Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 10/22/25

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk last night's Canucks road loss to the Pens, they chat with Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli about what Vancouver might be able to do trade-wise,  they hear KJR Seattle's Dave "Softy" Mahler's reaction to the Mariners losing to the Jays in the ALCS, plus they look ahead to tomorrow's 'Nucks matchup in Nashville with analyst Randip Janda. 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. Vancouver's three-game win streak. It's over. It came to an end last night with a 5-1 loss in Pittsburgh to Sidney Crosby and the Pends. Lots. Lots to unpack from that rather confusing game. Many of us here at SportsNet 650, including the guys on the post-game show. Just trying to get a handle on exactly what happened.

Yeah. We're not even being critical. We're just trying to understand here. Just inquisitive guys want to know more about the hockey team. Hey, I've got a guy on the job in Nashville. The Canucks are practicing this morning. You've got a spy? I've got a reporter.

Nice. I've already prepped him on what to ask. Good job, Jason. So hopefully he comes through for me. An agent, not of chaos. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But of the Halford & Bruff show. That's really good.

Yeah. Don't spoil it now. I'm not going to spoil it. The press have B reporters? He's looking at his phone. I've got a guy. He's got a guy. I got a guy.

He's like, uh, what's your favorite thing about Jason Brough? Yeah, yeah. Isn't he handsome? That's all my question. So much a statement of fact. Because I saw a lot of fans last night. It was like, when the Canucks get home, and they're going to be home, and there's going to be Canadian media in the building. Obviously, they host Edmonton and Montreal this weekend.

I think Montreal, Saturday, Edmonton Sunday. And we get a preview Montreal tonight. Yeah. And Foot is going to get questions. But I was like, I'll get someone on it just to kind of stoke the fires a little before they come home. Don't say he doesn't do anything for you, listeners. He's out there. You want those questions asked?

I got a guy. So 8 o'clock, Randy Jand is going to join the program. I feel like Moj. I got a guy in Nashville too. He does, but it's a brisket guy. 8 o'clock, Randy Jandah, 7 o'clock, Frank Cerr Valley, 630, David Amber. That's what's happening on the program today. Greg, tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No, what happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? 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.ca. Sidney Crosby scored his fourth goal of the year and became the Penguin's all-time leading score in the regular season and playoffs combined.

That was the Pittsburgh side of things. That's for the Vancouver Canucks. They were on the wrong end of a 5-1 loss to the penguins at PPG paints arena in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. You mentioned Sid there. Remember our text thread? I was like, oh, that wasn't the best play by Kiefer Sherwood on Sidney Crosby. What did you say then? Feels like Sherwood's out there an awful lot.

Yeah. Maybe too much. Yeah. And I said, so is Kane. They're out there all the time. Anyway, we'll get into that in just a bit. That's called foreshadowing. It was.

a strong start for the Canucks, one where Adam Foote said the Canucks could have been up three or four nothing, but the only goal they did get was from Connor Garland and things fell apart in the second period. Or as Foote put it a couple of times, the Canucks just ran out of gas. Penalties were an issue for Vancouver and they were a factor in the game. The pens went two for five on the power play and key players like Garland, spent a lot of time on the PK instead of creating offense. In a related

story, deployment was the main talking point on social media. As simple as the question is as simple as this. Why did the top line of Garland, Pedersen, and DeBresk

play so little at five on five and why did the likes of Ratu, Kain, and Sherwood play so much? I wonder if Garland's extra work on special teams kept the even strength ice time for Pedersen and DeBress down because that's a line and Garland was out there for what five minutes on the PK and five minutes on the power play

but even if that is the case doesn't foot need to find a way to get Pedersen and DeBresk out with someone else was like yeah Garland's uh it almost seemed like it was like Garland's pretty tired from the PK so PD and DeBrus you guys rest with him Yeah you get a free rest Yeah it wasn't like well okay who else

Who's fresh that I can throw out there with Pedersen and Debrusk So You know Is that the case Or is this foot Simply playing the players that he believes in At five on five

Or was it as many people were like You know desperately like I don't want this to be an issue so they were like maybe it was load management during a game that got away from the Canucks in the midst of a very busy schedule maybe but then I would ask you what about load management for Sherwood and Garland and Evander Cain like what do they not do they not need the load management it doesn't really add up that the load management thing you know or load management for some and maybe not for others, now we're really stretching

the boundaries of that explanation. Yeah. And also, you know, I think it's fair to wonder, okay, it can get complicated running a bench, right? So if you've got Garland, who you play in all situations, you got him on the PK, you got him on the power play,

obviously plays it even strength. Took a turn in net. He did play well. Yeah. Yeah. It was good. A return to the smaller goalies. Yeah. He plays a lot. So it can get complicated for a bench boss when he's playing all the all this uh you know extracurricular power plate pk time sure to get his linemates the ice time then but you have to do it i mean that's one of your jobs

as a betterson line go you know rotu line go go again yep go again stay on there you know like you have to mix and match your lines sometimes to take into account even strength and if you look at the numbers from last night, if you look under the hood, as they call it, Pedersen, DeBrusc at 5 and 5, pretty much only played with Garland. It was like the coach was like, if Garland isn't out there with you, it was like the babysitter. It's like, we don't let you cross these streets unless you're with an adult. You have to stay here.

You have to. And, you know, so if Garland isn't with you, you're not going out on the ice. So is that a message that's being sent? Or is that like, it was pretty complicated to juggle the lines in my head at the time. I want to imagine that's how he says it to him as well. Like if Garland isn't with you, come back here. What are you doing? Don't get out there.

And here's where we don't really know. And here's where we don't really know. We don't know. We don't know yet. And we're going to try our best to figure it out. But for those of you that are like, you know, it's just rampant speculation and a bunch of guessing. Yep. Pretty much.

And that's why I got a guy. I got a guy to ask some questions. IMAQ was the only reporter on the road yesterday, and it was from us. And then the other two people asking questions of foot in the postgame scrum were MIRF and Olivia, both of whom just sort of did the standard, not to like make light of their journalistic abilities, but they're there to ask certain types of questions. And we didn't get any sort of answers as to why things were deployed the way that they were. Because we're trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt here with the multi,

faceted explanations. Maybe it was load management. Maybe there was a plan, but we didn't even get an idea of if this was calculated and methodical, or whether it was a guy losing his bench or sticking to a rotation of one through four that he didn't want to deviate from. So someone takes it in, does Pedersen not play on the PK and power play as well? Yes, he does, but not as much on the PK as Garland does. And I would also suggest that, you know, if you're talking about low,

load management. Okay, so PD last night ended up playing 16 minutes and 56 total. Yes. So he didn't even play 17 minutes. Almost five minutes of that was on the power play. And two

and a half minutes was short-handed. So if you look at the five on five numbers, okay? He played five on five numbers overall with the team, Pedersen and DeBresk, played the fewest minutes at five on five.

Debrusk, seven minutes and 31 seconds at five on five. Which is crazy one. Pedersen, nine and a half minutes at five on five. Now, Garland also only played nine minutes and 33 seconds on five, on five, which is two seconds more than Joe Labate. Yeah. Right? Joe Labate played more at five on five than Pedersen and DeBrask.

I love the body. I love Joe Labate. I love his story. But that's his first. NHL game this season, and he was brought up under the most dire of injury circumstances. The only reason he's here is because they're so banged up. I mean, everyone knows this. To deploy him in that manner is crazy work and also kind of unfair to him.

Like, why is LaBate getting the same amount of ice time at Evens than the top end guys? Yeah. Like in a game where... Even strength ice time is the most tiring, right? Would you agree? I would agree. Like power play, it's fun, you're out there. Sure.

There's time and space. The kill can be very... The kill can be, but there's no forechecking. No. When you're on the penalty kill. And there isn't a ton... I mean, if there's a loose puck, you've got to chase it, and you've got to put pressure on it.

It can be tiring. I will give you that. But there's not as much... There's not as much chasing because you don't really want to run out of position, right? I also want to throw in here, though, that this is not the first time. in the seven games of the Connect to play this season

where Foote's deployment has come under scrutiny. No, no, this isn't a one-off. This isn't a one-off. This isn't a one-off. People, you know, we haven't talked about it much, but I know the post-game show, I know Sat and the likes of Bick, have been like, what's going on with deployment? And they're a lot more fair than we are.

We're jackals in the morning, right? We're ready to carve up anyone. Sat and Bick, we're very much, I mean, doing like, borderline aerobic exercises, bending over to try, bending over backwards to try and figure out, like, what is going on here? And they brought up the idea. They're like, maybe this was some really advanced load management from a coach that saw that the game was getting away, got away, and then decided to curl back the minutes.

If you want to go down that road, though, you've already mentioned like, well, Kiefer Sherwood was not subjected to this load management. He played over 20 minutes again. He plays a physical, very physical game. The blue line was not subjected to this load management because the top two pairs played a ton and the third pair barely got out there. and if you want to look at the splits from periods one through three like Pedersons was almost dead even like he was playing as much in the first period he wasn't the third and Garland played a lot. So it wasn't like he was like well the game's out of hand

we'll rest PD for the third. It didn't look like they clawed back the minutes. It just didn't. It looked like I'm not going to harken back to the Willie days where you'd have a TV time out with a two minute break and then an offensive zone draw and the fourth line would be out there all of a sudden and you're like this is clearly you're just going one through three four one two three Three, four, one, two, three, four. House League Canucks.

Right, just go out. It's your turn. It doesn't matter what the circumstances are. The parents call in if the ice time isn't even. Right. And then you got to let them on the line. Do you have to let them on the line? How does youth hockey work?

Get to wait 24 hours, right? It's 24 hours. It's 24 hours. Willie's like, you can talk to me tomorrow. Not today. But anyway, so all of this. Oh, it's Derek Dorset's mom again. Oh, again?

She's a killer. Yeah. I'm playing him a ton. Okay, look. It's Mrs. Dorset on the phone. The reason we've gone this far down this road is because I felt like yesterday was a very puzzling game. I didn't want to do the Travis Green callback

or I said it didn't really feel like a 5-1 game, but it didn't feel like the ice was that slanted or lopsided in favor of the Pittsburgh penguin. Scoreboard wise, yeah. I thought it became that way at certain points later in the game. They got away from them in the second, but the third wasn't even that decidedly one-sided. I didn't think.

Did you watch the third that closely? Yeah, unfortunately. I was kind of like, yeah. This game's over, right? Let's get to Nashville. Here's a question I've got. What does Drew O'Connor do? What does he do?

I know he took a penalty last night that led to the goal by Tommy Novak, which sounds like a guy I used to know on the block. That's right. Another one of your guys in Nashville. And they got a Kindle guy, the book reader. Yeah. He's from here.

The e-reader guy, yeah. Yeah, his dad used to play for the white caps. Right, but back to Drew O'Connor, what does he do to justify his $2.5 million cap hit? Do you remember when the Canucks acquired them? They immediately gave him a two-year extension and Dolly Wall was upset. I got Ben Hankinson on the line, wondering what's going on

because Brock Besser can't get signed and Drew O'Connor? I was like, I think they're different. I think they're different negotiations, Dolly. But regardless, like, I know he's fast and can in theory you get in on the four check. Okay, but for $2.5 million, you got to do something else. He kills penalties. I don't know if he's a great penalty killer, but he's out there trying his best.

But what does, like he's been thrown up, he's been up and down the lineup, right? That's what I think the issue is. But I'm kind of like, what, what's the issue, though? The issue is that he should be like a fourth line guy. And they're probably overpaying for a fourth line guy at $2.5 million, but he has no hands. He also had 10 minutes and 42 seconds at 5 on 5 yesterday. Played more than Petey. And DeBrusk.

Almost three minutes more than Jake Debrusk. Yeah. Anyway, O'Connor's, it's interesting because I think earlier, I think my event in last week's show, I said he feels like a man without a home, like a guy without a country, a man without a home. Because he was bouncing all over the place on the lineup, right? They come out for practice one day and all of a sudden he's a first line winger. Then you look at his deployment, some games, and he's clearly being deployed as a fourth line guy. he doesn't really seem to have a great fit

with anyone that he's skated with I think the player himself is probably a useful player if you can find him the right spot and that falls to the coach but at the same time it's a very valid question to be like what do you say you do around here because I'm not exactly sure what that thing is

to be honest I'm not sure he knows what it is on this team right now Foote said that he hoped to have Brock Basser back from his personal leave for Thursday's game in Nashville but there was no guarantee on that and hopefully everything is okay with brock now bill from buffalo we're going to give you all right your flowers today fine and sometimes you just got to say you know as far as last night you were right and bill from buffalo texted in and i have him in our system as

bill from buffalo the biggest celovs fan in the world it's a long title and he texts in and he said, good morning, Silov, bashers. Do you think the penguins would like to undo that trade? Sure, glad we spent $4.5 million on Lankanin. Sure couldn't use that cap space now, eh? Your friend and loyal listener, Bill from Buffalo. Yeah. Tip of the cap.

Cilovs, I mean, it didn't start out well for Cilovs, but he buckled down after allowing a goal on the first shot to Connor Garland. Nice tip pass at center by Elias Pedersen. So, you know, Garland scored last night, and PD got an assist and then just really didn't I don't know we don't need to go into that much more

Lankinen was not good last night No that was disappointing actually he had a poor performance and I imagine that Demko will be back between the pipes Thursday in Nashville and you know something going back to something we were talking about yesterday

Demko he's clearly been the MVP so far right? Clearly like Garland's played well Sherwood's played well Garland, Sherwood, Demco. Yeah. And it's crazy that the connects are in the position they're in. And I would say, okay, you would have expected Demko to be there.

But if they were, got off to this kind of start, you would have said that Hughes and Pedersen would have been right there with him, but they're not. Hughes has been off. Yeah, a little bit. He's been off. He still does, he still does incredible things out there with his escapability. And, you know, he plays the game so quickly. His feet are moving so fast.

but he's had a lot of turnovers his play has been a little loose in his own end and I wonder I just wonder how he's feeling right now about the situation A bit distracted perchance Maybe

His brother got a hat trick last night Oh did he? Yeah Jack Hughes has six goals In his last three games He got a hat trick against him Are you still thinking that he wants to get Like because New Jersey Does that make sense with Luke there?

I don't think that With all due respect to A dogs And good, you're good at stirring it up And get your big wooden spoon back there I got a out of foot take as well Okay, just hold on We can only have so much hot take At the beginning of the show

I don't think that that's an issue with Hughes right now I wouldn't be surprised If he means everything that he says Where it's like at the end of this season Because I can't sign a contract anyway I'll wait till the end of the season to figure it out And I think that Whatever's going on right now

whether, and again, we are seven games into the year. I'm trying, I am trying my best to be inquisitive and, like, have a level of intrigue and try and be, like, have this be more thought-provoking than just being like, this doesn't look good, like trying to figure out exactly what's going on with everyone across the board. Yeah, yeah, right? For sure. We're getting to no foot.

Like, we have no idea. Like, he doesn't say much. No. He doesn't, he's either guarded or part of it. me thinks that there's been a bit of an organizational mandate to

not say anything that could be perceived as negative. Less is more, as I would say. Yeah. So I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, foot is just trying to keep a positive.

Maybe things are different behind the scenes. I don't know. Or maybe that's just who he is. I don't know. Maybe... Who knows? I don't know. This is a good segue, though. Okay. Laddie, grab the clip where it's foot saying that, where are we here? Penns were chasing the game more than us. So this is in response to one of the Ian McIntyre questions yesterday

where IMAQ asked about the face-off battle, and the spoiler alert here is that the Canucks lost the face-off battle quite badly yesterday. And how difficult it was to be losing those draws while they were chasing the game, which seemed like a pretty standard question because the Canucks lost, you know, 5'1. and they were trailing for, you know, the majority of the game. It'd be nice to get the puck off the face off instead of like, ah, definitely not a negative question. Here, I don't know if we have the question there,

but here's Foote's response about how the penguins were chasing the game more than us. Yeah, they were better on us on the faceoff today, but I mean, that's part of hockey. And I don't think we were chasing the game like it made it sound there. I really don't. I think they were chasing us. They got away with it early. We could have, like I said, been up.

And that looked like we just ran out. that gas. He's also gone to the let's not overthink it line again. I won't even bother playing the clip, but he just kind of muttered it when talking about the game and being tired and then being in the middle of a trip and running out of gas.

And that's the second or third time he's brought that up as well as let's not overthink this. Right. So when he comes back and he's asked the questions and our show is like, okay. Yeah, I love not thinking. I do it for a living. When he comes back and he's going to be facing more questions,

I think there is going to need to be a little bit more thought specifically when it comes to answering questions about deployment because it just doesn't really add up unless there is a plan in which case just let us know and then that question gets put to bed and we can focus on a variety of other things last night I did want to met on C-Lovs by the way

and good on the post game show guys for bringing this up like he deserves full credit for what he did yesterday was it the first shot of the game the Garland shot if not it was really early and then he blocked it down after that I think it was 23 consecutive saves after the Garland goal. Post-game show brought up a good point. And this was highlighted yesterday, but has been an issue apparently with the numbers

they got from Kevin Woodley throughout the year. The Canucks are one of the worst teams in the NHL in terms of generating anything on screenshots. They just don't do it very well. And I don't know whether it's intentional because they're spacing in the offensive zone is different this year or they're just not particularly good. Again, even layered screens, singular screens,

the flash ones where you pop in and out. They're getting nothing off that. And to me, last night it would have been a good night to try more of it because Demko's numbers, again, this is all courtesy of the postgame show. See loves. Sorry, C-loves numbers dropped considerably

when in traffic more so than your average NHL goalie. But last night, he saw what he saw, and he stopped what he saw, I would say, and he did a good job of it. So good on him, he's having a good run in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is 5-2-0. I think we should also mention that. Yeah, Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has looked okay.

Yeah. I mean, they play a pretty open style, I think you could say. But, yeah, they're 5-2-0. Dan Mews. Who would have thunk it? Nashville, meanwhile, are struggling. They're two, three, and two. They've lost four in a row.

So, in theory, that's a game where the Kinect should be able to jump on a bad opponent, unless the Preds are saying the same thing. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. He is our NHL insider from Victory Plus. He is Frank Sarah Valley here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Frank. How are you?

Pretty good. How are you guys, John? We're good. Thanks for asking. I got a question for you, asking for a friend who may or may not be the general manager of a local NHL squadron. Are there any centers, second line or otherwise kicking around? It's every week. What about now?

Is there one now? What about now? What about tomorrow? Could there be one tomorrow, Frank? Anything kicking around that you might have heard of lately? Okay, so I had a feeling you might be asking about this. I don't know where this hunch came from, but... That's why you're the best.

I spent the better part of the last hour really going through the rosters and trying to figure out where some centers might spring available. And it's still early. It's the third week in the season, but let's say facts. This Vancouver Canucks lineup, it's untenable to continue on with, the issues that they have at center. It is. And last night was

an indication. I mean, they've played well otherwise. So to allow this to linger, I think, is a disservice to everyone. So what does that list look like? I mean, it's not pretty. And I guess it depends on which path you want to go

down. I mean, look at the start that the Calgary flames are off to. I can assure you that this week, teams are beginning to call and inquire about Nazim Cadry. So that's one. Then

you start to get into a totally different category and class of players. We talked about Casey Middlestadt briefly, or at least he's been a topic of conversation earlier in the week. The Bruins moved him to the wing, if that answers any

questions for you. Okay. There's a lower tier of players. You could bring Adam Gaudet back. Ryan Paling could probably be had, Alex Wendberg. If you're looking for someone fresh off the IR that

could hold down a 2-3C spot for you for a few months. Frank, you're making me sad with these names. You're making me sad. I know, but... It's not your fault, but you're making me sad. That's actually the point. If you really want to dive

deep into the well, do you want to call Pittsburgh and say, hey, could Kevin Hayes just get on the plane with us, even though he's, you know, he's hurt and coming back from injury. I don't know. I'm out of options. That's the bottom of the barrel. That's the list. Frank, can I throw a theory by you? This is just

a theory. I'm just... I think the Canucks thought it was going to be difficult, but it was going to be easier than they thought it would be to acquire a center this off season because they were willing to part with some futures.

And they figured, well, every year there are sellers and if we go in with a with a big you know we offer you know these great prospects that we have maybe a first round pick whatever we'll get it done and that's maybe one of the reasons they were like yeah pew suitor we're not we're not desperate to keep you and instead we're going to bring in a van der kane and bring brock besser back and we're going to let pew suitor go and then they're like oh this is much more difficult football than we thought. And it's not even about paying the price for it. It's that the cap has gone up and there are far fewer teams that are capped out and need to trade a player. And there aren't many

teams that are essentially, you know, tanking for Gavin McKenna. Everyone wants to be competitive. We have misread this situation and now there's nobody out there to go get. I mean it's an intriguing working theory but I don't I'd hesitate to call it accurate and that's not I'm not knocking you at all I just think they signaled to everyone

that it was going to be difficult they told us that it wasn't going to be easy so I think they knew going in that this was going to be a challenge they signaled it would be expensive they didn't necessarily signal it would be difficult okay um that's fair and i think all the things that you pointed out from a process basis are all totally accurate um the reason why there hasn't been a push to move guys is because no one has

no one's forced to from a cap perspective yes bingo and the other part is there's just a lack of centers to begin with so they're at a premium on the whole there's there's plenty of other teams aside from the Canucks that can't fill out their center group that are also looking for the same thing. So, I mean, it's that names, those names on that list are not. Cadre, Kevin Hayes, maybe one of the guys from Detroit, Copper Comper, but I don't see them moving. Alex Wenberg, Adam Goddette, Ryan Palin, Casey Middlestat,

and if you wait a while this season, maybe J.G. Pajot on Long Island. That's it. like that's that's the list right now yeah I appreciate you making that list like that thank you for doing that um I I wonder about the Calgary flames right now so maybe we can revisit not even from a Vancouver perspective but is there any chatter out of Calgary because cadry's got a full no move clause I think for this year then it turns into a no trade clause so if he's going to be moved he might want to do it like while he's got that no move clause and he can

control the situation a little better? Maybe. I don't think, so here's the situation. The flames haven't had much interest at all in moving him. This season and the start and how they've just completely fallen out of the gate,

the worst start in franchise history, I think is opening the door in very short order here. We're talking they've got 10 days to figure it out. If the calendar turns to November and they've got two or four points, they're out. I mean, it's

crazy to stick a fork in a team season that quickly, but the math just works so far against you. It's so difficult to come back and gain that much ground in the standings that that's what they're staring down. And so

they're going to be forced to engage in conversations that they otherwise probably weren't planning on. Like, they don't want to move cadry they view they need vets they need centers but they might have to because the value might just be there and with that they might have to turn their attention to you know in a positive way if you're looking for a silver lining if you're a flames fan and how rough this season has been there's a big part of that market that's saying we've never bottomed out we've never had a high-end draft pick, how about we go and this is the year to do it? Take some pieces off of

our roster. We're not tanking, but you can't win if you're not provided good players. So tank by default, maybe that's a possibility. And then you turn your sights on Gavin McKenna or Keaton Verhoff and how exciting this 2026 draft class is. So we're not far away from having that conversation with Calgary is the point. What's going on with Mitchcov because there's a lot of people in Vancouver, especially the critics of Rick Tocket, who are going to say Rick Tocket is going to ruin Mitchcove like he ruined Pedersen. Yeah, first off, I would say the only person that should take blame for what's happened

with Elias Pedersen is Elias Pedersen himself. But I think he's shown to this point that he, I don't know, has, a little interest in looking inward is how I would phrase it. And when it comes to Rick Tockett, look, no one is disputing the fact that Matt Vei Michikov arrived in camp

out of shape. And for a guy that really isn't fast to begin with, it becomes really noticeable. So Mechkhov told the flyers that he was dealing with an ankle injury over the summer that prevented him from training

as the explanation for why he arrived not in shape. The Flyers apparently didn't know about this ankle injury. Oh, my God. And that's what they're looking at. So they're trying to first get him in shape and then figure out the rest. Did Mitch Koff just sign an eight-year contract extension too? Yes. I mean, it is crazy the parallels right now.

Yeah. I mean, what was it, knee tendonitis? Is that what we heard? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to turn our attention to something entirely different here. Prior to the Toronto Blue Jays eliminating the Seattle Mariners

from the American League Championship Series in seven games, we had Dave Softie Mahler from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle on the program. And Softie, who is a very passionate and very animated Seattle sports fan, came on these airwaves and kind of went. viral in the aftermath for his passionate support of his team and also

trashing Toronto Blue Jays fans Blue Jays fans in Vancouver Am I missing any targets Softie took a Oh the guy that sat beside him in full Blue Jays regalia Right

It was a very funny hit Some people were offended But most people thought That was amazing Do you know how many people came up to me after that You got to get that Seattle guy on again Likewise

Softie resonated with the people I would say good bad or otherwise he made his mark well you all know what happened in the aftermath of that hit Seattle Mariners went on to lose game six and seven of the ALCS and blew it despite holding a three two lead

and having two chances at moving on to the first world series in franchise history three one lead with eight outs to go so Laddie yesterday or the day before was it yesterday's show it was yesterday morning's show I went on the KJR website and you're a good worker you went out you went out and you wanted to because people were asking you an ad dog like book softy get him out of the show yeah so laddie did the work he did the grind we

probably weren't going to book him for the show and you listened to softy show yesterday now explain what he said and then what you've got to share with us so there's about 10 minutes right off the top and I highly suggest people go and listen because this is it's such a big sports moment in general and hear his take on it as such a passionate fan it's about 10 minutes off the top of the show there There was no, like, intro bumper. It was just, they went straight to Softie. And he was, his voice was breaking up. Like, he, he would, it started a little morbid, excuse me, because he went to his father's grave.

And apparently he had this planned months before. Okay. The games were scheduled. And so it starts, I'm not going to play that part. Okay. But I'll play it towards the end here, the last minute or so. And you can hear, you get the gist of it. And, uh, so they cold opened this.

Basically, yeah. Well, okay. From what I could hear from the podcast. That's crazy. We've done that a few time when people. have died. Very somber. Yeah. Okay. So extremely somber. It was a lot sadder. I thought there would be more anger. There was a few

moments, but I thought it would be more anger and less sad, but it was more just sadness. So if you guys want to hear from Softie himself, here's the last minute or so of his rant to open the show last yesterday morning. I'm most sorry for the fans. I really am. I know

a lot of people say the players, hey, look, the players, man, players are more like goldfish than we are. They'll get over this. They'll move on. They'll go to spring training they'll sign contracts with other teams right they'll get traded they'll have other things to do but the only consistent thing about this sport and it's not even the team because we know teams can move we saw that with our beloved sonics the only consistent thing guys is us is the fans we're the only ones that stay we're the only ones that aren't going anywhere

and so we are the ones that eventually will have to wear this for the rest of our lives and this is the worst scar today and again maybe I'll change my mind dick tomorrow but for me where I'm sitting right now the absolute unbelievable sadness that I feel in my heart after what happened last night is the biggest scar that I've ever ever ever felt as a sports fan and it effing sucks it sucks right now man so sorry so that's tough you can just hear the pain in his voice so first off I think because of where we're at

and the fact that you're a huge jays fan and we sort of approach this as like let's just embrace all of this ALCS when the jays won what do we do focused on the jays winning I did do the dive into the Seattle side of things and I when I saw the players after the game that's when it really sunk in that it It wasn't just a loss.

It's that they felt like they were on their way to it. And that's a big difference. So the fans. So the fans got that feeling of like, this could actually be it. This could be the year. It wasn't like the Brewers getting wiped out in four games in the NLCS, where they never had a chance. The Mariners fans and a lot of the Mariners thought that they had it.

And you know what I think that they had it or they thought that they had it was after the Ejani Oswaras home running game six. You're game five, sorry. They thought that was their moment. And that's hard to deal with. And it wasn't necessarily winning the World Series. It was just getting to won. For the first time.

For the first time. You know, if we wanted to talk about Canucks fans, like we've seen the finals three times. Which, you know, when you consider like, yeah, they've been in the NHL a while, but getting to the finals three times, that's around what you'd expect, right? Like maybe certainly a little on the low side.

You'd like to win one of them. Yeah. get to a couple more even. Here's what gets me, and then when I throw it out to the listener, sometimes they're like, I never thought about that. The Canucks have had played three games where if they won that game, they'd win the Stanley Cup. They've lost all three.

They lost game seven to the Rangers. They had game six against the Bruins, and they lost game seven. So I think, sorry, I had to jump in, but that's like the Mariners had two cracks at it to get to the World Series. And they had a lead in game seven. And it looked like, it looked like it was going to happen. Things were pretty good in game seven there for a while. And he had a great interview with Dan Shalman yesterday,

and he was saying that, you know, they were saying, heading into the seventh, they're like, this is it. Like this, they better, they got, they got the guys coming up that, you know, I mean, I know the whole Jay's lineup can hit, but it was kind of like, this is it, right? And I know you were, you were sitting at home going like, because your daughter had said, Springer's going to hit a home run in this game,

and you're kind of like, Molly, better on listening, because he's probably not going to get up again. and then he did it even when so I know I know that the Jays put guys on base and they bunted over to second and third and I know so there was a somewhat of a building excitement but I still feel like when Springer hit the home run it was more shock I was shocked like that it happened because well the setup was to get a run across like remember remember how they'd gotten those guys on base too it was like like a single and a walk, right? So it's not like, oh, we're getting to them or whatever, you know? It was designed to get a run across. Yeah, they were trying to, they were trying to manufacture anything they could. Well, even Springer said on his swing, he wasn't trying to get a home run.

Yeah, he was just trying to hit it somewhere deep. So now put yourself in the position of being a Mariners fan. And you're like, you're feeling it. You're kind of being like, I don't want to say anything here, but like the Js kind of looked like they got nothing here. Yep. Softie said he was at a bar and he was turning to his buddy, and they were just flashing hands how many outs were left and they couldn't believe it

and it was getting lower and lower and then it got to eight It's a fascinating thing about these flashpoint moments in sports because I remember going back and watching the 2011 documentary from the Bruin's side of things And not realizing at all that there was happiness involved with 2011

at all like I never thought about it because 2011 was such a nightmare scenario from blowing game 6 and 7 the riot losing on home home ice in such, like, sad fashion. And I was like, oh, wait, like, this was a, this was an amazing moment for people. And, like, I mean, the Bruins are still doing the, they have those Zoom calls where they

get all the 2011 guys back together. Well, they only won one Stanley Cup. But they kind of underachieve for the type of team that they did have and the, and the seasons that they put together. Nice shade. And then you compare, yeah, right. Kind of underachievers at Boston team. Yeah, a bunch of losers aside from 2011, if you think about it.

But now you stack it up to this. And like, we came in on Monday. and I was like, well, the story is the J's. Right? I mean, what are you going to say? They're going to the World Series for the first time in 32 years. They do it in dramatic fashion. The story is the Jays.

But there's an entire other story out there of misery. I mean, for a variety of reasons, you just don't talk about. They had Larry Stone on after that clip, and he said fans allowed themselves to dream the impossible dream. And then it was snatched away. And that's the painful part. But that's what happened here. Yeah. And Qualicum Golf Guy.

Like it. Us 2011ers can empathize with Softie. Exactly the same feeling this market had with true Canucks fans, except it was tainted with the violence in the streets. No mob in Seattle to taint it and deflect the feelings. That loss stuck with me for a long time. I'm kind of over it now, 2011, but it's 14 years later. It's stuck with me for a long time.

And, you know, people should say, well maybe you should grow up like you're a grown man like it's just sports it's like yeah but that's why we do it that's why this show focuses so much as on fan bases sure like yeah they're obviously the players are interesting and you want to get into the contracts and you want to get into the analytics but the reason softy is popular and I would like to think the reason that you know people enjoy our show is we talk about the fan bases like that to me is the most interesting part. Yep.

Us, we are the most interesting part. Like, we're watching this and we're putting this meaning into sports. And maybe it's kind of like childish to put meaning into sports. But like, I don't know, it passes the time. It's something to do, right? It means you don't have to focus on real things. Softy said in his clip there, he said a number of times he had to stop himself and say, why are you letting this affect you so much?

You're a grown man. Yes. And he would break down. And it affects you. It just does. Because you know what it is, though? It's like, we want the moment. Yeah.

We want to experience the moment. We want to, it's a curiosity. What the hell does it feel like to be the fan of a team that wins the Stanley Cup? I know what it feels like to be a fan of a team that wins the Super Bowl, and it's really good. And a fan of a team that wins Olympic gold in a great moment, and it felt really good. And the Stanley Cup, I want to know what that.

feels like. Well, Softie never... And it might be just like, eh, it feels okay. He was probably also thinking a lot about his dad too, right? Who never got to see the Mariners when... It becomes... So that adds to a layer of emotion as well. It becomes. That's what it becomes. And it's kind of like, well, the time is kind of ticking down. And that's why I'm just like, and they're adding more teams, more expansion.

You know, when I was a kid, it was 21 teams. It seemed like doable. Yeah, they'll do this. If there's 34 or 35 teams, you're like, maybe they won't do this. To the phone lines we go, our next guest is a presentation of bells and whistles in the Fraser Hood. It's Randy Janda, color analyst for the Vancouver Canucks here on SportsNet 650 on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. What up, Randy? What's going on, boys? I'm glad to hear that all of you are healthy.

I'm healthy. We're not injury depleted going into this hit. This is fantastic. Yeah, no, it's good for everyone. And hopefully the Vancouver Canucks will be less injury depleted moving forward. But that still doesn't solve the riddle, the mystery of Adam Foote's, So you've had about, I'd say, 13 hours maybe or so since the game yesterday. In those hours, have you been able to figure out exactly what Adam Foote was doing or I guess maybe

not doing with his minutes and time on ice deployment yesterday and that 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh? I wish I could say yes, but no, I have not figured it out. And what it comes down to is obviously we didn't get an answer in the post-game availability. It would have been, you know, obviously, you know, a great thing to hear. but when you look at sub-17 minutes for Elias Pedersen, you look at sub-14 for Jake DeBruscan. Remember, this comes after a first period

where five-on-five, that line had five-shot attempts to zero against. Three shots for on-goal versus zero against. You know, the scoring chances, they had four versus zero, and they had a goal on the board as well. So, and this is not specific to this game.

So there is a bit of a theme developing here, and you have a strong first period. Of course, Pittsburgh comes back in the second period. Gino Malikin's line is stronger. But we've seen this trend kind of build up over the last two or three games where, you know, Elias Pedersen's line, even though they were, you know, feeling it against the Washington capitals, there was a number of players that were, you know,

missing in that lineup. Still, the Sherwood line was getting more of the minutes. So I'd like to know what the answer is. I think there's probably going to be some clarification once they get home. Maybe some more questions can be asked. But you need to find a way to get Petey and DeBresc out there more. I understand with Carner Garland guys, he's playing in all situations. He's playing a lot more on the PK, which you can maybe understand why the even strength time is down.

But you still need to find ways to get Pedersen out there. If he's your top dog, if he's your main center right now with a bullet, this is more about, you know, getting him out there and getting him to try to drive play in. This is also about understanding Adam Foote and his philosophy, guys. That was kind of the unknown heading into the season. And still, I think a lot needs to be known about that of just, you know, his reasoning. Every coach has got a different philosophy. We're still less than 10 games into the season and we're understanding what Adam Foote's

philosophy is. Yeah, it did seem yesterday like Adam Foote didn't trust Pedersen and DeBrest to be out there at five on five without Garland or he just couldn't find a way to do it or didn't want to do it? Like I know Garland is a big part of the PK so he's going to get his minutes

because he plays in all situations but it did the whole thing did seem weird I guess we're still trying to find you know we're trying to learn what Adam Foote thinks of Elias Pedersen. Yeah and you know this is also

in a game where that first period as I mentioned and Pedersen was playing pretty well, right? Like, that was a strong, you know, just first opening 90 seconds. He made an excellent pass and transition for Connor Garland. They ended up scoring that goal. So part of this is also, and I think you mentioned the Connor Garland aspect of, if that's a locked-in trio for you, and Garland is spending time on the penalty kill, he's, you know, obviously putting in a real hard effort there,

how do you get Pedersen and DeBruz to play with another winger, If you respect the two-way game of Conner Garland that much where you're saying, you know, anytime those guys are out there, Garland and his two-way game need to be out there as well. It's kind of the engine of the line. If he's spending that much time on the PK, you're going to have to have a secondary option. Maybe that's, I know Kiefer Shorewood is playing a lot of minutes already,

but is that a way where you're saying, okay, we're going to put you up the lineup in a little bit more elevated role? Or do you, just for a couple of shifts, you graduate somebody from that third or fourth line, with a similar profile that is able to be aggressive on the forecheck that is able to bring some speed

maybe not the playmaking of Connor Garland but just a way to get Pedersen out there a little bit more so I know there's not an abundance of riches right now with the Vancouver Knucks and their wingers and that's a part of that right

I think we need to understand where you know the trios are not locked in but you know you got to get your top dog out there right we look at that center group guys and Alias Pettersen having the lowest even strength ice time

of those four, and we're talking about two HL centers. You know, Rattie's trying to find out his NHL game. Sasson was literally in the HL last week, and Neil's Oman was a couple of days ago, you would expect Elias Pedersen to get the lion's share of the minutes there, and you've got to find a way. I got a trivia for you. It's been seven games into the season.

Which Canuck Forward do you think has played the most even-strength ice time? I'm going to say, Kiefer Shrewood gets a lot on the PK but the last two games he's seen a significant uptick so I'm still going to lean Kiefer but Wrong Okay what do we got

Evander Kane Really? Okay it makes Okay interesting You nearly said it makes sense And you're like Oh wait it doesn't make sense It makes sense And like he doesn't kill penalties

But yes I get it That's a little Okay that's a little shocking He's plus four To his credit So I mean The underlying numbers don't look so good but you know at five on five six goals scored against two against

I I just wonder if Adam foot just really likes that line for its physicality too it's like go out there and hit some guys and make things happen surewood does that and Kane even though he doesn't play like Sherwood he is to his credit I suppose drawing a lot of penalties? Yeah, you know, I think that line, the level of engagement that they have is something that this team requires right now, guys. And, you know, we look at the ability to strike off the rush where there's a couple of moments in that game last night where Evander Kane was coming down the left hand side and things were happening. And with Kiefer Shrewood, you know, he brings that element. And we've heard often about Adam Foote and other players, even mentioned

Tyler Myers, I believe, mentioned a couple of days ago where with Keith or Shrewood, you got to sometimes even asking to do less out there because he's in a lot of ways over-exerting himself, maybe chasing hits that he doesn't necessarily need to. So if I'm a coach, I understand that A, you know, you've got a generally

center in Atu-Ratu who can win face-offs and even in a night where his team, you know, got absolutely hammered in the face-off circle. He was still 50%. So you want a young center out there with two guys that are responsible in your lead face-off guy.

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