Halford & Brough in the Morning - OT Was Nice, Not Once, But Twice

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports (3:000, they talk a pair of impressive OT road wins for the Canucks this past weekend (6:00), plus they discuss the top NHL stories of the day with Amazon Prime Hockey host Adnan Virk (30:15). 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.

Whoa, wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose to the f***ing Canucks? You're listening to Halford and Brough. To the goal, low shot, Patrick Garland scores! Connor Garland with his second of the game. Did we just lose a f***ing Canucks? Drops left circle, DeBrus shoots, he scores! Jake DeBrus wins it with the hat-trick goal. Did we just lose a f***ing Canucks?

Leo Williams coming to your side. He's running like a racehorse. Holy smokes, are you kidding? Leo Williams is going to take it in for a touchdown. Seahawks. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody.

This is Alfred and his bro, Fitties Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adon, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and bruv 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 Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler. While they pay the highest prices on scrap metal, Northstar Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, we've got a big show ahead on a Monday. We've got a lot to get into, and we have three guests for your listening pleasure. It begins at 6.30 this morning.

Adnan Virk from Amazon's NHL coverage. Amazon has one game tonight, but it is the premier game on the slate. It is Conor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks in Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs. Talk to Adnan about that. Do a little baseball talk with Adnan as well. Juan Soto, will it be decided this week? Also, the Jays might be on on Teoscar Hernandez as well. We'll talk to Adnan about that at 6.30.

7 o'clock, Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the 2 Deep Zone sub stack. Mike is going to join us. We will talk about the Seattle Seahawks. Wild, wild victory in New York over Aaron Rodgers and the Jets. Mike, a very savvy wagerer, he threw down on the Seahawks when it was 21-13 Jets yesterday. He got them at a nice price on the money line. He should have thrown down when it was 21-7. Can you imagine?

Aaron Rodgers had them at the nine-yard line of Seattle. That would have been a smart bet then. So Mike Tannier is going to join us at 7 o'clock to talk all things NFL. 8 o'clock, Kevin Woodley, NHL.com and Goal Magazine is going to join us as we look back on a terrific weekend for the Vancouver Canucks on the road. As Laddie had in the intro, not one but two overtime victories for your Vancouver Canucks on Friday and Sunday. So working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock, Woodley, 7 o'clock,

Tannier, 6.30, Virk. 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 busy. We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. It is not very often that Bruff and I get to come in here on a Monday and discuss a pair of Canucks victories. It is even less often that we get to come in here and discuss a pair of Canucks victories. It is even less often that we get to come in here

and discuss a pair of Canucks overtime wins, but that's exactly what we get to do. Thanks to some heroics from Connor Garland and Jake DeBrusque over the weekend, the Canucks improved to a remarkable 10-2-0 on the road this season. 4-3 win in Buffalo on Friday, 5-4 win in Detroit on Sunday.

I almost want to listen to the goals again. Can we play the goals again, guys? Can we do it? Can we play both OT winners? Let's start with Connor Garland. I don't even know how to describe what he did. It was kind of a... It was an air guitar goal.

He choked up on the bat. He choked up. It looked like he was playing air guitar. He looked like Angus Young of ACDC. What an interesting reference, Jason. Overtime! Yeah. We'll have something about ACDC coming up in a little bit.

That's a tease. It's a big week for the Halford & Brough show if you're an ACDC fan. Here's Connor Garland doing his best impression of Angus Young against the Buffalo Sabres. Cutting down the right wing. Tried to make a move to the slot. Tied up by Quinn. Hughes keeps the puck, left wing, to the goal, low shot,

back to Garland, scores! Connor Garland with his second of the game, wins it for the Canucks. 359 into overtime, and Vancouver wins 4-3 in Buffalo. Not to be outdone, the Canucks get back in action early Sunday morning. Everyone made mention of the early Sunday morning start.

The broadcast, the players. Jake Dabrowski was all confused in his interview with Murph between periods. And then there was Jake Dabrowski in overtime completing the hat trick. 5-4 win over the Wings on Sunday morning. Here's what it sounded like. Hughes, left wing to center for Patterson. One-on-one with Sider to the Red Wings line. Makes a move, high slot.

Drops left circle, DeBrusch shoots. He scores! Jake DeBrusch wins it with the Hattrick goal! A wrister from the top of the left circle beats Philly Husso. And the Canucks win their fourth of the road trip. It's Jake DeBrus' second career hat trick and it's 5-4 Vancouver. So look, I know Buffalo and Detroit

are not among the NHL's elite, but those were two gutsy wins by the Canucks regardless. This is a team that's been through a lot in the last few weeks. They're missing some really key players and they're still finding ways to win. This is a team that's been through a lot in the last few weeks. They're missing some really key players, and they're still finding ways to win. I liked what Tuckett said afterwards.

We don't necessarily have to play the audio, but he said, look, we're a scrappy team. Scrappy. And that's what they showed, and it's funny. We were saying with all the issues that they've been forced to deal with and the latest big blow being Philip Hronik hurt for a while, they were just going to have to scrap and claw their way and maybe find a few ways to get games to overtime and then see what happens. And that's exactly what they did against Buffalo and Detroit. And the fact they were able to win those games in overtime was kind of a nice bonus. There are so many players that we could go through and talk about in a positive way. And I think it probably starts, I mean, it's hard to say who it starts with, but let's start with the captain. It's a good place to start, Jason. Quinn Hughes, because he is now the Canucks record holder,

franchise record holder for assists by a defenseman. And more importantly, because we all knew he was going to break that mark. I mean, the fact he did it so fast was incredible. But more importantly, this is what great players do. This is what captains do. When the team is going through a lot, they step up. They play even better. You can rely on them.

You can lean on them. And when you ask them about their accomplishments, you know what they do? Credit their teammates. And that's what Quinn Hughes does. And when you ask them about their accomplishments, you know what they do? Credit their teammates. And that's what Quinn Hughes does. And yeah, it's easy and anyone can do it, right? First question you get asked about yourself, don't talk about yourself.

Talk about the great teammates that you play with. And that's what Quinn Hughes does. And he did it after the game on Sunday. He's a really humble leader. He's the perfect type of leader, frankly, because he is very talented, he is driven, he shows up when you need him,

but he's also humble enough to not get a big head. He prides himself on being even keel. He says it all the time. I try not to let the highs get too high, which I think is important because there's a lot of highs

for this particular player. And he tries not to let the lows get too low. So when you see them come off the ice after one of the many blowouts that they've suffered this year, and they have suffered them this year, it's great to have a captain and a spokesman and a leader

that you can go to that's not going to show frustration or show that he's down or any of that stuff so here's Quinn Hughes Laddy talking about how he's proud of the team for fighting through everything that it's been through we get a lot of fight and a lot of resilience and really proud of the group with um not just the injuries we've had but everything that's gone on this year and how we're finding ways to win games and our compete level and our will to win is just really high right now one of the guys that's helping is a new addition that got off to a bit of a slow start with the

team and people were wondering god is this is this the right move bringing in this guy and we'd heard the scouting report so this guy's a streaky scorer. He'll go weeks without scoring, and then as soon as he does start scoring, they just go in. I don't think I've ever heard a more accurate scouting report than the one we got for Jake DeBrus, because he went goalless in his first nine games

with the Canucks after signing a big contract with them in July. Now five games, IMAC points this out in his article on DeBrusque, five games into the Canucks' six-game road trip. DeBrusque has scored seven times. His ten goals have come in the Canucks' last eight road games. And I love the way he scored his game. He scored his three goals. It was a hat trick in Detroit. The first two came on the power play early in the

second period. The Canucks had started the game quite slowly and they finished it down one, nothing to Detroit, but Detroit had given them a five on three advantage to start the second period. They scored not once, but twice. And both times it was Jake DeBrus just going to the net and parking himself in front of the net.

The first one, he tipped home a Pedersen pass. Nice play by the Canucks. Nice goal. The second one, he just found a loose puck. And he's such a big body and he's got good hands that he was easily able to find the loose puck and put it such a big body and he's got good hands that he was able easily able to find the loose puck and put it into the back of the net and the overtime goal a different goal still nice though he takes a puck and it wasn't I mean five on five you're like that's a good

shooting position three on three it was kind of like yeah well I hope I hope this one goes in and then you heard the clank of the post as he went posting in. You're like, oh, my God, the Canucks have done it again. They scored another goal in overtime. And then I kind of realized, I was like, wow, this team has been through so much. And they've still got a ways to go before they're out of the woods in terms of what they're dealing

with. But the news that they were going to lose Filip Hronik, I was like, man, this is going to be tough. This is going to be real tough. And then they went in Detroit and it's like, they're four on one on this road trip. Their only loss was the one in Pittsburgh, which was not a pretty loss, but they beat Ottawa. They found a way to win in Boston. They beat Buffalo and say what you will about the Sabres, but the Sabres have been playing better hockey. And then they went into Detroit, weird start time, not the prettiest game.

They didn't get off to a great start themselves. But again, you find ways to win, and they did. Yeah, you find ways to win with this team. It's the strength of their forward group. I keep coming back to it. They didn't play tremendous hockey in Buffalo or Detroit. There was a lot of warts on it. Rick Taka said he really didn't like the first period in Detroit on Sunday.

They conceded a lot of goals in those two games. There were seven goals against in the two games. It wasn't a defensive lockdown, but what's the strength of this team? They can rely on a bunch of different guys to score goals. And in the case of DeBrusque, we're getting the full DeBrusque experience right now, by the way. I remember in the offseason when they signed him,

I talked to a couple different people in Boston. They're like, you will love him for eight to ten game stretches, and then you will absolutely wonder what the hell is going on with him for eight to ten game stretches. Yeah, and he went through some rough times with not only the coaching staff in Boston, but I think the fans were kind of like, what's going on with this guy? Like, he's so streaky.

Some goal scorers are streaky, but, you know, I don't know. He's consistently inconsistent. Yeah, consistently inconsistent. So he went the first nine games without scoring a goal. You're like, ah, this is a problem. And then the California trip, remember that one? He goal in each game, three goals in three games. So there's your little mini streak.

Then he goes cold again, goes six games in a row without a goal. Then what happens? He gets absolutely on fire, especially on the road, and he's got seven in his last whatever it is, five games. This is the full Nebraska experience. row without a goal then what happens he gets absolutely on fire especially on the road and he's got seven in his last whatever it is five games like this is the full nebraska experience it's hilarious i'm scrolling through social media yesterday and a lot of these accounts these sort of like content aggregator accounts that don't really pay attention to the game to game or the minute to minute like we do they're like what a great signing for the vancouver canucks

he's the team leader in goals a quarter of the way through the season. And I'm like, that's true. But it's not the narrative. It's not the whole story. Yeah, so you're getting the full Dabrowski experience, though, for sure. I guess we should turn our attention now to that goalie, Kevin Blankinen, Kevin Lankinen. Kevin, they should be thanking him.

We got a text in already saying it was on us in a bad way. Negative. Boo to the Halford and Brough show for not starting and not leading with Lankanen and leading with Hughes. And to that person, I say feedback is great. Kevin Lankanen now 10-0-0 on the road this season. The now all-time NHL record holder for road victory streak to start the season, surpassing Glenn Hall and the guy he played against briefly on Sunday in net for the Detroit Red Wings, Cam Talbot.

His road numbers are amazing. He's got a 931 save percentage. Of course, the 10-0-0 record. I think, you know, again, you look at the two games in Buffalo and Detroit and you're saying probably not great on the old goals against. His save percentage wasn't through the roof or anything, but he made saves. He found a way to win.

And then more importantly, the guys in front of him found the offense so that that goaltending performance was good enough. And it should be because the guy has been, you want to talk about just great either unsung heroes or guys playing on value contracts or guys stepping up when they need to. Lankanen is right at the top of that list of guys that are stepping up in a major way and keeping this team in the position that they are in the standings.

He is the first goalie in NHL history to start a season 10-0-0 on the road. I don't think he's the Canucks' unsung hero because we've been talking a lot about him, and everyone around the league knows that this guy has been a great signing for the Canucks. And, you know, we have a lot of conversations about Kevin Lankan and one, because he's done such an incredible job and we think, God, where

would the Canucks be if they had not signed this guy? They could be in serious trouble if they had not signed this guy. And we also talk about him because he's a pending UFA. We're like, oh God, are the Canucks going to be able to keep him? And it won't be cheap. But we might be talking about him more this week

because I fully expect him to be named to Finland's Four Nations team on Wednesday. And he might even be the guy that gets the games for them. I mean, I know it's going to be tough to beat out the likes of Ukepeka Lukonen and I guess UC Saros is going to be the guy, but has Lankanen been better than Saros this year? Statistically, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, that's a pretty clear cut. That's a conversation that the Finnish team is going to have to have. I said earlier, I don't think he's the unsung hero. You know who is, though? And look, we talk about all the Canucks, so it's sometimes hard to come up with an unsung hero. But for me, the lock for unsung hero is Pugh Suter. That's a good one. Because we we talk about him but not a ton

he has nine goals nine goals for pew suitor one of the best bargains in the nhl not only that when jt miller went out of the lineup when he left on a personal leave, Suter became their 2C. Pedersen, the 1C. Suter's the 2C. And he's done a terrific job. I think this guy's versatility doesn't get appreciated enough. He can play anywhere in the lineup among the forwards.

Yep. Anywhere. And he has. He's been a center in the top six. He's been a center in the bottom six. He's been a winger in the top six. Remember, he played well with Besser and Miller last year at times.

You can just plug him anywhere because he's so smart. And that's the thing. It's hockey IQ for him because do you remember that time when we were talking about Suter and the players had all the quotes? The players were like, he's not the fastest guy. And then Taka was like, oh, he's not the fastest guy. So, yeah, he's not the fastest guy, but this guy is really smart.

And when he gets opportunities, he can rip it. He can finish. He does have good- Very good hockey player. And he's going to be another guy that will be sitting there going, well, are the Canucks going to be able to keep this guy? Another guy that's performing on a very, very

affordable contract right now. And he is not going to be cheap to resign. So I guess, in other words, appreciate him while you got him. He's a pretty good player. A couple other guys that I wanted to shout out after the weekend, Elias Pettersson, I don't know if he's back fully 100%, but the guy is producing, and he's finding ways to contribute um whether it's assists or goals and i know everyone including myself is still you know like when the canucks are on the

power play it's like come on shoot at least look pretend like you're gonna shoot at least fake it you know fake it that you know you still don't have to but uh you but it would be nice if you did. But he's producing, and Sat noted on social media, he's like, his three-point game against Detroit gives him 16 points in his last 11 games. 16 points in 11 games. 12 points in his last eight games. And I think there's still more to give from Pettersson. I think it's pretty clear now that Petey didn't come into camp

in the type of shape that the Canucks wanted him to. Now, was his off-season training affected by the tendonitis that he had in his knee? Maybe, maybe not. Who cares? He just needs to play himself back into shape, get stronger out there, next off season hopefully the tendinitis isn't an issue and hopefully he really leans into getting in shape because you know I I

think it's pretty clear that his burst hasn't been there this season uh there was times meant to way too many times that he would um get pushed off the puck or push down. And he's probably not going to be a guy that's always going to stay on his feet anyway. But I think he's gradually, he looks to be gradually getting stronger out there. And he's winning more battles. He's more engaged. And the points are starting to come as a result of that. You know what else is gradually coming along is his chemistry with Jake DeBrusque. That's the one thing that I think has to be really, really like galvanizing for the team

is that it didn't get off to a great start. Remember, there was the start where DeBrusque and Petey were lined up like everyone thought they were going to be. And then the line blunder came out and the juggling began. And some of it was out of necessity because of other parts of the lineup missing. But right now, and Besser was up on that line on Sunday, that is maybe the most optimistic sign that DeBrusque has gotten going.

So too is Petey. And you could make the argument that it's because of the chemistry that they've kind of developed and the ability for them to click because that is going to be huge for this team. Again. Well, scoring on the power play too. Yep. The Canucks need to be a good special teams team.

And we've all looked at the talent that they've gotten on the power play. And even with a guy like JT Miller out, there's enough talent out there to be a good power play. And man,

that was, I know it wasn't the game because there were still goals to come. But when the Canucks scored those two goals at the beginning of the second period, I mean, that was terrific.

Just because Detroit had really quite badly outplayed the Canucks in the first period. It was a sleepy start for the Canucks and a good one for Detroit. And then within a matter of minutes, the whole game switched because the Canucks were able to take advantage of it. And Jake DeBrus was a big reason why scoring both those goals.

But Pedersen as well made the nice pass on DeBrusque first. So a few other guys I wanted to shout out before we get to one house of negativity. Eric Brandstrom scored a big goal. Yep. That was massive assist to Pedersen. Great play by Pedersen. Sends the game into overtime and you find a way to get at least one point. Big goal. Huge.

Noah Juleson. He's taken a lot of heat. All the Canucks defensemen, except for Quinn Hughes, have taken a lot of heat. And he had a big block. I think it was in the second period. Yeah, a few big blocks. That probably saved a

goal. He's not the perfect defenseman. He's going to make mistakes, but he's courageous and he's willing to sacrifice his body. And sometimes that's all you can ask of these guys. So when Taka is saying, like, we're a scrappy team and we're on Friday talking about, well, Hironic's out, what's the response going to be?

Sometimes it has to be like, I'm going to lay it on the line for a early season game that starts at 9.30 in the morning in Detroit. You know what I mean? Those are the type of moments that your team sort of develops an identity.

It's great when everyone's healthy and you're rolling and everything looks fantastic. It's a lot different when you are relying on Noah Juleson, who by all accounts should be your eighth or ninth defenseman in the depth chart. And you're counting on him, not just to be in the lineup,

but to make big pivotal plays in a game where you got to fight tooth and nail with a team that hasn't been in the playoffs for whatever it is, seven or eight years, right? Like those kind of moments matter because at times like all the cliches are true it's not gonna be pretty you gotta grind out a victory you gotta find a way to win but it's also because of everything that's happened to this team in terms of guys out of the lineup like there are other NHL teams that would have been sunk if their vesna caliber goalie was

out that one of their best offensive forwards was out and one of the best defensemen was out like they would be they would be dead in the water they would not be able to survive it and they'd be losing games with regularity because the canucks have been able to you know have these moments like is juleson a perfect defenseman far from it was he huge on sunday yeah and they're gonna give him a pat on the back and they're going to say, you helped us get through this really tough time. Now, do the host negativity.

Well, we're not going to have time because we've got to get to Adnan, but we will pick up this conversation after we speak for maybe 10 minutes with Adnan Virk on the other side because I do want to talk about Nils Hoeglander because the trade talk is heating up. You hear Pittsburgh or you hear Minnesota for Nils Hoeglander.

I think Freedj on, I don't know if the 32 Thoughts is, the podcast is published yet, but I think Freedj is going to talk about the possibility of Nils Hoeglander to the Pittsburgh Penguins. And he had a rough, rough game in Detroit. And, you know, if the Canucks don't actually have any extra forwards on this trip, they've got Mark Friedman on the trip. And I suppose he could play for it, but that wouldn't be ideal. But I was watching that game.

And when Hoeglander took another penalty, offensive zone penalty, and then there was a Detroit goal where his back check was, what's a nice way to put it? Less than enthusiastic. That's a good way of putting it. I wondered if, I actually wondered, or like, am I watching Hoaglander play his last game for the Canucks? That's how bad it got. And that's how much the trade chatter has picked up around Nils Hoaglander. So we'll talk about that and we'll read some of your text into the Dunbar Lumber

text line at 650-650. We'll look at the week ahead for the Canucks because it's a pretty big one and hopefully the Canucks will get some big players back to the lineup possibly on Friday when they return home. Lots more hockey talk, lots more Canucks talk. We haven't even talked about any other Big players back to the lineup, possibly on Friday when they return home. Lots more hockey talk.

Lots more Canucks talk. We haven't even talked about any other sports. NFL weekend. Seahawks, baby. 7-5. Top the division. You're listening to the Alfred and Brock 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 post-game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 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. Ice rink. 632 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Adnan Virk from Amazon's NHL coverage and MLB Network is going to join us in just a moment here for hour one. Hour one of this program 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 say Adnan is going to join us in just a moment because we have a major concert announcement right now. Sportsnet 650 is welcoming ACDC The Power Up Tour 2025 with special guests, the Pretty Reckless, on April

22nd, 2025 at BC Place. Now, here's the thing. Tickets go on sale this Friday, December 6th, 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster. So if you want to see ACDC, tickets go on sale Friday. However. I am so pumped for this. However.

I know you've got some information to get to. I am so excited. Actually, one of my big musical regrets is I've never seen ACDC in person. I should have seen them, but now I'm going to have the opportunity. You could write that wrong.

I had buddies that still talked about how awesome, I think it was the Razor's Edge tour would have come through Vancouver in the early 90s, probably 90 or 91, and played at the Pacific Coliseum. I was like, I got kicked out of that concert.

Tried to rush the stage. Tried to rush the floor. It was awesome, man. It was awesome, man. I got kicked out. Guess how old Angus Young is. 70-something. No, that's a nicer age.

69. Yeah. Nice. They have a connection to Vancouver, too, because a couple of their records were actually recorded here. Yeah, with Bob Rock. And side note, my vocal coach was Angus Young's vocal coach for a while. Can we get to the-

Give us your best Angus Young. Angus Young's vocal coach? Yeah. Did he teach him anything about the guitar? He screwed up his voice and had to have vocal surgery. Are you sure that's Angus Young or the lead singer? Oh, sorry. No, no.

The lead singer. Brian Johnson. Yeah, Brian Johnson. Yeah. Yeah, sorry. He screwed up his vocal cords and had to have surgery. Guys, can I do the announcement now? No. Do we have any other factoids? What ACDC we want to get out of there? That are wrong?

Yeah. What announcement? The announcement that we are giving away a pair of tickets every day this week. Did you not know that was coming? No, I didn't. We're giving away a pair of ACDC tickets every day this week. So before Friday's sale, you can get them by listening to the Halford and

Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. All you have to do is send in your best, most clever, most witty ACDC sports theme text. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. You can submit them throughout the show. We'll be doing the giveaway in the final hour. You need to put a ticket emoji into your text. 650-650 is the text line.

So, for example, are you ready for Nils Hoaglander to be traded? There you go. That's clever. I am enjoying a whole lot of garlic. That's a clever one, too. Don't use these, by the way. These are just examples. For those about to be benched, we salute you.

There's another one. Pretty negative. Okay. Oh, you can't have won anything in the last 90 days. Thank you, Andy. Okay, now we go to the phone lines. Adnan Virk from Amazon's NHL coverage and MLB Network joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Good morning, Adnan. Thank you for being patient. Of course, Mike. Thank you. That's the longest I've had to wait. For Angus, I'm willing to do it. It was fantastic. For those who love to rock, we salute you. I've never seen ACDC myself. I'm sure they bring the heat. That sounds awesome.

Well, just make sure to enter the contest. Just say, Adnan from New Jersey, and we'll be like, I don't know who that is. Okay, I want to know who that is. Okay. I want to start with tonight's game. It is a marquee affair in Toronto. It's the Leafs. It's the Blackhawks.

You've got Austin Matthews back in the lineup for the Leafs. You've got Conor Bernard in Toronto. What's the lead up been to this one, Adnan? That's going to be a lot of fun, Mike. There's no question about it. And, you know, anytime the Leafs are playing,

it's a major event because there's so many Leafs There's no question about it. And, you know, anytime the Leafs are playing, it's a major event because there's so many Leafs fans, as we all know. And I think what's interesting is we kind of check in with the Amazon team because we haven't seen the Leafs in a month or so. Without Austin Matthews, they hold the fort. They do quite well. Then he comes back, and obviously they win again. But I'm curious just, you know, their longevity this year.

Like, it's a question we're going to be asking every single time, which is what's different about this Leafs team? What will get them over the hump? And so, I'm curious. We're going to talk to Craig Ruby in about an hour or so and just ask him. And I guess the answer would be, well, they have a new coach, and maybe this coach can get the most out of them. That's what they're hoping for. But I'm just, I'm a little bit jaded and cynical. At the same time, I say, listen, they've been really good.

There's no question. But what's going to be different? We'll see tonight. Because in the past, I will say, Mike, they had a history of playing down to bad teams. So, at least on paper, you say, oh, Blackhawks of playing down to bad teams. So at least on paper, you'd say, oh, Blackhawks in town, at least they're going to drill them 5-1. Well, it hasn't been the case in the past, so hopefully it'll be a closer game than one might think.

And as far as Chicago's concerned, as you, me, and Jay talked about last week, the fact that Conor Bedard has not been Conor Bedard-esque, and now we've got the Four Nations coming up and the roster announced. Would you have Bedard on it or not? That's a good hot topic. So obviously, if he plays well in the so-called hockey capital, that would go a long

way towards boosting his stock. It should be fun tonight. By the way, they scored three power play goals here tonight, and the Blackhawks, which sounds great, but every single time they get up a goal in the next minute and a half after. Think of how deflating that is. How uplifting it is scoring a power play goal, you take care of a true man advantage, and then immediately relinquish it.

That's what bad teams do, and to be honest, that's kind of what the Blackhawks are. You mentioned the Four Nations face-off in there. How much is that conversation, not necessarily hanging over everything, but looming? Because we know that the rosters are in now. They're going to be announced midweek, and I've got to imagine with the amount of star power

that's going to be on display tonight, that it's got to be a central talking point for a lot of the guys that are going to be suiting up tonight on Amazon Prime Hockey. Oh, there's no question about it. We'll be a central talking point for a lot of the guys that are going to be suiting up tonight on Amazon Prime Hockey. Oh, there's no question about it. We'll be talking about the intermissions. How many players would you pick from the teams tonight in the Four Nations? Forget about just

Canada, but just playing on their roster. How many guys do you think should make it? I know it's not the Olympics. I get that. Maybe it's not the World Cup or Canada Cup when we were kids. But anytime it's an international tournament, anytime you're playing for your country, it's going to be special. And I hope that it's going to be, hopefully, as strong as those tournaments have been in the past.

But you mentioned rosters. It's funny, I always think of Rob Zanner, right? If you're of a certain age, you remember how controversial that was when Canada picked him. And the thought process would be, well, we can't all just pick the best scorers, the most elite players. You need to have, like, a third- line checking winger. You need to have a fourth line penalty kill guy. That is, of course,

a debate that you and Jason are going to have for the next hour and the phone calls will light up because people always want to debate, do you go with just the best players or do you go with actual guys who know their role? I personally opt for the best players. I don't give a damn who it is. Don't worry, we'll teach them at a back check if that's what it needs to be. I'm going to need talent and all the rest of it.

Just like you guys, I'm sure I'm really excited to see what the roster's going to look like midweek. We're speaking to Adnan Virk, Amazon Prime NHL host and MLB Network host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I got a few baseball ones I want to get into here, Adnan. The Juan Soto sweepstakes. So I was reading Ken Rosenthal's piece

for The Athletic this morning. He's got it down to the five known Soto bidders. Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Dodgers. If this is to be decided this week, and there are rumblings that it might be, who's the leader? Who do you think he's going to end up signing with? So please, God, don't do it this week, Juan, because the winter meetings are taking place next week.

Emily, that would make sense. A lot of money to go out there. So I'm going to be in Dallas live coverage Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So don't do it, Juan. Wait until Monday, and then we'll announce it, and we'll make it the star of the weekend. If I had to rank be in Dallas live coverage Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So don't do it one. Wait until Monday and then we'll announce it. And we'll make it the star all weekend. If I had to rank those five, I hate to say it. God, I don't want to offend all of our Blue Jays brothers. But I got

the Jays running fourth. Maybe fifth. Because at the end of the day, I have to say to myself, Mike, what do the Jays have the other teams don't have? If I want the team that wins, well, I'm going to go Dodgers or Yankees. Prestige, iconography, etc. If I want the team that spends the most, I would think it's Dodgers or Yankees, prestige, iconography, et cetera. If I want the team that spends the most, I would think it's the Mets.

Who's going to outpick Steve DeCone, who's got $19 billion? And if I want kind of a different challenge, I'd go Boston Red Sox. Because I tell you what, I've already played for the Nationals. I've won a World Series. I've played for the Padres. I've played for the Yankees. But I really want to play a villain now, and Alex Cora is courting me, and they're still going to give me 600-plus.

So why not? I love David Ortiz and the lineage of Latino players they've had there, so I want to be that guy for Boston. I could sell myself on that. I don't necessarily believe it, but I could sell it. For the Jays, that's the biggest challenge. I'd love to hear from Shapiro and Atkins, like, hey, why is Juan going to pick you guys over them? Because I don't believe you're going to offer more money than them

and your situation is not as strong. You're going to make the playoffs. Those are all like playoff teams, period. Red Sox are not, but they were a surprise this past year, and by all indications, they're going to spend it. Those other teams are winners and have won in the past. Unless he really wants a challenge, and he just loves Canada and wants to own the country

and whatever they can do, all right, fine. But I'd have the Jays running fourth or fifth, and honestly, if I had to go with a favorite, it's not the Yankees anymore. Initially, I would have said that only because I think if you're comfortable in this situation, have success, why would you not stay there? But again, Silver's proven that he can be a bit of a mercenary, right? He's played for three teams so far.

I don't think he cares where he's going. Like, he's not the type to go out, I'm comfortable here, fellas, hometown discount, like, no. And Hal Steinbrenner has certainly proven in the past he's not going to be a hometown, he's not going to be a guy who's necessarily going to overspend like his dad. So honestly, I still have a sneaky feeling it's the Mets because I think if it comes down to just money

and he's represented by Scott Forrest, who's going to take the best offer out there, I don't know who tops the Mets. So I'll go Mets number one right now. The one that happened last week after we spoke with you but made major ripples throughout Major League Baseball was Blake Snell and the Dodgers agreeing on a cool five-year contract at $182 million.

I know it's a paint-by-numbers question, but I've got to ask it anyway. Is this a good or a bad thing for baseball what the Dodgers are doing here? I think it's a good thing. It really does. And I'll be honest. Of course, I hear it. I roll my eyes and I shake my head and I go, oh my God, are you serious? You really had to go

get a two-time signing award winner after just winning the World Series? But I love it because the Dodgers say to themselves, hey, we're tired of you serious? Like, you really had to go get a two-time signing award winner after just winning the World Series? But I love it because the Dodgers say to themselves, hey, we're tired of all these starting pitchers getting hurt. We're tired of having to have a bullpen game in game four. In the years past, it was Kershaw and Shortrest, and he'd get blitzed. Now it's bullpen game, game four, and I go, oh, God. And it ended up working because their bullpen was unbelievable.

Come playoff time. I wasn't skeptical as anyone else. Dave Roberts rode them masterfully. But it's generally not a recipe for success. It's a lot easier to tell the state of myself. I'll just go to Blake Snell, who's got wipeout stuff in his elite picture and can get it done. And if you just look at it on paper, and again,

they understand this, guys, that there's an inevitability of injuries in baseball. So no matter what, this is not going to be the rotation come October. We all know that. But at least on paper, Otani, Snell, Yamamoto, Vlasnau. Like, that score is ridiculous. Those guys are all aces in different teams.

I think that 2011 Phillies team when they had Halliday and Oswald and Quigley, like, it's a joke. But, again, if I'm a Dodgers fan, I love it because it shows that they win and they don't rest on their laurels. They're competitive. They're the anti-Marlins who require themselves to win the World Series. And it's generally better for baseball, Mike, in the long-winded answer to your question,

because it's better to have a Goliath. If you look at all the sports, the history has always proven it's better to have one big team rather than parity. The only team, the only league, rather, I should say, that enjoys parity would be the NFL. And even they have their wannabe Goliaths and the Chiefs, if indeed Patrick can pull off a hat trick and the Chiefs have a freebie. That's the only sport where you can say,

well, a different winner every year is fun. Generally speaking, it's better for the sport if the Lakers or the Celtics or the Yankees have a dynasty. And that's the same case in baseball. The Dodgers are far from a dynasty, of course. This was their first World Series that they'd won in true fashion, non-COVID years since 88. But it's good to have a team everyone hates. It's good for the sport. It really is. Is Otani going to pitch next year?

That's the word. Now, I've heard he Otani going to pitch next year? that's the word now I've heard he's not going to be an opening day guy because again it's not going to be like oh he's ready to go 180 innings

I've heard that it's going to be soon-ish but it may not be like March 28th game one maybe it's like mid-April like in a few weeks just slow start

it's a long season and yeah he's not going to be a torn inning guy but apparently once he's ready to go he's going to be ready to go and it was funny

because there was so many whispers last year conspiracy theorists that he was going to be a torn-inning guy. But apparently once he's ready to go, he's going to be ready to go. And it was funny because there were so many whispers last year, conspiracy theorists, that he was going to show up in the playoffs, you know, magically just toss off the Superman cape and away we go. And every time somebody would ask if Robert Ohtani's availability, this is the start of the series. He'd go, nope, he's not available. Thanks for asking, though.

So, like, he made it clear, I know it sounds fun. Oh, my God, he's going to the World Series. Ohtani versus Judgement, it ain't going to happen. So they were smart. They realized it's a $700 million investment. But by all indications, the rehab's been going well. He was throwing last year. I mean, there was images of him on the field, you know, just doing warm-up and then, you know, that kind of thing.

You know, basic pitcher drills. But, yeah, he's going to pitch next year. And I think that's the only way he can top it, Mike, what he's done. I was talking to some friends about it. I said, three-time MVP. The only player who's won more is Barry Bonds, who was discredited because he was juicing, but he won seven. But everyone knows what a great player he was. He did the whole story to make a separate matter.

If Otani wins one more MVP, he's the only one of the guys who's done that. But he's fallen. He's fallen. And the only way I think he can really top, even the MVP, whatever he's been saying, but what would top it would be to win the Cy Young. Like, if Otani wins the Cy Young, I would just have my mind blown. I really would. And he was fifth, by the way, in the past. So he can do it. Okay, so we got

Leafs-Blackhawks tonight from Toronto in an original six matchup, and then next Monday, correct, you'll be in Dallas for the MLB Winter Meetings. I got the Where in the World is Adnan Virk chart updated. That's correct? That's right. Sunday morning, I'll be flying out there, and then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, live coverage of the Winter Meetings. So Andy Petrillo filling in for me. I believe we flying out there And then Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Live coverage Of the Winter Meeting So Andy Petrillo Filling in for me I believe we got the Habs next Monday So I always Point to Montreal

But I was just there So it's all good And then I'll be back On the slate The 16th is a fun one Panthers-Oilers Stanley Cup rematch My first time ever

To Edmonton So I'll be on the 16th Beautiful Okay enjoy everything Enjoy it It's a lovely time to visit Enjoy Dallas too It should be fun

We'll talk next week No I have to know Why did Brough sit this one out? I was waiting for a Brough question. Was he just not in? He was too obsessed with ACDC? What happened? I'm too obsessed with ACDC, honestly. He was entering the contest.

I'm very excited for this. Thanks, buddy. Thanks, Adnan. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. See ya. Adnan Virk from MLB Network and Amazon Prime here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Let's dive back into the Dunbar Lumber text message. You know what I was actually doing? I was confirming that the Canucks on this road trip do not have an extra forward. Their scratches in Detroit on Sunday were Philip Hronik, who's not on LTIR. Nobody's on LTIR still for the Canucks. And Mark Friedman, who was the defenseman

that the Canucks called up in the wake of Phillip Peronik's injury. And Baines was sent back to Abbotsford. So there are no extra forwards on this trip, I suppose. I think Friedman's played forward before. Yes. The Canucks have dressed seven defensemen, I think, at a time.

Whatever. It doesn't matter. But I was watching Nils Hoaglander, his game on Sunday. Man, when he took that offensive zone penalty, and you can say the call was soft or whatever. It might have been. I thought the Red Wings player fell down pretty easily. But it was also, you know, Hoaglander had his stick out there,

and he put himself in a position where the ref was going to make that call and the ref, you could see, looked at it, he was like, ah, all right, that's a penalty. And it was yet another penalty for this guy. Like he doesn't play enough to take as many penalties as he's taken.

And on one of the Red Wings' goals, might have been their fourth goal, he had a pretty lackadaisical back check. And I actually wondered then, is he checked out? Does he just expect that he's going to be traded? Because his effort was just so bad that I wonder what he's thinking right now.

And we've talked to Rick Dollywell a few times and Dollywell, of course, has been in touch with his agent and they want to figure this thing out. And Dollywell kind of likened it to the Kuzmenko situation where Kuzmenko's agent, you know, they really want to make it work in Vancouver, but guess what?

It didn't work. Yep. And I think the thing with Hoaglander is, despite his struggles this season, this is still the exact type of player that a team like Pittsburgh would be targeting. He's young, but not so young that you're going to have to wait for him to be in the NHL lineup, and there's upside there.

Sure. And I could see Kyle Dubas thinking, well, we get this guy into Pittsburgh lineup. We play him higher up, maybe with one of our guys like Sid and Gino. And this is a guy that could really take off. He scored 24 goals last season and didn't get any power play time. There's clearly potential there. And I wonder if it could be as something as simple as Hoaglander for Marcus Pedersen. Sure.

Something like that. I don't know. Now the cap issues the Canucks would face because Hoaglander's contract extension where his cap hit goes up to 3 million doesn't kick in until next season. He's just around a million now. But I don't know, man.

I just think it's getting to the point with the Canucks needing help on defense and with Hoaglander continuing to struggle. You know, once JT Miller's back, whenever that is, what happens to Hoaglander? Yeah. Is he going to stay in the lineup? He might because Max Sasson played yesterday in Detroit. But I think the Canucks have enough down on the farm.

And, you know, Hoaglander, he's not contributing. He's not producing. And if you look at the wingers that played ahead of him, you're kind of like, yeah, well, they have roles. And you're not going to take those guys out of the lineup. Yeah, it's almost a shame that, you know, talk its deployment, which I think is justified, right? If the coach can't trust him

and the player is making the same mistakes and taking not great penalties and not producing offensively, with the depth that the Canucks have at forward, it is a viable option to drop Hoaglander down to where he's playing less than 10 minutes a night. It is. It stinks because the ramifications are his trade value is taking a hit for sure.

But I don't think it's taking a massive hit, but it's taking a hit. Sure, a little bit. But I still think you could tell a great story. I'm not saying that they should play more in order to retain the value. That's insane. But all I'm saying is, at his height, there probably would have been an even better gain to bring back the other way.

All of that's kind of a moot point because it's in the past. If you're looking forward, I'm with you 100%. It sure seems as though his last game or act or salvo as a Vancouver Canuck is getting closer and closer. Maybe it's already happened. Who knows? But with the amount of teams that are reportedly interested, the Capitals, the Penguins,

I saw that the Nashville Predators might be in that mix, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Take your pick. It makes sense because for all the reasons that Bruff just said, and as you like to say, you can sell a nice story that, you know, at his low, you're seeing it right now. At his high, which you, interested suitor, might be able to catch that high. He could score you 20 goals and not have to rely on any special team's time to do so.

Let's look at the week ahead for the Canucks because I think it's going to be a pretty interesting week. They go to Minnesota to play the Wild tomorrow, and that's going to be a pretty interesting week. They go to Minnesota to play the Wild tomorrow, and that's going to be a tough game. Arguably the toughest game on the road trip. The Wild are a very good team, and I think we all remember what happened the last time the Canucks went to Minnesota. It was quite a wild performance.

They lost 10-7, and that was the one where Casey DeSmith was in for eight goals. Did he get pulled, and the other goalie allowed the other two? No. It was such a wild game that the Wild scored two empty netters because the Canucks had battled back to make it 8-7 in the third period. So the Wild weren't getting great goaltending either,

but they got better than the Canucks that night. And I think that was, actually, that might have been a day game. Can't remember. It was. That was the game that marked a bit of a turning point for Casey to Smith in that after that game, I think the Canucks were quite a bit more hesitant

to put him in there and maybe contributed a little bit to Thatcher Demko's injury concerns, but this is going to be a tough, tough game. And Kirill Kaprizov is playing at a very high level. He's getting lots of heart trophy talk in Minnesota and the team as a whole is very good as well. I might see David Jirichek in that game too.

Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. You got traded to Minnesota. I was kind of like Minnesota. Okay. Minnesota's got a great record.

We don't talk about them a lot because, let's be honest, it's Minnesota. Minnesota has actually somehow surpassed the Winnipeg Jets in the standings. They're both on 36 points, but Minnesota, by way of playing one last game, has surpassed the Winnipeg Jets. They are actually bigger road warriors than the Vancouver Canucks. They play more games on the road, so they have more points on the road. But they are 10-1-3 on the road. They're playing great hockey, and they're largely overshadowed

because they've traditionally been such a boring team in flyover country. And if you're talking about that particular division, everyone was talking about Winnipeg the first four or five weeks of the season. This is the toughest team that the Canucks have played in a while, actually, because part of this swing that they've been on, I mean, let's be honest, the competition hasn't exactly been fierce. That game

against Pittsburgh that they lost, that was actually a disappointment. I know you're on the road, and I know it's the second of a back-to-back, but that felt and looked like a disappointment because Pittsburgh is such a leaky team. Phillip Gustafson has a 929 save percentage, very much in the Vesna category for the Minnesota Wilds. So Wednesday, the Four Nations rosters are announced,

and we'll expect to see a few Canucks in that group. So Quinn Hughes has already been named to the USA team. Yeah. I expect Petey will be named to Sweden and Lankanen to Finland. I wonder if that'll be it. I wonder if that'll be it. Maybe Besser for the Americans. I don't know if JT Miller's going to get named there

just because there's uncertainty with his situation. I don't think Garland, as well as he's played for the Canucks and maybe should be on the Americans roster, I don't know if he's going to get recognized. But we'll see on that one. And then the Friday with Taylor Swift in town, and it is going to be, if you thought the traffic has been bad the last few weeks, and it has been, talk about that later,

it's going to be crazy because you got a taylor swift concert you got a canucks game i think circ is having shows down there as well but for the canucks will that be the first start for thatcher demko of the season against the columbus blue jackets canucks return from the road. Demko is able to rest and recuperate at home. That could be the start for Thatcher Demko. And I suppose it could be, although we have no news on this, just speculation, that maybe JT Miller would be ready to return to the lineup by Friday.

I'm sure the Canucks will get a lot of questions about both those players this week after they return home from their six-game road trip. They're 4-1 on this road trip. Very impressive. They got one tough game remaining against Minnesota. So that's the first hour of the Halford & Brough Show. It has been all hockey talk except for a bit of baseball talk with Adnan. Mike Tanier will join us next to talk some NFL.

The Seahawks somehow found a way to win against the New York Jets. And I think the main reason is it was the New York Jets who found a way to lose to the Seattle Seahawks. Lots of other NFL stories this weekend. We'll go through them with Mike Tanier. Then we will return to the Dunbar-Lumber text line

650-650 and we'll read some of your texts and comments on a pretty busy weekend in sports. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.