Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 10/16/24

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss yesterday's Canucks loss to the Lightning with radio commentator Randip Janda, plus the boys tell us what they learned. 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 and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Delay is bottom of the circle, drops one, timer for point, who scores? You gotta come to the rink every day trying to get better. And that's what we're going to do. We got to dig in. Dig the pit. You need that second line.

You need the Pedersen line, whoever he's playing with, to start driving more play. Would you say it's time for everyone to panic? Yes, I would, kid. No, no, no, no. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on? Yes, I would, kid. No. No. No, no. Good morning, Vancouver. 601 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Alfred and his brother up at his Sportsnet 650.

We are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Hey, dog. Good morning to you. Good morning. And Lydie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Brother of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal.

North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. 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, what are you waiting for?

Kintec. Guest list today begins at 6.30. David Amber, Hockey Night Canada, Sportsnet NHL host, is going to join us. There were nine games last night that we need to look back on, including the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 loss in Tampa Bay to join us. There were nine games last night that we need to look back on, including the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 loss in Tampa Bay to the Lightning. Tonight on SportsNet,

only one Canadian team in action on a Wednesday. It's the Toronto Maple Leafs. They will be hosting the Los Angeles Kings. Three other games on the slate as well. We'll talk to David about all that at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Frank Cerevalli from Daily Faceoff will join us. We'll go around the NHL, look at some of the big stories that are happening. And then. 7 o'clock, Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff will join us. We'll go around the NHL, look at some of the big

stories that are happening. And then at 8 o'clock, Randy Janda is going to join the program. He, of course, color analyst for the Canucks right here on Sportsnet 650. He was on the call last night for, again, I mentioned, Vancouver's 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay in Tampa

Bay yesterday. So we got a lot of hockey talk today. A lot. A lot of Canucks talk. A lot of reaction. Dunbar Lumber text line is already popping. If you want to get way in on anything, 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line.

I won't even tell you who the main character is in the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. You might find out. If not, you can contribute. 650-650 is the text line. Working in reverse on the guest list real quick. 8 o'clock, Randy Janda. 7 o'clock, Frank Cervalli.

6.30 is David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, 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 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. Braden Point, Brandon Hagel, The Bagel, and Anthony Sorelli all scored for the Tampa Bay Lightning yesterday. There was also an empty netter. 4-1, the Lightning beat the Vancouver Canucks at Amelie Arena in their home opener on Tuesday night in Tampa Bay. Yeah, Rick Tockett had said prior to last night's game

that he liked the starts the Canucks had had in their first two games, just not the third periods and how the games ended. On Tuesday, it was the start that doomed the Canucks. The Lightning had the legs in their home opener and the Canucks did not. Tampa led 1-0 after the first period on a Nikita Kucherov goal that started with a Noah Juleson stumble. We'll talk a little bit more about Noah Juleson later and the defense as a little bit more about Noah Juleson later and the defense as a whole. The Canucks came alive in the second,

but it didn't make a difference on the scoreboard. In fact, things got worse. After, as Halford mentioned, Braden Point made it 2-0 on a nice one-timer that beat Archer's Seelovs. Talk a little bit more about that goal. I think everyone on the Canucks got caught backing up on that one, including maybe Seelovs, but that's what a line of Braden Point, Jake Gensel, and Nikita Kucherov can make you do.

You end up playing on your heels. They're a pretty good line, Jason. We talked about that line yesterday, and we said, that's going to be a good one. And you saw what Gensel can do, and you saw what Braden Point, who might be one of the most underrated players in the league, can do, and Nikita Kucherov, who is well-known. He had a good game last night, and the Canucks' top players did not.

The Lightning made it 3-0 early in the third, and it looked like that would be curtains, but the Canucks didn't quit, I suppose, to their credit. Connor Garland scored a much-deserved goal for him, and they even killed off a very impressive kill, a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Jake DeBrusque. But even after Rick Tockett shortened his bench, and I think Shorty was like,

I think there's like two lines for the Canucks right now. There's six players playing. The Canucks couldn't muster another goal. The Lightning added an empty netter. And that was it. The Canucks are now 0-1 and 2. How do they count it? 0-1

and 2. So that was their first regulation loss. I tweeted out after the game while everyone was panicking about Petey, no wins in three games for the Canucks, but nothing has really changed in my opinion in the three games.

And really heading into the season, I'm still wondering about the depth on defense, whether or not the Canucks are going to be able to replace essentially Zdorov and Ian Cole with De'Arne and Forbort. We're still waiting on Demko, and we can talk a little bit more about how Silas played last night.

And I still think, yeah, I mean, I still think Petey needs to find the magic again. But last night, I think you have to credit the Tampa Bay Lightning for getting that win. They were playing for their fans. They were playing for their community. Home opener. They're still a good team.

And their best players showed up. I would say that if yesterday's game hadn't come on the heels of blowing two leads, and obviously the most egregious one was the opener against Calgary, probably look at it differently, but we don't really have that benefit because those two games happened and they unfolded the way that they did. And I think, you know, as much as Ray likes to chuckle at the notion of a full 60, the Canucks haven't had it, as a matter of fact. And now Talk, it's got a whole new problem because it's like,

now it's not how we finish games. Yesterday was very much how we started. He was in a very brief and amended presser after the game there's no media on the road so it's all pretty friendly media that's covering the Canucks right now and even with that he was still pretty disappointed and sounded pretty frustrated let's hear now Laddie from Rick Talkett talking about how they need some guys to dig in, maybe play a little bit harder, maybe win some battles in the corners, maybe do a little bit more. Rick Talkett following a 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday night in Tampa Bay.

Well, we've got to start on time, and we've got to start to win some battles. There's pockets of the game I like and some pockets of the game I didn't, but we need some guys to dig in a little bit. We're kind of in the corners or the ends of our stick. It's been happening a couple of days, games now. We got to make sure that we get a little bit grittier in the corners. Dig the f*** in! He added that.

Digging, I guess, is a new thing in the NHL. I heard them making fun of that on the postgame. Dig in? Yeah, dig in. Yeah, dig in. They were trying to compare Tockett's dig in to McDavid's dig in, and they were like, if McDavid's dig in was a 10, Talkett's was a what? Maybe a 2.

It was a 2 or a 3 at dig in. Speaking of terminology that's sweeping the league, Andrew Burnett dropped a summer hockey yesterday. Oh, okay. You listen to the show. The Preds lost 7-3, and he's like, too much summer hockey in our game. I'm like, that's Talkett's line. You can't use that.

Okay, let's discuss some individual players. And we're not going to start with number 40 because we will get to that. Because we're saving it for later. We're not. We're going to enjoy this. Is Mr. 11.6, as people have started calling him? Is everyone just catching up to this, by the way? Yes, they appear to be.

Everyone except Jay Janauer, apparently. Mount Brough appearing. You're not watching the last half of the season and into the playoffs? I don't know. I want to start with Seeloff's because I was a little bit surprised that he actually did get the start. And I know that Rick Tockett wanted to go back to him

at some point in these two Florida games. Maybe just not this soon, Rick. I thought Kevin Lankanen might get the start, but he went with Seeloffs, and Seeloffs did make a handful of really nice saves, and it could have been much worse in the first period except for Seeloffs.

The Lightning were buzzing, but in two games that's now... Why did you get your finger up? You're ordering something at the restaurant. It's now nine goals allowed on 54 shots for a save percentage of 833. I expect we will see Lankanen on Thursday in Florida. For all that, I liked Silov's first period,

and I think he did really well keeping the Canucks in there. The second goal to Braden Point, I don't know, it didn't look great. And even Talkett said after the game that that didn't look great. And the third goal, you can blame Tyler Myers for letting Sorelli get position on him, but I don't know. That one didn't look great either. I guess, long story short, I kind of miss Demko. Okay, good. Look, I don't think I heard this once last year from Tockett

when he was speaking about his goal. It's brief. I think it's seven seconds long. But Tockett was asked about Silov's. Here's what he had to say. Yeah, I think he was fine. I think the second goal, I got to take a look at it. I don't know if I liked that one, but in the most part, I think he was fine.

Spoiler alert, he looked at it and he didn't like it. He was just saying that. So I don't, I, that to me, I know everyone wants to talk about Peter, Peterson, Pedersen, and I know we're wanting to move along. To me, right now, if you're going to base anything on a small sample size that's the biggest problem yeah well the calgary game they should have a win already yeah they should have a win yeah it was funny because talk had said after that game you can't spot a team like that a two nothing lead well i wanted to put my finger up again i'm like what about a four one lead what

kind of team defends that one because if you can't spot teams two goal leads then you definitely can't spot good teams three goal leads right that would be the math and somehow calgary who by the way are now four oh no so maybe they're better than we all thought they were going to be but i digress go on with the rest of the players connor garland the best canuck yeah he was the best canuck and he continues to work his butt off and win battles all over the ice. He's not a guy that needs to dig in. He's already dug in. And, uh, and I just wanted to mention that he's playing well and I don't know, um, if he might

find his way onto a line with Elias Pedersen. Maybe you could put together Hoaglander, Petey and Garland on a line. Um, but you know, sometimes Hoaglander, Petey, and Garland on a line. But, you know, sometimes when I hear that, I'm kind of like, well, is that good for Garland? No. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Like who? Like a poor Jake DeBrus career right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just wanted to, you know, I think Garland has been terrific so far this season. And, you know, he's got two goals. That's two goals in three games. Pretty impressive.

Arsh Baines. So I heard Shorty call him Arsh Baines. Oh, you're going to go with that now? So I'm going to go with that now. Yeah, that works. Did not really take advantage of his opportunity. No. Ended up getting just three shifts in the third

period as Talkett, as mentioned, shortened the bench. Early in the game, he went to the net and had a good scoring chance, but he couldn't bury it. I think he was a little close in on Vasilevsky. And Vasilevsky, by the way, was really good last night. He was definitely the better of the two goalies. Yeah, he's just solid.

Top marks for Vasilevsky. Top marks. A lot of people, perhaps in an attempt to deflect blame for Petey, set their sights on JT Miller last night. And the energy, I think, is there with Miller. And that is the difference. Also, you know, he scored a big goal against Calgary. And he picked up an assist on Garland's goal last night.

He also had a nice pass to Brock Besser, who redirected it and Vasilevsky made a good save. But I do think he might be gunslinging a bit much out there. You do have to take care of the puck. And yes, Miller's going to get a bit more leeway because you have to let him gunsling. You have to let him take some risk. He can make some passes that other guys don't.

But I do think some of his passes, especially on the man advantage, have been emblematic of the way the Canucks have been a little bit careless with the puck. Yeah, I mean, Miller kind of exists in his own category of players sometimes. Because, like with Hughes, you say, you know, let that horse run wild, right? Let him do what he's going to do. And for the most part, you love the results. With Miller, you can apply the same approach,

but you have to almost bake into the recipe that there's going to be an error or there's going to be a turnover. There's going to be a mistake as opposed to with Hughes. It's not there and it's fine. I don't, I mean, on the list of things that are discouraging, and again, I want to use the word discouraging

because I don't want to use panic or worrisome. Nobody's panicking. Just discouraging. JT Miller's not on that list right now. For me, it's been a very loud start to the season in the sense that there's been good energy and there's a lot of things that have happened. Corey Howell hat-trick in the first game the sense that there's been good energy and there's a lot of things that have happened somebody how hat trick in the first game yeah he he's notable he's present

uh he's got the energy that you want he doesn't have that lethargy that a lot of people bring in when they're playing summer hockey in the fall right final guy i want to get to before we get to you know who is no juleson i thought he had a pretty rough game, and I wonder if we'll see De'Arne back in Thursday. I actually wonder if we'll see all three of the healthy scratches back in on Thursday against the Panthers. De'Arne, Nils Amon, and Daniel Sprong were the healthy scratches, by the way, last night against

the Tampa Bay Lightning. But Noah Juleson, you know, he stumbled on the first goal. The puck turns over to Tampa Bay Lightning. But Noah Julsen, you know, he stumbled on the first goal. The puck turns over to Tampa Bay. They put it in the net pretty quickly. He had a few giveaways. He just looks rough. And I think the right side defense, and Tyler Myers played last night. Like, wow, didn't expect that when he was injured.

And it looked like he was gonna miss that looks like a three month or right there based on the based on how he left uh the game with absolutely no weight on uh one on his right side i think uh but but he ended up playing um and but julson like this right side of the defense it's not looking good. And I wonder, you know, are you comfortable with Darnay in the lineup? Are you comfortable with Julsen in the lineup? If the Canucks had a stronger second pair, you might be fine with it, but they really don't.

And it's why we talked a lot about, you know, at the beginning of the season, are they going to spread these pairs out? Are they going to break up Hughes and Hronik? And ultimately, you know, they decided not to, and Quinn Hughes wants to play with Philip Hronik. And, you know, when that pair is out on the ice, it's usually pretty, things are going pretty well. So you don't know if you do want to break up that pair, but I think this is something that management might have to look at. And I know a lot of people are saying, oh, Rasmus Anderson out of Calgary. Right now, Calgary is going to win the president's trophy.

So, and that's not going to be cheap. Do you have to get a little more creative? There's no right side defense options down on the farm, that scream an obvious call up so that I think overall like I'm not going to discuss this too much it's just something they may have to address they may have to go out and add something on the right side or they might may have to experiment with something like guys like playing on the right side they had they had two lefties last year that occasionally went over to the right side and Zdorov and cole but they don't have those guys anymore i don't know if forbort can play the right side if they call up i don't know walanin or eric brandstrom and get some more puck moving ability

in the bottom four but um right now if i was the other teams i'd be like when when that Juleson-Forebort pair is on the ice or whoever's playing, target them, forecheck the heck out of them, they might turn the puck over. So of all the moves that Tuckett's made early in, it's been, for three games in, it's been pretty active, I would say. I mean, I haven't monitored the ins and outs of every lineup

across the National Hockey League, but between the line changes and the ins and outs with the healthy scratches and guys coming in, there's been a lot of changes. The one, and I kind of pointed to it being a reflection of the lack of patience that he and maybe the team has about you can't, we're not just going to sit here and let mistakes happen. With that said, I thought that it was maybe a bit premature to drop Deharnais

out of the lineup after the first game. Even Daniel Sprung got a second bite at the apple. Yeah. Despite having a rough opener. Maybe they wanted him to watch some games. Maybe. But you know what's a better way to learn is I personally I think it's to play in them as opposed to watch them. Because here's the thing.

You know what Noah Juleson is for your team. I mean, I think they've pretty much established that. And they liked some of it. Right. But that's why he's in there, right? Yeah, but I mean, I don't know if you need to be throwing. And it's also a bottom pair of defensemen. I just thought it was an odd change because one thing is.

Taka might have not liked what he's seen at him at all, right? Maybe. Also in that game. Preseason, training camp. Yeah, and also in that game. He's a project. Also in that game, the Calgary game, which is what he eventually got sat for,

I go back to saying the goals that were allowed, all due respect to the leaky defensive coverage in front of Silov, sometimes Silov was on the hook for a lot of that. I just wonder if they need to let some of these guys figure it out play in the spots work through the rotations doesn't seem like they're going to be afforded that luxury because it seems like talk it is kind of putting pedal down to the ground and saying hey we got to get going like our if our starts are good our finishes have to be better if our finishes aren't

are okay and our starts on good that needs to be better i mean think about the things that we can do a checklist already of the things that he's name checked afterwards all right we let's let's get to the the elephant in the room here um elias petterson um i'll start with the positives i thought he got better as the game went on last night. Maybe started to find his legs like the rest of his teammates, but overall more of the same, give or take a few flashes. I don't know how much more I personally can say about him. I'll try. I have no idea what's going on there, but he's not the same assertive, confident player we've seen in the past new line mates don't seem

to have helped again i thought he got better as the game went on last night it looked like he was finding some energy but it wasn't a significant improvement and it's hard because i know people want to talk about this but um i've been on this for a while now, ever since basically the All-Star break last season. I don't know if a bunch of people are finally catching up and starting to worry, but I've been worried for a while now because I said last season that this is not like a typical slump in the NHL. This isn't, you know, a guy who's been snake bitten or the bounces just aren't going his way. And this isn't, by the way, also a matter of it's been three games relaxed. For the team, you can say that for sure. I'm not worried about the Canucks as a team.

I'm not worried. I think they should should have a win by now maybe two they played a very good Tampa Bay Lightning team last night it's not a shock that they lost right they got a good opportunity to get their first win of the season on Thursday against a Florida team that is missing Barkov and Kachuk and lost some players in the offseason, even though they are the cup champs. But for Pedersen, his play has drastically fallen off. And it's anyone's guess whether he finds the magic again. He is not the same player he was halfway through last season. And you can go through the possible reasons. Maybe it's the tendonitis.

Maybe his body just isn't feeling right. His skating looks off. He's never been a beautiful, graceful skater, but it doesn't look like he's able to garner any speed out there, create much off the rush. He looks like he's totally lacking confidence with the puck. I don't know if he's yippy out there with the rush. He looks like he's totally lacking confidence with the puck. I don't know if he's yippy out there with the puck. Finish isn't there right now.

Finish isn't there right now. Hesitancy to shoot the puck. The shot, frankly, doesn't look the same. I don't know if it's an injury. I don't know if it's confidence. I don't know if he's unhappy in Vancouver. I do like to point out that his play started to dip the moment the Canucks started talking pressure or putting pressure on him to sign with the Canucks. And he looked kind of miserable last season,

even after he signed his contract. I don't know what's going on with this guy, but it's something that I think can turn around, I hope can turn around, but if it doesn't, there is a big, big problem here. wise in out press box line shuffling defenseman in and out is because i want to keep hammering home the lack of patience and the sense of urgency and now i want to kind of apply it to petterson because this is gonna go now as a coaching staff one of two ways either they accept the current state of affairs as is and accept what he's providing them as a player and just keep rolling it out. And they just hope that it's something I'll either change or they just come to grips with the fact that this is what he's going to give them or they're going to apply the pressure that comes along with a lack of patience or a sense of

urgency. Do you get what I'm saying? Like you, there's one or two ways it can go. It can stay the status quo where everything around him changes. And you just kind of get back out there with DeBrusque. And today your new other winger is Sherwood. Let's see if that'll get you going or hate Connor Garland's up and it's not

talked about and addressed or it is. And that's to me, the more interesting of the two is if it be at it either Tuckett or Alvin or someone, and I'm not talking about coming out and blasting in the media or coming out and explaining it to the talking heads with cameras and microphones. I'm talking about decrease in ice time, talking about a drop in the rotation

in terms of what kind of minutes and what kind of situations that you get, who you're playing with, all of those things that go along with, are you a productive player? Are you not a productive player? And I think more importantly, are you living up to the standard that we as an organization

set for you as a player or are you not? And that's where I think patience and most importantly, like urgency urgency like it needs to happen ASAP because we've got a season that we want to get on track here we want to get a win that's a very important thing and we want to start doing the things that made us a 109.50 win team last year so that to me is the really interesting thing moving forward. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Do you not wonder?

So you don't want any part of this conversation. Do you don't wonder if Pedersen has lost his passion for the game? I wonder it. I'm not in any way, shape or form qualified to suggest yes or no. Bow, bow, bow. What? I'm not. Come on. What a hot take. What? You're not qualified enough. Yeah, I'm not. I'm qualified

to do like a handful of things. Bow, bow, bow was for the first bow. I'm qualified to do like a handful of things. He lost his passion for the game. You know, that didn't even occur to me. I hadn't even thought about that. I don't want to think about it, because frankly, it's disturbing. You're putting ideas in A-Dog's head.

I don't want this in my head. How have you been watching him play? The guy looks miserable. He looks so miserable. I try and talk myself out of it, I think, is what it is. I don't want to think about it, because that would be very, very bad for this team. Very, very, very, very bad for this team. Very, very, very, very bad for this team. It would be bad.

Again, the contract, the years of length. If he's not interested in the game and he's lost his passion for it. Well, you asked Frank. You asked Frank about what the organizational thought would be on the contract. Those are the things that intrigue more. I would love to know where the decision makers are at

in terms of poking and prodding and the other side of it what are the ramifications because right now paul and coquitlam text and sorry yeah no of course he's lost his passion for the game you don't need to be a psychologist to see that anybody who understands human beings can observe that and that's why halford is uh having trouble with this because he doesn't understand empathy he doesn't understand it what is he he can't he can't wrap his head around he can't look at someone else and and and and pretend uh um or or to kind of put himself in his shoes and that's the sign of a psychopath

that's me he's got psychopath. That's me. He's got that golden retriever mentality. Armchair psychopath. Oh, man. Yeah. Well, okay. As the navel gazing continues here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650,

we keep saying, like, we don't want to talk about this, but we feel compelled to talk about this. And every time we go off topic, we seem to go right back to this topic and it is perplexing like it's thrown me into a very unique headspace this morning because part of me is like at what point are we just doing too much yeah because you just put it on his line mates for months and months and months and months and i'm like watch the games man yeah watch the games he's not playing it's not his line mates for months and months and months and months and i'm like watch the games man yeah watch the games he's not playing it's not his line mates yeah it's him but you were like no it's his line mates his line mates his line mates well he's got new line mates nothing no change really he's the same guy he got set up a couple times last night by his new line yeah and what'd he do he whiffed

yeah whiffed on one so it's a it's a it's super super perplexing what adds to the perplexing dynamic is where the team is at competitively and where they want to be this is this is a big step forward season for a group that again 50 plus wins 100 plus points second round of the playoffs last year game seven of the second round against the eventual western conference champs like this is a team where i understand why the pressure is there and why it's talk it said the things that he said like we need this guy to be on the same plane of difference makers as our other two leaders and stars i always go with hughes and miller just sort of de facto guys hughes because best defenseman in the NHL last year. Miller because I feel like he's the emotional heartbeat of the team.

Right? And, you know, everyone realizes that when you've got a team that's on the cusp of contending to get over the top, you can't have any passengers. It just doesn't happen. Right? You need everyone firing and you need... Especially your top guys. Right.

Your secondary and tertiary guys have to raise their game and the top guys have to produce at a level that only a handful of guys can touch that's what 11.6 million means that's what eight years a term means that's what me that's what being elite means so there you do certain things that other guys can't touch yeah you're blessed with that sort of skill and that sort of ceiling and that sort of high-end ability so that's where the canucks are at in terms of a competitive cycle right and everything has been accelerated it happened fast last year happened fast yeah remember when they the definitive moment for me last year was when they went out and bought a high priced rental i'm like oh wow we're in this

mode yeah this is great yeah trade deadline we've been so used to all right who are we gonna sell how can we secure a third round pick in 2020 get the garage sale ready again right the garage ready so clean it up put the signs out so everything was happening quick last year what else happened quick hey petterson we need an answer on your playing future we need to lock this thing in because it's not only going to dictate what we do at this deadline but it's going to dictate what we do this summer how we lay things out we got to get heronics deal done everything has happened quickly and this competitive window shot wide open last year and that's why there's this real sense i think think I'm starting to figure it out now. I think it's this real sense of this can't carry on.

Whatever funk there was from last year, like coaches, players, management, like you can't have it, right? That's why there's a lack of patience. That's why they want to get things sorted out right away. That's why I think Rick Talkett looks frustrated and sounds frustrated, even though it's only three games into the season.

We were all hoping there would be a fresh start. Right? Yep. We're all hoping that an offseason would clear all this stuff out. With the understanding. And then he'd come, you know, barreling into this season, looking super motivated, looking super healthy. And unfortunately, it just hasn't happened.

To the phone lines we go. Randy Bjanda joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Randy. How are you? Good morning, gentlemen. I take it the community and the market is taking it quite well in a very reserved and understated manner this morning.

Brother, it has been a morning, let me tell you. Yeah, you must have seen or got anecdotal evidence of the Dunbar-Lumber text message in basket following the game last night. It's continued. We started out the show.

We went 20 minutes off the hop by not talking about Elias Pettersson. And then we introduced the topic of conversation at the end of the first half hour. And then it just really sort of mushroom clouded from there. We talked to David Amber about it, Frank Cervalli about it. And it sort of became one of those navel-gazing conversations where you talk about talking about Elias Pettersson.

It's been very, very emotional two hours here on the show. But look, Randy, it's unavoidable, is it not? Almost, you know, regardless of what the results would have been there's the eye test there's the production neither of them are there for a lot of people which always comes back to that one central question like what's going on with Petey yeah and listen it's one of those things that is it's real right like you go through three games and the production and it's more than the production and And, you know, it goes back to last season

because we know he was dealing with an injury. We know that the confidence wasn't there. And quite simply, his line has not been a difference maker yet, right? So the first period, look back at last night. First period was rough. They got caved in. Second period was better. But with Petey himself, he couldn't hunker down. He couldn't score.

Jake DeBrus set him up in a couple plays little backhand passes from behind the net and you get one of those I don't even care if it goes off your shin you're feeling better about yourself but the fact is those are not going in for him on one of the plays he can just stick on the puck the other one was saved by Vasilevsky and while we look at his play in isolation, you know, absolutely, the eye test is telling us he's not in the play as much as we saw at the beginning of the last year. He's not able to dictate the game.

He's not able to be that difference maker. The underlying numbers five on five aren't terrible. They're breaking terms and chances. In terms of chances, I think the goal differential is minus one, but you need him to be a difference maker. We're not talking about breaking even. If this team wants to do something this year, you need that one-two punch, guys.

So as of right now, the way I see it is confidence is the big problem, right? You see that double clutch in his game. You see that he's not maybe skating with the puck on his stick through the neutral zone. When Petey is playing his game, he's moving his feet, but he's also attacking the opposition through the neutral zone, and you playing his game he's moving his feet but he's also you know he's attacking the opposition through the neutral zone and you need him to be assertive I think last you know night was a classic example and Kucherov had a goal and he had some points he's pretty low-key but he's a great example of how skilled guys can have an edge where they they

you know are assertive and I think with Pedersen and maybe we've seen in pockets here or there but he doesn't have that edge he doesn't have that assertiveness that made him so good last year and really has made him good throughout his career and he needs to get that back because to me it's about the skill but it's also about the attitude and the the confidence which is lacking right now so I guess the big question is, how? How does he get it back? How do the Canucks help him? Yeah, I think a couple of things Eric Tauket is doing is giving him different looks, which

is absolutely, you know, that's one way of doing it. I think the next step here is Connor Garland, right? This is a guy that is putting a lot on his shoulders, considering he's been the best player for the Canucks. But if you're trying to go through lineups and seeing, all right, how do we get this guy to lean in a little bit more? How do we, you know,

and it's a term that's used in hockey a lot. How do we drag him into the fight? Because he does need to show that. When we talk about, you know, Rick Tockett mentioned, you know, digging in and getting in the corners and the wall battles and just engaging. Conor Garland is one of the players on this team

that is doing it the most consistently. He is doing it most consistently. So I think Tuckett is trying, but you need somebody. You need Pedersen, obviously. It's up to him to get himself going and find his groove and get that confidence. And you can support the player as much as you want, but you got to cycle through those line mates and say,

all right, you know what? We need guys that are going to be able to do that that and and i thought you know in that second period spell jake de brus did that job behind the net he was being aggressive on the forecheck he set up petterson a couple of times um you just need more of that whether that's de brusque whether that's connor garland i think that that third member on the line um they haven't really figured that out yet with danton heinan uh obviously, and Daniel Sprong. I'd like to see a longer look for Danton Heinen. I think, you know, that first game,

they haven't played together. But at some point, they're going to have to consider Conor Garland in that spot if Pedersen doesn't get going on his own. If Pedersen does return to form, do you think it will be an incremental return to form? Like maybe it takes two months or three months and you see gradual improvement? Or do you think there will be a game where maybe he gets some to think it's going to be an incremental thing where he just needs to get gradually into, I don't know, maybe even better shape or more confidence with the puck.

And then we look back on this and we go, well, he came a long way in a few months. Yeah, I'm with you. I think it's the latter, right? This is a guy that he has that skill we've seen it we've seen you know on his day he's a top 10 talent but you know between the years right now the confidence i think that is the the biggest issue and i'm not joking when i think you know if even if he gets one off the shin and ends up going in or off uh you know even off the skate like that's going to do wonders for his confidence right now because what you're watching and what we're all seeing is a player that even on the

power play in the man advantage and it's not solely down to him there's other things that are going on on the man advantage uh you know i heard you guys talking about the gunslinger aspect of of jt mill yeah there's a little brett farb to his game there's no doubt about that but but you know on the power play petters, when he's got a look, and I understand you might have to settle the puck once or twice, but guys, how many times do we see that extra second delay? And sometimes we exaggerate in the hockey world, saying half a second or a second.

No, this is not an exaggeration. Pettersson is holding on and waiting for those lanes to really sometimes close up before he gets even that shot off or is trying to get that shot off. That, to me, is confidence. So I think once you get one in and you're able to say, hey, I can do this again, I believe that skill is there. We saw it in the preseason when he hits Carson Soucy with that backhand soft.

This guy is supremely skilled. It's just a, you're in a mental right right now. And you've been that probably in the last six months, he's, he's kind of been in that spot. Part of that is maybe coming back from an injury, playing through stuff is something that certain players can do. Others have to learn to do it. And I feel like with Elias Pettersson, uh, since that issue last year, he just, he's

been stuck in that spot. But when it does come back, he's skilled enough that he could be one of the hottest players in the NHL. We could be talking about player of the week, player of the month, but it's about getting those first few points right now. Yeah, let's hope that happens sooner rather than later, because the longer this goes on, the more pressure it builds and the more we're going to talk about it.

The right side of the Canucks defense concerns um I know people are are focused on that now because of Noah Juleson having that game of course Deharna against Calgary but this is heading into the season this was probably my one thing to watch for this team uh can that third pair move the puck out of your own zone? And I think Forbort, he's obviously got his deficiencies in certain aspects, but he is liked on that team for what he does, right? Like the last two games, we've seen a little bit of skill, that nice touch pass to Teddy Bluger in the attacking zone. But that right-hand side of defense is no doubt one of the areas

that this team is going to look at in the short term and the long term now if they pick up one win or two out of the the games that they first played which they had a legit chance to uh of winning um are we talking about as much probably not right even if they have one win uh that that calgary game which they should have won um but long term absolutely it's something that this team has to improve to say are you able to move the puck cleanly out of the zone are you able to you know take that first option make a quick decision take that first option and you're out of your zone right now what you're seeing is and yesterday was a classic example Noah Juleson unfortunately

blows a tire in that Kucharov goal and then right after that it's pressure the entire time you've got you're eating pressure and throughout the night he had a a tough time we go back to the first game of the season Vincent Desjardins as well but yeah it's an area that they'll have to address at some point now if they can string together a couple victories if Vincent Desjardins comes back into the lineup and has been able to benefit from watching the bob and is making progress which we do need to understand that when day harney was signed it was on the basis of hey this is going to take some time i had a chat with him a couple of weeks ago where he mentioned uh adam foot has talked to him directly about you're going to have

some good nights you're going to have some bad nights but the whole point is we're leading up to something so in the short term it might be situations like this where it might not be the smoothest of nights so i think they're anticipating that um and guys the reality is once you ratchet up the competition when you go from playing calgary and philly who work hard they play hard to playing tampa and coming up next the reigning cup champion yeah they're going to target your weak playing Tampa and coming up next, the reigning cup champion. Yeah, they're going to target your weak spots, right? And we saw that on the goaltending side too, where they were testing our Tresheelovs with a lot of point shots

and just firing at the net whenever they could. And they're going to target the bottom pair, which is right now the Canucks bottom pair has to show that they can move the puck up the ice. Otherwise they're going to get attacked by the forecheck. And out of two of the last three games, that's happened. We're speaking to Randy Janda here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Ardris Silovs, you mentioned him there very briefly. We played the audio from Rick Talkett following the game. It wasn't exactly complimentary of Silovs' game. Game two for Silovs was definitely better than game one, although that's not saying a ton. Two questions for you. One, what did you think of Silovs last night? Two game one, although that's not saying a ton. Two questions for you. One, what did you think of Seelovs last night? Two, were you surprised that Taka

went with him over Lankanen to start the mini road trip here in Florida? I wasn't surprised that he went, Jim, because you want to have a bit of a balance on this road trip in a way to say, hey, okay, we don't want to just absolutely kill this guy's confidence at the beginning of the year. He still features

in the plans, and in a way, you want to treat it as a bit of a sparring session of, Hey, obviously you want to pick up the two points, but we want to see who puts us in the best spot. You've got a little bit of a break here where you can try both guys out. And if Shulov didn't play, that'd be eight games or excuse me, eight days without a game for him,

which is not ideal either. So I think putting him in, I had no problem with that. I think it was, you know, the right call, whether you're putting him in against Tampa or Florida, they're both tough matchups, but getting him in was something that I think was important. Now his game overall, I thought the beginning was solid. Like his game was improved from the Calgary game.

In that game, the expected goals were one for Calgary. He allowed three five-on-fives, right? So that, we can agree, was not a good game for Archer Shilov. He responded with confidence, made some big saves early, also made them late. Problem is, maybe that 2-0 goal, which was such an important goal in that game, originally looking at it, you can see that his teammates dropped deep a lot, allowing Braden Point to go downhill. And anytime you've got a skilled player like that going downhill with room to take a one-timer,

it's not a good defensive play. There's Carson Soucy going up the left half wall, and he's trying to recover. Kiefer Sherwood doesn't pick up a guy coming down the middle either, so there's two guys in no-man's land. But Shrelov could have been better on that play as well. He was a little too deep into his net.

I didn't like that so much. On the second look, watching the game over again this morning, you can see, okay, the goaltender can take that too. It's not only the teammates. So overall, I thought Shilov kept his team in it, guys. But this is something that he's going to have to figure out moving forward here, is that consistency in his game. He's not Patrick Demko. We have

to come to the understanding that he's maybe going to allow a bad goal here or there because he's a young goaltender. Kevin Lankanen, I'm curious to see, can he grab this starting job by the time this road trip is over? That's the one thing I'd like to see. Okay, Shelaw did his thing.

It wasn't perfect. Now can Lankanen go into Florida, and can he respond and really grab this job? Canucks are back in action on Thursday, as Randy mentioned, in Florida. Randy, with that, we'll let you go. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this this morning. We really appreciate it.

Have a good call on Thursday. Hopefully the Canucks can get their first win of the season against the Panthers, and we'll do this again next week. All right. Thanks, gentlemen. Have a good one on Thursday. Hopefully the Canucks can get their first win of the season against the Panthers, and we'll do this again next week. Alright, thanks, gentlemen. Have a good one. Yeah, you too. Thanks. That's Randy Janda, Canucks analyst here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, I don't normally do this because my takes are always

immaculate and pristine and so great. I do want to just briefly go back if you'll allow me, and the BC Lions conversation we were having earlier, I think I was just trying to get a pot shot in at the audio yesterday. And I didn't really make my point abundantly clear because some people are texting in suggesting that something different than what I wanted to get out there.

What I wanted to get out there was they screwed up this quarterback situation. I don't think that going to Vernon Adams is the wrong move. The timing of it is horribly wrong. They had an opportunity to go and do this. It was when they pulled Nathan Rourke out of the game at halftime against the Argos. Because when they first brought Nathan Rourke in, they trotted out the company line, which was, we feel we have two starting quarterbacks now.

Yeah, which is. And both of them, which never line, which was, we feel we have two starting quarterbacks now. Yeah, which is. And both of them, which never works, but they said it. They also said, we're going to have both guys be important members of this team. And then it didn't happen for a while because obviously everyone knew Rourke came in, he's going to be the guy. But then when it wasn't going their way, they had a chance. They brought Vernon Adams in a bad circumstance, but they did it. And then what did they do after that Argos game?

They went straight back to Nathan Rourke. That was a decision right then where they were like, that's our guy. There was more than opportunity to fulfill this naive hope that you could have two starting quarterbacks and they were both going to play. That was the time to do it. But they blew it. Sometimes you blow chances.

Sometimes you blow opportunities and your season goes where the Lions season has gone, into a tailspin. Do you think it's possible that there's been a fracture in the room? Maybe. Maybe. And it could stem from this not being handled very well, which I don't think it has been. But to do what they're doing now is exactly how you put it.

It's 3 o'clock in the morning at the casino. You've lost all your money. No, you've got a little bit left. You've got one chip left. The ATM is like, this is your last withdrawal. The ATM is like physically pushing you away. They're like, no more. No more.

And you're like, fine. I got this chip left, and we're going to go to the roulette. They're still giving away free drinks at the tables. You're smoking, and you haven like fine i got this chip left and we're gonna go to the roulette they're still giving away free drinks at the tables you're smoking and you haven't smoked in years so that's exactly where and you're allowed to smoke because it's vegas right anywhere you want anywhere you want that's where the bc lines are a lot but you know what sometimes you can turn those nights around in vegas yeah it happens all the time. Very rarely do they get even worse.

People delude themselves into thinking it'll happen. So many people walking away, you know, I really rallied at the end there in Vegas. It's like that meme where the person's digging for the gold and they're just like an inch away from reaching it and they stop. That's gambling. Don't stop. Yeah, don't stop.

Keep going. Anyway. It never works out for them, but maybe it'll work out for us. Please don't take our advice. Actually, stop. It's been a tough show because we've been doing a lot of big picture thinking about Pettersson, what have you. So I got off kilter a little bit there.

I just wanted to hone it back in. Now. That's what happens when you go for the pot shot, right? Yeah, yeah. I lost my way. Yeah. And I admit it. I acknowledge it. It's good. I lost my way yeah and i admit it i acknowledge it i lost my i lost my way accountability is important uh now i want to do what we learned because we've also

been neglectful all this petterson talk we have not discussed one of the better results from last night from the pitch a very bumpy pitch at bemo in toronto. Canadian men's national team. Sorry, Andrew and Victoria, but we are going footy. 2-1 victory over Panama for Jesse Marsh's men against a game and feisty and sprightly Panamanian side. Jonathan David with the winning tally late in regulation. That was a really nice goal. Nice ball by Jonathan David to Liam Miller. Gives it right back, and then Jonathan David hits it perfectly.

Yep. Which was tough because he had to hit it. It was coming to him from the right, and he had to hit it right. Yeah, he had to open up his instep and just sort of guide it into the far corner. It was a very nice goal. It was a very good performance from the Canadians. It was a... Did you watch the game?

Yep. So you watched... Okay, so was it an overall good performance by the Canadians? They played well. They deserved to win. Yeah, it wasn't an oil painting. The field, it was cold and the field was very bumpy and it was taking like these huge bounces.

And you could see for both sides, the ball would like fire across like you were hitting it on concrete. So it would come into the feet like really quick. Yeah. The touch wasn't great for both teams all night it was tough but canada i mean the important thing is that they've got an identity which is hilarious because for the longest time the identity was don't lose too badly like you know that was it that was canadian soccer was like maybe try and

defend as much as you can maybe we'll squeeze a goal tell me about their back line because that has been my concern my biggest concern not a concern anymore my friends tell me about their back line, because that has been my concern, my biggest concern with the Canadians. Not a concern anymore, my friend. Tell me about, is it, okay, Moise Bombito. Moise Bombito, yeah. It's just Moise, it's not. Moise. Moise.

We like to have fun with pronunciation here. I go Moise Bombito. So he's about, he's 24 years old, plays for Nice in France. Are all the Canadians in Ligue 1? He needs a podcast called Speaking Moistly. You were sitting on Alvin. We were workshopping there for a second. But this is good, though, because this was my concern about the Canadian team.

It wasn't actually their ability to score goals or create offense. It was their ability to defend. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.