Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 10/15/24

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they preview tonight's Canucks Lightning matchup with hockey analyst Ray Ferraro, plus they set up Saturday's final BC Lions regular season matchup with Co-GM Neil McEvoy 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.

You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. You're listening to Halford & Brough. Swing on a drive in the air, pretty well hit right center. On his back at the track, near the wall. It is gone! A grand slam for Mark Vientos. The best Pedersen that there is, is an assertive, in-your-face, aggressive Pedersen. He's edgy. He's in your face.

You've heard the expression, let's get busy. Well, this is a dog who gets biz-ay. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. That is a deep cut. It is Halford. It is Ralph. It is Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Petey, more like poochie. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. And Laddie, good morning to you. Hello, hello. Halford and Ralph of the Morning is morning to you good morning and laddie good morning to you hello hello alfred and prep of the morning is brought to you by vancouver honda vancouver's premier destination for honda customers pd went back to his own planet they have a friendly knowledge

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Powell Street in Vancouver. Ah, the hijinks of the Halbro show. We have a lot to get into on the program today. It's a five-guester today, everybody. We knew that you were getting back to work and going back to school after the long weekend, so we wanted to up the entertainment value. Only one guest

yesterday on a holiday Monday. Five of them. Five of them today. It's going to begin at 6.30. We're going to go to Greg Wyshynski of ESPN. So, Greg is right in the epicenter of sports nirvana right now because he's in New York. He's like, his Mets played last

night and they won. And his Jets played. They didn't win. It's close, but they didn't win. You also had the Rangers playing last night, the Islanders who have thrown the Colorado Avalanche into further chaos, and his New Jersey Devils. How about them? 4-1 to start the year.

They took down the Utah team that couldn't lose. Which I can't get used to saying. Just say hockey club. The previously undefeated hockey club. So we got a lot to get into with Craig Wyshynski. He's going to join us at 630. 7 o'clock, Ray Ferraro is going to join the program.

Canucks analyst, NHL color man. We're going to talk to Ray about the Canucks, but we're also going to talk to him about being the new guy that joins a team, because Ray did that several times during his playing career. He was the new guy on the scene. And the Canucks have a bunch of new guys, and I think it's safe to say that they're all kind of waiting to find their fit. That's fair. And we'll talk about the...

It's a nice way of putting it. Maybe some of the changes that are going to be made to the Canucks lineup tonight in Tampa. 730, Neil McAvoy, general manager of the under siege BC Lions. We'll talk to Neil about what's to be expected from their final regular season game that's coming up this weekend. Don't forget the Lions then go on a bye. Ah, yes, the classic final week of the season, bye week in the CFL.

And then they go to the playoffs. So we'll talk to Neil at 730. 740, we're going to go to Tampa Bay ahead of tonight's game. Canucks Lightning, Dave Randolph, Dorf is going to join the show, play-by-play voice of the Tampa Bay Lightning. So we'll talk to him about the team itself, obviously.

I do want to ask him what it's been like over the last 96 hours or so with the cleanup efforts from Hurricane Milton. I was texting Murph last night and I asked him what it was like in Tampa, and he said, around the hotel, it's fine. It's business as usual? It's fine, but he said that as they were flying in,

you could see there were washed-out roads and everything like that, so I'm sure it's a bit of an unusual trip for the Canucks. So Dave Randolph will talk to us at 740 about that, and then at 8 o'clock, finally, guest number five, Landon Ferraro. Yeah, it's a Ferraro Tuesday here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Landon, of course, was working the panel on Friday night's game

against the Flyers, so we'll get his thoughts from that. Look ahead to tonight's game as well. I'm not even going to work in reverse on the guest list because we've got so much stuff we need to get into. So without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance.

Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. The Vancouver Canucks reassembled as a group on Tampa Bay in Monday. They got back to practice, and it was a noteworthy practice because they juggled the lines yet again. Yeah, you just said on Tampa Bay in Mondayay so that's a good start for you i heard that too on tampa bay in monday they're an island now just on the bay in monday in the monday we've all been in monday before we know what it feels like yeah murph was so i was texting murph the reason i was texting murph i was i i asked him because there's so few media that are actually in Tampa on this trip.

He was the one that was tweeting out the lines at practice. Yeah. And he took over for, you know, whoever, it's normally Batch and then sometimes Drancer and then sometimes IMAC. None of those guys, JPAT, they weren't there. And I said, is Baines really going to play with Besser and Miller on Tuesday night? And he said, that's the way they looked in practice. I'll find out more today.

But Arshdeep Baines, I always have trouble with the name, was practicing on a line with Miller and Besser. He replaces Heinen, who's now with Pedersen and DeBrusque. Sprong was skating as an extra, which means that he could be a healthy scratch. And then you got the bottom six, which I think overall has been pretty darn good. Hoaglander, Ratu, and Garland are together. Sherwood, Bluger, and Suter were together.

The Bluger line was arguably the Canucks' best line against the Flyers, and Rick Tockett said after the game, yeah, they deserve to play a lot. They deserve to play more than Petey's line at five on five. But Baines on the top line and Daniel Sprong in the press box, I don't think is the way anyone would have predicted the third game of the season would go if it indeed does go that way. I have a feeling that Talkett might have wanted Baines to make the team out of camp.

I think so too. But there was waivers and salary cap stuff to consider. I just remember Talkett really talking Baines up after the preseason, and he was saying how his performance got better and better as things went along. Baines can create things offensively. He's done that at every level he's played, and I personally think he deserves to show that he learned from his NHL experience last season. It didn't go great all the time.

He didn't play amazing, but he got the experience and he probably learns like, you know, don't go out there and take penalties right away. But for me, this is the kind of guy you want to cheer for. Undrafted, kept the dream alive, worked his butt off, kept taking advantage of his opportunities. I don't typically like to bet against guys like that,

guys that find a way. This is, if it happens tonight, this is a massive opportunity for him because we went into this season going, all right, we're going to have Miller and Besser together and we're going to have Pedersen and DeBrasstether. We knew that, but we didn't really know who was going to play with them. Yeah. You know, Heinen was kind of like, yeah, I guess he'll go with them. Um, but you know, I haven't really noticed him a lot, which is, I guess, part of his game. Like he's fast, but he's nondescript, I would say, or at least he has been so far. It's probably going

to take a while for us to really get a read on him, if you haven't been watching him before in his other stops in the NHL. Maybe he can help Petey's line with his speed, but I think the reason he's there, well, they had to put someone there. But also, I think he's going to be a lot more defensively responsible than Sprong was. Yeah, I think the Sprong, I mean, not to make this all about Sprong,

but that was probably the most noteworthy development there with him coming out and Baines going in. I think it goes back to what I was talking about, and we were both talking about Sprung, but that was probably the most noteworthy development there with him coming out and Baines going in. I think it goes back to what I was talking about, and we were both talking about it yesterday, was Rick Talkett and this coaching group, and I'm assuming the management group as well, patience isn't on the table. It's not in their vocabulary right now.

They're not going to wait around if a guy is making mistakes. I think there's a difference in terms of patience with the new guys, with Heinen and Sherwood specifically, because they're probably, while you said they haven't exactly stood out, they're not... I think Sherwood's been good. Yeah, he's been... Okay, yeah.

He's been fine, right? There aren't many problems with either of them. With Sprong, there's been problems. Yeah. And it just doesn't seem like... And I think you could apply this logic to what happened on the blue line as well after the first game when day harney came out after that first game is guys especially veteran guys aren't going to be granted a huge leash at this level i think part

of it has to do one there's a few things but one part of it um patience isn't a virtue with this club like they want things to happen they want them to happen right away. Two, I think you can afford to be impatient when you've got guys knocking on the door like Baines, right? Like you can say, Hey, competition internally is a legitimate thing. And we're going to show you.

Yeah. Sprung went from being the first goal scorer of the season this year. He opened the Canucks campaign. Great goal. First goal of the year. Everything was looking real rosy for Daniel Sprung. That was less than a week ago, and he's already skating on the outside looking

in at a practice on their first road trip in Tampa Bay. That is saying, hey, we're not going to sit around and watch you make mistakes to try and figure it out. Bill from Buffalo texts in to the Dunbar-Lumber text line, 650-650 says, you guys are going to find out how skilled Baines really is given a chance.

I hope so. Yeah. And I remember when he was called up, I think JT Miller went to Rick Talken and said, this guy can play with me if he wants. So JT is obviously on board with this. You know, I just always look at stories like this. And first of all, I think they're really good for the team

when you can have a guy like Baines crack the lineup and just keep knocking on doors and opening those doors, kicking those doors down. I'm really rooting for him tonight because I think this is a great opportunity for him. You know, he's created at every level he's played. He was undrafted, but he put up in his final junior year in the dub, he put up – didn't he lead the dub in scoring?

Like he was – 112 points in 68 games. And then he goes to Abbotsford, and he puts up points as well. So the guy can create offensively. It's, you know, whether or not he's at the level of playing on a line with JT Miller and Brock Besser, that's a high level. Well, also, yeah. Playing with those guys, like, there is a lot that's going to be expected of him.

But I think he's going to bring more, potentially, offensively than a guy like Heinen did. Yeah, and, again, you look at the sample size from last year, and I remember a few things stuck out. There were penalty issues for sure. There were some puck management issues. In the eight games, he didn't register a point, and he was minus five.

And I remember thinking, might have been a bit too much too soon. Like, yeah, it's the dangling carrot for a guy that's checked all the boxes and answered every question on the test you've given him. It's just that first experience in the NHL was a learning one yeah 100 yeah he didn't he kicked the door down and got in and then the door was left open and he walked back out it was there was and it's hard it's hard to play at that level it's hard to be dropped into the middle of a

but you like to give someone an opportunity to go okay i saw I saw it. I experienced it. It didn't go great, but he should be given an opportunity to try again. Well, you mentioned it earlier with training camp and the preseason, and it's funny because for the majority of training camp and the preseason, a lot of people, the Cucks themselves included,

were kind of fixated on the shiny new toys. Atu Ratu might make the team. Jonathan Leckermack, he's hanging around. And Baines was there. I think he had a bit of a slow start. He did. And Taka pointed out, as the preseason went on, and maybe he realized that, hey, there's a lot of competition here,

he raised his game. The coaches and management notice these things. When there's only a handful of either spots or minutes, and it's staring these guys in the face how do they respond right because bays probably could have said like i'm gonna you know i'm gonna be an abbotsford to start the year probably like it's a numbers game with waivers and everything else i'm probably gonna be there but he continued to scratch and claw and make a case for himself now you look at it and three games into the season he's a top line winger in the nhl. It's a wild thing,

folks. It's a wild thing. And one of the reasons he is being given this opportunity, if it happens, I should keep saying that, but is that Sprung is probably going to be a healthy scratch. And this will be his first big learning lesson, as Talk likes to

say, under Rick Talkett. I know Talkett is a good coach, and I know he's worked with players like, you know, Phil Kessel before, if you want to make that comparison to Daniel Sprong, maybe a guy that drives a few of his coaches nuts. But Talkett isn't the first to try and turn Sprong into a trustworthy NHLer. In fact, that was the narrative on Daniel Sprong, and that was part of the conversation that Sprong had with Rick Taka. It was that Sprong had so many coaches.

It was something like seven different head coaches in the NHL. You know, I know the way that was originally spun as, you know, he's heard so many different messages. His head's probably spinning, but defensively, he made a big, big mistake against the Philadelphia Flyers. And we talked about this yesterday. And he left his man at the point. And he got sucked into something

that wasn't his responsibility. And he left his man at the point and the puck found his way to the the point and the point man or the puck found his way to the point man and the point man scored, you know. And that is like, that's the type of mistake that you can't make. And frankly, that's the type of mistake that the Pedersen line as a whole can't make, especially if it's not going to produce offensively. We had Rick talking on the show just last week, and he said,

I'm going to try and create offensive opportunities, matchups for the Pedersen line with DeBrusque and Sprong, and they need to take advantage. And if they take advantage, maybe I can close my eyes to a few defensive miscues. But if they don't you know and I think we're seeing what happens if they don't right now and you know Heinen is a guy who again he's not the flashiest player but he's going to be more reliable than Daniel Sprong and the

Canucks are now on the road they won't have have the control of the, of the matchups as much as they did at home. And so Heinen's going to take that spot and we'll see how he does. You know, maybe one of the things we can talk about with the Ferraro boys today is what do they think the right fit is? What have they seen from, what have, what have I'd like to hear it from the listeners.

What have you seen from DeBrusque so far? Text in to the Dunbar-Lumber text line 650-650 on really anything lineup-related for the Canucks because it still feels like we're in the stage of like, all right, Miller and Besser, they're together. You know, as for who's going to play best with Pedersen, I know they're going to give DeBrusque a long time with Petey, but I think we're all hoping that they click a little bit more.

I think the bottom six has been really good. I think it's been terrific as much as we've talked them up. The Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber, and Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. Laddy already chimed in with the brusque is a good little dancer. You got that one out there, which is nice. Can you get the talk at audio ready from yesterday's

practice? Just to further on what to look for tonight as the Canucks play their third game of the season. And then on the other side of the talk at audio, we can discuss tonight's opponent, the Tampa Bay lightning, a very interesting opponent who haven't played a lot of hockey. They're only one of two teams in the NHL that have played just a single

game thus far. So as for what the Canucks worked on in practice yesterday, line changes, line changes were at the top of it. He talked about that quite a bit. There were some other things as well. Rick talk it from practice yesterday in or on Tampa Bay. Yeah, I think there's a couple of things. Just details of our game.

Changes, you know, when to change and how to change. I think that can really help. A little bit on the offensive side, we're getting a lot of possession time, which is good, but we're not translating into a lot of chances or shots. So I think we worked on

a few things on offensively. You know, when you beat pressure, we need to start attacking the net more. I think that's another thing. But, you know, as a coach, you can't give them overload too much stuff. I think that's important that you give them a few things and then you work at it

and then you find something else the next day to work on. So when you practice line changes, does he just go, okay, here's the door, gentlemen. You can go through it or you can go over the boards. Those your two options yeah well i talked about that a lot last year i think he's going back to basics in a lot of ways and maybe this is for the sake of some of the new guys but also a refresher for some of the guys that were on the team last year you know it does make a difference he wasn't happy with the shift length against the flyers he mentioned it in his post-game remarks yeah guys are out there too long if you got a chance to happy with the shift length against the Flyers. He mentioned it in his postgame remarks.

Yeah. Guys are out there too long. If you got a chance to get off the ice, get off the ice and get off the ice quickly. So, you know, the next guy can go on. He's back to cool with sack training. Yeah, pretty much. Tonight's opponents from Tampa Bay,

the Lightning, the Bolts, have only played once, a 4-1 win in Carolina a few days ago. They were supposed to play the Canes again on Saturday, but that game was postponed due to the hurricane. The big off-season story is obviously that Stamkos left and Gensel arrived.

Now, Gensel is on a line with Kucherov and Braden Point. That's a good line. So that's a pretty good line. Kucherov had a hat trick in that 4-1 win over Carolina. I think that was on Friday. I think two of them were empty netters. Still a hat trick. that 4-1 win over Carolina. I think that was on Friday. I think two of them were empty netters. Still a hat trick. Gantz will assist it on both empty netters.

He's like, yeah, piling up the points here. This race is awesome. I imagine that Rick Tockett will just put the JT Miller line out against that line and see how they do. Well, will he? I don't know. We'll talk about that. If he does, B buddy big test good luck

that's a that's a pretty that's a pretty loaded top line yeah and they like oh so so yeah kutras hat trick which you mentioned maybe bluger's line gets a bit of that too yeah they can they can share it that line is that that's a lot to deal with right that's a good line they're gonna score a lot of points they're gonna get a lot of ice time. You have to account for all three of those guys at all times because they're all such dynamic scorers. And then after that, it's sort of the same top six with the addition against like Hagel still there,

Sorelli and Nick Paul. The blue line is the interesting one for the Lightning because it has been whittled away over time. You'll remember, you'll see Ryan McDonough back for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He whittled away over time. You'll remember, you'll see Ryan McDonough back for the Tampa Bay lightning. He had a brief two year vacation in Nashville and then rejoined the guys for this season. So,

but McDonough and Hedman, they each get their own pair in Tampa Bay. We'll talk to Dave Randolph about all this as well, but it's not as stacked or as loaded a defense that they've had in previous years. It's not as stacked or as loaded a roster as they've had in previous years. It's not as stacked or as loaded a roster as they've had in previous years because they just get whittled away due to salary cap restraints

and having to retain some of the higher end guys. They were able to go out and maneuver and do the Jake Gensel move. I know it's one game and it's really early, but you had two points in the game. I always say, oh, they're a fascinating, interesting, intriguing team, but I actually do think this one is because it almost feels like Julian Brisebois and John Cooper are fighting back against the aging curve and the window closing.

Well, yeah, that's why Gensel replaced Stamkos. Yeah. Gensel's younger. Yeah. And it's an interesting dynamic that's at play because there's too many good pieces on this team to not be competitive. It's very difficult. There's still got some guys that are, I mean,

they're not old, like a lot of their key guys, Braden Point's not old. Sorelli's not old. Those guys are right in their primes. Yeah. They're blue. The blue line's getting a little old.

Hedman and McDonough are your top two defensemen. They're old. Yeah. And of course they traded Sergeyev to Utah. Yeah. Jeff and Sun Peaks text in, I think Baines will be a regular on Miller's line and Petey and Dabruska's search for a winger will end with

Hoaglander going there when Dakota Joshua is back. Sprong will be a healthy scratch more than he is playing. I think that's a good shout on Hoaglander joining Petey and DeBrusque when Joshua is back. I mean, Joshua is an option to go up there, but I think they'll probably reunite Joshua

with Garland on that line, whoever's going to be the center, whether it's Bluger or Ratu or Suter or whoever. I think Suter could also end up back with Miller and Besser. Suter's so, I don't mean to say this in a mean way, but like people always forget about him. Yeah. They're like, oh yeah, Suter.

Because he's a versatile guy. He can play anywhere in the lineup. He can play up the lineup, down the lineup, center, wing, wherever. A true Swiss Army Knife. You know, he wasn't he wasn't like an amazing fit with Miller and Besser, but I thought he was a decent fit with Miller and Besser.

The issue is Suter and Tocantin said this, he is a center. He's better at playing center. Tocantin said it several times. We think he's a center. But he masquerades as a winger, and he does a good enough job. He's a smart player. Yeah, and you're just kind of like, well, it's not the ideal fit, but it's good enough.

Here's one thing that's going to be, you know, we've talked at length, at length over the last couple years, about the wing positions on the Canucks, is how they have so many guys that play the position, but it just never feels like the exact perfect mix or fit has been there. You end up talking yourself into certain guys. You elevate certain guys up the lineup, and they either – Well, I wonder if we might see Suter with Miller and Besser tonight

if it doesn't go all that well with Baines, or maybe even they start the game that way because Suter was just on a line. He was playing the wing with Bluger and Sherwood, so that's an easy switch that they can make, just go Suter for Baines or Baines or Suter was just on a line. He was playing the wing with Bluger and Sherwood, so that's an easy switch that they can make. Just go Suter for Baines or Baines or Suter. It's easy to make that switch. It does feel like the early days of this season for Tauket are a real fertile ground for just trying stuff.

Let's just move things around. It doesn't matter if it looks janky. He's got a bias for action. Yeah, which is a good thing. It's early, and you've got to get this stuff figured out because, as I said earlier, patience is not a thing that these guys want. They want to get into it and they want to get wins and they want to get going and get their identity and rediscover it.

They didn't play as a full team very much in the preseason either. No. And Tauket was saying that they were kind of at the mercy of the schedule. They played a bunch of games in seven days and, you know, they were trying to give guys opportunities as well and they were trying to give guys opportunities as well. And they were trying to whittle the numbers down. And ultimately, they only played that one final regular season game with everyone.

And it wasn't even like, I can't even remember what the lineup was. I guess it was a fairly full lineup. But they never, they're still experimenting, as you said. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. 702 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. This is a good song, too. This is a really good song. This is just Ray's song now.

Yeah. Okay? It is. It is. Ray's not getting a song. Too late, my friend. Oh, God. Is Adog already working on something?

Not everyone needs a song. All the regulars do. Yeah. Okay. But this is good. This is kind of Brass Bonanza-ish, right? This is in the rotation. I use this quite frequently.

It's got brassy vibes. Yeah, okay. Halpern Breath of the Morning, Hour 2, is brought to you by Jason Hominick at Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks all your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the best mortgage for you. Just kidding. Let him do that.

Visit him at Jason.Mortgage for more. This entire show, the whole thing, 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 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, to the phone lines we go. Ray Ferraro joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Ray. How are you? I'm not sure. I'm listening to that song, and I'm thinking of a game show from the 70s that I used to watch with my mom.

I'm not sure which one. Maybe like $20,000 Pyramid, or it wasn't Password. Does that not sound like Press Your Luck maybe? One of those? It was definitely game show-ish from the 70s or early 80s. It sounded like I was at home, sick, from school, and I was watching TV.

That was the sound that I was getting. That was the morning routine. You weren't the only one on that one. Mom, I don't feel good today. Time to watch some card sharks. Ray, so I texted you yesterday. I said, let's talk about being new to a team because you were new to a few teams

throughout your lengthy NHL career. And the Canucks have a bunch of new players. And I think it's safe to say that some of them are still trying to find their roles and find their fits. And I'm just wondering if you could maybe provide some background on what it's like to join a team and what it's like to try and find your fit on a team. Well everything that you've you've known is different there's there's really there there is lots that's the same but there's a cadence and a rhythm to being on a team that until you're there, you just you always feel a little bit on the outside.

Like my last year, I get traded. This is a really good example. I think that my last year I got traded, thankfully, from Atlanta to St. Louis at the deadline. And so I get there. I'm 37 years old. I mean, I should be pretty, pretty secure that I can play in the league at this point. And you go into the dressing room, you don't know where your

stall is. You don't know where you change your clothes. You don't know any of the trainers names. You don't know how you get from A to B at the practice rink. There's a certain order to the way that you go out on the ice for a game. Where do you fit? I always like to go last. I knew I wasn't going to go last there. Al McGinnis and Chris Pronger were there. Pronger liked to go first.

I think McGinnis liked to go last, or maybe it was the other way around. The coach who I played with in Hartford, Joel Quenville, he had a bunch of different terms for similar things. So like if the centerman was going to make a low circle in the defensive zone to be available for the defenseman for a little quick pass, where I had been, it was just a quick pass there they called it a pop pass i didn't even know what the hell he was talking about and so you just watch and you kind of you kind of like try to mimic what's going on and there's so much then you've got a new system you've got like in atlanta we had a power play i went over the boards like i

you know i didn't even have to wait and see i was we were the first group in st louis i didn't even know if i was the second group and so you sit there you're you're always on i guess the best way to describe it you're always on your heels a little bit because you're just not sure and you don't want to go in there and look like a or you know be a jackass you know and like i go here and i go there and you know that doesn't work that's not how a team works and so it's really very different and here's the thing they got what seven or eight new skaters this year in vancouver say a couple guys get the system they they get it it just it it fits in head, fits in their eye. They understand it. Three guys sort of get it.

Two guys don't. So now you've got this wide range of players in your lineup, and some are going east when they should go west. Some have it. Some don't even skate. They're trying to plot their way around the ice, and it becomes slow and unpredictable as opposed to fast and predictable, which is what Vancouver was last year. So I don't want to suggest that Rick Tockett bit off more than he could chew

because it's not like I disagreed with his ideas heading into training camp, but in hindsight, you look back and think, okay, so Rick Tockett wanted to go into training camp but in hindsight you look back and think okay so Rick Talkett wanted to go into training camp and he wanted to make a few adjustments he wanted to progress the team from a team that was very good defensively and structurally but maybe a bit too conservative um offensively and attack wise so he wanted to bring those ideas into training camp in into the preseason plus he had a bunch of new players um plus you know he he didn't have a ton of preseason games to do this with and there was a short time frame do you think looking back this was this was kind of like bound to not go perfectly well i don't know i when you if you

if you think so then call jared bednar and call uh chris knobloch see how their first couple of days of the season are going to you know like i don't believe anything that i see in the first three weeks of the season like to the end of October, I don't believe any of it because do you believe Utah is going to win the West? Probably not. Do you think Calgary is going to be up at the top? Probably not. So if, if you don't believe that, then why should you believe the teams that are good teams are stumbling all over the place? Like I get what you're saying, but if he wasn't going to make an adjustment in camp, when were you going to make it? No, no, I, but that's my whole,

that's my whole thesis, basically. I'm saying, like, you have to do it, but you're probably bound to have a few stumbles to start. Well, I, yeah, I think anybody that makes any significant maneuver to their lineup or maneuver to their systems, there's going to be a time frame when it just doesn't work and it doesn't look like you envision it to work. But I don't think Vancouver's any more unique than any of those other spots

that I mentioned, and there's a half a dozen across the league. I mean, hell, yesterday's 8-7 in Ottawa. You think that's what they were, that's why I don't believe That's the type of game Greener likes to play. Oh, he would have been jumping up and down for that one. Like, but that's why I don't believe October hockey. It's fun. There's lots of goals, and then month by month, the screws get tightened.

And if they can't figure this out in a couple of weeks, then you got a real problem. But right now, I, I just think it was probably predictable. It really was. It was like, I don't know how you get around it. You know, like you, I guess you could have played the guys more frequently, but the way the schedules are laid out, that really doesn't work. You're not going to play somebody seven games in the preseason, or five games even.

Nobody wants to do it. And then if they do and somebody gets hurt, then you've got a whole other discussion on your hands. So I think they've got to grind through a little bit. I thought Lankanen was excellent in the second game. I thought if Shelobbs was average the first game, they would have won that game, and then we might be having a different discussion. Yeah, I mean, we talked about this earlier.

There's a real interesting dynamic at play in that they didn't use the preseason and exhibition games to try and gain some chemistry with the guys because they erred on the side of caution. I think, quite frankly, I think you're right. I think some veteran guys were like, I don't want to play in these games. And they're like, that's fine. We'll let someone else play. But now, there is a sort of lack of patience

with anything. Like, we were looking at the skate yesterday from practice, and Daniel Sprung now looks like he might be a healthy scratch and arch deep baines who didn't even start the season on the roster might be a first line winger so i do think that there's um you know october hockey is october hockey i agree with what you're saying there for sure but i do wonder if rick target's got a little less patience than maybe last season in terms of waiting for things to fall into place well i'm trying to think back i i do remember kind of a lot of bouncing around the players earlier rather than later they kind of stumbled into uh joshua bluger and garland that wasn't supposed to be and then i think suda was hurt and Bluger went in there and they took off

and they had a couple of three different guys with Miller and Besser and all kinds of different guys with Pettersson and I don't I know we all like to look at, like we all do, we like to look at a team and go okay

that's the first line and that's the second line and in very few places do the lines stay the same. I'll use Colorado as an example again because I like the top end of their lineup a lot. But some nights you get McKinnon and Rantanen together. Sometimes you don't have them together. Sometimes Rantanen plays in the middle. Sometimes he plays on right wing with middle stat.

When they get Mich chew skin back if if that does come to pass then they're they're moving guys all over the place these are really good players and a really good coach and the the greatest i don't know misstatement is you know we we need consistency for 60 minutes we need consistency through the season what the hell does that mean like you're going to play 60 minutes you We need consistency through the season. What the hell does that mean? You're going to play 60 minutes. You're going to try to, but the other team's really good too, and they're going to probably play 20 minutes better than you.

How could you have consistency game to game to game to game? You'd like it. It's just not possible with 82 games. The trick to this thing is that if your low points are not so low that you get points out of them when you're kind of stumbling around, then you're probably going to be okay. I think they would like to have some consistency to the lineup. They just don't have it right now.

Like, Sprong's an interesting case. I think people get all excited when they see the way he shoots the puck. And, you know, with more ice time comes more goals. And that's not always the case. I think people get all excited when they see the way he shoots the puck. With more ice time comes more goals, and that's not always the case. He's got to fight through some things that have really put an anchor on how

quickly he can climb through a lineup. We saw it in the game against Philadelphia. It's a 2-1 game. He kind of loses his guy in the slot and Camiladelphia it's a 2-1 game he kind of loses his guy in the slot and cam york comes and he's 20 feet 25 feet from the net like that's a that's a a misplay that personally i'm very familiar with because that was something honestly no joke that's something i would do you start staring at the puck you start thinking about if i intercept if i'm on the way out of the zone.

Right. And, oh, wait a minute, the pass went six feet behind me to a guy that's wide open. Was that my guy? Was that my guy? Yeah. And then, see, the best part was we didn't have video tablets on the bench. So I never found out about it until tomorrow. He found out about it three minutes later.

So, like, that's a really good example of when you say he's out about it three minutes later so like that's a that's a really good example of when you say he's out of the lineup and maybe Baines would have been in the lineup at the start of the year if the cap would have worked and it wasn't and now he is and so this is his chance and I do think like when I look at this lineup it's very clear they miss Joshua. They miss his size. They miss his heft. They miss his ability to make a play. Not just with Garland, but just to make a play down low. It kind of steadies that portion of the lineup. And so, like other teams, they're scraping their knees right now as they stumble around.

And you're down in Florida. Who knows what's going to happen in Tampa tonight? That's such an uncertain situation around the team and the community and all that. They go into Florida and there's no Barkoff and no Kachuk, so you might catch a break

there, but maybe not. They just won last night. The trip's a chance to maybe find their footing a little bit too. You mentioned something earlier about how the Canucks kind of stumbled upon the combination with Joshua and Garland and it started out with Bluger and Lindholm eventually went there but you know it was it was Joshua and Garland kind of making that line. I think about the HBK line in Pittsburgh and Rick Taka was on that bench

and how that line kind of came together. And I don't know if anyone had planned that line. They were like, you know what a great line would be? Nick Bonino with Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel. You know what is awesome about that thought is coaches have that stupid whiteboard in their office and they write lines on it all the time and then somebody gets hurt in between in a game and they have to jam

three guys together to make a line and they're and it just works i mean is that not how burrows ended up with the city i was just that was that was my next example i was like i don't think anyone was like what about this echl guy former ball hockey player I don't think anyone was like, what about this ECHL guy, former ball hockey player? Why don't we put him with the Sedin twins? And like, he's, he's mostly known for kind of mucking it up and running his mouth, but he might have some success. I just wonder how many line combinations, like, I wonder if Rick Talkett is just going through them all because maybe you'll find something. I don't think that can be too far off either. One of the best lines I played with was Andrew Brunette and Donald Audette,

and we were one of the top scoring lines in the league, and I was not on that line for a month at the start of the year, and somebody got hurt, and I went in there, and we scored a couple of goals the first game and then it was like leave those guys together though maybe they'll be fine and we played the rest of the year together we didn't even practice together like we hadn't had one second of ice time together and then I went in that I went in that spot and for for whatever reason it worked there's the other thing sometimes it doesn Sometimes you look at a line and you can see why it works.

You're like, oh, they've got a grinder over there, they've got a shooter here, they've got a playmaking centerman. It all kind of pieces together. And then other times it just kind of works. And there's a read to the game. I used cadence earlier. There's a cadence to a game. I used cadence earlier. There's a cadence to a line that it just works. And I don't really know sometimes if you can predict that.

Sometimes you can, but other times it just happens. And, man, it's found money when it does. We're speaking to Ray Ferraro here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Let's run through some of these new guys here. We were talking about them earlier. We encouraged listeners to text in to the Dunbar-Lumber text line at 650-650. Let's start with Dan Heinen because I think he's going to make

a move tonight as they play in Tampa Bay as well. What have you thought of Heinen's game through the first two? This is... He makes some good plays. He's not flashy. He doesn't make many mistakes. And at the end of the year, he's going to get 17 to 20 goals. Like it's the, he's just a smart, no fuss, no muss player.

Like you just, there's lots of nights you don't notice them, but he doesn't make many mistakes. He makes lots of good little support plays. And that's why he can bounce around the lineup. I like Heinen's game. Kiefer Sherwood, same question? Not so good the first game. Really good the second game.

More rambunctious. You know what? All the stuff that you were talking about, about guys not sure with the system and all that, maybe that a little bit would apply to a player like Sherwood, who's at his best when the game is north and south, and you're not trying to do things you're not capable of. In the first game, he looked like he was watching a lot to me.

The second game, I thought he was really good. Jake DeBrusque, Laddy already pointed out that it was a very nice shimmy that he had celebrating his first goal of the year, so that was good. But aside from that, the dancing moves? Yes. There's more there for Jake and I think they're, you know, he's tied to Pedersen right now.

And so the two of them are going to have to figure out a little give and go thing. And when they do, I think they'll be a good pair. Jake's got more, for sure. Yeah, I'm hesitant to bring up Pettersson because we do it a lot on the show, and it's been a carryover effect from last year for sure. But again, given that you worked both of the games

and you got to see it as closely as anyone, what did you see or not see from No. 40 in those first two games? First game, I thought he was very stationary, kind of wait and watch and see. Second game, I thought he was much, much better. I mean, it's obvious you're talking about a guy making $11 million. There's more there. I mean, there has to be. And I think there is.

If I'm comparing the two games, I thought he skated better the second game but there is a there is a tenacity to his game that that hasn't been there yet that wasn't really there towards the end of last year and I think he's a little bit in between trying to please a whole bunch of different thoughts trying to be physical trying to work hard trying to please a whole bunch of different thoughts, trying to be physical, trying to work hard, trying to be tenacious, trying to handle the puck, trying to be creative, trying to be a power play scorer.

And at the end of the day, if he can just relax a little bit and maybe crystallize what makes him a really good player instead of trying to do 12 things. Just do what you do, which is where he was at the midpoint of last year. I think that stuff tumbles back for him. Ray, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it.

Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next Tuesday. Next Tuesday, different song. Thank you. Okay. See you, buddy. Ray Ferraro does not like his music here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Yeah.

So in case you missed it, Murph tweeted out the line combinations yesterday at practice in Tampa and Danton Heinen is going to probably replace Daniel Sprong on a line with Petey and DeBrusque. It's possible that Arshdeep Baines is going to be on a line with JT Miller and Brock Besser and Heinen was there before.

Sprong, potentially a healthy scratch. So I think, thank you so much for that. Very good. That's him being ejected from the lineup. I think heinen being the reliable type of player not too flashy but does his job replacing sprung who is flashy but doesn't always do his job right is you know the move that you could probably expect um after sprung had a tough moment

against the Philadelphia Flyers that ultimately cost the Canucks a goal, the tying goal, and maybe even the win. And also, you've got to remember that the Canucks are on the road now, so you don't even have last change. You can't get your matchups. So that is something to watch for tonight in Tampa.

BC Lions General Manager Neil McEvoy joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. It's hard for fans to watch this team and know what to expect on any day of the week. Yeah, it is. Honestly, a roller coaster is exactly what it is. The parody in our league

right now is good for the fans because there's not really, even the teams that are not making the playoffs are actually good teams. Edmonton, at the end of the day, had such a poor start, but they are a good football team and tough to deal with. Calgary has shown, you know, good things. And as you say, Hamilton beat us in overtime

a couple weeks ago. So, you know what? Yeah, it has been a roller coaster going to Victoria. The game that really made me think of this team as we have stepped is the Montreal game. Going into Montreal, a hostile environment, playing at that time the best team in the league or still the best team in the league record-wise. And we handled them.

Even though we did throw or we had about two or three turnovers, I always felt that the offense was just clicking and there's nothing going to be able to stop us and we just have not been able to get back to that yet and that that's that's something that again the coaches have to figure that out because in that game against Montreal we were a potent offense and our defense was playing physical all the things that we knew we could do and wanted to do. And then we haven't been able to get that magic back. But like I say, the guys are working as hard as they can to get it back. Because I know at the end of the day, our players do want to win.

Obviously, our coaches want to win. And we want to make our fans proud of this team. Neil, before we let you go, so Vernon Adams Jr. did address the quarterback situation on social media this week. He said, I just want to say the BC Lions don't have a quarterback issue. As a team, we need to be better in all three phases and make more plays going into the playoffs.

I appreciate all the love and support, but not one player is going to change all of this. Let's take him at his word here and say that there's not a QB issue with the team. What is one issue that this team can fix to, as Vernon say, change all of this? Yeah, Vernon and Nathan are actually quite close. They sit on the plane together, so that's not an issue. Our guys just have to dig deep and play harder.

I just find that some of these teams that we play, and I'm not criticizing anybody or any of our players, but sometimes it seems that these teams are just a little more digging deep and playing more physical. And I know our guys are working hard, but, you know, we have a good football team on paper. The team looks great, but, you know, you don't win games on paper. So our players have to dig down deep and get – they are a tight-knit group.

They don't like to lose. So our guys, you know, especially at this time of year, you just have to dig down deep and play physical, you know, mistake-free football, which I know our guys can do. And like I said, our guys are preparing to do that starting this weekend. Neil, thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate you taking the time. Good luck against Montreal.

We'll do this again soon. Appreciate it, guys. Have a great show. We'll talk today. We really appreciate you taking the time. Good luck against Montreal. We'll do this again soon. Appreciate it, guys. Have a great show. We'll talk soon. Yep, thank you. That's Neil McEvoy, general manager of the BC Lions here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. They say it's not a quarterback issue, Jason.

Quarterbacks are saying it. Well, quarterback singular is saying it. I mean, I said this yesterday. The most likely scenario in the way this season is unfolding is that the Lions have two games left. One against Montreal that's going to be meaningless and then they'll go to either Saskatchewan and Winnipeg and lose and that'll be it. That's the way they're trending. You can't say any other way after their performance

in Saskatchewan. I know that Neil McEvoy and a lot of us, including myself, are holding on to that hope that this is the CFL and you just need to get hot at the right time and that the Lions did go to Montreal and put together a very good performance against the Alouettes. But that was a long time ago now. Their last four games was a terrible game against the Argos, a disastrous second half against the Hamilton Tiger Cats,

a win over a terrible Calgary team where the defense stepped up and made some scores, and then an absolutely dreadful performance in Saskatchewan. That's the last four games. Are you thinking that this is a team that's going to get to the Grey Cup? I don't. I am not thinking they're going to get to the Grey Cup.

They'll be in the Grey Cup playoffs. And it sounds like the management is pretty upset. I know Neil is going to choose his words carefully, but you could tell with his last answer there, he was not happy with the compete level of his players. And how could you be after you go to Saskatchewan and have that type of performance and get blown out like that against a team that you could very well be playing in the playoffs

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