know what?

I actually often get him and Scott Wedgwood mistaken, and now, of course, they play for the same team, so that's confusing. Very different ages. Yes, very different players, but they're both goalies and they're both Woods. Yeah, Blackwood is very good. I think the Avalanche made an excellent pickup by bringing him in. And you're right, it's a short sample size,

but I think he's going to be a nice fit with that team, which is scary. Tonight, the Avs are an absolute, and I know you guys get angry when I say this, but they're a wagon offensively. They have the NHL's leading scorer, Nathan McKinnon, first guy to get to 50 points this season. They have the NHL's fifth scorer, Nathan McKinnon, first guy to get to 50 points this season. They have the NHL's fifth leading goal

scorer in Miko Rantanen, and of course they have the NHL's top defenseman scorer in K.L. McCarr. So what's this? What are we looking at here? Well, you're looking at a team that can rack up points against the Canucks team. Now, spoiler alert, I don't know if you know this or not, the Canucks have been really leaky at home

this year, including the five goals that they gave up to Boston on the weekend. And Thatcher Demko is probably going to be in goal, and that's a tough assignment for a guy who's trying to come back from a lengthy absence, might still be a little bit rusty. Kevin Lankanen has the flu, and Talkett said yesterday, that would be a pretty big ass for him to come in and play. I think Demko overall has been fine. The Canucks absolutely left him out to dry against the Boston Bruins. Did you notice during the broadcast, Ferraro,

I think it was during a Canucks power play, and the Bruins had a couple of chances shorthanded, and Ferraro was like, you guys got to start playing for this guy. It was quite some editorializing from Ray. You could almost sense his frustration with the Canucks and how they were playing. He was like, start playing for this guy. Start skating.

And then we saw Tuckett after the game also very frustrated with the team. So this question of do you feel like the Canucks are about to implode maybe I wouldn't use the word implode but I think we're close to something I think I there's got a shoe has got a drop and which is why this speculation from Friedman and most of the time with Friedman, it's informed speculation about a potential trade between Vancouver and Buffalo. I'm sure they've chatted because Friedman wrote

in his 32 Thoughts that the Sabres are getting a ton of calls on Dylan Cousins. Why wouldn't the Canucks be calling on Dylan Cousins? They need a right shot center. Yep. I know he's 23 years old. They need help on the blue line. He's cost controlled.

And if Bowen Byram is available, they'll probably be interested. So if you're interested in both those players, there's only so many assets you can give up right to get those players the sabers yeah they're probably desperate to make a trade but they're not giving away dylan cousins they're not giving away bo and barman it's going to cost something to get those guys out of buffalo and this unfortunately is one of the hamstrings of a low cap hard cap league is that oftentimes the solutions of shaking things up means you're finding a dance partner that's in equal or worse straights than you are that's the sad part of it is it's very

difficult to make a really intriguing uh dollar for dollar hockey trade like the one i think a dog is what you're kind of alluding to is like if you're going to trade someone, you want to find the perfect dance partner and you want to find the perfect return and maybe something where both parties win the trade. Unfortunately, you don't have the financial flexibility to do it. And quite honestly, there's a bunch of teams that don't

want to go there. Oftentimes, you're left dancing with someone that's just as screwed up as you are. It's a dysfunctional dance. Look at the candidates who are interested in making a move right now. It's the Buffalo Sabres, it's the New York Rangers, and it's probably the National Predators. Maybe you could throw one or two other teams in there, but the rest of them are probably relatively gun shy because they're not sure where they're at, or they just don't have the assets to trade back. That's why, and here's the thing with Cousins,

everyone's calling on them. If you go do a quick cursory Google News search of Dylan Cousins right now, everyone is like, the Kings should be in on this, the Flyers should be in on this, everybody. And then the bloggers are like, here's three potential destinations for Dylan Cousins. Everyone understands that that's an asset

that you can pry out of Buffalo. The added element there is that teams have had pretty good success pulling forwards out of Buffalo. Worked really well for the Avs with Ryan O'Reilly. Worked really well for Vegas with Jack Eichel and Florida with Sam Reinhardt.

It's a good place to try and grab guys out of, which is why Boston might be gun-shy or asking a lot in return, whatever the case. And I'll go back to what I said earlier. This story really isn't about the Buffalo Sabres and what they're offering. It's that the Vancouver Canucks are in this scenario. So the Canucks are here, right?

Again, Rutherford went on after hours on Saturday and he's now an executive that doesn't do a lot of public speaking right his appearances in a media landscape are you know limited now far and few between few and far between so when he talks it carries some weight and he's always been a pretty straight shooter when he deals with the media. So when he says, you know what, let's just play it again for consistency's sake.

It's a short clip, but he does acknowledge that as the team is currently constructed, hanging on to that final playoff spot, we can talk about who might take that playoff spot if this skid continues. Fully cognizant of the fact that having built Stanley Cup winners in the past, this team needs some more assets. Here's Jim Rutherford from Saturday on the current state of the Vancouver Canucks. Well, I think that's a fair point that person's making,

but it's not like you can go to Costco and just pick up one or two of these players that you think can help you. You know, we're living in a cap world. It's hard to make deals. But yes, the point that this person's making, we need to add a couple of players to really give ourselves a chance to contend. You can't go to Costco, but can you order on Amazon perhaps? We need to add a couple of players to give ourselves a real chance to contend.

Check online. That's a big declaration. It's a big statement. It's a big statement. I don't think the Dumber Lumber text line has ever been this busy. It's great. At six in the morning. Don't you people sleep?

People are animals. God, lighten up. I mean, it's great. It's great it's great but i i understand why there's so much um passion i'll turn this glass half full enthusiasm sure passion it's it's all the things that we've talked about over the last 52 minutes you know the excitement and intrigue that we came into this season with the free agent, and then all of the mini soap operas and dramas that we've had throughout the year.

Dakota Joshua missing a ton of time with the testicular cancer and coming back. That was a big story. And then Besser's concussion was a big story. Demko's injury and his popliteus was a big story. Miller not being around for 10-plus games due to a personal leave, that was a big story.

Covering this team is exhausting. Well, it is, right? It's always something. And it's the foil. It never ends. The foil, dare I say, juxtaposition of last year where no fires were burning. And it seemed like everyone was getting along with each other, too. Everyone was healthy.

Everyone was good. The poplatias was intact. Everything was good. I still maintain that it all changed when they tried to get Pedersen signed. It was at the All-Star break. They met with his reps, and they started putting pressure on him to sign.

That's where I maintain it all changed. Tim in Vancouver, what do you think? When did it all change on this team? It was also Demko's injury, for sure. But I think that's when things change with the team. And I've always wondered if Pedersen really

did want to sign here, or if he just felt pressured. Sorry I'm talking about the number one topic in Vancouver. Tim, apologies. One of the number one topic in Vancouver, Tim. Apologies. One of the number one topics in Vancouver, just to be clear. There's clearly something going on in this room, wrong in this room, and they need to change something.

Like there's something going on. I don't know what it is, but there's something going on that's causing these passengers as talk itself. Well, okay, from the non-room, and I know we're bringing this up for time, the non-room, the. From, from the, the non room. And I know we're bringing it for time, the non room, the hockey perspective, like straight X's and O's. I'll say when we've,

you played a couple of clips of Rick talk at earlier where he breaks down. And I will note very clearly what the team isn't doing. Like there's, it's not this sort of nebulous dancing around the edges of our game plan. He's talking about, like, there are plays to be made on the weak side, and, you know, we're playing too much Plinko. Like, he's very, very specific in what they're not doing. Just trying to jam it up the strong side, and that just shows that, like, your head isn't up either.

And when they've lost previous games this year, he's gone to the podium or met in front of the media scrum and very specifically laid out what the team isn't doing. So to me, it's a coach that knows what he wants to see his team execute and he's not getting that

execution. Now that's where I think some people are bristling at, you know, this is on talk it and the style of play doesn't fit the personnel. I don't necessarily know about that. I think that players need to be coachable. I think it's an underrated asset.

And I think another reason that Max Sasson is now a top six forward is because he is coachable. But if you tell Max Sasson what to do today, he's not waiting a couple of days to do it. He's probably doing it today. So I think there's that element of it. I will say if there's a, if there's a pushback that i'm willing to have time for with talk it and this is one that coaches often fall on their own sword with it's the preparation or lack thereof slow starts

starting periods poorly starting games poorly not having the jump not having whatever coaches will often shoulder that dan campbell did it yesterday, actually, when the Lions came out and were flat against Buffalo in that much ballyhooed game between contenders. He said, that was on me. I didn't have the guys ready to play. I only had eight coffees as opposed to 12. He didn't give them any of his coffee.

Drank it all himself. So I've got time for that. And, you know, in Tuckett's defense, so does he. He's mentioned it a bunch of times. He talked about this earlier. He said, maybe I need to change it up. Maybe I need to do something different. So I don't really think that what's going on right now

is a coaching issue. Would you? I wouldn't classify this as a coaching issue right now. Well, I don't think they're beyond criticism, though. I'm not saying that. Everyone's beyond criticism when you have the kind of clunkers that they do. But if I was going to do a list of things I think are ailing the team,

I would say that coaching is not at the top of that list. No, I wouldn't either. It would start with the defense for me overall. There's one. Even if there were issues in the room and certain members of their core weren't performing fully up to expectations, I think if they had a better blue line, they'd be in a much better position right now.

And that's, you know what? That's an absolutely important point to bring up because Rutherford and Alvin, for the flowers to get thrown at them, and we've thrown plenty on them because I really like the work that they've done, going into this season with that blue line and whiffing on DeJarne, it has really hamstrung this team. It's made them not able to do the things they want to do, not move the puck.

They want to move the way they want to move it. And they made it to rely on Quinn Hughes. So it's another little fire that's burning. It goes all the way up to the executive. Okay. We're going to put a brief bow, a brief bow on the Canucks talk here on the other side, we are going to do some NFL talk. There were a ton

of stories to get into over the weekend from the Seahawks end. Otherwise, shout out to Sonny. I'm sure he had a great time with his beloved Green Bay Packers, watching them roll off. That was an impressive performance by the Packers. He called the Josh Jacobs game, and Josh Jacobs had himself a game. I'm not even

like, I'm upset about the Seahawks, but I'm more impressed with the Packers because they just bullied the Seahawks. We can talk about an MVP-caliber performance from Josh Allen, the injury to Patrick Mahomes, and a 10-game winning streak, the longest winning streak in Philadelphia Eagles history, is now in the midst.

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