Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 10/30/25

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the Blue Jays going up 3-2 in the World Series which now sees them one win away from a championship, plus they preview tonight's 'Nucks matchup at St. Louis with Canucks Talk host & The Athletic Vancouver's Thomas Drance. 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 the best of Halford and Brough. Game five is underway with a fly ball to deep left. Gone! The first pitch of it. the ball game and another strikeout. Trey Yassavage strikes out the side. I'm not want to make excuses or anything close to that,

but it's pretty unlucky. I think we got the power of friendship. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halpert, it is Brough, it is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and 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 Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick. One, no more interest.

Two, much lower payments and three, financial peace of mind. That's the hat trick. Visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid.

Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. The power of friendship. Do you feel it, Laddie? Do you feel that power right now in the studio? Oh, I feel it. We're all friends. We're all in a great mood.

You're resplendent in your Blue Jays gear yet again. How can I not be? I'm so happy for Laddie. My team is one win away from winning the World Series. He's on social media like all capsing. The Blue Jays are one win away from. from the World Series repeat. See, Lattie

thing with Lattie is he's always acted like, I always believe in my team. I always support my team. But he never really believed him. Here's the truth. And the reason why I say that is he can't believe they're in this situation right now.

I can't. You can't. No, it's true. You definitely can't. I grew up as a fan that never even saw the playoffs. Yeah. So there would be one win away from a championship. I like it when you say like this is this is my team doing this is that's my team out there winning two of three in L.A. against the Dodgers and coming back from that loss in game three that went 100 innings and a lot of people after that game. Heck, before the World Series, they got no chance. After that game three, they're done. Month and a half into the season. You would have asked me, I would have said they'd have no chance. You right now are the Canadian embodiment of the LeBron meme

I can't believe this is my life for a reason You're so happy right now But you can't believe it But it's also a very worrisome time Because there's still one win away I was going to joke I was like this is going to be very disappointing When they went his game six and seven to Lattie

Laddie pulling it back just a little bit here Anyway I've never been in this situation before I don't know how to act In case you have it That's the double-edged sword right I mean you're teetering on the edge of oblivion and hope As a Canucks fan

let me just warn you, it doesn't always end well. Sometimes it could go bad. Don't even when you're going home? Hold on even when you're going back home? It's true. Yeah, yeah. What? Shockingly. Three two leads. They don't always turn out. Don't get confident.

Don't know. Okay, in case you haven't figured it out already, there's going to be a lot of Jay's talk on the program today, including our guest lists. 7 o'clock Adnan Burke is going to join the program from MLB Network. As mentioned, the Jays are one win away from winning the World Series, a 6-1,

victory over the Dodgers last night, moves them to within one victory of their first title since 1993. What a performance from Trey Yassavage. What a performance from the Jays. We'll talk to Adnan about all that at 7 a.m. this morning. 730 Brady Henderson, our ESPN Seahawks insider is going to join the program. The Seahawks are back in action. If it feels like a while since the Seahawks have played, that's because it has been a while since the Seahawks have played. Julian Love had a setback. You see that? I did not see that. Yeah, he did. I forgot that the Seahawks existed briefly for a brief moment in time. And I was like, they didn't play.

By the time they kick off. And by the way, it's a Sunday night, prime time game this weekend. Sunday night football for the Seahawks. It'll be 12 complete days, 12 full days between games for the Seahawks. They will take on the commanders in Washington, Sunday night football. Seahawks are early 2.5 point road favorites in that one. We'll talk to Brady about that and all things, Seahawks at 7.30 this morning. 8 o'clock, it's the Drenuous.

or Thomas Drance from Canucks Talk and the Athletic Vancouver. The Canucks are back in action tonight, 5 p.m. Puck drop in St. Louis against the Blues. Quick programming notes for you. Canucks Central with Sat and Dan begins at 3 o'clock today. They will then follow that with the pregame show from 4 to 5. At 5 o'clock, Batch and Randeep, have the call right here on SportsNet 650. After the game, it'll be Sat and Bick picking up the post game show.

that'll take you into the late stages of the evening. So a lot of Knox coverage here as they take on the blues. This evening, Drance is going to join us at 8 o'clock to talk about that. A reminder, we got two more giveaways on the program today because we love our listeners so much. Golf Town, $250 gift card. We're going to be doing a giveaway at 7.30 via the phone. And then at 8 o'clock, we're going to be giving away a pair of tickets

to see the Vancouver Giants take on Kelowna Saturday, November 1st, this Saturday at the Langley Events Center 7 p.m. Puck drop. If you want to go to that game, that would cap off a potentially epic sports Saturday, especially for our local teams. We'll get into all that at 8 o'clock. So a reminder, golf town giveaway at 7.30, Giants tickets at 8. The number here in case you want to punch it into your phone now and then wait diligently for an hour and a half.

604-280-650. That number again, 604-280-0-650. Lots to get into on the program. Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca.

It was another all-world performer. from Trey Yassavage last night. He set a World Series rookie record with 12 strikeouts. The Jays opened, as you heard one of them, with back-to-back homers, and a 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers put the Jays within one win of their first World Series since 1993. Can we play the final outs from Trey Yassavage in that game yesterday?

Because it was not. It was not a strikeout how he ended things in the 7th. It was a double play. The power of friendship was on display. play lad is they whipped the ball around the horn and got you savage out of the seventh capping a scintillating performance in los angeles here's what it sounded like three two to red to second one to first for two you asked he delivered and he is walking off the field with his defense unbelievable unbelievable performance from you savage in a massive

spot now has the Jays within one win of the World Series. Okay, at the risk of patting ourselves on the back a little too much and taking away some of the credit from the Jays, Adna is on the show in about an hour. And I remember before this series, we were trying to figure out ways that the Jays could win this series. And we were like, how are they going to do this? And what is a, what's a key player for them? And the obvious answer would have been, well, Vladdy, Vladdy's got a hit.

right but we both said like trade is savage like he's he's kind of i don't want to say their secret weapon because i'm sure the dodgers had heard of him but he would be the guy that you'd be like okay well maybe there's a reason maybe that that's a reason why the jays could do this because they've got this kid who has amazing stuff and he's just kind of a wild card like he's an x-factor you don't know you don't know you don't know what's going to happen. I mean, it's hilarious some of the stats going around. Like, he has 16 regular season strikeouts, 17 World Series strikeouts.

Yes. Right? I mean, we recently lost Ken Dryden. He had a similar story with the Montreal Canadians, right? It was like, this guy, I was like, who is this guy? He's like, isn't he a college kid or something like that? It comes in and win Stanley Cups or whatever. I mean, sometimes these young players, they just, they got nothing stopping them, right?

There's no physical scar tissue, there's no mental scar tissue. Life hasn't beat you down yet. Life hasn't beaten them down and they're going out there. And you see the absolute joy that Trayas Savage is pitching with. And you see, I think, the joy that he carries himself with. Like there's no, there's no like, oh, like maybe I shouldn't do this or maybe I shouldn't do that. He's after the game. He's talking to all the media.

He's waving to all the fans. He's just, he's soaking it in because, again, like life hasn't got to him yet, which is a very cynical way of looking at it. But like, it's true. We've seen this before from young players. And it's awesome in the moment. You know it won't last forever, but it kind of feels like it will. Yeah, no, that's a good way. Does that make sense?

It's a good way of putting it because you're right. No one's career is just this continual upward trajectory where everything is awesome. Hard to go up from this. But yeah, but it doesn't just keep getting, but that's the Traeus Savage story. It started incredibly high and you're like, well, it can't get any better than this after the way they went out against the Yankees. And they're like, just wait for the World Series. Watch what he does there. And you're right.

Like there will be times where things won't go right and it'll be harder for him during his crew. But right now, it's funny. I always remember would John Tororell. said when he was coaching the Rangers when Chris Kreider made his he made his NHL debut in the playoffs and he was like the tough thing about him is he doesn't know what he's doing but the best thing about him right now is that he doesn't know what he's doing because he's too naive and too inexperienced to understand the magnitude of the moment he's just going out and doing stuff like you savage yesterday he joked

that it's going to be awesome when his playoff check hits his bank account because I think his actual MLB I know he's making a ton of money. But his MLB salary this year is like $57,000. He's got a nice cushy little $4.2 million signing. Exactly. But he's like, yeah, when that check hits, that's going to be sweet. I'm like, there's a guy that is just taking it all in and realizing things as they happen. He's like, whoa, I'm going to get paid now. This is great. Like, I'm in the World Series. He's all over the World Series record book now, which is wild, right? We mentioned most strikeouts by a rookie broke a record that was there since 1949. No

pitcher. Consider this for a second. No pitcher in the history of all of the World Series, all of them, has ever had a game where they struck out 12 and walked zero until yesterday when Trey Savage did it. It is, we're not talking about a really good performance by a rookie or, you know, oh, he did really well considering the circumstances. Like we are talking about the greats of the game that have gone to the pinnacle did not do what he did yesterday. And he did it against a Dodgers team that's the reigning World Series champions.

and has $900 billion in that lineup. At Dodger Stadium. At Dodger Stadium. So, yeah, I'm trying to contextualize. You know what the opposite of Tray Savage is right now? Mookie Betts. Like, there's the old guy. He's at the end.

He's at the end. And he can't hit right now. He's banged up. He's completely lost. He's got to be. I don't know, man. Why do they still have him batting second or third in order, right? They moved him down.

They moved him to what? Third? You're going to put out its call up there? Yeah. What are you going to do? Yeah. They move. Okay, so right now, the top four Dodgers hitters during the regular season,

Otani, Smith, Betts, and Freeman have went one for 15 yesterday with eight strikeouts. And Betts has been a nightmare. He's one of four regulars in that lineup that's batting under 200 in the World Series. Like, I'm not saying you got to take him out of the lineup, but like he keeps coming up in fairly key situations, right? Yeah. I mean, well, we joked about the Otani intentional walks. Like, what's Mookie thinking? I'm like, you would think a player of his caliber would be pissed off.

And I'm like, I'm going to make these guys pay. But it has not happened at all. If they literally do anything, those part of the order, like, this is a completely different series. Yes. Totally different series. It is funny, though. Like, even just like the pictures of them on the bench, like you got you savage, like, flowing hair. And then you look over to Mookie and he's like, he doesn't really have his hair anymore.

He's just like, uh, kid, enjoy it while you can. This kid will eat you alive. And it is. It is eating them alive right now. I, like, of all the things, and I know what we're going to get into, like, of all the things that we didn't see coming, of all the things that I did not see coming in this series, one was the Jay's ability to get after the starting pitching as effectively as they have. I thought if there was a weakness, it was going to be the Dodgers bullpen. I did not think it was going to be the Dodgers starters, but the bats going completely silent. I did not have that on the bingo card.

By the way, on the subject of getting after the starters. One of the biggest developments in this series was their ability to get after. One guy in particular, Blake Snell. Like, I don't know how many people listening right now paid attention to what Snell did prior to the World Series, but he was borderline unhittable. He pitched better than Yamamoto in the lead-up to the World Series.

I believe his ERA was 0.86 going into this. And if you want to talk about history and going back to the legends of the game, that game that he had against the Brewers in the NLCS where he pitched eight shoutout endings and struck out and faced the minimum batters he was the first guy to do that since

Don Larson in 1956 so Snell had been unbelievable and I remember thinking okay if they're going to get to someone in this series I kind of had like maybe Glassnell will be the guy I kind of went after I saw Yamamoto pitch at the first game they're not hitting him forget that and I still think like that's going to be a tough task in Toronto

in game six wasn't too sure about Otani but the way that he finished against Milwaukee I'm like that doesn't seem like a likely task either and then Snell I'm like forget about it Snell is he's very difficult to hit they have roughed up Blake Snell roughed him up can they get to

because Snell's done Snell's done finish we're finished he's not going to pitch anymore unless they go to game seven can they get to Yamamoto I don't know because I actually did I did have this thought I'm like

the way that Yamamoto is pitching do you really want to put Gossmann out against him? What if you know who, okay, well, who's game seven starter right now? Scherzerzer? With everyone, which is amazing. With everyone with everyone behind them, right, yeah. Everyone's on deck. Yes, I said, I understand.

No, I know. Now might not be not be done. You said mentally he'll be ready for game six. Yeah, but right now it would be Gosman game six, Scher's or game seven. If they were to follow the pattern. Right. But at that being said, the first sign of trouble,

you're out and someone's coming in in game seven. it would be a man i mean can you imagine if if shers if it goes to game seven and sherser gets the start i mean what an incredible story and and actually this is a good time to to go back on this because i think i don't know if i'm calling the blue jays a cinderella but i think they're on a magical run right we can say they're on a magical run they were the decided underdogs coming into this series world series for sure okay let's look back at and laddie i want to i want to involve you in this how did the how did the jay start their season?

Like, how did they look at the... Well, they won the spring training award, whatever you call it. The golden grapefruit, I think they call it. Let's not go quite that far back. But, like, how do they look,

you know, halfway through the season? What were you thinking? Well, the halfway point, they were just starting to pick things up, right? Because they had the first month and the half of nothingness. Yeah, it was basically

in late June where they started to catch on fire. But let's go to June 19th, they were 40 and 34. Actually, they were 40 and 35 June 20th. And they had just lost 7-1 to the Chicago White Sox. You know, then they went on their run where they really got hot. And the playoffs, certainly the playoffs looked likely. Like that was going to happen. Yep. Okay. But I want to fast forward a little bit to September, let's go, let's go, let's call it September 24th.

Okay, because this is when John Schneider made his famous speech about you know, I don't want the guys to act like the sky is falling because it's F and not, right? But it wasn't looking good because the Js had lost six of seven

and it wasn't looking like they were going to win the like they were blowing the division. Let's put it that way, right? And they needed to win their last four games of the regular season, because the Yankees had caught fire, to win the division. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gotten that first round by.

Okay, so that's resilience right there, right? You know, you lose six of seven, everyone's like, ah, classic Blue Jays, they do this all the time, they're a bunch of chokers, this is what they are, they're not a serious ball team, Vladdy didn't look good at that time, and they get it done. By the way, with something help from Trey Yassavich, who on the second to last day, had a very very good performance. Yeah, against the race. Against the race.

So they get in and they get their first round by. Okay? And then they have that amazing start against the Yankees. They win the first two games. But then they go to Yankee Stadium. Everyone's kind of like, okay, well, what's going to be like at Yankee Stadium? Game three happens. And with that home run by Aaron Judge, I think a lot of people thought,

ooh, the Jays could be in trouble. Because remember, who was slated? it to start game four. Nobody, because it was a bullpen game. And all of a sudden, you know, the Yankees were favorites in that series. The Yankees were the favorites to go to the World Series because of the way, because of how much talent they've got

and how much, and how well they finished this season, right? You look at their run differential. It was way superior to the Jays. And then they come up with that incredible bullpen game. And afterwards, we're all like, yeah, they are a pretty good team. So they take care of the Yankees, right? And meanwhile, the Mariners have their hands full with Detroit and they go five and, you know, that last game goes 15 innings

and you're like, okay, well, you know, the Jay's got the Mariners here. But then things don't go their way in games one and two. And they're down to nothing to the Mariners going to Seattle. And that's when I jinxed Martinago. I sent them, you know, our friend Mike Martinago used to be our old producer. I sent them, I'm like, man, the Mariners, going on the World Series. Big Mariners fan.

And, you know, well, the Jays didn't get that memo because they won the next two games. But remember, that wasn't the only, like, dicey part of that Seattle series because game five, after game five, everyone was ready to fire John Schneider because of the decision that he made to bring in Little. They lose that game, and all of a sudden, they're one game away from elimination.

They got to win game six and seven. in Toronto and the mood of the fan base was once again like the sky has fallen and John Schneider would have to come out and say well it's tough and not they were ready to fire John Schneider

they were I was reading a lot of takes from the Toronto media and after that decision to bring in little it was if the Jay's loses they have to fire John Schneider I remember a lot of them were like if the Js lose this because they knew what

they were doing right they're like There's a disclaimer on it, it was still. They weren't right away just like the Jays are going to have to fire. They were like, if they lose this. And of course, they didn't. Another great performance from Tray Savage helps them dispatch the Mariners. And then, you know, we're going to, and then the World Series. Like, I'm not going to go through all the ups and downs of the World Series.

But, you know, after they lost that game three, it was just such a heartbreaker, the way they lost it. And I know a lot of people were like, well, you know, a lot of the J's starters left that game because he lived at one of us. what they had going for them and you know the 16th 17th 18th inning or whatever and it was like yeah well I hope the Js starters left the game because this isn't much and they were thinking well maybe they're going to be fresh for games

four and five and I don't know if that had any factor but look the Jays are now one win away from the World Series and I think to look back on all the times that things looked not over but dire just shows you the resilience of this team and why Um, you know, they are a likable team. And it's why you still hear Buck Martinez and, uh, Dan

Shulman saying like, I don't think this Jay's team got respect all year. Nobody noticed what they were doing. But people are noticing now that this is a true team. Yeah. And part of that, part of that chip on their shoulder, I think has fueled them to a certain degree. But a team of uncommon men and the power a friendship. Now, the funny thing is, Ladi and I have talked about this during the year, there were a lot of times in the face of resiliency, like what you're talking about, Brough, where the Jays

when asked, like, what's going to get you through this, their answer, and I'll paraphrase, but it's basically vibes, right? They were like, it's just the group, the togetherness, the camaraderie, the chemistry. Belief, belief? I think you look at the makeup of the group too, and I was doing a lot of comparisons, as a lot of people have to the 92, 93 teams.

Sure. They had like six, seven war player, Ulru, Alamar. They don't have that on this team. Their highest war players, 4.8. George Springer. Yeah. And he's not even in the line up the last two games. So it's like, where is this all coming from?

And it has to be just the power of the collective, the group. Right. But the thing is, it's hard for the outsider to buy into that because you're not really understanding. You're like, well, what makes your group that much different than the other groups, right? Like, come on. You all go on the bird together and slam some beers. Like, we all get it.

But what really makes it different? And the answer is, The proof is in the pudding. Like every time this team gets smacked in the face or gets knocked down a peg or two, they always have the ability to get back up and not just get back up to where they were, but raise their game a little bit. The Springer thing is a great example. Springer goes down.

You could make the argument that he's their regular season MVP and he's been one of their, I mean, he's not their most important playing. Set them to the World Series. But also send him to the World Series with the Springer Dinger. He goes down. They don't even blink. David Schneider steps in as the lead-off hitter yesterday. It was he due.

Goes yard on the first pitch. We haven't even really mentioned how that game started. Springer did help him, by the way. Even though he wasn't in the lineup, he told Schneier to sit fastball. Right. And he's like third all time and lead off Homer. I guess you listen to a guy when he tells you that. And Springer's bit, he's jumped on first pitches this year, right?

But I mean, of course, the thing is that George Springer was not there. His understudy, if you will, a replacement was in there doing it. But they just don't, it's a very unique team because they just don't seem to get really rattled by anything. The 18-inning loss. I remember thinking at the end of that, I'm not sure what you predict after that because it's such a unique situation, and there's no blueprint for how you survive an 18- inning game

when you have to play 17 hours later. But in hindsight, it seems like that game, and the length of it and the amount of energy that it took affected the Dodgers way more than it affected the Jays. I heard some people opining that it's like the Dodgers are an older team, and they expended some of their regulars more. but I just think it's that they didn't know how to deal with the aftermath

whereas the Jays did because the Jays didn't blink like good bad or otherwise they're like we're going to play baseball tomorrow and it doesn't really matter and the Dodgers after that have gone stone cold and I don't know if it's the baseball gods or if it's chemistry or if it's the room or whatever but or they're just setting up an incredible comeback

right and it's all of this is going to be playing thrown back in our face we realize we're throwing a lot of roses at the Jays and they deserve it I don't even if they don't win this series. Nobody thought they'd be in this position. They deserve it. But Boba Chette said it right after the game. He's like, job isn't done yet.

And Halloween. Sorry, Rosie. It's canceled. Yeah. Trigger trading is just going to be like dads running into each other watching on their phones. All right, just be polite, remember. Only one candy. All right, I don't care.

Whatever. This is risky me putting this out there into the ether. going to do it anyway. I really want a game seven. I really want a game seven. I see it trending in that direction. I know that everyone, and I'm trying to temper the enthusiasm that we're having for the Jays right now with a little bit of reality. You know, it was okay when you did this with the Oilers and the Panthers or whatever. Like, I, I want it over. Hey, relax, bro. However it ends with the Jays winning. The Blue Jays are historically 2 and O in Game 6 is in the World Series. So just relax. Game 7 at home on a Saturday night.

I mean, you are, you are talking theater. Okay. Absolute cinema. Okay. I could do without it. Yeah. I'd be honest with you. If that, that would be awesome.

Like, I know what you're saying, but if you're a fan of sport. You know what? I think a lot of Jay's fans are like, I'm a fan of the Jays. And I would like them to win that. I don't think anyone was like, you know, that Joe Carter home run was a little disappointing because it was in game six. But that's retroactively. I'm just looking ahead. That's all.

And I'm just putting it out there. Okay. maybe maybe sometimes you can get a little greedy no it's not greed it is a hundred percent greed it's just stepping back from the ledge a little bit and saying like hey I know the jays are rolling right now if you're casual observer I understand being like yeah game seven would be awesome but if you're jays fan you're nuts to say like no no that's take this to seven no one that's that's that's like that's like that's like dance with the devil man you know what I don't really want to beat Tampa Bay to win the stand like up I'd rather an original six team like the Bruins go Bruins go br Ruins in game seven. They should lose this once they can win it at home. By the way, kids that show up in full Jays gear

at the Halloween candy at the door, full candy bars for you. You just get the entire bowl and it's out there. You're getting the full size candy bar. Nice. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of

Halford and Brough. Thomas Drance joins us now on the Halford and Bruff show on SportsNet 650. What up, Drancor? Gentlemen, good morning. Good morning to you. Okay, let me see if I got this right.

Injuries. Nils Hoaglander was injured in the preseason. He's missed all 11 games this year. Four Bort and Blugher have missed nine each. Jonathan Lecker-O. Mackey and Philip Heedle have missed the last five. P.O. Joseph missed the first three. Hughes has missed the last two. Mancini got hurt in his first game back.

Garland is now out, and this is all not counting Brock Bessler's two-game personally. Did I cover it all, Drancer? Yeah, it sounds about right. I mean, you know, Guillaume Breesbois, Jetwu. Right. Ty Mueller, if you want to be a completist about it, which, you know, you know who you're talking to. Yes, you do. But the, but the, yeah, I mean, look, assuming that McKinsey McCackern plays tonight,

which I think is a fair assumption given that there's, what, 13 active forwards on the Canucks 23 man roster, Connor Garland's, one of them. per Patrick Johnson's reporting Garland's not on the trip. So we'll assume that McKeckern's in tonight. If he's not, it'll be Cadrath, right? And they go 11-7. Either way, the Canucks will use a 28th player

tonight in St. Louis. In the entirety of that 20, 23, 24 season, remember that year where they all stayed healthy in one division? For the entire 82 games, including things like trading away Anthony Bo Villiers and trading away Andre Cusmanco and trading for Zedorov and Elias Lindholm, et cetera,

the Canucks used 29 skaters the entire year, all 82 games. No other team in the NHLs used more than 25, right? So while the Canucks aren't like a man-games lost leader at this point, in part because realistically, what started is like, oh, yeah, they're a little banged up, has like, quickly become a deluge. This is, you know, pretty unique. This is now a stretch where, unless they get some guys back in the lineup over the next two, three games,

I mean, they will be the most banged up team in the league in five games. And that's going to change things. I mean, it already has, right? I would sort of put that Washington Capitals game already as a watershed moment for this season. because we've seen what it looks like without Philippaedal in the lineup, right? I mean, without Heidel, they've fallen beneath a baseline of sort of like credible NHL level center depth. And as a result, they've won one of the five games since.

And they've been outscored 19 to 10 since Heedle was ruled out in the first intermission of that capital scheme. So, I mean, that's already significantly altered sort of what this, Canucks season has looked like what this team's level is. And the reason for it really is that this team was weak enough at center that Heidel was effectively like a glass jaw for this hockey team. It was a punch they couldn't take. And, you know, sort of one of the other glass jaws that I think this team has is they

were already struggling to control play and drive play at five on five. And if Garland and Hughes are out for. a protracted stretch here that removes their two most important five-on-five drivers from the lineup, that's going to be a glass jaw, like another hit that this Canucks team can't take, which isn't to, you know, say that they can't find a way to grind out some wins, obviously, when Demko's playing like this, you can probably find a way, and you have to find a way, really, given the stakes of sort of this next stretch. But, yeah, I mean, this could, you know, fundamentally, I think,

think cause Vancouver's five-on-five game to fall beneath a certain baseline that's required to win consistently or even compete consistently in a league this stuff. I want to talk about Adam Foote here a little bit. How tempting is it going to be for him to lean on Thatcher Demko and how risky is that? Well, you see, I don't think it's risky necessarily. I mean, Demko's look healthy. starting three games across six days here on this road trip is not, you know, some wild thing to do, I don't think, especially given the gap in performance between Demko and Lankenen.

But what it does do, Jason, that I think matters, right, is I do think it creates a pace. Like, it creates a pace that you have to be aware of and mindful of and disciplined about managing in my mind. at this point in the season Demko has played 7 of 11 so that's 60-ish percent of games that's a 50 point pace that's in line with this team's plans

right if he plays 3 of 3 on this road trip versus 2 of 3 on this road trip it swings it between being on pace for a low 50 game total something like a 52 to 82 games pace between you know you're the members of your

goaltending battery, something that in August, if you told Canucks fans, they would have been like, yeah, that's how you have to do it, right? If you play three of three, right, that's a 59 game pace, right? That's 60 games again. And I think the way to think about this is not like, hey, it's not a huge deal if he plays three and six. It's not. It's true, right? But you do have to consider that that means in the next 14 game stretch, you have to play them one fewer to maintain that pace or over the next 14 game stretch after that you have to play them two fewer or or what have you right it quickly snowballs like the truth is is that they probably need to consider breaking glass in case of emergency and riding demco now but guess what

in the next 14 game segment you're going to have another moment where it's like man we probably really need to start demco here in this extra game and in the next 14 segment that pressure is still going to exist, right? Like, it's always going to be something, especially when Demko's at this level where the temptation to ride him lingers. And if you ride him, having purchased a $4.5 million insurance policy in that, right? Like, do you risk losing him? I mean, history, his history, says, yeah, it's something to be aware of, right? This team's actions tell us that, yeah, it's something that they're aware of, right? I mean, they didn't buy a $4.5 million goaltender to sort of have a 60-22 split.

That doesn't make sense. So, yeah, I mean, for me anyway, I think it's too early in the season, no matter what's going on around you, to abandon a plan, right, to abandon an insurance plan purchased at that expense. and the truth is that this sort of win now pressure that teams experience that coaches experience it's going to be omnipresent

so long as you have a player of Demco's quality the point is to have the discipline to stick with a plan that keeps him closer to 50 games closer to a level that frankly he's never been used at and see if perhaps that helps you get more durability right? You've got to think

of the long term in my view with Demco, but I also don't want to overreact too much to a goalie usage pattern this early in the season that, you know, frankly, is pretty reasonable until you zoom out. Okay, another question about Adam Foote is he was obviously coming into this season and he was going to make some changes to Rick Tockett's system, but he also said that, you know, we're going to be adaptable and we're going to adjust to each game. How does he adapt and adjust to this I mean

you know how do you adjust to this I don't like I mean I think the It's a tough one isn't it No it's a brutal one I mean it's a brutal one The options are brutal

I mean just think about the forward like the forward question alone right Like just line up decisions even tonight you know put yourself in foot's shoes staring at a whiteboard Okay so with Garland of the lineup someone needs to go up to play with Pedersen that can compliment him, right?

Because I think we liked what we were seeing from Garland and Pedersen, generally speaking, right? That seemed to be working and Pedersen was playing better. Okay, so who does that? Well, we've already kind of seen this Besser-Debrusque Pedersen trio really struggle five on five, right? I think it's got to be Sherwood. I think it should be Sherwood.

Okay, so Sherwood goes up, but now you lose that. that Sherwood Drew O'Connor mix together, which has been really good five-on-five, both with Ratu, right, for the most part, but also once he put them with Rikl in that game against the Rangers on Thursday, like that worked. You know, all of a sudden it was like, oh, wow, I'm not quite so. So now you've got to play Rikel with Kane? I haven't liked that defensively.

Have you been a fan of that? Like, is it Kane, Sherwood, Pedersen? And then you put Debrusk and Bessor with, with Reichel? I mean, maybe, I guess. And then you've still got to elevate one of the guys from the Abbey line up the lineup, probably Baines because of the speed. Right. And now your fourth line is something like, well, Sassin, Carlson, and McCekern. I mean, I guess.

I guess that's how you do it. And then on defense, you know, one thing I think they're going to have to be careful of. I mean, we saw it. Like, Villander played three minutes total against Sabanajad and Miller. in his NHL debut, right? He played less than 10 minutes of 5-on-5 and foot was very match-up sensitive in terms of how and when he deployed him.

And as a result of that, too, he scrambled his defense pairs. And that resulted in some tough moments in my mind, right? Like, there was... Is Hirona going to play too much, too? Sorry? Sorry to cut you off there. Is Hironic going to play too much as well? Well, yeah, I mean, that's another thing,

especially given that, you know, there was that moment in, I guess it was the Edminton game, right? Where I think we were worried that he might have been hurt himself, right? Yes. Yeah, and he played a huge load against the Rangers, and he'll have to do so again on the road. And, you know, I do think when you're juggling your pairs like that too, right? Like you end up with like a lot of P.O. Joseph with Horonick.

And, you know, I mean, we saw it in that third period against the Rangers where Canucks had this awesome cycle shift, one of their best shifts of the game. Puck pops up. up to the open man, it's P.O. Joseph, and it's, like, one of the best scoring chances the team gets in the third period ends up on Joseph's stick. Like, I don't think you want that, right? So, yeah, I mean, there's just so many different things to manage, right? It's not just, like, how do we replace Heidel on the second line, which already was something that I don't think the Canucks could find an answer to. Add in Garland and Hughes. And, I mean, again,

and I don't think there's an answer to it. Like, I really don't. I think it's as straightforward as, you know, you try and play as low event a game as possible. You try and get a couple chances off the rush. You trust and hope that Elias Pedersen can score an opportunistic goal, right? That you can get like a deflection from a depth guy, that you can get someone stepping up,

and that you get the goaltending performance you need to grind out like, you know, we're not, We're not after style points here, not even two wins. Like take two games to overtime and win a shootout, you know, on this road trip. And that would be a huge success, right? Like, this is just a point in the season right now, given the injury load where the goal effectively isn't to, like, swim fast. It's not, let's not drown. Let's tread some water here.

Your answer, I wanted to ask you this question because, you know, the Canucks are still out there, apparently, searching for help on the trade market. And, you know, you bring up names like Pavel Zaka and you have the obvious counter question like, why would Boston do that now? And, you know, Nazim Codry and Calgary, and you hear reports that, you know, Codry loves it in with the flames. And again, there are going to be other teams that if Codry becomes available are going to be interested in acquiring his services. in hindsight, should the Canucks have been able to better predict that it would be very, very difficult to upgrade the center position by only offering futures? I mean, I think they knew, right?

The offseason got kicked off with the, it'll be expensive to do, it'll be more expensive not to do, right? Quote from Jim Rutherford. I took that as like we're going to have to give up some prospects, but we'll do it. And I think, I think frankly, their decision to not engage very much with Pew Souter in a contract extension spoke to some semblance of confidence that they'd be able to find someone on the trade market. Yeah, I mean, I think that confidence, though, got whittled down. Like by the time they're in sort of final contract talks with Souter back and forth in that last week of June, I think that confidence had largely evaporated given what had happened on the free agent market and on the trade market.

And the fact that they hadn't got it done before the draft, you know, which they tried to do and which I think, like, you know, I think there were options to do available to them. I don't think the right pieces, the right fits were available. and I think as the draft approach they got higher and higher on Coots and so here we are and yeah I mean you know

like they're playing Pew Souter tonight so it's a fair storyline and something to revisit it certainly has lowered their floor at center you know I know I know Canucks fans are excited about the right goal of rush opportunities but I've been pretty concerned with the defensive play

watching myself you know he's been on the ice for five goals a game in three games, just five on five. And I think, you know, that's been full value. Like, I mean, I know that it's on a safe percentage is low, but I don't, they're not deflection goals. Well, how about Keynes? How about, I know you've just written about Evander Kane.

So, you know, Evander Kane in a game where there was one goal that beat a goalie was gliding on the back check. Well, I don't know. But it was Kane and Reichel. Yeah, yeah. It was Kane and Reichel, right? And, yeah, I mean, the defensive side of, you know, Kane's start has been far and away the most concerning for me. There's nothing else that I'm actually really worried about.

I think patience is probably called for with Kane, which was the wider point that I was trying to write about there. But, yeah, I mean, it's, look, they didn't, they didn't answer the question, right? They didn't find an answer to bolster their center depth. And, you know, for five games, it looked like, how maybe it can hold, and then Heedl got hurt again. And, you know, the runouts been brutal. I think the compounding issue of losing Bluger at the same time, you know, made it all the more complicated, right?

I mean, I will say at the very least, they've got a pretty credible level of play for Matu Ratu, right? I mean, he's been playing really well. but yeah I mean they need another credible middle six answer like period they just do and Pew Souter at least would have been a hold-the-forward option even if he was internally viewed as more of a winger which he was um how do you separate bad injury luck with um you know trying to give an honest assessment of what management has done to assemble this team yeah I mean look I think you can start and say something like they rolled the dice at center, right?

And consciously, right? That's not something they weren't aware of, right? It's not like they, I wouldn't even say it's fair to say that they like failed to price in the risk of going into the season with Philippeal as their site, like I think they priced in that risk. I think they knew. I think they knew that there was a dice roll happening there

and that things needed to go well. But that if it did, they'd have enough to hold the Ford at center until they could figure it out in mid-season. And, you know, five games in, that ran that. So, you know, it's one of those things like, did they do enough? No. I don't think they thought they did enough, right? Like, I don't think there's any question that there was some level of, like, we think we can muddle through, but we need the bounce to go our way a little bit, and it didn't.

and yeah I mean you know given the stakes of the season and the club's sort of own standard for what they wanted this year to look like I think it's fair to second guess that decision making you know that said right that said I think there's a whole

like an element of trying to have things both ways in terms of the hedge position that this season as a whole represented right yeah if they had the extra third you know middle six center um you know some some like low level guy who could just just do the job you know i'm thinking a lower end player than zaka maybe it is pew suitor right um pew suitor is a really good player don't get me wrong but he's not changing the complexion of what this team looks like five on five no if they have them in the lineup right now right i mean he's he's a hold

the ford option he's not a well now they're fine option right yeah yeah and given sort of the quality of this team overall if you know that had resulted in i mean i guess the easy answer is if they hadn't done lankenin or if they hadn't acquired cane right i mean those are the easy answers and that's probably fair to say right that's probably fair um to wonder about in hindsight or ask about um in the present but if they you know had given up like uh if they'd given up say she loves a prospect and coots for Marco Rossi or whatever, right? You know, I mean, are they, so you do that and you also are losing one of Lankan and or Kaine because of the cap spend, you know, are they actually better positioned in the big

picture, right? That's something that I think is fair to wonder about, given, you know, that, look, at some point this team might have to pivot. and look for further a field, right, than this season. So, yeah, I mean, caught in between was another Rutherford quote from the end of last year, right? A team that's caught in between this idea of wanting to win now, but also being mindful of sort of what it might look like if you don't. And, you know, I think in balancing that, ultimately, the Canucks actually held sort of closer to future priorities than we're used. too from this organization, which is something that I understand at the very least, even if it's

frustrating, you know, this week. You got to really wonder what they're thinking if this thing goes off the rails and what they might do, because you're right. It does feel like they've been keeping in mind the future a little bit more than we're almost used to, even if people be like, what do you mean? What are you talking about? Like, they never do that. I was like, I don't know.

I think they've been, I think they've been hesitant to deal away the future a little bit. Oh, they have been. They have been for sure. And I think the way that the draft, the pre-draft trade talks played out, you know, and how intent they ultimately became, to the surprise of the organization internally, I think, in keeping Coots, right, keeping the pick to select Coots, you know, I think that speaks volumes, right? Like, we were all shocked when they used that pick. And, you know, it didn't matter.

some of what the organization itself was thinking. But I think as they started evaluating sort of more flawed options, right, Rossi being sort of the one that sticks out because it's the one that I've heard the most about and that's been the most prominent and he was so obviously available, right? You know, the fact that they were like, man, like, that's not perfect, right? That's not right for us. You know, he's undersized. He's not a faceoff winner.

Can we really win with Pedersen and Rossi as our two center? like it doesn't make sense for us right like we need we need we need our own young center we need some in-house options we have to pick make the pick i mean that to me it's so easy to look at you know trading for kane who's 34 and uh extending garland and bessor and demko and feeling like it's more of the same but you know maintaining the covered with villander and mansini and selecting coots and keeping Lechermacki and Elias Petterson, the Defender, you know, that is outside the MO of sort of what we'd have expected from how the Canucks have generally operated across the last 15 years.

And, you know, I do think that speaks to a modest change in priorities. It's not a sea change. No. It's not like they're, you know, in any way explicitly rebuilding. But I do think the way that this summer played out, hints at, you know, not a quiet rebuild, but certainly a quiet chain or reorientation of priorities. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.