Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 10/18/24

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, the boys do some Ask Us Anythings, plus they talk a big Canucks win with Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal. 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. Whoa, wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose the f***ing Canucks? You're listening to Halford & Brough.

He'll drive in on the right wing with speed. Miller with a shot. He scores! J.T. Miller, the overtime winner. It was a good fight, a hard-won fight for us. What a freaking boost. Swung in, hit high! Hit deep to left! There she goes!

A walk-off, two-run home run by David Fry! Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford. It is Brough.

It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Hey, dawg. Good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. Vibes are high today. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by 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. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews, sore feet. What are you waiting for?

Kintec. You know what else I was waiting for? A win. The fan blogger in the intro. And a win, of course. It was nice to hear him. It was tremendous. It was a good night.

It was a fun night. The latest debut for the fan blogger in a while, probably. Yeah, it's been a long time. October 18th, yeah. We got a lot to get into on the show today. Guest list begins at 630. Brady Henderson, ESPN, NFL insider, Seahawks insider. He's going to join the program.

It is the Seahawks in Hotlanta to take on Kirk Cousins and the Falcons on Sunday. 10 a.m. kickoff, our time. Seahawks are three-point dogs on the road. We'll talk to Brady about all that. Who's going to play? Who's going to not? Their offensive line is now down to you will be playing right tackle. I've got to put on some weight.

Laddie will be playing guard. And A-Dog will be the center. That's the one where you snap it through your legs. A-Dog, are you ready? Snap it through my legs. Brady Henderson. Of course, the quarterback will sneak up behind you. I don't like the sound of that. Pat you on the butt and be like, A-Dog Snap it through my legs. Brady Henderson's the quarterback. He'll sneak up behind you. I don't like the sound of that.

Pat you on the butt and be like, hey, Doug, let's do this. Wait a minute. I do like the sound of that. That's encouraging. So Brady Henderson's going to join us at 630 to talk a little Seahawks. 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizzas. Here's what we're going to do. I know we played in the intro,

and I know the baseball game yesterday was an all-timer. Instant classic between the Yankees in the intro. And I know the baseball game yesterday was an all-timer. Instant classic between the Yankees and the Guardians. If you missed it, you're going to have to wait until 7 o'clock until we do the deep dive because AJ, a diehard Yankees fan. Now, it's not quite the gut punch that it would have been in, like, a game seven. We should do the call to intro him. Force him to listen to it. I got a little spiel I want to run through.

And really really if you missed the game yesterday because you were watching the Canucks game, try and like recapture some of the magic of the drama. It was an unbelievable,

unbelievable baseball game yesterday. Are you going to set the tone? OK, you're in Cleveland. You're depressed. That's right.

It's eight rocks, but you know it doesn't. The baseball team is all you have. All the body of water smell funny. You're in Cleveland. Anyway, so we'll talk to AJ at 7 o'clock,

and then we'll get into a bunch of baseball then. 7.30, Bob the Moj Marjanovic. Ooh, we got a lot to talk about with Moj today as the Lions play their final game of the regular season on the weekend with Vernon Adams Jr. Now the club's starting quarterback. For how long? I don't know.

We'll ask Moj at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. We'll talk about last night's big win for the Vancouver Canucks and a flurry of other notes. I know you put them in the notes with Dollywall. It's to be asked about, but I did not read it. I like to be surprised because when Rick is on the show,

it's always a surprise. So Rick's going to join us at 8 o'clock. A reminder, we are giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway today. It is the best pizza place in the world. Like last week, we want to make it as simple as possible. Any listener submission, either what we learned or ask us anything is eligible, right? We're going to do that.

$100 gift card to AJ's. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650, Andy. With a pizza emoji. Put a pizza emoji into your text. Make it what we learned. Hashtag it WWL. Make it an Ask Us Anything. Hashtag it AUA. But put the pizza emoji into your text. You got a chance to win a $100

gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. That's what's happening on the show today. Don't even have time to get to the guest list in reverse because Laddie, we need to 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 got their first win of the season yesterday.

JT Miller, as we heard in the intro, courtesy of Batch, 2-0-9 into OT, a 3-2 win against the Florida Panthers. Let's hear Shorty's version of the OT winner. Here's JT Miller getting the Canucks their first win of the season last night in Florida. Brings the puck back over the pass to Miller. Besser gets onside as Miller gets around Lundell. JT Miller shoots, he scores! JT Miller roofed it! And the Canucks have their first win of the season.

It comes in overtime. Let's go! Rick Tockett asked the Canucks to dig in, and that's exactly what they did Thursday night against the defending Stanley Cup champs. Granted, the champs were without two of their best players, but still, that was a hard-fought win for the Canucks who matched the Panthers in physicality

and got a big goal from JT Miller and a huge performance by Quinn Hughes, their captain. That was also a good hockey game, especially the third when the intensity really ramped up. I thought the first two periods, it was kind of like, well, this isn't an oil painting, but the Canucks are working hard. The third was, dare I say, nerve-wracking? A little bit of a nail-biter. For game four of the regular season. If you can have a nerve-wracking game in game four of the regular season, last night was it for the Canucks.

The Canucks now have points in three of their first four games. That's good, but no regulation wins. That's bad. That's bad. But no regulation wins. That's bad. That's bad. It's been a bit of a... But it comes with a free program. It's been a bit of a mixed start for the Canucks this season,

but they finally get their first win of the season last night in Florida. Their next game is Saturday in Philly against a Flyers team that they've already played and lost in a shootout too, overtime shootout? I can't remember. Yeah, shootout. Kevin Lankanen, who played last night, I imagine is going to get the start again because he

played against the Flyers in Vancouver and played very well. And he has clearly been the better of the two Canucks goalies so far. Artur Silas has played two games. Kevin Lankanen has played two games. Lankanen, so far, the best goalie. I don't know how Rick Tockett is going to deploy his goaltenders in the next little while, but it's good that they got Lankanen.

That's all I, you know, like, thank God they went out and got that guy. Let's go through some players last night because I would like to start with the captain, Quinn Hughes. That guy was all over the ice. He had a goal. He had an assist. He had nine shots on goal,

so much for his issues getting the puck through. He could have had a few more assists too. It was terrifying when he got hit from behind late in the game. You could actually hear him kind of yelp out there. I think it was Sam Bennett hitting him from behind. It wasn't a super dirty hit. Sam Bennett with a questionable hit? Yeah, he just, I mean, it was, I don't know.

Quinn isn't the biggest guy, so when he gets hit hard, you're kind of like, oh boy, and then he went down the tunnel, and it was like, oh no! Come back. But he was back. Fortunately, he was fine and came back to set up Miller's OT winner. Really nice play by those two. You know, I know DT thought it was a set play,

and I thought it was a set play at first. Was Brock Besser going in and then having to race back to get onside? Was that part of the set play? It's all part of the design. Was that part of the design? They call it subterfuge, Jason. Huge game for Quinn Hughes. And another big goal for JT Miller.

These guys are the two Canuck leaders. It was the second big goal of the season for JT Miller. You remember he scored the big tying goal against the Calgary Flames. That was a JT Miller kind of hockey game too. Oh, yeah. The Panthers play some big boy hockey, and JT Miller is fully capable of playing big boy hockey.

Bobrowski was on his game last night, so that was a really good shot to win it in overtime, and the Canucks badly needed it. If you're wondering about Quinn Hughes' nine shots on goal, that's the most by a Canucks defenseman in a single game in 11 years. You've got to go all the way back to November of 2013 to when Alex Edler put up 12 shots in a single game he had on goal. Alex Edler, that is a mind-boggling statistic.

But it was a great game he had on goal, Alex Hedler. That is a mind-boggling statistic. But it was a great performance from Hughes and Miller. And what a familiar refrain for this show where we talk about the alphas, the leaders, the dogs in the room. Who are the guys that are going to gut it out, grind it out, and get you a win? I mean, they needed a win last night. Let's just make no mistake about this. If the Canucks didn't win that game last night, it would have been

a disappointment because the Florida Panthers were without Matthew Kachuk. They were without Alexander Barkov. They were without Jonah Gajevich. How do you survive the loss of Jonah Gajevich? They were actually down to eight or nine forwards at one point last night, the Florida Panthers, when Reinhardt got hurt.

He returned pretty quick. They didn't play Gajevich because he got hurt early and was knocked out. Then the other forward they have, Giles, played about four minutes. So they had really, really gone to three lines early and often. But they played a pretty committed game. They did. That was a physical, physical game last night. Not to put the focus elsewhere, but I was listening to 32 Thoughts on the way in.

And for each of the two best games on an 11-game schedule last night, both happened in Florida. It was Canucks-Panthers. And then the Lightning beat the visiting Golden Knights. Two late goals for the Lightning to beat Vegas. Yeah, and the Lightning, who just beat the Canucks, now are off to a 3-0-0 start with wins over pretty good opponents, Carolina, Vancouver, Vegas.

That's a pretty good start. Anyway, I digress. Let's get back. Let's talk a little Kevin Lankanen because I thought, for me, the story of last night's game. I know Miller's OT winner was big. I know Hughes was big, but given where the goaltending's at, I feel like Lankanen, not just establishing

himself as the better of the two, but a guy that can win. He won that game for them, I thought. Especially, I thought he did. I thought he did. I thought that save on Rodriguez, which was a guaranteed goal. Yeah. Right? And it was almost one of those saves where it was like, whoopsie, look what he did. I thought he did. I thought that save on Rodriguez, which was a guaranteed goal. Yeah. Right? And it was almost one of those saves. It was like, whoopsie, look what I did.

But he managed to keep it out. One of those goals I didn't love, but he was fantastic. Other than that. Second and third period, he was unreal. He was very good. Yeah. He is. It's nice to have this debate.

Who is the Canuck that stepped up the most? You can have it between Lankanen, JT Miller, or Quinn Hughes. I would take Hughes because I thought he was brilliant all night. You know what it is, though, almost? But it's okay if you want to go with Lankan and jt miller or quinn hughes i i would take hughes because i thought he was brilliant all night um you know what it is but it's it's okay if you want to go with lankan you know what it is how's the positivity baby we love our canucks here um i almost come i've come to expect those performances from hughes and from miller like that's kind of what that's yeah hughes took it to another level i thought last night for sure that was that was a great like that That shot was... I can't believe how far shots come.

His shot is so good now. Yeah. It's a rocket. He had everyone out. I don't know, A-Dog, one for nine? Yeah. Need a higher conversion rate. One for nine. There's the house of negativity.

Disappointing. There we go. No, but look, going into this season, and especially given how the first game of the year went, I think it was fair to have a couple red flags raised in that. If you're like, well, Seelov's is your opening night starter, and he puts up that performance, and you're not going to have Thatcher Demko

riding in on a white horse anytime soon, Lankanen coming in, not getting a training camp, basically getting thrown into, what, one or two preseason games, that is an impressive, impressive performance. So a lot of people texting in about you know who. It was progress for Petey. No points, just one assist in four games, but he was decent last night. I'm not going to lower the bar for him.

He hit a crossbar, didn't he? Yeah, but I'm not going to lower the bar for him. He had a great scoring chance, courtesy of a really nice pass by Nils Hoeglander. He was on a line with Hoeglander and Garland, and I expect to see that trio going forward because it seemed to work pretty well. He also made a couple of nice passes to create scoring chances, I think one or two to Jake DeBrusque. DeBrusque couldn't convert, and he

was very frustrated after one miss. Petey also blocked four shots, so he was doing his job defensively. So it was a positive performance, relatively speaking. You know, I want to get to the point where we're talking about a positive performance, not relatively speaking. We're still really waiting for him to take off. And again, I don't think we should lower the bar. We can recognize when he plays better and that there's progress. There's nothing wrong with progress.

And I guess if you want to call that anything last night for Petey, it was a step in the right direction. Yeah, I'm fine with that. I don't think we need to go to... The fatigue has set in. I can even tell when you sent your notes last night that the Petey fatigue had set in a little bit. I thought Brock Besser, no points

last night. He played really well. He had a ton of scoring opportunities. I think if you look at the analytics from last night, he had by far the most high danger scoring chances, played really well. I also want to mention Kiefer Sherwood, 10 hits, a couple pucks to the face. I mean, that's a physical night for Kiefer Sherwood,

which is exactly why they brought him in. It felt like half of those hits were on Nate Schmidt. I don't know what the deal there was. Honestly, get in on the forecheck. Nate Schmidt can be feisty sometimes. I think he was kind of like the Canucks don't care for him. They did not care for him. And then one other guy, I guess we should mention,

Eric Brandstrom made his Canucks debut. He only played less than 12 minutes. I think it was 11.49 in all. Didn't make any huge mistakes, so that's good. I think he got caught up the ice once and got bailed out. But look, that was a tough assignment for that guy. He has to fly to Florida. He's never practiced with the team.

Probably doesn't know many, many if any guys on the team and he goes in there and plays in a pretty important game for them um you can see just by watching him that he is a very different type of player than the guy he went in and replaced which was Derek Forbort uh he's the uh you know he plays a a less structured game than the big, tall defensemen that are in the Canucks, what we call the bottom four here. I don't know if that was just like, we need someone to step in for forward, and we can't play Day or Nay and Juleson together on a pair or whatever.

That'd be fun, though. I pair or whatever. I'd be fun though. I don't know if it'd be fun. He was a lefty that was available to play. And I think the Canucks probably wanted to take a look at him. I'll be curious to see if he stays in the lineup going forward or if he's used by the Canucks going forward.

If they say, okay, go play your way. Or if they try and say, okay, look, we know you want to be a bit of a rover, and we know you want to use your skating ability and use the thing that make you the player that you are, but we do play a pretty strict system here. I prefer him to both DeArne and Juleson, if I'm being honest. I prefer him

to DeArne and Juleson. You need roles, though. Can he come penalties like DeArne? He's not good defensively. He's a good penalty killer. Darnay's a project. I don't want to get too bogged down. The Canucks had a good win last night.

There is a depth concern on their back end. Let's just put it that way. Maybe that's something that management is going to have to address later in the season, especially if Darnay doesn't especially if the project doesn't develop like they thought it would. I have seen a couple people really, and we want to talk about a house of optimism, try and say like Braunstrom could end up being what Forsling has been in his career. It took four stops before he figured it out. I don't know about that. That'd be nice, though.

But there's nothing so far, and it's too small of a sample size to gauge either way, but there's nothing that would suggest it would be. I do think that from the outside, when they made the deal and they sent Pullman's contract away, I thought they were almost forced to take Brandstrom back. It was like, okay, Colorado wants the space, but you're going to have to take Brandstrom's $900K back in exchange. It could be. I don't know. But I didn't really think they had huge plans for him then I talked to some people

that covered him in Ottawa and I was like what's the deal here because he's played close to 300 NHL games and he was a regular last year like it's not he was in and out of the lineup he played 78 of 82 and the refrain came back is that he didn't really know how to defend the way that the club wanted him to and I'm like that fine, but he's only 25. Is there the potential to learn that side of the game? And they were like, well, as you said, kind of a rover. That was, you know, he wants to go out there. He wants to skate.

He wants to be free. Yeah, as we all do, right? Just I don't have the skating ability or talent. He can make things happen. But in a structured role in a third pair, you're right. You're like, don't make things happen. But in a structured role as in a third pair, you're right. You're like, don't make things happen.

Just go out there and play it safe. Let's talk about what else happened in the NHL last night. I'm really keeping an eye on the trio. I love how they've been

kind of grouped together. Buffalo, Detroit, and Ottawa. Yeah, Freedian. Well, not to interrupt, but Freedian and Kyle are doing the same thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think everyone is. We were doing it last season, too.

Those three teams are now a story moving forward. And none of them have broken through yet. They all lost last night. The three, by the way, are the Buffalo Sabres, the Ottawa Senators, and the Detroit Red Wings, all in the Atlantic, all looking to break through. So, Detroit is now one and three after a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers. The Ottawa Senators are 2-2, not bad,

after a 3-1 loss to New Jersey, who looks, they look pretty good right now. Markey looks unreal. They played seven games already. They're 5-2. And I think the big and saddest story, the sad club brethren of the Vancouver Canucks the Buffalo Sabres they lost to Columbus last night six to four to drop them to one four and one on the season and man you know they've tried everything except winning they should try that lindy ruff brought back uh you

know they're just they're just they're still a bad hockey team they lose six four to columbus one four and one i saw ross must dahlene after is like you know like i don't know we gotta try harder i don't know what you're supposed to say anymore right he said that we need to play more desperate and then he took as a good captain does yeah he's supposed to say anymore, right? He said that we need to play more desperate. And then he took, as a good captain does. Yeah, he's a captain there. Because he had a terrible turnover last night. They turned the puck over with regularity, trying to do their breakouts. And then it's just this sort of like shrug afterwards

when the puck's in the back of the net. Because, I mean, I guess Lindy Ruff can't bench Rasmus Dahlien and Mattia Samuelsson in the same game. But their mess there. And I don't know if this is just everyone's on high alert because it's the beginning of the season and everyone, I mean, we've done it here overreacts the first four or five games of the year,

but Buffalo looks like they are in a very, very bad way, by the way, because I am a seasoned professional. I did my pre-scout last night. I watched the connects next opponent who is their previous opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers. pre-scout last night. I watched the Canucks' next opponent, who was their previous opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers.

They played in Seattle last night. And here's my one hope for Saturday's game. I watched that game on Seattle TV. It was weird. I was flipping by. I was like, oh, the Kraken game is on. Here's my hope for the Flyers game on Saturday is that they give Fedotov the start again because he is not good.

I don't like Arison. He might be one of my least favorite goalies in the league. I think Fedotov is worse. Somehow they found a goalie worse. Well, it was Arison that played against the Canucks. Yeah, and I don't like him. Arison had to go in and relief yesterday, which is great because that tires him out too. Fedotov is very

slow. Very slow. It's funny. They had Scott Hartnell working the panel in between intermissions because I was watching the Philly broadcast. And he was trying to dance around the issue that all the goals stunk, but he was trying to do it diplomatically. And then finally he was like, but they're just shooting the puck right at him. And it's going right through him.

And he's like, that's bad. So it's not. They lost 6-4 in Seattle. And if you want to talk about things that are breaking the Canucks way, a couple people pointed out to me, that's a bit of a scheduling rarity what's going on because they're going to stay overnight in Seattle. They're going to make the five-hour flight home on the Friday,

and then they've got to host the Canucks on the Saturday. So the Canucks are probably going to be in Philly before the Flyers are. Yeah. The other notable from last night on the out-of-town scoreboard, I don't know which is more notable, the Oilers winning their second in a row to improve to 2-3-0, or the Predators falling to 0-4 on the season after a 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. Yeah, so now there's only two teams in the National Hockey League that are 0-4, and it's Colorado and it's Nashville. Very strange. Yeah, two very high

expectations teams just because Colorado is Colorado and Nashville, Nashville. Very strange. Yeah, two very high expectations teams just because Colorado is Colorado and Nashville after a pretty impressive, unexpected playoff appearance last season facing the Vancouver Canucks in the first round. Then you go out and you add Stephen Stamkos and you add Jonathan Marcheseau.

0-4 start. Zero points and a minus three for Stamkos. And you lock up UC Soros. And they send Brady Shea. They are completely away from... They're missing Ryan McDonough. They are. They've gone completely away from the way that they played last year.

No, no, no. They have gone completely away. They're trying... So they had... I was listening to an interview with Andrew Burnett and then one with Barry Trotz. And they lost their identity because they batted those guys? We just want to outscore everybody now.

They're not playing that type of hockey that we saw last year in the playoffs, which wasn't super exciting, wasn't very high octane, but was hard to play against. Julian Breezeball is looking early on, looking like he made a pretty good decision taking Gensel over Stamkos. Early on. The Lightning looked good.

The Lightning, I mean, those are three really good wins to start the season. There's no other way to say it. Like, those are impressive victories. Yeah. That's why I thought the collective freakout over the Canucks' loss to Tampa Bay was like, why is everyone surprised by it?

Like, this is a good Lightning team, and they played really well for their home fans who have just been through a lot. The Canucks lost that game because the lightning played so well to start that game. Now there were, the, the Pedersen thing kind of hung over it all.

I, I realized that. But so far, if you look at this Canucks season, I don't think it's been that bad a start. The Pedersen thing aside, okay, I realize we all want this guy to play better, but you start out, they should have beaten Calgary, but Seeloffs. They played well enough against Philadelphia

to get a point. They were all over the flyers early on, couldn't convert on their chances. But in those first two games, they easily played well enough to win those games. Then they go to Tampa Bay and they play a very good Tampa Bay Lightning team. Tampa Bay plays very well to start, but the Canucks find their legs. And by the end of that game, the Canucks were fine. And then they go last night and they beat the Florida Panthers. You know me, I'm not a guy that's going to make excuses for the Canucks or only harp on the positives. I'm definitely not that guy, but I really don't think the start to

the season has been that bad considering all the challenges that this team is currently facing the number one thing being that they're missing Thatcher Demko they're missing their Vezina finalist goalie they're doing this with Silovs who has struggled and with Kevin Lankanen who is new to the team with a bunch of new players with Elias Pedersen who is trying to find his game it hasn't been that bad you're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Ask us anything. Do you guys believe in alternate universes? Now, Halford doesn't think existentially much. I do. I spend a lot of my time thinking about it and that's why I'm such a wreck. I do wonder about alternate universes because, and then I freak out because when I start thinking about infinity, because there's a theory out there.

I'm sure I'm not going to do it justice that, you know, there are infinite universes out there. So everything that you can possibly conceive of is happening in an alternate universe everything everything like there is a there is a universe out there where the Canucks have played a billion games and they've won them all by exactly the score of 173 to 4 right so when you're talking about alternate universes, do you mean different universes with different people in them, or they're all us doing different things? Yes and yes, because everything.

Because everything. Because those are two different things. Now, if you're talking like the butterfly effect, where every decision you make has a branch. No, I'm not talking about that. No, no, no, but every decision you make has a branching path, right? So you can make a million, and each one of those decisions is its own universe. The butterfly effect. That in itself is an alternate universe theory, which I've always loved. It's super interesting.

And then there's the one where, because the universe is infinite... Do you guys want to smoke a joint right now? The furthest I've ever gone down the alternate universe road is when I read a choose your own adventure book in like grade four that was it

I knew that there was two realities and then from there it splintered off into another couple realities and that's where it stopped it's like this is too

much for me it's the we're living in a simulation can I just read this book start to finish will that work sorry we're living in a simulation and the

odds are extremely high that we're not living in the true reality that we're actually living in one of these simulations. What was the score that you posted in your alternate 173 to four?

Yeah. Every game. So you're saying we're in the matrix? Is that what you're saying? How bad are the other GMs in this alternate universe? Yeah, it's a weird...

There's no salary cap in this. For some reason... No hard cap. All the alternate universes... It's a great alternate reality. In all the alternate universes for some reason no hard cap all the alternate universes it's a great it's a great alternate reality in all the alternate universes for some reason jim benning still traded for all of us there was no universe where he didn't do that uh peter and cloverdale texan brough we have the same birthday similar sadness now we wear the same watches i'm on my second garmin watch been wearing one for over eight years i I'm constantly checking my steps.

Yeah, now I'm a slave to my steps on my watch. Not a bad thing. I like to get 10,000 a day. That's the general rule, yeah. I failed yesterday quite badly, actually. I think it was over 3,000. How many did you get? 10.

Yeah, just 10. Steven North Sanich. Good morning with what we learned. It's amazing how much a goal goal one millimeter over the goal line, a second with a five-minute review for a hand pass off the faceoff, and an overtime goal strongly helped because the other coach was experimenting with using three forwards. This can all really improve your mood.

I didn't want to go down this road, Steve. I didn't want to qualify or quantify every single thing that happened last night. There was some good fortune in the Canucks favor. But over the course of 82 games, you're going to get games like that where things work in your favor. Right? I thought the review on the face off was a wild move. I thought that was a crazy review. I made a joke.

But didn't you think that was a glove pass? But I was like, can you even challenge that? Well, yeah, you could. I don't know. I like to joke that. I thought they were going to call that back on a glove pass but i was like can you even challenge that like well yeah you could i don't know i i like to joke that i thought that i thought they were going to call that back on a glove pass the referees went over and all they did was look at the tablet and be like can we actually review this totally like not even i just love to think of the the conversations that they're having with toronto i was like does anyone know the rules here check the rule book real quick well is colin campbell there does he know the rule? And then, here's

my other theory on this one. I felt like Paul Maurice was trying to make a point that you could challenge it as opposed to actually thinking he could win the challenge. That's why he did it? That's why he said out of spite.

Didn't you laugh? There's a little bit of spite involved. Didn't you laugh when the referee didn't really offer any explanation he's like after further review it's a goal i love those reviews that's amazing then it's like well i can't argue with that they said it was a goal you want to expand on that he's like no i'm not because after the game maurice said he passed it like he was still said the same thing he's like he passed it with his glove well i think he did so why didn't they review it why didn't they review it? Why didn't they pull the challenge? Why didn't they alter the call?

Because maybe they couldn't find definitive proof based on the camera angle that it only hit his glove. Because when I was watching, I was like, it might have also tipped off his stick as well. Did it go glove, stick, and then he won the draw? Because, I mean, it is – I've never pondered this. This is something you ponder in an alternate universe, right? Like the linesman drops the puck and the players get their sticks and gloves under the puck before it actually hits the ice.

It hits the glove. It's a one face off. That's a glove hand pass. Is it not? I don't know. I thought so. Also, that's what he was doing. And then, so not only does he lose the challenge,

but the Canucks get a power play. Yeah, they did nothing on the power play, so it's fine. And then Steven Nortz-Sanich also mentioned the goal one millimeter over the goal line. That, of course, is the Bluger goal. It was adorable when Adog chimed in on our thread. He's like, what, that, wait a minute, that Bluger goal counted?

Like, did you just? Well, I wasn't watching. I missed the first period. I i was going home coming home from work then florida had one on the goal line that didn't go rodriguez goal yeah yeah so it wasn't as close the bluger one was definitively pretty close yeah if it's touching the goal line it's close but the puck got lost like it wasn't like there was much of a debate when you saw the replay i was like well you can't overturn anything but still you're an inch away from a pretty big swing in the hockey game. Either way.

I missed the Bluger in real time because I was flipping back and forth. But did he do a celebration or did he do anything demonstrative when he did his wraparound or did he just keep playing? Because Rodriguez threw his hands up at the side of the net.

I think he hesitated for a second, but then they just... Okay, yeah. Because when I saw the replay, I'm like, oh my God, that's in. That's awesome. It was just barely, but it was in. I like this text.

Is there an alternate universe where your show is good? Well, there has to be, right? No. That's the only exception to the infinite universe's rule that there is never a universe where our show is good. Each one is progressively worse than the other. To the phone lines we go. Slick Rick, the ruler, Ricky D, Rick Dollywall,

joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Rick? What's going on? Let's go, let's go. Okay, what did you think of last night's Canucks game? Oh, no, I just, you know what? Hold on a second here. One second. Oh, my God. You said let's go. No, I had

something in my eye there. Anyways, it's out. What did I think of the win last night? Gritty win. They worked hard. Compete level was way up. And what a huge sigh of relief. Can you two imagine the market today if they would have lost again?

Your best players got to be your best players, and boy, were there last night. Mr. Clutch Miller is 10th overtime winner in Vancouver. That's pretty impressive, 10 overtime winners. He's only been here five years, guys. He got here in 2019. So that's pretty good for Miller to be second on the team in history in overtime goals.

Daniel Sedin leads the way with 16, and we know how many years he played, right? So Miller's still got a ways to go, but I would not be surprised if he passes Daniel Sedin someday. This guy wears his heart on his sleeve. I still think he's the emotional leader of this team. Quinn Hughes, 26 minutes, nine shots, one goal, one assist on the winner. Besser, team-leading five shots. That's what you need, guys, is your top guys to be top guys. And last night they were.

And I'm going to tell you this right now. That's two solid starts in a row for Lankanen. Yep. I would not be surprised. And I'm not saying this because I know anything. But I would not be surprised if he gets the ball to run with for a while, a few starts in a row. And why not?

We don't know when Demko's back. Are you hearing anything on that? Because I wasn't expecting to get like daily updates on Thatcher Demko, but every once in a while, especially if you're on the line right now, I like to, you know, hear something like, what's he doing? Is he, is he skating? Is he practicing? What, what is, what is going on in his day-to-day life right now? Yeah. The fact he's on the road trip is a good sign. Him and Dakota Joshua, they work out together every day. Then, you know, he's working with the staff. I don't think this guy's back

till November. I don't know when in November, but I keep calling this, and the Canucks won't do it, and nobody does it. I keep calling this week to week, and I think that's the best way to look at it is week to week. I was told last week that, you know, in November

would be a good time to take a look at him and when he's going to be back. But back to Lankanen, Bruff, this may not look like it right now. And I know the Canucks made a lot of big signings, Dabrowski and all those guys. I get it. I know where you're going here, yeah.

Yeah. This may not look like it right now, but getting Lankanen may turn out to be one of their most important offseason moves. Totally. Absolutely. Yeah. And I'm going to tell you something else. but getting Lankanen may turn out to be one of their most important offseason moves. Absolutely. Yeah. And I'm going to tell you something else. When they picked up the phone and called Lankanen's agent in mid-August,

they did it for two reasons. They knew Demko, the rehab was slow, but they also were petrified of a Silovs-Patera 1-2 combo. As they should have been. Those are both very inexperienced guys. Yeah, and as far as I know, they only really went after two guys. Anti-Ranta, they offered a PTO, and

Ranta said, no. It's funny, if you want to know the truth, the first call the Canucks made to Lankan is Asian, they offered a PTO, and it was rejected right away. And then two or three days later, they made an offer. But I do give the Canucks credit for one thing. They outweighed his agent because it was a game of who's going to blink first. Soon as training camp started, Canucks got the leverage agent

blink first. We got to get this guy playing Canucks, got him at a really good price. So I got to give him credit the way they did it, the persistence they did it, the way they hung in there, and I think the way this is going with Demko, and the Canucks started 10-2-1 last year. That first 10-game segment is very important. And if Lankanen keeps playing this way, he's going to give the Canucks a good opportunity to come out of that 10-game segment looking pretty good if he keeps playing the way he has in his first two starts.

But I give them credit for identifying Lankanen. He did have a relationship with Marco T, the Canucks' goaltending coach, and going back years in Finland, so there was a connection there, right? But I think this is going to be low-key one of their most important off-season moves. I'll tell you another move I like. Who's Marco T? What's his last name? I'm not going there.

As Holford said, I'm allowed to call him. Is it T? Start the last name? You got that part right. Yep. So Holford gave me permission to just call him Marco T, so I'm going Marco T. No, he didn't. Dolly, I did.

A-Dog. I was the one. Oh, it's A-Dog. Oh, you sound like Holford. Okay. Don't say that. Okay, I got confused. No, no, it was Holford. He said, just call Marco T. You got confused?

Okay, that's not the first time in my life I'll tell you that. Let's talk about Thatcher Demko's next contract. I know you want to talk about it. I don't know how we can have this conversation about Thatcher Demko's next contract considering his health status right now. But, you know know it is worth I suppose a little bit of a conversation because a lot of goalies are signing big money long-term deals the latest being Jake Ottinger in Dallas I think it is and I'll tell you why uh Jason I know

it's a little early um you know what Demko is going to get on his new deal. But you can't ignore the last two weeks. Odinger, Allmark, Swayman all getting $8.2 million per year. The goalie market is shifting right now in a big, big way. Teams are saying lock up your number one guys. Obviously, Demko's contract's up after next year, and he can start talking with the Canucks this summer. He's a Vezina finalist.

He can easily demand the same as Odinger, Allmark, and Swayman, but he's got to get back to playing games. Of the three goalies, Odinger has played the most games in the past three years. He played 62 games two years ago. The good news for Demko is if he continues his struggles with injuries is that Allmark's high for games played in the season is 49. Swayman's is 44. Despite those low numbers in games played, Allmark and Swayman still got 8.2 million a year. That bodes well for Demko.

But the Canucks, in a perfect world, need Demko to play between 55 to 60 games a year. This year, we have no idea how many games Demko is going to play. It's obviously up in the air. Next year, his games played will be a huge factor in his contract year. It'll determine the length of Demko's new deal. I think term could end up being more important than money in Demko's new contract with the Canucks. The Canucks need to see him play a lot of games

before they hand out a long-term deal. But there's also going to have to be some work with him. Canucks. The Canucks need to see him play a lot of games before they hand out a long-term deal. But there's also going to have to be some work with him to make sure he plays the right amount of games in Vancouver, to make sure he gets the right amount of rest. Load management is something that I think you're going to see Demko do, the Canucks do with Demko when he's back. Load management, keep an eye on that when he gets back. I don't think you're going to see them overplaying him. I think you're going to see him get the necessary rest that he needs. One of the reasons why we are here today with Demko, with the injuries, is because he's been overplayed. They need a plan for this guy, and they need to execute it to stop further injuries,

and then if they can do that, then that contract won't be an issue. Nikita Zdorov, I know you wanted to talk about this. He went on a podcast and he talked about his talks with the Canucks. And I'll just read the quote. I think it was the podcast with Pete Blackburn

and DJ Bean. We've had Pete and DJ on the show before. And Zdorov told them that he wanted to stay with the Canucks at the start. And he said, we tried to sort it out, but there's points in negotiations when you check boxes. And then a couple of things didn't go the way we wanted to. Kind of felt a little bit disrespectful too. It didn't work out.

I know you wanted to talk about his comments and whether or not he had the right to feel disrespected. Yeah, Jason, I looked into that and I kind of thought to myself, why did Zdorov say he felt a little disrespected by the Canucks? So I kind of looked into that and here's where I think this went. So contract talk started before the playoffs at Canucks, and Zdorov and agent Dan Milstein 100% wanted to resign in Vancouver. So contract started talks before the playoffs. The Canucks made an offer of four years at $4.6 million per year. I believe that Zdorov was

looking for that fifth year. Term was the big issue, not money. Canucks wouldn't budge on four years. Milstein was pushing hard for that fifth year. He wasn't even negotiating money. It was all about that fifth year. He was negotiating term, not money. This is, again, before the playoffs. The two sides couldn't agree that Canucks would not go to that fifth year. So they said, all right, the playoffs are starting. We're not there. Let's restart talks after the playoffs. So now fast forward after the playoffs, and we're into, guess what, the NHL draft in July 1st, and guess what?

The Canucks still haven't signed Zdorov. Clearly at that time, the Canucks' number one target was Jake Gensel. Gensel's rights were being traded by the Hurricanes. A bunch of teams, including Vancouver, was in on him. They were also targeting other players. I believe Zdorov never felt like he was their number one guy

or the priority. I'm getting Chris Tanev vibes here from the previous regime. Yeah, well, hey, exactly. I want to write a book on how Taneiv left here. Anyways, let's get back to Zdorov. You're going to need an editor. Yeah, big time.

Four of them. At the end, the Canucks did make an offer with the fifth year to Zdorov, but it was too late and it was rejected. So when they started targeting Gensel and others, that's where you get, I felt, disrespected comment, most likely. Everything I've gathered this week, it's from that. So the Canucks can't blame anyone but themselves. Zdorov and Milstein tried their best to stay. This was fumbled at the end. It wasn't fumbled at the beginning. Was it really fumbled though? Because I mean,

yeah, in these types of situations, that's typically the way things happen, right? Like you make priorities and there's a hierarchy of things that need to happen. And maybe Zdorov felt disrespected, but the Canucks, if they had landed Gensel, might not have been able to offer Zdorov the contract that he got because they wouldn't have had the cap space. They wouldn't have had it. Right. But the key is this, Jason. Before the playoffs, they tried.

Both sides really tried. Then they went at him again at the very end, and they even offered the fifth year, and he said, no, it's too late, time to move on. You look at the Canucks third pair right now and you tell me if they don't miss him. We had about six texts into our show yesterday. I miss Zdorov. I miss Zdorov.

And I'm sure you guys get them too. They do miss him. They absolutely miss him. And I think this is one of the areas where they're going to have to, which they're going to have to address, possibly with all this cap space. Well, not all this. Some of this cap space that they are accruing by not being in LTIR. They might have to target a defenseman.

Okay, here's another one for you. So Brandstrom and De'Arne last night, 11-12 minutes. So what happens when your third pair gets 11-12 minutes? Your top pair's minutes go through the roof. And Aaronic and Hughes have played a lot of hockey in the last two three games there was a game last year in the Edmonton series where the lowest defenseman on the Canucks for ice time was close to 17 minutes you know what that tells me when your coach trusts your third pair it's a beautiful thing your first pair doesn't get overplayed.

When Don Hay won the Memorial Cup with the Giants, I remember talking with him, and the first thing he said was, I trusted four lines and I trusted three pairs. Right now, if your third pair is going to continue to get 11, 12 minutes every night, it's not good. You need those numbers up by 14, 15, 16 minutes. And the Canucks aren't getting that right now, they're the third pair. I'm more concerned

about the second pair being overplayed than the first pair, frankly. Because that means they're on the ice too much. That's it. And I gotta tell you something else, Ian Cole, I would take Ian Cole back right now, I really would. You know, I know he was playing on his wrong side,

but him and Zdorov made a nice third pair last year. They did. Yeah. So, you know. Ian Cole had a tough playoffs, but a lot of that was bad luck, I felt like. And he was playing through something, too. He was injured. He had eight stitches above his ankle.

Evander Kane caught him with a blade accident. Not a lot of people knew. That guy played with eight stitches, and he had trouble getting his foot in the boot. And so Ian Cole, and by the way, the Canucks tried to, their first offer to Ian Cole was $1.5 million, a 50% pay cut. The agent didn't even want, he didn't even want to raise. He just said, we're looking for the same money, $3 million. He got that in cut. The agent didn't even want, he didn't even want to raise. He just said, we're looking for the same money, 3 million. He got that in Utah, but they went back to Ian Cole

again. I think they offered a little bit more, but it was another low ball offer and he had to go. And so I look at this defense and it's not the same as last year. You cannot say it was, you cannot say it is. Yeah. I know you want to talk a little bit about this Lions game. All of a sudden, this meaningless game against Montreal has meaning because Vernon Adams is going to start, and Nathan Rourke is not. What do you make of all this? Let me ask you guys.

You guys are smart guys. I'm going to ask you a question. What's the definition of insanity? Yeah. Having you on the show every Friday. Just answer it, Brough. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. And that was,

by the way, that was Albert Einstein. Anyways, so that's what the lines were doing. Einstein, Rick. Einstein. Huh? It's Einstein. No, it was Einstein. I googled it. It was Einstein's comment. I'm telling you. No, I did. I did. I used that. I used that with my kids.

If you're going to do the same thing over and over and over again... Okay, so anyways, that's what the Lions were doing. Okay? They were doing the same thing and expecting different... They weren't getting it. Nathan Rourke hasn't thrown a touchdown pass in four games, guys. He's got four touchdown passes and nine interceptions in eight games.

He clearly isn't the same quarterback as two years ago, and not getting meaningful reps in the NFL didn't help him. But it was time for a change. But the thing I want to say is this. If they hand out a Best Teammate Award in Vancouver this year for all the sports teams, Vernon Adams is going to get it. He has been a model teammate. How many guys would have sulked and cried when Rourke returned from the NFL?

He didn't. It's hard. These guys have ego and pride, just like everybody else. But Adams didn't go there. Every team in the CFL is watching Adams. How is he reacting to Rourke? Because if he's traded this summer, teams want to know, are they getting a bad body language,

bad attitude guy? No, they're not. They're getting a guy that was cheering. I don't know if you guys saw the video in Regina before the game of Vernon Adams pumping up the Lions. Did you guys see that? And Nathan Rourke was 10. How awkward was that? That the backup guy who hasn't played in eight weeks is pumping up the team. Awkward. But it tells you about his character. This guy's got good character, Vernon Adams. My problem now, what if he runs the table and gets the Lions to the Great Cup game? What do you do then? We brought this up.

Celebrate. Have a party. Honestly, that'd be awesome. That's the storyline that the Lions need and the storyline that the Lions are... This is a Hail Mary on a season that started with a lot of promise and a lot of potential, and that has gone completely off the rails, much like many of our segments do with you, Rick, but they're still fun. They're fun.

One more thing I want to get in. Vernon Adams took a pay cut before the season to help the Lions put a great cup team together. And he adjusted his contract, took less, and said, you guys go use that money, go get some more guys. If he runs the table and gets them in the great cup game, they got a tough decision to make. It won't be an easy one.

Real quick, before we let you go, I know you spoke with Amar Doman this week. How's he feeling about all this? What was that like? We asked him some tough questions. I asked him, like, have you thought about firing the coach? And he said no. He's obviously rattled in the sense that he was disappointed. He never even got a home playoff date out of it.

Like, he was disappointed. The other thing he said that was interesting, and we asked him as an owner, do you have a say in the quarterback decision? He said, no, I stay out of it. But the team informs me that, you know, we're making this quarterback change. But isn't that interesting? An owner that doesn't meddle in roster decisions. Isn't that interesting?

They went to him and said, hey, said hey amar we're going to make a quarterback change he doesn't go to them and say are you making a quarterback change they went to him he doesn't meddle in but as an owner i don't care even if you two are the owners as an owner you do have a right to know what's going on with your team because you're the owner but you don't meddle he's not a football expert you know know, Arthur Griffiths always tells me when he owned the Canucks, you hire the people to make the decisions in hockey and you let them make the decisions in hockey.

That's the way it's supposed to work. And this guy doesn't meddle. They went to him and said, hey, we're changing quarterbacks. He didn't go to them and say, when are we going to make a change of quarterback? Big, big, big difference. Rick, you're the best.

You do make these hits always entertaining and always fun. Thanks for doing this again. Enjoy the weekend. We'll do this again next Friday. I'm not going to enjoy the weekend because it's going to rain. It's horrible. You know what? I'm really depressed. It's a great excuse to be on the couch, buddy. No, no. I got a dog. I got a dog. I got to walk the dog in the rain.

I bought gumboots, a new jacket, toques, gloves. I'm ready. But it's going to be raining all freaking weekend. Good luck. Total. Good luck, buddy. Have fun. See you.

Bye, bud. Good hang up. Rick Dollywell, always a roller coaster. Rick has gumboots. Yeah. Awesome. Also, Rick falling for the most misattributed Quote of all time The Einstein

He didn't say that did he Classic Rick It's often been attributed to him Like you see Mugs that say it With his picture But it's not like There's no proof that he said it

There's no proof Someone somewhere Way back in the day Was just like That sounds like something You probably said You go to winners There's a big picture

Einstein with the quote underneath Right next to the Live laugh love mug Like the hang in there baby cat Didn't actually say He didn't say that No No There's a big picture of Einstein with the quote underneath right next to the live, laugh, love mug. Like the hang in there baby cat didn't actually say hang in there baby. He didn't say that. No. That cat's probably long dead. That's a downer.

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