Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 10/29/24

Episode Date: October 29, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including an OT Canucks loss to the Canes, they go around the NHL with analyst Ray Ferraro, plus they preview Saturday's West Semi-Finals with BC Lions head coach Rick Campbell, as his squad gets set to take on the Riders. 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. Goss to spare, high slot through to the goal, it's tipped off, rebound, they score! Sebastian Ajo wins it for the Hurricanes. Didn't like Hockey at all. I'm singing about your Hockey. Here he goes, racing down the left sideline, Calvin Austin is in for the score! It's time, and that's a win for LA!

They lead this World Series three games to none. Good morning Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody, this is Alfred at his Br none. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. This is Halford and his brough at Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable

staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Orfee, what are you waiting for? Kintec, got a lot to get into on today's show. Guest list begins at 6.30.

Greg Wyshynski from ESPN is going to join us. He was in Tampa Bay last night for the Steve Stamkos return game. So, too, was our 7 o'clock guest. Ray Ferraro is going to join us. So, a lot of Tampa Bay talk early in the show. We'll get to some other things as well. Don't worry. Don't freak out.

But both Ray and Wish were in Tampa Bay for the game last night. Just happens to be a funny little coincidence on the Halford & Brough show. 730, Rick Campbell, head coach of the BC Lions, is going to be joining the program. The Lions are in Saskatchewan, Regina to be exact. This Saturday, 3.30 kickoff, our time in the Western Semifinal. We'll talk to Rick

about all that. 8 o'clock, the other half of Ferraro Tuesdays here on the Halford and Brough show. Landon Ferraro is going to join the program. We will recap the Vancouver Canucks' 4-3 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes with Landon, who was on the panel between intermissions last night on the broadcast. So obviously it was a sports equinox yesterday.

Big day, lots to get into, lots to recap. That's your guest list. Without further ado, Lad laddie let's tell everybody what happened hey did you guys see the game last night no no what happened i missed all the action because we know how busy your life can be what happened you missed that what happened what happened is brought to you by the bc construction safety alliance making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at bccsa.ca. As Laddie played in the intro, Sebastian Ajo just 40 seconds, 46 seconds into overtime. Scored the game-winning goal. Erasing a very exciting comeback by the Vancouver Canucks in the third period. Canes win, Canucks lose 4-3 at Rogers Arena on Monday. So I guess the good news is still just one regulation loss in eight games for the Vancouver Canucks. That was the loss in Tampa Bay against a very good Lightning team. Well, a very good Carolina team came in last night and look, it's all well and

good that the Canucks came back and forced overtime, but I don't think that was a particularly impressive performance by the home team, especially the first half of the game. Thank goodness for Kevin Lankanen, who made a couple of spectacular saves to keep the Canucks in the game. I wonder if you go with him again on Wednesday, or are they risking tiring him out a little bit? We can have that conversation a little later on. The power play is not good. The power play is not good. And Rick Tockett said afterwards that there are going to be some changes to the power play.

Should be mentioned, just 16.38 of ice time for Pedersen, who played less than guys like Baines, Heinen, and Sherwood at five on five. Petey did have some power play time on the aforementioned power play that is not very good. He also had a chance to play hero late in the game when he rolled out from the corner unimpeded, but he tried to deke and he got blown out of the water by Spechnikoff before he was able to get a shot away. It was a mixed night for Quinn Hughes and JT Miller, two points each, and they were creating things offensively but a little loose defensively and a few issues managing the puck that cost the Canucks.

Jake DeBrusque, still goalless. He did come close with about five minutes left, then went to the bench and destroyed his stick, suggesting he is frustrated. I wouldn't be surprised if De'Arne came out on Wednesday against the Devils. I don't know if Derek Forward's going to be ready to play. I don't know if they'd look at moving Eric Brandstrom over to the right side

or if they would bring in Juleson, but I don't think De'Arne is going to play on Wednesday against New Jersey because he was not very good last night. And finally, the Can Canes after we had spent so much of yesterday talking about the uh the speed on the Canucks forward lines especially the bottom six and how different that is and how it's not necessarily a heavy bottom six but it has some speed the Canes might be the fastest team in the NHL. Yeah. So look, I think the interesting thing here is that we'll talk about context, contextualizing things a little bit here

on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. As Jason pointed out, you could say, hey, a lot of good things that can be taken away from the first eight games of the season, still just one regulation loss. Last night's game, was it a great start? No, but there was a very, very good push in the third period. And I thought for the final 10 minutes of that period,

the Canucks were at times dominant. Did they lose? Yes. Was the goaltending good? Yes. So you kind of bounce back and forth. And I think this is interesting because the listeners do this a lot as well, right? I remember, I'll cherry pick this one,

but the win that the Canucks had on their opening road trip in the game in Florida, some people contextualize that as saying, what a great win. You're on the road, you go into the house of the defending Stanley Cup champions, and you grind out an overtime. What a great win.

And then some other people were saying, that's a great win. You're playing a Florida team that's without Barkoff and Kachuk, and at times was down to nine forwards, and you needed an extra frame to beat them. So that contextualization oftentimes leads us to say, well, who's the definitive voice on this? And oftentimes, that guy is Rick Talkett.

So I was very curious yesterday after the loss against Carolina to hear what the head coach was going to say. Because I'm like, okay, it'll give us a good idea of him taking the temperature of the team and what he feels and what players stood out to him good bad or otherwise we're going to start with a very interesting exchange in my eyes and of course elias petterson is in this so too is nils hoaglander so pay attention okay kids there'll be a test at the end of this. Talk, it was asked about the deployment of the Hoaglander-Pettersson-Garland line. You pointed out on Twitter that Pettersson's ice time after the first period was what?

3.46 or something like that. Didn't play much. Neither did Garland or Hoaglander. The line, essentially. The line did not play much. So Thomas Drance, Sportsnet 650's very own, noticed this, asked Tocant what he thought about the trio's game in the aftermath.

It's a short clip. It's only 13 seconds long, so pay attention. Here's what Tocant had to say about Hoaglander PD, and then that's it. Well, I saw obviously when he changed it, he didn't like it, right? So I didn't like a couple things there. Didn't like Hage at all. PD's, you know. Listen, I'm not going to pick on that line. a couple things there. Didn't like Hage at all.

Listen, I'm not going to pick on that line. I just felt that I wanted to make a couple changes. I'm not going to pick on that line. That's JT Miller's job. So now you're like, it kind of drew my attention. I was like, oh, okay, makes sense. I don't think Hoaglander was credited with a shot on net, I don't think. And he was, for wherever.

And then they mixed the lines up. Hoaglander went and played with, I think, I want to say Suter and Sherwood, and then Baines came up with Elias Pettersson. So now we're down the road of, okay, well, head coach is being critical of his team. So now we get back to what you were talking about off the top, the power play. And Talkett was very about off the top, the power play. And Talkett was very candid in his remarks about the power play,

what he liked, spoiler, not much. What he didn't like, spoiler, quite a few things, and change is coming. Here's Rick Talkett on the power play following a 4-3 overtime loss to Carolina last night. Yeah, we're going to have to make some changes. Not working hard enough. Very laxadaisical.

It's a high-pressure team. We had the odd time when we had a couple looks. Actually, the game plan worked. When Hughes threw at the net, we had Millsy almost scored in front. That's the key against this pressure power play is being able to make one or two plays and get it to the net. I thought a couple of guys there were playing slow. You can't play slow against a high-pressure PK. You just can't.

So we're going to have to make a few. I think I'm going to make a couple of changes. We'll talk tomorrow. So the Canucks practice today at Rogers Arena, 12 o'clock practice. Would he take Petey off the power play? Would he take him off PP1? If he does that, that is one hell of a story. But Petey was responsible for a fair number of turnovers

on the power play last night. So the second question about the power play came right after that clip we played where he started complaining about Hoaglander's play. He was almost going to say, and then Petey, and then he caught himself and he's like i don't want to criticize that line but right after they were like i already got my criticism out for hoaglander yeah he's like too late for that right and he's like it's fine there's some guys you can criticize there's some guys you can't so now you look at it and you're like okay the power play comes next and

some people kind of inferred that that was maybe what you're suggesting, that the change would be. Do you drop Pedersen from power play one down to power play two or do you make even more wholesale changes? I don't know. Bigger picture. Head coach wasn't super happy after that game yesterday. And I could probably understand why they had a a, you would say, a tired Carolina team at the end of a lengthy Western road swing and everything they went through where, you know, they weren't able to fly up to Vancouver after the Seattle game. They had to hop a bus and they got into...

The key? They went to McDonald's. They did go to McDonald's. Yeah. Cheeseburgers. Allegedly. Allegedly. Brent Burns would not confirm if they ordered 100 hamburgers

or cheeseburgers, whatever the case, from McDonald's's there were two cheeseburgers in his beard right he only eats like that's how he hands them out he just pulls them i could see him ordering them and not eating them because i think he only eats like venison that he caught on a wednesday um anyway but we're getting point being give me 700 Krusty Burgers! You want fries with that? That was actually Brett Mearns right there. I did find it interesting. I always find the coaches' remarks after a game interesting

because we played the ones from Pittsburgh on the weekend and Talkett was full of praise for his guys. Loved it. And this one, he was a lot more harsh and a lot more critical. And we're kind of seeing it reflected in the Dunbar-Lumber text message in Baskin. I think a lot of people are trying to wait and see if this team is going to take that ascendancy, that next step. Because right now, I'd say good, not great, with a few, not red flags, but there's a few areas of concern for sure.

Right? I think that's fair to say yeah however it has been sort of glossed over by the fact that it is just one regulation loss in eight games lankanen has been outstanding and he was again last night too right talk it said he probably should have been the first star and probably was the only reason that they got the point in overtime so there's been some glossing over and papering over some of the issues and when the head coach expresses his frustration that's when your spidey sense kind of goes up and the antennas go up you're like okay so i will also be very curious to see what happens at practice today because um i like you think that there might be a change on the blue line day harneyarne got walked yesterday by, it was Jackson Blake,

son of former NHLer Jason Blake, on a spinorama where he spun one way and then so did DeJarne, but they spun the other way and DeJarne did not follow the spin. You have another clip from Rick Talkett. Yeah, and this is interesting because according to the head coach,

as the criticisms from last night's game continued, they're still not getting all the buy-in that they need from all the guys, and I think maybe some of the new guys who either aren't up to speed or aren't figuring it out yet. He used this, and the foil for his comparison was Carolina, who have had the same style, have the same system for a long time, and there's a lot of guys that have been there for a long time that are bought in and committed and know how to play it.

So perfect time to bring up what the Canucks are trying to do. Here is Rick talking on needing more buy-in from guys on the style that they play. Caroline's been doing it for seven, eight years, right? So most of her team has been together. So that helps for them. We just need more guys to buy in when it comes to our game plan. Sometimes you don't have a play,

you got to punt it and you got to win your battle. You know, it's okay to do that through stretches. Nothing, everything doesn't have to be clean sometimes. You know, I know everybody wants clean plays, but there's 10 guys on the ice. It's not going to be clean sometimes. So that's when you need the effort and things like that. So we'll get better at it.

I mean, we'll chip away at it. So a few things to keep watch for today at practice, I suppose, is the power play units and who's on them. You'll remember last year, they did split up the top players on the power play. Actually, I think it was right before the Pittsburgh game. It was JT Miller on one and Petey on another. So there is precedent for doing that. We'll see if they do that. I'm more curious about what happens on the blue. Well, I'm not more curious about the power play. I'm equally curious about what they're going to do on the blue line. Derek Forbort, unfortunately, his father passed away, which is why he was away from the team. He's back now.

We'll see if he's ready to roll at practice today and what position he takes on that. Again, I just don't see De'Aaron A back in the lineup on Wednesday against New Jersey, but there are many questions about what would comprise the bottom pair maybe Rick talking makes changes to the second pair too you know Hughes and Hronik no problem there Hughes had another game last night where when he was on the ice for the most part the Canucks controlled play now things happen I don't think Hughes was perfect last night,

and I don't think JT Miller was perfect either last night. Defensively, puck management issues. But at least they were contributing in some areas. Now, do you know what I mean? Like there was some good to their game. Well, it's called impact. That was the word they were using on the postgame show when you're talking about.

Well, here's the thing. And this is, again, we're beating that horse all apologies we're beating that that horse that horse is dead and we're beating it but um when you talk about impact on games and the caducks are now eight games into the season there's the three guys i'm almost ready to put lankan in that conversation too in terms of very important players making impact but there's three guys on this team it's hughes it's petterson and it's miller and that's by skill set that's by um playing ability and that's by also and i hate throwing it out there but money matters it's the three highest paid guys uh on the team and those are the guys i think you could throw besser in there as well at times sure yeah sure best has been great to start the year actually

we probably should talk more about the Besser point streak, which just continues to roll on. And it is something that we're guilty of in media is that when guys are doing their job and playing really well, we tend to gloss over that so we can focus on the thing that needs to be fixed, right? Yeah, exactly. Never-ending search for perfection, just like our show. But, you know, Besser's been great,

and he has been a regular and consistent contributor. Another highly paid guy that isn't doing that so far is Jake DeBrusque. I know you mentioned him in the notes, and I think that... Or Texter called him Jake DeBust. Yeah. Oh, that's fun. Yeah, that's where we are now. So the reason I bring that up is I want to dovetail into this question

that you've got for the listeners here, which is what has been the best Canucks win of the season? Because you could have made the argument that last night, game eight of the season, was the Canucks' toughest opponent of the year so far, with all due respect to Calgary, Philly, Tampa Bay, Florida. I think Tampa Bay was tough on the road. Tampa Bay was tough on the road.

I think Carolina might be a better team, but playing in Tampa Bay in the opener was probably a tougher task. But there are some people that are trying to figure out with this new look Canucks team, with the five new forwards that are in with the new depth defenseman and a new goalie, where do they stack up among the NHL's elite? And if you go back and look over the first eight games of the year, never mind the toughest competition, like their best win of the year.

I already mentioned the Florida game, which, again. But they didn't have Barkov and Kachuk there, right? You can contextualize it either way you want with that game, right? I thought they fought hard, though, because Florida played a very physical game and the Canucks matched that. If I were to say, I think it was that game. But, you know, no Barkov and Kachuk is a pretty big deal. I loved the game on Saturday against Pittsburgh.

Yeah, but Pittsburgh's a mess. From an entertainment standpoint and from all the narratives that came out of it. And, again, I defer to the head coach, Rick Talk. It was full of praise after that game, right? I don't know if it's because he's got such a reverence for the Penguins organization and Sidney Crosby that he took something extra out of that one, but he was very happy after that game. But it is interesting because Wednesday night, that's another very difficult opponent and one that has given the Canucks fits in the past. I think it's interesting that we're seeing reports from Frank Cavelli that the Canucks are already making calls on the defense. And this isn't surprising for two reasons.

Jim Rutherford and Patrick Galvin are always making calls. And number two, I think you look at the defense right now and you go, I don't know about this De'Arne guy. Sorry, but he was a project when he was signed, and a lot of people wondered what the Canucks were doing when they did sign him. This was a guy that could not stay in the lineup for Edmonton during the playoffs last year. He's not exactly 23 years old or anything,

and I think you just watch him play. He looks a little lost out there sometimes. And he had a couple of good games with Branstrom because Branstrom, I think, helped him out with his puck moving ability. But, you know, I don't know. I watch him sometimes and I'm like, oh, you just look out of place. You look out of place right now and you don't know. I watch him sometimes and I'm like, oh, you just look out of place.

You look out of place right now and you don't know. It doesn't look like you're playing a confident, direct game. And I do wonder if he's one of those guys that Rick Talkett is talking about when he says sometimes you just got to punt it. Because forwards aren't doing a lot of punting, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes you just got to get it because like forwards aren't doing a lot of punting right yeah yeah you know sometimes you just got to get that puck on your stick and high off the glass or flip it out uh there was a time in the game last night where day and a day or nay got it and he just

kind of like i don't know over stick handled it and then it was uh kept in the carolina and for a while yeah i don't think car scored, but it wasn't, it just really, really wasn't a good performance from Darren A last night. And I don't want to pick on the guy, but I think right now you're looking at this team and saying, I mean, yesterday we spent so much time talking about how much we loved the depth of the Canucks forward lines.

And I don't think that changes based on one game, not at all. But I think the defense, we've been consistently like, I don't love it if this second pair has to play a lot. And that second pair has to play a lot if you don't have a third pair that you trust. So part of the reason that I brought up, you know, the bar and Carolina in particular, because they've been a perennial top 10 team in the NHL for the last five, six, seven years.

When you are doing the measuring stick game with the Canucks and what they look like, I think we're all sort of realizing right now that the blue line is probably what's keeping them from being in that conversation of like the robust, legit top elite tier teams in the NHL, because the defense is missing a top four guy. We can say that, right? That's pretty obvious.

I don't think anyone's really going to argue or quibble with that. DeJarne, I think it's unfortunate for him because I think he was signed as a project at a time where they don't really have the patience or interest in watching the project build itself up on the ice. That's fair. You know, it's almost like, you know, go work with that. I think the goal is for Adam Foote to turn him into something more than he is, but they're not really in a space where

they're going to let that play itself out on the ice. Well, there's limits. There's limits, too. I mean, you can have a project, and that can be a work in progress on the ice, and you can accept a few mistakes, but I don't know. I just thought last night he had a really tough game. That's all. No, no.

It's fine. I think big picture, you're talking about a team that is, I mean, the report with Frank saying that the Canucks are already checking out the trade market. One, it would be in lockstep with what they did last year because they tried to address that blue line early and got the shopping done with Zdorov early in the season, comparatively speaking. And the other thing, too, I think you realize right now,

looking at it, is that what we've said from day one, Susie and Myers would be a really great third pair for a contending team. If you're not a contending team, they'd be a really great second pair, right? If you were a team that was in a rebuild or you're on the outside looking in, and it's just the reality, I think they will try and address this as quickly as possible.

And maybe, maybe through the first eight games, the Dayhart A thing has kind of become more of an issue. Maybe they thought they could paper over it or that we can play this guy and he can learn on the job, but it's a struggle right now. And they found money with Brandstrom. I don't think anyone expected Eric Brandstrom to come in and be as good and effective as he's been after they picked him off the scrap heap from Colorado.

But it's not going to cover the fact that there's still a top four defenseman away from being truly elite. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Ray Ferraro joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Ray. How are you? A little weary, got to be honest with you.

Yeah. You guys are our two. I started this morning in Tampa, and I'm now in Washington, and I just took a picture of my hotel room gate because I can't remember the hotel I'm in

nor my room number, so I got a chance to get here after lunch. I need to get back here at some point. Well, how was last night in Tampa? It was really good. They did a really nice job.

Of course, Sam Coates first came back there after 16 years in Tampa. He's a really popular guy. He built not just a legacy on the ice but off he was you know very involved in the the children's hospital and um he and his family have you know i mean he literally grew up from an 18 year old into into someone with family and kids and connections to the community and they they they really did a nice job and And I think the game probably turned out just the way most people in Tampa wanted it. He got a couple of points and Tampa won.

And it was a good night. It was really start to finish was a really, really well done production by Tampa. So I imagine you've got the Caps and the Rangers tonight, correct? Yeah. Oh, we can't fool you. Uh, yeah.

I'm looking at the schedule right now and it says ESPN and you were like, I'm in Washington now. And then I just put it together. I'm pretty quick, Ray. Are the Caps for real? Cause they look pretty good. You know what?

They're an interesting team because they were the oddest of the 16 teams last year that made the playoffs. Their goal differential was like minus 35 or 36. It seemed every night they would win a game, you'd be like, oh my God, how did they do that? And Charlie Lindgren was unbelievable and goal and well they kind of won three to two again like you know like it was nothing really um added up for them except they got 91 points they made the playoffs and then they got i mean it was no

contest in the first round they lost in four games games to the Rangers. But then I think they had a really good offseason. Like they added a couple of defensemen, Matt Roy and Jeff Chikrin. Or not Jeff Chikrin, geez, Jacob. Jeff's his dad. He's not playing anymore. And so they added the two defensemen. They added a couple of forwards, Dubois and Maggiopani. And they both played really well.

Dubois is kind of the big story, right, because he's running out of teams here, and it's nice to have people talk about all the tools you have, but you've got to apply them, and he's been really good early. I mean, they're scoring some goals, which they didn't do last year. I mean, for 20 years almost, we've talked about the Caps and Ovi hand in hand. And he's got two goals and one of them's into an empty net. So I really don't know how much of a factor he is right now.

But I think they'll be in that mix for the last playoff spot. I don't think much more than that because I think their depth will probably get them over the course of the season. How much pressure is on the Rangers this year to win a Stanley Cup? Huge, huge. I generally don't say that with teams, but they've got 13 guys, now 12, with Lafreniere signing in the last year of their contract. This is a really good team. now 12 with Lafreniere signing in the last year of their contract. This is a really good team.

They're deep. They've got skill. Really, really great special teams, both of them. They're well coached. And last year, I mean, they ran up against Florida. And I mean, I didn't think the series was as close as six games. Like, it didn't look. I did that series, and Shusterkin was amazing.

And I thought he kept the series closer. But I've liked a couple things the Rangers have done here. One is they, through necessity, Ryan Lindgren got hurt. He broke his jaw in the preseason. And so they moved Keandre Miller and Adam Fox together. And I like that. That gives them a more mobile pair. Lindgren is a defender and a glue, blood and guts guy. But I know him and Fox had played together for years back to the u.s development program but i think this is a good move to get miller into that role um it's allowed them to kind of balance out their pairs i think a little better um they've got a functional third line which is critical if you're going to go deep right and

um you know the heidel was back and healthy he's a he's a good player really good will cooley is a developing power forward like he's good and big and uh laviolette calls him when he goes into four check he makes a lot of noise you know like he runs some people around and capo caco is back and healthy i mean they're i think those things make them a different, more balanced team than last year. Do you think there's any way that Shusterkin is not their goalie long-term?

Like, is this contract situation? Yeah, like it'll get done, right? I think so. I don't possibly know how it can't unless he's asking for some salary that they just can't stomach. And when they say he wants to reset the goalie market, I don't know exactly what that means. I don't know what exactly that number is. I do think we get really tied up in the number as opposed to the percentage of the cap.

And with the cap going up and, you know, the teams are, you know, in constant communication with the league, even though the league doesn't have numbers for this year about projections into next year's cap and how that might affect the way that they go ahead and negotiate a deal as significant as shester can i that the one thing about a deal of this length uh and purported dollars is that he's got you have to play a lot because let's assume he makes 12 or 13 million dollars $13 million. And say he's only good for 48 to 52 games a year. That means about 30 games of the year, you've got $14 million sitting in a ball hat. It just takes such a chunk out of your cap

in those games that he's not playing. But if he is that much of a difference maker, and I think Shusterkin is amazing. I think he is just a phenomenal goalie. I would go to almost any length to get him signed. I just think the guy's outstanding. But every team has their, you know, has not just one guy to sign you know like i said the rangers got 12 and you know you got to put a team together it's it's not golf there's some teams that

just have like a plethora of luck or development i don't know whatever whatever it is at certain positions like you think about all the great goalies that have been in New York, uh, Canucks fans know Mike Richter well, and then you had Henrik Lundqvist and now it's just Erkin. And then Boston, I always think of them as like a defenseman factory. They've had so many great defensemen. Uh,

Pittsburgh's had Sid and Mario Edmonton has had McDavid and Gretzky. And then you got got teams like Montreal. Not that they haven't had great players in the past, but more modern, they're like, when was our last great number one center? It seems unfair and fair. But man, the Rangers, when was the last time they actually worried about goaltending?

Well, I think Mike Richter came in in the late 80s, so it would have been just before that. I mean, just think of that. So I'm a Red Sox fan, and from, I think it was the Second World War through the retirement of Mike Greenwell, they had three left fielders. They had Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, and Mike Greenwell. Not had three left fielders. They had Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, and Mike Greenwell.

Not bad. That was it. You know, and like, and so like, just think you're a kid, you get drafted, and you're like, maybe I won't play left field anymore.

I'll try somewhere else. Like if you're, I know that, you know, you always got to draft for depth, but if you're, if you're a goalie, and you've been drafted by the Rangers in the last 20 years, where are you going? Your best shot is to be the backup.

It's amazing. Right when you could see that Lundqvist was losing a little bit off his fastball, oh yeah, here's this fourth round pick and geez, he's supposed to be really good. And then he shows up, and they're like, wow, he might be better than really good. We're speaking to Ray Ferraro here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Ray, Jason mentioned the Pittsburgh Penguins there.

What did you see, or maybe the question should be, what didn't you see from the Penguins on Saturday night in that loss to the... He saw Daniel Sprung just walk right past Eric Carlson. I know you got a good view of that one. Was there a speed difference there between the two teams on Saturday? You know what there was? Oh, speed difference?

Yes, for sure. I mean, I mentioned that one of the biggest challenges the Penguins have, like for a team that likes to play fast and likes to play direct, most nights they're the second fastest team on the ice. The problem is you can't just change that. You've got guys that are at points in their career that they don't go as fast as they used to go. They can't play as committed a style as they used to play on a night-to-night basis because they're older. The sprung around Carlson play, that was an effort play.

Like, that was – Howie Meeker would have said he went around him like a hoop around a barrel. And so for people that are too young to remember Howie Meeker, go listen to some of his stuff if you can because it was hilarious. Hilarious. But, I mean, what can you do until these players are able to be moved on from contracts that you're saddled with? You're going to be what you're going to be. Like, every trade almost that Kyle Dubas has made has been a player for another player, but a draft pick.

And while we all look at the players involved, it's really the draft picks, the accumulation of picks that they're trying to retool this team. And how are you going to do it when you've got Carlson, Letang, letang malkin and crosby and they're all in their upper 30s i think they're the second oldest team in the league or no are they the oldest they're in the top yeah they're in the top three yeah yeah because edmonton's the oldest all of a sudden right and so you you end up like with this team of guys that in theory should be able to, to be something, you know, something competitive. And unless they're firing on all cylinders, they're, they're really not. Like I, they just looked at times they looked and they have looked demoralized. I mean, they got, they got run out of the building

in edmonton that was you know that was bad and then you could you could predict with reasonable certainty that they were going to be better in vancouver um than they were in edmonton i mean they gave up 50 shots in edmonton i think they gave up damn near close to 40 in Vancouver. And so while there's lots of talk about Tristan Jari, it's probably the guys in front of him and in front of the other goaltenders that are of the real concern. I mean, there's concern for Jari, of course, but holy man, you can't be giving up 40 shots a night, and you're going to be second place a lot.

When you're at ice level, you're working between the benches, which guys stand out more, the really, really fast guys or the really, really slow guys? The fast guys, I think. Because everybody is, it's funny, the really slow guys, they still go pretty good. I think there are times where we all forget that, you know, the pros are pretty good players. NHL caliber skaters across the board. Yeah. Like, so when

we talk about somebody that's slow, they still get around pretty good. Now there's not very many guys that stand out really slow. I'm not going to, because I don't really want to pick on anybody, but there's, there's a couple I've seen this year that have, that I went, Oh my God, they're not very fast. But for the most part, when Connor McDavid goes by the bench in full flight, like it's like, it's almost, it's like breathtaking. Honestly, you're like, how does he go like that?

When that kid in Philadelphiailadelphia that just got sent down jet luchanko he went by the bench in vancouver like with the puck and i'm like i can't believe how fast he was so like those guys really still to me stand out like like they're just there's something to watch there there's very very few guys that that look fast like super fast because everybody's pretty quick in the league today what do you think the key to speed is like if you're talking like like a skating fundamental that these guys do really well oh i would say it well first of all there, there's two types of muscle. There's slow twitch and fast twitch. Yeah, I got the slows.

Yeah, if you're blessed with fast twitch, well, you're already in the game, right? Like you've got a chance. The way they train now is, or not now, the way you train is power and agility. And the technical aspect of the stride has been, I'll say, perfected, but nobody ever really talked to players of my age or younger than me about stride length and return of the stride once you push to get your foot back underneath you. We didn't learn that.

We just skated. And some guys were fast and some guys weren't. Now if you look at the way the technical guys skate, they're able to skate like on a wide base and their extension and return is like it's dialed. There's no extra effort or waste of energy in that stride. That to me, blessed or mixed with the power that you've built in the gym and maybe

touched with the gift of the gods is what makes people fast. I want to talk about playing a thousand games in the NHL because you played 1,250 games in the NHL plus 68 more in the playoffs and we just saw Tyler Myers play his thousandth game when you played 1,000 games do you remember that game and do you remember what you were feeling what what were you most proud of? I remember the game we for sure It was the end of February 1999. We played in Dallas in the afternoon. We lost 1-0. I got scored on on the first shift, and I was minus one.

That's what I can tell you about the game. It didn't go so well. I was really proud to get to 1,000 games, and there's a couple of reasons why. One is you have to be good enough to get there. You have to be productive enough. You have to do your job enough times that they're willing to bring you back 1,000 times. You don't just get to show up. You do your work.

You are productive. You are an effective NHL player, and you're lucky because there are so many guys that, for various reasons, some injury-related, some they just lose their way, they just don't get there. Well, most don't. Most don't. And so I was – I don't know if this sounds corny or whatever but like my dad ran a concrete business that his dad started in 1947 and so when i grew up i watched my dad go to work at six o'clock in the morning he could start his truck right underneath my bedroom i never needed

an alarm i could hear his truck start and i woke up And then he'd go to work all day and he'd be at my game at 4.15 when I played minor hockey. Like he never missed. And I watched this week after week after week after week. Just the, I don't know, the ability to work, the capacity to say, okay, this is what I got to get done. And I really think that was kind of the key to my career was that I could work. I liked the work. I accepted the ups and downs and I was hungry, like a starving guy hungry to play in the league. And I think at times it made me a little selfish, and I probably could have been a better teammate at some point,

but I was, man, it was oxygen to me to play in the league. That's cool, man. We're going to end on that. That was very well put for a tired guy in Washington. Maybe you're getting a bit loopy. I hope tonight I don't start talking about Stan Lachos because he's not here. All right, Ray.

Enjoy the game tonight. It's the Capitals and Rangers on ESPN, and we'll talk again soon, pal. You betcha. Have a great week, guys. We'll talk to you next Tuesday. Thanks, Ray. Appreciate it. That's Ray Ferraro

here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Your British Columbia Lions are on their way to the playoffs. It's Saturday, a 3.30 kickoff, our time from Regina. They will be taking on the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West Division semifinal. Joining us now to discuss that game and more,

the head coach of your BC Lions, Rick Campbell, here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Rick. How are you? Good. It's good to talk playoff football. Yeah, it's exciting. The two games going this weekend. Very much looking forward to seeing what your Lions can do in Regina. Before we get into the matchup against the Rough Riders,

I do want to go back a little ways to the final game of the regular season, that win over the Montreal Alouettes, in which you put Vernon Adams back in the starting role behind center. What did you see from your offense, led by Vernon Adams Jr. in that game, that maybe you hadn't seen in previous weeks, besides, of course, the 27 points you put on the board? Yeah, well, Montreal was testing us.

They were blitzing us and putting pressure on us and on the flip side they were putting their DBs one-on-one in the back end and um you know credit to our our whole offense and VA for buying a little bit of time and being able to get some deep shots behind those guys so that uh that was good to see and then our team played with good energy the whole game and that was also good Both quarterbacks are good quarterbacks. I think it goes without saying, but there are obviously different styles of quarterbacks. You were to explain to our listeners,

what's the one difference, what's the one thing that you guys have a different look for when it's Nathan Rourke behind center and Vernon Adams Jr. behind center? What would that thing be? Yeah, well, one is you're right about them both being really good, really good players and really good quarterbacks. And they do do a lot of similar things. Vernon's a very vocal guy,

gets really excited, really gets the guys going. So that's really good to see. He did early in the season, he was doing a really good job of doing some off-schedule things, as we would say. So whether that was making a blitz or miss or taking a deep shot downfield just to test DBs out, he's willing to do that. So that was a big help to us early in the season. In hindsight, was bringing back Nathan Rourke more complicated than you might have anticipated? No, he's such a good player and a good guy, and he's going to be good. The only thing that amazed me at the time that he was pulling off is he had been through multiple playbooks and multiple teams in the NFL. And then with Vernon being hurt, he literally had to shift gears and play in a game right away, you know, back to the CFL,

12-man football, you know, different defenses, different fields. So that was a tall task, but I don't regret doing that. I think he gave us the best chance to win at that time. But it is a tall task to ask anyone, including Nathan, who's never going to back down from a challenge to make all those transitions that quickly. Did it create any mixed feelings in the room with guys who might have felt a loyalty to Vernon Adams? I didn't see it that way.

So they both respect those guys very much. So I think you can say you feel bad for vernon someone could say that about just the way the whole the whole thing plays out but i never sensed anyone was divided or they're such likable guys and they root for each other and they help each other out so it was never an issue of division or anything like that it's more of choosing between uh two two good things and just trying to manage it the whole way. I've said all along that to bring Nathan back, Vernon had to be part of the deal because he was too important to the team. And I also said that it was going to take both of them to get it done

this year and hopefully I get proven right. So how are things going to be different this time in Saskatchewan? Because the last time you went there, it didn't go very well. Yeah, we got to take care of the football, period, and create some turnover. So we spotted them seven points on the second play of the game. A bit of bad luck just the way the ball bounced. But obviously, we still have to overcome that. But they were up 7-0 on the board. We're on the road.

And so you spot them, those seven points, and we never dug ourselves out of that hole. But that's job number one is to take care of the football on our side and also create some turnovers on defense or special teams. And we can play. I think that score got a little bit out of hand. But I think it's going to be a close game. And I know our guys are looking forward to it. What do the Rough Riders do well that you have to be wary of? Like I said, turnovers

are number one. They play well all around, so offense, defense, special teams, they don't really have a glaring weakness, so they play the game well, but they've been living off turnovers. They're number one in the league, and obviously that swings football games. So like I said, we want to be aggressive and do our thing, but at the same time make sure we're taking care of the football when we got it. We're speaking to BC Lions head coach Rick Campbell here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. There's an interesting dynamic on the sidelines here, Rick.

You're a veteran of the CFL playoffs with a 5-3 record. Your opponent, Corey Mace, it's going to be the first time that he's ever coached in a CFL playoff game. If you were to go back, way back eight games ago and talk to rookie playoff head coach Rick Campbell and say, this is the biggest difference between

regular season football and playoff football, what would that thing be? Well, what do you want me to do, help the guy out? Just help yourself out. I'm just kidding. I know Corey well. I coached him back when I was a defensive coordinator in Calgary. And, you know, the stakes get higher.

And, you know, people are obviously the intensity goes up because it's an elimination game, but the recipe for winning and how you make decisions doesn't change. So I always remember that, is that everybody's amped up and ready to go, but playing good football and making good decisions by the coaches and players, all that stuff, that doesn't change. So you stick with your recipe for winning and go from there. The season series was split between the two. The Lions took the first one in Week 6. The Rough Riders took the second one in Week 19.

So the rubber match is on Saturday. Rick, thanks a lot for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Best of luck on the weekend in Regina. Go get a win. Let's do this again next week when you guys are ready to face the Bombers. Sounds like a plan. Good talking to you guys.

You too. Thanks. That's Rick Campbell, head coach of your BC Lions, here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I went back and looked. I forgot that that win that they had against Saskatchewan early in the season was the one where Vernon Adams threw for a cool 451 yards. Is that good?

That's pretty good. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that's pretty good. Glad we have the stats on that, by the way. Yeah, we've got all the stats, all the numbers. I got completions, attempts. Is it a PDF page? No, it's dynamic.

You can flip back and forth, toggle, if you will. What year are we in? It's the genius sports at work. This toggling is Randy Ambrosio's legacy. I can look at both teams' stats. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.