Halford & Brough in the Morning - Ray Ferraro On The Canucks Being Consistently Inconsistent

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk last night's Canucks win and their lack of consistency with NHL analyst Ray Ferraro (1:24), plus the boys discuss what's next for the 'Nucks (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.

Ferraro, Ferraro, let's chat with Ray Ferraro. It's time for Ferraro, let's talk to Ray Ferraro. Ferraro winds up with a shot, score! Ray Ferraro, breakaways onside, scores! Three-bound score! Ray Ferraro! Ferraro, Ferraro, it's time for Ray Ferraro. Let's chat with Ferraro, it's time for Ray Ferraro. 7 o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford, sportsnet 650. Halford and Bravo 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 2 of the program. Ray Ferraro is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 2. Hour 2 is brought to you by Jason Hominuck at Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

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Ray Ferraro joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Ray. How are you? I'm, Ray. How are you? I'm doing good. How are you guys today? We are well. Spirits are high after last night's game. Impressive result for the Vancouver Canucks.

3-1 over the Colorado Avalanche. It comes after the game on Saturday, which you were in the building and working for. A bit of a clunker, to put it mildly, against the Bruins. My question is this, and we asked it of Greg Wyshynski talking about the New Jersey Devils who have a similar problem. How does a team have so many non-competitive clunkers? Wow, wouldn't that be nice to know? I wish I had a real reason why that would be like when

when gambling first started coming you know like into every game that we watch in the ads i was telling somebody when i was playing if you if you would have called me you know everybody's looking for like the edge how do i get a know, how do I get an inside? How do I know what's going to happen? If you would have called me, like, after warm-up and said, hey, is your team ready to go on a random night? I'd say, yeah, the goalie was great, and we were really sharp, and, yeah, tonight's the night.

And then you'd go lose 6-1. Right, right. yeah tonight's the night and then you'd go lose six one right right like like it's just sometimes like like it's so obvious the night is lousy and yet i don't really have an explanation other than the nights where they you know they're almost like a scheduled loss you're like okay this team's played nine games in 16 days on the road like they're you know one of these lousy games is coming but the crazy part about the you know like um vancouver this week is they were awesome against florida they stunk against boston and they were awesome against colorado like how why does that middle one happen

and and the answer is I I don't know a couple I think you have enough players that aren't aren't playing at a level of consistency that takes away those clunkers like uh talk was talking about uh after the Boston game like when guys don't have their a game where you know we have four or five guys that you know are not on a given night don't have their a game they don't even have their b game and they don't have heck they don't have a c plus game so it goes like from where everybody like last night could you pick a guy that didn't play well last night? And then in Boston, could you have picked somebody that did? I know.

So there was no, there's no mid range. It's either really good or really bad. And that's where I think if we just look back to last year, there were a lot of nights where, you know, there was a portion of the game where they muddled through and they got some good goaltending, and then they got it going in the second half of the game, or they started great and kind of muddled in the end with the lead.

This year, it's like when it starts bad, it is bad. And that's, I guess that lends itself to wild inconsistency. I was laughing a bit during the game. Remember when the Canucks had the power play and it wasn't going really well for them, and you were between the benches going, you guys got to start playing for this guy, and you were talking about Thatcher Dempka.

You just start playing for them. I thought you were going to actually jump onto the Canucks bench and start coaching them, but I know you were maintaining your neutrality there. That was, that was frustration for sure. Watching the game because, you know, here's a guy back in his second game and he got, he had four breakaways the first game and on that power play, the, the best chances were Boston's. And like, like at some point, you know, like it's got to jolt you back to attention.

And, you know, we'll see what the next week brings. But, you know, Jim Rutherford's, you know, hey, we need a couple of players to be really competitive. You know, people hear that, right? Like the guys hear that. They might not hear everything, but they hear that. They hear Rick Talkett saying publicly, we've got four or five players that aren't emotionally invested.

And you know that that message has already been delivered privately, or if it hadn't been privately delivered, it was the next day. And so the response was critical for them last night. Like that was, I know it's mid-December, but that was like a, that really kind of felt like an important game last night. So going forward as Canucks fans who are listening to this show, um, can we have expectations on a game-to-game basis, or do we just go like, well, I wonder what's going to happen tonight? Well, I think you can have expectation, but, you know,

what comes out of the tunnel seems to be different most nights. The one thing is they're going on the road for a couple, and they've played and performed really, really solidly on the road. And so I, I expect that they will play well. You know, I, I expect that, you know, that it, it felt like it said last night felt like an important game. It felt like a, you know, sometimes you get a little tap from the coach. Hey, we got to be better. night felt like an important game it felt like a you know sometimes you get a little tap from the coach hey we got to be better this felt like more yeah and so like if you know

like that that's why i say it it felt more important uh to me last night that like this was pretty directly delivered the message from upper management to the coach to the players and i i just thought that was one of their one of their most complete games last night like they were you're going to give up chances and i know mckinnon hit the crossbar in the in the third period and you know demko made a couple of really good saves those are going to happen every night but if you were to dial up and say i'd like that to be as close to a 60-minute game as we can, I mean, they had a grade-A scoring chance eight seconds into the game. And it finished completely under control. That was a really good game last night.

It is kind of funny that in the Florida game, it was Max Sasson leading the charge offensively, and in the Colorado game it was Kiefer Sherwood with the natural hat trick. I think I'm with you. I think everyone played well last night against Colorado, but it just goes to show you how important it is to get those unexpected performances. Well, so let's go back to take a wider view of Kiefer Sherwood, because it's been an amazing first 30 plus games for him here. Like just amazing. He's got 11 goals, as we all know, but his energy of 185 hits or whatever he's got now, you know, the consistency of effort from game to game. And then you go back to the summer, and on July 1st, when everybody said Nashville won the July 1st day, one player they didn't sign was Kiefer Sherwood

because they were funneling their money towards the big signings that they had, Stamco, Smart Your Soul, and Shea. And for $1.5 million, Vancouver hits it out of the park here like Vancouver had a firsthand knowledge of what a rock in your shoe Sherwood is in that playoff series like what a pain in the ass right like just never goes away and then he comes here and he plays the same way I've had a couple of chances to talk to him. I'm really, really quite impressed. And he's in a hurry, right? Like he's like, yeah, I'm 29 years old.

I don't have time anymore to develop and to wait. And he was like, my time is now. And so I'm really impressed with like the energy and the effort and the enthusiasm and the dedication he plays the game with. Like, if you're looking for a player to play in your bottom six at $1.5 million, look around the league and tell me where are you finding something better than this? He's been a phenomenal signing for them.

He's been outstanding. My follow-up question would be, how did so many teams either pass or straight up miss on the guy? Because you watch him play, and he brings so many elements to the table that you like, and he has shown it in previous instances. Granted, the offensive stuff was mostly in the American League, but was he just typecast as a certain kind of player

in a certain kind of role, and now he's got a different opportunity in Vancouver? Well, I think two things. One, that for sure, that the view might have been of him, okay, so he's a fourth-line player, maybe a third-line player. So you're looking at forwards 10 to 12, or at best they're thinking maybe he's forwards 9, 8 to 12, right?

Like not your seventh forward, not the guy that can go up and down in your lineup, but the guy that's in your bottom six for sure. And so that typecasts you a little bit. The next part is that teams have priorities on July 1st. Some are the big fish, right? And some are a little different. Some teams have different needs. And so while Vancouver was looking at Jake DeBrusque, they knew that they had to address that bottom part of their lineup as well. And so maybe to Sherwood and to the Canucks, this was more of a priority than he was getting elsewhere. So all of a sudden you're like, oh, wait a minute.

They really want me. They've communicated what my role might be to me. I'm comfortable putting my eggs in that basket because teams will reach out and then say, look, we're going to circle back to you tomorrow. Well, you're not a priority, so everybody can feel that. The second part is somebody makes you a priority in that 24 hours, you're gone. You're not waiting around here.

Like you're a player like Sherwood. You're not waiting until and pitching teams against each other for three or four days. Pretty soon all the chairs are filled and you have nowhere to go. Now you get this opportunity. You get faith from the coach and a role that opened up for you. And you just run through this door because this might be your best chance ever. Hey, it just struck me that Ray Ferraro is a very chantable name. Like Kiefer Sherwood,

Ray Ferraro. Did it ever happen, Ray? That would have been nice. That would have been nice. It doesn't even happen in my own house. That would sound great. Maybe we'll, you know, we have the power sometimes to get the fans chanting things. So maybe you'll be between the benches. That would be amazing. Wouldn't it be amazing though, sitting on the bench and having the arena chant your name?

Would that be awesome? It would go to my head real quick. They had the camera on sherwood for what felt like an hour yesterday when it was going on you could tell that he was loving it but he also didn't want he knew the camera was on him so he's trying to keep it together and keep it cool but he kept doing the side glance and you could tell the guys on the bench were like hey hey can you hear that yeah of course that was awesome they were giving it to them. Of course they were. Yeah. They should. It's so cool. That's amazing.

The Utah Hockey Club. The Canucks are going to be playing them on Wednesday. Have you worked any of their games this season? You worked the opener. I worked their very first one. Oh, that's right. Your crazy travel schedule? Was that the one?

Yeah, that was it. You know what was amazing walking into that building was that, you know, so of course Utah is the old Phoenix Coyotes. Before they were Arizona, they were Phoenix. And they played in a basketball building at America West Arena. And as soon as I walked into the building in Utah, I go, it's the same place. Yeah. And so now I don't know much about construction,

but it seems like a lot that they're going to carve out the end of each of the arena this summer and change the bowl in one end. And then next summer, they're going to do it at the other end. That seems like a big project to me, but that's what they're going to do there.'s a very steep um building uh people hang right over top because of the shape of the bowl it's a it everything feels close like for the goalies it'll take a little bit of a like that morning skate that they're going to get that's going to be important because the everything seems really close it's not. You know, the size of the rink's the same, but it feels like it's boxed in.

That game that you worked, I believe if I'm not mistaken, Dylan Gunther scored a pair of goals that game, and he hasn't really slowed down since. He's got 29 points through 30 games this year, 13 goals, 16 assists. What did you see from him him i know everyone talks about the shot right it's a shot the shot he's got an ability great shot yeah but he's got to have a lot more in his arsenal than that because he's a point of game guy through 30 games already um he is uh you know for in the time that i've seen him he's more sure with his to carry the puck he's more sure or bold in his game you know he does

he's not on the perimeter or the fringe like a lot of got a lot of us started and you're never really sure where to be so you're this makes any sense you're kind of nowhere you know you're you're like a stride away here or oh i could have had a chance if i was a little quicker there right now he gets the puck and utah skates like they're their defense is suspect i mean that's where you get to them you forecheck them you try and push them back and kill their exits, because if they exit with speed, they're dangerous. And Gunther is one of those guys.

Keller's another. Schmaltz is another. Like, they get out, and Cooley, oh my gosh, like, that kid can fly. So if you don't forecheck, like, you know, we're talking specific to Gunther, but it's more of them, they can really hurt you on the rush. Has Barrett Hayton come along at all? He has. It's funny, when you get drafted there, there's an expectation that you're going to be this big point producer.

And I don't know that that's going to be his game. I think he's more, he's going to be like a two or like more so a three for me. Like that's what I see now. He could evolve into that number two center, but I don't see him as a top of the lineup guy. His game doesn't seem to look like that yet. But I guess if I were a young centerman, I'd keep looking at Dylan Strom and I'd go, yeah, guess what?

That guy got waived by Chicago. He was scratched in Chicago. And now he's having an amazing year. He's Ovi centerman. He's put together a couple of really good years. Sometimes, and Strom and Hayton were drafted. Strom was drafted three. Hayton was drafted five, I believe.

And so the expectation was immediate for those guys. And it took Strom a while. So maybe Hayton can get there. Problem is, how long can you wait? And money and term and all that stuff come into play. And it's really, uh, it becomes a balancing act for those teams waiting for him. So for no reason at all this week, I did a little research on Dylan Cousins. Um, no reason. I was just really curious in the player. What, and maybe this is just a question about

what's going on with the Buffalo Sabres. What, you see all these Sabres that, you know, like Reinhardt is a great example, who wasn't a bad player for Buffalo, but he's certainly taken his game to a new level in Florida. What is going on in Buffalo where you've got guys like Dylan Cousins and Owen Power who are not reaching their potential? They've showed signs in the NHL of being good players, but for whatever reason, they seem to be plateauing or even regressing.

Well, look, I've never been a general manager before, so maybe I'm talking out of my ear here, but giving a bunch of 21-year-olds seven- and eight-year contracts seems absolutely crazy to me. How do you know what they are? How would you possibly know? Don't tell me Dylan Cousins is a 31-goal scorer because he scored it once. He's not.

I'm baffled by what happens in this league and what people think that watch. I scored 40 goals twice. I'm not a 40, or I'm not anything anymore. I was not a 40 goal scorer. But I scored 40 goals twice. These are lightning bolt years where everything happens the right way every rebound falls on your stick every shot good or lousy goes into the net but that's not the norm i was a 27 goal scorer so if teams thought that like by average i was 27 if teams thought they were getting a 40-goal score,

they would be really disappointed. They gave Owen Power a seven-year extension. I don't think he'd even played a year and a half yet. They gave Samuelson a seven-year extension. Like, seven years. Dillon Cousins, the same thing. Did they think Cousins was going to go from 31 to 38 goals? I think Dylan Cousins is closer to a 22-goal score.

In my vision, he's like Trevor Linden, light. Linden was a really good player. Remember him when he was young and oh yeah not not older trevor but younger and rambunctious and like energy and check and match up and i think that's what cousins could be and that's what that's what he is but to think he's a 30 goal score every year i i just i don, I think it's unfair to him. And if you expect it, you're going to be disappointed. Because I think the game of Cousins is good, but I don't think it's mature yet.

He looks frustrated. And when you lose all the time, and this is 14 years for the Sabres, like it just, it wears away at people. Like they don't have, when I look at the Sabres, I'm like, they're so young. Who is going to lead them? Another young guy, right? Like it's really, really difficult for young teens to build up scar tissue without getting run over because now they're 07 and 03. It must feel like Groundhog Day to them.

It has to. And I got news for you. When the owner shows up and comes in the locker room, that's not good. That's not good for anybody there so i guess just for the sake of argument um the counter argument to your point of why would you give these guys these big contracts out of their entry level is that if you bridge them for a couple of years and they keep playing well it's going to be a lot more expensive to give them their long-term contract. So, you know, I don't think anyone in Vancouver is complaining that Quinn Hughes got a long-term

contract out of his entry-level contract. Now you've got this terrific player signed to a really, really team-friendly contract. Okay, but hang on. Let me stop you right now. I'm going, yes, do it. Because I'm mostly on board with you by the way and by the way this is one of halford's pet peeves is paying these young players big long contracts out of their elcs i think it's not but if if you couldn't evaluate

quinn hughes by the time his contract came up in a in a confident fashion that what he was going to be, and maybe he's taken it even past that, right? But I would have had no problem. There's no – each player is different. To blanket extend players across your team, to me, is madness because they're not all going to hit. And now you're stuck with seven years. What if one of those five guys that you bridge

hits? And it's going to be really costly. Well, the other four, you're saving all kinds of money on. It's a really hard league to be a star in. And what I think has happened is teams have gotten to the point where they're like we're gonna lock these guys up and worry about it later yep i i think it's nuts i i just i think it's a flawed view you know who doesn't do this very much and i i think i think of the teams that you can say okay which

players fit their system is carolina yeah carolina just doesn't do it they just don't and so they they just extended seth jarvis uh i think he signed for seven years i don't have i don't have any real question that Seth Jarvis is a really good player. I just don't. I've watched him enough, and I watch Buffalo a lot because my brother-in-law was coaching there. And so when they kept signing these guys, I'm like, what a gift to these players.

Like, are you kidding me? You're 22 years old, and'm like, what a gift to these players. Like, are you kidding me? You're 22 years old and somebody says, I want to sign you to your 30 and give you $50 million. I could do that. Like, you box yourself in with those contracts. And one thing that I've come to all these years of doing this is anytime you box yourselves in from a management perspective, you're really, you have to eventually make a deal you don't like.

I couldn't agree more, Ray. This was great as always. Thank you very much for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of this week. I'd actually, I keep keep telling everyone we're going to be doing this next week, but we won't because a week today is Christmas Eve. Well, I won't be. I won't be here. We won't be here either. I'm coming to your house though, Ray.

Good. Come here. I won't be here. It'll be great. You know what I'm doing next week? What? I'm so excited. So my two boys are soccer players, Riley and Reese.

And Reese, who just turned 15 is a die-hard die-hard Liverpool fan you're going to and so we're going to Anfield on December 26th are you going to sit in theicester. Yeah, very good. And so I am so excited to go. Cammy does all the planning, right? I have no idea how we're getting from here to there. I got no idea.

Probably a plan. Yeah, it's probably a plan. You're probably going to fly, right? Otherwise, we better get going. We better get going. But I mean, like, how we get from London to Liverpool, I didn't even know it was as far as it is. But this is good. I'm so excited. So that's our Christmas.

We're super excited about that. Right on. That's pretty fantastic. Well, enjoy it. What does Ray need to know about Liverpool? Who's a Ray Ferraro type player? Mo Salah? Oh, I wish I was Mo Salah.

40 goal score. Close to a 40 goal score. Yeah, very close. I'd like to put it this way. If I was Mosala, I wouldn't be talking to you nitwits, that's for sure. That's true. Thanks, Ray. Always fun to talk with you.

Okay, happy holidays. Enjoy the break and have fun at Anfield. That should be a lot of fun. Thanks, Ray. Yeah, we'll talk to you when we get back. All the best for the holidays. Thanks for everybody for listening. We'll talk to you in a bit. See you, buddy. Thanks, Ray. Yeah, we'll talk to you when we get back. All the best for the holidays. Thanks for everybody for listening. We'll talk to you in a bit.

See you, buddy. Thanks, buddy. That's Ray Ferraro here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I wanted to say Trent Alexander-Arnold, but just because he's the most polarizing player. Okay, we've got a lot more to get into. A bit irresponsible with the ball. Yep, but man, can he create. Should we try and get the fans to do a Ray Ferraro chant in the next game he's working

just to make it super awkward? All the players are like, why are they chanting the call it, call it guy? That would be incredible. Admittedly, everyone loves Ray. They do love Ray. We make Ray cry. Okay, we're going to go to break. When we come back, we've got an open segment here

on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We can dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket if you've got anything you want to weigh in on. Last night's big win for the Vancouver Canucks. You can look ahead to the week that will be. 650-650 is the text line, Dunbar Lumber text line. Shoot us a note. Also, get your What We Learns in, hashtag them, WWL.

Finally, another friendly reminder that we're giving away a pair of tickets today to the PWHL takeover tour, January 8th, Rogers arena. Rogers is a proud partner and fan of the PWHL at eight 15 this morning. It's a hot ticket to these games. This game sold out real quick, hot two tickets.

We're giving away a pair caller. Number five, six Oh four, two eight Oh zero six 50. Don't call now. It's at eight 15 this morning, six Oh four, two eight Oh zero six 50. That's the number caller. Number five, Caller number 5, 604-280-0650. Don't call now. It's at 8.15 this morning, 604-280-0650. That's the number.

Caller number 5. Every day this week, we'll win a pair of tickets to the PWHL takeover tour at Rogers Arena on January the 8th. We'll come back. We've got an open segment. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 6.50. Hey, it's Big Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets

weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. This one goes out to Pete and Suri, and it's a little song called We Wish You a Happy Holidays. Festive greetings. We haven't done a lot of Christmas music. A little inside joke here on the Albert Abruf Show between us and Pete and Suri. We haven't done a lot of Christmas music this year.

We did the trap Christmas music last year, if you recall. Vaguely. Not good. No? I don't remember. Well, maybe I'll bring it back. Do you guys listen to a lot of Christmas music? No.

Does it get you into the mood? I have one Christmas album that I like, like actually like to listen to, and that's Charlie Brown Christmas, Vince Ghilardi Trio. Yeah. That's literally it. Right. Just because it's just good jazz music. Good jazz.

Yeah. Other than that, though, I can't think of a single Christmas album where I'm like, I'm enjoying this right now. Mariah Carey? No. Buble? Well, not maybe ironically.iah Carey? No. Buble? Well, maybe ironically. Actually, you know what?

Okay. Why ironic? Buble. Why ironic? Buble, you know what? I mean, local boy loves the Canucks. He's got a shot at Buble. The guy can sing on Christmas.

Giant's owner? Yeah. Buble's Christmas stuff is awesome. I will say that. When we used to work at TSN, 1040. Yeah, I remember. I was there. I worked with you.

Remember that? Across, I forgot you I was there. I worked with you. Remember that? Across, I forgot you were there. Across the hall was QMFM. Yeah, I know. And they used to do the December 1st. It turned into an all Christmas format. When I worked in Kamloops at NL, Radio NL, December 1st, all we played was Christmas music.

You'd just jump out the studio window every day. You'd see these sad, dead-eyed hosts stumbling out of the studio after being subjected to 11 consecutive hours of Christmas music. It's too much. I also used to work retail during the holidays. That's what I was going to say. It's like working retail. Oh, yeah, if you're working retail.

And isn't there kind of like a loop of songs? Like you get the same ones over and over and over again. It's like seven tracks. When I worked retail, it was a CD. Yeah. And you always knew when the end of that CD was coming because it meant that you were starting the CD over again. It was like change tape over. It got worse now, though,

because all the companies like to use music videos in their stores and stuff. And it's less than a CD. It's like seven songs. So it's like an hour loop, not even. So it sucks. Okay. Let's get into some stuff from...

Oh, we got to take care of the business at hand here. Halford & Brough in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can open anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program. Hour 2 is brought to you by Jason Hominick from jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks

more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage. So the key stats in last night's Canucks 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche

were obviously Kiefer Sherwood's three goals. They call that a hat trick. Natural hat trick. It was a natural hat trick. In fact, it was the only goals the Canucks scored. They were all by Kiefer Sherwood. And all very different goals.

One, the first one, was on a good forecheck. And you go to the net, you get a little greasy goal. The second one was a great shorthanded goal. Picked off Nathan McKinnon's pass. Entry at the blue line. Went on a breakaway and beat McKenzie Blackwood cleanly. And the third one. The goalie just left.

The goalie just left. The goalie quit. The goalie quit. He's like, Sherwood's coming again. I'm out. And it was into an empty net for the natural hat trick for Kiefer Sherwood. So all he was missing was a penalty shot goal and a power play goal. Yeah.

Then he could have had the elusive. I think the only other player to do that is Mario Lemieux, right? Yeah, Lemieux. I guess the other one that you would say is an own goal that he was credited for. It's called a Louis Erickson. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That you're credited for. That you're credited for.

Someone else scored it. Someone else scored it. He was the last guy to touch it. Yeah. That would be six goals total and pretty impressive. That's pretty great. So he kind of fell short last night, actually, I'll be honest with you. Kiefer Sherwood, come on, buddy.

What about an awarded goal? Somebody threw a stick at him while he had an open net or something. That's seven. There you go. Okay. Somebody's got to do it. Somebody's got to do it. And also the other stat that I would point out that goes as an obvious one

was that Thatcher Demko stopped 30 of 31 shots, lost the shutout late. I'm sure he wasn't happy about that, but he did say afterwards that he would have been real mad if he started out with three straight losses. So for him, the most important thing was that he got that W. But I want to bring up a couple of other stats from last night. And another thing that Thatcher Demko said was that the PK was great.

And yeah, it was because it scored. But it also kept a very dangerous Colorado power play with the firepower out there 0 for 4. And if you look at the ice time that the Colorado studs had out there Rantanen 605 Nathan McKinnon 603 Cale McCarr 535 that's all on the power play so basically they had more than a major penalty on the ice in power play time, and the Canucks allowed zero goals. So congrats to the penalty killers and also Thatcher Demko on that one.

Another stat that stood out to me, JT Miller, six hits. Team high, six hits. He was emotionally invested in that game, and Lekkonen found out. He smoked Lekkonen found out. Yep. He smoked Lekkonen. That was a, that was a great hit near the

benches. Miller's line also got the assignment of shutting down the McKinnon line. Petey's line had middle stats line, but you know, we all know that the big assignment against Colorado is McKinnon and ultimately the end of the night, even though McKinnon showed flashes out there,

I mean, you were worried every time I got the puck. He was a minus player because Kiefer Sherwood picked off his pass and went the other way and scored shorthanded. And he wasn't in on the Colorado goal. So credit the Miller line for not only playing a physical game, but also a good defensive game, getting the tough shutdown. And then the other one that I do want to bring up is Petey had eight shot attempts,

including four on net. If he plays like that every night, nobody's going to complain, including me. And the points will come. Like, you know, I know some people made it like, oh, another pointless night for Pettersson because JT Miller's back in the lineup. Last night, Petey played well. And I just call it like I see it. The guy was engaged right off the bat. He hit the post early on.

That could have been a goal. He made a nice pass out to DeBrusque in front of the net, and DeBrusque kind of mishandled it. That could have been an assist. Bring that level of engagement every night nobody's got a problem did Petey and Miller play together on the power play last night why do you do this to me why do you do this to me that's happened before though that's happened before though Talkett has split up the the power play units um pd's line if you look at the or pd's power play unit if you look at the um the time on ice was the

number one unit and then jt miller was on the second unit and quinn hughes essentially played for both of them he was like out there all the time but they can actually had two power plays the only reason i brought it up the only reason i brought it up was because talk it was asked about a post game in In a very abbreviated media availability after the game, I might add. Not exactly sure what was going on, but it was truncated. Is that the right word for it? It was

three minutes in length and we've got one clip. You know what? Let's throw the clip out there where Rick Talkit very cleverly praises every single player on the roster, I think. He manages to get praise in for all of them. It was only a two minute conversation, but he mentioned every single player on the roster, I think. He manages to get praise in for all of them across the board. It was only a two-minute conversation, but he mentioned every single player. You know, one way to make sure that your words aren't parsed as a head coach

is to just praise everybody. Just say everyone had a good game and name them all individually. Here's Rick talking now on how everyone had a great game after a 3-1 win over Colorado on Monday night. Yeah, I liked a lot of things. Demmer was a good goaltender. Just a little reminder to everybody. Millsy was great.

Line was great, shutting down McKinnon. I thought PD's line was really good. Sherwood actually, unreal game, his line, but he was great. Teddy's line, I thought Hoggy gave us some juice in Dak, and I thought that D were really good, Juleson and Souie especially on the PK. I love that opening line. I just like to remind everybody, Demmer's a good goalie.

Demmer's a pretty good goalie. I thought Adam Foote had a good night. He actually did say Adam Foote had a good night. There's another clip praising him about the PK. Did anybody ask him why Miller and Petey weren't on the same power play? Yes, we already had this conversation. Did we? Yeah, we just had it.

Were you just up from your nap? I was cutting audio. I was working. Going through nap time. I counted. It was a six-second reply to the question about Miller. He was like, that was the plan, so they knew about it. Yeah. I'm like, that doesn't answer the question at all. I have a follow-up. How did

JT take it? So last night, Miller Scorsese-wise held off entirely, but was tasked tasked as you pointed out with the shutdown roll going up against uh the mckinnon line actually bick and sat broke down and i don't know how they did it because i didn't even know you could do this but who the hits were delivered upon i guess nhl.com has a very thorough breakdown in its box score and he was very physical against mckinnon and mccarr and

there was also the leckanen hit that you were talking about but so there's like hey i'm trying to make a change gt and you just nailed him um and there was also that stupid cross-checking penalty oh that was so bad that was so so bad very rarely does john Shorthouse, Shorty to the layman, say audibly that was not much there. He's usually pretty muted in his criticisms of the officials, but that one was bad. Well, he calls it like he sees it. He's not going to be a homer about things,

but that one was, he got him with a little bit of a, I mean, it was a cross-check that happens a thousand times in any game. And then the second one was a little bit of a, I mean, it was a cross-check that happens a thousand times in any game. See now. And then the second one was a little bit more forceful on McKinnon, but I guarantee you that McKinnon wasn't sitting there going, well, that's a penalty. That's something that McKinnon is like, yeah, that happens to me a hundred times a game. I saw it being repurposed and repackaged in the post-analysis

as McKinnon getting a superstar call. I don't think that's it because usually those kind of calls are predicated on a lesser player doing the damage. Like, I can't keep up with this guy, so I'm going to try and take advantage of the rulebook. Miller is a top-line, top-flight center. They were just battling.

That's why that call was so egregious. Anyway, there is, and we saw it against Florida and we saw it against Colorado. There's a certain style that this team has the ability to play. And we saw it countless times last year where you watch them for 60 minutes and you say, they're a really good defensive team.

When they want to be, they can be a very stifling team. If you look at the expected goals, though, and everyone loves that stat, the Avs were all situations over three. Demko played real well. Demko is part of that defensive team. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. But I just think it was really encouraging to see him play that way. I'll be curious to see how they do the goaltending on this road trip.

If Lankanen is ready to go, I hope he does play Wednesday against Utah. He's been recovering from the flu, and that can be tough. But I hope – because that was a physical game for Thatcher Damko. Yeah. And I think we're all at the stage now still and probably will be for, I don't know, the rest of the season, including the playoffs, where we're kind of like, oh, don't get hurt.

I legitimately thought he got hurt last night. I don't know if you know the exact... It was later in the game, right? The incident was in the third period, and he fell down prior to making a save. And I just remember him getting up slowly, very slowly, and thinking... I actually texted the group.

I said, oh, dear Lord, did Demko just hurt himself there? But he stayed in the game and showed no ill effects afterwards but maybe that was more an example of how we're going to feel or me anyway how we're going to feel about Demko moving forward because this is what we talked about when he was

recovering from the popliteus injury was what happens if or what happens when because you're just kind of waiting for something to happen. You're holding your breath collectively. But he's got through the games that he's played. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is great.

Now, you mentioned... I mean, don't forget the plan was, and he said this, I'm going to put this injury through hell before I actually come back and play because the last thing I want is to return to the lineup and be out of it again in two weeks. So I know you can't recreate game situations, but I think he did work this thing pretty hard.

And then his teammates decided to put him through hell on Saturday. Right. They were like, hey, you like breakaways? Well, here's 10 of them. So there's a very, very interesting two-game road swing coming up here. The Canucks will play in Utah on Wednesday and then go right back-to-back in Vegas on Thursday. So you're going to see both goalies on this little mini road trip.

I am very curious to see what Utah's got on Wednesday night because they are kind of nipping at the heels of the two wildcard teams in the Western Conference. Hockey Utah, or as one listener called it, Hawk Utah? Yeah. Yeah. Hawk Utah is a thing. Come on.

And then, you know, this game against Vegas on Thursday, I know we're now at the 30-game mark of the season, but this will be one of the biggest tests of the Canucks season because not only are they taking on one of the elites in the Western Conference, they're going to be doing it on the second of a back-to-back in Vegas. It's been a very difficult place to get results for teams this year. So this is going to be not necessarily just a test,

but a test coming off a high against Colorado. You got a high against Florida, then you sink to the bottom and a real, I wouldn't say rock bottom low, but it was a low on Saturday and Sunday, especially with the remarks from Rick Talkett, followed by another high from Colorado on Monday night. Can this team string together a series of consistent, solid, and I think most importantly, defensively sound performances?

That is what I would like to see here, because after that, they come home and they get Ottawa on Saturday, December 21st. And by the way, if you haven't looked at it, go look at the Ottawa Senators' schedule over the next month. They have a nine-game road swing that goes through the Christmas break. So they go out west. They play a bunch of games, including that one in Vancouver. Then they go home. Then they go right back on the road.

They break between home games. I think their last home game was December 14th. They don't play at home again until January the 7th. So this is going to be a make-or-break time for the Ottawa Senators as well. And then after that Ottawa game. Are they going out of their rink or something? I don't know what's happening. A month away?

It's a crazy schedule. I don't know. And you mentioned earlier that Ottawa's actually played well lately and has clawed its way back into playoff contention. They're in a playoff spot right now second long card spot yeah Olmark's finally found his form yeah like they played better which is good because it was a real struggle there for a while I want them to make the playoffs I'd like to see Ottawa yeah I'd like to see them um a little soft spot for so there's a couple of uh do you guys do you guys tune into

like potential disaster games like I know the it's a good team versus a good team often gets a lot of play. Like last night, Florida versus Edmonton. Great game. I wasn't watching it because I was watching the Canucks, but it sure seemed like a lot of goals went in. I was watching it. Off of Skinner's head on one of them. But so oftentimes those will get, and rightly so,

well, I'm going to watch this, two good teams. I got to admit, I'm more prone to watch the games where like, ooh, I wonder if the coach is going to get fired after this one. And there are two awesome ones tonight. Yep. Buffalo is in Montreal, and the Sabres just had a visit from their owner, Terry Pagula, who, according to all reports,

didn't come in and rip them or anything and say, like, you guys better play better. I'm training all of you. It was more like, I believe in you, and I think the solutions are in here. At any rate, I got to go because the Bill's got a game. Oh, no, he believes in us. What are you, crazy? You've been watching the games? I lost 10 in a row, Terry.

Good Lord. So Buffalo's in Montreal, and Montreal is not a good team. In fact, their records are near identical. They're the two worst teams in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo is 11-16-4, and Montreal is 11-16-3. We kind of just ignore Montreal a little bit. It's like, yeah, they're rebuilding, but I don't know. Some of their games they've played, I'm like,

I don't know if this is going exactly to plan in Montreal. The other game that I think if you want to watch, because you're a jackal like me, would be the Rangers at Nashville. Yeah, we talked about this one earlier with Greg Wyshynski, and the Rangers, post-Truba, have not righted the ship whatsoever. I don't know if they were expecting that that was going to cure all that ailed them, that it was that big of a distraction. And moving on from, you know, a guy that was a leader and had been there for a long time, so he'd obviously had relationships with a lot of the guys in the room i don't know if drury thought that that was going to cure everything or if that was just the first move that needed to be made but it hasn't worked the rangers are in a tailspin and wischinski brought up a really interesting point earlier that unlike some of the other places where

you were suggesting a coach dismissal might be the end game here. It doesn't feel like they're prepared to make LaViolette walk the plank for what's gone on with this team. It's clearly something with the guys on the ice and the guys in the room, but they haven't figured it out yet. You know the World Juniors are in Ottawa, right? I did not.

Yeah. Well, they are. That explains it. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. So there you go. Eh. Whoa. Not a big World you go. Eh. Whoa.

I'm not a big World Juniors guy anymore. Really? Sorry, I'm looking forward to cheering for Canuck on Team Canada. I guess. I mean, you're excited about all the prospects all the time. What happened to you?

I don't know. World Juniors has lost its luster to me the last several years. Anything change in your job status in the last five years, A-Dog? Yeah. Maybe this year it will be the year it gets me back into it. Who knows? I also am not into that property.

I'm more of a Blue Jays baseball guy now. Has it lost its luster? Well, I think it has. With that said, as much as I complain, I do watch it still. So I'm a hypocrite. I'll still watch it. Who am I kidding? I still like the juniors because it usually means that I'm on vacation.

Yeah, true. You know what I mean? And it's such a great – Good vibes. It's a great sports time of the year. More of a Spengler guy. In fact, because you've got – well, the NFL season is getting down to it. You've got college football bowls.

I mean, if you're into English soccer, Boxing Day is a big day for them. So, I mean, I'll still watch the World Juniors, but I'm kind of with you. I don't have like the nationalistic fervor that I used to have for the Juniors. Here's the thing. I think the loss to Finland in the Di Pietro game

just took a bit out of me. When the tournament gets underway, yes. The lead up I find a bit much. A two-week prep course in media on watching 16- and 17-year-old and 18-year-old kids get cut is not a lot. It's a lot. Crying in their hotel rooms. You know, I don't love that part.

Is that, they don't seem to do that as much, though. I think they've heard the feedback on that. That part, they've kind of eliminated, but the hype leading into it is still insane. I mean, it's December 17th, and I feel like I've already got my fill of world juniors. So, I hate to ask this question, but this goes to show you how much I watch junior hockey.

Who are the studs this year for Canada? Jet Lachenko's on the team, right? The guy that played a handful of games with the Philadelphia. Everyone's looking blankly right now, so I'll pick up the slack on this one. I thought Laddie would know. I thought Laddie would know. He's the junior hockey guy.

He looked right at you. I know the goalies. Carson Bjarnason, Brandon Wheatkins, he's pretty good. It was kind of surprising they left Scott Ratzlaff off. He was a returning guy. He was the third goalie on the last roster. Okay, so we're talking about third goalies. Carson Bjarnason, Brandon Wheatkins, he's pretty good. It was kind of surprising they left Scott Ratzlaff off. He was a returning guy. He was the third goalie in the last roster. Okay, so we're talking about third goalies. I'm talking about guys.

Who's going to score goals for Canada right now? Yeah, that's who I don't know. I don't know the top guys. Easton Cowan. Easton Cowan, right. Okay. Berkeley Catton. Okay.

And then Lachenko was sort of the biggest name guy because he got NHL minutes this year. No, I thought he was Russian. No, he's not. Bradley Nadeau is another guy who's played professional games, who's on the roster. He's loaned to the team. I know everyone's excited about Sawyer Mineo, but I'm excited, Oliver

Bonk, because his last name is Bonk. We kind of stole him from Czechia. Is he Raddick's kid? All those years of Canadian players playing for USA, well, we got one now. That was one of the great names in hockey, Radek Bonk. Bonk. Mr. Bonk, could you come over here for a second?

Mr. Bonk was my father. The kid from Medicine Hat, Gavin McKenna, the 17-year-old, who's lighting up the dub. He's supposed to be... He's quite good. ...someone that we need to keep an eye on in this tournament.

And then I was watching some video yesterday. Bradley Nadeau who's a first round pick at the Carolina sorry I didn't hear it I literally just mentioned it I was eating tape I said he was a guy who played professionally yeah because he was playing for Charlotte in the American League

yeah alright A-Dog has told us to break 600 times because he doesn't like the world juniors anymore Bradley Nadeau is a guy we should keep an eye on oh my god has told us to break 600 times because he doesn't like the World Juniors anymore. Bradley Nadeau is a guy we should keep an eye on. Oh, my God. Former Penticton V.

I don't know if you know this. So, Hoffer knows how to Google. Adam Kurzenblatt is going to join us next. He's a Canucks writer for the Hockey News. You know him, lad. Is he a young buck trying to make his way He is He started with the Giants So he's been on

Plenty of Giants broadcasts If you've heard me Doing the Giants games He's been on a ton So Adam gets the 8 o'clock spot And he's a Halbro fan He knows the lore

Of the show Okay Awesome Okay we're going to Talk to Adam next On the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650