Halford & Brough in the Morning - Ray Ferraro On Why The Canucks Might Be Struggling At Home

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

In hour two, Jason and guest host Jamie Dodd talk the latest hockey stories and some Canucks news with NHL analyst Ray Ferraro (1:22), plus they hear from the St. Louis Blues side of things ahead of their road matchup tonight at Vancouver, as Blues reporter Jeremy Rutherford (27:26) joins the show.  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.

It's time for Ray Ferraro. Let's talk to Ray Ferraro. Ferraro winds up for the shot. Score! Ray Ferraro. Breakaway is on his side. Score! Three-bound score!

Ray Ferraro. Ferraro, Ferraro. It's time for Ray Ferraro! Ferraro, Ferraro, it's time for Ray Ferraro. Let's chat with Ferraro. It's time for Ray Ferraro. Welcome back to Halford & Brough here at Sportsnet 650. Jamie Dodd filling in for Mike Halford. Halford & Brough brought you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today.

Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. Hour two is for 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. Go to Jason.Mortgage. 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, that's what you're waiting for. 650-650 is the Dunbar-Lumber text line. Now joining us, as you heard on the intro there, from Sportsnet, from ESPN, former NHL player, NHL analyst, he is Ray Ferraro. Ray, thanks as always for joining us. How are you? I'm doing good.

I just did our podcast, so I'm actually awake this week. Oh, that's good. Thanks for waking up for us, Ray. What does your week look like in terms of your broadcast schedule? I've got the game tonight. I fly to Minnesota tomorrow for Oilers Minnesota on Thursday. I'm looking forward to watching Capri's off. I mean, I always love watching McDavid,

but I haven't seen him this year, and he's had an amazing start. And then I'm back here Saturday for Bruins. So good week, busy week. You worked the Lightning Canucks game. What was your takeaway from that? Because Rick Tockett's takeaway was that the Lightning's top players got it done, and he didn't say the Canucks' top players didn't get it done, but I feel like that's what he meant. I thought it was a really good game, actually. I thought I was really quite entertained by it. Like, the pace was good.

You know, I mean, the special teams clearly were the difference. But, I mean, it's pretty easy to see. Like, you know, Kucherov scored, Point got four points. You know, like, they're best guys that played Vancouver's best. And, you know, like, look, Kevin Lankanincoln has had an amazing start right like amazing i i didn't know that that the level of play was there for lincoln and not not on a short basis but this is this is a few months here he's been amazing but the game's three two carson soucy makes a great pass to jules and i'm not real sure what Juleson's doing down where he was, but he hammers a one-timer.

And there's not a whole bunch of goalies that stop that. And Vasilevsky gets across and stops it. So when I'm looking at the Canucks' losses this year, not the wins, because goalies are allowed to play well. When you look at the wins and you think now had demko been in never mind anybody else in or out of the lineup would they have one or two or three more wins probably and like just think of opening night they win that game yeah yeah like Yeah. Like that's, that's in the bank. And so the, when, when you have the ability to,

to have a, a top half dozen or top eight goalie in the league, whatever, wherever you want to rank Demko, when you have a chance to put him in, that's a difference maker. So I thought in the game, it was the power play and really that safe. And I,

and I don't really, I mean, there's nothing to blame Lankanen on. I mean, what was he going to do? Two of the goals were into an open net and one of them, you know, banked in off Gensel's chest. Like, what's he going to do there? Nothing. They probably would have lost that game if Demko was in that.

They would have lost it 4-2 with an empty netter, right? But when he's back things change yeah it does make you wonder and optimistically wonder what the Canucks goaltending tandem is going to be like when Demko is back but here's a question we were we were throwing around in the first hour how how patient let's say Demko starts tonight let's's say he makes his return. Some people expect it to happen, but we'll wait and see. How patient should fans be with Demko to find his game? Well, they can be as patient or impatient as they want. But I'm almost certain none of them have stood in there and tried to stop a puck.

And so what I would say is he might come out of the gate and be great and he might come out of the gate and be great early and then fatigue a little bit um he can do all the workout that he wants um it's like any player you skate and you train and when you're rehabbing and you feel great then you get into a game and you're like oh my gosh like this is nothing like what i've been doing there was a stretch there the other day i mentioned uh in the tampa game uh tampa had the canucks uh hemmed in it might have been on the power play even but they were in the zone for about i don't, 75 or 80 seconds. And so in that time, I don't think many people think about the conditioning of the goalie.

He's got to be in his crouch, in the ready for about 85 or 90% of that time. Very rarely does he get to stand up. You remember those stupid wall sits we used to do in gym class? Yes. Like that's what he's doing and you're like so like when demko gets back he's gonna it's gonna take him a little time i would assume to get to that point because he is healthy enough to play and the reason i know that is because he's backing up like they're not going to put him there if like what if lankan and got hurt yeah and you're like damn goes out ready to that is because he's backing up. Like, they're not going to put him there. It's like, what if Lankanen got hurt?

And you're like, Demko's not ready to play. Of course he's ready. It's just another practice. Conditioning-wise, do you think he can get through the whole night? You know, so, like, people can be patient or impatient. You've got one of the game's best goalies here. And the only way he's going to get to his A game is to play. And so there's probably going to be a few goals here and there

that you go, eee, that's not normal. And people are going to say right away, I wonder if that has anything to do with his, whatever you call that thing, popliteus? Is that how you say it? Popliteus, yeah. Yeah, that one. Is it that, or did he just let in a lousy goal?

And he's not getting in the net unless he's ready to play. The fine-tuning, that comes from playing. What did you think of the Lightning? My first thought when I've been watching them play this year is that Julian Breesbaugh, their general manager, made a very gutsy but probably correct move by choosing essentially Jake Gensel over Stephen Stamkos. Well, you save four years of health. It's gutsy because you change the complete dynamic of

just about everything you do. You lose a right-handed shooter on the power play. You add a left-handed guy to it. Gensel is, I love players like Gensel because it doesn't really particularly matter what type of centerman they play with. He's just, he's a really, he's a good compliment player, better than good. A really good compliment player

to any style of centerman. Like he can, he plays with Crosby who's straight line, right? Fast. He plays with points who can kind of meander around a little bit. He's a give and go type player. I don't think there's any question that when you,

as you get older and you know, your game starts to slide like it, everybody's got like everybody's does. Stamkos can't do your game starts to slide. Like, everybody's done. Like, everybody's done. Stamkos can't do what he used to do. And that's not a knock on him. Like, that's just the way it is. And so they had to make that decision. They probably weren't willing to go four years with him.

And so he goes to Nashville, and it looks like they haven't missed a beat i will say this about tampa they're fast and they're aggressive you know they when you get past their the top of their lineup they're they're not they're not super skillful i think if i were you know if you're playing them in a series, I'm, I'm dedicating every bit of my top defensive posture to shutting down point Kucharov and Gensel. Like all of it, I'm selling all of it out because I think my three lines will be whatever, whatever three lines they're going to put out next. I mean, that's, that's how you have to look at those guys are elite, elite.

Do enough people appreciate what the Lightning do have down the middle on their top two lines? I mean, they've got Braden Point, incredible center. I know you're a big fan of him, but they've also got Anthony Sorelli. He's hurt right now, but he's in the Selkie conversation. So Braden Point and a guy in the Selkie conversation, thataden point and a guy in the selkie conversation that's not bad one two down the middle uh no pretty good isn't it i'll just think point was a third round player they were worried at the time i guess in his draft year that he wasn't going to skate well enough and i'm like man he must have got new skates i've got rockets put on them my good you used the term when we were texting there you said maybe the most unappreciated player not not underrated but just unappreciated yeah and and i i think that's true i mean like you

just watch this guy play and there's just nothing he doesn't do he competes hard he's a tremendous skater he's got great hands i don't know if he still does it, but he used to, on his way home from the rink, always stop at this gas station that had a subway in it and get just love this guy. Like, how could you not? He's like, he's just like a beer leaguer that happens to be really great. Anthony Sorelli is like every winger wants to play with him because he does all the hard stuff. Like he, he goes and gets the puck and he gives it to you. He wins face-offs. He kills penalties. He's, uh, I've joked with John Cooper, like when they got Ryan McDonough back,

one of Cooper's all-time favorite players, I said, geez, it's going to be crowded in the family picture because you're going to have your family plus McDonough and Sorelli. Because he just, anytime things are scrambling and wobbly, Sorelli's out there. Like he's just a no-nonsense, no-frill,

just a terrific player. And so, you know, they got these two guys in the top of their lineup. They got Nick Paul in the three-hole. You know, they trade for him from Ottawa and then sign him to a seven-year contract. And, like, now you don't have to worry about your center ice position.

You know, like, it's a great luxury they have. I guess the challenge for the Canucks now going forward is for their top players to do what the Lightning did to them on Sunday. What did you think of that line of Pedersen, DeBrusque, and Besser? Because earlier in the show, we were talking, you know, like, do you consider breaking that line up and spreading it out a bit? But then we kind of came back to, well, you

don't really want Besser playing with Teddy Bluger. No, I don't think you do anything until JT's back. I mean, that line's had a really good run, and just because you had one night where they went sideways, I thought they didn't play with any pace. And when I think of both Patterson and Besser, neither of them are blazers, right? They're not super fast players.

But the key to their game, like a lot of players, I guess, is their feet. And for Besser, I've constantly, for years, talked about his ability to separate one stride from the defender. That's when I think Besser's skating because he doesn't need two strides to get rid of his shot. He just needs one. And I thought the other day he was a little bit clunky like he just didn't have his legs and the the pucks that Pedersen gets to when he's playing well he didn't get to and if you don't get to the puck it doesn't matter if you have good hands you just kind of skate around and I don't think he had a shot and I think Besser had one um so that's not like as they're rating

that game that wouldn't have been good enough for them ray one of the big storylines of this canucks season so far has been the difference between their road record and their home record and you know we're still early enough that maybe that evens out over the course of the year and it could just be a little bit of noise but what are some of the things from a player's perspective that could actually make it more difficult for you to consistently perform at your best at home honestly i have no idea like like i i'm like honestly like why would it matter yeah you know like it um when i played when i first started it was way harder to play on the road than it is now and the reason was none of the rinks were the same size. And so you're like, you know, I was in the Adams division. We played in Buffalo and Boston.

It was like a closet. And those guys were enormous and they beat the crap out of you. And you're like, geez, I really want to go on the road there. You go to Chicago stadium, you had to walk up and down those stairs. And the dressing room was right next to the boiler room it stunk like a boiler room like i can't even describe to you how gross it was in some of those rinks and they didn't even try like they wanted it that way there was a true home ice advantage so when when i see a team with a good record on the road i go yeah yeah they're you know they get they get through what they have to

get through which is the start and that they don't have a last change and after that i think the game is kind of like just the game when you're at home conversely i don't i can't even i can't even come up with a reason like what would it be like is it i don't I don't know, it's not traffic. It's not. Well, it could be in Vancouver. It could be traffic. Well, well, yeah, but they're there earlier across the game. I mean, you know, Taylor's not just the stress of it getting to the rink. You know, like I, when you think of it, like everything that you need is at home,

you have fans that want to cheer for you you have last change you know you've got all the comforts of being at home and then you come out you have this type of record and again like it it's probably you know there's probably a couple of games that could have gone a little differently um that maybe changed the record however i don't believe in looking back and saying well that game we didn't get this in this game we you know got a lousy call or whatever like the records of the record it is what it is and it's not good enough at home and um i guess i would say as i'm thinking and talking through this, the big don't quite seem as aggressive at home. And that, and that often is reversed.

And I don't mean like, uh, aggressive, like running around and getting 5,000 hits. I mean like just all of their play, like just aggressive, like, um,

uh, the puck comes out of the zone. You chip it up the wall if you don't have a clean breakout, but then you're on it. And it just doesn't seem to be that pursuit, that intensity, that like a collective grit. It doesn't seem to be the same at home.

I have no idea why it wouldn't be. I mean, that's just a thought because their record at home should, if they can be that good on the road, their record at home should be better. It is weird. It's been a bit of a weird season for the Canucks in a number of respects.

You know, you were just talking about some of the old rinks that you used to play in. Do you miss, like, is there a rink right now that has a ton of character in the nhl i feel like what they did in baseball was the right thing they started building stadiums that had that were unique and had character but they realized like okay well we can't have them being dumps also so they had the they had the luxury parts of the stadium, and they were very comfortable to go to. But, you know, Ray, I know you're a big Red Sox fan,

and I've been to Fenway before, and it's so awesome. It's just like such an experience to go to Fenway. I can't really think of a rink in the NHL as a fan outside of maybe Montreal and New York where I'm like, wow, this is going to be a special night just because of the rink in the NHL as a fan outside of maybe Montreal and New York where I'm like wow this is going to be a special night just because of the rink that we're going to really bothers me that those are the two rinks that I would say that really bothers me to to somewhat agree with you it's almost like agreeing with Pratt yeah back in the day oh my god this is wow how about that you know like I don't know I don't know. But those are it.

I mean, when they started building the new, the new range, you know what I thought would have been pretty cool is that instead of everything being standardized, you should have been able to have like a eight foot, if you, if you want to pick that number, but I always thought eight feet, eight feet variance to the length and width of the rink. And so each rink would be a little bit different. If you want it to have a smaller rink, because you envision your team being bigger, why not do that?

And then you can change it, not in the middle of the season, but you can change it. Like teams move the outfield wall around and things. I didn't realize or didn't agree that everything had to be of conformity. And if you think about the rinks with character, they were all the small rinks. They were all different. Chicago, Boston, Buffalo, those were all different.

And you'd go in there and, you know, like, it was a completely different game. I will say this about baseball. If they go to the Golden Hitter, I will never watch another game. I don't think they will. There's no, I think that's a bridge too far. Pitch clock, fine. Golden Hitter, no, we're not doing that.

First game I went to with a pitch clock i'm like oh my god it's the top of the seventh this is fantastic golden hitter ridiculous what maybe next they could put in like a clown nose right on the pitcher's mound and if an outfielder throws the ball and hits the clown nose they get two outs no one i kind of like that You actually just got A-Dog's attention. You're talking about Manfred's language there, Ray. His ear's perked up. He might watch baseball now. Hey, Ray, I did want to ask you about

what Michael and Lauer had to say about Brady Kachuk and the whole soft tampering thing. What did you think about that? Does that seem to you like a team that's kind of worried that Brady Kachuk might be tempted to ask out like his brother asked out of Calgary? I think in this story, I think several things are likely to be true.

Larry Brooks has been around this game way too long to make stuff up. So I don't believe he made that up, not even for a heartbeat. Somebody somewhere, somewhere connected to the Rangers said, geez, you know what, we could probably use a guy like Brady Kachuk. Man, we would love that guy. And so Larry, because that's, you know, it would be, it's not like a fan in some upper section, right? Like he got it from somewhere.

So he writes the story and the senators are like, are you kidding me? Like, this is a joke because we're not trading Brady Kachuk. And so when Michael Andlauer sat down to do that interview, there's zero chance that term just came into his head. Like he went there to send that message, buzz off. Because now they go to the rink and Kachuk has to answer questions about it. They go to a press conference about Ottawa against Pittsburgh. They got to answer a question about the Rangers.

And so like, I totally get why he did that. I totally get where he did that. I totally get where the Rangers are in turmoil, and a player like Kachuk would be of great interest. I understand why they offered up the term soft tampering, which was a complete buzz off to the Rangers. And I totally get why Chris Drury called the league and said, we are not tampering with anybody. Like it's a pretty serious charge.

Yeah. And so I, I think it was, I think it was thought out, uh, about the rumor that was out there. I think it was thought out the response. And I thought the Rangers response to that was appropriate. The Rangers sure do need some sort of kickstart. So it's probably not a surprise that we're hearing words, hearing names like Kachok and JT Miller even. Right.

But, but, but again, like it just, it, wherever it comes from, I mean, like it's like me saying, I want to be six foot two. Like, just cause you say it doesn't mean it's true. And so the, the one thing we'll say about the Rangers, It's like me saying I want to be six foot two. Just because you say it doesn't mean it's true. And so the one thing I'll say about the Rangers, and I think this is instructive when we look at teams and even in the market here, and they're like, they just have to do something. If we know about it, chances are their management team has noticed.

I think the Rangers have noticed they're in free fall. The problem becomes, how do you do it? You can't just make a trade. We saw with Truba, you have all these roadblocks to making a deal, whether it's a no move, a no trade, a guy making $8 million. Who's got salary for that? And so we can all identify, yeah, the Canucks would like to shore up their blue line.

And do what? Trade who to get who? Like, you can't just, Ken Holland used to always say, there's not a store that you can just go buy a new defenseman. Oh, I wish there was, though. Wouldn't that be great? That'd be awesome.

Just go down there. And what if you had reward points? Yeah. All right, Ray, we're out of time, and I'm still upset at you for calling me Pratt. So maybe we'll talk next week. I don't know. Oh, I can hardly wait.

And you know what? If you were 6'2", I'd still be taller than you. And you would still blade your wedge. I would. I would. I would do that. Yeah, that's probably why I blade them, because I'm so tall. All right, Ray.

And also a lack of talent. See you, buddy. That's why I chunk my wedge, because I'm short and a lack of talent. Enjoy the game tonight, pal. Thank you, Ray. See you, buddy. Thanks. See you guys.

Have a good morning. That is Ray Ferraro, NHL analyst, of course, former NHL player as well. Okay, we're going to go to break. We'll talk to Jeremy Rutherford from The Athletic. He covers the Blues. Before we go to break quickly, though, a very exciting announcement here on the Halford & Brough Show. Creed is coming to Vancouver, part of the Summer of 99 Tour,

with special guest Big Wreck. It's on Saturday, August 16, 2025 at Rogers Arena. Tickets are on sale on Friday, December 13 at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster. But we are giving you the chance to win a pair of tickets today and every day for the rest of the week here on the Halford & Brough Show. So we're going to do the same routine we've established here for tickets. Call in at 815 on the dot. 604-280-0650 is the number.

815 on the dot. Caller number five will win a pair of tickets to see Creed August 16th, 2025. I'll give you another reminder. A-Dog will be waiting with arms wide open. That's exactly right. Yes. Well, actually, no, they won't because he has to reach with his arms to get the phone.

Well, you could angle it such that he has to spread his arms wide open to reach the phone. Pick it up with his mouth. Yes, exactly. So call in at 815. It's not very sanitary, but you know. Call in at 815-604-280-0650. Tickets are on sale Friday, December 13th.

There's also a pre-sale, which starts 10 a.m. on Thursday, December 12th. For that pre-sale, use the password JOY, and you can get in on the pre-sale, or you can try to win tickets here on Halford & Brough for the rest of the week. Okay, coming up next, Jeremy Rutherford. He covers the Blues for the Athletic.

We'll talk to him about tonight's game next here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650. Can't take me higher Hey, it's Vic 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. Welcome back to Alfred and Ruff here at Sportsnet 650. I'm Jamie Dodd filling in for Mike Halford.

Halford & Brough brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. Hour 2 brought to you by 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. Go to Jason.mortgage. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and reno warriors for over 50 years.

Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. The Canucks play the St. Louis Blues tonight. Their homestand continues. And joining us now to chat about that game and what's going on with the Blues, he covers the team for the Athletic. He is Jeremy Rutherford. Jeremy, thanks for making some time for us today. How are you?

Oh, any time, guys. Thanks. Yeah, it's our pleasure. And the Blues, obviously the big story of the season, is Drew Bannister out. Jim Montgomery in shortly after Montgomery became available. Four 1-1 so far under Montgomery. What has changed? What impact has he already made on the Blues?

Well, I think the biggest change, we need to go back a couple years, is that Jim Montgomery was an assistant coach here in St. Louis for two seasons under Craig Bruby before he left for Boston. And so he had a pre-existing relationship with a lot of these guys, Pavel Buchnevich, Jordan Cairo, Robert Thomas, just to name a few. And some of these guys played their best hockey so far in their career under Jim Montgomery. And I've written stories about his time here and talked to the players about it. They talk about all the text threads and, you know, Jim sending them videos and funny stuff and just built a real good relationship with these guys. So I've covered

many coaching changes here in St. Louis over the years, but this one was different. The players say it's different. When Jim Montgomery walked in the door, they knew what they were getting. They knew what kind of guy he was, and I think they were ready to play for him. So that's kind of the backdrop. And then he's come in and he's changed some things. I think they were ready to play for him. So that's kind of the backdrop and then he's come in and he's changed some things. I think players feel a little bit more comfortable offensively in what they're able to do and also some X's and O's, some tweaks that he's made in the neutral zone. So I think the things that he's implemented have worked and they've had success and you guys know how it works. Whenever you win and you have that positive reinforcement from some of the changes,

then it just breeds people wanting to be at the rink and keep going. What kind of style does he have them playing? Because I still think about the Blues under Craig Berube and how they played that heavy style and almost out-Bruinsed the Bruins in the Stanley Cup final and then you know they lost some of those types of players that Berube leaned on and there was a bit of a I don't I don't know what it was were the right word disconnect between players like Berube or between you know Berube and Jordan Kairou for example is Montgomery a better coach for this current version of the Blues well it's a good

question and a fair question I think this roster is sort of evolving certainly it's evolved since that Stanley Cup team where they had a big big roster that could play that style and and Craig Ruby loved that style so it worked great but you after that, you lose some players after a cup and things kind of changed and the Blues made some decisions that, you know, maybe didn't work out so well. Alex Petrangelo leaving and then trying to chase that position in terms of filling in for Petrangelo. So now over the years, you have a Robert Thomas,

you have a Jordan Cairo, you know, who are transition players. And I think that maybe that eventually led to a situation where Craig Ruby wasn't getting the most out of this group and they decided to make the change. With Jim Montgomery, you know, I think he's going to coach his style and I think he's going to be aware of where the Blues are in this retool. They have a player, Jimmy Snuggerud, a shooter coming from the University of Minnesota. They drafted Dalibor Dvorsky, number 10 overall. He's in the American Hockey League right now. You know, so those are the players that I think big picture who Montgomery's going to coach and who he's going to try to get the most out of.

You know, in the meantime, right now you watch practice, and like I said, there's a lot of work in the neutral zone and trying to tighten things up and and also you know quick transition get the puck up quick and and get the puck into some of these hands like Thomas and Kairu who you know maybe haven't been their best offensively in recent times so I think he's going to coach the way he coaches. And then once you get some of these players in here, you start to get closer to a blues team that they believe that can compete within the next couple of years. Um,

that's probably when we'll see if his style fits what the blues are trying to do. Jeremy, there's a couple of players on the blues that, uh, all of a sudden over the past week or so have become much more interesting for hockey fans on this side of the border here in Canada. We'll start with Jordan Bennington,

who looks like he has a good chance to be the starter for Team Canada, the Four Nations, in February. What can you tell us about how his season has gone and where his game is right now? Really good, really good. And I was happy to see him get that nod with Team Canada. You know, obviously we wear the reporter hat, you know, we're objective about the team that we cover. But, you know, over the past several years, I feel like when I've spoken about Jordan Bennington, I've had to defend him a little bit.

And I understand that. I understand, you know, what everybody sees on TV and the antics that you've seen, you know, the past several years with him and people saying, hey, just focus on hockey. But if you boil it down, he is a great goaltender. And now people might look at some of the analytics or say percentage, you know, since the Stanley Cup run and say, well, that's just not the case. I'm looking at the numbers here. But I'm telling you that watching him and watching the Blues night in and night out ever since he broke into the league, yes, there was a lull after the Cup of a couple years. He was not good in the bubble. But since then, he's been outstanding. And I think that the Blues have had so many issues,

whether it be defensively. Like I was watching backdoor tap-in after backdoor tap-in, you know, for a couple of years there in a row there. And people would look at Bennington's save percentage and not know how those goals were scored and say that, well, he's not a good goaltender. You know, this year he's been really good. I think that the thing with Jordan Bennington is he's great on the high danger chances.

He's a competitor. He just loves to compete. If you're around him, he just drips competitiveness. And I think a big picture also, he loves the idea of being able to put on that Canadian jersey and play for this team. And I realize that's cliche. Everybody does. But this is a guy who he's on another level in terms of him wanting to be on that team and compete.

So I think you're going to get a really strong goaltender and a guy who wants to be in that position and wants the pressure. You know, and the other player named to Team Canada from the Blues, Colton Pareko, which maybe caught a little people by surprise a little bit up here. But, you know, 6'6", right shot defenseman.

And I know he's logging huge minutes for the Blues, and he's on pace to have maybe the best offensive season of his career as well. Has he kind of taken his game to another level here at age 31? Yeah, I think so. So there's a little bit of context here, too. So first of all, as I mentioned, Petrangelo walked and went to Vegas. They couldn't come to terms on that. And so I remember interviewing Doug Armstrong shortly after that here too so first of all they as I mentioned uh Petrangelo walked and went to Vegas you know they couldn't come to terms on that and so I remember interviewing Doug Armstrong shortly

after that when it looked like Colt Parako was going to be the number one right side D and he said he's going to be the alpha male now and I think that there was just a ton of pressure put on Colt Parako to be that player about that same time he had some back issues and missed a ton of games one particular season. And then people wondered if he'd be the same. And it was a big question because he had a new eight-year deal. Colton Pareko in the past two years, I think, has been really good. Again, I'm going to point to the analytics community.

You might look and say, well, here's some hiccups in his game in terms of the numbers. But what I see are the physical attributes, as you mentioned, six foot six. He can skate like the wind. His first three strides, he's gone out of the D zone. He likes to rush the puck as well. You know, sometimes you'll see him in the three on three overtime and he's the guy going to the net and Robert Thomas and Kyrie were sitting back. So he just has that ability.

So, you know, is he physical? Is he going to out muscle guys in front of the net and Robert Thomas and Kyra were sitting back. So he just has that ability. So, you know, is he physical? Is he going to out-muscle guys in front of the net? No, but he kills plays, kills a lot of plays. I think his speed, you know, it takes over at times. And he's got a really good shot. The thing with his shot, as you guys probably know, is he just needs to use it. You know, I've had this conversation with Al McInnes before, Larry Robinson.

They both say, Jeremy, you have no idea how many times we've told him, He just needs to use it. I've had this conversation with Al McInnes before, Larry Robinson. They both say, Jeremy, you have no idea how many times we've told him, just shoot the puck. But sometimes he's reluctant. He's shot it a little more often this year, and it's worked to his advantage, like you said. Kind of the points are up, and he could be on pace for what he's done offensively in the past. But I think when you think of Colton Pareko and Team Canada,

like if he's a third pair right side guy and he's on a unit with Petrangelo, you know, up above him in the top pair, you know, playing in a group like that, he's going to be good. I can't guarantee anything like that. I'm not trying to sell you goods here like Kenny Finn and Pareko are going to help Canada win the gold. All I'm saying is these guys are very good players.

So I knew that Philip Broberg got off to a good start with the St. Louis Blues after the offer sheets. I didn't know Dylan Holloway had 17 points in 28 games. That's tied for the second most points for the St. Louis Blues behind Jordan Cairo. Nine goals for Dylan Holloway.

How much have those guys, Holloway and Broberg, given the Blues a shot in the arm? Yeah, now after this answer, it's going to sound like I'm painting everybody in St. Louis as an all-star. Yeah, these guys are going to win the cup. We'll ask you about the disappointments after this, all right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, these guys are going to win the cup. We'll ask you about the disappointments after this, all right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, no, these guys have been good. And, you know, this just obviously all goes back to the offer sheets and what a headline that was. And you wondered, are the Blues overpaying for these guys? You know, what's going on here? But I think Doug Armstrong and his group did their homework and saw two 23-year-old players who were ascending up. And he brought them in on the offer sheets.

And I think there's probably a little spark with them too, right? They're going to sign these offer sheets and they're going to go to a new team. You got to prove that you were worth it. And so they've played that way. Broberg comes in and he was middle pair with Justin Falk. Now he's in the top pair with Colton Pareko, you know, 22, 23 minutes a night and played pretty well. If I'm not mistaken, he's got points in like 11 or 12

of the games that he's played. You know, he missed 12 with the lower body injury. So he's played well at both ends. And then Dylan Holloway, you know, he was kind of the afterthought in that situation. After you get a six foot two or three, 220 pound Phillip Broberg, it's like, okay, well, what do we know about Dylan Holloway?

And it was that he was kind of banged up a lot in Edmonton and put up some small points. He was fast and kind of versatile, could play wing and center. And he's come in and he's done everything they've asked. And the one thing I'll tell you is that he wants to be a great player. That's what Jim Montgomery has said multiple times. And I'll give you a quick anecdote on that. The other day, Jim Montgomery was in the media room doing an interview with us, and we could hear pucks being shot, you know, back in the complex,

kind of in that shooting area that the Blues have. And he said, guys, you know what? You're asking about Dylan Holloway, and I hear pucksucks in the background I guarantee you that's Dylan Holloway and after the interview was over I kind of whispered to the PR guy hey can you take a peek in the back and see who that is and he went back and looked and he came back and he said it's Dylan Holloway so it's just amazing you know what this the work that this guy puts into it because I think he has been pigeonholed or at least people think of him as a third line guy and you know not a big offensive guy but he's been more than that to the Blues this year and he's put up some really good points for him. So you know you were you were joking like

you guys are going to think this is the greatest team ever assembled where have the Blues fallen short because I know they played well recently under Jim Montgomery, but they did make a coaching change and they aren't currently in a playoff position. Yeah, they have had their struggles this year for sure. And I think the biggest part of it is that for 12 games, no Robert Thomas, 12 games, no Phillip Broberg. And so the power play has struggled. The 5-on-5 offense has been non-existent at times but there's been a couple things that kind of go into that Pavel Buchnevich started out the year at center

he's not a center they tried to make it work it doesn't work he's at the wing now and with the coaching change just to provide some context here is they would have hired Jim Montgomery last year if he were available instead of Drew Bannister however you know Montgomery was still in a contract with Boston and and that unraveled and he became available and that's who Doug Armstrong wanted and so as soon as he saw the headline in Boston that he was fired he went to the owner Tom Stillman said, this is who I want to bring in. And so they made the coaching change. And Doug himself at the press conference said,

we know what kind of coach Jim Montgomery is, and that's why we're making this move. He flat out said we feel that he's a better coach at this point in his career. You know, Drew Bannister just getting started. And so there's kind of reasons why certain things were done. And on ice, maybe why the team hasn't lived up to the expectations with the injuries and the Bucinavich experience. All that said, everybody has to keep in mind here in St. Louis,

especially I try to tell people, you know, this is a retool. If this team makes the playoffs, it's great. Maybe it can speed it up a little bit. Holloway, Broberg speed it up a little bit. But this is still a retool. This team is still going through a transition period and waiting for some of these better prospects to get to St. Louis. Jeremy, it was great catching up with you,

one of the best beat writers in the NHL. I appreciate you taking the time to join us today. All right, yep. Sorry I wasn't able to tell you that these fourth liners are going to be Olympic. All right, Jeremy, enjoy the game tonight, buddy. All right. That was Jeremy Rutherford, long time St. Louis Blues beat writer,

writing for The Athletic now. Yeah, I'm a little bit curious about this St. Louis team. I'm also getting increasingly curious about the standings because if you're looking at the St. Louis Blues right now, they're pretty far out in terms of the number of teams they'd have to jump in order to get into a wildcard spot. But there are some teams that I really do wonder about Colorado and whether or not they're finally

going to figure out their goaltending. Who's the latest guy? Mackenzie Blackwood. So they had a few people have texted in. They've got, is their tandem Blackwood? I believe so. Is Miles Wood on the team too?

So they are cornering the market on Wood. On Wood. Kale McCarwood and... Honestly, like if I'm... Gabe Landis Wood. If I'm the Canucks, I am not letting them close to Kyle Sherwood.

Kiefer. Kiefer Sherwood. Yeah, Kyle. Kyle Wellwood. Kyle Wellwood. That's what I was thinking of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kiefer Sherwood.

Anyway. Or are you calling them because they might pay a premium? That's true. Like you guys overvalue the wood. And we have one. What are you willing to give us? Who is the most interesting teams for you when you're looking at the standings?

I think about the New York Rangers too. And it seems crazy, but the way they're trending right now, I'm like, are these guys going to drop all the way out of the playoffs? Yeah, in the West, I have a hard time seeing Colorado dropping out. And one of, you know, it would be Calgary, Seattle, Utah, St. Louis, I guess you would say are the teams that really would have a chance to catch them. And like, none of those teams are that inspiring. I mean, St. Louis under Bannister, maybe they can, or under Montgomery now,

maybe they can get hot. But if Colorado just gets like fine goaltending, you know what I mean, St. Louis under Banister, maybe they can, or under Montgomery now, maybe they can get hot. But if Colorado just gets, like, fine goaltending, you know what I mean? Like, not disastrous goaltending. The combination of McKinnon and McCarr should be enough to keep them comfortably in a playoff spot. Like, are the eight teams in the West right now, I'd be hard-pressed to predict that any of them are going to drop out. You've got Minnesota, Winnipeg, and Dallas in the top three spots

in the Central, Vegas, L.A., and Vancouver in the Pacific, and then you've got Edmonton and Colorado in the wild-card spots. So forget the positioning or the seating or whatever. Of those eight teams, do you think any of them are going to fall out in favor of Calgary, Seattle, Utah, or St. Louis? I don't know. It's a combination of, it's partly confidence in the teams that are in already and like who would you pick to fall out from that group?

I guess Colorado. I think a lot of people, even here in Vancouver, might have the Canucks second because there does seem to be so much pessimism here about how the team has played. But from a points percentage standpoint... There's uncertainty with the Canucks. From a points percentage standpoint, they've got a good cushion on everyone other than Calgary, and I don't believe in Calgary that much, right?

I think they're going to drop off. So it's partly confidence in the teams that are in, but it's also partly just a lack of confidence in the chasing pack in the Western Conference. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the eight teams that are in right now are the eight teams that are there at the end of the season. What about the East? Is there any team currently in a playoff spot right now that is vulnerable? I guess you'd probably look at two.

The Bruins, just because for me their goal differential stands out in a big way, minus 12. But they seem to have stabilized a little bit minus 12 uh but they've they seem to have stabilized a little bit i mean they've won four straight they're a little more comfortably in a playoff spot now maybe the one you look at is the rangers is the new york rangers who are now tied in terms of points with the new york islanders and just one point up on the likes of the Flyers and the Penguins. Even then. Okay. So the Rangers, they've lost their two and eight in their last 10.

So they've obviously lost a ton of ground. They're tied in points, but leading in points percentage of the Islanders. But here's the chasing pack for the Rangers. Try in that second wildcard spot, the Islanders, the Flyers, the Penguins, the Blue Jackets, the Senators, the Red the penguins the blue jackets the senators the red wings the savers like who am i supposed to be optimistic about them jumping up and claiming a playoff spot there right and the rangers you know they still have igor shisterka and they still have artemi panarin and adam fox and yeah you go down the list like i don't think the bottom should continue to fall

out on them they they obviously something has happened it's off on there but i but they still have all the chance in the world to correct it to pull out of this nosedive and hold off what again is a pretty uninspiring chasing pack in the eastern conference i found it interesting that lavia let was asked after the game last night and if you missed it the rangers lost to chicago at home and he said he was asked if he's seen any signs of leadership anyone who's kind of grabbed that leadership mantle because don't forget they just traded their captain in jacob truba and he said no not yet and i realized that leadership, it sometimes gets into cliche stuff, right?

Like, we need more leadership. It's like, actually, what you need is more depth down the middle, or whatever, something like that, or a better goalie, or whatever. You need to defend better. Yeah, yeah, something like that, but I do think it's interesting that they just shipped out their captain,

and the other veteran who's been around there for a while, Chris Kreider, was part of that rumored or basically made available by the GM, Chris Drury. So if you look at that team, who is their leader now? And I think that stuff does matter. I really do. It's hard to quantify it, which is sometimes why people are skeptical of it. But, you know, if you look at the Canucks situation and we talked yesterday about this and

the importance of Rick Tockett empowering the leadership group in Vancouver and saying like, hey guys, these are guys are the leaders of your team. You know, you're either going to get behind these guys or you're not going to be with us. I think that's a really important thing for any team to do, for any group, any company to do. And with the Rangers right now, is there like a vacuum in leadership?

And the other guy who's been there for a long time is, I mean, he's been a Jad, and there's been tons of questions about his performance this year, right? And even from a two-way perspective, but even from a point production's perspective, he's on pace for his least productive season

in like six years. So that's, you know, Trouba's out. Your other long-standing guy, Kreider, is on the market apparently. Zabinijad, major, major questions about. And I wonder if they're waiting for, you know, Adam Fox or Alexei Lafreniere or something

like one of the younger group of players there to kind of step up and fill that leadership vacuum a little bit uh this season we'll take a break here Landon Ferrara will join us next we'll look ahead to the Canucks and the Blues tonight just quickly here again I want to remind you 8 15 is your chance to win a pair of tickets to see Creed on the Summer of 99 Tour with special guest Big Wreck. They're coming to Vancouver at Rogers Arena, August 16th, 2025. Here's how

you can win at 8.15. 8.15 on the dot, not a second earlier. Call 604-280-0650. Caller number five will win the tickets. Tickets go on sale Friday. Pre-sale Thursday. You can use the password JOY to get into the pre-sale.

Landon Ferraro next here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650.