Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 11/11/25

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Halford & guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports, plus they preview tonight's Canucks home matchup versus the Jets with analyst Landon Ferraro.  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. Perks Fakes, looks, steps up. He's floated to football. It is for Devonten Smith. He took it away from. the defender. You hold good football teams to 10 points. You should win the football game.

I do have an update on his physical status. He's still a beast. Well, you all know what laughter sounds like. Good morning, Vancouver. 6 o'clock on a Tuesday. It is Halford at his brough with Jamie Dodd. And we are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios, a beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jamie, good morning. Good morning. Addo, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning. to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brought of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Learn how a consumer proposal can get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at Sands. That's trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to 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, Kintak Footwear and Orthotics. working together with you in step. Big show ahead on a Tuesday. It's a four-guester here. Guests begin at 6.30. Greg Wischinski from ESPN. Our NHL insider is going to join the program.

Busy night in the National Hockey League tonight with nine games, including the Canucks and Jets at 7 o'clock right here in Rogers Arena. We'll whip around the league for all the latest news and notes with Greg in about a half hour's time here on the Halford and Brough show. 7 o'clock, Jim Tooth is going to join the program.

Our good buddy from Jets at noon and the Jim Tooth Joe on C.J.O.B. 680 radio and Winnipeg. The Jets are in town, as I mentioned, to play the Canucks tonight. Jets are coming in cold, having struggled through the state of California over their last three games. They lost to the Kings, the Sharks, and the ducks, all in regulation. We'll get a state of the Winnipeg Jets with Jim Tooth at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30, Nathan Rourke is going to join the program. That's right. Your BC Lions starting quarterback and finalist for the CFL's

Most Outstanding Player Award will look back on his team's disappointing loss. Two Saskatchewan in the Western Final on Saturday can also look back on a year in which Nathan played some excellent football and I think importantly became a very outspoken advocate for the Canadian Football League and the love of the game that Nathan Roark has. We'll talk to him about all that at 7.30. 8.10 this morning. Note the start time. 8.10. Landon Ferraro is going to join the program. Canucks analyst and panelists. Those rhyme. for SportsNet.

As mentioned, the Canucks are in action tonight at 7 p.m. In case you're wondering about programming on your favorite and only sports radio station in the city. Canucks Central goes from 4 to 6. Pre-game show goes from 6 to 7. Batcham Randeep have the call at 7. You can see Landin on the show tonight as well. And then post-game show immediately following the call with Batch and Randdeep.

It's all right here on SportsNet 650. That is what's happening on the program today. Greg, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was...

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler. I give them construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at BCCCSA.ca. Just to lay out the first half hour of the program here. Jamie and I are going to run through a bunch of the scores from last night, although there were only four. of them very interesting. And then we will turn our attention to previewing tonight's game between the Canucks and the Jets. But we'll begin with the Edmonton Oilers. What a performance, sort of, from the Oilers yesterday, who got a big and important comeback win over the Columbus Blue Jack. It was a former Blue Jack Jack. Jack Roslovick in OT with the winner. Here's what it sounded like. Oilers beat the Jackets 5'4 in overtime at Rogers Place on Monday night.

40 seconds gone in overtime. And they're going to get McDavid and Drysaddle off the ice here for the Blue Jackets. Orenski for Charlie Coy. What a sign by Skinner. Coast to coast, Ross Lippert. The game on his stiff. He's got out. The former Blue Jacket

from the Columbus native. That's how he framing. Fenton wins in overtime. So as you can hear from the response, pretty fired up for a Monday. night weighing over the Columbus blue jackets. But with good reason, it felt like the others needed that one. Well, they needed it. And they were down in that game, and they really got shelled by Columbus

in the second period in particular. Like, they were just awful in that second period. And I mean, we can talk about Evan Bouchard's ice time. And he appeared to maybe get benched for a stretch there. And I think if they hadn't come back, if McDavid hadn't done McDavid things to kind of almost single-handedly engineer the comeback in that third period, the conversation we'd be having today would likely be is it Pete DeBoer time in Ebbenton. Like we were getting to that point.

I'm glad you brought it up. Well, the thing is it's a it's a well-used playbook in Ebbinton at this point, right? Make the coaching change. Make the coaching change early in the season and you know maybe that will get these guys kind of out of their rut or whatever they're in and you'll go from there.

And especially when there's a coach as talented as Pete DeBore kind of on the sidelines. I think that's where this conversation was going. It could still get there, but look, you win and you're okay if you're Chris Knoblock. But, I mean, when they were down multiple goals in the third period last night, that's where my head was going. The thought of Pete DeBore inheriting a team with goalie problems is too delicious to pass up. I mean, I would love to see it.

But, hey, this has become one of the biggest talking points of all the Canadian teams in the NHL right now is another slow start. But this one feels different because people are honestly wondering if they have. the wheels in the wagon to pull themselves out of this. Now, they've got Connor McDavid. And by the way, good on Connor McDavid for acknowledging that he was yesterday's limitless AV one to watch as anointed by this show and said, now I've got the real pressure to step up and make something happen.

He did so by scoring twice in the third period. I don't know if you saw the game-tying goal by Jake Wallman in this one. But with a minute left and well short-handed, Walman sort of whipped the puck in the general vicinity of the goal line and it deflected in off Zach Wrenzkin. a very bizarre goal, but you take a win if you're the Oilers. You manage to get a victory,

ending a three-game skid, and maybe taking some of the pressure off for now, but one of the big talking points in the aftermath was, this was not pretty and this was not the script that we can really follow on a regular basis. Still some inherent problems with that team, but they managed to get past the jackets last night. Speaking of teams that have struggled as of late

and got a big win last night, the New York Rangers, won their first game at home, all season, a 6-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on the strength of a pair and goals by Artemi Panarin. This comes after the Rangers lost

their first seven home games. They went 06 and 1 in those seven games, scored six goals in those games. Five of them came against one team the San Jose Sharks, and they got shut out five times. So for them to be able to come out with a six-gold performance against a really bad Nashville team,

I'll just put that out there. That is a not good hockey team out of Nashville. but I guess good on, good on the New York Rangers for being able to finally get a win at home and exploding offensively with the six goals. Note on the Predators here. And we'll talk to Wyshinsky about this

because Wyshinsky was in New York. He's based out of New York. So he was able to speak to Ryan O'Reilly. Ryan O'Reilly is, some of you may know, made some pretty wild remarks last week where he was carving himself up after a loss talking about how he couldn't make a six foot pass to save his life.

And he's only had one good year in his entire course. career. Well, Wish got the exclusive interview to follow up on those remarks. And Ryan O'Reilly called himself a crybaby. He said he regretted making those remarks. I bet he did. Yeah. Isn't that worse than just being a crybaby?

Make fun of yourself for being the crybaby. Or are you owning it? I will note, too, I didn't even realize this was going on, but the predators are now on their way to Stockholm. They're going to take part in a two. They're going to take part in a two game set against the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the global series.

I also forgot that they're going to be playing at Avichi Arena. They named an arena after him. I forgot about that. So they're going to be playing two games against the penguins there. And I got to say, I don't often get Nashville Predators posts through my feed, but I have had a couple over the last few days, and it's not good. They're saying Barry Trots has set them back decades. I don't know what decades.

Well, that's the kind of feeling they're having right now in Nashville. Obviously, it's hyperbole. So we'll talk to Wish about that. It's rough. He also asked O'Reilly about that and talked about O'Reilly, trade rumors as well. That's all coming up at 6.30. We're going to go now to a surprisingly exciting game between the Islanders and the Devils. The devil's always good for some excitement, but the Islanders have gotten off to a pretty solid start this year. And it was a local

guy, Matthew Barzell, scoring 117 in overtime to give the aisles a 3-2 win against New Jersey at the Prudential Center on Monday night. Here's what it sounded like in OT Barzell with the winner. And pulled away from the crease by Drew Ann. Ryan Pallock 12 pass pass spot Barzell saves the day tipped it around Jack Hughes Now he goes to the net

Here's Barzano Lance Let's Put the pitchforks away This one belongs to the Islanders Put those pitchforks away indeed Devils lose for the first time On Home Ice

Good effort by Barzell and the Islanders And we were talking about this before the show another solid performance from former Vancouver Canuck Bo Horvatt I believe it was Rick Dollywell who said that the Canadian Olympic team was keeping an eye on him Rick loves his Olympic updates it has been a very good year for Horvatt

I got to admit yeah it's reminiscent of the start he got off to in his final year here in Vancouver when he was just absolutely red hot he's got 12 goals in 16 games and I think it was Barzell after the game who had the quote that he's the best shooter in the world right now which okay pump the brakes a little bit there but I get

you're trying to you're trying to gas up your teammate, fair enough. But we have seen this from Horvatt, right? He really developed that shot into a weapon. We saw it in the final stages of his time here in Vancouver. That's continued with the Islanders. And when he gets hot, the goals can start

coming in bunches. Do we want to have the, what if he was still here or will he be on the Olympic team conversation? Oh, there's so many ways to go. Which well tread Bo Horvett conversation do we have to have? Look, the Olympic thing, it's great. It's not going to happen. It's just so crowded. And then before you even

get to Celebrini and Bedard and that, you know, them establishing themselves like they have this year, it was always going to be a really tough uphill battle for Horvatt to make the team. Nice to be considered, I'm sure, but I just don't see who you're going to leave off and how many guys you'd have to leave off for him to make it. I think the more curious one from the Islanders is if Matthew, yeah, Schaefer. Now, if that feels like a bridge too far as well, for me anyway, his body of work at the NHL level is too small. Yeah.

That being said, I think he might be a litmus test And quite frankly, Badard and Celebrini as well And I think Logan Thompson too If this Olympic selection group puts more emphasis on in-season form Than they did for Four Nations Because I'm gonna be dead honest I was pretty confident that the Four Nations roster

Was the one that they selected prior to the season Like I don't think anyone made enough of a case for themselves Or just simply couldn't tilt the scales enough with their regular season play to change what the mindset for those guys was well we know these guys and we trust these guys and we like these guys and we don't want to upset the apple card for someone that might have been on a two-month heater i wonder if that mentality will change going into the olympics and i don't here's the thing i don't know why it would because it's the exact same brain trust but i feel like they had a couple misses at the four nations because

they went with the people they were more comfortable with instead of the people that it maybe played their way on or at least deserved to play their way onto the roster i think Mark Sheifley could be a really interesting litmus test for that because he wasn't on the Four Nations but he's off to a great start. Speaking of the Winnipeg Jets, he's off to a fantastic start to the season and I just don't know that they want to put him

on the team though necessarily but will his performance demand it on Schaefer I think you're right I mean of those three kind of young superstars Schaefer Bedard and Celebrini he feels like the least likely to make the team with with Bard and Celebrini you can always talk yourself

into okay we just need that game breaking offensive talent we can hide them in certain situations we can shelter them it's harder to hide a defenseman and if he's not going to be on your power play what are you bringing the guy the defenseman you need to shelter for so then that's just not hockey Canada's MO I know people point to Drew Dowdy I mean he was 20 Shafer's 18 yeah so it's still it's different even then okay uh here's a guy that we can discuss about his candidacy for making the Olympic team in 2026 Brad Marshawn, because Brad Marshawn right now is playing unbelievably well. As a matter of fact, he extended his goal streak to five games last night.

Late one in Vegas in case you missed it, he also had an assist as the Florida Panthers beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2, Marshawn's longest goal streak in nearly a decade. Five consecutive games and last night's was a beauty again for those that missed it. Here's what it sounded like. Marchon scores again as the Panthers beat the Knights, 3-2 in Vegas. Vegas. Forsling, up ahead. Marchant's got it along the wall.

Marshan, stick handles, and he scores a beauty. Brad Marchand with a gorgeous goal. Oh, he is lean and mean and oh, so far between. I have no idea what that means. He is so far between. So far between. He's got 18 points in 15 games is what he's got. He's lean and mean right there.

Well, I am, he's got 11 goals in 15 games, 18 points in 15 games. the ageless wonder that is Brad Marchion. And don't forget, he is doing this on a team where he is required to do the heavy lifting because they're without the services of Alexander Barkoff and Matthew Kachak. 37 years old, he won't turn 30. I think he's in May, so he won't be 38 until the Olympics are done.

Not like that matters an awful lot. But I got a feeling that he's one of those guys that's in until either he plays his way off. He's injured or he tells them he's not going. I don't think any of those things are going to happen. So I think that unless something dramatically changes, this performance to the start of the year only sort of solidifies that he's going to be there

when they go to Italy in 26. He's the type of player that possibly could have played his way off if he'd have a slow start to the season, just because of his age. And frankly, he didn't look that great at the Four Nations. And then he has the Stanley Cup run with Florida, and he looks fantastic. But if we were doing a, you know,

Team Canada roster debrief the week after the Four Nations, we'd all be saying, I don't think Marshawn's going to be there. He looked too old, couldn't keep up, wasn't really effective. He was one of the less impressive performers. I don't want to say he was bad, but there were, with some of the performances that they got and the pace that it was being played at. That's the big thing.

And that was the question for me with Mark Stone, too, right? Is, okay, are you going to have to really lean into the pace and the speed and being able to keep up at that level? But if you're Brad Marchan, you have the playoffs that you did with Florida, and then you have a phenomenal start to the season. I think that answers any questions about whether he's going to be there. So that was it from last night. to action four games in the book. We got nine on tap tonight, including your Vancouver

Cadox, who are in action 7 o'clock tonight at Rogers Arena. A reminder, you can hear the game right here on SportsNet 650. Tonight's opponent, the Winnipeg Jets. Off to an okay start to the season at first blush. The record looks fine. They're 9, 6 and 0 through 15 games. They're fourth in the Central Division, but they come into Vancouver tonight, not in great form. There are three games into a six-game road trip, which will continue tonight in Vancouver before they go to Seattle and Calgary. And they just finished an extremely rough trip through California, which, by the way, might sort of be a precursor for what a lot of teams are going to have to deal with when they go

through California, because it's not a cakewalk like it was in previous years. They lost 3-0. L.A., they lost 2-1 to San Jose, 4-1 to Anaheim. So if you can do the math on that quickly, that's only two goals scored over the course of three games in California. So the Jets come in tonight having lost three with the offense sputtering a little bit. It's been all Mark Shifley, as you mentioned in Kyle Connor for them offensively. It's been a two-headed monster in terms of clicking with points. And in net, in case you're wondering, it was Comrie who played the last game in Anaheim. So I would fully expect it to be a Connor Hellebuck game tonight. And that leads us into some questions, Jamie, for the Vancouver Canucks,

including the first one with Thatcher Demko status. Well, that's the big one, right? Will this be a matchup of two, I'll say potential team USA goalies. Hella bucks is going to be there. Demko wants to be there. And it is the biggest question now. I think it's also the easiest of the big questions to answer going into tonight. All

signs point to Thatcher Dempco playing tonight, right? Kevin Woodley was on our show yesterday and said he's hearing it wasn't serious. Rick Dollywall goes on his show on Czech TV yesterday. It's not serious. Dempco's been skating. We heard from Adam Foote post game on Sunday that our pregame maybe even

on Sunday, but it looks like there's a good chance he's going to play. So barring some sort of setback between right now and game time, it looks like Thatcher Demko will be a net. I know Canucks fans will be doing the thing where they kind of wince in fear every time thatadred Demko has to make some sort of athletic save. And I can't even say, I can't even sit here and say, don't do that, relax, because we have no idea what's going on with Thatcher Demko. Nope.

This could be absolutely nothing. This could be something concerning until we have more and for. it's really, really hard to judge. We have no idea whether there is any sort of increased injury risk for him right now. And again, I think the answer for tonight is he's going to play. The bigger picture question for me is, okay, so the facts as we understand them here. He woke up on Friday, felt a little sore. And the team said, all right, we don't want to push you.

Take today. And you know what? Take these two games over the weekend as well. Have a weekend. Have a weekend. Should we expect more of this this season? Is preventative maintenance and not just practices missed, but games missed for preventative maintenance going to be a regular

or semi-regular occurrence for Thatcher Demko? Again, we don't know the answer, but if it is, that's a big deal. I think we know the answer. I think the answer is going to be yes. Yeah. Yeah. They signed Kevin Lankinen with the term and the money that they gave him to be a semi-regular and important contributor in net.

It wasn't to play caddy to Thatcher Demko. And I think part of it was probably what they're trying to bake into the recipe right now with there are going to be times where Thasher's just not going to be available. And he's just going to have to sit out because that is the best way to keep him fresh. There's NBA highlights on the screen here in the 650 studio. And I think about the NBA a lot when it comes to rest. And they just have days where guys just don't play. And people don't like it. And the league gets mocked for the maintenance days that guys take and load management.

know however else you want to call it, but the reality is it does work and it keeps guys fresher over the course of an 80 plus game season. Now, we've got a great opportunity here and the Canucks have a great opportunity here for this plan to work like Chef's Kiss because right now they went through the first half of the plan sitting Demko over the course of a weekend playing Lankton back-to-backs and they got three or four points out of it. If Demko comes out tonight and can put forth a really solid performance against the Jets, the connects are laughing because they've got proof of concept that this can work. And this is something that they can do, maybe not with regularity, but enough during the

course of an 82 game season where, oh yeah, the guy that we signed, Kevin Lankinen, to be the guy that can handle an increased workload at a moment's notice, can do that. Now, you can quibble with Lankan's play over the weekend. I know I kind of gave him a hard time with the amount of goals that he gave up. If you're a result-based group, and you're less worried about process right now, more worried about the results, the results right now were positive from Saturday and Sunday. If Demko can put forth a good performance tonight, based on the fact that he rested all weekend, as a results-based group, you're even more happy. And the other thing is, I mean, I think we were all a little, there was two concerns with Thatcher Dempco coming into the season. They're kind of opposite.

The one is he'd get hurt right away. You wouldn't have him available. The other concern was he'll be healthy, but the team will play the week. wheels off him because they're desperate for points, I think they do deserve a certain degree of credit for saying, okay, hey, yeah, we're desperate for points right now, but the more important thing is your long-term health, we want to keep you around as much as possible. So if that's a sign of things to come, as, as concerning as it might be and as stressful as it might be for Canucks fans to kind of always have Thatcher Demko's health just on the back burner

simmering as a potential issue if he's missing days, it is probably the right call to be as cautious and say, we thought they would kind of try to manage, you know, get them to that 50 game mark-ish by just playing Lankin and a lot. Well, if part of it is we're just going to remove you completely from the lineup for certain games, and that's going to be one of the ways we manage your starts and keep you to reasonable number. All right. It's weird. It's a little offbeat for the NHL, but if it gets them to 45 to 50 games, fair enough.

That's a perfectly fine outcome. Okay. Next question, as it pertains, pressing questions for your Vancouver. Vancouver Canucks? Can the Canucks win the special teams battle tonight against the Jets. Yeah, this is, it's going to be very interesting, I think, against Winnipeg. Now, their power play has been just kind of fine, average, clicking at an average rate so far this year. But of course, last year, they were elite. And there's still a lot of talent on that unit led by Shifley and Connor.

And we know what they can do with the man advantage. I'll also say Winnipeg's penalty kill has been really, really good. So the Canucks power play, if they're going to keep pace, they've got a tough task in front of But, you know, when we talk about special teams with the Canucks right now, we're primarily focused on the penalty kill. And we talked about it yesterday, right? The messaging from Adam Foote coming out of the weekend was, well, you know, we're making slight mistakes. But the good news is we're getting reps. We're learning and this is going to pay off down the road.

I guess my question is, when does the payoff start to happen? Like, when is it realistic? I'll tell you. I'll tell you. translate to an increased performance, a better rate of production on the penalty kill. I don't think you're going to see a better penalty kill until the injured guys are back.

And that's really it, right? Like, I don't think there's a miraculous turnaround on the penalty kill coming until Bluger and Forbort are back. I remember at the old station, we had Chris Higgins in studio a handful of times. A good, you know, shorthanded penalty killing guy in his day.

And we asked him one time, we're like, is the hallmark of a good penalty kill, the personnel or the strategy? and the blueprint and the deployment. And he said, like, everyone has a structure, but everyone has a pretty similar structure in terms of how they want to kill. It does often come down to,

do you have guys that are good at it? And, you know, that's why it's a valuable attribute that people seek out sometimes in free agency. But I think more importantly, you can't just force upon anybody in your lineup. Like, there are certain guys who are more adept at it.

And I think one of the issues right now is the Canucks are running through guys that don't have those reps that you're talking about. I think it takes a lot longer than 8 or 10 or 12 NHL games and to be quite honest, sometimes at that point you don't even really necessarily find it. There's instinct involved with it, there's an attitude, there's a desire.

And you already had guys that had kind of made it their bread and butter, one of their signature NHL characteristics, especially with BlueGern, especially with Foreboard. You need to get them back, right? I mean, this is a team built almost top to bottom with if everything goes right as it's mantra. I think that includes the penalty kill. If our penalty killers are healthy, we'll be okay.

And they already suffered two big losses, departure-wise, in terms of Joshua and most importantly, Pugh-Souter. I don't think you can afford all the body blows that they had on the penalty kill and realistically expect it to be good. They're just going to have to wait until Fort Bort and Blugher get back.

Finally, the offense, Jamie, the offense, that red-hot offense that we expected. Red-hot, can it stay red-hot? Dare I say, can it even get hotter? against Connor Hellebuck and the Winnipeg Jets. Yeah, tough test for them. And when we talked about it with Woodley yesterday, they started to actually generate some high danger chances over the weekend

and even the previous couple of games before that as well. And look, the depth scoring is going to have to be a theme for this team all season. They're going to need that. At the same time, Drew O'Connor and Kiefer Sherwood can only carry the offense for so long. I think those guys have accounted for like almost a third of the goals. The Canucks have scored this year. That's awesome. That's awesome that you've gone for a stretch of the schedule where they've been so productive.

You cannot bank on that continuing for the entire season. And look, you knew it was going to come back to this player. But if we're talking about the offense, staying hot, being more productive, even against a good defensive team like Winnipeg with Connor Hellebuck, it comes back to Olius Pedersen. You can be the biggest fan of his defensive game in the world and still acknowledge that he needs to get hot offensively at some point. That's what star players do. I mean, we're talking about Bull Horvatt is on a really hot shooting streak right now, piling up goals. Mark Schifley. You know, I don't forget even the guys like Nathan McKinnon and Connor McDavid, okay?

We're not putting him in that category. Brad Marchand, 11 goals and 15 games. Exactly. Like really good offensive players have these stretches where they get red hot and can carry their team for a period of the schedule. There's a couple of games a couple of weeks ago against Montreal and Edmonton. Patterson had four points in two games. There was the hope that would be the start. He's followed that up with three points in his last seven.

There has to be a moment, a few weeks, a month where Pedersen is red-hot and carrying this offense, can it start tonight? You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Canucks game tonight, we're going to rehash our three big questions going in to tonight's game. One of them, I suppose we'll get an answer in the not too distant future with the game day skate and pre-game media. availability. Will Thatcher Demko play tonight in a Ballyhooed American goaltending matchup with Connor Hallibuck likely going for the Jets? Yeah, the Canucks are doing their morning skate at 10.30 at Rogers Arena. This is going to be one of those instances where all of the assembled media is

in a mad frenzy to get those videos of Thatcher Demko skating and doing the starters routine out when we assume he'll take the ice. And as I said off the top of the show, right? Woodley on our show said, doesn't sound like it's serious. Dolly Wall reiterated that. on his show. So all signs pointing to Thatcher Demko being in the crease tonight versus Connor Hallibuck. And of course, Thatcher Dempco wants to continue to make his case to be on the American Olympic team. So at this point, we haven't heard anything this morning. There hasn't seemed to have been a set pack. I guess we'll hear more from Adam Foot at some point today. We'll find out more at the morning skate. But at this point, it feels like it would be a pretty big surprise if he's not in the

So earlier in the show, I threw out a theory, and it was based on a very small sample size, but I said, look, if this works out for the cadets, where Demko takes an extended break, and this one in this particular instance was over the course of a weekend, so he sits two games, doesn't even dress as a backup, which Kevin Woodley astutely pointed out on the show, even dressing as a backup requires certain, I don't know, stretches. I've never been one. but the idea is that there's a routine involved that even if you take a break from that,

you're giving your body some rest. One of our listeners, an unsigned listener, took umbrage with my claim that this would be proof of concept for the Canucks. That if this works, play Lankan in a back-to-back, and it doesn't always have to be a back-to-back, but let's just say two games in a row. They get three or four points,

and then Demko comes back fresh and healthy and rested and puts forth a good performance tonight. To me, that would be proof of concept. The listener wrote in, proof of concept, LOL. If you flip a coin, call it heads, and it lands heads. Is that proof of concept?

One or two games isn't proof of concept, but good try. I would push back on that. If you have a plan and a blueprint, and it's as detailed as this one has been, sit Demko out, announce it on a Friday, don't dress them on a Saturday and Sunday, don't play them in back-to-backs,

allow him to get a little bit of rest and then bring him back. If he has a good performance and you were able to get three of the four points, I would say that yes, small sample size and one try only, but it's evidence that the plan would work and you would try it again. It's interesting. It kind of gets to what's your definition of this being a plan? Because there was some reporting early on Friday like, hey, this is all part of the plan of going into the season with Thatcher Dempco.

And I don't think that's true if you're talking, you know, if they had these two back-to-back games circled on the schedule ahead of time and said, okay, you're going to sit those out and Kevin Lincoln's going to play them, right? That wasn't part of the plan. What I think it is fair to characterize as a plan was, hey, Demko, be really open with us and careful with how you're managing your workload. And if something doesn't feel right, tell us, and that's fine. That's a plan.

That was part of the plan. They didn't know exactly when it would crop up, but it was planned to that degree. So I think I'm on your side here on the proof of concept thing. They said, hey, we want to know, tell us, we'll get through it, we'll make it work. That happened. Now, if he slides seamlessly back into the lineup and they get, you know, another month of the performance he had to start the season, then I think it's fair to call it a proof of concept. Yeah, I think, I mean, I don't think we don't need to galaxy brain it anything other than,

hey, if you're not feeling great, we're going to shut you down and we're going to wait until you feel better. Yeah, and that's why we have Lankin in here. And you know what? They couldn't do it at times last year because Lankton, I mean, Demp goes out for a long time, but Lankinen was overworked in C-Lovs, as I mentioned numerous times, was unplayable. You could not put him in unless you were playing Chicago. He had one team that he was all right against, and the rest he couldn't do it.

So I think this is an interesting development. I think that there's a bigger picture conversation here about load management and re-evaluating the way you handle goalies. And if you want to go back two years, and that was the year where Tocke took this team to great heights and they made the playoffs, a lot of it was predicated on a heavy, heavy workload for Demko. And we saw how that played out at the end of it, right? Retroactively, if you went back, would you say,

could we have curtailed some of those starts, still made the playoffs and had a healthier Demko? Who knows? It's all speculation. But there was a real prove-it element and an immediacy for that team that in the end probably cost them. and now you're seeing an organization that is addressing it in a different manner. Okay, we've got Landon on the line now.

Let's go to the phone lines. Our next guest, Canucks analyst, Canucks panelists. He does it all here for SportsNet. Landon Ferraro on the Halford & Brough Show featuring Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Landon. How are you? I'm doing good, guys. How are you doing?

We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. What have you thought, what have you made of the way that the Conucks have handled, the Demco situation, we'll call it, over the last 96 hours or so? I mean it's it's interesting in in one facet right like you want to think that it's just this minor thing and it's a couple games but it's I don't know about you guys I just it's hard when it comes to Demko because you just never really know what he's actually feeling and what's what's going on like he's such a big piece to this and he's had you know a decent amount of injury history, and I'm just kind of waiting until he pops back out on the ice and you can kind of let out your breath you're holding it, you're just kind of stuck in the

middle. At least that's how I feel. Yeah, as you said, there's always going to be some apprehension, I think, from Canucks fans watching Thatcher Demko on the ice this year, and especially if this is a regular occurrence, but on the other hand, it doesn't mean you've got to push him through if he's not feeling well, right? You have to do whatever you can to manage. his health and keep him in the lineup for as many games as possible this year. Looking at the rest of the team going into this one, one of the other conversations Mike and I had earlier in the show was about the special teams battle tonight and really what the Canucks penalty kill can do. And I know Winnipeg's power play hasn't been as deadly yet this

year as it was last year, but it's also an extremely talented and extremely dangerous unit. After the Colorado game, Adam Foote talked about, you know, slight mistakes kind of snowballing on the penalty kill. He also talked about some of the young players and guys who maybe aren't as experienced penalty killers getting those reps and the hope that that would help the team improve on that end. How

realistic is it that those reps are going to start to pay dividends in the short term? Do you think there is a chance that we see a significantly better P.K? Or is it just going to be a matter of once they get Blugher and Forbort back, that's when it has a chance to stabilize? Well, I mean,

that's obviously would help a great deal in stabilizing it but at the same time like me watching the penalty kill they have really good skaters they have guys that can make good reads to me like they have the makeup of what should be a pretty good penalty kill to me it's just about raining in the pressure right like i love an aggressive pk i love when when teams are on their toes and really pushing the power play into making some tough plays, but at the same time, once the power play games entry and gets full control, you can't keep running at guys. Like last game, they do a good job of pressuring.

Colorado breaks the pressure, and they get into their full setup. And yet, like, guys are still running all the way out at Kail McCarr, it moves down to the half wall, they sprint over there, but you get too spread out. and when you're playing good teams that have good power plays, the more you get spread out, the easier it is. Now you're getting seamed all over the place. There's a seam going through than being bumped back into the middle and now a guy's getting a clean look from the middle of the slot.

If you just stay a little more condensed, just be a little bit more patient with it. Now they've got to pass around the outside. They've got to find some shots and really work to get in. So to me, like, the penalty kill has been doing a decent job. It's just when they get a little over-excited, all of a sudden lanes open up, and it's too hard to recover. It's amazing what moving an extra two or three feet can really open up in a penalty kill.

So if they clean that up, I think they're already on their way to having a way better PK. Is it fair to suggest that this is one of those instances where personnel really matters? because I've spoken with ex-players in the past. They say, like, you know, anyone theoretically can kill penalties, but there are guys that either have the instincts or the innate ability to do it better than others. And in this particular instance, I'm talking about Foreboard on the Blue Line

and Bluger up front to the guys that know how to kill penalties and maybe don't get excited or try and do someone else's job or too much on the kill because they've got that experience. Like, in this instance, personnel does matter. I mean, it does for sure. You have some guys that are learning to PK at this level for the first time. And instead of integrating one, maybe two of them, there's more guys doing it.

You know, just like really anything else in the game, the only way to get better at it is reps and real life game reps. And so having all of that, you have a bunch of guys that are trying to figure it out. But at the same time, you're right. Like someone that has been killing, have been in those situations. There's just a calm that's over you. You can make the reads in a more calm matter. And that makes it easier to make the right read.

Like when you're new and trying to figure out how the team's peaking, how you're doing it, dealing with star players on the other side, like all of a sudden, like your thought process gets sped up. You'd start to get a little bit more desperate in it. And that's where more mistakes come in. And to be honest, that's where I think some of the overpressure comes from as well is they want to keep going. They want to keep going because we're that close, but they don't realize that by being trying too hard, you're opening up seams and making it harder on yourself.

Landon, one of the things that stood out to me over the weekend from the two games against Columbus and Colorado was I thought the Canucks looked a lot more dangerous offensive leave and they have. at certain stretches of this season and they're rewarded, scoring eight goals across those two games. What did you see that Lee looked a little different or a little more successful at least from the Canucks offensively over the weekend? Well, I think one, they're playing faster

and they looked more determined to make plays and get themselves around the net. But I think the biggest thing is that, like they got to the net. You know, on O'Connor's first goal the other night, like him and DeBrusk are on the inside of the defense. They're right on top as Merleekins in that Columbus game. Then you have Garland's rebound goal.

You had Debrusk, I mean, I was on the power play, but at the same time, like, right at the net front and make a good play. Like, they consistently got bodies to the front of the net. They were able to pounce on rebounds. They were able to get a couple tip-ins. Like, it's amazing how much when you get, people to the front of the net how much it opens up

offense for your team. It just makes it, as much as it's a hard thing to do to get in front and stay there and get positioning, it makes the offense so much easier because there is an option. You know, there's so many times where you see a guy have a shooting

lane, but he's not going to shoot it because he's, you know, 40 feet out and there's no one in the lane or no one blocking or screening in front so it's an easy save, but As soon as that player or two get there, it just simplifies every decision after that. If you don't see, you know, you get the pock, you look up. You don't see a play, but you see a lane while you throw it at the net because there's

already someone there. It just simplifies everything out. Has Quinn Hughes gotten back, I don't want to say to his Norris level, because that was such a high peak that we've seen from him. But it's looked different for Quinn Hughes over the last couple of games. Is he at least a lot closer to that level than he? he was earlier in the season. Yeah, I think so for sure.

And I think a lot of it sits on his skating. And earlier in the year, he'd make all of his tight turns and all of his deception moves and all of it, like he was pulling them all off. But it seemed to me that there were more and more forwards on the other team that were able to stay with him. Like he'd make that tight turn and they'd just kind of cut with them and now his opening wasn't there.

Over the last few games especially, like he makes those moves and he takes that first step and there's more of that pop in his stride. All of a sudden he's gained two and a half, three feet of separation and starting to move. I mean,

he had forwards running all over the place in that Colorado game, especially. Like he looked like he was back having fun on the ice. He looked free. He looked like he had again more of that pop in his stride to So everything that he saw and wanted to do, he was able to take those steps and actually get that separation.

What are, or maybe what aren't you seeing from Lucas Reicholately? Because he got buried. I think he just finished with just over 10 minutes ice time, and that overtime lost to Colorado. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, you gave him the first few games because he just got traded. It's a new system. He's essentially playing a new position,

Even though he is a center and was drafted as one, he's been playing majority of wing. And then it keeps going. And it just, you know, he's not able to carry the play through the neutral zone all the time. Like, he's a great skater, but, like, that's just not him. The thing for me is, I think at the end of the day, like, he's a winger. And in the Canucks situation right now, they obviously, they need them to play center. but if you could put him out to the wing and just let his speed be used on the outside and try and create that way,

I think it would be better off for them, but, you know, the situation is what it is right now. You know, with Reichel, you know, again, like I played with him. I've been on the receiving end of some really nice plays and passes that basically had me putting the puck into an empty net. But at the same time, you know, one of one of the critiques, are one of the things that you always look at with Reichel is that consistency of being able to get himself into the fire on the ice, like sit into those battles a little bit more, get a little bit angry, you know, like not where he's running around and hitting or anything, but just that, that bit of anger, that, you know, that determination that puts you

into the fire a little bit and making plays out of tight areas because he's got good hands in tight, it's just about trying to consistently do it. He's been in the, league a little bit now, but at the same time, he's still young and still figuring it out as he moves an organization for the first time. Landon, Connor Hellebuck expected to be in net for the Jets tonight and back-to-back Vesna Trophy winner, Hart Trophy winner last year. We all know the score on Connor Hellebuck. When you're going up against a goalie of that stature, of that dominance, what's the mentality you need to have both as an individual level as a forward going into this game, but also the team mentality

the Canucks need to have facing Connor Hallibuck. Oh, I think it's a really good time that the Canucks have found themselves getting more and more bodies to the net because that's what you're going to need against Hallibuck. Right? It doesn't matter how good you are. If you can't see the puck being shot at you,

it's really hard to save it. So making his night as uncomfortable as possible getting people right on top of his blue paint, keeping him as deep as they can in the net and making them have to fight to see every shot that's coming at him. You know, I think, again, the Canucks have done a good job of getting shots in from the point, getting shots in from rolling off of cycles.

It's just about taking away his eyes as much as you can because, you know, realistically, the majority of shots that he sees, he's going to stop. He's always in unbelievable form through the regular season and can make those saves. So it's about just making it as tough as possible. and for the Canucks is just building on what they've done the last couple games. Landon, this was great, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it.

Enjoy the game tonight. It should be a good one. We'll do this again next week. All right. Sounds good. Have a good one, guys. Yeah, you too. Thanks.

That's Landon Ferraro. Canucks analyst and panelists here on the Halford & Bruff show on SportsNet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.