Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 10/24/25

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, plus they discuss the latest Canucks news with Donnie & Dhali's Rick Dhaliwal following a tough road loss to Nashville, and how the club can add forward depth to the group.  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. Besser at the slot. He's robbed by Soros. The printer who's clear the rebound out to center, and that is going to do it. What a chance for Brock Besser. We'd like a better result, and I think we're all just ready to go home and have a good homestead. I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go home now. Russ kind of took over the game there, and, you know, kudos to them for winning it.

Ladies and gentlemen. Fool fighters. Good morning, Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford and is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the kid-take.

studios and beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Ada, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brown for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick. One, no more interest, two much lower payments and three financial piece of line. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal.

North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Big show ahead on a Friday, big guest list, lots of giveaways, and an exciting weekend on the horizon. Guestless today begins at 630. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join the program. We likely will not subject Nick to speaking about last night's very gross. football game in which the Chargers beat up on the Vikings 37 to 10. Instead, we're going to look ahead to some of the marquee games this weekend. And unfortunately, for us, given everything that's

going on this weekend, the best game of the weekend is also the Sunday nighter when many other things are going on. And that's when the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to travel to Green Bay. What does that mean? Oh, it's going to be the first time in his 18-year Hall of Fame career that Aaron Rogers is going to play the Packers. We'll talk to Nick about all that at 630. I don't even know if I'm going to be able to watch that game. We were going to take an NFL by this weekend. I've got to be honest with you. Aaron Rogers' return to Green Bay is about number 78 on my list.

But you understand why it's a big store. I understand. I understand. So Nick's going to join us at 6.30 to talk about that. 7 o'clock AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. $100 gift card to AJ's today is up for grabs for the best ask us anything. Hashtag at AUA. Dunbar number text line is 650, 650.

Do not forget. Do not forget to put a pizza. into your text. You'll be entered into the grand prize draw. It's a contest, actually. It's not a draw. 7.05, Yesper Sorensen, Whitecaps manager. It's going to join the program, speaking of Sunday. White Cups begin their quest for MLS Cup this Sunday at 4.30 at BC Place against Dallas. It is expected to be a big crowd on hand for the White Caps as they look to surpass their single game record for playoff attendance. We'll preview all that with Yesper at 705 this morning. 7.30, Bob the Moj Marjanovic is going to join the program. Oh, yeah. The BC Lions are also in action this weekend. Saturday, 4 p.m. in Sasky to take on the riders. Here's the sitch, Jason. This is the sitch with a win.

Tell me, tell me the sitch. With a win, Lyons clinch second place and home field advantage for the November 1st Western semifinal where they will host. Calgary. Back to back. Playoff games. a BC place and consecutive weekends. Could happen. All the Lions got to do is win this weekend in Saskatchewan. And then at 8 o'clock after Moj, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. And for this, as per usual, I turned the microphone over to the show's resident

Dollywall handler, Jason Brough. Okay. Dahliawil and I were texting a lot yesterday. Oh, good. He, uh, oh, God. We're just going to talk about the game, okay? And stuff with... Game and stuff with Dollywall.

And the trade market. And the trade market. And the trade. Oh, and by the way, oh, he wants to talk about the Abbotsford Canucks roster struggling. And, like, I heard him on the crossover talking about that. And everyone's like, Rick, nobody cares about Abbotsford right now. Like, the big club has some issues. So, like, I realize, I realize that Abbotsford lost some players.

That's the point of an HAL team. That's what they do. That's what they do. And they find new ones. You know what? They won last year. We're good with Abbotsford. We got bigger fish to fry

You don't think Team USA is looking at Abbotsford right now? That's right. I could hear him like texting like, I know, I know. Tune in at 8 to hear HL updates with Rick Dollywalt. Finally, before we move along here, we are once again giving away tickets to see the foo fighters.

Foo Fighters. Okay, we're kind of timing on that one. I was no, you're near there. That's what I said. This is when I do the rundown. When you hear the word foo fighters. Foo Fighters Foo Fighters.

Foo Fighters with Queens of the Stone Age and gouge away. September 20th is the date of the concert at B.C. Place. Tickets go on sale on Halloween. We're giving away a pair every day

up until Wednesday. So yesterday today and then of course the first three days of next week. What are we going to do? 7.30. You want to do 7.30 again? No.

8 o'clock? Eight o'clock. Caller 5. Let's do caller number 5 at 8 o'clock. Caller number 5 at 8 o'clock. What are you doing? Let's go. I want to get to the show, buddy.

Call her number 5 at 8 o'clock. It's a pair of tickets to see the Food Fighters. 604-280-0-6-50. That number again, 604-280-0-650. That's what's happening on the program today. Greg, 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? Missed it? You missed that? What happened?

You know, when Dodd is in here, he just gets through that stuff, like, so much quicker. Okay. Just, you know, come on. I love to set up the show. To lay it out. I mean, look, okay, am I in a bad mood because of the Canucks? Maybe. Maybe.

You're definitely in a bad mood, though. But I just get through it. Come on. What happened is Brad to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance? Aaron Rogers return. Like, nobody cares about Aaron Rogers return right now. No one's. No one here.

There's 10 things that are bigger than Aaron Rogers return right now. Maybe we need to focus. Even locally. Maybe we need to focus less on the Vancouver Canucks because maybe it's tearing us apart. Maybe if we leave them alone, they'll just figure it all out. Put them in the corner. All your best problems are solved by just. Leave them alone.

Maybe we're the problem. Just ignore them. So Cole Smith, who I had no idea existed as a hockey player, scored a 509 of the third period yesterday to give the National Predators a very ugly two-one victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night, wrapping up the Canucks five-game road trip with three wins and two losses for the local hockey squadron. You know what else? Cole Smith did, by the way?

No, on that Petey play, there was a little foray. Was that him? That was Cole Smith? What, what are you talking about? That knocked him to the ice? Well, knocked him. Did you see what the back checker did? No, he poked his leg out of him.

Oh, I didn't see that. Yeah, spun him around a little bit. It was a good foray. It was adventurous. Now, it wasn't a good foray at all. It was a good for a lot. But I think he did get his leg kind of poked. It was just go away, everyone listening, like, go watch the video again.

Watch it up close. What it looks like is Pedersen is going in on the defenseman, and the defenseman just takes him out with a hit. But I think he got his leg. But I'm not really in the business of making excuses for Elias Pedersen, but you mentioned his name, and I was watching the highlight last night. That was bad last night in Nashville. I know the Canucks have some injuries,

but they lost this game not because of their injuries because it wasn't their depth guys that lost them the game. Their depth guys aren't on PowerPlay 1. They lost this game because their power play was dreadful. I don't know what they're trying to do on the power play. I know at five on three, you shouldn't be setting up a point shot. I know at five on three, you can't just be standing there. I know at five on three, you want to be setting up like quality, quality looks.

You know, you're not settling for shots on a five on three. And one thing I do know is that when the likes of Quinn Hughes plays over seven minutes, on the power play. And Elias Pedersen and Brock Bessor and Connor Garland play over six minutes on the power play. And then at the end of the night, your power play has scored no goals and it's actually

a loud one? That's why the Canucks lost the game last night. Yep. That's fair. Demco was good. Demcoe was good. 33 saves. Yeah. Max Sasson was good. Scored another goal. They were badly outshot, which is crazy considering all the

power plays that they had. I know Nashville had a few themselves, but the Canucks had more. So Nashville, not a very good team, set a season high for shots on goal with 35, and also set a season high with shots surrendered. Just 21. So that's not great. That's not a great Nashville team.

The Canucks, by the end of that, looked like a team that, as we played in the intro, just wanted to go home and just wanted to get off this road trip, which, by the way, if you want to go back on this five-game roadie, there have been a lot of things that have transpired over the course of the last seven to ten days. Brock Besser leaving the team. Brock Besser returned yesterday, played over 20 minutes

in his return to the lineup. Philip Heel getting hurt, Jonathan Lekker-Macky getting hurt, call-ups coming from the American League, and three wins to start, two losses to finish. Can we play the entirety of the Quinn Hughes scrum from yesterday? Queen Hughes, maybe the most tired of them all,

played 29 minutes and 26 seconds yesterday, in the finale of a five-game road trip. How'd he look? not great. Is that fair to say? His media availability was a lot quicker than the ice time that he got in the game. Yes, that was 55 seconds to the 29 minutes and 26 seconds he played. And I think it's fair to suggest that through the first eight games of the season, if you were to ask Quinn Hughes what he's thought of his performance,

he would probably say it's not up to par. It's not up to the standard that you expect of Quinn Hughes. Is that fair to say? Yeah, he's just been showing moments of frustration. And there's that. Here's Quinn Hughes, after last night's performance in Nashville. That ended the road trip with a three-and-two record, which doesn't sound all that bad. But, you know, with what's ahead of the Canucks, and we'll get into that a bit.

No rest for the weary. Quinn, I know it's been a long road trip and probably not exactly the way you guys wanted to end it. But what did you see from your group out there tonight? Yeah, I mean, obviously, I would have liked a better result. and I think we're all just ready to go home and have a good home set. What is the key to when you get home having a strong start with a back-to-back

especially? I know it's been tiring one. Probably just getting our sleep tonight and taking care of ourselves tomorrow and I mean, I think Montreal and Edmonton worried about them in two days' time and three days' time, Surdmonton. Max Hassan gets the lone goal tonight. He's got three in his last five games.

What have you seen from him? Yeah, it brings a lot of speed, happy for him. It's a nice move there to. anticipate that and then go five oh yeah not what you guys were looking for on the shot clock but you get a quality look there at the end to tie it up with Brock Besserts. Is that kind of all you can ask

for is a good look at that point? Yeah I mean nine seconds left just try to get some net. It's like you'd like a goal when the question is is that all you guys are looking for there? Like well I'd like to put it in the back of the net but alas I'm gonna read some text here. DK. and Squamish does it feel like something is just off with this team and more than just

the injuries in my opinion it starts with Hughes. His play is off. His demeanor feels off and something just feels weird. Thatcher Demko is hiding a lot of warts for this team. Brian, Tom Wilson broke the Canucks emotionally and physically. Mike, I think Quinn Hughes seems even more tired of this team than I am somehow. That's a pretty good text. Doug, I have said it before, but given how frustrated Hughes has been, I think he has one foot out the door. I wish the Canucks would trade them already to put him out of his misery. These are some dark texts coming into the Dunbar Lumber text line and it's eight games into the season, but it's kind of like, you know, we were joking the other day. It's like, you know,

there's 78 games left in the season. But if you want to put it in another way, there's 78 games left in the season? I'm trying, and I will stress the word trying. I am trying to remain as open-minded. This is not like unbridled up. But you have to have an opinion after eight games. My opinion after eight games is that I think that they've actually, I think that the fact that they're four and four is probably,

and four-and-four is not a great record. It's a 500 record. I think the fact that their form form might mask what's going on underneath the hood, if you want to be honest. What does that mean? I think that they probably could be worse given the injuries, given the general and what we're calling and classifying as vibes around the team. And that they've probably been propped up by converting on a, what's their shooting percentage? Probably dropped last night. But prior to that, it was a rather high shooting percentage.

Is this an optimistic take? This sounds like a pessimistic take to me. but you're kind of like couching it with an optimistic group voice. I want to try and give it more than eight games. And I want to try and give it more than, that's what do you want me to say? I want to give it more than eight games. That is my stance on this before I'm ready to write off a season that as you have astutely pointed out, has a lot of games left in it.

I would like to wait. So how do they turn it around? That's a great question. Oh, it's the one for the coach. Yeah. Right? How do you turn this around? He got asked another question yesterday too, by the way.

Yeah, we play that on you a bit. Our man in Nashville nearly got his head torn off. He sent him out into the field of battle. Yeah. I was like, you'll be okay. Don't worry. He's a super friendly guy. Do I need a gun?

No, you'll be fine. But like you say, I want to, I want more time to see if they can turn it around, which is fair in theory. Okay. How are they going to replace Heedle? Heedle could be gone for the season. Heedles' career could be over. I was kind of waiting to see like what the update will be on Heedel. not anticipating good news.

Mike, there's centers yesterday where Elias Pedersen, Max Sasson, scored a goal, Nils Amon, and Atu Ratu. Mm-hmm. And right now,

that's what they're going to be. Yep. Like, it's not like, oh, Heed'll be back soon. No. Even if he is back, it doesn't save their season.

It's killed Heel. Like, it's not like... Did you see what L.A. Friedman wrote in 32 thoughts? That was my next one. He said that he wrote that the Canucks for now in their search for a second line center are not willing to throw in their first round pick for next year. And then it was kind of like so far.

So far. That's that's that's that's that's the idea. When he wrote it, he should have had so far in all caps and boldface. They should not think about that at all. It's the Gavin McKenna year. I bet they're thinking about it. That is a really, really, really risky thing. Well, it would be protected, man.

It would have to be. It would have to be. That would just be like completely, completely mismanagement, criminal management, if they were to throw an unprotected first out to address a second line center position that even if you get, honestly, here's the thing, even if you get a good second line center, it might not fix this team. Forward depth is very thin. How many points is pretty thin?

have? Not a lot. And pretend Hedel wasn't injured for a second. Is he the savior of the season? Is he going to be the one that turns it around? No. That's my point. So like it's not even like injuries at this point. It's like even if the team was completely healthy, they would not be good enough.

Like they just don't have the depth. So this, it's, I mean, it's a tough conversation to have at this stage of the game because we're eight games in. And to be quite honest, it's not a super entertaining or enjoyable conversation to have because the last two games on that road trip and people are going to bake a bunch of uh i don't want to call them excuses but they're going to bake a bunch of excuses into the

recipe depleted lineup end of a trip the captain is tired and he just wants to go home uh i texted you yesterday i said the last two games of that trip that's calgary offense i watched both of the last two calgary games and that's calgary offense where it's a struggle to generate anything so what in your brain is is forcing you to try and be i don't want to say like positive but like are you not watching these games? I'm watching them through and through. They're not close. Like that power play yesterday.

The 5 on 3 was bad. No, everything was bad. The 5 on 3 was particularly bad. Even the style is bad. It's ugly, ugly hockey. You know, when we talked about the Kinecks on their power play, they need to have like a go-to play.

You don't have to go to it all the time. But I think every power play needs to have some semblance of an idea of what they're trying to set up. What are they trying to set up? It looked like half the time they were like looking at each other is like, you guys got any ideas?

Because, I mean, that is when they actually got set up. I think they need to zip it around more personally. Well, or snap it around, I suppose. Like, Hughes ripping shots from the point is not the answer. Nope. You know, and did you hear Adam Foote give a little, we got to get our feet moving out there? That was heard that a few times last year.

So maybe I was hoping that Adam Foote had some ideas on how to get those feet moving out there. But I guess he's not a miracle worker. I think. And you know, we did mention that Demko again was pretty spectacular last night. 33 saves on 35 shots. And a game where it was tilted at times pretty favorably and heavily in terms of the National Predators. It was interesting because the Pittsburgh game on this trip, when Lankinen went in, you kind of saw what happened. when someone doesn't provide you A plus great A goal.

And we came in after that game. And I know we focused a lot on the deployment why that game was so janky and weird. But another one of the takeaways for me was Lankinen didn't have a great game, but it was by far from a colossal like NHL stinker. Like he didn't let in egregious misplays of the month type goals or anything. He just wasn't razor.

He wasn't razor. No, razor sharp. Yeah. And when you're not razor sharp, you're on the wrong end of a. five one loss to a Pittsburgh team, which by the way, won again last night. They're off to a good start. So there's another thing too. You look at this stretch coming up. We've talked a lot about this weekend at hand. There are three really big games, two of them in a back-to-back

scenario. And then the third one, without a ton of rest, because they're going to go Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday. Demko and Lankinen are again going to have to perform to the highest of their abilities if the Kinnock's want to get anything out of the next three games, two of which or against opponents to play last night we can get into that game at some point because that was a very

controversial and eventful game between Edmonton and Montreal and then they got the New York Rangers on Tuesday. I mean if things were going a little bit better I'd look at these next three games as an opportunity

like an opportunity to get some excitement I don't know maybe it's my personality but I look at these games as uh-oh like if these goes bad if these go bad

and the way they've played in these last two games and just their lineup right now. Just their lineup right now. And you're like, how in what way are they going to go good? Biggest issue. And I know you were talking about, well, what difference is Heedle going to

make? Now, I will say this. We had this very similar conversation after they lost to St. Louis and went out on the three-game road trip. And then they played well in the first three games of that road trip and rattled off three straight victories. They had a good comeback

against Dallas and Chicago. And then they had a very good first period against Washington. The difference now is when you look at this lineup, Heedle's not there. So no, he's not going to be the savior, but he's going to make them a better team, obviously, when he's in the lineup.

And part of the reason why they had those three wins after the St. Louis lost is because he was in there playing. You look at it right now, and you can make a very, very valid argument that, again, I bring back the Calgary example. Part of the reason Calgary can't score is because Calgary doesn't have the talent. They have one line that they rely on,

and it's not giving them anything right now. Well, what does that sound familiar like, right? at Pedersen's point production over the last three games, and it's just not there. Okay, so to kind of put a closer on what happened yesterday, even before the game, forgot. We had a guy in Nashville, and, you know, look, it wasn't some secret. It was Adam Vingen, who writes for Sportsnet quite often. He's been based in Nashville for a while.

He used to cover the predators for a newspaper down there. So here's what happened. Adam texted me Adam Vingen not at foot Adam Vingen texted me a couple days ago and he said hey it was after the Pittsburgh game

and he said hey I'm filling in for IMac in Nashville and just wondering what I should ask like what should my story be and I said well like the deployment was the major talking point after the Pittsburgh game

so you know if you can get if you get Adam Foot to talk about the ice time and I kind of showed him some stats from the game just like social media post it wasn't anything like

go get him it was just like this is a story you can write about if you want so he showed up to the practice day

I guess which was yesterday two days ago sorry two days ago right so that would have been Wednesday

correct right and I think he was told then that Adam Foote wasn't speaking, right? But they would make Kevin Dean available. Adam Foote had something to do. Sure. And, you know, there wasn't a ton of media covering the team anyway.

So... It was Adam Vingen. Yeah, it was Adam Vingen, right? Like, whatever. And so I think Adam Vingen said, well, you know, I'd prefer to talk to Adam Foote, like the head coach. So instead of that, I'll just wait for the morning skate. Sure.

No disrespect to Kevin Dean. In the meantime, Adam Foote had been prepped on what's going to happen, right? You know, like he had been prepped on what was the talking points. And he sounded ready to go when poor Adam Vingen asked the question. And Adam actually texted me. He was like, because I thought he was going to tear my head off. I thought he was going to tear his head off.

I watch a video. And I'm like, poor Adam Vinginin, he's like, he's like suddenly throwing. thrown into the Vancouver Canucks Frey, you know, he's like, walks in there. It's like, well, what's going on with this crazy team? I like, it was like band of brothers when the guy sends the, the fresh-faced 18-year-old soldier into battle, and he's like, go get him, kid. We got to play the audio, though. We got to play the audio of Adam Vingen, ask you, do you have it ready to go, laddie? Okay, here's, here's, I don't know if we have the question,

but he, okay, here we go. Adam, Alias Pederson had the lowest ice time at five-on-five among your center room in Pittsburgh the other night why was that why did he have the lowest ice time five-on-five yes along your center group do you can you give me his ice time on the special teams do you remember it not off hand no you don't remember it was four in power playing two on a PK oh he was eight minutes special teams and two probably two shifts in the last eight minutes because we're down five one or the last probably six or seven minutes I don't know exactly so when you're playing eight minutes on special teams you know mainly

because of our injuries and those are harder minutes, you know, killing penalties, things like that. And then you take the three games in three and a half days where you look at Washington physical hockey and three hard row games and he played really good. So you try to manage, you know, hard penalty kill minutes, hard PK, minute, 20 shifts when, you know, you're getting eight minutes

compared to the previous year he's probably, my guess is he's averaging four to five-minute special teams. So when you're up an eight-minute mark and you're down 5-1, and you had three games and three-and-a-half days, you're trying to manage a guy physically, not putting him in a place to get injured either. You know, you're playing those hard minutes in a game, and you want to win until the end,

and we're always in striking distance even at 5-1. We're thinking about it. Like, we gave him a couple more offensive draws or things like that to see if we can get a quick one. But I would say when you look at the overall, statistics. It's harder to play. Harder minutes are, in my opinion, are going to be special team minutes, which his are up from last year. So if we really want to dig in it and we can, he's probably a minute on average less, five on five of the year, but probably two minutes

if we really focus on the PK of the last three or four games compared to the first three where he's more of a PK guy. We wanted to get him in gradually so he wouldn't get caught where you have to go learn it when you play it, then he's probably off a minute on PK, or sorry, five-on-five overall, but probably up two good minutes on special teams. So, you know, that probably explains how we're thinking. And he's going to have harder minutes five-on-five right now

because he's the most veteran centerment. So we're going to have to put him probably more starts on his end than we would prefer. But he's really good at finding his guy out. face-offs and things like that. So I gave the in-depth one, and I hope that answered your question. So I think he was prepped for that one.

It feels like he put some thought into that. Yeah, just a little bit. I think. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Intrepid Canucks reporter, our Friday Canucks insider, Rick Dollywell, Ricky D here on the Halford & Brough show on Sports Night 650.

What up, Rick? Gentlemen, how's it going? How's it going? We're worried about this Canucks team. What did you think of the game last night in Nashville? First of all said and done, you just take that three and two record on that trip and you run. And you just get the hell out of Dodge and just take the six points. Seven Abbey guys in the lineup, five injured, best or missed two games, center ice position decimated.

Boy, you take the six points and you run. Two goals in their last two, so that tells me the injuries. and the schedule is catching up to them, the fatigue, all that stuff. Okay, so they get one day a rest, right? So one day rest. Now they've got to face a fast, young, skilled Montreal team who just won two in Alberta, number one in their division with a record in six and two, so no rest for these guys at all tomorrow night,

and then they got the Oilers Sunday. Again, if it's not for Thatcher-Demco, that's a lopsided loss. You know what? That's the honest truth. when Nashville took that 2-1 lead, the shots were 31-16 Nashville. Demko has been the Canucks best player this season. It's not close. And Brough, you don't think the Americans are watching?

They are. The USA is very well aware of Demko start, and they are very impressed. And I'm telling you right now, if this keeps up with Demko, he's definitely going to be on a plane to the Olympics. There is no question in my mind. I checked in with my USA source last night again. they're very impressed, and they're just hoping that this stays and keeps up. Okay, so this Max Sassan kid, all right, three goals, five games, tied for second on the team. His speed is something else.

Yeah. But Sasson's got more goals than all the other Abbey guys combined. Baines, Carlson, Likaramaki, and Ratu have one goal combined. Sasson's got three. Undrafted, there was more than 20 teams after him when he left the NCAA. It was his agent, Dan Milstein, who directed him to Vancouver because he thought the development he would get from the Sadeen twins and the development in Abbisperd would be the best route for him.

When this team gets healthy, and you've got to think that's at some point, Sasan should never see an Abbisper uniform again. Canucks are going to have to put some of those Abbey guys on waivers to make room, but you've got to keep this kid up. It brings a lot of speed. even if somehow they need to bump them to the wing. Like his speed is very needed right now. And separation speed.

He gets away from defender so fast. His first two steps are, oh my goodness. Okay, so let me say this about Elias Pedersen. He has been strong defensively. He's one of the top forwards in the NHL without the puck. He had a team I4 block shots last night. His problem is he didn't get $11.6 million to be strong defensively and block shots. He got that money based on points to be a difference maker. Okay, so they're down

2-1 in the 3rd last night in Nashville. That's when you need your highest paid player, right, to score, tie the game at 2-2. That's why you get the big bucks. He's on pace right now for another 45-point campaign, four points in eight games. Look, that's going to put this team in big trouble. You cannot go far when your number one center is collecting 45 points every year. Everybody is hoping still, right, that he gets back to his all-star form. The defensive side, hey, you love it. You love the block shots. You love all that stuff. But look, this is not the start offensively that anybody was waiting for. And that's the bottom line. Four points in eight games. This club's not going to go far if that continues. Now, Evander Kane, no goals in eight games.

If Kane wants to earn another decent contract, he's got to get going offensively for his agent, because no goals in eight games. This continues, he's going to have a tough time getting that next contract. I saw national media predicting that Kane was going to get 20 to 25 goals. Well, going back to his Edmonton days, his last 33 regular season games in the NHL, he's got three goals. Right now, with all the injuries, they need their best players. Debrusk, Patterson, Kane, Besser, Aldi Garland.

without them being their best players, this thing could go south real fast. It doesn't feel like the news is good about Philippaedal. There hasn't been an update. Yeah. You know, it's, it's, I don't want to, I don't want to assume anything, but are you, are you hearing anything about Philippeal? Yeah, you do hear stuff, but I don't feel comfortable. You know, I did have some people tell me since he came back from Washington. He's had a couple of rough days, but that's expected.

But with concussions adjacent, you could have three bad days and three good days. Like, it's so up and down, right? And, but it would not surprise me if people that are close to him, his family, friends, and agents have talked to him about, you know, his long-term future. This city, Tucker Pullman, right, Michael Furland, right, and there's Van Berci. we have seen three hockey players in this city in the past decade that had to call it quits because of concussions and we had a New York reporter on he thinks he'll had four to five in New York

he's had two now here yeah big ones too I think somebody told me he had one in junior I don't know that for sure but you right now it is not on anyone's mind when's you're going to be back in a week or two or a month or or everything on everyone's mind right now is you are hoping this kid gets better.

Yes. You hear that phrase, I don't care when he's back. He's got to sit down and decide, like, you hear that phrase for athletes. I want to be able to hold my grandkids, right, when I'm in my 50, 60, 70s. That's important. His future, his family, that's number one, his health. I don't care if he's coming back this year. I don't care if it's in a week or a month or he's done for the year.

The number one thing with Filipino right now is get better and then you sit down and decide with your family and friends and your agents what you want to do next because the story isn't how is he doing with the concussion or when he's going to be back. The story is take care of yourself, get healthy, be better. That's all you care about right now. I think you can have concurrent stories. I mean, you can say the most important story. The most important story is Philippeal's health, but, you know, the Canucks, meanwhile, have a center, you know, depth chart right now that starts with Pedersen, and we don't need to say anything more about him.

We all know what's going on there. I mean, who's their second line center right now? Is it Sasson? Like, Max Sasson? Is it Ratu? Is it Nils Amon? I mean, take your pick. I'm not trying to, you know, rip those guys, but, like, do we expect how much?

How many do we expect in the NHL this year, maybe rot to? You, you, it's, we, we expected one to two Canucks from Abbisford to make the Vancouver roster, not seven or eight. Now, injuries have played a role and why a lot of them are up. But I think what you're trying to ask is, where are the Canucks with the trade, Jason? Yes. So we're all hearing the same names, right, that the Canucks are going after. It doesn't take Any sign or figure out the names that are available in the National Hockey League. it's not hard to see what centers are available.

Sources told me last night, the Canucks were having a tough time getting a deal done. It's just a tough market. There's so many teams looking for the same player. And then you've got to have, what do you got to have? You've got to have the draft capital, and then you've got to have the prospects. But that could change in a minute.

They can announce a trade this morning at 9 o'clock. But in the meantime, it's tough, right? You don't have leverage. Every team in the league knows that you have no centers. Every team in the league knows you're desperate for centers. That's why it's tough, but prices are high, they have no leverage, other teams looking for centers as well. But all teams, including the Canucks, are going to call for the likes of Nazam-Codry and Babel-Zaka. You have to call.

Whether the flames are doing anything or not, you have to call, and you have to check the prices. Canucks have had interest in Zaka for a while. I've had more than one person tell me Vancouver, Boston, are talking Zaka, right? like that's a that that's the best when I look at everybody that's the best fit for the Canucks Zaka one year left 4.7 million very manageable only 28 years old 6-4 200 pound centerman Bruins have lost six straight if there's a sale there conucks should be number one in line for Zaka Boston has to make room they got a young kid portress they got to make room for him but do keep in mind all these players have no trade clauses all these players can

shoot down trades, there's a lot of trades, like last year at the deadline that were shot down by players that didn't get public, right? So do keep that in mind. Now, when it comes to Caudry, he's 35. He's got four years left at $7 million per year. If the flames do move them, they're going to ask for a ton, and they most likely don't want to send a top centerman elsewhere in their division who's got term. After this year, he's got three years left. last thing you want quadry to do is keep coming back and burning you so that's an issue look at the other names being thrown around middle stat Wenberg Goddette Hayes Comfer middle stat was a healthy scratch this week and then the game he came back he was a winger he makes

5.7 million they're going to have a tough time moving that guy there's not a lot there That's a tough move And he's got a year left to 5-7 Wenberg in the last eight years His highest point total is 38 Can any of them come in and fix The issues that Kinnock's have Well that that's my

That's my question is like to what end So let's say you give up Something considerable for Pavel Zaka And you get the deal done and he agrees to come to Vancouver How much further along are you to being a playoff team? How much further along are you to being a Stanley Cup contender? You know, I want to talk a little bit about Quinn Hughes's body language throughout this season. Raid games in, he's not playing as well as he did last season.

He's still playing well relative to most NHL players. But he looks very frustrated. and frankly, he looks a little bit tired of it all. He does, and body language is a great thing in life, right? And you could see someone when they're happy and smiling. You could see their smile a mile away, right? And then you could see, you saw his postgame last night, right? And then you saw a couple of plays on the ice where one play,

he kind of shook his head. Look, the way the Canucks can get Quinn Hughes back, have a good culture, have a winning program, you know, win year after year. You get tired of losing. And if this thing goes south, and I don't know if it is, Jason, if it goes south and they start losing and it's compounded by another loss and another loss, it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough. I would, and if this guy, it's another losing season, like I wouldn't wait until the summer

or next year to trade Quinn. Just move them, get them to a happy place and get as much as you can. back. Now, everybody talks about what could you get back for Quinn and everyone, you've got to get a defenseman back. And if the trade is with New Jersey, I wouldn't ask for a top... I would get an eco-hearsher out of there as fast

as possible. Why would the devils do that? No, okay, but they also know that it's not going to cause... It's going to be a big, steep price, Jason. It's not going to be... I'm just saying what I would ask for if I was

to... I would go to another team, frankly. I wouldn't go to New Jersey. I would go to another, Quinn has no trade protection. No. And I would go to a team, frankly, if things go south, really south. And Quinn, like I know he can't sign an extension until July 1st, but he can sure as hell tell him he's not going to sign an extension. I think the conversation might have to start at the trade deadline. And then you go out there and you say, any team in the NHL, what will you give me for two guaranteed postseason with Quinn Hughes? Let the bidding

start now? Absolutely. But we've got to get to a stage where he, we got to figure out where's this team at Christmas, where is it towards trade deadline. You know, he's going to be happy going to the Olympics to represent the U.S., especially after what happened to four nations. He is a kid built with elite status. He wants to win every day, he gets better every day. You could tell, like last night, like his postgame press conference, or sorry, his interviews in the post game, they're shorter and shorter. The answers are short. Like, his first answer about the game last night was very short. The kid, maybe he's tired.

Maybe he's tired of losing. You know, he hasn't won a lot in Vancouver. I'm not counting the bubble year, but the only other year he's ever had success in this city is two years ago. That power play last night, Dolly? No, oh, for five. Not a shot on goal. And the five on three, did you have any, like, were they trying to set anything up?

Or they were just looking around and be like, maybe if I pass it to this guy, he'll figure something out. But here's the thing. Four power plays in the first period, not a shot on that. You have a two-man advantage late in the second. Was it a minute and 30? And nothing. Not directing Pucks to the front of the net, not moving your feet.

But Foote said something interesting. Teams are pressuring us. Well, you got skill out there to figure out how to beat the pressure. The skill is out there. Look at Quinn Hughes' minutes on the power play last night. Crazy. The Siddins used to love the pressure. They're like, fine, we'll spin off it.

And then we'll use that pressure. You know, you want to come at us? Come at us. But the problem with the Canucks is they don't seem to have that answer. And when teams pressure them, they don't have answers. They don't know where to pass it to. Oftentimes they'll force a pass and it'll go off a skate and bounce out of the zone. I mean, there's been way too many times like that.

They just, like the pressure, they have no answer to the pressure. It's like a football team that has no answer to the blitz. right you know sometimes you can use the blitz and you can be like all right come at us and you and you can set something up you know underneath or whatever the connects have no answer to that Jason the power play when I look at the the massive problems with this hockey club the power play is not up high for me it's getting you can't play games in the national hockey league with three kids from Abbisford in the lineup up the middle of the ice like the power play okay fine they'll figure it out well more important they got to figure out

you know how to get better up the middle and get an HL experience let me a couple more players I want to talk about checked in I checked in with the agent for Lucas Reichel yesterday the Blackhawks trying to trade them the agent's hopeful a trade can happen soon yes the conucks are in the mix for

Reichel he's a winger but he's got a history of playing center he's a winger slash center type guy also I want to tell you the Rangers are trying to move a young winger Brennan Offman wouldn't surprise me if the conucks are one of the teams that check in on that. A lot of teams have checked in on that.

And I'll tell you why. This is a kid with hard skill. Hasn't worked out with New York with him. Change the scenery would be good. Isn't it interesting? The Rangers called him up this morning. I wonder if that's to showcase him or not. But there are kids.

There are players that the Canucks can go out and show interest. But again, it comes back to draft capital, comes back to prospects. Who do you have in your system? I look at Carolina. So Carolina is looking for a center, just like the Canucks. And that's the other problem, no one understands. The Connox are not the only team in the NHL looking for centers. And Carolina, they've got tons of draft capital.

They got tons of draft picks. Connucks don't have that. You know, it's easier to make a trade when you have a ton of draft picks to trade. The Canucks right now, look at their 2024 draft, trade of the first three picks. Last year, they did a really good job, and they showed the importance. of hanging on to your first two picks. They got a great first round pick in Coots. Medvedev, look at the importance of hanging on to your picks, right?

And Coots has got nothing but a beautiful future, but the importance of hanging on. And this regime and the previous regime in the last six years have traded a ton of first one and second round picks. You know, if you look at their pool of players, it's not that great. And that is one of the reasons why. So they're not the only team out there looking for Sanderman.

I'll tell you that much right now, Jason. That's another problem they have. Okay, tell us a bit about what's going on in Abbotsford right now because it's got to be, I know it's not the main concern, but I'm sure it's a concern for Manny. It is a concern. And I do think it's a very interesting story. Most farm teams in the NHL can handle one, two, three call-ups to the NHL. but man, 7-8-9 is out of this world.

Just like Vancouver, Abbisburg was looking for players all week long, all week long. They did sign the Cloverdale Kid, Jujar, Kara, this week. They got lucky because he's a UFA. He was sitting at home working out. He was going to go overseas to Europe in the summer, but then, you know, he decided not to. Not sure if he plays tonight, we'll see,

might have to pass a physical. Abbiswred had two defensemen, Jason, at practice earlier this week that had no American hockey league experience. They got three undrafted already defensemen playing. They got two kids from junior last year that are playing. Like, it's basically essentially an East Coast hockey league team. It's put Manny in a tough spot. Now, they are going to raise a championship banner tonight in their home opener.

And half the guys in the lineup never played part in the Calder Cup. So I have no idea who the three centers for Abbisford are tonight. It's too bad because this Abbisford team caught the imagination in the lower mainland last spring. It was a great run. It was fun to watch. And, you know, it was nice to know that the Canucks farm team won the Calder Cup. I go back to the farm teams when they were in Fredericton in the 80s, when Mark Crawford used to be a yo-yo going back and forth.

It was nice to see a Canucks farm team win the championship. I do believe the Abbisford Canucks Championship rings are on the way. They've been ordered. They deserve them. So that's a good thing for them. So you feel for them a little tonight. They're going to raise the banner. And it's not going to be a team on the ice tonight.

That is reflective of the team that won the Calder Cup. You watching White Caps on Sunday, Rick? Okay, first of all, you said it was free haul first. So give me the goods, give it to me. All you have to do, and I know this is a big stretch, but all you have to do is download the Apple TV app, and then you don't have to pay anything. It's all full.

Just have to have an Apple TV app. That's for the first game. Okay. Game two next Saturday, not Sunday, November 1st. Rick, it's not going to be on just one TV. TSN channel, two. TSN 1 and 5, the White Caps. Okay, all right.

So there you go. You can watch it all. You can go on Sunday. They're opening the upper bowl. They're expecting 30,000 plus in attendance. Should be a lot of fun. We just talked to Yesper earlier. I know you guys had them on the show yesterday, too. Yeah, we had sorens stammer yesterday. Listen to me. Mike. Yeah. Mike.

Yep. This soccer team has caught the imagination of the city. Sure has. Goals for, awesome. Goals against Thomas Mueller. Isn't that amazing? You know, a star player. You see his goal in Orlando, you know, that's what star players, difference makers do.

That's what Thomas Mueller has done since the day he's arrived. This White Caps team is the best team. I'm just really pissed it's not on cable. I'm going to tell you guys that the Lions TV numbers on cable are very strong in Lower Mainland. Okay. I'm going to tell you, like I remember David Braley telling me, like the numbers for the lines locally on television are very strong. I don't think the White Caps numbers, their television. numbers are very strong because A, it's hard to find, and B, people don't want to pay.

But here you have two teams, the lines and the white caps. Get on and support these two. Absolutely. You know what? All the talk is Kinnock's, and I get it. Oh, it's a one-sport town. I call BS. It's not a one-sport town.

White Caps have a rich history. Little Ricky watched the 79 Soccer Bowl. Little Ricky watched the best lines team in 1985, with Roy Do you. Walt and Mervyn Fernandez. And my good pal, Nick Kebler, my good pal. Nick's been to my house, Pound and Crown. Nick's a great guy. I love them.

But listen to me. These two got a rich history. Get out there and support them. They're both doing incredible. We got a Canadian quarterback. Be proud of that. You know, be proud of the lines in the white caps. Support them down the stretch.

You know, these are two good teams. They're doing good things in the market. And I hope someday, with the politicians help, they can get a stadium for both the white caps and the lines I don't know hey we got a Canucks owner County give him a practice facility done

you know how are we going to get how are we going to do you guys remember in 2009 with Kerrfoot was going to foot his own bill downtown and they said no pardon a pun yep you finally do it you got an owner says I'll invest my money and then the city and the red tape shoot it down

right I'm with you though we could have playoff games white caps and lions and back to back weekends at B.C. Place. We should get down there. We should support local. We should buy tickets. We should fill B.C. Place. And we should support those teams. 100%. So are you saying Holford, I got to watch the White Cups on my cell phone? You can do that. Oh, my God. I'm not even doing. What do I do for TV? Do you have a smart TV? I don't know. I got to check. I don't know this stuff. Just tell me, do I get it

free on TV. Yes, with an asterisk. Rick, we'll do this when we're off the air. Thanks for doing this, buddy. We appreciate it. I'm out of here. I'm out of here. I'm out of here. I see, buddy. Bye. Rick Dahlia, all, everyone. Jesper, don't call me, Anika Sorenstam appeared on their show yesterday. Yeah. And I don't think he got Mueller right

either, which is weird, because that's an easy one. Sorry? Mueller. I don't know what he called him. I don't know what it was like. I was lost on Jesper Sorenstam. I'm like, oh, you know what? That's not even that bad. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Thank you.