Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 10/27/25

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports including lots of Canucks action, Blue Jays World Series results, and a big Whitecaps playoff win, they get a 'Nucks update from NHL.com & In Goal Magazine's Kevin Woodley, plus they chat with Blue Jays radio commentator Ben Shulman ahead of tonight's game three of the World Series. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Whoa, wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose a fucking Canucks? Da-na-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. Circle for Heronic driving wide center and Fred Pedersen scores You know what I've had this thing as a triple cell And I am afraid of you right here right now Now here's Heronite right circle of he is Pedersen he scores

I think this thing could even go as high as a Don't buy Garland top of the zone For best or left point long rest shot tip they score Kiefer Sherwood Oh my God I'm never going to financially recover from this

Good morning maker 6-1 on a month Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halpert. It is Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. And Laddie is away. So a rash. Good morning to you. Good morning. Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one 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, 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 and step. Big show ahead on a Monday. Lots to

get into. First hours, all interrupt uninterrupted Halford and Brough. Our guests don't begin until 7 o'clock. Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the two deep zone is going to join us. Brough and I took a virtual buy week from the NFL this weekend, so Mike will get his caught up with everything that we missed in the league can also look ahead to

tonight's Monday night football matchup that's all coming up at 7 a.m. with Mike Tannier 730 Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingoal magazine what a crazy crazy weekend it was for the Vancouver Canucks by the time it ended Canucks had seven injured players played in a pair of games oh and they orchestrated a trade to boot right after we got off the air on Friday now they get JT Miller and the Rangers coming into town tomorrow we'll get into all that with Kevin Woodley at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Ben Shulman's going to join the program. Radio play-by-play of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Game three of the World Series goes tonight from L.A. with the Dodgers and Blue Jays tied one game apiece. A reminder, you can hear the game in its entirety tonight, game three of the World Series, right here on SportsNet 650 beginning at 5 p.m. We're giving away Food Fighters tickets at 8 a.m. We're giving away a $250 gift card to Golf Town, Jason. Maybe you can win it. I don't think I'm allowed to win that.

$250 to Golf Town at 7.30. I've got to text for some basin druff. I'll give the details for said giveaways later in the show, but we got so many things we need to get into. So without further ado, a rash, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools,

resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.com. Without injured defensemen and Captain Quinn Hughes in the lineup, things might have appeared grim for your Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night, but no worry, they had key for Sherwood. Sherwood scored his second goal of the game, 142 into OT, and the Canucks beat the Oilers 4-3 in overtime at Rogers Arena on Sunday, night. Yeah, what a roller coaster of a weekend on the ice, off the ice. The Canucks last night against the Edmonton Oilers opened the scoring in the first on a nice passing play from

Evander Cain to Brock Besser, who beat Picker between the legs with a backhand deke. New Canuck, Lucas Reichol made a solid defensive play earlier in the shift. So all three linemates contributed on that goal. Demko made 13 saves in the opening period. And he continues to be, I think, MVP so far. In the second, it was Elias Pedersen, not Elias, Elias Pedersen with a classic PD1 timer on the power play. We saw it once during the preseason. We saw it again last night. Hronick had replaced Queen Hughes on Power Play 1 and it was Hronick who fed Pedersen for the shot. Interesting. For Pedersen, it was his fourth point of the weekend after a three point game, sat Saturday against Montreal.

It is not hard to see. You don't need any analysts. You don't need natural stat trick. You don't need anything like that. You just need your two eyes to see that the confidence is starting to return to Pedersen's offensive game with the puck on his stick. And it's great to see,

especially with Tuesday's visit from J.T. Miller and the Rangers looming. And man, the Rangers did not. looked good yesterday in Calgary. Miller looked okay, actually. But the Rangers as a team... The guy's surrounding him. Not good.

It's just so nice to see Pedersen wanting the puck on a stick again. He was in control out there with the man advantage. He was the guy. And they needed it. It's been a while since we've seen that when he's just like, yeah, I'm going to take

the puck and I'm not just going to kind of like turn style it off to the next guy. I'm going to do something with it. that was good to see. Now, it looked like the Canucks had made it 3-0 when Kiefer Sherwood ripped one past Pickard, but upon review, Tyler Myers was just offside

so that goal didn't count. And I think we all wondered at the time if that would come back to haunt the Canucks who had blown, don't forget, a 2-0 lead the night before against Montreal. Once you know it, the Oilers made a 2-1 late in the second on a breakway by Drysidal. It was a perfect long,

pass from Bouchard, who's playing in Edmonton has come under fire this season. Dry Seidel had managed to sneak behind Tyler Myers. There's that name again, not in a good way, for the breakaway. But don't worry about it, Tyler. Don't worry about it, Tyler. It's okay.

Kiefer Sherwood's got this. Basser, by the night's tip pass to Senator for Sherwood, nice tow-track around and hold in front. He scores. You'll see this one on Sports Net Central tonight. That was an unbelievable goal by Kiefer Sherwood. Did you know Mattias Ackholm aged 10 years on that play?

Man, we want to talk about guys that are struggling. Yeah, right. But full credit to Kiefer Shrewood. You know, and I know Dali Waugh was somewhere out there saying, you don't think his agent is doing cartwheels? You don't think Team USA is looking at them. Seriously, Team USA might be looking at him. Take a shot.

And seriously, Sherwood is going to get paid. Who wouldn't want this guy on their team? It was a double whammy for the connects to start the third. First, the team announced that Victor Mancini would not return. So he was hurt. Another injury. Put it on the pile. And by the way, that came.

Everyone just kind of noticed Victor Mancini was hurt when they were checking you to see that Philip Peronik was okay because he fell awkwardly late in the second. And, oh, man, it's just like one thing after another, but fortunately, Horonick was able to stay in there. So first the team announced that Victor Mancini wouldn't return, and then the tough night for Tyler Myers continued when old teammate Vasili Pod Coles and stripped him of the puck along the boards.

You've got to move that puck, Halford. You've got to move it. You've got to move it quickly, especially against a team like the Oilers, and that led to a quick goal by Jack Roselveck. Oh, yeah, he signed there. Not long after that, P.O. Joseph had a great chance to reclaim a two-goal lead for the Canucks. Nice pass from Max Sasson,

but Calvin Pickard, who was in there, made his biggest save of the night to keep it a one-goal game. And it stayed a one-goal game until just over five minutes left when Marcus Pedersen took a slashing penalty and the Oilers very quickly bounced, pounced on a leaky Canucks Pek

after another goal by Drysettle. Assist to who else but Connor McDavid who really made that play happen. So for the second straight night, the Canucks had surrendered a 2-0 lead and the P.K., which is missing some key contributors from last season. They're either departed or injured was a factor. I wasn't feeling great about the Canucks' chances at this point when it went to overtime. They got a point, which, you know, good for them. A scenario they probably have taken before the game after they learned that Hughes couldn't play. But there was that guy again, Kiefer Sherwood. Sherwood carries down the wall and leaves for Connor Garland. Garland, top of the zone for Besser left point long. Red shot, tip they score.

Kiefer Sherwood. It's his second of the game and team leading sixth of the season. And the Canucks take it in overtime, over the Oilers. Vancouver 4 and Edmonton 3. All right, tons to discuss here. Mm-hmm. So Harry, the radiation on call it just from Calgary, texts in must listen radio,

Bruff's opinions of EP 40s play this weekend. It was great. It was awesome. It was awesome. And I told everyone that I'm not a hater. I'm just a guy that watches the games and tells people what I think. And when Pedersen started playing better, I'll be the first to admit it. Not even admit it.

Just observe it. And then pass along those words. He's playing better. I'm telling you, the confidence when the puck is on his stick is starting to return. That's always been the issue. You know, I know he blocked another shot last night

or another four shots or whatever. You know, and he's up to, I think someone tweeted out that he's first in the NHL among forwards with blocked shots. 22. That's awesome. Yep. He's always been good positionally and defensively.

This has never been an issue. He's always, you know, had some hits and it showed that he does care. it was a confidence issue. I don't know what happened, but he just lost his confidence. Now he's starting to find it again, which is awesome. I hope it continues. The team desperately, desperately needs him to be at the top of his game.

Well, they desperately need it now because they're so depleted by injuries. So the biggest takeaway for me, with all due respect to Elias Pedersen and Kiefer Sherwood, and let's be honest, as gutsy as that team played last night, because that's a win, quite frankly, one you weren't supposed to get. The odds makers had them as pretty significant underdogs at home. And when you want to consider the circumstances, yeah, it was Edmonton, but it was also an Edmonton team playing the second and back-to-back nights. So it was a gutsy, gutsy performance for a team that was severely underman.

This morning, as of this morning, the Canucks have seven players, seven players that would be contributing to this team out with injury right now. Most important, obvious one is Hughes, right? Behind him is Heedel. You got Mancini, Lecromacki, Forbort, Blugger, Hoglander. That is, for a team that was coming into the year, already kind of iffy with its collective depth, you would have expected that team to possibly flatline. And it looked at times, especially when that blew that second two-goal lead that it might be happening.

But I will give them a ton of credit for showing some intestinal fortitude, some testicular fortitude, and getting a win last night under extremely difficult circumstances. because Heronik probably could exit to that game with the injury that he suffered. He fought through it, came back, played through. They were under manned. They were under siege at times, but they were able to get a result. Now the question is, when are they going to get some of these guys back? Yeah, I don't know how long Hughes is going to be out for.

You know, if he's not able to go, you have to know, you have to think it's, you know, not just a hang nail. Sure. And lower body aim, no update after the game. I mean, they're saying day to day. but like their day-to-day could be like four-bore was day-to-day I think of him not mistaken and now he's week to week granted he had a setback in his recovery but still

I know what you're saying this is also a guy that did not have the regulator put on him Quinn Hughes I'm talking about when the minutes came about on this five-game road swing right and then when they came back and played that first game of the two against Montreal Hughes's minutes were never regulated he was playing

big minutes I think he got up to one game on that five-game road trip that almost eclips 30 minutes which is for you athletes out there, half the hockey game. Yeah. There's so many things I want to discuss. But I think I want to start with, it's not like, it's,

I was almost proud of the Canucks last night. No, seriously. No, seriously. Like, it was hard last night. It was the, like, I'm always hoping they succeed, but it was the first time I was on the edge of my seat kind of like, come on guys. Like, come on, get this done.

You guys deserve this. Like, get this done. You know, and I was, you know, when they took that late penalty and Marcus Pedersen, a bit of a reckless slash. And I was like, oh, no, the PK. Like, the PK is missing some key guys. You know, blugers hurt. Four board.

Four board's hurt. And then they don't have Pew Souter and they don't have Dakota Joshua. all four of those guys were a big part of the PK last year, which finished the season so impressively. So I was kind of worried about the PK coming in. And then Montreal's power play looked really good and burned them a few times. And, you know, Edmonton's power play is, I don't even know what it rates right now,

but it's one of the best in the NHL with that talent out there. So that was tough when they surrendered the lead because it meant, you know, for the second straight game, over the weekend they'd had a 2-0 lead and they weren't going to win in regulation they didn't I mean they lost them regulation of Montreal so I was just like come on guys you you deserve better than another loss because you have come together as a group without your captain and you played really well and what do we want when what do we want when key players get injured we want other guys to step up.

Next man up mentality. And Kiefer Sherwood has stepped up. Elias Pedersen has stepped up. We got a new kid in there, Lucas Reichel, who I think has played quite well, considering the circumstances. And then even just go back to Philip Peronik falling and looking injured.

And we all know that he's had issues with his shoulder, and it looked again like he had issues with his shoulder. He wasn't coming out of that game. And I think that was, that showed something, right? Those guys came together in a situation where they knew, man, we can't lose this one. Because we're four and five. I mean, they've, they've, I don't know if five and five is a good record considering the situation for the connects or not. I know it's not.

I would say, I would say it's a good, I would say it's a good record considering the situation with all the injuries that they've been going through and all the stress that they've been going. And they spent half the season on the road. Yes. And even when they come home, they're like, how about it back to back? Right away. Yeah, yeah. Like, the schedule has been tough. So, you know, I would just say that that was a really good win for the Canucks.

And I hope they can keep it going because if they can be the Rangers on Tuesday, I know things, it's not like, and we're through it, right? They won't be through it because they're immediately out on the road again without much, without march rest so it like it could get hard but I think all we want and we've said it so many times you know the most important thing honestly like at the end of the day I've seen good teams and I've seen bad teams with the Canucks like I just want them just want them to play hard you know and and act like they're trying their best and win and all cheer for them it's it's when things happen like last season when they're totally dysfunctional and they're fighting

among themselves to the point where, you know, one of them has to be traded. That's when I grow a bit of like, hey, what am I doing? Why am I cheering for these guys? And last night, it was just really nice to have that experience of like, come on, guys. Like, let's get a win here. So as depleted as the Canucks are and as valiantly as they rallied last night, it still stands to reason that there might be some transactions on the horizon as it pertains to this hockey club.

We saw one on Friday, not long after we got off the air, and I know it's been pretty parsed through on this station, Sportsnet 650, but it's still news to us. The Lucas Reichael Tregg went down in case you did somehow miss it. It was a fourth round pick in 27 in exchange to Chicago for the Young Forward. That was obviously previous acquired by the Canucks, so they get their own pick back. Reichel then played 1552 in his debut against Montreal. Then he played 1633 last night against Edmonton. So no rest for the guy.

The newcomer to the team gets thrown into the mix right away. plays pretty significant minutes. And the Canucks might not be done dealing right there. Because one of the stories that came to the forefront this weekend was the Canucks continued interest in Pavel Zaka. So to set the stage here for some audio from Elliot Friedman from the 32 Thoughts podcast, Dollywall brought this up, if I'm not mistaken on our show, but on other platforms as well last week,

talking about this ongoing interest that the Vancouver Canucks have had in Pavel Zaka. For further detail and color to the story, here's Fridge, filling in the margins. This is Elliot Friedman from the 32 Thoughts podcast on Pavel Zaka. So Rick Dahlwall, who I have a ton of respect for, Rick's a grinder. And I say that to me, that's the ultimate compliment in the job that we do. So I heard that, so he reported last week that the Canucks had called a vote Zaka.

I think that's been going on all. summer. All summer. And they've been trying to go back and forth. And I think there's a couple things at play here. Number one, I don't think Boston feels that they're in any rush. They're still

competing. You know, Boston is not a team that's throwing in the towel, by any stretch of the imagination. They had a big win against Colorado on Saturday, and boy, watching McKinnon and McAvoy go out at the end of that game. Like, I love that. Two hugely important players for their teams, like fighting like that at the end of a game.

Like, it matters. That says it matters. But, you know, everybody here is looking for centers. Everybody wants centers. Boston's got a guy here that Vancouver and others have called about and the Bruins are like, no, we have, we don't have to do this and we're not going to do this unless we get what we want. And so obviously at this point, nothing's happened.

Zocca's got a neat team, no trade. I understand that Vancouver is not on it. So the Canucks could in theory do this. Okay. So we all get the interest in Zod. from the Canucks perspective. And we can have a conversation, if you want, about whether the Canucks should be,

how willing they should be to throw in some prospects, whether it be Lecker-Mackie or V-Lander or even unprotected first-round pick for this year, which would be insane. I love it. You are an idiot. I love to gamble. But here's what I don't get.

What are the Bruins thinking here? Like, if I were them, I'd be wanting an absolute king's ransom for this guy, given the lack of center options on the trade market and his team-friendly cap-pit. Like, we saw another team that needs a second-line center in the Montreal Canadiens, right? I mean, that's a team that's, you know, clearly out there looking for another center. I was reading a Boston Globe article where they listed, they were talking about this Zaka, speculation and they listed Marcus Pedersen as the most likely trade target for the Bruins because Hampus Lindholm is injured.

Yeah, they just put them on IR. But I'm like Pedersen, Marcus, just signed an extension in Vancouver and he's got a full no move clause. Yeah, and they need them here. Right? He was part of fixing the defense. I guess, I guess maybe I just don't understand where the Bruins are at right now. I know they had a big losing streak, but they've also got guys like,

Posternak and McAvoy and, you know, Swayman, like, what, I, are they rebuilding after 10 games or whatever? Are they still trying to compete? And I guess that's where the whole, like, they know they don't have to do anything right now. I mean, why not, they could just wait to the trade deadline, couldn't they? Yeah. If you look at the standings right now, they've had almost as disappointing start as New York Rangers standing-wise. I mean, they're right down there in terms of, I mean, they've got four wins to the Rangers, too, but they're still on eight points. They haven't had anything in over. They just haven't played well to start the year but it's 10 games in and I think Friege's positioning of where they're at and they're

fighting spirit and in a literal sense with McAvoy going toe to toe with McKinnon over the weekend I think that's maybe him saying this is the vibe that I'm getting out of Boston that they are not about to give away who's a pretty important player for them by the way Zaka's almost a pointy game guy this year and plays a lot he's six four he's over 200 pounds so he's a pretty vital contributor to what they do. So never mind giving them away, giving them away in a market where there's no centers available. Like Lucas Reichel was it prior.

The Connucks already got the other guy that was, I mean, there's other players available. Don't get me wrong. But it's a thin market. And the Canucks already, you know, snapped up one of the guys that was out there to play the position. I understand why there is a push in Vancouver right now and why this might have gotten heated back up. And I suspect that at some point we're going to get news on Philippeal's playing.

future and it might not be all that optimistic. Yeah. And it might be the reason why they went out and orchestrated kind of a Band-Aid trade with Reichel. That was literally get someone in after the road trip kind of trade. Right. Get someone now. I mean, what did it say that, I know Lucas Reichel has

pedigree, but what does it say that all he cost was a fourth round draft pick? So I think Chicago was in a position where like, we don't want this guy on the team. We're going to put him on waivers soon. We're going to try and send him back to the H.L. and because Chicago's got a kind of a decent thing going, relatively speaking.

He couldn't get a top six spot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he wasn't really suited for the bottom six. At least that's the way. Anyway, there wasn't a spot for him. So they were like, okay, we got to get anything we can for him. So they got a fourth round pick. What did it say for the Canucks, their desperation level,

where he did one of those things where he's like flying to Vancouver and his flight lands and it's like, okay, you're going into the game right now. Do you know the system? It doesn't matter. Just go in there and play with your instincts. You're playing 16 minutes today. I mean, this is a guy that, again, was having trouble in Chicago finding his spot

and the Canucks were forcing him into the lineup. Yeah, and it's reflective of where they're at. And again, with seven guys currently injured right now, this is going to be another week where there's going to be patchwork lineups and probably a lot more conversations like this, where the Canucks are looking to acquire guys. Quite honestly, just the play.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. To the phone lines we go. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingole magazine, a presentation of White Rock Hyundai joins us here on the Halford & Bruff show on SportsNet 650. What up, Kev, how are you? I'm good. I'm going to with Bated Breath to hear exactly.

I'm going to throw to Brough because it's his question. should Demko start tomorrow against the Rangers Oh Yeah of course why not Well I mean I know we're just like so terrified of overplaying him And like he'd only get one day off to recover Is it an obvious decision to start Thatcher Dempco against the Rangers We lose them? We lost them

Wow in record time today That's nice You're listening to the Halford & Brough show I was hoping that would go better. There's a dramatic sort of element to it now. We don't know what he was going to say. Well, I think he was like, yeah, sure, why not? Yeah, but that was just a why not part of it.

Maybe. Maybe he's cooking up something in the lab right now. I mean, it is. They can't be scared to play him on one day's rest when they've given him so much rest. The follow-up question is going to be is what has he thought of Blankin's game so far. But we've got it back now, Kevin Woodley, nashel.com, and Engel magazine. Kevin, why don't you just take off from what we were talking about? does Demko get the start tomorrow?

Is there any reason not to start him tomorrow when J.T. Miller and the Rangers come to town? No, not at all. Like, the biggest question here is, as the performances sort of grow apart between Demko and Lincoln and early in the season, is do you abandon what has sort of been a two of every three for Dempco and start stretching more towards three of every four?

But at the end of the day, going anything beyond that, like there's a reason they're starting at roughly two out of every three sorry guys that's okay we'll give you a chance to pull it together there after my phone decided it didn't like your first question

and hung up on you I you know I popped the zinc lozenges which is what you do when you're old and that was evidently a mistake as you're about to go on air we're talking to Elaine Vigno this morning on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650 Demco's been their MVP right like it's clear correct

I mean his keeper Sherwood giving him an early run but he doesn't play in early as much yeah I know he's been good like he's top eight in the league and he's eight to league and goal saved above expected like he's been really good I actually don't know this is like at his absolute best peak performance

you know whatever he hates it but the you know Vegas series you know we talk about the bubble bubble Demco I know he doesn't like that term but like I don't know if we're seeing that yet But it's been really good, especially when you consider all the time he's missed. Like I said, top eight in the league, not giving up a lot of bad ones.

I mean, the one to Rosovic last night is kind of a mid-danger goal, beaten clean off a turnover. It's one that, you know, honestly, at his best, he probably gets a piece of. Doesn't seal on the Leon Drysidal. One-timer coming across it again, I know they're taught to sort of push along the ice through the hips, not reach with the toes, which keeps the pat on the ice. that's getting super nitpicky. At the end of the day,

you're getting a top 10 performance out of your number one goal tenor and given everything he's been through over the last couple of years, injury-wise. That's about the best you could have expected. I actually think, you know, much like that first game against Edmondson, there's going to be nights where, you know, he's even better.

And so all of this bodes well. It's just a matter of what do you do to mitigate what is a ridiculous schedule and make sure that a guy who's never made it to the finish line makes it to the finish line. And they're obviously going to be careful with that. That's why they paid Lankin and as much as they did. And so far, like I said, it's been about a, you know, two out of every three

gets you to just over 50 games. So that's kind of the pace. I know, you know, I'd be honest with you. Like when he didn't play, you know, on the road, I put my eyebrow up at the Pittsburgh game. But then you looked at it and you're like, well, Lincoln hasn't had a ton of success against his old team in Nashville. So that made sense. Giving him the second end of the back to back rather than the first one. I mean, you're going to split them anyways. Give them the extra day off in the first one. Like a lot of what they're doing makes sense.

And I think you really have to resist the temptation to chase wins at the expense of decreasing the chance you have them at the end of the season. I'm over at Moneypuck right now. And it suggests that at five on five, Kevin Lankin, it isn't playing well, but he's not playing badly either. That, you know, goal saved above expected is like,

minus point one. We all know the Canucks PKK has been a bit problematic so far this season. What have you thought of Lankinen's play so far? Well, when you factor in the PKK, all situations, it's closer to minus four, and it's 61st of the 68 goalies in the National Hockey League right now. But I'm kind of with you.

The penalty kills expose him, and we talked about this going into the season. Like if there's one part of his game and the way he plays that's exposable, it's off to the flanks. and I still don't think you can blame them for the goals like the Montreal goals like the fake and no look that Demadoff gives on the first one to Suzuki

off a broken play and this is what teams are doing better than ever the Oilers actually sort of patented this and other teams are picking up on it it's like when a loose puck battle don't reset it's attack while the other team is out of structure

and so you get that shot block in front of the net, Flefkoski the way they attacked him in that game I don't think you blame him. You know, broken play at the front of the net off, Damadoff, and he shoveled it over to his left off, and he still almost got a piece of it. So that is one part of his game that's sort of on the pre-scout for other teams

is sort of attack him off the flanks a little bit, especially off traffic and broken plays, and you can expose him for initial depth in the middle of the ice. But I'm with you. Like, he's given up, he's basically given up two mid-danger goals and not a single low-danger goal all season. Almost everything he's given up has been high danger. So are you allowed to stop more of those?

Yes. Has he traditionally? Yes, absolutely. He's getting killed on broken plays right now. In broken plays or when pucks go off legs and bodies in front, there's an element of luck involved in that. There's also an element of you need the guys in front of you need to win the battles for those loose pucks in a lot of those situations.

So I still think there's a lot of good things in his game right now, and I think some of those bounces will turn and you'll start to see better results. I don't think he's that far off. like you said you know your backup and not give up bad ones and he's done that really well this season is just need a few more tough six Jeff from mission astutely points out that Woodley said himself babies eat save percentage is that partly what might be going on here I it's it's it's sort of that's a tough one it's it's an ongoing period it's a woodleyism it's no it's one of those things balak knows he's over there grinning behind the glass he knows he knows

was, this was a phrase coined, I'm not even, I'm not even going to, I don't know who's coined it first. Sure. It was Greg. Maybe it was one of my writers, Paul Campbell. Ballick is actually home with his baby today. Yeah. It's a ration.

There you go. They eat work percentage too. It was one of those things that we sort of noticed the trend, like, you know, especially your first. Like, it's just such a life-changing moment. And so much of goal-tending is about rhythm and routine. And so, no, I don't think that's necessarily it because his game actually looks fine. But, yeah, I mean, he wouldn't be the first.

guy to sort of have a dip after a newborn. We're speaking to Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingole magazine here on the Halford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What do you make of all the wheeling and dealing the Canucks have already done acquiring Lucas Reichel on Friday and then might be doing, there's a lot of rumblings out there that Pavel Zaka could

be next, although it sounds like it's not quite close to being done, but the conversations which have been going on all summer, according to Friege, of maybe heated up in the last little bit. Yeah, you have to do something. You have to sort of, you know, it did kind of feel like like they're sticking the finger in the dam a little bit here and there,

and it's understandable given the injuries. Now, you know, injuries to Philip Heedel and Derek Forbert, and I think Forbert's absence is hurting him on the PK. And obviously, we saw what Heidel did in terms of transporting the puck and with pace up the ice and the way he was able to break down teams with his speed. Unfortunately, you know, I remember in the, actually the first preseason game, they barely broke in camp and they were in Seattle for that first preseason game and texting a skills coach that was that one being like he could have got killed three times tonight

and the response in the text was you're low with that estimate this is this is part of the experience and same with derrick forbert like he gives you great minutes when he's there but the reality is over the past couple of seasons like he you know he's being sort of held together with duct tape and bailing wire And so you can't, you're just not going to get a full season. And so this is where they're at. Reichel, I think we can see the speed, handle themselves okay. And obviously better than okay on the draws last night, which is an area that's been a struggle.

So they filled an obvious and glaring need, at least from a speed element in the middle, even if he's not a center long term. They fill in in the short term at a time when they desperately needed it. And they did it for a future fourth round pick. Like, you know, nothing but applause on that one. At the end of the day, it'll be really, you know, everyone's talked about this. I remember saying it sort of in the moment that Brock Besser re-signed here,

geez, you wonder if the Amanda Cain money would have been better spent with Pew Sitter. And that's the one that's, you know, talking about off-season moves. They made a lot of good ones, but that's the one that seems to be stinging them the most right now, both on the penalty kill and just not having that center depth. But hey, like, applause for filling it for finding a solution at a time when there aren't a lot of solutions available. It's early. I don't know that he's a top six center long term. But obviously there was a skill there that made him a first round pick.

We've seen the speed. We've seen a lot of positive elements. And, you know, credit to this organization and staff, they've done a nice job with, I wouldn't say he's even a project. But they've nice, they don't just bring guys in and say, hey, you are, he, he's, If you were one to first round pick, go play like one. Like there's an active process here to helping them, you know, access tools to get better. And it starts in the minor leagues and you see it with all the guys that were on the call to cup team that are now contributing at the NHL level. And, you know, you got to tip your hat to that.

What do you expect the atmosphere to be like inside Rogers Arena Tuesday when J.T. Miller and the New York Rangers return? Yeah, I really don't know. I hadn't actually thought about it until now and we won't have to think about it from a writing perspective until Tuesday because the Rangers aren't practicing here and J.T. won't speak to it until morning skate on Tuesday. I think we might hear a lot of J.T. Miller Chance.

I mean, he was incredibly popular here. And it's interesting, like as much as it had to happen and Jim Rutherford has talked about that and as much as you can, you know, question and retrospect the way it all went, At the end of the day, to me, it just feels like, wow, like these two guys, for whatever reasons, contributed to a real waste of opportunity because we saw what they were capable

of together. We saw what that power play looked like. We saw what that group looked like chasing Evans into seven games with their third string goalie in the second round. And you just thought it was the start of something special. And, you know, I know one of the questions that he'll get on Tuesday is like, like, is there any sort of, as much as I'm sure he's moved on and he's a captain of the Rangers

now, like is there any sense of you know, what could have been here if these two had just been able to make it work? Here's my prediction. I've thought about this over the weekend. I think we're going to get competing chance. You know, like when the... Are we going to have a Let's Go Petey versus a J.T. Miller?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like over the weekend, there were a ton of Habs fans in the building. That's the most Habs fans I've seen in Vancouver in a long, long time. I mean, when I first started going to Canucks games back in the 80s, it was mostly Habs fans at the Pacific Coliseum.

A ton of Euler fans there last night. But Saturday was, but, you know, I'm just talking about like competing chance. Like I know that we're competing Go Habs Go versus Go Canucks Go. I think we might see that because, to his credit

over the weekend, I think Patterson might have had his most encouraging back-to-back performance in a long, long time. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, they kind of told us that it wouldn't be a snap of the fingers thing with him. And it looks like it's coming along. Like one and two on Saturday night, that's the first three-point game he's had in what, like 10 months? He had won all of last season.

I think I heard Batch saying on the pregame show yesterday as I was stuck on Canby Street trying to get to the rig. Great job with the White Caps game getting out at the same time the Caduck started, by the way. excellent planning the it was it was it was and it's been training that way for a while and so that's a real

positive for this team there were actually a lot of positives on the weekend for this team despite all the injuries you know a little bit in terms of process they're I will say this like they're still near the very bottom of the NHL when it comes to creating

high danger chances but they're higher up this list when it comes to creating mids and they got a lot of guys on this team that are good at finishing mid-danger chances. Like, Keeper Sherwood off the rush, the first one that doesn't count.

Those types of things, like not a lot of guys score from there. And they've got guys that do. And so it comes to the point where they get punished sort of in the analytics. It's like, ah, they're not creating high danger chances. But they do have guys, including Pedersen, who have shots that can finish.

And I know they're on a PDO heater and, hey, part of that's going to be your goaltending. Like, save percentages in that. And Demco's a part of it. And so that will always be high. and so you look at some of their finishers like they're in addition to Patterson you're right he had to hit a really good weekend

and I thought there were some process better signs especially when you consider where they are with the injuries outside of the penalty kill really there was a lot to love for the Vancouver Canucks on a weekend that could have very easily coming off the road trip and with the injuries and the nature of it in the back to back and all they played gone the other way Dustin Wolf

Is he starting to find his game a little bit? Yeah, two of the last three have been really good Man, that's tough Tough way to live When you know that one or two is one or two too many Right? Like we talked about that With John Gibson in Anaheim for years

I remember Ryan Miller going down there And talking to him about just how hard it is When every time you go out there You know your team might not score more than one Like knowing that you have to be perfect Maybe to win is a really tough thing mentally And it's up to Wolf to not think about it it, but certainly that's

the environment he finds himself in. It was a tough start for him statistically. We talk about those open looks. You think back to that first game against the Cadux and starting him in the second half of back to back to start the season and you know, Besser from the top of the circles. That's a great shot. That's not a high danger

chance. Even lechromackery from the dots on a sweeping one time sort of sweeping one tee. That's not really a high danger chance. It was the same side pass from below the net. And those are the kind that you look at it and you're like, oh, like, that hurts him statistically. He's underwater, like, from an expected, say, percentage standpoint.

But the way he plays for a small goal, like, he does not take a lot of ice. And so those are areas of the ice that they have to protect better. Middle, high slot. And when I looked up the numbers last week for my weekly hit in Calgary, they were worst in the league. So that's the one area of exposure in his game. And it happens to be an area that they are defending extremely poorly. I think, you know, him finding his game and them starting to take.

tighten up in that area are not a coincidence. Hey, this happened over a week ago now, but I wanted to get your thoughts on Anthony Stolars in Toronto because I remember watching that game against the Cracken and he gets run over. I think it was Matheson that ran him over. And Stolars went nuts. Like he was pushing the goal off and then who was it?

It was a Carlo that was the Leafs defenseman just standing there? Brandon Carlo, yeah. He was like doing. nothing and then after the game Stolar has kind of criticized the team and said we need to be better I'm just wondering your thoughts on that situation and I mean

while we're out of Justin Wolf kind of said something the other day where he was like yeah I can't yeah goalies are getting emboldened yeah yeah yeah what's over these goalies calling out their calling out their team and who do you guys think you are it's about time we found our voice

I'll tell you most of them just tell me off record defensemen are all idiots so you know maybe maybe they'll get no i'm kidding i'm kidding folks um that dust and wolf thing is a prime example of being taken out of context it was literally what i just talked about he's basically like like i can't score goals so i can't think about it like and he can't like he can't go into every game being like we're not going to score and that was sort of the way he said it like it's it wasn't a not my fault thing but that's how it got portrayed i saw it all over social media and you know clipped to the point there was no context left it was big you know So that one, I'll give him a pass on Stollers.

It's funny because I thought he was critical of the way the team played, and a lot of it came out as him being critical of them not defending him. And when I went back and listened to it and looked at what he said, it was more to me about the way the team was playing overall, which hasn't been good enough. But that's the risk, right? Like, that's why when the Canucks named Luongo Captain, their goalie coach at the time, thought it was a really bad idea

because it's really tough for goalies to speak to team performance. and shine a brighter spotlight on a position that's always in the spotlight. Like, it's just a really tough thing to do, and teams don't tend to like it or react well to it. And so it was interesting to see him take that risk as a guy who, you know, just re-signed, but, you know, has only been there short term compared to some of the, you know, longstanding, much higher paid veterans on the Leafs. And I didn't hate it in terms of what he said, because I've been looking at their process,

and you talk about something that's starting to head the wrong direction, and that would be the Toronto Maple Leafs at the start of this season but so he wasn't wrong but at the same time I just feel like there's enough of a spotlight on the position and creating headlines

and adding to it yourself just probably not the best way to go I mean again we live through it here right like the sea on the mask that was a mistake that was a mistake because it put Roberto Luongo

in a position to have to answer questions about how his teammates we're playing in front of him. And goaltending never exists in a vacuum. It is always a function of how your teammates play in front of you. And goalies know it. They know on nights when it's not their fault, they can't say that. They know on nights where they saved everyone, they can't say that.

It's always about crediting the teammates. This is how you handle it. You credit the teammates when they do good things and you win and you accept the blame when you lose. Not everybody subscribes to it, but that's the easiest way to keep your head down out of the headlines. and that's the way most of them go about it. Actually, frankly, to be honest, of you, we're four teams in and I've yet to talk to a goalie. So mostly they just don't talk.

Kev, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do it. As always, we appreciate it. Enjoy the game tomorrow night. It will be a lot of fun. We'll do this again. Not next week, but the week following. Perfect. Thanks, guys.

Thank you. Kevin Woodley from NHL.com and Ingoal magazine on SportsNet 650. I will remind you that on Sportsnet 650 this evening, 5 p.m., you will hear our next game. Ben Shulman calling Game 3 of the World Series from L.A. Dodgers, Jays, tied one game apiece. We're going to air

the game in its entirety right here on SportsNet 650. You'll hear Ben tonight. You'll also hear them right now. Joining us now on the program, as mentioned Ben Shulman here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Good morning, Ben. How are you? Morning, guys. Thanks so much for having me.

Congrats to your Canucks on a pretty fun win last night. That was cool. I got to watch a bit of that. And I'm doing great. Looking forward to what should be another exciting game. Yeah, you mentioned it like last night, very fun game, very entertaining. No rest for the weary sports fan because we got another one tonight.

Game three. Before we preview game three, though, Ben, I got to go back to game two. And we will throw some love and some flowers at the feed of the Los Angeles Dodgers, specifically Yamamoto, what he was able to do on the bump.

Where does that rank among the best pitching performances you've either seen or called during your career? it called it's it's pretty much right up there I mean you know Kevin God's been thrown a shut out for the Jays so that's got to be in the mix

but when you're talking about the stakes of it I mean game two of the world series and this guy's basically unhittable over nine in anxieties but funny enough I was I was lucky enough to be at Dodger Stadium as a fan about 10 years ago and saw a no hitter I saw Jake Erie out of throw a no hitter

just out of pure coincidence and luck one, but is Yamamoto two given the stakes of it? I think a very high chance. He was just unbelievable. And you know, I think a lot of days where you come up with the offensive performance that Jay's did,

you had had done something wrong, and maybe they should have punched in a run in the first inning. I'm still not sure how much it would have mattered against that guy looking that good in game two. I think he had kind of decided that the Dodgers were winning that game with the way he pitch. Tell us about

the pitching matchups coming up in games three and four. Really exciting. You know, you look at game three, obviously Max Scherzer going again, I think it's really exciting for a lot of fans. There is definitely a, you know, a risk reward of this.

I mean, he was awesome in game four in Seattle. So, you know, I think you look at that and you look at the competitive nature and the playoff experience and you think that there's a good chance he could do it again, but he did, you know, end the season, you know, on a bit of a tough run. There's a bit of push and pull the air, but I think if you're a Blue Jay fan, you probably feel at least fairly confident about Max Scherzer going into a start.

He faces Tyler Glass now, who in some ways, it's similar to Blake Snell. The stuff is fantastic. Occasionally, you know, the command can elude him and that can open up some games against him. But if he's on, he's going to be really tough to beat, you know, high 90s fastball and two really massive breaking balls that are hard to hit. So that's going to be a really interesting matchup. And then Shane Bieber looks to rebounds. You know, he had one really good start when the Blue Jace needed it. And the ALCS.

He's looking to try and replicate that, I think, against a Dodgers team that, you know, historically he's done well against, but historically he's done well against everyone because he's just had a fantastic career. And then on the other side, it's Joe Hay-Hautony. And I don't even know how much more I need to say from that, but he touched 101 in his last start. And he is fully healthy. at this point or at least healthy enough to look

fully healthy and that's going to be a handful and I'm sure for a lot of people that will be the most interesting game because it's been a while I would guess since a lot of Blue Jays fans have seen Shohei Otani pitch and hit in the same game unless you're seeking it out in non-blue J games

so that will be a spectacle for sure. How much is the bullpen rest going to help the Dodgers? It helps them I think you know they their bullpen got run through a little bit in game one, and now you think about basically two whole days off. No one really even got up until

Roki Sasaki started throwing him an ninth inning, and I don't think he threw that intensely. Yeah, he was just bored. Yeah, I was just kind of a, you know, break glass in case of emergency, let's move someone around in case the days out of nowhere, string a couple hits together. So it'll be big

for them. I still think if you're the Blue Jays, you get into that bullpen, it's a positive with all due respect to those guys down there, and the Blue J-Pen hasn't been ridiculously worked in the first two games, so they should be feeling pretty good coming into this one. But kind of like we saw in Seattle, this is the most important stretch for bullpents. When you do the three games in a row with no day off,

there's a possibility that guys are going to be going three days in a row. So any rest that you can have for guys right now is big, and the Dodgers, I'm sure, are feeling pretty good about where their guys are at, like Sasaki and Trinan, who haven't even pitched yet in the series, let alone the guys that went in game watch. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.