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

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk the latest 'Nucks news with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance, plus they discuss the latest NHL stories with Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Tippers going in and out and sixes and sevens! They can't stop it. Ryan Gould. Golazo. Oh, the one that was all sixes and sevens. We want to play aggressively.

We want to play for our fans and to represent them the right way. The Toronto Raptors open their season with a 30-point loss to Cleveland. Oh, no. We suck again! Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halford and his bruv.

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

Hello, hello. Good intro, Laddie. Thank you. Halford and bruv of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for.

Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 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. 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. Yeah, big show ahead on a Thursday. It's a four-guester on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Guest list begins at 6.30. Adnan Virk from MLB Network. We are one day away from the start of a much ballyhooed World Series.

Dodgers, Yankees, tomorrow. That's Friday, 5 o'clock from Dodger Stadium. Adnan's going to join us to break it all down. You're so excited that you didn't even let me do my read. Oh, yeah, right. You got to do Kintec. Yeah. Jason.

You're so excited about the Whitecaps. It's adorable. I just want everyone to know he's in the best mood. He's in the best excited about the Whitecaps. It's adorable. I just want everyone to know he's in the best mood. He's in the best mood over the Whitecaps. 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, my friend? At Antwerp at 630. Got a lot to get into on the program, but that is one of the things. We are going to start with the Whitecaps. But before we get to any of that, before we get to any of that, Adnan at 6.30, Nick Shook at 7 o'clock. I'm also really excited because it's a good time for sports.

I love it when there's the sports buffet, the sports equinox. We're getting closer and closer to what's happening. It's more like a sports trough these days. 7 o'clock, Nick Shook, NFL.com. Thursday night football tonight. It is the Rams and it is the Vikings, a game of somewhat interest for you Seattle Seahawks fans out there. 7.30, Thomas Drance, the Drancer from the Athletic in Vancouver. The only bad part about this time in the sports calendar

is that there's no Canucks games on. Too long of a break. I don't like it. I don't like going from Tuesday to Saturday. You've got to wait all the way to Saturday, yeah. And last night there was only one game in the NHL. There's nine tonight, by the way, so we can talk to Drancer. And our

8 o'clock guest, Frank Cerevalli from Daily Faceoff about that. We'll go around the NHL with Frank. He had some remarks on Thatcher Demko's return, and not in a positive light yesterday when he was doing his media rounds. So we'll talk to Frank today about that. We're also giving away our fourth, yeah, fourth $50 gift card to White Spot today.

We're not going to tell you when. We're not going to tell you what time in advance. We're just going to announce it at the start of a segment or maybe even the middle of a segment. $50 to White Spot. The phone number here at Sportsnet 650, we do have one. 604-280-0650. And again, the catch, the only caveat. You cannot have won anything from Sportsnet 650 over the last 90 days.

So we'll let you know when you can call in for that. Working in reverse on said guest list. 8 o'clock, Frank Cerevalli. 7.30, Thomas Trance. 7 o'clock, Nick Shook. 6.30, Adnan Virk. We have a lot to get into on the program. So without further ado, Laddie, let's 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? You missed that?

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. In one of the more improbable results that I have seen recently in the world of sports, the Vancouver Whitecaps, the beleaguered Vancouver Whitecaps,

without a home for their playoff date against Portland, had to go down to Portland to play their wildcard MLS match down there five nothing yes you heard that right a five nothing an emphatic victory and an improbable one for the Vancouver Whitecaps in Portland over the Timbers on Wednesday night yeah it was it was improbable although the one weakness that we talked about before the show is that Portland defensively can be problematic and they very much were but uh I'd rather focus on the star of the white caps uh and that man's name is Ryan Galt because he was incredible along with his uh Scottish brother Stuart Armstrong who

Vanny came on the show yesterday and said Stuart Stuart's actually going to be starting the game, which was newsworthy, something newsworthy on the Halford and Brough show yesterday. And those two played well together. Yeah, they really did. It was 20 minutes in when the goal scoring started for the Whitecaps. And by the 60th minute, they were up 5-0 on the road. It was an assault that you really haven't seen from the Whitecaps not just this season, but

ever. The soccer world was saying that it was like when Germany beat Brazil in the Brazil World Cup. Right there. They were saying that. Many people were saying. Same stakes, same quality of play. It was right there. All joking aside though, I want to play the audio

from Vanny. Vanny was asked a question post game about what the secret ingredient was, what the secret sauce was. What was the difference in that match? We'll give Greg a minute here to get the audio up. The answer, I'll spoil it

for you, was Ryan Gould. What Ryan Gould did yesterday might go down, at least it is currently, as the best performance individually single game in Whitecaps MLS era history. He was in on everything in the first half. As a matter of fact, he set a club record in the first half by being in on three goal contributions. That means you either set up a goal or you score it yourself. He then decided to break his own record by completing his hat trick and scoring in the second half.

Post-match, Vanni Sartini was asked about his captain. Here's what Vanni had to say. We have a secret ingredient that is not a secret ingredient. And this ingredient is called Ryan Gold. When Ryan Gold leads the team like he does today, you know, everything becomes easier for everyone else, from everybody else and the performance that he put on today, it's massive. I don't know in the history of the the white caps if there's a

performance better than this probably I don't know I don't know the entire history but what he did today is astonishing so so here's the thing Mike here's the big thing with me with the white caps they got the attention getter that was the attention getter last night. And everyone kind of went, all right, wow, what a win. I remember when they beat San Jose 5-0 in the playoffs. And then they had this match against Seattle that people were very excited for, and that totally fell flat. They've had opportunities to really get some momentum and capture things.

I'm not saying that they have to beat LAFC. I'm saying, please, Whitecaps, make this thing interesting at least. I wouldn't say anything about trying to beat LAFC. They got a nice result last night. It was great. It was a lot of fun. It was a fun night. It was very unexpected.

Gauld was fantastic. He became the third player in MLS history to score a hat trick and have an assist in a playoff game. That's the end of the sentence. I don't know what you want me to tell you. I know you like doing the, oh, here come the dark clouds. I'm not going to argue. It's not here come the dark clouds.

I'm not going to argue with you. It's can they get some money. That's totally unfair to me. That's totally unfair to me. Not that unfair. It's not here come the dark clouds. I'm not going to argue with you. It's can they get some money. That's totally unfair to me. That's totally unfair to me. Not that unfair. It's not. It is because the Whitecaps have done this before. They've had one-off good results, and that was a very good result.

It was fun to watch. Yeah. Can they do something now? And I know LAFC is going to be a massive favorite in this, but they do have a home game on November 3rd. Can they win that game? They're probably going to have to because they're probably not going to win the first one in LA, right?

Because it's the best of three. It's the best of three. Can they win that game? Can they give the home fans something here? Because this will be their first home game. Yeah, it's actually more like last year. It shouldn't be impossible for them to it's actually more like last it shouldn't be impossible for them to beat lafc at home it shouldn't be this is exactly the scenario they

had last year they went into the playoffs they got lafc in the first round they went down to la and it was bad and then remember they came back and vanny went ballistic after the game with the poor officiating and he actually joked yesterday he like, my goal for this playoff is to not get suspended. I was like, very good, Vanny. That's very good. But I mean, they're going to be decided underdogs. Not underdogs, decided underdogs. Because everyone else is thinking along the lines of what you're thinking.

One, we have seen this before in a wildcard match. Two, is this team really that different from the one that went oh five and two in their seven final mls matches did they just get lightning in a bottle did they go up against a bad opponent well ryan gald might have been hurt for a little bit maybe he's fully healthy now maybe stewart armstrong is up to speed now the coolest thing that happened last night was that um Ryan Gauld took over a match and a big moment because remember I asked Vanny when he was on the show yesterday I said what do you say to your leader and your captain your best player and Ryan Gauld's all three ahead of a one

game must win match how much is put on his shoulders and Vanny said like he's the one and he didn't try and like dance around it like he's not gonna say well we have 11 players on the pitch and all of them matter equally. You're the guy. He's the guy. And then he had a hat trick in the span of 35 minutes. It was, you very, very rarely do star players on that team in those moments deliver.

And yesterday he did. So kudos to Ryan Gould and the Whitecaps for a very fun night and a very unexpected one. Because I'm not going to be honest. When that got closer and closer to kickoff, I was like, I do not have a good feeling about this. And then I was completely off in a 5-0 victory for the Vancouver Whitecaps. So they play Sunday?

They go Sunday, Sunday, and then a five-day break if – because Game 3 is as necessary right now, right? And that would be down in L.A. They go October 22nd. They go November 3rd. And then it would be five days later in LA if they need that final and third game. So it's a tall order.

LAFC is a very stacked team. Olivier Giroud and Denny Boanga and Gabriel Peck and Mateus Boguch. And they score a ton. And they kill you on the counter. And they've had the Whitecaps number a lot even in that last game just give us some drama just give us some

drama in this good drama you know like good drama give the very least put a scare into LAFC yeah it's all I ask that's all we want we'll win the series but all we want is a little bit of drama and try and extend it to three beyond what

you had last year and give those home fans that are going to show up on November 3rd a good time on Sunday night let's go now to the Vancouver Canucks because the Vancouver Canucks returned to practice yesterday it was an interesting one to put it mildly uh no Quinn Hughes he gets a well-deserved day off so that means the D pairs had a slightly different look. But I'm burying the lead here because a lot of people were talking about the skirmish, the little fracas between JT Miller and Elias Patterson during practice that the head coach, Rick Talkett, addressed following the practice. We can play the audio now, as a matter of fact.

It wasn't much in the way of lengthy fighting or anything well Jeff Patterson was the guy that uh reported this and here here's if you missed it you probably haven't but uh here's what J-Pat wrote about uh what happened at practice yesterday he said brief but testy exchange between JT Miller and Elias Pettersson at Canucks practice end of a battle drill. Two chopped at each other, and then Miller delivered a quick cross-check. A few words were exchanged. Wasn't any bigger than that, but it definitely looked like it had some heat.

The two then went their separate ways. Didn't escalate to the point coaches or teammates had to intervene. So is it a big deal? No, not really, but it might show that there's some frustration. I don't know. I mean, it's not not a big deal. I think especially when you're considering the players involved. And let's just hear what Talkett had to say about it,

because he was saying it wasn't a big deal with a but. Here's Rick Talkett following practice yesterday for the Vancouver Canucks. Well, from my experience, like, listen, you don't want players to fight each other, but there's times and a place when you want to challenge the pace of the practice, or there's a certain drill somebody doesn't like or whatever. That's part of the game. It's not a big deal. I've gotten it a few times. You move on, be the first guy to go take a guy to dinner. I'm sure that if there was a scrum tomorrow or Saturday night, Mills would be the first

guy to jump in for Petey. Not a big deal. Well, the Canucks do have a day off today, so maybe Petey and JT can go out to dinner. I didn't understand. I'm like, who buys the dinner? Is it Petey has to buy JT the dinner, or does JT have to buy Petey the dinner? Whoever initiated it.

So who initiated it? They fight for it. I feel if it was initiated, it was Miller. Yeah, can you imagine? They go out to dinner, and then they're like, I'm not paying. You have to fight. I'm not paying. You started it. They're fighting over the fight dinner.

I don't even know what. Oh, man. I found the most interesting part about Talk It's A Veil yesterday was when he was talking about the Pedersen line, although Tockett would probably call it the Garland line, because I think we can all admit that Petey has looked a tiny bit better lately on a line with Hoaglander and Garland. But Tockett was real sure to make mention that he thinks that it's Garland is the guy that's driving that line. Yeah, I think he's just chipping away at his game. You know, I think,

you know, I think everybody knows that we got to get him to move his feet. And when he has the puck, you know, make some plays in the sense of, you know, I don't care if he makes a mistake, it's being more aggressive. I think a lot of times when he's standing around he gets in trouble that's that's the mental part we got to keep working with him but I think that line has done a nice job for us I think Garland's helped him so we'll see where that line goes Garland and Hogs are very energetic type players how does he fit with them yeah Garland drives a lot of the play. I think when you play with Garland, if you like, like Dakota has been successful, you've got to be near him.

You've got to be willing to move around with Garland. If you're standing around, it's probably not a good... So I think Petey's starting to understand, if I move around, and Petey, he moved around a couple times, made some really good plays because of that. So we've got a steady diet of that um you know Garland likes to have the puck a lot but you got to move around him so he can distribute the puck the interview was done in a boiler room yeah I apologize for the fact that the industrial radiator was going on the entire time there Rick can you stand right in front of this giant machine please so you noticed it too that uh there were

two there was another thing that I noticed too, because he was asked about. Was it the radiator? No, he was, Tockett was asked about playing under pressure. And I think it was with regards to Elias Pettersson's contract. And I think he was asked, do you have conversations with him? And he said, yeah, yeah. It's about blocking out the noise.

But then he also made a comment that perked up my ears. He said something along the lines of, you don't feel the pressure when you're prepared. Yeah. You know, and he said it's about preparation. And I don't even think we have to read between the lines anymore of this stuff. I don't think that Talkett is too pleased with Pedersen's preparation levels when he showed up this season. I just don't. I mean, there was this thing a little while ago where he said,

we got a plan with Petey and it's him going out onto the ice a little bit earlier and maybe staying a bit late. I don't know how many times he has to kind of suggest things and we're like, well, wait a minute, are you not very happy with his preparation level? Do you think he should be working harder at his game? I'm starting to sense that you might think he should. If you were to take a step back from the situation and look at everything that's gone on over the first month of the season, you'd be like, there's a lot of poking and prodding going on.

You know that meme where it's like the guy with the stick being like, come on, do something? There is that vibe with let's change his line mates to get him going. Let's get Conor Garland on there to drive the line. There was a quote in there. Conor Garland's really helped him out. We've got a plan to help him. Staying after practice so Yogi can help him.

JT Miller poking him and giving him a cross check during practice. You don't feel pressure when you're prepared. All of this is poking and prodding to get it going. Right? And it's not subtle. And it's going to get less and less subtle as the season goes along. It seems to be subtle for a lot of people who still won't admit that there's a problem there. Well, it's just you've got to get going.

Problems have solutions. Problems have solutions. Problems have solutions. But there's some people that are like, no, JT makes bad passes too. It's like, yeah, but we're not talking about JT. Also, I'm glad you brought up JT because if you look at this team right now, who are being afforded nights or days off practice because they're either banged up or they're playing multiple minutes or they need the rest? It's JT Miller and it's Quinn Hughes.

They're not the ones staying out after practice to work on anything. They're getting days off because they're logging huge minutes and they're playing at a level which is the one that carries a team. When the team isn't playing great, like let's admit it. I know someone got in our case yesterday for giving false praise to the Vancouver Canucks. I think we were very cognizant of the fact that they have not played their best hockey. They have not looked at times at all like the team that we saw at its peak last year. But they went on the road and won three of four, which is not an easy thing to do in the NHL, no matter the opponent. And the forward group, I think, even with Petey not playing up to his potential,

has looked pretty good. I think the forward group has looked good. I think Kevin Lankanen has been a great story and a great pickup by the Canucks. Hughes has been incredible. I honestly think Hughes might be playing better than he was last season. In terms of his overall game, we've talked about some of the issues that they've had. Petey is one of them. Defensive depth is another one.

Are you really comfortable with Soucy and Myers as your second pair? And are you comfortable with them playing as much as they are with a questionable third pair? That's not a criticism of the team. Well, it might be seen as a criticism. I think it's just facts and reality. We talked about, hey, are we going to hear anything about Demko soon? And we've talked about some of the things

like defensive zone coverage, which has not looked as sharp as it did last season, and so has Rick Tockett. So I would say it's been a mixed start to the Canucks season. But if I'm talking about overall, has it been positive versus negative? I'm going to say it's been a little bit positive for me because I really like the potential of this forward group. I think it has the potential and it's shown a lot of actual like not just potential realization of it the best forward group they've had in a decade it it you you gotta love the mix of talent and

and grit and when Dakota Joshua gets back that's gonna add even more but there are issues with the team that need to be solved and Petey is one one of those. Yeah. And again, I think I've mentioned this like 50 times now. There has been a real lack of patience. Not in a negative way, but in a positive way from Rick Tockett. And I think the lack of patience is a nod to, hey, we're not waiting around for everyone to get up to speed. We want everyone at speed. And you've seen it in like smaller circumstances, like a Daniel Sprung,

who started the season as a top line winger and scored the team's first goal of the season. And now he's on the outside looking in because he didn't do the things the team wanted him to do.

Right. There are, there's things. The forward group has options too. That's another factor though in that, right? Like who else are you going to take out of the lineup? I would say if you look in that, Kevin Lankanen now,

I would not be surprised if he's going to get a run of games. That's just my opinion. I know that they probably want to get Seelovs in and I know that they probably don't like him sitting there not playing games, but you know what the number one priority is at the NHL level? It's not getting Arthur Seelov's game rounded out. It's getting points and getting

wins and Lankanen gives you a better chance to do that. I would assume that he's going to play on Saturday against Pittsburgh, and that'll be, what, his fourth straight start in a row? And he's earned it. And those decisions early in a season really give you an indication of where the team is at mentally and where Tauket is at mentally. And I, for one, love it. I don't want a team, a coach

soft-shoeing or coddling the guys being like, okay, you know, you figure it out. First, we'll get the summer hockey out of our system and you have some god-awful start like Nashville where you start 0-5 and you look like a mess and everyone's questioning everything. Yes, they got a win against Boston the other night.

I think that all of these sort of very individual, vacuumed-off moments of pushing and pressure and pushing the pace and prodding and let's do more and let's get more and let's not have patience, I think they're good things because I think this team knows where it wants to go and they want to get there in a hurry. Danny and Brookswood trying to stir things up

in the Dunbar-Lumber text line at 650-650. Like it. The Bridge Street, Dunbar-L text line at 650-650. Like it. The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved progress way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. Danny's first question. Do you think Petey is a Talkit guy?

Talkit seems to occasionally say small things that lead us to believe he might not love the whole Petey show. He compares Hughes to Crosby. He does not do that with PD. Danny in Brookswood. Follow-up question. Based on track record, what has management done with players who are not quote-unquote talk-it guys?

Danny, have any of those so-called not talk-it guys signed an eight-year contract extension in the last few months? I know where you're going on this. I know where you're going on this. I know where you're going on this, but the organization has made a massive commitment to this guy that they hadn't to, say, Andre Kuzmenko. The least talkative guy of all the talkative guys was Kuzmenko.

And he signed a multi-year deal, and then he was gone. But that's not the same. It's not the same. It's apples and bowling balls, really. I mean, I get where he's going. deal but and then he was gone but that's not the but it was an easier not the same it's it's it's apples and bowling balls really i mean it's i i i get where he's going with it he has a better follow-up question actually uh like who are non-talking guys and who are talking guys hughes for sure we played that clip yesterday and i i prefaced it by saying it's only under very circumstance certain circumstances

that Rick Tockett breaks out the Sidney Crosby comp. Well, unless he's like, I want you to be more like Sid. But that's not a comp. That's like you want to live up to the comp. And he did it with Quinn Hughes. And that's like Rick Tockett tipping his cap being like, you've earned that, Quinn. You've earned that.

And it's very few that get it because all the guys in the Pittsburgh organization that's their thing right is that Crosby is the uh he sets the bar he's the leader he's the ultimate captain he's the guy that you want like every all 31 other NHL teams want Sidney Crosby-ish type leaders and Hughes is I mean he's on the trajectory I don't want to say that he's there because it's so difficult to get onto that plane but I mean you've pointed it out five or six times already this season how great he's been he's been unbelievable he's been he's taken a Norris caliber season and gone seemingly to another level which is so hard to do and so impressive and just the difference between the Canucks when he's on the ice versus not,

it is truly remarkable. And that is what this franchise has missed for most of its lifetime. A guy who can control the game when he's on the ice. And boy, is it nice to have a player like Quinn Hughes on the team. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.

Hi, Drancer. How are you? Gentlemen, good morning. Big takeaway from practice yesterday. Were you at practice yesterday first? I wasn't. I was traveling back from Chicago. So, yeah, no, missed the interesting-seeming practice, although not unusual for players to get a little bit heated in an engagement. And honestly, I think, you know, you kind of like that, right?

Like, you want guys to be competing to some extent. I mean, you want them competing hard. I have no problem with people getting frustrated with a teammate. We saw with Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua, right? Last year, where they fought, and then within weeks of the season starting, it was clear that there was, you know, something special chemistry-wise going on.

Now, you know, I don't know if, I'm not expecting a sudden, like, kumbaya on that level necessarily between number 40 and number nine in Vancouver, but I don't think it's all that, like, interesting like kumbaya on that level necessarily between number 40 and number nine in vancouver but i don't think it's um all that like interesting that two guys got heated over the course of a battle drill yeah so what you're saying is a line of blooger pd and miller could work the only question i had and we talked about this this earlier was Rick talk it in explaining it away.

Just said, not a big deal. Sometimes that happens. And then, you know, you go out and you buy the guy dinner. And I was like, okay,

well, who's responsible for buying who dinner in that scenario? Is it always the instigator or is it maybe the guy that was being more passive? He was like, Hey, I know I gotta, I gotta raise my game.

So I'll take you out for dinner. Or do they fight over the dinner fight? Like, how does it work? I'm so confused. Three words, dine and dash. I also think it's one of those things, you know, like where you have a tip with somebody and it's like everyone knows. Everyone knows who's picking up the tab.

Everyone knows who is unreasonable in a reasonable environment anyway. The heat was off Petey for a little bit, it seemed, like that, because the Canucks were winning games, and he was showing signs of progress, I would say. How much has Conor Garland helped him out in that regard? Yeah, I mean, I think that line's been pretty good, right? I think that line has played well, even if the goals haven't been there for for petterson um so you know i i mean i i think they like i think garland and

hoaglander there's something there in my mind in terms of just a pair of whirling dervishes going about the ice winning a ton of battles i I've been pretty impressed with what they've done as a duo ever since training camp. And, you know, I've always wanted to see what it would look like, like for whatever reason over the past two and a half years, largely because Garland was cemented on the third line. But even when he bumped up, he was far more likely to play with Miller or play with Bowe than he was with Pettersson, right?

Like it was shocking actually how rarely Petersen and Garland had played together over the last two years. And when you think about it, right, I mean, Garland's led this team by primary assist rate five on five for most of his Canucks tenure. And, you know, Pedersen's got that one-shot finish and he's left-handed.

Like, it makes sense in my mind's eye that, hey, really good finisher with really good passer and he's left-handed. Like it makes sense in my mind's eye that, Hey, really good finisher with really good passer and the, and their offhandedness like that seems like it should work. That seems like an interesting thing to try. And, and, you know, I don't even know that we've seen that part of it yet. Right. Like it feels like it's more worked for the club from a play driving perspective. I guess Garland did find Pedersen in the high slot for the club from a play driving perspective. I guess Garland did find Pettersson in the high slot for the pass that he ended up sending

to Hoaglander at the side of the net in Philadelphia. So, you know, we've seen it, I guess, a bit, but not the way that I'd sort of draw it up in my head where it's like, and Garland finds Pettersson for the quick shot. And it's, you know, a great angle, a high quality line. Right. Like, I don't know that we've seen that part of it yet but I do think that'll come if they're able to sort of expand the sample of ice time together and work but yeah I mean I think it's looked good and I do think getting better like this was the theory of adding DeBrusque right like you need to get Pedersen you need to get any star forward in this league.

Right. Cause I know whenever someone says anything like this, the idea is like, well, they should be able to drive their own line. And it's like, well, the only Macias,

come on, man. I just saw him play in Chicago. We don't need to pretend that anybody could elevate Ilya Macias. Right. Like you need somebody to help. Like you need help driving in this league, especially in a top-of-the-line lineup role, right?

Like, Besser helps drive, right? Like, that's a quality of linemate that's going to help you control play. You know, I think Garland's that player. Like, I do think Garland is capable of doing that and bringing that to the Canucks' top six. And right now he's getting an opportunity to do it. More than top six. Like, Garland's leading this team in ice time five on five among forwards right like he's been you know not just like a good compliment to Pedersen right like he's arguably been their best forward in the first six games of this season yeah I made a comment

about a week ago when I said I think Garland at times has been the Canucks' second best forward after JT Miller, and a lot of people push back on it. And I'm like, that guy drives lines. Like, his play, like, what do you think? I go further. Sorry. Jason, you didn't go far enough. He's been their best forward, period.

Right. I was going back to the playoffs last year. Oh, yeah, yeah. And, you know, and I kind of was of was like, maybe I'm overlooking Besser because Besser is a very strong part of that forward group. Right. But, I mean, I just think, I wonder if you could lay it out because I know you've always been supportive of Garland

and you've been like, if you want to call him like the Garland truther or whatever. But I do think that compared to when he first arrived in Vancouver, he's either upped his game more or he's found something under Rick Talkett that he didn't have before Rick Talkett was there. Yeah. I mean, I think, I think it's trust though i don't think it's form like that that's what i would say i just think the role is bigger i think when you look at

you know players that bruce boudreaux that like thrived under bruce boudreaux and like you know uh pod coles and alex chase on i think bruce boudreaux and like you know uh Pod Coles and Alex Chason I think Bruce Boudreaux liked size and and sort of needed it up front more than Tockett does I think Tockett maybe is the opposite on the blue line where where if you're a big defenseman you're going to get a longer leash under Tockett but you have more of an opportunity as a as a gritty smaller forward like I honestly think that's the biggest change. I think Tauket has been more willing to play Garland and lean on Garland in a way that was never going to happen with Boudreaux.

And I think you've seen the same thing with Hoaglander. And so I think that's it. Like, I really do. I really think it's as simple as a coaching change and a level of sort of trust being granted to a player. And I'd add this, like, even then, you know, Garland's ice time was probably lower than his actual contributions last season, right?

Like, he was counted on to drive a third line, and for about the last 50 games of the season, he was probably Vancouver's most important five-on-five engine up front. From a play-driving perspective, Miller was obviously that from like an emotional leadership, clutch Coles perspective, no question about that. But, you know, I honestly just think it's been the change to talk it.

There's obviously a lot of trust there, right? The whole teacher's pet narrative with Garland and talk it. And I think you're seeing that more than anything. I think it's an empowerment thing. It's a responsibility thing more than it's I think it's an empowerment thing. It's a responsibility thing. Um, more than it's anything that's changed in his game. I actually think it's remarkable how little, um,

not, not how little Garland's evolved, but like how much perception has changed around Garland. And for me, this has been basically consistent, uh, across his three years in Vancouver. Um,

fill in the blank here. This is the most depth the Canucks have had up front since... Oh, man. It's been a long time. And, you know, you think about it like you get a healthy lineup here. Are you going to be able to play Joshua with Suter and Sprong on a fourth line if you want to? I'd start him out slow because he might take some time

to find his skating legs. It's going to be tough to come into the season at this point. He's a big guy, so it might take him a little while to just find his legs. Yeah, I mean, you might be able to go with a fourth line, though. Joshua Sprong, a guy who scores at a top line rate with with a 20 goal scorer uh you know uh in joshua from a from a pace perspective last season with pew suitor who's like absolutely capable of playing minutes as a first line wing right or or a second line center and a pinch if

you need it you know i mean that's a preposterous luxury uh that third line looks great like you certainly if the canucks are rolling like this, when Joshua was able to return, I don't know that you mess with any of the top nine lines. And I think you're right. There's something to, you know, the ability to add Joshua's size on the, into a fourth line role and slowly sort of phase him into a bigger spot up

the lineup. Right. Yeah. I mean, that's ridiculous. And yeah, I think that's been one thing that one part of the logic of this team going into this season that hasn't taken any time to get going is we've seen it, right? Like we've seen the depth scoring. We've seen what this bottom six can do. We've seen how skilled it looks. And for me, that was the big takeaway of that Blackhawks game you know i know rick talked it afterwards garland called it sloppy right and talk it suggested that the club wasn't as good as they'd been last season at protecting the guts of

the ice and i think all those things are fair right right and that as much as the connects generated the blackhawks sort of kept coming back and and if you even wanted to say that you know win was more dependent on kevin lincoln and then it even wanted to say that you know Wynn was more dependent on Kevin Lankanen than it seemed I'd agree with you he was phenomenal but the quality of the goals that this team is manufacturing the quality of the looks this team is manufacturing look completely different to me certainly with the Chicago game being sort of a an exclamation mark on it than what we saw last season, right? Like there were four goal periods that this team had last year, but it was like deflection off Sam Lafferty's butt,

deflection at the net front, like puck bounces into the blue paint right in front of Joshua, right? Like, and then one of Vancouver's star players makes an incredible individual effort. The goals we saw in Chicago, I mean, just like seemed them to death, right? Like they were beautiful plays and team level passing moves and, you know, far more stuff happening off the rush or off really sharp keepaways or keep ins by especially Philip Perona. I don't think he got an assist on that, but made a really nice pass there. Really nice pass down to Sherwood on the first goal.

I mean, so it's like active, more active blue liners. Just like it looks like a more thoughtful way to score goals. And it looks to me like a more sustainable way to score goals, even if Vancouver's, you know, dining out on efficiency the way they usually do. The quality of the offensive play i think is is of a totally different like at a totally different register right now than it was at any point last season uh you know that's my impression in the early going anyway i'm still not quite sure why bluger didn't shoot it's good that he passed to heinen but it felt like he had

the whole open net there at any rate it all worked out and that's fine um what do you make a Carson Susie start yeah um I don't know like I you know it's it's early so you don't want to overreact to it I mean I think Susie's a super dependable totally capable uh second pair defenseman um and for whatever reason you know the the splits are pretty stark, right? Like this, because it's not just about Soucy, right? The Soucy-Myers pair and then whatever they're doing on the third pair and Branstrom's, you know, I think brought a puck moving element this team needs, but, you know, he hasn't like completely solved

the issue that I'm about to get into, which is what this team looks like in non-Hughes minutes. Now, I say non-Hughes minutes, but obviously I mean non-top pair minutes because I think Koronek's been excellent through six games. Not a hot take. He was awesome in Chicago. To the phone lines we go. Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff joins us now

on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Frank. How are you? Pretty good, guys. How are you? We are well. Let's start with two Vancouver Canucks currently not in the lineup, but two that we hope to see relatively soon. One probably not, one probably.

Let's begin with what you're hearing, what you know about Dakota Joshua, who is skating with the team, practicing. It sounds like the return is imminent. What do you have on Dakota Joshua? who is skating with the team, practicing. It sounds like the return is imminent. What do you have on Dakota Joshua? Yeah, I was around the team on Tuesday in Chicago, and he looked pretty good. I was told one to two weeks away,

and obviously he's grinding and working. I think the team misses him. I think his impact is going to be felt pretty quickly when he returns. So Joshua is one, and I'm sure Demko, the next question, I don't get any sense that that's close. I believe it's still quite a few weeks away uh he's obviously putting in the work i don't know that i've ever seen the drill that i tweeted a video of the other day with demco after the morning skate he was basically strongly positioned in the crease and was trying to essentially hold his stance while a coach was in the corner and

they did change sides basically pulling him on a rope trying to get him out of that uh position and so um unique but to me it just speaks to exactly what he's dealing with this is a strength and stability issue that um that knee injury is causing, and I think it's up to him to tell the Canucks when he's comfortable. Unique's the whole key to this thing, right? Because he said himself there's no blueprint, there's no playbook, there's no precedent for an NHL goalie in this kind of injury. So that is going to always lend itself to, well, we can't put a timeline on it

because there's no timeline that previously exists. How much breathing room is Kevin Lankanen given this whole process, though? He's been the story of the season. I mean, the way Lankanen has played for the Canucks has been eye-opening and props to Kevin Woodley for being all over it. He's been trumpeting Lankanen for a while in terms of being a guy that could break out and hold down a role. He's supplanted, at least it looks like, for a little while, Archer Shelob.

And he's really turned the temperature down on what could have been um what could have been really like a difficult thing for this team to work through this year to start i mean if you're missing demko and you're not getting the goaltending it becomes a question every day that needs to get answered and he's really quieted that down and he has yeah it's made it um really a lot easier for thatcher demko to take a step back and and take a breath and say okay let's let's do this right and let's do this when i'm ready is it hard for them to come up with a plan that they know for sure is going to work with this injury? You talk about strengthening and stabilizing the injury. Are they positive that that will eventually happen, that he will be strengthened and stabilized? They're hopeful.

I don't know the ins and outs of that, to be honest. I don't know that there's a ready-made fix for this. And I think that's actually really kind of at the root of it is it seems like basically what, at least this is how it's been relayed to me. It seems like at the root of this, Thatcher Demko is basically trying to deal with a new reality of what that knee feels like. And I don't, I don't, I don't know that how much better it's going to get in the short term. As he continues to work away at it,

it might ultimately just be getting to a place where he says, okay, I understand what this is like. I understand how this is impacting me. And I'm going to have to find a way to get comfortable moving forward. What did you make of, did you hear about the little fracas between JT Miller and Elias Pettersson in practice? I did. I didn't obviously see any video, and it's always hard to understand context, so I don't want to comment too much on it. But I do, I'm not surprised. I think there has been a growing, I don't want to say frustration but i think the canucks players as a whole they've seen

what pedersen's game has been like they've seen what he said um publicly and i you know i think there's an accountability thing going on that probably is really at the root of it and when you have someone that's ultra competitive like JT Miller is um who's constantly you know has his heart on his sleeve and is is pushing everyone to get better including himself um I think that kind of is probably right at the heart of the issue oh there was one more question I wanted to ask before we move off the Canucks about Lankanen. Have you ever really been able to deduce why he was available so late into the free agency period

and why the Canucks were able to get him on the type of deal that they did when they did? Because I'm looking around at some of these other teams that are struggling in that, and it sure seems like they could use a goalie of that caliber. I think part of at least the thought process that had existed at the end of the summer, and I don't know how accurate this is, but the thought process was because he's had pretty good numbers the last two years at Nashville, that he was looking for a little bit of a higher ticket than some teams as they transitioned to value-based goaltending were willing to pay.

And so I think there was a period of time where he probably had to readjust some expectations. And then really, you know, what seals the deal from the Lankanen perspective is just that there was an opportunity and opening here. I mean, like anyone else, he could see that Demko might not be ready and that this could be a chance to, even if it doesn't ultimately for him end up being in Vancouver, which he's probably changed that story, that he's a chance to show his stuff and, and play in front of a good team

that might open up some other doors for him in the future. So maybe acquiesce and take a little bit less, get a chance to play, knock it out of the park, bet on yourself, and who knows what happens next. I'm going to bring it back to Pedersen. How do you feel? Yeah, and I was going to say, I have plenty to talk about after watching the Canucks on Tuesday. Well, tell us what you got. I'm really impressed with the continued progression game by game

that we've seen from this team. Things are different. Lots of new faces, as we know. Certain aspects of this team still aren't right in the sense that there's a ton of room for this team to grow moving the puck and I think that has been a real focal point from Rick Tockett and his staff really obviously outside of that first pair it's a glaring issue but it feels like game by game they've added another layer uh the compete and effort has been there which has been important and they're finding ways to

to put points together in the standings um at a time when you know things have been a little bit in flux. And so that part, I think, has been really impressive. So I was going to ask you about Rick Tockett and how he might best handle this Pedersen situation because it is an important one for the club. He needs to find a way for Pedersen to get back to his potential and the type of player that earned that eight-year contract extension. Have you heard anything about what the Canucks are planning with Pedersen

or what they've started with Pedersen? Because Talkett did say about a week ago that we have a plan with Pedersen. Yeah, I don't know what that is. I didn't ask, to be honest. I wonder if in some ways he requires a little bit more of a soft approach. And I don't know that he's going to get that. But to me, it just feels like watching him, he's clearly frustrated for one. And by the way, to be fair, I will agree with his assessment. I thought he definitely seemed more engaged on Tuesday, which I thought was a positive step forward. When you're making $11.6 million a year, production production is what matters not moral victories as we approach

halloween but i it all stems to me from his head and he's someone that is obviously hard on himself he's someone that also obviously listens and reads and hears everything that's said about him and he seems to wear it and take a lot of it personally and in a lot of ways as different as these two individuals are he can probably use a little bit of the JT Miller don't give a bleep um where a lot of it just kind of rolls off his back um i i don't know how you approach that from a team standpoint because miller has an edge to him and he's hard and rick tocket has an edge to him and he's hard like it's it's a really delicate thing that i think not a lot of people are used to that he probably just, that's how I view it at least, requires a softer touch. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough.